Chapter 6: Dog With A Bone

Katherine had been being a faithful wife for the past month, so she wanted to reward herself with shopping. She loved Elijah but it would be a lie to say she didn't marry him for security. She felt like she was giving up her model career for something more concrete when she accepted his proposal. He needed affection and a clean image and she needed to maintain her lavish lifestyle. It was symbiotic in the finest sense. The days he left the house in his typical grey suit to make a living, she was alone and bored. And his off days were even about work as they went to various events of his co-workers where she had to act wifely.

It was torture being someone she wasn't - couth and respectful.

Her right-hand woman, Caroline, was unavailable due to running her store. Sure, Katherine was proud of her friend but she severely missed her presence and it was only Tuesday. Typical women were getting ready for an exhausting 8 hour day or already on the clock. She prided herself in not being the common woman, so shopping was a way to financially and socially shit on them.

Today she decided her co-shopper would be Elena, they didn't have much in common really. But Katherine had been interested in her upcoming divorce. She'd never been through a legal divorce but she did know a thing or ten about squeezing a man for everything he's worth. It was quite literally a 2-minute drive from her house to Elena's and she still honked her horn obnoxiously.

"Really, Katherine?"

"Hurry up, get in. I have a nail appointment at 2."

Elena rolled her eyes at the dramatic deadline - it was barely noon. She was canceling lunch with Liam for this.

"So, you'll be back home in time to see your little...what's his name again? Oh, Jackson, little Jax."

Elena cleared her throat, "He's with Bonnie and Damon for the week, it's probably for the best considering that the hearing is Friday."

"Wait," Katherine said in disbelief, "They just take your kid off your hands and you're scott-free?"

"No, it isn't like that and they spend time with Jackson all the time, they're his godparents and things are about to get messy. I don't want him to see me act so hostile."

"You never asked me to be his godparent. He's such a cute kid."

"Bonnie and Damon, no matter how much they've upset me with this divorce situation, have supported Stefan and I over the years, I couldn't imagine a better couple to look after him if something happened to us," Elena responded, honestly.

"Damon, what the hell is this?" Bonnie exclaimed from the basement, holding pink socks. She had given him a simple chore; wash at least a basket of dirty clothes. He did just that but never separated the whites from colors. Bonnie was livid at the carelessness, all Damon did was complain about them firing their maids when there was no reason to. Not that he knew the reason why anyway.

After her sprint ascending the stairs, Bonnie breathed out, "This is a basic rule of laundry and you've ruined all of our white socks so thanks for that." She placed her hands overhead and navigated to her kitchen where she saw her husband and her nephew sitting at the table. Damon had been helping him with his homework and she began tapping her foot. She held a pink sock in her hand, twirling it around because it was an abnormal new color.

"Oh, Bonnie didn't even see you there," Damon said looking up to see the colored sock, "Oops."

"Yeah, we're low on socks, so thanks."

Deciding to not waste any more time on the matter, she grabbed a water from the fridge to quench her thirst. She leaned against the metal frame of the freezer, taking note of how attentive her husband was the kid. A part of her felt bad for him, she couldn't give him his own Damon Jr. The other side of her wanted him to burn in Hell before she put herself through fertility treatments.

"You guys please don't fight like mommy and daddy. If something happens to them and you, I'll be forced to live with Auntie Katherine and she says she can't raise a little boy because she can't dress them up," Jackson said in one breath.

Bonnie and Damon shared a confused look and then laughed, reassuring the first-grader nothing would happen to his parents or them. Jackson nodded and scattered off to go put his schoolwork away. Truthfully, telling him that nothing would happen was to soothe the little boy's fear, divorces could get messy. Also, Bonnie wasn't really sure which couple or both would survive. One's problems had been acknowledged by the California common law and the other stayed hopefully under wraps forever. Damon reached out his hand to pull out a chair for his wife.

Just before she could gleefully sit down, Damon loudly slapped her ass resulting in an irritated glare.

"I'm hungry."

"You're annoying."

"You love me," He teased; his eyebrows flared jokingly.

