A/N - I know, what in the F is going on here. I was going through my cluster of writing on google drive and found this half written chapter - cut to 3 hours later and it was complete. I don't even know what to say. But here it is.
Thank you for reading, and if you decide to leave an abuse in the reviews I completely understand. But I promised to either finish this, or write a chapter explaining what happens and I'll do it!
"What are you doing here?"
Damon startled, his back to her as he seemed to gather himself for a second before turning around. A calm, unreadable expression on his face as he said "Came to visit. Am I not allowed?" He added mockingly.
Raising a pointed brow, Caroline walked closer to him as she said, "Came to visit Mikael? Or Elijah?"
"What does it matter?" Damon answered sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders and continuing to walk down the stairs of the Mikaelson estate.
Caroline opened her mouth to explain to him in clear and concise words why it mattered, before he cut her across, "Elijah is here. Talking to his father, or rather, being talked at by his father."
Caroline nodded dumbfoundedly as Damon walked past her and towards his carriage. He gave her a small almost knowing smile that unsettled in her gut. He was up to something, she just knew it.
Please, God. Please, no.
"You played me." She accused in a soft breath.
Damon made quite a show of gasping in horror, as he said, "Me? How dare you."
"You spoke to them didn't you?" Caroline prodded, gulping nervously as she added, "About what father wants. Damon, please tell me you didn't speak on my behalf."
Damon's smile widened at her slip, as she furiously opened her mouth to explain, "So you wished to ask him yourself. I always knew you were a brave girl, Caroline." Damon spoke across her with a cutting edge. When she glared at him and fidgeted with the hem of her dress, his eyes softened as he added, "I didn't want you to make a decision out of desperation Caroline. Neither you, nor Rebekah will ever have to do anything you don't want to until I'm alive."
Smiling slightly, Caroline teased, "Unless you manage to gamble or whore your inheritance away."
"Thankfully I have a large enough inheritance to do both."
"I thought it repulsed you," Caroline asked, taking a few steps towards him and lowering her voice, "Then why do you propagate it so. Why aren't you stopping me from seeing him? Why aren't you taking me home in all your high handed glory."
"I thought you weren't here to ask him?"
"Damon - if you can't…"
"I don't think it's repulsive." He said with a long sigh, walking towards her with a softness in his eyes she'd never seen before. She never realized until this very moment how much older Damon seemed now. Gone was the boyish charm his face had, replaced with lines that ran deeper, eye that sunk in and didn't shine with mischief, but rather… a deep sense of responsibility, like he couldn't rest until he set things right. Make things right for her, for Rebekah. It had weighed down on him for years, that worry, that uncertainty. And now it showed on his face.
Were they a burden to him? No, she mentally chided herself, he'd loved them all like his own sisters.
"I don't particularly like it either," He continued, startling Caroline from her intense study, "I think… I think you deserve to be happy, Caroline. And, I think love isn't always the only way to be happy. Companionship, friendship and trust in life are just as important."
Caroline nodded absent-mindedly, taking in his words and trying to wrap her mind around it's meaning. She had been fighting with her father's wishes for months now. Never letting herself even think of it, always finding it a great disservice to the memory of her sister, Katherine's love for Elijah. To her own love for Klaus. Only eventually, to realize that this, them, if there was ever to be a them - would never be about love. They'd both had their share of love in this world, and it had broken them both. Neither she realized, was even capable of opening their hearts to another - the fear of heartbreak never being worth the effort. Their quota for love had been exhausted, and all they had left was… family. And friendship.
Damon's words now only further ingrained that thought in her. Her resistance to the mere thought faltering to the image of a world, where she no longer had to fear losing her only friend, learning to live in limits for survival, worrying over her sister. A world where she didn't feel so alone.
She had come here to ask him one question. One, he'd wished to answer years before but she'd stopped him. From fear of having her heart broken, but she knew that before she even began entertaining that world - their world - she needed to know. She had to know.
Damon gently took her hand into his as he tilted his head down and spoke, "He's the only one who'll understand you Caroline, inside and out. And I suppose you're the same to him. No judgements, no insecurities and no unrealistic expectations of…of..."
