"You sure Mary is okay with it?"

   Jackson sent Audrey a  reassuring smile, as he, Audrey, and Hayley made their way through the cemetery, toward the crypt Davina said she'd be in. Davina had requested Hayley and Jackson's help with the event going on with the witches that day, and Audrey volunteered to help them also. Klaus and Elijah were already out for the day, trying to deal with their Tristan and Lucien situation, and the Gilbert girl didn't feel up to dealing with either of their first sired once again. Mira was with Hope at Mary's cabin, Mary volunteering to watch both of the girls for day with their parents busy. 

   "She wouldn't have said it if she wasn't." Jackson told her. "My grandma isn't a fan of Klaus or Elijah, but she likes you, and she has a soft spot for those kids." 

   "Are you sure you want to help?" Hayley raised a brow at her. "We don't even know why we've been called here. We don't exactly have a choice, you do."

   "You don't know she'll blow the candle out." Audrey sighed. "And I get the feeling that right now, with everything she's getting herself into, Kol would want someone to keep an eye on her for him."

   "We don't know she won't either." Hayley shot back, crossing her arms. 

   "Alright, let's just see." Jackson told them both. 

   Hayley still looked skeptical, but nodded in agreement, as the three made their way inside the crypt. As they walked inside, they saw Davina sat in a formal black dress, being fussed over by multiple different witches around her. As her hair was pulled up into a smart, tight bun by one witch, the other is waving a incense ball around in front of her in what was meant to be a calming manner. But the Claire witch looked stressed beyond belief, and upon noticing the three, she held up two different choker scarfs. 

   "I have to pick one." She told them, gesturing to each. "Orange or purple?"

   Jackson looked at her in disbelief. "Did you seriously call us here to play fashion police?"

   Davina opened her mouth to respond, as smoke rafts into her face, making a look of irritation appear. "Okay, I know this is sacred oil, but can we please not do that right now?" She only just stopped herself from snapping, sighing in relief as the witches took the hint, and began to make their way outside. "Thank you." She called after, before focusing back on the three as she started to put on the orange scarf. "Sorry. Thank you for coming."

   The Marshall-Kenner hybrid rolled her eyes, letting out a small scoff. "Like we had a choice, Davina. Either we do your bidding, or you blow out that candle of yours and turn us back into wolves. So, we're pretty much your slaves."

   "Now Hayley, come on." Jackson said calmly, trying to stop the tension from growing. "This is the deal we made. Let's let her say her piece, hm?" He mused before looking at the Claire girl. "What do you want?"

   "This is my first Cadeau as Regent." She began nervously. "Since I represent the city, the covens have to pay tribute to me, and I throw them a party. I need them to respect me, but this is the first public event since..."

   "Since you had me kill those witches in the ninth ward?" Hayley finished for her, narrowing her eyes knowingly.

   Davina gave an uncomfortable nod. "I have a feeling it might not go so well, especially since Van Nguyen blames me for what happened to his mom. He vowed to get back at me. Actually, he said he would erase me. I mean, who even talks like that?"

   "So you want us to be your bodyguards?" Hayley stated bluntly.

   Getting to her feet, Davina looks at the two Crescents in a mixture of frustration and annoyance. "Look, I know that you're not exactly thrilled with me right now, but if I die, that candle's magic dies, too. And then there's nothing stopping you from changing back into wolves."

   "Alright, why doesn't everyone just take a breath and calm down?" Audrey spoke up, giving Davina a look.

   Jackson sighed, glancing at his wife, who didn't make any attempt to hide her displeasure. "Well, why don't you and Audrey stay with Davina, and I will check out the crowd?" He suggested, before leaving to do just that, leaving the three girls alone.

   Hayley was quiet for a moment, before she looked at the Claire witch. "I'll keep you alive." She told her, before making a face as she looked at her. "But, if you wear that awful orange scarf, you'll wish that I hadn't." She stated, before making her away outside.

