Lilylulurose: From the moment Klaus did not dagger Elijah because he would have to wake Kol up? I decided that Kol was a psycho who even scared Klaus, lol. I'm going to have a lot of fun with Kol in this story, especially when it comes to him with his family! You'll see why he sent that message to the Salvatores. He's a tricky little psycho haha. I'm so glad you're still enjoying the story!

Sweetwater Gal: Thanks! I wanted to build something that felt organic and not "insta-romance" for both of the main pairings in this story. Mainly because I think the couples deserve and can maintain a slow build because they are so layered and interesting.

I lovedlovedloved the Stefan/Caroline friendship. I was so angry when they stopped sharing scenes, because I think that their bond was unique and interesting. Maybe the show was afraid of their chem or something? Expect more for them in this though, because I do think they have a great relationship.

E&E won't have the easiest relationship in this, especially at the beginning. There will be some steps forward and back, I hope it doesn't get too frustrating! I haven't even touched the fact that Elena was willing to let Elijah die and he should have some resentment about that yet. Yikes! LOL!

The Jeremy and Elijah relationship will be integral to E&E.

I didn't realize people thought of Kol and Beks as incesty. They seem like brother and sister to me, you know the regular kind (or as regular as vampires can be lol). Well, they will continue to be written in the way they were in this chapter! So glad you liked them! :)

Thanks again! I really, really appreciate it! My updates will definitely be more frequent now!

DammitimmaD: Thanks!I'm gladyou're intrigued!

Belleserenite: Thanks so much! I really like the characters so I am glad I am doing them justice. Updates soon!

UrieNanashi: More on it's way! Thanks so much! I've got some time off, so I plan on combing through Some E&E fics. If you have a recommendation, please let me know! There will definitely be more Elijah! There can never be enough!

I like that idea, and I will definitely keep it in mind while writing! Thanks for the suggestion.

Klauslove: I'm glad! I enjoy writing them! Thanks!

Alauralen: Thanks so much! I hope you continue enjoying it! More coming soon!

Hey ladies and gents! This is another really long chapter. I just needed a lot to happen so that we can get the story moving, I realize it's been a little slow.

Also, I have an OC in this chapter. I don't normally enjoy writing OCs but this one couldn't be avoided. She serves a plot purpose, plus I'm not the biggest fan of Meredith, so just consider her a Meredith replacement, please.

Chapter Three: A Family Matter

"Return who? Elena?" Damon asked as he stared at the bodies as though they were nothing more than a stain on the rug that was going to be difficult to get out before company came. "Is this Klaus' handiwork?"

Stefan bit his lower lip and had no conclusive answer for his brother, other than, "maybe. But right now he has his hands full with Caroline, so I actually doubt it."

He gave a look as though he smelled something truly rank, "did Vampire Barbie switch sides?"

"No." Stefan answered more quickly than he would have liked. He, at least, didn't think she had. Caroline could be selfish and self-absorbed, but at the end of the day he knew she was a good person, not the kind that switched sides just because she wanted to. He imagined that the situation was similar to her spying for Katherine- she was doing it to protect someone.

"So return who?" Damon asked again, "if it isn't Klaus about Elena- then who the hell sent this and who do they want us to return exactly?"

Stefan frowned, and shook his head. "I really don't know, Damon."

His brother looked pensive for a moment, opened his mouth to speak, snapped it shut and then tilted his head to the side. "I, um, actually might have a clue."

"To who she is?" Stefan asked in surprise.

Damon shook his head, "to who we're supposed to return her to." A grimace followed, then he said; "let's get rid of the bodies and deal with it."

XXX

Elijah tossed the popcorn in the air, aiming carefully, and Jeremy stood below it until catching it with his mouth. They had finally accomplished their goal, as the movie Dracula played in the background. These kind of casual, relaxed evenings, had been brought on by Jeremy. In all of Elijah's lifetime, he had been very proper and never understood what people found appealing about a lack of manners and propriety. Then Jeremy had come along and things had changed. The first night that they had a "movie night." Elijah had been stiff and uncomfortable, but by the end of the evening, after a dozen jabs from Jeremy about having a stick up his ass, he had finally relaxed and actually enjoyed eating messy pizza, drinking heavily and making fun of contemporary film.

Now, for Jeremy and Elijah, this was now a normal night for them. They had done this often and repeatedly, but Elijah could tell that normal situations like this had long since been lost as a part of Elena's routine. However, she was enjoying it now and her beautiful laughter rang out like bells through the living room. "If anybody told me that this was how you had fun, Elijah? I wouldn't have believed them." She gasped out after one of Jeremy's ridiculous impersonations of Dracula. "I figured your type of fun only came in ballrooms."

"It did." Jeremy complained and made a face, "I don't think this guy even lived until he met me."

Elijah poured himself and Elena another drink, then eyed Jeremy's empty glass and shook his head. "There is something to be said for galas and balls, Jeremy. However, I also enjoy art shows, operas, sailing and a myriad of other activities." But then he smiled at his young friend and added, "Yet…there is something charming and fun about night like tonight."

