I'm sorry, so sorry. This took me forever to get out and with the holiday I got distracted. Hopefully you all like the chapter enough to forgive me. I don't know how I feel about it. It was hard for me to write.

As always, thank you for the reviews! I'm glad you all liked the last chapter so much (and I really wish I had more time to talk about Rebekah's relationship with the girls too! It just seemed to be too long to add). Enjoy the chapter!

The Wayward Future

Chapter 10: Prom

After the burning of the church took place in Mystic Falls, a new church was built closer to town and named after the founder who commissioned it, the Fell's. From the outside, the church was a simple white two-story house with a steeple. Having once been a night club called "Rad" a few years back, it was popular for the second floor indoor and outdoor balcony that looked down over the night club's dance floor and out over the town. It even had a big enough space on the stage to have dancers go up a side ramp and join the DJ for contests.

Caroline utilized this space to its fullest capabilities. She and Rebekah had set up everything over the last week, only allowing technicians to enter to help set-up the lights and the DJ's stand.

Caroline and Rebekah lifted a long midnight blue curtain to the top of a column. Rebekah was standing on her tiptoes in gold flats on the railing of the second floor to reach the top and Caroline was sitting on the rail helping her keep the curtain from creasing the wrong way. Had Rebekah been a regular girl Caroline would have never let her attempt this, but a thousand years of living had made Rebekah a lot more fearless about small heights and handy with decor. It also made her capable to wedge a nail in the carpeted ceiling without any difficulty.

"Careful, don't let the ceiling bubble up. It took forever to get it to lay flat yesterday." Caroline fretted.

"I know Caroline, I was there." Rebekah responded back and pulled herself down from the railing now that the curtain was in place. "I still say we should have paid someone to do this."

"It would have taken them all week to do just the ceiling and we only had a week. We're more than capable to set this thing up ourselves and we can do it a lot faster. We can't just throw money at the problem." Caroline chided her friend.

Elena was down on the main floor setting up the flowers on the tables. Most of the work had already been done by Rebekah and Caroline the previous day and now the whole space was covered in either dark blue, dark purple or black materials. The ceiling had to be the best feature. It was like something out of Harry Potter. It was a black carpeted material that had a thousand fiber-optic lights fixed into them to make the ceiling seem like you were really looking up at the stars. Even Rebekah had been impressed by it when she had finally gotten it in. She had been raving about finding it online for a week now and was convinced that it was the only thing tying it all together. All the side windows had been covered as well, but they were blank screens that would later be turned into orbiting planets. A giant sun sat behind two large chairs on the stage and was set to spin while its colors changed to the beat of the music playing. They'd done a test run on it earlier and the sun looked amazing, especially during slow songs.

Caroline took one glance back at the room. She was surprised that the place had gone from the boring all-white walls and wooden floors to the dark enclosure. Lights were going to make all the difference in this place.

Just as they had finally finished the place and were starting to head out, Caroline came to a dead stop and turned back.

"Oh, shoot, the fog machines," Caroline said suddenly, stopping Rebekah and Elena. The other two girls glanced at each other as if knowing what the other was thinking.

They went back to the dance floor and helped set up the machines so that they could leave quickly. In no time the three were all back out again and talking about who they were taking to the dance. Or more importantly and accurately, Rebekah and Caroline were grilling Elena on who she was taking.

"I really thought about this, because I always go to the dances with Stefan." Elena started. "I thought it would be more of a tradition to take him, but I've never taken Damon and it seemed like the fair thing to do to go with him this time."

"I fear riding in the limo with Damon will not be pleasant for anyone." Rebekah commented.

"Seriously," Caroline agreed and pulled on her sweater over her baby-doll tank top.

"Well, sorry, because I already asked him to go." Elena said looking down at the ground guiltily. "That means Stefan is going to be stuck at home all night with Katherine."

"She is still staying with them?" Caroline asked, surprised. "I thought they would have run her out of town by now."

"She seems intent on staying around now that she can." Elena grimaced and pulled a brave face. "I just have to deal with it. She is not going anywhere."

"No bueno." Caroline said and looked apologetically at Elena.

Rebekah got a text message and wasn't paying attention to anything that had been said about Katherine. Caroline tried to see who it was, but Rebekah seemed to make a point of walking slower so that her phone wouldn't be seen.

