Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries.

A/N: I know I say this a ton, but I love the reviews! Thank you! :D

Eighteen

Klaus's eyes never left AJ for a second. He stood in the doorway between the bedroom and kitchen, staring as she packed what little things she had in a slow, calm manner that oddly made him the slightest bit anxious. He could see her furtively eye a bloody rag she'd tossed in a garbage bin a few minutes ago that she had used to remove the unexplained blood from her hand. She looked at it like an arachnophobe would look at a spider.

"You haven't said much," he said to break their seemingly interminable silence, his arms crossed over his chest. When she didn't respond, he frowned. Then he glanced back at the kitchen table where he had forced Blake, the werewolf, to sit and stay. Blake's elbows were on the table and his head was in his hands. "He took to liking you much more than myself. Maybe you could cheer the fellow up."

"Why?" she asked finally, throwing her shirt from the previous day on top of the small pile. "Because that's what I usually do? Maybe that part of me is gone. Ever think about that?"

Klaus was taken aback by the bitterness in her tone. She caught on quickly and averted her eyes to the floor once more, attempting to busy herself again. Only a moment passed before he was in front of her, catching her small wrists gently with fingers that encircled them completely. She wouldn't look at him.

"AJ," he prodded. "Look at me." She kept her head down, her eyes shut, as if praying. "AJ," he implored now. "Please."

She lifted her head. Something was still off with her eyes, he noticed. It'd been that way since she had woken up beside him that morning. He thought that maybe it had been regret—maybe she realized that he was a mistake for her. She had this almost abnormal need to save people, to constantly pay repentance as if she'd done some kind of sinfully terrible thing. He didn't think she even saw it that way.

He was the killer, the villain. It would only make sense that she would feel regret for sleeping with him. But she had insisted she didn't, and he almost came to believe her.

What else could it be?

"You've been looking at me differently ever since last night," he said quietly, brushing his fingers under her chin. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong. What's wrong with Blake? That's his name, right?"

Klaus sighed. "You're being deflective. You've been deflective all day. Tell me."

When she looked back up at him, that familiar defiant glint in her eye was there. "Or what?"

More deflection. He could see what she was getting at. He knew what she wanted him to do next. Would she ever stop tempting him, challenging the very little self-restraint he had in regards to her? Even as he could see something was terribly off, he wanted her. He ground his teeth together until shots of pain went through his mouth, his jaw. It was hardly anything compared to what he'd felt in his thousand years of living. It had to be enough right now.

Removing his hands from her, he stepped out of the intimate closeness they'd been in and put space between them. Her lips tugged down in a frown. She shook her head, looking out the window.

"What do you want from me, Klaus?"

"The truth," he said, searching her face. "You said you tripped in the forest. You were taking a shortcut back here. What really happened?"

"What makes you think that isn't the truth?"

He had to resist the raw impulse to hit something. Instead, his frustration came out in his voice. "Because there was blood on your hand that you haven't yet explained to me! Because you kept saying things—things that didn't make sense! And now you're lying to me about what happened. Why?"

AJ bit her lip. "What do you plan to do?"

He blinked at her incomprehensively. "What?"

"What do you plan to do," she said again with more vigor, "with Blake. The werewolves. Your father. What are you going to do?"

"How does that have any significance right now?"

"Because," she sighed. "I think I was being… warned."

Klaus withdrew his restraint and stepped to her again, cupping her face in his hands, once more worried. "What are you talking about? Warned by who? About what?"

"Klaus," she said carefully, considering. "Have you noticed anything different about me? Anything at all?"

Pressing his lips together, he looked down at her hands. One still had chips of blood under her fingernails. The scent was familiar. "You're holding back. But I don't think that's very new."

She shut her eyes and when they reopened, he saw that strange, alien thing within. "Look at me," she implored. "Don't you see it?"

"Is this your way of telling me you've made your decision?" The words left his mouth before he could stop them. "That it truly was a mistake?"

"That—no!" She was appalled by what she put in his head. "Klaus, no. I want to be with you." She stopped herself, suddenly, as if realizing what she just said.

