I swore I was done writing klaroline fics...silly, silly girl.
Summary: With Lizzie being a new heretic, there is much she needs to learn about being a vampire first. Who better to teach her than the domesticated hybrid?
Or Klaus seeks advice on struggling to tame his mini-me.
"Wait, you're teaching Lizzie? You? The most impatient man I've ever met?" Marcel asked, fighting back a laugh.
Klaus scoffed. "If memory serves I taught you a thing or two, and you turned out fine." He defended himself when taking another sip of his bourbon.
Marcel shook his head, turning fully in his stool. "Learning to read through Shakespeare plays isn't the same as learning how to be a completely different specie. Besides, I did not 'turn out fine'. I literally grew to hate you."
The hybrid's forehead crinkled in confusion.
"That was different."
"Maybe you remember it differently but, there was a reason I preferred to hang out with Kol as I got older." He chuckled. "He listened to me, asked what I wanted to read instead of telling me, allowed me to go at my own pace, and didn't drill me. He treated me like a kid, and you daggered him for it."
Klaus threw his hands up. "So, what? I was the worse guardian in the world because I didn't spoon-feed you? Because I wanted you to be as exceptional as all the white children who didn't have a lick of your potential but didn't waste a second treating you as inferior?" His dark blue eyes stinging with frustration.
Rubbing his lips together anxiosuly, Marcel swallowed. "You know that's not what I mean—"
"Marcellus," He sighed, carefully eyeing the rest of his alcoholic drink, "I didn't invite you to come all the way to Mystic Falls, into my home to rehash what a horrible guardian I was alright?"
Exposing his pearly whites, the handsome vampire smiled wide at patted Klaus on the back. "You weren't horrible, just misguided. You called me because you missed me, and want advice on how to tame a stubborn child." "I did not say I wanted, nor needed advice." Klaus sternly claimed. Marcel hummed. "Mhm..does it drive you a little crazy to know that you went from the most notorious vampire in history, to the most notorious vampire in history who makes school lunches?"
The corner of Klaus's lip twitched up into a half smile. "Are you trying to emasculate me further?"
"Never." He laughed more.
Sometimes-most of the time-that reminder did shake him though.
Hunched over the kitchen counter and examining the glass twirling in his hand, Klaus breathed, "You're the only person not treating me like a burden."
It had been two weeks since Lizzie took the solution to the Gemini curse—literally—into her own hands, and altered her and the family's lives. Klaus took it upon himself to teach Lizzie the ropes of being an immortal, and she was proving to be as difficult of a student as all her school teachers have subtly eluded to over the years. When she wasn't ignoring his lessons on managing her heightened senses, she was slamming her body into walls ad trees with her vamp speed, swearing 'I got it' before slamming into another. When she wasn't admring her fangs and the spidery veins under her red eyes, she was waving off his warnings on supernatural strentgth. He loved her, dearly, but he never knew what a migriane felt like until this. There was a reason he opted out of mentoring in the past, why he was such a menace about it with Marcel and his siblings. Yes, Klaus was growing impatient with every passing day, and yes it only made him more anxious to delve into the topic of human blood-her main request-but it was better than the alternative of Caroline's teachings, not that she was jumping to volunteer.
The transistion was causing an undeniable rift in the family Not only was Lizzie's transition into a heretic a priority, but so was the mental state of their other two daughters.
Josie wasn't coping well. A lot of door slamming, 'you're so selfish', 'how could you leave me alone', 'I hate you', 'never speaking to you again' and spending nights in Klaus's art studio to avoid her twin sister became a daily routine. Burying herself in schoolwork and club activities to even avoid the conversations Klaus and Caroline tried to have with her; at least she spoke to Alaric, much to Klaus's dismay. Hope was caught in the middle of trying to console both her friends, while also trying to support her father.
The vampire couple was tested in ways Klaus never predicted, even in his hundreds of worse case scenarios. Getting over the initial shock of it all, and what he'd say was their biggest fight to date, he thought they were on common ground again, back in a good and loving place. Maybe they were, sometimes, but he couldn't help feeling like he was walking on egg shells. Their warm golden aura was replaced by a gray-blue pallor shade. She spent more time in her office, prioritized projects that didn't need her. When they talked she would hesitate when Lizzie was brought up, her usual bubbly smiles held an underlying sadness. They didn't make love and her kisses felt cold. He knew she loved him, and he definitely loved her, but this wasn't them and he was terrified to ask her about it.
