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crimsonlyinglilly · 2 months ago

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DAY 2: holding back tears and Day 20: "I did good, Right?"

Day 2 and day 20 for @febuwhump

Saving Elijah - a The Originals/Saving Hope xover.

A short skip forward, Alex's turn and Luke gets to meet his final parent, Elijah/Joel are outnumbered.

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Alex swallowed around the lump in her throat and took a breath as she tried to accept it.

It was wrong.

Charlie had gone to take over for the sudden staff shortage but she knew he’d be back soon.

Maggie had left for the night after she asked and Luke was sleeping, she had needed time, even after being told, after telling Maggie the story and facing the fact she couldn’t make it sit right.

Joel couldn't be gone, couldn’t be past tense, how? How can someone so alive and bright vanish from the world in an instant.

She was familiar with death, she was a doctor, it was her job, she remembered her dad, the months waking for Charlie to wake up knowing the alternative, her own near miss, Luke but Joel didn’t fit on that list.

He was meant to be here confidence and a arm full of necessaries to hide his insecurity, but he wasn't

Joel couldn’t prove his father wrong the way she knew he could.

He never even got to meet their son, Luke was never going to get to know him.

She cleared her throat lightly trying to dislodge the object that wasn't really there without waking her baby.

She ignored the burning of her eyes, she wasn’t going to let the tears full, she had done too much of that on what should be the best day of her life.

A knock at her door pulled her from the spiraling thoughts and she smiled weakly as she found Charlie in the doorway, the smile dropped when she noticed something was wrong.

Charlie was smirking, a spark in his eyes which he hadn’t had since they heard the news, the weight she felt crushing her was gone from him.

“Hey great, you're alone.” Charlie grinned at her, after noticing Maggie’s absence, pausing on Luke’s cot before looking back at her and then to something outside the room with him.

“What?” she asked a flicker of anger and confusion making it’s way past grief, no matter the tensin between them Charlie would never celebrate any death, especially not Joel,they were friends even if neither would have admitted, they were far too similar to do that “Charlie? How can you-”

“It’s great” he cut her off, his grin dimming slightly as he caught her anger “you remembered because otherwise this would be really hard to explain.” Charlie continued suddenly before she could finish.

She blinked in surprise as she realised what he was referring to, it took her a moment to connect them before a flare of bittersweet hope flared up had Charlie found Joel’s ghost wandering the hallways, she might not be able to see him but a final message? maybe Joel could get to see Luke at least

Before she could ask him anything Charlie stepped into the room, he sighed before he stopped to learn back out and called softly with an eye roll “get in here, unless you want someone to see you.”

The words caused some confusion but the reply had her frozen.

“No- stop this- Charlie don’t.” a voice muttered, but the protest was weak and Alex felt her heart stop at it, because it couldn’t be but she watched as Charlie stuck an arm out and pulled another person in, shutting the door behind them and stepping away to pull down the blinds, something settled in her chest..

The person was nearly completely hidden by the hoodie he was wearing, hood pulled up. It was slightly too large but it was Charlie’s and Charlie had always been- was broader than- She knew whose voice that was, who had been missing from the room from her new family she decided she wanted the moment Luke was born.

Because Death was a risk, she was too familiar with and Luke would be better with three parents, but then Joel had proved it but-

“Alex,” Charlie smiled as he stepped away from the now closed blinds and nudged the silent person towards her, hunched over it made the height difference between the two of them greater than it was normal, his smile was softer but the light in his eyes was just as bright as it had been before they got the news that had darkened their day. “someone’s here to see you.”

“Come here,” she ordered in silence as the person refused to move and Charlie didn’t give them a choice as he pushed the figure to her.

The person was looking down leaving the hood to hang over most of his face, but she knew who it was and Charlie wouldn’t joke about this, she couldn’t control her hand as they reached up to pull the hood off.

Joel stared back at her, wide eyed and paler than normal but it was him, passionate and sweet and most importantly alive as she let go of the hood to cup his face.

“How?” she asked ignoring the roughness of her voice as she worded to hold back tears

“Joel’s a vampire.” Charlie piped up when Joel stared back at her stuck silent still

“What?” she demanded as she was forced to let go of Joel’s face as he reacted

“Charlie that‘s not-” Joel twisted to glare at him, however his sentences failed as her hands settled on her throat, her fingers moving to his pulse

“Joel, show her.” Charlie ordered

“No.” Joel argued and it was so strangely normal she wanted to laugh but she started counting as she found his pulse “I’m not a show dog Charlie.”

“You died.” she cut him off, as she noticed what was wrong with the pulse under her fingers, it was slow, far slower than normal, his skin was cooler than it should be to.

