A/N: So sorry for the delay!
Enjoy!
All happy families are alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way-Leo Tolstoy
Klaus glanced over at the sleeping infant, thankful that Henrik was still napping. He had been in another fussy state that morning, nothing really seeming to appease his distraught state. The plan had been for some sightseeing and shopping that day, something that Klaus knew Caroline had been looking forward to. So he had insisted that she still go out with Katherine and take Italy along as well, assured her that he would be fine with the baby and Elijah.
His plan was to avoid his brother as best he could and considering Elijah had been on conference calls for the last few hours it had been working out perfectly. Klaus had heard the footsteps outside of the door though and had a feeling that the respite he'd had from his brother was about to end.
Sighing, he looked back down at the sketch he was currently working on. Maybe if he looked as though he was intently working Elijah would simply go away and leave him to it. The fact that Henrik was sleeping and not fussing might work in Klaus' favor as well.
No one wanted to handle a grumpy baby. Especially not one woken from his nap.
"Will you be avoiding me for the rest of your trip now?" Elijah asked from the doorway, keeping his voice in check as he looked over at Henrik before turning his attention back to Klaus.
"It'd insure less headaches for all if I do." Klaus didn't bother looking up, focused on shading in an area on his paper instead. Elijah sighed, no doubt ready to leave him to it, but Caroline's words from earlier rang in Klaus' head and he knew he couldn't let his brother do that. Even if he truly wanted to continue on working in silence.
"But no," Klaus looked up and placed his pencil down, noting the bit of relief in Elijah's stance at that. The glimpse of hopefulness had Klaus relaxing a tiny bit as well. He didn't like when the two of them were fighting. "Caroline reminded me this morning that we're here to see the two of you and unless I'd like to be stuck with Katerina for the rest of the week that I need to attempt civility with you."
"Niklaus," Elijah shook his head. The animosity between his brother and his wife didn't seem like it would ever really end.
Klaus pursed his lips at that and placed the sketchbook to the side. "No one else calls me that. Only you." Finn on occasion but he'd taken to calling him Klaus as well. Only Esther and Mikael had called him Niklaus as much as Elijah did. There was no bitterness to Klaus' statement though, just a simple observation, something he had come to realize over the last day.
Elijah headed over to him, stopping at the playpen that Henrik was sleeping in for a moment. "You were never Nik to me."
"No," Klaus grinned at that. "Only Rebekah and Kol ever called me that." No one else did or would. A girlfriend had tried once but he had squashed that notion quickly.
"I grew up calling you Niklaus. It's who I know you as," Elijah murmured as he sat down on one of the chairs across from him.
That was true and it hadn't bothered Klaus before, but now with Mikael and their mother dead it was a reminder of a past he'd rather not deal with on a constant basis. "You could try calling me Klaus, Elijah." The name he'd chosen for himself.
"As long as you realize it may take me time to remember to always do so," Elijah replied, relaxing a little more as the tension between them dissipated further. "I didn't know my calling you by it annoyed you as much as it seems to." Or he would have tried stopping sooner.
Klaus shrugged, not quite wanting to voice his reasons for disliking it now. "Though, I suppose I should have known you would prefer not being called by the name that monster always used with you," Elijah continued, and Klaus could practically see the weight that was settled on his brother's shoulders.
"I didn't mind it at first from you. It was familiar, needed when everything that I had known was ripped away from me," Klaus told him, remembering Elijah's anger and worry when he'd picked him up from the train station that Klaus had hiked to after being thrown out. "But I'm no longer that panicked, desperate teenager."
"No, you're not," Elijah nodded, and Klaus shook his head at the pride in Elijah's gaze as he looked over at him. He had been a mess, struggled for a few years even as he'd tried to prove Mikael wrong, but he had persevered and was on his way to becoming the man he wanted to be. That was in part because of the brother sitting across from him who had taken him in, partly because of the father he'd met and lost all too quickly, and definitely because of Caroline and her constant belief in him while not taking any of his bullshit.
