A/N: I'm here to give you all a premature update. I cut the original chapter 3 in half (I'm still not done the second part). This is the first part.
My fantastic beta, livingdeadblondegirl edited it for me earlier, so here it is.
I wanted to give you an update because I'm going out of town on Sunday and I might not be able to get the second part up until I come back, plus the chapter would have ran too long as a single update.
Thank you so much for all the amazing reviews for chapter 2, I'm pleased to know interested hasn't waned!
Reviews are always encouraged and appreciated.
The sound of a crying baby startled him from his restless slumber.
Raising his head, he glanced around the now bright room (he had forgotten to shut the blinds before he went to bed), trying to familiarize himself with his location.
When he realized that he was in Elijah's upstairs office, sprawled across a sofa bed, still in his jeans from the night before, he sighed discontentedly.
He half expected to wake up back in his New York apartment to find that last night was all just a terrible nightmare.
Rolling onto his back, he stared up at the ceiling as he heard footsteps - that he assumed were Caroline's - ascend the stairs to answer Grayson's cries.
He couldn't even remember how he made it upstairs the night before. After Caroline went to bed, he polished off the rest of the Scotch all on his own. It was the only way he knew he would be able to sleep.
The clock said that it was nearly ten o'clock on the morning. He hadn't gone to bed until at least five; just in time to read a text message from Kol informing him he had managed to snag a nine o'clock flight (London time) to New York. Kol would be in New York by noon (New York time) where he would meet up with Bonnie and hopefully catch a flight into Virginia.
He wasn't sure polishing off that bottle of Scotch was worth it for the five hours sleep he received. Not only did he feel exhausted, but he was more than hungover. His mouth was dry, his head was pounding, his entire body was sweating, and his stomach was rumbling with both hunger and sickness.
All he wanted to do was pull the blankets over his face and try and sleep the rest of the day away. He didn't even want to think about Elijah and Elena.
That was impossible.
Even in this room photographs hung. A stray jacket of Elijah's was draped over his office chair. The room smelt like the cologne his brother preferred. Even books on the bookcases triggered thoughts of his brother.
Once he stepped foot outside of this room to use the bathroom, scour the kitchen for food and possibly a dose of aspirin, he would be met with more reminders.
Grayson would be waiting. Caroline would be waiting. Stefan would be waiting eventually, and later, Bonnie and Kol would be waiting.
He just wanted to be alone.
Still, he knew he couldn't hide in here forever.
Things had to be done, and plans had to be made.
Stefan would probably be here soon, he thought.
He sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed as he rubbed his eyes.
Unfortunately his drunken self hadn't thought to bring his luggage upstairs.
He was in desperate need of a shower. He hoped it would clear his mind and shake this brutal hangover.
Standing, he stretched and tried to avoid looking at the family photos displayed on one of the bookshelves.
He opened the door to find his luggage sitting there propped up against the stair railing.
As he picked it up, he could hear Caroline in Grayson's nursery talking to him.
The sound of her baby voice amused him briefly before he returned to his makeshift bedroom to grab some clean clothes and remove his suit that he knew he would be wearing in the next day or so.
Stepping back out into the hall with his clothes and hygiene items, he headed sluggishly for the main bath.
As timing would have it, Caroline and Grayson intercepted him at the top of the stairs.
Both Grayson and Caroline were dressed for the day and seemingly content; it was as though nothing had happened.
He couldn't help but notice the way her eyes avoided him at first, before settling on his face determinedly. It was then he remembered that he was shirtless.
"Did Grayson wake you up?" she stammered awkwardly. "He was just getting up from his morning nap."
He shrugged as Grayson eyed him curiously.
"Did you bring my luggage upstairs, or did I?" he said, motioning his head back towards his door.
"I did. I figured you would need it," she said, almost too cheerfully.
He nodded.
"Stefan is coming over in about an hour or so," she informed him.
"You should have woken me up earlier," he said guiltily.
"Well I assumed by the empty bottle of Scotch I found on the kitchen counter this morning that you'd want to sleep," she explained understandingly.
He smirked a little before forcing his face to tighten again.
"I talked to Bonnie this morning," she said. "Kol should be in New York by noon."
"He texted me," he confirmed.
"Bonnie got them a flight to Lynchburg from there. They should be here around dinner if the weather stays clear," she finished.
Grayson started to whine.
"This little guy needs a bottle. I was also going to make some late breakfast. Would you be interested?" she asked.
While his depressed mood urged him to say no, the complaints from his stomach said otherwise.
"I need to take a shower," he said.
She shrugged.
"It will be ready when you're done," she stated without an affirmative verbal response from him before turning for the stairs.
He stood there for a moment almost dumbfounded. He felt like he was in some sort of dream or parallel universe.
