Vampire Diaries 1. part 1: Nadia goes to the principal

**Small inconvenient with the server, had to repost again sorry about before**

Nadia goes to the principal (a two shot)

Little Nadia Petrova hated, absolutely hated, elementary school.

Sitting in a chair the principal's office next to a bruised Henrik Mikaelson wasn't her idea of a perfect Friday afternoon but the stupid _zadnik_ deserved it, in fact if he so much as moved his mouth again she wouldn't be held accountable for his hospital bills, Nadia might have been twelve but she had a black belt in karate, her mama had raised no weakling.

Why hadn't her mother just let her continue on with tutors and private professors like they had done in Bulgaria?, then she wouldn't have to be so far from her mom all the time, not to mention there was that little idiot of Mia that followed her everywhere and all those older boys like Henrik that liked to pick on her just because she was the new girl.

Nadia really missed Bulgaria sometimes, she missed the taste of the food, the smell of her home in Lovech and the beautiful homey feeling of the city of Sofia. if only her mother's dad hadn't gotten sick, they would both still be home, happy and perfect, Nadia hated how her mom wasn't happy in America, she hated the woman she was supposed to call "aunt" who looked just like her mom but couldn't compare, she hated Chicago and how other people gawked when they walked around town, she hated the air, the houses, the stupid American accent they all had, hated the kids in school that made fun of her for skipping a grade, but most of all she hated that this place made her mother even more unhappy than that time when her father died.

So overall when after a week in her new school Henrik Mikaelson for no good reason had seen fit to mock her cruelly, trip her constantly and pick on her after school just because she had been upstaging him and answering all the teacher's questions, the little girl just about had it with him and his little older-boys-that-bully-Nadia-club and in a terribly gutsy move for a child her age, Nadia punched Henrik in the face and proceeded to apply everything her mother had taught her on self-defense and karate.

Which was why her mother, Katherine Petrova, was now being called to the principal's office "So sorry, it's my daughter's school, you know how it is" she had told the board of directors with whom she was having a Skype conference after receiving the call, all of them nodded in understanding, most of them having family as well and knowing that the little Petrova heiress was a handful. Katherine sighed, apparently little Nadia had gone all out on some kid in school and left him bruised and blue all over. It would have been a minor thing had said kid not been the brother of the current principal, gosh, Katherine loved Nadia but sometimes, just sometimes, she hated how hot tempered her little girl could be.

"Mama! It wasn't my fault I swear, that little prick had it coming, tell them mama" Nadia cried throwing herself into Katherine's arms dramatically as soon as she had crossed the threshold to the principal's office, speaking rapidly in Bulgarian and launching herself into a tirade of explanation and complaints, her brown hair blurring as she hugged Katherine's waist like the spoiled girl she was "his friends were saying I must be an alien to know so much, said my accent sounded like I'd swallowed something bad and then he tripped me, like about four times, he was so mean mama please don't be angry, it was all his fault because he pushed me, I was so angry, I don't like being pushed and you said never to let anybody push me around"

"it's okay Nadia, I'm not angry" Katherine replied back in Bulgarian with an unusually soft tone hugging her daughter back, realizing that this boy she had punched was probably the one Nadia had been complaining about to her for the past few days, Katherine had told her not to let this kid bully her and to stand up for herself, _well there went her motherly advice_, Nadia had given someone a black eye "Now don't cry, mommy is here remember, mommy will fix this"

Then someone else in the room cleared his throat and Katherine's attention was pulled from the child in her arms towards the man sitting in the principal's chair, hearing that voice she was hoping never to have to hear again in her lifetime "Katerina?" Elijah whispered slowly in disbelief, Katherine could not believe her eyes, of all the private schools to enroll Nadia in, _dammit someone up there really had it out for her_, because there in front of her looking as crisp and handsome as ever was the one man she had sworn to forget and the reason she had once upon a time left Chicago in the first place.

"Elijah" This wasn't possible, he wasn't supposed to be here, his family owned half of New Orleans for heaven's sake, why was he here?, Caroline had told her Elijah was working at New Orleans State University, not in Chicago, realizing her slip, Katherine straightened her posture "I'm sorry, you must be mistaken, my Name is Katherine Petrova, I'm Nadia's mother" Katherine replied with an air of coolness she didn't feel walking towards the center of the room and extending her hand for him to shake while Nadia looked at Henrik with a haughty expression.

Henrik glared at Nadia, while the little girl just gave her a look that said my-mom-is-going-to-make-sure-you-pay-little-prick and Henrik just rolled his eyes and returned her look with a roll of his eyes as if saying "bring it"

"Yes of course" the principal said nodding returning from a well-deserved shock and regaining his composure "Nice to meet you Mrs. Petrova, I'm Dr Mikaelson, seeing your surprised face I imagine that the school neglected to mention principal Fisher's recent maternity leave, I apologize for the omission" Elijah assumed shaking her hand unemotionally, pretending Katerina's presence did not disturb him in the slightest way, playing the part of the authoritative man he was perfectly " but never mind that, you are here because of another matter altogether, shall we begin discussing Nadia's misbehavior in school today?"

Elijah would be lying trough his teeth if he said it was the first time he had ever seen this woman, of course not, but Katerina had always been fond of playing pretend and right now was no different, he regaled her with the most inquisitive expression over, both elated and horrified at her being there. she was wearing a loose white buttoned top and a beige blazer with simple pair of well fitted jeans and complimentary shoes, her hair was held loosely in a low ponytail and the only jewelry she wore was a simple golden chain, the twin of which her daughter appeared to wearing, nothing remarkable, in fact she was dressed as every other young working mother he had met so far, modest but authoritative, except of course that on Katerina every piece of clothing however banal, looked remarkable, still he couldn't resist to look her over once again. Long gone where the leather pants, high heels and tight tops that used to make him squirm with desire a long time ago, the woman in front of him was a far cry from the feisty party girl he had met in his college years, this one no longer had that spark in her eyes, that thirst for life he enjoyed so much in her was also gone, her smile was less flirty and more forced as she bravely defended Nadia's motives for hurting his younger brother, it was plain as the day that the little girl meant the world to her. And Elijah hated himself.

Just as Katherine hated him too, she told herself again and again that it didn't matter that the bastard looked every inch the Greek god he had been in college, or that he still wore those suits so sinfully even a nun could be tempted, she wasn't the stupid girl she had been back then, she promised to herself when she married Trevor, that nobody would ever hurt her again, not like Elijah did and yet here she was ogling him while he remained stupidly impassive, just like old times, _well figures some things never changed right?._

She was glad Caroline was coming down from New York that weekend because suddenly she had the urgent need for a night out, screw sobriety, sobriety was for women who didn't have to deal with Elijah Mikaelson, Katherine quickly started to make contingency plans in her head, all she needed was a babysitter for Nadia, a car fast enough to cross two states in one night and a bottle of good bourbon, her conscience agreed, _strong drinks that's what she needed_, now if only this meeting would go by a little faster.

Katherine sighed remembering her days in college, life had been so simple then, and loving the man in front of her had come so easily to her too, well not so easy at first, but that had been the charm of him, and she had to admit it pai…irked her to no end to see him again and not have any emotion show in his face.

Katherine had met Elijah on her freshman year in Columbia, she had been just eighteen, happy, feisty, stubborn and with a perchance for getting in trouble using the excuse of "enjoying her freedom", daughter of a middle class family never quite happy to play by the rules she liked to take every chance she got to break them, and break the rules she did, in every spectacular fashion she could of course there was Elena, her "good" twin, who never did anything wrong, rooming with her under the pretense of keeping her out of any trouble and being the perpetual spoilsport, but it hadn't mattered so much to her at the time, after all Elena was her sister.

Before Elijah everything had been so much fun for her, parties everywhere, kissing boys whenever she wanted, drinking until she passed out, studying very little and enjoying very much, college had been the good times. There were always guys that wanted to hook up with her, parties that wanted to invite her and many, many bartenders to hassle constantly for free drinks.

After all what was wrong with being happy? and if partying and tequila made you happy, shouldn't you take every chance that was offered to enjoy them?, that was what college was about right? "New experiences, taking chances, embracing opportunities" she had screamed once from the top of her sorority building after kissing a random frat boy, the world was young and so was Katherine, ready for anything and so filled with fire she ignited everything around her.

Then she had met Elijah, the serious teacher assistant, who at the time had been interning under her Economics professor and apparently liked to have no fun whatsoever, he had been twenty five and Katherine, or Katerina as she used to be called before, had made a bet with her friends "I bet you twenty five bucks that none of you can get Mr. stick-up-his-ass there to unwind" she had giggled to Pearl and Emily.

"He's a Mikaelson Kat, that family is uptight to the core, take it from me you'd have better luck getting a rock to dance the boogie than with unwinding that one" Pearl had chuckled under her breath nudging Katerina with mirth while a disapproving Emily shook her head.

Katerina had been confident she would prove them wrong, I mean who ever could resist a little fun when it came in her very nice, smiling, tied-with-a-victoria-secret-ribbon package, all guys fell for it and this Elijah person would be no exception.

Except he was.

After all, Elijah was no saint either, he knew all about girls like Katerina who thought they could seduce the life out of any hot blooded male and honestly he was over it, but day by day, he swore that the brat tried his patience.

Katerina always sat too close, struggled a little too much after class and suddenly had begun appearing in the same places he frequented, passing off flirty innuendos as normal conversation when she knew he could overhear her, dressing up particularly against the dress code, asking him questions in class with that seductive voice of hers because she knew that there he couldn't just ignore her, but never once approaching her prey directly, just being her regular Katerina self and luring him in by driving him crazy. Of course he knew it was a game for her, she was a little flirt in need to be taught a lesson that was all.

And it was about time to teach the little freshman that if she wanted to play in the big leagues she better be prepared to lose against the home team.

Suddenly, he turned the tables on her, her, Katerina Gilbert, the girl that had no fear, and by the holy trinity the man was a bloody mastermind when it came to getting her all hot and bothered.

All Elijah had to do was pay attention, stand a little too close to her during the lesson, under the pretense of helping the professor with struggling students, leaning over her notebook to point out where she failed in the equation and casually brushing his fingers on the back of her neck slowly, whispering the instructions a little too low, taking every casual opportunity to touch the sensitive parts of her skin, man, until meeting Elijah Katerina had never known her shoulders where a turn on spot, or her arms, or any part of her anatomy that he could take advantage off while pretending he was still being his very proper self, he even liked to feign that it was all in her head.

What she hated most was that he paid attention to her weaknesses and used them against her, this was how he had found out that when he wore his darkest suit she usually bit her lip more and that his blood red tie shut her up better than any scolding because it took everything she had to pretend she wasn't having "fifty shades of grey" kind of thoughts in class.

Then he started experimenting with her name, "Katerina would you answer the question please" or "Miss Katerina I noticed you looked a bit distracted" or sometimes simply calling her name and pretending he had forgotten what he wanted to tell her, he used her name as a weapon, the bastard, trying on different tones, styles, modulating the inflection of his voice to make her name sound like a caress, or an endearment, or in some cases a full blown booty call, until he found one particular tone that made her smile or bite her pencil too much, or clench her fists in anger, he seemed to enjoy it too, unsettling her when she least expected, walking just past her casually on the hall only to touch her hand as he passed her.

And man he was good, he was terribly good, so good that Katerina often wondered if he had a kinky side under all those suits.

So that was how it had begun, a game between a teaching intern and a freshman, who could get the other to run for a cold shower first?

Sometimes it was Elijah and sometimes it was Katerina, one would just push the other to the painful point of wanting to have sex against the wall consequences be damned and the other would just smile in triumph and walk away before anything could happen feeling a sense of perverse vindication.

Caroline thought it was borderline masochism.

Klaus thought it was crazy as hell

Elena tried to talk her sister out of it

Rebekah wondered if her brother was stable

Pearl and Emily told her it just wasn't worth the lack of sex

And Finn simply asked where Elijah had acquired that sadistic streak nobody knew he had

Sadism, masochism, insanity, psychosis, whatever it was that summarized the sexual tension game that Katerina and Elijah played, certainly made for a good show, for her it was cat and mouse, chasing and running, chasing and running, for him it soon became chess, where the objective was to make the opponent give in first, the unspoken rule was always the same, who could get the other to crack first.

But all that accumulated lust has to have a bursting point somewhere in time and for those two, the end of the game came during one Friday night in a random nightclub.

That night Katerina had gone out alone, Caroline had been busy with Tyler, Pearl and Emily too swamped with finals and Rosemary, well she was out distracting Trevor and pretending she didn't hate Katerina, as it was the resident party girl wanted to let some of the tension of her shoulders go, she had spent the whole day in Economics having to watch Elijah in his sexy black suit speak about European capitalism and communism in third world countries while all she wanted to do was get up, pull that red tie of his with all her might and kiss him, why did he have to wear that tie?, he had many of them, probably all the colors and patterns known to men if what Rebekah ranted to Caroline was to be believed, but no, he just had to be all proper and serious and hot "Life is sad, Thierry baby hit me with your best shot" she sang as soon as she entered the club, perching herself at the end of the bar.

"Rough day Katy Kat?" Thierry wondered putting a drink in front of her "poison du fleur, my new invention mixed just for you, want me to make your night better? I can pester the DJ for you babe just say the word" see this was what a normal guy did when he wanted to get laid, buy a girl a drink, call her by stupid nicknames, flex his muscles, show off his bartending skills, not say "katerinahhhhh" with a super low voice and touch her neck and make her all hot and bothered while not doing anything about it. Come to think of it maybe she needed more tequila.

"know what Thierry, I think I'll take you up on that, tell the DJ I want to dance all the way to my grave" she shouted over the music sending the bartender her best come-hither look "and darling be stud and mix me something with lots of tequila, tonight I really, really want to forget my troubles"

"Anything for you Katy Kat" And not suspecting anything was wrong with Kat, Thierry gave a signal to the DJ.

Katerina smiled, forking over her cellphone instructing Thierry to call Caroline if anything happened and proceeding to drink and dance like a girl on a mission, this was how Elijah found her, dressed in a slinky black number with her high heeled stilettos carving a path of fire across the dance floor, drawing the attention of every man in her vicinity with her inviting smile, normally he wasn't the kind of man that went to nightclubs if anything he hated them, but Kol was another matter and his younger brother had felt that it would make a nice joke to send Elijah a picture of his favorite freshman dressed to kill and being eyed like a prey by the wolves around her.

That night marked the end of the game, neither knew how it happened but one minute Katerina was dancing with a guy swinging her hips seductively and the next minute it was Elijah at her side, whispering "Katerina" in her ear so seductively that she felt Goosebumps travel through her body, the guy she was dancing taking one look at Elijah simply scurried away leaving her in the middle of the dance floor with a very serious Elijah, turning around Katerina saw that he was dressed casually for once, black t-shirt, black pants, no suit, it was the first time she ever saw him without the suit, yet he didn't say anything, just let her stand there appreciating him while he did the same and then of course, without warning he was kissing her.

And after came the forfeit, the best part, in both Elijah's and Katherine's memory had always been that part, the long awaited forfeit. That moment after the kiss in which he decided enough was enough, roughly pressing Katerina against him and moving to the rhythm of the music without asking her for permission to dance with her, or touch her, or kiss her. Then unable to keep her wits about her anymore Katerina had whispered those faithful words into his ears "Screw the game Elijah, I'm throwing in the towel"

That was the best part, the end of the game and the start of war. The moment they stopped playing games and began to date at last.

She was something else in his world while they were dating, crazy, bipolar, explosive, she made him rethink himself five times a day, sometimes she kissed him for no reason and sometimes he kissed her for no reason too, he liked her thirst for life, how she would push him to be less uptight, Katerina had an innocence about her that was refreshing, always reminding him to enjoy the good things in life and she in turn liked how he accepted her for who she was, how he kept her grounded and made her feel like the only girl in the world.

Elijah was everything for Katerina, he was the one, the guy she wanted to wake up to every single morning, she wanted to be boring with him, read books, learn how to cook just to see his face when she made him breakfast, he made her want to believe that life wasn't as crappy as she knew it was, he made her happy, she wanted to make him happy too, just so he would stay with her and keep the warm feeling in her chest alive, she liked to watch him in the morning and hear his voice drone about algebra during her classes, she liked the way his smile softened when she walked in the room and how his eyes darkened when she talked to some other guy. For the first time in her life Katerina was in love and she didn't care, because as long as Elijah was there, then there was hope for her.

He never knew how much he meant for her, even while he was feeling the same, Katerina was his whole world, he would have done anything for her just to see her smile like she did to him, she made him calmer, happier and what more could he ask for.

