Phoenix Rising
Ch. 55
The car was silent as Katie and Rebekah watched New Orleans disappear in the rear view mirror. When it was gone, Katie turned her eyes to Hope and watched her get lulled to sleep by the motion of the moving car. Rebekah glanced back at Katie every once in a while to see if tears still silently slipped down her cheeks, but they only stopped when she too slipped off to sleep. Rebekah knew they needed to be cloaked by a powerful witch and she happened to know that the Bennett witch was powerful and could be trusted to keep their secret, so she started for Mystic Falls. When they stopped at a motel to get some rest and give Hope a break from the road, Katie asked, "So where are we going?"
"I thought we'd head to Mystic Falls and get your witch friend Bonnie to cloak us." Rebekah answered as she tossed her bag on one of the two beds in the room.
"Bonnie can't practice magic anymore, not since she became the anchor to the other side. Plus I don't want to drag them into this mess." Katie argued. "Please tell me you have another witch in mind."
"I have a few, yes." Rebekah answered and Katie let out a relieved sigh as Hope started crying. "I'll get her." Rebekah told her as she started taking her out of the car seat while Katie started making a bottle.
~~T~V~D~~
Rebekah found a powerful witch to cloak them and they bought a house in a random suburban area of southeast Texas.
~~Three Weeks Later~~
Katie was sitting in Hope's nursery rocking the crying, scratch that, screaming baby, when Rebekah appeared in the doorway. "I don't know what's wrong. She's fed, she's dry, She doesn't have a tummy ache. I sang, I shushed, I even caved and gave her a pacifier and she spat it halfway across the room."
"You're stressed and exhausted. She can probably sense that you're on edge." Rebekah told her as she walked into the room and Katie stood from the chair, now pacing while bouncing her daughter gently. "Not to mention you're probably starving. When was the last time you fed?" Rebekah asked as she smoothed down the blond peach fuzz on the tiny girl's head.
"I had a blood bag this morning." Katie answered over the screams.
"It's eleven at night. You need food and rest." Rebekah argued. "It's been three weeks since we settled here and you've done nothing but pour yourself into caring for Hope. Klaus asked me to accompany you so that you wouldn't have to do this alone, but I can't help if you don't let me."
"I'm her mother, taking care of her is my responsibility." Katie argued back.
"Yes, you are her mother, but you are also a newly turned vampire whose senses are on overdrive." Rebekah argued. "You are having to readjust to life as a vampire at the same time as adjusting to life as a mother. That can't be easy and that's why I'm here..." she held her hands out for Hope, but Katie didn't budge. Rebekah rolled her eyes and made a motion with her hands that told her to hand the baby over. Desperate for her daughter to stop crying Katie gave in and passed Rebekah the baby. "Now, your hair looks like you haven't washed it in weeks. So go take a hot bath, have a blood bag, relax then get some sleep." Katie opened her mouth to protest, but Rebekah cut her off. "I've got her, go." she pointed at the door.
Katie's shoulders slumped as she left the room and went downstairs, grabbed a blood bag then ran a bath in the garden tub of the master bathroom. She drank the blood bag as the tub filled with steaming bubbly water and tossed the empty bag into the bathroom trash can before she slipped into the bath, the bubbles up to her nose. Before she knew it her eyes slipped shut and she woke with a start when her unconscious head slipped down into the water and she breathed it in through her nose. With a cough then a sigh, she pushed her wet hair back and wiped the bubbles from her face.
After washing up and wrapping herself in a fluffy white robe she headed to her bedroom. She had to pass Hope's nursery on the way and when Klaus's voice hit her ears as she passed she stopped and listened. "Rebekah, call me back immediately. I only came to this ridiculous dance because you begged me to, and now you're nowhere to be found." It was a voicemail Klaus had left Rebekah the night of the twenty's decade dance.
"There, there, little one, Aunty Bex found the problem. You simply miss the sound of your daddy's voice." Rebekah's words to Hope caused Katie to breathe in a shaky breath as she placed her hand over her stomach in an attempt to hold herself together, but she failed and tears slipped down her cheeks as she walked away.
After getting Hope to sleep, hopefully for the night, Rebekah checked on Katie and found her sound asleep with a dark maroon Henley shirt of Klaus's clutched to her chest and her cell phone propped up on the pillow across from her, lit up with a picture of Klaus looking over his shoulder at her from where he stood at the stove of the mansion in Mystic Falls. Rebekah turned the screen off to keep the phone from going dead, then gently took the shirt from Katie's arms and put it back in the Ziploc where she was sure Katie had taken it from. It seemed Hope wasn't the only woman in the house that missed Klaus. Rebekah brushed Katie's hair out of her face then turned off the overhead light and shut the door so that she hopefully wouldn't be woken up if Hope started crying.
~~One Month After Leaving New Orleans~~
Katie sat in the living room watching Hope fiddle with a stuffed toy while laying in a swing, her mind far away in New Orleans, wondering how Klaus was doing. Her eyes moved from Hope to the window beside the armchair she sat in, to see the full moon in the night sky. The moonlight rings that Genevieve had used Klaus's blood to make, were weakening him, drawing from his power to keep the Guerrera werewolves from turning. "You look like you're a million miles away." Rebekah said as she walked in with two glasses and a bottle of red wine in an ice bucket that she sat on the table. After pouring two glasses she handed one to Katie.
"Not a million, just four hundred." Katie answered as she took the glass and Rebekah sat down in the armchair across from her. "It's the first full moon, Klaus is weak and it's all my fault."
"You fault?" Rebekah asked with a frown. "How so?"
"If I hadn't pushed him and Elijah to make New Orleans safe for Hope, for Klaus to reach out to his wolf family, those stupid rings never would have been made and we wouldn't be in this mess." Katie answered then downed the glass of wine.
"This is no one's fault but Esther's. If she hadn't sent the witches after your innocent child like a pack of bloodhounds Genevieve never would have betrayed Klaus by making a deal with the Guerrera's to give them the rings in exchange for you, we wouldn't be running, New Orleans would be safe and your plan to have a family of blood related werewolves to protect your child would have gone off without a hitch." Rebekah argued.
"Regardless, Klaus is suffering while I sit pretty in the suburbs with our child." Katie grabbed the bottle of wine out of the ice bucket on the table and refilled her glass. "I hate not being able to be there for him and I hate saying, yet again, that I hate not being able to do something. I feel completely and utterly powerless."
