"Elijah" Katherine breathes coming to stand in the entrance of the tomb. Christian tenses as his scent hits him.

"Good evening, Katerina" Elijah greets. Christian closes his eyes wishing he could be anywhere else. "Thank you for having the good sense to be frightened" Christian could practically hear the grin in his tone. "Christian" Elijah's tone changes dramatically. It's no longer smug nor borderline arrogant, it's soft and pleading. "Your release has been requested"

"By whom?" Christian questions keeping his tone cold while continuing to refuse eye contact.

"Elena" Elijah tells him. "In place for her brother, Jeremy" Christian smirks picking up on the subtle sound of jealousy. "She bargained for your release"

"There's a spell on the tomb, I can't leave" Christian informs him.

"You can, I've had the spell lifted" Elijah tells him. Katherine goes to rush out but Elijah moves in front of her. "As for you, however, you should not exit until I say so" Elijah compels. "When Klaus comes, he'll want to know exactly where you are" Katherine's shoulders slump and she moves backwards. "Christian, come"

"I'm not your bitch, anymore" Christian growls glaring at the ground. "I'll leave when I want," Elijah sighs slowly, his hands clenching in frustration.

"Christian Salvatore, come here" Elijah says sternly in a very dominant voice, one of which Christian hasn't heard in a long time. He isn't proud of the way Elijah's tone affected him and he most certainly would never admit to it. "Now" He says slowly.

Christian sighs trying to ignore Elijah but the burning glare Elijah's sending to the side of his head makes it impossible. Katherine watches from the side, wondering who would give in first. Christian's the first to move.

The middle Salvatore moves from his spot onto the ground. He stands and brushes the dirt off of his clothes. His eyes glance towards Katherine before he moves towards Elijah. He keeps his eyes downcast as he exits the tomb.

"Christian," Elijah calls after him. "I want to talk to you,"

"Well, too bad, I have a boyfriend I need to get too" Christian says lifting his head after he passes Elijah.

"He can wait" Elijah states following after him.

"No, you can wait" Christian corrects. "You're no longer my first priority, Elijah, why don't you return to Klaus like the good lap dog you are" Christian spats. Elijah growls and speeds towards him. He grabs Christian by the shirt and slams him against a tree. "Get off of me!" Christian snaps fighting against him.

"Stop!" Elijah demands pinning Christian's hands above his head. With one large hand, Elijah manages to keep Christian's wrists secured to the tree while using his other hand to wrap around Christian's throat. "Stop, fighting" Elijah says just as demanding but not as loudly.

"Why are you here?" Christian growls hating himself for his eyes welling up with tears. "Why come back? After all these years..." Elijah visibly softens. He takes a small step back, releasing Christian.

"I didn't know you were here" Elijah tells him truthfully.

"But you have been looking for me, I know you have" Christian says angrily wiping his face. "Why?" He snapped.

"Klaus betrayed me, betrayed our family... I left him and when I did, the first thought that came to mind was finding you. I knew it would be a long shot but I had to try" Christian laughs painfully.

"Why? Why me?" Christian asks. "There's a lot of guys in the world that can be your little distraction" Christian spits. Shame fills Elijah as he's now the one who avoids eye contact. "Or am I now, after all these years, worthy of you!?!" Christian shouts shoving Elijah who willingly stumbles back. "I mean NOTHING to you, remember!?" Christian screams.

"If I didn't tell you those things, you would have been killed" Elijah tells him a few moments after Christian's last snap. "My brother is a jealous man, a controlling one... Somehow he found out about your existence and how much you mean to me" 

"We could have ran" Christian whispers. "We were together for 10 years, Elijah... You're telling me that your brother, the controlling one, just then found out about us?" Christian asks.

"My siblings and I swore an oath, always and forever," Elijah tells him. Christian rolls his eyes at the phrase having heard it multiple times before. "My brother was in danger, I needed to help him"

"I remember why we went to Germany, you don't need to talk to me as if I'm a child" Christian snapped. "We were there to warn him about your father," Elijah nods. "All you were supposed to do was warn him and return to me. Warn him and leave."

"I couldn't leave him," Elijah tells him. "My brother already had a plan in motion to kill you unless I cut things off and ran with him. Even if I left with you, Klaus would never stop until he found us and you were dead. He doesn't take betrayal lightly and me leaving with you would have been an act of betrayal in his eyes. I couldn't condemn you to his madness"

"You never even gave me that choice" Christian whispers. "You just left me, left me broken and wanting to die... You made me feel worthless, pathetic" Christian presses his lips and looks away from Elijah as more tears stream down his face.

"I regret a lot of things in my life, Christian... but leaving you will forever haunt me the most" Elijah confesses to him. He steps towards Christian but halts when Christian moves away. "I don't know if you'll ever forgive me but I love you-"

"Stop" Christian begs closing his eyes. "Please don't" He whispers. Elijah clenches his jaw. He looks away from Christian as tears of his own cloud his chocolate brown eyes.

"I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me" Elijah says gently. Christian refuses to say anything. Elijah's eyes look back to Christian. He silently pleads Christian to open his eyes, to spare him a glance but he never does. He opens his mouth to say something but he falls silent. Elijah closes his mouth and looks away. "I'm sorry" Elijah whispers. "You can never understand how sorry I am" Elijah finally tells him before speeding away.