"Love." Caroline supplied softly.
"Love doesn't just come in one form Caroline. Sometimes it ebbs along like a creek, and sometimes it floods like a river." Caroline worked hard to control a smile at such profound words from Damon. "You both love another, and no one else will understand that. No one else will accept that. But that doesn't mean both of you must stop living, your grief doesn't have to be so finite."
"So," Caroline asked tentatively, "You think I could be happy married to Elijah, knowing that we'd never love each other. Knowing that he loves another, my own sister."
"Love isn't that simple - if it was it wouldn't be such a pain would it?" Damon countered in an exasperated tone, "You love me don't you? But not the same way you loved your Klaus." He sneered as he spoke, his name slipping from between his lips like a black curse.
"So, you're saying I could grow to love Elijah like I love you."
"Goddammit Caroline. No." Damon whined, running a frustrated hand down his face, "I think you can grow to love Elijah as the only person who's made you forget your misery all these years, who's managed to get a smile on your face. A Real smile, like the Caroline you used to be. I think you could grow to love him as a companion, a dear friend. If you haven't already."
"Is that enough?" Caroline countered softy, knowing that the inquiry was directed more at herself than at Damon. "Is it fair?"
"To whom?"
Damon's face, the face had been dear to her for over 2 decades spoke enough without saying a word. He knew her battle, he understood it. He'd seen Katherine battle the same demon when she'd met Elijah. Dropping her chin, she closed her eyes.
"Peace and happiness in the midst of all this...death and pain," Damon finally spoke, "is worth it. And it's fair. To everyone." He added in finality.
As if reading the question in her mind, he continued on, "As much as I wish I could give you everything you've ever wanted, make all the right decisions for you, I can't. Some things… some things you must do on your own."
"This decision," He added finitely, "Must be your own. I will stand by whatever you wish." With a final decisive look at her, he turned around and walked to his carriage, leaving her more confused than ever before.
She found him in his room, bent over a book at his desk. His dark, wavy hair all over the place, like he'd been running his hands through it frantically. Something he rarely did - Caroline could count on one hand the times she'd seen him frantic enough to resort to that. When they spoke about Katherine and that time Kol and Rebekah had gone missing for 6 hours.
That day had aged them both by a year.
"One of Katherine's?" She gently asked, announcing her arrival.
Elija startled slightly in his seat, laughing softly to himself and turning around. With a smile, he shook his head as he said, "It's like I summoned you here." This, with an added amused chuckle.
Her brow crinkled, Caroline pressed, "What do you mean?"
"I was just reading about you staying up all night stitching a gown for your first fair. Some competition I believe?" He teased.
"No," Caroline replied smoothly, moving further into his room and sitting by the edge of his large poster bed. "I simply wanted a yellow dress and God himself couldn't stop me."
Elijah's laugh brought out her own small chuckle at the memory. She sighed and turned her head to look around his room. She'd been in here infinite times before, but it felt different this time. She seemed to notice small details; like the dark colors of the curtains and the matching furniture, the artifacts littered over the fireplace, a nod to his travelling adventures and the slight hint of cheroot thick in the air. A proud family portrait sat right above his desk; all 4 Mikaelson men smiling at her. On most days, it made her uncomfortable, and she snatched her gaze from it.
Today, she took a deep breath and looked back at the smiling visage of Klaus staring at her in the portrait. He stood to Mikael's left and Elijah stood on the other side. Klaus seemed to be leaning away from Mikael slightly, while Elijah stood much closer to him. Kol stood right in front of his father; younger, happier, all his teeth on display as he was flanked by his big brothers. That image spoke a lot, and if anyone took the time - they could spot it instantly.
Tearing her eyes away, Caroline released the breath she'd hidden away and ran her hands over the covers on Elijah's enormous bed. Letting herself feel the expensive linen, she imagined if she could wake up in this bed everyday for the rest of her life. She wondered if she could do so without thinking about Katherine, without pointedly looking away from the portrait. This room, suddenly seemed so much more vital than ever before.
