manof_myword | The world is full of zanies and fools / Who don't believe in sensible rules (For Jack & Hayley)

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The world is full of zanies and fools / Who don't believe in sensible rules (For Jack & Hayley)

The werewolf girl had left the party before Elijah got to confront her with what Rebekah had told him about the father of her child. He realized, then, that he had no idea how to find her, how to talk to her. All he had was her first name and that wasn't enough to look her up. He could hardly go knocking on the door of every "Hayley" in town.

That was when he remembered where Jack had gotten his information about Elijah's species. A werewolf girl. While there might well be another werewolf in town from their world who knew him, he found that a bit unlikely. Better the coincidence.

He could call, but this was too important to trust to a phone call, so he found himself at Jack's door, unexpected, and hoping he was home. Inexplicably nervous, he knocked, and really, really hoped Jack knew where to find the girl.

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"Hysteria wasn't exactly the reaction I was expecting," Elijah muttered, before finishing the bottle.

"It's been a long time since you've really had to deal with people you aren't related to, hasn't it?" It was gentle enough, as he got up and went to take the bottle from Elijah and toss it into the bin. "You want another drink, or has the edge been knocked off?"

Elijah frowned a bit and then shrugged. "On a repeated basis...I suppose it has been."

And they'd seen how well he dealt, in general, back in Mystic Falls.

He glanced at the bottle, watched Ric take it, then considered. "Is there more?"

"The cabinet above the refrigerator; help yourself." He went back to his bottle, that was only a bit more than half gone, and sat down with it again. "Just don't get completely drunk."

Elijah moved to the kitchen and got another bottle down, though he gave him an almost amused look. "Worried about what happens if I do?"

"A little," he admitted, and took another more cautious drink from his bottle. "More worried about what happens when you sober up."

Elijah arched an eyebrow at him. "What do you think happens when I sober up?"

"Regret. Isn't that always what happens after someone goes on a binge?" He didn't really leave time for Elijah to answer. "The remark about you sobering us was the joke. Yes, I'm concerned about you doing something you'd regret if you got drunk."

"Is it? I haven't been on a proper binge in a very long time..." He took a long pull from the new bottle, finally just taking a seat. "What's one more regret?"

Possibly he was already hitting at least a little...tipsy.

Ric gave Elijah a bit of a Look, though it was more amused than withering. "Try to keep it to inanimate objects and not my apartment, at least. I've just moved in. I'm fond of the walls standing, and since it's on the first floor the whole place would probably come down." That bit of snark over, he went on more seriously. "Everyone will be fine, Elijah. Just give it some time."

"You assume I'd be destructive when drunk. Interesting." Elijah didn't remember what he became when drunk, honestly. It had been that long. But the way he'd been going the last month, he'd probably start crying or something and that would be mortifying.

"Don't worry. Your apartment is safe. As is your person and....other persons."

"I assume you might be destructive when drunk, because you were just upstairs yelling. You're either going to start punching things, or cry. Crying, we can mop up after. Punching people when you're you is probably not a good idea." He wasn't nasty about it, just kind of... factual.

"I'm not going to punch anyone." For one thing, Elijah very rarely punched anyone. He was far more targeted in his violence. Except maybe with Klaus. Who wasn't here. And he probably would punch because undoubtedly he would say something horrible to the poor girl.

He also wasn't going to cry. He hoped. Because that would be embarrassing. He took another long drink and enjoyed how the world was getting a bit fuzzy around the edges.

"I really do ask that you don't tell Damon about this," he murmured after a moment. "The second he finds out, the girl and the baby are both in danger, and Elena wouldn't like it if I killed him."

Which it would be really hard not to do if he came after Hayley or the baby.

"Okay... two things. The first is that you're radically overestimating Damon's desire to be a dick. He's abrasive, unpleasant, temperamental, and prone to violence, but he's not going to go out of his way to kill a baby. He's also not likely to fuck with a werewolf, even if she can't change. The second is that I'm not going to go out of mine to tell him, and I'll do my best to avoid it. I won't lie to him, and I can't promise that something won't happen that will make that knowledge the thing that stops him."