"They're easy," Elena supplied, taking a drink from her glass and casting a look at her brother who was holding his empty glass upside down in a silent plea for more. "There is no binding dress, no fake manners, just pizza, a ridiculous movie and sloppy fun."

"Yes," he decided, "that is it." He gave in and refilled Jeremy's glass. "I enjoy sailing for the same reason, it is relaxing and there is an easiness on the water that doesn't exist on land. Perhaps I should take you both sailing soon." He offered looking from the brother to the sister than back again, "I think you would enjoy it as much as I do."

"Sounds good." Jeremy told him, shoving a handful of popcorn in his mouth and then looking to a slightly startled Elena. He wondered why she looked so startled, was it the offer- or something else? Jeremy went on, diffusing any kind of tension that would have been in the room. "Remember when mom and dad left us alone, and they went sailing? They came back so happy, almost like they were coming back from their honeymoon or something."

Elena broke down to smile at the memory, "we told them like a thousand times that they needed to get a room but they never listened." She shook her head and sighed, "they were so in love. We were so lucky to seen that, you know? Because now we know the difference. We know what real love is."

"Yeah." Jeremy agreed and settled back into his chair, he glanced at Elijah, "I told you that, remember? That I knew what real love looked like."

Elijah nodded, suddenly very uncomfortable. "Yes you did." This was not something that he really wanted to talk about, because in truth the whole conversation had been brought up because he was having trouble figuring out how he felt about Elena. Not that either of the Gilberts knew that, but he still wanted to change the subject. He wanted his mood to be as relaxed as theirs, and so he smiled easily and said; "you know we haven't really been paying attention to Elena's movie at all, how rude of us."

She laughed, "it was a joke anyway, I didn't seriously want to watch Dracula. I was making fun of you."

His laughter matched hers, and he threw a piece of popcorn at her, only for her to return it right to him. "Then perhaps our next movie should be about Helen of Troy, hm?" He asked with a smirk and a feigned bow.

She rolled her eyes and threw another corn at him.

XXX

Klaus prepared a feast. While vampires didn't need food, the taste of it was still something to be enjoyed and as long as they were healthy, they could eat like a human could eat. Waving away the servants who had prepared and served the meal, Klaus swirled the bourbon in his cup and smiled at the work of art.

Yes, even his food had to be beautiful.

There were plates of different dishes of all different cultures and varieties, prepared by Mystic Falls own gourmet chef. Thanks to a little compulsion and some palm greasing, Klaus had hired the five-star hotel's renowned chef to create his meal for the evening. From his place beside the table, it was well worth it.

He snapped his finger, ordered the string quartet in, also from the nearby hotel, and then waited, patiently, for Caroline to descend the stairs.

When she did not, he felt irritation grow inside him. After all, he had taken great pains to make the evening beyond her standards, hoping to impress upon her the world that she was missing.

Irritated, he started up the stairs, then knocked loudly on her door until he heard stirring in her room. When she didn't answer, he opened the door himself to find her on the bed, flipping through some magazine and not looking up at him. "I take it you're not coming down for supper."

"I'm not in the mood.'

He looked down, gave sardonic smile and a half chuckle, and then said: "what, pray tell, are you in the mood for Caroline?"

"I told you, dancing." Still she did not look up at him, and took some posturing to conceal his displeasure. He was, after all, used to people obeyed him and she never did. Funny how that was the most irritating aspect of her personality and yet the most endearing at the same time. "Besides, what good are your fancy dinners when we are the only two there to enjoy them?" She tossed the magazine to the side, and finally looked up at him defiantly.

"Would you have me invite guests?" He asked, "and who would you have me invite? My family? Yours?"

"Would the even come?" She spat back at him. "I can't think of anyone who would."

"You're lonely." He realized it out loud instead of quietly in his mind, loneliness was something he understood all too well. "You may invite Stefan, he will show up, if for no other reason than to make sure you're okay. You are welcome to invite Elena too, if you so choose."

She stared back at him, and he had expected gratitude but instead her gaze steady with anger. "What exactly is it that you want?"

She gracefully got out of the bed, took three steps until she was directly in front of them and then said scathingly; "your head on a stick so that I am certain the people I love are safe."

With that she breezed past him towards the stairs and descended them to the meal he had his servants working on to impress her. He followed, amused by her outburst and frustrated at the same time. She motioned to the food and turned to him. "What does any of this matter, Klaus? You can have all the most beautiful things in the world, but if there is no one here to look at them, you might as well be sitting in an empty room."

"I am not in an empty room, Caroline. You're here."

"A hostage?" She asked waspishly, "and if not me, someone you've compelled? Bribed? Blackmailed?" She ticked the fingers off as she spoke, fire in every word and every look. She was like the sun, vibrant and hot- with each sentence she angered him and with that anger came a desire that shocked and infuriated him. "There is no one who would be here because of loyalty to you, Klaus- and you know why?"

