Chapter 47
The first thing Kol and Nora did after searching the redhead's car was to call her parents. Somehow, the phone they found under the front passenger seat still worked in spite o the broken screen and didn't need any password. The contact list enabled them to find the phone number of her father quickly.
Waiting for them, Kol and Nora sat down on the side of the road, the latter bringing her knees up to her chest. She was dressed in a long white linen dress with brown ankle boots, a simple but timeless outfit.
"I can't believe I don't remember where my house is," Nora mumbled for the twelfth time in three minutes.
Kol squeezed her hands, her thin, long fingers trapped inside his grip and the pad of his thumb rubbing circles on her skin. "It's been so long since you lived there, love, and we have lived in so many places. How could you remember?"
"I also forgot my parents' face… I saw my mother from afar in… 1971, I think, but she was so young… I can't recall how she is now."
Kol brought their intertwined hands up to his lips and kissed her knuckles softly before pulling her against his side and draping an arm around her shoulders.
"I didn't remember my mother's face," Kol said lightly. "After so many years, she was only a vague shadow in my memories. And yet, when I saw her today, I recognized her immediately."
Nora nudged him, nonplussed. "You hate her."
True, he did hate the wicked, crazy witch.
"Alright," he sighed before admitting in a wistful voice "then what if I tell you I don't remember Henrik's face? His voice, his face, his laugh, it's all gone now. All I remember is a bright smile and… his kindness."
He paused to take a deep breath through his nostrils, and then continued with a somewhat peaceful yet sad expression, "I can't even remember the pain of losing him. So, darling, tell me, does it make me a bad brother?"
Nora shook her head and curled up against him. She never felt as small as she did at that moment.
"Of course not. It's been so long for you. Even your most beloved memories are bound to fade with time."
"Then what about you? Stop with your double standard and give me a smile."
She did exactly that, gratitude and love shining through her eyes. "Meeting you is the best thing that happened to me, hon."
Such a sentence, said with that sweet voice of hers, was clearly begging for a kiss. So, he clamped his hand on the back of her head and pulled her even closer to him, her scent and warmth engulfing him as his breath mingled with hers.
She ended up on his lap, her hands cradling his face as if he was fragile and precious. His hands slid down to her waist and stopped there, not trying to go any lower. The kiss was slow and tender, loving and soothing. Everything they needed right now.
"I really missed that," Nora whispered against his lips.
"Wish I could say the same but for me, it hasn't been that long," he smirked, watching her eyelashes flutter.
"Lucky you."
By the time her parent's car arrived and pulled over, Kol and Nora were both standing properly.
Her mother, a dark-haired small, plump, and beautiful tanned woman whose name was Elizabeth, got out of the car and all but jumped on Nora. She didn't even glance at Kol; all her focus was on her daughter as she made sure Nora wasn't hurt. As for Nora, she was frozen, her eyes wide and glistening with unshed tears.
Nora's father, Eliott, didn't take a long time to reach his wife and his daughter. He was a tall, burly man with fiery red hair and white skin. Getting out of the car after his wife, his blue eyes narrowed and squinted at Kol before the man decided Nora was more important.
"Nora, what happened sweetheart?" Eliott immediately asked in a soft and worried voice that didn't match his stature after reaching his wife and his daughter. "Are you hurt? And who's that man?"
Looking like an octopus with her limbs locked tightly around Nora, Elizabeth snapped at her husband, "Who cares about him?! Don't you see how frail and scared our darling daughter is?"
She went back to soothing Nora. "Oh my sweet, beautiful girl, don't worry, everything is fine. Your uncle Martin will soon be there to tow your car. You are perfectly safe. You can cry if you want, no one will laugh at you. And if someone does, I'll kick them to the moon and back, alright sweetie?"
Kol scratched awkwardly the tip of his nose. Honestly, he really wanted to laugh. These people were his parents-in-law and that mother-in-law of his was so… not what he expected.
And Nora's face! How exactly did Elizabeth come to the conclusion that her daughter was scared? Sure, Nora's eyes were still a bit red but there was no fear at all in her gaze. Mostly, she looked like she had a fishbone stuck in her throat.
Obviously, she had forgotten how her parents acted. To be treated like a child was probably a very disconcerting experience for her.
Nevertheless, Kol knew his little darling was happy. So happy, in fact, that she ended up hugging her mother back and sobbing loudly.
