Here we go, final chapter.

"Are you sure about this?" Lexa balanced the black box on her hip. Her eyes skipped over the stone steps that led up to a giant hole opening into the ground.

"Seems the best course of action," Elena nodded. "I thought you were all for custody agreements."

"I am," she worried her bottom lip, "but the last time you and Hayley were alone together she tried to take a chunk out of your neck. I'm sure one of the Originals could have done this."

"Klaus isn't the only one with a temper," Elena straightened the bag over her shoulder. "Elijah would have been the best bet, but after Hayley bit me…"

"You're a little worried he might lose his temper too," Lexa finished. She had clearly seen the rage in the Original's eyes that night.

"Yeah," she sighed, "do you want me to the cave first or…?"

"How much of a maze is it?" She cocked an eyebrow.

"A ridiculous one," Elena smirked, "of labyrinth proportions. I'm surprised we don't have a town Minotaur."

"Why don't I get this set up first?" Lexa tucked her hair behind her ear. "Then you can show me to the cave."

Hayley curled her fingers around the bars and pulled with all of her might, but the door would not come free. Her blood pounded in her ears blocking out all other sounds until a lantern pierced the darkness.

"Let me out of here," she snapped. Her eyes narrowed when she saw just who her full moon visitors were. "You've got a lot of nerve."

"I've got a lot of nerve?" Elena arched an eyebrow. "You attacked me, unprovoked I might add, and tried to bite me. You did bite me."

"I should have killed you," she sneered. "Come a little closer and I will."

"Now, now, girls," Lexa stepped up to the bars, "let's not fight. That's not why we're here."

Elena flipped the bag off her shoulder and held it out.

Hayley eyed the leather suspiciously.

"Blood and clothes," Elena sighed, making a point of not looking over Hayley's naked body. She let go when the bad was forcefully pulled from her hand.

"Does this mean you're gonna let me out?" Her eyes narrowed.

"It means you should put some clothes on and take the edge off your hunger before I get back," Elena shook her head. "I've been sent to negotiate."

"I thought Elijah was the dealmaker," she scoffed.

"Yes, well," Lexa smirked, the amusement didn't reach her eyes, "after what you did Elijah has a strong inclination to rip out your throat. Get dressed. Elena will be back in a few minutes to have a nice chat."

Hayley watched them disappear through a dark opening into the tunnels. She heard chalk scratching over stone for several minutes before there was nothing.

By the time Elena stepped back into the area outside of her cell she had dressed and downed all three bags of blood.

"You gonna let me out or what?" She crossed her arms, longing for a shower.

"Not yet," Elena shook her head. She came as close to the door as she dared, making sure to stay out of arm's reach of Hayley just in case she decided to try and take another bite out of her. "Let's talk first. I came to talk custody."

"Klaus needs a mediator, now?" Hayley cocked an eyebrow.

"I volunteered for your sake," she slipped her hands into her pockets. "I'm sure you know what his temper is like, and you definitely provoked it. The Originals might fight like cats and dogs, but at the end of the day they're family and you drove a wedge between them. There have been several suggestions of what to do with you in the last few weeks."

"What's the verdict?" Hayley gritted her teeth.

"Well," she tilted her head. "Klaus wanted to tear you apart. Rebekah mentioned something about maiming. Kol thought removing a very vital organ was not uncalled for. And Freya was all for your current curse."

Hayley swallowed thickly. "What about Elijah?"

"He's gone back and forth," Elena shrugged, "between the curse and what I'm going to offer."

"What would that be?" Hayley pursed her lips.

"Before I tell you I just want to know one thing," she tilted her head. "Why'd you do it? They told me how you worked to save them all for five years so I'm just having trouble understanding."

"Yeah, well," Hayley looked away, focusing on the lock before meeting Elena's eyes. "Those five years passed quickly. That was when I thought it was possible to outrun the cloud hanging over them all, but it's no coincidence that the second they came back everything went to shit."

"It sounds like it was. I don't know how you could fault Klaus, or any of them, for what happened with the Hollow."

"Easy," she lifted her chin, "Klaus made Marcel what he is which led to Marcel's tenure over the Quarter. That led to Vincent searching for a way to stop Marcel which led to the Hollow. It was Klaus' sirelings that forced me to flee the city and leave behind something a witch could use to target Hope. It's a never ending cycle of violence with their family. I had to end it."

