"You cannot fix me, dad." She said, exhausted. Her back was burning, throat tickling… the thirsty was a deep ache on her gut.
Her father blinked those big blue eyes at her, full goodness and tender.
"I can, Caroline, I can… Trust me."
"I'm not some broken toy, daddy."
The tears that Klaus had witnessed, became screams. The house they were sharing was filled up by screams during the hollow of night.
Caroline cried and screamed in the bedroom, her face between the pillows and her sub consciousness haunting her with ghosts that Klaus could only try to guess.
He, on the other hand, would wake up shaking, his face wet and salty with tears that Klaus pretended not to cry and with his voice husky from screams that he also had never yelled.
The subject was dead and they both pretended to not hear each other suffer with the nightmares that being human had brought upon them.
To occupy her mind and take it from the night's terrors, Caroline had made her life mission to organize the baby's bedroom. During his free hours, Klaus always knew where to find her. The boxes had vanished, one after one, just like dark circles had appeared slowly under her sea eyes. The letters they had read in the last week, had ended up in couple suite and wood pieces appeared in the baby's room, suddenly. Photographs came out of the missing boxes and ended up on the living room.
To make that situation even more unnerving, Elizabeth now called every day, just like Bonnie and Elena. So Klaus rested his body on the doorway of the kitchen and watched his fiancee give away pale smiles, tell ordinary lies and twitch her shaking fingers. She narrated her days and said to remember things that she had never lived.
Caroline now lied like a professional. Maybe exhaustion had washed away her principles, but it seemed to Niklaus that the more tired she got, the easier it was to lie. He didn't dare to comfort her, didn't dare to beg she put down the damn phone and tried to sleep without nightmares. Therefore, day after day, Klaus could just watch as she broke down into a porcelain doll.
"Tomorrow morning…" she mumbled on the phone "The secretary said that it won't be anything…Yes, I'm going to listen to their heart…"
Niklaus stopped whatever he was doing to listen to the conversation. Apparently she talked to Elena, since the conversation was clearly a maternal thing and Liz made her shakier than normal.
"No Elena, I… No, it's not that… He… Gosh, Elena, just let me… Olive, I think… Damon knows her?"
He closed the fridge and crossed his arms, waiting for her to put down the phone.
"Fine… Look, I… Elena, Nik is calling me" her voice didn't shake, her cheeks didn't flush "I have to go… Yes, I'll let you know… Ok, goodnight"
Caroline hung up the phone and buried her face between her hands, taking deep breaths.
"You're going to the doctor tomorrow?" Klaus questioned, biting down the sandwich forgotten in his hands. She shook her head agreeing.
"Prenatal exams"
"What time?" he took a sip of tea. Caroline raised her eyes.
"Nine and half" she yawned "I'm listening to the heart"
"Good" another bite "You want me to tag along?" suggested. His mouth filled up with a weird taste. Did he really want to go?
Caroline shuddered, showing she didn't care "It doesn't matter…" she blinked against exhaustion "You don't care, Klaus, so… You don't have to come"
"Tomorrow, at nine and half?" He felt offended, almost like it was a challenge "I'll be here" his voice was a little sharper than needed. Forbes rolled her eyes, tired.
"Whatever you say, Klaus… But you know that you don't have to come, right? I'm not asking"
"I know" he cut her off "But I'm going"
Caroline agreed, walking past him "Don't be late" she mumbled, before leaving the kitchen and walking upstairs.
Niklaus didn't sleep. He stared the ceiling, listening the noises on the upper floor.
Heard steps until eleven and half and imagined if she was moving his things, wondered if she was trying to puzzle together all those wood pieces on the baby's room.
Klaus let his thoughts marvel about that utopia they were stuck on.
They would listen the fetus' heart and everything would become much real than it should ever be. They would be definitely alone in that upside down world, without any idea of how to get back. Klaus asked himself, for the first time, if he wanted to get back.
Rebekah was smiley there. Elijah had the life, the woman, of his dreams… Kol wasn't a lost cause and Finn was alive. The Niklaus of this world might be foolish, an ex-addicted or even a pariah, but he wasn't Klaus. Niklaus could never be a vampire monster, surrendered by a thousand years of abandonment. A monster that related love to pain.
