Author's note: These one-shots were written for Klaroline AU Week 2019. Day Three: All Human and Day Four: Mates. I hope you enjoy them and please let me know if any strike your fancy and you'd like to see more!
Day Three: All Human
Author's note: By popular request, this one-shot is a continuation from Chapter 77: Part 4 - Klarosummer Bingo prompt: Baseball, found in my Klaroline series A Beautiful Symmetry.
Curve Ball
Was it possible to drill a hole in solid Bubinga wood with just her manicure? Caroline huffed, the glare from the highly polished conference table nearly blinding her as she impatiently waited for Klaus to finish reviewing the latest contracting language she'd revised. He'd been calling her in his office every day with increasingly ridiculous requests for contract revisions. Ever since last week's baseball game.
"Seriously?! You can't expect to completely overhaul this corporation's policy on limited liability without repercussions," she snarled, aggressively highlighting several key phrases on her laptop.
Klaus raised an eyebrow, not bothering to hide that patronizing grin of his as he replied, "Perhaps if your earlier drafts hadn't been quite so ambiguous, love, we could've finalized the contracting language sooner."
"Ambiguous?! You know damn well I crafted that language per your instructions and you gave me a ridiculously exorbitant bonus after you signed off on my work!" She tossed back her hair, no longer caring that her pristine bun had become an angry ball of frizzy curls. She realized her frustration mostly stemmed from Klaus' bizarre behavior — not only the bizarre requests regarding work projects, but also his overall demeanor.
During meetings, she could feel his steel gaze boring into her, but anytime she caught him looking at her, his handsome face was an unreadable mask. Or, how he awkwardly ducked into various offices that she happened to be in, delivering rambling requests to subordinates as though he was scrambling for excuses to be in the room. She'd done her best to ignore her growing feelings for him, and his recent behavior definitely had her rethinking why she'd been drawn to him in the first place. He'd been weird ever since he found out her childhood best friend was Enzo St. John, his favorite baseball player. She'd heard of sports hero worship, but his childish possessiveness over his idol was getting ridiculous.
The tips of his ears reddened as he quickly said, "Yes, well, clearly I need to take a closer look at your work if this is the subpar quality that I've been financing."
So much for the inconvenient crush she'd developed. She couldn't recall the last time he'd pissed her off this much. Caroline slammed her laptop shut, leaping to her feet as she shouted, "The quality of my work was never an issue until this past week when something suddenly jumped up your ass and died!"
"I should fire you for insubordination," Klaus growled, slowly rising to lean across his desk, the steel in his gray eyes flashing.
"Good luck with that — my employment agreement is impenetrable — I designed it," she smugly told him, slightly taken aback by how close their faces had become. Was he seriously trying to intimidate her by staring at her like that?
A shrill knock on the door to his office startled them, both jumping back from each other as though an electric current had passed between them. Klaus' assistant burst in, excitedly telling them, "He's here! He's in the lobby and oh my god, he's just as hot as I remember from the game!" The young brunette did a cute little wiggle at the threshold, clearly not picking up on the tension in the room.
"April, kindly explain why you deemed it appropriate to interrupt our meeting."
Caroline rolled her eyes, not interested in listening to Klaus take his bad mood out on his terrified assistant. "I have a thing. Looks like he's a bit early."
"Who," Klaus asked, eyes narrowing dangerously.
"Enzo St. John," April said breathlessly, practically bouncing on her tiptoes.
Caroline slipped her laptop in her bag, nodding to the starstruck girl, "Thank you, April. Please let him know I'll be down in a minute."
After his assistant left, Klaus leaned against his desk, his voice dry as he remarked. "So, a thing. With Enzo."
"Yes, we're going to dinner," she said breezily, feeling her irritation flare at his tone. Was he seriously pissed that she was leaving work a few minutes early? Controlling asshat.
He scoffed, folding his arms in front of his chest. "He's no doubt taking you to Grayson's, possibly the most unimaginative fine dining experience in town."
"Actually, I suggested Sybil's Lair," she snapped, adding, "they have the best brie and honey figs."
"Not to mention a rather saucy dinner show."
"Seriously?! So what if it's a burlesque club? It's fun and one of my favorite hangouts." She stomped out of his office, not bothering to turn around as she barked, "And feel free to shove your Puritan hang-ups up your ass!"
Later that night, Caroline was impressed by how quickly Enzo had made her forget all about Klaus' odd fixation with his baseball idol. She and Enzo easily had slipped back into their snarky friendship that she hadn't even realized she'd been missing all these years. It was hilarious to watch the staff and other customers fawn over the guy who used to get detention for making fart noises with his armpit.