He was still looking down in his glass, focusing on the last drop of brown liquid fighting for its life.
"I'm sure that's not true. You have a beautiful family, and they adore you." Marcel declared, bringing the hybrid out of his own haunting thoughts.
"Hasn't really felt like that much, lately." He wiped his hand over his face. "It hasn't felt very family friendly at all, actually. One daughter is ignoring me while trying to self-teach vampirism, the other takes residency in my studio every night but won't even look at me, Hope is trying to stay strong for everyone besides herself, and Caroline...", He heavily sighed, running his hands over his face and short curls. "Sometimes, well most of the time, it feels like we're both so scared to say the wrong thing we just don't talk at all. It's like ever since that fist blow out we don't know what to say, or how. She comes home from work and we talk like acquaintances. The most conversation we've had in the past two weeks was when I was adamant about teaching Lizzie vampirism." He huffed a laugh, "I'm so pathetic, I even prolonged the argument just to keep her talking."
He didn't catch Marcel's expression of empathy as he continued.
"I abandoned New Orleans to be here. My kingdom, the home I built from the ground up. The home I've always dreamed of, the home I dreamt of sharing with her...just for this to be its fate?" Melancholy laced his tone. "And don't get me wrong, I love my girls. They are the best things to ever happen to me and I don't regret all the trials and errors that brought us together, but...ugh, I'm such a jerk. I can't do this."
"Hey, it's just you and me here." Marcel said, looking around the empty apartment.
Klaus shook his head. "No, no because I don't want you to think I resent them. I don't."
"You don't need to convince me how much you love your family, Klaus." Marcel smiled. "You wanted to talk to me because, despite our complicated history, you know I won't judge you. Especially since you already reached out to Rebekah, she's going to start keeping a tab."
That made the hybrid laugh; a genuine, loud and warm laugh. The kind of laugh that only a child could bring—his child.
Finally, turning towards his son, Klaus looked up at him with glassy eyes and a tight throat.
"Sometimes..." Clearing his throat. "...sometimes I fantasize about the life I promised to Caroline, before everything transpired. A life of selfishness, freedom and luxury. A life where we could just do whatever and be whoever we wanted. Where I'd show her the world , shower her with the choices that this God forsaken town kept her from, before settling down together in New Orleans. That was the plan. Just me and her, eventually. I miss being selfish, I miss not having the responsibility of three other people looming over my head every second of every day. I miss never having to come back to Mystic Falls. I miss reveling in warm human blood without feeling guilty." His head shook side to side. "Me and Caroline never got the opportunity to be with each other without feeling like we were stealing moments...and I'm a terrible person for thinking that."
"You're not a terrible person. You're not the first person to dwell on the days before becoming a parent, and you definitely won't be the last."
Klaus cursed under his breath, downing the rest of his bourbon as he tried to forget everything he was confessing. The troubling thoughts that have crossed his mind before but never left the safety of his brain.
"But it's different for me. I should be grateful that this is my life, and that they're in it!" He blurted. "After every horrible thing I've done to other people's families, the misery I've lived and the lives I ruined...I don't deserve to be happy and in love and have it reciprocated, but I do have it. I have the most amazing woman who has seen me at my worse yet stills calls me the love of her life, and three of the brightest young ladies who dare to call me 'dad'? And I have the audacity to resent it! How does that not make me a terrible person?!"
The confession felt like poison. Each word tasting of deadly venom after leaving his tongue as he silently prayed they'd kill him.
"We were a happy family once. We never had these issues, I mean, the most conflict was me refraining from killing Saltzman whenever he breathed. All this bloody merge nonsense ruined us. Everything about it…"
Marcel rolled his eyes. "Stop being dramatic. Your family is not ruined, not even close."
Klaus's eyes flashed a golden hue. "You really think right now is a good time to say I'm being dramatic?" He said, almost threatening.
"Look, my advice: take it one day at a time." Marcel suggested, causing Klaus to scoff.
"That's proper shit advice, mate."
Marcel laughed. "And yet you wonder where Lizzie gets her stubborn streak from."
Klaus narrowed his eyes, only making Marcel laugh more.
"Look, I know you hate asking for help, and I don't wanna give unsolicited advice so if you really just needed someone to listen that's fine. I can keep listening, if that's what you want."
"It is."
He did hate asking for help, rather wallow in self loathing. It was easier, cleaner and prideful; none of those were going to get him to what he wanted.
