Finally.

No chaperone.

Granted it was not exactly their choice, but I'd left a note on my pillow when I inevitably got checked on.

I'd made clear that I wanted to mend bridges with my brothers alone.

I slipped into the boarding house.

"How do we know we can trust her! You said so yourself she stopped you from summoning the one person who could kill Klaus."

Great. Elena was here.

"If we did, it would've killed her. We need something else." I could hear Damon pacing. "Some way to separate them from her."

"She's not going to like it." That was Stefan.

"I couldn't give less of a fuck what she's not going to like, as long as she's alive to hate me for it."

It occurred to me that this is exactly what they wanted, in this moment. For me to be alone and away from the Mikaelsons.

That if I were to appear, they might try to stop me from leaving.

It wasn't too late, I could turn back around, go home, where I belonged. There was a certain safety in Elijah. I always knew what to expect.

No.

Better to nip this in the bud. "So much talk of me, and yet I was never invited to the party." I moved out from the shadows. "I'm actually kind of hurt."

"Morgan." Elena paled.

"Why don't you go home, sweetheart. It's time for the Salvatores to talk."

She glanced at Stefan and he nodded. "Fine."

Elena looked so much like a dejected puppy as she stormed out of the house.

It was not in the endearing way Tyler sometimes did.

I wanted to laugh. Instead, I moved toward their bar cart. "Plotting?"

"It's for your safety." Stefan insisted.

"Oh, get over yourselves." I picked up a bottle, smelling the contents. "This isn't about protecting me, you want my family dead."

Bourbon.

Good.

"We're not going to let Klaus drain Elena."

"Why not? It could happen slowly over time." I poured myself a glass. "She could live a long, prosperous life. Have kids, a partner. Nik would only take what he needs, a pint here a pint there. You guys get a safe doppelgänger, he gets his army. Truly he has no interest in killing her anymore."

"We want him gone. Elena having real freedom is just a side effect." Damon sat on the couch.

"And so he'll be, with a long donation from Elena of course. I imagine he'd bring her to the very brink of death each time, is that the life you were thinking?" I sipped at the drink. "Nik would've always come for her. Whether the two of you had any interference was no consequence. Nik always, always gets what he wants."

"You've forced his hand, made him do what you wanted." Stefan crossed his arms.

"Go ahead and try what I did. I cannot guarantee your lives if you do. I've begged them time and time again to leave you be. I have no idea how many more before they won't listen anymore."

Damon leaned forward. "You once told me that if Elijah forbid you from seeing us, you wouldn't be able to do anything about it."

"That's true."

"You're just as trapped as Elena." Stefan ran a hand down his face. "Let us help."

Idiots. The both of them. "Do you honestly think I want your help?"

"Yes." Damon looked up at me.

"Stefan, you spent the summer with Nik. Did it seem like being his best bud was a fucking choice?" I downed the drink, pouring myself another. "Now increase that tenfold and instead of impulsive Klaus, there's inflexible Elijah."

Hadn't we put this whole thing behind us?

And yet, around and around we went.

It was so aggravating.

Disappointing. "Once you're done deciding that I need saving, then I'll come back." This had been a colossal waste of time.