"Unfortunately," She replied in a monotonous voice, "And order some takeout I'm not cooking after that laundry mishap."

"I am on a strict diet, I can't do fried foods this week!" Damon cried out.

"Since when? You had tacos today!" She argued back, calling out his hypocrisy.

"It's Taco Tuesday, I made an exception, you see."

Bonnie pointed at him, her fingers daring to poke him in the eye.

"Ugh, Damon you are just unbelievable."

Jackson came back to the table and sat there with his hands folded, flashing his best smile.

"Can we have tacos for dinner?"

"No, I'm ordering a pizza, one that your uncle can't eat because of his new diet."

Damon; looked at the boy, "Hey, now that your Aunt Bonnie is back don't you wanna continue that story?"

"What story?"

"Um, it's a story about mommy and her friend and how mad daddy was," Jackson replied looking down at his feet, "I think I made my parents break up again."

"Oh sweetie," Bonnie said, hugging him, they released and she asked, "Tacos, right?"

Jackson nodded happily and continued his story from Sunday. Bonnie and Damon gave each other side eye exchanges at every morsel of new information. Using the son of people they loved dearly as a vessel for their nosy needs was in bad taste, sure. But they convinced themselves they were doing it for a great cause. After Stefan shortly found out Elena's friend wasn't really a friend, the fighting intensified. He didn't want some guy around his kid understandably but Jackson stayed with Elena, that was their agreement.

"Mommy tried to run him over because he was blocking her from pulling out and I was yelling telling her not to hurt Daddy."

"Oh, wow..." The doorbell rang and Bonnie got up, getting their food.

"It isn't true love if you don't try to kill each other at least once," Damon stated, trying to find the light in the situation.

Bonnie sighed, walking back to the kitchen placing the brown bag of Mexican food on the table. She turned towards Jackson, "You know what you can eat your room tonight." The boy quickly grabbed his food and ran, ready to gorge on it and watch TV. Bonnie called out, "Just make sure to clean up after yourself."

"We did something morally ambiguous for-"

Bonnie stuffed a taco in her mouth after saying, "Don't even, I've done worse in court."

Caroline had gone through the interview process about a dozen times. No one had stolen the position yet. She was fed up with her husband's schedule so she might have taken it out on an interviewee or two. It'd been two days since his business trip from Jersey and he hadn't come to visit the store. The store he purchased was going to be run by his wife solely and he didn't want a penny from it. After a verbal tussle, he ended up watching their little girl for the day.

The blonde hoped that they would be productive and go to the park. Since she was with the toddler most of the time, she could never be the fun parent. children needed to be nagged and disciplined so they wouldn't navigate the world aimlessly. She was scared of Henrietta resenting them both when she got older because her father and work became synonymous.

The clock struck 5 and Caroline yawned, "You guys I think I'm gonna go home, I'm just a phone call if you need me," she began grabbing her purse.

"Wait Misses Mikaelson, someone's on the phone," A worker with a high-pitched voice alerted. Maybe she was nervous about interrupting the boss.

Caroline suppressed an irritated eye roll, she was done for the day, who the hell would want her?

"Hi, I am leaving for the day, so if you're in talks of the store manager position please call us back tomorrow at 10 am."

The man on the line asked with mischief dripping from his voice, "Not even for me, sunshine?"

"Enzo," she grimaced, "What possible culinary experience do you have?"

"Plenty of it and you're looking help aren't you?"

The blonde looked at one of her employees rolling out a box of frozen bread from the freezer and sighed, "Monday morning, be here at 10:30."

The dark-haired English man gasped dramatically, "Would the big bad wolf approve of that time? You know night time is his calling..."

Caroline bit her lip to stifle her laughter, it would have been the first time day all day she felt an unrestrained joy. She coughed and pushed a thread-like hair behind her ear and said, "Now it's 9 am since you want to be a complete doofus. Bring a complete resume and be on time or the interview is off." She then ended the call by slamming the phone on the hook. Everyone looked at her for a second and continued back working. Little did they know that sudden change in Caroline's attitude was because she was playing with fire.

