Andy spent the morning panicking. She had seen the date and time on Cassandra's phone during that vision. It was today. The date was today at 12:30. It was currently 9:00 in the morning, which meant that she had three and a half hours to get the hell out of dodge.

She was well familiar with the process of packing her shit - she'd done it about a million times in the past couple of years. Her apartment became a mess, as it usually did, but there was a method to her madness. It was all about figuring out what she absolutely needed, and what she would have to leave behind.

Her somewhat frantic motions stopped when she entered the kitchen and saw that bouquet of lilies sitting innocently on her table.

Elijah. She couldn't just leave him without an explanation. She didn't want to leave him at all.

She didn't want to run.

Andy called him before she could talk herself out of it. She started rambling the second he picked up.

"I'm sorry for calling you so early, I just Saw something and then I was about to leave but I decided not to, and now I don't know what I should do -"

"Andromeda."

She stopped talking.

"You're not inconveniencing me. What happened?"

She heard the background noise around Elijah change as he presumably began to move.

"My sister is going to be in town in about three hours."

Her voice was small.

She refused to be embarrassed. Elijah was her person. She could be vulnerable around him, it didn't make her pathetic.

There was a brief pause. She heard the sound of a car door shutting, followed by the sound of an engine starting.

"What would you like to do about that?"

His voice was perfectly calm. It was the same calm that had been in his voice when he had compelled her former boss.

Fuck. What would she like to do about that?

All she knew was that she didn't want to run anymore.

She heard the engine in the background of the call turn off, and then the door shut.

"I…I don't know. I don't want to run anymore."

There was a knock at her door. Andy had the unique experience of hearing it from her phone and in real time as she hurried over to open it.

Obviously, it was Elijah with his phone in hand.

Andy could feel some of her panic drain away as he walked into her apartment, eyes skirting over the utter mess she had made of it.

Unfortunately, the lessening panic made the emotions it was covering come rushing to the surface.

She didn't cry, but damn if it wasn't a near thing.

"I would really like a hug right now."

She was in his arms as soon as she said it.

Intellectually speaking, she knew that he had been worried about her. His voice had been perfectly composed, but his concern was written all over his actions.

But being in his arms made her actually feel it. He was holding her tight enough that she probably wouldn't be able to get away from him if she was so inclined - not that she was.

She found comfort in it, for some strange reason. Not in the fact that she had caused him distress, but in his obvious care for her.

Andy supposed she was still a bit new to the idea that someone who knew what she was cared for her, and not her Sight.

She felt more than heard the rumble of his voice.

"You don't need to run anymore. There is nothing Cassandra can do to harm you."

That was right. He was right. She had him. Cassandra couldn't hurt her, because Elijah wouldn't let her.

She just had to let him support her.

Andy thought that she would feel weaker for relying on someone else, but she didn't. All she felt was…safe. Secure. Treasured, even.

She'd never had that before. She couldn't let her own fear of Cassandra take that away.

"I want to talk to her. And I want her to listen to me."

Her statement was muffled by the fabric of his suit. She reluctantly pulled away enough to look up at him. He relaxed his grip enough to let her, though his arms were still around her.

"Will you go with me?"

"Of course I will."

A few hours, and one cleaner apartment later, Andy found herself and Elijah outside of a café.

She could see Cassandra through the window. She was sipping a cup of that coffee she liked so much - Andy could identify it even from outside of the café - and sitting in a secluded corner.

She looked as perfect as ever, from her coiffed hair, to her expensive clothes and flawless makeup.

There was an open seat in front of her.

"She's waiting for me. Of course she is."

Other Side take her, she didn't want to do this.

That was when Elijah, whose hand she was currently treating like a stress ball, quietly spoke.

"I'm with you."

She really was lucky to have him

Andy got up on her toes and kissed him chastely. It was a spur of the moment choice, but she felt better for it.

She could do this. She had to do this.

Andy steeled herself, and walked in.

She let go of Elijah's hand about half way through the small café. He took a seat a few tables away from herself and Cassandra. Close enough to intervene should anything happen, and for Andy to feel his support, but far enough away to give the illusion of privacy.

She felt the urge to kiss him again.

Instead, she sat across from her little sister.

Andy didn't say anything to her. She knew that Cassandra wanted her to speak first - it was a power play she liked. Making people ask her instead of the other way around.

Andy had no interest in playing along with that shit. She had all day. She could wait.

Eventually, Cassandra broke the stand off.

"It's time for you to come home, Andromeda. You've been gallivanting around long enough."

Andy had grown used to hearing her hated full name from Elijah. She liked her name when he said it.

Cassandra was the reason why she used to hate it.

It was funny, in a way. She had panicked over this exact confrontation earlier. She thought that she wouldn't be able to bear looking at Cassandra again.

But she could. It wasn't easy, and she would still rather be nearly anywhere but here, but it was doable.

Maybe it was because she had a vampire just waiting for a reason to make Cassandra a non-issue. Maybe it was because she was simply out of fucks to give. Or maybe it was because she had grown as a person.

The reason didn't matter in the end. Cassandra wasn't the giant she had imagined her to be. She was just…a person.

