Nik had stood up to greet his brother but he stopped the minute the wine glass smashed against the floor. The burgundy liquid looked ominous splattered across the tiles, sticking to the shards of glass.
He paused, looking at the spill, his brother, and the frightened girl. Caroline carefully stepped over the spill to get a towel. Nik moved toward her, watching intently to make sure she didn't step on any of the glass. Stefan narrowed his eyes as he watched the protective way Nik acted toward her and how she didn't seem to mind.
"Katerina?" Damon snorted, amused by Elijah calling Katherine the wrong name.
"Katerina Petrova was the name she used when we met." Elijah calmly replied. "Although I did find out later that her true name was Katherine Gilbert, she'll always be Katerina to me."
Katherine edged towards the door, looking to escape.
"I wouldn't" Elijah warned.
She backed away from him a bit and sat down.
"Oh no." Stefan said, breaking into the first smile since Elena disappeared. "Is this the guy?"
Katherine nodded, guiltily.
"This is the guy? Rebecca's brother is the guy?"
Katherine just glared at him.
"My brother is the what?" Rebecca asked.
Nik shot Rebecca a confused look. She was slowly putting the pieces together.
Stefan walked over to shake Elijah's hand. "Well done, sir. You're the only one to beat her at her own game. It's an honor to meet you, and not just because of all the wonderful things Becca's said about you."
Elijah looked across the room, trying to put the pieces together.
Nik walked over to his brother. He pointed at Stefan and Damon. "Clients of mine. That one is also Rebecca's boyfriend. The other is with the girl who got kidnapped. And the one you seem to know is the twin sister of the girl who was taken. That just leaves Caroline." He motioned towards her. "She's with me."
"With you?" Elijah asked. He wondered if Niklaus meant that she was his partner on the job.
"My girlfriend." Nik clarified.
Caroline felt stunned, hearing him say it. I guess that's what you'd call it, she thought, although it sounded so strange. They did have that talk out on the road, but did that mean he was her boyfriend? It seemed so odd to call him that.
Damon's eyes bugged out.
"Are you kidding me? Care!" Stefan shouted.
"You have a girlfriend?" Elijah spat out. He didn't seem convinced.
Rebecca started to giggle nervously.
"Caroline!" Stefan demanded.
"Stefan, I was going to tell you soon, it just happened and with all this Elena stuff going on..."
"You got here hours ago, how could you not tell me!"
"Because I knew you would react like this!" Caroline protested.
"Are we going to have a problem, Stefan?" Nik challenged, moving protectively towards Caroline.
Rebecca looked at her one brother, about to get into a fight with her boyfriend, and her other brother, glaring at the girl she had felt insanely jealous of only a few hours ago. It was all too much. She kept laughing, and when everyone else shot her looks making it clear that her laughter was not welcome she could only laugh harder.
"Becca, cut it out." hissed Stefan.
"Oh, shush." She replied, kissing him. "Like you said, glass houses."
"Thats not-" He protested.
"It is." She insisted, and walked over to each of her brothers, hugging them again. "You have to admit, this is kind of funny."
Katherine was edging towards the door again.
"Sit down, Katerina!" Elijah shouted, and she meekly went back to her place at the table.
Damon's brow scrunched as Katherine obeyed the orders of the man who just walked in. Katherine kept every man firmly under her thumb. She was the one barking orders and they scurried to cater to her every whim. Who the hell was this guy?
Nik looked bewildered at his brother and the woman that was so afraid of him.
"Elijah, what's this?" He asked, pointing at his brother and Katherine.
"Nik, apparently Elijah has been keeping some secrets from us." Rebecca huffed.
"I'd like to hear Niklaus explain what exactly is going on." Elijah said, looking at Caroline.
"No, I think the first thing we need to talk about is you and Caroline." Stefan spat at Nik, puffing his chest out like he was ready to fight.
"Stefan, you have to trust me." Caroline protested.
"How could you just-" Stefan started.
"I don't give a shit unless it's about Elena!" Damon shouted, trying to regain control of the crowd. He had lost them, they were all scrambling to pick up the pieces of what was going on.
Elijah turned to Nik. "You know when I told you I made a bad business investment while in Eastern Europe for that conference and I needed some time there to work it out?"
