Who: Finn Mikaelson, Kol Mikaelson and Rebekah Mikaelson What: Catching up over dinner When: Backdated: A weekend in June; shortly after this Where: Rebekah's Apartment Rating/Warnings: Family Friendly Status: Complete!
Rebekah stood in the kitchen of her new apartment, preparing for the dinner she told her brothers to come to. This room was definitely the favorite of her new home and the one she had scrutinized the most when apartment hunting with Kol. While spending the year traveling the younger Mikaelson had discovered that she enjoyed cooking. And not only that, she was rather good at it. It also took her mind off of things.
She had her first dream last night, something she had not yet told Finn or Kol. The person she most wanted to talk to about it wasn't answering her calls and seemed to be at war with everyone. The little wooden carving from her dreams had been on her pillow when she had woken up and now sat on her mantle amongst the knick knacks she had gathered over the past year.
A knock on the door brought her out of her musings and back into the present. Pushing away the dreams for a little longer she wiped her hands on a towel.
"It's open!" she called out, loud enough for whoever was on the other side of the door to hear.
“Still can’t believe you chose to get an apartment Beks. You know your trust fund would have totally enabled you to get a condo. We could have lived in the same housing division. All the better to watch you and make sure you’re not dating riff raff,” he teased as he kissed her cheek and presented her with a two bottles of wine. One White and one Red. “Although I do have to say, you made the place look homey.”
Walking into the kitchen he was surprised to see food already cooking and that it smelled well….good! “When did you learn to cook?” He asked a little surprised. “It IS edible, right?”
Part of Finn felt guilty for not spending more time with his sister since she had come back to Orange County, but at the same time, he had been looking for Klaus, despite the fact that their brother had broken his neck the last time he’d seen him, but he’d also been working and he still felt guilty for what had happened eight years earlier before he’d left for Virginia. He hadn’t really talked to Rebekah about any of that yet and didn’t know how his drug use had affected her. Kol, Rebekah and Henrik had been so young then and Finn should have been more responsible and been there for them. For all of them, including Klaus, considering what was going on at the time.
So when Rebekah had asked them to come over for dinner, Finn couldn’t pass on it and had stopped to get dessert on his way over. Reaching Rebekah’s building, he went up to her apartment and knocked on the door, his enhanced hearing picking up Rebekah and Kol’s voices inside.
"Oh yes, that's just what I need. One of my brothers watching my every move." she said with a roll of her eyes before returning the affection and taking the bottles off Kol's hands. Putting the white away she set the red on the counter and opened it up, giving it a chance to breathe. It would go well with dinner.
"I'm a wonderful cook I'll have you know! And you don't have to eat it if you want to be mean about it you brat!" she snarked playfully as she headed towards the door again. She had missed this. Having her siblings around. Opening the door and seeing Finn, she smiled widely before throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly. "I'm so glad to see you!"
“Oh how cute, you think I’m not going to be watching your every move even though you’re here,” he teased. “I have my sources, Bekah and I’ll know if there is anyone I need to rough up,” he said with a smirk as he kissed her forehead before following her to the door to greet his oldest brother. He was glad Finn was back in their lives, and fucking furious that Klaus had snapped his neck.
“Hey Finn, glad you could make it,” he said taking the desert from his hands so their sister would not crush it when she hugged him. “You’re going to have to invite him in Beks. You invited me in after we bought the place, so I didn’t need it this time. He’s never been here before.”
Finn hadn’t even thought about the fact that Rebekah was going to have to invite him in. Ever since becoming a vampire, Finn had mostly only gone to public places and his own apartment. He didn’t really have many friends in Orange County and when they’d gone over their parents’ house for the first time since he’d become a vampire, his mother had told him to come in before he’d even thought about it. “It’s true. I need to be invited in now.” He said as he released his sister from the hug. “And Kol, if anyone can take care of themselves best, it’s Rebekah. I don’t think any of us need to keep tabs on her.”
