Maeve walked inside her apartment, immediately skimming through the stacks of grimoires around the living room space and the heavy boxes stacked on the other end of the room.

"So basically to hide it from you, they would put them under a cloaking spell. Like untraceable, right? So I got to thinking, for it to be so strong, there had to be more than just one witch, right?" Maeve pulled out a grimoire from a stack of many not caring that the ones on top of it fell down on the floor with a loud thud. "Because let's be honest, Bonnie is strong but not me strong, right?" Maeve kept flipping through the book, trying to trace a particular spell. A spell to break through another.

"Maeve?"

"Yeah? So basically──what I was saying is that the coffins have to be at the old witches house. The only problem is, I don't know where that is and if it is the place where it is. Because Bonnie is a Bennett, right? Anywhere they are, they can call their ancestors to help."

"Maeve!" tried Klaus again to gain her attention but Maeve was in her own head space.

"So, is it really there or somewhere else? I need a spell to break through that spell. You getting my point?" she kept rambling on, muttering to herself as she read the many words scribbled on the pages, not once looking up.

"Ah ha!" she cheered, smiling triumphantly. Finally Maeve looked up only to find the room empty. "Nik?" she looked around the room before a throat being cleared drew her attention to the door. Klaus stood on the other side of the door.

"What are you doing there?"

"Nothing, just enjoying standing here outside your stingy apartment." snarled Klaus with a growl.

Maeve tilted her head to a side confused before it struck her. "Oh shit! Fuck! I forgot." she smiled awkwardly, "come in."

Klaus stepped inside the house with a growl, "sometimes I regret not killing you when I had the clear shot." whined Klaus studying the various grimoires shabbily kept around the place.

"Sometimes? I like to think the thought of killing each other...every single day or moment we see each other, is the basic foundation of our friendship."

Klaus hummed picking up a book and flipping it open, "isn't that beautiful." He said sarcastically. 

Maeve smirked lopsidedly before she approached him with a particular page open in the book in hand, "not as beautiful as this." she showed him.

"Also, where is Rebekah?"

"Daggered in her room." said Klaus mindlessly, as he attempted to understand what was written on the page open in front of him.

"Because you're afraid of what she'll do since she knows you killed Mommy?" snorted Maeve making Klaus glare at her.

"How about you focus on performing this spell?" said Klaus deflecting from reacting to her rhetorical question.

"Well, with this spell, your blood, we can find Elijah in no time." grinned Maeve. She walked away from him into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water.

"I am sure but..." Klaus placed the book on the kitchen table staring at Maeve with a significant look, "there also is my brother Kol, Finn and a third coffin alongside Elijah's that need to be found." he teased.

"I know." Maeve drew a confused face, "Why are you telling me that?"

"Because you said 'find Elijah' specifically." Maeve's cheeks turned red with blush.

"Slip of tongue." she mumbled turning away from him.

"Sure."

"Can we not talk about this? I barely know the dude and he's your brother. Aren't you weirded out?" asked Maeve placing her hands flat on the kitchen countertop, still facing away from Klaus.

"Yes. Now do the spell." Maeve turned around, the voices in her head having a debate inside her head about the slip of tongue. It could be because she hadn't thought of him, about him that it slipped out? Or perhaps she didn't realise how much she had been fond of those small conversations she had with Elijah, to genuinely think that she liked the man.

Only if she revisited the idea that somewhere, in a corner of her mind, she felt a bit of guilt at how things were left the last time. That moment of almost giving in to her heart that beat faster around him. If only Maeve could see that guilt wasn't just for that but at how his last words stung and how sorry she felt.

"I'll get the stuff ready...do you mind ordering us some food?" inquired Maeve moving around the place to gather everything she would need to perfect the spell.

Klaus sighed hanging his head low. It was a lost cause, arguing with Maeve. He knew ultimately she would win. An entire summer passed away for him to learn that lesson. "Chinese or Italian?"

"Take your pick. As long as it's greasy and stuffed, I don't care." Klaus grumbled incoherently to himself pulling out his phone to place an order.

Maeve busied herself in setting up everything on the coffee table. She sat down on the floor in front of the couch, legs crossed and hands flat on top of the grimoire. She read every word written on the page carefully taking in the information.

