Hello! How are you? I hope you are having a good Friday/Saturday depending on where you are. Thank you so much for reading and following :) It still makes me so happy!

"The first thing you thought to bring me to was a bar?" I asked Klaus as we stood outside a small brick facade on Bourbon Street. We hadn't even walked up the French Quarter before he stopped here. In the slightly hazed windows was a brightly lit open sign.

He inhaled deeply and I did the same thinking we were supposed to be smelling something other than the faint smell of coffee and something foul. We weren't. "I thought a drink may do you good."

"I think what I need is an espresso and an aspirin." I looked around us. Various people shuffled down the sidewalks and cars passed us on the street. It didn't look much like what I had imagined it to look like. Maybe because there was stumbling drunk people or parade floats.

"Good thing alcohol combines those two things," he said as he held the door open for me and ushered me inside.

The bar was small and looked a little like the Grill back in Mystic Falls with the dark wood and the natural lighting. There was only a few people around, mostly men taking an afternoon break.

Klaus led us to the main bar and took a seat on one of the stools. He motioned for me to join him and reluctantly, I did.

I didn't want to drink this early. I wasn't in the mood for a whiskey or whatever he was going to drink. I had priorities and this was not one of them. He barely showed me the city. Mainly it was the street and this bar so far.

"Klaus."

A tall, blonde woman approached us. She was pretty, large eyes that made her nose appear smaller. She looked older as well.

And she looked very familiar.

"Cami, this is Caroline, a friend from up North." He smiled warmly at her and I couldn't help the pang of jealousy I felt.

Cami smiled and stuck out her hand. "Nice to meet you, Caroline."

I gave her one of my pageant smiles and shook her hand. "Same." What was so interesting about her? She looked fairly normal to me.

She returned the smile. "Are you drinking as well?" She asked me as she pulled a glass from the shelf and poured a brown liquid into the glass.

I shook my head. "No, thank you."

She placed the glass in front of Klaus. "Alright, just let me know if you change your mind."

I almost cut her off. "How do you know each other?" I asked nosily. They seemed very comfortable around one another, strangely enough. He normally scared people not made them at ease.

Klaus was quick to respond. "We met here a few months ago and she knows a few of my acquaintances."

"Acquaintances?"

He nodded but she spoke. "We run in the same crowd."

"You're a vampire?"

She laughed. "No, I just know a lot of them. I sort of got forced into the same crowd."

"Same," I lied again and Klaus gave me a side glance.

This took her by surprise. "Oh, you're not...?"

I shook my head. "No, I would be the worst vampire. I couldn't imagine killing a soul." I said dramatically. Thank god for all those pageants.

Cami leaned on the bar in front of us. "How do you know each other?"

Klaus opened his mouth to answer but I cut him off. "Friend of a friend. Klaus used to live in my town and he tormented a few of my friends and now we're here."

My phone began to ring in my pocket. I pulled it out and "Elena" appeared on the screen.

"Speaking of which, excuse me." I said before spinning off of the bar stool and walking out the door. The light hurt my eyes for a moment but I blinked it away.

"Hello?"

"Caroline! Thank god! Enzo said you got disconnected last night and he heard screaming."

I laughed. "A little late to be worried."

Elena sighed. "I'm sorry he just told us. He figured you would call back but you didn't."

I leaned against the brick wall of the bar. "I was just about to call him back. It was a rough night." I ended up totally losing my phone. Luckily, Klaus seemed to have a stash of them and gladly handed one over right before we came to town. I didn't even have the chance to call my mom.

"What happened?"

I lowered my voice before I spoke. "I got bit and almost died, then I couldn't sleep and now I'm on an extended tour of the city where the only sights I get to see is a girl who looks too much like me and I think she's my replacement."

"Are you okay?!" Her voice came in a yell.

I shrugged even though she couldn't see me. "Yeah, I'm fine but seriously, Elena, it's weird."

"Forget about the girl, Caroline. Are you okay? Are you in danger?" She asked, slightly exhausted. A different tone compared to the concern a sentence before. She knew I was okay.

I looked around me. Once again, no one was picking me from the pack. Then again, I didn't see it last night either. "Not at the moment. He just has a lot of people that hate him."

"Not a big surprise," Damon said in the background.

I rolled my eyes. "I know but come on." I had been here one night and it seemed like everyone had a vendetta against him.

