chapter sixty one

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  Faye Daniels was quite sure, at that point in time, her life couldn't get much better. While she could imagine it blossoming in to something much more beautiful and happy, her track record told her to not hope for much more. Elijah was back home, Klaus and her were possibly getting somewhere, and she was steaming a dress for prom that was in an hour. Maybe Elijah and Lacey were still on the outs and the apocalypse was upon them, but she was steaming her dress for prom! Her life really wasn't going to get much better.

  "I think this a bad time to confess that I really don't know what I'm doing," Faye confessed through a coughing fit. Steam hit her hard and she couldn't quite breathe as well as usually.

  "It's just steaming, Faye," Lacey told her, taking the steamer away from her. She pressed it up against the fabric of the dress and pressed the button. Steam flowed out with ease as Lacey moved the device downward, smoothing out ever wrinkle. "Just point the steam at the dress until it's all smooth."

  "Until the steam flies back and I die," Faye muttered before standing up from the crouch she had been in. She pushed the hair that had fallen out of her curlers behind her ear. 

  Lacey rolled her eyes. "You're an immortal hybrid. Steam isn't going to harm you."

  "I have very strong senses, okay? It's gonna mess up my sinuses."

  Another eye roll. Lacey continued to steam the dress without an issue. "I'll just finish it up so you can stop complaining."

  A gracious smile appeared on Faye's face and she took a step back towards her bed. When she felt the back of her knees his the side, she plopped down and pulled her feet up off the floor.

  "So, prom?" Lacey started up a conversation. "You excited?"

  "I am," Faye admitted, fiddling with her hands. "It's prom. I've been looking forward to this for awhile."

  "I feel like there's a but coming."

  There was. The defeated sigh she let out was heavy. "I don't know..." She trailed off, shrugging. "The idea of prom I look forward to isn't really what's going to happen." Faye gestured towards her dress that Lacey was working on, the one she had chosen months ago. "I chose that when I still with Tyler."

  And that was what she thought prom was going to be for her; Tyler. They were supposed to attend together, the idea having been implanted in Faye's mind the second senior year began. She was going to wear that dress and he wouldn't have to match the color of it with his tux. Tyler would get her corsage and she would save it even after it had wilted. They would arrive in a limo and have their photo taken at the front entrance. That photo would've been in the year book. Then they were going to dance, enjoying their last high school dance together. 

  The fairy-tale like dream she had wasn't going to come true, though. Tyler and her had called it quits and he ran off to another part of the world to escape Klaus.

  "Faye..." Lacey began, giving her niece a look of sympathy. "Just because it's not how you imagined, doesn't mean you still can't make it amazing."

  "I know," she replied with a nod. Faye didn't quite believe it, but she wanted to. She wanted it to be as amazing as she had hoped it to be. "I just wish I had a date at least."

  Lacey smirked, looking over her shoulder at her niece. Faye rolled her eyes, already knowing what she was going to say. "I'm sure Klaus would love to take you."

  The hybrid scoffed. "I'll ask Klaus to take me to prom when you work up the courage to talk to Elijah."

  The blonde vampire glared at her niece and huffed. "I'm waiting for him to come to me, okay?" She said, the demand in her voice barely seeping through the sadness. "He ran away, he gets to come back first and apologize." Lacey raised the steamer from the dress and directed it towards Faye. "And don't trying to turn our excited getting ready for prom time in to a therapy session, okay?"

  "Alright, fine." Faye held up her hands in defense at the steamer being pointed at her. "Happy prom time."

  Lacey did not even see that idea come true when the front door suddenly slammed upon downstairs. The scent of strawberry shampoo and sweet perfume filled the air, a scent Faye knew. She frowned, wondering what Caroline was doing here. The door shut downstairs once again and there was patter of feet up the stairs.

  A frazzled Caroline appeared in the doorway of Faye's room, her eyes meeting Lacey's shocked ones within seconds. Before anyone could ask why she was there, she spoke. "Lacey, please tell me you have a plethora of prom dresses hidden up in your attic that will make me look super hot."

  "Faye and I cleaned out the attic a while ago. I may have some left..." Lacey trailed off, shaking her head. "Why?

