A/n: Edited on 2/25/2015

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 16: Echo Part II

Outside of New Orleans

Past - February 22,1910

Love was supposed to have many obstacles, whether they're physical, emotional, or spiritual. Caroline's track record for it wasn't the best, but she tries damn good and well to face those hurdles and take the bull by the horns. However, there's only so much anyone can handle at one time.

Caroline definitely had her hands full. At every turn, there was always something thrown at her making it impossible for her to dodge.

In her own perfect world, she would be back in Mystic Falls worrying about which scholarships she could receive and colleges she planned on attending. She would see her mother again for good. Caroline would be on good terms with Elena and Bonnie, all of her friends would be safe and sound. Tyler and her would have their own happy ending and ride into the sunset. There would be no looming darkness overhead with Silas causing chaos in his wake. The search for the cure would not be of most urgent need the search for the cure would not be the top priority causing everyone to turn their backs on one and other to win the grand prize. No more innocent people dying, and no Klaus to deter her from the straight and narrow path she focused on.

Sadly, reality wasn't kind.

Caroline was so deep into this complicated web that she can't unglue from what has happened. And just when it couldn't get any more toilsome, she was now bonded to Klaus in the worst possible way.

A blood bond.

Caroline remembered the unspeakable dread that crept in when she read Jean's notes. This was something so unheard of that before now, she never thought something of that nature could exist. Sure it would be easier just to get angry and blame someone, but Caroline wasn't that kind of person. She was better than that. Caroline wasn't one for moping around and feeling sorry for herself.

Determined not to let this put her down, Caroline kept herself occupied from the looming thoughts that swirled in her mind. She explored around the wonders of plantation with Charlene, rode horses, joked around with Jean, she helped Adelaide with things, tried to talk to Maggie with little to none success, and she even spent a bit of time with Kol (much to Klaus' dismay.) Then in her spare time, she often tried to ignore Klaus and Rebekah for her own safety. With Klaus, it was for obvious reasons, and she really didn't want to be curious on how Rebekah acted in this time frame.

Despite everything that's been going on, it was always natural for Caroline to find something positive to look forward to in her situation. It still didn't change how everything turned upside down.

A light humming sound crept through Caroline's sharp hearing as the hybrid was gazing at the flames of the fire. Turning her head, she saw the blonde witch, Charlene, holding a wooden basket of laundry in her arms. Not wanting to waste time sitting around, she got up from her spot and hurried over to Charlene.

"Would you like some help?" Caroline offered.

Charlene slightly gasped, shocked to see Caroline there. 'Dang, with these vampires and hybrids running about in the plantation, it's scary how stealthy they can be on sneaking up on people,' the witch thought. "Oh, my! I didn't know you were there, you scared me to death."

"Do you still want the help?" Caroline asked again, slightly apologetic.

"I'll be grateful for it." She said gratefully. "Adele isn't going to be happy that I forgot to get the clothes off the clothes line again. She always wants us to be punctual when it comes to what we do." The young witch couldn't help, but appreciate Adelaide for this, her teacher always kept Charlene on her feet and always pushed her to sharpen her mind. Adele was like a mother and a teacher wrapped up into one, she was glad to have a role model of that quality.

"What do you want me to do then?" Caroline wasn't useless, she refused to be like that. Any distraction was welcomed with open arms if it kept her from thinking from of...certain things.

"All you need to do is fold half the pile, and I can do the rest so that we can kill time faster." Charlene resumed doing her chore and began to fold part of the clothes while Caroline did the other half.

Caroline watched with curious eyes as the witch smiled and hummed to herself, oblivious to everything else around her. There was always presence of easiness and peace any time Charlene came into a room. Caroline would give anything to make everything seem so carefree. Apparently, Caroline didn't notice that the witch already knew of the hybrid's eyes on her. "Is there anything on your mind?"

"Nothing really, I was just wondering what you were humming." The hybrid answered as resumed her folding.

"It's just a tune of a French lullaby I remember my mother singing to me as a child." Thinking of her mother, Charlene didn't remember much of her from her childhood, all she could recollect were feelings and some flickers here and there of memories that were brief. "It's just one of those things I do. I can't explain it, but I know I've done it all my life. I never really thought about it."

"It's a good thing actually. You're calm and more at peace. Is there a drug you take that you wouldn't mind sharing with me to allow myself to do that?" Caroline half-joked while folding the dress as best she could.