He sighed when, at four in the morning, the yells began. She didn't scream names, never did, only for them to stop. Klaus tried to figure who was the person who haunted her dreams, who tortured her night after night.
When the clock hit five AM, he gave up on sleep.
Stood up and started to prepare the breakfast, watching the sun raise between the humid pines of Mystic Falls. The sky was stained by the rosy light and golden rays invaded the kitchen. He couldn't remember the last time he watched the sunrise.
Klaus had always been busy with something, holed up in a dark room, licking his wounds and making plans to destroy his enemies.
When he was human he used to wake up during the sunrise and, Klaus could only record faintly, he didn't like it. Just like a boy dislikes going to school, he never wished to have wake up to that splendid light. However, Niklaus had never hated his human life. He had been too pure to know true hatred.
Heard her steps. Doors open and closing. Knew the exactly second she came downstairs. "I made breakfast" He pointed to the bread and the milk. Caroline grimaced.
"I'm not hungry. Just came to let you know you can go and dress yourself"
"You're pregnant, you're supposed to eat" Klaus frowned. Like a dream inside of a dream he could remember his mother's pregnancies. His mother had always been famished – and Mikael did everything for her -, why would Caroline deny eating?
"I'm fine" she fell sit on a chair and yawned "Hurry up, would you?" made a gesture to the stairs. Klaus frowned deeper.
"You're going to get ill. You no longer eats or sleeps. Is that how you're planning handling your human life? A pregnancy?" he let the words sink the heavy air. Caroline cringed.
"Leave me alone, Klaus" she sighed, closing her eyes and pushing the bread away "We're gonna be late"
He sighed, walking away. Was counting on his hands how much longer it would take for Caroline to perish. She was overdoing it: worked until late at night, barely slept, had nightmares every night and now barely ate. If anything, Caroline was more of a vampire now, than she had ever been before.
He took a shower and dressed quickly, smiling to his reflection. Contrary to hers, he was flushed and had gained weight. Humanity was treating him well.
Klaus jumped downstairs and grabbed a jeans jacket. Found her eyeing the coffee table with interest, lost eyes and hollow face. The man wrapped the cloth around her shoulders and Caroline blinked, startled, before blushing and opening a ghostly smile.
She rested her head against the window of the car, "Every Breath You Take" started playing and Niklaus tried to focus on the GPS guiding them. He could swear she had fallen asleep, but as soon the car stopped, Caroline's eyes snapped open and she walked out of it.
The whiteness of the room made Mikaelson shiver and curl up on his chair, while Forbes hid behind a magazine, waiting for the secretary to call them up. Five minutes passed and his hands started to sweat, then he started to remember Henrik.
Trying to run away from these thoughts, he let his eyes rest upon Caroline and grabbed a magazine to himself. Read it whole, but the image of his fallen brother was haunting him. He could not think about it now, the guilt would eat him up.
"Forbes-Mikaelson?" called a feminine voice. Klaus stood up in a jump, making the blonde perk an eyebrow and roll her eyes.
The obstetrician presented herself as Dr. Olivia and made a gesture for them to come in and take a sit.
The questions were ordinary: When Care discovered the pregnancy, how far long she was and if Caroline felt any different from before. Klaus bit down a smile, imagining how honest answers would sound "Ah, we discovered the pregnancy after we showed up magically in this alternative universe and it was quite a shock, since in our previous universe, we were vampires and, therefore, unfertile"
"Let's weight you and then you can go to that other room, where my assistant will prepare you for the trans-vaginal ultrasound, ok?" Olivia said, indicating a white door on the other side of the room.
Caroline agreed silently and stepped on the scale. The doctor started to make annotations.
"She's too thin, isn't she? Caroline doesn't eat anymore. Neither does she sleeps" Niklaus accused.
The woman seemed surprised to hear his voice, but she opened a smile "She's thin, but not underweight. It's nothing to worry about. Don't worry, daddy, she's perfectly healthy"
Klaus lost his words. Blushed furiously. That woman had called him 'daddy'?! The blonde giggled, stepping away from the scale and tapping his shoulder gently, before walking to the other room.
