HIRAETH || CAROLINE FORBES

THIRTY TWO

"Klaus? Rebekah?" Violet calls out, hesitantly entering the mansion. She had received her invitation to the Mikaelson ball, and that can only mean one thing.

All the Mikaelson's are undaggered.

Despite her complicated relationship with Klaus, Violet genuinely loves the rest of the Mikaelson family.

"Up here, darling." Comes the familiar voice of her best friend from an unknown room upstairs.

Violet breaks into a sprint, finding the room in less then a second and grinning wildly. "Kol!" She throws herself into his arms, completely ignoring the fact the someone is fixing his suit.

"Hello darling." Kol smiles, hugging her back, "Wow, I didn't think that you'd still be hanging around the Mikaelson's. I thought you would've been gone by now."

"They followed me." Violet shrugs, letting go and moving over to Finn. "Hi!" She smiles brightly, giving him a hug too. "It's good to see you."

"Violetta. It's good to see you too." He smiles back. "I never got to properly thank for undaggering me all those years ago."

Violet smiles with a shrug, "No problem."

"What? No hug for me?" Rebekah pouts

"Fine." Violet exaggerates her movements as she slowly walks to Rebekah, pretending to be annoyed. However, she hugged her with an enthusiastic force.

The door swings open, revealing a very angry Klaus. "You went after Elena? What is wrong with you?!"

"This is my cue to leave, I'll see you guys later." Violet excuses herself from the room.

*

My Dearest Caroline,
I cannot wait to see you tonight, save me a dance.
Yours truly, Violet

Violet places the package on Caroline's doorstep, ringing the doorbell and leaving before Caroline could see her.

*

Looking around the room, Violet's eyes quickly meet Caroline's. The former squeals and runs over, giving her a quick kiss before pulling away and marvelling at the dress. "You look beautiful. I love the dress."

"Thanks, a really special person bought it for me." Caroline smiles back, causing Violet to grin.

The chatter begins to quiet down as the Mikaelson's line up on the staircase, each of them donning spectacular outfits that no doubt cost them thousands of dollars.

"Welcome, thank you for joining us." Elijah greets, "You know, whenever my mother brings our family together like this, it's tradition for us to commence the evening with a dance. Tonight's pick is a centuries-old waltz, so if all of you could please find yourselves a partner, please join us in the ballroom."

"May I have this dance m'lady?" Violet smiles, offering her arm out to Caroline who happily takes it. They begin their waltz, and Violet notices Elena dancing with Damon. She also notices Stefan standing a little ways behind them looking almost heartbroken.

Caroline switches to dancing with Matt, and Violet finds Klaus.

"You look nice." Klaus points out as they start dancing.

"You look like shit."

"Now now love, that's not very nice."

"You killing my entire village wasn't nice."

"You're still angry about that?"

"They were my family Niklaus. I know that if I were to kill your entire family you would feel the same. But no, i'm not angry. Just bitter." She shrugs

"Where's Elsie? I specifically ordered her jam donuts because I thought she would be coming."

"How caring." Violet rolls her eyes, "She's sick. I didn't want to bring her to this whilst she's not well."

Klaus just nods silently. Violet moves away and back towards Caroline.

She's not quite sure how it happened, but five minutes later the two of them are passionately making out in a storage cupboard. They're rudely interrupted by Esther addressing the guests.

Caroline and Violet both enter the main room, their faces flushed and hair slightly messed.

Esther is standing on the stairs, a glass of champagne in her hand. "Good Evening, Ladies and Gentleman. Waiters are coming around with champagne. I invite you all to join me in raising a glass. It provides me with no greater joy then to see my family back together as one. I'd like to thank you all for being part of this spectacular evening. Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

Everyone drinks from their glasses, and Violet clinks her glass with Caroline's.

*

"Tonight was wonderful." Violet smiles as she walks up the front steps of her house with Caroline.

"Yeah. I know that technically most of your family is dead, however I think tonight was as close as I'm ever going to get to doing the whole 'Meeting-My-Girlfriends-Family-Thing.' I am going to take that as a win."

"Okay then. You do you." Violet takes her keys out and starts to unlock the door, "Fair warning before we go inside, Elsie is really sick. I have no idea what's wrong with her, and I can't tell if it's just a normal cold or if it's something worse because I haven't had one in half a millennia."

"I'll take a look and see if I know what it is."

"That would be great, thanks." Violet enters the house and uses her vamp-speed to quickly get changed.

She rushes out of her room and into Elsie's, looking worriedly at the scene in front of her.

Elsie is sitting up in her bed, a pained expression on her face as she clutches a hot water bottle.

"Elsie, darling, are you okay?" Violet asks.

Elsie shakes her head, "My stomach hurts."

"Do you think you know what it is?" Violet asks, "Has it happened before?"

Elsie simply shrugs, squeezing her eyes shut in pain.

"I think I know what it is. Violet, can I speak to her? Alone?"

"Oh, yeah, okay, I'll wait outside."

A few minutes later, the door opens again to reveal Caroline. "She got her first period."

"Oh my god. That's not good."

Elsie shrugs, her face flushing red with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry I didn't pick up on it before, I forgot what having a period was like. I was malnourished my entire childhood, and a late bloomer. I rarely had my period."

"You're lucky then." Elsie groans, lying back down onto the bed, "They suck."

"I guess." Violet shrugs, "So how can I help? What do women even use to help their periods? Is there anything?"

"Yes." Caroline nods, "I'll go tomorrow and buy some."

"Okay then, that's sorted."