I do not own the vampire diaries, it belongs to L.J Smith and the CW.

Kol threw back another shot and grimaced slightly as the amber liquid burned on the way down.

He had lost track of how much he had drank a few hours ago, he thinks he remembered his thirteenth drink but after that events became a little…blurry to say the least.

After his confrontation with his moth- with Esther, he had fled, he did not now what the others had done.

Nik would stay, he would never abandon his precious blood bag, Rebekah would probably stay by his side, no matter what she said, or how furious she was with him, she would never really leave him for good. As for Elijah, who knew what his moral brother would do. On the one hand somebody needed to keep Nik and Rebekah in line, but on the other he had been deeply effected by Esther's words, that they were all monsters.

He shook these thoughts away, it did not matter what the others were doing, he did not need them, the three of them only looked out for each other anyway. He needed to take care of himself.

I can do that, I've been doing it for most of my life.

He flickered his large, drunken eyes around the spacious bar, hunting for a suitable dinner and/or entertainment.

He unleashed a predatory smile as his gaze fell upon a pretty girl, petite, red curls, round, almost cartoon like green eyes.

Klaus realised that something was wrong when both Elijah and Rebekah dropped dead.

He and Rebekah had been sitting in the living room, he had been sketching, growing gradually more frustrated as everything he tried to draw morphed into Caroline's face against his will. Rebekah had been watching some idiotic programme about male models, and Elijah had been saying goodbye to them, while they both stubbornly ignored him.

Then Elijah collapsed to the floor in a heap and Rebekah slumped forward in her seat ungracefully.

He stared at them both for a second, panic rising in his gut. He could feel something, a sharp pain in his chest, and his strength wavered, but he remained conscience.

He was struck by the terrifying realisation that he had no idea what to do. He did not know how, or even if he could, wake them up.

"Bekah? Elijah?" He cried with anger that did not quite mask his desperation, as though he thought they might be playing some cruel, elaborate practical joke.

Neither responded, the only sounds in the room were the whiny voices emanating from the television and the fearful pounding of his heart.

He had been pacing frantically for about five minutes his mind racing, searching for a solution, when he heard a soft gasp of breath from behind him, he whirled around and saw the colour returning to his siblings' skin, their eyes opened slowly and both stared at him accusingly.

He held his hands up and endeavoured to look less relieved than he felt. "It was nothing to do with me this time." He smirked, but he did not think it looked as arrogant and self assured as usual.

"Call Kol." Elijah had already picked himself up from the smooth floor, dusted himself off and regained his composure.

Klaus obeyed quickly and rang his immature younger brother. He kept his stoic composure, refusing to allow either his brother or sister to know that he was praying to any being that would listen for Kol to pick up.

Ha, this must be the only occasion you've ever wanted to talk to Kol.

He received an irritated scowl from Rebekah and an exasperated glance from Elijah when he voiced this thought.

No answer. He tried again, again, no answer.

"Let me try." Rebekah snapped and pulled her own phone out of her snug jeans, however before she could dial, Klaus' phone rang, breaking the tense silence.

"Kol?" He kept all emotion out of his voice.

"Erm no, this is Mandy." An unfamiliar young woman spoke.

Klaus turned to the others and raised his eyebrows quizzically , silently asking, do we know her? They did not.

"Who?" He inquired, unsure whether to sound polite or threatening, he settled on polite, he could always terrify the life out of the girl later.

"I found your friend Kol." She stated nervously, her high pitched voice trembling in her uncertainty.

"Is he alright?" He really wished that this woman would just get to the point.

"Depends on your definition of "alright" he's as drunk as a wino at a free bar, and covered in mud and blood but he's… he's still standing."

Klaus rolled his eyes, of course Kol would be responsible for this situation. If there was ever trouble anywhere, then Kol would be sure to find it, he took after him after all.

Kol let out an irate groan as the annoying little girl told the suspicious human behind the bar to stop serving him alcohol. She was just like Elijah- determined to stop him having fun.

Okay, so he was bleeding a little bit, it was all the red heads fault. She looked all sweet and innocent, acted like butter wouldn't melt, then turned out to be a vampire hunter.