"He has put a lot of people through hell including me, you, Elena and everyone else in Mystic Falls." Damon replied. Elena must have been just holding the phone for anyone to talk.

An accented voice took over. "And I have yet to meet him?" Enzo.

"Sorry for not calling back. I lost my phone and had to get a new one."

"It's alright, blondie, I would have just like a sign saying you were alright."

I smiled. "Well, at the moment I wasn't but now I'm just peachy."

Elena took over again. "So, there is a girl who looks just like you?"

"Not like Katherine style but definitely a resemblance. Tall, blonde, pretty."

"You're describing like half the girls in America," Damon critiqued.

"Isn't that weird that he's friends with her though? It seems like a replacement." I said again in thought. It was strange that she resembled me and he seemed to fancy her as he would say it.

"Are you jealous, Care?" Elena asked curiously from the other side of the phone.

Was I? "No." Yes? I don't know.

I could hear her get giddy. "Yes, you are! You had one night in the woods and you think he's yours, don't you?"

I shook my head. "No. I have to go."

"Caroline and Klaus sitting in a tree." Damon sang, closer to the phone now.

"Real mature, Damon."

"Hey, I just tell it like it is."

"Goodbye!" I hung up and dialed my mom's number to let her know everything was going perfect. If I told her anything else, she would get upset and I didn't want that.

"Hi, Sweetie."

My mom's voice was incredibly reassuring and welcomed.

"Mom! I miss you!"

"I miss you too! I'm almost done with Friends so you'll have to come home to give me my next show soon."

I laughed. "Alright, I'll get thinking."

"How's New Orleans?"

I shrugged. "It's good. I haven't seen much of it yet. Hopefully we'll find something out today."

"I hope it goes well."

"Me too."

The door to the bar opened and Klaus walked out. He looked over at me for a moment, gauging my expression before staying by the door.

I turned to look back out to the street. "How do you feel?"

"I've been better. It's just going to take a little bit of work."

"I wish I was home."

"I know but it's okay. I'll be here when you get back." God, I hope she was. I couldn't imagine losing her. I couldn't handle not being there when it happened. Not being able to say goodbye.

I had to get off the phone before I started to cry. "Okay, mom. I have to go."

"Alright, I'll talk to you soon."

"Bye. I love you."

"I love you too."

I hung up and shoved my phone in my pocket. Klaus slowly walked up to me. "Is your mom alright? I never asked."

I nodded. "She's doing better."

"She'll be alright, love," he said, meeting my eyes with his.

I exhaled and pushed the negative thoughts aside. "I hope that wasn't the friend that is supposed to help us."

He shook his head. "No, she wasn't."

I nodded. "She seemed nice."

Klaus looked at me for a quick moment before his mouth upturned in a smug smile. "She is."

I gave him a strange look then continued down the sidewalk towards a coffee shop we passed earlier. "What's with the smile?"

He followed me, catching up to my pace quickly. "Nothing, sweetheart." His voice still carried the smugness his smile put off.

"Did the drink kick in?"

He shook his head. "No, but I think yours did."

I looked over at him. "What does that mean?"

"I think you're jealous of the relationships I've made here."

My eyes widened and I gave a forced, short laugh. "That's a joke, right?"

He frowned. "How quickly you forget how much I can read you."

I stopped walking. "What am I thinking right now?" How wrong he was. He was wrong, right? Just like Elena.

He turned and motioned to the store we stopped in front of. The coffee shop. "How you'd like your espresso now."

I shrugged. "So, you are aware of matters of the brain not heart." I walked past him into the small shop.

"I wasn't done," he called after me. I stopped, the coffee so close to being mine, and turned around to look at him.

He smiled innocently. "You're also thinking how wrong you think I am about your unrealized jealousy."

"Now it's unrealized?"

He stepped up to the doorway. "Are you going to admit your feelings towards the situation?"

"What situation?"

He raised his eyebrows. "And thus, it is unrealized."

I felt my own eyebrows come together in mock confusion but real annoyance. "I think you're making something out of nothing."

"If I was making something out of nothing, we wouldn't still be having this conversation."

"You're full of yourself."

He was grinning again. "Makes everything more interesting, doesn't it?"

I shook my head and turned back towards the coffee shop. He had no idea how interesting.

Thank you for reading! I'm sorry if it seems a bit slow, I'll try to speed it up more. I hope you still like the story, though! Have a good weekend! :)