This was doable. Andy could do this.

And this time, she actually believed herself when she thought it.

Andy drummed her fingers on the table and took a moment to decide how she would respond to that.

'Gallivanting.' Like she hadn't spent the past few years completely terrified.

"No."

"What?"

Cassandra's tone was sharp. Disbelieving, almost. Andy felt the same way - she had never denied Cassandra anything in her life. Part of her believed that she wasn't capable of it.

"I said no."

It was almost a heady feeling. Denying Cassandra to her face.

"Look, I don't know where this is coming from, but you need to stop being so childish and come home."

She didn't know where 'this' was coming from. She needed to 'stop being childish'.

Now that. That pissed Andy off.

"Why should I go with you Cassandra? The Coven is doing fine. You're still the leader. No one is going to challenge you. Why do you need me? "

Cassandra's eyes widened. If Andy didn't know her so well, she wouldn't have caught the surprise on her face.

"I will always need you."

Oh look. Emotional manipulation.

But…that tension in Cassandra's brown, that hint of softness in her voice…that was real. Andy knew what Cassadnra looked like when she was faking it, and this wasn't it.

Cassandra meant that. She truly believed in what she was saying. Believed it deeply enough that it made her feel something.

The anger in Andy fled, leaving behind a mixture of regret and resolve.

She knew what she needed to say now. It was something she should have said years ago. She made sure to speak gently.

"You don't need me, Cassandra. You want me. There's a difference."

Cassandra opened her mouth again. Andy didn't let her speak.

"You controlled everything about my life. What I ate, who I met, even what I wore . When I looked into the mirror I couldn't even see myself. All I could see was you . That is why I left. You're asking me to go back to that."

"I wasn't controlling you. I was protecting you."

Gods, Cassandra really believed that didn't she? She was completely fucking delusional.

"If that's what you call protection, then I don't want it."

Cassandra scoffed.

"Please, you can't tell me that you don't need me."

Her gaze drifted to Elijah as she spoke.

"Do not."

Andy barely recognized the steel in her voice, but she stood by it. Cassandra didn't get to comment on Elijah and who he was to her. Andy knew that she would do something that she wished she'd be able to regret if Cassandra went down that road.

It was something she would very much like to avoid.

Cassandra redirected her gaze to Andy's own. Good.

"Come back, Andromeda. I miss you."

Amazingly enough, there was the barest hint of pleading in Cassandra's tone.

Cassandra didn't beg. She demanded.

Andy felt herself soften, for a second, as she looked at her sister. To the normal observer she looked perfectly composed. But to Andy's eyes, Cassandra looked exhausted. It was in her perfectly straight posture, her slightly heavier than normal makeup, even in the way she was holding her coffee in a slightly too tight grip.

No one else would be able to recognize it. Cassandra had never let anyone aside from herself close enough to be able recognize it for what it was.

Cassandra had changed, if only a little, Andy realized. She had never been willing to bend her pride, even this much, before.

But...Andy wouldn't lie to herself and say that it was completely genuine. She knew her little sister - Cassandra would use her own vulnerability like a sword, if it would get her what she wanted.

And the thing was, it almost worked. Because she still loved Cassandra, despite it all.

That was why Andy would never go with her again.

"I will not."

That made Cassandra emote like an average human being for the first time. Unfortunately, or fortunately, that emotion was hurt. And because it was Cassandra, that hurt was quickly masked by anger.

"I could make you."

Andy very pointedly looked at Elijah. Who wasn't even pretending like he wasn't listening to their conversation.

"No you couldn't. And even if you could, you wouldn't."

"And why is that?"

Ah, that was Cassandra's threatening tone of voice. Andy wasn't impressed.

"Because I would hate you for it."

She let her words linger for a moment. Cassandra didn't deny it.

"I love you Cassandra, but I don't want to see you again. Not until you can respect me and the life I've built for myself."

With that, she left the little café.

She stood outside for a few minutes, staring at nothing in particular. She knew that Elijah wanted to speak to Cassandra, and vice-versa, but she didn't need to hear what they were going to say to each other.

She was just trying to deal with the fact that she had just effectively told her little sister to fuck off. Permanently.

Cassandra had treated her terribly, she knew that now, but Andy also knew that she had enabled it. She had never done anything to try to stop it, and she knew how easy it would be to fall back into that.

If she had done anything to assert herself over her sister, then she probably wouldn't have needed to have this conversation with her.

Or maybe it would have made everything worse.

Andy could check. But she wouldn't.

No. Staying apart was best for the both of them.

Elijah joined her about five minutes later, with a remarkably satisfied air about him.

"How was it?"

"Enlightening. She will be out of the city in an hour."

Andy chose not to ask. She was done with Cassandra for…a long time. Maybe forever.

"You know, I had plans for today."

She had been planning to Look around Finn and Sage's futures, but that required her to be in a calm, level headspace. She was currently neither of those things.

"We could resolve the matter of your car?"

Ah, what the hell. Anything to keep her mind off of the conversation she'd just had.

"We should do that."

Even if it was car shopping.

