In the peace of the moment when Elijah and Klaus left to follow Genevieve, Frankie searched for Cami. Frankie was worried about her fried. She didn't want to bombard her, she knew space was important at times like these, but she didn't want to leave her alone truly either, lest the loneliness make her feel worse.

Searching the bar, Frankie realised how close to the deep end of tipsy she was. A twinge of regret over her need to down quite so much liquor to tolerate the wake began to bubble away. Still, she could hold it together enough to make it to the end of the dreadful day and finally in the tiny room of Rousseau's that she and Cami would take breaks in, she found her friend.

"Hey," Frankie called, knocking gently on the door and hovering so Cami could send her away if she wanted peace, "I wanted to check in on you."

"Frankie, hey," Cami's face moved and the emptiness that seemed to encompass her moments ago switched as it was flooded with guilt, "About yesterday, I'm so sorry. I was-"

"Dealing with a load of shit," Frankie cut in when Cami trailed off, grinning weakly as she sat on the table in front of her, "It's nothing."

"I was awful. You were only trying to help me out and I made you and Josh- Oh god."

"Cam," Frankie said seriously, "honestly it's forgotten. I was over it before we even left and Josh is too I'm sure. Pretty sure both Klaus and Marcel have made him be part of way shittier things and Klaus literally made me travel around while he tortured people and tried to make hybrids so it's miles from the worst thing I've seen. Besides, we're your friends, we're on your side no matter what. It's all good."

Cami smiled gratefully, "Thank you. Sorry I couldn't really talk at the funeral, it was a lot."

"I get it."

Cami smiled again though Frankie could still see the thoughts running through her head. She hated that her friend was so filled with guilt especially as Frankie had forgotten every element of the day before aside from the worry that engulfed her as she thought of her friend.

She remembered the way she was when her brother died. Elijah's comfort and the way she was so sharp to him despite every kindness. She knew what it was like to be so gripped with grief you could barely hold onto reality.

There was another pause where Cami clearly ran the events of the day prior in her head and Frankie waited patiently as she prepared to assure her friend it was okay.

"I was out of line when I bought your brother up," Cami added, her eyes studying her hands grasping themselves in her lap, "if someone said something like that to me about Sean, like it was my fault-"

"Don't be so hard on yourself, you're going through a load of shit. Your uncle- It was fucked. I'm sorry that everything that's happened, happened. I wish everything, everything with all of them, Sean, and Ric, and your uncle, never happened. None of them deserved what they went through. It all fucking sucks but you don't need to feel guilty for yesterday because you were going through it, it's not on you."

Cami was silent for a moment before smiling up at her, "Well still, thank you."

Much like Frankie she didn't want to push an apology over her, Cami trusted her friend that when she said she was over it, she truly was. She hadn't meant a bar of her words a day earlier, of the cruelties that she'd snarled out in her terror.

"Have you drunk much?" Frankie said. A few beats had passed and she said it knowing that nothing was worse when you were grieving than when people asked if you were okay. At times like these, distraction was a better comfort than concern.

"Not really," she confessed, holding the bottle of beer up to show how full it still remained, "It's so weird. My uncle died and people are partying like it's Mardi Gras or something."

"Yeah this is not what I imagined a funeral to be like, or a wake, whatever."

The two sat in silence for a while after that. It was odd sitting in silence, normally Frankie and Cami couldn't stop talking when they were together, a stream of consciousness babble that seemed to never have a way to end. Cami barely noticed the silence if she was honest, so wrapped up in her own thoughts and worries about everything, finally looking up when Frankie set her empty glass down.

"Do you know anything about Francesca Correa?"

"That woman with the dark hair and all those body guards?" Frankie asked, curious by Cami's question. Cami nodded and Frankie continued, "Not much. She's trying to take your uncles place as like human representative for Elijah's treaty."

Cami was quiet, nodding before continuing, "Do you trust her?"

"I don't know her," Frankie said honestly, "But no, I don't. I don't know what it is, she's got something slimy about her. Did she talk to you today?"

"Yeah," Cami laughed but it wasn't a happy laugh, instead she seemed almost angry, "Yeah. She cornered me in here when I was crying-"

"Oh Cam."

