Moonlight Drive

It's not long before the novelty of Klaus's return begins to wear off. His siblings were used to his comings and goings by now and as long as he wasn't daggering them, they didn't have much to say. Elena takes guidance from them and follows suit, though he always seems to be at the edge of her day no matter what she does.

Papers surround her on the bed. Her notebook lays beside her and her hands are dingy from scribbling furiously on the pages. When he walks past her room, he smirks at the smudge splashed across her nose and the way she digs for answers with her brows furrowed.

"Something causing you trouble?" He can't help but find her wide-eyed shock entertaining as if he'd creeped up on her and hadn't been watching her for nearly five minutes.

"Elijah agreed to let me interview him about his time with Katherine and he still sees her through these rose colored lenses. I didn't know her for long, but compared to how Stefan and Damon described her…there's a disconnect somewhere. There has to be more of a middle ground and I don't want to bother Stefan with this." She leans into her open palms and shakes her head. "And this is Katherine! I haven't even gotten around to Tatia. Plus Amara doesn't think anything is important enough to share so I have to figure out the right questions and even when I do, it takes so long to get a letter back from her. She refuses to use email or even call and it's just…frustrating!"

"Let me help. Perhaps I can offer some insight." She collects her discarded papers in a stack and moves over so Klaus can sit on the bed next to her. He shifts his weight closer to her until their legs meet in a line and a warm sensation spreads from her knee up her thigh.

"I don't know that your memories will be that much more unbiased."

"You've got it all wrong, love. I am extremely unbiased and fair." She watches him as he reads through her notes from Elijah. Occasionally he glances up and she pretends to be absorbed in her computer, refreshing her email for the third time.

Finally he looks up at her with an arrogant brow. "Well, certainly events are correct though Elijah has gotten one fundamental truth wrong."

"That is?" she prompts, knowing how he likes the theatrics of a good reveal.

"Vampirism did not fundamentally change Katerina. Like the rest of us, she just became more of what she was despite how strongly Elijah wishes he could blame it all on that."

"So, who was she?"

"Oh, Katerina was charming. Delightful and entertaining to be sure. An engaging beauty hiding a deceitful nature. It is no coincidence that Elijah felt compelled to reveal my plans to her. You two aren't so different." He highlights each punctation with the back of his knuckles grazing her knee.

"Careful, Klaus."

"Do you deny that you are beautiful? Charming? Manipulative? How do you explain stringing me along while you plotted with my brother?"

"Survival."

"Manipulation serves many purposes. You act as if it's a negative quality of yours when it's something I quite admire." He moves closer until the line of their legs connect up through their arms and that heat progresses through her body.

"Funny. I remember you being so angry when you found out the truth that you trashed Elijah's flat. You didn't seem to like it then."

"I like it less when it's directed at me," his voice is a hoarse hush as he lowers his head, his lips nearing her shoulder, "I did enjoy watching you pose as an innocent, luring a baby vampire closer to you in those narrow streets in Venice. His face when he realized how wrong his quick assessment was of you. I'd never seen you more alive."

"What else do you enjoy?" she asks boldly. He looks up at her like a predator, a beautiful alligator threatening to break through the surface and capture her if she isn't quick enough. Speed was never her strength and stupidly, she leans in tempting her luck.

In a blink, he's pressed his lips to the side of her face. Stealing a moment. "You," he whispers gently in her ear. When he pulls back, she feel like her heart might burst through her throat with how rapidly it's beating. "Was this helpful?"

"Huh? Oh! Katherine. Yes, very. Thank you." A sudden flush sends her head spinning.

"Lovely," he smiles, and she entertains a fleeting thought of grabbing him by the loose fabric of his shirt to pull him back into her, but he's up before she has the chance. "Feel free to give me a call whenever you have," he licks his lips and looks down at hers, "a need for me."

She squeezes her thighs together to subdue the feeling of her body betraying her. She knows he must be able to smell the change in her body but he has the decency not to bring it up, walking out the room instead with a smirk and a levity in his step that wasn't there before.

Elation over his clear physical effect on her is punctured by Kol's Cheshire Cat-like grin. A smart little voice in the back of his head tells him to turn the other way and though he listens, Kol calls out to him. That voice is easily ignored now.

"Helping Elena out with her pet project?"

"And how is that any business of yours?"

"Merely curious about your …creative endeavors."

"I don't have time for games, Kol."

"And no time to check on your own works in progress, clearly. Such a shame really. She's beautiful in blue." Kol's taunts find firm footing with Klaus as he finally understands the meaning. Storming off down the stairs and to his studio, the noise draws Elena out of her bedroom, sprinting and running headlong into Kol.

