A\N: I known it's been forever since I updated, so sorry about that! I was really busy for a couple weeks and didn't have time to write, after that I just lost my inspiration. But here it is! Tell me what you think and thank you for reading.
•
"Lost time is never found again."
Caroline walked down the hall, trying to find the twins in the excessively large house was quite the challenge. Or maybe they were just avoiding her. Which wasn't hard to believe after Josie's rejection the night before.
It wasn't like she expected them to be instant best friends or for them to start calling her 'mom' again. But wasn't she even a tiny bit curious? Caroline certainly was, countless sleepless nights had been spent wondering who her daughters had become.
The door to the living room was half closed but Caroline didn't think to knock, she paused in the doorway when she saw Kol and Lizzie standing at the table, looking over a grimoire, he tapped the page. "I told you, dumbass, if you would've just listened."
Lizzie flicked her nails at him, droplets of whatever her hands were soaked with fell onto his arm and he hissed in pain. Were they coating her hands in vervain?
"Ingrate," he said, the insult came out sounding more like an endearment.
She poked him, and smiled when he pulled away from her. "I'm sorry, what was that?"
He caught her wrists as she went to poke him again, and she began wiggling her fingers to try and get the liquid to splash him. She giggled as he managed to keep the vervain away from him.
Watching them laugh Caroline suddenly felt like she was encroaching on a private moment. She took a step back, hoping to leave before they noticed her, the floor creaked beneath her feet. They both looked at her, Kol's mirth vanished at the sight of her, Lizzie's devious smile softened into something sweeter.
"Good morning, Caroline." she said, as polite as the day before.
"Good morning," she said, and hoped she didn't look as ridiculous as she felt. "I was just... looking for you," adding hurriedly, "but you're obviously busy, so I'll just..." she nodded towards the door.
"No, don't," Lizzie said. "Stay, I'm sure you being here won't disturb the spell any."
"But that is coming from the same person who thought they should use sandalwood in an offensive spell," Kol said, clearly unhappy with her presence.
"It's defensive too!" she argued, with a stubborn glare.
Caroline smiled at that, she had hated being told she was wrong when she was little. Apparently that hadn't changed.
Kol looked over the table, and picked a small vial out of the collection of jars, bags, and bundles of loose herbs. He tossed it to her and Lizzie poured it into the stone basin without question.
"What are you trying to do?" Caroline asked as Lizzie pressed her palms into the mixture.
"Vampire repellent," she smiled impishly. "We're seeing if we can mirror the effects of vervain, so I don't have to have it on me to use it. Essentially, we're—"
"Turning your skin to vervain?" Caroline guessed.
She didn't question Caroline's familiarity with the spell, only nodded, and lifted her dripping hands from the basin. She turned to Kol, took a deep breath, then nodded. He lifted his hands, pressing them to hers, and winced.
A soft glow emanated from their joined hands, Lizzie's eyes fell shut as she whispered in the language all witches seemed to know. It was different than watching Bonnie perform spells, the magic didn't seem to hurt her the way it always had Bonnie. In fact, she looked peaceful.
The same couldn't be said about Kol, his eyes were shut tightly in pain, his hands greyed with desiccation. But he didn't pull away. Caroline was unsure whether she was impressed or concerned by his willingness to suffer for the sake of her witchcraft.
Her voice rose, a strange shimmer ran across her skin and she dropped his hands. He slumped against the table, his breath shuddered with relief.
"Did it work?" he asked, arms braced against the table edge, his head hung low in exhaustion.
"Let's see," she said, then grabbed his arm, he groaned. "It worked."
"Sadist," he accused as he straightened with a wince. "I'm going to get some blood, don't torture any one while I'm gone."
"Oh, don't worry," Lizzie started to pick up the ingredients scattered across the table, "It's only fun hurting you."
He rolled his eyes, and left the room with a muttered comment about sociopathic behavior.
She pressed her hand to her own arm, it glowed as she siphoned off the spell. Caroline raised her eyebrows.
Lizzie smiled when she saw her surprise. "We were just seeing if I could, I don't want to accidentally burn someone."
"Except Kol apparently," Caroline said, without any real concern for the Original.
"He has it coming," she said as she sealed a plastic bag full of purple flowers. "You know, he didn't come home for Christmas this year."
"That's a pretty rude thing to do," she agreed, just maybe not torture someone with vervain level rude.