Vampire, she though with disbelief before she placed that in her mind to be questioned later, coma dreams and ghosts were real, why not Vampires.

Joel was here which took priority, for now.

“I did,” He said and she felt him wince, adding “several times now.”

She blinked as she noticed a shift in his accent, suddenly sharper than his normal drawl.

“What?” she asked

“It’s a long story.” New Zealand accent back and almost thicker than normal as he gave her a false smile, the one she knows was designed to shrug her off.

“Tell me.” she said, noticing even as she held him Joel kept his hands still at his side.

“You’ll be safer not knowing.” Joel refused, the stubborn expression he alway had when he was doing something he believed was for her own good on his face, normally it was annoying but after thinking she had lost it forever she wanted to kiss it away.

“Joel’s possessing the body of an ancient viking vampire,” Charlie answered in his stead and the expression was replaced with shock “he was human and the vampire wasn’t awake until he got blow up and now he’s got two people in his head and a need for blood” Charlie shrugged,

“Charlie!” Joel choked as Alex replayed the sentence in her head to try and order it.

Joel was possessing someone, possession was possible, something than led to Joel doing it

Several times, he said he had died.

“We’re learnt not to keep secrets” Charlie shrugged stepping towards, “and you're now a part of that.”

Vampires are real, the stories she knew had someone die to become one.

Several times, he said he had died.

Her hands tightened on Joel, something he barely noticed as he argued with Charlie.

“This is far more than whatever you kept from one another.” Joel replied, she refused to cry at the return of his smug arrogance, something that had been missing and she never thought the idea of never having to deal with again would have hurt as much as it had.

He had been blown up like Zach had told them.

Several times, he said he had died.

“You're not a ghost?” she interrupted, asking to be sure.

It was Joel’s turn to blink in confusion

“A Ghost?” he asked, raising a brow.

“Yep but we’re dealing with you now, you can ask questions later, we’re first.” Charlie told him carefully leaning down to pick up Luke, Alex noticed the moment Joel noticed as he looked away from both of them and suddenly tried to lean away, forgetting her hands still held him.

She moved one hand to cup the back of his neck and the other to sit on his shoulder, so he wasn’t holding him by the throat but refused to let him go, he gave her a pleading look as he seemed to notice the same.

No, she had lost him- thought him dead, he wasn’t leaving her without her answers.

At all, she thought, she wasn’t going to let him return to his habit of running from things when they got too serious, especially not now, she had felt the wince at his admission of dying, of being blown up, the apathetic “several times now.” that had followed.

“ I told you I just need a few days and I’ll be out of your hair,” Joel told them while refusing to look at either of them and he ignored the way her nails may have bitten into his skin as she tightened her hold again at his words “it's far safer for you all, I’m a danger and if any of those from my past come looking i can’t-”

“The vampires you're running from?” Charlie asked.

“It’s complicated.” Joel sighed but Alex had something far more important than her curiosity.

“You're not leaving.” She told him, moving the hand on his shoulder to his face to force him to look at her.

“Alex-” he started

“I thought you died and now you're here and want to leave.” she hissed trying to convey how much it had hurt to have lost him though her eyes, the tremors in her hand on his face must have shown something as he came up to cover it. “That’s not happening.” she explained

“Alex,” he repeated, his voice cracking as he gave up on holding himself back “you don’t understand-”

“Then you’ll explain it to us and we’ll get through it together.” she cut him off

“Luke deserves the three of us.” Charlie added, join them by sitting on the bed Luke swaddled in the middle of them, where he belonged she smiled

“You named him Luke.” Joel asked, still persistently looking away from their bundle of joy.

The off accent was stronger in his voice and she recognised the pain in his eyes, the same as hers when she had named her son after the uncle he’d never get to meet and she realised he was holding back tears on his own.

Charlie held out Luke and Alex let go of him as she saw the exalt moment Joel lost his battle against them, as his strength in his plans he had to leave vanished as he looked at the tiny new life placed into his arms.

He was barely breathing as he stared, he didn’t seem to notice as Charlie stood from the bed and moved to the chair Maggie had sat in.

“Now you want to leave him?” she asked, refusing to weaken as Joel shuddered

“I have to,” he choked and she realised Joel’s new zealand accent was completely gone, she listened closer to pick up a place but it was a strange mix of nothing, upper class but not quite British or American “I failed my siblings over and over.” he explained still unable to look from Luke’s face, she met Charlie’s eyes and he carried the chair over to them, he looked unsurprised so he knew about this.

She took a slow breath as she realised this was the ancient vampire Charlie spoke of as she knew Joel was an only child, her newborn baby was in the arms of an ancient vampire but the fear she should have felt vanished just as all she saw was love and longing in the eyes looking down at Luke.

