A/N: This is an AU that takes place during season four of The Originals.

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 "Rebekah." Hayley had sought out the blond vampire and found her sitting in the living room by herself. "Have you ever known a woman named Lucrezia di Cassano?"

 "di Cassano?" Rebekah repeated. "I don't think I've ever heard the name."

 "Well, a few months ago, I met a vampire named Lucrezia di Cassano who claims the two of you knew each other centuries ago."

 Rebekah shrugged. "Sorry. It doesn't ring a bell."

 "Then perhaps my story would."

 A woman Rebekah didn't recognize at first slowly walked into the room. It wasn't until she was staring straight at Rebekah, and she saw her eyes. Then she recognized the woman.

 "You and I knew each other in Italy, over six hundred years ago," she began. "You had an affair with my brother, and your brother Kol was always trying to woo me. You had three brothers who loved you and would have done anything to protect you, something I wished I could have had in my own brother. After his death-his murder, I should say-you and your family left, and I was free to marry the man I loved."

 Rebekah stood and stared at her. "Lucrezia? It's...it's really you. You got older from the last time I saw you."

 She nodded. "I became a vampire at thirty-three. I should have died, but instead I became what you are."

 "Hayley, can you give us a few minutes alone?" Rebekah asked the hybrid. "I need to catch up with an old friend."

 Hayley nodded. "Okay. It's good to know for certain you were telling me the truth, Lucrezia."

 The two vampires sat down together, and Rebekah said, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth about myself then. I don't know what I would have said, and my brothers wouldn't have liked me telling anyone."

 "You never told Vittorio, did you?"

 "No, of course not."

 "Good. He never deserved you in the first place, and he didn't deserve to know any of the real you. I was never sorry about his death."

 "Never sorry about it? Lucrezia, you didn't have anything to do with his death, did you?" Rebekah asked.

 Lucrezia glanced away, and was silent, which gave Rebekah her answer.

 "You murdered him, didn't you?" she asked.

 "I didn't know what else to do," Lucrezia admitted. "He would never have let me marry into Alfonso's family, and I knew he was the one who poisoned Francesca; she would never have killed herself. And he was threatening you, the one friend I had in the world. He had to go, Rebekah. Don't tell you hadn't thought about it."

 "I was thinking about it. I was going to kill him myself that night. When I went to his rooms, I saw him lying dead on the floor, brutally murdered." Rebekah scoffed. "To think, I always thought it was one of my brothers. I hadn't thought it could have been you the entire time. So, you killed for vengeance for Francesca and so you could marry your Alfonso?"

 "Yes. And...Rebekah, there's something I've never told anyone. I threw it in Vittorio's face as he was dying, but that was all I ever said of it." Lucrezia exhaled deeply. "Francesca did not have a lover named Roberto. That was only in case someone ever found her diary. I was her lover, and I loved more than Vittorio ever loved anyone in his life. That was why I killed him. After her death, I moved on to Alfonso, whom I loved dearly, but I had to do that one last thing for Francesca before I put her in my past completely."

 "Lucrezia." Rebekah squeezed her hand. "You know, if I were you, I probably would have done the same thing. Now, tell me, how did you become a vampire?"

 "That wasn't something I meant to happen. Alfonso and I became important people, made enemies. I was poisoned, and I died. When I made the turn, neither of us understood at first. I thought I was some kind of monster, and I left our home because I thought that was the best way to keep Alfonso and our children safe. I learned eventually what I had become, and I've learned to live with it. And then I heard stories of the feared Mikaelson family, and I soon put that together, too. But I know what your family had been through. Have you decided the next steps?"

 "Kol and I are both leaving," Rebekah answered. "We're not sticking around. You should come with us. Come on, you know the three of us will be a great team, and I'm sure Kol would be happy to see you. He hasn't had it easy." 

 Lucrezia smiled. "You don't even have to try to convince me. I would go on any adventure with you two without having to give it a second thought."

 Rebekah smiled back, and the two women hugged, glad to be in each other's lives once again.