AN:This was much longer than I intended it to be. It was originally two chapters, but I felt like everyone might need a palate cleanser at the end. I hope you like it and let me know. The next one won't be until Thursday. Seriously, i have to stop uploading so often. I'm running out of material, but I love hearing that you guys like the story. Enjoy!

Chapter 21

The Other Girl in New Orleans

Back at Saint Anne's, Aurora had decided to take things up a step with K now that the dark-haired vampire proved she couldn't be trusted. She was more resourceful than Aurora had originally given her credit for.

"You know," Aurora said as she tightened the rope around K's wrist. "I was never one for worship," she tightened the second rope around K's other wrist with a vicious yank. "But history, now there's something I find fascinating." K cocked a sarcastic, druggy brow at the red-head pacing around her. "For example," Aurora looped the rope a few times around K's ankles and secured it tightly. "People were more likely to die of asphyxiation than exposure," Aurora glided closer with a stake in one hand and a small dumbbell weight in the other. She placed it gently against K's crossed ankles. "When they were crucified."

K said nothing. She stared up at the ceiling above and did her best to ignore what she knew was coming. Until then, she was able to remain strong, defiant, but after hours wrapped in vervain and with a stake in her chest, she wasn't sure she could. Taking one deep breath after another, K closed her eyes. She did her best to ready herself, but K knew this was going to hurt.

Aurora's grin widened as she watched K's face twist with frightened anticipation. She raised the weight high above her head and with one swift motion brought it down. The metal head hit the wooden stake –which was little more than a broken broom handle- with a subdued thud while K screamed behind her closed lips. It was the loudest noise she'd made since being taken, and Aurora liked it.

K felt her legs burn with the ache of breaking bones. Aurora had run the stake straight through the tops of K's crossed ankles and into the makeshift cross she was tied to. Aurora continued to watch gleefully while K's eyes remained slammed shut. She was breathing heavily through her nose because she refused to open her mouth. K knew if she did, she'd scream.

"They've been doing this for thousands," Aurora picked up another piece of broken wood and approached K's right arm. K could feel her and slammed her eyes shut harder than before. "And thousands of years." K felt the tip of the stake against the inside of her wrist. "And there's been some debate about placement." Aurora let the tip of the stake bounce between K's palm and wrist. "I wonder, I wonder…"

K waited impatiently for Aurora to decide.

"Ah well," Aurora planted it against her wrist. "We'll just do both."

Aurora beat the stake into place with one vicious blow from the weight. K cried out again behind her lips, but this time some of the sound whimpered out. Aurora perked. She quickly reached for another stake and smashed it into place through K's open palm. That was the one. K couldn't keep the sound in anymore and cried out. She was too weak to ignore it.

"There we are." Aurora sighed gratefully.

She repeated the process with K's other wrist and palm before trussing up the cross K was attached to. When K was secured, Aurora leaned it up against the back wall of the pulpit and looked up happily. K –if she could actually hold her head up long- would've realized how high she was on the cross. She could see over the fighting cage if she chose.

"Perfect." Aurora sneered as she looked at the cross she made resting where the real crucifix had stood during the days of worship, back when Saint Anne's was still a real church. "Albeit a bit messy." K was bleeding through the holes the stakes created.

"When I get out of here," K breathed.

"If." Aurora corrected.

"When," K asserted. "I'm going to make you beg for death."

Aurora looked up through her lashes with her ever present smirk tugging at her lips.

"Is that so?" she asked happily.

K let a dark, evil, yet weak smile form as she stared at Aurora.

"You have no idea what you've started."

"I haven't started anything." She hissed. "Klaus stole my brother."

"You stole his sister." K snapped back as strongly as she could.

"To keep her safe." Aurora's defense was weak at best and K rolled her eyes as a result. "Nik made it personal."

"Whatever," K sighed. "Look, if you're going to kill me, I suggest you do it soon, because trust me, you won't like how this ends."

"Do you still think he's coming to save you?"

K sighed obnoxiously and rolled her eyes again. She didn't give a damn about whether or not Klaus was coming to save her.

"Once this is over, he'll understand." Aurora continued. "He'll understand what I've done was for the best." K looked at the red-head and narrowed her eyes. "And he'll realize that our love is stronger than this." K was fairly certain Aurora no longer realized she was there. "He'll come back again." She nodded slowly. "But first," Aurora looked up at K. "I have to get rid of the things between us."

