Growing Pains

A/N: I am so so so sorry for not updating for almost 2 months😭, I've really struggled getting back into writing this story. Hope you enjoy this new chapter, Holly xx

Emptiness.

That's the only way to describe how Lola feels as she sits in the corner of the bedroom she once shared with the love of her life. Staring at the bed they would share together not wanting to go near it because when she does memories rush into her mind of the happiness that once filled this room.

"You're dressed." Rebekah speaks up as she enters the room with a smile trying to hide somber look in her eyes, "That's good." Rebekah looks around the room noticing the destruction that happened the night prior where Lola smashed everything she could.

Lola looks over to Rebekah with a weak smile, "Hey, Bex."

"Haven't you even slept?" Rebekah asks. Lola shakes her head, not moving her stare away from the bed. Rebekah kneels in front of Lola, softly placing her hand on her knee. "Come on, let's get out of here for a bit. Get some fresh air or a fresh bite."

"You go. I'll catch up."

Rebekah hesitates for a moment but then leaves the room and heads downstairs. Rebekah is in the study, looking at the pictures Klaus had drawn. She picks one up and begins to choke up. She throws the picture down and knocks the rest of them off the table in a fit of rage.

Damon enters the room behind her, Rebekah noticing his presence straight away, "You should know better than to sneak up on a lady."

"Good advice. Have you seen one?"

Rebekah turns to face him, "Tragic about Elena. Not to make a grey cloud greyer, but does Matt even have automobile insurance?"

Rebekah turns back around. Damon rushes at her with the indestructible white oak stake. She grabs his wrist and prevents him from killing her. She pushes him against a dresser and he drops the stake. Suddenly, someone starts firing wooden bullets through the window.

Lola rushes in, "What's going on?"

Damon grabs Lola and escapes without getting hurt, however, leaving Rebekah lying on the floor desiccated with an arrow through her heart.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Lola shouts as she pushes Damon off her in the middle of the woods, "Rebekah's is in danger, I'm going back!"

Lola shoves past Damon to go back but Damon stops her, "I'm just trying to protect you!"

Lola laughs spitefully, "Now you want to protect me? Are we suppose to just move on from yesterday where you snapped my neck? Rebekah is my family and I'm going to help her."

"They aren't your family!" Damon snaps.

"And you are?" Lola retorts, "You're not my family. Family can mean anyone you're willing to fight for, and I'm willing to fight for any of the Mikaelsons!"

"Sister, please-"

"You don't get to call me sister, not anymore. I'm not your sister."

Damon frowns, "Have you switched?"

Lola scoffs, "Have I turned my humanity off? No, I haven't. Unlike you I deal with everything head on. I don't just forget it ever happened and waltz around without a care in the world. You get nothing done like that."

Damon takes hold of Lola's arm and begins to walk, "It's not safe out here, we need to go to Elena's or something."

Lola pulls away from Damon growing more agitated, "I'm sorry, have I missed the part where you think I'd do that?" Lola laughs slightly, "I totally see it now, you're just like father."

"How could you say that? I'm nothing like him!"

"You are exactly like him!" Lola snaps, "You beat me down until I'm nothing and then just expect me to be fine the following day! Expecting me to suddenly help you out even though you've never once helped me. Our father was the first man to betray me, he was also the first man to break my spirit. And here you are, doing the exact same thing."

"Come on-"

Damon tries to grab Lola once more but she pushes him away yet again with more force, "Get your hands off me!"

But Damon doesn't give up, Lola retaliates by punching Damon repeatedly and pushing him away. Damon doesn't fight it, he can see the pain in his sister's eyes, he has never seen pain this severe within her eyes. Damon eventually begins to fight back but when he does, Lola punches her hand into Damon's chest. They both stand still for a moment, Lola breathing heavily with tears running down her face as she stares into Damon's pleading eyes.

