Hostage Control

by LittleHandGernade

:::Complete:::Addie's agreed to be Klaus' hostage in order to keep everyone she loves safe. She's left her boyfriend in charge of watching her sister, despite his lingering feelings for Elena and her feelings for him. Damon's jealousy and everyone's expectations are becoming too much to bear. Can they find their way back to each other or is one summer too long apart? Sequel Coming!

28. Chapter 27

Addie felt a cool pressure against her lips as the familiar scent of cloves, ginger, and sandalwood filled her nose. Her eyes slowly fluttered open to find Damon's sky blue eyes staring into her own. He gently held her chin and softly kissed her again.

"Good morning," she greeted slowly.

Damon chuckled, "Good morning."

"You seem to be in a better mood," grinned Addie as she cupped his cheek. His stubble tickled at her palm.

He really wasn't but he wasn't going to ruin what could possibly be his last moments with her, no matter how slim those chances were. "Last night was a little overwhelming," he shrugged.

"Last night!" Addie paled and scrambled away from him, looking for her cellphone on the nightstand.

"Hey, hey, hey," Damon said soothingly, pulling her back towards him. "Jeremy and Elena are holding up ok. They decided to paint Ric's room in the middle of the night."

"That sounds healthy," she quipped sardonically.

"Healthier than a lot of alternatives." From his nightstand he grabbed a black mug, a stream of steam curling above it.

She gave him a grateful smile as he passed her the cup of coffee. "I suppose. How do you know what they did?"

He pointed to the sound machine on the dresser before grabbing the second mug and Addie registered the sound of crashing waves that hadn't been playing when they had gone to sleep. Stefan must have come home at some point and told him.

Damon downed his piping hot beverage in two swallows, It always made Addie winced in the imagined pained whenever he did that but he insisted he didn't scald his mouth and throat.

Watching Addie blow at her coffee he wondered, "Are you hungry? Do you want me to make breakfast?"

"No, thank you," she answered softly.

"You should really eat."

She gave him a stern, disapproving look. They had discussed Damon's obsession with trying to feed her, particularly healthy food, on several occasions. She was a big girl who had managed 15 years without him. "I'm really not hungry but I appreciate the offer."

Addie gave a soft cry of pain when she finally dared to take a sip of the coffee.

"What's wrong?" Damon quickly asked in concern.

The word "hot" came out garbled as she set the coffee down and rushed to the bathroom. She turned the tap on and swished cool, soothing water around her burned mouth.

"Sorry. Guess I should have waited a little longer before waking you up."

"It wasn't your fault. I think I've had enough coffee for today, though."

Damon rolled onto his back and tucked a hand under his head as he watched Addie at the sink. She repeated the exact same process in the exact same order every morning and night. Wet the toothbrush, cover end to end with paste, wet brush again, brush tongue, divide mouth into six sections, divide each section into three areas, brush each area in a circular motion on a slight angle from left to right eleven times. He didn't remember the exact order she had to brush the different areas and sections but he knew she had to start the process all over if she made a mistake. It was just another little quirk about her that he loved. As she wet her toothbrush a second time he off-handedly commented, "I'm really proud of us for not fighting last night."

"Yeah, well," she grumbled around a mouthful of toothpaste when she was halfway through brushing her teeth. It would have been pointless to start a fight with Damon over his telling everyone that Alaric was dead. No matter what she said, it wasn't like he could take the words back and make everything alright again. Finished with her process, Addie spit out the flavored foam and rinsed her mouth out with water. Her words came out muffled as she wiped her face on the hand towel. "I should get home and check on Elena and Jeremy."

"You really think they're going to get into that much trouble with a couple of paintbrushes and some paint?" muttered Damon, trying to keep the mild irritation from his voice. It didn't bother him that she was concerned about her siblings but that she was avoiding him because he could tell she was still upset with him.

Addie crossed her arms as she leaned against the bathroom doorframe, leering at Damon through narrowed eyes. Smartly she retorted, "It's quite possible."

Logically he countered, "Jeremy is an artist and Elena's a neat freak; it's really very unlikely."

"Still," she sighed, slightly uncomfortably, "they just found out some very upsetting news and we should be together as a family."

"I'm not trying to start a fight," Damon quickly prefaced, "but isn't that a very un-Addie-like response and a cause for suspicion? When people die you get angry and isolate."

"You're the one who told me that wasn't a healthy reaction," Addie muttered, giving a slightly defensive shrug. Sternly she blurted, "Look, I can see that you're trying to get me to stay, which is alarming since you said you wanted space. What are you up to?"

It was extraordinarily unlikely that he was going to die when he went to kill Klaus later. His love and devotion for Addie would protect him in a fight. The only risk to his life was the slight possibility that came with Klaus having potentially sired his bloodline. If he did only have a matter of hours left he wasn't going to spend them fighting with the girl he loved and was trying to protect.

"There's a funeral for Ric in a few hours."

"That's - didn't you just find," she used air quotes around the word, "his body last night? How do you even arrange that?"

"It's what I discussed with Stefan before coming up to bed. He took care of compelling all the gravediggers and everything last night and this morning."

"Because there's a 24-hour coffin store or you keep one in the basement because that's where you really sleep when I don't spend the night?" Addie quipped sarcastically.

Damon's lips pressed into a thin line. Vampire jokes? And she wondered why he believed it best she wasn't the one to inform Jeremy about Ric's death. "I have to pick one up before the funeral."

"Oh. Is it wise to have a funeral so soon?" she asked, shifting uncomfortable.

"It was your brother's idea and your sister agreed to it. I think they are the most qualified in making that assessment. Unless you're not ready for it?" he questioned. A guilty part of him hoped that she wasn't, hoped that she showed signs of grieving normally.

"I don't really care," Addie dismissed quickly as she moved to his closet. "What are you wearing?"

"Black." Of course she couldn't handle things like a normal person. Though, if she did, she wouldn't still be dating him.

From the back of his closet she called out, "That qualifies almost everything in here. I'm assuming you mean a suit. I'm thinking a three piece; it's cold enough out."

"I don't get cold. And what do you know of fashion?"

"I pretend to listen to Caroline every now and then. It doesn't hurt for you to keep up appearances," Addie muttered as she intently shuffle through his suits. She selected a simple black single-breasted Armani with a classic, slim-fit cut. "You have eleven plain black ties," she recalled off the top of her head as she selected a silk one. "Nobody needs that many of the same tie."

As she hung the outfit on the back of the door he pointed out, "They're different fabrics and widths."

"There's still no logical need; you just have a fashion obsession."

He couldn't argue with that. "You have more plaid than a backwoods hillbilly and more Converse than a 80s grunge groupie."

"Yes and I can proudly admit to that. Who's going to the funeral?"

Damon shrugged. "The usual people, I guess. It's not like we took an add out in the paper."

"Is everyone - are Elena and Jeremy expecting me to go?" she asked softly, running her hand anxiously through her hair.

"You haven't been to the funerals of anyone in you family. I don't think anyone is expecting you to go."

Addie bit her lip and fidgeted with the hem of his soft shirt she wore. "Do you want me to go?"

"Do you want to go?" he said, taken aback by the question.

"I will go if you want me to go for moral support or whatever," she explained as she laid back down next to him.

Damon grinned slightly as he stretched out his arm and Addie's head rested on his shoulder, her arm slung across his lower stomach. "I appreciate that, love; I really do. I know how hard that would be for you. I will be fine, though."

"It wouldn't be hard. I just find funerals stupid and pointless. I mean, how does sticking someone's body in the ground to rot give you a sense of closure? How is looking at a dead body anything but traumatizing? It's one of the stupidest concepts in our culture," she vented sulkily.

He snorted derisively, "Yeah, your moral support would be very encouraging."

Addie's brow furrowed as a concerning thought came to her. "Is that why you haven't wanted me around?"

"I don't want to argue with you, Ads," Damon drawled out steadily.

"Not everything has to be a fight," she protested sensibly. "We got through last night just fine when I was certain you were going to spontaneously combust."

He scoffed humorlessly, "I may or may not have had a small aneurysm."

"But we didn't fight and that is the important part. Have a little faith in me." When Damon didn't respond she began to pull away and threatened, "Tell me how you can want me around and want space or I'm leaving." It bothered her how he could seem so mercurial, wanting her around the previous night and that morning but saying he needed space before that.

"Alright, alright, alright," Damon sighed, gently pushing at her shoulder until she settled against him again. "I miss you when you're not around. Part of me wishes I could spend all my time with you."

"And the other part?" Addie prodded when it was clear he wasn't going to continue.

"Look, after Ric, I just need some time to myself; I need to spend some time with my own thoughts. However, I also realized I need time with you to keep in perspective what is most important to me," he explained. It was close enough to the truth. He didn't need to tell her that he wanted to be around her just in case it was his last few hours. She didn't need to know that he needed space because he didn't like having to act as if he was handling Ric's death in an appropriate manner in front of her when he preferred to drown himself in alcohol. "Plus I'm feeling very overprotective considering what happened last night and don't really know how comfortable I feel with letting you out of my sight."

Sensing that wasn't the whole truth Addie rested her chin on his shoulder and studied his face critically. "Good enough," she decided. They both had a difficult time when it came to expressing how they really felt. If he was that reluctant to tell her the whole truth, it was something deeply personal that he simply wasn't ready to share.

Damon arched an eyebrow in surprise. "Really?"

"I'm not looking to fight with you, either" she answered simply, referencing the statement he had made earlier. "Actually, I'm also proud of us, particularly you, for not fighting last night."

His lips fought against a scowl; he didn't care for the way she emphasized his role. "It's like I said," he began poking her on the nose with each word to accentuate his point, "I don't want to fight with you."

"Ok," Addie huffed impatiently, swatting his hand away. "What's going on? Since when do you not want to fight? Like you said last night, we fight all the time. It's how we function."

"No, it's not. We bicker over stuff that doesn't really matter. I don't mind that. It's actually why we work. The only time we actually fight is when it comes to Klaus. That's when there is the idea of a winner and a loser and that's not ok. He isn't worth our time."

"We don't fight about Klaus."

"Yes, we do."

Addie shook her head and resolutely declared, "No, we don't."

"So, why are you proud of us for not fighting last night?" challenged Damon.

"Well, I'm proud of you for not losing your cool and turning into a raging nutcase because Klaus hurt me."

"No, no, no, no. I'd be in a perfectly justifiable rage," he quickly corrected. "Some freak rammed his hand into my girlfriend's chest, breaking bones, clutched her heart and punctured it in an attempt to kill her!"

"Hey," Addie said soothingly, resting her forehead against his. "It's ok. I'm fine. If Klaus wanted me dead he would have killed me."

Damon quickly rolled them until Addie was on her back and buried his face in the crook of her neck. The familiar, heady scent of cucumber melon bathed his senses. The situation was not ok; she was so far from fine. Not only should she have nothing to do with Klaus, she should be terrified of him. He wished she would be as concerned about her own safety as he was.

