"What do you mean you're not coming? I don't need to remind you that your Miss Mystic Falls attendance record totally sucks. Caroline will kill me before hunting you down and killing you, if you miss this." I told Stefan over the phone as I watched Caroline walk down the stairs with a clipboard while she prepares for the pageant. "Besides, you're a founding family member, by definition you have to be here." I said as I put Nikolas played with Nikolas in his stroller making the baby giggle.

"Your sister and I broke up. By definition, I don't need to be anywhere." He told me.

"Cause that's not depressing." I told him sarcastically.

"Oh, I'm not depressed. I just want to rip into someone's artery and feed until I can't breathe anymore." He told me and I rolled my eyes.

"Well, you can't. As your friend, I am not going to let that happen. Try and sublimate. Find Bambi's mother or something." I told him and he chuckled before just sitting in silence for a moment.

"She said she has feelings for Damon." He told me after a moment of silence.

"You knew that was always a possibility Stefan." I reminded him.

"Elena's right, being a vampire really has changed her." Stefan told me.

"But I thought that being a vampire only heightened everything, not changed someone completely." I said. "Either way this is just another reason you need to cure her." I watched as Elena walked down the steps and made her way to our blonde friend. "Look, I got to go. Be careful. And remember, there is sublimating and then there is complete and total insanity."

"I'll be fine. Bye." He hung up and I shook my head at him before making sure Nikolas was covered up so he wouldn't get burned and joined the pair with him happily looking around in the stroller. When I got to them Elena was arranging flowers in a vase and Caroline was talking to her.

"Look, I'm your best friend and I would never pick sides, but are you sure that this is what you want? Because Stefan is your soul mate." Caroline told her. Elena gave the blonde a look and Caroline sighed. "Sorry. Picking sides."

"Elena you have never acted an interest in Damon before, why now?" I asked her.

"It's not like I don't love Stefan anymore, but I can't deny that ever since I turned, my feelings for Damon have become more intense." Elena told us.

"Yeah, I know. Stefan filled me in on all the gory details." I told her.

"He did?" she asked looking at me worried about her ex. "Is he okay?"

"Of course he isn't okay. He's heartbroken." I told her.

"Well, what was I supposed to do? Lie to him?" she asked.

"No, but you weren't supposed to let Damon weasel his way into your confused newbie vampire heart." Caroline told her.

"Well, he did and that's exactly what I am. Confused. I need to figure out what these feelings actually mean." She told us as a man walked up to us.

"Excuse me, I'm a little lost. I'm here to interview contestants." He told us.

"You're Professor Shane." Elena said and we all shared a look.

"Yeah, that's right. Professor by day; pageant judge by other day. In spite of being absurdly unqualified, I'm apparently awarding a scholarship." He said.

"Uh, inside by the parlor." Caroline told him.

"Right in here?" he asked pointing towards the house.

"Mhm." Caroline nodded.

"Alright, I'll just follow the scent of hairspray and world domination." He joked and Caroline laughed quietly as he walked away.

"He's the one who told Damon how to break the hunter's curse." Elena said.

"He's also the one that has Bonnie so obsessed with practicing magic that she bailed on pageant prep." Caroline added.

"And now he's judging Miss Mystic Falls?" Elena asked making Caroline raise her eyebrows. "Jack of all trades or kind of creepy?"

"I'll take kinda creepy for 200." I answered.

I moved away from the pair with Nikolas and sat at one of the tables so I could take him out of his stroller.

"You ready to come out of there little guy?" I asked him with a smile on my face. I undid the belt holding him in and picked him up and put him in my lap. "That is so much better, isn't it?"

"How did I know I'd find the two of you here?" I turned and saw Nik walking up to us and smiled lightly at him.

"Well, we do live with Caroline and Caroline is in charge of the pageant." I said. Nik sat down next to me. Nikolas reached for his father and I passed him over to Nik who smiled at his son.

"I was actually looking for you to ask what time I should pick you up tomorrow." He told me.

"I didn't know you were coming." I said.

"Well, I am a part of the town now and if my wife is going why can't I?" he asked.

"We aren't married yet." I reminded him.

"But we soon will be." He said with a smile on his face. "You said you didn't trust me. Allow me to try and gain that trust back." I sighed before smiling at him.

"Meet me here. 2 PM. Black tie optional." I told him before he passed Nikolas back to me.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Nicole." He said before kissing my cheek and walking away from us.


The next day I wore a tight light pink strapless dress that fell mid-thigh with sequence completely covering the bust. I put on my diamond dangle earings and a pink diamond bracelet Nik had bought me. I did my makeup naturally while making sure my eyes stood out. My natural curls were pulled half back with a few strands framing my face. I put on my silver heels and smiled at my son before turning to him in his little tuxedo. I put his shoes on him and picked him up.

