Lucy's look for the chapter ≈
CHAPTER XLVI
❝ Get yourself ready to catch a plane to here, cause no excuses working mister. ❞
Three months.
It has been exactly three months, seven days and four hours since Lucy, Niklaus and Brie had left the town.
Life in Florida was completely different and calming. No supernatural business, no death threats, and no stabbing in the heart.
Nik took just a month to adapt to his new life, which was frankly enough too human for him to disagree. Since they had no work, they travelled a lot. It was either one-two day trips on weekends with Brie; or some short visits to hour away places on weekdays when Brie was busy with school. Sometimes, the travel locations used to be scenic and sometimes they simply helped with some social work.
Florida house wasn't as gigantic as the Mystic Falls one, instead it was a simple, yet modern, four BHK, two storey building with a huge garden and a beautiful porch. Funnily enough, Brie had left all her toys in the Mystic Falls house because all of them couldn't fit in her room here, and she wasn't willing to separate her lovely toys.
As far as Lucy knew, Mystic Falls was calm for the time being since no one was getting themselves in trouble anymore(and as far as Stefan believes, it's because Klaus left the town.) There was no update on the cure yet. Shane had disappeared from the face of earth after unveiling to them his true intentions and gore actions, and temporarily dying after Kol's failed attempt on knowing Shane's plans of bringing back Silas. Yes, Kol and Rebekah were in town, with Rebekah currently playing high school - high school and annoying the Mystic Fallers. And Kol accompanying Zoey to Mystic Falls (or was it the other way around?) where she had attained a project for designing interiors of a newly constructed gym. It was a few week, small project, not too much earning, yet it was her first official one.
Lucy had constantly stayed in touch with her friends back there, but why none of them had told her the truth of Carol's death yet was still a mystery. They spoke of everything but Carol.
Sessions with Lucy and Nik's respective therapists were going great too. Lucy had slowly started learning to not have random spurts of old memory lanes with Carol and burst into an hour long grieving session. And Nik had slowly opened up completely to his therapist (of course not without compelling them to not speak the truth) and had slowly learnt to no longer fear losing Lucy forever.
Charlie, the dog, still didn't like him much but showed some tolerance at least. And Brie, who had already started liking him, had obviously begun liking him more and he felt more confident in the father role he was playing for the past three months.
Speaking of which, he was currently off to pick-up duty and an unconscious smile crept up to his face as the school bell finally rang followed by a sudden spur of noises.
"Mr. Mikaelson!" a chirpy voice called out, making him suppress a groan and plaster a smile on his face, as he turned to fake-beam at Brie's class teacher who was there to see off Brie.
"Wow, you look very nice today." she awed, her eyes running up and down him as he forced out an awkward chuckle.
"Thank you," he said, taking Brie's hand, "but my girlfriend is waiting for us. We need to go."
Brie giggled to herself and tugged on Nik's sleeve making him bend as she whispered in his ear, "If mom comes to know she's gonna kill her."
"Brie," he whispered back in a slight scolding tone, "killing is nothing to joke about."
"Oh," the lady interrupted, making them turn their attention to her, "but I just wanted to say that Brie is such a brilliant student. She is perfect at everything. I bet she gets that from you."
"No, she gets it from her mother. The most perfect person in the world. So, if you'll excuse us, goodbye."
The lady flattered but managed to force out a laugh, beaming at him, "Of course, bye. See you tomorrow."
"Bye, Miss. Yanin." Brie waved at her as they got into the car and the lady watched with a bright smile as they disappeared from her eye view.
And she realised an annoyed sigh the moment they were gone.
"God, the things I have to do." she muttered to herself before pulling out her phone and dialling the top-most number from recent dials.
"Yes?" a gruff male voice answered.
"It's becoming impossible to complete what you asked for." she said stiffly.
"You had one job-"
"-which is not my obligation, just my job which, as mentioned very precisely at the beginning, is not a compulsion." she finished, her tone clipping.
"Indeed." he said calmly. "But how come that task is so impossible? Please do explain."
She suppressed an annoyed sigh.
"The pair is never here together. It's always one of them for the pick-up. Never both."
"Use other methods then." he said after a short silence.
"This was not under the agreement."
"The finalised exchange will be doubled."
"Triple."
