Thank you to honestgrins for her encouragement. This is an "extra" chapter that wasn't originally planned, so it's not beta'd or looked over. I hope it reads well anyway ;)
Chapter VII: Killing Me Slow
"Good evening," Klaus greeted, lingering by Bill's office door until the man waved him in.
"Klaus! Good, good. I've been expecting you."
Bill didn't get up from his desk, something that made Klaus chafe a bit until he caught sight of the walker by the desk and remembered that the man was growing more frail by the day. He walked over and set the three vials of medicine Caroline had asked him to bring on the desk and set it down before sinking into the chair across from Bill at the desk. "Caroline asked me to bring these to you, since you summoned me."
He watched as Bill nodded, his hands shaking slightly as he inspected all three vials before drinking them. He couldn't blame the man. Being poisoned was quite possibly one of his worst nightmares, and not knowing who'd done it would have made him even more paranoid than Bill appeared to be. He supposed that Bill knowing he'd die no matter what would lower the threshold for paranoia, but it was still a surprise to see him so easily drink the medicine he'd brought.
Bill folded his hands in front of him on the desk, his eyes piercing as he surveyed Klaus, scanning him up and down. "How was the honeymoon?"
"Good. I believe Caroline enjoyed herself."
"Good, good," Bill said, sounding a bit distracted. "And you've talked over your job at the company with her, then?"
"She's less opposed than she used to be, though I'm sure if she had her way she'd procure a time-turner and do everything herself."
Bill chuckled, his laugh quite similar to Caroline's when she allowed him to see it. "You're right. I have no doubt she would," he said, waving his wand at the cabinet to make bourbon pour itself into two tumblers and levitating them to the desk, offering Klaus one. He took it, taking a sip, watching as Bill did the same. He'd thought that the man wasn't allowed to drink. "One of my indulgences," Bill said, answering his unasked question. "I trust you won't tell my daughter?"
"It'll remain between us," Klaus promised, privately wondering why on earth he'd tell Caroline. It wouldn't do to make her even more frazzled about the man's health. Watching Caroline fret over her father had been a bit stressful for him, truth be told. He so disliked seeing her in any kind of pain, and the dwindling time she had left with her father was wearing on her. He'd sworn to himself he'd find the killer, would deliver her their head, or at least make them disappear.
He had his suspicions of who it was, and after meeting Damon at the wedding, he was at the top of the list.
"I wanted to speak with you a bit more about your position."
"What about it?"
"Caroline may have informed you of this, but it's likely that she'll take up the mantle of what I've done, which is the general management and organization, deciding which way the company is going big picture, and such. You'll be taking on many of her previous responsibilities. Parties, fundraisers, signing the checks so that she doesn't have to go through them, and networking with buyers and suppliers. You'll also likely have to do some things that she hasn't been responsible for." He paused, glancing at the liquid in his glass as it sloshed a bit before setting it down, steepling his fingers in front of him. "In my...state, I haven't been able to track down vendors who have disappointed us or other...enemies. That will be your job, as well. Caroline's never been one for mess, and I'd prefer that she keep her hands relatively clean. You understand, I'm sure?"
"I do," Klaus said quietly, already thinking how lovely Caroline could look taking care of things herself, how pretty she'd look with their enemies' blood smeared on her cheek before she kissed him.
Bill paused for a moment, clearly weighing his words before he spoke again. "I'd prefer to be blunt with you, Klaus. After all, I don't have the luxury of time to dance around my thoughts."
"Of course."
"I know that you're dangerous," Bill said quietly. "Caroline's a good judge of character, and when I told her I'd arranged you for her match, it was obvious that she was scared."
"I would never hurt your daughter," Klaus said easily, taking a sip of brandy as he weighed his words. "You needn't worry about that."
Not unless she allowed it.
"Good," Bill said with a sharp nod. "But I want you to promise that you'll protect her. That you'll do everything you can to keep her safe. Due to the nature of our business, her life is always at risk in some way or another. I know that I can't control anything after my death, but I can hope you'll keep your word."
