So NaNoWriMo is over… Happy reading, Kleah fans of Broken.

Jacob's words are etched into my mind. They replay in a litany of 'she's pregnant', 'we miss you', and 'come home'. No matter how I think of it, the offer to return to Forks is tempting, mouth-watering, really. Sure, Emily is pregnant, but there's no real despair in that. The fact that I had once dreamed that I would be the one who had Sam's child was a twisted memory entwined with thrones. I steer my thoughts away from that.

Time could do much – heck, it even replaced Sam with Klaus – but it wouldn't change the fact that I loved Sam, and that I loved the pack. More than once I've wallowed in the idea that I didn't need those barbarians, that they were bad for me. But when it comes down to the heart of the matter I'll never forget them, their teasing, and the unusual habits they all possessed. As much as I hated to admit it, they were family and I loved them – still love them, would always love them.

Unbidden, I find tears in my eyes when I'm feet away from Klaus' front door. Not ours. His. Somehow I'd fooled myself into believing I belonged here, with him.

You had friends in Forks, you had a home and family and people to protect. You had people who loved you – still love you. I almost regurgitate the thought. It reminds me of Matt's question. I'd thought I'd figured it out, I was sure actually. Now…now I am less so.

Was this home? It felt like home when Klaus smiled at me, complimented me, spoke to me. It was like an empty building now. Ignoring me, treating me like a monster may be Klaus's means of protecting himself, but in such a short time my hopes had been trampled. If Klaus was going to keep pushing me away, would I ever truly belong? I wasn't sure I could, not after becoming aware that my sense of belonging rests purely on him.

I don't like it here as much as I told Jacob I did, Sam and Jane were no longer my driving factors. It was fear. Did they really want me back or was it another illusion? Was Jacob lying?

I shake my head, how can I even think of leaving Klaus? My soulmate…the man who would never learn to love me.

The tears are dry by the time I work up enough confidence to walk the last few steps. I open the door, the same brass handle, still unlocked – as it always is. Familiar golden light spills out into the night and I cut off further integration by closing the door once more. The air smells musty, devoid of the faint lemon cleaner Hayley had used what felt like years ago now – I'll have to dust down the banister at the very least. There's nothing new, different, or uncomfortable about Klaus's house. But it's just a house, nothing more.

I take toward the stairs, willing to put this day – night – behind me for a good long nap. Racing Jacob had sucked my reserves dry and I had received a worrisome promise that the wolf and vampire child would visit me on my next shift. Precisely 15 hours from now.

I shove away thoughts of the Halfling, she's all but a year now, surely she must look as old as Seth. A lance of pain through my chest makes me wonder how Bella must survive it. How Rosalie survives it. Emily and Sam's child will grow slower, and, if it is lucky, remain free of this curse – of shapeshifting and of the imprint.

The air gusts and my skin prickles. The step before me is no longer empty. As quickly as the wolf bristles to take over and defend our lives, it relaxes: recognising the intrusion of space as friend instead of foe. In fact, a larger part of my being quivers in excitement rather than fear.

I suck my lips in against my teeth, trapping any stray words wanting to push through and make themselves known.

Damn vampire speed.

Klaus looks impenetrable, cold. It's a default expression on him and it's the one that scares me the most as it is the only one I've been unable to decipher thus far. Perhaps if he'd worn that betrayed glower or the angry grimace of his then I would have greeted him. He smells of wood smoke and paper.

As it is I keep my silence, allowing my eyes to meet and hold his in an attempt to…something. Figure him out? Call his bluff? Pin his icy blues as anything except sinister pools of emotionless (beautiful) hatred?

He keeps the silence too. His gaze intoxicating in a way that should be categorised as dangerous, especially as it feels as if he can look into my soul. Usually our staring contests could last a good ten minutes and I, generally, would be the one to break contact.

Tonight is no different. My eyes feel dry and sandy, my chest too tight. I think my tongue is glued to the roof of my mouth.

I look away, at Klaus's shoulder, and blink multiple times. He's wearing a plain blue shirt – it matches his eyes – an unconventional garment for humans in this weather, but a fetching adornment for the well build Original Hybrid.

"Leah-"

"Klaus-"

My eyes dart up to his and for a moment I swear he's wearing that small worried frown that makes my stomach flip. Klaus sighs and he adopts the expression of a tormented older brother tasked with looking after a younger sister.

I wait for him to continue, well aware that he isn't glaring at me or treating me like a thorn in his foot. I can wait. I can.

Those blue eyes observe me carefully. Finally: "Are you okay?"

I'm dumbfounded by this question, left blinking and voicing soundless words. "What?"

"Wolf, you smell like wolf,"

My brows scrunch in annoyance although an uneasy pit forms in my gut. "I took a run through the forest."

Klaus's eyes flash bright, black, and finally back to normal. The tick in his jaw reminding me of our last fight. "Other wolf," he clarifies. "Your shape shifter scent is different to the werewolves in Mystic Falls, but this isn't you. It isn't any Mystic Falls wolf either."

I hold my words a moment longer to make sure they are sensible, at least a little. "I may have run into another shape shifter while I was busy."

Klaus's face and posture does not change, his gaze is warm though. "Were you hurt?"

I shake my head, the first action of surety I could manage. "We spoke…I knew him – know him."

"He is from Forks?"

My stare sharpens but I relax. I had told him, I remind myself. "Yes,"

Something flickers in those beautiful eyes, "Sam?"

My lips twist and I shake my head, a swirl of dark amusement tangling around my heart. "No, but part of his pack," I'd almost said mine. "A childhood friend,"

Klaus continues to stare at me, eyes hard. He gives a firm nod and with this I step around him and start on the stairs once more. I gain only three steps before the vampire has my wrist in his cool, strong hand.

I sneak a peek at him over my shoulder.

Face turned absently to the side all I can see is the set of his mouth, the stray tuft of hair – just above his ear - that refuses to curl like all the other strands.

"You…mean a lot to me, Clearwater," I pull in a deep breath just to make sure I'm alive. Klaus turns that piercing gaze to me. "I do not know how to explain it, but I think 'sister' would be accurate. I apologise if my earlier behaviour was in any way misleading."

I turn my head to the top of the stair case, oddly enough not feeling too horrible, but I'm sure I can see two stairways instead of one – so it cannot be good either. "Apology accepted," I don't recall formulating the words, willing them to part my lips, God, they could not have been mine. "Good night,"

The steps tilt under my feet and Klaus's hand falls from my wrist. I'll admit to missing the coolness of it immediately.

Unlike the foyer, my room, when I reach it, feels alien. Was it because of this sudden revelation? Because in the minutes between coming through the door and entering this room the world had changed drastically.

I'd prepared myself for anything. Hatred, forced servitude, indifference…but sibling love felt like a sick anecdote. Sure I should probably be glad to have anything from Klaus, even as much as he had given me in the beginning, but this. I close my eyes and press a hand over my mouth.

One second passes in silence, another, the third arrives with a breathy choke on my behalf. Tears spring to my eyes and my sides begin to ache.

The laughter sounds horrible: some sick, serial killer movie laugh that only makes me laugh harder.

This twisted joke had gone too far.

See you in 10 days :)