Lola blocks out the voice in her head that was telling her to rip Damon's heart out, she huffs as she rips her hand back out of his chest. Damon falls to his knees as he coughs and breathes rapidly to catch his breath.

"I thought I hated you." Lola says through gritted teeth as she glares down at her brother, "I did hate you. But not anymore."

Damon stands up, looking at Lola confused, "What?"

Lola takes a deep breath as she looks over to him with no emotion on her face or in her tone, "I pity you. I pity you that your life has so little meaning that you spend your time ruining other people's lives. Is your life really that pathetic you involve yourself in things that have nothing to do with you? I'm not going to end up like you. I'm just going to fight every being in my body right now that wants to kill you. But if you continue to harass me into helping you then I won't be responsible for what I'll do." Lola pushes Damon back onto the ground, "So do yourself a favour and stay out of my life."

Lola wipes the blood onto her jumper, not caring about messing up her clothes. She walks through the town square not even noticing she walks straight past Pastor Young who signals to a group close by as he clears his throat, "Lola Salvatore?"

Lola turns around to see Pastor Young and laughs slightly, "I don't need to confess any sins, father. You can go and preach the bible to someone else."

"If only it were that simple." Pastor Young says as a young man injects Lola with vervain.

Lola turns to face the young man as her anger builds up once more, "You're gonna regret that." Veins appear under her eyes as she steps closer to the officer but then gets shot with multiple vervain darts making her collapse on the ground.

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After having Bonnie complete a spell for Klaus to jump into Tyler's body, he awaits impatiently in the Lockwood Cellar for Bonnie to complete another spell to get him back into his own body.

Several times now he has ignored calls coming through Tyler's phone and yet again it rings, he scoffs as he looks at the caller ID to see it's Carol again, "Ah, you incessant woman!" He answers the phone, acting nonchalant, "Hey, mom. What's up?"

"Tyler, thank God. Are – are you okay?"

"Fine. Why? What's going on?"

"Pastor Young had me arrested this morning. The Council grilled me on your whereabouts. Tyler, don't tell me where you are, the less I know the better."

"Mom, I'm okay." Klaus rolls his eyes, "Relax."

"You didn't answer your phone, honey. I was so scared that you were with Caroline."

His demeanour changes instantly, if something has happened to Caroline no doubt Lola will be getting involved, "Why? What happened to Caroline?"

"The Council took her."

"What do you mean they took her?"

"They're taking every vampire in the town."

Klaus stands up from sitting on the coffin, "Every vampire?"

"Yes, Tyler please just tell me-" Without letting Carol finish her sentence Klaus hangs up the phone and rushes out of the Lockwood cellar.

A black van is being escorted by two police cars; one in front and one in back. Inside the van, Rebekah wakes up; Caroline is sitting beside her and watching her. Rebekah struggles to get out of the ropes tying her down.

"Vervain ropes." Caroline says softly, "Looks like Alaric outed us all to the Council."

Rebekah frowns, "The Council? What exactly do they think they can do to me?"

Before Caroline can respond, something crashes into the side of the van, wheels begin to screech. Glass smashes all over the van, Rebekah and Caroline's bodies jerk as the van tips onto it's side. The pair both groan in pain, trying to break free but is still no use wrapped in vervain ropes.

"What the hell happened?" Rebekah groans.

The doors to the back of the van are ripped away, revealing Klaus in Tyler's body enter the van, beginning to rip away the ropes trapping Caroline.

Caroline looks up at him in shock, "Tyler?"

"I'm harder to kill than you think." He says with a smirk as he rips off the ropes.

Caroline begins to cry in shock, "You're alive? How are you alive?"

He finishes ripping off the ropes and helps her up, "No time. Come on, we've got to go."

Caroline rushes out of the van as Rebekah still lays there helpless, watching the pair walk away, "Wait, what about me?"

Klaus turns to look back down at Rebekah with a hint of a smile, "Keep 'em busy, little sister!"

