Rebekah's POV

In all the time Caroline and Klaus had been together, she and her brother's love had never been very good friends. They'd been what Rebekah considered acquaintances for the longest time, and she could even remember a few pleasant moments where they'd bonded.

And now, in her time of need, Caroline was taking her shopping.

"It might sound stupid to say this," Caroline said as they browsed the shops placed here and there along the winding steps of Santorini, "But I kind of understand how you feel." Rebekah stopped in the middle of the street and stared at the perky blonde in front of her, almost ready to tear off her head.

"And what makes you think you understand how I feel Caroline?" She said, gliding ahead of the girl and not bothering to wait while she caught up. But catch up she did, with a few quick strides she was at Rebekah's side again, arguing her point.

"Look Stefan might not be my brother by blood, neither is Damon, but I consider them family. I would do anything for those two, and it was torture watching Elena shuffle between them for years." She chuckled slightly, "In fact I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little happy when Elena moved on to Elijah. Those three were toxic together."

"Good to know my brother's emotional anguish makes you happy Caroline." Rebekah said flippantly as she browsed through a rack of dresses. "I'm trying this on." She announced, disappearing into the store. She hid away in a changing room and thought she'd managed to find a moment's peace when she heard her voice on the other side of the door.

"That's not what I meant and you know it." She said. Rebekah rolled her eyes and emerged from the dressing room.

"I don't know what you meant. All I know is I had three brothers, three good and true ones, and we were supposed live together and be a family, and it was all I wanted for years. And now, things are getting in the way of all that." She crossed her arms and glared at Caroline. But after years of dealing with the feisty female Original, she wasn't having any of it.

"Yeah well you don't always get what you want." She said as Rebekah grabbed another dress and retreated into the changing room again.

"I think I have a couple hundred years of disappointing experiences on you, Caroline." She said.

"I'm not denying you your issues, god knows you have enough of them," Rebekah couldn't help but laugh at the jape. The girl was clever, she'd admit that. "I'm just saying that no one gets everything they want, the thing to do is adapt. I mean, I didn't want to be a vampire, not in a million years. But now that I have a million years, I'm going to waste them complaining about something I can't control."

"That doesn't sound like adaptation," Rebekah said, stepping out of the stall, "That sounds like defeat." Caroline shook her head,

"It's not defeat, I've found things that make me happy." She said with a smile.

"Like my brother?" Rebekah asked, scrunching her nose in mock disgust.

"Yeah," Caroline said, "He makes me happy, he makes me realize all the things I would've never known if I wasn't what I am. That helps make it bearable, you know?" When Caroline's eyes met hers Rebekah broke away and feigned interest.

"Whatever." She replied, grabbing a few more dresses and retreating again.

"Haven't you ever had anything like that?" Caroline asked carefully.

"Perhaps once or twice." Rebekah said.

"Well what happened?" She asked.

"Time only stands still for some of us Caroline." She answered.

"Not for you, and not for others if you turn them." She said, "If they want to be turned."

"Sometimes they did, most times they did in fact, they wanted it. They begged and pleaded, and there were some I wanted to turn as well."

"Then why didn't you?" Caroline asked. Rebekah had to smile, the girl could fake interest her really well. She had a true smile and she got this glint in her eyes like she was actually giving a fuck about the words you were saying.

"We moved on, and they couldn't come with us." She said. She paused for a minute, then a look of recognition hit her face.

"Klaus wouldn't let them." Caroline said. Rebekah couldn't turn and look her in the eye, too much anger, too much embarrassment, too much truth were welling up, just waiting to break free.

"Love is a vampire's greatest weakness." She said succinctly, rifling through a selection of scarves. "Bunch of hypocrites." She muttered under her breath.

"The truth of it is," Rebekah said, hesitating for a moment before letting it all spill out, "The truth of it is that you and Klaus work very well together, and, despite my best attempts over the years, I can't seem to find it in myself to completely abhor you."

"Well thanks." She said, slowly.

"And besides now I've got bloody Elena to stack up next to you, and given the choice between you two, I'd pick you to have stick around any day."

"Why do you hate her so much?" Caroline asked. Rebekah sighed, stared the girl straight in the face and answered.

"I don't like anyone who tries to steal the ones I love away from me, you included. But at least you love him. Elena, she does this with men, all of them, she got both Stefan and Damon Salvatore to chase after her. My dear brother Elijah seems to have developed some kind of savior complex with her, like she's some kind of wounded deer and Klaus spent years chasing after her. Even if it was only for her blood it still pissed me off. Years of my life, have been spent waiting for men to stop waiting around for that girl, and now it seems even more years will be wasted on it as well. She has an eternity of tearing the people I'm around away from me and what's worse yet is that she puts on that doe-eyed Bambi face and gets away with it all because Elena Gilbert, the last Petrova doppelganger, and she can."