Andy, after much cajoling, picked out a car. A very nice, very expensive car that she didn't pay for. She was still kind of sore about that, but Elijah seemed to enjoy taking care of it for her, and she wasn't going to steal his joy.

And she had already agreed to it.

They took a walk about the city after that - both of them coming to the silent consensus to not discuss anything even remotely related to Cassandra - and ended up making an impromptu date of it.

They enjoyed the park for a while, got some ice-cream from a stand, and Andy even got to visit that music store she'd had her eye on for a while and she managed to dodge Elijah's attempts to pay for her stuff.

She had the extra money now that he was taking care of her rent. She could, and would, pay for her own shit.

They ended up back at his place, at the end of the day, and now they were just sitting in companionable silence. Elijah was writing in a heavy look journal, because of course he was. Andy was looking through her music, noting particularly difficult spots and adding the occasional finger number here and there, though some would change or become obsolete when she actually sat down and played it.

"I never told you why I am estranged from Niklaus, did I?"

That was quite the conversation starter. Andy set aside her music, and gave him her full attention.

"No, you didn't."

He was silent for a few moments, as if contemplating where to start. He put aside his journal.

"The only thing that can kill an Original is a stake from the White Oak tree. One of the first things my family and I did upon becoming vampires was to burn it to ashes."

The only thing that could kill Elijah was the start of this. Oh boy.

"Witches combined those ashes with daggers. If a dagger is buried in the heart of an Original, that Original will remain dead until it is pulled out."

Andy remembered the vision she had of Elijah's siblings, all lying desiccated in coffins. And then she thought about what little Elijah had told her of himself and his remaining brother.

She had a feeling she knew where this was going.

"Finn was daggered 900 years ago. I, along with Rebekah, helped Niklaus dagger Kol 200 years ago, and Niklaus daggered Rebekah a century ago."

There were a hundred things Andy wanted to ask Elijah. Why were each of them daggered? Who daggered Finn? Why did Elijah leave them like this? How did he avoid the fate of his siblings?

She asked a different question instead.

"Why didn't any of you dagger Klaus?"

Elijah looked out the window, eyes going distant.

"Klaus isn't just a vampire. He's a werewolf as well. A Hybrid, though his werewolf side was bound the day it awoke. The daggers do not work on him."

That…honestly raised more questions than answers, but that was for later.

"I am just as culpable for the state of my siblings as Niklaus is. Some decades ago, I expressed to Niklaus my…regret over the state of our siblings. He told me that he had buried them at sea."

The more Andy learned about Klaus, the more she wished that she could meet him, if only to punch him in the face.

Elijah had told her himself that he was by no means innocent in the state of his family, but at least he was taking steps to fix things. What the fuck was Klaus's malfunction? Who was he to unrepentantly treat his siblings - treat Elijah - like that?

Shit, if Elijah was half as pissed off as she was about Klaus over Cassandra, then it was a wonder that her sister left that café alive.

"I left him after that. I was planning on killing him, until you told me of my siblings true fates. I can forgive him lying to me, but I would not have been able to forgive him if he had truly cast them into the sea."

Right, she was just going to ignore the fratricide for the time being. It was easy, considering the homicidal feelings she currently had for Klaus.

"I'm guessing that killing him is no longer the plan?"

"No. I am going to get my siblings away from Niklaus, and then I will destroy those daggers. After that…I simply want my family to be together."

Wow, yeah. She now knew exactly how Elijah felt about herself and Cassandra.

However, it was because of that, that Andy could understand his desire. She wished that she could truly reconcile with her sister, impossible though it may be. So she would help Elijah reconcile with his siblings - all of them - despite her misgivings.

But Other Side help Klaus if he ever fucked with Elijah like that again, because she would make him regret it.

"Will you do me a favour, Andromeda?"

There was something that she would call trepidation if it were any other man in Elijah's tone. Hmm. That was suspicious.

"That depends on what it is."

"I will need to leave soon to retrieve my siblings. Will you stay here while I am gone?"

Well would you look at that. Suspicion confirmed.

"...May I ask why?"

"This place has wards. Your apartment does not."

Yeah, she couldn't argue with that. Apartments like hers were damn near impossible to ward. Wards required a threshold to anchor to, and a threshold was created by ownership. The stronger the sense of ownership, the stronger the wards could be.

Andy didn't have much ownership over her apartment. Her name was on the lease, but the building wasn't owned by her, she wasn't paying her rent anymore, and most importantly, she did actually consider the place to be truly hers.

The threshold in her apartment wasn't worth shit. All it was good for was keeping vampires out.

"I will."

She tactfully decided to ignore the satisfaction coming from Elijah. It would only make her want to say something belligerent, and she had the strangest feeling that she would lose that argument.

"When are you leaving?"

"Next Monday."

Eight days from now. Damn it, that was over a week away, why was she feeling so down about it already?

"I'm probably going to try to monopolize your time before you leave." Andy admitted. "Are you okay with that?"

"Certainly. I was planning on doing the same to you."

A slow smile grew on Andy's lips. She liked that. She liked that a lot.

"Can I crash here tonight? Since I'm supposed to be monopolizing you."

"Please do."

That night, Andy didn't sleep in the guest room.