Sorry for the horrifically slow update! I promise they will resume as normal now (fingers crossed) today is my last deadline day so we should get a good few more chapters coming out soon!

This chapter has a few more flashbacks as a lot of the feedback I have received has asked for them! I'm trying to keep them integrated into the story so I will try and keep them coming.

Here is the latest chapter 14, Gabby has a big choice to make. What do you guys think she will do? Can she walk away from Klaus? Or will all of these new memories get the better of her?!

As always, review review review! You guys make my day, and what you say really does matter!

Enjoy :)

Riley

x

The summer air was hot and heavy, without so much as a whisper of a breeze disturbing the stillness of the afternoon. The spring blossom erupting in small bursts of colour in every tree bordering the grounds of the mansion. He watched her as she appeared fascinated at the smallest of details. He saw her eyes dance across each branch of each tree as they walked down the grand promenade of the estate. She appeared to focus on the small budding flowers, so miniscule in their current existence, yet destined to flourish with incomparable beauty. He had found the girl alone, Rebekah had run off to Marcel, leaving the girl to her own devices. For the last hour they had been wandering the grounds of the mansion together, discussing such pleasantries as the splendid up and coming style of Jazz music and the opera.

"you seem distracted, sweetheart" he smiled politely, causing her to snap out of her daze. Her deep blue eyes settled back down on his.

"I apologise" she answered, flashing a bright smile and turning her full attention back to him before she went on "you have a beautiful home"

"thank you, I must say I have grown quite fond of it over the years" Klaus smiled offering Ella his arm as the pair reached the orchard in the far east of the grounds of his family home.

"thank you" Ella spoke with a small polite smile as she took his arm. "what made you chose New Orleans?"

"we fled the old world from my father, we arrived here as a result of pure luck having sailed up the Mississippi river" Klaus smiled. Normally he would not talk about his father outside of his siblings, however Gabriella seemed so harmless. There was something about her that made him want to trust her.

"so you're here hiding from your father?" Ella asked, a tone of curiosity lingering in her voice even when her eyes remained focused on the trees surrounding them.

"he believes that my siblings and I are an abomination" Klaus answered without even thinking about it, he wanted Gabriella's approval.

"well I'm sure a vampire as legendary as yourself would have no trouble" she answered smirking slightly in his direction. This time her eyes did not wander away, they remained firmly on him.

"well, sweetheart, my father has never had a problem laying a hand on me I don't doubt that he would do it again" Klaus smiled, trying to make light of the situation which still shook him to the core.

"oh, sorry for bringing it up" Ella giggled slightly as she held onto his arm while he escorted her up the promenade. She had planned to leave the mansion once Rebekah had left, however, she was stopped by Niklaus. Before she knew it, she found herself having a good time.

"don't be sorry Ella, that was a very long time ago, I am immortal" he smirked playfully, enjoying having her full attention. For the first time he noticed how beautiful she was. He finally understood why she had received so much attention from the male population of New Orleans.

"I suppose" she smiled, her eyes wandering back to the blossom trees. The sun was shining and seemed to light up her face which Klaus could not help but notice.

"enough about me, what brings you to New Orleans Ella?" he asked, unable to fight his urge to know more about her.

"well when I was human I lived in London in the 1600s, my family died in the Great Fire of London, I was found by a vampire and turned. The vampire that turned me was a descendant of mine who took me to Paris to help me deal with the transition and then I travelled the world before coming here" she smiled as she recalled her life in a few sentences. She was very much enjoying her afternoon with Rebekah's older brother. He was fascinating to her, she could not help herself but share with him.

"I'm sorry about your family, love" he spoke with a deep sincerity in his eyes. After all Gabriella had heard from Rebekah about her brother she was not expecting to be enjoying his company, yet there she was.

"don't be, it was a long time ago" she smiled genuinely with a small playful smirk as she echoed his own words back to him.

"touché" he smirked a little back to her which caused something to stir in her stomach.

