After having witnessed his past again, Klaus is left in thoughts about whether what he had experienced the other night was real or not. He finally gets his answer when Ansel comes back for him, as he had promised. Will Klaus tell anyone about what he is experiencing or will he keep it to himself?
Elijah finds a devastated Marcel, and speaks to him about the problems he has been having with Gia and what he should do to help her. With only two days left until Christmas, Gia decides to go to the cemetery and place flowers, wanting to reach her late husband. As Davina is done with Kol, he decides that he wants to win her back for Christmas.
December 23rd
Klaus & Hayley
The evening showed no signs of joy. Klaus had been looking all over the compound for Elijah, Rebekah and or Marcel. But there was no one that he was able to run into besides Hayley. She was looking at him with such a profound expression on her face, as if she was expecting him to say something to her. After what had happened to him the previous night, Klaus had tried hard to put Hayley out of his mind and just focus on his daughter, hoping that it would soon calm the spirits. Soon, he knew that he would have to face his present, as Ansel put it and it terrified him of what he would show him. Klaus rubbed his face, wondering if this was going to be real, or just another dream.
"Klaus!" Hayley exclaimed and he turned around to look at her. "What is it, love?" "I asked you about Hope. She hasn't been feeling well lately. I think she has some sort of fever." Klaus immediately made a move to reach the nursery and see how his daughter was feeling. He touched her forehead and sighed. "Have you called Davina?" he asked Hayley. "Yes, and she is on her way." "This better not be a Christmas joke coming from you, sweetheart. You don't want your father to start worrying." Klaus whispered and gently touched his small child again, with care and love, which made Hayley smile. She went over and touched his shoulder. He stiffened at her touch and nearly pulled away, making Hayley's smile fade.
"Are you upset with me?" she asked him. Klaus turned towards her and whispered, "What have I done to make you hate me so much, love? Is it really a bad thing that I am not good with relationships? I do not have the experience you ask for. It is just me. I can't…you ask for too much, little wolf!" he finally snapped at her. "All I am asking is that you stop being so superficial when it comes to Christmas because you know how much it means to Hope and how much it means to Rebekah to have us all under the holiday spirit. Try to cheer up and…" "Do it perfectly?" Klaus asked her and she raised her eyebrow at him. "That is not what you need to do." "It is certainly Rebekah's idea of having fun. Stress and anxiety. No wonder Marcel does not wish to be in a relationship with her any longer. You are no different from my sister." "How can you say that? I have been trying to help you all this time and all you ever did was pushing me away!" Hayley insisted, when Klaus suddenly pined her against the wall.
"How about what happened between us that night? Who rejected that? Who pushed that away? I don't remember it being me, love." Klaus whispered close to her and Hayley could barely catch her breath. "That night was a mistake that I will always regret making." She whispered to him, sending shocks all throughout his body. "Then, let it never happen again." Was the final thing he whispered before he let her go and stormed out of his nursery just as Hope started crying. Hayley bit her lip as she picked up Hope in her arms. Klaus did not come back to check on his daughter, which made Hayley believe that this was all her fault and her daughter was suffering for her mistakes. Why did they have to hurt one another so much? Why did they always end up arguing and saying the wrong things? Hayley knew how many wrong things she has said to him and she regretted it deeply. That night with him was one of the best nights in her life and she wanted to make it last, because she knew how she felt for him. But she was unsure if he truly felt something for her, or just using her for sexual needs "Everything is going to be okay." Hayley whispered and calmed hope down, trying to figure out a way to reduce her fever. Davina would be there soon and hopefully, she would know a remedy.
Klaus could feel her getting in bed alongside him that night and again felt the need to say something, but he didn't know what he should say. She was still upset and he could feel that she was still crying, silently alongside him. He couldn't take this any longer. He wanted to sleep and pretend like nothing like this had ever really happened. But soon enough, he felt someone shaking him and he opened his eyes, groggily, looking up. Ansel was standing there, in the same suit and the same spiritual figure, waiting for him. "It is time to get up." Ansel told him and Klaus growled, standing up and looking at him closely. "I must be out of my mind to believe or produce in my head such nonsense." "It's no nonsense, Niklaus. I am here, just like I told you I would be, ready to present to you the present." "What present? It's nighttime and we are all asleep in this family." "That is your impression." Klaus looked back to the bed and saw Hayley sleeping there. "You can't show me anything of Hayley. She is asleep in the present." Ansel nodded and whispered, "Tonight will not include Hayley, but other people in your family."