He stared the doctor in astonishment "She's fine, then?"
"Yes. She's fine" Olivia smiled, amused, and made a gesture for him to go to the other room.
"I think she's depressed" Klaus suggested. There had to be something wrong with her. Caroline was full of light… and now she seemed dead.
"Just stressed"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, daddy, you don't nee-…"
"Stop calling me that!" Klaus growled, annoyed. He wasn't daddy of anything.
"What?"
"I…" He blushed, now embarrassed to having snapped on her like that "Could you please not call me like that? It makes me nervous" Klaus bit down a groan of embarrassment.
"Oh, right. Sure. Old habits" she opened the door of the other room, where Caroline was already lying down, wearing a white gown. She was pale, but seemed satisfied. Maybe from overhearing their conversation.
"Did you guys think about how you're going to have the baby? C-section or normal?"
"C-section"
"Normal"
They shared a look. Her blue eyes burning on his. "Please, Klaus. A c-section takes away all the intimacy, turning giving birth into a surgery and it's proved that babies from normal birth are less stressed!"
He huffed. Klaus had lived thousand years, he had seen more women die from giving birth than from anything else. They didn't have come so far in life, for Caroline to die in labor!
"A c-section is timed, while a normal birth can take days! Not mentioning that those vital hours could be crucial for you and the child!"
"Gosh, Klaus! Normal birth has less risks and post-partum is much shorter!"
"What do you think, Dr. Olivia?" Klaus turned to the doctor, who watched their argument with raised eyebrows.
"I think that… Are you hearing it?" she interrupted herself, smiling. He frowned, confused.
"Hearing what…?" Caroline grabbed his hand and squeezed it to shut him up "Oh my God, is that the baby's heart?" her sea eyes filled up with tears.
Klaus felt his lips smile without his consent. The beating was fast, like a humming-bird, and even resonating through the room, Niklaus was afraid that fragile sound would be drowned by their tense silence.
He felt tears in his eyes and his throat closed. Blinked profusely and squeezed her hand back. Caroline was crying, crystal tears running down her pale cheeks and shoulders shaking with sobs.
He remembered Rebekah, that blonde and rosy baby that one day Niklaus held. Remembered Kol and Henrik. Fragile… Porcelain dolls in his hands. And he imagined himself in such situation again, imagined himself holding his own blood and flesh… Caroline blues eyes, her delicate features…
Klaus closed his eyes and kissed the top of Caroline's hairs, whispering a shy "Thank you", before losing any reasoning and having his words choked by tears that he wouldn't admit.
Caroline didn't talk with him again. He didn't talk with her. He didn't even know what to say.
She was still shaking, her eyes wet. Klaus throat was hurting from swallowing down the tears.
Forbes mumbled something about having to go out with Elena and he just agreed quietly, happy to not be under her confusing stare anymore.
After a moment watching the nothing, being drowned in the silence of their house, Klaus decided to go after company. It was Saturday morning. Kol would only make fun of him, Jeremy would be a little too optimistic for comfort. There was Elena… no.
Elijah was in another town and he was too judgy, too annoying. Also, Elijah was always in company of Katherine that damned doppelganger.
Klaus found himself before Stefan and Rebekah's house. He smiled for the vintage red car and for the house, which seemed to be out of a movie. It had the charm and elegance that only Bekah carried.
Rang the doorbell and smiled when his baby sister opened the door, smiling, with a spoon of ice cream in her mouth "Nik?"
"May I come in?" it wasn't exactly politeness, but a vampire habit that had made itself home in his bones. Bekah moved away, frowning.
"Sure. Something happened?"
"No, I… We listened to the baby's heart…" the words fell from his mouth "I… Bekah…"
"Oh, God, Nik! That's amazing!" she exclaimed, her voice piercing his ears, and hugging him tightly. He forced a numb smile.
"Yeah…" his eyes got wet "It was a so… so tiny…"
Rebekah covered her mouth with a hand, blue eyes shining with amusement.
"Nik, you're falling in love with this baby… I knew it! I knew this little heart of yours would melt…" she pushed him inside "Stefan! Stefan!"
