SWEET KISSES FROM RUSSIA
Fan Fiction – Alternate Universe
Caroline & Klaus
Elijah & Katherine
From: Lovely Vero
Chapter 10
"Morning brunch"
Disclaimer: This story is, and will always be, a fiction story, that is coming from the imagination of the author. It is not a bibliography of the author or any of the readers, neither a story that is exploring your own experience in life. It is not meant to be informative or to represent the perception or opinion of the author about the subject at hands in her own private life; it is not an encyclopedia, or a medical reference. It is only a fiction, the characters are fictional, and the story should be taken as such and not be mistaken with the private life of the readers or any of their personal experiences. Thank you.
Writer's note: Due to the delicate subject, in some parts of this chapter that could seem abusive to some, please read with warning. Thank you.
Previously on Sweet Kisses from Russia
Klaus nodded his head, while turning on himself to reach the entrance door of Carolina's suite.
"Klaus?" Carolina called him, while walking on his heels.
"Yes." He replied, before turning his head toward her standing position.
"Thank you … For the ankle bracelet." She thanked him, while nodding her head.
Klaus glanced at her surprisingly.
"You found it?" He asked, dumbfounded.
"Yes." She simply replied. "Is it true what you wrote, that … That you wouldn't' want to change who I am?" She asked.
"Never…" He responded, honestly.
"Then, it's a start." She replied, before seeing him turn the door handle. "Klaus?"
He turned his head once more.
"Contrary to what you believe, and what I made you believe, it doesn't bother me to feel your hands on my skin." She confessed to him, before slowly closing the French doors of her bedroom.
Klaus stood motionless and speechless, with his hands grabbing the door handle like his life depended on it. And, it is with a timid smile blessing the corners of his lips that he left Carolina's suite.
"What time is it now?" Katerina asked Elijah, while nervously biting her nails, and pacing back and forth over the length of the carpet in his study room.
Elijah raised an eyebrow, while sitting on the edge of his desktop, before raising the left sleeve of his man shirt over his expensive watch.
"Thirty two seconds later since the last time you'd asked me." He replied to the brunette, while sighing.
"I don't find this amusing, Elijah." She replied, while shaking her head and holding her pacing. She turned on herself to face the Original, before crossing her arms in front of her chest. Obviously, the young woman was in a serious and understandable confrontational mood and wouldn't relax before being able to get it out of her system.
"I know, Katerina, believe me, I know." He responded, while stroking his eyelids. "I wouldn't try to diminish the seriousness of this situation, or neither one of our feelings about it; I'm just trying to ease the tension and to make you relax, if only for a short period of time." He informed her, with a timid smile. "I think it's the best way to act at the present moment." He nodded.
She sighed loudly, before taking a sitting position on the desktop, by his side.
"You always try your best to be right, aren't you?" She asked, while turning her sight in his dark eyes.
"Well…" Elijah started, while drowning his sight into her blurry one. "I don't need to try hard, it's in my genes, I'm mostly, always right." He replied, while tilting his head.
"Are you serious, or is it only to make me smile?" She asked, while frowning.
"No, I'm serious.' He responded, without an ounce of mockery in the voice.
"Oh my God… Elijah!" She exclaimed to herself, a mouth opened expression plastered on her face, before passing a hand through her tangled, long hair. "I've managed to marry a pretentious, pompous; I am always right, prehistoric man!" She added, while pulling on her hair with both hands.
"I resent the pompous part!" Elijah replied, with a raised finger. "But it's pretty accurate for the rest." He confirmed to her, before lowering his head to hide his sudden amusement.
"I'm not in the mood to laugh, Elijah, I'm sorry." She added, without even finding the strength to smile. "I just can't."
"Believe me, neither am I." He reassured her. "But I can't get over your four inches slippers and the pink, huge, pompom feathers on top that keep capturing all my attention, while calling my name: Elijah, Elijah… it's very disturbing actually, I am not into this fetish kind of stuff usually. And, I am wondering what is so fascinating to me, now, about these slippers?" He added, while crossing his arms over his chest, with his analytic sight fixated on her feet.
The biggest smile suddenly appeared on Katerina's lips, while glancing at him.
"You think it's sexy?" She asked, before raising her legs, while looking at the slippers.
"Well, I don't know, Katerina? It's probably sold in sexy lingerie boutiques, in the purpose of seducing a man, no?" He asked, while shrugging his shoulders and pointing his right hand at her feet.
"Is it seducing you, now?" She asked, while holding her breath, her eyes searching the answer in his intense and dark ones.
"You're sitting on my desktop." Elijah responded, while swallowing a lump in his throat.
"Oh?" She questioned, while blushing and moving her bottom nervously. "I wasn't aware that it was forbidden?"
"Forbidden? No … But, you're the first woman that I can tolerate her "touchy" presence on my desktop." He informed, while slowly bending his head near hers, before sliding a strand of her silky hair behind her left ear and slowly murmuring the words near Katerina's earlobe. "You're sitting on my desktop, and that for me is sexy."
Katerina closed her eyes, with the beats of her heart rising dangerously in her chest, and while feeling the pressure of Elijah's lips on hers, like the soft touch of a butterfly. But as soon as she felt the kiss, as soon it was cut to an end.
"Mister Mikaelson?" They heard Maria calling.
Elijah detached himself from his wife, before discreetly coughing and raising his head toward his governess. Katherina raised a hand over her mouth while keeping her sight down.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn't aware that your wife was present in the study room. Mrs. Katherine." She greeted, while nodding her head in respect.
"Maria." Katerina replied; while recognizing the subtly change of first name.
"What is it, Maria?" Elijah asked her.
"I wanted to keep you informed that Mrs. Caroline will be present in the dining room in about ten minutes." She gave the information, with a smile blessing his lips.
