A/N: Haaaiiii. Sorry for the delay as usual. That's adulthood in a nutshell, I guess. Still getting used to that. Given the Klaroline news we received today, I'm glad I was able to update! Thanks to my beta for getting her feedback to me so quickly! :D
It was another beautiful sunny day in the City. She loved these days when she used to live here. It was livelier, happier. Everyone was out enjoying the weather – even if they were only travelling from point A to point B.
"Here we are, Grayson," she informed him as they stopped in front of Klaus and Marcel's studio and peered inside the window.
Klaus had left for the studio early that morning to help Marcel ensure their artwork made it to the Gala safely and on time. She and Grayson had slept in a little and took it easy. After some breakfast, she tidied up Klaus's apartment and then got Grayson and herself ready for the day.
Now that the day of the Gala was here and Klaus's artwork had left his studio, he had nothing left to do to prepare except to get ready later and show up. Knowing how anxious he was about tonight, she decided a distraction was in order for the afternoon. They were going to grab lunch and show Grayson around the City. She wanted to visit Central Park and take Grayson to the Zoo.
Klaus was inside rearranging some artwork on display.
She knocked on the window to catch his attention.
Somewhat startled he turned to investigate the noise. He grinned when he saw her and she waved at him.
He moved towards the door and opened it for her so that she could push Grayson in the stroller into the studio.
"Look who's here," Klaus said to Grayson in a childish voice. She smiled as he reached down and picked up Grayson from the stroller.
"Hi, love," he said to her, leaning in with Grayson to kiss her cheek.
"I hope we're not interrupting?" she questioned, concerned that maybe the preparation for the gala later that night had not been completed.
"Of course you're not interrupting!" she heard Marcel's voice announce as he appeared from the back room, with his signature grin from ear to ear. "Everything is all set for tonight!" he exclaimed excitedly, without an ounce of anxiousness apparent in his voice. Klaus's demeanour had been much the opposite over the last few days leading up to tonight.
Her cheeks grew hot with embarrassment as she recalled her unexpected first meeting with Marcel the prior evening when he had walked in on her and Klaus.
"Hi, Marcel," she greeted timidly.
"Good afternoon, beautiful," Marcel greeted as he approached. "And this handsome man must be Grayson," he concluded, eyeing Grayson in Klaus's arms.
"You would be right," Klaus confirmed.
Grayson tucked his face into Klaus's t-shirt.
"Awe, he's playing shy," Marcel chuckled. "No need to be little dude," he encouraged as he shook Grayson's tiny hand.
She brushed Grayson's hair with her hand.
"Hey, why don't you say 'hi' to Marcel," she encouraged him.
Grayson glanced between her and Marcel with his thumb in his mouth.
"He's being a big baby," she said, shaking her head amusedly.
"He is a baby, sweetheart," Klaus reminded her, stating the obvious.
"Looks like he knows who to suck up to," Marcel chimed in, referring to Klaus.
She nodded in agreement.
"Boy, does he ever look like Elijah," Marcel observed. "I can't believe the resemblance, and he's not even a year old," he continued.
"Yeah, he's definitely turning into a little Elijah," she affirmed, although she could see Elena in Grayson's features depending on the way she looked at him.
"All you need now is a suit and he's set," Marcel joked, trying to lighten the mood.
Klaus laughed under his breath.
"Caroline and I have talked about that," Klaus mused.
She nodded.
"Maybe when he's old enough to control his bodily functions we will splurge on a three-piece," she quipped.
"Good plan," Marcel chuckled. "Though he may need one sooner rather than later, the way you two love birds are," he said suggestively with one of his infamous grins.
She tensed awkwardly, avoiding eye contact with Klaus to ignore his reaction. Their relationship was relatively fresh. They had put their focus primarily on Grayson. They really hadn't talked much about what the future was going to look like for them. It wasn't a conversation she was about to have now with Marcel in the room.
"Give it a rest, Marcel," Klaus groaned with annoyance.
Klaus hadn't axed the possibility of a wedding in their future, but he also hadn't reaffirmed it with any confidence either. It made her feel conflicted.