Klaus cleaned the humidity in his face. "I'm not… It was Just…"
Everything became a blur. Stefan hugged and pushed him to the couch, his sister and best friend before him while Klaus started to talk, words numb to his own ears.
He wasn't even sure it had been real. What if everything from this universe wasn't real?
However, the heart beat still echoed in his head and Klaus knew that real or not, he wouldn't forget it.
Rebekah was talking nonstop, squeezing his hands and fantasizing about being an aunt. He saw that Stefan watched her with huge eyes. It wasn't just a crush, Klaus noticed, Stefan loved Rebekah. That was clear in his eyes, in the way he held her, in the shy smile in his lips…
Nik smiled. He asked himself once more if he wanted to go back. And the answer was no… please, no.
The blonde closed her eyes, feeling the palpitation behind them diminish. Took a deep breath, waiting for the sudden tachycardia to end.
"We're closing, Caroline" the receptionist warned her as always. She was always the last one to get out the building.
Care agreed, standing up and walking to her car. She drove without problems, without music. Her head was exploding from headache and she just wanted to fall asleep and never wake up. Sleep for a millennium.
She parked before the house, which bit by bit was turning into a home.
Klaus was entity on the house. He had been pursuing her since last Saturday, when they went to the ultra: green eyes analyzing her face and searching for answers, gentle hands grabbing hers whenever she needed help… She was grateful for having him, but truth was Caroline also wasn't grateful for anything.
She was just tired.
The tortures revived in her nightmares were haunting her, stealing the little rest she could wish for. The heavy presence of Klaus was exhausting her, his constant questions dissecting every tears of self-control she had. Liz wouldn't stop calling and Caroline had no idea how to deal with such a present mother. The child in her womb was making her sicker and sicker…
She was on the limit.
"You're home" he opened a smile that Caroline didn't like. The malicious smile, full o third and fourth intentions.
"I'm home" Care mumbled, taking of her coat and yawning. It was Friday night and everything she wanted was crawl to bed.
"Go shower and dress yourself" Klaus instructed, holding her for the arm and helping her upstairs. Caroline frowned.
"Why?"
"Well, why! It's your birthday, Caroline, please! We're going out to celebrate…" his smile grew. She felt sick.
"Celebrate?" echoed. Klaus agreed, pointing the bed where her clothes lied, already handpicked "I don't want to celebrate, Klaus…"
"You barely want to live anymore, love. Your excuses won't make me change my mind. Take a shower and dress up, or you're going like this" he crossed his arms in challenge and she gave in, too tired to argue.
"Give me fifteen minutes" asked, closing the bathroom door in his face.
Her fingers massaged her wet hair, feeling the hot water fall down her body and try, without success, relax her muscles. Caroline put a hand on the humid wall when a dizzy spell hit her, trying to hold herself up. She thought about her death.
Suddenly the steam of the bathroom seemed to be suffocating her, like that pillow had. Her head swam and hurt even more. Care wanted to scream for help, panic from reviving all of that again and again. With a shaking a hand she closed the register and pressed her back against the wall, slipping down until she fell sit, her forehead pressed against her knees while she hugged herself. Caroline was small in that bathroom, a vulnerable little girl.
She missed being in control, being the huntress, not the prey.
Care dressed up mechanically. Closed the zipper, brushed her hairs without looking in the mirror that she hated. Her reflection waved for her, a pretty corpse…
"Are you finished?" Klaus asked, knocking at the door.
"Yes"
He opened the door and smiled for her, even if a wrinkle of preoccupation appeared between his eyebrows. Offered her his hand. "I hope you're hungry"
She denied with a headshake. Niklaus pulled her to the car, locking the house and ignoring her complaints.
"Klaus… Can't we just… just stay home?" she suggested, resting her head against the car window and closing her eyes. Heard him huff.
"No, Caroline! When was the last time you ate? You're burying yourself inside that house!"
She cringed "I'm fine…"
"No you're not!" a moment of silence. Klaus trying to find the word and Caroline breathing through the headache "I'm worried about you, Caroline"
Unwilling tears filled up her eyes "I'm fine. I don't need your worry" she mumbled. They didn't talk again.
Mikaelson parked before a beautiful red and white restaurant.
