Mother's Little Helper

About a mile past the property, the forest thins out into a suitable clearing. At least enough for their small group to gather more comfortably than if they'd stopped earlier. Sunlight shines through the treetops and Klaus can feel the calm activity of rodents scurrying underfoot and birds diving between the branches, trying their luck at catching flying insects. He's in tune with these activities the way dancers notice how people move or artists study the careful lines of a lover's face.

Benji leans against a tall pine, Meg at his side with her back against his arm. He playfully nudges her and although she doesn't smile back, she does glance up at him briefly before returning her attention to Klaus in the middle of the clearing. David sits on a rotting log, his legs pumping absently back and forth while he peels off sections of an orange, the juice dripping down his fingers to the dirt below. Tyler stands directly in front of him, shoulders squared back and his dark eyes following Klaus as he paces around the clearing.

"Why did you bring us out here, Klaus?" Tyler gives in, the silence finally getting to him.

Their sire smiles, pleased to have elicited their curiosity. "You know that we are relocating to New Orleans, for a rescue mission and to take over the city. Tyler, I need you to take a handful of the hybrids and go with Elijah tonight. I've selected apartments and homes around the city."

"You don't trust Elijah alone?" Meg doesn't talk much, but when she does, she reveals her depth of insight.

"No, neither Elena nor I do. Speaking of trust, Meg. Elena made it a point that she wanted you to go with the first wave." He hadn't understood her insistence on Meg until this moment and he's pleased with Elena's choice.

"Me? Why?" Her voice is low, raspy like she gets used to using it every time she speaks.

"She said she likes how you observe and trusts you to catch things the others might not." A bright flush creeps across Meg's face. Benji looks down at her, trying to catch her eye but Meg steadfastly stares at the ground. "Keep Elijah from doing anything irrational with the witches and keep a low profile until we get there."

When they leave in the caravan, Elijah seems flustered to be sharing a space with so many of the hybrids. Elena gives him a quick peck on the cheek and recoils quicker than she'd meant. They watch the cars drive off as the sun sets. Benji's normal jovial expression is muted as he watches Meg turn her truck onto the street and down the road. David gives the taller man a half-hearted pat on the back before he goes back to his tent.

Elena holds onto Klaus's hand while using her free arm to hug Kit to her side. She watches Elijah in the passenger seat of Tyler's truck, chewing on the inside of her cheek. "We should watch a movie tonight."

"It's my turn to pick!" Kit yells, wrenching herself out of Elena's grasp to run inside.

The movie does little to distract Elena. She has too much work ahead of her.

Bonnie makes it a point to come over every day to help Elena get the house in order, packing the essentials for the move and promising to help send items as they need them. Her work on the shrouding talismans is invaluable, but it's her presence that helps Elena get from one moment to the next.

With the two women at his side, Finn gathers the courage to tell Klaus of his intentions to stay behind with Bonnie in Mystic Falls. Klaus appraises Finn, his eyes glancing occasionally to Elena who shoots him a stern brow. Finally, he relents with an approving nod. "Very well Finn. Perhaps you aren't as dull as I'd been led to believe."

"Thank you, Niklaus. And the spare coffin?" He directs the question to Elena, silently begging for her to throw her weight around on this request.

"I don't see why not," she shrugs. "We already have enough on our plate."

"Indeed, well we certainly would be unable to haul around an empty coffin with us with any sort of efficiency." His smile is too wide, too forced, but Finn is too elated to notice. Finn gathers Bonnie's hands in his and excitedly spills his dreams for their future, unfortunately including their shared efforts to open the coffin.

The project reminds Elena of another one, long simmering on the backburner. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to help much with the Hunter's Curse, Bon. Once things settle down a bit, I promise I'll start looking into it again."

"Damon is still plagued by the curse?" Klaus turns his attention to Bonnie, his question neither innocent or purposeless.

"Yeah, well, he's in the tombs." She shrugs, not wanting to dwell too much on it. "Desiccating seemed safer than trying to control him."

"Seems odd, doesn't it?" Finn's shoulders tense and Bonnie looks back to Klaus, questioningly.

"What's odd?" Bonnie plays into Klaus's bait.