Thinking of her safety reminded him that she still had Klaus' blood in her system. Based on how badly he had injured her, there was a lot of his blood. If the worst should happen and she should die he didn't want her to have to choose to transition with that bastard's blood. It wasn't even really a choice; it was a death sentence. At least if it was his blood she might decided to to become a vampire, despite how set she was on not becoming a vampire. Facing with the reality of death was terrifying and could easily cause her to change her mind. But she wouldn't drink his blood for no reason.

"The fact that you can say it's ok shows just how unaware of the potential consequences you are. I don't know what I would do if something happened to you," Damon murmured, his voice rough and gravely. Addie shivered as his breath, warmed from the coffee, flowed over her neck.

Addie took his face in her hands as she met his fiery eyes with dilated pupils. She brushed her lips over his in a seductive stroke.

"I promise you will never have to find out what that's like," she swore softly.

"Good," he acknowledged firmly.

He took the mouth she offered him exactly how he wanted; with an impatience, heat, and hunger all mixed together in a near brutal assault. He let the taste of cinnamon toothpaste and something distinctly Addie slide over his tongue as he would a fine wine. There was no more hiding from the truth; she had almost died. He had almost lost her. And now he was going to kiss her as if he would never get another chance, because there was the slight possibility he wouldn't. Her body quivered once in surprise, in defense, in response. Then her fingers raked through his luscious locks, fisting them.

She wanted more of this edge, this recklessness, even the reluctant need. The last time they had properly kissed was the day Damon had killed Alaric. Since then it was a quick peck on a the cheek here and a chaste brush of the lips there. As he toyed with her mouth her head went spinning and her body churned.

Reluctantly Damon drew away, ordering, "Look at me."

Addie felt her cheeks warm with blood as she met his heated, piercing gaze. She scraped her bottom lip with her teeth bashfully and watched his eyes lower to follow the movement. "What was that for?"

She had to know how he felt, just in case things went wrong.

"I realized that I haven't taken the time lately to tell you just how much I love you. I need you to remember that I will always love you. You can push me away, and you definitely do try, but I will never stop loving you. When I think of my past nothing can compare with how my life turned out with you in it. You've taught me the freedom of love. You taught me what it means to be love. You don't love me inspite of who I am. You love me because of who I am and I could never ask for anything more. I'm so blessed and lucky that you're mine and, better yet, I'm yours. You-"

A single finger against his lips silenced him. Despite her best efforts the corners of her mouth twitched furiously as she fought against giggling.

"Is there a particular reason you sound like a Hallmark greeting card?" Addie inquired innocently.

Damon gaped in mock affront. "Well excuse me for professing my love for you. I'll just keep my feelings to myself from now on."

"No, no. You're allowed to profess your love," she reassured him quickly, "but being mushy, gushy doesn't really suit us."

"It doesn't suit us?" he challenged with an arched eyebrow. Dramatically he drawled, "Bullshit. You just get uncomfortable hearing the truth."

He wasn't wrong. She smirked suggestively at him, "I'd rather you just show me."

Damon resisted when she tugged at the back of his neck and looked at her smugly. He shook his head and pretended to pout. "Now I think you think I'm just a piece of meat."

"Yes, obviously," Addie replied sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. "Have you looked in a mirror?"

He nodded. "Oh, yes. I'm very aware of my amazing good looks. That only further proves my idea."

She gave a huff of mild annoyance, "Damon, I don't give a damn about how you look. In fact, wasn't I, like, the only person immune to your charms?"

"They have yet to work on Bonnie," he pointed out. Addie scowled; she didn't particularly like that smartass tone when she wasn't the one using it.

"You ripped out her throat because a crazy ancestor possessed her and made her destroy a rock that you wanted to use to unleash a tomb of vampires on an innocent town. That's just number one on a long lists of reasons why your charms," she placed air quotes around the word, "will never work on Bonnie Bennett. Every other girl in town is fair game. And every other girl has, at one point or another, fallen victim to your looks and charm, except me. You just said I love you because of who you are," Addie argued logically.

"Yeah," Damon agreed reluctantly, signing heavily, "but I had to say it."

"Oh, my God," Addie mumbled under her breath to herself. He knew how she felt; he was just going to make this painful.

"I think I need that gooey feeling you can only get from an epic confession of love before kissing you some more," he said thoughtfully.

"Ah, well, isn't it convenient that I don't feel like kissing you anymore?" she retorted smartly.

He gently grabbed her hands that were lightly pushing at his shoulders and chuckled, "Come on. Tell me you love me."

"I hate you."

"No you don't. You love me," he confidently corrected her.

"True."

"You're just afraid to express your feelings because you find it a little difficult to handle your emotions."

Indignantly Addie gaped, "Pot. Kettle. Black."

"Yes but I've said how I feel," pointed out Damon. "Actually, you cut me off."

Focusing on a spot over his shoulder she said somberly, "Fine. There are times when you upset me and cause me unwanted anger. There are unwise decisions that you make that disappoint me. There are actions you take that cause me to worry about you. There are times you make me laugh and times you make me cry. There are so many struggles, arguments, and challenges we must endure together. I know that none of those things will ever change. Our relationship will never be simple and easy because we're both too damn stubborn and hardheaded and emotionally stunted and simply insane. We are pure friction, like two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together."

"This is all so encouraging," he muttered sarcastically. "I'm just gonna keep my mouth shut from now on."

"I haven't gotten to my point yet but you'll do well to keep quiet for future reference," Addie scolded lightly before she continued. "But as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, no matter what, I will always love you. You make me feel important, which is a really big deal considering my inferiority complex, particularly when it comes to my sister. You look at me as if I'm the only girl in the world. You've shown me how to live, which is ironic considering you're technically dead. You've taught me how to smile, even on the darkest of days. You've given me the courage to retake control of my life. Most importantly, you've shown me that true unconditional love is possible. You will always and forever be in my heart."

"Those are some excellent points," Damon teased.

Her cheeks turned cherry red as she bossily told him, "Stop grinning like a loon. Shut up and kiss me."

"Yes ma'am," he obliged in a Southern accent. Against her mouth he whispered, "I love you, Addison Gilbert."

Before closing the distance she whispered back, "I love you, Damon Salvatore."

The kiss didn't have the same eager desperation as the one before. His mouth was warm and firm as he took from her with an endless, devastating patience. Her lips turned into a slight smile at the faint flavor of mint hidden under bitter coffee; she hadn't noticed before as her own fresh breath had been so strong. It was so weird that he brushed his teeth before his coffee.

Damon broke away slightly and suspiciously asked, "Why are you grinning?"

"I'm happy," she answered, quickly pulling him back.

Again she smile at the hint of mint. Addie typically detested the taste of mint; it was why she used cinnamon flavored toothpaste. The only time she went near mint was when she was kissing Damon. She never told him she hated the taste of his toothpaste. He would use Crest Whitening until it was discontinued. Though, he would probably stop if he knew she didn't like it. The mint and coffee, mixed with something that she could only describe as Damon, a taste that had grown to be comforting and familiar.

Addie allowed him to roll her to her back, deepening the angle of the kiss. He placed a featherlight kiss to the corner of her mouth and tried to tilt her chin up to allow him better access to her neck but she resisted him, pulling him back in for a kiss. Damon gently nipped and tugged at her lower lip until he felt her become completely pliant and relaxed under his hands that confidently moved down the contours of her body. He again moved for her neck but her fisst tightened in his hair, holding him in place. Damon groaned impatiently.

Breaking away Addie gave him a tight lipped smile. "I just want to do some boring, lazy kissing. Nothing more, ok?"

"Ok. I'm sorry."

She stiffened; she didn't need the negative feeling she could only describe as misty gray generating from him to tell her that he was lying. His tense voice betrayed his sincerity.

"No, it's not ok," she accused. "What's going on? It's never mattered to you before if we took things slow."

Damon sighed heavily as he flopped onto the bed. Through gritted teeth he growled out, "You have Klaus' blood inside you."

Her lips pursed as she tried to reason his attitude. "And you're jealous? Damon, that means nothing. It's not like I wanted to drink his blood. It was kind of a situation where I didn't have any other options. I still don't get what that has to do with making out, though."

"I understand why you did it and that's why I'm not jealous. That doesn't mean I'm comfortable with the idea or situation. I figured if, well, if I left a couple of marks that needed healing then you would have to drink my blood and then I wouldn't be as bothered by it. My blood in you is one thing; Klaus' is another," he explained, realizing how petty it sounded when he said it outloud.

Addie threw an arm across her face so Damon couldn't see her eyes roll. His jealousy could seriously impair his brain functioning. Knowingly she said, "It's impossible for you to leave hickeys if I have vampire/hybrid blood in my system. The rapid healing properties are at work. It's like when Jeremy tried to kill himself by taking a buttload of pills after drinking Anna's blood. Her blood reversed the effects."

Damon didn't respond as he stared up at the ceiling. Obviously she was right. He wasn't sure how he missed that.

"If you wanted me to drink you blood, you should have just asked me to," she said after a stretch of silence.

"Because you wouldn't do that without a valid reason."

"The fact that Klaus' blood is in me bothers you this much is a valid enough reason."

---

"Brother," Damon greeted cheerily, clapping Stefan on the shoulder as he entered the study. He was in a much better mood after Addie had taken some of his blood. "How would you like to be my co-conspirator in my master revenge scheme?"

Looking up from his book Stefan eyed Damon warily; his master schemes typically meant trouble. "What are you up to?"

"It's Operation Neutralize Klaus," he said, using hand gestures to emphasize his title.

"What?"

"See, we've been going about this all wrong," Damon said as he poured himself a drink. "We've been trying to kill Klaus but he's like a damn cockroach and could survive biological warfare."

"Actually the saying is that they can survive a nuclear explosion," interjected Stefan.

Damon waved his drink through the air, as if brushing away his brother's words. "Don't really care. The point is the bastard can't be killed."

"Just last night you went to Alaric's to look for the White Oak stake to kill Klaus with," Stefan pointed out.

"I have had an epiphany since then," Damon replied slowly. The stake was actually in a safe in the trunk of his car. He still planned on using it. "Besides, if we kill him, we have have a one in four chance of dying. The solution is to neutralize him. Desiccate him."

Stefan frowned broodily. "You're forgetting that the daggers don't work on him. Also, I doubt Klaus is going to just stop feeding if we ask really, really nicely."

"Oh, Stefan," his brother laughed dryly at his attempt at humor. "Are your emotions all the way back on and you think playing nice was ever an option? We've had the solution the whole time. We just haven't been thinking," Damon said, tapping at his head.

"And you've suddenly realized the solution?"

"Yes!" he exclaimed. "When some Hybrid freak rams his hand into your girlfriend's chest and damages her heart and then uses his disgusting mutt blood to heal her you become slightly motivated to take immediate action."