His brother and Elena had died in a tragic car accident the night previous. He and Caroline were now temporary guardians of Grayson, and she had just offered to cook them breakfast as though everything was right in the world; that none of it had happened, that none of their history - that had made things awkward last night and now - had happened.
Before he could even take a shower, he had to remove a variety of baby bath toys.
The shower helped his hangover a little, but did nothing to keep his mind from racing.
All he could think about was last night. It was a constant replay in his mind. When he managed to distract himself from that, he was thinking about what would happen over the next few days. There would be a funeral to arrange, his family to deal with, and Grayson to think about. He couldn't even get to the point where he could consider his commitments left behind in New York.
Once he was dressed in a clean gray Henley and black jeans he reluctantly trudged downstairs.
The smell of bacon hit him instantly and he'd be lying if he said his stomach didn't react.
In the kitchen he found Grayson seated at his highchair with a bottle in hand while Caroline was at the island counter putting food on a plate.
"I hope you don't mind scrambled eggs and toast. There's bacon and fruit, too. I wanted to use it up before..." she stopped mid-sentence, "before it went bad," she told him, having realized that at one point, all the food in this house had been purchased by Elijah or Elena. "Help yourself," she offered as she filled a glass with orange juice. "Coffee is in the pot."
He nodded as he approached the counter both cautiously and ravenously.
His mind felt guilty for being enthused about even a trivial thing like food. He shouldn't be excited about anything right now. That said, his body was screaming to be fed.
He couldn't remember the last time someone cooked him breakfast. It was probably the last time he was at Elena and Elijah's. He never stayed long enough at any given woman's house for the question of breakfast to be raised and any other time he was on his own.
Going for the coffee first, he had an immediate craving for a cigarette, but decided to hold off until he was finished eating.
He filled his plate with food and awkwardly took a seat across the table from Grayson and Caroline.
They ate quietly as Caroline was busy eyeing a notepad and Grayson was quite content with the bottle in his mouth.
The food was delicious and seemed to be almost an instant cure for his hangover.
"How did you sleep?" she asked him suddenly.
He wondered why she would even ask him such a question. Wasn't it obvious?
"Restlessly," he murmured.
She made eye contact with him and nodded sympathetically.
"Same," she said, "and by the time I got to sleep, Grayson decided to wake up again at six."
He swallowed the pang of guilt he felt with some coffee.
"What's on the paper?" he asked, changing the subject.
"It's just a list of stuff that needs to be done in the next couple of days," she shrugged, "most of it can't be done until we talk to Stefan. Now I'm recording Grayson's feedings and sleep times. He's completely off of Elena's timeline, so I just want to make sure he's getting enough sleep and enough to eat," she informed him.
He nodded quietly, feeling overwhelmed by her apparent list and planning even though she had barely filled him in on the details.
"I called Elena's uncle John and her aunt Jenna earlier," she commented.
He raised his eyebrows questioningly as he continued to eat.
"They should be in town by tomorrow. We'll probably have to hold the funeral off until Monday," she concluded, making a note in the margin of the notepad before taking a bite of toast.
Feeling a tension headache begin to overpower his ability to think, he quickly finished the rest of his breakfast.
Standing up abruptly, he took his dishes to the sink.
It wasn't even close to noon yet and he was already in need of a drink.
He began searching the cabinets for the aspirin he was after earlier.
"What are you looking for?" she asked from the table.
"Aspirin," he groaned helplessly.
"Far cabinet, top shelf," she told him.
Sighing in relief, he quickly located the bottle and removed two pills.
Dry swallowing them both, he decided the next best thing to a drink was a cigarette.
Finding his coat on the chair where he'd left it the night previous, he fished for the pack of smokes from his pocket.
When he pulled them out, he could feel Caroline's eyes on him instantly.
Her eyes were judging him as they travelled between him and Grayson.
"I'll be back," he muttered under his breath as he slipped on his coat and shoes before escaping out the backdoor.
The cigarette did little to calm his nerves.
He was shaking, but he couldn't tell if it was from stress and anxiety or the cool March wind.
Now he really wanted to go back upstairs and crawl into bed.
He was still holding onto a lingering hope that if he could just sleep for a few hours that when he woke up all of this would have been a figment of his dark imagination.
This was all too much to deal with. He was still trying to comprehend the fact that his brother and his sister-in-law were dead. He didn't want to think about funerals and feeding schedules.
Once his parents arrived - whenever that would be - he knew it would only get worse. His mother would try to console him with insincere words that would only make things more difficult. His father would be plain insensitive and cruel. If he had it his way his parents wouldn't even be at the funeral.
What right did they have? They were terrible parents. His mother had been cold, and his father had put them down most of their lives. Elijah was no exception. They were never supportive. They hated Elena, and they were only grandparents when it suited them.
