A/N : hello I am back.. i hope you enjoy the epilogue... thank you to all who followed, faved and reviewed...
P.s please do leave reviews, it motivates my writing process.
Love, dangerous and devastating, shattering and rejuvenating, a sentiment so known yet eerily unfamiliar. A yearning penned by poets and materialised by artists. Annihilating yet enlivening. He had felt the first stirrings of this contrary emotion the moment he had seen her.
FLASHBACK
She was watching, assessing quietly, following them in a hospital ambulance unaware the destination marked her end. Aquamarine eyes raked him critically, perhaps doubting his true identity.
"Where are we going?" A harmless inquiry in those guileless eyes. She was preoccupied but for a few seconds - attempting to steady herself when the vehicle jolted.
Nervy and self assured simultaneously she tucked one loose tendril behind her ear glancing outside. He wanted to look more, gaze deep, unearth the secrets that called to his own hidden ones. Feeling undeniably tempted to study and spot her imperfections Klaus hence ignored the unexpected urge even more forcefully. Yanking out and pulling forth the control he had effectively diffused in his soul, he answered instantly, looking away as soon as she turned to gaze at him.
"To the site."
TTTTTTTTTT
Every new encounter brought a fresh onslaught of unexplainable feelings whipping inside him. He had seen many handsome women in his lifetime, some perhaps even more comely than the righteous doctor but strangely she was the only one who threatened his self-restraint.
The way she had fought for what she thought was right, the way she kept begging and expecting him to do the right thing calling onto the humanity she reckoned he possessed wrenched at something inside him. A sensation mimicking pain yet suffusing him with fulfilment. She splashed water on her face, and he couldn't stop staring, swallowing against an unseen lump.
Time slowed, seconds felt minutes as he observed her like someone admiring a unique piece of art. A crazed wolf howling at a full moon.
His hands itched, wanting to immortalise that face and its imperfections into wood that he often sculpted. Plucking those unwanted thoughts from his mind he roughly dragged her turning deaf against those heart rending pleas for mercy. But she didn't know the world he lived in mercy eventually led to torture and death.
TTTTTTTT
A dagger pierced his side, but truly felt as if it was one to his heart. The fact that he had not expected her to actually strike told him he had misjudged her, or maybe he wanted to get hurt, feel the same ache he witnessed each time he peered into her eyes. Lying beneath him, crying at the realisation of physically assaulting him, her empathy even when he deserved more than this measly wound in his side, clutched at him. A fist grasping and twisting him to feel the pain that reflected in her greenish blue irises.
Conflicting and paralysing emotions immobilising him. A heady sensation clouding his senses. She reached for him, instantaneously terrified she might take more than he was ready to give, he pulled away.
"Oh my god. I am so sorry. I didn't mean to. I… just. I don't know what happened.. please let me…" Apologies touching and sincere made him even more uncomfortable. Those soft gentle fingers, merely touched for a nanosecond before he flinched away and yet it felt longer, consuming and intense.
Unable to dole out his fury any further, he pulled away and pushed away her soothing hands.
"I guess you're as corrupt as me, Doctor." He didn't want the ugly reality to set in. Somehow hovering above her watching unsaid emotions unfurl in those eyes, was hypnotising.
"No. I would never hurt…" she followed him as he examined his wound. He couldn't let her get any more closer than she already was.
"And yet you did. We are all evil. It all depends on the right circumstance and the wrong time. Get ready you need a wedding dress." Then he went to the bathroom to wash his wound.
"Please I'm sorry just let me…." Those tears, floating like diamonds in a green lake. Beautiful yet heartbreaking. The need to console surfaced but he dare not act on it. Twisting away from the woman who was making him feel more than he could afford to he covered the cut with disinfectant and a gauze. "Forget it. I've had worse."
TTTTTTTTT
Caroline Elizabeth Forbes. A skilled general surgeon, the sheriff Stefan Salvatore's step-sister was his wife now. The woman he was ordered to kill, somehow stood in front of him, dressed in a white gown, desolate and furious behind that thin veil, was now his to protect and cherish. The officiant announced that he may kiss his bride, but could he? Could he really dare to devastate her even more and impose the rights the law had granted him?
Maybe yes or maybe no, time shall tell but he couldn't prevent the surge of something sour and unpleasant filling his throat, something akin to remorse.
Remorse, bubbling from burdening her with a forced marriage or mayhaps his own displeasure at having been compelled to take such a life altering decision. But contrition soon made a path for shock as he had trained himself to forego any guilt that might surface.
