1
Twenty five year old Katherine Pierce tugged back a brown curl behind her diamond studded ear as she glance at herself in the hall mirror that was located near the staircase of the small townhouse, her grandmother Eloise Pierce had given to her when she graduated from college. It was squeezed between two other small townhouses, near 56th and 57th street on the Upper West Side.
Even though she had been living in the town house for three years now, at times it still felt like living at a hotel, Katherine was grateful that it wasn't any bigger. It had a small kitchen, a living room, a personal office, and two bedrooms. She lived alone with only a small kitty named, Marie for company.
Katherine was the fashion editor, at Ruby Red magazine that specialized in advice columns, celebrity gossip, and beauty tricks but its main subject were the latest fashion and trends, something that Katherine had been an expert in ever since she had been allowed to pick her own clothes when she was seven. Even the editor in chief, Rebekah Mikaelson had been impressed with the fact that Katherine had managed an editorial position at such a young age, but like Rebekah had pointed out Katherine was tough, fearless, and didn't take no for an answer, just what the magazine industry needed.
Her grandmother, Eloise had been disappointed which her choice of career, but Katherine hadn't listen. She loved her grandmother, but the two of them often bumped heads especially since they were both equally stubborn.
It didn't help that Eloise had very few family members left. Katherine's parents had died when she was fifteen in a car accident and her twin sister, Elena had committed suicide the year before leaving Eloise with her least favorite granddaughter and taking care of her great granddaughter and Katherine's niece Emma. Emma was Elena's daughter and she was only seven years old and under Eloise's care since Katherine worked too much and she wasn't ready for a child. But Emma seemed happy and Katherine spend as much time together with her as she could.
Katherine checked her reflection in the mirror once again making sure that her glossy curls were made in a perfect up do. Her eyelashes were dark with mascara and her lips were painted a deep red. She was wearing a short, black dress that had gotten her many free drinks in several occasion over a black coat.
She checked her phone. 8:47P.M. she was supposed to meet the pop star Sophie Deveraux for drinks at nine at a nearby hotel and longue to discuss the clothes she would be wearing for next week's photo-shoot.
She grabbed her phone and began walking down the stairs at the same time while checking her email. She felt her foot wobble in her high heels and before she could even blink she felt herself tumbling down to the floor.
She let out a cry of pain when she finally reached downstairs. "Shit! Shit!" she whimpered. Her legs felt fine, but her shoulder and left arm were throbbing. Crap, she must have dislocated it, or worse broken it. She managed to call her friend, Caroline Forbes despite the pain.
"Hello?" Caroline chirpily answer at the other end. Katherine wondered how she stayed so chirper, especially when she worked all day with noisy little kids as a preschool teacher.
"Caroline, I need you to come to my house now." Damn it, the pain was really starting to become worse.
"Huh? What's wrong? I thought you were meeting Sophie."
"I'll explain later," she tried not to snap. "Just come."
"Did you call Sophie to reschedule and apologize?"
"Yes."
"Did you lock the doors of my house?"
"Yes."
"Did you close the windows, otherwise Marie gets out and starts mewing at three in the morning so that I can let her in."
"For God's sakes, Katherine yes I did everything in your little to do list that you have in your head," Caroline informed her friend as she helped guide her way through the emergency room at St. Joseph's hospital half an hour later. "Now can you please focus of your arm and shoulder? Does it hurt?"
"Of course it hurts!" she cried out. "I fell down the stairs."
Caroline rolled her blue eyes. "It's your own fault, I told you, and you need to stop wearing such high heels."
Katherine lifted her chin. "Not going to happen."
Caroline sighed as she murmured. "You're so stubborn." She smiled at the nurse behind the desk. "Hi, I'm Caroline my friend here had a little accident we think she might have a dislocated shoulder-"
"Fill out these forms." The nurse interrupted her impatiently. "A doctor will be with you soon."
Katherine gritted her teeth as she slammed her right hand on the desk. "Listen, lady you're not getting it I just fell down the stairs and my arm feels like it's going to fall off."
Caroline chuckled nervously as she pulled Katherine away. "Forgive my friend, she's just a little agitated. Come on Katherine, I'll help you fill out your forms."