Lizzie nodded, her lips pursed in annoyance, then sighed. "He doesn't mean to upset me," she said, more like she was trying to convince herself than Caroline. "It's just hard for him here."
Oh yeah, living in the multi-million dollar mansion in a city that vampires rule. Poor guy.
Caroline just smiled. "Why? I thought your family loved this city."
"He did," Lizzie said quietly, returning the jars of odd ingredients to a cabinet near the window. She turned back to Caroline with forced cheeriness. "I'm going for coffee, want anything?"
"No, thank you," she said, and wondered where the conversation had gone wrong.
She nodded. "If Kol asks tell him I'm at Insomnia, would you?"
"Yeah." Caroline tried not to show how disappointed she was.
Lizzie smiled, but it wasn't real. She left and Caroline fell onto the couch, shoulders slumped in defeat. Kol walked back into the room a few minutes later, finishing off a blood bag and tossed it in the wastebasket by the door. He didn't look at her as he went to the table and collected the grimoire Lizzie had left out. When he didn't so much as glance at her, or acknowledge her existence in any way, she realized he was actually pretending she wasn't there.
Was he twelve? She knew he hated her, but ignoring her was just childish. "Lizzie said that she was going to Insomnia."
Kol looked up at her silently, long enough to make her squeamish under his gaze. "I heard," he said, and Caroline knew he didn't just mean the part about the coffee.
Of course he had been listening, because why on earth would he let her have a private conversation with her daughter?
She clamped her mouth shut, if she spoke now he would get the bitch-out of his immortal life. Not that he didn't deserve it, but it would cause more trouble than he was worth. It was obvious that— for whatever reason— Lizzie adored him, and she didn't want to piss off the only person who seemed happy to have her around.
The ass seemed to know exactly what she was thinking, he flashed a nasty smile and left her seething in rage. Once she was calm enough that there wasn't a risk of her going after Kol and scratching his eyes out she stood and left the room.
She paused in the doorway, tensing as she saw someone in the courtyard below. Wait, she frowned, was that Elijah?
They had never properly met but after trying to find the family for more than a decade she knew all of them on sight.
Though he had changed, his hair was a bit longer, and there was no apparent style to it. And, shockingly, he was wearing jeans, along with a brown jacket over a dark t-shirt.
Maybe he would have some insight on the twins odd behavior. Before she could speak, or even make her presence known, a shriek of joy came from somewhere in the house. Another person hit him at blur speed, sending him spinning a few times before he caught his balance. A brunette woman was latched onto him koala-style, her arms around his neck and her legs wrapped around his abdomen, face hidden against his shoulder.
He took the attack of affection in stride, setting a hand on her leg and hooked his arm around her back, though she didn't seem to need any help holding on. "I was only gone an hour."
"I got in," the voice was muffled.
Elijah pulled back slightly, and she lifted her head, brown hair fell back to show her face. Hayley.
Caroline wasn't surprised, Hayley was Hope's mother. Though why she was pasted onto the eldest Mikaelson brother Caroline had no idea.
"You got in?" he asked.
She held up a piece of paper crumpled in her tight grip "I got in."
A smile broke across his face, he practically glowed with pride. "You got in."
Hayley nodded, before she lurched forward to kiss him.
Caroline looked away when she realized she was infringing on another private moment, the couple below too absorbed by each other to notice her walk away.
Lizzie sat in the back of the busy coffee shop, she managed to get her favorite corner booth despite the Sunday morning rush. She had come to Insomnia with the hopes of talking to Virginia, then remembered it was her day off, and decided to stay anyway. It was rude how she had run out on Caroline, but the direction the conversation had took frightened her. She couldn't possibly explain, it wasn't her tragedy to tell.
She scrolled through her playlist absently, looking for something to drown out the rowdy conversation in the booth next to her.
A coffee cup was set on the table in front of her; she looked up into steel blue eyes.
Kaleb sat across from her. "Hello, princess."
Well, wasn't he presumptuous? Maybe she had wanted to sit alone. She didn't mind the company. But he still should've asked. Stubborness was something she struggled with, even if it was a quieter kind than her sister's.
She saw the cup in front of him and realized the coffee was for her. She had meant to wait for the rush to die down before she ordered, but the line had only gotten longer. That strange warmth fluttered in her chest, the same way it had the night before, it was such a simple gesture, but she hadn't expected it from him. It seemed too sweet, considering he had only met her the day before, and talked to her for a total of thirty minutes. Maybe there was kindness beneath his sardonic bravado.
