Hello, my lovely readers. It's time for some family fun with Mikaelson's and friends. On with the show…
Chapter 27: We are Family
Exhaustion was setting in. Kol was milking this. Or at least that is what Damon called it. Mother was up making cookies in the morning. I was up past my own bed time reading him stories. Elijah and Finn could barely leave the house without Kol protesting that they had to stay and play with him. Henrick was all but forgotten in his crib except for when Damon came over and would play with our newest family member.
Then there was Bekah who hated Kol more than ever. "WHY aren't you paying attention to ME?!" Could be heard throughout the house.
The worst offender of the "Kol in Crisis Drama" was our Father who would drop everything to appease Kol. He was even taking days off from work. My mind was occupied with ideas of how long it would before a little blonde, curly haired girl would be returning home to me. "Niklaus," Father bellowed and I stood with my feet frozen to the floor. 'What had I done this time?' I wondered.
"NIKLAUS," Father bellowed once more and I began to trudge up the stairs and down the hall to Kol's bedroom. Kol laid on his bed, his limbs dangling lifelessly as his head lulled from side to side as if he was stricken with fever. Father turned to stare at me, his eyes blood shot from lack of sleep. "Kol, would like a bowl of ice cream," he told me.
I could only gawk at him. He was holding one of those Harry Potter books that he had said were complete drivel and were not worth our time reading. Now, he was reading them to a six-year old. "What?" I asked, wondering if I heard him correctly.
"Get your brother his ice cream, Niklaus," Father told me not ever bothering to look at me again. Groaning, I stared at Kol who opened his eyes and grinned at me before closing them again. Whirling around, I walked back down the stairs toward the kitchen.
"Nik," Damon called and I suddenly felt happy that I had been ordered to the kitchen. Damon was sitting on a stool with a glass of milk and a plate of chocolate chip cookies in front of him. He had brought Stefan with him as well as Alaric, Matt, and Jeremy. Elijah and Finn were standing on the other side of the kitchen discussing their plans for the evening.
Looking at Jeremy I had an idea. "Jeremy?" I called with a bright smile.
"Yeah," the youngest Gilbert replied with a large chunk of cookie being revealed when he opened his mouth. "What?"
"Other than your ghastly table manners," I retorted with a roll of my eyes, "I would like for you do something for me."
Jeremy scratched his head. "What does ghastly mean?"
"I have no idea. It just sounded right," I replied quickly as Elijah opened his mouth to give one of this long lectures that included pulling out the dictionary and would have taken half the day. "I dare you to go upstairs and do something to make Kol stop faking his injury."
"Like what?" Jeremy asked me with wide eyes.
"I do not know," I told him, feeling drained. Yes, I had been frightened when Kol had been taken to the hospital. However, he was obviously fine but wanted the attention. It wasn't right. We had a newborn in the house and Bekah was becoming more annoying by the day because no one even knew she's there. Someone had to stop Kol from his bad behavior. And if it had to be done then I would take care of the problem.
"Nik," Bekah called, walking into the kitchen like she could hear my thinking of her. Picking her up, I placed her on my hip.
"Yes, my darling," I replied as she placed her head on my shoulder. "I'm so very bored, Nik," she told me, playing with my shirt collar.
"I know, Bekah, but we'll come up with something to do," I whispered, peering through the kitchen window at the pouring rain.
"This is boring," Damon grunted, shoving an entire cookie into his mouth.
"There's got to be something that we can do for fun around here," Matt called from across the room.
"We could play a game," Stefan suggested.
"You could call that little girl," Finn told me, coming to stand next to me.
I blinked. "But, Finn, Father says it's too expensive," I protested.
"I've got some savings that I could give you," Finn informed and Elijah nodded.
"I could donate to that cause," Elijah patted me on the back as he spoke.
Then I remembered Father's request. "I've got to get Kol some ice cream."
Elijah opened the fridge and scooped out the ice cream. "Here, Jeremy, I dare you to dump that on Kol's. That should get him out of bed quickly enough," he told the five-year old with a wink.
Jeremy grinned as he hurried off with the ice cream. I grabbed our phone from the wall and pressed the familiar buttons quickly. Waiting for the connection, I was surprised when Caroline answered the phone. I thought it would be her father and that it would be more difficult to talk to her. "Hello?" Caroline called into the phone cheerfully.
