No pairing
Saturday, January 6, 2011
4pm
Elijah was relieved to finally be home. Dana had done an admirable job dealing with Penelope. Finn and Henrik had been well-behaved until they became tired and crashed from the sugar and excitement of a day at Fun Town. They did have a small hair pulling incident in the car on the way home over some perceived slight. One of their stuffed animal prizes they purchased with their tickets get his arm ripped off.
Dana butted in and called the boys brats and tried to salvage the rest of the stuffed dog that Finn had named Sadie 2. Vanessa asked her to keep her opinions to herself. When they all finally got into the house, they were all tired and cranky.
"Okay, I think we missed the nap window, so let's just take it easy the rest of the evening," Elijah announced.
Vanessa herded the boys upstairs to take a bath as they were covered in sticky cotton candy residue. Dana and Penny joined the group still watching movies in the great room.
"Ewww, this movie looks terrible," Penny moaned. There was shooting and fighting and the movie looked boring to her.
Someone threw popcorn at Penny and she kicked Jeremy's leg who was on the floor nearest to her.
"Hey, I didn't do anything!" Jeremy interjected.
Klaus got up and whispered something to Penny.
Penny hissed, "Sorry!" to Jeremy. He grunted in acceptance. Klaus wasn't hoping for miracles and kissed Jeremy on the head, and told the boys he was taking Penny upstairs.
"Dana, did you have a nice time?" Klaus inquired.
Dana glanced at Penny and nodded, "I've had worse days."
"Good. Okay, Penny lets go get you situated. I've barely seen you," Klaus remarked taking her by the hand. Dana sat down and started watching the movie.
"Do you even care?" Penny snipped pulling away as they headed upstairs. Her deep blue eyes looked at him with accusation.
"Of course I do, sweetheart. I'm sorry if you feel ignored. Come on, we'll talk upstairs," Klaus said offering his hand away. It pained him that this dark haired beauty still questioned his love for her.
Penny scowled but took his hand again.
"Did you behave for Uncle Elijah and Vanessa?" Klaus asked causally.
"Yes, Finn and Henrik were fighting in the car! They ripped the arm off of a dog and got in trouble. Dana called them brats and Vanessa yelled at her," Penny giggled.
Klaus frowned, "You were gone quite a long time. I'm sure they were tired. Did you play with them at Fun Town or just Dana?"
"Everybody, I guess. Can we play games tonight?" Penny whined.
"We shall see. Camille is coming over later. You know she'll play whatever you like," Klaus assured her.
"Why is she coming over?" Penny asked hotly.
Klaus slowed his pace, "Sweetheart, you know that Camille is going to become my wife. Someday soon, she will move in for good. You know she loves you."
"Yeah, but she's always trying to get me to say things," Penny grumped.
"Penny, that's what people do, talk," Klaus laughed gently. '
"It's annoying," Penny said.
"I don't think you like for people to know you have feeling sometimes. You know, Cami will be your stepmother, won't that be nice," Klaus prompted.
"Will she be like my real mother? Like Vanessa is a real mother?" Penny asked looking troubled.
"What do you mean, luv? Freya and Vanessa also help take care of you," Klaus clarified.
"No, I mean, will she want me to be her kid?" Penny finally asked.
"Of course, she does now. Would you like Camille to adopt you, too? Like I did?" Klaus said stopping suddenly. He and Camille had never talked about it.
"No, it's okay. It's probably too much trouble," Penny muttered.
"Nothing is too much trouble for you," Klaus said turning and lifting her chin with his other hand. Her cheeks were flushed, only highlighting how pale she was. Maybe they should spend the Spring holidays at the beach. The child needed to get out more.
In her room, Klaus helped her get more comfortable clothes out and watched as Penny went into the bathroom to change. Rachael and Dana's things were sprawled out over the room. It looked much more lived in, but they needed to get the girls each a bed of her own. Kol was still sleeping in Davina's room, and Kai in Kol's room. Elijah and Klaus had a Sunday meeting with the architects tomorrow. That was one of the perks of their wealth, businesses would drop anything to work with them. Klaus also was planning to meet with Caroline's mother tomorrow. He had spoken to Mayor Carol Lockwood on the phone and she was open to helping her son in any way.
"Dad, I'm changed. Can I just get on my iPad?" Penny asked.
"Sure, sweetheart. But only if I can sit with you a little while," Klaus smiled.
They turned on the television and settled on the couch. Klaus had put in a mini-fridge with blood bags in it over near the kitchenette area. He popped a straw in one for each of them. They had increased all the hybrids blood intake to two blood bags, none of them seemed to be showing any signs of becoming a ripper, so it seemed prudent to let them have more blood to prevent any cravings that could lead to attacks.
"Thanks, Dad," Penny said softly, "Can you come to Fun Town the next time? Uncle Elijah said he's the best at the claw. Maybe you can prove him wrong!"
