"What are you drinking?" I looked at the empty seat to my left at the British voice and saw a man sitting in it.

"Rum and coke." I told him and he smirked at me.

"You don't look twenty-one." he told me.

"I'll take that as a complement." I told him giving him a smirk of my own.

"Forgive me. Where are my manners? My name is Niklaus." he introduced himself stretching his hand out for me to take.

"Nicole Gilbert." I said taking his hand. "Pleasure to meet you." I said smiling at him.

"The pleasure's all mine, Nicole."


I stood in the large room in the back of the church breathing deeply, nerves raking my body.

"Are you alright?" Bekah, my maid of honor, asked me.

"Yea, just nervous. I mean I'm not getting cold feet or anything, I love Nik and I've never wanted anything more than I've wanted to be with him, but…" I said losing the words I wanted to say.

"Don't worry, I understand." She told me smiling at me. "Something else you should know, Nik is just as nervous as you are." I smiled at her before nearly laughing at her.

"I doubt that." I told her.

"Out of the two of us, I'm the only one allowed to see him right now. You'll just have to trust me." She said and I smiled at her. I heard the door opening and saw Elena, Caroline and Bonnie walk in.

"Hey." I said smiling at them. I was already in my dress, which also happened to be my mother's wedding dress. The dress was simple mermaid styled strapless dress that we had altered slightly to hug my upper body. It had a thick ribbon in ice blue around my waist and tied in a small bow letting the two thick pieces of the ribbon fall down the back of the dress. A hair comb we found mixed in with Ric's things was my something old, Isabel had worn it in her wedding. A necklace with a blue stone with a flame engraved in red and orange on it was my something new, given to me by Bonnie. Elena was letting me borrow her snowflake earings that had an orange tear drop stone dangling from it. And the ribbon was my something blue. Bekah's dress was ice blue, also mermaid style, with a small design in red. Everything matched a theme of Fire and Ice that we had agreed on, with Caroline watching over every little detail. She'd double checked everything with me to be finalized before implementing the plan agreed upon.

"So? How's the bride?" Caroline asked me with a wide smile on her face. They didn't support my decision to get married, but they agreed to pretend for my sake.

"Ball of nerves." I told them smiling.

"Well it's almost time so the photographer wanted to get some pre ceremony photos with you." She told me.

"Ok." I said nodding my head and Bekah left to go get the photographer and Jeremy.


"Niklaus is an unusual name." I said smiling at the man.

"Is that a bad thing?" he asked me smirking.

"Not at all." I said smiling. "It's too long though. It doesn't really roll off the tongue easily."

"Call me Klaus." he told me.

"No. I'll call you Nik." I said making him smirk at me.

"You're new in town, correct?" he asked me and I smiled.

"Yes. Am I that obvious?" I asked him.

"No, I just remember faces and I've never seen yours here before." he told me.

"That's quite a talent." I told him.

"Thank you. Would you like another drink?" he asked me. I looked down at my drink and noticed the glass was empty.

"I would love another drink. Thank you." I said.


The pictures didn't take long, 30 minutes at the most before the girls left leaving Jeremy, Bekah and I. Bekah handed me my red and blue rose bouquet with a smile on her face. We had no flower girl and Nikolas was our ring bearer but because he was so young he had false rings on the pillow he was playing with and while Elijah and Bekah held the rings. Nik and I had choosing each other's rings separately and we wouldn't know what the rings looked like until today. Finally the music started for Bekah to walk down the aisle pulling Nikolas in a wagon matching the wedding theme. Jeremy and I smiled at each other as they closed the doors on us so Nik wouldn't see me in my wedding dress until it was time for me to walk down the aisle.

"Are you ready for this?" he asked me.

"Too late to say no huh?" I joked making him laugh at me.

"It's never too late, but I don't think I'd let you say no." he told me and I gave him a confused look. "You're happy with him. Happier than I've seen you in a long time. So no it's not too late to say no, but I won't let you leave this church."

"Thank you. For supporting me even if you don't approve." I said smiling up at him.

"That's what little brothers are for." He told me. The music changed and it was our turn to walk down the aisle. I took a deep breath before the doors opened in front of us.


We laughed at a story he'd been telling me while we continued drinking.

"I can't believe he let you do that." I laughed. He'd been telling me how he and his brother had been practicing with swords and he'd cut his brother's belt off him.