"Looks like I can't have dinner with you girls. I've got to go." Rebekah said then and started to head in the opposite direction, toward her house.

"Problems?" Elena asked, curious.

"It's just Elijah." Rebekah said nonchalantly. "I'll see you girls tomorrow for the dance."

"See you later." Caroline called and Rebekah left them.

"So, Damon, huh?" Caroline started up again.

"Don't judge me." Elena said and smiled down at her hands. "Who are you going with?"

Caroline sighed then and shrugged. "I guess I have to tell you."

Elena looked intrigued by how Caroline phrased her answer. "Do tell."

"Rebekah made me ask Elijah." Caroline said as if it were the silliest thing she'd ever heard.

Elena started laughing. Caroline shoved her lightly, not looking happy.

"I'm sorry. I just… can't picture Elijah at prom." Elena said through her laughter.

"That's what I said, but I was desperate to not go alone and who else was I going to ask?" Caroline was smiling despite herself. "He's not a bad choice."

"Just not the brother you would have wanted." Elena said knowingly.

"Please, I wouldn't have asked Klaus to go. That's like asking for the most awkward moment of my life." Caroline said with a sigh and then rolled her eyes. "Can you imagine me just asking him? Oh hey Klaus, you took over my ex-boyfriends body for a while, tried to kill all of my friends, and offered me the world as compensation, want to go to prom? No way."

"Geez, Car. You had no problem accepting going with him to New York, but suddenly it's above you to take him to prom?" Elena asked jokingly, bringing up a conversation she'd had with Caroline many times now.

"Hey, I had a good reason to go to New York and since when are you on Klaus' side?" Caroline said seriously.

"I'm not saying I'm on his side, but maybe Rebekah is right, maybe we should give him a chance at least." Elena argued. She seemed to be agreeing with Rebekah a lot lately and Caroline didn't like how it usually had to do with Klaus.

Was Caroline the only person who remembered who this guy is?

"I don't owe him the chance." Caroline concluded.

-x-

"We know you are here, we are coming." Caroline read the line over and over again as she looked down at the picture in her hand. It was a picture of the courthouse in Mystic Falls and it had the words painted in red over the front doors. There were two other pictures of the Church and the school with the writing on them as well. Caroline's mother had brought a copy of the picture home to show Caroline and warn her. Caroline hadn't been upset until she found out that she had to send someone out to repaint the front of the Church before tonight.

"I don't think they are referring to the Founder's." Liz Forbes said to her daughter.

"What would make you think they mean vampires?" Caroline asked with non-belief. "It's not exactly written anywhere we would be found."

"Because, they sent a staked vampire corpse to the Sheriff's house as well," Her mom said with more emphasis.

"So, what are they?" Caroline asked confused. She had her prom dress and make-up bag tucked under her arm, having been caught on the way out by her mother with the news.

"We don't know. Just that they are coming to clean out the town of its problem. I have a feeling it's why the Sheriff has been so lenient to go after you all. We think he has known for a while and has given whoever this is the names of all the known vampires in the town, meaning you." The previous Sheriff took a seat at her kitchen counter and put her face in her hands, rubbing the stress off of it. "I don't think you should go tonight."

"Mom," Caroline started to protest.

"I'm serious, Caroline. I don't want to lose you. Not after what I had to go through when I first found out what you are. I can't take the pain of thinking you are dead again. You're all I have." Caroline dropped her things and walked up to her mother, smothering her with a hug that wasn't nearly as strong as she wanted to give, but feared breaking her mother's back if she hugged too hard.

"Mom, I have a lot of enemies now and I can handle myself against them. I can fight my own battles." Caroline said poignantly. "Not to mention, I have two Original vampires going to the dance with me that have out-lived several enemies. Originals that are waiting at their house for me right now, so don't worry, okay? And don't do anything stupid to try and protect me. Trust me I'm going to out-live you."

Caroline tried to make the last part sound like a joke, but realized it probably was taken as the opposite to her mother. She just hugged her one last time, kissed her cheek, and headed out the door anyway.

If nothing else, she needed to warn her friends and hiding in her house until everything was over was not Caroline's style anyway.

By the time she reached Klaus' house, she had alerted every living vampire she knew in town, including the Originals about the threat. To no one's surprise, Rebekah and Elijah already knew something was going on.