"What the hell are you doing?" She'd spotted Klaus's mop of curls just before he'd disappeared out of sight.

"Calm down, darling. Just having a bit of fun."

"He is going to lose his mind when he sees what I did." Her fingers run anxiously through her hair and her knees buckle with several false starts.

"Then all the better reason for this. Let him see it. The quicker we see his carefully crafted countenance of this new congenial nature of his break, the faster we can get back to normal."

"I don't think pushing him to break is a good idea, Kol." Committing, she finally rushes after Klaus

"Why not?" he calls after her as she hurries down the stairs. "You were so much fun once you did."

She ignores him and the sounds of his footsteps following at her heels as she races to try to cut Klaus off before he makes it to the studio. She doesn't regret her actions, but she wants desperately to explain them before he jumps to conclusions.

She's too late.

Klaus is standing in front of her destruction when she makes it to the open door, followed immediately by Kol. His fingers tract an outline of where her body was on the canvas and come away black.

"Who did this?" he asks, his voice low masking any indication of his internal thoughts. After a moment of hesitation from Elena, Kol steps forward. "Was this you?" Klaus snaps, landing on anyone to direct his mounting anger towards.

Before he can take the fall for her, Elena moves out from behind him and takes a few steps toward Klaus. "It was me. I did it," she says, her voice quiet but self-assured. He struggles to hold his body casually. Refusing to look at her, his eyes are bouncing from one side of the room to the other. "Are you angry?"

"He looks angry."

"I'm not, Kol."

"Contemptuous."

"I said!" he roars, locking eyes with his brother. "I'm not…"

"She's lit your token of love on fire. We watched it burn together, sitting just there. Of course, before our dear Elijah put it out." Kol has always oscillated between charming and slightly annoying for her, but this is the first time he's ventured into callous for her.

"Kol!"

"What? Do you regret it, darling? You certainly assured us all that you wouldn't." She can only look between Kol and Klaus because she had no words. He's right, even now she doesn't regret her decision.

"What's your aim, little brother? Have you so enjoyed your time here without me that you might provoke me into leaving?"

"You've done it before. Perhaps you need a third time for it to stick?"

Klaus stalks directly to Elena, holding his shoulders forward and tight. "I'm not leaving, love. Burn my paintings. Scorch this entire house, love. Consume me a thousand times over and in my smoldering devotion I would offer you a match for the chance to be devoured again."

He leaves a small peck on her cheek, pulling away as his touch tingles along her jaw. When he looks over at Kol, it's with a resigned understanding he's not often shown his younger brother. "I realize what I have left in the wake of leaving, but I assure you petty tricks and barbs will do little to move me."

He leaves the two of them alone in his studio, Elena's hand cupping her cheek as she watches him go.

After Kol assures her that his mischievous pranks and prodding have run their course, she returns back to work upstairs. Though her headway into cataloguing her notes takes a backburner as she keeps replaying his words over and over. Unaware, her hand keeps brushing against the spot he kissed her as she struggles to type a satisfying sentence.

Frustrated, she falls back into her pillows and pushes her laptop off to the side with her foot. Her history is too confusing, and her story is going nowhere so she gives up. At least today.

Still, she wants answers, so she calls Tyler.

Tyler is more than happy to pick her up for an aimless drive though he's a little concerned when she asks him to meet her at the end of the driveway instead of picking her up from the house. Waiting until he texts her back, she slinks out of the house and gently closes the door. Some habits are hard to kick and Elena has been sneaking around for so long that it's now her inherent nature.

He drives down back-roads and then off road until he makes it to a pond on the edge of the Lockwood estate. He spreads out a couple blankets in the bed of the truck and helps her up over the hitch.

They watch the sunset through the trees, glimmering over the water, and reminisce about the parties and the drama these woods have seen. They touch lightly on their losses. Elena is still not ready to talk about Jeremy and there are some things Tyler wants to keep to himself. Liv was such a big part of his life and as much as he trusts Elena, he doesn't want to share too much with her unless directly asked.

She breathes through the awkwardness of the moment. "Ty. What happened in Tennessee? What's the deal with Hayley?"

"I dunno. She's super passionate about the wolves. She's pissed that Klaus abandoned them."

"Isn't her being here kind of indicative of her abandoning them too?"

"Hey! Look, I never said I understood her."

"When did they hook up?"

"Elena…do you really want to hear this?" She stares at him, unflinchingly, and he continues. "Pretty much as soon as we settled into camp. He was angry and looking for a way to lash out. He doesn't have any healthy outlets to redirect all that energy."

