Pathogenic Bacteriology and Immunology

The next morning, Klaus mulls the prior evening over a cup of coffee while he stirs eggs in bowl. Waiting for the pan to warm enough before finishing up breakfast. Marcel sent him a file late last night. He'd tried to stay up reading it but the whole thing was too much of a bore.

Stefan was normal for the most part. High school athlete turned collegiate star. Decent grades. No arrests. Good family. Dozens and dozens of photos with Elena Gilbert and their assortment of friends on social media. All pulled from other accounts. The one on his and hers had all been deleted.

There wasn't much there and so Klaus went to sleep.

"Are those for me?" Rebekah yawns, walking out in a matching pajama set. Her hair wrapped around a device she claims is meant for heatless curls. "You know I prefer fried eggs."

"Do I look like a hotel?" he huffs. "Scrambled is what you get."

Rebekah makes herself comfortable at the island and watches him for a second. Observing him thoughtfully. He knows what she's going to bring up but plays the game of waiting. Finally she speaks. "So, that was the girl."

"I told you," he transfers her eggs to the plate. "There is no girl."

"That's not what it looked like on the dance floor." She shrugs as he hands her the plate, his face contorted menacingly. "Do you disagree? Is that how you dance with your friends?"

"It is not," he concedes and waits for her to bring up her other point. But after three bites of her scrambled eggs, she still hasn't mentioned it. "Are you going to say anything about how she looks like Tatia."

"I wasn't." Rebekah takes another bite and he watches impatiently as she chews. "There's a similarity certainly. Tatia is more well-bred. But there is a charm about your girl that I like. I'd thought a warmth, but it's more of a fire. Isn't it?"

"What did you think of her?"

"You two make a charming pair if that is what you are aiming for." Rebekah considers her next words thoughtfully. "But if its immediate gratification, I'd look elsewhere."

"And why is that dear sister?" Klaus digs into his own plate, curiously peeking up at Rebekah.

"Because that woman will ruin a weak man."

"You think I'm a weak man?"

"I think indecision makes men weak." She looks far away and Klaus has the sudden feeling that she's not talking about him anymore.

They spend the rest of the morning talking about Klaus's admiration for Elena. Rebekah indulges him but even she gets bored of his ramblings after an hour. He makes her promise not to tell Elijah about the girl. Isn't quite ready to share that with his older brother. It's only then that Rebekah drops the news on him that she's elected to take a semester off of school. Needs a place to crash until her home in the city is ready. Convenient that she would mention it only now when he'd asked a promise out of her.

Either way, she heads back into the guest room and leaves him with the dishes.

He'll have to call Marcel and see what is going on with his sister. Leaving school to study abroad. Dropping the spring semester. It seemed as though she was avoiding New Orleans.

Class begins and though the first one with Klaus is awkward, they quickly settle back into normalcy. It helps, she thinks, that they never traded numbers. If they had, she knows she'd be messaging him outside of class. Trying to satisfy this desire she had to get to know him. To unlock the mystery of him.

She'd cross lines. Knows this. Every time they make eye contact in class, she wants to stay after. Lock the door. Lean against his desk until he takes her on top of it. But there's always a variety of girls that stay afterwards and her class schedule is too full to afford the time. She curses ambitious Elena who made this schedule so she could study more in a few months.

Caroline gears up for winter formal events. She's delighted about her little, a girl named Elizabeth. Swears that she's the perfect person to inherit her throne. When either Tyler or Elena try to say that being the president of a sorority isn't like being royalty, Caroline dismisses them.

Bonnie gets the call from Freya's publicist. Her book tour schedule is full but Freya will make a special stop at Gram's in a month's time. It isn't a lot of time to get ready and none of them have the best skillset when it comes to planning. Caroline would make easy work of this, but Elena respects Bonnie's wishes and doesn't bring it up.

Instead, they all work together doling out responsibilities. Working overtime to market and make the event a success. It helps that Bonnie and Nora have done so much to establish their presence in the neighborhood and in their community. The support they rally is nothing short of impressive. So much so that they have to limit the people who can attend.

