"There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate."

― Linda Grayson

It had taken Imogen Clare a fair amount of time to adjust to the quiet that now filled her nights. Before the events of the Harvest ritual that had changed her life, she spent her weekdays either at home with her parents dulled voices like white noise in the background of her mind as she tried to ignore them the best she could while she took care of her baby sister.

When Davina was still an infant, the sound of The Wiggles or soundtracks from Disney movies singing in the upstairs playroom could be heard from every room in the house as she idly played with her building blocks or her baby doll that Imogen had brought for her second Christmas. Imogen would sit to the side of the room on one of the comfortable armchairs with a book in hand or her homework from school that day as she protectively watched over the rebellious toddler to make sure she didn't do anything that would put herself in harm.

As they both grew older, The Wiggles stopped playing quietly in the background and were replaced with the likes of Bon Jovi, Elvis Presley, Madonna, AC/DC, Good Charlotte and any other band or musician that the girls discovered on one of their many trips to the local record store. If there was one thing that Imogen had wanted to pass on to her younger sister it was that one simple song could change your view of the world.

Imogen's weekends during her college career were normally spent surrounded by raucous laughter of young people in a drunken haze, deafening music being played from speakers and idle chatting spoken loudly over the resounding bass vibrating the floor of whatever club she and her friends had conned their way into that night.

But now that her world has been turned upside down, her nights were normally spent alone in her newly acquired apartment as she finished whatever researched paper she needed to complete for her psychology degree or simply reading one of her many books quietly on her comfortable couch with a glass of wine in her hand.

Imogen sighed slightly to herself as she turned her head from her copy of To Kill A Mockingbird to gaze out the window at the lights of the French Quarter and reluctantly admitted to herself that the view from her new apartment's longue room window was absolutely gorgeous in the clear night sky.

A few weeks pry, Marcel had made the compelling argument that she was much safer in the French Quarter where he could keep a mindful eye on her and protective her from the witches that were still trying to use her to find Davina's location. Imogen had argued relentlessly for hours after he first suggested it but the self-proclaimed King was just as stubborn as she was and matched her arguments instantly with one of his own. It took them three hours straight of heated debate until Marcel finally became frustrated with the argument and offered her a deal that she couldn't refuse and that was how Imogen won the right to have a sleepover with her sister for one weekend of their choosing.

The day after Marcel had convinced Imogen to move into one of the apartment buildings he owned in the middle of the French Quarter, a few daywalkers and a bunch of hired humans showed up on her doorstep with cardboard boxes in hand.

Imogen placed her half-full glass of red wine down on the coffee table in front of her as she uncrossed her legs gracefully and memorised the page number of her book before setting it down next to the wine glass. She hummed to herself in boredom as she gracefully pushed herself to her feet with her arms extended over her head to stretch her muscles and she rolled her neck from side to side with her eyes closed as she cleared her throat gently.

A quiet knock on the front door to her apartment startled her enough to make her stuck in a sharp breath as her bluish eyes sprung open in surprise and she stiffened with suspicion as she slowly started walking towards the door with a frown on her lips. It was extremely uncommon for anyone to come knocking on her door, especially after nine o'clock at night and Imogen hesitantly opened the door with her magic slowly swelling in her stomach in case she needed to defend herself against an attack.

On the other side of the threshold stood Rebekah Mikaelson in all of her picturesque glory as she shifted nervously on her feet with a shy smile on her lips and Imogen blinked once in surprise as she relaxed her stance at the sight of the Original sister.

"Rebekah. Hi." Imogen greeted her friend warmly with a bright smile as she slackened her hold on the magical energy filling her stomach and she noticed Rebekah licked her lips in an uncharacteristic show of anxiety.