In a matter of seconds, they had disappeared to another room in the house. Klaus watched closely as Rebekah was weeping in front of the fireplace. "I thought that she had gone to sleep." He whispered to Ansel, who shook his head. "No. I know you've heard about her break up with Marcel." Klaus rolled his eyes. "There is no point in weeping about it. This was her own doing. It had nothing to do with Marcel. She was not being sensitive and reasonable about this bloody Christmas. She ended the relationship with him herself." Ansel shook his head. "Is that really what you believe is going on? Why do you think that she ended things with him?" Klaus shrugged but at that moment, the door opened and closed. Marcel was now walking in the house. "What is he doing here so late?" Klaus asked and Ansel put a finger to his lips. "Just watch for a second." Rebekah looked away from the man she loved and wiped away her tears. She was so very angry at him for what he did to them.
"I don't recall calling you here, Marcellus. You need to leave!" Rebekah snapped at him. Marcel raised his hands and said, "Hey, you may not like me right now but I am still family and Klaus said that I am welcome." "Welcome? After what you did? You are lucky that I haven't told Nik about it or Elijah." "What would they have done? I did nothing wrong, Rebekah. I know that you are upset about what happened with that striper but it was nothing serious. You are exaggerating." "Am I? I saw the way your hands were wrapped around her. I am not stupid!" she snapped at him. Marcel sighed and came over to her, more closer. "What do you want me to do? What do you want me to say to make all this go away?" "Nothing is going to make me forget what you did but you could start by not acting like my brother."
"What are you talking about?" Marcel asked, once again exasperated with her attitude. "You know very well what I am talking about. You and Nik have both betrayed me. You talk to me like I am your most favorite person in the world and when push comes to shove; you don't do anything to help me! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I have been so busy thinking about other things that I have forgotten to buy the best tree in town. Now, I found out that all the trees have been sold out and it's all your fault and Nik's!" "What have we done? Have we lost all the trees? Why are you bringing Klaus in the conversation?" "Because you are the spitting image of him and our relationship is the spitting image of his relationship with Hayley. That poor girl…you can't even imagine the things that she is telling me."
Marcel tapped his feet to the ground. "Stop raising your voice like that. You can very easily wake up Hope, or even worse, your brother." "That is another thing. Where are my other brothers? Where are Elijah and Kol when they should be here with me? Kol is off having meaningless one night stands and drinks while Elijah thinks that his relationship with Gia is suddenly more important than his relationship with his own sister. I really needed him here. I needed you to be with me when I wanted help doing something special for Christmas this year and all you did was treat me like some meaningless one nights stand too!" Marcel frowned. "You are no longer making any sense. Have you looked in the mirror lately? I think you should. Maybe you will realize that you are the reason why our relationship ended!" With that, Marcel was out of that house before Rebekah could say anything else.
Klaus smirked as he looked over at Ansel, who had a saddened expression on his face. "Everything that Marcel said right now is the absolute truth. She just doesn't know when to let it go." He said with a chuckle as he looked away but Ansel pulled him back. "Do you remember what Rebekah said a couple of minutes ago?" he asked him. "Is my mission to memorize everything that she says?" "Your mission is to realize that what Rebekah said is true. The relationship between Rebekah and Marcel reflects your relationship with Hayley." "That is preposterous!" "Is that so? You have just witnessed a fight between your sister and your protégé. How is this fight any different from what you and Hayley shared in the last couple of days? You made her cry, you made her feel unwanted, you made her feel used…" Klaus raised his hand to make him stop talking and looked over at him, angrily. "I have done everything I could to help her, but she turned me down. You don't dare put this on me!" Ansel sighed and whispered, "I think that you should see and hear this." He pointed over at Rebekah, who sat down by the fireplace again.