He frowned slightly, and waved his hand in front of her.
She flushed with embarrassment. Oh hell, had she been staring at him the whole time? "Thanks, but I only drink—" he reached forward as she spoke and turned the cup to show the decaf symbol. "Well, now I just think you're stalking me."
"Please, princess, I don't have time to be a stalker," his lips twitched in an almost smile. "Not a good one anyway."
She raised a brow, and matched his half smile. "I'm almost afraid to drink this."
Amusement glimmered in his eyes but he kept his face straight. "If you really don't want it..." he went to take it back.
Lizzie snatched it up, sipped primly on the drink, and ignored his victorious look. "Thank you," she said. "Can I pay you back?"
"No," he answered immediately, unwaveringly. "But tell me something, why is it that a pretty girl like you is here all alone?"
She frowned at the question. He had happened to catch her on her own all of twice, it wasn't like she was always that way. "I just wanted some time to myself." she rarely lied but she was as convincing as either of her sisters when she needed to be.
Yet he seemed to see through her. "Uh-huh," he drawled, then shrugged. "I'll let you get back to it then."
"Wait," she latched onto his wrist when he moved to leave.
Kaleb grimaced. "Whoa there, sunshine, watch it with the magic hands."
Lizzie released her hold quickly. "Sorry," she dropped her gaze, folding her hands on the table. "I didn't mean to."
She waited with dread for him to leave, to decide hanging around a siphon was more hazard than fun. Josie always had such perfect control over her abilities, Lizzie didn't do as well. It was part of the reason she liked when Kol taught her, he wouldn't be at as much of a risk if she screwed up. And she screwed up, a lot.
"It's alright," he leaned forward, smiling as he flexed his wrist. "Didn't even hurt."
She looked away to hide the grin she couldn't stop. Why was he so calm about this? She had just siphoned him, literally stole a piece of his life force, had felt his magic— her eyes widened. Magic.
Kaleb was a witch.
It made sense, she had met him in the Cauldron. Suddenly she remembered what he had said the night before, I felt it as soon as I saw you. She cringed at her own obliviousness.
"What are you listening to?"
She looked up blankly, then realized one of her headphones was still in. She handed him the phone, not yet trusting herself to speak. He took it, and scrolled through the playlist with growing surprise. "Damn, princess, I'm impressed," he cut his gaze up to hers. "You have the entire Hellish Crossfire album on here."
"Yeah, well, Iron Angel isn't Metallica, or anything, but I've always felt they were grossly underappreciated."
He stared at her for a long moment before he said seriously, "I think I'm in love with you."
She laughed, and he broke into a smile.
Kaleb continued to look through the songs she had. "Here's another rude question—"
"Oh, you're so good at those," Lizzie said dryly, surprised by her own sarcasm.
He only smiled brighter at her attitude. "How did a girl like..." he looked over her pointedly, "you, get into this stuff?"
"My uncle." She would have never even considered listening to half her favorite bands if Kol hadn't played his music around her so often. Elijah had greatly disapproved of her change in music tastes, though he had never showed it besides the disappointed look he gave when she listened to it around him.
"He did a good job," Kaleb said approvingly, and handed her back the device.
"That's a matter of perspective." She pocketed her phone.
His smile dimmed as he looked at his watch. "As enlightening as this has been, I have to get to work."
"Are you sure I can't pay you back?" She tapped the lid with a powder pink fingernail.
"Positive," he said, then smiled, that worrisome glint in his eyes. "But I would like to see you again seeing as I don't currently have the time to properly make fun of that god-awful phone case."
She ran her fingers over the textured tie-dye pattern. "I happen to like it," she defended the retro-style impulse buy.
"And I'd like to hear why, later," he became serious again. "Of course, I can't go scouring the Quarter every time I want to talk to you."
"Of course," she agreed, waiting for him to voice the question, intent on making nothing easy for him.
"Obviously I will be needing your number."
She raised her brows. "Will you? Are you sure you want to call a phone with such a terrible case?"
"Well, over the phone I won't have to see it," he shot back, as he pulled his own phone from his jacket pocket and held it out.
She took it from him with a huff to make it clear she wasn't pleased with his antics. She added her number into his contacts list and handed the case-less silver phone back to him.