Letting out an exasperated sigh, he said, "Okay, I'm not saying I'm going to take it per say, but I'm going too pour another while you think out loud about this advice of yours."
Klaus said when getting out of his seat, grabbing both their empty glasses before walking over to the bar.
"Well, just thinking out loud here, I think you should take it one day at a time, and I'm not just saying that." Marcel somberly began. "Klaus, what you're going through isn't easy. Lizzie didn't just become a heretic, she killed herself to do it."
Klaus tensed at the reminder.
"It's okay to feel some regrets, think about better days or days that never came to be. You still have a good chunk of humanity in you. Being a vampire isn't easy nor necessarily enjoyable most of the time. We live long enough to understand how unpredictable life really is. There comes a burden, an emptiness, that no one prepares us for." Marcel said. "I know that, you know that and Caroline knows that. You two have been trying so hard to shield your girls from this exact outcome, it's okay to not know how to handle it when it happens. You're hurting, your family is hurting and trying to find a way to heal but it will take time. The most important part is being there for each other."
"You don't think I want to be there for them? They won't let me in!" Klaus exclaimed.
"You're not letting them in either by not asking the hard questions because you're scared of the answers which, understandable, but it's also the source of all this pent up anxiety."
- Damnit.
Klaus thought to himself as he walked back over with the drinks in his hands.
Admitting to needing help was one thing, but the advice actually being good made his undead heart sink into the abyss of embarrassment.
"I've never been a parent nor in a committed relationship but, from what I've gathered it seems like an ongoing thing you have yo work for. A lot of things will go wrong before getting better."
"I should've been a better parent to you, maybe a better man too." Klaus softly confessed. "For your sake and mine. Maybe I'd be better at it now."
Marcel sighed through his nostrils, twisting his lips side to side to loosen the tension there.
"I think we've been down that road enough to not have to reopen those wounds again." He cleared his throat. "But we needed to go through the hard times to make it to the relationship we have now. Same method applies, with less murder attempts."
The cold room bursted with the two men's laughter, clinking their glasses against each other's with silent contentment.
"Oh my god, Marcel!"
A familiar, and chipper, feminine voice blurted from the door and both men took a quick nervous glance at each other before turning in their stools with a grin.
- Is it 3 o'clock already?
Time must've escaped as their deep conversations prolonged, Klaus didn't even realize how late in the day it was and that the girls—and Caroline—would be coining back home soon.
Dressed in her school uniform—opting out of the burgundy plaid skirt for the plaid pants and suspenders instead—her blonde tresses swung side to side and an enthused smile as she skipped over.
"Hey kiddo." Marcel greeted with a wide smile and hopping out his seat.
His arms fully embraced Lizzie's smaller frame against his broad chest, pulling her in for a bear hug.
"And you must be the infamous Sebastian I've been hearing so much about." Marcel nodded his head towards the timid teenage vampire looming in the background.
Klaus subtly rolled his eyes. So caught up in the overwhelming presence of his daughter, he failed to see her vampire boyfriend standing behind.
"Oh, yeah! I totally forgot you two haven't formally met! Probably because I'm always talking about him to you." The young heretic rambled as their grips loosened from around each other. "Well, Marcel this is my boyfriend Sebastian. Sebastian, this is Marcel. You two kinda met on Christmas but Marcel had to leave for whatever reason so you didn't get a good feel of each other."
Sebastian stepped forward with an extended hand. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Marcel. Elizabeth speaks quite highly of you. Nice to see you again, Mister Mikaelson."
Klaus gave a nonchalant nod while Marcel's eyebrow quirked up at the overly formal greeting. "Sebastian. I wasn't aware you'd be joining us."
"Um, I was invited, sir. For dinner. By Elizabeth, of course."
"Yeah, he's my guest." Lizzie beamed, still not looking Klaus's direction.
"Uh, nice meeting you too." Marcel cut in, clearing his throat when death griping the hand shake. "You got a special girl here, who really likes you. Couldn't imagine you'd do anything to fuck that up, right?" He emphasized with a hard squeeze, making the young vampire whence.
"Christ, as if I don't have to deal with enough testosterone around here." Lizzie muttered when pulling their hands apart and grabbing her boyfriend's hand. "Don't mind him, babe, he's harmless. I consider Marcel like an older brother because he was adopted by the Mikaelsons like 1,000 years ago and now that they've finally decided to stop plotting to kill each other, we are just one big dysfunctional family who keeps on growing!"
