Not only fifteen minutes later, Katherine already regretted her decision to try and cook. She hadn't put anything over the stove yet, so at the very least she was glad nothing was spontaneously combusting. But she had spilled quite a bit of the pancake mix onto the counter when she attempted to stir it. She accidentally knocked over the opened milk container once, which caused most of it to leak on the floor before she managed to pick it up. And of course, the bit of butter she was going to put on the pan slid off her spatula and on the stove. She didn't think things could possibly get any worse, but of course, then she heard the unmistakable British accent she had very unrealistically hoped she would never hear again.
"What on earth..." Klaus paused as his gaze fell on the familiar brunette. "What have you done to my kitchen?" He hardly cooked in it, so it wasn't like it mattered much. But he would rather have a clean home instead of whatever disaster Katerina created.
Katherine bit her tongue in order to resist telling him to go away. "I'm making breakfast. Sort of."
Klaus pressed his lips together in an attempt to hold back his amusement. He was still very much angry with her for the previous night, which was why he was trying to treat her as indifferent as he could. Not to mention she did destroy his kitchen. Still, that seemed to be easier said than done. "Right. Well, I feel I should tell you. You cannot cook even if your life depended on it. Which...it quite literally does and look what you have done." Despite his best efforts not to, he still remembered the first and last time she tried to cook for him in England, as he soon discovered he would rather keep her away from anything kitchen related if he valued his and her life.
"Hey, I'm trying okay? It's not as easy as it looks." Katherine said defensively, the promise she made to Elijah about being careful around Klaus clearly thrown out the window at this point. It wasn't like she wasn't dying anyway. Elijah just didn't know that part, which would explain why he was so worried all the time.
"Mhm." Klaus said unconvinced. "It's instant pancake mix. The entire point of it is that it is in fact as easy as it looks." He continued to tease her as he made his way into the kitchen. "Move over."
"No." Katherine spoke up looking at him when he neared her. "I'm making breakfast. And I don't need your help."
Klaus looked around the kitchen, specifically at the mess she made and then brought his gaze back to her, proving his point without any words being spoken. "Just move over Katerina. This may come as a shock to you but I do not actually want you to burn down my home."
"I haven't even turned on the stove yet!" Katherine exclaimed but still moved out of the way, knowing that if she didn't he would most likely do it by force anyway.
"Yes, good thing I got here before you did that." Klaus said as he slowly removed the silicone whisk she had been using to stir the pancake mix. He raised an eyebrow and set it in the sink. "That is mainly for liquid mixtures. Anything thicker will require something with a bit more strength. Which explains why most of this mix now resides on my counters and the floor."
"And how am I supposed to know where anything is?" Katherine countered defensively, though truthfully she hadn't bothered with searching for something else, as she thought that would've worked fine.
Klaus bit back a smile and resisted the urge to further tease her, even if he easily could have considering she managed to find everything else just fine. Instead, he silently reached for a metal whisk in one of the drawers. "Get the eggs."
"I thought the point of the mix was to not have to add anything else to it except the milk."
Klaus glanced back at her, giving her a look. "Will you simply do what I tell you for once in your life?"
"Hm. As tempting as I'm sure it is to permanently obey you, I think I'm gonna have to pass." Katherine responded giving him a sarcastic smile as she leaned against the breakfast bar.
Klaus let out a heavy sigh and set the whisk down before going over to retrieve the eggs himself. "You know, I am cooking for you. The least you could do is listen when I tell you to do something." He grumbled setting the egg carton on the counter. "Especially something as simple as getting eggs from the refrigerator less than four feet away from you."
Katherine rolled her eyes. "I never asked you to." She said firmly, crossing her arms over her chest. "And don't pretend you're doing this out of the kindness of your heart. You're just worried I'll burn your house down for whatever reason."
"For whatever reason?" Klaus questioned incredulously as he raised an eyebrow. "Need I remind you that you nearly caught your dress on fire the first time you attempted to cook for me." His lips curled upwards slightly as he easily cracked two eggs and then began to incorporate them in the pancake mix.
Katherine coughed softly and her breath caught in her throat when she actually heard his words. The topic of England or 1492 and anything related to their past life always seemed like taboo to her. She had assumed it was the same for him. Until he spoke just now of course. "Sorry, what?" She asked, her voice nearly breathless.
