Part 1 of 2 / Enjoy!

24

Kol Mikaelson had had more women in his 1,000 years of existence - mostly for lunch and questionable escapades in between the sheets – in no particular order – than he had known what to do with.

Gazing across the overcrowded room, Kol couldn't stop from admiring her outstanding beauty. One he had never seen before. There was a pureness embedded in her sassiness that had him at the little witches' feet. He frowned slightly at the short yet girlish dress she had picked to be the perfect choice attending the wedding of the century.

"You're staring."

"And you're drunk." It wasn't sarcasm for once, Kol wasn't used to being in possession of a beating, caring heart and as change needs time, so did his expressions of endearment. He was improving. He may be cruel and cold-hearted, but he wasn't a complete monster. His well-educated brother who knew when to show emotions and when lock them up was having one of not the hardest time of his existence. It was one thing when your true love's murdered by your own brother – you can go on in sweet awareness that there's a new lifetime, a new love for you to come. The situation is essentially different when your true love happens to be an immortal being and you're never getting the chance of leaving her behind.

Kol who had ever had a backup plan felt like a drunken sailor who was up the creek without a paddle because he hadn't known he needed one; the prototype of a natural. How could he possibly have known what to do? It was a full-fledged physical impossibility that he was even trying to deal with all of this. His experiences with love were limited to butterflies, kisses and chaste glances. Heartbreak, break ups and unrequired love were yet to be learned but he'd have liked to think of these aspects as unnecessary embellishment. Though, spying on Elijah from the corner of his eyes, Kol couldn't find one thing of his proud brother's present appearance to qualify as pretty or irrelevant. His rumbled clothing was embarrassing yet alarming.

"Look, what she's wearing, Elijah. How am I supposed to be able to stand by and watch her wear something like that?" From all of the potential girlfriends' fate could have chosen for him, it had to be the one whose father figure was a humourless, petty, overprotective vampire who hated him with such infamous commitment that he outdid Mikael and his obsession over Nik. And yet, he let her wear this in public. He could feel the headache kicking in again.

"That I am." Elijah admitted freely, his ability to speak clearly affected by the Bourbon he had been knocking back all day long. "But that doesn't mean I'm blind." Kol felt his ear shell getting wet by his big brother's moist pronunciation. "I bet Marcel hopes for other men to take an interest in her tonight. Not that she needs a dress to catch attention, but I'm sure it helps." And he laughed loudly, barked right into Kol's ear.

What did he know anyway? Elijah's success with women was limited to repeated heartbreak. Not really someone to look up to or take advice from. Kol had had success with women… granted in getting them to bed, but that still counted, right? Oh, he truly hoped it did. Otherwise he would have been as clueless as he felt concerning matters of the heart. He smiled remembering Davina's outburst at the motel over how she couldn't sleep with a psycho like him in the next bed; only to be falling asleep in his arms at the end of the day.

He sat up straighter; trying to read her emotions while she talked to Josh laughing at something he said pointing at Aiden. Davina's smile felt like a prophetic revelation able to tear open Kol's entire being by sending a warm and alluring heat from head to toe. A heat that evoked shudders running down his spine and his palms to get sweaty. It was delightful; the greatest rush he'd had since becoming a witch. He couldn't help but mirror her smile even though she had her back to him and he was running the risk of looking like a complete idiot, but ever since the heat had turned his brain to mash, he couldn't find his well-cultivated arrogance to rescue him.

It was love.

She knew it. He knew it. But neither of them had said it out loud.

"I'm sorry, Elijah. I really hoped Hayley would come to her senses. Not for her, but for you." Patting his brother's arm in deepest sympathy, Kol made sure Elijah had another bottle of Bourbon ready to drown his sorrow in.

The moment he wound his arms around his sunshine's waist all he wanted was to twist her around and kiss her soundly so that everyone would see what she meant to him and that she was taken. But he restrained his lovesick urges in order to do what was decent and right. The small blush he could taste on his lips as he pecked her cheek was enough for now. "Hello darling."

He felt her shifting slightly within his hug trying to get a more comfortable position, Davina pulled at his arms and draped them around her tiny frame more tightly. As if he would go anywhere anytime soon. Hadn't she understood what she meant to him, what he would and had done for her?

"Good evening, Kol." The mischief playing in her tone was smooth, slightly ironic; just a glimmer shining through her lovely kind of starry-eyed idealism. She was up to something, something bad he would have dared to think, if he didn't know that even the cruellest scenarios Davina Claire's mind was able to produce were those born and raised in best faith to protect her loved ones. No one besides him seemed to recognize the sweet tension radiating from her tiny frame right into his core. It was as if she were burning him from the inside and yet he didn't feel the need to run away nor did the flame threaten to scar his skin; he wouldn't mind to have her signature written in his skin though.

"Seems like the 10 bucks are mine, Aiden…" Josh interposed triumphantly. "Kol's got it and he's got it bad." The sing song of his girlfriend's best friend's voice – those pompous creations of words- were one reason why Kol had had never thought about engaging in romantic relationships; that and the fact that this conversation was monumentally awkward.

Using his newfound positive attitude as an aid, Kol decided to play it cool and wave it off as necessary side effects to get to experience what he truly wanted: Happiness. "Well done, Joshua. This little lady here has wrapped me around her little finger. I couldn't deny her anything…" The words died towards the end as he felt his tongue getting dry the more rapidly his heart beat. Could one bloke die of feeling too much?

It wasn't that what he said wasn't true because it was, but the realization that he had said something like this out loud and meant it without second guessing and before he had even known he wanted to say it was scary and made him feel uneasy like a pre-schooler waiting for his first moist smooch on the cheek. Not the worst feeling in the world. "I believe I owe you a dance, love."

Soft murmurs and hushed whispers of either wonder or jealousy accompanied the young couple; and for the first time in what was close to eternity Kol was grateful not to hear the meaning behind the crowd's tongues.

"I can't see Marcel, but I'm pretty sure he's having a hard time not to storm over here and rip out your heart or something.", Davina whispered with pink cheeks, unaware of how right she was about questioning Kol's safety.

Kol, flicking a glance over his shoulder replied even-tempted, "Not my fault my old pal doesn't know to tell a bloke's best intentions when he sees them."

When you plan on wooing a girl in your bed or to get her help you making a golden dagger so you can put down your bastard of a Hybrid brother, words are your weapon in need to be chosen accurately and efficiently. It's about costs and benefits. A colourful potpourri of tricks and manoeuvres spared off at the proper time are the decisive factor for triumph or disaster.

Feeling Davina in his arms while swanning over the dancefloor to some cheesy love song probably was the greatest triumph of his entire existence.

To be continued…

AN: Once upon a time this little story was meant to be a birthday present, but as it became clear this wouldn't work out it wrapped itself in Christmas paper. Now, the Christmas paper's gone (clearly) and I thought this would have made a nice little anniversary gift, but who knows if I would hold this deadline? ;) . So I decided to make this a two-parter and start posting now.

JasZ1991, this is for you, you crazily wonderful girl :-*

Happy Birthday!

Merry Christmas!