It Will Be Okay

Nadia's grimoire contained all sorts of spells and mixtures that Alex had never been seen before. Once she had opened it, she had been too absorbed in taking in all the information that she never heard James come back. He had been gone longer than he had expected.

James had pulled her out of her obsessive examination of her grandmother's grimoire. He smiled and asked, "What has you so interested?"

Alex returned his smile. She reached out to touch his cheek and felt her stomach drop when the familiar comfort that he normally provided her seemed to be missing. Their whole relationship, Alex had been able to simply touch James, whether it be a kiss or a light touch, she would feel safe and happy. But as she sat looking at him, she didn't feel that. It scared her to think about why that was.

"Elijah gave it to me," she said, "it belonged to my grandmother, Nadia."

James looked surprised. "Wow, how kind of him." He chuckled.

"What's funny?" she asked.

"I called a vampire kind, what is the world coming too?" He chuckled again and pulled the book from her grasp to examine it himself.

There had been a point where she would have agreed, vampires being kind, was never a sentence she believed could be true. But how else would she describe every interaction she had had with Elijah. He had been kind, gentle and reassuring. Elijah had helped her understand the truth about the death of the witch, it had only been days since the witch had died in the very living room she sat in, but she was in control of her feelings about it. That same night, James had attempted to comfort her, but Alex had pushed him away, not wanting him to touch her. It had been Elijah whose touch had brought her peace.

Her mouth fell open as it hit her. She liked Elijah. Somehow she had developed feelings for an original vampire in such a short time, and they were overpowering everything she felt for James.

Alex snapped her mouth shut as James looked up at her. She could see the love that he held for her shining back at her. Alex wanted to throw up, she was falling for a vampire of all things and betraying James.

She stood up and excused herself. She ran upstairs to escape James, looking at him was only making it worse. Alex just made it to the bathroom before she emptied her dinner into the toilet bowl.

A soft knock from behind the door made Alex groan. She couldn't face James.

"Alex, are you okay?" It wasn't James, but Elena who spoke.

"I'm fine," Alex moaned.

Elena let herself in and knelt down beside her. She pushed Alex's hair out of her face and felt her forehead. "Are you sick?"

"Only mentally." Alex sat back from the bowl and laid down on the cold tiles of the bathroom floor.

"I don't understand."

Alex wanted to explain. Elena of all people would understand falling for a vampire, but how was she supposed to justify it to herself. Alex had been taught that vampires were evil, unnatural and needed to be destroyed. The last five years had been all about upholding that value, but now all she felt was that she was betraying it, and everyone around her.

"Alex, talk to me." Elena squeezed her leg.

"I think I'm in love," she said. She cringed at the word love. The weird sensations and how her body reacted, it was more than simple attraction.

"I take it that you are speaking about James," Elena said.

Alex nodded. "I have somehow managed to fall for the one person I never expected. I am betraying every single cell inside me, but I can't stop it."

Elena frowned. "That sounds a little dramatic. But the heart wants what it wants."

"My heart can't want this, though." Alex sat up and pulled at her hair. "How can I have fallen in love with Elijah."

Elena's mouth fell open, and her eyes went wide.

"See, not even you can believe it. What is wrong with me?" Alex whined. She knew it sounded like a three-year-old throwing a temper tantrum, but she didn't care.

"How did this even happen?" asked Elena.

"I don't know. That is the thing."

"The other night, you ran off after the witch died," said Elena, "where did you go?"

Alex frowned. "Why?"

"Were you with Elijah?"

Alex nodded. "Yeah. I ended up at Wickery Bridge. He comforted me and helped me accept that I hadn't murderer the witch."

"And where did you take him today after we left you?"

"To the field past the cemetery."

"Our field? With the big tree?" asked Elena.

Alex nodded.

"You seem to be taking him to places that mean a great deal to you."

Alex frowned. "Not intentionally. The bridge was an accident and the field I didn't even really think about it. All we did was talk, and now my stomach turns into butterflies when he is close to me, I relax when he appears and—" Alex paused and tugged at her hair.

"And what?" pushed Elena.

"And I like how he smells," Alex groaned.

Elena smirked and held in a giggle.

"Shut up," snapped Alex.

"I'm sorry, but it is funny." Elena pulled Alex's hands out of her hair and squeezed them. "I know it's confusing. Your feelings towards the vampire race are clear, you don't like them, and I understand why. But not all vampires are like Katherine or Klaus. Some of them are good, like Stefan, and maybe Elijah is one of the good ones too."

Alex swallowed and sighed. "How do you ignore the fact that they have killed so many innocent people?"

Elena paused and smiled softly. "Everyone makes mistakes, but there is a reason that we can forgive and give second chances. Without second chances, we would all be hopeless."

