Elena wiped the last of the blood from her lips, then looked up at Elijah. He blinked and looked down at her, his face soft and she chewed on her lip, trying to figure out how to broach the subject without possibly hurting his feelings.

"What is it?" His brows furrowed.

"I, um," she paused, awkward.

"Elena, whatever it is, whatever you need, just say it and I'll do what I can to help."

"During my visit with my aunt, I realized that I needed a therapist of some sort and I was hoping you could recommend someone."

"Camille O'Connell," Elijah said automatically. "She's very competent, and knows of the supernatural."

"You've been planning this?"

"I knew there would be a time when you might get to this point and she's someone I know and trust."

"Oh."

"Do you want me to ask her to come around so you can meet her?"

Elena nodded once. "I'd like that."

"Tomorrow?" Elijah asked, drawing her close to his chest.

"I was hoping to see Caroline and Bonnie tomorrow, so maybe arrange for her to come over tonight? Or tomorrow night, if she can't do it tonight?"

"I can do that." He carded his fingers through her hair. "She's more than good, Elena. She's helped Niklaus where the rest of us failed."

"Are they together?"

"No. They flirted with the idea before she graduated, but they both realized that dating your therapist isn't a good idea."

"What was the biggest issue she helped you with?"

Elijah sighed. "If it wasn't for her, Niklaus might have never forgiven me for a betrayal I dealt him a few centuries ago."

"What did you do?"

"I accidentally compelled a girl he had feelings for to leave him."

"'Accidentally'?" Elena asked, confused.

"During our first century of this life, while we were still learning what it meant to be vampires, we encountered the de Martels. Aurora de Martel fell in love with Niklaus and he with her, but Mikael came and in my panic to separate them so we could run, I discovered compulsion. Aurora showed up a few decades after Freya rejoined us and if it hadn't been for my sister, Niklaus would have daggered me and left me in the coffin. Then a few years ago, Cami came along and helped us work through it, to help him see that I didn't do it to be cruel or to hurt him and she helped me forgive myself for the pain I dealt him."

"Sounds like a mess."

"It was."

"I wanna heal and it sounds like this woman can help."

"You will heal, Elena." He kissed the top of her head. "To fight against what was done, instead of lying down and giving up, that takes so much strength." He chuckled. "In my time as a human, I think you would have made one hell of a shield maiden."

"I don't like hurting people."

"But you do protect the people you love, even at your own expense."

"Just because I'm in pain doesn't mean I have the right to make the people around me hurt."

Elijah shifted so that he could pull his phone out of his pocket. Elena heard him type out a message, but she kept her eyes closed, enjoying the feel of his powerful arms around her, allowing his strength to flow through her, replenishing her.

His phone buzzed a few minutes later and Elijah said, "She'll come over about seven, if that's alright with you."

"That sounds good, at long as it's not putting her out."

"She'll be well-paid for it, as she always is when she helps us and she's our friend, so she's more than happy to do what she can, provided it doesn't go against her morals."

"She sounds like a great person." Elena sat up. "How much time do we have?"

"About half an hour."

"Okay, so I may as well get down there so I can get myself ready to meet her." Elena shifted and swung her legs over the side of the bed. "Can we meet in the courtyard? The weather's too nice to be inside."

"You can meet her wherever you like." Elijah placed his hand on her shoulder and rubbed his thumb in a small circle "We move at your pace, Elena. Whatever you're comfortable with, whatever you're ready for, that's what we do."

"Thank you."

Elena slid her shoes on.

"Shall we?" Elijah stood up.

Elena nodded once and left the room.

As she walked out the door, Elena froze. There, in the doorway to the outside, was a beautiful blonde girl Elena couldn't remember seeing before. Her green eyes flicked over Elena quickly, only mild curiosity in her gaze, then looked at Elijah.

"Cami, this is Elena Gilbert, Elena, Camille O'Connell."

"It's nice to meet you." Cami smiled. "I remember you from when you were skating."

"Oh."

"Not to worry, I'm not here to talk about that."

"Shall we sit?" Elijah gestured towards the array of chairs.

Elena hid behind Elijah as he led the way towards the chairs, but sneaked glances at Cami around his back. Cami, to her credit, didn't so much as peek at her.

They sat down and Elena folded her hands in her lap, staring at them, just for something to look at, other than the woman who was there to take her wounds and try to help her fix them.

"So, Elijah said you wanted to meet me to discuss you becoming a patient of mine."

"Yeah." Elena rubbed her thumbs against each other. "What do you know about what happened to me?"

"Only what I've heard, which isn't much, just gossip at the bar, which is all about that you're somehow pregnant and all the supernatural people in the world are freaking out about it."

"So no one really knows what happened to me?"

"Not from what I've heard, no." Cami shifted into a more comfortable position. "So, why don't you tell me what your goal is for meeting with me."

"I want to be able to leave the house without having an anxiety attack. I want to be able to meet new people, to exist, without being entirely dependent upon Elijah for everything." Elena glanced at the other vampire. "He's been nothing but kind to me and supportive, but I need to know who I am separate from him. Being co-dependent on someone else, anyone, no matter how good they've been to me, isn't how I want to spend my eternity."

"So we take it one step at a time, one day at a time," Cami said. "You've got the strongest support system of any family I've ever met and you seem to be a part of that now, considering how far they're willing to go to protect you."

"You've got your family now as well," Elijah commented. "Your aunt and biological mother are both vampires and your brother's girlfriend is a vampire, not to mention your best friends from your human life, one's a vampire, the other's a witch."