"I just want the same for Rebekah and Kol. For the two of them to snap out of the ridiculous choices they keep making," Elijah explained before shaking his head. Henrik stirred and the two of them froze, waiting until the baby settled back down before speaking again. "I don't want to wake up one morning to another phone call telling me someone in this family is dead."
Or in jail as had happened to both of them and Elijah had been the ones to pick up the pieces when the younger two hadn't wanted to get Mikael and Esther involved.
"You're not their father, Elijah," Klaus pointed out. "I know you took on that role more than once with them but they don't need a father-they don't associate the best traits with one. They want a brother. They need a brother."
"They have you as their brother," Elijah replied as Henrik finally did wake.
"And they want you as one too," Klaus told him as he moved to pick up Henrik, the baby settled easily against him, sucking on his pacifier as he looked over at Elijah.
Elijah's phone began to ring, interrupting whatever he might have said. Unfortunately it was another call he had to take. "Thank you for the chat, Ni-Klaus."
Klaus nodded at that, watching as his brother left the room. He had a feeling that Elijah had a lot to think about and looked down at Henrik, knowing he would need to do the opposite of what he was telling Elijah with the baby. He was going to need to be a father and not a brother with Henrik, but at least Klaus wouldn't have the years of being in the other roles as Elijah had been.
He could do this.
They both could.
"Do you want red or blue, Italy?" Caroline asked, holding out the two dress options for the little girl to choose from. The four year old pursed her lips, a look nearly identical to one her mother wore when making decisions, before reaching out to touch the blue one. "I think you'll look adorable in that one."
She handed off the dress to the attendant to put inside their dressing room. "It's not as pretty as my other dress," Italy told her. "The one I get to wear when you and Uncle Klaus get married." She pressed her hands to her hips, an annoyed look on her face. "It's forever away!"
"Less than three months," Caroline tried to point out. Though to a four year old that probably did seem like a lifetime. For Caroline though the reminder of how little time was left nearly brought on a panic attack. There was still so much to do and so much could go wrong. Plus she needed to remember to find Henrik an outfit for it now as well.
"Aunt Caroline?" Italy asked, eyes widening at the panic that she could see in her aunt.
Caroline took a deep breath, forcing down any of her worry to smile at the little girl. "You'll get to wear it soon, Italy. I promise." She took the little girl's hand before glancing around the children's boutique that they were in, looking for Katherine.
She spotted her near the door, surrounded by a small group of people while smiling as she signed autographs. Caroline almost bought the effortless demeanor her friend was giving off but she could see the prickling of annoyance in Katherine's eyes as she glanced over at her and Italy. It was supposed to be a nice afternoon for the three of them, a chance for some mother-daughter time with Italy, and it was being overrun by enthusiastic fans.
"Anything else that you want to try on?" Caroline asked, tugging on Italy to get her away from the slowly growing crowd.
"No," Italy muttered, shuffling her feet as she looked back at her mother.
Caroline knew that look well. She'd seen it often in her reflection as she had watched her mother deal with countless town matters instead of paying attention to her. It had been hard to deal with as a child, the constant being put second to her mother's job, and while she'd understood the necessity of that as she'd grown older, it still irritated her when Liz had to skip plans with her because of her Sheriff responsibilities.
"She'll be finished with them really soon," Caroline tried to assure the little girl, flinching slightly as she remembered how others had said the same thing to her.
Italy simply sighed, clearly not buying it just as Caroline hadn't when she was little. "Do you want to help me pick out some clothes for your cousin?" Maybe that would get Italy out of her slump? Distractions usually helped.
"For Henrik?" Italy asked, lips pursed again as Caroline nodded. "Okay. Can we get him giraffe ones?"
"I think he'd like that." Caroline grinned down at her before letting Italy lead her toward the boy's section of the store. They spent a few minutes looking at the options before Italy picked out some outfits that would work.
