Sorry for the late update everyone! Enjoy...
RECAP: Klaus leads Caroline and Elena to their village and they are invited to stay in their 'family circle' and everyone keeps mistaking Elena for Tatia. They all dance and by Rebekah's plan, Klaroline share a moment before Caroline flees into her hut.
Thank you for the reviews - AngelDust246, Clarabelle26, starlightsps, VAlover21, serialover, Sherry, 666, gallowayl062 and Iloveklaus29 . Seriously, thank you guys!
Elena woke up with a smile on her face as the memory of last night's events struck her. She and Elijah had taken a walk in the woods surrounding the village. Elijah of course, had been the perfect gentleman. His manners and honour hadn't changed over the centuries.
But it did not help Elena's thoughts that every time she looked at him, she was reminded of their kiss. True, when he had kissed her, he had thought her to be Tatia, but still, a kiss was a kiss and Elena hadn't been able to get it out of her mind.
During their walk, she hadn't been able to take her eyes off him when he wasn't looking. Of course, she had been too shy to meet his gaze. After their walk, Elijah had accompanied her until her hut and wished her goodnight, kissing her knuckles slightly, making her blush and flee into her hut.
Caroline woke up blinking, the sunlight blinding her even through her closed eyes. She woke up, rubbing her eyes sleepily and got out of her hard cot. She went outside the hut to find Elena already up and about and chopping vegetables with Rebekah.
"Elena!" Caroline called out to her friend. "Why didn't you wake me up?" she groaned.
"Well, Caroline." Elena answered. "We didn't feel the need to disturb you. According to Rebekah, we are going to a lake today. So I thought you would need your strength." Caroline frowned. Where did this come from suddenly? Elena wanted to kill Klaus, not go on lake-side picnics!
"Yes Caroline." Rebekah said. "I thought that a day off would do us all some good. Just us siblings and you both. Is that okay? We shall be leaving at noon. Ayanna has returned from her expedition. So we are free to do what we want for the day while Ayanna looks after Mother." Caroline nodded, "Sure. Why not?"
"Please go help Klaus with the apples Caroline." Rebekah insisted, seeing Klaus walking past them with a basket in his hand. "Nik!" she called out to her brother.
"What is it Bekah?" Klaus came up to his sister. "Elijah and I were going to pick the apples just like you told us to!" he said, exasperated. Just then, Elijah too came up to them, a basket in his hands too. "Hello Niklaus. Hello ladies." he greeted them.
"Nik, Elijah, please take Caroline and Elena with you please. Elena has done her part of the chores and Caroline had just woken up and a walk would do her good." Caroline yawned loudly, unable to escape her sleepy mood. "See what I mean?" Rebekah insisted.
"Okay." Elijah agreed and offered his arm to Elena, who took it, blushing. Klaus held out his hand to Caroline, who just trudged past him, rubbing her eyes and still yawning. Rebekah burst out laughing at the confused frown on her brother's face.
Caroline walked up to Elijah and knocked him on his shoulder just like she would knock a door, "Is there a stream nearby or something?" she asked sleepily. "I might just run into a tree and not notice it in my current situation."
Elijah nodded, failing miserably to hide his smile. "As soon as we leave the village there is a small stream flowing. You will be able to um... awaken yourself there." Caroline just nodded. She had not slept for two days in a row straight and her now human body desperately craved for more rest.
They reached the stream and Caroline quickly splashed her face with the cold stream water. She felt a lot better after that. "Okay then." she faced the rest of them, a bright smile on her face. "Where to next?" she asked.
Elijah smiled. "Nowhere to next, Caroline. This is it. See?" he answered, pointing towards the trees around them. "These are the apple trees and we pick the apples. Just be careful not to drop them." Caroline nodded at him, grinning and joined Klaus, who was plucking the apples on the low branches of the apple tree. She jumped high, trying to reach an apple, but miserably failed. She kept jumping, her arms stretched out, when suddenly, she felt two firm hands on her waist hoisting her up so that she could reach the apples. She looked down to see Klaus holding her up.
Grinning, she reached up and collected as many apples as she could hold in her arms. She then wriggled in Klaus's arms so that he set her down on the ground. "Thank you." she grinned at him and threw her armful of apples into Klaus's basket.
"Why don't you just climb the trees?" Caroline asked. "It's much easier. The trees are also quite low." Klaus smiled at her and replied, "I don't have to Caroline. I can quite well reach it from the ground."
"Oh!" Caroline said. She went over to the tree in which Klaus was plucking fruit from and quickly climbed up the tree with swift agility and experience. She slowly crawled along the branch and sat down above Klaus's head, just next to where he was standing. His eyes widened with concern. "Caroline." he whispered, panicked. "Please come down before you get hurt." Caroline smiled. "My feet are nearly touching your shoulders Klaus. Don't worry." She started picking juicier apples from the higher branches and handed them down to Klaus.
Elena saw Caroline in the tree and got concerned. "Caroline!" she called out to her friend, who waved back to her, excited. "You must try it too Elena!" Caroline called out to her friend.
'Why not?' Elena thought. It didn't look too high. If she jumped, she could touch the lowest branch. She went to the trunk of the tree and slowly made her way up the tree. Only when she sat down on the branch did she realize its actual height. The ground looked quite far from the branch and suddenly, Elena wobbled as she lost her balance on the branch and fell through the air.