Klaus smiled and pulled her close to him, "Of course, if you want that. But I don't want you kicking your brothers like you kicked poor Jeremy. I see that again and no Fun Town for a while."
"Okay," Penny groaned. She had already said sorry, she didn't like that he had reminded her again about it.
Klaus then watched her on her iPad doing things he didn't quite understand and watching things he found not in the least bit amusing, but he laughed with Penny anyway as he stoked her hair.
Kol took Matt, Kai, and Rachael with him to drive at the Quarry later than afternoon. They took the Porsche which Kol reminded them was now his Porsche because Elijah gave it to him, but he did let Matt drive. Kai and Rachael had never driven before so he gave them their first lesson. With Rachael's vampire reflexes she did much better than Kai did, but he laughed it off.
"It's fine to be shown up by my 14 year old sister in driving. I'm just glad to be in a world with cars again. Thanks for bringing us out here," Kai added to Kol.
"Yeah, it was fun. Thanks...," Rachael stumbled, not sure what to call him.
Matt pushed in, "Uncle Kol. He may look not much older, but remember he's ancient!" The kids laughed.
"Ancient enough to know that if you lot keep being so cheeky, this will be your last bloody lesson in my new Porsche!" Kol retorted.
Matt prodded, "You mean Uncle Elijah's Porsche!"
Kol vamped and grabbed him around the waist, lifting him, and shouted, "I'm gonna toss you into the bleedin' quarry, Matthew!"
"No! I'm done, I'm done," Matt laughed, extracting himself from the Original vampire's hold.
"I'd take off my bracelet and siphon him for you, Matt, but Freya would know," Rachael lamented.
"And you'd get another round with that spatula," Kol smirked.
"Big deal. I can take like three whacks with that thing easy," Rachael bragged.
Kol opened the door for the kids to get back in the sports car.
"Three? For breaking her spell. Aye, my siblings have gone soft. You better hope they don't leave me in charge. Well, come to think of it, it was a disaster the last time I babysat, so you are probably safe from my wrath. Now get in the car, I do have other things to do today, if anyone cares," Kol quipped.
Matt grinned, "We don't. But seriously, Uncle Kol, thanks. I sort of thought we were grounded today, but I guess since we finally cleaned, the old man took pity on us."
"Aye, I think your father knows he can only pen you lot up in that big old house for so long together without it turning into Bedlam," Kol said watching the road.
"What's Bedlam?" Rachael asked as she and Kai got into a fight over a lighter Rachael had in her hand that Kai wanted to see.
"Nevermind, luv. Stop fooling around back there. What are you fighting over?" Kol asked.
"Nothing," Kai said snatching the lighter. He had taken to smoking in the prison world when he could get away with it. He could use a lighter.
Dana kicked him hard one last time in the leg. Kai cried out.
"I'm still fucking human, Rachael! Jesus," Kai said holding his leg.
Rachael reddened, realizing she had kicked him too hard.
"Sorry, Kai. Are you okay?" Rachael said watching as he rolled up his pant leg.
"I'm going to have a huge bruise. I'll just tell Freya when we get back," Kol promised,
"Do that and I will kick your ass ten times harder. I said sorry," Rachael scoffed.
Matt and Kol were talking about cars in the front seats.
"Can you two knock it off back there?" Matt said in a mocking voice turning around.
"Fuck off," Rachael muttered, punching the back of his seat.
"Watch it, Rachael. You do that in front of Elijah or Klaus and I guarantee you're regret it, little girl," Kol warned.
Rachael stuck out her tongue at Kol and gave him the finger. He and Matt glanced at each other and smiled wryly.
"Oh Rachael, witch or vampire, you're gonna learn the hard way to behave yourself. Trust me," Matt lectured.
Rachael flicked Kai in the ear and said, "Whatever!"
Kai didn't know whether to rub his aching leg or stinging ear. This was not the sweet little girl he remembered at all. God, he really needed a smoke.
6:48 pm
Cami came in through the garage into the kitchen. Klaus had given her the security codes for the house. She had had a patient emergency which caused her to be later than usual.
"Hey, how are you guys?" Cami said to Keelin and Freya.
They were at the stove making Keelin's secret family chili recipe.
"Hungry. How are you?" Freya said hugging her lightly. She wasn't sure how clean her apron was and Cami was wearing a winter white fuzzy sweater and beige pants.
"Anxious to see my man, honestly. Do you know where he is hiding? He usually meets me at the door. I don't know if this is a good or bad sign?" Cami joked.
"He took Penny upstairs a while ago. I haven't seen either of them since," Freya said going back to cutting onions as Keelin added more tomato paste into the huge pot.
"Thank you. I'll check up there. It seems great already. I guess I'm starving, too. Come on, Sadie," Cami remarked as the friendly dog ran up to her.
"Hey guys," Cami said pausing to say hi as she noticed Jeremy, Connor, and Erik playing video games in the large bedroom.
"Hi Cami," they said.
"Wow, this room looks really clean. Did your uncle hire another cleaning crew or something?" Cami asked in amazement.