Not even Klaus could hold back the small smile. His eyes glittering at the sight of the two, not even being offended that the blonde teenager hadn't acknowledged him since walking in.
"Guilty." Marcel smirked.
"Wait, wait, you still haven't told me what you are doing here?!" She faced him. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, because I always am, but no one said you were stopping by! Last we texted you were enjoying single life sun with Uncle Kol in LA."
"And I have every intention of resuming. This was just a last minute house call. So, tell me how your vampire training is going. I heard you have another lesson today."
Her eyes squinted, suddenly suspicious. Her arms crossed and eyes pierced on the hybrid who had been silent since she walked through the door.
"Uh huh...so, what he called in for reinforcements or something?"
The way she tilted her head and referred to Klaus as 'he' made his skin burn and heart ache.
"Lizzie—"
"No, that's why you're here right? To put me in check? Well save your breath. I'm going to tell you the same thing I told him which is that I don't need a teacher, especially one that breathes down my neck like a drill sergeant about every little thing: 'Don't do this, don't do that. Don't drink that blood, but I'm probably not going to teach you to drink that blood. Oh, let's read up on the encyclopedia of the first ever vampires who just happen to be my psychotic parents', just for funsies!" She mocked while mimicking Klaus's accent, and he never felt more hurt. And frankly, he was tired of her ungrateful attitude.
Hopping off the stool, with a pointing finger, "Now listen young lady—"
"Okay, simmer it down hot heads." Marcel intervened with his arms separating the two.
"I am not a hot head." Lizzie scoffed. "If anyone needs to simmer down, it's the warden over there."
"Okay, enough with the bloody nicknames." Klaus chided, stepping closer. "You're acting like a brat by trying to make me the enemy when I'm only trying to help you."
"I get that you want to help, but you won't listen to me! You won't even give me space to make mistakes, or think! You haven't been listening to me since my transition, just barking orders. It's suffocating!" Lizzie yelled.
He sighed. "I'm only looking out for you."
"Like Marcel said, I have a family full of vamps. Not to mention an experienced vampire boyfriend, remember? Sebastian is actually the only person who hasn't made me feel like a total freak since all of this started."
Sebastian cleared his throat. "Um, Elizabeth—"
"No one is treating you like a freak." Klaus commented.
"Well that's how it feels. Being a vampire doesn't even seem that hard. From what I've observed it's all about having control of yourself, well newsflash I've had to do that my entire life!" Lizzie raised her voice more.
Klaus bit the inside of his cheek.
"It's a bit more complex than that..." Marcel intervened. "There is a lot that goes into being a creature of the night and yes, you are lucky to have a family full of seasoned vampires but no one understands the ups and downs more than this guy right here." Marcel patted Klaus on the back. "This man who loves you more than life, and wants the best for you. You know he has nothing but your best interest in mind, and he's always been your confidant since day one."
The air felt a bit lighter already. The tension in Klaus's shoulders began to dissipate as Lizzie's stance and face softened; looking directly at each other.
"Klaus taught me a lot of things growing up, even when things weren't so simple for someone who looked like me, even before becoming a vampire." Marcel explained. "I used to be just like you. Thinking I knew everything, refusing help, and resenting him even when he was genuinely just trying to help. Now I realize there really was a method behind his madness. No, he's not the easiest person to put up with but who in this family is?"
Her arms were still crossed but Klaus could see her guard lowering more as she looked up at him.
"Are you still going to teach me how to drink from the vein today?" She asked.
"I promised you, didn't I?" Klaus drly replied.
She licked her lips nervously. "Mom won't like that. It was the main thing she advised against when our lessons began, remember?" Her eyes lit up like lightbulb. "You know what, maybe we should do it even more, since the possibility of becoming a blood drunk loony is the only way to get her attention lately. "
Another conversation for another day, Klaus thought.
"I'll handle your mother. What I need from you now, Lizzie, is to trust me. You never had an issue with that before."
She sighed, running her fingers through her blonde tresses.
"I do trust you, Klaus. You know I do but, you learned how to be a vampire on your own and turned out to be the best of the best. Literally feared all across the world. Why can't you give me that kind of freedom?"
"That wasn't freedom, Lizzie, that was survival. And unlike you, I didn't have a choice."
"You think I'm going to lose control?" She shyly asked.
His shoulders lifted. "I don't want you to, but being a vampire is a messy journey. I made centuries worth of bad decisions while becoming, as you say, 'the best of the best'."