"Yes, of course. I had to stay with Becca that month while you were gone, it turned into four or five months if I remember correctly."
"It wasn't exactly a business investment. I... fell in love with a girl who told me her name was Katerina Petrova." A flicker of sadness flashed across his face, but he pushed it away. "It's a very common mistake, I'm told."
Katherine had found a bottle of liquor and was chugging straight from it. She was trapped in here with the one person in the world she was afraid of, and her twin sister was being tortured by some crazy kidnaper. What else was there to do but drink?
Elijah continued. "She got ahold of all my money and cleared my accounts and ran. She took a bunch of my valuables, including a necklace of our mother's I always carry with me. I tracked her down and with some... persuasion, I got it all back. I may have also outed her to the who's who of Eastern Europe, effectively ruining her chance of running her scam anywhere near there ever again. I've made a point of reminding her that I haven't forgotten by sending her a postcard every once in a while, just to let her know how easily I can find her."
Nik looked stunned and impressed. Who knew his straight laced, law abiding brother had it in him?
"Why didn't you just ask me to help? And how did you track her?"
"I'm capable of handling my own mistakes. And I'm well versed in how to obtain classified information. We science nerds are good at some rather useful things."
Nik smiled. "We really are brothers, aren't we?"
Stefan stormed over to Caroline. "You're with him. You and him?"
"Yes."
"Are you crazy, Care? After Tyler you jump right on some guy like that?"
"I didn't plan on this, it just happened!"
"You can't be serious!"
"Stefan, please. There's more to him than what you're seeing. Trust me."
"Care, you're going to get yourself killed!"
"That's rich." Rebecca snorted.
He spun around to look at her.
"You're not one to talk about people being in danger, Stefan." She snapped.
"Becca I didn't mean to.."
"No, go on. Just tell your friend some more about how awful my brother is. When your brother is the one who's girlfriend is being tortured by someone who wants to get back at both of you. That could have easily been me instead of her. So who's going to get who killed?"
"Becca, I..."
"Save it, Stefan." She huffed, moving away from him.
Stefan sighed and walked away to join Katherine in drinking, but not before giving Nik a withering glare.
"She's too good for you." He said.
"I know." Nik replied.
Stefan shook his head and walked away, muttering curses under his breath.
Rebecca slumped on to a couch, glaring at Stefan sitting next to Katherine. She couldn't stand her before, but now that she knew the girl had tried to swindle Elijah and had stolen their mother's necklace, she hated the girl even more.
Nik, Damon and Caroline were whispering about some kind of plan for getting Elena. Stefan glanced over and hesitantly joined them, Katherine followed him to take part in the discussion, still pulling sips from the bottle every few minutes.
It was near dark. Nik wanted to go stake out the place that night, figure out how many people were there and how difficult it would be to get to her. He had begrudgingly agreed to allow Damon to join him, but not before giving him a stern warning that any impulsive behavior would only further endanger Elena's life.
Stefan was in charge of keeping everyone else inside the room and together until they knew for sure if they were still being watched. There was no need to risk more by having them wandering around on their own.
Nik changed into dark clothes and pulled out a few essentials for their observation mission, handing Damon a pair of binoculars and some little gadgets. He looked over to Caroline, who was pacing around nervously.
"We're leaving now. Could be a few hours or all night, not really sure."
"Be careful." She begged.
"Everything's going to be fine." He insisted, stroking the side of her face. "Damon and I won't be getting close enough to be in any danger, and Mason still has another 36 hours before he expects the Salvatores to turn themselves over in exchange for Elena, so he'll be keeping her alive." He had said that last part more for Damon's benefit than hers, knowing he was listening.
Caroline pulled him closer and kissed him.
He hesitantly broke away and took one last look at her, and then around the room. Stefan and Rebecca were bickering and Elijah was glaring at Katherine, who kept trying to put as much space between them as possible.
"Make sure they don't all kill each other while I'm gone, alright love?"
She smiled. He gave Damon a serious nod and the two of them were out the door.
Damon had never been to this part of the island. Most of their clients preferred the posh, upscale surroundings of the resort, but once they drove inland a bit the scenery changed drastically. The buildings were mostly tiny and run down, the people they passed eyed them suspiciously. they were clearly out of place. They parked a few blocks away and moved though alleys and dirt roads before finding a spot that faced the building she was being held in. Nik and Damon walked through the abandoned building, Damon following as Nik found a good spot to observe.
