Previously on ATCL: 'Elijah Mikaelson turned on his heel and followed after her.'

Katherine was leaning up against Caroline's car, enjoying the silence of the night and wallowing in her misery. Of course Caroline had locked it, and of course the keys were sitting in Caroline's purse… Inside the house. That very same house that she had just stormed out of because there was no way that Klaus was actually going to: a) grant her freedom, or b) do anything whatsoever to keep her alive. Hell, making sure your enemies were dead was probably the first rule in the villain's handbook. Either way, she was going to die, and quite soon it seemed.

Of course, her silence was disturbed by the slamming of the front door, and an all-too familiar step.

"Katerina?" That damned man had to just come after her. Lovely.

"Damn it Elijah, the name's Katherine!" She shot back. He had to pull the passive-aggressive name calling again. Oh, this was bound to be fun.

"I happen to find your Christian name much prettier, Katerina. And I know that you like it when I call you that." Elijah said. He approached the vehicle swiftly; the gravel crunching underneath his feet too loud for this still evening. The only light they had came from the porch and the light of the moon, and it was very quiet. Too quiet for a conversation such as the one that Katherine knew was to come.

"Mmm, the appeal wore off."

"Katerina, why did you not tell me what had happened? I could have helped you… You wouldn't have been alone." And he abandoned his usual dancing-around-topics thing and went straight to the point. Shit. She wouldn't be able to flirt her way out of this one.

"Well, maybe it had to do with the fact that… Oh, I don't know… You dumped me. Actually, does 'Katerina, goodbye' even count as a breakup? Because to me it sounded more like 'We had a thing but I've got bigger and better things to do than you, so tootles'." Katherine pushed off of the car and crossed her arms, fixing him with a glare.

Elijah closed his eyes and let out a breath. He ran a hand through his hair, messing up his normally perfectly-coiffed look. She had always liked his hair all messy like that… Nope, nope. Bad thoughts. Nothing could happen between them. It was useless.

"It was not like that, I promise. My family needed me. We are trying to win back our home from someone that we had once called family, and there are witches involved and I had to be here." He justified.

"I had prepared the chateau in the south of France for us, did you know that?" Katherine laughed bitterly. Her face was heartbroken and yet irate at the same time. "I received a call saying that the renovations were done not more than an hour before you left. It was really a lovely house; I used design elements from the townhouse in London combined with ones from the New York apartment and did a classic-nouveau theme with the place. I've never actually been to see it, but from the pictures it really turned out beautifully."

"Katerina, I never—" Elijah started, but was interrupted. It was killing him, having this conversation with her. This woman—this infuriating, passionate, fantastic, woman—had been so utterly in love with him (and he with her) but he had destroyed it. They could have been happy; they would have been happy, like they had been for those few blissful months before reality showed up. And he listened to the wrong person. Damn. He was an idiot.

"Of course you never knew. It was thoughtless of me to say that. You could never have known. It was meant to be an 'It took us five hundred years to get to this point but now we can be happy' surprise." Katherine shrugged. "But now neither of us get to spend our days in the little chateau overlooking the vineyard." She shook her head, facing away from him. "How could you listen to her?" She whispered.

"To?"

"To Elena, of course. I mean, she was emotionless. She hates me. Of course she's going to voice every single bad thought that she's ever had towards me. You should have known that half of what she was spouting was false. When she learned about us she was going to say anything possible to turn your head against me, and sadly, she succeeded. I'm just disappointed that you believed your acquaintance over your…partner."

"When Elena and I chatted, I had no intention of leaving you, truly. I had fully planned to come back to you. But then I came to check out the situation down here, and it is dire, Katerina. My family is facing war from two fronts; a war that we have not the allies for at this time. Marcel—the vampire that has dubbed himself 'King of New Orleans'—has a strict ban on all magic in the city, and we are on unstable ground. The witches are blackmailing us, and if we do not coincide with what they want, they will destroy the one chance at happiness that my family has left. I am doing my best to ally with a young witch that is currently in a situation which happens to be eerily similar to yours in 1492—she needs to die to complete a ritual—but even then that alliance is rocky." Elijah said.

"Wait, what? Is she a doppelganger as well?" Katherine was stunned. Blood sacrifices that resulted in death were not all that common within the witch community; especially not in the 'Light Magic' faction. Doppelganger blood was special—that is why Tatia Petrova had been used in the ritual to make the Mikaelsons into vampires, as well as to place the Hybrid Curse onto Klaus. But doppelgangers were rare, and that another girl was wanted for a ritual made Katherine sick to her stomach.

"Not that I am aware of. The ritual was to be done in order to gain more power within her coven to combat the vampires. The girls had been told that they would be put into a hibernation-like state, not that they would have their throats slit. Out of the four, Davina was the only one that made it out, and in the process she received the magic of the three dead girls." Elijah stated grimly.