"I'm just playing, relax," Marcel teased. "Before Klaus tries to kill me, I'm going to get outta here and head back to my place before the big finale tonight," he explained as he headed backwards towards the door. "Klaus, if you need me text me. It was nice to meet you Grayson. And Caroline, you owe me a dance tonight," he winked. "See you guys later," he added before disappearing quickly through the door, preventing Klaus from even having a chance to react to his further flirtation with her, which he was obviously doing in fun to bother Klaus.
%$##################################################################################
"I still can't believe you've never been to the Zoo!" She exclaimed to Klaus as they stood in the Central Garden watching the sea lion exhibit.
Klaus shook his head in acknowledgement.
"It's one thing I haven't done in the City," he explained.
"I'm guessing you are more familiar with the bars and pubs of the City?" she joked laughingly.
He shrugged innocently.
"That might be a fair assumption, love," he grinned guiltily. "Although, I'm not completely uncivilized," he added in his defence. "I'm quite familiar with the art museums here."
She conceded with a nod, not finding his statement difficult to believe, given his passion for art.
"Bonnie and I came here once or twice when I lived here. I wanted to take Grayson to see his reaction to the animals," she mused, peering down at Grayson who was asleep in his stroller.
Klaus smirked as he looked down at the same time.
Grayson had been awake during their adventure through the Tropic Zone. The lemurs piqued his curiosity and she was able to snap some photos with her phone but some of the reptiles weren't as interesting to him and so his attention faltered. At some point during their search for the red pandas in the Temperate Territory, she had noticed that Grayson was sound asleep in his stroller. Knowing how miserable Grayson could be if his nap was disturbed, she and Klaus had decided to proceed through the Zoo without his participation.
"He seems to be really enjoying it," Klaus observed, sarcastically.
She shoved his shoulder playfully.
"He's not even a year old yet," she admitted. "I just wanted him to experience it. Who knows when we will get the opportunity to come back."
Klaus nodded quietly, staring pensively in the distance.
"At least his admission to the Zoo was free," he remarked with a chuckle. "That perk won't last much longer."
She laughed.
"You'll have to get used to doing a lot more kiddie-type activities," she told him. "Grayson won't be able to go the bars until he's twenty-one," she snorted.
"Even then, he probably won't want to be seen with me," Klaus chuckled.
"You're probably right," she agreed, recalling how she didn't want to hang out with her mother when she was younger.
"I'm actually looking forward to the kiddie activities," Klaus admitted.
Her heart swelled a bit with Klaus's admission.
"I mean, it's a great excuse to go to Chuck E. Cheese's without being stared at strangely or having the police called," he snorted
She rolled her eyes.
"Of course you would say that," she said with amused sarcasm.
"You know I have a point," Klaus teased her.
As she scanned the Central Garden, she noticed a woman she did not recognize waving in their direction as the woman and an unfamiliar man approached them.
"Do you know them?" she asked Klaus under her breath, so the woman and man approaching them would not hear her.
Klaus turned in the woman's direction and a look of surprise emerged on his face.
"Klaus, I thought that was you!" the woman said happily as she came closer. The man who had been following stalled behind her, giving her space to approach Klaus.
"Genevieve," Klaus greeted the woman, clearly taken off guard.
"Where have you been?" Genevieve asked enthusiastically as she touched his forearm. "I haven't heard from you in months!"
Her stomach tensed as she studied the mystery woman and her interaction with Klaus. She looked to be close in age to them, young, fair-skinned, long gorgeous red hair, and a slim figure. She was dressed in a simple white tank top and faded jean shorts. She could tell by the way Genevieve was smiling and batting her eyelashes at Klaus that they had known each other well – probably more than she wanted to know. If her demeanour didn't speak volumes, Klaus's clear discomfort certainly did.
"I…uh…I've been out of town unexpectedly," Klaus replied vaguely to Genevieve's inquiry.
It was only then that Genevieve appeared to notice her standing there beside Klaus as she eyed her with curiosity, clearly waiting for an explanation from Klaus.
"This is Caroline," Klaus piped up seemingly half-heartedly.
Her skin burned, not from the summer sun, but from Klaus's intentional failure to properly introduce her as his girlfriend.
Genevieve smiled politely and extended her hand.
"I'm his girlfriend, actually," she found herself blurting out vindictively as she shook Genevieve's hand eagerly with the best fake smile she could muster.