He offered her a hand and Caroline accepted it, certain that she wouldn't handle one more second of it "Klaus, please…" her voice vanished and he pulled her inside "Please, let's go home…"
"Caroline, you need to have fun. You think I didn't…-"
"No!" she pulled away from him, raising her hands and squeezing her eyes shut "You don't get it! And you don't care! No! No!" she opened her eyes and pushed him by the chest "Stop acting like you care, you're driving me insane!"
"Love, you're making a scene…" he whispered, looking around. The blonde grimaced, she didn't care what the other people thought!
"I don't want to celebrate and I'm not going to!" Caroline put down her feet "I'm exhausted, in the edge and I can't handle it anymore!"
"It's because you're not even trying! You're not going to handle if you… if you don't stop blaming yourself! Hell, Caroline, I do care!" Klaus yelled back, giving up completely on being discreet. Forbes pushed him by the chest again.
"Stop it! Stop! You don't care, you don't even know how to!" the tears were now falling down "I don't know how to handle a Klaus that…"
He interrupted her, walking eloquently back and raising his arms "The truth is that you…" and Caroline yelled when the water hit her shoes and legs. She opened her mouth, widen eyes and no words.
"Oh my god…" whispered, before cracking up in a laughter.
"Stop laughing!" he exclaimed, coughing water. Klaus looked around and realized he had fallen on an ornamental lake, full of colorful fishes. He sulked "Stop laughing at me, Caroline!"
The blonde put her hands on her knees, laughing even more "Oh my god… Klaus!" the fishes were surrounding him, making the scene even more comic.
He growled and got out of the small lake, while a waiter ran toward them with a towel in hands and shocked glare.
"You…" Caroline panted, pointing Klaus, who was undressing his destroyed jacked and trying, without much success, to dry himself with the towel "You're ridiculous!" she laughed, taking a fake seaweed from his hair.
Nik grabbed her wrist and frowned. They stared at each other for a second, serious. And then his pout was undone into a careless smile. She undid his hold around her wrist, but didn't move away, instead interlacing their fingers together.
"This was the funniest thing I've ever seen" she giggled, while Klaus kept apologizing to the owner and gave them back the towel, trying to push her out of the establishment the more discreetly he could.
She took the wheel, driving them back and laughing, while Klaus was curled up in the passenger side and tried to bite down a smile.
"I'm wet and famished" mumbled Niklaus when they walked inside of the house.
"I think there's frozen pizza in the fridge…" Forbes smiled "You should shower, you're smelling like fish"
He smiled back "Let's eat pizza then"
She went to the kitchen, trying to erase that hilarious image from her retina. She took the cans of sauce and the cheese… All the ingredients Caroline could remember, and realized that, for the first time in weeks, she was no longer tired.
"You're doing it wrong!" Caroline exclaimed, taking the spoon from his hands and stirring the sauce, before it could bubble up from the pan.
"Ah, I'm sorry, love. Not everyone in this room survived with frozen pizza and Chinese food during out teenage years" Klaus mocked, offended. She laughed and threw an olive at him, hitting right between his eyes.
"Why the hell you think I've survived eating that?" questioned confused. Niklaus threw an olive back, that fell in the pan with a soft 'plop' and spiked sauce in her shirt.
"Well… It's all I've seen teenagers eat in the 21th century… That and fast foods and… You said your mother was never home…"
"My father knew how to cook" she cut him off "He even taught me one thing or another, so I wouldn't starve with mom never being home…"
"Well, now I feel so much safer about your cooking skills, Miss Mystic Falls" he joked. Caroline rolled her eyes and pointed at him with the dirty spoon.
"Like you cook so much better than me: Mr. Spoiled Hybrid Who Has Minions To Do Every Chore"
Klaus laughed and took the spoon from her hand, pushing her gently to the side "You think so low of me?" smiled, hitting the tip of her nose with the spoon and making a mess of her face. Caroline opened her mouth to bite the object and grabbed a handful of grated cheese and pushing it on his chest.
"Ah, so it's war, love?" Niklaus purred, grabbing the butter and pushing his greasy fingers on her shining hair.
