Disclaimer: Not mine as much as I wish. A/N: I was thinking of another one-shot to adapt & realized Burlesque would be epic because of all the relationships! So here's my take on it x

Show Me How to Burlesque

1.

Caroline Forbes had moved to Chicago from the small town of Mystic Falls, to follow her dreams. She carried the bare minimums; cash, from years of waitressing and a photograph of her mother, Liz, who died when she was seven. After auditioning for all the acting, dancing or singing jobs in the Chicago Times, she had almost given up on her dream, until she crossed the main street and ended up in an alley looking like something from Moulin Rouge.

A woman with short brown hair, leaned against the fire escape, fixing her suspenders, smiling at Caroline's awed expression. "Bonnie, you're on!" somebody called from inside. Caroline found the entrance to the club, passing a bouncer and descending blue-carpeted stairs to a smaller room. She paid for a ticket and looked around the vintage-styled club; round tables scattered in front of a stage with performers - all women, under the age of thirty, with red lipstick and blushing cheeks, like dolls, seducing a mostly male audience. Caroline found the bar and looked at the stage, mesmerised by the lead singer who wore a black pants-suit with a diamante collar.

The lead singer smiled and waved her hand around the room. "Everything you dream of, but can never posses, nothing is what it seems...welcome to... Burlesque!" Caroline smiled, sitting down at the bar, and watched the bartenders do their thing, until one caught her eye and came over.

He had been shaking marguerites and poured one into a glass for her, popping a blue umbrella in a slice of lemon, and pushing it across the bar to her. "Where you from?" he grinned. She took the bait, he seemed friendly. "Mystic Falls," she said, swirling the ice with her straw. "No way! I grew up there, well, before my parents' divorce. Me, my brother and my mum moved up here when I was ten. Weird, we could have been neighbours." He adjusted his bowler hat, eyes sealed with eyeliner. Caroline smiled, taking a sip of her drink and thinking, why did all the decent guys have to be gay.

"Caroline," she introduced herself. "Who does a girl need to flirt with, to get on stage?" she asked.

"Stefan," he grinned, shaking her hand. "You need to talk to the club owner, Hayley Marshall, you'll find her backstage. Tell her I sent you." His smile was infectious. She reluctantly tore her eyes away determined to fight her way onto that stage. The audience cheered after the band ended another number and some members began chanting one of the girls' names: "Katerina! Katerina!"

Caroline squeezed herself through the tables, avoiding waitresses and trays and followed some dances backstage. She walked passed roadies speaking into walky-talkies, heard the excited chatter of girls in the dressing room and found the lead singer and owner, Hayley Marshall, talking to a man near a costume rack. Caroline liked her style: she was classy, refined and clearly a business woman. All that, made her more intimidating, yet this was Caroline's shot at finding a job.

"Hi, are you Hayley? I'm friends with Stefan, and I'm looking for a job," Caroline called out to Hayley.

"Katherine's late again!" The designer sighed, passing costumes to the girls leaving the stage. Hayley rifled through the coat hangers, without even looking at Caroline "Put your number down for auditions..." Three conversations were going on at the same time. Caroline stepped aside at the bequest of a girl with sunglasses and Gucci boots, who Caroline presumed was Katherine.

The dancer wiggled her nails, which had just been manicured. "Nails, took longer than I thought," she eyed Caroline. "Didn't your mama tell you it's impolite to stare?" She had sat down at her dressing table, applying more lip-gloss, and put down her sunglasses on the dresser. The girl she'd seen outside the club, Bonnie, picked up Katherine's eye pencil giving Caroline a smile. "Don't touch my stuff!" Katherine hissed pulling her make-up bag closer to her chest.

Caroline tried to get her point across - she was desperate for a job because she had to pay her rent. Hayley turned to her designer with a resigned look, and he escorted Caroline back to the front. Storming over to Stefan, Caroline picked up a tray of drinks. "What are you doing?" he asked leaning against the bar. "You don't have to pay me," Caroline said. "I just really need a job," she sighed.

Stefan smirked, narrowing his eyes. "You realize you just put me into the middle of this? Lucky, I needed another waitress, April just gave me notice, so I'll vouch for you, just don't disappoint me, ok?" His eyes locked on hers, and Caroline nodded. Watching Katherine miming the words to the classic: 'Diamonds are a girl's best friend' while Bonnie blew a kiss into the crowd and another girl who, Caroline thought might be Katherine's twin, fluttered her eyelashes at a college boy in the front row.

Stefan noticed her staring and leaned his elbow against the bar, resting his head against his hand. "That's Elena, and yeah, they're cousins." Stefan saw Hayley marching towards Caroline, and he told her to deliver some drinks while he spoke to his boss. Caroline overheard his speech. "She's our new waitress - she just picked up a tray and started working..." Stefan explained.

Hayley narrowed her eyes. "Caroline! Come here, please!" Surprisingly, the first thing Hayley did was fiddle with Caroline's t-shirt. "This is cute, push up those boobs...and don't ever go behind my back again!" Hayley smiled, shaking her head. Caroline smiled, relieved. "Yes ma'am," she caught Stefan's wink and smiled. Hayley grimaced. "And don't ever call me ma'am!"

"Yes sir, I mean..." Caroline left before she could embarrass herself further, her hands shook, but she was relieved and finally had a way to pay her bills. She hadn't given up on her dreams to be on stage either, she would study the routines and do her best to convince Hayley in the next auditions that she was worthy of being up there with Katherine, Elena and Bonnie, she promised herself.

"Hey!" It was a few weeks later, Caroline turned around to get an order, when she raised her eyebrow, putting one hand on her hip. The cocky gentleman ordered a round of drinks for his guests.