Once Elijah disappeared Christian felt as if he could breath again. He draws in a shaky breath and staggers towards a nearby tree. He leans against it heavily feeling as if his legs were going to give out from under him.

"Damn you, Elijah" Christian whispers trying to compose himself. Christian doesn't know how long it takes before he pulls himself together. He cleans his face and takes a few more deep breaths before making his way towards the Gilbert residence. It had been almost three days since Christian was able to be with Jeremy.

"Chris" Jeremy's face lights up the moment he opens the door to see his boyfriend standing there. Christian grins as Jeremy practically tackles him with a hug. Christian buries his nose in Jeremy's hair. 

His eyes look into the house, all the way into the kitchen where Elena is. Elena stands there with a small smile. She wasn't Christian's biggest fan and Christian wasn't her's either. However, Elena knew how much Christian meant to Jeremy. She had asked Elijah to free Christian for her brother. She hated seeing how distraught Jeremy looked. He hardly got any sleep as he tried to find a way to free his boyfriend.

Elena spares him a small smile, almost as if offering a truce in the name of Jeremy Gilbert. Christian gives her a small nod of gratitude with sincerity in his eyes. They hold eye contact for another moment before Elena breaks it.

"I hope Katherine didn't give you too much trouble" Jeremy says pulling back. Christian doesn't answer him he simply connects their lips in a much needed and desired kiss. "I love you" Jeremy whispers rubbing Christian's chest.

"I love you, too" Christian whispers back praying Jeremy wouldn't notice how broken he felt. Praying he didn't notice how close he was to losing his mind. He hoped Jeremy would overlook the slight weaver in his voice and the redness in his eyes.

"Let's get some sleep, yeah?" Jeremy suggests chalking everything up to exhaustion. Christian smiles slightly and nods allowing Jeremy to lead Christian up to his room. They both climb out of their clothes before falling into bed. Christian instantly pulls Jeremy close to him. Jeremy smiles climbing on top of Christian, laying on his chest. "I missed you" 

"I missed you too, Angel" Christian whispers. Jeremy frowns his eyebrows and lifts his head.

"Angel?" Jeremy asks and Christian nods.

"My Angel" Christian whispers caressing his cheek. Jeremy slowly smiles. "Get some sleep, baby" Christian mutters kissing his forehead. "I'm not going anywhere"

"Good" Jeremy whispers resting his head back on Christian's chest. Christian sighs slowly and rubs Jeremy's back. He didn't fall asleep nearly as quickly as Jeremy. The teenage boy fell asleep in almost an instant but not Christian.

Christian's mind raced. He thought about Katherine, he thought about Elijah, he thought about Jeremy. Christian knows he loves Jeremy. However, Katherine's voice continues to plague his thoughts. Compared to him, Jeremy is an angel. He wonders if he's willing to risk turning Jeremy more like himself, taking away Jeremy's innocence just to be with him. Could Jeremy handle life with him? Christian wasn't sure.

Then his mind wonders to Elijah. Elijah confessed to not wanting to break up with him. Elijah confessed to still being in love with him. Christian didn't know what to believe. He didn't know if he could trust Elijah. 

He didn't know what to do.

In the morning, he wakes up with Jeremy still sleeping in his arms. Christian doesn't remember falling asleep but waking up with Jeremy is enough to put a smile on his face. He doesn't dare more out from under Jeremy. He watches him sleep not caring how creepy it might be, to Christian, it was comforting.

"Chris" Stefan says slowly opening the door to Jeremy's room. Christian looks from Jeremy to his brother. "I need to talk to you" Christian sighs but nods. He kisses Jeremy's forehead before reluctantly sliding out of bed. He pulls some clothes on before joining him and Elena in the kitchen downstairs.

"What is it?" Christian asks looking for some alcohol. "Shit, Elena, don't you have anything good?" Christian asks pulling out a bottle of gin.

"We're not here to drink, I have some questions for you" Stefan says. Christian rolls his eyes and grabs a glass.

"You may not need to drink but after the last few days I've had, I'm fucking having one" Christian grumbles filling the glass to the brim.

"What's an original vampire?" Stefan asks him.

"Elijah and his family are the first vampires ever created" Christian explains. "I want to say 10th century" Christian shrugs. "Somewhere around there"

"So, they're different than a regular vampire" Elena concludes.

"Very different" Christian states before gulping down his drink.

"Like a normal stake can't kill them" Stefan says. "You knew that, didn't you?"

"Of course, I knew, Stefan" Christian rolls his eyes. "Even if it didn't kill him, it still felt extremely good to stab the son of a bitch" Christian smirks. "I look forward to doing it again" He finishes the drink before pouring another.

"What else can they do?" Elena asks.

"Compel vampires" Christian brings up knowing they'd find out about it seeing that Katherine has been compelled.

"What else?" Stefan presses. Christian shrugs. "What does Klaus want with Elena?"

"You know, surprisingly enough, when Elijah and I were together, we didn't revolve our lives around a Katherine look-a-like" Christian whispers as if it were a secrete. "I didn't even know the names to Elijah's siblings until a few days before our trip to Germany to find Klaus, I don't know anything about what Klaus wants" Elena's shoulders sag and her face drops. "You may have a deal with Elijah but he is a ruthless man, don't piss him off" Christian warns.