Katerina jumped away from her sitting position on the desktop, before nervously rubbing her hands together.
"Are you sure, Maria, are you absolutely sure that she'd said those words to you?" Katerina asked, frantically. "She will stay in this Manor and be present at the brunch?"
"Yes" Maria responded, dumbfounded. "I'm quite sure; she just informed me not even five minutes ago, is there a problem?" She enquired, while turning her sight from Katerina to Elijah.
"And her …" Katerina started, before closing her eyes and sighing loudly. "And my husband's brother?" She asked more, while closing her fists in anger.
"Mister Klaus informed me that he would be present at his wife side." Maria replied, confused by the present exchange, but while starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
"Where is she now?" Katerina asked, with anticipation.
"Her own suite I believe, Madam." Maria informed.
Katerina stormed out of the office while slamming the door behind her.
"I'm so sorry if I misbehave in any way that could create such distress, Mister Mikaelson." Maria offered her apologies.
"None sense, you did not, Maria. It's just a difficult morning." Elijah replied, while stroking his eyelids once more, and raising on his legs.
"I see." Maria replied, while lowering her head.
"You do, aren't you?" Elijah sighed.
"Well, it shouldn't be of my business, but … I believe that there is always the hope of seeing a glimpse of a rainbow after a storm of this amplitude?" She tried to comfort the oldest, a timid smile blessing her lips.
"Perhaps you're right, Maria…" Elijah responded to her. "Perhaps…"
Katerina stormed inside Carolina's suite, while scattering the lounge area, before holding her pace in the middle of the room, frozen of all her mobility, as an empty shelve, with a hand raised over her chest, and her eyes drown in the ones of her younger sister.
Carolina stepped outside of her bedroom, when she suddenly raised her eyes in her sister's, sad and painful reminder of last night events and how twisted and disappointing life could become in a snap of a finger, while dragging you into the mud several hours later.
"Carolina, I'm so sorry …" Katerina whispered the words, tears rolling on her cheeks. "I'm so sorry, this shouldn't have happened."
The youngest Russian closed her eyes while feeling a veil of coldness wrapping her entire corporal form. It was more than obvious that she was now aware of her wedding night and seeing the sadness in her older sister eyes was more painful than enduring her own.
"There's nothing for you to be sorry about, Katerina." She finally responded, while reopening her blurry eyes, before strengthening her back, with her hands crossed over her chest.
Katerina rushed by Carolina's side, before holding her sister in her arms.
"I'm here, it's going to be ok, if you want to leave now, Elijah could prepare the plane tickets, and we could be in our way back to Moscow tomorrow." Katerina murmured to her, both hands placed at the base of Carolina's neck, while rocking her sister in her arms.
"Why would I want to leave?" Carolina asked, while standing motionless in her sister's arms. "This manor is my home now."
Katerina suddenly detached herself from her sister, while drowning her sight in hers.
"You want to stay? You want to stay married to a man who …" Katerina expressed, surprised, before being cut in her say.
"Don't!" Carolina warned her sister, while raising a forbidden finger at her. "Don't put your nose where it doesn't belong, Katerina."
"I'm sorry?" Katerina exclaimed, dumbfounded by her sister present attitude.
"Things happen; it is called real life, my sister." Carolina shrugged, while taking a few steps away from her sister. "I believe we have a brunch to go to?"
"You're in denial." Katerina murmured, before raising a hand over her mouth.
"No, Katerina, I'm actually for the first time of my life standing with my eyes wide opened." Carolina replied.
"It's my entire fault; I shouldn't have obliged you to enroll in this marital agency." She apologized, while shaking her head. "I thought it would give you a chance to start new and better in life, but, you are into no obligation after last night event, to stay here."
"I'd married a man for better or worse, Katerina. I've believe I've simply known the worst before a little bit of better, now I don't want to talk about it anymore, I would gladly appreciate if you could hold your peace about it yourself."
Katerina stood frozen and speechless in front of this blonde, young woman that she was not able to recognize as her own sister.
"Ok, I guess it will take you a couple of days to regain your normal way of thinking, I'll wait, and in the meantime I'll stay with you in your suit." She addressed this solution to Carolina.
"No, Katerina, in the meantime you'll stay with your husband, and I'll stay with mine." Carolina stood on her position.
"It's a pay back, isn't it?" Katerina mumbled the words, with a teary voice.
"No, oh God, no …" Caroline replied, while taking a few steps toward her older sister, before holding her face with two hands. "I love you sister, but I need to live my life now, how complicated it has suddenly become, as nothing to do with you." She tried to explain. "You did nothing wrong, but wanting the best for me. And I wish for the same for you." She added, before taking a big breath. "I made one single mistake, I was in the wrong of not telling you that I wasn't interested in marrying a man that I knew nothing about, and I was in the wrong of not telling the same man the same thing. But, now, I've accepted my faith."
"You did nothing wrong… Nothing…." Katerina cried out the words. "But, your husband … He hurt my little sister."
"He made a mistake, he's human." Caroline replied, while swallowing a lump in her throat, before lowering her hands. "I'm willing to give him a single chance to regain my trust." She added, while turning her back, before closing her eyes and sighing loudly. "Now can we stop talking about this, I believe, that both my husband and I, we are more than this single event that happened in our life?" She concluded, before walking toward the entrance of her suite. "I'll see you in the dining room, I am famished. I hope Maria made chocolate rolls?"
Katerina saw the door of the suite being closed on its panel, before slowly letting her body fall on the suite carpet, her head buried in her hands.
Maria entered the dining room, while carrying two silver platters filled with croissants, scones and muffins, before placing the food on the beautiful white silk tablecloth. She suddenly startled at the view of Carolina who was sitting at the far end, alone, on one of the chairs.