It was clear Aurora considered K one of those things. She wanted to do something. K wanted to retaliate and fight back, but she couldn't. Simply put, K didn't have the energy. She was weak and without food, there was no way she'd heal enough to defend herself any time soon. As much as she hated to admit it, K needed someone to save her.

She sighed and her head dipped.

"Final request?" K muttered. "Kill me quickly. I can't stand listening to you talk anymore."

Aurora seethed and reacted violently because of it. K didn't know where the knife came from, but she definitely felt it when Aurora slammed it into her thigh. K bit back the cry of pain.

"Just for that," Aurora growled through her teeth as she twisted the blade. K was sure to keep her eyes locked with the psychotic red-head's. "I'm taking my time."

In that moment, K's mind flashed with all manner of horrible things to do to Aurora when she had the chance. Piano wire… she'd use piano wire… and now knowing that limbs wouldn't grow back, only heal over… yeah. K knew what she was going to do. She was going to start popping off random body parts, maybe start with Aurora's toes and work her way up, and let them all heal. She'd feed her blood to make it go faster… and to make sure they couldn't be re-attached, K would toss them into the sunlight. Without her ring, they'd burn leaving Aurora with nothing… and then… she wouldn't kill her. No, K would let her live the rest of her immortal life as a misshapen mass, nothing but a head, torso and a single arm, the arm that held the hand with her daylight ring.

Oh, Aurora would definitely live when K was done with her. That was for sure.

"So," K breathed. "I guess you're doing this because you think he's in love with me?"

Aurora perked and her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"He gave you a ring." She said tersely when it was clear K was mocking her hurt.

"And I'm sure he gave a thousand rings to a thousand different girls." K snapped back as she stared down at the ginger. K tried to fight the jealousy she felt at saying it, but she couldn't. The hard fact was, it was likely the truth. "I don't mean anything to him."

"Oh," Aurora sighed with a smirk. She glided towards the woman leaning against the wall. "Is that jealousy I see?" her smile widened when K glowered. If she wasn't so weak, K would've been able to keep her emotions in check, but one slipped through. "So that's why you foolishly tried to best me."

"I beat you," K was sure to stress the words because they were true. "Because you took Rebekah. It had nothing to do with him."

"No?" Aurora chimed. "You truly expect me to believe that?"

"I don't care what you believe." She said defiantly. "I was there because of Rebekah."

"I saved her." She snapped. "I'm protecting her from this prophecy."

"By desiccating her and dropping her in the ocean?"

"I would never hurt her." Aurora said angrily. "She's my sire."

"She might be your sire, but she's my friend." K shot back. "And what you did is bullshit."

Aurora's eyes flashed with hatred. It looked like she wanted to lunge after K, strike her again and perhaps cause more damage, but she hesitated. As she looked over the vampire suspended on high with a growing pool of blood beneath her, she knew she didn't have to.

Her smirk turned wicked as she looked up at K again.

"Regardless," Aurora said. She stepped away from K and took a seat so she could look at the vampire from a relaxed position. She crossed her legs and continued to smile. "So, tell me about yourself." K cocked a sarcastic brow. "No," she chimed in an almost caring voice. "I want to know, truly. Tell me how the two of you met."

K openly rolled her eyes. She didn't feel like talking and she didn't plan on it which seemed to annoy Aurora.

"I suggest you keep me entertained otherwise, I'll become bored." Aurora told her darkly. "And you won't like what happens when I get bored."

"Pft," K scoffed.

Aurora chewed on the inside of her cheek. She wanted to keep threatening K, but it was clear the younger vampire honestly wasn't worried. If Aurora had to guess, it looked like K almost wanted her to continue torturing. In truth, it was just the blood loss and stakes doing their job. K was weak.

"I'm curious." Aurora finally admitted. She drew K's curious stare. "I want to know what would make Nik go from someone like me to… you." she grimaced. "Now tell me what I want to know."

K wanted to refuse on so many levels, and she might have, but she was beyond that certain point. She simply didn't care anymore and the stakes combined with the vervain ropes made her too weak to fight and borderline drugged. So she talked. She talked despite herself.

"I was eleven." She sighed. "He bought me."

Aurora's face immediately twisted into a grimace. It was a reaction K was used to getting, but not the response that came out of the ginger's mouth.

"You're a slave?" she spat disdainfully. That was never the first question when people heard K's story. It was usually horror at her age, or confusion at being bought. Aurora knew exactly what it meant and wasn't phased by it in the least.

"Was." K corrected.

"That's disgusting." Aurora hissed. "I can't believe he shared his bed with a servant. Not even a servant. At least those were paid. You're no better than cattle."