"Are you all ready to go little guy?" I asked him. Caroline had left earlier so she could make sure everything was perfect for the pageant before others would arrive. Typical Caroline. I went outside and put him in his car seat before buckling up and leaving for the Lockwood Mansion. When I arrived at the pageant I got Nikolas out of his car seat and got my phone as it went off.

"Hello?"

"Hey, come to the prep room. April wants your opinion on her dress." Caroline told me. I smiled and agreed before meeting the two of them to see Elena was also with them. She smiled and took Nikolas from me and coddled him. April stood in front of us and showed us a red and blue dress.

"Blue." The two of them said.

"Red." I said.

"Really? The blue seems a little safe." April said to us.

"Exactly. Show off a little." I said.

"Safe is good when it comes to the judges." Elena told her giving me a look.

"She's right. Gracie Lockwood had a three foot slit her year and practically got laughed off the court." Caroline said making the two of us laugh.

"She got my vote." We turned and saw Damon in the doorway and Caroline threw a black thing at him, hitting him in the chest.

"Get out, lurker!" Caroline said before walking over to him.

"Ouch." Damon said sarcastically. "Where's Professor Shane?"

"Check the judges' table." Caroline told him before trying to close the door on him, but Damon put his hand up and pushed it back open.

"Red one, definitely." Damon told April. Caroline stopped in the middle of the room, midway between Elena and Damon with her arms crossed.

"We've already agreed that the red one is a little bit too showy." Caroline said looking at Elena.

"It's a pageant. That's the whole point." Damon said.

"Thank you." I said as Caroline looked at him and placed her hands on her hips.

"Did you win Miss Mystic last year? No. I don't think you did." Caroline reminded him.

"Neither did Elena and she wore blue." Damon countered.

"Nobody cares what you think." Caroline told him glaring.

"I care." April chimed in.

"See? April cares. Red, right, Elena?" Damon asked her. Caroline turned her glare to Elena and Elena looked at April and the dresses.

"The red is pretty." Elena said making Caroline's face fall, Damon smirk and me look at her confused.

"And my work here is done." Damon said walking out of the room.

"Uh, what happened to thirty seconds ago when you hated the red one? What happened to safe is good?" Caroline asked her. Elena looked at us with a glazed look over her eyes before shaking her head and turning back to April.

"Whichever one you want to wear, April." Elena said before handing me Nikolas and walking out of the room. Caroline turned to me, confusion all over her face.

"What just happened?" she asked me.

"We just saw her change for Damon." I said, just as confused. "She is right though, April." I said as I turned to the younger girl. "Whichever you want to where is fine." I then walked out of the room with Caroline behind me. Once outside I mingled with people I didn't care to speak to as I watched Caroline correct every little imperfect detail. None of people I spoke with interested me in the slightest, but mingling was important to live in this town like we did.

"Nicole." I stopped talking midsentence to see my fiancée in his black tux and smiled at him. The person I was speaking to looked between the two of us before walking away, completely forgotten.

"Nik." I said. "You look handsome." He smiled at me before looking over my shoulder.

"They didn't waste any time, did they?" I turned to see Tyler and Hayley and immediately looked to Caroline. I'd seen she'd noticed them and looked upset.

"Poor Care." I said with sadness in my voice.

"I could compel her sadness away." Nik offered.

"Don't." I told him. "Sometimes the pain of the past is what makes the largest difference in our lives." I said before we both walked to the stage as Caroline took her place.

"Hi, everyone, I'm Caroline Forbes." She said with a smile on her face. "As the reigning Miss Mystic Falls, it is my honor to introduce this year's Miss Mystic Court." Everyone applauded for the young girls in their different colored dresses before music started playing. "We begin the procession with Valerie Fell accompanied by Dylan Clark." There was a round of applause for Valerie as she walked down the stone steps, her escort meeting her before going to the dance floor. "Next, we have Amber Wolvertine accompanied by Hector Lindsay." Another round of applause is given for Amber.

"Is it like this every year?" Nik asked me.

"Most the time it's mostly founding families, so the number of girls who aren't this year is different but yeah." I said as another girl had been introduced causing more applause from everyone.

"Why don't they just drop the applications of girls who aren't founding families then?" he asked me. "It would make more sense."

"Because it would seem biased and we can't have that in today's age." I said.

"Perhaps not." He said and we shared a smile.

"Katherine Wilson accompanied by Eric Hanson." Caroline said causing another round of applause. I looked at the escorts expecting to see my brother and frowned in confusion when I didn't see him.

