Chapter 28:

Nettie climbed out of the shower, pulling on a white knee high dress that she had taken from Rebekah's closet.

"Feeling any better?" Klaus stepped into the doorway and leaned in it, looking at Nettie.

"A little under clothed. A bit butt hurt. The usual." Nettie said, her feet padding down the stairs towards him.

"Things will get better. You've just got to get over the first bump."

"So you say." Nettie sighed, stopping in front of him.

"You know I am a man of my word."

"When it suits you." Her eyes went from him and to Rebekah as she closed the front door.

"Ah, dear sister. How was being human for a night?" He asked, knowing that she had failed horribly.

"Don't even start with me, Nik." Rebekah frowned deeply at her brother. "I deserve the cure. I've served my time."

"But I already gave you the cure, Rebekah." Elijah's voice came as he approached his family. "Don't tell me you've misplaced it."

"What are you talking about? You never gave me the cure, Elijah." Rebekah looked at Elijah like he was crazy.

Elijah and Klaus exchanged glances. "Silas." Niklaus said, frowning.

"He was here earlier." Nettie told them, breaking the family conversation. "He was pretending to be Elijah."

Klaus looked angry. "Silas was in MY home?!"

"I just said that..." Nettie raised a brow.

"Calm down, brother..." Elijah sighed. "What's more important is focusing on getting the cure back." He glanced to Nettie. "And what brings you here tonight?"

She stared at Elijah, "I thought we weren't talking?"

Elijah frowned at her answer. "We do have some things to discuss."

Rebekah looked at the three standing with her. "I'm going to bed. You better find that cure Elijah, I was promised humanity." She pushed past Nettie, heading to her room, "Don't worry about the dress." She mumbled grumpily.

"I will leave you two to talk." Klaus smirked at Elijah.

"Have a good night, Niklaus," Elijah said in return.


"I have been rude Nettle and I apologize for that." Elijah told her.

She raised her brow at him, "At the sake of sounding naive Elijah, why did you decide not to call me back?"

He paused, watching her a moment. There was something different about her and he wasn't sure what it was just yet. "I needed some time to figure out what I was going to tell you."

"Okay..." Why were vampires so dramatic? She hoped she wouldn't become like that...

"My brother Niklaus has had a hard life. Our past is not what you would call... Tame." He handed her a glass of something brown. "He has been hardened by some of the things we have been forced to go through. It can sometimes mean him killing without remorse."

She just glared at him.

"In the thousand years that we have been alive he has never forgiven me for what I did to him when we were human."

"Okay..." She repeated, unsure of why he was still talking.

"I will give you what you wanted. I won't bother you anymore." He said simply.

Nettie didn't really know how to answer. She wasn't totally there at the moment. She was tired, hungry... "Right, well..." She stood up from where she sat. "I think I need to rest."

"Good night, Nettle." Elijah nodded his head once.

"Night." Nettie slipped out of the room.


Leila sat in the kitchen, twirling a straw in a glass of orange juice. Stefan had said that they would talk to Nettie, but he still had her waiting.

Elena came into the kitchen and opened the fridge, pulling out a blood bag. She glanced over at Leila.

"Morning, Elena..." Leila said on a sigh.

"Good morning Red. Having fun with your stolen boy toy? You two were making a hell of a ruckus last night." Elena said as she bit into the blood bag.

Leila frowned. "Wow." She scoffed and shook her head. "You better watch it Elena. I'm not in the mood."

Damon walked into the kitchen then, looking between the girls. "Don't go starting cat fights right now. We've got more important things to be doing." He didn't look like he was in the mood for conflict either.

"My bad Damon, just wondering why this person is still in our house. Doesn't she have a home to go to?" Elena smiled sweetly.

Leila sipped her drink.

"Stop antagonizing, Elena." Damon crossed his arms.

"Oh, so you're defending her now?" Elena asked him, "You know what Damon? It's fine. You'll get bored and I'll be around when you're done." She placed the bag down on the counter. "Have a great day. I have things to do."

Leila watched as Elena strode out of the kitchen. She pushed her orange juice to the side and folded her arms on the table, resting her head on them. "You'll get bored, huh?"

"She's turned it off Leila, you know she doesn't mean that." Damon told her. "Until she's Elena again she's just a soulless nobody."

Leila got out of the chair. "But you didn't say no, Damon." She sighed and headed towards the staircase.