"I will do everything in my power to ensure she is kept safe. I can give you my word on that."
That was, after all, what the horcrux was for. He simply couldn't risk the possibility of Caroline being taken away from him. He would keep her by his side, safe and sound. Forever.
XXX
"Aurora," Klaus greeted, dipping his head in a nod. Her glossed lips pulled into a slight smirk as her eyes darted between him and Caroline, her spine straight.
"Hello," she said. her tone sickeningly sweet. "It's nice to see you. It's been a while."
"How have you been?" Caroline asked, the coolness of her tone unmistakable despite her clear attempt to remain neutral.
"Oh, just fine. You?"
"We're doing well," Klaus said, tugging Caroline closer to him, his arm snug around her waist, hand resting on her hip.
"I'm sorry that I couldn't make it to the wedding," Aurora said without sincerity. "I had pressing matters to attend to."
"Not a problem at all. Seriously."
Aurora had never been good at hiding what she was thinking, and it was clear that she was offended.
"I do hope you enjoyed your honeymoon? Where did you end up going?"
"We went to Oahu," Caroline said, clearly reluctant to share anything with Aurora. "It was really romantic."
"Oahu? Just one city?"
"It's not a city. It's an island."
Aurora waved her hand dismissively. "Right. Well, I'm sure you had fun on your trip. Remember when you took me to Paris, Klaus? Just the two of us? It was so romantic."
"I do recall," he said coolly. He felt Caroline's hand tighten around his for a fraction of a second before she relaxed. He frowned. Was she jealous?
Excellent.
"We decided against Paris because of the cliche of it," Caroline said, her tone saccharine. "I'm sure we'll make it over one day, but we wanted to have some time to relax by ourselves, you know? We went to some nice dinners and hung out a lot by the pool. Klaus gives the most amazing massages."
"Oh, I know," Aurora purred, and he knew what she was about to say before she even began to talk. "I used to get them as rewards."
Klaus pressed his lips together in a thin line. Her rewards had never been anything so intimate, and he could tell she was trying to bait him into correcting her.
Caroline frowned, clearly about to ask Aurora what the hell she was talking about, but he interrupted before she could, hoping to smooth things over, extending bait to Aurora he knew she wouldn't be able to resist. "The company is looking into contributing to your family's foundation, but I'm afraid I don't remember much about it. Would you mind giving me a bit of a refresher over appetizers while Caroline touches base with some of our suppliers?"
Aurora's eyes lit up at the prospect of getting him alone, as he knew they would, and she nodded eagerly. "I'd love to."
Caroline seemed suspicious, likely because of the abrupt subject change, but she allowed him to kiss her on the cheek and promised to catch up with him in a few minutes. He gestured for Aurora to precede him to the appetizer table. Crisis averted.
"So, what do you want to know?" Aurora asked softly, looking up at him through thick lashes with wide, faux-innocent eyes.
"Whether you want your head on a pike in the middle of Diagon Alley," he said coolly.
She froze for a moment before relaxing, a mischievous smile growing on her face. "Oh, she doesn't know?"
He debated giving her a harsh 'not your business, love', but Aurora would take that as a no and likely corner Caroline to inform her. Best to be vague and keep an eye on her for the rest of the night to ensure she didn't wander too close to his wife. "I hardly think it's a subject you should stick your nose in, love," he said, softening his language slightly but punctuating it with a warning glance that should have made Aurora's blood run cold had she any sense.
Unfortunately, Aurora had never been one for common sense.
"Aww, Klaus, what's a good bit of gossip between ex-lovers?" Aurora cooed. "If she's as frigid as I remember, you're free to call me up once she's popped out her heir and spare for a little fun."
"Never speak about Caroline again. I'm perfectly content to rip out your tongue and make it look like you had an accident," Klaus said softly. "Don't test me, Aurora. You won't like the result."