"What is she doing?" Klaus asked as Rebekah pulled out a recorder from her pocket. "Just watch and listen carefully to what she is about to play." Ansel responded as Rebekah played the recording. "I want to be loved. I think I deserve it. I don't want to be known as his one night stand or the mother of his child. I want to be known as…the woman he loves because I know that he feels something for me just as I feel something for me. But he just won't give in. He lives with me and treats me like he has treated every single lover in his past life: no commitment, no nothing. Just the sex part which is driving me insane. I want everything. I want the whole package and I…I could have had that with Elijah. Elijah is a wonderful guy and he would have given me love and everything but…I can't help if I am in love with Klaus!" Rebekah ended the recording and whispered, "Nik, you bastard." Before getting up and going upstairs.
Klaus was standing there confused, after what he had heard. Hayley's heartbreaking voice could have been heard from the recording. Rebekah had done this on purpose, hoping she would get the chance to show the recording to him and make him feel like the guilty one. Klaus thought about Hayley's words one more time before whispering, "I would like to go back. I can no longer stand any of this." "Do you think that what I have shown you right now from the present is enough for you to realize how wrong you have been all this time?" Ansel whispered to him. Klaus refused to answer as he tried to move but he couldn't. "Ansel let me go!" he ordered him. "I always wonder why you call me by my first name and you don't call me Father. You do call Mikael, Father." "I call him father because he is who he is. He did raise me. You didn't. I don't care how bad of a father he was to me. He was my father still. You abandoned me…Ansel." Klaus replied harshly.
Letting him go, Ansel and Klaus returned to the bedroom. "I was hoping to show you more of your present, the present that you can't see or hear, but I think that the recording Rebekah played is the one thing that made me realize that this trip can be cut short so you can go back to sleep, son." Ansel told him. Klaus smirked and whispered, "Let me guess. You are planning on stopping by tomorrow on Christmas Eve to show me my future, won't you?" Ansel smiled and said, "Yes, I will, as promised. I think tomorrow is going to be the most important day of them all. Tomorrow, you might realize what you have and what you're wasting. Good night, Niklaus." Ansel whispered and disappeared. The colors in the room had reappeared and Klaus had finally gotten into bed, sighing. The words were still ringing in his mind. How was it possible that he didn't know?
"I want to be loved. I think I deserve it. I don't want to be known as his one night stand or the mother of his child. I want to be known as…the woman he loves because I know that he feels something for me just as I feel something for me. But he just won't give in. He lives with me and treats me like he has treated every single lover in his past life: no commitment, no nothing. Just the sex part which is driving me insane. I want everything. I want the whole package and I...I could have had that with Elijah. Elijah is a wonderful guy and he would have given me love and everything but…I can't help if I am in love with Klaus!" Was she really in love with him? She really cared that much about how he felt towards her and Hope? He suddenly felt her shift on the bed again and she turned on the light. She jumped a little when she caught him staring at her. "You're awake." Hayley whispered and looked away.
Klaus stood up on the bed and scooted closer to her. "What is wrong with you? Why are you up?" he asked her. She bit her lip and continued to avoid his gaze. "It's none of your concern, Klaus. I just want to go to the bathroom." She whispered, finally standing up and going in there, slamming the door shut. Klaus rolled his eyes at her attitude when he really was concerned about her, and finally rolled back into the bed. He could barely go to sleep. Hayley had been in that bathroom for a long time and she was not coming out. Just when he was on the verge of falling asleep, he could hear her gentle weeping.
Elijah & Gia
How could it be possible that the snow looked so calm and peaceful the moment she got there? Gia took a deep breath as she stopped the car right outside the cemetery. She felt something in her heart. She felt a heavy weight that she knew would take more than another love to get it off. She was here to see her husband. It was so close to Christmas. She felt guilty, after all those training sessions she shared with Elijah, the way she kissed him and they almost slept together. It had only been a year since she lost Mark. Gia got out of the car and held the flowers in her hands. She had no idea what she was doing. The flowers were fake, out of a special material. Of course she wanted real and pure white roses but they should fade away in seconds with the cold winter snow. The tombstone was waiting for her. Mark was waiting for her. Gia abandoned her car and walked through the snow towards the place where she knew held the spirit of her long lost lover. What would he think of her now? She was, after all, a vampire.
