SWEET KISSES FROM RUSSIA
Fan Fiction – Alternate Universe
Caroline & Klaus
Elijah & Katherine
From: Lovely Vero
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…
(…)
"Let me direct your hand." He whispered the words near her right ear, the warm of his breath caressing her cheek.
Don't freak out, Carolina, don't freak out … She said silently to herself, while closing her eyes for a few seconds.
He directed her hands near the canvas before stroking the paint softly on the outlines.
"You see, if you paint in small touches instead of a straight line the effect is lighter, rounder, and more precise." He explained to her.
"Yes, I do see it." Carolina watched carefully the canvas in front of her sight, with a timid smile plastered on her lips. "I feel the difference with each stroke when you are directing me." She added, enthusiastically.
"With that technic you'll be able to give a three dimensional effect to your painting." He added to her.
She turned her head to the right, while being suddenly placed at a near inch of distance from his.
"Thank you." She mumbled the words, while holding her breath, her sight fixated on his lips.
He nodded his head, before suddenly releasing her hand from his own grip, and taking a few steps away from his wife.
"I'll take one of the guest suites. I'm tired, we'll talk tomorrow." He informed her, while grabbing his backpack and helmet on the table, before storming out of the art shop without another word.
Carolina buried her head in her shaking hands to help her regain her composure.
Klaus Mikaelson, "her" husband has finally returned home …
Chapter 12
"Family ties"
Klaus dressed his muscular legs with a pair of faded jeans, before walking chest naked and bare feet into the bedroom area of the guest suite, while drying his hair with a clean body towel. It was the best night he had experienced since his departure from London six months ago, and this only for the few hours of sleep that he had been able to catch inside the walls of the manor, or was it because he knew "she" was close by from him?
He rubbed the body towel on his long golden locks, while also chaffing his bearded chin. Apparently, a visit to the barber/hairdresser would not be a luxury to this point. He wrapped the towel around his neck, before raising his head and immobilizing all his movements at the view of his wife sitting at the feet of his bed.
"You mentioned yesterday that you wanted to talk in the morning. Well, it's the morning." Carolina said, firmly while rubbing her hands together, before raising her head and locking her sight in her husband's. "Let's talk!" She reaffirmed.
Klaus frowned, before placing his closed fists on each side of his waist, while keeping his sight locked in hers. Courage, determination, and stubbornness were the three traits that you could discover in a simple glimpse into her eyes.
Carolina lowered her sight away from his muscular naked chest, while hiding her flushed cheeks to her husband.
"Then I'll talk, and you'll listen." He replied, in a firmer tone of voice. "I want for you to be free of "me", Carolina." He added. "I gave you the necessary time the past few months to exit this ludicrous contract of ours."
"I fulfilled the conditions of the contract six months ago, and I'd exchanged vows with "you"; you'll have to forgive me if I am not able to act as cowardly as you are, at the moment." Carolina mumbled, angrily, between her teeth.
Klaus closed his fists tighter, while sighing loudly. How much stubborn could she be? He threw the body towel on a nearby chair, before taking the last steps to reach her standing position.
"If it is money that you are worrying about, you'll have plenty, you will never have to worry about being poor again, Carolina." He replied, while bending his head near hers.
"Я не забочусь о деньгах, и ты это знаешь!" She busted, angrily, in Russian, while rising on her legs and signifying her reluctance about taking her husband's money. "And I am not a luxury doll that you'll keep behind a window and away from you."
"You'll need that money to start your new life, and this subject is not debatable." He replied, firmly. "And I never thought that you were a luxury doll, Love, far from it."
"You have met someone?" She asked, unexpectedly, while swallowing a nervous lump in her throat. "While … While being away all these months?"
Klaus sighed loudly, while raising his head, before closing his eyes. The easy answer would be: yes! It would put Carolina at arm length, while pushing her toward her freedom, but he couldn't hurt her this way. Not after what had happened between them.
"No" He simply replied, while nervously passing a hand through his hair.
"But you wish to meet someone else, perhaps?" She added, curiously. "You wish for me to disappear, because you wish to start new? If so, just tell me, I'll leave."
Damn her, damn her! This would be so easy to say if the circumstances were different, but seeing his own refection in her teary eyes was too much for him to handle.
"I don't need or wish to have a woman in my life as of now." He replied, simply. "Is this clear enough for you?"
"Because you have conveniently forgotten, the past six months, that you have a wife, who's waiting for you at home?" She busted into his face, while closing her fists in anger.
"Oh believe me, sweetheart, I couldn't forget about my "wife" even if I wanted to erase you from my memory." He growled, while containing his temper. "It's all that I had in my head the past six months: you, you and always you!" He lashed out at her, while pointing a finger to his right temple.
