Title: Hope is temporary, but Love lasts forever
Summary: The gods gave Klaus a daughter but they won't let him keep her.
Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to their respective owners. This story is produced without profit.
Characters: Klaus/Caroline. Mentions of Hope, Hayley and the Mikaelsons.
Genre: Angst/Hurt/Family/Loss/ Death/Re-discovery
Rating: Teen and Older
Warnings: Parental loss
Status: One shot/ Complete.
Archiving: Please PM me
Notes: So after the great feedback I got from my other two stories, and after narratively giving Klaus a very satisfying whooping, I decided to attempt something else. It's not incredibly pro-Hope. While I did try to respect how TO Klaus would feel on the subject matter, I am still more than comfortable with treating Hope like the plot device that she is sooo...this is what happened.
Hope is temporary, but Love lasts forever
"The gods gave you a daughter but they won't let you keep her," A witch tells him one day. Klaus doesn't even remember her name. Klaus can barely remember what she looks like but he remembers those words.
Hope doesn't heal like the rest of them. How her hybrid genes affects her abilities is still a mystery but what is clear is that Hope must suffer all her childhood cuts and bruises in a very human fashion; slowly and painfully.
The first time Klaus feeds her his blood in order to heal a graze is the first time that the Witch's words truly resonate.
It doesn't work.
The skin doesn't heal over; not for at least a few weeks and when it does, stark, yellowed bruises remain in place. Klaus feeds her his blood for every cut and wound after that.
It never works.
...
Hope grows quickly; too quickly.
Klaus wishes he could feel the same excitement that any parent would feel as they watch their child grow but their circumstances are not normal. Klaus knows, even when he can't admit it to himself, that he is destined to outlive his daughter.
His daughter will age, then decay, then turn to dust.
"We must do something," Elijah says, desperately, and they try.
They try every witch, shaman, gypsy. Every elixir and potion known to man.
Hope's magic is strong; stronger than any Klaus has ever seen, but all the familiar anti-aging witch spells fail to take. They pop and fizzle out.
Hope still grows. Hope still fades.
...
His daughter dies on a Sunday morning.
She is forty-three years old.
Hayley holds one hand. Klaus holds the other. Only Hayley cries. All Klaus can feel is anger and bitterness.
Hope dies with vampire blood in her system, one last ditch attempt, but she never wakes up.
"The gods gave you a daughter but they won't let you keep her." He remembers the witches words from long ago.
He knows now. Perhaps he knew all along. His daughter was a product of nature and Mother Nature has reclaimed her power.
Klaus wants to be thankful for the time he was able to spend with her but it is just another wound. Another loss and another disappointment.
How poetic is this tragedy. His daughter was the most powerful person in the world and now she is a corpse; burned out and ravaged by the force of her own magic.
Taken too soon, they say, when she should not have been taken at all.
...
They bury her on the Wednesday.
It rains.
Klaus's redemption is lowered into the ground. Klaus's last hope is dead and buried.
The finest coffin is all that remains.
...
Elijah weeps solemnly. Rebekah weeps openly.
Hayley rages and rampages; her default setting for grief.
Klaus locks himself in his studio and paints, weeping silently when nobody can hear.
Eventually, life moves on. Hayley moves back to the Bayou, reunites with what remains of her pack. They rarely see her anymore now that their ties to one another have been cut.
Elijah takes to travelling again; decides to re-explore the new world. Rebekah goes with him as far as Europe before she eventually falls in 'love' and settles. It's easy to forget how long they have been in New Orleans. How they have all become subconsciously tethered to this city.
Klaus is alone. Forever alone, despite his siblings attempts to convince him to join them on their travels. He spends first his evenings, then his mornings, then every waking hour, painting.
He paints his daughter's face; over and over again. But as time moves on, and Klaus's anger and bitterness grows, Hope's hair becomes lighter. Her eyes a more significant shade of blue.
He can't help but think about a time before his daughter; about a time when his pain was visceral but not so helpless. He can't help but to think back on that time before he was hopeless.
Whatever happened to that baby vampire who, even after all these years, still features in his thoughts?
...
He is surprised at how hard it is to track a person down these days with his old allies gone and bridges burned in the name of Hope.
Klaus quickly learns that the Mikaelson name isn't as feared anymore as it once was; that their inactivity over the years has left the new generation of supernaturals uneducated and the old generation complacent.
He has spent so long with the city of New Orleans under his thumb that he has forgotten that the world is big and vast; that reputations must be upheld and defended.
Finding Caroline is hard and when he eventually does locate her, it is by chance. His sister has found her way back to the Ripper. They have a vineyard in Tuscany where they spend their mornings making wine and their evenings drinking it.
"She was staying with us for the fortnight," Rebekah tells him. "But then she left for Rome."
...
"You know, it's creepy to stare," she says, as he walks up behind her.