He put his cigarette out in an empty flower pot on the porch rail and re-entered the house.
All the dishes had been cleared and put in the sink and Caroline and Grayson were in the front hall greeting Stefan.
His stomach twisted into a knot.
He didn't feel like doing this; not now. It was too much all at once.
Stefan's presence, with his black briefcase in hand, was only further confirmation that his brother wasn't coming back.
He removed his jacket and shoes as Caroline led Stefan into the living room.
"Hey," he said to Stefan as he appeared at the edge of room hesitantly.
"Can I get you anything?" Caroline asked Stefan politely as she took a seat on the sofa with Grayson in her lap.
"No thanks," Stefan said with a wave of his hand as he pulled up one of the chairs and set his briefcase on the coffee table. "I can't stay long. I have a few other Saturday meetings to get to."
Stefan looked at him curiously as he stood in the entrance from the family room to the living room; one foot in, the other foot out.
"You're probably gonna want to sit down," Stefan told him, motioning his head towards the open space on the sofa beside Caroline.
His stomach clenched with anxiety even though Stefan's words were more of a suggestion than a warning.
"So I pulled out Elijah and Elena's will this morning. You're both listed as beneficiaries so I made copies for you," he informed them as he opened his briefcase and opened a file.
Stefan placed one copy on the table in front of Caroline and another in front of him.
He didn't even want to look at it.
"The first page or so can be disregarded as it outlines actions to be taken in the event of only one of their deaths. If you skip to the third page, it details what's to be done in the event of both their deaths," Stefan said solemnly.
Leaning back against the sofa, distancing himself from the document, he rubbed his face with a sigh.
"Can you just summarize it for us, mate," he groaned.
"Our immediate concern right now is Grayson and the funeral arrangements," Caroline pointed out.
Stefan nodded.
"Elijah and Elena listed you both as executors," Stefan said, "meaning you are responsible for fulfilling their final wishes as outlined in the will."
He was expecting to be listed as an executor, he and Elijah had already discussed this when Elijah was still single.
"I went ahead and notified the Kipp Funeral Home and made the arrangements for the bodies to be transferred there. That's the funeral home they selected. According to the will, Elijah and Elena already made some basic arrangements with the funeral home in the event of their deaths, so you should probably contact the funeral home later to go over the details," Stefan informed them. "Elijah and Elena wish to be buried in the Mystic Falls Cemetery in the Gilbert family plot to the left of Elena's parents. Jeremy is buried to their right," Stefan added as he examined his copy of the will.
His entire body was tense as Stefan discussed all the details. He could feel his eyes glazing over, as pain began to swell in his throat, but he couldn't even cry. This felt too imaginary.
Caroline on the other hand had a tissue against her eye as she bounced an amused Grayson on her lap.
"There are some specific minor personal effects listed that Elena and Elijah wish to go to certain people, but all of their major assets are to go to Grayson - some to be kept in trust, the rest to be put towards his care until he is of age," Stefan explained.
"Who did they list as Grayson's guardian?" he finally asked.
Stefan arched an eyebrow.
"Didn't they go over this with you both?" Stefan wondered.
Caroline shrugged with a confused expression.
"Elena never even mentioned to me that she and Elijah had made a will," Caroline said.
"What do you mean 'both of us'?" he asked nervously.
Stefan's eyes widened a little as he glanced back down at the paper.
"You're both listed here as preferred guardians for Grayson," Stefan stated.
Caroline let out an audible gasp and he felt the blood drain from his face.
"They really didn't talk to you about this?" Stefan inquired.
They both shook their heads in unison.
Stefan sighed.
"Well the will was only drawn up a few months ago. It was likely something that slipped their minds. They probably expected they would have more time to discuss it with you," Stefan said regretfully.
Both he and Caroline were quiet for a few moments as this new piece of news sunk in.
He couldn't believe this. Not only was his name listed in the first place, but it was listed alongside Caroline's.
"So we're listed together? Like they want us to raise Grayson together?" Caroline stammered.
Stefan nodded.
"But we're not together," he interjected as he looked to Caroline and then to Stefan.
"Lots of people raise kids together when they're not together," Stefan pointed out.
He glowered at Stefan.
Caroline's face was a contorted mess of confused emotion.
"Klaus lives in New York, I live here. How would that even work?" Caroline panicked.
"It's not impossible," Stefan said, "and it's not something you have to figure out and decide upon right now. You'll have to talk it over."
He grimaced and shook his head dismissively.
"Is anyone else listed? Are there any other options?" he asked. "What if we don't want this?"
Caroline's eyes immediately shot him a glare.
"Well, should neither of you assume guardianship of Grayson, then it would be open to other biological relatives - Elena's uncle or aunt, your siblings, your parents," Stefan explained to him. "If none of them come forward, Grayson will become a ward of the State."