Fiery eyes challenged him as if saying he dare not touch her, but wasn't it a pretence? And wasn't he an expert at keeping up the pretences? Issuing a counter challenge he jerked her closer with one arm circling her back, bringing her flush against his chest. The air thickened, fogging around them with a magnetism that tugged each closer to the other. Aroused despite the hatred spanning between them. "Don't forget to smile for the camera, love.", he warned.
Caroline merely stared back, taken aback by his audacity.
With visible effort she smiled, looking around to see his family patiently awaited the first kiss of newlyweds.
His other hand cradled her face, his thumb finding a temptatious pulse at the column of her neck. Her eyes widened, maybe in surprise or in disgust, he didn't contemplate much.
He touched his lips to hers, hesitant at first but when he felt her soften he kissed her deeper. Desire was sometimes enslaving and benumbing. She kissed him back forgetting who they were and what it meant. However soon sanity returned and she wrestled herself free from his arms. Furious once more she distanced herself and something painful punched him.
TTTTTTTTT
He entered his room, correction their room, feeling perturbed and shaken by the intensity of desire in that brief kiss. It was meant to impart a humbling lesson to his now wife instead he was the one who had learnt something novel regarding his body's response to his new bride. Unease took hold. Fully intending to deposit her in this room and escape to the serenity of his wood workshop he opened his closet to change but the doctor broke his stride and train of thought, hence he reached for the whisky placed on the side table.
"Do not for a second think this marriage holds any merit, we might share a room but ….I only agreed to marry you because…." She ripped the veil out of her hair and they tumbled out of the bun at the back of her head. As always he couldn't look away. Something in those eyes called to his protective instincts.
It was a shame she had so callously ripped that veil. It made her look enchanting. Too affected by the venom in her voice and too enraged to analyse why her words affected him such, he downed a drink and tugged away the tie that smothered him and left him breathless. The lack of air in his lungs had nothing to do with his new ravishing wife.
He sauntered towards her and she backed away, a silent chase step for step. It was wrong, very wrong because he could see her fear, but nothing about all of this was right to begin with. Her words, his wrath, her fright and his unsuccessful battle with himself to maintain indifference, all of it utterly illogical.
"Because you did not want to die. Do not harbour any delusions, Doctor. This marriage just served a purpose for both of us." He stalked her, like a wolf cornering a rabbit. His breath, hot on her face, he saw the pulse thudding at the base of her neck, it was disconcertingly alluring. He wanted to touch and take, none too gently in a frenzied urgency he felt building within but the detestation and terror in her gaze, filled him with self-loathing and ire. Since when had he become a glutton for punishment being attracted to someone who saw him as nothing but a stain on humanity.
"And I am hardly tempted." He was the monster she had yelled at him to be, a ruthless assassin and a murderer. But she had also made him a liar, because by god he was tempted and very much so.
TTTTTTTTTTTT
Time they said healed all wounds but some wounds had no bearing on time or medicine. Some wounds festered and became a canker, causing a throb that eventually turned into an addiction. And his wife's empathy and kind heartedness was gradually corroding his apathy and aloofness, a false yet necessary front meant to safeguard his family.
She nursed him to health, silently without any demands or complaints and he couldn't help but wonder the abrupt change in her demeanour towards him. She reached for him even before he uttered a pained groan, fretted over his health and most of all didn't flinch from his touch anymore. And those angry, rebellious eyes now held something tender perhaps sympathy or just plain pity, after all he could have died.
He wanted to ask. Yearned to plead, wanting to understand what had altered her so but never had the appropriate words. For three nights oscillating in and out of consciousness he saw her sleep fitfully, aggravating over taking care of him and he longed to relieve her of the obligation she felt but wasn't brave enough to have her abandon him.
His eyelids were stone heavy. He felt as if every bone in his body was breaking. The bandage on his shoulder was much smaller than it had initially been. He felt a soft presence and it was the doctor sleeping beside him. Grateful for another chance to keep gazing at her, he watched her sleep until her breathing became shallow and he saw the way those wonderful eyes fluttered open. She pulled away the hand that had been entwined with his and distanced herself.
He fought against the loss and regret that saturated him. "Are you in pain?" The concerned doctor took over his rebel wife.
A small smile crept on his face as he realised he wanted to see the passion of anger in her eyes, a better alternative to this strained inquiry. "No…. You did not have to stay by my side."
He saw disappointment and dejection flit across her expressive and winsome face. She nodded and moved away intending to leave. He grasped her hand. "Why didn't you leave?" Finally mounting the courage to ask.
"I couldn't." Two harmless, inconsequential words shook him and changed him forever. As then he took and claimed what he had been dying to. Clamouring and yearning for her tenderness he gave even as he was sure he took more. But trying to balance the scales he never held back in the midst of passion, with his body and his tongue he uttered promises he knew she wouldn't hold dear.
