𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞 ⟪♥︎⟫ Elijah Mikaelson

XXIV

Leah watched Jacques closely as he and Elijah worked through some of his old books, recently her boy had beens showing a lot of interest in psychology. He'd told her that the world needed more supernatural psychologists, for the sake of the supernatural and the world itself. She suspected it was because he had needed one himself, before they met Cami, or maybe because he wanted to help her.

She'd tried to keep it to herself, but Jacques was no fool, he had noticed the changes in her.

'You seem lost in thought,' Freya whispered.

'I am.'

'I know you don't want to hear this, but Elijah does love you.'

Leah shot her a soft glare, wondering why Freya assumed she'd been watching Elijah and not her son, 'You're right, I don't.'

'Why?'

'Because it wasn't enough,' she replied solemnly, 'it wasn't enough to come back. I would never ask a man to choose between me and his family, but if I'm not first place, I'd very much like to be second. With Elijah, I wasn't even on the list.'

'That's not true and you know it.' It would've made Leah pretty angry had someone else said it, but Freya radiated this sense of kindness and understanding. 'I think you've got this entire thing flipped upside down.'

'Oh really?'

'Yes, really,' she answered as she took a sip of her hot chocolate, 'On Elijah's list you are priority number one, but Elijah's never had such a list before. All he ever wanted, before he met you, was to keep his family together. He's used to looking at his sibling's lists of wants and needs, not his own.'

Truthfully, Leah had known this all along, but she couldn't blame Elijah for being selfless. And she was so incredibly hurt that she wouldn't know what to do if she didn't have a person to blame. 'He still did me wrong, he did Jacques wrong.'

'He did,' Freya agreed as she placed her hand on Leah's shoulder, 'and I'm not asking you to forgive him, but-'

'I am,' Rebekah cut in as she stood on Leah's other side, handing her a mug of hot chocolate as well, 'I'm begging you to forgive him, if it is any consolation, know that he won't ever be able to forgive himself.'

'Rebekah.'

Rebekah rolled her eyes at Freya's warning as she continued to bore her icy blue eyes into Leah's brown ones, 'You're on Elijah's list alright, occupying place number one and I'd hate you for it if you hadn't been so damn broken already.'

'Excuse me?!'

'Rebekah stop it,' Freya added.

Rebekah merely rolled her eyes in annoyance, 'What? I'm just watching out for my big brother. He loves her more than anything in the world and whether she likes it or not, she feels the same way.'