It was 6am and Mikaelson manor was already mimicking the hum and bustle of a Saturday day night club opening. Klaus was used to waking up to silence. To echoed halls and the distant call of birds outside his window. He was not used to being thrust from his sleep by people screaming outside his bedroom door.
As he emerged from his room to see what the fuss was about Rebekah shoved him out the way, cussed loudly and locked herself in the bathroom.
He raised an eyebrow but knowing she was simply having another one of her tantrums he departed down the stairway to the kitchen.
In the kitchen, his mother was scolding Kol. From the fragments of conversation he bothered to listen to he learned that Kol had apparently gotten blood on the dress Rebekah had planned to wear to the ball tonight. Klaus glanced at his brother, who looked to be barely listening as he fixed his hair in the window above the sink.
Esther, taking on a modern mother role had set out a breakfast spread, featuring fluffy pancakes, rich French toast, fresh fruit, crispy bacon, runny eggs and warm waffles, as well as several pints of warm blood. Klaus grabbed a glass then grabbed his jacket and ducked out the door before she could ask where he was going. Just because she was his mother, didn't mean she could police his comings and goings.
He walked through town to the suburban street of Langs Road. A picturesque neighbourhood, he passed people out on their early morning jogs and old people walking dogs. He reached number 7, the hybrid house. Snuggled in-between two family homes, the residents always made sure to greet Klaus when they saw him. They even took in packages for the household when no one was home.
No one would suspect the two-story, white picket fence house would be the temporary home of a dozen bloodthirsty hybrids.
Inside he'd done the headcount to make sure nobody was dead, then sat down in his office with a glass of sherry to get the news. He sent half his hybrids out every night to patrol the town, to keep an eye on things, look out for anyone plotting against him and most importantly, make sure Elena Gilbert didn't die.
10 minutes later Klaus returned to Mikaelson manor, sped to the drawing-room where his family were gathered and slammed open the door. It cracked as it hit the wall.
"You went after Elena?" He towards his little sister. "What is wrong with you?"
Rebekah smiled from her place on the sofa. She wore a shirt dusted in gold. Across the room, his brothers had turned their attention to the drama.
"Here we go." She said. He hated the way she smiled as if it were a game. As if she hadn't tried to kill his one and only way to make hybrids that very morning.
"Do you want another dagger in your heart?" He hissed, his eyes bore into hers. He loved his sister, but she never listened.
"Again with the dagger threats," Kol chirped, butting his way into the conversation. "Don't you have any other tricks?"
Klaus looked back at him. "Oh go back to staring at yourself." He spat.
"And who are you, my father?" Kol asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, Kol," Klaus grit his teeth and took a step closer to his brother. "But you're in my house."
Kol rose to meet him, anger slowly rising on his own face. The boy had never liked being told what to do. It was something they shared in common.
"Then perhaps we should go outside." He challenged. Klaus knew he couldn't kill him. But that didn't mean he couldn't torture him a little. The good thing about vampires was you could rip their eyes out, watch them grow back and then rip them out again.
But Klaus knew his siblings well. Torture, killing their partners, killing their friends, destroying their possessions. He had done it all, but nothing hurt more than eternal sleep. Nothing would upset Kol more than being shoved inside a coffin to suffer in darkness for another hundred years.
He could do it.
It would be so easy.
"Enough!"
Esther.
Having sauntered her way into the room she stood slightly above them on a raised platform, her hands on her delicate hips, looking very much like a teacher overseeing a group of naughty toddlers. "Niklaus. Come." She didn't wait for him to reply, turning her back to him she ducked into the music room next door.
Klaus looked at his little brother for a moment more, then dropped his eyes and followed his mother out the room.
"Rebekah wasn't even out of her box a day before she tried to ruin my life." He yelled, knowing he sounded like a child. "What happened to peace, acceptance, family?"
His mother turned to face him. He was not used to seeing her in such modern clothing and for a moment he was startled by her appearance. So young and youthful. She'd always been beautiful to him. In some ways, she'd been his first love.
She looked at him in disbelief. "You put daggers in their hearts. You want them to go down on their knees and kiss your feet for reuniting them?"
"So it's a crime to want our family to be as we were?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.
"You need to give it time, Niklaus. I've had a thousand years on the other side to be angry and to heal. I'm here to make sure this family does the same."
Klaus opened his mouth, paused, then shut it and shook his head slowly. Normally he was good at figuring people out, but she had always been a mystery. "I just don't understand. I killed you, and still, you forgive me."
When Klaus was a child he'd wondered why his mother stayed with their father, who beat them all whenever he felt like it. Now he wondered why she forgave him when he had killed her, killed her husband and locked her children in boxes.