Hearing Aurora speak so derisively about K's upbringing caused the vampire to do something she wasn't entirely proud of. While she harbored an undeniable rage for Klaus and the past she had with him, K found the information resting in those years useful. K didn't appreciate someone speaking about her past like that. Yes, she was a slave –a low and labored existence that merited no respect at all- but to hear someone like Aurora talk to her the way she was… it lit a fire inside K that threatened to consume her rational mind. Her body might have been secured, but her mouth could move freely. Perhaps Aurora should have gagged her too.

"And he slept with you," Aurora grumbled under her breath as she continued to stew over K's 'status'.

A wicked thought began to form in her mind and K knew what she was going to do. She was going to do what Aurora had done when they first met, but K was a better storyteller and Aurora was crazy. A few choice words would be all it'd take to make her unravel.

"I was sixteen," K began, "When he finally brought me to his bed. Well," her smirk turned evil, "we didn't start out in the bed." Aurora's eyes turned dark. Good. "He told me my skin felt like fire." K continued. "He said he'd never felt anyone so delicate and strong at the same time." She let a brow rise as her smile widened. "He said I was the perfect combination of the two, unlike anyone he'd been with before." Aurora had gone deathly silent and eerily still. She looked like she was about to explode. Perfect. "We went for hours the first time. It was long passed sunrise before either of us got a wink." Aurora was seething. "And from that night, to every other for three years, he was at my side."

The air was thick and tense as the two stared at one another. K could continue –she had plenty of memories to choose from- but she had no problem letting Aurora stew in what she'd said. While K didn't like remembering her time with Klaus anymore, she would still use it in favor of angering the ginger.

"You wanted me to talk." She said with a light laugh.

Aurora suddenly moved. She raced for K and smashed her fist against the younger vampire's shin, shattering the bone instantly. K screamed in pain. She breathed heavily as she looked down at Aurora staring hatefully at her and started to laugh. Even though pain racked her body and the bone was taking a moment to mend, she couldn't fight the joy at seeing Aurora's rage.

Her laugh grew to the point of obscenity. K even threw her had back so her laugh could echo through the church. It lasted until even after her bones healed, but eventually died down. K looked again to Aurora.

"Is that the best you've got?" she dared. K leaned as far forward as her tethered form would allow. "No wonder he left you."

Aurora suddenly cried out, bellowing like a banshee and releasing her hatred towards K in the only way she knew how, violently. She reached up and yanked K down. The cross clacked against the wood floor. The ginger was on top of K in an instant with another chunk of broken wood pressed against her chest. K stared at her defiantly while Aurora pressed it into her skin. The red-head even put her bodyweight on it.

K could feel the wood slipping into her skin, but it stopped at her sternum. Aurora hadn't pushed hard enough yet, but she wasn't far from it. K groaned from the pain, but remained as calm as possible. She lifted her head just enough to close as much distance between her and Aurora as she could.

"You know what happened last time I died?" K struggled to speak, but she kept her wavering voice as strong as possible. Another evil smile tugged briefly at her full lips. "Klaus slaughtered an entire city." Her grin grew when Aurora pushed against the stake. "He was so heartbroken, he killed everyone, just to find the one who killed me." A laugh rumbled deep in her throat at the horror touching Aurora's eyes. "Can you say the same?"

"You're lying." Aurora hissed. She pushed the stake harder. K bit back a growl when it broke through the bone. It was moving so slowly…

"Ask him." She breathed. "And ask him what he did when Finn cursed me."

"What'd he do?" she demanded through her teeth. K only smiled. Aurora shoved the stake an iota closer to her heart. "Tell me."

"He didn't eat." She gasped but continued to speak. "He didn't sleep." Her breaths were shallow and short. "For two weeks, he never left my side until I woke up."

"I'm going to make you scream." She growled. "And beg."

"It'll never happen."

~!~

Cami's words echoed in Klaus' mind.

Aurora has K. They're at the church.

After shedding his increasingly irritating shadow, Klaus immediately headed for Saint Anne's. He could smell the blood from outside and feared what he might see within. He was right to be afraid.

His body tensed and wanted to collapse at the same time when he saw her. K was suspended behind the fighting cage and above the dais where the preacher once stood. She hung over the same area he'd found Hayley bloody and dead after giving birth and this was just as striking an image. While the cross may have rested on the floor, K was held up high, demanding the attention of the room.