"You sound like a therapist."

"I am taking that as a compliment. Hey…" his voice his softer now, calming almost. "It was just the one time Elena. He wouldn't say it, but I know he regretted it right away. If he could have left and started over with a different pack, I think he would have."

"He has a nickname for her." She stares into her lap and Tyler raises an eyebrow at her.

"He's occasionally referred to me as a lap dog. I'm not sure all nicknames are meant to be endearing."

"She's pretty."

"Yeah, she's gorgeous. What's your point?"

"There could be something there."

"Has he said anything to you about it?"

"He said it meant nothing."

"Ok, so what's the problem?"

"What if he's lying, Tyler?" A question that is an answer to her worries for their future. Will he leave again? Can she handle the anger again if he does? Can she handle the embarrassment of it if she lets him back in again?

"You just have to decide for yourself if you want to trust him or not. But 'Lena? He is different around you. He was getting close with the wolves, but at the end of the day, all his plans and all that work didn't mean as much as being here with you." The last burst of light is swallowed up by the horizon and Elena fidgets with her fingers over her stomach. "I know this is super weird, but has Klaus asked you for…well…your blood?"

"What? No!" her tone speaks clearly how ridiculous the question is to her.

"Well, the thing is that Klaus has kind of promised the werewolves that he'd turn them all into hybrids. I was hoping he'd mentioned it to you. He left without saying anything and I'm sure they're getting antsy."

Her head spins and she's swimming in this new information even after she says goodbye to Tyler. It's late by the time he drops her off and she walks back under the stars, feeling just as full as the moon itself.

Once inside, she seeks him out. Searching from room to room until she's eliminated everything but his studio. Hesitantly, she pushes open the heavy door and it creaks with the weeks of disuse. She spots him sitting cross-legged in front of the open window, staring at the charred canvas. Without saying anything, she takes a seat next to him and adjusts until she gets as comfortable as she can manage.

Together they stare at the ruined painting in silence until Klaus breaks it with a joke. "You certainly know how to retaliate, love." Her smile is tinged with a little embarrassment and she rolls her shoulders.

"You left. You came back and killed my friend. Seeing this painting here, I needed to get rid of it. I didn't want you coming back and it felt like if I kept this here then it was a way for you to maneuvering your way back into my life."

"And now?"

"I can't keep you from our son. It isn't fair to you or him. I don't want to be that person. He has two parents and I can't take that away from him. Regardless of you and I, he deserves the best of both of us." Without touching, she absently leans into the curve of his body.

"And what of you and I? Are you closed off to the possibility of us? You've cut ties with the human."

"It was getting complicated."

"Was I one of those complications?" He bumps her shoulder with his and gives her his best wolfish grin.

"You weren't not one of those complications," she responds with a bump back. They are quiet for a moment, Elena distracting herself with a loose hangnail while she builds herself up to ask. "Why didn't you tell me about the wolves? That you promised to turn them with my blood?"

A sharp inhale as he sucks his teeth pierces the air followed by a slow exhale. "I was hoping I wouldn't need to have this conversation with you. I was hoping I could just…ignore the issue." Her silence prompts him to continue. "I did promise them all that, but when I made the decision to come back it was not well-planned. When I got here and you didn't immediately have my siblings chase me out of the house, I simply wanted to be. To exist with you and not concern myself with past promises or responsibilities to anyone outside of those in this house."

"You just didn't want to think about the wolves?"

"No, I didn't."

"What do you want with them?"

"At first, to build an army. One so big that the idea of going against me would seem utterly laughable and absurd. And then, I lived with them and saw their fear and the way they lived so lightly and cautiously reminded me of you when we first met."

"I wasn't afraid of you."

"No. You weren't afraid of death, but you were afraid to live. I saw you in them and I wanted to help. They are not my family like you are, but they are my responsibility."

"You can have it, if you want it, for them. My blood." His eyes widen and his mouth goes slack. "All you had to do was ask, Klaus."

He reaches out to trace the edge of her jaw with his thumb. Holding her gaze with his, he thinks about their future. Dares to hope that she's imagining the same thing and he's on the verge of asking when they are both startled with the sprinklers turning on, rapping the window next to them.

She shrieks and he chuckles deeply. "We've been far too serious for far too long, my love." She tilts her head and when he lifts her up to carry her outside through the sliding glass doors, her heart pounds in her chest. He pretends her playful struggles are effective though doesn't drop her and carries her through the sprinkles, soaking them both. The sound of her easy laughter chimes sweetly in his ear and in the moonlight with her, he hopes.

A/N: Thanks for reading!