"I have three different kinds of mascara I have tried and I don't like any of them." Rebekah exclaimed when she answered the door, not making much of the threat either and jumping immediately on Prom problems. Elijah was in the living room when the two girls walked by and Caroline waved at her date. It was hard for her to tell if he was dressed already for the dance. He was always wearing some sort of suit when she saw him and didn't know how seriously he was going to treat this evening. She was just glad her prom pictures weren't going to be memories of having an ugly date she didn't want to remember. She had to give Elijah his due; even if she wasn't attracted to him he still wasn't horrible to look at.

"I think you should use this one." Caroline said, pulling mascara out of her bag and giving it to Rebekah. "It has a hint of blue to it that will bring out your eyes."

The two changed into their dresses and Caroline was excited to hear that Rebekah had paid a hair stylist to do both of their hairs. Caroline was so pleased that she wasn't going to the dance with her arms already tired from straightening, curling, and styling. She turned to her friend as her hair was being worked on and took in what Rebekah was wearing.

Rebekah had a black silk dress on that clung tightly to her figure and pooled on the floor. It had the added feature of a white ruffle that wrapped around her right shoulder like a sash and met on her left hip where a silver star was adorned. Her hair was parted on the left and pulled lightly back into flowered shaped bun with curled layers of hair making up the petals. Her make-up was heavily applied around the eyes, but faded out from there.

Caroline was wearing a long white lace dress with a v-neck that gave her an hour glass shape. Along with the dress was a matching white jacket, with a popped up collar and with short sleeves, which ended right under her chest. Her make-up was light except for the red lipstick she chose to add some color to her look. Her hair was down and parted to the side with full curls that bounced on her shoulders. Her bangs were curled also, but were pulled away from her face like a movie star from the forties.

With the two girls all set and the limo waiting downstairs, Caroline was actually excited when she walked down the steps in the Mikaelson's house and took Elijah's arm. He apparently hadn't been dressed earlier as he was now wearing a black tux with a long jacket.

"Thank you for allowing me to be your date." Elijah said to her as she walked with him outdoors.

"Thank you for saving me from going alone." Caroline countered and the two crawled in to the limo behind Rebekah. Matt was waiting inside for them with Elena and Damon.

Matt and Damon's tux's looked almost identical and Caroline got the distinct feeling that it wasn't an accident. That Matt's tux was a loan from the Salvatore's.

Elena looked gorgeous in her sleeveless gown. Caroline was not surprised by that, but loved the dark purple color of Elena's dress and how it had one short skirt under a longer black lace skirt. It was something Caroline would have worn.

After a few greetings went around from everyone, the limo fell silent and Caroline prayed that the church was quicker to get to than she remembered. Damon was already opening a bottle of champagne and everyone was taking a glass before it was even offered, as if giving everyone something to do. It had to have been the most awkward drive Caroline had ever taken.

"I think we should toast." Rebekah's voice broke the silence. "To my finally getting to see one of these things."

Her tone didn't imply anything negative, but Caroline didn't miss the glance that she gave Elena when she said it and it made Caroline frown.

"To prom," Caroline corrected and lifted her glass. The other's repeated her toast and then drank deeply.

"I can't wait to see what you girls did with Fell's Church." Matt spoke before the silence fell again. "It's been a secret to everyone for the last week what you've done since you didn't let anyone else on the committee help set-up anything."

"Oh, it's definitely going to be amazing." Elena said with a smile. "Caroline out-did herself. I didn't even think it possible."

"I amaze myself." Caroline said, ever the humble person.

This got the group finally talking and only a few comments were made by Damon that referred to the fact that he had made out with every girl in the car at one point and Matt had made it easier to swallow when he stated that the same could be said for him. Caroline figured it was a miracle that Damon hadn't said more, but figured he was being slightly restrained for Elena. It was a blessing that made the car ride a lot easier and even Elijah had joined the conversation at that point saying he was glad he couldn't say the same, which got a laugh from everyone.

The car came to an abrupt stop then and everyone in the car seemed to look out the windows at where they were. Caroline was getting nervous as she looked at the steps leading up to the old church. She couldn't place why she had the odd feeling in her stomach, but she wished it would go away so she could enjoy herself.