Esther looked deep into his eyes. Her eyes. "It's been my dream for a thousand years that this family could be as one. Forgiveness is not a chore. It's a gift."
She smiled and it was the smile he'd given him when he was a boy. The smile that had soothed a thousand scraped knees and runny noses.
The conversation was over. She had given him the comfort of forgiveness. One day his siblings would learn that he did what he needed to do to keep them safe. One day they would forgive him and they would be a family again.
She smiled softly. "Now, who are you bringing to the ball this evening?"
He laughed, turning away. He was asking as if he were a teenage boy going to his first prom. And yet deep down, he already knew who he wanted to ask. There was only one girl he would ever consider asking.
But she would never say yes.
Would she?
"Don't be ridiculous," he raised his eyes to meet hers. "You're lucky I'm even going."
"Well, I wish you would reconsider," she said sincerely. Did she really want him to bring a date? Surely he must know the sort of person he was. He didn't have relationships. Women didn't last long with him. "It's going to be a magical evening."
There was a yell and a threat of violence from the dressing room. Rebekah was screaming something about Kol playing around with her dress and Elijah was trying to relax the situation. Finn's taunting that Rebekah shouldn't wear something so revealing was only making things worse.
His mother looked at him, sighed, gently rolled her eyes and ducked out the rooms to go deal with the kids.
He watched her go and then made his way past the piano and the violins and guitars he'd stolen from dead musicians, downstairs to his study.
His mother had been there that morning, filling out invitations with compelled servants. She had invited everyone in town, whether they knew them or not, whether they liked them or not, whether they had tried to kill Klaus or not, it didn't matter. They were coming.
He approached the mahogany desk in the centre of the room and pulled the box of invitations towards him. He found the F's, and then made his way through the names, searching for Forbes. Finally, he found it. Caroline Forbes. He pulled it out, with the gentleness he reserved for painting.
Klaus fell into the chair behind the desk and pulled the invite gently out of the unsealed envelope. It was the same standard formal invitation sent to everyone in town. Gold writing on cream card. He turned it over and grabbed a pen.
He paused, his pen hovering just above the paper.
What could he say?
"I would like for you to come."
No, that seemed too informal.
"Please-"
No. He didn't want to sound like a beg. Although he was, he realised. He was begging her to come.
He moved the envelope, flipping it over again.
He needed to write something sweet, enticing, charming. He needed to make her want to come, if not to see him, but to be curious why he would personally invite her.
He hovered the pen over the card, debating again what to write. It was several moments before he came to a decision, but inside it felt as if hours had passed by the time he thought of something to write.
"Save me a dance."
There. Charming, romantic, but not demanding, not begging. Asking. He was any other boy asking any other girl on a date.
He signed it Fondly Klaus then tucked it back into the envelope before he could change his mind.
He found himself smiling like an idiot as he stood up from the desk. He didn't notice just how happy he looked until he caught his reflection in a passing mirror.
He dropped the smile quickly.
It almost scared him how easily the very thought of this girl made his very heart flutter with happiness.
Klaus made his way back upstairs, intending to look through his collection of formal clothes to find something to wear to the ball. He wanted to look nice, in case she allowed him the pleasure of a dance.
At the top of the staircase, there were racks of dresses and accessories shoved against the wall. Klaus had allowed his mother and sister to borrow pieces from his private collection for the party. Rebekah had seemingly settled on a silky green number – not one of his. He peeped through into the dressing room where she was standing on top a platform, swirling her skirts as a seamstress made some alterations to the back of the dress.
Klaus turned back to the hall, about to duck into his room and change when a glint caught his eye. He backed away and turned his head. At the end of the last rail in the hall was a glint of dark blue fabric.
Klaus crossed the room to the dress. It had been in his collection for so long, loved only by him. It had belonged to a princess. Alexandra, he thought. Or maybe Margaret. Royalty all sort of muddled together after a while.
It was a beautiful thing, but the princess had only worn it once and then had given it away to Rebekah. She had never shown it the appreciation it deserved.
It was a shame really, to leave something so beautiful so untouched. And it would look beautiful on her. The blue would bring out her eyes, the silver would complement her dazzling smile
Before he could change his mind he took the dress from the stand. Downstairs in the basement, he took one of the gift boxes he usually reserved for shipping limbs of family members to people he was trying to blackmail. He neatly folded the dress, placed it inside the box, took it upstairs, found her invite, slipped it inside and told one the servants to deliver it to her.
As Klaus watched the delivery man walk out the front gate he wondered if he had made a mistake. But then he reminded himself the worst she could do was say no. If she said no, he would leave her alone. But if she came, if she wore the dress then… maybe he had a chance after all.