In his apartment, Alaric jumps when he turns around to find Daphne standing in his living room, she smiles brightly at him and holds out a brown paper bag to him. Lunch. She did promise she would be back for lunch. He actually assumed that she would have gone off with the others into the woods to talk about the stakes. Dealing with Klaus and his family of psychos seems a lot more important than Alaric, in his opinion. But here she is. Trying to force sugary pastries down his throat. She shakes the bag at him, he shakes his head.
"I still can't eat anything" He argues, she blows a raspberry.
"You didn't touch your breakfast, you have to eat something" She argues as she sets the bag down.
"Damon and Stefan already left" He informs her, deflecting. Trying to get her to leave. So he can wallow in peace. Instead, here she is, trying to take care of him.
"I know" She assures him as she sits on the arm of the chair. "I'm joining them after I've made sure you've eaten something" She gives him a look when he makes no move to even look in the paper bag. He lets out a breath and then picks up the bag. He can see that she is not going to leave until he at least takes a bite out of something. He knows why she is doing it. Because he spent months looking after Elena and Jeremy, and now she is returning that by looking after him now when he needs someone to look after him. It's a sandwich that she'd brought him, one of the Grill's chicken salad subs. A very popular choice. Delicious. He sits on the couch and sets out the napkin on the coffee table, to set the sandwich down. He looks at Daphne.
"Are you going to watch me eat all of this?" He asks her, she shrugs and taps her fingers on her knee.
"I'll settle for a bite" She answers. He lets out a breath and then takes a bite of the sandwich. He still feels sick but it is not as bad as it was this morning. So that is progress. He supposes. It's still not great. He finishes his bite and looks at Daphne who snorts and smirks, he is taking her literally and that's fine. If that is what it is going to take to keep him alive, then she'll take it. She stands and then nods. He gave her what she wanted. That's enough for now. And pushing him isn't going to help either of them.
"You want me to bring you dinner later?" She asks, he shakes his head.
"No, it's okay" He assures her. She hums and then apparates out of the apartment. He does not doubt that she will be back with dinner later.
......
In the woods around Mystic Falls, Stefan jumps a little and then glares at Daphne as she appears between him and Damon, Damon is used to it by now so barely reacted to her just popping up. His hand, however, goes to her back.
"Hi" She teases Stefan who lets out a breath and shakes his head. They head on through the trees, heading towards the meeting spot. Ahead of them, through the trees, they can see that Caroline, Matt, and Elena are already waiting for them at the predetermined location. A broken stone pillar is a marker. Stefan, Daphne, and Damon approach the three of them.
"Where's Bonnie?" Stefan asks noting that the other witch on their team is missing. Caroline and Elena turn around. "I texted her too"
"Um, Bonnie's mom bailed on her" Caroline admits, Daphne lets out a breath. "Again. So, I think we should leave her out of this one"
"What are we doing here?" Matt asks. Damon motions to Daphne.
"Daph found some more white oak" They all turn a look at Damon, surprised. "Long story, wait for the movie" He offers.
"Hang on. White oak? You have a weapon that can kill Klaus?"
"Nope. We all have a weapon" Stefan throws down a duffel bag with white oak stakes in it. Daphne lets out a breath.
"I'm the best," She tells them and shrugs with a smirk.
"Yeah, Daph, you are" Elena agrees.
"Klaus has always been one step ahead of us, but now we have the advantage" Stefan points out. "We're all armed and they are all linked, meaning we only need to kill one of them. We need to seize the best opportunity, which means we need to prepare for every opportunity"
"Scenario number one" Damon grabs Elena and moves her over to the centre of the group. "You get to play Klaus"
"Okay," Elena agrees.
"Rebekah is our target so we distract her and catch her off guard" Stefan continues. "To do that we need to keep Klaus separate and occupied" Stefan looks at Caroline. "Caroline"
"Why do I always have to be Klaus bait?"
"Because he's obsessed with you" Damon walks over to Caroline. "But for right now we need you to play Rebekah. We use the quarterback to distract her. Just keep her talking"
"How?" Matt asks.