Aurora pouted, her brows pulled into a deep frown. "Don't be mean, I'm just-" she cut herself off abruptly when she saw the look on his face, his magic unfurling around him to lick at the edges of her skin, burning it slightly.
"Don't test me," he repeated, his voice soft. "I'm even less likely to be lenient as I was when you were warming my bed."
He smirked when Aurora looked suitably uncomfortable, her eyes growing wider as she seemed to realize that she was in actual danger, and he was about to tell her to go mingle away from them when Caroline appeared by his shoulder.
"Hey, babe," she said brightly, her nails digging into his skin like a brand when she touched his arm, the height of her heels allowing her to easily press her lips to his stubbled cheek. "Having fun?"
From anyone else he would have bristled at the petname, likely accompanying his displeasure with a jinx thrown in their direction, but coming from Caroline it felt different. She was marking him for Aurora's benefit, staking her claim and making it perfectly clear where things stood. She wouldn't know this, but Aurora had attempted to call him 'darling' exactly once, in private, and it hadn't turned out well for her. The jealousy and rage he could see building in the pretty former pastime's expression at being replaced was satisfying in a schadenfreudian way, and the fact that it was Caroline doing the reminding was deeply satisfying.
"Just catching up," Klaus said easily, knowing Caroline would deduce from Aurora's expression exactly what had happened.
"Well, if you're done, I have someone I want you to meet," Caroline said, her hand sliding down his arm to lace her fingers with his, squeezing lightly.
"Oh, we're done here," Klaus said softly, glancing at Aurora, who looked a bit shaken at what had just transpired. He couldn't resist bending to press a light kiss to Caroline's lips before telling her to lead the way.
"What did she mean by rewards?" Caroline asked quietly once they'd wandered to a more private area.
"She was just trying to rile you up," Klaus said easily. It wasn't a lie, not really.
"Yeah, I could tell, but it's a weird way of doing it. Bragging about you giving her massages? Who cares."
He bit back his urge to point out that she clearly did care, that she was jealous and that it was incredibly satisfying. That might set them back, and he wanted to her to realize she desired him on her own. No need to bring out her stubbornness, as much as he did enjoy it.
"Don't let her get to you, love."
"I'm not," Caroline said sharply. "She just sucks anyway, and I don't like her."
"Of course, sweetheart."
"And don't give any money to her charity. I don't want a single sickle of mine in her hands."
"As you wish, love," he said, stroking her knuckle with his thumb, trying to soothe her ruffled feathers.
She huffed, tugging her hand away. "Let's just go talk to some vendors so we can leave."
XXX
"Wine?"
"Yes, please," Caroline said, holding out her hand for the glass Bonnie handed her and wriggling her fingers, excited to decompress.
"Enzo?" Bonnie offered, holding up the wine bottle.
"Better not. Technically I am bodyguarding."
"I'm not about to get attacked in Bonnie's house, Enzo," Caroline said with a roll of her eyes. "You can totally have some wine."
"And if I escort you back even the slightest bit inebriated, your new husband would object, I think."
"Don't worry, I'd save you from the big scary Lord," Caroline teased, taking a sip of her wine and scooting over so that Bonnie could sit beside her with her own. "He mostly listens to me for some reason. It's refreshing."
Bonnie snorted. "Maybe because he's obsessed with you."
Caroline shrugged. "I guess. But it worked out."
"Indeed it did," Enzo said, beginning to put his feet on the coffee table and recoiling at Bonnie's harsh glare. "We can just scourgify the smudges."
"Not on my antique coffee table you can't," Bonnie said firmly. "And Kai will lose his mind if you ruin anything."
"I suppose I'd best save you from your own little psychopath," Enzo said airily, lacing his fingers behind his head. "Honestly, I don't understand why you two can't see normal blokes. I have friends who are nice, you know. I could set you up."
Bonnie held up her hand and wriggled her fingers, pointedly drawing attention to the diamond on her finger. They hadn't started to plan their wedding yet, but Caroline was totally pumped to be a kickass maid of honor.
