Frankie had been living in New Orleans for four months before things flipped and the world she was trying to escape from came crashing back. She hadn't talked to anyone from Mystic Falls in that time, she hadn't talked to anyone who was even supernatural in that time. The farther she ran from California the freer she felt and the more sure of her decision to escape she was.

Though one wouldn't expect it, disappearing into nothingness was harder than it seemed, despite tossing her sim card and deleting any social media that was linked to her name they still managed to find her on occasion. She wasn't sure if they banded together to search for her or if they were on their own individual quests but twice she'd gotten calls from Klaus and once she'd received one from Damon. Each time she picked up the phone to an unknown number and heard their voices she'd hung up without a word, blocking them and changing her number and yet they continued to come.

Despite the difficulties she faced in hiding away, she settled in nicely to the life she created for herself in New Orleans. While the city was certainly a fraction of the size of where she'd lived in California, it still was bigger than Mystic Falls and she found herself able to slot into life there with ease and little explanation. She'd found herself a job at another bar and though the work was boring and the customers at time much flirtier than she was pleased with, she didn't mind it.

The solitude of life in a city where she knew no one was welcome. She was able to put a deposit on a small studio in the French Quarter with her savings from her time working at The Grill and it was close enough that she could skate to work every day. While she hadn't intended on staying and working in New Orleans as long as she did, she found she liked the energy and anonymity of the city, that and with the town constantly flooded with tourists, they were prone to tipping well, subsiding her lifestyle with ease.

It was a nice life that she'd made for herself here, more peaceful than she'd had in a long time though she did sometimes feel a little lonely. She had been inducted into the local skate scene which gave her a collection of friends to turn to if she wanted though she tended to keep herself at bay, chatting at the park but not exactly diving fully into their social scene.

The bar she worked at had some interesting people, there was a grad student who'd recently moved to New Orleans too who she got on best with. They enjoyed analysing customers at the bar as well as making fun of the men who tried to flirt with them in more and more extravagant means.

Frankie was visiting her now, her board tucked beneath her arm as she called out with glee. Though she wasn't supposed to work today, Cami was and she'd come by on her way to the grocery store knowing she'd be there.

"Camille," Frankie called lightly to her friend, "light of my life, fire in my loins. My sin, my sou-

"Please stop quoting Lolita to me," Cami held up her hand with a laugh, "My god, if I'm your Dolores does that make you Humbert Humbert?"

Frankie wrinkled her nose, "Hmm, you are the light of my life but you're not that much younger than me."

She slipped behind the bar just as Cami let out a laugh, "What are you doing here on your day off?"

"I just wanted to see if Soph posted next weeks schedule," she replied, lifting up the diary they kept near the till and flipping through till she found the day she was searching for, "Ugh, fuck."

"What is it?" Cami asked, pouring her a drink.

"Can you cover my Tuesday? I'll take your Thursday if you like, please," she turned to her, pouting her lips in such a manner that Cami spluttered out a laugh, "I've got a life drawing class I signed up for and I asked for it off but-"

"Yeah of course I can," Cami laughed at her desperation as she handed her the drink, "On one condition."

Frankie narrowed her eyes at the teasing expression on her face, "What?"

"Some girl invited me to some fancy charity party tonight," she said coyly, "and considering I'll know no one there, she said I was welcome to bring a friend if I liked."

"Oh no."

"Oh yes," Cami nodded, "Come on. I'll lend you an outfit and we'll go get plastered."

"Can't you just take my shift without making me come out," she groaned.

Her night had been planned to a T, she was getting the ingredients to make dumplings, she was going to make as many as she could, and then gorge herself until she felt ill while watching some pretentious french film that would make her want to wear a mini skirt and eyeliner.

"Nope," she grinned, "You never leave that apartment unless you're working or at my place. We need to get out! Make more friends."

"I don't want more friends."

"Yes you do," Cami rolled her eyes, "Besides, I covered your shift last week too so you owe me."

"That hot guy gave you a hundred dollar tip on that shift," she pointed out, "Tall, beautiful, bad news that definitely equals a good time. He even had a hot accent!"

"Yeah," Cami agreed with a laugh, "But I spent half that tip on beer for us. Face it Frank, you're coming, you owe me."