"I'm sure you're about to tell me, love." He returned just as heatedly.

"Because you don't show loyalty to anyone else, that's why. You're only alone because you want power more than anything. You think that power will bring people to you, but apparently living a thousand years has taught you nothing. Hell, it only took me three years of high school and two of the most stubborn friends on the planet to teach me that."

"Hold your tongue." He snapped out the command as though he were royalty and knew very well how he sounded. It didn't matter. His frustration and temper now controlled his lips and what they spat out. Her implication of his stupidity was more than enough to drive him over the edge. "You act like you know every inch of me, little girl, like you have read the story of my life. You would do better not to make childish assumptions. You can eat alone. I'm going out."

XXX

"Go. Run. They'll find you."

Her words rang clearly in Kol's head as he meandered through the garden looking for Rebekah. The vision of a clearing with dead animal carcasses, ripped apart like an animal had done it, was clearer in front of him than the beautiful, meticulously cared for roses that the Lockwood's gardener doted over. He could even smell blood instead of their sweet fragrance; the memory was simply that potent.

He had been only eleven at the time, she had been six…it had been the first time he had seen her, or even known of her…

"They are coming, they'll find you. Don't you hear them? Run. Run or she'll know and you'll never return."

"You want me to return?"

"You must."

"Penny for your thoughts, Kol. I mean, they must have been something for you not to hear me approaching."

He looked up to see the vampires that he had been expecting. Damon and Stefan were staring at him. They stood in the same fashion, though Damon's stance seemed lazier than his brother's. From the way they were beside each other, Kol could almost imagine Klaus and Elijah in their place. He found it amusing how alike the pairs of siblings were- right down to their idiotic love for the same woman. "I was thinking of someone who matters. You can imagine my displeasure at being interrupted by two who don't."

Damon smirked but Stefan's face remained impassive. It was the older brother who spoke. "So who is it exactly that you want us to return to you?"

Kol faked a perplexed look, "I'm not sure what you mean."

"The message you left us? Thanks, by the way. That was a really expensive rug."

Tilting his head to the side, Kol brought his brows together and did not let any emotion besides confusion pass through his face. He knew what they were talking about, of course. He had left them those three bodies to bring them out, to provoke them so he could find out if Anna had run to the idiot Salvatore brothers. She may have, since she had been close to the Gilbert boy- an idea that did not sit well with him at all. "You're not making sense. Stefan, has your brother lost his mind?"

"No, but word is that you have." Stefan retorted, "so we figure you're just crazy enough to murder three girls and leave them in our house with a message in blood."

"So ideas are coming together in a way that conveys meaning now, bravo. So let me understand- three girls were killed, left on an expensive rug, I assume in your home, with a message in blood and you both believe I did it? Due to one of my sibling's musings on me, no doubt." He strung about their words careful to betray no details they had not mentioned, as to not give away that he was, indeed, the culprit. Interesting, they came to him because of rumors that he was mad. That led him to the conclusion that they did not have Anna. Whether or not they were leading him to this conclusion on purpose remained to be seen. As their silence stretched on, he shrugged, "you've come to the wrong place, I'm afraid. It's a dead end here."

Stefan took an angry step forward. He was Elijah all over really, only younger, dumber and more volatile. "You can't just go killing girls."

"I can." Kol contradicted, "But I didn't. You may try my brother, Klaus."

"It wasn't Klaus." Damon responded.

Kol raised a brow, "so sure of that, are you?" They exchanged a brief glance at each other and Kol took the moment to surprise them. "Would you care for a late night snack? Perhaps the three of us can find some common ground? I believe we have a very common enemy."

"And who would that be?" Stefan wanted to know.

"Klaus, of course."

"The two of you seemed pretty chummy the last time you were in town." Damon pointed out and Kol was glad of it. He didn't want his soon-to-be-useful vampires to be complete imbeciles. That would not suit him, or his purposes, at all. "An d he isn't the one leaving us presents."

Kol chuckled, "fine then, mates. Think what you want, alright? But unless you want to talk business, I suggest you go elsewhere. You'll find nothing else here."

XXX

"Would you like to go for a walk?"

Elena looked over at her little brother, asleep on the easy chair by the couch. In answer to Elijah's question she just nodded, then quietly stood and made her way to the door. She knew that Elijah was following her, despite the fact that she could not hear his silent footsteps. In the long time since vampires had entered her life, she had grown used to the quiet ways in which they moved.

They stepped into the night air and Elena found herself breathing it in and appreciating it. "I do love Virginia." She told Elijah with a smile, "but my mother and father always encouraged me to go see the world. They wanted me to know what it was like."

"The world has a lot of beauty in it, Elena." Elijah concurred, "I think your parents were right to want that for you."

"Yeah. But I always thought that I would be seeing that world with them; after they were gone I didn't give it much thought anymore. I closed the world out and it was Stefan who brought the world back to me. Did you know he saved my life?" Elijah shook his head, had Elena not been looking at him briefly she would not have even known he answered. "He did. Then he stuck around, because of who I looked like."

