AN: Thanks a lot for reviewing, guys:) And for the new follows and favourites.
Anyways, sorry about the shortness of this chapter, but it just seemed right to end it, where I did.
Chapter 35: Morning Has Broken
(Thursday the 17th of December 2009)
Damon woke with a start, looking around the room in alarm. Something was completely wrong. He glanced at the clock.
7.14.
Someone moved beside him and he sent the sleeping figure a curious look. Then rolled his eyes, realizing it was Andie. "Jesus Christ!" He seriously needed a change of girlfriend. He never kept one for more than a few months at a time. Otherwise they became too familiar, too complacent and started making demands:
'Stop drinking!'
'Stop flirting!'
'Stop breathing so loud! ... You don't need to, anyway.'
The longer he knew a woman, the less interesting she became. Whereas the longer a woman knew him, the more attached to him she became. That, of course, did not include those, who had the good sense to run away screaming.
But Andie's presence wasn't what had made him wake up this early. Then he realized; he was rested. He hadn't been disturbed tree or four times during the night by a terrible scream that had made him roll out of bed, hit the floor and grab a stake. And then, in full fighting mode, unable to fall asleep again for an hour.
No, he had slept right through the night.
He got out of bed and looked around for his jeans, then remembering Elena ransacking the house for laundry the previous evening, grabbed a fresh pair from the closet. He heard feet moving around outside and hushed voices.
Stefan and Kol.
"Oh God, bad hair day!"
"Elena has a hair straightener. Maybe that can do something about it?"
"I doubt it ... You have anythng that might help?"
"Pliables or fixatives?"
"Well ..."
Damon snorted, yelling: "Will you girls please take that conversation elsewhere?!"
He was pretty sure he heard Stefan sigh and Kol snicker as they retreated to Stefan's room. Andie stirred a bit. "Could you keep it down, Damon?"
Damon huffed. Definitely time for a new model. Before long she'd be baking him cookies and refusing to sleep with him, if he threw his socks on the floor.
He buttoned his jeans and went downstairs and into the kitchen, where Elijah, Darwin and Jeremy were gathered around the table. Elijah was well-dressed as always, reading the paper, while Jeremy and Darwin were similarly dressed in worn-out, blue jeans and black hoodies, Darwin's with a Red Cross symbol on the front. They had a bunch of cards spread out between them and a few cards in their hands. Darwin was watching them thoughtfully, while eating an apple slice.
Damon scratched his head: "Tarot Cards?"
Jeremy laughed. "No. Magic." He drew a card from a stack beside him. He seemed to consider it for a moment, then started tilting the cards on the table. Then he put down a card.
Darwin looked up at him. "Searing Meditation. Really? You want to play that now?"
"Yes."
Darwin smiled. "No defense? How dramatic!"
"Yes, "Damon snorted again. "Almost too much to bear. I need a drink to calm my nerves."
"Then you want to get it from your secret stock, "Elijah informed him. "Finn drained everything else last night."
Damon frowned. "Everyhing?"
"Everything, "Elijah confirmed, then sighed. "Which reminds me, we're out of washer fluid."
"God, Finn ... "Damon grimaced.
A door was opened and slammed shut upstairs and Alaric came running down the stairs and into the kitchen. He stopped by the table, putting his hands on the surface. His hair was sticking out in all directions and his sweater was on inside out. And also backwards, Damon noted. "Elijah, you have to do something about Jenna! She is freaking out and I am not far behind her ..."
"My cards!" Jeremy and Darwin looked in horror at the mess Alaric had made of their bloody battle.
Elijah lowered the paper, calmly. "And what do you want me to do?"
Alaric threw up his hands. "I don't know! Talk to her! Compel her! Knock her out! ... Whatever works."
"I can make a doctor's appointment for you for today, "Elijah offered.
Alaric frowned. "With the one who did the DNA test?"
"Yes."
Alaric ran his hands through his hair, which only made it even messier and made him look like a wild man. "And what if he says there are four?"
"He won't." Elijah resumed his reading.
Alaric stared at him helplessly for a minute, then abruptly spun around and left, passing Kol on his way out.
Kol sent an envious look after him. "Whoa! Great hair."
(Break)
Klaus wasn't one of the most empathic people in the world, but he knew when something was amiss. Especially when it was placed right between his eyes with a metaphorical sledgehammer.
Like this morning where Caroline was sitting across from him in the kitchen wearing an old sweatshirt and a look of dismay on her face. He did not enjoy playing guess-what's-wrong-you-jackass with women, but she was being shrewish, sending him an icy look every few minutes. And to tell the truth, it made him very uncomfortable.
He ignored her for awhile, focusing on his bottle of blood, not at all eager to go into a confrontation he had no idea what was all about. It gave her all the advantages and quite frankly, something about this woman made him feel slightly insecure at times, not a feeling he was used to. And what's more, she had already proven herself a worthy adversary. He found himself wishing that Rebekah would soon finish her morning grooming rituals and join them in the kitchen.
'Come on, Klaus, 'he thought irritably. 'You have about as much backbone as a jellyfish.'
He sighed, resigning himself to his fate. "Ok, what's wrong?"
She crossed her arms over her chest, fixing har gaze at a point right over his head as if it was beneath her to look at him. "What makes you think anything's wrong?"
"I'm not a complete embicile."
She huffed, slamming her blood bottle down on the table. "Could've fooled me."
Her anger was already starting to wear him out. "Caroline ... "
"I found Stevie, "she suddenly blurted out.
He blinked, momentarily non-plussed. "Stevie who?"
"Seriously?" She gave him an incredulous look. "The werewolf. In the basement."
Klaus sighed in relief. "Oh, him."
"Yes, him!"
Her eyes were glowing intensely and her cheeks were slightly flushed. He quite liked this look on her, he noted smiling absentmindedly. He longed to get his scetch book and pecils and draw her like this; an avenging angel.
She continued angrily. "What am I supposed to do about that?"
He shrugged. "Don't go down there."
He anger momentarily gave way to surprise. "You don't want me down there?"
He shook his head. "Not if it up-sets you."
"Seriously?" she asked again. "That's your answer to it? Ignoring it?"
"No, "he put his now empty bottle on the table, before continuing calmly. "I never meant to cause you any grief, but you should never forget, who I am. If you have been suffering from any illusions about my nature, then you needed this trip back to reality."
"So, your kindness was all an act?" He could tell she was fighting back tears and he wanted to reach out and take her hand. But he didn't, knowing she wouldn't let him.
"Of course not." He shook his head slowly. "I am all of the things, you have seen in me. But there are more to me than that, and I tell you ... "He leaned forward, catching her eye. " ... I will stop at nothing to get the things I want."
She swallowed. "Does that include me?"
"No, "he straightened back up. "You are not a thing to me. And I want to win you, fair and square."
"I would like to say that's impossible, "she said, sadly. "But so many things about you mirror my own self. And I refuse to believe that you cannot be made to care."
'And so many things about you, make me want to believe that's true, 'he thought.
But said nothing.