On My Own | Hale - TVD/TO/TW [4]

6 | Reunions

She stops before she can knock on the door. Her eyes flash blue as she steps back; her nostrils flare.

"Oh." She glances at the floor as her cheeks grow hot. "Oh."

Pressing her tongue against her teeth, she sighs. "Glad you're ok." She does not run back down the stairs; instead, she simply steps down, each interval shorter than the last. About half-way down, she hears Derek open the door to his loft.

About a quarter of the way down, he calls out her name; she simply does not listen.

He catches up to her before she can slip into her car. "Lexi!" He shouts, racing across the empty parking lot to stop her. "I can explain."

She chuckles, pausing with the door protecting her and the car acting as a backrest. "What do you need to explain?" She asks softly, avoiding his gaze. "We're not dating—we're not in any sort of relationship. You've made that very clear. There's no need to explain sleeping with the English teacher."

The breeze blows around her, her hair flying in all directions. Her clothes—tattered from a day of searching through the woods—hang off of her body like he once did. Dark circles sink into her face as she stares just past his legs to the cement beneath them.

Derek purses his lips and sighs. "Are you ok?"

"Am I—" She shakes her head. "What an idiotic question. Tell me, do I look ok?" She meets his gaze unflinchingly; her eyes bleed into his as they flash ice blue. "I watched you fall. I spent the entire fucking night trying to keep you alive. After everything that's happened, do you really think that image won't haunt me until the day I die?"

"I never meant to hurt you," he says.

"Hurt me?" She slams the car door shut behind her. "What about your betas? They all think you're dead! You should know what that feels like." She chuckles as she shakes her head. "My family told me not to try. Every issue, every problem—they told me it wasn't worth it." She takes a deep breath as her phone begins to ring. She glances down but does not take the phone out. "They told me to go home. Maybe I should've listened to them because this? It hurts too much."

She opens the door once more as she slips her phone out of her back pocket. "I won't watch you get yourself killed like Peter did. Enjoy your cardio."

She drives away, forcing herself not to look at him as he gets smaller in her mirror. Finally, once he disappears from view, she answers the call. "What, Nik?"

"Wow, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today," Klaus says with a chuckle.

"I didn't sleep at all, thank you." Lexi rolls her eyes, gently wiping a finger over her cheeks. "Now, what is it?"

"I'm hosting a ball. I'd like you here."

"A ball?" Lexi asks, quirking an eyebrow. "For what reason?"

"Do I need a reason?"

"Nope." Pressing in the accelerator, Lexi drives through a shimmering portal, dropping her down the road from the Mikaelson Mansion in Mystic Falls. As she turns into the grand structure, she hums. Klaus stands by the entrance, a smirk growing on his lips as she slows to a stop before the mansion.

When she steps out of the car, she glances around. "You've outdone yourself, Nik. Making up for something? Or maybe you've just filled it with traps for Elena and her wretched friends."

"You would love that, wouldn't you?" He grins. "Hello, little sister."

She rolls her eyes as she closes the car door. "You look happy," she says as she meets him at the grand door. "Killing Mikael's done you well, it seems."