"Where's my brother?" I asked to no one as April started to descend the stairs in her red dress. "April's about to get abandoned."

"Perhaps someone will step in." Nik said.

"Not many will with the dance they have to do." I told him.

"And finally, we have a last minute entry, April Young accompanied by Jeremy Gilbert." April walked down the steps until she reached the last one before looking for Jeremy. I then saw Matt walk up to where the escorts had been lined up and held out his arm for April. Everyone applauded as April walked down the remainder of the stairs with a smile taking Matt's arm.

"See? Matt Donovan to the rescue." Nik said and I gave him a look.

"Matt's a good guy. Any girl would be lucky to have him on her arm." I told him as they lined up for the dance.

"Including you?" Nik asked me. I gave him a look as the music began and the court began the dance. I noticed Elena walk away with her phone out and handed Nikolas to Nik.

"I'll be right back." I said handing Nikolas to him before meeting up with her as Caroline did.

"Hey, what's with the last minute escort change?" Caroline asked her.

"Where is Jeremy?" I asked.

"I'm calling him right now." Elena said as Damon walked up to us. "He's not picking up."

"Do the math. Emo teen, open bar, it's fine." Damon said.

"Matt said that Jeremy's been having nightmares about killing vampires and he's been hiding it from me." Elena said and Caroline and I looked at her surprised as Damon shrugged it off.

"Relax, I'm sure he's fine." Damon told her.

"I don't know. I have a bad feeling." Elena told him.

"You aren't the only one." I said.

"If I'm not worried, you shouldn't be worried. Let it go. I'll go look for him." Damon told us.

"Okay." Elena agreed before Damon walked away.

"Okay, you go home, I'm gonna start asking around here." Caroline told us.

"Maybe Damon's right. Maybe he grabbed a bottle from the bar and snuck off to the woods." Elena said and I gave her a look.

"No, Damon is never right. Damon is sneaky and manipulative and rude, but he's never right." Caroline told her.

"Especially about not worrying about Jeremy. How can you not see that?" I asked her.

"I don't know, but why do I think that you won't hesitate to tell me?" she asked the two of us.

"Fine, friend and family-tervention." Caroline said before looking at me to start.

"I think your feelings for Damon are really starting to cloud your judgment about everything and I don't like it." I told her as Nik walked up to us. "And the thought of you two together really makes me want to leave town and never look back."

"Easy, love, you're making a scene." Nik told me.

"Wow, Nicole, thank you for making this very difficult time so much easier." Elena said before walking away.

"Could have been softer." Caroline said before walking the opposite direction from Elena. I just stared where they had been with a blank look on my face.

"How did I become the bad guy?" I asked as Nik moved in front of me with a smirk on his face.

"Let's get you a drink. I'll tell you all about being the bad guy." He told me before we walked away from the crowd. He handed me Nikolas as he swiped a bottle of champagne and two glasses in his hands.

"As family it is my [lace to warn her when I think she's making a giant mistake, right? And now she's taking Damon's side on everything." I finished explaining to Nik as we walked next to the large lake on the property.

"So, being a vampire's changed her?" Nik asked me.

"But being a vampire only amplifies who you already are. It doesn't turn you into a completely different person." I reminded him.

"It's very peculiar." Nik said and I saw him smirk and look as if he knew something I didn't.

"What's that look for?" I asked him.

"It'll all make sense eventually." He told me.

"Just hurry up and find the cure. I don't want to lose her forever." I told him sitting down on a stone bench. I placed Nikolas on the ground and watched him play in the grass as Nik placed the champagne down next to me.

"I'm working on it." He said sitting next to me and opened the bottle.

"Would you ever take it?" I asked watching our son play.

"Now, why would I want to cure myself of being the most powerful creature on the planet? Hm?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

"So there's not one single moment in your thousand years that you wanted to be human?" I asked him as he popped the cork off the champagne bottle.

"Life used to be a lot easier." He told me dodging the question. "Don't you miss the days of being free to do as you please without your family to judge everything you did?"

"How do you know what I did?" I asked him. "Did you have people watching us?"

"Of course not, but I know how Katerina's mind works." He told me.

"Ah, I see." I said smiling at him. He gave me a look telling me to say differently and I suddenly began to laugh. Nik smiled and laughed with me causing Nikolas to look at us confused before he started giggling. He poured us each a drink and we continued talking while laughing.


Later on, after the judge's had made their choice as to who would be the next Miss Mystic Falls, Nik, Nikolas and I made our way back to the large crowd of people as Carol and Caroline stood on the stage.

