The tension around the dining table was thick while Elijah decided who would get the cure. Both Rebekah and Nik wanted it dearly, but their oldest brother had it in his hands to choose.

For Grace, he did the right thing by offering it to Rebekah. Even though the idea of having the veil down, and every loved one from the other side would come back sounded tempting, it was simply selfish. With the handful of loved ones, tons of enemies would have another shot at destroying the family and Grace wouldn't have that. For once she needed to be reasonable.

What surprised and amused her at the same time was when Elijah set the condition to Rebekah that she would have to live one day as a human, without any supernatural powers. There his big brother vibes, still educating his siblings even though they were a thousand years old, came through.

The blonde probably thought that this couldn't be that hard, but Grace knew better. She herself was surprised how often she used her vampire abilities in a usual day and she wasn't like that for long. How hard must it be for someone who lived with these advantages for so long? At least Grace still knew the feeling of human weaknesses. She wouldn't trade vampirism in for one day.

Shortly after, the couple was alone in the dining room, Elijah sighing deeply at his siblings' childishness. Grace chuckled slightly.

"Hard to be the oldest brother?"

He shot her a glance, but smiled lightly.

"Sometimes I'm asking myself if they haven't learnt anything in a thousand years. Rebekah's wish...I can understand it, but I can't help myself and think that she will regret this."

Grace placed her hand on top of his and let her thumb stroke his knuckles.

"Tell me about it. Being big bad sister to siblings who hate you is a pain in the ass, too."

Well, actually there was just Elena left. Grace tensed, which Elijah immediately noticed. He took her hand in his larger ones and squeezed it gently. They leaned their foreheads onto each other and closed their eyes for a while, simply enjoying the moment of silence.

But unfortunately, it was short lived.

"Grace!"

Nik's voice calling for her sounded through the whole house. She rolled her eyes and stood up, throwing Elijah an amused glance before she left for the living room.

"What is it?"

After asking her friend, she pulled up a brow in wonder when she saw Caroline standing next to Nik. Where they back on speaking terms?

"Your humanity less sister stole my prom dress and I was um...wondering if you could help me out. I need something of Grace of Monaco magnitude."

Grace couldn't help but chuckle. Prom was just something too normal for their lives, it sounded so irrelevant. But at least Caroline had something she still could cling to.

"...and I thought you would be the better fashion advisor."

Nik chirped in.

"Follow me."

The hybrid gave her a thankful nod, relieved that he could count on her.

...

After they found an amazing vintage dress that fitted Caroline perfectly, Grace helped her with her hair and make up. It felt good to be distracted in that way, simply doing something human, like helping a girl get ready for prom. For a moment they forgot the grudges they held for each other and Grace came back to the conclusion that Caroline was still that girl that could make Nik happy. She was on the same page with him about the fact that it may not be their time now, but it come, she was sure of it.

After the blonde got out, thanking her a hundred times, Grace decided to take the time and roam through the massive dressing room with their ball gowns and relicts from other centuries. She can across a silky black dress that was decorated over and over with light gems that would catch the light beautifully with every movement.

"How was your prom?"

Elijah suddenly leaned in the doorframe, watching her inspecting the dress. It was one of Rebekah's, he could clearly remember the day she wanted to wear it. They were having a ball in their home in New Orleans, one of their last there, and literally five minutes before it began, Rebekah started to panic because she thought that the dress didn't suit her well. So the very expensive fabric was shunned to the darkness of closets for over a century.

He could imagine that it would highlight Grace's lightly tanned skin in a delicate way.

"I don't know. I never made it there. My mum bought me a dress and she was so excited and all...but I wasn't. I knew the boys would bully me again, even tough I would've looked dashing, so I locked myself in my room for the whole evening."

The young vampire laughed while she took the trip down memory lane. Her mum had been so mad, but still it was one of that still carefree memories of her parents. Sometimes she asked herself how they would've reacted when she brought Elijah home. With all of his gentleman charm, they probably would've loved him. They were used to age gaps between Grace and her boyfriends, so they wouldn't even have been surprised. Maybe they wouldn't have been to happy about the Original vampire fact, but well, what they didn't know...

"Put the dress on, Grace."

His voice ripped her out of her melancholic thoughts. She looked up to him confused.

"What?"

He stepped towards her and took the dress from her hands to carefully put it back on the hanger.

"You heard me."