TTTTTTTTTTT
"I can not bury what threatens to spill each time you touch me, anymore. I love you, Klaus Mikaelson."
"I love you with all your flaws and faults. I love you with all I am."
Her words kept playing in his warped mind. Kept tormenting his distressed days and his restless nights.
"I love you with all your flaws and faults. I love you with all I am."
How could she love the monster, the evil. How could she believe that she harboured such an emotion for him. Leaving her at the cottage and sending the divorce papers was a decision that was gently killing him but if he had to pay with his life to recompense for all the misdeeds against her then so be it.
Carving wood wasn't doing anything to ease his inner turmoil. A wooden rose lacking colour and odour, but one that defied the laws of nature of succumbing to death and of wilting into a powdery ash. One that was everlasting until someone took a hammer to it. It represented resilience and perseverance, mistaken at first glance to be lacklustre but elegant in its texture and shape. Each time he carved something so magnificent poignant memories of his time with Caroline the woman who would always hold his heart infused him.
His instincts kept yammering at him as if something in his atrocious world was out of order. And when the bell rang and he saw Rob at the other end he knew why he had been feeling anxious more than usual.
TTTTTTTTT
A blinding haze of temper and fury had him fight whoever dared to stand between him and her. Jason had made the biggest mistake of endangering Caroline. He kicked and punched as men kept coming and he kept calling out for her.
Hollering her name, feeling desperate and panicked.
"CAROLINE!"
Dying with every protracted second he could not reach her or see the face that had haunted his nights he kept yelling.
"CAROLINE!"
"CAROLINE!"
What would he do? How would he live in a world that was devoid of her light? Impotent rage battered his calm.
He fought off another one of Jason's lackeys.
"CAROLINE!"
Knowing she was safe somewhere even if he wasn't by her side was one thing but losing her forever and never being able to behold the beauty of her expressive face, another.
"CAROLINE !"
Another man fell to the ground and then he saw her. Tied in the corner, Rob freeing her.
He didn't know he was running to her and she towards him. Relief flooded him the moment he felt her in his arms. Holding her a tad longer than necessary he apologised, "I'm sorry." Still a little incredulous, worried she might be a figment of his disturbed mind he mumbled," You're okay." "You're okay." And then she asked him to take her home, even though he had vowed to shield her from the ugliness that was prevalent around him he was helpless to do nothing but comply.
TTTTTTTTTTT
The bruises and abrasions on her face angered him. Guilt, had a way of bringing a man to his knees. He knew very well he didn't deserve the tranquillity and love she promised. He didn't deserve her generosity and her affection. He was still immersed in his worrisome thoughts contemplating the grave consequences of today's events that could have occurred when she bombarded him with a declaration that left him speechless.
"I'm pregnant." She whispered but it was louder than anything else. An echo humming over the noise of his own heart beat. He cleaned her wounds and felt himself tremble twice. Her announcement led to a surge of shock and pure elation but it all came down to what he actually was worthy of.
That hope in her eyes, and the love he had come to recognize almost doubled him over. Hence meticulously he replaced the items of the first aid kit and went to the bathroom.
Upon returning he found her on the balcony. Wind whipping the golden strands of her hair imparting her an ethereal air. The fact that his wife bore his child called to his primal instincts. Fierce protectiveness encompassed him but he also knew he had to do penance for his crimes.
He needed her so he stood close enough to know he wouldn't be rejected.
"I'm keeping the baby."
I know." He was aware of the abundance of her love.
"You know? You fucking know?" She turned splenetic and aggravated, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Even in fury she was heartbreakingly beautiful.
He pushed one wind-whipped strand out of her face. "It means I know you love our child as much as I love him." He sensed her softening, "But I don't deserv…."
"If you say you don't deserve either of us I will clock you right now. Don't test my patience Nik. Do not do that." She shuffled out of his arms and he felt an agonising sense of loss when she moved away.
"What do you want me to say? I am trying to do right by the woman I know deserves more than a man who has done things that are too bleak to even say. These hands are too filthy to touch something as pure as this child, Caroline." She couldn't see what it was costing him. Couldn't realise he was ready to walk away from the two people he would burn down the world if need be.
Tears rolled down, and landed blows on his already heavy heart. For a few tormenting moments she stared at him. He wondered what she saw in his eyes, what degree of deparavity she saw when she looked at him. Maybe the fact that she was his entire world or maybe how he was beyond redemption. It was too much for either of them, those few steps of distance heart rending and painful. Hence he risked his entire self and lifted his arms and then she ran into them.