It was no longer her dearest friend's room. It was the most private part of his life; where he slept, where he woke, where he smoked cheroot without letting his father know, where he read, where he wrote, where his butler shaved him each morning, where he bathed and dressed. There was Elijah all around her, the sights, the smells and the aura was all Elijah.
This was his place, his private little cocoon where he no longer had to be honorable, stoic and responsible Elijah. This was where his deepest desires resided. The question now, was if she belonged here as well.
Could she belong here as well?
"I have to ask you something Elijah." She said softly, finally turning her head to look at him. All this time, he'd sat quietly, letting her have her fill. Watching and observing her every movement, like he could see right through her.
When he saw her face, something changed - his eyes widened, a slow smile curved his lips. A sad smile almost, as he exhaled heavily and whispered, "You're ready." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.
Because, yes she was ready. After two years she was ready.
Smiling, she nodded. "Tell me."
"It isn't another woman." He started instantly, and at her resulting laughter, he pressed on, "It really isn't. Klaus isn't the philandering type. None of us are, father abhors such behaviour."
Shaking her head Caroline realized that he didn't seem to realize. In a man's world, nothing was worse than cheating - while rudimentary, she understood. A woman moved from her father to her husband, like a bond or property. One owner to another, and letting another man have her would be the greatest crime of all. Men were simple that way. Women, not so much. Adultery, while distasteful and reprehensible, was also absolute. It was weak and frail.
"I know it isn't another woman Elijah." She said, folding her hands in her lap, "Another woman would make it easy. Simpler." At his fathoming expression, she laughed internally and added, "Adultery is weak, and anyone that weak isn't deserving of my love. Klaus was a lot of things, but he wasn't weak."
"No, he wasn't."
She watched in silence as Elijah turned to look at the giant portrait, and somehow Caroline knew, just knew that the root of all the problems came down to one individual not in that image. But, she'd waited years, she could wait a few more minutes.
"Mother married father for the glamor of it." Elijah started, leaning back in his seat and looking at the drink in his hands. "She came from poor folks, a man like father was her dream. She had the looks to go with it, and he was smitten in a day. They married within two weeks of meeting, and my father was ecstatic. He'd always wanted a big family, something he never had. Barely a year later, I was born. But by then, my mother was disillusioned of the glamor she expected."
"Father isn't in the peerage, far removed from it actually. And he's never aspired to have anything more than a roof over his head, food in his children's belly and a happy household. Mother, wanted more. She wanted excitement, she wanted adventure, she wanted to meet Dukes and Earls, attend balls and reach for the stars. Soon, this life; father and I weren't enough for her. She ran away with a man named Alexei."
Controlling her facial expressions, Caroline simply repeated the name, "Alexei?"
Looking at her dead in the eye, Elijah spoke, "Yes. Alexei. Alexei Mikaelson. My uncle."
And she knew, within a second Caroline knew. A sharp intake of breath affirmed her understanding as Elijah closed his eyes and spoke. "Alexei is Klaus' real father. Technically we're cousin or half brothers, or something of the sort. We have the same mother after all." Elijah sounded tired, weary and defeated as the whole thing just didn't make sense to him.
"No," he shook his head, "He's always been my brother. Just my brother. Damn who the father is." She couldn't help it, Caroline smiled. Elijah was a prize of a man, that was for certain. And Klaus was a fool for not seeing what a wonderful brother he had.
"Father was devastated when mother ran away, with his brother of all people. He begged, he pleaded and he tried to take me along to soften her heart. She told him she'd done her duty by giving him an heir, and now Alexei was going to give her the adventure she so craved. My father's pride couldn't take anymore, so he gave up. He focussed on his work and me, and became richer every minute. But, he was still a man. Out of spite, he stopped giving his brother money. When he cut ties from mother, he did so completely."
When Elijah was silent for almost a minute, Caroline gently prodded, "Then what happened?"
"The magic of Alexei faded, with every penny he spent on gambling and drinking and whoring, the less mother had to spend. Without father's support, he had nothing. And Alexei had bargained for a beautiful young, spirited woman, his big brother's wife more so - another way to humiliate him. What he didn't bargain for - was a child. Klaus was born a year after mother left. Father came to know soon after, and if his pride wasn't shattered before - it definitely was now."