Klaus was frozen in place. Those words had never really been spoken to him before. He'd never been wanted. He had only the bastard child of his mother, the object of his father's hate. In the amount of years he had lived, he hadn't imagined a creature such as AJ would ever say those words to him.

Before he could say anything, she was speaking again. "It's just… things are different now. With me."

"Different how?"

She smiled sadly. "Well, I guess you could say they're the same. Like how they used to be." Then she held a hand in a fist over her heart, looking troubled. "And… and I don't know what you'll think. What you'll want."

"AJ… please just say plainly what you mean. I'm afraid I don't understand."

A strange stir of nervousness came over Klaus when he caught her apprehension. This wasn't like her.

Her hands slipped down to grasp his. She stared at them raptly. "What if I weren't good anymore, Klaus? What if my… darker side took over?"

He gently removed one hand from hers and tilted her chin up again, making her meet his eyes. "That would never happen."

Those eyes that caught everything seemed to light up a little, but there was still profound sadness within. "What if it did?"

That was it, he realized. It was her eyes. The way she'd been holding herself, her shoulders, her stride. He could see it now, clearly. "It's come back," he stated. "That split in your soul. It's returned."

"Yes," she whispered hollowly, looking forlorn.

"And you think that I want that?"

Stepping away from him, she went to the window. There were grey clouds above, but the sun was fighting its way through. "I always thought that the only reason you've bothered to come this far with me was because… well that you were hoping…"she trailed off, unable to say the words she knew might hurt him.

"That you'd be like me." Klaus stared at her, unmoving. In the kitchen, he could hear Blake scrounging around for food, shuffling through cabinets. At the moment, he wanted to tear the werewolf in half for disturbing his thoughts.

AJ knew what he was. She had seen the things he inflicted upon others. Yet, still she remained there, by his side. She'd even given herself to him, mind, body, and soul. She'd trusted him with that much. But if she could do that, how could she think so terrible of him? How could she think he was that much of a monster?

"Love," his voice was gruff, his emotions alien. Comfort wasn't something he was an expert in. "You are unlike any creature I've ever come across. Do you know that?"

Her look was wry. "Because I'm broken? Yeah, I figured."

"No. Because… you don't ever give up. You don't give in. You've been through hell and worse and yet you still find it in you to be you. Do you realize that?"

She shook her head. "I gave into you."

He paused. "Is that the way you see it, then? That I was something to give into? Not something… someone, you wanted?"

"I told you I want to be with you, Klaus. I want you. But I gave into what I was feeling without realizing the cost."

"Which is?"

Her hands clenched at her sides with her back still turned to him. He knew this was what kept her steeled. It kept her deep emotions out. He knew her well enough by now.

"Tell me what your plan is," she demanded.

Would he always give her what she wanted? "I have Elena's blood. I need hybrids. They'll give me an advantage over my father."

A line appeared between her eyebrows as she turned to him. "Why do you need an advantage over him? Why exactly does he want to kill you?"

Klaus breathed in slowly, lacing his fingers together. He sat on the bed. It was a talk he had been avoiding ever since she had that dream, back above Gloria's bar. She wouldn't look at him the same. She finally would see him as a monster. There would be no more wanting, no more desire to be close to him. Only repugnance and loathing.

AJ caught on to the change and joined him. He didn't know how to start. He never told anyone this. He never had to answer anything. But she deserved the truth, didn't she?

"My mother," he said finally. "You know that she was the Original witch. You know she was unfaithful to my father, hence how I came to be. When he found out, he hated me more than he had before. I think a part of him always knew I wasn't his blood. My mother—she had to please him. She loved him dearly, but he always needed pleasing. So she turned her back on me."

AJ placed her hand over his, stroking her thumb over his skin. "Klaus, I'm so—"

"Let me finish," he said quickly, though softly. "She turned her back on me. Then we were changed—we were vampires, and I, a hybrid. She knew this and what it would come to mean. So she put an enchantment on me. I could only be half of what I was. It was then I knew whatever love she'd had for me had left her. So I killed her."

