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Keeping Secrets Ch. 61

Keeping Secrets Masterlist

After having a very long family meeting it was agreed by the whole family that they would move forward with the unification ritual.

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Katie and Klaus stood in Hayley and Jackson’s cabin in the bayou. The baby boy Hayley was holding, dressed in a pair of overalls and a flannel shirt, looked to be no more than three months younger than Hope. “Who is this adorable little man?” Katie asked with a small smile as the boy babbled and threw his stuffed bear at Jackson.

“This,” Jackson started as he pushed himself up from the old but comfy looking recliner in the corner of the living room and joined Hayely where she stood across from Klaus and Katie, “is Oliver.”

Katie remembered a wolf named Oliver from the party they had in honor of the new treaty. He was the wolf that got in the fight with Diago. She also noticed she hadn’t seen him around or heard anything about him in a long time. Instead of mentioning their possibly fallen pack member Katie just smiled at the baby. “So you’ve considered our request?” Hayley asked, deciding to skip pleasantries and get straight to business, anxious to know if Katie and Klaus would turn her into a hybrid.

“Please, have a seat.” Jackson told them with a motion to an old couch, the kind with wooden armrests and a brown and cream floral pattern, then sat back down in his recliner.

Katie sat down and Klaus, with a look at the couch that said he questioned its cleanliness, hesitantly followed suit. “We have considered your request.” Katie answered Hayley.

“And?” Hayley prompted.

“And we would like to make a counter offer.” Klaus answered.

“So that’s a no.” Hayley surmised with a bit of an attitude.

Hayley’s line of Crescent’s were killed off long ago in the fight between the two crescent packs. Technically, since she and Jackson had yet to wed, she was no one's alpha. So instead Katie addressed Jackson, the actual alpha of the crescent pack. “We decided, back when we first found out that Hope could sire hybrids, that we would never, under any circumstances, use her. Our minds remain unchanged.”

“We hope, as parents yourselves, that you will understand our line of thinking and respect our wishes regarding our child.” Klaus added.

“I never wanted Hayley to be a hybrid in the first place, but I considered it because it would help the pack.” Jackson glanced at Hayley with a 'sorry but it's true' look then looked back at Katie and Klaus. “If you have another solution I’d be happy to hear it.”

“You might not like it.” Katie warned as she slipped her hand over Klaus’s where it rested on the couch between them.

Jackson made a face that said he still wanted to hear what they had to say. “Katie and I are going to do the unification ritual at our upcoming wedding. If you and your pack recognize me as your alpha and attend the wedding you will have all of the powers of a hybrid with none of their weaknesses.”

“Are you kidding me?” Hayley asked with a tone that was grating on Katie’s last nerve. She was acting like a petulant brat, pissed she didn't get her way. “You’re not offering an alternate solution. You’re making a power grab. All you want is an army of wolves you can treat like slaves.”

“Do you want to be free from turning every full moon or not?” Katie finally snapped. “If you do then I suggest you shut up, and hear us out.” Hayley huffed out a breath and sat down in the second recliner in the living room, that matched the one Jackson was sitting in with his son. Katie turned her attention back to Jackson. “We are not trying to make a grab for power or take your pack from you. Nor will anyone be treated like slaves. We are trying to help.”

"I don't understand. You're not a werewolf." Jackson pointed out.

"That is why we're having a witch, a trusted one who's willing to help, alter the spell to accommodate her." Klaus answered.

"It's a bit more one-sided than the original ritual, seeing as I'm not a wolf and I have no special abilities to share, but we have all confidence that it will work." Katie added.

Jackson turned his eyes to Klaus. “And you want us to recognize you as alpha, but you’re not trying to take the pack from us?”

“I have made this offer to a couple of other packs.” Klaus started explaining. “Aiden and the wolves who have been following his leadership in your absence have already agreed to accept me as their alpha, as well as The North East Atlantic pack.”

“That pack and mine have been fighting since the beginning of time.” Jackson pointed out.

“Does anyone even know why the packs started fighting in the first place?” Katie asked curiously and Jackson couldn’t answer. “Exactly, so why not put pointless infighting like that to rest?”

“While I only made the offer to a couple packs, word of the unification ritual that will free the wolves of their curse has spread like wildfire.” Klaus continued. “Lone wolves who have no alpha or pack are already coming out of hiding and their numbers continue to grow. I am but one man with a family to care for. So while I will technically be alpha, you will still be your original pack’s leader, nothing will change in that facet if your people do not want it to.”

“You’re proposing a monarchy.” Jackson said putting Katie and Klaus’s plan in a nutshell. “With you as king.”

“Essentially, yes.” Klaus answered with a hit of smugness. “We will let you and your people live peacefully and only call on you in the most dire of circumstances.”

“A ceremony for the alphas to renounce their title and recognize Klaus will be held in the compound courtyard on the tenth, two days before the wedding.” Katie told them as Klaus stood up and held his hand out to her. “I hope to see you there.”

“We’ll leave you to consider it.” Klaus told them as Katie took his hand, stood up and they left the cabin.

On their way back to the compound Katie felt Klaus’s eyes on her and looked at him to see him gazing at her while driving. "What?" She asked with a blush.

"Nothing." He said with a smirk as he turned his eyes to the road.

"No, what is it?" She asked with a laugh.

"I like working together like we did back there." He admitted. "You truly are a queen." She just smiled, rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Don't roll your eyes at me." he told her playfully.

She gasped exaderadedly. "What? I would never roll my eyes at you."

"Uh huh. Sure you wouldn't." He sarcastically agreed, making her laugh.

"Seriously though. All I did was tell them our plan." She said, watching out the front glass as the bayou slowly turned to the city.

"And put Hayley in her place." He added.

"I told her to shut up. What about that screams queenly to you?" She asked with a look across her shoulder at him.

"It's not about what you say, it's how you say it and how people react to you. Yes, you told Hayley to shut up, but the tone you used was authoritative and held an underlying threat. In response, she backed down." He explained. "Then you addressed Jackson with one of respect, coaxing him to see things our way. All the while never stepping on my toes or undermining my authority." He reached across the center console, grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it. "That screams queen to me." Katie just looked at him not really believing a word he said. "Quite frankly I would have liked to see what would have happened had Hayley not backed down."

"Everything about her grates on my last nerve. So it probably wouldn't have been pretty." Katie answered. "The only thing that might have kept me from getting physical was the fact that baby Oliver was present."

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The next day Katie and Klaus stood with Freya and Davina in the dining room of the compound going over the new unification ritual. “So explain it to me again.” Katie told Freya with a look down at the spell written and drawn out on the pages of Freya’s grimoire.

“I’ve explained it to you twice already.” Freya told Katie with a frown. “Are you trying to catch me in a lie?” she asked with a look between Katie and Klaus.

“No, it’s not like that.” Katie defended. “It’s just…” she looked at Klaus then back at Freya, “the last time I let a witch cast a spell binding me to my significant other, I ended up cursing my descendants for generations. I just want to make sure nothing like that is going to happen this time.”

"It doesn't bind you to him." Davia replied. "It simply turns your heart into a mirror image of his." Klaus gave Katie a smirk at Davina's choice of words. "To put it scientifically, it basically changes your biological makeup to match his."

"Will you go over it again?" Katie asked then flashed Freya a cheesy smile when she heaved out an aggravated sigh.

“Okay, but this is the last time.” Freya agreed then turned her eyes to the papers as Klaus wrapped his arm around Katie’s waist from the side. “First there are the trials, I narrowed it down to three from the original eight. You two have already passed the first two. The last, to be performed tonight, is the rite of divulgement. Both of you will smoke the root of the blue calamus flower, it will temporarily link your hearts as well as clear the air of any secrets you may be keeping from each other. The last part of the spell will be performed at your wedding, your first kiss as husband and wife. It's the binding element that will complete the unification ritual. Upon its completion you will be exactly like Klaus. You will have his extra strength, extra speed and enhanced senses. You will also be able to turn into a wolf at will and your bite will be lethal to vampires. Just like Klaus you will be able to reproduce. Along with this ability I have ensured that if you do decide to have more children you will not become human as your pregnancy progresses.” Freya looked up at Katie, “The only thing that will be able to kill you is white oak.” She finished explaining how the spell would affect Katie then turned the page of her grimoire.

“The wolves that participate in the ritual will be granted strength, speed and enhanced senses equivalent to that of a regular vampire, and they will no longer be controlled by the full moon. They will be able to turn at will and their bite will be lethal to vampires 24/7. They however won't truly be vampires. So they won't experience bloodlust, immortality or infertility.” Freya finished explaining.

““I watched her craft the spell every step of the way. You have nothing to worry about.” Davina assured Katie. “Your wedding day will be nothing less than perfect on our part.”

Freya noticed Katie’s nervous look. “You’re not going to make me explain it again are you?”

“No.” Katie laughed as her shoulders deflated a bit.

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Katie and Klaus stood in the entryway of their quarters with Freya. "Do we really have to smoke that?" Katie asked with a look at the blunt of blue calamus root Freya held between her fingers.

"You could bake it into some brownies if you prefer, but smoking it is the fastest way to get it in your system." Freya answered. "This is the most important trial. If there are any secrets at all between the two of you the ritual won't take."

Katie looked at Klaus who gave her a nod. So she made a here-goes-nothing face and turned her eyes to Freya. Freya encased the cigarette in her hands, closed her eyes and said a quiet enchantment then handed it to Katie along with a lighter. Katie put the blunt to her lips and lit it, breathing in the truth herb. She coughed as she breathed out the smoke and handed it to Klaus. "First time smoking?" Klaus asked before he took a draw from the joint.

"There's a reason Tyler called me a fuddy-duddy." She answered as she watched Klaus breathe out the smoke and hand the blunt back to Freya.

She put it out on a crystal ashtray then gave them a look that seemed to say good luck then left their quarters.

"So," Katie started with a look up at Klaus, "are we going to start spouting the truth like word vomit or is it a little more dignified than that?"

Klaus chuckled. "The root pushes us to seek out and speak the truth." He answered. "So I'll ask, what, if anything, have you been keeping from me?"

"Just one thing really. It's not so much a secret as it is something I really want to know about. I just haven’t asked because I assumed you would tell me when you were ready." Katie answered as she walked into their sitting room and sat on the arm of one of the leather couches. "What about you?"

"Just one thing as well." Klaus replied.

"Maybe we should say it at the same time." Katie offered.

Klaus shook his head no. "Lady's first."

"Okay, fine. I've been dying to know about the woman in the painting I found in the attic, Aurora." Katie answered. "Your turn."

"I once told you that the night my father ran us out of this city was one of two events that made me into the man you first met." He told her then held his hand out to her. "Come with me." He wiggled his fingers for her to take his hand. So she took it and let him lead her to the attic where the picture of Aurora sat, leaned against the dusty wall. “The person you wish to know about and the event I wish to tell you about are one and the same.”

Katie moved to lean against a support beam, ready to listen to what he had to tell her. "A little over a thousand years ago, in France, my siblings and I knew nothing about what my mother had turned us into. Immortality was beyond our grasp. Compulsion, a trick we had yet to learn. All we knew was a fear of being hunted. That...and a terrible hunger. Eventually we found a way to hide in plain sight, taking on the identities of a wealthy count's children, staying at the castle of the Count de Martel."

"There, we not only met the Count, but his children, Lord Tristan and Lady Aurora." Hearing him say Aurora's name Katie crossed her arms over her chest. "From the moment I laid eyes on Aurora I was...enamored, with her beauty." As he continued to tell his story Katie turned her eyes to the painting. "As our stay at the castle progressed so did my love for her. Eventually we revealed our darkest secrets to each other. She told me she felt cursed and broken, as her first act in life was to take her mothers." Katie frowned, only able to imagine what it must have felt like to grow up with that kind of blame on her shoulders. "So I told her what I had never told a single soul before, that I too, not in childbirth, but in a fit of rage, took my mother's life." Kate's brows rose as she looked at him, surprised that he would tell someone about that. It only spoke to how much he trusted Aurora. "With those secrets bonding us, I thought we couldn't possibly love each other more.…I was sorely mistaken."

He moved to a couch covered with a white sheet and leaned his hips against the back of it. "During our stay at the castle my siblings and I discovered that our blood not only healed people, but could sire more beings like ourselves. Because of this, and Kol’s blatant lack of self control, word of a village beset by demons began to spread. It was the night we flead the castle, for fear that Mikael had caught wind of our presence there, that I learned of Aurora's true feelings." He held his hand out to Katie and she pushed herself off the beam and placed hers in it softly. A woman's voice filled her head as the image of a candle lit stone bedroom took over her mind's eye.

"You want me to run away with you, leave my brother...this house?" Aurora asked, looking up at Klaus with wide, disbelieving eyes. Her light grey and green dress looked heavy and a headband of white and green sat atop her head, the white teardrop beads touching her forehead.

"The world is bigger than this house. Let me show you." Klaus argued where he stood across from Aurora, wearing cream colored robes. His blond wavy hair was just long enough to brush his shoulders.

"How? As we hide, fleaing your brute of a father?" Aurora asked, almost sounding disgusted by the idea. "Always on the run, living like dogs? I think not."

"Your brother has turned you from me." Klaus guessed.

"No. I turn from you." Aurora argued. "Because I do not love you. I...I thought I did...but it's as if I see you clearly for the first time and I find you a cruel, wretched thing." Katie could tell from the look on his face that Aurora's words cut him like a white hot knife. "Pathetic really and unworthy of anyone's love. Let alone mine." Aurora turned her back on him and walked over to her bed.

"You do not mean that." Klaus said shakily as he took a few steps closer to her.

"After all, your own mother turned against you." Aurora said, stopping at her bed before she turned and looked at him, her face seemed totally uncaring. "If she who gave you life could come to loathe you then be snuffed out by your own hand, then what hope is there for you?" She asked as she sat down on the bed.

Katie watched Klaus’s face as Aurora’s words cut even deeper. The pain she caused him was plain as day as a tear slipped down his cheek. "You're breaking my heart." More tears slipped down his cheeks. "And you swore you'd never speak of this."

His tears and weak words didn't affect Aurora in the slightest and she stood from the bed and stalked over to him as she harshly spoke, "I owe you nothing. We are not alike. And I could never love you."

Klaus just looked at her, speechless as tears slipped down his face. Then when he saw that she wasn't changing her mind he turned and walked away, brushing his hand down his face as he did. And with that swipe of his hand his face turned cold and flat, making it obvious to anyone who might have seen him that he was now a broken man. This, amongst all the other cracks in him, was by far the biggest and deepest.

Klaus took his hand from Katie's and the vision faded. She cupped his face in her hands, taking in his watery eyes with unshed tears in her own. “No one should ever have to endure the things you have in your very long life.” Klaus sighed and rested his forehead on her chest, as if recalling the painful memory took everything out of him. “Thank you for telling me.” she slipped her fingers through his hair. “If I were alive back then, and saw what she did to you, I would have stomped her into the ground for ever hurting you like that.”

“And I would have had a fine time saving you from Tristan’s wrath.” he replied as he lifted his head, now looking amused by her. “And rewarding you with a kiss for your efforts.”

“Just a kiss?” she asked with a small smile and a look at him through her lashes.

“Chastity was pretty valued back then. I wouldn’t have wanted to taint your dove feather wings.” he told her with a cheeky smile.

“Even if I begged you to?” she asked with mock innocence.

“Maybe.” he laughed.

Getting back on point, Katie went to the painting and turned it around, looking to see if there was a date on the back of it. While there wasn’t a full date, there was a year, 1812. Klaus gave her time to process, watching her lean back on the support beam as she did the math in her head. He was starting to fear what she must be thinking when she finally spoke. "You held onto her for what, eight hundred years?" she asked with a narrow eyed shake of her head.

"Closer to a thousand." Klaus answered hating the truth serum that was still cursing through their veins.

"You said you found out your family could sire more vampires while you were at the castle, did you turn her?" She asked not wanting to know. She wanted to let herself believe Aurora was long dead. But she knew that if Aurora had died, Klaus wouldn't have clung so tightly to his memories of her. The blue calamus was doing it’s job and not letting her ignore things and lie to herself.

"No, I didn't want her to be the monstrous creatures my siblings and I were. But she was persistent and over time I’ve come to the conclusion that she was bipolar. She said her mind was a demon that haunted her, tortured her and hunted her. She believed becoming like my siblings and I would free her of the demons that haunted her.” He answered, making Katie frown. “When Tristan found out that Aurora and I had been seeing each other he forbade her from seeing me and she tried to kill herself. Rebekah smelled the blood, found her and healed her. Realizing she could have the one thing I denied her, Aurora threw herself from the third story window of her room.”

Katie was quiet in thought for a second, both processing and now feeling a tiny bit bad for Aurora. “Bipolar disorder is a mental condition, turning would only enhance it.”

“Yes, and it did, but I kept her grounded.” Klaus replied.

"So she's still alive?" Katie asked.

"As far as I know, yes, but there's really no way to be sure." He answered. “Before we left, Elijah compelled Aurora, Tristan and an old friend of mine, Lucian, to believe they were Rebekah, Elijah and myself. That is the last I’ve known of them. However I’m sure they no longer believe themselves to be Mikaelsons as the compulsion would have been broken as soon as Elijah was daggered for the first time in the twelfth century.”

Katie bit her lips closed and pushed herself from the support beam, running her fingers through her hair, pushing it out of her face as she walked a few paces away from him. After a few seconds she dropped her hand from her head and turned to face him, seeing that he had stood and was looking at her with worried eyes. She opened her mouth to speak then closed it, breathed an aggravated sigh out through flared nostrils then grumbled, "Damn blue calamus root" under her breath. She lifted her chin and asked, "I don't want to ask. I want to say that I know I'm the only woman you love but I have to ask...Do you still love her?"

Klaus cleared the space between them and cupped her cheek in his hand. "No. Any remaining love I had for her vanished the moment I realized I was in love with you." He assured her and she let out a breath she hadn't even realized she was holding and let her head fall to rest on his shoulder.

"How much longer do we have to endure this?" She asked as she lifted her head and moved her arms to rest on his shoulders.

"Not too much longer I'm sure." He answered as she started absentmindedly fiddling with the hair at the nape of his neck.

"Do you have anything else you wish to ask me or tell me?" Katie asked curiously.

"Mmm." He looked around in mock thought. "No."

Katie smiled, "Then it seems the air between us is officially cleansed, or whatever."

"It would seem so." Klaus confirmed. "That is unless you are still harboring deeply buried feelings for my brother." She rolled her eyes and gave him a, 'seriously?' look. "I'm joking."

Katie smiled and shook her head as she dropped her arms and walked over to the painting. "So what do you plan on doing with this?" She asked with a point at it.

"Whatever you wish.” He answered and when she looked at him across her shoulder she saw him standing with his hands behind his back, he gave her a closed lipped smile.

"Good answer," she laughed, “very domesticated of you, but it is not my painting.”

“I’ll have it disposed of. It no longer has any meaning to me.” he answered. “The wall of what is now the library is covered with paintings of her that have been bricked over. What would you suggest I do about them?” he asked.

“Leave them be. There’s no need to rip out a wall just to scrape away paint that no longer holds any meaning to you.” she answered as she stepped around to stand in front of him with her hands resting on his navy blue henley covered chest.

Loving that she didn’t make things difficult, that she wasn’t jealous like he’d feared she would be, that she was happy just knowing that he was hers and nothing else mattered, he grabbed her hips and pulled her into him, biting her on the neck with a growl. She giggled before he looked her in the eyes. "Now, what do you say we check in on Hope and Rebekah then retire to our chambers?"

"But it's only eight thirty." Katie protested missing where he was going with his statement.

"Yes, so we'll have plenty of time to-"

"Nope." Freya interrupted making Klaus roll his eyes with a sigh. "You know the restrictions of the ritual. No hanky-panky or making whoopee, or whatever the kids are calling it these days, until after the ceremony." She lectured them as she walked over to them.

“I don’t know what the kids are calling it these days, but I can assure you it’s not hanky-panky or making whoopee.” Katie told Freya with a smirk then looked back at Klaus, "Sorry Charlie." She patted him on the chest and took a step back.

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The alpha renunciation ceremony the next day went off without a hitch. Cary, alpha of The North East Atlantic Pack and descendant of Ansel, was there as well as two other alphas whose names Katie hadn't gotten the chance to learn. Much to Katie’s surprise, Hayley and Jackson even showed up. With the renunciation of four, five if you count Hayley, alphas Klaus became alpha to a hundred or so wolves. Along with the miscellaneous wolves that were still trickling in the numbers were somewhere in the mid one hundreds.

Klaus stood with Katie on the upper balcony watching all of the wolves down in the courtyard of the compound talking and getting to know one another. Bottles of alcohol were being passed around to hopefully ease any tension between the packs. Katie looked away from the people she was soon going to officially be queen of to look across her shoulder at Klaus. He took in a deep breath and held it for a second then let it out. “What’s on your mind?” she asked, concerned.

“Good things do not happen to me and when they do, more often than not, it doesn't last long.” he told her and she moved from his side to slip between him and the railing of the balcony.

She grabbed the sides of his neck and he turned his eyes from his people to hers. "This is not going to fall through like the rings did. For once no one is being manipulated and all parties are willing to participate in our plan." She assured him and he nodded, but still looked uneasy. "Even if things do, for some unseen reason, go south there is one thing that will never change. I've got you and I'm not going anywhere."

"Do you have any idea how much I love you?" He asked as his hands slid around her waist and pulled her closer.

"Um, I believe you once told me that I could multiply all the grains of sand on the earth by a billion and it still wouldn't touch it." She told him with a small smirk as she slid her arms over his shoulders and around his neck.

"That statement still stands." He told her as he leaned in and caught her lips with his in a kiss that naturally deepened. After a minute or so wolf calls and whistles from down in the courtyard made them pull apart to look at their people. Klaus just gave them a smirk while Katie blushed.

"Save it for the honeymoon!" Cary called before the wolves returned to their party.

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The day before the ceremony was a whirlwind of preparations. Not only was the compound packed with decorators, but also The North East Atlantic Pack and lone wolves who still trickled in and swore their allegiance to Klaus. Those wolves, having no other previous leader, and the N.E.A. pack, would be calling the compound their home after the ceremony was over. Most of them wouldn't be staying permanently, just until they settled and found their own homes in the city, but twenty or so would be staying and calling the compound home just to have close by for Hope's safety.

Katie and Rebekah were overseeing the decorating of the courtyard where the reception would be held when the doors were opened and The Mystic Falls gang was let inside. Girlish laughter sounded out as Caroline, Elena and Katie crashed together in a big group hug.

When Katie opened her eyes they landed on Alaric, giving the girls a small, closed lipped smile. "Alaric, you came." Katie said as she let go of Caroline and Elena.

"You think I'd miss my favorite student's wedding?" He asked as Katie stepped around the girls to embrace him in a tight hug. "Not a chance in hell."

"Even if you hate the groom?" Katie asked as she pulled back and looked up at him through her lashes.

"I'm just going to keep telling myself that if he treats you well that's all that matters until I actually believe it." Alaric answered, making her shake her head with a smile.

"So," Bradley's voice hit Katie's ears making her look up to see him and sheriff Forbes along with Stefan and Damon catch up to the group of girls, "where is my beautiful granddaughter?"

Katie kept her thoughts about Bradley and his lack of interest in her and Hope to herself to keep from putting a damper on the mood and instead led them to Hope's nursery. When they walked in Klaus stood up and picked Hope up from the pallet he’d made on the floor, a proud look on his face as he looked at Katie and her Mystic Falls family. "Everyone...meet Hope." Katie said with a motion to the 8 month old that was dressed in a white onsie with thin, pastel pink stripes on it as well as a pink tutu and the word princess written on the chest in metallic gold cursive lettering. A white headband with a gold bow was on the little girl's head.

A chorus of compliments were thrown out at Hope before Caroline asked, "Can I hold her?"

"Of course." Klaus responded as he passed Hope to Caroline.

"Hi, sweet girl." Caroline spoke softly to the baby. "Do you know who I am?" Hope squealed happily as she thrashed around the rattling stuffed toy in her hand. "I'm your auntie Caroline." Carloine paused and glanced between Katie and Klaus. "Can she call me Auntie Caroline?"

Katie looked at Klaus, who just gave her a look that told her it was up to her, then back at Caroline. "I wouldn't want it any other way."

Caroline flashed a beaming smile then turned to the group of people still standing near the doorway. "And there's Auntie Elena and Uncle Damon and Uncle Stefan."

"Whoa, hey, I'm not sure I want a Mikaelson kid calling me uncle." Stefan popped off, making Katie give him a pointed look while Klaus gave him a glare and a tilt of his head. A smirk appeared on Stefan's face before he laughed, "I'm just messing with you. She's freaking adorable."

Caroline gave him a smile and a shake of her head before Elena stepped up to her and said, "Alright stop hogging her." Then held her hands out for Hope. "Come see me mini Katie." Elena said as she carefully took the baby from Caroline.

When Bradley, the last person to get to hold her, took her she started getting fussy and rubbing her eyes. “It looks like your little princess is getting sleepy.” Katie said with a look at Kalus. Bradley who tried and failed to hide his aggravation passed the baby off to Klaus.

“We should probably go check into our hotel anyway.” Sheriff Forbes spoke up with a point at the door.

“Absolutely not.” Klaus said, making them all give him curious looks. “You all are here because you’re Katie’s family and family stays here, in the compound.” he continued. “Bradley, your old room is still available. So you and Sheriff Forbes are more than welcome to stay there and seeing as my lovely long lost sister is forcing Katie and I to spend our nights apart, all you ladies, if you so wish, can slumber it in our quarters.”

“I vote for slumbering it.” Caroline spoke up with a look at Elena who nodded in agreement.

“I wouldn’t mind seeing where you lived while you were away.” Sheriff Forbes told Bradley.

“What about us?” Damon asked with a motion to Stefan, Alaric and himself.

“There are rooms available for you guys too.” Katie answered then motioned to the maid standing quietly in the back of the room. “Jolene will show you where they’re at while I show the girls to our quarters and Klaus...gets the task of putting Hope down for a nap.” she said with a smirk at Klaus then motioned to the door.

After getting everyone settled Katie went to Damon’s room and knocked on the door. “Well hello, Katie Cat.” Damon told her as he did the smoldering eye thing he was so good at doing. “Looking for one last night of fun before you tie yourself down for the rest of your life?” he asked with a flick of his brows.

Katie laughed. “You haven’t changed.”

“And you haven’t answered the question.” he pointed out, intensifying the smolder.

“No, I’m not looking for one last night of fun.” Katie answered flatly and Damon made a pouty face. “Even if I was, it wouldn’t be fun. You’re actually kind of boring compared to Klaus.” she added with a smart aleck smirk.

“Liar.” He accused as he stepped aside, letting her into his room.

“Am not.” she countered.

“Yeah, what makes him so much better than me?” Damon asked as he shut the door and turned to look at her, thinking she wouldn’t answer the question.

“Well, you know that whole, ‘It’s not the size of the boat, but the motion of the ocean’ thing?” she asked and he hummed with a glare. “That’s only half true, not even half. More like a fourth. And while you have a sailboat, he has a fully loaded E-Class container vessel.” Damon gave her a confused look. “That’s the longest ship in the world in case you didn’t know.” she informed him then made a couple motions with her hands silently telling him they were long and tall.

“Yeah..well...So he has a big boat. Whooptie doo.” he said with a sarcastic eye roll.

“He also bites.” she answered with a smirk, now just trying to get under his skin and knock his “chicks love me” ego down a notch.

“I used to bite you all the time.” he told her with a wrinkle of his nose.

“Right, but not after I became a vampire.” she pointed out.

“Isn't his bite toxic to you?” he asked and Katie just quirked a brow at him, waiting for him to catch up to the implications. “Right, his blood is the antidote.” he recalled and a cheeky smile took over her lips before a lightbulb practically lit up above his head. “Oh! Man, I didn’t need to know that.”

“Hey, you’re the one that asked.” she defended with her hands held out to the sides before she crossed them over her flowy, black tank top covered chest. “Besides, it’s not my fault you never taught me about bloodshairing and how awesome it is. I’m guessing you never did because that would have made us closer and therefore would have made it harder for you to succeed in pushing me away. Which I'm figuring out you do to everyone who gives a damn about you.” Damon sighed and dropped his eyes to the floor. “I hear Elena had Alaric compel her to forget her love for you." She said as she walked around him and leaned against the generic wooden footboard of the queen sized bed.

"Yep." He answered, popping the p at the end of the word as he turned toward her.

"I love her, but she has made some really stupid decisions in her life and this? This takes the cake." She said as pushed herself off the footboard and walked over to the decanter set that sat on top of the dresser in the room and poured them both a glass.

"Yep." He repeated as she handed him a glass and they took a drink. As he swallowed his face turned quizzical. "Is this my favorite bourbon?"

She gave him a smile. "Yep." She copied his way of popping the p at the end of the word. "I knew this was going to be your room if you stayed, I knew about what Elena did and the fact that Alaric is now human and no longer able to compel her to remember how she felt about you. So I figured you were going to need a few drinks to get you through this trip. Alaric is a whiskey guy right?" She asked and Damon nodded. "I'll have some delivered to his room."

"Why did I ever let you go?" He asked rhetorically then threw back the drink she'd made him and moved to refill it.

"So, how are you feelin' about what she did?" She asked as she got tired of standing and sat down on his bed.

"Let's just say I'm starting to understand how Elijah felt when he found you and you had no memory of him." He said as he sat down beside her and now sipped on his drink.

"Well, I eventually came around to Elijah." She said trying unsuccessfully to make him feel better.

"Yeah, don't remind me." He sighed. "Besides, that only happened because he had a witch remove the wall in your mind that was holding back your memories."

"You know a witch can solve your problem too, right?" Katie asked and he looked across his shoulder at her flatly. "A powerful witch can undo even an original's compulsion."

"Na, Elena doesn't want to remember." He said as he let out a sigh and turned his eyes to the glass in his hand. "She has a thing going on with some frat boy at college." He admitted sounding defeated.

"You know I can still tell when you're lying right?" Katie asked and Damon looked up at her. "You don't want Elena to remember...why?"

"Because when she turned a part of me was thrilled because I knew there was this possibility that I could have her in my life for forever...but then the other part of me was devastated because I realized she lost the life she wanted to have." He turned his eyes to the glass in his hands that he fiddled with. "While I was gone, she got part of that life back. She's thriving...she's happy. Truth is, she's better off without me. I love her enough to let her go."

Katie blinked at him then licked her lips before she bit them closed with anger flared nostrils. "And now I remember why we didn't work out. You're an idiot." She stood up and looked down at him. "Do you know why Elijah and I didn't work out?"

"Um...because he was an idiot too?" He asked. "I don't know, I never asked Elena about that for obvious reasons."

"Because he wanted me to live the life I always wanted. He 'loved me enough to let me go'." Katie answered. "Sound familiar?" She asked with a pointed sarcastic look. "He didn’t fight for us and because of that, I lost all desire to ever be with him again. If you don't fight for her you may very well lose her forever."

"Change of subject." He told her with a grimace then finished off his drink and moved to get another as he spoke. "Looks like you've gotten everything you've always wanted. A man, a baby, friends that you don't have to watch grow old and die." His words made her think about Bonnie and the fact that she wasn't here, celebrating with all of them. "Damn, I'm sorry…" He stood and cupped her face in his hand out of an old reflex at seeing her make a pained expression. "Bonnie, would be so happy for you if she were here."

"Yeah?" Katie asked and he wiped a tear she didn't know had fallen then dropped his hand. "How would you know? You two hated each other."

"You don't spend four months locked in an empty 1994 prison world, living the same day on repeat and not get to know the person you're stuck there with." He answered. "We actually talked about you a couple of times."

"What about me?" Katie asked curiously.

"We were drunk and fighting and Bonnie pointed out that you left me because you were never really happy with me. All you and I did was argue and while she was watching over all of us on the other side, she never saw you and Klaus fight." He answered and Katie smiled sadly. "Is that true? You two never argue?"

"I wouldn't say that we never argue, but we definitely never fight like you and I did." Katie answered. "You constantly lied to me, tried to control me and manipulated me. You didn't respect me. Respect Elena, Damon, and her wishes. If she wants to remember you...help her figure out how."

Katie's phone chimed letting her know that it was almost time to start the rehearsal and there was still one person she needed to talk to before then. So she excused herself and headed two rooms over and knocked on the door.

"Shouldn't you be at your rehearsal?" Alaric asked when he saw that it was her who had knocked.

"I'm about to head that way, but I have an important question for you. Don't feel obligated to say yes. If you don't want to, I will completely understand." She told him, talking with her hands.

"What is it?" He asked with a smirk at her quickly spouted words.

"Will you walk me down the aisle?" She asked quietly.

Alaric's face froze, a little surprised by her question. "Sh...shouldn't your dad do that?"

"Bradley abandoned me and has had little to do with me since then. You are the one who kept an eye out for me even after my friends turned their backs on me." Katie shrugged, "You're not just my favorite teacher, you're the closest thing to a dad I've ever had." She admitted.

Katie noticed that his eyes looked a little misty as he answered, "I would love to."

TVDTVDTVD

After the rehearsal and the following dinner, Klaus walked Katie to their quarters where her friends and future sisters in law were already inside drinking the bottles of wine that Klaus, after Katie batted her puppy dog eyes at him, let them take from his wine cellar. “So will your ladies be throwing you a bachelorette party?” Klaus asked curiously as they came to a stop at their door.

“They haven’t mentioned anything, but judging off the amount of giggling going on in there they’re already buzzed and cooking something up.” Katie answered before a bunch of shushing could be heard on the other side of the door as the giggling slowly ceased.

“Should I assume that strippers will be involved?” he asked with a smirk and puppy dog eyes.

“No!” Elena called with a suspicious drawl from the other side of the door.

Katie laughed. “That’s a yes.”

“No it’s not!” this time it was Caroline.

Katie just smiled as she pushed her loose waves out of her face and gave Klaus an apologetic look. “What about you, any bachelor party plans?” Katie asked.

“Marcel is insisting we hit the town with the guys." Klaus answered.

“Who are the guys?” Katie asked curiously considering, Marcel aside, Klaus didn’t have many friends.

“He has convinced Josh, Stefan, Damon and Alaric to join us. I’m pretty sure Alaric is only coming because we’re making a stop at Marcel’s night club where our drinks will be free.” he explained. “I’ve also asked Stefan to be a groomsman so all of your ladies will be accompanied down the aisle. He's agreed to walk Elena."

“So who will watch Hope while we’re partying? We still don’t know when Dahlia will rear her ugly head.” Katie asked.

"Elijah and Gia volunteered to babysit," he answered, “plus our house is packed with wolves who will protect their soon to be princess.”

Katie rested her forehead on his chest then took a deep breath and let it out. "So should I assume a strip club will be one of the stops on your night out?" Katie asked as she looked up at him with a smirk.

"Definitely yes!" Rebekah yelled.

Klaus just motioned to the door with a look of agreement. "Should I nix the strippers?" He asked with an unsure wrinkle of his nose.

"I allowed you to kiss Genevieve, who was very much physically your type, and you admitted that you hated every second of it." Katie pointed out. "I'm not worried about strippers." Klaus made a 'fair point' look and shrugged. "So you can look, but don’t touch.” she told him jokingly. “Lap dances aside.” he gave her an amused, curious lift of his brows. “If I know Damon he will buy you one and well, lap dances are where the money’s at. Most of the women that work in gentlemen's clubs are saving up for something that’s important to them.” she told him honestly. "Be it college or a nice vacation."

“You’ve considered the career, have you?” he asked, his interest piqued.

“We’re going to drink all this wine without you if you do not get your bloody ass in here!” Rebekah yelled from the other side of the door.

“Have fun." He told her with a jerk of his head to the door.

She grabbed his open leather jacket and pulled him in for a long kiss they both relished, knowing it would be their last until the ceremony tomorrow afternoon. A moan slipped from her lips before she made herself let him go and take a step back. "Go, before we end up breaking the ritual's restrictions." Klaus pecked her on the lips one last time before they went separate ways for the night.

As soon as Katie walked through her door she got blasted in the face with confetti poppers. "Something tells me this confetti is shaped like penis’s." Katie guessed as she opened her eyes and plucked a purple penis shaped piece of confetti off her face. "Yep." She nodded as she dropped the metallic plastic and looked up to see Caroline waving a headband with neon pink bobble penis' on it. "I'm not leaving this house with that on my head." Katie told her with a point at the headband.

"Then it’s a good thing we don’t plan on leaving this massive house.” Caroline said as she tossed the headband to Katie who put it on her head then nodded making the penises bobble.

Deciding to tell her friends about the added benefits of her and Klaus’s wedding before they all got too drunk, Katie filled her friends in on everything as they drank.

"So you’re telling us that by tomorrow night, you’ll be a hybrid?” Elena asked, from where she lounged on one of the couches in the sitting room.

“And the queen of four different packs of wolves?” Caroline asked, sounding impressed where she sat next to Elena.

“Yep.” Katie answered proudly as she refilled her wine glass then sat down in the chair that was usually at the desk in the entry room, but had been moved to the sitting room for more seating.

“And you’re okay with that?” Elena asked, looking skeptical.

“She should be. It was her idea.” Rebekah answered as she leaned up and grabbed the wine bottle off of the coffee table between the two couches in the room.

“Who have you become?” Caroline asked with a half drunk smile. “Just a few years ago you were hiding the fact that your grandfather was an abusive drunk. Now you’re a mother and about to be the hybrid queen of a werewolf monarchy.”

“And I believe she’ll be a damn good one.” Rebekah added as she handed the bottle to Freya who sat beside her.

“She’s right.” Freya spoke up, surprising Katie. “Klaus may be the one calling the shots, but we all know who is really the driving force behind every move he makes.” Freya gave Katie a crooked smirk and raised her glass at her. “Something I have been incredibly grateful for since reuniting with my siblings.” she added then took a drink of the red liquid in her wine glass. Katie smirked back at Freya, but Rebakah noticed the flash of an uncomfortable look on Katie’s face when Frey’s eyes left her.

Katie didn’t see Elena glance at her phone and the sneaky smirks shared between her old friends. So when the door was thrown open, Katie jumped to her feet ready to fight. But when she realized that it wasn’t Dahlia, but the aforementioned strippers, she relaxed and started laughing.

Caroline and Elena cat called and laughed as three men came inside. One was too buff and dressed as a firefighter. Another had a body that was more to Katie’s tastes and dressed as a policeman. The third reminded her too much of Jackson with his longer brown hair and simply wore a tight long sleeved flannel shirt, distressed jeans and a tool belt around his hips. “Which one of you beautiful ladies is the bride to be?” the fireman asked with a look around the half circle of women that had moved into the entryway.

All four girls pointed at Katie. “Snitches.” she popped off making them laugh as the fireman started striding over to her with a confident look in his eyes. “Whoa, no.” she said, taking a few steps back as she held her hands up. “Down boy.” she pointed her finger at the smirking green eyed, short haired brunette.

“Oh come on.” Caroline complained, practically stomping her foot like a child.

“Yeah, how often do you get the chance to let loose and have fun?” Elena asked.

“Not very.” Rebekah answered for her.

Katie, who hadn’t been objecting to the strippers as a whole, just the fireman she had no interest in, kept her face indifferent as she placed her hand on the hulking guy's shoulder and walked around him. The other two strippers stood behind the fireman waiting to see if things were going to be called off. She looked at Caroline and Elena and let a smirk take over her face and they smiled. With a devilish look in her eyes she turned around, facing the blue eyed, golden haired policeman with an appraising gaze. “I just have one question.” she stated then looked back at Elena and Caroline since they were obviously the ones that purchased the strippers. “Am I allowed to eat them?”

Both of them were surprised by her question while Rebekah giggled, knowing the new Kate better than her old friends. “Um, well…” Caroline stuttered, unsure of how to answer.

“It’s your party, snack if you want to.” Elena answered, making Caroline look at her with wide eyes. “Hey, we may not be at a college party, but we are in college. Girls gone wild.” Elena sing songed then shrugged her shoulders up and down and swayed to music that wasn't playing.

Caroline took a large drink of her wine and motioned Katie to the strippers. Katie walked over to the policeman and hooked her finger between the buttons of his tight, black, button up shirt. He looked down at her finger then gave her a smirk. Knowing that smirk would eventually be removed from his pretty face and replaced by fear, she smirked back. “I’ll have this one.”

More cheers and cat calls came from the women as the policeman grabbed Katie’s shoulders and turned her around, cuffing her hands behind her back. He led her over to the desk chair in the sitting room and sat her down. The lap dance he proceeded to give her, while entertaining, did little for her. It was the anticipation of sinking her teeth into him later that made things fun.

And after the lap dance and the girls had their fill of exotic dancing, but before they turned off the music, Katie got the attention of the now topless and pantless police officer. Her bright green eyes gazed into his. "Don't scream, but please…" She let her thirst show, the veins framing her reddening eyes making the man's eyes go wide, "feel free to be afraid." She smiled, showing off her fangs before she struck like a viper, sinking them into his neck, filling her mouth with warm sweet blood. Caroline bit the now mostly naked construction man and Elena bit the fireman still wearing his suspenders clipped to his orange thong. Rebekah took the wrist of Katie's guy and bit it. Freya simply bid them goodnight, claiming to need her rest for tomorrow's ritual. When they'd had their fill, they healed the men, compelled them then sent them on their way.

After more girl talk focusing on Elena and her frat boy boyfriend, who wasn't actually a frat boy but a med student like Elena, and Caroline's feelings for Stefan who apparently didn't feel the same way, the girls eventually called it a night. Katie, Caroline and Elena shared the bed like old times while Rebekah slept in her room.

Katie was finding it hard to sleep, her thoughts on her missing friend.

"Are you okay?" Caroline's soft voice came from beside Katie.

"I miss Bonnie." She admitted. "All night it's felt like there was this...hole in the room where she should have been."

"I miss her too." Caroline replied.

"If there is anything Klaus and I can do to help bring her back, please don't hesitate to call." Katie told her and Caroline hummed. "I mean it, Care. Promise me."

"I promise." Caroline agreed before they both let sleep overtake them.

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REBLOG IF YOU DON’T MIND WRITERS TAKING TIME OFF FOR THEIR MENTAL HEALTH

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Keeping Secrets Ch. 60

Keeping Secrets Masterlist

“Katie. Katie, wake up, Sweetheart.” Klaus’s voice pulled her to consciousness making her realize that he held her in his arms where he sat on the floor of the tomb she and Davina had been in with her torso in his lap.

“Klaus…” Katie groaned as she sat up and rubbed her neck.

Klaus let out an audible sigh of relief. “Did Eva do this?”

“Yeah.” Katie answered as Klaus stood then held out his hand to help her up. “Where’s Davina?” she asked as she stood up. Klaus just shook his head with a shrug. “Eva must've taken her.” she frowned realizing that if Klaus was here then he obviously wasn’t with Hope. “Who’s watching Hope?”

“Marcel and the wolves.” he answered.

“We need to tell him about Davina.” Katie stated and Klaus gave her a nod.

TVDTVDTVD

“Davina’s dead?” Marcel asked with a look between Katie and Klaus.

“No.” Katie answered, making Marcel look at her. “Before Eva snapped my neck I saw her carve a symbol on Davina’s forehead. She’s channeling her, which if memory serves, means Davina is still alive.”

Klaus walked over to a bookshelf in the common room. “I should stop packing these away. There’s always one family member or another in need of a good shackling." He pulled a pair of metal, magic canceling shackles out of a wooden box and handed them to Marcel. “Find Rebekah, or Eva, or whoever the bloody hell that was. Use these to stop her from doing magic. And don’t hurt her. The non-psychopathic bits are still my sister.”

“I won’t be the only one looking for her. She killed witch kids. The 24-hour hold that Elijah got the covens to agree to ended at midnight.” Marcel told them as Klaus walked over to stand next to Katie where she leaned her hips against the back of the couch. “Every witch in the city is gonna be gunning for her.”

“I’ll call Elijah and get him to charm his elderly witch into calling off the hunt.” Klaus stated as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Elijah. After a few rings it went to voicemail. Katie tried calling him too, but after only two rings, she too, got sent to voicemail. “He’s ignoring us.” Klaus said with a look at Marcel before he looked at Katie. “Would you mind going to him?”

“I don’t mind, but if I go to Elijah, who will stay with Hope?” She replied.

“I will. I can tend to my end of things from here.” Klaus answered.

“What’s your end of things?” Katie asked curiously.

“Letting Freya know we need her help and providing her with the means to do so.” he answered as he tucked his hands behind his back.

“And you?” Katie asked with a look at marcel.

“I’ll find Vencent. If anyone can find Eva it’s him.” he answered and Katie nodded.

With everyone on the same page Marcel left to find Vencent. Katie went to their bedroom and changed from her clothes, which were covered in dirt from the tomb floor, into a pair of dark wash jeans, a navy blue blouse, a black leather jacket and black knee high boots then checked in on Hope. “Eva came after her last night.” Klaus told her as he entered Hope’s nursery where the baby was sleeping. “The wolves and I protected her.”

“Are you sure I should go to Elijah instead of you?” Katie asked, not taking her eyes off of Hope.

“We can’t get in touch with him and I need to be the one to handle Freya.” he answered.

“I know...I just hate being away from her. I left last night and look at what happened.” Katie replied.

Klaus grabbed her hand off of the railing of their daughter's crib making her look at him. “I protected her last night and I will be here to protect her Today. If I have to leave I will call Camille to take care of her while the wolves protect her. They have been training day and night and are up to the task.” he assured her. “You know I would not leave her with just anyone.”