"And now, the moment you've been waiting for. Caroline, would you do the honors?" Carol asked handing the mic over to the young vampire, Elena standing behind her with the tiara on the pillow and a sash her in hands.

"This year's Miss Mystic Falls is…." Caroline opened the envelope as we waited for the name. "April Young." Everyone in the crowd applauded as April smiled and looked as if she was about to cry. I smiled at her happily. She deserved this bit of happiness after so much heartache. Caroline took the tiara off the cushion and walked over to April and placed in her black curls. I watched as Elena handed the sash and cushion to Carol before quickly walking off the stage. I wanted to follow her but I held my place next to Nik holding my son in my arms. As much as she was my family, so were the two with me now.

"I never answered your question earlier." Nik said and I turned to him and gave him a confused look. "If I ever thought about being human."

"Yes, you avoided the question." I reminded him.

"I've only ever thought about it twice. The first time, I was on a trek in the Andies, and a hummingbird flew up to me. It just hovered there, staring at me, its tiny heart was pattering like a machine gun. And I thought, what a thing, you know, to have to work that hard every day just to stay alive. To be constantly on the verge of death and how satisfying every day must be that it survived. The second time was when I saw our son born. A son I never thought I could have after my mother changed us into vampires." Nik placed his hand in Nikolas' dirty blonde hair and stared at me with his beautiful blue eyes. "I would rather have a single life with you instead of an eternity of misery alone." I smiled at him before we walked away and spent the rest of the day together.


"Nik." I said as he was turning away from me in front of Caroline's house that night. I drew a blank on what I had wanted to say and had to think as he turned back to me. "Would you like to take Nikolas for the night? I have a feeling Caroline will want to talk and it could lead to shouting." I said holding our son out to him.

"I would like it if you joined him back home with me." He told me as he took Nikolas and the bag I kept for all his stuff.

"Spend the day with me tomorrow." I told him. "Spending time with you today reminded me of the man I fell in love with. Show me more of him." I said before going inside only to see Stefan in the living room with Caroline. "Stefan, hey." I said with a smile as he poured a shot for himself and Caroline. "What happened?"

"Elena told him he needed to let her go." Caroline told him.

"And she's right. I just - I need to let go." Stefan said and I sat next to him.

"No, you're right, Stefan. It's not pretty and it's not easy, but you can't give up on her." Caroline said trying to cheer him up.

"Caroline, she looked me in the eye and she told me to move on." Stefan told her while drinking his shot.

"She's lost." I told him.

"Okay, you and her, epic. Her and Damon, ugh, God." Caroline said to him.

"There's something wrong with her. Just promise me you won't stop looking for the cure." I told him.

"Klaus won't let me even if I wanted to." Stefan reminded me as he placed his shot glass down and poured himself another one.

"Why does he care? He doesn't even want it." Caroline said and I thought of what he told me earlier that day.

"He wants to keep Elena human so that he can make more hybrids since he won't use Nicole." Stefan reminded her as she sat back as relaxed.

"He's gonna need them. Tyler's almost got all of them unsired." Caroline said and something suddenly came to me.

"Oh my God." I said catching the attention of both vampires. They both looked at me confused before Caroline seemed to realize the same thing.

"Oh. My. God." She said before standing up and pacing slowly.

"I was trying to understand why Nik was so intrigued by Damon and Elena. He said I would figure it out. This is what he was talking about." I told them both.

"What are you talking about?" Stefan asked.

"Think about it. Every time Elena's had a problem, Damon's been the magic solution." Caroline told him. "Today, Elena was worried about Jeremy. Who swoops in and tells her to relax? Damon. And she listens." She explained and he still looked confused. "When Elena started feeding, who said that she could only drink blood straight from the vein?"

"Damon." Stefan answered starting to realize what we were saying.

"And when she tried to drink from animals?" she asked him.

"She couldn't keep it down." Stefan answered.

"And blood bags?" I asked him remembering the close call at the funeral.

"Same thing." He answered.

"Name one vampire in the history of vampires who couldn't drink blood from a blood bag. Damon said she couldn't, so she couldn't." Caroline said.

"Damon likes the red dress. Elena likes the red dress." Caroline said.

"Damon says kill Connor and she kills Connor." Stefan said.

"What if it's possible? Damon's blood made her a vampire, right?" I asked and Stefan nodded. "It's rare, but it happens. What if this is one of those times?" I asked as Caroline sat down.

"What if this is really happening?" she asked.

"Elena's sired to Damon." Stefan said as he leaned forward.


So I know I pretty much ripped Caroline out of the beginning of the chapter with the phone call between her and Stefan but I wanted to show the growing friendship between Nicole and Stefan.