AUTHOR'S NOTE/DISCLAIMER
Belongs to L.J. Smith, Stan Lee, Marvel, and whoever else is involved with these charries. I'm just mashing up the sandboxes and I own the plot.
At his place, Brock sighed and went to the refrigerator. It had been a couple of hours since Nik and Katherine had started explaining their stories and they had just finally finished.
"Brock?" Katherine asked from her spot on the couch. What's he thinking? she wondered, glancing at Klaus who was sitting on the opposite side of the furniture.
"So let me recap this," Brock started as he grabbed a bottle of Scotch. "Nik-or Klaus as he's going by now-knew about us from the start but decided he wanted to break some damn curse more than being with his own soulmate, which caused you, Katherine, to take matters into your own hands and turned yourself into a vampire," he stated.
"That's correct," Katherine stated.
"I was stupid, I admit it," Niklaus interjected.
"And then years later, you each meet me separately and decided to fucking toy with my emotions and then just leave me," Brock finished. "What was it? A bet to see who could break me the most?" he scowled as he opened the bottle and then took a swig.
"No!" the couple chorused together, jumping up. He thinks this lowly of us? Klaus fumed. How dared the man? Almost as if she knew what he was thinking, Katherine placed a hand on Klaus' wrist. He won't do us any good if he goes off half-cocked, the woman thought to herself. Not that she could blame him for being upset, but Brock was blowing things out of proportion.
"Then why leave me? Why not stay?" he asked, his voice cracking despite himself. "Why wasn't I enough for either of you?" he wondered. Why was I so easy to leave? he wondered.
"Because we're idiots," Katherine replied.
"And because I wasn't always a good man. I…I've made some mistakes. Big ones," Niklaus added. "I became a monster, hunted Katerina down…she was right to run from me," he continued.
"You…hunted…your soulmate?" Brock asked in confusion. "Would you have hunted me?"
"No! I'm not that man anymore! At least…I'm trying not to be." I want to be better for both of them. To be the man they both deserve, the older vampire thought to himself. He just-he wanted his soulmates, damn it! Brock sighed. I don't know what to do with this, he thought to himself.
"What are you thinking?" Katherine wondered.
"Lot to take in," Brock responded and the other two nodded.
"That's fair," Katherine said softly. Maybe we should've put more thought into this, she mused. Or at least, she should've. Niklaus was right: just announcing that they were vampires probably wasn't the best way to win Brock over. But she was sick of lying and she wanted to be the girl who had once believed in love and happily-ever-after. Sure, she had insisted that that girl had died after her father had taken her daughter away, but with Brock, she had felt like that girl again, and she wanted to get that feeling back. Niklaus' eyes flickered. Well, this has gone….well…all things considering, he thought to himself. "And for the record, I was eighteen when I turned myself. I just…tend to look young," she stated. At this, Brock nodded, unsure of what to say. Am I really buying this? he wondered. Vampires? That was a thing? Then again, an alien had tried to take over New York, so who was to say that this wasn't real as well? How was this even his life? Vampires, aliens….when had things gotten so complicated?
The jangling of his cell phone interrupted his thoughts and he started heading for the kitchen counter where his phone was, blinking when Katherine moved at an impossible speed, grabbing the phone.
"Who's AP?" she wondered, her voice curious. Shit! It's Pierce! The STRIKE Commander thought to himself.
"It's work," he replied, taking the phone. "I'm sorry. I'm going to have to ask you guys to leave, but I do want to see you again," he stated, as he pressed the "Accept" button on his phone.
"But-" Klaus started to object.
"Klaus." At Katherine's sharp tone, the older man frowned but she ignored him as she led him out.
"How are you so calm? He threw us out! He rejected us," Klaus grumbled. And that hurt…more than he wanted to admit.
"He didn't reject us. You heard him, it was a work call and he wants to see us again," Katherine corrected as they went to the car. Hate that his first instinct is to think that he's being abandoned, she mused. But then again, from the very little she was learning, he had been let down a lot over the centuries. Mostly by his father. Honestly, if the man ever came to life again, she was going to stake him and then decapitate him as he deserved nothing less. Nik was…he had been a good man once, she knew this. She just had to bring back the man she had met all those centuries ago. But how? How was she going to accomplish this?
Brock's eyes flickered as Pierce talked.