“Okay.” Katie agreed. “I’ll go get Elijah. Good luck with Freya.” she caught his lips with hers meaning for it to be a quick peck, but he deepened it, filling her with an even stronger sense of reassurance. She gave him a small smirk when it broke, then walked away.

TVDTVDTVD

After going to the address Klaus had texted her Katie walked up to the door of the apartment that Elijah was now living in and knocked. She heard a whoosh then the fluttering of fabric and another whoosh before the door was pulled open revealing Elijah, dressed in a pair of jeans and a plain black t-shirt. A gorgeous woman, with brown hair, light brown skin and dark brown eyes, wrapped in a cream colored sheet was standing behind him. “Oh, um,” Katie started with an uncomfortable scratch at the back of her neck and averted her gaze, “sorry to interrupt, but you weren’t answering our calls and we need your help.”

Elijah looked at her with a furrowed brow, clearly not happy that she had interrupted them. “Unless it’s an emergency-”

“It is.” Katie interrupted him looking into his narrowed chocolate eyes. “Eva has regained control of her body. She’s taken Davina and tried to take Hope last night. The 24-hour hold that you got Josephine to agree to is up and when the witches get wind that Eva’s gone rogue they will be after her. If we are going to save Rebekah we need you to talk to Josephine and-”

Elijah held up his hand stopping her rambling and she closed her mouth. “Give us a minute to get dressed and we’ll meet you outside.” she gave him a nod before the door was closed and she went outside to wait on them.

TVDTVDTVD

The three of them stood around the parlor of Josephine’s house, waiting for the woman to come down stairs. The awkward silence eventually became too much to handle so Elijah’s companion excused herself to go find Josephine. Katie and Elijah shared an awkward glance before Katie moved to sit in one of the two chairs that sat across from a more cushie looking arm chair that she guessed was where Josephine usually sat during meetings like this. Elijah walked over and stood behind the second one, slipping his fingers over the wooden back of it. “You can ask.” he told her with a small smirk that she didn’t see.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Katie said playing dumb as she tucked a whisp of hair that has slipped from her messy bun behind her ear. When he didn’t reply she glanced at him across her shoulder. He lifted a brow and gave her smirk. “It’s none of my business who you spend your time with and honestly, the cloud of awkwardness that’s gunking up the air is completely unnecessary.”

Elijah let out a huff of a breath as he looked up and smiled then sat down in the chair. “So you’re not curious in the slightest?”

“Oh I'm curious. You know me well enough to know that." She told him with a small smirk. "But like I said, it's none of my business. So the only two things I will ask about are her name and why she came with us to an important meeting regarding the well being of our family.” Katie answered then turned her eyes forward.

“Her name is Gia.” He informed her matter-of-factly. “She is here because Josephine LaRue can be rather recalcitrant. She is, however, enamored with Gia’s musical prowess and cavalier spirit.”

“So she’s our buffer.” Katie surmised.

“Exactly.” Elijah confirmed.

“Then I’m happy she’s here.” Katie said as Gia and Josephine walked into the room and Katie and Elijah stood up to greet her.

“Madame LaRue.” Elijah said as he kissed each of her cheeks.

“Mister Mikaelson.” Josephine said back then walked over to her chair and sat down. “Have you come to impress me once more with young Gia’s rare talents?” she asked then noticed Katie and looked her up and down, taking in her more casual attire and somewhat messy hair. “And what, pray tell, does this one do?” she asked Elijah, making Katie bite her lips to keep herself from popping off at being referred to as “this one”.

Elijah let a small smirk play on his lips as he glanced at Katie seeing her literally biting her lips closed. “This one is family, Madame.” When Josephine looked back at Katie she forced herself to give Josephine a polite, closed lipped smile. “We’ve come to ask a favor.”

After explaining their problem Josephine gave them her answer. “If Eva is back in control of her body then you need to let the witches put that body down. Eva will use up your sister. Just like she did the others.”

"Use her up? As in channel her until she dies?” Katie replied with a look at Elijah then back at Josephine.

“Eva was a wild beauty practicing a wild magic, but she and Vencent were so happy, we let them be.” Josephine started.

“And then the children began to disappear.” Elijah guessed.

Josephine nodded. “First was a child from Algiers. Then another from the Ninth and another from the Tremé. She killed six children in total.” she explained. “All of them were child prodigies. But because of Vincent’s tenacity she was caught. He succeeded in placing a locator spell on a boy right after Eva took him. When he brought Eva to us she pleaded for us to let her take three more children.”

“Why?” Katie asked with a frown as she leaned back in her chair and placed her hands in her lap.

“To complete the Rite of Nines.” Josephine answered.

“The Rite of Nines?” Gia asked curiously.

“If she sacrificed a witch from each of the nine covens it would make her the most powerful witch in New Orleans. And with the presence of vampires so strong, even back then, she thought it would tip the scales in our favor.” Josephine answered.

“Okay, so why children? Wouldn’t she be more powerful if she channeled adults like yourself?” Katie asked, making Josephine look at her with raised brows. “No offense of course.” Katie told her with her hand held out in front of her defensively.

“A child’s magic is pure and they are easier to restrain.” Josephine answered.

Katie’s face turned to one of realization. “That’s why she went after Hope.”

Elijah looked at Katie with a frown then back at Josephine. “She would have Killed your daughter, channeled her powers. As she did with those other poor children.” Josephine told them as her eyes slipped to the floor. “We never found them. They passed away unconsecrated...unable to be with our ancestors.” Katie pressed her fingertips to her lips. “No more of our youth will die. That is why, Mr. Mikaelson, I will not extend your 24 hours.” she told them as she stood up with her hands folded in front of her. All three of the vampires in the room frowned at Josephine. “Eva Sinclair now has a bounty on her head.”

Katie stood from her chair as Elijah did the same and spoke before she could. “You would condem my sister to her death.” he said sternly with a point at the elderly woman.

“I dislike the term “collateral damage”, but there it is.” Josephine replied. “If one or two must fall in order to take Eva down for good...so be it.” Katie bit her lips close as her nostrils flared.

“Let me assure you, Madame LaRue,” Elijah started with his hand held out in front of him in a calming manor, “we will defend your witches with a fearsome vigilance.”

“You have a wonderful way with words, really. Your cadence is pleasant. Normally I could listen to it all day long. But I grow tired of this.” Josephine replied oh so politely. “My mind remains unchanged.”

“Excuse me?” Katie said, taking a step closer to Josephine.

“Katie.” Elijah scolded seeing that she was about to lose her temper.

“No. I’ve held my tongue long enough.” Katie told him then looked back at Josephine, took in a calming breath and let it out before she started talking in a stern but respectful tone. “Everyone can turn a blind eye to...collateral damage as long as it isn’t their people being sacrificed." Katie started. "Now, we came here asking that you don't sic your witches on our sister like a pack of hellhounds. That you trust us when we tell you that one way or another we will take Eva down. That no more of your children will be harmed. And we ask this with the understanding that when the time comes and you need us we will reciprocate, tenfold." Josephine opened her mouth, but Katie kept talking. "And before you say that witches will never need vampires I urge you to stop and think about the cruel, screwed up world we live in."

Seeing that Katie was done Josephine looked at Elijah with raised brows and a smirk then back at Katie. "You may not be as well versed as Elijah, but you speak with such passionate conviction it does not matter." Josephine walked over to her and grabbed her hands, the elder's smirk fell and eyes turned extremely serious as she looked into Katie's. "There is a storm...coming, chere...and your darkest...demons ride upon it. I do not know it's name, but when I peer into your future there is a blackness...that should terrify you." Katie swallowed hard and gingerly slipped her hands from Josephine’s arthritic ones. Josephine looked at Gia and Elijah. "You have eight hours. After that it will not matter what I say. Witches will stop at nothing to protect their children. It's a sentiment I'm sure you can understand." Josephine walked out of the room leaving them to show themselves out.

TVDTVDTVD

When they got to the compound Katie went to Hope's room finding it guarded by two wolves whose names she was still learning and Cami inside, sitting on the floor with Hope who was playing with a musical toy. "Klaus asked me to tell you that he and Freya are paying Esther a visit." Cami told her.

Katie sat down on the floor with Hope. "Thank you for watching her. I know you must be getting tired of being our on-call babysitter, especially considering the danger it puts you in."

"Honestly I'm just flattered you guys trust me with the job." Cami replied. "And my life became dangerous when I refused your offer to make me forget that vampires are real."

"The offer still stands, you know." Katie reminded her. "It's never too late to get out of this life and start a normal one elsewhere."

"No, I chose this. Plus someone has to carry on my family's legacy." Cami brushed her off. Katie stood up and picked up Hope. Cami smiled as Katie handed the baby a pink stuffed owl. "She really is an easy going baby."

"Still, we're an inconvenience, calling you at all hours of the day." Katie said feeling bad, like they were using Cami as a free babysitter. "At least let us pay you."

"Are you kidding? This is what friends are for. If I ever have a kid I'll call on you at all hours of the day to watch her for free." Cami argued.

Taken aback by Cami calling her a friend Katie simply smiled and said, "It's a deal."

Cami just smiled, "Call me if you need me." As she walked out of the nursery and Elijah walked in.

He jerked his head for her to follow him and he led her to the common room where Gia and Marcel where. "Aren't you supposed to be with Vincent, tracking down Eva?" Katie asked Marcel.

"I was, until he turned on me." Marcel answered. "He's working with her now. She got to him, turned him against us."

"Awesome. He was our only chance at finding that evil witch." Katie complained as she scooped up the stuffed owl off the floor and handed it back to Hope who squealed and bit it's head.

"It gets worse. Since Eva took Davina she has eight of the witches she needs to complete the ritual." Marcel informed them. "She just needs one more."

"Fortify this house." Elijah barked orders. "When they do come, kill him, capture her."

"No." Katie spoke up. "I told Josephine no more of her people will die. We will capture both of them and turn him over to the witches to be handled by his elders."

Elijah gave her a nod in understanding. "We need to gather the wolves we have. With Vencent by her side she will strike with considerable force."

TVDTVDTVD

They had gathered every last wolf they could find and had gotten Hope down for a nap. Two of them were now positioned at her door while Katie paced in the courtyard down stairs. Elijah and Gia were with her. “If Eva was going to come after Hope wouldn’t she have come by now?” Katie asked as she stopped pacing and looked back and forth between Elijah and Gia. “What’s with the waiting game?”

“She didn’t wait.” Marcel told them as he walked into the courtyard. “She took Josephine LaRue not half an hour ago.”

While Katie was relieved that Hope was in the clear she was now concerned for Josephine. The woman was arrogant and clearly had a distaste for vampires, but she was a very important member of the community and if something happened to her the witch community would be in an uproar. “We need to find them, now.” Katie stated the obvious out of aggravation.

“But where would they go?” Elijah thought out loud.

“Same place she kept the other captives, where she took Davina.” Marcel answered.

“A place no one has been able to find for two years.” Elijah replined.

“We need Freya. If anyone could find them it’d be her. She found us when we were cloaked.” Katie said as she started pacing again. “Which has me wondering what the hell is taking them so long.” she stopped pacing when Marcel’s phone started ringing.

He pulled it out of his jacket pocket and gave them a pissed look when he saw Vincent's name on the screen. With a sigh he answered and put the phone to his ear as he turned his back on Elijah, Katie and Gia. “When I find you, I’m going to rip your head from your neck.” he threatened.

“You might want to hold off on that decapitation. I found them all.” They all heard Vencent say on the other end of the phone. “Davina’s alive.” Katie sighed and placed her hand on her chest. “Sorry, I had to make it look convincing. If you were in on the plan, Eva would have known.”

“Yeah, blasting me though a couple glass doors really sold it.” Marcel popped off. “Alright, round of applause. Now what?”

“Now we’ve got a problem.” Vincent answered. “These kids, they’re all linked to her. If she dies, they all die.”

Marcel looked at Elijah then Katie. “So we’ll find a witch to unlink them.” Marcel kept his eyes on Katie as he hung up on Vincent.

Hope’s cries hit their ears and Elijah looked up at Katie. “I’ll go to Niklaus.” he looked at Marcel. “You, go to Vincent,” he looked back at Katie, “and you stay here with your daughter.”

“No, I’ll go to Klaus.” Katie argued as Marcel left them.

Elijah looked at her through narrowed eyes and glanced at Gia who spoke up. “I can stay with Hope while you two go to Klaus.”

Katie looked at Elijah then back at Gia. “There’s a feeding schedule on the fridge in the kitchen and the pink owl is her favorite toy at the moment. If she gets too fussy, play the music box on the dresser in her room.” Katie told her before she started for the courtyard doors, but stopped and turned back. “And Gia,” Gia hummed and lifted her chin in response, “don’t make me regret this.” Gia just nodded in understanding before Katie and Elijah left.

“You’re trusting her?” Elijah asked as they walked down the sidewalk toward the cemetery where Klaus had texted her he and Freya had gone. “Given your past helicopter parent tendencies I would have thought you’d prefer to stay with your daughter instead of someone you don’t know.”

“I don’t have to know her.” Katie answered, then looked at him across her shoulder. “I know you and the type of company you keep.” she looked straight ahead and whooshed to the cemetery.

“I can use you as my anchor. I’ll channel your power while I breach Eva’s mind.” Katie heard Freya saying as they neared the tomb that Klaus had trapped Esther in.

“And there it is. The price. If she channels you, she will have access to your mind. Past and present. She will know everything about you.” Katie didn’t recognize the voice, but she knew from the way the woman was speaking that it was Esther.

“All of my strategies...and all of my secrets laid bare...to give to Dahlia.” Klaus responded. “You must think I’m a fool.”

“Unless it’s not a trick.” Elijah spoke up as he and Katie walked into the tomb. “I’ll be the anchor.”

“Brother, I think not.” Klaus said as he turned around and saw that Katie was there too.

“Klaus,” Katie started as she grabbed his hands in hers, “whatever your mother has said to you...I need you to ignore it.”

“I see you are still leaching off my family.” Esther spoke up with a disgusted look at Katie.

Fire flaried in Katie’s eyes as she looked around Klaus at Esther. “Shut your ignorant, manipulative mouth, hag, before I decide to tear your tongue from your head.” she looked back at Klaus. “Rebekah needs you. Your sister needs you to think clearly, not emotionally. So whatever seeds of doubt and paranoia that your mother has planted in your head...up root them and squash them before they grow out of control.”

“She has spoken only the truth, I compelled her to do so.” Klaus told her with a hard faced look.

“Just because she believes something is the truth doesn’t make it so.” Katie argued. “She doesn’t know Freya or her intent any better than we do. So I think it’s about time we give Freya the chance to prove herself."

“We would be giving her all the information she needs to destroy us.” Klaus argued stiffly.

Katie reached up and placed her hand on his cheek. “Freya is the only chance we have at saving Rebekah and nothing your mother can say can change that fact. Let Freya try to destroy us, you and I both know she won’t succeed against the four of us. When we stand together as a family, we are unbeatable.” she told him, the words passed just between the two of them.

Klaus slipped his hand over hers as his eyes went to Elijah. “Family is power.” Elijah squinted at him and gave him a nod before Klaus took Kaite’s hand in his and turned to Freya. “Come, we have a sister to save.”

TVDTVDTVD

“This place smells like a werewolf.” Gia pointed out as she straightened up the figurines on Hope’s dresser that had gotten knocked over the night before when Eva had come for the baby.

“Yeah, I’ve kind of gotten used to it. This room has pretty much been surrounded by them since Hope and I came home.” Katie replied as Gia picked up the music box Katie had told her about and walked into the bedroom where Katie was sitting holding Hope in a plush armchair near the bed. “I appreciate it, but you don’t have to feel obligated to stay.”

“Elijah says you and your kid have more than one enemy.” Gia told her as she sat down on the bench at the foot of the bed. “If someone manages to make it through that dog show outside...you and Hope run...I’ll stay and stall them.”

“I can’t ask you to put yourself in harm’s way for us, especially when you don’t even know us.” Katie said with a shake of her head.

“I don’t have to know you. I know Elijah and I know what you meant to him, what this baby means to him.” she told Katie as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Katie let a small smile tug at the corners of her lips considering she had said the same thing about Gia. “It’s none of my business and you don’t have to answer, but we’re on the subject so I’m just gonna ask. How long have you known Elijah?”

“Marcel turned me, not long after you and Hope left, I think. He convinced Elijah to be my mentor, to help me with the transition.” Gia explained. “It was pretty obvious you had the guy all bent out of shape.” Katie’s eyes slipped to the floor, feeling guilty. “Then after you and Klaus got engaged we started hanging out. He was just so...wound up.” Katie looked back up at Gia. “I guess it must be tough to spend a thousand years being the shoulder everyone else leans on.” Katie looked down at Hope who was smacking her with the stuffed owl. “Maybe he just...needs to live his life for himself for once.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Katie said as she looked up at Gia.

TVDTVDTVD

While Hope slept through the long night, Katie had just dozed here and there. When morning rolled around and Hope woke, the three of them waited in the courtyard for the siblings to return. They waited for two hours before Klaus, Elijah, Marcel, Freya and Rebekah walked in. “Rebekah?” Katie asked seeing that she was still in Eva’s body.

“The one and only.” Rebekah told her with a smile as she walked over to Katie and the two soon to be sisters embraced. “The nasty cow is dead.” Rebekah told her as she let her go.

“Thank god.” Katie sighed as she let her head fall forward in relief then looked back up at everyone else. “And Davina and Josephine?”

“I’m okay.” Davina spoke up as she stepped out from behind Marcel and gave Katie a tired smile. “Freya and I have been talking and we think she’ll be able to rework the unification ritual.”

Klaus narrowed his eyes at Davina and Freya before he looked at Katie. “What is the little witch talking about?”

“He didn’t know, did he?” Davina asked, realizing she probably should have kept her mouth shut about what she and Katie had been talking about before Eva interrupted.

Katie bit her lips closed as she looked at Klaus then back at Davina. “Nope.” Katie answered and Davina clasped her hands in front of herself and cast her eyes down realizing she made things a bit awkward. “I’ll explain later.” Katie told Klaus who was giving her a pressing look.

“I should probably go.” Davina said with a look up at Marcel who gave the Mikaelsons a nod before he walked out with Davina.

Freya walked through the group over to Katie and gently grabbed her hands, holding them between them as if they’d known each other for years. “Thank you. For whatever you said to Klaus that convinced him to give me a chance.”

There was so much Katie could have said to Freya, but in the moment she just wanted things to calm down. So she simply said, “You’re welcome.” and gave her a soft genuine smile.

Freya smiled back before she dropped her hands and left the compound leaving just Klaus, Elijah, Rebekah and Gia behind. “I’m gonna head out. It’s been a long night.” Gia told them all then walked away giving Elijah a small smile as she passed him.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie was laying Hope down for a nap when Klaus found her. They didn’t talk until Hope’s nursery door had been shut. “You were talking to Davina about the werewolf unification ritual?” Klaus asked and Katie nodded. “Why? Have you changed your mind about turning Hayley?”

“No.” Katie answered as she walked over to the bed and sat down. “I still refuse to use our daughter to make hybrids.” Klaus sat down on the bed, pulling his leg up on it to face her. “I was reading Ansel’s journal and he started talking about the unification ritual and I realized that the ritual is just a spell and spells can be altered. If we have a witch that can alter the spell correctly and is powerful enough to perform it, then your strengths can be shared with me.” she explained hoping he wouldn’t completely hate the idea. “I did go to Davina to check on her, but I also wanted to see if this idea had any marret before I told you about it. You had enough going on with Rebekah and Freya. I didn’t want to add this to your plate just yet.”

After a few minutes a smile slowly spread across his face. “You, Mo Bhanríon, are a genius.”

“So you don’t hate the idea? You don’t think I’m asking for too much?” Katie asked with a smile of her own.

“Not at all, Love.” he told her as he cupped her cheek in his hand. “I know you feel like the odd man out in our little family. If we can unite with the ritual, then you wouldn’t only be invincible, you would be a wolf. I once told you I would move heaven and earth if it meant I could make you invincible like me.” he brushed his thumb over her cheek bone. “Turns out I only have to conquer my long lost sister.” he told her with a tilt of his head and gave her a small smile. “That somehow seems possible with you at my side.”

“So, Finn is gone, Rebekah is safe, we have no idea when Dahlia will show herself and I’m guessing we’re on good terms with Freya for the moment.” She made the end of the statement sound like a question as she stood from the bed and turned to look at him.

“She’s been inside my head.” he answered.

“I thought she was going to use Elijah to anchor her.” Katie said with a frown.

“He wasn’t strong enough. I had to step in.” Kalus replied as he stood up to be eye level with her.

“Well, then we will just have to wait and see what she does with that information.” Katie told him matter-of-factly. “In the meantime,” she lifted her arms and rested them on his shoulders, embedding her fingers into his hair. She started playing with it as a smile spread over her face, “I say we set a date.”

Klaus pursed his lips in thought before they stretched into a toothy smile and a growl of a laugh left them as he grabbed her butt and picked her up. A quiet yelp left her lips before she laughed and wrapped her legs around him. “And on what date do you say we get married?” he asked then pecked her on the lips.

“However long it will take Freya and Davina to alter the spell, if we can convince her to do it, but considering she and Davina had already been discussing it, I don’t think that will be a problem.” Katie answered wishing she could give him an actual date.

“For their sake it better be bloody fast.” he told her before he pressed his lips to hers and whooshed her to their quarters where they celebrated together and ended up falling asleep.

When Katie woke up, evening light was shining through the windows and she was alone. After listening closely she pinpointed Klaus and Rebekah downstairs in the kitchen, along with Hope’s happy squeals and babbles.

Seeing that she had a moment to herself, Katie slipped from the bed and grabbed her journal from the bedside table then sat down at the desk in the entry room of their quarters and started writing. “I told Klaus about my idea to use the unification ritual at our wedding. I honestly didn’t know how he would react, but I should have known he’d be okay with it. That man...there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for me and I know it. I feel guilty for wanting this, for wanting more when I already have so much. I just wish I could give him as much as he’s given me and I can’t help but wonder if things would have turned out different if I had stayed behind with him and let Rebekah run with Hope. If I had stayed, maybe he wouldn’t have killed Ansel, maybe I could have convinced him that Esther wouldn’t have used him against us. I don’t blame Klaus for killing him...for thinking he had no choice. It sometimes feels like he ignores his werewolf side for fear of his siblings judging him. After all, triggering his werewolf gene is what revealed the fact that he wasn't Mikael's biological son. He deserves so much more than that. He deserves to have a link to his paternal family and the gifts Ansel passed down to him, to be the king of an entire species like Ansel said he could be. He-”

Katie closed the book and a smile appeared over her face as if a lightbulb had flicked on over her head. With that smile still on her face she rushed downstairs to Klaus. “What’s gotten into you?” Rebekah asked as Katie walked into the room like a woman on a mission.

“Rebekah, do you mind watching Hope for a minute?” Katie asked as she walked over to Klaus and Hope. “I need a moment with my future husband.” She held her hand out to Klaus.

“Of course.” Rebekah answered as Klaus placed his hand into Katie’s and let her pull him out into the courtyard.

“What is this about?” he asked, noticing her excitement.

“You know when you told me that Ansel said you could be king to an entire species?” she asked as she took his other hand into hers. Klaus nodded with a confused frown. “What if I told you that may still be possible?”

“I don’t follow.” he told her with a shake of his head.

“We’re doing the unification ritual. The one Hayley and Jackson wanted to do to permanently save their pack from the agony of turning every full moon.” she prompted making him follow her line of thinking and his face turned to one of realization. “If the wolves, be it the crescents or the The North East Atlantic pack or whoever you decide to reach out to, recognize you as their alpha and participate in our wedding, you will be king to a new breed of wolves.”

“That would mean Hope would not only have two original hybrid parents to protect her, but an army of empowered wolves as well.” He surmised and Katie was happy that his mind didn’t automatically go into power grab mode and his thoughts were only of his daughters safety.

“And if you wish to reach out to your pack and they accept, you will have what should be yours by birthright.” Katie added, making him give her a soft smile. “I’m not saying I want you to do this...I don’t want you to feel obligated. I just want you to have everything you deserve.”

A little yelp left her lips when he wrapped his arms around her with lightning speed and caught her lips with his in a passionate kiss that had her wrapping her arms around his neck for stability and breathless when it broke. “I love you so much, Little Phoenix.”

“I love you too, Big Bad Wolf.” she laughed as she leaned back and looked him in the eyes. “But I’m not sure what that response means when it comes to the unification ritual.”

“We’ll have a family meeting to discuss it.” he answered then caught her lips with his again. When it broke they headed back to the kitchen.

Rebekah was cleaning Hope’s meal from her face when Katie and Klaus walked in. “I believe she is ready to be free of the restraints of her highchair.” she informed them as she took Hope from the chair and stood up, handing her to Klaus when he held his hands out for her. “What was all that about?” she asked with a point at Katie and Klaus.

“We will discuss it tomorrow, as a family.” Klaus replied.

“And is Freya going to be included in this family meeting?” Rebekah asked curiously.

“Yes.” Klaus answered simply and Rebekah gave him a look that said she didn’t believe it. “I still do not trust her, but she is needed...a means to an end if you will.” Rebekah rolled her eyes and slapped the dirty bib she’d taken off of Hope into his chest as she passed him, leaving the small family alone. Katie took it from him and tossed it into the bin in the corner. “Where do you stand when it comes to Freya?” Klaus asked as they left the kitchen, headed to their quarters. “After last night Rebekah and Elijah trust her, do you?”

“I want to trust her...but she has to earn it. Saving Rebekah was a good start and performing the ritual for us will be another good step forward.” she answered as they got to the top of the stairs.

Klaus just walked silently with her and watched as she took Hope from him and his girls settled on the rug in the entry room, playing with toys that were scattered here and there. In that moment Klaus couldn’t help but think about the fact that Katie wasn’t just a fiery phoenix, and his queen, but his family’s healer. When she joined their lives and embedded herself into the Mikaelson family, she started healing them. It wasn’t happening overnight. It was, and would continue, to take time. Mistakes would be made by everyone and steps would be taken backward on occasion, but he had all confidence that one day, far in the future, the Mikaelson family would be whole and happy once again.

#the vampire diaries #the vampire diaries fanfiction #the vampire diaries fanfic #the vampire diaries oc #the vampire diaries oc fanfiction #the originals fanfiction #the originals #the originals fanfic #the originals oc #the originals oc fanfiction #tvd #tvdu #klaus mikaelson #damon salvatore #elijah mikaelson

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thebrotherssalvatore321 · 3 years

Text

Keeping Secrets Ch. 59

Keeping Secrets Masterlist

Katie was sitting in the kitchen feeding Hope while Camie ate breakfast when Klaus found her. “I have received word.” Katie looked up at him, not liking the hard tone of his voice. “Finn’s body has disappeared from the morgue.”

“His link to Mikael and Esther was broken. There's no way he healed from that on his own.” Katie sighed as she rested her elbow on the tray of Hope’s highchair and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Which means Freya must’ve helped him." she dropped her hand then looked up at Klaus. "So what’s the next step?"

“We need to speak to Aiden.” Klaus answered.

Katie looked at Cami. “Go. I’ll watch Hope.” Cami told her before she could ask.

“You’re sure you don’t mind?” Katie asked, feeling guilty.

“It’s the least I can do considering you two are giving me a safe place to stay.” Cami argued so Katie kissed Hope’s head and left with Klaus.

“Does Aiden know what Hayley and Jackson asked us to do?” Katie asked as they headed to the common room where Klaus had texted Aiden to meet them.

“Not that I’m aware of, no.” Klaus answered. “Why do you ask?”

“Because as soon as the wolves that are willing to help us find out that we refuse to provide them with a permanent solution to their curse, they will turn their backs on us and leave us without their much needed protection.” Katie explained. “Aiden may be running things now, but Hayley and Jackson are still their alphas.”

“So we will take our time with their answer and tread cautiously with Aiden.” Klaus replied and Katie gave him a nod in agreement.

“With that being said, should we even send the wolves after Finn?” Katie asked as they walked into the empty common room. “Why not keep them here and go after Finn ourselves?”

“Because that would be leaving Hope alone and putting you in harm’s way. Not to mention we don’t know Finn and Freya’s exact whereabouts.” he answered as she went over to the bar in the corner of the room and made herself a drink.

“I just…” she paused and took a drink, trying to think of the least inflammatory way to say what she wanted to say. It was no secret that Klaus’s reputation as a leader was marred with mistakes. His own hybrids turned against him. “I don’t want to push the wolves too hard. They’ve agreed to help us, but they won’t if they feel like cannon fodder.”

“So what exactly do you suggest we do?” he asked as he made himself a drink.

“Send a few of them out to track him down and pinpoint your siblings' location. Have them report back to us where they are so we can handle them.” Katie answered. “If we send the wolves to take down Finn and Freya some of them are bound to end up dead. Their sole purpose here is to protect Hope. Something they cannot do if we send them to their death.” she saw Klaus look at the top of her head with a smirk. “I’m not trying to be a queen, I'm just trying to keep you from repeating past leadership mistakes.”

His smirk grew to a crooked smile. "That is the very definition of a queen."

Katie rolled her eyes with a shake of her head. "Stop it."

“You wanted to see me?” Aiden asked as he walked into the room.

“Yes.” Klaus replied as he and Katie both turned their attention to Aiden. “First things first. Aiden, I want you to meet my lovely Finacée, Katie." Klaus motioned to Katie. "Katie, Aiden," he waved his hand at Aiden, "who you already know is leading the wolves during Jackson and Hayley’s self-imposed exile.”

“Hi.” Katie greeted with a small smile as she offered Aiden her hand and he shook it. Katie could see why Josh liked him, he was cute.

“Now that the formalities are out of the way we have a favor to ask of you.” Klaus informed Aiden. “Finn and the woman who calls herself my sister are in this city. I need you to use a few of your best wolves to pinpoint their location.”

“Yeah. No problem. And after we find them?” Aiden asked.

“Report back to us. Katie and I will take care of it from there. Once you find them I’ll need you here, guarding my home and my daughter while we take care of business.” Klaus answered and Aiden made a face that looked like he didn’t agree with their plan.

“What is it?” Katie asked, curious about what Aiden wasn’t saying.

“Finn and Esther used us as slaves for months, controlling us with the rings we still wear. We want him dead just as much as you do.” Aiden answered Katie then glanced at Klaus and back at her. “Wouldn’t it be best to let us take out Finn while you guys stay here with your daughter?”

“If he knows you’ve turned against him he’ll de-spell your rings.” Katie argued. “It’s best you don’t let him see that you’re now working against him.”

Aiden looked at Klaus. “I agree with Katie.” Klaus told him. “Your task is simple, track them down, unseen.”

“Okay.” Aiden agreed. “I’ll call you when we’ve found him.” he walked out of the room.

TVDTVDTVD

Klaus sat on the couch in Katie’s studio watching her working on putting vocals to music that had been recorded before she left. As she sang, Hope stood in Klaus’s lap, holding on to his hands jumping up and down while squealing. Klaus smiled at his happy daughter, glancing up at Katie every once in a while.

She was almost done recording when she saw Klaus pull his phone from his pocket and frown at it before he looked up at Katie and motioned for her to come out of the recording booth. So she took off her headphones and sat them on the table on her way out of the booth. “What’s wrong?”

“I just got a text from Marcel. The treme witches are after Rebekah. Or rather the body that she’s occupying.” He told her as he stood up, holding Hope close to his chest.

“Why?” Katie asked with a frown.

“They think she is still Eva Sinclair, an evil witch, who murdered children for their power.” Klaus answered.

“Is there anything we can do?” Katie asked as she absentmindedly grabbed one of Hope's hands.

“No, Marcel and Elijah are on it. We need to focus on Finn.” he answered then looked down at his daughter who fussed a little. “And if I’m not mistaken it’s someone’s lunch time.”

TVDTVDTVD

They were sitting in the courtyard watching Hope play on her play mat when Aiden walked in. “We’ve found Finn. He’s at the cemetery in the tomb Mikael and Esther’s bodies are in.”

After passing Hope off to Camille to babysit Katie and Klaus went to the cemetery. They had just walked through the arching metal “Lafayette Cemetery” sign when Klaus’s phone started ringing and he looked at the screen to see Elijah’s name. Set on their goal, Klaus ignored the call and Katie didn’t argue. “You keep him occupied, I’ll attack when I see a window to do so.” Klaus gave her a nod and she vamped off to observe from a distance.

“Finn!” Klaus shouted as they made their way through the tombs. “I know you’re here! The wolves tell me you’ve been quite active robbing graves and violating corpses. Sounds like you.” He came to a stop in the center of the cemetery. “Why don’t you come out so we can finish this?”

“Hello, Niklaus.” Finn said from behind Klaus who turned to see Finn walking over to him with one arm tucked behind his back.

“Such a pedestrian greeting. How unfortunate those are to be your last words.” Klaus told his brother with a glare.

“Your hubris truly knows no bounds.” Finn replied. “You attack a witch in the very place that the ancestors call home. Tsk, tsk.” he said with a shake of his pointer finger.

“You’re a fool if you think the ancestors give a damn about you.” Klaus replied.

“They may not care for me, Brother, but they hate you.” Finn reared back his arm and pushed it forward, sending a blast of fire at Klaus who whooshed up on top of a tomb.

“You’ve lost a step, Brother, but then being blown to pieces will do that I suppose.” Klaus jumped down and went after Finn but he was cut off when Finn used magic to send part of a nearby wrought iron fence flying through the air, the points of it impaling Klaus’s chest.

“Finished so soon, my indestructible brother?” Finn asked, holding the fence in place with the invisible force of his magic. “Father was right about you. You’re nothing but a pathetic disappointment.”

Katie broke a spike of iron off a nearby rusty gate and whooshed up behind Finn, stabbing him in the back, being careful not to hit any major organs. No, she wanted to give Klaus the time to make Finn’s death slow and painful. Finn cried out from the unexpected pain as his back arched. Katie wrapped her hand around his throat and spoke into his ear. “You know, I’ve grown so very tired of listening to my fiancé’s family stomp him into the ground.” while she spoke Klaus pulled the fence from his body and threw it across the cemetery. “You’re a hypocrite, Finn. You judge Klaus when you're the one who killed Kol. Not to mention the fact that you tried to kill your niece. Instead of fighting for Hope, instead of standing up to your mother, a bully, hell bent on taking a baby from her parents, you tried to take the easy, immoral way out.. You’re no better than any of us.”

Klaus walked over and grabbed the wrought iron bar sticking out of Finn and gave it a twist making Finn scream out in pain. “For what you would’ve done to Hope, I’m going to enjoy making you suffer.” Katie walked around Finn to stand beside Klaus as he slowly manipulated the bar causing Finn a tremendous amount of pain.

Klaus had pulled the bar out of Finn and was about to stab him again when Elijah appeared, grabbed Klaus and moved him away from Finn, holding his back against a tomb with his hand on Klaus’s chest. “You didn’t answer my call.”

“Well, I was a little bit busy.” Klaus responded with a look over at Katie and Finn, who had fallen to the ground. Katie placed her foot over the bleeding hole in Finn’s stomach and pressed down, keeping him in too much pain to be able to fight back.

Elijah looked over his shoulder at Katie. “I need him alive.” he told her then looked back at his brother.

“I have no time for your soft-hearted sympathies.” Klaus told him then brushed Elijah’s hand from his chest and stared him down. “Stand aside.”

Elijah once again looked at Katie then back at Klaus. “I have spoken to Josephine LaRue, regent of the nine covens. We’ve made a deal. If we want Rebekah relinquished into our custody we must return Vincent Griffith to his coven.” Elijah informed them.

“Let him die, Elijah.” Klaus argued.

“The witches want that body returned, unharmed.” Elijah argued.

“Well, it’s a little late for that.” Katie chipped in pressing harder.

“And what else do they want? A parade? Free broomsticks for all?” Klaus asked, being the smartass that Katie loved.

“This alliance could be greatly beneficial to us all.” Elijah argued.

“Yes, well, currying some witch’s favor does not concern me.” Klaus practically yelled.

“It should.” a female voice interrupted and the three of them looked toward it to see a woman with a petite face and medium length, slightly wavy blond hair dressed all in black. “Witch allies…can prove valuable.” she walked between Klaus and Elijah and over to Katie and Finn who had stopped screaming and was now bleeding out.

“Freya. Freya, help me.” Finn pleaded.

Hearing who this woman was Katie moved to stand by Klaus. “Don’t worry brother.” Freya told him. “I won’t let them hurt you.'' She used two fingers to lift a blue pendant that hung around her neck and started chanting an incantation.

The pendant started glowing as Finn cried out and when the pendent went dim Finn, now Vincent Griffith asked, “Who are you?” Instead of answering him Freya held out her hand and put him to sleep.

“What did you just do?” Katie asked with a look at Vincent then back at Freya.

“Finn is now safe from harm.” she answered as she held up the blue pendant then dropped it and looked at Klaus. “And his hatred of you can no longer do damage to our cause.”

“Our cause?” Elijah asked.

“Yes, ours.” Freya answered and Klaus gave her a suspicious look. “And now if you two can stop arguing long enough...perhaps you’ll allow your older sister to offer you a deal.”

“What could you possibly offer us besides fairytales and lies?” Klaus asked, talking with his hands.

“Whatever you may think of me, Brother, know this...when I speak to you, it is the truth.” Freya told them and Katie crossed her arms over her chest with a frown. “If you’ve any doubts, remember that it was I who rescued Rebekah from the Fauline Cottage.”

“And was it not also you who led Finn on his vile mission to take Hope’s life?” Elijah asked as he walked past Freya to look down at the passed out body of Vincent then turned back to Freya.

Freya turned her back on Katie and Klaus to talk to Elijah. “The threat to Hope came from Finn, not me.” she defended then looked down at Vincent while fiddling with the pendant that hung from her neck. “The brother I knew would never have stooped to threaten a child. Our mother destroyed him. Like she did me…” she turned to look at Klaus, “You, everything she touched.”

Klaus rolled his eyes. “Do not speak as though we are familiars. We know nothing of you.”

Freya bowed her head, closed her eyes and held her hands out to the side. After a few seconds she asked, “Do you think me a liar?”

Klaus’s eyes grew hard and Elijah looked at Freya with wide eyes. “That proves nothing but your ability to conjure illusions.” Klaus told her stiffly.

“Before you dismiss me, you should know this. If I’ve woken from my slumber, then Dahlia has as well. Once she’s sensed your child’s magic she will come for her. And she has the power to kill anyone who stands in her way. Unless we kill her first.”

“It’s quite convenient, isn’t it?” Klaus asked with a motion to Freya. “You show up in the nick of time to help us kill the woman with whom you spent a thousand years.”

“You have no idea what it took to escape her,” Freya said, getting in Klaus’s face, “Or what I lost in the trying. Her punishment will be profound.”

“And you know how to stop her.” Elijah gathered walking back over to them.

“Given the proper materials, yes.” Freya answered. “I’ve sent Father to procure them.”

Klaus rolled his eyes again. “You put the life of my child in the hands of Mikael!?” Klaus turned and started to walk away.

“Niklaus.” Elijah called, sounding like he was so over Klaus’s dramatic reactions. “This woman has knowledge of the threat we now face and is willing to share that information.”

Klaus stopped and looked back at Freya, Elijah and Katie. “Well, you’ll excuse me, Elijah, if I'm not inclined to trust the mysterious sister we only just met.” he said with a motion at them. “But by all means, if you wish to entertain this idiocy, have at it.” Klaus whooshed away leaving them behind. Katie looked back and forth between Elijah and Freya then whooshed after him.

Deciding to give Klaus some space to calm down, Katie went to their quarters and showered. Afterwards she found Klaus in the nursery, wearing clean clothes with his back to the door, looking down at their daughter where she lay awake in her crib. “Has she been fed?” Katie asked since Cami was nowhere to be seen.

“Yes, Cami was getting her ready for bed when I found them.” Klaus answered as he watched Hope, dressed in purple polka dotted zip up footie pajamas, grab his offered finger. “What was your assessment of Freya?” he asked, getting to the point.

“She seems...angry and...desperate. Possibly too desperate.” she answered as she took her jacket off and tossed it onto the back of the rocking chair. “She helped Finn find Hope and me, but had no problem locking him away in her pendent.” she stood beside Klaus looking down at their daughter. “That in itself says one of two things. Either her intentions to help us are true and she got rid of Finn to keep him from causing problems or...she’s trying to manipulate us and make herself seem like the good guy so she can get us to trust her then take Hope and hand her over to Dahlia.” Klaus looked at her as if his line of thinking had been similar. “I don’t trust her and I already know there’s now way in hell you’re going to trust her, but there’s one fact I can’t ignore.”

“She has information on Dahlia that we need if we’re going to keep our daughter safe.” he finished and Katie nodded.

“What did she show you and Elijah?” Katie asked and Klaus placed his hand over hers taking over her mind's eye with the quick flashes of a hooded figure carrying a small blond haired child away from a very young Esther in the snowy woods. Both Freya and Esther were Begging Dahlia not to take her.

“Mikael is free again.” he changed the subject, his tone remaining flat and hard. “And if we are to believe Freya he is doing her bidding...like a dog playing fetch.” he looked up at Katie with fear and hatred in his eyes.

She narrowed hers, trying to read him then sighed and turned from the crib to face him. “You’re jealous.” his face turned hard. Just that one action, Mikael procuring items for Freya, spoke volumes and made Klaus hate both of them that much more. She reached up and cupped his cheek in her hand. “You have more than either of them ever could. You have Rebekah, Elijah, Hope and me. You have your real family.” she brushed her thumb over his cheekbone. “If Mikael comes at us we will tear him a new one.”

He took her hand from his face and kissed her palm before he threaded their fingers together and rested their hands on the railing of Hope’s crib. “You say that like you can take him.”

“I helped you kill him before, I can do it again if need be.” she replied with a cocky smirk.

He smirked back then looked down at Hope who let go of his finger to rub her eyes. “It’s past her bedtime.” he picked up Hope as Katie moved her jacket from the rocking chair and tossed it in the bedroom. She watched, leaning on the doorframe, as Klaus sat down in the chair and started rocking his daughter. “Once upon a time in a land thought only to be in one's dreams, there lived a beastly wolf and a beautiful phoenix...” Katie couldn’t help but smile at the sight and she wanted to watch them and see where Klaus was going with his story, but she also didn't want to hover. She'd had a million nights rocking Hope to sleep, using the quiet moments to bond. So she slipped from the room, giving the father and daughter time to themselves.

She was laying in bed with her back propped up against the headboard, writing a journal entry when Klaus slipped out of Hope's room, quietly shutting the door behind him. "That took longer than usual. Was she fighting sleep?"

"No, I just didn't want to put her down." Katie smiled to herself as she tucked the pen into the book and sat it on the nightstand. Klaus stripped down to his boxers and slid into bed with her. "She's so innocent and perfect." Katie grabbed his hand in both of hers. "I fear that if my past actions are any indication of my future..."

"Your past is just that." Katie cut him off. "The past." She dropped his hand and moved around to straddle his blanket covered lap. "I've got you, remember?" She asked as she held the sides of his neck in her hands. "You didn't have me around to subdue that temper of yours before. Now you do, and I will do everything in my power to make sure you do right by her. Just as I hope you will do for me."

Klaus let a smile play at the corners of his lips and his blue eyes gazed into hers as he slipped his hand over her cheek. "I love you, Mo Bhanríon." He whispered then caught her lips with his in a slow tender kiss. "So Finn is gone, but now we have Freya and Mikael in his stead."

"So we won't be getting married anytime soon." Katie finished as her eyes looked down at her hands that now rested on his smooth, nude chest. He cupped her chin and lifted it, making her meet his gaze. "I'm not upset. The wedding will happen when the time is right."

Klaus simply kissed her goodnight and turned out the lamp.

TVDTVDTVD

The next morning the three of them were hanging out in their quarters. Katie sat on the couch looking at a bridal magazine while Hope played on a play mat nearby. Klaus sat down beside Katie, catching her attention when he held out an old leather journal, open to a sketch of him when he was a child. "What is this?" She asked as she closed the magazine and took the journal from him.

"My father's journal. There's a lot of history about the werewolves in it. I thought, since you worry about not understanding that part of our daughter that you might like to read it." He explained.

"I would love to. Thank you." She answered then looked down at the drawing. "You really were a handsome young man." She commented, then closed the book and looked up at him. "What happened?" She asked with a playful smirk.

"Ha ha." He told her with a roll of his eyes and she laughed. "So I was thinking about inviting Freya over for a family brunch."

She gave him a curious look. “Why the 180?”

“You, as usual, were right. She has information about Dahlia that we need. If we’re going to get that information, I'd prefer we do it on my terms." He explained with a look down at Hope.

"Then host the brunch." Katie answered, understanding that Klaus would rather be the manipulator rather than the manipulated.

TVDTVDTVD

“There you are, finally.” Klaus said as Elijah walked into the dining room that branched off of the courtyard.

“I was delayed.” Elijah replied as he walked into the room and put his coat away.

“Our guest of honor will be here momentarily.” Klaus informed his brother while leaning his arms on the back of the chair that sat at the head of the table.

“Is everything okay?” Katie asked Elijah from where she sat next to Hope, who was eating rice snacks in her highchair.

“The situation with Rebekah has gotten complicated, but it’s nothing you need to concern yourself with.” Elijah replied, making Katie frown at him. Rebekah was going to be her sister-in-law soon. She felt like she had every right to concern herself with Rebekah’s well being. “We may need Freya’s assistance. So,” he looked at Klaus, “whatever you are planning here...don’t.”

“All I’m planning is a simple chat with a long lost relative.” Klaus replied. “You, yourself, said to hear her out.”