   Davina rolled her eyes, but tugged the organ scarf off from around her neck, going to replace it with the purple one. "Come here." Audrey said gently, taking the scarf from her hands and helping her put it on. "Before you strangle yourself with it."

   Davina gave her a grateful look, biting her lip. "You're not mad at me like Hayley is?"

   "I'm not impressed on how your handling this and their curse, Davina." The Gilbert girl told her honestly, making her sigh. "I'm here right now to help Hayley and Jackson, because I care about them. But I'm also here for Kol." She softened her tone, making Davina's face fall into a sad smile. "Because he will be devastated if you get yourself killed before he can come back."

   With that, that two fell into a comfortable silence, Davina's sad smile growing a little as Audrey helped her finish getting ready.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

   The lycee was very soon filled with witches from all of the covens, all there with gifts to present to Davina, as their way of celebrating their Regent. As Jackson and couple other wolves patrolled around the cemetery, Audrey and Hayley stuck nearby to where Davina was stood, keeping her safe just like asked. Moving to stand beside her, Hayley passed Audrey one of the two beers in her hand, the two clinking their bottles together as they took a drink. 

   "Where did you find these?" The Gilbert girl raised a brow.

   "Where there's a will, there's a way." Hayley mused, looking at her honestly. "And I don't know about you, but I need at least one to get through this."

   "Yeah..." Audrey trailed off, as her eyes glanced toward Davina once again, seeing the look on her face. "I don't think you're the only one."

   "Another goat. How lovely." Davina mumbled with a forced smile, as yet another leashed animal was brought up to where she stood on the steps. "I'd like to thank the Gentily coven for their generous gift on this day of Fete de Cadeau." The Claire witch fell silent as she looked around, seeing all the animals yet to come and those already given to her, and the discomfort begins to break through on her face. "I apologize. I need a minute."

   Hayley and Audrey exchange a look, as Davina quickly walked away from sight, and the two followed after her. Turning the corner, they find her sat on the steps of one of the tombs, holding her head in her hands. 

   "Not a fan of goats, huh?" Hayley gave her a weak smile, as the two sat down either side of her.

   "I love goats." Davina clarified. "But, do you know how many of them I've had to sacrifice? Just once, I'd like to get a gift card. I mean, I know this is all tradition, but it's just not me. And you know what I really hate?"

   Audrey gave an amused smile. "By any chance is it purple?"

   Hayley snickered herself. "That purple choker scarf?"

   "This choker scarf!" Davina let out, earning a chuckle from the pair. "And I only wore it because Josephine did, and I thought that maybe, if I were more like her, then... then maybe, they would respect me."

   "Here." Hayley passed Davina her beer. "You need this more than I do." 

   Glancing at it for a moment, Davina takes it and takes a large gulp, grimacing slightly at the taste. "Yeah." Audrey smiled. "You get used to that."

   "You know, Davina, I... I wasn't okay with what you had me do to the Versailles coven." The Marshall-Kenner hybrid admitted honestly, causing Davina to look down in shame. "But, I'm guessing you're not okay with it, either. So, you're running form it, pretending to be someone you're not. Someone who you think that they want you to be. You know what I've learned?" She asked her. "No one is gonna respect you until you show them who you really are, so..." She reaches over and unties the scarf from around Davina's neck, handing it to her. "If you're gonna wear old lady choker scarfs, you're gonna get old lady goats."

   Despite it all, Davina let out a laugh, taking another sip of the beer with a genuine smile. 

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

   "What do you mean you might be pregnant?" Audrey asked in disbelief, standing outside the tomb with her phone to her ear.

   "I mean, Valerie did a spell to find out what actually happened to Ric's babies." Caroline began to ramble. "And the spell pointed to me. Valerie thinks they're inside of me. I mean, it's impossible, right? Vampires can't have kids."

   "I mean..." Audrey let out slowly, running her free hand through her hair. "It's not exactly impossible. Hope and Mira are living proof."

