With or Without You
Rebekah is diagnosed with a virus and sent to the hospital for observation. To help stop the spread, the two people closest to her in the past two weeks need to self-quarantine. The problem is her best friend and her brother can't stand each other. Forced to live in the same house, will they kill each other or do something entirely different before 14 days is up?
(Please note: I realise this is a difficult time and the subject matter is serious but this drabble is designed to be just a bit of fun.)
"I can't live with or without you."
Day 3
"Honestly, Kat, I'm not sure if I can last much longer," she groaned. "He sings in the shower, badly. he leaves the toilet seat up constantly and don't get me started on his remote control form. He switches channels that fast I feel like I'm at a rave."
Caroline lived in Los Angeles with Rebekah Mikaelson, they'd been friends for years. Her brother had shown up recently from London, where he was based, only for Rebekah to develop the virus. She was going to be okay but had been sent to hospital purely for observation purposes meaning they were imprisoned together as a precaution for fourteen whole days.
To say she wasn't coping was an understatement.
"So, you haven't had sex yet?" She asked matter-of-factly. Even though she was currently staring at Caroline through a computer screen, she still had the annoying ability to cut straight to the awkward part.
"Kat! She hissed, looking down the hall to check he wasn't listening. "Your inappropriateness knows no bounds even via Skype."
"The way I see it is the sooner you have sex, the frustration you feel towards each other and the situation will dissipate. And who knows? If the sex is good you'll not only have something to do to pass the time but you'll also be getting your required cardio."
"Seriously," she growled. "Is sex all you think about?"
"About 90 percent of the day," she quipped. "Tell me you have a better idea?"
"Ah, not to sleep with him because he's an arrogant asshat who thinks the world revolves around him?"
"I don't think, love, I know," he called out. Unfortunately, she chose that exact moment to turn around and copped an eyeful.
"Wow, does he work out?" Kat cooed, obviously she'd had the privilege of seeing him too dressed only in a white towel tied low on his hips, his bare chest and six-pack on full display. Caroline felt her mouth go dry and was struggling to form words he looked that delicious.
"If you use all of the hot water again, Mikaelson, I swear I'll come in there and.." she paused, realizing what she'd alluded to.
"By all means, love," he murmured, the dimple in his left cheek making an ill-timed appearance. "Maybe that way we can conserve water."
"You are unbelievable," she muttered. "Not if we were the last two people on the planet and we had to repopulate the earth."
"Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find me, Forbes," he chuckled, shutting the bathroom door behind him.
"You are so screwed figuratively and literally, " Kat laughed. Caroline didn't respond knowing her friend was right.
She should have hated him, in fact, she had since they met eleven years earlier. Caroline had befriended Rebekah during her sophomore year at high school. They were both cheerleaders and had bonded over music and drama club.
Rebekah was new to her school, so too her brothers Kol, Elijah and Niklaus. The first two were polar opposites personality-wise but she got along with them famously. The problem was with Niklaus, or Klaus as he liked to be called.
They'd clashed from the outset. It started with a few stray insults and developed into more insults and pranks. Apparently everyone thought it was a passing phase but it wasn't ending anytime soon.
However, being locked up with him in quarantine was doing all sorts of strange things to her. In fact, she was experiencing all these not-so-innocent urges. She wanted to blame it on Kat's innuendo or that fact he swanned around the house barely clothed but there was definitely something bigger at play here.
Day 5
"She keeps making me watch all of these bad movies, only cooks meals with weird and unidentified grains and apparently the living room is her personal gymnasium," he complained.
Klaus Mikaelson didn't do roommates and there was a very good reason why. He liked his space and he liked walking around partially naked but suddenly he was thrown into this quarantine situation which was a complete minefield.
"I said I'd only take this Skype call if you didn't complain about Caroline Forbes, Niklaus, but yet here we are again," Enzo growled. "You two need to get a room and pronto."
"We have rooms, in fact, we have a whole house of rooms and yet that still isn't enough distance between us," he muttered. "I am going to go crazy locked up in here with her."
"And the best dramatic Oscar performance goes to..."
"You would feel exactly the same way, Lorenzo," he argued. "Caroline Forbes is nothing but a spoilt princess who thinks the world revolves around her."