"And I'm already married," Caroline reminded him, trying to keep her tone upbeat. "And Klaus has made it clear that he's into monogamy."
"And have you two sealed the monogamous deal, then?" Bonnie asked, her eyebrows raised. Caroline pressed her lips together, glaring at her friend as she sipped her wine.
"Not yet," she said slowly. "I'm...I don't know. He definitely would, but I guess I'm not ready."
"Not ready?"
Caroline sighed, her eyes fixed on her glass as she swirled the wine around gently. "I mean, we'll have to eventually, obviously. But I guess I'm worried if I do, I'll like, catch feelings."
Bonnie grimaced. "Yeah, that could be a problem. He's not exactly a cuddly bunny."
"To play devil's advocate," Enzo began slowly, pressing on at both girls shooting him their own brand of 'what the fuck' looks. "You are married. I don't see why having feelings for your husband would be a problem, gorgeous. Isn't that the ideal scenario?"
Caroline shrugged, her lips pressed together. "I mean, if he wasn't a sociopath, yeah. But he'll never have feelings for me the way I might for him. I don't want to open myself up to him using me, you know? He already basically is for my money. I don't want to be a pathetic little girl who pines that he uses whenever he wants, you know?"
"I hardly think you'll pine," Enzo said dryly. "And from what I've seen, he's rather fond of you."
"He's just performing," Caroline said grumpily. "No one's supposed to know we're arranged, remember?"
"I don't know," Bonnie said slowly. "I mean, he was pretty into you at school."
"Yeah, in a creepy way! He nearly murdered his roommate."
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks," Enzo drawled.
Caroline huffed. "I mean, you're literally suggesting I jump into bed with a guy who could never have feelings for me. I'm terrible at casual, you know that."
"To be clear, I'm not. I think he's dangerous," Bonnie said. "But, as I've said before, I still don't think a marriage qualifies as a casual relationship."
"To be fair, from what I've seen, your concerns aren't entirely baseless," Enzo said, exchanging a significant look with Caroline. "He's quite short with staff. It's possible I've seen a few jinxes nearly miss, and I suspect they missed on purpose."
"Ugh. I should have expected that. I'll have a talk with him."
"I think the fact that you're not surprised by him assaulting his employees tells you everything you need to know about whether you should sleep with him," Bonnie said firmly. "There's no reason to put yourself in that situation. I know you've said he insisted on monogamy, but this is your choice. Tell him to get a mistress if he wants to get some."
Caroline resisted the urge to grimace. After the party with Aurora, just the thought of someone else touching Klaus had started to make her skin crawl. She could admit, at least in the privacy of her own thoughts, that she'd been a little bit jealous. A little bit possessive. And she'd been telling herself it was only natural. Sure, she didn't like Klaus or anything, but he was still her husband. Emphasis on hers. She'd never liked sharing, and the idea of giving Klaus the okay to open their relationship, especially when he didn't seem to want to, felt weird. Weird in a bad way.
"Why are you making that face, gorgeous?"
Maybe she hadn't done enough to shield her thoughts. Must be the wine. "I'm not making any faces," Caroline said sullenly, taking another sip anyway. In for a knut, in for a galleon.
"Care, do you think you might like him already?" Bonnie asked gently.
"No," Caroline lied. "Absolutely not."
"You're sure?" Enzo asked, finally reaching to splash the last bit of wine in the bottle into his glass.
Caroline tried to look like she suddenly found the engravings in the coffee table fascinating, studiously avoiding Enzo's gaze. "Yes. I don't want to. He's dangerous."
"Well then, if you don't feel safe or you don't want to have sex with him, obviously don't," Bonnie said firmly. "I'm not advocating sleeping with him when you don't want to. I just feel like from what you've said, you don't not want to, especially after what you told me about the honeymoon."
Caroline bit her lip before taking another sip of wine, painfully aware that she needed to pace herself lest her lips get too loose. Bonnie and Enzo were her best friends, but they couldn't know everything. "Yeah. It was really...nice. To have a vacation, I mean. Even if it was with him. I haven't changed my mind about who he is, but I definitely trust him more," Caroline admitted.