"I know you miss Klaus and you want to be there for him." she said sympathetically.
"It's not just Klaus. I also miss Elijah," Katie corrected. "And my friend Nate, who was lost in the battle, and I miss New Orleans. I grew to like the noisy streets, people playing jazz outside the compound at all hours...it's too quiet here. I'm going stir crazy.
"But, you have to keep reminding yourself that you were doing right by your child when you chose to flee New Orleans with her." Rebekah reminded her.
"I know." Katie sighed, then took a drink from her glass. As she swallowed, she felt an odd sensation down below, one she hadn't felt since before the first time she turned.
"Are you alright?" Rebekah asked, noticing a confused look on Katie's face.
"I don't know." Katie drawled as she sat her wine glass on the table and headed for the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. The spot of red on her panties confirmed her suspicions. "Son of bitch…"
~~T~V~D~~
"You just got your monthly?" Rebekah asked with a confused face. Katie nodded. "But you're a vampire."
"And apparently whatever happened to my body when my soul shattered that made me able to have a child is still in effect." Katie added looking like she was about to have a panic attack.
"This is a good thing right?" Rebekah asked.
"I have no idea…" Katie replied then blew air between her lips as she leaned forward, stretching her arms out over the bar in the kitchen as she rested her head on them.
"I mean, you and Klaus can have more children if you want, you can have the best of both worlds. Most vampire women would die a thousand times over to be in your position." Rebekah pointed out as she grabbed Katie's hand. "As if I wasn't jealous enough of you before…"
Katie knew Rebekah was right, she should feel lucky and grateful, but all she wanted to do at the moment was scream, "why me?", at the top of her lungs. Instead she stood up straight and looked at Rebekah, "May I borrow your car? It seems I'm in need of supplies a vampire doesn't usually keep in stock."
"Yes, of course." Rebekah answered and handed her keys over to Katie.
~~Two And A Half Months After Leaving New Orleans~~
Katie sat at a local bar and grill, a glass of bourbon in her hand that rested on the bar as her leg that was crossed over her knee tapped. She hadn't wanted to come out tonight, but Rebekah talked her into getting out of the house and taking time to herself. "You look bored." A guy observed making Katie look up from the glass, that she had been staring at in thought, to the guy. He was your average guy around his mid twenties, with dark black hair, dark brown eyes and a muscular build. "May I?" he asked with a motion to the chair.
"Sure, why not?" Katie answered and waved for him to sit down in the empty chair to her left.
"What's got you looking so down in the dumps?" he asked curiously in an attempt to strike up a conversation.
"Well, I would tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." she told him with a smirk.
"Funny." he said with a huffed out laugh.
"Yeah...I'm a funny girl." Katie brushed her hair behind her ear letting him see the tiara ring on her left ring finger.
"That's an interesting ring." he pointed to her finger. "Is it from someone special?"
"Uh, yeah, my boyfriend." she answered with a small smile. "He calls me his queen." she said with an eye roll that told him she knew it was cheesy, but she didn't care.
"Oh, if I'd known I'd be in the presence of royalty tonight I would've dressed a little nicer." he told her and she laughed. "Seriously though, if you're regarded so highly by this boyfriend of yours, why do you look like the loneliest person here tonight?"
Her smile fell and she turned her eyes back to her glass that she now just toyed with absentmindedly. "For reasons I can't disclose to a peasant, we had to take some time apart. Think of it as a long distance relationship with no communication of any kind." she answered.
"So you're on a break?" he drawled with a suggestive lift of his brow.
The conversation for Katie went from a pleasant change of pace to straight down the drain. Then she remembered that Rebekah sent her out to have fun. So she decided to take advantage of the situation. "Precisely." she answered with a flirty smirk.
"So your boyfriend wouldn't mind if I ask you if you want to move this over to my place?" he asked as he reached out and slipped his pointer finger over the back of her hand that was resting on the bar.
She cringed on the inside, but gave him a coy smile, "Not one bit."
"So, do you want to come to my place?" he asked with a look that made her want to grab the back of his head and slam his face into the bar.
"Absolutely." she answered as she hopped down off the barstool and made a motion to the door for him to lead the way.
He probably thought he hit the easy girl jackpot tonight, but as she followed him through the parking lot to his red, 1992 pickup truck she let the blood flow to her eyes. He didn't see it until he opened the driver side door, too much of an unchivalrous sleaze ball to open her door for her. She whooshed up behind him, making him jump and turn to look at her. His eyes widened when he saw her face. "What the hell are you?"
Her green eyes, illuminated by the cab light inside his truck, bore into his. "Tell me the truth, would you have kept hitting on me had I told you my boyfriend would've had a problem with me sleeping with other people?"
"Definitely." he answered.
"And if I told you to get lost?" she asked, still looking him in the eyes.
"I would have slipped a roofie into your drink." he answered.
"Show them to me." He pulled a small, clear bag out of his back pocket. Inside were three small white pills. That was all she needed to see to know she wouldn't feel the least bit guilty for doing what she had been itching to do since she turned. A sneer spread over her face as she bore her teeth to him, making his knees start to tremble. A hiss left her lips as slammed her teeth into his neck. Giving in to the need to need to feed, to listen to a human heart beat slow until it ceased to beat, was beyond satisfying. It was like all the tension that had built up over the few months since leaving Klaus, melted away. Katie placed the dead man in the seat of his truck and made it look like he was sleeping. "Pretty sure I just did the world a favor, because you won't be roofieing anyone, ever again." she patted him on the shoulder then elbowed the door shut and walked away.
It took a while, but eventually Katie, Rebekah and Hope fell into a routine. Listening to voicemails from Klaus was the only way they could get Hope down for the night. Katie missed him more and more with each passing day. She wanted to keep a baby book for Hope so that she could show Klaus a timeline of Hope's milestones, but Rebekah reminded her that it would be a paper trail that they couldn't risk falling into the wrong hands. Just like they couldn't take pictures or videos of Hope. Nor could Katie write in a journal as a therapy technique. Instead, to cope with her heightened emotions and the fact that she missed Klaus so much it literally hurt, she went out every other weekend and hunted. Rebekah never spoke to Katie about what she did when she went out on Friday nights, but she watched the news and wasn't stupid.
