AN: Well, isn't Google Translate just God's gift to man kind? Anyway, just finished this chapter and since I took so long with the last one, I'm putting this one up right away.

According to the show, this should probably take place somewhere in the middle of Spring, but I felt like moving it. So this is Tuesday, the first of December 2009.

Chapter 13: Christmas for Klaroline.

(Two weeks later)

Damon woke slowly. The door to his room was half open and a funny smell hung in the air. He opened his eyes and saw Andie laying by his side still asleep. Then he recognised the smell.

Gingerbread.

What the Hell was going on?

He got out of bed without waking Andie, pulled on his black jeans, and went downstairs. He stopped in the doorway to the parlour, staring in horror.

The entire room was decked out in fir branches, wreaths, light chains, red hearts, elves,

poinsettias, and worst of all; a gigantic decorated christmas tree.

Darwin was kneeling in front of the fire place, carving into a log with a small dagger, and Stefan was sitting on one of the couches, wearing a Santa hat and cutting into coloured, glossy paper with a pair of scissors.

Damon held up his hands: "Oh no! Which of the nine circles of Hell is this?"

Darwin looked up and smiled a him: "Happy first of December."

"What the Hell is that?" Damon pointed at the log.

Darwin looked down. "It's a Yulelog. I'm just finishing carving runes into it, then I'll wrap holly around it. We're merging Christmas with Jól this year."

Oh, the sixth circle: Heresy!

Damon shook his head in despair. "This is not happening."

"Why not? Winter Solstice is the 21. There'll be plenty of time for both."

He needed a drink. Unfortunately, his bottles had been removed and replaced with a giant bowl of a deep red liquid. It was standing on four legs over three tea lights. "What is this?"

"That would be hot, mulled wine. There's raisins and almonds in it."

"Well, doesn't that just spice it up." He turned away from it and faced the christmas tree again. He looked at it in dismay, when a piece of black fabric caught his eye. He went over to the tree and grabbed it. "Darwin, will you tell me, why my underwear is hanging on your christmas tree?!"

"Didn't think you'd mind. It's an old viking tradition to hang clothes on evergreens."

"You don't put another man's underwear on display ... And don't you laugh, you were in on it!" Damon pointed at Stefan, who covered his mouth with one hand.

The one good thing about having Darwin around was that he seemed to make Stefan less brooding and more sociable. Maybe it was his projection of emotions, as they seemed to have settled into some sort of emotional symbiosis. They shared feelings, though Darwin's was much stronger than Stefan's; Stefan being generally levelheaded and Darwin being high-strung.

Darwin sighed and stood up. "Fine, Grinch, you can take your clothes." He went over to the couch and sat down beside Stefan. "There are some bottles of strong mead in the cabinet, if you need it."

Damon didnt answer, but plucked the rest of his clothes from the tree. "I don't see there's any cause for celebration. We have accomplished absolutely nothing these last couple of weeks."

It was true. Neither of them had met anything but dead ends. Destroying the moon stone proved to be more complicated than they had expected. It seemed to be shrouded in layer after layer of complex spells. And his search for a way to kill Klaus seemed futile. Try googling the word 'hybrid' and all you got were pictures of a Toyota Prius.

"All the more reason to celebrate, "Stefan insisted, "we need to keep spirits high."

Darwin smiled, patted Stefan's shoulder and sang: "Have yourself a merry little Christmas, Let your heart be light ... "

"From now on, our troubles will be out of sight, "Stefan joined in.

"No, they won't." Damon shook his head. "And you're both ridiculous."

Darwin crossed his arms over his chest in annoyance: "Fine, how about this then; Happy Christmas, your arse, I pray God it's your last ..."

Damon snorted. "Very clever, oddball, but your accent ruined it."

(Break)

Caroline was in a foul mood. She wasn't sure why, but over the last week or so, she had become more and more frustrated. The helping Tyler part of her life was over. Their relationship had been strained at best ever since she had been captured by Brady and Jules. They avoided each other at school and didn't see each other after.

