Continuation of I Have a Bad Case of Loving You: Tales of failed boards, broken hearts, healing wounds, love, loss, friendship, family and resilience bring us back to the New Orleans Hospital. Oh, and, don't forget the new crop of interns. Things are about to heat up in this hospital.

Hello, my lovely readers. It's finally here: the sequel-type-thing. We have a time leap, friendship, strained relationships and more. On with the show...

Chapter 1: Begin Again

Six months later:

Hayley

"We're going to be late," the man in her bed moaned.

Hayley yawned, one sore eyelid popping open to stare into the deep, red digits of her alarm clock. Oh, yeah, that's something to look forward to waking up to. "Get out," she groaned, rolling onto her back and slapping his chest with her eyes closed.

"Why don't you make me?" he teased her.

"Seriously, Ty, get out," Hayley groaned, rolling onto her side, grabbing a pillow and shoving it over her head.

Tyler began to grumble as he got up. "Hey, at least, I give a damn," he muttered under his breath.

Sitting up, Hayley glared at him. "What in the hell does that mean?" she snapped, her eyes pinning him.

Tyler buckled his belt. "It doesn't mean anything. Okay, Hales, it doesn't mean a damned thing. Let's just screw and forget about it. Go back to freakin' pining after Married Mikaelson."

"Screw you, Ty!" Hayley shouted, tossing her pillow at him.

Tyler batted the pillow away and rolled his eyes. "What-ever. See you at work," he snapped, opening her door and closing it behind him.

Falling back on her bed, Hayley stared at the ceiling, feeling anxiety killing last night's buzz. Last night had been easy, drama-free. Being with Tyler felt uncomplicated. They just hooked up. No big deal. Sex was sex. No emotional "I loves you-s," "Why isn't he calling me-s?" and "What are we-s?" This felt good. Until Tyler started getting clingy; then he killed it for her. Why couldn't he just be the douche that she'd met their first year, not her friend?

"Hayley, are you up yet?" Rebekah called and Hayley forced herself to sit up.

"I've got to get dressed!" Hayley called back.

Rebekah came in anyway, shutting the door behind her. "Did you spend the night with Tyler, again?" she demanded, arms folded over her chest.

Hayley rolled her eyes. "And that's your business: Why?" Running a hand through her messy locks, she glared at her best friend.

Snorting, Rebekah glanced at the twisted sheets. "As your closest friend, I feel it is my duty to tell you when I believe that you're acting in a self-destructive manner."

"And you aren't?" Hayley snapped.

Rebekah sneered. "I'm not the one having sex with Tyler bloody Lockwood, am I?"

"No, you're the one who was spotted making out with an intern last night. Wonder what Marcel would say," Hayley quipped.

"I have no idea since I haven't spoken to him since he left for bloody Libya." Rebekah spat out, going over to Hayley's dresser and yanking out a sweater and a pair of jeans. "We have rounds in less than an hour. Get dressed."

Hayley sighed. "Can you toss me a bra and underwear, since you're over there?"

Rebekah's lips twisted and she sighed heavily. Opening another drawer, she pulled out a sports bra and the oldest pair of Hayley's underwear she could find. "Here," she said, throwing them at Hayley.

"Really?" Hayley gave Rebekah's choices a long look.

"You told me to choose. Maybe they'll prevent you from making other, dubious choices with your lady bits," Rebekah retorted with a smirk.

Sliding out of bed, Hayley watched Rebekah's eyes dart to the ceiling before her friend left the room. "You had better move quickly," Rebekah called from the other side of the door.

Shaking her head, Hayley trudged over to the bathroom and took a quick shower. She felt her heart squeeze. Elijah would be there today. Every time she'd had to see him in the last six months; she felt like she couldn't breathe.

"I'm sorry, Hayley," Elijah had said.

"I'm sorry," Hayley said bitterly, tears pooling in her eyes.

Sucking in a shaking breath, Hayley stepped out of the shower and then she forced a brush through her hair. No time to dry her hair or give her makeup a real effort and did she really care? No.

Hayley walked back into her room and dressed before she made her exit. Josh stumbled out of his room, stuffing a foot into his shoe. "Ready?" Hayley asked him.

"Not," Aiden told her, coming out of Josh's room.

"Getting there," Josh said.

"Come on, guys!" Davina called from downstairs. She waved a coffee cup at Hayley. "Just like you like it."

"And remember when you said you didn't want a kid sister," Josh teased Hayley.