He looked to Grayson as he began to make drawn out humming sounds through his partially closed lips.
Grayson looked back at him and reached his fist out towards him.
Wincing, he forced himself to look away as he rubbed his palm over his mouth.
"Like I said, you don't need to make a decision right away," Stefan assured them. "This is custody of a child we're talking about; a child that you will have to commit the rest of your lives to raising, who, for all intents and purposes, will come to know you as his parents."
Caroline shifted uncomfortably on the sofa for a moment as she seemed to be struggling to find what she wanted to say or ask.
"What if one of us wanted to take Grayson on our own?" Caroline wondered.
His neck snapped around as he gaped at her.
He knew exactly what she was implying.
"Or both?" he added, staring Stefan down for an answer.
Caroline eyed him suspiciously.
"Well both of you are listed, so I would just set up a court hearing to grant you temporary custody and that would be it," Stefan shrugged.
"Temporary custody?" Caroline asked.
Stefan nodded.
"There's a six month trial period that is usually enacted in cases like these. In the six months, CPS will conduct a series of random house calls and interviews to judge your suitability. If it all goes well and custody is not contested within that time, then at the end of the six months, a judge will grant you permanent custody," Stefan described.
They both sat there quietly as Stefan flipped over some of the pages awkwardly.
"Look, I advised Elena and Elijah against listing you both when we drew up the will, but they insisted upon it. Clearly they wanted you both to play a significant role in Grayson's life in the event that they both were unable to. Again, you don't have to make any immediate decisions. Take some time to think about it and discuss it with each other. It's a big responsibility," Stefan said.
He stared away into the family room distantly as he struggled to digest all the information that was just given to him.
Elena and Elijah wanted him to be in Grayson's life. They wanted him to be a father figure to their son in the event that they were no longer here.
He felt lightheaded.
Stefan put his copy of the will back in the folder and placed it back in his briefcase before snapping it shut. He stood up from his chair and smiled at them both sympathetically.
"The details of Elena and Elijah's financial information are included with what I gave you. Once you provide the bank with death certificates the bank will freeze the majority of their accounts until you obtain a grant of probate as the executors. However, they did have a payable-on-death account set up and any money in that account will be transferred to you as beneficiaries to handle immediate costs, such as the funeral...lawyer's fees," Stefan said in an effort to inject some humour into the situation.
He scoffed with a smirk as he stood.
"I thought you did pro bono work, mate?" he chuckled.
Stefan shrugged.
"Keep that to yourself," Stefan winked.
Caroline stood with Grayson.
"I hate to leave so soon, but I have another meeting to get to," Stefan said as he headed for the front hall.
He followed as Caroline leaned in the entryway behind them.
"Just take a look at the will, think about what I said regarding the custody, and let me know if you have any questions. Once you've made some decisions, we'll go from there. I'll keep you updated on all the legal stuff in the meantime," Stefan finished, as he stood by the door. "Keep me posted on the funeral details," he added.
"We will," he affirmed.
"Thanks for all your help, Stefan," Caroline said.
Stefan gave him a quick bro hug before nodding towards Caroline and Grayson.
"Give me a call if you want to talk or meet up," Stefan offered to him as he opened the front door.
"I will," he told him.
He shut the door as Stefan walked out.
Again, he and Caroline were left in the thick of their own awkwardness.
She looked at him without a word, as if waiting for him to bring up the new elephant in the room; Elena and Elijah's custody wishes for Grayson.
First his brother and sister-in-law die in a horrible accident, and now he's supposed to become an instant father overnight. His entire life was in flux and it was unsettling.
"I need a cigarette, and then perhaps a drink," he stated, walking by her for the kitchen.
He heard her scoff from behind him, but he disregarded it.
The walls were closing in on him and he could feel it. It was a claustrophobic suffocating feeling.
There was an unrelenting weight on his shoulders.
He had the immediate urge to detach himself from the situation, so that's what he did. He grabbed his jacket and left the house. It was just after lunch now. He supposed attending the pub wouldn't hurt.
Planning to indulge in a few drinks, despite his hangover, he made the fifteen minute walk to the Grill rather than driving.
His phone sounded once on the way there. At first, he anticipated it to be Caroline, wondering where he had scampered off to, but it was a text from Kol. He had landed in New York and was waiting for Bonnie to meet him at the airport.
There were a few missed calls from Bekah and Finn, but he made no effort to return them. He was in no mood to talk.
Not surprisingly, neither of his parents had made an attempt to call him. Then again, he wasn't even sure if they had his cell number to begin with.
The bar area of the Grill was virtually empty. Most of the patrons were here for lunch and seated in the dining area.