She rose up from the place collecting a few extra things. She closed the windows and blinds before turning to Klaus,

"Close those windows, curtains and off the lights." instructed Maeve pointing behind Klaus. Maeve walked into the bedroom and came back holding a bookstand She settled on the floor again. This time she picked up the map and spread it over the table. Maeve placed the bookstand at the top of the table andbplaced the grimoire open on it.

"Incendia." she muttered. The candles placed at the end of the table lit up. Maeve picked up the small measurement cup and held it up to Klaus.

"Some of your blood in this." she said. "This is a shaman's spell. So, not entirely my field of expertise."

"Aren't you a newbie witch? Nothing is yet your field of expertise." said Klaus sarcastically.

"You want me to do the spell or will you do it instead?" snapped back Maeve. She stared at him for a few moments before continuing on, "like I was saying. Shaman's always were greatly appreciated, quite popular...mostly for their abilities to see the future. It actually made him unique to other witches. This book was written by a shaman as a guiding book for others. So, basically I will need to concentrate completely for this to work."

Klaus handed the cup back to Maeve and took a seat on the stool by the kitchen island. Maeve opened the lid to the salt container and held it up. She closed her eyes and began her chant,

"Vrhněte tento kruh kolem, nakreslete mi hranice a umožněte mi přístup do neviditelného světa uvnitř." she said slowly pouring salt in a circle around the map. She placed it like a boundary around the town of mystic falls and land at miles surrounding it.

Maeve dropped the blood right in between the circle and held up her hands spread out beginning to perform the spell. The book was placed at the top of the table.

The doorbell rang almost then startling Maeve. Klaus raised his hand up and opened the door himself. He took the bags of takeout from the delivery boy and handed him the cash.

"Woah dude!" exclaimed the delivery boy, "what's going on here?" he asked staring at the coffee table and Maeve.

"Oh this?" said Maeve pointing to the table. "It's nothing. My boyfriend and I are just making an offering of the blood of young teenage boys to the devil in exchange for a healthier, more aggressively passionate sex life." Maeve watched in sheer amusement as a look of horror slowly appeared on Klaus and the delivery boy's face.

"Would you like to make a donation?" the boy trembled in fear. He took the money from Klaus and ran away almost immediately. Klaus shut the door behind before he started laughing loudly.

"Do you have no filter?" he asked placing the takeout bag on the kitchen counter.

"Not when it comes to nosy people, no. I much rather enjoy what just happened." Maeve shifted in her place and held up a finger to her lips, "now shush! I am almost there with the spell." she closed her eyes with a long breath and began,

"Vyzývám větší síly světa, duchy, kteří strávili čas přede mnou v tomto smrtelném světě, aby mi našli to, co hledám, skryté pod silou, která se s tou vaší nedá srovnat." Maeve poured the . Maeve snapped her eyes open startling Klaus. He stood up on his feet alarmed seeing her.

Her eyes were absolutely white. It was like a sheet covered over her eyes, hiding the brown eyeballs behind them. Klaus curiously watched, as words kept spluttering out incoherently.

"Show me!" shouted Maeve suddenly. Klaus instinctively stepped even closer to her. He knelt down next to her when her body trembled and jerked back.

Klaus stared at the map, watching intently as the blood moved on its own over the map and stopped at a particular point, deep in the woods.

Maeve moaned holding a hand to her head as she sat up. "I am never doing a Shaman's spell again. Good, it hurts so much!" she cursed. "Did it work?"

"Yes it did." said Klaus pointing to the map.

"So that's where the witches house is. Let's eat and go."

Maeve led Klaus through the abandoned house in the middle of the forest. Rusted wood was illuminated in the candles small flame dancing slowly in the gentle breeze that flew in with the open door.

"Ta da." She gesticulated around the candle lit room.

"What? An empty room?"

"You can't see them?" inquired Maeve glancing around the place, seeing three coffins perched around the place. "But...only three." she mournfully told him.

"Three? There should be four."

"That's what I am saying."

Maeve grabbed Klaus's hand and whispered, "Occulacs um revelius"

"Here we are." Klaus said, beginning to see the coffins. "Only need to see the fourth."

"Here's the thing──" came Damon's voice from the door, "it's not here." 

"What?"

"Safety precaution. We moved it." said Damon with an amusing smile.

"I will tear you limb from limb and only then when you are a writhing mass of blood and flesh will I rip your heart from your chest." Klaus threatened with a throaty growl.

