The next morning, Elena found herself waking up sprawled across Elijah's chest.
"Good morning." He kissed the top of her head.
"What time is it?" Elena mumbled, rubbing her cheek against his shirt.
"Seven-thirty. I tried waking you up earlier, several times, but you just wouldn't allow it until just now."
"Seven-thirty. School. I need to get to school!" Elena sat up and ran for the bathroom. "Damn it!"
She barely had enough time to shower and as she rinsed off, Elena cursed herself for her inability to wake up earlier.
Darting into her bedroom, still clad only in her towel, she glanced over to find that Elijah had left, but there was a note on her pillow.
Unable to resist, she reached for it.
I hope you have a good day. I'm off to deal with the Phoenix stone and everything else involved. Text me if you need anything at all, no matter how trivial you may think it.
Elena smiled, then ran to the closet to dress.
"Elena!" Jeremy banged on the door.
"Just a second!" Elena twisted her hair up into a knot on the back of her head, then ran for her door. "Sorry I'm late."
"Elijah said you had a rough night and that he had to leave town for a few days, so you needed an escort for the parade." Jeremy shifted his backpack on his shoulder as they hurried down the stairs.
"Sorry I'm late this morning, but yeah. Something related to something I can't tell you about without ruining everything, it needs to be taken care of, now."
"Elena!" Jenna called from the kitchen. "There better not have been sex last night! I mean it!"
"I had a bad night, so he stayed, and the only things that came off were his jacket and belt and my shoes!" Elena shouted before opening the door.
"You seriously haven't had sex with him?" Jeremy asked as they headed towards the car.
"I promised Jenna before she knew the truth and she's hardcore about it now. And it really was a bad night. That's why he stayed over even though he knows Jenna doesn't approve of him spending the night. Because he was worried about me."
"Elena," Alaric called her name, just as she headed towards the door after class. "Remain behind for a moment. There's something about your last assignment that I think we need to discuss."
Confused, she waited. Then she noticed his face and just how drawn it was.
"Ric, is something wrong?" Elena asked, though she had a good idea what it was.
"Isobel, she's, I mean, I saw-" Alaric shook his head, unable to find the words
"I know Ric. It's okay, and for the record, Jenna knows about her and everything else and she's not angry with you since you can't file for a divorce from a technically dead woman, though she wishes you'd come clean on your own and she's expecting you to get into contact with her."
"Thanks." A little tension left his shoulders. "Anyway, Isobel told me to arrange a meeting with you."
Rage boiled through her and she snapped, "Tell Isobel that I said she can screw herself and that I have a message for Katherine."
"And what's that?"
"Game on." With that, she left the room.
Pulling out her phone, she texted Bonnie.
I think I just pissed off my vampire birth mother. So could you help me keep an eye on our friends? Between the two of us, we should be able to cover them at all times.
Sure thing.
Thank you so much.
It felt good, asking Bonnie for help, knowing she'd be right there, fighting along side her.
That afternoon, Elena found herself helping to put last minute touches on the Miss Mystic Falls float. The parade was the next day and Caroline was determined that it be the best float ever.
"Game on?" Isobel sneered.
Elena straightened up from where she had been securing a bit of decoration to the float and raised an eyebrow as she came face to face with her biological mother.
"Isobel." Elena crossed her arms. "I thought I made it clear that I don't want to meet you. I haven't been looking for you. I want nothing from you, feel free to leave."
"And I made it clear that I wanted to meet you."
"Why? Because you don't give a damn about anyone except yourself?" Elena looked away from the vampire in front of her and saw that one of Isobel's compelled minions was approaching Matt. "Oh, and call off your boy. If you don't, he's gonna end up with a broken arm."
"I broke Enzo's neck and I know Elijah's out of town. So I see no reason to do anything you say." Isobel smirked and then gave the man the signal.
As he moved to attack Matt, Elena flicked her fingers subtly and suddenly, the compelled man was on the ground, screaming, his arm at an awkward angle.
"How shocking. What I warned you of actually happened." Elena found herself channeling her own emotionless vampire state from her last time around in order to deal with Isobel.
Isobel looked from Elena to the man she was using to do her bidding, her expression shocked.
"You allowed a human to be hurt!"
"In war, there are casualties."
"How very Katherine of you."
"If I have to sacrifice a few to save the many, I will, even if I'm one of the few, which is the exact opposite of what the psychotic bitch you so admire would do."
"If you say so."
"I do say so." Catching Isobel's arm, Elena forced the woman to face her. "If I don't have the moonstone by the time the Founders' Day parade is over, consider the deal with Katherine off and if I hear the slightest whisper about you trying anything else against my family or friends, I will personally lock you in the tomb beneath the church and leave you to rot until you decide to turn your humanity back on. Oh, and let your little minions go. Now."