"Caroline," I whispered back merrily and she gasped loudly.
"NIK," Caroline cried into the phone and I had to hold it away from my ear otherwise she would break my eardrum.
"Put it on speakerphone," Damon demanded, reaching for the phone impatiently.
"Nik, I miss you," Caroline was babbling into the phone. "I'll be home in three weeks. Can you believe it?"
"Yes," Damon shouted through the phone because I had not put it on speaker yet. Sighing I hit the button and Caroline's voice began to float through the room.
"Damon?" Caroline shouted back. "I miss you, Damon. I miss everyone, even Katherine. How is the baby? Elena called me and told me that your mom had the baby and his name is Henrick! Is he as cute as the rest of you?"
"No one is as cute as me," Bekah muttered, folding her arms over her chest. She was not happy because I had set her down on the floor to call Caroline. Now, she saw another rival for my attention and the worst part for her was that person was on the phone not there is person.
"No, they aren't," Caroline replied with a tinkling laugh. "Hello, Bekah."
Bekah brightened visibly and took the phone. Sitting down on the floor, she cradled it in her lap like one of her dollies. "Come back now, Care. I miss you. I want you here now."
"We all do," I told her.
"Yes," Elijah called. "Katherine misses you although she will kill me if she finds out I told you that."
"How is the club?" Caroline called. "I bet Damon still gives out the best dares… Second only to my Nik."
"Your Nik?" Matt teased and Caroline let out a loud giggle.
"Ah, you two are so cute," Damon told me, grabbing my face and trying to stretch it out.
"The club is fine," Finn informed Caroline.
"Do you still love Sage?" Caroline asked my older brother who blushed.
"They're not allowed to be alone together because they do weird things together when they are," Stefan told Caroline who gasped.
"I'm sure that isn't right. Finn, you can't let them separate you. You'll end up like Jack and Rose. You have to be together. You're going to be happy forever and give me hope for happiness with Nik," Caroline called to Finn who began to laugh.
"What have they done to you, Caroline?" Finn questioned her. "I dare you to stop watching silly romantic movies until you come home."
"I dare you to watch tons of silly romantic movies and to spend more time Sage," Caroline retorted.
"Oh, don't worry, Finn," Elijah smirked at Finn. "I'll go with you and make sure that you two kids behave."
Finn shook his head. "Like you make Kat behave."
"Sure," Damon called and shook his head just as there was loud yelling from upstairs. Kol and Jeremy came running, skidding into the kitchen.
"Help us," Kol screamed as Father came into the room with the bowl of ice cream on top of his head.
"I said dump it on Kol. Not Father," Elijah swore as he stared at our Father in horror. Kol and Jeremy ran over to hide behind Finn figuring it was safer there.
"He did start to," Father informed us, plucking the bowl off his head. "Then I turned around. I suppose the boy panicked." Placing a finger to his cheek, he wiped some ice cream off and licked it off his finger. "Am I that frightening to you children?"
"You are rather imposing, Father," Elijah replied with a gulp.
Father nodded, picking up a cookie when Caroline decided to add her thoughts. "Your super scary, Mr. Mikaelson," she told him from the phone.
Father looked at the phone in Bekah's lap and then he smiled. "Hello, Caroline. How is sunny California?"
"Sunny," Caroline told him chirply.
"Good," Father nodded as he spoke. "You will be home soon so that I do not have to worry about Niklaus running off again?"
"Yes," Caroline replied solemnly.
"Caroline, what would you do on a rainy day?" Father asked. "If you were here?"
"I would dress up and sing and dance," Caroline told him and then she began to sing into the phone. "We are family."
Father smiled as he listened to her. "That does sounds like fun."
"I have to go. It's dinner time. Good-bye, everyone," Caroline called.
"Bye, Caroline," we called back and I wanted desperately to keep her on the phone when the dial tone began to ring.
"Have you ever seen La Cage a Folle?" Damon asked and looked around at the rest of us.
My Father raised an eyebrow. "Yes. Once. Esther thought it was quiet amusing. Why?"
"We could do what they did at the end of the film and dress up and sing like Caroline said," Damon announced.