The blonde walked into her two-story home after a long drive from Beverly Hills, which consisted of her singing along to Taylor Swift's latest album. It would be something silly she'd do with her daughter. She enjoyed the brief time alone but she wanted to be home with her family again. Closing her front door she yelled out, "Sweetie, I'm home!" Her husband emerged from the kitchen with their blonde sleeping toddler and whispered, "Could you be any louder, Caroline?"

She deadpanned, "Please don't tell me you've been here all day with her."

"I'll tell you about our long day after I put her in bed," Klaus said while ascending the steps softly.

Caroline's heart swooned; he was so patient and loving with her Henri. Since there would be no family time, she grabbed a bottle of delicious white wine for them to sip on. She turned the television to some basketball game. She then looked down at her outfit. Oh, God I still have flour on me from work. totally not husband appealing. In a hurry, she ran to her bedroom to pick some standard pajamas. She didn't find a reason to lounge in her home in something sexy. After her shower and changing, she saw her life partner on the living room couch.

"Hey, don't get started without me, scootch over," The wife commanded, swooshing her husband to make room for her.

"Sorry, love this game is really intriguing," He said, his eyes still glued to the screen.

"Since when have you cared for American sports?"

"I've had to assimilate to your culture since the day I've laid my eyes on you," He looked at her with a beaming smile and pecked her nose. She thought the gesture was cute enough to equal a smile with just as much corniness.

"So, my love how was your day with our love?" She asked properly.

Klaus folded his arms and sighed, glancing at his feet and stated, "We are raising a tyrant," his eyes followed his wife's who was roaring in laughter, "I am so serious, she goes to the poor worker who gave her the wrong ice cream by mistake, 'You're gonna have to make me another one or else,' and gives him the most deadliest eyes, Caroline, you should have seen it."

"Yeah," Caroline tightly smiled, "I should have been, this look for managers has been ugly."

"We'll get through it, in the meantime, I don't want my little girl growing up in a kitchen, we need a nanny."

"Oh," Caroline said, deflated, "But we're doing so well- I mean I was, I and Henri used to spend every day together."

"That was before you became a businesswoman in your own right, you put your career on hold for almost 4 years."

"But, I-"

"Ah, nothing, we're hiring help, we need it."

"Or you could just work less, that's an option."

"Caroline..." He started. almost rolling his eyes at the suggestion.

"No," she stood up, "Tell your jerk of a boss that you need to spend more time with your family - notice how he doesn't have one because his wife left him!"

"And what does that have to do with us?" Klaus yelled out.

"Patterns exist for a reason," she said, moving her hands rapidly, providing emphasis for her statement.

Klaus sat back and looked dazed, his wife had just given him an ultimatum - less work or no family.

Katherine had tugged a less enthusiastic Elena all over the avenue. The woman hadn't bought anything on Rodeo Drive, not even a bracelet. In contrast to Katherine's several (colored coded) shopping bags. She enjoyed buying items for herself, her favorite aspect of modeling was the novelty of it all - she would never wear the clothes ever again. She had that one night, one audience and one runaway to impress. Elena yawned, "Are we done yet?"

"No, we aren't leaving until you buy something," Katherine protested, pulling her cousin forcibly to some high-end store, "I think Valentino is more up your alley." The younger woman almost gagged and wiggled out of Katherine's hold. She clearly didn't want to be there much to her relative's dismay. A team member approached them genially, "Hello, ladies what can I help with you today?"

"Nothing at all sir, we-"

"Hi, Katherine Mikaelson, here," she extended her hand out, exchanging pleasantries and informed, "My sister here needs a totally hot court look, something that makes her pop out but she absolutely can't look better than me."

"Yeah," Elena mumbled, with her arms crossed, "Go ahead and speak for me."

"Of course, let me show you something just her alleyway," He said, ushering them towards the dresses, "May I ask what's the occasion, some of these screams "I didn't do it" or "Please, Judge let me keep custody of little Timmy, the nannies will raise him up anyway"."

Katherine laughed and looked at Elena's unamused face and her face turned to a straight line.

"Okay, it's for divorce, I know you have on for that, Michael."

