A/N: Hello lovely folks, hello new readers as well – do leave a note and say hi. Always nice to hear from people. Thanks for the wicked response to the Last Dance, glad you all seemed to enjoy it. This one is a little heavy on the plot but...kinda needed to be done. Hope you enjoy it anyway. I own nothing.

Klaus

"I just need this to be all right
I might breakdown in front of you
If you need me I'll be here
Half unconscious to escape my fear"

"Elena" my brother is hollering "Have you seen Elena?" he asks Andie, bloody hell she's your girlfriend Stefan maybe you should try keeping a better eye on her.

"Where's Elena?" he asks me "I dunno Stefan she's your girlfriend, mine's right here" yeah I got Andie round last night. I needed to take my mind off of things after the whole 'I will always choose you' and Elena's ever wandering eyes.

Stefan's pacing and brooding is beginning to make me antsy and then he goes rushing down to the basement. Tell me she didn't, please god tell me she didn't. Oh but she did. Fuck! Where is she? God dammit Elena and she told me she'd find another way. I knew there was something wrong last night I just didn't think she'd un-dagger fucking Elijah. Don't we have enough Originals to deal with already?

Stefan's been calling and calling and finally she answers "Where are you? You okay?" – "Yes I'm fine" – "Where's Elijah?"- "He's right here" crazy, the girl is certifiably insane. "Where? I'm on my way" yeah I somehow doubt she's gonna tell you Stef. "No Stefan. Elijah and I need some time alone" she babbles on about nobility and honour and god I want to wring her pretty little neck right now. "It's my decision Stefan please respect it, and make sure Damon doesn't do anything stupid" Me? Stupid? Never. She's the one who un-daggered a fucking Original.

"Did she just hang up on you?" – "She did" – "She's lost it" completely. Lost. The. Plot. "If anyone can get him to help us kill Klaus it's her" oh god don't you start. "Bonnie's the way to kill Klaus Stefan, he thinks she's dead we have a chance with her" – "She'll kill herself in the process. Elena's looking for another way" yeah I got that but the other way is not bloody Elijah! "Her way is gonna get her killed" okay I've had enough of this; I'm going to find her and bring her home.

"We need to find her and stop her" – "No no you need to back off" – "What?" – "Look I don't like this any more than you do but we need to trust her, we gotta just let her do her thing" I'm sorry her thing? Are you fucking kidding me right now Stefan? "That might be your plan. Mine's better" and I'm seriously starting to reconsider my idea just to grab her and run the hell away.

Stefan grabs my arm as I'm walking away and damn he is pissing me off right now. "I said back off" fucking hell. Breathe Damon. Okay, realistically Elijah is probably not going to kill Elena. He still needs her. Stefan the boyfriend is telling me to back off so...I need to come up with a Plan B.

I'm drinking bourbon because, well it's me but more importantly I'm trying to take the edge off the desire I have to re-acquaint my knuckles with my brothers face when he walks in having a phone conversation with Jenna. She's come home and wants to know what's going on. Stefan says he'll go over and explain everything and that works out quite well for me.

"You know I'd love to lend you a hand but you wouldn't want me to do anything stupid" – "You seriously gonna be like this?" – "You and your girlfriend are callin' the shots. I'm just...backin' off Stefan" and he's gone.

Honestly that boy is a useless vampire; he didn't even notice Andie was here. "Hi. Let's go" – "Where are we going?" – "Splitting from the team, going rogue. Come on" we are paying a little visit to Katherine. If she's still alive that is but given what we know about Klaus and what Klaus knows about us I have a sneaky suspicion that she is.

"I don't think this is a good idea" well of course it's not a good idea honey but it's the only one I've got at the moment. No one answers the door so I open it, I might not be able to get inside but I can do that at least. And yep, there's Katherine, still alive and kicking...sort of.

"Thank god" well that's unusual, she must be really starved for company. "Wow" Andie says as she walks right on in. Crazy lady, let's hope Katherine's not starved for something else as well.

"You were right she looks exactly like Elena" well...yeah, if Elena looked like an evil slut. "Thought you might be dead" – "Unfortunately not" – "What are you doing here?" – "We are here to rescue you" well that's not...entirely true. "No sweetie we are here to see if she deserves to be rescued" which let's face it is unlikely.

I wave the little bottle of vervain I brought with me at her "Is that...?" – "Vervain, your salvation?" – "It's not gonna undo anything" yeah I figured, he's compelled her to stay here until he says otherwise. "Drink this and it'll prevent any further compulsion" – "Give it to me!" demanding little thing isn't she? Just like another pretty little doppelganger I know.

"Answer one question first. You double crossed us with Isobel, why?" – "I didn't think you could stand a chance against Klaus. I was looking out for myself" of course, well at least we know that's the truth "and where'd that get you?" I toss her the vervain, the fact that there are vampires who can compel other vampires totally sucks "You owe me. I will collect" see ya later Katherine. Don't think I did that out of the kindness of my heart; no I'm taking a page of out the Katherine Pierce playbook because there will come a time when we need something from her and it's never a bad thing to have Katherine owe you something.

Stefan is hovering outside the living room listening to Elena explain everything to Jenna and he looks like he's going to have a nervous breakdown. Plus he's got that guilty look on his face; you know the one, like it's all his fault, our fault for coming back here, for getting involved in Elena's life. What he fails to realise or accept is that this would have happened anyway. She's the doppelganger and eventually Klaus would have found her or Katherine would have come for her. At least this way, with us around, we can keep her alive. Which is precisely why I try to stop her.

"I have to go back to Elijah" – "What? No, no" – "Stefan I promised him that I would return. I can't break that promise" have I mentioned that I don't care much about breaking promises?