"No." Rebekah breathes out in shock, "That's not possible!" She continues to try and fight free but fails and gives up as she hears sirens coming closer.

Caroline stands still in the middle of the woods waiting for "Tyler" to catch up, once he does he grabs her arm, "Come on, we have to keep moving."

Caroline snatches her arm out of his hold, "How are you alive, Tyler?"

Klaus smirks over at her, "I don't know, love. How am I alive?"

Caroline punches him in the face making him fall back slightly, "What the hell did you do to Tyler, Klaus?!"

Klaus laughs slightly, "I can see why Lola likes you so much, the two of you are really similar. What made you figure it out?"

"You're not very subtle. I heard what you said to Rebekah back there."

"Look, I didn't have to risk exposure coming here to save you."

"So then why did you?" Caroline snaps.

"Well for one I was hoping Lola would have also been in that van, my guess is they took her before they took you. And two, Lola cares about you, and," He gestures to his body, "Tyler does so I had to keep up appearances."

"Put Tyler back!"

"Gladly."

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Lola wakes as she begins to cough, choking on the vervain filled air. She slowly opens her eyes as she lays on the ground and takes in her surroundings, "Am I in hell?"

Shuffling can be heard in the cage beside her, it's Rebekah, "Lola?"

Lola perks up slightly, lifting her head up from the ground looking at the wall between the pair, "Hey, Bex! Fancy seeing you here."

"Are you okay?"

Lola lays her head back down on the ground, staring up to the ceiling as she laughs slightly, "Oh you know, been better."

More shuffling can be heard from the cages opposite the pair, Elena begins to stir awake as she sits up gripping the side of her head. Rebekah focuses her version over to the girl confused, "I thought I killed you."

"Where am I?" Elena croaks

Lola groans not moving from her position, "I am in hell."

"They thought you were a vampire, so they stuck you in here with us." Rebekah informs the doppelgänger.

"Where's Stefan?"

"Elena, I'm right here." Stefan speaks up from the cage next to Elena, "Are you okay?"

"Stefan." Elena tries to pull herself up but is too weak to do so, "I didn't feed."

Rebekah smiles slightly, amused by her sudden realisation, "Ahh, I see what's going on here. You died with vampire blood in your system and you didn't feed and now you're locked up in here without a drop of human blood in sight."

Lola chuckles slightly as she sits herself up, leaning against the wall, "That is quite a problem."

"Just ignore them."

"Has anyone done the math or shall I?" Lola speaks up again.

"I'll do it, Lo." Rebekah interjects, "I'd say you've got less than three hours to feed before I get to watch you die all over again."

"Oh, goodie." Lola taunts as she glares over to Elena, "I get to watch this time."

Elena tries to break through the bars as Rebekah gives Elena the same look as Lola, "My day just got a whole lot better."

Hours have passed as all four of them continue to choke on the vervain filled air. Lola stays laying on the ground, with her arm covering her eyes because with every bit of sunlight or blink it feels like paper cuts in her eyes.

"Stefan." Elena croaks.

"What happened?"

"I'm out of time." Elena says between heavy breaths, "I need blood. I'm dying."

"Hey!" Stefan shouts as he grabs onto the bars, pushing himself up to his feet, "Anyone, hey!"

"Will you shut up?!" Lola groans now blocking her ears as the headache begins to pound.

Stefan ignores his sister, continuing to shout, "You think we're afraid of you?"

An officer opens the barn door and walks up to Stefan's cage, "You want more vervain? Keep it down."

"Listen to me. Elena's gonna die if you don't let her out of here."

The officer glances at Elena who is in bad shape. He looks back at Stefan, "Sorry, not my problem."

"She's innocent. Let her out." The officer begins to walk away. Stefan rushes towards the other side of the cage, "Let her out!" The officer shoots Stefan in the stomach and he falls to the ground.

"Stop!" Elena shouts.

