A/N: I have rewritten this chapter five times and I am still not satisfied with it, but here goes. Hope it's not super boring...
Phoenix Rising
Ch. 56
After getting Hope down for the night, Katie grabbed a bottle of bourbon and two glasses from the kitchen then found Elijah sitting in the dim library. The only light in the room came from the lamp in the corner. Elijah stared off into space not even realizing that she was standing in the archway. The rip of fabric sounded out and she noticed that his fingers were gripping the pad of the arm rests so hard they pierced it. "Earth to Button Pusher." Katie said, almost afraid to get his attention. He snapped out of whatever trance he was in and took his hands off the chair, flexing his fingers before he looked at her. "Looks like you could use this more than me." she told him as she shook the bottle and walked into the room.
"Alcohol doesn't heal everything." he pointed out.
"I'm aware. It's a band-aid, and band-aids at least ease the sting until a more permanent solution can be found." she replied as she sat the bourbon and glasses of ice on the wicker chest that acted as a table and poured a glass then offered it to him.
He took it then watched as she poured one for herself then sat down on the couch adjacent to the chair he was sitting in, tucking her legs to the side as she leaned on the arm of the couch with her right arm resting on it, her glass in hand. "So is this a celebratory drink or are you already getting cold feet?"
"Ha ha." She rolled her eyes and smirked at him. "I'll admit I had my doubts, but Klaus put them to rest."
"So you're really going to marry him?" he asked.
"Yep." she answered with a small smile then took a sip of her drink.
"And you're happy?" He asked as he looked down at the glass in his hand.
"Does this look unhappy to you?" She asked with a motion to her face giving him a beaming, cheesy smile before she got serious. "There's nothing to be unhappy about. I mean, Rebekah and I are closer than we've ever been and yeah, I'm worried about her taking your mother's deal tonight, but I have you here to keep my mind off it." He gave her a small smile as she took a drink from her glass. "I've missed you, just so you know."
"I missed you too." A fleeting smile pulled at the corners of his lips. "The compound was quite depressing with you gone."
As a silence fell over them, Katie looked down at her hand that held her glass of bourbon. She replayed the day in her head a couple of times before she asked, "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course." He replied as he looked up at her, having been pulled from his thoughts.
"You've been acting...off. I know it has something to do with what your mother did to you and I'm not trying to make things awkward or pry, but-"
"But you're afraid she's stirred up my old feelings for you." He finished her sentence.
"Yeah, I mean, some of the comments you've made have kind of raised a few red flags." she answered honestly.
"My mother cracked open a door in my mind that I didn't even realize was there." he answered. "A door behind which I have locked away every unspeakable thing I have ever done." Katie gave him a look that asked him to keep talking. "As it turns out, in order to be the friend you needed, I locked us behind that door."
"And now your feelings for me are back?" Katie asked, trying to understand.
"Yes." he answered. "And it has me thinking about what I did to you and how I practically pushed you into Klaus's arms."
"You didn't push me into his arms." she argued.
"Didn't I?" he asked with a cock of his brow then looked down at the glass in his hand. "The two of you developed some sort of... intimate connection while I was daggered and in Stefan's possession. The fact that you felt guilty about accepting the lavish gift that was your very own bedroom in his house said as much. You even went as far as to acknowledge his feelings for you and ask him to choose between you and Caroline." she looked down at the drink in her hand, a pang of guilt flashing across her face. "He knew his manipulations were winning you over. He was biding his time, waiting for the chance to take you as his own and I delivered that moment to him on a silver platter when I removed myself from your life. It seems...I did not have to push too hard considering it only took a month for him to talk you into his bed." The comment made the voice of Katie's grandfather speak up in the back of her head and a pained expression flashed across her face. "So I have to wonder, did you ever truly love me in this life?"
"Of course I did." she answered quietly, not making eye contact. "I didn't fall out of love with you or in love with Klaus as fast as you seem to think I did." she took a drink then looked up at him. "A small part of me was still holding on to you even after I found out I was pregnant."
"Then why did you keep pushing me away?" He asked with a frown.
"Because you hurt me, Elijah." She answered with a shrug and a shake of her head. "You broke me and I couldn't trust you after that."
"I never should have reached out to you with our link." He admitted as he dropped his eyes.
"I wasn't talking about my soul." She pointed out. "That was my fault anyway. You may have reached out but I'm the one that sucked all the energy out of you and overpowered myself." She added while they were on the subject.
"You were referring to your heart." He realized she was talking about when he left her.
"And let's just say it took far longer to piece back together than my soul." She answered. "Klaus was a big part of that." She narrowed her eyes in thought as she shook her head and said, "he's never hurt me and-"
"If I recall he not only killed you, but he staked you in the back and broke your neck." he interrupted.