The fact that she now had to invite her own family into her apartment was strange to her. She always just assumed that they would wander in whenever they felt like. Pulling back from the hug she stepped aside.
"Come on in Finn," she said, closing the door behind him. "Dinner isn't quite done yet, so just sit down and relax. Keep Kol from being an annoying brat." she added teasingly. Part of her desperately wanted to bring up her dreams. But tonight was about them. The real them just being together again.
“Being a protective big brother doesn’t just turn off because she’s capable,” Kol frowned. Finn had been gone during part of their High School years. He wasn’t the one that had to size up the boys that showed interest in Rebekah. That had fallen on Kol who had been closest to her in age. “You’re right though. If anyone can handle themselves it’s our dearest little sister,” he said as he fondly kissed the top of her head again before allowing her to go off into the kitchen.
He sat down on the couch and looked at his brother, “so he snapped your neck huh? At least he doesn’t have the daggers or the White Oak stake. Although I’m kind of surprised he hasn’t gone after father and mother out of spite. Considering he’s the one who killed mother in our dreams. Do you think we should consider getting them someplace safe? They would unknowingly invite him into the house and that could prove to be a problem.”
“Thank you, Rebekah.” Finn stepped inside, taking in the apartment, “How are you enjoying being back?” When Finn had moved back to Orange County, it had taken him some time to get used to being back, but he had been gone a lot longer than Rebekah had been.
When Kol sat down on the couch, Finn followed him, frowning slightly at the reminder of of their brother snapping his neck, “Kol, Rebekah doesn’t know about that.” Finn had thought about telling Kol that he had a white oak stake and had possessed it for some time now, but telling even one other person could make it easier for Klaus to find out, “And our father won’t invite him in, so I think they’re safe.” Finn felt that if Klaus was going to go after their parents, he would have done it already.
Rebekah froze when she heard Kol mention Klaus snapping Finn’s neck. The mere thought made her feel sick to her stomach. She didn’t want to believe that her brother was capable of such a terrible act. That wasn’t the brother she had grown up with, the one who doted on her and kept her company through everything.
“I um...I have to go finish dinner..” She got out shakily before walking quickly out of the room. She didn’t want to hear the rest of this particular conversation. She needed a distraction.
“Well she needs to,” Kol said seriously. “Those two were close as hell, thick as thieves and she needs to realize that for the time being that Nik is dangerous. Even to her. And lets face it, Nik loves her more than us. She’s breakable. We aren’t. She needs to be aware of it,”
He frowned however when he saw how deeply it did upset his baby sister, so he walked into the kitchen to hug her close to him, kissing the top of her head gently, “I didn’t mean to frighten you Bekah. I just don’t want anything to happen to you. There is nobody I love more than you. Not even Tats has my heart like you do.”
Rebekah’s reaction was exactly why Finn hadn’t wanted her to know that Klaus has snapped his neck and he sighed, “And that’s why I think that Rebekah is safest out of all of us. I don’t think he would hurt her.” He followed Kol into the kitchen, watching his younger brother and sister, “Why don’t we put any talk of Niklaus on hold for tonight.” He didn’t want to upset Rebekah any further.
Rebekah gave her older brother a grateful look at his suggestion of Nik. She knew she couldn't sweep it under the rug and ignore it but she just wanted a little time with her brothers that didn't involve bad news. She wanted her apartment to be a bubble of only for a little while.
"I made Italian for dinner tonight." She commented, a way of cementing the subject change. "I'm sure mother thought I was just off partying this past year but I actually found that I enjoy doing this. And Kol there better not be any smartass comments on how it might kill you."