"And you are?" she asked. The gentleman smirked, giving her his MasterCard. "A member since 1994," came his smooth reply. "What's your name?" she narrowed her eyes, aware of how he'd just checked her out. She took his card, and didn't answer straight away.

"Caroline," she called over her shoulder. She waited for Stefan to prepare the drinks. "Who's that guy?" she asked him, wiping her hands on her apron. Stefan frowned. "Real-estate guy? That's Klaus Mikaelson, he's a regular." Caroline guessed by his grimace, Stefan, wasn't a huge fan. Klaus gave her a wink when she returned with his drinks and card. At the end of her shift, Caroline brought the dancers their drinks, stopping first at Hayley's office and pausing at the door which was ajar.

She heard raised voices. "Where's the partnership, you said there would be a partnership?" Hayley stood by her office window, frowning at a man with dark hair who poured over paperwork at her desk. Klaus looked at photographs of the Burlesque dances, while Hayley looked annoyed by his presence. "Not that I give a shit, but why is it you want my club so bad?" she demanded.

Klaus finally turned around. "I like it. We play this thing right and we all come out winners!"

Hayley rounded on the man nearby. "Did you also tell him I have a tattoo on my ass, Jackson?"

Klaus seemed vaguely interested. Hayley rolled her eyes, glaring out the window. Caroline gathered the club was in trouble. "Jack, I asked you to help me with my finances... selling my club to this bastard was not the deal." Klaus tried to convince her of the benefits to his offer, and Jackson gave his two cents. "Take it, doesn't come around much." Hayley shook her head. "NO!" Jackson shifted in his chair. "She means not now.." he said, sweating. Klaus raised his eyebrow. Hayley turned around, a look of madness in her eyes. "NO MEANS NO, Jack! The Club is NOT for Sale."

"We'll see..." Klaus said, giving Jackson a nod and leaving Hayley with that charming smile, like he'd enjoyed seeing her lose her shit. Hayley stared after him, and Caroline hurried to deliver the drinks before she ran into Klaus again.

"DRINKS LADIES!" Caroline smiled, putting them down on the dresser. Hayley arrived, and pointed to the tray. "Which one of these is Katherine's?" she asked. Caroline pointed at the two vodka shots. Hayley drank them both, and Katherine looked annoyed. She made a snide remark about Caroline.

Hayley licked her lips. "Now I've got a buzz and you've got to change." Katherine stormed off, and Caroline saw Hayley's designer fixing Bonnie's costume. Caroline chased after Hayley, having an idea that might help her with her club, and her money problems.

"Hayley, I was wondering, did you ever think about using vocals?" Caroline saw Hayley roll her eyes.

"People come here to watch my dancers dance and lip-sync to the classics," she sighed.

Caroline tried to argue the benefits of doing live performances, but Hayley didn't want to hear it. "NONONO!" Hayley covered Caroline's mouth with her hand, and shook her head. "Caroline, I appreciate your help, but please let me make the decisions when it comes to my club, now you better go and help Stefan with inventory. I'll see you tomorrow."

Hayley returned to the costumes and looked at the ones she needed to hand-sew, as Josh had requested, replacing buttons and sequins, and she thought of her club, and how she kept receiving foreclosures, and what it would mean to her dances if she did take Klaus' offer, and take the money.

She couldn't do that to them, this club was her life, even if a holiday in Hawaii, sounded pretty good right now. Josh found her staring at a leotard, and he gave her a compliment, to take her mind off it.

"You look so beautiful." He was her dearest friend, and he always knew the right thing to say.

"And you are so full of shit, Josh!" Hayley smirked, throwing the hanger at him.

Caroline opened her apartment door to find her place had been burgled, her belongings were strewn all across the carpet and her newly purchased stereo had been ripped from the walls. She checked her bag of savings she'd hidden beneath the toilet cistern, and found the plastic bag had gone. "Seriously?!" she cried, kicking her empty suitcase and looking over to her bedside table to see her mother, and her calm eyes staring back at her. Caroline picked her up, shoved some clothes into a bag and caught the bus to Stefan's house.

He pulled up on his motorcycle while she waited on the steps of his place, apologising for not calling first. "Call whoever you want, long distance or whatever..." Stefan said, putting his keys in a glass bowl on his kitchen counter. Caroline's blond hair had fallen from her pony-tail, and she hugged her belongings to her chest like it were a teddy bear. "I can't, I don't have anyone..." Caroline's lip trembled, and Stefan stared at her, unsure if he heard right. She confirmed it.

"So, you can't use my phone." Fresh tears fell down her cheeks, and in two strides Stefan reached her. "Please, please stop crying... here!" he picked up a glass, and poured some bourbon into it. "You can stay here," he sighed, pouring himself a glass, and giving her a small smile. She took a sip, letting the alcohol warm her nerves.

"Just one night, until I can figure out my next move," she said, sitting awkwardly on the couch near her stuff and watching Stefan walk across his apartment, taking his shirt off. He wore a white single-top and kicked his boots off, sitting down at his keyboard and playing a few notes. Caroline listened, liking the tune until he stopped abruptly. "It's not ready yet. I'll let you get some sleep," and he crossed over to his room, closing the glass doors.

"G'night!" Caroline called out to her friend, grateful to have a place to stay. She changed into an old t-shirt and pulled her blanket to her chin, curling up beneath it, and resting her blond head against a soft pillow. She had never been so exhausted in all her life. She closed her eyes, and sang Stefan's melody in her head, drifting off to sleep.

A/N: Please review! More on the way x