"Oh Miss Carolina, you've startled me, you're already here as I can see." Maria exclaimed, with a motherly smile plastered on her lips.
"You want me to help you?" Carolina asked, while rising on her feet.
"What? No, none sense, I'm perfectly able to carry two plates, don't worry about me…Sit, sit, please." Maria asked her, with a hand gesture.
Carolina took her sitting position back on her chair, with a timid smile blessing her lips.
"Chocolate rolls, my child?" Maria asked, while blinking an eye at her, before handing the plate where a few of the said rolls were placed. "My lips are sealed; I won't tell that you took one before the others."
Carolina nodded her head, while raising the corners of her lips into a bigger smile.
"Thank you." She replied, while grabbing one before taking a big bite into the fresh bread.
"It's the favorite of your husband also." Maria added, while keeping the corners of her eyes on the young bride.
"You don't say." Carolina replied, while lowering her food on the porcelain plate, before losing her smile and appetite.
"The first days of a marriage are never as easy as it looks for a young bride, even more so when this is an arranged marriage." Maria said, while approaching the young woman, before sliding both of her hands on the frail shoulders of Carolina. "I don't remember much about my years as a young woman, but I do remember this, my mother used to say to me: Dear Lord, I pray for the wisdom to understand a man, I pray for the patience within myself to forgive him, and finally I pray for him to love me the way I will learn to love him."
Carolina closed her eyes, before feeling tears filling her eyelids.
"I'm more than a governess with an apron at hands, if you want to talk; I'm here for you, my child." She added, before walking toward the entrance door of the majestic dining room.
"Maria?" She heard the voice calling.
"Yes?" The governess replied, before turning her head toward Carolina.
"Thank you." The young Russian murmured.
"You're welcome." Maria replied, a smile blessing her lips.
Klaus gulped the bottom of his glass of whisky, while trying to find the strength to pass through this unbearable brunch ahead of him, before suddenly hearing the shrill sound of high heels hitting the marble floor. He closed his eyes while being aware of the bad karma that would soon come like a boomerang at him. He lowered the glass on the console table, before turning on himself, while swallowing a nervous lump in his throat.
Katerina reached his standing position in the parlor room, before slapping his face, twice, soon followed by a good punch of her closed right fist on his jaw and an additional one, near his right eye.
Klaus lose his balance, before bumping on one of the armchairs.
"Bastard…" Katerina yelled, before rubbing her swollen hand. "If you do this to my sister ever again, I swear I'll kill you myself!"
Klaus raised his sight in the one of the brunette, his right hand wiping the trickle of blood from his opened bottom lip.
He nodded his head in approval to her, before strengthening his upper body.
"You don't even have the decency to excuse your pathetic self of your despicable act?" Katerina lashed out.
"The beast that I am doesn't deserve any empathy, why would I present them?" He responded, while reaching the bar, before pouring himself another glass.
"You got that right, you don't deserve anything!" She yelled more, while pointing an accusatory finger at him. "And you are certainly not deserving of my sister as a wife."
"It's duly noted, Katerina." He replied to her, before gulping the amber liquid, lowering the glass on the bar, and turning himself to face his wife's sister. "You think I don't already know how much of a low life jerk I am? Believe me I've treated myself worse than you could ever try."
"I doubt that!" Katerina responded, while raising her chin.
They stared at each other for a few minute of unbearable silence, their mutual chest rising under their jerky breaths.
"If it would have been me, believe that I would have been able to handle the kind of pathetic man that you are. I've dealt with your kind all my life." Katerina added, before shaking her head. "But it is Carolina, she was innocent, pure, she had no idea what life could be made of. And innocently myself, I never thought that she would be put one day, in the middle of this kind of situation. And it's me who put her there. So, I am as much to blame as you are."
"I doubt that!" Klaus responded, while lowering his head. "Believe me, I've tried to repay my debt by offering a way out to her freedom, but she refused."
"Nothing that you will ever do, will repay it, nothing!" Katerina exclaimed, angrier than ever.
"Then I'll find another way!" Klaus yelled himself. "And I won't rest until she'll be free of me." He added, while hitting his chest with his closed right fist.
"Then I wish that God will help you, Klaus. Sooner you'll be out of her life, sooner she'll be able to regain her self-esteem." Katerina mumbled, angrily, between her teeth, before turning on her heels, and leaving the parlor room.
"Well, everything certainly look delicious, Maria, my respect to the chef." Elijah thanked his governess, while placing a red napkin on his lap, while trying to ease the tensed atmosphere felt in the room. He rapidly glanced at both his brother's and wife's injuries, from the corners of his eyes. Obviously, the two of them had a confrontation earlier.
"Thank you, Mister Mikaelson." Maria responded, while nodding her head with respect, before discreetly handing one pack of ice cubes to Katerina and one to Klaus, for both of their injuries. "Keep it on your hand for a good hour, Mrs. Katherine." She murmured near Katerina's right ear, to which the young Russian nodded, while blushing, and avoiding Elijah's glance.
"What is this brunch about, Elijah?" Klaus growled, with annoyance. "Please, reassure me, because I already fear the worst with the extra plates placed on the table."
"Something that we can't avoid any longer, Niklaus, even if we wish to avoid it." Elijah replied, while rolling his eyes and sighing loudly.
Maria directed her walk toward Carolina, while carrying a warm silver pot of coffee, before asking:
"Would you wish for coffee or tea, Madam?"
"Coffee will be fine, thank you Maria." She replied, keeping her sight on the table, while nervously rubbing her hands under the tablecloth. Klaus was sitting in a too close proximity of hers, so close that she couldn't even breathe at the moment. And the reason of her nervousness was that she couldn't figure out if this was because of her remaining fear, repulsion or other unanswered feelings within herself that she was not able or ready to admit yet?
Maria grabbed Carolina's porcelain cup before pouring the hot beverage, with this single sound to fill the awkward silence of the room.
