ELEANOR DESPISED THE SIXTIES, TO BE HONEST. Being back in the attire just gave her flashbacks to men underestimating her — even more than they currently did — and assassinations. No one was happy in the sixties.

And she hated to be that person, but half of these people weren't even dressed in sixties dresses.

But, because Caroline was so passionate about her decade dance, Eleanor put on her big girl dress and attended. She really needed to start finding dates to these things because she was done standing by the punch and watching her friends spin around with theirs.

She had finally flirted with a guy without throwing up, and he agreed to dance with her when Stefan interrupted and ruined it. He stepped in for the boy, compelling him to leave.

Eleanor furrowed her eyebrows when the Salvatore man began swinging her around to the music. She immediately knew that something was up. "What's wrong?"

"No one yet," he answered, and her eyebrow shot up in question and concern. He explained, "Klaus is here."

Her heart dropped at the news, even though she knew it was coming sooner or later. She remained calm, though, not missing a step in the dance. "Where?"

"We have no idea," he responded, spinning her around and dipping her. As he did so, he told her, "But keep your eye out for anything that might be weird, okay?" He left her standing on the dance floor alone, and she just sighed and headed to the bathroom.

But she furrowed her eyebrows when she reached the hallway and heard talking. She peeked around the corner to see Alaric standing in front of Elena and Bonnie. He sighed, "I just had to get away from that dance. The sixties, ugh. Not my decade. I mean, whose call was that, anyway? I much prefer the twenties. The style, the parties, the jazz."

"Alaric, are you on vervain?" the Gilbert girl questioned, and Eleanor was confused as well. She had not had many conversations with the man, but he definitely seemed off. He was acting like he had been there during the twenties.

He chuckled and tilted his head. Something was definitely off. "Now, why would you ask me that question, Elena?"

"He's being compelled," Elena concluded.

"Nope. Try again," he replied, shaking his head, and Eleanor was close to revealing herself. She didn't want to step out before she got the information that she needed. "Okay, I'll give you a hint. I am not Alaric."

Damn it. Neither of the girls in front of him seemed to be getting it, so Eleanor took a deep breath and stepped out from the wall she was hiding behind. They all looked at her when she breathed out, "Klaus."

"Eleanor!" he exclaimed, a grin spreading across his face as Elena's face dropped in horror. "Pleasure seeing you here."

"Wish I could say the same," she responded. She moved toward the girls so that she was standing slightly in front of Elena.

"Just relax. I'm not here to hurt Elena. She's not on my hit list tonight," he informed them before turning to Bonnie. "But you are." He raised his eyebrows at the Chetwood girl. "And I wasn't planning on it, but it might be time for Eleanor's story to end."

The female vampire started toward him, but before she could do anything, Bonnie threw him into the lockers with her power. He just got right back up with a laugh. "Now, did I mention that I knew a witch? You're gonna have to hit me a lot harder than that. Fire away. If you kill this body, I'll just get a new one. Maybe Jeremy."

"You two, get the hell out of here," Eleanor told them, and when they didn't move, she shouted, "Go! Run! Go!"

Klaus just smiled smugly as the two ran down the hall, and while his eyes weren't on her, Eleanor sped toward him. She shoved him into a trophy case, shattering it, but she wasn't sure what she could do to stop him without killing Alaric.

He punched her in the face, and she stumbled back because he really packed a punch. She brought her leg up to kick him, but he caught it before she could and just flipped her over.

She was angry now. She sped at him again, this time shoving him down the hall. Before he could get up, he ran and slammed her heel down on his nose. Before she could stomp on his face again, he grabbed her foot and tripped her.

They got back up to their feet at the same time, and all of a sudden, a familiar voice called down the hallway, "Ellie, what are you doing?"

Eleanor's head turned to see Caroline standing at the end of the hallway, looking beautiful but staring at her in horror. It looked like she was kicking Alaric's ass since the blonde girl didn't know it was Klaus.

