The day Diane Boudreaux had taken Andrea in, she promised herself that she would never let her goddaughter get caught up in what happened, that she wouldn't let the mystery of what happened to her family and where she came from consume Andrea. And she had failed them both. She spent so long trying to keep her goddaughter away from the city, and Andrea had ended up smack in the middle of it anyway, desperate to learn the truth about where she came from. The guilt was eating Diane alive as she sat and listened to what her goddaughter had to say.

"You remember me telling you about my friend Tyler Lockwood, right?" Andrea asked.

"Of course," Diane nodded. "I was worried you were spending so much time with a hybrid, but was so proud of you for helping Tyler break his sire bond."

"Well, after we broke his sire bond, he wanted to go back to Mystic Falls. So I followed him. It was a last-minute decision, which is why I didn't have the time to call and tell you I would miss your birthday this year. Again, sorry about that."

Diane shook her head, a smile tugging at her lips. "You're a woman now, Andrea, I don't expect you to celebrate every holiday with me. Besides, I've celebrated enough birthdays. Long before you were born, I had stopped celebrating."

"Really?" Andrea asked, surprised. "Why?"

"When you're alive as long as me, birthdays get boring," Diane replied.

Andrea looked confused. "What made you celebrate again?"

"You," Diane smiled.

"What?"

"It was you seventh birthday," Diane began. "We had just finished eating cake, and you had opened up all the presents I got you, and out of nowhere you asked me why I didn't have a birthday. When I told you I did, you insisted we celebrate every year." A smiled twitched onto her lips as she thought back on that day. "And... I just couldn't find it in my heart to tell you no."

Andrea smiled.

Diane shook her head and looked up from the ground, meeting her goddaughter's gaze. "Now, continue your story, sweetheart. You arrived in Mystic Falls with Tyler and then what happened?"

"Right," Andrea nodded, getting back on track. "So, we went to his house. He let me stay in the spare bedroom and we hung out for a little while, before he went to go visit some of his friends. A couple chaotic days passed and then I met his sire, the Original Hybrid, Klaus Mikaelson. He was... intimidating, to say the least."

Diane raised a brow, looking away as she tried to hide her smirk. "Yeah, I heard he can be intimating." Then her face twisted with concern. "He didn't hurt you, did he?" Because I will kill him, she wanted to say, but didn't. She didn't want Andrea to know about her past with the Mikaelson family. At least not yet.

"No, he didn't hurt me," Andrea said, smiling at her aunt's concern. "He actually helped me."

Diane's eyebrows furrowed. "Helped you? What do you mean? Klaus Mikaelson doesn't just help people unless there's something in it for him."

"You speak as if you know him."

"I don't," Diane lied. "When you're a powerful witch that has been alive for quite a while, you learn some things along the way."

Andrea nodded, seeming to believe what she had said.

Relief washed over Diane.

"Anyway," her goddaughter continued, "Klaus helped me. I was at his manor when he saw my birthmark. He told me he recognized it. That he knew it was the mark of an ancient and powerful werewolf pack here in New Orleans. After calling you, I came straight here, trying to find out where they are."

Diane's jaw clenched. Even though she knew Klaus didn't know who Andrea was at the time he told her about the Crescent Pack, that didn't stop her from feeling a little angry with him for luring her goddaughter to New Orleans and for giving her hope about finding her family. Oh, how she was going to have a word or two with him later.

"I see," Diane nodded. "And you believed him?"

"Do you think he was lying?"

"I wouldn't put it past him."

"But why would he lie to me?" Andrea asked, jumping up from the bed to pace the floor. "His reaction was genuine. He was shocked to know that I had the birthmark of the Crescent Pack. I don't know Klaus, but I know he wasn't lying to me, Diane. You have to believe me."

Diane's face softened. "Okay, okay." She rose from the edge of the mattress, approaching her goddaughter and taking her hands. "I believe you, sweetheart. If you say that Klaus wasn't lying to you, I trust your word on it. But Andrea," she sighed, "he has been alive for well over a thousand years. Sure, he knew about them, but who knows how long ago that was. The Crescent Pack may very well be extinct now."

"He talked about them as if they were the most powerful pack in the world. I don't think that they've gone extinct. I mean, if they had, then why do I have this birthmark?" Andrea's eyes dragged across the room toward her stack of notes she complied about the Crescent Pack since she arrived. "There's only one way to know for sure."

"Andrea..."

"Please, Diane!" she pleaded. "I need this. I need to know where I come from. Please."