"Oh! What a lovely ankle bracelet, Madam, with each letter of your name as charms." Maria exclaimed, while smiling and focusing her attention on the jewelry.
Klaus startled at the governess say, with the utmost surprise, before lowering his sight on Carolina's ankle, his eyes meeting the one of his wife a second later.
Carolina kept her sight locked with the blue one of her husband for a few seconds, feeling the heartbeats of her heart rising dangerously in her chest, before lowering her eyes on the table, and blushing.
"It's a wedding gift." She managed to whisper, while suddenly raising her sight in front of her, before noticing her sister surprised expression.
"Elijah? What is this gathering all about?" Klaus asked, once more, before crossing his arms in front of his chest.
Elijah raised his shirt sleeve while glancing at his watch.
"Five, four, three, two, one …." He counted, under the dumbfounded and speechless expression of both of the sisters and his brother.
"My best greetings brothers and new stepsisters!" They all heard an enthusiastic male voice, before turning their sights toward a smiling young man that was standing over the threshold of the dining room, with an opened arms gesture directed at all of them. "Who will be the first to give me a kiss?"
"I never thought I would be happy to hear Kol's voice." Elijah murmured to himself, while stroking his eyelids, and shaking his head in disbelief.
"You could have told me?" Klaus whispered, angrily, to his older brother, while bending his upper body over the table.
"Believe me, Niklaus, if I had found the time in between the drama, I would have told you." Elijah replied, while mumbling the words between his teeth.
Carolina turned her wondering sight toward her husband, with much interrogation left in her eyes.
"He's my brother?" Klaus informed her, while understanding her silent question.
"But, Elijah?" She replied, surprised, while pointing a finger toward the oldest.
"This one is my other brother, the annoying youngest." Klaus explained, rapidly.
"Let me introduce myself, I'm Kol Mikaelson, a savior, a charmer, and most of all, a lover." Kol presented himself, while raising a hand of honor over his chest.
"Oh, God, help us all!" Elijah whispered.
"And he is soon to be dead!" Klaus mumbled, angrily, between his teeth.
"And who are those lovely ladies?" Kol asked, smiling and happy like a chaffinch, while approaching the table, before sliding his jacket on the back of one of the remaining dinning chair. "So what do we have here, a blonde bombshell and a sexy brunette, cleaver you two!" He added, while pointing a finger at both of his older brothers. "Maria, as always such a pleasure to see such beauty in front of my sight, I'm waiting for my kiss?" He addressed himself to the governess while presenting his left cheek.
"Mister Mikalson?" Maria begged her employer from the corners of her eyes to help her. "This is highly none appropriate?"
"Kol" Elijah warned, while drowning his narrowed sight in the one of the youngest.
"Yes, I know, Elijah… I'm sorry, Maria." Kol apologize, while lowering his sight, before taking his sitting place at the table.
"No harm done, Mister Kol, do you wish for coffee or tea?" Maria asked him, while blushing.
"Coffee will be fine." He replied to the governess. "So, the brunette is Klaus's wife and the blonde is Elijah's?" He guessed, smirking. "That would explain Niklaus's black eye, and your injured hand, darling." He added, while winking at Katerina. "Such fire in the first days of your marital life together, I like it!" He commented, while rubbing his hands together.
"Did you notice that I still have one uninjured hand that could serve me right?" Katerina responded to the young man, with a friendly warning.
"Oh, she got spunks! I like you already!" Kol exclaimed, while hugging Katerina shoulders. "Good choice, Klaus!" He added, with a thumb up.
"Kol, Katerina is my wife, Carolina is Niklaus's." Elijah responded, from the tips of his lips. "For security purposes they have been both renamed Katherine and Caroline."
"Are you serious? This one is yours?" Kol laughed. "Well, she will certainly bring fire into your life and bed, grandpa!" He added, smirking at Elijah. "So the little blonde is with Klaus, then? She looks a bit stuck and pretentious, no?"
"Well I'm sure it's nothing that my knee could not change while soon come into contact with a certain part of your anatomy!" Carolina replied, slyly, with a faked smile.
Elijah spit his coffee on the table, coughing his way through Carolina answer, while Katerina lowered her head to hide her amusement in her own cup. That was the sister she could recognize and love. Klaus suddenly turned his head toward his wife to take a quick glance at her, with a gleam of proudness in his sight.
"Ouch!" Kol replied. "Directly into my heart, Carolina, I'm deeply hurt now, but, I'm willing to give you another chance, dear stepsister." He added, smiling, while pointing a finger at her. "You see, I'm suddenly depressed. It feels like I'm the only man around this table that did not find his soul mate yet, which is really disturbing." He mocked, before grabbing a slice of fresh bread, and spreading a bit of jam on it.
"Kol, there's still a couple of bars in the city that did not see your ass in their establishments, yet, if you are interested to find the love of your life of course?" Klaus snapped, sarcastically. "I'm sure that you could find suitable ladies there? Of course, you need to pay them enough money for them to endure your presence."
"Brother, are you trying to bond with me with sarcasm, just now?" Kol asked, while taking a big bite of his slice of bread. "Because, you see, it feels like a bounding moment between us, I just want to be reassured that it is?"
"My fist hitting your jaw could be considered as a bounding moment, are you interested?" Klaus replied, smirking.
"Well, don't worry Kol, it couldn't be worst then both of our older brothers taking the service of a Russian marital agency to find two women to stand by their sides as wives could it?" They all heard a snappy, feminine voice exclaimed from the dining room entrance. "My deepest sympathies offered to both women, by the way."
An awkward silence filled the air of the main dinning room for a few remaining minutes, soon interrupted by the arrival of Stefan Salvatore, who stood immobile by the blonde woman side.