"Thanks, D," Hayley called, taking the mug and giving Josh a scathing glare.

Josh laughed it off as they hurried out the front door. "Shotgun," Josh cried.

"I thought you were driving, this time," Rebekah remarked, looking confused.

Davina pulled out a set of keys. "I'll do it."

"She has a set of your keys?" Aiden asked Josh, looking confused. "Why don't I have a set of your keys?"

"Because I'm special," Davina said with a giggle.

Rebekah groaned. "Can we just get on with it before we're late?"

Hayley had to agree. "Hey, wait up!" Tyler called, coming out, half-in, half-out of his jacket as he hurried after them.

"Faster!" Rebekah cried, climbing into the car. She locked the door behind her while Hayley slid into the passenger side, Davina got behind the wheel, Josh and Aiden climbed in on the other side, to sit beside Rebekah.

"Come on, guys!" Tyler called, tapping on Rebekah's window. "I didn't put gas in mine."

"Tough luck," Rebekah called before tapping Davina on the shoulder. "Leave him."

"Really?" Davina said, looking at Tyler. "He's my resident."

"Too bad. He's not the one who failed his boards," Rebekah spat.

Rolling her eyes, Hayley sunk further down in her seat. As if she needed that reminder. "Thanks, Bekah."

"Oh, Hayley, you'll pass them. Don't worry," Rebekah said, squeezing her shoulder.

Shrugging her friend off, Hayley continued to stare out the windshield. "We're not five. Let him in the car."

Rebekah groaned and opened the door to let Tyler into the car. "Thanks," Tyler said.

"Don't thank me. I'd leave you by the side of the road," Rebekah retorted.

Elijah

Elijah stood at the nurse's station. His mind would not rest. He felt his nerves shatter when Aurora's voice sounded in his ear. "Hello, husband," she called.

"Rory, not now," Elijah grunted, staring at the chart in front of him as his wife slipped her hand into his.

"Can we have lunch together? Like old times?" Aurora asked, slipping between him and the desk.

Taking a step back, Elijah avoided looking down into his wife's eyes. She'd been a pleasure to be with when they were in med school. Wild, beautiful and reckless. She'd taken him by his tie and yanked him into a broom closet their first day of rounds as interns. She'd been like no other woman he'd ever been with or wanted to be with.

"Eli, please," Aurora whispered, slipping her hands around his neck, like there was not a nurse sitting right there, looking right at them. "Please, Eli. I miss you. Don't you miss your wife?"

"Aurora," Elijah snapped. Losing his temper, he took her hands and removed them from his neck. "I have work to do." Dropping her hands to her sides, Elijah registered the look of pain on her face and he walked away.

"Elijah," Sage called to him. "Hey. How are you doing?" His sister-in-law fell into step with him.

"I've had better days," Elijah admitted wirily.

Sage smiled. "You can come and stay with me and Finn. We can use all the help with the twins we can get. They're a hand-full and they're not even two."

Smiling, Elijah stopped at the end of the hall, folding his arms over his chest. "I'll think about it. Thank you for the offer."

Sage patted him on the arm. "I'm off. But I hope you'll come over for dinner tonight."

"Of course," Elijah nodded, watching Sage head down the hall.

Niklaus appeared at the other end of the hall. His brother caught his eye and headed toward him. Not today, brother, Elijah thought darkly before heading off, down the opposite end of the hall.

"Elijah!" Kol cried and Elijah inhaled sharply.

"Not now, Kol," Elijah snapped, side-stepping and walking past his brother.

"Elijah!" Kol cried, sounding hurt.

"I said 'not now', Kol!" Elijah snapped, again, this time louder, attracting the attention of a group of interns. When they caught him looking, they quickly looked away, but he heard them whispering behind his back.

Elijah moved to continue down the hallway and around a corner when someone ran into him. "Oh," he said, grabbing the person when he realized it was Hayley. "Hayley," he breathed.

Hayley looked up at him, her large eyes full of distrust and anger. His heart squeezed painfully in his chest. He cursed himself every day for not being honest with her from the start. However, where should he have begun? I left my wife in England after finding out she cheated on me with those closest to me?

"Elijah," Hayley muttered. "I've got to go," she said.

"Hayley, can we talk?" Elijah said, holding onto her.

"No," Hayley shook her head. "I've got to go. I've got rounds and Caroline's got enough on her plate. My being late, shouldn't be one of them."