Charlene laughed at her question, but shook her head. "Not really, no. I guess I just cope better than most people. I never really work myself in a panic, though I do admit that I can become a worry-wart when the problem is serious."

"What do you get worried about? You always make it so easy to just go with the flow." Truly, Caroline was envious of that quality. She could always survive the outcomes, but couldn't let things just roll off her back like it was the easiest thing to do.

"Excuse me?" The witch gave her a confused look.

The blonde hybrid realized of what she just said. 'Dammit, I hate time travel,' she thought. "It's just a phrase where I'm from, back in..."

Caroline didn't even have to finish for Charlene to understand. "I get it, you just threw me off guard there a bit."

"Alright." Both blondes continued to finish their work with the clothes in silence. While Charlene was content in the silent company, Caroline wasn't so thrilled, silence wasn't something that she ever felt comfortable with. This wasn't missed from the blonde witch's observation. "Do you have something on your mind?"

"Does it look like I do?" Caroline questioned in denial, trying to sound as if she hadn't had anything pressing on her brain.

Charlene shrugged her shoulders, sighing to herself. It's up to Caroline whether she wanted to speak of it or not. "Maybe..."

"Okay, you caught me." Caroline admitted to her defeat. "It's the just the situation. I'm not supposed to be here, I've got a life back home. There's gotta be some way for me to go back, can't Adele do something?"

So, that's what has been on her mind. Still, Caroline should have known this by now. Although her teacher was a cunning witch, Adele was not a miracle worker. There were even spells that she cannot could not do. Limits had to be put in for witches as well, though it may seem almost impossible to wrap your own mind around that concept. Charlene didn't fault the hybrid for the desperation of any chance of escape. Even free-spirited as the blonde witch was, she could never leave the group of people she had considered as her second family.

"Care, you're gonna hate to hear this coming from me." The witch treaded carefully as she could. She didn't want to crush her friend's hopes, but there wasn't any other way to soften the blow. Facts were facts. "Adele already told you about the time travel spell, it's forbidden for a reason. Besides, if there was any other way to get you back home she would have found it by now."

"But, seriously? There isn't any other way?" Frustration crossed her face as she sat down on the couch in a huff. Everything started to seem like it was closing in on her with no mercy.

"There isn't, and besides, I think there's more on your mind than that." Charlene guessed. She was always pretty good with talking to people. "It's a boy, isn't it?"

Tyler.

"I'm not meant to be here. Everything just seems so topsy-turvy now and I don't know what to do." Caroline was pulled into so many directions, she didn't know which path to take. As time flew by in the current time period she was in, she couldn't discern what was real and what isn't anymore.

Sensing her distress, Charlene laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Care." She spoke with a gentle and understanding expression. "I know things get tough and you feel like you have nowhere else to turn to, but look around you. You have Adelaide, me, and there's others that care about you. I know it seems so futile to do, but try to look at the positives in any situation you come across. You never know how it might help you in the end."

Caroline nodded to her advice. Though she may not think of it now, she would definitely save it for later. "Thanks, it helped a little bit."

"I'm always here to help."

Both girls' conversation became disrupted when an indiscernible yell and crash came from upstairs. It was a good thing Klaus and most of his siblings weren't in the house. It made things so much easier to deal with at the moment. Looking back at each other with confused glances, they didn't know what to do.

"Do you want me to check on that or you?" Charlene asked aloud, wondering if Caroline should go up there.

"I'll be fine, I need to get these legs moving anyway." The blonde hybrid politely refused, not letting her moping about ruin the rest of everyone's evening, even though it was late. Giving Charlene one last smile before she headed to the stairs, she did wonder though what could cause such a ruckus. Caroline treaded carefully up the stairs, wondering what would be there waiting for her.

Meanwhile upstairs...

Adelaide suppressed the urge to jump when the thunder rolled with a deafening boom as she read through her book. The storm brewed for the latter part of the night with the pouring rain battering the rooftop. It didn't bother her, she ought to have been used to it by now, and the witch lived in the deep southern state for too many years. Louisiana's weather wasn't particularly a pleasant mistress, especially with how fickle it can be like a woman. It could change from hot to cold in an instant.