“And you, yourself, said that would be idiocy.” Elijah argued. “Something tells me Katie had something to do with this.”

“Au contraire, Elijah. I had nothing to do with this.” Katie spoke up. “Although I do believe we should hear her out and get every bit of information about Dahlia out of her that we can.”

“Believe it or not I just want to protect my daughter.” Klaus added then smirked. “Ah, I think I hear Freya now.” he said, talking with his hands as he spun around to see Freya walk into the dining room. “Sister!” He greeted her loudly. “Well, come in, come in. Make yourself comfortable.”

Freya’s eyes quickly found Katie where she sat with Hope and gave them a soft smile. “She’s beautiful.”

“Thanks.” Katie replied politely before handing Hope a sippy cup of water.

Freya started looking around the room and noticed a hoop sitting on a shelf. “This witch hoop, it’s Danish. Is it from when you all lived in Copenhagen in the 1500’s?” she asked.

“Quite the eye.” Klaus observed making Freya smirk.

“Are we here to discuss family heirlooms or do we have more pressing concerns?” Elijah interrupted from where he stood at the chair on the other side of Hope’s highchair.

“Please excuse my brother’s lack of decorum. He’s been in a foul mood of late.” Klaus told Freya as he walked back over to the chair at the head of the table next to where Katie sat with Hope. “But he is right. We did ask you here in the hopes that you would share some of Dahlia’s secrets. So without further ado, let’s get to it.”

They all took seats at the table with Klaus at the head, Katie to his right followed by Hope and Elijah, who stood behind his chair, while Freya sat on the opposite side. “The first thing you should know is that Dahlia is the most powerful witch I have ever seen.” Freya started then looked at Elijah. “And she craves more power still. Right now, she is like me, limited to one year of life in a century. But she wants to be free of that restriction to gain true immortality. And that is why she will come here,” she looked at Klaus, who had his fists tucked under his chin, listening contently to his sister. Freya then looked at Katie and Hope, “drawn by your daughter...to take the child’s power for herself. And she will kill anyone who would defy her.”

“And yet, you would defy her.” Elijah said as he finally took a seat.

“I don’t have a choice. She will never let me be free.” Freya replied. “My one chance is to align with you and kill her.”

“Well, now that we’re all suitably motivated, let’s talk specifics.” Klaus said as he leaned back in his chair with a smug look on his face then looked at Katie and Hope. Katie was looking at Freya while Hope was only concerned with the little star shaped snacks on the tray of her highchair.

“For you to understand...I need to start from the beginning.” Freya told him. “After taking me from my family Dahlia used me to forge a new brand of connective magic. One that augmented my power even as it allowed her to draw from me. Once we were bonded Dahlia became unstoppable. She wasted no time proving her might. The chief of a nearby village threatened to run us off...accusing Dahlia of witchcraft. She decided to make an example out of the entire encampment. Men, women...children.” Katie frowned and pressed the tips of her fingers to her lips. “She killed them all with a wave of her hand. That was my first inkling of the power that Dahlia had. Over the course of a thousand years, she’s only grown stronger. And she will bring all her power to bear against you when she comes for your child.”

Elijah’s phone started ringing, interrupting Freya. “Excuse me.” Elijah said as she stood from the table and answered it. “Rebekah, how are you feeling?”

“As if I walked straight into a brick wall.” Katie heard Rebekah answer. “Any luck with Freya?”

“Luck is not the word I would use.” Elijah answered. “You should be here.”

“Fine. I’m on my way now.” Rebekah told him then hung up.

“I apologize for the interruption.” Elijah told Freya as he sat back down.

“Your stories are fascinating and Dahlia does indeed sound dreadful,” Klaus spoke up, “but Elijah and I have killed our fair share of evil witches.”

“Not like her.” Freya argued.

“What are her weaknesses?” Elijah asked, then took a sip of tea from his cup.

“She’s paranoid, obsessed with power. She hungers constantly for what’s been denied her, be it love or revenge.” Freya answered.

“Yes, I think I'm familiar with the type.” Elijah said with a look over at Klaus who just smirked. Katie rolled her eyes at the brothers.

“When I was a child, she would tell me tales of her own youth. Of being victimized by those stronger than her. Dahlia vowed never to be weak again. She bargained for the first born of Esther’s bloodline intending to raise us in her own image...forming a coven of her own from which she could draw endless power. That plan was foiled the day she learned that Esther had ended her bloodline by turning her children into vampires. And so the burden fell to me. Dahlia demanded I bear the firstborn that would add to her power. But I would not allow a child of mine to live as I did. As a slave.” Katie noticed Freya’s eyes watering. So I vowed never to love. Never to have a child of my own.” A tear slipped down Freya’s cheek. “Of course, the more I resisted the harder Dahlia fought to control me. Until the day when she took the last of what little freedom I had left. I begged her not to bind me with this curse, but I had no choice. So we slept. Our magic accruing over time, until we woke filled with immense power and allowed to live a single year of life. That has been the existence I've suffered for the last ten centuries.”

Klaus started laughing, making everyone look at him. “It’s quite the ordeal isn’t it?” he sat up, placing his arms on the table in front of him. “But it does beg the question...why not end it yourself?”

“Klaus.” Katie snapped.

He gave her a “what?” look. “Well, if she is as miserable as she says she must’ve considered it.” he told her then looked at Freya. “Am I wrong?”

Freya closed her eyes and swallowed deeply. “Long ago,” she opened her eyes looking down at the table, “I did consider it. But Dahlia would never give me even that freedom. I would later learn the spell made me like her. Immortal and impervious to harm.” she smiled bitterly then wiped her eyes. “So you see...I am like you. A creature of great power cursed for all time.”

Hope rubbed her eyes and started fussing. “On that note…” Katie stood up and picked up Hope. “Someone’s ready for her nap.” Klaus stood and brushed his hand over Hope’s head before he kissed it then pecked Katie on the lips. She gave him a pointed look that told him to be nice as she turned then walked away.

TVDTVDTVD

After getting Hope down for her nap she found Klaus, Elijah and Rebekah in the common room. “It was this witch, Eva. The nasty little cow is inside me, trying to bust her way out.” Rebekah was saying as she paced the room, when Katie walked in.

“Wait, what did I miss?” Katie asked, getting their attention.

“I blacked out and came to in the middle of nowhere.” Rebekah filled her in.

“Freya is downstairs. Perhaps-” Elijah started.

“Have you lost your mind?” Klaus asked, dropping his hand from where it had been resting on his lips in thought. “Tell me we’re not considering opening our sister’s head to someone we barely know.” he said, talking with his hands.

“Nik, for god’s sake, she is our sister.” Rebekah argued as she walked over to them. “I’ve known it since she saved me from the Fauline Cottage.”

“An act meant to secure your trust, perhaps for this very moment...to strike when we are vulnerable.” Klaus argued loudly. “No. We’ve no way to prove that anything she’s said today is true.”

“Niklaus, I understand your concern.” Elijah started. “Both of us are powerless to help our sister. Now either we leave Rebekah to suffer or…” he pushed himself up off of the bar he’d been leaning against, “We place our faith in the hands of someone I believe to be our blood.” he walked over to stare his brother down. “Right now, I’m inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to family.”

Katie walked over to join them in the family circle they had going on at the moment. “Do you think we should let her in Rebekah’s head?” Klaus asked with a motion at Rebekah.

“I…” Katie looked at Rebekah who just gave her a tight lipped smile. It was clear to Katie that Rebekah wanted to trust Freya, as did Elijah. “Have you asked Davina for help?” Katie asked not really wanting to say if they should trust Freya or not.

“Yes, we searched through Kol’s spell books but couldn’t find anything.” Rebekah answered.

“What happens if we don’t let her help you?” Katie asked. “This Eva bitch takes over and what happens to you?”

“According to Davina I’ll be lost inside her forever.” Rebekah answered.

“So our choices are don’t ask Freya for help and let you be lost or ask her and maybe she saves you?” Katie asked and Rebekah nodded. Katie looked at Klaus. “Then the choice is clear in my head.”

“Oh for Christ sake.” Klaus said, throwing his hands up in the air.

“Am I missing an obvious factor?” Katie asked, not being sassy just wanting to make sure she had all the right facts.

“You’ve said yourself that this woman can’t be trusted.” Klaus argued. “What if she only makes it worse?”

“What could be worse than being lost forever?” Rebekah argued before Katie could.

“Fine.” Klaus said with a look at Elijah. “Go fetch our long lost, miracle worker of a sister.”

As Elijah left to get Freya, Klaus headed over to the bar and made himself a drink. Katie walked around the bar and leaned on it so she could face him. When he didn’t look at her she dipped her head into his line of sight and he finally looked at her. “I’m not trying to pick a fight with you.”

“Could’ve fooled me.” he dropped his eyes and took a drink from his glass.

“Have you looked at Esther’s spell book?” Katie asked with a look between Klaus and Rebekah, wrecking her brain for anything that would help. “Maybe there’s a spell in there that Davina could try?”

“Davina’s powerful, but she doesn't have the power required for this kind of mind manipulation.” Rebekah answered, sounding hopeless. Katie sighed and let her head fall forward.

Freya and Elijah walked into the room and Klaus leaned back in his chair kicking his feet up on the bar. Katie grabbed a bottle of bourbon and poured herself a glass. “Rebekah.” Freya said as she walked into the room and grabbed Rebekah's hands with a smile. “It’s good to see you again.”

“And you.” Rebekah greeted. “Though I’d prefer better circumstances.”

“You needn’t worry.” Freya told her as they both sat down on the couch. “Elijah explained the problem and I can help.”

“Rather confident, aren’t we?” Klaus asked, making Katie shoot him a look that he didn’t see.

Freya looked at them, not surprised by Klaus’s attitude. Katie just crossed her arms over her chest with an emotionless look. Freya turned back to Rebekah. “The spirit of the host body is powerful, but I can cast a spell. Put you in a deep sleep and then suppress this other essence. You’ll be just fine.”

Rebekah heaved out a nervous breath. “Lovely. When do we start?”

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Klaus complained, letting his head fall backward. “She spouts off some magical diagnosis and we are all supposed to applaud?”

“Nik, she’s trying to help.” Rebekah argued.

“Yes, but for the sake of keeping our options open,” he dropped his feet from the bar and turned to look at them, “why not write down your spells and incantations? That way, we can have them double-checked by an impartial third party. Say Davina. She’d love to prove me wrong.”

“I doubt she would understand my magic. Let alone have the power to execute it.” Freya answered.

“Oh, so you’re our only hope, then. Seems rather convenient, doesn’t it?” Klaus asked.

“I knew it would be difficult to win your trust, Niklaus.” Freya told him. “Your reputation precedes you.” Klaus just smirked at her as she stood from the couch. “But if we are to face Dahlia together, you will have to trust me. Given the peril that Rebekah now faces, are you truly incapable of giving me even a chance to prove myself?” Klaus just turned around in his chair and refilled his glass. Freya turned to her other siblings. “I know I appear as an outsider...but I have dreamt of you all for a thousand years.” Rebekah and Elijah shared a look. “Elijah, when you were in Esther’s womb, she would ask me to sing to you. I would feel her belly as I did.” she walked over to Elijah with a smile on her face at the memory. “How you would kick. She would say it was as if Thor himself had raised his hammer-”

“And summoned thunder and lightning.” Elijah finished. “Mother rarely mentioned you...when she did, she would say how enchanted you were by the prospect of my birth.” Elijah told her as he took a step closer to her. Katie watched them and Klaus’s reaction to their conversation with a frown on her face.

“How I wanted more brothers. And a sister.” Freya said with a look at Rebekah. “More than anything. But between Esther and Dahlia that wish was taken from me. I was ruined by those who raised me. If nothing else,” she looked over her shoulder at Klaus’s back, “at least we have that in common.” Klaus looked at Katie with a scowl that looked a bit sad before he looked back down at his drink. “There is nothing that can replace what was taken from us but...I hope we can make something better in its place. All you have to do is trust me.”

Elijah was giving Freya a small smile when Klaus whooshed behind Freya and broke her neck.”Nik!” Rebekah exclaimed.

“Well, that’s enough of that, don’t you think?” Klaus asked, then let Freya fall to the floor with a thud. “Right. Now we can have a proper family meeting.”

Katie sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose then let it go and ran her fingers through her hair and busied herself with making another drink. She was going to need it if she was to deal with this side of Klaus today.

“Was that absolutely necessary?” Rebekah asked while kneeling down beside Freya

“Oh, please. She was insufferable.” Klaus replied.

“That was ridiculous, even for you.” Elijah replied with a motion at Klaus.

“You’ve only just met her. Let’s not get sentimental. Besides, if she was telling the truth about being immortal, she’ll awaken shortly. If she was lying, good riddance.” Klaus argued.

“Yes, and of course if she wakes, she’ll be willing to help us with unbridled enthusiasm.” Elijah replied. While they argued Rebekah looked at Katie, asking her to step in, but Katie shook her head no.

“She played you both for fools. Can you not see that?” Klaus asked. “She spins a sad yarn about a small child taken by an evil witch and you both fall over yourselves to mend what’s broken.

“How can you be so certain?” Rebekah asked.

“Simple. It’s exactly what I would do.” Klaus answered. “My only question now is what’s in it for her?”

Elijah kneeled down beside Freya. “Whatever the truth may be, she’s in no position to help us now.”

“Well, then we should try Marcel. Perhaps he’s had luck on his end.” Rebekah suggested. “Surely he’s put in a better effort.” she said with a pointed look at Klaus before she walked out of the room.

“You know I’m right, Elijah.” Klaus said and Elijah turned to look at him. “We can’t have an alliance with someone we can’t trust.”

“You don’t trust her, then that is your choice. I only hope that choice comes from a place of reason. Not fear.” Klaus told him then followed after Rebekah.

With them gone Klaus turned to Katie. “You’ve been uncharacteristically silent.”

Katie tossed back what bourbon was left in her glass. "I don't like disagreeing with you, especially in front of other people, your siblings included. It gives the impression that, as a couple, we are weak."

"And we are not weak." He replied as he sat down in the stool and she refilled his glass then her own.

"That wasn't cool." Katie said with a point to Freya. "Not to sound too much like Elijah, but you're letting fear cloud your judgment." Katie once again pointed out.

"Can you honestly say you don't see where I'm coming from?" He asked.

"No, I can. She's trying really hard to make us all believe that she just wants her family back." Katie answered. "Either she is telling the truth or she wants us to trust her so badly that she would have helped Rebekah in order to earn that trust. And honestly she seemed so desperate that I believe she may still help even after she wakes up...if she wakes up." She added with a look at Freya over Klaus’s shoulder.

"So you would have used her desperation to prove herself to help Rebekah, then what? We accept her and become one big happy family?" He asked, then took a drink.

"No." Katie answered with a look that suggested he was being ridiculous. "We let her think we're one big happy family so that she might let her guard down while we watch her like a hawk, continue to gather intel on Dahlia, and do our best to expect the unexpected. A part of me wants to believe her just like Rebekah and Elijah, but the other half of my brain is yelling at me not to just blindly and stupidly give this woman our trust."

Klaus smirked at her. "I knew there was a reason I love you."

"So my inability to be stupid is the only reason huh?" Katie asked with a smirk back as she walked around the bar.

He grabbed her hips and pulled her down to sit sideways in his lap. "No. The list grows every day." Katie just gave him a small genuine smile then let it fall. "Say whatever it is you’re not saying."

"I know your jealousy of her stems from more than just her influence on Mikael." She answered and his eyes fell. "You're possessive when it comes to your family and you don't want Freya swooping in and taking them from you." She dipped her head into his line of view, "but I think the thing you need to remember is that she's your sister too. If she is telling the truth and if you let her, she will accept all of her siblings, not just Rebekah and Elijah." She rested her forearms on his shoulders and started fiddling with the hair at the nape of his neck. "You never know for sure what the future may hold. We could become a powerful ally and sister, or one hell of an enemy." She slipped from his lap. "The only way to know for sure is to take it one day at a time. And we have to do our very best to act on reason instead of emotion. We can't afford to do otherwise. Our daughter's life depends on it." She held her hand out to him. "You with me?"

He rolled his eyes but slapped his hand into hers. "Of course."

Both of their eyes moved to look in the direction of Hope's room when her cries hit their ears. "I've got Hope." Katie told him. "You take care of her." She motioned to the still passed out Freya then pecked Klaus on the lips and headed to Hope.

TVDTVDTVD

While Klaus was away having a private chat with Freya, Katie sat in their quarters reading Ansel's journal. She was halfway through it when he started talking about the werewolves unification ritual. She didn't understand how the wolf elders were able to use magic, but it kick started her curious brain.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie and Hope we're in the courtyard when Klaus returned. "So how'd it go?" Katie asked as she stood up and walked over to him with Hope in her arms.

"She was furious with me for breaking her neck, but you were right. She is desperate to prove herself." Klaus answered.

"So she's still willing to help Rebekah?" Katie asked.

"Yes." Klaus answered as he placed his hand on Hope's back.

"And you're going to allow her to?" Katie asked with a look up at him through her lashes.

He gave her a look that said he really didn't want to, but answered, "Yes."

"Good." Katie told him with a small smile. "Now that that's settled…" She handed Hope to Klaus, "I'd like to pay Davina a visit."

"Tonight?" Klaus asked with a frown.

"I don't know when I'll have the free time again and I know she has Marcel, but I worry about her." Katie explained. "I'll be quick."

Klaus sighed with a frown, but gave her a nod. So she kissed Hope's head knowing she'd most likely be asleep when she got back then pecked Klaus on the lips and headed out.

TVDTVDTVD

She found Davina in the cemetery, her nose buried in a spell book. "Knock knock." Katie said, getting the young woman's attention.

"Katie." Davina sighed seeing who it was. "What are you doing here?"

"I have a spell related question for you." Katie answered as she walked in and hopped up to sit on an empty table. "But first and foremost...how are you? I would have visited sooner, but as usual things are hectic."

Davina looked at Katie and she could tell Davina was trying to hold it together, but failed and tears started falling. Katie hopped down off the table and wrapped her arms around the young woman. "I miss him...so much." She sobbed and Katie pulled back to look at Davina's face. "Rebekah said she'd help me bring him back, but she hasn't helped at all. I've searched through all of Kol's spell books...and I can't find a spell to bring him back."

"Rebekah will help as soon as she can." Katie soothed. "And I am so sorry you are going through this by yourself. If there was any way I could help I would, but I can't do magic."

Davina sniffled and wiped at her face. Katie looked around and spotted a box of tissues, grabbed one and handed it to Dacina. "Thanks." She wiped her nose and threw it away. "So how well did you know Kol?"

"Not very." Katie answered as she hopped back up to sit on the table while Davina sat down on the one stool in the room. "The first time we met he tried to compel me to tell him how handsome he was."

Davina smiled sadly. "Sounds like him." She wiped the smile from her face and blinked back tears. "So you said you have magic related question?"

"It's really not a big deal." Katie brushed it off.

"No, ask." Davina told her. "You never ask me for favors. So I know it has to be important."

"Well, it's not so much important as it is selfish." Katie admitted with a scratch at the back of her neck. "There's this thing that the wolves used to do called a unification ritual. Back in the day each pack had their own unique strengths, so the alphas of two packs would marry with this ritual and share their strengths with each other and their pack." Katie explained.

"So what's your question?" Davina asked with a curious look.

"Klaus is a hybrid and I know I'm not a wolf and neither Klaus or I are alphas or anything, but I was wondering-"

"You want him to share his powers with you." Davina finished for her.

Katie nodded. "I feel terrible for even asking...for even thinking about it when I already have the best of both worlds. I mean, I'm a vampire who can procreate, what else could I possibly want, right?" Katie asked with a shake of her head.

"But Klaus and Hope are both wolves and you're not." Davina replied. "I get it."

"Not to mention that Klaus has made a thousand years worth of enemies and once they find out that Hope and I are his weak points...they are going to come for their revenge. I just want to be able to protect my family as best as I possibly can." Katie explained. "So do you think a spell like this would work on us? That his abilities can be shared with me?"

Davina sighed and thought about it. "I don't see why not, but I wouldn't even know how to begin to perform a spell like that. Let alone if I'd have enough power. Plus I'm kind of busy."

"No, I know, I'd never ask you to set Kol aside for me, and I wouldn't ask you to do this for me, especially considering you don't even like Klaus." Katie assured her. "I just needed a witches' opinion."

"Tell you what, after I get Kol back, we'll work on the spell together. He's like a walking witch-a-pedia, if anyone can figure it out, he can."

"Figure out what?" They heard someone ask from the doorway of the tomb they were in and Davina jumped not having heard her come in.

"Rebekah." Davina sighed, "You scared me."

Rebekah gave them a very un-Rebekah like smirk. "That's not Rebekah. Davina, run." Katie told the younger woman, but neither of them had the chance before Eva held up her fist and clenched it closed, stopping both of them in their tracks. Katie could do nothing but watch as Eva carved a symbol on Davina’s forehead then Davina fell to the floor, not dead, but passed out. With an evil eyed look, Eva looked at Katie and twisted her fist, swiftly breaking Katie’s neck.

A/N: My daughter and I are feeling a lot better. I ended up getting an Apicoectomy (cut open gums, remove bone to access the root of the tooth and clean out infection) done on one tooth and a regular root canal done on another. I have 9 stitches in my gums and it doesn't hurt. I just look like a chipmunk that got punched in the face because of all the swelling and bruising on the right side of my face. I just have to get a permanent crown put on the root canaled tooth and I'll be done with dental work for the year.

So I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I plan on updating every other Friday from now on, just because I don’t feel like a week is not long enough to get a good quality chapter written.

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thebrotherssalvatore321 · 3 years

Text

Keeping Secrets Ch. 58

Keeping Secrets Masterlist

Sunlight shining in through the curtains of the two windows of their bedroom attached to the nursery pulled Katie from sleep and as her eyes fluttered open they landed on Klaus’s hand on hers that rested on his chest. Her head was laying on the shoulder of his arm that was wrapped around her back. She thought he was asleep, but when she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, letting his scent wash over her like a comforting wave, the sound of his sleepy chuckle hit her ears and a blush colored her cheeks. However, her embarrassment faded when he turned his head and buried his nose in her soft auburn waves, breathing her in. A bright sleepy smile lit up her face as she looked up at him and he gave her a gentle smile back as he took his hand off of hers to brush a wave behind her ear. “Good morning, Big Bad Wolf.”

“Good," he paused as he whooshed around, now hovering over her from the side, "is a vast understatement, Little Phoenix.” he started trailing kisses down her neck. “Waking up with you in my arms feels bloody magnificent.” he told her and she laughed as he kissed his way to the hollow of her neck then down to the valley of her breasts. When he cupped both of them in his hands over her champagne, satin pajama top she took in a deep breath and bit her lips closed to mute her moan. A chuckle left his lips when he looked up from her chest to her eyes and he saw the veins under them. Once again he drank in the sight then gave her a crooked smile as his hands kneaded her breasts making her bite her lip again.

“Are you trying to torture me?” she asked breathily.

“My touch is torture?” he asked playing dumb.

“It is when I know it can’t lead to more for fear of waking our daughter.” she answered, a choked moan leaving her lips when he pinched her nipples between his thumb and pointer finger.

Knowing she was right, Klaus sighed and rolled off of her. “Fine."

Katie rolled over, straddling him as she looked down at him with a flirty twinkle in her eyes. "Just because we can't make love doesn't mean we can't fool around. How else will I learn to be quiet?" Klaus sat up and wrapped his arms around her making her laugh when he bit her neck with a growl.

After thirty minutes of making out and giggling like a couple of carefree teenagers, Klaus took her left hand into his, looking at the emerald cut diamond on her finger. “Tell me, have you thought about what you want our wedding to be like? Venue, color scheme, date, etcetera…”

“Venue...anywhere but Saint Ann's. Color scheme...something simple like cream with one pop of color, maybe blue or red?” she asked, getting a look from him that said he was considering it. "And a date…" She sighed and took his hand in hers, absentmindedly playing with his long fingers.. "I don't know...when your douchebag brother is no longer capable of crashing the wedding in an attempt to murder our flower girl?"

"How about dark azure blue as the accent color and we shoot for a week after whenever Finn is taken care of?" He asked with a Hopeful look.

"Both sound perfect to me." She agreed.

"Really?” he asked and she noticed his surprise. “I would have thought you’d want a longer engagement.”

“Why would I want to put off what I’m sure will be one of the happiest days of my life?” she asked. “I want to marry you as soon as it is safe to and two vital purchases have been made.” he gave her a curious look. “A wedding band for you and a dress for me.

“Speaking of…” he started as he got out of bed, went to the wardrobe in the room and pulled out a white, cotton garment bag with Kleinfeld Bridal written in the top right corner of it.

“You didn’t.” Katie told him with a tilt of her head as she got out of bed.

“I did.” he answered as he hung it on the open door of the wardrobe. “Of course that was before you changed your mind about it.”

“Oh no.” Katie pressed the palm of her hand to her head then looked up at him. “I am so sorry you went through all that trouble for nothing.”

“It was no trouble, I assure you.” he told her and she dropped her hand from her face. He motioned to the dress bag. “Look at it, make sure it’s the right one.”

As she grabbed the zipper pull he turned his back, still not looking at it just in case she changed her mind once she saw it in person. When the zipper was undone she pushed the garment bag aside revealing ivory satin, lace and swarovski crystals along the sweetheart neckline. “How did you find it?” Katie asked as she grabbed the pull and zipped the bag back up.

“I called Caroline.” he said as if it should have been obvious.

“She wasn’t suspicious as to why you wanted my dream dress when I wasn’t alive to wear it?” she asked as she walked around him and slipped her hands up his chest to hold the sides of his neck.

“I told her that I had planned on asking you to marry me and wanted to put it in your coffin with your ashes.” he answered. “She called me creepy, but gave up the information nonetheless.”

Katie laughed at Caroline calling him creepy as Klaus wrapped his arms around her waist. “Please tell me you don’t actually still have my coffin.” Katie told him, remembering that at one time she had her own, custom built antique white coffin.

“I don’t. It burned with the plantation.” he answered then grabbed her hand and pulled her back over to the bed with him. “Speaking of Caroline, that reminds me, there is something you should know about a friend of yours.” Katie gave him a curious look as he sat down in bed, leaning back against the headboard and she straddled his lap. “When I called your father to tell him about your death he asked if Nate had anything to do with it." Her curious look turned to a frown. "As it turns out Nate was a descendent of your half brother from your first life.”

“I didn’t have a half brother.” she said with a confused shake of her head.

“Bradley was going through some old family history files when he saw a familiar face. Nathanial Cian Easton.” Klaus answered. “Bradley’s files started with your first father at the top of the tree then followed three branches from him. Yours and your sisters from your mother and the youngest, a son, born by a woman named Nyarai.” Katie narrowed her eyes in thought as she shook her head before a look of realization struck her like a light bulb going off over her head. She slid off of Klaus and leaned back against the headboard beside him, her fingertips pressed to her lips. A few minutes passed before she looked up at Klaus. “I’m guessing you knew her.”

Katie nodded as her hand fell to her lap. "She was Mother's lady’s maid." Katie answered in shock. "A few years after my sister was born, Nyarai had a son. Everyone speculated who the father could have been because she was unwed and was never seen with any suitors." Katie sat up on her knees and looked at Klaus. "I guess Father decided Mother was incapable of producing a male heir." Klaus placed his hand over hers.

"Bradley feared, given the hatred your family harbored for the curse Hannah put on the women of your family, Nate’s line included, that he may have turned to put you down if you ever became fully reincarnated." Katie's eyes dropped to the comforter that she pulled up over herself, hating that one simple soul linking spell could do so much damage to a family. Klaus cupped her chin in his hand and lifted her head. "It was never Nate’s intention to kill you." He reassured her. “I never would have let him near you if I thought, even for a second, that he meant to bring you harm. He cared about you.” Katie was thinking about how things might have been different if she had known that Nate was her blood family, when Hope’s happy morning squeals filled the air. “It would appear as though our daughter is awake.” Klaus said with a smile in his voice as he took his arm out from around her waist.

“And she’s in a good mood.” Katie added as they both slipped from the bed. “Most mornings she wakes up crying.” While Katie threw on a satin robe Klaus went to their daughter and picked her up.

“Good morning, Princess.” he told her, getting a happy squeal from Hope in return as he walked back into the bedroom. He was opening his mouth to say something when a knock on their door cut him off.

Katie walked over and pulled it open. “Good morning.” Rebekah greeted them as she walked into the room then turned to Katie. “You never gave me an answer about the whole maid of honor thing.”

“And you feel an answer is important enough to warrant bursting into our room?” Klaus asked and Rebekah looked at him over her shoulder where he stood in the doorway to Hope’s room and rolled her eyes then looked back at Katie.

“Regardless of your answer I’d still like to take you dress shopping today. Seeing as you have no interest in wearing the one of a kind dress Nik hunted down for you.” Rebekah told her, making Katie give her a small smile. “We'll make a proper girls day out of it.”

“I appreciate the thought, but shouldn’t you be trying to find a way to bring Kol back like you promised?” Katie asked.

“If anyone can multitask it’s me.” Rebekah replied. “And that’s still not an answer.”

Klaus started laughing and Katie looked past Rebekah to him. “You know the longer you make her wait, the more persistent she will become.”

Katie thought about it, Caroline was miles away, unable to help her plan her wedding like a maid of honor should, but Rebekah was right there practically begging for the job. Not to mention it was starting to feel like she and Rebekah truly were sisters. “I suppose it is possible to have two maids of honor.” Katie thought to herself. “Rebekah, would you do me the massive favor of being my maid of honor?”

“Really?” Rebekah asked with wide, excited eyes.

"It would be kind of a co-maid of honor situation because I promised Caroline a long time ago that if I ever got married that she'd be my maid of honor. She, Bonnie and Elena will always be lifelong friends of mine but," Katie walked over to her and grabbed Rebekah's hands "over these past few months you haven't just been there for Hope, you were there for me too. You didn't let me shut down and push you away or spiral or hyperfocus to keep from letting too much in at one time...You are my best friend now."

"And sometime very soon we'll be sisters." Rebekah told her with a smile then engulfed her in a hug making Katie laugh before she let her go. “Meet me in the courtyard in an hour.” she told her as she walked to the still open bedroom door then turned back and gave Klaus a cheeky look that was totally Rebekah-like even in the new body she was hopping a ride in for the time being. “Or do you plan on making her moan your name at top volume again? Because if that’s the case I’ll take Hope to the other side of the house and give the two of you a few hours longer.”

“Rebekah!” Katie grabbed a throw pillow off of the bench at the end of the bed and threw it at her head, but she easily dodged it with a laugh.

“Was that a yes or a no? I can’t tell.” Rebekah asked.

“That was an, it’s none of your bloody business.” Katie answered with a wide eyed look. Rebekah just shook her head with a smile on her face as she shut the door.

“Well, I never thought I’d see that.” Klaus said, making Katie turn to look at him, still holding his content daughter.

“See what?” Katie asked as she walked over and wrapped her arms around both of them.

“My sister and my finacée, besties.” he answered with a toothy smile.

“Would you prefer us go back to the love, hate relationship we had before?” Katie asked with a playful look.

“Nope, I actually quite like it when the people I love get along with one another.” he told her before Hope squealed and smacked Katie on the chest making them both smile down at her.

“So it seems the king and his princess will have the palace all to themselves today.” Katie commented as she grabbed Hope’s hand and Hope wrapped her little fingers around one of Katie’s. “Is that okay with you?” she asked and she looked up at Klaus. “You’ve never had her all to yourself before.”

“Rest assured she will be perfectly and completely spoiled rotten while you are away.” he gave her a closed lipped smile that showed off his dimples, making her smile back. “You deserve a day without our daughter on your hip just as much as Hope and I deserve to get to know one another.”

“I would say if you need anything call me, but I no longer have a phone to reactivate. It got blown up along with the pictures of us and old voicemails from you that were on it.” she told him with a disappointed look.

“That is why…” he set Hope on her play mat then went to his bedside table, “I got this as soon as you agreed to come home.” he turned back to her and handed her a new cell phone. “All of your photos and voicemails were stored in the cloud and have been downloaded on it as well as all of your contacts. So you can call your Mystic Falls friends and inform them of your miraculous rise from the dead whenever you wish.”

She turned on the phone to see he had set her background image to a picture of the painting he had bought for her on their first date that now hung in the bedroom of their quarters, making her smile at the memory of that day. “You’re awesome.” she told him as she tucked her phone into her back pocket then pecked him on the lips. “I was actually hoping you could help me call Caroline this time.” Katie told him as she glanced at Hope to make sure she was still on her mat. “I don’t want my voice to be the first one she hears when she answers the phone.”

“What would you like me to say?” he asked as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, assuming that she would want his name to pop up on Caroline’s phone instead of Katie’s.

“I don’t know, you’re you, be creative.” she shrugged.

He smirked at her as he pulled up Caroline’s contact information and hit call. “Hello?” Carline’s sleepy voice answered.

“Collect call from,” Klaus started, then held the phone out to Katie for her to say her name.

“Your very best friend in the whole wide world.” Katie filled in the blank.

“Do you accept the charges?” Klaus finished.

Katie could hear the rustle of blankets and the springs of a mattress popping as Caroline moved around in her bed. “Klaus, if this is a prank it’s not funny.”

Katie laughed. “It’s not a prank, Care.”

“Katie?” Caroline’s voice perked up. “How are you alive? Klaus said that the witches killed you and your baby. Bonnie saw you on the other side.” Caroline asked as Katie took the phone and put it to her ear.

“Well technically they did, so he wasn’t lying about that, and they did try to Kill our daughter, but we stopped them. Her name is Hope, by the way.” Katie answered. “I had her blood in my system when they killed me, so I came back."

“You’re a vampire again?” Caroline asked and Katie hummed a positive answer. “That’s why you disappeared when Bonnie saw you, because you were no longer on the other side.” Katie once again hummed a yes. “So why did he tell me the two of you were dead?”

“The witches who took her and tried to kill her were acting on the behalf of Esther. It was her decree that Hope never be allowed to live. So we let everyone believe the witches had succeeded and went into hiding. It was the only way to keep Hope safe.” Katie explained. “But Esther is no longer a problem, so we’re no longer in hiding.” Katie decided to leave out the part about Finn to make the explanations shorter. Caroline was quiet as she processed everything. “I am so sorry we had to lie to you guys again.”

“Katie, seriously?” Caroline asked. “You were protecting your daughter, I’m not mad. Well, I mean, I’m a little mad, but I’ll get over it.”

Klaus picked up Hope. “I’m going to go feed her.” he told Katie who nodded and watched him walk out of their room with Hope in his arms, talking to her in a sweet voice as he did.

“I can not picture Klaus holding a baby, much less feeding one.” Caroline commented having heard him.

“He’s actually settling into fatherhood a lot better than I thought he would, all things considered.” Katie replied with a soft smile on her face. “How’s everyone back home?”

“Mystic Falls as a whole is flourishing considering vampires can’t cross into its borders.” Caroline answered.

“What?” Katie asked with a squished up face.

“A bunch of crazy Travellers put a spell on the town that cancels out all spirit magic that enters it. So if we go inside, the magic keeping us alive disappears and we’ll die of whatever killed us the first time.” Caroline explained. “So for example if you were to pass through the border, your throat would be slit and you’d be dead, permanently this time.”

“That sucks.” Katie said, not knowing what else she could say to something that sounded so crazy

“Tell me about it.” Caroline scoffed. “I’m guessing Klaus told you about Bonnie and Damon?” she asked and Katie hummed, sadness at never seeing their faces again, washed over her and her eyes watered. “Well, Damon’s back, but Bonnie’s not. Apparently Bonnie’s grams put them in a prison world for some murderous psychopath named Kai before the other side was destroyed. Damon made it, but Kai messed up the spell before Bonnie could get out. We don’t know if Kai killed her or if she’s still just stuck in there with him.”

“I really don’t know what to say to all of that.” Katie admitted as she placed her fingertips to her lips.

“And on top of all of that, after Damon disappeared instead of grieving like a normal person, Elena started taking some kind of witchy concoction that let her see him. The more she took it the more blood thirsty she got so she asked Alaric to compel away all her memories of her and Damon. Now Damon’s going crazy trying to get her to remember their relationship.” Caroline practically ranted.

“Poor Damon.” Katie sighed as she pushed her hair back out of her face. “I don’t care what happened, if Klaus ever died there is no way in hell I would ask Rebekah or Elijah to compel away all of my memories of us. No matter how much it would hurt.”

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but yeah...poor Damon.” Caroline agreed.

“So what about everyone else, Stefan, Matt, Jeremy, your mom, Bradley…” she listed the first people that came to her mind.

“Well, after Damon and Bonnie disappeared Stefan just left and started over somewhere else, but now that Damon’s back, so is he.” Caroline answered. “Matt is...still Matt. Jeremy is dealing with losing Bonnie in usual Jeremy style.”

“So booze and pot?” Katie asked.

Caroline hummed a positive answer. “Mom's still mom. She and your dad are still going strong even though he can’t go home.” Caroline got quiet for a second. “Oh and Tyler’s back. He’s human now and has turned over a new leaf, he’s even started going to college at Whitmore, but we’re not back together. No matter how much he apologises I just can’t be with someone who would try to kill your unborn baby.”

“That’s...good to hear.” Katie commented. “The, not giving him a second chance, part. I could kind of care less about anything other than he’s dropped the whole revenge thing against Klaus.”

“Hey, why’d you call your dad Bradley instead of Dad?” Caroline asked, sounding like she thought she might be overstepping somehow.

“Probably because after I left Mystic Falls he never once called to check in or even sent a single, “Hey, how’s it going?” text.” Katie answered. “If he were any kind of dad he would have.”

“You know that’s a two way street, right?” Caroline asked. “You could have called him just as easily as he could have called you.”

“He’s the one who abandoned me and left me with Grandfather. I don’t think it should be my job to extend the olive branch even more than I already have by giving him a chance in the first place.” Katie answered.

“Fair point.” Caroline agreed.

“So where’s Elena, aren’t you two sharing a dorm room?” Katie asked, a little confused.

“We did, but I...dropped out.” Caroline answered. “I couldn’t balance college and trying to find a way to fix what the travellers did to our home.”

“I’m sorry.” Katie said with a frown. Caroline had been so excited about college the last time they had spoken.

“Eh, college will always be there when I’m ready to go back.” Caroline replied indifferently.

Rebekah opened the bedroom door catching Katie’s attention. “Have you seriously not even showered yet?” she asked, seeing Katie still in her robe and her hair a tousled mess.

“Who is that?” Caroline asked, not recognizing Rebekah's new voice.

“That would be my now official future sister-in-law who is stuck in the body of a witch thanks to Esther. It's a long story.” Katie answered Caroline then covered the speaker of the phone and spoke to Rebekah. “I am talking to my other maid of honor, give me a few more minutes and I’ll start getting dressed.” Rebekah rolled her eyes and closed the door.

“Wait, hold on,” Caroline said in a serious voice, “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Katie just giggled in response. “Klaus proposed?!” Caroline asked and Katie could easily picture the shocked and happy look that she was sure was on Caroline's face at the moment.

“And I said yes.” Katie answered.

“Oh my god, Katie, I’m so happy for you.” Caroline practically squealed. “Wait, that’s why Klaus called me wanting the style number of the dress you liked on Say Yes to the Dress, isn’t it? Did he find it? Have you set a date yet? What is your theme? Please tell me it's not sunflowers and burlap. That look is so overdone these days.”

“Caroline.” Katie laughed.

“I know, I know, I need to calm down, but I can’t help it. I’m just so happy and excited for you.” Caroline told her then took a deep breath and let it out. “Okay, I’m calm. So tell me what you have planned so far.”

“Not much honestly.” Katie answered. “Klaus did find the dress, but I'm not going to wear it.”

“What, why? It’s freaking gorgeous.” Caroline asked, sounding disappointed.

“Because it’s not me anymore.” Katie answered. “Since you like it so much, why don’t I send it to you? You can save it for your own wedding someday.”

Caroline scoffed. “Yeah, okay, like that will ever happen.”

“Hey, you never know. Your one true love could be right under your nose and you just don’t know it yet.” Katie told her jokingly.

“So do you have a new dress in mind? I can get Mom to dig out your mom's dress and send it to you if you want.”

“No, that's okay.” Katie answered. “Rebekah is actually waiting for me to get dressed so she can take me dress shopping. I’ve kind of asked her to be a co-maid of honor. I hope that’s okay.”

Caroline was quiet for a few minutes before she sighed. “Yeah...it’s fine. I just wish you guys could get married here in Mystic Falls so that I could be the active maid of honor.” she could hear the sadness in her voice.

“I know, me too.” Katie agreed, sounding almost as sad.

“Okay...go dress hunting with your future sister-in-law.” Caroline told her, pouting. Which only made Katie smile.

“You will have your responsibilities too, Care. Don’t worry.” Katie laughed. “I’ll talk to you later and text you a picture of the dress before I buy it.”

“You better. I want every detail.” Caroline told her seriously.

“Oh, and can you get Elena and Damon to call me when they have a chance?” Katie asked and Caroline said she would before they hung up.

TVDTVDTVD

After showering, braiding her bangs back out of her face, tying the rest of her hair up into a messy bun and getting dressed in a pair of dark wash, distressed denim shorts, a black form fitting tank top with a sheer lace racerback and a pair of strappy black sandals she found Klaus in the kitchen feeding Hope a bowl of mashed bananas and oatmeal cereal. She grabbed a blood bag out of the icebox and was about to rip it open when Klaus noticed what she was doing and spoke up. "Have you forgotten that the hired humans offer more services than just housekeeping?"

She looked at him to see a smirk on his face as he jerked his head at the woman standing quietly in the corner of the kitchen with her hands folded politely in front of herself. The woman walked over and held out her wrist “I’m fine. Thank you.” Katie told her so the woman nodded and went back to where she had been before.

Klaus thought it odd that she refused fresh blood when once upon a time she referred to blood bags as tv dinners, but he brushed it off thinking she was just in a hurry because Rebekah was rushing her.

When she was done putting the blood in a coffee tumbler she walked over to them and slid her hand over his shoulders as she leaned around him, “Okay, I’m headed out.” she pecked him on the lips as Hope babbled and hit the tray of her high chair with a spoon.

“Be careful. We still don’t know Finn’s whereabouts.” he warned her.

“I will. Promise.” she answered then kissed him again. “Just...do me a favor and don’t feed her beignets while I’m gone.”

Klaus feigned shock. “I would never.”

“Uh huh, sure.” Katie told him, walking backward toward the door. “If I find a trace of powdered sugar on her you will pay for it.” she pointed at him playfully.

“Is that a threat?” he asked with wide, joking eyes.

“That’s a promise, Big Bad Wolf.” she laughed then turned and walked out.

TVDTVDTVD

After a completely montagable day of wedding dress shopping Katie picked a dress that both Rebekah and Caroline agreed on. But, while her maids of honor could agree on a wedding dress for her they couldn’t agree on any one maid of honor dress for themselves. So to stop the arguing over speakerphone, Katie finally told them she didn’t care what they wore as long as their dresses were matching shades of azure blue.

Rebekah also insisted that to make it a proper girls day they had to get their hair and nails done. So when Katie walked into the courtyard with her hair that had grown six inches since her last haircut, cut shoulder length and layered, Klaus took notice, his eyes lingering on her a second or two longer than usual. “You look refreshed.” he told her as she walked over and sat down beside him where he sat on the floor with Hope on a blanket beside the fountain in the center of the courtyard. Hope had a teething ring in her hand slinging it around. “And you cut your hair.”

“Do you like it? I’ve never thought to ask if you have a preference when it comes to the length of my hair.” she asked as she reached up and twirled a shoulder length auburn curl around her finger.

“As long as I can run my fingers through it I’ll be happy.” he answered and she smiled as he slipped his fingers through her hair at the nape of her neck and pulled her in for a kiss. “Did you have a good time?” he asked as they turned their attention to Hope.

“Yes, and I found a dress. It’s at the tailors, but once they are done they will call me for the final fitting.” she answered.

“One step closer.” he told her with a cheeky smile that made her bump his shoulder with hers and shake her head.

Katie leaned down and looked Hope over. “Hmm, is that a speck of powdered sugar on her onesie?” she asked then looked over her shoulder at Klaus with a raised brow and a smirk.

Klaus laughed, “You are looking for reasons to punish me.”

“Maybe.” she said with a noncommittal shrug as she sat up. “But who’s to say you won’t like your punishment?”

“Come here you.” he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into him, kissing her deeply. “You can save your punishment for later tonight.” he told her when the kiss broke. “I’ve asked Camille to babysit so that you and I may have a date night. It’s been too long.”

"Would you like me to cook dinner?" She asked with a Hopeful look.

"Well, I'd be hurt if you didn't." He answered with a mock serious look then gave her a smile.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie was setting a basket of cheddar biscuits in the center of the dining table in the small dining room when Klaus joined her. “It smells delicious, Love.” he commented as he sat down at one of the two place settings and she sat down across from him. Soon after, the woman that had offered Katie her wrist earlier that day, brought out two plates of jambalaya. “It seems someone has expanded their Louisiana recipe book.” he told her with a smirk as he grabbed his fork and took a bite.

"I also know how to cook crawfish etouffee, gumbo from scratch, and catfish Courtbouillon." She told him with her head held high. "If it sucks, blame Rebekah. She was my guinea pig."

Klaus took a bite and hummed, enjoying the Cajun cuisine. "You are truly talented, Little Phoenix."