Katherine's hand was covering her mouth, the sharp prickle of tears stinging the back of her eyes, but she refused to let them leak out. "What are you doing to help her?" She gasped, truly horrified for the first time in a long while.

"Davina has been learning from my Mother's grimoire in exchange for her cooperation on turning a blind eye to a few bits of magic performed here and there. I believe that she must have come into her magic just before the ritual was performed because she is…untamed. She has had no practical training whatsoever, yet she is extremely powerful. Possibly even more powerful than Miss Bennett. She is currently living above an old church under the protection of Marcel, and I visit when I can. Other than Marcel and maybe the priest who tends to the church, I believe that she is completely alone in the world." Elijah sighed.

"Completely alone? That's no way for a young girl to live." Katherine said, smiling half-heartedly. They both knew that she was speaking from her own experience. She had been young when she was left completely alone in the world, and she knew that it had not been good for her. Teenage girls should get to grow up like Caroline, or Bonnie, or her doppelganger. In her opinion, they should be surrounded by friends and family, living happy and somewhat shallow lives. They shouldn't have to worry about magic, or vampires, or crazy sociopaths that want to sacrifice them on their altar of blood. It was a shame that another girl had to go through something similar to her. It wasn't fair.

-0-0-0-0-0-

"What the bloody hell just happened?" Rebekah sputtered.

Needless to say, the remaining ones in the living room were a bit surprised at Katherine's outburst and Elijah's subsequent departure. Rebekah was more shocked than anything else. She wasn't a fan of Katherine—much less her brother's apparent obsession with the Petrova bloodline—and the girl had terrible taste in poetry, in her opinion. Caroline was torn between worrying if their plan would work, or cheering at the fact that Elijah actually followed Katherine out. There was hope for them yet.

Klaus was internally sputtering. He had just gotten yelled at by Katerina. This should call for her death. And yet… The prospect of hybrids was very delectable. Thankfully he and Elijah had worked out their issues concerning his child that evening, or they could have had Katerina under Elijah's protection as well, which would just knock everything out of place. It had taken a bit of yelling, a good bottle of whiskey, and a few punches to sort everything out, but Elijah had apologized for his uncalled-for allegation, and he had assured his brother that his child was to be kept safe and loved. He would not dare to be the father that Mikael had been to him, and he had made it clear that no child of his would ever be used or treated like he had been. And that had been the end of that.

"I believe that that was Katherine finally letting out all of her feelings for the first time in like…ever. And four for her, because she actually told off your brother, which was about five hundred or so years overdue." Caroline addressed Rebekah.

"How on earth did you get caught up in this whole mess anyways? You and the grand bitch weren't exactly best friends back in Mystic Falls." The other blonde retorted. She was genuinely curious about this whole pseudo-friendship going on.

"As you know, it was my idea to bring her down here in the first place. She's had a sucky life, and she's human now. Besides… No one deserves to decay like she's basically been doomed to do so. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Bonnie doesn't have her magic anymore, and the only other person that was capable of doing anything to reverse the effects of the cure was Quetsiyah and she's dead. New Orleans is supposed to be the magic hub of the States. And here we are!" Caroline shrugged, making sarcastic little jazz hands. She wasn't going to clue Klaus and Rebekah into her plans for Katherine and Elijah just yet; knowing this psychopathic family that would probably be a bad idea. Besides, playing matchmaker was so much more fun when no one knew what you were up too!

Rebekah just raised her eyebrows in response, and settled back further into the couch. Caroline looked back and forth between the siblings. Rebekah wasn't a friend of hers, that was for sure. But Klaus… She didn't know where they stood. They had been sort-of-friends right before he left town, but then he did the whole 'I will be your last' thing and then gave her back Tyler (because that lasted sooo long), and everything was just confusing around him. He was infuriating and dark, but yet had such a twisted version of humanity to him that it boggled her mind. Klaus confused her, and Caroline didn't know what to think of him. He was a puzzle, and one that she was afraid to solve, for if she did, she might be so attached to the full picture that the consequences would change her life. And that was something that Caroline was not sure that she was ready for.

Suddenly, Klaus rose to his feet. "Well love, I suppose we must go grab your things and find you a room." He held out a hand to a very confused Caroline, a smirk present on his lips.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" A half-smile appeared on her face as her eyes were clouded in skepticism.

"If you think that I'm saying that I accept yours and Katerina's deal, then yes, I do. However, we can discuss when exactly the arrangements will be carried out tomorrow, and there are a few complications that we will have to work around. For now, I assume that you must be very tired from the drive, and we have an expanse of guest rooms for you to choose to retire in." Klaus said with a perfectly straight face, one eyebrow cocked in anticipation of her reaction.