"Not the hair!" Caroline exclaimed, laughing, and throwing the entire pot of cheese in his head. Klaus growled, making the tiny pieces fall on his shoulders. He grabbed the kitchen spray and held it like a gun.
"You wouldn't dare!" Care yelled, holding a plate like a shield and trying to sneak to the other side of the kitchen.
"Try me" Klaus raised his makeshift gun before his body. And then he had to nudge down when she threw a handful of powder at him "Caroline!"
"Better you than me!" She laughed. Mikaelson squeezed his eyes and pushed the trigger, making the pressurized water hit her in the stomach, soaking her clothes. She let out a squeal and ran toward him, to take the spray from his hands, but ended up hitting the pan on the stove and it fell on the ground, throwing hot sauce everywhere.
"Look at what you've done…"
"Ah, Klaus…" Caroline hid her flushed face, shaking with laughter "We made a mess, uh?"
"We?!" he took a step forward to grab her by the arm and Caroline jumped back. Her shoes slipped on the humid floor and she let out a yell, Klaus jumped to grab her by the hand, but she was already falling and all it did was bring him down with her.
They ended up lying on top of each other in the ground covered in still-hot sauce, clothes stained and hairs vermillion. Forbes laughed, sitting up and helping him. She rested her back against the kitchen cabinet.
"Right, right… We destroyed the kitchen" she panted, closing her eyes. Klaus rolled his eyes, sitting by her side and not letting go of her hand.
"Your insistence in acting like we made a mess is annoying"
Caroline smiled and played with his fingers "Best birthday in a long time…" she whispered to herself "But we never ate"
Klaus laughed and passed an arm around her, letting her head rest in his shoulder. He smiled, closing his eyes and ignoring the chaos they had created. Unconsciously, his fingers started to play with her dirty curls. "You're wrong, you know?"
"I normally am. About what this time?"
"I care" he took a deep breath "I care about you and now I think… I care about the child too. I care, Caroline."
She snuggled closer to him e sighed "I'm too tired to handle a Klaus that cares. Why can't you just go back to not caring? It would be so much simpler… If I didn't believe you"
"You don't even know what you want, do you?" He smiled against her hairs "The last time we talked, you asked me to be good. And now you want the villain back…"
"I don't know where I stay, when you're the good guy, Klaus. I've been in this game of bad and good guys for so long and now everything is changed and… I don't know in what to cling anymore…"
"And I'm always going to be the bad guy? This a childish game for someone who's trying to build a new life, love" He kissed the top of her head "We don't have any more time to pretend to hate each other"
She frowned, without an answer. Sighed and hid her face in the crook of his neck "I'm so tired…"
"You're not sleeping. I hear your nightmares, Caroline…"
"And I hear yours"
"Who hurt you? Who are you begging to stop?"
"All of them…" she yawned "What about you? I hear you screaming Henrik's name during the night, Klaus… You know one day, you gonna have to face it, don't you? It wasn't your fault"
"It was. He was my youngest brother, Caroline. A child. And I let him stay with me while we watched the wolf men… Henrik died because I was curious"
"It was a tragedy, Klaus. You were young, it was not your fault"
There was a moment of silence. Mikaelson lost in the death of his younger sibling, while Caroline slowly fell asleep on his arms.
"Damon" she mumbled, taking him from his thoughts "My father… Jules and Brady… Jonas… Alaric… Katherine…" she yawned "More ghosts than I can remember"
"Damon and Alaric?" He made a face "You're friend with them… and your father… You were crushed by his death, in the other world…"
"Well. Call it forgiveness, Klaus"
He didn't ask what the ghosts had made. There was no need to reopen this wound. She would talk if she wanted to, and if Caroline didn't, he could always ask Katherine. Klaus might not receive the truth, but their worlds were close enough for him to puzzle it together.
He closed his eyes and pressed her closer.
No one yelled that night.
Jeremy smiled, crossing his arms and watching while Kol opened box after box. The portfolios were open over the table. "What are you doing?" questioned finally, startling Mikaelson.
"Just… Looking. I can't remember any of this." Kol complained, frowning. He knew the excuse of amnesia was making Jeremy worried, however, Kol wanted to know. And he wouldn't, if started to pretend remembering.