"That's not the kind of hurt I'm talking about. Besides, he killed me because at the time I was nothing to him but the woman keeping you from your family and he staked me and broke my neck because we were all trying to kill him." he countered. "Justifiable in my opinion."
"Killing you for distracting me is justifiable in your opinion?" he asked with a frown.
"Yes, but that's besides the point." she told him with an attitude. "My point was that every time he saw that I was down he picked me up. Not to manipulate me, but to simply make me happy. Even if that meant handing me over to you when you were undaggered, which is exactly what he did." Elijah blinked at her with a frown. "You see, unlike you and me, Klaus and I are completely open with each other. So-"
"How were we not open with one another?" he asked, interrupting her again and getting on her nerves by doing so.
"You didn't tell me about Celeste or, you know, any of your past loves for that matter, and I never told you that starting as young as I can remember my father split my back open on a daily basis. Even back then you and I didn't fully know each other." she pointed out. "But like I was saying, Klaus and I are open with each other so I know that while he had feelings for me he didn't think he had a chance because I was so in love with you. And I was in love with you Elijah, don't ever doubt that." she gave him a minute to say something, but he didn't. "And just so you know, there was a moment that night after the twenties dance when I could see in his eyes that he wanted me and he could have taken the opportunity, but he didn't. Instead he bid me goodnight. I made the first move, not him."
Elijah pursed his lips in thought then slipped his finger across his bottom one. "I think you're mistaking manipulation for good intentions." Katie took in a deep breath through flared nostrils and let it out. "Do you not recall when we dined with him and the Salvatore brothers, how he pointed out my past with Tatia, knowing your insecurities when it came to Petrova doppelgangers?"
"He brought her up because of Stefan and Damon." Katie argued. She wasn't stupid. She knew there had most likely been a few times early on when he tried to stir up trouble with her and Elijah, but she didn't care because all it proved was that he wanted Katie and though she never admitted it to anyone but Klaus, she wanted him back then too. There was no way Katie wasn't going to defend Klaus and what they had built together.
"You are being blinded by your love for him." He countered with an arrogant look.
"God, you just don't get it!" Katie snapped as she stood up, getting tired and aggravated at him and the conversation that it felt like they'd had a thousand times before. "It was always going to be Klaus! When you and I were in Ireland you told me all about him and it was the first time I'd ever heard of someone with an upbringing like mine and I felt...a kinship with him. Our childhoods were stolen by our fathers." she pointed to herself with her fingertips on her chest as if she were about to rip her own heart out. "Our fathers despised us just because we couldn't cram ourselves into the molds they thought we should fit in." she dropped her hand from her chest. "We both paid for those sins with blood and we both carry those scars with us. We can't shed them. They are always there making us ask ourselves, if our own fathers didn't think we were good enough why the hell would anyone else think differently."
Tears of anger, sadness and pure aggravation, slipped down her cheeks and she wiped them away then pointed at him as she spoke. "Those scars, the cracks and chips in our reflections, make us who we are and he understands me in ways that no one else can. Every decision we have made, every path we were forced down by others led us straight to one another."
"You think you were fated to be together?" Elijah asked with an expression that suggested she was insane.
"I can't see it any other way. Everything about him just...fits. There's this...chemistry between us that I've never felt with anyone before." she answered. "Klaus doesn't see me as the white winged, caged bird that Hannah was like you seem to, or the off kilter moral compass that plain jane Katie was like Damon did, he just sees me." The hot anger that had been boiling within her started to simmer down. "Not as who I used to be, not for what I can do for him, but as me," she placed her palm on her chest then grabbed her pendant and held it up, "the phoenix with black wings that have been charred by the fires of my past. We don't just see the good in one another, but the bad and the ugly too and we love each other in spite of it all." she stopped ranting to breathe and give him a chance to say something but he didn't. He just kept looking at her with his wide brown eyes.
Her hand started fiddling with the phoenix pendant as she spoke, quietly now. "I understand that at the moment your mind is...a clusterfuck, for a lack of better terminology, and I am sorry if I've made it worse, but you needed to hear everything I just said." She refilled her glass and took it up to her room with her.
She walked quietly over to the playpen in the corner where Hope was sleeping, and rested her hands on the edge of it as she took in the sight of her little merical, sleeping with her hands tucked behind her head while her chest lifted and fell with her little breaths. "I can't imagine my life without you, Sweet Girl, and I don't want to." Katie whispered and as she looked away from her, her eyes landed on the sparkling new ring on her finger.