"Why do I have the deep feeling that you've already opened your big mouth, Rebekah?" He murmured, near her right ear, while feeling the awkwardness of their present arrival.
"I don't know what you're talking about?" Rebekah shrugged her shoulders, while entering the dining room.
"Katerina, Carolina, let me present to you, our youngest sister, Rebekah." Elijah presented, while dropping his napkin on the table, before crossing his arms in front of his chest, and narrowing his sight on Rebekah. "Rebekah if you are here, at this brunch to disrespect my rules and the people present under my roof, you can take the door as of now." He warned her, before adding. "And by the way, who we have decided to marry is none of yours or Kol's business. Am I clear?"
"Don't be such a fuss, Elijah." Rebekah exclaimed, before taking her sitting position at the table, with Kol placed at her left. "After all, we should feel deeply hurt to not have been invited at both of your weddings, when was that exactly?" She asked, perniciously.
"I don't recall." Elijah replied, tit for tat, before seeing his childish sister pull her tongue at him.
"How many of them are there still?" Katerina asked Elijah, while bending her upper body near him.
Elijah smirked at his wife, before caressing her left cheek with the back of his right hand.
"It's the last of the remaining living ones, I swear to you." Elijah confirmed to her.
"There is a God!" Katerina whispered more, while rolling her eyes.
Stefan finally stepped into the dining room, before greeting the brides with bouquets of fresh flowers.
"These are for you, beautiful. Congratulations on your wedding day." He presented a bouquet of white roses to Carolina, under the sound of grunts of his friend Klaus, whose thermometer of jealousy was reaching its highest point.
"You're licking ass now, Salvatore?" Kol exclaimed, while pointing a hand at Stefan.
"Kol, watch your tongue!" Elijah warned.
"But Elijah, I swear he's going to make me puke my breakfast on the table."
"Not my fault, if you have no manners, Mikaelson!" Stefan replied to the youngest Mikaelson brother.
"Thank you, Stefan." Carolina replied, while holding her laughter, before taking the bouquet in her hands.
"I did not bring any for you, Klaus, you forgive me don't you?" Stefan mocked his friend, while smirking at him, and grabbing his shoulders in a friendly hug.
"I would have made you swallow them, Salvatore!" Klaus replied, gruffly. "And not the way you think."
"Klaus, watch your tongue!" Elijah repeated.
"Is he always this unhappy and grumpy in the morning?" Stefan asked, while winking at Carolina, before walking toward the other side of the table. "And these are for you gorgeous." He offered the second bouquet of red roses to Katerina, while handing his hand to her. "I believe I did not have the pleasure, Stefan Salvatore, I'm one of … No, actually, let me rephrase, I'm the only friend of Klaus."
"My sympathies offered to you, then." Katerina replied, slyly, to him.
"I like your sister already, Carolina." Stefan replied, smiling, before taking his sitting position, at the right of Rebekah's. "Elijah, you got yourself a fearless wife, I approve."
"Thank you, Stefan." Elijah replied, while rolling his eyes.
"So, how much do they pay you to marry them?" Rebekah asked, as burned doublet.
"Rebekah!" Elijah warned her, while pronouncing her name.
"What? It's a legitimate question, Elijah?" His sister responded, while shrugging her shoulders.
"I prefer you to her, now." Carolina suddenly murmured to Kol, while narrowing her sight at Rebekah.
"See!" Kol replied, while pointing a finger at Carolina. "I knew you would eventually come to your senses. I'm so loveable." He added, while winking at her.
"I still don't!" Katerina said, mockingly, while shaking her head.
"It's because of your kick boxing session with Klaus, this morning. You're still under the rage effect." Kol added, while serving himself a plate of scrambled eggs.
"You did that?" Rebekha asked Katerina, while pointing with her knife, the black eye and injured jaw of Klaus. "What did my brother do this time to deserve this, not that I am complaining?"
Katerina raised her sight in the one of her sister, who discreetly shook her head, while begging her with a worrying look to keep this private event under silence. Then, she turned her glance into the one of Klaus, who kept impassive, he would obviously take any faith thrown at him for his wrongs, you needed to give this single quality to the guy.
"Yes, I did that." She finally responded, without giving any further explanation to Klaus's sister.
"I'm impressed. If you keep this up…" Rebekah informed the oldest sister, while pointing a finger at her. "There's maybe a chance that we could become friend in the future?"
"I doubt that." Both Katerina and Carolina exclaimed at the same time, before having the all table burst into laughter at their mutual, synchronized say.
"It's not funny!" Rebekah exclaimed, infuriated. "I'm so beautiful and perfect that it's barely impossible for me to have any female friends." She whined, while pouting.
"You know why, sister dearest?" Klaus responded. "It's because there is no mute option that comes with your beautiful package." He added, while trickling another round of laughter.
"It's still not funny!" Rebekah mumbled angrily between her teeth, getting cut in the moment, while throwing a bread bun at Klaus's head, before busting into laughter herself.
Maria took the bouquets of flowers from Carolina's and Katerina's hands, before reaching Elijah sitting position at the far end of the table, sliding a friendly hand on his right should, before lowering her head near him.
"Considering, Mister Mikaelson, this brunch went better than expected." She addressed him a smile, while murmuring the words.
"Bless your soul and mine, Maria, for this unexpected gift of life." He responded, while winking at her.
Carolina faced the fireplace, while sitting in the leather sofa, her feet comfortably tuck under her thighs, with her sight lost in the flames of the opened fire. Her mind and thoughts closed to the exterior world, when she suddenly heard a discreet cough.
She turned her head, while seeing Elijah standing under the arch door, with his hands buried in his pants pockets, a timid smile blessing his lips.
"Good evening, Carolina." He greeted her.
"Good evening, I'm sorry, if you want me to leave, and be left alone in this room, just ask?" She inquired, while blushing and suddenly strengthening her upper body.