Shock filled the silence that followed. Her hand rested upon his, unmoving. No longer did she want to comfort him. He had known this would happen. How could she even touch the very hands that had killed countless many?

"But—"she stopped, looking down at the sun pendant. "But she did love you. Why else would she give you this?"

His lips tugged up sadly. "Yes, I've come to realize that. Which makes it even more tragic, yes?"

AJ rested her head on his shoulder, surprising him. "You're family is very complicated. I think almost everything that's happened to all of you has been tragic."

He hadn't expected understanding. How could she get it? How could she not make him out for what he was?

How did he deserve her? He didn't. He knew, deep, deep down, that he should tell her about Elijah; that he was dead. But one look at her, and he didn't want to. He wasn't sure what sort of lasting effect it could have on this new relationship of theirs.

He would not allow anything to get in the way.

Pulling her closer, he didn't care in that moment if it was right or wrong. "Your turn."

AJ shifted slightly. "For what?"

"The truth."

AJ's eyes were closed. With her head resting on Klaus's shoulder, she felt at peace. She felt safe and strong, as if nothing could touch her. But the image of that girl—of herself—kept returning, making her feel weak and unsure.

Klaus hadn't expressed how he felt about the return of her darkness. He'd said no word about which way he saw it. But there had been no happiness in his eyes when she told him and that gave her faith.

"I was on my way back here," she said. "It was after I figured out that I'm… broken again. I just wanted to sort out my thoughts while you talked to Blake. I heard a scream from the forest. So I went in, even though half of me didn't want to. What I found was… disturbing." She stopped, remembering the way her shoulder had been disconnected from the rest of her body, the way muscle stuck out of her leg and blood poured from a scatter of wounds. Torture was one of mankind's ugliest creations. "I found myself, simply put. It was a trick. The Lemurė figured out a way to hijack my brain, I think. Instead of trying to kill me, though, they made me—the girl—say… strange things. About you."

Klaus had tensed. "They're trying to create conflict," he tried to reason. "Their words mean nothing. You shouldn't worry yourself over it."

"So you're saying that there couldn't be any truth to their words? None at all?"

Klaus took her hands and pressed a kiss to them, looking her in the eyes. "Do you doubt me?"

She turned away. "I don't know. I doubt myself most days."

"Might I ask something?" She nodded. "Your hand had blood on it. It dried, just under your fingernails. Why do you have your own blood on your hands?"

AJ was stunned. "How can you—"

"Your scent is very unique," he explained. "Your blood is… rich. But you haven't been wounded. How else could it have gotten there?"

AJ raised her hand to eye-level, examining it with hesitance. It's a symbol. She knew that much. The feeling hadn't yet left her—the feeling of hot, sticky blood covering her hand like she had dipped it in a bucketful, like it had been pasted to her skin. To know that it was really and truly her own blood made her feel nauseated. Now she was certain of what the spirits were trying to tell her.

She would be the cause of her own self-destruction when that day came. It would be no one's fault but her own. The idea had been on her mind for years—what this good and bad side of her would do. How the war would end. Instead of sharing this, she only shook her head.

"I have no idea."

Blake had been less than willing to get inside the truck Klaus procured so they could make their way into the city of Portland. It was a multiple hour drive from Astoria. AJ took the time to get to know the werewolf a little better and catch up on much needed sleep.

As it turned out, Blake was very similar in some ways to the now dreadfully deceased Ray. Although Ray hadn't had a goth-punk-emo look about him. Blake had a small figure, slight by the looks of it, clad in all black. His fingernails were chipped with black paint down to the cuticles, and his light brown eyes were framed by a trace of black eyeliner that was smudged underneath, as if he'd run his thumbs over it. Contrary to his tough exterior, AJ could read a deep fear in his eyes every time they landed on Klaus. She often had to twist around in the front seat to even get a proper look at the poor werewolf, so she was almost certain Klaus hadn't noticed the growing nervousness in him.

But it was Klaus. He probably just knew.

Blake had been leading a pack that gathered in Portland for several years now, despite the fact that he was only in his mid-twenties. A full moon was coming upon them and he had mentioned where the pack would meet. It seemed that even in all that time, he hadn't grown as fond as his pack as Ray had been for his own.

