Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's

Sorry it's taken so long to get this out here, I've been dealing with boring personal issues but I'm back and ready to get the ball rolling again! Yay! :D

Shout out to those who reviewed last chapter:

Guest 4
BrownEyes (I've actually thought about it and it's something I can put more thought into if you guys really want. It seems like an interesting idea!)
sloksingh45
Guest 3(Thanks for the song suggestion! It was great!)
audra626 (It is a long way off but if we make it that far, I have some big plans for Kai! I just know he's going to be CRAZY about Adele. ;D)
Guest 2 (Thanks for the heads up, I've checked into it and I'm keeping a close on it.)
Guest 1
klandgraf2007 (Thank you for reading! As long as you guys keep reading, I'll keep writing!)
Adela
Alymariet (I can't wait either but I'm afraid we still may be a good bit off from that. Some major things are coming!)
SomebodyWhoCares
NicoleR85 (She's definitely not one to not say what's on her mind!)
Whitedwarf (Your review is probably one of my most favorite and I have to say thank you so much. I'm so glad you enjoy my stories and my characters, I've grown extremely proud of the people I've created, especially Adele and it's nice to know other people love them as much as I do. I hope you continue to read and love my stories in the future. I'm definitely going to be getting more in depth with Elena's feelings for Damon and Damon's feelings for Elena here coming up and I'm even going to go more into Elena's thoughts and relationship with her sister. As for the originals, I actually haven't put much thought into if I would write a spin off story but it's something I could think about doing, plan out and see if I could make it work. It would more than likely be a Klaus/OC considering how much I have truly come to love the Elijah and Hailey pairing. I could probably come up with something in the near future as we start heading towards Klaus's departure from The Vampire Diaries. We'll just have to wait and see. ^.^)

Chapter 20: Do Not Go Gentle

"Where are you? You we're supposed to be here an hour ago." Caroline scolds and Adele can just imagine the expression she's wearing. "You told me you'd be here to help me set this stupid dance up. Elena just got here but Rebekah is a no show."

"Yeah," Adele sighs leaning her shoulder against the side of a display case as her blue eyes watch Damon and the sales associate talk. "Sorry but I have to bail."

"What?" Caroline practically shrieks causing her to pull the phone from her ear and Damon to glance back.

"I'm sorry but Damon and I are shopping. For a new TV, for a new mattress, you know the trivial stuff." She tells her and Caroline hums in frustration.

"Didn't you two just get a new TV?" She questions. "Wait, you're with Damon? You're shopping for a TV and a mattress with Damon?"

"Who else would I shop for a mattress with?" Adele questions.

"What happened to the fact that he cheated on you? You shouldn't be shopping with him, let alone for a mattress." Caroline is saying and Adele rolls her blue eyes as she continues to watch Damon and the Sales associate debate over which TV is better.

"Well that's what I'm doing." She tells her and she listens to Caroline struggle over what to say next.

"Adele, did you take him back?" She finally asks.

"I never left him." Adele reminds her. "I merely stayed away from him to give myself time to think over whether or not I wanted to leave him."

"And you obviously decided against it." Caroline makes it clear by her tone that she doesn't agree with Adele's decision and it makes the blonde laugh.

"Yeah well, what can I say? No, I'm not leaving him. Yes, I want to try and work this out. Will I regret it? I…"

"Yes." Caroline cuts her off and Adele's pink lips pull into a frown. "The answer to will you regret it. It's yes. You are going to regret it."

Adele doesn't say anything at first, just kind of watches Damon. Watches the way he interacts with the man he's talking to, watches the way he makes the guy laugh, the way he smiles and the way he moves before sighing. "Thanks Caroline." She finally says. "It's nice to know I have your support on this. I like to know that my best friend has absolutely no faith in my judgement what so ever and won't even pretend to be happy for me. I'll make sure to remember the next time you come crying to me about Tyler." Adele hangs up the phone with a huff.

"Trouble?" Damon pulls her attention up from the ground. "You look positively frustrated."

"Yeah well I'm hungry and Caroline is being a horrible friend and did you find the TV that you wanted?" She questions watching him nods. "Did you get the damn insurances on it this time?" He nods. "Good, last thing we need is another TV shopping trip."

