Hello, my lovely readers. Thanks for coming back for another chapter of TNOFW. This is Katherine's Christmas card. Next up we have Klaus' Christmas card. Hope you enjoy the chapter and please review!
Chapter 4: Breaking and Entering
All the stockings were hung up with care knowing that Christmas would soon be there as a newly human Kat slunk down the stairs. She knew that she must escape this new hell for Silas might soon be there. If only not one of those fools upstairs might make her disappear. Stealing barefoot through the room she soon found a young girl sitting nestled under a blanket with care. Taking a quick peek she found the girl unaware as she sipped her hot chocolate with nary a care.
"Where are you going?" Davina asked as Katherine snuck to the door.
Shaking with fury, Katherine turned on her heel. "What's it to you and what the hell do you care?"
Shrugging, Davina stared into the fire. "I don't. I was just curious."
"Whatever." Katherine turned back to her task to steal out into the night. She hated to deal with the little witch, who to be honest, gave her quite a fright. Opening the door wide, Katherine poked a toe outside. Then she hesitated, looking back at the girl thinking, 'Sentimentality is so highly over rated.' But deep in her heart the silly little brat gave her quite a start and suddenly she wanted a tart.
"Damn," sliding her foot back in through the door Katherine came near. Davina stared up at her thinking her queer.
"Weren't you on your way out the door?" Davina asked, feeling herself becoming bored in the presence of someone Klaus referred to as that conniving little whore.
Sighing, Katherine strode over to the stockings hanging above the fireplace. "Dear God, they have got to be kidding themselves with this." Reaching inside Hayley's stocking, she pulled out a box, inside was a portrait of Klaus. Katherine sneered at the sketch of the proud papa with his baby werepuppy on his knee with Caroline at his side. Hayley and Elijah stood to one side behind Klaus' back.
Throwing the sketch into the fire, Katherine pulled out an envelope, which she tore open. Looking inside, she found two certificates to a spa in Italy. Grinning to herself, Katherine stuffed the contents of the envelope into her purse.
Digging inside the stocking once more, she removed a tiny box. Popping it open, she gasped at the round diamond nestled within. Taking the ring, she slid it onto her left ring finger. Examining the way the gem sparkled in the light of the fire Katherine felt a glow, having forgotten about the teenager in the room.
"What are you doing?" Davina questioned Katherine, staring at the diamond. "Oh, is that for Hayley?
Rolling her eyes, Katherine sighed. Of course, the child had to ruin the moment. Attempting to pull the ring back off, she found it was stuck. "God damn it." She groaned yanking at the thing. "Oh, whatever."
Glancing at the presents under the tree, she began to pick them up reading the tags. Smiling to herself, she switched the tag on Klaus' present for Caroline to read her name. Picking up the tag of Rebekah's present for Elijah, she switched the tags so that the present was now going to go to Matt. Elijah's present for Klaus was going to Hayley.
"Can I help?" Davina asked.
"Sure," Katherine replied with a wicked smile as Davina switched Caroline's present for Klaus' to Marcel. Marcel's present for Klaus was going to Rebekah. When they were finished the two females smiled at each other.
"What should we do now?" Davina asked, wide awake now at 2 am.
"WE?" Katherine crossed her arms. She was about to say that they weren't going to do anything but seeing the hopeful look in the girl's eyes, she felt guilty about not having been able to spend time with her own daughter when she was growing up. She really hated being human again. "WE are going to go ice skating?"
Davina began to laugh. "Ice skating? In New Orleans? You're kidding!"
Smirking, Katherine placed a hand on her hip. "When there is a will, there is a way and I am used to getting my way. Now, you sit tight, little girl, and let me work some of my own magic."
Hurrying back up the stairs, Katherine snuck past Klaus', Rebekah's and Elijah's bedrooms. Easing a door open, she peered inside. "You asleep?" she called to the occupant of the room.
"Nope," Stefan responded.
"Well, come on," Katherine called, waving a hand that the vampire could see. Stefan dressed himself and then walked out into the hallway.
"What's going on?" Stefan asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Field trip. Now, keep your voice down." She pointed in the general direction of the bedrooms of the Original siblings. Sliding the door open to the next bedroom, Katherine walked inside. "Matt," she called, shaking the football player.
Mat woke with a start and would have screamed if Katherine didn't cover his mouth with her hand. "Shush, I'm still human. So, get over it."
"What's going on?" Matt asked with a sleepy yawn.
