Hiii :) How is everyone? I hope you're all doing great! And if you're wondering; I'm doing okay. I'm really excited that I only have a week and half left of volleyball, although I'll be sad too. But I'm even more excited that next weekend, my best friend is coming up from Florida for a visit! (Shoutout to Sasha, who I send these stories to haha, love ya girl.)

Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from TVD, but I own this storyline

Rebekah was laying on Matt's bed, listening to her iPod with her eyes closed. She didn't hear the bedroom door being knocked upon nor the door being opened. It was when she felt the weight of the bed get heavier, she opened her eyes and saw Matt sitting next to her. She stopped her music ("Marry Me" by Jason Derulo) and took out her headphones.

"Hey," she smiled as she sat up.

"I'm going to be spending the night at Tyler's," he told her after they exchanged a greeting.

"Why?" she raised her eyebrow.

He shrugged and nodded at the door and said, "There's someone who wants to see you. Or a few someones."

That was the cue for Klaus, Elijah, Kol and Finn to walk into the room.

Rebekah looked confused and asked Matt, "What are they doing here?"

"Yesterday, you told me that if they wanted to see you they had to come over."

"So here we are!" Kol said as he flopped down beside his sister. Rebekah tried to push him off the bed but he wouldn't budge.

"But why are you guys here?" Rebekah now addressed the question to her brothers.

"We can't be good brothers and surprise our baby sister? Whose been ignoring us, may I add. Very rude," Klaus answered as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

She turned back to her fiancé, "You're just giving up your house?"

"It's your house, too," he said quietly. Matt hoped no one heard the comment because he felt embarrassed after he said it, but they all heard it, and it made Rebekah smile. "Well, I'm going to go now," he said. "I hope you guys can work things out," he told the five siblings. He turned to Rebekah, and he wanted to kiss her, but he felt self-conscious doing so in front of her brothers. Rebekah noticed that he was shy, so she sat up on her knees so she'd be level his height, and she just grabbed his face with her hands and brought his lips to hers.

"Oh, please. Some of us just had lunch!" Kol exclaimed.

Matt blushed and pulled away. "Bye."

"Bye Matty!" Kol waved dramatically.

"Thank you, Matt," Elijah said as Matt passed him to get to the door. "I appreciate you telling us that Rebekah was upset about something, and setting this up. And giving up your house. It's nice of you."

Matt nodded, murmuring a quick "no problem" before leaving the five siblings alone.

The four brothers turned to look at their sister, who just stared at the ground.

"Okay," Finn started. "What's wrong?" he asked his sister. Elijah and Finn were now sitting on the bed, too.

Rebekah shrugged, "Nothing's wrong. I just haven't felt like talking to anyone. Is that bad?"

"It's not bad," Elijah said. "But please don't shut us out for something we didn't do."

"You should know that mother- or well Esther-" Kol started to explain but Rebekah cut him off,
"She killed Henrik. I know. I overheard it before I left. And that's not why I'm ignoring any of you."

"So you admit it; you are ignoring us," Klaus acknowledged.

"It's for a pretty stupid reason," she sighed.

"Well, we won't be able to judge you unless you tell us," Finn said.

Rebekah rolled her eyes. "I wanted.. I wanted mo- Esther to walk me down the aisle, or give me away or whatever. But that's obviously not happening anymore. So it comes down to the four of you.." she noticed her brothers all exchange knowing looks. "And I don't know who I want to give me away. I don't want to choose one and have the other three's feelings get hurt.. So I thought that if I ignored you for a while, I'd figure out who I want.. But I haven't. And that's why I haven't answered you guys."

It was silent for a moment before the eldest brother decided to speak up. "It's not going to hurt my feelings if you choose Elijah, Klaus or Kol. It really wouldn't. I know I'm not the best big brother, to any of you."

"What are you talking about?" Kol asked.

"You're a great brother," Rebekah added.

"No, I'm not. I wasn't involved much when we were growing up. I mean, I didn't do much. I was the oldest, I should have protected you guys from Mikael more than I did. I let Elijah take care of you guys because I didn't know how to. I should have known it was my job, but I went to university instead. And I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize. You did what you could," Elijah spoke up. "There wasn't much any of us could do. And I didn't mean to take the 'big brother' role away from you-"

"I'm glad you did, though. Because if you didn't, who would have taken care of these three?"

"Don't talk about us like we're not here," Klaus said. "But Elijah is right: there wasn't much any of us could do. We all did what we could."