She just smiled, happy he liked it and things fell comfortably silent for a few minutes as they both enjoyed their meal, but eventually Klaus grabbed a cheddar biscuit from the basket and asked, "I've been thinking about a venue, but I do not know much about your preferences. Where did you picture your dream wedding taking place?"

"My teenage wedding dreams never really made it past the dress." She answered and he gave her a look that told her to give him something to work with. "When I was talking to Caroline earlier today she mentioned that she wished we could get married in Mystic Falls and I pictured the double staircase in the entryway of your mansion-”

“Our mansion.” he interrupted her with his fork pointed at her. “Your father took your house there, besides once we say our vows what’s mine becomes yours.”

“Oh, so you’re not going to make me sign a prenup?” she asked with a challenging lift of her brows to which he rolled his eyes and gave her a ‘seriously?’ look. “Anyway.” she laughed. “I pictured flowers and twinkling lights on the railing of the stairs. Everyone sitting down below, looking up at us at the top of them, while we say our vows.” she answered. “But that was just a fleeting thought.” she shrugged then took the last bite of her jambalaya.

“Is that what you want, to get married in Mystic Falls?” he asked

“No.” she answered with a shake of her head. “I’ve just always liked that house. Even before you renovated it.” He gave her a curious tilt of his head that asked her to explain why. “During the summer, before I was old enough to work at the grill, I would sneak out at night and ride around the back roads of town on my bike. The road the mansion is on was my favorite one to take and every time I took it I’d stop and stare at that house, trying to imagine what it must have looked like in its prime because even when it was broken down and falling apart it was beautiful.”

“Maybe we could go there on our honeymoon.” he suggested. “You can visit your friends. I know you still miss them.”

“I do miss them and I would like to visit Mystic Falls, but we can’t. Vampires can’t enter Mystic Falls right now or we’ll die. Something about travelers casting an anti magic spell on it.” she told him sadly and they both got quiet for a minute.

When they were done eating Klaus stood from the table and held his hand out to her. “Come with me.” she placed her hand in his as she stood then let him lead her to the main entrance of the compound that they hardly ever used. Showing her the double staircase that led up to a curved balcony with tall cream colored columns on each side of it that went from floor to ceiling. “I know it’s not as grand as the mansion, but-” he slipped his hand into hers, taking over her reality, changing the entryway before her eyes.

The metal railing of the stairs was decorated with white hydrangeas, little azure blue flowers and twinkling lights. A priest stood up above them, under an arch decorated with greenery, flowers and more lights. All of their friends and family stood below, looking at them with smiles on their faces. She looked down at herself to see she wore a trumpet silhouette dress with a satin skirt and a sexy bodice of strategically placed lace that let a tasteful amount of cleavage and side boob show. “I recognize this dress. It’s the first one that popped up on my google feed when I typed in “Pnina Tornai” and “sexy”.”

“Feel on top of your head.” he told her with a smirk.

So she reached on top of her head and when she felt cold metal, pulled it off to see in her hands a simple cletic knot tiara with a single blue teardrop sapphire at its peak.

“You’re trying to give me a big head again, Big Bad Wolf.” she told him as he let the vision fade. “Is that your way of telling me you want me to wear a tiara?” she asked with a raised brow.

“You can wear whatever you'd like.” he answered. “What do you think?” he asked with a motion to the entryway.

“I think you solved the no venue problem.” she told him with a smile.

“So you like it?” he asked as she stepped around to stand in front of him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

“It’s perfect.” she told him then caught his lips with hers. She had meant for it to just be a peck, but he deepened it, pulling a sigh from her as she melted into him. When it broke she gave him a smirk that let him know exactly what she wanted and he whooshed them up to their quarters.

TVDTVDTVD

They were lounging in their pj's in the bed in their quarters when Katie remembered they had forgotten about dessert and grabbed her phone off the nightstand. "What are you doing, Love?" Klaus asked curiously.

"Nothing." She told him evasively and when he tried to sneak at her phone she turned it away from him.

They were fighting over her phone when a knock sounded at the door. Katie slipped from the bed and Klaus followed. When she opened the door the woman from the kitchen, who Katie had gotten to know while she was cooking, holding a round silver tray of square pastries covered in powdered sugar came into view. "You made beignets." He observed with a closed lipped smile at her. "You spoil me."

"That was the plan." She told him as she took the tray from the woman. "Thank you, Laura." the woman nodded.

"You know what goes splendidly with beignets?" He asked as he walked over to Laura and grabbed her hand. His irises turned amber before he bit her wrist. After a few seconds of drinking he looked up at Katie and watched as she swept the woman’s straight brown hair away from her neck, letting blood fill her eyes as she looked into Klaus’s and bit the woman’s neck.

After a minute they both let go of Laura and Klaus dismissed her as he wrapped his arm around Katie’s waist and pulled her into him. His other hand grabbed her thigh and pulled her leg up as she pressed her against the wall by the door, their bodies writhing against each other as his lips traveled the exposed skin of her neck.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie’s head rested in Klaus’s lap, his hand absentmindedly playing with her loose waves, both lost in thought. Katie glanced up noticing he looked a little worried. “You okay?” she asked as she sat up, covering herself with the throw blanket that was usually on the back of the couch.

“Finn and Kol were not the only members of my family that Esther pulled from the other side before it’s collapse. She also brought my father, Ansel, back.”

“What?” Katie asked, curious as to why Esther would bring back Klaus’s father.

“She tried to use him to get me to take her up on her offer to become mortal.” he answered. “She offered to put me in the body of a wolf, to let me join Ansel and have the father I always wanted.” she knew when tears formed in his eyes that it didn’t end well between them. “I used to tell myself that my real father must have had no idea I existed, but he did know. Mother forbade him from seeing me. So, according to him, he waited knowing that one day I would trigger my curse and need my real father.”

“But Mikael killed him before he could step up.” Katie finished and he nodded.

“Ansel thought I should accept mothers offer. That as a wolf I would be king to an entire species and would know true peace.” Klaus continued. “I would be lying if I said the prospect of it all wasn’t appealing, that I wouldn't have liked to have been the son of Ansel.”

“But his offer was too little too late.” she finished.

“Not to mention he knew Hope was alive.” Katie’s brows furrowed at his statement. “When a werewolf is in their animal form they feel everything more acutely. Ansel said that when I was a boy, after each full moon he would wake closer to my village, having been drawn to me in the night. Since he’d come back each month he would wake further from New Orleans. He was drawn to Hope.” Katie blinked at him knowing the look on his teary eyed face. “He wanted to help me protect her, but I knew mother would take his good intentions and twist them against us. So I killed him…” Katie reached up and wiped a tear that fell. “I wanted to trust him. I wanted my father, but I would not be able to forgive myself if something happened to Hope...to you, because of my selfish need for a father.”

She moved to straddle him, holding the sides of his neck as she rested her forehead on his. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” she asked and he gave her a look that said it all. He was afraid of what she’d think. "I'm not disappointed in you, Big Bad Wolf.” she lifted her head and slipped her fingers through his hair. “I just wish that for once, you could have everything you want." he simply grabbed her sides and rested his forehead on her chest.

After a few minutes of comforting silence she slipped from his lap, put on a cotton robe then walked over to the table in the entry room and grabbed the tray of beignets. She put them on the coffee table between the two couches in the sitting room then sat sideways in his lap, grabbed a beignet and rested her arm on his shoulders as she held the pastry up to his lips.

He took a bite and let his head fall back with a hum, enjoying the flavor of the fluffy, sugared, New Orleans donut. “Is there anything you can’t cook?” he asked as he opened his eyes and took the beignet from her fingers and took another bite.

“Soufflé and divinity.” she answered then licked the powdered sugar from her fingers. “I’ll screw it up every time.” Klaus didn’t reply, his mouth too busy with the dessert. “I did a good job then?” she laughed.

“Have you tried your little masterpieces?” he asked and she shook her head no so he held the last bite up to her lips.

She took it and made a surprised face. “Why is this so good? It’s just dough and sugar.” she asked with her hand over her mouth.

“I told you, the food here is some of the best in the world.” he told her with a look at the tray on the table. She grabbed him another off of the tray and handed it to him. She watched him eat the pastry, both of them completely relaxed and content. “Everything alright, Love?” he asked when he saw her eyes watering.

“Perfectly.” she answered quietly. “I just really missed moments like this is all.”

Klaus cupped her cheek in his hand, slipping his thumb over her cheekbone. “Why don’t we go look in on our daughter before we call it a night?” he asked and Katie slipped from his lap and held her hand out for his. He took it then got dressed and they walked hand in hand to their daughters room. Cami was asleep in the rocking chair while Hope was fast asleep in her crib. “Should we wake her?” Klaus asked with a look at Cami.

“Yeah, that chair can’t be comfortable.” Katie answered as she walked over and rubbed Cami’s shoulder, waking her. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Cami echoed as she rubbed her eyes.

“Thanks for watching her.” Katie told her as Cami stood up. “We got it from here.”

“Are you sure?” Cami asked with a look at both of them who gave her a nod. “Okay.”

When Cami left both Klaus and Katie moved to look at Hope, their hands resting on the railing of the crib. “She is perfect isn’t she?” Klaus asked with a smile down at his daughter.

“Like her father.” Katie answered as she wrapped her arms around one of his and rested her head on his shoulder. He just gave her a smirk as he grabbed her hand and led her to their bedroom where he laid down on his back and she snuggled into his side. “Goodnight, Mo Rí.”

Klaus looked down at her and placed a slow lingering kiss to her lips. “Goodnight, Mo Bhanríon.”

A/N: I'm going to try to put together a tag list for this story. So if you want to be added to it let me know.

#klaus mikaelson #klaus mikaelson fanfiction #the vampire diaries #tvd #the originals #elijah mikaelson #elijah mikaelson fanfiction #rebekah mikaelson #rebekah mikaelson fanficiton #freya mikaelson #freya #the mikaelson siblings #tvd fanfiction #the vampire diaries fanfiction #the originals fanfiction

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thebrotherssalvatore321 · 3 years

Text

Keeping Secrets Ch. 57

Keeping Secrets Masterlist

Katie stood in the living room pacing the floor with a screaming Hope on her hip. "Sweetheart, I understand you are in pain, but will you please stop crying?" Katie asked pointlessly, but Hope had been up since one that morning with no nap.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Cami asked as she walked into the room.

"What time is it?" Katie asked and Cami told her that it was six forty-five. "Can you get her some Motrin? It's in the kitchen and the dosage is on the bottle." Cami nodded and headed to the kitchen.

Elijah walked over to the archway and leaned his shoulder against it, but said nothing. They hadn't said a single word to one another since the incident.

Cami walked back into the room with a syringe of orange colored medicine in her hand that was passed off to Katie. Once Hope got a taste of the sweet medicine she willingly sucked it out of the syringe. "You know, we can handle her if you need to take an hour or so to yourself."

"I just need to eat and I'll be good to go." Katie answered.

“Katie.” Cami dead panned. “You don’t have to be Wonder Woman. We’ve got her.” Cami assured her and Katie turned her eyes to Elijah then back to Cami. “He won’t hurt her.”

“Yeah, I thought he wouldn’t physically hurt me up until two days ago.” Katie replied, iffy about leaving Hope in Elijah’s care for too long.

“She actually has a very calming effect on him and he’s already showing signs of improvement.” Cami informed her and Katie gave her a look that told her she believed otherwise. “Right now it’s all about figuring out what triggers him and how to counteract it.”

“And I’m one of those triggers.” Katie popped off.

“We’re working on that.” Cami once again assured her then got quiet like she was thinking about something. “I know you almost lost Hope and with her being such a special baby her life will always be in danger, but it’s okay to let her out of your sight once in a while.” Katie took in a deep breath then let it out. “You can trust us.”

“Okay, I’ll take a quick nap.” Katie answered, so Cami went to the living room and gave Hope the Motrin while Katie drank a blood bag then tossed it in the trash, retired to her room and passed out.

When she woke up three hours later it was to a quiet house, save Cami and Elijah talking down in the library. So with a yawn she slipped from the bed and went down to the kitchen to grab a lunch blood bag then followed Hope’s quiet breaths to the living room where she was sound asleep in her playpen. A few minutes later Cami and Elijah found her.

“Niklaus called while you were asleep.” Elijah started. “Rebekah is no longer missing.”

“Where was she?” Katie asked. “Is she okay?”

“She’s okay. Kol trapped her in the Dowager Fauline Cottage, a house that serves as an asylum for rogue witches.” he answered.

“So is she still there?” Katie asked with a frown.

“No, according to Rebekah our sister let her out.” Elijah answered.

Katie shook her head with a confused frown before it dawned on her, “Freya?”

“Yes.” Elijah answered while Cami looked back and forth between them, taking in the longest conversation the two of them have had since he plunged his fist into her chest. “According to Rebekah a strange and very powerful witch broke them all out with a wave of her hand, said she was Freya then darted off into the night.”

“So was it really Freya or just some crazy pants witch saying she was your long lost sister?” Katie asked.

“We do not know.” Elijah answered.

Katie sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “If it really was Freya then Dahlia could still be alive too.”

“If she is who she says, we’ll find out soon enough. For now it’s imperative that no one learns of Hope’s existence.”

As if they said her name too many time’s Hope sat up and surprisingly didn’t start crying. Curious, Katie walked over and picked her up then felt her gums. “Her tooth finally broke through.”

“So she should be in a better mood now, right?” Camie asked and Katie nodded. “Good, because we passed a farmers market on our way here and I was thinking maybe we could go have a girls day, get out of this house for a bit.”

“Is it a good idea to leave you alone right now?” Katie asked Elijah with a look that said she was on the fence about it.

“You could stay.” Elijah said with an almost smart ass smirk on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“That’s not a bad idea, actually.” Cami said, making both of them look at her like she was crazy. Cami looked at Elijah, “You need to work on being around Katie without zoning out.” then looked at Katie, “And you need to learn to loosen the reins with Hope a bit.” Katie opened her mouth to protest. “Even if it’s just enough to trust someone other than Rebekah and Klaus. She is cloaked, is she not?”

“Yes, she and I both are.” Katie answered then asked, “It’s just a few miles up the road, right?” Cami nodded. “Fine, but if anything and I mean anything happens you call us.”

“Okay.” Cami told her, happy that they were listening to her. She pulled a folded up piece of paper out of her pocket as she walked over to Elijah. “In cases like yours, sometimes not dwelling on the problem is more productive than examining it through therapy. Staying physically busy instead of mentally. This house, though charming, is completely falling apart.” She handed it to him and he took it.

“So this is your solution?” he asked while looking at the list. “Mend the home, mend the man.”

“Or we could go fishing and I can tell you about the summer I lost my virginity.” Cami offered.

“I’ll mend the home.” Elijah answered quickly, making Katie and Cami smirk at one another.

Later, Katie stood on the porch watching Cami drive away with Hope. She knew she would be okay, like Cami pointed out Hope was cloaked and no one would be able to find her, but Katie couldn’t help but worry. “Is there anything I can do to help?” Katie asked as Elijah walked past her and down the steps.

“I thought perhaps you’d use your spare time to plan your wedding.” he answered.

“Turns out that’s no fun to do by myself.” she answered with a look down at the porch. “And Cami didn’t give me a task other than stay here and not die.”

Elijah jerked his head for her to follow him, so she walked with him out to the barn where he took off his coat and hung it up then started rolling up the sleeves of his white dress shirt. “Grab those boards.” he said with a point to several two by fours leaning against the wall so she grabbed them while he grabbed a hammer and a jar of nails.

They were working on the fence by the barn, Katie holding one end of the board in place while Elijah hammered nails into the other end when Katie could no longer stand the silence between them that was only filled with the country music that played on the radio he had brought outside with them. “Are we seriously not going to talk about it?”

“Talk about what?” Elijah asked, playing stupid.

“The kiss.” Katie answered.

“If you are referring to the kiss that you initiated yet didn’t return, no." he answered. “The kiss spoke a thousand words. There are none left for you to say.”

When he turned around with a nail between his lips and one in his hand she let go of the board and took the nail out from between his lips. “That implies there are some left for you to say.” she argued but he just kept working, keeping to the ridiculous task that Cami had given him. “Elijah...talk to me, please?”

He hit the nail with the hammer, driving it in with one swing. “I am angry with you.” he told her as he hooked the claw of the hammer onto the board he had just nailed into place. Katie’s eyes dropped to the ground. “You want to know why it is so hard for me to move on? It’s because you have no idea how rare love is. In your fifty years you have found it three times. In my thousand I have only found it twice. I left you not because I didn’t love you, but because I loved you enough to sacrifice my own happiness to keep you alive.” Katie lifted her eyes to his deep browns that were glaring at her. “I think it would be best if you left me to do my chores in peace.”

A pain shot through her chest as if he’d stabbed her and she blinked back tears. “Okay.” the word came out as a whisper as she handed him the nail she’d been holding and walked away.

She had just walked into the house when she heard Elijah yell and she whooshed back out to the barn. “Cowering behind your witchcraft. You always were pathetic, Finn.” Elijah said as he paced the barn, then turned to look at Finn, who was now in a very different body than his original one, his back to the barn door. She knew he saw her, but to keep Finn from knowing she was there he didn't acknowledge her.

“After nearly a millennium of dishonorable acts hidden away in your own mind you have the audacity to call me names.” Finn practically yelled at Elijah and Katie couldn't help but think of how immature the statement made Finn sound. “What I do now, I do for the members of my family who can still be saved. Unfortunately, neither you nor Niklaus managed to make that list.” With a flick of his hand Finn sent a pickaxe flying off the back wall, embedding it into Elijah’s back. It was followed by a shovel, the handle of which went through his heart.

Seeing him desiccating Katie whooshed to the house and up to her room where she grabbed her bag and started digging around. “Come on, where are you?” she asked herself quietly as she hastily dug through the big duffle until her hand hit hard glass. “Eureka.” she pulled a magic muting bomb out of her bag just as she heard the front door open.

“Where are you Camille?” Finn yelled down stairs in the living room, probably recognizing something of Cami’s that was left lying around. “There’s no use in hiding!” Katie could hear him walking around.

She whooshed down, setting the bomb off in his face as she passed him then went back up stairs. He screamed out in pain from the shards of glass that were embedded in his face. However when a pain, so intense it knocked her to her knees, shot through her head she knew he was too powerful for the bomb to have affected him. Finn followed her grunts of pain up to her room.

Seeing him, she forced herself to fight through the pain and stood up, glaring at him. "I admit, I was surprised to find out that you were the mother of Niklaus's child." The pain in her head eased up and she gripped the footboard of the bed, to steady herself. "From the way you stood up to Mother I assumed you'd be by Elijah's side until continuously being reincarnated drove you insane. I thought you were devoted to him, but you are no better than my siblings. Hopping from one man to another, killing countless people in cold blood." White hot anger flowed through her and the veins popped under her eyes filling the whites with bright red blood. "I'm sorry, is the truth too much for you to handle?"

"Shut...up!" She yelled and tried to whoosh at him, but with a wave of his wrist he sent her flying through the wall and into the next room over. "You know nothing about me!" She yelled as she whooshed at him again and managed to punch him in the face before he flicked his wrist again this time sending her into Elijah who was whooshing into the room, knocking them both to the floor.

Katie stood up, glaring at Finn, but when she noticed Elijah didn't get up she looked down at him to see him staring down at his bloody hands. "Look at you brother. You're a mess. And as we both know untidiness is your undoing." Finn taunted. "Tell me, do your soiled clothes serve as a reminder of your filthy memories?" Katie was starting to understand why the rest of the Mikaelson siblings kept him daggered for so long. "Are you having bad memories now, Brother? Perhaps of the innocent Tatia? Or any one of the other poor souls who met their fate at your hands?" A frown took over Katie's face at Finn's words. Elijah killed Tatia, not Esther?

But now wasn't the time to harp on that. "Do you ever stop spouting hypocritical bullshit?" Katie asked as she kneeled down next to Elijah who was sitting on his knees with his back to Finn. "Elijah?" She asked and as she cupped his cheek in her hand he took his eyes off his bloody hands to look at her. When he did, images flashed through her head showing her the broken gas line in the wall Finn had thrown her through. She understood what he was silently trying to tell her and took her hand from his cheek.

When Finn doubled over in pain, Katie didn't stick around to find out what was wrong with him. She took the opportunity to get out of the house and whoosed out onto the front lawn. Hearing a car she looked up to see Cami on her way back, but the car stopped before entering the fence that circled the old farm house.

Katie whooshed to them and hopped into the back seat beside Hope. "Turn around and drive as fast as you can."

"I can't, the car died." Cami answered right before the car started all on its own, making her give Hope a weird look.

"Cami, Finn has found us!" Katie yelled to snap Cami out of her shock. "We gotta go, n-" She was cut off when the house exploded.

"Oh my god!" Cami exclaimed at the house going up in flames.

"Cami, I know you're in shock, but you either need to drive or switch me spots." Katie told her, eager to get the hell out of dodge and as far away from Finn as possible.

Cami quickly snapped out of it and turned the car around. After a few minutes of driving in silence she asked. “What about Elijah? We just left him.”

“He’ll be okay.” Katie answered. “Right now we need to get in touch with Klaus. My phone isn’t activated, can you call him?”

“I left my phone at the house, that’s why I came back early.” Cami answered and Katie sighed, resting her head on the back of the seat. “But I’m sure we can find a payphone somewhere.”

By the time they found a payphone, the night had fallen. “You stay here with Hope, I’ll call Klaus.” Katie told Cami who handed her a fist full of change for the payphone. She was on her way to the phone booth when she heard the faintest of noises and stopped mid step. When she heard it again she whooshed to the sound only to be grabbed by Elijah before she could grab him. “Oh, thank god it’s just you.” she sighed, taking in his charred suit. “Please tell me Finn is dead.”

“We’ll discuss this in the car.” he told her as he turned her around by her shoulders and urged her back to the car.

When they were back on the road Elijah called Klaus and told him everything that had happened. “Come home.”

“What?” Katie asked with a wide eyed look at the phone. “If he has jumped into a new body it is most likely going to be one there. We would be handing ourselves over on a silver platter.”

“He already knows Hope is alive and has proven that he has the means to find her. If you come home I will at least be able to protect the two of you myself.” he replied. “If it will further reassure you and if you agree, I will talk to Hayley, tell her Hope is alive and see if she will keep her promise to help protect our child.”

“I agree. Talk to her, we’ll need all the help we can get.” Katie answered seeing no other option.

TVDTVDTVD

Klaus and Rebekah were waiting for them in the courtyard and as soon as Katie saw him she passed Hope, still in her car seat, over to Cami and ran to him, throwing her arms around him. “I take it by the two men guarding the front doors that you’ve spoken to Hayley and Jackson?” she asked as she pulled back, keeping her hands on the sides of his neck as she looked him in the eyes.

“Yes. They themselves were not able to come because Hayley has a new little one of her own to care for, but they sent what people were willing to guard our tribrid child even though she is not part of their pack.” Klaus answered.

“And exactly how many people were willing to guard our tribrid child?” she asked.

“Fifteen.” he answered.

“I’m comfortable with that, but you’re sure they aren’t loyal to Finn?” she asked as Elijah and Cami joined them where they stood near a few patio tables.

“They have moonlight rings, but have joined us in the fight to free them from Finn.” he answered as he turned from her to look at his sleeping daughter. “How is our little princess?”

“Good.” Katie answered. “She’s a trooper.”

“Like her mother.” Elijah added. “She went head to head with our brother and lived to tell about it.”

“Please, I got one punch in before you came in and blew up the house.” Katie pointed out. “My last magic muting bomb did nothing to him. How was he so powerful?”

“He was channeling our parents.” Klaus answered.

“If he was channeling both of them would that explosion even hurt him?” Katie asked with a look between him and Elijah.

“Kol and Rebekah broke the link.” Klaus replied. “He channeled Rebekah and I along with a plethora of dark objects and overpowered him.” Hope woke up and started crying, not knowing where she was at. Klaus took her out of her car seat. “Come here sweetheart.”

“She’s probably hungry and could use a diaper change.” Katie told him as she rubbed Hope’s back then looked at Cami. “So are you going to be staying with us for a while, until we know that you’re safe from the wrath of Finn?”

Cami looked at Klaus who looked at Katie then back at her. “You are more than welcome.” he told her so Cami nodded.

“I’ll show you to your room.” Elijah offered so Camie followed him upstairs.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie and Klaus watched Hope playing in her crib in the nursery as the morning sun rose outside her window. "I know the circumstances could be better, but I'm glad you are home." He told her.

She looked up at him, giving him a small smile, "Me too."

A look, hidden in her eyes, made him frown. "What is it, Little Phoenix?" He asked as he turned from Hope to cup her cheek in his hand.

The sensation of his simple touch, that she'd missed so much over the long months without him, made her eyes slip closed. When he moved his hand from her cheek to cup her chin and lift her head she opened her eyes and made herself look into his. "After we found out that Rebekah hadn’t jumped into Angelica Barker's body, Elijah had an episode and attacked me."

"What do you mean he attacked you?" Klaus asked, already looking like he was going to go rip Elijah a new one and he dropped his hand.

"He...almost ripped my heart out." She drawled. "I went to talk to him and the next thing I knew he had his hand in my chest and this...blank look on his face." She told him as she walked out of Hope's room and into theirs. "He was completely checked out. I knew I wouldn't be able to talk him down and I couldn’t move. So I got into his head, but even in there he was just...gone, like a robot in kill mode." She came to a stop and leaned her hips against the footboard of the bed. He patiently waited for her to continue, not wanting to react until he had the full story. "The only chance I had of making it out alive was to shock him back to reality. So while I was in his head I used the fact that he still has feelings for me against him and...kissed...him." Klaus stared at her, a look of pure rage in his eyes, yet he remained unmoving. Her mind went into paranoid overdrive, the fights she’d had with Damon after circumstance pushed her to kiss Elijah while they were together flashed through her head. She knew Klaus wasn’t like Damon and the circumstances were different, but the fear of losing Klaus due to her mistake brought tears to her eyes as she hugged herself and started tapping the toe of her converse shoe into the floor. “You’re angry...I know I screwed up…” her voice cracked as she blinked back tears, “and I’ll understand if you want your ring back, but I’m-”

He cut her off with a kiss and when it broke he pressed his forehead to hers. “Your actions are not the cause of my anger, Little Phoenix.” their eyes met as he pulled back and cupped the side of her neck in his hand. “You did what you had to do and I do not blame you for that.”

“You blame him.” she realized then that he was pissed at Elijah, not her.

“Where did you hide those daggers?” he asked and she didn’t answer. “I will find them with or without your help.”

“You can’t dagger him, Klaus, we need his help to protect Hope.” she argued.

“How can he protect her when he is clearly incapable of keeping a clear head?” Klaus asked, his tone now matching the anger in his eyes.

“Because while he can’t stand the sight of me, I know that when push comes to shove he will stand against those who would harm her.” she argued.

Klaus started looking around the room for the daggers. “He is a threat to you and I will not let anyone hurt you, especially not my own family.”

“He needs time to heal, Klaus, he can’t do that with a dagger in his chest.” she told him as he grabbed the mattress and started to flip them, but she grabbed them and pushed them back down onto the bed.

“He almost killed you, Katie!” he yelled.

“But he didn’t!” she yelled back. Hope, hearing them yelling at each other, started crying. Katie left Klaus to go to her and picked her up. “I’m sorry, sweet girl. It’s okay...Everything’s okay.” she shushed Hope, holding her close as she swayed her side to side. When she turned to Klaus, standing in the doorway of Hope’s nursery, she saw all anger gone from his eyes, replaced by regret. It was the same regret Katie was feeling for yelling at him, especially in front of Hope. “This isn’t Elijah’s fault.” she told him when Hope quieted down. “If you want to blame someone, blame Esther. She’s the one that made him like this by putting that door in his head in the first place.”

“I know.” he replied quietly. Katie walked over to him and he slipped his hand over Hope’s head and wiped the crocodile tears that were still on her face. “I’m sorry princess.”

Katie walked around him to the bed and sat down then sat Hope in the middle of it. Klaus walked over and joined them. “So do you still want to know where the daggers are?”

He shook his head no. “I’m sorry.”

Katie looked up at him. “Me too.”

“I’ve come too close to losing you too many times.” he pointed out. “Even though you’re a vampire now and you’re stronger, you’re still vulnerable.” Katie looked down at Hope who almost fell backward, but Klaus placed his hand on her back, sitting her upright again. “I would move heaven and earth if it meant you could be invincible like me.”

“I’ve got to admit I sometimes feel like the odd man out in our little family.” he tilted his head at her curiously. “I’ll always be a simple, vulnerable vampire. But you’re a hybrid, and our daughter is a tribrid. I’ll have nothing in common with her. I won’t know what it feels like to practice magic, to have that connection with the earth. I’ll never know what it’s like to be a werewolf or even have the untriggered gene and have to deal with the untapped rage that comes on the full moon. All I have is blood lust and heightened senses and emotions. She’s alive and so far acts and feels like a normal child.” she admitted. “I just...I hate that I won’t have a clue how to help her through any of that and that it rests solely on your shoulders.”

“That’s why we’re a team, Mo Bhanríon.” Klaus told her then looked down at his daughter. “And we will cross those bridges as we come to them.”

TVDTVDTVD

While Hope was napping Katie stood in the bedroom of their quarters, looking at the painting Klaus had bought her on their first date that now hung over the fireplace, her fingers fiddling with the phoenix necklace that hung around her neck. “What are you thinking about, Sweetheart?” Klaus asked, pulling her from her thoughts as he offered her a glass of blood.

“Thanks.” she told him with a small smile as she took the glass then sat down on the couch. “I was thinking about how good it feels to be here, in our home, you, me and Hope all under one roof.” she answered, still looking at the painting then looked at him and changed the subject. “Where is Rebekah?”

“She is in the cemetery with Kol and Davina.” he answered and she frowned at him. “Kol helped Davina get Josh away from Finn. So Finn locked him in his body and cursed him. He’s dying. Davina and Rebekah are trying to find a way to save him.”

“Davina is trying to save Kol?” Katie asked with a frown. “Why?” Klaus just smirked. “They’re together?” Katie asked with raised brows and Klaus nodded. “Huh, well, if there were ever a woman who could tame a wily Mikaelson it’d be her.”

TVDTVDTVD

Katie and Klaus were sitting on the floor of Hope’s nursery when Elijah and Rebekah, now in the beautiful body of a petite, almond skinned woman with curly hair, walked in. “You are lucky Katie is good at talking me down. Otherwise you’d be in a box right now.” Klaus told Elijah and Katie kept her eyes on Hope.

“She told you.” Elijah replied.

“Did you think she would keep it from me?” Klaus asked.

“No. I am well aware that you two are supposedly one hundred percent open with each other.” Elijah answered. “That is not why I’m here.” Katie looked up at him.

"It's Kol. I couldn't help him." Rebekah answered. "He's not gonna last through the night."

TVDTVDTVD

As they walked to the cemetery Katie slipped her hand into Klaus's and gave him a look that asked him to talk to her. "This is the first time in a very long time that Kol and I were even close to being on good terms. I was even starting to trust him."

"Wow." Katie couldn't help the word from slipping from her lips. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when Elena and Jeremy killed him the first time. I never told you that."

"You had your own stuff going on." Klaus brushed it off. "But you're here now." He looked down at her as they walked through the gate of the cemetery. "And it means more than you know."

Coincidentally More Than You Know by Billie Holiday was playing while Davina and Kol slowly danced. Their dance was interrupted by Kol coughing. Katie knew he didn't have long from the wet sound of it. "I think I wanna be alone for this bit." He told Davina as he walked away from her coughing as he did.

"I'm afraid that's not an option." Elijah informed Kol, getting his and Davina's attention.

"Always and forever is not just something you weasel out of brother." Klaus told them as he walked to the front of the group and gave Kol a smirk.

"Katie?" Davina asked through her tears. "How are you here?"

"That's a long story for another time." Katie left the siblings and went to Davina. "Come here." She opened her arms and Davina took the offered hug, wrapping her arms around Katie's waist. While Davina's tears sank into Katie's t-shirt Katie brushed her hand over her hair soothingly. Klaus and his siblings disappeared into the open tomb Davina and Kol had been dancing near. After a few minutes Davina pulled back and wiped her face. "Come on." Katie jerked her head to the tomb.

Davina sat down and started chanting a spell while fiddling with a silver chain. So Katie moved to stand near Klaus, watching as Rebekah helped Kol sit down on the concrete floor of the tomb. "All my life...all I ever wanted was...you lot...to care about me." Kol told Klaus, making a tear slip down Klaus’s cheek. Katie made a pained face when a coughing fit caused Kol to double over and Klaus wrapped his arm around Kol, letting him couch into his shoulder while Elijah and Rebekah placed their hands on his back.

When the coughing fit subsided Kol leaned back into Rebekah. "Kol, listen to me," Rebekah told him as she stroked his cheek, "you don't have long. You're going to die, but you will die a witch. And we will consecrate your body. You will join the ancestors of the French quarter and those spirits can be brought back. And I promise you, Brother, I will not leave this body until I find a way to bring you home."

A tear slipped down Katie's cheek and she wiped it away. Davina scuttled across the floor and took Kol's hand. "I tried a different spell."

He shook his head at her, telling her it didn't work. "It's okay." He reassured her. "I'm...I'm not scared.” Klaus and Elijah shared teary eyed looks before Kol coughed again and they all looked down at him as the light faded from his eyes and his body went limp. Davina collapsed into tears, resting her head on his stomach.

TVDTVDTVD

After Kol was consecrated and his body cremated, they all walked silently back to the compound, the dark star filled sky above them. When they entered the compound Elijah spoke up. “Katie, may I have a moment?”

Katie stopped and looked at Klaus then at Elijah. “Sure.” she looked back at Klaus. “I’ll be up in a minute.” he gave her a nod then headed up to their room attached to the nursery.

“In the interest of maintaining peace, I have decided to join Marcel in Algiers.” Elijah told her. “I believe with the correct instruction and guidance his community may well prosper.”

“That’s just an excuse, isn’t it?” Katie asked as she crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re really leaving because you can’t stand being around me.”

“You once told me that if removing yourself from my life would help, you would do it. That time has come.” he replied. “Only you can not leave because this is your home now.”

“This is your home too, Elijah, we need you here.” Katie argued.

“In my long, long life I’ve called many places home, Katie.” he told her. “Klaus has made this place a fortress, I am not needed here.” His words held a tone of finality as he walked around her and up the stairs to his quarters.

When she walked into Hope’s nursery she found Cami rocking Hope in the rocking chair in the corner while Klaus stood with his arms resting on the foot of Hope’s crib watching his daughter sleeping with a small smile on his face. Katie could tell by the fact that Hope’s pacifier hadn’t fallen out of her mouth yet that it wasn’t quite safe to risk laying her down yet. “Thank you, for watching her.” Katie told Cami quietly.

“It’s no problem, really. I’m just surprised you trusted me with her. You’re getting better at not being a helicopter mom.” Cami replied with a small smirk.

“Yeah, well, recent events didn’t exactly give me much choice.” Katie answered as the pacifier fell from Hope’s mouth and Cami stood up and laid her in her crib.

“Goodnight, you two.” Cami told them with a small smile as she walked around them and out of the set of doors that led out onto the balcony, closing them behind her.

They watched Hope sleeping, dressed in a pink onesie with small multicolored polk-a-dots on it for a while before Klaus jerked his head for Katie to follow her into their room. Katie quietly closed the door behind them. “So, what did Elijah want?” Klaus asked as he pulled the army green Henley over his head and tossed it into the dirty clothes hamper.

“He informed me that he is moving across the river to help Marcel with his community of vampires.” Katie answered as she pulled her t-shirt over her head and threw it into the hamper with Klaus’s.

"That's probably for the best. At least for a little while, until I no longer feel like putting a dagger in his chest." Klaus told her and they let the topic fall as they changed into pajamas then slid into bed. Klaus instantly wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his chest.

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thebrotherssalvatore321 · 3 years

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your writing is amazing ❤️ thanks for your hard working

xxx

No you're amazing. lol You're very welcome :-) Thank you for the compliment.

#idk what to say to compliments #i'm awkward #my apologies

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thebrotherssalvatore321 · 3 years

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Hi!☺ Just wanted to say I love ur Keeping Secrets story. I can't wait to read the upcoming chapters 🤩🤩. Have a nice day!!! Bye 🥰🥰

OMG! Thank you so much for taking the time to make my day! Hope you have a good one.

#idk how to reply to compliments #thank you

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thebrotherssalvatore321 · 3 years

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Keeping Secrets Ch. 56

Keeping Secrets Masterlist

After getting Hope down for the night, Katie grabbed a bottle of bourbon and two glasses from the kitchen then found Elijah sitting in the dim library. The only light in the room came from the lamp in the corner. Elijah stared off into space not even realizing that she was standing in the archway. The rip of fabric sounded out and she noticed that his fingers were gripping the pad of the arm rests so hard they pierced it. “Earth to Button Pusher.” Katie said, almost afraid to get his attention. He snapped out of whatever trance he was in and took his hands off the chair, flexing his fingers before he looked at her. “Looks like you could use this more than me.” she told him as she shook the bottle and walked into the room.

“Alcohol doesn't heal everything.” he pointed out.

"I'm aware. It's a Band-Aid, and Band-Aids at least ease the sting until a more permanent solution can be found.” she replied as she sat the bourbon and glasses of ice on the wicker chest that acted as a table and poured a glass then offered it to him.

He took it then watched as she poured one for herself then sat down on the couch adjacent to the chair he was sitting in, tucking her legs to the side as she leaned on the arm of the couch with her right arm resting on it, her glass in hand. "So is this a celebratory drink or are you already getting cold feet?”

“Ha ha.” She rolled her eyes and smirked at him. “I’ll admit I had my doubts, but Klaus put them to rest.”

“So you’re really going to marry him?” he asked.

“Yep.” she answered with a small smile then took a sip of her drink.

"And you're happy?" He asked as he looked down at the glass in his hand.

"Does this look unhappy to you?" She asked with a motion to her face giving him a beaming, cheesy smile before she got serious. "There's nothing to be unhappy about. I mean, Rebekah and I are closer than we've ever been and yeah, I'm worried about her taking your mother's deal tonight, but I have you here to keep my mind off it." He gave her a small smile as she took a drink from her glass. "I've missed you, just so you know."

"I missed you too." A fleeting smile pulled at the corners of his lips. "The compound was quite depressing with you gone."

As a silence fell over them, Katie looked down at her hand that held her glass of bourbon. She replayed the day in her head a couple of times before she asked, "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course." He replied as he looked up at her, having been pulled from his thoughts.

"You've been acting...off. I know it has something to do with what your mother did to you and I'm not trying to make things awkward or pry, but-"

"But you're afraid she's stirred up my old feelings for you." He finished her sentence.

"Yeah, I mean, some of the comments you've made have kind of raised a few red flags." she answered honestly.

"My mother cracked open a door in my mind that I didn’t even realize was there.” he answered. “A door behind which I have locked away every unspeakable thing I have ever done.” Katie gave him a look that asked him to keep talking. “As it turns out, in order to be the friend you needed, I locked us behind that door.”

“And now your feelings for me are back?” Katie asked, trying to understand.

“Yes.” he answered. “And it has me thinking about what I did to you and how I practically pushed you into Klaus’s arms.”

“You didn’t push me into his arms.” she argued.

“Didn’t I?” he asked with a cock of his brow then looked down at the glass in his hand. “The two of you developed some sort of... intimate connection while I was daggered and in Stefan’s possession. The fact that you felt guilty about accepting the lavish gift that was your very own bedroom in his house said as much. You even went as far as to acknowledge his feelings for you and ask him to choose between you and Caroline.” she looked down at the drink in her hand, a pang of guilt flashing across her face. “He knew his manipulations were winning you over. He was biding his time, waiting for the chance to take you as his own and I delivered that moment to him on a silver platter when I removed myself from your life. It seems...I did not have to push too hard considering it only took a month for him to talk you into his bed.” The comment made the voice of Katie’s grandfather speak up in the back of her head and a pained expression flashed across her face. “So I have to wonder, did you ever truly love me in this life?”

“Of course I did.” she answered quietly, not making eye contact. “I didn’t fall out of love with you or in love with Klaus as fast as you seem to think I did.” She took a drink then looked up at him. “A small part of me was still holding on to you even after I found out I was pregnant.”

"Then why did you keep pushing me away?" He asked with a frown.

"Because you hurt me, Elijah." She answered with a shrug and a shake of her head. "You broke me and I couldn't trust you after that."

"I never should have reached out to you with our link." He admitted as he dropped his eyes.

"I wasn't talking about my soul." She pointed out. "That was my fault anyway. You may have reached out but I'm the one that sucked all the energy out of you and overpowered myself." She added while they were on the subject.

"You were referring to your heart." He realized she was talking about when he left her.

"And let's just say it took far longer to piece back together than my soul." She answered. "Klaus was a big part of that." She narrowed her eyes in thought as she shook her head and said, "he's never hurt me and-"

“If I recall he not only killed you, but he stabbed you in the back and broke your neck.” he interrupted.

“That’s not the kind of hurt I’m talking about. Besides, he killed me because at the time I was nothing to him but the woman keeping you from your family and he staked me and broke my neck because we were all trying to kill him.” he countered. “Justifiable in my opinion.”

“Killing you for distracting me is justifiable in your opinion?” he asked with a frown.

“Yes, but that's besides the point.” she told him with an attitude. “My point was that every time he saw that I was down he picked me up. Not to manipulate me, but to simply make me happy. Even if that meant handing me over to you when you were un-daggered, which is exactly what he did.” Elijah blinked at her with a frown. “You see, unlike you and me, Klaus and I are completely open with each other. So-”

“How were we not open with one another?” he asked, interrupting her again and getting on her nerves by doing so.

“You didn’t tell me about Celeste or, you know, any of your past loves for that matter, and I never told you that starting as young as I can remember my father split my back open on a daily basis. Even back then you and I didn’t fully know each other.” she pointed out. “But like I was saying, Klaus and I are open with each other so I know that while he had feelings for me he didn’t think he had a chance because I was so in love with you. And I was in love with you Elijah, don’t ever doubt that.” She gave him a minute to say something, but he didn’t. “And just so you know, there was a moment that night after the twenties dance when I could see in his eyes that he wanted me and he could have taken the opportunity, but he didn’t. Instead he bid me goodnight. I made the first move, not him.”

Elijah pursed his lips in thought then slipped his finger across his bottom one. "I think you're mistaking manipulation for good intentions." Katie took in a deep breath through flared nostrils and let it out. "Do you not recall when we dined with him and the Salvatore brothers, how he pointed out my past with Tatia, knowing your insecurities when it came to Petrova doppelgangers?"

"He brought her up because of Stefan and Damon." Katie argued. She wasn’t stupid. She knew there had most likely been a few times early on when he tried to stir up trouble with her and Elijah, but she didn’t care because all it proved was that he wanted Katie and though she never admitted it to anyone but Klaus, she wanted him back then too. There was no way Katie wasn’t going to defend Klaus and what they had built together.

"You are being blinded by your love for him." He countered with an arrogant look.

“God, you just don’t get it!” Katie snapped as she stood up, getting tired and aggravated at him and the conversation that it felt like they'd had a thousand times before. “It was always going to be Klaus! When you and I were in Ireland you told me all about him and it was the first time I’d ever heard of someone with an upbringing like mine and I felt...a kinship with him. Our childhoods were stolen by our fathers.” she pointed to herself with her fingertips on her chest as if she were about to rip her own heart out. “Our fathers despised us just because we couldn't cram ourselves into the molds they thought we should fit in.” she dropped her hand from her chest. “We both paid for those sins with blood and we both carry those scars with us. We can’t shed them. They are always there making us ask ourselves, if our own fathers didn’t think we were good enough why the hell would anyone else think differently.”

Tears of anger, sadness and pure aggravation, slipped down her cheeks and she wiped them away then pointed at him as she spoke. “Those scars, the cracks and chips in our reflections, make us who we are and he understands me in ways that no one else can. Every decision we have made, every path we were forced down by others led us straight to one another."

"You think you were fated to be together?" Elijah asked with an expression that suggested she was insane.

"I can't see it any other way. Everything about him just...fits. There's this...chemistry between us that I’ve never felt with anyone before.” she answered. "Klaus doesn’t see me as the white winged, caged bird that Hannah was like you seem to, or the off kilter moral compass that plain Jane Katie was like Damon did, he just sees me.” The hot anger that had been boiling within her started to simmer down. “Not as who I used to be, not for what I can do for him, but as me,” she placed her palm on her chest then grabbed her pendant and held it up, “the phoenix with black wings that have been charred by the fires of my past. We don't just see the good in one another, but the bad and the ugly too and we love each other in spite of it all.” She stopped ranting to breathe and to give him a chance to say something but he didn't. He just kept looking at her with his wide brown eyes.

Her hand started fiddling with the phoenix pendant as she spoke, quietly now. "I saw the way you looked at me after I decapitated Genevieve… you didn't like what you saw and you were, and maybe still are, worried that Klaus has rubbed off on me, but...he hasn't. I am who I've always been. I just don't feel like hiding it anymore." She refilled her glass and took it up to her room with her.

She walked quietly over to the playpen in the corner where Hope was sleeping, and rested her hands on the edge of it as she took in the sight of her little miracle, sleeping with her hands tucked behind her head while her chest lifted and fell with her little breaths. "I can't imagine my life without you, Sweet Girl, and I don't want to." Katie whispered and as she looked away from her, her eyes landed on the sparkling new ring on her finger.

