"Maddie, be careful!" Claire shouts running a restless hand through her hair.

"I'm fine, mom!" Madelyn shouted back. Claire sighs hugging herself and shifting on her feet. Madelyn, the little knuckle head, knew exactly how to get exactly what she wanted. She knew Claire felt bad for missing their riding day and would do more things than normal to get back in her good graces. Madelyn gave Claire a list of terms Claire would have to meet to settle things between the two of them.

1. Ice Cream for breakfast for two days.

2. Stay up past bed time, up to an hour, for a week.

3. She gets to ride Rocket.

Originally, before Claire had 'left', Madelyn wanted to ride Snowball. Claire was now all for her riding Snowball but Madelyn upgraded. Rocket isn't old nor docile like Snowball. He's fast, strong and can be temperamental. He's not as big as Snowball but more difficult to deal with.

"Maddie, you have 5 more minutes!" Claire shouted. She knew Madelyn heard her but the 5-year-old didn't respond. She was having the time of her life, grinning from ear to ear as she trots around the arena.

"I'd say you've definitely made it up to her" Elijah says coming to a stand beside her. "And then some" 

"I hope so" Claire whispers. "I couldn't take the silent treatment anymore" Madelyn had refused to talk to Claire for a couple of days. She missed the sound of her daughters voice, the sight of her bright smile and the warmth of her hugs.

"She's doing remarkably well for her age" Elijah notes pulling Claire into his embrace. He grins slightly as she relaxes against him. He kisses the top of her head, their eyes glued on Madelyn.

"She's only five and she's a better rider than I am" Claire says grinning proudly. "She seems to really enjoy it. I just wish she was more careful and not so head strong" Elijah laughs and rubs her back.

"So you wish she was less like you?" Elijah asks. Claire sighs leaning more into his embrace.

"None of our children are going to be easy are they?" Claire whispers. Elijah laughs and shakes his head.

"I'm afraid not, Elskan" He replies to her. "But I can promise you that it will not be boring" Claire smiles and glances up at him.

"I love you" She whispers. He meets her gaze and presses their foreheads together.

"I love you more" He mutters kissing her lightly. She smiles enjoying the soft kiss before pulling away. Her eyes return to Madelyn. She stops Rocket by them and looks at Elijah.

"Papa my butt hurts" She pouted.

"Well, we can't have that now can we?" He asks and she shakes her head with a mischievous grin. "Why don't we go put Rocket away and then we can make some pizza" He winks at her.

"Ok!" She grins with her eyes as wide as can be. Claire sighs and shakes her head.

"Ice cream for breakfast and pizza for dinner, mother of the year" Claire says sarcastically. Elijah laughs softly.

"Papa!" Madelyn whines.

"Coming sweetheart" Elijah calls out. Claire grabs his hand and gives it a gentle squeeze before letting him go to her. Claire smiles at the pair of them. She watches Elijah pick Madelyn up off the saddle and set her on the ground. She came up to his waist and looked up at him like the daddy's girl she is.

Turning around she heads back towards the house, walking through the kitchen. The instant she walks in she freezes and everything goes silent. She looks at Penelope and Kai and they look back at her. Her sister and her mate are covered with flower, there's pizza sauce all over the kitchen and dough on the floor.

Claire opens her mouth to says something but ends up just closing it. She grins at the two of them, laughs and walks away. Penelope giggles and the screeches as Kai begins to chase her around the island again.

"And just like that, we have two five-year-old's" Caroline says walking down the steps. Claire grins at her sister. "Klaus set up a dinner for tomorrow. All of us with Davina and Marcel and all of his supporters."

"That's gonna be one hell of a dinner" Claire mutters. Caroline nods in agreement. "Hopefully we'll all make it out alive"

"One can only hope" Caroline mutters. "But I think we can make it through one dinner. Especially with you in charge" Claire sighs and walks into the living room, Caroline following her. Enzo appears, joining Caroline's side.

"What am I doing?" Claire whispers. "Can you believe that we're actually here? In this room? In this situation?" Claire laughs to herself. "So much is on the line, if anything goes wrong so many people are going to lose their lives"

"Heavy is the head that wears the crown" Enzo says snapping Claire out of her thoughts. "For what it's worth, I think you're doing an great job. You're taking everything that's coming at you and you're getting stronger."