K's head hung lax while her arms were spread wide to the side and her legs were crossed. The vervain rope burned her skin leaving it blistered. Chunks of wood were driven into her open palms, her wrists and her ankles. Blood trailed down her skin and soaked into her clothing from the ominous patch of blood on her chest. Her outfit was low-cut so Klaus could tell the stake was gone, but the blood left behind let him know one had been there.

He felt himself moving closer to the scene. His feet moved in cadence with a horrible, soft pattering sound. It wasn't until he reached her that he realized the sound was blood dripping from her wounds into a sizable pool on the floor.

Klaus' eyes began to burn, his throat ached, his shoulders trembled and he knew he was near tears. He'd never seen anything more horrifying before in his life and given what he'd seen and done, that was truly saying something.

"Sydämeni." He muttered primarily to himself.

"Do you like it?"

The voice caused his skin to crawl and his whole body to seize. Klaus wiped the remorse from his face and let the rage take hold. The combination of the two extreme emotions might have been enough to make him seem indifferent to someone else.

"I take it this was your doing?" he asked as he turned.

"Yes." Aurora smiled slimily. "After the way she treated me," Aurora's eyes danced briefly to K's still bloodied arm. It was dry and flaking, but there was no denying that the blood was from trying to rip out the ginger's heart. Her eyes shifted to Klaus. "She deserved it."

"And what do you intend to do with her?"

"I haven't decided yet." She said far too casually for his liking. "Why?"

"Why keep her?"

He tried to sound careless, but it was difficult for him given the subject.

"Oh Niklaus," she sighed.

Aurora stepped around him and to K's side. With a hefty kick, Aurora knocked the base of the cross out of place. It slid forward and caught the edge of a rack of weights keeping K from falling entirely.

The room echoed with the loud clack Aurora's actions had caused. The sharp motion seemed to rouse the vampire attached to the cross. K groaned and woke as much as her weakened form would allow. She looked around, but it was clear she didn't actually 'see' anything.

"Wake up," Aurora said as she stepped up to K's side, nestled within the crook of her open arms. Aurora smacked K a few times causing both her and the hybrid to growl. Aurora looked to Klaus. "I want you to tell me why you chose to marry this slave."

The air was tense as Klaus fought the urge to strangle Aurora where she stood. They stared at each other, locked in their silence, until they heard it. A low, throaty, weak laugh began and it was coming from K. Both Ancients looked at the bloodied vampire.

They looked at her in shocked disbelief.

"You want the ring?" she mocked in a scratchy, breathy voice. "Take it." Klaus flinched. "You can have it, and him."

"You think I need your permission?" Aurora hissed. She pulled out the piece of wood she'd jammed in K's chest earlier. No one knew where it came from. She pressed it to K's skin. "He was mine long before he was yours."

"Then take him back." She said. "I don't want him."

Klaus' jaw tensed until it hurt. He wanted her to take back the words, but knew he had no right to ask her to. Still, they made his heart twist.

"I will." Aurora's voice was tight and angry. She loomed over K with the tip of the broken piece of wood pressing firmly into K's skin. "Once you're gone."

Aurora raised her hand high and brought the stake down with every intention of jamming it deeply into K's chest, but it never made it. Klaus had found his footing. He halted Aurora's attempt at murder quickly.

He held her wrist tightly in his hand, the stake still hovering over K's chest, as he stared darkly at Aurora.

"You'll not harm her any further." He told her in a tone that matched his stare.

Aurora stared at him in horror.

"You… you do love her." She muttered softly.

"Drop. The. Stake." He growled. It sounded physically painful for him to speak.

She seemed incapable, but once he flexed his grip, Aurora dropped the chunk of wood. She stepped back and wrenched her hand from his grasp. He let her and stood between her and K.

"But why?" Aurora demanded in a shrill voice. "I hold no doubt that you love me more than any other, but why her? Why lower yourself to bed a slave?"

He did his best to remain calm, but she was trying his patience.

"Aurora," he sighed as he took slow steps closer to her. "What took place between our years apart should hold no sway on what is happening here, now."

Klaus wanted to keep her calm until he got the information he needed about Rebekah and he knew K was safe.

Aurora's brows slowly came together. Her head tilted gently to the side as she looked at him sadly.

"How I wish I could believe you." She said softly. "But so long as she's alive, we can never be happy, my love."

That was his breaking point. Klaus could see that trying to sway her away from K wasn't going to work, so he reacted. He grabbed Aurora and shoved her out of the church.

He couldn't bite his tongue anymore and shouted his rage with her no matter what she said back, or memory she tried to exploit.