  "Elena Gilbert stole my freaking dress," Caroline revealed with anger. Faye swore she could see tears welling up in her eyes as she wiped at her forehead. Caroline let out a rush of words, "My perfect, beautiful dress that took me forever to choose. I can't find another one that is as perfect this close to prom and I'm freaking out. She ruined everything."

  The vampire was in distress, torn up about the betrayal an emotionless Elena performed. It was one of the worst things she could have done, destroying a dream of Caroline's she's had for years. Faye couldn't believe the act and further wanted Elena back to her normal state, but that couldn't happen instantly. For a moment, the idea of stealing the dress back seemed like a good option. The factor that ruled it out was the war it would possibly start.

  All Faye could do was comfort her friend. She got up from her seat on the bed and moved towards her friend. She rested a calming hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Hey, it's going to be okay."

  "Unless I can find a dress..."

  Lacey turned off the steamer, placing it on the ground besides the dress. She stood up, dusting herself off. "I'll go look in the attic, okay? Maybe there's something up there you'll be able to wear." 

  She was gone within an instant, leaving behind Faye and Caroline. Caroline placed the nail of her thumb in her mouth, chewing on it nervously.

  "Hopefully she finds something as great as yours or I'm going to die."

  Faye looked at her dress that waited patiently on the door for her. She remembered how she felt when she chose that dress, knowing it was the one for her. It was going to be the final puzzle piece to her fairytale night she had dreamed up; one that wasn't coming true.

  Caroline must have had felt the same, only times ten, but her dress had been stolen.

  It was impulsive idea. The second she had it, she knew that, but her best friend was distraught over something that she had worked so hard for. Faye could fix that within an instant.

  Faye rushed forward, grabbing the dress of the door and shoving it right in to the blonde's hands. Caroline looked her with wide and confused eyes, her mouth opening, but a word not coming out.

  "Care, take my dress," Faye told her.

  "Wait what?" 

  "Lacey is not gonna' find anything and you are not going to go to a prom you planned in your senior year without a hot ass dress," the hybrid explained quickly. She motioned towards the dress. "I have a hot ass dress that I'm gonna give to you."

  Caroline shook her head. "I'm not taking your dress. What are you going to wear?"

  "I'll figure something out," Faye shrugged with a smile on her face. It wasn't true, though. She wasn't going to figure anything out, but planned on staying home instead. She wouldn't tell Caroline that. "Right now, what is matters is you showing up to your prom looking cute." 

  The vampire was hesitant. Her eyes flicked back and forth between the dress and Faye, wanting to go for it, but not wanting to take the offering from her friend. 

  "If you don't take it I will bite you," the hybrid said.

  Caroline looked up at Faye and kept her eyes on her. A wide smile grew on her face. "You're too sweet for your own good," she told her, moving her arm to bring her in for a side hug. A kiss was placed on the side of Faye's head, resulting in a giggle.

  "Go get ready." Faye pushed on her shoulder, jokingly shoving her away and out the door. Caroline chuckled and with the dress clutched to her chest, she began making her leave. 

  "Thank you so much," she said one last time standing in the doorway. Faye gave her a salute, sending her off without another word.

  Caroline was gone within an instant, leaving behind a dress-less Faye. It didn't matter as much since she knew it for a good cause. The hybrid wore a smile as she sat back down on her bed, waiting for Lacey to return.

  The blonde vampire came stumbling in, empty handed. "Okay, I didn't find one, but-" Lacey paused when she realized there were two things missing from the room. "Where's Caroline? Where is your dress?!"  Her eyes landed on the culprit who sat with curlers in her hair and an awkward smile on her face. Faye waved, knowing she was about to be murdered. "Faye Daniels, what did you do?"

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  "This is completely unnecessary."

  Faye tried to tug her arm out of Lacey's grip, but her grip was too tight. She couldn't escape being dragged in to the Mikaelson Manor by her aunt. If she put up anymore of a fight, the curlers in her hair were going to fall out and that would only cause more anger on Lacey's part.

  "Giving away your dress was unnecessary; this isn't," Lacey responded, not even looking over at Faye. She had a determined mindset and nothing was going to break it. 