"We've had this conversation Leila. Frankly I am getting a little hurt that you keep assuming I am lying to you." Damon told her.

Leila looked at him over her shoulder, one hand on the banister. "We'll talk later, Damon. I have to get ready to go find Nettie." She began back up the stairs, trying to prepare herself for the next fight she was about to have.


"Look Leila, we have been looking for Nettie all day. Why not give it a break for a while? I am sure she'll be home when she's ready." Caroline said softly. She had a feeling Nettie was struggling with emotions and the fight she'd had with Leila.

"Yeah, she might come home, but I don't want to be out in the middle of nowhere on my own. And I told Damon we'd talk. God, why did I say that to him?" Leila ran a hand down her face.

"You're still figuring out this whole, being a vampire thing. Besides, with Elena hanging around all the time I am sure Damon would love to stick around the middle of nowhere with you. At least until Nettie comes home." Caroline waved Stefan over. "I was just telling Leila to give the search a break."

"She isn't going to be out about town during the day anyways. She doesn't have a daylight ring like the rest of us. So she won't be on a killing spree. We have time." Stefan told Leila.

"Okay, so I wait for Nettie to get home..." Leila looked between the two. "Then what? Tell her I'm sorry? She's never going to forgive me for what I said."

"You two have a lot of time to get over it. Damon and I didn't talk for a long time. Since he's come home we seem to be mending fences. I wouldn't worry." Damon had turned over a new leaf. Katherine had given them both the closure they had needed.

Leila looked directly at Caroline. "Also, I doubt Damon would want to spend time with me right now... We're fighting... again." She growled. "Why doesn't anyone understand that I can't control my feelings right now but you two?"

"Damon didn't seem upset. Just go home and if he acts funny, then react. Until then I am sure it's fine. New relationships can be confusing." Caroline smiled. "NOW let's do something other than walk around looking for someone we don't even know is really a vampire." She pat Leila on the back.

Leila gave Caroline a small smile and nodded her head. "Sure."


Nettie stuck her hand into the light from the open window, turning it over as she tried to figure out why she wasn't on fire. She didn't have a daylight ring and she wasn't an original family member. She should be running around screaming.

"Morning." Klaus said, entering the room. She looked up from the light and nodded.

"Shouldn't I be on fire right now?" She asked him curiously, looking back at her hand.

"You should. But it seems you are something special, love." He smirked. "You were yelling at me the other day and mentioned something I wish to discuss. But first I would like to point out that whatever you are after Damon turned you is new."

She looked up again, pulling her hand from the sunlight. "Damon didn't turn me." She said, shaking her head. "I was just angry. I get why you kill people Klaus. It's hard to push it all down."

"How did you end up eating people in public bathrooms Nettle?" He asked her curiously.

"I did it. I tricked Damon into giving me his blood and I killed myself." Nettie looked down to her feet. "I was... I wanted to be around in fifty years when my sister is. I wanted to be able to stay with her..." She hadn't even thought about it until now. But her reasons hadn't been purely selfish. Leila wasn't someone who liked being alone.

"I see." Klaus gave her a smile. "I'm sure your sister will be touched."

"No, she'll be pissed. But after last night I don't much care." Nettie was really upset at all the things she had heard her sister say about her. Unlike Leila, Nettie didn't mind solitude. A few days alone wouldn't kill her.

"After last night? And what happened last night?"

"Why do you care Klaus?" Nettie asked, raising her brow and uncrossing her arms. "Since when are you this nice?"

"Since I found someone I actually care about."

"What are you talking about?" She raised her brow, she was getting nervous all of a sudden and didn't know what to do.

"I'm talking about the little glow worm trying to stay bright during all this darkness around her." He smirked still, but it wasn't smugness. She could see that now.

"You're not serious." She said. He moved towards her, standing in front of where she stood. Then he reached out and handed her a small black box. Her eyes widened and she took it with shaky fingers. Her damn emotions getting on her nerves.

She looked at him and then back to the box. She clicked it open carefully, staring down at the white ring with dark blue sapphires. "Why are you giving me this?" She asked him, swallowing.

"It belonged to my mother." He told her. "I had it spelled not long after she gave it to me."

"It's a daylight ring." She whispered. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

"You clearly don't need it. But I still want you to have it. There are some vampires out there who would hurt you to figure out how you are able to walk in the sun Nettie. You need to wear this, it will protect you." His face grew serious.