"Okay."
"Done, then. You'll have them by tonight."
◇◇◆◇◆◇◇
"Oh, come on, Stefan, it's her birthday next week. Just come for a day at least." Lucy whined like a child into her phone.
"Lucy," he sighed, "you know how it is here. I will leave for one day and all hell will break loose."
"Steffiee..."
"Okay, I've got a solution, why don't you all come here? Your house here is the perfect size for the surprise party."
"Don't you think I would have thought that? But Brie hates Mystic Falls."
"Correction, she doesn't hate Mystic Falls, she just hates that you left her alone all the time. But this time it's her birthday, you wouldn't obviously leave her alone."
She hesitated for a moment. "I just don't want her mood to spoil if we go there. And..."
"And... what?"
"And, it's just, I mean you don't like talking about him, but Nik no longer likes it there."
"Wow." Stefan snorted. "No surprise given what he has done."
"Stefan, please." she said, annoyed. "I thought you guys were okay ever after you came together to work for the cure."
He drew a short breath before replying, "Yeah, sure. I won't say shit. But, if I am to give you some advice, just talk to him. Easy peasy."
"Yeah, but listen it's a Disney theme so like get your costumes ready. Maybe tell others too so that they don't have an excuse to skip the dress code. I'm just gonna finalise the venue and then invitations will be off by tomorrow."
"She likes Disney? I thought she hated princesses."
"Disney is not all about princesses, okay? It's far wider than that. Just find a costume and I'll get everything ready. And in case party's not in Mystic Falls, get yourself ready to catch a plane to here, cause no excuses working mister."
"Fine, you win. But I'm sure it will be here only." he said confidently.
◇◇◆◇◆◇◇
The evening air of the Wright Household was filled with light commutation. Charlie was chasing Brie around the sofa, barking in delight and Lucy and Nik sat down, discussing in murmurs the next location for their travel.
The shrill sound of the doorbell cut through all this as they all paused in their ways, sharing confused glances at the unexpected visitor.
"I'll check." Lucy said, standing up. "Brie, take Charlie to your room."
"Is everything okay mom?" she questioned innocently.
"Yes, dear, everything is okay." Lucy offered her a placid smile. "It's just that we don't know if our guest is scared of dogs or not."
"Okay." Brie nodded obediently leaving with Charlie.
"Who do you think it would be?" Lucy questioned worriedly.
"Hey, hey, hey, calm down." Nik said soothingly, clasping her shoulders. "It's probably a delivery. Maybe somebody sent a surprise gift."
"Yeah, but-" she sighed, "you're probably right. It's nothing. Lemme take the door."
"Perfect."
Izra Yanin contemplated her choice of 'other methods' as she stood at the front door of the Wright Household, her patience running by with the ticking time.
It was finally opened by a dark-haired lady who she instantly recognised to be a Wright, Lucy Wright as she had seen her quite a few times dropping and picking up Brie Wright.
"Yes?"
"Good evening." Izra began brightly, her face literally spreading sparkles, as she likes to think. "I'm Brie's class teacher. I'm sorry for coming uninformed like this. But I'm here to talk about something."
"Did she do something? Or one of her schoolmates did to her?" Lucy voiced her questions hurriedly, her voice dripping in concern.
"No, no, it's nothing like that." she laughed. "It's just about a trip the school is planning. Should we talk inside?"
"Yeah, yeah, please."
The first thing Izra felt was the cold air that engulfed her, relieving her of the scorching heat of the street outside; and then came a tingling sensation in her veins as she instantly picked up the vibe inside the house and around Lucy Wright.
"Evening Mr. Mikaelson." she greeted, as they entered the living area, her smile friendly this time. All flirtatiousness from the morning gone into the thin air.
Nik narrowed his eyes internally but plastered a smile nonetheless.
"Evening. What brings you here at this hour of the day?"
"She's actually here to talk about Brie. Something related to a trip." Lucy answered, smiling warmly. "Please, sit."
"Thank you." Izra smiled as they all acquired seats, with her sitting exactly opposite to the pair.
"Anything you would like to drink? Tea, coffee, cold drink?" Lucy offered.
"No, it's fine." she smiled, her fingers fiddling with her shirt's button as she shuffled in her place.