"You want to dress up in ladies' clothes?" Stefan asked and then grinned. "Cool."
I rolled my eyes. "I am not wearing makeup," I protested.
"Sure you are," Katherine whispered into my ear and I looked up horrified.
"How did you get in here?" Father asked Katherine who shrugged.
"Someone must have left the door open," Katherine told him. "I was here to pick my brother up," Father looked at Jeremy as Katherine slide a key into her back pocket. "Girls, we need to do a lot of makeovers." Rose, Jenna, Andie and Sage appeared like magic.
We were led upstairs into my parent's room. Katherine opened the door to her wardrobe as Rose looked through the makeup. Jenna began to look through the shoes. And Andie was riffling through my Mother's jewelry. Sage was busily talking to Finn. I rolled my eyes as Katherine held up various dresses to me before settling on strapless blue one. "I'm not wearing that," I snapped at her.
"Look at Damon," Katherine spun me around so that I had to look at my best friend in my Mother's long sleeved, red dress. Rose had ahold him by the mouth and was applying lipstick.
When Rose was done, Damon grinned at me, "Hey, Nik. Check me out. I think I'm prettier than Kat."
"You wish, Salvatore," Katherine shook her head and went over to grab a scarf to wrap around her neck. "I'm ready for my close up," she whispered hoarsely, batting her eyelashes and Jenna began to laugh.
When we were all dressed, even Bekah and Jeremy, we headed down the stairs. I was enjoying seeing my brothers in formal wear and heels. My Father was wearing a feather boa and a wrap dress from when Mother was pregnant with Henrick. Sage turned on the CD player after having found the song that Caroline was singing.
"We are family," Damon sang.
"All my brothers my sister and me," I sang, wiggling my hips and Bekah giggled, and began to mimic my movements. Watching my baby sister, I had a moment where I could see that she would be a handful when she got older. And, oh, I was right about that. Katherine found a video camera and began to tape our behavior.
Present:
Getting up on a bright and shiny Monday morning, I was thinking of the time that my family and friends had dressed up in my Mother's clothes. I wondered where that tape went. I decided to call Elijah and ask him. Then I heard music floating up the stairs. Only it wasn't recorded.
"We are family," Caroline and Damon were singing.
"All my brothers, my sister and me," I sang quietly as I entered the living room to see Caroline and Damon in heavy makeup. "You two look lovely." I informed them with wide grin.
"Thank you, honey. But I'm taken," Damon informed me as he bumped hips with Caroline who laughed loudly, clapping her hand together.
"We are family," someone from behind me sang and I turned to find Rebekah behind me. I grabbed her pulling her off, her feet and swung her in the air. "Hey, Nik. Put me down." Rebekah stared up at me with a happy grin when I set her on her feet. Wrapping her arms around my neck, we swayed slowly to the beat of my wife and best friend singing. "You know you haven't danced with me since my wedding day," Rebekah informed me with a stern look.
"Don't worry, love, I will make up for it," I informed her and saw the looks she traded with Damon and Caroline.
"So, that means you're ready?" Rebekah asked me hopefully as Caroline started to pull one of her sleeves up and I shook my head. Caroline frowned at me and started to open her mouth to protest.
"No, sister. Not just yet. Today. I want to dance with family." I said slowly and deliberately.
"Then you will need the rest of your family," Kol told me as he appeared with Elijah, Katherine, Finn, Sage and Stefan.
"Hey," I called to them happily, hugging each of them. It had been some time since we had all been gathered in the same room. "I missed you all." I murmured as I finished hugging Stefan.
"Damon, you're mascara is running," Stefan teased his brother.
Damon blinked and then wiped his cheek. "Caroline, you said this was waterproof."
"Why do you always blame me for your problems with makeup? If you'd ever buy your own instead of using mine then you wouldn't have these problems," Caroline was saying, shaking her head.
"Whatever," Damon replied, beginning to dance again. "Dance with me, Nik?" he requested but he did not allow me to answer before pulling me to him.
"You know," I told him. "I'm supposed to lead."
"You're always leading. And don't be sexist," Damon murmured in my ear. Caroline was laughing as Damon twirled me and I saw a vision of my family spinning before me and I began to laugh, too. 'If only every day could start out like this one,' I thought.
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Love,
LL