"Hmm, divorce you said...We have a new arrival for that exact occasion, I'll go to the back."

The ex-model did a small victory dance which resulted in Elena raising an eyebrow at her movements. Katherine shoved at her, "Bitch, he's getting you something not even in stock yet, please be happy."

"That's never happened for me before, so I guess it's a feat."

"Yeah," Katherine poked at her arm repeatedly at each word she said, "Because you don't shop."

"I don't have time with being a full-time mom and all," Elena shrugged.

"You had Rita," Katherine pointed out.

"And she was wonderful, I send her flowers every month since I let her go."

Michael came back with a dress in a zipped sleeve, he unzipped it for a dramatic reveal, showing a black, sleeveless dress. Both of their eyes widened in awe, it was basic but yet rich in material. The man handed it to Elena, making sure the hefty price tag was sticking out. "Wait, before I give this to you, did you file or did he? You're supposed to be attending your marriage's funeral essentially."

"I did," Elena said, almost proud in a sense, thanking him for the selection and grabbing the dress from his hand.

"You get him, girl," Michael pointed to the cashier, "she'll take you."

The price of the dress until it was scanned, it made Elena weary but not enough for her to put it back, shamefully. Elena swiped her card just for a few seconds later to hear that her credit card had been declined. She hardly used it, her main source of money came from her debit card or sometimes cash. Katherine looked at the declined symbol and asked curtly again to run the card.

"She never uses this card, something is wrong with your system," The curly-haired woman snapped, slamming her hand on the table not caring if she caused a scene.

"Look, lady, it says the credit card can't be used," The cashier snapped back.

Katherine gave the worker a death glare and turned towards Elena and whispered, "Go check your credit history and let me handle this bitch."

Elena nodded heading out discreetly as she could while being watched by customers. She quickly searched for her credit card company's number in her contacts and talked to a representative. After a series of security questions, she was informed that her husband canceled the card Monday morning. She heatedly hung up with them and began dialing the man who she promised eternity with.

Katherine's eyes widened in shock at the number of curse words slipping out of Elena's mouth. It didn't take many IQ points to find out what happened to the woman's credit card. Her holding the dress hopefully would lift her cousin's spirits.

"You asshole! I never use this card and the exact moment I want to treat myself is coincidentally when you decide to cancel it. Right on time, husband of the year right on fucking time. Forget our talk in August when Jackson started school about me not going overboard with alimony because hear me out Stefan Salvatore: Game's on!"

Katherine slow clapped, with a proud smile sporting her face. Elena facepalmed, she was still slightly panting at all the words she said without breathing. Honestly, she didn't think she could muster all of that rage. but she felt a strange empowering euphoria from it, speaking up for herself even if it was over voicemail. Katherine opened her car door to hang the elite dress up on a hook. She got into the driver's seat and began to speed off.

COURT DAY

Bonnie and Damon accompanied Stefan while he prepped for his hearing today. His lawyer hadn't been there to officially talk strategy but they still served the great company. It was barely 11 am and he wanted to stay in bed all day like a child on Saturday morning. Damon slapped his younger brother on the back hard, "Today's the big day, bro, you're gonna be drained for everything you've got," he looked around the apartment, "Even this beauty."

"This looks like our old apartment complex," Bonnie commented coolly.

"Nah, babe ours were across the street," Damon swiftly lied and stared at Stefan, signaling him not to say anything. The sandy-haired male followed the signal but would question his brother of it later. Now he was going to be dividing assets and a kid.

"So," Bonnie sat down, with her legs crossed, "What do you want out of your shared belongings?"

"Well, I wanted my wife back but that's clearly not happening," Stefan grumbled.

"I put faith in you and you fumbled it."

"Massively fumbled," Damon said, "We don't like hanging out with the losing team and spoiler alert: the losing team is you."

"How the hell was I supposed to know Ivy's impromptu visit would lead Elena to-"

"Jumping into another's arms? Yeah, I'm surprised you haven't chugged the bottle already."

"Damon," Bonnie said, disapprovingly.