"We still love you. Don't beat yourself up over things that happened over ten years ago," Rebekah added.

"And don't act like you did nothing," Kol said. "You got us out of the house and took us to festivals or to the lake when you could. You drove us places when he wouldn't."

"Thanks, but I still feel terrible. I'm kind of the outcast in this family-"

"Don't say that," Elijah said. "We all have a role in this family, and we all did what we could for each other. We couldn't survive without one another. We couldn't have survived without you."

"We're still here, aren't we? And we're still together," Kol contributed.

"And that's all that matters," Rebekah finished. Klaus nodded in agreement with his siblings.

Finn smiled in gratitude, "Thank you. I'm glad we all have a close relationship." The younger four all smiled. He looked back at his sister, "But Bekah, don't worry about the wedding. It won't hurt my feelings if you don't choose me."

"Same," Kol agreed. "I mean, I'll be a little sad," he joked. "But seriously, I find that a little too much pressure. Scratch that, I volunteer you don't choose me."

Rebekah laughed, "Okay so I'm down to three, not four?"

"Yes," Kol nodded.

"How do you know she wasn't going to choose you?" Elijah chuckled.

"Brother, you have forfeited the race," Klaus smirked.

"But-" Kol started to say but Elijah interrupted him.
"Seriously, Rebekah. Don't worry about it. We'll all be okay with who you choose. Right, Niklaus?"

Klaus nodded, "Correct. There's a 25% chance. We understand our chances are slim to nothing."

"Shut up," Rebekah laughed. She turned serious, "You guys really won't mind?" They all shook their heads. "Okay. That makes things a little easier, I guess."

"So, who do you choose?" Klaus teased as he bumped his sister's shoulder.

"I'm not answering now!" Rebekah exclaimed.

"When's the wedding, anyway?" Elijah asked.

"December 24th."

"Why did you choose Christmas Eve?" Finn asked.

Rebekah shrugged, "Everyone gets married on Valentine's Day."

"I didn't."

"Neither did I," Elijah added.

"Well." Rebekah rolled her eyes. "Enough of this conversation, please. I kind of want to talk about.. Her. Only for a moment, though."

They all knew who her was.

"What about her?" Elijah asked.

"Where did she go?"

"I kicked her out. I told her to get out of all of our lives."

"And she just left?"

"Yes."

Rebekah waited a moment before asking another question. "Did you guys tell your wife, or girlfriend?"

"I told Katherine."

"And I told Sage."

"I told Bonnie.. She hadn't known anything so I had to start from the beginning, but it feels like our relationship just got so much more intimate. Like it opened up our relationship, brought us closer."

"That's great," Elijah smiled at his youngest brother.

They all turned to Klaus, who they knew would be the more stubborn one to tell a partner about their parents.

"If you're all wondering if I told Caroline.. The answer is yes. I told her everything."

"And?" Rebekah motioned for him to elaborate.

"And.. She bought me a puppy."

Rebekah and Kol couldn't contain their laughter and broke out laughing. Finn tried to hold back his laughter, only being mildly successful.

"Wait," Elijah didn't want to laugh but he had to chuckle lightly. "She bought you a real life puppy? An animal? A pet that you have to walk, and feed, and play with?"

Klaus nodded. "He's a golden retriever and he's 8 weeks old."

"That's so adorable!" Rebekah squealed. "What's his name?"

"Henry." And with that, they all stopped laughing. "I know I should have waited for one of us to have a son or something, but I just really wanted to name the dog after Henrik.. It just made sense, you know?"

"It's fine," Elijah shook his head.

"Do you have any pictures of him?" Rebekah asked. Klaus rolled his eyes and nodded, taking out his phone.

"Caroline made us take a selfie-" Kol's laughter increased at the word selfie. "Shut up, Kol." Klaus turned on his phone and went into pictures and showed his siblings the million pictures Caroline made him take. There are pictures of Henry sleeping, eating, videos of him jumping, and there's a few of Caroline playing with him, and kissing his fur. And then there's the selfie that he was talking about.

"Aww, he's so cute!" Rebekah cooed.

"And he's blonde, just like you and Caroline!" Kol added.

"Let me guess, Henry's supposed to be yours and Caroline's child?" Finn asked.

"Yes," Klaus replied. He glared at Kol who laughed again, "Don't judge my family."

"I remember you begged Mikael for a dog," Elijah pointed out. "We all wanted a dog.. I always wanted a dog," he said.

