Her body had reluctantly moved from the warmth and comfort of her bed and let her feet drag the rest of the young witch into the ensuite bathroom. It was rather obvious that Charlie did not want to be awake at that moment in time, her brain was having too much of a problem trying to decipher what her horrible dream had been about.
Shaking her head slightly, Charlie managed to get on with her daily morning routine, allowing her mind to focus on the fact that the three other occupants of the compound had probably been awake for at least three hours before her. Or in Klaus' case a lot longer than three, he probably hadn't even gone to sleep at all. The young witch wasn't in the greatest of moods to motivate herself after such a nightmare, however.
So, there she stood, in the bathroom with a toothbrush hanging limply from her mouth, Charlie's eyes slid closed again. At least she had managed to get dressed in the outfit Klaus had picked out for her and the hair on top of her head was wavy, and not looking like birds had been living in it for quite some time. It wasn't long until she heard familiar voices drift from somewhere on the second story. It caused Charlie to shake herself awake and she leaned over the sink, spat out the toothpaste left over in her mouth and sigh. Charlie wiped at her mouth with the hand towel and looked into the mirror - the bags under her eyes weren't as pronounced anymore, since she had placed concealer on.
She took a deep breath and held it for a couple of seconds, before letting it out slowly. Bright blue eyes, which neither her mum nor her father had, stared back at her in the mirror, the bangs resting on her forehead were starting to annoy her. They weren't sitting right - so she started to mess with them with her left hand, trying to get the short pieces of hair to fit exactly right across her forehead. "Come on bangs, you sons of bitches," she mumbled to herself - eyes squinted behind her glasses before her hand dropped back to her side. That would have to do. Another deep breath and the staring contest with herself in the mirror continued.
-x-
It was another couple of minutes before Charlie forced the courage to face the others into her system, she couldn't hide in her room all day, even though that is exactly what she wanted to do - though she was certain that Klaus would drag her out by her ear if that were to happen. Maybe even the hem of her skirt. Charlie knew she still looked awful and her nightmare was still played at the back of her mind. WHO was going to die? Were the demons talking about Klaus or Elijah, hell were they talking about Hayley? Charlie figured that they weren't the ones they had been talking about, because they already had plethora of enemies and yet still managed to stay alive just to spite everyone. However, this dream was causing her to lose sleep, someone was always dying in her dreams, why was this one any different?
Charlie was still out of focus when she stepped onto the balcony from her bedroom and ran straight into Elijah. It was like hitting a brick wall, a rather good-looking brick wall and if his hand hadn't come up to grab a hold of her right arm to steady her, Charlie knew she would have fallen flat on her ass. Which would have just been the icing on the wonderfully shitty cake that this week had produced already.
Though the only thing that had fallen to the tiled floor were her glasses. Charlie winced as they bounced on the ground, which caused her to pray to God that the lenses hadn't smashed or even been scratched. She muttered a soft apology to Elijah and tried to avoid eye contact when she knew exactly what his bright blue gaze was looking at - before she started to bend down. However, Elijah's grip on her arm tightened, which caused Charlie to stand straight. A frown settled on her forehead, they glanced at each other and Charlie had to stop herself from making a noise as Elijah bent down and picked up the glasses for her. Ever the fucking gentleman. He let the hand that was still holding onto her arm fall from her skin and used it to pull out his handkerchief before he wiped away the dust that had appeared.
No cracks or broken lenses. Charlie heaved out a sigh of relief and shifted on her spot before she moved her arms and crossed them over her chest. She could still faintly hear Klaus and Hayley's voices, which she now knew where coming from his bedroom - and suddenly remembered where she was supposed to be going in the first place.
Yet the young witch continued to watch Elijah with a morbid curiosity. The feelings that had developed all those years ago had been pushed deep down - deep down inside her. His fascination with Hayley was what caused the retreatment of said feelings, she knew that if she continued down that path - the only person who would get hurt was her. Though it was bloody hard to do when he was doing things like this and every other weekend ended up ignoring Hayley. It was a tense couple of seconds before he shot her his charming smile and placed the glasses on the bridge of her nose.
"Thanks," she mumbled, a hand came up to push the glasses the rest of the way up her nose.
"I take it those are the only pair you have?" he questioned, and Charlie's head almost exploded. What even was this conversation? Why were they having it? It seemed strange that they were so casual towards each other all of a sudden. He knew of her feelings and it had been an awkward couple of weeks - she doubted that he was still over that whole conversation.
"Er - yeah, I don't have … well, I did but you know. Klaus broke them." Well, that was only half true, both of them had something to do with the breakage of her second pair of glasses and it was a long story. Her current black Ray-Bans were the only pair she had left, there was no way she had an extra $400 laying around to buy a new pair.
She was only a primary school teacher.
