AN: You guys are so nice to me and I'm so mean with all this drama. Shout out to mercado1991 who gave this story a lovely promo on tumblr. I'm so blessed to be a part of this fandom. I love all you guys so much. -Izzy x


Chapter Fourteen – The Originals 3x15

Caroline had lived with Katherine before, so it wasn't a new experience. But it also didn't get easier with time. Only three days in, and she found herself yelling first thing in the morning. "Katherine!" She exclaimed. "What the hell?!"

It took five minutes for Katherine to show herself, strutting out of her bedroom in nothing but a towel, her hair still soaking wet. "What did I do this time, Care-bear?" She asked with mock pity.

Caroline held up the empty wine bottle, accusingly. "I bought these yesterday," she told her. "For myself. I got to have one glass?!"

Katherine snatched the glass and threw it into the bin. Caroline had been trying to get her to recycle, considering they were probably going to be on this Earth for the next few centuries – even Katherine – and she'd like to keep the water levels right where they were. But Katherine was in the category of 'one person won't make a difference'.

"Buy some more," Katherine said, blatantly. "I'm sorry, I opened my home to you, and yet, you can't even share your wine? I see how it is."

"You never shared your stuff when you moved into my dorm room," Caroline retorted. "You still killed me, okay? We still hate each other."

"Well you could be a little nicer!" Katherine exclaimed, nudging Caroline out of the way with her hip to make herself some breakfast.

Caroline raised an eyebrow and nudged Katherine back, a little harder, taking the bread knife from her. "Were you being nice when you inhabited my best friend?" She asked with a pout and judgemental expression.

"Were you being nice when you, and all your friends, toasted to my death?" Katherine returned, crossing her arms. "Because of Vicki Donovan? Or Bonnie's grandmother? Or Jenna? When last I noticed, that was Damon and Klaus. News flash, Caroline: Everyone in our world is a shitty person, and yet, you still manage to be nice to them. Enlighten me, what would you choose? My life or yours? Because that's the decision I made with Elena, and I don't regret it. Do you regret killing a whole bunch of young witches for Klaus, not three days ago?"

Caroline's face fell and she shifted awkwardly. "Well, no-"

"So shame me for it all you want, but you're no better," Katherine interrupted. "I'm sick and tired of being judged and shamed for being a bad person by bad people. Because if you can drool over Klaus, then you can show some respect for me."

"Katherine, I have respect!" Caroline insisted. "I do. It's just… you made all our lives hell."

"And so did Klaus," Katherine reminded her. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get ready to meet Freya."


Elijah was walking past the bedroom often reserved for Hayley when he noticed her inside it, sitting on the edge of the bed and reading something. "I thought you were in the bayou," he said, stepping into the room, and being 'sh'd by Hayley.

"I just came home to feed Hope," she said, tucking the papers away and getting to her feet. "And to put her down for a nap. I'm heading back out soon…" She trailed off as Elijah reached up to touch her face, noticing the spot of blood on her forehead.

"What is this?" He asked, concerned.

"Nothing," she said quickly, moving away from him and wiping the red away. "I just got caught on a thorn."

Elijah raised an eyebrow and turned to face her as she walked past him. "You've been spending a lot of time with the Crescent wolves lately," he observed.

"Well, they need me," she defended. "Ever since Jackson…" She trailed off again and turned away, trying to hide any emotion that was building up in her face. She took a deep breath before turning back to Elijah. "Did you want something?"

He paused for a moment before nodding. "I've been meaning to apologise to you since that night," he told her, his head lowing in regret. "My actions to you, my words, they were inexcusable and cruel. I am sincerely sorry."

Hayley listened to this and nodded. "Thank you," she said. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that as well. I should have realised something was wrong, and that you weren't just sad anymore. But I wasn't paying enough attention, and… I guess I'm sorry too. And if you need forgiveness to move forward, then you have mine."

"Thank you," he said, gratefully.

