No One's POV
It was the day of the Miss Mystic Falls pageant, the Lockwood manor and grounds was bustling, the pageant girls upstairs finishing the final touches on their makeup, hair, and smoothing their dresses, the escorts waiting patiently (except Jeremy who had been summoned by Stefan to the Lockwood cellars unbeknown to everyone else), and Caroline was busy running around frantic.
"Are you certain you wish to-" Niklaus questions for, honestly Alexis lost count, leading her towards the backyard of the Lockwood manor.
"Nik, stop it." Alexis cuts off firmly. "Yes, I am certain. Are you going to deny me the chance to wear this beautiful dress you got me?"
Niklaus glances at the gorgeous dark plum, strapless dress, which had a partial open back, fitted to her upper body, before flowing down from the waist and fanned out in a princess flourish, which his mate wore.
"You make an excellent point, love." Niklaus says, pressing a kiss to his mate before leading her forward, Elijah quickly siding up to them on the other side, Finn and Kol falling in close beside, making Alexis feel like she was the President of the United States.
"Okay guys, how about you all... Relax a little… It's a pageant. Not war." Alexis deadpans.
They all just growl a little, telling Alexis that the answer was a definite fucking hell no.
"Or not…"
"Hey Alexis!" Rebekah greets. "I see you have your loyal guard dogs."
"Hey Bekah!" Alexis greets back as the Mikaelson men lead her to their table, smiling and laughing along with Rebekah, Rebekah and her getting along so much better now, dare she say they were actually friends; they even went shopping together occasionally when the brothers dared to let her escape the house.
"Ah, the Mikaelsons. The newest members of our lovely community… But certainly cherished… I wasn't aware you were… Back." Mayor Lockwood comes up to the Mikaelson table with a wide smile and overly cheery voice, no doubt wishing they had stayed gone. "I'm not acquainted with the newest member here… Are you... Family?"
"Alexis, this is Mayor Lockwood." Niklaus greets, arm curling tighter around Alexis. "Mayor Lockwood, as always, a pleasure to see you. This is our beautiful, lovely, Alexis. She is, many things to our family. Above all, my brothers and I's mate."
"Mate… I wasn't-" Mayor Lockwood looks uncertain.
"Supernatural beings… Your son, for example. We all have one, Mayor Lockwood. My brothers and I are fortunate to have found ours after thousands of years." Niklaus says, fingers trailing along Alexis' cheek as he kisses Alexis' temple.
"Nik!" Alexis complains, pushing Niklaus' face away, Niklaus simply grinning playfully. "You're a menace."
"I am indeed, love."
"I see…" Mayor Lockwood says, looking a bit shocked and unsure what to say next, but finally recovers. "So, are you planning to stay in town long?"
"We have some unfinished business. But perhaps not much longer. We will see how the wind blows, so to speak." Niklaus answers vaguely.
"Well, as the Mayor, I would not be doing my job if I did not offer any of my services." Mayor Lockwood offers.
"That is very generous Mayor Lockwood. We will let you know. However, I think we can handle it." Niklaus grins.
Walking outside, Caroline picks up several empty champagne glasses, walking over to a bus boy, an angry look on her face.
"Hey, why am I bussing your tables?" Caroline growls, nearly slamming the glasses onto his tray. "I said no empty glasses."
"Will you guys pick up the tempo!?" Caroline snaps her fingers to the orchestra. "This is a pageant, not a funeral."
Then, Caroline catches sight of the Originals chatting with Mayor Lockwood and a slightly vague familiar face sitting next to Niklaus, his arm curled around her, the girl leaning into him slightly; she was pretty Caroline admitted, perhaps too pretty, beautiful really.
And more than that, she looked good sitting next to the Original Hybrid in her plum dress, a perfect complement and match, Niklaus in a black tux with silver accented tie and shirt underneath; it was a picture of composure, royalty, a Queen next to a King.
Caroline shook her thoughts out of her head, she didn't like Niklaus, no, not at all, she loved Tyler, so why did she care if Niklaus had a date? Besides he probably compelled the poor girl.