Excitement bubbled within her and a smile stretched her lips as she turned from Hope and took her tablet and mifi jetpack out of her bag and turned them on. Not even Elijah and what was going on with him could pull her down from cloud 9. Yes, things weren’t looking good in New Orleans and her fiancé's aunt Dahlia could come after Hope, but that’s just how her life was now. Someone was always going to be lurking around the corner and shit was always going to be hitting the fan somewhere, but if she let that get to her she would never be happy.

After a while of searching the internet she found the dress she'd told Klaus about. It had been worn by two other brides after the one who purchased it on "Say Yes To The Dress." "What the hell was I thinking?" She asked herself with a wrinkle of her nose at the dress. She saved the picture to ask Rebekah's opinion later, then turned off the tablet and put it back in her bag.

When her eyes landed on her empty journal, she grabbed it and a pen, sat down on her bed and for the first time since leaving New Orleans, put pen to paper. “There’s no I, no I in we. And there’s no you, no you and me. ‘Cause you burned me way beyond the third degree. Your words are like gasoline you pour on the fire. And the bridges you burned led to our dreams. My hope, faith and every last desire. It's just another thing that we lost in the fire.” She worked on the song for an hour or so and when she was done she gave it a title then closed the book, set it on the nightstand and turned off the lamp.

TVDTVDTVD

She was pulled from sleep early the next morning by Hope cooing and giggling while playing with the sheep on the feet of her pink footed pajamas. “You're in an unusually good mood this morning.” Katie spoke to the baby as she rolled out of bed and stood on her feet. She got dressed in a pair of light wash Bermuda shorts and a plain, v neck, light gray t-shirt, braided her hair into two French braids, scooped up Hope, changed her diaper then headed downstairs.

When she walked into the kitchen she saw Elijah making Hope a bottle of formula. “How did you know tha-” she cut herself off when he used two fingers to point to the note on the fridge of Hope’s usual feeding schedule and how much of what she ate, written in Rebekah’s handwriting. “Oh.”

“Do you normally warm it?” he asked, not making eye contact with her.

“Not any more.” Katie answered so he walked over and handed it to Hope who took it and started trying to drink it. Katie grabbed it and tilted it so that she wouldn’t swallow air. Despite her attempts to catch Elijah's eyes he purposely avoided her as he lovingly rubbed Hope's cheek then walked away. Apparently their conversation, and Katie flipping out on him, hadn't helped and she couldn't tell what was worse, his awkward comments or getting iced out by him.

Not feeling like being in the kitchen with him and the thick awkwardness that hung between them, Katie brought Hope to the living room and turned on the tv to a random channel just for the noise then started wedding planning on her tablet while Hope finished her bottle then played on her activity mat.

A few minutes later Elijah found them. “Niklaus called last night.” he informed her as he leaned on the archway that led into the living room. “Mother will no longer be a problem. Rebekah spiked her wine with her blood before they started the spell and Davina and Kol succeeded in stopping Mother from body jumping. So she is in transition in a tomb that Kol placed a boundary spell on. Klaus tossed her a blood bag before he left her to rot either as a corpse...or a vampire.”

Katie couldn’t help the laugh that left her lips. “I’m sorry, I know she’s your mother, but you gotta admit she deserves that.” he just looked at her blankly so she wiped the smile from her face and cleared her throat. “So what happened to Rebekah?”

“She never returned to her body and she didn't jump into Camille. We assume she jumped into the body Kol prepped in case things didn’t go as planned.” Elijah answered. “Klaus is on his way as we speak. Camille is with him."

"Not that I don't welcome a familiar face, but why is she coming here?" Katie asked with a curious draw.

"According to Niklaus she managed to get herself into some trouble with Finn, who was let out of his confinements by our father. She needs a safe place to stay so he is sharing our safe house with her.” With her caught up on current events he left the room.

TVDTVDTVD

When Katie heard Klaus pull up outside she scooped up Hope and went to the front door. Hope was now dressed in a red and white gingham sleeveless dress with a couple of strawberries on the front of the skirt and red bows on the shoulder straps, a matching diaper cover and a matching knotted headband completed the outfit. "I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of our family. The little trouble maker all the fuss has been about." She heard Klaus telling Cami as she opened the door and stepped outside. "Camille, this is Hope." Klaus looked up at Hope and Katie with pride and love in his blue eyes.

"Oh my god." Cami said, shocked to see them. "But...you said...I thought they were…" Katie smiled at Cami's inability to finish a sentence.

"The only way to protect her was to convince the world of her death." Klaus explained. "And Katie, of course, wanted to remain with our child." He turned to look at Cami. "I hope you understand, once it's safe for you to leave here our secret can not leave with you."

Cami placed her hand on his upper arm as she gave him a nod and an understanding smile, then walked up the porch steps to get a better look at Hope. Klaus walked around Cami to stand beside Katie with his hand on her lower back. Hope squealed when Cami gently touched her hand. "Oh, she's perfect." She laughed.

Katie led them inside and to the living room where Klaus took Hope and sat down on the couch not seeing her tablet before he sat on it. When he pulled it out from under his butt he saw a white satin wedding dress with a long sleeved, white, beaded lace overlay on the bodice. "Please tell me I didn't just see your dream wedding dress." He told her as he held the tablet out to her.

She took it and looked at the picture. "Nope. We're safe."

"Wait, is that an engagement ring on your finger?" Cami asked and Katie nodded, unable to hold back the bright smile that took over her face. Cami walked over for a closer look and took Katie's offered hand. "Wow, he has good taste. And it ties in perfectly with the domed filigree on your daylight ring." Cami pointed out as she dropped Katie's hand.

"Yeah, I noticed that too." Katie turned from Cami to Klaus where he sat behind her. "Was that intentional?"

He smiled at Hope as he answered, "Yes. I thought about having an engagement, wedding band, daylight ring set made, but I knew you'd never accept a new daylight ring." Klaus took his eyes off of his daughter long enough to give Katie a playful smirk. "Were I not so confident in our relationship it might bother me that you insist on wearing jewelry from your past loves."

"Does it bother you?" Katie asked as she sat down on the couch next to him and Cami sat down in an armchair near the fireplace. The corners of Klaus’s lips turned down as he shook his head no.

"Are we going to talk about weddings all day or discuss what our next move should be?" Elijah asked from where he'd been leaning on the archway that led into the room.

"I just got here, Elijah, I'd like to spend a bit of quality time with my family first." Klaus glanced away from Hope to his brother who sighed and walked away, clearly aggravated. Klaus looked away from Hope, who was standing in his lap, holding on to his fingers, to Katie. “What was that about?”

“I’ll...explain later.” Katie answered. “First I have a few questions starting with…” she grabbed her tablet and pulled up a picture of her dream dress as she walked over to Cami, “What do you think about this dress?” she handed her the tablet.

Cami’s eyes got big and her mouth fell open when she saw the busy, ivory ball gown. The satin, embroidered bodice had a deep, sweetheart neckline that was trimmed with swarovski crystals and two satin sashes that swept around the lower portion of the bodice then blinded in with the satin and lace skirt. A bundle of three satin and crystaled lace roses sat at the point of the v of the pick up in the skirt that showcased accordion pleated satin. The train in the back resembled a gathered comforter. “Wow, that’s um...something.”

“I need an honest opinion.” Katie told her and Cami looked up at her with a look that told her she wouldn’t like her honest opinion. “Please.”

“Honestly it looks like something off of a cake topper for a “My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding” cake.” Cami answered as she took one last look at the dress then handed it back to Katie.

“Is that a bad thing?” Klaus asked, looking confused and both Katie and Cami nodded.

“And it’s all I needed to hear.” Katie said as she walked over to sit next to Klaus. “You’re off the hook, you don’t have to find the dream wedding dress.”

“Just because Camille doesn't like it?” Klaus asked with a frown.

“No, because I...kind of...hate it.” Katie replied with an ashamed scratch at the back of her neck. “I think I saw it on the show and liked it because it was different from all the other cookie cutter dresses and over the years it got over hyped in my head. Plus...my style preferences have changed since then.”

“Yet I can guarantee you’ve thought about wearing converse with your wedding dress.” Klaus told her with a cheeky smile and a glance at her out of the corners of his eyes.

Katie saw Cami look at the black and white converse on Katie's feet. “Red ones as a matter of fact.” Katie answered and Klaus laughed.

“Hey, you can’t blame a girl for choosing comfort over style.” Cami agreed.

“See, thank you, Cami.” Katie said with a motion at her as she gave Klaus a nana-nana-boo-boo look.

Klaus smiled and shook his head at her. “You said you had questions, plural?”

“Right, did you tell my friends in Mystic Falls about me supposedly being dead?” She asked as she watched Hope grab Klaus’s nose and squeal.

“Yes, I assumed you wouldn’t want to leave them in the dark like the last time you had to cut off all contact with them.” Klaus answered and let Hope grab his finger and pull it to her mouth, using him as a teether. “I have bad news concerning Bonnie and Damon.”

“What happened?” Katie asked, letting her shoulders fall.

“I’ll give you guys a minute.” Camie spoke up then went to find Elijah.

“On the same night you gave birth to Hope, the other side collapsed. Bonnie helped most of your dead friends pass back to the side of the living, including your favorite teacher." Katie smiled, happy that Alaric was back. "But Damon didn't make it out in time and Bonnie was the anchor. Since no one knows what happened to all of the souls on the other side when it disappeared, no one knows what happened to your friend and your ex.” Klaus explained then moved Hope around to sit in his lap, leaning back in the crook of his arm, still gnawing on his bent finger.

"How did Damon die?" Katie asked, a little confused.

“I don't know. Caroline was so overwhelmed with grief when I informed her that you had also left us that night that I couldn't make myself ask.” When he looked up at Katie he saw tears slipping quietly down her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I know how much you loved them both.” he told her as he took his hand from Hope and held his arm out to Katie. She tucked herself into his side and allowed herself to grieve for a few minutes before she pulled herself together, sat up and unwrapped Klaus’s arm from around her. Hope fussed, still teething, so Katie handed her the giraffe teething toy, but Hope tossed it aside and reached for Klaus’s hand that was resting in his lap. “Like mother, like daughter.” he commented with a smirk at Kate as he offered Hope his bent finger and Katie couldn’t help but laugh and lightly slap his arm making him laugh too.

Hearing that the sad moment had passed Cami and Elijah came into the living room. Elijah moved to stare out the window while Cami sat down in the armchair across from the couch Katie sat on holding Hope while Klaus stood behind the empty armchair in the room. “Now that we’ve entombed our mother, I intend to finish making the city safe for Hope. Which, to start, mean’s dealing with the lingering problem of Finn.”

“Because Finn is controlling the werewolves with the daylight rings that he and Esther created right?” Katie asked and Klaus gave her a nod. “So if we can get rid of Finn, the wolves would be free to keep their rings without fear of them being de-spelled and might just feel indebted to us for getting them out from under his thumb?”

“Yes and with them on our side, and feeling like they owe us, we might be able to get them to protect the compound as well as one of their own as Hayley once promised you.” he answered with a glance at Hope. “It would be safe for you to return home.” Klaus walked over and sat down next to Katie. Hope practically threw herself into his lap and he caught her with a smile.

“Once Finn figures out what you’ve done to your mother, he’s gonna go off the deep end.” Cami commented, sounding worried.

“That’s exactly why we need to keep you out of harm’s way.” Klaus told her as he moved Hope around to sit in his lap. “I will return home and take care of my wayward brother. Elijah will remain here with you and my girls.” Katie smiled to herself at him calling them his girls. “He’s been experiencing some side effects since his ordeal as our mother’s captive. Best he stay and convalesce.”

“A single violent outburst at a filthy roadside café and one never hears the end of it.” Elijah commented as he finally turned from the window.

“Well, it is Cami's job to cure minds plagued by demons. Perhaps you two can bond.” Klaus stood up and sat Hope on the play matt on the living room floor. “Now, if you’ll excuse me I need to have a chat with my bride-to-be then be on my way.” he turned to Elijah. “Rebekah should have woken up in the body of Angelica Barker. Once she has cut the ties of Miss Barker’s former life, she’ll make her way directly here. You should expect her shortly.” he kneeled down to Hope, "Daddy will see you again soon, Princess." He gently pecked her on the head then stood and held his hand out to Katie. She took it as she stood up then let him lead her outside. “What is with the tension between you and Elijah?”

She followed him to his range rover as she explained, “We...got into an argument of sorts last night and he admitted that he unknowingly put his feelings for me behind the door that Esther cracked open and because his feelings for me are back he started to reanalyze things and wondered if I ever really loved him in this life because you and I slept together so soon after he left me.” she told him and he frowned as they came to a stop next to the black vehicle and he turned to her. “So I tried explaining to him that I didn’t fall out of love with him overnight nor did things happen that quickly with you and me. But he accused you of manipulating me and me of falling for it and being blinded by my love for you. I snapped and laid everything out on the table including that I was always going to end up with you because we’re fated to be together.” Klaus’s eyes widened a little as a smile pulled at the corners of his lips at her confession. "I was trying my best to keep things civil, but he did what he does best and pushed my buttons. Now he’s shutting me out."

Klaus looked at the house with a frown then back at her and tucked a stray wave of her red hair behind her ear, "Just give him some space and let Cami do her thing. I really think she can help."

Katie nodded then looked at the range rover then back at him, knowing he needed to get going. “So I’ll see you when I see you?” she asked.

“Hopefully sooner rather than later.” he answered then slipped his hand to hold the back of her neck as he pulled her in for a kiss then looked her in the eyes when it broke. “Stay safe.”

“You too.” she told him not wanting to let him go, but she had too. So she took her hands out from around his waist and took a step back, letting him get into the car and shut the door. She couldn’t watch him drive away so as soon as she heard the car start she turned her back and headed into the house.

When she got inside she found Cami sitting on the floor playing with Hope and Elijah was nowhere to be seen. “She is too cute.” Cami said with a smile down at the baby.

“Eh, she has her moments.” Katie joked with a small smile as she sat down on the floor with them and leaned back against the couch.

“So I’m supposed to shrink Elijah while I'm here huh?” Cami asked and Katie nodded. “Can’t say I’ve ever taken a course on how to treat a thousand year old vampire.”

“The same way you’d treat anyone else.” Katie shrugged then looked at Hope, placing her hand behind her incase she fell back.

“Before I attempt to talk to him I want to talk to you.” Cami said, making Katie look up at her. “What’s going on with you two? I’d think Elijah would be happy for his brother’s engagement, but he seemed...agitated by the wedding talk.”

Katie took in a deep breath and let it out. “How caught up are you with the Mikaelson family gossip and my history with them?”

“Marcel mentioned that you and Elijah used to be together a few years back.” Cami answered.

“We were also together a hundred and seventy one years before that.” Katie answered.

“But Klaus said you were only turned a few years ago.” Cami pointed out with a frown.

“I was.” Katie answered then smiled at Cami’s complete and utter look of confusion. Katie then told her how she and Elijah came to meet, how they fell in love and Katie had their souls linked by a witch, how Klaus killed her and because her descendants didn’t allow a female child to be born or killed them before they could start to get her memories, it took one hundred and seventy one years for her to be fully reincarnated, only getting her past life memories after she turned and had the damn in her mind completely removed. Then how she fought their link when she was with Damon. How when she gave into it, Elijah left her because he thought it was what was best for her. Katie also told her about how because Elijah reached out to her with their link, Katie not knowing what she was doing in her anger, overpowered her soul and shattered it. “It took us forever to get back in a good place, to make being friends work, then out of nowhere his mother decided to stir everything up again.” with a look up at the clock she said, “It’s past this little one’s lunch time.” She stood up and picked up Hope then headed to the kitchen.

After feeding Hope, Katie took her outside to get some sun and fresh air while Cami did her psychologist thing with Elijah, which from what she could tell from the few times she broke the doctor patient confidentiality rule, was going nowhere. After a while Cami came out to where they were sitting in the shade of a tree. “Hey, Elijah just got a call from Angelica Barker, guess who isn’t occupying her body?”

“What?” Katie asked as she stood up then picked up Hope. “So where the heck is she?”

“I don’t know, Elijah was calling Klaus when I left.” Cami answered then jerked her head for Katie to come inside. But when they got inside Elijah wasn’t in the living room where Cami had left him. “Where did he go?” Cami started looking around.

“He’s upstairs.” Katie answered, she could hear his heavy sigh. “I can hear him.”

They waited hours for him to come down, but he never did. “You should go to him.” Cami advised.

“I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want to talk to me.” Katie answered with a look down at the infinity sign that was still on her wrist. “Plus Klaus advised me to give him space.”

“He’s worried about Rebekah and you are too. He’ll be more likely to talk to you about it than me.” Cami argued and jerked her head toward the stairs.

Katie took in a deep breath as she thought about it then let it out as she pushed herself from the couch. She found Elijah in the bedroom he’d claimed as his, staring out the window in thought. “Knock, knock.” he didn’t turn around or even acknowledge she was there. So she stepped into the room. “I know you’re worried about Rebekah, bu-” she was cut off when he whooshed around, grabbed her neck and pinned her to the wall. The veins popped under his eyes, filling the whites with blood as he looked at her with an emotionless face. “Elijah...please.” she rasped, her heart beating fast with fear as she grabbed his hand and tried, pointlessly, to pull it away. “...Elijah...” tears rolled down her cheeks as he only clamped down on her neck harder.

A piercing scream left her lips when he plunged his free hand into her chest, his fist wrapped around her beating heart. "Oh my god!" Cami's voice came from the doorway to Katie's left, but she got ignored by both of them. "Don't…don’t retaliate."

"Duh." Katie thought to herself, but didn't say it. Instead she let go of his hand on her neck, slipped her hands into his dark hair and rested the heels of her palms on his temples.

“What are you doing?” Camie asked.

“Trying to get into his head.” she answered with a groan right before she managed to accomplish what she thought would be impossible.

She stood behind him in a hall with an old red door at the end of it. A woman with long brown, viking style crimped hair, wearing a white dress was desperately trying to open it as Elijah, shirtless and covered in splatters of blood, closed in on her. The woman whimpered, struggling with the door and as she looked over her shoulder at Elijah, Katie saw her face that looked exactly like Elena’s. Judging off the viking hairstyle she assumed it was Tatia and when he closed in on her Katie knew from the way Elijah grabbed her that he was about to bite her and kill her. “Elijah!” he froze and turned with glaring eyes to see Katie at the other end of the hall. “Stop.” he took his hand off of Tatia and she disappeared into thin air. With her gone Elijah started closing in on Katie, the intent to kill clear in his chocolate brown eyes. “No, no, no...Elijah stop. This isn’t you.” she told him as she held her hand out in front of her and started backing up, but her back hit a wall.

She had to do something that would shock him enough to put a stop to the craziness going on in his head. Even though she no longer harbored feelings for him, she knew he did for her. So she did the only thing she could think of at the time. As soon as he got close enough she grabbed the back of his neck and pressed her lips to his in a still, stiff kiss. He instantly relaxed and as the shock faded he started massaging her lips with his. She forced herself to kiss him back.

Feeling his hand relax in her chest she took one of her hands off of his face to grab his wrist and ease his hand out of her. As soon as she was free of him she shoved him away from her in both his head and real life. Now gully himself, he stared at her, wide eyed and still in shock at what just happened. She glared at him with flared nostrils and an angry fire blazing in her eyes. After a few seconds his face turned apologetic and he reached out to touch her but she smacked his hand away with vamp speed. He whooshed away. With him gone Katie sighed and closed her eyes. “Um...what just happened?”

“I got into his head and snapped him out of it.” Katie answered Cami vaguely.

“Yeah, but how did you snap him out of it?” Cami asked, confused as to how she could have snapped Elijah out of such an intense ptsd-like trip.

“I kissed him.” Katie answered with a squidged up face as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Are you going to tell Klaus?” Cami asked.

“I have to.” Katie answered as she dropped her hand and opened her eyes. “We don’t keep secrets from each other, but I have no Idea how to tell him.” Hope crying, having woken up from her nap, broke up their conversation.

“I’ll get her, you take a minute to gather yourself.” Cami told her but Kate shook her head no.

“I’ll get her, I need the distraction.” She walked around Cami and out of the room.

TVDTVDTVD

Elijah didn’t come back until after nightfall. They heard him on the front porch, talking on the phone with Klaus. Cami went out to talk to him, but Katie stayed put in the living room. “I’m sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, we just thought you had left.” Cami told him. “Why did you?”

“My sister is missing, my family is in jeopardy, I am uh...utterly powerless to help them. It’s...not a state of affairs I’m accustomed to. And being around Katie…” Katie frowned down at her hands. “Perhaps I'm not weathering this...ordeal as well as one would hope.”

“If you ever want to talk about it, it’s kind of what I do.” Cami told him before she came inside.

Knowing Elijah would come inside soon, Katie retired for the night, an ache in her chest from the pain she was causing Elijah and possibly going to cause Klaus when she told him what she’d done.

TVDTVDTVD

The next afternoon, Katie sat outside on a blanket playing with Hope and avoiding Elijah when Cami stuck her head outside and yelled her name. She scooped up Hope and whoosed into the house. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Elijah. We were talking and he just...passed out.” she told her with wide worried eyes as they went to the library where Elijah was laying on the floor.

“Take Hope?” Katie asked and Cami nodded as she took the baby from her. Katie kneeled on the floor and looked at Elijah. He wasn’t desiccating and his heart was still beating, so she tried to get into his head but it was like something forced her out and she jerked her hands off his head with an aggravated growl.

“What’s wrong?” Cami asked as she bounced Hope on her hip.

“Someone’s shutting me out.” Katie answered.

“I’ll call Klaus.” Cami told her as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. “Davina? Why are you answering Klaus’s phone?”

Kaite started listening in. “‘Cause I can’t wake him up.” Davina answered.

“What, Elijah collapsed too. What’s going on?” Cami asked.

Davina was quiet for a few seconds then scoffed at herself. “I’m an idiot. The spell Finn used was to trap his brothers. Meaning Kol’s in trouble.”

“What do we do?” Cami asked.

“I have no Idea.” Davina answered. “I’ll try to find a way to help and call you if I do.” She hung up.

Not knowing what to do Katie scooped Elijah up, laid him on the grey plush couch then sat down in the arm chair that sat adjacent to the couch, looking at him with worry clear in her eyes. “Can I ask you something?” Cami asked as she sat down in the chair across from her with Hope in her lap.

“It doesn’t look like we have anything better to do.” Katie replied not looking away from Elijah.

“Do you still love him?” Cami asked, making Katie look at her.

“That depends, what kind of love are you talking about?” Katie asked back.

“The kind of love that would lead to a kiss.” Cami answered.

“It wasn’t like that.” Katie replied and Cami raised her brows at her in doubt. “I haven’t been in love with him for a long time now. The love I have for him is strictly platonic.”

“So there's no lingering, unresolved feelings on your part?” Cami asked, making Katie realize this wasn’t just a curious conversation. Cami was shrinking her.

“No.” Katie answered with a shake of her head. “Klaus is the only man who resides in that special part of my heart now.”

“Let’s keep Klaus out of the picture for now. Forget you even know him.” Cami replied. Katie’s nostrils flared but she said nothing. “Let's look at things in a different light, in a hypothetical world where you never met or even heard of Klaus, Elijah never shattered your soul and the link you two shared is still intact.” Katie took a deep breath and let it out. “If Elijah came back into your life after he let you go and apologized, do you think the two of you would have gotten back together?”

Katie thought about it for a minute, watching Hope play with the beads on the tie strings of Cami’s blouse, before she answered, “We could have.” Katie answered and Cami gave her a look that seemed to say, I knew it. “I’m already good at ignoring things I don’t like in order to fool myself into thinking I’m happy and that link only made it easier, but I wouldn’t have been truly happy with him.”

“Why not?” Cami asked, the look now gone from her face.

“Because he was the one person I thought would never hurt me. He promised me he wouldn’t.” she answered as she turned her eyes to the still passed out Elijah. “But he cut me deeper than anyone ever has before.” she answered as tears pooled in her eyes. “Because of that...I can never fully trust him.”

“Did you ever tell him exactly how bad he hurt you?” Cami asked.

“I told him he hurt me, but I didn't say how bad. Besides I assume he knows considering we were linked and when one of us was hurt the other felt it.” Katie answered.

“I thought that only worked with physical pain.” Cami pointed out.

“We’re vampires.” Katie answered as she looked at Cami with unshed tears in her eyes. “Emotions are sometimes so intense we physically feel them. And when he left me…” she turned her eyes to Elijah, “It felt like my heart...burst into white hot flames that didn’t subside until there was nothing left to burn.” Cami frowned as she watched tears slip down Katie’s cheeks. “So he has to know how bad he hurt me,” she stopped when a thought struck her, “unless…”

“Unless what?” Cami asked.

“Unless he knew how bad it would hurt, didn't want to feel it and kinked the link like I did when my switch was flipped.” she finished and once again turned her eyes to Cami. “I always assumed it didn’t hurt him to leave me as much as it hurt me because I didn’t feel anything from him, but it would be easier for him to cut us off for a while because he’s so much stronger than me.”

“So does this change anything for you?” Cami asked.

Katie bit her lips closed and shook her head. “No.” she took a deep breath and resituated herself in her chair. “To fully answer your original question... Even if we take Klaus out of the picture there’s no way Elijah and I would have worked in this life after he left me like he did.” Hope started fussing in Cami’s lap. “She’s hungry.” Katie took her from Cami and disappeared into the kitchen.

Elijah didn’t wake up until after the sun set and Hope had been put down for the night. Katie was cleaning Hope's bottles when she heard the gasp of him waking up and whooshed into the library. He met her eyes for the first time all day. “Are you okay?” she asked quietly. He gave her a nod. “And Klaus and Kol?”

“Klaus is fine. I’m not so sure about Kol considering your fiancé trapped him in the compound with a group of starving vampires.” he answered stiffly.

“Yeah, that sounds like something my fiancé would do.” Katie sighed, relieved to hear everyone was okay.

“May I have a moment of privacy with Camille please?” he asked.

“Of course.” she answered and went back to the kitchen to continue washing dishes.

She was finishing up when she heard someone’s phone ring then Elijah asked her to join them. “How are my girls?” she smiled at Klaus’s question on the other end of the phone, the term “my girls” was starting to grow on her.

Elijah looked at Cami. “They’re in good hands.” he answered, giving the blond a small smile. “As am I.” Cami gave him a small smile back. “However if you say the word, I shall return.”

“No, you’re needed where you are.” Klaus replied.

“So the city is safe?” Elijah asked as he started walking the room.

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly go flinging around terms like safe.” he answered. “Marcel and all his vampires have inexplicably disappeared, Kol is in the wind, Rebekah is still lost and Finn is dangerously suspicious of the secrets we keep.” Katie’s heart jumped up into her throat at the thought of Finn finding out that Hope was still alive. “Speaking of which...I meant what I said, I am capable of forgiveness.” Elijah looked uncomfortable. “We need to remain focused on our common enemies. I’ll be in touch.” Elijah hung up and tucked his cellphone into his jacket pocket.

“So Klaus trapped Kol in the compound with hungry vampires for tampering with Rebekah’s body jump. Why were there super hungry vampires in the compound and how were they all stuck there?” Katie asked.

“The vampires and the werewolves were having a meeting, trying to work out a peace treaty per Hayley’s request. Finn intercepted it, placed a boundary spell on the compound and cast a spell to increase the vampire's hunger. Supposedly to prove that there could never be anything between mongrels and parasites but hatred, war and death.”

“Which is complete and total bullshit.” Katie chipped in.

“And that was proven when everyone made it out of the compound in one piece. Including Kol.” Elijah replied.

“Is there anything else I need to know about?” she asked and Elijah shook his head no. “Then I’m going to bed. Goodnight.”

“Night.” Cami echoed back as Katie walked away.

TVDTVDTVD

Another day passed. Elijah still wouldn’t look at Katie and Katie still tried to keep her distance and give Cami plenty of time to work her psychologist magic. That night, Klaus called but had no useful information. He mainly called to check on his girls and his brother’s sanity.

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thebrotherssalvatore321 · 3 years

Text

Keeping Secrets Ch. 55

Keeping Secrets Masterlist

The car was silent as Katie and Rebekah watched New Orleans disappear in the rear view mirror. When it was gone, Katie turned her eyes to Hope and watched her get lulled to sleep by the motion of the moving car. Rebekah glanced back at Katie every once in a while to see if tears still silently slipped down her cheeks, but they only stopped when she too slipped off to sleep. Rebekah knew they needed to be cloaked by a powerful witch and she happened to know that the Bennett witch was powerful and could be trusted to keep their secret, so she started for Mystic Falls. When they stopped at a motel to get some rest and give Hope a break from the road, Katie asked, “So where are we going?”

“I thought we’d head to Mystic Falls and get your witch friend Bonnie to cloak us.” Rebekah answered as she tossed her bag on one of the two beds in the room.

“Bonnie can’t practice magic anymore, not since she became the anchor to the other side. Plus I don’t want to drag them into this mess.” Katie argued. “Please tell me you have another witch in mind.”

“I have a few, yes.” Rebekah answered and Katie let out a relieved sigh as Hope started crying. “I’ll get her.” Rebekah told her as she started taking her out of the car seat while Katie started making a bottle.

~~T~V~D~~

Rebekah found a powerful witch to cloak them and they bought a house in a random suburban area of southeast Texas.

~~Three Weeks Later~~

Katie was sitting in Hope’s nursery rocking the crying, scratch that, screaming baby, when Rebekah appeared in the doorway. “I don’t know what’s wrong. She’s fed, she’s dry, She doesn’t have a tummy ache. I sang, I shushed, I even caved and gave her a pacifier and she spat it halfway across the room.”

“You’re stressed and exhausted. She can probably sense that you’re on edge.” Rebekah told her as she walked into the room and Katie stood from the chair, now pacing while bouncing her daughter gently. “Not to mention you're probably starving. When was the last time you fed?” Rebekah asked as she smoothed down the blond peach fuzz on the tiny girl’s head.

“I had a blood bag this morning.” Katie answered over the screams.

“It’s eleven at night. You need food and rest.” Rebekah argued. “It’s been three weeks since we settled here and you’ve done nothing but pour yourself into caring for Hope. Klaus asked me to accompany you so that you wouldn’t have to do this alone, but I can’t help if you don’t let me.”

“I’m her mother, taking care of her is my responsibility.” Katie argued back.

“Yes, you are her mother, but you are also a newly turned vampire whose senses are on overdrive.” Rebekah argued. “You are having to readjust to life as a vampire at the same time as adjusting to life as a mother. That can’t be easy and that’s why I’m here....” she held her hands out for Hope, but Katie didn’t budge. Rebekah rolled her eyes and made a motion with her hands that told her to hand the baby over. Desperate for her daughter to stop crying Katie gave in and passed Rebekah the baby. “Now, your hair looks like you haven’t washed it in weeks. So go take a hot bath, have a blood bag, relax then get some sleep.” Katie opened her mouth to protest, but Rebekah cut her off. “I’ve got her, go.” she pointed at the door.

Katie's shoulders slumped as she left the room and went downstairs, grabbed a blood bag then ran a bath in the garden tub of the master bathroom. She drank the blood bag as the tub filled with steaming bubbly water and tossed the empty bag into the bathroom trash can before she slipped into the bath, the bubbles up to her nose. Before she knew it her eyes slipped shut and she woke with a start when her unconscious head slipped down into the water and she breathed it in through her nose. With a cough then a sigh, she pushed her wet hair back and wiped the bubbles from her face.

After washing up and wrapping herself in a fluffy white robe she headed to her bedroom. She had to pass Hope's nursery on the way and when Klaus’s voice hit her ears as she passed she stopped and listened. “Rebekah, call me back immediately. I only came to this ridiculous dance because you begged me to, and now you’re nowhere to be found.” It was a voicemail Klaus had left Rebekah the night of the twenty’s decade dance.

“There, there, little one, Aunty Bex found the problem. You simply miss the sound of your daddy’s voice.” Rebekah’s words to Hope caused Katie to breathe in a shaky breath as she placed her hand over her stomach in an attempt to hold herself together, but she failed and tears slipped down her cheeks as she walked away.

After getting Hope to sleep, hopefully for the night, Rebekah checked on Katie and found her sound asleep with a dark maroon Henley shirt of Klaus’s clutched to her chest and her cell phone propped up on the pillow across from her, lit up with a picture of Klaus looking over his shoulder at her from where he stood at the stove of the mansion in Mystic Falls. Rebekah turned the screen off to keep the phone from going dead, then gently took the shirt from Katie’s arms and put it back in the Ziploc where she was sure Katie had taken it from. It seemed Hope wasn’t the only woman in the house that missed Klaus. Rebekah brushed Katie’s hair out of her face then turned off the overhead light and shut the door so that she hopefully wouldn’t be woken up if Hope started crying.

~~One Month After Leaving New Orleans~~

Katie sat in the living room watching Hope fiddle with a stuffed toy while laying in a swing, her mind far away in New Orleans, wondering how Klaus was doing. Her eyes moved from Hope to the window beside the armchair she sat in, to see the full moon in the night sky. The moonlight rings that Genevieve had used Klaus’s blood to make, were weakening him, drawing from his power to keep the Guerrera werewolves from turning. "You look like you're a million miles away." Rebekah said as she walked in with two glasses and a bottle of red wine in an ice bucket that she sat on the table. After pouring two glasses she handed one to Katie.

"Not a million, just four hundred." Katie answered as she took the glass and Rebekah sat down in the armchair across from her. "It's the first full moon, Klaus is weak and it's all my fault."

"You fault?" Rebekah asked with a frown. "How so?"

"If I hadn't pushed him and Elijah to make New Orleans safe for Hope, for Klaus to reach out to his wolf family, those stupid rings never would have been made and we wouldn't be in this mess." Katie answered then downed the glass of wine.

"This is no one's fault but Esther's. If she hadn't sent the witches after your innocent child like a pack of bloodhounds Genevieve never would have betrayed Klaus by making a deal with the Guerrera’s to give them the rings in exchange for you. We wouldn't be running, New Orleans would be safe and your plan to have a family of blood related werewolves to protect your child would have gone off without a hitch." Rebekah argued.

"Regardless, Klaus is suffering while I sit pretty in the suburbs with our child." Katie grabbed the bottle of wine out of the ice bucket on the table and refilled her glass. "I hate not being able to be there for him and I hate saying, yet again, that I hate not being able to do something. I feel completely and utterly powerless."

"I know you miss Klaus and you want to be there for him.” she said sympathetically.

“It's not just Klaus. I also miss Elijah,” Katie corrected. "And my friend Nate, who was lost in the battle, and I miss New Orleans. I grew to like the noisy streets, people playing jazz outside the compound at all hours...it's too quiet here. I'm going stir crazy.

“But, you have to keep reminding yourself that you were doing right by your child when you chose to flee New Orleans with her.” Rebekah reminded her.

“I know.” Katie sighed, then took a drink from her glass. As she swallowed, she felt an odd sensation down below, one she hadn't felt since before the first time she turned.

"Are you alright?" Rebekah asked, noticing a confused look on Katie's face.

"I don't know." Katie drawled as she sat her wine glass on the table and headed for the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. The spot of red on her panties confirmed her suspicions. "Son of bitch…"

~~T~V~D~~

"You just got your monthly?" Rebekah asked with a confused face. Katie nodded. "But you're a vampire."

"And apparently whatever happened to my body when my soul shattered that made me able to have a child is still in effect." Katie added, looking like she was about to have a panic attack.

"This is a good thing right?" Rebekah asked.

"I have no idea…" Katie replied then blew air between her lips as she leaned forward, stretching her arms out over the bar in the kitchen as she rested her head on them.

"I mean, you and Klaus can have more children if you want, you can have the best of both worlds. Most vampire women would die a thousand times over to be in your position." Rebekah pointed out as she grabbed Katie's hand. "As if I wasn't jealous enough of you before…"

Katie knew Rebekah was right, she should feel lucky and grateful, but all she wanted to do at the moment was scream, "why me?", at the top of her lungs. Instead she stood up straight and looked at Rebekah, "May I borrow your car? It seems I'm in need of supplies a vampire doesn't usually keep in stock."

"Yes, of course." Rebekah answered and handed her keys over to Katie.

~~Two And A Half Months After Leaving New Orleans~~

Katie sat at a local bar and grill, a glass of bourbon in her hand that rested on the bar as her leg that was crossed over her knee tapped. She hadn’t wanted to come out tonight, but Rebekah talked her into getting out of the house and taking time to herself. “You look bored.” A guy observed making Katie look up from the glass, that she had been staring at in thought, to the guy. He was your average guy around his mid twenties, with dark black hair, dark brown eyes and a muscular build. “May I?” he asked with a motion to the chair.

“Sure, why not?” Katie answered and waved for him to sit down in the empty chair to her left.

“What’s got you looking so down in the dumps?” he asked curiously in an attempt to strike up a conversation.

“Well, I would tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.” she told him with a smirk.

“Funny.” he said with a huffed out laugh.

“Yeah...I’m a funny girl.” Katie brushed her hair behind her ear letting him see the tiara ring on her left ring finger.

“That’s an interesting ring.” he pointed to her finger. “Is it from someone special?”

“Uh, yeah, my boyfriend.” she answered with a small smile. “He calls me his queen.” she said with an eye roll that told him she knew it was cheesy, but she didn’t care.

“Oh, if I’d known I’d be in the presence of royalty tonight I would’ve dressed a little nicer.” he told her and she laughed. “Seriously though, if you’re regarded so highly by this boyfriend of yours, why do you look like the loneliest person here tonight?”

Her smile fell and she turned her eyes back to her glass that she now just toyed with absentmindedly. “For reasons I can’t disclose to a peasant, we had to take some time apart. Think of it as a long distance relationship with no communication of any kind.” she answered.

“So you’re on a break?” he drawled with a suggestive lift of his brow.

The conversation for Katie went from a pleasant change of pace to straight down the drain. Then she remembered that Rebekah sent her out to have fun. So she decided to take advantage of the situation. “Precisely.” she answered with a flirty smirk.

“So your boyfriend wouldn’t mind if I ask you if you want to move this over to my place?” he asked as he reached out and slipped his pointer finger over the back of her hand that was resting on the bar.

She cringed on the inside, but gave him a coy smile, “Not one bit.”

“So, do you want to come to my place?” he asked with a look that made her want to grab the back of his head and slam his face into the bar.

“Absolutely.” she answered as she hopped down off the barstool and made a motion to the door for him to lead the way.

He probably thought he hit the easy girl jackpot tonight, but as she followed him through the parking lot to his red, 1992 pickup truck she let the blood flow to her eyes. He didn’t see it until he opened the driver side door, too much of an unchivalrous sleeze ball to open her door for her. She whoosed up behind him, making him jump and turn to look at her. His eyes widened when he saw her face. “What the hell are you?”

Her green eyes, illuminated by the cab light inside his truck, bore into his. “Tell me the truth, would you have kept hitting on me had I told you my boyfriend would’ve had a problem with me sleeping with other people?”

“Definitely.” he answered.

“And if I told you to get lost?” she asked, still looking him in the eyes.

“I would have slipped a roofie into your drink.” he answered.

“Show them to me.” He pulled a small, clear bag out of his back pocket. Inside were three small white pills. That was all she needed to see to know she wouldn’t feel the least bit guilty for doing what she had been itching to do since she turned. A sneer spread over her face as she bore her teeth to him, making his knees start to tremble. A hiss left her lips as she slammed her teeth into his neck. Giving in to the need to feed, to listen to a human heart beat slow until it ceased to beat, was beyond satisfying. It was like all the tension that had built up over the few months since leaving Klaus, melted away. Katie placed the dead man in the seat of his truck and made it look like he was sleeping. “You won’t be roofieing anyone, ever again.” she patted him on the shoulder then elbowed the door shut and walked away.

TVDTVDTVD

It took a while, but eventually Katie, Rebekah and Hope fell into a routine. Listening to voicemails from Klaus was the only way they could get Hope down for the night. Katie missed him more and more with each passing day. She wanted to keep a baby book for Hope so that she could show Klaus a timeline of Hope’s milestones, but Rebekah reminded her that it would be a paper trail that they couldn’t risk falling into the wrong hands. Just like they couldn’t take pictures or videos of Hope. Nor could Katie write in a journal as a therapy technique. Instead, to cope with her heightened emotions and the fact that she missed Klaus so much it literally hurt, she went out every other weekend and hunted. Rebekah never spoke to Katie about what she did when she went out on Friday nights, but she watched the news and wasn’t stupid.

Along with not leaving a paper trail and to keep the body count from getting suspicious, they never lived in one place longer than a couple of months. Never long enough to get to know their neighbors, never further than eight hours from New Orleans and never long enough for anyone to string together Katie’s regular murdering habits.

~~Six Months After Leaving New Orleans~~

“What do you think about taking Hope to the playground this morning?” Rebekah, who was feeding Hope in the kitchen, asked Katie who was walking down stairs in the living room, her red wavy locks wet from her morning shower.

“Sounds good to me.” Katie answered as she walked into the kitchen and grabbed an apple out of the basket on the Island. “But you know we’re going to get weird stares from all the judgy little housewives who think we’re a couple.”

“Maybe we should make out and really give them something to gossip about.” Rebekah suggested with a smirk.

"That would be hilarious." Katie agreed then thought about it. “Wait, you’re kidding right?” she asked with a point at Rebekah with the hand that held the apple. “Because I’ve heard stories about you, Matt and Nadia.”

“There is nothing wrong with having a little fun.” Rebekah responded.

Katie frowned. “No offense, but you’re not exactly my type.”

“I thought Mikaelson was your type.” Rebekah told her with a fake innocent voice then looked at her playfully over her shoulder, poking fun at Katie for sleeping with two of her brothers.

“Ha, ha, real funny.” Katie commented, making Rebekah look back at Hope and feed her a bite of mashed banana and oatmeal cereal. “Besides, If I ever decide to make out with another chick it’s not going to be with my future sister-in-law, because Klaus would be involved and I don't believe in incest.”

“Do you think you and Klaus will ever actually get married? Or is it just something the two of you like to fantasize about?” Rebekah asked, getting serious.

“I don’t know.” Katie answered, then took another bite of the apple in her hand. “I like to think it will happen one day, but if we’re being real I don't ever will.”

“Why not?” Rebekah asked, with a glance away from Hope.

“Because it’s too simple...too normal.” Katie answered with a shrug. “Life with a hybrid significant other and a tribrid daughter will never be normal. Besides, who has time for a wedding when there is always one threat or another lurking around every corner?”

“The hybrid significant other you speak of would find a way to freeze time if it meant he could marry you.” Rebekah pointed out. “It’s been almost a thousand years since I’ve seen him so in love.”

“What do you mean it’s been almost a thousand years? Didn’t he and Elijah love Tatia when you were all human?” Katie asked with a frown.

“He never told you about Aurora did he?” Rebekah asked and Katie shook her head with a frown. “Oh uh, forget I mentioned her.” Rebekah wiped Hope’s mouth clean of bananas, Hope licking the bib as she did, then stood from where she was sitting in front of Hope’s highchair.

"You can't just bring up a woman from his past and expect me to forget about it." Katie argued as she walked over and took Hope out of the highchair. "Who’s Aurora?"

"It's not my story to tell." Rebekah brushed her off.

"You had no problem telling me about Elijah's past loves." Katie countered.

"This is something you need to hear from Klaus himself." Rebekah answered. "If he finds out I told you he will scour the compound for those daggers you hid until he finds them then put one in my heart."

Katie sighed and slipped her hand lovingly over Hope's head. "Did she have really long red hair, light green eyes and thin oval shaped lips?"

"How do you know that?" Rebekah asked.

"Because I found a painting of a woman in the attic and could tell it was done by Klaus." Katie answered. "I brought it up once, but he didn't elaborate. Judging by your sealed lips there’s a good reason why."

"So, how about that trip to the park?" Rebekah asked, changing the subject as she grabbed Hope’s diaper bag and headed for the door.

~~T~V~D~~

Katie was pushing hope in the toddler swing, children playing soccer not too far from them filled the playground with laughter. When a bunch of black birds gathered on the monkey bars of a jungle gym, all looking in their direction, Rebekah said, “Oh no.”

“Oh no, what?” Katie asked turning to look at Rebekah and followed her eyes to the birds. “It’s just birds.”

“Not just birds, starlings.” Rebekah told her. “My mother uses them to do her bidding.” As she said that, more birds flocked to the jungle gym. “If they are here it means she has found me.” Katie’s heart sank in her chest. “Grab Hope. We need to pack our things and get on the move, now.”

Katie grabbed Hope’s diaper bag and Hope and followed Rebekah, who had already called Elijah. Hope fussed, not ready to leave the fun of the playground behind. “I know, sweetheart, but we have to go, okay?”

After they gathered the necessities from their temporary home and got on the road Rebekah called Elijah. “We’re safe for now. I’ve lost her bloody starlings, but I have no idea where to go.” Rebekah told him.

“Tell her to head west.” Katie heard Klaus’s voice in the background.

“Okay. Text me with plans.” Rebekah told Elijah then hung up.

They had been driving for almost an hour when Rebekah got a text from Elijah asking them to meet him at a diner.

It was dark when they finally arrived, Katie’s eyes finding Elijah immediately. It was kind of hard to miss a man dressed in a suit and tie in a roadside diner. Rebekah hugged him first while Katie set Hope’s car seat on the table of the booth and the diaper bag in the seat. When Rebekah pulled away Katie wrapped her arms around Elijah’s shoulders and pressed her face into his neck, breathing in his familiar and comforting clean scent.

When they released each other Elijah turned to Hope and gently scooped her up into his arms then sat down. Katie sat down opposite of him and scooted over so Rebekah could sit on the outside of the seat. “Look at you.” Elijah spoke to the baby. “So big, so perfect. I can’t imagine the joy of spending every day with her. It’s...”

