Being A Family

Summary: Elijah comes to speak to Rebekah outside of Mystic Falls. Rebekah finally releases some of the anger she feels, not only towards her older brother, but every person who has turned against her or used her in her life
Warning(s): Spanking; spoilers for Vampire Diaries up to about season three; AU; some violence
Author's Note: This takes place in season three of Vampire Diaries, shortly before Esther takes over Rebekah's body.
Er... this was more emotional than I'd intended it to be. Also might be kind of OOC. Fair warning

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Rebekah had very quickly decided that she couldn't just stay with Niklaus and pretend that everything was fine. There were times when her older brother scared her, but he was also the only one who seemed to want her around... at least, he had for some of the time. But he was distant, interested in a vampire who was still merely a child.

Perhaps, if Elijah was around, things would be different. But Rebekah was unhappy - a feeling that only grew after their own mother had tried to kill them. And then, of course, Finn had been killed too.

He might have hated what they were, but Finn had still been her brother.

Rebekah stood outside the boundaries of Mystic Falls, twisting her ring on her finger. For the first time in centuries, she thought about how easy it would be to tear her ring off and throw it away - too fast for even a vampire to find it. How long would it take for her to burn up? Minutes? Seconds? Would she feel anything, or would it happen so fast, she wouldn't have a chance even to scream?

If Rebekah was truly honest with herself, she had to admit that she didn't want to die until she'd been able to go after Elena. She'd never particularly felt any hostility towards Tatia - and, in fact, had been upset when she'd discovered it was Tatia's blood that had been used in the spell to turn her and her family into vampires. She had no idea what had happened to Tatia. After becoming a vampire, she had never seen the human around... or Tatia's child.

But then there was Katherine. And now Elena. Rebekah had never tended to hold grudges before she'd become a vampire and she felt that they'd all changed. Perhaps, as humans believed, they'd really lost their humanity. It was certainly true that Elijah was the only one who'd stayed similar to his personality before. He was still honourable and still cared about his family.

But even Elijah would still be called a monster by humans now. And Rebekah wasn't sure he really liked any of them very much, even though she knew he loved them.

Rebekah abruptly realised she wasn't alone. She turned round slowly and locked gazes with Elijah, who was standing only a short distance behind her. She viciously forced down the happiness and relief that spiked when she saw him and carefully controlled her face so that she looked only mildly curious. "I thought you'd left."

"I did - for a short while. But I'm concerned about you, Rebekah." Elijah stepped closer to her.

Rebekah automatically took a step back. "Concerned? You have a strange way of showing that, brother." She should have been able to switch her emotions off with very little trouble. It was a trick all vampires could develop if they chose. And she'd been able to hide her true feelings about things from anyone - even herself - for a very long time.

But even if he hadn't intended to abandon them, Elijah had still left. He might not have agreed with what they were doing, but he hadn't fulfilled the role he had always taken on for them. For her whole life, Rebekah had been able to count on two people - Elijah and Nik.

And now, they'd both abandoned her. And as much as Rebekah wished she couldn't care... she did.

"I'm sorry, Rebekah, but I cannot refuse to admit that Finn was right. I would never try to harm any of you, but it is true that we have all given in to our darker natures," Elijah said softly. "We are unnatural. If we weren't, the sun would not burn us if we walked under it unprotected."

Rebekah took a deep breath, choosing not to whine - like a child - that they hadn't chosen this fate for themselves. If their father had asked them if they wanted to follow this path, knowing what their future would be, would they have said yes?

There wasn't any point in thinking about the past. Rebekah pulled her thoughts away from that time. "Maybe so, but Finn is dead." She said it deliberately, trying to hurt him, but when Elijah flinched, she didn't feel the satisfaction she'd thought she would.

Elijah recovered quickly and locked eyes with her. "I will not lose another member of my family."

"I'm going back into the town." Rebekah started past Elijah.

"Do you really want to do that?"

Rebekah turned round and looked at Elijah. "Do what?"

"Do you really want to go back to Niklaus?"

"Nik might have staked me, but at least he's always been honest. I think I prefer his brand of treachery to yours."

If her words hurt him, Elijah didn't show it. "I never wished to abandon you, Rebekah."