Along with not leaving a paper trail and to keep the body count from getting suspicious, they never lived in one place longer than a couple of months. Never long enough to get to know their neighbors, never further than eight hours from New Orleans and never long enough for anyone to string together Katie's regular murdering habits.
~~Six Months After Leaving New Orleans~~
"What do you think about taking Hope to the playground this morning?" Rebekah, who was feeding Hope in the kitchen, asked Katie who was walking down stairs in the living room, her red wavy locks wet from her morning shower.
"Sounds good to me." Katie answered as she walked into the kitchen and grabbed an apple out of the basket on the Island. "But you know we're going to get weird stares from all the judgy little housewives who think we're a couple."
"Maybe we should make out and really give them something to gossip about." Rebekah suggested with a smirk.
"That would be hilarious." Katie agreed then thought about it. "Wait, you're kidding right?" she asked with a point at Rebekah with the hand that held the apple. "Because I've heard stories about you, Matt and Nadia."
"There is nothing wrong with having a little fun." Rebekah responded.
Katie frowned. "No offense, but you're not exactly my type."
"I thought Mikaelson was your type." Rebekah told her with a fake innocent voice then looked at her playfully over her shoulder, poking fun at Katie for sleeping with two of her brothers.
"Ha, ha, real funny." Katie commented, making Rebekah look back at Hope and feed her a bite of mashed banana and oatmeal cereal. "Besides, If I ever decide to make out with another chick it's not going to be with my future sister-in-law, because Klaus would be involved and I don't believe in incest."
"Do you think you and Klaus will ever actually get married? Or is it just something the two of you like to fantasize about?" Rebekah asked, getting serious.
"I don't know." Katie answered then took another bite of the apple in her hand. "I like to think it will happen one day, but if we're being real I really don't it never will."
"Why not?" Rebekah asked, with a glance away from Hope.
"Because it's too simple...too normal." Katie answered with a shrug. "Life with a hybrid significant other and a tribrid daughter will never be normal. Besides, who has time for a wedding when there is always one threat or another lurking around every corner?"
"The hybrid significant other you speak of would find a way to freeze time if it meant he could marry you." Rebekah pointed out. "It's been almost a thousand years since I've seen him so in love."
"What do you mean it's been almost a thousand years? Didn't he and Elijah love Tatia when you were all human?" Katie asked with a frown.
"He never told you about Aurora did he?" Rebekah asked and Katie shook her head with a frown. "Oh uh, forget I mentioned her." Rebekah wiped Hope's mouth clean of bananas, Hope licking the bib as she did, then stood from where she was sitting in front of Hope's highchair.
"You can't just bring up a woman from his past and expect me to forget about it." Katie argued as she walked over and took Hope out of the highchair. "Who's Aurora?"
"It's not my story to tell." Rebekah brushed her off.
"You had no problem telling me about Elijah's past loves." Katie countered.
"This is something you need to hear from Klaus himself." Rebekah answered. "If he finds out I told you he will scour the compound for those daggers you hid until he finds them and put one in my heart."
Katie sighed and slipped her hand lovingly over Hope's head. "Did she have really long red hair, light green eyes and thin oval shaped lips?"
"How do you know that?" Rebekah asked.
"Because I found a painting of a woman in the attic and could tell it was done by Klaus." Katie answered. "I brought it up once, but he didn't elaborate. Judging by your sealed lips there's a good reason why."
"So, how about that trip to the park?" Rebekah asked, changing the subject as she grabbed Hope's diaper bag and headed for the door.
~~T~V~D~~
Katie was pushing hope in the toddler swing, children playing soccer not too far from them filled the playground with laughter. When a bunch of black birds gathered on the monkey bars of a jungle gym, all looking in their direction, Rebekah said, "Oh no."
"Oh no, what?" Katie asked turning to look at Rebekah and followed her eyes to the birds. "It's just birds."
"Not just birds, starlings." Rebekah told her. "My mother uses them to do her bidding." As she said that, more birds flocked to the jungle gym. "If they are here it means she has found me." Katie's heart sank in her chest. "Grab Hope. We need to pack our things and get on the move, now."
Katie grabbed Hope's diaper bag and Hope and followed Rebekah, who had already called Elijah. Hope fussed, not ready to leave the fun of the playground behind. "I know, sweetheart, but we have to go, okay?"
After they gathered the necessities from their temporary home and got on the road Rebekah called Elijah. "We're safe for now. I've lost her bloody starlings, but I have no idea where to go." Rebekah told him.
"Tell her to head west." Katie heard Klaus's voice in the background.
"Okay. Text me with plans." Rebekah told Elijah then hung up.
They had been driving for almost an hour when Rebekah got a text from Elijah asking them to meet him at a diner.
It was dark when they finally arrived at the diner, Katie's eyes finding Elijah immediately. It was kind of hard to miss a man dressed in a suit and tie in a roadside diner. Rebekah hugged him first while Katie set Hope's carseat on the table of the booth and the diaper bag in the seat. When Rebekah pulled away Katie wrapped her arms around Elijah's shoulders and pressed her face into his neck, breathing in his familiar and comforting clean scent.
When they released each other Elijah turned to Hope and gently scooped her up into his arms then sat down. Katie sat down opposite of him and scooted over so Rebekah could sit on the outside of the seat. "Look at you." Elijah spoke to the baby. "So big, so perfect. I can't imagine the joy of spending every day with her. It's..."
"Quite lovely." Rebekah finished for him. "It feels so human."
"Yes. Some would argue, the most human of experiences." Elijah replied with a smile up at both of them.
"I know I have to let Klaus step in when the time is right, but being a part of her life as a primary caregiver has made me realize how much I want that child of my own that I know I can't have."
"It's a lovely dream." Elijah said as he rocked Hope in his arms. Their conversation made Katie feel bad for having what they never could. Vampirism, a child and the possibility of having more. "Unfortunately it's one that's just beyond our reach. Considering the curse of our existence."
"It seems Esther's attacking with her usual fervor." Rebekah pointed out.
