Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries or the Originals.
Chapter 5: Soulful Encounter
Elijah anxiously drummed his fingers on the crisp, white tablecloth. He strained his eyes under the dim lighting to make out the dark figures gradually trickling through the restaurant's entrance, disappointed when each passing person turned out to be other than the dark-haired woman whose arrival he was awaiting. He was completely oblivious to the priceless view offered to him by the windows to his side, only interested in seeking out the face of one woman. His drumming fingers picked up their pace.
Elijah was early, having arrived ahead of time to speak to the owner and head chef, both with whom he had developed close ties to since the restaurant's conception. Jardiniére was one of Mikaelson Corp.'s first business ventures, even before Klaus had moved to the United States and their partnership had begun. It was only after the sale of this restaurant and its subsequent success that Elijah's business began to take off and he felt himself to be enough on solid ground to ask his brother to come join him in a co-partnership. Jardiniére was the springboard for every ounce of success and happiness he had today.
The sentimentality he held for the restaurant, more than the fact that it's beauty evaded the senses, was the reason he chose it for tonight. Something about Katherine made him want to make tonight mean more than just a fancy restaurant with expensive wine.
"She will come, Señor Elijah," said Marty, the head waiter, sensing the patron's unspoken anxiety and offering him an assurance he hadn't even known he'd needed. Marty's thick Spanish accent interrupted Elijah's musings as he refilled his glass of water. Marty offered him the knowing look of a man who had seen and known enough people to make him qualified to offer up such certainties.
Elijah smiled up at him. "Thank you, Marty."
His drumming, though, continued when Marty left him alone again and Elijah turned his stare once more to the entrance. He had insisted he would pick her up from her home and she had insisted she would meet him there, instead. He had eventually given in, though part of him regretted that decision now that he was attacked by doubts of her actually showing up tonight. He was second-guessing his forwardness in asking her out as he contemplated the possibility of her laughing him off and standing him up on this date.
These thoughts vanished as soon as he spotted her stepping through the entrance. His hand stilled and his mouth went dry as he took her in. She was admiring what she could see of the restaurant from her spot at the entrance. He watched from afar as her eyes widened upon spotting the large tree in the center of the restaurant, it's thick base giving way to expansive branches that created a canopy where they reached the ceiling.
She tore her eyes away from the tree after a few long moments and scanned the room for him. Upon locating him, she took leave of the hostess and made her way in his direction. He couldn't help admire her body dressed in a black mesh, off-the-shoulder dress that clung to her every curve and stopped mid-thigh. Strappy, black heels accentuated her long and exposed legs.
He brought his eyes back up to look at her face, a sight that mesmerized him and left him wanting to never look at anything but that ever again. Her dark waves were brushed behind her shoulders to reveal dangling, gold earrings whose color was muted due to the lack of light. Her already dark eyes, traced subtly with black liner, stared directly into his as she made her way towards him.
Elijah stood from his seat when she began to near him.
"Hello, Elijah," she greeted with a small smile.
"Hello, Katherine." He stepped forward and kissed her lightly on the cheek, his fingers lightly grazing the skin of her arm. "You look beautiful," he said as he pulled back.
"Thank you," she smiled. "You don't look so bad yourself."
Elijah stepped aside to pull out her chair. "Thanks," she murmured. Katherine sunk herself into the chair and placed her clutch on the edge of the table. Elijah moved back around the table to take his seat.
"Thank you for coming, Katherine," Elijah said, just as Marty approached them with a bottle of red wine.
He showcased the bottle to the seated diners. "From the owner, Señor Mikaelson," Marty announced.
"That's very kind. Thank you, Marty, and please thank Thomas for me."
"Of course, Señor."
Marty unscrewed the cork and proceeded to fill up their respective glasses. Elijah kept his eyes trained on Katherine, watching her observe Marty. The warm light softened her features and her eyes shined.
Marty took leave of them.
"I take it you've been here before, then," Katherine remarked.
"Yes, I have. This was one of my first projects with the company, actually."