"Sorry about that, sweetie," Katherine started as she made her way over to the two of them. She smiled down at Italy. "Did you pick out a pretty dress?"
Italy didn't reply, simply scrunched her nose up as she stared at Katherine, clearly not happy. Katherine held out her hand and Italy sighed before taking it. Caroline followed the two toward the dressing rooms and sat down on one of the sofas in the middle of the area. She could hear the murmurs of a conversation happening between the mother and daughter duo but couldn't make out all of the words, but it wasn't too hard to guess what was being said. A lot of apologies and probably promises that wouldn't quite be upheld no matter how much Katherine might mean to do so.
Half an hour later and they'd left the boutique for a coffee shop, thankfully sitting tucked away in a corner where Italy could draw on the napkins and away from curious fans' eyes. "Tired?" Katherine asked as she looked across the small booth at Caroline. "I don't think the exhaustion really ever ends when you have kids. You nearly catch up on sleep but then something happens and you're back to square one."
Caroline nodded, waiting for Katherine to expand on that. "Isn't this where you're supposed to say something like 'but they're completely worth it'?" she asked after a moment.
"They are," Katherine replied, smiling over at Italy who was intently working on her 'unicorn'. "But Henrik is...well, he wasn't in your plans. And I know you, Caroline. You have five year plans. Ten year ones even."
Well, she couldn't exactly deny that. "Plans change." They already had once with Klaus entering her life.
"They don't have to though," Katherine told her. "You don't have to give up on all of your dreams now. You can still do what you want with your life."
"I know that," Caroline replied with a shrug. "But sometimes it's okay to alter them a bit to fit something special into your life." And Henrik was special, just as Klaus had been when she'd opened herself up to changing her rigidly plotted out course for her next ten years.
Katherine sighed before breaking a cookie in two and giving one half to Italy. "I just don't want you to wake up in five years and wonder where all of your dreams went."
"If there's one thing I'm good at, Kat, it's multitasking. Besides," Caroline shrugged, snagging a bit from Katherine's piece of cookie. "Kids are in Klaus and mine's plans." It was simply supposed to be five to ten years down the road. "I'm finishing up my degree and then after the wedding I'll be working. But I can work and be a mom too. After all, you do it."
Though Caroline knew there were things she would be doing very differently than Katherine. Not that she'd ever need to deal with random fans wanting attention and needing to keep up that facade twenty-four seven. But Caroline meant to ensure that Henrik never felt like she had growing up, that he'd always know he was her top priority. And okay maybe that was a big change in her current plans because work was supposed to become her next big priority after school, but even that had been pushed aside a bit to focus on the wedding and then would have continued to be pushed aside some for focusing on her marriage.
"I want you to be happy. Because god knows you make Klaus at least slightly tolerable. I can't even imagine what he'd be like if you were miserable." Katherine shuddered at the thought. "His visits would be more miserable than they already are."
"I think the two of you might actually kill one another," Caroline mused, trying not to laugh at the idea.
"I'd kill him first," Katherine replied, confident in that, but Italy shook her head.
"Nuh uh. Uncle Klaus is faster," the little girl told them, causing the two adults to laugh. "And sneaky."
Katherine shook her head, unable to believe Italy was taking her Uncle's side. "Eat your cookie."
"I know you and Elijah are only trying to look out for Klaus and I," Caroline started as Italy refocused on her drawing. "But we're not kids. Weird as that might be for the two of you to see. I know my mom still has a hard time with it. And maybe we don't know what we're doing completely but you didn't either when you had Italy. We'll figure it out in time and make it work for us." Wasn't that all anyone could do?
"You're both stubborn enough to not give up until you do," Katherine murmured in agreement. "Which is in your favor, but just makes him look like an ass."
"Your bias against Klaus is showing, Katherine," Caroline warned. She understood that the two didn't like one another, that they could barely tolerate one another most days, but she could do without the badmouthing either of them did toward the other. "You don't have to like him, but try to remember that I love him."