Elijah said nothing at this, and Elena imagined it was because he had known both Katherine and the first woman who held their face- Tatia. Elena believed Damon had said that was her name, anyway. The thought of Tatia of sparked curiosity in Elena. "I don't mean to sound racist, but when you came to Virginia 1000 years ago, there were people here already, right? Natives? How is it that I look like Tatia, when yours was the only family that would not have been Native American? Sage? She didn't look Viking, nor Native American either, come to think of it."

Elijah looked thoughtful, he glanced at her as they slowed their pace down the sidewalk. "It wasn't just my parents on that boat; there were different people. People that they conquered along the way, or slaves they already owned. They gave some of them their freedom, or at least that was what mother said. Others they sold to the natives that were here, so that we could have a peaceful life."

It was hard to think of Elijah owning a slave, then she quickly stopped that line of thinking. He proved to be just as violent as the other vampires, so why should she be surprised that he owned a slave? Keep your head, Elena. She warned herself of this, afraid that the ease of which she spoke to Elijah was whitewashing his past and lulling her into a false sense of security. It was so easy though, to be out there with him in the empty night and not think about the violence that stirred beneath his serene visage. "And Tatia?"

"Her parents had been my father's slaves." He answered with a frown, "that is in part why my parents did not approve. I wanted to marry her, slaves weren't for marrying. You could certainly use them in any other way you wished, that was normal back then, but to marry one? No. Besides marriage for love was not an option."

"How sad." Elena commented, feeling sympathy for her walking companion because of the sorrowful tone in which he spoke. She heard longing there and that was something she could understand. He had the features of the statue, strong, stark and still. He was a handsome man, not in a way that either Stefan and Damon were handsome. She noted the differences right away, since they seem to be her basis of comparison for beauty since she had met them. His was a different kind of handsome, a composed, polite kind of handsome, and when she looked at him she thought of the princes in fairytales. "Did you ever find love?"

He stopped walking altogether, and gave her very curious look. "I did. She was a witch and inevitably chose mortality over me." A pause, "I'm being unkind, she chose more than mortality, she chose her kinship to nature and I think that was fair." The brittle tone in his voice, targeted her heart strings and she gave him a smile which encouraged him to go on. "I loved her for as long as I could, as long as she allowed. When she sent me away, I went. It was my last gift to her."

The compassion she felt for him was already beginning to threaten her lack of trust in him. She decided a subject change was necessary, if for no other reason than to protect herself. "Do you think Jeremy is safe?"

"We're still within a distance that I could hear if he wasn't. We won't go too far." He promised, "I'm proud of him for coming back to help his friend, it speaks volumes of the people who raised him."

"My parents were good people."

"It shows. In both of you."

"I wonder about that sometimes," she acknowledged, her manner as sober as she felt, "have I done right by my friends? My family? Have I made the right choices?"

They were still stopped in the road, the lonely night as a backdrop, looking at each other until she realized the intimacy of the situation. She looked away from him, uncomfortable and warm and when she looked back she wondered if he noticed as well. . "You are one of the best people I've ever met." Elijah whispered earnestly. "I'm sure that sometimes you make wrong decisions, but that's okay. You just have to realize everyone makes mistakes, and learn from them." He laughed then, "unlike myself and my family, it seems."

"You miss them." She recognized out loud.

"Of course, Elena. They were my family. They mean more to me than even myself. Should there be a way for me to help them- even Klaus- find their way again. I would do it. We're not unalike in that regard."

"You're right." She sighed and shook her head, "why don't you go to Rebekah then, Elijah? Try and speak to her. Maybe your influence will do her some good."

It was his turn to sigh, "I wish that it would but she is with Kol now. He and I have never quite seen eye to eye, even when we were mortals. Truth be told, the lot of us were afraid of him, even when he was a child. Rebekah held some regard for him, but she's the most forgiving out of all of us."

Elena believed that. Rebekah may hate her, but she had seemed to forgive Klaus of quite a lot. What Elena did not believe, however, was that Elijah should give up on his sister. "Try anyway, Elijah." She encouraged.

He shook his head, "but then she'll know I'm here, we'll lose our edge."

"Elijah." She said patiently, meeting his eyes with hers. "Go to your sister. Please."

His nod of ascent was so small, she thought maybe she had imagined it.

XXX

Veronica Fell was a small blonde girl who apparently didn't want to be blonde. She had dyed the front of her hair a bright pink and frizzed it out so that it was over one eye. She wore a black, off the shoulder shirt that showed a neon pink bra strap and a pair of ripped up black leggings. Her full lips were covered in colorless gloss but her eyes had such thick liner framing her eyes, that were the color of a muted emeralds. Around those were thick framed glasses and the only thing bigger than those were the giant hoop earrings that hung from her lobes.

She preferred to be called Ronnie.