"Really?"
"Yes. It was a long time ago, but it's still my favorite by far."
"Why is this one your favorite? I mean, not that it's not beautiful or anything, but you've worked on so many greater places."
"You're right," he agreed. "There are greater ones, and of course I like some more than others, but I'm particularly fond of this one for purely sentimental reasons."
He continued his explanation when he was met with her inquisitive stare. "When I first started the company," he explained, "I had a bit of a slow start. I had been in the States for quite some time by then, and I still had yet to cement my place in the business world. I really wanted to make something of myself outside of my family and my old life." He swirled the wine around in his glass.
"I know the feeling," Katherine responded, a faraway look coming into her eyes before quickly vanishing, though not gone unnoticed by Elijah. She lifter her own glass of wine to her lips and took a sip, licking her lips afterward and then asking, "So, how did you end up finding this place, anyway?"
"It was by chance, actually. A friend of mine was going through the process of liquidating some assets, and this building happened to be one of them. I didn't think twice before putting up an offer to buy it. The company had profited from some past ventures and I had just enough to buy this place. It was the biggest impulse buy you could imagine, and on top of that, if this failed, we would have been officially done for." Elijah paused for a moment, remembering this crucial time in his life. He let out a low chuckle. "I don't think I'd ever worked so hard in my life to see something succeed."
Marty interrupted them at that point to take their orders and refill their glasses.
"So, the stakes were high," she observed, steering their conversation back on track once Marty had left.
He nodded his head. "That would be the understatement of the century. At the time, I felt like the rest of my future depended on this one project. If this didn't work out, I wouldn't have had any capital left to move forward with the company. It all would have ended before it had even started and that thought terrified me." His brow knitted in memory of his past turmoil. "It was that fear that pushed me to make something of this place."
"Sometimes it takes a little risk to get the reward in the end."
"Yes, it does." He stared straight at her as he spoke the words, as if they were meant specifically for her. Could it be that he considered her a risk? If he knew anything about her, his doubts about her probably wouldn't be entirely misplaced, she thought with a hint of bitterness.
"I've talked much too long," he said, breaking the brief silence. "I asked you out tonight so I could get to know you, not talk your ear off," he said, abashed by his own rambling.
"No, don't worry about it. I like hearing about it," she admitted, truthfully. "Everyday, I'm surrounded by people at the top who've already made it and they rarely talk about how hard it was to get there."
A mischievous glimmer entered her eyes then. She leaned forward conspiratorially and spoke in a hushed voice, "Besides, I kinda like knowing that there was some blood and sweat to stain those expensive suits of yours." The lit candles on the table created dancing shadows that flickered across her smirking face.
Elijah was momentarily stunned by her bold remark—surprised and thrilled all the same. He was cut off from replying when Marty arrived with their orders.
"This looks delicious. Thank you," Katherine said to Marty, jumping in when Elijah didn't say anything.
"Thanks," mumbled Elijah, a moment too late, only now coming back to awareness when he heard Katherine speak. Katherine laughed silently into her glass of wine.
"So, where did you say you were from again?" the girl with the ombré hair asked with an uninterested drawl for the third time that night. What was her name again? Alexis? Alexa?
"Mystic Falls, Virginia," Caroline responded, and upon the blank look on the other girl's face, she added, "It's about a half an hour outside of Richmond." The girl nodded at the mention of the familiar city and proceeded to take another sip of her fruity cocktail. Caroline inwardly rolled her eyes at the girl's dimness and cursed Jesse for leaving her alone with this one.
As the girl busied herself with the cell phone she'd just pulled out of her miniature-sized purse, Caroline took a moment to look around the bar. Jesse had invited her to come out with some other co-workers. She had resisted at first, not feeling up to making small talk with people she barely knew, but Jesse had convinced her it would be a good idea to get to know the people she would be working with closely.
That was how she found herself here, propped up on a wooden barstool attempting to make conversation with the receptionist from two floors up and who also happened to be dating one of the project architects. Jesse had been keeping her company for most of the night until he'd been pulled into conversation with someone else.
