Love is Unexpected

Part 4

I had decided that it was best to have Bonnie meet me at my house. Klaus gave me time to talk to Bonnie about what Esther really had planned and hopefully find a way to avoid people dying. In my eyes, that showed Klaus really trying to be better. Before my transition, I have no doubt he would have simply jumped straight into slaughtering whoever he needed to. I hoped that somehow, Bonnie would agree to help me make peace and get Esther to stop whatever it was she had planned.

I had the house to myself; Jeremy had informed me that Kol had plans for them after school and that he probably wouldn't see me until the next morning.

Since I had learnt about the relationship, Jeremy and Kol had thrown discretion out the window. Klaus had followed me back to my house after dinner with Esther, and we had walked in to find them practically humping on the couch. Neither of them had cared about being busted and just raced up to Jeremy's room to continue. That was another thing I needed to ask Bonnie for; magically soundproofing bedrooms.

Klaus also promised not to do anything and informed me he planned on painting for most of the night and had asked me to call him once I had talked to Bonnie.

I was standing in the kitchen, drinking a blood spiked cup of coffee when Bonnie knocked on the door. I found myself a little nervous to talk to Bonnie but knew that there wasn't another way.

I opened the door and smiled warmly at her. "Hey, thanks for coming," I said.

"Of course, it sounded important," she replied.

Bonnie followed me into the kitchen and pulled out one of the bar stools. I leant against the kitchen counter and picked up my coffee to take a sip. The hint of blood helping me relax.

"What was it you needed to talk about?" Bonnie asked.

"It's about Klaus."

Bonnie stiffened, swallowed and then slowly nodded. "Okay."

"And Esther."

Her eyes clenched, and her heart seemed to jump. "What about them?"

"You know Caroline told me about her intentions."

Bonnie ran her hand across her chin. "Yeah."

"Well, I couldn't exactly keep that to myself."

Her face went pale. "You told Klaus?"

"Of course I did."

"Why? He didn't need to know. Now we are all dead."

I frowned as she started to panic. "No, you're not."

"Hello?" she waved her arms around. "This is Klaus we are talking about."

"Yes, but I got him to wait on the murdering and go with talking first."

Bonnie gave me a look of complete disbelief. I knew it wasn't something she would probably believe, but that wasn't what mattered. Getting her to agree to stop plotting with Esther was the goal.

"Klaus won't do anything to anyone, except maybe his mother, if you just back off and don't try and find a way to kill him or make him human," I said.

"Seriously?" she asked. "Just like that."

I nodded. "Just like that."

"Why would he just let it go?"

"Because he knows how much you mean to me."

"I really don't think someone as psychotic as your boyfriend would care about that."

"Nice," I sighed. "If you don't want to do it for him, then do it for me, and Caroline, and Tyler."

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Klaus has a theory about vampire sire lines. He thinks that if an Original dies, then so will every vampire made from him will too."

Bonnie looked shocked. She sat frozen as she took in my words before shaking her head. "No way…" She stood up and started to pace. "So if the Original that you all come from dies, then you die?"

I nodded.

"That makes so much more sense now."

"What makes more sense?" I asked.

"The detail that I left out when talking to Caroline because I knew she would blab to you eventually was that Esther wanted to kill them all anyway. Esther wanted to link them all together, make them human, and then all she had to do was kill one of her children, and they would all be dead."

Klaus had been right. I find it disturbing how his paranoia always seemed to be correct. There were moments when he would blabber about utter nonsense, but he had been spot on about Esther.

"Esther wants to wipe out the whole vampire race," I said.

Bonnie nodded. "Seem's like it…fuck." Her shoulders sagged, and she pressed the palms of her hands against her face. "Even if I wanted to stop, Esther has all of the control."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Esther is channelling the Bennett bloodline. Even without my mum and me, she still has access to our magic," she explained.

"Can't you cut her off, somehow?"

She shrugged. "I have no clue how to."

"Maybe Klaus might know."

"His solution will be to murder us all."

I sighed. "We all know that simply killing you won't cut off Esther connection."

"Wouldn't stop him from trying," she grumbled.

I frowned.

Bonnie lifted her hands in surrender. "I'm sorry. It's still weird, and I don't know how I feel about the whole thing yet."

"I know; getting past the monster that we dealt with so long was a brain fuck for me too, but since everything happened, Klaus has done nothing to anyone. He has simply existed in Mystic Falls with no plot to hurt anyone. The same goes for the rest of his siblings." I took a sip of my coffee and pushed off the counter. "There has to be a way that we can all just co-exist without trying to destroy the other."