Elena released Isobel and, turning on her heel, she strode away, leaving the dumbstruck vampire with her mouth agape in her wake.
After a few minutes' search, Elena found Caroline.
"What's going on? Are you okay?" Caroline asked, concerned.
"I'm fine, but if you see anyone you don't recognize, anyone at all, you text me or Bonnie."
The urgency in Elena's voice had the blonde girl looking around in concern.
"It's alright, for now. I dealt with one of them, but just keep an eye out."
"Okay, I will."
Elena took a deep breath. She needed to do something and she wasn't looking forward to it. But it was necessary. Walking around the float, she found Stefan carrying just a bit more supplies than he should have been able to if he were a human of his size.
"I need to arrange a meeting with Damon. Meet me at my place this evening, both of you."
"Hello, Elena."
"Damon." Elena folded her hands behind her back, choosing to stand instead of taking the porch swing.
"Gonna invite me inside?" he smirked.
"No. I'm going to ask you to take responsibility for one of your creations. Isobel Flemming, my biological mother. She's causing problems and she's following your footsteps in flipping the switch." Elena's heart clenched. "She's my mother and yes, I want to get to know her, but you gave her a bad start and now she's become just like Katherine."
"Katherine?" Damon perked up, a hope so bright in his eyes that Elena's heart broke for him.
Why hadn't she seen just how badly the other woman with her face had messed him up? He didn't just love Katherine, she was his whole world. That's why he turned to Elena. Because Katherine turning her back on him had ripped apart everything he'd built his life around.
"They've been working together, for, something and giving me a major headache since they won't give me what I need to achieve my goal."
"Katherine's been around?" Damon's expression crumpled.
"She has. That manipulative slut." Elena sighed and shook her head. "Far be it from me to judge a woman for enjoying sex, but to use it to play with people's emotions and make them fall in love with her to get what she wants, and yes, I will judge her."
Damon raked his hands through his hair. "She never loved me, did she?"
"I don't think so, no. You were a kind, giving man and she took that, used it, because it gave her what she needed." Suddenly, an idea struck her. If he subconsciously saw her as an extension of Katherine, maybe she could set him free of her. "I'm so sorry this happened to you. You deserved so much more, as good of a man as you were as a human. You deserved a woman who loved you, wholly and completely. And while ou might not be able to go back to that exactly, you can become better than what she turned you into. You have people who love you and want you to be happy. Don't throw their love away because a woman who only cares about herself ripped your heart out. They truly care about you and want what's best for you, even Enzo, once he gets over you flipping the switch instead of saving him."
Damon hung his head and fought tears as he paced.
"Listen to me, very carefully, please."
Damon stopped and turned slightly towards her.
"Katherine saw your heart, that you would give any woman you fell in love with the world and you would be good to her. So she manipulated you, making you feel like she was your entire world, even though you knew she was messing with your brother at the same time. She used you for a place to live and as a plaything to assuage her boredom.
"But Damon, if you want Enzo to start forgiving you, if you want to start forgiving yourself and start fixing your mistakes. Just don't kill Isobel. She's my mother and I care about her. I just can't be the one to save her."
"Why do you care?" Damon challenged, his expression hard, defiant.
"Because, I think that somewhere, beneath this mask you've created, there's a good man, even after you did what you did to Caroline, I think that. Stefan loves you and believes in you and he saved my life, so I owe him and I don't think he'd believe something like that if there wasn't something good in you."
"So, you're trying to save my soul?"
"I'm trying to save your life. Elijah would like nothing more than to rip your heart out for your recent behavior, but he hasn't doesn't because I asked him not to. I won't repay the one who saved me from a watery grave by getting his brother killed."
"So, get Isobel to flip the switch and I'm forgiven?"
"Get her to flip the switch and I won't be quite so angry with you and it will go a long ways to prove to people that you're trying to change, and maybe Enzo will stop being such an ass to you."
"Maybe." Damon's expression softened, then twisted with guilt. "You know why he hates me, don't you?"
"I heard, yes."
"You think he'll ever forgive me?"
"He was abandoned by his sire, then by you. So I think you going back to your creation and helping her cope, and properly adjust to what she's done to herself, will go a long ways to proving that you are not like his sire. I can't forgive you for what you did to Caroline, but help my mother and I'll forgive you for what you did to her."
"Thank you, for, you know-" cutting himself off, Damon vanished into the night.
Stefan nodded once, his eyes soft, too soft for Elena's liking, then he too disappeared.