But nothing can be perfect forever and sadly for Katerina and Elijah their complication came in the form of Klaus, Elijah's beloved brother.

You see, Katerina had a good friend, the already mentioned and well cherished Caroline, who was bubbly, enthusiastic and more than a little OCD when she put her mind to something, they had been good friends since childhood and for both Katerina and Elena, Caroline was the sister they never had, for the better or the worse Caroline was almost a Gilbert for all the amount of time she spent with both the good and the evil twin. Caroline was a nice girl, with bright blue eyes and charming personality that was very loyal to her friends. In fact if Katerina had to name a friend she liked over the rest, she would name Caroline, who never let anyone down and liked to party and go shopping better than the rest of Kat's friends.

Klaus really liked Caroline, but he also had a very nasty way of showing it and Katerina protective friend she was, often told Caroline "not to tangle with him", because she knew of Klaus's reputation very well, he was the "wreck everybody in your path" kind of guy, despite the fact that he was her boyfriend's brother, Katerina didn't want her sweet best friend to get hurt by a guy who was more self-destructive than a time bomb.

Caroline naturally heeded her friend's advice and rejected Klaus's advances, over and over and over, hoping he would get the hint and stop trying to ask her out, honestly, Caroline would have gone out with him, if only he had gotten his act together and showed that he was serious about winning her over, but back then Klaus had been an immature twenty something man that preferred to take out his frustrations on someone else's happiness, this time his target became Katerina.

Klaus's vindictive actions brought forth the beginning of the end for Elijah's love and in Katerina's case, it shattered her completely.

Back then It had been a stroke of pure luck on Klaus's part, finding out that Damon Salvatore and Katerina's twin sister where having an affair, he didn't know what was better to hurt his nemesis with, the fact that Damon was the brother of Elena's actual boyfriend, or the fact that he could count on Elena being Katerina's twin to give Elijah the wrong impression.

In the end it was both, but Klaus was thoughtless in his little revenge plot when he purposefully had Elijah "accidentally" walk in on Elena and Damon having sex, he had not known he was alienating himself from both his brother and the girl he fancied in one swoop, how could he?, after all Katerina was just another party girl and Elijah would get over it.

Katerina had pleaded, begged Elena with all her might to tell Elijah the truth, used every ounce of groveling she had, but her sister had claimed she loved Stefan at the time and admitting to Elijah she had been cheating on Stefan with Damon, just for Katerina's sake , didn't seem like it had that much appeal.

Katerina's reputation with guys on campus was bad enough already, the fights with Elijah just got worse and sadly the only ones willing to stick up for her where Caroline (who knew Klaus had done it out of revenge and swore to hate him for all eternity) and ironically Stefan who while he didn't actively believe her (Elena cheating? No way) still defended her by default.

Elijah in turn broke her heart, claimed she was liar, a cheater, nothing more than a common whore, claiming he should have known it would come to this because that was the kind of girl Katerina really was, he then told her that it was all a game and proceeded to recite the general ruse all men spew when they are hurt. She wasn't worth it if she went around being easy with scum like Damon.

And just like that what was once a beautiful relationship shattered under the weight of tiny lies.

Katerina cried, god knows the first week was the hardest, Caroline had tried to be there for her the best she could but Kat knew the sunny girl would never understand the depth of how hurt she felt, still her friend did her best and for that Katerina swore one day she would repay her, funny how our first heartbreak has the power to shatter us so badly, mark us so deeply we never seem to think of love in the same way again. Nevertheless Katerina was a survivor, she had gone through her share of crap in high school, she had grown up in a home where nobody understood her, fought for her chance to get into Columbia, Kat was no stranger to the term "getting back on the horse", it was what she did, she endured, but still in her heart Katerina knew that from that day on, she would always hate Elijah for shattering her one last shred of innocence, for killing that part of her that still believed in true love.

Yet she told herself that Katerina Gilbert was not a mopper, once the original shock of Elijah's words and betrayal had passed, she refused to let anybody see her sadness, she got up, wiped her tears, applied her makeup and swore to herself and to the world that no matter, how, no matter what, she would never be hurt like that again, she wouldn't allow herself to be.

Elijah saw her pretend time and time again, still reeling from the anger of her supposed betrayal he refused to cut her some slack and the nail to the coffin came in the form of Trevor Petrova.

Trevor was a recently graduated business mayor, who had been dating Rosemary, one of Katerina's frienemies yet it was a known fact around campus that he had been in love with Katerina since day one, Trevor was a good man, kind, considerate and thoughtful, but he was also ruthlessly smart, he was the kind of man that knew when an opportunity was there for the taking and what better way to be Katerina's hero than to offer a shoulder to cry on after her terrible breakup with that evil ex of hers.

Yes, Trevor Petrova was smart, he had seen Katerina's vulnerability when nobody else had and without any bad intention, simply took advantage of it, she was hurting, he had the power to make the hurt go away, she needed to get away and he needed her, it was a win-win situation "I will never treat you badly Kat, I worship you, come with me please there is a world out there to discover, my family runs a textile empire in Bulgaria and I am expected to return soon, I cannot leave you here muse of my heart, just think about it, you will live like a queen, away from everything that has ever hurt you, with servants and jewels and enough time to do whatever you wish, say yes my love, say you will marry me"

And because Katerina had been young and hurting, she had looked into her suitor's dark eyes and seen the most practical solution to all her problems, even if it was a little mercenary, she figured that if she couldn't have love, at least she would have wealth. So she said "yes!"

And in the whisper of a drizzling wind, Trevor spirited Katerina away to Bulgaria in order to introduce his new bride to his family.

Funny also that with Katerina gone, Elena's affair with Damon came to light a lot faster than it would have if Kat had stayed in Chicago, after all, when the rumors of his girlfriend hooking up with his brother eventually reached Stefan, Elena could no longer use the "my evil twin did it" excuse and it sucked because Katherine was no longer there to take the brunt of all Elena's failings just by virtue of being the bad sister, for once in her life Elena was on her own.

After the scandal of Elena's little two timing act broke loose in the sorority where she roomed, it didn't take long for word of it to reach Elijah and the realization of it hurt like hell. Because while Katerina's sudden disappearance had been quietly disregarded as one more student to drop out of Columbia, Elena's love triangle with the Salvatore brothers had been a rumor spread like wildfire.

Elijah had looked for her. Called, Emailed, even tried going to her parent's home but to no avail. He had asked Elena and Caroline, Emily, Rosemary and even Pearl, but sadly all they could tell him was that Katerina had decided to marry Trevor Petrova out of the blue, Pearl had been the most forthcoming if slightly mean when she told him the news "Really professor Mikaelson you didn't know?, oh well I suppose it's normal, she just left so suddenly after getting engaged" the Asian woman told him feigning indifference to his taken aback face "Trevor wanted her to meet his family you see, I don't know much about Bulgarian culture and such but I imagine it poses a challenge for Katherine, becoming Trevor's wife, they are both so young, I understand that with a man as eager to please her as Trevor, she will be very happy, but then again you already know Katherine loves a challenge she can sink her fangs on, don't you professor?" with those last words Pearl had turned her back with indifference and sauntered over to her next class, leaving Elijah to feel like an ass for hurting his Katerina in that way.

And just like karma, the boomerang effect of his ploy to get rid of Katerina came back to bite Klaus in the butt in the form of Caroline's friendship with the future Mrs. Petrova, because while Katherine Petrova was turning into a grade A bitch, a part of her refused to forget the nice things Caroline had done for her when she needed a friend the most, things that not even her own sister had done, so Katherine used her feminine wiles, moved some strings and sweet talked Trevor into offering Caroline some incentive to travel to Europe permanently and Trevor ever indulgent towards his future wife agreed to it. This was how the idea of studying in Greece had been planted into Caroline's head, an idea that after Katherine's marriage became a reality.

And that was the end to it naturally, Katherine got married to Trevor far away from home, sending plane tickets only to her parents and a select group of good friends so they could attend, (though she vindictively forgot to add her sister Elena to the guest list) Caroline managed to earn a scholarship to study in Greece thanks to Kat's contacts and soon all contact from either of them with Elena or their other college friends became very small.

For Elijah life promptly went on, as it did for his siblings. He never heard from her again. But every once in a while something would remind him yet for all intents and purposes, the woman he once loved was married and in another country, he had no right to think of her.

Elijah went on and got his teaching degree, and later a PhD, began working up the pedagogic ladder in New Orleans state university while working on the side with Finn in the family business and once in a while accepted to do his old classmates favors and fill in during their lectures or jobs just to fill the monotony.

Katerina on the other changed her married name to Katherine in order to cut ties with her old life, she found that while being married to Trevor was certainly glitzy, it was also boring, she had nothing to do or work on and after her first year of marriage, partying and shopping soon got old really fast.

It was then that she met Nadia, Trevor's daughter, her husband while not really forthcoming with information on Nadia's origins had admitted that one of the reasons his family had wanted him to marry so young was because he had been careless during his teenage years and Nadia was the result, Katherine learned that the little girl had lived all her life from nursery to nursery and later sent to a boarding school, like an unwanted orphan it was no wonder that she had latched on to Katherine's leg as soon as they met and while Katherine had never been the maternal sort, the Katerina side of her found herself at home when Nadia was around.

Nadia gave her a purpose other than being a trophy wife for Trevor; she smiled and laughed as though Katherine was her real mother, always so happy to finally have a mom that she tugged at Katherine's heartstrings over and over. It was then that Katherine began to fall in love again, this time she fell in love with a little girl that called her mama, it was maternal love, a feeling so warm it made her smile constantly, something she hadn't felt since she had been naïve and crazy.

Once again, someone became Katherine's whole world and this time it was pint-sized Nadia, who loved, adored and cared about Katherine in a way only a child ever could, so Katherine basked in her adoration, doing all the things she always wished to do if she had her own children. Katherine took Nadia shopping, signed her up for contemporary dancing, self-defense, karate, taught her how to wear makeup and played guitar hero with her on the mornings they wanted to annoy Trevor.

And Nadia loved Katherine, she loved her like she would have loved her true mother, she loved to watch comedy movies together and crawl into Katherine and Trevor's bed like she had seen children do on TV, she liked Christmases and birthdays and all the celebrations that made her childhood so magical.

Katherine didn't love Trevor, but she learned to like him as a friend, and they were a family, a pretty one, just Trevor Nadia and her, _the Petrova family_, it sounded nice, even when she didn't look old enough to be Nadia's mother, Katherine felt that if this was how life intended to carve her path, then she had no complaints.

The could have been happy, so happy, just the three of them, if only Trevor had kept his promise and been faithful to Katherine, if only he had loved Nadia as much as she did, if only he had not gone to his mistress that night Nadia had taken ill, then perhaps that drunk driver wouldn't have killed him. Leaving her a widow at twenty six and the guardian of a pre-teen child.

Which was why she had come back to Chicago, Katherine loved Bulgaria but she felt that now that she was a widow a visit to her own parents was long overdue, just for a short amount of time she had told herself, legally Grayson and Miranda where nothing to Nadia but Katherine wanted the little girl to know her mother had family too and that it was time they met their adoptive grandchild in person. Besides Petrova industries was brokering an expansion in the states and it was as good excuse as any to settle down in Chicago again for a while.

"Well I guess this concludes our meeting for the day, Mrs. Petrova, I trust that in the future Nadia will be try to be less explosive in her behavior and per normal procedure report any sort of victimization she suffers to a teacher" Elijah announced clearing his throat and bringing Katherine out of her trip down memory lane, Katherine nodded "still while her anger was justified she still gave a student a black eye"

"But professor" Nadia whined crossing her arms over her chest

"And I am not saying this because said student is my brother, if anything Henrik I expected more from you than to find you bullying a new student" Elijah leveled Henrik with his best disappointed look, making Katherine smirk, oh how did she know that look, she had been subjected to it a few times in the past and knew that once Elijah wanted to make you feel guilty, all he had to do was look at you with that stern crestfallen face

"So what will the penalty be then?" Katherine huffed impatiently, he could see in the way her eyes darted briefly around the room every five minutes that she wanted to leave as soon as possible, time might have changed the woman in front of him but Elijah still knew those little tells in her body language like the back of his hand "I assume it won't be a suspension, Nadia has perfect scores and a spotless permanent record, I don't think being suspended would help if all she was trying to do is defend herself"

The small tapping of her shoe, the brief perusal of her manicure indicating she wanted to clench her fists, the way her body was angling to the exit almost as if preparing to run, it made him smile a bit, his Katerina was still there after all "I agree, so this is why I am giving you detention, to both of you"

"What? No Lijah" Henrik protested "that's not fair, pipsqueak there was the one to go all hulk on me"

"Who are you calling pipsqueak, _mayka_ Katerina do you see why I hit him" Nadia protested too, cursing Henrik in Bulgarian knowing that the other people in the room wouldn't understand it.

"Nadia, for Tiffany's sake this situation isn't up for discussion, I love you but you crossed the line today" Katherine sighed examining for the first time the purple bruise around Henrik's eye closely, how had her little girl managed to land such a perfect punch? She had no idea, but one thing was for sure, it must have hurt like hell "look at him that shiner is going to need weeks to heal" not that she wasn't proud of Nadia, I mean, the kid had managed to do what countless other females in history had wished they could do in the past, and that was to sock a Mikaelson square in the face, only this one was the wrong Mikaelson.

"Two weeks, every day after school, detention for both of you!" Elijah said leveling both children with a silencing look "you Henrik, because you let your friends pressure you into picking on the new student and you Miss Petrova because here in this school we have zero tolerance for violence, regardless of the gender that perpetrates it, am I making myself clear?"

"Yes professor" both of them mumbled in unison at the cold words of Elijah in principal mode. Then both adults forced the children to apologize mutually and smiled when the matter was over.

"Well then, now that it is all settled, I believe we have nothing else to discuss" Elijah concluded with a nod dismissing them.

"Come to think of it look at the time, we should get going, Nadia has rock climbing practice in a few hours and I need to get her into the protective gear" Katherine said pretending to look at her watch and angling for a rapid exit trying with all her might to keep the "normal parent" façade, resisting the long buried urge to be snarky with him_, just pretend it's not Elijah Kat, pretend it's just another teacher, just another teacher, repeat after me, just another teacher_.

Getting up and gathering her daughter's things Katherine politely said goodbye hoping Elijah wouldn't try to stop her from leaving, but just her luck just when she was walking out the door the man saw it fit to call her back "Mrs. Petrova, may I talk to you for a moment in private?"

Dammit, dammit, she was so close to getting away, Elijah of course had done it on purpose, waiting until Henrik left and she had already settled Nadia to leave, he knew Katherine was going to run as fast as she could, so selfishly he played the old trick of the "private" parent teacher talk.

"Of course, Nadia why don't you go ahead and wait for me in the lobby, I'll be right out cupcake" Nadia nodded and skipped down the hall after Henrik, leaving her mother in the office with a very handsome principal Mikaelson.

"Close the door Katerina" was the first thing Elijah said as soon as the child was out of sight, and suddenly there it was, the stubborn light that had always defined Katerina in all her glory, but this time, she was looking at him with all the force of her anger, he knew she hated him, but for a moment, he really did not care.

"And if I don't? may I remind you Dr Mikaelson that we are here to discuss my daughter..and my name is Katherine, Katerina died a long time ago, you should know" she threw at him like a sharp pointy knife, dropping all pretense she had kept in front of Nadia, letting her distaste seep into her tone and reach it's intended target.

"Should I?" he shot back, letting her know that he blamed her too "tell me Mrs. Petrova is there anything else I should know apart from your illustrious surname?"

Katherine snorted seeing the controlled way in which he asked the question "you really haven't changed at all haven't you?" she said circling a chair and refusing to sit own "still the same moralistic bastard that thought he could belittle my choices like a pro, well guess what? I have changed" she announced fearlessly looking at him straight in the eye and hoping he got the message "and this time Elijah, I'm not about to fall into old habits"

"Back to first name basis madam?, then let me be the judge of that" Elijah replied well enough advancing slowly towards her "it's always nice to see an old friend after seven years, I suppose the years have improved your countenance Katerina, or perhaps marriage did that?" he whispered coming up behind her, using a very formal tone but managing to make her shiver all the same, Katherine turned around in the blink of an eye and took a step back

"yes marriage did me quite a few favors" she replied offhandedly, he was too close, the door to his office was open and Katherine's self-preservation instincts where screaming into the high heavens, she needed to leave before she gave in and pulled Elijah by his tie, just to see if his lips still tasted as they did back in college, still she tried to keep her cool when she said "is that all Elijah?, where you hoping for a happy reunion? Because I have things to do and Nadia is waiting"

Elijah could see something simmering under that streak of impatience she wore like a glove, in fact if he were thinking with his head, he would let her go on her way, pretend he hadn't seen her, he was already dating a perfectly acceptable woman, never mind the fact that he couldn't even remember Hayley's surname with Katerina standing before him looking at his tie as if she wished it would sprout flames, how many times had he not imagined a moment like this?, he always thought the first thing he would tell her if he ever saw her again would be ask for her forgiveness, he didn't expect to feel that irrational sense of jealousy that came with seeing the silver ring on her finger, he knew of course, after reading Nadia's school file, that the little girl's father had died more than a year past, which meant that for whatever reason, Katerina still felt attached to her dead husband.