"He didn't let me do it, I was just faster than he was." He told me as we calmed our laughing.

"I still can't believe you cut off his belt. I hope it wasn't expensive." I said.

"Nothing we couldn't fix at the time." He told me.

"Seems like a very happy memory, but you look sad about something." I said looking into his eyes.

"My brother and I don't speak anymore. Our fun was also ruined by my father. He was a strict man." He told me taking a drink from the drink he'd ordered.

"I have a twin sister and a younger brother who still live with my parents. I haven't seen them in two years." I said thinking of Elena and Jeremy.

"You have a twin sister?" he asked me and I nodded.

"Identical down to every last hair." I told him and he grew a thoughtful look on his face before smirking at his thoughts. "Nik?"

"Are you close to your sister?" he asked me.

"We were close, once. But something happened two years ago and I ran away from home, got my GED, and haven't looked back since." I told him.

"But you miss them." He said knowingly.

"Yea, I still miss them from time to time. When I see something Elena would like. Or a movie Jeremy would point out at one time or another." I said remembering when we were younger and I smiled at the memories.

"Why didn't you go and see them? You never know how long you have with you family before they can be taken from you." He said and I saw him get lost in his own memories.

"I have a goal they wouldn't understand."


Jeremy walked me down the aisle and I looked at Nik's amazed face a smile growing on my own. When I finally made my way to him we stared at each other for a moment before I turned to Jeremy who kissed my cheek before going to sit next to Elena. I turned to the officiant who smiled at everyone before having them sit.

"Today is a celebration. A celebration of love, of commitment, of friendship, of family, and of two people who are in it for forever." He said. "You don't have to have a ceremony to have a marriage. And when you think about it, the whole thing is kind of weird, right? You're standing on a stage, looking fancy, holding flowers, and being stared at by pretty much everyone who has meant anything to you in your life. So why do we do it? The marriage ceremony has been an important feature across nearly every culture, religion, generation, and society. We have thousands of important moments that happen throughout our lives, but this one is regarded as one so critical, we acknowledge its special status by sharing it with others. Why this moment? Because despite all of our differences, love is what we all share. It's the great unifier — our one universal truth. That no matter who we are, where we've come from, what we believe, we know this one thing: love is what we're doing right. That's why you both are standing here. That's why you all are here to watch them stand up here. We have all loved in our lifetimes, and in this moment, we're reminded that the ability to love is the very best part of our humanity. All of us here today have our own love stories. Some are short, others long. Some are yet unwritten, while others are just getting to the good part. There are chapters in all of our stories that are sad or disappointing — and others that are exciting and full of adventure. Nicole and Klaus met in a bar over a year ago and bonded that night, enough to meet each other again the next night and repeatedly and now they are standing here before you. A time to pause, look back, and smile at all the moments that brought them here. And a time to look ahead at all the moments that are still to come. I'm here — we're all here — because we want those moments for you. We're here to hope with you, to support you, to be proud of you, and to remind you that love isn't happily ever after, love is the experience of writing your story. It's not one moment — not even this moment. It's every moment. Big ones like saying "I love you," moving in together, getting engaged — but mostly a million little ones that come in between the big moments. Falling asleep next to one another, making dinner together, spending holidays with your families, binge-watching Netflix shows, getting a big hug when you get home from work… These everyday moments fuse together into one big experience. And even though this experience is so incredible, words fail us when we try and explain it. That's just the way it is with love — it's meant to be felt, not described. But trying to describe love is one of our favorite pastimes. We use the words we have to write stories, and poems, and songs about love. And even though we describe love in different ways — and even though love can look different from one person to the next — we all know it when we see it. And we see it here. Klaus, Nicole, you fell in love by chance, but you're here today because you're making a choice. You both are choosing each other. You've chosen to be with someone who enhances you, who makes you think, makes you smile, and makes every day brighter. You're about to make promises to each other that you intend to keep. You're going to vow to take care of each other, to stand up for one another, and find happiness in the other. There's a simple premise to each of these promises: you're vowing to be there. You're teaming up and saying to the other, "Every experience I am going to have, I want you to be a part of." The couple have chosen to write their own vows to each other. Klaus, if you will read your first." We faced each other and he held my hands in his, smiling down at me.