"Sorry. Same rules apply. Leverage and all." replied Damon looking unfazed by Klaus' threat.

"But something tells me you want what's in that coffin a lot more." Damon walked away.

"It's okay. We will find it. I promise." Maeve assured. He called his hybrids and told them to move the coffins back to the mansion.

Silently Maeve followed behind Klaus and his hybrid who moved the coffins into the truck and later unloaded it in the mansion.

"Why don't you just undagger Rebekah?" asked Maeve as soon as they entered the parlor.

"Maeve...I can't."

"Why not?" Klaus stayed silent. Maeve challenged him by taking a step forward, "are you scared of how she will react now that she knows the truth? Will she hate you? Will she leave you?"

"She will." said Klaus with a low voice.

"She won't if you explain everything to her." reasoned Maeve, her eyes softening. "I know it is difficult to open up. Take it from me, I know. But she loves you, Nik."

"You don't know anything!"

Maeve scoffed crossing her arms over her chest. She met his eyes with a stern gaze, "I guessed enough! You think I didn't guess it when you hinted at abuse and inner demons and then came the news of Mikael and now your mother. I'm guessing your human years weren't as hunky dory as you'd think." she sucked in harsh breath, "no one would know if you don't tell them. Your siblings deserve to know, Nik."

"Uh..." a hybrid cleared his throat, "I have kept the coffins in that room. So you going to wake them now?" he asked.

"Not yet. Not until I have the last coffin." said Klaus. Maeve hung her head low. He was a lost cause, arguing about the right thing.

Maeve looked shocked, her eyes bulging out when the hybrid arched his back awkwardly before he dropped to the top of the single step with a loud thud. Maeve's jaw dropped open when she saw it was Elijah who stood there holding the hybrid's heart.

"Elijah" He said, shocked to see his brother undaggered.

"So Niklaus. What did I miss?" Maeve stared gaping at him. His shirt had the mark where he was stabbed. His hair had grown from the last time she saw him. Maeve couldn't understand the feeling bubbling inside her. She felt her stomach do flips and heart race. Either she refused to realise what she was feeling or she was plainly confused. Elijah looked at Maeve who was already staring at him. The skip in her heartbeat and now that it was beating fast did not go unnoticed by him. 

"You look like you could use a drink." Klaus said gesturing to the table. A confused and uncertain expression coating his face. Elijah jumped making sure he did not hurt or even gave the slightest push to Maeve and threw Klaus through the door.

"Easy. I just finished renovating." Klaus said through gritted teeth and jumped at Elijah. Maeve paced back to a corner giving the brothers a time to reconcile. Klaus opened a coffin and pulled the dagger out of someone.

"Don't make me do this Elijah." Klaus aggravated.

"Do it. You'll have Kol to deal with" Elijah managed to let out. His eyes strained on Klaus, challenging him to do it.

"Mikael is dead." Klaus revealed pulling himself away from his brother. He still gripped the dagger in hand but had put distance between them.

"What did you say?" Elijah asked not believing what his brother just said.

"It's true. He is finally out of our lives." 

"Than why do our siblings still live in these boxes? Finn for over 900 years. Kol for a century?" questioned Elijah pointing towards the coffins.

"Because of Stefan Salvatore. He hold the one thing I need. There are some things in the past that I haven't told anyone. Stand with me brother. Always and forever." Klaus said dipping the dagger into a small jar. For a moment Maeve thought that maybe he was going to stab Elijah but he shoved the dagger in whoever was in the coffin.

Maeve cleared her throat walking up to the two men, "if you are done with the absolutely sibling-y reunion, I'd like to take your leave. Mostly because I don't want a stray piece of furniture stabbing me. Just because I heal, doesn't mean I want a repeat of the last two times. I've had enough of that for at least a decade." she laughed, a significant amount of dark humor illuminating in it.

Her eyes roved over to Elijah, "it's good to see you back again, Elijah. Shouldn't say rest up but still..." Elijah couldn't help but let a smile appear on his face.

"It's good to see you again too Maeve." she gave him one last smile before leaving.

Once again, a strong sense of deja-vu hit her when she stopped in the hallway hearing their voices,

"What happened, Niklaus?" he heard Elijah's questioning tone.