Excitement bubbled within her and a smile stretched her lips as she turned from Hope and took her tablet and mifi jetpack out of her bag and turned them on. Not even Elijah and what was going on with him could pull her down from cloud 9. Yes, things weren't looking good in New Orleans and her fiance's aunt Dahlia could come after Hope, but that's just how her life was now. Someone was always going to be lurking around the corner and shit was always going to be hitting the fan somewhere, but if she let that get to her she would never be happy.
After a while of searching the internet she found the dress she'd told Klaus about. It had been worn by two other brides after the one who purchased it on "Say Yes To The Dress." "What the hell was I thinking?" She asked herself with a wrinkle of her nose at the dress. She saved the picture to ask Rebekahs opinion on later then turned off the tablet and put it back in her bag.
When her eyes landed on her empty journal, she grabbed it and a pen, sat down on her bed and for the first time since leaving New Orleans, put pen to paper. "There's no I, no I in we. And there's no you, no you and me. 'Cause you burned me way beyond the third degree. Your words are like gasoline you pour on the fire. And the bridges you burned led to our dreams. My hope, faith and every last desire. It's just another thing that we lost in the fire." she worked on the song for an hour or so and when she was done she gave it a title then closed the book, set it on the nightstand and turned off the lamp.
She was pulled from sleep early the next morning by Hope cooing and giggling while playing with the sheep on the feet of her pink footed pajamas. "You're in an unusually good mood this morning." Katie spoke to the baby as she rolled out of bed and stood on her feet. She got dressed in a pair of light wash bermuda shorts and a plain, v neck, light gray t-shirt, braided her hair into two French braids, scooped up Hope, changed her diaper then headed downstairs.
When she walked into the kitchen she saw Elijah making Hope a bottle of formula. "How did you know tha-" she cut herself off when he used two fingers to point to the note on the fridge of Hope's usual feeding schedule and how much of what she ate, written in Rebekah's handwriting. "Oh."
"Do you normally warm it?" he asked, not making eye contact with her.
"Not any more." Katie answered so he walked over and handed it to Hope who took it and started trying to drink it. Katie grabbed it and tilted it so that she wouldn't swallow air. Despite her attempts to catch Elijah's eyes he purposely avoided her as he lovingly rubbed Hope's cheek then walked away. Apparently their conversation, and Katie flipping out on him, hadn't helped and she couldn't tell what was worse, his awkward comments or getting iced out by him.
Not feeling like being in the kitchen with him and the thick awkwardness that hung between them, Katie brought Hope to the living room and turned on the tv to a random channel just for the noise then started wedding planning on her tablet while Hope finished her bottle then played on her activity mat.
A few minutes later Elijah found them. "Niklaus called last night." he informed her as he leaned on the archway that led into the living room. "Mother will no longer be a problem. Rebekah spiked her wine with her blood before they started the spell and Davina and Kol succeeded in stopping Mother from body jumping. So she is in transition in a tomb that Kol placed a boundary spell on. Klaus tossed her a blood bag before he left her to rot either as a corps...or a vampire."
Katie couldn't help the laugh that left her lips. "I'm sorry, I know she's your mother, but you gotta admit she deserves that." he just looked at her blankly so she wiped the smile from her face and cleared her throat. "So what happened to Rebekah?"
"She never returned to her body and she didn't jump into Camille. We assume she jumped into the body Kol prepped in case things didn't go as planned." Elijah answered. "Klaus is on his way as we speak. Camille is with him."
"Not that I don't welcome a familiar face, but why is she coming here?" Katie asked with a curious draw.
"According to Niklaus she managed to get herself into some trouble with Finn, who was let out of his confinements by our father. She needs a safe place to stay so he is sharing our safe house with her." With her caught up on current events he left the room.
When Katie heard Klaus pull up outside she scooped up Hope and went to the front door. Hope was now dressed in a red and white gingham sleeveless dress with a couple of strawberries on the front of the skirt and red bows on the shoulder straps, a matching diaper cover and a matching knotted headband completed the outfit. "I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of our family. The little trouble maker all the fuss has been about." She heard Klaus telling Cami as she opened the door and stepped outside. "Camille, this is Hope." Klaus looked up at Hope and Katie with pride and love in his blue eyes.
"Oh my god." Cami said, shocked to see them. "But...you said...I thought they were…" Katie smiled at Cami's inability to finish a sentence.
"The only way to protect her was to convince the world of her death." Klaus explained. "And Katie, of course, wanted to remain with our child." He turned to look at Cami. "I hope you understand, once it's safe for you to leave here our secret can not leave with you."
Cami placed her hand on his upper arm as she gave him a nod and an understanding smile, then walked up the porch steps to get a better look at Hope. Klaus walked around Cami to stand beside Katie with his hand on her lower back. Hope squealed when Cami gently touched her hand. "Oh, she's perfect." She laughed.