Because the wedding ring was still there and every time he thought of the words to apologize, the piece of jewelry mocked him, reminding him that her heart belonged to someone else and not him, the man was dead for Pete's sake and Elijah still felt jealous of him. This was why he was baiting her into showing her anger.

But Elijah knew that going there was playing with fire, so against his wishes he nodded "yes, tough I am surprised, I never took you for the maternal sort"

"Serves to show how little you knew me" Katherine replied mocking turning to leave, because of course he never thought her the maternal kind of girl, nobody did, but Elijah's hand shot out and held her back.

Katherine's eyes widened and she tried to break free from his hold, but Elijah didn't let her, his eyes softened for a moment "I do feel bad for what happened back then Katerina, I know it won't mean anything to you and that you probably have every reason to hate me, but I am sorry"

"You are right on that, your words don't really mean anything to me" she snapped, covering her hurt with a snide tone trying to tug her arm free once again

Elijah pulled her back and in a moment of temporary insanity he whispered "I know" and then she kissed him, almost as if to prove appoint, he pulled her to him then, doing that thing he had wanted to do ever since she had stepped into that office, not letting her have the upper hand, kissing her like a thirsty man in a desert, and Katherine responded at his touch with the passion and hunger she had forgotten she possessed, right then it didn't matter that the door was open, that Nadia was waiting or that Trevor was dead, that Elijah had a girlfriend or that his family would frown upon what he was doing.

They were kissing and that was enough.

But then Katherine's eyes snapped open "dammit we can't do this" she said more to herself than to Elijah, who in turn nodded a little out of breath

"You really should go Katerina, before I'm tempted to make it happen again" a man had to admit to weakness when he came across it, else how was he supposed to overcome it? And Elijah had just discovered that like good wine, the taste of Katerina's lips had gotten better with age.

"This here was a lapse of judgment" Katherine nodded then looked at him with daggers in her eyes "actually this never happened, we never kissed, I never gave in, got it Mr. Suit?"

Elijah groaned in frustration "Katerina pleased leave"

And leave she did, in a huff, and once again decidedly disgruntled, thanks to that kiss, she would be having dreams about Elijah again, during her marriage it was the memory of him, now the real thing decided her psyche wasn't damaged enough thanks to him and kissed her back like that, damn why did he have to kiss like a sex god?, why?.

"Hey mamma ready to go?" Nadia asked innocently getting into the car, Katherine nodded and once they were far away enough from the school the inquisitive preteen turned to her mother with narrowed eyes "now are you going to tell me what's up with you and principal stuffy or am going to have to ask aunt Caroline?"

**This started as a drabble, then evolved into a one-shot, then I said screw it, let's make it a two shot, Kalijah is freaking hard to write, seriously, doing them justice is like very hard, because Elijah is Elijah, he's a very (very) old somber vamp and Katherine is Katherine and she's such a hard to pin down character, I wanted to write something that shows all her facets, the woman, the fighter, the survivor, the party girl and the mother she never got to be for Nadia, this was fun, but hard, very hard, I love Kat, but after tis two shot, I think I'm sticking with Klaroline, Kalijah complexity is out of my league. Also **_**zadnik**_** means ass and **_**mayka**_** means mom both in Bulgarian**


	2. part 2: Nadia goes to the art thingie

Chapter 2: Nadia goes to the art thing

"So he's the guy you dated before marrying my dad? Sheesh mama talk about shocking reunion" Nadia sighed melodramatically sipping her hot chocolate that morning. She'd been pestering Katherine all the past day for details on what she talked about with the big stuffy principal, knowing that her Mayka would cave one way or another, which Katherine did, the next morning

It was one of the perks of being the only child of a single parent and that was that her mom treated her like a competent adult most of the time, despite the coddling and spoiling.

"You tell me? Shocking does not cover half of it" Katherine sighed fixing herself an extra mug of coffee "if you hadn't been there I would have walked out as soon as I saw his face"

They were having breakfast in the couch, wearing their pajamas and watching TV while talking about their week, it had become a normal occurrence after the accident, now that Katherine didn't need to keep up the trophy wife facade for Trevor twenty four seven, she could dress up in any way she wished and let Nadia have all the early morning sugar she wanted without bothering about it, tough the glittery apartment straight out of a Martha Stewart catalogue did not match their bedraggled Just-out-of-bed appearances and easy banter, it was still nice, just Nadia and her, in their tiny homey bubble, where they both had everything they wanted and nobody could hurt them.

"But wait so he really was your teacher in college, gosh I knew you were a feeme fatale and stuff when you married daddy but a teacher? That SO takes your old gimmick to new levels" Nadia said grinning like crazy, after all what kid didn't like to hear stories about when the parents where "wild and nuts" then she perked up exited "did you have to hide your relationship like the couple in Amores y Dolores?, did you get caught? Wait did you get pregnant and his evil uncle Fernando convinced you to skip town in order to steal his inheritance while you ended up lost in the desert with Lola and Juanita?" the little girl questioned in a rapid-fire way making Katherine snort

"Nadia what have I told you about watching so much Mexican dramas?" the older woman scolded before bursting out in laughter at her girl's wild imagination "it was nothing like that, Elijah, I mean Dr Mikaelson, he was just a Teacher Assistant when we dated, it's like an intern but one who has permission to teach some classes, we did hide our relationship for a while but that was because we didn't even know if we had a relationship, remember how I was a party girl in college?, him and I, well we had our moments but it wasn't anything close to the drama in Amores y Dolores" Katherine lied, making a mental note to block out the Mexican channels from Nadia's TV, it was easier now after many years to look back into her past and give Nadia the PG13 version of the story, recall her time with Elijah with a little less longing and more maturity, or that was what she told herself as she munched off her perfectly healthy and gluten free turkey muffin with cottage cheese, stealing lucky charms from Nadia's bowl of cereal at the same time. Some mornings Katherine just felt like she did have everything in life. A daughter that loved her, a comfortable lifestyle and enough money to support a small country if the economy tanked, after all the crap that happened, she could count herself lucky. She did not need a man to screw it up matter what her heart said.

Well at least for the time being, Caroline would show up soon and lord knows her friend would have a fit when she saw Katherine eating Lucky Charms in a couch that was made of expensive cashmere furnishings, not to mention the terrible state the kitchen was in.

"Sooooo" Nadia hummed with a perspicacious glint in her eyes "Did you love him?" she inquired out of the blue making Katherine choke and drop the coffee she had been drinking, splashing brown liquid all over the couch

"Dammit firestorm, a little warning would be nice" Katherine coughed with choked breaths, getting a napkin to clean herself, using the nickname she affectionately had given Nadia when she was small, realizing that now the couch had a terrible coffee stain and pretending to be mad about it.

"oh come on, the man looks like he models suits for Armani and does toothpaste commercials in his free time, I'm twelve not blind" her daughter snorted making Katherine laugh, Nadia sure knew how to be blunt "besides you should have seen his face when he first saw you, it was so funny really"

"First of all the fact that I married your dad and not Elijah I mean...principal-doctor-Mikaelson should give you a pretty big hint on how him and I ended up, second yes he's hot but I am not discussing that with you and last, he was not making any face at me, Elijah Mikaelson does not make faces at anybody, actually Elijah Mikaelson doesn't make faces at all,! He's made of stone!"

"oh puh-lease, you didn't love my dad mom and you know it, I barely knew the guy so I don't judge you but seriously don't bring Trevor into this, that's low, even for you" Nadia barely flinched at the mention of her father, she knew he had actually loved her but Nadia just didn't feel that much attachment to her father when he died, he was never home much and avoided seeing her whenever he was at home unless Katherine asked him to so "trust me principal Mikaelson was looking at you with the funniest face ever, he looked torn between being afraid you would rape him and wishing you actually would rape him already"

"who's afraid of Katherine raping him?" a chiming voice asked from the doorway saving Katherine from having to face more of her daughter's inquisitive questions, the laughing voice could only belong to one person after all, the only female of Katherine's acquaintance that had keys to her Chicago loft.

"Tetka Caroline!" Nadia cried jumping from her seat and running straight into her honorary aunt's open arms "You are here! You came! Just like you promised"

"well if it isn't my favorite niece, you have grown at least three inches since I saw you last Naddy" the blond woman sang taking Nadia in her arms and spinning her around in a wide circle making the child giggle, measuring Nadia's head with her left hand "I did promise to make up for that lost birthday didn't I?, now are you both ever going to tell me what you were talking about?"

"Oh don't get her started; this is a conversation I refuse to have in front of my twelve year old kid"

"Mom had a run in with her hot ex-boyfriend, who might or might not be afraid she will rape him because he looks like a Kelvin Klein model" Nadia explained bluntly, like if that where the most obvious thing in the world "she was telling me the story before you came in, it sounded sooo totally Pretty Little Liars, like Aria and Ezra but in college and without "A" being a psycho murderer"

"did you just compare Katherine to someone from a TV sitcom?, oh sweetie I went to college with your mom and believe me she was not the Aria kind of girl, she was the kind of girl that would eat Aria alive" Caroline said raising her eyebrow at Katherine who just stifled a snort "by the way, since when do you watch teen dramas?"

"since they have good looking boys prancing around shirtless duhh" Nadia replied making a isn't-it-obvious face to her aunt, eying Caroline's purple suitcases which she knew where probably filled with designer clothes and swiftly losing interest in the conversation "Mom I think I'll help Tetka with her suitcases, if you need me I'll be in the guest room, unpacking her stuff" and by "unpacking" Katherine knew Nadia meant "playing dress up with"

Caroline shook her head and once Nadia was out of sight, turned to look at Katherine with a raised eyebrow "tell me what that was about?"

"She's growing up too fast and I let her watch too much TV" Kat replied pretending to misunderstand her look "anytime now she will hit puberty and then I'm up against periods, training bras and hormones"

"You know that's not what I meant, miss I'm-changing-the-subject, Naddy was talking about a hot ex that looks like a magazine model? He wouldn't happen to be wearing a suit would he?" Caroline said trying to smother her giggles then at Katherine's furious face she became even more amused "I take it the reunion was anything but pleasant"

"Long story short, of all the school's Nadia could be going to, it had to be one where he is the principal, and did I mention his kid brother is in my daughter's same grade? Because he is" Katherine told her and then remembering how she had kissed him furiously the previous afternoon, she sighed "oh god I think I'm not drunk enough for this conversation" and fetching a big glass of wine from the liquor cabinet in her office she began to tell Caroline about her slip with Elijah.

She started off by the basics explaining how she had gone up to purposefully show him that he no longer had any power over her, how the kiss had sounded like a good idea in her head at a time because normally men felt intimidated when she went all dominatrix on them, she was supposed to show him she was the boss, but it all went to hell because the bloody bastard still was better than her when it came to being domineering

"So basically you still have feelings for him" Caroline pointed out knowing that Katherine would deny it, which she did

"Of course not, not the kinds you think, all the feelings I have left for him are angry feelings, I want to kill him, watch him suffer, but I can't because I promised myself I would be a better person for Nadia's sake"

"So? break your promise, If any guy deserves bitchyness from you it's probably Elijah Mikaelson, and I know I should be telling you that it was years ago, that you can't just be holding a grudge like that but gosh, he ruined you for life, as in, he gave the final push to turn you into the harpy you are now, no offense Kat, but I don't see what's wrong with screwing him over now that you actually can"

"Someone is being pessimistic today" Katherine noted right away, Caroline usually was a veritable ray of sunshine, having her talk smack about anyone was out of character for her, even during her darkest times when her father died Katherine had never seen Caroline be less than a motivational poster child for positivity "okay, now you have my attention, what's wrong?, did the stock market tank your magazine or something?"

Caroline was the founder and editor in chief for "events and lifestyle" (E&amp;L for short) an event planning magazine that focused mostly on party organizing and home decoration, it was popular among real estate agents, event planners and people that worked with limited party budgets but in real life Caroline's magazine was oriented and bought mostly by a specific audience: Brides, those had been Caroline's target when she started with her publication, women that wanted the whole deal, the perfect wedding and the perfect house, who spent millions each years on parties for their new husband or wife, who wanted well-furnished cabins in Aspen or the perfect baby shower, women like her. Like Caroline, who believed in happily ever after.

Or in her magazine's case, those women who believed happily ever after could be bought if they purchased the nicest house.

"no E&amp;L is fine, in fact we are being asked to cover so much mayor events this season, that I'm not sure I'll be able to fit Oscar de la Renta's bridal runaway on our upcoming issue, which is bad because or advertisers love that stuff and.." Caroline rambled on listing the reasons why she was so busy, but Katherine perceptive as she was knew there something going on, never in her life had Caroline ditched a bridal feature in favor of anything, so that adding that tidbit to her recent pessimism gave Katherine an idea of what was going on

"This has something to do with Lockwood doesn't it? did he get down on one knee already, if he hasn't then…"

"He broke up with me okay!" Caroline cried out stopping Katherine from making any assumptions "he gave me the whole, we are drifting apart, it's not you, it's me speech, said that he's moving back to Virginia and since I'm a New Yorker long distance would never work out"

"Bullshit" Katherine snapped just as angry as Caroline seemed to be "if he really loved you then he would have asked you to join him"

"Which is what I said right before I kicked him out of my apartment, oh my gosh Katherine I can't believe I was such a gullible idiot" Caroline groaned sinking into the couch and covering her face with her hands "and that's not the worst part, you know what I kept thinking when he was picking up his stuff? I kept thinking that at least now I wouldn't have to endure his tacky taste in boxers, I wasn't even sad! I was more sad about him taking the Lorenzo Augustine painting he got me for our anniversary than I was for losing him" Caroline said remembering how calmly she had taken Tyler's speech, how painless it all had been, losing your soul mate wasn't supposed to be painless, it was supposed to hurt but right then Caroline only felt hurt by the amount furniture he had taken with him "what is wrong with me Kat? Am I so terrible?"

"hey, hey, stop the pity party, pretty girls like us get wrinkles that way, you know what we need to snap out of this funk?, we need to unwind, let's have a spa day, some shopping therapy and a night out, what do you think?" Katherine proposed with her usual no nonsense tone both trying to cheer Caroline up and working out her own personal need for alcohol.

"Actually about that Kat, I didn't come to Chicago only for girl bonding"

"Oh no, I know that face Miss Teen Chicago, you need a favor"

Caroline smiled sheepishly knowing Katherine saw trough her better than anybody "Fine, so I might have personal motives for hanging out with you but please Kat, pretty please" She begged with puppy eyes "there's this big art show today in the hotel of one of my contacts and I sort of nee to get an exclusive from this new art prodigy, Davina Claire, but you know how exclusives are sort of exclusive?, well, her agent won't let her do any interviews unless it's for one of her sponsors"

"Let me guess, you need me to have sponsor her because she's so great and fantastic and her paintings dazzle so much that your magazine ABSOLUTELY needs to have her on speed dial?" Katherine asked unimpressed, after all, Caroline rarely asked or favors but when she did, she tended to use the force of Katherine's name and money to her full advantage, yet Katherine also knew it was clearly a ploy to make her forget about breakup girl talk.

"Plus, I kind of want another Lorenzo Augustine painting to replace the one Tyler took from my studio" Caroline admitted and Katherine knew it was Caroline's personal way of dealing with her breakup, replacing everything Tyler had taken with him to prove that she was fine, that everything could be replaced, that her life didn't need him and neither did she.

"Fine cupcake, I'll do it for you, BUT, on two conditions, one, we head out for a club as soon as you get the interview you want and two you better pony up for a round the clock nanny for Nadia, because I promised her we would do something today and she probably will feel disappointed if I ditch her for you and don't bring her along"

Caroline considered her options and sighed "okay, deal"

Meanwhile on the other side of Chicago, Elijah was still having a hard time wrapping his head around his confrontation with Katherine the previous day, rationalizing the fact that the sweet and mischievous woman he had known and fallen in love was no longer there, instead his Katerina seemed to have grown a thick scaly armor around her, the way she now carried herself with so much pride, looking at him with both wonder and disgust, took him back to all those years ago, when Katerina's anger used to get the best of her and she would refuse to speak to him for days, back then Katerina had not liked of fights or confrontations, preferring the passive aggressive solution when she was angry, unleashing her brand of madness on those around her and driving then crazy with the tricks under her sleeve.