"Mikael almost killed her and Damon let it happen." summarised Klaus for him.

Maeve took in a deep breath before shouting at the top of her lunges, "Don't forget that part where you fed me your blood and saved me, you narcissistic wolf boy!" she stormed out of the house with a loud slam of the front door making Elijah furrow his brows with even more curiosity.

"And that." said Klaus uncharacteristically. Elijah got more curious, seeing his brother respond unlike himself towards Maeve.

"Who the fuck wants to die at..." she looked at the wall clock through the slits of her half open eyes. "At eight in the bloody morning!" Maeve stormed to the front door and threw it open. Although her irritation calmed down significantly, she still looked as if she was about to tear someone's head off. 

"Is Nik in danger?"

"No."

"Are you?"

"No"

"He got killed?"

"No."

"Rebekah's undaggered."

"Not yet."

"Then I don't see a reason for you to knock at my door at the ungodly hour of eight in the morning!" Maeve exasperatedly shouted back at him. 

"I wanted to speak with you." responded Elijah with a shy smile. 

"Yeah...I still don't see a good enough reason. See you at high noon!" Maeve looked at him, flashing a tight smile before she slammed the door shut.

"I brough Breakfast." came his voice from the other side of the door. 

Maeve considered it for a while before she opened the door again. Elijah gave her a sheepish smile again, this time holding up a brown paper bag.

"Fine. Get in." she moved aside to give Elijah space to walk inside the apartment. "You know..I remember inviting you in once, Why couldn't you just walk in?"

Elijah gave her a confused look, tilting his head upward slightly in question. He set the bag on the kitchen counter before answering, "Um...privacy?" He looked at her and she shrugged in response.

"Smartass." a breathy chuckle left his mouth in response.

"Good morning to you too."

"Yeah...yeah yeah, good morning. Let me go wake myself. Help yourself with some tea, third drawer from the fridge or blood. That is in the back of the ice cream tubs in the top shelf of the fridge.

"Just out of curiosity, why do you have blood stored here?"

"Rebekah stayed here for a whole of three days. Stacked it just in case." replied Maeve before exiting the living room to quickly freshen up. 

Elijah roamed around the kitchen trying to find two plates, to serve the breakfast he brought. He found them and placed them on the table. "So..." came Maeve's voice after fifteen minutes. She walked out of the bedroom fixing the sleeve of her shirt. "Thank you for the breakfast.." she began, "But what are you looking for in exchange for this?" Maeve settled down on a stool by the kitchen counter, looking at Elijah. 

"How about we have breakfast?" suggested Elijah instead of replying. He set the coffee cup in front of her.

Maeve looked at him without a blink trying to read, "What are you doing?" he asked noticing her eyes on him.

"Shush!" she silenced him, "trying to read you." Elijah laughed taking a bite of his pancakes instead of saying anything else. "You want to know what happened since you got daggered."

"Well, if we are striking up a conversation directly, then first tell me how is it possible that you are alive even after you called my brother, narcissistic wolf boy?"

"A summer of heartfelt sympathies, aneurysms, and actually having fun." she blatantly replied. "Don't worry Elijah, we both have agreed that the basic foundation of our weird friendship is trauma and willingness to kill each other almost every day."

"About Damon..." he began again but silenced his words when Maeve shot a quick threatening glare his way. 

"Not you too, okay? I had an earful from Klaus, from Rebekah and I don't need it from you." she snapped grumpily.

"Maeve..." began Elijah but she cut him off,

"I am really very sorry about the way I acted, Elijah. I was a complete jerk to you because of my blind faith in Damon."

"Its alright, Maeve. We didn't know each other well."

"That is not true!" she let out suddenly, 'We had so many conversations albeit short but we did before you were daggered by the gang. I should have known better and trusted you. I didn't and instead accused you, and berated you unneccesarily." Maeve felt a wave of guilt hit her.

"Maeve, don't feel guilty about that. You trusted Damon because he made you believe he was good. It happens. You put your faith in someone you shouldn't have. No harm done." assured Elijah.

"Thank you." smiled Maeve. 

"Well, at least you came to your senses."

"Yes, sooner the better." she laughed. 

"I would like to know why the sudden character development? I remember you were willingly looking past his actions, methods and everything to help him and save him. You actually even struck up a deal with him to protect him."