"Well, maybe play it by ear?" Bonnie suggested.
"If I play it by ear I might not last much longer, honestly."
"Yeah?"
"I mean, we're sleeping in the same bed, so we're cuddling all the time," Caroline said with a shrug, trying to sound casual.
Bonnie looked thoughtful, setting her wine glass on the table and leaning back to look at Caroline, her expression understanding. "Well, maybe you don't need to last. Honestly, as much as I don't trust him, he seems to have a soft spot for you."
"So you are advocating sleeping for him."
"No, we are advocating doing what makes you happy, even if it's with Klaus Mikaelson," Bonnie said, glancing at Enzo with a significant, prompting look. "Right, Enzo?"
"Right," he agreed.
"But if anything happens that makes you uncomfortable, call me," Bonnie added, her expression serious. "Promise?"
Caroline smiled in spite of herself. Bonnie's Hufflepuff loyalty always made her feel all warm and fuzzy. "Promise."
Enzo opened his mouth to respond, probably to echo Bonnie's sentiments, but he was interrupted by a popping sound outside the door, a key turning in the lock a moment later. Kai walked in, snowflakes still clinging to his hair. He gave Caroline and Enzo a nod, reaching to unclasp his robe and hang it up by the door. "Hey."
"Hey," Bonnie said, her face lighting up. Kai walked over to bend and press a kiss to the top of her head, his hand settling on her shoulder for a moment, his thumb brushing against her collarbone. "How are you doing?"
He shrugged. "Just fine, Bon. Having a party?"
"Just a wine night," Caroline said, holding up her glass. "You can join us?"
"He was planning on flooing Jo tonight," Bonnie said brightly. "They're trying to reconcile now that she's pregnant."
Kai didn't look happy at the reminder, but he murmured an affirmative and bent to give Bonnie another kiss. "Once the call's over, I can pick up dinner if Caroline and Enzo are staying?"
Caroline sighed, staring longingly at the half-full bottle of wine on the coffee table. "I think I probably have to go deal with work stuff."
"Ah, gorgeous. Take one night off," Enzo wheedled. "It'll be fun to relax a bit. Catch up."
"Fine. Let me just floo Klaus and let him know I'll be home late," Caroline said, standing up.
"Aww, worried he'll worry?"
Caroline huffed, shooting a playful glare at her best friend. "He gets weird about it, okay? Probably thinks that I'll get assassinated or something. Do you mind if I use your fireplace?"
"Yeah, totally!" Bonnie said, waving her off. "Floo powder's on the top shelf."
Caroline nodded, walking over to the fireplace and throwing some of the glittering powder inside, getting on her knees to stick her head in and saying her floo address clearly.
She coughed at the gross spinning sensation of her head, shutting her eyes until she felt stable again. She opened her eyes to the chimes that indicated that someone was putting in a floo call. Jenna poked her head in after a few seconds, smiling when she saw Caroline. "Hi, Caroline. Do you want me to get Klaus?"
"Oh, if you can give him a message for me, that would be great. I don't want to bother him."
"Not a problem, sweetheart," Klaus said, moving past Jenna in the doorway to walk inside, bending down to look at Caroline in the fire. "Everything all right?"
"Yeah. Just calling to let you know I'll be at Bonnie's until late. Enzo and I are probably going to have dinner here as well."
His lips tightened for the barest fraction of a second before he seemed to force herself to relax. "Well, enjoy your dinner then, love."
She frowned, a bit put off by his reaction. "Everything okay?"
"Just fine, sweetheart," he said, his tone warm, though she still felt like something was weird about it. "Floo if you need me to come apparate you home."
"I won't get that drunk," Caroline said, rolling her eyes. "But yeah, I'll let you know if I need help."
"Good. See you when you get back, sweetheart."
"Don't wait up for me, okay?"