"Mother sent father a note months later, begging him to come to his townhouse and see the mess he'd made. A mess it was," Elijah sighed deeply, his hands fisting as he shook his head almost violently. "Alexei had taken off with a Russian actress, leaving mother and Niklaus in his house. A house that was turned over by his creditors. They took all her jewellery, their belongings, the art, the piano and even Niklaus' toys. Mother was left destitute with a small boy and no way to feed him."
"You must understand, father has spoken of that day only once in his life. Years ago when Niklaus and him had their first big fight. Father told me the horror he saw that day. The state of mother and the small, malnourished, howling at the top of his lungs Niklaus." Elijah said purposefully, wanting, no needing Caroline to understand. She affirmed the same with a slow, meaningful nod of her head. "Father brought them both home that day. Told me I had a little brother and I had to do everything in my power to protect him."
"You see, for the first 9 months of Niklaus' life father didn't think about him. He was the sign of mother's betrayal, of Alexei's betrayal. But once he saw him, he realized he was just a child. Not the one to blame. And he couldn't leave him there, and he couldn't leave Esther either. So, just like that, I had my mother back and I had a little brother I deeply adored."
"Father's pride healed, but Esther's never did." Caroline couldn't help but notice how Elijah referred to her as Esther now, and not mother. "No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't win father over. He was always wary of her, giving her whatever she needed to live a comfortable life but ensuring she never smarted him again. Even giving him another son did nothing to soften father, he respected her, he provided for her, but he refused to be worship her again. He no longer fancied himself in love with her, and she couldn't bring herself to deal with how her life had turned out. The only thing she had, was Niklaus. He loved her. I had seen too much to be so attached to her, and besides, my loyalty was always to Father. Kol, on the other hand," Elijah sighed deeply, and put his head between his hands as he said, "Kol was her strategy. A way to get father back on her side, let her have some leeway. But as much as father adored and loved Kol, he was still the same to Esther. After that, Kol was inconsequential to her. He was raised exclusively by father, Niklaus, I and nannies."
"But Niklaus, he was her only boy. She kept him close to herself, lest Mikael sway him like he did me." Elijah exhaled loudly, and looked up slightly, as if talking to Esther. "For Niklaus, Esther was everything. He loved his mother to pieces, and after Kol was born - she did his best to turn him against father. Always telling him enough to confuse him, but never enough that Mikael could send her away."
Swallowing nervously, and giving her a sad smile, Elijah said, "She told him anytime she could that he would never be Mikael's favorite, that from the day he'd been born Mikael had hated him, because there was something wrong with him. That I was always his boy, his firstborn, his everything. She told him in her own twisted ways, that he had to protect her, keep her safe or father would send her away. Klaus was torn - on one hand, the mother he loved more than life told him Mikael was a monster, and on the other hand; Mikael was wonderful to him. Never treated him differently than Kol or I. In Fact, father was always more partial to Niklaus, his guilt at ignoring him the first few months eating away at him. From his earliest memories, Niklaus was stuck between choosing his mother who said one thing, and us - Father, Kol and I, who loved him and told him so."
"When I turned fourteen, I gleaned onto Esther's plan. She simply wanted to hurt father, anyway she could. Having a son turn against him, especially the son born of treachery and betrayal that he had come to love would hurt him, wound him deeply. That had become her life's goal. I begged father to send her away, to tell Klaus the truth I'd learned without needing words. Esther never wanted Klaus to know, fearful that Mikael would send her away. And Mikael refused to tell him; partly because he didn't think it mattered to him, Niklaus was his son - no matter who and how he came to be. But also because he wanted to hurt mother right back. And poor Niklaus was stuck in the middle."
"When he was sixteen, the choice was made for him. Mother died, but not before spewing poison into her devoted and devastated teenage son. Just before she took her last breath, she told him that Mikael would never love him, not like he loved me. That he never wanted him, and that Niklaus had to show him that he was good enough. But he'd always been her favorite boy, he'd always been enough for her. And he had to avenge her now. He had to break away from father, go his own way and make father pay for thinking less of him. She knew, she knew that Niklaus' anger would pain father, and that's all she wanted."