"Well," Damon pulls her away from the display case, arms slinging over her shoulder and she tucks herself into his side. "Just don't die any time soon and we shouldn't have a problem."

"I don't make any promises but I will say that I don't fancy a repeat of that night." She says back glancing up at him quickly.

"I don't accept that answer." He tells her and she shrugs.

"Well I guess that's your problem. I am hungry though, we should stop by the food court."

*VD*

"We could just get a queen." Damon says from behind her as she pushes against the mattress to test its firmness. "It's not like we use the other half of the bed to begin with. We'll be closer that way."

"Or we could stick with a king and get a puppy." She says with a small gasps as she turns around to look at him, blue eyes wide and lips pulled into a wide smile.

He laughs plopping down onto the mattress. "Nice try but I don't' think so."

"You're no fun." She mutters sitting down on the edge of it and bouncing a few times. "It's too soft." She says after a minute.

"Why are you being so picky over a mattress? It's not like you sleep on it anyways." She knows what he's saying, she always ends up draped across him at some point during the night but even still, she still needs the mattress to be comfortable enough to fall asleep on.

"I can't be picky over a mattress when you can spend two hours staring at the same wall of TVs?" She glances back at him and he finally sighs before pushing himself up.

"Fine, point taken. You continue to bounce on every mattress here; I'm going to go call Alaric." She watches him dig out his phone.

"Again?" She asks. "Come on Damon, it's probably just a lot to take in and he wants a minute to process it. I need your help here."

"I'm going to keep calling until he answers. It'll only take a minute. You have this under control." He pulls up Alaric's number before pushing call.

"Damon…" She calls as he's walking away.

"I trust you!" He calls back before disappearing around a corner and she groans flopping back onto the mattress before groaning again and rolling off.

*VD*

She leans against the side the truck glancing back at Damon every so often as he loads the mattress and the TV up into the bed of the truck. They we're finally done and it was time for her to get back home and meet up with Michael, Jasmine and Nate for a late lunch. Michael said he was doing better each day but she just wants to see for herself.

"So," She holds up a hand to shield her eyes from the blinding sun as she looks up over her shoulder to Damon leaning over the side of the bed to look down at her. "What decade is this dance going to revolve around?"

She eyes him for a solid minute before answering. "The 20's. Rebekah's idea and Caroline's worst nightmare. Why?"

"Just wondering." He says but she can tell there is something else on his mind and she only has to wait a few seconds before he voices it. "I was just thinking, I know you hate them but why don't we go?"

"Are you joking?" She laughs. "You're asking me to my high school dance?"

"Isn't that what boyfriends are supposed to do?" He questions.

"No." She scoffs. "Not when that boyfriend knows how much she dislikes them and not when that dance is being thrown by the same demon bitch that tried to ruin her relationship."

"Okay, fair enough but I don't know. Maybe this could be good for us. Like a date night." She stares up at him before sighing and dropping her hands down to her sides, mind racing to come up with some kind of excuse. It's not that she didn't want a date night with him; it was that she didn't want a date night with him anywhere that Rebekah could show up.

"I don't have anything to wear." She finally settles on but practically curses when his ice blue eyes shift up to the entrance to the Short Pump Mall they we're closest to. "Fine." She grumbles with a huff starting her way back up to the mall. "We'll go to the stupid dance but you better make this worth my while." She yells back making him grin after her.

*VD*

The phone rings a few times before going to voicemail and she curses hanging up the phone and getting ready to redial. "Adele?" She almost jumps at the unexpected voice. She spins around in her heels, the fringe of her dress swinging with her.

"Caitlyn, Lucy. Hey." She says a bit awkwardly before coughing to clear her throat and putting her hand down to her side. "Hey, what's up?"

"Well we were kind of just coming over to ask you the same thing." Lucy admits, swirling her finger around the rim of her punch cup. "We haven't really seen you around much; you were kind of AWOL these past few weeks even from school and now here you are. We asked Mr. Saltzman but all he said was that you we're sick."