"You're creeping me out, Kol" Gilbert mumbled, sitting by the table and browsing the portfolios "You can't remember anything?"
"No" Kol pouted even more to the boy's naivety. Jeremy never suspected anything he said, even if it was clear that he was aware of Kol' sociopath tendencies "Where did we take this picture?" he pointed a photograph clipped in the portfolio.
"Denver… We've met a month before" Jeremy smiled "You remember this one?"
Kol blinked and squeezed his eyes when a feeling of déjà vu hit him. He had seen it before, he had… "No"
"It was our first date… Kinda. Meghan and I, you and… I don't know. We ran away from the girls when they got along and forgot about us being there. We went to play pinball in your apartment"
Kol remembered that. He didn't know how, but he was sure he had already lived that. It was an awful sensation, like something was scratching the inside of his head.
"You're ok, man?" Jeremy questioned, eyeing his pale face.
"… Headache" Mikaelson explained. He pointed a draw "It's yours?" asked, smiling for the dragon being caressed by a female hand.
"Yes. It's the cover of a book…"
"It's good" Kol smiled, even if the pain was growing stronger "What about this tickets?"
"Baseball game in Denver"
"We hanged out a lot in Colorado, uh?" Kol remembered going out with Jeremy – Nik had ordered he watched the boy day and night and what was better than befriending him? – but he didn't remember having that much fun.
"Not that much. We liked to stay in your apartment…"
"Playing Devil May Cry 3, yeah… I record that" he saw a smile appear in Gilbert's face. Massaged his head and pointed the movie tickets.
"You like horror movies?" saw Jeremy' smile flicker, hurt appearing in his Brown eyes.
"We both do" he stood up and pulled Kol to the couch, kneeling down a small cabinet next to the television and opening it.
"Our collection" there was a compilation of DVDs, even a few VHS's. Kol smiled, realizing the movies went from Nosferatu to Texas Chainsaw 3D.
"You collected even before I started to like those kind of movies… Your favorite, it's this one. You want to watch?" Jeremy waved an old DVD and opened a hopeful smile.
"Interview with the Vampire" he had read the book. Anne Rice and her vampire fetish "It's my favorite?" the book had been a little cheesy, but Kol remembered relating painfully to Lestat.
"Yes. I've lost count of how many times you've watched it" Jeremy stood up and smiled, putting the DVD on and turning on the TV "C'mon, let's watch it" decided.
Kol smiled, blinking against the headache and sat on the couch. He watched as he supposed boyfriend took off his shoes and rested his feet on the coffee table. Jeremy's dark eyes were shining with comfort and relaxation, happy to find himself on the domestic situation: the familiar movie, Kol talking to him (and not just sulking around the house and being weird).
"So, uh… This is your favorite movie too?" Kol asked, forcing himself to act as relaxed as Jeremy was.
"No, of course not" he rolled his eyes "Saw 4, you know… guts and glory"
"Lack of class, then. Just blood everywhere"
"Shut up and watch" Jeremy laughed, kicking his leg. Mikaelson fought down a smile and turned his head to the television.
He saw Louis narrate his awaken in the new world. That world of colors and shining lights, where angels waved and he saw everything from a new angle. Even if Kol though the movie made it seem like a LSD trip, he couldn't deny the familiarity of that feeling.
He remembered waking up beside Elijah, his older brother's fingers in his face and neck, searching for vital signals. His pale face twisted in worry. He remembered groaning and smiling and watching Elijah let out a sigh of relief. And the sun burning his eyes, the grass tickling his skin like it never had.
Kol remembered the taste of blood, Niklaus and Elijah' screams, the disgust he felt when he realized the blood they had drunk, was Tatia's… He had drunk from the girl his brothers loved.
His stomach rolled and Kol groaned. The glass behind his eyes made the pain grow.
"Are you ok?" Jeremy asked, turning away from the TV and frowning so much that Kol knew he would get wrinkles.
"My head is killing me"
"Migraine?" Gilbert stood up, pausing the movie and pressing his hand against Kol's forehead.