"She's not so bad." Was all Caroline could manage. Rebekah rolled her unimpressed eyes and continued browsing, "She's a lot like you actually."

"And how do you figure that?" Rebekah asked

"She's loyal. She fights for the people she loves and she does everything in her power not to let them go. And she is a fighter,not some wide eyed cartoon deer. Sure you're more feisty, but she's more empathetic, those two thing may be polar opposites at times but either way, you two get what you want and nothing stops you. You put your family before everybody else, yourselves included, no matter how ridiculous the situation. She had Damon compel her own brother so he wouldn't have to deal with all her Mystic Falls vampire bullshit. And you, ha, you followed your brother for years trying to help him break his stupid curse. You two are both bat shit crazy, in my incredibly humble opinion. And I think you're both great people. And startlingly similar, why else would you hate each other, so much?" Caroline said, walking away. She turned back for a moment, smiled for a moment and pointed at the dress in her hands. "That one looks great on you. You should get it."

Later that night, Rebekah was reading by the fire, waiting for the inevitable moment when her brother would appear in the doorway and ask her about her shopping day with his girl. And five minutes after she'd settled into a comfortable seat with a worn out copy of a book she'd read too many times, her brother was looming over the couch waiting for her to look up and feign surprise. Instead she just flipped the page,

"What do you want Nik?" She asked.

"How was your day with Caroline?" he asked.

"Just fine." She said.

"Can you elaborate on that?" he asked.

"I bought a very lovely dress." she said, annoying him to no end.

"Bekah." Klaus said between his teeth.

"Caroline said it looked nice on me."

"Rebekah." He warned again.

"I know what you're doing Nik," He shot her a look of confusion. "There was a time, quite a long time ago, but not when you're measuring by our standards, when you weren't there for me, and Elijah was, and now that he's with her you see it as a chance to get one up on him." For a while there was silence,
"Am I wrong?"

"Rebekah..." Klaus said, her eyes went wide when she registered the look on his face. It almost looked like guilt.

"She's a great girl, I'm not sure why you deserve her but she certainly likes you a lot. And I like the guy she talks about, the guy she sees. Of course I understand why she gets to see that side of you and I don't, I'm not completely delusional. But the side I see of you is one I haven't liked for quite some time now, and that's why I was staying with Elijah for so long. Now he's with her and I can't stand it and I've switched back over to staying with you. So it's all rather fucked up really."

Klaus sat down in the chair next to hers and placed his full attention on her, the light from the flames flickered against both their faces.

"Caroline says you all take me for granted, that you don't appreciate all the little things I've done for you, but she also says you're different now and I should give you a chance."

"That was kind of her," He said, and she can't tell if it's genuine or sarcasm.

"Yes it was. She was very kind today, and I believe that is just who she is, there wasn't any prompting from you, or any begrudging politeness, she actually wanted to spend the day listening to me talk about my irrational hatred of a girl half a world away."

"She does that," Klaus said, "She cares, it's a strange practice, one I've never really grown accustomed to, but it looks good on her doesn't it?" He smiled to himself, then shook his head and focused back on his sister. "What else did she say?"

"She told me I'm loyal and feisty and that I get what I want, and that usually involves protecting those I care about." She placed her book on the table between them and stood over her brother. "And she's right you know. For years it meant you, and Elijah and Kol, but now, I'm reevaluating things. I'm starting to consider who else I want to spend my eternity with, the family I want to build myself, and I have this to say: Don't fuck this up. Keep her close and treat her well because if I protect my own, then that now includes her." She said, noting the smirk on her brother's

"That must've been some day." He said.

"It was a very good day." She said. "It's been a while since I've had a friend, and she seems like a good place to start. So don't hurt her, okay? Because I plan on keeping her around for a long time." She warned, retreating from the room.

"I never will." He promised earnestly. She passed Caroline in the doorway and offered her a small smile before continuing down the hall.

"Never will what?"Caroline asked walking into the room. She moved to sit in the chair Rebekah had occupied moments ago when Klaus grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his lap, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Never again will I force you to spend the day with my sister." He said. Caroline laughed but shook her head,

"She's not so bad." She said before planting a quick kiss on his lips, he held her there for a moment, loving the warmth of the fire that had spread over her lips. Caroline pulled away with a small smile on her face. "We may even be friends." She said, getting up and pulling Klaus with her.

"You and I?" He asked, dazed and confused by the kiss.

"No, Bekah and I." She said, Klaus dropped her hand and she turned to look at him.

"I don't know whether to be slightly happy or incredibly terrified." He said, making Caroline chuckle. She walked up to him and held her face in his hands,

"Be afraid, be very afraid." She said with a wink, then she placed a quick kiss on his lips and walked out of the room. He fell quickly into step behind her.