That's why he had fully expected her to walk away the moment he got her angry enough, maybe have her start flinging darts from afar days later, where he couldn't retaliate, what he hadn't predicted was for her to be on the offensive, to kiss him with such force and anger, the old Katerina never attacked a opponent on the spot, and he recognized in her the manners of a woman who had used this attack before, the most primal and carnal part of him recognized her as a woman who planned on using her lips as weapons to wield, and he realized she probably was all too used to men being the submissive ones, used to being the one holding the upper hand by forcing her target to yield.

Which was why the long lost streak of Viking blood in him had reacted and risen to her challenge, reaching out for her and forcing her devious mouth to acknowledge him as her master.

But that had been a mistake on his part, weak thing he was, even after all these years when it came to her, the taste of her lips and smell of her perfume where he had pressed her against him still clung to his suit, kissing Katherine had been like both coming home and exploring a new land, she had changed, he only longed to know which things remained the same.

But she was right when she told him his apologies didn't matter, he was seven years late and Katherine apparently still loved her dead husband, he had hurt her, he knew he had, only he had no idea how deep said hurt really was, how much it had served to freeze Katerina's caring heart.

Not that he remained the same man either, Celeste and Jane Anne could attest to that, his two ex-wives, one who had very unceremoniously tried to murder him and the other who had come out of the closet just shy of their two year anniversary together, the rest of his siblings never had successful relationships either, Elijah muse to himself calmly as he tried doing the family accounts a feat he had been postponing for a while.

Elijah's siblings all had their own brand of poison and while he knew that each of them had enough good qualities, there was still a reason why at their age, they all still lived together in the same house. Finn was too attached to their mother, Klaus destroyed anything in his path, Rebekah had a tendency to love the wrong people and Kol well, he was a womanizer at his best, not to mention himself, who had spent most of his life dousing the fires his siblings set forth, was it any surprise that all his relationships had never ended well?, Katerina had been the exception, because Elijah knew now that their disastrous ending had been because of a misunderstanding, but they still had ended badly, if anything Elijah pinned all his hopes on Henrik, who so far was the sweetest one of his siblings, but then again they boy was only thirteen and had yet to learn the pitfalls of life.

He had Hayley now, Elijah thought to himself, she was an amiable young woman that fit him perfectly, smart, assertive and loyal, despite the fact Klaus claimed that the only reason Elijah was with her was because she was "easy to control", but Klaus did not know her like Elijah did, or that's what he told himself whenever the remark passed his brother's lips.

No matter, he should not be thinking about Klaus, or Hayley or Katerina, he had accounts to finish and an art showing to attend in the afternoon, Niklaus was going to be honored with some honorary painting award and since it was an event hosted by the Chicago Historical society, as the eldest Mikaelson, he was required to go.

"it's no matter, after yesterday I fully expect never to see her again" Elijah told himself just in time to answer an incoming call which turned out to be from Haley, unsurprisingly "Hello Hayley I was just about to call, do you have plans for this evening?"

(Later)

-Vienna Hotel, Historical Society Art showing, five pm-

_Now this is where I belong,_ Nadia Petrova kept thinking to herself as she walked hand in hand with her mother into the glamorous hotel, she didn't even mind her new nanny, a funny but quiet girl named Bonnie, who's aunt was a friend of her mama, Nadia beamed looking around the rows and rows of expensive artwork and sculptures, delighted by the cheer "prettiness" of it, walking inside the art showing was like walking in her great gran's mansion, the musty smell of turpentine reminded her of home, sure, Madame grandmother Petrova really didn't have THAT much modern paintings in her mansion but she often like to tell Nadia about the old ones she did have, Katherine considered the practice very pretentious but Nadia always thought that her old grandmother tried her best at connecting with both of them.

Suddenly a sandy colored head of brown hair caught her by surprise and on seeing his face Nadia squealed in pure glee, letting go of her mother and nanny's hands Nadia ran directly towards the stranger "Uncle fluffy super hero hair!"

"Nadia!" she heard her Katherine and Bonnie call out, but the running child was past caring.

Stefan turned around to the squealing child just in time to catch Nadia in his arms and much like Caroline had done, spin her around like a doll "well if it isn't my future wife? Have you finally decided to accept my proposal Naddy, is that why you are here little beauty?" he said hugging her and spinning her around once more "come to put uncle fluffy out of his misery?" The women in the room that saw the display all gave a collective "awww" at the scene watching how caring Stefan was with the little girl.

"No silly, I'm here with mama, she has business here and Tetka Caroline said she would buy me a painting if I was a good girl today" Nadia giggled blushing at Stefan's attention "but even if I could, I still wouldn't marry you, you are too old for me Uncle fluffy head"

"She certainly has her priorities straight doesn't she Stefan?" Katherine said approaching the pair with a smile in her face

"If it isn't Katherine the great, are you here to witness how your daughter breaks my heart for the millionth time?" Stefan laughed as Nadia blushed a little more, him much like Caroline had remained in contact with Katherine and tough he still lived in Chicago and worked at the family law firm with Damon, he often did "ripper" business with on the side, in fact both Stefan and Caroline had been on amiable terms with Trevor before his death, Stefan often offered his Italian villa for the Petrova family in the summer and had on more than one occasion been invited to Nadia's birthdays.

But because Stefan had been the one to slyly tweak Trevor's will so Katherine could legally have Nadia and avoid any custody battles with her in laws in the future, he had forever earned himself a spot in Katherine's good graces. So in a sense Katherine felt grateful that he was such a softie for children "well, you know what they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, now Nadia pumpkin why don't you and Bonnie go around and find some pretty painting with a unicorn or a witch hunt depiction to buy and charge to your aunt's credit card? Stefan and I need to talk about some adult things"

"Ohh okay mama, come on Bonnie, my mom has business to do and if I stay here I'm going to get bored" then hugging Stefan one more time the child danced away towards some marble sculptures with a nonchant attitude

Bonnie gave Katherine a look that said "is that kid for real?" before she sighed and followed Nadia away from Katherine and Stefan.

Meanwhile in the other side of the room Rebekah Mikaelson had become completely captivated by Stefan and the little girl he had spun around, small world and all, the thing she least expected was to come down from NOLA just to slam face to face with the crazy trio that had once made her fume when her brothers where in college, Caroline, Katherine and Stefan, plus the little girl too of course, one would have to be deaf not to hear her cheerful "uncle super hero hair" from across the room, there was something cute about watching a guy deal with kids, especially one as somber as Stefan,

then the blonde Mikaelson sighed again, this had disaster written all over it, with Elijah and his newest plaything about to come in, Niklaus having a fit over his paintings in the backrooms and Kol prowling the place for single girls, she had to admit to herself that one way or another the whole evening spelled trouble.

And boy was Bekah proven right.

The thing about the Vienna Hotel was that their event room was indeed quite large, and that many a person that knew each other could walk around and not recognize a familiar face, Katherine for example had been quite engrossed in business talk with Carol and Mason Lockwood over some disputes her company was having for land in order to proceed with their expansion, Stefan as usual found himself trying to played mediator between Katherine and his father Giuseppe, who happened to be Carol's favorite lawyer and one of the chief donors in the event.

And when he wasn't playing the "Salvatore Heir" part next to his father, he found himself alternating between ushering Caroline around the room and making sure Katherine remained entertained.

Because Stefan Salvatore was well aware of WHO exactly the Historical Society planned on awarding that evening and knowing Katherine's long standing grudge against all things Mikaelson and Caroline's overall dislike for them he was dead set against letting either factions bump into each other, but darn it was tiring business, it wasn't easy to maintain Caroline and Katherine occupied, not with Nadia prancing around the halls and calling attention to herself, and soon it wasn't just those three he had to keep track off, once Elijah made it through the door with his girlfriend Stefan had added two more to the list, not to mention Klaus who was playing the tortured artist card a little too hard and holing himself up in a corner, watching Caroline's every move while Stefan did his best for Caroline not to realize Klaus was even in attendance. It was driving Stefan to the grave trying to keep them all from clashing which was why...sadly he had been forced to recruit Rebekah's help.

Which he didn't want to, hell, it was a testament to how desperate he was when he reached out towards her and more or less bargained his soul over in order to get her to cooperate, trying very hard to suppress all the boyhood traumas of his that where indirectly associated to her.

Not that it was her fault, Rebekah Mikaelson, was for Stefan, well, she was Rebekah Mikaelson, she was the typical pretty (girl) brat that was a little spoiled and lived on his block, one that had four older brothers threatening to beat up any guy that came near her, during his college days Rebekah had been still in high school, so Stefan had never really talked to her that much, or looked at her...fine that was a big lie no man alive could say high school Rebekah hadn't been something to look at, but at the time Stefan had always been friends with Klaus (only breaking ties after the whole Elena/Katherine debacle) and even then Rebekah remained in her little pedestal whenever he happened to see her statuesque figure in a magazine cover.

Stefan liked to keep his distance from her, for many reasons and he still remembered that one time he had gotten drunk on his ass at Klaus's place only to wake up to Rebekah in her little (as in tiny) cheerleading outfit painting stuff over his naked chest with a tube of oil paint, thinking he was too drunk to notice, to her it probably had been a harmless prank, something a little sister would do to one of her brother's drunk friends, but to Stefan back then there had been a brief moment (okay not so brief) in which he'd imagined Rebekah, beautiful underage Rebekah doing the same thing to him but in way different circumstances and with way more naughty intentions (and that realization was enough to freak him out for life) because one thing was thinking your best friend's high school aged little sister is good looking another thing is to imagine what it would feel to (insert X fantasy here) her over and over again, especially when you had a girlfriend, nice guys with good girlfriends like Elena did not look at other girls.

So from then on he had made a conscious effort to avoid thinking about Rebekah Mikaelson as anything other than someone he needed to avoid.

Honestly he wasn't afraid of Rebekah per se, Stefan was afraid of her brothers, who he knew well enough (and who more importantly knew HIM, well enough) she had always been this untouchable thing when he was younger, the girl he was never, under any circumstances allowed to flirt with, or smile at, or exchange nice emails with, not because he didn't want to but because Klaus had murder tendencies and Kol had a baseball bat and Finn had a gun collection and Elijah could probably make it all look like an accident in court. So he stayed away from the girl with the four protective brothers like a good ripper should and when the time came that he needed to get in touch with her again, he just exchanged emails from Chicago to NOLA like a friend.

But if one where being honest thanks to Rebekah, Stefan had been traumatized for life, except that this afternoon he needed her help.

Rebekah agreed to help him of course, happy to be doing something that wasn't watching her brothers be boring, teaming up with Stefan to keep Katherine and Caroline from bumping into either of her three brothers, at least gave her something to do, but when it came to Rebekah nothing was ever free, so in exchange for her help, Stefan had to pay a very special price.

Honestly once they teamed up everything went ten times better, Stefan made sure to leave Katherine on Mason's arm so she was occupied enough with his senseless narcissist blabber to not notice Elijah while she made a circuit around the room to further her connections with the filatropists in attendance.

And Rebekah moved a little connections with her old flame Marcel in the back rooms in order for him to let Davina give Caroline her interview in a spot that was the furthest away from Klaus's exhibit, after all once Caroline was chatting the young artist up with her usual pageant queen charm and drawing Marcel in with a promise of a hefty pay for Davina's exclusive, not even a bomb going off could distract her from her mission.

In the meantime Nadia made the hall of the Vienna Hotel her own personal play park, holding her little purse in her hands and taking pictures with her toy camera, posing with the sculptures she saw and dragging a very flustered Bonnie from place to place.

And Bonnie, well Bonnie was stuck babysitting a pre-teen child that knew more about manipulation than Hannibal Lecter himself, it gave Bonnie the distinct feeling of being a bodyguard to a self-confident supermodel, Nadia had a way of prancing around the room with mischief in her eyes that made others do a double take at her cuteness, even the best dressed women in the room could not match her charm, and Bonnie could only stand by and watch in amusement.

You know how in that game of dominoes, all the pieces usually look so perfectly set and all you have to do is push one to topple the other? Like that pesky chain reaction that we all hate and keep blaming on the person that pushed the first domino in the first place?

If one had to pin the blame on who exactly caused the first domino to fall, then it would be traced back to one small accident and one single person.

Kol Mikaelson.

And Bonnie Bennett if you want to get technical, you see Kol had been flirting with a waitress at the Photorealism section, which was right next to the abstract sculptures where Nadia and Bonnie where looking at, honestly if that waitress hadn't gone and spilled her tray all over Bonnie, Kol wouldn't have noticed her, Nadia wouldn't have gotten away and everything that happened after including the Caroline/Klaus/Enzo debacle could have been avoided, but you see, sometimes life just wants to screw with you.

"Look, this one looks like a three and a person got fused together with some weird kind of animal, wicked right?" Nadia sang pointing to one of the sculptures, then she skipped over to the next one and continued her assessment "and this one, well it's hard to tell what this one looks like, what do you think it is Miss Bonnie?"

Bonnie sighed and cocked her head to the side "a cloud maybe? a brown cloud?, or another strange shaped three?, it could be an egg of some sort, a funky brown egg, honestly Nadia with those lumps I can't tell either"

Kol on the other hand was flirting with a busty waitress not far from them, said waitress giggled at something he said coyly, motioning secretly with her index finger behind her back and pretending to get away from him at a "gazelle" pace, sadly in her sprint, she slammed right into Bonnie with her tray of hors d'oeuvres.

"oh my gosh I'm so sorry, I didn't know where I was going, this is so going to get me fired, please oh my gosh your blouse is ruined oh my gosh" the waitress panicked, because the event was filled with lots of rich people and she thought Bonnie would get her fired.

"oh no, its fine really" Bonnie tried to soothe her "accidents happen, it's just a blouse, see, you didn't do real damage, I'll clean myself up don't worry" Bonnie said understanding, the waitress tearfully nodded and ran out to look for something to help clean Bonnie up, which was when someone offered her a small Kleenex pad of napkins.

"Need help with that?" Kol asked trying not to laugh at the poor girl and holding out the pad of wet wipes he had swiped from a nearby idiot "you know you really shouldn't be that nice to Mindy,, she did ruin your shirt, plus I have it on good authority that she's a bitch behind closed doors" Bonnie was too busy staring at the mess to notice that Nadia had slipped away when the waitress was apologizing so she naturally assumed Nadia was right behind her looking at more sculptures

"It' doesn't matter if she's a bitch or not, I know what it's like to be afraid of messing up in a job, she's no different than me in that, so it was nothing, thanks by the way" she said ignoring his mocking jab and taking the Kleenex, swiping the muck of sauces off her shirt with a grimace "I take it back, this is going to leave a stain"

"well I'm not used to being a hero for a damsel in distress but I just saw someone that's guaranteed to put me in a better mood so here, you can have my jacket for the time being" Kol said not really looking at Bonnie, instead his eyes focused on Katherine and Mason in the distance, both which made him smile in mischief, taking off his jacket he held it out

""by the look in your face, I'm almost afraid to ask why" Bonnie mumbled accepting his leather jacket to cover the stain in her shirt, at least until she could manage a quick change in the bathroom "by the way, I'm Bonnie, in case looking at the wait-Mindy's cleavage distracted you again"

"Good to know I'm not lending my coats to complete strangers, my name is Kol, but my friends like to call me "your highness king of the universe" unless you are my sister of course, she just calls me bloody wanker" he introduced himself making a exaggerate bow before winking flirtatiously, he wasn't even trying to make a pass on her honest, she was someone's nanny, and Kol had strict "anti-seducing other people's help during parties" policy, but her laughter sounded so nice, and this was one attractive nanny now that he looked at her closely, minus the stained shirt and frazzled babysitter getup she could be downright beautiful, Kol was intrigued.

Bonnie laughed "I think I'll stick with Kol"

Meanwhile Bonnie's little charge who had gotten away from her watch, was trying to find something interesting to do, Nadia knew it wasn't going to last, Bonnie would find her missing pretty soon and she would be back to body guarding her around, so Nadia took advantage and went in search of her aunt Caroline.