"Stop feeling me" Mikaelson complained, moving away "I'm fine, just…"
Jeremy made a face, cutting Kol off "Your nose is bleeding" he stood up, worried, and pushed Kol lying down in the couch "The hell is wrong with you?" asked, walking toward the bathroom and coming back with the toilet paper roll. He grabbed a handful and pressed it against Kol's nose, who pushed him away and kept the pressure.
"I'm supposed to know?" I haven't been human for a thousand years "It's probably nothing"
"You have a migraine and a bleeding nose. It's not 'nothing'"
Mikaelson let his eyes close, protecting them from the light and hearing Jeremy's steps. "Maybe I should call Damon?" a glass of water was pushed on Kol's free hand, together with a couple of pills.
"Why calling the moron brother gonna help?" Kol swallowed the pills and pressed the paper stronger against his nose "You want him to hold my hand?"
"He's a doctor, Kol" Jeremy huffed, annoyed, pushing him down by the chest again "Just stay put, ok?" Kol felt warm fingers in his hairs and a washcloth was put in his forehead. It was good… "I forgot how much of a bad patient you were"
"And we play doctor a lot, Jerbear?" Kol mocked, feeling Jeremy sit by his side. Even without opening his eyes, he knew that Gilbert was smiling. He tried to remember the stupid nickname, but it made his stomach roll even more and a collection of shining lights explode before his eyelids.
"I knew you were trying to seduce me" Jeremy joked, making Kol unwillingly blush.
"Maybe in another life, Jerbear"
Kol fell asleep with Jeremy talking and brushing his hair. And he dreamed about Denver… Dreamed with something so familiar, that it was almost real. He dreamed he was human.
Caroline smiled and pushed her hair away "It's getting pretty" she panted, while holding two pieces of wood in a very uncomfortable position and waiting for Klaus to screw them together.
"Of course it is. I'm the one doing it"
"Oh, yeah? So I put the whole bedroom together, you screw two pieces and gets all the credit?" she rolled her eyes and felt a cramp in her leg "Are you finished?"
"Almost there…" he squeezed his eyes to focus "What hour are we supposed to be there?"
"We're not going anymore. Jeremy called to postpone the lunch" the one that she had forgotten and Klaus remembered her, while they cleaned the kitchen at nine AM "Apparently Kol had a migraine yesterday and Jer wants him to rest"
"Gilbert cares too much about my psycho little brother"
"Like you don't" she sniggered.
"Well, there's a difference: I'm a psycho too" Klaus joked, moving away and taking a deep breath "Come here. I think it's done" he helped her up and smiled.
"It's perfect" they said at the same time.
Caroline smiled for the crib puzzled together in the center of the room "It's perfect" she repeated, looking around. The walls were still white and naked, but the boxes had disappeared and a white rug took the floor. Baby yellow curtains were filtering the bright light of midday, throwing a golden shine in the room.
"Now we just need the baby"
"What do you mean? We're going to paint those walls" she smiled "They will be light pink, I've already decided. And we can fill up shelters with stuffed animals…"
"It's a bedroom, Caroline, not an exposition… And what do you mean light pink? You just decided it's going to be a girl?"
"Only girls are born in Mystic Falls. Its rule" and she wasn't really lying. The female population was much bigger than the male.
"Well, only men are born in the Mikaelson family." Klaus rolled his eyes "Its rule"
"Ah, please! It'll be a blonde little girl…" she was interrupted by the phone ringing "And with green eyes. We're going to name it Audrey"
"Hepburn? Who calls a blonde girl Audrey Hepburn?" he followed her to the hallway, walking downstairs "Grace Kelly I can understand, but Audrey? It's a brunette name, Caroline"
"It's a star name, Klaus" she rolled her eyes "And Grace Kelly? She was beautiful and everything, but… No" she made a gesture for him to shut up and picked up the phone.
He huffed, crossing his arms. If she thought that they were naming their possible daughter Audrey, she was very mistaken! He raised his eyes to make a remark, but then realized that her face had turned white.
"Caroline?"
She didn't even notice he called her, only mumbled a small and timid "… Dad?"
N/A: I know I took forever to update, but I'm letting everyone know that I haven't given up on this story, even if it progresses slowly. Hopefully everyone will like this chapter and review it with your impressions, bad or good, let 'em come!