"Of course not, Carolina, don't you move a muscle and please stay, would you?" Elijah replied, before closing the door of the parlor room behind him, and walking toward her. "This Manor is to be considered your home now; therefore, you can be in any room that pleases you."
"Thank you." She replied, politely.
"I was thinking of pouring myself a night cap, would you care to join me for one, perhaps?" He politely asked, while raising the sleeves of his man shirt on his forearms, and directing his walk toward the bar.
"Eh… Sure, what do you suggest?" She asked, with a timid smile.
"It's a secret bottle, don't you dare telling anyone of its emplacement. Your taste buds won't ever touch this marvel ever again…Well, not after tonight that is." He informed the young woman, sarcastically, before putting a finger on his lips, as a silence gesture.
He grabbed a key, before pushing a painting on the wall, and opening a secret panel, from where he pulled a bottle, before pouring two glasses from it.
"1922, it cost me a fortune!" He smiled, while approaching Carolina and handing a glass to her, before taking his sitting position on a leather armchair, near the sofa.
"Mm…." She tasted, surprised by the richness of the alcohol. "It's very good."
"I've told you." He replied, smiling. "I have certain knowledge in old and reckless." He mocked, while winking an eye at her.
"My lips are sealed." She nodded, smiling.
"I appreciate the gesture." He nodded himself, while drowning his sight in the fireplace. "You mind if I smoke?"
"Not at all…" She replied to him, while sipping the delicious alcohol.
Elijah lighted up a cigar, before taking his first puff, and lowering his back on the arm chair, his sight lost in the flames of the fire.
They sat silently, lost in their own thoughts for a few minutes, before Elijah finally broke the comforting silence between them.
"My biggest apologies for my siblings' impertinence, I've tried to muzzle them a long time ago, but they refused categorically to wear the harness." He informed Carolina, sarcastically.
"You're speaking of which one of your siblings, Kol, Rebekah, or … Klaus?" She replied, tit for tat.
"And you threw an arrow directly into the heart … That is "Touché", my dear." He replied, smirking.
Another silence filled the parlor room, only disturbed by crackle of lobs.
"He's not necessarily as vain, arrogant and heartless as he seems to be, you know?" Elijah said, with a more serious tone of voice, while sipping his glass and keeping his sight in the fire.
"You're his brother; I'm not expecting you to not love Klaus or to stop defending him." Carolina replied, while swallowing a nervous lump in her throat.
"That is where you're wrong; I oftentimes was completely against him and his own way of dealing with life." Elijah replied. "I'm a man of honor and integrity, two qualities that Klaus seems to have forgotten in his life."
Carolina turned her head to glance at Elijah, before biting her bottom lip, while trying her hardest to forbid herself to ask the question, but without being able to resist.
"Why has he become what he is now?" She whispered the words.
Elijah sighed, before turning his sight in the one of his stepsister.
"Main reason was that he always thought that he was an unwanted child." Elijah responded, while bending his head.
"I don't understand? The normal siblings bickering that I've witnessed aside, you seem to love him, Elijah?" Carolina asked, questioning the issue in her head.
"There actually no doubt about it, my dear, I do love him, and oftentimes against my good judgement." He replied, before adding. "Klaus was conceived outside the wedlock." Elijah informed her. "But, please don't take this information against him, though it would probably be the rightful lethal harm to use if you wanted to hurt him one day."
"I wouldn't do that." Carolina shook her head. "Was it your mother or your father?"
"My mother actually, she had an affair and Klaus became the illegitimate child. My biological father accepted my mother indiscretion under false pretention and by ricochet Klaus always felt rejected all his life." Elijah informed her. "Oftentimes, it doesn't excuse his behavior in any way, Carolina, but it explains the man he has become."
"He thinks he's been rejected all his life." She mumbled the words, between her teeth. "Therefore, he takes what he wants with the assurance to not be rejected first hands ever again."
"You could say something in those kind words." Elijah replied, agreeing, while nodding his head.
"You'll be good for my sister, Elijah, I'm happy about that." Carolina said, openly and unexpectedly, while smiling and surprising him by her admission. "Why do you think it works so well between the two of you?"
Elijah turned his sight in the one of Carolina in surprise, before shaking his head.
"Well…I don't know, we seem to understand each other from the start, I suppose. We established our boundaries, and we know that our past has nothing to do with the present situation of our marriage, and we are leading ourselves into the future with wide, opened eyes." He replied, honestly, while shrugging his shoulders.
"You're old also, it must help." Carolina added, while shrugging her shoulders, before suddenly blushing while realizing her say. "Oh no, no… I didn't mean any disrespect, I meant…You're both older, and …" She tried to swim against current because of her wrong say, while blushing intensively.
Elijah smirked, amused, before rising on his legs and taking from her hands the empty glass she was holding.
"Next time, Carolina, be assured that I won't offer you a drink from my special bottle." He warned her, unserious, while smirking and pointing a forbidden finger at her.
"But I know where your special bottle is now, Elijah." Carolina replied, smiling.
"That my dear…" He started, while putting the bottle back in its hiding place. "It's because I wanted you to know. I'll leave you to your evening." He added, before directing his walk toward the door. "It was nice talking to you."
"Elijah?" Carolina called.
"Yes, Carolina?" He replied, before turning his glance toward her.
"Thank you." She nodded. "I mean for the talk and the "special" drink."
"You're welcome." He answered her, before adding. "You're a strong woman, Carolina… Just know that underneath my brother rough exterior and incessant wrongs, he is not as bad as he wants you to think." He concluded, before leaving the room.
Carolina paced back and forth in Klaus's bedroom suite, while nervously rubbing her hands together. The night had finally lowered his dark curtains over the city, and it's with nervous anticipation that she was waiting for her husband arrival.