Bonnie looked unsure, but she nodded. "You're right, I guess. No one has died in weeks. It's almost been boring."

We both let out a small laugh; it had been boring, but it was almost normal, and it had been great.

"I will have a look and see what I can find about severing the connection," said Bonnie.

"Thank you," I said.

"Just know that I am doing this for you. I could care less what happens to any Mikealson."

I nodded. "I know, as does Klaus."

Knowing that Bonnie was starting to come around made me feel great. Of course, I knew that there would probably forever be this weird awkwardness between my friends and Klaus, but that didn't matter. Everyone was making an effort. And now we all had a common enemy; Esther.

Bonnie left my house not much later. She promised to call if she found something and also promised that she would try to avoid Esther as much as possible. Once I closed the door, I dialled Klaus to update him, but he didn't answer. Instead, I got his voicemail.

"You've reached Klaus Mikealson; I'm probably out spending my time in a much more preferable way than talking with you, so please don't leave a message…"

"You can't say that."

"…yes, I can, love, it's my voicemail."

I snorted out a laugh as I heard myself. Trying to get Klaus to put something other than maiming or death was almost impossible.

"Hey, just calling to let you know I spoke with Bonnie. And as you said, Esther is planning a lot more than just turning you all human. So call me back, please. Love you."

I put my phone back in my pocket before deciding that I should probably drive over to see him. The rest of the Originals needed to know what was going on; I didn't want them blindsided either.

I walked in chaos when I got to Klaus' home. I let myself in and was astounded at the scene I found. Elijah and Klaus were holding Kol against the wall; he struggled to push them off while yelling. Rebekah was on the couch, her head in her hands. It was obvious that Klaus had told them. What I did wonder was about Finn, why wasn't he with them? Or maybe he had taken off when Klaus had told him.

"What is going on?" I asked.

Kol's struggle seemed to cease, and his head fell back against the wall. "Let me murder the bitch," he groaned.

"We all want her to pay," said Klaus.

"You running off half-cocked will not help the situation," said Elijah.

"You told them?" I asked.

Klaus loosened his grip on Kol as he relaxed. Klaus turned to me and nodded. His jaw was clenched, and I could tell he wanted to react exactly as Kol wanted, skip the plan and just kill Esther.

"Our own mother wants to murder us; how tragic." Rebekah lifted her head up. Her eyes were red from crying.

"Klaus is only assuming she wants us dead," said Elijah.

"Turning us human is no different," grumbled Kol.

"Actually," I said.

The four siblings all turned to me.

"Bonnie confirmed that Esther did plan on it. She wanted to link you all, turn you human, and then just one of you would need to die and…"

"We would all be dead," finished Elijah.

A loud sob rang out of Rebekah.

I crossed the room and sat down beside her, and hugged her. I expected her to shove me away, to tell me that she didn't want my pity and that it was somehow all my fault, but she didn't. Instead, Rebekah leant against my chest and cried. It took a moment for her to settle and pull away. She looked up at me, and I offered her a comforting smile before wiping away some of the tears that had fallen.

"Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome."

"What are we going to do about our mother?" spat Kol. "I won't just sit around and let her do this."

"We won't be sitting around," said Klaus. "I have a plan."

I turned to him. "I hope it is different from last nights one."

His jaw clenched, and he frowned. "I still like my original idea, but no, I did say I would kill your friend. So, my idea is to break the connection between our mother and the Bennett witches."

"How does one go about breaking that type of connection?" asked Rebekah.

"Bonnie said she would have a look and see if she could find anything," I said.

"The best way to interrupt that type of link is to stop the flow of magic from generation to generation," said Kol.

"How do you know that?" I asked.

Kol stepped around Elijah and sat down on the couch opposite me. "Before our immortally was forced upon us by our loving parents, I was a witch, just like our mother."

"Finn was the same," said Rebekah.

"That was taken from us when we were turned," continued Kol, "but that didn't mean I stopped spending time around witches."

"How would you suggest we stop it?" asked Klaus.

"Killing a witch won't stop it, but making her no longer a witch will," he said.

I saw the light blub click in all four of their heads. I jumped up from the couch. "You are not turning Bonnie into a vampire," I snapped.

"I never said it had to be Bonnie," said Kol.

"Or her mother," I glared at him.