  "It was neccesary!"

  Lacey ignored her and began shouting out in to the home. "Klaus!" She yelled as they both stopped in the front foyer. They awaited a response, receiving none.

  "Looks like he's not here." Faye sagged her shoulder in mock upset. She pouted, pushing her bottom lip out. "Oh well, we tried time to go-"

  "Faye, shush." 

  Faye huffed at Lacey, crossing her arms over her chest. Lacey yelled his name again, this time moving deeper in to the house. She kept pulling Faye along everywhere she went. After every response she didn't receive, she shouted one more time, before finally, a voice came from the parlor.

  "Lacinia, if you yell one more time, you will wake the entirety of Mystic Falls." Klaus glared at her through the door way where he held a drink in his hand. A fire was going, warming the room.

  "Well, you were taking a while to respond."

  "I was having a moment of peace and quiet which you rudely interrupted," Klaus said. He sighed, his eyes flickering over to the female hybrid standing right next to Lacey. He gave her a small grin at the sight of her hair. "Hello, love. May I say your curlers look lovely on you."

 Faye scrunched up her nose at his comment. "Shut up."

  Lacey spoke up, cutting in to their moment. "I need to cash out that favor you owe me," she told Klaus. "You know, the one you owe me from prying an imaginary white oak stake out of your back."

  The female hybrid winced at the thought. She had heard about the reason Klaus had been sending text after text when she arrived back in Mystic Falls. She had dropped Elijah off to discuss things with his siblings and Klaus had thanked her for sending Lacey to his aid. He didn't enclose what he was needing aid with, but Lacey had informed her well enough.

  "I don't know if I recall-"

  "Klaus..." Lacey narrowed her eyes at him, huffing annoyingly. "It's for Faye. She needs a dress for prom."

  Klaus was confused, furrowing his brows together.  "Shouldn't she already have one?"

  "She did," the vampire answered. Lacey glanced over to Faye, raising her brows. "Would you like to tell him why you no longer have one?"

  "I gave it to Caroline because Elena stole her dress," Faye revealed, not saying it in shame as her aunt expected. Klaus let out a loud chuckle at the reasoning, covering his face with his hand. The strawberry blonde stomped her foot at him. "It's not funny. Caroline was really upset because prom means a lot to her."

  "So, you offered her your dress from something that means a lot to you too?" Klaus questioned. 

  "See, even Klaus thinks you're an idiot."

  Faye let out a scoff at her aunt. "It's fine," she assured Klaus, throwing her hands up the air. "I was excited, sure, but I'm immortal. There will be other proms. Besides, I wasn't going to get the full experience anyways."

  "The date problem can be solved if that's what you're going on about," Lacey chimed in. She wasn't going to give up on the idea of her going to prom and having a good time. "I'm sure there's a guy or girl there that would sweep you right off your feet."

  Klaus took a step forward, holding his hand up for her to stop. "Now, I'm hesitant." 

  Faye let out a short laugh at his over protectiveness. He didn't want anyone to sweep her off her feet, but him. Lacey didn't think it was cute as she had, rolling her eyes.

  "Just go find her a dress," she ordered, pointing in the other direction. He glowered in annoyance, but went anyways. "And make sure it makes her look hot!"

  "Lacey-" Faye attempted to fight against it one last time when Klaus left, but Lacey was stuck in her ways. She gently took Faye's hand, looking her straight in the eye.

  "Faye Daniels, you are going to prom," she told her sternly, "and you are going to have the best night of your life."

The hybrid pursed her lips, staying silent. She was under Lacey's gaze, it being both pleading and demanding at the same time. 

  "Okay, fine," Faye gave in, finally, deciding she didn't have much of choice. "I'll go. It better be the best night."

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  Prom night was supposed to be the best night of a high schooler's life. It was supposed to be a night of limo rides, corsages, dates, and beautiful dresses. Faye Daniels may not have had three of those things, but she could say she had a beautiful dress, courtesy of the man she loved.

  She walked in to the venue with her head held high and her clutch at her side. The venue was packed with her classmates, all out and the dance floor with their dates having a good time. Faye could feel her excitement return as she watched them all smile and laugh as they danced. 