"I'll never understand…" Katherine held up her hands at Caroline's hard look at that, definitely having reached her limit with Katherine's dislike of Klaus. It was probably best not to do it around Italy anyway. Her daughter had a tendency to repeat everything. "Have you decided on how you're going to do your hair for the wedding?"
There. Hopefully that was an okay course for their discussion to go. If only she could hold her tongue on anything that might have been Klaus' choice for the wedding. They should at least be able to talk for ten minutes without her putting her foot in her mouth again.
The house was quiet when they returned, Elijah busily working away in his office with the door closed. Caroline wondered if the Klaus and he had even been in the same room at all while the three of them had been out. At least Katherine was listening to Italy talk about some doll she had as the two of them headed off toward Italy's room. She watched the interaction between the two, pleased to see the little girl receive some of the attention she'd been dying to get all day, before venturing off to find Klaus and Henrik.
They were in the back sunroom, Henrik napping on a blanket on the floor while Klaus sat on the sofa, thoroughly engrossed in whatever he was sketching. Caroline leaned over the sofa to get a look at what he was drawing, smiling at the sleeping form of the baby on the page. "I think we should keep that one for us," she murmured, gaze flicking to the actual baby who was soundly snoring on the blanket. "It'd actually look really nice if we framed it and put in the nursery."
Klaus set down the sketchbook at her words, titling his head back to look at her. Caroline grinned, kissing his forehead before making her way around to plop down beside him. The sketchpad was placed to the side so Klaus could shift the two of them on the sofa until they were laying side by side as best they could manage.
"How was shopping?" he asked, noting the lack of bags she'd carried in with her. That either meant she'd bought nothing or she'd bought a lot and the shops would be sending the purchases around later.
Caroline wrinkled her nose at his question, a sure sign that it was the former instead of the latter. "Have I ever said how glad I am that I don't have older siblings? Because I am really glad I didn't always have another person in my life telling me what I should do. Or what I shouldn't do." Dealing with Katherine's advice for one afternoon had been enough. Caroline couldn't even imagine what it'd be like to deal with that day in and day out growing up. "Though I guess it'd have been nice to have a comrade in arms during the divorce and everything."
Klaus arched a brow at that, wondering what exactly had happened. "I know she meant well," Caroline continued with a sigh, pleased that he squeezed her a little tighter against him. "Like she really did. But the constant babies change your life forever spiel is getting to be really annoying. Like no shit it changes things. But we wouldn't have agreed to this without knowing that. And so maybe I like lists and have plans that are pretty thoroughly mapped out, but that doesn't mean I can't change them when it's important."
Klaus nodded, knowing better than to jump in with a reply just yet. When Caroline got into tirades like this it was better to let her get it all out. "Like I totally changed my ten year plan when you weaseled your way into my life," she pointed out and he opened his mouth to respond to that, but quickly shut it at her 'oh please' look. She tapped his nose and Klaus nipped at her finger. "And I'll change my plans again because of Henrik. Because he deserves that. That doesn't mean I'm giving up on my dreams. It's just..."
She sighed, looking away from Klaus for a moment as she tried to figure out how best to say what she needed to. His fingers brushed her cheek, helping to calm her frazzled nerves. "I remember what it was like to be second to everything else. Second to my mom's job. Second to my dad's new family. Second to Bonnie and Elena's friendship for most of my childhood. I don't want him to ever feel like he's in second place."
Klaus tilted her chin was she would look at him. "He won't," he told her, voice adamant. He knew all too well how it felt to be the one who wasn't wanted, who was pushed aside by family. Henrik would never know that feeling if he could help it. "We won't ever make it so that he does, Caroline."
They wouldn't make the same mistakes as their parents.
"I love you," Caroline murmured with a small smile.
"I know." Klaus grunted at the elbow to his gut for that answer before kissing her.
