A thud in the house woke Aurelia up, and she sat up in bed, holding her head. She looked around, the slightly blurry surroundings morphing into what looked like Stefan's room. She looked at the clock in the room, looking at the clock. It was 1 in the morning, and a half-smile spread across her lips.

She turned around to let her feet touch the cool ground as she stood up, looking around to see where the noise came from. Her eyes landed on a sleeping Stefan. She took quiet steps towards him, observing his posture. She frowned as she noticed that the couch seemed a little uncomfortable for him.

Quickly, she muttered a spell to lift the covers from the bed and go to him, covering him so that he'd feel a little warmer.

She then walked out of the room to find the source of the noise.

When she reached the stairs, her eyes widened in shock at the sight of an unconscious Katherine Pierce. She ran down the stairs, and knelt down next to her, trying to wake her up.

"Katherine?" She asked, lightly shaking her.

"Mother? Katherine?" Came a voice. Aurelia looked to see a phone near her, and she picked it up, placing it next to her ear. "Mama?"

"Hello?" She said.

"Who is this? What have you done to my mother?"

"Mother?" She asked, slightly confused, before realization dawned on her. She quickly looked at the name. "Okay, um, Nadia, this is Aurelia Parker. Katherine's unconscious, and not waking up."

"She's alive?" Aurelia listened for a pulse or a heartbeat, only to hear nothing. "Aurelia?"

"I c-can't hear a beat." She said. "Okay, I'll call you back from this number." She cut the call, before raising her wrist to her mouth.

She stopped, however, realizing that Katherine had taken the cure. Her blood wouldn't help.

"Come on, Katherine." She muttered, before looking up the stairs. "STEFAN!" She called.

In a matter of seconds, he was next to her, looking at Katherine. "What happened?"

"She's not waking up." She answered.

"Hospital, now." He said.

!

Aurelia pressed a hand to her head, standing outside the room in which Katherine was. Stefan was seated near her, waiting in as much anxiousness as she was.

"Stefan?" A familiar voice called out. The pair looked at a pretty brunette who walked towards them. Aurelia recognized her voice.

"Nadia." She said. Nadia Petrova looked at her, completely concerned.

"Are you Aurelia?" She nodded. "How is she?"

"Not in a great condition yet." She answered.

"It doesn't make sense. I was just speaking with her. She sounded fine." Nadia said, her accent noticeable.

"The doctors think it was a heart attack." Stefan said.

"Trust me, Katherine Pierce is not going to die of a heart attack." She said. "We all know my mother. She will fight through this."

"She's dying. Every single organ in her body is failing, and vampire blood can't save her. I compelled the doctors to let me take her home, so she's more comfortable, but... she's dying." Stefan stated.

"They don't think she'll survive the rest of the day." Aurelia said, frowning.

What a wonderful way to start such a day.

!

"Hello? Care?" Aurelia said. "Why are you answering Elena's phone?"

"Good morning!" Caroline's voice rang through the phone. "I would sound a little happier, 'cause, you know, today's supposed to be special, but there's news."

"What?"

"Damon and Elena broke up." Aurelia pressed her lips together. "I am a little happy, but it's my friend, so..." The younger vampire trailed off. "So, what's your plan?"

"Um, I don't have plans anymore." She said. "Is Elena there?"

"She doesn't feel like talking."

"Well, she's going to want to talk about this." She said. "Katherine was in the hospital. She had a heart attack."

"That's great news! It's also an amazing gift!"

"Caroline." She warned.

"No, really, what's a better birthday gift than your centuries-old nemesis dying?"

"Um, someone not dying?" Aurelia suggested.

"Aurelia, now's not the time to be nice to her."

"FINE! I'm super glad that she's dying!" She admitted.

"Okay, fine, we're coming over." Caroline said, hanging up. Aurelia sighed, keeping the phone on a table as Stefan walked into the room.

"So, not a great way to start your birthday." He said.

"Bad year." Aurelia said. "It happens." He shook his head, before holding up two glasses and a bottle of bourbon.

"At least we can drink." He said, walking closer to her as he set the glasses down on the table. He pulled her in for a hug. "Happy Birthday." He muttered into her ear. she smiled, wrapping her arms around him.

"Thanks, but being 400 years old, the birthdays stop being super fun." She said. He raised his eyebrows.

"Well, not today." He said, pouring the alcohol into the glasses. "Because you, my dearest friend, deserve some distraction from the last few months."

"Well, so do you." She said with a laugh. He held up his glass, handing her the other one.

"Why do you think I brought two?" He asked. She smiled, as they brought the glasses together. "To you."

