𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍:
People are complex
(S2:E12 — The descent)

"WELL, THAT IS NOT WHAT I WAS HOPING TO DO SO EARLY IN THE MORNING." Genesis purses her lips to do the side, putting her hands on her hip, looking at an unconscious Rose on the ground.

Genesis decided to check on Rose, so she drove to the Salvatore house, and when she heard the commotion upstairs, she sped up and saw Rose had Elena against the wall.

The hallucination must have begun. And Elena being around Rose while it's happening is not safe for the miss-goody-two-shoes.

"I don't know what just happened—" Elena stutters as she shakes her head while saying her sentence with furrowed brows.

"It's the effects of the bite. Hallucinations have set in." Genesis explains with a shrug as she carries Rose into her arms.

"Where are you taking her?" Elena asks, following Genesis in the hallway.

"To my house. I will take care of her because I am much more capable." Genesis tells Elena with a bored tone, stopping as she looks behind her shoulder, "And being Katherine's doppelgänger and babysitting a vampire who's hallucinating is not good as far as Rose knows. Your face betrayed her and Trevor." Elena stays silent as she watches Genesis walk up the front door.

Genesis opens the backseat and gently places Rose. She sits in the driver's seat and starts the engine, and heads towards her house.

She carries Rose and walks down on the basement—which doesn't exactly look like a typical murder basement because it is neat and the walls are painted. She opens the metal door, and places Rose on the bed.

While Genesis waited for Rose to wake up, she headed to the freezer where the blood bags Niklaus supplied her with were.

She grabs one and lets the lid slam shut, and she opens the white cabinet where the glasses she used for the alcohol are—she keeps her most expensive alcohol in the basement.

Pouring the blood on the glass, she returns to Rose's temporary confinement room and places the glass on the bedside table.

She hears the door ring and heads up to the living room, and walking towards the door, and she looks at the peephole.

A grin forms on her plump red lips, and she opens the door, and she crosses her arms, leaning on the door frame, looking at Elijah with a tilted head and a smile on her face.

"To what do I owe the visit?"

Elijah warmly smiles, amusement in his feature, "I was told serenading isn't the traditional way of courting a woman in this century."

Genesis chuckles as she raises an eyebrow. "Isn't serenading consist of instruments and romantic songs." And he didn't have anything on his hand except his left hand is at his back, hiding something.

"I am lacking of the talent to sing, but I do hope—" Elijah says as he reveals to her the bouquet of flowers he was hiding, a dried lavender bouquet with larkspur, thistle, and baby's breath, "A bouquet of dried lavenders would suffice."

Genesis beams, taking the bouquet excitedly from his hand, and examines the dried flowers, "It shall suffice." She teasingly says, her teasing expression melts as her eyes soften, a genuine smile on her lips, "Thank you, Elijah."

Then Genesis felt eyes watching, and she knew Elijah felt it too. So she gave him a subtle shake of her head and a knowing look, and Elijah responded with a chuckle.

"You're welcome," Elijah replies with a curt nod. And Genesis let her eyes slip to his frame. He's wearing a suit, per usual, a black suit with a white collared shirt, no tie, and the two buttons are unbuttoned.

Elijah always looks handsome in a suit.

"And it slipped my mind that I haven't invited you to my house. So, please do come in, Elijah." She steps aside as Elijah chuckles, shaking his head, entering the house while Genesis places the dried flowers in an empty glass vase. Putting it on the center of her coffee table in the living room where Elijah is sitting on her coach.

"Good thing dried flowers can last at least a year." Genesis tells him, "Better than fresh flowers that only last in two weeks or so."

Then she looks at him with furrowed brows, "How did you know that lavenders are my favorite?"

Elijah gives her a small smile.

Because her scent lingered in his suit and the smell of lavender was refreshed in his mind that he couldn't get enough of it.

"Your perfume. I noticed it was lavender and honey."

Genesis hides the blush she feels rushing in her cheeks as she turns around and strolls towards the kitchen, saying, "Dior did customize the perfume that I'm using. It's my signature scent." She returns to the living room with a mug of hot espresso, placing it on the coffee table in front of him.

"I'm glad you like my perfume."

Like doesn't even begin to describe how much Elijah loves the way Genesis's scent is.

It's as if a boost of serotonin for him whenever lavender and honey lingered in the air. He was addicted to it—to her. Everything about her made him an eager man.

Elijah smiles as he changes the topic of conversation before he gets further distracted.

He takes two vials of blood from his coat pocket, showing them to Genesis. "Niklaus sent this to me earlier. He said that you needed it." He hands the vials to her, and Genesis nods.

"Rose is in my basement right now. She was bit during the full moon, and I want to heal her." Genesis informs him, continuing, "And I also plan on telling her why we're in Mystic Falls in the first place."