She was beginning to seriously rethink coming tonight. She hadn't been out like this since before her mother's funeral, never having the time to do so while her mother was ill and not having the stomach for it after her mother was gone. At a time in her life when being alone with herself was already too much of a crowd, a gathering like this one aroused in Caroline a terrible sensation of suffocation.
It was a nice bar, at least, she observed in an attempt to distract herself from the thoughts that threatened to consume her. It was a busy night and it had gotten a lot crowdier since they had arrived an hour earlier. There were clusters of people all crowded together, everyone belonging to a group and only a few there alone and sitting at the bar nursing their drinks.
Caroline sipped on her rum and coke as she took in the rustic, vintage feel of the place. The bar area was made of a dark wood and was complemented by the deep red paint of the walls. A series of large glass globes serving as light fixtures hung low, providing additional lighting to the inlaid lights on the ceiling.
Jesse was standing off to the side, still immersed in conversation with one of the guys she recognized from the team. Every now and again he'd look over to her and send her a smile, which only had the adverse effect of making her want to flee back home and not go through with the rest of this night.
Caroline snapped out of her reverie at the sound of someone to her left. "Bored out of your mind yet?" Caroline looked at the unfamiliar girl who'd plopped down next to her on the now-vacant barstool, which had just previously been occupied by the sleazy guy who'd been attempting to hit on her for the better part of the last half hour.
The girl had chestnut colored hair, which was pin-straight and fell to her shoulders, and vivid green eyes. She wore skinny black pants with a beige jacket and a white camisole below it.
"No," Caroline lied, quickly. The girl shot her a dubious look. "Okay, yes. A little." Caroline laughed at the amused look on the girl's face.
"Yea, well I don't blame you. Alexa over there could make anyone want to stick needles in their eyes." So Alexa was the girl's name. "A conversation with a wall would probably be more satisfying. I'd say you're faring considerably well, though." Caroline laughed again.
"I'm Cece." She stuck out her hand to shake.
"Caroline." Caroline put her hand in hers and shook. "I'm sorry, I don't remember being introduced earlier," sheepishly admitted Caroline.
"That's because I just got here," replied Cece. "And we've never met before, if that's what you're wondering. I work on the first floor in marketing."
"I guess that would explain why I've never seen you before. I still don't know half the people on my own floor yet let alone everyone else."
"Don't fret it," Cece said with a careless wave of her hand. "You don't really start getting to know people until you work with them on projects. Just give it a little time and you'll know most everyone."
Caroline smiled. "I'll take your word for it."
Cece swiveled around on her barstool to face Caroline. "So, how are you liking it so far? Jesse told me you transferred here from Virginia."
"I'm liking it a lot, actually." Caroline brushed some hair behind her ear. "It's a lot different from Virginia. I'm still getting used to how fast-paced everything is over here."
"I bet," Cece replied. "Where in Virginia are you from?"
"Mystic Falls, just outside of Richmond." It wasn't annoying to answer that question when the person asking it actually seemed interested in the answer.
"Oh, nice. Most of my family lives in Charlottesville. I used to love going back there on my summer breaks as a kid."
"I love Charlottesville," responded Caroline. "I went to college at UVA. Some of my best memories are there," she explained, fondly. Her mind flitted to the thought of Elena, her best friend and college roommate of four years. They had been inseparable since childhood, and now they were hundreds of miles of apart. "So you're not from Virginia then?"
"Well, actually, I was born in Charlottesville. Both of my parents are from there. But a few years after they had me, my dad got a job offer in Chicago and my family moved here. It's only my immediate family in Chicago, though. Everyone else is back in Charlottesville."
"Well, you're the first person I've met so far besides my roommate who has any ties to Virginia. I have to say, it's pretty refreshing," she laughed. A large part of her heart would always be tied to her life back in Mystic Falls. It would always be a part of who she was.