Her revelation seemed to come as a surprise to both Genevieve and Klaus.
"Oh wow!" Genevieve replied as she pulled away from the hand shake, seemingly feigning her excitement as she shot Klaus a confused look. "Sorry for my surprise, I didn't expect that any girl would be able to pin Klaus down," she explained with a hint of annoyance in her tone. "I thought you might be Klaus's sister."
She refrained from scoffing under her breath, shaking her head as she attempted to maintain her outwardly pleasant expression.
"And how do you and Klaus know one another?" she asked, merely as a formality, as she could already guess.
"Klaus and I dated a few times before he went MIA on me," Genevieve was quick to say with a hint of bitterness in her voice at the end.
Perhaps Genevieve had wrongly assumed she had been the "other woman" in an affair. In any case, Genevieve was clearly frustrated by Klaus's sudden absence a few months ago. She supposed she couldn't blame her for feeling annoyed. There had been a time when he had done the same to her.
Klaus's history with Genevieve was not a surprise to her as she had already formed that conclusion herself given the brief interaction and Klaus's past reputation. However, it was unsettling to be confronted by it in this way.
It wasn't exactly Klaus's past dalliance with Genevieve that got to her – although she couldn't help but compare herself to Genevieve. What bothered her was the way Klaus had introduced her to Genevieve – or perhaps the way he hadn't introduced her.
"Klaus hasn't mentioned you yet," she stated, which was more a criticism of Klaus than it was of Genevieve. It was also an attempt to imply that her relationship with Klaus was recent so as not to give Genevieve the satisfaction of thinking that she had exposed an infidelity.
"Well, we weren't really that serious," Genevieve admitted with a shrug, as she glanced over at Klaus.
It seemed as if Klaus was about to offer Genevieve an explanation as to why had fallen off the radar, but before he could, Genevieve turned her attention towards Grayson – something else that required explanation.
"And who is this little cutie?" Genevieve asked with even more interest as she kneeled down to peer in the stroller at Grayson who was slowly waking up.
"This is Grayson," she introduced Genevieve.
"He's yours?" Genevieve asked, her eyes shifting from her to Klaus as a myriad of possibilities were likely running through her mind.
"He's ours," she smiled, knowing she was omitting some of the more pertinent details, but at the end of the day, it was true, Grayson was theirs. She also rather enjoyed confusing Genevieve.
"You never told me that you had a son," Genevieve commented, her eyes set upon Klaus, as she attempted reconcile relationship timelines with Grayson's apparent age.
She laughed internally with amusement. Genevieve was likely thinking Klaus had a thing for single moms or something.
"He's actually my brother's son," Klaus revealed. "That's why I was out of town. My brother and his wife passed away unexpectedly. Caroline and I have been taking care of Grayson. We are his legal guardians."
While she knew that Genevieve kind of deserved that explanation, given her history with Klaus, she couldn't help but wonder how much longer they would have to keep offering that story up to people until they could just introduce Grayson as theirs. Why did they always have to tell people the painful story behind it?
Genevieve's expression fell, and she could tell that Klaus's former flame immediately felt guilty for some of her previous comments and assumptions.
"Oh my god. I'm so sorry. That's horrible. I didn't know," Genevieve said sympathetically.
Klaus shrugged.
An awkward silence quickly descended between the three of them.
"I…uhm…didn't mean to interrupt your day. I just wanted to say 'Hi'. I should get back to my own date. Again, I'm very sorry about what happened," Genevieve stammered, before turning on her heel and darting back towards her date who appeared a little disgruntled as he waited.
That left her and Klaus standing there quietly, both a little bewildered by the encounter.
The sound of Grayson kicking his feet against his stroller removed her from her thoughts and she peered over to make sure that he was okay.
"Caroline…" Klaus began softly, sensing the lingering tension that remained between them even after Genevieve had disappeared from sight.
She wasn't sure what he was about to say, but she didn't feel like talking about it now. The Zoo wasn't the place, and they had more important things to worry about.
"We should just get going," she said simply. "We need to get ready for tonight."
A/N: Unfortunately the chapter didn't end on the best note – but what's a story without some drama? Next up: everyone is attending the gala, new connections are made and paths are crossed!