He wriggled his eyebrows, lightly tapping the rim of his Dr Pepper martini with hers. She rolled her eyes, but took another sip, still chuckling that he'd charmed the waitress into going across the street to buy their favorite soda they used to drink every day after school. However, the moonshine-soaked cherries the bartender had sent over with a flirty wink was a new and delicious surprise. "I always knew you would be a smashing success at whatever you set out to do, but I'm still so proud of all you've accomplished, gorgeous."
"Says the mega-famous baseball star."
He waved her off, settling more comfortably against the plush red velvet corner booth. "It was mostly luck plus me being a pain in the ass."
"Comforting to know some things never change," she answered dryly, dipping another parmesan breadstick in the honey-balsamic dressing and savoring the tart sweetness on her tongue. "Like the time you didn't study for that geography test, but made all of your answers into a bunch of haikus about how great Mr. Donovan was and you ended up with the second-highest grade."
"Like you didn't do the same thing to get out of doing that stupid book report with Miss Sommers when you told her you were having boy trouble because everyone knew she'd been dumped."
Giggling, they signaled a waitress wearing a fluffy red and black feather boa and little else to bring them another round.
"Ah, memories. So nice to see you two getting reacquainted," Klaus' biting voice rang out, startling them both as they realized he was standing at their table, an attractive redhead clinging to his side.
Caroline was taken aback by how all the breath seemed to leave her body as she noticed the way Klaus threw his date a sexy grin, not bothering to look at Caroline as he openly admired the woman's halter dress whose every dip and slit of fabric revealed toned expanses of creamy skin. At least she knew what Klaus' type looked like — gorgeous in an unapproachable way, tall, angular, and quite vicious if that predatory gleam in her green eyes was anything to go by. And she was none of those things. Not that she cared.
"Yup, it feels like we were never apart — gorgeous and I have quite the bond, mate," Enzo lazily answered, lightly patting Caroline's hand. He squinted up at Klaus, a mischievous twinkle in his dark eyes as he added, "Don't I know you from somewhere?"
Caroline noted an angry red flush creeping up Klaus' neck (which unfortunately did nothing to detract from how unfairly attractive he looked in his crisp blue dress shirt). She hurriedly explained, "Klaus and I work together; he was at your game last week."
Enzo snapped his fingers, telling him, "That's right! I signed a bunch of Augustine Tigers merchandise for you. It was great for the old ego."
"Those were for my brother," Klaus snapped, an unfamiliar look of alarm in his eyes.
"But I thought you were Klaus? You and your brother have the same name — must've been bloody confusing growing up, eh?"
Klaus sneered, not bothering to acknowledge the redhead dragging her sharp nails teasingly along his arm. "Of course — almost as confusing as a two-time, top-five MVP experiencing a career low batting average right before playoffs."
Outraged by Klaus' smug expression, Caroline opened her mouth to defend her friend when Enzo gently squeezed her hand, a movement that Klaus curiously followed with his steely gaze. "Not to worry, gorgeous. I think I understand what has Klaus in a right strop."
Obviously tired of being ignored, the redhead seemed to take a more direct approach and whispered something in Klaus' ear that had him stand a bit straighter as he smirked, "Yes, well, enjoy your evening then. I'll see you around, Caroline."
Caroline raised an eyebrow, still not entirely sure what happened as she watched his date possessively drag Klaus away from their table. She threw back the rest of her martini in one swallow, secretly pleased that their attentive waitress already was sliding a fresh drink in front of her. "Well, that was...seriously, I have no earthly idea what the hell that was."
Enzo snorted, pausing briefly to applaud the red sequin and black body paint-speckled dancers that appeared on onstage to start their second show. "Bollocks. Can't say I'm not a bit disappointed at this development, gorgeous — but it seems you're smitten with Klaus. And he's certainly quite taken with you."
Wait — what?
Day Four: Mates
Cellmates
She carried sunshine on her skin and he breathed deeply as she carefully leaned in to administer the injection. Caroline wasn't like the others. For one, she didn't insist that he refer to her as 'Dr. Forbes'. Not to mention that she looked more like a Botticelli painting than an Augustine scientist. Klaus longed to commit her image to canvas, instinctively knowing his brushstrokes would be positively inspired by her exquisite form. Unfortunately, he no longer had access to his artist's atelier. Not since his murder conviction.