It's an exciting time.

With the event a week away, Elena waits patiently for the group of girls to meander out of class so she can talk to him properly. He raises an eyebrow at her when she approaches his desk.

"Ms. Gilbert. I thought you'd been avoiding me." His eyes are pleasant and his voice is light like it doesn't bother him.

"I haven't," she begins. "I'm not. I've just been busy. My classes are stacked and with the magic shop I didn't have –."

"Relax, Elena." He smiles broadly at her. "I was joking. What can I do for you?"

Something about the way he asks gets under her skin. She imagines him saying it on his knees with his face nuzzled between her thighs. She clears her throat and slides over the invitation. "I know you'd already talked about escorting me to the event, but I thought I'd make it official. And to work out any arrangements."

His hands play over the invitation, tracing out the big letter 'G'. "I should think that it would be the gentlemanly thing to pick you up from your house."

"In a car?" she scrunches her nose. "The magic shop is just a few blocks away from my place. We could walk."

"I figured we would. I'll swing by at six and we can walk to the event together?" He sits back in his chair. His lower lip caught between his teeth as he takes her in. She can't understand how he manages to look at her like a student during class and then like this just a few short minutes afterwards. It spreads warmth from her belly to her neck.

She doesn't realize how much she's missing when he knows she's not paying attention to him.

"Great," she exhales. Peers out of the corners of her vision to make sure they are alone. "Then, it's a date."

She's never seen his eyes look like that before, not even when they were dancing. Like a storm cloud gathering on the horizon.

Not even twenty-four hours after Rebekah had vacated his guest room does it now have another inhabitant. His youngest brother, Kol, showed up at his place with nothing but a backpack and a smile. "Good evening, brother. I heard you have an extra bed to spare."

"What is this?" He snipes while he watches Kol walk in like he owns the place. "I thought you were backpacking throughout Europe."

"I was and then I wasn't," he nearly sings. Aggravating. "My auspicious return is in thanks to your not so recent discovery of our eldest sister. Oh the damage that has been doing. From what I hear, mother is deep in damage control. Poor Finn doesn't know what to do with himself, but then again when did he ever? Elijah is reeling from the new struggles as a sudden middle child and Rebekah? Well, actually she's surprisingly dealing with it the best I gather. I thought it would kick her off her only-girl-in-the-family pedestal but she's found room up there for Freya. Something about girls needing to stick together."

"Kol. Wrap up the monologue." Irritation rises into Klaus's lungs. He'd been looking forward to a night alone. To paint and to think about his date at the end of the week. He walks casually to his painting to tug the cover over it. "No one loves the sound of your voice as much as you do."

"I need a place to crash while I'm in town." Before Klaus can ask, Kol cuts him off. "I already asked Rebekah and she said no. And Elijah lives too far outside the city for my tastes."

"Oh," he sighs, returning to his couch with the portrait safely concealed. "We wouldn't you to be inconvenienced."

"Exactly!" Kol falls haphazardly on Klaus's couch, dropping his bag on the ground. "At least my big brother, Niklaus, understands. So. What are our plans for the evening?"

"My plan was to stay in. Get some work done."

"Boring!" Kol yells at him, obnoxiously from the other end of the couch. "I want to go out! See the nightlife. Some pretty girls?"

Because Kol won't stop begging, Klaus relents. Because he won't stop whining, they go to a bar in Midtown. Because he won't stop pleading, Klaus and Kol find themselves leaning against a bar staring at Elena on the other side of the room.

"You know," Kol takes a swig from his beer. "You travel the world and sometimes forget how beautiful the girls are back home. Look at her. I do like the red streak. A bit punk."

He'd spotted her the moment he'd set foot in the bar. Her eyes and the way she moved made it easy. The way she slipped through the crowd with drinks in her hand like water through the cracks in stone. He just hadn't said anything because he didn't want Kol noticing her either.