Ancient Vampire was a part of Joel now, she nodded to herself as she accepted it, she wanted Joel to be a part of this, Charlie seemed to agree Luke deserved him since he had brought him here.

“The best thing I've done for my niece was wipe my memory and stay as far from her and her mother,” the Ancient Vampire explained but even with the agony in his voice he kept the volume down to not upset Luke “He deserves better.”

“He deserves you to be a part of his life.”

“Oh.” came the awed and pained sound as Luke opened his eyes to meet the pair holding him, “The best thing would have been for him to be yours.”

She flinched as the meaning of the words hit her as did Charlie from where he had placed the chair besides the bed.

“You know already?” Charlie asked for a moment she thought he was reaching out to take Luke but he placed his hands on the other’s shoulders and gently moved him to sit in the chair.

“I’m old” she watched as he looked at Charlie apologetically and swallowed, “and he’ll be a powerful witch once he comes into his powers, firstborns of my family are,” he paused before shaking his head, “I’ll ensure you have all you’ll need-”

“What we need is you.” she corrected already seeing where he was going, she bit back a comment about the similarities of the offer to Joel’s father as this was clearly not Joel speaking.

“The best thing for him is to be surrounded by people who love him and that includes you. Both of you.” she added

He stared at her with wide eyes.

“Can you really leave him?” Charlie questioned, clearly the discussion about Luke’s parentage and what raising a witch would involve hadn’t changed his mind.

She loved him the moment he put his mind to something he was determined, although she would be asking when he had chosen that included Joel and the ancient vampire he was possessing.

Think about that later, Alex, she told herself.

“I have to.” they were told but unlike before the words were empty, she almost felt bad as he looked from her to Charlie and back to Luke with almost helplessness.

“Does Joel want to leave him?” she asked instead, because she wouldn’t let up until she was sure he wouldn’t vanish from her life again.

“No.” the reply quick and sharp even as the gentle hold never changed, the eyes that met hers had all the fire she knew from Joel.

“Does Elijah want to?” Charlie added, giving Alex the name of the ancient vampire they were going to apparently be raising a child with, it didn’t seem that ancient or fearsome.

“No.” came quieter and aching

“Will he be safer here?” she asked softly moving a hand to set on Elijah’s shoulder, that was going to take time getting used to

“Yes, of course.”

“And we’ll be safer with all of the facts?” Charlie asked, waiting until he got a nod before adding, “Facts that you know, making you the best person to be with is.”

“Yes.” came the heavy admission and she saw he finally fully gave him the fragile wall of distance evaporating in the the tiniest shift as he cradled Luke closer to his chest.

“Great, now that’s settled.” Charlie announced to the room, and leaned over to kiss her. “I’ve got to go and get his magic ring.” he explained to her, “Joel Stay!”

“Not a dog.” Joel muttered but was once again lost in studying Luke’s face, a feeling she understood.

“Sad puppy eyes say something different.” Charlie teased as he left.

“What!” Joel looked up as the words registered, a mix of offence and embarrassment on his face, “Charlie-” he called only to be met by the closed door.

Jole looked away from the door and back at the baby, she studied him and found herself holding back tears again, he was still paler than normal and in Charlie’s hoodie he looked small but it was more than that, she knew Joel, far better than she thinks he likes because even under his bravo she could see he was shaken, lost and Luke was the only thing helping him stay afloat.

Joel’s possessing the body of an ancient viking vampire, Charlie had said but he had been human, he couldn’t known he was possessing anyone, she had an idea what he was like to suddenly lose what she thought she knew.

“We’ve all had a sudden change,” she told him, reaching out again to lay her hand on his cheek.

She had remembered; Ghosts were real, Luke was here, Joel was gone then not, Vampire and Witches were real and Joel and Luke were a part of it, but all of that could be faced another day.

Luke was here and he would have all of them, that was the most important parts.

“I’m not letting you go through it alone.” she finished once she was sure he was focused on her.

“And here,” He replied with a smirk smirk “I thought i was going to be saying that to you.”

“I did good, right?” she asked, attempting to bring some lightness back into the room.

Joel grinned at her, it was shakier than normal but that was understandable.

“Brilliantly as expected, Dr Reid!” he told her, “and a far better day than me.”

They both ignored the warm tears that spilled.

#febuwhump #febuwhump2025 #febuwhumpday2 #Febuwhumpday20 #elijah mikaelson #fanfiction #the originals #the vampire diaries #fic #tvd fanfiction #the originals Xover #Saving Hope Xover #Joel Goran #Charlie Harris #Alex Reid #AU- Saving Elijah

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