"What's taking them so long?" Katherine said impatiently. After they had filled out the forms they had instructed her to wait in a small waiting room for the doctor after they had done the x-rays. Normally non family members weren't allowed, but Katherine had bullied them into letting Caroline in. She would rather have her than Eloise who would probably be scolding her all night for being stupid enough to fall on her own two feet.
"I'm sure it won't be long now," Caroline glance at the clock, it was after ten. She had to get up early for preschool tomorrow or perhaps she could call in sick if Katherine needed help getting around. But God, who was she kidding even though she and Katherine had been best friends since kindergarten the woman barely asked for help unless it was a life and death situation, she would probably insist on going to work tomorrow like today never happened. "Are the pain killers working?"
Katherine bit her lip nervously. "I'm sorry Care. I'm acting like a brat aren't I?"
Before she could respond a handsome, dark hair doctor in his early thirties enter the room. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Miss Pierce. I'm Dr. Elijah Mikaelson."
"About time." Katherine huffed impatiently. "Not to be rude, but can you hurry it up a bit, doc I'm kind of low on time here. I had to wait in the waiting room for almost an hour because the nurses were too busy cooing over the top ten celebrity weddings. So excuse me, if I have a bit of a temper."
"Katherine," Caroline scolded.
Elijah chuckled as he checked her chart. "Straight to the point. I like it," he glance at Caroline. "And you are Miss Pierce's sister?"
"No friend," she corrected.
Elijah nodded as he turned back to Katherine. "You have a dislocated shoulder, that we can take care off easily and a broken wrist. We will have to put it in a cast to help heal it and for the swelling to go down. If you don't mind my asking how did the accident occur?"
Katherine flushed bright red and murmured. "I fell down the stairs."
Elijah looked like her wanted to burst out laughing, but he hid it with a cough. "Well, how about we take care of that dislocated shoulder right now?" he walked towards her and gently placed both hands on either side of her shoulder. "I'm going to put it back into place, it's going to hurt I'm afraid."
Before Katherine could react she heard a snap and Katherine let out a low whine.
"You can cry." Elijah told her as if she were being stupid for trying to keep the tears in.
"I'm not crying!" she snapped back. The only person she had cried in front of was Caroline and there was no way she was going to cry in front of people she didn't even knew.
Elijah inspected her wrist which was swollen and purple. "You're going to be wearing a cast up to your elbow for a few weeks-"
"Excuse me, what?" Katherine interrupted hotly. "A cast? I can't wear a cast, I'm a fashion editor I need both of my hands! Can't you just give me pills or inject me with something, because I'm certainly not wearing a stupid cast."
An amused smile spread on Elijah's lips. "I'm sorry, you can't?"
"Katherine, be reasonable."
Katherine ignored her. "Look everyone has a price, what will be yours? I give you a couple of Benjamin Franklin's you sign me off and we both go back to our lovely lives."
Elijah finally lost the amusement, instead he looked angry. "Are you trying to bribe me, Miss Pierce?"
"No," she said sweetly. "I just want to get out of here and is sure as hell not going to be wearing a stupid cast."
Elijah's mouth tightened. "I think it is better that we keep you overnight, Miss Pierce you seem agitated . . . a little rest will do you good."
"I have a cat to look after!" she snapped.
"Kat, I'll take care of Marie," Caroline insisted. "If the doctor thinks you need to stay overnight. Then you should."
"You friend is right, Miss Pierce," Elijah couldn't help but say in a mocking tone.
Katherine's face was red with fury. "Fuck you, Dr. Mikaelson!"
Caroline blushed.
Elijah, however didn't even blink. "A nurse will be with you shortly, please try not to let out your anger on her, Miss Pierce."
Elijah exited the room and nodded hello to his coworker, Nurse Davina Claire. "Rough patient? Quite a yeller."
"I've never meet a young woman so stubborn and headstrong," Elijah chuckled. "Can you believe it that she told me to go fuck myself."
Davina's eyes widened. "What did you do?"
"I'm keeping her overnight," he admitted. "She seems to be one of those independent workaholics, I think she might have preferred having an arm amputated."
Davina chuckled. "You're an evil, evil man Elijah."
-End of Chapter One-
