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The baby was beautiful from her tiny little hands to her perfect little feet. Elena kissed her smooth cheek one more time and then let her go. As Elijah walked out the door, Elena sank to the floor. She had somehow survived the childbirth and so had her baby. It was the best case scenario, she knew. She also knew her baby would be safer with a different family, but that didn't stop the pain from spreading through her chest. As she wrapped her arms around herself, she promised herself that she would stop Klaus, no matter what it took. If she had to, she would kill him with her own bare hands and then she'd bring her baby home.

Hours later, she was still sitting on the floor, staring into a glass of bourbon, when her phone rang. Listlessly, she pulled it from her pocket, only bothering because of the possibility that it was Elijah. When she saw the name on the screen, she felt like the bottom dropped out of her stomach. With shaking fingers, she answered the call.

A few minutes later, she hurried out of Elijah's house and to her car. Everyone was meeting her at her house. They had talked about the possibility of having Elijah wipe their memories of Annabelle to protect her even further, but no one had wanted to take such a drastic step. Now though, it looked as though they didn't have any other choice. Elena took a moment to steady herself after she slid behind the wheel. Hearing Stefan's voice had caused several emotions at once to riot for dominance- pain, anger, fear, loneliness. But then she'd realized what he was saying and fear had won. Klaus knew she was alive. He was going to be coming for her. He couldn't find out about Annabelle. Elijah and Caroline were standing outside her house when she arrived.

"Thank you guys for coming. Who knows when the hell Klaus will show up."

Elijah exchanged a look with Caroline. She cleared her throat, "Um, Elena, we've been talking and, uh, you know, compulsion has it's limits."

Elena's forehead creased. "What do you mean?"

"When you compel someone to forget something, there's nothing to replace those memories. Everything just gets... fuzzy. Nine months of fuzziness would make anyone suspicious, especially our group. We'd ask a lot of questions 'cause we wouldn't even remember why we shouldn't. Klaus is paranoid. We give him something to be suspicious about, he'll start digging."

"So what do you suggest we do?"

They exchanged another look and dread settled into Elena's stomach. She wasn't going to like this.

...

Elijah sighed as he walked into his house. Compelling people into thinking Annabelle was dead when she wasn't had been bad enough, but the last day of having to keep up the charade had been pure torture. And it was just going to get worse after he compelled Elena. "Are you sure you are ready?"

"I have to be," Elena replied. Elijah hadn't compelled her into thinking Annabelle had died during childbirth yet. She wanted another day with her memories of her perfect angel. "Tomorrow night we are doing senior prank night. I'll come back here after. Stefan says that Klaus isn't planning to come to Mystic Falls until next week." Elena rested her hand on his arm, reacting to the frustration she could sense in him. "I really, really appreciate everything you've done for me Elijah. I couldn't have done any of it without you."

Elijah pulled away and ran his hand through his hair, unusually aggravated. "If I'd killed Klaus when I'd promised to, none of this would have happened."

Elena was caught off guard, unsure of how to react to any strong emotion coming from Elijah. Astonishingly, he began to pace. Tension rolled off of him and the way he glided back and forth gave him the look of a prowling cat, all grace and controlled violence.

As he pivoted on his heel, Elena stepped in his path. She ran her hands up and down his arms twice, causing him to freeze. She brought her hands up to frame his face, hoping he would really listen to her, and he remained perfectly still, staring down at her. "Klaus has always played dirty, preying on any weakness he can find. No one expects you to be perfect. You are allowed to put your family before a promise to anyone. I would never have expected you to sacrifice so much. So please, don't do this to yourself. You did not cause this. His selfishness did. You understand?"

Elijah's eyes slid closed on a sigh and he leaned his head forward until his forehead rested on hers. Surprisingly, he brought his hands up to rest on her hips and after a few moments she felt the tension drain from his shoulders. They stood that way for several minutes before he took a deep breath and straightened, stepping away from her as he did so. "My most sincere apologies," he said. "I will see you tomorrow evening."

Elena recognized a dismissal when she heard one. But she could tell he was flustered with his own behavior so she didn't take offense. A small smile played over her lips. "You know, it's alright to lean on someone else from time to time. It's even okay for badass Originals."

With that comment, she turned and left the house.

...