Adele opens her mouth before closing it. She hadn't actually thought of a good lie to tell everyone yet and apparently neither has Alaric and she couldn't very well tell anyone that she had died and came back to life as a vampire so she needed a few weeks to learn how not to eat people. "Uh, yeah. I was sick. My appendix while I was on a trip to Richmond over a weekend and I had to have surgery and I reacted badly to the anesthesia so I had to stay longer then expected and then I got an infection so I had to stay even longer and then I was bed ridden but Damon was too scared to drive me all the way back here, he wanted to keep me close to my doctor, so basically I had a horrible extended vacation in Richmond for a while and I just got back into town not too long ago, couple days ago, week maybe."

"That's rough." Caitlyn grimaces at the thought. "I'm sure you scared Damon a nice bit."

"Oh yeah, practically had a heart attack." Adele laughs, she wasn't too far off from the truth. He didn't exactly have the best reaction to her death.

"Well you seem okay now, just pale." Lucy observes and Adele nods.

"Spending weeks at a time in doors will do that to you I guess. So enough about me, how have you guys been?" She questions quickly wanting to get the focus off her "sickness."

"Same old, same old. Jason and I officially got back together and we're trying to come to some sort of arrangement for next year when we go off to college." Caitlyn answers.

"And I just started seeing Isaac Hems." Lucy informs and Adele's eyes widen.

"Isaac as in the Isaac that graduated last year and is attending Duke in North Carolina?" She asks and Lucy nods.

"That would be the one. He comes down every weekend to be with his family and I met him at the grill two weeks ago. We just got to talking and it just kind of happened." She explains.

"Well congratulations I guess." Adele laughs, her fingers tightening around her phone.

"Speaking of boyfriends, I'm surprised to even see you here. Where is Damon?" Caitlyn asks with a raised eyebrow and Adele's easy going smile drops a bit as she glances down at her phone.

"To tell you the truth, I'm kind of wondering the same thing. He's the one that wanted to come to this stupid thing in the first place and now he's completely in the wind, I have no idea where he is and I can't get ahold of him." She says finally bringing the IPhone back up to look at the screen hoping she would magically have a missed call explaining to her where the hell he is.

"I hope everything is alright." Lucy frowns and Adele's blue eyes wonder up from her phone to look at the small brunette.

"Yeah, me too." She mutters.

*VD*

She's just about to give up on this whole dance thing after leaving Damon the 5th message telling him that he better have a good explanation for bailing on her when a hand drops down on her shoulder and she jumps spinning around. "Damon!" She snaps. "What the hell? You were supposed to meet me here almost two hours ago and why aren't you even dressed?"

"I'm sorry, I really am but we've got a problem." He tells her and she stares up at him with wide eyes. What could possibly be wrong now? "Follow me." He reaches down and captures her hand in his, pulling her close behind him as he weaves through the crowd of students and teachers and she can only assume that he's looking for his brother and Elena.

They find them quick enough towards the center of the dance floor and Elena as about the same reaction to Damon's sudden appearance as she did. A jump along with a quick retreat from Stefan's arms. "We need to talk." Damon tells them as soon as Stefan turns to him.

He leads the three of them out of the cafeteria hand still locked firmly with her own and his tense demeanor was starting to weigh on her nerves as she couldn't quite understand what was going on.

"Okay," She finally says tugging on his hand to pull him back once they are for enough from the cafeteria. "This is far enough; tell us what is going on." Damon sighs glancing around for that extra reassurance before pulling a jar full of herbs from his jacket and handing it over to her. "What is this?" She questions holding the jar up to examine it. She's seen it before. She's just not sure where.

"That is the herbs that Bonnie gave to Alaric. The ones he's not taking." She glances back up at him before looking towards the jar again.

"You mean the herbs that are supposed to keep evil Alaric in his cage?" She questions and he nods. "And that would mean that evil Alaric is not in his cage?" He nods again and she shoves the herbs back at him with a grimace.

"Well if Alaric is sick we need to find a cure." Elena says stepping up beside her sister to look up at the dark haired vampire. "Something."

"Like what?" Damon questions. "We tried medicine, we tried magic."