Katie led them inside and to the living room where Klaus took Hope and sat down on the couch not seeing her tablet before he sat on it. When he pulled it out from under his butt he saw a white satin wedding dress with a long sleeved, white, beaded lace overlay on the bodice. "Please tell me I didn't just see your dream wedding dress." He told her as he held the tablet out to her.
She took it and looked at the picture. "Nope. We're safe."
"Wait, is that an engagement ring on your finger?" Cami asked and Katie nodded, unable to hold back the bright smile that took over her face. Cami walked over for a closer look and took Katie's offered hand. "Wow, he has good taste. And it ties in perfectly with the domed filigree on your daylight ring." Cami pointed out as she dropped Katie's hand.
"Yeah, I noticed that too." Katie turned from Cami to Klaus where he sat behind her. "Was that intentional?"
He smiled at Hope as he answered, "Yes. I thought about having an engagement, wedding band, daylight ring set made, but I knew you'd never accept a new daylight ring." Klaus took his eyes off of his daughter long enough to give Katie a playful smirk. "Were I not so confident in our relationship it might bother me that you insist on wearing jewelry from your past loves."
"Does it bother you?" Katie asked as she sat down on the couch next to him and Cami sat down in an armchair near the fireplace. The corners of Klaus's lips turned down as he shook his head no.
"Are we going to talk weddings all day or discuss what our next move should be?" Elijah asked from where he'd been leaning on the archway that led into the room.
"I just got here, Elijah, I'd like to spend a bit of quality time with my family first." Klaus glanced away from Hope to his brother who sighed and walked away, clearly aggravated. Klaus looked away from Hope, who was standing in his lap, holding on to his fingers, to Katie. "What was that about?"
"I'll...explain later." Katie answered. "First I have a few questions starting with…" she grabbed her tablet and pulled up a picture of her dream dress as she walked over to Cami, "What do you think about this dress?" she handed her the tablet.
Cami's eyes got big and her mouth fell open when she saw the busy, ivory ball gown. The satin, embroidered bodice had a deep, sweetheart neckline that was trimmed with swarovski crystals and two satin sashes that swept around the lower portion of the bodice then blinded in with the satin and lace skirt. A bundle of three satin and crystaled lace roses sat at the point of the v of the pick up in the skirt that showcased accordion pleated satin. The train in the back resembled a gathered comforter. "Wow, that's um...something."
"I need an honest opinion." Katie told her and Cami looked up at her with a look that told her she wouldn't like her honest opinion. "Please."
"Honestly it looks like something off of a cake topper for a "my big fat american gypsy wedding" cake." Cami answered as she took one last look at the dress then handed it back to Katie.
"Is that a bad thing?" Klaus asked, looking confused and both Katie and Cami nodded.
"And it's all I needed to hear." Katie said as she walked over to sit next to Klaus. "You're off the hook, you don't have to find the dream wedding dress."
"Just because Camille doesn't like it?" Klaus asked with a frown.
"No, because I...kind of...hate it." Katie replied with an ashamed scratch at the back of her neck. "I think I saw it on the show and liked it because it was different from all the other cookie cutter dresses and over the years it got over hyped in my head. Plus...my style preferences have changed since then."
"Yet I can guarantee you've thought about wearing converse with your wedding dress." Klaus told her with a cheeky smile and a glance at her out of the corners of his eyes.
Katie saw Cami look at the black and white converse on Katie's feet. "Red ones as a matter of fact." Katie answered and Klaus laughed.
"Hey, you can't blame a girl for choosing comfort over style." Cami agreed.
"See, thank you, Cami." Katie said with a motion at her as she gave Klaus a nana-nana-boo-boo look.
Klaus smiled and shook his head at her. "You said you had questions, plural?"
"Right, did you tell my friends in Mystic Falls about me supposedly being dead?" She asked as she watched Hope grab Klaus's nose and squeal.
"Yes, I assumed you wouldn't want to leave them in the dark like the last time you had to cut off all contact with them." Klaus answered and let Hope grab his finger and pull it to her mouth, using him as a teether. "I have bad news concerning Bonnie and Damon."
"What happened?" Katie asked, letting her shoulders fall.
"I'll give you guys a minute." Camie spoke up then went to find Elijah.
"On the same night you gave birth to Hope the other side collapsed. Bonnie helped most of your dead friends pass back to the side of the living, including your favorite teacher." Katie smiled, happy that Alaric was back. "But Damon didn't make it out in time and Bonnie was the anchor. Since no one knows what happened to all of the souls on the other side when it disappeared, no one knows what happened to your friend and your ex." Klaus explained then moved Hope around to sit in his lap, leaning back in the crook of his arm, still gnawing on his bent finger.