"Here we go," Damon said and pushed the door to the limo open on his side. He reached his hand in and helped Elena out as well.

Caroline was the last to get out, assisted by Elijah and she smiled up at him for it. She was actually discovering that Elijah was the perfect date for her. He was old school enough to be a gentleman without her having to worry about feelings pushing things too far. She could have an actual night of joy with her friends and a date without the added heat of being emotionally tangled up in everything. She could keep perspective as she entertained herself. It was quite the liberating feeling for her.

They walked into the main room and the group headed straight for the dance floor where Bonnie was already dancing with Jaime. The two matched with Bonnie in a classic long red dress that had straps that started out thin, but grew and turned into a long cape down her back. Jaime had a black tux with red cummerbund and vest. The two looked like models.

"Hey, I thought you weren't coming?" Caroline said over the music and hugged Bonnie. Bonnie had made a point the day before that she decided that she didn't want to go, since her past with dances was pretty murky and the others had respected her decision, so it was weird for Caroline to see Bonnie had changed her mind so easily.

"And miss prom?" Bonnie said in Caroline's ear. "No, chance."

"We could have picked you two up in the limo. There was tons of room." Caroline felt bad that she hadn't double checked that Bonnie wasn't coming as she watched the girl hug the others.

"That's okay. We made it here anyways." Bonnie said with a smile and squeezed Caroline's arm.

The group seemed to pull apart then as the couples went off to dance together. Caroline took Elijah with her and the two stepped on the floor just as a slow song began.

"That was welcomed." Elijah said suddenly as the two placed their hands in the respective spots to dance.

"How so?" Caroline asked confused by what he meant.

"I wasn't prone to the idea of dancing in the more modern style." Elijah said with a small smile and Caroline returned a smile of her own.

"Oh," Caroline glanced towards the stage then as the suns swirls slowed with the beat of the song and lit up only a fraction of the room they were in. It was considerably darker than she thought it would be, but she figured that was because they had tested everything during the day. "So, how have things been with you and Rebekah? You two seem to enjoy being stuck here."

"Well, this is where we grew up. We are more than willing to call it home." Elijah answered honestly, but only paused to add. "You know, you can ask about Niklaus. I can tell you would rather hear about him."

Caroline tried not to look upset with her date. She had wanted to hear what Klaus had been up to, but she didn't want to seem as obvious about it as she apparently did to Elijah. Although he picked up on things faster than most do.

"How do you do that?" Caroline asked, deflecting his question as she did. "How do you always know what's going on?"

"It's incredible what you can learn just by paying attention to the people around you." Elijah said with a tone that seemed more like his normal reserved self.

"That sounds like you are politely trying to say I'm easy to read." Caroline bemused with an added sly smile.

Elijah didn't answer this, but looked around the room. Caroline could see his eyes land on his sister and then move back to her.

"You have a stubborn-ness and courage that many your age don't, Caroline. You fight selflessly for your friends and you kept moving even after you suffered a loss." Elijah was keeping eye contact with Caroline as he spoke, not letting her break away from his gaze. "If that is what you are afraid people can see when they look at you, then I wonder about your priorities."

Caroline was stunned. It was probably the biggest compliment anyone had ever given her and it wasn't about her appearance or her sense of style.

"I can see why my brother is infatuated with you." Elijah spoke after a few minutes. Turning the conversation back on the track it had been before.

"You're not going to try to use your magnificent way with words to persuade me into liking your brother, are you? Because I don't honestly think he's the right person for me." Caroline began, already feeling the twinge of guilt she always did when she purposely made an effort to push Klaus, or any talk of him, away.

"Interesting, Caroline," Elijah pulled away from her and moved them off the dance floor as the song changed the beat and made conversation more difficult. "Did it ever occur to you that it may be you who are right for him?"

Caroline couldn't respond and excused herself from Elijah then. She was going to head to the bathroom, but found herself heading outside instead. Her mind was trying to find a response to the thoughts that just overloaded her mind. Elijah had this very distinct way of leaving people speechless and not just by breaking their necks either, and without fail he had done that to Caroline twice in one conversation. She was just about to let herself consider his words might be truer than she would let herself believe them to be when she remembered her own comment to Elijah about the way he influences people with his words.

