The Push and Pull of Things, Chapter One, Echo

While Kol is on the Other Side he develops an unlikely relationship with Isabella. Now, with Niklaus and Elijah's help, she may be the key to his return. Is New Orleans ready for it? Family and Love above all else… Bella/Kol

This will be more of an Originals crossover really, but is Vampire Diaries because of Kol.

I don't own The Originals, Vampire Diaries or Twilight. The Originals and Vampire Diaries belong to L.J Smith, Julie Plec, Kevin Williamson and everyone else involved with the shows. Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer and everyone involved with the films. I am just having some fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

You know what the other side is like? We're all alone. We watch the people we left behind and we regret our decisions. That's it. ~ Mason Lockwood

~0~

Hello, hello
Anybody out there?
Cause I don't hear a sound
Alone, alone
I don't really know where the world is but I miss it now

~*~I~*~

If you had asked him, Kol couldn't have told you exactly how he had ended up in a hospital room, waiting for a girl he'd never actually met to wake up…

No one could see him of course; that was the curse of being on the Other Side, no interaction with the world you were forced to eternally wander. Not that he hadn't done enough to warrant ending up here; time had given him that much perspective. He wasn't even particularly bothered with the Doppelganger and her brother anymore; he had been trying to kill the boy after all… though he had admittedly been pissed when the Gilbert boy had managed to return to the world again, after only a short time on the Other Side, while he himself had only got a short reprieve before landing right back here… alone.

Time was all he really had now. Time to think and deal with every emotion he was forced to feel, as there wasn't really an 'off switch' when you were here. So the sight of a human girl, a pretty little brunette, accompanied by Cold Ones and clearly aware of what they were was a welcome distraction from the mundane.

In his boredom he'd travelled the country and had somehow ended up in Phoenix. He was at the airport 'people watching' when he'd spotted her and her unusual companions. He was intrigued anyway but when he saw her deliberately give them the slip he couldn't help but follow her, wondering why she was leaving them behind if it was upsetting her so much and then wondering why he actually cared.

It was only as she reached some kind of studio and confronted a scruffy nomad Cold One that he'd understood, and suddenly found himself admiring the girl's bravery. He couldn't remember ever wanting to help a human before, but if he could have he would have torn the nomad to shreds for touching her. Instead he was forced to just watch as she faced her enemy with nothing but sheer guts on her side. Then he watched as the Cold Ones arrived, and she was almost killed again. This time by the penny-haired wonder who didn't stop drinking until long after her blood was clean.

So here he was some hours later, still hanging around the hospital room. The girl had woken up earlier, and that should have satisfied his curiosity but something about the whole situation felt off. He had watched as she woke and the penny-head had gone through the motions of comforting her. It had turned out he was her boyfriend, and Kol didn't even want to know how that worked.

The feigned comfort had quickly turned to him all but threatening to leave her, for 'her own good' of course, and predictably the young girl had panicked. In her confused state she didn't see the sly smirk on the boy's face, but from where he stood Kol could see it clear as day.

The sparkling arse was obviously using her for something and while Kol was definitely not above using people himself, doing it under the guise of love was distasteful, especially with an innocent.

It was late now, the room had eventually cleared some time ago and the girl, Isabella he reminded himself, was sleeping fairly peacefully. A strange urge hit him, and without thinking he stepped towards her, reaching out his hand, placing it beside her head and closing his eyes.

When he opened them a second later he was in an unfamiliar forest, face to face with Isabella who stared at him with her wide brown eyes. He gaped at her for a second, struggling to believe he'd actually made contact before regaining his composure and smirking at her.

"Before you ask darling, no, you're not dead."

She blushed prettily as he spoke, leaving him with an unexpected desire to see if he could make her blush all over. He shook off the errant thought and cocked his head inquisitively, waiting for her response.

"Um, okay. Who are you exactly?"