"Yes, Mother tortured me for days with memories…" Elijah looked up from Hope with a shake of his head, "I thought I'd buried long ago. Then she made an offer...to make us all mortal again." while Elijah looked at Rebekah Katie placed her fingertips to her lips with a frown. First Esther makes them vampires, tries to kill them all then offers to undo what she'd done to them as if that would solve anything? The woman truly was insane. "You see, Sister, mother believes that by placing us in new bodies we could then reclaim some kind of purity. We can begin families of our own again. And I have to confess…" He glanced at Katie. "This invitation, however cruel the delivery, had a certain kind of...appeal."
Katie turned her eyes down to the table, wondering why he glanced at her before she said that, when Hope started fussing, Katie looked at her noticing the blood on the sleeve of his shirt at the same time as Rebekah, who gave Elijah a questioning look.
"You needn't worry." Elijah assured them. "We're safe."
Hope fussed again. "Looks like this little one needs a diaper change." Rebekah told them as she grabbed the diaper bag. She and Elijah stood, passing the baby off. Katie who had mastered absentmindedly controlling her hearing and sense of smell now paid closer attention to the restaurant. The whole place was oddly silent, save the waitress who stood behind the counter, and reeked of fresh blood. The fact that Elijah had clearly killed everyone in the restaurant had Katie on edge and full alert, but not knowing what was going on with him, she pretended not to notice.
"How have you been?" Elijah asked, drawing her attention. "You haven't said a word since you got here."
"What can I say about the fact that Esther is back from the grave, yet again, and looking to put the people I care about most in weak, mortal bodies." she asked rhetorically then asked, "So, you find the idea of being mortal again appealing?" just to keep the conversation moving.
Elijah dropped his eyes to the table. "There was a time in my life...when I would have liked very much to start a family of my own." he looked up at her. "To have a taste of what my brother has laid claim to." The look in his eyes told her exactly what time in his life he was talking about, when the two of them were together in Ireland.
With a frown on her face she opened her mouth to reply, but Rebekah walked over with Hope and Katie closed her mouth. "Well, she's all sorted and ready for an adventure." Elijah and Katie stood from the booth as Rebekah placed Hope in the car seat that Katie placed back on the table. "Aren't you, my love?"
Elijah smiled as he looked at Hope. "It's difficult to believe we were all this innocent once." he slipped a finger over her chubby cheek. "We mustn't let the world ever hurt her."
"You're right," Rebekah told him as she placed her hand on his shoulder from where she stood behind him, "we mustn't." she broke his neck and caught him before he fell to the floor. "The kitchen is littered with bodies." she explained as she took Elijah's phone from his jacket pocket.
"I gathered as much from the scent of blood in the air." Katie replied as she started strapping Hope into her car seat.
Rebekah called Klaus with Elijah's phone. "Where have you been?" Klaus asked thinking it was Elijah.
"Nic, it's me. Something's wrong. Elijah slaughtered a dozen people who's only sin was their terrible taste in food. I mean, when have you known him to kill when he could otherwise compel? It's the kind of act that will draw our mother's attention."
She heard Klaus's sigh on the other end of the phone and couldn't help the itch to talk to him. To keep from doing something stupid she bit her lips closed. "Her torture must have affected him more deeply than I realized. Where is he now?"
"I broke his neck to keep us safe. But I have no clue what to do next." Rebekah answered.
"Do you recall where we dined the Christmas after we fled Mikael?" Klaus asked.
"Of course." Rebekah answered.
"Go there. Now." he told her then hung up.
Katie looked at Rebekah with wide eyes. "Does that mean what I think it means?" Katie asked not being able to help the smile that took over her lips despite the urgency of their situation.
"Yes. I believe it does." she answered. "You get Hope. I'll get Elijah."
~~T~V~D~~
Katie couldn't sleep, due to her excitement of seeing Klaus for the first time in six months. Hope, however, slept through the night waking around the same time Elijah did, when morning came and they pulled into the driveway of a house far out in rural Arkansas.
Pissed at Rebekah for breaking his neck, he gave both the women the silent treatment. He only broke it when Katie came downstairs from showering, wearing a fresh outfit of a pair of light wash, cuffed jean shorts and a form fitting collared white, black and red plaid button up shirt with breast pockets. Her light auburn hair in double french braids. Elijah's eyes drank in her simple beauty and in doing so noticed she still wore the bracelet he gave her on the same wrist as the charm bracelet from her Mystic Falls friends. She also still wore her daylight ring on the pointer finger of her right hand, her promise ring from Klaus on her left ring finger and her phoenix necklace that rested just above the bit of cleavage that the unbuttoned v of her shirt revealed.
"Do I have something on my face?" Katie asked with a curious look making him blink out of his thoughts as she picked Hope up out of her playpen.
"No, I just couldn't help noticing how good motherhood looks on you." he answered. "And quite frankly I still sometimes get caught off guard by your beauty."
Katie couldn't help the frown that formed on her face at his statement. To say he was making her uncomfortable would be an understatement. When she left they were in a good place, they were friends, but now it felt like he was back in square one. She didn't know exactly what Esther had done to him, but it clearly had his head in an odd and dangerous place.
She was about to make herself be polite and accept the compliment, but Rebekah walked in, saving her from the awkwardness. "Well, isn't this place rather nice. Nic must've compelled a wine lover to keep it up because I found a 2005 Bordeaux." Rebekah announced as she walked into the room and held up a bottle of wine with a smile.
"Awesome." Katie walked over and took the bottle from her.
"Since when do you drink in the morning?" Rebekah asked.
"Since now." Katie answered as she turned to Elijah. "Want a glass?"
"I appreciate the sentiment, both of you, but I do recognize when I'm being handled with kid gloves." he answered.
"Is that a no?" Katie asked with a frown of confusion and looked at Rebekah for an answer. Rebekah nodded so Katie went to the kitchen to put the wine on ice.
"How are you feeling?" Katie listened to the siblings talking as she rummaged through the kitchen for an ice bucket with one hand while the other arm held Hope on her hip.
"Patronized." Elijah answered with a smart ass tone. "I am here to protect the three of you."
"I know you mean to." Rebekah replied as Katie found the ice bucket and set it on the kitchen counter.
"Yet you found it necessary to render me unconscious before bringing me here." Elijah argued.
"Well, you weren't yourself, and I needed to get us out of that diner." Rebekah argued back. "What happened back there?"