"I'm taking the little witch downstairs ice skating and I think she needs some semi-normal company. You and Stefan are the closest thing to that in this house. So, let's go already." She began to tug the covers off when she realized the boy wasn't wearing anything. Smiling broadly, she turned around. "I'll be outside while you dress. Unless you want help?"
Matt shook his head as he stared at the back of the former vampire who looked so much like his ex. "I'm good with the dressing myself thing. Picked it up when I was about six."
"Your loss." Katherine called quietly over her shoulder before she walked out of the room.
Minutes later Matt joined them in the hallway. They snuck downstairs and after grabbing Caroline's coat for Davina, they left. Vampires didn't need coats but human children did Katherine had reasoned when Stefan protested her taking Caroline's things. Davina had told them both she was not kid. No one had paid attention to the girl.
"Whose car are we taking?" Katherine asked the group.
"None of us have a car." Stefan reminded her.
Smirking, Katherine revealed four sets of car keys. "Which one?"
Stefan rolled his eyes. "Which one does that belong to?" He pointed at Rebekah's car.
"Don't know, don't care." Katherine told them.
"It's Bekah's," Matt informed them. "And I do not think she would like the idea of you driving it."
Katherine paused with one leg in the driver's side of the car. "And who's going to tell her?"
Matt hesitated. "No one, I guess." Katherine slid into the driver's side of the car as Matt slid into the passenger side.
"I've never driven a car before." Davina told them, eyeing the driver's side of the car where Katherine was about to shut the door and stopped in mid-movement.
"Really?" Katherine asked. Davina nodded. "Okay, then consider this your crash course." She held out the keys to Davina.
"Seriously?" Davina asked, reaching for the keys.
Matt stared at them, startled. "You're not really going to let her drive, are you?"
Katherine retracted her hand from Davina. "Do you promise to not kill us?"
Davina kept her eyes on the keys. "I promise." Katherine grinned. "Here you go." She handed the keys over and climbed into the back with Stefan.
As Davina got behind the wheel, Matt jumped out of the car. "No way am I sitting in the passenger seat if she's driving. Stefan, trade? Please."
Stefan sighed. "Of course. Ask the dead guy to sit in the death seat with the inexperienced driver." He shook his head as he slid into the seat beside Davina.
"Hi," Davina said to Stefan.
"First rule, keep your eyes on the road," Katherine told Davina, leaning forward in her seat.
"Second rule," Matt told Davina as he pulled Katherine back into her seat. "Remember to buckle up."
Davina reached out to pull the seat belt which seemed to be stuck. Stefan reached around her and pulled it forward, shoving the piece of metal into its buckle. "Thanks," Davina told Stefan with a wide smile.
"Eyes on the road," Katherine called out again.
Davina nodded, looking at the driveway. "Okay, so which one is the brake and which one is the accelerator?" Stefan pointed out which pedal was which.
"Now," Stefan told the girl. "You want to pull the stick back and then put the car in reverse. Then place your foot gently on the gas." Davina nodded and then pushed down on the gas pedal making the car move backward slamming each of the passengers back into their seats. Panicking, she slammed her foot down on the brake causing them all to get jerked forward.
"Oh, my God." Davina gasped, her eyes wide. "Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah," Matt called as Katherine reconsidered her earlier moment of spontaneity.
"This is too hard. Someone else should drive." Davina was about to undo her belt buckle when Stefan placed a hand over hers.
"Try again," Stefan told her.
"No, I can't. It's too hard. And I'll end up hurting one of you." Davina protested.
Stefan shook his head. "You have to learn sometime. So, let's try it again, D."
Davina stared at Stefan. "I guess I could try one more time." Stefan smiled as Davina turned back to face the driveway. She pushed her foot down, tentatively making the car crawl down the driveway. When they were at the end Stefan instructed Davina to then turn the wheel slowly so they could get onto the road. "Remember to look for cars when you're exiting a driveway. Now, switch gears to drive."
Davina began to laugh when they began to move down the road. "I did it. I'm driving. This is so cool. Thank you, Stefan."
"And Katherine." Katherine muttered loudly as she sulked in the back seat.
"Come on, Katherine," Matt elbowed her lightly. "It's her first time doing this. Don't you remember the first time you did something that made you really excited?"
Katherine thought about it. "Yes, I can think of something like that." Staring at Matt, she allowed it to sink into the boy's brain what she was trying to communicate.