The witch could remember when any time there was a storm, she had always placed her rocking chair in front of the fireplace, using the firelight due to the lack of other sources. She also remembered nights of where her old place of residence was the old mansion back in Lafayette, taking care of Jean as if she was her own child. Poor Jean at the tender age of six was so scared of the thunder and lightning. Adelaide always found her curled up into the witch's arms, happy and safe.

It was rather disappointing...

Adelaide's mistress at the time was always weary and sick, not sick as in a disease or something you can cure with an easy remedy. The woman was sick with a heavy heart, always dwelling on the shards of her broken and loveless marriage, how the soft-hearted woman continued on through that still made the witch ponder. Clearly, she had no business of dealing with such tumultuous affairs the Thibodaux family created for themselves. Often Adelaide saw the woman drown in the sea of depression with almost to no sure way of climbing back up for air. That left her with no one to take up the natural role of that necessary female influence in her daughter's life.

That's where Adelaide stepped in.

From her limited position, there was only so much that Adelaide could do or say. But like the fearless and motherly woman she was, she took the task head-on and gladly built and molded the basic foundations of the future independent woman she hoped that Jean would become. But with every foundation, there was always something that was able to make that foundation crumble.

The man Adelaide also worked for was Jean's father. She always tried to have the least amount of interaction with that man as much as possible. Aside from the natural witch reaction she accumulated from being around vampires and werewolves, the man naturally gave off an edge that made her skin crawl. Adelaide wasn't one to let another person so easily order her around. She didn't make no any effort to hide her disgust for the man, but she kept it under wraps for Jean's safety. High in the alpha-pack hierarchy, his ego and anger were his two main downfalls, especially when it came to his family of werewolves that not only included him, but also his brother and their family. Infamous for their short tempers, Adelaide witnessed all too many times of the werewolves' anger to others; often she tried to shield Jean from seeing them treating others like that, but she had to give Jean credit for her perseverance. The witty girl didn't let that bother her and she kept herself busy with other things.

But like in all stories, there will always be a climax coming in that will change everything. With the fourteenth year of her service approaching, the witch realized that the little girl she knew was growing up. Soon enough, the girl will become a young woman and Adelaide's job would have been served. That changed when the mistress of the house decided to leave the hellhole of a marriage. It was a brave act of courage, but that came with a price.

She got her divorce just the way she wanted, she would have nothing to do with him, but that came with a heavy price.

Jean.

Adelaide couldn't help, but watch with forlorn eyes as she held back a devastated young girl who was deprived of her mother. But, that wouldn't be the end of it, it was just the beginning of a series of events.

With the pull of some strings, Adelaide's employer decided that her time as Jean's caretaker would come to an end. The witch had no other choice but to leave the girl she had come to dare call as her own child was devastating. Her father held the safety of Jean in his hands, and Adelaide wouldn't forgive herself if any harm had come to her, leaving Jean was the hardest thing she ever had to do, thus began a dark storm that would brew just like the one outside.

As the years flew since her departure, Adelaide traveled trying to keep her mind off of her guilt. Soon enough, she decided to officially take on an apprentice, but she wasn't look for one out of her way. The right person would have to come to her and they did. Her two apprentices, Magdalena and Charlene. Still, distracting herself looking after the two girls under her protective wing only could do so much.

"Jean..." Adelaide called out to the werewolf as the witch knocked on the door. "Can I come in?"

No sound was heard from the other side of the door, except for a bunch of cackling and hiccups. Adelaide just sighed to herself and let herself in Jean's room. Opening the door wide open, the sight before the witch shocked to her. Sprawled in nothing but a thin nightgown, Jean laid on top of the bed in an awkward position guzzling down the whiskey straight from the bottle. Adelaide's shock measured higher seeing more of the room littered with empty and broken glass bottles.

"What in the world?" Adelaide's mouth gaped, appalled with disgust.

"You kn-now what's f-uu-nny," Jean slurred slightly hiccupping. "Fig-htin' with a fl-l-y. Shit, no mat-te-er what you d-do, it ne-v-er goes awaaaay. The fl-yy lan-nds on the co-uunt-er, and I look-k at the fly, and tr-ry to pus-sh the fly, but the fly ke-e-ps flying awaaaaay from m-ee."

"Hilarious..." Adelaide spoke dryly. "Now, quit trying to be funny because it's not working with me."

Jean was momentarily silent, taking notice of the older woman's tone. "D-i-id I saaay som-me-thin-ng wro-nng?"