"So, um, the school is planning an outing to Disney's Animal Theme Park for a day. So we need each parents' written permission."
"That's cool. But you needn't bother yourself travelling so far, a call would have worked." Niklaus commented.
"It's no problem." she said with a tight lipped smile. "Actually my phone is in repair and it won't be back for a week. I informed most of the parents from co-woker's phone. Only you were left. Yours wasn't connecting. Must have been a digit mistake."
"No, it's alright. And I am okay with the trip but let me ask Brie too." Lucy said, before calling out Brie's name loudly.
"BRIE!"
"Comin'."
An excited reply came back almost immediately followed by a thundering down the stairs before the girl in question appeared before them, beaming in delight.
"Evening Miss. Yanin." she smiled at the woman who returned it back.
"Do you wanna go to Animal Theme Park? With you friends?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah!" she nodded excitedly. "When is it?"
"Day after tomorrow." Izra replied.
"Any specifications?" Nik asked.
"Drop her off at the usual time and we'll leave at eight thirty and be back by five in evening. You can pick her up at five thirty."
"Okay, then. Thank you." Niklaus said dismissively.
"Yeah, of course." Izra said with a tight lipped smile, standing up, her fingers fiddling with her shirt's button.
She paused for a moment.
She couldn't possibly leave without completing what she came for.
Izra ran her eyes all around, until her eyes fell on Lucy's hands. Perfect.
"Omg." she said, her voice laden with excitement. "Is that an engagement ring?"
"No." Lucy said almost instantly, her voice sharp and edgy suddenly, as her hand instinctively covered her ring.
Niklaus frowned at her reaction.
"Oh," Izra said in a fake apologetic voice, "I thought you guys are engaged or somethin'."
"We aren't." Niklaus said, covering up. "Not yet."
"Oh, you guys are still dating then. How long has it been?" she questioned curiously, her fingers fixing her shirt's button.
"We are together, just not engaged yet. And it's been almost three months and a half." Nik explained, his worried eyes flickering to Lucy who stood there silently fuming.
She hated it whenever anybody asked about the ring.
And Niklaus had no idea till today.
"Thank you, I'll take your leave now." Izra said with a satisfied smile, finally departing.
Lucy just stormed upstairs wordlessly.
"Mom hates it whenever somebody brings up the ring." Brie whispered, her lips morphed into a sad frown. "She don't talk to anyone for hours after that."
"I'll talk to her. She'll be okay." he consoled her even though he had no idea how to console Lucy now. Nonetheless, he tried. Because all he could do is try and just try.
◇◇◆◇◆◇◇
Izra Yanin felt relieved. Her job was finally done after weeks of pretending to be a primary teacher.
"The video is on the way. I expect my payment to be done in an hour at max."
"Check your account. It's already there." said a male gruff voice. "And I expect a clear information."
"It's completely straight forward. Look at it. It has reached."
"Yeah." he said after a long pause. "It's perfect."
"Pleasure doing business. And now that our business is over." Izra said professionally. "Did you send me to spy on a witch?"
"What is it to you? Your work is done."
"I could sense her signature. It was strong. I don't want her coming after me if things go south."
"Nobody is gonna come after you for such a small thing." he laughed.
"It doesn't seem like a small thing if I have to collect proof for it." she said smugly. "A witch and vampire together. Seems like a recipe for disaster to me."
"Mind your own business." he snapped. "And next time use a better quality camera, and a spy pen camera instead of a stupid shirt button camera. We're over now."
━━━━━━✰━━━━━━
A/n :
Okay, for those who might have not noticed, the ring on Lucy's finger was the one mentioned a few chapters back, from the very recent boyfriend of hers.
And sorry for no-update last week. Just hectic exams going on. Wish me luck 🤞🤞
Okay, and, so important question -
I have originally planned the Carol death reveal way too later on, in New Orleans in like TO S1.
But now seeing your comments and reactions, I've fell into a dilemma. I'm not sure if I would be able to execute it properly if it happens very soon. I mean it would literally destroy their relationship. But if I go with my original plan then it won't destroy their relationship since the conditions at that time will be completely different.
But, I could think of a way to work it out with early reveal too.
So, tell me what to do?
Until then,
Ripahhhhhhhhhh.
Word Count : 2302