He took a seat on one of the bar chairs and waited for one of the waitresses - the blonde or brunette - to come take his order.
The brunette approached.
"Scotch on the rocks," he practically groaned as he leaned his elbows against the bar surface.
"You're a new face," she observed as she fixed his drink, "a face that's far from home judging by your accent."
He shrugged.
"Does it matter?" he asked rudely.
She shrugged back as she pushed him his drink.
"Well my brother just bought this place a month or so ago. It's simply good customer service to get to know the people you depend on for business," she stated.
He eyed her figure appraisingly and noted her nametag.
"Well...Vicki, expect me to be a very frequent customer," he mused, before taking a swig of his drink.
She gave him a half-smile.
"Scotch isn't a very popular lunch-hour drink," she probed.
"Well, love, it's five o'clock somewhere," he smirked, helping himself to more of the amber liquor.
She laughed and gave him an understanding nod.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked.
He shook his head.
"Not particularly," he said glaringly.
"Well, let me know when you need another," she sighed as she started for another customer.
He lost himself in the sway of her hips for a brief second before returning to his glass guiltily. The last thing he was supposed to be doing was chasing tail when his brother had just died less than a day ago.
Grief sex was probably no worse than grief drinking though, he supposed.
He kept his head low as he polished off his first drink. Sure, it had been awhile since he lived here last, but he was not in the mood to be recognized, nor was he in the mood to be hounded with sympathy - assuming that news about the accident had travelled around town by now.
Vicki had come by once silently, sliding him another drink, which he gratefully accepted.
Given that the Grill was the only pub in town, he had become a regular here prior to his departure for New York.
He had spent quite some time in this bar back in the day, he reminisced. His twenty-first birthday was spent getting shit-faced at this very bar and then puking everything back up in the alley a few hours later. Elijah had been partially responsible for that.
It was a struggle to hold back a smile as he thought about how Elijah openly laughed at him as he spilled his guts out onto the pavement. That had been Elijah's intent all along that night. He denied that he would be puking by the end of the night and Elijah had taken that as a challenge.
Of course, by that point none of the girls he had been flirting with wanted anything to do with him.
If he hadn't been so blitzed that night or hungover the next morning, he probably would have kicked the shit out of Elijah for being so obnoxious. Elijah was the doctor, he was the obnoxious one.
He was the obnoxious and free-spirited one, and yet Elena and Elijah decided that they wanted him to be Grayson's guardian...well one of them.
Caroline, he thought. He was supposed to raise Grayson with Caroline - a scorned ex-lover who probably wanted nothing to do with him, let alone share custody of a child with him.
How could they be parents together? How would the logistics of everything even work?
Like Stefan had mentioned, he guessed it was no different than what a separated couple would have to determine. People did it all the time.
Admittedly, co-parenting and logistics weren't his only concerns.
He glanced around the bar and his mind drifted back to the angel in white he had encountered here in this place two Valentine's Days ago.
She had plagued his thoughts every day since he left her. No, she wasn't on his mind all the time, but in the most random moments she would become the centre of his attention. It was frustrating to say the least. Sometimes the thoughts made him feel unbearably guilty and others made him feel unbearably horny. He compared every woman he met to her. Hell, sometimes he had even imagined her while he was fucking them.
When he had come to Mystic Falls last September to see Grayson, he had secretly hoped they would cross paths, but they never did, and he made no effort to. He was too chicken shit after how he left things...or left her the previous February.
Now when he was trying to do what was best for himself, he was being pushed back in her direction.
In spite of the fact that his mind couldn't seem to shake her, he knew that staying away from one another was the best thing for both of them.
Staying away from her, however, would be difficult to do if they were going to raise Grayson together.
How was he supposed to forget her if she became a big part of Grayson's life?
He didn't want to put Grayson in the middle of that. He didn't deserve it.
Then again, he was sure his thoughts of her were entirely one-sided. Nothing would come of them because he wouldn't let it, and she certainly wouldn't either. He doubted she thought of him much at all, and if she did, he couldn't imagine the thoughts were pleasant.
Who would've thought that after a sort of antagonistic relationship during their formative years, and a brief sexual relationship a year ago, that the both of them would be contemplating their future together with Grayson?
Aside from the complicated dynamic with Caroline, Grayson was his foremost concern.
If he accepted his role as guardian, his life would change forever.
He would have a child that depended on him; a child that he would be responsible for financially, physiologically, emotionally, in every way.
He was barely responsible on his own. How could he be responsible for a child? He was far from fatherly material. He didn't exactly have the best role model...but then neither had Elijah.
Children were a completely foreign concept to him - especially babies.
He took measures to ensure that he wouldn't be in this position, and yet, a backdoor loophole had still seen to it that he would now be confronted with fatherhood.