Then all of a sudden, the conversation had drifted and came to a complete stop when Elijah nodded his head and moved past Charlie, towards Klaus' bedroom. Charlie stared straight ahead and raised a brow. What the hell was that? Though she didn't get the chance to answer her own question, when the same hand that had been wrapped around her arm, caught a hold of her wrist and pulled her along behind him.
She stumbled suddenly over her heeled feet and felt a blush rush to rest against her cheeks. Elijah either didn't notice or didn't care that he almost caused her to fall over again. It had only been the day for four hours and yet, it was already starting to mess with Charlie's mind.
His fingers around her wrist were cold and it was suddenly a very nice sensation against her burning skin, she was certain he could feel it. Charlie watched the back of his head for the entire walk into Klaus' room, though before they came to a stop, Charlie schooled her features.
She really didn't want Klaus to tease her in front of both of them.
"Your wretched mother and her disciples tried to put a carving knife through our baby's heart." Charlie could hear Hayley speak and suddenly everything the witch had been worrying about seemed rather dull. To have to deal with someone, let alone your babies' grandmother, wanting your child dead - was a little bit more important than the feelings she knew she shouldn't be having. "I will happily add to the body count." Hayley continued when Elijah and Charlie stepped into view.
"You will do no such thing," Elijah said, the tone of his voice left no room for an argument and Charlie couldn't help but give Hayley a look. Who returned it, until her eyes lingered down to their entangled hands. Charlie let her blue eyes fall and she all but pulled her hand out of Elijah's grasp. The elder Original either didn't notice or chose to ignore it...again. Klaus on the other hand, couldn't help the smirk that grew on his face. "Esther's a master in the art of possession. We know whose body she currently inhabits." Elijah managed to pull the conversation back to the matter, moving the hand that HAD been wrapped around Charlie's to straighten his tie. "We must decipher her intentions before she finds a new host."
Klaus shifted on his spot and let his grin remain on his face. "Well, her last invitation was an assassination attempt on all her children. I think we can assume her intentions are decidedly foul." Charlie looked over at Elijah and noticed that he shrugged his shoulders, which caused her head to tilt to the side - like he wanted this dinner party to go ahead and for them to rush with their attack on Esther.
"Well, then. We have…" Elijah looked down at his watch and then to the three. "This afternoon to prepare for the worst." Elijah turned on his heel and Charlie didn't miss the fact that his hand brush over her wrist as he passed her. Or was that her who desperately wanted to keep the skin contact between the two of them alive. Blue eyes lingered on his retreating form and she almost wanted to push him over the railing, what the hell was he doing to her?
"The bloom is off the rose, I see." Charlie heard Klaus murmur to Hayley, to which she replied with shut up. Klaus came up to Charlie then and he took her hand in his and Charlie felt the urge to tell him to piss off. Stop manhandling me the brunette thought - she knew how to walk perfectly fine on her own.
Well - that was a bit of a lie, she had the easiest of times tripping over her own feet while standing still, but that was beside the point.
"And what about you dear Lottie?" Charlie gave a massive sigh and turned her head to the side - where she watched him for a couple of seconds. Klaus let the hand that was holding hers go and ended up with his arm wrapped around her waist.
The two of them had made their way back out onto the balcony. "Don't try and deny it, love. I noticed those innocent little touches shared between my brother and you." Charlie shook her head. The pair of them moved down the stairs, and towards the sitting area. Klaus moved his arm away from Charlie, his gaze fixed on Hayley who was finally coming out of his bedroom and made her way towards her own. Charlie turned and watched as well - a frown settling on her brow again. Why must Hayley have all the attention? It's not like Charlie didn't like Hayley, hardly - it was just that … well, the young witch was a little jealous. "Oh Lottie, you mustn't be."
Charlie turned around and spotted Klaus watching her. Her frown deepened, and her arms crossed over her chest. "Stop it." her tone was heavy and the mischievous glint in Klaus' eye disappeared. "I know I shouldn't, but it's really hard when he does things that I can very easily misinterpret." Klaus gave a soft sigh and made his way over to stand in front of the short brunette.
"I know my brother, Lottie. He isn't doing any of this on purpose." Klaus had to stop his face from betraying the truth. He didn't like seeing her so upset, she was the only thing that could quell his rage and calm him down so easily, seeing her so upset wasn't exactly what he needed right now. "And if he hurts you - who cares about forever and always." Charlie gave him a look, like that was ever going to happen but she ended up giving him a smile anyway. "That's my girl."
Charlie took a deep breath and let her arms hang by her sides before she surged forward and wrapped them around Klaus' middle. She couldn't really remember the last time she had seen him hug anyone, but she just had to - she needed that contact.
He stood frozen for a couple of seconds. Unsure as of what to do. Before Klaus let a smile cross his lips and he wrapped his arms around Charlie's shoulders. The shorter of the two tightened her grip around him just a tad. Maybe the day wouldn't be so bad after all.