But still… Caroline walked closer, pretending to mingle and check on guests and the pageant with her clipboard, suddenly stopping up short, her almost new vampire senses flaring in her mind; the Mikaelson brothers' scents were nearly screaming at her, rolling off the girl as if warning Caroline to back away slowly.
She couldn't walk away fast enough, highly uncomfortable, confusion swimming in her mind.
"I can't believe that I won." Hayley takes the tiara from its place and fakes a speech.
"I just want to thank the judges for seeing past the fact that I'm a raging bitch." Hayley snarks, nose curling up.
"You don't want to do that. Those girls will cut you. They have nails." Tyler warns.
"I have claws." Hayley says over confidently.
"Just come on." Tyler says, seeing his mom talking to Niklaus and getting worried, even if she couldn't be compelled, taking Hayley's hand and dragging her over to them.
"Ah, Tyler. The wayward son. To what do I owe this unpleasant surprise? Oh, and his little werewolf mistress." Niklaus asks, a smug smirk adorning his features.
Hayley snarls slightly, stepping forward one step, only to have Kol move, blocking her immediately from taking one step closer to his mate.
"Watch your step, wolf. I'll snap your neck right here. I don't care you who are. You're not special." Kol growls, eyes tinting darker.
"Hayley, knock it off." Tyler says, pulling Hayley back. "Klaus, what did you want with my mom?"
"Your mother? Oh, Mayor Lockwood was just greeting us. Nothing to worry your little mind about. You, on the other hand… Watch yourself. Heard a little story from one of my pack members. I'd stop it if I were you. None of my pack will follow you or your little werewolf princess. I know your plans to help them, Tyler. And it won't work. So stop, before you really piss me off and I do something you will regret."
"You don't give them a choice Klaus." Tyler grinds out.
"Oh, on the contrary. I did. I even told them how to break the sire bond. They declined. Now, run along little traitor. Last warning before I decapitate you and your wolf harlot." Niklaus growls, eyes flashing.
Tyler just glares before walking off stiffly.
"I really don't see it. Tramp." Kol offers, sitting back down, scooting closer to his mate's other side. "Really. You have a kid with that thing? And seriously… Elijah. You fall for her?"
"He's drunk. And in his defense, Nik doesn't know he can have a kid. I don't know what 'Lijah's excuse is. We can claim insanity." Alexis shrugs, feeling Niklaus curl an arm tighter around her, Elijah, however, chokes on his champagne, glaring at Kol from across the table, a look of revulsion coming across Elijah's face at the thought of Hayley; he preferred a lighter shade of brunette these days, and above all less bitchy and judgmental, he had heard Hayley's words to Tyler earlier as she picked up the pageant tiara, Alexis would never be like that, she was goodness, pure light, compassionate and fire all in one, god how he loved his precious Alexis.
"Here's an idea, love. We can go home right now and try for a whole litter of pups. Doesn't that sound nice?" Niklaus growls suggestively, nipping slightly at his mate.
Alexis nearly chokes on her own drink and food.
"Or… We can stay and watch the rest of the pageant. Also, I don't think your wolf gene works that way…"
"My idea sounds much better." Niklaus says, fingers toying at a stray strand of Alexis' hair.
"If you don't stop I'm going to throw my glass of champagne at your head Nik." Rebekah says, looking grossed out, making Alexis burst out laughing and then high fiving her. "God, you are disgusting. I hate my life sometimes." Rebekah adds.
"Hi, everyone, I'm Caroline Forbes." Caroline breaks in, calling attention to everyone. "As the reigning Miss Mystic Falls, it is my honor to introduce this year's Miss Mystic Court."
Music begins to play as the introduction begins.
"We begin the procession with Valerie Fell accompanied by Dylan Clark." The said pair walking in.
"Next, we have Amber Wolvertine accompanied by Hector Lindsay." Caroline introduces, the next couple coming in when Matt comes towards Elena.
"Have you seen Jeremy?" Matt asks.