Though Frankie was not pleased by the idea, she did reluctantly agree to attend the event that Cami had told her about. While she agreed to attend, her face actually twitched instinctively into a scowl when Cami offered her a skin tight red dress to wear. That being said, Cami was quite literally angelic in the white dress and angel wings which she wore and so Frankie reluctantly returned home to change into something a little fancier than the torn jeans and oversized shirt she'd come over in.

She didn't wear the dress that Cami insisted she take with her but she did stick with red, instead borrowing a red silk skirt which she paired with a red singlet and a jacket. Not nearly as classy as Cami's outfit but with the devil horns she snagged from the lost and found box at Rousseau's she felt it was close enough to a fancy dress outfit for a charity event they had no duty attending.

By the time she finally left for the event, Cami had texted her eighteen times and she'd found out that the guy who'd been attempting to woo Cami for more than a week was there and the host of the evening. It was easy enough to find her when she arrived, the pair were in the middle of the floor dancing together. She took a place by the bar, intending on watching from afar when Cami caught sight of her, dragging Marcel over to meet her.

"Marcel," Cami grinned, "This is my friend I was telling you about-"

"Francesca Rossi," Marcel finished for her, a poorly conceived look of shock covering his face that she knew spelled out exactly what he was, someone that certainly wasn't human like her or Cami. Someone who knew the Mikaelson's, knew Elijah, and knew exactly who she was to them.

"Frankie," she corrected with narrowed eyes.

"I'll grab us some drinks," Cami said with a grin, oblivious to the sudden change in her friends mood, "You guys talk."

Cami had barely made it more than a few meters down the bar towards the bartender before Frankie rounded back towards Marcel with a frown. She didn't like that Marcel knew who she was, she didn't want it getting out that she was here and she didn't want to get roped back into the supernatural world and the problems that came from it.

"Who are you?" she growled.

"I'm Marcel, sweetheart," he grinned, "King of New Orleans. Now tell me, did they really send you to spy for them through Cami?"

"I'm here with Cami, she invited me because we're friends," she snapped, "Who do you think I would be spying for?"

"I think we both know-" Marcel said, stepping forwards somewhat threateningly towards her before cutting himself off at the new presence in the circle.

"Come now Marcel," a voice that she hadn't heard in months boomed out as an arm wrapped around her shoulder, "We all know that you lay a finger on our darling Frankie here and Elijah will have your head. Nothing I can do to stop him if you hurt her."

"Believe me Klaus, I know I if lay a finger on any of you Mikaelson's and you'll have more than my head."

"I'm not a Mikaelson," Frankie snapped.

"Aren't you?" Marcel asked with a raised eyebrow as he glanced at Klaus protectively trapping her under his arm.

Frankie rolled her eyes before wriggling our from under Klaus' arm to turn and glower at him, "What the hell are you doing here, how did you find me?" here she paused to hit his chest angrily, noticing how Marcel slid his body to block their argument from view of the party, "Did you really follow me all the way here? Can't you take a hint, I changed my number three times."

"And here I was worried about your wellbeing," Klaus sighed dramatically, "Perhaps I even feared you needed saving from our friend here. Even the Salvatores thought you were lost. You know, I drained and compelled Damon Salvatore to see if he was lying about not knowing your whereabouts."

"This," she snapped, "This is why I left. You can't-"

"Cami," Marcel boomed out, pointedly cutting the argument between Frankie and Klaus off so she wouldn't hear, "You look too good to just be standing around, dance with me."

She was approaching them now, two drinks in her hands looking curiously between the three who were obviously far from strangers. Cami looked to Frankie as though asking for permission to abandon her friend and she grinned, tugging the drinks from her and passing one to Klaus, "Dance Cam, I'll catch up with you."

Frankie waited long enough for the white wings on Cami's back to disappear in the crowd before she slammed the drink in her hand down in one go, rounding on Klaus and snatching the spare one back which she replaced with an empty glass.

"How long have you known I was in New Orleans?"

"About five minutes," Klaus answered truthfully, his lips quirking up in amusement at the scowl that was covering her face.

"Tell me the truth."

"I am," Klaus said, annoyance beginning to tint his tone, "Listen, love, I've known you were in New Orleans as long as I've known you were at this party. I didn't come to this town to collect you, there are witches here conspiring against me, I came to put an end to it."