As Katie filled the bucket with ice Hope took a piece and started chewing on it. The little one had recently started teething and was chewing on anything and everything like a puppy. Katie simply smiled as she took the ice from her and replaced it with the giraffe teething toy that was on the kitchen counter.
"I don't know." Elijah answered Rebekah as Katie stuck the bottle of wine into the ice bucket. "Niklaus sent me to protect Hope and Katie. My job is to keep them safe."
Katie walked into the living room, catching their eyes. "The wine is chilling and this one," Katie looked down at Hope who fussed while gnawing on the toy, "is sleepy and honestly, I could use a cat nap myself."
"Good luck." Rebekah told her knowing that while Hope slept wonderfully in a car, getting her down for a nap while teething could be tricky.
~~T~V~D~~
A couple hours later Katie and Hope had both had a good nap and a snack, then found Rebekah and Elijah outside. Katie put Hope in a bouncy chair beside Elijah who was sitting on the edge of the front porch then sat down, Hope between them. "What is she doing?" Katie asked Elijah while watching Rebekah stack wood for a bonfire. "It's over ninety degrees out here."
"It's the fourth of July." Rebekah answered. "I missed being with my family on Christmas so I thought we could make up for that since we are all going to be together and we don't know when it will happen again."
"That still doesn't explain the bonfire." Katie pointed out while Hope squealed and jumped in her chair.
"It was our family Christmas tradition when we were younger." Elijah pointed out and Katie looked over at him to see him holding Hope's hand looking at her like he wanted to pick her up.
"You can hold her, you know." Katie told him and he looked up at her with slightly squinted eyes. "I know without a doubt that you'd never hurt her." Elijah gave into temptation and picked her up out of her chair, smoothing down the ruffles on the butt of her sleeveless onesie as he did. Hope started babbling to him and he just smiled.
When they all heard the sound of a car nearing they looked to the driveway to see Klaus's black range rover speeding down the dirt drive. Katie's heartbeat quickened as she slipped down off the porch and watched as the suv pulled to a stop and Klaus got out. Their eyes met across the yard a split second before Katie took off running to him. He caught her with his hands on her thighs when she jumped into him, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. He growled out a laugh as he wrapped his arms around her torso and tucked his face into her neck, breathing in her new scent of coconut body products and clean baby. After what felt like forever, just holding each other, he sat her on her feet and they pulled back to look into each others eyes. A sigh left his lips as he closed the space between them and caught her bottom lip between his. A quiet moan bubbled up from the back of her throat as the kiss deepened.
After they missed Rebekah loudly clearing her throat for the fifth time she finally yelled, "Get a room already!"
They finally pulled back, Klaus smiled at her blood rushed eyes as she looked into his and pushed the blood back. With a small smile of her own she grabbed his hand and led him over to Elijah, who still held Hope, where he and Rebekah stood in front of the porch.
Elijah handed Hope to Klaus who took her gently into his arms. While Hope squealed excitedly, Klaus sighed and held her close, pressing a kiss to her soft blond hair covered head.
~~T~V~D~~
As it turned out things had been crazy in New Orleans. For the first four months the wolves followed Francesca Guerrera, excluding Klaus's small pack who decided to move on. After those four months of suffering, the moonlight rings Genevieve had created were tracked down, taken off the dead bodies of the Guerrera werewolves, and destroyed. Marcel had been busy attempting to build a new vampire community across the river in the Neighborhood of Algiers Point with Josh as his new right hand man. Davina, pissed at Klaus for biting Josh and blaming him for Katie's death, brought Mikael back from the other side before it collapsed. After Katie killed Genevieve, Esther hijacked the body of the Harvest Girl Cassie and brought with her Finn and Kol in the bodies of other witches. Not long after offering to put Rebekah and Elijah into the bodies of witches and Klaus in the body of a werewolf, to cleanse them of their vampire nature, she jumped into the body of another witch. Now controlling the wolves with new moonlight rings, Esther sent them to kick Marcel out of New Orleans's completely, but they have yet to comply.
Klaus hunted down Mikael, who Davina had hidden away in a cabin with alongside Kol, biding her time to try to find a way to unlink Klaus from his sired, and tried to kill him, but Mikael ended up stabbing Klaus with the white oak stake that didn't kill him because Kol and Davina deactivated it long enough for Klaus to wake up and pull the stake out. With Klaus now in possession of the stake and Mikael outnumbered by Kol, Davina and Marcel, who'd come looking for Davina to protect her, and Klaus, flead. Before he left to come to Katie and Hope, both Kol and Finn had been taken hostage in the compound and rendered magicless by dark object shackles. Marcel was interrogating them at the moment.
"The most recent bit of worrisome information came just before I got in the car and headed here." Klaus informed them where they all stood outside, Rebekah adding wood to the bonfire. Hope sat in her bouncer on the front porch. "The curse on the first born."
"The curse on the first born, what the hell is that supposed to be?" Rebekah asked as she stacked on another log.
"Well, according to Finn, our sister Freya didn't die of plague." Klaus started explaining. "She was taken as payment by our Aunt Dahlia who then cursed all mikaelson firstborns for eternity." The mention of the aunt's name gave Katie the weird feeling of deja vou, but she brushed it off.
"Do you even know if any of that is true?" Rebekah asked with a frown at Klaus.
"It is if we're to believe Finn." Elijah spoke up as he rolled up the sleeves of his white dress shirt, preparing to help Rebekah with the bonfire. "Who learned it from that bastion of truth, our mother."
"Well, no wonder Finn hates us." Rebekah thought out loud. "He lost the sister he adored and instead got a judgy pack of siblings who found him unbearably dull."
Klaus noticed how worried Katie looked. "Don't worry, Little Phoenix, Dahlia's long dead and gone." he told her as he held her tighter to his side.
"Like all the other witches in our lives who keep popping back up from their graves like a freaking whack-a-mole game?" Katie asked as she looked across her shoulder at him.
"No one is going to hurt out daughter because no one's going to find her." Klaus assured her then looked at Rebekah who was still putting wood on the fire. "That's enough wood, Rebekah. You'll burn down the whole bloody state of Arkansas.
"Well we're just missing a key ingredient." Rebekah told him with a snarky look as she dusted her hands off.
"No, we're not." Klaus replied grumpily and Elijah and Rebekah smiled.
