The plan had worked better than everyone had hoped. Like she wanted to, Rebekah had managed to take Esther down with her when she took the deal, slipping her vampire blood when she wasn't paying attention. Though, they weren't able to stop the spell, so now they were waiting for Rebekah to make contact from her new body. While Kol had been moved into the compound due to his help, things weren't entirely going well, with Finn once again on the loose again. At some point during it all, Mikael had managed to rescue him from the coffin Klaus and Marcel were holding him in, which put everyone on edge slightly. No one more than Cami, who'd only narrowly avoided being used as a vessel by Esther and Finn for Rebekah. During all of this, Elijah, Audrey, Hayley and Hope had remained at the safe house, where Hayley was making the most of each moment she had with her daughter.

   "Elijah, I know how to cut up some peppers." Audrey gave him a bemused look, as the two stood in the kitchen that morning. Elijah had attempted to get up before her to bring breakfast up to her in bed, but feeling him get up from the bed, Audrey decided to come downstairs and help him cook instead. "Please stop watching me like I'm about to take off one of my fingers."

   "I'm not." He gave her an innocent look, though his eyes didn't meet hers. "Though, the way you're holding that knife is rather unnerving."

   Audrey gave him a look and put the knife down, holding her hands up. "Would you feel better if I just observed?"

   "Much." He nodded, and she rolled her eyes as she perched herself on the counter, eating a piece of the pepper she managed to cut. 

   "My mom did it the same way." She mused, as he started whisking the eggs they were making. "She could cook, that wasn't the issue. But she was so haphazard in the kitchen, my dad would end up kicking her out and taking over to make sure she didn't injure herself." Elijah listened, a smile appearing as he saw the look that was on her face. It wasn't often that Audrey spoke about Miranda and Grayson Gilbert to him, or really anyone that wasn't Caroline Forbes. It wasn't hard to tell that she missed them more than anything. "He was always so nice about it though. He'd say something like "Mira, honey, you've had a long day. Let me do that for you tonight." and she'd know what he was doing, but she'd never complain. She'd go along with it, and sit in the living watching him cook, a glass of wine in hand."

   "Mira?" He raised a brow.

   "It was a nickname he had for her." She explained. "Something he came up with they first met, and it just stuck." 

   "They sound wonderful." He commented softly. "I wish I could have met them."

   "They weren't big on vampires, but, I think they would have liked you." She said honestly, looking down in thought. "They just cared that their kids were happy, you know?"

   Placing the bowl and whisk down, he moved in front of her and rubbed her arms affectionately, kissing her forehead. "I'm sure I would have liked them too." He told her, making her lips twitch up into a sad smile. "However, I do hope our child inherits their skills in the kitchen from me."

   "I don't see what the problem is." She said innocently. 

   "Yes, I'll be sure to remind of you that next time, when I'm sure your knife skills will end with you minus a finger or worse." He hummed with a teasing smirk.

   Audrey simply rolled her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into a kiss he didn't hesitate to return. 

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

   "Now that we've entombed our mother, I intend on finishing making the city safe for Hope." Klaus began as he sat down in an armchair, after he arrived back at the safehouse with Cami alongside him. "Which, to start, means dealing with the lingering problem of Finn."

   With Finn being free again making her a target, Klaus had decided it best she stay in Arkansas until it was dealt with, which also meant telling her about Hope. Of course, she agreed to have the memories compelled away when it was time for her to leave again, understanding why it was important for Hope's safety. Though the O'Connell woman was more than happy to see she was alive, after thinking she was dead like the rest of New Orleans for the last the last few months. 

   Cami sighed from where she sat. "Oh, once he figures out what you've done to your mother, he's gonna go off the deep end."

   "That's exactly why we need to keep you out of harm's way." The Mikaelson hybrid nodded. "Hayley and I will return home and take care of my wayward brother. Elijah and Audrey will remain here with you." He informed her, glancing at his brother who stood looking out of the window displeased. "He's been experiencing some side effects since his ordeal as our mother's captive. Best he stay here and convalesce."

   Audrey rolled her eyes as she joined them, standing behind the chair Klaus sat in and hitting her hand around his head. "Do you have any understanding of the word tact?"

   "Don't mind Audrey, Camille." Klaus simply smirked. "She's been rather hormonal lately."

   The Gilbert girl gave him a flat look. "I'll truly you show you hormonal in a moment."

