Chapter Thirty Five: A Few Awkward Encounters

The vampire and the Hybrid were not the only couple to come together after the truce had been made. After purposefully avoiding any encounter with the vampire Katherine, Elijah found himself face to face with her one warm evening.

He gazed into her eyes, eyes which had made his chest ache, but now that ache had faded some. His mind flickered back to a conversation he had had with Hayley after the wolf had ran into Katherine and her companion Caroline in the Quarter.

"She asked about you," Hayley commented, accepting the cup of tea Elijah had offered her. "She seemed... interested."

Elijah grimaced.

"Not your type?" Hayley asked, lifting a brow at him over the rim of her cup.

Elijah's expression immediately changed into one of sorrow and pain. Hayley had placed her tea aside to grasp his hand in hers, her eyes reflecting genuine concern.

This is why he loves her, Elijah realized, meeting the werewolf's gaze. She's got fire, but she's got love.

So he found himself telling her everything- about Elena, about his time away from New Orleans and his family, about losing Elena, and then meeting Katherine.

Hayley had winced sympathetically when he had described how he felt when he had run into Katherine, the doppelganger of the woman she had once loved. She had asked him if he knew why Katherine looked like Elena, and he had shook his head. Hayley promised to ask Eve and to do some research in their library, before telling him to continue.

She listened to him for most of the night, until the moon had begun to make its descent and the promise of dawn was approaching. When he finished, he had thanked her, to which she replied there was no need for thanks, because that was what friends did for each other.

With a smile, she had left him alone with that thought and promise.

The next time they would meet for tea, which became something of a routine of theirs, she was carrying a very old, very heavy tome in her arms. She gingerly placed it on the able before him, opened it to a page she had marked with a bookmark embossed with the crescent shaped sigil of her pack, and she tapped her finger against a single word that titled the yellowed page:

Doppelgangers.

"This might explain the few awkward encounters," Hayley said, giving him a small smile.

Indeed, it had. But there were too many unanswered questions, and most of them he could not answer on his own.

Katherine's gaze remained neutral as it searched his face, and she seemed to be waiting. He wasn't sure if she was waiting for him to speak, or run, so he chose the former.

"Hello," he began, trying for a smile.

Katherine smiled back. "Hello yourself."

Ooo0ooO

The light was reflecting off the curve of Hayley's mood ring when Klaus turned over to watch her sleep. The soft rays of dawn were falling into the room, and it caught the crystal that sat on her pointer finger. The stone was a deep shade of blue, telling him she was relaxed and content as she slept by his side.

He reached over, brushing the tips of his fingers against the curve of her cheek. He smiled when she unconsciously moved closer to his touch, sighing softly as she did so.

Finally, her green hazel eyes opened. Their color reminded him of the forests, with varying shades of green and brown swirling together. Sometimes there was gold there, when her wolf was close to the surface, but now he could only see the hazel colors, and the warmth they reflected.

"What are you thinking about?" Hayley asked, tucking a hand under her cheek as she focused on him.

"You're beautiful," Klaus told her on a quiet whisper.

Hayley's lips curved. "Poet."

"Not hardly," Klaus chuckled. He moved closer, rolling her over onto her back. He pressed a tender kiss on the sensitive skin below her ear. "Would you like that, love? For me to recite poetry to you?"

Hayley brushed a hand along his stubbled jaw, smirking. "Is that all?"

"Bargaining with me, little wolf? That could be dangerous."

"Maybe," she agreed. Now those eyes took on a familiar gold tinge. "But I think we'll find it mutually..." She arched up, pressing her lips to his ear. "Pleasurable."

With a smirk to match hers, Klaus' lips descended along the length of her throat, drawing a moan from the wolf. "If the moon smiled," he began before moving down her body, eliciting more gasps and whimpers from her. "She would resemble you..."

Klaus parted Hayley's thighs with a gentle hand, which then sought the warmth there, and he groaned when he felt her tighten around his fingers in response to his ministrations.

"You leave the same impression," he continued, his voice more husky and slightly breathless. He pulled back to look into her golden eyes once more. "Of something beautiful, but annihilating."

Then he finally slipped inside her, and lost himself to her.

Ooo0ooO

It would take some time for the Original and the vampire to consider their encounters less awkward and more... enjoyable. But when that time came, Elijah felt relief when he looked in Katherine's eyes and saw her, the bold and sometimes brash vampire, and not the ghost from his past.

On a warm afternoon, the couple walked slowly down the streets in the Quarter, quietly talking amongst themselves. Elijah wanted to ask her about her being a doppelganger, if she knew about that and what it meant, but he also wanted to get to know her, to ask about her past.

Katherine told him that before she was made into a vampire, she lived in the Old World. She had gotten pregnant and had given birth to a little girl, and before she could hold her baby, her father had taken the baby away. Katherine fought against her mother's hold, screaming for her baby, but she stopped when she felt more warmth seep out between her thighs. She had begun to bleed out from the difficult birth, and a lone vampire who had been traveling across the icy forests had smelled it from miles away. It attacked, killing Katherine's mother and turning Katherine into a vampire.

"I never found my baby," she told him quietly. "And in a fit of rage, I killed my father for taking her from me. I lived on my own for decades before coming to the New World, and before I knew it, I found myself in Klaus' little fight club. I had been passing through on my way to California, where I heard about a vampire who lived out there who liked nothing more than to drink and to fuck. I thought to myself, that seems like the place for me. But I was captured and since I put up a good fight due to my age, Klaus elected me to become the star of his show. As for the rest..." Katherine shrugged. "It's the past."

Elijah listened to her quietly. He turned to her, brushing the deep brown and red hair over her shoulder. "You are... incredibly strong."

"I had to be," Katherine said, looking into his eyes.

Elijah wanted to say more, to ask her more, but words seemed to fail him as he fell into the depths of those dark, dark eyes, which seemed to be waiting for him again. This time, he knew what she was waiting for.

Leaning down, Elijah brushed his lips across hers. She tasted like honey and blood, sweet and intoxicating, and she responded to kiss his immediately. Her arms reached up to link themselves behind his neck, drawing him down to her to deepen the kiss. He smelled nothing but her subtle perfume, a mix of jasmine and clove, and felt nothing but the addicting feel of her lips sliding along his.

Suddenly, they were both jostled by two people running into them.

"Katherine!"

"Elijah!"

Elijah stared at the two faces before him, both of which looked equally stunned. He tried to think of something to say, but Katherine cut in first.

"Do you mind?" Katherine hissed, looking annoyed.

Caroline stumbled back a step, her wide blue eyes still locked on Elijah. Tyler, in turn, was eyeing Katherine was though he was waiting for her to pounce and scratch his eyes out. Wordlessly, Caroline snatched the Hybrid's hand and the younger couple darted off.

Katherine blew out a breath, pushing a curl away from her eyes. Her gaze turned up towards Elijah, her brow raised. "Cat got your tongue?" she teased.

Elijah turned slowly back towards her, his gaze now dark and cunning. A smile lurked across his handsome features. He leaned down so his lips ghosted over hers, but pulled back when she leaned forward to close the space between them, not giving her the satisfaction. His hand crept up, burying themselves into her thick curls. "I believe, my darling," he said in a deep tone, "it is I who has your tongue."

Katherine opened her mouth to retort, but Elijah lay his lips over hers again, effectively silencing her.

Not that she minded.

Ooo0ooO

Disclaimer: I do not own the Originals.

Author's Note: In case you're curious, Klaus was quoting Sylvia Plath.

And I know I made some changes to Katherine and her past, but this is an AU after all.

Please review!