"As I'm sure you've heard, Captain America's awake and Fury wants you to convince him to come work for S.H.I.E.L.D.," he stated.
"Yes, Sir. Absolutely," Brock agreed. This couldn't have waited? he mused. No, that wasn't fair. Director Pierce was a busy man, so if he was calling him, that meant it was important. And Captain America being awake was pretty damn important.
"I would like for you and S.T.R.I.K.E. to befriend him, bring him into our circle," Pierce told him.
"Yes, Sir," Brock agreed. Befriend Captain America? Of course. The guy's a fucking legend, he thought to himself. He had grown up in Brooklyn and like every kid from there, he had grown up on stories about Captain America. "Anything else, Sir?" he queried.
"No, that'll be all, Commander," Pierce responded and then hung up, causing Brock to roll his eyes. Rude. Always, he thought to himself before letting out a sigh. What am I going to do with this? he wondered. Pierce was-the guy always had him on edge, though he couldn't explain why. There was just something off-putting about him.
In the car, Katherine and Klaus were quiet as they listened.
"What do you think's going on?" Katherine wondered.
"I don't know. I'm not quite sure why this Captain America is so important," Klaus commented.
"Did you not pay attention to history as it happened?" Katherine queried. "He was a big thing during World War Two. Big morale booster and single-handedly freed the Howling Commandos and then went on to kill a whole bunch of Nazis," she continued.
"Ah, yes. I remember that," the older vampire mused. That had been a pretty bad time in America's history. Of course, back then, he hadn't exactly been concerned with affairs of that sort. No, he had been more focused on his own wants and needs. Oh well. Nothing he could do about it now. Katherine fell silent. Captain America had been found. She wasn't sure she could wrap her head around that. Okay, so she had never met the guy, but she remembered seeing him from on posters back in the forties. His eyes had been so blue. Whoa. Focus. She needed to focus, not get lost in old memories. Besides, it was perfectly reasonable to suppose that whoever had drawn up the posters had exaggerated the shade of blue the Captain's eyes were.
Back in Mystic Falls, Stefan, Elena, Bonnie, and Damon were going about their evening.
"Care! Matt!" Elena called and the duo smiled as they came up to them.
"Hey," the blonde vampire greeted them with a smile.
"How was your get away?" Elena queried and Caroline laughed.
"It was good," she responded.
"Good," came the answer. Then, "Where's Tyler?"
"Sleeping. He insisted on driving the whole way and it wore him out," Matt stated.
"More like you guys wore him out with the crazy vampire and human sex," Damon teased and Caroline gave out a small exclamation as she smacked him on the arm.
"Damon!" Elena exclaimed at the same time.
"Oh my g-d, seriously?" Stefan added. Can't believe him. So embarrassing, he thought to himself even as Matt rolled his eyes.
"What?" Damon asked.
"You're a dick," Matt said without any real heat.
"You love me," Damon stated.
"Debatable," everyone chorused and then laughed as the older man pouted.
"But seriously, yes, we do love you," Elena assured. The last thing she wanted was for one of her soulmates to feel like they were being slighted. At this, Damon smiled. Sweet Elena. Always looking out for him. How'd I get so lucky? he wondered. He had more than one soulmate and they all actually wanted him, which was something that he hadn't thought he'd have. But he did and he was going to do his best not to screw it up. He wanted to be a man worthy of his soulmates' love.
"So what are you guys up to this weekend?" Matt wondered.
"Relax, have some fun," Elena answered.
"And lots of sex," Damon added with a smirk, causing Elena, Stefan, and Bonnie to roll their eyes. Why does it always come back to sex with him? Bonnie wondered with some fondness. Matt made a face.
"Didn't need to hear that," he complained.
"You asked," Elena pointed out.
"Touché," Matt said. He had asked. He had just forgotten that Damon tended to be a bit of a dick. Damon just grinned. He loved riling up the humans. Was it smart? Not really, but he didn't care. He was a vampire and he could do whatever he wanted. Not that he was going to do anything that would anger his lovers, mind you. No, he would make sure that they were happy. That's all he really wanted: was for them to be happy. Was that so wrong? He was hoping not. Then, he gave himself a mental shake even as Stefan shot him a concerned glance.
"I'm good," Damon murmured.