He had compelled her to follow him outside, or at least he had thought he had, turned out her body held more vervain than blood. Before he could so much as ingest a drop from her, she'd plunged a stake into his heart, killing him. At least temporarily. He had woken up in a shallow grave, which he had to dig himself out of.

It was not a good night.

He had staggered back to the bar and began to fill himself with more whiskey, he needed it after this evening.

Then the pain in the arse girl had to ask him if he was alright. He told her that he was, yet she still pig headedly refused to go away- do-gooder.

He was shocked out of his stupor when she shook his arm gently, she started speaking and he waved her off, she was boring him.

"Kol, listen to me!" She insisted, he sighed and did as she demanded, "I've called your brother, he's on his way to get you." She spoke slowly and carefully, as though she was speaking to a child, or somebody who was mentally defected.

"Which brother?" It could only be either Klaus or Elijah, Finn did not own a phone, he did not understand how they worked, and after they had each tried to explain, he still could not comprehend why anyone would want one.

"Nik." He frowned, although he was not positive if this was better or worse than Elijah. It was most likely better than Bekah, she'd just chew his ear off about how she had to drive all the way here to get his drunk arse.

He had not gone far from Mystic falls, he did not have a car, he simply ran. All of his belongings were still at the mansion. He had only travelled a few miles before he decided that he was desperate for a drink, he wanted to be drunk, so drunk that he could stop thinking about Esther and Finn's betrayal, and so he could shut up that nagging part of his brain that reminded him that the others would not care that he was gone, they'd be happier, even. He was just the immature little brother, the only one crazier than Klaus, the one who messed everything up.

He pulled away from the bar abruptly- too abruptly, without it's support, he found himself tumbling over his own unsteady feet and falling to the floor in a sprawling mess.

"Oh God, " the girl yelped and reached down to try and drag him to his feet again, but he was too heavy.

"That's alright, sweetheart, allow me. I've got experience." A charming English accent floated down to where Kol sat.

He glared up at his older brother's amused face, he was grinning down at him.

"Don't laugh at me," he grumbled.

Klaus only smirked wider at his child-like sulking.

"Oh stop it, Nikki, you're showing off your dimples." He mocked, knowing how much Nik hated both being called Nikki and being reminded of his dimples.

Klaus glowered at him before leaning down and pulling him up by his arms, he slumped unwillingly against his older brother, who wrapped an arm around him and half carried him outside.

As the cold air hit him, his stomach turned and he began to retch suddenly, emptying the contents of his stomach all over Nik's designer jeans and his leather boots.

Klaus ignored the almost overwhelming urge to drop Kol to the floor again and make him crawl home.

Fortunately all of the blood he had drunk recently had already been absorbed by his system, so only alcohol came out, or else Klaus would have to deal with compelling a petrified girl as well as handling a drunken Kol.

Klaus coaxed his brother into the passenger seat of the car and slammed the door shut, he turned to the worried girl who had followed them outside, she was shivering but obstinately trying not to let it show.

"Is he…?"

"He'll be fine." He assured her, with his most reassuring smile, it relaxed her as he knew it would. The girl was about to walk back inside when Klaus stopped her, "Mandy, here you go, love." He held out a $20 bill, she appeared genuinely surprised.

"No, no, I couldn't."

"I insist, " this time he mustered up his most charming smile and she hesitantly took the money.

Kol was tired, his head felt like it was made of concrete, he laid it against the window, and watched Nik as he began to drive down the dark twisting roads.

"Are you not going to start the Spanish inquisition?" He slurred petulantly.

Klaus, still amused, replied, "oh, no, you'll get that from Elijah when we get home."

"Can we sneak back in, so he doesn't see us", he pouted, and Niklaus laughed.

He remembered when he and Kol used to sneak out of the hut as children and try to get back in in the middle of the night, without waking anybody up. That would not work now, when everybody had super hearing. On the other hand he recalled that it had not worked then either. "I'm afraid not, Kol."

They were quiet for a while, and Klaus wondered if his brother had fallen asleep, when Kol began to speak again. "She hates us." He did not have to specify who, she was.

He did not respond. "So does Finn, and father… I'm all alone." Kol began to laugh without humour.

"You're not alone, Kol."

"I don't have anybody else!"

"I'm sorry, who just drove for miles to pick you up only to have you vomit on them?" He asked rhetorically with a raise of his eyebrows at his brother's dramatics.