"But all you did was prolong it," Elena shook her head. "How do you think Hope would have reacted when she found out years from now that you were responsible?"

"Better than Klaus who wants to tear me apart," she rolled her eyes. "They hexed me."

"To be fair, Lexa hexed you because you were gonna kill me."

"And the cycle continues," Hayley threw up her hands.

"It can end tonight," Elena pulled a thick piece of folded parchment from her back pocket. "Klaus already agreed to these terms, and if you agree you can walk out of her tonight and see your daughter tomorrow; provided that's what Hope wants."

"What terms?" Hayley tilted her head, looking Elena over.

"For now, phone calls, and supervised visitation every third weekend, major holidays and a room where you can stay in the house during those times."

"I have to be supervised to see my own kid?" She scoffed.

"For now," Elena stressed. "Elijah and I – with the help of Caroline – talked him down from outright killing you, so I'd consider this an improvement. After a period of one year this can be renegotiated, and then you can talk about splitting custody when Hope's not at school. Eventually the hope is you'll have an even divide in custody where you can switch off every other week, or every week as long as she wants to go back and forth."

She held out the paper for Hayley to take.

"Lexa drew that up, well, Elijah drew it up and Lexa spelled it. You sign it in your blood and the contract will hold both you and Klaus to it."

"Will these third weekends coincide with the full moons," she glanced up from the parchment's tiny handwriting. She was fairly certain the elegant scrawl belonged to Elijah.

"Of course not," Elena pulled a vial from her other pocket. "Assuming you agree I'm authorized to give you this," she shook the green liquid, "it's the cure for your curse."

Hayley frowned. She could see in the way Elena was holding the vial that she wanted to hand it over there and then, but she didn't.

"Klaus made me sign one of those," she nodded to the parchment, "saying I wouldn't give you this until a full agreement was reached. You might want to read the fine print," she rocked back on her heels, "it says what will happen if you try to take Hope away again."

Hayley's eyes widened when she read the page in its entirety. "I thought we were ending the cycle of violence."

"Baby steps," Elena managed a small smile. "You gotta learn to learn to walk before you can run, and Klaus is just learning to walk. Can you?" She held out a knife and a quill. "You know Klaus," she followed Hayley's pointed look to the writing implements, "he's got a thing for aesthetic."

Elena held in her sigh when Hayley took the knife and pen, slicing into her palm and scrawling her name on the line at the bottom. She saw the veins in her arm darken as the spell traveled through her and reached out to open the door.

Hayley stepped out and extended her palm. She opened the vial and downed the contents before fixing Elena with a curious look.

"Why'd you really get involved with him?"

Elena blinked and looked up from where she was tucking the contract away. There was no animosity in Hayley's question though, and no reason to believe they were going to get in another fight.

"When I first met him in New York he didn't know who he was, or who I was or who Katherine and Tatia were. He needed help, and things just sort of went from there." She thought back on the craziness of the last few months. "For the first time since high school I knew when he looked at me, he was looking at me. I haven't felt that since I was dating Matt sophomore year. Elijah helped me so much in the past – even if sometimes it ended badly – and I wanted to help him."

"Is he in love with you?" Hayley crossed her arms.

"He's said so, and I believe him," Elena pressed her lips together, a little uncomfortable with the conversation. "I love him too. I think I have for a long time."

"If you're thinking of biting her in a jealous rage, don't," a soft voice called from the tunnel. "I still remember that curse."

Caroline smiled softly when she saw that Hope had nodded off against the counter with her cheek pillowed by her folded arms.

She finished loading the dishes in the dishwasher and walked around the island to lift the child. Her head turned into Caroline's chest, and she gave a small sound of dissent but didn't wake up.

"Time for bed, sweetie," she slipped out of the kitchen, vowing to shut off the alarm in Hope's bedroom.

She was passing through the foyer when she heard the front door open and close. She stiffened, prepared to spin and give the rule breaker her patented educator look.

Her eyes widened and her mouth popped open when she saw him.

His hair was a little unruly, as if he had been running his hands through it, and his cheeks were flushed, but there was a look on his face that she had never seen before; she thought it was one he might have worn a few times nearly a decade ago.