Alex found herself unable to argue. Elena was right, everyone deserved second chances. Elijah had even said that her grandmother had believed that everyone deserved second chances, vampires, werewolves, witches and humans alike. It made Alex question the choices the Council had been making all these years, and it left her uneasy, but there was no running from the fact that her feelings had changed and overwhelmed her.

Alex stood up from the floor and took a deep breath. She could deal with this, she felt confident about that. But what about James? Sweet, loving and the best thing that had happened to her, James. He had done nothing but help her through, and now she had let her feelings betray him. "What do I do about James?" asked Alex.

Elena offered a smile and said, "You do what you think is right. If you believe that you love James and that Elijah is a passing fling then stay with him. But if your heart isn't in the relationship and you would be stringing him along, then end it."

Alex smiled and nodded. "You're right. When did you become so wise?"

Elena shrugged. "I have this awesome sister who always knows what to say. She taught me everything I know."

Alex chuckled. "Thank you." She hugged Elena.

"No problem, now. What happened with Elijah in the field?"

Elena and Alex moved from the bathroom to Elena's room to talk. She explained how Elijah didn't want to kill Klaus but simply stop him, how she came up with the idea to desiccate Klaus instead but didn't know who had done it, and how Elijah had given her Nadia's grimoire. The girls discussed options and Alex knew that she simply had to ask Mikael.

It took her a few minutes to pluck up the courage, their last meeting hadn't gone smoothly and she didn't know if Mikael was one to hold a grudge. Alex was surprised that he had answered and told her what she wanted to know. Abby Bennett was the witch who had trapped him in the tomb, none other than Bonnie's own mother. Mikael had ended the call with a threat stating that if they tried to lock him away, they would regret it, instead of explaining it was a plan for Klaus, Alex hung up the phone.

After a rough sleep, Alex and Elena drove over to Bonnie's house. Alex had managed to avoid talking to James about the following night and had asked him to go and check in with Sarah. She was the one keeping an eye on things in town and she hadn't been very talkative lately. Alex also wanted him to check in on Jenna and Jeremy.

They knocked on the front door and Alex was surprised when a man opened the door. He smiled at Elena. "Elena, how are you?"

Elena returned the smile. "Hi Mr Hopkins, is Bonnie here?"

He nodded. "Yeah, she is in her room. Come on in." He allowed the girls to enter and then asked, "Who is your friend?"

Alex held out her hand. "I'm Alex, Elena's older sister."

"Oh." He took Alex's outstretched hand and shook it. "Pleasure, I'm Bonnie's father, Rudy."

"Hey guys," said Bonnie. "What's going on?" She looked at them concerned. "Has something happened?"

"Is this more vampire business?" asked Rudy.

Bonnie frowned at him.

"No," said Alex. "This is witch business though."

"Are you a witch as well?" Rudy questioned.

Alex nodded. "That I am, I'm actually training Bonnie."

Rudy's smile turned into a frown. "So you are the one pulling her away from her studies."

Bonnie huffed. "Dad, stop it. Let's talk in my room." Bonnie grabbed Elena's hand and pulled her down the hall.

Rudy stopped Alex and said, "I have no issue with my daughter being a witch, but I do have an issue with her being dragged into supernatural business that she should be staying out of."

Alex pulled her arm from his hand. "Bonnie's business is supernatural. She is where she needs to be. Be happy that I am here to guide her and that she isn't alone." She walked down the hall and stepped into Bonnie's room.

Alex smiled when she saw sage burning in the corner. "Practicing your privacy spells?"

Bonnie smirked. "Defiantly. Ever since he got home, I have been burning it constantly." She dropped onto her bed. "So what's going on?"

"Alex has a plan to stop Klaus if Mikael and the stake fail," said Elena.

"You found a spell?" she asked.

Alex nodded. "Yes and no. Mikael was desiccated by a witch and locked in the tomb, unable to escape until I let him out."

"We want to do the same to Klaus. Desiccate him, locked him in a box and drop him at the bottom of the ocean," said Elena.

Alex frowned. "We didn't discuss that."

"I talked to Damon and Stefan, it was Damon's idea. We all agreed that it was best," said Elena.

Alex didn't like the fact that Elena had spoken to them without talking to her. Desiccating Klaus was the idea, but Alex knew that Elijah wouldn't want to drop him in the ocean. After all, he had said that Klaus needed to learn a lesson. In the future, Elijah would wish to reunite with his brother but she doubted it would be in any of their lifetimes. A week ago she would have agreed with the Salvatore's, drop him in the ocean, but now she couldn't say she was on board.

"Great plan," said Bonnie. "How do we do the spell?"

"That's the thing," said Elena. "Alex doesn't have the spell to do it, we need to speak to the witch who originally locked up Mikael."

"Okay, let's find her."

Elena cringed. "The witch was your mother."