"To me." She said, taking a sip.

!

"Rule number one." Damon said, filling up several shot glasses as Aurelia walked into the library, standing behind the couch he was sitting on. "Name the worst thing Katherine Pierce has ever done. Rule number two: Toast to the glory of her impending death. Rule number three: If you come across something that's worse, repeat rules one and two."

"Sounds good." She said, jumping over the couch to sit next to him. "I'm in."

"Birthday girl!" He said, handing her a glass. "You go first."

"In 1864, she came into our lives, ripped Stefan away from me- and he was my rock then- before getting me killed, which threw me off the rails after this damn ring," She held up her left hand. "Brought me back to life." She downed her shot, setting it on the table.

"She pretended to be buried in a tomb for 145 years, while I waited for her lying ass." Damon said, taking a shot. "Wait... does that beat pretending to be Elena and kissing me on the front porch of your house?" He asked Jeremy.

"I don't think so." The boy answered.

"I don't think so either. Damn." Damon said, taking another shot. "Quarterback, go." He said to Matt.

"Uh..."

"Think on that." He said, giving a glass to Jeremy. "Little Gilbert."

"She fed me to Silas, and I died." Aurelia frowned a little at the name.

"Doozy." Damon said, as Jeremy took a shot.

"Then, she made me crash my car into a pole and left me for dead... again." He added.

"Double doozy." Aurelia said, passing him another glass.

"My sister's dead because of her." Matt said. Aurelia looked at him.

"You had a sister?" She asked.

"Yeah, Vicki. Damon turned her, and then she had to be killed because she tried to kill Elena." He answered.

"Sorry." She said.

"It's Katherine's fault." He said.

"Yes, it is... Because I wouldn't have even been in town to turn Vicki into a murderous vampire if I wasn't trying to get Katherine out of a tomb she wasn't in." Damon said. "Group shot." He said, handing shots to the other three.

Aurelia grinned, taking her shot. However, her grin suddenly went away when she saw Caroline, Elena and Bonnie enter the room. "Seriously?" Elena asked. Aurelia gave her an innocent smile.

"We were just, um..." She trailed off. "Damon?"

"I know what you're doing." Elena said, turning to Jeremy. "You're cut off." She picked up a glass. "If anyone's drinking to Katherine's last days, it's gonna be me." She took a shot. "She impersonated me... repeatedly. She made Aunt Jenna stab herself and she cut off Uncle John's fingers." Aurelia grimaced.

"I think he deserved that." Jeremy said.

"That's brutal." The hybrid said.

"My Grams died closing a tomb she wasn't in." Bonnie said, taking a shot.

"Tyler's werewolf curse was triggered because of her." Caroline said, as Aurelia looked at her, puzzled.

"Didn't the two of your break up? You're supposed to not like him." She said. Caroline shrugged.

"Klaus followed her to Mystic Falls, and because of that, we lost Jenna." Elena said.

"And Alaric." Aurelia added, as all of them took shots.

"We're going to need more booze." Matt said, getting up to do that.

"She tried to kill me, at least twice." Elena said.

"She did kill me..." Caroline said. "Although, I'm weirdly better off."

"She let me burn in a fire while she escaped, and when I tried to get out of the fire, she kicked me right back in." Aurelia said.

"Rumor has it, she burned down the entire city of Atlanta once." Damon said.

"If that was true, it would win." Jeremy said.

"Not the entire city," Aurelia said. "Just the entirety of the north. 1853."

"Yup, that wins." Jeremy said, as Stefan walked into the room.

"All right, knock it off or take it somewhere else. You're being insensitive."

"Right, and she wasn't in the last 284 years to me?" Aurelia asked, taking a shot.

"Come on, Stefan. Don't let the sight of a frail, human, Elena look-alike cloud your memories of the manipulative psycho that she is." Damon said, handing him a shot. Stefan hesitantly took it, before looking at everyone.

"In 1864, Katherine moved into my home, compelled me to love her while seducing my brother, fed us full of vampire blood and then started a war with the town that got us killed." He said.

"Exactly." Damon said. "Bottoms up." He downed his shot.

"But, centuries before that, she was just an innocent girl who was shunned by her family. So, for five hundred years, she lied and manipulated and did whatever she had to survive. And she did. So, she's a survivor, right?" He asked. "So that's the girl I will drink to today. Cheers." Aurelia frowned, bringing another glass to her lips.

"Please, one night of hot sex with her and you're brainwashed?" Damon asked, making Aurelia choke on the shot. Elena and Bonnie were shocked, having never heard of the news. The Elder Salvatore rubbed Aurelia's back as she coughed a few times, before looking at Stefan with wide eyes.