   "But that's different!" The Forbes girl argued, desperately clinging onto what she saw as the sane answer. "Klaus is the original hybrid, that was a loophole. You and Elijah are soulmates, another loophole, and you were human when you had Mira."

   "I think a powerful coven transferring witch babies into a vampire might class as another loophole, Caroline." Audrey shot back, before she let out a sigh. "Look, you don't know anything for sure, right? You can figure it out. How much do you trust Valerie?"

   "She's Stefan ex, not to mention she was one of Lily's heretic children until recently." Caroline stated, letting out a sigh of her own. "So not at all."

   "Okay, so take tonight to calm down, you and Alaric." Audrey said knowingly. "Then tomorrow, go and get a test to take, and put this to rest once and for all. If she's lying, then you'll know, and if she's right... then you guys will just have to figure it out from there." She heard shouting coming from inside, and glanced over her shoulder into the tomb, to see Jackson taking Van inside to Davina. "Care, I need to go. Call me if you need anything, okay?"

   Caroline mumbled an "okay" and "I love you", before she hung up, leaving Audrey to take in everything she'd just said. If you'd asked her two years ago if she believed in what she just heard, she probably would have laughed. Yet, she now knew just how possible something like that was. Pushing it down, she made her way inside the tomb to focus on what was going on, to see Van yank his arms from Jackson's grip.

   "You've already taken everything away from me, so go ahead! Kill me!" He shouted toward Davina. "Kill me!"

   The Claire regent just looked at him calmly despite it. "You tried to murder a Regent, by which law you should be hanged."

   "Murder?" He scoffs. "Is that the first place your mind goes? Do you even know what it was I was using to attack you?"

   Jackson stepped forward and handed Davina a poppet he'd taken from Van, who's face fell in slight shame as she looked at it. "This isn't to kill me."

   "It's a figure veritas. Stab it in the heart, and the victim must confess their darkest truths." He explained.

   "You wanted me to admit what I did to your mom so I'd be shunned." Davina realized sadly.

   Van gave a shrug. "Maybe I'd rather see you dead, but at least that would be justice."

   "Look, she's the one who attacked me." Davina told him honestly, crossing her arms over her chest. "She wanted a mutiny, and if that happens, what's next? An all out witch war to decide the next Regent? How many people will die then?"

   He let out another scoff at that, giving her a dry, skeptical look. "So you think the covens are better off with you?"

   "I do." She nodded with no hesitation. "I've seen things done the old way. I've done things the old way. And it doesn't work. If you don't want peace, then fine. Go. You're free. But, I'm asking you... please stay. We can work together. We can change things."

   Van stared at her for a long moment, before he turned and walked out of the tomb silently, leaving Davina disappointed. But Hayley, Jackson, and Audrey glance at one another, before looking back at Davina, impressed. It was clear by the look on her face that she meant what she said. She wanted peace for and from the witches, which is something none of them had seen during their time in New Orleans. They just hoped she'd be able to pull it off.

I know this chapter isn't great, but it is just a lot of filler. Audrey wasn't needed with Elijah or Klaus this chapter, as they were dealing with all the Aurora stuff. So I had her helping Hayley and Jackson instead with Davina, which I think was okay. It's Audrey, she'd want to try and keep an eye on Davina for Kol. We also had a small conversation Caroline. I think I might have messed up the timeline a bit in regards to what episode TVD was on when this episode of TO aired, but season seven of TVD is where I just completely lost track of that timeline.

It was a mess, to put it mildly.

My aim is to have another new chapter up tomorrow, which will be more exciting then this one was, and another new chapter on Monday. Tuesday is when updates just won't happen, as I start work on Tuesday. I have to be up at 5am, so when I finish work on Tuesday, my plan is to come home and crash for the rest of the day.

But more updates are coming, and we will be getting a lot deeper into season 3 very soon.

I hope you all enjoyed!