"You are" Caroline nods in agreement. She sends Enzo a smile before looking at Claire. "If you would have told me Junior year that this is where we'd be, that you'd be leading a coven of your own, that you would be fighting to be Queen of New Orleans, I wouldn't have believed it. But now, I couldn't imagine life any differently."

"Queen" Claire whispers. She had been so focused on helping Klaus and the others gain control of New Orleans, helping them become Kings, that it honestly hadn't occurred to her that she would be Queen. It was like a detail that never sank in until someone had specifically told her. "I don't know what I'm doing, Caroline" Claire whispers. "I don't know how to be queen, I don't know if I'm making the right decisions, if I'm doing whats best-"

"Yes you do" Caroline smiles. "You know exactly what you're doing because it's instinct. You've always tried to do what's best for others but you know when enough is enough. You know how to be ruthless but merciful, you know how to be smart and cunning. You know how to be queen you just have to get your head wrapped around the notion"

"Every good and successful leader has an equally good and successful council" Enzo tells Claire. "And you are not short in council, not short in opinions, and not short in help. Just don't lose your ability to listen" Enzo advises. Claire nods slowly.

"You're going to rock this dinner tomorrow" Caroline grins. "And everyone's going to be there to see it" Claire smiles slightly. "How's the baby?" Caroline questions.

"Restless" Claire grumbles. "She settles down around Klaus. I've been sleeping in his bed more often than not, it's the only time I can sleep" She whispers feeling slightly guilty. She knew she has been favoring Klaus over the others lately, not that she meant too but with the pregnancy she just felt drawn to her. The only one who could understand is Kol. He remembers her during her pregnancy, they felt drawn to each other more than usual.

"Have you thought of any names yet?" Caroline asks. Claire slowly shakes her head.

"Guess I've been a little busy" Claire says with a shrug.

"I remember you liking the name Lucy" Bonnie says coming into the room with Jamie. "It was between Lucy and Madelyn the first time wasn't it?" Bonnie tries to recall.

"I do like that name" Claire mutters nodding.

"Has Klaus thought of it?" Caroline asked.

"I think he's still shocked over the fact that he got me pregnant and then he keeps his focus on the problems at hand." Claire said shrugging. "Neither of us had honestly given it much thought."

"Well, hopefully everything will start to settle down soon and you can start focusing on the fun stuff" Bonnie says wiggling her eyebrows.

"The fun stuff is what got her here" Enzo teased smirking. Bonnie gives him a playful glare and throws a pillow at him.

"I meant like planning for the baby" Bonnie says sarcastically. Enzo smirks at her. "Doing the nursery and buying clothes"

"I remember doing Madelyn's nursery" Claire smiles softly as she rubs her stomach. Bonnie laughs while Caroline rolls her eyes in annoyance. All three of them were thinking of the color theme and how Jeremy had accidentally spilled paint on Caroline's new clothes.

As they reminisced in the memory they suddenly got sucked into more memories of Mystic Falls. Bonnie thought about Elena, her father, her mother and Grams. Caroline thought about Matt, the Grill, and Tyler. Claire thought about Jeremy, Stefan, and Elena. All o them missed Mystic Falls, missed their old lives no matter how small their feelings are.

"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" Madelyn shouted racing into the room.

"Yes? Yes? Yes?" Claire asked grinning.

"It's your turn to make a pizza!" Madelyn grabbed her hand and tugged on it. Claire grins and sits up letting her daughter drag her into the kitchen. Elijah instantly gravitates towards her.

"Are you alright?" He whispers. She smiles and caresses his cheek.

"I'm perfect" She whispers. He smiles pecking her lips lightly before the three of them got to work on the pizza.

*A/N*

1. Sorry for the shortish chapter, the next one will be longer.

2. I want to give Claire's coven a name, any suggestions? If I choose your suggestion I'll give you credit!

3. Since I'm going off and doing my own thing, a lot of chapters are going to be different than the show. I'll still incorporate events that happened in the show but it's still going to be mainly my plot. This being said I want to give the chapters titles. Originally I was just name the chapters after the episodes but now that's gonna be harder. So, my solution is this. {titles within these brackets are the titles of the episodes} [titles in these brackets are my own titles]

I understand that I probably didn't have to explain what was going on with the whole title thing but now I feel better.

I hope you are all enjoying this book still, I can't believe how popular this one and the first book are getting. It makes me so happy and I feel so accomplished.

Please don't forget to vote!

Please comment! I want your opinions! I want your feedback! I read EVERY comment! I love reading them! It literally the first thing I do when I wake up!

I love you all!