"I'm fine," she brushed her off, "I am, but she cornered me to ask about some key my uncle had. I told her I don't have it, I don't, and she was super pushy to the point where I felt like she was about to threaten me."

"Do you want me to ask Klaus or Elijah about the key?" Frankie asked, "See if they know what it means?"

"No," Cami shook her head. She did care about the key, certainly, and she was curious why it meant quite so much to Francesca but it didn't matter right now, "but there's something up with her. She was so intense. Today, I mean-"

"What a bitch," Frankie finished.

Cami let a snort of laughter out at that, a snort that of course a moment later dissolved into tears and then sobs. Frankie didn't say anything, there still wasn't a thing she could say that would help right now but she slid from where she sat on the desk, standing beside Cami and pulling her to her chest. Cami's arms barely wrapped around Frankie's sides, instead she let her friend encircle her, her own fists curling to her chest as she sobbed. Cami sobbed for a lot that moment, for her uncle, for her brother, for the loss she'd been given tenfold already in her life and for the chaos that would surely come too the longer she stayed in this world.

Eventually they pulled apart, Frankie's eyes seemed redder than they should've been but not nearly as bad as Cami's. There wasn't the awkwardness between them that one might expect after that, instead there was only concern for one another, and love.

Cami cleared her throat, brushing her hair back behind her shoulders, "Thanks," she mumbled, "I'll catch up with you tomorrow at the parade, right?"

"Sure thing," Frankie smiled, kindness on her face that hid the worry that truly engulfed her, "Just call me if you need anything, or if you want me to stay tonight. Elijah said its a thing where you stay up all night with the body, I don't know if you've gotta be alone for all that, but if you want company or a little bud just let me know and I'll skate over."

"I'm okay," she smiled, "I promise, I'll be okay."

"I know," Frankie agreed as she turned to the door, "But if you change your mind, there's not much I like more than a midnight ride."

When she left Cami alone and returned to the party, Frankie quickly realised that her interest in drinking alone had almost entirely dwindled. Instead she wanted to go home and eat away her feelings that she'd been repressing each time she'd thought of her brother. Elijah and Klaus didn't seem to have returned and so after giving Hayley a hug, she slid from the party and returned to the compound where she knew everyone would eventually return to.

They were both home, a fact she could've discovered if she'd bothered to read her phone. She strolled through the compound, listening as Klaus had a particularly animated chat on the phone with someone in his office before she slid by towards Elijah's room.

Elijah was sitting there with a book on his lap, still closed, as he contemplated the glass of scotch in his hand. His eyes flicked to her when she entered the room, a soft smile appearing as he held out the drink in offering to her. He didn't seem particularly weary so Frankie presumed whatever the outcome of his discussion with Genevieve was it hadn't been terrible.

"Would you like a drink?" he offered, his hand reaching out as she approached so he could grasp hers, pulling it to his lips and then tugging gently to sit her beside him.

"I've had enough at the wake I think," she laughed, kicking her shoes off to then tucking her feet up on the couch, "How'd it go? Did she admit to putting those dreams about your dad in your heads?"

"Not quite," he chuckled, "Apparently through no fault of her own, the Other Side is disintegrating."

"Huh," Frankie pulled back to look at him in confusion, "what does that mean?"

"The Other Side is somehow literally imploding. The supernatural creatures who have existed for eternity on purgatory as they watched on are being given release, the dead are being torn away into nothingness."

"Oh," she said softly. Perhaps her visions of her brother weren't merely figments of her imagination brought on my too much alcohol and too little sleep. Elijah was watching her reaction and so she pressed her shoulders back, "Do you think you'll have those same nightmares again tonight?"

"I hope not."

There was silence between them both. Frankie too hoped that Elijah didn't dream of his father again, she didn't like feeling him wake with fear on his mind beside her and she hoped he didn't feel it again.

She didn't say anything again for a little bit, eventually she'd shuffled down on the couch, leaning against Elijah's shoulder and shutting her eyes. She heard the sounds of his book being opened again and then he shifted, his arm pulling itself out from under her to instead wrap around her body, laying across her chest and down to her stomach while her head shifted to just below his shoulder onto his chest.

"'Lijah," she murmured softly.

An hour had passed with this peace and though his eyes were still trained on his book his thumb gave two quick strokes across her arm to tell her continue, "Mhm?"

