Chapter 5: Wannabe

The huge day had approached for Caroline Mikaelson; her store on Sunset Boulevard was finally opening. The night before she stayed up drawing predictions and possible outcomes. She wanted to make her goals financially. A small celebrity connect was supposed to be visiting the shop and that was the seed being planted for continuous business. As of now the blonde was shuffling through rose pink aprons. The problem was the shade of pink. Outraged she called her husband.

"This terrible assistant you hired ordered the absolute wrong color for my uniforms," She took a glance at her daughter eating a granola bar in her high seat and sighed, "So, whenever you, um get here please fire him, I hate being the bad guy and I'm gonna need him for the rest of the weekend since you're not here." There was a sad pause and put on her best smile as if her husband was standing right in front of her. "Anyways, I love you me and the girls are gonna kick ass this weekend." Voicemails were more intimate than 1-minute phone calls of Klaus saying he couldn't talk because the boss was giving him hell or their team had been exceeding.

Her store didn't officially open until 9 am, but it was 7 and she was running on virtually no sleep. The neurotic woman didn't have her doting husband to level her head, only her baby daughter was keeping her sane at this point. Caroline's morality hit a huge boost when she heard her doorbell ring. Her dear friend Katherine had arrived clad in a black skinny jumpsuit and low-tops. The blonde wasn't sure if the designer was necessarily durable in food service but the vixen was allergic to dressing down.

"Oh, my God," Caroline hugged Katherine, rejoicing, "I can't believe you made it and this early too," she looked at her outfit, "And fashionable, I guess you had enough."

"Is that a real door and bell," The Mikaelson wife looked above her, "We need to get that automated, that's just awful and outdated."

"Day one, and you already have complaints, welcome to the team," Caroline said sarcastically.

Katherine's baggy eyes were securely hidden behind her Fendi shades and she had hit up her nearby Starbucks to get a double espresso iced coffee to wake her up. Oh, and the outfit was an old Christmas gift from Elijah. She hated the material and begged for the receipt to take it back but he wouldn't let her. At the family dinner, she caused a scene by stripping down to her bra and panties to prove a useless point.

"Ignoring your dry humor, I said I'd be here early, didn't I?"

Katherine walked towards Henrietta.

"Kat-Kat!"

Katherine removed the toddler from the chair making googly faces at her and occasionally tickling her, the girl's mother watched in admiration. She knew Katherine loved Henri as she were own. The fact that she was rocking her on her slender hips proved to be true. Making herself visible Caroline said, "You know, it isn't that bad, Katherine." The woman was still making her niece laugh but she heard her friend loud and clear. After a few minutes, she placed the child back in her seat and kissed her forehead.

"I know, but I don't deserve motherhood, hell I even fail at wifehood. Let's face it, Caroline I would be a terrible mother," Katherine confessed bitterly.

Caroline walked over to her and said, "Things will change, I know it. You will guard your little girl with everything you've got, now come on."

She showed her the box of aprons and Katherine looked at them with disgust, "These are a pasty pink, they don't even go with your letter font."

Caroline rolled her eyes, "I know, but it's too short notice to order the hot pink ones; my assistant totally screwed up. He will be fired promptly when Klaus get back."

Katherine leaned on a baker's rack, with her arms crossed and stated earnestly, "Your last sentence, how is it waiting for him to come home?"

"I have my beautiful Henri but it's draining and really..."

"Lonely?"

"Yeah," Caroline sighed, "It's very lonely."

Elena's alarm sounded off loudly on a Saturday morning. Usually, she could sleep in and roll over to an empty, cool space on weekends. When her marriage hit a rough patch she slept in the other room and never returned to her actual marital bed. So, nothing about this space besides made her long for her husband, he never occupied it. One of the reasons the woman couldn't wake up when she wanted was because of her longtime friend, Caroline Forbes who was on a bladder tight schedule today.

But there was a reason why the space alongside her was lonely no more - Liam. Almost a month of dating and they ended up in the bedroom. Elena was no nun by any sort but she had been seriously sex deprived and then that depravity just turned into a sexless plateau. if she never got laid again, she came to a jarring conclusion that she would be okay. That's what toys were for. It wasn't unusual for a kiss to happen or her porch or his but when his hand landed on the door and the other underneath her thigh hoisting her up, she knew she had to let him in.

Elena felt great and liberated, she wanted to take this step for herself and her womanhood. What wasn't pleasant was various texts from Caroline, Katherine, and Bonnie. She was so dead. In a blinding rush, she put her satin pink robe on, tying it up tightly. Then she looked around anxiously; her loud looking ended up waking Liam up. He was still dreamy and sculpted as he was last night even with his ragged morning voice.

