Klaus welcomed the distraction of his phone ringing during the business meeting of sorts he was currently entangled in. Elijah had been the one to set it up, and after an hour of speaking with a coven that was absolutely transparent in their sucking up to him he was ready to leave. When he glanced down at his phone and saw the name 'Hurricane Suzanne' Klaus stifled a laugh - he'd never bothered to change the contact name she'd put for herself in his phone.

'Hurricane Suzanne' indeed. The woman had certainly rearranged his life since they'd met. It was becoming difficult to remind himself when they were together that it was only temporary and that soon it would be best to end their relationship. He'd finally asked her outright if they could be official when his immense jealousy had reared its head.

Klaus was a possessive person. He coveted Suzanne's affection, and even if he knew that Suzanne and her friend Damon were merely platonic, it still rankled when he saw the unbridled glee and fondness on her face when she spoke about him. It had been unsurprising, actually, when Suzanne had blushed and said yes before quickly blurting out that she had never had an official relationship with a man. Klaus had learned that her longest relationship had been with a woman named Eleanor, who had broken up with her after four months together.

Looking back to the warlocks and witches in front of him, Klaus made sure his face was coldly serious when he said, "I have to take this. I'm glad we were able to negotiate this alliance."

Leaving before they could respond, Klaus sped out of the house so as not to be overheard when he answered the call.

"Hello, love."

"Oh god, don't call me that. It makes me feel like you expect me to swoon or fan at myself in response."

Klaus strode towards his car, quickly unlocking it and getting in.

"So you've said, so you've said. How has your day been so far?"

Suzanne let out an entirely unsexy groan before she said in a purposely dramatic tone, "I've been trying to cheer Damon up for the last week ever since his ex-girlfriend and so-called love of his life turned out to be as much of a cunt as I had predicted."

Klaus winced slightly, still adjusting to the incredibly crass words she constantly used while speaking. But he was interested to see where this line of conversation was going, so he responded, "And because you are the height of tact and sympathy you've been doing a fantastic job?"

It was teasing, but Klaus realized his mistake when Suzanne's own joking tone became strained and detectably bothered, "I am, actually, Nik. I'm a good friend to the people I like. All… eight of them, probably."

Klaus immediately cut off whatever anger might be building and made sure she could hear his sincerity when he said, "I know you are."

Suzanne huffed on the other end of the line but seemed to accept his words, saying, "Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I was calling to see if you're anywhere near North Carolina or want to spend an outlandish amount of money to come here. We're at a house on the Outer Banks. It's fucking freezing, but what can you do."

Well for one, he could invite Suzanne along with him to the Caribbean or somewhere similar. Klaus hadn't taken a vacation in a while, and Elijah's bafflement could be entertaining to see. But he knew Suzanne wouldn't accept his offer. She was still skittish about their relationship and would be offended in some way or another if he asked. But he didn't miss the mention of the word 'we' so he immediately asked her to clarify.

"Both you and Damon are there?"

"Mhm. I figure after I've had to see his parade of hookups we at least owe him a night of having to know I'm getting laid a few doors down the hall."

Klaus snorted but had to admit the idea was tempting. He didn't have any immediate plans, apart from his more overarching plots involving his father and the bloody curse. So he responded, "Send me the address. I'm in Louisiana, so I'll book a flight and be there by tomorrow night. Does that work?"

On the other end of the line Suzanne sounded excited when she said, "Yeah, that's perfect. I can't wait for you guys to meet. Don't mention anything about ex-girlfriends and you two will get along. He's definitely going to give you the over-protective dad talk."

After the call ended, Klaus had the pleasure of trying to imagine a human doing their best to intimidate him.

Suze was practically twitching in her seat, constantly checking her phone and doing a poor job of suppressing her excitement. Damon had to admit that he was also sort of looking forward to finally meeting Nik. He knew the guy made Suze happy. Well, she didn't become a ball of sunshine, but he was evidently sort of a dick and made her laugh, so Damon could see how it could be good for her to have someone like that.

Damon knew that Suze had been sort of walking on eggshells around him for the first few days after the whole Katherine reveal, but it was starting to go back to normal the last two weeks after they'd finally sat down and talked about it. Once the mushy feelings were out of the way, they'd gotten drunk as per usual.

He'd actually thought he wouldn't welcome the idea of meeting Nik. But after the last few months Damon was very secure in the knowledge that Suze weren't going to just stop being friends or drift apart because of some guy.