"I'm so sorry to have been an inconvenience in the pathetic life of a rich playboy who decided one day that he was bored and would buy himself a wife!" She lashed out at his face. "Pardon me to be as stupid as wanting to give you another chance, to give "our" marriage another chance." She added, before turning on her heels in the intention of storming out of the suite.
Klaus muscles tensed due to his raising anger toward himself, and the fact that she was too stubborn to even understand what would be good for her.
He walked rapidly to reach Carolina, before grabbing her right upper arm, and pulling her frail body at a close proximity of his. It was easy for him to notice that she had lost a considerable amount of weight the past few months; her bones were almost showing underneath her skin.
"Let go of my arm!" She warned him, while trying to free herself.
"What will it take for you to understand that I'm damaged, that I will destroy every pieces of yourself that is good, while only leaving behind the shadow of what you used to be, Carolina!" He lashed out at her.
She raised her teary eyes in the ones of Klaus, while letting out a cry, before hitting his chest with her closed fists, all the past months of anger, disappointment, sadness suddenly rising out of her system.
He let Carolina hit him several times with all that she got of strength left in her. In a weird twist of faith, it was delivering Klaus of his own resentment toward himself. She finally let herself fall on the wooden floor, while burying her head in her hands, deep cries of despair getting out of her throat, tears rolling fluently on her face.
Klaus shut his eyes, while sighing loudly. He couldn't bear the thought of seeing her cry this way. It reminded him too well of the tears she had shed on their wedding night.
"Please don't cry, Carolina" He begged her, while nervously passing a hand through his tangled hair.
The cries and the tears intensified, leaving Carolina under intense spasms while gasping for air to enter her lungs. He let himself fall on the floor at her side, before raising his shaking right hand near her head.
"I beg you, please don't cry, Love." He murmured, softly, while sliding the short strands of blonde hair that were falling on her forehead. "I can't bear to hear you cry." He added, with a broken voice, before raising her chin and teary face to his sight. "Shh… Stop crying." He murmured to calm her down.
Carolina finally managed to take a deep breath into her lungs, while raising her sight in the one of her husband, her vision blurred by her tears, before feeling the raging heartbeats in her chest.
He cupped her face in his hands, while lowering his head near hers, before closing his eyes and slowly kissing the remaining tears that were falling from her eyelashes.
"Don't cry … Please don't cry … It's … It's tearing me apart to see you this hurt, Carolina." He whispered, while leaving a trail of kisses on her cheeks. "That's why I left, because … Because I can't bear to see you sad." He added, while lowering his lips at the corners on her lips.
He reopened his eyes, before drowning his sight in the one of his wife, his lips at a near inch of distance of Carolina's. She let out of her mouth a profound sigh, while closing her eye, before half-opening her lips. Like a firefly attracted by the darkness of the night, Klaus broke the remaining distance between them, before slowly nibbling on her bottom lips.
Carolina let out a small moan, while slowly raising her fingers on the bare skin of his chest, higher on his shoulders to help her keep her equilibrium, while suddenly feeling light headed.
He intensified the embrace by kissing her lips tenderly, but without forcing her into a deeper exchange, before sliding his hands around her waist, while gently bringing her to sit on his lap, in the warmest of his arms.
She got closer while pressing her trembling chest on his, her fingers finding the softness of his longer locks at the base of his neck, while suddenly hearing his growls of pleasure, before moaning pleasurably herself, under the assault of his tongue invading the wetness of her mouth.
Klaus's left hand grabbed the base of Carolina's neck, while deepening the intensity of his kisses, his mouth devouring hers after so many months of starvation in the desert of his loneliness. He started rubbing her body with his left hand, while hearing her breathing intensify. He detached his mouth from hers, while lowering his lips on the silkiness of her neck, his hands rising on the naked skin of her back, underneath her light sweater.
Carolina lowered her head backward, while giving him a free access to her neck and neckline, under the heavy sound of her intensifying breaths, before grabbing two hands full of his golden curls. She suddenly let out a cry of surprise, while pushing herself away.
"What?" Klaus asked, in surprise. "Did I hurt you?" He added, while caressing her short hair.
She shook her head, while swallowing a lump in her throat.
"I won't … I won't try anything that you don't want." He found within himself the courage to say.
"It's not that." She shook her head more. "It's your beard, it's tickling me." She explained, honestly, with a timid smile.
"Oh …" He let out a sigh of relief, before closing his eyes to regain his calm. When he reopened them, she was standing near the entrance door of the suite.
"I … I need to practice for my art school." She added, with flushed cheeks, before storming out of the suite, under Klaus speechless and dumbfounded expression.
Katerina felt the coldness of the ceramic wall under the skin of her left cheek, drops of water from the shower head sliding erotically on her neck, down between her sensitive breasts, to finally perish near her pelvic bone, with her heavy breathing slowing down over the rapid beats of her heart. She closed her eyes, while feeling the warmth and weight of her husband naked body leaning on her back, his hands slowly rising on the length of her arms, before interlacing his fingers with hers. Katherine's opened palms now placed on the cold wall.