Having children of his own hadn't even entered his mind. While the notion of having a permanent family of his own was a romantic afterthought for the very distant future, he couldn't foresee staying with one woman long enough now for it to ever become a reality.
Perhaps taking guardianship of Grayson was a way to avoid all the red tape. It was unconventional, but like Stefan had said, people made it work.
He shook his head.
How was he even considering this? He didn't know the first thing about raising a baby.
Moreover, he didn't even want kids at this point in his life. He wasn't even thirty yet. He was in the prime of his life. He didn't want to spend his weekends in changing diapers and reading bedtime stories. He wanted to explore and conquer. There were still places he wanted to see and people he wanted to meet. A baby on his hip was not necessarily conducive to those aspirations.
His lifestyle was entirely incompatible with raising a baby.
He didn't have a nine-to-five job. His life as an artist compelled him to keep odd hours. He had no stable and consistent source of income. His shoebox apartment offered no space for a growing boy.
Not even considering Caroline, how could he make this work?
Sweat began to form on his forehead as his anxiety over the whole matter began to grow.
He couldn't do this.
This was a human life he was considering. This wasn't like he was adopting a puppy. He was certain that he would fail Grayson on some level.
The idea of him with a baby was insane and he couldn't figure out Elijah and Elena's reasoning.
Moreover, the idea of him and Caroline raising a baby was ludicrous.
Grayson deserved better than him. That's why he was Elijah's son and not his.
He knew he needed to surrender his rights to custody, but that decision kept slipping through his fingers.
How could he not fulfill his brother's final wishes? How could he not at least try?
This is what Elijah wanted, or he wouldn't have stated it so in the will.
Could he just turn his back on his brother and sister-in-law like that?
Surely they had to have known how he would react to the prospect of being Grayson's guardian in the event of their deaths.
Had they not considered someone else for the task?
Caroline, a small voice reminded him.
He downed his second drink and rubbed his neck nervously.
Suddenly, the only thing that he could hear was the ceaseless chatter of the other patrons, most notably, children.
He shuddered and quickly ordered one more drink from the fiery brunette.
"So are you going to tell me what brings you to Mystic Falls?" she asked as she poured the drink in front of him.
She flashed him a flirtatious smirk.
Humouring her wouldn't hurt, he supposed.
"Family matters," he said vaguely.
She raised an eyebrow.
"You have family here?" she wondered, obviously confused by his accent.
"I grew up here with my siblings," he revealed, indirectly correcting her assumptions. "My sister-in-law grew up here."
"You're married then?" she asked, a grain of disappointment rolling off her tongue.
He laughed as he purposely picked the glass up with his left hand
"No love, my brother is...was," he sighed.
She nodded understandingly.
"Divorce? Is that the family matter?" she wondered.
Now he was beginning to grow annoyed with her intrusive questions. Why had he even bothered?
"Something like that," he muttered before downing his drink in one final go.
"Who is your brother?" she asked. "Maybe I know him."
He scowled under his breath as he stood up from the bar chair.
"Doubtful," he replied.
She gave him a faint smile and he laughed to himself. It amazed him how pathetic some women were. He had really been nothing but rude to her and yet she was already eating out of the palm of his hand.
He reached into his coat pocket for his wallet and laid a few bills out on the counter.
"Well thanks for the drinks and the idle chit chat," he said with a subtle sarcastic tone.
"See you soon," she grinned.
Once his back was to her he rolled his eyes with an amused grin.
Perhaps his temporary stay in Mystic Falls wouldn't be all doom and gloom after all.
She was in the middle of mopping the floor and conducting a phone conversation with the funeral director when Klaus pushed the backdoor open.
"I'm sorry, can I call you back to confirm the appointment time for tomorrow?" she asked the director as she stared Klaus down.
"Sure, not a problem," Mr. Kipp, the funeral director assured her.
"Thanks," she said quickly as she ended the call and ditched the phone on the counter.
Klaus slipped off his jacket and shoes silently, as though she wasn't even in the room.
"Where have you been? I've been trying to get a hold of you for the past hour!" she demanded stressfully as she continued to mop the floor.
He stepped around the table and she held her hand out to stop him.
"Don't walk there...I just," she protested.
It was too late. He already stepped across the part she had just cleaned.
She sighed under her breath in frustration as she looked at him expectantly.
"I was out," he said vaguely.
It wasn't hard to smell the cigarettes and liquor on him.
"I guess I should have just known to call down to the Grill then if I wanted to talk to you," she said sarcastically.
He shrugged as he moved past her and went for the cabinet of liquor.
"Seriously?" she hissed. "I've tried to be understanding and accommodating. I know the pain you're going through because I'm going through it too, but while you were out wallowing, I was wondering where the hell you were so we could make some decisions," she chided him.