Rebekah took a deep breath to calm her shaky nerves as she took in Imogen's outfit of comfortable tracksuit pants, a Tulane university t-shirt that was two sizes too big for her so that it hung off one of her shoulders with no shoes on her feet and she marvelled at how gorgeous the young brunette witch looked even when she was dressed so casually. It really wasn't a wondered that Elijah and Marcel both seemed so transfixed on the blue eyes beauty standing in front of her because Rebekah had learned in her short time in New Orleans that Imogen was as beautiful inside as she was breathtaking outside.

"Hello, Imogen. I know you witches love your privacy, so I won't insult your intelligence by asking you to inviting me inside." Rebekah said in amusement as she quirked a pale eyebrow at the witch with a small smirk on her lips and Imogen chuckled softly as she ducked her head slightly before looking back at her friend.

"You can come in, Rebekah. I'm a power witch. I can just reinforce the entry spell later if I ever need to." The young brunette said nonchalantly as she waved a hand in the air dismissively with a subtle roll of her eyes and she turned on her heel as she pushed the door open wider in a silent invitation for Rebekah to follow her into the apartment.

The Original hesitated in the doorway for a moment as she bit her lip to stop a smile from spreading across her lips because it had been a while since someone had trusted her so easily and it made her feel slightly undeserving that Imogen had faith in her after only knowing her for a few weeks. Rebekah slowly walked into the apartment after a moment of tentativeness as she looked around at her surroundings and she had to admit that the decorations were exactly to Imogen's personality.

"You don't have any photographs!" Rebekah called out over her shoulder to her friend as she wondering over to the bookshelf to the side of the room and she tilted her head to the side as she studied some of the titles with an impressed purse of her lips.

"Yeah. I guess I don't have anyone I love enough that I want to see their face every time I walk into a room. Well except for Davina, but I can't have photos of her in case the witches find out where I live. It's too easy to use them for a locator spell. I mean, Davina has two different concealment spells on her but better safe than sorry." Imogen called out from the kitchen as Rebekah plucked a worn copy of Lolita off of the shelf and she hummed to herself as she skimmed over the blurb on the back of the novel.

"What about your parents?"

"My parents were callous, unfeeling bastards and I'm better off without them in my life." She responded calmly in a slightly surprised voice as though she was shocked Rebekah didn't already know the answer and the blonde glanced over her shoulder in surprise as she blinked once to clear her flabbergasted expression from her pretty face.

"Something we have in common." Rebekah remarked idly with a small trace of bitterness in her voice as she cleared her throat gently and she ignored the feeling abandonment that swelled in the pit of her stomach.

For a thousand years, she had thought had her mother had been killed at the hand of her brutal father and it wasn't until recently that the truth had come to light about Esther's death. It was thanks to the Mystic Falls 'Scooby Doo gang' spearheaded by the dull as dishwater doppelgänger Elena Gilbert that Rebekah had discovered the reality that Niklaus had been the one to kill their mother and not Mikael as she had been led to believe by the Original Hybrid.

When Esther had been magically resurrected by her witchy connections on The Otherside recently in Mystic Falls, Rebekah had been understandably ecstatic to see her mother after a thousand years of mourning her loss.

And she had been understandably devastated when Esther had linked all of her children together with magic bonded with Elena's doppelgänger blood and had made an effort to fix what she saw as a mistake when she turned the Originals' into vampire's a thousand years ago.

"Hey! How did you know where I lived anyway?" the young witch asked curiously as she strolled back into the living room with a bottle of red wine and two glasses in her hands as she smiled slightly at the vampire.

"Elijah." Rebekah replied instantly with a small shrug of her shoulders as though the answer was completely obvious and Imogen quirked an eyebrow at her as she sat down on the comfortable looking couch to the side of the room.

"And how did Elijah know where I live?"

"Niklaus."

"So, it's a whole family of stalkers." Imogen commented in amusement as she nodded her head sagely with a faint smile playing on her lips and Rebekah froze instantly, afraid that she had unintentionally offended her new friend but when she looked over at the brunette she noticed the teasing glint in her bluish eyes as she poured two glasses of wine. The Original chuckled softly in relief as she slipped the novel she was holding back onto the bookshelf carefully so that she didn't wreck the preserved pages and she looked around the apartment nervously as she shifted on her feet. "Not that I mind but what are you doing here, Rebekah?"