Elijah walked inside Rousseau's, finding the one person he wanted to talk to. Marcel was filling up on alcohol, not being able to find anything else useful that he could do. The Original Vampire took a seat next to him and coughed, making sure that Marcel offered him the attention he wanted. "What is going on now? Had another fight with Klaus, Rebekah, and the rest of your family? It's not every day that you are looking forward to speaking to me." Marcel mumbled. Elijah smiled and shook his head. "We have spoken to one another two days ago." "Before you and Gia got hot and heavy? Don't think that I can't figure out what is going on between you two." "I am here to talk about Gia and what her problems are." Elijah whispered. Marcel looked over at him, confused. "I was hoping you could help me."
"Why would I help you? There is nothing that I know about this girl and if you haven't noticed, I have been having problems of my own." Marcel barked up and Elijah took a swig of wine. "It is funny how our family used to be so tied together around the holidays. Rebekah was happily making arrangements, Kol was letting aside his womanizing problems in order to be with us, Finn was…Finn, but still a part of the family and Niklaus…he did everything in his power to make sure that Christmas would be a success. Now, as I see it, Rebekah is stresses, she lost you, you lost her, I am away from home, Finn is nowhere to be found, Niklaus and Hayley have the most estranged relationship, which can affect their child and you…you're in bars instead of being with Rebekah." "Let go of the past. What do you want to know about Gia?" Marcel finally asked, not wanting to hear anymore of Elijah's thoughts about their family.
"What problems does she confront?" Elijah whispered, making Marcel frown and shake his head. "I don't know much that I can tell you. Gia and I have been spending a lot of time together, she has confided in me plenty of times before. Most of things that she has told me about her past have to do about her life with her husband." Elijah frowned, whispering, "Her husband?" "Mark. He died about a year ago. After that, Gia has been feeling completely lost. That is one of the reasons why she believed that her life had no meaning. That is why she came to me that day, wanting to become a vampire." "What else do you know?" Elijah asked, taking another drink. "That is about it. She was very attached to her husband and she lost him. That means a lot to a woman. She lost the man she loved, which might have led to her being so…not full of life." Marcel told him. "And I am guessing that she hasn't been able to let go." Elijah whispered and looked down as he could remember the night that he could have had with Gia, had she not stopped their passionate moment.
Gia took a moment of control to speed them the other way. She got on top of him and kissed him once more, leaving him to run his hands up her back and unclip her bra, throwing it onto the ground. She left a couple of kisses down his chest as Elijah flipped them once more, kissing one of her breasts and making her moan in pleasure at his gentle and yet sexy touch. She was blissful for one moment and she thought about all the things that she could experience with him. The desire she felt for him is something that she had never felt before. He managed to make her forget about all of her problems and he was forcing her to think about him and only him. Elijah gently massages her breasts as he closed his lips over hers once more and placed gentle kisses. She started to feel odd and a feeling of guilt washed over her as she remembered how her husband loved her and touched her this way. She couldn't do this.
Before Elijah could get ready to enter her, Gia slowly pushed against his chest, making him stand on the bed and get off of her, shocked. "Have I upset you?" Elijah asked slowly, leaning over to kiss her again but Gia stopped him. "No, it's not that. It's just…Elijah, I really can't do this. I can't find myself being able to just sleep with you now…it's too much for one day." She was trying to find a good excuse but she couldn't. Now, he knew that something was bothering her and he would not stop until he found out. He watched her put on her bra and underwear as well as the rest of her clothes and walk out. He laid his head against the pillow and thought about how he was going to get her to open up to him.
