I'm on a phase with this fandom and I'm letting it run its course. I'm also thoroughly enjoying the ride.

Wood Block

"Long night?" Hayley asked as Camille yawned.

"Something like that."

Camille was out with Hayley and Freya for some relaxing girl's coffee. It was a much needed tradition to be away from all the men as well as the supernatural drama.

"Oh? You don't say," Freya raised a curious brow. "So, spill."

"Yeah, someone's been holding out on us." Hayley added.

Camille smirked. "Okay. You got me. I'll let you two in on the dirty details."

The two women placed their drink down and exchanged glances. They had thought Camille was joking.

"The bed was so creaky and I never noticed how truly creaky it was until last night. I think I may have woken up the neighbors."

Freya's jaw dropped and a gasp escaped her. "You bad girl."

"I've got some sore muscles too."

Hayley's eyes widened. "My God, you really went all out didn't you?" She was at a lost for words by her friend's boldness. If Klaus found out about her secretly hooking up with some guy he'd tear the entire city down until he found him. Then he'd literally rip the man's heart out.

Freya also held a worried look. "What's the lucky man's name?" More like unlucky. The man had a death wish.

"I thought you'd never ask." Camille said and leaned in closer. In return her two friends followed in suit. "His name is 'old creaky bed' who, sadly, is about to get dumped because he keeps me up at night and gives me cramps. I haven't gotten any sleep lately."

"..."

If only Camille had taken a picture of their speechless expressions. It was absolutely priceless. Instead she laughed. "I can't believe you fell for that!"

Hayley pulled back with a huff. "So not cool Cami. Although I admit you had me hooked like a fish."

Freya breathed a sigh of relief. "I was worried we'd find ourselves burying someone."

"Come on guys, you should know my love life is a train wreck. Even so, I did need the laugh."

"Anyway, is that all that has you tired?" Hayley asked before taking a bite of her chocolate chip cookie. "You were late to our coffee date."

"Aah, about that, sorry I had to wait on the delivery guy. I have some furniture coming in. One which happens to be my perfect bed."

Freya paused to ponder for a bit. Deciding on trying to salvage the conversation she went for it. "Was he at least cute?"

Camille shrugged. "He was an overweight, grumpy old man. Not that I'm one to judge."

"So you had a grumpy, definitely sweaty, old man setting up your furniture?" Hayley said. "Doesn't sound fun at all."

"Uh not quite. He just dropped it off. I'll be setting it up myself."

Freya was a bit skeptical. "You? By yourself?"

Beside Freya, Hayley wore a similar look. "I second that."

"Have some faith you two. It's designed to be user friendly so that anyone can assemble it. You don't have to be an expert."

"Cami," Hayley began. "When was the last time you even assembled any kind of furniture? Or anything in general? Legos don't count."

She stopped and began running through her memory bank in search of a prior occurrence to satisfy Hayley. She came up short. "It's user friendly." It was all she could say.

Hayley shook her head. "Why not ask Klaus for help? I'm sure he'd love to help you."

An image of Klaus' smirk at her asking for help came to mind. "I'll pass."

"I'd lend a hand but I know fuck about furniture. I've been asleep for the good part of life." Freya stated with a shrug.

"I would help if I could but I promised Jackson I'd have dinner with him today." Hayley said with an apologetic tone. "You know there's no harm in asking Klaus, or any of the guys, for help."

"That won't be necessary," Camille argued with a fire in her eyes. "Just because I'm a woman, or human, doesn't mean I'm not capable of screwing some screws and hammering some nails."

There was no deterring Camille. Her stubbornness was simply unbreakable.

"Give it your best shot then," Hayley sighed in defeat.

Freya nodded in agreement. "Yep. We'll be cheering for you."

Once their little get together ended the two bid Camille farewell.

"She's tearing the house down isn't she?" Freya said, her question sounding more like a statement.

"Yup," Hayley answered. "Have to admit I'm a bit disappointed that I'll be missing out on how Cami turns a bed into Egyptian ruins."

Freya shivered at the thought. "I'll call Niklaus."

... ... …. …. ... ... ... …. …. ... ... ... ….

Camille arrived home and stared at the boxes in her living room. It was a bookshelf, a coffee table, and, most importantly, her new bed. Okay. This couldn't be that hard. Not like she was building a space shuttle. The coffee table would be first.

"Okay Camille, you can do this."

With that final reassurance she began pulling out the pieces from the box. A triumphant smile graced her lips as the instruction manual fell out. This would be a breeze; and then she'd invite Freya and Hayley to her home and they'd bask in her new, Cami-assembled furniture.

About forty minutes later and she was eyeing the table one minute followed by the picture in the instruction manual the next.

"Something is definitely not right."

One of the legs was wobbly and a bit crooked. Well if at first you don't succeed...

Camille flipped the table a bit more roughly than was necessary before unscrewing the leg. With much more awareness she began putting it back into place. She adjusted the table back upwards and moved it around to ensure it was properly placed. And it was.