His full lips were parted slightly to allow the soft exhale, and his eyes held a light of absolute wonder. He took slow steps towards her as if expecting her and the child she held to vanish before his eyes.

"Got any murderous impulses?" Caroline whispered when he stood in front of her. She could feel his shoes through her slippers as he shook his head. "Any long dead witches trying to claw their way out of you?"

"No," he whispered.

"Okay then," she shifted. She saw the slight hesitation in his eyes.

"Am I dreaming Caroline?" He stared at Hope, every instinct told him to reach out and take her.

"If you are then I am," she smirked. "She fell asleep in the kitchen because she was worried the spell wouldn't work. I was just going to put her in bed. Do you want to take her upstairs?"

He slid his arms under Hope and brushed against Caroline's stomach, ignoring the slight tingle that raced up his arm; there would be time to address that later.

Once she was moved he followed Caroline up the stairs and down a hall before entering a bedroom. The floor was littered with half-finished drawings that he carefully stepped over so he could place Hope in her bed.

He lifted the blankets over her shoulders and smoothed back the auburn hair that had fallen over her face. He almost didn't notice Caroline reaching for the alarm clock, but he caught a glimpse of her from the corner of his eye.

"What are you doing?" He looked up from Hope; he thought it might have been for the first time since he walked through the door.

"Turning this off," she shrugged one shoulder. "I think I can excuse her from a half-day of classes before Christmas break."

"How early did she wake up?" He turned his gaze back to Hope.

"She was the first one in the dining hall," Caroline laughed, "and I mean the first one. The kitchen staff hadn't even woken up yet." She straightened up and nodded towards the door. "I've got this feeling you want to stay in here, so if you're hungry the human blood is in the mini fridge in my office; it's Damon's old study."

"Thank you Caroline."

"For telling you where the human blood is?" She cocked an eyebrow. "That was more so you didn't turn on one of the staff."

"Not that," he chuckled. "Thank you for watching over her, and for chasing me down to talk sense into me."

"Well," she shrugged, "it's not like one of your siblings could have done it."

"They know I wouldn't have listened to them," he smirked. "There are very few people who have ever managed to make me listen."

Elena stepped out of her muddy shoes and padded through the lake house to the living room with Lexa. She stopped at the living room and stared with wide eyes for a moment before recovering.

"Couldn't wait till morning?" Her eyes flickered from Kol and Rebekah to Elijah.

"We were anxious," Rebekah shrugged.

"Well don't be because Hayley signed the contract."

"And I stashed the Hollow," Lexa smiled tiredly. She was ready for a nice long nap, or a calming bubble bath; she wasn't sure which yet and figured she'd decide when she got upstairs. "There are so many spells around that cave that I think nobody is ever getting through."

Lexa flipped open her bag, keeping one eye on the filling bathtub. Her fingers sifted through the paper inside until she found what she was looking for and held it up.

A knock sounded on the open door making her jump.

"You scared me," she fixed him with a scolding look.

"Sorry, darling," Kol smiled, stepping into the warm bathroom, "it was not my intention."

"What was your intention?" She dropped her bag on the floor and hopped up to sit on the bathroom counter. The added height put her at eye level with him.

"I just wanted to check on you," he leaned against the counter, placing his hand down a few inches from her thigh. "The extraction spell always took a lot out of you, and tonight you not only did that, but you sealed it away in a cave."

"I'm alright," she smiled, rolling her neck back and around. "I'm a little tired, and a little tense, but a nice bubble bath and a good night's sleep and I'll be good as new." She rolled her ankle and winced.

Kol noticed. He gestured to her foot.

"I tripped in the caves," she cleared her throat. "I think I might have pulled something."

"Elena didn't help you?" His eyes narrowed.

"I just noticed it now," she shook her head, laughing softly.

He nodded, accepting the answer and motioned again to her foot. "May I?"

She scooted back on the counter and nodded. She caught her breath when he lifted her injured leg and rubbed the sore area, kneading the muscles with his thumbs. She watched the tendons shift in his arms and repressed her shiver when she thought of his hands gliding over the rest of her body.

"Is that better?" He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, biting his tongue to keep from mentioning the intoxicating new scent permeating the air.