Hayley turned to grab her jacket and bag. "Hope should be asleep for another hour," she said. "Do you mind?"

-0-0-0-0-0-

Things were slightly quieter in the compound until Klaus returned home, panicking about someone he saw.

"I was him," he insisted, pulling Freya out of her study and joining Elijah in Hope's room. "It was Gaspar Cortez."

Freya rolled her eyes at his paranoia. "I assume this is someone from your box of letters?" She guessed.

"The youngest son of a family of particularly vile warlords I dealt with in the seventeenth century," Klaus explained. "They burned down my favourite artist's retreat. Someone had to pay for that, so I murdered Gaspar's brute of a father."

"And?" Freya asked.

Klaus blinked innocently. "And one or two-"

"Five," Elijah interrupted.

"Five of his bloodthirsty brothers," Klaus added.

Now Elijah rolled his eyes. "Don't forget the mistress."

"That was an accident!" Klaus exclaimed, defensively. "The point is that Gaspar was but a foot-note until he became a vampire and dedicated his eternity to hunting me." He got a little more wound up as he spoke. "He's a cunning deviant who compels hordes of the helpless to carry out his tasks. This is exactly what I was concerned about. Devils of all kinds, crawling out of their crevices to strike at me." He trailed off as he heard someone approach downstairs. "Speaking of which…"

He flashed down into the courtyard and grabbed Davina Claire by her neck, slamming her into a wall behind her and snarling at her. "Rather foolish of you to come here alone," he claimed.

Before Klaus could register what was happening, he was flying across the room and landing in a heap. He jumped to his feet and his face fell at the sight of Davina's rescuer. "She didn't come alone, brother," Kol claimed, looking pretty smug. He was back in his own body, a vampire, and perfectly alive. "I wouldn't fight, Nik. You did go after my girl; what choice did I have but to deck you?"

"It can't be," Klaus said, breath taken.

"It's Kol," Davina unwelcomely chimed in, angry at Klaus. "When I broke your sirelink, it created a surge of power. I bought your brother back from the dead. You're kinda welcome?"

"You should be thanking her," Kol said, stepping forward as Freya and Elijah joined the group in the courtyard. Klaus stepped towards Kol without answering him, pulling him into a tight embrace, which Kol happily returned.

Elijah stepped forward as his younger brothers pulled themselves apart, and Kol's face fell when he saw him. "You and I need to have words," he claimed, stepping forward and hugging Elijah as well. "I see glimpses from the other side, remember?" He went to pull away, but Elijah held him there a second longer before letting him go.

Elijah didn't reply to his musings, so Kol turned to Freya. "And you're the long-lost older sister, right?" He asked. "I did get a glimpse of that. Freya, was it?"

"It's nice to finally meet you," Freya said, smiling at him.

Kol nodded. "I can only imagine. Speaking of twists and turns in the family tree, where might Rebekah be?"

There was a pause. "That's a long story," Klaus said. "And one reserved for family. Davina can see herself out." Kol tried to argue but Klaus interrupted. "Our family is faced with numerous threats, and the sooner you become acquainted with them, the better."

"It's okay," Davina insisted, turning around. "I'll go. You can make it up to me later." She walked out of the compound as Kol turned back to his family.

"Now," Klaus said, "Rebekah's daggered and slowly spiralling into insanity."

"But not to worry," Freya mused. "We have a cure. Katherine should be over soon. We're working on it."

Kol's eyebrows furrowed together in anger. "Katherine Pierce? She's allowed to know what's going on, but Davina isn't?"

"Katherine Pierce, despite being an utter untrustworthy bitch," Klaus said, "is the only witch in this city, aside from Freya, that will help us. Yours just spent the better half of a month planning to kill us. At least Katherine seems to be behaving herself."

-0-0-0-0-0-

Katherine walked into the compound, just as Elijah 'conveniently' left. Freya went upstairs to her magic room, and Klaus left to find Camille for the morning therapy session. Kol was the only Mikaelson left, and he turned to face her with a cheeky grin. "Good morning, Katerina," he mused, throwing himself into one of the couches and studying her. "I heard you were in NOLA."