He said nothing.
"While you were gone I was struggling to put your nephew to sleep, I had to deal with sympathy phone calls from strangers. I had to handle calls from your brother and your parents. I was trying to make arrangements with the funeral director. I've been rushing to get the house cleaned before your brother and Bonnie arrive. I've been taking care of Grayson," she sighed in exasperation. "I'm trying to get all this stuff done, and where were you the entire time?"
With his back facing her, he removed a bottle from the cabinet and unscrewed the cap.
He took a swig as he turned around seemingly unimpressed.
"I'll deal with Kol and your parents even. I'll make all the funeral arrangements if you don't want to, but I can't do all of that on top of taking care of Grayson," she complained, pointing to Grayson in the playpen in the family room, "all while making sure the house is clean. I need you to help me."
"Just stop!" he spat. "Stop hounding me. Nobody asked you to talk to my brother. Nobody asked you to talk to my parents," he hissed as he slammed the bottle onto the dining table. "Nobody asked you to stress over funeral arrangements and nobody asked you to clean the damn floor," he growled, ripping the mop handle from her hands and tossing it aside.
His outburst alarmed her, but she knew the place it was coming from. He was hurting; so was she. He needed to get it out.
She was shaking from anger and sadness.
"Who's going to if I don't? You?" she said critically with an arched eyebrow and glassy eyes. "Who's going to take care of Grayson? Can you raise a child? You haven't even held him since you got here. You may have been able to run from things that scared you in the past, but you can't do that this time. Not with a baby," she said bitterly. "You can't just leave every time it gets hard."
She could see Klaus's jaw clench.
Grayson started to cry and she looked over at him sympathetically and guiltily.
"Elijah and Elena certainly aren't here to do any of it now. I know that fact hurts because it hurts me," she stammered emotionally, "but they're dead and we need to face that reality whether we're ready to or not. We need to take responsibility."
He glanced over at Grayson and took another drink.
"So what are we supposed to do hmm? Just pretend like nothing happened? Pretend like we're some happy family?" he sneered. "Have you even thought for one second what that would mean?" he demanded. "What Grayson would mean for your career or your personal life?" he specified.
She scoffed at him and raised her eyebrows.
"Why are you trying so hard to convince me not to do the right thing?" she retorted furiously.
"I'm not trying to convince you not to do the right thing. I'm just trying to look out for Grayson," he said defensively.
She rolled her eyes dismissively.
"I think you're trying to look out for you, Klaus. I think you're trying to look out for what Grayson would mean for your career and your philandering personal life," she snapped.
"No, I'm trying to do what's best for him," he protested, pointing his hand holding the bottle in Grayson's direction, "and we're not it."
She winced.
"Then who is? Bonnie and Kol knee deep in student debt and incomplete degrees? Elena's aunt and uncle who she really had no relationship with? Your brother Finn and Sage who already have two kids and live an ocean away? Your parents?" she finished, knowing that mention of his parents would sting the most, even without an explanation.
Klaus avoided eye contact with her, staring down at the floor.
She had a feeling she had affected him more than she had anticipated.
His body was trembling.
"Who else does Grayson have?" she continued. "Because the only two people I see in this house with him right now are you and me," she snapped. "Elijah and Elena loved Grayson more than anything and they picked us to take care of him; they picked us. That may not mean something to you, but it means something to me. Whether you want to honour their wishes or not is your choice, but I've made mine, and I'm not leaving that baby boy," she stated firmly with tears falling from her eyes as she brushed by him for Grayson.
She picked Grayson up from the playpen.
"If you don't want to be a part of this, if you don't even want anything to do with the immediate funeral arrangements, then I'll do it all, it's fine, but then don't hang around here moping acting like you have some bigger emotional burden to bear than the rest of us," she muttered as she past him again and brought Grayson into the kitchen, knowing it was probably time for him to be fed again.
Klaus scoffed in frustration before entering the family room and falling against the couch in defeat.
Closing her eyes forced a few tears down her cheeks.
She said what had to be said. He needed to hear it, she tried to convince herself.
There were decisions that needed to be made and neither of them had the luxury now of tuning out. She had tried to be accommodating initially, empathetic to his pain, but she could only extend herself so far. If he was going to be involved, then he needed to be involved. He couldn't dwell on things and shirk his responsibilities.
She was prepared to take care of Grayson and the house, but she was not going to take care of him, too.
Elena and Elijah's deaths had left her just as distraught as him, but the world didn't stop turning because of it, and she knew she had to move forward for her and Grayson's sakes.
He would have to move forward too if he was going to honour Elijah and Elena's wishes.
If he wasn't prepared to do that, then she'd just prefer him to extract himself from the situation and leave, much like he had with her a year ago.