Stefan gets back up and rushes back to the bars, "I said, let her out!" The officer shoots him again, this time in the leg. He leaves the barn. Stefan falls to the ground again. Stefan drags himself over to the wall dividing him from Elena. He pulls the wooden bullet out of his leg, "Elena? You still with me?"

Elena is sitting on the other side of the wall. She has grown even paler and is breathing heavily, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm here. I'm okay."

"No, you're not." Stefan corrects her, "I can hear you breathing. Damon was right, you should have fed this morning. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be." Elena says, "You had hope. That's all I ever wanted you to have and you had it."

Lola watches the pair, a small part of her being saddened that her little brother is going through what she went through not even 24 hours ago with the love of her life. Stefan now losing his.

"I love you so much."

"Do you know why I was even on that bridge? I was coming back for you, Stefan." Elena says between breaths as Lola bows her head not wanting to see her brother go through this, "I had to choose and I picked you." Stefan starts to cry silent tears at Elena's words, "Because I love you. No matter what happens, it's the best choice I ever made." Elena places her hand against the wall dividing them, "God. It sucks that I can't see you right now."

"I'm smiling." Stefan lies.

"Me too." Elena takes her hand away from the wall and closes her eyes.

Two officers walk into the barn, one carrying more vervain with him. Lola and Stefan both watch the pair as they walk past their cages dropping the vervain into a pile and walking out. The two siblings look at each other, Lola giving Stefan a knowing nod.

"I got this." Once of the officers says to the other, "Bring the other one in." The other officer leaves the barn.

Lola begins to fake cough as she grabs hold of the bars, "Excuse me? Hello, sir?"

The officer loads his gun and walks over to her cage, "I thought I told you to shut up."

Lola smiles up to him, "Has anyone ever told you that you have such pretty eyes?"

"Oh don't be silly, Lola." Rebekah starts, picking up on what Lola is planning, "It's obvious no one has ever said anything nice about him."

Lola shrugs, "Hm, true. Hey, I remember you." Lola starts to sit up straighter as she looks up at the officer, "You're the guy who pathetically injected vervain into me in the square."

The officer scoffs, "Yeah and you're the pathetic vampire who can't do anything behind these bars."

"Oh that seems like a good challenge, care to make some bets on what I can do behind these bars?"

The officer gets closer to the cage, "I'd much rather watch you die."

Lola gets up and rushes towards the bars, showing her vampire features. The officer steps back as he aims his gun towards her but Stefan grabs hold of him and hits his head against the bars multiple times until he's dead.

Lola smirks as she falls back to the ground, "Told you you'd regret that."

Stefan drops the now dead officer on the floor towards Elena's cage, "Elena. Elena!"

Elena sees the blood slowly spreading across the floor. She reaches her hand out and reaches for the blood that is pouring from the wound. She reaches as far as she can, but still cannot get close enough to get any blood. The blood is still running towards her and finally, she is able to place her fingertips in it. She puts her hand to her mouth and licks the blood off her fingers.

With Elena's new found strength, she breaks free from the bars, breaking the doors to the cages everyone else are trapped in. Elena rushes out of the barn hearing something happening outside.

Stefan rushes into Lola's cage and helps her up, "You okay?"

Lola pushes him away and glares over to him, "Oh, I'm sorry. Have I forgot the chapter in this story where I actually speak to you and where you actually care about me?"

"Of course I care about you, Lo." Stefan sighs as he places a hand on Lola's shoulder, "You're my sister."

Lola laughs spitefully as she moves Stefan's hand off her, "Oh that's funny, even for you."

Lola begins to walk out of the barn when Stefan speaks up again, "When are you going to stop acting like this?"

She turns to face him, "Maybe when you realise I don't want you in my life and want you stay away from me."

Stefan shakes his head as he steps closer to her, "You're lying, if you felt that way you wouldn't have helped Elena tonight."