"Hunter's Curse still affecting him with no more Hunters. I mean, you did kill Silas and that was their purpose." He starts, taping up a box and playing his indifference as though he only just now thought of this line of logic. "You fulfilled the reason for them existing and without a purpose, there's no more need for them. The Hunters Damon killed at that island should have been the last of their ilk. Strange then, that a curse might perpetuate beyond the need for one."

"Are you saying…Damon might be fine now?" Bonnie's voice breaks a little, both Elena and Finn reach out to her.

"Curses don't exist without a purpose, and you killed that purpose. Didn't you?" He asks it so casually, like he isn't trying desperately to distract Bonnie from Finn's obsession to open the coffin. Buy some time to resolve the issue lying in wait downstairs.

"Bonnie…do you think?" Elena squeezes Bonnie's shoulder, who swallows hard and blanches when Finn touches her. He wants nothing more than to comfort her, but guilt is all she feels.

"It makes sense. I don't know how I didn't think of it. It's so simple…"

"Sometimes, love, the simplest solution is the one that evades us the easiest." He shrugs without any hint of the triumph he feels deep down.

It works. Klaus creates enough doubt over Damon's fate to force any other thought out of Bonnie's mind. She's too distraught over Damon's useless suffering and her perceived part in it, Finn too conflicted about where he will stand with Bonnie if she were too wake up Damon, and Elena too worried about her friend for any of them to notice Klaus's calculated diversion.

In the midst of the chaos, Elena carves out time to meet Alaric and Grace alone to say her goodbyes. It's something she needs and feels almost like passing a torch to a new life. She's been so entrenched in this family for years and in a few short months, she'll be welcoming her own child and fully cementing a new family with Klaus. Before she does though, she needs this time to say goodbye.

A frozen yogurt ship halfway between Mystic Falls and Whitmore is where they meet. Alaric stands in line watching as Elena plays dolls with Grace. It hurts a little to see Jenna's features grow on Grace's face but comforts her knowing that a piece of her aunt lives on through her daughter.

When Alaric comes back with four bowls on a tray, Elena scrunches her face. "What? That hungry, Ric?"

"Well, no." He looks sheepish, hiding a secret he clearly wishes he could keep. "I know you wanted to spend some time just the three of us, but I invited someone."

"What? Who?" She smooths back Grace's fine baby hair as the girl reaches for the treat.

"A friend. A little more than a friend actually. Listen," he rubs his palm, glancing from her to his daughter. "Your offer to move to Louisiana was…generous but I'd like to distance myself as much from the supernatural as possible. I think it's what's best for Grace."

"Right and I said I understood."

"So, there's a little more to it than that. I just…I'm struggling with how to tell you this because I don't want you to get the wrong idea." She has a feeling she'll take his news in exactly the way he'd rather she didn't. "I met someone, through work in a roundabout kind of way. And she's been great to me and with Grace."

"You're dating already? And she's met Grace?" It's hard to hide the incredulity from her voice. Jenna still doesn't feel gone some days, but Alaric is already acting like he forgot.

"I didn't plan this. It just happened."

"It happened fast." She scoffs at the idea that this was out of his control.

"I deserve to have something good in my life after everything that happened this year." His words are angry, and they hit her hard. She thought she'd been making an effort and that she was enough. It pains her to be so wrong.

"You have Grace and me." The anger was quick to arrive and quick to dissipate, broken up by the sad ring in her voice.

"I know, Elena." They've always treaded an awkward line between father figure and friend. She's not taking this news as a friend, but rather as a pseudo daughter. "But I want more. Grace deserves a mother. I'm not enough for her. I am thinking about the future, and I see that with Jo."

As if summoned by the mere mention of her name, the shop door rings and in walks woman with dark, bouncy hair and perceptive blue eyes. Elena smiles through the introduction all the while suppressing the sharp pang in her chest at the thought of this woman raising Grace and not Jenna. She wants to yell at Ric. Tell him that Grace already has a mom and doesn't need a replacement because no one can't replace Jenna in her heart. She counsels her smile, wary of it turning to disgust, as they tell her the story of how they met or how they do take out and watch children's movies with Grace on Friday nights.

She'd meant to come here to say goodbye for her own fresh start and hadn't expected Ric to have done the same. She smiles at the right time when they look at her expecting one, but she stops listening to their conversation. Watching the three of them interact, she wonders at what point they will push her out too in the guise of protecting Grace from the supernatural world she can never leave.