Elijah got up from the table, without finishing his drink. He suddenly realized where she could be at this moment, since she was not around in town, in the places where he had been searching for her for plenty of hours now. "Where are you going?" Marcel asked him. "I need to find her and I need to speak to her about something." Marcel shook his head and whispered, "I sure hope that you're not going to do anything stupid you will later regret." "And what is that supposed to mean?" Elijah asked him. "It means that you should give her some space. She won't come running to you if you continue to get into her business like that. Leave it alone, Elijah." He would not listen to Marcel, and he left at once.
Gia was still in the snow, looking at the flowers that she had placed on the tombstone. She covered herself with her jacket, even though as a vampire, she could not feel the cold rushing through her. "It's almost Christmas, Mark." She whispered, looking up in the sky. "I know that you might be able to hear me so I hope that you will understand what I am about to tell you. I loved you and I will always love you. You will always have a place inside of my heart. You have been so loving and so good to me. But all of this, is now in the past for me. You don't hold my heart anymore. I have been holding onto you for a while and only today, I realize that maybe it's time I let you go. I must start thinking about myself now. I am no longer human. I am a vampire, with a whole future of immortality ahead of her, a vampire who can't have a family of her own. I need to figure out what to do with my life. Just like I chose to let go of my human life, I must let you go." There were footsteps that she was hearing, but Gia did not want to turn around.
He could see her sitting there, by the tombstone where her husband had been buried. Elijah knew that she could feel him now. Her senses had gotten deeper than he could imagine. He stayed by her car and decided to follow Marcel's advice. No matter how much he wanted to go to her and hug her, be there for her, he knew that he had to give her some space to let it all out. He had heard her wishes and he couldn't help but smile when he heard her say that it was time to let go of Mark. She placed a kiss on her palm and then gently placed the palm on the cold and wet stone, whispering, "Goodbye, Mark. And Merry Christmas." Gia stood up and walked back to the car, seeing him there, in a coat, with his hands in his pockets. "What are you doing here?" Gia asked him once she reached her car.
"I had a feeling that you would be here." Elijah whispered. "Who told you about Mark?" Gia demanded to know. "It was Marcel. And you don't have to be upset with him for telling me. I made him. I had to know the truth." "The truth about what?" "About your sadness. After what happened between us two days ago…" Gia shook her head but Elijah touched her shoulder, "Please let me finish. After what we shared, you just disappeared. I can understand now why. This is too soon for you. But you could have told me the truth, without needing to hide. You know I could have helped you sooner." "But that is just the thing, Elijah. I know you. Marcel has told me how you like to fix things. You have been doing it for a while now. You did it with Hayley too. I don't need you to do it with me."
Gia wanted to get into her car but he wouldn't let her. "I am not trying to fix you." Elijah whispered. "Yes, you are. And I don't like that. I want to have a man beside me but not one that is going to feel sorry for me every minute of every day. Yes, I lost my husband and I am ready to move on now, but not with someone like you, Elijah." He gently pushed her against the car door and whispered, "I have been putting pieces of this puzzle together and I have come to believe that finding out Hayley and I slept together last Christmas has really upset you." "You think?" Gia asked him. Elijah looked away but that was not stopping her from talking. "You upset a lot of people and made Christmas a shitty event last year when you and Hayley did what you did…with a baby in the house, your own brother's baby! That is why Rebekah is working so hard and no one appreciates her. She wants to wipe away the dirt from last year so that you and Klaus will speak to one another again. I mean, that is why you are staying away from home, aren't you? Christmas reminds you of the shameful thing you did and you can't bear to face your brother now!" "Gia…" "No. Save it! I don't know why I am still here. Let go of me."
She pushed him away and got inside of her car. Elijah put a hand next to the window when she wanted to roll it up. "You have not given me a chance to explain my actions." "You don't have to. Klaus already done that for you and I am no longer surprised that he made you feel like a scoundrel when he made the announcement to the whole city last year. You can't just do what you did to family members. Hayley, maybe I can understand. Klaus was not paying attention to her and you were all she had when she was forced to get married to someone she didn't want to. But you should have known better the moment you decided to lay dibs on your brother's baby momma. I am surprised that someone hasn't said all this to you until now. You need to wake up, Elijah!" She rolled up the window but Elijah stopped her. "I have hurt you, I know…" "This is not about you hurting me, Elijah! This is about something disgraceful that you did to your brother. I can't stand the thought of that." She managed to roll up the window and Elijah finally let her leave the cemetery.