She heard the suite entrance door being opened and closed on its arch, before hearing the synchronized sounds of his walking steps hitting the marble floor and finally reaching the bedroom. He stood motionless over the threshold, while startling at her view.
"I couldn't tell … I mean…" She started, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "I wasn't sure of what you expected of me." She mumbled, nervously. "Do you want me to sleep in my suite, or for me to sleep by your side in yours?"
Klaus lowered his head away from his wife sight, while closing his eyes, and sighing loudly, before suddenly directing his walk toward the opened walk-in.
"It makes no difference to me, do as you wish, Carolina." He replied, in front of her speechless expression, while feeling her presence behind his back. "The two suites are available to you now, they are yours."
"What do you mean they are mine?" Carolina asked him, nervously, while seeing him pulled a backpack from one of the walk-in closet shelves.
"It's exactly what it means; I won't be present in either one of them, therefore both suites are yours." He responded, while dropping several pieces of clothes in the backpack.
"You're leaving … You're leaving me?" She mumbled the words, in shock.
"Yes" He responded to her. "It will give you the time to ponder your life, and start new when you will be ready, without having to endure me by your side." He added, while closing the backpack.
"You're a coward!" She lashed out at him, while closing her fists in anger.
"I've been called worst the last twenty-four hours and rightly so." He replied to her, while putting the backpack on his right shoulder, before grabbing his leather jacket on a near hook, and stepping away from her.
"Don't turn your back on me!" She yelled more, while pointing an accusatory finger at him. "Not, when I am the only one willing to give you a chance."
Klaus hold his pace, while frowning and closing his fists in anger, anger directed entirely toward himself.
"Don't waste your time on me, Carolina, I'm not deserving of that chance." He responded to her.
"Why?" She asked, under her jerky breaths.
He turned on himself, abruptly dropping his backpack and leather jacket on the wooden floor, before rushing by her side, his upper body bending on hers, his upper arms placed on each side of her head on the wall.
Carolina startled with fear, while gluing her body on the wall placed behind her back, her chest rising rapidly under her rapid breathing.
"This is why." He whispered to her, his sight lost in Carolina's. "I'm not even touching you right now that you are already shivering with fears and disdain." He explained. "You're disgusted by my sight and it shows."
"Don't put words into my mouth." She murmured to him, while raising her chin before lowering her sight on his mouth.
"Kiss me then?" He asked her, unexpectedly. "Prove it to me."
"What?" She mumbled the word.
"It shouldn't be too difficult?" He added, his heavy breaths caressing her lips.
"I…" She tried to explain, while losing all coherent thoughts in her mind.
"Yes, that is what I thought…" Klaus replied, before detaching himself from Carolina.
She retained him by grabbing his right forearm, before rising on her tip toes, her arms suddenly wrapped around his neck, her hands grabbing the hair on the base of his neck, helping her to keep her balance, before sliding her trembling lips on his.
Klaus kept his eyes opened, his lips kept closed, motionless, emotionless, and hard as rock, before feeling her tears rolling on her cheeks, under the effort given to act against her will.
"I can't…" She apologized, under her intense sobbing.
He detached her hands from his neck, before gently pushing her away from him.
"I know…" He replied, before bending his body to grab his bag and leather jacket. "That is why I'm leaving, Carolina." He added, before storming out of his own suite.
"Niklaus… NIKLAUS!" Elijah yelled repeatedly, before raising his voice to retain his brother, while walking on Klaus's heels in the corridor leading into the Manor's garage. "When I am calling your name, at least have the decency to respond to me!"
"What now, Elijah?" Klaus asked, leading his way to the garage, while walking toward his Harley motorcycle. He pushed the remote control to open the door to the outside world of the England winter, before opening the backseat luggage compartment to drop his backpack in it.
"Your wife Carolina, you do remember her, do you?" Elijah mumbled, angrily, between his teeth, while pacing back and forth on the cement floor. "Haven't you done enough damage, already?"
"Yes, I actually do remember her, brother." Klaus responded, while grabbing his helmet before placing it on his head. "It's because I remember her that I'll give her the necessary space to finally help her make the right decision to leave me."
"It is winter out there; you're going to ride your Harley in the winter time?" Elijah asked, while angrily gesturing with his arms.
"I need the fresh air." Klaus responded.
"Fuck!" Elijah mumbled, while passing a hand through his hair, angrier than ever.
"Don't worry I won't die if I catch a cold, immortal and all." Klaus added, slyly. "And that is a very bad word, you've just said; I'm starting to rub off on you."
"You won't even fight for her. And, you won't even fight to regain your dignity." Elijah yelled. "What kind of a man are you, Niklaus?"
Klaus got on his bike, while revving the engine.
"The worst you could find, Elijah." He responded, while lowering the visor on his sight. "I thought you knew that already?"
"You'll run away selfishly while leaving behind you, probably the only woman able to accept your wrongs and to grant you a second chance?" Elijah sighed, with discouragement.
"Actually, Elijah, this … Right here, right now … It's the least selfish I've ever been in all my life, and it's all for her." Klaus responded, before leaving the garage on grinding wheel sound.
"Damn you Niklaus!" Elijah mumbled, between his teeth, before closing his eyes and sighing loudly, while being left alone with his angry thoughts in mind.
A few light flakes started their descent from the night sky, while covering the streets of London of a thin white coat of snow. Carolina was standing in front of Klaus's bedroom window, while lowering her sight on the front gate of the Manor.
The motorcycle suddenly stopped in front of the gate; with the noise of the engine suddenly dying and leaving the silence only to fill the obscurity of the night. Klaus turned his sight toward the Manor, before raising a rapid glance toward his bedroom. "She" was standing in front of the window, with her sight fixated on him. He swallowed a nervous lump in his throat, before restarting the engine of the motorcycle, opening the brass doors of the gate, and finally leaving the premises.