It had been more than twenty four hours now that they haven't left the bedroom suite, if only for a few times that Elijah had discreetly stepped away to check the urgencies at his office, and bring back food for them to eat.
"It's your fault, woman!" He managed to whisper, his mind in the blur of the aftermath of their lovemaking, while slowly sliding his length out of her core. "You were the one who gave me the "dare" that I would not be able to make it for another round. Did you learn a thing or two about your husband now?" He mocked, while lowering his head in the crucible of her left shoulder, his soft lips brushing the softness of her neck.
She lowered her head on his muscular chest, while sighing with pleasure, a smile spreading from ear to ear on her lips.
"Mm… I would say that I married a pretentious man who always needs and wants to be right." She mocked, gently, while turning her head to drown her sight in Elijah's.
"A woman who knows one of my biggest flaws and is still accepting it gracefully, it's a rare quality; there are good chances that I will keep you by my side, Katerina." He responded, smirking, while lowering his hands on her thin waist, before lowering his head to softly kiss her lips.
She slowly pulled herself away from his embrace, while smiling timidly, a veil of sadness covering her eyes.
"Hey?" He called her, while raising her chin with his left hand. "Your "my wife", you're mine in every possible way now, you won't go anywhere, I wouldn't allow it." He promised, while caressing her right cheek.
"You say that now … but …" Katerina whispered, timidly, while gently taking a step away from his embrace, before grabbing a bottle of shampoo on the marble alcove.
"No…" He shook his head, while cupping her face with both hands. "I've never said "that", Katerina." He affirmed, while sliding strands of her wet hair behind her ears. "You're the first and only one, beautiful." He added to his wife.
Katerina lowered her flushed cheeks and sight away from his insistent glaze, while closing her eyes.
"What is it? What is tormenting your beautiful mind this way?" He asked, softly, while kissing her forehead, before grabbing the bottle of shampoo from her hands.
"Nothing…" She replied, while shaking her head, before raising her eyes in his.
'Turn around." He ordered, nicely.
"Why?" She asked, a smile spreading over her lips.
"I want to wash your hair." He replied, smiling.
"It's ok, I can do it." She replied, while trying to grab the bottle from Elijah's hand.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk … But you won't enjoy it as much as I will." He added, while bringing her head underneath the hot water of the shower.
Katerina closed her eyes, while enjoying the sensations of his fingers massaging her scalp, in slow, delightful, sensual movements.
"It's nice." She sighed, pleasurably.
"Mutual pleasure is always enjoyable, Katerina." He whispered, softly, while rinsing the foam from her curly locks. "You have such gorgeous hair; I love the soft sensation between my fingers." He added, while slowly lowering his hands on the crucible of her back, before encircling her waist.
"Maybe I tricked you into liking what you see?" She mumbled her scary thoughts, out loud.
"The first time I saw you, Katerina… I kept wondering all day what your lips would taste underneath mine." He confessed, honestly. "The second time I've heard your voice, I wondered if you would moan pleasurably in my arms one day." He added, while grabbing her chin and turning her head to lock his sight with hers. "You did not trick me into this, I wanted to possess you the first second I saw you."
"But …" She protested, in shock.
"I pushed you at arm length not because I was not attracted to you sexually, but more because …" He started explaining, before closing his eyes for a few seconds. "I wanted to give you the chance to leave with your sister if her wish was as such." He added, before sighing loudly. "Plus, I wasn't sure if you were attracted to me."
Tears filled her eyes, soon followed by an intense emotion infiltrating Katerina's soul. That man that she was calling her husband had a "soul" and a code of honor that she had never seen in any men before him.
"Thank you." She managed to murmur, while turning her body around to face him, before sliding her trembling hands on his bare chest, her arms encircling his neck a few seconds later. "I want you..." She added, before brushing her lips on his. "And it's not because of the "contract" but … Because I'm sincerely attracted to you." She told him, shyly.
Elijah stared at her for a few seconds, while noticing the honest truth reflecting in the deepness of her eyes. He lowered his head near Katerina's, before capturing her lips into a passionate kiss.
He deepened his kiss, while sliding his hands on her bottom, raising her trembling body in his arms, her legs soon crossed around his waist, before pushing her on the ceramic wall of the shower.
One sure thing, Elijah Mikaelson would arrive at a later hour at his downtown office this morning …
"You forgot your blazer in the bedroom." Katerina informed Elijah, while entering his study room. "Oh I'm so sorry, I wasn't aware that you were on the phone!" She added, before sliding her right hand over her mouth.
"It's ok!" He mouthed the words, while signing his wife to approach him.
"Transfer the appointment of the Chinese delegation for this afternoon at 14:00; I have a personal matter to take care this morning." He confirmed to his secretary, before ending the conversation with his secretary. "Hi!" He smiled.