The younger Salvatore humorlessly laughed running his finger through his hair, "Damon, keep on with your unnecessary commentary, I swear to God you don't want to see me when I'm on edge."

The raven-haired man threw his hands up, feigning fear, "Oh, Stefan, so scary with your empty threats."

"It's not a threat, it's a promise. Know that."

The two brothers held a menacing stare at one another.

"Stop," Bonnie said aloud, breaking up the tension, "We're here for moral support not to argue."

"Fine," Damon agreed, "We're here for you, this sucks and we sympathize with you a lot but you brought this on yourself, honestly."

"Yes, like canceling her credit card what the hell was that?" Bonnie asked.

"I thought you and Elena weren't talking," Damon questioned confusedly.

"I found out from Katherine."

"She hardly uses it, I was still so mad from Sunday and I ended up canceling it before I went off to work. I wanted to apologize to her and make things right but you already know how that voicemail went down."

Bonnie and Damon silently nodded, knowing there was wreckage coming before them. They drove Stefan to the courthouse. Elena's car was parked but she was near it talking to her lawyer, Ben McKittrick, one that Bonnie recommended pre-them-not-talking. The 30-something woman waved a hand at someone who she considered a sister only to get a half-hearted smile. Ben was an arrogant jerk for sure but the man was a beast in court, he even could sit with Bonnie when it came to legal skills.

"Ugh, this is who you recommended her to?" Damon groaned.

"Why, is he bad?" Stefan asked, with a brow raised.

"No, this the pompous ass Bonnie had a crush on in college, Ben freakin' McKittrick. He's insanely good at his job, I'll give him that."

"Insanely, huh, Bonnie?"

"Oh, please," she scoffed, "I gave you my cousin, who is walking up to us right now, so get out and discuss plans."

The caramel skinned woman wore a light blue blouse with a matching skirt and white Louboutins. They only had five minutes and all their prep had been over the phone - Lucy lived an hour away from Los Angeles. She turned towards Stefan, "Look, we know her grounds of divorce and what she wants from your assets, and you're agreeing to it but we need to prove to the judge that her recent request in alimony is ludicrous."

"Sounds good," Stefan said while they walked, "That voicemail, I forwarded you, could that be considered to be a threat?"

Lucy smiled at him pointing her finger at his noggin and beamed, "I like the way you think."

Elena smoothed out her dress for the thousandth time, she was fidgeting like crazy. Katherine helped her with accessories for the day which is why her neck, ears, and wrist were pearled up. Her long brown hair had also been modestly placed in a neat updo. Ben had his hands on his hips and stared up at the sky. "You look fine, Elena, you cannot show weakness right now."

"Ugh, I know but I'm wearing a $1700 dress right now and-"

"You'll get more of those with me, we need to prove to the judge that your request in alimony is completely justified. Your life has been on hold for 6 years, you should have something to show for it."

"I know but-"

"No buts, we have headed in now. Lucy is going to get on your ass about that voicemail you left."

There was no huge courtroom but it was a room with at least one room in it. It was five of them with the Judge sitting at the head of the table. Stefan and Elena hadn't uttered a word to another and it would remain that way. The judge spoke, "What are the spouse's grounds? Remember, this is simply a temporary hearing."

"Your honor Mrs. Salvatore's grounds for divorce is emotional trauma and her husband's state of drunkness."

"Alright then, and Mr. Salvatore's grounds?"

Lucy folded her hands across the table, "We don't have any, he just wants to appease his wife in any way that is within budget."

Elena rolled her eyes and scoffed, mumbling, "Now money is an issue."

"What was that?" Stefan asked clearly.

"You never made a big deal about money before I just think it's funny actually," Elena shot back.

"Let's not make it too hostile in here, last time we were here, you two seemed amicable enough," The judge said.

"Well, Your Honor, my client is fed up with her husband and his lies, shall we bring up the lady friend?" Ben asked Elena, who nodded. "We just want to know if he's dating her or not."

The judge sighed, feeling like he was an episode of 90210 and asked, "Well, Mr. Salvatore, are you dating someone?"

"I am not, Ivy is simply a friend."