"Remember what we talked about." Nik warned.
"I know." Damon snipped.
"We can't get any closer until we know what we're dealing with, you can't make a scene no matter what happens."
"I get it. Lets just get started."
Nik nodded and started unpacking gadgets.
"They won't have her in a room with windows. This will pick up the changes in temperature, giving us a rough idea of where people are."
"And that one?" Damon asked.
"Lets me know what kind of electronics are in there."
"The big thing in the bag?"
"Picks up some of the noise. I probably won't be able to get a clear conversation, but it'll get some fragments and an idea of how many voices there are."
Nik plugged the devices into a little charger, and opened a laptop, clicking a few programs open. Damon watched the boxes on the screen start to form multicolored lines and red orange shapes. It looked like an alien language to him, but Nik was focused on it, reading something from the jumbled information.
"Basement." Nik said.
"What?"
"They have her in the basement. There's three figures in there now. Hard to tell how big they are. It looks like one's in the same room as her and two are in the other end of the basement.
"How do you know which one's her?"
"That one." Nik pointed. "In a sitting position. Very still. The others all move a bit more."
Damon watched the red blotch on the screen closer. That was Elena. She was right there and there was nothing he could do about it.
"How do we get to her?"
"For now, we wait and watch. I don't know their patterns. When they sleep, when they're holding weapons and when they're exposed. When they stay near each other and when they wander apart."
"Can't we just go in and start shooting?" Damon asked impatiently.
"Sure, if you want to risk accidentally shooting Elena or having one of them kill her in retaliation."
"So there's nothing we can do right now?"
"This isn't nothing. We're learning. This is going to help up, you just need to be patient."
"Patient, my ass." Sniffed Damon. "When can I go in there and get my girlfriend?"
"You're not going in there." Nik snorted. "You'd be killed instantly."
"You're not doing it alone."
"I called my boss. She's looking for available people in the area. There are some friends of hers who travel around here."
"I don't want their help. I'm going to save Elena."
"You're not as experienced as we are. You'll mess it up and get her killed."
"So I'm supposed to just stand around and wait while someone else rescues her?"
"Of course not." Nik replied calmly. "You can just walk in with me and ruin all my hard work. Get everyone killed with you ineptitude. Does that sound better to you?"
Rebecca snatched the bottle away from Stefan and pointed to the kitchen.
"Elijah ordered dinner for us. Go set the table or something."
Katherine got up to follow Stefan, but Rebecca stood in front of her.
"Not you, slutface. You stay away from him."
Katherine hiccuped and slurred a bit as she spoke. "Oh believe me.. It's not Stefan I'm interested in."
"If you think you can fool my brother again, you're not very smart."
"I know, Elijah hates me forever. It's too bad. He was the cutest out of all the guys I've worked. Great hair. And when he came storming into my hotel room, demanding that necklace back, finding me after weeks of running... Well I always did prefer men who take charge."
"You're pathetic."
"And you seem to have a surplus of brothers. I've heard all about them. I wonder if I can get Kol to fall in love with me as well. Or maybe I can find the mysterious Finn, Elijah was always talking about how he wished he could find him again, be reunited with his brother..."
"Shut up. You don't have any right. My family.."
"Oh your family. I'm so sorry." Katherine sneered. "Is it your family thats tied to a chair, being tortured as we speak?"
She stormed past Caroline and into one of the bedrooms.
Rebecca gave Caroline an exasperated look.
"She's usually more fun." Caroline shrugged. "Although I don't blame you for disliking her, considering what she did to Elijah."
"Elijah can take care of himself." Rebecca sniffed.
"What's that about me?" Elijah asked, wheeling a tray full of food into the room.
"Oh, the foods here." Caroline smiled at him, trying to change the subject.
"Rebecca, please fetch your sorry excuse for a boyfriend and bring him to dinner." He said, ignoring Caroline's remark. "You. Caroline, was it? Please tell Katerina the food is here. I expect her to sit and eat dinner with us like a normal human being instead of hiding in the shadows like a feral cat."
Caroline was surprised by the man's formality and authoritative presence. He had just walked in and he was already acting like he ran the show.
