Out of Spite

Undaggered

The next day, Elise woke again to someone at the foot of her bed. She shifted her head to look at them but she was surprised to see who it was. Usually it would be Klaus staring over her like a creep for god knows how long - instead it was Elijah.

She wasn't used to seeing him without his blazer, he was just wearing the shirt and waistcoat that was usually underneath it. She was used to waking up to Klaus so she wasn't startled by Elijah's presence.

The two looked at each other for a few seconds, it taking Elijah a while to realise he had seen him. His lips curled into a soft smile.

"Good morning, Elise" he said, his voice soft which made Elise want to go back to sleep. "Did you sleep well?"

"As always" Elise replied, shifting to sit up in the bed. "Is this a family thing that you all do?"

"What?" Elijah asked, completely oblivious.

"The whole 'I'm going to stand at your bed and watch you until you wake up'".

Elijah laughed quietly, averting his eyes to the ground. Elise smiled back at him.

"Apologies if I startled you with that" he said, looking back up at her as he made his way to the side of the bed to sit beside her. "I merely wanted to see if you were alright".

"I'm used to Klaus doing it so seeing you was a lot less creepy" she joked, causing another light chuckle to escape Elijah's lips. "Where is he? He usually does that as part of my morning routine".

"He's having a chat with Marcel" he replied. "To put it simply, if he's smart he won't be laying so much as a finger on you".

There wasn't a glimpse of a lie from Elijah - he said he was going to protect her and he was very convincing with it.

"I appreciate this more than you know, Elijah" Elise said, Elijah's smile grew softer. "I have no idea how I can repay you all".

"You don't need to" he quickly stated. "Not only me but Niklaus and Rebekah are willingly protecting you".

"But why?"

Elijah inhaled sharply, his eyes scanned Elise's entire face. He knew why Klaus was protecting her but he wasn't sure why he was.

"I suppose its because I stand by my family without hesitation" he eventually said. "Niklaus very rarely fights for someone who isn't part of our family so when he began to develop this need to protect you against your father, I also took on that role".

Elijah repositioned himself on the bed to face Elise more.

"I'm also quite fond of you".

She smiled and her eyes turned to the door to see Klaus standing there - he didn't have his usual expression on his face. Elijah saw her eyes look to the door which made him look behind to see Klaus.

"Hi Klaus" Elise said with a soft smile.

"Hi, sweetheart" he replied, his expression softening from the once distressed one. "Update about Marcel, he's now going to be helping us defend Elise. He has knowledge of Peter and where his location is along with where our father is".