"Glad to be of service," Cece joked. "But, seriously, I know the feeling. City life here is so much different than life over there. I'm sure you've already discovered it, but people are definitely not as nice here as they are over there."
Caroline chuckled. "Believe me, I figured that out really fast." She took a sip of her drink.
"You eventually get used to it, though. Everyone is in a rush here and everything is always on a schedule," Cece explained. "But you're lucky enough to work with designers and architects who are much more relaxed." Caroline nodded in understanding.
"Don't get me wrong, though," Cece rushed to correct. "It's still fast-paced and everything is scheduled down to the dot, but the environment is much more forgiving and it's still much different than the white-collar corporate world. It probably has to do with the fact that we're in the business of creativity."
"Yea, I completely understand. I don't think I'm cut out for a white-collar job like that, to be honest. I love what I do. I love that everything is so hands-on and that I get to work with people who are creating something great."
"I know what you mean. It's pretty satisfying." Cece waved down the bartender for a refill. Once he slid the drink over to her, she turned back to Caroline. "So have you been assigned any projects yet?"
"Yea, the Palmer property."
"The one owned by Mikaelson Corp.?"
Caroline nodded. "Yea, that's the one."
"Have you met the brothers yet?"
Caroline's face flushed as a certain memory of one of said brothers entered her mind, though it was thankfully hidden by the dim lighting of the bar.
"Yea, both of them actually," Caroline responded. "They came into the office earlier in the week to give a brief introduction to the team." She purposefully didn't mention her meeting with Klaus yesterday afternoon.
"You'll like working with them. They're quite the pair," said Cece, as if reminiscing on a memory.
"You know them?" Caroline asked, her curiosity peaked.
"Yea," answered Cece, bringing her drink to her lips. She took a long sip from the black straw and placed it back on the bartop. "I worked on a few of the past accounts they've had with us. I've gotten to know the both of them pretty well, actually. Maybe Klaus a little more," Cece amended. Caroline could only bring herself to nod, which seemed to be the only encouragement Cece needed to continue.
"Elijah is all business and very formal. He's kind, but don't underestimate his ability to get what he wants." A smile then formed on Cece's lips. "And Klaus...he's fantastic—incredibly intense, but really amazing once you see him work. He pays attention to every miniscule detail, which can be annoying sometimes," she laughed, "but I prefer that to someone who only cares about getting the job done as quickly as possible."
"You sound like you really admire them," Caroline added, feeling the need to mask her eagerness about what Cece had to say about them by including a remark of her own.
"I do," agreed Cece. "They're an amazing pair who deserve being looked up to. It's not everyday that you find two people who are genuine about what they do and work so well with one another."
"All this talk about them is making me excited to begin working with them," Caroline admitted, genuinely.
"Who are we talking about, ladies?" Jesse asked from behind them, having finished with his other conversation. Both girls turned behind them to look at him.
"The Mikaelson brothers," answered Cece.
"Let me guess. Elijah is so handsome in those suits and Klaus is just so dreamy with his mysterious looks," Jesse imitated in his best teenage girl impression.
"No need to be jealous, Jesse," joked Cece with a laugh. "It's alright to admit how much you love to look at them. It takes a true man to say it out loud." She winked at Caroline who only chuckled in response.
"Caroline, don't let Cece here fool you," said Jesse with a smirk. "She's been half in love with the both of them since she met them." He turned to look at Cece. "Tsk, tsk, Cece. What would your fiance think?" he cracked.
"Hey!" Cece playfully jabbed her elbow into Jesse's stomach. "I will never stop appreciating the beauty of the male form. And what John doesn't know won't hurt him." Jesse threw his head back in laughter and Caroline watched the two interact with a smile of her own.
Jesse put his arm around Cece in a friendly embrace and pointed his gaze at Caroline. "I'm holding out hope for Caroline, though. Hopefully she won't fall for their charm like every other woman on this planet has. These guys are bad for business," Jesse said in a mock tone of seriousness.
