The Mikaelson's Girl// The Trilogy to The Other Gilbert Girl

Our Town

I see a deer and a baby deer in a clearing and I set my camera up as quietly as I can. I'm about to take the picture, when someone comes up behind me.
"Hello, love." I hear Klaus and the deer run away.
"Great, now you've scared them off." I say to him obviously still mad and he chuckles. 
  "What are you doing out here so early?" He asks me. I turn to look at him like he's stupid.
"I'm taking pictures. Hint the camera." I say holding it up. I remove the strap from around my neck and go to look at the ones I've already taken. "What are you doing out here so early?" I ask him and then he takes my camera out of my hands. "What're you-" I ask but he cuts me off.
"I'm here because you're here." He tells me and I look at him in disbelief.
"Listen, you don't have to pretend that you care anymore. Ok, you're getting your family back. I need to do that now." I tell him and try to take back my camera but he keeps looking through the photo.
"These are really good." He tells me.
"They're... nothing." I say and take back my camera.
"They're not. And I do care. I wasn't pretending." He says, and he grabs my hand. I stare at him and then down at our hands. I look back up at him.
"Um, thanks." I say and move my hands from his and turn and start to walk away.
"Forgetting something?" He asks and I turn around and see him holding my camera up.
"Heh. Yeah, I'll just take that." I say and grab the camera. I hear him chuckle as I turn and walk away again towards my car.

When I get back to the apartment I see Elena and my dad talking while Elena is hitting the punching bag. They both turn to look at me and then Elena looks away. I sigh and head to my room to get ready for school. I come back out and Elena is no longer punching the punching bag. She's over in the kitchen making coffee. I walk to my dad.
   "Hey, how're you doing?" I ask him.
   "I'm good, nothing like coming back from the dead." He tells me and we hug.
   "Good, I should be getting to school." I tell him. "I have to pick up a few things for Caroline's locker on the way." I tell him and Elena's head snaps towards me.
   "You're still helping with that?" She asks.
   "Yeah, Bonnie said I could help out still." I tell her and turn back to my dad. "I'll see you at school ok?" I say and he nods and I leave. I pick up some balloons and streamers and stuff to decorate her locker with. When I get to school Elena is there. We silently decorate her locker and then Bonnie shows up and I'm glad.
   "Sorry I'm late. I, uh.. I got held up." Bonnie says. "Hey, Phoebe." She looks at me with a smile.
   "Hey." I say back.
   "It's ok. We just got here, too." Elena tells her. "Will you pass me the balloons? Thanks. What got you running late?" Elena asks Bonnie.
   "I was uh, working on some new spells. You?" Bonnie asks.
   "Working out with Alaric." She says. "So uh, I have something I have to tell you. The both of you actually. And neither of you are going to like it." Elena tells us and I look up confused.
   "What happened?" Bonnie asks.
   "Jeremy's going to be leaving town for a little while. He'll be staying with some old family friends in Denver until this whole Klaus thing blows over." Elena says and I step back even more confused.
  "Jeremy wouldn't just leave you to deal with Klaus on your own." Bonnie says and I nod in agreement.
  "I know. I asked Damon to compel him." She tells us and I stare at her in shock.
  "You what?" Bonnie asks her.
  "I know, Bonnie. But it's not safe for him here anymore. Leaving will give him a better life. The only reason I'm telling you is because I know that you two haven't worked out your stuff. I kinda thought maybe you'd want to say goodbye." She says.
   "How could you do that?" I ask her.
   "You're one to talk. You're the one sleeping with the enemy." Elena says.
   "Yeah, and that was my choice! This is 10x worse because you're taking his choices away from him." I tell her and turn and walk away from them. I head to the bathroom and when I come back out I see Bonnie talking to Jeremy and I feel bad immediately. I see Bonnie walk away and I catch up with her.
  "Hey, Caroline didn't show up at school. Do we want to go to her house and see if she's ditching because of her birthday?" I ask Bonnie and she nods. We go find Elena and Matt and make our way to Caroline's house.
When she gets back we all jump out yelling 'Happy Birthday!'
   "What are you guys doing here?" Caroline asks.
   "Well, you blew off school and missed our, work of birthday art, so, uh..." Elena says and puts a tiara on her head.
   "Change into warmer clothes, we're going to the falls. Smores, campfire." Bonnie tells her.
   "Cake. Like when we were little." Elena adds in.
   "Except with tequila." Matt says and we laugh.
   "And lots of it." I say and she smiles at me. Which lets me know that she's glad I'm here.
   "Um, thanks guys really. I'm just not feeling my birthday this year." Caroline tells us and I frown.
  "I'm sorry what? You've already claimed you're birthday as everyone's favorite day of the year." Bonnie says.
  "Yeah, and now it's just a reminder that technically, I'm dead. Look, I didn't even like 17, and the only point to 17 was to get to 18. It's a filler year. I am stuck in a filler year." Carline explains.
   "You're not stuck, Caroline." Elena tells her.
   "Yeah, I am. But it's ok, you know, it's all good. I will be fine. But I just need some time to wallow in it." Caroline tells us.
   "Okay.Well, I think I have another idea." She says and we all look towards her.