"He's probably up there with the escorts." Elena says as Caroline continues introductions.
"Yeah, Caroline told me to wrangle the escorts. He's not here." Matt shakes his head.
"Did he tell you about his nightmares?" Matt questions.
"What nightmares?" Elena clearly doesn't know.
"The ones where he kills you." Matt informs.
"Katherine Wilson accompanied by Eric Hanson." Caroline says in the background, it getting close to April's introduction.
"I'll find him, but..." Elena says, now worried for April. "April's about to get abandoned."
"I got this." Matt says.
"Okay." Elena nods.
"And finally, we have a last minute entry, April Young accompanied by Jeremy Gilbert." Caroline easily goes with the flow.
April continues down the steps and looks for Jeremy, Caroline as well, only to have Matt walk to the escort line up, holding his arm out, April breathing a sigh of relief.
"Jeremy's running late." Matt whispers.
"I guess you'll do." April giggles lightly as Caroline looks worried, only to smile again for the crowd.
"You lead." Matt says.
April nods, the girls and escorts bowing to each other and beginning to dance.
Elena, still looking for Jeremy, catches Damon's eye before walking out of the crowd, Caroline walking out too as soon as she can get out of her host duties.
"Hey, what's with the last minute escort change? Where is Jeremy?" Caroline asks.
"I'm calling him right now." Elena says, indicating to her phone.
"By the way, have you all seen the Mikaelsons? Klaus is here with a date. A date! But she's not just their date. So I don't know what's up with that… It's totally weird, freaky. It's like their scent is all over her… I'm totally creepy out."
"What?" Damon questions, looking confused and surprised.
"Yeah, I went over there. Mayor Lockwood was talking to them. But I got closer and just- I was totally freaked out. Like my vampire senses were telling me to back off. I don't know. It was- it was just weird." Caroline says, throwing her hands up in the air.
"He's not picking up." Elena says, closing her phone.
"Do the math. Emo teen, open bar, it's fine." Damon shakes off. "So… Mikaelsons… Back to that Blondie…"
"Matt said that Jeremy's been having nightmares about killing vampires and he's been hiding it from me." Elena worries.
"Relax, I'm sure he's fine." Damon replies.
"I didn't get close enough. I walked away." Caroline says.
"Whose scents was it?" Damon pesters.
"All of them, Finn, Elijah, Klaus, and Kol."
"I don't know. I have a bad feeling." Elena still worries about Jeremy.
"If I'm not worried, you shouldn't be worried. Let it go. I'll go look for him." Damon assures.
"Okay." Elena shrugs finally giving up.
"I've only heard of it… Didn't actually think it was real…" Damon muses. "Hmm..."
Finally, Damon just walks away still thinking.
"Okay, you go home, I'm gonna start asking around here." Caroline orders.
"Maybe Damon's right. Maybe he grabbed a bottle from the bar and snuck off to the woods."
"No, Damon is never right. Damon is sneaky and manipulative and rude, but he's never right. How can you not see that?" Caroline denies.
"I don't know, but why do I think that you won't hesitate to tell me?"
"Fine, friend-tervention. I think your so-called "feelings" for Damon are really starting to cloud your judgment and I don't like it." Caroline puts her foot down. "And the thought of you two together really makes me want to barf."
"Wow, Caroline, thank you for making this very difficult time so much easier." Elena almost shouts at her friend, finally huffing and walking away.
"How did I become the bad guy?" Caroline questions to herself, feeling numb, simply standing there after Elena had walked off.
"I think that would be my cue to go talk to Caroline now." Alexis comments, seeing an opening to maybe approach the blonde vampire that wouldn't be hostile, the Mikaelsons and Alexis watching the little spat between Elena and Caroline from a distance at their table.
"Oh, no, angel. You're not going anywhere, but staying right here at this table with us, or being accompanied with us." Kol intervenes, arm catching around Alexis as she stands.
"Kol, I'll be fine." Alexis says, pushing Kol's hand from her waist, or attempting to, but his iron grasp holds strong.