Elijah nods thoughtfully and says, "I should take my leave then. I'm assuming Rose will be quite terrified when she sees me."

Genesis winces slightly. She had forgotten that Elijah had killed Trevor. "It's best if we give her some time to adjust." and Elijah was about to stand up, and Genesis quickly said, "You haven't drank your coffee. Why not stay for a while? Until Rose wakes up."

Elijah nods, sitting back down, taking the mug in his hand, bringing it to his lips, and taking a sip of espresso.

Genesis then walks back to the kitchen and places the two vials on the fridge, returning to the living room and with Elijah removing his coat, folding the sleeves of his shirt to his elbow, highlighting his forearms.

Genesis shrugs off the inappropriate thoughts, and she sits beside him.

"I'm assuming from the ring on your finger that Mr. Mikaelson is off the market?" Genesis asks, her eyes pointing to the silver band on his left ring finger, a silver band with the smallest piece of emerald in the center of the band.

She couldn't believe that Elijah was planning on asking her out on a date when he had someone already—that was unexpected and slightly disappointing. She had to place her interest on somewhere else now, she always gets what she wants, but she draws the line when a man is promised to another. She does not stoop that low.

But she felt a surge of jealousy.

Elijah repeatedly swore himself in his mind, silently panicking. He forgot to remove the ring when he came here, the band on his finger felt natural to him—he rarely removes it. He reminded himself when Genesis and he 'first' met in the cafe about two weeks ago that he needed to remove it, but he forgot to remove it today.

He comes up with an excuse as he clears out his throat, "My sister, Rebekah, gave it to me during the 18th century–" Elijah removes the ring and places it on his right pointing finger. Genesis watched the action, feeling relieved, "She insisted that I wear such a sentimental gift from her."

"How sweet," Genesis tells him, smiling, "I didn't know that you like emeralds." she glances at her ring finger where her emerald ring resided—it was a ring she had bought recently and spelled it, becoming a daylight ring.

"Emerald does represent finding balance and harmony, even providing wisdom and patience—which in my opinion, is much needed if you have a family like mine." Elijah chuckles lightly, and Genesis laughs, and Elijah's features brighten at the sound of her laugh, "The color green, in general, signifies abundance and prosperity."

"Well, I like emeralds because it's beautiful," Genesis teases, and her tone softens, "My mother after we received a huge sum of money, gifted me my first set of emerald jewelry." She recalls with a small smile as she fumbles with her daylight ring.

Elijah stays silent, looking at her intently, his attention all on her.

"My mother was never vocal about her support—in a way, she gifted me the jewelry when I debuted as a courtesan back in the 14th century." Genesis brought a small pillow to her chest, hugging it. Her voice is now soft and vulnerable. "And I can feel–I can see it in her eyes how happy she was that she finally bought me something after years of living without anything that we can call ours."

A soft calloused hand rests on her thigh, thumb rubbing gently in a circular motion, "I'm sure your mother would be proud of the woman you've become." Elijah tells her, and a snort erupts from Genesis's lips as she leans on his shoulder.

"My mother would have been disappointed in me. If she were here now, my ears would have gotten numb because of her scolding." Genesis rolls her eyes as she remembers her mother's voice. It was echoing in her mind.

"I wasn't exactly the daughter who did good deeds. It took her some time to come peace with the fact that I was a courtesan."

"Being a courtesan isn't exactly confined only to pleasure and sex." Elijah starts as he tilts his head slightly, looking at her, "From what I have known. Courtesans are the most knowledgeable women in the world from the 13th century to the 16th century."

Genesis releases a disappointing sigh, "Well, when you look it up on the internet, a courtesan is a prostitute with a courtly, wealthy, or upper hand class clientele and kept as a mistress."

Genesis rolls her eyes, "They are correct, but who are they to judge? Life was hard back then, and us women had to work to serve something at the dining table."

She felt Elijah nod subtly in agreement. "The stigma when it comes to many things really is a difficult battle, and people don't always have an open mind. They internally refuse to learn. People are complex, but it isn't difficult to stand firm on what you believe in—what you believe in reflects in your morals and the life you live as a person."

Genesis gives him an impressed look as she turns her head, facing him, faces away from each other, "You couldn't have said it any better."

Elijah's eyes flicked to her lips, and her breath hitched, blinking rapidly as Elijah slowly leaned in.

A hand went to her waist, and Genesis softly closed her eyes shut as she felt him inches away from her lips, and then they heard a loud gasp from the basement.

Genesis pulls away, removing herself from his hold as she quickly stands up, and Elijah shrugs his shoulders, back straightening. He fixes the collar of his shirt. "I should get to Rose," Genesis tells him, and Elijah gives her a curt nod as he stands up, takes his coat, and folds it to his arms.

"Of course," Elijah says, hiding the disappointment on his face as Genesis guides him to the front door.