Caroline's heart rate picked up its pace. "You don't need to worry about me," she said with a small smile, half wanting to believe her own words and half knowing they were a lie.
Cece sensed the other girl's discomfort. "Don't take him seriously, Caroline. Jesse just can't handle the greatness that is the Mikaelson brothers."
Caroline only managed to let out a short chuckle as Jesse guffawed at Cece. Caroline tried her best to appear steady despite her internal shakiness. She couldn't find the strength to form any more words as the uneasy feeling from earlier returned.
After Cece and Jesse exchanged a few more jabs, Caroline politely excused herself for the night, making excuses about the late hour and it being a very long week. They both understood and bid her a good night. She escaped the bar in a hurry, gasping for a breath of short-lived relief.
She left for home feeling like the crater in her heart had deepened. The pain, which intensified and dimmed according to circumstance, was burning. She was alone in the crowd. It was a familiar feeling, having experienced it extensively in her youth, but was now brought on for entirely different reasons. While the younger version of herself had felt that way due to teenage self-doubt and a constant search for approval from others, she now experienced it because she felt truly alone, no matter where she was or who she was with. Her suffering was hers alone to bear and being surrounded by people only reminded her of that.
The rest of their dinner was spent asking each other questions about one another. Elijah asked her how it was that she came to work for Marcel, and she, in turn, asked him why he disliked Marcel so much. Apparently, Marcel had used the brothers' shared affections for a girl to pit them against one another. When she asked him what Marcel had to gain by that, Elijah responded that Marcel had always been jealous of the love and loyalty the brothers had for one another. According to Elijah, Marcel would have rather Elijah be out of the picture, that way he wouldn't have to share Klaus with him. Katherine had scoffed, though she conceded that it wouldn't be entirely uncharacteristic for Marcel to pull such a stunt.
They had since moved on to discussing their respective families.
"Do your siblings still live in Mystic Falls, then?" Elijah asked.
"None of them do, actually. My sister lives in Richmond and my youngest brother is in New York. The only one who still lives there is my aunt and her family."
"Are you close with your family?"
She nodded. "Very much. They're all I have left now that my parents are gone."
Elijah's eyes widened. "I'm so sorry, Katherine. I didn't know."
Katherine shrugged and appeared unaffected, though Elijah could make out the tension in her exposed shoulders. "You have nothing to be sorry for. It's fine. They were in a car accident. It happened along time ago," she said by way of explanation.
His eyebrow knotted together. He gave her a considering look. "I'm still sorry, though," he said, sincerely. He watched her closely as she brought her glass of wine to her lips. His heart clenched at the thought of her in pain. "Family is the most important thing in my life," he said gently, "and I don't think I could bear it if I lost anyone of them."
"Tell me about your family," she requested, her eyes urging him to change the subject.
He paused, contemplating her sudden turn of topic, and then his eyes briefly flickered down to the table and a smile formed on his lips. "I have a large family—a very large, strangely functional, dysfunctional family," he answered, as his eyebrows quirked upwards. He was delighted when Katherine laughed.
"I have three other siblings besides myself. Klaus, whom you've already heard of. He and I are the closest, probably since we're the oldest and we work and live together. Then there's Rebekah, with the biggest heart of us all." He wore a fond smile. "She's married and has two small children, Theo and Henry. She still lives in London near my parents." His smile widened as he shook his head. "And then there's Kol, the youngest who's still studying in university here in the city. He's the biggest troublemaker of us all, and we probably have Klaus to thank for that," he laughed.
"I think our little brothers have that in common, then," she laughed along with him.
"For your sake, I really hope not," he said solemnly. He shook his wrist to loosen the watch which had ridden up his arm.
"Oh really? And why is that?" Katherine asked, curiously.
He raised his eyebrows, and leaned back in his seat, contemplating telling her about the class act that is his younger brother. "Well, for one, does your brother ever take every single one of your suit pants and have them taken up an inch to make me think I've grown taller?" he asked in a challenge, clearly still bitter at the memory. Katherine nearly choked on the water in her mouth and let out an unladylike snort.
