After jumping from the chopper, Jeremy looked around the campsite a bit lost while clutching his gear.
"Wait here Gilbert, I saw them when we were in the air and they are on their way back." The chopper military shouted before taking off and leaving him there.
Jeremy looked around the base where he hopped to spend the next two years, well, if everything went well and he didn't end up dead.
It was a bit hectic around him and it would certainly take a long time to get used to all the commotion, he knew that he had a long way ahead of him but he was excited to meet his new unit.
Especially the man who was leading it and the reason Jeremy had volunteered for this precise tour in the first place.
A beige four-wheel drive military automobile approached, it was commonly known as the Humvee but the people inside of it were far from being common and Jeremy instantly dropped his things on the ground, he straightened his back, placed his hands behind it and set his legs apart, he stood there eagerly waiting for orders and to greet his new team.
Two men jumped out of the vehicle talking easily with each other and then another man followed them but Jeremy was only interested in the later.
The tall and broad blonde man walked slowly, he was going through some papers and Jeremy couldn't help the fascinated look towards him, after all he was in the presence of a true legend, Lieutenant Niklaus Mikaelson.
He was in charge of an elite team, simply the most notorious one in all of the US Marine corps, becoming part of it was a dream come true but the Lieutenant hand-picked every soldier and during his seven tours he only lost two so far.
Now Jeremy was set on getting that open spot on The Wolves, as they were known.
The small group of men walked by Jeremy with a sneer between them.
"Day of fresh meat." a dark-haired man said.
A blonde one laughed. "This one looks like he won't last a full week."
"Are you betting on that pack of cigarettes that you keep by your rack, Donovan?"
"Sure… how long do you reckon he makes it before begging the Lt. to go back to his desk and computer?"
Jeremy frowned, how could they know his former duties?
"I say he lasts two weeks." The dark-haired said.
The blonde one laughed and nodded reaching a bet that pleased both. "If you lose, you are in charge of washing the Humvee for a week."
"How did we go from an appealing bet on smokes to that?" the other Marine was appalled.
"You just can't make a bet to save your life Damon." another blonde man laughed.
"Thanks a lot Stef." Damon grumbled.
There was an easy laughter and banter as they all went away and Jeremy could tell that they were all close, which was typical of those who learn to trust their life with the soldier next to them.
He turned his attention towards the man who stopped in front of him with his eyes on the papers in his hands.
"What's your name soldier?"
Jeremy gulped down nervous, this was like meeting the huge Rock star that he listened to every day in his room. "Jeremy Gilbert." he answered as concise and serious as he could.
"Why have you requested to be part of my team?"
His voice was low but deep, with an accent that Jeremy couldn't place at first but he read somewhere that the Lieutenant's family had lived a bit all over the world since his father had been a Lifer as well.
A military career man who was known to run his family like a tight unit.
"You are a living legend Lieutenant and I went through a lot to be standing here now before you." Jeremy left his inner ramblings to speak.
The man looked up at him and scanned the boy with his deep blue eyes. "Why have you requested to be part of my team?" he asked him again but with a stare locked with his.
Jeremy pressed his lips hesitant but he had nothing to lose. "You are the best and I want to learn all that I can from you and The Wolves."
He was happy with the answer and smiled. "Don't ever give me a second answer to a question I ask Gilbert, there is no margin for errors in my unit. That's why all of us return home and enjoy the family when our duty is done and why everyone knows that Klaus Mikaelson has never left a man behind."
Jeremy nodded. "OOH RAH." He let out the battle cry commonly used by the Marine Corps to respond to a verbal greeting or in this case to express enthusiasm.
"You are on trial until I ship you home or until you ask to be sailed home."
"I will make it into The Wolves." Jeremy was determined.
Klaus smiled amused with the determination of the young one. "So we shall see Gilbert but first get your gear off the ground, a Marine does not wear dirt as a shield unless they are Cammies."
Jeremy had one decisive nod.
"As you were, private." Klaus said walking away.
Jeremy waited until his superior left, then he smiled barely keeping his glee within, he grabbed his stuff and made his way to the tent where everyone else was.