"Act interested. She's lonely, desperate" Damon answers with a shrug.
"Clearly. She tried to sleep with you" Daphne teases, Damon turns a look on her, a sly smirk.
"You did sleep with me" He argues.
"I was desperate" She counters. He pulls a face at her, scolding, but not seriously, she winks back. Elena suppresses a grin listening to the two of them bicker like that. Damon's different around Daphne. Not as scrunched up or angry at the world. He's fighting harder, not out of pettiness or just a want to kill, he's fighting for her. To prove himself to her. To protect her. To protect the people that she cares for. Damon turns to the others.
"So Beefcake holds Bombshell. I come up from behind her" Damon gets behind Caroline, grabs her arms, and put them behind her back. "Grab her arms like this"
"Ow!" Caroline complains, though there is no real pain in it. Stefan comes up with the stake in his hand, imitating stabbing Caroline.
"Gives me time for one shot" Damon lets go of Caroline. "Got it?" Stefan asks.
"Why are we doing this without the use of Daphne's magic?" Caroline asks. Daphne turns to Damon and raises an eyebrow, silently asking the exact same thing. She can easily stun one of the Originals so that one of the others can get in and jam that stake in. Damon lets out a breath and looks back at Daphne. The two of them share a look. She knows why he's not using her. Sage's warning shook him. Daphne's explanation of the fate of the Phoenix's shook him. He's worried about Klaus using her curse. He's worried about him hurting her. Despite the fact that nothing else has changed. Daphne is still a very capable young witch. She still has magic. Still has her spells at her disposal. She is still perfectly capable of dealing damage to the hybrid nightmare.
"Because..." Daphne starts and sets her hands on her hips with a sigh. "Because I'm cursed" Daphne admits and shrugs. "And Klaus knows about it. Damon thinks that he might use it as a way to.....stumble us"
"Daph" Elena starts, softly. She's never said anything about her being cursed.
"You're cursed?" Caroline draws out.
"It's a long story and I don't want to go through it all now" Daphne points out with a shrug. She found it hard enough to tell Damon, and she knows that it was going to come out at some point. She had wanted to wait for Jeremy, but with Klaus, Kol, and Sage all knowing about it, it would only be a matter of time before one of her friends found out, and likely from the wrong source. It had to come from her. Elena looks at Daphne sadly, knowing that her sister never said anything about a curse, and that she knows Daphne well enough that she did it to save Elena and Jeremy from the truth of it, to protect them from the pain that might come of it. Damon touches Daphne's arm and she looks at him. She shrugs a little. It had to come out.
"So we all have one stake, we keep it hidden and we look out for any opportunity we have" Stefan continues his plan talk, sliding over Daphne because it is clear that she does not want to talk about it. Damon nods in agreement.
"No last-minute attacks of pity for any of them" Damon looks at Elena who shakes her head.
"Don't worry about me. Daph made her point"
"Barbie?" Damon turns to Caroline.
"Oh, I'm ready. Anything that will free Tyler from his sire bond to Klaus" Caroline assures them.
"Busboy?"
"Do I have a choice?" Matt asks.
"Good point" Damon agrees, Daphne smacks his arm and turns to Matt.
"We're not going to make you get involved, Matt" She assures him. "Walk away, we'll say nothing more about it...." Matt lets out a breath and looks around those gathered. Caroline has a point about Tyler. And the town would be better off without the Originals infesting it. He nods at Daphne, letting her know that he's in. Whatever is needed of him. "Okay, then we have 13 stakes, 13 shots at killing one Original" Daphne voices and then rubs her hands together. "We can do this"
"Alright, let's try another scenario" Stefan continues. "Elena grab a crossbow" Stefan hands Elena the crossbow. "Matt, you play Klaus" Daphne nods a little, they can do this. They can band together and come up with a working plan to deal with this family. To protect each other, the town, and everyone in it. This is their home. And they are ready to defend it.