"Why don't we get him off vervain? Compel him." Stefan suggest and Adele turns her head to look up at him with furrowed brows.

"What? To pretend to be Alaric?" Damon asks what she's ultimately thinking. "The guy we know is gone. We're talking about someone who not only hates vampires but vampire sympathizers. Which makes two of his most obvious targets: I don't know, both of you!" He mentions towards the Gilbert twins, he thinks that out of all the vampires in town Adele would be his main target, he can only imagine that if some part of the original Alaric is mixing in with this new evil one that seeing his precious "daughter" this way would drive him crazy and Elena being the biggest vampire groupie in town wasn't going to put any points in her favor either.

"You think he would go after Elena? She's human." Stefan says but it's a stupid question, a stupid observation that the simple look he sends his brother is enough to tell him so.

"So what are you suggesting we do?" Adele asks looking back up at her boyfriend who sends a look down to her like she's not going to like his answer and she can already feel the dread settling in the pit of her stomach and the argument resting on the tip of her tongue.

"I'm suggesting that we put him out of his misery." He says watching both Gilbert's expressions twist in outrage but it's the youngest Gilbert that is the first to speak up, coming up from behind them and just catching onto that last part of the conversion.

"No." Jeremy snaps. "No way in hell!"

"Oh come on," Damon groans, if they would just listen to him for once maybe they could save themselves any added heartbreak when this whole ordeal is over. He didn't very much want to kill his best friend but to keep everyone else safe; he would do what he needed to. "It's what he would want, it's a mercy killing."

"Damon, no." Adele says shaking her head at him. She doesn't understand how he could even suggest such a thing to them, to her.

"You're out of your mind." Jeremy says before turning and rushing off. Adele watches him go with a call of his name before turning back to Damon and shaking her head. She can't even form words to tell him how wrong his suggestion is, so she turns and runs after her little brother with Elena close behind.

"Jeremy wait!" She calls, jogging up behind him. "Jer, stop." He comes to a short stop causing her to have to come up short to avoid running face first into his back and it causes Elena to slam in behind her making her stumble forward anyways but she's able to stop herself from completely face planting into the ground. She sends a look back to Elena who sends her an apologetic smile. "Jer," Adele begins turning back to her brother who is finally paying attention to them.

"This is Alaric we're talking about here." He cuts her off. "He's looked out for us, now we need to do the same for him."

"No one is going to hurt him, Jer." She tries to assure but he merely sends her a skeptical look before making a move to turn away and she reaches out quickly, grabbing a hold of his sleeve and tugging him back around. "Hey, look at me." He finally does. "I'm not going to let him do anything. Nobody is going to hurt Alaric."

"We promise." Elena speaks up from over her shoulder and Adele nods along to her promise and Jeremy takes a deep breath before nodding.

"Elena." Adele moves her head to the side, to glance over Jeremy's shoulder at who the new voice belongs to and she can feel her skin begin to crawl. Jeremy side steps, turning around to look as well as Elena moves in closer to Adele's back. "If you wish to help your friend Alaric, I suggest you come with me."

"Esther." Adele growls but the witch ignores her. "Jeremy, go get Stefan and Damon, now." She demands and Jeremy nods quickly before taking off back into the school to find the arguing brothers.

"I mean you no harm." The witch says, eyes never once leaving Elena. "But willingly or not you will come."

Adele glances back at Elena just to see her full intentions in her expression. "Elena, no." Adele says as she steps out from behind her and begins walking towards the witch. Adele follows behind her. "Elena, don't do it."

"Adele its fine. We have to help Alaric." She says glancing back at her as she reaches the witch and Adele growls moving to reach for her but practically getting slapped in the face with an invisible wall.

"What the fu…" Her blue eyes connect with the witch's and she hisses, full fanged scowl on display. "What did you do?" She follows her eyes to the ground, noticing the thick line of salt that seems to run around the complete perimeter of the school.

"Just a simple boundary spell, I can't have any distractions. Come now, Elena." The witch turns on her heels and practically marches away as Elena looks at her sister.

"Don't." She warns her. "Don't you do it, Elena I swear?"

