A/N: I finally finished the terrible essay that has been bugging me. I have another one due on the 21st but I'm going to take a few days to chill which, since I have no social life,means fanfiction! Yaaay…

I felt terrible. I went up to my room and curled up in my bed. The wolf snuggled up with me, trying to offer up some semblance of comfort to me. I held him close. I felt like such a failure. I was trying, I really was but I couldn't do it. I wasn't strong enough for this. I could barely take care of myself and that was before you took into account the supernatural crap. Add in the twins and the Mikaelsons and it was nearly impossible. I'd been so focused on one thing, I'd not realised how selfish I was being. I'd screwed up.

The lights in the room went out. I groaned and sat up.

"Now is not the time!"

"Actually, I believe now is the perfect time." Esther. Joy. I looked around the room, trying to locate her which was difficult given the lack of light. I eventually spotted her standing at the foot of my bed with her hands on her hips.

"Esther, please. My life is falling apart, I don't have time for cryptic warnings."

"I'm not here to give you warnings. I'm here to help."

"With what? Dahlia? Your sons hating me? Being a generally shitty person?"

"I can offer you help with Dahlia. But I won't."

"Did you come here just to tell me you're not going to help me?"

"I will help you but you need to do something first."

"And what's that?"

"Make. Amends." She came round to the side of the bed and perched on the edge. "It is rare for my sons to care for anyone, particularly to this extent. You would do well to apologize and make peace with them. While you still have the chance."

"If I do this, will you tell me how to get the blood of the witch that broke Dahlia's heart?"

"I will. But that is not why you should do it. You should do it because it is what is right and because you care for them."

"Did you apologize for everything you did to them?"

"I have only ever tried to care for my children and do what is best for them." I sighed softly.

"Fine, I'll make amends. Can you leave me be for a bit, I need to cry and eat ice cream before I can even consider facing them." She sighed softly and vanished, the lights coming on once again.

I rested my head in my hands. The wolf licked my hand.

"Thanks. At least you're on my side." I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. "Right. I need a plan. If I can make Dahlia mortal, I still have the problem of her being way too powerful. Anyway I try to attack her, in my head it just ends with a bunch of dead people. And that's if we can make her mortal. There's no way she'd walk into a trap…"

The wolf yawned and rolled onto his back.

"Well you're no help," I said, rubbing his belly. "For someone who's meant to be a werewolf, you act a lot like a golden retriever." He gave an affronted grunt but didn't move, too comfortable. I considered him for a moment and something dawned on me. I pulled out my phone and checked the dates. Yes… that might actually work. But I couldn't do anything tonight so I lay down again and decided to try and sleep.

However, after tossing and turning for a while it became apparent that wasn't going to happen. I sighed and got up. Clearly my body wasn't going to let me off the hook as easily as Esther had. I left the room and went to Kol's room. He had seemed the angriest, I decided to start with him.

I knocked lightly on his door. No answer. I frowned and listened intently. I could hear the faintest sounds of voices coming from the living room. Oh great. I wasn't going to be able to do them one by one, I was going to have to face them all by the sounds of it.

I reluctantly trudged to the living room and, after a moment of hesitation outside the door, went inside. Elijah and Kol were sitting on the sofa together, Finn in a nearby armchair. Everyone fell silent.

"Hi…" I said quietly, looking at my feet.

"Elena," said Finn stiffly. "You're up late."

"I couldn't sleep. I… I wanted to apologize. I shouldn't have gone out without telling you where I was going. I should have called earlier at least. I can't undo it but I am very sorry. I know I've been kind of a bitch lately. I'm not used to all of this, being a mother, being… whatever we have here. It's all new and I'm scared."

"You think we're not scared Elena?" said Elijah. "We lost you once before, we don't want it to happen again. And we certainly don't want to lose those two little girls."

"It was wrong of us to put you on the spot about the marriage thing," said Kol. "We've been selfish as well, we put too much pressure on you. And… we can't really preach about honesty when we have kept things from you before."

I stayed looking at my feet, still feeling ashamed. Elijah sighed softly.

"Come here Elena." He heled out his arms. I came over and curled up in the space between Elijah and Kol who both held me close.

"We really just want what's best for you, Elena," said Finn. "We're just... please remember that we were raised in a very different time."

"I understand. And… it's not that I didn't want your help with Klaus and everything. I wasn't trying to be a martyr. I… there was an incident yesterday. Dahlia took over the minds of a bunch of people… I figured if I told you what was going on, there was more chance of her tapping into your mind and finding things out."

"You can't deal with this alone," Elijah said firmly. "There's got to be a way to minimize the risk and ensure that we all communicate."

"Do you have an actual plan?" Finn asked.

"I have… something in mind."

"Well," said Kol, getting up and disappearing into the study. He returned with a small stack of paper, a pen and some envelopes. "This is what we'll do. Elena, you give us each a task. You don't tell us what this task is for in the grand scheme of things. You don't tell us why or what anyone else is doing. That way, if she tries to get in our heads, none of us know what is going on."

"That's a great idea Kol," I smiled. I began scribbling on the pieces of paper.

"Now, are you going anywhere tomorrow?" Elijah asked.

"I need to go to the bayou. And I need to take Klaus with me."

"Alright. I want you to tell us when you leave, call when you get there and when you're on the way back," said Elijah.

"Okay, I promise I will." I finished writing and tucked the paper into envelopes before handing them over. I settled back down and closed my eyes. "Can I stay down here for a bit? My wolf has taken over my bed."