"How is Caroline?" Elijah asked her, attempting to stop her from leaving.

Blowing out a breath, Hayley shook her head. "I have no idea. She hasn't talked to any of us since she went to Mystic Falls." Pulling away from Elijah, Hayley walked away.

"Dr. Mikaelson!" Davina Claire called, glancing at her sister's quickly retreating back. "Umm… Dr. de Martel needs a consult."

Elijah sighed, of course she did. "Right. Thank you, Claire." Davina hurried off, leaving Elijah alone with his inner turmoil.

"Dr. Mikaelson!" Lucien Castle called with a huge grin. Lucien was swiftly becoming Elijah's least favorite intern, with his arrogance and fool-hardy style. "The other Dr. Mikaelson is looking for a consult from you." The boy acted as if he expected that Elijah would snap to attention and follow him.

Elijah glared back at Lucien. "Which Dr. Mikaelson would you be referring to since we have an abundance of my family roaming the halls?" His tone held all the contempt he felt for the young intern who seemed un-phased.

"Klaus," Lucien stated with a wide grin. "He's eager to see you."

Smiling down at Lucien, Elijah turned on his heel, walking in the opposite direction. "I'm sorry, Lucien, I have another consult."

Lucien hurried after him, his grin slipping off his face, his eyes registering panic. "Yes, well, if the other consult could wait, just for a bit, Dr. Mik— Klaus was rather keen on seeing you now." Elijah ignored Lucien and kept walking.

Yes, Elijah knew what would happen to poor Lucien when he could not deliver on his younger brother's whim. This gave Elijah a sliver of pleasure. Petty. When did he become so petty?

Opening a door, Elijah hurried up the stairs and to the fourth floor. Spotting Hayley, he moved toward her when she looked up to see him coming and grabbed Rebekah by the arm. His sister and his former girlfriend disappeared around a corner.

"Dr. Mikaelson!" Vincent Griffith, yet another new intern, caught up with him. "Just the man I was looking for. Your brother, Kol, is looking for a consult, when you're free." Mr. Griffith was one of the only new interns that Elijah could stand. The man was calm and steady. He would make an excellent addition to the neuro team.

"Thank you, Vincent. I have to do a quick consult with Dr. de Martel but I will stop by to check on Kol's case, after," he assured Vincent.

Vincent smiled and thanked him before going back to wherever he'd just come from.

Elijah forced himself to continue on down the hallway. Aurora smirked at him when he came into the room. "Hello, Eli. This is Thomas, he's got quite a headache." She glanced down at her patient who clutched his head and let out a blood-curdling scream.

"Yes, let's get him to CT and go from there," Elijah said. "In the meantime, Thomas, can you hear me?" he asked, coming to stand beside the man.

Thomas let out a loud groan, his eyes unsteady as he tried to make contact with Elijah's. "We're going to give you something for the pain and to help you calm down. How does that sound?"

Thomas' mouth quirked into the tiniest of smiles. "Th… Th… Than—"

"Thank me after I cure you," Elijah said quietly.

Thomas nodded, closing his eyes as a nurse inserted a needle into his arm, and he slowly relaxed, lying down on the bed. Elijah looked at Aurora who looked pleased with herself. She knew how to get to him and an inexplicable case like this would do that trick.

Caroline

Taking a deep breath, Caroline stepped through the doors of her old hospital. The last time she'd been here, she'd been a patient, an intern and an expectant mother. She was no longer any of these things. Everything about this place reminded her of her old life, her old self.

"Caroline!" Hayley called, jogging down the steps and moving to hug her.

Caroline patted Hayley on the back. She knew that her friend had problems of her own. All of her friends had left countless messages for her while she was staying with her mother in her hometown. "Hey," she replied with as close to a cheery smile as she could muster.

"Caroline," Josh came down with Rebekah, Jack and Tyler.

Rebekah threw her arms around Caroline, holding her tightly. "We've missed you," she cried.

If she'd only known that she just had to lose so much for her friends to show how much they cared… Caroline forced the bitter thought away. She lived. A lot of people would have died after what she'd been through. She was lucky. She should feel lucky.

"Hey, guess what?" Hayley exclaimed, taking Caroline's arm.

"What?" Caroline played along.

"I'm your intern," Hayley proclaimed with a smile.

Caroline's eyebrows rose. "I only get one?" she joked.

"No, no, of course not," Rebekah jumped in.

Jackson nodded. "Yeah. You can have one of mine. I'd say, take Lucien."