"It's okay." Elena assures her. "I'll be fine." She nods before turning away from her and Adele is outraged, slamming her fist against the invisible all and yelling after her.

They disappear completely into the night just as Damon and Stefan are jogging through the open school doors, spotting her standing there fuming. "What happened? What's going on?" Stefan demands.

"Esther happened!" Adele snaps ripping the stupid feather headband she had positioned perfectly in her hair out and throwing it towards the wall but it simply sails over the salt line and she practically shirks out her frustration turning around with a stomp of her foot. "She told Elena that if she wanted to help Alaric she'd go with her and my sister being as stupid as she apparently is, went!"

"Why didn't you stop her? Or at least go with her, like you've done so many times before." Damon questions and Adele raises an eyebrow at him before side stepping and mentioning out towards the open parking lot of the school.

"Oh please, be my guest." She says watching the brother's glance at each other before walking forward but they are soon slapped in the face with the same invisible wall and it takes them a confused minute to turn back to look at her. "And there lies the problem. A "simple boundary" spell as Esther had put it. We are trapped. By salt." She glances between them. "Now all we need is a black Impala and two men with serious daddy issues to come in and light the place on fire!" She exclaims before stomping off back into the school. Stefan glances at Damon who simply shakes his head, telling him not to ask.

"Find Bonnie." Is all he says before following her back into the school to start his own search for the Bennet witch.

*VD*

She runs into Caroline and Tyler as she's storming through the dancing students and quickly begins filling them in on what was going on and that there was nothing they could so about it because they we're trapped. "Why would she just go with her?" Caroline questions in disbelief.

"Because it's Elena and for some reason Elena thinks it's logical that she can help people by putting herself in danger." Adele rants before taking a deep breath. "Okay, being all worked up is not going to get me anywhere. I trust that Damon should be looking for Bonnie to try and pull off a jail break so we can go after her but who knows how long that is going to take. I hardly doubt when Esther says simple, she actually means simple."

"So what are you going to do until then?" Tyler questions before his face drops and his shoulders tense and Caroline is quick to ask what was wrong before a voice speaks up from behind her and she can't help but think that this night couldn't get any worse.

"Where've you been mate?" The question is directed at Tyler by the original hybrid bastard himself and she rolls her blue eyes as she turns around to look up at him.

"I just got back to town." Tyler answers and Klaus's eyebrows rise in surprise.

"Funny, I don't recall giving you permission to leave in the first place." He says before his eyes drift down to her and he plasters on that damned boyish smile. "Mind if I steal your friend away for a minute?"

"Yes, actually." Caroline says stepping forward. "We do." Tyler reaches out, pulling her back quickly.

"No." He answers instead. "We don't. Come on, Caroline."

"What?" She demands as he's pulling her away and Adele wants to be mad but she understands, he may not be sired to him anymore but Klaus doesn't know that and if he did find out, nothing would stop him from killing him right away because what good is a broken hybrid?

"Why do you always have to prove that you're the alpha male?" She questions and he simply grins at her.

"I don't have to prove anything, love. I am the alpha male." He holds out a hand to her that see eyes with great distaste. "Dance with me?" She continues to eye his hand causing him to chuckle lightly. "Come on, one dance. I won't bite." And she doesn't know if it's his boyish smile, his laugh or if she's just stupid but she accepts his hand and lets him spin her carefully onto the dance floor. "You would have loved the 1920's Adele." He says after a peaceful minute of silence. "The girls we're reckless, sexy, fun. They literally used to dance until they dropped."

"Well I don't even like dancing and I don't suppose that ever happened to their dance partners." She says with a scowl that just makes him laugh.

"You should be nicer to me. I'm leaving town tomorrow." He tells her. "I'd invite you to come with me but we both know you're not ready to accept my offer. Perhaps one day, in a year, or even in a century you'll turn up at my door and let me show you what the world has to offer." She sighs and takes a small step back from him.

"Look Klaus, we really need to get one thing straight." She says, her blue eyes connecting with his. "I love Damon. Despite what he's done and what he'll end up doing, I'll always love him and I'm not leaving him any time soon or…ever." Klaus's jaw clenches and she watches him struggle through her words.