Shit! She thought as she fell through the air. A startled squeak escaped her mouth as she tumbled toward the ground. She squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself to hit the ground, but there was a deep thump and she felt a strong pair of arms catching her, just before she hit the ground. She opened her eyes to find Elijah looking at her with concern. "Are you alright?" he asked her.
She wordlessly nodded, still shocked from her fall. "Elena!" Caroline shouted, jumped off the branch and ran to her friend. Elijah slowly set Elena on her feet, who was immediately attacked into a hug by Caroline. "Are you alright?" Caroline whispered to her friend. "God! For a moment there, I thought you would get a fracture or something."
"Fracture?" Klaus asked, confused. "Broken or cracked bones." Caroline responded. Klaus nodded. "Oh, okay."
"I'm fine, Caroline." Elena responded. "I was just being silly. I'm sorry."
"Yeah." Caroline nodded. "I think we should head back." The rest of them nodded their agreement and they all headed back to the village.
"Oh good." Rebekah commented as she saw the four of them approach her with the two baskets full of apples. "Now just put it there right next to that basket over there which has our food." As soon as her two brothers set the baskets down, she quickly picked a few apples and put them into the 'food basket'. She stood up with a grin on her face and announced, "There. Everything is set. Now we have an hour free before we set off so go on you boys. We girls shall be taking a walk to Ayanna's house to get some bread she had promised to give me."
Elena's eyebrows shot up at this. Ayanna? As in the witch? She nodded at Caroline who gave her a tight-lipped smile. They would have to speak to the witch if they wanted to get back to their own time.
They both followed Rebekah as she told them all the tales of her childhood, pointing out the places where she had played as a child. The girls in turn told stories of their childhood. The girls were laughing and chatting as they walked when suddenly, a raven-haired girl knocked into Elena, making her fall onto the ground. "Oh sorry. I didn't see you there." the girl said as Elena got up and dusted off her clothes.
"Oh it's okay." Elena looked up to smile at the girl but stopped dead in her tracks. Standing before her was a mirror image of herself. Except that this image had curly hair, just like Katherine. "Tatia." Rebekah commented, her voice hard and sharp. Tatia looked at Rebekah and just nodded shyly, smiling.
"Who are your friends Rebekah?" she asked, her voice soft and shy. Rebekah narrowed her eyes. She was getting tired of this girl's attitude, but she did not want to seem rude in front of her new friends. So, instead of slapping her like she wanted to, she turned to her new friends with a tight-lipped smile and said, "Tatia, this is Caroline and Elena, my new best friends. Girls, this is Tatia, the village whore who play's with my brothers' hearts like it is garbage."
Elena gasped and Caroline's eyes widened with shock at this introduction whereas Tatia's eyes began to water. But Caroline could not help the smile tugging at her lips at Rebekah's frank and clear opinion about the Original Doppelganger. "Oh, Ayanna is calling me. I will just go get the bread. I'll be back in a moment." she said to Caroline and Elena and went off. Caroline followed her while Elena stayed back, wanting to get to know the first Petrova Doppelganger.
"She doesn't like me very much." Tatia whispered to Elena, still looking at the two blondes' retreating figures. She turned to look at Elena and said, "Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Tatiana Petrova. And oh lord! We look so alike. In fact, exactly alike. What do you think?" she giggled. "Are we some long lost twins?"
Elena smiled and shook her head. "I'm afraid not. You see, I am not from around here at all. My name is Elena – Elena Gilbert."
"Oh, okay." Tatia smiled shyly. "Where are you from Elena?"
"Let's just say that I'm from a very far place. Caroline and I are orphaned." Elena replied, keeping up the story that Caroline had told the Mikealsons. "We had been travelling for a long time when just yesterday, we ran into Elijah-" Elena smiled at the thought of Elijah "- and their family have been kind enough to offer us a place in their family circle and so we are staying there. In return, we have offered to run a few errands for Ester, given her condition."
Tatia's eyes widened. "You are living in the Mikealson circle?" she asked.
"Yes." Elena responded. Just then, Caroline and Rebekah returned, a small basket on Caroline's arm. Rebekah's eyes narrowed, finding Tatia next to Elena. "What are you still doing here?" Rebekah asked, frowning.
"Um... I was just talking to Elena here." she muttered shyly, averting her eyes from Rebekah's furious gaze. Rebekah ground her teeth. She was playing innocent, was she? Well, two can play at that game.
She looped each of her arms through Caroline and Elena's. "Come on." she chided both the girls. "Nik and Elijah will have my head if I don't get you two back home safe on time." Though the other two girls did, Rebekah noticed the flash of anger in Tatia's eyes at the mention of her brothers. Rebekah smirked. The whore did not like her two friends spending time with her brothers. Good.
"And, we are all to spend the whole day together. My brothers wouldn't want to waste that time." They turned back to head back, still arm-in-arm when Rebekah turned back, a smirk on her face to look at Tatia, who was staring at her furiously, not at all the shy meek creature she was just a moment ago in front of Elena. She had transformed into a world-class furious monster within a matter of seconds. Well, it looked like looks could be deceiving.
What do you think? Please review! I think I want Tatia to be a two-faced bitch! :D Bet you didn't see that coming! Hope you liked the chapter! Please let me know!