"Enough of this!" Adelaide demanded as she rushed forward towards the young werewolf, snatching away the empty whiskey bottle from Jean's hands.

"Wha-at the h-eell-ll?!" She uttered indistinctly, struggling to sit up. She didn't understand what Adelaide's problem was, but she knew that there were few things that tested Adelaide's tolerance. "Whaaat's wro-ong?"

"It's everything! This talk has been long overdue and you're not avoiding me this time." The witch answered in a firm and strict tone, but her next action emphasized it more when she used a small spell to turn to lock on the doorknob, locking both witch and werewolf inside of the room. "Just for the extra measure."

But, it didn't faze Jean. She only did what she does best: brushing it off her shoulder.

"Noo-w, wh-at-eever has hap-pen-ed, I'm sur-e we can talk abo-ut thi-iis like two adu-llts." She tried to placate the witch.

"Oh, we're going to talk." The older witch replied. "I'm sorry to do this, but you forced my hand."

It took all of her will not to cry at the sight of the closest thing she had to a daughter letting herself drown her sorrows. This wasn't the young girl she knew from way back when. Someone replaced the Jean that Adelaide knew and loved. Adelaide concentrated just the right amount to catch the werewolf's attention. With the right amount of control, she designated her eyes to the sight of Jean's head, causing her to lurch forward holding her head in pain.

"Shit!" Jean cursed, rubbing her temples to easy the headache.

Adelaide didn't speak a word. The dark-skinned witch grabbed the chair near the wooden dresser, placing it a foot away from the front of the bed, facing Jean directly. "Now that I have your attention, you're going to talk and I'm not going away until you give me answers."

"Ans-wers as to w-hhat?"

Adelaide shot the question, waiting for the full blow. "What happened that night you left Lafayette?"

A bolt of lightning cracked outside of the window, flashing its sharp light through, not fazing either the werewolf or witch. In the brief bright light, it only further proved of the grim realization of Adelaide's worst fears. Jean's bloodshot eyes were the beginning, not to mention the dark circles around them. A thin visible sheet of sweat settled on her skin making it slick and slippery. The lack of hygiene made her short brown hair lose its natural lush, becoming stringy and limp to her head. But what made the biggest change was the instant hardening in her eyes. The surprising sobriety in her face hearing the witch's words. Her stubbornness slowly starting to rear its ugly head.

"No..." she simply said, trying to sober up. Jean tried to walk away, but with little to no success as the effects of the alcohol came full circle limiting her motor function. The stagger in her steps was evident of how much whiskey she had consumed.

Adelaide caught her, setting her back on the edge of her bed from where she was before. Even through the drunken state, she could see the Jean's rotten stubbornness that the witch often had to fight with. "You're going to talk, and I don't care what I have to do." But her firm tone faltered slightly, the weariness of her old age coming to her and shining through. "Please, Jean. Say something..."

A bitter chuckle escaped her throat as her face held a mirthless smile. "What do you want me to say? You want me to pour out my feelings to you on the matter? Little poor me. Ha! Like that's going to happen."

"This isn't you, Jean."

"Your point?"

"My point is that you've changed and not for the better, I reckon," she explained trying to get her point across. From the first day Adelaide finally had Jean back, the young girl she knew had been replaced with a darker, more shadowed woman. It honestly scared her of how Jean was spiraling deeper and deeper.

"Why should you be so concerned about me when there's more at stake? I can take care of myself. Me standing here in the flesh proves on what I'm saying. I survived in that cage I was kept in, I survived that hell." Oh, she survived it all right. She survived bathing in blood and sins in the end.

"Because it's my fault..." The witch answered quietly, the old guilt she kept hard to be buried dug its way through beyond her control.

"You're not the blame for this. I never blamed you and I would never do that to you." Despite going through hell and back, never once did Jean blame anyone for her problems, especially Adelaide. Jean could never blame the only one who was the closest thing she had to a mother. It was her weight to bear and no one had any business with cutting her slack. She knew exactly who was the guilty party and her hatred festered just thinking of him.

Though Adele was grateful for Jean's honesty, it still didn't change the facts or the situation. "Jean, I appreciate you saying that, I really do, but we need to talk about this."

Jean scowled. "Stop this, Adelaide. There are more important things to deal with than my irrelevant issues. Let me deal with it on my own."