His hands slid over her butt, pulling her navel up to his mouth and forcing her body to arch up off the bed while her fingers clenched in his hair. She was panting his name and twisting to get closer, though she knew no matter how close she got it would never be close enough. As his lips skimmed down to the juncture of her thighs, she cried out, digging her heels into the bed to press herself more firmly against his lips. Streaks of pleasure ran like lava through her veins, causing her stomach to dance and her thoughts to fracture. She was lost in the heady pleasure of simply being there with him, touching him, being loved by him. As long as he kept touching her, he could do absolutely anything he wanted and she'd thank him.

A loud noise startled her and she turned her head to see what had caused it. She heard it again and the dream began to dissolve around her. She cried out in dismay, her body throbbing painfully as Damon disappeared.

"Elena, dinner will be ready soon." Elena kept her eyes screwed up tight and willed Jeremy to leave, hoping she could recapture her dream. Her hand came up to wrap around Damon's ring as Jeremy closed her door again. Bare seconds later, she was slipping back into dreamland.

The room she had been in during her last dream materialized in front of her. Instead of being on the bed, she was standing at the end of it. Damon was seated on the edge of the mattress with his head in his hands.

As she skirted the bed to stand next to him, his head came up. "Where the hell did you go?" he half-growled. "You just disappeared."

Her brow furrowed in confusion, but after a moment she shook her head and smiled. Her time with him was too valuable for unimportant questions. She sauntered over and stepped between his legs. "Sorry about that." She leaned down and brushed her lips over his. "Now, where were we?"

To her surprise, instead of pulling her down to the bed and picking up where they left off, he pulled her into his lap, tucked her head into his chest, and buried his nose in her hair, breathing in the scent that he knew even better than his own.

"I miss you," he whispered. Elena's breath caught as her chest constricted painfully.

"I miss you too. So much that sometimes I can hardly breathe. Burying you was—" she quickly cut herself off. No need to discuss such depressing topics in her dreams.

Damon pulled back sharply. "Burying me?" His expression was incredulous and thunderous at the same time.

Elena laughed nervously, "Yeah, I mean, obviously in my dreams you are alive and well. Most of the time. But in the real world," Elena shuddered as she remembered watching the empty casket being lowered into the ground. "One of the worst days of my life. Makes a girl want to stay asleep, dreaming, forever, you know?" she added with a half-hearted smile in a lame attempt to lighten the mood. She was explaining to a figment of her imagination that he was dead. This was wacky, even for her dreams.

Damon stared into her eyes, concern overtaking his anger. He had an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach. He had suspected for a while that these dreams weren't just dreams, although she seemed to be oblivious to that fact. If he was right, and she really thought he was dead... He could read the grief in her eyes and was startled by its intensity, especially after six months. He leaned forward and gently kissed her lips as tears began to slowly slide down her cheeks. "Shh. I'm not worth your tears."

It was her turn to pull back sharply. "Don't ever say that again." He was once again startled by the intensity of her emotion, although this time it was anger and indignation shining in her eyes. "I know I made a lot of mistakes, said a lot of things I shouldn't have. I didn't give you the love I should have. But don't doubt for a second that I will mourn you every single day for the rest of my existence and you deserve every tear, every thought."

The anger had faded and the grief was back, her pain evident in her face, her eyes, the slump of her shoulders as she curled into herself. Damon's heart constricted and he dragged her back into his arms.

"I love you," she said earnestly into his shoulder. "Please, please believe me. I know I should have realized sooner and I am so, so sorry." A strangled sound escaped her as she realized the absurdity of pleading with her own dream. "If there is a heaven and you can hear me, please believe me," she whispered.

Damon pulled her tighter, pain spreading through him at the anguish he heard in her voice. He was about to reassure her that he was here, that he was alive when the dream faded and he was pulled into consiousness by a hand stroking over his chest.

The woman he had spent the last several months with was kissing her way down his body. He jerked to the side, sliding quickly out of bed, unable to handle her touch so soon after kissing Elena, after holding her shaking form in his arms as she grieved over his death. He missed her so badly in that moment it was a physical pain.

"What's wrong, baby?"

He shook his head, reaching for his phone and hoping he was wrong, that his dreams were just some masochistic torment his brain was creating. Because if they weren't, if he was sharing dreams with Elena, then his disappearance had caused pain he'd never wanted to inflict on her. She even felt thinner, like she'd lost weight.

Flipping open his phone, he dialed Andy's number.