With a proud smile and crossed arms she took a moment to admire her handiwork. She was almost tempted to take a picture and send it to Hayley and Freya. But she was far from finished here.

The ego boost she got upon setting up the table had her confidently approaching the book case. This one should be easy. After all it's basically stacking wood upwards in a parallel form and that shouldn't be too difficult. She would still use the manual of course.

This one took considerably more time than the coffee table. She had to think it through on what exactly the damn thing needed to be properly mounted. It took some improvising and creativity on her part but she managed to get the thing standing.

"Hah, yes!"

A little bag lying atop the coffee table caught her eye. And a chill ran up her body as she came to a startling realization. Those were the hinges needed to sustain the shelves in place; without them it would crumble when the weight of the books are placed.

Her mood deflated. "Well darn." That made it 1-1 on the score sheet. Camille checked her phone to see that it was nearing dinnertime. To hell with it! She'll just put the books at the bottom first. That way there was no possible way it could crumble. It was her rationalization and she was sticking to it.

Her feet dragged her to the couch before sinking down onto it. She knew for a fact the bed would take forever to do. And to be quite frank she was tired and starting to get hungry. Perhaps asking for help wouldn't be so bad? After all she'd already established the fact that she was more than capable of assembling furniture, a bit half-baked but it still counted.

Wasting no more time she reached for her phone. Her finger hovered over Klaus' name on the screen; but one thought of his teasing smirk had her scrolling down her contacts to Marcel's name. Unfortunately he told her he was busy with what she assumed was official vampire business. She tried Vincent only to find out he was busy with something as well, to which she didn't quite know what it could be.

Josh it is then.

Luck wasn't with her as he told her he was unavailable either. The reason being he was out watching a movie with Davina and she'd never tear up that dynamic duo. Especially considering how hard Davina's life had been lately; she could use the break. So Camille opted on Elijah and of course he was busy too, most likely doing Elijah things. She doesn't bother calling Will and she's not so desperate to seek out that creep Lucien.

Again her finger dangled over Klaus' name. One click and he'd be here in literally seconds.

No, her mind argued. He's already done enough.You don't need his help all the time.

Groaning loudly she got on her feet. Reminding herself that she'd be sleeping on her new bed tonight helped steel her resolve. This had to be a sign though. A sign telling her that this task was meant for her and her only.

She began the process of unboxing the pieces and pulled out the manual. Just one look had her shuddering at how tiresome this would be. An hour later of lifting, pushing, hammering and Camille fully understood how hard the task actually was. Despite the manual being right there beside her it didn't stop her from thinking that something was amiss. Camille was sure she was literally pushing above her weight now but she refused to throw in the towel.

Pride can kill a man they said. Well it can kill women too. This was ridiculous. It was practically Camille against the law of physics!

Screw it, she thought and headed to the kitchen for a drink.

"Care for some help love?"

Camille shrieked in horror before shooting daggers at the man leaning coolly against the wall, familiar smirk engraved on his face. "How did you get in?"

"Simple really. You've already invited me in prior to this moment so I let myself in through the window."

Camille rolled her eyes. "Very funny. Now In case you didn't notice I'm busy. Come back another day for therapy."

"Ah but I'm not here for our chats darling. I'm here to lend you a hand. And by the looks of it you could use the help."

"Help?" Camille repeated in confusion.

"Freya called and asked if I could look in on you. She informed me of your carpentry troubles."

She sighed. She should've anticipated that. "Thanks but I don't need help." Her stomach traitorously grumbled and if she could hear the noise than it most certainly sounded like a rock concert to his sensitive ears.

"You haven't eaten yet have you?"

"It's nothing, really. I'm just about done so there's no need for you to be here." The one man she wanted to impress just had to show up. "You can let yourself out the door or window or whatever."

"No need to be testy love. Can't I admire your work?" Klaus replied while approaching the bookshelf. "Now what good is a bookshelf without books?"

Camille stiffened and immediately turned to his direction. Her arm lifted up to warn him but she was not quick enough.

Once the book was placed on top of the shelf it shook under the weight before giving way and crashing down. And it was like a domino game gone wrong when the shelf fell onto the bottom one until they were all lying on the ground.

She sunk to the ground on her knees as she took in the mess. Her head lowered in absolute mortification and she refused to look at Klaus.

Meanwhile Klaus was frozen, not knowing whether to laugh or feel depressed. So he just quietly examined the poor excuse of a bookshelf.

"I... I may have forgotten the hinges." Camille murmured in embarrassment.

Klaus probably wouldn't have caught it if not for his vampire hearing. "I see. How were you planning on using it?"

She bit her lip shyly. "Um, I figured that if I simply crammed it with books then it'd be a self-sustaining sort of bookshelf."

At this he blinked.

But when he looked into her eyes he knew she was dead serious. And that's when he laughed. This woman was one of a kind.

"It's not funny!" Camille snapped in defense.

"Forgive me love but I'm not laughing at you. I'm merely laughing with you."