"I don't think, I know, asshat," she drawled finding her way into his room while repeating his sentiments from two days earlier. No doubt just to push his buttons that much more.
What Klaus wasn't expecting was for her to look so wet doing it. Yes, she was wearing yellow, rubber gloves but her white t-shirt was soaked through revealing a very lacy bra and some rather pronounced nipples no doubt due to the temperature.
"Holy..." Enzo murmured before Klaus shut his laptop with a bang. He figured it was the least he could do to protect her innocence and it had absolutely nothing to do with jealousy whatsoever. Or that's what he told himself.
"You're here in my room...wet," he mumbled, trying to look anywhere but exactly where his eyes wanted to go.
"I'm trying to clean up after your lazy ass," she groaned. "You do realize how germs spread right? Maybe if you took better care to clean up after yourself then we wouldn't be experiencing our current predicament."
"I'm aware of our current predicament, trust me," he shot back. "Since when did cleaning end in a drenching. I know you like me, Forbes, but I can see everything." She looked down in complete shock, his comment having the desired effect.
"Unbelievable," she muttered, pulling off her wet gloves and throwing them in his direction before leaving his room, no doubt to change her top.
"I'm the one who's spreading germs?" He cried out, attempting to remove the dirty gloves from the bed.
Klaus and Caroline had never gotten along in the eleven years they'd known each other. Klaus decided from the outset that Rebekah truly was evil bringing her into his life and home. Caroline had this annoying ability to get under his skin and Klaus, unfortunately, let her.
His friends and brothers told him it was because he liked her deep down. Sure she was hot. there was no denying that, but he'd prided himself on maintaining his distance. Well, that was until he was forced to live in such close quarters for two whole weeks.
His willpower was waning and Klaus wasn't sure he could go the distance.
Day 7
"Would you stop switching channels so fast, it makes it a little difficult to see what's actually on," she offered, rolling her eyes as she said it.
They were seated on the couch, the long, uneventful days were taking their toll and the fact they still had another week to go wasn't doing much for their morale.
"There's nothing on so it doesn't really matter," he replied in frustration. "I'm so bored! And if you dare suggest cleaning again I will confiscate your rubber gloves."
"Well, what else is there to do?" She mumbled. "And please spare me from running around the place half-naked again, I'd like to keep down my dinner."
"Come on, you secretly love my naked form," he smirked. Her tell-tale blush was giving her away instantly. "You know I'm not that bad once you get to know me."
"Funny, the past week hasn't unearthed any new or redeemable features that I can tell," she answered.
"Just so you know those little insults of yours don't offend me in the slightest bit so please just give it a break, Forbes."
"Well, what do you suggest we do to pass the time?" She asked, obviously not realizing just how loaded her question was.
They were seated on the couch, only a few feet apart, if either of them were to just lean forward they could do something really stupid. Or really fun, depending on who you asked.
"Fine," she said, reading his mind. "But if we do this, don't think this means I like you in any way, Mikaelson," she clarified.
"The feeling is mutual, trust me, sweetheart," he agreed. They paused momentarily almost as if they were thinking about the very prominent line they were about to cross and weighing up the pros and cons.
It didn't take much consideration as he pulled her greedily towards him so she was straddling his lap. Caroline never knew just how crimson his lips were from this vantage point, Klaus was thinking the same about her blue eyes.
He ran his hands along her cheek, his thumbs rubbing circles over her skin. Her heart was racing and given she was practically touching his chest she knew his was too.
There was no going back.
His lips found hers, slowly at first almost like he was taking his time to discover every inch of her mouth. She moaned against him as his tongue dipped into her warmth. She tasted like a heady mixture of mint and chocolate from dessert and now Klaus had tasted her once he wasn't ready to give her up anytime soon.
Caroline grasped his neck, her fingers playing with the stray curls at the nape as she melted into his kisses. Klaus knew it wouldn't be long given just how much he'd wanted her all these years.
He stood up, and wound her toned legs around his waist, careful not to break contact. They made their way quickly to the bedroom excited for what was in store.
Turns out the sex continued longer than seven days and also out of quarantine. In fact, the sex turned into dating and the dating turned into an engagement. At their wedding, Kat, Rebekah, and Enzo regaled the guests with stories about how they got together when they were forced together in lockdown.
Who said quarantine was necessarily a bad thing?