She didn't speak as he took the box back, he pulled the white gold band from the velvet and took her hand. He slid it on and pocketed the box. Then he did something super cheesy, he reached down and kissed her hand.

She looked at him as he raised his head. He moved closer, taking her lips in a long kiss. Her hand had a mind of it's own, touching his cheek. She had never thought she would ever do anything like this. But in that moment she wasn't sure she wanted it to stop.

"Get your hand off my sister." Leila said it sternly, remaining calm.

"Leila." Nettie said, moving back from Klaus. "What are you doing here?"

"I've been looking for you since you left the prom." She shook her head. "And here you are making out with... with... with this killer! This heartless murderer! I thought we talked about this, Nettie!"

"Why is everyone yelling?" Rebekah said, joining the fun. "Why are you here?"

"We aren't yelling. She's leaving." Nettie said coldly, eyeing Leila harshly. "I don't want to talk about this right now."

Leila frowned deeply at Nettie. "You.." She took a deep breath. "You are my sister, Nettie. I worry and care about you. And Klaus is everything that is wrong for you." She pressed, "You do know my sister isn't capable of whatever that was?" She asked Klaus. "She's not..."

"I'm not what Leila?" Nettie snapped, finally getting upset.

"You're not emotionally stable. God knows after what you've done it will only make things harder for you."

"Well, well, a little family drama to start the day." Rebekah said, crossing her arms as she watched.

"I think you should leave." Klaus said to Leila. "I would ask you to stay but it seems like you've made up your mind about me. But I will say one thing. I did what I had to do. You killed my brother and lied to me."

Leila looked at Nettie and then to Klaus. "You were going to kill me." She looked back to Nettie again. "And you don't seem to even give a damn." She bit her bottom lip, hands balling into fists and turned to hurry out.

"I didn't try to kill you love. I compelled Damon to kill the person he loved. How would I know it was you?" Not that it would have changed his mind. But he wasn't going to say that.

Leila froze where she stood for just a moment at Klaus's words.

"This is over. I want you to go." Nettie told her, stopping the conversation. "I'll be home tonight."

Leila didn't say anything, escaping as quickly as she could...


"DAMON!" Leila pounded on his bedroom door. "Damon answer the door!" Leila growled, looking to the door knob. She could probably just yank it open if she wanted to.

"Alright Red, hold on." Damon called, opening the door. "Hey, did you find her?" He asked, letting her into his room.

"Yes I found her!" She stepped inside and turned to look at him. "She and Klaus were eating each others faces!"

"Your sister?" He asked, pulling a shirt on.

"Yes, my sister, Damon. She's gone insane!" Leila turned and paced towards his bed. She plopped down on it and covered her face with her hands. "Why is she doing this?!"

"Doing what Red?" He asked her.

"Falling for Klaus!" She dropped her hands in her lap. Stress and worry were written across her weary features.

"Why does she do anything?" He certainly didn't know but he hoped that Nettie's sister would. They had been together for a long, long time. "She isn't an easy person Red..."

"I... I don't know anymore, Damon. It's like she's a different person." Her shoulders slumped.

"I have done a million terrible things in my long life Leila. So has Stefan. The ripper gene isn't a friendly thing." He said, surprised he was standing up for Klaus. Or was it Nettie he was standing up for?

"I... I know..." She groaned. "God, I feel like such an ass. All I do is make others mad." She sighed, moving into his chest and resting her head there. "When we were kids Nettie never once mentioned meeting someone or getting married. She never talked about having kids... But she would listen to me talk about those things." They would sit and Nettie would listen...

"I was sure that there wasn't a person out there that would ever be good enough for her. I wasn't sure there would be a person who could handle who she is let alone get past the giant barrier she puts up." She had freaked out when Elijah had tried to make a move on her...

Damon's arms came around Leila. He was fine just listening to her. He knew she needed to get it all out to someone.

She looked up at him, eyes searching him for something. "My sister is special Damon. I messed up."

"We don't have to like Klaus Leila." He told her, running his hand through her hair.

She closed her eyes at Damon's relaxing show of affection. "I just worry..."

"We all worry about Nettie. It's never going to go away Red." He had to admit he did like Nettie. When he had found out they were related he had acted like it was a pain in his ass. But he did enjoy the bickering every once and a while. Of course he wasn't going to tell anyone that.

"Damon... Thank you. I'm... sorry I've been so horrible to you." She looked up at him, chin on his chest.

"I'll live." He told her.