"Oh trust me, I wanted to watch her die." Lola steps closer to him, hatred filling her words, "I wanted to watch the life slowly leave her eyes and watch your heart break over it."

"Then why do what you did?"

"Because I'm nothing like you. Hurting you like you hurt me won't heal my pain, walking away from you will." The pair both stare at each other for a moment until Matt comes stumbling into the barn, gripping hold of his neck then collapsing in front of them. Lola scoffs as she looks back over to Stefan, "You can deal with that."

Lola steps onto Matt's stomach purposely as she walks out of the barn when Rebekah stops her outside, "There you are. There's something you need to know. I think Nik is alive."

Lola looks over to her in disbelief, "You what?"

"He's done his little party trick, jumping into somebody else's body, that body being Tyler. He got Caroline out of the van wreckage that I was in."

Lola steps back as she shakes her head as tears begin to fall, "Don't. Don't give me hope."

Rebekah links Lola's arm and guides her away from the barn, "We need to go home."

"Lola!"

They both turn to see Elena walking towards the pair. Lola unlinks Rebekah and nods, "I'll catch up."

Elena catches up to Lola, "Thank you, for uh, for helping me back there." Lola doesn't respond, she looks Elena up and down then continues to walk away when Elena tries to keep up, "Seriously you didn't have to do that."

"I know I didn't." Lola says bluntly as she continues to walk.

Elena comes to a stop, "So why did you?"

Lola also stops walking, she sighs before turning around to face Elena, "Because although it wouldn't have been the worst thing to see you die for good, I'm not going to turn out like my brothers." Lola gives Elena a malicious scowl, "See you around, Elena. I'm sure it will be a treat to see you trying to adjust to your new life."

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Back at the Mikaelson mansion, Klaus now back in his own body is putting the last three bags of Elena's blood into an ice box when Rebekah rushes into the room in tears, "How dare you save Caroline over me!"

Klaus rolls his eyes, ""Hello brother. Thought you were dead. So pleased you're not!""

"You left me!"

Klaus turns to face Rebekah with an amused look on his face, "I only had time to save one of you and you can't be killed. Rest assured, I had a worse day than you. I think it's time for us to move on; find some more werewolves."

"So you can create your hybrid family?" Rebekah snaps back, "You don't know anything about family!"

Klaus turns to face the box of blood, "Well, I know how easily they can be silenced with a dagger." Rebekah grabs one of the blood bags and throws it against the wall, bursting it.

"No!" Klaus shouts as he watches the blood trickle down the wall, he turns to face Rebekah. She has the last two blood bags in her hands, "Drop them." He warns.

"I mourned you!" Rebekah weeps, "My heart broke thinking I'd never see you again!"

"Put the blood down, Rebekah. There's a good girl."

"It's always been me!" Rebekah shouts hysterically as her grip becomes tighter on the blood bags, "Not Finn, not Elijah, not Kol, me! I loved you through everything and you don't even care!"

"Drop it!!" Klaus shouts.

"You want your family?" Rebekah squeezes and bursts the blood bags, "Here's your family!"

Klaus rushes towards Rebekah and grabs her by the throat, "You know something, Rebekah, you're right. I don't care. From this moment on; you're not my family, you're not my sister, you are nothing." Klaus looks over to Lola stunned, his mouth agape not being able to fathom the right words, letting go of Rebekah.

"Rebekah, you should go." Lola directs to Rebekah but her eyes not leaving Klaus', when Rebekah doesn't leave straight away, Lola looks over to Rebekah, "Go!"

Rebekah rushes out of the room, neither Klaus or Lola moving an inch until they hear the front door slam shut. Klaus walks over to Lola with pleading eyes, "Love..."

Lola slaps him against his cheek, Klaus looks at Lola stunned as she steps closer to him with tears threatening to escape as she grits her teeth, "If you do anything like that again, I will leave you. I won't come back and you will not find me ever again, understand?" She raises her voice, "Do you understand?"