Maeve looked down at her plate, avoiding to look at him. The last words he said to her came rushing back to her making her feel a tug in her heart, She felt it constrain against her ribcage. "Didn't Nik fill you in?"

"No. Your exit seized any further conversation." Elijah replied. Maeve nodded suddenly starting to eat her food hastily.

She began narrating everything to him. She could only hope, she had to relive those moments in story form for the last time. Elijah kept his face as plain and void of any reaction as possible but just like his siblings even he felt a surge of anger towards Damon for what he had done. He knew before summer that the Salvatore brothers were untrustworthy but to hear Maeve quiver almost unnoticeably as she relived those particular moments of betrayal, he could only hope that the day that would progress to, wouldn't end with blood.

"What still doesn't make sense is this deal? I don't think you knew the actual ritual until after the time you met Niklaus. So why then? Damon I understand because you were close, but Caroline and Jeremy?"

"You see, Caroline is this smart blonde who sombers herself to catch up with her...how do I put it...arrogantly backward best friends. Not to mention, forgives easily but is deadly scary at the same time when provoked, I mean you should have seen her in action with Mason Lockwood. Anyways...When Katherine came and turned her, at first I thought it was a spiteful move, but then she triggered Tyler's werewolf curse. Why? It was like she was working methodically. Not to mention, the werewolves kidnapped her too. So I knew, she had something cooking up. I acted on it to save her from those slackers." a silence fell over the two. 

"I am meeting Damon later today." blurted out Elijah.

"What does that miserable excuse of space want?" Maeve asked making a disgusted face.

"Plot Niklaus's Doom."

"Oh really? He doesn't know when to give up, does he?"

"You'd think that. I, however am going to use that to wake up my siblings." revealed Elijah.

"Wait, does that mean Rebekah too? Yes!" cheered on Maeve. "I met her. I was right. She did get the beauty in the family."

"Are you saying I am not handsome?"

Maeve pulled a face looking at him. "Didn't we have this conversation already? You winding me up."

"We have. Although I do enjoy seeing you try to come up with snide remarks and fail."

"Oh look at that, the oldy knows how to be sassy. Did they teach that in the thirteenth century or fourteenth?"

"I learnt it growing up actually. When we all were human." replied Elijah sporting a wide grin. "You see sass has been around for quite a while. I had the chance to perfect it for a thousand years."

"Are you flirting with me?" asked Maeve. "I can't really see it coming."

"I wouldn't have been if you'd have to ask." replied Elijah moving away from her. Maeve breathed feeling flustered.

Maeve replayed her own words in her head. Elijah watched in curious amusement as a comical look slowly covered Maeve's previously happy face. "What are you doing to me?" she ruffed out loud.

"What?" he inquired unsurely.

"Arrogantly backward? Slackers? Waste of space? I usually take quite pleasure in using colorful language early in the mornings mostly so I don't use more words through the day but now...I use arrogantly backwards instead of──" Maeve's face went blank, "Why can't I remember a single good word?" she thought out loud. "Slackers? I would take this opportunity to use words like fuckers or something but no...what the hell dude!" she dramatically threw her hands in the air.

Elijah chuckled breathlessly, "I do apologise for the inconvenient impact I seem to have on you." he said. 

"Apolo──" she stood stunned, her eyes wide as color left her skin, "You do know everything don't you? In quite detail." 

"Guilty." he said sheepishly hiding his smile.

"You asshole!" she lifted up the discarded paper bag, crumpled it into a ball at threw it at him, "I am going to murder your brother first and then I am going to dagger you." she said turning away to hide the blushing smile she tried fighting off. 

Elijah laughed taking a step closer to her, "I am sorry, Maeve."

"It's fine." she turned around again to face him. "How could you not tell me? You let me talk like an idiot when you knew the complete story."

"I did know the story but I wanted to know you. You expressed how you felt. That was what I wanted to know."

"You feeling glad now that you know?" she asked him shooting him an incredulous look.

"Quite actually." he smugly grinned back at her. "I really am sorry, Maeve. For everything that you went through."

Once again, they found themselves in a close proximity. Elijah gazed into her eyes. "I really can't believe Nik told you about that!" she cursed out making him flash a grin. "this is coming from the man who said he was weirded out by even mention of your name from me."

"Is it so bad?" he asked her. "I am glad it was I who set you to find the truth."