"Yes, we are, Nic. Back me up, Elijah." Rebekah said with a smile.
Elijah laughed a little as he looked at Klaus. "I suspect Niklaus would rather choke on the ashes."
"Okay, for once I'm completely lost on what you three are talking about. Someone wanna fill me in?" Katie asked with a look between the siblings.
"Well, before we light it, we write down our wishes for each other to burn for luck." Rebekah explained. "It was Kol's favorite part when we were kids."
"That's further evidence as to why we should ignore it." Klaus responded. Katie thought about it for a second then stood on her toes and whispered something in Klaus's ear. The siblings watched her bite her lip before she gave Klaus a smile and a flick of her brows. "Alright, fine, I'll participate in the silly wish game."
~~T~V~D~~
Katie, Klaus and Hope sat on a blanket in the grass under the tree in the yard, Hope playing with a few toys while her parents watched her. "I'm sorry wasn't there for you." Katie said quietly as she looked from Hope to Klaus. "I didn't even ask if you wanted me to stay with you instead of coming with Hope and Rebekah."
"Because you didn't have to ask." Klaus pointed out. "I would never ask you to choose me over our daughter." Katie just gave him a fleeting half smile as her eyes looked back at Hope. "I'd be lying if I said life without you was a cakewalk, but before you left...you died." Katie looked up at him with sad eyes. "I held your lifeless body in my arms and my world shattered. You screamed out my name and I couldn't get to you." he cupped her cheek in his hand slipping his thumb over her cheek bone. "In the one moment you couldn't fight for yourself, when you needed me most, I failed you. Then, like the phoenix you are, you rose from the ashes. Letting you leave to protect our daughter was easier knowing you were alive and safe, even if you were not at my side."
"Klaus…" Katie sighed as she moved to sit on her knees facing him as she held his hands in hers, "You didn't fail me." he just blinked at her and she let a quiet moment pass. "Just so you know, life without you hasn't been a cakewalk for me either. Having Hope with me made things tolerable and Rebekah's been a godsend, but I had just started to get the hang of heightened emotions when I became human again. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I love being a vampire so much more than being human, but…" she shook her head with a sigh.
"But you are struggling." Klaus finished for her.
She nodded. "I'm not just struggling with the emotions this time. I miss my home, I miss you and being with you. I can't keep a journal and I've had a bad case of writer's block since we left. It all builds up like a ticking time bomb until…" she made an explosion motioned with her hands and the sound effect.
"You feed." he guessed.
Katie nodded. "And it's not the kind of mother I want to be...I want to be better for her."
"That makes two of us." Klaus agreed as they both looked at Hope who squealed while slinging around a stuffed rabbit.
"I'm not the only one who's missed you, by the way." Katie told him as she looked at him watching Hope play with a soft smile on his lips. "Sometimes the only way Rebekah and I can get her to sleep is by playing old voicemails from you."
"What else don't I know about my daughter?" he asked as he reached out to Hope and she grabbed his finger and pulled it to her mouth, chewing on his knuckle.
"Well, she, like her father, loves the sound of her own voice." she started getting an eye roll from him. "That giraffe is her favorite teething toy, but she prefers fingers. When she babbles at you, you better talk back or she will get very mad and scream at you. She also hates peas and could eat her weight in banana oatmeal."
Klaus took his finger from her making her fuss a little until he handed her the giraffe and she quieted. He cupped Katie's cheek in his hand as he looked into her eyes then slipped it around to hold the back of her head as he pulled her to him, catching her lips with his. When the kiss broke he rested his forehead on hers. "I love you, My Queen." She simply smiled and kissed him then laid down on the blanket, putting her head in his lap while he rested his hand on her side and they watched Hope play.
~~T~V~D~~
Rebekah and Elijah talked outside while Klaus and Katie put hope down for a nap.
Katie sat in the corner of the living room watching Klaus hold and rock his daughter, talking her to sleep with sweet nothings. In no time Hope was fast asleep and he gently laid her down in her playpen that had been cushioned with extra blankets. When he stood up and looked at Katie she smiled at the hint of what was to come in his eyes. A crooked smirk appeared on his lips as he beckoned her over with a finger. She stood from the chair and walked over to him. As soon as she was close enough he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into him with a quiet growl.
A quiet giggle left her lips as he whooshed them up to the bedroom, shut the door then pressed her back against it, his lips massaging hers and his body grinding against her while his hands pushed at her shirt. "Klaus." Katie sighed as she lost control and the blood rushed to her eyes. He moved to kissing her neck while his hand under her shirt fondled her chest, her fingertips pressing into his shoulder blades.
She whooshed them around so that he was pressed against the wall then grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head. As soon as it was off, he grabbed the neckline of her shirt and ripped, sending the buttons flying all over the room. His hands slipped down her arms pushing the shirt off to fall to the floor, then grabbed the back of her neck and roughly pulled her into him for a knee weakening kiss. When he started kissing her neck a light bulb went on in her head. "Klaus." She whispered and he nibbled her neck in response. "Klaus, wait." She managed to get out through the thick layer of pleasure they were wrapped in.
"What is it, Love?" He asked with concern as he pulled back to look into her bright green eyes.
"There's...something I need you to do for me." She told him as she walked over to her bag on the foot of the bed. He watched with a curious frown as she unzipped it and started rummaging around inside. The sound of a cardboard box being torn open hit his ears before she pulled out a purple and blue, square foil packet. "I need you to use this."
It took a second for what she was asking, and why, to click and when it did his jaw slacked a bit. "You're still fertile."
Katie nodded. "And as much as I love Hope I do not want to go through that again any time soon." She added as she walked back over to him. "I'm afraid my vampire body will render birth control pills ineffective, so it's either this or abstinence."
Klaus took the foil packet from her and gave her a smirk. "I will not abstain from that which I crave." He told her as he pulled her into him for a kiss. The fact that she had even bought condoms let him know that abstinence wasn't her first choice either.
The kiss deepened and she placed her hands on his chest and shoved him back into the wall. A deep chuckle left his smirking lusty face at her roughness. She hastily kissed him then kissed along his jaw to his neck breathing in his scent as she gave his neck a nibble just below his ear.
He watched her kiss her way down his chest until she was standing on her knees, looking up at him as she unbuckled his belt. But before she could do what she was planning, he scooped her up and whooshed her to the bed, both of them now on their knees as they made out.
