Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or The Originals. The only thing I own are my OCs.

By eight o'clock in the morning, Kol felt someone shaking him awake. He opened his eyes to see Jess hovering over him, saying that it was time to get up.

"Come on. Get dressed, we need to head on out soon." She informed him.

Kol groaned and rolled over, covering himself with the sheet. Last night was the first time he was able to sleep peacefully and the last thing he wanted to do was get up.

"Oh no you don't. I said get up." Jess ordered and pulled the sheet off of Kol's body.

"Why must we leave so early!" yelled Kol.

Jess sighed, "Because I say so. Now get up!"

With a huff, Kol finally got up and headed towards the bathroom.

"There's a diner that is walking distance from here, so I'm gonna go grab some breakfast. Meet me there when you are done getting ready?" he heard Jess say through the bathroom door.

"Fine. Don't order for me." Kol demanded as he stepped into the shower.

"Big baby." Jess muttered and exited the room.

After getting dressed, Kol made his way over to the diner. As he entered the place he spotted Jess sitting at the counter and sat in the seat next to her. They didn't talk, just opted to look at the menu, which left Kol confused.

"What in God's name are biscuits and gravy?" asked Kol

"It's really good. You should try it and find out if you like it."

"I think I'll pass. Nothing looks good." Kol complained and closed the menu.

"Kol, you have to eat food. You can't nitpick every little thing when you never even tried it to begin with. Hey listen to me, I know how it feels to have everything ripped from you and start all over. Okay, maybe not in the way you experienced, but I know that…"

"Are you trying to give me a pep talk?" Kol interrupted showing clear signs of annoyance, "Because that is the last thing I want."

Jess was flabbergasted with the way Kol talked to her after all she has done for him. "Why are you always so Goddamn rude to me? In case you have forgotten I was the only person who stuck by you during your 'coming back to life' process, okay. Jane and Celine vanished when the veil was brought back up, Sophie decided to not participate as she is always looking out for herself, and your siblings didn't seem to see any reason to want to come back to Mystic Falls to see if Jane's plan would actually work." Revealed Jess who was clearly upset, while Kol stared straight ahead not wanting to look at the girl sitting next to him as he didn't know what to say to her. Part of him knew that he should be grateful towards the werewolf, as she had done a lot for him in the past two weeks. Kol looked over at Jess to see her staring back at him. For the first time Kol really looked at her. He noticed that she had gray eyes, a big contrast to his dark brown eyes. Her hair coloring was a few shades darker than his and her skin tone had a slight olive complexion, which was vastly different to his still pale features. To be honest, Kol would dare say that he found Jess to be quite attractive. 'For a werewolf that is' he told himself.

"You should be nice to me since I am here to save your worthless life." Kol remembers her saying those words to him when they first met.

"So what should we have for breakfast, Jessica?" It wasn't an apology, as Kol Mikaelson was never one to apologize; however, to Jess, she knew it was the closes one she would get out of him. Plus, he finally called her by her name. That was an improvement.

"No one ever calls me Jessica, except for my Mother. But for you, I'll make an exception. As for what you should get, then pancakes are always good option." She recommended giving him a smile for which he returned with his infamous smirk.

When the waitress came and took their order, the companions sat in silence while Jess looked through her phone and Kol sipped his coffee. He looked around at the other humans in the diner. It wasn't too long ago that he'd consider these mere humans as prey. Kol may not have been a vampire, but he was still a supernatural being. Could he harm humans like he used to? Could he still find the thrill and excitement of taking an innocent life?

"Am I going start feeling guilt for my past sins?" Kol asked quietly that was barely above a whisper.

"Hmm?" replied Jess looking away from her phone. She wasn't pay attention to what Kol had said.

Shaking his head Kol responded with, "Nothing. Never mind."

"How do you think this whole family reunion is going to play out?" Pried Jess. She knew she was being nosy, but wanted to know what Kol was thinking about seeing his family again.

"It shouldn't be different from all the other times we were reunited throughout the centuries; cold and distant. My family is not all that fond of showing affection."

"I can relate." He managed to hear Jess say under her breath, then added "If it makes you feel any better, from what Sophie has shared with me, your family appears to be happy to have you back."

"Too much has happened for me to believe that." Kol replied honestly.

"I say, give 'em a chance to prove themselves before you write them off. Families can disappoint you at times, but they can also surprise you."

The waitress returned with their food and Jess watched as Kol took his first bite waiting to see if he approved.

"Do you like 'em?" she asked with a big smile on her face.

"Sweetheart, I have had pancakes before, so this isn't entirely new for me. In fact I have eaten human food and I have enjoyed it."

"Yeah, but you're obviously a snob when it comes to food. I can tell you're a picky eater."

"Hush up and eat Jessica." Said Kol to which Jess giggled and started to eat her food as well.

Five hours and forty-one minutes it would take them to get from Memphis to New Orleans. Five hours and forty-one minutes for Kol to go over what he would say to Elijah, Klaus, and Rebekah. Five hours and forty-one minutes to create scenarios of how the event would play out.

