Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries.
A/N: Oh hey, hey! This plot/prompt isn't very original, I knooow, but I've read so many that I thought I should finally put my own spin on it using our favorite vampires.
It's short, but hopefully it'll hold ya'll over for the holidays and until I finish up my other half-written stories. I literally have four different plots I've started on and just stopped. I get distracted easily.
Like, right now! Because I'm in my physics lecture when I really should be paying attention. Ok, bye!
Happy Thanksgiving, if you celebrate it, excuse my mistakes, and enjoy!
in your head they are fighting
. . .
when the violence causes silence,
we must be mistaken
. . .
Klaus decided that he no longer liked peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
"Ugh, what I would literally do for one right now," informed Caroline through the phone.
He adjusted his office phone between his shoulder and ear as he lifted his legs to rest atop the desk. His half-eaten sandwich neatly placed back on the papertowel. "Yeah, well, you can have mine, sweetheart. After that detailed description of yours of that poor fellow's blasted leg; I don't think I have much of an appetite anymore."
"Aww, did I make you squirmish?" Caroline teased. He could imagine the twinkle in her bright, blue eyes. "Is it strawberry jam, too?"
"It is."
"Score."
"Where you get your fascination for blood and gore is beyond me. Your mother becomes ill at the sight of raw steak."
"I guess I inherited the badass genes." He pictured her nonchalant shrug. "Plus, if I was a wuss when it came to blood and sickness, do you think I'd volantarily be across the world in a village surrounded by it?"
Klaus didn't reply, and he knew the woman was silently kicking herself for bringing up that particular topic again. She usually tried to steer clear of anything that pertained to the fact that a whole fucking sea was separating them, but it was kind of difficult to avoid when the only contact he had with her was her voice through the phone, the rare webcam, or her faint scent on her letters.
She still wore pomegranite lip balm, he noticed. It was her favorite. Klaus remembered when he used to buy packs and stuff them into her purse when she was running low. He remembered when he hurt her feelings for teasing her about kissing the letters she sent because it was so damn cliche and how she huffed about not caring because she thought it was a sweet gesture. After apologizing and some dimpled charm over the webcam, he never recieved a letter without her signature kiss on the bottom corner.
He decided to bite the bullet and tell her how he felt. "I wish you'd let me visit."
"Klaus," her weary sigh met his ears. "We've been through this."
"How would you know I'd be a distraction if you won't even give me the chance to prove you otherwise? I wouldn't be nipping at your heels, I just-"
"'Just' what? Watch me from across the room? Your very presence sends my brain into haywire! Imagine how useless I'd be then; a nurse who can't even keep her emotions in check because her boyfriend is staring at her." Caroline took a breath. "I know I'm not technically a doctor like Stefan, but he trusts in my abilities enough to ask me to join his team. I couldn't let him down."
"'Couldn't?'"
"Can't," Caroline corrected herself swiftly. He thought that was odd. "And you- you believe in me, too. Always picking up whenever I call, no matter what ungodly hour it is. Not to mention all of your financial support and sponsorship for this organization. Everyone in this village, the ill and the healthy, all appreciate everything you're doing to help, Klaus. It means so much. Stefan badgers me to tell you his thanks all the time."
Klaus shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "All right, I know. I'm sorry, love. It's just with all the news about the abductions and village raids going on... I worry."
Caroline quietly hummed in understanding. "You know I miss you every moment of every day, right?" she admitted softly.
"Yes, my love."
"Good." Then there was the sound of rustling and hushed whispers. Klaus patiently waited, stared out his floor to ceiling office windows at the city below, and imagined the woman holding the international mobile phone he had gotten her against her chest as she spoke to probably one of her coworkers.
He heard Caroline give a muffled, "Thank you," then to him, "Hey, did you ever get my letter?"
"No, not yet."
"Hm, that's okay. I have a feeling it'll come today, though, so keep an eye out."
"Alright."
"Hey, none of that. I can feel your pout all the way from here-"
A sudden knock startled Klaus and averted his attention toward the large wooden doors that separated his office from the lobby and his receptionist. "Give me a second, Caroline."
"If you're busy we can talk to-"
"No. Stay on the line. Just give me a second," Klaus repeated into the receiver and pulled his legs off the desk. He straightened in his plush leather chair and called out, "Come in, Jeana!"
Klaus smiled gently as his meek receptionist entered his office and shut the door behind her. Even after working with him for three years, her shy habits were still intact. Though she'd definintely gained confidence with time, especially since his girlfriend would always drag the poor girl out for shopping and pestered her about boys, trying to set her up with one of her fellow nurse pals.
"Morning, Mr. Mikaelson. This was dropped off." Jeana moved to stand before his desk and handed him a robin egg blue colored enveloped. There was no address; only his name was scrawled across the front.
"Richard dropped this off?"
Jeana shot back a small smile of her own at the confusion marring his expression. She didn't answer his question.
"I'll be getting a coffee, now. Would you like anything?" Klaus shook his head, his eyes remained on the envelope that slightly smelled of cinnamon. "Then I'll be leaving, Mr. Mikaelson."
Klaus waited until his door was shut, then spoke into the receiver. "What is this, Caroline?"
"What ever do you mean?" He knew it then. He knew that she was definitely up to something and must have gotten Jeana in on the scheme, as well. But, what could she possibly be scheming from thousands of miles away?
Cradling the phone between his shoulder and ear once again, Klaus stuck his finger under the flap and with a flick of his wrist he tore the envelope open and pulled out a simple white card.
In the shell of his ear, he heard, "You know, I was thinking maybe I'll visit you."
The card read:
"I've missed you. But I'm home now.
Actually, I'm in your office."
Klaus didn't know how long he sat there, slacked jaw and completely dumbfounded. He read the three sentences over and over again that he'd lost count. Then his signature dimpled grin crawled its way across his features, his blue hues so bright.
"You sneaky vixen," he murmured into the phone before he shot up from his chair so quickly that it rolled and crashed into the wall behind him, the office phone carelessly dropped and hung over the side of his desk. Klaus all but sprinted towad the doors and threw them both open; and there, there was his light.
A little ruffled looking in her mud covered combat boots and forest green coat, strands of gold hanging loose from her braid, but it was his light no less. Even then, with her tired smile and eyes ringed with dark circles, she lit up his empty lobby.
Klaus took one step, his designer shoes making a clack against the marble floor, then stopped. He was afraid that this was just another one of his illusions and his sleep deprived mind was playing tricks again. Playing with his emotions. Stunned eyes watched as Caroline stuffed the phone she was using just moments ago into her back pocket.
He hadn't noticed that he was holding his breath, until her name mingled with his quiet exhale.
"Caroline."
The once aching organ in Klaus' chest thrummed at the brilliant smile she gave him then, and he couldn't help but return one of his own.
"Hey, handsome. Took you long enough. Still got that sandwich?"
A/N: Lyrics at the top from the song "Zombie" by The Cranberries.
Thank you for reading! Drop a review!