"Then tell the nuisance that is Katherine," Klaus suggested.

Elijah scoffed, "Like she'd ever let me get something that sheds hair everywhere."

"She kept you," Kol joked.

"Don't make me have Rebekah push you off the bed," Elijah threatened. Rebekah lifted her hand to prove to Kol that she'd push him if Elijah gave her the signal.

"Okay, I'm sorry!" Kol apologized. They all started laughing, realizing how much they had missed the small moments like this since they have grown up. None of them could remember the last time they spent a night like this; having heart-felt conversations, and joking and laughing. It was comforting knowing that they have family to turn to when they have a problem.

Always and forever.

...

At the Lockwood mansion, Tyler and Matt were reminiscing about the old days and catching up on their new lives.

"Remember when we used to go to the swimming hole?" Tyler asked. "We used to sneak away and get wasted while our parents did stupid founding family stuff."

Tyler, Matt, Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie would always escape from their families when they were at the swimming hole and go to their spot in the woods. It'd just be an escape for all of them: they could just hang out and do nothing, just relax and drink shots. Sure, they got in a lot of trouble from their parents when they came home tripping over their own feet, but it was worth it. Granted, they now have a few less parents, and they're too old to get in trouble, but deep down they all wish they'd be able to relive sophomore year again. Just before all their lives got complicated.

Matt laughed, "Oh god, that was not such a good idea: I was puking for days."

"Yeah, we weren't so smart back then," Tyler agreed. "But I miss high school," he admitted. "Then we had to grow up and it sucks."

"I know what you mean. I mean, I'm happy that I'm no longer a busboy and that I was promoted to manager, but I didn't think I'd be working at The Grill for the rest of my life. I wanted to do something more with my life, you know?"

"Then why didn't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why didn't you go to college? Study something. Apply for another job. You're not stuck, you were never stuck."

"I didn't know what to do; Hell, I still don't know what I want to do. But it's not like my life is so bad. I make a good enough amount of money, and I get to come home to a beautiful fiancé. I'm happy."

"I hope you know that I'm happy for you. Honestly, I'm surprised that you and Rebekah are still together after all this time, but I guess you guys work. You must really love her, and she must really love you."

"I really do love her. It's crazy how I much I do."

"I miss that."

"What?"

"Loving somebody that much."

"Well, that's your own fault. You screwed up."

"I know I did."

"But she's happy, you know. With Klaus. I know you don't like him, but they make each other happy. He's been through a lot in his life, and he deserves what he has with her."

"Hey, as long as she's happy, I'm happy. I'm just glad you're all happy. You, Care, Elena, Bonnie.. Is Jeremy happy?"

"I think so, yes. He has a date tomorrow with this girl he really likes; Anna."

"That's great." Tyler thought for a moment. "I think I want to start dating again."

"Dude," Matt laughed. "You need to get a job first. You've been here, what: a month? And you're still unemployed."

"I'm a founding family, and my mom's the mayor, I think I can go a few more weeks without a job."

Matt laughed again, "Sure. Do whatever you want."

Tyler smiled at his best friend, "Thanks. I will."

...

Jeremy finally got the nerve to call Anna. They had flirted and talked like high school sweethearts for hours. She had invited him to go out for coffee in the morning, and that's exactly where he is right now.

When she walked through the café door, he felt his heart leap out of his chest. It was only morning coffee, and granted she was only wearing dark jeans, a blue tank top, a leather jacket, combat boots, and her hair was simply curly, but he still thought she looked beautiful.

Not to mention that her smile made his pulse beat faster. When she laughed, her eyes did this cute squint thing, and god did he love her laugh. He couldn't contain his feelings. He wanted to kiss her so badly, but was worried about rushing things. He knew he wasn't in love with her, but he couldn't help but love everything about her.

He hadn't felt this way since Bonnie. And if he's being honest, when the two broke things off, he was scared he'd never find someone like her again. Never find someone to love him again. Never feel this way about anyone. He believed that this kind of love was a once in a life time kind of thing, but he couldn't have been more wrong.

Anna makes him incredibly happy in a way that's been absence in his life since Bonnie and him broke up. He's not in love, not yet anyway, but she makes him happy and he deserves someone to make him happy.

"So enough about me," Jeremy said. "What about you?" They've been talking about random things, trying to get to know each other. He's finished his life's story, and yes that includes his parents' deaths, and his drug phase, and his nineteen-year-old-self that was less cautious about contraceptives.