"If you like that sort of thing," he nods nonchalantly. Anything to keep Kol from meeting Elena.

All night, Elena had been at a table with Tyler and the blonde girl. Her friend and, he assumes, Tyler's girlfriend. They look like they are having a good time. Elena is certainly more done up that she had been at the salsa club. She looked amazing if not a little uncomfortable. Her hair softly curls down her back and make-up heavier than he's used to seeing her. Clothes a little tighter than the ones she seems to favor at school or the magic shop.

"Are you joking, Nik?" Kol scoffs before ordering another round for both of them. Imitating his brother in a deep voice. "Yeah. If you like that sort of thing. Beautiful woman with legs for days that could wrap around you and never let go. Me? I prefer my paints."

"Shut. Your. Mouth." He slams his hand on the bar, startling a girl at the other end of it, while staring at his mischievous younger brother. "I don't want to hear another word out of your mouth about that woman."

"Jealous are you?" Kol raises a brow. "Afraid I'll swoop in? Sorry to tell you that you may be too late. It appears she has another suitor."

Kol nods in her direction and Klaus hesitantly follows his gaze. At some point on her way back to the table with her friends, Elena had been intercepted by a dark-haired man. Her smile seems so forced. The way she holds her hands up in conversation doubles as a way to maintain distance. The man takes a step forward and then another. Klaus understands what he's doing.

He's herding Elena away from her friends. To a secluded section of the bar near the restrooms.

It makes his blood steam.

"Where are you going?" Kol calls after him and he hadn't even realized that he'd started moving.

"The bathroom!" It comes out more aggressively than the word itself warrants.

As he moves through the crowd, his movement is so unlike Elena. Water. Smooth. Bending and twisting around everyone. No. Klaus moves like the earth. Pushing everyone and everything out of his way in a single-minded pursuit. He can hear her now, just beyond a couple clearly on their first date.

"Damon, please. I'm with Care and Tyler tonight." She sounds exasperated. "I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"You've been ignoring my calls. My texts." Klaus can see his hand reach out. Grab her elbow and yank her closer to him. "What gives?"

"God!" She tries to take her arm back but he doesn't let her. It hastens Klaus's steps. "I'm done. This is toxic and I want it to be done. Please. Just let it be over."

"Why do you have to be so difficult?" he demands. "Tell me why!"

"I think the young lady has told you." Klaus reaches out, bears down on Damon's neck the way you might stop a dog fight. Spinning him around when he reaches up to get his hands off. "Does 'no' need a reason behind it in order for you to hear it?"

"Elena? Who the hell is this?"

"You ask a lot of questions for a man with stupidity plastered all over his face." That familiar rage bubbles under the surface. He wants so badly for Damon to give him a reason to hit him. It would be worth all the issues with court and jail if he could just knock that smug expression off his face. Elena's hands are on his arms and Klaus looks back for a brief moment.

"He's my professor. That's it. We aren't dating. We aren't sleeping together." All true things. But she hadn't finished that list off by saying 'we aren't anything'.

"Wow," he sneers. "Hot for teacher too? You're lucky, Elena. Really. You're pretty enough to make up for all your daddy issues."

Suddenly, Kol is at Damon's back. His eyes wild and his smile hints at unpredictability. "How do you expect to speak to a woman like that and get anywhere, mate?" Damon tries to shrug him off, but Kol's grip is too tight. "Do you feel that? That's the muzzle of a loaded revolver. How about we call it a successful night if you leave and I don't have to clean your blood off this thing?"

"Kol?" Klaus moves Elena back and out of the way.

"Quiet, Niklaus." Kol grins and shoves something harder into Damon's back. "Let me handle this. This bloke looks smart to me. Knows a good deal when he hears one. Right?"

"Fine!" he spits out. Shoots a look at Elena and leaves the bar without any more fuss.

"What the fuck was that?" Elena's hand is still on Klaus's arm. Shaking from fear. "It wasn't that fucking serious!"