"How did Damon die?" Katie asked, a little confused.
"I don't know. Caroline was overwhelmed with grief when I informed her that you had also left us that night that I couldn't make myself ask." When he looked up at Katie he saw tears slipping quietly down her cheeks. "I'm sorry. I know how much you loved them both." he told her as he took his hand from Hope and held his arm out to Katie. She tucked herself into his side and allowed herself to grieve for a few minutes before she pulled herself together, sat up and unwrapped Klaus's arm from around her. Hope fussed, still teething, so Katie handed her the giraffe teething toy, but Hope tossed it aside and reached for Klaus's hand that was resting in his lap. "Like mother, like daughter." he commented with a smirk at Kate as he offered Hope his bent finger and Katie couldn't help but laugh and lightly slap his arm making him laugh too.
Hearing that the sad moment had passed Cami and Elijah came into the living room. Elijah moved to stare out the window while Cami sat down in the armchair across from the couch Katie sat on holding Hope while Klaus stood behind the empty armchair in the room. "Now that we've entombed our mother, I intend to finish making the city safe for Hope. Which, to start, mean's dealing with the lingering problem of Finn."
"Because Finn is controlling the werewolves with the daylight rings that he and Esther created right?" Katie asked and Klaus gave her a nod. "So if we can get rid of Finn, the wolves would be free to keep their rings without fear of them being de-spelled and might just feel indebted to us for getting them out from under his thumb?"
"Yes and with them on our side, and feeling like they owe us, we might be able to get them to protect the compound as well as one of their own as Hayley once promised you." he answered with a glance at Hope. "It would be safe for you to return home." Klaus walked over and sat down next to Katie. Hope practically threw herself into his lap and he caught her with a smile.
"Once Finn figures out what you've done to your mother, he's gonna go off the deep end." Cami commented, sounding worried.
"That's exactly why we need to keep you out of harm's way." Klaus told her as he moved Hope around to sit in his lap. "I will return home and take care of my wayward brother. Elijah will remain here with you and my girls." Katie smiled to herself at him calling them his girls. "He's been experiencing some side effects since his ordeal as our mother's captive. Best he stay and convalesce."
"A single violent outburst at a filthy roadside cafe and one never hears the end of it." Elijah commented as he finally turned from the window.
"Well, it is Camie's job to cure minds plaegued by demons. Perhaps you two can bond." Klaus stood up and sat Hope on the play matt on the living room floor. "Now, if you'll excuse me I need to have a chat with my bride-to-be then be on my way." he turned to Elijah. "Rebekah should have woken up in the body of Angelica Barker. Once she has cut the ties of Miss Barker's former life, she'll make her way directly here. You should expect her shortly." he kneeled down to Hope, "Daddy will see you again soon, Princess." He gently pecked her on the head then stood and held his hand out to Katie. She took it as she stood up then let him lead her outside. "What is with the tension between you and Elijah?"
She followed him to his range rover as she explained, "We...got into an argument of sorts last night and he admitted that he unknowingly put his feelings for me behind the door that Esther cracked open and because his feelings for me are back he started to reanalyze things and wondered if I ever really loved him in this life because you and I slept together so soon after he left me." she told him and he frowned as they came to a stop next to the black vehicle and he turned to her. "So I tried explaining to him that I didn't fall out of love with him overnight nor did things happen that quickly with you and me. But he accused you of manipulating me and me of falling for it and being blinded by my love for you. I snapped and laid everything out on the table including that I was always going to end up with you because we're fated to be together." Klaus's eyes widened a little as a smile pulled at the corners of his lips at her confession. "I was trying my best to keep things civil, but he did what he does best and pushed my buttons. Now he's shutting me out."
Klaus looked at the house with a frown then back at her and tucked a stray wave of her red hair behind her ear, "Just give him some space and let Cami do her thing. I really think she can help."
Katie nodded then looked at the range rover then back at him, knowing he needed to get going. "So I'll see you when I see you?" she asked.
"Hopefully sooner rather than later." he answered then slipped his hand to hold the back of her neck as he pulled her in for a kiss then looked her in the eyes when it broke. "Stay safe."
"You too." she told him not wanting to let him go, but she had too. So she took her hands out from around his waist and took a step back, letting him get into the car and shut the door. She couldn't watch him drive away so as soon as she heard the car start she turned her back and headed into the house.
When she got inside she found Cami sitting on the floor playing with Hope and Elijah was nowhere to be seen. "She is too cute." Cami said with a smile down at the baby.
"Eh, she has her moments." Katie joked with a small smile as she sat down on the floor with them and leaned back against the couch.