Anna had liked her right from the start. She spoke quickly, almost feverishly and with excitement. Immediately, Anna had deduced two things- that she knew all about vampires, witches and werewolves but until that very moment, had not ever met one- that she was aware of anyway. Her last name was Fell, which matched the name of one of the founding families, from Jeremy had told her. She, apparently, was privy to the council's secrets it seemed.

Jeremy had brought Anna to her rather large estate, because no one would look for Anna there and because Ronnie's parents, apparently, were rarely in town. Before even entering the building, Jeremy made sure that Ronnie knew the dangers involved, knew who Anna was and who was after her. The girl still readily accepted her as a guest, much to Anna's shock and curiosity. Jeremy had left soon after and Ronnie had ensured that Anna had some clothing and shown her around the house. She was given leave to shower then and immediately did, then laid down in the guest room and waited for sleep that never came.

Having heard the stirring of the girl outside the guest bedroom, Anna got up out of bed and followed the noises. She knocked lightly on the door that they came from, then again at no answer. "Oh shit, sorry. Come on in, Anna!"

"Thanks."

She was glued to her computer, typing furiously to the background music of angry guitars and screaming vocalist. The room she sat in was colorful, with splashes of different colored paints on the wall, like someone just tossed around buckets of the stuff and posters of all kinds randomly placed on the wall. The carpeting was black and shaggy, curling itself in Anna's toes as she walked towards her. "What are you up to?"

"I'm creating an identity for you." She said with a sweet smile, "and I'm syphoning money out of my idiot parent's account so that you can have some start up money. Maybe buy some better clothes. Here, have a seat on my bed. It will just take a few more minutes. This is easy as pie and I know a guy who can make you a social security card and an ID."

"Wow." Anna was truly amazed. "You're being awfully nice to someone you just met."

She whirled around in her swivel chair, "well, it sucks to be you right now, right? I mean, no memories, possibly being sought out by a super strong evil vampire family? I figured, hey, we can't have her only having bad luck, right?"

Anna laughed a little, "Well, I can't argue with your logic. I mean, nothing is coming up me right now, you know?"

"Story of my life." She sighed, turned back to the computer and started typing again. "So what's it like? Not remembering anything?"

"Strange. Like I'm in a dream. I remember how to speak, I remember what things are. I remember how to function, you know? But I don't have solid memories of my life. I can't see any faces or hear any voices. I don't know who I am." Anna leaned back on her elbows and looked up at the blotchy ceiling. More paint splashes over white; pink, blue, green, orange, red, purple… "Maybe I don't even want to remember. From what I've heard…that life kind of sucked too."

"But you had Jeremy."

Anna heard the catch in her voice, then sat back up to look at the girl. "He said that you didn't start talking again until he figured out what I was…and he met you in a vampire chat room."

"Yup." Ronnie answered simply, "I knew it was him because I hacked his computer."

Anna leaned back again, kept her gaze away from her. "You should really hate me, you know."

"I know." A sigh followed, "but I was homeschooled, so I don't have the socialization process down that is necessary to hate female rivals. I guess it is important to send your kids to the brainwashing factory- I mean…high school, after all." She said it all in one quick breath. It was hard to keep up with how she spoke, but Anna managed. "Anyway, how did you know? That I liked him, I mean."

"You didn't do all this for me." Anna answered, "how long have you liked him?"

"Since we were ten. The other kids picked on me, he didn't. He stood up for me." She swiveled around as Anna looked up to see her face. She really was a lovely looking girl, with full lips and a symmetrical nose. Jeremy would probably draw a pretty picture of her, or he would if he had feelings for her too. "These two boys were throwing rocks at me and he stopped them. He got beat up for it. After that my parents took me out of school.'

"It's a good reason to fall for someone." Anna decided, "has it always been him?"

"Well…him and Batman. I'm beginning to think I have more of a chance with Bats though. I mean- how the hell can I compete with a petite, beautiful, Asian female vampire? It's like you walked out of some male-fantasy computer program or something."

Anna stood up, crossed the room and took the girl's chin in the crook of her hand between her thumb and forefinger. "You're beautiful Veronica Fell." The girl's breath caught, her lips opening ever so slightly as her face was tilted upwards. Anna examined her face, eyes dropping to her lips than back up to the eyes. With her free hand she took her glasses and placed them on the desk behind her. "Tell me that you're beautiful."

"I'm beautiful." She said softly, hesitantly, the feverish excitement in her voice gone.

"You still don't believe it. That's why he doesn't see it, you know." Anna furrowed her brow, "May I compel you to believe it?"

She swallowed hard, "you can do that?"

"I think. Jeremy said I can. I'm sure I'll remember it if I try."

Her tongue moistened her lips, "No. If he doesn't like me for me…it's not really worth anything, is it?"

Anna dropped her hand and moved back to the bed, "you would be better for him, Ronnie."

"Probably," she laughed, "but it isn't me he wants. Besides, I wouldn't want to ruin things with my very first sleep-over guest ever, right? At least, not before we braid each other's hair and watch 'the Notebook.'"