He pulled away resting his forehead against hers. "Please, Caroline…"
"Klaus…….I can't leave you…I..just.."
"I love you." He blurted out in a hurried statement amidst her confession and he saw another tear spill down her smiling cheeks. "And I tried doing the right thing but if you've decided to be obstinate about this. Know one thing I won't ever let you go. Never ever. Do you understand?" Caroline nodded even as he kissed her again, murmuring those three magical words that he was aware would change his entire life.
He reminisced of all the hardships they had gone through. Thought about how fortune had favoured him for the very first time, but with Caroline by his side he was sure it won't be the last.
The passionate and deep rooted love he had for her befuddled him each day. It was a bizarre feeling that had gradually simmered to a temperature that then abruptly erupted within him, scorching his very adulterated essence giving him a new life, hence a new identity.
A new beginning, an undeserved start delivered to him like a boon from heaven, if there ever was one. He hadn't known such an emotion existed, one so powerful that defied all odds. Lent a hardened and unempathetic person like him, a valuable chance to atone for the sins he had committed.
Life in witness protection by her side was no hardship at all. Caroline Elizabeth Forbes, his wife and the mother of his angelic daughter, Kayleene, was one remarkable woman. He glanced upon her sleeping form and kissed her forehead. Her blonde hair were mussed around her entrancing face. He felt that familiar tightening in his chest, that pleasuring tug, which now he knew was love. A turbulent flow like his own blood within him and shall continue to run in his veins till his last breath.
Putting on a shirt he took three steps out of his room and smiled knowing that now the most beautiful bundle of warmth and joy would rush into his open arms.
"Daddy." She squealed and he put a finger on his lips, conspiratorially pointing towards the woman who was the core of the family they made.
With wide and innocent eyes she nodded in understanding, at the tender age of four her astuteness and artistry astounded him often.
So skillful with the wood he worked on, sculpting and moulding into pieces as an anonymous artist, she had inherited his creativity and her mother's genius.
He sculpted and she imitated with her kid friendly tools making an almost replica of the rose he chiselled.
"I'll keep yours this time, Daddy. Mom can have mine." She wanted to be his number one and often competed with her mother for the love he possessed.
But there was no competition, they were his heart and soul. Grinning from ear to ear, he gently flicked the nose that was so like Caroline and witnessed the most adorable smile reaching the eyes that were just like his.
"Sure. But Mom can't know."
"Don't worry Daddy. I won't tell." She mimicked zipping her mouth and her murky blonde curls tumbled as she then shook her head. "Also.. we'll make…(wake)...her ..only when we finish." Mumbling from a zipped mouth she was almost incoherent but he knew what she meant, easily comprehending even the things she couldn't voice.
Filled with love he lifted her from her stool and shifted her into his lap. "You can unzip your mouth, sweety. I don't think she can hear us." He kissed her head.
"Okay." Kayleene laughed delighted by the fact that she shared a secret with her father.
He felt her even before Caroline could say a word hence he turned and in a silent gesture had her back out of his studio wanting to keep Kayleene and his secret.
With a smile Caroline walked away from the threshold.
TTTTTTTTTTT
Klaus found Caroline elbows deep in pastry dough. Life by her side was a constant boon. Her magnanimity and love strengthened the intensity of his own affection, respect and trust. Her faith and positivity had lifted the burdens he had been carrying, slayed the demons that had haunted him, and had rescued him from the purgatory he had sentenced himself to. Unconsciously he often learned each minute nuance of her enchanting face, the crinkles at the corner of her mouth when she smiled and satisfying gleam in her green eyes turning them darker, for it imparted him the serenity he had longed for.
With Kayleene still busy in the studio, he embraced his wife from behind, "Hello, doctor." Then tilted her face for a satisfying kiss muffling her answering "hi" against his own mouth. The need and the want that she stirred would always soothe but somehow left him hankering for more.
"How are you feeling?" He asked as moved by her side, a little concerned as she was carrying their second child, and began helping her with the pastry dough.
"Surprisingly refreshing considering your soccer star didn't let me sleep till late at night." Seeing him be so tender and loving with their daughter made her love him more each day. He was a courageous, gracious man who not only did time for his crimes but thanks to his testimony the mafia ring operating in their city had effectively been put behind bars.
He moved closer, palmed her protuberant abdomen and kissed her, "I feel like I should apologise." He teased.
The day he had confessed his love for her he had never looked back. Caroline was his strength and salvation, standing by him through thick and thin. Helping him fulfill a dream he was never so bold to hope for, a family of his own, to cherish and safeguard.