She felt like all she ever did these days was school, homework, feed and sleep. She fit in nowhere in her friends' plans. They didn't need her for anything. She was completely useless.

So when time had come to start planning the school's Christmas Dance, she had pounced on it like a starving cougar on a camper. She and Bonnie had met here at the Mystic Grill after school to do some brain storming, but Bonnie had had to leave early to have dinner with her father, and now she was sitting at her table in the crowded Grill, feeling more alone than ever. Her mother was working late, and there were only so many longing stares, she could send after Matt, without feeling like a desperate loser.

She turned her attention back to the booklet, she'd been writing in and skimmed the page quickly.

1. Christmas tree.

2. Snow. (Artificial or cotton wool?)

3. Coloured light chains.

4. Santa doll.

She picked up her pen and added 'snow man' next to Santa.

"Excuse me, may I join you?"

She looked up in alarm at the sound of the accented voice. How had she not heard him approach? There wasn't that much noice in the Grill. She must have been more focused on her task than she thought.

She regarded him with suspicion for a minute. He looked perfctly normal, though, dressed casually in blue jeans, white t-shirt, and a brown suede jacket. He was about average height, with short light-brown hair that curled slightly at the end, and pale blue eyes. Quite attractive, she admitted to herself, with delicate yet masculine features and there were something noble, almost regal in the way he held himself, in spite of his casual attire. He was smiling, showing dimples on either side of his mouth; the perfect picture of benignity.

Had this been a year ago, she would have been all over him, but the Damon incident had taught her to be wary of good-looking strangers.

She realised she hadn't talked for too long and started to feel awkward.

"Sure, why not?" She wasn't able to keep all her annoyance out of her voice.

He didn't seem to notice and took a seat across from her. "I'm Nik."

The sound of his English accent made her shiver, but not uncomfortably, and she wanted to stare at him again. She kept her eyes glued to her paper, though, not wanting to give away her growing interest. He didn't seem to have that problem, though; she could feel his eyes on her, not wavering.

"I'm Caroline, "she mumbled, starting to feel even more awkward, "And if you don't mind, I have some work to do."

There was something about him that deeply disturbed her and fascinated her at the same time. Something powerful, something ... intense.

She stayed silent for several minutes, eyes on her paper, but unable to make sense out of the words. She was painfully aware of his presence.

She finally gave up and looked back up at him. "Is something wrong?"

He gave her another charming smile. "I'm sorry, love, I'm staring. You just remind me of a poem by Keats."

"And that would be?"

He caught her eyes, and she found that she couldn't look away. She couldn't even move, as he reached out, gently touched one of her blonde curls, and then tucked the strands behind her ear.

"She seem'd, at once, some penanced lady elf, Some demon's mistress, or the demon's self, "he recited slowly, carefully forming the words.

"That's beautiful, "she was starting to feel light-headed and another shiver ran down her back, but this time it felt like a warning, "what's the poem called?"

"Lamia, "he finally removed his hand and the spell broke.

She immediately looked back down, not wanting to be ensnared by him again. She felt even more annoyed now, but more with herself than with him. "And what does that mean?"

"Vampire."

Her head snapped back up, but the chair across from her was empty.

He was gone.

(Break)

Darwin went from lamppost to lamppost, hanging up flyers. It was almost 8 o'clock and he would much rather be spending the evening in the parlour, playing Magic with Jeremy, but he felt he had certain obligations.

He was wearing his usual torn jeans with multicoloured patches and his dark green coat with the brown fur trimming around the hood. Synthetic fur, of course. The coat felt restraining and uncomfortable. And completely unnecessary, as he felt neither heat nor cold.

"What are you doing?"

He turned around and smiled: "Mr. Saltzman. I'm hanging up flyers. Do you want one?"

He held one out, but Alaric just stared at it. "Let me guess; Has anyone seen this hybrid?"