Katherine felt her face fall at the sight of the youngest Mikaelson, and a thousand memories came flooding back. "I didn't hear you were alive," she returned, sitting down opposite him. "Just when I thought my life was getting a little easier, as well."

"And then here I come," he said with a mock-pitiful sigh, "here to ruin your little dream. Isn't that what you're afraid of?" He picked up the sanity spell from the coffee table, where her and Freya had been reading it last night, and skimmed over it.

Katherine huffed and snatched the papers away from him. "I have enough problems of my own without you piling anymore on. Got it?!"

Kol almost laughed as he sat up and studied her. "Relax, darling. I happen to think Elijah needs a gal like you right now. So, I'll let you be, if you let me be."

"No more rivalry?" She asked, getting to her feet. "That does sound boring."

"But think about what good partner-in-crime we'll make now that we're not fighting," Kol mused.

Katherine rolled her eyes and whacked him on the shoulder as she left. "I'm going to find your sister."

-0-0-0-0-0-

Elijah went to briefly visit Marcel to update him on the situation, before finding Kol in Niklaus's bedroom, reading through his letters. "Well isn't this a lovely welcome-home," Elijah mused, walking around to face his brother. "Just granted to mercy of Niklaus, and home in time to help the rest of us clean up his mess. Do you miss being dead yet?"

Kol smiled, but didn't reply with similar banter. Instead, he got straight to the point. "Do you want to explain to me what I saw from the other side?" He asked, putting the letters down and resting his hands around his raised knee.

"What did you see?" Elijah asked, looking away. It had never been the job of his siblings to comfort or to care for him. It was always the other way around. This was new to him, and uncomfortable.

"I saw you talking to Katherine about me," Kol said. "And I saw you tapping a white-oak-gun against your forehead. Please explain what's been happening since I died."

Elijah paused before beginning with the most important thing. "I'm fine now," he promised. "There was a night where… It seemed I was doing more bad than I was good, and I saw an opportunity to remove the Strix from the picture. Perhaps that was an excuse. I was highly medicated and I regret it."

Kol looked saddened by the thought of it, but he replied strongly. "And me?" He asked.

Elijah paused again, shifting on his feet. "I didn't know who killed you," Elijah claimed. "I didn't care enough to find out. I didn't mourn you like you deserved, and I let you down. I'm sorry, Kol."

Kol rolled his eyes and got to his feet. "In death," he said, "I didn't think you cared enough, and in life I know we had our disagreements, but we're brother's, Elijah." He looked almost desperate to get his point across. "And you will never, ever, hear me say that you were anything but a good brother. If I came back to life, and you were gone then… I don't…"

He looked down, clearly unsure of what he would be like. What he would say or do.

"We're okay Kol," Elijah said, interrupting his dark train of thought. "We're both alive, and here."

Kol nodded before picking up Cortez's letters. "I know exactly how to find this guy," he claimed, changing the subject direly. "As long as our sister doesn't get mad at me for teaching her a quick spell."

Kol's spell was pretty simple. They found Freya and Katherine in the study, just bringing Rebekah's casket into the room and putting her in one corner. Kol explained how they needed to burn Cortez's letters and combine the ash with Klaus's blood.

"I'll do it!" Katherine exclaimed, snatching the spell from Kol as they poured the ash and blood onto a world map on the desk. Freya didn't argue, but Kol tried to snatch the spell back. "Your big sister needs to save her strength for your little sister," Katherine told them. "And I'm a witch now."

"Since when?" Kol asked, sneering.

"Since shut up," Katherine replied, sitting behind the desk and chanting. The blood separated from itself and little droplets covered points on the map. Katherine put the spell down, and looked very proud of herself.

"Behold, your greatest hits," Freya mused, turning to Klaus. "All over the world, but only one is here. Which means the legion of enemies you were worried about, is an army of one." She looked pretty smug, and Kol couldn't help but laugh.