"Much," she swallowed, licking her bottom lip, "thank you."

"Don't mention it," he smirked. "What is that you made a point of digging for?"

"Just another contract," she shrugged, and clarified. "The draft of a contract; I was gonna read it over while I took my bath." She cursed when she saw the height of the bubbles and surged forward, colliding with his shoulder.

He caught her around the waist to keep her from falling over and watched her twist her wrist, effectively shutting off the flow of water by telekinetically turning the knob.

"I don't think you needed to move to do that," he chuckled. He picked up the dropped paper and unfolded it. His eyes narrowed as he read. "This is for Davina?"

"I thought she might like her magic back," Lexa shrugged, "under the stipulation that she will lose it again if she ever acts against your family."

"Don't show this to Nik," he placed the paper on the counter and met her eyes, "he'll want you to make one for every witch in the world."

"I think my hand would cramp up," she joked.

"I could massage that for you," he tilted his head.

"I bet you could," she smiled, her eyes darted to his lips when they quirked up.

She lifted her gaze to his dark eyes. Heat curled down her spine. She heard herself swallow, and drew in a shaky breath.

A desire she hadn't let herself fully feel because of their situation with the Hollow, and his recent breakup, radiated between them.

Her eyes fluttered shut as he leaned closer, bending to brush his lips over hers. The touch was electrifying. Her heart practically stopped when his tongue traced the seam of her lips and slipped into her mouth.

He was about to pull away when she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. Slim fingers threaded through his hair and his heart skittered. Heat pooled in his abdomen and his skin sizzled with the static charge of magic pouring out of her body.

His breath caught when they broke apart and it took him a moment to gather his bearings.

"I… uh…" he shook himself from his daze, eyes landing on the bubbles in the tub. "I'll just leave you to your bath." His hands lingered on her hips.

"Or…" she trailed off with a slight smile, teeth sinking into her swollen bottom lip.

He grinned and lifted her onto the counter. Cradling the side of her neck he met her halfway in a slow kiss, smiling against her lips when her legs wrapped around his waist.

"Elena."

She smiled as strong arms wrapped around her middle from behind. She leaned back against his chest and tilted her head.

"Elijah," she sighed. "How does it feel knowing everything's right with the world? At least until someone pisses off a witch, or enemies start massing at the gates."

He chuckled and pressed a kiss to her temple.

"It's a nice feeling: peaceful." He inhaled her shampoo and propped his chin on her shoulder. "Niklaus has issued an invitation for Christmas dinner to you and Lexa. Although I think she would have shown up anyway with Kol."

"I thought I heard a second heartbeat in her room," she sighed. "Does Klaus know I come with two boys – three if I'm counting you?"

"When did we get two boys?" He cocked an eyebrow.

"When I found out how close Rafael and Landon are and that Rafael doesn't have a family to go home to…" she spun in his arms. "We?"

"Of course 'we'," he kissed the tip of her nose. "Landon is a part of your life, and you're both a part of mine."

"It's not exactly something you signed up for," she tilted her head, smiling.

"And you didn't sign up for my siblings," he chuckled. "I happen to be wonderful with children."

"Okay," she gave him a quick kiss. "Tell Klaus to set the table for three more."

The sun woke him in the mid-morning in time to see her stir beneath the comforter. He shifted and pulled the mess of hair away from her puckered lips, smiling as her eyes fluttered open. She rolled onto her back and froze mid-stretch, her eyes growing wide when she saw him; her voice was small and broken and laced with sleep.

"Daddy?"

"I'm right here, sweetheart," he sighed. His arms wrapped around her when she launched her small body up. "I've missed you so much."

Addicted came in second for the update poll. For those of you reading that story... Damon has no idea he's compelled her yet because he thinks she's been drinking vervain.

I've had this idea for SAF. That story will wrap up at the end of what would be season 1, because wow it's getting long, but that is nowhere near the end. There will be a sequel taking the place of season 3. I'll be skipping season 2 since the main antagonists (Esther and Dahlia) were dealt with during Three Deep Breaths. I'm thinking that one's gonna follow the Three Deep Breaths layout with the flash forwards intersperced throughout the story.

drop off a review and let me know what you've thought of the story. :)