"Klaus did what? Why would he hurt her if he was just going to heal her?" Stefan asked dumbfounded.

"You know," he had started to pace the room in a fit of agitation and excitement, "I don't really care why. I just know that this guy has had some sick, twisted obsession with my girlfriend since… he gave Addie that scholarship to London! He blackmailed her into spending the rest of her summer on your little cross country road trip. I don't know exactly how long he's been a psycho stalker but I'm not going to tolerate it anymore. Addie always ruins my plans to defeat him. She associates with the bastard. I don't know why but it's like she's trying to give me a fucking heart attack. They're like that damn cat and mouse cartoon-"

"It's called Tom and Jerry," interrupted Stefan. He knew Damon had been acting too calmly the previous night; he was a highly combustible ball of rage. Klaus hurting Addie was just the spark that set off the explosion.

"Don't care because this isn't a TV show! He's going to be the cat that at the mouse because the mouse was reckless."

"I'm gonna tell Addie you called her a mouse," Stefan said, going back to his book. Damon was past the point of making sense. "Actually, have you talked to Addie about your little plan? How does she feel about it?"

Damon briefly hesitated in his pacing before continuing his long, purposeful strides around the room. He'd done worse than compare Addie to a genius, reckless, fictional cartoon character; she would get over it. "No, as I said, she has a tendency to ruin my plans."

"Then shouldn't you not be discussing a plan you don't want her to know about while she's still in the house?" his brother asked as if the answer were obvious.

"She's in the shower; she's not going to overhear."

"And when do you plan on doing this?"

"After Ric's funeral."

"You go ahead and have fun with that," Stefan responded disinterestedly as he licked his finger and flipped a page in the book.

"If Klaus it out of the way then we don't have to worry about him trying to use Elena to make more hybrids." Stefan's eyes stopped scanning the pages. "I can't get rid of Klaus without you, brother."

Stefan's eyes closed briefly in exasperation. They always seemed to go down this road and Klaus always somehow won. "How do you plan on desiccating him?"

"Magic. We use the same spell that made Mikael shrivel up like a prune. Then we dump his body in the middle of the Atlantic," Damon answered as breezily as if he were giving the time.

"Brilliant idea except we don't have the spell."

"No but Mommy Bennett does," he smirked.

"Except she's no longer a witch because you turned her into a vampire."

"To save our girlfriends," Damon reminded him justifiably. "Beside, Baby Bennett is still a witch."

Stefan brow furrowed in thought. "Let's say Bonnie can do the spell, why do you need my help?"

"I doubt it's going to be something simple. I'm likely going to need some additional muscle power."

---

"What the hell happened?" Addie demanded as soon as she walked in the door. She had missed Jeremy's initial call because she was showering and by the time she had gotten around to calling him back, he was already taking Elena home from the hospital.

"Nothing," Elena emphasized. She was laid out on the couch with a blanket wrapped around her. There was a cup of tea on the coffee table. It didn't look like she was enjoying being fussed over for once.

"Not true," Jeremy quickly objected from a chair. "I already told you how I found her."

Addie's lips pursed as she sat next to Elena's feet. Concerned, she asked, "Do you remember what happened?"

"I fell off the ladder painting. My blood sugar was just low; I didn't eat at all yesterday. I'm fine. It's just a mild concussion," Elena reassured her little sister.

Addie looked to her brother for confirmation and he nodded. "She should be fine."

"Do we need to keep her at home for a couple of days or keep an eye on her or anything like that?"

"Uh, hello. I'm sitting right here," scowled Elena, waving her hand infront of Addie's face.

"Dr. Fell said you need to take it easy for a couple of days and to make sure you eat. We can't - something can't happen to you, too," Jeremy finished softly.

Elena gave him a weak smile. "I promise I'll take better care of myself."

"Good. Addie, you mind stay with her with I go work on painting the room?"

"Again, sitting right here. And I don't need my little brother or sister to babysit me," Elena protested indignantly.

Addie exchanged a look with her brother that said she would keep an eye on Elena and he left the room. Once she could no longer hear his footsteps on the stairs she asked, "How is he holding up?"

Elena frowned slightly. "He's angry. He's not happy about vampires. I think he feels like they're the reason why Ric died. He went off on Stefan when he was over this morning and told him he just wanted one day with no vampires in it."

"It probably wouldn't change his mind if I pointed out that Klaus was technically a hybrid," Addie said, tsking in disappoint. "Plus, how does that work if there are going to be vampires at Alaric's funeral?"

"I doubt it would change anything. I think he was just lashing out in anger. How is Damon doing?"

"Damon?" Addie repeated, slightly taken aback. Wasn't Elena interested in Stefan again? She'd thought she'd solved that problem.

Damon was doing abnormally well considering he had murdered his best friend, in her opinion. She had to question his sanity in doing it, though, she liked to chalk it up to Klaus driving him to be irrationally protective. That made it concerning that he hadn't had more of a freak out when she'd told him Klaus had hurt her. But that had nothing to do with Elena's question. Damon wanted a little space while he dealt with his feelings about the situation but he didn't seem to be doing anything destructive during that time. Overall, he seemed more detach than Addie would have expected.

"Damon is… well, he's Damon. He hasn't killed anyone, so that's always a good sign." Addie sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair and softly whispered to herself, "It's like he wants to act like nothing's wrong."

"Sometimes that's the easiest way for people to move on. It doesn't always help to dwell on things we can't change."

"Is that what you're doing?"

Elena took a loud, long breath. "It's not that simple. It's my fault he's dead. He wanted to walk away from this life after Aunt Jenna but I was the one who gave him back his ring and asked him to stay."

Damon hadn't killed Alaric to protect her. Addie scoffed humorlessly, "You know, I would really like to believe that but out of everyone who's died, Alaric is the person you are the least responsible for. Alaric's death is all on Klaus and his stupid obsession with immortality."

"Wow, Addie. That's almost… nice and rational of you," Elena said in surprise.

Addie choice to ignore the thinly veiled insult; she was always rational. "Are you sure you just fell because you're blood sugar was low? If it's something more we should get someone to heal you."

"I'm sure. Meredith ran all the test - CT, MRI, the works. I'm ok."

"Ok," Addie nodded as she got her backpack from by the front door, "because Jeremy's right; we can't lose you, too."

---

Addie groaned and smashed a pillow over her face as a doorbell echoed through the house. It couldn't be anyone important; everyone was at Alaric's funeral. Perhaps if she ignored whoever it was they would go away. She just wanted to lay in bed and in a funk. There was no particular reason that she could identify as the cause of her depression. It was just a gloomy day she had a bad feeling about. Or she was looking for an excuse not to do her physics homework, which was very likely.

"I'm coming," she yelled grumpily, storming out of her room as the doorbell continued to ring for several minutes. Her mood and outlook on the world became darker as she opened the door to reveal Klaus. Starting to close it again she quipped smartly, "We're not interested in buying any Girl Scout cookies. Thanks."

"I'm leaving town and you and your sister are coming with me," he proclaimed, loud and firm.

Addie rested against the partially open door as she looked out at him. She shook her head slowly. "No, I don't think that's going to happen."

"This isn't a question, Addison. I am telling you what is going to happen," Klaus said low and threateningly.

"Sorry but my sister's not here."

He stroked his chin thoughtfully, "Well, I suppose I could always take you and come back for her."

"What's the rush?"

"It turns out that my mother is possessing my sister and, as you know, she is very eager to kill off her children, particularly me. I would like to put as much distance between her and myself as soon as possible but I had to pick up a few essentials first - flashlight, spare tire, doppelganger, and you," Klaus answered nonchalantly.

Her fingers ran through her hair nervously. She couldn't allow Ester to kill her children. If she killed all four that was a guarantee that Damon would die. She tried to keep her voice firm and steady as she asked, "Shouldn't we be looking for a way to stop your mother instead of running?"

"No, there are too many potential energy sources for my mother to draw more power from in the area. It's better to fight her i a neutral territory when we have a plan of how to actually take her out. In the meantime, I don't plan on letting her kill you or your sister. She knows I want to use both of you."

"I should be helping her kill you," Addie mused softly to herself.

"Then you'd be responsible for killing your precious boy toy."

Her jaw clenched reflexively. "I don't believe you turned his bloodline."

"I don't always tell you the full truth but I don't lie to you. I turned his line. If you don't believe me would you like to ask my obnoxiously moral brother?" he proposed, offering her his cellphone.

She felt a hollow pit in her stomach. If Klaus was saying that Elijah would agree with him, then he was most likely telling the truth. She took a deep breath. "If I agree to leave with you, do you believe that your mother will follow us?"

"Yes."

"Do you promise to leave everyone here untouched?"

"Yes."

"I don't like the idea of your mother being close if you turned Damon's line. I don't know how long it will take her to figure out a way to kill you," Addie thought aloud pensively. "Would you be willing to make a compromise?"

He eyed her suspiciously. "Possibly."

"I will go with you now. Once we have successfully led your mother away from Mystic Falls, I will convince Elena to come and get me, while really luring her to you, if you promise that you are only going to be taking her blood and you will not injure her and that she will be safe and well cared for. Once your mother is out of the picture, you let Elena go back to living her life. I'll convince her to supply you with blood whenever you need it," Addie proposed. It felt like acidic liquid guilt was burning a hole through her stomach. Her intentions were to never actually get Elena got in Klaus' web but even the suggestion felt awful. She had to this to save Damon, Stefan, Caroline, and Tyler.

Klaus considered the idea as he shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked on the balls of his feet. He still had enough of Elena's blood to make a few more hybrids. There wasn't an urgent demand. Being in the proximity of his mother did make him anxious. He would prefer to get to a territory where he had more of his army for protection. Stefan and Damon had proved on several occasions that they were capable of protecting Elena.

Besides, he already knew what benefits he could reap from Elena. Addie possibly had so much more potential; he just had to tap into it. She was the sister that he needed to focus on and experiment with.

"And what about you once we've taken care of my mother?"

"I don't think you'd give me that kind of leverage. Frankly, I don't care what happens to me as long as my friends and family are safe."

Klaus nodded and agreed, "Fine. Let's go."

"I need to pack," Addie protested.

"No time. I'll buy you new stuff."

"I at least need my laptop. Stuff on there cannot be replaced!"

---

"This isn't exactly what I pictured when you said we were going far from Mystic Falls," Addie muttered as she watched Klaus pace back and forth across the sparse living room. Klaus had taken them to a lavish, foreclosed house in a town only two hours away. At least he had allowed her to follow him in her own car.

"We need to have a little heart to heart," he said sternly, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he stood in front of her.

Sarcastically she bit back, "We didn't have enough of a heart to heart when your hand was wrapped around my heart last night?"

"No. I'm going to be honest with you, so I expect you to be honest with me," he remarked patronizingly.