"The what?"

"Oh….prepare to sob, my friend. Prepare. To. Sob."

XXX

Still safe. No progress yet.

Caroline quickly deleted the text from Bonnie and sat down alone in her gilded prison, silently kicking herself for the outburst against Klaus. She knew that she needed to seduce him, not anger and infuriate him, but she was so angry herself that it didn't seem to matter.

She missed her mother. She missed her friends. She missed Tyler.

But of course, none of this could be confessed to Klaus. She needed him to believe that she was strong and vibrant. Her weakness couldn't show and that translated into uber bitch mode, which was not going to get her what she wanted at all.

She needed to figure out a believable way for him to think she had fallen under his spell. But how? After the debacle that just occurred she had to play it safe. He wouldn't believe she went from hating him to wanting him. Also, she wasn't really hip to the idea of seducing him…that meant sex and, quite frankly, she felt like that would be cheating on Tyler…even though they weren't even really together.

"Damn."

She said it out loud to the dinner table.

What the hell was she going to do?

Sighing, she slumped back in the chair and made a face, how was she going to undo the mess her temper had made? She couldn't apologize, after all, Klaus didn't want a weak woman. He wanted someone resilient, someone who challenged him- or at least that was what it seemed like so far. She wanted to throttle him and he knew it- so how did she get him to start believing she had gone from that to hanging on his every word with no apology on top of it?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door, she rose to go get it but a woman in a very traditional looking maid outfit beat her to it. She heard Elena's voice ring out through the room, "I need to see Caroline."

Before the maid could respond, Caroline was at the door and hugging her friend tightly. It felt good to be in someone's arms, to be around someone she actually liked. She was surprised at just how much she missed it. "Thank God you're okay." Elena whispered into her ear, "I've been worried sick."

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Caroline said back, pulling Elena in and shutting the door behind her. "Come on, let's go find somewhere we can talk." She hoped Elena followed the brief eye roll towards the maid, whom she knew would just report everything back to Klaus.

Elena nodded in understanding, and allowed Caroline to lead her toward the spiral staircase to the upper floor of the mansion. "How is everything? Have you talked to Bonnie?" She asked as she shut the door to her bedroom and immediately turned on some music for privacy. Her favorite Gym Class Heroes song came on and she sat down on the bed, motioning for Elena to join her.

Elena sat in front and sighed, "I don't know, I got a text saying she's okay, but that is all. I tried to call but she's not answering."

"Same." Caroline replied with a sigh. "How about you? Are you alright?"

Elena nodded, "yeah, now I am. Jeremy went missing for a little while- I never would have known but Elijah showed up and told me. Apparently he and Jer have gotten close."

"Weird." Caroline said and made a face, "how did that happen?"

"Elijah said that he wanted to make up for some of the misery he caused, so he's been, I don't know, training Jeremy or something. Anyway, it is weird. Everything is always weird."

"Tell me about it." Caroline agreed.

Elena's brown were troubled and she took Caroline hands in hers, "tell me you'll leave here with me, Care. Tell me that we can just walk out of here together."

She had been waiting for her friend to say something like that, and so her answer left her lips without her even thinking about it. "I can't. I've ensured the safety of my mom, of Tyler, of all of you guys. All I have to do is-"

"Be Klaus' slave." Elena finished in interruption, "It isn't worth it. Care, reconsider, please. He's volatile and only predictable in the sense that we know he's got a violent temper. This is incredibly dangerous. I don't want to see anything happen to you."

Caroline let out a small breath, then stood up and walked over to the window. "He can't be stopped Elena, not until one of us figures out a way. None of us will do that without some insider information. So, yeah, it will be worth it if I get us some useful information." She turned back to Elena and looked reproachful, "can you honestly tell me that you wouldn't do the exact same thing I am doing?" The pause and expression of guilt from Elena was all Caroline needed to continue. "I can do this, Elena. Can't you just believe in me?"

She moistened her lips then nodded. "Okay, look. I believe in you. I do. I know that if anyone can pull this off, it's you. I just need you to promise me you won't take unnecessary risks and that you'll check in with me so I know you're okay."

"Done and done." Caroline said in the cheerful way she usually spoke after getting her way, "Now you promise me something."

"What is that?"

"That you don't trust Elijah- remember what you did to him. You agreed to let his whole family get killed. That isn't something someone just forgets."

Elena nodded and looked a little sheepish, "okay. Yes. Thanks. I needed that reminder."

Caroline found herself smiling at her friend, an idea already formulating in her mind. It helped to be around someone she was comfortable with and allowed her calculating mind to actually work without the tension of Klaus hanging over her. Elena was smiling back and Caroline found that hopeful too. She bent down and hugged her friend, "we'll get through this, Elena. We always do."

"We always do." She agreed. "So what are you going to do? I mean, how are you going to bleed information about Klaus out?"

Caroline pulled her phone out and started typing.

Fake fall for Klaus. You know? Like pretend to be in love with him…I think I'll start by falling for some sob story- I just need him to give me the sob story.