"But that little dots twice the size of the other dots," Elijah pointed out.

"Two enemies, then," Freya said.

"One of them is me, though," Katherine pointed out.

"Well, the other must be Gaspar," Kol said, pointing to the little drop of blood.

Klaus's phone vibrated and he read the text before nodding. "And he's taken to Rousseau's," he added.

-0-0-0-0-0-

He heard her approaching him, but he didn't turn to face her. He didn't want to look at her right now. He didn't know if he was ever going to want to again. "Elijah?" Katherine whispered, stepping closer to him. "I um… I overheard you with Kol earlier. Did you really-"

"Forget it," he interrupted, knowing exactly what she was talking about.

"No, I won't," she said, sounding almost angry by the though. "I can't. I'm back, and I want to make things right."

He turned around to face her and tried to conceal the glare. "You can't," he told her, angrily. "Just because you need some Original-Vampire body guards again, doesn't mean you have a right to be in this city." He watched her face fall as he admitted the truth to her. He'd been worried, and heartbroken over her disappearance, but that didn't mean he wanted her back. He'd finally realised. She was more trouble than she was worth. "I wanted you back, but now that you're here-"

"You don't?" She said, refusing to hide the hurt in her eyes. It wasn't that he didn't believe her anymore, or that he was being played for a fool. She cared about him, and he knew that. "Elijah, everything I did, I did for you." She stepped closer to him as she talked. "For your family. I put myself in danger for Hope. And when I was safe again, I could have gone anywhere, but I came back here for you-"

"Coming back doesn't change the fact that you left in the first place," he told her.

Katherine paused, taking a deep breath. "I need you to know that I didn't leave to hurt you. I left to protect you. I risked everything for you."

"Protect me?" He growled, his voice raising as his anger grew. "You destroyed me. I thought you were dead."

"I'm sorry!" She exclaimed, stepping forward again. "Believe me, I am. If I knew what you were going to do, I would have… I don't know. I would have tried harder."

He shook his head. "That's not going to fix this. You did nothing but lie to me when you first arrived. You kept the truth from me to delude me into thinking your intentions were pure. You needed to protect my family because you were the one who put them in danger in the first place."

"I am doing the best I can to make up for that-"

"Well that's not good enough," Elijah snapped. "I've given up, Katherine. Whatever decision you make from now is separate from me."

"I did what I needed to survive," she claimed. "If I didn't, I'd be dead. Aren't you glad that I'm not?"

There was a pause where Elijah decided it was best not to answer. He turned on his heel and walked out of the room, leaving her alone to let her eyes well up in privacy.

-0-0-0-0-0-

By the time Caroline arrived at the compound, everyone had dispersed for the day. The only vampire in sight was Kol surprisingly, lounging on a couch and reading through a spell. She stopped in her tracks when she noticed him, but decided to go with it.

"Where is everyone?" She asked, sitting down opposite him.

Kol glanced up from his spell, and looked just as confused at the sight of Caroline. "Klaus is killing some old enemy of his, Elijah's met with Marcel to determine some killer, and Freya and Katherine are upstairs performing a spell to save Rebekah from insanity."

"Oh," Caroline said with a nod. "And you're back from the dead? Regular day with the Mikaelsons, huh?"

Kol nodded and sat up. "You finally caved, I see," he mused, regarding her with a concerned look. "Nik didn't force you here, did he?"

She rolled her eyes. "No. I'm here… well, I'm actually here because of my free will. I don't know, maybe I'm just trying to prove a po-"

"Caroline, Caroline," Kol interrupted. "God bless you, but I don't care that much." He checked his phone and got to his feet. "Freya's calling a family meeting." He pointed at Caroline and winked. "You're funny when you're not questioning your life decisions. Give me a holla if you want a drinking buddy or something."