  Her pack wasn't in the crowd, though. They were scattered along the side-lines. Caroline stood with Damon, moping off to the side. Matt was in an intense conversation with Rebekah who sat a table by herself. Elena and Bonnie were no where to be seen while Stefan Salvatore was walking towards her.

  "Faye," she heard him call out to her. 

  Faye whirled around to face him, trying to put the warmest smile on her face. She had a reason to wear one, seeing her dress, but the state of her friends was one to not. She was going to try her best, though, as she had promised Lacey.

  "Caroline said she wasn't sure if you were going to come or not after you gave her your dress," he said. Stefan gave her a once over at the word dress, a proud grin arising to his face. She gave a little twirl for him, showing it off. "I see you found one for yourself, too."

  "Yeah." She brushed her hand against the blue fabric fondly. "Klaus let me borrow one at Lacey's demand."

  "You look beautiful," he told her honestly. 

  Faye blushed at his comment. She felt beautiful; like the princess she had hoped to feel like. "Thank you," she responded. Her mind couldn't stay on the positive details of prom for long. Her eyes drifted off towards where Caroline was now chugging from Damon's flask. "Why does everyone we know look like they're not having any fun?"

  The answer was simple. "Elena." 

    She should have known. Faye rolled her eyes, sick and tired of the emotionless vampire's antics. "Why did you guys even let her come?" 

  "It wasn't like we could've stopped her," he reasoned. "It was better to just go along with it and make sure no one died, then fight and half of the senior class ends up dead." 

  Faye couldn't argue further against it. She took in a deep breath, keeping her eyes on Caroline. Stefan watched with her as the blonde vampire went to leave through the back exit, most likely making sure no one would see her leave a party she planned. Faye almost couldn't believe her eyes.

  "Caroline Forbes just left her own prom," she said in disbelief. "I have a feeling this is going to go down in the record book as the worst high school dance for us."

  "Yeah, well it's about to get worse." Damon arrived in front of the pair with Bonnie at the side. "We have a problem."

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   Faye Daniels had been at prom for the matter of ten minutes before hell broke loose. It was a record the amount of time it took for a dance to go to complete shit, outranking the 60's, the 20's, and the very memorable homecoming dance. 

  Her friends had disappeared one by one since the reveal of Silas being at the prom. Caroline went out before the news, Stefan following right after her when he went to search for the big bad of the week. Bonnie was next, running off after Elena attacked for winning prom queen and turning right back around to nearly kill the doppelganger. Stefan returned with Damon to take her back to the boarding house and figure out how to change her back to the normal Elena. Matt was the last one, but he seemed to have run off too in the process. 

  The human students of Mystic Falls continued on inside, the party far from ending. Faye could feel the music thump in her bones as she sat out sight on a park bench set up, looking at the photos from the year that flashed on the screens. She could almost feel the irony of seeing the happiest moments of her and her friends at high school captured on the screen of what was supposed to be the happiest, most amazing time of it. 

  She didn't even know why she was still there. Maybe it was to see if anything got better, but she doubted it. 

  Faye let out a sigh, running her hand through her perfectly done hair. Lacey had tried her best to give her niece the fairy tale dream, telling her to make the best of it. They both should have known better. Even trying her hardest, she doubted it could make the mess it had turned in to any less of one.

  "Prom not enjoyable, love?"

  The voice cut through the night air, alerting her. She glanced up, her chin in her hand and her eyes filled with confusion. Klaus stood, in all his glory, next to her and she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Of course he would show up. It wasn't a chaotic Mystic Falls dance if he didn't. 

  "What are you doing here?" She asked him.

  "I'm here to attend this dance teenagers spend their whole lives waiting for." Klaus gestured towards the building where whooping teenagers could be heard. A look of disgust appeared on his face."I'm not impressed so far."

"Yeah, same here," Faye huffed out. 

  He wore a sour expression as he sat down next to the strawberry blonde. "Didn't Lacinia tell you to go and make this 'the best night of your life'?" Faye nodded. "It doesn't sound like you did."