He saw an empty mattress and assumed that he just found his new home for the following weeks, while he was headed there he dropped a sketching pad on the way that someone else picked up for him.
Jeremy recognized him as one of the men involved with the bet earlier.
"Do you draw? The Lt. does…" he handed the pad back to the kid.
Jeremy smiled awkwardly. "I scribble some stuff from time to time."
"I'm Matt Donovan." The other soldier introduced himself with a smile.
Jeremy joined his easiness. "Jeremy Gilbert."
Matt pointed at the two men behind him. "The dashing one is Damon Salvatore and the blonde one shaping his hair is Stefan, his younger brother."
Damon joined them for a better inspection. "There's no way in hell that I'm going out there to the desert during a blind night while having this one guarding my back."
Jeremy wasn't too happy but he expected the resistance anyway.
"Stop being mean." A beautiful female voice echoed inside the accommodations.
Firstly Jeremy frowned the he was almost blushing as the stunning woman came near the boys, she casually removed her jacket exposing the white shirt that looked too well on her.
"I'm Kat." she easily said and reached out her hand.
"I didn't know… that there was a WM in this unit." Jeremy said slowly processing the facts presented before him.
The girl retracted her hand upset. "That's Sergeant Katherine Pierce to you, private."
Jeremy got on point and saluted her. "I'm sorry Ma'am."
Katherine turned around on her army boots and went to her bed, she smiled at Stefan on the way there.
He shook his head, how could a creature so beautiful be so scary when she wanted?
"Be careful of that one Jarhead, she knows at least 50 different ways to kill you."
"It's Jeremy…" he mumbled but knowing that Damon had found his new name during the trial.
"Did everything go smoothly?" Elijah looked up from his desk briefly.
"Like always." Klaus answered the man terribly invested on a map.
"That makes seventeen suspects detained since we've been here and several weapon cache now in our possession. And we are just getting started." he wandered his eyes across all the known marked locations that The Wolves were taking down with their incisive missions.
"Lieutenant Colonel Elijah Mikaelson, try not to drool so much. I know that you want to make it to General but I'd like to make it alive to see my girls at least one more time."
Elijah smiled and stepped away from the map and the desk. "You will brother."
Klaus tried to smile but he was having one of those days. "Why have you sent me a child that can barely hold his Deuce? I can smell the milk a mile away."
"The child has training and his marks were off the chart… besides he really wanted this and you need a good computer wizard on the field."
Klaus sat with a sigh and rubbed the nape of his neck. "I trust your judgment but I don't have time to train him properly and I can't afford anyone to slow us down during this next operation."
"And that is why you are so good at what you do Nik." Elijah said and handed him a file with his new orders.
"Sweet talking won't get you out of this hassle, when I have the time I will still punch you in the face like the good brother that I am."
Elijah laughed loudly. "Niklaus, we both know that you enjoy this as much as I do."
Klaus chuckled. "Unlike you I have no desire to reach that chair in the Pentagon."
"I will remind you of this conversation when I do get that chair."
The moment was filled with complicity, Klaus had a group of men ready to kill and die for him, that would follow him to purgatory if they had to, without so much as asking why but Klaus would follow Elijah all the way to hell in a heartbeat.
When Katherine finished cleaning her gun, she assembled it back together making sure that it was working perfectly and she aimed at Stefan, smiling mischievously she kept him under her aim.
He could sense what she was doing but he didn't look up at her, he kept writing in his diary instead, it was a habit that he kept and that everyone respected enough to never question, everyone dealt with their inner fights in their own way.
Katherine watched Stefan, the tight white shirt left little to her vivid imagination and she allowed it all to go on a sweet dream, wondering how it would feel to run her fingertips along his really defined abs and to pull those tags closer to her.
She became serious and lowered her gun when Klaus came inside the barracks, Katherine and Stefan had been playing a dangerous flirting game for months now but they never took anything further afraid that Klaus would cut them from the Unit.
He was strict and he had set the rules before he allowed Katherine to become one of them, she was forbidden to have anything romantic with another soldier inside the team, he couldn't allow any sort of weakness that could jeopardise them all.
