December 23

Rebekah

Klaus decided we should take the jet to New York City so we could do some Christmas shopping. We hopped on and roughly an hour later we were in the big apple. I decided to take advantage and get some new clothes to wear for the holiday. Stefan didn't seem to mind my modeling for him at all. I used his heart rate to make my decision and when I modeled a cute little black dress with tone-on-tone stripes and his eyebrow shot up I knew I had picked the right one.

We split up so that we could buy gifts for our significant others. Elijah and Kol went together, Stefan and Klaus, Bonnie and Elena leaving Caroline and I to go together. We had decided to meet up at Rockefeller center at lunchtime.

"What on earth am I going to get Stefan?" I worried.

"I think I'm going to get Klaus a bunch of painting and sketching supplies," Caroline said.

"He has been painting a lot lately," I agreed. Klaus would love anything the little blonde baby vamp got him.

"Well Stefan likes a lot of classic stuff. I mean I totally love his classic car," Caroline said. "On the other hand he journals like Elijah and Elena. Maybe you could get him a really nice pen."

"Oh I think I'll get him one of those and some other stuff," I said. I just had to channel Stefan as I browsed.

Bonnie

"Okay where do we need to go for you? I need an electronics store and then could you maybe get someone to deliver this to the plane?" I worried.

"You haven't compelled anyone yet?"

"I hate compelling people."

"But you want me to do it?"

"Well you've done it before!" I said. Elena frowned at me and then took out her cell phone.

"How about I just call the limo driver and have him deliver it? Now what exactly are you getting him anyhow?"

"I was thinking a limited edition Xbox One and a bunch of games," I offered.

"He'll love it," Elena grinned.

"What are you getting Elijah? Besides you of course," I winked at her.

"A suit?" Elena teased. We stepped into the electronics store and soon I was loaded down with a super heavy console and twelve games. Elena had insisted he needed several controllers, a headset and charger for the controllers. I was very happy to unload all that into the trunk of the limo - now just to help Elena.

Elijah

"So have you decided what you're going to get Elena?" Kol asked as the limo dropped us off and went to pick gifts up from Elena and Bonnie. "They're quick shoppers."

"They're women," I smiled gently. What was I going to get my future bride? Something beautiful for her to wear seemed like a good idea.

"I think jewelry," I smiled. "I want her to have something spectacular that's all hers."

"Great I was thinking jewelry too," Kol said. "Where do you get the good stuff here?" We went to Tiffany's and I examined a multitude of pieces from their collection before I finally found a necklace with an eight-karat pear shaped chocolate diamond the color of her eyes. I added a diamond bracelet for extra measure.

I looked over to find Kol collecting several small square boxes and one rectangular large one.

"Bonnie's going to have a good Christmas," I observed.

"I hope so," Kol grinned. A moment later Klaus and Stefan walked in to the store also. They looked a little surprised to see us.

"Hey this was my idea!" Kol exclaimed.

"Actually it was my idea," I said. "It hardly matters. Every one of them would be thrilled with jewelry."

I tried not to notice as Klaus began looking over engagement rings. Had my brother realized that he didn't want to be without Caroline Forbes? As he realized I was looking at him he motioned me over.

"You do realize that you're looking at engagement rings?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Yes," Klaus growled so low only the vampires could hear him. "How do you buy one of these damn things?" I laughed lightly which earned me a glare from my brother. I cleared my throat and reigned in my amusement at my brother's discomfort.

"Well if this is truly the route you wish to go my recommendation is to consider the recipient. When I bought Elena's I picked the one I did because it struck me as traditional and elegant. It reminded me of Elena." Klaus took this under consideration and continued to browse.

"Is he buying the ring?" Kol asked me where he was waiting for his bag of purchases all the way across the shop.

"It would seem so."

"Elijah I think you've set a precedent," Kol grinned.

"Is there a ring in one of those boxes?" I asked my youngest surviving sibling as I looked at the collection of boxes wrapped in Tiffany blue paper with decorative ribbon.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Kol grinned. I listened for his heartbeat and I had my answer.

Niklaus was still pouring over rings and the rest of us were finished so Kol and Stefan went to pick up some other goodies to go under the tree for the girls. I stayed until Klaus was finished and then we made our rounds to pick up the remainder of the gifts.

By the time we made it to Rockefeller Center Bonnie and Elena were already waiting. As we looked up the sidewalk we saw Rebekah and Caroline approaching both loaded down with large shopping bags. They had obviously gotten their hair done and indulged in a little retail therapy.

"Did you leave something for everyone else?" I teased Rebekah with a raised brow. "You look lovely."

"You noticed I got my hair done," my sister smiled. She smiled so much more these days and it made me happy. Perhaps Elena had been right about letting her be in love. She and Stefan Salvatore certainly seemed to be a good fit for one another.

We all had lunch while Kol and Caroline tried to weasel hints about their gifts. Then we went to the skating rink and all rented skates. Elena had never skated before so she held tightly to me as I brought us onto the rink.

"You can't really get hurt you know," I whispered in her ear as a reminder.

"Somehow my body doesn't believe either one of us," she replied and I smiled at her.

Caroline was obviously willing to try anything and once Klaus showed her what to do she was gliding along like a natural. Kol was skating carefully at Bonnie's side until he lost patience for the pace and he turned around and started skating backwards in front of her.

"Show off," she immediately denounced and he grinned at her. I was skating carefully along with Elena and about halfway around the rink she began to relax and her movements became more natural. That was about the time someone almost ran into us and Elena began to flounder. I pulled her against me to steady her.

"Mind your skates," I said gently. She looked up at me in question.

"Don't get your skates tangled up in mine or we'll both go over," I cautioned.

We started up again and skated for a couple of hours. Rebekah and Caroline fell in love with skating and they were both very good at it. Elena seemed to enjoy herself even if she never let go of my arm. Not that I minded the electricity that came with her closeness at all.

The sire bond between us just made everything else that much more enjoyable. Of course the difference was with a thousand years of experience I didn't let the bond control me and I didn't feel the need to control Elena. A younger vampire with less control – like one of the Salvatores – would have likely tried to control every aspect of Elena's life. The pull of the bond would have made their instinctive need to protect almost overwhelming. They likely would have suffocated her.

When we had finished skating we visited the Guggenheim and wandered around until dinner time. I slipped away and took Bonnie out for a little bite before dinner as she still needed to feed more frequently. I realized maybe I ought to have taken Elena when she ordered her steak rare.

The plane was loaded to capacity as we all boarded for our trip back to Mystic Falls. Everyone curled up with their significant other and we ended the evening with a glass of champagne.

"Okay now we're going to wrap these presents up ourselves," Caroline stressed mid-flight. "No taking them to a store and having them done like Rebekah says is the norm and no compelling anyone to wrap them for you." She gave a pointed look at my brother who held up his hands in defense.

"Well then there had better be some bloody instructions," Kol complained.

"I'll be happy to teach you," Bonnie smiled.

Alaric and Jeremy showed up for dinner. The women were ambitiously attempting to cook beef Wellington, roasted potatoes, some warm vegetable salad with artichoke hearts and asparagus involved and a risotto. We were all a glass of alcohol in when there was a knock at the door.