"Go ahead," Elijah said, stroking my hair gently.

I yawned and relaxed. Esther had been right. I needed to think of the brothers. I couldn't just think of myself anymore.

I fell asleep in Elijah's arms and when I woke up I was back in bed. I dressed, grabbed a few items and headed downstairs with the wolf. Everyone was in the courtyard eating breakfast. Rebekah and Klaus were bottle feeding the twins. I was amazed by how much they'd grown in such a short space of time. I was pleased to see Klaus back on his feet and happy that he seemed to be bonding with the girls.

"Morning Elena," said Elijah.

"Morning. Klaus, you're with me today, we have things to do."

"Elijah briefed me on the situation," he said, getting to his feet. I distributed the remaining envelopes to Freya and Rebekah so they would know what was going on.

"You should have breakfast before you go." Finn said. I grabbed a croissant from the table and apple.

"There, I have food. Klaus, come on, we have much to do."

We got in the car and drove out to the bayou. I felt strangely relaxed which was odd given the task at hand.

"So what snapped you out of it?" I asked him after a while.

"I thought about all the things I'd be missing if I gave up and… I decided I couldn't live with that." I smiled slightly and touched his hand.

"I really missed you."

"I missed you too."

We lapsed into silence but it was a comfortable silence, the kind where nothing needed to be said. We reached the bayou and pulled over. We climbed out of the car and Klaus looked around.

"So what's the plan here?" He asked.

"Hold out your hands?" He did so, looking mildly confused. I retrieved the rope I'd stuck in my pocket that morning and, quick as a flash, tied his hands together.

"Elena, if you wanted me tied up, all you had to do was ask," he said with a smirk. "What are you doing?"

"I am taking you prisoner. Now, behave yourself."

I led him by the rope through the trees to the cabin where I knew the wolves would be. I heard them before I saw them and as we neared, they fell silent and stopped to look at us. Jackson stepped forward.

"Elena. A pleasure, as always. Who's your friend?"

"This is Niklaus Mikaelson. I have brought him as a sign of good faith because… he is the one who killed Eve." A growl ran through the group and a few wolves stepped forward. My wolf moved in front of Klaus, snarling. Jackson raised a hand, warning his people back. "However, to the best of my knowledge, he was being controlled by the same witch who is after my children. I've brought him here to make you an offer. You can punish him however you want to. It'll be easy, quick and I'll leave. Or you can get even with the real culprit. That'll be significantly more dangerous but it will mean you can help me get rid of a witch who clearly believes that wolves are something she can discard with ease."

"Elena, we vowed ourselves to you. Of course we'll help you. Although, I do appreciate you showing that you're not going to pick favourites. But you can untie him." I smiled gratefully and untied Klaus' arms. "What's your plan?"

"There's a full moon coming up, yes?"

"Yes. Day after tomorrow."

"I want your pack, anyone who can shift, to go to the attic of St Anne's Church in the French Quarter that morning and stay there."

"Is that it?"

"That's all I can tell you for now. I'll come to you on that day and tell you the rest then. It will potentially be quite dangerous though… Will you be there?"

"I promise we'll be there." I smiled and hugged him.

"Thanks Jackson. Again, I'm really sorry about Eve."

"A lot of people view us as second class citizens Elena, we're used to it."

"Not anymore." I squeezed his hand lightly.

Klaus and I left the bayou. I mentally ticked off the wolf part of the equation. Just a few more steps and hopefully we'd be able to deal with Dahlia. My plan was really quite simple. Freya would perform the mortality spell on the church. I knew that if I asked Dahlia to meet me somewhere, she'd automatically think it was a trap so instead I would go there the night before and have the witches cast a cloaking spell so it seemed as though I was hiding with the twins. They would also cast a spell preventing people from exiting. She'd break through the cloaking spell eventually. If this happened before the moon, I'd have vampires on the street to hold her off which would only add to the illusion that I was hiding. She'd enter, be rendered mortal. And then that would leave her, trapped in a church with a pack of angry werewolves and some very protective papa vampires.

If the boys did their part we'd be set. I only had to find the blood to complete the mortality spell and Esther had promised to tell me who I needed to get it from if I made up with the brothers.

I waited in the courtyard when we got back for the others. They came back one by one. I didn't ask them how it went, just looked at them and received a nod in return. While I waited, my phone beeped with a message from Sophie. One of the tasks I'd given the boys was to deliver her a few items, including all the spells I had in my possession and every detail I remembered from the ritual. The text was simple, it just had four words.

I can do it.

Satisfied, I went up to my room. I only had one full day to prepare and I wasn't sure how long it would take to get the blood and for Freya to do the spell so it was better not to waste a single second.

I stood in the middle of the room, closed my eyes and concentrated.

"Esther?"

Silence.

"Esther, I kept my end of the deal. I need an answer."

Silence.

"You promised to help!" My voice cracked a little with desperation. I felt a chill spread through my body like I was being submerged in ice.

"And I will Elena."

I opened my eyes. There was no sign of her. I turned and came face to face with her.

"There you are. Come on, I'm on a deadline."

"I promised I would help you Elena and I will." She reached out a touched my cheek. "You really are a beautiful girl. Tatia was beautiful too but you have… something different inside of you." She sighed. "I hate to see you throw your life away for monsters."

A creeping sense of dread began to overwhelm me. I tried to step back but found myself rooted to the spot.

"What are you doing…?"

"I am helping you Elena, just like I promised." The cold increased. My blood was freezing in my veins, my skin felt corpse like. "Good night sweet child."

Everything went black.