"Please, don't tell me you're kicking me out like some trashy ho'," He chuckled, watching her cover her face up.

"I really don't want to but I have this thing and- ugh," Elena stopped her sentence to see her phone vibrating on the nightstand, with Bonnie's name appearing. "Hi, Bonnie," She drew out the hi. There was short but firm words being heard from the other line. Liam took that as his cue to start dressing to leave. The brunette mouthed 'thank you' as he did so. Muatility was a great attribute to have in a relationship. Her friends were snappy and he understood that and took the steps necessary to help her avoid their wrath.

"She's gonna be here in five minutes," Elena announced with a pang of panic to her voice, running her fingers through her hair, "I have to shower in five minutes."

"Hey," Liam walked over to her cupping her face lovingly, "You got this, alright?"She sighed in semi-relief and smiled when he placed a kiss on her lips. These moments on the weekends were theirs, uninterrupted and she'd picked the most unavailable one to take their relationship to the next level. So, instinctively Elena wrapped her hands around his neck staring up at him with teasing eyes.

"Last night..." She trailed off, not knowing what to say finally. Without a doubt, she enjoyed it but wanted to see if their adjectives would sync. There was a pause and in between that silence, Elena's fingers played with the nape of his neck. It was something she did when with Stefan a lot. She could be reading a book and his eyes would be glued to some night sports game and her hands would find its way in his dirty blonde locks.

"Uh, it was way better than I expected." Her mouth dropped and the rubbing of the nape of the neck stopped abruptly.

"Could you elaborate?"

"Nothing, it just means you said you hadn't had sex in a while so I assumed that-"

"Oh, my god, you were expecting to screw the closest thing to a virgin, weren't you?" Elena asked, half-joking.

"You totally caught me," Liam replied, "So, how long was your dry spell?"

"Uh-uh, we don't have time for this. I have to shower and you just have to go."

Liam nodded and began to walk out before Elena instructed him to take the backdoor because of the neighborhood talks. No one knew besides her mother and Katherine about him and she wanted to keep it that way. He understood with her being married with a kid and all, she'd be judged harshly. Bagging a married woman only looks good on his end. Elena's shower was about a minute and a half and afterward, she slipped on some dark denim jeans and a white dress shirt. It seemed store-appropriate enough.

She stepped outside to Bonnie's white Audi being parked outside her house. The door was open so she stepped right in. The lawyer glared at her once, wordlessly scolding her and took off. A speeding ticket would be worth the trouble if it meant getting back to Caroline in due time. Elena reclined in her seat, thinking that she should be rolling in the bed right now with him. No, instead she was rushing him out of her home.

"We made a commitment to Caroline-" Bonnie stated, just to be cut off.

"No, we were forced to help out Caroline."

"Well, she can't make me do anything but I am always happy to help if I have the time and we agreed to go together and you pull this. So, what the hell happened, Elena?"

"To be honest," She started, feeling butterflies swell in her stomach. "I'm seeing someone."

A stoplight Bonnie was going to run through made her jerk the car, emitting a screeching noise on the front of the tires. "You what?"

"Bonnie, don't 'what' me, you're supposed to support me, you're like my big sister."

"Yes, and Stefan is like my literally my brother I can't support this, how long has this been going on?" Bonnie put sarcastic emphasis on 'like' and 'literally'.

"Bonnie, please he's such a great guy," Elena whined defensively, "Besides, you know how broken up I was about Stefan dating that Ivy woman."

"They're not dating, he told me they're friends." Some of that was true.

"Okay, not dating but definitely fucking," Elena responded sourly, "And Katherine said she saw them on a date the other night. I can do the same things he does, maybe I need an outlet too."

"Okay, but you can't do the same thing he does," Bonnie said, holding her finger up, "If he is dating her publically no one will bat an eyelash. You date around and..."

"'She's a bitch, kicked him out of his house just to sleep with the new guy in their bed.'" Elena exclaimed loudly, throwing her hands in the air.

"Wait, you slept with this guy?"

Elena awkwardly chuckled, scratching her head.

"Oh, did I say that? Bonnie, you know what, we're right by the storefront."

Bonnie parked and slammed her door, Elena soon followed her into the building. The bronze-skinned woman promised with serious eyes that they would discuss McDreamy later. They were greeted by a clearly upset and busy Caroline. The blonde didn't care to hear apologies or excuses and began assigning them jobs.

"Bonnie, you go to the back and help whoever's back there to unbox those cream puffs; they're flying off our shelves," Caroline smiled as she scurried past her and stared at Elena, deciding her punishment. The brunette rolled her eyes, this was high school all over again. Caroline needed to feel in charge which was why she had to orchestrate events this complex. It gave her a sense of character and lifted her spirits.

