Klaus did force her to stay at her brothers apartment and he did force Robert, the hybrid, to stay with her but without her granting him an invitation in, he was stuck outside, waiting by the door to at least ensure she didn't leave. She didn't, she couldn't be bothered really, Frankie was tired and flying always gave her a headache. Instead she lay on her brothers couch, flicking through Netflix until she eventually fell asleep.

She was woken by Klaus barging into the apartment in a rage, she didn't know how he'd gotten the apartment door unlocked much less why exactly he'd chosen to visit her and yet twenty minutes later she was sleepily sat listening as he paced back and forth in front of her, explaining what the Salvatores had done and how he'd won. Frankie couldn't really care less how the evening had ended, she was somewhat glad Klaus wasn't dead, she didn't exactly hate him now, but really she just wanted to be able to live a life again that wasn't dictated by his whims.

Finally he took a breath, pausing for a moment which she used to cut in, "So you're going to undagger your family now that your father is dead? Once Elijah is awake you'll no longer drag me around with you 'to keep me safe', right?"

"Oh don't sound so wounded," Klaus rolled his eyes, "Yes, I'll undagger them once I leave."

"Night, night," she grinned, gesturing to the front door as she lay back on the couch, "Would you turn the light off when you go?"

"I wasn't done," Klaus protested, still eager to continue offloading about the evening, "I mean, they actually thought-"

"Oh my god," she groaned, tossing the remote at him, "It's two am, fuck off. I, unlike you, am not immortal, and while you may be able to waste hours talking about this I don't care to. Goodnight."

Klaus did leave and fortunately this time she thought to deadbolt the apartment and switch her phone off. The second choice was certainly the more important one because when she'd woken the next day she had sixteen missed calls from Klaus. She wasn't someone to listen to voicemails often, she couldn't care less and if it was important she figured they'd call back but in the instance of not wanting Klaus to call, she did listen.

That was how her life shifted, Klaus' familial coffins were stolen and whilst he stayed put in Mystic Falls, terrorising the residents until they were returned, she was forcefully made to stay with him.

Fortunately she didn't actually have to stay with him, even Klaus accepted that likely one of them would murder the other if that happened, but she was coerced into staying in town, allowed to stay in her brothers apartment. Her brother, luckily enough, spent most every night as pseudo guardian of the Gilbert siblings and so had no qualms about allowing her to stay at his apartment, much preferring that to her staying with Klaus himself.

She'd gotten a job at the Mystic Grill, after the first week when it was clear that Klaus had no plans of letting her leave town soon and so she was working five days a week, getting closer to her brother and absolutely avoiding all the supernatural drama that both he and Klaus were wrapped up in.

It was an unusual group of friends and associates she'd fallen into since staying, she was drawn into the Salvatores realm thanks to her brother though she had a few more qualms about the ages of some of their friends than he did. She was close with Stefan from their summer but since Klaus had compelled him he'd turned into a bit of a dick, and while at first she'd disliked his brother, Damon, Alaric's best friend, he'd grown on her, the pair becoming unusual drinking buddies, especially considering how much time he spent drinking at her work and tipping her constantly.

As part of Klaus pact to 'keep her safe', he enforced weekly check ins. It was ludicrous really but the first week when she'd failed to call he'd sent three hybrids to check on her and then made them stick around until she called him back. She was in her pyjamas as she called him tonight, pacing around her brothers apartment, annoyed that she'd called him twice already when a knock sounded from outside the apartment.

"Klaus," she groaned into his voicemail as she tugged the door open without looking, "I'm not calling again it's not my fault you didn't answer-" here she broke off at the guest standing before her, dapper in a suit with a longing look she'd seen once before, "Later," she said quickly, hanging the phone up.

"Hello Francesca," Elijah greeted her, he was wearing a suit, similar to the one she'd seen him in when he was daggered by his brother, but this one was new, no holes from the betrayal nor dust from the time, "I was wondering if we could talk, may I come in?"

"Can't you already enter since Klaus let you in before he daggered you?" Frankie asked, eyeing him wearily.