"Yes you should. It's absolutely your fault but you could always tell me, your and Kayleene's secret to make me feel better." She quipped with a playful smile.
"No.…" He ran a cursory hand over her hair.
"Why? I won't tell her." Dumping the dough she had been kneading in a separate bowl she washed her hands and he followed suit. "I mean it's been a month both of you have been working on this secret piece. You could at least give me a hint."
It amused her to see so curious. "You know what they say about curiosity and the cat, right?" He tucked one golden curl behind her ear just because he wanted to touch her.
"Ughh. You're so annoying." She poked him with a finger lightly.
"And you're .…" he pulled her in his arms intending to kiss her when they were interrupted by their daughter's voice. "Daddy I need you!" She called out from the stairs.
He made an apologetic face then hurried over to his daughter.
TTTTTTTTTT
She was blindfolded and was being led by Kayleene to their backyard. All day she had been busy at the local hospital and then Rebekah had whisked her away with the pretence of shopping. Now when she had entered her house, Kayleene had all but ordered her to cover her eyes and follow her without questions.
She helped Caroline at the steps leading to the backyard, turned to a small garden and then asked her to remove the blindfold.
Caroline was pleasantly astounded to see the extravagant decorations and twinkling lights hanging with the sign that read "Happy Anniversary" and her loved ones cheering "Surprise!". A round of salutations erupted.
Klaus's family with the exception of Ansel of course, who was still in prison, was present. Not only did she and Klaus go into witness protection but so did Esther and Rebekah along with Rebekah's son.
Klaus her husband, the man she had thought would forever be impossible to love, walked towards her with wooden flowers in his hands. He left her breathless and immensely touched each time he surprised her with his thoughtfulness, every little gesture made it easier to fall even deeper in love with him. Turning the impossibility of loving a man like him into a pleasant inevitability. He was gradually becoming more candid and expressive shedding his aloofness, as he began to trust her more.
Kayleene the gorgeous the girl they had made together grasped his hand and they advanced towards her. "Happy anniversary, love."
"Happy anniversary, my dearest." She grabbed the lapels of his tux and kissed him causing Kayleene to make gagging noises. "Eww, mom. I'm gonna go play with Leo and anty Bekah." Then she rushed over to where Rebekah was standing with her son and Esther.
Caroline laughed when Klaus visibly blushed, still a little conscious of displays of affection she showered on him in public. She felt a pinch in her heart because she knew his hesitancy to accept love stemmed from his doubts of not deserving it.
"These are beautiful." She murmured pretending to smell them and he chuckled appreciating her humour.
"They won't wilt." His intensity mesmerised her and his sincerity warmed her. "They are forever." She understood what he was saying with so little words and yet with an abaundance of love in his actions.
Words that never came easy to a man like him, were slowly becoming less arduous with every passing day but she still wished that he would be more trusting and candid around her.
Puncturing her thought process he pulled her to his side and called out.
"May I have your attention please." The guests complied and he continued, "Thank you. This is harder than I thought. Now that I do have your attention I find myself wishing that I didn't."
Klaus's joke was rewarded by a hearty laughter from the guests and a jovial nudge from his wife.
"I want to propose a toast to my lovely wife, my kind and compassionate partner and the most amazing mother. Caroline I know I am not an easy man to love…I mean talk about getting lucky in a scenario of Stockholm Syndrome."
More laughter followed and Caroline felt a smile creeping on her face, then he somberly added, "I don't know what people say nor do I care. I only know that I must have done something worthwhile in my life to deserve a woman like you."
Then he faced her and held her hands, "I also know that I am not very expressive but my love please trust me when I say you're my salvation, the beat of my heart and everything redeemable about my soul. I love you… Happy Anniversary." He kissed her forehead.
A round of applause followed.
She had wished he would be more unreserved with his words and he had given her a public tribute, she really had nothing to wish for. Through a sheen of tears Caroline mumbled, "This was so…"
"Candid?" Klaus inquired.
"Beautiful."
"Promise me something."
"Yes." She gazed at the love that shone in his eyes.
"You'll never leave me." Vulnerability always terrified him, perhaps always will. Once he was so apprehensive about Caroline knowing his fears and failings and now he wholeheartedly shared them with her.
Love rushed inside her, filling her with a warmth that felt like a new beginning. "Never. Promise me something."
"Anything."
"You'll keep giving me these." The wooden flowers were a symbol of his love for her. A love that didn't fade or wilt. A love of a man who had once thought it impossible to merit such a bond.
He pulled her closer entwining his fingers with hers, "Always." And he knew the promise he was making. And she knew he would always keep it. "Till the last breath I take."
TTTTTTTTTTTTTT