AJ wasn't certain if she saw this as a good or a bad thing. Maybe more importantly, she wasn't sure which side in herself was uncertain.

On one hand, Blake spared himself from being tortured for the endless hours Ray had been. The gore of that night came back to haunt AJ, eliciting a shiver to run down her spine. She remembered how she had only made things worse by lying to Ray—she hadn't realized the full extent of why Klaus went looking for the werewolf in the first place. She hadn't realized what it would lead to. Yet she still played a part in it.

That's what bothered her about the other side of this situation. Although Blake had been more than willing to disclose the location of his pack, he had only signed their death sentences by doing so. Some blood had been spared for buckets.

What could she do to make things different this time?

Glancing at Klaus out of the corner of her eye, she grew sad. This was all he ever wanted: to belong, to have others of his kind. To not be alone anymore. Was he so blinded by this century-old plan that he couldn't see her, why she was with him? That he was no longer alone?

The sun fell lower and lower in the sky, stroking the sparse clouds above with pastel oranges, pinks, and purples. The sunset always captivated AJ. She watched it until a large river appeared on the other side of the interstate, leading them straight into the city.

Buildings towered high above, glittering with light that reflected off the river enchantingly. Her heart sank as they drove away from it all, towards a span of forest a ways off in the distance. As they drew nearer, she came to realize it was more or less of a desolate campground.

She knew that Klaus was eager to leave the confines of the truck. As soon as they had pulled to a stop, he was outside, giving Blake an impatient look through the window. AJ paused and turned back to the werewolf before he could open his door.

"Stay here," she directed as kindly as she could before shoving her own door open and dropping to the leaf-littered ground. She walked around to Klaus, whose eyes were rapt on her movement. For a moment, she thought, he might have forgotten about the prospect of these werewolves and what they could mean to him. It had just been her. Just for a moment. But then he frowned.

"What are you doing? Night will be falling soon. We should make this quick to avoid a repeat of history."

AJ gave him a wry smile. "Yes, I'd like to avoid getting locked in the truck again." She paused again, biting her lip. "Klaus, you don't have to do this," she said in a lower, more somber tone.

"Darling," he brushed dark strands of hair from her eyes. "I told you it won't be the same. Things will work this time. They shall live."

AJ shook her head sadly. "But how do you expect them to live?"

He seemed to consider this. "There is nothing more invigorating than having power. People crave power all their mortal lives, and I can grant it to them. They'll live with content."

"What about love?" she inquired softly. "You don't think love could be stronger than power?"

He gave a small smile. "I thought you knew. Love is power."

"And you actually believe that?"

He traced her jaw line with his finger. "You've made me believe crazier things."

AJ searched his eyes and found openness within them. She wanted to step closer, but had to force herself to step out of his reach instead. It worried her to no end that giving in to any sort of wanting would be the catalyst to stirring her darker side, to drawing it out further.

"I want you to know something," she said, "before you do this. I want you to know this, and then you can decide."

"Decide what?"

"If you'll want to continue."

A line appeared between his eyebrows. "And what is it you'd like for me to know?"

AJ took a deep breath. She grasped his hands and held them close to her. "You can make them into hybrids, Klaus. I know you can now. And I know you want to. But just because they would be like you, doesn't mean that they would understand you. Not the way I do."

Klaus looked away, his eyes settling on some far off thing. Then his gaze turned back to her, traced down her neck and stopped at his gift to her, the sun pendant. She could see that, behind whatever he might be thinking right now, his decision had already been made. She swallowed hard. He squeezed her hands gently before letting them go.

"I wish it were as simple as that."

Oh, I wonder how long they can try to keep their hands off each other before they simply can't. (-; So I've been spending a lot more time with these chapters (editing, more fully developing plot and subplot on an actual piece of paper instead of mapped out in my head) so I hope this chapter worked out well. Thoughts? I'll try to keep with the more regular updates (with your help, of course!) especially since we're all deprived of being able to watch our favorite vampires on the screen! (-: Please review!