"What are our orders, Lt.?" Matt asked playing with his knife.
"Eat and then sleep, we leave again in four hours." he walked over to his mattress on the far end of the tent.
Everyone started getting ready.
Jeremy came near him. "Do I go as well?"
Klaus simply nodded, he was stuck with the kid anyway. "Try not to get killed on your first mission."
Jeremy was confident about his abilities. "I will make you proud."
Damon laughed from his corner while getting dressed after a shower. "Someone has a not so little crush on our Lt."
Klaus looked at Jeremy with a smirk. "I'm sorry to inform you soldier but I'm already a brown bagger."
All the others laughed but Jeremy was confused. "I knew that already… I read the article about your wedding."
Klaus laughed, this was increasingly better by the minute, they sent him a fan, disguised as a jarhead. "Just lead him out of here, I want to be alone."
Stefan stepped in front of Jeremy. "I believe that you have your orders private."
Jeremy nodded. "Yes, 1st Sergeant."
The team left to get some food but Stefan stayed behind concerned. "Are you ok, Nik?" Now that they were alone the rank was an uninvited formality.
Klaus smiled without looking at his old friend. "It's Caroline's birthday tomorrow."
Stefan padded Klaus' shoulder lightly. "I'll leave you alone."
Klaus was thankful for it and reached inside one of his pockets, he took the picture that he cherished above all things when he was away from home and slowly touched the face of the beautiful woman with the perfect cascade golden locks and a smile that made him ache.
There was a smile dancing on his lips as he touched the face of the baby girl that she was holding in her arms.
Scarlett was just like her mother, she was only five months old but already her beauty surpassed everything he knew, she had Caroline's eyes but Rebekah said that she had his dimples.
Klaus was somewhat restless, he wanted to go home and to hold them in his arms again but alas he was still obliged to stay here so for now he rested the picture over his heart and closed his eyes, his mind flew to the first time that he met Caroline and he fell asleep remembering the day that changed his life.
The first time we met
"Kol relax… I know how to drive a car." Klaus grunted at his phone attached to the speaker inside of Kol's fancy new car.
"What are you talking about? You only drive motorcycles."
Klaus rolled his eyes. "I am qualified to drive a car."
"You are going to wreck my car… I just know it."
"A little faith would be nice..." Klaus turned left on the intersection.
"I have a girl to impress, I have been after this one for months now so would you be so kind not to ruin my chances of finding true love?"
"True love..." Klaus chuckled. "You are the family and the town's playboy..."
"Do I detect a smear of envy in your voice? I understand though... all that time that you've spent in the desert has shifted your priorities... well, for the rest of us who decided to do something else with our lives... having sex is good, it's not a sin."
"I'm sure that that's what Adam told Eve..." Klaus snickered.
"Wise words Nik... wise words... hang on, I have Bekah on the line."
Klaus checked his watch, he was running late; when his cellphone announced a request for a conference call he accepted Rebekah into the conversation.
"Why is Kol being all biblical?"
Klaus laughed. "He is trying to justify his ways."
"Not even God will explain why our brother is such a manwhore but... I am calling to ask you why you haven't put in a good word with your friend Damon."
Klaus was annoyed. "Because he is sleeping with the other women that manage to get away from Kol."
There was a loud dreamy sigh from Rebekah. "But he is entirely hot..."
"All right, I'm hanging up now because I don't want to imagine Damon and my baby sister together."
Rebekah laughed. "Stop being so protective... I'm not a virgin anymore by the way, in case you still had hopes."
"Send me the name of the boy so I can track him down and shoot him."
She laughed again. "Silly... I'm going to end this conversation with the other brother that actually enjoys sex."
Klaus pushed the red button on his phone to end the call, this conversation with his siblings wasn't leading anywhere and he was really late to pick up the Salvatores at the airport.
In fact that was the only reason he was borrowing Kol's shiny car today, Klaus was too attached to his powerful black Kawasaki Ninja and he already missed her too much.
He came to a halt on a red sign and he was checking his messages when a loud shriek erupted behind him, he noticed that someone was trying to stop at the last minute, however the reaction came too late to stop the accident.