"Hi!" Katerina replied, while handing the blazer to her husband. "You forgot your jacket upstairs." She added, once more, while blushing.
"Thanks." He replied, while grabbing it from her hands, before dressing himself.
"Your tie is croaked." She informed him, while gesturing with her hands.
Elijah lowered his sight on his chest, while trying to loosen up the knot.
"Let me." She suggested, while approaching his standing position, before raising her shaking hands on the narrowed piece of fabric. "There, now your look is impeccable." She said, proudly, while wiping lint on his blazer, before taking a step away.
"I'll be back early." He informed her, while drowning his fiery sight in hers.
"You always come back late from your office." She shrugged, with flushed cheeks. "It's ok, I don't mind."
"It was before." He winked at her.
"It was before what?" She asked, breathless.
"It was before I noticed my uncontrollable need to make love to my wife all the time." He added mocker, while grabbing a file on his desktop.
Katerina lowered his sight on the file that he was carrying, before noticing its label: Maria - Medical record. He opened his files cabinet, while sliding the record inside, before closing the lock with a key.
Elijah grabbed his briefcase on his desktop, before reaching Katerina's standing position, while sliding a hand around her waist.
"I see you tonight, beautiful." He added, softly, while kissing her forehead. "And by the way, my brother is back, and I don't want for you to worry or get upset about it." He added, as a warning, while drowning his sight into hers.
"What?" She exclaimed, in shock. "When did he come back?"
"I said: Don't worry!" He added, while stealing a kiss on her lips, before leaving his home office.
To this point Katerina wasn't sure which of the two surprises was more disturbing: knowing that her husband had in his possession a medical file on his own governess, Maria, or knowing that her sister's husband was back in the manor?
Maria finished pre-scrubbing the cauldron, before opening the dishwasher to insert it inside, on the rail.
"My "husband" came back!" Maria suddenly heard the voice exclamation, before turning on herself to face Carolina.
"I know, my child." The governess nodded, discreetly, while closing the water facet, before wiping her wet hands on a kitchen towel. "And … How do you feel about his return?" Maria added, a timid smile blessing her lips, before crossing her arms in front of her chest.
Carolina raised her sight in the one of the governess, before shrugging her shoulders.
"I don't know, I …" Carolina started, while nervously rubbing her hands together, before taking a sitting position on a kitchen stool. "I have mixed feelings about him … His return … Our relationship." She replied, honestly, while shaking her head.
"Your husband is known to create a general discomfort at the first minute you meet him." Maria mocked. "He can't be considered as an ordinary man, you know?"
"He… wants me to … Start my life new… Away from him … He wants me to be "free"." She stammered the words to the governess, while lowering her sight on her crossed hands.
"Oh dear…I thought the time away from England would have soothed his demons, my bad obviously." Maria let out a sigh, while lowering her head. "How do you feel about his wish? Do you share it? Do you want a divorce? Do you wish to start new, Mrs. Carolina?"
Carolina shrugged some more, before wrapping her arms around herself.
"No, I don't think I want that… But I should want "that"… I should want to run away from him, and … And most of the time, I think that I'm not normal for staying here and … And to have waited for that man return." She mumbled, angrily, between her teeth.
"Then, why did you stay my child?" Maria asked, softly. "Is it because a part of you is attracted to your husband, and that you're battling the strong feelings you have for him?"
'We… Sometimes, I think that we are so much alike." She confessed, shamelessly, while blushing. "I'm not making any sense I know." She added, while shaking her head, before grabbing her short hair with two hands. "I'm so mixed up at the moment. We … We kissed this morning."
Maria arched one eyebrow in surprise, while raising her sight in the one of the young woman.
"How do you feel about that kiss?" Maria asked, openly.
"I … I wasn't repulsed by it." Carolina shrugged. "I kind of liked it." She added. "That is why I think there must be something wrong with me."
"For being attracted to your husband after his inconsiderate actions on your wedding night?" Maria suggested as an answer.
"Yes" Carolina let out the word out of her mouth.
"Mm…" Maria nodded. "I understand, but a "wrong" is not necessarily erasing all the "rights"."
"What do you mean?" Carolina asked the governess.
"Well, to put it in a simpler manner, his unforgettable action toward you will not erase the fact that you have been attracted to him since the first day you have raised your sight on him. Neither will it erase the feelings you've developed for him instead of hating him." Maria explained, while tilting her head.
Carolina lowered her head to hide her flushed cheeks, before taking a few deep breaths into her lungs.
"What would you wish to happen now?" Maria asked more.
"I wish that none of what happened would exist." Carolina replied. "I wish that I could undo some of the events of my life."
"Oh my child, if only I had a magic wand." Maria replied, before taking a sitting position on a stool, in front of Carolina. "What you're wishing is natural and is what many of us desire, for the past to suddenly disappear, but we will never be granted with such a gift. And if we are granted with it, it's probably not as good as it seems, believe me, I know what I am talking about." She added to the young Russian, with a veil of sadness covering her eyes. "This said my child, do you wish to never have met your husband?"