"Mayka, I found it, I found it, the painting I want you to get me, it's so wicked cool, come on, you need to see it" Nadia said smiling, pulling up her cutest doe eyes for Caroline who was talking on the phone with someone from her magazine about Davina's interview

"Naddy, not now baby I'm talking on the phone" Caroline stage whispered but the child pouted more and gave her a sad puppy face, making her budge "Fine, listen Matt, I'll call you later just make sure to have those photos in by Monday" Caroline sighed finishing her call and turning to Nadia with a sunny smile she reserved for children only "Now I'm done, let's take a look at that painting shall we?"

Nadia led Caroline around the gallery to one of the parts more hidden away, where a couple of fantastic fantasy themed easels hung for exhibition, she was so adorable dressed in a long sleeved top, a navy skirt, white tights and back flats (in a style so similar to Katherine it made Caroline wonder if she picked all of Nadia's outfits) her pretty blue little girl purse speckled with glitter making a sharp contrast, with her sweet but clean cut appearance, without an ounce of frills or princess themed accessories, just like her mother, Caroline knew that Nadia wasn't the kind of little girl that believed in princesses or fairies, which was why it came as a surprise when Nadia came to a stop in front of an oil painting depicting a beautiful swan filled lake next to a Victorian house with unicorns and fairies.

"It's my house Tetka Caroline; look, it looks just like home" and indeed Caroline saw the similarities between the house in the painting and the chateau like mansion the family lived at in Bulgaria "isn't it pretty?" Nadia cooed in delight

"It is, actually, very pretty" Caroline said nodding in appreciation "but here it says that it's on loan from a private collection, I'm not sure we can buy it"

Nadia sighed in unhappiness "but I want it"

"Naddy, be reasonable, I know I promised to buy anything you wanted but this painting has an owner, one that probably will ask for twice its worth if he or she where to sell it"

"do you think mom can find a way for me to have it?, she knows everybody, maybe she can find out who owns it" a little girl not used to not getting her way, she stomped her foot on the ground "wait here, don't move, I'll go get mama" and before Caroline had a chance to argue, Nadia did a pivot turn and sped away in pursuit of Katherine's location

"such a pity, it really is a beautiful Gianni Dunn" Caroline sighed to herself, she really did hate disappointing children, Nadia being the chief of them since Caroline loved to spoil her rotten

"Do you like it?" a slightly accented someone asked from behind her,

Caroline tuned around and scoffed at the person behind her "you got to be kidding me, Lorenzo Augustine? really?"

"And here I thought my identity was forever protected by my manager" the handsome black haired man joked "I wonder how such a pretty girl got wind of it"

"And here I thought the rumors of you being cocky as hell where wrong, keep trying and maybe one day you will be able to avoid the photographers in my magazine" Caroline scoffed amused at the way the man was trying to flirt with her, man if he only knew she dealt with his kind on daily basis, egotistical men, gosh they were all the same

"Gorgeous and smart, I like that in a woman, but we seem to be at disadvantage here, you know my name, I unfortunately don't know yours, which is a pity" Enzo continued with a wink "and please call me Enzo, Lorenzo is sort of outdated and I always hate being outdated"

"which is evident in your art" Caroline agreed changing the conversation before Enzo took it as a sign that she welcomed his flirting " some of your work is in exhibition and honestly cubism is such a hard thing to like, at least when it's not done well and you managed to make me like the form of painting I usually detest" Caroline continued, her mind rapidly hatching a plan to rope Enzo into being featured in one of her articles, if she played her cards just right he might just agree "by the way I'm Caroline Forbes, head of E&amp;L magazine" she said extending her hand for him to shake

"A pleasure to meet you Caroline, I see now how you know what I look like" he replied taking her hand and kissing it like a gentleman, gosh if Caroline had known that up close he was this handsome, she would have gotten her photographers to hound his house a little more.

"We did an article on you for the edgy décor section last winter, and I distinctly remember having a very hard time with the pictures, hence why I know how you look like, it took me some work to actually find a headshot of your face"

"I feel honored that you went through all that work, I remember that interview, the journalist wanted to hear more about my marital status than my upcoming gallery opening, you can imagine why I refuse to have my picture taken, being handsome in this industry gives people ideas" he pointed out with a bit of arrogance, like most attractive men Caroline knew, Enzo acted like he expected her to fall at his feet, disregarding her magazine easily, imagine how unfair it was when people wanted to know about the life of the artists that decorated their homes, Van Gogh would have scoffed, Caroline sighed and swallowed the snappy comeback, her magazine needed to pad the home décor section, E&amp;L needed her to do this.

"but you are a good talker and have great people skills, readers like that, it sells to be charming, or at least it does in my line of work" Caroline continued trying to be as cheerful as possible and Enzo smiled falling for it hook line and sinker.

Klaus on the other hand had been quietly sitting in the dark, out of sight watching the room full of people, smirking to himself as Rebekah and the ripper jumped from one end of the place to another trying to keep everything from blowing up, not that Klaus minded if anything blew up, art awards where generally boring things anyway, Elijah was busy keeping Haley in check, Kol somewhere off with another girl, the surprise of the night, his brother's ex flame Katerina too was in attendance and while Klaus knew that him clashing with her would be messy indeed, there was still the added bonus that always came with enduring Katerina's presence back in college, and that was Caroline, which was why Klaus had politely refrained (or been forced to, by Rebekah) from getting close to Katherine and causing a scene.

Him, unlike Elijah, had not completely written Caroline off his life when Katherine pulled off her last dirty trick, her name was something that came up in his field of work every once in a while, after all the magazine she ran did big spreads on the work of undiscovered artists twice a year and like any other media, it was a way to get noticed and aim for a "big break", many rising art talents vied to be chosen by E&amp;L during submission season, and since Klaus owned most of the art galleries in New Orleans and a couple in other parts of the country (Chicago included) it was hard to ignore the articles Caroline's magazine did on people he knew.

But this was the first time since college that he had seen her in flesh, which was why he was gritting his teeth as Enzo tried to flirt with his little blonde distraction. He could have kicked himself, seven years since he had laid eyes on Caroline last and it seemed as if his old infatuation with her had never left, one would think that after so much time and some bad relationships, Klaus would have learned to purge his silly crush on Katerina's best friend, yet here she was and he still felt the pull.

Bloody arghh everything had been fine while she had kept out of his reach, but the little brunette girl HAD to pull Caroline to the paintings near his "gloomy corner" (as Rebekah liked to put it), not only could he see her perfectly while remaining hidden, now he could hear her tinkling voice praising that prat of Enzo too, didn't Katerina's brat know she was onsetting the apocalypse?

"So you will do it? pose for a few pictures really?" Caroline asked dazzling Enzo with her smile and thanking heavens she was such a good actress

"how about we compromise gorgeous, let me buy you a drink after this is over and you can have my body to take pictures at all you please" Enzo replied with a wink, but from Caroline's point of view agreeing to that was just like agreeing to prostitution.

Lucky (or unluckily) for her, Klaus chose that moment to (·cough· snap and murder someone ·cough·) intervene in the cozy conversation

"Enzo, fancy seeing you here" Klaus said pretending he had just been passing by and noticed them, smirking casually and positioning his body with his back slightly to Enzo and facing Caroline in all his hybrid-dimpled-glory "Sorry love, couldn't help but overhear the conversation"

Looking up into his eyes for the first time in years, Caroline shivered "Klaus"

**oookay this was getting too freaking long, my self-esteem is suffering, so congrats to those who asked me to make this thing a full fic, I am going to do it, until I finish what I started, yup, I am not going to abandon, I am going to finish this even if it takes me ten thousand chapters, I wanted to take this chapter to the end I swear but then. Then things got out of control, Nadia was being cute, and Stebekah needed a spotlight and I wanted a tiny hint of Kennet, don't you see guys, I'm dying for a proper Klaus vs. Enzo showdown and nobody will give it to me, today there wasn't much Kalijah so to speak but blame it on the other characters folks, I can't ignore them! Coming up, all the confrontations I'm dying to read about, but have to write about instead Klaus/Enzo, Klaus/Caroline, Katherine/Hayley, maybe some Stefan/Rebekah and Nadia continues her shenanigans (seriously that kid should stop ingesting so much sugar look what she brought on). BTW: happy first day of Klaroline week**


	3. Part 3: Nadia goes people watching

An: Im on a roll right?

_**In which, Nadia watches adults make fools of themselves in public, her momy wishes she could drown herself in tequila, aunt Caroline gives a award winning painter a piece of her mind and principal Elijah eavesdrops on a funny conversation...Yes Being Nadia Petrova isn't easy, but hey, at least she can use the pictures to tease Henrik mercilessly**_

Part 3: Nadia goes people watching

_Looking up for the first time in years, Caroline shivered "Klaus"_

"Lorenzo mate, forgive me didn't see you there, Maggie lets you off your leash for the day?"

"Very funny considering she quit working for me a few months ago" Enzo replied back with a deceptive smirk "Caroline you know about my agent Maggie right? The woman that upped and left me when I needed her the most, "he continued with a pained look towards the blonde trying to elicit some sympathy points

"I didn't know you had lost Maggie, I met her briefly when E&amp;L was working on your feature and she seemed perfectly nice" Caroline said, trying to keep everything under control "it must have been hard"

"Oh yes, poor Lorenzo, we should pity him because his agent got tired of his philandering and bailed, if anything its Maggie who deserves pity"

"Klaus not this again" Caroline groaned "Enzo ignore him" but the two British guys didn't seem to hear her

"Because you are such an upstanding figure of society yourself mate, last rumor I heard, your latest model didn't seem to like your blood fetish or brutality themes"

"Emphasis on brutality Lorenzo and if I were you I'd be sure to remember that," Klaus growled and managed to look both menacing and offhand

"I would like to say I'm surprised you admit it so easily, but that would be a lie" then Enzo smirked "rest assured that me and the lovely lady here will remember what you said about brutality on our date"

"Hey, hold your horses buster who said anything about a date, hate to break up your little macho contest, but I'm not dating anyone not you, or you, are we clear?"

"Crystal, although you wouldn't balk at a mention of my terrible reputation anyway would you Caroline? You are apparently immune to my charm"

"Your brand of brutality has screwed with people I care about; I'm too far gone to even wince when it comes to you"

"Smart, beautiful, appreciates art and you don't appreciate pretentious asshats like the Hybrid, dear Caroline you are a woman after my own heart" Enzo laughed throwing an arm around Caroline's shoulder "Tell me, is there any Mr. Caroline in the picture?" Caroline tried to smile mischievously removing his arm

"As a matter of fact..."

Klaus interrupted her before she could give Enzo an answer almost growling at the other English man for daring to touch her "how chivalrous of you, Mate, asking about that now, when minutes ago you were so eager to get into her pants, single or not"

"OH MY GOSH KLAUS" Caroline gasped glaring at him with her signature death glare

But Enzo who appeared to be having his fun goading Klaus, just shook his head and winked at her "Minutes ago she hadn't rejected you, means I've got a chance to try again"

"You guys know I'm not a piece of meat right? I'm still here, and for Picasso's sake I just want to buy that painting for my niece"

(on the other side of the room)

If someone ever dared to ask Katherine what happened to her and how exactly she had gone from being a kind hearted mischief maker when she was younger to a sadistic no-nonsense bitch now that she was older, she would simply site three deciding factors.

A childhood spent with Elena, a terrible fucking heartbreak and a spineless husband.

Three simple things that made her the kind of woman that she was now, resented, tenacious and commanding.

Maybe if she hadn't spent her childhood being the bad sister so her parents would give her attention distracting them so they wouldn't notice every time Elena screwed up, if Elena hadn't taken Katherine's invisible help for granted or tried to understand her maybe Katherine would have turned out to be someone different, someone with a softer heart.

maybe if Elijah hadn't fooled her into believing she had a shot at real happiness, if he had not perpetuated the bad self image she already had of herself when he called her a whore and said she was no better than a call girl, maybe if he had only chosen to walk away or if he had just tried to talk to her like the bloody diplomat he thought he was, then maybe just maybe Katherine would have understood, maybe she would have moved on and simply brushed it off as just another break up, maybe if he had chosen his words with care Katerina would still have kept her hope for love alive and moved on, maybe she would even have ended up with a personality closer to Caroline's.

And maybe if Trevor hadn't been so much of a fool after they got married, if he had been a bit more ambitious, a bit more careful with his family's money, maybe she wouldn't have gotten used to telling him what to do, if he hadn't been so happy with letting her lead in everything, maybe Katherine would have been more submissive, a little less aggressive when she wanted something, but the truth was that Trevor's biggest charm was also his greatest flaw, his good heart coupled with an extreme dislike for confrontations made him the opposite of alpha male material, to use the French word, Trevor was a fop, and Katherine, young, beautiful and fiery had seen his personality for the liability it was when it came to wealth and security.

if only he had been stronger, instead of lazy, if only he hadn't been fucking overjoyed whenever she took over for him, because he thought it was a hassle to work so much, their marriage would have not been so boring, if he hadn't been so compliant, or looked so relieved whenever she dictated what he ought to do with his money, his corporations, his family and his life, then Katherine would have relented, but Trevor hadn't been a man, he'd been a teenager pretending to play house with a wife and kid, running to Katherine whenever he felt the responsibility was too much, Katherine who was younger than him, who knew nothing on being someone responsible, his strong lady wife who gave him comfort after a long work day.

Looking back Katherine realized that her seemingly happy life with Trevor had only been like that because he always did what she wanted.

if only he hadn't let her make all the big decisions because he was away cheating on her, giving her free reign over his life, then maybe just maybe Katherine wouldn't have felt a bit guilty by manipulating him so much, she wouldn't have been forced to harden herself and take charge, if Trevor's laziness hadn't made her face a boardroom of men more powerful than her and bark orders at them like a bitch, then maybe things might have been different, maybe she would have been happier in the long run, maybe she would have eventually recovered her Katerina self, if he husband hadn't taken the backseat in their marriage then maybe Katherine wouldn't have turned out to be the murderous feeme fatale she was.

"But Mason really why does your aunt need that building so badly? legally it belongs to you" Katherine whispered pretending to be absorbed in Mason's life story "Dear me Carol looked ready to dagger me with her eyes, all I suggested was for her to let me buy the Fern building, you just said it yourself, it's knee deep in mortgages"

"Ahh my aunt isn't like us beautiful, between her and Salvatore senior they are stuck in the past with the old school pals not like me of course did I tell you I'm nominated for the Banker of the year award? The trophy will look good on my office" Mason winked and Katherine smiled batting her eyelashes a tiny bit too long to make him think she actually did find his blabber charming "of course nothing is as attractive as your hand in my arm, not even ten awards"

"You flatter me, but the truth is that I won't be here long, the Petrova board of directors is pressuring me in this expansion, without Trevor they don't think I can do this on my own" Katherine lied with her most pity inducing tone, board of directors, yeah right, if anything those suckers where scared of her "This is why I need that building, it's the only one they will let me buy, but oh well maybe I can look to expand in New York, it's a pity I did look forward to doing business with someone as successful as you" with the amount of crap Katherine let people believe these days if her lies where pennies they would be raining

"that really does sound terrible, I know how you feel exactly, wanting to prove to the old bags that you can handle your company" Mason grumbled nodding while taking Katherine's hand and squeezing it "but don't worry Katherine, if tug comes to shove between Carol and me I'll make sure Petrova can have the Fern building" then thinking Katherine was one of those idiot women that where easy to fool he leaned over and whispered in her ear "And if by chance that beautiful yacht your husband used to own, happened to exchange hands in the process I bet I could even get aunt Carol to overlook a few paperwork niceties for you"

Katherine smiled; Mason really had no idea with whom he was dealing with... Trevor's pretty yacht was worth very little in the market, good thing too, for a supposedly savvy banker, Mason couldn't see when he was being conned "Get me the Fern building before next week and the rowboat is yours" Katherine told Mason decisively with a girlish tone masking the sharp look in her eyes "assuming of course that I'll have no trouble with Giuseppe"

"Leave my aunt's lawyer to me, you just keep in mind my price, do we have a deal Madame?"

"I believe we do Mason, you are so kind to help me like this" Katherine exaggerated the word kind, if anything he needed to learn a trick or two in the art of blackmailing

"Anything to make you stay here in Chicago" Mason replied satisfied kissing her hand, Katherine smiled with her fakest grin and continued to stroll beside him

unbeknown to Katherine a pair of almond shaped eyes had taken an avid interest in her from afar, following her elegant form with a tiny touch of disdain, well, not really unbeknown, because Katherine usually was aware to a certain level of the women that looked at her with envy whenever she went, one didn't earn the title of trophy wife for the rich and famous without perfecting the art of drawing attention to one's beauty, but this particular girl out of the ten or twenty that looked in Katherine's direction and wished her warts and broken bones actually had a reason to feel insecure about herself, not that Hayley knew it, but compared to the rest of the women in the room, who thought Katherine's greatest sin was catching the attention of their dates as she walked by, she was relatively justified in wishing Katherine ill.