"You won't be happy." He finally says. "Not here. You need freedom and this small town will be the death of you, if not literally then mentally. A small town life is not what you want and it's not what you need. It won't ever be enough for you." With that he lets her go and rushes off towards the exit leaving her watching after him before a thought occurs and she finds herself chasing after him.

He's on the phone just making it up to the barrier when she reaches him and she calls out his name just in time for him to reach the line of salt which he promptly stop to stare at leaving him confused and frustrated as he looks back at her. "What is this?"

"Your mother is back." She informs him as she crosses her arms across her chest and he blows out a breath of air before looking back down at the salt line and cursing.

*VD*

They huddle around in Alaric's classroom, Bonnie has Alaric's desk cleared and candles spread and is chanting in that low non-English way of hers as the rest of them stand around watching, waiting for something to happen.

Jamie, Bonnie's date looks on with an expression twisted into worry as he turns his dark eyes down to the smaller blonde vampire standing next to him. "She does this all the time right?" He questions with a slight catch to his voice and Adele can just barely manage to give him a look before the hybrid is stepping up and opening his mouth.

"What's taking so long?! All boundary spells have a loop hole." He spits as impatient as ever and before anyone can tell him to calm himself, Matt is rushing in.

"People are walking right out of the dance, right past the barrier." He informs not that they didn't know it was going to happen. The only people actually trapped are the people who could save Elena, the vampires.

"Matt and I can leave." Jeremy pipes up from behind Matt. "We can stop Esther ourselves. We just got to find out where she is."

"It's suicide Jeremy." Stefan reminds him.

Before anything else can be said or done, Klaus decides it's the perfect time to throw one of his hybrid temper tantrums by rushing to Adele's side and grabbing poor Jamie by the neck hosting him up where his feet barely touch the ground and his eyes bulge as his air ways are cut off. "Suicide would be disappointing me! Now work your magic witch or I'll start killing the people you fancy."

"Let him go!" Bonnie demands breaking all ties she had to her magic she was channeling.

"Not until you get us out of here." Klaus snarls as anxious as ever for everything to go his way.

"Come on Klaus," Adele sighs drawing his blue eyes down to her. "Don't be stupid." His lip curls in a snarl directed at her but she merely brushes his threatening look off with one of her own. "Bonnie doesn't give a damn about any of us. She's only doing this for Caroline and Tyler. If you start threatening the people she cares about, what's to stop her from telling us all to go to hell?"

Klaus stares at her for a solid few seconds before ripping himself away from Jamie with a growl. She was right of course but he didn't have to be happy about it.

"Okay." Adele nods slowly before turning to Bonnie. "So how about we get a location spell going? We find Elena and send the two humans out to at the very least…stall whatever is going on." Nobody seems to have any arguments to her idea so Bonnie nods before pulling a map out from one of the drawers in the desk and Adele offers up her blood to get everything started.

*VD*

She's sitting towards the middle of the bleachers staring across the empty gym. She's not sure if it's her still trying to get use to the heightened emotions that come with her new status or if she was simply becoming use to this pain and torture of her everyday life but she was beginning to feel numb as she continued to sit in the dark by herself.

Her mind has stopped wanting to process her grief, her chest has stopped twisting in that uncomfortable way that told her she was hurting and her emotions have simply have stayed in a state of nothing. Every once in a while she'll feel a slight touch of sadness or anger but for the most part she simply sits there, staring ahead and wondering what her future could possibly have in store for her now. More pain? More grief? She wasn't sure how much more she could possibly take. It already seemed like it was beginning to be too much.

So out of it doesn't even register in her mind when the door to the gym cracks open, doesn't even cross her mind that someone was walking towards her, calling out to her.

She only finally notices when a hand is dropped onto her shoulder and she jerks in response, shock vibrating through her, hot wiring her into awareness and the pain and grief she was so blind to comes flooding back in like a giant crack in a dam.

"Oh." She mutters, blue eyes staring widely up at Damon. "Sorry. I zoned out." She shakes her head and clears her throat before sending him a soft smile that tries to hide the ray of emotions bubbling at the surface.