Elena's eyes scanned over the words then she erased them and started typing her own in to the iphone. Well he's really into you, so it shouldn't be hard to get him to open up.

Caroline nodded with a small smile, then started typing her final thoughts on the matter. Plus, he's arrogant enough to believe it all, I think. Then, hopefully, I can get the information I need.

Elena's brow furrowed for a second, then she snatched the phone and typed very quickly, and Tyler?

Caroline felt a stab go through her heart. She loved Tyler- but not enough to sacrifice everyone else. Guilt kept her from answering though, and she just shook her head.

"I get it." Elena responded, nodding solemnly. "Oh Care, I'm so sorry."

"Me too." Was her reply, "me too."

XXX

Klaus stood outside the Lockwood estate, then began to walk away from it, only to find himself face to face with Rebekah, who looked none-too-pleased to see him. She stood before him, looking so different than they had as humans, when her style of dress was more modest and she wore no make-up on her face. He wondered how he looked to her, if the taint of his killing their mother had forever changed him in her eyes.

Her yellow locks were piled up in a loose bun and the dress she wore was more skin than red material. "Why are you here?"

"I came to see you."

"Then you're wasting your time. However, if you'd like to see Kol he's out in the back. You know how he loves plant-life."

He chuckled, "and how is your alliance going with him?"

"It's not an alliance. He's my brother." She said severely. "We're putting together the family that you kept throwing away, Niklaus."

"He's a psychopath, Rebekah. Sure, he doesn't seem so, I know that. He's often charming and beyond cunning, but you remember how he was, you remember why I had to put him down, don't you? Would you like a replay of that?"

She eyed him evenly, a smug, arrogant smile that was not unlike his own touched her lips. "And why did you have to put me down, Niklaus? Am I a psychopath too?"

"No. I put you in that coffin so that you could be alive later." Klaus spat out honestly, "don't you understand that, sister? Do you not see that if you had stayed with Stefan Mikael would have found you and turned you to dust?" He took a step toward his sister and reached toward her, "why don't you get that?"

She looked away from him and he could tell that his words hit the mark that they had meant to hit. "We have our spats, sis, we do- but we're us. We always make-up."

"You mean I always forgive you." She corrected with soft bitterness, "and then take my place at your heel."

"No," he began, all of Caroline's words coming flooding back to him. But his denial of Caroline's accusations only strengthened his resolve that what Rebekah said was wrong. "Not at my heel, love. That's not how I saw it at all."

"But that's how it was." She told him, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him with a sense of sadness that almost overcame him. "You made all the decisions, not just for me, but for Elijah as well. Anytime either of us went against you…well, that was the end of it. Your way or no way, right?"

"Your my baby sister, it was my job to take care of you and it always has been." He insisted, "and Elijah- our situation was entirely different. He was only enamored with Katherine because of her resemblance to Tatia. I knew he'd never see that."

"You protected, you knew, you. You. You." Rebekah parroted back at him with a toss of her head an eye roll. "Tell me, Klaus, when did you ever ask us our opinion, or take it into account? You're not always right- history can attest to that, can't it? And why did you not give us all the information, like, oh, I don't know…that you ripped our mother's heart out?"

There it was. The whopping lie that ruined everything. He wanted to explain to Rebekah what it had been like, staring into their mother's eyes and seeing nothing but contempt there. He had taken a life and it had turned him into a reminder of her own affair. He raged, he had raged so hard that he barely remembered the event itself, only the corpse that remained and the heart in his hand. The actual event itself was gone. "If I had told you that, you would have turned on me. You both would have left me."

"You never gave us the chance, Niklaus. Maybe, if you explained it, maybe if we had known, we would have stood by you. Instead you were too busy making our decisions, doling out our punishments and taking charge to consider us at all."

A slow clap caused Klaus to turn around and there, to his surprise, stood Elijah. He was wearing his usual dark jacket and slacks, but he looked more relaxed than usual. There was something very unElijah-like about him. "Nicely put, fair sister."

He turned back to see her smile. "Glad you approve. What brings you here?"

"I was worried for you. Word has it that you were with Kol, I just thought I'd check up. Is he behaving?"

Rebekah bit her lower lip, "we're working on something. I wouldn't worry."

"When Kol is involved all we can do is worry." Klaus remarked flippantly.

"As opposed to your involvement always coming up roses?" Elijah question in a thick voice and the brothers faced each other. "However, he is right on one mark. Kol is dangerous, Rebekah and, honestly, even more unstable than Niklaus. You know this."

Klaus, satisfied that Elijah agreed with him for once looked to his sister, "you see? We're in accord on the matter."

All three turned to the door as it opened and Kol stepped out, he smiled daringly at the sight in front of them, then stepped aside as Stefan and Damon Salvatore emerged from behind him. "I wasn't aware that we'd have quite so many guests, Beks. If I had known I would have dressed for company."