"And Enzo." She paused for a long moment, searching for the words. "It's hard to have him around right now though, because he was there. He knows, well, everything."

"Sometimes being near someone who witnessed us at a moment of trauma, it forces us to relive our pain and leave us feeling vulnerable," Cami said softly.

"He's my friend and I care about him, but sometimes, all I can think about is-" Elena sniffed.

"What they did to you."

Elena stared at the ground and nodded. "It makes me feel weak."

"You are not weak, Elena. You survived. I don't know what all they did to you, but I know you had to have been so strong to survive it."

"I'm not strong."

"You are, Elena," Elijah disagreed. "You went through hell and you're trying to heal. And that takes strength."

The baby kicked then and Elena cradled her belly. To her surprise, she felt a flutter against her palm.

"Elijah." She grabbed his hand and placed it over the spot where the baby kicked and smiled.

"Is that her?" Awe filled his voice and he looked at her, dark eyes wide.

"Yeah. It's her." She smiled and tears spilled down her cheeks.

Elijah wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer.

Sharing this moment with her daughter's father, his hands on her belly, cradling the tiny life that drew them together, it filled her chest with overwhelming joy, the sort she never thought she'd feel after so long in the lab.

"She's already so strong." He pressed a kiss against her temple. "Like her mother."

"I take it you're going to step in as the baby's father?" Cami asked, looking between them, brow raised.

"I couldn't ask for a better man to be her father." Elena pressed her face into his jacket. "He's so good with me, he'll be amazing with her."

"And to be given the gift of fatherhood so long after having it was taken away, is not something one I will walk away from."

"So you won't be alone raising the baby. That's good. Every mother needs a support system."

"What about you? What do you do? Do you have family in the area?" Elena shifted so that she was seated beside Elijah once more.

"I graduated with a doctorate in psychology. My family has lived in New Orleans for generations. My uncle is a priest at St. Anne's in the Quarter, and my twin brother, who was following in his footsteps was hexed and he killed himself a little over two years ago. Now, I'm therapist to the vampires, after mouthing off to Klaus in the bar I work at."

"So, you do know loss," Elena murmured. "Losing a twin can't be something you just get over."

"I take it day by day." Cami smiled sadly. "Grief, healing of any kind for that matter, it's not a linear process. I still have bad days, but they get further and further apart, so I can think and talk about him without it causing me to break down."

"My adoptive mother died, the day I turned. The last thing I saw before I woke up in the lab was her dead."

"You lost both parents that day. Your mother to the crash, and your father to the hell he put you through."

"Yeah." Elena shook her head. "You'd think it'd be easier to process, you know, since I have biological parents who love and accept me as I am."

"But they didn't raise you." Cami leaned forward. "You've had a lot of crap happen to you in three years, a lot of betrayal. It's shaken the foundations of your very self, and it's going to be a process, getting you where you want to be, but it's not impossible."

"If you can help the Mikaelsons, you can help me. I mean, they've got a thousand years of craziness to work through. I've only got three years."

"That's one way of looking at it. But pain is still pain. Just because someone endured it longer than you did, it doesn't make your trauma any less valid." Cami leaned back in her seat and crossed her legs. "You're not weak for reacting the way you did. You survived. You're here, and you're fighting to reclaim yourself. Now, the person you'll become after this, it won't be the human girl you remember being, but that's not the goal."

"So, what's the plan?"

"I plan on trying bring you to a place where you no longer feel broken by your past. You'll always have scars, but you won't feel like you're bleeding out on the inside. My plan to to help you stitch the wounds back together."

"I'd like that."

As they talked, Elena found the other woman easier to open up to than she'd anticipated. Unlike most of the people she'd seen since her rescue, Cami didn't stare at her like she'd sprouted horns. Instead she treated Elena like a person, and that was a novelty. After so many years in the spotlight, and then the lab, being seen as a person rather than an object, a means to an end, it made her throat tighten and she blinked back tears.

Elijah seemed to sense her distress and he drew her closer to him.

"Are you okay?" he murmured.

"I'm- I think I've pushed myself enough today."

"Alright. I trust you understand." Elijah glanced Cami.

"Okay. So, I'd recommend meeting with me three times a week to start. You and Elijah can figure out what days work best for you." Cami stood up. "My evenings are pretty flexible, so whenever is good for you."

"Thanks."

"Cutting this meeting short isn't a sign of weakness, you know. You agreed to meet with me. That's a huge step." Cami smiled. "I will see you when Elijah calls me."

Cami left then and Elena stood up on shaky legs.

"Do you want me to help you upstairs?" Elijah asked, his hand on her elbow.

"Don't carry me. Just walk with me."

"Of course, Elena."

They walked slowly towards the stairs. Elijah grabbed her elbow once when she started to sway, but other than that, he didn't help or impede her progress.

"Thank you." Elena paused when they reached her door.

"I want you to be happy and I will do everything I can to help you." Elijah kissed her forehead, then paused. He looked her in the eye, before his gaze fell to her lips. He blinked, then stepped back. "I think I should check on Niklaus. He's not used to me being so thoroughly otherwise occupied."

"Okay. Will you me when you get back?" She wanted nothing more than for him to come to her room, and maybe climb into bed with her, but existing separately from him meant that she didn't need him to be near her 24/7. He cared about her and loved the baby, so he'd come running if she needed him, so she could survive on a text until morning at least.

"Of course." He cupped her jaw and brushed his thumb over her cheek. "Sleep well."