"No! Yes! I don't know … For a strange reason I can't envision my life without him." Caroline exclaimed spontaneously, while raising her sight in the one of Maria. "And that is scarring me more than anything, Maria, this connection that I feel for my husband."
"I do!" A voice confirmed. "I wish you would have never laid your eyes on that man." Katerina added, while narrowing her sight on her sister, before stepping inside the kitchen.
"Well, my marriage is not of your business, Katerina." Carolina replied, slyly.
Maria rose on her legs from her sitting position, while timidly smiling at the eldest of the two sisters.
"Mrs. Katerina." The governess nodded as a greeting, in an uncomfortable manner.
""He" came back as I gathered?" Katerina said out loud, more as a fact than a real question.
"Yes, and it shouldn't be of your concern, Katerina." Carolina warned her.
"What did he say to you?" Katerina asked, while bending her upper body near Carolina's. "Did he finally have the courage to freeing you from the contract?"
"What part of none of your business did you not understood?" Carolina replied, while turning her sight in the one of her sister.
"Which part I did not understood? None of them! Because you're my sister and I want you to find happiness!" Katerina yelled back.
"Ladies, lower your tone of voices, it's really not appropriate." Maria tried to intervene, while rolling her eyes to the ceiling.
"Why don't you go back to your "loveless" marriage while I take care of mine?" Caroline lashed out, meanly, at her sister.
In shock over her sister say, Katerina took a step backward, while taking deep breaths into her lungs.
"Ok, that is enough!" Maria raised her voice, while directing her steps toward the fridge, before pulling a chocolate cake from its inside. "Now sit, and eat a piece of this cake in silence, and this is not a request, it's an order!"
The two sisters stared at each other for a few extra seconds, before taking their sitting positions at the kitchen island, while pouting and poking their forks in their dessert plate placed in front of their sights, as only sound to fill the awkwardness.
"Maria?" Katerina finally called, while raising her sight timidly at the governess.
"Yes, Mrs. Katerina?" Maria replied, while meeting her gaze.
"I … I came across a medical file, with your name on it, in my husband's office." Katerine admitted.
"What?" Carolina said, surprised, while raising her head and sight at the governess. "Are you sick, Maria?"
"No, I can assure you that my health is perfectly fine." She reassured the youngest. "As for you, Mrs. Katerina, what could possess you to go snooping around in your husband private files, not to mention my employer?"
"I wasn't snooping around, Maria; the file was literally placed in front of my sight on the desktop, and I saw your name on it." Katerina objected. "Plus there is nothing private about it, if this file is concerning "you". You should be able to have access to it." She added, while gesturing with her arms in disapproval.
"It's common for employers to have a file on their employees." Maria replied, while rubbing her hands nervously. "Therefore, it's none of my business."
"What if inside this file you could find information on what you're worrying about?" Katerina pushed the issue.
"Are you in remission from cancer, Maria?" Carolina asked, on the edge of her seat, her heart pounding loudly in her chest. She had grown attached to the governess the last few months.
"No, I'm not in remission or anything of the sort." Maria replied, while nodding her head. "Could we please put this subject to rest, Mrs. Katerina." She begged the eldest.
"Why would you bring that up, if she is fine?" Carolina mumbled, while taking a glimpse at Katerina.
"Because she told me that she was worrying about a specific aspect of her health." Katerina busted at her sister. "You think I would put my nose in her personal business otherwise?"
"That is what you always do, Katerina!" Carolina lashed out, while stepping away from her sitting position. "You put your nose where it doesn't belong, while shattering the life of others."
"I'm amnesic!" Maria exclaimed, in hope of putting an end to the sisters' confrontation.
"What?" Both sisters replied, simultaneously, while turning their heads toward the governess.
"I … I'd lost my memory several years ago, and therefore my life in this manor, and my new attributed name is all that I can recall." She made the confession, while rubbing her hands nervously together.
"But … You gave us lace handkerchiefs, the day of our weddings; you told us it was a family heirloom?" Carolina murmured, in shock.
"It is! I had a few items in my possession when I've lost my memory." Maria nodded, with her explanation. "I beg you to believe me, Mrs. Carolina and Mrs. Katerina, I was truthful to you."
"More reasons for you to see the content of this file, Maria." Katerina begged her to reconsider.
"No, I won't agree to this!" Maria shook her head. "Mrs. Katerina, It's highly unethical." She added.
"Then, I'll do it for you!" Katerina responded, firmly, while turning on her heels, before storming out of the kitchen.
"Your downtown office, Elijah, how unexpected to have our "usual" quarrel in here?" Klaus said, sarcastically, while closing the office door behind his back.
Elijah slowly turned to face his brother, from his standing position in front of the panoramic view of London.