"So I'm supposed to shrink Elijah while I'm here huh?" Cami asked and Katie nodded. "Can't say I've ever taken a course on how to treat a thousand year on vampire."
"The same way you'd treat anyone else." Katie shrugged then looked at Hope, placing her hand behind her incase she fell back.
"Before I attempt to talk to him I want to talk to you." Cami said, making Katie look up at her. "What's going on with you two? I'd think Elijah would be happy for his brother's engagement, but he seemed...agitated by the wedding talk."
Katie took in a deep breath and let it out. "How caught up are you on the Mikaelson family gossip and my history with them?"
"Marcel mentioned that you and Elijah used to be together a few years back." Cami answered.
"We were also together a hundred and seventy one years before that." Katie answered.
"But Klaus said you were only turned a few years ago." Cami pointed out with a frown.
"I was." Katie answered then smiled at Cami's complete and utter look of confusion. Katie then told her how she and Elijah came to meet, how they fell in love and Katie had their souls linked by a witch, how Klaus killed her and because her descendants didn't allow a female child to be born or killed them before they could start to get her memories, it took one hundred and seventy one years for her to be fully reincarnated, only getting her past life memories after she turned and had the damn in her mind completely removed. Then how she fought their link when she was with Damon. How when she gave into it, Elijah left her because he thought it was what was best for her. Katie also told her about how because Elijah reached out to her with their link, Katie not knowing what she was doing in her anger, overpowered her soul and shattered it. "It took us forever to get in a good place, to make being friends work, then out of nowhere his mother decides to stir everything up again." with a look up at the clock she said, "It's past this one's lunch time." she stood up and picked up Hope then headed to the kitchen.
After feeding Hope, Katie took her outside to get some sun and fresh air while Cami did her phycologist thing with Elijah, which from what she could tell from the few times she broke the doctor patient confidentiality rule, was going nowhere. After a while Cami came out to where they were sitting in the shade of a tree. "Hey, Elijah just got a call from Angelica Barker, guess who isn't occupying her body?"
"What?" Katie asked as she stood up then picked up Hope. "So where the heck is she?"
"I don't know, Elijah was calling Klaus when I left." Cami answered then jerked her head for Kaite to come inside. But when they got inside Elijah wasn't in the living room where Cami had left him. "Where did he go?" Cami started looking around.
"He's upstairs." Katie answered, she could hear his heavy sigh. "I can hear him."
They waited hours for him to come down, but he never did. "You should go to him." Cami advised.
"I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to talk to me." Katie answered with a look down at the infinity sign that was still on her wrist. "Plus Klaus advised me to give him space."
"He's worried about Rebekah and you are too. He'll be more likely to talk to you about it than me." Cami argued and jerked her head toward the stairs.
Katie took in a deep breath as she thought about it then let it out as she pushed herself from the couch. She found Elijah in the bedroom he'd claimed as his, staring out the window in thought. "Knock, knock." he didn't turn around or even acknowledge she was there. So she stepped into the room. "I know you're worried about Rebekah, bu-" she was cut off when he whooshed around, grabbed her neck and pinned her to the wall. The veins popped under his eyes, filling the whites with blood as he looked at her with an emotionless face. "Elijah...please." she rasped, her heart beating fast with fear as she grabbed his hand and tried, pointlessly, to pull it away. "...Elijah..." tears rolled down her cheeks as he only clamped down on her neck harder.
A piercing scream left her lips when he plunged his free hand into her chest, his fist wrapped around her beating heart. "Oh my god!" Cami's voice came from the doorway to Katie's left, but she got ignored by both of them. "Don't…don't retaliate."
"Duh." Katie thought to herself, but didn't say it. Instead she let go of his hand on her neck, slipped her hands into his dark hair and rested the heals of her palms on his temples.
"What are you doing?" Camie asked.
"Trying to get into his head." she answered with a groan right before she managed to accomplish what she thought would be impossible.
She stood behind him in a hall with an old red door at the end of it, a woman with long brown, viking style crimped hair, wearing a white dress was desperately trying to open it as Elijah, shirtless and covered in splatters of blood, closed in on her. The woman whimpered, struggling with the door and as she looked over her shoulder at Elijah, Katie saw her face that looked exactly like Elena's. Judging off the viking hairstyle she assumed it was Tatia and when he closed in on her Katie knew from the way Elijah grabbed her that he was about to bite her and kill her. "Elijah!" he froze and turned with glaring eyes to see Katie at the other end of the hall. "Stop." he took his hand off of Tatia and she disappeared into thin air. With her gone Elijah started closing in on Katie, the intent to kill clear in his chocolate brown eyes. "No, no, no...Elijah stop. This isn't you." she told him as she held her hand out infront of her and started backing up, but her back hit a wall.