Elijah sighed once again trying to educate his date on the finer points of art appreciation, Hayley seemed to be distracted...Again... and Elijah who had made a career for himself as a respectable College Professor with a doctorate in both Law and English literature plus a master's Degree in Mathematics, could not for the life of him phantom why he could not get his girlfriend to appreciate the impressive forms of culture that surrounded them in the exhibit.

"Elijah I told you already, this isn't me, I wouldn't understand the work of Da-Vinci even if he came back to life and explained it" Hayley protested disgruntled "look at this place with the money it took to put this together we could probably feed a small country" again Hayley looked away from the foreign sculpture exhibit with boredom, when Elijah had called her to ask her if she was free, she expected to be taken to some restaurant, a play or a drive around town at best, not another one of Elijah's family boring social events.

Elijah shook his head and tried again to coax her nonexistent art interest as patiently as he could but a few minutes later her attention once again deviated towards Katherine Petrova's figure, after all that woman seemed to be the latest gossip topic among Haley's friends, at first she wanted to see what the stupid fuss over her was about, now that Hayley could see Katherine in person, she felt a small pang of angry jealousy shoot trough her watching Katherine's glamorous form attract so much attention.

even before meeting Katherine it was hard to not feel jealous, after all Katherine was three things every girl dreamed of being before turning thirty: beautiful, obscenely wealthy and very successful, the textbook definition of accomplished woman, few single women in the event if any could attest to the same and it was most of the reason why Trevor's widow garnered so much collective resentment, had Hayley been a little less self-absorbed she would have notice that she wasn't the only one looking at Katherine with narrow eyes, but alas, alas, people like Hayley rarely noticed things like that.

Hayley thought it was very unfair, why did girls like Katherine Petrova always have to outshine everyone else, everybody knew Katherine was a nobody just like her, sure Hayley had grown up in foster homes thanks to a case of baby switch when she was born but when it came down to it she had more blue blood than that curly haired bitch, Hayley was the last heir to the Wolfgang dynasty, royalty was supposed to be in her blood, yet there was Katherine a nobody from the suburbs who's only claim to greatness was a rich dead husband, walking around like she owned the place, looking more like a member of the elite than Hayley ever would.

"Look at her, all flirty in that ugly dress, as if nobody knows she's just fishing for sugar daddy number two" The catty comment escaped Hayley involuntarily but she didn't regret it, at least she had startled Elijah out of his reverie

"I'm sorry dear who?"

"Her, Katherine Petrova, right there with the Mayor's nephew" Hayley said pointing towards the unmistakable figure of Elijah's ex, if only Hayley knew that the whole point of Elijah's asking her out was for him to forget the woman she had just brought to his attention, she would have kept her mouth shut "Camille said that she married this filthy rich guy when she was just a teenager and that's how she has so much money, what a slut"

Elijah winced, resisting the urge to correct her on her piece of socialite gossip "is that so?"

"Like if you didn't notice, it's disgusting how men around here are eyeing her body like its open season, poor Mason really"

if he hadn't before he certainly WAS noticing now, Katherine looked like a goddess in a tasteful backless green dress that clung to her body and made her complexion look exquisite, Elijah felt a pang of something... realizing that as Hayley pointed out Katherine was being watched by almost every man in her vicinity with looks of concealed lust. if his own inappropriate thoughts about her were anything to go by he wasn't sure he could blame them "Is that jealousy in your tone I hear Hayley?, if it is then consider me quite amused" he murmured off handedly trying to disguise the flare of anger he experienced when the man he recognized as Mason Lockwood broke into a grin and pulled Katherine closer to kiss her hand

"Me jealous? Of her? No way, nice joke Eli but I'm not jealous, tramps like that disgust me that's all"

Elijah should have walked away then, he had no rational reason to be jealous either, Katherine had not been his in over half a decade, he wasn't the man he had been when he had fallen in love with her and she had made it very clear that she had changed too, he should by all means look for his brother Niklaus, warn him about her and proceed to politely dodge her for the rest of the evening...But of course Elijah didn't do any of those things, he told himself that it wasn't because the memory of her lips was still fresh in his mind or because her perfume still hadn't dispelled from the suit he had been wearing the day before, he was a rational man, he had no time for the feelings Katerina evoked, or the burning anger that spiked his veins every time Mason Lockwood whispered things in her ear, he told himself he was approaching her because he simply did not believe in running away from his problems, preferring to face them sooner rather than later.

"In that case I see no reason to avoid talking to Mr. Lockwood" Elijah said with his usual cold air, he did have a bone to pick with Carol Lockwood's nephew after all and if that interrupted his small te-te with Katerina, then it was a welcome side effect "seeing how you Hayley are indeed not bothered by Mrs. Petrova"

"Kol you don't understand, I need to find her, and it's my job we are talking about here" Bonnie mumbled frantic, Nadia could be anywhere, why did she stop to flirt with this guy anyway?

"Relax Bonnie Bunny, I'm sure she's around here somewhere, the girl is the only kid under fifteen in this place, and security wouldn't have let her walk out"

"I know that already, I'm not dense, Nadia is probably chasing Stefan or something what I'm worried about is Katherine, if she finds out I lost Nadia, I'm as good as dead"

"Why? I mean my brother used to date, her and last I heard she wasn't the beast you make her out to be, in fact i remember she was a softie"

Bonnie snorted "yeah right, Katherine Petrova, has of softie what I have of princess, and I mean it, she takes over companies for a living and don't get me started on what happened to Nadia's last nanny, I heard the girl had reconstructive surgery, changed her name, moved away and now works as a cashier in Kazakhstan"

Kol tried to resist breaking into a fit of loud laughter but he just couldn't "okay, okay, I get it, your neck is on the line come on I'll help you look for the little midget"

"No please you don't have to" Bonnie backed away mortified "you already helped me enough, with your coat and the messy thing with that waitress; I mean not that I don't appreciate it but...why?" Bonnie knew she wasn't making any sense, tripping over her words trying not to be defensive or offend Kol but he got her meaning anyway, why would a rich guy like him offer to help a girl like her who was for all means and purposes part of "the help"?

Kol didn't want her to think that, comparing him to one of those guys that where born with a silver spoon in their mouths and never stopped to consider the feelings of other people... he actually was exactly that kind of guy... he just didn't want HER thinking he was "you wouldn't do well as a cashier in Kazakhstan, too tacky, besides if a face like that goes trough reconstructive surgery then I might just lose my faith in humanity"

"Is that your way of telling me I'm pretty?"

"No, it's my way of telling you that I'm going to help you find mini Katherine because I like you" Kol pointed out bluntly and Bonnie felt her cheeks burn

-'''''''''

"And that is how my great grandfather Cornelius Lockwood the fourth won the wager with the governor" Mason laughed at his own attempt at humor Katherine faked a laugh too even when the last thing she wished to do was continue to listen to Mason spout names from his old money family

the things I do to avoid paying taxes Katherine thought making an effort to go along with Mason "ohh how interesting, do tell me more" she lied silently counting the hours until Caroline finished her business so they could ditch everyone and go drinking

but before Mason could continue his tirade on his pseudo famous ancestry Mason's assistant tapped his back and whispered a few words into his ear, Mason nodded and turned to greet whoever he had just been warned about, giving Katherine a break in his monologue

"Elijah Mikaelson what a surprise" Mason exclaimed making Katherine wince, dammit could she really not catch a fucking break.

Really God? Katherine thought raising her eyes to the ceiling I promised to be better and try to mend my ways and this is what I get? Elijah in every corner? Trevor if you really are up there, tell God he sucks... still determined not to be affected Katherine refused to turn around pretending to be absorbed with the details of the Ming vase in front of her, ignoring Elijah with the stubbornness of a five year old

"And Hayley too pretty as ever, have you both met Katherine Petrova, Katherine darling this is professor Elijah Mikaelson he wrote the book "Education and Morals" I believe you have heard of it" Mason's introduction forced Katherine to turn and face Elijah, her eyes taking him in for the first time in the evening, he was attractive as hell, his suit looked clean and pressed, the cufflinks on his sleeves turned exactly at a seventy degree angle and the dark blue tie in his suit looked just as starched as the rest of him, to the shiny polish of his Italian shoes, Elijah in a formal setting looked more yummy than before and had Katherine not been determined to ignore him, she would have let out a string of Bulgarian swear words, dammit why did he always look so perfectly ironed?, it was like he was begging for the right vixen to mess up his hair and wrinkle his suit in some utility closet. _No Katherine, bad Katherine, bad, bad Katherine, stop thinking about sex dammit._

Elijah nodded at Katherine, his mouth turning up slightly at the look in her eyes and in an instant Katherine looked away,

Mason on the other hand wasn't as oblivious as Katherine thought and noticing the intimate look that passed between Katherine and Elijah made a point in introducing Hayley "and this is his girlfriend the heiress to Wolfgang furs, Hayley Marshall" Elijah saw the brief triumphant look Mason sent him and wanted to hit his head, preferably with a blunt object "Elijah, Hayley, this is Katherine the widow of Trevor Petrova and founder of the newly launched Petrova International"

"We have met" Elijah nodded coolly, feeling that stab of jealousy hearing Trevor's name and regarding Mason with aloof indifference "Haven't we Katerina?" he said turning to her and once again Katherine balled her fists, think martinis Kat, think martinis.

Elijah contrary to Katherine's belief was not faring much better, up close Katerina seemed even more magnificent than before, there was a edge of pride in her posture, a new gleam of predatory grace in her, that was both alluring and confusing, her hair was rolled into a simple up do that made her look a tiny bit older than she was, and contrary to Hayley's opinion her dress was not inappropriate, with just the right length to make her figure look aesthetic instead of sexy, long sleeved and backless, he understood now why she commanded the attention of the room in the way she did, here was a woman that did not need a man's notice, or devotion, she gave an air of confidence that conveyed it was HER attention that had to be gained. Daring any male to try to tame her…And Elijah was the only man in the room that knew how her surrender felt, he knew how those lips tasted, knew the scent of her skin, the passion in her pulse…but no he could not afford to think about her in that way, he was a honorable man, he had a girlfriend, Katerina was disturbing him in more ways than he cared to admit

"Yes I remember now, your brother was crushing on my best friend right?" Katherine shot back making Elijah wince, of course she would take any chance she could to remind him of his mistake, he should have known not to taunt her, yet he was oddly enough enjoying it "I suppose I didn't recognize you Mr. Mikaelson, it's been such a long time since I left college, how is your family?" she pretended to be polite only to dig the knife a bit deeper

Elijah didn't let the hit go lightly two could play the same game "My family is fine, and may I remark that I remember one class in particular in which you affirmed that a face like mine would be hard to forget" Elijah's tone was polite, his words conveyed a warning, Katherine wanted to scream because yes she used to tell him that back then usually after mind blowing sex, talk about word play damn you Elijah Mikaelson

"You two knew each other in college, how delightful; I honestly thought that you must have done business together? Katherine tells me she has quite a list of private clients I thought Mikaelson was one of them" Mason interjected raising an eyebrow at this Hayley blanched

"A private client list now isn't that fun, Elijah I didn't know that" And Hayley's tone of voice left no doubt to what type of business she thought Katherine ran

On any other girl that attitude would have made Katherine seethe, on Elijah's girlfriend, it provoked a sweet smile she only reserved for people whose lives she was about to make miserable "Don't worry darling, my client list is too exclusive, even if your boyfriend managed to get in it, I'm pretty sure he couldn't afford the services I offer" she said it all with such an indulgent and saucy smile it caused Mason to choke down a small chuckle

Elijah did his best not to snort, he of course knew the gist of what Petrova international did, a textile company that had evolved into a successful clothing empire, it was common for companies like that to have a private list of clients for whom they manufactured custom made garments, he also knew that yes, hiring companies like that to cater for your whole wardrobe usually was very expensive "Hayley please, I don't think it's the time for this" he said with a sigh

Hayley looked at Katherine and muttered a loud "Slut" under her breath, Elijah winced Katherine's eyes snapped open and she readied her verbal claws pretending to look her up and down before smiling and shooting back "better a slut than a lap dog"

Lucky for Haley, Stefan chose that moment to do damage control before anything got out of hand "Katherine there you are Nadia and I have been looking for you" Stefan interrupted amiably

"Stefan, your timing is a funny as ever, what now? Did you finally get tired of cannodling with Rebekah?" Katherine snapped directing her newly pooled venom at Stefan "or did you really think I hadn't noticed"

Both Stefan and Elijah stiffened, Stefan at being caught and Elijah at the prospect of his little sister spending romantic time with the ripper "we are just friends" Stefan coughed trying to get some air "just friends I swear"

"Wait a minute Rebekah has been with you all this time Mr. Salvatore? does this mean she was also aware of Katerina's `presence here and chose not to tell me?" Elijah grunted poor Stefan felt the proverbial noose around his throat tighten

"I umm, you see you both where busy and…"

"Zadnik I left you alone because I knew you had a thing for her back in the day but Stefan you knew about this!" Katherine hissed cutting him off, this time effectively letting out a string of Bulgarian swear words

"I did not have a thing…Rebekah was in high school…oh dammit Katherine!" Stefan coughed again at loss for words while Katherine looked ready to shoot him

"Uncle Stefan you found mama!" Nadia squealed in delight running right behind the ripper and coming to a halt right before her mother effectively saving Stefan's neck "Mama come see, I found this terribly cool painting that looks like our house, with unicorns and fairies, yes, it's not for sale which is stupid I mean everything in this place is for sale...ohh Hi principal Mikaelson wait a minute are you stalking me?" Nadia jumped from one topic to another with the ease only twelve year old girls seem to have, rambling about the painting to her mother on one hand and giving Elijah the stink eye on the other "I said I was sorry okay, your brother just really pissed me off, I will go to detention, no need to stalk me to make sure...jeez are all American principals like that mama?"

Elijah could not resist the urge to smile nodding respectfully to Nadia he explained "I am here out of duty to my family Miss Nadia, rest assured that meeting here was a coincidence and not as you seem to believe a ploy to avenge Henrik"

"good, but just in case, today is not a school day, you can't force me to go to detention, I have rights and Uncle Stefan is a lawyer, I know because he's awesome at suing people, so don't try anything"

"Duly noted, consider me warned"

"Can someone explain who this kid is? I thought this event did not allow children" Hayley bristled at the haughty little brat that didn't look one ounce regretful about interrupting the adults

Nadia's gaze fell and she stopped talking making Katherine glare at Hayley "it doesn't, but they let you in didn't they?" she snapped "Isn't that right Stefan, the amount of faux passes people like us can get away with" Katherine's nonchant tone made sure to emphasize the "us" of the sentence, leaving it clear that she considered Hayley beneath her level

Stefan panicked where the heck had Rebekah gone to?, he tried to look at the far end of the room where Klaus had been only to find a panicked Rebekah hiding behind a pillar observing her brother, who was entertained with Enzo and Caroline…Rebekah caught his eye and started making frantic signs to Stefan which the ripper understood to be meant for "we are so screwed"

""Speaking of which Naddy, where is Bonnie? Did you run away from your nanny again?" Katherine asked looking around with narrow eyes

"I Ahh umm, you see I was looking for Tetka Caroline and Bunny Bonnie was playing with me and then this waitress came in and I was bored so I am mm"

"Suggested we could play hide and seek, right Nadia?" A breathless Bonnie interrupted before the child could say anything else; thanking her lucky stars she had found her charge before damage could be done

"May I inquire why you are wearing my brother's jacket miss?" Elijah asked watching with amusement as both Nadia and her nanny turned red

"Because I was playing hide and seek with them of course dearest Lijah" Kol remarked sending his brother a playful smirk strolling casually into the little group of people "Oh hi ripper, Katerina long time no see, just thought I'd let you know that Klaus and Enzo might get into a fistfight later over who gets to date Caroline, not that I care mind you, since this place is dreadfully boring and I'm posting the video on YouTube, but I'm opening the betting pool and my money is on Enzo"

"Kol Mikaelson why is it that every time I see you, you end up being a herald of doom" The silence that followed was only broken when minutes later Katherine took a deep breath and sighed "you mean to tell me Klaus has been here all along? Just this one art related event Caroline wanted to do herself and Klaus is here"

"Kol, please tell me this is one of your jokes and that Caroline Forbes is not in fact somewhere in this hotel near our brother"

"I could always lie to you but both ripper and Bekah beat me at it today so I guess we just roll with it"