She had spent the past few months trying desperately to wake Elijah just so Klaus would leave her alone but now he was here she wasn't so sure she wanted to let him in, she wasn't sure she was ready for everything this conversation would bring.

"If you don't want me here I'll leave," he replied courteously, "But I believe my brother promised you an explanation."

Frankie sighed, moving to the side to let him in, "Do you want a drink?"

She was sure she'd need some strength to get through whatever explanation justified the past six months she'd spent with Klaus. When he didn't reply she made him one anyway, turning to pass it to him and catching him staring at her, drinking every movement in.

"Francesca-" he started, sinking into the couch opposite her then breaking off into silence. His eyes on her felt like they were boring into her, his hands looked like they should be shaking if not for how tightly he gripped the glass in his hands and even his body was leant forwards as though he couldn't bear to sit further away from her.

"It's Frankie," she told him, "How do you know who I am? You knew me when you walked in here that day your brother stabbed you, how did you know who I was?"

"It's a long story," he sighed, shifting in his seat as he adjusted his suit jacket, "Tell me, have you heard of the concept of soul mates."

"You're fucking with me," Frankie replied taking a gulp of her drink.

Surely that wasn't going to be what he would say to excuse the past six months she'd spent with his brother. As she looked between the two, him, dressed in a suit with his hair done after being dead for six months, while she sat opposite him in a tank top and boxer shorts with grown out roots she only felt more confused. The two of them were such opposites that obviously they couldn't be soulmates so what track was he getting on.

Elijah smiled, his lips quirking up in amusement, "I'm afraid not, has my brother explained what we are, he, the Salvatores and I, among others in this town?"

"Vampires?" she said, "Yep. Now what do you mean do I know about soulmates. You're not telling me that everyone is actually walking around with half a soul, waiting for their 'other half', that's ridiculous."

"Yes and no," he replied, setting his drink down on the table, "In time, things can often be twisted between fact and fiction and the history of soulmates goes back a millennia. Soulmates aren't predetermined or fated from above as people often presume, rather they occur when one meets their perfect match, its something that grows slowly into fruition. It can take time for bond to be realised but once it is, it is difficult for the pair to be happy with another."

"What does this have to do with me?" she asked, her face was furrowed and her glass was empty, "If I don't know you then what does any of this have to do with me? You brother and sister knew me and so did Gloria, this witch from Chicago. I'd never even been to Chicago and your sister was dead before my parents were even born."

"I've been around a long time," he told her, "I was in Italy in the late 16th Century when I met my soulmate. She was close with my sister Rebekah and then my brother Klaus, I'd been away on business but by the time I had returned there were few in our home who weren't enamoured with her. She was a more pure soul than any of us, she radiated joy. I had never met anyone who made me feel again, what it meant to be human."

"I still don't get it," she pressed with a frustrated groan, placing her glass down too, Elijah's eyes were boring into her and she couldn't figure out why, she couldn't understand if he'd met his soulmate, why he was interested in her, why Klaus had been too.

"As an immortal, soulmates meet a tricky end, they're incredibly rare generally speaking but especially in an immortal context. In most cases when a soulmate passes, the bond remains and it's hard for the remaining partner to move on so they often pass away soon after. In some rare cases, in cases of immortality where this was improbable, there were rumours that the souls could be reincarnated."

"You don't mean-"

"The woman I loved in the 16th Century, her name was Francesca Rossi," Elijah paused for a moment and Frankie's breath hitched in her throat in disbelief before he continued, "You are her."

Over the past six months that her life had been embroiled in the supernatural realm, Frankie had run her mind through what felt like countless possibilities on what the connection was between her and Elijah. She'd considered compulsion and being a secret ingredient for some mystical curse and even that it was all some ridiculously drawn out practical joke but she'd never considered this.

Comparing herself and Elijah, any pairing seemed ridiculous, how could someone so pristine have fallen in love with someone like her. A mess, chaotic, and misdirected, she felt like she was floating aimlessly through life while he seemed to move from moment to moment with each minute planned meticulously.