"I noticed." He mummers with curious and worried ice blue eyes. He knew something was up, he'd always know and as much as he may want to address all her problems and help her, he knows they don't have time. "They found Elena." He informs her instead watching her process the information before nodding.

"Great." She stands with a huff. "Let's go then. The faster we get there the faster I can punch her in the face." She moves to step down from the bleachers but Damon's strong grip on her forearm has her turning back with a confused frown.

"Just hold on a second, there's more." He says with a sigh and his expression is so serious, so full of his own mixed emotions that her spine stiffens and she braces for a hard impact. "They found Alaric as well…."

*VD*

Elena is rushing out of the gate when she walks up; eyes full of tears and fist clenched her to her stomach. She runs straight into Stefan's arms as Adele watches with furrowed brows and deeply rooted frown.

She glances to the side quickly, eyes catching Damon's who tries his best to send her a reassuring smile but even he can't manage it and she turns back towards the tomb with a shaky sigh.

He's standing in the middle of the tomb watching as she pushes the gate open and he actually manages that reassuring smile but she finds no comfort in it as she stares up at him, expression almost completely blank besides her ever present frown.

"Adele…" He finally speaks up but she cuts him off before he can say any more. Before he can jump into some kind of speech about how she'll be okay and everything will move on and everyone will be happy eventually.

"You moved out." She says, tone flat and expression unmoving. His smile wavers and his eyes burn with sudden confusion. "You gave your ring back. You wanted nothing to do with this anymore."

"Adele what are you…" But she cuts him off again.

"I made you stay with us even though you thought it wasn't a good idea, I gave you back the ring even though you clearly didn't want it. This is my fault. I dragged you back in and made you stay so this is my fault." She says and he's hit with a large wave of shock and disbelief.

"What? Adele, no. That's not true. Nobody could force me to take care of you guys. Taking care of you three was the closeted I've ever come to the life I've always wanted. I love Jeremy and I love Elena and I love you Adele. You are the daughter I never had and the daughter I've always wanted, nothing could have stopped me from looking out for you when you needed me. None of this is your fault." Her expression is still masked as emotionless but her throat is closing up on her, her chest is tightening and her eyes are burning.

"We can fix this." She whispers and his smile is back but this time it's full of sorrow.

"I'm sorry Adele. We can't fix this. Not this time." He reaches out for her, hands falling down to her shoulders as her wide blue eyes stare up at him as if pleading with him. "You are strong, one of the strongest people I've ever met in my life and I know you'll be okay. It gives me at least a little piece knowing you'll be okay because the only thing I want is for you to be safe and happy."

He pulls her into a tight hug, the emotion he's held back so well with Jeremy and Elena finally catching up to him with this one hug and his eyes fill up with hot tears as Adele clings to his back. "I'm so sorry." She whispers into his shoulder and he's ready to deny her apology. "I'm sorry I dragged you back in, I just loved you too much to let you go. I love you too much to let you go, we can fix this."

"I love you to Adele. You ARE my daughter and I love you." He pulls back, eyes boring down into hers. "Which is why I NEED you to let me go, I need to keep you safe and this is the only way I can do that. I know you'll take care of your brother and sister the only way you know how. I'm not worried, I'm sad but knowing you'll be safe and here is enough for me, so please…let me go."

She stares up at him trying to come to terms with his wishes before finally agreeing "Okay." She whispers, nodding as a feeling of hopeless despair washes over her suddenly tired frame. "Okay."

He leans forward, dropping a kiss to the crown of her head before pushing her lightly back towards the gate. "You should go." He says and she turns only stopping at the gate to send back one last look before bolting through it and straight to Damon's arms where he wraps her up holding her close to his side.

She bares her head in his neck, composes herself and finally looks up to see the people gathered around, all their friends and their family with candles lit and she glances back over to Alaric who seems to overwhelmed to know what to do and she pulls herself closer to Damon, trying to understand why this feeling of grief was being to feel like a normal everyday emotion in her life. Why couldn't she just have peace? A minute of blissful peace where she didn't have to feel anything at all.

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Next time on Lose Myself:

Alaric is alive

And

Klaus is hell bent on leaving town with Elena.