Now here Kol was, sitting in Jess' parked car right outside The Originals home in New Orleans. It wasn't the home they shared back in the 19th century, since that residence was located in the French Quarter. This house before him was settled on an old plantation, once occupied by a former governor when the family first arrived to the state of Louisiana by boat.

"Do you want me to drop you off closer to the house?" asked Jess.

"No. I'll walk from here." Suggested Kol as he looked at the house. He opened the car door and stepped out. He proceeded to walk up the drive way when he heard Jess call out his name.

"What?"

"Wait a sec." she said and got out of the car also to jog up to him. "If you ever need anything, here's my number. You can call if you need help with anything or need someone to complain about your family to. I'll tell Sophie you're here. She'll be excited to meet you. I told that her that you'll probably want to take some time to get reacquainted with your family before she starts helping you with all the witchy-magic stuff."

"Okay."

"Alright, well, take care. See ya around."

Jess made her way back over to her car, but before she got in she managed to hear Kol whisper "Thank you." She gave him one last smile for encouragement and he turned to continue his way up the drive way. Jess watched as Kol made his way to the front door. She saw him knock and waited for the door to open which revealed an older gentleman on the other side. It wasn't until Jess saw Kol be embraced in a hug by the man that she decided to finally drive off and head to her own home.

"Kol." Was all Elijah could say when he opened the front door and saw his former deceased younger brother standing in front of him. Before Kol could utter a word, Elijah engulfed him in a tight hug. 'Well this is unexpected.' Thought Kol as Elijah was never one to show affection very often.

"Niklaus! Rebekah! He's here!" yelled Elijah as he put his arm around Kol and walked him into the house and towards one of the sitting room areas. The other remaining two Originals ran and stopped once they saw Kol. Kol had a smirk plastered on his face and had to suppress the urge to laugh at how both Klaus and Rebekah's eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of their sockets when they saw him.

"Kol." Breathed Rebekah as tears started to form from her eyes. 'Great more waterworks. It wasn't too long ago that she told me to get lost.'

Klaus just stood there in front of him like a statue. "What? No hugs?" teased Kol as he walked over to Rebekah and Klaus.

His little sister took the chance to hug him and he obliged by hugging her back. "Oh my God! You really are here. How is this possible? Is it true that you are now a human?" Rebekah had so many questions, and Kol really wasn't in the mood to answer them.

"Does it matter?" he asked and moved towards Klaus. The hybrid and the warlock looked each other right in eyes. For the first time in their existence they weren't sizing each other up or being hostile towards one another.

"I'm sorry." Klaus uttered ever so quietly, then added "I had no idea. Please believe…"

"Don't!" Kol interrupted causing everyone in the room to go tense.

Kol looked from Elijah, to Klaus, and finally to Rebekah. Each had a sad and pathetic look on their faces. Taking a seat on the sofa of the sitting room, Kol knew right then and there that this was the moment that would decide what his family would be to him.

"I don't want to hear any apologies from any of you, because I will tell you that they won't mean anything. I saw and heard what took place after my death. Elijah, you showed more concern for the Gilbert boy's death than for my own. Why? You should more compassion to that doppelganger bitch. Were you aware that it was Elena Gilbert who orchestrated my demise? You know, I saw Rebekah becomes fast friends with the wench after what happened to me and Nik didn't exactly follow up with his revenge threat, but none of that bothered me. At least not as much as I thought it would. I know I was never part of your little pact that was made all those centuries ago. But I thought being family meant something." Said Kol looking up to see his three siblings stare back at him intently. For the first time in his life, Kol had their attention. Their full attention, and he was going to use it to be heard.

"Kol." Elijah spoke up softly and went on to say, "I know nothing either one of says or do will ever make up for what happened to you."

Kol knew the eldest Mikaelson was going to say how sorry he was, but Kol stopped him before he could utter another word.

"I want us to start over. Let's put all this bad blood behind us and be a real family. That's what I want, more than anything." Kol stated.

"Is that what you really want?" questioned Klaus. Kol could sense an accusatory tone in his voice. Like an 'I-don't-believe-that-you're-going-to-let-us-off-the-hook-so-easily' kind of tone.

"Yes." Answered Kol as he looked from sibling to sibling and could see a small glimmer of hope in their eyes. 'Hope is the most dangerous form of weapon anyone can have. All it takes is a spark.' Kol thought to himself.

All it took was is five hours and forty-one minutes for Kol to come up with a perfect plan to punish his siblings.

A/N: Happy New Year's Eve or Happy New Year, depending on what time zone you're in. I hope this chapter is a joy to read. Please leave a review. I would like to get some feedback on what you think of this story, how the characters are coming across, and if the plot is interesting. Constructive criticism is appreciated. I always want to get better at writing.

FYI: In case you couldn't tell, Kol was lying to his siblings about being okay with their behavior towards his death. Do you like the relationship Jess and Kol have so far?