"Mom, Dad, I missed you so much!"
Eliott sighed, cast a threatening glare at Kol, and patted her hair softly. "Look at you. Two days away from home and you act as if it's been a year since you last saw us."
Nora sobbed even louder upon hearing this and pulled away from her parents' embrace, sniffling pitifully. The sight and sounds tugged at Kol's heartstrings. Originally, he didn't want to intrude as she was finally seeing her parents after a thousand years without them. Now though, he couldn't help but walk up to them and reach out to grasp her hand, pulling out a dusty handkerchief from his pocket for her to blow her nose.
Elizabeth blinked, wearing a bewildered expression on her face.
"Sweetie, who's that?"
"Beth, weren't you the one saying we didn't need to care about him?" Eliott snorted - though he didn't forget to glare at Kol once more.
"That was before his hands were all over my daughter right in front of us!"
Ah?! He was just holding her hand! Unlike Elizabeth who almost smothered Nora with her breasts earlier when she was in her octopus phase.
Nora looked at him out of the corner of her eye before she said, "Er… it's a very long story but this is Kol. My husband."
Even though she spoke in a very quiet voice, this sentence sounded like a loud bang to her parents' ears. The two married couples were facing each other, one standing awkwardly - and no, Kol was not fidgeting in front of his in-laws - and the other, speechless and stunned.
This was of course the beginning of a very awkward and long moment for Kol. During all the journey back to the Caldwell home, Eliott and Elizabeth were looking at Kol through the rearview mirror. Elizabeth's glance was easy to ignore as, being the one driving, they never lasted long. Eliott, on the other hand, seemed determined to make Kol squirm in his seat.
When they finally reached Nora's childhood home, Elizabeth ushered Nora out of the car, saying sternly, "The story of your so-called wedding can wait until you've taken a hot bath, Nora."
And to Kol, she said coldly, "Come on in. And no funny business."
Eliott led Kol to a bathroom downstairs, silently handing a shirt and a pair of pants over to him before leaving the room. Kol sniffed his arms with a grimace. Even without words, he understood all too well the meaning behind the clothes given to him.
Unfortunately, Eliott left too fast and Kol didn't know a single thing about showers apart from the fact that it was more useful than the wooden tub Nora and he used in the old days. Trying to recall what Nora showed him in her memories a long time ago, he fumbled with the faucet, starting when a rush of cold water hit him square in the face.
Several attempts later, Kol had stopped smelling like the inside of a coffin after it had been close for almost a hundred years and was dressed in Eliott's slightly too big clothes. Removing his wedding ring from the silver chain around his neck, he put it on his finger. He then got out of the bathroom and found his parents-in-law in what seemed to be the kitchen.
The Caldwells were a modest family. Sometimes, money was tight at the end of the month but they never had to go without food. The kitchen was neither big nor small, and was open to the living room. The furniture was a little worn and rustic but it was made of good-quality wood. On the black granite counter, three cats were sleeping, one of them clearly obese.
Kol had lived ten years in the early twentieth century and he never got to experience the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. For him, the Caldwells' kitchen was worthy of a palace - without the cats.
Feeling a bit anxious in front of his parents-in-law, he sat down on the first empty chair he saw, his whole body stiff.
Eliott frowned. "It's Nora's seat."
Right. Nora's seat. Gritting his teeth and offering the two humans a tight smile, he slid on the chair next to it.
Had they not been Nora's parents, Eliott and Elizabeth would already be dead. A pity they didn't realize they were sitting in front of a cruel, original vampire.
Half an hour later, Nora entered the kitchen dressed in the tightest pants Kol had ever seen and he found it difficult to pull his gaze away from her long legs. A loud cough helped him do so.
"So," Nora began to say as she sat down next to Kol, "where do we begin?"
"The beginning would be nice, Nora," Eliott answered in a cold voice.
"Be nice, Eliott," Elizabeth scolded the red-haired man, "our daughter isn't the kind of person to do such a stupid thing. He probably got her drunk and forced her to marry him."
Kol's eyebrows twitched but he remained silent. He couldn't kill them.
Fortunately, he had a good wife who didn't hesitate to defend him.
"Mom, Kol isn't like that! We have known each other for a very long time!"
Yes, yes, a very, very long time. So long that they knew each other before her great, great, great grandparents were even conceived.