"Do you remember that day?" she asked, shuffling into a seated position and turning to face him. Elijah's eyes flicked from the pages to her as he looked attentively, "When Klaus told you Ric wasn't really dead and you asked if I wanted to go back."

"I do," he nodded, placing a bookmark in his book, "Do you wish we'd acted differently?"

"A little," she felt surprisingly meek as she brought up the one topic she hated most, "I've been thinking about him a lot today, I just wish I could see him again properly, even just once. I wish I had more time with him. I know I've got my dad and Di, but we never got along right, I just wish we could hang out again."

Frankie had a twinge of guilt telling him this as she kept the truth about her visions of her brother over the day to herself but she didn't want to worry him with it when he was already concerned about her father. She wondered what she'd do now if her brother was like Elijah's father, returning to haunt them before his death. Secretly she wished she could see him although she wondered how it would be talking to him knowing he was a ghost that would soon disappear forever.

"I wish you could too," he agreed, his hands reaching out to tug her back towards him into a hug, tucking her head under his chin as his arms wrapped tightly, "I'm sorry you've been given so much loss."

"Thanks," she said when they finally pulled apart, his eyes were still focused on her with concern and she smiled at him. Her hand rose to his cheek, thumb brushing across it before pulling away, "I'm gonna go make some eggs or something. Do you want anything downstairs?"

"I'm alright," he smiled, "Would you like company?"

"I won't be long," she shook her head as she stood, "I'll bring you more scotch if you like though."

Frankie shut the door behind her, tugging her phone out from her pocket to check in on Cami as she walked to the kitchen. A voice called her name behind her and she spun with confusion to face Klaus with a stoic expression on his face.

"Sweetheart," he called, beckoning her towards his office, "Come in here."

"Sweetheart," she teased, tucking her phone away as she followed after him, "That usually means you want something or you're pissed at me, which is it today?"

"You should take a seat," he told her, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a surprisingly concerned look on his face.

"Elijah already explained about the Other Side," she rolled her eyes, "how it's shrivelling away or whatever."

"It's not just that," he said gently, "just sit."

"Why?" she said, less playfully now she'd caught on there was no lilt of amusement, "What's going on, has something happened to Rebekah or-"

"Everyone's fine," he assured her, "I just need you to sit down a minute, please."

Frankie collapsed into the seat like Klaus wanted, he was so rarely this cryptic with her now and she could feel her body flooding with anxiety and anticipation for whatever it was he needed to say. She was terrified that what was happening with Mikael was far worse than what Elijah had allowed her to believe and that Klaus now was going to explain.

"I'm sitting," she snapped, finally complying with his orders as her heart pounded in her chest, "tell me what the fuck is going on."

"A little Bennet witch was the one who explained about the Other Side to me," he explained, he paused for a moment causing her to give a nod for him to continue, "Well you remember when I drained and compelled Damon Salvatore to see if he knew where you were hiding? I compelled him too to call me if anything to do with you ever happened. He doesn't remember, but he called me an hour ago."

"What?" Frankie furrowed her brows in confusion. This news was so far from everything she'd been internally preparing herself for from Klaus that she almost didn't know how to proceed because she didn't understand why he was framing this like it was that much of an issue, "Did he track me down to New Orleans or something because-"

"He doesn't know where you are," Klaus shook his head, he was speaking with an agonisingly slow pace and Frankie was sure her head would burst before he got to the point, "He called for something else, I don't know if they'll truly be able to do it. I don't want to get your hopes up, but, the Salvatores think with the Other Side dissolving, that they've a way to bring the dead back."

The dead.

Her brother was dead.

"You mean-" Frankie cut herself off halfway through the words, her heart was exploding from her chest while her head flooded with the reality of Klaus' words, "You mean they think they can-"

"Yes," he nodded, "I need you to understand that I'm not saying it's a certainty, I've never heard of it happening before and especially not if he's been gone all this- I just thought you should know. I haven't told Elijah yet but family is family, you needed to know. I'm not sure quite when they're trying but soon, before the Other Side dissolves entirely."

"Oh my god," she mumbled to herself, suddenly grateful Klaus had been so insistent about her sitting, "Oh my god my brother, oh my god Ric."

🎉