"Of course it wasn't darling." Kol holds up a roll of quarters. "But it seemed serious enough for a little trickery."

"Oh my god," Elena clutches her chest. "I was so worried."

That's when Klaus realizes what his brother had done. Not for Elena or purely to scare Damon. But for his brother. To divert the confrontation and handle it in a way that diffused Klaus's anger. Kol was, after all, always full of surprises.

"Dear me. Please excuse my brother. It was like he was raised amongst wolves." Kol smiles and holds his hand out. "I'm Kol." When she takes his hand, Kol abruptly brings it to his lips. Kissing her knuckles as a greeting instead of the handshake he had seemed to offer. Klaus's eyes grow smaller as he glares at his brother. "And I was just leaving. This isn't really my scene. A little too...sanitized. If you know what I mean."

He ducks out before either of them can say anything. Flitting in with his fake gun and bouncing just as quickly. Klaus turns his attention back to Elena, reaching out and stroking her arm for comfort. "Sorry about that. My brother is. Well, he's."

"Theatrical?" she supplies, good-naturedly. She laughs but he can see she's still shaken.

"You could say that. Runs in the family, I suppose."

"Thank you. For that." She steps closer to him, letting his hand wander to her back. "I don't like to go out in this part of town. I know he works around here and I would just rather avoid it."

"Your ex?"

Elena rolls her eyes, her lips spread thin. "Something like that."

"Would you like to return to your friends?" Klaus takes a step to the side, clearing her path to her friends but her eyes stay on him. Waiting. "Or we could go to my place?"

"Your place?" She looks at him in disbelief.

"To talk," he clarifies. "To get out of here to talk. It's – loud." It sounds lame even to him but she nods like she understands anyway.

He stands back and watches her from a distance while she says goodbye to her friends. The blonde scans the crowd but Klaus turns his head in time and assumes she hadn't seen him. Waits for Elena by the front door, keeping an eye for Damon's potential return.

They share a cab back to his home and it's like the train all over again. Brushing their hands against each other. Knees knocking into the other. Peeking at each other in the dark. Dozens upon dozens of near touches. The lights flash through the window intermittently, illuminating her face. Each time he catches her looking at him it feels like more than a glance. It feels like she's speaking without saying anything at all.

When he presses the penthouse button, she rolls her eyes. "Of course, you live in the fanciest building in the fanciest part of town on the highest level possible."

"Selling your tortured artistic soul is not without its perks." He smiles and enjoys the way her jaw drops when the elevator doors open. She'd spent so much time trying to not be impressed by him that he'd begun to believe he wasn't impressive. She closes her mouth and the expression is gone but he's glad he caught it.

He fixes them a drink and settles down on the couch next to her. "Is it worth it?" she asks, taking the whiskey from him and cradling it in her hands. "This penthouse for your soul?"

"I used to think it was worth something, but now I think I may have gotten a deal on it." She shakes her head with a smirk. "So, who was that guy back there?"

She groans and leans into his open arms. Rests her head against his forearm. "I don't want you to judge me."

"I'm not sure I'm in a position to judge you." With her this close to him, he wants to brush his fingers against her jaw. Tilt her face to look at him and kiss her. But he knows, if he crosses that line, he'll leap across the rest. And he really had meant he just wanted to talk.

At least, he thinks he does.

"Fine," she exhales, looking up at him with those doleful eyes. "You met them both. Stefan and Damon are brothers." He slants his head at that and she groans. "And I slept with them both."

"At the same time?" he teases.

"Oh god! No!"

"Sorry. Waiting for the information I'm supposed to judge you for." He enjoys watching her squirm.

"Stefan and I were together. He was my boyfriend and I." She scrunches her face in disgust. "I slept with his brother."

She waits for him to say something and he waits for her to elaborate. They are at an impasse until he relents. "On a whim?"

"No."

"Did you hate Stefan?"

"No!"

"Then why?"