They had lost all their clothes and were lost in one another as he laid her back, pulling a moan from her when he nibbled on her neck. "Klaus, teastaíonn uaim thú, láithreach." "Klaus, I need you, now."
"Caithfidh tú impigh." "You have to beg." He whispered I'm her ear, pulling a moan from her as her back arched.
"Please." She begged, slipping her hands down his chest as he stood up on his knees and grabbed the condom.
"In your native tongue, Mo Bhanríon." He encouraged her with a crooked smirk.
Getting aggravated with him she waited until he tossed the empty packet aside then whooshed them around so that she was straddling him, his hand pinned to the bed by hers. Their fingers threaded together. The blood rushed to her eyes as she looked into his light blues. "Le do thoil, Mo Rí. Crave mé tú freisin" "Please, My King. I crave you too." she whispered then caught his lips with hers, her tongue finding his, the sensation pulling a moan from both of them.
He sat up, wrapping his arms around her to grab her butt as she wrapped her legs around him and her arms around his torso. They looked into each others eyes as he picked her up then sat her down, both of them letting a moan slip as he sank into her.
Their breathy sighs and moans filled the air as she rocked her hips into his. His lips caressed hers as pleasure built between them and when the time felt right Katie pulled back and let the blood flow to her eyes as she tilted her head to the side. A growl rumbled in the back of his throat as the whites of his eyes darkened and his iris's turned amber. He kissed her neck then nibbled before he gently sank his teeth into her neck. A little hiss of pain left her lips but was soon followed by a breathy moan.
She had never shared her blood with another as a vampire, other than Elijah, but she didn't count it because of their link that altered how she felt things between them. But now she understood how sharing her blood, her life essence, with another was, as Elijah had said, intensely intimate. It was like her body and mind opened up to him saying, I need you just as much if not more than the life essence I'm giving you.
Not only was it intimate, but when combined with sex it became incredibly pleasurable. When his wrist touched her lips she bit it, intensifying the pleasure of being fed on and opening a door into him that created a continuous flow of life and energy. The sensation caused a little louder of a moan to slip from both of them. Things only got even better when his free hand grabbed her butt, rocking her against him, sending wave after wave of ecstasy through their every limb.
~~T~V~D~~
Katie lay on top of Klaus kissing his neck as they came down off of their extreme high. "I finally did it." Klaus said as she sat up straddling him. "I finally got those wall rattling moans from you and I didn't need a magical link to do so."
Katie laughed at him as she slipped her hands down his smooth, nude chest. "And now I know what blood sharing is really supposed to feel like." she said with a smile, watching her fingertips that ghosted back up his chest. His mention of wall rattling moans made her think of the first time they had sex and that he'd seemed disappointed and thought that he hadn't pleasured her as well as Elijah. Then when he asked if he was the best she'd ever had after their first, and only, date. With that in mind she leaned down and started peppering kisses over his chest then up his neck to his ear. "Wanna know something that I'm sure you already know?" she whispered and he hummed a positive answer as she nibbled on his earlobe. "You're the best I've ever had." Her whispered confession made him growl out a laugh as he rolled them over and kissed her. Things were heating up again when Hope's sleepy cries hit her ears. "I hate to ruin the moment, but our daughter is awake." She informed him.
"Then we should probably go to her." He told her as he sat up and kissed her one last time before they slipped from bed and started getting dressed. Katie's broken plaid shirt was replaced by a white tank top with a lace overlay and Klaus traded the black hooded shirt he had been wearing for the maroon shirt she had taken with her when she left.
When they got downstairs Elijah held Hope, feeding her a bottle of formula. Katie was surprised when Klaus didn't take her from him. Instead he grabbed Katie's hand, stopping her from sitting on the couch beside Rebekah. "Before we light the bonfire there is something I'd like to say." He announced then looked into Katie's eyes. "A year and eight months ago I took you to your high school's twenties dance, during which my mother turned Alaric into an original vampire. Lonely and saddened by what you believed to be the loss of your favorite teacher, you found yourself on my doorstep and the night that followed sparked a flame that has only grown with time."
Klaus brushed her hair, that now hung in waves around her shoulders, behind her ear and cupped her cheek in his hand. "I do not believe it a secret that you captured my attention long ago, but it was that night when I promised myself that I would do everything within my power to mend your broken heart. It was that night, when you admitted that you saw me as a mirror image of yourself, both reflections with their own cracks, chips and complexities." he dropped his hand from her cheek to grab both of hers in his. "You said you knew that you could not even begin to understand my side if that mirror. As usual you underestimate yourself." he told her with a tilt of his head and a smirk. Tears formed in her eyes as she looked into his. "Never has anyone stood so unwaveringly at my side, supported me, stayed my hand and quelled my rage quite like you do. So, will you, my bright phoenix, my queen and the wonderful mother of my beautiful daughter," he let go of her hands and looked at Hope. Katie's eyes followed his gaze, smiling at their daughter who was now holding on to Rebekah's fingers while standing in her lap. When she saw a shocked look on Elijah's face she looked back at Klaus to see him down on one knee, a black felt ring box unopened in his hands, "become my wife?" He opened the box revealing a white gold, pierced filigree solitaire ring with an emerald cut diamond at its center and three tapering in size diamonds on each side of it on the band.
Her eyes went wide and tears slipped down her cheeks as she lifted her eyes from the ring to his. Shocked, she pressed her fingertips to her lips for a second then dropped her hands to rest over her pounding heart. "Oh...god," she blinked and shook her head, "y...yes." she smiled and hugged him when he stood and picked her up, spinning her around as he caught her lips with his.
The three of them, in their joy, missed the still shocked look on Elijah's face that turned to anger as Klaus set Katie down still kissing her. He got control of it as Rebekah asked, "So, is Caroline still going to be your maid of honor or is that slot available?" Katie looked at her and opened her mouth to answer, but couldn't come up with one. "Or do you still believe a wedding is never going to happen?"
"What?" Klaus asked, making Katie look at him, yet again speechless.
"I, um…" Katie's heart felt like it was about to beat out of her chest as her eyes bounced between Klaus, Rebekah and Elijah who now looked concerned like his siblings. "I need some air." She left them all behind as she walked out of the house and out onto the porch where she grabbed the support post and squeezed her eyes shut.