Carolina let one single tear running down her left cheek, before closing her eyes, and raising her shaking right hand to wipe it away.
Klaus Mikaelson, her husband, had left her … And probably for good …
Elijah entered his suite, while sighing loudly and closing his eyes under an intense tiredness, before pushing the door on its arch. There was no need to inform Katerina as of tonight, of Klaus's sudden departure.
He directed his walking steps toward the bedroom, before noticing Katerina silhouette in front of the window. She was standing in the dark, with the rays of the moon illuminating the curves of her body through the transparent white fabric of her nightgown. He swallowed a nervous lump in his throat at her magnificent view.
She finally turned on herself, while facing him, her sight lost in her husband's, before sensually pushing the straps of her nightgown on her upper arms, the sumptuous fabric sliding on her naked body, before landing on her feet, a second later.
Elijah took a deep breath, while approaching his wife standing position, his stare kept in hers, before slowly raising the back of his hands on the length of her arms. She closed her eyes under the intense range of shivers and pleasure hitting her spine, all at once, with her heartbeats increasing dangerously in her chest, under a rising rage or breaths.
Elijah closed his eyes, before bending his head near hers to softly kiss her forehead.
"You're so beautiful." He murmured, under the same intense emotions, while caressing the crucible of her shoulders. "And you are standing in front of me barefoot?" He mocked, gently.
"You're only noticing my feet?" She murmured, out of breath.
"Believe me, Katerina, I've noticed all that you have offered to my sight." He replied, softly, while kneeling at her feet, before slowly raising the fabric of the nightgown back on her shivering and naked body, the straps being replaced on her shoulders. "Thank you. But tonight …" He added, while cupping her delicate face in his hands, his eyes drown into hers. "You need to cry on my shoulders."
Katerina startled at Elijah's words, before suddenly giving herself, the right, to feel her pain. The tears ran down on her cheeks, with loud sobbing sounds finally coming out or her mouth. He slowly brought her into an embrace, before tenderly rocking her in his arms, her head placed on his right shoulder, with his left hand rubbing her lower back and his right hand caressing softly her hair.
Russia - City of Moscow - Abandoned factory.
The sound of shoes hitting the concrete pavement filled the emptiness and quietness of the abandoned factory. Mikael Mikaelson wrapped himself in his winter coat, while raising his scarf over his neck. Even as an Original vampire, he was still able to feel the crisp, icy, cold weather of Russia.
He finally stopped in front of two hybrids guards, placed in their human forms in front of a steel door, with weapons in hands. They nodded their heads to him, while keeping their murderous sights fixated on the vampire.
"Я здесь, чтобы увидеть Petrov. Он ждет меня." I'm here to see Petrov. He is waiting for me. He informed the guards in Russian, while nodding his head in respect to them.
The two guards remained silent, but one of them opened the steel door placed behind their backs, while leading their walking steps inside.
The Original passed the threshold, before following the tall man into numerous corridors, while being brought in front of an additional steel door a few minutes later.
"Petrov is waiting for you inside." The Russian guard informed the vampire in perfect English.
Mikael Mikaelson pushed the door before entering a dark room where a single light illuminated its darkness, with a lamp placed on a folding table.
"Mikael" He heard the greeting of a hoarse male voice, with a tick Russian accent.
"Ludvig" Mikael replied, while slowly getting rid of his leather gloves, before reaching the man position.
"It's been a long time, my friend." The said Ludvig replied.
"It has." Mikael confirmed, while smiling deviously.
"Yes, a thousand of years, I believe the last time we'd met, it was when the blade of my sword met yours." Ludvig added, sarcastically. "These are vivid memories."
"Mm… Indeed." Mikael replied to him, smirking, before holding his walking pace in front of the table, both hands crossed over his chest.
Ludvig Petrov was sitting on a chair, in front of Mikael's sight, with two gorilla men by his sides.
"But not as intense as the memory of you and my wife becoming lovers, with your bastard son, Klaus, left in her womb." Mikael added, slyly
ooOoo
End of chapter – This story goes now on a period of hiatus, and will be back in August with a new chapter named: "The Return".
(*) Just for you information, "Petrov" and "Petrova" are two (2) different family names in this present fiction (you'll understand more in the following chapter to come).
Responses to anonymous reviews
Guest1: Yes, you are right, the sisters have a good bounding, even if they are very different, and this connection will deepen with time.
Guest2: I appreciate that you need more, and I hope this chapter will make you happy for the time being, until the story will return.
Sony: Happy you have found a best line in chapter 9 (smiling myself).
Ines: I think by this chapter I've answered to your question about Kol & Rebekah (winking). As for more conflict, yes, but together this time, and not divided.
VD: You've noticed all the actions of each character as the way to try to become a better version of their own self, and I've enjoyed so much reading your own analyze of the past chapter.
Justine: Je sais que je ne peux pas te forcer à ouvrir un compte pour un échange plus personnel, mais sache que tu es l'une qui sèche toujours mes pleurs, ma chérie, car tu as un cœur en or pour m'écrire de si longue pensées sur mes chapitres. Je t'embrasse très fort!
Terry: I'll try to keep it up when I'll reprise/continue this story.
IloveTVD: I gave all of myself in that chapter; you've noticed it by the exchange and exact words that I've tried to include in their conversations. To this point, my French background is starting to not even be a big issue; it's called learning and growing into a second language. Instigator is an English word: someone who deliberately foments trouble.
Tammingofthesgre: Please, give time to the author; we can only go one chapter at a time. In the last chapter it was mentioned that a family brunch was set the same morning, maybe you did not retain this information in your memory or focus on that part? So, this chapter was the multi-interactions chapter, highly anticipated by me.