"I'll likely be up late anyway," he said, looking a bit irritated. "I have to go take care of something, love. Stay safe."
"Will do," she said, frowning as he left the room again and pulling her head out of the fireplace.
Weird.
XXX
Klaus was still awake when she came home, lounging in their bed in only his boxer briefs with his legs crossed in front of him, looking through a binder she recognized as having some information about their suppliers for some of the darker potions ingredients. She took a second to admire him, her slightly tipsy brain and Bonnie's gentle nudging having done the trick to make her want him just a little more (or maybe just letting herself acknowledge it). He looked up, his lips pulling into a smirk that made her let out a soft scoff. She dropped her purse on a nearby armchair and went to the walk-in closet to change into some soft cotton pajamas. She could feel Klaus's eyes on her when she emerged and went into the bathroom, leaving the door open as she carefully dragged the tip of her wand across her face to remove her makeup. "How was your night?"
"Just fine," Klaus said. She heard the soft thump of him setting the binder on the bedside table. "Thought it would be best to familiarize myself with some of the more complicated aspects of my new role before I begin next week."
"Right," Caroline said softly before splashing water on her face and dabbing it with a towel, trying to come up with more small talk so that she could transition into why he'd been so weird earlier. "Well, I'm glad that you're taking it seriously."
"Did you think I wouldn't?" he asked, his eyes on her as she made her way to the bed, moving over slightly to give her room to sit down. "I'd thought I'd been quite clear about my desire to assist with the day to day operations as more than the figurehead for the philanthropy arm."
"It's not that I thought you wouldn't," she said slowly, careful to keep a foot of space between them. She didn't want any tipsy touching accidents. "I don't know. Never mind. How was your night?"
"Quiet. Yours?"
"It was good! It was nice to catch up with my friends. We went through a bottle or two of wine before Kai talked us into firewhiskey."
"Ah, that explains the slight slurring," he teased.
She huffed. "It's not that bad. I'm fine," she said, reaching to play with a stray thread sticking out of the comforter, focusing on it so that she wouldn't have to look at his face. "You seemed upset when I called you earlier. Did I interrupt something?"
"Upset?" he echoed, his tone mild, though there was enough of an edge for her to know that she was on the track to something.
"Yeah. I don't know. Irritable, maybe?"
"You didn't interrupt anything of note, love."
"Then why-"
"I just got some bad news from Marcel. Nothing to fret over."
"Bad news?"
"We've been working together to try to locate an artifact for the last year or two. We'd gotten close to a lead, but it disappeared on us, unfortunately."
"An artifact?" Caroline asked, perking up. "I can probably help with that. My contacts span a ton of different specialties. What were you looking for?"
"That would take the fun out of it, sweetheart. I do enjoy the hunt," he said, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye with a smirk. She rolled her eyes, scooting down to lay her head on her pillow and maneuvering herself under the covers.
"Yeah, okay," she said, not bothering to keep the grumpiness out of her voice at his brush-off. "Well, if you ever decide to tell me the truth, let me know."
"Now, love. Don't be like that," he said softly, reaching to wind a curl around his finger. "If it was important, I'd tell you. I promise."
"Yeah, like you told me about being a werewolf?" she asked dryly.
"I would have told you by the next moon," he said, and she could tell that he hadn't expected to have to go on the defensive. "It's nothing to do with you, sweetheart."
She hummed to show she'd heard, satisfied that even if she couldn't get him to fess up to whatever mischief he was up to she'd at least gotten him to admit he was in the wrong.
She relaxed a bit when he waved his wand to turn the lights out and got under the covers himself, the heat and scent of him close enough to make her crave his touch.
She closed her eyes and deepened her breathing, feigning sleep until she'd waited for what felt like long enough before wriggling closer and letting him pull her into his arms, his chin tucked against her shoulder.
Her husband was a secretive dick, but at least he made an excellent wintertime space heater.
Thank you so much for reading! Did you have any favorite parts or scenes? Pieces of dialogue? Any predictions? I'm so excited to hear what you think.