The call to Stefan about Damon is difficult, but Bonnie manages like she does everything else in her life. No one is surprised when Stefan and Caroline show up in Mystic Falls a few days later though everyone is when Caroline announces her plans to refurbish the boarding house.

"We met so many young vampires across Europe," Caroline starts, excited. "And with Stefan's experience with self-control issues and my experience controlling issues, we thought how perfect it would be if use our talents to help out those a little less fortunate than ourselves. Like, a vampire half-way house!" She's happy, gesturing intentionally with her left hand and anxiously waiting for her friends to notice.

They try, but they are both powering through their own mountains to take a true step back from their problems for Caroline.

Elena can see the apprehension on Bonnie's face either from the influx of vampires to Mystic Falls or from having to share her space once again with someone else. Her claim on the Salvatore house was always tenuous, growing thin with her burgeoning relationship with Finn and now breaking in Stefan's return. To his credit, Stefan notes the changes she's made in the house with only mild curiosity.

The four of them go to the tomb to be there for Bonnie and for a second it feels like they are all in school again, that last year before Elena had to leave. Bonnie charging ahead with the answer to a problem named Salvatore and Elena at her side. And then Caroline reaches for Stefan's hand, and she's brought back to the present again. The only thing that has really stayed, she muses, is Stefan's complicated love for his brother.

Stefan and Caroline walk past the magical bearer while Elena and Bonnie wait on the edge. Bonnie will only drop the spell once they are certain Damon is not a danger. Caroline and Stefan are the safer options, going in with several blood bags between them.

"Damon won't be able to control himself at first. It's better if you two stay back here. Care and I will control the situation if it starts getting out of hand." The logic is sound, and Bonnie agrees with it, but a small selfish part of her doesn't want to see Damon with his translucent dead skin and sunken eyes. It will feel too much like an accusation to see him that way, so she'll cling to any reason to avoid him.

The noises coming from inside the tomb are jarring, wet noises and once the girls jump at the sound of a bag bursting in Damon's hand. The groans of relief sink in Bonnie's stomach like dead weight. Elena holds her hand tighter, trying to squeeze a message of support through their intertwined fingers. She wants to ask her if she's more upset, leaving Damon here or having to bring him back to life.

Wisely, she doesn't say anything at all.

Hours pass by while Stefan and Caroline take turns feeding Damon as slowly as he'll let them. Elena wonders if there's any danger in feeding too fast after desiccating. If there's any similarity to their former human biology in that way. They don't say much while they wait for Damon though eventually, they get tired of standing and sit with their backs against the hard wall, Bonnie's head resting on Elena's shoulder.

Occasionally, she can feel Bonnie's entire body shudder and she doesn't say anything at all. Just rubs her thumb across the back of her hand.

Eventually, they hear a commotion deep in the tunnel and jump, startled. "Get off, Stefan. Where is she? Where's Bonnie?" They can hear him stumbling towards the opening, Bonnie gets to her feet first while Elena works on standing.

"It's fine!" Caroline reassures in that forceful way of hers. "He's totally fine you guys." Bonnie lets the barrier down when Damon stumbles out in front of them, he looks like anything but fine to Elena. There's a hollow look to his eyes and blood staining his white shirt, drying on his chin like lions in a nature documentary. But when he looks at Bonnie, his eyes light up and he looks less lost. Elena's heart breaks a little for her friend.

He might be satiated, but vampires cannot live on blood alone.

Unable yet to use vampire speed, Damon does his best human run up to Bonnie. He doesn't wait for her to say anything before he lifts her up in his arms high over his head and then swings her in a circle, close to his chest. He's laughing into her hair, happy and a little unhinged. Elena picks up on the tears welling in Bonnie's pretty eyes and hopes it means she's happy too.

"I missed you so much," he proclaims as he sets her down, rubbing his fingers lightly across her cheek to wipe at a tear. "You missed me too?"

"Yeah, of course I did!" She insists a little forcefully, but Damon is overjoyed and doesn't hear it. Elena walks past them as Damon leans down to kiss her. She catches Stefan's eyes and in an instant, she knows that he knows too. She'd like to believe it's because they share a bond that can't be broken by time or heartbreak. She'd like to, but she knows better.

Caroline told him.

At home, Finn fidgets with the latches on the coffin like months of hard work could be undone by a long shot in the dark. Still, he obsesses with the coffin, so he won't obsess over what's happening in the tomb.