"I – I never thought anyone would ask me that." She bites at the corner of her lip. His hand playing in her hair, grazing against the back of her neck. She clicks her tongue against her teeth before she begins. "We were together basically all of high school, but we decided to go to different colleges. Tale as old as time, right? But it wasn't that. Not really."

"What was it, Elena?" He's as soft and gentle as he has ever been. Wants to know her darkness so that maybe his own doesn't seem as bad.

"I was dealing with some family stuff." She looks away to the rug, counting the fibers instead of looking at him. "And I wanted to talk to him about it but he always focused so much on fixing it all. It felt like he wasn't listening to me as much as he was just trying to make it go away." She downs the whiskey and holds out her cup for more. "I don't know if I'm explaining this well."

"You are." He refills her cup and is quick to rejoin her on the couch. Using the opportunity to sit closer to her. "Keep going, love."

"I just felt." She pauses, taking time to find the right words. "I felt broken and a little useless every time I just wanted him to listen. I still loved him, but it was more distant."

"You didn't feel understood," he supplies. This had all gone a little deeper than he thought it would. Assumed Damon was some guy she went out with that couldn't take no for an answer.

"No." She swirls the whiskey in her glass. Lets it soak against her lips before she sips. "Sometimes I still don't."

"Why not?"

"Family shit." She laughs and waves her hand. "I don't want to get into it. I already feel weird enough telling you that I cheated on my high school sweetheart with his brother because I didn't feel understood enough."

"It wasn't just that though, was it?" He can sense her holding back. Telling him just enough. Trying to get him to blanch.

He won't. Swears it to himself.

She chews the inside of her cheek, her eyes assessing him. "No, but is it okay if we drop this for now? You already know more than my best friends do and it – it kind of feels weird to tell you everything. At least right now."

"I get it." His hand brush against hers on the couch and they watch it like the most interesting movie. Their fingers hesitating. Slowly connecting and not letting go. Intertwining and settling into the shape of the other's grasp.

It's far more intimate than anything he's experienced in years.

"Is this okay?" she asks, nodding to their hands. "For a teacher?"

"Given what is playing out in my head, it's about as appropriate as I can be under the circumstances." He licks his lips, watching the blush play out across her face. "Do you think about me?" he asks, his tenor low and husky.

"Since that night you walked me home." He can hear her breathing. Deep but a little unsteady. The rise and fall of her chest is a wonderful sight.

He is surprised that she admitted it so freely. Wonders if it's the liquor or the dark. A combination of both, perhaps. "I'm glad I ran into you." His fingers glide over hers. Sitting across from her and staying still is a tremendous task when he wants to feel her body under his in the worst way. "I'm glad you asked me to walk you back home."

"Me too."

They talk for hours. At some point, he makes a joke about needing her phone number if he's going to keep finding her in bars and rescuing her from this Damon character. She jokes that she should give it to his brother since he did the heavy lifting. But they trade phone numbers and she's struck by the roundabout way he'd asked for it.

She tells him how excited they all are for the book signing event. How much it means to her friends. She admits to him that she's looking forward to it as a date and he tells her the same. Eventually, they get more comfortable and trade childhood stories. Awkward teenage years. She surprises him with stories of her brother. He'd never once thought to ask Marcel to look into her. Hadn't considered it.

Preferred it this way. To hear it straight from her.

Liked it better to have it all be a mystery until she deemed it the right time to tell him. It made him feel more important that way.

She yawns for the third time into the back of her hand and leans in even closer. "Do you think less of me? Cause of what I told you earlier?"

"No. I'm not sure I could." She rests her head against his shoulder and he leans back on the couch until she's nestled against his chest. He tries to rationalize this away. It isn't sex. He hasn't crossed the line. If Elijah asked, then he could tell the truth. But it's more than sex. As he holds her in his arms, feeling her sink into him as she falls asleep, he knows he doesn't want to let her go. Not ever. "I'm not exactly someone in a position to judge."

He's not sure if she heard that last bit or if she'd fallen asleep already.