"Oh, uh." She stammered, and scurried out of the room to get Katherine.
Katherine was shaking and drinking from yet another bottle when Caroline popped her head in the room.
"Elijah wants you to eat dinner with us."
"I can't believe his brother is your Nik..." Katherine whispered. "I brought him up to the hotel room. I fell asleep with him right in there. And he's Elijah's brother."
"Kat, are you ok?"
"He could have been there to kill me. I would have walked right into it."
"Katherine, Nik's not going to hurt you. And Elijah, I don't think he'll kill you now. If he was going to, wouldn't he have already done it?"
"You don't understand, Caroline. Elijah's smart. He's playing chess with me, always ten moves ahead. He's going to do something, I just know it."
"Did he hit you? Threaten your life?" Caroline asked.
"Nothing like that. Worse. He ruined me. I can't run jobs in a lot of places because of him. He lost me a lot of money and potential johns. I have to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder, wondering if he's about to tip off the person I'm working."
"Katherine, you lie and steal for a living. Someone would eventually find you out."
"No. I'm better than that. I always look out for myself. But he was different."
"Smarter."
"Yes... but not just that. When I snuck out of his house, wearing his mother's necklace and holding a suitcase of his money, that was the only time I ever felt bad about it. I wanted to run back to him and give it all back. I almost did, but..."
"But what?"
"He's too good for me. He's too smart and moral. Eventually he would have found out about my past, or broken my heart and left me alone and penniless. I will always protect myself. I had to leave."
"You cared about him?"
"It stared out as a job, but I fell for him." Katherine whispered, the flood of alcohol in her system allowing her to speak without worrying about how exposed and silly it made her look to her sister's friend.
Caroline smiled and helped Katherine steady herself so they could walk to the kitchen.
"I think when Nik gets back, you should have a talk with him. I think how you feel about Elijah is a lot like how he felt about me. And he managed to find a way to win me over. Even when I really hated him for what he did."
"We can't all get a fairy tale ending." Katherine shrugged.
"Why not?" Caroline asked hopefully. She wiped the mascara stains off Katherine's cheeks and led her to the table.
Elijah was sitting across from Stefan and Rebecca was at Stefan's side, glancing nervously at her brother.
"And Stefan's also an amazing cook, and he's really into the Godfather movies, aren't those your favorites, Elijah?" Rebecca was rambling on.
"Enough, Becca." He sighed. "I get it, I'll be nice." He turned to Stefan. "I don't approve of your career and I don't think you're anywhere near good enough for my sister, but I'll respect her choice to be with you, so long as she's safe, happy, and you don't interfere with her education, understood?"
"Yes."Stefan gulped out.
"Rebecca has another three years of College, and I expect her to attend graduate school as well. It would be unfortunate for her to waste all her potential and run off with the likes of you." Elijah said calmly.
"I don't want her to have to pick me or school." Stefan said. "I know it's important to her."
"Stefan found an apartment in New York so he can visit me at school whenever he's free." Rebecca said. "And I can travel with him during the summer and breaks."
"So you'll only spend part of your year in constant danger?" Elijah sniffed.
Stefan glared, but he knew he was right. After what happened to Elena, it would be foolish to promise he could keep Rebecca safe.
"Elijah, it's my choice."
"It's a bad choice, Becca."
She pouted. There was nothing to say that could convince him.
Caroline walked into the room, easing a stumbling Katherine into a chair before taking a seat herself.
"How nice of you ladies to join us." Elijah smiled. "It seems that I have another sibling's significant other to get to know. Tell me, Caroline, how did you end up with my brother?"
She glanced at Katherine.
"Well, he was doing a job, and getting to know me was part of it. He ended up caring for me despite how we met and I felt the same. When I found out what he did for work, how he had lied to me, I was angry. I hated him. But I was forced to be around him because of a... unique situation, and gradually he changed my mind. I saw the person I originally cared for was still there, as well as a lot more."
She looked up at Elijah and noticed how his eyes flickered towards Katherine, revealing a glimpse of sadness and nostalgia she hadn't seen before.
"Everyone at this table knows my brother kills people and that he killed our father. No need to dance around it." Elijah replied.
"I saw him do it." Caroline nodded.
"And you weren't smart enough to run away from him?" Elijah smiled.
