I do not own the originals

The trees in the yard were so tall she couldn't see through them to the top if she was standing under them. The two porch lights cast enough light so that she could make out the shadow of the yard and her memory served for the rest. Crickets chirped and leaves rustled against each other as a warm breeze blew across this piece of heaven.

The house had six tall white beams on the porch and a red brick path leading up to the stone stairs that had been white washed. The grass on either side was lush and green. It was the kind of grass that you imagined having a picnic on or chasing little kids around on. It made her a little sad as she missed her daughter.

Iris had loved good grass. Tesla though everyone loved good grass it was a universal love.

The red brick stopped and at three stone steps that took you up to the porch. The porch itself seemed to be covered in mirrored white tile. It was quite unusual and Tesla found herself watching the light from the sconces glittering in its polished surface. The house' face was white with dark blue trim, though perhaps it was black and she couldn't see very well. There were nine windows looking out to the red brick entrance and the fantastic grass, each with its own set of shutters and one right above the door had a beautiful faux balcony.

She wanted to sit in one of the two rocking chairs on the porch and admire both the house and the property but she knew the sooner she found Klaus the sooner she could go home. This house brought back too many memories and she wasn't prepared to deal with them at that moment.

She opened the black door inward into an entryway with a black and white marbled floor and a great dark stained staircase to the left. The lights in the house were all on and she heard the sound of some sort of slow jazz music coming from somewhere. She walked past a sort of parlor to the left and slipped her shoes of stashing them by the door. She slid childishly on the smooth marble in her socks.

"Klaus!" She called loud enough that he could hear her from wherever he was "if you jump out and scare me I swear…" She trailed off as no threat toward him was feasible "Just don't do it or I will be irritated"

She passed under another pair of columns and to a sort of sun room with two huge windows that spanned its length. She was sure that in the morning it was a beautiful sight to behold. The walls were painted a wonderful royal blue and there was a cozy breakfast nook in the corner.

One end of the sun room led to a living room and adjoining laundry room. The other end led to a great kitchen with an island and a fireplace with a dining room attached. Each room was painted a bright and bold color. She wondered if Klaus had let young Hope go into the paint store and pick out the swatches; though Tesla wouldn't change a thing. She left the chameleon green kitchen and went back to the entryway.

She hadn't found Klaus or the origin of the music that was playing. She climbed the stairs hesitantly calling out his name again.

The music was Billie Holiday and it got louder when she stood on the second floor landing. It was all hardwood shiny and polished. There were four bedroom doors three of which were closed and one on the far end that seemed to be where the music was coming from. She made her way there and opened the cracked door wide.

"Klaus?" She asked before seeing him standing dramatically at a window with a drink in his hand. Tesla was unsure how someone could stand dramatically but Klaus had managed to do it. The music swirled and pooled around him adding to the mood. The room was grey and subdued and seemed as if Hope hadn't got her hands on it. There was a desk in the corner and a four poster bed with and intricate black carved headboard.

It was Klaus' room there was no doubt about it.

She stood in the doorway and just stared at him for a moment. He knew that she was there as he would have seen her reflection in the glass. He did not make a move to look at her though and stood very still for a long time.

As a vampire you learned to stand still and take in a moment. Your life was so much longer than other's that you didn't mind taking the few extra moments just to memorize something and commit it to memory. Tesla took a mental snapshot of Klaus standing at the window with his whiskey glass in hand and Billie Holiday's 'I'll be seeing you' playing around him.

"The house is lovely" She shattered the silence and was almost sorry he had.

"I thought you might enjoy it." He said not turning to look at her.

"You were right." She said stepping closer "But you knew you would be, you're always right"

"The older I get the more I realize…" He stopped and paused and she thought he was going to say that he was wrong and was taken aback by it "That I am right more frequently"

"Of course." She chuckled behind him

"Hope picked the colors for the house." He said confirming her suspicion

"That accounts for it"

"I would never pick colors so garish, but she fancied it so…"

"The dad that can't say no to his little girl" She noted "Quite the cliche"

"A cliche is a cliche for a reason"

"They do normally hold some merit." She agreed and after another pause she said "Klaus, why are we here?"