"No, "Darwin shoved the flyer into his hand and closed it around it, "the Poles are melting."

"Don't you have more important things to do?"

"How can you say that's not important?" he snapped indignantly. "Did you know that if the North Pole melts, New York City will be under 7 metres of water?"

"No, that's if the ice in Greenland melts, "Alaric explained patiently, "The North Pole icecap is floating, it'll make no difference if it melts."

"How can you say it makes no difference?" Darwin was beyond chocked. "It's the North Pole! It's Santa's home. Every year, 200 elves drown."

"Darwin ... "

He turned back to the lamppost. "Well, I hope you can swim, bonehead."

He felt Alaric's hand clasp his shoulder: "Darwin, what is the matter?"

He leaned forward slightly put his forehead against the cold lamppost. "I feel Niklaus in this town. All my instincts are telling me to run. I have to keep myself busy, or I panic."

"Well, we knew he'd show up sooner or later ... Do you know exactly where he is?"

"No." He turned around and faced Alaric again. "But I do know that he is close."

"How can you feel him? None of the other vampires can."

"I'm not sure how to explain it, "he rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "it's like aura reading; each aura has it's own signature."

"Isn't that something whitches do?"

"No, clairvoyants. But actually, everybody can read auras with the right training, and as a vampire there's a whole other dimension to it."

"The ability to feel another's presence?"

"Exactly. And Niklaus' is dark and menacing. After what I've been told about him, I'm afraid he won't stop until we're all dead."

Alaric seemed to consider for a minute. "You really think it will come to that?"

"Look what he did to his own family. Most of them are dead, "Darwin paused for a second, "or deadish ..."

"Have you told the others about this?"

"Not yet." Darwin tucked his stack of flyers under his arm, pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "I'm afraid that Damon will do something stupid, if I tell him and if I tell Stefan, he'll definitely tell Damon. And I haven't seen or heard from Elijah in over a week."

"Weren't you supposed to be working together?"

"Well, he seems to think we should wait to make a move, until Niklaus reveals himself."

Alaric looked suspicious. "And you?"

Darwin blew out a cloud of smoke and shrugged. "I may or may not have other plans."

(Break)

Stefan was laying on a couch in the parlour and watching tv, when Damon came in with a glass in his hand. He had finally found his bourbon in one of the kitchen cabinets.

"What are you watching? "he asked, not really caring.

"The Matrix."

Damon looked at the screen with little interest for a minute, then frowned. "Why is Baron Von Bloodshed in it?"

Stefan gave a quick smile. "That's Morpheus. He's the Captain of the Nebuchadnezzar."

"Do I even want to know, what that is?"

"Not really."

Damon turned away from the tv and went over to the christmas tree for the hundreth time that day. It was ridiculously decorated with a mix of hearts, gingerbread runes, silvery tinsel, small statues of what looked like ready-for-battle Norse Gods, and electric lights.

"Well, guess some of that's slightly more masculine than what's usual."

"Huh?" Stefan didn't look away from the screen for even a second.

"I don't remember the last time we celebrated christmas, "Damon said, shaking his head, "when was that?"

"That would be the Winter before mother died. After that, the only tradition we upheld was Church."

"Right. And the Lockwoods' Christmas Ball." He went over to the couch. "Move over."

Stefan moved into a halfway sitting position, making room for Damon, and they sat in silence for awhile.

"So, what do you want for Christmas this year?" Damon asked and sipped his drink. "World peace?"

Stefan sighed. And there was the brooding forehead again! Where the Hell was Darwin?

"I would go for things simply being a little less complicated."

Really wish, I could give you that, Damon thought, you deserve that much.

But of course; he didn't say it out loud.

AN: The lyrics used are from 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, and 'Fairytale of New York' by The Pogues. (And I do know, it's supposed to be 'I pray God, it's our last' but Darwin wants to experience plenty more christmases.)

Next chapter: Darwin goes AWOL...