"Well, what do you want to know?"

"Things about your family. School. Anything you want me to know."

"Well.." she thought for a moment. "I don't have a dad- my mom never told him about me so he had left before I was born. My mom raised me in Athens, Georgia but we moved to Mystic Falls about.. Ten years ago, I believe. Let's see.. I don't have any exciting high school stories, or tragic stories either. My high school career was pretty boring. College, too."

"You went to Mystic Falls High?" he asked.

"Yeah, I did."

"What class are you?"

"2011."

"I'm class of 2010. I don't think I saw you around?"

"I wasn't part of any activities or anything.."

"Why?"

Anna hesitated. She didn't see the harm in telling him. "I was busy tracking down my dad."

"It took four years of high school?"

"It didn't really work out. Nothing came out of it. Also, I had a lot of college prep."

"Then why are you working at a convenience store?" He mentally slapped himself. "Wow, I just realized how stupid that sounded."

She laughed, "It's okay. It's just a part-time job while I finish up college. I'm in my last year."

"Oh, what's your major?"

"I want to be a teacher."

"That's cool. What grade?"

"Elementary school. Kindergarten. It doesn't make much money, but I like kids when they're young and dependent-"

"And easy to threaten to call their parents," Jeremy laughed.

"Exactly," she laughed along with him. "But if I wasn't studying in child development, I'd be studying history or mythology. History was my favorite subject in school, my best subject too, and I just love mythology stories: vampires, ghosts, angels, all of those. I don't know, I'm weird like that."

"Nah, I think it's pretty cool."

"Really?"

"Totally. And my Uncle's a history teacher at the high school, you could talk to him."

"Really? Who's your Uncle?"

"Alaric Saltzman."

"Are you serious? I love Mr. Saltzman. I had him his first year he taught! He's awesome. He's your Uncle? He seems pretty young.."

Jeremy chuckled, "Yeah, he married my Aunt Jenna. They're only a couple of years older than me and my sister."

"How old are you?"

"I just turned twenty-four. Elena is twenty-five. Jenna and Alaric are thirty-one."

"You have a lot of friends, don't you?"

"I guess.."

"I've seen you hang out with people who I never would have thought even knew each other."

"Like who?"

"Rebekah Mikaelson, Stefan Salvatore, that guy Enzo, a bunch of people."

"Yeah it's basically a bunch of family ties, I guess. My sister is married to Stefan's brother, who is best friends with Enzo and Alaric. And my best friend Matt Donovan is marrying Rebekah, who has four brothers where one is married to my cousin, two of them are in relationships with my childhood friends- one of which is my ex-girlfriend... And there's even more connections, trust me you don't even need to know."

Anna threw her head back in laughter, "That's a lot, I'll take your word for it."

"I like talking to you," he admitted.

She smiled, "I like talking to you too."

"I also really like you. I can't stop thinking about you."

"I can't stop thinking about you either."

While they had been talking, they had already paid for their coffee and were now just walking down the streets of the town square. Jeremy stopped walking to look down at the girl walking beside him. She stopped too, wondering what he was going to do.

"I've been wanting to do this all morning." Before Anna could reply, Jeremy leaning forward and kissed her. She was taken by surprise, but easily melted into the kiss. Their lips moved together in perfect sync as she wrapped her arms around his neck, locking her hands at the nape of his neck, and he reached his hands up to tangle his hands in her hair. She tasted like vanilla and he tasted like peppermint, and they both had to agree it was the perfect blend. He didn't want the kiss to end, and who said it had to?

...

"Why are we at the grocery store?" Bonnie asked three weeks later.

"Because Stefan is graduating from med school tomorrow and we're throwing him this huge, blow out party!" Caroline exclaimed. Since her best friend was graduating, she decided to throw a party to celebrate him becoming a doctor. She also took it upon herself to boss everyone around; Klaus, Lexi, Matt, and Rebekah are getting decorations (she trusts Lexi to not let the other three get horrible stuff); Damon, Kol, and Jeremy are cleaning the Salvatore Boarding House (where they're having the party); Caroline, Elena, and Bonnie are at the grocery store getting the food; and everyone else are getting presents and whatever else needs to get done.

As they turned down the frozen food aisle, Bonnie asked, "What kind of food does he even like?"

"He likes mozzarella sticks," Elena pointed at the package behind the freezer door.

"Oh no, we are not getting frozen, premade food for Stefan! He deserves much better than that," Caroline complained.