Addie inhaled through her teeth sharply as if in pain. "Yeah, I'm not sure if I can believe in the whole honesty spiel coming from you."

He shrugged and gave her an icy, uncompromising look. "If you want answers, you're going to have to give some. Can you be compelled?"

"I believe you already know the answer to that," she sighed running her fingers through her hair. It was useless to keep up the pretense.

"I want to hear it from you."

"No."

"Good," Klaus nodded. "It means a locator spell won't work on you and we're safe to talk her for a bit."

That wasn't entirely true. Elena and Jeremy's blood couldn't be used to track her but Damon's could. She wasn't going to correct him, though. And she doubted anyone would be trying locator spells if they didn't hear from her for a few hours.

"How do you know that?"

"I've told you; I've studied people like you," he answered cryptically.

"What do you mean like me?" she demanded sharply.

"Special people. Siblings, particularly female siblings to potential hunters, like Jeremy."

Addie could feel a dull ache begging in the back of her head. He mentioned before for how she was different because of Jeremy possibly turning into something in the future. She remembered exactly what Klaus had told her over the summer.

"There are six billion people in the world. Of those six billion people only five should concern you if you're so worried about your brother. One of them dies and your brother kills a vampire it is possible that he turns into the Hulk, He'll be stronger, faster, and have a thirst to kill vampires. Think of it as an upgrade. On the whole, Jeremy has a 99% chance of remaining as an unremarkable, average human."

"This summer you said there didn't seem to be anything special about me except the fact that my blood was poisonous as a defensive mechanism against the vampires Jeremy could bring into my life," she recalled, slightly accusatory.

"Then I noticed you couldn't be compelled."

"How did you figure that out?"

"Damon's feeling for you are unquestionable. However, his decisions regarding your safety and his respect of your independence is extremely questionable. He took drastic actions when Alaric attacked you -"

"Because you baited him," Addie interrupted indignantly.

Klaus continued on as if he hadn't heard her, "He loathes me and yet he hasn't taken any action to keep you away from me."

"Except try to kill you," she interjected again.

He continued to ignore her. "I wasn't 100% convinced that you couldn't be compelled until I saw you today. I knew you would tell Damon of our little encounter last night. If he could compel you, he would have told you to stay away from me. He respects you but he values your life more. Obviously you're here with me, meaning he can't compel you."

"That's despicable. Even if he could, Damon would not compel me," she spat, doubting her own words even as she said them. He could be irrationally protective. She shook her head in disgust. "Is that why you did that? Is that why you nearly killed me? To see if I could be compelled?"

"Yes and no. Damon may have made you resistant to compulsion but-" He hesitated and reconsidered, "Actually, did he? I know Katherine is the one who told you about the whole thing. I suppose it's possible she did it."

She scoffed in disbelief, "You obviously know the process. Do you believe Damon would actually do that even if I begged him to?" Of course he had but she wasn't going to explicitly tell Klaus if he could conclude otherwise. Damon had been doing it for her benefit and it hadn't been as if he enjoyed it. Plus his feelings hadn't been the same way back then.

"Katherine makes more logical sense. I'm not sure if I need to repeat the same process with you to use you for my purposes," he explained.

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "And what is your purpose with me? What's so special about me? Why do you want me?"

"I'll reveal that in time. As for a hint, how familiar are you with Greek and Roman mythology?" Klaus taunted with a knowing smirk.

First a sense of dread quickly followed by a pang of excitement hit Addie. She loved Greek and Roman mythology. She was taking Latin because she wanted to read ancient Roman works, including ones about mythology, in the original language! It was a vast culture but it was a starting point.

"A bit. I'll be sure to do some research. Does this conclude our little heart to heart?" Addie replied snidely. "Can we go?"

"We're waiting for Tyler to bring some essential items. When my mother made her presence known this morning I didn't exactly have time to pack."

Addie giggle. She found it amusing that the terrifying Klaus was so afraid of his mother. "Did she threaten you with the boogey man?"

"The what?"

"Nevermind. What does your mother want? Besides killing off vampires. How long has she been possessing your sister? Why did she just now make her presence known?" Addie wondered.

"I don't know exactly how long. She flew into a fit when I mentioned to her this morning that Alaric Saltzman was dead. Apparently every time he died he took a trip to the Other Side, where she would mess with his mind. She was turning him into the ultimate vampire hunter. I think she wanted to turn him into something like my father," Klaus explained as he wearily sunk into the couch next to her.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, seeing the distant, longing look in his eyes.

"What?" he asked in surprise.

"To have both of your pa your parents hate who you are? To want you dead? That must be awful," Addie sympathized. "The worst I ever had to experience was my parents preferring my siblings over me."

He gave her a small grin. "You're not much like your siblings. Guess we're both the black sheep in our families."

"I suppose."

He shifted on the couch so he was facing towards her and stretched his arm along the back of it. Genuinely curious he puzzled, "Why aren't you terrified of me? Everyone else is. I almost killed you last night."

"But you were never going to let me die. You called Damon to give him a chance to come to my rescue and when he didn't, you healed me," Addie pointed out as she crossed her arms and stretched her legs out. She looked down at his feet, letting her hair fall around her face as a shield. She didn't want to talk about how she felt about him; she tried to avoid think about that as much as possible.

"I could turn you right now. My blood is still in your system."

"You could but you won't. Whatever you want me for, you need me human. Besides, it's Damon's blood in my system now. He got a little…"

"Possessive?" Klaus supplied as he laughed. "That simply means you have his blood and my blood in you. It would be a matter of chance as to whose blood actually turned you. Unless he gave you so little blood that it's already passed from your system."

Addie shook her head slowly, "Not, uh, not exactly. He knew you'd have to have given me a lot to heal such a major injury and Damon doesn't particularly like to be outdone."

"Perhaps I do want to turn you but not quite yet. Is Damon why you're not scared of me? Because you believe he will always protect you?" he asked, going back to his original question.

The dark red ends of Addie's hair wrapped around her fingers as she thought. "Sort of but not because he will protect me. I used to be scared of Damon at first. I was scared of you at first, too. Then I realized that Damon isn't all evil and cruel. When he has an objective when he acts that way or he has feelings that he doesn't know how to express any other way." There was much more she could say about Damon but she didn't want to give all his secrets away to Klaus. "I'm not convinced you're some horrible monster. I believe that you're terrified of being weak and alone. I can't figure out any other reason why someone would become as furious with their family as you do when they do something minor and yet keep them so close, sometimes literally. Family is a person's greatest strength. The next best thing to family is having a massive army that has to do whatever you want and is even more devoted and loyal to you than family."

"I'm not afraid of anything but assuming you were right, you are not my family nor are you one of my hybrids, meaning you should still be scared."

"I'm not convinced I should. Everyone else treats you with hostility and that's how you treat them. I know you say you treat me the way you do so that I will be more willing to work with you in whatever you want me for but I think it's because you appreciate the… humanity I show you. The golden rule is the principle of reciprocality; treat others the way you would want to be treated. I think there is some validity to that with you," Addie explained. It sucked to admit that she had any semblance of a bond with Klaus. "Plus, Damon says I have a thing for bad guys."

"I think it's more that you like to be reckless," postulated Klaus.

"Thank you!" Addie exclaimed, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "I do not have a thing for bad guys. I just enjoy scaring the shit out of people and living on the edge. Well, not the edge. More like I like to drive a few miles over the speed limit. I'm not about to go and play Russian Roulette."

He smiled slightly as he tucked her hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering a little too long against her cheek for her to be comfortable. "You're special for more than what you are."

---

Elena and Stefan sat in the Gilbert living room with Elijah, who had requested an audience with them. Damon had declined to join them, stating that he was too busy but he had made the time to join in via telephone. Nobody was really sure where Addie was but it wasn't unlike her to take off when she was feeling upset or conflicted; which she probably was considering the death of Alaric.

"I need your assistance in taking out my mother," the Original said, pulling a vial of White Oak ash and a silver dagger from the inside of blazer.

"Your mother isn't an Original vampire. How is that supposed to work?" she demanded, nodding towards the objects he displayed.

"Better question: why would we help you?" Damon demanded over the speakerphone.

"We don't know how she managed it but my mother is currently possessing my sister. The dagger will take my mother down as her spirit is confined in Rebekah's body at the moment. As for why you should help, my mother's goal is to eliminate all vampires. Her first goal is to kill Klaus. As the one who started your bloodline, if he dies, so do you," Elijah explained calmly.

Damon pulled the phone away from his ear and sneered at it. He was glad Bonnie and her mother were sitting in the kitchen and could not overhear the conversation. He did not need anything said that could possibly make them change their minds. It was already likely that the little witch wouldn't go through with it because she had to stop a human heart. She'd given him a pretty nasty look when he suggested she use Jeremy considering he had the Gilbert ring and would come back to life if she couldn't manage to resuscitate him. There was no doubt in his mind that Jeremy would be willing to do it to protect his sisters.

In a small voice Elena asked, "Klaus truly did start their line?"

"Yes."

Steady fingers ran through Damon's hair as he reluctantly accepted the consequences of his actions. His brother would. He would die. Addie would be safe. Addie would finally be able to have the normal life she craved. Addie wouldn't have to worry about Klaus hurting the ones she loved. Addie would be mad at him at first but she would come to realize that the sacrifice was all for her and she would be grateful. He would still kill Klaus once they desiccated him.

"How would we even go about stopping her? Wouldn't she suspect something?"

"No, we don't care," Damon told his brother firmly. "We let her kill off the rest of her children while we follow through with neutralizing Klaus and dropping him in the ocean, where she can't reach him."

Elijah cleared his throat and diplomatically replied, "I wouldn't put it past my mother to summon him up from the ocean. You forget that she is channeling the power of an uncountable number of witches from the Other Side to restore the balance in nature and remove vampires." There was a dangerous edge to his voice as he added, "What do you plan on doing to my brother?"

"Seeing as he constantly wants to use Elena as a human blood bag and has taken it upon himself to start ramming his fist into my girlfriend's chest, I'm going to make him all nice and pruny, just like Mikael was," Damon answered with a false sweetness.

"I'm with Damon," Stefan decided. "Desiccating Klaus is what is safest for Addie and Elena. I think we will take our chances with your mother possibly being able to raise him from 36,000 feet below the surface."

There was a long silence as Elijah considered his options. He had several; it was just a matter of whether he wanted to be quick and ruthless or to drag this out. His long fingers steepled under his chin.

"I can understand why you would want my brother out of the way. However, he has already left town. He could come back at any moment for Addie and Elena, though. You will not be able to find him unless you can perform a locator spell; for that you will need the blood of a relative, which I am the only one in the position to provide at the moment," he began.

Elena sharply retorted, "Stefan and Damon have done just fine protecting us from him this long."