"Thanks," he said as he typed, "but you put something in wrong." Kaleb turned the phone to show her he had changed her contact name from 'Lizzie' to 'Princess'. He flashed one last smile before he stood and walked away.
She shook her head with a smile as she watched him go. Kaleb was odd, she was glad for it. Normal got boring when someone lived as she did.
Ric hated the house, he had spent fifteen minutes that morning trying to find his way from his room to the kitchen, and since breakfast he had been wandering around looking for one of his daughters, both of whom he had begun to think weren't even there.
He paused at a door, music played loudly on the other side. Might as well, he thought, and knocked on the door. No answer came. He knocked again. No answer.
Ric's hand settled on the doorknob but he hesitated. Opening random doors in the Originals home was begging for long-term trauma.
Screw it, he opened the door. Sighing with relief when all it led to was the garage. Thank everything holy.
The music was much louder once it wasn't muffled by an inch and a half of wood, he could faintly hear metal scraping over the deafening sound. A clatter as a chisel skid across the floor, an aggravated huff came from the other end of the garage as a girl slid out from under a beat-up car.
She was a few years olderer than the twins. Black hair pulled back into a loose ponytail that did nothing to keep her messy bangs from falling in her face. Ric had never met her before, but the irritation that hardened her face was familiar. Klaus had gotten that same expression almost every time he talked to them. Which meant she was Hope, the magical miracle baby.
Her grey eyes flickered up to meet his, she continued to the workbench, unconcerned by the stranger in her garage. "Ric, right?" she grabbed an old rag to wipe the grease off her hands.
"Uh, yeah. Sorry, I was just looking for Josie and Lizzie."
Hope barked a laugh. "You won't find either of them in here."
"Alright," he nodded and began to turn away, then paused. This kid had grown up with his daughters, and it would be easier to ask her than Klaus or one of his equally psychotic siblings. "Can I ask you something?"
"Shoot," she muttered, and started to rummage through the mess of tools.
"Is Josie always so...?" he paused to consider his words.
"Bitchy?" Hope offered. "Vicious? Callous?"
"Guarded," Ric corrected, even if her description was just as accurate. "I was going to say guarded."
A slight, very knowing, smile tilted up the corners of her mouth. "Don't take it personally. Josie's hard to get to know, but stick it out, once she decides she's loyal to someone there's nothing she won't do for them."
"That's mildly reassuring." At least she wasn't cold to everyone.
Hope's tank top shifted as she turned away from him to search through a tool box, a scar on her back visible for a moment before she shifted and it was concealed by black cloth again. Huh, her healing must not be as fast as the rest of her family's.
None of your business, he thought.
"What about Lizzie? The whole sunshine and rainbows thing, is that real?"
Hope laughed. "Lizzie is as genuine as a person can be."
"I expected her to be... angrier." Josie's behavior was disappointing but unsurprising. How was the kid supposed to act after twelve years?
"Angry? No. Hurt, maybe," she pulled out a recip saw, and looked it over critically.
"We tried to find them," he said resolutely. Why it mattered if she believed him he had no clue, but it did.
She looked up at him, leveling him with a piercing gaze. The greyish-blue eyes locked on his were searching even as her face stayed blank. The intensity was disconcerting, and in extreme contrast to how casual she had been moments before.
She nodded slowly, accepting his words were genuine. "I believe you," she said quietly, as if she had heard his thoughts. Maybe she had, who the hell knew what abilities tribrids had?
Hope turned abruptly towards the front of the room, the garage door opened. Her hearing was definitely above average. "Marcel," she smiled, back to her laid-back manner.
"Hey, kid." He held up a cardboard drink carrier. "I brought caffeine."
She put a hand to her chest. "You do love me."
The man handed her one of the cups before turning to Ric. "Who would this be?"
"Alaric," he said, "Saltzman."
"Lizzie and Josie's dad," Hope explained.
"Uh-huh," he turned to address Hope. "Did he have a good explanation or can I string him up in the Quarter?"
Oh, look at that, another person willing to commit murder for his daughters.
"He had a good reason," she confirmed.
He accepted her answer without asking what the reason had been. "Well, then, it was nice meeting you. I just came by to bring the prisoner coffee. You're welcome by the way."
Hope rolled her eyes, then smiled, and held up a finger. "I have a great idea, you should come to dinner tonight! We're having a family dinner, you're family. C'mon, it'll be fun."
This guy was family? How many orphans did they take in?