"I uh, I came to say that I was leaving. To say goodbye." She answered softly as she meet Imogen's eyes across the room with a faint smile on her lips and the witch froze in her movement of lifting her wine glass as she snapped her head up in surprise. "There's nothing here for me anymore."

"What about your brothers?" Imogen asked cautiously as she held the other wine glass out to Rebekah in silent invitation for her to join her on the couch and the blonde smiled slightly as she wandered over to sit down gracefully on the edge of the couch next to her.

"They'll be fine without me." Rebekah replied in an emotionlessly voice as she accepted the glass of wine from her friend without making eye-contact and Imogen tilted her head to the side with a small purse of my hers lip as she heard the slight strain in the blonde's voice.

"I'm sorry." She said sincerely in a soft voice as she placed her wine glass down on the coffee table without taking a sip of the alcohol inside and Rebekah snapped her head up in surprise as she frowned with confusion written all over her pretty face. "It must be justifiably heartbreaking. You've waited over a thousand years to be free of Niklaus' strangle-like hold on you, on your actions and decisions. You've fought tooth and nail to be able to spend your eternity however you please, but all you ever really wanted was to be wanted. By your parents. By your siblings. By your lovers. Now that you are finally free, you've realised it's not as satisfying or liberating as you thought it would be."

Imogen felt her heart practically melt inside her chest for the blonde sitting next to her as she tilted her head to the side in consideration and she nibbling on her lower lip gently as she saw the tears spring into Rebekah's cerulean blue eyes when she spoke.

The Original jumped gracefully to her feet as she looked down at the ground to avoid the young witches knowing gaze and she swallowed against the lump in her throat as she sniffled slightly while wrapping her arms around her stomach. Never in her thousand years on the planet had someone been able to see straight through her like Imogen seemed to and it unnerved her to no end that she was so transparent to the brunette.

Standing in the middle of the living room with unshed ears glistening in her endless blue eyes, Rebekah had never looked more like a seventeen year old girl than she did in that moment. You could easily see the exhaustion plastered all over the pretty blonde's face as glanced around the apartment nervously, looking more lost and vulnerable than ever before.

Imogen frowned in sympathy as she stood up from her spot on the couch with her heart clenching slightly at the sight of Rebekah's despondent expression and she quickly dashed around the coffee table in front of the couch as the first solidary crystal like tear leaked from her eye. The young witch wrapped her arms around the other girl's thin torso tightly as Rebekah let out a strangled sob and buried her head into the crook of Imogen's shoulder as she allowed her perfectly constructed dam to crack.

The feeling of being unwanted by someone who was supposed to love you wasn't a sensation Imogen was unfamiliar with and it saddened her to think that someone else was experiencing the same constant anguish that came with knowing you weren't good enough.

"Why? Why doesn't anybody love me?" the blonde cried weakly in between sobs that made her whole body shake and Imogen closed her eyes tightly as she gently stroked the younger girls blonde hair like she did to Davina whenever she was upset about something.

Rebekah's voice cracked as she asked the question that had haunted her for the last thousand years and all the emotions that she had kept buried deep within herself came pouring out like a tidal wave as she clung to the young witch as though she would collapse to a heap on the floor if she let go for even a second.

Imogen knew from personal experience that there was nothing that she could say to the Original that would make her feel any better about the situation and so she just allowed Rebekah to cry into her shoulder without abandoned.

They stood like that, just clinging to one another, in the middle of the living room until Rebekah sniffled gently as she took a shuddering breath and she pulled back slightly with a faint smile on her lips as she avoided Imogen's eyes out of embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I swear, I'm not normal such a mess."

"Oh, honey..." Imogen murmured softly with a warm smile on her lips as she tucked a strand of blonde hair behind Rebekah's ear and used her other hand it lift the vampire's chin up so that they made eye contact. "It's okay to act like a seventeen year old girl sometimes, Rebekah."