The look on Kol's face sent me back to our first meeting. I had been uncertain about him, but the side of him that I had gotten to know was when he was around Jeremy. The vampire in front of me wasn't thinking about my brother or anything else; he was in survival mode.

"Kol," said Elijah, "perhaps we can find another way. But, we can keep that idea in reserve for now."

I felt two hands grasp my shoulders; it was Klaus.

"Fine."

I stood there and watched as Kol left, followed by Elijah. Rebekah stayed on the couch for a moment longer before telling us she needed to be alone. I found myself feeling less optimistic about the situation. Stupidly, I had thought that we could all get through this without causing a bigger gap between us all. But it was very possible that this whole thing would only make matters worse.

"I can't believe I thought this would be so easy," I said.

Klaus pulled me back against him, his chin came to rest on my shoulder. "You are determined to find the best outcome; it's one of your best qualities."

"Or a flaw."

"No, I wouldn't say it's a flaw. My family and I don't exactly make it easy."

"I guess not. I've never see Kol like that before." The look in his eyes was almost unnerving. It wasn't the man that I had come to like, and it wasn't the man that Jeremy loved. He was something else.

Klaus turned me around to face him, his hands cupping my face. He said, "Since you have known him, he has had nothing to fear. Kol was able to relax and be himself, but now, with our mother out to destroy us all, he is falling back into his old habits."

"Do I need to warn Bonnie and her mother to be careful?" I asked.

Klaus sighed. "I wish I could say no, but it would perhaps be prudent to let them know. Unfortunately, Kol has a history of going rogue."

"Something you two have in common."

A small laugh fell from Klaus' lips. "I guess."

"Thank you for not being rash."

A small smile graced his face, and his thumb swept across my cheek. "I will admit I am a little frustrated that I can't just do what I know will fix it all, but I couldn't bear to hurt you."

"I really hope Bonnie or Elijah can find something."

"As do I."

It was helpful to hear that Klaus wanted the best outcome too. It would have been easy for him to take off, turn Bonnie or her mum into vampires and be done with it all. Esther would lose her power, and she could be dealt with. But to have that happen, for him to act on that impulse, I wasn't sure if I would be able to justify that not only to myself but to my friends. If the result of stopping Esther was to have vampirism forced upon Bonnie or her mum, just like it was me, I don't think I would be able to forgive that.

I was scared that things would head south; after everything else that had happened, I desperately wanted to not have to fight anymore. It was probably a ridiculous wish as I found myself in love with one of the original vampires; no doubt he would have countless enemies, and we would be faced with so many different things.

"What is going on in your head?" Klaus asked.

"Just thinking," I said.

I loved Klaus; I knew that. He had told me that he felt the same way. The past few weeks had changed everything; he had been a surprisingly stable rock for me to find my footing as a vampire and accept what my life now was.

"About?" he prodded.

"How much I love you." I lifted my hands to grasp at his curls that sat on the back of his neck. "How everything has changed. And how I have no idea what is going to happen with us, and it terrifies me."

The look on Klaus' face was so calm. A knowing smile lit his face, and he said, "The future can be terrifying, especially when it's infinite." He grasped my wrist and bought my fingers to his lips. He pressed a kiss to the daylight ring he had gifted me. "I told you when I gave this ring to you that it was something I had held onto for a long time."

I nodded.

"And that was true. I bought this ring from a merchant when I was still human."

His words rang in my ear. He had kept the ring for over a thousand years.

"I found it after Tatia broke my heart and chose Elijah. The merchant told me that it would be the perfect gift for a woman I wanted to give my heart to. At the time, I thought he was an idiot. The woman I wanted to give my heart to had chosen my brother, but I couldn't stop myself from buying the ring. I held onto it, never forgetting what the merchant had said. There were many times when I considered throwing it away and forgetting about it. But I never could. Instead, I kept it safe. Cleaned it, had it maintained by jewellers over the years. It never left my side until the moment I gave it to you."

"But why give it to me? When you had no idea how you would feel."

He smiled. "What I have learned in my very long life is that real love is hard to find. Spending that short time with you after your transition made me feel something that I thought I wasn't capable of anymore. You made my heart flutter like a little boy does when he experiences feelings for someone for the first time, and while it scared me, it also excited me. I knew that I felt something for you but also believed it would be impossible for you to see me as anything other than the monster I can be, so I gave it to you, knowing that I was capable of feeling love. And like I said when I gave it to you, it deserved to be worn by someone worthy of it."

I smiled at his words and stretched up to close to the small gap to kiss him. "I love you."

"I love you too."