She softly giggled at his overdramatized air quotes before initiating the hug he had been waiting for for two weeks.
He released a breath he didn't realize he was holding, holding her against his chest, like the faintest space between them would make her fly away. He had to force away the tears welling up in his eyes as he kissed the top of her head, melting into her smaller arms.
God he missed this.
He caressed her soft hair and just held her. No words, just their breaths. He missed his baby girl and all the life she breathed into his shattered lungs. The purpose she provided him and the unconditional love that he hadn't felt in two weeks.
"You are everything to me, Elizabeth. I mean that." Klaus whispered into her golden hair. "You are one of my four reasons to keep existing. I breathe down your neck because I have to, because this isn't a game. Because I need you to survive this so that I can. You made a choice and have to live with it, but so do the rest of us."
She flinched in his tight hold at the way his words hissed in her ear.
"You want to know the truth? The truth is that you will lose control. You will succumb to the bloodlust on more than one occasion. You will do things you never thought you would, and you will hate yourself for them." He bluntly explained, pulling away so that he could look into her tearful eyes that matched his.
Face hardened and eyes soft, his hands cradled both sides of her ivory cheeks.
"You will make plenty of mistakes, with or without my assistance. You will have lifetimes of bad decsions to make. You will kill, you will hurt, and you will be over powered with unimaginable grief. It's my job, as your parent and mentor to teach you how to manage when those inevitable events occur. It's my job to protect you. Do you understand?"
She slowly nodded, and his face relaxed.
The truths were meant to scare her into understnading her new reality, but if anything it scared him more.
Her bottom lip quivered. "I'm sorry, Klaus. I'm sorry for being such a brat."
He shrugged his shoulders. "Takes one to know one." Klaus smiled, and never felt such ease than seeing his bay girl reciprocate it.
"I know you're only helping me, I get that but I don't want to be schooled on being a vampire because I just want to live it. Is it weird, that I'm not scared of being a vampire like everyone else is?" Her teeth scraped over her lip. "I mean, it's obviously very different and I'm still getting used to the whole not breathing thing and my favorite foods taste crappy but...I'm not scared to be one. I'm new to this and have more to learn but, I kinda like it. I like how I feel, and who I am as one...at least who I think I am. But every vampire in my life besides you doesn't seem to think that's normal. Is something else wrong with me?"
He let out a heavy breath. His chest clenched. His heart was coiled by her admission—an admission he wasn't expecting, but one that was all too familiar.
Meeting her forehead with his lips, he cradled her soft head and chuckled against the skin.
"You remind me so much of your mother it's maddening." He breathed, softly chuckling against the skin at the thought of his brave baby vampire.
She scoffed. "Caroline Forbes doesn't give off the loving immortality type. I swear she acted more human than me." Lizzie mumbled.
He grinned. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with you. I can tell you firsthand the excietment that comes with just living in the moment. Everyone's story is different, and complicated. There are beautiful aspects to being a vampire, and your mother knows them well, even if she doesn't always think so. She has a pretty incredible journey herself so, though you have me, I also hope you two will be able to talk about it someday as well."
"My mom, right..." Lizzie groaned, pulling away just enough, but her eyes stayed down at the marble kitchen floor.
"You're not the only one who I need to apologize to." She let out a deep create, using her sweater's sleeve to wipe under her reddened nose. "I have quite the list, don't I? And I'm really over Josie not sleeping in the same room as me."
He gave her a close-lipped grin, caressing her hair. "I'm sure she misses you too."
Her head shook. "No, she hates me, not that I blame her."
"Josie is your sister, your twin, who loves you immensely. She's just a little hurt, and sad, and confused. But nonetheless, loves you." He reassured her best he could when she showed no sign of being convinced. "As a wise person once told me, take it one day at a time, but starting with an apology never hurts." He glanced up at a proud Marcel. "Why don't you go get changed so we can finish your training before dinner, okay sweetheart?"
Agreeing with a smile and sniffle, she squeezed his hand before retreating upstairs towards her room.
Looking over his shoulder as she walked off, Klaus reciprocated the expression before immediately drooping it when looking up at the teenage brunette vampire still standing timidly at the door.
The way he nervously pushed up and down on his toes with pursed lips and shifty eyes increased Klaus' aggravation.
Both he and Marcel crossed their arms when facing the boy's nervous smile.
"Um, does that dinner invite still pertain to me, sir?"
Me: Maybe the next one should be lighter?
Also me: But what if Uncle Kai popped in for a visit?