“Quite lovely.” Rebekah finished for him. “It feels so human.”

“Yes. Some would argue, the most human of experiences.” Elijah replied with a smile up at both of them.

“I know I have to let Klaus step in when the time is right, but being a part of her life as a primary caregiver has made me realize how much I want that child of my own that I know I can't have.”

“It’s a lovely dream.” Elijah said as he rocked Hope in his arms. Their conversation made Katie feel bad for having what they never could. Vampirism, a child and the possibility of having more. “Unfortunately it’s one that’s just beyond our reach. Considering the curse of our existence.”

“It seems Esther’s attacking with her usual fervor.” Rebekah pointed out.

“Yes, Mother tortured me for days with memories…” Elijah looked up from Hope with a shake of his head, “I thought I’d buried long ago. Then she made an offer...to make us all mortal again.” while Elijah looked at Rebekah Katie placed her fingertips to her lips with a frown. First Esther makes them vampires, tries to kill them all then offers to undo what she’d done to them as if that would solve anything? The woman truly was insane. “You see, Sister, mother believes that by placing us in new bodies we could then reclaim some kind of purity. We can begin families of our own again. And I have to confess…” He glanced at Katie. “This invitation, however cruel the delivery, had a certain kind of...appeal.”

Katie turned her eyes down to the table, wondering why he glanced at her before she said that, when Hope started fussing, Katie looked at her noticing the blood on the sleeve of his shirt at the same time as Rebekah, who gave Elijah a questioning look.

“You needn’t worry.” Elijah assured them. “We’re safe.”

Hope fussed again. “Looks like this little one needs a diaper change.” Rebekah told them as she grabbed the diaper bag. She and Elijah stood, passing the baby off. Katie who had mastered absentmindedly controlling her hearing and sense of smell now paid closer attention to the restaurant. The whole place was oddly silent, save the waitress who stood behind the counter, and reeked of fresh blood. The fact that Elijah had clearly killed everyone in the restaurant had Katie on edge and full alert, but not knowing what was going on with him, she pretended not to notice.

“How have you been?” Elijah asked, drawing her attention. “You haven’t said a word since you got here.”

“What can I say about the fact that Esther is back from the grave, yet again, and looking to put the people I care about most in weak, mortal bodies.” she asked rhetorically then asked, “So, you find the idea of being mortal again appealing?” just to keep the conversation moving.

Elijah dropped his eyes to the table. “There was a time in my life...when I would have liked very much to start a family of my own.” he looked up at her. “To have a taste of what my brother has laid claim to.” The look in his eyes told her exactly what time in his life he was talking about, when the two of them were together in Ireland.

With a frown on her face she opened her mouth to reply, but Rebekah walked over with Hope and Katie closed her mouth. “Well, she’s all sorted and ready for an adventure.” Elijah and Katie stood from the booth as Rebekah placed Hope in the car seat that Katie placed back on the table. “Aren’t you, my love?”

Elijah smiled as he looked at Hope. “It’s difficult to believe we were all this innocent once.” he slipped a finger over her chubby cheek. “We mustn’t let the world ever hurt her.”

“You’re right,” Rebekah told him as she placed her hand on his shoulder from where she stood behind him, “we mustn’t.” She broke his neck and caught him before he fell to the floor. “The kitchen is littered with bodies.” she explained as she took Elijah’s phone from his jacket pocket.

“I gathered as much from the scent of blood in the air.” Katie replied as she started strapping Hope into her car seat.

Rebekah called Klaus with Elijah’s phone. “Where have you been?” Klaus asked, thinking it was Elijah.

“Nic, it’s me. Something’s wrong. Elijah slaughtered a dozen people who’s only sin was their terrible taste in food. I mean, when have you known him to kill when he could otherwise compel? It’s the kind of act that will draw our mother’s attention.”

She heard Klaus’s sigh on the other end of the phone and couldn’t help itching to talk to him. To keep from doing something stupid she bit her lips closed. “Her torture must have affected him more deeply than I realized. Where is he now?”

“I broke his neck to keep us safe. But I have no clue what to do next.” Rebekah answered.

“Do you recall where we dined the Christmas after we fled Mikael?” Klaus asked.

“Of course.” Rebekah answered.

“Go there. Now.” he told her then hung up.

Katie looked at Rebekah with wide eyes. “Does that mean what I think it means?” Katie asked not being able to help the smile that took over her lips despite the urgency of their situation.

“Yes. I believe it does.” she answered. “You get Hope. I’ll get Elijah.”

~~T~V~D~~

Katie couldn't sleep, due to her excitement of seeing Klaus for the first time in six months. Hope, however, slept through the night waking around the same time Elijah did, when morning came and they pulled into the driveway of a house far out in rural Arkansas.

Pissed at Rebekah for breaking his neck, he gave both the women the silent treatment. He only broke it when Katie came downstairs from showering, wearing a fresh outfit of a pair of light wash, cuffed jean shorts and a form fitting collared white, black and red plaid button up shirt with breast pockets. Her light auburn hair in double French braids. Elijah's eyes drank in her simple beauty and in doing so noticed she still wore the bracelet he gave her on the same wrist as the charm bracelet from her Mystic Falls friends. She also still wore her daylight ring on the pointer finger of her right hand, her promise ring from Klaus on her left ring finger and her phoenix necklace that rested just above the bit of cleavage that the unbuttoned v of her shirt revealed.

“Do I have something on my face?” Katie asked with a curious look making him blink out of his thoughts as she picked Hope up out of her playpen.

“No, I just couldn't help noticing how good motherhood looks on you.” he answered. “And quite frankly I still sometimes get caught off guard by your beauty.”

Katie couldn’t help the frown that formed on her face at his statement. To say he was making her uncomfortable would be an understatement. When she left they were in a good place, they were friends, but now it felt like he was back in square one. She didn’t know exactly what Esther had done to him, but it clearly had his head in an odd and dangerous place.

She was about to make herself be polite and accept the compliment, but Rebekah walked in, saving her from the awkwardness. “Well, isn’t this place rather nice? Nic must’ve compelled a wine lover to keep it up because I found a 2005 bordeaux.” Rebekah announced as she walked into the room and held up a bottle of wine with a smile.

“Awesome.” Katie walked over and took the bottle from her.

“Since when do you drink in the morning?” Rebekah asked.

“Since now.” Katie answered as she turned to Elijah. “Want a glass?”

“I appreciate the sentiment, both of you, but I do recognize when I’m being handled with kid gloves.” he answered.

“Is that a no?” Katie asked with a frown of confusion and looked at Rebekah for an answer. Rebekah nodded so Katie went to the kitchen to put the wine on ice.

“How are you feeling?” Katie listened to the siblings talking as she rummaged through the kitchen for an ice bucket with one hand while the other arm held Hope on her hip.

“Patronized.” Elijah answered with a smart ass tone. “I am here to protect the three of you.”

“I know you mean to.” Rebekah replied as Katie found the ice bucket and set it on the kitchen counter.

“Yet you found it necessary to render me unconscious before bringing me here.” Elijah argued.

“Well, you weren’t yourself, and I needed to get us out of that diner.” Rebekah argued back. “What happened back there?”

As Katie filled the bucket with ice Hope took a piece and started chewing on it. The little one had recently started teething and was chewing on anything and everything like a puppy. Katie simply smiled as she took the ice from her and replaced it with the giraffe teething toy that was on the kitchen counter.

“I don’t know.” Elijah answered Rebekah as Katie stuck the bottle of wine into the ice bucket. “Niklaus sent me to protect Hope and Katie. My job is to keep them safe.”

Katie walked into the living room, catching their eyes. “The wine is chilling and this one,” Katie looked down at Hope who fussed while gnawing on the toy, “is sleepy and honestly, I could use a cat nap myself.”

“Good luck.” Rebekah told her knowing that while Hope slept wonderfully in a car, getting her down for a nap while teething could be tricky.

~~T~V~D~~

A couple hours later Katie and Hope had both had a good nap and a snack, then found Rebekah and Elijah outside. Katie put Hope in a bouncy chair beside Elijah who was sitting on the edge of the front porch then sat down, Hope between them. “What is she doing?” Katie asked Elijah while watching Rebekah stack wood for a bonfire. “It’s over ninety degrees out here.”

“It’s the fourth of July.” Rebekah answered. “I missed being with my family on Christmas so I thought we could make up for that since we are all going to be together and we don’t know when it will happen again.”

“That still doesn’t explain the bonfire.” Katie pointed out while Hope squealed and jumped in her chair.

“It was our family Christmas tradition when we were younger.” Elijah pointed out and Katie looked over at him to see him holding Hope’s hand looking at her like he wanted to pick her up.

“You can hold her, you know.” Katie told him and he looked up at her with slightly squinted eyes. “I know without a doubt that you’d never hurt her.” Elijah gave into temptation and picked her up out of her chair, smoothing down the ruffles on the butt of her sleeveless onesie as he did. Hope started babbling to him and he just smiled.

When they all heard the sound of a car nearing they looked to the driveway to see Klaus’s black range rover speeding down the dirt drive. Katie’s heartbeat quickened as she slipped down off the porch and watched as the suv pulled to a stop and Klaus got out. Their eyes met across the yard a split second before Katie took off running to him. He caught her with his hands on her thighs when she jumped into him, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. He growled out a laugh as he wrapped his arms around her torso and tucked his face into her neck, breathing in her new scent of coconut body products and clean baby. After what felt like forever, just holding each other, he sat her on her feet and they pulled back to look into each others eyes. A sigh left his lips as he closed the space between them and caught her bottom lip between his. A quiet moan bubbled up from the back of her throat as the kiss deepened.

After they missed Rebekah loudly clearing her throat for the fifth time she finally yelled, "Get a room already!"

They finally pulled back, Klaus smiled at her blood rushed eyes as she looked into his and pushed the blood back. With a small smile of her own she grabbed his hand and led him over to Elijah, who still held Hope, where he and Rebekah stood in front of the porch.

Elijah handed Hope to Klaus who took her gently into his arms. While Hope squealed excitedly, Klaus sighed and held her close, pressing a kiss to her soft blond hair covered head.

~~T~V~D~~

As it turned out things had been crazy in New Orleans. For the first four months the wolves followed Francesca Guerrera, excluding Klaus’s small pack who decided to move on. After those four months of suffering, the moonlight rings Genevieve had created were tracked down, taken off the dead bodies of the Guerrera werewolves, and destroyed. Marcel had been busy attempting to build a new vampire community across the river in the Neighborhood of Algiers Point with Josh as his new right hand man. Davina, pissed at Klaus for biting Josh and blaming him for Katie’s death, brought Mikael back from the other side before it collapsed. After Katie killed Genevieve, Esther hijacked the body of the Harvest Girl Cassie and brought with her Finn and Kol in the bodies of other witches. Not long after offering to put Rebekah and Elijah into the bodies of witches and Klaus in the body of a werewolf, to cleanse them of their vampire nature, she jumped into the body of another witch. Now controlling the wolves with new moonlight rings, Esther sent them to kick Marcel out of New Orleans completely, but they have yet to comply.

Klaus hunted down Mikael, who Davina had hidden away in a cabin with alongside Kol, biding her time to try to find a way to unlink Klaus from his sired, and tried to kill him, but Mikael ended up stabbing Klaus with the white oak stake that didn’t kill him because Kol and Davina deactivated it long enough for Klaus to wake up and pull the stake out. With Klaus now in possession of the stake and Mikeal outnumbered by Kol, Davina and Marcel, who’d come looking for Davina to protect her, and Klaus, fled. Before he left to come to Katie and Hope, both Kol and Finn had been taken hostage in the compound and rendered magicless by dark object shackles. Marcel was interrogating them at the moment.

“The most recent bit of worrisome information came just before I got in the car and headed here.” Klaus informed them where they all stood outside, Rebekah adding wood to the bonfire. Hope sat in her bouncer on the front porch. “The curse on the first born.”

“The curse on the first born, what the hell is that supposed to be?” Rebekah asked as she stacked on another log.

“Well, according to Finn, our sister Freya didn’t die of plague.” Klaus started explaining. “She was taken as payment by our Aunt Dahlia who then cursed all Mikaelson firstborns for eternity.” The mention of the aunt's name gave Katie the weird feeling of deja vou, but she brushed it off.

“Do you even know if any of that is true?” Rebekah asked with a frown at Klaus.

“It is if we’re to believe Finn.” Elijah spoke up as he rolled up the sleeves of his white dress shirt, preparing to help Rebekah with the bonfire. “Who learned it from that bastion of truth, our mother.”

“Well, no wonder Finn hates us.” Rebekah thought out loud. “He lost the sister he adored and instead got a judgy pack of siblings who found him unbearably dull.”

Klaus noticed how worried Katie looked. “Don’t worry, Little Phoenix, Dahlia’s long dead and gone.” he told her as he held her tighter to his side.

“Like all the other witches in our lives who keep popping back up from their graves like a freaking wack-a-mole game?” Katie asked as she looked across her shoulder at him.

“No one is going to hurt our daughter because no one’s going to find her.” Klaus assured her then looked at Rebekah who was still putting wood on the fire. “That’s enough wood, Rebekah. You’ll burn down the whole bloody state of Arkansas.

“Well we’re just missing a key ingredient.” Rebekah told him with a snarky look as she dusted her hands off.

“No, we’re not.” Klaus replied grumpily and Elijah and Rebekah smiled.

“Yes, we are, Nic. Back me up, Elijah.” Rebekah said with a smile.

Elijah laughed a little as he looked at Klaus. “I suspect Niklaus would rather choke on the ashes.”

“Okay, for once I’m completely lost on what you three are talking about. Someone wanna fill me in?” Katie asked with a look between the siblings.

“Well, before we light it, we write down our wishes for each other to burn for luck.” Rebekah explained. “It was Kol’s favorite part when we were kids.”

“That’s further evidence as to why we should ignore it.” Klaus responded. Katie thought about it for a second then stood on her toes and whispered something in Klaus’s ear. The siblings watched her bite her lip before she gave Klaus a smile and a flick of her brows. “Alright, fine, I’ll participate in the silly wish game.”

~~T~V~D~~

Katie, Klaus and Hope sat on a blanket in the grass under the tree in the yard, Hope playing with a few toys while her parents watched her. “I’m sorry I wasn't there for you.” Katie said quietly as she looked from Hope to Klaus. “I didn’t even ask if you wanted me to stay with you instead of coming with Hope and Rebekah.”

“Because you didn’t have to ask.” Klaus pointed out. “I would never ask you to choose me over our daughter.” Katie just gave him a fleeting half smile as her eyes looked back at Hope. “I’d be lying if I said life without you was a cakewalk, but before you left...you died.” Katie looked up at him with sad eyes. “I held your lifeless body in my arms and my world shattered. You screamed out my name and I couldn’t get to you.” he cupped her cheek in his hand slipping his thumb over her cheek bone. “In the one moment you couldn’t fight for yourself, when you needed me most, I failed you. Then, like the phoenix you are, you rose from the ashes. Letting you leave to protect our daughter was easier knowing you were alive and safe, even if you were not at my side.”

“Klaus…” Katie sighed as she moved to sit on her knees facing him as she held his hands in hers, “You didn’t fail me.” he just blinked at her and she let a quiet moment pass. “Just so you know, life without you hasn’t been a cakewalk for me either. Having Hope with me made things tolerable and Rebekah’s been a godsend, but I had just started to get the hang of heightened emotions when I became human again. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I love being a vampire so much more than being human, but…” she shook her head with a sigh.

“But you are struggling.” Klaus finished for her.

She nodded. “I’m not just struggling with the emotions this time. I miss my home, I miss you and being with you. I can’t keep a journal and I’ve had a bad case of writer’s block since we left. It all builds up like a ticking time bomb until…” she made an explosion motion with her hands and the sound effect.

“You feed.” he guessed.

Katie nodded. “I feed hard. Not Stefan level of hard but…it's bad and it’s not the kind of mother I want to be...I want to be better for her.”

“That makes two of us.” Klaus agreed as they both looked at Hope who squealed while slinging around a stuffed rabbit.

“I’m not the only one who’s missed you, by the way.” Katie told him as she looked at him watching Hope play with a soft smile on his lips. “Sometimes the only way Rebekah and I can get her to sleep is by playing old voicemails from you.”

“What else don’t I know about my daughter?” he asked as he reached out to Hope and she grabbed his finger and pulled it to her mouth, chewing on his knuckle.

“Well, she, like her father, loves the sound of her own voice.” she started getting an eye roll from him. “That giraffe is her favorite teething toy, but she prefers fingers. When she babbles at you, you better talk back or she will get very mad and scream at you. She also hates peas and could eat her weight in banana oatmeal.”

Klaus took his finger from her making her fuss a little until he handed her the giraffe and she quieted. He cupped Katie’s cheek in his hand as he looked into her eyes then slipped it around to hold the back of her head as he pulled her to him, catching her lips with his. When the kiss broke he rested his forehead on hers. “I love you, My Queen.” She simply smiled and kissed him then laid down on the blanket, putting her head in his lap while he rested his hand on her side and they watched Hope play.

~~T~V~D~~

Rebekah and Elijah talked outside while Klaus and Katie put hope down for a nap.

Katie sat in the corner of the living room watching Klaus hold and rock his daughter, talking her to sleep with sweet nothings. In no time Hope was fast asleep and he gently laid her down in her playpen that had been cushioned with extra blankets. When he stood up and looked at Katie she smiled at the hint of what was to come in his eyes. A crooked smirk appeared on his lips as he beckoned her over with a finger. She stood from the chair and walked over to him. As soon as she was close enough he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into him with a quiet growl.

A quiet giggle left her lips as he whooshed them up to the bedroom, shut the door then pressed her back against it, his lips massaging hers. His body grinding against her while his hands pushed at her shirt. “Klaus.” Katie sighed as she lost control and the blood rushed to her eyes. He moved to kissing her neck while his hand under her shirt fondled her chest, her fingertips pressing into his shoulder blades.

She whooshed them around so that he was pressed against the wall then grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head. As soon as it was off, he grabbed the neckline of her shirt and ripped, sending the buttons flying all over the room. His hands slipped down her arms pushing the shirt off to fall to the floor, then grabbed the back of her neck and roughly pulled her into him for a knee weakening kiss. When he started kissing her neck a light bulb went on in her head. "Klaus." She whispered and he nibbled her neck in response. "Klaus, wait." She managed to get out through the thick layer of pleasure they were wrapped in.

"What is it, Love?" He asked with concern as he pulled back to look into her bright green eyes.

"There's...something I need you to do for me." She told him as she walked over to her bag on the foot of the bed. He watched with a curious frown as she unzipped it and started rummaging around inside. The sound of a cardboard box being torn open hit his ears before she pulled out a purple and blue, square foil packet. "I need you to use this."

It took a second for what she was asking, and why, to click and when it did his jaw slacked a bit. "You're still fertile."

Katie nodded. "And as much as I love Hope I do not want to go through that again any time soon." She added as she walked back over to him. "I'm afraid my vampire body will render birth control pills ineffective, so it's either this or abstinence."

Klaus took the foil packet from her and gave her a smirk. "I will not abstain from that which I crave." He told her as he pulled her into him for a kiss. The fact that she had even bought condoms let him know that abstinence wasn't her first choice either.

The kiss deepened and she placed her hands on his chest and shoved him back into the wall. A deep chuckle left his smirking lusty face at her roughness. She hastily kissed him then kissed along his jaw to his neck breathing in his scent as she gave his neck a nibble just below his ear.

He watched her kiss her way down his chest until she was standing on her knees, looking up at him as she unbuckled his belt. But before she could do what she was planning, he scooped her up and whooshed her to the bed, both of them now on their knees as they made out.

They had lost all their clothes and were lost in one another as he laid her back, pulling a moan from her when he nibbled on her neck. "Klaus, teastaíonn uaim thú, láithreach.” “Klaus, I need you, now.”

"Caithfidh tú impigh." “You have to beg.” He whispered I'm her ear, pulling a moan from her as her back arched.

"Please." She begged, slipping her hands down his chest as he stood up on his knees and grabbed the condom.

"In your native tongue, Mo Bhanríon." He encouraged her with a crooked smirk.

Getting aggravated with him she waited until he tossed the empty packet aside then whoosed them around so that she was straddling him, his hand pinned to the bed by hers. Their fingers threaded together. The blood rushed to her eyes as she looked into his light blues. "Le do thoil, Mo Rí. Crave mé tú freisin” “Please, My King. I crave you too." she whispered then caught his lips with hers, her tongue finding his, the sensation pulling a moan from both of them.

He sat up, wrapping his arms around her to grab her butt as she wrapped her legs around him and her arms around his torso. They looked into each others eyes as he picked her up then sat her down, both of them letting a moan slip as he sank into her.

Their breathy sighs and moans filled the air as she rocked her hips into his. His lips caressed hers as pleasure built between them and when the time felt right Katie pulled back and let the blood flow to her eyes as she tilted her head to the side. A growl rumbled in the back of his throat as the whites of his eyes darkened and his iris’s turned amber. He kissed her neck then nibbled before he gently sank his teeth into her neck. A little hiss of pain left her lips but was soon followed by a breathy moan.

She had never shared her blood with another vampire, other than Elijah, but she didn’t count it because of their link that altered how she felt things between them. But now she understood how sharing her blood, her life essence, with another was, as Elijah had said, intensely intimate. It was like her body and mind opened up to him saying, I need you just as much if not more than the life essence I'm giving you.

Not only was it intimate, but when combined with sex it became incredibly pleasurable. When his wrist touched her lips she bit it, intensifying the pleasure of being fed on and opening a door into him that created a continuous flow of life and energy. The sensation caused a little louder of a moan to slip from both of them. Things only got even better when his free hand grabbed her butt, rocking her against him, sending wave after wave of ecstasy through their every limb.

~~T~V~D~~

Katie lay on top of Klaus kissing his neck as they came down off of their extreme high. "I finally did it." Klaus said as she sat up straddling him. "I finally got those wall rattling moans from you and I didn't need a magical link to do so."

Katie laughed at him as she slipped her hands down his smooth, nude chest. “And now I know what blood sharing is really supposed to feel like.” she said with a smile, watching her fingertips that ghosted back up his chest. His mention of wall rattling moans made her think of the first time they had sex and that he’d seemed disappointed and thought that he hadn’t pleasured her as well as Elijah. Then when he asked if he was the best she’d ever had after their first, and only, date. With that in mind she leaned down and started peppering kisses over his chest then up his neck to his ear. “Wanna know something that I’m sure you already know?” she whispered and he hummed a positive answer as she nibbled on his earlobe. "Is tú an fear is fearr a bhí agam riamh." “You’re the best man I’ve ever had.” Her whispered confession made him growl out a laugh as he rolled them over and kissed her. Things were heating up again when Hope’s sleepy cries hit her ears. "I hate to ruin the moment, but our daughter is awake." She informed him.

"Then we should probably go to her." He told her as he sat up and kissed her one last time before they slipped from bed and started getting dressed. Katie's broken plaid shirt was replaced by a white tank top with a lace overlay and Klaus traded the black hooded shirt he had been wearing for the maroon shirt she had taken with her when she left.

When they got downstairs Elijah held Hope, feeding her a bottle of formula. Katie was surprised when Klaus didn't take her from him. Instead he grabbed Katie's hand, stopping her from sitting on the couch beside Rebekah. "Before we light the bonfire there is something I'd like to say." He announced then looked into Katie's eyes. "A year and eight months ago I took you to your high school's 1920s dance, during which my mother turned Alaric into an original vampire. Lonely and saddened by what you believed to be the loss of your favorite teacher, you found yourself on my doorstep and the night that followed sparked a flame that has only grown with time.”

Klaus brushed her hair, which now hung in waves around her shoulders, behind her ear and cupped her cheek in his hand. “I do not believe it a secret that you captured my attention long ago, but it was that night when I promised myself that I would do everything within my power to mend your broken heart. It was that night, when you admitted that you saw me as a mirror image of yourself, both reflections with their own cracks, chips and complexities.” he dropped his hand from her cheek to grab both of hers in his. “You said you knew that you could not even begin to understand my side of that mirror. As usual you underestimate yourself.” he told her with a tilt of his head and a smirk. Tears formed in her eyes as she looked into his. “Never has anyone stood so unwaveringly at my side, supported me, stayed my hand and quelled my rage quite like you do. So, will you, my bright phoenix, my queen and the wonderful mother of my beautiful daughter,” he let go of her hands and looked at Hope. Katie’s eyes followed his gaze, smiling at their daughter who was now holding on to Rebekah’s fingers while standing in her lap. When she saw a shocked look on Elijah’s face she looked back at Klaus to see him down on one knee, a black felt ring box unopened in his hands, “become my wife?” He opened the box revealing a white gold, pierced filigree solitaire ring with an emerald cut diamond at its center and three tapering in size diamonds on each side of it on the band.

Her eyes went wide and tears slipped down her cheeks as she lifted her eyes from the ring to his. Shocked, she pressed her fingertips to her lips for a second then dropped her hands to rest over her pounding heart. “Oh...god,” she blinked and shook her head, “y...yes.” she smiled and hugged him when he stood and picked her up, spinning her around as he caught her lips with his.

The three of them, in their joy, missed the still shocked look on Elijah’s face that turned to anger as Klaus set Katie down while still kissing her. He got control of it as Rebekah asked, “So, is Caroline still going to be your maid of honor or is that slot available?” Katie looked at her and opened her mouth to answer, but couldn’t come up with one. “Or do you still believe a wedding is never going to happen?”

“What?” Klaus asked, making Katie look at him, yet again speechless.

“I, um…” Katie’s heart felt like it was about to beat out of her chest as her eyes bounced between Klaus, Rebekah and Elijah who now looked concerned like his siblings. “I need some air.” She left them all behind as she walked out of the house and out onto the porch where she grabbed the support post and squeezed her eyes shut.

Klaus gave her a few minutes before he went outside and touched her shoulder, getting her attention. She glanced at him then looked down at her feet. “If you don’t want to marry me just say so. It was not my intention to pressure you into something you do not want.”

A pain shot through her chest at his words and she pushed herself off the post and turned to him. “I do want to marry you. I love you and I can honestly say that I've never wanted anything more in my life than to meet you at the end of an aisle and pledge myself to you for the rest of our lives, to spend forever with you.” He gave her a slow blink that told her he needed an explanation for what she told Rebekah. “When you first brought up the idea of us getting married I told you I wouldn’t marry you unless I could walk down the aisle in the one of a kind Pnina Tornai ball gown of my dreams because that’s all I thought it would ever be. A dream.” she shrugged with a shake of her head. “I mean, how often do our dreams ever become reality?"

"We dreamed of bringing our daughter into a safe environment with a big happy family of originals and werewolves to help us raise her and look how that turned out.” she motioned to the house. “We’re together now but we’ll most likely be scattered and out of touch with one another within the next few days.” she didn’t realize she had started crying until he reached out and wiped a tear. “It’s just so...freaking...hard to see a future in which we have time to actually plan and have a wedding. And I know we could do the whole shotgun thing with just our family and a priest or something, bu-”

He kissed her, shutting her up since she’d made her point and was now just nervously babbling. When it broke he cupped her chin in his hand, “I made you a promise and I will not break it. I will make New Orleans safe for the two of you as soon as possible. When that happens we will have our perfect wedding.” he slipped his thumb over her jaw as he gazed at her tear streaked face.

She blinked rapidly as she took in a deep breath, let it out then took the tiara ring off her left ring finger, placed it on her right one. Seeing what she was doing he took the ring box out of his pocket then slipped the engagement ring onto her finger when she held out her hand. As soon as it was on her finger she threw her arms around his neck. “I love you, Mo rí.”

Rebekah gave them a moment before she stuck her head out of the door. "Shall we light the bonfire to celebrate?"

~~T~V~D~~

Katie stood next to Klaus with Hope in her arms while Elijah stood near the porch. Rebekah was inside. Klaus threw a match into the tower of stacked wood setting it ablaze, Katie pointed it out to Hope, but the baby was more interested in the frozen strawberries in the mesh teether she held in her hands. "Hey, look what I found." Rebekah said, waving a Polaroid camera over her head as she walked down off the porch. "I wonder if it will work."

"Oh bloody hell." Klaus complained as he turned from her, placing his hands on his hips.

"Come on, let's try. Hey, Nic, do you think you can cram us into a selfie?" Rebekah asked, holding the camera out to him.

"Oh, Niklaus is the virtuoso of cramming his siblings into confined spaces." Elijah pointed out as he walked over.

Klaus took the camera from his sister. "I'm so glad I traveled hundreds of miles to visit my mentally ill brother only to have him insult me to my face." Klaus complained as the four of them gathered together, Katie holding Hope beside Klaus who wrapped his arm around her waist with Rebekah on her other side and Elijah beside Rebekah.

“Oh so it was him you came to visit. I see how it is.” Katie joked.

"Oh Come on, just take the picture." Rebekah grumbled. Klaus held up the camera and they all smiled, even Hope, as he snapped a picture. When the camera spit the picture out Rebekah watched over their shoulders as it developed. "I wish it could always be like this."

"If wishes were horses…" Elijah started.

"Beggars would ride." Klaus finished. When the picture was finished developing Katie and Klaus shared a look, both realizing that they couldn't keep the picture. With a heavy sigh he turned to Rebekah. "You do realize we'll have to burn it." Rebekah blinked at him sadly. "You want me to make a wish for the family, Rebekah, I wish it didn't have to be like this, but it does." He handed the picture to Katie. "We can't risk it falling into the wrong hands."

Katie took it and looked at it one last time. It captured what she'd wanted ever since she found out she was pregnant and what she knew the siblings wanted as well, a happy family. A tear slipped down her cheek as she tossed it into the flames.

"No, this isn't right." Rebekah said, taking their attention off the burning photo. "We deserve this...we've earned this." Katie walked over to Klaus. He held his hands out for his daughter and Katie handed her to him. "I won't let it slip away." They all gave her looks that asked what she could possibly do to prevent it. "I know what to do to stop Esther."

"Rebekah, no." Elijah argued.