"You've always known me as unpredictable, Niklaus." He replied to his brother. "Sporting a new look? Biker on the run style, I suppose?" Elijah mocked, while approaching Klaus's standing position.
"I prefer to call it: "Don't tell me how to run my life" look, Elijah." Klaus replied, tit for tat, to his brother.
Elijah shook his head, with a smile spreading from ear to ear on his face.
" Aww…Niklaus, the forever misunderstood soul of this family." He added, while unexpectedly pulling his right hand from his trouser front pocket, before punching his brother jaw with a good hit of his closed fist.
On the impact, Klaus lost his balance before landing on a side table, soon followed by the hardness of the floor hitting his spine.
"This is for abandoning your wife six months ago!" Elijah lashed out at his brother, before rubbing his right hand.
"What the bloody hell, Elijah?" Klaus mumbled, angrily, between his teeth, while trying to get up.
"You had it coming, Klaus." Elijah replied, angrily, while pointing a finger at him. "You left her hanging for your return while avoiding the responsibilities that were yours to begin with."
"I did it for "her", Elijah!" Klaus lashed out to his brother. "By doing so, I was freeing her of my presence, giving her a free path to leave." He added, angrily.
"Well, apparently the girl must be a fool, because she doesn't want to leave you!" Elijah busted. "How ironic is that really? That the only human soul, who's willing to learn to love you unconditionally, is the same that you are pushing away?"
Klaus lowered his head, shamelessly, while sighing loudly.
"Not everyone can be in marital bliss like you!" Klaus mumbled between his teeth.
"I'm far from being in marital bliss!" Elijah growled the words. "Or did you conveniently forget that neither of the sisters knows who we really are?"
"Damn I missed the opening number!" They heard a voice exclaimed, while turning their heads simultaneously toward the entrance door. "You couldn't wait for my arrival to break his jaw, Elijah?" Stefan Salvatore mocked, while lowering his upper body near the hybrid lying position, before presenting his right hand to Klaus. "Look who's finally back home? My good friend Klaus! Let me help you?" Stefan offered his help.
"Go to hell Salvatore!" Klaus growled, while pushing the vampire hand away from his sight. He got on his knees on his own, before rising on his legs.
"And he is back as his usual jerk's self, joy to the world!" Stefan added, smirking, while dropping his rain coat on the back of an armchair, before taking his sitting position.
"Brandy?" Elijah offered, while reaching the bar console. "Or I could ask my secretary if you prefer coffee?"
"Brandy is fine. Thank you, Elijah." Stefan replied. "What is this new look, Nick? Woodsman meets the biker?" He added with an arched eyebrow and smile plastered on his face.
"Shut your big mouth, Salvatore, if you know what is good for you." Klaus replied to him, before raising his hand to wipe a trickle of blood from his opened bottom lip.
"Elijah you need to do something with your brother style, the macho – cavern man is so outdated." Stefan mocked more.
Elijah approached the vampire sitting position, before handing a class to him.
"Thank you." Salvatore replied to the Original.
"You're not even going to offer me a drink, Elijah?" Klaus asked his brother, slyly, while purposely raising his biker boots on his desktop.
"Any chance you could choke on it?" Elijah responded, while taking his sitting position back at his desk. "Mm… No? Then serve yourself!"
"Greetings my dear brothers!" Kol exclaimed, smirking, while entering Elijah's office. "What is Salvatore doing here?" He added, while frowning at the view of this nuisance.
"Ok, Elijah … If this morning meeting was intended to make me suffer, you've just succeeded!" Klaus growled between his teeth, while glimpsing at the arrival of Kol.
"Not everything is about "you", Niklaus." Elijah replied, while joining his hands in front of his chest.
"Oh great … The puppet of your dysfunctional family just entered the premises." Stefan smirked at Elijah.
"Salvatore, there are about thousands of ways that I could smash you dandy face, which one do you want? Personally I have a weakness for the baseball bat?" Kol asked, while directing his walk toward the bar. "Klaus? Scotch?" He asked his brother, while grabbing two glasses.
"Make it a double." Klaus responded, while rubbing his eyelids with despair.
Kol filled the two glasses, before walking toward Klaus's sitting positing and handing a glass to him.
"Weren't you lost somewhere in Africa, Kol?" Stefan asked the youngest Original.
"I was in Zambia to be more exact." Kol responded, reluctantly, while taking a sitting position on the edge of the window.
"And the lions were not even interesting at tearing your carcass to shreds?" Stefan mocked, openly.
"Is there a point to this lovely gathering?" Klaus asked Elijah, a sour expression plastered on his face, while drinking his glass in one gulp.
"There's a werewolves mafia located in Russia." Elijah introduced. "This could at first impression seem insignificant, if the purpose of their pack was not introduced as a lethal threat to our own species."
Klaus raised his head in shock, while narrowing his sight on his brother.