"Bonnie please cover Nadia's ears and turn her around I don't want her to hear me swearing" Katherine said as calmly as possible and as soon as Bonnie had her hands firmly in Nadia's small ears Katherine started cursing in Bulgarian

"You knew Stefan, *beep* you *beep* knew and *beep* hid it on purpose *beep*" Katherine began glaring at Stefan hoping he would die

"I just didn't want it to drive you away, it's been a long time since you were in Chicago" Stefan defended himself "Caroline wanted an interview and I thought that if I told you then you would get upset and Care would be upset and it would spoil a good evening"

"And you Kol, I suppose if you knew Katerina was here all along then that means Rebekah and Niklaus also did too" Elijah grunted balling his fists tightly Kol had the decency to look regretful

"In my defense I thought Rebekah had it under control"

"KOL"

"So I take it you know Elijah better than you let me believe" Mason said interrupting what seemed to be a very tense situation

"I told you, we knew each other in college, sadly for me, his family is still a pain in the grass" Katherine sighed glaring at Elijah. And Haley, because dammit things where so screwed

"And as always your friends keep my family equally entertained…" Elijah shot back with a tired sigh

Remembering Mason was there, Katherine easily took charge dismissing him with a flirty wink and a promise of a date, when he smiled and nodded, relived to be let off the hook Stefan hid his smile by looking away "And he still doesn't know you plan on skinning him once you meet with the board of investors, nice" Stefan said with a smile raising an eyebrow at Katherine

"Hey don't you try to change the subject mister, what the hell Klaus is doing in Chicago"

"Receiving the Golden Canvas award, which you would have known if any of you had bothered to read the program" Elijah accused with a glare

"Argghhh I need a better PA, I am so firing Isobel after this"

Meanwhile Haley stood fuming next to Elijah, she couldn't believe she was being ignored so beautifully by not one but, three men, her boyfriend included, just so that they could pay attention to Katherine Petrova, worse, if what she got from the conversation was any indication, it seemed that Stefan, Kol and Elijah where all stalling around her as if expecting her to explode in flames at any moment, Katherine wasn't that important, she wasn't that interesting, and it looked like Elijah knew her from before too, ugh could the evening get any worse…

Suddenly little Nadia let out a very unladylike squeak, quickly separating herself from her nanny and turning to tug at Katherine's skirt "Mommy… remember yesterday when you said real ladies used their smarts instead of their fists?" Nadia mumbled, embarrassed looking very serious "I don't think Aunt Caroline is being a lady today" the little girl then turned to point to the far off corner of the room with her index finger

Katherine felt her eyes widen at what she was seeing, Caroline Forbes had just...in the presence of an audience...quite forcefully smashed her kneecap into Klaus's pelvic area

….For a moment everything was silent….each one of the adults in their little group left speechless as they could only stand staring in shock.

One because Klaus was doubled over in pain, two because Caroline looked quite ready to kill him and three because well...the scene was so bizarre that even Nadia had to gape

Finally it was Bonnie who broke the silence with a barely muffled "holy crap"

"And here was I thinking Katherine would be the one to do him in, dammit I owe Bekah a hundred bucks" Kol grunted snapping out of his shock

"You guys do know that, the man she just kicked is Hybrid, the award winning art genius right..." Nadia said recognizing Klaus face, Stefan and Katherine turned to her with a raised eyebrow and even professor Elijah looked impressed equally impressed, Nadia blushed looking sheepish "what? I pay attention in class okay and my Art history tutor covered a lesson on twenty first century painters before daddy fired him for sleeping with his bodyguard"

"You have a very observant daughter Katerina" Elijah observed, his mouth twitching but not quite becoming a smile

Katherine sighed taking Nadia's hand and glaring at him and Hayley "Yeah well sometimes having such a smart kid does have its disadvantages" Katherine said walking towards the corner where Caroline and Klaus where "in hindsight Bonnie I'm going to need you to cover Nadia's ears again"

(Meanwhile back in the paint corner)

Caroline was furious...and she had every freaking reason to be Klaus was being himself… again, bloodthirsty, callous and a jerky

All she had said was yes to a date with Enzo, honestly she had done it for the Gianni Dunn painting she had promised Nadia, a painting Enzo owned and promised to sell if only she agreed to dinner with him

I know it seemed like a high price to pay for the whim of a twelve year old girl, but the thing with Caroline was that as a woman with no siblings or children of her own, she adored Nadia to pieces, in a indulging, spoiling rotten, dimple pinching sort of way, the very thought of seeing her niece unhappy made her feel bad, because she loved to see the kid smile so it seemed okay to bargain for the painting... it was just a date

but then of course Klaus had gone all alpha male on Enzo, doing his best serial killer impression which in college had been the universal code for back-off-if-i-can't-have-Caroline-neither-can-you which under the right circumstances would have worked and sent any suitor scampering off except of course that Enzo was stupid enough to keep trying to flirt with her while Klaus stood there ready to make him eat his liver

So in a very Klaus like fashion he had proceeded to point out that the painting was a forgery and that Enzo had been trying to dupe her which was met by skepticism on her part and like the malicious idiot he'd been when he broke Katherine and Elijah up Klaus lost his temper taking the bloody painting down and setting it on fire to prove it was indeed a fake copy

This brought them back to now, the knee in the nuts incident, the doubled over Klaus, a furious Caroline and an amused Enzo.

"I hate you, I hate you, did I mention that I hate you" Caroline kept whispering while Enzo restrained her from kicking Klaus while he was down, unlucky for her things got worse when a tiny voice popped up from her side

"Mom is aunt Caroline going to get grounded too?" turning around Caroline came face to face with a very amused Katherine and a curious Nadia that to Caroline's embarrassment was talking pictures with her glittery iPhone mumbling things like "this is awesome" and "my aunt is so cool"

"No firecracker, aunt Care is an adult and as an adult she is responsible for her own actions" Katherine said in a very calm voice while Nadia nodded as if Katherine's words where god spoken

"Miss Forbes care to explain why you have just assaulted my brother" Elijah asked helping Klaus up from the floor

"leave her alone Lijah it was my fault" Klaus grunted then looked up to Katherine with an evil smile "Well well if it isn't Katerina Gilbert, looks like someone decided to ditch the slut ensemble in favor of decent clothes, remind me to send a thank you note to Trevor's grave"

"a pleasure to see you again too, the great Klaus Mikaelson in the flesh, living proof that some people DON'T get better after college…lucky for us I convinced my best friend to move half way across the world before she could actually give you the time of the day" Katherine shot back in a well-practiced motion designed to hurt

"In the same way I convinced my brother to get rid of you like yesterday's trash?" Klaus was good Katherine had to give him that, but for some reason, this blaming game was too old to keep playing it, like thanksgiving with Elena and Damon, Katherine didn't see the point on arguing about a past too painful to keep bringing up, Elijah on the other hand tensed and Hayley at his side drew out an outraged gasp

"Oh my Gosh, you mean Elijah and Katherine…where..."

"Oh you didn't know, well Hayley I assumed my brother told you that they both had a history of wild sex together" Klaus laughed wincing when Kol elbowed him sharply in the side "well if nobody does the honors allow me, Katerina meet Hayley Marshall my brother's current ladylove and bed warmer…Hayley meet my favorite one of Elijah's exes, Katherine Petrova, formerly known as Katerina Gilbert, or as I refer to her behind closed doors: the woman YOU will never be"

His jab hit right in the center of Hayley's insecurities, because after all that's what he was good for right? Finding the insecurities of others and exploiting them for his benefit.

But Caroline had enough, she didn't care if this was serious, once before Klaus Mikaelson had screwed over with her friend and Caroline hadn't been able to do anything now at least she had grown up, she had more confidence so toss it she was going to shut him up, so marching right up to him not caring he was still reeling from her kick, she stepped in front of him and slapped the smug grin off his dimples "Klaus that's enough, for once in your life act like an adult and stop destroying everything around you dammit" She snapped

"Love watch the face, I was talking to Katerina"

"And I don't care; wanna know why I never gave you a chance? Here it is, BECAUSE YOU ARE A PRICK, I don't know if making your peers miserable gets you off at night or if you are naturally this much of an a-hole, but I'm not the kind of doormat that is attracted to guys that don't care about other people's feelings" Caroline hissed resisting the urge to slap him again "and I know that everybody has a little bit of good inside of them but guess what Mikaelson, you have never given me any freaking reason to believe that you have good in you, else I would really have loved to say yes because it's not like you are bad looking, but no, you just HAD to be jerk all the time, so there, I said it, if you ever had been at least nice to someone other than your family, I Caroline Forbes in possession of all my mental faculties would have dated you gladly" then she turned on her heel and stomped towards the exist as fast as her heels could allow her

Suddenly Nadia who for the minute had been silent decided to make her presence known "Sooo does that mean that Hybrid and Miss Bonnie's friend are also Henrik's brothers Professor Mikaelson? Are there more of you? Wait why are you all good looking?"

Breaking the tension with her flurry of questions everyone in the group chuckled and Rebekah who had been standing behind Stefan jumped up to answer the question "well they do have a sister, which would be me, we are all good looking because life is unfair like that although there is Finn too, but he's not here now and by far too old to be called handsome, you know my little brother Henrik?"

"Yup, I gave him a black eye yesterday" Nadia said proudly

Rebekah, Kol and Klaus almost choked, giving Nadia a once over again, remembering Henrik's bruise "you are the little girl has a wicked right hook?" Kol exclaimed surprised "wow mini Katherine, respect"

"Principal Mikaelson gave me loads of detention too, but your brother was a Zadnik" Nadia explained then turned back to Elijah with a frown on her face "does this mean you are going to give aunt Caroline detention too? For kicking your other brother"

"I would like that, Elijah tell me can you give Caroline detention?" Klaus asked with a smirk finally managing to stand up straight as the pain in his pelvis receded

"Okay that's it, you little missy have caused enough trouble for one day, Bonnie I promise I'll give you a raise for putting up with our madness but right now I think it's time to go, mind going over to the reception to tell Sergei we are leaving, Nadia go with your nanny pumpkin" Katherine finally finished the conversation cutting them off from another awkward conversation with the all too smart twelve year old child

"Hey, who is Sergei? I'm coming with you too, right mini Katherine, then maybe you can tell me more about how Henrik is in school" Kol piped up walking after them, Nadia beamed and skipped ahead to search for Katherine's driver

Klaus eyes on the contrary followed the path Caroline had taken earlier before his eyes returned to Katherine "Mind if we call a truce?"

Katherine followed his line of vision "As long as you don't use her" she said matter of factly "then truce" neither spoke again but nodded at each other ignoring Elijah and the rest, Klaus turned away then and started walking towards the door to the conference room and Elijah followed him leaving Hayley behind

"I'll go with Elijah, make sure he's okay, you should look for Caroline" Rebekah whispered to Stefan, who shivered at her low voice

"See you after the event is over" Stefan whispered back, drawing Rebekah a little closer than necessary and making the blonde shiver

Katherine who had been watching the interaction sent Stefan a saucy smile when he made eye contact with her, lately it seemed that Caroline and she lived to matchmake the ripper with possible candidates. Being left alone with Hayley wasn't the ideal situation but Katherine kept her cool, she told herself she had grown up, that it didn't matter if Elijah had moved on, not after everything, but it did, and that pissed her off, especially since Hayley hadn't exactly made an effort to be polite

"So why didn't you tell me that you and him where an item once, this was humiliating, they all acted like I wasn't even in the room" Hayley groaned then glared at Katherine "And you, you just came in like if you where the queen, well for your information I know all about you, miss high priced slut"

Katherine rolled her eyes "really, high priced slut, that's the best you have, here's the thing Hayley, Elijah's family, they always act like you don't exist, being on his arm is an automatic invisibility cloak when it comes to them because you will never be good enough in their eyes" Her emotionless eyes where cold as if remembering a better time "And believe me those stories you have heard about me, the truth is probably worse"

"What's worse than a husband that crashed into another car because his assistant was giving him a blowjob, for all the talk about you Mrs. Petrova, if your own husband felt the need to have an affair you must be bad in bed" Hayley said offhandedly and Katherine with her skin so thick after everything she had gone through rolled her eyes when Hayley continued spewing garbage "I on the other hand never had to sleep my way to the top like you because I am the heiress of Wolfgang furs, compared to me you are just someone that married a wad of cash"

"Ah but I married it nevertheless, when my husband was out with his assistant, I was having back massages courtesy of his credit card, when his affair started, I was counting the diamonds in my jewelry box, but do me a favor respect Trevor's memory, he might not have been faithful, but he was a good husband, he loved me and gave me our daughter, so don't go around speaking badly of the dead"

"Upss, sorry, but that daughter is not even yours" Katherine's temper flared people could question her and her marriage all they wanted but she drew a line when it came to Nadia, unbeknown to them Elijah had made his return and was silently standing behind a stone pillar, hearing their conversation

"What did you just say?"

"what you heard, the only reason you keep that little brat around is because you never could give Petrova any children, gossip spreads around America, so stop acting like you are better than me, you are not, you where dirt poor when you married Petrova and the best thing you could do to make up for the fact you where barren was adopt his bastard kid, a pity really, that not even your beauty and millions could make you a real woman"

Elijah heard Katherine's tone go from venom to ice in one second "Listen to me little lap dog, and I'm only going to say this once, I don't care who you are, or how much money you have, but you are not allowed to talk about my kid like that and get away with it, call me a slut, a whore, a freaking transsexual if it makes you and your stupid insecurities feel better, but Nadia stays out of this" Katherine hissed and for a moment she looked so deadly that Hayley had the good sense to be afraid "I love that little girl as if she carried my blood and she is the light of my life, whether I'm barren or not it's none of your business but call Naddy a bastard again and I WILL make sure the Wolfgang Dynasty ends with you, she is not a bastard, or an orphan or anything else capice"

Hayley rolled her eyes "whatever you say, it's not like you are really that much of a mother Theresa, once a slut always a slut, Elijah probably didn't want you for that reason right, you are the caricature for the typical dirty mistress"

Katherine wanted to kill her even more but decided to give her a taste of her own medicine "Whore, slut, harlot, courtesan, keep them coming Hayley, I don't care, because for the record I don't think I am better than you, I know I am" then Katherine decided to drive the knife in deeper "I am young, beautiful and a successful business woman, I turned a small textile company from Bulgaria into a an successful business by the time I was twenty two, at twenty three I took over two mayor clothing corporations and carved a name for myself in the middle of an economic recession, if I wanted I could point my finger at that company you are set to inherit and my corporate team would turn it to dust, so get this in your head, I am not a trophy wife, I am not a pretty face, I am not a socialite, I am a goddess and a survivor, because Klaus was right, I am the woman you will never be" And with that Katherine tuned on her heel and gracefully walked away from Hayley. Leaving the socialite open mouthed and fuming

Elijah at this moment thought it appropriate to appear behind Hayley pretending he had not been eavesdropping in the conversation "Hayley I believe my brother is not feeling well, you might have to excuse me after the ceremony is over because he needs to be taken home"

"Don't worry, I know how Klaus can be, but Elijah I just finished talking to Katherine and she was terrible, I can't believe you dated her, I mean she obviously is pretty, but her personality is terrible how could you stand to be around her" Hayley said complaining once again as if she where the injured party

Both of them looked in Katherine's direction, who was bending over to pick up Nadia in her arms, managing to hike the child up her hip in a big hug, without damaging her dress, Hayley trying to get his attention gave Elijah a flirty kiss and Elijah felt Nadia's stare as from above Katherine's back, glaring at him in silent condemnation and looked away. When he looked back Katherine was walking in the bathrooms direction and Nadia was gone, probably with Stefan or Caroline.

"well I think I'll go see if Marcel knows where Camille is while you do your business with Klaus, take the bad taste of my conversation with Katherine off my mouth" Hayley offered once again getting bored at Elijah's silence

"Yes of course, I'm glad you understand why I need to be there for Niklaus" and with that Hayley smiled satisfied that her place in Elijah's heart was still there

Elijah tried not to think about the conversation he had just overheard, as a man, it felt flattering when two beautiful women argued over him, but Hayley had in his opinion been entirely to callous in her remarks, especially regarding young Nadia.

The Katerina he had known before never would have claimed superiority over another human being, if anything, she had been easy to flatter and self-conscious about her own ego, despite her apparent confidence back then she had been eager to be told how beautiful or accomplished she was, desperate for her friends to feed her vanity, this woman had grown up to someone that did not need her vanity to be fed, someone confident of her place in life and the place others occupied around it and Elijah once again felt intrigued…Who was Katherine Petrova and was his Katerina really gone?