Caroline waited patiently as Elijah faltered, gulped down the contents of his glass and rose from his seat. He walked to stand in front of the portrait, his breaths long and loud as he spoke softly, "You've had an ideal, nurturing childhood. Imagine a child being told he wasn't good enough, that he had to prove he deserved the love of his own father. To keep Niklaus with us after Esther's death was… was a task I wouldn't wish to repeat."
"What happened?" Caroline asked, surprised to hear the heaviness in her voice as she silently observed Elijah try to maintain his composure.
"He drank himself into a rage one day, not long after Esther passed." Elijah supplied, "Rage was always Niklaus' biggest problem. He came home in the middle of the night and attacked father. Deranged and devastated at losing the only parent he believed loved him, he couldn't take it anymore. No matter how much father and I told him that Esther lied, that Mikael never needed him to prove himself, Niklaus refused to believe us. I begged father to tell him the truth then and there, tell him what we all knew - but father refused."
"You see," Elijah said with a hollow laugh, "The thought that Niklaus would hate father and leave was unbearable to Mikael. Esther got what she wanted in the end; father loved Niklaus and in turn, he hated him. After that night, Niklaus stayed with us mostly because of Kol and I. But his relationship with father never changed. They always tip-toed around each other. Niklaus made threats to leave every time they fought over the business, every time he pushed father to move into India and join the East India Company he left for a week, but he came back. We were his family - no matter the fights, he believed that."
"And then he met you." Elijah turned finally, having regained his poise he levelled her with a confident smile, "You changed a lot for him. He'd never believed in love and marriage, only indulging because father insisted. After the longest time, you represented something innocent and pure for him. Caroline." Elijah moved closer to her, until he slowly sat down on the bed next to her.
Noting, but ignoring the sudden rigidness of her back and a stern look on her face when he mentioned Klaus, Elijah added, " If someone like you could love him, then maybe he wasn't all that terrible - maybe he was worth something good afterall."
"That…" Caroline struggled to find the words over the tightness in her throat, "That is not true at all."
Elijah smiled, one of those sad, slow smiles that devastated Caroline. "That's what he thought." He said, trying to make her understand the depth of that thought. She understood, she just couldn't digest. "When someone that damaged finds someone so… light," Elijah waved his hand around her general presence as he said those words, "It makes them think strange things."
Her brow crinkled with displeasure as she repeated his word, "Light?"
"You brighten up any room you walk into, no matter how morose. He always said that even a blind man would notice you."
It was all too much, the feelings and anger she'd suppressed for years threatened to spill over. "No," she said aggressively, shaking her head and angling her body towards Elijah with a firm stance, "All that is wonderful to hear, but it doesn't change the facts. Why didn't he come back then?"
Solemnly, Elijah nodded - his own light seemed to vanish - as he did so, "Right. Well, in short, father finally heeded my advice. Niklaus asked the captain to steer us towards India, without informing either father or I. And they had the biggest row I've ever seen. And father ended up blurting the truth in the form of a taunt - and that sealed the deal for Niklaus. Everything, absolutely everything Esther had done to him came rushing back."
"He was no longer Niklaus Mikaelson, he was that small, unworthy boy who finally had a valid reason to align to Esther's malice. In his mind, she was now proven right. Because Mikael had a reason to not think him worthy, to not want him - because he wasn't Mikael's. At no point, did Niklaus stop to think that if Mikael didn't want him, why did he not kick him out after Esther's death, why did he treat him no different than Kol or I, why did he not tell him the truth to torture him earlier on?" The frustration seeped into Elijah's voice at this point, and Caroline could hear exasperation and admiration in his tone.
"Stubborn," Elijah chastised, with a shake of his head. "The next morning we found a note from him; saying that he was leaving as he was no longer bound to us by familial strings, and he was going to prove Mikael wrong in every way. Show him exactly how worthy he is. I suspect he's running a very lucrative slave plantation somewhere in British India." Elijah finished admonishingly, announcing from the finality of his words that this was the gist of it all. The reason why Klaus had abandoned her and not come back home, when she needed him the most.