"So much for the element of surprise," Klaus heard an annoyed Damon mutter. "you know, this looks like a family matter, so why don't my brother and I just leave this party fashionably early." He jauntily started descending the steps.

"Not before I ask them." Stefan put in.

Klaus heard Damon hiss, "so close" before turning around in an exaggerated manner. "Well, ask away so we can get this show on the road, little brother."

"Which one of you left us the bodies of three young girls in our home?"

Klaus saw Rebekah glance warily at Kol, who looked suspiciously at him. "My money is on you, Niklaus. Beks likes 'em male and Elijah, well, we both know he's not a ripe killing machine." He looked to Rebekah and smiled, "right, darling?"

She nodded, but it was not at all that convincing.

"So that leaves Klaus." Kol finished with a smile, "he's a busy boy, you know. I suggest you hand over your doppelgänger or more may die." There was a feigned scolding in his voice, as though what he was saying were some sort of inside joke that no one else could understand.

Klaus looked from Kol to the Salvatore brothers and shook his head in confusion, "I'm not entirely sure what is going on, however, I do like the sound of what my brother is saying here."

"You see?" Kol clasped his hands together, "mystery solved. Now run along and be boring elsewhere. We have family matters to discuss."

Damon and Stefan exchanged glances then started to descend the sidewalk to the road. Elijah motioned with his head for them to go inside and so the family filed into the Lockwood mansion. They all followed Rebekah up the stairs and into a rather large room with a Jacuzzi inside it, a queen size bed, floral wall patterns and a huge walk in closet with the door open. She picked a remote off of the vanity by the bed and pressed a button. Jazz began to play softly in the background. "Three, Kol? You said one."

"I wanted to send a message." He shrugged, "what's the matter?"

"We want to stay here, brother." She hissed out, "we do not want the entire town knowing what we are. It's not like it was- they have technology now, they can learn things. We have to be more careful."

"No." He shook his head, "we want to stay here for a short while."

She glared at him, then looked to Elijah, "explain this to him."

"She's right, Kol- we can no longer kill indiscriminately. Not that we ever should have, but now it is a matter of self-preservation. That is a subject that should interest you."

Klaus found himself partially siding with Kol. They should really bow to no man, let alone some puny government. However, staying in town was suddenly very interesting to him with Caroline at his home.

"You're all so serious." He crossed the room with a brilliant smile on his face, "I was just messing with the Salvatore brothers. I was bored and they are the only toys I have right now. After all, I've been forbidden to play with your beloved new Tatia."

"She's not a Tatia clone." Elijah responded easily, "she's a doppelgänger. She's no more like Tatia than Katherine was."

Klaus opened his mouth to comment on his brother's utterly stupid remark but thought better of it and then returned to his original plan: to get Rebekah back home and away from Kol. "You can't honestly think that staying with this lunatic is a good idea, Rebekah."

"Now is that any way to talk about your own brother?" Kol responded, with a hand on his chest and feigned outrage, "especially one you've been asking favors of. Watch Jeremy, you say, and I do it, don't I?"

Klaus snorted, "that was to keep us all alive."

He raised a hand, "stop acting as if you're any better than I, Niklaus."

"There is only one of us who started taking lives before we turned." Elijah pointed out, his gaze settling on Kol intently, "I won't have you pulling your little number on our sister. Understood?"

"Have I ever harmed you, Beks? Hurt you? Outside of pulling your hair when we fought as children and calling you well-deserved names, that is."

She opened her mouth to speak, then shut it. She looked helplessly at Kol, as though she wanted to say something. He gave her a warning look and then she finally said, "He's never harmed me. He's never so much as even abandoned me."

"You see?" Kol spread his arms, "family matter solved. So now if you'll excuse me-" He started walking away and Klaus snaked his hand out to grab his brother by the arm. "Careful there, Niklaus." Kol hissed angrily, "just because you can't die doesn't meant that you can't be harmed. Of all the lessons I've taught you, I thought that one would be at the forefront of your mind right now."

Klaus forced back any kind of reaction sans fury, "I would behave if I were you."

He smiled, "funny that."

Klaus let go of him and the youngest son of Mikael walked out of the room, leaving the three siblings who had once vowed to never leave each other, alone with their miserable histories. Kol's warning had left a chill in him though. "Rebekah, he found witches to bind me and tortured me for-"

"For years." She finished, "I know the story."

"I'm worried for you. I don't want anything to happen to you." Klaus told her sincerely, "come home with me now, you can still visit him if you so choose, but to be here with him, constantly vulnerable? It's as insane as he is."

"Or come with me." Offered Elijah, "I have never, nor will I ever, harm you."

"But you'll leave." Rebekah told him, then she looked to Klaus, "and you'll trap me." She started past them, leaving her own room and following the path that Kol had walked. "His insanity seems a lot less dangerous than the love of either of you."

With that she stepped out and shut the door behind her.

Klaus looked to Elijah, whose eyes remained on the closed door where Rebekah once was. "He's going to kill her."

"Not if we kill him first."

XXX

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