"besides, last I knew I still have a few vampire descendants living in Paris, the ones who helped me through transitioning" she added, trying not to focus on how he was making her feel. She couldn't possibly.

"ahh I see, how did you like Paris?" he asked, still with a small smirk having noted her previous reaction.

"it is my favourite, though I'd love to see more of Italy" she smiled back. Thinking back to the time that she had spent in Rome upon first leaving Paris.

"you have impeccable taste, sweetheart" he smiled back at her genuinely. "I have always had a soft spot for Verona"

"ahh Romeo and Juliet… I've never travelled there" she smiled.

"perhaps I will take you there one day" Klaus smiled leaving her a little speechless.

"what a grand gesture. Be careful Niklaus or I may have to take advantage of your generosity" she smirked, turning to face him with a playful glint in her eye.

"I'm counting on it, sweetheart."

Ella woke to the sound of someone knocking persistently on her door. The dream she was having had felt so real, the memories were flooding her and everything was coming straight back. She glanced at her wall clock only to see that she had been asleep for 12 hours, she could barely even remember getting home last night, she really must have been tired she thought. She groaned to herself and cursed this hangover like state she was in before rolling over and dragging herself out of bed to answer the door.

"a little worse for wear are we?" Rebekah pouted playfully at her the second she opened the door.

"yeah well a whole 2 years of memories can really knock it out of a girl" Ella spoke, her voice croaky and tired

"oh come on Ella, don't sulk. You have your darling best friend back, I think it's about time we had a catch up" She smiled, walking past Ella and straight into her apartment.

"Well I was half expecting to find Nik here after last night" she continued with a smirk plastered on her face.

"no he just walked me home, he was actually quite the gentleman" Ella smiled, remembering bits of last night when they had been alone.

She walked back towards her bed and fell backwards so that she was sitting cross legged on top of her duvet. Rebekah had already made herself at home, sitting on the arm chair next to her bed, Ella knew that this wasn't the first time Rebekah had been in her apartment. She vaguely had recollection of her friendship with Rebekah, but if she was honest, it was her relationship with Klaus that was dominating her thoughts at that precise moment.

"well it seems you have quite the effect on him, now I understand why he was so jolly in the 1900s, it was most out of character" Rebekah went on, crossing one of her legs over the other

"yeah, it was a surprise to me too" Ella spoke, her voice beginning to sound a little more human.

"so you were pretty serious with my brother then?" Rebekah asked, a tone of seriousness in her voice. Ella could tell that this wasn't just a joke to Rebekah. Ella knew that whatever Rebekah said of Nik, she still loved him. She wanted him to be happy.

"yeah. In all honesty, I really liked him" Ella spoke, in a moment of genuine feeling. She knew how she had felt about Klaus. With every memory those feelings came back, stronger and stronger with each one.

"he loves you Ella, he was tyrannical in the 20s. I didn't get it before but it all makes sense now" Rebekah added, Ella appreciated that she had not ripped her to shreds for admitting some sort of feeling for Klaus.

"I know. It's crazy isn't it" Ella smiled a little. She never thought she would be in this position. She never thought someone would love her like he clearly did.

"completely bizarre" Rebekah smiled to match her friend. Ella found Rebekah's company very soothing. She seemed to understand her without really having to try. "do you have any idea what you are going to do?"

"I don't know" Ella answered honestly before going on. "I still have all of the feelings I had before, I just don't really know if I can just jump straight back into all of this. The whole reason we were so secretive in the first place was because of how dangerous this all is"

"I understand… but take it from me. Don't miss out on something just because you're scared of what might happen" Rebekah answered sincerely.

She made Ella think, did she really want anything out of this? She had the opportunity to walk away from everything she had learnt in the last 2 days. The sensible option would be to walk away and forget it ever happened. She had a huge decision to make.

"-and, if you do decide to walk away, I wouldn't think of you as any less of a friend" she added with a genuine smile.