He wasn't being mean, wasn't aggressive, didn't even point out that Elijah that Elijah killing Damon would tick him off and that Elijah couldn't compel him. On the other hand, he didn't lie about what he was willing to promise, either.

Elijah held up a hand. "I didn't say it was because he was a dick." Odd words coming out of Elijah's mouth. He didn't notice. "You are grossly underestimating how much he hates me. Rebekah kills Elena and you, and he takes her to bed. I do my best to save her, and thus you, putting my family at risk, when all I had to do was snap one girl's neck to save them, and I am the Anti-Christ."

He paused, considered, thought maybe that had come out wrong. "...Not that I want him to take me to bed, mind you, but is civil discussion too much to ask?"

"I'm not underestimating how much he hates you. I'm saying it doesn't matter. Not having a civil conversation with you doesn't mean he's going to rip a fetus out of a werewolf's uterus to spite you." Big, big difference in there, for him. "I'm not going to start shit, or look to bring it up, Elijah, and I"m not even sure how telling him the baby is Klaus' has any relevance at all, but I am not making promises I may or may not be able to keep. I'll do my best. That's as good as it's going to get from me."

"He doesn't have to do anything so ghastly," Elijah said, looking down at the bottle, obviously genuinely troubled. "All he'd have to do is snap Hayley's neck. Pull out her heart. And before you say he wouldn't...think of all the hybrids killed simply for being sired to Klaus. Think of Mason Lockwood whose only crime was being a wolf. Of all the people he's killed just because he was in a bad mood." Voice still soft, no accusation, almost detached, but not. "Hell. Think of Finn--who'd never done anything to any of you but be related to us.."

He glanced up, finally. "Then tell me he wouldn't hurt her if he knew her safety mattered to me. If he thought I cared. Thought I wanted that child more than I have wanted anything in a very long time." His gaze went back to the bottle as he took another swig. "It doesn't matter I walked away. For him. For all he's lost."

"I know Damon's body count and reasons at least as well as you do, Elijah. I might, and this may amaze you, even know them better. You can talk until you turn purple, and you're still not going to get more than my absolute word to never, under any circumstance, tell him. I'll try. I won't seek out an opportunity, invent one, or forget and tell him out of hand. That's all I can, or will, give you. I realize full well you'll tear his heart out if he does anything. I'm still not going to make promises I don't know if I can keep."

Elijah hadn't even really been taking Ric's promise or lack thereof into consideration. More responding to Ric's saying Damon wouldn't go so far as to kill a baby.

He looked back at him, deathly serious. "So long as you realize that. He hurts her, and I give you my word: not even Elena will stay my hand."

Which was...pretty much the most serious vow he could make, whether his tone conveyed that to Ric or not.

It wasn't a threat. It wasn't even a promise. It was a statement of fact. It would kill part of him to hurt her like that, but he'd given her up for Damon, and that had broken part of him, too. There were fewer pieces every day it seemed.

Damon fucking owed him this. Which it seemed good to point out, alcohol fuzzed as he was.

"So, if you tell him, you tell him that, too. And that he fucking owes me."

Yep, alcohol was fully kicking in, if Elijah was resorting to cursing.

"If he makes a move against an infant, I will kill him." He paused, and then shrugged. "Actually, if he gives any indication of being dangerous to any child, I'd like get over a lot of my own issues and compel him myself."

Which was not ideal, no, but kept everyone alive. "He's my friend, Elijah. That doesn't mean I'm going to let him do whatever he wants." And not just for Damon's sake, really.

Elijah studied him for a few long moments, then leaned his head back against the sofa back and nodded. "You should work on getting over your issues before a situation arises in which you need to be over them."

It made sense in his head.

"You're probably right," Ric admitted, readily. "But it's probably not going to happen." One bottle solidly down, he was starting to feel it, at least. "Damon found me almost as soon as I got here, and I was starved out of my mind. I ate in his bathroom. From a bag."

Elijah was a little too tipsy to follow the logical leap there and opened his eyes to give Ric a bemused look.

"...why in the bathroom?"

"Because I suspected my face was going to change, and I didn't want to be seen," he said, dryly.

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