"Hate to miss that," he said dryly, "but I'm going to, because some of us have actual responsibilities."
"Yeah, yeah," she held up her cup. "Thanks for this, you can get out now."
Marcel shook his head with a smile. "It appears I've been dismissed, it was nice meeting you."
Ric inclined his head slightly. "You too, besides, you know, the casual talk of my murder."
"Be glad it was only talk," he replied, no animosity in his cheerful expression.
Hope drained the last of her drink, she tossed the empty cup at Marcel. "Pitch that, would you?"
Marcel huffed a laugh before he left.
"Anyway," she pointed the saw at him, "like I was saying, Josie's a piece of work, and Lizzie's way too trusting, but you know, they're my sisters, and I love them, and if you hurt them—"
"You'll kill me?"
"Glad you're catching on. See you at dinner," she grabbed a pair of safety glasses and went back to the car, the recip saw buzzed to life and he took it as his cue to leave.
It had seemed like a good idea when Klaus suggested it, but an uncomfortable silence had settled over the table as soon as they were all seated. She hated silence, and nobody else seemed eager to start the conversation. "So, girls, how was your day?"
Josie looked up from her plate, she turned to Klaus. "Are we seriously doing this?"
He sighed as he met her gaze, and gestured towards Caroline.
Josie turned back to her. "It was fine."
"Mine was great," Lizzie said happily. "Me and Kol figured out the vervain spell, and I got free coffee at Insomnia."
"That's nice," Caroline agreed.
"Vervain spell?" Klaus questioned.
She smiled brightly, and murmured something before she reached over to set her hand over his. He winced, and pulled it away from her touch. "Interesting, how long does that last."
Lizzie shrugged. "Until I siphon it off."
Ric sat forward, as confused as Caroline. "How did you...?"
"What?"
"What did you use to do that?" he clarified.
Lizzie held up her hand and shook it, the charms on her bracelet jingled pleasantly as they hit against each other.
"That's a dark object?"
"Yes and no," she said. "It's a dark object, but that's not why it gives me power, that would be the blood."
"Blood?" Caroline frowned at the small, jeweled, metal spheres, that were now more ominous than elegant.
"Uh-huh," she tapped one of the charms with her nail, "daddy," the one beside it, "Kol, Elijah, Rebekah..." she hummed in thought for a moment before continuing, "Freya, Marcel, and Josh," she finished happily.
"Josh?" Caroline asked lightly.
"You can channel them through the blood in your charms?" Ric threw out his own question before Lizzie could answer hers.
"Yup," she said easily, as if she hadn't just told them she had access to the life force of the four most powerful supernaturals alive around her wrist. "By the way, Kol, get some blood."
Kol sighed, his head fell back to thump against the back of his chair. "Why is it always me?"
"Because we all hope for a repeat of Amsterdam," Josie said, then stuck up her middle finger in return of Kol's gesture.
Amsterdam? As in drugs, booze, spring-break-dream, Amsterdam? Klaus let them go to... Wait, they had a curfew, of course he hadn't let them go off to Europe without him.
"Amsterdam?" Ric asked, and to his credit he made it sound more like curiosity than concern.
Lizzie grinned, ecstatic to explain. "We were with Kol, and this guy was giving Josie a hard time, I guess we had the same idea because we grabbed our bracelets to cast a spell, just to freak him out, and the two of us accidentally both siphoned Kol, and," she started to giggle at the memory, "he passed out, and fell into the Herengracht canal."
Josie smiled at that. "Dumbass came up sputtering and ready to kill."
"He still won't tell us what happened to the guy," Lizzie shot him a reproachful look.
"If he didn't want to get hurt he shouldn't have been feeling up sixteen year old girls," Kol shrugged.
"I'm sure he had time to think about that while he dissolved in that barrel of acid," Josie said offhandedly.
"Closer," he admitted.
Closer... Caroline barely kept herself from groaning, her daughter was guessing how he had murdered some jerk in another country. Lovely.
Maybe silence wasn't all that bad, she wouldn't hear about disturbing family vacations in silence. Another thought hit that made her stomach drop, how many times had they seen death? People they loved, trusted, kill.
How skewed were their moral compasses? Even Lizzie seemed at ease with the morbid guessing game. Did they think it was normal? How often were they witness to— Oh, no, please no, nausea rose in her throat, had they killed?
"Can we please remember what is appropriate dinner conversation?" Freya said from the other end of the table.