"Nicole, you are the love of my life I never knew I'd find. You are the missing half of my soul that I never knew was gone. And today I ask you to be my wife, my partner, my strength, for the rest of our days. I promise our lives will be filled with laughter and love. And we will share our joy with our family and friends. I will be loyal to you. I will love and adore you. I will help you achieve your dream, and to pursue your heart's desire. I will laugh with you, and cry with you. I will strive to bring out the best in you, and to always see the best in you. For you I will be the best possible version of myself everyday as your husband." He told me and I had to dab a few tears off my face. Elijah passed the ring to Nik and he placed it on my finger. "With this ring, I show to the world I will stay by your side and love you, Always and Forever." The ring had a gold band and the stone seemed to glow red and blue.

"Nicole."

"Nik, when I was looking to write my vow I was going to quote some famous author or tell a love story that epitomizes our fated tale. However, I couldn't because everything I found gave no justice to the way I feel when I'm with you. None of them live up to the way my skin shivers when you smile at me or how bad my face hurts from smiling after one of your jokes. Neither of us believe in love at first sight. We didn't have that. We knew each other before there was ever love in our hearts for each other. I do believe in love at first kiss though. I didn't want to admit it then, but I loved you from the moment you kissed me. I never thought you would do it, and when you did, it was like my heart came alive. I never could have dreamed that I would love someone as much as I love you. Thank you for loving me. Because of your love I feel like I can face anything, so for that I promise myself to you. I promise to always give you my kisses, my smiles, my hugs, my laughter, my tears, my hopes, and my fears. I promise I will say I'm sorry when I am wrong and to forgive you when you are. I won't try to stop you from falling, but I will help you up afterwards. I vow to always support your dreams, even if they scare me. I will always encourage you to be a better man, to reach your goals and to live your life in a way that will make our family proud. I promise to always say 'I love you,' even if we fight, because you should always know how much you mean to me. I vow to always smile when you laugh and hug you when you cry. I swear to never take you for granted and will always say thank you for everything you do and all the love you give. I will always hold your hand because when you hold mine, my nerves calm, I sleep better, and though not all may be right with the world, all is right with us." I turned to Bekah who gave me Nik's ring and I placed it on his finger. "Above all: I will love you… Always and Forever." I said, repeating the promise he and his siblings shared all those years ago. His ring was a plain gold ring with Always and Forever engraved inside.

"You've both chosen to wear rings as a reminder of these promises. People often say wedding bands are a perfect circle, with no beginning and no end. But these rings did have a beginning. The stones were formed a long time ago deep with the earth. Eventually, a series of lucky events caused them to rise to the surface, where someone dug them up. Metal was then liquefied in a furnace at a thousand degrees — molded, cooled, and painstakingly polished. Something beautiful was made from raw elements. Love is like that. It comes from humble beginnings, and through a combination of serendipity and effort, imperfect beings shape it into something extraordinary. It's the process of making something beautiful where there was once nothing at all. As you look at these rings over the years, I hope you remember that. You've created something invaluable, and just as I know you'll protect these rings, I'm confident you'll protect the commitments you've made to one other today. By the power vested in me by the state of Virginia, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your bride." Nik pulled me close to him and we kissed each other deeply. We pulled apart and I smiled at him as the small crowd cheered for us. "My I have the honor of being the first to introduce Mr. and Mrs. Klaus and Nicole Mikaelson." We walked down the aisle arm in arm before leaving for the large room Bekah and I had prepared in. We didn't do a recession line instead we'd wait for the reception for everyone to bombard us. We had another photo op moment with family and the wedding party before we all left for the reception. The reception held the same theme as the ceremony of fire and ice. The ceiling looked to have icicles pointing downward to the fog covered floor. Tables lined the walls with white table and chair clothes tied off with red cloth. There were candles that looked to be made of ice with bright flames in the center of tables. People were mingling around before they noticed we were in the room.

"Hey everyone!" I heard Jeremy calling out before grabbing a mic from a stage I hadn't noticed. "I want to introduce Mr. and Mrs. Klaus Mikaelson!" everyone applauded as we made our way into the room. We immediately started mingling with everyone who'd shown up stealing smiles and glances at each other through the crowd. As time went on toasts were made, dancing was done and we were on our way home Elena watching Caroline watching Nikolas for the night. Elijah dropped us of at the manor and Nik picked me up bridal style making me laugh as we walked in the door way.


"Welcome home Mrs. Mikaelson." Nik said.

"Welcome home Mr. Mikaelson." I said before he used his vampire speed to go to our room.