Maeve licked her lips before biting her lower lip, "I am glad it was you too."

Before their conversation could continue, the front door busted open startling both of them. Maeve stepped away from him frantically putting some distance between them. "You!" she turned to the front door to see Caroline stomping into her apartment.

"Do you know how crazy you are?" she scolded Maeve staring at her angrily. 

"Care...listen I──"

"No you listen!" said Caroline angrily. It seemed as though she came with a mission, one that made her overlook that Maeve had company. "Why did you not tell me you almost died?" Caroline questioned. "I had to find out from Matt that you almost died? I thought we were friends."

"We are! I just didn't want you to worry, that's all. I lived through it for a week and kept repeating the story more times than I wanted to. I am sorry, Care." Caroline pulled the girl into a hug. 

"I can't believe I have been such a shitty friend." Caroline mumbled into the hug. 

Elijah stood awkwardly in the kitchen as the two friends interacted. This was the moment, Caroline finally became aware of Elijah's presence. She pulled away from the hug and turned toward him. "Hi Elijah."

"Hello Ms Forbes." he waved at her. Caroline looked between the two with curious eyes,

"How──how long have you been here?"

"I'd say about almost an hour." he replied.

Caroline turned to Maeve, crossing her arms, "have you had your morning coffee yet?" she asked.

"About to. He got breakfast." she said pointing to the kitchen counter.

"Hold on...he's still alive...even after he is here before your morning coffee?"

"Evidently I am." responded Elijah before Maeve could. Caroline's mouth opened wide before curling into a grin. Maeve rolled her eyes and shoved Caroline towards the door,

"You should go now. I'll catch up with you later." Caroline stretched her hand out placing them on the door frame and turned around swiftly,

"What's going on?" she asked. "You are like a total crazy person in the morning. I swear Damon once said you kicked and punched him once in frustration because he called you before your morning coffee. He is in one piece? Maeve..." 

"Believe me, I am contemplating putting a dagger through him." Maeve only stared at her rubbing her left arm with her right hand.

"Exactly! Contemplating." Caroline looked over Maeve's shoulder straight at Elijah before returning to look at Maeve, "Just for breakfast. You...are mine for lunch. We need to talk. Goodbye Elijah."

"Goodbye Ms Forbes." answered back Elijah as Caroline walked away. Maeve shut the door behind Caroline and leaned on it. She covered her face with her palms and let out a grunt.

"Don't take what she said to heart." said Maeve walking away from the front door.

"Oh no, I am however, quite relieved to hear I won't be dying this morning." Elijah said teasingly.

"Doesn't mean I am not mad at you."

"But still..." Elijah walked around the kitchen counter closer to her again. "Thank you for not killing me."

"It's my pleasure." Maeve looked into Elijah's eyes. For the first time in a while, Maeve really noticed his eyes. The gentle brown orbs that softly studied her face seemed like they were hypnotising her.

"The breakfast I brought is cold. Would you like for me to order something for you?"

"I have some waffles left over in the fridge." she offered an alternative.

"Sounds good to me." Elijah hummed, "I am planning on staging a dinner with the Salvatore brothers and me and Niklaus." he began as he brought out the waffles from the fridge, "would you like to join?"

Maeve tapped her fingers on the kitchen table top letting them dance on it as she thought over his words, "so an evening with two pairs of brothers. One smart and the other as stupid as they get. And me in the middle? One set of brothers I used to think were morally grey but are actually toxic and the other set of brothers who──do have their shady moments are not toxic?" She paused for a moment to create drama. "Count me the fuck in!"

"Well then, to an interesting evening." He held up the two cups of coffee, handing one to her. She tapped the lids of the two cups,

"To an interesting evening." She beamed a smile, "hey! I got my mojo back! I cursed." she smiled childishly.

Elijah laughed along, "my impact lasted only so far then." he said making Maeve immediately stop grinning and blush.

**************************************
Wow! Long long long chapter.

I missed writing Elijah and Maeve. Since the first time I finished writing this book, I missed them. This time I'll do better.
For the re-readers this time the Slow Burn won't be as much as it was in the previous version. I hated it, and I know you guys did too.

So something nice, right?

It wasn't the greatest second first meeting but I do hope you liked it.

Lmk what you think!

Take care everyone!

Raven :)