Klaus was very lucky to have the siblings he did. At every turn they seemed to be trying to push Caroline closer to him. His presence wasn't even needed for her to be plagued by thoughts of him.

She headed out the front doors to the entranceway steps. She needed to catch her breath and to breathe air that wasn't full of prom magic and space themes. There was an irony to that, she needed space from space. She needed quiet Mystic Falls to calm down her mind.

As she took a third or fourth step down, she realized her mistake of going outside. To her chagrin, Klaus was standing at the bottom of the stairs looking like he was trying to decide when to make an entrance.

"Don't tell me that you are leaving already?" There was that accent again that made Caroline shiver in delight.

"You're back." Caroline said, wasting no time on switching from looking surprised to looking blasé.

"I said I would be." Klaus walked up the steps and met her. The steps made it awkward for Caroline, so she kept her self facing the parking lot a head of her as Klaus came to stand at her side. "You did get my note."

"That was nearly five months ago." Caroline suddenly wished she had something to do with her gloved hands, but couldn't think of anything. She fixed her short jacket twice and then looked back to Klaus. "Don't tell me you came back for prom."

"I do enjoy a good dance." Klaus said and put his hand out to her as if that was a subtle hint that he wanted to dance with her. She ignored the hand and crossed her arms instead.

"So what exactly were you doing while you were away?" She asked trying to hint that she didn't exactly want to dance right now. His brother's words were still playing in her mind exaggerated by the subject of them being present.

"Kol and I were travelling." Klaus said dropping his hand. "Is that all right with you?"

"And what were you doing while you travelled?" Caroline asked, not taking the bait with the question meant to upset her enough to set the conversation on a different course and leave him without actually answering her question. He had used that on her before and she wasn't falling for it this time.

"If you really want to know, we were looking for werewolves, specifically the leaders of their packs." Klaus growled out at her.

"Figures," Caroline said simply. "Still trying to build your army?"

"Not exactly."

This made Caroline drop her arms and look fully at Klaus.

"Then what?"

"I was making myself known as Alpha by killing off the leaders of the packs, mostly up in Canada." Klaus said, clearly not use to explaining himself or his actions to others.

"You don't have Elena's blood anymore to make your hybrids from, why even keep up with the wolves?" Caroline felt like she was nagging and pulled back a little on her questioning.

"I'm looking for my father's line." Klaus answered honestly and was distracted suddenly.

Caroline saw as he turned abruptly and then saw the arm that moved in front of her, catching an arrow before it hit her in the chest. Caroline's eyes went wide as she looked down at the arrow in Klaus' grip and then looked up to see the group of about ten people emerge from around the cars. Their hands were full of crossbows or guns and Caroline was betting that the bullets were wooden, but didn't want to personally find out.

"We were having a conversation." Klaus growled out loudly as he turned his back on Caroline, stepping in front of her to block any more shots from being aimed at her. He looked like he was about to go down and attack the people when Caroline took his hand and started pulling him into the Church.

"There's more." Caroline said drawing his attention where more people were surrounding the church on the left and right. "There's too many. We need the others."

Caroline was trying to talk sense into Klaus, who wasn't budging from his spot on the steps as a second arrow flew at him. He deflected it easily, but the wooden bullets that started flying made him move into the structure with Caroline. Shards must have hit Klaus, but he didn't seem to notice them the way Caroline did as she pulled a piece of wood from her left leg. It had been the only one to hit her and she glared up at Klaus as she took it out.

"What have you done now?" Caroline asked, pissed now that he had stayed out there long enough to get her shot at.

"You cannot possibly think this is my fault." Klaus was looking almost hurt that she had made this seem his fault.

"Isn't it always?" Caroline screeched at him, and realized she was still holding his hand. She let it go and turned to see the others were slowly starting to come into the main hall room. The gun shots had freaked out most of the dance-goers who were running out into the groups of attackers. They were being hosed down as they ran and the smell of vervain was ever present in the water that was being sprayed on them.

"Well, that cuts off our exits." Damon said looking out one of the windows at the groups who were being soaked. "Where'd they get that much vervain?"

"All they have to do is mix it in the water for a few days and the whole thing becomes permeated with it." Elijah said appearing in the hall with his sister and Matt as his side. Bonnie and Jamie were behind them.

"What do we do now?" Elena's words left everyone silent as the group seemed to be at a loss.