"I hate crying." She mumbled to herself with a watery chuckle as she wiped away the moisture from her cheeks with the backs of her hands and Imogen hummed in agreement as she tilted her head to the side in consideration.

"I think I know exactly what you need."

_____________________________

"This movie is completely unrealistic!" Rebekah exclaimed in frustration with a scowl on her lips from her seat on the floor in front of the couch as she pointed a perfectly manicured finger at the flat screen television where Cinderella was playing and Imogen laughed in amusement as she continued to braid the vampire's blonde hair into a plait expertly from her seat behind her on the couch.

The living room was completely covered in soft pillows, handmade quilts and empty chocolate wrappers that had been carelessly thrown to the floor by the girls as Imogen and Rebekah made a small nest in the middle of the room. Rebekah had been forced to change into a pair of comfortable pyjama bottoms and an old tank top borrowed from the young witch as Imogen searched through her kitchen cabinets for her 'good stash' of chocolates that she had hidden.

"You mean besides the fact that it's a cartoon?" Imogen asked her sarcastically with a bright smile as she tied the elastic hairband around the end of her friend's hair and she pulled back slightly to admire her work with a smirk as she hummed a little in appreciation.

"Yes, besides that." the blonde consented with a roll of her cerulean blue eyes as the witch moved her sit down on the floor beside her and Rebekah reached up to touch her hair with a grateful smile on her lips directed at her friend as she watched Imogen pick up a half empty bottle of vodka from the floor. "I can understand love at first sight. That part makes sense to me. But what the hell? All the women in the kingdom have different size feet? If that were the case, we'd all have to have our shoes custom made."

"That's good point." The brunette agreed cheerfully as she lifted the bottle of vodka to her lips with a sage nod of her head and she took a generous sip of the alcohol as it burned down her throat pleasantly. "Hm. You know what I don't like about this movie?"

"What?"

"I don't like how Prince Charming sends this messenger guy to find Cinderella for him. I mean, if you're so in love with this girl and you know that she's the love of your life after only one five minute dance, then you can get off your ass and go get her yourself, you lazy prick."

"Do you think we're putting too much thought into this?" Rebekah asked curiously as she tilted her head to the side with a small smile on her lips and she turned her head to the side to look at Imogen with her quirked cocked questioningly.

"Not at all."

"Me neither."

"Ooh! You know what we should watch next?" Imogen asked excitedly as she passed the bottle of vodka over to the vampire with a grin on her lips and Rebekah furrowed her brow as she watched the brunette stumble slightly on her feet as she stood up.

"Is it Bambi? Because you're kind of walking like him." she joked teasingly with a smirk as she watched Imogen amble drunkenly over to the extensive DVD collection over by the wall and the witch turned her head to stick her head out childishly as Rebekah laughed at her friend's behaviour.

"Shut up. We're going to watch Aladdin! It absolutely reminds me of you. You're Princess Jasmine and Klaus is The Sultan!" the brunette drawled mischievously with a smirk as she switched the DVD's while talking and Rebekah hummed noncommittally in acknowledgement to the comparison because she had never seen the movie as she took a greedy sip from the vodka bottle in her hand.

Imogen snickered softly to herself as she crawled back over the mountains of pillows to sit down next to Rebekah as the opening music started playing on the television. She hummed contently as she wiggled to get comfortable in cocoon of blankets they'd assembled around them and she reached over to grab the Godiva 'G' Collection chocolate box that was now half empty because they'd been stealing one or two in between sips of vodka.

"Where did you get this chocolate, anyway?" the Original sister asked absently as she nibbled on a chocolate while watching the animated characters on the television sing for no apparent reason she could deceiver.

"Marcel gave them to me a few weeks ago." The brunette replied nonchalantly with a fond smile on her lips as she thought of the dark skinned vampire King of New Orleans.