The Original took advantage of her moment of distraction and shoved her right into the broken trophy case. Caroline screamed, and Eleanor gasped in shock and pain as pieces of wood plunged into her back and through her stomach and chest. She breathed out a small sigh when she was sure that it didn't pierce her heart.

Surprisingly, Klaus just waved at her and turned, walking through the double doors on the other side of the hallway. Immediately, the Forbes girl was running over to her as she breathed frantically. "Ellie! Oh, my God. Why did Alaric do that?"

"It's not Alaric," she answered, and she had to take a couple of deep breaths. Despite the fact that she had been alive for far too long and had wished to die at many points in that life, she had genuinely been scared for her life for a second there. And it was freaking Alaric who took her down. "It's Klaus."

"How can I help? What can I do?" Caroline asked, holding her hands up like she didn't know what to do or where to put them first.

Eleanor sighed, knowing this was about to be extremely painful. "I need you to very slowly and very carefully pull me off. Go too fast, and one of the pieces could knick my heart."

"Okay, okay. Here we go," the blonde girl responded, and she took off the jacket that she had on for her Jackie Onassis look, leaving her in a white tank top. She wrapped her arms around Eleanor's waist and slowly started to pull. The brunette girl cried out as she moved, the wood moving through her skin. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Finally, she was off, and she could feel most of her skin beginning to heal. She breathed out, "Thank you."

"Are you okay?" Caroline asked because the girl was on her knees and taking in deep breaths. Eleanor nodded quickly, closing her eyes.

"There's still a bunch of splinters," she explained because she could feel them all in her back and some even deeper. "It's gonna take me all night to get back there and get them out."

Caroline looked skeptical. There was no way that Eleanor was flexible enough to get to some of the spots on her back that had been punctured. The Forbes girl just grabbed her jacket and got ready to go. "I'll take you home and help."

"You don't have to—" the brunette started.

Caroline cut her off. "Don't even. You've done so much for me, Ellie. Let me help." Her voice was firm and final, and at that, Eleanor simply nodded.

"Yes, ma'am."

When they made it back to Eleanor's apartment, Caroline helped her out of her dress, and she put on some sweatpants and a sports bra. The Forbes girl continued to order her around, making her lie down on her stomach on the couch while the blonde got everything she needed.

She then brought a chair and sat down beside the couch with tweezers and some pliers and got to work, digging each piece out with Eleanor's directions. The Chetwood woman winced as she dug the pliers further into her back. "Sorry."

"It's okay. Keep going," Eleanor told her, and she buried her face in the cushion to stop from crying out. "And talk to distract me."

"Is Klaus the one who killed your brother?" Caroline asked after a moment, and Eleanor's eyes widened. Wow, she was really jumping right in. It happened years and years ago, but it still felt like a fresh wound.

"Yes," she answered honestly. She couldn't imagine herself being that open with anyone else, but something about Caroline brought it out of her. "He, uh, found out that I was helping Katherine, and let's just say you really don't want to be on his bad side."

The blonde stopped for a moment, her eyes flicking from Eleanor's muscular shoulders down to her bare waist. She snapped out of it after a second, wondering what the hell she had been doing. "What makes him so dangerous?"

"He's like a child," Eleanor sighed. Despite having two younger siblings, he acted the least mature from the ones that Eleanor had met. "He won't stop throwing fits and wreaking havoc until he gets what he wants."

"He sounds annoying," Caroline scoffed.

"He is," the Chetwood girl confirmed with a slight chuckle. She winced again, tensing up as Caroline got ahold of the deepest piece. She took a deep breath when she felt a hand on her waist, but she eased up when she felt the blonde running her hand up to her shoulder to calm her down.

"Last piece," Caroline assured her, removing the pliers and plopping the bloody wood down on the plate with the rest of the piece. "And you're good. Do you feel anything else?"

Eleanor moved around for a second, but everything seemed to be healing. She sat up and shook her head. "No, thank you so much, Caroline."

"What are friends for?" the Forbes girl responded, and she was right. What are friends for?