The last two days had been fun in North Carolina, but without the nice weather the beach wasn't an option. Having someone else around would give them more things to do. Unfortunately, the third person would mean that Damon couldn't fake-propose to Suze anymore in restaurants to get free dessert and champagne. Or maybe they could somehow act it out even more elaborately with an ex-lover storming in just as he got down on one knee and –

"He's here! Okay, okay. This will be fun, right?"

Damon cocked an eyebrow at Suze to silently convey his amusement with her babbling, so she rolled her eyes and stood up to walk up to the front door, smacking his shoulder on the way.

The guy that walked in a second later next to Suze both was and wasn't what Damon had been expecting. Nik was good-looking, and even if Suze had already told him that, Damon had seen her weirdly random taste in people. What immediately made him like the guy, however, was the exasperated but fond look he was giving Suze as she rambled on about their awful attempt at swimming in the freezing ocean last night.

The guy dropped his small duffle bag on the kitchen floor and strode up to Damon, shaking his hand firmly as he said, "I'm Nik. Suzanne has told me more about you than you'd probably be comfortable with."

Damon smirked and looked at Suze, who was pointedly not looking at him. In a cocky voice he responded to Nik and said, "All good things, I'm sure."

Nik snorted and an amused smile covered his face when he said, "No."

Damon laughed at that and was a little bit more genuine as he responded, "Good. I'm a dick."

Suze cut in at that and said, "You two have that in common. Now, want to put your stuff away then find someplace for us all to eat?"

This was not what Suzanne had in mind when she had decided to introduce Nik and Damon to each other.

"-She just sat down on the woman's lap and told her she was sure that she was Emperor Augustus in a previous life."

Nik laughed loudly at that and immediately quipped back, "So you know the extent of her preoccupation with Ancient Rome?"

"Oh yeah. Our girl is quite the nerd."

Suzanne knocked back three gulps in quick succession of her double vodka Diet Coke, hoping that soon enough Damon and Nik would shut the fuck up about all the embarrassing shit they'd both witnessed her doing. Yeah, she was glad they were getting along, but this was a goddamn nightmare.

"So. If you two are done being assholes, are you ready to move along and order? Oh, and quick side notes: Nik has a Nickelback CD in his car and Damon passed out while leaning against a light post in the middle of singing Bohemian Rhapsody."

The two men immediately stopped talking, both staring at her with expressions of betrayal at her reveals. But come on, like Suzanne was going to not be petty around the two? They both already knew she wasn't exactly Miss Happy-Go-Lucky; it wasn't as if this was some big reveal of her true self.

Nik was the first to respond to her, glancing down at the menu and saying in a drawling voice, "I'm unsure of what to get. Diner food, or diner food?"

Suzanne ducked her head down to hide her smile. Her fondness for the guy was flat out embarrassing sometimes, and she was still admittedly a little freaked out by the fact that he'd made it clear that he 'fancied' her or whatever other pretentious English slang he used to annoy her. Feelings meant that she'd get hurt when he left her.

Thank god the waitress came by at that moment, and they quickly rattled off their orders, each ordering another drink as well. When the waitress conspicuously looked at her half-full glass, Suzanne made eye contact with the woman, draining her drink without looking away before placing it back down, an exaggeratedly pleasant smile on her face.

"You know us alcoholics, always happy to ingest hard liquor."

The woman's eyes widened and she quickly scurried away, Damon laughing at her obviously mocking behavior. Nik, however, smirked and spoke to her in a somewhat impressed tone of voice.

"Are you always this charming?"

Suzanne gave him the same obnoxious smile she'd just sent at the waitress before responding in a sappy tone, "Oh, you know it, honey."

Damon, now evidently back on her side as if he hadn't been a traitorous asshole, said in the exact same tone of voice to Nik, "Yeah, sweetie. Suze is a delight."

Their high five was fairly awful and off-center, so obviously she and Damon had to do it over again, to what looked like Nik's amusement. And yes, she was griping and whining about Damon and Nik's ganging up on her, but in truth she was so, so relieved that they were getting along. All three of them at the table could be smarmy little shits, and the banter was awesome.

Plus, she'd have to drop Nik if Damon didn't like him. Which would – suck, actually. Suzanne was in denial, sure, but she was aware she was in denial of her feelings. Damon was her best friend, and she and Nik were still in the stage where she was pretty sure they had the potential to be great. At least she hoped so.

Their food came startlingly quickly, Suzanne realizing why a moment later when the woman checked Damon out. Using Damon's looks to possibly get free food? Oh fuck yeah.