Babbling from the floor caused the kiss to be cut short, the two of them shifting on the couch to find Henrik awake and gnawing on his hand. "I think I figured out what's been bothering him," Klaus told her as Caroline got off the couch to scoop the baby up. She arched a brow, waiting for him to explain as Henrik smiled at her. "He's getting a tooth."
"What? Where?" Caroline tried to get the baby to open his mouth so she could see inside.
Klaus shook his head, watching as Henrik stared at Caroline, keeping his mouth closed. "It's on the bottom gum, to the right. I felt it when he tried to gnaw on my thumb earlier."
"Did you take a picture?" she asked, sighing loudly when Klaus shook his head. "Klaus!" This was definitely something that needed to be documented in the baby book. "Can you do a big smile for mommy, Henrik?" She looked back at Klaus. "Have your phone ready! Come on, baby boy. You can do it." She bounced him a little, something she knew he enjoyed and was rewarded with a big grin and a glimpse of a white tooth beginning to protrude from his gums. "Oh my god you do have it!"
Klaus quickly snapped a few pictures, knowing Caroline wouldn't rest until they had one that she approved of for the baby book. They sat back on the couch, Caroline cooing at the baby while Klaus showed her the photos, marking which one she liked best.
"I wonder how many he'll have by the wedding?" Caroline mused as they settled back against the sofa. "And speaking of the wedding, I was thinking maybe we could have him be our ring bearer? Because he should be in it. And we don't actually have a ring bearer. Marcel could still hold the real rings since he's your Best Man and I don't want to chance Henrik accidentally swallowing rings. But he could walk down with one of my bridesmaids or one of your groomsmen with a little pillow that has fake ones sewn onto it or something. I'm still hashing that out in my head. I just know that I want Henrik to be involved and not just in random photos after the ceremony is over. What do you think?"
"Let's have Kol carry him. Then we know he won't be able to try any stunts while walking down the aisle since he'll be holding the baby," Klaus suggested. Though knowing Kol he'd probably find a way to use Henrik for some outrageous flirting techniques with the wedding guests. But hopefully Henrik's presence would slow him down a little.
"It's definitely worth a shot." Having some sort of plan for Kol's ridiculousness was needed. "And if nothing else Rebekah or my mom will happily do it."
Italy ran into the room before Klaus could respond to that. "Do you like my new dress, Uncle Klaus?" she asked as she twirled around in it before them.
"It's perfect, Italy," he assured the little girl who got onto the couch beside them before settling on Klaus' lap.
"Why did you take a picture of Henrik's mouth?" Italy asked as she picked up Klaus' phone, scrunching her nose in confusion.
"He's got his first tooth!" Caroline told the little girl before helping Italy zoom in to see it better. "See?"
Italy looked at the photo and then over at Henrik before looking back at the phone again. "Can he eat cupcakes now?" Because clearly that's what was important about teeth.
"Not quite yet," Klaus informed his niece, amused when the little girl shook her head, clearly thinking that was tragic.
"I'll eat one for him!" Italy suggested with a grin before getting back down. "Mummy says it's time for dinner."
Klaus and Caroline watched Italy skip back out of the room before looking at one another and sighing. "They're just trying to be helpful," Caroline reminded, though she wasn't sure if that was for Klaus or for herself.
"I'll happily let Katerina know what I think of her help," Klaus offered as he got up off the couch and Caroline rolled her eyes at that as she rose after him, still holding Henrik in her arms. "We're not children, Caroline, and they're not our parents. I've already talked to Elijah about that."
"Yes, but the way you talk to Katherine and the way you talk to Elijah are very different," Caroline pointed out. "And as much as you may not like her, remember that she is Italy's mom and I know the last thing you want to do is hurt that little girl. I'll deal with Katherine's unsolicited advice and you deal with Elijah's, deal?"
"Deal." Because as much as Klaus would love to stick it to his sister-in-law, Caroline was right, he didn't want to hurt Italy. Not if he could help it.