"Did you get to see the rest of the house?" He asked evading her question

"Oh okay." She said rolling her eyes "So that's how we are going to do this. Okay Klaus fine" She walked over to the bed and sat "Yes I saw the rest of the house it was quite lovely as I said before"

There was more silence as he looked back out the window.

"Is this where you stayed?" She asked him "For the five years?"

"I didn't stay in one place." His tone sounded thoughtful "My family is much too diligent for that"

"What a shame that you have a family that wants to find you" She said thinking of her lack of family

"They have their moments"

"Hope was glad to see you" She said

"I saw Hope frequently in those five years"

She nodded at him figuring as much. There was no way he would go without seeing her and the girl had done a great job at keeping his secret. No one knew that they were in contact; not even Rebekah or Elijah.

"This is where we stayed" He nodded

"We are now much further from Brooklyn than we originally started." She thought out loud "Though I suppose you could take me to the airport here and I can make my way back across the sates."

"You'll go back to your bookstore?" He asked and she smiled a little that he knew she had a bookstore. No doubt Hayley or Elijah or perhaps even Hope had told him.

"Well someone has to watch it." She paused "All ten of my customers will be sad that I haven't been open for weeks" Her store did get a lot of foot traffic in the tourist town. Ten was a bit of an exaggeration but she doubted anyone was massively upset that the shop was closed.

"Do you like it there?" He asked. She wondered if he wanted honesty. The thing about Klaus was that he was always looking for a specific answer or at least a specific kind of answer.

"It very Notting Hill." She said "I'm Hugh grant of course, waiting for adventure and my own Julia Roberts to swoop in like a whirlwind. So far though nothing quite as exciting has happened"

"I'll have to take your word" He sounded disappointed so it must not have been the answer he was looking for.

"It's lonely" She said "Most of the time I suffer from a severe case of loneliness, something I know you understand"

The thing people never spoke about vampirism was that you felt emotions quite strongly. It wasn't just the good emotions like passion and happiness or joy but the terrible ones as well anger sadness and loneliness. The emotions were so amplified that it was sometimes crushing to carry them around. Often Tesla was consumed with feeling alone. She wasn't sure if it was the same for the originals or not but regular vampires had tons of support groups for that.

"Loneliness can be cruel" He said "though when you go seeking that lifestyle it's really self-inflicted"

She couldn't say anything to that because of course he was right.

"You still hadn't told me why we are here" She pointed out

"Did you see the bricked room downstairs?" he asked

Tesla had seen it out of the corner of her eye as it looked like a porch that had been enclosed off of the kitchen. She had not explored it however. She wasn't sure why Klaus was being so guarded and strange about why he had brought her here.

"I don't know... what I mean to accomplish by bringing you here" He admitted and she sat frozen on the bed. Expressions of emotion weren't really Klaus' thing. "Elijah explained why they had to use you to use the spell but I hadn't expected to see you."

The silence after that was long and stiff. She decided to get up and see what could possibly be in the red bricked room. She left the room without saying a word and made her way down the stairs. She passed through the entryway and through the royal blue sun room. She shuffled through the kitchen and over to the corner where the open doorway to the room was.

It was the only room that was dark. She felt along the wall for the light switch as she descended the brick stairs with a metal railing. The room had indeed once been a patio. The floor was concrete and brick and the walls were also. There were built in planters with thriving green plants of many varieties. A few couches took over one corner and in the other corner was a thick wooden table with benches on either side.

The sunrise was coming up by this time and the promise of morning shone through the large room windows.

Tesla saw nothing by the couches or door that made any sense as to why she would be there. It wasn't until she got to the bottom of the steps and turned to the table that she found anything of interest.

There were about fifty or so postcards and about half as many letters spread out on the table. The postcards were face up to show the writing and the letters were folded and pressed out with wrinkles on the edges as if they had been held many times. As she stepped forward and studied the words she was shocked to find that the writing was her own.

Confused she picked up one of the letters and found it addressed to a Mr. Waters.

Mr. Waters was a cute older man of about sixty five who she had met once in her shop when it had first opened. He said he was passing through and had picked up a copy of War and Peace. He had promised to send Tesla a post card from his vacation to Mexico. After the first post card they had written back and forth multiple times. They were pen pals. He talked a lot about his late wife who he had had adored and who recently passed in the beginning of their correspondence. How much he adored her and how he described her had always touched Tesla deeply. Through the years she had never seen him again.