"That's crazy because guess what? I'm not laughing!" She hissed and faced away once more.

"Why don't you accept my assistance Camille? The urgency is clear as day."

"I don't need it okay? I don't always need your help Klaus!" Camille shouted in frustration. And it boiled down to this. He was always saving her and being there whenever she needed it. It was like she was unable to do anything without him. She didn't want to be a burden by being so dependent of him. And yet here she was unable to assemble bloody furniture and in need of his help once more.

He sighed before walking over to her and placing his hands on her shoulders. "You know no matter what I will never think any less of you Camille."

It was like he read her mind. She was amazed by how adept he was at reading her. "It's just... this is such a- a human problem. It should hardly be something that warrants me to ask for your help."

"And you think I mind?" He asked with curiosity.

"I prefer not to trouble you with such simple things when there's obviously more concerning issues."

Klaus smiled and gently squeezed her arms. "You're important to me. That's enough of a reason for me to make time. And besides," He let go and began taking the hinges out from the plastic bag. "I'm quite fond of your company."

His words surrounded her like the gentle warmth of a fireplace did for someone who'd been out skiing all afternoon. Pretty soon she was smiling. "Alright, we can start here and then move to the bed."

"Such a proposition Camille," Klaus smirked. "One that warrants a dinner at least."

Camille didn't miss the subtlety beneath his mirth. The food was obviously meant for her who hadn't eaten at all. "Is takeout alright with you? I don't think I have anything here."

"That would be fine."

With his vampire speed and strength they were able to finish right as the food arrived. In the end the score sheet remained a 1-1 draw but there would be other times to settle that. The two were then eating by her newly brought coffee table, a movie playing on her television.

"Sorry, you did mostly all the assembling," Camille apologized. "I can't compete with you."

"Don't sell yourself short love. You may have mucked up the bookshelf but you did a fine job on this table."

"Thanks." She replied with a genuine smile. When they finished she took the plates back into the kitchen. That's when it hit her and she turned to Klaus. "Hey you know what? We never tested the bed out. Want to go check it out?"

He raised a brow. "You're just full of these propositions aren't you?"

Camille ignored him in favor of jumping onto her bed. It was like falling onto feathers. "Wow! This feels amazing! Klaus come feel this bed!"

Klaus had no choice in the matter as he was pulled to sit down on it by the overly enthusiastic bartender. She was giggling like a little girl and he found himself unable to look away. Her laughter was music to his dead ears.

"Thanks for your help Klaus. I definitely wouldn't have been able to do this without you." Camille admitted while stretching her arms over her head. This had been a long day.

"It was nothing." Klaus replied and he could feel the bed shifting as she began moving to sit. He felt her back lean gently against his.

"It's more than nothing," She started softly. "You're always around whenever I need it. I don't tell you often enough how much I appreciate that." Sleep was starting to overcome her and her eyes began getting heavier.

He chuckled when he heard her yawn. "You should get some sleep love."

"Klaus?"

"Hmm?"

Camille timidly reached for his hand. "You mind staying a bit longer?"

"I'll stay for as long as you like."

Forever would be nice...

When she felt his back stiffen she realized she had said that out loud. Quickly she jumped to her feet. "I'll get ready for bed now."

Klaus could hear her vocally berating herself inside the bathroom. His lips curved upwards as he wondered if she bothered to remember about his vampire hearing.

He just couldn't keep away from this silly woman.

Camille returned in comfortable sweatpants before dropping back onto her bed. She felt giddy about how he was still in his spot on her bed. Normally their shared company meant there was business to be done or it was for more therapy. It was hardly spent doing housework and eating takeout. They spent so much time in her house doing these human things that it was almost like they were... married?

Her hands came to her mouth to muffle the gasp and she shook her head to get a grip. She was acting like some schoolgirl who just found out her crush shared the same feelings! The day was surreal though so cut her some slack. And would it really kill her to enjoy this day? How often does one see Klaus outside of his usual self?

Something tugged at her heart as she realized that he probably didn't have normal days like this. Days where he could just let his guard down and relax. She wished she could freeze time; so that he never had to worry about what supernatural being will be after him and his family this time around.

She found herself edging towards him so that her back pressed against his. Once again he stiffened in surprise but soon relaxed, even going as far as to lean closer.

"I want to say so much," Camille muttered weakly. "I want to do so much for you."

"I assure you this is more than enough."

His voice was gentle, soothing even. Camille could picture the small smile decorating his face.

She flipped around so that her stomach was pressed against his back; and she tucked her body around him. And it's as if she could feel the pent up tension leaving his body. Mentally she took note to give him a massage one of these days. Because she would make a habit from now on to do this normalcy with him more often. For now she settled on pulling his arm to her chest and snuggling closer to him.

"Goodnight Klaus."

"Goodnight, sweet Camille."

Author's Notes

Man am I going to miss my Klamille T_T why must they tear down my Nik so much? Can't he be happy? Anyway, thanks for reading! :)