Caroline broke out into a dazzling grin. While he may solely be in this for the hybrids, he accepted, and Katherine was free, and she was in NEW ORLEANS! This may be a 'business trip', but she was going to have some fun while here. Besides, Klaus had surprised her. After Katherine's last words, she had truly feared that he would not accept. But he did, and everything was going to be better. Caroline took Klaus's hand as she rose, before she slipped it into the crook of his elbow. "Let's go get my things before you give me the grand tour!" She smiled. They walked to the door in silence, but as Klaus was about to walk her out, Caroline stopped. "You, stay on the porch. I want to tell her myself, and besides, she's still more than a bit freaked out by your presence so yeah… I'll be back in a minute!" She laughed before darting out the door, flashing a smile at the hybrid leaning against the doorway.

When Caroline walked outside, the first thing she noticed was that Elijah and Katherine were leaning against the hood of her car, talking about something insignificant. And when she unlocked the car and opened the driver's side door, she heard Katherine sigh and ask when they were leaving, but Caroline just ignored her and moved to the trunk that she had just opened. Her senses picked up on the dual footsteps of Katherine and Elijah walking around the car to the back, but she just continued rummaging through the stuff in the back of her car.

"Look Forbes, you may be blonde, but you're not deaf. Are we leaving?" Katherine asked, hands on her hips.

"Quite the opposite, Petrova." Caroline said as she tossed Katherine's makeup bag at her. "Now grab some bags, because between the two of us we've filled up the back of my car, and if you want to be able to unpack tonight, you might want to get a move on." She continued with unloading suitcases and handing the occasional bag to Katherine which was promptly taken from her by Elijah.

"Excuse me? If this is a joke, please remember that while I may not be stronger than you physically, I have a hell of a lot more fighting experience and I would not hesitate to break your limbs." Katherine backed away slightly. There was no way that this was actually happening. It just was not possible. Caroline hated her, Klaus was going to kill her, and Elijah wasn't sorry for leaving her. This was all a farce, she had been a fool for trusting Caroline, and she wasn't free. That was what must be happening. Because… Because the possibility of her freedom, her life, actually becoming her own was just too much of an improbability, and she if she dared to hope that it might be so, she would break.

"Katherine. Klaus agreed. You're free." Caroline smiled.

Katherine let out a loud squeak as she clapped her hand over her mouth. She was free. For the first time in five hundred and twenty years, she. Was. Free. She wouldn't cry. She couldn't cry. Crying would show emotion and… Screw that. The tears were already cascading down her face. Dropping what little bags she had in her hands, Katherine darted into the front seat of Caroline's car, and closed the door. Once the door was closed, she broke down into sobs.

There are two kinds of sobs. There was the kind that shredded your insides, tearing you into little tiny pieces before stitching you crudely back together and then ripping into you again; the ones that simply just made you hurt worse at the end of the cry. Then, there were the therapeutic sobs. They were the sobs of healing; where your broken heart was knitted into something secure and lovely. They were the sobs that cleansed your soul and set you alight with joy. It was the latter that Katherine experienced that night in New Orleans. She couldn't let herself break in front of others and so she did so in the privacy of the car, where none was present but the ghosts of her past. That good cry took a tiny bit of Katherine's darkened soul, healed it, and set her on a course that would make her feel whole once more.

Steeling herself once more and drying her eyes, Katherine slid out of the driver's seat. Walking to the back of the car, she bent down, picked up her bags, and fixed Elijah and Caroline with her signature bitchy look. "Well, aren't we going to head inside? Like you said, Forbes, we have unpacking to do!" Flashing a genuine smile at Elijah, she turned towards the manor and marched up the drive.

"She'll never change, will she?" Caroline asked Elijah, a small smile still present.

"On the contrary, Miss Forbes, I do believe she already has." He said, giving her a look before picking up some more bags and following in Katherine's footsteps.

AN: So... What do you think? Was is good? Okay? Absolutely terrible? Oh, who am I kidding. I know this chapter's good. I wrote it for you lovely readers, after all!

In response to a few questions that I've gotten...

Yes, Hayley does have to appear next chapter. Since I'm diverging from canon-and since she didn't drop dead at the end of TO 1x07 (sadly)-she does have to appear. No worries though; she's not going to cause any major issues, and since the ideas of Klayley/Haylijah make me want to puke, those ships won't be happening. Ever.

I have not made a finalized decision on the topic of Nadia or any of the group from Mystic Falls appearing in ATCL. If anyone does at all, it would be Tyler since canonically he is in New Orleans at this point. I'm also toying with a few storylines for Bonnie, but we'll have to see how those play out.

I would also like to shoutout roseberry girl for being the 50th reviewer! The response that you amazing readers have given my little story is astounding, and I love you all! *gives everyone cookies and glitter*

Merry Christmas, dears!

-Abi