"That's not entirely true," confessed Damon. Klaus had managed to nearly kill his Ads. He couldn't risk that again. "You need to sweeten the pot. We're not just going to help you find your brother so you can run away off from Mommy Dearest into the sunset together. As you said, he could come back whenever.

"I wasn't allowed to finish," Elijah said, his eyes quickly flashing to Elena. "I know the spell that was used to take down my father. You will have to get my brother still long enough for it to work. Damon, you and Stefan are strong but my brother is stronger. You will need assistance if you want your plan to work."

Damon snorted in disbelief as he stretched out along the couch. "Do you really believe us to be that stupid? You're not going to betray your brother to help us. We already trusted you to do that once and that's the whole reason Klaus is a damn hybrid and still alive."

"Elena, this is the safety of you and your sister that we are discussing, It's your call on whether or not we trust him," Stefan informed her gently. Damon didn't have a right to make any judgement calls.

"What?" Damon snapped. "Ok. I'm going to say this very slowly: do not trust him. All he's ever done is screw you over."

"And for that I am deeply ashamed. But know this, She could have been dead the instant I walked through that door tonight, so Elena, Stefan is right; I leave it up to you to make the decision whether to trust me or not."

"If we finally stop him, I need some guarantee that you and your family won't bring him back. After everything he's done to us, I just can't allow that," Elena determined resolutely.

Damon nearly dropped the phone in outrage. No way was he going to trust Elijah to help him take down Klaus. "No! Hello! Did that concussion give you brain damage?! You are not doing this he and his lunatic siblings will kill you the first second they get!"

"Kol and I give you our word that we will not revive Klaus with yours nor even within the lifetimes of yours and Addie's children," Elijah swore. "Perhaps that will finally teach Klaus some manners."

"And Rebekah?"

"I will make her agree to the terms once we have managed to expel my mother from her. Do we have a deal?"

"No! No, no no, no! Did I mention no?" Damon protested, screaming into the phone. Bonnie looked at him from the kitchen. He flashed her a dazzling smiling and wiggled his fingers at her in a wave.

"Elena, it's up to you," Stefan reminded her.

Still uncertain Elena stalled, "Why do you want Klaus' body?"

Elijah's answer was simple and almost Klaus-like. "He's my brother. We remain together."

"Hold up!" interrupted Damon, a counter argument suddenly coming to him. "This isn't just up to Elena. We are discussing her safety and Addie's safety. They both have a say."

The Original sighed. He should have just gone with exploiting this particular angle in the first place. "When Klaus fled, he took Addison with him."

At that Damon didn't even attempt to recover the phone as it slipped from his hand.

Well, fuck. That didn't leave him with very many options.

He picked up the cell to demand exactly what the hell Elijah meant but somebody must have already asked.

"He was coming over here to gather -his word, not mine - you and your sister before he left. He was very adamant about it. I noticed your sister's car is gone."

Damon could hear what sounded like footsteps on the stairs.

"Her door was unlock," Stefan said slowly, a trace of alarm in his voice. "I didn't see her laptop and headphones but this was on her desk."

"Would you mind telling us what this is for those of us who can't see," Damon sneered sharply. Addie wouldn't leave with Klaus. Klaus would let her take her own car. They hadn't been able to reach her because she had gone off to the Grill or Starbucks and was listening to her music too loudly while she worked on a new project or some homework. He always told her she was going to go deaf.

"It's her cell phone," Elena answered pasted a hard lump in her throat as she took the device from Stefan. A red light was flashing indicating new notifications. The screen showed alerts for missed calls, new texts, and new voicemails. "Do you know her password, Damon?"

Addie had told it to him on several occasions when she had asked him to check a new message or such but he never paid attention. There were some signs of trust he could show despite his jealousy and not snooping through her phone, even at her request, was one of them.

"You don't need to go through her phone!"

"I wanted to see when was the last time she talked to anyone," bristled Elena.

"I talked to her on my way to the cemetery. We all tried to reach her after that to meet us back here for the reception. She didn't answer. I'm fairly certain it's safe to assume that nobody has heard from her in four or five hours," he snapped. He tugged anxiously at his hair. Addie never went anywhere without her cell. "How do we know she's with Klaus and not just at the library or something?"

"Damon makes a point."

"Klaus was very adamant about leaving with you guys. He would have compromised for would but he would not leave without both of you," Elijah said certainly. "If you don't believe me, we can just do a blood locator spell on both of them. I can assure you it will reveal that they are together."

Stefan and Elena exchanged a look. It didn't seem wise to reveal to him that a locating spell would not work with Jeremy or Elena's blood.

"What are we supposed to do about your mother? Won't she come after us?" distracted Stefan.

"I've been considering that," Elijah said slowly, smoothing out a wrinkle in his charcoal suit pants. "Our best chance of attack is to divide and conquer. We don't know how long my mother has be masquerading as my sister but we believe that she is going to keep up the appearance until she realizes that Klaus has left."

"At which point she'll leave town to chase after him, but as long as desiccate him first, it looks like a win-win to me," Damon quipped as he poured himself a drink.

"Desiccation makes Klaus a vulnerable target. You're forgetting that if he dies, so do you," the Original reminded primly.

Damon hadn't forgotten; it was that he didn't give a damn. As long as Klaus ended up dead, he was happy. He would prefer to be the one to drive the White Oak stake through his heart but if his lunatic mother got to him first, that worked, too.

"What do you mean divide and conquer?" Elena hesitated. She didn't like not having their full attention focused on saving her sister.

"My mother, as Rebekah, is supposed to be cleaning up at the school gym this afternoon following the events of last night's dance."

Elena groaned, "I had completely forgotten I was supposed to help her and Caroline with that."

"You're not alowed to do anything," Stefan said firmly, for once standing up to Elena. "You have a serious head injury. You're supposed to be resting."

The bourbon left an unfamiliar bitter aftertaste; though perhaps that had nothing to do with his drink. Sourly Damon noted, "Which gives Stefan the perfect excuse to go in Elena's place."

"Correct," nodded Elijah. "My mother won't expect anything from him since she believes her secret to be safe. Her guard will be down. On the off chance that something does happen, Caroline will be there to help Stefan. In Rebekah, my mother does not have her full powers; I'm confident the two of you can take her down with no risk to your lives."

"We can't do that! We can't ask Caroline to put herself in danger just to help us!"

"I think she's in more danger alone with Esther," Stefan countered. "Caroline would want to help. Obviously we'll tell her about this about this beforehand."

"What is the rest of your excellent divide and conquer plan? Where does the part where we save my girlfriend come in?" Damon demanded sharply. He was fairly confident Stefan could handle himself against the Original Witch but Addie was defenseless against Klaus.

Elijah's fingers tapped against his knee. Hopefully Damon's feelings were greater than his trust issues. "We will need the help of Miss Bonnie Bennett. With her assistance, you and I will be able to desiccate Niklaus. He will put up a fight but we should be able to manage. The only unpredictable factor is his hybrid Tyler Lockwood. He has Mr. Lockwood bringing him some essentials before he moves further away from town. Should Mr. Lockwood arrive there before we do, it will be two against two. We will have the additional challenge of taking out Mr. Lockwood before we can focus on Niklaus."

"Tyler wouldn't attack for Klaus," Elena said slowly. Given the circumstances, she hoped Caroline and Tyler would forgive her for revealing the secret. "He broke his sire bond. He would fight to take out Klaus out of pure revenge if not to protect my sister."

"Are you sure about that?" Damon asked wearily. "We can't take any chances in this."

She nodded, "I'm sure. He's just been acting like he's sired to Klaus to avoid retaliation and to protect Caroline. But if we're getting Klaus out of the way, he has no reason to hide it."

"How'd he break his bond?" Stefan wondered.

"He had to turn over and over. The bond was because he felt grateful to Klaus for freeing him from the curse of the full moon."

"If we have Mr. Lockwood on our side that would be a great advantage."

---

The leather squeaked as Damon's grip tightened on the steering wheel. He couldn't believe he was trusting Elijah and Tyler Lockwood to save his girlfriend. Not only was he trusting Elijah, he was putting his fair in Bonnie and her ability to perform some extremely powerful and dark magic. One of the guys would have to make and sustained physical contact with Klaus over his heart longer enough for Bonnie to chant the spell that would begin to desiccate him. They'd all had to drink her blood so she could feel when they made connection with Klaus.

The kicker? Bonnie would have to stop Jeremy Gilbert's heart to stop Klaus'. Addie was going to be thrilled about that. It wasn't like Damon was the one to suggest Jeremy but he definitely hadn't rejected the idea. It wasn't exactly like they had people lining up to offer themselves up. She'd probably still be mad at him for letting Bonnie and Jeremy go through with the plan. And she'd be mad at him for taking his life when he decided to kill Klaus. He couldn't risk anyone waking Klaus. He didn't trust Elijah's promise to keep his brother down. Abbey Bennett thought she had taken Mikael down for good but they had proved her wrong. Damon was not going to allow Klaus to be a continuous threat to Addie's life.

They had timed their departure so that Tyler would arrive at wherever in Richmond Klaus and Addie were ten minute before Damon and Elijah. Damon had Bonnie do a tracking spell with a locating spell with his blood prior to Elijah's arrival and then another one with the Original's blood. Both times the results had been the same. Addie was definitely with Klaus.

Elijah cast a glance over at the younger vampire. His lips were pressed into a thin line and his shoulders squared. His knuckles were white as his grip on the wheel strained.

"You don't trust me."

"Nope."

"Addison does."

Damon snorted derisively, "She also trusts your brother and he almost killed her and wants to use her for some unknown reason. Do you know why he's so obsessed with her?"

Elijah took a deep breath. "Not exactly. Well, no. Not at all, really. He made this painting that looks almost exactly like her, though, except instead of legs the thing has some type of tail. I don't know if that means anything or if it's just another one of the eccentricities of his brain."

"A tail? Like a mermaid?" puzzled Damon. That made absolutely no sense.

"No, that would be a fin. However, it has scales like a mermaid would."

"I'm sure it has nothing to do with Addie," he dismissed. It wasn't as if it mattered anymore. Klaus would be dead soon.

---

Addie sat curled up on the couch with her laptop propped open and headphones on, music blaring in her ears. There was no internet access so she couldn't tell anyone about the situation but she could still mix her music. It was definitely a downgrade from her studio in the attic but it would do in a pinch.

The weight on the plush cushions shifted and she could see a relieved expression on Klaus' face as he stood up and headed towards the door. There must have been a knock she hadn't heard. When he opened the door, Tyler could be seen peering around a tower of boxes. He came in and gave Addie a quizzical look, saying something. Klaus' stormy eyes flashed a warning look at her. She gave Tyler a small smile and wave before turning back to Klaus. She'd let Klaus deal with the explanation as to her presence.

Klaus moved back into the living room as Klaus continued to move in boxes. He opened one and checked for his art supplies. He was glad to find the canvas he had painted of the creature that had inspired Addie's creation.