"Can you please remember some of us prefer fun to appropriate?" Kol's words were light but there was something dark in his voice that made Caroline wondered if there was bad blood between the two, at least more than the usual bitterness the Mikaelsons had against each other.
Lizzie sat forward, and spoke excitedly, either oblivious or unconcerned by the tension. "Let's talk about France instead!"
"Perhaps now isn't the best time for that," Klaus said, and she could have sworn he sounded nervous, as if he wasn't sure how to handle the situation. And maybe it was wrong but that only made her want to know more about whatever it was Lizzie was talking about.
"What about France?" Caroline asked.
"We go every year," she said, her eyes going dreamy as she spoke, "it's so beautiful."
"Lizzie, please," Klaus said, "if we could discuss this later—"
"We aren't going," Josie snapped icily.
"What?" She looked to Klaus for an explanation. "Why would we not go?"
"Because we'll be too busy bonding with our new family," Josie sniped.
Klaus looked at her sharply. "That is enough."
She sat quietly for a moment, her gaze steady on his. Then she smiled— bright and fake. "This," she hit her palms lightly on the table before she stood, "has been lovely, but I have to go get ready."
Caroline suppressed a sigh. Time, she reminded herself, she just needs time, it had only been a day. Besides didn't all teenagers hate their parents at some point?
"If the kid is ditching so am I." Kol stood and walked out, the food on his plate untouched.
Rebekah sat forward. "I'll take that to mean this train wreck of a dinner has come to its end."
Freya stood as her sister walked out. "I promised Keelin I would meet her at Rousseau's."
Elijah and Hayley left after them, with a polite if vague explanation.
Hope looked around the mostly empty table. She flicked her hand in the air, either gesturing to the room as a whole or nothing at all. Amusement tinged her voice when she spoke, "Do I even need an excuse?"
Lizzie sighed. "This was worse than New Year's in Monaco."
Caroline didn't ask, but from Hope's grin and Klaus' exasperated look she could guess that ranked the dinner pretty low.
As soon as Josie stepped out of the elevator she threw herself into every conversation she could, desperate for some of the normalcy she had lost the day before. After a few hours she ended up with Mayor Adamson, they stood by the floor to ceiling windows and discussed the upcoming election.
"So, Ms. Mikaelson, can I count on your vote?"
She smiled. "Of course, Julia."
Even though Josie had never liked Julia it was better for the family to keep her in office, her sister was a vampire and that made her quite lenient towards the supernatural community, and she was always willing to cooperate with her father when it came to how things in the city should be run. Besides, Josie was finding that she liked Julia better than Caroline and her annoyingly bright disposition.
Marcel walked over to them, the usual easy smile in place. "It's good to see you, Julia, would you mind if I stole her away for just a moment?"
"Of course, Marcel, I should go talk with Joshua about those noise complaints."
He led her away from the windows as the mayor went off to harass the young vampire about the rowdy patrons that frequented his bar.
"Is there a reason you needed me or could you just see me dying inside from across the room?" she murmured low enough that between the voices from the crowd and the music that drifted softly over the apartment only Marcel would pick up on it.
He laughed lightly. "There's someone I want you to meet. He should be... Ah, there he is." They cut through the mass of people to a man with blond hair and blue eyes. "This is Matt Donovan, district eight's newest detective. Matt, this is Josie Mikaelson."
She took his offered hand, a spark ran up her arm at the contact, she knew that feeling, he wasn't human, but then again neither were half the people around her. Josie smiled. "Nice to meet you, detective."
"You too," he said, then with a slight grimace, "Mikaelson, huh?"
She arched a brow. "You recognize the name, that's never good."
"Don't worry, kid, whatever grudges I had against your family are ancient history."
"Ancient history has come back to bite us in the ass more than a few times," she shot back.
He chuckled. "Can't say I'm surprised."
"Neither can we," she couldn't help the genuine smile that tilted her lips at his laughter.
Caroline stood on the balcony, the sounds from the street below drifted up to her as she considered calling Bonnie and venting about the night's events. Not that Bonnie needed any more bad news, she had enough to worry about without hearing Caroline's grievances.
With a sigh she pocketed her phone and turned back to the doorway.
Lizzie stopped in her tracks when she saw Caroline. Her hair was gathered messily at the top of her head, wearing an old T-shirt and lounge pants she certainly didn't look gala ready. "Didn't the party start a while ago?"