   The blonde human sent Audrey a small smile at that,  and Audrey smiled back at her. Elijah simply turned to look at his younger brother, his unimpressed look growing into offense. "A single violent outburst at a filthy road-side cafe, and one never hears the end of it."

   Klaus chuckled. "Oh, Cami has a way with minds plagued by demons, brother. You two can bond!" Cami shuffled awkwardly as she glanced at Elijah, who didn't look any more comfortable at the idea himself. "Well, if you excuse me, I best be on my way! Rebekah should have already woken up in the body of Angelica Barker. Once she has cut the ties of Miss Barker's former life, she'll make her way directly here." He smiles. "You should expect her shortly." 

   With that, he and Hayley left to head back to New Orleans, leaving the couple and Cami alone with Hope. Time seemed to pass by slowly after that, Cami trying to find ways to keep herself busy in her new situation, while Elijah and Audrey both waited on word from Rebekah. The fact that there had still be no word from her was unnerving, especially now she was walking around in a much more vulnerable body. 

   Audrey carefully lowered Hope down into her cot, glancing at Elijah who stood in the doorway, his phone pressed to his ear. He let out a deep sigh, as he call was once again sent to voicemail. "Rebekah, it's me again. Please call." He said urgently before hanging up. 

   "She'll get back to us when she can." Audrey said calmly. "It might just be taking longer to cut ties."

   "I hope so." Elijah said as he the two exchanged a look. They both knew exactly what he was thinking, and it wasn't settling well with either of them. "Otherwise, something has went very wrong."

   "Yahtzee!" Cami's voice cheered happily from behind, the couple turning to see her stood in the kitchen, pulling a bottle of bourbon from a cabinet. "If there's one thing I've learned about you people, it's that there's always a bottle of booze around." She mused as she reached for a glass, looking at Elijah. "You want one?"

   "Sounds delightful." He said with a condescending smile. "And after that, Camille, then what? We have another, and another, perhaps another after that, another after that... Before long, I find myself opening up to you, or--" He makes air quotes with his fingers. ""Baring my damaged soul," as it were." Cami simply rolled her eyes as moved toward a bookshelf, her eyes scanning the selection of board games a moment before grabbing one. "It's an old trick, Camille. Not a particularly clever one."

   "Let's try to be less rude to someone trying help, yeah?" Audrey gave him a look as he sat down, perching herself on his lap.

   "Your mother really did a number on you boys, didn't she?" Cami asked bluntly, earning a small snicker from the doppelganger. "Has it ever occurred to you that I'm less interested in fixing your problems and more interested in forgetting my own? I mean, I'm basically in a supernatural witness protection program because your psychotic brother-- who, by the way, I practically had to seduce-- wants me dead. So, yeah--" She placed the bottle and glasses down, alongside trivial pursuit box as she took a seat on the couch. "--Booze and board games is pretty much where I'm at right now." Elijah rolled his eyes in annoyance, as she pulled one of the question cards out of the box. "Here's a question-- What was the name of Don Quixote's horse?"

   "This is absurd." He muttered, shaking his head.

   "Fine. Dumb idea." The blonde bartender gave in and put the card down, and focused her attention Audrey instead with a smirk. "So, childbirth--"

   Very quickly, Audrey's eyes widened at her and she turned to Elijah. "Answer the question." She said firmly, cutting Cami off before she could finish. 

   She got enough of these conversations from Caroline, the last thing she wanted was someone else telling her different facts about what happens during birth. Realizing he now had no other option, looked at Cami in defeat. "Rocinante." He stated. "The horse's name is Rocinante." He answered and poured himself a glass, making her smile triumphantly.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

   "What three European countries begin with the letter A?"

   "Albania, Austria, Andorra."

   Cami frowned and made a noise of frustration before throwing the card away in search of a new question. The game had been going on for a while, Elijah seemingly knowing the answer to each question that she asked, and bourbon bottle slowly being drained between the two of them. The entire time, Audrey had remained curled up on Elijah's lap, watching the pair go at it in amusement.

   "Agh, Okay, hey!" She stopped on a new card. "Who was the only U.S. president to earn a Ph.D?" 

   "The rather tedious Woodrow Wilson." Elijah answered simply as he poured another drink.

   Cami groaned again and began to search for yet another new question. "Who rode Secretary to the Triple Crown in 1973--"

   "Ron Turket." He cut her off before she could even finish asking.