"What's wrong with him?" Caroline quipped.

Her friends laughed and for a second Caroline felt normal. Then she saw him at the top of the staircase. Klaus. "Can we get a coffee?" she asked, steering Hayley away from the stairs. She'd been avoiding Klaus since she'd left the hospital. It wasn't fair to him. She knew that. The logical part of her brain registered just how unfair to him she was being. But being near him reminded her of what they'd lost.

"Caroline!" Kol Mikaelson greeted her warmly as they approached the coffee cart.

"Kol," Caroline replied with a smile. She liked the crazy plastics god. Being around Kol would be easier than being around other people at the hospital who would act as if they had to walk on egg shells around her.

"Are you back?" Kol inquired, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Yes, I am," Caroline replied.

"Good. I need someone to fetch my dry cleaning," Kol teased her.

Caroline grinned. "Sure. I have a better idea. You let me help you today."

"Right then. And that means I get Marshall, too. How grand. I heard that she's your new intern." Kol eyed Hayley with a wide grin.

"How did you hear that?" Hayley asked, folding her arms over her chest.

"The weakest link in your chain," Kol retorted with a wink.

"Davina?" Hayley demanded.

Kol shrugged. "I did not say that…"

"You've got to be kidding me," Hayley groaned. "I'm not telling that kid anything, anymore."

"Sure," Josh muttered, loudly. Turning to Caroline, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Hey, Care, Aiden and I are planning on getting a place of our own. You're welcome to stay with us."

For a moment Caroline had no idea what Josh was trying to say to her. Whirling around on her heel, she faced Hayley who looked guilty. "Did you give my room to someone else?" she demanded.

Hayley opened her mouth at the same time that Dr. Bennett came up to them. "Dr. Forbes, I'm happy to see you've come back." Her smile made Caroline's mouth work upward into an automatic, make-people-happy-smile.

"I'm happy to be back." Caroline's words coming out of her mouth, her brain processing what people wanted from her before her emotions could catch up to spoil the effect.

Bonnie turned to Kol. "Dr. Mikaelson," she said coolly.

"Dr. Bennett. Good to see you. I must be going. Forbes, Marshall, with me," Kol called over his shoulder.

"Bye," Caroline called over her shoulder. She wanted her coffee but she also wanted to do some work. Working meant not thinking about everything that happened before. Any distraction would be good.

"Caroline," Hayley began when Caroline cut her off.

"Don't. Just don't. Not right now. Later," Caroline said as they entered an elevator and went up to the fifth floor.

"My feet are killing me," Josh moaned as they took a seat in the cafeteria. Caroline sat beside her best friend, not wanting to talk.

"You okay, Care?" Josh asked.

Caroline glanced up from her salad. "Never better," she said brightly.

Josh watched her carefully. "Nope. We're not going to do that. If you feel like crap, you can tell me; I don't mind." He smiled cheerfully and Caroline's eyes filled with tears. "Oh, okay. Let's make lunch to-go." He gathered their food onto a tray and led the way out of the cafeteria. They took the elevator down to the first floor and walked outside, taking a seat on a bench, a good twenty feet from the hospital. "Now, let it all out," Josh ordered her, sitting down and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

Caroline curled her legs under her, pressing her face into Josh's scrub top and let out loud sobs as her tears soaked his shirt. "I… I…. I…"

"I know, Care," Josh said, pressing his face into her hair and kissing her head. "It's okay. You don't have to fake it for me."

Sobbing, Caroline sat for a long time, allowing Josh to comfort her for the first time since she'd left. "I don't know if I can do this," she mumbled into his shirt.

"Hey, don't say that. You're Caroline Forbes. You're one of the superheroes around here. Just remember, we're going to change the world," Josh told her and Caroline laughed.

"If you say so," Caroline muttered, pressing her face into his chest.

Josh hugged her to him. "I do say so. And tomorrow's going to be better. Hey, did I tell you about all the hot, new interns we have…"

Perking up, Caroline glanced up at Josh with a grin. "Tell me."

"Okay. There's Lucien. He's an ass but he's got really nice abs. There's Vincent. He's got pretty eyes. There's Oliver, man, he's got really broad shoulders. And…" Caroline listened to Josh as he recounted the hotness of the new interns, and she relaxed, allowing the tension to leave her body. She needed this. She needed to come back home to her new family.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and will send me your thoughts and you will let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you for reading, faving, following and reviewing.

Peace,

Jessica