Male pride.
"I also suspect," Elijah added testingly, glancing at Caroline sneakingly, "That the feelings the truth surfaced in him, made him believe he wouldn't be worthy of you until he proved himself. Until he was… better, bigger and more powerful."
Slowly, Caroline measured her words lest she shatter the disillions of the fragile male ego, "I never loved him for his money, or his stature or his… power."
With a small shrug and a smile, Elijah loyally defended his dense-headed brother, "I never said there was any logic behind this thought." When Caroline only scoffed in return, he pressed on, "That's it - that's the last we heard from Niklaus. No matter how hard we try to look we can't seem to find anything on him. And now father has given up, it pains him too much to think he's failed him again."
So that was it. This was it. She felt numb as she processed the information, almost as if she was observing it from a third perspective and not experiencing the emotions accurately. Perhaps soon after, she would breakdown in a massive tear storm. But right now, she felt calm and composed. Over the past two years, she had gathered as much - and knew that the reason her life shattered centered around a rift between Mikael and Klaus. All facts about it being instigated by Esther's brainwashing, and Mikael's terrible timing and Klaus' own stubborn tendencies, mattered not to Caroline.
Because she was done with this one incident that put a stop to her life, it had broken her heart, it had been the last straw for her father and it put Rebekah in constant fear for her future. But she would give it no more power. She was a woman with a broken heart, she loved and loved and loved, and she lost. Now, she knew - and she wanted to move on.
Elijah seemed to be watching her every move like a hawk. He could see the changes her face went through with each emotion - and he knew, he absolutely knew what she was going to say, when, at the end of her long and troubling thought process - she smiled widely.
And it was like the sky opened up.
She was done.
"Father thinks we should marry." She said matter-of-factly, that blinding smile still on her face - even though she looked not at him, but at Niklaus' smiling visage in the portrait.
"So does mine." Elijah replied, shocked to find his voice as calm as hers.
Exactly when they'd come to be so comfortable with this conversation, he didn't know - but he knew it was a long time coming. He'd been struggling with the thought for months, ever since Mikael deemed it appropriate to bring it up every morning. It was an earworm that took root in his mind, and couldn't stop whispering to him that he didn't have to be alone anymore.
"Could you marry me knowing I loved your brother?" Caroline asked, finally turning to level Elijah with a curious gaze.
"Could you marry me knowing I loved your sister?" He countered.
In response, all he got was a soft, teasing smile, that twinkled in her blue eyes. And it sealed his question.
"I…" Elijah swallowed roughly, "I don't want you doing anything you don't want to, out of fear for your future. Or Rebakah's." He added hurriedly. "I will always be your friend, blast what the world says - you will have support from us, you don't need to…"
"Marry you to survive," Caroline finished for him, when he couldn't, "I know. That may be why my father wants me to, but not why I would." Hesitating for the first time, she looked distressed as she braced herself and spoke, "I don't wish to survive anymore Elijah, I wish to live. The world may condemn me for it, but I deserve to not be defined by one loss. I want to be happy, don't you?"
In response, all she got was a definitive and warm smile, that reached his eyes. And it sealed her question.
"But before I….," Caroline paused as she tried to find the right word, "Before I broached the topic of… us, I needed to know. And now I know, I'm glad I do - but it changes nothing."
Elijah didn't seem convinced, taking a deep breath and looking over at the portrait. So she added, "We wouldn't be young naive lovers Elijah, we know each other better than we know anyone else. I can be who I am with you, and so can you. It isn't wrong to want to be happy, and it isn't wrong to be happy with me." She added slowly, a slight tremor surfacing as tried to meet his eyes.
"Caroline," Eljiah began, looking down at his hands, "I loved Katherine, and a part of me always will. Just like you and Niklaus, but he isn't dead." He said finally, "Katherine is dead, my choice is much easier. I've been where you are now, for a while now - but…" At her prodding, he continued, "I always believed that Klaus would come back for you one day. Leaving you isn't what he wanted, it's what the emotionally manipulated side of him propelled him to do. He's out there somewhere, and I know he still loves you - and he could come back for you anyday."
