A/N: Raging migraine and I didn't read through so let me know if I need to fix anything. Enjoy!

***

Lucy stood on the balcony outside the master bedroom of the beach house Elijah had given them the keys for two weeks ago. Her thumb ran along the band of the ring which now sat permanently on the middle finger of her right hand as she watched the sun come up. He'd apparently had a daylight ring prepared and ready for her for several years just in case.

Damon had warmed some bagged blood in a mug for her to complete her transition, then they'd packed their bags and left town with Stefan and Caroline in tow. In order to make it an actual break from Mystic Falls drama, they'd all turned off their phones and hadn't told anyone where they were going. Elijah could get ahold of them if there was an emergency.

Everyday they trained until Lucy could compel and run with the best of them. Most importantly, she could sit in a diner filled with people and not want to eat anything not on the menu. She knew they should be thinking about going home, but she really didn't want to leave. It was like their own little piece of paradise.

Arms wrapping around her from behind, pulled her from her thoughts. Damon tugged her back to lean against his chest. He nuzzled the curve of her neck and kissed along her throat. Her eyes fluttered closed and she groaned at the feel of his lips against her skin. Her favorite lessons had been Damon teaching her about her incredibly heightened senses every night in their bed. His every touch had her skin tingling, her nerves dancing. When they weren't spending time with the others, they hardly crawled out from between the silk sheets.

"When do you want to head home?" Damon asked as he locked his arms around her.

Lucy scrunched her nose. "Never. Is never an option?"

He chuckled and the low sound made her smile in response. "We can stay as long as Elijah will let us. We should probably at least think about turning our phones back on though. At least long enough to make sure the town didn't burn down while we were gone."

She turned in his arms to lightly kiss his lips. "Deal."

They headed back inside and Damon stuck his head out the door to tell his brother the plan. Lucy sat on the side of the bed as she fished their phones out of the drawer of her nightstand. She tossed Damon's to him and waited impatiently through all the dings and vibrations as her phone booted up. Once it finished, she scrolled through her messages, ignoring most of them.

One from an unknown number caught her eye. It's time to pay your debts.

A jolt of fear stabbed through her. There was no one it could be other than Klaus. She flicked back through her other texts and missed calls and frowned. Nothing from Elijah. Surely he would have warned her his brother was in town. Maybe he didn't know yet?

Her thoughts were interrupted by Stefan's worried voice as he stepped into their room, Caroline at his side. "We have a problem. Multiple problems actually."

Caroline tapped on the screen of her phone and Elena's voice filled the room. "Hey Care. Listen, we could really use your help. We have a plan to get Elijah out of the way but the more people to help the better. I know you'll say you don't want to hurt Lucy but they're going to kill me Caroline. I'm more important than some girl's feelings you barely know. Call me."

Lucy rolled her eyes before looking from the phone to Damon. He shook his head to tell her he had no idea what they could be up to either.

The next message was worse than the first. "I don't know why you aren't responding to any of my messages but I just thought you'd like to know we took care of Elijah without your help. Thanks for that. He's stashed away where no one will find him, not even your precious Lucy."

Silence stretched until Lucy broke it. "She better hope she's wrong or she's going to die screaming."

***

Caroline immediately called Elena and made nice claiming her and Stefan had left for a little cellphone-free vacation. It wasn't even a lie really. After she convinced her sort of friend that they had no idea where Lucy or Damon were, Elena filled Care in on everything that had happened while they'd been gone. Care relayed everything she'd been told to the others while they made their way home.

"Let me get this straight," Lucy said as she turned in her seat to look at Care and Stefan in the back, "Alaric and John stabbed Elijah with some sort of dagger that kills him for all intents and purposes and are keeping him in Elena's basement. They set Luka Martin, who is a teenager might I remind you, on fire and killed him when he tried to rescue Elijah. Then Jonas attacked everyone in retaliation and they killed him, too? Oh, and Katherine is who knows where because Elena thought she would be helpful and once they released her, she disappeared?"

Caroline nodded with a grimace. "That about sums it up, yeah."

Lucy raked a hand through her hair and sighed. "We left town for two weeks. Two."

Damon chuckled and reached over to squeeze her hand. "To be fair, Elijah told us he could handle it."

"Well, he did a bang up job of that. And, also, why do I get in trouble when I talk about killing teenagers and they actually get to do it? Not fair."

"Lucy," Caroline chastised though there was a hint of laughter in her voice.

They spent the rest of the drive coming up with a plan to rescue the damsel in distress from the dragon. Or Elijah from Elena. Whatever.

***

Lucy and Damon hid near Elena's house, waiting for everyone to leave. As far as everyone knew the two of them were still MIA. Stefan had called a meeting of the Cult of Elena at their house wanting to contribute what he could to help save 'Caroline's dearest friend'. Lucy did feel a bit bad that Caroline would most likely be losing most of her friends after they discovered the truth. But the bubbly blonde would still have Lucy. She'd always have Lucy.

Once the Gilberts and assorted others had left the house, Lucy and Damon waited several minutes to make certain they weren't coming back before they approached. As she hadn't been invited in, Lucy was forced to wait on the front porch while Damon busted the lock and let himself in.

It didn't take him long to find the Original laying on the cement floor. Damon grimaced at the condition of the other man, suddenly glad that Lucy hadn't been able to accompany him inside. Elijah looked horrible, dead and a little crispy. Who knew what her reaction would be to seeing him like that.

Damon crouched down and pulled the blade from Elijah's chest before setting it aside. There was no immediate change and Damon wondered how long the recovery would take. Stefan was prepared to distract until he got a message from one of them, but the quicker they were out of here, the better.

Several minutes passed and Damon was considering just carrying the Original out when Elijah's eyes flew open. He sucked in a sharp breath as his eyes darted around until they found his rescuer. "Damon."

The Salvatore nodded once. "At your service." He wanted to rush this but knew Elijah needed a moment to recover.

He licked his lips. "What happened? Where is Lucy?"

"Lucy's fine. She's waiting outside as she hasn't been invited. You're in Elena's basement. Ringing any bells?"

He hissed in irritation as the confusion left his eyes. "John Gilbert. Though I am uncertain how he obtained a dagger in the first place. I believed them all in my brother's possession."

Damon pursed his lips in thought. "He's connected to Katherine."

"Katerina. She's becoming more trouble than she's worth."

"Always has been. Speaking of, she's missing. The teenagers also killed your witches. Sorry." He stood and held out a hand to help Elijah up.

Once on his feet he did his best to set himself to rights with little success.

Damon picked up the dagger and held it out. "I believe this is yours."

"Thank you," Elijah answered with a nod and they sped up the stairs. As soon as he left the house, he found himself wrapped in Lucy's arms. He breathed a sigh of relief as some of the tension flowed from his shoulders. "Hello, little one."

"You're shit at handling things while we go out of town. Next time you come with."

He smirked as he took a step back. "Fair enough. Let's go. I am in desperate need of a shower and a drink."

She laced their hands together as Damon pulled up in the car he'd ran to get from down the street. "There are blood bags in the backseat for you."

He kissed her temple before climbing in the back. When she motioned for him to move over he did so with little more than an arched brow, his teeth already buried in one of the bags. Once Damon had pulled away from the curb, she slid out her phone to show Elijah a message.

It's time to pay your debts.

Elijah's gaze locked on hers heavy with worry and concern. Klaus was in town and there was no way of knowing how long he had been here or the chaos he'd managed to sow in their absence.