Elijah placed a kiss on her cheek before he walked off again, headed towards their room. Grace stayed back startled, but then shrugged and started undressing.

A while later Grace found Elijah in the large room where they danced the first waltz in their last ball night. Nik sometimes painted in here, but other than that it was usually unused.

Elijah stood in front of the massive hi fi system and pushed some of the black buttons before he turned around to face her. He had put on a tuxedo and even wore a bow tie. The familiar feeling of her breath hitching when she saw him like that rose inside her, but she also felt Elijah's eyes scanning her appearance. His lips parted slightly, but then this stunningly beautiful smile spread on his handsome features as he held his hand out for her.

She cautiously lifted the skirt of her dress to walk closer to him and take his hand. In the exact same moment the enchanting sound of a jazz tune came out of the speakers. Elijah spun her around one time before placing his hand on her hip to pull her into position.

"What are you doing?"

Whispering, she interlaced her fingers with his and slowly they started to move with the rhythm. Grace never had cared much for jazz, but right now the music captivated her fully. It felt like they were thrown back in time and for a moment, she could imagine how they were dancing in the middle of other well dressed people, but only having eyes for each other.

"I can't accept that you never had a prom. To be honest I don't really now how schools interpret this kind of a social event, but I think it's adequate."

The gesture touched Grace that deeply, it made her heart clench out of love for him. How had she deserved this? He literally did everything to make her smile and sometimes he was just so perfect, she couldn't believe it.

"Well, I mean, you lack some disgusting non-alcoholic punch and this carries way more style and taste than any prom could have, but other than that...it's perfect."

She came to a halt to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him lovingly. He returned the gesture, but starting dancing again after pecking her teasingly on her lips. Fortunately, the music changed into a slower tune, allowing the couple to dance more closely together. Grace left her arms wrapped around his neck, while his hands held her waist.

"How come you chose jazz over Beethoven?"

His cheek leaned against hers and Grace could feel his steady, cool breath on her bare shoulder.

"We lived in New Orleans for a while. It's quite hard to withdraw yourself from this kind of music while being there. Well, and I found it fitting, because this dress was created there."

She admired the way he could find passion in art and music. For other people he sometimes may even appear cold, ruthless and with nothing on his mind but protecting his family. That may be his biggest agenda, but beneath the facade there was an educated, open-minded gentleman that had fascinating opinions and a taste for the good things in life.

"You sound like you loved living there."

His expression shortly darkened and he saw pain in his eyes. She knew that they've spent a long time in Louisiana, but there must be some stories to it.

"Let's say it's one of the rare places we once called home."

Grace would've loved to ask more about this topic, but she didn't want to ruin the moment. They danced on like this for what felt like hours, only stopping when they felt the need to kiss each other.

It left them both with this warm, comfortable feeling of being loved and for this moment, they simply were happy.

But of course even those moments had to find their ending. After a while they decided that it was time for Grace to check up on Rebekah, so after one last kiss they parted and Grace changed back into more casual clothes.

She walked down the dirty red carpet that was rolled out in front of the gym, her gaze flicking over the countless screens with pictures of the seniors. Her heart ached when a picture of Jeremy, Elena and Grace showed, all of them having bright smiles on their faces. It was a picture their mum took at Elena's first junior day.

"Look who came out of her glass house without her bodyguards."

Elena's mocking tone sounded from behind her. When Grace turned around, she found her sister in her stolen pink dress, smiling at her coldly.

"Good evening, Elena. Speaking of bodyguards, where are yours?"

The older sister raised a brow.

"Occupied. For the whole evening they were trying to drag some emotions out of me...idiots."

She rolled her eyes and sighed. Grace clenched her hands into fists. Emotionless Elena was even more annoying than her whiny side.

"At least they're having hope. But looks like you're quite comfortable in the bitchy role."

The older vampire wanted to continue on her way, but was stopped by her sister speaking again.

"Looks like you're quite comfortable with pretending that the Mikaelsons really give a damn about you. Don't you think they'll leave you behind whenever they have the chance to?"

Elena wanted to provoke her. It was obvious. Grace tried her best to keep any emotions from coming to surface and put on the cold mask she mastered so perfectly.

"Jealous?"

The sisters stared each other in the eyes. A cruel smile spread on Elena's pink lips.