"You're on baby duty, and I think Henrietta has to potty. Obviously, I can't do it because I'm running a business here. This seems to be your expertise, so if you can please take her."

"You know, I had and have still goals before becoming a mother right, they can co-exist."

The blonde smiled tightly, "Right."

...

Caroline's store was a success; they made over $4800 in pastry sales alone. Her economic predictions skyrocketed, but she couldn't run the place by herself. The next step would be to hire a manager. Her girlfriends did the best they could. Katherine worked the front counter happily, it was an area where she can peacefully keep her nails. Elena may have been annoyed with the mother, but Henrietta was well behaved. Bonnie being the overachiever she is, excelled in the kitchen.

"Okay, you guys I totally had a full tip jar," The ex-model stated, wine glass in her hand."

"Yeah, a tip jar you weren't supposed to have," Caroline added.

"I can't help it, this face was born to bring in the dollars."

Caroline rolled her eyes but couldn't help but laugh along with Bonnie and Elena. It was 10:30 at night and they had all chipped in with cleaning - even Katherine and rewarded themselves with a bottle of white wine. Caroline reached out to Elena, "You know what? I'm sorry for that comment earlier, that was a complete low blow." The brunette shrugged, she was used to being the more mature out of the two, "It's fine. I'm doing fine, the lawyers are plotting but again I'm fine."

Katherine's face morphed into one of sympathy, "Oh, baby, it'll be okay. Besides, you'll have that hot doctor to comfort you in the meantime."

"Wait, what?' The blonde questioned, gasping and then looking at an indignant Bonnie. "Please don't tell me you knew about this too."

"Today," Bonnie nodded slowly feeling tired from the hard work from earlier and yawned, "I found out today, Care."

Elena felt all eyes on her and was about let out a huge sigh until Caroline's phone rang. She mouthed it was her husband and stepped out of the room. Klaus calling her first was one for the history books. Katherine's face twisted in a smirk and looked at her cousin, who visibly looked nervous. Ironically, it wasn't Elena who she asked a question towards.

"So, Bonnie dating while separated is recommended, right, in your legal opinion?"

"My firm never advised it, actually. Things got ugly in the courtroom and it makes it easier to claim infidelity."

"But exploring other...flavors might make people hastier to get the divorce over with?"

"Yes, it does but it also slows the process. A man, who wants to keep his new girlfriend and money, i.e not signing papers to divorce legally," Bonnie eyed Elena's anxious state and reassured her, "Not saying that's your situation because Stefan is really trying."

"If trying means having comfort pussy while I used to cry over the death of our marriage to sleep at then sure," Elena sat up straight, "Bonnie, where does your loyalty lie exactly?"

Katherine wanted to pat herself on the back right then and there, those two were making her job easy. The woman lived for confrontation; this was more fun than her ex-friends in the dressing room fighting for the last bump of coke. Her face was mildly entertained and Caroline came back looking bewildered at the new hostile environment. Katherine pointed at Bonnie and Elena and mouthed 'cat fight.' Caroline immediately took her seat, watching the fuckery unfold.

"This isn't the end for you two, so yes I'm biased because I see a happy ending for you two," The woman replied rather sincerely.

"Why? You saw how losing my child destroyed me when I started getting an ounce of emotional strength back...he threw that stupid party for me and got drunk."

"You were so angry that day," Caroline commented hollowly, "Stefan said you were doing better but you hardly talked to anyone, it wasn't adding up."

"I wasn't fine, I was grieving and letting my husband speak for me really wasn't a good choice."

"I miscarried too," Bonnie said softly, all the heads at the table turned to face her, "No one knew but me and Damon but we were gonna keep it a secret." She chuckled lowly, "I was glad we didn't tell anyone, I felt ashamed. Like why can't my body do what it's supposed to do, make babies! Anyways the doctors said that was probably might have been my only chance to have a kid. I was stunned and Damon berserk, demanding we see anyone who could offer a second opinion. Here I was, still speechless but it didn't hit me until I got home."

"Oh, my God," Katherine was the first one to hug the tearful woman, surprisingly, then Elena and Caroline.

"See? We have to talk about these things," The blonde said, while soothing Bonnie's back and broke from the group hug. "Which means you," she pointed at Elena, "need to stop with the 'I'm fine's, we need to know what's making you upset. And Bonnie, this is real life, you can rid the poker face, I swear we won't use your vulnerabilities against you."

"Okay," Bonnie said, wiping off a tear and sniffled, "Noted."