They are in the Sistine Chapel, staring at The Last Judgement. Klaus finds it oddly fitting.
Her hair is shorter; curls ending just below her jaw line but her...essence, her demeanour is still inherently Caroline. Elegant, proud, regal. Still young and fresh and bright.
She turns slowly, arms crossed firmly, and her mouth is a tight line as she asks, "What do you want now?"
There are a lot of things he could want. He could want respect, family, he could want the world to fear his name as they once did. The answer that springs to Klaus's mind surprises him. He just wants to be happy. He wants happiness that will last and will not rot and decay.
Was he ever happy being a father? Sometimes, he thinks but that happiness was not carefree.
"Hello, love," he says in response. Perhaps his words are answer enough.
Caroline is not a baby vampire anymore. She is not young and impressionable. Her head is not easily turned by sweet words and endearments. He wants to ask her how she managed it. How she grew and matured without losing her brightness.
After a moments pause, she shakes her head with a chuckle that is not in the least bit kind. "Look, I know what happened, okay. Your daughter...died." she says, stalling on the word and searching his face for any offence or hurt. "So you, what, decided to track me down to fill in the gap?"
Klaus considers her words and tries to ignore the sickening bout of guilt and sadness they inspire. Did he? Is that why he is here?
No. It takes him only a second to come to that conclusion. Caroline and Hope are...were, entirely different people. His daughter was impulsive and wild where Caroline epitomised control and order. The only thing they ever had in common was that they both made Klaus happy.
"I don't need you," she says when Klaus doesn't reply.
"I know," he tells her, truthfully.
"I don't want you," she adds.
Klaus swallows a burst of emotion that tries to force its way up through his gullet. "I know that too."
Caroline's expression softens. He welcomes her pity. He welcomes any feeling from her as long as it's directed at him. "You're different," she says.
"You're not very different at all," he replies. She is untouched and untainted by the years. Still his beckoning light.
He feels a jolt of humour as Caroline's back straightens and she looks at little put out by the implication that she is still Caroline Forbes; Miss Mystic Falls. "If you think I'm the same dumb, insecure little girl that's just going to drop her panties for you because you come wandering back into my life, you can think again." She says, firmly.
It angers Klaus. "If you think that I share your same disregard as to what happened between us then it is you who can think again, Caroline!"
"Oh right!" Caroline fires back. "You leave, come back to get laid, conveniently forget to tell me that not only did you screw Hayley, you knocked her up, and then when all your dreams go up in smoke, you decide to intrude on my life?"
She pushes past him angrily, throwing in a "Go back to hell, Klaus!" for good measure.
He grabs her arm and her gasp of outrage gains shocked silence and stares throughout the building. "You forget who you're talking to," he snarls, ignoring the self-righteous muttering of the people around them.
Caroline jerks her arm away. "If you think that line still works, you need to familiarise yourself with the world again. Hate to break it to you, but most people don't even know who Klaus Mikaelson is anymore and those who do, don't care. You're a joke, Klaus. Your whole family is a joke now!"
She trails off, biting her lip as though she has suddenly remembered how Klaus once terrorised her town. Klaus wants to argue, but how can he, when it has taken him nearly a year to find her and even that was by a stroke of luck. It doesn't stop him being angry though. It doesn't stop him from wanting to lash out.
He leans close to her and growls through gritted teeth. "Speak one more word about my family and I will hunt down every-,"
"-one I ever met and tear out their liver?" Caroline finishes with a insolence that is intended to mock and antagonise him. After a moment she shakes her head, unfolds her arms and smiles as she regards him with a new consideration.
"I was wrong," she says. "You're not different at all.
He has missed this too.
...
"I meant what I said," she tells him over Crème Brulee and coffee. "I don't want or need you and I'm not going to sleep with you either. So if that's what you're after, you might as well leave now."
Klaus smiles but makes no effort to respond. His continued presence at their bistro table is enough of a reply. He likes that Caroline has matured enough to finally own her confidence and independence. That even with all the distance and time between them, she still feels comfortable enough to talk to him in whatever manner she pleases.
"I'm sorry about your daughter." She says, after a sip of coffee. Her statement is a general condolence with little genuine thought to Hope but he is able to pick out the current of sympathy that she offers in regards to his own pain.
"Thank you." Klaus takes a sip of his own coffee. The liquid is as thick as the words on his tongue. "So what have you been doing with yourself, Caroline?"
Caroline shrugs, "I lost my mom, not long after you left town, actually. To cancer. It was pretty rough. Flipped my switch, kinda had a thing with Stefan. The usual," she adds, self- deprecatingly.
"I'm sorry to hear about your mother, too." He says, genuinely. Though he had cared for Liz Forbes' well-being simply as a default of caring for Caroline, he had admired the Sheriff's strength, bravery and devotion to her daughter.