"It can't be me," she replied, "Maybe it's just a coincidence, my mum's Italian, Rossi is a pretty common surname-" she cut herself off, knowing that it wasn't just her name. Both Gloria and Rebekah knew her face and then her name, not the other way around, but she couldn't believe that this was real.

"You're identical," Elijah replied softly, he seemed guilty for the bombshell he'd dropped on her and although she didn't allow her face to fill with panic he could hear her heart had sped up ever so slightly as she fought to process.

"So that's why Klaus kidnapped me for months? Because we're soulmates, you and I?"

"What do you mean he kidnapped you?" Elijah was sharp in his response, "Did he hurt you?"

"No," she rolled her eyes, standing to refill her drink, "He spent the whole fucking time nannying me because he was scared someone was gonna jump out of the bushes and hurt me."

"I'm sorry for what my brother put you through, if I had known-" he cut himself off, pausing before starting again, "It was never my intention to have Klaus remove you from your life. While I am," here he paused, as though he was trying to find the right word to explain their bizarre predicament, "connected to you, you are not tied to me. I would never want you to feel obligated."

Frankie sighed, she didn't even really know how to process everything that Elijah had just told her and she didn't know what she was supposed to say. It was nearly midnight now and she'd had such a long shift today that all she wanted to do was curl up into bed and figure out all of this chaos in the morning.

"It's just all pretty fucking wild," she replied, rubbing her eyes to press the sleep from them before downing her new drink, "I mean Klaus just spent months avoiding anything to do with you when he could've given me some kind of hint.

Elijah frowned, once when he the tiredness flit across her face and again when she spoke of his brother, "Perhaps I should leave for the evening," he said, standing up and seeing relief pass over her, "I know it can be a lot to take in. I should let you have some space."

"Okay," she replied, standing too to lead him to the door, "I'll call you, I will. I just need to, I don't know, like wrap my head around it. It's kind of a bombshell. I mean I didn't even believe in vampires six months ago, and now I'm some supernatural reincarnation. I don't really know what I'm supposed to say to that."

Elijah smiled, giving her a short nod as he stepped out the door, he turned back to look at her and again his breath was caught in his throat, centuries had gone by and still he couldn't believe there was a beauty as great as hers. This Francesca, Frankie, was so different from that one and yet so similar, she'd laughed at one point in disbelief and the tinkle of it was so familiar to him it was as though he heard it every dream he'd ever had.

It was unusual seeing her after so many centuries, he'd mourned her truly, he'd never believed that he'd again have the opportunity to see her, let alone talk to her again. He'd dreamed about her night over night for so long to now have her in front of him it was impossible for him to pull away, even as he stepped from the door and sped to his home it was a struggle, frightened to lose her when he'd so barely gotten her back.

Frankie closed the door softly behind Elijah, staring at the door itself before leaning her head forward and then against it. It was almost difficult to comprehend the idea of soulmates let alone an immortal soulmate with the concept of reincarnation tossed into the mix.

She shut her eyes tightly before opening them, stepping back and going to grab her jacket. She was exhausted, but now she was left alone to process everything Elijah had told her she felt too wired to sleep and she knew she'd be awake for hours if she didn't do something.

She saw Klaus was ringing her phone as she slipped on her shoes so she rejected the call, now Elijah was back she had no need to tolerate his ridiculous protection plan anymore and she could do what she liked again. It was past midnight as she slipped onto the streets of Mystic Falls and began to skate, there were few people around, a few teenagers in the square, and she enjoyed the serenity of the night.

By the time she returned to the apartment her calves were burning in ways they hadn't since she'd first learned to skate and the sweat on her forehead was beginning to fall to the ground in large drips. It was nearly three in the morning when she finally collapsed into bed, freshly showered and so exhausted it hurt to do anything but curl up tightly. Her notebook was beside her on the table but while she pulled it to her lap, her eyes fell closed before she could even pull it open, the light still on above her.

a.n. they meet! properly !! its a little awkward but honestly it would be a weird conversation. this is gonna be s l o w lol but it'll be cute and the farther through the more time they're gonna spend together. it's certainly gonna be slower paced than my other one but i think it's more fitting for these two