"You are someone I left behind long ago." He told her sternly. "There's nothing between us now."

"You're angry." Aurora said. It was clear she wasn't absorbing his words like she should. "We say things to hurt one another when we're angry, that's what lovers do, but I know that I'm the one for you. As I know that you'll thank me, eventually, for killing your little slave girl."

"You think you know me?" he snapped. "Then know this, I will gladly end you for what you've done to Kali, but first, I'm going to make you suffer in ways your spoiled little mind can't imagine. And when it's over," he snatched her by the shoulders and began guiding her back towards the wall. "When your sweet recollections have been rendered obsolete, you will associate my name with fear and pain, and perhaps the dull realization that you," he slammed her into the wall, "Are nothing to me."

Klaus held her firmly and closed the distance between them. He loomed over her seething with perfect hatred and rage.

"I might have cared for you once," he admitted despite himself. "But it wasn't love. It was never love. I love Kali."

"She doesn't want you." Aurora growled through her teeth, but her voice shook. She was clearly hurt by what he'd said.

"Then I will spend eternity making amends. But first," Klaus grabbed her head and dug deeply into her memories for what he wanted. It took seconds before he fell back from her with a grin tugging at his lips.

"You went into my mind?" she whispered heavily.

"And took the only thing I needed from you." He said casually. "So, what's to stop me from killing you now?" he grinned.

"But I love you." Her voice trembled. "And I know that you love me."

"You don't know the meaning of the word." He told her darkly. "It's larger than anything your simpering little mind can comprehend." His eyes shifted to her chest. Resting against her skin was a very familiar gemstone. Klaus grabbed it and snatched it off Aurora's neck. "This belongs to someone else." He said as he held up K's necklace.

Without another word to the red-head, Klaus headed back into the church and to K's side. She was unconscious again which didn't surprise him. She looked terrible.

He shoved her necklace into his pocket and went to work on her bindings. Klaus gripped each stake and yanked them from K's body easily. Next he snapped the ropes. Without anything to hold her up, K's limp body slid easily from the cross and into his arms. Klaus raced home without a second thought to the woman who'd caused the damage, only the vampire in his grasp.

~!~

Klaus tenderly fed K his blood while she slept. Her body had been through so much that she wouldn't rouse to eat, but it was healing her regardless. While he might have taken anyone else to a couch, he instinctively took K to his room and laid her in his bed despite the blood.

After giving her another sparse cup or so of his blood, Klaus poured himself a drink and took a spot a few feet away. He was standing over her, hovering like she was an ailing child ready to keel over from a fever. Rationally, Klaus knew K wouldn't die from her injuries, but seeing her that way… It stirred a primal fear in the hybrid that he couldn't ignore and because of that, he forced himself to step back.

Cami had been blowing up his phone since he last spoke with her. He thought her concern for K was adorable considering their contentious relationship, but that didn't stop him from telling her K was fine. He may have exaggerated her wellbeing a bit, but it was clear the blond was worried for the one who risked herself to save her.

K…

Klaus sighed and rubbed the sides of his head to try and ebb the aching. Why did everything seem to center around her? His memories, his thoughts, his regrets, all of them seemed tied to the woman who wouldn't even look at him anymore.

His eyes fell to the ring sitting on his finger. Klaus ran his thumb over the underside of it as he stared at the twisted metal. He'd never get the chance to wear it the way it was meant to. Forever, it would only be a piece of sentimental jewelry. It would never get to be a wedding ring like it was supposed to be, and he knew that. She'd never come back now, and he couldn't blame her.

As he slumped in his chair, Klaus brought his drink to his head. The ice in the glass stung mildly, but the cold helped. For a moment. It seemed his aching head refused to be ignored. Klaus' eyes drifted shut as the migraine raged.

The instant his lids fell he was confronted with the sight of K again. She flashed through his mind like clips from a movie. He'd see her rage, her hatred and the sadness. He'd see her bleeding and nailed to a cross. He'd see her crying. He'd see her looking at him with the purest disdain he'd ever seen and it hurt. It hurt more than he thought possible and caused his own anger to stir within him.

"This," she squeezed his heart again just to instill her point. Tears began to trickle down her cheeks. "Is what you've done to me, Niklaus. Our entire relationship is a lie. I am nothing more than your replacement for someone else. I am nothing to you."

He felt her remove her hand from his chest and how much of a relief it was. Until then, no one had dared try to rip out his heart save his own brother Elijah. He remembered collapsing as he tried to heal and looking up at her. The heartbreak in her eyes…

"Was there any time," her voice quivered, "That you ever cared about me? That you saw me, and not her?"