"How do you know about all of this?" Klaus asked, dumbfounded.
"How do you?" Stefan asked his friend, while glimpsing at Klaus.
"Mm… Doesn't matter, I got this information from one of my contacts in Germany." Klaus explained, vaguely.
"You seem to always forget, Niklaus, that I'm always three steps in front of you." Elijah replied, with an arched eyebrow.
"And, if I may put my contribution to this investigation, the instigator of this charming army is named: Ludvig Petrov." Kol informed, under their speechless expressions. "What? You think I don't know all of this already? You all seem to forget how sneaky I can be on my own." He added, while shrugging his shoulders.
"It's thoughtful of you to take time to remind us, Kol." Elijah replied, while rolling his eyes to the ceiling.
"Here to oblige, brother." Kol smirked.
"The vise seems to tighten on us." Stefan agreed. "He turned a huge amount of civilians into the werewolf gene."
"Niklaus, care to contribute?" Elijah asked, sarcastically, while smirking.
Klaus raised on his legs before pacing back and forth in the opened space of the office.
"This man is apparently one of the rare remaining hybrids, with myself included. His main purpose is not only to build the biggest army of werewolves, he also intends to kill the entire vampire species, and rebuild, under his leadership, a bigger, stronger one, of… hybrids!" Klaus explained, with both of his closed fists placed on each side of his waist.
"Well, suddenly I feel threated!" Stefan said, while swallowing a nervous lump in his throat. "But as for all of you, being Originals, your family is obviously safe."
"Everything in that man devious plan could work admirably for him, if not for one single element." Elijah added, while rising on his legs, his hands joined together in front of his face.
"And that element is Klaus." Kol confirmed, while pointing a finger at his brother.
"Being the ultimate antidote to all werewolf bite, he'll try to lure you into his side for sure, Niklaus." Elijah confirmed, while placing himself in front of his brother. "He doesn't want for you to save the species; he wants you to kill it."
"I could care less about this Ludvig, Elijah; I'm actually waiting for his arrival, with anticipation." Klaus responded to his brother.
"Nobody knows when they'll make their first move, could be days, months, years?" Stefan added, while standing up. "But we need to be on our guards."
"Well, glad we are all up to date with this subject at hands, call me when he'll be in town." Klaus replied, while directing his walking steps toward the exit of the office.
"Niklaus!" Elijah exclaimed the hybrid name, to retain him in the office.
"What do you want now, Elijah?" Klaus asked, while holding his pace, but without turning to face his brother.
"He has one loophole in his favor." Elijah informed him, his chest rising under his heavy breaths.
"What is it?" Kol asked, intrigued, while jumping away from his perched sitting position on the window edge.
"Family ties." Elijah announced, reluctantly, his sight lost in the emptiness of the room.
"What are you saying, Elijah?" Klaus asked, while slowly turning on himself, before facing his brother.
"He's related to you?" Stefan asked, in shocked, while pointing a finger at Elijah.
"No, he's not related to me." Elijah affirmed, while shaking his head.
"Elijah?" Klaus growled the warning, nervously, drops of sweat rolling on his forehead. "My patience is at its limit!"
"If my sources are reliable, Ludvig Petrov, whose real name is actually "Vlademar" is related to you, Niklaus." Elijah informed his brother. "He's your biological father." He added, before closing his eyes, and lowering his head.
"Katerina!" Carolina yelled, while entering Elijah's office, with the governess following on her heels. "You can't do this! What will you do if Elijah comes back?"
"Already too late, I did it!" Katerina replied, proudly, while forcing the lock of the files cabinet. "He's at his downtown office, we are in the clear, not that it's your business, Carolina, why don't you mind your own "loveless" marriage?" She added, tit for tat, to her sister.
"You just stoop to a new low, Petrova!" Carolina mumbled, angrily, between her teeth.
"Oh dear Lord, my child… What are you doing?" Maria exclaimed, while raising a trembling hand over her chest.
"Maria! I have a duplicate of your medical file in my hand, I'm not about to throw it away now!" Katerina exclaimed, excitedly, while raising the file in her right hand. "It's your right to know what the content of this file is. It's my husband who's in the wrong, if he is hiding something from you."
"My sister is not going to change her mind; I can assure you of that." Carolina confirmed to the governess, while shaking her head and rolling her eyes. "You're as stubborn as ever, Katerina, и действительно несговорчивого!" She added an insult in Russian.
"Well if you were a little bit more pig-heated, you wouldn't be stock with "him"!" Katerina replied to her sister. "Maria? What do I do?"
Maria rubbed her hands nervously together, while glimpsing, alternatively, at both sisters.
"This is completely against my code of ethics, Mrs. Katerina." Maria added, while biting her bottom lips. "Ok, take a look inside, but … Very quickly."
Katerina smiled, while taking a sitting position at her husband desk, before opening the file and taking her first look at the forms inside.