"And I should sit around in misery waiting for him?" She asked incredulously.
"No, but he could come back tomorrow, or two years from now, or five years from now."
"When we would be married." She finally followed his train of thought as she said those words. And she understood, finally understood what Elijah was trying to say.
Slowly, he smiled at her as he spoke, "I resigned myself to a life without love, companionship and family when Katherine died. But you, you didn't - you still have a chance to have that great love. I never wanted that life again, not without her. But now, with you," he added, tilting his head towards her, "that hope arises again." A shadow of pain seemed to cross his face, reminding her of the man he was right after Katherine's dead - broken, hollow and lifeless. She never wanted to see him like that again, and she would never be the one to do that to him.
"I can't go through that again, Caroline." He added sadly, "I'm not that strong."
"Do you have such little faith in me?" Caroline asked indignantly, "Besides, what if three years into our marriage you realize I'm neurotic mess you can't wait to send off into the countryside somewhere." When he dismissed her words and opened his mouth to counter her words, she pressed on "If and when Klaus returns - even though I doubt he ever will - I will welcome him as a member of this family, my family and ask him if he bought any spices from India."
The frown deepened on Elijah's forehead, none of her words making him see how certain she was of this decision. So she had to be brave, and she would be - if nothing else in her life, she would always be brave. "Elijah," she began softly, something in her voice made him pause and look at her intently, "Do you really think I could marry you, and not come to admire you, care for you and love you? Do you think it would be so easy for me to abandon you for someone who abandoned me? Do you not know what you've meant to me for the past few years, without you… without you," she gulped nervously, trying to blink the tears away. No one said bravery was easy.
At her sudden change in demeanor, he took a deep breath and took her hand in his. Grasping it firmly within his, he held on as he seemed to have an inner conversation with himself. At the end, he looked up at her somberly as he said, "No I know you wouldn't. I had to ask." He ended lamely and she laughed.
"Well, now that's decided. Let's stop being so morose. I for enough, have had enough of crying and emotions for one day." Caroline said cheerily, getting to her feet and pulling him along. She glanced around the room once again, her eyes flitting over the minute details, until she turned to him with a bright smile on her face, and said, "Shall we go and make the old, pushy fathers in our life happy for once."
Unable to stop his laugh, Elijah nodded his head as he followed her. She paused to look around his room once again, her eyes lingering over the armchair where his butler shaved him every morning, and the half closed door that led to his closet and privates, the brass shine of his hip bath still visible.
"Caroline," he said, making her pause in her perusal and turn to him expectantly, "You belong here." He said.
At her incredulous look, he added, "In this room, in this house, in my life. You belong here. This will be your home as much as it is mine."
Dazed, Caroline nodded slightly and gave him a perplexed but pleased look.
He heard her, somehow - without saying a single word, he heard her greatest fear and laid it to rest.
Three months later.
Marcel Gerard sipped on the piping hot chai as he scanned the newspaper. His eyes focussed on a face he recognized but couldn't place, so he barely paid attention as his Indian manservant he placed a plate of buttery biscuits next to him. Suddenly, everything clicked in place as he jumped from his seat, sending the scalding tea flying over the white linen.
"Sahib, kya hua?" Mahinder exclaimed, "Sir, what happened?" But Marcel paid him no heed as he moved past him into the adjoining office.
He found his business partner and friend hunched over a map of sugarcane fields, his beard even more menacing than before as he refused to have it trimmed. Striding right past their accountant who attempted to get his attention, Marcel opened the newspaper and placed it over the map on the table.
"Something you'd like to read." He said gruffly, dismissing the accountant with a tilt of his head.
Klaus cocked a brow as he put down his glass of whiskey and smirked. "Unless it has news of better trade routes between India and Europe I don't…" His snide remark forgotten, Klaus paused as he noticed the face in the paper.
Slowly, he picked it up and read it over once, then again.
"Your father." Marcel said.
"Yes." Klaus replied.
"He's dead."
"Seems so."
"That indeed is something I'd like to read." Klaus added a minute later, as a slow menacing grin took over his face. "I think it's time we re-visit our motherland brother, what do you say?"