She opens the door as Elijah steps out, "Thank you again. For the flowers." Genesis says, and Elijah gives her a smile.

"You're welcome, Genesis," Elijah replies huskily, and Genesis closes the door shut as she hears Elijah speed away. She leans on the door, and she releases a long breath.

Did that just happen?

Yes. Yes, it did.

They almost kissed.

Genesis smiles, a dreamy sigh escaping her lips as she walks towards the kitchen, takes the vial of Niklaus's blood, and heads to the basement. Opening the metal door, Rose's head snaps towards her, confused and breathing heavily.

"Genesis?"

"Rose," Genesis says, entering the room and closing the door behind her as she sits on the foot of the bed.

"What–Elena—" Rose stutters out, and Genesis places a hand on top of her hand.

"Elena's fine. You're fine." Genesis tells her, tone gentle and welcoming, and Rose nods thoughtfully.

"Where am I?" Rose asks, looking around the beige-painted walls and examining the room. It didn't look like a cell.

"In my basement."

"This—" Rose points at the wooden flooring and to the potted plant on each corner of the room, "Is a basement?"

Genesis chuckles, "Well, part of it. This is a cell."

"It doesn't look like it."

Genesis laughs, shaking her head, "I have a cure for the werewolf bite." she opens her palm, revealing the small vial of blood, and Rose looks at it and then at her.

"Where did you get it?"

"Nothing you need to know. All you have to do is drink it and heal yourself."

Rose blinks rapidly as she slowly takes the vial from Genesis's palm. She takes the cork off, and she looks at Genesis while the latter just nods with a smile. Rose then drinks the blood, empties the vial, and instantly feels the bite healing.

Genesis stands up from her seat and walks behind her, looking at her back as the wound from the bite disappears entirely as if she wasn't bitten at all, and the color of Rose's skin returns to normal.

"It worked." Rose releases a relieved laugh as she looks behind her shoulder, and then she wraps her arms around Genesis's waist, hugging her tightly as Genesis patted her back. "Thank you, thank you, Gen."

Genesis then gently removes Rose's arms as she sits in front of her, then removes the black onyx ring on her finger, taking Rose's hand and placing it on her palm. "I think it's an overdue necessity."

Rose started to tear up, eyes welling in tears as she examined the ring, gaping, "A daylight ring, and it's beautiful." she slipped it onto her ring finger, and she looked at her hand with a bright smile.

"I can finally walk outside—during the day."

"Yes. You can." Genesis muses, and Rose grabs her hand, squeezing lightly.

"I—I can repay you, anything that you want," Rose says as if in a hurry. Genesis shakes her head, and Rose repeats, "Anything."

Genesis looks at her and says, "Your loyalty, Rose. I want your loyalty."

Rose furrows her eyebrows and nods, "Of course, I already consider you as a friend."

Genesis then smiles at her, "Listen to what I'm about to say, and with an open mind."

Rose slowly nods as she listens intently.

And Genesis told her everything. About being with Niklaus since 1987 and accompanying him ever since, and that she's in Mystic Falls because she's helping him break his curse—the sun and moon, and that the curse isn't exactly as they thought it is.

That Elijah is also helping his brother break the curse, and they've been working together since he arrived two weeks ago, and that they've been keeping Elena safe—but not from Niklaus but for the sacrifice they needed Elena alive.

She also told her that Niklaus had never hunted them since Trevor betrayed him and that he only played what he's good at–his mind games.

Genesis waited for Rose to digest the information she had just revealed to her, and then Rose nodded thoughtfully–pondering, Genesis pursed her lips, staying silent—a drop of hesitancy entered her mind until Rose said.

"I'll help you." Rose firmly says, "You're the only person who actually treated me with kindness since I arrived here." Rose smiles at her, "Trevor made a mistake of his own, and I was dragged into running for five centuries, in return, not living my life—never deciding for myself but all for him."

Rose then places a hand on top of Genesis's hand, "And you've given me another chance. I owe you my gratitude."

"You don't owe me anything, Rose. If you hadn't agreed, I would have told Elijah to compel you and forget anything that I just told you." Genesis shakes her head as Rose chuckles.

"Well, I'm in this." Rose stands up, "And let's plot the ways we can keep Elena safe until we serve her on a silver platter for Klaus." Genesis stands up with her, a laugh escaping her lips, and they walk out of the basement.

"You know, whoever you keep captor in there is lucky. They have a nice cell—nicer than the places I stayed in." Rose compliments her basement as Genesis hands her a bottle of wine.

"Make them think that they're safe and watch the color drain in their face when all along—they're not." Genesis chuckles, and Rose opens the bottle with an excited laugh escaping her lips.

"To celebrating my second life!"

Author's Note:
— Yes! I let Rose live! You are welcome. <3