"Not to hurry you up, sister, but I really don't want to be cut snooping around, by your husband." Carolina reaffirmed.
"No, of course not, you have enough to handle with your own husband." Katerina replied, while glimpsing at her sister.
"Do you see something?" Maria asked, nervously, while raising her right hand in front of her mouth.
"It says that you've been amnesic since a good ten years? Is it right?" Katerina demanded, while raising her sight in the one of the governess.
"Yes… I … It's when I've started working in this manor for Mister Mikaelson and his brother." Maria nodded, in approval. "They took me under their wings."
"Ok, other than that, it says that no sign of recovering your "memory" was noticed during this period of ten years." Katerina informed, while scattering the pages in front of her sight. "You saw a doctor named Vinxking? It's him who filled those papers? Am I still right?"
"Yes" Maria nodded more. "He came once a year to see if my condition has changed, but unfortunately, I never regain any of my memories over the years. But, all of this I already know, Mrs. Katerina, please, I beg you… This makes me so uncomfortable." She pledged her request.
"Katerina! You wanted to help Maria, I get it. Now let this go! We need to leave!" Carolina replied, while taking a look into the corridor, to assure that no one was coming.
"Could you give me a second, Carolina? There's another page that I did not take a look at it yet." Katerina informed, before lowering her sight on a carbon pink form. "Wait! I think I find something!" She exclaimed, before losing her smile and cheeks color, all at once, while sitting motionless and speechless in front of the said form.
"Ok now, you're freaking me out." Carolina said, nervously. "Stop it, Katerina!"
"Mrs. Katerina, if for whatever reason, what you have found is so disturbing, please I would grandly prefer to stay in the dark." Maria begged her to reconsider, while gesturing with her hands.
"I … I think that you would want to know this … this crucial information." Katerina stammered the words, while raising her sight in the one of Maria.
"For God sake, say it then, Katerina!" Carolina shouted to her sister. "What is it about? You are scaring us!"
"It says who you are, Maria." Katerina added, while shaking her head in disbelief. "Do you want to know?"
Maria turned her head toward Carolina, while swallowing a lump in her throat, before nodding her head in approval at the eldest sister.
"I presume it's not good news?" Maria replied, while feeling Carolina's left hand grabbing hers, as a comfort gesture. "I must be a terrible and well known person, if I take into consideration the way you're looking at me right now, Mrs. Katerina."
"No, nothing of the sort, I can assure you. But it will shake you to the deepness of your soul." Katerina replied, still in shock. "It's just that I can't … Now that I saw and know about it, there is no way that I could keep this information a secret from you any longer, Maria."
"Then, I'll be brave. Who am I, Mrs. Katerina?" Maria demanded, while holding her breath.
"This paper form is stipulating that you are …" Katherine started, before pausing, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths into her lungs. "That you are, Esther … Esther Mikaelson … You are their mother, Maria!" Katerina replied, in front of the two speechless and petrified women.
Thank you for reading "Family ties" guys!
I hope the "End" of this present chapter took you by surprise? Since I'd started this fiction, I wanted to arrive at this specific cliff hanger more than anything (winking at all of you).
Until the next update,
Much love to all,
Lovely Vero
Thank you for all the anonymous reviews received, guys!
My answers are below.
Guest: Absolutely! I will always continue this story, there is way too much to be written about these characters in this present plot, and it is a joy to find ideas for it.
Heartvampires: I'm happy that you enjoyed the last chapter. I believe both couples are entering a new phase of their relationship as of now.
Tanja: Thank you sweetheart, happy you liked it.
Tammingoftheshre: Sweetie, believe it or not, but I always have to do a copy-paste of your member name … LOL. As for Klaus running after Stefan with a dagger in his hands, that could be good comedy, I give you that. Me? Maria? LOL … Now you know who Maria is.
Justine: Avant de me lancer sur ta ''review'' de cette histoire, je tenais à te mentionner que je suis heureuse que tu aies su te trouver un emploi pour le mois d'août. Je sais à quel point les emplois sont précaires et difficile à trouver. Oui ma chérie, Mikael peut pourrir en enfer … LOL, mais je vais le garder car je sais que tu adores ce personnage. J'aime la différence, la complexité, le lien entre les deux couples, cette histoire me fait vraiment, et je le dis sincèrement, ruminer mes méninges. Les mots doivent être choisis avec précision en ce qui a trait à Caroline & Klaus. Écrire un chapitre de cette histoire, c'est comme courir un marathon car je veux lui rendre justice. Merci encore et encore, Justine!
Ilovetvd: No, no, no … Sweetie, Ludvig met Katerina once, but he was not in love with her. I don't know where you saw that? LOL … It will be explained in further chapters. As for the Klaroline kiss, you should be happy now!
If I have forgotten someone in the responses to the anonymous reviews, it was not intentional, and I thank you for it!