*4 months later*

I woke up and looked over at Kol as the sun had just climbed above the horizon, starting to peek through the curtains and stream onto his face. His hair was tousled in the devil-may-care sort of way that I adored. I carefully reached out and moved a bit of hair out of his face.

He groaned and swatted my hand away. "It's too early." he complained as he opened his eyes and groggily sat up a little. "What are you doing up?" he asked. His voice was still a little hoarse from sleep.

"I was too excited to stay asleep. Today's a big day!" I quietly exclaimed. I sat up and crossed my legs over one another, adjusting my pajama bottoms slightly. "You do know what today is, right?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow wearily.

He stifled a yawn. "Of course, it's Saturday." he said, trying to hide a smirk that played at the corners of his lips.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You better be joking." I cautioned.

"Of course I do." he said, chuckling. In the blink of an eye, he had pinned me underneath him against the mattress. He placed a soft kiss on my lips. "It's your birthday. How could I forget?"

I rolled my eyes. "Not just any birthday, my eighteenth birthday." I added. I quickly pushed him off of me and shoved him into the mattress, and sat on his torso so he couldn't move. "I know it doesn't really count since I don't age anymore, but I don't care. There's no way in hell I'm not going to celebrate becoming an adult." I insisted.

He grimaced. "I don't worry about celebrating mine anymore. After the first few hundred they start to get old." He propped himself up on one shoulder and pushed a curl behind my ear. "But, I'll make sure you get to celebrate every one of yours, if that's what you want." he said as he cupped my cheek.

I reached up with one hand and placed it on the one he had on my cheek, squeezing it gently before letting it fall back to my side. "So, you're intending on me staying around that long?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. He looked worried for a moment, until I smirked. "Good." I said. I leaned down and kissed him.

We stayed like that for a few more minutes before he finally pulled away. "Come on, I want to show you something." he said as he pulled us both up from the comfort of his bed.

I stretched my limbs and yawned a little. "Why?" I pouted. "It's my birthday, I should be able to do whatever I want." I crossed my arms over my chest, resisting the urge to stomp my foot like child throwing a tantrum.

He rolled his eyes. "Just come with. I promise you'll be surprised." he insisted, his trademark smirk on his lips indicating that something was up. Before I could protest, he grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room and down the winding staircase. "What's going on?" I demanded as we rounded a corner and entered the Mikaelson's ballroom. I tried and failed to hide a gasp as I saw what was before me. From what I could tell it was the makings of a party. There were strands of white lights, balloons, streamers, the whole nine yards. A dozen random people were carting around boxes as they began setting everything up. And of course, in charge of it all was Caroline.

I let out a laugh, putting a hand over my mouth as I gasped again. "What's all this?!" I exclaimed, turning to Kol.

He was smiling widely as he watched my excitement. "You said you wanted to celebrate your birthday, and I know you don't like birthday presents, so I figured this would suffice." he said.

I through my arms around him. "Thank you so much!" I nearly squealed. I pulled away and took another look around the room. "I can already tell that I'm going to absolutely love it!" I exclaimed, smiling widely.

He smiled back. "I'm glad you like it." he said.

Caroline practically skipped over to us in her heels. She had a clipboard in one hand. She smiled brightly. "Do you like it so far?" she asked.

I nodded and returned her smile. "Everything looks good." I assured her.

She nodded. "Okay. Well, I'll be here all day. Let me know if you want to change anything." she said. I nodded before she walked off to bark at the men that were hanging the lights.

The hours flew by as I waited anxiously for the party to start. I stood in front of the mirror in Kol's room, giving myself a final look and making a few touch ups. I had insisted on wearing a dress of my own instead of one from Kol.

I had bought a dress just after my last birthday that I had told myself I would wear when I turned eighteen. It was short, black and strapless with a glittery bodest while the rest of the dress was a fine mesh material the puffed out a little. It fell perfectly just a couple of inches above my knees.

I paired it with some black heels that had a bow on the front. I curled my hair and braided two sections of it and wrapped them around the back of my head.

Kol walked up behind me dressed in a black button down and jeans. He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed my neck lightly. "You look beautiful." he whispered.

I smiled. "I know." I replied, smirking at his reflection. I turned around to face him, lacing my arms around the back of his neck.

"The party's about to start if you want to go ahead and go down." he suggested.

I nodded. "Can't wait." I replied, a wide smile on my face. With that, we went downstairs and joined the party as a few people had already arrived.

Everything in my life had finally seemed to fall perfectly into place. I was finally free from Collin. I was living in a town where I had actually managed to keep more than two friends. I had decided to drop out of school, I would have plenty of years to go back. I forgave my father and now we were closer than ever. Everything was back on track and I couldn't have been happier.

The party was going on at full force around us, but when I looked over at Kol it seemed like the world itself had stopped for us, so I could capture the moment. "You know I love you, right?" I said over the loud music.

He smiled and turned to face me. "Of course." he replied, pulling me into his arms and looking deep into my eyes. I looked back into his and got lost in their depths. "I love you too." he said, leaning in and kissing me quickly, but passionately. "Always."

I smiled, keeping my gaze locked on him. "Always." I replied. It was simple, but I knew what it meant deep down. It meant that no matter what life decides to throw at us in the future, whether near or distant, we would love each other. When everything else fails, love prevails. Love endures. "Always."

The End

A.N.- This is my last author's note on this story! I'm so proud of myself for actually finishing a story on here. I was going to end with "Love endures all things" but I thought it'd be cliché, not that "always" isn't.

Anyway, thanks a lot to everyone who has supported and read this story! It means so much! :)

If anyone is interested, I'm going to be starting a new story soon, so follow me if you want to be notified when it's up. All I'll say is that it's going to be a story for The Originals and it's a Klaus/OC. It won't be up for at least a week or two, but I might wait longer.

Link to Juliet's outfit for the party: cgi/set?id=128997205

Thanks again for reading; I hope everyone enjoyed it. I'm not going to drag this out anymore, so bye!