"Did humanity affect your memory or your hearing? You heard me." Klaus muttered not wanting to repeat it. He was slowly beginning to realize he shouldn't have said anything. After all, there was a reason that time in their lives was never mentioned by either of them. Even Elijah had the common sense to never speak of it.
"No." Katherine grumbled in response and crossed her arms over her chest once more. "I just don't feel like going on a trip down memory lane. I'd rather not have nightmares tonight." She shot back and hopped up on the breakfast bar counter.
Klaus rolled his eyes at her comeback but said nothing else in regards to their past and instead focused on pouring some of the batter into the pan. He then turned to look at her, which apparently seemed to surprise her, because her casual bored demeanor changed into a more alert one almost instantly.
"By the way. Not that I owe you anything, but Elijah invited me out to dinner tonight." She knew she didn't have to give him explanations on her whereabouts, but since she was staying with him and she knew he usually ended up recruiting Elijah for his latest whims, she figured she could at least let him know the original brother wouldn't be available tonight.
Klaus raised an eyebrow, crossing his own arms over his chest as he processed the information. "Dinner." He repeated slowly while he observed her. He didn't say anything else for the next few minutes and rather turned back to look at the food he was making. He had just set the second pancake on the plate and poured the last of the batter to make the final one when he spoke once more. "I suppose now would be as good a time as any to go over the rules then."
"What rules?" Katherine questioned, her tone already reaching a certain level of hostility.
"The rules you are to follow if you are choosing to stay in this house." He answered back with the same tone of voice and flipped the pancake. "They are fairly simple. You are not to harm Hayley. Not that you most likely could but, still, just thought it was worth mentioning. Secondly, you are free to do as you wish with your life, however, you are to leave my brother out of it." He said giving her a look, letting her know exactly what he meant by that. "And lastly, no bringing strangers here."
Katherine scoffed when his words actually registered in her mind. " Excuse me?" She snapped jumping off from the counter. "First of all, I would never think of trying to hurt Hayley. I don't care what you think of me, but I would never hurt a woman who's with child." Not to mention she actually enjoyed the girl's company. "Second of all, what I do with my life is none of your damn business, as you so clearly stated. That includes who I date or don't date." She said firmly. She wasn't actually planning on dating Elijah, especially not with her dying and all. But it unnerved her completely that Klaus Mikaelson actually thought he could decide that.
"While you are living under my roof, you will obey my rules." Klaus said as his eyes darkened a little with anger at her defiance. He set the final pancake on the plate and shut off the stove before turning to face her once more.
"Then I'll leave." Katherine spat glaring directly at him. She admitted she definitely didn't want a repeat of last night. But by the look Klaus was giving her, she could tell she hadn't yet pushed him too far.
"Then leave. Let's see how long you last before you come crawling back." He taunted placing the plate down at the breakfast bar a little louder than he needed to.
"I don't need you." Katherine snapped, her anger towards him only intensifying the more he spoke. "I spent five hundred years running from you and I survived."
"Let's not forget you were a vampire then. Tell me, how exactly do you plan on surviving now? As a human, with no real skills, no money and no friends willing to help you out?" He set the syrup down beside the plate and then began to clean the kitchen, mainly the mess she made.
"I'll figure it out." Katherine said defensively, wanting nothing more than to punch the smug tone right out of his mouth. "I always did, and that was never thanks to you. You're delusional if you think I actually need you or anyone to survive."
"Very well. Prove it then. You say you do not need me, yet here you are. Sleeping in the bed I provided, eating the food I give you and living under the roof I own."
Katherine glared at him. It was obvious to both of them he was pushing her. And it was only a matter of time before she pushed back. She didn't speak and instead walked over to the plate of pancakes he left for her. Without a moment's worth of hesitation, Katherine smashed it to the floor. "Screw you." She spat before heading out of the kitchen and towards the stairs.
The slamming of a door echoed throughout the house as Katherine locked herself in her bedroom. She wanted to kill Klaus. And if she had the means, she might actually do it regardless of what it would mean for his sired line. She wasn't stupid. She knew he had been trying to get to her. What she couldn't figure out was why. Was it revenge for what happened the previous night? Was he angry at something else and he was simply taking it out on her? Each reason seemed to make less sense to her. But in the end, she decided she just didn't care enough to figure it out. Right now the only thing she wanted to focus on was her dinner plans with Elijah. Maybe after the two talked, she could finally figure out when to leave this wretched place. Because one thing was certain. There was no chance in hell she was staying after that.