Diane's face softened. She didn't want her goddaughter anywhere near this place, but she couldn't say no. Something inside of her just melted and she couldn't look away from Andrea's pleading stare. She sighed after a moment and nodded her head. "Okay, we'll stay. We'll look around and see what we can kind out about the Crescent Pack. But then we are leaving, do you understand? This place is crawling with vampires, and some of them aren't as kind to werewolves as others. The last thing I want is for one of them to get their hands on you."

Andrea's face broke out into a grin, and she launched herself into her aunt's arms. "Thank you, Diane!"

Regardless of how she felt, Diane hugged back, a smile finding its way to her face. "You're welcome."

　
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The weather had taken a drastic change after Diane had given in and told Andrea they could stay in New Orleans. It had gone from cloudy skies to rain, lightning, and low rumbles of thunder. Diane knew they couldn't go wandering off in this kind of weather, and since it was already late in the day, she told her goddaughter that they would continue their search in the morning. Of course, that wasn't good enough for her goddaughter, who put up an argument before agreeing to stay in their room at the Inn to do some research on the internet while Diane left to get them some dinner.

Diane held an umbrella over her head as she walked down the sidewalk. Knowing it would be a little while before she reached her destination, she reached into her purse and grabbed her cell phone, dialing the number Klaus had given her before she left his manor. He picked up on the third ring. She could hear his smile, her heart softening as his accent flooded through the phone.

"Missing me already, love?"

She rolled her eyes. "You could say that."

"Can't say that I'm surprised. You could hardly leave my side back in the day."

Diane snorted as she came to a stop at a crosswalk. "I'm quite certain it was the other way around. From what I remember, you were the one with the attachment issues. I mean, God, you would murder anyone that even looked my way."

"Coming from the woman that placed a hex on poor Julianne Marsh."

"How many times must I tell you this? That was not me, Nik. I would never do something as petty as hexing someone on your behalf."

"She was flirting," Klaus argued. "Who had a better motive then you, love?"

"I'm not getting into this with you again. Especially not right now," Diane quipped after a momentary pause which left him chuckling on the other end of the phone. She rolled her eyes. "The reason I called is that I have a bone to pick with you."

"Need I remind you I am the victim here. You were the one who didn't tell me about your little resurrection act."

Diane crossed the street with a sigh. "We're still on this? I apologized for that, Nik. I was the heir of my coven and had obligations. You already know that I wanted to tell you, but I never found the right time."

"Fine," Klaus sighed. "What is that I have done all the way from Mystic Falls?"

"You, Niklaus, got my goddaughter's hopes up."

"That's nonsense! I don't even know your goddaughter."

"You do, actually. Does the name Andrea ring a bell?"

He remained silent.

"Thought so." Diane adjusted her purse as she came to a stop outside of Rousseau's. "Look, I didn't want her in New Orleans. It isn't the safest place for her, and now she doesn't want to leave until she finds something that might lead her to her family."

"How was I supposed to know that?!" he exclaimed.

"You weren't. I just..." Diane sighed. "I have been protecting her from the truth since I took her in. She was safe because she didn't know. And now that she believes the Crescents are still alive, that her family is still alive..."

"I can come to New Orleans," he offered.

"No," Diane denied, knowing that would only make things worse. Klaus would just attract Marcel's attention, and she didn't want Marcel to know that she was in the city. Not to mention she didn't want Andrea to know about the past she had with the Originals. "I appreciate the offer, but this is something I need to help Andrea with on my own." Glancing behind her at the restaurant, she then sighed. "I better go. I'm supposed to be getting us something to eat. Andrea will worry if I'm not back soon. I'll call again soon, okay?"

"You better, love."

"Goodbye, Nik," she smiled before hanging up.

When Diane finished putting her phone away and closing the umbrella, she opened the front door and stepped inside the restaurant. She tucked her dark hair behind her ears as she approached the counter where she spotted Jane-Anne standing and serving a customer a drink.

"Back so soon, I see," Jane-Anne greeted.

Diane slid onto a barstool and folded her hands out in front of her. "I am."

"Find what you were looking for?"

"I did."

Jane-Anne nodded, then raised a brow in question. "And you're back here for...?"

"Why to order some food, of course," Diane replied. "Two orders of gumbo to go, please. And, uh, two cokes too."

"You got it," Jane-Anne replied, moving toward the kitchen to place the order.

"Thank you."

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a/n: Okay, so Diane knows Klaus told Andrea, she gave in and agreed to "help" Andrea find the Crescents, and now Klaus knows Andrea is Diane's goddaughter. I know this chapter was boring and what I just mentioned didn't seem like a lot of fun to read about, but I promise things are about to pick up. Season one is just a couple filler chapters away!