"You slept with her? That's why you're defending her?" She asked in disbelief.

"Oh my... I forgot to tell you. You were kidnapped and tortured—" Caroline began.

"Okay, Caroline, we really don't need to go through that section of memory lane." The hybrid said.

"Bottle's empty, I should—" Damon cut Stefan off.

"That's why you never send a busboy to do a quarterback's job." He said, before looking behind his brother. Aurelia stood up, spotting the brunette.

"Nadia." She said. "Devil's spawn... goodie."

"Did you remember to tell Elena that, Caroline?" Damon asked, as Caroline smacked her head.

"Okay, I think my mind just exploded." Elena said. "Katherine's upstairs."

"Actually, I'm here to see all of you." Nadia said, walking further into the room. "I found a way to save my mother and I need some help."

"Uh-uh." Damon said. "No way. Even my biased brother knows I will kick his ass from here to Kentucky if he helps Katherine Pierce live one more day on this Earth." He looked around. "No volunteers."

"I figured as much, which is why I found that old safe your brother spent the summer drowning in and buried it on this property with your friend Matt inside it. Oh, and without this." She added, keeping the Gilbert Ring on the table.

!

Aurelia closed her eyes, chanting a form of a locator spell as Caroline frowned. "Are locator spells supposed to take this long?" She asked.

"Not the more commonly used one, but since I have nothing that resembles Matt, I have to use one that's not as reliable or efficient." She said, before opening her eyes and looking at the map of the property. "There are two possible places where the safe is." She said, pointing to one mark. "I'll go here, and you, Bonnie and Jeremy can go to the other site."

Minutes later, Aurelia was looking around, calling Matt's name over and over again as she searched for any freshly dug up dirt. "MATT!" She yelled again. "CAN YOU SCREAM IF YOU HEAR ME?!"

She listened for any screams, but she huffed when she couldn't hear any.

"MATT!"

"Dear God, you're disturbing the wildlife with your loud screams." An unmistakable, male, British-accented voice came from behind her. She spun around, a look of shock spreading across her face.

The open-mouth look turned to a cheerful grin at the sight of none other than Klaus Mikaelson standing in front of her. "Klaus!"

"Happy 400th, love." He said with that same smirk. She laughed, hugging him tightly. "Calm down." She pulled away, and her smile faded into a soft smile.

"You can't have come here from New Orleans just to wish me." She said. "What else are you here for?"

"I did hear that a certain doppelganger shall be meeting her death soon." He said.

"You're here to gloat?" She asked, as they began to walk.

"Yes and no." He said, before looking around. "However, I see that you're looking for someone." She nodded.

"Yeah, Matt. Katherine's daughter buried him somewhere. I was just heading to the site where I located him." She said.

"Not to worry, sister." He said. "I'm sure Rebekah's found him out by now." Aurelia raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"'Bekah's here?" She asked. He nodded.

"She begged to come here to see you." He said. She smiled, before hugging him again. "We've all missed you in New Orleans."

"I've missed you, too." She said, a tear trailing down her cheek. "So much has happened while you were gone."

"Well then, why don't you start?" He suggested.

"I don't think I can go through thinking about all of that again." His eyebrows knitted together in concern. "It's a lot."

"Then we shouldn't. Nobody should have to relive terrible memories on their birthday." He said, as she looked at her feet.

"Thank you." She said. "Most people would've forced me to speak."

"I am not most people." He said. "Surely you know that."

"I do." She looked back up at him. "So, have you had a chance to see Caroline yet?" He laughed.

"I don't recall telling you that you could poke your nose into my love-life—"

"Love-life?" She asked, grinning as she caught him. "You've considered her a part of your love-life?" He let out a breath. "Caught you."

"You're very smart. Maybe too much for your good." He said, as she let out a chuckle.

Her eyes suddenly landed on a safe, the same one that Stefan had drowned in. "Matt!" She suddenly yelled, before turning to Klaus. "Thank you." She said, as he held her hand.

"Anything for you, dear sister." He said. "I should leave. I have some... errands to run." She raised an eyebrow, knowing that 'errand' meant Caroline. He lent closer to her, before pressing a kiss to her cheekbone. "Goodbye."

"Bye." She said, as he smiled and left. She turned back around, spotting a head of long blonde hair. "Rebekah!" She said, running towards the safe. She saw her, with Matt. "Finally!"

~

So, that's part one of 5x11, "500 years of Solitude". Hope you enjoyed!

P.S. I realized that I don't know how to spell 'Forty' I added a 'U'.