"thanks Rebekah" Ella smiled, deciding against a sarcastic remark. She truly was thankful, even when Ella could not remember her, Rebekah had been a real friend to her, she would never forget that.

"don't mention it" She smiled before continuing "now, there's a party tonight at the compound, something about unity- Elijah's idea not mine. However, there will be booze, food and men in suits, any interest?"

"do your brothers know you want to bring me?" Ella smiled, her eyebrows raised playfully

"well Nik asked me to invite you, he didn't want to be pushy and ask you himself. But I am going to insist you are my date and not his" Rebekah smirked jokily, causing Ella to giggle

"don't pout, I'd love to" she chuckled "do I take it Marcel is no more?" Ella had been wondering about Marcel. He had been on a date with Cami and Rebekah had not said anything about him.

"no, that crashed and burned- long story" Rebekah brushed off the topic, rolling her eyes.

"sorry I asked" Ella smiled jokily holding her hands up in defence, clearly Rebekah did not want to talk about him.

"don't be, it was bound to come up eventually, but enough about our horrible love lives. Dresses for tonight." Rebekah smiled as her eyes lit up at the mere implication of going shopping.

"is there a dress code?" Ella asked, unable to contain a smile

"no but it's a party party, not a dance" Rebekah answered, as if she knew what Ella was thinking.

"well I could do with a shopping trip…" Ella smirked seeing her friends smile spread and eyes dance at the word.

"god I missed you" Rebekah smirked "get ready, let's go…"

Less than ten minutes later the girls were walking down the street parallel to Gabriella's apartment towards where Rebekah had parked her car. Gabriella marvelled at the gorgeous red sports car, rolling her eyes at Rebekah's expensive taste. Something that the two of them shared.

Ella was walking up and down trying to find someone she could feed on. She had been craving fresh human blood for days, she had her blood bags so she could stay under ground but there was something about blood straight from the vein. It just didn't compare. In order to remain unseen she had travelled down to the outskirts of town to forest and the main road in. She figured she didn't want to accidentally kill somebody who was a friend of a friend, why not get someone new coming into town she thought.

"can I help you?" A voice questioned. Taking Ella by surprise, she hadn't hear anyone coming. This girl must've been a vampire she thought.

The girl had gorgeous blonde hair, combed to perfection, and piercing blue eyes that Ella sensed had seen their fair share of deaths.

"I was just-" Ella started, not really knowing what she was going to say. Luckily the blonde vampire interrupted her immediately.

"I'd think twice before you lie to me sweetheart" She smirked, a somewhat maniacal smirk which unnerved Ella a little. She regained her composure and smoke confidently:

"I was about to say I was out for a hunt, perhaps you are too quick to jump to conclusions" Ella smirked back playfully. She was an old vampire, she could handle this she thought. She didn't need to be pushed around by someone of her own kind.

"perhaps I should introduce myself…. I'm Rebekah Mikaelson" She smirked back. Knowing the effect that it would have on Gabriella. Well she thought she did.

Ella immediately knew who she was, an original vampire. However, she also knew what she had to do. Vampires thrived of weakness, she assumed the Originals were the same. She could not show even a hint of how terrified she was upon hearing that name.

"Gabriella Buchanan" Ella smiled back, refusing to back down to Rebekah.

"charmed" Rebekah answered firmly, not expecting such a relaxed reaction from the girl she had caught in the woods. It completely perplexed her.

"stop bloody staring and get into the car" Rebekah laughed at her friend as she climbed into the driver's seat

"red….?" Gabriella asked, a little confused by Rebekah's colour choice for her car. She chose to ignore her friends impatience, it was something she had become accustomed to with the Mikaelson siblings.

"I thought you'd like it, red is your favourite after all" Rebekah smirked, placing her sunglasses on as Gabriella climbed into the seat next to her.

"yeah but it's not yours" Ella smiled, settling back into the plush leather seats. She had always loved the smell of leather.

"well, I fancied a change" Rebekah shrugged.