"I hate to break it to you to Care," Elena said. "But Stefan is the only one of us that can cook, no one else in our crazy friend circle can cook. We'd probably burn down the boarding house."

Caroline thought about what her best friend said and then shrugged and nodded, caving in and grabbing the box of mozzarella sticks, "True."

"Is his favorite cake still chocolate?" Elena asked the blonde, who knows the guy in question better than her by now.

"Yes," Caroline nodded.

"Katherine?" a voice from behind the three girls asked.

Elena sighed. This happens a lot, so she didn't bother turning around to see who had mistaken her for her sister. "I'm sorry, I'm not Katherine. I'm her twin sister, Elena."

Caroline had quickly glanced behind her and gasped when she saw who it was.

Esther.

"Oh, I'm sorry. You just looked so much like her."

"Yeah, that's what a twin is," Elena turned around to face the woman. Her eyes widened and she nudged her two friends.

Esther noticed the blonde standing next to the woman who looks identical to her daughter-in-law and asked, "Do I know you? You look familiar."

Caroline nodded and laughed nervously. "Uhm.. Yeah. I'm Klaus' girlfriend, you caught us.. Making out.."

Esther nodded in remembrance, "I remember now. I'm sorry about that, by the way."

"Oh, it's fine." Caroline shook her head. "It's in the past."

"And I'm Bonnie," the brunette introduced herself. "I'm Kol's girlfriend."

"I didn't know Kol had a girlfriend.." Esther stated.

"How would you? Kol doesn't like you," Bonnie snapped. After hearing everything Kol told her about his parents, she didn't think she should have to be polite to the older woman. She doesn't deserve that.

"Bonnie!" Caroline hissed.

"I'm just going to back away now.." Elena took her cue to leave. Caroline and Bonnie shot her a look that said not to go, but Elena shot her friends an apologetic look, I'm sorry but this is awkward!

Esther didn't acknowledge Elena's awkward exit and continued talking, "I am aware of my youngest son's hatred of me-"

"Didn't Elijah tell you to leave town? What are you doing here?" Caroline asked. In the back of her mind, she knew she shouldn't be encouraging a conversation with the woman, but that didn't stop her from talking.

"He told me to get out of the house. I stayed in town in hopes any of my children changed their minds."

"Well, I wouldn't hold your breath," Bonnie said. On second thought, hold it.

"Do they know that you're still here?" Caroline asked.

"No."

"I'm sorry," Bonnie said. "But we really shouldn't be talking to you. We know everything, and it just seems insensitive to our boyfriends to be talking to you."

Esther nodded, "I completely understand. I'm sorry for any inconvenience." The Mikaelsons' mother turned her back and walked away.

Caroline let out of a breath she didn't know she was holding. She turned to her friend, "Oh my god. Why does awkward encounters keep happening?"

"Did you see her eyes?" Bonnie whispered to her friend. "She was judging us. Like seeing if we were 'good enough' for her sons."

"She doesn't get to decide that. Like Klaus or Kol would care what she thinks anyway."

"True. Anyway, let's go find Elena and finish this shopping trip," Bonnie suggested. The blonde nodded eagerly, grabbed the brunette's wrist and they ran the way Elena had went.

The two girls silently agreed not to mention the encounter with the mother bitch to either of their boyfriends, or their siblings. Things would just get ugly. Too bad that someone's going to find out she's still in town sooner or later.

Oooh.. Caroline and Bonnie (and Elena) ran into Esther? How do you think Klaus and Kol will react? That is, if they find out. Should they find out? What will happen?

I hope you guys liked this chapter! I really enjoyed writing the Mikaelson family scene, I felt like this part of their relationships aren't explored very much like this in the shows: being playful and loving. Obviously, in this fanfic, they're not vampires and no one has daggered anyone so there's not any vile sibling rivalries lol. I like to think that this is how the siblings acted when they were human :) Aaannd when I started writing this chapter, I got major Anna and Jeremy withdrawal so I had to go on their tumblr, watch their scenes on youtube, and even read a few fanfics to cure my Janna broken heart, so I hope you guys liked their date! And I haven't written Tyler in a while, and I missed him so yeah :) How would you guys feel about me bring Parkwood (Tyler and Liv) into the story? Cuz I ship them soooo much, you have no idea the feels they give me this season.

Next chapter is Stefan's graduation and then the party! Hmm.. Will drama happen at the party? It's Mystic Falls, you never know.

Please review! Until next time xx