"There you go Grayson, just hang on and I'll get you your bottle," she said lowly as she put him in his highchair.
She scolded herself for even alluding subtly to their weekend together a year ago in her spiel to him. It was a moment of weakness that she had let slip. Her current frustration with him had confounded with the resentful feelings she still harboured against him over that weekend and she used it to lash out. She could only hope he hadn't caught on. She didn't want him to know how he affected her then. She didn't want to be confronted by her naivety any more than she already had been in the last year.
That weekend was firmly in her past. She had no right to be upset. She knew exactly what she was getting herself into then. She didn't want to drudge it up again as though she was still hurt by it, but being confronted by him now stirred resentment inside her she thought had been long buried. If she no longer felt slighted by it, then why did she mention it?
What if Klaus decided to come around? What if he decided to uphold the whole of Elena and Elijah's wishes and be a part of Grayson's life like she had already committed to? If being confronted by him for a day affected her like this, then how would anything longer impact her? She quickly disregarded her concerns.
She would have to get over it. She would put their differences aside for Grayson's sake. She couldn't hold Klaus's presence in Grayson's life against him. He had every right to be here as she did, if he wanted to be. She could learn to befriend him. Oppositely, if she could avoid hating him, she could avoid making the same mistake she had made a year ago.
That said, she didn't think she would have to worry about that because Klaus didn't seem the slightest bit interested in fulfilling his obligations set forth in Elena and Elijah's will anyways.
His back was to her as he sat on the couch with the television on.
She gritted her teeth as her frustration and anger towards him began to grow again.
This frustration was only enhanced by the fact that the volume of the television and Grayson's screams were in competition with one another.
Her head was pounding.
She got Grayson a clean bottle and retrieved the milk from the refrigerator. The only had one more container of Elena's milk left. She would have to make a point of looking up instructions for unthawing frozen breast milk properly. Perhaps she would try the baby food with him again tonight.
Grayson's cries continued and she hurriedly poured some milk into the bottle.
With it filled and ready, she wanted to let it sit for a minute because Grayson seemed to prefer it at room temperature, but his cries were incessant.
She turned with the container of milk to put it back in the fridge and everything from there seemed to go in slow motion. The container hit the bag of goodies she had left untouched and that bag tipped over and fell against the vase of roses, spilling out its contents. She gasped as the glass vase was knocked over onto the counter, pouring water everywhere. The force of the push caused the glass cylinder to roll off the counter, shattering instantly upon impact and scattering the drenched roses.
"Fuck," she cried, forgetting about a sobbing Grayson in the room.
He couldn't hear her curse over his cries anyways.
Her face went red as the stress of this and everything else seemed to boil over.
She could see Klaus jump up from the couch in the family room through her peripheral vision.
Uncontrollable tears began to pour from her eyes as she let the weight of everything overwhelm her.
She put the milk back in the fridge and crouched down in a panic, trying to reclaim the roses amidst the glass.
Klaus was behind her picking up a few wayward junk food items.
He knelt down beside her.
"Caroline, let me help you," he offered. "There's glass all over the floor," he said, brushing his hand against her shoulder.
"Don't touch me," she barked, standing up with some of the roses in hand.
He followed suit.
"Just leave it alone," she muttered. "I'll clean it up."
She picked up the bottle off the counter and brought it to a furious Grayson.
He accepted the bottle nonetheless and his cries quickly started to subside.
Klaus was busy picking up the remaining roses and placing them on the dry side of the counter.
"I said I'd do it," she muttered. "I don't need your help."
"But I..."
- "Klaus please, just go," she sighed miserably, wiping a wet hand over her forehead.
He lingered across from her on the other side of the island for a few moments questioningly, as though he expected to recant her outburst or relent and ask for his help.
Her eyes reaffirmed her demands and with that, he finally left the kitchen, returning for the family room.
With the roses and the food all picked up, she took a moment to dry her eyes and calm herself before starting on the pieces of glass.
Once she was satisfied all the glass had been retrieved and discarded, she used a dry rag from the sink cupboard to soak up the water.
She found another vase - a plastic one this time - for the roses and placed them in the corner on the counter by the sink.
By the time everything was cleaned up Grayson had nearly polished off his entire bottle.
She took a few deep breaths and smiled at him.
As long as Grayson's needs were met at the end of the day, that's what mattered. That's what she had to concentrate on. If he was satisfied and happy, then she would be satisfied and happy.
A/N: Did Caroline have enough of an effect on Klaus? Will he come around in the next chapter? What will happen when Bonnie and Kol arrive? Expect more of Caroline's perspective on things to be revealed along with Klaus's reaction to their confrontation. Don't worry, there's more Klaroline, too! Stay tuned.
In the mean time, let me know what you think so far!