Hours later, Kol comes stumbling through the elevator and wakes them both up. Elena props herself up on her forearms, laying across Klaus's chest with her leg hitched up on his. She scrambles off him and the couch. Apologizes for overstaying even though he insists he doesn't need one. Curses Kol silently for interrupting this time.

He'd have liked to have woken up with her in his arms. Offered her breakfast in an attempt to get her to stay longer. But the way they woke up has her careening towards the door. Kol's presence, as it usually is, is an accelerant. This time propelling her away.

"It's okay, Elena. You can stay."

"I can't really," she shakes her head and looks down at her phone. "Your class is in a couple hours. Wouldn't want to be late."

"You shouldn't worry about that. I heard you have an in with the professor."

"That." She cracks a smile. "Is the definition of inappropriate."

She leaves quickly. Kol smirking against the wall watching her go. "This is the most restraint I've ever seen you have with a woman since. Well since our brother's wife."

"Shut up, Kol." Klaus leans his elbows on his knees. "Are you here to torture me?"

"Always," he ambles to the couch. "Technically though I'm here because Elijah agreed to wire ten thousand dollars to my account if I promised to talk to you about visiting mother."

"Is this where you argue with me? Embarrass me in front of Elena and confront me when I'm too tired to fight back."

"No." Kol yawns and lays down on the other end of the couch. "I told Elijah I would bring it up. I never said I'd try. You look shocked."

"I am." Klaus watches Kol settle in to sleep on the couch despite the perfectly open bed in the guest room. "Elijah has been so relentless."

"Does that mean I should be as well?" The question is distorted in a yawn. "I get it. You don't want to see her. She lied to you. Between her and father, it's difficult to know who manipulated us more."

"I didn't know you felt that way."

He shrugs like he hadn't just dropped a shocking truth into his lap. "No one really talks about it do they? Everyone in our family would prefer to pretend until it becomes reality."

Kol passes out on the couch before they can continue this conversation. It's irritating and he can't sleep. Staring at the ceiling. Frustrating that the best sleep he'd gotten in several years were those few hours with her on the couch until Kol had interrupted them. He turns to his sketches of her tucked away in his nightstand. Looking over them and tracing the curve of her face.

Until morning.

He calls Marcel on his way into class. It's early, but he knows Marcel has always been an earlier riser. One of the few things they didn't share in common.

"Marcel? I'm satisfied with the research on Stefan. Not much interest there. Heartbroken and I can see why." He carries his coffee across campus, keeping his eyes opened for her. "But he seems pretty occupied with that Tulle girl. Hopefully she keeps him busy enough upstate that he won't venture to the city anytime soon."

"Will that be all?" His friend is all business. No laughter in his voice which is unusual for him.

"No. I still need you." He unlocks the door to his classroom, taking in the silence before the day begins. "I'm far more interested in the brother now."

"Damon, right? The older brother." Klaus can hear him going through his notes. "Some kind of finance guy."

"Finance? That makes sense." His nose flares and lip peels back. "Find out as much as you can about it."

"I'm on it."

"And Marcel." He catches him just before he can hang up. "My sister seems to have decided to take some time away from New Orleans. Will you look into that?"

The line goes silent for a second and Klaus thinks maybe he added it too late. Then he hears Marcel sighing. "What's there to look into? What if she just wants a break?"

"Well, I'd like to make sure it isn't anything more than that." Klaus is distracted watching Elena walk in. "Let me know what you find."

She takes her seat and smiles at him without saying anything. Their secret looks and their secret words. Her hair is mussed. Pulled up into a haphazard bun. Like the first day of class. He has half a mind to lock the door again and pull down the blind. Screw his idea of waiting and kiss her right here.

If he'd woken up with her this morning, he would have. Wouldn't have been able to look at her in the morning light and held back his desire to taste her.

A/N: One more week of Liberal Arts and then I will switch back over to Throne of Blood. It's nice to take a step back and indulge in light hearted human AU Klena from time to time, but I do enjoy them a little more at each other's throats, declaring their love over plotting and death threats.