"I'm gonna take her deal. And when I do, I'm gonna take her down with me.”

~~~~~~

The four of them sat down and worked out a plan. While performing the spell to put Rebekah in a new body Esther would be vulnerable. Kol, with the help of Davina, would use magic to disrupt Esther's spell and hopefully keep the spell from working and either of them from body jumping. While Esther was vulnerable, Klaus would kill her. The only prices to pay were the one it took to buy Kol's help, a paragon diamond he needed to complete a spell to make a weapon against Klaus and the possibility of the plan failing and Rebekah getting put in a human body. Though they all knew that Rebekah had always wanted to be human.

"You sure you're fine here with Elijah?" Klaus asked as the two of them walked to his range rover, Rebekah behind them with Hope in her arms.

Katie looked back at Elijah where he stood on the porch, watching them, then back at Klaus who now stood in the open driver's side door. "We'll take care of each other." She answered with a nod then grabbed his chin in her hand and looked him in the eyes. "Be careful and remember your fiancé will be heartbroken if something happens to you or her future sister-in-law." She turned to Rebekah who gave her a smile at the comment as she handed Hope to her mother. "Good luck."

"We're going to need it." Rebekah replied as she walked around to the passenger side of the suv.

Katie turned back to Klaus who gave her a small smile then caught her lips with his for a sweet, see you later kiss. After it broke he looked down at Hope. "Daddy will miss you, princess." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head then kissed Katie once more before getting into his suv, shutting the door and driving away into the setting sun.

A/N: I am so sorry I disappeared off the face of the earth for a hot minute. Lots of things came up, like a massive wall of writer’s block that was set off by Microsoft word crapping out in the middle of saving an almost complete version of this chapter and the document just poofed off my laptop. Then it didn’t help my writers block when someone left a review calling Katie a slut. On top of writer’s block I got hooked on working diamond paintings thanks to my grandmother. But the point is I’m back. I know this chapter was a bit long, but what did you guys think?

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thebrotherssalvatore321 · 3 years

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Keeping Secrets Ch. 54

Keeping Secrets Masterlist

Katie and Klaus laid in bed both awake, laying on their back staring up at the ceiling, lost in their own thoughts. But eventually Klaus broke the silence. “I have a confession to make.” Katie turned onto her side to look at him with her head resting on his bare arm. “I called Bonnie yesterday evening.” He admitted.

“Why?” Katie drawled with suspicious eyes.

“I asked if she could consult the witches on the other side before they are torn away and find out if you can be turned again.” He told her with a tone that said he was worried she might get mad at him.

“And I’m guessing she was alive to give you an answer?” she asked and he nodded. “So can I be turned after this baby is born?”

“Do you want the short, yes or no, answer or the long explanation.” he asked.

“Short then long.” She answered.

“The short answer is yes, you can still become a vampire after the baby is born.” He answered, making her smile. “Turns out when someone takes the cure, one magic is replaced with another so they can not be turned afterwards. Even after that cure is taken from their blood by another who wishes to be human the essence of the magic is left behind rendering any other magic mute.” Katie sat up and crossed her legs to look at him while he explained things to her. He placed his hand on her leg and rubbed it as he continued talking. “In your case one magic didn’t replace another. The magic that made you a vampire simply faded away leaving no trace of it behind. Because, as a vampire you were healed of all ailments, your human body was in perfect condition to carry on as normal. Since your body is now magic free, you can be made a vampire again.”

“How do we know those witches are any more reliable than the witches here?” Katie asked suspiciously.

“Do you really think your best friend would rely on untrustworthy witches?” Klaus answered her question with a question. “She and I believe them, so perhaps you should too.”

Katie took in a deep breath then let it out. “Okay, when our daughter turns one I will gladly let you turn me.”

“That is another thing I wish to discuss with you.” he told her as he sat up to be eye level with her. “I understand why you wish to wait that long, but I fear, after the multiple threats on your life here of late, that you will not make it a full year.” He rested his hand on the side of her neck and looked her in the eyes. “I cannot, and will not, lose you.”

Katie tilted her head and chewed on the inside of her lip, looking into his eyes as she thought about it. After a minute she took in a deep breath and bit her lips closed as she moved to straddle him. He held her sides in his perfect hands. “How about you give me three days with you two as a human, then you can feed me your blood and choose the best way to turn me.”

“I think I can live with that.” he told her with a crooked smile, happy she didn’t fight him tooth and nail on the subject. He knew she wanted to breastfeed their daughter for a year, but when push came to shove what was best for their daughter was to have a mother who was alive to help raise her.

“Thank you for talking to Bonnie.” she told him with a gentle smile back. “Having our baby aside, I hate being human.”

“Don’t thank me yet.” He told her, making her smile fade. “I didn’t just talk to Bonnie about you being able to turn. I also told her I didn’t much like her leaving you to wonder day to day if she was alive or not. You’re stressed enough as it is, you don’t need to be left in the dark when it comes to your friends.”

As if on cue her text tone chimed and when Katie didn’t get it, expecting Klaus to keep talking he looked at her phone then back at her. So she grabbed it off the bedside table and looked at it to see a text from Bonnie. “Hey, I’m still alive. We’re still looking for a way to fix the other side. What I didn’t tell you was the girls don’t know that I will disappear with the other side. I’ll tell them when the time is right, I promise. I also promise to text you at least once a day and let you know how things are going here in Mystic Falls. Elena and Damon are currently off again, but other than that and this mess with the other side, we’re okay. Love you girl, talk to you soon.”

Katie smiled sadly and texted back, “It’s good to hear from you. I won’t tell the girls, it’s not my place to. That doesn’t surprise me about Damon and Elena. Love you too, Bon, please stay safe.” she hit send then looked up at Klaus who was looking at her like he didn’t know if she was going to be mad at him for putting himself in her business with her friends. “Have I told you how much I love you recently?”

The worried look faded from his face and a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “No, but I never tire of hearing it.”

She smiled as she moved back to sit in his lap with her legs wrapped around him and placed her hands on each side of his neck. “How many stars do you think there are in outer space?” she asked as she looked around in thought.

Klaus smiled and shook his head, taking in her sleep mussed auburn locks. “I have no idea.”

“Well,” she started as he picked her up and laid her back on the bed, hovering over her from the side as he placed random kisses over her chest, “whatever that number is, take it and multiply it by a million and it still wouldn’t touch how much I love you.”

Klaus pulled away with a smile on his face. “Well, that is a sizable amount, but I wonder,” he looked around in thought, “if there are more tiny, little grains of sand on the earth,” he held his thumb and pointer finger up in a pinching manner to show the size then dropped it to cup her cheek in his hand with his arm resting on her pajama tank top covered chest, “than there are stars in the sky, because you could multiply whatever that number is by a billion and it wouldn’t touch how much I love you.”

A smile spread over her face at his confession. Yes, they were being cheesy and they both knew it, but neither of them cared. The cheesy moments tended to be the most memorable.

TVDTVDTVD

While Klaus and Genevieve sat in the formal dining room where Genevieve worked on combining three spells from Esther’s grimoire to make the enhanced moonlight rings, Elijah and Katie sat in the lounge, Elijah having a drink at the bar. “We’ve been building up to this for months. Is it crazy that I’m really freaking nervous now that the day to make moonlight rings is finally here?” Katie asked as she paced the room.

“No, any number of things could go wrong, but we will do our best to make sure nothing does.” Elijah answered calmly.

“Klaus said Marcel has gotten word that we’re planning something with the wolves, what if he decides to do something stupid and screw up our plan?” she asked, still pacing.

“You are letting your fears get the best of you.” Elijah pointed out.

Klaus walked in and Katie was glad Genevieve wasn’t with him. “Genevieve is working on combining the spells as we speak.” He grabbed Katie by the shoulders stopping her pacing. “Everything is going according to plan.” He told her with a pointed look and Katie nodded then took in a deep breath and let it out in an attempt to calm down.

“We have a problem.” Hayley announced as she walked into the room. Klaus rolled his eyes and let his shoulders fall at her bad timing. “Jackson and Oliver were supposed to be back with the stones hours ago.”

“You were saying?” Katie asked with a look at Klaus.

He sighed and gave Hayley the evil eye. “Hello, Hayley, come on in. Make yourself at home.” He told her as he watched her flop down on the couch in the room. He looked at Katie and cupped her chin in his hand. “I will take care of this.” He gave her a pointed look. “Do me a favor and stay here?” he asked and she nodded. “Try to stay calm.”

As Klaus pecked her on the lips Nate walked in. “Did I miss something?” he asked with a look between Klaus and Katie.

“Katie will fill you in.” Klaus answered as he walked past Nate and out of the door.

Nate looked at Katie with raised brows. She stuck her head out the doors and looked around to make sure Genevieve wasn’t around then closed them. “Klaus and I never broke up.” she told Nate quietly. “It was all a lie, a part of a plan that is coming to a head today.” She told him the whole plan while Elijah listened at the door, making sure they weren’t overheard.

“So you’re telling me that Klaus never cared about Genevieve, it was just an act to soften her up and trick her into doing a moonlight ring spell. And the rings will make the wolves more powerful and put them above vampires on the strength scale?” Nate asked. “Why?”

“This baby needs a safe environment to grow up in.” Katie answered. “None of us were fool enough to think the factions would adhere to this peace treaty for long. Getting them to see that they can all live in peace was just the first step. Once the wolves get their rings they will be the army needed to ensure the factions stick to the treaty. As long as everyone plays nice, the factions can live their lives freely and the wolves will no longer be outcast to the bayou. The only time the wolves will be utilized is if anyone comes after me or if they’re stupid enough to come after them.”

“You people are crazy if you think Marcel will go down without a fight.” Nate told her seriously.

“We’re hoping that he’ll see that he can’t beat us and join us.” she replied.

Elijah’s phone started ringing so he answered it and put it on speaker phone. “We’ve located their car on a back road in the middle of nowhere. I suspect they’ve been shanghaied.”

“Really what gave you that idea?” Hayley, who Katie had honestly forgotten was in the room, replied.

“The only person who would be bold enough to snatch my wolf allies is the one who has the most to lose.” Klaus continued, ignoring Hayley.

“Marcel.” Elijah surmised.

“No, he’ll kill them.” Hayley pointed out the obvious.

“Genevieve assures me that Marcel has procured a cloaking spell. The only witch that will aid Marcel is Davina. I just need to get one last bit of leverage before I pay her a visit.” Klaus told them.

Katie took the phone from Elijah and took it off of speaker, “What exactly are you planning on doing?”

“I’d prefer not to say.” He told her, sounding like he was afraid she might find a way to reach through the phone and punch him if he did.

“We are partners, remember.” she reminded him.

“Joshua is my leverage and I plan on biting him.” answered matter-of-factly.

Katie sighed. “Fine, but only bite him if Davina won’t answer you willingly then cure him as soon as you get what you need from Davina and not a second later.” Klaus didn’t respond. “Please, Klaus.”

“Fine, I will try it your way.” Klaus agreed with a sigh and she was pretty sure, an eye roll.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He hung up and Katie handed Elijah his phone back.

“Why would you allow him to hurt Joshua?” Elijah asked, having listened to their conversation, worried about what Klaus was planning.

“Because, unfortunately, a few eggs need to be broken in order to make an omelet.” She answered with a sigh not liking it even though she understood it.

Thirty minutes later Klaus called and told them he knew where Marcel was with Jackson and Oscar. He also assured Katie that while he did have to bite Josh, he had healed him and he was okay, but Davina was still pissed. She expected as much, but hoped there was some way they could make it up to them later.

So Elijah met up with Klaus, leaving Katie with Nate, Hayley and Genevieve. Katie paced the common room while the others sat around patiently. “Klaus should have called by now.” Katie complained as she slipped her hand over her dark grey shirt dress covered stomach.

“You should sit down, try to keep calm.” Genevieve spoke up.

“Yeah, worrying raises blood pressure and high blood pressure is bad for you and the baby.” Nate spoke up.

“Says Doctor Nate.” Katie quipped, still pacing. “I hate not being able to help.”

“Don’t you get it?” Genevieve asked, making Katie stop pacing to frown at her. “You’re the point of all this. Klaus and Elijah running all over town…it’s all for you. I’m actually a bit envious.” Genevieve told her with a shrug.

“You take what’s mine and yet you still envy me.” Katie popped off with a sarcastic tilt of her head then took a sip of the bottle of water in her hand.

“I may have Klaus’s love, but you’re still the mother of his child and as such he will always care about you. Not to mention Elijah has a soft spot for you.” Genevieve pointed out. “Nice bracelet by the way.” Katie took in a deep breath and cracked her neck in an attempt to calm herself and talk herself out of finding something to shove into Genevieve’s carotid artery. As she did she noticed Hayley giving her a look that could’ve caught her head on fire.

“I need fresh air.” Katie excused herself to the balcony as Hayley stood up with her phone in hand and left the room. Not long after, Nate joined her on the balcony and told her that the building Klaus, Elijah and Jackson were in exploded while Hayley was on the phone with Elijah.

They were still standing on the balcony when Elijah, Klaus and Jackson came into the common room. Jackson was injured, but Klaus and Elijah, being quicker healers, were fine.

Since Genevieve had left to check on the harvest girls and their training Katie rushed to Klaus and hugged him. “I’m invincible, Love, no need to worry about me.” he told her then kissed the top of her head.

“Just because you’re invincible doesn’t mean I don’t have to worry about you.” She countered as she pulled away from him then went to the ice bucket and decanter set in the room and made a drink. When she handed it to him he gave her a look considering he usually made his own drinks. “I forgot for a hot minute that I can’t have it.”

“So where are the stones?” Hayley asked with a look between Elijah, Jackson and Klaus.

“Scattered across the bed of the Mississippi, I imagine.” Elijah answered.

“Marcel is no fool.” Klaus spoke up as he hugged Katie from behind. “He knows an empowered werewolf army would mean the end of vampires in New Orleans. The explosion was his way of saying he means to prevent that, for all the good it’ll do him.” he took a drink from the glass Katie had handed him.

“So it was Marcel that bombed the bayou?” Katie asked with a look at him over her shoulder.

“The explosives in the building today matched those used in the Bayou.” Klaus answered.

“Well,” Hayley spoke up, “it did him pretty damn well, didn’t it?” she said with a look between the originals before she went back to checking Jackson over for injuries.

“This is my fault. I will find a way to fix it.” Jackson spoke up for the first time.

“No, Jack, you’re hurt, and no one is blaming you.” Hayley told him.

“I’m blaming you.” Klaus spoke up. “Those stones will be hard to replace. Fortunately, we always have a back up plan.” He looked down at Katie making the rest of them look at her.

“I called Francesca as soon as I heard that Marcel had gotten his hands on Jackson and Oliver.” Katie answered. “It was a failsafe we discussed a few days ago and one I hoped we wouldn’t have to fall back on, but we had no choice.”

“Seriously? The woman is literally a gangster.” Hayley argued.

“I see her more as a means to procure rare items at short notice.” Klaus commented and Katie’s phone dinged.

“She’s about to walk through the courtyard doors.” Katie informed them so they all headed down.

“Greetings, Ms. Correa. I see you’ve brought company.” Klaus said as they walked down the stairs to meet Francesca and four men who stood behind her like bodyguards.

“These are my brothers.” Francesca informed them. “I always include them in delicate business matters.” She glanced back at her brothers. “Fellas, meet Mr. Mikaelson and Miss Finnegan.”

“Please, call me Klaus, all my friends do.” He told them as he tucked his hands behind his back.

“I don’t know if I’d call us friends, but if you and Marcel are planning on having a little throw down,” Francesca turned to one of her brothers who held up a metal briefcase and opened it for her. “I’d prefer my family be on the same side as the inevitable victor.” She turned back to Katie and Klaus, who stood side by side while Hayley, Elijah and Nate stood behind them, a small felt drawstring bag in her hand.

“Then you have what we asked for.” Klaus assumed.

“Not enough for an army at such short notice,” she put the bag in Klaus’s hand, “but it’s a start.”

“Strange,” Elijah walked up to stand next to Katie, “I wasn’t aware that she was familiar with our plan.”

“My price for doing business is full disclosure.” Francesca spoke up as Klaus took out a black stone and examined it. “Your brother and his partner complied.”

“And what does the human faction expect to benefit from all this?” Elijah asked.

“I only want to solidify our allegiance to the ruling class.” Francesca answered. “It’s good for business.”

“If only everyone shared your capacity for reason.” Klaus told her with a smirk.

“Sadly they don’t.” Francesca said with a tone that was more serious and harsh than her already hard tone. “Marcel is being especially vindictive. I’m worried he might come after me or my family just for meeting with you.” She stepped closer to them. “It might be in our best interests if we combine our efforts.”

“So be it.” Klaus told her then looked at Katie. “The more bodies we have to defend the compound, the better. Right?”

“I don’t have a problem with it.” Katie shrugged so Klaus looked back at Francesca.

“Let’s get started shall we?” Klaus asked as he held his hand out to the formal dining room where Genevieve would be performing the spell.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie, Elijah, Klaus and Hayley stood around the table in the formal dining room while Genevieve chanted a spell over the stones that were scattered in a circle of salt with a three legged swirl in the middle of it.

Francesca let herself in. “My people say Marcel is on the move and he’s bringing friends.” she told them, sounding a bit scared.

Klaus looked at Elijah, “Get Katie to safety.”

“No.” Katie told them making Klaus stop. “She’s not leaving my sight until the spell is done.” She told him referring to Genevieve.

“Mine either.” Hayley spoke up.

When a few seconds of silence passed Francesca spoke up. “You two should go. My brothers and their security detail won’t be much against a vampire army.” When the two brothers shared an unsure look Francesca said, “I’ll stay with Katie and Hayley. We will be fine, go.”

Nate let himself into the room and looked at Klaus. “You know I’ll protect her with my life.”

Klaus sighed and went to Katie. “You do not leave his side for anything.” Katie nodded so he and Elijah left to protect them from Marcel and his vampires.

Not too long after Klaus and Elijah left the room the sounds of fighting in the courtyard floated into the room. One of Francesca’s security men came in and informed her that they needed to go and her brothers were already leaving. “Not yet.” Francesca told him, not taking her eyes off the stones. Something about the way she was looking at them rubbed Katie the wrong way, but she brushed it off considering she just didn’t like Francesca.

Katie’s phone started ringing, but she silenced it when she saw that it was just Cami. After chanting the spell a few more times Genevieve stopped and picked up one of the stones, looking at it. “The stones are finished. I’ve done my part. Now it’s up to you.”

“I’ll get them to the bayou.” Hayley said as he walked over to collect the stones.

“Actually, she was talking to me.” Francesca cut in as she walked over to Genevieve and held her hand out.

“Excuse me?” Katie asked as she walked around the table to stand next to Hayley and Nate followed.

“What the hell is this?” Hayley asked.

Genevieve turned her back on Katie and Hayley and placed the stone in Francesca’s hand. “Call it a side deal. Point is I’m taking the stones.” Francesca told them.

“First of all, like hell you are and second what do humans need with moonlight stones?” Katie asked.

“You can’t tell me you seriously think the human’s can go up against the originals.” Hayley added.

“No, I don’t, but I’m not human.” Francesca grabbed the knife off the table and slit the body guard’s throat, making him fall to the floor. Francesca bent over in pain, holding her stomach before she stood up showing them her yellow werewolf eyes. “I’m like you, Hayley. And now I’m gonna take back my town.”

Hayley started for Francesca, but Genevieve cast a spell on her and she fainted. Nate whooshed to her and grabbed her by her neck, but she brain pained him making him let her go before she knocked him out too. Katie, who kept a magic muting bomb in her pocket anytime Genevieve was around, grabbed it and threw it at her then tried to run for the doors, but the bomb had no effect on her and with a twist of Genevieve’s hand she too passed out and fell to the floor.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie woke up, cradled in the arms of a man, a searing pain shot through her back and around to her stomach making her scream out in pain. Genevieve was walking ahead of the man. “What the hell did you do to me you psychotic bitch!?” Katie yelled at Genevieve’s back.

“I had to subdue you, when I did the trauma caused a placental abruption. You’re having your baby tonight.” Genevieve answered, not bothering to stop walking to talk to her face.

Katie mustered her strength and elbowed the guy holding her in the face. He dropped one arm to grab his bleeding nose and as soon as she tried to run another wave of pain rendered her unable to even move. Two men grabbed her by her arms and started dragging her into Saint Ann’s. “Let me go!” she fought with all her might to get out of their grasp, but it was no use.

“Get her on the floor.” Genevieve told the three female witches that took her from the men and sat her on the steps at the front of the sanctuary.

“We should take her to the city of the dead.” Monique argued with Genevieve.

“We won’t make it. The baby is coming now.” Genevieve argued back.

Genevieve made a move toward Katie and Monique grabbed her arm. “The plan was to induce her when the sacrifice was ready.”

“I don’t know how much you know about the human body, but when a baby is coming there is no stopping it, even with magic. We’ll just have to adapt.” Genevieve told her condescendingly.

“What sacrifice are you talking about?” Katie asked as Genevieve and Monique walked over to her and kneeled down.

“To be reborn, we must sacrifice.” Monique told her.

“I’m sorry,” Katie said as she tried her best to breathe through the pain, “I don’t speak bratty teenage witch.” She visibly tensed and gritted her teeth when another wave of pain rolled over her.

“The ancestors demand an offering in exchange for power.” Genevieve told her in human talk.

“And your child will be a fine offering.” Monique added.

“If you so much as lay a finger on her I will murder every witch in this hell hole of a city!” Katie yelled at Monique.

“No, you won’t, and neither will Klaus or Elijah.” Monique told her. “When your baby is born, we will offer it up to those who came before us.”

“Screw you!” Katie yelled and head butted Monique making her fall on her ass and grab her head in pain.

Another witch took her place and put pressure on Katie’s shoulder keeping her from headbutting anyone else. “I’m sorry.” Genevieve told her, making Katie look at her. “If I don’t sacrifice your baby the ancestors will kill me and I am not ready to die.”

Katie sat up as much as she could, glaring at Genevieve with a searing hatred in her eyes. “You will pay for this.” Her words came out as a growl and Genevieve actually looked a little scared for a second.

When another wave of pain rolled over her, Katie threw back her head and screamed Klaus’s name as loud as she possibly could, not caring what it was doing to her vocal cords. She hoped with everything in her that he would hear her.

A few minutes later, when Katie was all screamed out and had been moved to the altar table of the church, Klaus finally showed up. Katie, weak from fighting, just turned her head to the side and watched as he beheaded the male witch that tried to stand in his way then as Monique, Abigail and Genevieve used their powers to pick him up, move him across the sanctuary and pin him to the wall over the altar. He fought it, but he too had been weakened and couldn’t fight their spell.

Most women cursed and screamed as they gave birth, but Katie didn’t. She simply kept her eyes on Klaus and breathed through the pain knowing the baby was coming, there was no getting out of their current predicament and now that Klaus was there and just as powerless as her, screaming wouldn’t help.

Genevieve picked up a silver dagger off of a nearby table and looked up at Klaus. “You should know this brings me no joy. I promise I’ll make it quick.” Katie still kept her eyes on Klaus as the two harvest girls tossed a sheet over Katie’s bent knees. “Let’s begin, shall we.” Genevieve moved to the foot of the table.

Feeling her body telling her that it was time to push Katie did as it said. The whole time Klaus yelled profanities and threats at the witches. “I will bring hell to your doorstep!”

“I can see the head.” Genevieve told Katie between pushes. “The baby’s almost here.” Katie pushed again but couldn’t do it for long before she had to stop.

“I will bathe in rivers of your blood!”

“Come on, Katie, one last push.” Genevieve prompted so Katie gathered all her strength and pushed once more.

“You will die screaming!”

As the pressure and pain finally eased, Genevieve took the baby into her hands. “It’s here.” she announced as the cord was cut with the silver dagger and the baby, covered in placental fluid and blood was wrapped in a white blanket. Genevieve, holding his daughter, looked up at Klaus who had gone silent. “You have a beautiful baby daughter.” For the first time Katie took her eyes off of Klaus to look at their baby. “We must start the sacrifice as soon as the moon sets with the morning sky.”

“Please.” Katie begged weakly, “Please give me my baby.”

She was surprised when one of the witches helped her sit up and Genevieve placed the tiny girl in her arms. Overwhelmed with love and the relief of finally holding her blue eyed baby in her arms, tears slipped down her sweaty cheeks and she looked at Klaus. His blue eyes were wide as he too was overwhelmed by the sight of his daughter. Katie saw something in his face change a split second before a sharp pain shot across her neck and warm sticky blood flowed from her neck and down her chest. “No!” Klaus screamed.

Her eyes stayed on Klaus as she held onto the feel of her daughter in her arms as long as she could. Klaus had no other option but to watch as the fire in her eyes, that he loved so much, disappeared and they slipped shut. She fell back on the table as Genevieve took the baby from her limp arms.

Klaus screamed at them in anger as Genevieve, Monique and Abigail started out of the church, but Monique put a stop to it with a twist of her fist in the air, breaking Klaus’s neck as he fell to the floor.

When he woke, he whooshed to Katie and slipped his arms under her, holding her bridal style, cradling her into her chest as tears slipped down his cheeks and sobs shook his body. No longer able to stand he slipped to the floor and leaned against the altar table.

TVDTVDTVD

“Bonnie?” Katie asked, making Bonnie, who was standing in her and Elena’s college dorm room, turn to look at her. “How did I get here?”

“No.” Bonnie sighed, not answering Katie’s question.

“No what?” Elena asked, turning from where she stood putting clothes away in her dresser.

“It’s Katie.” Bonnie answered with wide eyes. “She’s dead.” Her words came out in a whisper.

“No. I can’t be dead.” Her eyes went wide. “Besides I’m human, why would I go to the other side?” Katie argued.

“You’re a reincarnation.” Bonnie pointed out.

“How?” Elena asked with wide shocked eyes as she walked over to stand beside Bonnie.

Katie thought about it for a second before she remembered. “The witches…” she whispered as she placed her hand on her neck. “They took my baby then slit my throat…” Bonnie told Elena then held her hand out for Katie to take and pass through her. “No.” Katie shook her head and took a step back. “I can’t go to the other side. Not until I find out what happened to my baby.”

Bonnie took her phone out of her back pocket and called Klaus. When the call went to voicemail after a few rings Bonnie hung up and tried again. He once again ignored it. “He keeps sending the call to voicemail.”

“Then keep calling until he picks up.” Katie pushed so Bonnie kept calling.

“Take a hint, love.” Klaus answered then hung up.

Bonnie called him back and he picked up again. “Don’t hang up. Katie’s here.”

“What do you mean?” he asked with a voice that told her if she was joking he would murder her.

“She’s a reincarnation. So I can see her.” Bonnie told him then put the phone on speaker so that Katie could hear him.

“Prove it.” He told her. “How much did I tell her I loved her this morning?”

Katie answered the question and Bonnie repeated. “More than all the grains of sand on the earth.” Bonnie paraphrased.

“Katie…” Klaus sighed.

“Ask him where the baby is, please.” Katie told Bonnie, but before she could relay the message Katie’s ghost disappeared.

“She’s gone.” Bonnie said with a look around.

“What do you mean she’s gone?” Klaus asked.

“I mean she’s disappeared and I don't know where she went.” Bonnie told him and Klaus hung up on her.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie gasped as she sat straight up on the table in the sanctuary of the church and looked around to see that she was alone. Her hand went to her blood crusted neck, remembering everything that had happened, the harvest girls pinning Klaus to the wall as she had the baby, holding her daughter while Genevieve slit her throat, then seeing Bonnie and Elena before she woke up here. “How am I back?” she asked herself as she slid off the table.

A woman walked into the church most likely to worship or to have a peaceful moment to herself. Instead her eyes landed on Katie, her hair clumped with sweat and blood wearing a dark grey, blood stained dress. “Oh lord…are you okay?” she asked as she rushed over to Katie, ready to help her. That’s when Katie realized she could smell the blood that coursed through the woman’s veins and the hunger that burned her veins.

“I am…so sorry.” Katie told her making the woman give her a confused look before Katie grabbed her and sank her teeth into the woman’s neck and drank a few gulps of blood then tilted her head back with a smile. This time when the pain of her fangs coming in pulsed through her mouth and sinuses she embraced it and the power and strength that came with it. She force fed the woman her blood then looked into her eyes. “Forget everything that you saw and everything that happened after you set foot in this church.”

As she walked out of the church and into the early morning light she looked down at her hand, happy she never stopped wearing her daylight ring. Then she realized she felt something. It was almost like her link to Elijah, but not as strong or detailed. It was more of a feeling than a link, but it was one that she needed to follow, so she did. When it led her to the cemetery she realized it was her daughter. “We’ve passed through here twice already.” She heard Elijah saying nearby. “We’re running out of time.”

She heard glass break before Klaus said, “Then we move faster.”

She whooshed to them. “Or you could follow me.” Katie spoke up as she walked into the tomb Elijah and Klaus were in. Both of them looked at her as if they thought they were hallucinating, but when Katie ran to Klaus and threw her arms around him he realized she was really there.

“How are you here?” Elijah asked.

“I don’t know for sure, I just know I woke up in transition, fed on some poor woman then found my way here.” Katie explained then pulled away from him. “I can feel her, I can feel our baby. So I need you two to follow me.”

“Lead the way, Little Phoenix.” Klaus told her with his hand held out to the doorway of the tomb.

They followed her straight to the three witches that were chanting around an altar, the baby lying in a basket of blankets in the middle of it. Genevieve had the dagger in her hand, raised over her head. “No!” Katie and Klaus yelled at the same time.

Elijah picked up a vase and threw it at Genevieve, knocking the dagger out of her hand. While Genevieve ran to retrieve the dagger, Monique and Abigail joined hands then held their other ones up, flinging Klaus, Katie and Elijah back. An army of ghost witches appeared between them and the two harvest girls. “You fools, to come against us in our place of power in our strongest hour.” Monique told them. “You don’t face three, you face us all.”

“You handle them. I’ve got her.” Katie told Klaus then ran in the direction she’d seen the dagger fall. She found it just as Genevieve was picking it up and kicked it out of her hand before she punched Genevieve twice. Thinking she had knocked her out Katie ran for her baby, but was stopped with a resounding pain in her head that made her stop and cry out and sink to the concrete on her knees. When Klaus threw a wrought iron spike from the cemetery fencing and impaled Abigail, the army of ghosts faded away.

Monique ran by Katie and grabbed the dagger. Katie managed to grab her ankle and trip her, but it didn’t do much good because Genevieve intensified the pain making Katie let go of the girl’s ankle. Katie yelled out in frustration as she fought against the pain, whooshed to Genevieve, grabbed her head and slammed it into the tomb beside them, knocking her out.

No longer in pain, Katie turned back to the altar to see Monique with the dagger raised above her head, but before Katie could even whoosh over to stop her, a throwing star was embedded into the young witch’s chest. Two inch cuts covered her body and blood slipped from her open mouth before she fell to the ground.

As her eyes followed the direction the star had come from she saw Marcel, who whooshed to the altar, grabbed the basket and whooshed away. Klaus gave her a look that told her to stay with Elijah then whooshed away. Katie walked over to Elijah looking like she was ready to break.

Elijah wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his chest. “You needn’t worry. Marcel would never harm a child.”

Katie pulled out of the hug. “Yet he bombed the bayou.”

“I believe Francesca has been biding her time, stirring things up, waiting for her moment to strike.” Elijah told her. “Regardless, Klaus will handle him. We have to take care of her.” Elijah told her as Genevieve started to stir. Katie whooshed over and grabbed Genevieve by her arms that she quickly bent around behind her back in a painful manner making Genevieve cry out. Katie brought her into a tomb and Elijah chained her up. “Why?” Elijah asked as he stepped back. “Was killing an innocent baby for more power really worth it?”

“Not just power. It was the ancestors’ decree. It was her decree.” Genevieve answered.

Elijah grabbed her face roughly in his hand, “It was whose decree?”

“I’m surprised you have to ask.” Genevieve laughed. “After all, you were the one who convinced your siblings to consecrate her in New Orleans soil.”

“Have I mentioned I hate your mom?” Katie asked from where she stood behind Elijah.

Elijah let go of Genevieve’s face in disgust. “So, not even death can stop my mother from seeking the annihilation of her own flesh and blood.”

“This isn’t the end.” Genevieve told them. “As long as that child lives, the witches of New Orleans will never stop coming for it. Ester will never stop coming for it. It has been decreed. Your baby will be consecrated among her ancestors. She will not live.” Genevieve started crying. “Tell Klaus I’m sorry.”

“Haven’t you figured it out yet?” Katie asked as she walked over to stand face to face with Genevieve and Elijah gave her space to talk to Genevieve. “Klaus never cared about you. I told you…Klaus…loves…me. He loves his family, but you…? You are nothing more than the woman who drove a wedge between him and his family and the pathetic, naive bitch that severely underestimated me.”

Blood replaced the tears that were freely slipping down Genevieve’s cheeks. “They’re coming for me.” she sobbed.

“I’ve been dreaming about doing this for months now.” Katie told her as she grabbed her neck in her hands. Genevieve’s eyes went wide as her airflow was cut off. “Allow me to save the ancestors the trouble.” She squeezed Genevieve’s neck until her head fell to the ground and her headless body, dripping in blood, went limp in the chains. She stretched her neck with a sigh and rolled her shoulders. “God that felt good.” When she turned around she saw Elijah looking at her with a concerned frown and when he looked down at her hands coated in blood and bits of flesh and bone she looked down at her hands, unaffected by the sight. Elijah whipped the handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to her. She took it and wiped her hands as she walked past him headed to the compound.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie, now showered and wearing clean clothes, held her also freshly bathed baby in her arms as she rocked her in the chair in the nursery. “We should have felt our mother’s hand in this.” Klaus told Elijah where he and his brother sat in the bedroom. “We should have known she would not be bound by anything as obvious as death and now she has control of the witches. They will never stop.”

“No they will not.” Elijah agreed.

“Nor would I expect the Guerrera wolves to back down. Everyone knows the child can create hybrids and as such is a threat to the wolves and Francesca’s claim to leadership. She will never be safe.” Katie looked up from her daughter to Klaus. “What was it you said to me earlier, that I have made enemies every day of my miserable life? Well, the worst of them are within these borders, Brother.” Elijah sighed and dropped his head. “I have brought into the world a weapon they can use against us.”

“Then we will arm ourselves.” Elijah argued. “Brother, we have fought every adversary in this town, and we have won, and we’ll fight them again. No matter who they are. We will make this home a fortress.”

Katie frowned and looked down at her baby who cooed at her. “I will not have her live her life as a prisoner.” Klaus argued back saying what Katie was thinking.

“Then we leave here together, all of us.” Elijah tried.

“Wherever we go, however far we run, those who seek power and revenge will hunt us, they will hunt her.” Klaus pointed out. “She has inherited all our enemies with none of our defenses.”

“So whether we stay or we leave, we condemn her.” Elijah surmised.

The men got quiet, trying to come up with a solution. As Katie looked at her daughter’s blue eyes, chubby cheeks and her tiny hand that held her pinky, she realized if they wanted to keep their daughter safe there was only one thing they could do. Tears slipped down her cheeks at the thought of leaving Klaus and Elijah. “Katie?” Klaus asked as he walked over and kneeled by the rocking chair. “Are you alright, Love?”

“Yeah.” She sniffled and the baby jerked at the loud sound, but didn’t wake up. “I think I know what we need to do to keep her safe, but I don’t like it and neither will you.” Klaus and Elijah waited for her to continue. “Other than Marcel, no one knows this baby and I are alive and everyone knows our heads have been on the chopping block since we first sat foot in this town.”

“What are you suggesting exactly?” Elijah asked with a frown.

“She wants to fake their deaths.” Klaus guessed with wide eyes.

“Yes.” Katie agreed. “We can leave town and find somewhere safe to hunker down or we’ll stay on the move, whatever is the safest. We will stay away until the two of you fix this broken city and make it safe for the princess to return to her kingdom.”

Klaus sighed and looked down, trying to hold back tears. “You will need someone to cloak you.” he told her as he stood up and looked down at her. With the baby asleep Katie stood and laid her in her crib. Klaus walked over and stood beside her, looking down at his beautiful daughter. “But you can’t do it alone.” Katie looked away from their daughter to give him a questioning look. “Okay, you could, but you don’t have to. I’m sure Rebekah would love the chance to be a true aunt to her niece.”

“Is this really what we want to do?” Elijah asked and Klaus and Katie looked at each other then looked at him and nodded. “Then, I believe there are preparations to be made.” Elijah left giving Klaus and Katie a few minutes together before they started making arrangements.

“What happened to Nate?” Katie asked and Klaus’s eyes fell. “He didn’t make it, did he?”

“He was amongst those bitten and finished off by the Guerrera’s.” Katie sighed and rested her forehead on his chest as he wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her back comfortingly.

TVDTVDTVD

Klaus held their baby while Katie finished packing her bag. “So the witches killed me, the wolves killed our baby and Marcel has agreed to let you compel him to forget what he knows in exchange for vials of your blood?” Katie asked just wanting to make sure she had things straight.

“And Rebekah is on her way.” he added. “You and I will meet her on the outskirts of the city tonight. Also Elijah and I took our grieving public. There is now a picture of you and something to represent baby Mikaelson on the memorial wall the city’s residents have put together for the loved ones lost in last night’s so-called gang violence.”

Katie put a shirt of his in a zip lock bag making him give her a curious look. “Call me weird, but I can’t be away from you and not have something that smells like you.”

He smiled and shook his head at her. “There are a few things left on our checklist.” He pointed out with a look down at the little nameless girl in his arms.

“I thought something would come to mind when I saw her face, but…nothing.” Katie answered.

“Elijah said something to me this morning that stuck with me.” Klaus told her. “He said that you and our baby are this family’s hope. I think it's a fitting name.”

“Hope Dorothy Mikaelson.” Katie said, putting the names together as she slipped the back of her finger down her daughter’s cheek. “I like it. What about you, Hope?” The baby squeaked, making her parents laugh at her.

“I think she likes it.” Klaus said with a smirk at Katie. “There’s one thing I want before you have to go.” He told her as his smirk fell and he handed Hope to her then sat down on the foot stool and motioned to the rocking chair so she sat down. “I want to see you sing to her.”

Tears slipped down her cheeks and he reached out and wiped them away. She took a deep breath then let it out. “Hormones have nothing on heightened vampire emotions.” She sighed and Klaus smiled. She leaned back in the chair and propped her feet up in his lap. When she was sure she could sing without crying she started, “Midnight moonlight shining through the curtain lace paints a perfect picture on your perfect face. One sweet angel sleeping in my arms.” She kept her eyes on Hope as she sang, because if she looked at Klaus she would remember that this would be one of the last moments the three of them had together for a while. If she thought about that she would cry and she didn’t want to ruin it. “And you’ll never know how much we love you, but we’ll keep on loving you our whole life through. Now I believe in miracles and you’re the reason why. So dream on while I sing you my angel’s lullaby.”

When she looked up at Klaus she could see trails on his cheeks where he’d let a few tears fall. “Thank you, Little Phoenix.”

“You’re welcome, Big Bad Wolf.” She told him as they stood up and he placed a tender kiss to her lips. When it broke and they pulled apart, he saw that her true face was showing. “I swear your kisses taste better than they used to.” she told him with a smirk as she pushed back the urge to bite him.

“It’s time.” They heard Elijah say and they turned to see him standing in the doorway.

“What?” Katie asked with a look out the window to see the sun had set.

“Already?” Klaus asked as he too looked at the window.

Katie took in a deep breath as she laid hope in her crib then went to the vanity in the room and pulled three CD cases out. “I uh, honestly didn’t know if I would make it through this pregnancy in one piece, so as soon as Klaus gave me my studio I started working on these.” She handed one labeled with his name on it to Elijah then another to Klaus. “Most people probably would have just written letters, but that’s not me, so…” she shrugged then looked at Klaus. “Just keep in mind I thought I would be dead when these found their way into your hands.” She handed Klaus one with Baby M. written on it. “You might get more use out of this than Hope will. The song I sang earlier is on there.” With those handed out she grabbed the car seat and sat it on the foot of the bed while Klaus went for Hope.

Elijah held his arms out for the baby to say his goodbye and Klaus passed her to him. “So I hear your name is Hope.” He told the now bright eyed baby.

“We actually have you to thank for her name, Brother.” Klaus pointed out.

“Our family’s hope.” Elijah whispered recalling what he’d said to his brother.

Not wanting to, but knowing they couldn’t keep stalling Katie grabbed her bag and Hope’s and threw the straps over her shoulder. Elijah kissed Hope’s forehead then handed her to Klaus. While he put her in her car seat and strapped her in Katie went to Elijah. He took her hand in his and slipped his thumb over the infinity sign. When their eyes met she threw her arms around his neck not able to hold back her tears. “I’m gonna miss you, Button Pusher.”

Elijah laughed as she let go and took a step back. “This house is going to be quiet without you, Songbird.” He told her as he wiped her tears and she gave him a sad smile. She turned from him to Klaus who held the handle of hope’s car seat in one hand and the other out to her.

TVDTVDTVD

They were both quiet as they drove out to the middle of nowhere and they ended up getting to the agreed meeting spot before Rebekah. So while Klaus got out and took Hope from her car set, wanting to hold her as much as he could before they had to go separate ways, Katie made a bottle of formula then brought it to him where he leaned against the hood of the car. Words didn’t feel appropriate for the moment so she just leaned her head on his shoulder and watched him feed her.

Hope had finished her bottle, been burped and Klaus had his now free arm wrapped around Katie’s waist when Rebekah pulled up, got out of her car then walked over to join them. Rebekah and Klaus looked at each other with small smiles, a huge contrast to the last time they’d seen one another. “Hello, Sister.”

Rebekah looked down at Hope in Klaus’s arms and moved the blanket she was wrapped in so that she could see her face. “She looks like her mother.” Katie smiled when Rebekah glanced at her then back at Klaus. “Maybe there is a god after all.”

Klaus quietly chuckled as he looked down at his daughter. “Well, she has a hint of the devil in her eyes. That’s all me.” they all smiled before Klaus got serious. “You’ll need a witch you can trust to cast a cloaking spell.”

“We’ll find one.” Rebekah told him.

“No one can ever find her.” he replied.

Rebekah placed her hand on his arm. “I know what to do, Nik.” Hope cooed and they looked down at her. “Perhaps we’ll get a white fence. I think that will be lovely.”

Preparing to hand Hope over to Rebekah, Klaus moved her around in his arms to hold her in both of his hands facing him. “This city would have seen you dead, but I will have it your home, and every soul who wishes you harm will be struck down.” he whispered to his daughter. “Just as sure as my blood runs through your veins, you will return to me.” he kissed her forehead and cheek then passed her over to Rebekah. When he pulled the carved knight out of his pocket and placed it on Hope’s blanket Rebekah looked up at him with wide eyes.

Katie chose this moment to dismiss herself and grab their bags. She was putting them in the trunk of Rebekah’s car while Rebekah put Hope in a car seat that was already strapped into the back seat, when Klaus walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Losing the battle with heightened emotions Katie wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face into the bend of his neck, wetting it with tears. After a few long seconds she pulled back and looked into his watery blue eyes as he brushed away a tear from her cheek. “I had a plan, you know.” He told her as he took her hand in his, fiddling with the tiara ring on her finger. “During your three human days, I would propose to you. I was even planning on inviting Rebekah to the wedding. Then, after we were wed and on a night of your choosing, I would give you my blood, let you fall asleep in my arms and when you woke up I’d have a glass of fresh blood waiting for you to drink so we could spend the rest of our lives together, raising our daughter in our home surrounded by our family.”

His confession only made her cry harder before she pulled herself together enough to say, “I would have loved that.”

“Instead, as it tends to do, fate decided otherwise.” He told her as he slipped his thumb over her wet cheek. “But, I promise, one of these days you will be my wife and we will have our big happy village.” Katie threw herself into his arms, catching his lips in a kiss that told him all the things she couldn’t stop crying long enough to say. When it broke he pressed his forehead to hers. “I love you,” he pulled back and picked up the pendant of the necklace she never took off, “My Phoenix Queen.”

A smile pulled at the corners of her lips as she took his hand in hers and looked at the ring on his finger. “I know you have to sell your grief, but please, don’t ever take it off.”

“Never.” He answered.

She kissed him one last time then hugged him. “I love you too, My Wolf King.” She forced herself to let him go then got into the back seat of Rebekah’s car and drove away.

#the originals #t.o.#to the originals fanfiction #to fanfiction #the vampire diaries #the vampire diaries fanfiction #tvd #tvd fanfiction #klaus mikaelson #niklaus mikaelson #klaus mikaelson fanfiction #klaus mikaelson x oc #klaus mikaelson x oc fanfiction #klaus x oc fanfiction #klaus x oc #rebekah mikaelson #elijah mikaelson #marcel gerard

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thebrotherssalvatore321 · 3 years

Text

Keeping Secrets Ch. 53

Keeping Secrets Masterlist

Katie laid in bed on her side, her eyes taking in Klaus who was sleeping on his side facing her. His lips were parted as slow quiet breaths slipped between them and his eyes were closed, but Katie could see them moving around behind his eyelids. When his brow creased she thought he might be having a nightmare. So in an attempt to soothe him she slipped her fingertips over his creased forehead and down the bridge of his nose. She was pulling her hand back when he jerked awake. For a split second the look in his blue eyes suggested he’d forgotten where he was, but as he fully woke up and saw her he relaxed. “Bad dream?” she asked quietly. He hummed a positive answer. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.” he shook his head and turned onto his back then held his arm out for her. So she scooted over and laid her head on his shoulder. He started playing with her hair enjoying the silence. “How high do you think the chances are of us spending the whole day together uninterrupted?”

“Not very if I’m being honest.” She answered. “At some point we’re going to have to deal with the fallout of last night’s attack.” Katie pointed out. “And my stomach has been growling for the past thirty minutes. I’m surprised that’s not what woke you up.”

“If you’re hungry, why haven’t you eaten yet?” he asked curiously.

“I was afraid you would wake up if I left the bed.” she answered with a look up at him.

Klaus heaved out a breath, not liking that she was going hungry for his sake, as he turned over to grab his phone off the bedside table. He called the kitchen maid and told him what to bring up for breakfast. “There, problem solved.”

“I forget there are people here being paid to wait on us hand and foot.” She sighed as he wrapped his arm back around her and resumed playing with her hair.

“You should utilize it more often.” He told her with a look down at her stomach.

“I’ll try, but it’s hard to get used to having people wait on me when a little over two years ago I was the one waiting on people for what little tips they decided to leave me.” she said as she looked down at his hand on her belly. “How does your little princess sound this morning?” she asked, missing the time when she could hear her child’s heartbeat.

“Healthy as ever.” He answered with a small smile. “Have you thought any more about a name for this little one?”

“I still can’t come up with a first name, but I have a middle name in mind.” She admitted.

“Are you going to keep me guessing or are you going to share it with me?” he asked with a bit of a smirk.

“Dorothy.” Katie answered.

“Like ‘The Wizard of Oz’?” Klaus asked. “You were named after a ‘Gone With The Wind’ character so you want to name our child after another iconic heroine?”

“No.” Katie laughed. “After my mother, Dorothea.”

“Your first mother or your second?” he asked curiously.

“Second.” Katie answered. “I wouldn’t name a dung beetle after my first mother, much less our child.”

“You don’t talk about your first mother much.” Klaus commented as he turned onto his side so he could see her face better.

“There’s not much to say.” Katie shrugged and Klaus gave her a look that told her he wanted to know more about her past, things she hadn’t written about in the journals he’d read. “She was…cold. My sister and I…we were just a wifely duty and one she considered a failure because we weren’t boys who could carry on the Easton name.” Katie answered, earning a frown from Klaus. “Not once did I ever see a glimmer of love in that woman’s eyes. Not even for my sister.”

“What do you mean, not even for your sister?” Klaus asked, noticing the distant look her eyes took on while talking about her first life.

“She was the golden child. Poised, polite, obedient, beautiful like our mother…everything our father could have asked for in a girl, but she was still a girl. So…” Katie shrugged suggesting that even perfection could save them from their father’s hatred. “I on the other hand looked like a feminine copy of my father with a smart mouth and a defiant attitude.”

“Well, I happen to like your smart mouth and your sister sounds like the perfect match for Finn” He told her as he leaned in and caught her lips with his in a short kiss. “And I like Dorothy.”

TVDTVDTVD

Katie was sitting in the kitchen finishing up her lunch when Klaus found her. “Are you feeling up to a visit to the church?” he asked as he slipped his hand over her shoulders and she looked up at his worried face.

“Sure, what’s up?” she asked as she pushed her empty plate away.

“Marcel contacted me. Father Kieran isn’t doing well and Marcel is worried about Cami. He would go check on her himself, but-”

“But he’s been banned from the quarter.” She finished as she hopped down off the stool. “Let me grab my bag and I’ll meet you in the courtyard.”

TVDTVDTVD

Josh, Cami and a doctor stood around Father Kieran who was restrained in a chair. Josh was putting a gag into Kieran's mouth. “Well, isn’t this a gruesome little scene?” Klaus asked, announcing their presence.

Cami turned to them with wide eyes. “Klaus, Katie, what are you doing here?”

“I received an urgent call on your behalf.” Klaus answered. “It seems we’ve been tasked with doing what your coward of a boyfriend could not.” Klaus and Katie walked further into the attic that used to be Davina’s room. “Which, by the looks of things, is dissuading you from whatever madness it is you’re about to attempt.”

“ECT?” Katie asked with a look at the machine sitting behind Father Kieran’s chair. “Is he really that far gone that you have to resort to shock therapy?”

Cami ignored her and turned to the doctor in the room. “Are you ready?”

“Please.” The doctor replied, “I’m begging you, don’t force me to do this.”

“Fine. I’ll do it myself.” Cami said as she walked around him, grabbed the electrodes and dipped them in clear gel. Katie looked up at Klaus afraid of what she was about to see done to an innocent man like Father Kieran.

Klaus slipped his arm around Katie’s waist and pulled her into his side. “Camille, your uncle is a good man. He shouldn’t suffer.” He reasoned.

“He’s been suffering for weeks.” Cami argued. “He’s dying, Klaus. This might be the only chance he’s got.” She put the electrodes to her uncle’s temples causing him to yell in pain. Katie flinched and bit her lips closed, hating seeing the man in pain.

When Cami pulled the electrodes away, Klaus left her side to take the electrodes from Cami who moved to her uncle’s side. Kieran sniffled and looked at Cami, seeming to be lucid for a second as he said her name, but soon after his face changed to hateful and glaring, “What the hell did you do to me?”

“We have to do it again.” Cami moved back behind Kieran’s chair.

“Whoa, are you serious?” Josh asked.

“That was something coherent. It’s working.” Cami put her hand on the electrodes, but Klaus put his hand on hers stopping her.

“Doctor,” Klaus started, “See to your patient.” The doctor clicked a pen light on and shined it in Kieran’s eyes. The machine tracking Father Kieran’s vitals was beeping rapidly and irregularly.

“His heartbeat is irregular. We can’t keep this up. It’ll kill him.” The doctor informed them all.

“No!” Cami tried to take a step toward her uncle, but Klaus stepped in the way.

“Cami, we need to have a word, in private.” Klaus then walked over to Katie and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “You and Joshua get the doctor and his machine out of here.” Katie gave him a nod then waited for him and Cami to be out of ear shot.

Katie unplugged the ECT machine and handed it to the doctor. “Josh, do your thing.” she said with a jerk of her head to the doctor. “He needs to get out of here before things get too bad.”

Josh nodded and ushered the doctor out of the attic. While they were gone Katie stood by the door to the attic waiting for Klaus and Cami to come back. Kieran stared at her for a few seconds before he looked to the side as if someone were talking to him. Then out of nowhere he growled and bit his thumb off, pulling it from the restraint as he lunged at her. She yelped and stumbled back out of the doorway only for father Kieran to slam into an invisible wall. Someone had put a boundary spell on the attic.

Having heard her yelp Klaus whooshed up to her only to see that she was safe and Father K. was beating on the invisible wall with a thumbless hand, his other one was still attached to the chair behind him. A few minutes later Josh came back to see what had happened. The two vampires got Kieran on the bed and restrained him while Katie grabbed the sedative left behind by the doctor and drew up the appropriate amount for a man his size.

Only after he was sedated did Katie pull a chair up beside the bed and start working on bandaging the priest’s hand. She was almost done when Klaus’s phone started ringing. He answered it, had a short conversation with the person on the other end then hung up. “What’s wrong?” Katie asked, noticing the frown on his face.

“Someone bombed the bayou.” He answered.

“Should you go do something about it?” Katie asked with wide eyes.

“No, we’re needed here. Elijah can handle the bayou bombing.” He answered with a shake of his head then called Elijah.

Katie, Klaus and Cami were standing around Father Kieran’s bed when the machine flat lined and he started fighting to breathe. “He’s in cardiac arrest.” Katie announced with a look at the monitor.

“You might want to look away.” Klaus told Cami before he plunged his fist into the priest’s chest.

“What are you doing?!” Cami asked, shocked by what Klaus had just done.

“Massaging his heart.” Klaus answered and the monitor started beeping again. “His body is shutting down. Even with my help he doesn’t have much time.”

“Your blood.” Cami said, desperately looking for a way to save her only family. “If you fed him your blood, he’d wake back up, right?”

“As a vampire in transition, yes.” Klaus answered with a look at Katie who stood on the other side of the bed watching him massage Kieran’s heart. “As for the hex,” he shook his head and looked at Cami over his shoulder, “perhaps his death will be a mercy.”