After another sip of coffee, he can't help but ask. "And Stefan? What happened there?"
Caroline raises an eyebrow in faux surprise. "Well, soullessly tormenting each other and wreaking havoc together is probably one of the best ways to end a relationship before it begins." With another shrug, "We gave it a shot after we had both flipped our humanity back on but it didn't pan out. We decided our friendship was more important than forcing something that didn't feel natural. He's still my best friend."
Klaus tries not to let his joy at her story be too apparent but he can't help the smirk that breaks through and Caroline rolls her eyes and laughs.
"How about you? You never tried to settle down with Hayley, be the perfect little family?" Caroline asks cautiously, with a side note of bitterness.
Klaus's initial response is a sneer "Let's just say that Hayley was often very lucky to be the mother of my child, but no. Not her, not anybody. I won't claim that I've been a monk or that there haven't been a few women who played more of a significant role in my life...but they didn't take. Perhaps I was always waiting for a small town girl to knock on my door." He adds, cheekily.
Caroline doesn't share his mirth when she says, "You know why that could never happen."
"We could have made it work. I would have made it work," He says. "But what has passed is in the past. I've missed you."
Caroline arches another well-groomed eyebrow. "Really? After all this time?"
"Especially after all this time." Klaus tells her as he locks her gaze with his own. Their connection is still there, still viable, and as electric as it ever was. She is still the only one who can stir such feelings in him. He suddenly wants to hold her, to breathe her in, to consume and inhale everything that makes her so alive.
"Do you think your daughter is gone for good?" She asks with all the complacency of one who has seen countless of her supernatural friends pop up from the dead.
Klaus takes another measured sip of his drink as he thinks on her question. "I think my daughter was never meant to survive longer than she did. I think her existence was intended to be as much a punishment to me as it was a blessing."
Caroline is quiet as she reflects on his words. "You were still lucky. Hope lived, she existed, you got to know what it felt like...to be a parent. Some of us will never know what that feels like."
Hope lived. She lived briefly but she did live. Caroline will never know the joy and pain of motherhood but even with the weight of that knowledge, her words are intended to ease his pain, to put his loss in perspective.
Klaus supposes he was lucky after all.
"What will you do next?" Klaus asks her as the waiters start clearing tables around them. The sky is turning pink and dusky and the sound of busy streets begin to taper off.
Caroline drains her coffee and shrugs. "I'm not sure. I'm playing it by ear this time. I'm getting bored of Italy though. Thought I might try St. Petersburgh next. Rebekah says it's pretty great this time of year."
Klaus nods in agreement, trying to be jovial but in the pit of his stomach is a new weight. Seeing her again has made him realise just how much he has missed his impetuous, brave baby vampire. How can he go back to his empty home, to a city that he has chained his own ankles with and expect anything but utter misery?
His dark mood must show because after a moment of staring at him, Caroline suddenly stands, sighs and simultaneously throws a jacket around her shoulders. "She also said it was pretty boring to go alone."
He looks up, surprised and wondering if he is tricking himself into believing an invitation is implied.
Caroline shakes her head and smiles. "I'm not sleeping with you again, and I am definitely not raiding villages with you or whatever. I'm still on the wagon, even though you all thought I could never do it..." she adds, proudly "...but you can come along if you want. As friends. Separate rooms, separate bathrooms and nothing more skeevy than nice little picnics whenever we visit a forest."
Klaus's dark expression has given way to a full blown grin by now that he tries to smother at Caroline's attempt at sternness. "Just friends," He says, holding his hands up in mock surrender as he stands.
He offers his arm to her as they cross the street and after a huff and an eyeroll, she accepts. "Don't tell my boyfriend though," she teases.
Klaus laughs. "Oh, you suddenly have a boyfriend you neglected to tell me about?"
"Don't be silly," Caroline replies with a saucy grin. "I have three. Hope you don't mind."
Klaus shrugs. "Not at all. It will give me a chance to finally restore the fearsome Mikaelson reputation."
She laughs loudly and inelegantly as she knocks him with her shoulder. "You can put your hybrid fangs away, Klaus. I'm young, free and single and I intend to stay that way until I decide otherwise."
Her words are playful but not without warning and promise though Klaus takes no offence. He will never lie about his intentions but he is glad just to simply be here, to be walking with her, enjoying childish banter as easily as they did all those years ago. For now, it is enough. Klaus isn't going to push her but he will never stop hoping for her to decide otherwise. He will wait, despite how many people Caroline falls for in the meantime, and he will be her last...however long it takes.
After all, they have forever.
~ fin
End notes: There we go. The beginning is intentionally sparse as I feel like The Originals TV show doesn't give much to work with and Hope Mikaelson is a pretty thin plot device at the best of time. This kind of experimental so let me know whether it works or not or if it just divides the story too much. Thanks.