~*~II~*~

Almost six months later…

Bella forced herself to remain still as Edward placed a cold kiss on her forehead and then sagged in relief as he finally left. He was going hunting overnight and tomorrow as it was going to be sunny, and she was glad to get the evening to herself. His behaviour since the Phoenix ordeal had been increasingly frightening. He seemed determined, with Alice's help, to control every little aspect of her life, getting to the point where she could barely sneeze without his input. He tried to play things off as being for her safety, but what she wore, how she spoke and what she ate had nothing to do with safety and everything to do with him being a controlling ass.

The thing that really scared her though was that she probably would have just accepted it if she hadn't had Kol as a friend. He had helped her to see what Edward had been trying to do to her, something similar to what his kind, real vampires, called compulsion. Though she was resistant to it, more than any other human he had seen Kol said, Edward's presence had still been gradually fogging her mind. His voice and scent had an almost drugging affect, wearing her down into compliance and making her dependant on him.

Since they had become friends Kol had done his best to support her, even offering his blood on several occasions and it had helped a bit, both with allowing Kol to reach her easier and with her resistance to Edward. Edward had even complained that her scent had changed and started questioning her on her diet amongst other things… another example of his alarming control issues. If she wasn't so afraid she would have already ended things with him but she was genuinely scared of what he would do. And while she had seen the sympathetic looks from Jasper, Emmett and to her surprise, Rose, she couldn't ask them to stand against their 'brother', even if they were willing. Kol had sworn he would find a way to help her out of this situation, but as things stood there wasn't anything he could do.

Bella had never told anyone else about Kol, how could she possibly tell anyone that her unlikely best friend was actually dead? Very dead. As in not just a thousand year old vampire but also 'trapped on the Other Side' dead, and in a sort of purgatory where he was supposed to be unable to contact anyone, but for some unknown reason was able to reach her, and only her, in her sleep. She smiled bitterly; she'd be locked up before she could finish getting the words out. Even to her it sounded mad, and she had lived through it.

It had started back in the hospital in Phoenix. Kol had strutted into her dreams and turned her life upside-down. Bella hadn't known what to make of him at first, and he'd been so overwhelmed to have actually made contact with someone that he hadn't known what to say. Once he'd started talking, it had been hard work ever shutting him up, though once she knew his story she didn't mind, knowing she was the only person he got to talk to.

Somehow, against the odds, between his love of talking, her love of hearing about history and their shared sarcastic humour they had genuinely bonded. His many stories of his life and family fascinated Bella and though she probably should have been horrified at the violent, bloody tales it was surprisingly easy to accept Kol's nature. You'd have to be blind not to see how good-looking he was and if Bella was honest, she was falling for the cheeky Original, but she didn't think he reciprocated the feelings, no matter how much he flirted with her.

She sighed as she sat back on her bed. She had missed Kol recently. He had said he was checking up on what his family were up to, and had only been gone for a couple of weeks but it felt like longer. It wasn't usually more than a couple of days between his 'visits' in her head, though he tended to avoid nights that Edward insisted on staying, due to Edward's habit of waking her, claiming he'd thought she was having bad dreams when really she had probably just murmured Kol's name out loud.

It was always harder when she hadn't seen Kol in a while. Edward couldn't find out that she was resisting his effect on her, so she had to go along with pretty much whatever he wanted and it wore her down. Only today she was forced to agree to a party for her eighteenth birthday in a couple of days, it wasn't that she didn't want to celebrate; she just would rather have been doing something else.

The only good thing was that Kol had promised her to be back in time for her birthday, so it wouldn't be long until she saw him again.

~0~

I'm out on the edge and I'm screaming my name
Like a fool at the top of my lungs
Sometimes when I close my eyes I pretend I'm alright
But it's never enough
Cause my echo, echo
Is the only voice coming back
My shadow, shadow
Is the only friend that I have

Song lyrics are Jason Walker ~ Echo

Yes, it's another new story from me. I'm not abandoning By Your Side I just had this one rattling around my head too.

Thanks again TheCoreConundrum for being encouraging and Betaing this story as well :)

Reviews are always good :D