At first as she stared at the letters and postcards and was horrified. What had Klaus done to poor Mr. Waters? Or perhaps Mr. Waters lived here. Her brain searched for answers as all of her trains of thought ended up at the same place.

She was astounded with herself. She thought of many of the postcards that she had from 'Mr. Waters' hanging up on her postcard board. The writing was similar to Klaus' and she could see it now in her mind. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed.

There was no doubt a Mr. Waters somewhere out there who had read that book War and Peace but her correspondence with him had been with Klaus all along.

She picked up a post card of her own talking about her life and how she was homesick for her family back in New Orleans. She was of course slightly embarrassed. She had often talked of the Mikealson's in her notes and letters and of how she missed them. She had even spoke of Klaus often. The longer she had corresponded with the man the more open and honest she had gotten. In fact the letter she had in her left hand was her wondering if she had ruined her chances at happiness by leaving him.

She was conflicted about how to feel as she heard Klaus come to the door of the room. She whirled on him and tried for an angry face but she wasn't sure what came out because her insides were churning with mixed feelings.

"What is this?" She asked shaking the letter and post card in the air. "This feels like an invasion of privacy and boundaries…" She went on in a ranting tone. "Also is poor Mr. Waters okay"

"I'm sure he's fine" Klaus smirked "Wherever that fine gentleman is"

"You didn't harm him did you?"

"Not in the slightest, is that what you think of me?" He asked offended "I simply asked for his assistance"

"Asked for it or took it by force?" She asked narrowing her eyes

"It was consensual." He growled slightly "I'm getting tired of being accused of…"

"Of what?" She asked angrily "Of being absolutely terrible, newsflash Klaus you are absolutely terrible. That's why it's not a stretch to imagine."

She wasn't sure what emotion was winning out but her face was hot and her words were bubbling out faster than she could catch them.

"You are an absolute ass." She shouted throwing the letters back on the table. He didn't look particularly sorry but perhaps a bit amused as always. "You couldn't come face me yourself so instead you send me letters under false pretenses"

"I wasn't sure you would want to see me" He explained coming down the stairs

"I didn't want to see you that's why I left" She spat venomously. She felt instantly sorry for having said it but he didn't seem phased.

Why would he be? Her heart had bled with every stroke of her pen and they were all laid out before her on the table. Lots of what she felt toward him and all of them was before her in her own betraying handwriting. Perhaps that was the worst part. It was her word against hers.

"The days seem longer because she isn't here to share them with" He quoted to her and she backed up as he advanced on her. He was quoting his own writing. The writings she had thought were about a precious old woman.

"I used to enjoy traveling and experiencing life but without her there…"

"Stop" She said as her posture softened as she was backed against a brick wall and without anywhere to go he had caught up to her.

The woman from Mr. Waters letters was someone she had longed to meet he described her as 'magnificent and fierce, kept him in line, a force to be reckoned with, unimaginably charming and beautiful'. She could not imagine Klaus writing anything so…poetic and touching; especially not about her.

"Can you appreciate how difficult this is for me?" His voice dropped low into his throat and the warmth of his skin pressed into her.

"I'm not in the mood to appreciate much" She countered but he acted as if he hadn't heard her

"To bring you here to a house I should have been rid of by now." If it was possible he pressed himself closer and leaned his mouth close to her ear "The unimaginable weakness that it shows that after your abandonment I chased after you like a lovesick schoolboy"

She closed her eyes against his words as he kissed her neck. She couldn't have stopped him even if she wanted to.

"That I write you from a distance." He complained against her skin "That I can't have what I want"

It was with that, the last bit of her self-control disappeared as he forced his head up to kiss him. Not the slow and hesitant kiss of the Brooklyn basement but desire and anger and wanting and a feeling that had been building for ten years.

She wasn't sure where they ended up just that his hands were on her and under her clothes and on her face. He said her name too many times for her to know how many and she had no recollection of what she said. Just that her hands were on his skin and her mouth would be swollen from kissing him.

Kissing him in this house that he had found for her in the heart of South Carolina surrounded by love letters that she hadn't meant for him to see.