"Oh, I'm definitely not jealous of the position you're in. Don't you feel guilty? You weren't there when our brother died, because you again were too distracted by fighting for your more precious family. Maybe you're better off turning it off, too."

It was then when a crack ran through the surface. Grace's smile fell and suddenly, she found herself punching Elena in the jaw. The sound of breaking bones brought the tension to a climax, making it burst into fire.

Elena held her cheek in pain, but suddenly she was back in front of her sister and landed a hit in her stomach that made her flying against a tree. Grace saw red and managed to get a tight hold around her throat and she started squeeze.

"Don't you dare say that again."

"Or what?"

The doppelgänger laughed and the women again lunged at each other. They continued the punching for a while, both landing equally much hits, both stained with blood after a short while. Grace had improved her fighting skills, but Elena still had the better technique. But at least Grace was older.

She later one had no clue when it would've stopped, but they were forced to when the Stefan and Damon found them fighting. Stefan held Grace tightly around her waist, while Damon caught Elena's arms.

"What the hell are you doing?"

The younger Salvatore asked bewildered, to which Grace only shrugged him off. She threw a glare at Elena before she walked off without another word. The brothers could imagine what happened anyway. Rebekah was probably already home, too and Grace was full of her own blood, so it wouldn't make much sense to get in anyway.

When she got home, she found a strange scene in front of her. Elijah was standing outside, talking to someone. She could only see the back of the men that stood in front of her love, his hair was honey colored and he wore a plain shirt and jeans. Grace frowned, because she couldn't recognize the person.

But what made the situation even more creepy were the words Elijah spoke.

"This is for you, little sister."

The man only nodded, took the small box that had the cure inside it and walked away.

"Elijah?"

Grace said confused, her pace quickening.

"Welcome back."

He wanted to pull her in for a kiss, but she stopped him by placing her hands on his chest.

"Who was that?"

A deep, confused frown spread on his face as he looked down to her. His gaze adverted over his shoulder to where this stranger person just left.

"It was Rebekah. Of course, why are you..."

His phone suddenly started buzzing, his sister's name appearing on the screen. He answered while looking Grace in the eyes while it dawned on him. Rebekah's voice sounded through the speaker, telling her brother to not hand anyone the cure, because Nik was plotting something. But it wasn't Nik they were worried about this time.

"It's a little to late for that."

Grace walked inside, trying to find the guy they were looking for, but he disappeared into thin air.

"Silas."

She whispered.

...

The next morning started with quite the chaos. Not only was the reveal that Silas now had the cure and that Grace was the only person in whose head he couldn't get quite shocking, but they also found out that Nik disappeared.

Elijah and Grace found a letter written by the one and only Katherine Pierce in the living room, pointing out that there was a witch in New Orleans that was conspiring against the hybrid. At least they now had an explanation to why Nik disappeared so suddenly.

The Silas problem was pushed away for the moment and it instantly was clear that Elijah would follow his brother to keep him from further harm...or him harming the wrong people.

"Are you sure that you don't want me to come with you?"

Grace helped Elijah packing his bag. He had pointed out that he was too worried about her well being to let her come with him.

"New Orleans' witches are quite...nasty. I would love to have you by my side, my love but I fear Niklaus' will occupy me too much. Please, it will be easier if I'm not concerned about your safety."

She snorted.

"As if Mystic Falls is that safe."

"But at least here you can promise me to stay out of trouble for one day."

Elijah took her hands in his, his eyes begging her to stay safe. Grace took a deep breath while her shoulders sunk down. He was right, but still she thought that she maybe could talk some sense into Nik. But Elijah was his brother, he needed to decided. Of course, that didn't take away her worries for his and Nik's well being. Nasty witches weren't the best sign.

"Just please come back in one piece."

She sighed and hugged him tightly.

"I promise. I'll be back as soon as possible."

The Original leaned down to her to steal a longing kiss. Then he let go of her and walked towards the door.

"Elijah."

He stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder, waiting for her to say something.

"I love you."

A smile tugged on the corners of his lips and he felt the urge to simply stay with her stronger than ever.

"I love you, too."

Elijah took her appearance in one last time before he stepped through the door and closed it behind him.

With a sigh, Grace let herself fall into the armchair behind her. She immediately regretted saying the big words. Not because she didn't mean them, these words were the most accurate truth ever coming from her mouth, but because the fear that her own personal curse would kick in had a tight hold around her.

She hoped that those words wouldn't change everything.