At the time he couldn't form an answer. His brain wanted to tell her no, of course not, but he was still in shock over what happened only seconds before. In his silence, K took her answer. She walked away shortly after and he couldn't bring himself to stop her.

His mind continued to play the scene over and over again until it was sure he saw every hint of pain he'd caused, every bit of the agony she felt. If K was willing to hurt herself so gravely just to illustrate what he'd done to her, Klaus knew a simple apology wouldn't be enough.

He opened his eyes and looked at the young woman in his bed. She looked battered and beaten. While the injuries themselves were gone, the blood remained. It broke his heart.

Klaus meant what he said to Aurora. He meant it when he told her she didn't know the meaning of love. He meant it when he said he cared for her too, but that paled in comparison to what he felt for the woman in his bed and she'd…

He stood and turned his back to K as he walked into the adjacent wing of his room. A fire was raging in the fireplace and held his brief attention.

Without warning he launched his drink into the fire. The flames lapped at the liquor and grew in size for a moment because of it, but when it was gone and the flames settled again, Klaus was left once more in silence. He lashed out because he had nothing else to do. He didn't want to face the realization that when K woke she'd leave again, worse yet, that she'd look at him with disgust.

Taking in a long, deep breath, Klaus did his best to release his fear and anxiety as he exhaled. He knew what was coming once K woke and it was causing his nerves to fray, but it hadn't happened yet, and he had to remember that.

He scratched the back of his head as he walked to his bathroom. Within his bathroom rested an antique bowl. It was filled with decorative soaps –for some odd reason- and would serve his purpose. Klaus took it, dumped the soaps out and filled it with warm water. Within a few moments, he was sitting beside K on his bed.

He gently lifted her arm into his hand and dipped the towel in the bowl. With more caring and tenderness than he'd shown almost anyone else in his life, Klaus began to clean away the dried blood from K's skin. The action was slow and deliberate, gentle and sweet despite the gory nature of it.

Elijah was looking for Klaus and decided that perhaps his room was the next logical place. He walked through the open door and into the separate wing where he found something he didn't expect. Klaus was sitting with an unconscious K.

"What happened?" he asked as he slowly approached.

Klaus didn't immediately answer. Instead, he dipped the towel into the opaque water, rinsed it off and wrung it 'dry' before returning to her fingertips. The blood was nearly gone.

"Aurora," was all Klaus had to say.

Elijah's jaw tensed and he wanted nothing more than to react, but there was nothing to do.

Klaus finished cleaning her fingers. He laid his arm down softly at her side and stood. With heavy steps, Klaus moved to the foot of his bed. He sat again and returned to what he was doing before, but this time with her feet.

As Elijah watched, he began to notice something that turned his stomach. He noticed where the blood was concentrated.

"Was she crucified?" he asked under his breath.

Klaus ran the damp cloth down K's shin to clear the blood.

"Yes." He replied somberly.

It was a technique the Mikaelsons had used before so Elijah knew the signs. It didn't make it any easier knowing one he cared about and considered family had endured the torture however.

"Why are you here, Elijah?" Klaus asked without tone as he set K's right leg down and took up her left.

He was moving so slowly, languidly, and deliberately as he cleaned K. It would have been endearing if the moment wasn't heavy with the underlining fear and knowledge that K would never agree to it. She was so angry with Klaus, they both knew she'd never want him near her.

"Marcel has agreed to help find information about Cepheus." He replied. Klaus dipped the towel into the water again and continued to wipe K's foot. "He seems confident he will be able to get what we need now that he's won Tristan's trust."

"Good," Klaus nodded slowly. "That is good."

Elijah lingered. He watched his brother carefully. To him, it seemed Klaus was having some kind of odd 'out of body' experience. The hybrid moved so slowly, he seemed to be deep in a fugue state. Elijah wanted to be surprised, but he wasn't.

"I'll keep you informed, brother." He said. When he received a nod from Klaus, Elijah left the bedroom so Klaus could return to what he was doing.

Klaus was nodding his silent agreement even after Elijah had left. It was an action he started and lazily continued without realizing he was doing it.

Eventually, Klaus had finished 'bathing' K. He returned to the bathroom and disposed of the water, tossed the towel into his sink and once again returned to K's side. For the first time in awhile, Klaus wasn't sure what else to do. The only thing that made sense was to wait for her to wake, despite knowing a fight would likely come of it.