Matt flushed slightly. "Yeah, okay. Maybe talking about my first experiences is not a good subject to be discussing with you."
Katherine rolled her eyes, staring at the street. The Mystic Falls crew were so very boring and now that she knew that Elijah was hooking up with that werebitch she wanted to be anywhere but New Orleans."
"Katherine, where is this place we're going to?" Davina called.
Settling into giving the girl instructions, Katherine allowed her thoughts of Elijah, and Klaus being his typical psycho self, drain away. When they arrived in front of the building, Katherine instructed Davina to park in a discreet location, not too close to the building itself. They walked up to the New Orleans recreation center.
"This is where you thought we were going to skate?" Davina pouted, looking at the closed doors of the building.
"Yes," Katherine announced proudly.
"Sorry to break it to you, Katherine but the place is closed." Stefan reminded Katherine, who rolled her eyes and tossed her hair over her shoulder. She marched up to the doors.
"Davina," Katherine called. "Come here." Davina walked up to the doors cautiously. "Concentrate on how much you want to go inside the building," Katherine instructed the girl. Davina frowned but she did as she was instructed squeezing her eyes shut and thinking about the feel of the ice beneath her skates. "You can open them now." When Davina opened her eyes Katherine's eyes were sparkling with amusement. They both moved to stare at the now wide open doors. "After you," Katherine told the teenage witch.
Davina giggled as she cautiously walked inside. When she was though the entrance she whirled around to wave for the others to come inside. When they were all in the building, Davina waved a hand and the doors closed. Katherine led the way to the area where they would be borrowing skates. Pulling out boxes, she found the right sizes for everyone.
Katherine laced her boots and stood up. Moving too quickly, she nearly fell over, forgetting she wasn't a vampire. Matt reached out and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Thank you," Katherine told Matt looking into his eyes.
Matt nodded before letting go. "You're welcome."
"Um… Matt," Katherine called, wobbling slightly. "I may need a little more help."
Matt shook his head as he came to walk beside Katherine, steadying her whenever she began to tip.
Davina was already on the ice by the time Katherine got out to the rink. She felt a spike of jealousy when Stefan took Davina's hand and they began to skate around the rink, hand in hand. They were talking and laughing together and looked carefree. Katherine wanted that more than anything. Without thinking, she moved out onto the ice and then she would have fallen if Matt wasn't there to stop her. "You keep catching me. Why?" Katherine asked Matt.
Shrugging, the boy kept a hand on Katherine's back as they began to skate together slowly. "You just seem like you need help. And, in spite of your being evil and all, I think people deserve second chances. Someone taught me that not long ago."
"Oh," Katherine's lips pursed as she stared at the boy who kept his eyes ahead of him.
"That and it's kind of funny seeing you being so clutzy." Matt teased Katherine while she shook her head.
"Ha ha," Katherine swatted Matt nearly knocking herself off her feet again. Matt slid his hand around her waist and pulled her closer. 'Maybe there were perks to being human after all,' Katherine thought as she and Matt spun around the rink. She began to find her balance, after ten rotations. This was the most fun that Katherine had had in hundreds of years. She was completely shocked.
Davina was laughing at something that Stefan was saying. Katherine was shocked that she did not feel the slightest resentment toward the two after an hour of skating. Realizing that her fingers were entangled with Matt's she felt her lips twitching upward. "Are you having fun?" Matt asked looking down at Katherine.
"Yes, I am. I can't believe being human can be this fun." Katherine let go of Matt's hand long enough to twirl around with her arms outstretched and that was the first time that she let go of the fear and resentment that two hundred years of running from Klaus had caused her to feel. This was the first time she let go and began to truly feel alive. Opening her eyes, she gazed at Matt.
Without a thought, Katherine skated toward and wrapped her arms around Matt's neck and kissed him on the mouth. Pulling back after a long minute, she gazed up at him. "Merry Christmas." Katherine whispered.
"But it's not Christmas yet," Matt protested. "Not that I'm complaining."
Katherine ran her hand up and into his hair. "No, it's not, but it feels like Christmas because I've already received the best gift I've ever been given."
Matt nodded. "Well then, Merry Christmas, Katherine." Matt leaned down and kissed Katherine on the lips causing her to smile. It was a very Merry Christmas. Maybe she should switch the tags back on the presents, she thought. 'Not really.' She was happy but that didn't mean she was going to change her ways too quickly. One little human action at a time.
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Love,
LL