A warm pressure settled lightly on Addie's shoulder, startling her. Her head whipped around in alarm to find Tyler leaning close to her, a finger over his lips. Klaus' back was to them but he must have said something because Tyler looked at him and she could see his lips form the words "other box". He finger returned over his lips when his attention was on her again. Addie rolled her eyes and nodded. She wasn't an idiot; she understood the universal symbol to be quiet.

"Damon is coming," Tyler mouthed, carefully forming each word. "Go to the bathroom."

There was an queasy, uncomfortable tightness just behind her naval. Damon couldn't take on Klaus. Addie gave Tyler a stubborn look that said she clearly wasn't going to take orders from him. Damon had warned she might be difficult. He unplugged the headphones from the laptop and closed it. She looked at him incredulously.

Silently he emphasized, "Go."

"So much for that sire bond," Klaus said, his voice was low and dangerous. Addie wasn't sure when he had turned around and noticed them. She slowly took off her headphones to better hear the conversation.

Tyler straightened up dignified and proudly said, "I'm not your little bitch boy anymore."

Klaus gave a tight-lipped grin, dimples forming in his cheeks but it lacked any humor or warmth. It fell as he slowly and deliberately stalked towards them. "How did you break the sire bond?"

"By breaking every bone in my body a hundred times for the girl I love," Tyler answered smartly.

"That's impossible."

"Is it?" he replied with an edge of sarcasm. "Or maybe real love is stronger than fake loyalty. But what would you know about that?" Tyler challenged.

Klaus whispered furiously as he got right in the teenager's face, "You should be thanking me. I gave you a gift. I took away your misery."

"You didn't give a crap about me!" Tyler snapped loudly.

Addie had decided to try and silently move towards the bathroom as the two hybrids had their little showdown. If Damon actually was on his way, she didn't want her safety to be a distraction for him. On the other hand, if she were present, perhaps she could convince Klaus not to kill him. She wasn't sure which was the right decision. A few moments in private to think would help.

A thousand years had allowed Klaus to develop senses that rivaled a comic book hero. Tyler's odd behavior had him suspicious and so he was on high alert. The soft rumble of an engine coming to a stop in front of the house had him springing into to action. Already having an idea of who it was, he caught Addie around the waist as he stopped her moving from between the couch and the hall. He held her flush against his chest with his other hand resting over her heart.

Addie's heart dropped as she watched Damon stroll in through the front door. His devilishly good looks, hypnotizing sky blue eyes, and confidence didn't wasn't what made her heart flutter the way it usually it. All she could think about was his safety.

"I'm only going to ask this nicely once: get your filthy paws off my girlfriend," snarled Damon.

"Did that sound very nice to you?" Klaus softly asked Addie, leaning down to talk into her ear.

"You know, you two are both too proud for me to hope for us to discuss this like rational people," she mused. She noticed the way Klaus' arm was around her had her hands pinned to her side.

"I'm inclined to agree with you, Addison," said the calm, reassuring voice of Elijah as he appeared behind Damon.

In mild surprise Klaus noted, "Elijah, what are you doing here?"

"How about you let Addison go and we can discuss that? You're frightening her."

"She's my guarantee that he behaves," responded Klaus, nodding towards Damon.

Damon took a step closer to them. "I'm not going to let you use her as a manipulation tactic."

"It's not a tactic. Come any closer and I'll rip her heart out," Klaus threatened.

"You won't. If you wanted to do that, you would have done that last night."

Damon took a confident, deliberate step. Addie screamed out, as for the second time in less than 24 hours, she felt a deep, acute ache as Klaus' hand plunged into her chest. Lighting reflexes had Damon ripping Klaus arm out of his girlfriend before he had a chance to get a grip on her heart. Tyler had joined in the fray, grabbing Klaus arm from around Addie's waist and twisting it behind his back until he heard bones cracked. Without Klaus for support, Addie crumbled to the ground, bleeding profusely from her chest. With every breath her fractured rib cage and sternum felt like a knife piercing into her.

"Focus, Damon!" Elijah command as he flashed into the situation. The younger vampire's hold on Klaus was weakening. Elijah placed his hand over his younger brother's heart and Klaus roared in pain and rage.

Damon tried to let the sound of Klaus ring louder in his ears than the echo of Addie's cries of pain. Klaus had almost broken free of his hold. He screwed his eyes shut to keep them from drifting to the source of shallow weeping. He wouldn't give a damn about stopping Klaus if he saw Addie hurting. He had to keep reminding himself that this was for the best; her temporary suffering was to prevent any future suffering.

Klaus struggled to breath as his heart sped, slamming into his chest. All he could hear was the sound of it beating. Suddenly there was silence and he felt himself go limp' it was the support of the three other men that kept him upright. His eyes glistened as he met Elijah's. What had his brother done?

Seeing Klaus was defeated, Damon quickly let go him, flashing to Addie's side. His arm curl protectively around her as he tried to help her sit up. He shoved his other wrist, already bit and bleeding, just under her mouth.

Addie shook her head slowly. She winced as she pulled away her crimson stained hand away from her chest. Through the rip in the fabric, under a coating of blood, the wound was slowly closing. Bile burned in her throat at all the blood but she fought against it. Hoarsely she whispered, "It's healing."

"It's not healing fast enough," Damon decided, waving his wrist insistently. "You're still bleeding. You have enough vampire blood left in your system to heal you, yes, but it will take hours to mend the broken bones." He could see her lips press in a firm defiance as he felt her shoulders square. That didn't keep her from shuddering in agony when she took a rough, shallow breath. "Don't be stubborn, Ads. There's no reason for you to hurt when you don't need to."

"Fine," she murmured. Damon, having already healed, bit his wrist again and held it out to her.

"Thank you," he whispered, kissing her temple and rubbing her back soothingly as she drank.

---

Addie sat in the passenger seat of her own car fuming as Tyler drove the vehicle just into town. He had told her the entire plan. Everyone had been involved in such a stupid plan to take down Klaus and Esther! Those morons thought the smart thing to do was to split up and to trust the guy that kept betraying them. Granted she probably would have trusted Elijah but at least she had a super-sense to tell if he was being honest or not.

Scowling, she went to cross her arms in front of her before remembering the sticky, uncomfortable blood-soaked shirt.

"Don't be too mad at them," Tyler said softly, chancing his first words since she had snapped at him for being an idiot and going along with the plan. "They all love you. Everyone was eager to do their job. We've all wanted Klaus gone for months. Even if Klaus haden't taken you and they figured out how to beat him, they would have done it with or without your approval."

"I'm mad at Damon; he was the damn ringleader," she grumbled bitterly.

"Stefan played a pretty big role, too. He wasn't there to take down Klaus but he took out Esther. He wanted to protect Elena from Klaus just as much as Damon wanted to protect you. And just because they organized it doesn't mean they actually lead or even encouraged anyone to do anything," defended Tyler.

"I don't care," she dismissed, not fully hearing what he was saying. An overwhelming sense of exhaustion hit as they turned onto her street. "I just want to take a shower and go to bed."

Everyone else had another idea in mind. Addie opened the door to her home to find all her friends laughing and passing around drinks. Bad pop music blasted from the stereo. Inwardly she groaned.

"I'm so glad you're ok!" Jeremy exclaimed. He made to give her one of his giant bear hugs before noticing the blood on her shirt. He opted for an awkward side squeeze.

Addie pushed him away and hissed, "I'll deal with you later." Jeremy wasn't getting a free pass. The imbecile volunteered to let Bonnie stop his heart.

"Hey," Elena greeted, giving a similar hug as Jeremy had. "I'm glad you're ok. I was worried about you."

"What is all this?" asked Addie as she motioned to Caroline, Bonnie, Stefan, and Matt dancing and Jeremy and Tyler, who had joined the.

"Welcome to our victory party!" Caroline cheered, having overheard. Addie assumed her red solo cup had to be practically empty as she jumped up and down in excitement as nothing sloshed out.

Jeremy turned the music down slightly. Bonnie looked around the room, beaming. "Is it just me or does it feel like we've been trying to get rid of Klaus for forever?"

Everyone but Addie laughed.

"You know, to be honest, I'm a little pissed none of you…"

Whatever else Matt was going to say was lost to Addie as she trudged up the stairs. She wasn't in much of a celebratory mood. Did they not realize how dangerous their little scheme had been? A shower and bed was all she wanted. Perhaps she'd be less frustrated with them in the morning.

---

The loud sound of whooshing wind stopped as Addie clicked off Elena's blow dryer. Her hair was still a little damp but she didn't mind. She just didn't want to get her pillow drenched. A haunted girl with deep blue eyes stared back at her from the mirror. She looked beaten down, defeated and drained. Her neck and shoulders rolled in attempt to relieve some of the tension and stress she was carrying in them.

Peeking out the top of her spaghetti strap tank in the center of her chest was a rosy coloring. Addie tugged down her shirt and examined to where the rose coloring spread down between her breast. The injury from Klaus had mostly healed but there was still some discoloration where her skin had knitted back together.

Damon had been so audacious to take on Klaus, even with the support of Elijah and Tyler. Hadn't he promised her he would be more mindful when it came to his safety? He was so arrogant; he thought he was indestructible. He thought he could do whatever the hell he wanted to protect her. He probably hadn't even stopped to consider that she had a very good reason for leaving with Klaus. His behavior was getting out of hand. She had been relieved when Damon had entrusted Tyler to get her home while he and Elijah took care of Klaus. She wasn't sure she wanted to be left alone with Damon. She was furious at him and his stupid plan. The nightmares would be preferable to his presence that night.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Damon's long, black clad form was stretched out on her bed but her jerked into a sitting position as soon as he saw her.

"Are you ok?"

"Back to using the window?" Addie observed coolly, noticing hers was slightly cracked open.

"Everyone was downstairs. I didn't want that. I just wanted a few minutes alone with you. Although, you don't seem like you want to be alone with me," Damon observed. Addie was leaning against her dresser, her arms crossed and a small frown.

"I'm furious at you. No, I'm not particularly in the mood to be alone with you," she admitted.

"What did you expect me to do? Let the guy who nearly killed you take off to God knows where? Yes, I know it's one thing when I go rogue but I needed help this time. I made Jeremy and Elena were perfectly safe, though. Elena wasn't even involved," he exhaled in frustration. He didn't want the last moments he had with her to be an argument.

Addie gawked at him. He couldn't possibly be serious. "Jeremy's heart was stopped!"

"He was wearing his ring. I told him not to do it because you'd be pissed; he said he didn't care as long as it meant you lived," Damon said in his own defense.

"He was wearing a ring that could turn him into a crazed psycho killer if he keeps dying!"

"Bonnie brought him back to life, not the ring. He's fine."

"Because you got lucky," Addie sneered, over emphasizing every word. "You got lucky that nobody involved got hurt."