Frankie's rage fizzled in a moment, guilt appearing as she realised her overreaction and her narcissism. Just because Klaus had managed to find her number and call her a few times for his brother didn't mean he'd tracked her down and followed her all the way out to a new city.

"Oh."

"Though I am curious as to why you ran. Elijah said you were to leave for Mystic Falls together when you disappeared. He was worried someone else had taken you, even your message didn't dissuade his fears. Quite cutting might I add, a two worded good-bye."

"I couldn't handle going back," she told him truthfully, her eyes averted as she watched Cami and Marcel dance, "I didn't want everyone's pity. Elijah cared too much, caring only ends in hurt."

"You sound astonishingly like Nik," another voice joined the fold, "I can't believe you didn't tell anybody where you left, we were worried you were dead again."

"'Bekah," Frankie grinned wrapping her arms around her waist, pleased to see her, "Tactful as always, I missed you. So. . . are all of you here?"

"Well I know you don't give a damn about Kol or Finn so to answer your question, my dastardly brother has daggered Elijah," she told her, stepping back from the hug and shooting a glare to Klaus, "And not only is he daggered but Nik gave him away too. Isn't he a wonderful sibling, bartering off his brother for power."

"You gave Elijah away?" she rounded on Klaus.

Though Frankie didn't want to see Elijah, didn't want his eyes watching her softly with more love and affection than she deserved, she didn't want him daggered and stolen away either. It wasn't that she hated Elijah, it was that the way he cared for her scared her, it was too much for her to cope with.

"You ran from him," Klaus pointed out, turning and looking away, suddenly distracted, "Oh, it's happening."

"What's happening?" Frankie asked, turning and following both Klaus and Rebekah's gaze to land on Marcel and Cami who'd broken apart from their embrace with someone whispering in Marcels ear.

"My cue to leave," Rebekah said cooly, bending down to kiss her on the cheek, "Lovely to see you Frankie, darling. Always good to know you're not dead."

Frankie watched as Marcel turned from the man who'd been whispering in his ear, curling up his fists and frowning with rage. Klaus seemed filled with glee as the man stepped back from Marcel. Marcel turned and excused himself from Cami and then she watched as he stormed away, approaching another man and grabbing him by the throat.

"Not yet," Klaus said, grabbing her arm and stopping her as she moved to join Cami who was watching the scene in horror.

"Did you orchestrate this?" she turned to him, disgust filling her face, "Leave Cami out of this Klaus. She's good, she doesn't deserve to be part of this world."

"This isn't about our brave bartender, love."

"You were the hundred dollar tip," she said, the pieces of Cami's description coming together as she tagged each element to Klaus, "weren't you?"

If Klaus was surprised he didn't show it, only turning to face her and nodding.

Her face screwed up now, she was furious that without even realising it the Mikaelson's had returned and that her friend, kind Cami who accepted that she couldn't talk about her past and that she didn't do well with certain overtly flirty customers, was caught between two deadly vampires. She didn't want Cami wrapped up in Klaus' plan but she didn't trust Marcel either, she no longer trusted the tall dark and handsome guy that had been attempting to woo Cami, she didn't believe that he'd keep her out of his world and she didn't want to see her friend get hurt.

"Are you alright, Cam?" Frankie asked, Klaus had released her arm after Marcel disappeared from view and she'd punched his arm before sliding away to her friend.

"He's got a temper," Cami told her sadly, looking at the place Marcel once stood, "I guess this is the moment I remember I know better."

"Come on," Frankie sighed, "Lets go get a pint, fuck this."

"Thanks Frankie," Cami smiled, "But I think I just need to go and think, I'll call you tomorrow."

Frankie had opened her mouth to protest but Cami was already walking away. Her heart hurt for the girl, she didn't want Cami involved and so she rounded to find Klaus, ready again to give him a piece of her mind.

Klaus was gone of course, as was Rebekah and she realised now that there was no one she knew at this party that was so extravagant it was likely a supernatural event, not for human attendance. Tugging her jacket tighter around her arms, Frankie headed for the door and then home, the journey was long without her skateboard to speed her home but at least it gave her time to think about Elijah.