"I didn't really have a choice."
"You do now. And you choose him."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I saw past the job and I think, even with what he does, he's still good. And he makes me happy in a way that no one else ever could."
"Happy is not a word I would use to describe Niklaus." Elijah sniffed.
"He laughs and smiles every day with me. He's happy when he's with me." Caroline said.
Elijah raised his eyebrows. "Do you have a death wish? What makes you so proud to be the saving grace of such a man? People don't change, Caroline. He'll always be the person you saw kill Mikael. All the laughing and smiles are just a facade. He can only be the person you want him to be for so long before the mask slips."
"You talk like you don't even like him." Caroline said.
"I love him. He's my brother. That is why I'm warning you to be realistic about who he is before you end up ripping his heart out."
"You think I-"
"I think you'll feel like you care about him until he goes on another job, or does another thing a killer does. And then you'll be so upset he didn't change for you, and you'll leave. He doesn't let people in easily, and if you let him down he might never allow himself to care again."
"I don't understand what you're trying to say.."
"Im saying it would make me very angry if you gave my brother some illusion of love and happiness only to leave him because of who he is. If you're going to do that, it better be now, before he's in too deep."
"Wow, you're really serious about the protective older brother thing."
"This isn't a joke."
"I'm not joking. And I know who he is. I saw the acid eat away Mikael's body. I felt the blood hit my face when his hand pushed into Mikalel's skin. I saw his eyes when he did it, so don't lecture me about what I don't know."
"Then you know he's never going to change."
"I don't want him to."
"Bold words from such an innocent young thing."
"I'm not so innocent."
"Obviously not, cavorting with the likes of Katerina Petrova, aka Katherine Gilbert." He turned to acknowledge Katherine for the first time. "Tell me, Katerina, is your sister in the same line of work as you? How much of Damon Salvatore's money does she have?"
"Don't talk about my sister."
"I'll refrain from speaking of her until my brother rescues her. Ironic, isn't it, that someone from my family should save the one person you seem to have true feelings for?"
"I'm sorry, Elijah."
"You're sorry I caught you."
"No. I'm sorry I hurt you."
"Don't bother with this charade, Katerina, I don't believe it."
"It's true. I never felt bad about what I did, except for when it was you."
"Do you say this to everyone who catches you?"
"No one's ever been smart enough, other than you. But that's not all that set you apart."
"Don't bother, Kat." He warned her.
"You called me Kat." She smiled. "That's what you used to call me. Elijah, you need to know, even though it started as a job, what I felt for you was real. I never wanted to leave that day."
"Don't pretend someone was forcing your hand. You took my money, my dead mother's necklace, and you walked out."
"I was afraid."
"Afraid of not having enough money to buy your own nation? Afraid of what exactly?"
"What would happen if I stayed."
Caroline watched their eyes lock, Katherine's full of tears, pleading and desperate. If she hadn't been drinking all day and terrified of the thought of her twin sister being lost forever, she would have never let her guard down enough to say it. Elijah was looking back with sadness as well, but more anger. He was angry she was trying to claw her way back in, when he had worked so hard to convince himself not to love the devilish woman who had turned his world upside down.
"I've heard enough, Katerina. Stefan, Caroline, please keep what I've said to you in mind. Rebecca, I'll be resting."
Elijah left the table, and the four of them all felt the tension dissipate a little.
Rebecca looked at Stefan, Caroline and Katherine. "You're all crazy, wanting to be with people in this family. We're not easy."
Stefan smiled at her. "Wouldn't have it any other way."
Caroline smiled at the two of them, feeling a pang of worry in her chest as she thought about Nik.
Katherine had slipped away to go hide in the shadows some more. Caroline could only stand to be around Stefan and Rebecca for a few more minutes before excusing herself from the table. All of the bickering between Stefan and Rebecca had faded away and now they were smiling, holding hands, whispering. They were so happy, and all it did was make her wish Nik was there.
She found the bedroom where he had thrown his bags and she dug though his things, finding the shirt he was wearing earlier that day. It still smelled like him. She pulled everything she was wearing off and pulled the shirt on. It was almost like he was there next to her. She got into the bed and closed her eyes, wishing sleep would come so she could speed through the hours where he wouldn't be there and wake up to him.