"Uh, yeah," Lizzie shifted nervously, "I'm not going."
"Why not?" She didn't seem like the type to shy away from the chance to socialize.
"It's just... Josie's much better at that kind of thing than I am."
"Better how?" she asked, her brow pinched in confusion.
"At talking to people, I just... I— I always say the wrong thing," she shrugged.
Yeah, she knew how that felt. It sucked. "Look, I know I haven't been the best mother these past twelve years, but can I offer a piece of motherly advice?" Lizzie nodded, and she took a deep breath before she continued. "Screw what other people think. That's it, isn't it? That feeling like everyone around you is just waiting for you to mess up."
Her expression, slightly ashamed and slightly embarrassed, was answer enough.
"Nobody is perfect. Don't drive yourself crazy trying to be flawless for people who are just as imperfect as the rest of us."
There was a beat of silence where Caroline worried she had overstepped her bounds, then Lizzie nodded. "There are a few hours left, I guess... I could go."
"You should!" she agreed happily. "It's Sunday night, go have fun."
Lizzie's smile was hesitant but genuine. "Thanks, I will." She started to walk away then paused in the doorway, and looked back over her shoulder. "I'm glad you're here, Caroline."
The words sparked a warmth in her chest she hadn't felt in years. The hope that had dimmed over time flared back to life. She could fix things, she would fix things.
Footsteps made her turn towards the other side of the living room. Klaus stood there, his unsure expression almost identical to Lizzie's just moments before. "I thought I heard my daughter in here," he said, as if his presence in his own home warranted explanation.
"She was," a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, "but she's getting ready for the party now."
"That started hours ago."
"There is still such a thing as being fashionably late," she teased lightly.
He didn't smile as she had hoped, only nodded. "I'll talk with her later then."
"Maybe we could talk?" she blurted before he could walk away.
"I don't think now's the best time," he ran his fingers through his hair.
She crossed her arms and raised her brows. "It's not the best time because you have things to do or because you're avoiding me?"
"I'm not avoiding you, Caroline, I'm simply too busy for a long conversation at the moment."
"Busy doing what?" she demanded, her already poor patience snapped.
His expression hardened. "I don't have to explain myself, especially not to you."
She blinked in surprise at the venom in his voice. "What does that mean?"
His jaw worked for a moment, then he threw out his arms, and gave her a cold smile. "You want to talk? Let's talk. You abandoned them."
Her temper rose with his accusation. "I didn't abandon them, I sent them to you."
"Ah, yes, that spell you had your little witch put on them. You know, I have a witch of my own, and she said that it was a miracle that thing worked. And not well, I might add, I found them wandering the streets."
"I didn't exactly have many options!" she spoke louder than she meant to, almost shouting.
"So you just bet their lives on a mediocre witch!" he shouted back.
"Bonnie is not mediocre!"
"Then why could you not even locate them for over a decade?" his vicious expression smoothed suddenly into indifference. "Unless you weren't looking all that hard."
Her voice was quiet but dripped with rage when she spoke again, "Don't say that, you don't get to say that."
"Why not?" he shrugged. "I raised them, I was there for them when you weren't."
"You think I wanted to miss my kids growing up?" she glared at him. Of all the things he had done, every time he had lashed out or brought her to death's door only to pull her back, it all paled in comparison to the implication he was making.
"Well, it was certainly easier, wasn't it?"
"I spent every second of the last twelve years wishing I could get back to those girls, I chose their lives over my own happiness. There is nothing I wouldn't do to go back and be there for all the things you got to be there for, but I'll never get to teach them how to ride their bikes, or drive, or deal with their first crush." She grabbed her phone out of her pocket and quickly found the picture in her gallery, she turned the screen to him. "This, this is all I have of my daughters' childhoods."
In all the years of searching they had only found one picture, it was the twins and Klaus in a park, he was crouched down at their level as he pointed to something above them, smiles lit up their faces as they watched the sky. One picture, that was the only proof she had ever gotten that the spell worked.
After a moment he said quietly, "You left them."
"So, that's it? You've written me off?"
"No! You gave me two of my children and I will never be able to repay you for that, Caroline, but you're also the reason they woke up crying for people they didn't even remember. I can't decide whether I love you for what you've done or if I hate you."
"It wasn't supposed to go on this long," she spoke lowly as she tried to keep the stinging in her eyes from developing into tears. "I knew you would take care of them until it was safe enough for me to."