Kol gave a cheeky, unrepentant grin that promised all sorts of mischief as he sat down at the table. “Beks…” he theatrically placed his hand over his heart, his face looking like the very picture of virtue and innocence. “I promise that I won’t make any smart ass comments about how you’re food is likely to kill me,”
“As for mother and father--who gives a fuck what they think? You went off and you did good. I’m proud of you Beksboo,” he said sincerely, using his special nickname he had given her when they were small children. “So, tell me, what was your favorite thing to see there? When I go, Tower of London is definitely on my list of things to see.”
Finn couldn’t help but raise a brow at the nickname, thinking that they were both just a tad bit old for Kol to be using nicknames like that out loud for their sister, but he didn’t say anything. Instead he focused on Rebekah, “Is there anything we can help with?”
“No, no. You guys just relax.” She said shaking her head with a smile. “I’m the one who said I’d do the cooking!”
She rolled her eyes slightly at the baby name Kol had given her when she was younger. She wondered if Kol would ever see her as the adult she now was. But she also knew it was out of love so she didn’t gripe about it too much.
“London was nice.” She agreed as she began slicing tomatoes. “I really enjoyed Italy though. Tuscany was absolutely beautiful. And Venice of course was stunning. It’s hard to really pick a favorite though. I loved all the places I visited. What about you two? What have you been up to while I was gone?”
“Lots of things. There was the knee injury that ended my basketball career,” he tapped his knee where there was still a slight limp--or would have been, had he not transitioned into a vampire, “but I got a sweet job at ESPN so now I’m covering sports games, just not playing them. Dear old dad was not impressed and thinks I purposely injured my leg so badly the bone was sticking out. I could play again now that I’m a vampire, but I don’t want to compel away questions about how I was able to bounce back from my injury. Plus, the added advantage of being a vampire takes the fun out of it. But I did graduate college with honors. Not bad for being the High School male slut who scraped by with C’s.”
Finn listened as Rebekah talked about London and Kol talked about what he’d been up to recently. He’d often wondered, had he been around while his younger siblings had been in high school what sort of influence would he have been to them. Did they turn out as well as they did because they didn’t want to become drug addicts like Finn had been or had Elijah and Klaus been the good influences that Finn should have been?
When it was his turn to speak, Finn wasn’t entirely sure where to begin, “You know that I was doing work with anti drug groups in Virginia for awhile. After that was when I decided to go back to school and since I moved back here two years ago, I’ve been working as a drug rehab counselor.”
"That's really wonderful Finn," the younger sibling said with a sincere smile as she finished with the salad, moving the bowl to the table. She was so proud of her brother for pulling himself out of the depths of his addiction. He would do amazing work helping people out of the same situation. "And Kol just remember that you're doing what you love. Who cares what father thinks."
Just then the timer on the oven went off, signaling that the food was done. Ushering the boys to sit Rebekah went back to the kitchen and returned a moment later with a steaming pan of lasagna. It was admittedly a simple dish but it was comfort food. It seemed like a perfect choice for a family meal.
Kol smiled and bit into the the lasagna, smiling and winking at his sister. “It tastes good, Bekah. I’m impressed. Here I thought you’d burn water,” he teased gently, squeezing her hand to let her know he was just having some a bit of gentle fun at her expense.
“What are your plans now that you’re back home? What do you intend to do career wise?”
Finn sat down as Rebekah went to take the lasagna out of the oven and set his napkin in his lap, which was one of many things that he couldn’t shake from their upscale upbringing. “This looks and smells fantastic, Rebekah.” Finn was glad that just because he and Kol were vampires that that didn’t mean that they couldn’t still eat actual food like vampires in some movies and tv shows. “No, Kol, we leave that to you.” He glanced at their brother, shaking his head slightly.
"We can discuss my future later," Rebekah replied as she sat down, following Finns lead and placing a napkin over her own lap. "Tonight is just a night to relax. To spend time with each other again."
She couldn't help but smile throughout dinner, happy that her brothers were here. She should have kept in touch better while she was away. But she planned to change all that now that she was home. Her family was the most important thing to her. It was a close to perfect night.