"'Adelaide?' Really? That's what you're calling me now?! It's just like what I said." Adelaide exclaimed." You've changed and you know it's true so don't deny it. Not to me."

It's true. She never addressed it, but Jean never called the witch by her full first name. Jean would always call her "Addy" ever since she could talk.

Jean tried to rein it in, but her frustrations became widely known when she spoke again. "Who did you expect to see?!" she exasperated waving her arms. "Did you want to see the desperate and naive girl you saw before the fucking bastard made you leave? I hate to break it to you, but that girl died a long time ago."

Adelaide stood silent, piecing the puzzle together, it was coming together now. "It's true then. It was more than just an animal attack, it was you."

Jean's silence was louder than any other sound in the room, she had no reason to argue with Adelaide's answer because it was true.

"Yes." Jean confirmed. "I killed them."

"Why?" It was the only word that the witch could speak of.

"There's no point in asking why!"

Adelaide reeled back in shock seeing Jean snap. She's never done this to her, but the witch stood her ground. "Yes, there is. Because the whiskey is evidence of something else entirely."

"I can make my own decisions."

"Stop avoiding the subject, tell me the truth!"

"No! Just shut up and stay the hell out of it!"

"Don't you tell me to shut up, young lady! I raised you better than that."

"Stay out of this!"

"No, I'm not going to stay out of it!"

"STOP IT! JUST STOP IT!"

"NO! I'M NOT GOING TO STOP! I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU SLIP AWAY FROM ME LIKE THE LAST TIME!"

"STOP TRYING TO SAVE ME!" Jean bellowed, her eyes glowing yellow. Her body trembled and shook as she internally struggled to keep herself under control. Adelaide wasn't afraid of her. She was afraid for her because just seeing Jean like this wasn't meant to be. The feeling of deja vu washed over her, this moment mirrored the exact night when she first found Jean after she fought Caroline. Jean had looked up at her with those desperate golden eyes with tear tracks spilling down her face. It was happening again.

"Jean, why are you saying this?" Adelaide didn't understand. She never would.

Jean sighed and explained. "Look at me good and well, and take a good mental picture of this. I'm a monster, Adelaide. I'm cursed just as the rest of them were. They didn't think I was capable of being like them, well guess what? They wanted a werewolf, so they got one. I'm beyond saving now. Do yourself a favor, stop worrying about me, the girls need you more than me. This is me now, take it or leave it."

"You didn't hear what I said, I'm not leaving you."

"Then this is what you're gonna to see then for the rest of your days." Damn this girl's stubbornness!

Raising her hand, Adelaide put more force into her power. "If the werewolf is what you are, then I'm going to deal with you like one." She inflicted a shot of pain to Jean, more powerful this time making the wolf gasp in anguish with the witch's fingers tightening slowly into a fist. "Each time you refuse to talk, it will become more painful for you so I suggest you speak before you can't handle it."

Jean needed this intervention if Adelaide can help it, it was necessary. The brunette had fallen from the bed from the last terrible sensation, every part of her being fought against herself. The raging beast inside struggled against the cage wanting to attack, but Jean refused to attack the last person she had left. The internal war inside of her drained her energy, but the self-will played tough.

"I'm...not...gonna...talk..." She gritted out.

"Yes, you are." With one last try, this would be the last blow that only Adelaide would make, Jean wasn't invincible. "Now, tell me!"

She felt as if her head were splitting in two. Everything was taking its toll, there was only so much she could take. "Over...my dead...body..."

"Stop this insanity! Stop fighting me!" Adelaide pleaded in desperation as she made through with her threat; she inwardly flinched as the moans of agony increased to screams.

It became too much. "HE LIED, OKAY! HE LIED TO ME! JUST MAKE IT STOP! PLEASE, MAKE IT STOP!"

Jean's pain and fatigue won out over the stubbornness. She couldn't take it anymore. Hard sobs shook her body as everything came out into the open. Hot tears from holding everything in crashed and burned as Jean's incoherent blubbered words merged. She felt a pair of arms gather her into a familiar hold, Adelaide's hold. She finally let it out. She cried and cried until the tears no longer came. In that moment, the witch couldn't see the former Jean that fought against her. Instead, she held the hurt and lonely girl Jean always tried to keep hidden.