When Bonnie told him her plan, he wanted to beg her to leave with him instead. Wanted to grab her and run as far away from the tomb and this town as he could. Start over away from his family and her friends and show her what it could be like in a world where she could put herself first. Where he would always put her first.

But he didn't.

He hasn't known her long, but he knows her all the same. She was not a woman to be lead, but a woman to lead. He's determined to fight for her, but this was a war not waged in actions. There's nothing he could do to sway her except to swing her away from him. She'd make her decision and the most he could do was show her his heart and his desire for her and hope that would be enough.

He taps his index finger against the hard metal edge of the casket. Taps and worries.

Finn stays in Mystic Falls for Bonnie and for himself, believing in love enough to let it hurt him. Elena hugs him fiercely before they leave, making him promise to keep in contact with her.

"Letters are preferable," his smile barely touches his eyes, and she hugs him tight one last time. Each of the siblings say goodbye to him in their own way. Some wounds never heal, words left unsaid fester and rot. Elena and the baby have mended a lot, but Finn and his siblings will never be close.

He watches them go and wanders alone in the mansion, but he isn't lonely. He relishes in the peace and freedom, resolute in his fight for Bonnie's affections.

They move, successfully infiltrating the city unnoticed. The hybrids cluster together, pairing off into small groups of two or three. Posing as either lovers, roommates, or family. Elijah, Tyler, and Meg start cleaning out the old plantation house outside of the city. Meg watches Elijah carefully and Tyler sends updates back to Klaus every night until the rest of them arrive.

Small groups. Every few days. Purchasing condos and townhomes throughout the city. The deeds collect like little figurines on a strategy board game. When they buy a place close to Lyons near the water, the deed goes to Benji. He promptly asks Meg to move in with him. David stays in the guest home on the property, close enough to help and far enough away to suit his more solitary nature. Elena sometimes watches him, drinking on his porch and watching the moon like an old lover.

They are termites, quietly infesting the city. They keep to themselves, staying out of sight as much as they can manage. If anyone sees them for what they are, their presence is rationalized away as wolves. Strange wolves, something off about them. But wolves, nonetheless.

The narratives people tell themselves to make the world more palatable. Elena is pleased that this doesn't exclude supernatural people.

The biggest shock to Klaus and Rebekah is that Marcel is still alive though not enough of a shock to stop Klaus from forbidding her to see him until they've fully assessed and contained the situation. Like always, he wants to control the situation down to the moment he meets Marcel again. Orchestrated to perfection.

"You're always doing this! At what point did you make it your life's work to ruin and interfere with my love life?"

"A brother's work is never done, sweetheart." He grimaces when she launches a fire poker at him, moving out of the way and letting it impale on the wall behind him. "It's safer, Rebekah. Overall, it's safer to wait and amass as much information as possible before showing our face again to our dear friend that we left behind at the mercy of Mikael assuming that he was dead."

"Marcel will understand! He understands and will forgive us, Nik." Her anger so often oscillates to pleading where Klaus is concerned. "We just need to show him that we are back, and it can go back to how it was."

"It's not that easy! Time marched on and we are not the same. Marcel won't be either."

"Marcel loved me once. I refuse to believe that anything could change that."

"And I refuse to put Elena or Henry in any sort of danger. We need to take precautions here to ensure they are safe at the house. Let my hybrids continue watching the city until they've attuned themselves with its heartbeat. Then, when we know and only then, we will approach Marcel with our apologies and your love. But not at the risk of Elena's safety." Rebekah seems to understand, at the very least she stops arguing him. Which is often enough for Klaus.

No one has asked this of her, but Kit stays secluded on the property with Elena. At first, she'd felt left out of the hybrids' mission, but now sees it as her role to protect Elena despite Klaus tasking David with that responsibility. She's thrilled to not have to go to school here though Elena reminds her that she will as soon as they are settled enough. She ignores Elena's warnings of a formal education and trapezes through the grounds under David's supervision. Elena watches from the porch and she's noticed that within a short amount of time, Kol always shows up to follow Kit.

Showing off in that eternal teenage way of his. Despite his age and experience, he'll always be a teenager. Displays of athletic bravado or sarcastic barbs directed at anyone in the hopes that she might laugh. It's odd, Elena thinks, to watch him try this hard for anyone.

His crush is entertaining, but Elena keeps a careful eye trained on them regardless.