"Are you going to try apologising to me? I'm far past the point where I have to listen to you, big brother. You forfeited that when you did abandon me!" Rebekah's voice rose, despite her best efforts to control it... to control herself. "Father, Klaus, Mother, you... how many times do I need to be betrayed by my family before I stop returning like a dog who's been beaten so many times, she knows nothing else?" She'd never intended to release that pain and she was dismayed to realise just how close to tears she was.

"Rebekah... I am truly sorry."

Rebekah didn't have to look at Elijah's face to know he meant it. But that didn't help. "Every time I've chosen to trust someone, it's turned out to be a mistake. Maybe it's not even our fault. Maybe vampires and humans are flawed. Betrayal is in our nature, no matter what form we wear."

Elijah stepped forward, reaching one hand out to brush a lock of hair from Rebekah's face. "I wish you could see that I never intended to hurt you."

Rebekah jerked backwards, unwilling to let herself be vulnerable in front of Elijah. "Intentions don't mean anything - only actions."

"I love you."

"No, you don't!" Rebekah's voice cracked out like a whip. "Maybe you did, once... a long time ago... but not anymore. You walked out on us! You left us!" She folded abruptly, her legs refusing to support her, only to find herself caught tightly by Elijah. She looked into his face, catching a glimpse of the brother she'd known once before... the older brother, who had taken care of her and the rest of their brothers. "Why?" she whispered brokenly.

"It was a mistake."

Rebekah laughed bitterly. "So you do make mistakes. I had wondered."

"I'm not perfect, Rebekah. I have made mistakes... and plenty of them." Elijah's arms tightened around her. "I still love you. I still love our brothers. I'm here now - and I won't be leaving you again."

"I don't think I can trust that."

"I know. It will take you a while to believe that." Elijah paused and then spoke softly into her ear. "You could have got yourself seriously hurt when you burned the white ash tree."

"Don't be ridiculous," Rebekah replied. "I was careful with the fire."

"That's not what I'm talking about. The Salvatore brothers are dangerous... resourceful... unpredictable. You have been staked so many times before. The next time, you may not be fortunate enough to be revived."

Deciding that she didn't like the way this was going, Rebekah tried to pull herself free of Elijah, only to find that his grip was like iron. She was helpless to prevent him from leading her over to one of the trees and propping one leg up, draping her easily over it.

This wasn't the first time Rebekah had found herself in this position, but it hadn't been for centuries. Alarmed, she started trying to push herself away from the tree, bracing her hand on the trunk. It had never worked before, but that didn't stop her trying to get enough leverage to get away from him.

The first hard slap to her bottom stilled Rebekah's struggles temporarily, only to start up again as the second swat landed in the exact same place. "Let me up!" she hissed.

The only response were the hard, sharp swats that Elijah peppered all over her bottom and thighs, each swat landing in a new place so that Rebekah couldn't predict where the next swat would fall. The position made moving too much impossible, but she certainly tried to swing herself out of the way of the sharp swats. Unfortunately, she could only swing herself forward, an action that exposed the creases between her bottom and thighs - a position that Elijah immediately took advantage of.

Rebekah bit her lip, hard enough to draw blood, as her brother set about heating up her sit spots. It only took a few swats on either side to set her shifting her weight as much as possible, feeling almost like her bottom was going up in flames in a similar way to how the tree had burned.

Elijah never lectured during a spanking. He let his hand - or whatever he was using - speak for him. This time was no different, but Rebekah was aware of her brother's body against hers, perhaps the closest they had ever been in the long centuries.

Rebekah didn't realise she was crying until she felt the tears trickling down her cheeks. Her struggles stilled as she sobbed, crying more from the stress she'd been under than from the pain of the spanking - no matter how much that had hurt.

A few seconds later, Rebekah found herself on the ground, all but sitting on Elijah's lap, with his arms wrapped around her as he cradled her against his chest. She couldn't quite bring herself to pull away and leaned her head against his shoulder, clinging on tightly.

Someone was speaking in soft, pleading tones and Rebekah was startled to realise it was her, saying one sentence over and over again: "Please don't leave me again."

And Elijah's arms tightened around her as he responded. "I will never leave you again."

The End