Damon ran a hand over his face as he breathed deeply. He just wanted a few minutes of peace with her. "You're right; I got lucky. But I wasn't the only one who agree to this. In fact, it wasn't up to me. Elijah and Stefan left the decision up to your sister." He wasn't going to point out that he and Stefan and Bonnie and Jeremy had all already agreed to the plan. One of those two could possibly point that out after he was gone.

Addie scoffed, "That doesn't mean you had to go along with it."

"Yes, Ads," he said softly, moving towards her. "Yes, I did. I don't known what I would do if something happened to you. I couldn't risk that."

Her teeth gently pressed at her lip as she looked down. Her vision went blurry as the tears she had been fighting back since Tyler mentioned came forth. The familiar scent of ginger, cloves and sandalwood didn't help her resolve to stay angry with him.

"Hey," murmured Damon, noticing the flush of her cheeks and the reddening of her nose. Her eyes glistened just as he excepted when he cupped her face and tilted it up towards his. "I know you're mad at me but please, please don't cry."

Addie's fingers lightly curled around his wrist. He held her so gently but she could feel the strength and power in him. Part of her just wanted to curl up with him and relish in the fact that everything had turned out ok/ They could finally put the Klaus situation behind them and move on with their lives. The right thing wasn't always the easy thing. She couldn't keep encouraging his careless, selfish behavior. He needed to understand the impact he was having on her.

Reluctantly she pulled his hands away from her. "I can't do this with you, Damon. Not tonight. I'm too…. Today has been a long day."

"Love, everything is ok. We don't need to fight," he insisted as he tried to take her hands but she wouldn't let him.

Addie deftly moved between him and the dresser. "Everything is not ok," she snapped. "We may not need to argue but I am extremely pissed off at you and we need to have a serious discussion. I just can't handle having that conversation tonight. I don't know what I want to say and I don't want to say something I'll regret."

Damon ran his fingers through his hair. He couldn't leave things with her this way. Uncertain, he worried, "Are we ok, at least?"

Addie shook her head. They weren't going to be ok until he understood that she valued his life just as much as he valued hers. It broke her heart and terrified her every time he took on stupid, dangerous risk when he didn't need to. He had placed himself in great jeopardy when he attacked Klaus. She felt a twinge of guilt as his face fell.

"What are you doing with Klaus body?" she asked for distraction.

"We agreed to hand him over to Elijah on the condition that he doesn't wake him during the lifetime of you, your sister, or either of your children's. Obviously I'm not stupid enough to trust that so Bonnie's agreed to spell the coffin I've got him in shut for the next 100 years," Damon explained with a proud smirk. "I told Elijah that everyone would have to see Klaus' body to believe we actually took him down. I picked up a coffin on the way into town. I'll have Bonnie do the spell after we're done talking. Then I agreed to take him out to a storage locker out in Lynchburg for Elijah and Rebekah to get him."

"So they were able to get Esther out of Rebekah?"

"Yeah. Bonnie wiggled her nose and she was back in her own body. Rebekah killed her, I think."

"Bonnie's had a busy day," Addie mumbled under her breath with a hint of couldn't meet Damon's eyes as she ran her fingers through her hair. Pushing Damon away would hurt him worse than fighting with him but the last time they had talked about him taking his safety more seriously for her benefit had obviously made no impact. Addie preferred not to look at it as a punishment but more like sending him to timeout for being selfish. "So have I. I want to go to bed. Are you going to use the window or the door?"

"You're going to sleep right now?"

"Yes."

Damon frowned; he didn't want to part on a bitter note. "What about the nightmares? Don't you want me to stay until you at least fall asleep."

"Nope," she said coolly as she situated herself in bed.

Not wanting her to freeze in the middle of the night, Damon shut the window the last bit of the way. He leaned over her to kiss her goodnight, to kiss her goodbye but she turned away from him. His fingers glided through the silk-like strands of dark red hair one last time. He looked at her for several long moments, hoping she would change her mind.

Damon stared down at his daylight ring as he twisted it around his finger. He was a fool to believe he ever knew love before Addie. The idea of love he had for Katherine and Elena was completely wrong. Love did not solely belong to one person. No matter how hard you try, if the feeling's not mutual, it will be fruitless. What he had with Addie was immutable. They fell in love with each other's impatience and temper and stubbornness. They loved each other just the way there were - completely and utterly flawed. Together they were stripped bare of all their secrets and all the parts of them that were broken and it was nothing less perfection to Damon.

He slipped off the heavy ring and set it silently on her night stand. There was no point in him keeping it but perhaps she would want it.

"I love you, Addie. Never forget that," he whispered tenderly.

---

Addie groaned when she realized her bedroom light was still on. She thought Damon turned that of when he left. Though, she wasn't exactly sure how long ago that had been. In fact, she didn't remember hearing him leave. She couldn't hear the dim roar of the party downstairs anymore. She wondered how much time had passed. Her alarm clock indicated no more than an hour.

Odd. A giant blue stone was blocking the bottom part of the '5' on the digital display. Addie's lips pursed and eyebrows knitted together as she carefully examined the very familiar object between her fingers. She caressed the ornate, silver 'D' as she recalled the first time she took it from him. His lips had pressed into a thin line but he didn't saying thing. The lightheartedness of their conversation quickly dissipated, though. She had given it back to him immediately. He said that he trusted that she would.

Wondering why he had left it, Addie went to her desk and grabbed her cell phone to call him. It went to voicemail after two rings. She tried again and got his voicemail after only one ring. He was ignoring her.

Addie opened the door to her bathroom and was relieved to find that Elena had her side open as well. She was talking to Stefan on speaker phone as she brushed her hair.

"Hey," Addie interrupted, quietly knocking on the doorframe.

"Hey. You didn't stick around for the party. Are you feeling ok?" Elena asked with the concern only a big sister could have. Damon had told her how badly Addie had been injured by Klaus.

"Yeah. Um, have you guys seen Damon?" she said, shifting her weight uncomfortably. She had a wired feeling, as if she had consumed four or five pots of coffee.

"He showed up about forty-five minutes ago. It took Bonnie forever to do whatever she had to do to lock up the coffin. I think she might have used hybrid blood because Damon called Tyler outside at one point. We all took off about fifteen minutes ago. Damon went to return Klaus's body to Elijah and Rebekah," recapped Stefan, his voice slightly distant.

It seemed particularly un-Damon-like to simply hand over Klaus, even if he was trapped in a coffin. Damon was the type who liked to have even more control of the situation than that.

"You think Damon might have been trying to find a way for Bonnie to kill Klaus?" Addie wondered aloud.

For a split second Elena was concerned but she quickly dismissed the idea. "Bonnie's been trying to figure that out since, like, April. It's not possible. Besides, we did the whole desiccation thing because killing him would mean Stefan, Damon, Caroline, and Tyler all die as well."

"That's not exactly true," mused Stefan, sounding particularly broody. "Damon was planning the desiccation spell with Bonnie before Elijah proposed it. He wasn't doing it because it would keep everyone alive and get Klaus out of the way. He did it to protect Addie; it was the only thing he knew to do." He hesitated as he thought a little harder. "I know my brother and when he becomes fixated on something, it consumes him. Your safety is his fixation. Damon doesn't trust any of the Originals. If he had a way to guarantee that Klaus would die, he would take the opportunity no matter who ended up as collateral damage.

"Well, then it's a good thing that he doesn't have a way to kill Klaus."

"So, why would he leave this," she held up his daylight ring, "on my nightstand?"

"Is that his daylight ring?"

Addie could mentally see Stefan blanch as he said in soft disbelief, "He wouldn't take that off unless he wasn't going to need it anymore."

Addie nodded as she slipped the ring onto her thumb; the fit was extremely loose. Damon's hands had always seemed massive compared to hers. "That's what I was afraid of."

"I don't take Damon for the suicidal type, especially not after we just won."

"Unless he had a way of killing Klaus. I suppose it's possible that he lied about Alaric telling him where the stake is," muttered Stefan.

"He didn't," Addie responded slowly, a cold dread spreading through her. Quickly she turned on her heel ad walked back into her room. She lifted the corner of her mattress and looked under it for the last White Oak stake. As she feared, it was gone. Loudly she swore, "That dick!"

"What's wrong?" Elena asked, entering her sister's room after she hung up with Stefan. Normally she wouldn't dare to but there was a sound of panic in Addie's voice that unnerved her.

"He has the stake," she answered distractedly. Her phone was balance between her ear and shoulder as she grabbed a heavy coat from her closet and tugged it on. Damon rejected her call again. "Goddamn it! Answer your phone!"

"You don't think he actually would-"

"I don't know! I don't know how far he will go at this point," Addie snapped as she snatched up her keys.

Elena quickly followed her sister as she took the stairs two at a time. "Where do you think you're going?"

"After Damon," spat Addie as if it was obvious.

Shallow breathing, trembling hands, and watery eyes suggested her sister was moments away from a panic attack and wasn't fit to drive anywhere. Trying to reason with her Elena calmly pointed out, "Do you even know where he went?"

"Nope!" she admitted loudly as she flung the front door open.

Elena took a few extra seconds to slip on a pair of flip-flops that were by the front door and tugged a jacket off the coat rack before following after her sister. Addie could be irrational enough to embrace the chilly November night in track shorts and barefoot but she wasn't going to freeze her ass off. Addie was about to climb into her Jeep by the time she made it outside.

"Stop! Just stop!" yelled Elena, surprised when her sister actually froze. Elena snatched the keys out of her hands as she demanded, "How do you expect to go after him if you don't know where he is?"

"I'm not going to just sit here and do nothing while Damon potentially kills off himself, Stefan, Caroline, and definitely Tyler," Addie said, her voice cracking and her lower lip quivering. A single tear rolled down her cheek and she brushed away at it furiously; she was not going to let herself loose control. She could not afford to let her fear get the better of her. Her focus had to stay on being angry with Damon.

Elena's jaw clenched when her sister mentioned Stefan. It hadn't occurred to her all the people who would be hurt by Damon's actions. Her little sister trembled as she pulled her in for a quick hug, undoubtedly from a mix of the cold and the anxiety she battled. Elena ran a hand over her head and down to where Addie's hair stopped halfway down her back; it was a comforting gesture she had seen Jeremy and her parents use countless of times.

Sounding much calmer than she felt, Elena tried to reassure her sister, "I'll take you to him, ok? He's not going to do anything with the stake."

"You don't know that," Addie mumbled tearfully as she wrapped her arms around her sister, clinging to any source of comfort or hope.

"He wouldn't do that to you. He wouldn't leave you," Elena declared, not fully believing her own words. Damon would do whatever he thought would be safest for Addie. "Get in. I'll drive. You keep calling him."

"He keeps ignoring my calls," whispered Addie, anxiously running her fingers through her hair as she walked around to the other side of the car.

As they both got in, Elena gave her a small smile. "That's why you're going to bug him until he answers."