Klaus's standing order is to stay back, wait, and watch. Including not only the hybrids but his family as well. Rebekah listens to protect Elena. Kol is far too fascinated with Kit to think much of causing trouble. It's Elijah that Elena worries about and with reason.

He's too impatient to save Hayley and it spurs him to act more irrationally than he typically would. He tries to parlay with the witches without Klaus's help. Leaves the house without telling anyone. Days go by and Klaus can no longer ignore his older brother's absence. His hand is forced, and he prepares to face the witches.

He refuses to let Elena come no matter how much she protests.

They sit on the porch swing together, an addition Klaus had David install days after they arrived. He wraps a light shawl around Elena and hands her a cup of tea, an evening ritual she's already grown attached to performing.

It's their time together, just the two of them before Henry arrives.

"Elijah seems to have gotten himself into trouble," he starts tonight with the obvious, Elena had suspected this would happen since they arrived. So strongly that she's begun to understand a little why Klaus would dagger his siblings. Almost understand. "I suppose it's time to face this storm head on."

"We have all that we need. Everything else is just maneuvering. Just don't leave me out of anything." She blows on the tea, looking at him over the rim asking for a promise.

"I wouldn't dream of it, love." She leans back against the arm and swings her feet up; he helps her the rest of the way so he can massage her feet in his lap. There is a storm ahead of them and one brewing below, all around them. They stand together, letting the winds lash their face but they never let go of each other.

Klaus wants his kingdom, which is a fine goal for Elena since a kingdom is nothing without a ruling family.

That night, her sleep is fitful and though she'd like to blame Elijah for this she knows better.

She dreams of the woman in white, long blonde hair wisping down her back. She's had this dream every night since arriving in New Orleans and Elena wonders if she's being haunted. It isn't entirely out of the realm of possibility, but they have enough on their plate than to worry about a dead woman reaching out to the living. Elena keeps it to herself.

Still, the dreams become more vivid each time.

Sometimes there's a severe looking woman, older than the dream woman. Though they don't look alike, intuition tells Elena they are related. It's in the way the older one looks at the younger like only a sister can. They clasp hands to make a promise.

A vow.

And then she wakes up.

Another night she dreams, and in the dream, the woman sleeps. Markos, a nightmare from her past, whispers into the woman's ear and slowly she wakes up to stare at Elena. She screams an apology, but no sound comes out of her mouth. Markos brings a finger up to his lips and Elena jolts out of sleep; the gesture scares her awake.

Sometimes, she sees the vision of Henry, a little blonde boy with blonde curls and deep, intense eyes. Real or imagined, she knows it's him as a kid. The woman holds him close under her chin and walks away from Elena. She runs and runs but no matter how fast she moves her legs, it isn't enough. The woman turns around and pleads with her eyes.

A warning.

Elena keeps waking up with bits of the dreams already fading at the edges. The rest gets pushed aside by conspiring and planning with Klaus to get not only Elijah back, but also Hayley. Rebekah gets ready to see Marcel. Not alone of course.

Klaus insists.

Miles away, Bonnie is haunted by the same woman. The nightmare is always the same. An invisible force pushes her into the open coffin, two powerful hands on her neck. Bonnie fights and scratches, clawing as the coffin lid slams shut.

She breathes through her nose and slowly out of her mouth. Once she's calm enough, the lid opens again and it's the woman in white standing next to her own mother. The way Abby looks at her, Bonnie wonders if her mom is actually in her dream too.

The strange woman leans down and kisses her forehead, pushing back a strand of her hair. "Wake up, Bonnie Bennett." The words are potent, and Bonnie can hear the magic in them. "We, all of us, need to be awake for what's to come."

Bonnie knows better and doesn't dismiss this as easily as Elena. She's a witch and witches never just dream.

A/N: I honestly can't believe I'm finished with this and I can't believe that it's as long as it turned out to be. This has been so much fun and I'm blown away by how many people have read this and know that your comments have really meant a lot. I started this just wanting more Klena fics and didn't actually think anyone would read so...yeah. Just...wow ya know?

I'm three chapters deep in Wolf Prince, another Klena fic, if you care to read that and am always open to suggests for one shots as they relate to the Writing on the Wall series with Klaus x Elena x Stefan. Catch me on tumblr for other updates.

Thanks for coming along for this ride!