"No way," she managed to get out in between laughs.
"Way," he answered, his bitterness still intact and only showing a hint of a smile with the slight upturn of his mouth.
"Fine," she said, her laughs finally subsiding, already coming up with a better story to share with him. "But did your brother ever replace 200 caramel apples at the Independence Day Carnival with caramel covered onions?" Elijah's eyes widened in horror.
"He didn't," he said, unable to believe it.
"He did," she nodded in mock somberness. "He said he thought it would be funny. What he didn't expect, though, was an angry mob forming against the apple stand, all raising hell and demanding their refunds."
Elijah threw his head back in laughter. "So what ended up happening?"
"My parents grounded him of course, and that was on top of having to wake up every Saturday morning for the rest of the year and clean up the Mystic Falls roadsides." Her eyes twinkled with mirth. "I'm pretty sure I have a few pictures of him in one of those neon vests," she laughed.
"You, Katherine Gilbert, are truly evil."
"I try," she joked, shrugging one shoulder.
"I think it would be wise if our brothers never met," he said, solemnly.
"I completely agree," she nodded.
They stayed joking like that for the rest of the night. Although Elijah's anxiety had nearly disappeared throughout the dinner, it reared up again in full force by the time he pulled up to Katherine's building. He stepped out of his car and rounded to the other side to open her car door.
They stood outside of the front entrance. Elijah felt his stomach constrict with his nervousness. His mind was assaulted by the same self-doubt he felt back at the restaurant before Katherine had showed up for their date.
This evening had gone so well. For the first time in long while he wanted to make this work.
"Thank you for tonight," Katherine said. She was holding her clutch with both hands in front of her. The faint light from the nearby streetlight cast just enough light that she could make out the uncomfortable look on Elijah's face. The thought of that amused her. "I had a really great time."
The discomfort painted on his face disappeared a little. "So did I," Elijah replied. Katherine smiled. "Truthfully, I didn't think you would actually show up," he confessed with a hint of embarrassment.
"Wait a minute. Let me get this straight. The same man who was forward enough to ask me out after knowing me for all of five minutes, at a work function, might I add, got cold feet afterward?" she questioned him, incredulously.
"Yes, that's right," he admitted with an embarrassed chuckle. "I must admit that such forwardness is rather uncharacteristic of me and I'm not quite sure where that bout of courage came from. I'm not usually that transparent with my intentions nor that forward in my approach, but," he hesitated, "there's just something about you, Katherine."
"That's quite the line."
"It's not a line. Far from it, Katherine," he insisted.
"Well, then, are you at least happy with your decision to ask me out?" She raised an eyebrow in anticipation of his answer.
"Most happy." His smile was wide and contented.
Her eyes softened and a pleased smile formed on her lips. "Me too," she said, softly.
"I'd like to do this again, Katherine."
"I'd like that," she answered, the genuineness in her voice making his stomach clench tighter.
Elijah stepped closer to her, leaning in and placing a light kiss on her cheek. Katherine's eyes fluttered close at the contact.
"Goodnight, Katherine," he said, quietly.
She nodded. "Goodnight, Elijah." She gave him one last lingering look and then turned away from him. She opened her clutch to retrieve her keys, pushing them into the lock and lettering herself inside. She gave one last look behind her, giving Elijah a small wave, feeling satisfied in knowing he was watching her walk away.
AN: I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update! Don't hate me! I've been out of town twice in the past two and a half weeks. Between school, work, and family, I've barely had a chance to update. I'm publishing this on the fly, so I apologize for any errors. I don't have a beta, so sometimes I can't help it when I miss something during my edits. Anyway, I hope you like it. I know there's no Klaroline going on this chapter, but you can expect it next chapter!
P.S. I didn't get a chance to respond to everyone's reviews and messages last time. I hate it when I can't reply back, so I'm really really sorry! Just know that I loved hearing from all of you. It makes me so so so happy! Please drop a review, favorite, or follow if you haven't already!