Like a mother comforting her child, she hugged Jean close, stroking her short brown hair. Jean wept into Adelaide's dress, creating dark dots after they left from her eyes. Adelaide didn't say a word to her, but she rubbed Jean's back trying to calm her. She didn't know how much time had passed, but Jean's sobs began to recede. Jean hated feeling weak like that, she was better than this. She let out a long breath, finally regaining her composure.

"It was your father, wasn't it?" Adelaide asked, but the question was heard more like a statement. The witch felt Jean nod against her. "What happened?"

Jean was briefly silent before she gave the witch an explanation. "For too long, I tried to please him and that family." She started to explain, hiccuping from the sobs making it hard for her to talk properly. Although difficult to speak, the disgust and disdain for her family was evident in her voice. "After Mama and you left, it became a living hell. No matter how hard I tried...it was never enough."

"Did he...?" Adelaide couldn't finish the sentence, just imagining the horror made bile rise up to her throat.

"What's done was done, the past can't be changed." The werewolf pointed out in a clipped tone. "But, the real trigger wasn't from that. Something else happened."

After all the hell her father put her through, it wasn't worst that happened like the night she turned into the monster Jean was now. Jean was no saint, she had blood on her hands that will never be washed away.

"Keep going..." the witch softly urged, holding Jean closer.

"After Mama left, my father's reckless financial deeds came back to haunt him. Not too long after you left, bill collectors started to show up on our doorstep. They took everything we owned except for the clothes on our backs, but he made extra sure that what was most sacred to us wouldn't be taken away: our history." Jean was glad that her mother got out of that hell. At least she led a better life than Jean couldn't with the walls of her cage closing in around her at that time.

Adelaide remembered the old library from the old house. It was Jean's father's greatest possession and achievement. The witch often educated Jean on her basic school subjects among other things in that grand room. She kept silent as the werewolf continued to enlighten her on the matter.

"He always made sure that those documents would be in a safe place. We ended up moving in with my father's brother and his family after that. It was evident that I wasn't particularly welcomed there, but I kept my mouth shut like the good girl I was. I put on the same act for years to protect myself from letting out how I really felt. Everything changed months ago."

"The massacre..." the witch mused to herself. The news exactly wasn't wide spread, but when it reached Adelaide's ears, it created such a panic and worry that she nearly died from a heart attack. The Thibodaux Massacre was one of the most vicious cases that hit the newspapers in Louisiana. The slaughter of the once prosperous family left few survivors in its wake. The bodies were so mangled, it was impossible to identify them without the help of the survivors. The only body they couldn't find was of the eldest daughter. She was gone without a trace. With little evidence and limited amount of sources, they registered the murder as an animal attack and deemed it as a cold case and left it on the shelf.

When Adele had tried to find her, she was already gone. With no trail to follow, Adelaide was left to her own devices. It was just within a stroke of luck that she caught her in the nick of time with Caroline fighting against her.

"I got sick for a while with almost no chance of getting better. No matter what the doctor gave me, I wasn't making the recovery. It wasn't until a while later it was discovered that I' was allergic to wolfsbane. That's what had made me sick. Even before I turned, it was deadly to me. Then there was a letter sent to me...about her...death." The hitch in her throat was a sign of her cries coming back, but she refused to be weak. Not again.

"I didn't even know she was dying, and then in the letter it said she sent one before explaining to me that she wanted me to visit her. I found the old letter that she was talking about, though. I confronted him about it, and then I just lost it. He lied to me about her, and the opportunity to see her again was taken away from me. We argued and I just got so angry. I've never been so angry or had that much hatred, but it was true. I hated him with everything I had. It was then that I truly found out what he thought of me. He baited me thinking I would submit to his will like I always had before. However, it didn't work. Not this time." Jean said with a bit of a cruel smile, the darkness inside of her starting to return in gradually. The storm brewing outside was just like the one inside of her heart, dark and seemingly never ending.

"But since he was a werewolf, how did you-"

"There was a maid who came to check up on me and my father, seeing what was going on. I was so blind in my anger that I didn't know it was the maid. Once I killed her, it was already a full moon that night." Turning into a werewolf was indescribable, but the only thing she could feel was the white-hot pain. She would rather feel pain than nothing at all, but it lasted for hours until the real nightmare began. The true blood bath had commenced.

"Do you remember anything else from that night?"