Not watching where he was going Elijah suddenly felt a small string of something snap at his feet and suddenly he was tripping all over the linoleum floor, groaning and trying to get up, he looked up to the face of a very unhappy Nadia Petrova, who stood a few feet above him with her arms crossed over her chest, glaring at him and sporting an all too familiar smile of vindication

"You made her feel upset" the little girl accused intensifying her glare "Do it again and you will find out first hand why all my mother's suitors don't make it past the first date" then for good measure Nadia stuck her tongue out defiantly, looking as silly as a twelve year old could look while threatening a grown up, showing off her tiny fist and waving it in front of Elijah's eyes "keep it in mind professor Mikaelson, don't mess with a Petrova"

And with that she was gone, leaving Elijah as puzzled as he had been the first time the child walked into his office the day before….And now that tiny monster was going to be attending classes with Henrik, with a sigh Elijah got up from the ground, with the way Henrik was acting, he gave it a day before Nadia managed to land them both, in the principal office again…

(Meanwhile outside the building)

Katherine was glad to be outside, at least now she could get those drinks, thanking heavens for Bonnie, she watched as Nadia suddenly appeared in the lobby prancing around with the cutest grin on her face "Hey firecracker, ready to go home"

"Will Miss Bonnie read me Catching Fire for bedtime?"

"if you ask nicely and brush your teeth I don't see why not, now come, say goodbye to your aunt and uncle, we probably will be home late" Nadia obeyed going forward to hug Stefan and Caroline, both whom twirled her around before handing the tired little girl to Bonnie "Sergei will take you both to the penthouse and don't worry about anything, he knows the drill and the security codes" Katherine told Bonnie motioning towards the burly Russian man driving the car "if there is anything Sergei can't solve"

"I'm sure I can call you Katherine" Bonnie said recognizing the face of a worried mother, waving goodbye to Kol who was waiting for her to leave, she got in the car with Nadia and they drove off

Then Caroline made a happy dance "finally, not that I don't love her but at least now we can go drinking, after today, the only man I need is called Jose Cuervo, so Stefan go get your car, because today WE ARE GOING BAR HOPPING"

"I second that, come on ripper, Caroline and I need some serious alcohol and unless you plan to offer up Damon's precious bourbon collection, you better move it fast Stefan"

Stefan called the valet who came in rapidly with his car "Bar hopping it is, for old times' sake, why don't we start with Gloria's"

**Ok so we had Klaroline here, very little Kalijah, cero Stebekah and a hint of Kennet, but lots of confrontations, which is why this chap is FREAKING LONG…this is the longest chapter I've posted or will ever post in the history of fanfics, this is long, very long, longer than Rapunzel's hair, longer than a winter hiatus, very long, did I mention long….but now it's done with so I can do my happy dance…coming up next… actually what do you guys want to see next? Send me a prompt in the comments or find me on tumblr I am escaily**

PS: thanks to ThespianReveur for inspiring the last part


	4. part 4: Nadia goes to school

_**In which Henrik Mikaelson turns out to be a much better gossip than Nadia thought, uncle Stefan might or might not be housing a brat even more demanding than her and the rest of Henrik's brothers are acting shady. Yes being Nadia Petrova isn't easy but hey at least now she gets free gifts out of it**_

Ah Mondays beautiful, wonderful Mondays, if you start one well, the rest of the week might just end up being better than you thought.

After a Saturday that they would rather not repeat and a whole Sunday spent nursing terrible hangovers while watching Star Wars marathons, Katherine, Caroline and Stefan where ready to shake away the madness of their weekend, and if that meant going to sleep without drinking then one might as well say it was a job well done.

So all over Chicago, For Nadia Petrova….and the people that loved her, Monday morning began in different ways.

Katherine began her Monday with the sun, her groggy face rapidly changing into a placid smile once she realized who was in bed with her, rolling to her side to face the sleeping form of the person she loved most in the world.

"Good morning sleepyhead, guess who has school today" Katherine whispered spooning Nadia with a sleepy hug under the fluffy covers of her bed "wake up sweetie"

"Five minutes mama" Nadia mumbled in a similar voice, snuggling deeper into her mother's warm embrace "I want to sleep more"

"Fine, just five" Katherine laughed wrapping her arms tighter around Nadia and the sleepy smile she received in return made Katherine Petrova feel like the luckiest mother in the world, it was a great feeling to start her Monday with, so she let herself enjoy it "ups five minutes are up, Nadia I'm afraid your attitude woke up THE TICKLE MONSTER"

Nadia woke up as soon as Katherine began tickling her sides, snorting and giggling all over the bed "Stop, haha I'm awake, haha really mama haha oh gosh I'm awake"

"Then I suppose the tickle monster retreats..for now" Katherine whispered solemnly making Nadia laugh more "now to the shower you go, chop chop, and brush your teeth too I swear I can smell you from here"

"Eww gross" Nadia squealed jumping out of bed covering her mouth

Katherine smiled, her company was thriving, her assets getting richer and she had a wonderful daughter.

life was good.

Caroline unlike Katherine, woke up alone to the sound of room service and the blessed silence of a Tyler-free life, ready to tackle her Monday morning with a healthy breakfast and some good old-fashioned jogging.

"Goog morning miss Forbes, I trust you had an enjoyable night" sang the maid that was pushing the breakfast trolley into her hotel suite, opening the curtains wide and letting the sun into the room

"As a matter of fact it was lovely, keep spoiling me like that and I might just stay forever" the blonde said as the sun hit her face, stretching her muscles and giving the maid an energetic grin

"I'll let the manager know " Mary replied returning the smile, proceeding to carry the breakfast tray to Caroline's bed "Oh I almost forgot, yesterday someone left a parcel in the lobby for you, I thought you might want it now since we couldn't get a hold of you when it arrived"

"Really? Let me see" Caroline mumbled trough her half chewed waffle, Mary nodded leaving the room and returning with a big canvas shaped parcel wrapped in brown paper, Caroline sighed, ripping it open only to have a small note fall to the floor

Dear Caroline  
This might not be much of an apology, but take this as a compensation for the replica I burned, as a pro in the art of forgery, you have my word that a certain child won't know it's a copy.  
For all its worth, I am sorry  
-K.M

Caroline groaned reading the note over twice "Oh you bastard, you conniving, sly, evil bastard" she muttered to herself because right in front of her stood the painting that Klaus had burned that Saturday and she would bet her eyeballs that he had the original piece in his storage room

Way to start the week Forbes she thought to herself.

Stefan on the other hand had the rudest awakening of the three as he was rather abruptly shaken out of his bed at five am by a hard pounding on his door.

He slowly got out of bed still half asleep, bumping into a few hard objects along the way, but the pounding in the door kept getting louder, "Damon I swear someone has to teach you not to piss off Elena" Stefan groaned, being the only one in his circle of friends that actually had a house instead of an apartment, it wasn't unusual for him to receive visits at strange hours "Sometimes I wonder if this house has a billboard that reads "free bed and breakfast" somewhere I can't see" he muttered to himself but on opening the door who he found was definitely NOT Damon

"Nik and Lijah kicked me out of the house, Kol was on their side so I need a place to stay" was all the six-foot blonde in his doorway said before barging in with a suitcase in hand, leaving an open-mouthed Stefan in the doorway

"Rebekah, what are you doing here?" Stefan grunted rubbing the back of his head "at five in the morning…just-wha..Nevermind I need…I need to sit"

"You have a pretty house, for a bachelor, wait let me guess, Nik's blonde distraction was your decorator" Rebekah said with her usual unmoved demeanor seating herself in his living room and fingering the velvet furnishings of his sofa, on Stefan's glare Rebekah sighed ready to explain herself "look last night I…I had a few choice of words with my brothers, about my life, freedom of choice, family love, that kind of thing the point is one thing led to another and next thing I know I'm calling their bluff on the Katherine/Caroline debacle and they are calling a vote on having me "live on my own" I didn't know where to bloody go, all the friends I have would rather sell me out to the press than help me" she wailed pouting with her most dejected look

"And you think hiding out here is the solution? For heaven's sake Rebekah, you are a world-class model and a Mikaelson, no offense but having you here is akin to harbouring a fugitive"

"I AM NOT HIDING, Stefan, I'm twenty-four, I've never lived on my own before, my brothers always pay all my bills and I don't even know how one goes about with the business of getting a flat, but I want to prove them wrong...please, I'll even pay you rent" Again Rebekah looked ready to give up, being the only girl in the family Stefan knew she had always been taken care of within an inch of her life and unlike the rest of his female friends she never had to work a day in her life because her family came from money, he could understand how the process of asserting her much coveted independence could look like a monumental task now that she was about to take it on

"Fine, you can have the guest room..but!" He interrupted himself before she could start looking relieved "only while you get on your feet, plus if we are going to be house mates we need rules"

"What kind of rules?"

"I'll figure them out after my morning coffee, for now at least you have somewhere to stay, come on I'll show you to your room, you look like you have been up all night" Stefan said picking up Rebekah's suitcase and leading her upstairs, the female Mikaelson looked happy enough at this so Stefan let her have the girly room Care and Lexi normally took when they came to visit.

And with a sleeping Rebekah in his guest room, Stefan Salvatore started his Monday morning.

Good Heavens what had he just agreed to?

Back in the penthouse, Katherine proved that even if one was a CEO, the woes of a working mother where universal as she wrestled Nadia into her uniform while barking orders at her PA on the phone.

"Isobel I don't care if Takashi is the owner of Tokyo's entire shoe industry or if he's going for president, my time is just as valuable as his, if he's suddenly decided to have our meeting two hours early, that's not my problem, he can wait" She snapped on her phone all the while she helped Nadia with her backpack and rushed her to the elevator "Nadia, you did your homework right?" she whispered to the child who nodded absent mindedly "Good girl"

There was silence as Katherine's PA made excuses on the phone "tell his assistant that if he can't respect a simple appointment hour the how does he expect me to believe he won't cheat us on the sale profits?" She continued in her best exasperated voice, switching to bluetooth once they reached the building's basement and got into their car, Katherine kept going like that all trough the ride towards Nadia's school, proofreading Nadia's math homework with one hand, while holding the steering wheel with the other.

Thank you gods of BMW's for GPS alerts

Nadia snorted into the straw of her juice box as she pretended to be revising her iPhone from the passenger seat "Problems mommy?"

Katherine covered the speaker on the phone, her angry face morphing into a conspiracy grin "You know the Chinese, if you don't show them your backbone from early on, they walk all over you" She replied winking, letting Nadia know her apparent exasperation was entirely fake "By the way try revising problem number five I think you missed a number"

Nadia nodded, accepting her math homework back and correcting the error, feeling as tough her mother had just delivered another piece of Katherine wisdom, looking out the window she couldn't help but feel better, knowing that her mother wasn't really ignoring her.

"Listen i need to go, I'm dropping my kid at school, stop flirting with Jon Chang and grow a pair" Katherine snapped cutting her assistant off with an angry huff as she neared the entrance of Nadia's private school and ending the call. With a sigh she finally parked the car and smiled at her daughter

"Mommy you really are the boss from hell" Nadia remarked as Katherine dusted her uniform and got out of the car to walk her to the school's door

Katherine gave a vague snort as a response "Now remember, this week I'm going to be very busy so if I'm not here to pick you up after detention the only other three people allowed to take you home are…."

"Aunt Caroline, Uncle Stefan or Miss Bonnie" Nadia recited from memory

"Good, now remember to ask for permission to change into your ballet costume after school so we don't lose time and finally?" Katherine trailed off raising an eyebrow

"Never let mommy leave without a hug" The little girl said obediently, rapidly losing her severity and throwing her arms around Katherine "I love you mama" she said squeezing Katherine with all her might

"And I love you too cupcake, I love you too" And this..this was what Katherine loved most about motherhood, those four words made all the ballet classes and Karate tournaments and rock climbing lessons worth it, because even when at the end of the day Katherine was too exhausted to speak, she wouldn't give these moments up for anything in the world

"well I'm going to go now" Nadia said beaming when she spotted Henrik Mikaelson getting out from a car not far from them "Look, there's Henrik. I'm totally going to tell him all about Saturday and Kol is here too, so cool!" She squealed jumping in the balls of her feet "Hey Kol wanna see the pictures I took?" She called out waving her hand in the air with enthusiasm running towards the playboy Mikaelson

Katherine let Nadia go, knowing there was no harm in having her near Kol, waving her hand too when Kol wolf whistled seductively in her direction and watching as Nadia and Henrik rapidly struck up a conversation while looking at the pictures in her daughter's phone (that she'd cleverly downloaded from her camera with Bonnie's help that weekend)

"Children never seem to hold on to grudges for long do they" A deep voice from behind her said, startling her

"Yes, its a shame when someone forces you to lose that quality too soon" Katherine replied barely raising her head to look at Elijah's face, not taking her eyes from Nadia and Henrik, who despite the former's purple eye, where suddenly laughing and tag teaming Kol "Besides, we are not children"

"You have changed" Elijah said with a note of sadness in his voice "the Katerina I knew would have at least offered me some hope"

"As I recall, the last time you talked you called the Katerina you knew a whore" Katherine snapped clenching her fists "trust me, you don't want that naïve little brat back, no matter what you say, you would crush her again given a chance"

"Katerina" Elijah whispered lowly, making her shiver, using that tone that once upon a time made her weak "will you hate me forever then?" He made a show of watching her daughter race his younger brother to class, stoically looking ahead and pretending he was only making polite conversation with a stranger

"I don't hate you Elijah" She replied filtering out his name out like if it were made of broken shards of glass and it made her hiss in pain to merely say it "I'm angry, resented, vengeful, I wake up in the mornings feeling the bitterness poison me, but truthfully I cannot bring myself to hate you" She confessed letting a humorless laugh colour her tone "so I hate me, because let's be real, that's always been easier, for everyone, even for you"

"And do you think I don't hate myself too?" Elijah snapped "Do you really believe me so unfeeling that I would not care about the woman I loved?" And if they hadn't been in the entrance of a private school, surrounded by children and parents, Elijah would have forcibly held her back when she turned on her heel with a glare and walked away

"you didn't love me Elijah, not enough to believe in me" Katherine whispered lowly, but still he managed to hear her.

Five minutes later in the privacy of his office Elijah let out a frustrated growl  
Katherine in the confines of her car was doing the same.

Nadia on the other hand was for once in her school life, actually having fun and making friends … if hanging out with Henrik during recess could be called making friends, nevertheless Nadia was having the time of her life

Turns out that the only thing one needed to get on Henrik's good side was to provide blackmail material to use on his siblings and when it came to that, Nadia unknowingly had plenty. After hanging out (and eavesdropping) on her mom, aunt and uncle, she had as much stories about his siblings to tell him as he had to tell her

" And aunt Caroline said, he was so drunk he kissed uncle Stefan right in the mouth with lipstick and everything" Nadia told him during recess before taking a bite from her sandwich

"No way! The way Nik tells the story was that Caroline was so set on distracting him she spiked his drink on purpose and do you want to know who exactly put the lipstick on Stefan that day?" Henrik snorted "Rebekah did"

"Really? Do you think she has pictures I could scan to post on Facebook?"

Henrik nodded "somewhere in her closet, that's where Bekah used to hide her diary" thinking back on it he added "Nik used to whine about Caroline for days when I was little, once, she actually barged into the boys lockers while everyone was naked just to prove to Nik she could"

"that does sound like her, mom says that Klaus was so smitten with my aunt he used to bully her boyfriend and screw up her dates in college"

"HA! Nik sure skipped that part" Henrik laughed "You know Nadia together the two of us have enough dirt on our families to blackmail them for ages" he said offering her one of his chocolate bars "Trade you this for your Gummy Sharks?"

"I like the way you think Mikaelson" Taking the chocolate Nadia smiled back throwing him a pack of gummy "I beleive this is quite possibly the start of a beautiful friendship"

Henrink nodded back clinking his juice box with hers " I couldn't agree more Miss Petrova"

And somewhere in Chicago eight adults felt a collective shudder

**GREAT NEWS GUYS drum roll please, I'm revealing my dream cast for Nadia Petrova and Henrik Mikaelson  
Nadia in my head looks like Rowan Blanchard who plays Riley in Disney Channel's new series "Girl meets world" she looks like the perfect Nadia, mischievous, confident and headstrong down to the Katherine esque curls  
Henrik on the other hand looks in my mind like Dylan Schmid, who (if you watch ABC) played teenage Baelfire in hit series Once Upon A Time, he has that Mikaelson handsomeness going on with him, and that face, oh lord if I where five years younger I would be crushing on him hard.**


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