"And you never introduced him to us and decided it was a good idea to get married?!" Elizabeth all but screamed at Nora's face, her anger causing her face to redden.
It had been a long time since a human dared to speak to Nora in such a tone. Her shoulders slumped, and Kol's mood worsened.
But they were his darling's beloved parents. No matter how much he wanted to rip their heart out of their ribcages, he couldn't do it.
"If I may," he began to say politely, only to be interrupted by Eliott's glare.
"You may not."
A sweet smile appeared on Kol's face. At the same time, his fists clenched.
"If I may," he repeated, "the situation is not what you think."
He shared a glance with Nora who nodded imperceptibly. Following this, his smile widened and his canines grew longer.
Elizabeth gasped loudly when his eyes darkened while Eliott froze in horror.
"My name is Kol Mikaelson. I have been a vampire for a thousand years now and Nora's husband since 1152. It was a lovely and happy wedding, by the way."
His vampire features disappeared, his face looking innocent - and handsome - again. However, Nora's parents didn't turn back to normal and remained silent and motionless, as if they were frozen.
Nora took advantage of the silence to explain the situation calmly, albeit without any mention of his less-than-stellar murderous tendencies.
"So… my daughter is some kind of time-traveling fire bird who's older than my late grandma and my son-in-law in a vampire?" Nora's mother summarized in a small voice, her expression full of worry.
Nora, who for many years had nightmares in which she burst into a giant chicken, immediately lost her temper. "I'm no fucking bird!"
Just at the same time, her father also yelled, "She's no fucking bird!"
Definitely father and daughter these two.
"Of course, sweetie, exactly what I said," her mother responded, patting her hand while doing the same to Eliott's hand next to her. She then turned to Kol with a weird smile. "And you are the one who protected our dear daughter? Thank you so much dear, we owe you a lot. I have to ask though since, you know, it's not every day I can meet a vampire. Do you poop?"
And definitely mother and daughter.
Nora cleared her throat loudly. "Perhaps we should speak about something else."
Eliott folded his arms in front of his chest and nodded while Elizabeth gave them a pout.
"I don't care how old you are," Eliott continued in Elizabeth's place, "just don't forget that women here can vote and don't need to follow their husband's every order. And don't even think of getting some concubines. People are monogamists. Am I clear?"
Kol wanted to say that Nora was the only person he had ever been with. However, it might not be something Eliott and Elizabeth needed to know.
"Don't worry, Nora taught me well," he ended up responding in an obedient tone.
"Alright!" Elizabeth exclaimed, slapping the table, "Don't scare the boy, Eliott. I mean, don't scare the man. Vampire. Man-Eater… Forget the last one, it doesn't sound right. Vampy-man?"
"We get it, mom," Nora chuckled, her gaze full of love as she looked at the small dark-haired woman sitting across from them. "Just call him Kol. It's his name, after all."
"Yes, yes, I understand," Elizabeth nodded in response. "Eliott, don't scare vampy-Kol."
"Pretty sure you're the one scaring him," Eliott muttered under his breath.
Elizabeth leaned forward over the table to stare at Kol.
"He doesn't look scared," Elizabeth pointed out. "Maybe he's thirsty? My dear son-in-law, do you like your beefsteak rare? Unfortunately, I'm not comfortable with letting you bite my wrist. Same for Eliott's. And our cats are naturally off-limits."
"Beth, I'm pretty sure he needs something stronger to put up with you," Eliott commented after sighing, "Just give him a beer."
At that moment, Kol truly admired Nora's father.
"Eliott," Elizabeth hissed, the simple name sounded especially threatening.
"Yes, dear?"
"You'll sleep with your beer tonight."
"…Yes, dear."
Probably not the chapter you were all expecting but since we are back to chapter 1, it didn't make much sense to just forget about Nora's human life. Eliott and Elizabeth won't really be present in the fic but this chapter and the next one show that yes, they do exist. I laughed a lot writing this chapter and I hope you found it as fun as I did.
Now, one question for you all. There is something you all overlook when reading the last two chapters and watching the vampire diaries (I did too until I actually had to write chapter 45) and it will be revealed next chapter. Can you make a guess? A clue: it's about one of the Mikaelson siblings and it's probably one of the biggest plot holes I've ever seen. Like, seriously.