Or he'll just turn off his phone, Addie thought to herself. Nevertheless, she still hit redial as Elena pulled the Jeep out of the driveway. Again, he sent the call to voicemail after a couple of rings. Her fingers fumbled so tensely over the keyboard of her phone it took her several minutes to compose her text without errors.

Addie: Answer your damn phone. I know you're ignoring my calls.

"I do know he's in Lynchburg," she sighed as she rested her head against the window. It was cool and hard and reminded her of the mornings she would wake with her head on Damon's chest but it lacked the familiar, steady beating of his heart.

"Yes," nodded Elena as she headed north out of town, "but you don't know where in Lynchburg."

"I'm assuming you do?"

Elena nodded again. "I was there when he told Stefan."

"You make me feel like I'm living a teenage dream. The way you-"

"Hey," said Elena as she answered the cell phone in her lap. Despite the grim situation, a smile tugged at her lips.

Stefan's voice was ominous as it echoed through the car, "Take me off speaker."

Addie caught the concerned glance her sister quickly gave her as she put the device to her ear, driving with one hand. Addie suddenly felt very dizzy, as if all the blood had rushed from her head. That blood felt like ice running through her veins, making all her muscles contract in pain. It was a battle to breathe as she felt her throat constrict. She wanted to run. To run away from her own body. To run until the racing of her heart made sense. To run where shear panic couldn't reach her. To run to the one person who could fix everything without a word. Damon.

The tears flowed unnoticed as she called Damon over and over, immediately hitting redial the instant she got his voicemail. Addie didn't need to hear the conversation to know what Stefan was telling Elena; Damon had used the stake. And he was ignoring her calls because he knew livid, enraged, and furious were the first three emotions she identified. She doubted he even considered all the other things she felt, like fear, longing, guilt, passion, and, most of all, love.

"What are you doing?" Addie snapped in alarm as she noticed her sister slow the car down as they almost finished crossing the newly restored Wickery Bridge.

"We have to go back," Elena exhaled softly as she made a U-turn. "If Klaus is the one that turned their bloodline, then they're all gonna die. Tyler, Caroline, Stefan. We have to say goodbye."

Addie shook her head insistently. "No, no. We're going to Damon."

"No," her sister decided firmly as the car began to reach normal speed again. "You and Damon had your goodbye; that's what he told Stefan. That's why he's not answering his phone."

Her fingers tangled in her hair as she tried to figure out what her sister was talking about. Damon had not told her goodbye and that he was off to go and commit suicide. Their last conversation hadn't even been close to a goodbye; it had bordered on a fight without the actual arguing. Addie had explicitly told him she was pissed off at him and he had… he'd let it go. He hadn't forced her to explain herself or pushed her to talk to him or decided that he was going to stick around until she wasn't mad. Damon had left her angry. It had been awhile since he had let them part on bad terms. He'd come to believing in working things out instead of letting them fester. Had he been trying to say goodbye and she had pushed him away?

"Turn around," Addie said softly as a lead weight of guilt settled in the pit of her stomach.

"No."

"Elena, turn around."

"No!"

Damon was going to die thinking she didn't want him, that she was too angry at him. She couldn't let him believe that. It wasn't just that, though. Her parents, Uncle John, Aunt Jenna and even Alaric had all died before she had a chance to say goodbye. If she had that opportunity with Damon, she had to take it. Determined, Addie shoved at the wheel to try and make Elena turn around.

"Addie!" exclaimed Elena, jerking the wheel back in the correct direction.

There was a brief struggle and then….

When people are afraid they might die, they often report that the event lasted far longer than was possible. Somehow, in just a few seconds they find the time to consider a great number of topics in detail. They think through their past, they speculate on the future and all the while they scan their memories for any piece of knowledge from anywhere that might help them to survive. The experience of time deceleration through fear is well-established. Every second feels brand new, which causes one to judge the event to have taken longer than it really did, to have happened in slow-motion. This sensation is amplified by the fact that in a car accident the mind focuses on the elements of a situation necessary for survival and filters out anything inessential such as the scenery or the sounds of breaking wood or a sister's terrified screams. These are the cues which would normally help to assess time passing. Without them, once again time warps.

Addie's arm's curled around her head in an effort to stabilize her neck as she felt her world shift. She swore her heart stopped. Her stomach seemed to have been ripped out of her when she had begun to fall.

They were on a never ending road trip to see their grandparents. As always, Addie was squished in the middle seat. Someone had gotten popcorn crumbs everywhere. Jeremy took it upon himself to make spitballs and aim them at her. Addie squealed and begged him to stop countless times. Elena said proudly, "I'll protect you!" and covered her little sister as best as she could.

It was almost time for dinner, and Addie had asked her mom if she could eat a mozzarella stick. She said no. So, she asked her father and he said yes. But for some reason, immediately after he gave her permission, Addie told him that her mom had said no. Consequently her dad said no as well. Addie learned that day who to ask first.

Knocking out her first tooth with a straw. Jeremy convincing her that an apple was finished once all the skin was eaten. Sticking her hand into the fountain at Disneyland. The smooth glide of dolphin beneath her fingertips at SeaWorld.

A man with raven black hair and piercing blue eyes on the side of the road.

That night at the lake house when she first really touched Damon and she fell asleep next to him on the couch.

The night she save him from the fire after helping Uncle John trap him. Their first kiss.

Damon weak and dying as he told her he loved her.

The glowing grin that covered his face when he figured out Sonnet 116 and she finally found the courage to admit she loved him.

Memory after memory of Damon. Followed by images of what was yet to come. Christmas, summer, graduation, college. All without Damon. She wasn't sure if it was the idea of a life without Damon made her cold or if it was chilly water slowly filling the sinking car. Frantically she tried to open the door or bust the window.

The instinct not to breathe underwater is so strong that it overcomes the agony of running out of air. No matter how desperate she was, she wouldn't inhale until she was on the verge of losing consciousness. At that point there would be so much carbon dioxide in the blood, and so little oxygen, that chemical sensors in the brain trigger an involuntary breath whether underwater or not. That point came after a minute and a half of full submersion.

At the first involuntary breath she was still conscious, which was unfortunate, because the only thing more unpleasant than running out of air is breathing in water. Voluntary control over not breathing became involuntary and she began to down in earnest. A spasmodic breath dragged icy water into the mouth and windpipe and flooded her lungs.

---

There was a soft knock on Damon's open door. He continued to lean against one of the large beams at the foot of his bed, his arms across his chest as he stared down at the small form that lay in the center of crimson pillows and bedding. She looked paler than usual.

"Elena," Damon acknowledged, giving her permission to enter.

Elena quietly entered the room and took a seat on the bed next to her sister. She tucked a lock of stray hair behind Addie's ear. Stefan told her about Addie's situation but she hadn't gotten the chance to see her during the crazy day. "How is she?"

"Are you asking if she's in transition?" he snipped bitterly and Elena nodded. Damon shrugged and drained the last of the scotch from the tumbler he held. "No fucking clue."

When Stefan had arrived at the crash, Elena had still been conscious. She insisted that Stefan save her sister first. Addie had stopped moving and she feared the worse. By the time Stefan had gone back in for Elena, it had been too late for her.

Addie's heart had also stopped but paramedics had been able to restart it after almost fifteen minutes. Neither Stefan nor Damon knew if that meant she had technically died by vampire qualifications. Damon hadn't been particularly happy to discover that she had been admitted to the hospital but they had hooked her up to an EEG and it was reassuring to know there was normal brain activity going on. Other than being unconscious, Meredith Fell said Addie was medically clear and that she should wake up. No one had argued the raging vampire when he decided that he was taking her home.

"Have you tried giving you her blood?" Elena suggested.

He scoffed sardonically, "I think she has had enough vampire blood. Besides, there's nothing to fix."

"She's unconscious."

"Really? I thought she was taking a nap!" he snapped as he poured another dose of scotch.

"In your opinion, do you think she's in transition?"

Damon ran an anxious hand through his hair. If she was in transition, he expected she would had been in and out of it all night until mid-morning like Elena had been but Addie hadn't so much as stirred. However, he had no idea what restarting her heart so soon would do to the process. At least fifteen minutes of oxygen deprivation should have caused brain damage and the fact that she didn't have any suggested she was in transitions. He didn't believe she would be revived and then his blood that was in her system would heal dead brain cells. There were limitations to vampire blood. It could go either way.

He sighed, "I hope not."

"Why not? You don't want to spend forever with her?" Elena wonder. She didn't know why she felt guilty for asking.

"Of course I do but that's not what she wants. Addie would never go through with the transition, though."

Elena knew he had a point. The idea was to depressing to consider. She turned away from her sister and focused on Damon. "I was surprised when it was Klaus and not you who came and rescued us from Pastor Young's farm today."

Esther had outed the vampires and hybrids of town to the Council when she had possessed Rebekah and they had quickly moved into action. They had actually stormed the boardinghouse in search of Damon but he had quickly hid himself and Addie in his closet. He doubted she would ever complain his wardrobe was too extensive ever again.

"I was willing to sacrifice my brother to kill Klaus. Did you really expect me to leave Addie unprotected to save him?" Damon remarked dryly.

"Not necessarily. It wasn't just him," she said in a small voice.

He didn't notice how his grip on the glass tightened slightly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"There is one perk to transitioning," Elena admitted as she stood up and moved closer to him. "I remember everything you compelled me to forget. I met you before I met Stefan. You were a stranger that told me you wanted me to get everything from life. Damon, why didn't you tell me?"

"Would it have made a difference?" he asked softly. He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer. Despite the initial pain, things had turned out well for him. He had gotten the dream: a love that consumed him, passion and even a little danger.

"You didn't make Addie forget meeting you," she pointed out, dodging his question.

Damon had never been able to provide a satisfactory answer as to why he hadn't made her forget. He had always made questionable decisions when it came to Addie, perhaps because she was always such a riddle to him. "No, I didn't."

"Even way back then it was her," Elena said a little sadly. "Did you ever really have feelings for me or was it always her?"

He was confused at the way his heart seemed to skip a beat. "I wanted you but I have only ever loved her."

"And now it will always be her?"

Damon hesitated, feeling slightly guilty about the trace of disappointment in her voice. He couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips as he looked at his Ads, though. "Always."

---

A/N: It's been a long journey and I cannot begin to tell you how much it means to me that you have stuck with me through it! I love each and every one of you. Writing this is bittersweet for me. I hate to say goodbye to Addie and Damon. I wasn't going to include this last scene but it does serve as a set up if I do decide to continue with Resist Control. (Should I? So torn.) I'll do an update here if I do post Resist so if you are following, you will get the alert.

UPDATE (1/29/17): I am proud to announce that due to popular demand Resist will be posted this week! I will add the link here when it is posted.

Thank you so much for your support! You guys have been amazing. I'd love to hear your final thoughts.