   "No!" Cami let out, throwing up her hands in utter disbelief. "I refuse to believe you just happened to know that!"

   Audrey chuckled as she got to her feet, grabbing her empty water glass from the table. "And this is exactly why I won't play." She hummed, making her way toward the kitchen.

   "No!" Cami let out again, and in her drunkenness managed to knock over Elijah's drink, splattering bourbon across the table and onto the sleeve of his shirt. "I'm sorry." She let out with a chuckle when she noticed what she'd done. "I'm sorry, Elijah. Here." She says, handing him a towel to clean himself up with, as she began to look through the game cards again.

   "Everything okay?" Audrey asked as she rejoined them, pausing as she noticed Elijah's gaze fixated on his shirt sleeve, more furiously trying to wipe away the small stain. "Elijah?"

   Cami looked up and noticed what she did, her face falling in worry. "Elijah? Are you okay? Elijah?"

   She reached out to touch his hand, but Elijah quickly grabs her by the wrist to stop her, setting her arm down gently as her eyes widened in alarm. "I'm not as fragile as my brother suggests." He said quietly, looking at her a moment until his phone began to ring, quickly answering it. "Rebekah, where on earth are you?" He pauses as he listens to the voice on the other end, and clears his throat. "I see. No, I must have been dialing the wrong number. Forgive me." He excused before he hung up with a distressed look, walking out of the room.

   Audrey sighed and rubbed her face with her hands, worry clear in her eyes. But before she could attempt to follow him, the sound of Hope's cries came through the baby monitor, alerting both women she'd woken up. Putting her glass down, Audrey made her upstairs to what had became Hope's room, finding the young girl sniffling and reaching her arms up.

   "What's wrong, sweet girl?" She said softly as she picked her up, rubbing her back. Hope sniffled and rested her head on Audrey's shoulder, her eyes closing again as she soothed her. "It's okay, you're okay."

   As Hope drifted back off to sleep, she carefully lowered her back down into her crib, when she heard Cami's voice shouting from downstairs. "Audrey!"

   Making her way back downstairs as quickly as she could, she made her way into the living room, to see Elijah had her backed into the corner. She noticed the same far off look in his eye as he had before, and knew it was Esther's side effects once again.

   "Elijah." Audrey moved closer and reached out, touching his arm. "Elijah, come back to me." She said softly.

   As Cami closes her eyes in fear and ducks slightly, realization appeared in Elijah's eyes at Audrey's touch, seeming to snap out of it as he looked at her. Guilt appeared on his face as he looked at Cami, it not fading as he looked at the Gilbert girl. Audrey said nothing as she took his hand and squeezed it, giving him a reassuring look. All of this was out of his control, she knew that, and so did Cami. His gaze softened and gave her a small nod, before he sped out of sight, leaving the two women alone. 

   The blonde opened her after a moment, letting out breath of relief and looked at Audrey, who looked back at her apologetically. "Cami, he wouldn't--"

   "I know." She cut her off, shaking her head. "I know. When he's ready, I want to try and help. He just took me by surprise."

   "Thank you." Audrey told her wholeheartedly. "It means a lot. With everything you're going through, I can understand if you didn't want to take this on."

   "Honestly, a distraction from my own problems might be just what I need." Cami looked at her honestly. "We're all here together, so we can help each other."

   Audrey's smile grew at that, and she nodded before she walked away. Things weren't easy, but they'd work on make them easier, one day at a time. 

Such a bad ending but I didn't have much else to add to this episode. Cami and Audrey are now going to work on helping Elijah work through everything, and I'm looking forward to forming a friendship between Cami and Audrey. They haven't had much interaction at all in this story, and I loved Cami's character, so I'm looking forward to writing them working together. 

There is going to be another update later on today, making up for the fact this wasn't up yesterday like I said it would be. I'm really liking the speed in which I'm getting through season 2 at the moment, just because the episodes are so much fun to write. Season 2 definitely was my favorite season by far. 

Also, I have posted a third book in Audrey's series! It's a prequel to Anomaly and Absolution, which covers pre-season one of TVD, and will eventually cover season 1 through till where Anomaly begins. A better look into Audrey's life before the Mikaelsons became such a huge part of it. If you're interested in that, I recommend having a look for it on my profile, as I will be getting the first chapter of it up very soon.

I hope you all enjoyed!