"Not a chance, angel. She may be a baby vampire, but you're human. Also Jeremy, even if we're friends, is still now one of the Five."
"I'll be fine." Alexis repeats. "She needs some girl talk. And she won't talk to me if you'll all hovering. You can all, hover… From a distance. Like you know, some secret service agents or something… Deal? It isn't as if you can't use your super amazing Original badass-ness to rescue me if need be. You won't let me get hurt. Right?" That is said with a slight wide eyed look.
Kol only groans lightly, arm loosening around his mate's waist.
"Dangerous creature indeed." Kol mutters, sitting down almost petulantly.
"I'll be okay. Promise." Alexis says, smoothing out her dress and walking towards the baby blonde vampire.
"Hello Caroline, right?" Alexis introduces. "My name's Alexis. I don't believe we've actually officially met before."
"Alexis. Yes, it's Caroline." Caroline says, taking Alexis hand, gaze widening at the sight of Alexis, who now that she places Alexis, definitely remembers from the Mikaelson mansion, and things slot into place, gaze shifting to the Mikaelson table where the Mikaelson men all have eyes on her and Alexis intently.
"Ignore them. They- they're over protective." Alexis waves off.
"I- sorry, couldn't help but hear your- friend." Alexis tries. "And well… I know the Mikaelsons. Obviously. So I'm sure you believe we're on opposite sides. But, you look like you need someone to talk to, at least right now."
"Yeah… Well, that'd be nice." Caroline says, still looking nervously at the Mikaelsons.
"It's just, as her best friend, it is my duty to warn her when she's making a giant mistake, right? And now she's taking Damon's side on everything." Caroline complains, looking frustrated as Alexis and her walk by the pond on the Lockwood property, the Mikaelson men trailing behind and in front of them at a distance, very much like secret service would trail an important ambassador or president.
"So, being a vampire's changed her? You think?" Alexis asks, genuinely caring.
"But being a vampire only amplifies who you already are. It doesn't turn you into a completely different person." Caroline points out.
"That's true." Alexis nods. "But honestly Caroline, I know you'll probably just think it's because I'm Team Mikaelson or whatever… But, just hear me out for a second… If you really think deep, when was the last time the Salvatores and Elena did something that was truly for anyone but to save her? Look, I'm sure Elena was a good person, and is, in some way. And don't get me wrong, Nik- he's contributed to a big part; we could get into that later, to the reasons why, the backstory, but anyways… The way I see it, Elena mostly acts for selfish reasons but plays them off under a crusade of innocence and when things go bad won't own up to them. At least Niklaus knows he's trouble. You're a nice person Caroline, you're fierce, and you have a lot of potential to be a world changer. I know Nik saw something in you before, so I would hate for something like this town to hold you back."
"You know, you're a lot nicer than everyone says. Or I guess think... They don't know much about you. I think Bonnie and the Salvatores have only seen you like once." Caroline comments after a moment of silence, taking in Alexis' words.
"Yeah, I'm not sure if I should be offended or complimented at that…" Alexis snorts, laughing.
"Sorry. That wasn't supposed to- I wasn't supposed to say that." Caroline says, cringing slightly.
"It's fine." Alexis laughs again. "I know your friends don't probably like me. It's fine. Like I said, I'm too much Team Mikaelson for them."
"Can you tell me why you smell like them?"
"If you start sniffing me… They're bad enough, I swear to god." Alexis warns, hearing Kol and Niklaus snort back a laugh.
"What!? No. I just…" Caroline says, shaking her head. "That was rude of me. I'm sorry. I'm usually so much more… Put together. I guess Elena really, rattled me... And this pageant."
"Honestly, it's fine. So, I guess cat's out of the bag now… I'm their mate, Finn, Elijah, Niklaus, and Kol. It's kind of an anomaly. Not the mate thing, all vampires have one. Werewolves too I'm fairly sure. But the sharing thing. But you know, we make it work."
Wow... One of my longest chapters! Lols!
And a double update on top of it...
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