"But you have Elijah and Bekah, the three of you are like a team.. Like… the three musketeers." He muttered unhappily.

"I'm not sure Rebekah would appreciate that analogy." Klaus tried to lighten the mood, he was not used to seeing his little brother sad, bratty? yes, angry? yes, annoying as hell? yes, but sad? not so much and he could not quite remember how to deal with it.

"You all stick together… always and forever." Kol sneered, but his hurt was painfully clear.

Nik did not know what to say to that, he had never been very skilled at comforting an upset child, which was what Kol was currently acting like.

"I miss Henrich," Kol mumbled suddenly, sounding more vulnerable than Klaus had heard him in a thousand years.

"Me too," he answered honestly.

Kol awoke an uncertain amount of time later and wished that he hadn't.

It seemed that Klaus had taken the dagger he used on him a century ago and was repeatedly plunging it into his skull.

Actually no, that would probably hurt less, than this current torment.

He opened his bleary eyes and tried to wipe them with his hand, he was confused to find that he could not move his arms, he blinked furiously to clear his vision and raised his head, glancing at his surroundings.

He let out a long suffering sigh and then laughed once, quietly, as he saw the source of his imprisonment.

He lay in the centre of his large bed, under the blankets. On one side of him lay a sleeping Klaus and on the other a sleeping Rebekah, both lying on top of the covers and pinning him down.

Klaus lay with his hands resting on his stomach, with his mouth hanging slightly open, if only Kol had a camera, or if only he could move to get to a camera.

Rebekah looked only marginally better, her make up was smeared, giving her a clown like appearance, and her hair was tangled and dishevelled.

He managed to lift his head up enough to look across the room, Elijah was sleeping in his armchair, looking as together and well dressed as usual.

I knew he slept in a suit. Kol thought to himself with amusement.

After ten minutes of lying in an uncomfortable position and listening to Klaus muttering Caroline's name in his sleep had ceased to be amusing, he began to fidget and wiggle under the covers to try and get more space for himself, without waking anybody up.

Just as he congratulated himself on a job well done, Klaus spoke, "stay still and go to sleep, Kol."

The younger man had a sudden flashback to the night before, of spewing his guts all over his brother's shoes, he began to snigger evilly.

As if reading his mind, Klaus spoke, "you're buying me a new pair."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm not."

"You are, unless of course, you want me to tell everybody about how you're all alone." His brother blackmailed him with a smirk.

"Bastard." Kol muttered.

"Oh, don't worry Kol, Niklaus cannot use that one against you, you already told me all about how you have nobody and nothing, last night. Might I add, while I was cleaning sick off your mouth, helping you change out of your soiled clothes and trying to convince you to go to sleep." Elijah stated, surprising both of his brother's.

Kol blushed at his insecure, untrue and embarrassing confessions. "Might I ask why you're all sleeping in here anyway?" He asked defensively, trying to deflect the focus of the room away from himself.

"You refused to go to bed unless we stayed with you because you just needed us. " Elijah paraphrased coolly. "You also mentioned something about being attacked by a little ginger girl."

"Shut up." Kol uttered, glaring as both of his older brothers chuckled at him. "I thought you were leaving?" He accused.

"I was going to, but somebody needs to keep you miscreants out of trouble." He spoke calmly, but his eyes danced with mirth.

Kol rolled his eyes, he would not admit it, but he liked having his siblings surround him again. As humans they all shared a bed for warmth, it was… pleasant. It was comforting to always have somebody there, when he was scared as a child, or if he needed silent comfort as he got older.

He sometimes missed the closeness he had shared with them, as if in response to these thoughts, Klaus shifted closer to him and went back to sleep.

It did not take Kol a long time to go back to sleep, he felt happier and more secure than he had in a long time.

Just as he felt himself slipping peacefully into unconsciousness, Rebekah spoke, "by the way Kol, you'll be thrilled to learn that Elijah's interrogation hasn't happened yet, you still have that to look forward to."

He was too tired to even bother rolling his eyes at his sister's snide amusement at his expense.

He'd extract vengeance tomorrow.

I'm not sure what I think about this, whether I like it or not, it's just an idea I got the other day. I'm not sure about how Kol is written since we haven't ever seen him vulnerable, but I gave it my best shot.

Please review.