Caroline never said anything about disclosing secrets. That meant her attraction and pleasant relationship she shared with Enzo would remain hidden, Elena's full expedience with Liam would remain with her, Katherine's on and off affair with the Lockwood boy was under wraps still and if it were up to Bonnie, ultimately she'd take her entire history with Marcel with her to the grave.

Elena went over Bonnie's words multiple times in her head since Saturday. Had she made the right choice moving on so quickly? She wasn't sure really even in the evening of her picking up her son. The past two Sundays she'd park outside the apartment towers and wait for Jackson to be brought down by his father. Stefan always had a report for her, she wasn't sure if it genuine or he wanted an excuse to talk to her.

Today she decided that she would go upstairs to see him face to face.

...

"Hi," she greeted nicely.

Stefan closed the door behind, looking behind it for a second, it sounded like laughter from the apartment.

"Uh, hey Elena, what brings you up here?"

"I'm picking up Jackson, so where is he?" Elena asked, looking over his shoulder, raising a brow.

"You never came up here before to get him so..." He purposefully trailed off, failing to see her point.

"So, fine," Elena crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him earnestly, "I just wanted to see you because I miss you, like a lot."

Stefan felt vindicated and leaned on the door frame, "Keep going."

Elena rolled her eyes, "You're going to ruin the moment."

"Pretend like I'm not even here."

"It doesn't feel as though your presence is gone really. You're always there whether my stubborn ass likes it or not. I see you every time I look at our beautiful baby boy. I see you on the walls of our home, our pictures will never be erased. I see you in my wedding ring since you're the one who gave it to me. I see you in my dreams and the both of us having a reconciliation of sorts."

"Elena, don't."

She walked closer and dared, "Don't, what?"

"Don't do this, you know what you're doing. You say jump and I'm trying to reach the stars," Stefan replied shakily.

She bit her bottom lip and put her hands in her pockets thus keeping her distance.

"Bonnie has got me thinking about things and I know that I never stopped loving you."

"You uprooted my whole life for this. I couldn't get through you to you for months, we were sleeping in separate beds, I took off work indefinitely and I did that all for you hoping the storm would pass and it didn't. I made one mistake and you throw me out."

"I was grieving, I'm sorry."

"I was grieving too, damn it!" Stefan exclaimed, and proceeded to walk in a circle, he steadied himself crossing his arms and breathed in and out. The hallway echoed his words making Elena close her eyes and shudder at the impact.

"I lost a child earlier this year, too, all I wanted was for my wife to tell me it was going to be okay. I'm sorry for throwing you that party, it was wrong to pretend, I just wanted things to go back to normal."

"I've forgiven you for that...what I couldn't excuse is your drinking, it isn't a mistake, it's a pattern and I know you know that."

"I have been working on it," Stefan grumbled.

Elena cupped his face with both of her hands and kissed his forehead, "I believe you and I love you."

"I love you too."

The front door opened startling the two but enough to remove them from their embrace. It was their little one. His face lit up in glee, watching his parents being in close proximity of one another.

"Does this mean mommy and daddy are back together?"

"Go get your overnight bag," Stefan instructed, in a broad voice and the boy sprinted back inside.

Elena's arms were resting on Stefan's shoulder and her hands were crossed behind his head, massaging the nape of his neck. "I like your dad voice, it's totally hot." Stefan raised an eyebrow in amusement at the comment. "Well, I'm glad me disciplining our kid is a turn-on for you?" She rolled her eyes, he was such a goof. "That isn't what I mean, you're making a sound like some kind of freak."

"Ah, it's kind of too late for that."

"I meant your voice is so commanding, shows me you can really take charge."

"Hm, nice cover-up."

Jackson came rushing out with his bag and his mom's cardigan. "Okay, I'm ready, are we all going home?"

"I don't know, Elena, are we?"

"Sorry, not today but soon we will."

"He's been talking about your jacket all weekend long, I guess he wants to show how responsible he is by keeping up with it," Stefan pointed out/

Elena smiled turning to face her son and her face froze when she remembered the last time she wore the cardigan. it was last Sunday at Liam's, they cuddled on the couch. It warmed her heart thinking of the sweet recent memory. She got eye level with Jackson and asked, "Sweetie, thank you so much for finding this."

"Your friend gave it to me, mommy."

"Friend?" Stefan asked with his arms crossed.

"Yeah, he said he knew Mommy and-"

"Slow down, he?"

Jackson nodded slowly, hoping he hadn't said anything wrong.

Stefan held the bridge of his nose and turned his back towards his wife.

"For the love of God, Elena please tell me this friend has a distinct preference for men."