It was said he'd rot away in jail. After all, Mikael had been a powerful man, his influence shaping both local and state politics, and his brutal murder had made national news. Especially when evidence revealed that Klaus Mikaelson, arguably one of the most famous artists of the past decade, not to mention Mikael's stepson, was the murderer. But then, Augustine Labs came calling, offering select prisoners a reduced sentence in exchange for volunteers in experimental studies. A few pricks of a needle were nothing, Klaus reasoned. He was used to pain.
"I'm sorry," Caroline murmured quietly, her touch gentle as she pressed sterile cotton against the small droplet of blood that escaped his wound at the injection site.
His nostrils flared at the coppery scent of blood mingling with her sunshine. Warm. She felt warm. "Don't bother yourself, love. All in the name of science, right?"
The blush that stained her cheeks was glorious, and he couldn't help but wonder how far down it marked her creamy skin. "Yes," she nodded eagerly, blue eyes briefly flicking to his lips before she hurriedly stepped back to busy herself at the counter. "This latest injection was run through a thermal cycler to amplify targeted cells within the modified DNA sample. I'm excited to see what your latest genetic analysis will tell us," she told him, her enthusiasm garnering a rare chuckle from him.
She evoked within Klaus a number of uncharacteristic responses — a giddy happiness, hope — even a sense of belonging. He'd never felt that with anyone before, but there was something about Caroline that made him ache to know her. Hungered for it. For her.
At their first meeting, he'd sat quietly on the table, grateful to the lovely blonde who'd given him a tremulous smile as she told security to remove his restraints and wait outside. While she'd been fiddling with an impressive array of test tubes and blinking machines, he'd taken off his shirt, assuming she wanted to perform an exam.
She'd whirled around, bright blue eyes widening in alarm "Oh, no, I don't need to see that!" At his raised eyebrow, she blushed furiously, hastily adding, "Not that there's anything wrong with it...um, it's very nice actually. You're very nice, I mean..." she trailed off, briefly squeezing her eyes shut in embarrassment.
"I'm not nice." His gray eyes appraised her, seductively smirking as he promised, "But for you, sweetheart, I could be."
A curious heat came over him, its feverish sensation pulling him from his thoughts. He'd felt something similar during the previous injections, but this one was the most intense. His skin tingled, as though his cells themselves were more sensitive. The air was thick with smells that overwhelmed him, from the chemicals in the labs to the nervous sweat on the guards. There was a scientist stationed six lab rooms over who was wearing a detestable mixture of Old Spice and rancid cigar smoke. How did he know that?
Klaus wasn't a foolish man and knew that Augustine Lab's true agenda went beyond their altruistic mission statement of working toward the 'betterment of mankind'. He'd taken careful note of the labels on the various test tubes that had been measured and tested and finally injected into his arm each time. Canis lupus. While it wasn't clear what the scientists hoped to achieve, injecting genetically modified wolf DNA into carefully screened prisoners seemed to be the first phase of a carefully crafted plan.
Bloody hell, he thought, catching an errant whiff of peaches from Caroline's shampoo as she brushed back several bouncing curls from her face, she smells delectable. An urgency flooded his brain, a need that made his chest tight as she leaned close to test his pupil dilation. He studied the graceful arch of her neck, his teeth and tongue aching to touch those soft lines. Wanting to mark her.
A strange certainty came over him as he caught the slight hitch of her breath, the tentative sweep of her tongue over pale pink lips. Mate. Despite his jumble of confused thoughts, this bizarre knowledge continued to flood his brain along with images. "It was in the small Russian village of Kalach. That's where you found the wolves." His nose twitched with the sharp scent of spruce and fir trees lightly dusted in snow.
"What? How did you know..." Caroline trailed off uncertainly, a hint of alarm in her voice as she watched him. "Yes, we wanted the heartiest DNA and Russian wolves are unlike any other pack I've ever studied." She gestured toward a screen behind her, complex equations and graphs constantly updating as new data was fed into the system. "Their genetics were optimal for isolating DNA from cells."
The warmth continued to spread throughout his body as the injection ran its course, and he nodded in understanding as another image came to him, one of Caroline bundled up in a heavy lilac coat, scrunching her nose adorably as snowflakes drifted down from the heavy branches overhead. "Your connection runs deeper than that of your colleagues," he observed, "your ancestors settled that region."
"Um, yeah, I did one of those ancestry tests and discovered that my people had been in that part of Russia for generations. It's what gave me the idea to test the DNA of the packs there to determine cellular structure and viability." Caroline cocked her head, a slight furrow appearing as she said carefully, "You're unusually perceptive. What else can you tell me?"
Klaus stretched languidly, allowing the thrum of new power to sink into his bones. There were a great many things he should tell Caroline — but where to begin?
After all, there shouldn't be secrets between mates.