Elijah and Klaus returned a little while later and the siblings all piled into a room, looking dire. Caroline got to her feet and followed the sound of chanting upstairs. Katherine was sat behind the desk, her hands on a bowel, and softly speaking in Latin or something. She seemed fine, but there was a very small trickle of blood coming from her nose. As Caroline watched, Katherine began to shake slightly with the struggle.

"Katherine?" Caroline called, sitting opposite her. "Are you okay?"

Katherine just nodded, looking uncomfortable. "I have to keep the surge of power going," she explained. "Freya needs to talk to her brothers, but it's so hard doing this alone."

"Yeah, it sounds like a pretty complex spell," Caroline said with a nod. "And you're new at this. You know you can take a break. Rebekah's really not worth the effort."

Katherine smirked. "No, not really. But Elijah is."

There was a pause before Caroline walked forward and bit into her wrist. "Here," she offered it to her. "Drink. I know you couldn't keep vampire blood down before, but it might be different now. And I won't let you choke it up."

Katherine considered it before leaning forward and drinking from Caroline. She pulled away after a minute and continued chanting, a little bit more passionately than before. Caroline couldn't picture her working so hard for Stefan or Damon.

"You know, Katherine," she mused, crossing her arms after her bite healed. "You might not be a good person. But in this world, I don't think there are any good people. And you deserve a few brownie points for being a good girlfriend – or whatever you are – to Elijah."

She was about to say more, but she heard Klaus and his siblings come out of their little family meeting downstairs, and she flashed down to meet them. They all looked so troubled and stressed. Freya jogged upstairs to find Katherine as Kol and Elijah dispersed. Klaus forced a smile when he walked up to Caroline and gestured to the couch.

"What's going on?" She asked, refusing to sit down and studying the expression on his face. "What happened?"

Klaus paused, watching her with a fond expression. "I'm disappearing for a while," he told her, almost regretfully. "Back into the void I came from. The arrival of my daughter, and the destruction of my sirelink… it's made fighting a little complicated."

"So you're giving up without even trying?" She asked, narrowing her eyes and scowling in distaste. "Klaus, soon enough you'll have three Originals on board, not even to mention Katherine, Freya and I. We can handle a few old vampires."

He shook his head. "No, my daughter can't," he said. "And I can't risk it. Hayley, as her mother, is probably coming along as well."

"I can come too," Caroline said, more to herself than to him.

"You can," Klaus agreed, crossing his arms. "But the more people who come along, the more dangerous it will get. And I'm not going to put my daughter in that kind of danger unless you're sure."


"Is it done?" Klaus asked, walking into the living space of the compound and watching over as Freya performed a spell, with Elijah standing over her.

His sister nodded and got to her feet. "Any witch who does a locator spell will believe you're right here, in New Orleans."

Elijah stepped forward and spoke proudly. "You know, for all of his mischief, Kol sure is a master of his craft," he mused.

Klaus nodded. "Yes, well drawing trouble is his forte. Thank him for me, won't you?"

"Of course," Elijah promised. "Do not stop driving until you are absolutely certain that you're safe."

Klaus smirked. "You don't have to remind me how precious my cargo is," he agreed. He leaned towards Freya and kissed her cheek. "Keep him in line, will you sister?" He took his bag from Elijah and headed out the front door.

Outside, he put his luggage into the trunk and moved around to the driver's seat.

Hayley sat in the passenger seat, and when Klaus turned to talk to her, she just pointed to something out his window. Caroline was standing on the sidewalk in the dark, watching them, seemingly conflicted about whether to join them or stay where she was.

Klaus met her eye and knew that she wasn't going to come with them. They wouldn't be able to contact anyone from the road, and she was too loyal to her friends to leave them. And she was too proud to spend so much time alone with Klaus and his family.

So when they locked eyes with each other, they said goodbye. Not with words or with gestures. Just one long look, filled with apologies and regrets, filled with hopes for the future. They were going to be alive for eternity; now just wasn't the time.

The world just wasn't ready for them.


AN: Please review! -Izzy x