When Nik arrived at the airport, Suzanne couldn't help the wide grin that immediately took over her face. She wasn't exactly the PDA type, but as soon as he was close enough, she reached towards him and linked their hands together.

Nik fucking Smith had turned her into a sap. It was disgusting. But… his hand was warm and when he squeezed her own hand she internally turned into a puddle of goo. He didn't have to know that though.

With a small, somewhat embarrassed smile, Suzanne looked to the floor before glancing up at Nik and saying, "Thanks for picking me up. I know it's really last notice –"

Nik cut her off with a nonchalant wave and a small smile as he replied, "Don't worry, love. If anything, you'll be bored this weekend, I've got a bit of work to do."

Suzanne was strangely relieved at hearing that actually. She was self-aware enough to realize that her mood was a little erratic right now, and if she was around another person for too long she would probably take it out on Nik, even if he was being wonderful. And. You know. She wasn't going to correct his obsession with the word 'love' forever.

"It's alright. I can see if Scotty can do lunch. I really, really missed him lately."

There was a second of silence – not uncomfortable, after all, they were waiting for Suzanne's bag to come around the track, but it was a silence that had Suzanne thinking. She hadn't ever – she hadn't ever wanted to –

"Would you want to meet him? Come to lunch with us, I mean."

Nik nodded along and looked distant for a second. In a weirdly serious tone he murmured, "I've missed my sister as well. I'd like you to meet her. Perhaps sooner than I'd thought."

And alright, that was eerily cryptic, but Suzanne let it go as they began walking towards his car. He hadn't seemed like he'd been putting off Suzanne meeting Bekah or anything, but she'd been able to sense that there had been some issues between the siblings and that Nik hadn't seen her in a while. It was nice to know that Nik wanted to introduce them at all.

The car ride back to his place was relaxed, filled with idle chatter about what they'd been up to lately. Apparently Nik was deep in research-mode, and while he had told Suzanne about previous projects concerning ancient mythology and cultural artifacts, his lips were zipped on his current work since he was a crazy superstitious guy convinced he'd jinx himself.

Suzanne told him about her recent doubts concerning her job – and fuck, could she even really consider herself employed anymore? She showed up to work maybe three times a week while Damon's compulsion kept her on the payroll. It was immoral as hell, yeah, but it had given Suzanne the past few months to get a ton of pleasure reading done as well as begin researching jobs that would fit her degree.

"So, I'm actually really leaning towards trying to do something with books. Vague, I know, shut up – but maybe some editorial work? Or curating of some kind. I don't just want to be a cashier in a bookstore or something, and when I looked it up there are actually some major qualifications to being a librarian."

Nik nodded along with what she was saying and pursed his lips in thought.

"I know a few people in the industry if –"

Suzanne rolled her eyes and cut him off with fond exasperation when she said, "You don't have to step in. Though if you have 'contacts' in the middle of fucking nowhere Virginia, kudos to you."

Nik laughed and turned to quirk his lips up into a smirk when he said, "Ah, yes. Suzanne Sinclair, the self-made woman."

"Ah, Nik Smith, the chivalrous guy stuck in the middle ages."

For some reason that made his expression smooth out and he stared back at the road, but she let it go. Nik didn't know how her mind worked all the time, and the same went the other way around.

It really was an idle weekend between the two of them. Damon had been texting her, and Suzanne wasn't petty enough – alright, she was totally petty enough, but now wasn't the time when in retrospect he had been tortured and beat up – so she'd responded curtly a few times to let him know she wasn't icing him out.

She and Nik had slow, lazy sex the morning after she'd gotten to his place, too tired to do anything more than languid kissing the first night, and the second night they hadn't gone past grinding on one another before going to bed. But it was… nice. Suzanne was used to people wanting sex from her, and even when she wasn't in the mood sometimes she'd done it because it had always been a fun ego boost to make someone else feel good with her body. But she and Nik didn't really rely on the physical side of their relationship – and holy fuck, she was in a grown up, mature relationship now, what was her life – and holding hands occasionally when they sat at opposite sides of his kitchen table while they were both absorbed in their work made her heart skip sometimes.

There was a word for what she was feeling. It wasn't a word she wanted to acknowledge yet, especially when she didn't know if Nik felt the same way back. But it had wriggled its way into the back of her mind over the last few weeks and had only solidified over the weekend. She was heading back to Springfield in a few hours, but it didn't cause a spark of worry or anything. Suzanne didn't feel an all-encompassing need to be around Nik constantly, they'd done well as quasi-long-distance for the last few months.

She was sitting on the couch next to Nik, both of them watching Blue Planet, and when Nik's phone buzzed he quickly glanced down to type out a quick answer.

"So what did Damon do to piss you off? He's been texting me in an uncharacteristically tense manner. He won't tell me what he did, but I assume it was serious if you're this upset."

Suzanne sighed and didn't meet Nik's eyes, instead playing with her own fingers and tracing the lines on her palm when she answered.

"Yeah. Damon just did something stupid and lied to me about it."

Nik let out a questioning hum, so she continued, "He was really annoyingly blasé and then got the fucking shit beat out of him."

Nik was silent, and when she glanced up at him, he seemed to be debating with himself if his expression was anything to go off of. When he finally spoke, it was in a slow, deliberate voice.

"At least if he's still speaking to me he wasn't staked."

Klaus had thought about it. Hadn't stopped thinking about it, actually. He'd planned every way he could do it, and this had not been one of them. It seemed right, anyway.

Suzanne hadn't looked away from his face, and her own expression was blank. She finally moved, only to grab his hand. Now staring down at his wrist, she slowly guided his hand until it was behind her. Klaus knew what she was about to do, but it didn't make it sting any less when she pressed his fingers against the section of her vervain tattoo that her tank top didn't cover. The quiet hissing sound that accompanied the burning was incredibly loud in the now-silent room.

Suzanne let go of him, allowing Klaus to draw his fingers away from her skin. Squeezing her eyes shut, he saw her jaw clench. She relaxed a minute later after a few deep breaths.

"You are such an asshole."

"You already knew that, love."