Kol & Davina
"Kooool!" He could hear Charlene yelling out from the bathroom. The young Mikaelson brother has decided to rent a hotel room that night for him and Charlene, seeing as they couldn't indulge in their sexual activities at home any longer. Charlene came over to him; her blonde hair flowing around her and the top of her breasts could be seen from her red robe. "Ready for a little Christmas bubbling?" she asked him with a smirk as she plopped down on the bed with a bottle of champagne for them to share. She blew him a kiss, but he pulled back from her. She chose to ignore that part.
"I also have a Santa Clause hat. Would you like to see it?" she whispered, seductively. Kol got up from the bed and replied, "Nah, not now." "What is wrong with you lately? You have been acting really weird. Before, you really loved hanging around with me. I thought we had a real thing going here. What's wrong with you?" she asked him, with a frown on her face. He had been trying to figure out what was wrong with him. He thought that being with Charlene again was going to determine him to start feeling like a real man again, but it was not helping at all. He felt like a part of his life was still missing, even though he was once again the fearless Original Vampire he wanted to be. Charlene groaned as she stood up on the bed. "Don't tell me that you're still thinking about that little runt."
At once she felt herself being pushed up against the wall and every breath of life leaving her. "You do not dare to talk to her like that, do you understand me?" Kol growled at her and then let go of her, as she tumbled to the floor. Charlene stood up and looked at him, angrily, "How dare you aggress me like that?!" she exclaimed but Kol was already picking up his things, ready to leave the hotel room. "So what? You are dumping me now? How very considerate of you to do that with Christmas just around the corner. You know what? Go to her! And when she rejects you, you don't come crawling back to me begging for what I have to offer." Kol rolled his eyes and left the room and the hotel in the blink of an eye, looking for his phone.
Bourbon Street was quiet when he finally decided to make the call…but it was pointless, because there she was standing, right in front of him. Davina was surprised to see him, but she was not at all thrilled. Trying to move past him didn't work because he immediately got a hold of her arm, stopping her from moving. "What are you trying to do?" Davina asked him once she finally decided that she was going to stay and listen to his crap. "I am trying to tell you that I want you back, darling and I am not the type to actually beg on his knees for a woman to forgive him." Kol responded. There was a grin on his face, but Davina was not buying it. "Thanks for telling me, but I have somewhere to be right now." She moved past him but Kol grabbed a hold of her hand. "Where?" he asked. "Cami and Finn invited me for hot cocoa so we can talk and bond, something that you have lost sight of since you've been gone stripping and sleeping with Charlene."
"I am not with Charlene. I broke up with her." "Correction. You left her, since you compelled her to be with you in the first place." Kol grinned. "Now that is not actually true. She was a willing participant. Is it that hard for you to believe that I can be wanted by women?" "Of course not. My mistake." Davina replied and tried to move again but he stepped in front of her. "Wait! Finn? You're going to see Finn?" "Yeah. When was the last time you saw him or any other member of your family in fact?" Kol shook his head. "This is not about my family, alright? Why would you give a damn anyway? As I see it, this is about you and I so come on now, sweetheart, why don't you let me take you back?" "It is not that simple, Kol. Besides, even if you do want me back, I am not sure that I want you." Davina snapped at him.
"You don't really mean that." "Now you're telling me what I do mean and what I don't? You get out of my life, Kol. This Christmas, I want to be at peace and you are not the definition of peace." Kol was about to say something but he saw someone in the distance, his former body. It was the real Kaleb. "Davina, are you coming?" he asked her. "Coming, Kaleb!" Davina told him and left Kol, standing there bewildered.
A/N: Next chapter will have a Christmas Eve feats with all the couples of the story and Klaus will see the future that Ansel is preparing to show him. Thank you for reading and please review!