"Where do you think you're going?" – "Back to Elijah" I speed up and stand in front of her "No." – "Get out of my way Damon" – "You so much as try and take a step out of this house" I don't know what I'll do but I guarantee no one will like it.

"Easy Damon" – "Stay out of this Andie" – "Let her go" oh shut up Stefan, clearly you don't even care about keeping our girl safe. "You kidding me? We just got her back" Stefan slams his hand down on my arm, the one that's currently attached to Elena. What? Like I said we just got her back, sue me for wanting to touch her.

"You heard me. I said let her go" – "That's twice today you've stood in my way. I wouldn't try a third" god I could kill him right now, but I have to let her go. I hate it. So much.

"You don't have to be so mad at your brother..." yes I do Andie, I really do because he's a foolish dick "Go please" – "I know you're worried about her too" – "Andie. Go" I really...am not the best person to be around right now.

Oh great here comes Saint Stefan. Peace. I just want peace and quiet. "Tired of your little plaything already?" well apparently I'm not going to get any. "Don't start with me Stefan" honestly you'd think he would know better than to antagonise me when I'm already dangerously close to the edge. "She's just my distraction" – "She's a person. You're victimising her" oh fuck you Stefan you know nothing.

Andie is not a fucking victim, she knows exactly who and what I am. I didn't take away her free will; she's been compelled not to tell anyone that I'm a vampire. Everything else is her fucking choice. She's here because she wants to be.

"You should be thankful she's here. It keeps me from going for what I really want" Elena. "You're right" I almost always am "Thank you for being in love with my girlfriend" – "And there is it" put into real words. "There it is" I sense a fight brewing. It's just that kind of atmosphere.

"You know you can be in love with Elena all you want if it means you'll protect her" huh? Um...is it not kinda clear that that's what I've been trying to do all this fucking time? "But I have the one thing that you never will" – "Oh yeah? What's that?" – "Her respect"

I punch him so hard he goes flying into the wall and destroys my bookcase but I've wanted to do that all day. Fuck him for saying that. Fuck me for thinking it might be true. He comes at me but he forgets that I'm a little bit older and a little bit stronger than he is, especially considering his fucked up diet.

"Stop!" Elena. Shit. And...Elijah. Great. "Now you've invited him in?" – "Elijah and I have renewed the terms of our deal" fabulous does that mean he's not gonna kill me in my sleep then? "Really?" – "The two of you will come to no harm at my hands. I only ask for one thing in return" of course. "What?" my firstborn son? Hah! "An apology" – "A what?" you have got to be kidding me. Not. A. Chance.

"I'm sorry for the part that I played in your death. I was protecting Elena. I will always protect Elena" fucking Stefan. Stefan the good, Stefan the saint. They both look at me in anticipation but I just shake my head, I'm honestly disgusted at the whole situation and it will be a cold day in hell before I apologise for protecting Elena. I will never apologise for trying to keep her safe, for trying to keep her alive.

"Sacrifice is going to happen Damon. Bonnie will be able to kill Klaus without hurting herself and Elijah knows how to save my life" well I don't believe that for a second "I told you I'd find another way and I did" – "Is that true?" – "It is" and I still don't believe it.

"And you're trusting him?" – "I am" – "You can all go to hell."

Oh fucking...Andie is still here. Half naked in my bedroom. "I thought I told you to leave" – "You didn't compel me" fuck this is...not good.

"I want to be here. Just let me be here" but I can't "I am upset. And you know what happens when I'm upset. You have to leave" please I can't do this.

"No. You need to know that somebody cares about you. I care about you Damon" oh stop it. Please stop it. I can't take any more people telling me that they fucking care about me. I tear into her throat in a none too gentle manner that's far removed from my style and I drink but she's screaming and thrashing and this is Andie and god what am I doing?

No. No. God no. "Hey look at me. Get out of here" I compel her this time, I won't hurt her, I don't want to hurt her "before I kill you. Just go. Go. NOW" she turns back at the door to look at me and I feel like the worst kind of person right now.

But I let her go. That has to count for something right?

Dear Diary,
Last night I told Damon that we would find another way and I did. I had to; my friends will not die for me. That defeats the whole purpose of me sacrificing myself. So I took the dagger out of Elijah. I gave it to him to prove that he could trust me and then I left with him so we could talk.

He told me that Klaus is his brother, apparently there are a whole family of Originals, he said they are the oldest vampires in the world, the Original family and that from them all vampires were created. And then he told me that the Sun and the Moon Curse is fake, it's actually just a curse placed on Klaus.

Then Stefan called to tell me that Klaus/Ric had a confrontation with Jenna, I had to go to her and I had to tell her everything. It was so awful and she looked...betrayed. I feel terrible about it and I know I should have told her sooner, I was just trying to protect her.

Damon tried to stop me from going back to Elijah, I understand why he did it and I don't like making him angry but he has to learn to let me make my own decisions. Damon is normally so good at letting me do things my way and I know he's trying to protect me, save me but I had to go back. We needed information.

Elijah explained that Klaus was born to a werewolf father so he's actually a hybrid and when he was turned a curse was placed on him to make his werewolf side dormant and now he wants to break it. The dagger won't kill him, only a witch can. Elijah said he can kill Klaus without Bonnie dying and that he found a way to save the doppelganger. Me. He found a way to save Katherine, an elixir that the witches created the first time round. I think Elijah loved Katherine. I know there's no guarantee that it will work but it's...hope. It's a chance.

Damon wouldn't apologise to Elijah, he and Stefan were fighting when we came home although I don't know what they were fighting about. I didn't really expect him to apologise, Damon doesn't really do apologies. I just...hope he's okay. I know he's upset and angry because the sacrifice is going to go ahead but I think more than anything he's just scared. But I can't do anything to make it better for him. We just have to trust in the elixir and Elijah.
Elena