  "Well, I didn't even have the chance to try," she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. "Silas showed up within the first ten minutes I was here and from there on out, it was absolute chaos. This whole night absolutely sucked."

  She almost fell out of her seat when she felt his hand clasp around hers. Faye glanced over at her him, her eyes slightly wide in surprise. He gave it a comforting squeeze as he spoke.

    "I'm sorry you didn't get the night of your dreams, love."

  Faye swore she had never heard him sound more genuine and sincere about anything from the moment she met him. The corner of her lip quirked up in to a small smile. 

   "It's alright. I'm immortal; I'll get plenty more chances at this," she told him reassuringly. Faye brushed her hand against her beautiful dress once again, drawing Klaus' attention to it. "I'm just sorry you picked out a dress for a crappy night. I wish it could see a better one."

  "Well, the night is not over yet."

  As if on cue, the upbeat pop song that had been rocking her senior prom shifted in to a slow tune that must have brought everyone inside closer. Klaus stood up from his seat, turning around to face her. Faye quirked a brow, wondering what he was doing. 

  "I'm assuming you didn't get to have a dance this evening with the trouble going on around you," he said, holding out his hand to her. 

  "When you put it like that, it sounds depressing," she commented, earning an eye roll. "Are you asking me to dance with you?"

  "I thought it was quite obvious."

  Faye pulled a smile at him, looking down at the hand he had offered. She was hesitant, but after a moment or two she finally took it. The hybrid allowed herself to be pulled up from her seat and right in to his arms. Klaus rested his free hand on her hip while she put hers on his shoulders. 

  They danced much like they had at the decade dance where he swooped him, asking her to come with him to the ends of the Earth. The had swayed together to the music as Faye denied his offer and sent him off. There was no hostility in this one, though. 

  Klaus twirled her around once, her dress flowing out around her. She let out a soft giggle as she was pulled right back in.

  "You're being nicer than usual," she said when she came back in. He raised his brows, questioning what she meant. "You came to my prom, comforted me, and now you're dancing with me. What's going on? Are you going to offer me to see the world again and you want me to say yes?"

  "If I did, would you?"

  "Klaus, I still have to graduate." 

  "Worth a shot."

  Faye beamed at him, laughing out loud. The look he gave her when she did was the greatest thing she had ever seen in her entire life; complete admiration. It made her feel giddy and in love. Her stomach twisted in to knots and her heart sped up as she looked in to his eyes. 

  "Really, though?" She continued to question him again. "What's up with you?"

    There was a long pause before his answer. A smile grew on his face and he let out an airy laugh. "I shared the interest of giving you the night of your dreams." 

  "And you assumed you were apart of it?" She teased, earning another eye roll from him. Faye leaned forward, giving him a kiss on the corner of his lips. His grin grew wider at it. "Thank you. It means the world to me that you did this."

  Maybe she didn't have Tyler, or the fairy-tale prom she dreamed up. She had this, though, and this was something.

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A/N: YOU ALL WILL NOT BELIEVE THE STRUGGLE I WENT THROUGH TO WRITE THIS. 

It's been a whirlwind ya'll. FTHOAW has been under some major stress in the past couple of months. I started editing this and planning the sequel. I changed the face claim to Molly C. Quinn if you guys didn't know for reason I explained in my last author's note. There's about four chapters left to this and I'm kind of freaking out ya know.

I used a new format on this chapter. What do you guys think?

I'm doing a last Q&A for this book too, so you can start thinking up your questions now! You can either place it here in an inline comment, or I will create a whole new chapter for you to post them.

This is the dress I imagined Faye was given by Klaus. If you want the backstory I created behind it, it's a dress he had bought as an option to give Faye for the ball, but went with the other instead. He found a use for it, though, eventually.

Next chapter: (The lead in to the Lacey sequel). Lacey Daniels returns to New Orleans, Elijah Mikaelson makes heart eyes at the bamf love of his life, and neither of them ever now how to work things out.

REMEMBER I NEED TEN COMMENTS THAT DON'T INCLUDE THE WORD "UPDATE" OR ANYTHING LIKE IT FOR ME TO DO EXACTLY THAT.  

- Karina