She had to do something that would shock him enough to put a stop to the craziness going on in his head. Even though she no longer harbored feelings for him, she knew he did for her. So she did the only thing she could think of at the time. As soon as he got close enough she grabbed the back of his neck and pressed her lips to his in a still, stiff kiss. He instantly relaxed and as the shock faded he started massaging her lips with his. She forced herself to kiss him back.
Feeling his hand relax in her chest she took one of her hands off of his face to grab his wrist and ease his hand out of her. As soon as she was free of him she shoved him away from her in both his head and real life. Now gully himself, he stared at her, wide eyed and still in shock at what just happened. She glared at him with flared nostrils and an angry fire blazing in her eyes. After a few seconds his face turned apologetic and he reached out to touch her but she smacked his hand away with vamp speed. He whooshed away. With him gone Katie sighed and closed her eyes. "Um...what just happened?"
"I got into his head and snapped him out of it." Katie answered Cami vaguely.
"Yeah, but how did you snap him out of it?" Cami asked, confused as to how she could have snapped Elijah out of such an intense ptsd-like trip.
"I kissed him." Katie answered with a squidged up face as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Are you going to tell Klaus?" Cami asked.
"I have to." Katie answered as she dropped her hand and opened her eyes. "We don't keep secrets from each other, but I have no Idea how to tell him." Hope crying, having woke up from her nap, broke up their conversation.
"I'll get her, you take a minute to gather yourself." Cami told her but Kate shook her head no.
"I'll get her, I need the distraction." She walked around Cami and out of the room.
Elijah didn't come back until after nightfall. They heard him on the front porch, talking on the phone with Klaus. Cami went out to talk to him, but Katie stayed put in the living room. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, we just thought you had left." Cami told him. "Why did you?"
"My sister is missing, my family is in jeopardy, I am uh...utterly powerless to help them. It's...not a state of affairs I'm accustomed to. And being around Katie…" Katie frowned down at her hands. "Perhaps I'm not weathering this...ordeal as well as one would hope."
"If you ever want to talk about it, it's kind of what I do." Cami told him before she came inside.
Knowing Elijah would come inside soon, Katie retired for the night, an ache in her chest from the pain she was causing Elijah and possibly going to cause Klaus when she told him what she'd done.
The next afternoon, Katie sat outside on a blanket playing with Hope and avoiding Elijah when Cami stuck her head outside and yelled her name. She scooped up Hope and whoosed into the house. "What's wrong?"
"It's Elijah. We were talking and he just...passed out." she told her with wide worried eyes as they went to the library where Elijah was laying on the floor.
"Take Hope?" Katie asked and Cami nodded as she took the baby from her. Katie kneeled on the floor and looked at Elijah. He wasn't desiccating and his heart was still beating, so she tried to get into his head but it was like something forced her out and she jerked her hands off his head with an aggravated growl.
"What's wrong?" Cami asked as she bounced Hope on her hip.
"Someone's shutting me out." Katie answered.
"I'll call Klaus." Cami told her as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. "Davina? Why are you answering Klaus's phone?"
Kaite started listening in. "'Cause I can't wake him up." Davina answered.
"What, Elijah collapsed too. What's going on?" Cami asked.
Davina was quiet for a few seconds then scoffed at herself. "I'm an idiot. The spell Finn used was to trap his brothers. Meaning Kol's in trouble."
"What do we do?" Cami asked.
"I have no Idea." Davina answered. "I'll try to find a way to help and call you if I do." she hung up.
Not knowing what to do Katie scooped Elijah up, laid him on the grey plush couch then sat down in the arm chair that sat adjunct to the couch, looking at him with worry clear in her eyes. "Can I ask you something?" Cami asked as she set down in the chair across from hwr with Hope in her lap.
"It doesn't look like we have anything better to do." Katie replied not looking away from Elijah.
"Do you still love him?" Cami asked, making Katie look at her.
"That depends, what kind of love are you talking about?" Katie asked back.
"The kind of love that would lead to a kiss." Cami answered.
"It wasn't like that." Katie replied and Cami raised her brows at her in doubt. "I haven't been in love with him for a long time now. The love I have for him is strictly platonic."
"So there's no lingering, unresolved feelings on your part?" Cami asked, making Katie realize this wasn't just a curious conversation. Cami was shrinking her.
"No." Katie answered with a shake of her head. "Klaus is the only man who resides in that special part of my heart now."