The impact wasn't as strong as he expected but still, someone just hit Kol's car.
"You cannot be serious…" Klaus rested his head against the seat upset.
Then he tried to tame his ongoing rage and stepped outside of the car to confront the blind idiot in the other car, he was ready to yell and maybe even swing a few punches when he noticed that the driver was a tall blonde woman clutching her phone and freaking out.
"Oh… my… God…" she breathed before stepping away from her door and coming closer to the damage, she bent down so that she could access how bad the impact had been on the other car.
Klaus tilted his head amused with the sight, she was wearing really tight black Jeans and high knee boots over them, a pink loose shirt graced her upper body and her hair was a mesmerizing long cascade of blonde curls, not to mention that her current position made him happy that she just hit his brother's car.
She shook her head and her loose curls moved in a dazing show, cascading perfectly over her shoulders, he smiled waiting for her to turn and face him properly.
"I don't know what happened… I was late for a meeting and then my stupid phone started ringing and then out of nowhere you were there running into me..." she spoke with a rapid jitter.
"I was… parked and you hit me." he frowned to prove his point.
"Hmmm…." Caroline couldn't do better than a strange sound, she looked a bit dazed actually.
"Are you all right, sweetheart?" He was worried, maybe the girl had hurt herself with some severity upon the impact.
"Yes…" she whispered and then laughed nervously.
She covered her mouth and blushed shaking her head to stop the silly reaction and Klaus cocked an eyebrow suspicious of her well-being.
She was scanning his face languorously but when her eyes lowered to his chest he could tell that his necklace with the military tags was probably on display over his grey Henley, usually people would give him a sad look because of all the ones being sent oversea in this time of war but she smiled warmly at him.
"My father was a military..." she said slowly.
"Was?" Klaus cautiously inquired.
Her face gained a shade of sadness and he hated it, she had a great warm smile that should be on her features instead.
Quickly giving rest to a matter that she would not discuss with a total stranger, she became imperative about their accident. "We should call the police."
He nodded impressed, she was obviously a very assertive young lady and his interest peaked. "There's no need for that, love." he said warmly.
She gave him a dubious look at once. "Is the car stolen?"
It made Klaus laugh with will. "No sweetheart, it belongs to my brother but I will deal with him directly."
"Then… how do we… settle this?" She was truly confused.
Klaus reached out and took the phone from her hand, she protested but he was swiftly dialling his number and smiled when it rang inside of his car. "I will call you later to know at what time you would like to have dinner." He returned her phone.
"Call? Dinner… what?" she stuttered bewildered.
"You can pay me back for the car damage by joining me on a date." he answered easily.
"A date? I don't even know your name. For all I know you are just some really attractive serial killer with a hot accent." she waved her hand in the air with an attitude.
Klaus chuckled. "I'm Niklaus Mikaelson, I'm a Lieutenant in the US Marine Corps but you can call me Nik, sweetheart." He winked at her.
She closed her eyes for a second processing the information and raised her finger in the air to speak but he was by his door already.
"What name should I add to the number on my cellphone?" he asked turning around for a second.
"Caroline… but… wait…" she tried to stop him.
Only that Klaus was used to seize the moment as they came and he dialed her number already from inside of his car.
"Yes?" she answered certain that he was crazy.
"Do you fancy Japanese? I know the best restaurant in town…"
She threw her hand in the air. "Why not? This is insane but whose keeping track?"
"Fantastic, that's the spirit love. Now, I should warn you right away that I will be driving my beloved motorcycle so a dress will be kind of… tricky."
She laughed loudly and standing in the middle of the road. "I must be out of my frigging mind but whatever... I'll be wearing my soon to be killed by a sadist serial killer biker pants."
It was his turn to laugh and he started the car grinning. "I have to leave now, I'm late to meet some friends but I look forward to our date tonight. I'll call you later for the final arrangements, Caroline." he said ending the call naturally.
He added a name to go with the number and smiled happy, he liked seeing the name Caroline on his screen. "OOH RAH." he said with a smile that revealed his dimples and drove away.
Soundtrack:
First time - Lifehouse