"No, ma'am. We did it. We kinda got in some more trouble so we did it this morning afterwards. There are like 20 loads of laundry downstairs," Erik said solemnly.
"Twenty, oh my. Erik, honey, you don't have to call me 'ma'am' you know, I'm going to be your step-mother," Cami laughed.
Connor smirked, "You don't say it where we come from, you're liable to get knocked into the middle of next week looking both ways for Sunday!"
Erik nodded, "That's right."
Jeremy threw a shoe at Erik, "Focus on the game! Sorry, Cami. We're in the middle of a war."
"I'll leave ya to it. Sorry to interrupt," Cami smiled.
Cami tapped on Penny's door and lightly opened it when she didn't get a response.
She found the iPad and tv blaring and Penny and Klaus asleep on the couch. Klaus had his arm around Penny and her head was resting on his chest. The innocence of the little girl's expression struck Cami, it was so different from when she was awake. All her beauty hid a past of bitterness and hurt. Cami turned off the television and iPad. Penny stirred.
"Cami, you're here!" Penny said.
"Hi, your dad must be worn out. I've never see him fall asleep so early. Did you overwork him?" Cami teased.
"No, Uncle Elijah took me to Fun Town. Dad stayed here. He said he would go next time. Cami, are you going to adopt me?" Penny asked suddenly.
"Adopt you?" Cami blinked in surprise.
"Oh honey, I would love to adopt you, if that is something you would want," Cami replied without hesitation.
Penny nodded, "I want you to adopt me right now. Then, I'll have a mom and a dad! Like...other kids."
Cami said in the chair near the couch, "Is that the only reason you want me to adopt you?"
Penny shrugged.
Cami went on, "You know, some kids live with their grandparents or have one parent, or two moms, two dads, or an older sibling. I can tell you that no all kids who have two parents have perfect lives. You understand that right. When I marry your dad, I think it might be a little bit hard for a while."
"Why?" Penny asked in confusion.
"Because it's hard to have change. Sometimes it can be for the better, but it can still be hard to take. I might do things differently that you are used to, take some more of your dad's time, or do some things you kids don't like," Cami explained.
"Like what? Are you worried?" Penny pressed.
"I guess I'm most worried about time. There are six of you kids living here and Marcel, plus the rest of the family. I guess I don't want to feel like I'm taking your dad away from you," Cami confessed.
"But there will also be you, so that is an extra person to go around!" Penny said plainly.
"You know, Penny. That's a good point. Now should we wake up Dad before he is up all night like a tv vampire?" Cami giggled.
"Yes! Let me," Penny said, "DADDY! Wake up!"
"Ah, I-I'm up. I was j-just resting my eyes. Oh Camille, I was dreaming of you and the children. In my dream, we,-" Klaus stopped looking at Penny.
"Had a baby! I dreamt it too, Dad. It was a girl," Penny predicted.
"Well, I hope you will be a good babysitter, Penny, because it looks like we'll need one around here," Cami responded.
"I'm starving. Please tell me Elijah is cooking tonight," Klaus begged.
"No, but Freya and Keelin seem to be making chili, I think," Cami shared.
"Good, I have a feeling Elijah and Vanessa also passed out," Klaus supposed.
"Did we really agree to host a sleepover next weekend?" Elijah asked Vanessa as they got up from bed. They hadn't been sleeping, but they had some alone time while the boys were playing quietly in their room. They let them have time with their games or electronics in the afternoon only for a few hours.
"Yes, they really seem to like those brothers from their classes. I talked to the mom, she seems a little intense, but nice. She already texted a list of allergies, and food intolerances to me. She said the older boy is chronic bed wetter to boot," Vanessa shared.
"Oh no, poor kid. I wonder if it's a medical problem or something. Well, hopefully, it will be a good experience for all of them. They could always sleep in the tents or sleeping bags in the great room," Elijah suggested.
"We'll see. It's still a week away. Did you notice Henrik's nose was running a lot? I hope the boys aren't getting colds. Elijah, are you okay? You seem stressed yourself. You didn't even say a word when the boys got in that blow out in the car," Vanessa clarified.
"I'm sorry, dear. I guess I'm a little worried about money and how we are going to finance the additions to the house. The housing crisis didn't bankrupt us, but it didn't help. The architects are coming tomorrow morning and these new projects are going to cost a pretty penny," Elijah fussed.
"Oh no, can I help? I hate to see you so stressed," Vanessa soothed.
"I'll take care of it. Please don't mention anything to my siblings. They have never understood how I actually keep this family afloat. They think the money appears out of thin air, when in reality, my investments are what keep us going. I can't just compel people to hand over their bank accounts, like they think I do," Elijah laughed.
"Just take a deep breath. I won't say anything, but I want you to calm down a little. Let me help you," Vanessa said hugging him tightly.
"You just being here helps me more than you would ever know," Elijah swore. He kissed her softly, then more passionately, until he forgot to worry about the money.