"Let's keep Klaus out of the picture for now. Forget you even know him." Cami replied. Katie's nostrils flared but she said nothing. "Let's look at things in a different light, in a hypothetical world where you never met or even heard of Klaus, Elijah never shattered your soul and the link you two shared is still intact." Katie took a deep breath and let it out. "If Elijah came back into your life after he let you go and apologised, do you think the two of you would have gotten back together?"
Katie thought about it for a minute, watching Hope play with the beads on the tie strings of Cami's blouse, before she answered, "We could have." Katie answered and Cami gave her a look that seemed to say, I knew it. "I'm already good at ignoring things I don't like in order to fool myself into thinking I'm happy and that link only made it easier, but I wouldn't have been truly happy with him."
"Why not?" Cami asked, the look now gone from her face.
"Because he was the one person I thought would never hurt me. He promised me he wouldn't." she answered as she turned her eyes to the still passed out Elijah. "But he cut me deeper than anyone ever has before." she answered as tears pooled in her eyes. "Because of that...I can never fully trust him."
"Did you ever tell him exactly how bad he hurt you?" Cami asked.
"I told him he hurt me, but I didn't say how bad. Besides I assume he knows considering we were linked and when one of us was hurt the other felt it." Katie answered.
"I thought that only worked with physical pain." Cami pointed out.
"We're vampires." Katie answered as she looked at Cami with unshed tears in her eyes. "Emotions are sometimes so intense we physically feel them. And when he left me…" she turned her eyes to Elijah, "It felt like my heart...burst into white hot flames that didn't subside until there was nothing left to burn." Cami frowned as she watched tears slip down Katie's cheeks. "So he has to know how bad he hurt me," she stopped when a thought struck her, "unless…"
"Unless what?" Cami asked.
"Unless he knew how bad it would hurt, didn't want to feel it and kinked the link like I did when my switch was flipped." she finished and once again turned her eyes to Cami. "I always assumed it didn't hurt him to leave me as much as it hurt me because I didn't feel anything from him, but it would be easier for him to cut us off for a while because he's so much stronger than me."
"So does this change anything for you?" Cami asked.
Katie bit her lips closed and shook her head. "No." she took a deep breath and resituated herself in her chair. "To fully answer your original question... Even if we take Kaus out of the picture there's no way Elijah and I would have worked in this life after he left me like he did." Hope started fussing in Cami's lap. "She's hungry." Katie took her from Cami and disappeared into the kitchen.
Elijah didn't wake up until after the sun set and Hope had been put down for the night. Katie was cleaning Hope's bottles when she heard the gasp of him waking up and whooshed into the library. He met her eyes for the first time all day. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly. He gave her a nod. "And Klaus and Kol?"
"Klaus is fine. I'm not so sure about Kol considering your fiance trapped him in the compound with a group of starving vampires." he answered stiffly.
"Yeah, that sounds like something my fiance would do." Katie sighed, relieved to hear everyone was okay.
"May I have a moment of privacy with Camille please?" he asked.
"Of course." she answered and went back to the kitchen to continue washing dishes.
She was finishing up when she heard someone's phone ring then Elijah asked her to join them. "How are my girls?" she smiled at Klaus's question on the other end of the phone, the term "my girls" was starting to grow on her.
Elijah looked at Cami. "They're in good hands." he answered, giving the blond a small smile. "As am I." Cami gave him a small smile back. "However if you say the word, I shall return."
"No, you're needed where you are." Klaus replied.
"So the city is safe?" Elijah asked as he started walking the room.
"Well, I wouldn't exactly go flinging around terms like safe." he answered. "Marcel and all his vampires have inexplicably disappeared, Kol is in the wind, Rebekah is still lost and Finn is dangerously suspicious of the secrets we keep." Katie's heart jumped up into her throat at the thought of Finn finding out that Hope was still alive. "Speaking of which..I meant what I said, I am capable of forgiveness." Elijah looked uncomfortable. "We need to remain focused on our common enemies. I'll be in touch." Elijah hung up and tucked his cellphone into his jacket pocket.
"So Klaus trapped Kol in the compound with hungry vampires for tampering with Rebekah's body jump. Why were there super hungry vampires in the compound and how were they all stuck there?" Katie asked.
"The vampires and the werewolves were having a meeting, trying to work out a peace treaty per Hayley's request. Finn intercepted it, placed a boundary spell on the compound and cast a spell to increase the vampire's hunger. Supposedly to prove that there could never be anything between mongrels and parasites but hatred, war and death."
"Which is complete and total bullshit." Katie chipped in.
"And that was proven when everyone made it out of the compound in one piece. Including Kol." Elijah replied.
"Is there anything else I need to know about?" she asked and Elijah shook his head no. "Then I'm going to bed. Goodnight."
"Night." Cami echoed back as Katie walked away.