"Hey, no getting pensive," Elena scolded teasingly, as she pulled him close, causing the older man to smile. Damn, how'd I get so lucky? he wondered. He didn't know what he'd done to deserve soulmates as good as he had gotten, but he wasn't going to complain. He just needed to figure things out. Satisfied, Stefan turned his attention back to his phone, scrolling through it, opening a message when his alert chirped. Then, his eyes widened.
"Stefan, you okay?" Bonnie asked, catching the movement.
"Just got an alert from one of the news sites I follow," he responded.
"And?" Elena queried.
"They found Steve Rogers," Stefan answered.
"Captain America," Damon replied. "Are you sure?" he asked. For an answer, Stefan opened up the video and everyone watched as the craft was loaded out of the water. Stefan softly inhaled-even though he had no breath-and his mind went back.
1942 (TWO DAYS BEFORE CAPTAIN AMERICA WENT AFTER RED SKULL AND HYDRA)
Stefan's eyes flickered as he and Lexi drove up to the camp. Can't believe we're here. What's Lexi thinking? he wondered. He wasn't ready to be around people.
"Hey, I see what you're thinking. you're doing fine," Lexi told him, nudging his shoulder.
"So much blood," Stefan murmured.
"And you're handling it a lot better than you think," Lexi assured him as they came to a stop. Stefan nodded, even though his expression told her that he wasn't convinced. He then followed her out to the camp and began helping her. He needed—he needed to figure this out. Lexi was right: he couldn't just see people as blood bags. They were people.
His musings were cut off when he heard rumbles of excitement.
"Who's Captain America?" Stefan wondered.
"Not sure, but whoever he is, he seems to have gotten them all excited," Lexi responded.
"Yeah," Stefan said softly. They both watched as the man moved across the camp, visiting with the men, talking to them earnestly.
"I thought he was just a public relations gimmick," a man stated.
"I think he started out that way, but I guess he wasn't satisfied that way," his companion responded.
"Stefan?" The sound of Bonnie's voice broke through his musings and he gave himself a shake.
"You all right, Brother?" Damon asked.
"Yeah, I'm good. Just…old memories," Stefan responded. "I saw Captain America-Steve Rogers-at a camp Lexi and I were helping out at. He started out as some sort of public relations morale booster type thing, but from what I saw, he wasn't the type to sit out on the sidelines. He single-handedly rescued an entire unit from a HYDRA base," he continued.
"HYDRA?" the others chorused as the humans glanced at each other. What's HYDRA? Elena wondered.
"Nazi researchers that broke off from Hitler and developed their own ideology. Their motto was "Cut off one head, two more shall take its place." Ironically, their logo was a damn octopus," Stefan responded.
"They sound…lovely," Caroline said.
"Oh, they would've loved you. Blonde hair, blue eyes," Stefan teased and she made a face at him.
"And if I had been alive and a vampire back then, I would've eaten them all," Caroline stated.
"You can't be alive and a vampire," Matt said.
"Oh shut up. You know what I mean," Caroline retorted and Stefan laughed.
"So you actually met the guy?" Damon asked.
"As much as anyone could've back then, yeah," Stefan answered.
"So how'd he wind up on ice?" Matt wondered.
"Not sure," Stefan admitted. "Lexi and I had to leave shortly after we saw him and we lost track of him," he replied and the others nodded.
"And now he's been found?" Matt asked.
"Apparently," Stefan confirmed.
"Wow," everyone chorused. That's pretty neat, Elena thought to herself.
At the Triskilion, Pierce went to the elevator.
"Top floor, my office," he instructed.
"Voice verification authorized. Proceeding to your office, Secretary Pierce," the A.I. stated. The man smirked to himself as he waited and moments off. Raising Captain America has made things difficult, he thought to himself. And he didn't like it when things were difficult. Guess I'm just going to have to speed up my time table, he mused. It wasn't ideal, but he was nothing if not resourceful. He went to his desk, opened, his laptop, turned it on, went to one of his files, and opened it, revealing pictures of various S.H.I.E.L.D. employees. It's time to go with the next phase of my plan, the man thought to himself as he brought up various files. He then grinned to himself. I know exactly where I'm going to start, he mused as his fingers flew over the keyboards, his smile growing as he stared at the S.T.R.I.K.E. files he had just pulled up.