Klaus gave her a few minutes before he went outside and touched her shoulder, getting her attention. She glanced at him then looked down at her feet. "If you don't want to marry me just say so. It was not my intention to pressure you into something you do not want."
A pain shot through her chest at his words and she pushed herself off the post and turned to him. "I do want to marry you. I love you and I can honestly say that I've never wanted anything more in my life than to meet you at the end of an aisle and pledge myself to you for the rest of our lives, to spend forever with you." He gave her a slow blink that told her he needed an explanation for what she told Rebekah. "When you first brought up the idea of us getting married I told you I wouldn't marry you unless I could walk down the aisle in the one of a kind Pnina Tornai ball gown of my dreams because that's all I thought it would ever be. A dream." she shrugged with a shake of her head. "I mean, how often do our dreams ever become reality? We dreamed of bringing our daughter into a safe environment with a big happy family of originals and werewolves to help us raise her and look how that turned out." she motioned to the house. "We're together now but we'll most likely be scattered and out of touch with one another within the next few days." she didn't realize she had started crying until he reached out and wiped a tear. "It's just so...freaking...hard to see a future in which we have time to actually plan and have a wedding. And I know we could do the whole shotgun thing with just our family and a priest or something, bu-"
He kissed her shutting her up since she'd made her point and was now just nervously babbling. When it broke he cupped her chin in his hand, "I made you a promise and I will not break it. I will make New Orleans safe for the two of you as soon as possible. When that happens we will have our perfect wedding." he slipped his thumb over her jaw as he gazed at her tear streaked face.
She blinked rapidly as she took in a deep breath, let it out then took the tiara ring off her left ring finger, placed it on her right one. Seeing what she was doing he took the ring box out of his pocket then slipped the engagement ring onto her finger when she held out her hand. As soon as it was on her finger she threw her arms around his neck. "I love you, Mo rí, and I do believe that we will get married one day."
Rebekah gave them a moment before she stuck her head out of the door. "Shall we light the bonfire to celebrate?"
~~T~V~D~~
Katie stood next to Klaus with Hope in her arms while Elijah stood near the porch. Rebekah was inside. Klaus threw a match into the tower of stacked wood setting it ablaze, Katie pointed it out to Hope, but the baby was more interested in the frozen strawberries in the mesh teether she held in her hands. "Hey, look what I found." Rebekah said, waving a Polaroid camera over her head as she walked down off the porch. "I wonder if it will work."
"Oh bloody hell." Klaus complained as he turned from her, placing his hands on his hips.
"Come on, let's try. Hey, Nic, do you think you can cram us into a selfie?" Rebekah asked, holding the camera out to him.
"Oh, Niklaus is the virtuoso of cramming his siblings into confined spaces." Elijah pointed out as he walked over.
Klaus took the camera from his sister. "I'm so glad I traveled hundreds of miles to visit my mentally ill brother only to have him insult me to my face." Klaus complained as the four of them gathered together, Katie holding Hope beside Klaus who wrapped his arm around her waist with Rebekah on her other side and Elijah beside Rebekah.
"Oh so it was him you came to visit. I see how it is." Katie joked.
"Oh Come on, just take the picture." Rebekah grumbled. Klaus held up the camera and they all smiled, even Hope, as he snapped a picture. When the camera spit the picture out Rebekah watched over their shoulders as it developed. "I wish it could always be like this."
"If wishes were horses…" Elijah started.
"Beggars would ride." Klaus finished. When the picture was finished developing Katie and Klaus shared a look, both realizing that they couldn't keep the picture. With a heavy sigh he turned to Rebekah. "You do realize we'll have to burn it." Rebekah blinked at him sadly. "You want me to make a wish for the family, Rebekah, I wish it didn't have to be like this, but it does." He handed the picture to Katie. "We can't risk it falling into the wrong hands."
Katie took it and looked at it one last time. It captured what she'd wanted ever sense she found out she was pregnant and what she knew the siblings wanted as well, a happy family. A tear slipped down her cheek as she tossed it into the flames.
"No, this isn't right." Rebekah said, taking their attention off the burning photo. "We deserve this...we've earned this." Katie walked over to Klaus. He held his hands out for his daughter and Katie handed her to him. "I won't let it slip away." They all gave her looks that asked what she could possibly do to prevent it. "I know what to do to stop Esther."
"Rebekah, no." Elijah argued.
"I'm gonna take her deal. And when I do, I'm gonna take her down with me."
The four of them sat down and worked out a plan. While performing the spell to put Rebekah in a new body Esther would be vulnerable. Kol, with the help of Davina, would use magic to disrupt Esther's spell and hopefully keep the spell from working and either of them from body jumping. While Esther was vulnerable, Klaus would kill her. The only prices to pay were the one it took to buy Kol's help, a paragon diamond he needed to complete a spell to make a weapon against Klaus and the possibility of the plan failing and Rebekah getting put in a human body. Though they all knew that Rebekah had always wanted to be human.
"You sure you're fine here with Elijah?" Klaus asked as the two of them walked to his range rover, Rebekah behind them with Hope in her arms.
Katie looked back at Elijah where he stood on the porch, watching them, then back at Klaus who now stood in the open driver's side door. "We'll take care of each other." She answered with a nod then grabbed his chin in her hand and looked him in the eyes. "Be careful and remember your fiancé will be heartbroken if something happens to you or her future sister-in-law." She turned to Rebekah who gave her a smile at the comment as she handed Hope to her mother. "Good luck."
"We're going to need it." Rebekah replied as she walked around to the passenger side of the suv.
Katie turned back to Klaus who gave her a small smile then caught her lips with his for a sweet, see you later kiss. After it broke he looked down at Hope. "Daddy will miss you, princess." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head then kissed Katie once more before getting into his suv, shutting the door and driving away into the setting sun.
A/N: I am so sorry I disappeared off the face of the earth for a hot minute. Lots of things came up, like a massive wall of writer's block that was set off by Microsoft word crapping out in the middle of saving an almost complete version of this chapter and the document just poofed off my laptop. Then it didn't help my writers block when someone left a review calling Katie a slut. On top of writer's block I got hooked on working diamond paintings thanks to my grandmother. But the point is I'm back. I know this chapter was a bit long, but what did you guys think?