Jean decided to suck it up, and just finish her explanation before her emotions chained her again. Though grateful to be in the witch's embrace, Jean needed to pull herself pried herself away from Adelaide, standing up and straightening out the wrinkles in the nightgown. "No, I blacked out after I turned. It wasn't until the next morning that I found out what I did."

"Who told you?" Adelaide questioned.

"I found out from another concerned citizen who had just came through town. He didn't know that I was the one missing from what happened." Jean replied, thinking of the past event. "I ran away after that."

"Why didn't you come to find me?" Adelaide asked.

"I figured that you were living a better life away from all the hell my father and them caused you. That's why I didn't put any faith of finding you. Besides, I didn't want to get my hopes up." The werewolf explained, her eyes downcast for a moment. She felt like she owed it to the witch for all the times she taken care of her. It's at least what she could do. Jean didn't want Adelaide to suffer more because of her.

"Baby girl," Adelaide's old pet name for her charge slipped through her tongue.

"Listen to me," Jean cut her off promptly. "A lot of things have changed, including me. I'm messed up inside, but I can accept that. I'm going to have control over my own life, and I'm not going to be under anyone's thumb. I will fight tooth and nail if it's for me to keep my freedom." It was more than that though. Control was essential to her. There's no point of going into depth of why because Jean had her own reasons.

"I'm just protective of you. I don't want to lose you again." Adelaide couldn't bear it if she lost her, she'd rather die than let that travesty happen.

For once in a very long time, relief made its way to Jean. She let herself become less tense and sent a grateful smile to the witch's way, holding her closest mother-figure's hands. "Let me do you a favor for a change and let me protect you for once. I need to do my part. No matter what happens, you will always have my loyalty...Addy."

"Come here." Adelaide softly ordered standing up, and spreading her arms out wide. Jean followed through and accepted the affection from the witch. Addy hugged her former charge tightly with her arms wrapped around Jean's middle. It's almost frightening that the little girl she had to leave behind grew into a young woman, who's almost her exact height. "My pretty girl..." she murmured.

"I'm not that pretty reekin' of all of this whiskey." Jean said, her voice thick with emotion.

"I don't care. Don't worry, we're going to work through this. I promise you, we'll be fine." The witch promised, kissing the crown of the werewolf's head.

Jean swallowed the lump in her throat with the tears coming back up again, but instead of despair, they were of happiness. Adelaide's smile was practically contagious because Jean couldn't stop her own smile from forming on her lips. Their meaningful reunion was cut short with a series of knocks followed by a clearing of someone's throat.

"It's open."

"Excuse me?" Caroline carefully asked, emerging from behind the door.

Hearing the female hybrid's voice, Jean got out of Adelaide's embrace, surprised to see Caroline by the doorway. "Caroline, what are you doing here?"

"I heard yelling from downstairs and got worried." Caroline quickly explained. "Then I-"

"You heard everything, didn't you?" Jean asked, the attitude in her tone was hard to detect.

"Yes." Honestly, Caroline could never have guessed this was what the werewolf had been hiding.

Adelaide watched carefully as Jean stepped forward closer to Caroline, ready to intervene if she had to. However, Jean's next action surprised her. Jean's copper eyes softened slightly as she laid a hand on the blonde's shoulder, reassuring her of no ill will.

"You're not angry at me?" Caroline asked in confusion.

"I don't like it when other people know my business, but you only did it out of concern. I can't put that against you." Jean struggled, but she managed to keep herself in check. "In fact, it means a lot to me that you did. You have a loving heart, Caroline. Which is why I ask you to never lose that, but always keep on your guard. Trust me, it can be a gift and a curse. All I can tell you is I hope you keep this just between us for certain reasons, okay?"

"Of course. Definitely between us. I wouldn't have it any other way." Caroline agreed, sending a grateful smile at Jean's way.

Adelaide smiled at the exchange between the two females. Now, there's a piece of the old Jean that was still there, the witty and loyal girl was still inside of her deep within as she interacted with Caroline. Maybe...just maybe...there's a chance of getting through this after all.

I'm out on the edge and I'm screaming my name
Like a fool at the top of my lungs
Sometimes when I close my eyes I pretend I'm alright
But it's never enough
Cause my echo, echo
Is the only voice coming back
Shadow, shadow
Is the only friend that I have

- "Echo," by Jason Walker