"Yes, a friend that you take out fancy dinners but now we have imaginary budgets!"

"We have evidence of this woman and him sharing an intimate moment together," Ben spoke up, pulling out a flash drive.

Stefan looked to Lucy worriedly and she yelled, "Objection! How was this alleged evidence obtained?"

The judge looked between the two parties and stated, "Overruled. I would like to see it on the projector screen."

Moments later, Stefan and Ivy's date were being displayed, clearly from Katherine's angle. Bringing her up would do Stefan any good, he had to air Elena's dirty laundry since she went straight for the jugular. Lucy shot death glares at Ben who was smiling hard as hell as of now.

'We were thinking $4000 a month in spousal support considering the duration and combined stress of the marriage," Ben said, as he clicked the projector screen off.

"Well, we think it's outrageous, they shared stellar years together. Despite the underlying tension of the separation, he still will give her their lovely $250, 000, home in Malibu."

"Still my client has been shoved underneath the thumb of her breadwinning husband and has no work experience. After the divorce, she will need that money to get back on her feet."

"First, she lived comfortably and happily with my client so don't try to claim emotional abuse, secondly, our original of $1500 was fine with her until she tried to run my client over when he confronted her."

"Attempted hit and run?" The judge questioned, Stefan and Lucy nodded, "Misses Salvatore, please defend yourself."

"Well," Elena began, "I was trying to bring my son to safety because Stefan here got upset at something he brought up," she turned to look at the judge, avoiding all contact with her husband whatsoever, 'You have to understand my maternal instinct to protect my son."

"Bullshit, tell the truth."

"Stefan," Lucy started, subtly reminding him to hinder his temper. Obviously, it was failing and she rested her head in her hand in defeat. Ben just wanted to meet his client's demands but even this was out of his control, their situation was interesting, to say the least. He never divorced a couple that was still connected romantically like them. Elena cleared her throat, "My son was up late at night and opened the door for a stranger, my husband felt threatened because the stranger knew me. We're not strangers, actually, his name is Liam and he's a good and honest man."

"What is your relationship to this man?" The judge asked.

"I'm seeing him, relationship-wise," Elena answered and looked at Stefan, "Are you happy now? Make sure you get that on file along with the title 'Stefan Salvatore's wife is slut'."

"I'm not seeing Ivy she's just a companion, we're disposable to each other but you wanna actually pursue this guy, why? We were great together."

"I'm tired of going memory lane with you when yours is selective. I've been in love with since I was 17, I deserve a fucking change and since Sunday you've made it perfectly clear that you're not going to be anywhere present in that change. Goodbye, Stefan and I mean it this time."

It rendered Stefan speechless from the way she almost choked on her tears to her powerful words denouncing herself from him. And with that, she grabbed her purse and skedaddled out of the room, tears welling up in her eyes. She drove about five miles away and parked in some alleyway next to an old restaurant and cried her eyes out. Her heart couldn't take another confrontation with her estranged husband. Elena had mourned her marriage for the first time, she always dealt with grief haphazardly.

"I want a housewarming party," The woman said, looking at her husband with a glass in her hand.

"Of course, my love, what day would you like to have it?" The tall, dark, handsome man asked graciously.

Sybil placed her drink on a coaster and approached her husband, "Next Saturday seems nice to let's not pester these great people on a weekday."

Cade smiled, "Sounds great, let's make the invites."

Six months ago, the woman was shamed out of Suburbia since she didn't have the traditional look of someone who lived on the street. After her departure, she kept close tabs on everyone else in the neighborhood and boy, were they horrible at keeping their business private. Now she was back with vengeance and purpose to uncover the ugly truth of the picture perfect women who viciously judged her.

A/N: Did I mention this Desperate Housewives-esque? This was originally going to be a Boncel fic but I thought that would be kinda boring and limited so I opted for this. The court scene was really sad to write, I basically was inspired by both Carlos/Gabrielle and Mike/Susan's divorces. All I know from Cali divorce law is from Google. Hopefully, this Sybil-plot won't be that melodramatic, maybe she has an insecure high-school girl complex or her intentions are much sinister than that? We'll see.