"Right, I was a convenience," he spat, "I ensured their safekeeping until you could take them and never let me see them again, because let's not pretend, It's not like we would've set up joint custody. But you didn't bother to think about what it would do to me, you didn't even consider that I would love them too or that it would kill me to lose them."
The pit in her stomach grew and turned to an ache in her chest. "No, I didn't, I just thought about keeping them alive."
Klaus went quiet at her admission, then nodded. "I kept them alive, and healthy, and happy. And I will continue to do so because they are my daughters, as they will always be."
"I'm not delusional, I know you'll always be in their lives," she took a deep breath. "But you aren't going to stop us from being a part of their lives either."
"That's yet to be seen," he warned.
Caroline wanted to rage, scream about him being crazy and unreasonable, wanted him to scream back that she was naive and her strict ethics would deteriorate over time. That she was used to, that she knew they could bounce back from.
But this wasn't like it used to be, and she finally understood why, neither of them were fighting for themselves anymore. They both cared about the girls fiercely, more than any kingdom or moral code. Neither would back down because it was no longer just their pride or integrity on the line.
"I hope you don't end up hating me," she told him calmly, "because I'm not going anywhere."
"I'd like to believe that for their sake," he replied, "but my faith in you has run dry."
Caroline watched him go, the argument had taken more out of her than it should have, there was genuine malice behind his words and the usual regret had been absent from his eyes.
It was apparent that another relationship besides those with her girls needed to be mended.
Lizzie drifted through the crowded apartment, feeling a little lost among the wealthy men and women. She had been in search of her sister for over an hour, and besides the few conversations she had fallen into with people she barely knew she had stayed mostly to herself.
Finally she decided it was a lost cause, Josie must have already left. The enthusiasm she had felt early was gone and if her sister wasn't there she saw no point in staying.
As she headed for the door someone stepped into her path and she crashed into them, the champagne in the woman's hand fell to the floor and splashed onto her expensive looking navy shoes.
"I'm so sorry!" Lizzie gasped.
"It's my fault, really, I'm such a klutz," her voice was heavy with an accent Lizzie couldn't place, Israeli maybe?
"I wouldn't be so sure," she smiled sheepishly, "disaster sort of follows me."
She smiled. "We certainly have that in common," she held out her hand, "I'm Sybil."
Lizzie took her hand happily. "Lizzie. Lizzie Mikaelson."
Josie had grown bored with the party after her conversation with Matt, she had spoken with others but nothing that captivated her attention for more than ten minutes at a time.
She looked up from her glass and ended up meeting a pair of electric blue eyes across the room. The man smirked, familiarity flickered in the back of her mind but she couldn't recall where she had seen him before, and then he was gone, swallowed by the sea of people.
Marcel was talking with the police commissioner, and Josie, having no interest in getting into another discussion, headed for the door without saying goodbye. Relieved that she spent the elevator ride alone, she stepped out in the lobby and headed out into the dimly lit night.
It wasn't a long walk from his apartment building to the compound, and the longer it took to get home the better, maybe she would even get lucky and little miss sunshine would be asleep by the time she got there.
She was almost to the Quarter when a hand clamped over her mouth. She struggled as the man pulled her into one of the dark alleyways. The gloves made biting pointless, he wouldn't feel it. So she tried something he would. Josie brought her leg up and threw her foot back as hard as could. The blow hit his thigh instead of his knee, but his grip faltered long enough for her to free her arm.
She snapped her elbow back into his face, and ran— right into another person. He grabbed her arms, she grabbed his in return. Her nails dug into his forearm as she siphoned him, the life-force buzzed with preternatural power.
"Incendia."
The flames lit the alley with the a hellish glow. She spun around to do the same to the other man, but before she could utter a word the back of his hand struck her face.
She hit the pavement, her ears rang with the force of the blow as the taste of blood filled her mouth. When her vision came back into focus the man was looking down at her in shock.
Then he fell forward with a squelching as his heart was pulled through his back. Lucien dropped the organ and offered her his clean hand to help her up.
She glared at him. "I had it."
He smirked. "Come now, dear, can't you even pretend you needed me?"
Soundtrack:
Scene two:
You and I — Ingrid Michaelson
Scene eight:
Way Down We Go — Kaleo
A\N: Don't worry some less intense klaroline scenes are coming soon! Again, thanks for reading and if you wanted to review I would appreciate it. The quote is Benjamin Franklin