-x-
It was about five hours later that Charlie found herself sat at the dining table, with her phone resting on the dining table. She stared rather intently at the device, willing for the screen to light up - her parents had messaged her that they were heading off to the markets in the French Quarter and that they would message her when they arrived, that had been almost two hours ago. Charlie bit down on her lower lip, trying to block the rest of the world out, Klaus was hastily making arrangements for the evening's dinner.
Uriel's coming for them.
What the hell did that even mean? Charlie knew that Uriel was an archangel - but ... why would her nightmare even tell her that? That had never been a thing before.
"Skip the salad course. Let's not make this dreadful evening any longer than it needs to be." Charlie only managed to fall back into the conversation between Klaus and the compelled caterers when her phone chimed and her whole body jerked forwards in her chair, knee banging against the expensive marble dining table.
Made it. A little bit of delay but don't worry.
did you want us to get you anything? :0)
dad x
"That was dad," she mumbled as she relaxed back into the chair, Klaus' interest had peaked when she had stumbled into the dining room, face stricken with worry that her parents hadn't gotten back to her yet. He knew that the nightmare she had the night before was plaguing her mind still - and he had no idea how to stop it. He knew that if he even tried to compel her, she would be out that front door quicker than he could run. He didn't want to risk it. "They made it and are wondering if I needed anything." a soft chuckle escaped Klaus' lips but before he could continue their conversation, Hayley made her way into the room.
"So, I guess letting Oliver live pair off," Hayley started. "He just informed me your mother has a partner-in-crime. Another witch." That caught Charlie's interest. Blue eyes found green and she raised a brow.
"What other witch? I told mum and dad not to get involved with this sort of stuff."
"Well - it's a good thing that your parents are not a part of this, Lottie." Charlie and Hayley both looked back at Klaus and he gave the pair of them a charming smile. "She's building alliances in her quest to destroy us, I imagine."
"Why does she hate you so much, Klaus?" Hayley questioned, moving closer to the dining table so that she could lean against it. Charlie looked back down at her phone, the three grey dots were still appearing as her father typed his reply. "She had six kids, it's not like she doesn't have the maternal gene."
"Seven, actually." Charlie smiled softly, Elijah had told her about Henrik once, on their little makeshift road trip back in Mystic Falls - that whole experience still left her reeling. "And, I think at one time, she loved us very much." Klaus started to fold the napkins on the table, trying to keep his hands busy. "One died before I was born."
Hayley was silent for a couple of seconds, her eyes falling on the witch to her right. "I didn't know that."
"Years later, my brother Henrik was killed by the werewolves in our village." Klaus continued on. "The loss of another child pushed my other over the edge. So, she used her magic to turn us into immortals." Charlie sighed softly and lifted her gaze from her phone and it came to rest on Klaus, who was still folding the napkins. "I think that's when she loved us the most. But, it was her undoing. It triggered a sequence of events that led to the reveal of her long-held secret." Charlie rested her chin against the palm of her hand as she leaned forward in her chair, now these were details that Elijah had managed to leave out on their road trip. "My birth father was the werewolf whose pack killed my little brother. Of course, when Mikael found out, he murdered my real father, and so, my mother lost her lover too." Klaus had turned away from the two women who were sat stunned by his rather sudden confession.
"Wow. No wonder she's crazy," Hayley mumbled, and Charlie couldn't help the snort that escaped her throat. "I'm out of my mind having just given away Hope… I can't imagine if she'd actually died." And now the younger brunette was left feeling like this was a rather private conversation that she shouldn't be privy too.
"You know, my siblings used to tell each other she didn't hate us. She hated herself for what we've become." Klaus turned back to face Hayley before he leaned against the chair at the head of the table. "I think they believed that even after she tried to kill us all."
"What did you believe?"
"I don't know. I just knew I wanted her dead." Klaus lifted his gaze and the parents stared at each other for a long moment. Charlie shifted awkwardly in her chair, they hadn't asked her to leave so she didn't go. She felt a little bit safer when she was around Klaus at the moment - but right now, she wished she was anywhere else.
The funny thing about Charlotte was that she had prayed the two who were still staring at each other in front of her would manage to sort out their differences and make it … work.
It was strange but - Charlie could see it.
"Well, every good story needs a wicked witch." Hayley winked at Klaus and then looked towards Charlie. "And we have our Good Witch of the East to help fight off the Wicked Witch of the West. It'll be all the more satisfying when we melt her." Klaus returns her smile and Charlie tried not to make a rather loud swooning noise.
And suddenly this week was not only going to be hard due to Esther but also due to Charlie and her ability to not being very subtle with things like this.
-x-
a/n: ahh im so glad that you guys are enjoying this.
I apologise for any grammar or spelling mistakes xx
leave a review, helps me write faster heh