Tears slipped down Cami’s cheeks. “Do it.” her eyes slipped closed and she shook her head. “Just do it. Please, Klaus, I can’t let him die, not like this.”

Klaus looked at Katie for her opinion and she nodded her head. So he bit his wrist, placed it to the priest’s lips then took his hand from his chest and let his heart stop beating.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie and Klaus sat on a pew in the sanctuary while Cami lit a candle for her uncle. “Why did you agree with turning him?” Klaus asked quietly.

“Because the chances of the priest actually wanting to become a vampire are incredibly low, he won’t turn. He will still die, but if becoming a transitioning vampire will break the hex then they will have the chance to say goodbye and Cami will get the closure that she didn’t have the opportunity too with her brother.” She answered. “It was the only way to make things even close to right in this screwed up situation.”

Klaus kissed her then stood and went to Cami and told her Kieran should be waking up soon. So they all went up to the attic to be there when he woke.

Katie and Klaus stood at the foot of his bed while Cami sat beside him. Cami jumped a little when Kieran sat straight up then looked at her. “Cami, what happened?” he asked with a look at her then Katie and Klaus before he spun around and put his feet on the floor. “The hex…I could feel it like a living thing inside of me.” he looked at his hand to see that the x between his thumb and index finger was gone. “It’s gone.” Cami engulfed her uncle in a hug with tears in her eyes. When he hugged her back he saw his bandaged hand and missing thumb. “Oh my god.”

“Yes, you’ve had a trying day, Father.” Klaus said as he tucked his hands behind his back. Kieran looked around with an odd look on his face, probably realizing he didn’t feel normal. “How best to break it to you? It appears the hex was broken by your death.”

“Back up.” Kieran said, then looked at Klaus and Katie out of the corners of his eyes. “I died? For how long?”

“A few hours or so.” Katie answered.

“I’m sorry.” Cami told him with tears slipping down her cheeks. “I just couldn’t lose you, not like that. I made him give you his blood.”

“I see.” Kieran sighed. “So the devil has a deal for me after all.”

“Actually, you could still go where you’re supposed to.” Katie spoke up not wanting him to think he was damned to hell just because he’d died with vampire blood in his system.

“What do you mean?” Klaus asked, wondering what she was talking about.

Katie looked up at Klaus, “Your mother told Elena that even though you turned Jenna her soul remained pure. So she didn’t get trapped on the other side like most supernatural creatures.” She looked at Kieran, “She passed on and found peace and I believe it would be no different for you. I’m sure you know that if you don’t feed you’ll die, but Jenna fed and still remained pure, so if you want to have more time to-”

“Katie,” the priest interrupted as politely as he could, “I appreciate the options you're trying to give me, but I do not want to transition.” Kieran looked up at Cami who wiped a tear on her face. “Please leave me with my niece. I’d like a private moment to talk with her.”

When Klaus and Katie didn’t move, afraid to leave Cami alone with him Cami moved to Klaus and placed her hand on his upper arm. “It’s okay. Thank you for today, both of you, for being kind.” Katie wanted to say she didn’t do anything, but thought better of it and just gave her a small smile and a nod of her head. They both headed down stairs.

“I think I know who was behind the attack on the bayou.” Klaus told her as they came to a stop in the middle of the isle of the sanctuary.

“Really, who?” Katie asked with a frown.

“I think Genevieve has figured us out and she is taking it out on us by attempting to foil our peace with the wolves.” He told her and she nodded. “I need to go speak with her.”

“I’ll stay here.” Katie told him, making him sigh and give her a look that told her he wished she would let him take her home. “Cami doesn’t need to be alone right now and Father Kieran is better. I’ll be okay.”

“Call Nate. I don’t want either of you here alone with him.” He told her then leaned down and kissed her then left her behind.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie was sitting on a pew at the front of the sanctuary, waiting on Nate, while Cami sat in the upper balcony, taking a moment for herself when Katie heard Cami ask, “Have you changed your mind?” Katie looked behind her to see that Kieran had left the attic. Not a minute later Cami yelped then jumped over the balcony railing.

“Shit.” Katie cursed as she took her bag off of her shoulder, grabbed a vervain grenade then tossed the bag to the side. Kieran whooshed downstairs grabbed Cami and threw her into a pew, breaking it. Katie yelped and hid behind the pew she had been sitting on. When she saw Kieran pull Cami past her to the front of the sanctuary then grab her hair and make her stand on her knees, Cami saw Katie. Kieran was too occupied, listening to the voices in his head, people he saw that they didn’t, to see Katie mouth, “Cover your face.” and shield her own with her arm. When Cami’s face was shielded Katie pulled the pin on the vervain grenade in her hand then threw it at Kieran. When it wet off he screamed out in pain and let go of Cami’s hair. Katie ran to Cami. “We have to run, now.” Katie helped her to her feet and they were almost to the front doors when Kieran whooshed in front of them, his eyes red and framed by veins.

But before he could hurt them, his neck was broken. As he fell to the side, Nate came into view. Before Katie could say anything Cami went limp against her. “Whoa, hey.” Nate said as he stepped up and took the dead weight off of Katie. He was laying Cami on the floor when Klaus whooshed in, stopping when he saw Kieran passed out on the floor.

“What happened?” Klaus asked as he walked around Kieran to Katie, his eyes scanning her for any injury.

“Kieran’s hex came back.” Katie answered feeling a little faint herself as the adrenaline that has been coursing through her since Cami jumped off the balcony backed off. “He tried to kill us, but Nate whooshed in and broke his neck before he could.”

Klaus looked at Nate, “You know, I was wary of you at first.” Klaus told him as he wrapped his arm around Katie’s waist.

“What, have I finally gotten on your very short list of trusted people?” Nate asked as he stood up.

“No, however you do have my gratitude.” Klaus told him with a half smirk.

Katie smiled and shook her head at Klaus. “Okay, so what do we do about Father Crazy Pants?” she asked as she turned around looking at the still passed out priest. “He was dangerous enough when he was human.”

Klaus walked over to the broken pew and grabbed a sharp piece of wood. “I think there’s only one thing we can do, what both of them would have wanted.” Klaus kneeled down and drove the stake into Father Kieran’s heart causing veins to rise to the surface of his skin that turned grayish purple.

Katie stayed with Nate and the still passed out Cami while Klaus carried Father K. up to the attic and placed him on the bed so he wouldn’t be the first thing seen when someone entered the church. “Father Crazy Pants?” Nate asked with a serious look at her. “That was a little disrespectful don’t you think?”

“Yeah…I didn’t mean for it to be. It was an attempt to lighten the mood that failed.” Katie explained and Nate just smirked and rolled his eyes at her.

When Klaus came back, Nate left then Klaus scooped Cami up in his arms and they brought her home. Klaus laid her in her bed then they sat in her living room waiting for her to wake up. “I was wrong about Genevieve. She has no idea that we’re still together. The bayou bombing wasn’t her.”

“Then who was it?” Katie asked with a frown. “Marcel?”

“No.” Klaus answered with a shake of his head. “There were women and children who were killed in that bombing.” Katie gave him a ‘so?’ look. “Marcel has one rule he never breaks. He never hurts children.”

“So if not the witches or either group of vampires…then who? The human’s, they have no reason to go after the wolves.” Katie asked.

Before Klaus could answer Cami called, “Marcel?” from the darkness of her bedroom.

“Are those two together now?” Katie asked and Klaus just hummed a positive answer as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. Katie saw Marcel’s name on the screen before Klaus hit call.

“Klaus, you need to know I had nothing to do with that business out in the bayou today.” Katie heard Marcel clearly in the silence of the room.

“I never thought you did.” Klaus replied. “I’m calling to let you know the priest is dead. Your exile is suspended for the next 24 hours. You may return to the quarter to bury your friend.”

“Why are you doing this?” Marcel asked, confused by Klaus’s mercy.

“Cami woke in the dark not knowing where she was or who was watching over her. It was your name she called.” Klaus answered. “If you can grant her comfort, so be it.”

“I’m on my way.” Marcel answered then hung up.

“That was nice of you.” Katie commented.

“If the situation were reversed, if Marcel were here and you in Cami’s place calling out my name in the dark, I’d like to think Marcel would do the same.” He explained as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

In a matter of minutes, a knock sounded on the door and Klaus answered it, letting Marcel in. He went straight to Cami so Katie and Klaus left.

TVDTVDTVD

The next morning Katie once again woke before Klaus and after watching his restless sleep she brushed his slightly wavy hair back out of his face. When her fingertips touched his scalp Klaus’s dream took over her mind's eye. He was in the church, looking down at a baby in a coffin. “Hi.” He cooed to the baby then started to pick it up, but the sharp squish of a stake through his body made him stand up straight, blood poured from his mouth as his eyes met hers seeing her in his dream. But her eyes were trained on Mikael who stood behind him, his hand on the indestructible white oak stake that was sticking out of Klaus’s chest.

Klaus turned to face his father who grabbed him by the neck. “Greetings, Boy.”

Klaus took in a guttural breath, waking from his dream with a start and Katie pulled back her hand. Klaus’s eyes found hers that were frowning at him in worry. He squeezed his eyes closed and pulled her closer, resting his forehead on her chest. It was clear he didn’t want to talk about it. So she simply placed her hand on the back of his neck and rubbed it comfortingly.

Eventually, though they got out of bed, showered and dressed for Father Kieran’s wake at Rousseau’s. When they walked into the bar, cheery music was being played by a band in the corner while people drank and a few danced. “How could I have guessed that a New Orleans wake would be nothing like a regular wake?” Katie asked as they walked over to the bar where Klaus ordered a drink then took a seat in a corner booth. The whole atmosphere felt wrong for the mood Klaus was in. His bad mood put Katie in an odd mood as well.

Both of them were staring down at the table when Cami joined them. “Hey, earth to you.” Both of them looked up but said nothing. “Listen, I wanted to thank you.”

“Unless you come equipped with the means to fill this,” Klaus held up his glass that now only contained ice, “No additional platitudes are necessary.”

Cami looked at Katie who just gave her a tight lipped smile and shrugged. “Okay.” Cami drawled then looked back at Klaus. “I’m in a crap mood because my uncle just died and people are partying like it’s Mardi Gras. What’s your excuse?”

“I’ve been having dreams about my dead father.” Klaus admitted out loud for the first time. “No diagnosis necessary, love. I’ve already got this one covered. My fears of fatherhood, of scarring my child as my father scarred me are manifesting as nightmares.” He grabbed his drink only to remember that it was empty. “So horrifically cliché.”

“Okay, why don’t I go get you a refill?” Katie asked as she grabbed his glass and Cami stood from the curved booth to let Katie out.

She was standing at the bar when Marcel walked up beside her. “How are you?” he asked as he put his arms on the bar and sat down.

“Considering I saw a priest die, turn, try to kill me then get staked yesterday…I can confidently say I’ve been better.” She told him as she looked across her shoulder at him. “Not to mention Klaus is in a mood and this bartender is incredibly slow.”

“Let me help you out.” he flagged down the bartender and he ordered his drink then motioned for the bartender to take her order too.

“Thanks.” She told him with a small smile.

“You’re welcome.” He told her with a smile that showed off his perfect white teeth. “So how’s your old man? I haven’t heard from him since he left.”

“He is living in our old house and dating my best friend’s mother.” Katie answered as the bartender set Klaus’s drink and her coke in front of her.

“How weird is that for you?” he asked curiously.

“Only very.” She answered as she turned and saw Cami get up from their booth and head their way. “I should get this to Klaus before the ice melts.” She started to walk off.

“Wait.” Marcel said as he gently grabbed her elbow. “I want to thank you for whatever it was you said to Klaus to get him to let me come here and be a part of this…to be there for Cami.” He told her genuinely.

“Your thanks are unnecessary.” She told him honestly. “I had nothing to do with it. That was a mercy granted by Klaus himself with no influence from me. But just so you know, you have my condolences on the loss of both of your friends.” she told him, talking about Father K. and Thierry. Then turned and headed back over to Klaus.

A few minutes later Marcel grabbed a glass and a bottle and clinked them together making the band in the corner stop playing. “I know I haven’t been around these parts lately.” Marcel started. “It’s a testament to Father Kieran that we could come together and share a drink and a story or two. Kieran rolled into town on a rusty old cruiser after his daddy died 25 years ago. And, damn it, that guy could party.” Everyone in the room laughed and Cami smiled. “That was, of course, before he took his vows. But even then, he was committed to the quarter. He knew that this town needed him and we still do.” He held up his glass for a toast. “To Father K.” The rest of the room echoed him, but Katie watched Camille try and fail to not cry before she disappeared into the kitchen. Not long after the band started playing the cheery music again Francesca went into the kitchen with Cami.

Katie scooted over in the booth as Elijah joined them with a bottle in his hand. He was pouring them both a drink when Katie saw Cami storm out of the kitchen and Francesca came out and ordered a drink. “It seems rather uncivilized…” Klaus spoke up bringing Katie’s attention back to their table, “to laugh and dance around the body of a loved one.”

“Yes, far better to practice your process of grief, isn’t it, Klaus?” Elijah asked as he capped the bottle. “Denial, rage, and hoarding coffins in basements.” When Hayley walked over to them Elijah scooted closer to Katie and offered Hayley a seat so she took it. “I will warn you, Hayley, Niklaus is in a spectacularly foul mood today.”

“Sod off.” Klaus complained as he grabbed the bottle and refreshed his glass.

“What’s the deal with these moonlight rings?” Hayley asked, ignoring the brother’s banter. “Oliver’s trying to start a revolution every five seconds. People are scared, angry, and frankly I’m tired of stalling.”

Katie rolled her eyes at Hayley and placed her elbow on the table and rested her head in her hand. “It’s a day of peace, Hayley. Try and enjoy it. In the meantime the rings are in progress. I will live up to my word. We will find and punish whoever launched the attack on the bayou. But right now, I’m gonna finish this bottle and the next in the hopes of drowning the demon that has chosen today to haunt me.” he held the bottle in his hand up and looked up at the ceiling. “Cheers, Mikael. Impeccable Freudian timing.”

Elijah looked at Hayley as he sat up straighter. “Will you give us a moment?” Hayley nodded and left them and Elijah looked at Klaus. “Elaborate. Have you dreamt of our father?”

“Go ahead, have a good laugh.” Klaus told him grumpily. Katie felt a little out of place sitting between them, keeping her mouth shut.

“I can assure you there is not a piece of this that I find even remotely amusing, Niklaus. Especially considering I’ve been dreaming of him too.” Elijah told them, being completely serious.

“What?” Klaus asked.

“If you are also seeing him…” Elijah looked across the room at Genevieve who just joined the party. “Perhaps our elusive, unknown enemy is orchestrating a further attack.”

When Klaus looked at Genevieve she gave him a coy smile, clearly whatever mistakes Klaus had made with the two of them had been resolved or forgotten. “Well then, what better way to punctuate a day of peace than by killing someone?” Klaus gave her a smile and wiggled his fingers at her in a wave.

While they had been talking Katie had been thinking. “As much as I would love for you to kill her, I don’t think she’s the cause of this.”

“What do you mean?” Klaus asked with a frown at her.

“I think it’s your father’s doing.” She answered. “Remember what Bonnie said about the spirits on the other side being able to interact with our side?” she asked and a look of realization that this wasn’t a trick, but really his father messing with them, appeared on Klaus’s face.

“Would one of you be so kind as to fill me in?” Elijah asked.

“The purgatory that supernatural souls get trapped in when they die, the one that Bonnie is the anchor to, it’s been tampered with.” Katie told him. “Souls are being torn away into nothingness and the vale between our side and theirs is thinning. I’m fairly certain that the dreams you’ve been having are really your father reaching out from the other side and messing with your heads.” Katie explained.

“So you’re saying that our father, faced with permanent extinction, has decided to spend his remaining time tormenting us.” Elijah summarized. “How delightful.”

“On the plus side we’ll soon be rid of his abhorrent soul forever.” Klaus spoke up. “And what a good riddance that will be.”

“And I may or may not lose Bonnie, again.” Katie said putting two and two together for the first time since talking to Bonnie. “I need to make a call.” She pushed Elijah’s shoulder and he let her out of the booth. He followed her out as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed Bonnie’s number.

This time Bonnie picked up after just a few rings. “Hey, what up?”

“Are you going to die?” Katie asked, getting straight to the point.

“I don’t know what you’re-” Bonnie started.

“If the other side ceases to exist, will you disappear with it?” Katie asked and looked over her shoulder when she felt Elijah touch her back. Bonnie didn’t answer. “Answer me Bonnie.”

“Yes.” Bonnie finally answered.

Katie squeezed her eyes closed. “Please tell me you guys have found a way to stop it or to at least save you.”

“If I did I would be lying.” Bonnie answered, bringing tears to Katie’s eyes. “The other side is just a spell cast by a witch…it requires balance and when those travelers overpowered me they messed with the balance.”

“So toss another weight on the scale.” Katie told her pacing back and forth, Elijah standing by not knowing what to do.

“You know that’s not how it works.” Bonnie told her with a shaky voice. “When the other side goes, so will I. I’ve accepted it and I know it’s a lot to ask, but I need you to accept it too.” Bonnie’s voice cracked and tears started slipping down Katie’s cheeks.

“No, Bonnie, I’m not going to accept that. You can’t just…disappear.” Katie argued.

“I don’t have an option. So I need you to listen to me because I don’t know how much longer I have it could be a week or it could be a day.” Katie stopped pacing and wrapped her arm around herself turning her eyes to Klaus who walked out of the bar and over to her and Elijah where they stood under the awning of Rousseau’s. “I love you and I am so proud of the woman I saw you become while I was on the other side.”

“Stop it, Bonnie, don’t tell me goodbye. I can’t hear it.” Katie begged.

“Yes, you can.” Bonnie argued and Katie could tell by her voice that she was crying but trying to sound strong. “You want to know how I know you can hear it?” Bonnie asked and Katie just sniffled. “Because you are strong and you will only get stronger.” She heard Bonnie sniffle before she kept talking. “So I’m going to tell you that you’ve been the best friend a girl could ask for and I will forever be grateful for that. If we find a way to save me and the other side, I’ll call you and if I don’t call just…know I went peacefully, okay?” Katie didn’t say anything back. “Katie, say okay.”

Katie took in a deep breath then let it out as Klaus cupped her cheek in his hand. “Okay.”

“Goodbye, Katie.”

“Goodbye, Bon.” Katie replied then heard Bonnie hang up.

“Klaus?” Genevieve’s voice made Klaus turn to see her walking over cautiously. “Is everything okay?”

“Now is not a good time, Genevieve.” Klaus told her.

Elijah handed Katie a handkerchief and she gave him a small smile in thanks. “Actually, Genevieve, I’d like a minute of your time if you have it to give.”

Genevieve looked at Klaus who gave her a nod. “Of course.”

Klaus and Elijah walked over to one of the free tables and sat down while Katie and Genevieve sat at another. “What do you know about the other side, the purgatory that supernatural spirits get stuck in when they die?”

“I know that it’s separate from where the New Orleans ancestors reside and it was created by a vengeful witch. But that’s about it. Why do you ask?” Genevieve answered.

“Because the other side is disintegrating and a friend of mine, a witch, is the anchor. When the other side is gone, my friend will be gone with it.” Katie explained as another tear slipped down her cheek. “I know you don’t like me and you have no reason to help me, but I hear you’re really good at what you do and-”

“Katie,” Genevieve interrupted, “if the other side really is unraveling there’s nothing I can do to save your friend.” Katie’s shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry.” Genevieve got up from the table and walked over to Klaus and Elijah, but Katie paid it no mind and rested her head on the table.

After Genevieve went back inside Klaus went to Katie and held his hand out for her so she took it and let him walk her home. They were about to walk through the doors into the courtyard when a chill ran down Katie’s spine as she looked around, but didn’t see anyone. “Are you alright?” Klaus asked, noticing that she had stopped.

“Yeah, just caught a chill.” She brushed it off.

TVDTVDTVD

The next evening Katie sat in the church between Elijah and Klaus listening to people talk about Father Kieran and his life. If Katie was being honest she was blocking it all out, not listening for fear of it turning into Bonnie’s funeral in her head.

After the service Kieran’s coffin was placed into the back of a horse drawn carriage and everyone gathered behind the carriage to walk behind him on his journey to the cemetery. Katie coughed for the millionth time that morning and Klaus placed his hand on her lower back as Elijah rubbed her shoulder and asked, “Are you alright, you look-”

“Like a beluga whale wrapped in black?” Katie asked.

“I was going to say you look lovely.” Elijah countered with a smirk.

“I do wish you’d stop comparing yourself to large sea creatures.” Klaus told her as Katie coughed again. “Elijah’s right, you look beautiful as always, but you sound horrible. Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah, it’s probably just a head cold.” She answered.

“Regardless, I’m taking you to a doctor after the funeral.” Klaus insisted.

“Fine if you…” she had to stop talking and cough again, “insist.” She finished the sentence between coughs and when she pulled her hand back the brothers saw blood on her palm. The next cough brought with it a stream of blood that filled her hand and coated her clothes.

Klaus caught her when she passed out and he and Elijah brought her to the compound. Genevieve, having seen Katie faint, followed them.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie awoke lying on a table in the courtyard, all the color the place once had was washed out and as she slowly sat up a movement to her right caught her eye. She turned to see Mikael walk into the courtyard. “Mikael?” Katie slid off of the table putting it between them. “This has to be a dream…like you’ve been doing to Elijah and Klaus.” She was thinking out loud, stalling whatever was to follow the evil look in Mikael’s eyes.

“On the contrary, my darling,” Mikael told her as he walked around the table and Katie started backing away, “this is very real.” Mikael whooshed at her and wrapped his arm around her neck from behind. “Welcome to my hell. Stuck in an eternity of watching over that hideous creature my children call brother.”

“Let me go.” Katie growled as she tried and failed to pull his arm off of her. “You call him a monster, but the only monster I see in this family is you. You’re the pathetic one who can’t get over the fact that your wife screwed a werewolf. Even in death you can’t see that your pride…your wrath…made your children everything that they are. Your son-” he tightened his arm around her neck cutting her off.

“He is not, my son!” he yelled and threw her away from him. She managed to stay on her feet. “He’s a scourge, a walking symbol of weakness.”

“Of whose weakness?” Katie countered. “His or your wife’s?” her retort pissed him off and he grabbed her neck in his hand, pinning her to the wall of the courtyard.

“Are you any better than her?” he asked with a dirty look down at her stomach. “Laying with a beast when a true Mikaelson pines for you.” she grabbed his arm and practically snarled at him, fighting him though she knew it was useless. “Though you may try…there is no saving that atrocity festering in your womb. Klaus will destroy it one way or another.”

“Unlike you, Klaus loves his child. He’d never hurt her.” Katie rasped.

“Better it dies now and you along with it.” Mikael told her as he reared back his head, the veins appearing under his eyes, preparing to bite her. Whimpers and growls left her as she fought with all her human strength to escape his grasp.

A guttural gasp sounded out through the courtyard as she woke up back in the real world and sat straight up on the table in the courtyard. “It's okay, Sweetheart, I’m here.” Klaus told her as he brushed her hair, dampened by his blood that he tried to give her to save her, out of her face. “I’ve got you, you’re safe.”

Katie closed her eyes for a moment, catching her breath, before she looked around, noticing Genevieve standing behind Klaus before she looked at him. “Is the baby okay, can you hear her heartbeat?” Katie asked with wide eyes.

Klaus nodded. “It’s strong, but you’re going to a doctor in the morning whether you like it or not.” He told her so she nodded.

“Until then I can examine her, if you’d like." Genevieve spoke up and Katie gave her a why-are-you-here look.

“She saved you, and our baby.” Klaus told her so Katie looked back at Genevieve and gave her a nod.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie lay on the bed of her room next to the nursery while Genevieve examined her. When she was done she helped Katie sit up. “Thank you for saving me today.” Katie told her as she stared down at her hands folded in her lap.

“I didn’t do it for you.” Genevieve told her matter-of-factly with her nose in the air. “I did it for Klaus.” Katie pursed her lips and pulled them to the side with a nod. “You’re in the clear, but I’d still take it easy and go to a doctor in the morning.” Katie gave her a salute as Genevieve left, shutting the door behind her.

Katie had showered and was sitting at the vanity in the room writing in a notebook when Elijah found her. The party in honor of Father K was still going on in the street and the jazz music floated up into the room. “I seriously don’t get the way people in this city grieve. When I die please don’t party it up like it's freaking new years eve.”

“You almost did.” She stood from the vanity to look at him as she crossed her arms over her chest. “The last time I felt that….frightened was almost a year ago when for the second time in my life I heard your heart cease to beat.” Katie didn’t know what to say so she didn't say anything as he cleared the distance between them and brushed her hair out of her face then cupped her cheek in his hand. “It reminded me how important you are to me.”

Katie’s eyes slipped closed for a second, pushing back tears, before she looked up at his narrowed, dark chocolate brown eyes. “Where are you going with this?” she asked quietly.

“I don’t let people in, but you…with your compassionate soul, made your way into my heart during a time in my life when I didn’t want to feel anything.” The overwhelming amount of love in his eyes pulled at her heartstrings. “I love you, Katie.” Her brows drew together and she swallowed hard as she picked up her foot and started tapping her bare toes into the hardwood, a sign he knew meant she was trying to keep her emotions in check. “Not as Hannah, not as a lover, but as my friend,” he placed his other hand on her other cheek, holding her face in his hands, “my family.” A tear slipped down each of her cheeks and he swiped them away with his thumbs. “It’s a love that, in a thousand years, I have never felt before and one…I hope is reciprocated.”

He thought when she grabbed his wrists and took his hands from her face then turned her back, that she was rejecting him, but as he watched her walk over to her vanity and pull a Tiffany blue box out of a drawer he knew that wasn’t the case. “You…” she started, as she turned and started walking back over to him, “can press my buttons almost as easily as Elena used to.” She popped the box open, took out the necklace then tossed the box on the bed. “But I never stopped loving you, Elijah, not even for a second.” She held the necklace out to him then stuck out her left wrist.

He took the necklace, but didn’t wrap it around her wrist. “Not even when I compelled you?” he asked curiously as he walked over to her vanity and sat down.

Curious as to what he was doing, she walked over to watch him. “That was a hard one to forgive, but no, not even when you compelled me.” she answered as she watched him manipulate the delicate chain links to turn the necklace into a bracelet by doubling the silver chain on each side of the silver, horizontal infinity sign with diamond accents and a rose gold heart in the center of it. When he was done he stood up and motioned for her wrist. She held it out, letting him fasten the necklace, turned bracelet, around it.

She looked up from her wrist and gave him a small smile as she wrapped her arms around his neck, rested her chin on them and closed her eyes as she felt his hands press into her shoulder blades. When they pulled away he gave her a small smile and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “You should get some rest.” She just gave him a half smile and a nod and he left her to sleep.

TVDTVDTVD

After speaking to Marcel before his allotted time in the French Quarter was up, Klaus returned home to find Katie sitting at her desk in their quarters writing something on pretty stationery. When she noticed he was back, she capped the pen and put it and the letter she was writing away.

“I assumed you would be asleep after the day you’ve had.” He told her as she stood up and he closed the space between them.

“No, I had a song swirling around in my head and needed to get it down before it disappeared.” She told him as she slipped her hands up his chest that was still clad in his black tux.

Seeing the sparkle he grabbed her hand, looking at the bracelet. “Should I be worried?”

She moved her arms to rest on his shoulders as she looked into his eyes then smiled. “What do you think?”

“I think…” he slid his arms around her waist, “I see a symbol of my brother’s undying love for you on your wrist.”

“Yes, but the love it represents has finally changed to match my love for him.” she told him.

“And that type of love is…?” he prompted.

She rolled her eyes at him and dead panned. “Seriously? After everything you still have to ask?” he gave her a crooked smile and a blink that told her no, he didn’t, but he still liked to hear it. “Elijah and I are officially life long friends and I believe it this time.” She told him with a pointed look then changed the subject. “So where did you disappear to?”

“I needed to speak to Marcel before his time in the quarter was up.” he told her with a look around and when his eyes met hers she could tell there was more on his mind.

So she walked over to the bed and sat down, needing to get off her tired feet, then jerked her head for him to join her. So he did. “Talk to me.”

“My father may have been influencing my dreams, but the fear of scarring our child as my father scarred me is real.” He admitted quietly as he dropped his eyes to her hand that he took in his.

“You’re not your father.” She assured him with a shake of her head. “And you never will be.”

“Are you so sure?” he asked.

“Yes.” She answered without missing a beat. “Look at me, Klaus.” When he didn’t she scooted closer to him and cupped his cheeks in her hands making him look at her. “You will be an amazing father because unlike yours, you will love our daughter unconditionally. I know that, because in 1828 I was where you are now, terrified by the aspect of raising a child, of becoming my mother or even worse, my father…I was even scared that I would resent my child for permanently tying me to Ronan for the rest of my life…but none of my fears came to pass, because I promised myself I would be a thousand times better than my parents ever were. The only difference is you have something that I didn’t.”

“What’s that?” he asked with a slow blink at her.

“A supportive partner, who knows about your struggles, understands them and will be there for you…always and for however long my forever may be.” She answered. She was going to add that he had Elijah, but she was cut off when a gasp left his lips as he closed the space between them, catching her lips in his in a kiss that told her everything he didn’t know how to say. When it broke he rested his forehead on hers and wrapped an arm around her waist. “I’ve got you, Big Bad Wolf.” He gave her another kiss before he stood and went to their closet, grabbed them both a set of pajamas then shut the bedroom door.

After they changed they laid in bed, Klaus on his back while Katie used him as a human body pillow with her head resting on his shoulder. His hand played with her hair, relaxing her. “You should really be asleep right now.” He told her quietly.

“There’s something you should know.” Katie told him, getting a curious look from him. “I saw Mikael today…while I was…out.”

“And what did he say to you?” he asked stiffly.

“You mean before he tried to kill me and your daughter?” Katie asked rhetorically. “Just the usual untrue ramblings of an abusive, piece of shit, pathetic excuse of a father.” She told him recalling what she had called Mikael to his face the first time she ever laid eyes on the horrid man. “I would have told you as soon as I woke up, but it wasn’t really any of Elijah or Genevieve’s business.”

Klaus kissed the top of her head then turned off the lamp. “Get some sleep, both of you.”

“Pretty sure we don’t take orders from you.” Katie told him with a playfully sassy tone to which he just laughed.

A/N: Reviews are highly appreciated. :-)

#the vampire diaries #the vampire diaries fanfiction #tvd #tvd fanfiction #klaus mikaelson #elijah mikaelson #rebekah mikaelson #klaus mikaelson fanfiction #klaus mikaelson fic #klaus mikaelson x oc #klaus x oc #klaus mikaelson x oc fanfiction #klaus x oc fanfiction #elijah mikaelson x oc fanfiction #the originals #the originals fanfiction #to #to fanfiction

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thebrotherssalvatore321 · 3 years

Text

Keeping Secrets Ch. 52

Keeping Secrets Masterlist

Katie was pulled from sleep the next morning by the loud, electronic whirring of a jackhammer on concrete. Half asleep and unhappy she threw on a robe and tied it as she headed out onto the balcony. “Enough with all the racket!” Klaus yelled from the balcony across from her, dressed in black jeans, a maroon shirt and a black leather jacket. Clearly he and Genevieve had been awake for a while and Katie was almost certain she saw red paint that matched the color of Genevieve’s hair on the tips of his fingers that rested on the wooden railing.

“What he said.” Katie groaned then looked up at the sunlight coming in through the glass ceiling of the courtyard, silently cursing it for being so bright as she headed down the stairs.

“I agreed to a general sprucing up, not a bloody three ring circus.” Klaus complained as he walked down the other set of stairs with Genevieve trailing behind.

“Marcel and his minions abused our home for the better part of a century.” Elijah said from where he stood near the fountain in a pair of jeans and a mid tone grey, quarter sleeved, cotton shirt. “Now you might be content to live in squalor,”

“With squalor.” Katie chipped in as she moved to stand beside Elijah, getting a glare from Genevieve that she didn’t see because she couldn’t make herself look at either of them.

“,but I am not.” Elijah finished what he was saying, ignoring Katie.

“I agree with your brother.” Genevieve told Klaus as they walked over to stand across from Elijah and Katie. “It’s a new era in the French Quarter. This place could use a makeover.” She looked down her nose at Katie. “Out with the old and in with the new.”

Klaus didn’t miss Katie’s lack of reaction to Genevieve’s prodding nor had he missed the fact that she was blatantly avoiding eye contact with him. “Yeah, I’m not in the mood for a girl fight this morning.” She sighed then looked across her shoulder at Elijah. “I get this isn’t my house, but next time will you please warn me before you host a jackhammer symphony in the courtyard?”

“Of course.” He told her with a smirk at her morning grumpiness. “My apologies.” He watched her as she walked around him headed back to her room to get dressed.

When she walked into her room she noticed a dream catcher sitting on the table in the corner amongst a few knickknacks. Seeing red, she snatched it off the table and, like a woman on a mission, stormed downstairs where Elijah, Klaus and Genevieve were still talking.

Both of the men knew the look on Katie’s face, the rage in her eyes and what it could lead to, but it was Elijah who stepped into Katie’s path to Genevieve before she got too close. He held his hand out to stop her, which worked, and tried to look her in the eyes, but they were trained on the woman behind him. “Katie…before you act I urge you to stop…and think.” With nostrils flared and rage still in her eyes she looked to Elijah’s that dropped, noticing the dream catcher clenched in her fist. He dropped his hand and gingerly took the hoop from hers then turned to Genevieve. “Does this…trinket belong to you?” Genevieve opened and closed her mouth looking like a land bound fish. “Either it does or it doesn’t.”

Genevieve looked across her shoulder at Klaus before her eyes fell to the ground. After a few seconds she made herself look at Elijah. “Yes, it’s mine.”

Elijah held it up in both of his hands as if he were holding a small steering wheel then twisted, breaking the hoop and causing the bones on it to fall to the floor. “We all signed that treaty.” He told her with a look over his shoulder at Katie then back at Genevieve. “If I find another one of these little spy glasses of yours anywhere in my family’s home I will consider it a violation and I will be forced to take action. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal.” Genevieve answered with a straight faced nod.

“So I suggest, if you have left any more laying about, you remove them…immediately.” He gathered the remnants of the dream catcher in his hand and held it out to her. She took it and went upstairs to collect the dream catcher from Katie and Klaus’s quarters. With her out of sight Elijah turned to Katie.

“Don’t look at me like that, Elijah.” She told him tiredly as she turned her back on him and headed upstairs.

“Katie.” Elijah called and she stopped in the middle of the stairs to look down at him. “After you have gotten dressed and calmed yourself…the three of us have some business to discuss.”

She gave him a sarcastic salute, “Ten-four rubber ducky” then headed up stairs.

TVDTVDTVD

After taking a shower to clear her head she changed into a pair of black leggings and a long sleeved, light grey shirt dress and headed to the room with the bar, couch and wall of records that she was starting to call the lounge where Klaus and Elijah were waiting. “So, what business do we have to discuss?” she asked in no mood to beat around the bush.

“Genevieve has requested that the witches' right to celebrate feast days be reinstated. Starting with La Fête des Bénédictions.”

“What’s that?” Katie asked curiously.

“The feast of the blessings. People would bring the witches gifts in exchange for their blessings.” Klaus explained and Katie once again didn’t look at him.

“Genevieve would like to use the feast to introduce The Harvest Girls to society. The gifts will be given to them.” Elijah added. “You signed the treaty and you are a part of this family. We need your help making the final decision on the matter at hand.”

“First of all, I know I signed the treaty, you don’t have to keep reminding me of what I signed up for when I did.” She started as she walked over to the couch and sat down across from the chair that Elijah sat on the arm of while Klaus sat at the bar with a drink in his hand. “And on the matter of La Fête des Bénédictions, I think we should let them.”

“Really?” Elijah and Klaus asked, both sounding surprised.

“Really.” She answered with a nod as she leaned back on the cushion and placed a hand on her stomach. “The witches won’t adhere to the treaty if we don’t show them some amount of respect.”

“I thought you hated the witches.” Klaus spoke up curiously.

Katie looked at her hands folded in her lap. “Truth be told the witches that I’ve been harboring so much hate for…the ones that took action and tried to kill our baby, are dead now.” She looked up at Elijah. “Plus I like Davina. That poor girl deserves a day of recognition after everything she’s been through. So I’m for feast days being reinstated.” Elijah, who had a frown on his face, turned to look at Klaus.

“I agree with Katie, plus the tourists eat this stuff up.” Klaus told Elijah

Elijah took in a deep breath then side nodded as if he’d been outnumbered. “I’ll personally invite the other factions and get them on board.”

“Are there any more matters that need to be discussed?” she asked, eager to get out of the room.

“That is all.” Elijah answered, so she stood and left. Elijah stood and looked at Klaus. “Is everything alright with you two?”

“I’m afraid not.” Klaus answered then threw back what was left in his glass.

“What did you do?” Elijah asked.

“Nothing, but she doesn’t know that.” He answered as he slid off of the stool and left.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie was standing in front of the open refrigerator, staring off into space, when Elijah found her. She was so zoned out that she didn’t even know he was there until he touched her forearm that was resting on the refrigerator door. Pulled from her thoughts she took in a sharp breath then looked at him. This time, she didn’t have to guess at the question in his eyes. “Did Klaus send you here to talk to me or are you here of your own volition?”

“I’m here of my own volition.” He answered, watching her shut the door, move to the overhead cabinet and opened it. “You seem troubled.”

“I’m fine.” She replied casually as she grabbed a box of chocolate pop tarts then shut the door.

“You can fool a lot of people. I am not one of them.” He argued as she opened the foil package, stuck the dark brown frosted squares into the slots then pushed down the lever.

She said nothing and moved to get a glass, but Elijah stepped in the way. “Get out of my way, please.” She told him sounding tired.

He turned to the cabinet, grabbed a glass then turned back and held it out to her, “Talk to me.”

“I can’t talk to you Elijah. Not about this.” She argued with a shake of her head as she took the glass from him then went to the refrigerator and grabbed the half gallon of milk. When her pop tarts popped up Elijah grabbed a plate, put them on it then set it on the bar beside her glass as she put the milk away.

“Have you tried reaching out to your Mystic Falls friends?” he asked as she sat down at the bar and took a bite of the cheap pastry.

“Yeah, none of them are answering.” She answered then took a drink of milk.

“Then it seems I am a last resort.” He told her and she gave him an aggravated look through her lashes as she took another bite. He leaned down, looked her in the eyes and placed his fingertips on his chest. “You can talk to me.”

She sighed and looked down at her plate. “Fine.” She washed down the chocolate with a sip of milk then set it down. “I saw Klaus kiss Genevieve last night.” She admitted.

Elijah frowned. “Was that not part of the plan?”

“It was, but…” she shook her head, “there’s a difference between knowing that he’s kissing her and actually seeing it.” Elijah moved to sit in the barstool beside her. “I was so consumed by my hatred of her, my fear of bringing my baby into an unsafe environment, my part to play in the plan to create said environment that I…convinced myself that I was okay with him being with her.”

“But you are not.” He observed.

“No, I’m not. I can handle him kissing her. I don’t like it, but I can handle it. What I can’t handle is him having sex with her.” she admitted feeling like the type of stereotypical, dramatic woman she usually despised. “Ninety-nine percent of the time I mean what I say and he knows that.”

“You’re afraid it’s too late to say something.” He surmised.

She bit her lips closed and nodded as she looked down at her pop tarts that had gotten cold then looked back up at him with worry in her Kelly green eyes. “Have I made a huge mistake?”

“There is only one way to find out.” He answered and stood up and started to walk away.

“Elijah.” She called as she turned around in the swiveling bar stool and he turned back to her. “Thank you.”

He gave her a small nod and smile in return then left her to finish her unhealthy breakfast.

TVDTVDTVD

She went to their quarters thinking Klaus would be there, but he wasn’t. So she checked his studio, but he wasn’t there either. Not knowing where else to look she went to her room. It was there she found him, exiting the nursery. Their eyes met as he was closing the door. “Is it finished?” she asked timidly with a point to the nursery.

“Yes. I just finished adding the final touch.” He answered noticing her change in attitude. “Would you like to see?”

She shook her head no as she walked over and sat cross legged on the queen sized bed. “Not yet.”

He walked over and sat down beside her, pulling a leg up on it, facing her. She took in a deep breath then let it out. “I hate beating around the bush so I’m just going to ask. Have you had sex with Genevieve yet?” she asked, getting straight to the point.

He slipped the backs of his fingers down her cheek, taking in the tired, worried look in her eyes. “I couldn’t.” he answered, making a relieved sigh slip from her lips as she grabbed his hand from her face to hold it in both of hers.

“I know I said I was okay with you having sex with her and I know I’m not usually one to backpedal, but…I not okay with it. I didn’t realize how wrapped up I was in this stupid plan of ours until I saw you kiss her.” Katie explained. “Some queens encourage their king to take on a mistress, I am not one of them.”

A fleeting smile graced his perfect lips. “You just referred to yourself as a queen.”

She let go of his hand to place one of hers on his cheek. “I’m your queen.” She clarified. “Wait, you said couldn’t, not didn’t. Why couldn’t you?”

“Several reasons.” He grabbed her hand as she dropped it from his face. “It may be possible for a man to fake completion, but it is virtually impossible for a man to fake arousal.” His confession made a small smile tease the corners of her lips as she remembered the conversation that had about her faking it with others in the past. “Kissing her is comparable to kissing a dead fish,” he told her as if he were reading a list, “and most importantly, she’s not you. I couldn’t take on a mistress even if you begged me to.” he kissed the palm of her hand then held it in both of his. “Not to mention I knew, despite your open minded tendencies, you didn’t want me to lay with her. You once said the thought of another woman flirting with me made you want to punch something. So if just the thought of someone flirting with me made you that angry what would me having sex with someone else do?”

“Well, when I saw you kiss her last night I almost broke the champagne glass in my hand. So if that’s any indication there would definitely be bloodshed.” She answered flatly as she dropped her eyes to her hand in his, thinking he was asking what it would make her want to do.

“It would break your heart.” He answered as he gently grabbed her chin and lifted it, making her realize he was asking what it would do to her. “Just as mine would break if you were to ever lay with another.”

Tears welled in her eyes as he dropped his hand to rest on her knee. “So,” she paused to clear her throat and blink back the tears, “what did the two of you do last night if you didn’t have sex?” she asked with a frown, wanting to know yet not wanting to at the same time.

“I gave her an, oh so heartfelt and completely untrue explanation for why I want to take it slow with her. I respect her too much to rush it, the women of my past that I was so quick to jump into bed with meant nothing to me, etcetera.” He told her with his hand on his chest then dropped it. “I thought she believed it, but that spyglass she planted in your room says otherwise.”

“Either she didn’t believe you or she did believe me.” Katie replied, making Klaus give her a curious look. “I may have gotten a little too catty last night and told her that her time with you was limited and to enjoy it while it lasted.” Klaus tilted his head at her. “I know, I know. I shouldn’t have said it, but she’s so freaking confident that I didn’t think she would read too much into it.” she said the two words with gritted teeth then sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “So, what do we do as damage control?”

“Ask Elijah to accompany you to the feast.” He answered simply.

“Come again?” she asked as she took her hand from her face and looked at him like he was crazy.

“We’ve shown her that I am not interested in you, now we must show her that you’ve decided to move on. If she sees you with him maybe she’ll think you are trying to rekindle an old flame.” Katie frowned at him. “Just make sure Elijah knows it’s only for show.” Katie didn’t like the idea, but it was the best shot they had at cleaning up the mess her mouth had created.

“You’re sure?” she asked with a serious look. “It feels like we just crossed a bridge similar to this one.”

“I’m sure.” He was serious. “I trust you, which as you know is not something I take lightly.”

“Okay.” She told him with a nod then decided to change the subject. “So, how did it go with Jackson last night?”

“Once I told him that I could give him and his people a life in the quarter with no turning on the full moon he was all in. He and Cary are working on locating the black kyanite for the rings, but it’s rare so it might take some time to track down.” he answered. “Everything is going according to plan. And thanks to you being you and Elijah being Elijah we no longer have to censor ourselves in our own home.” He leaned in and caught her lips with his for a slow tender kiss. “What do you think about me asking Genevieve to break the hex on Father Kieran?” He asked.

“I think if she can break it, let her. Father K. is a good man. If she can save him from losing his mind and Cami from losing the only family she has left then I’m all for it.” she told him honestly.

“Then I will pay Genevieve and Cami a visit.” He told her then pecked her on the lips and stood from the bed.

“And I will get Nate to come dress shopping with me…again.” She said, hating clothes shopping this late in her pregnancy.

“Please don’t make it your goal to torture me all night.”

“Don’t worry. I dress to match the man whose attention I want for the night. This time that man will have to appear to be Elijah who prefers modest elegance over sexy and form fitting.”

“Before we go our separate ways for the day…” he held his hand out to her and she took it as she stood from the bed and jerked his head toward the nursery. Klaus pushed the door open and held his hand out for her to enter first so she walked in seeing the simple and understated, but elegant nursery. A dark wood crib with a ruffled, cream colored skirt around the bottom sat with the head of it in the corner of the room with a couple of pillows and stuffed animals inside and a mobile of strung up crystals hung over it.

In the corner to the right of it sat a wooden rocking chair and on the wall across from the crib and the rocking chair hung a beautiful painting of the city of New Orleans, the moon in the blue night sky that contrasted with the red lights from the city, reflected off of the Mississippi river. Katie walked over to the small white dresser it was hung over and picked up a stuffed Elephant that was sitting on it along with a few teething toys, a figurine of two giraffes and the wooden knight that Klaus had carved, then turned to look at him with the elephant clutched to her stomach. “It’s perfect.”

The tears in her eyes made him laugh. “It’s just a room, love, no need for tears.” He cupped her face in his hands wiping her cheeks.

She grabbed his wrists as she laughed with a sniffle. “I blame the hormones.”

“Ah, excuses, excuses.” He told her jokingly.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head as he dropped his hands to her waist and pulled her close. “So the red paint that was on your fingers this morning was that from this?” she asked with a point to the painting.

“Did you think I slept with Genevieve then painted her?” he asked and Katie nodded. “Painting that woman would be an insult to you and a waste of a perfectly good canvas.”

Katie slid her hands up his chest and rested her arms on his shoulder, crossing her wrists behind his head. “I love the painting you made for our daughter, I love this room and I love you, Big Bad Wolf.”

“And I love you, Little Phoenix.” He replied then caught her lips with his. When the kiss broke he gave her a smile. “So…you signed the treaty. Does that mean you have accepted your position as queen?”

“It means I’m willing to see if there’s any truth in what you and Elijah keep telling me.” she answered. “I just hope I’m not aiming too high.”

“No worries, love. I’ll catch you if you fall.” He told her as he wrapped his arms around her waist and she gave him a wrinkled nose smile. “What?”

“That was cheesy.” She laughed.

“Cheesy or not, it's true.” He argued then caught her lips with his.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie was having dinner at the bar in the kitchen when Klaus walked up behind her, swept her short waves to the side and started kissing her neck. “Long day?” Katie asked over the music that filled the room from her cell phone on the bar then stabbed her salad with the fork in her hand.

“You could say that.” he answered between kisses then sat down beside her. “I asked Genevieve to cure Father Kieran, but she used his ailment as an excuse to get her hands on my mother’s grimoire to solidify her place in her coven. When I told her no she mouthed off and I threatened her. Needless to say she’s a little ticked at me.”

“Well that’s not good.” Katie observed.

“No worries, I’m sure she’ll come crawling back for more soon.” He told her with a confident smirk that made her shake her head at him. “That just means I get to spend more time with you.”

“I like the sound of that.” she pushed her empty bowl away. “Did you have anything specific in mind?”

“I made an alteration to one of our bedrooms.” He stood from the barstool and held his hand out to her. She took it and let him lead her to the room attached to the nursery. When they walked in she instantly noticed the 43 inch tv that had been mounted on the wall across from the foot of their bed. “I figured it would be easier to watch ‘The Walking Dead’ together if the screen was bigger than the one on your laptop.”

“You want to watch ‘The Walking Dead’?” Katie asked with an amused smile.

“I’m interested in what catches your interest. This Daryl Dixon character in particular.” He told her as he settled onto the bed then held his arm out to her.

“Then I probably shouldn’t tell you about the Winchester brothers Sam and Dean, from ‘Supernatural’.” She told him as she crawled onto the bed and sat down in front of him. He wrapped his arms around her, but didn’t say anything so she looked at him over her shoulder to see him giving her a playful glare. “Dean’s my favorite.” She admitted with a cheeky grin just to mess with him.

“Now I don’t know which one I want to watch with you.” he told her, still glaring.

She laughed. “‘The walking dead.’ I like Daryl better and there are fewer seasons to watch.” She plucked the remote out of his hand and turned her attention to the tv. A giggle left her lips when he playfully growled and bit where neck curved down into her shoulder.

After Daryl made his first appearance in the third episode Klaus paused the show. Katie smiled to herself wondering what Klaus’s reaction was going to be. “That hostile, backwater, redneck is your favorite character?”

She started laughing as she turned around to sit on her knees in front of him. “If I recall you weren’t all sunshine and butterflies when you first came to Mystic Falls, mister judgy.” He rolled his eyes at her and rested his hands on her sides. “First impressions aren’t everything. Daryl comes across as an asshole, but he’s actually really caring and loyal.” She defended her favorite character. “Not to mention he has really nice arms and he hardly ever wears shirts with sleeves so there’s an almost constant source of eye candy.” She added just to mess with him and he gave her a side eye making her try and fail to hold back her playful smile.

“Eye candy huh?” he asked, making her laugh and nod as he grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled it over his head. “How’s this for eye candy?”

“That’s not eye candy.” She answered with a shake of her head as she set her hands on his wrists where his hands held her sides, her eyes taking in his perfectly toned torso.

“No?” he asked, sounding a little disappointed.

“No.” she answered as she looked him in the eyes and slipped her hands up his forearms and biceps to rest on his shoulders. “Eye candy is something that is only pleasing to the eyes.” she stood up on her knees and he closed his black pants covered legs so she could straddle them and sit in his lap. “You, Niklaus Mikaelson, entice all of my senses with your gentle touch…your warm, spicy scent,” She peppered light kisses over the feather tattoo on his shoulder, “the taste of your skin,” she kissed up to his ear and whispered, “The sound you make when I do this…” she kissed back down to where his neck met his shoulder and gently grazed her teeth over his smooth skin before she bit down hard but didn’t break the skin, pulling a groan from him that sent a tingle through her to her core. She pulled away and looked into his slightly lust veiled, blue eyes. “The way it feels like you can touch my soul just by looking into my eyes...” he grabbed her hands in his and threaded their fingers together. “It’s damn near spiritual.” A toothy smile took over Klaus’s face as he looked down at the bed, a hit of red coloring his cheeks. “Did I just make you blush?” she asked as she dipped her head into his line of view.

He laughed as he looked back up at her. “Maybe.” He told her looking bashful, something she had never seen from him before, making her smile bigger and him to wipe the look from his face. “You know, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to do that thing you do.”

She started innocently twirling a strand of hair around her finger. “Thing? What thing? I have no idea what you’re talking about, Big Bad Wolf?”

He laughed at her. “The one where you shower me with affection and outlandish compliments knowing full well that it has a very…” he let go of her hands and grabbed her hips, rocking her into him to let her feel what she does to him, “arousing effect on me.” Instead of arguing that her compliments were not outlandish like she wanted to, she gave him a flirty smile and bit her bottom lip. “Yeah?” he asked with a glimmer in his eye.

“Baby M. has dropped. I can breathe easier now, but my appetite sucks. So I have a small, energy boosting request.” She answered with a glance down at his neck.

He used the nail of his middle finger to make a one inch cut where she had bit him earlier then tilted his head to the side. “Have at it, Sweetheart.”

His whispered words sent a shiver through her that was only amplified when she closed her lips over the cut and a pained yet satisfied moan left his parted lips. His hand moved to hold the nape of her neck as she drank until the cut closed then licked over the healed skin and up his neck to his ear. “Neamhaí.” “Heavenly.”

A smirk pulled at the corners of his lips and when a deep growl rumbled up from his throat she pulled back to see the heart stopping view of his hybrid eyes. With a whoosh he moved her to lie on her back and a yelp followed by a giggle left her smiling lips at the sudden action.

TVDTVDTVD

The next evening Katie was walking down the stairs into the now refurbished courtyard when Klaus found her. “Well, I can’t say I don’t find you just as mouthwateringly tempting in that dress.” He told her as he took in the black dress with off the shoulder, three quarter sleeves of lace that continued over the bodice of the dress. The satin flowing skirt was short, stopping just above her knees, but the black panty hose and lace flats she wore with it kept it classy and elegant.

“Something tells me that you’d think I looked tempting wearing a burlap sack.” She told him with an eye roll. He just pulled the corners of his mouth down and tilted his head with a shrug agreeing with her. “So what are you going to do while Elijah and I are at the street festival?”

“Genevieve was all too eager to get her hands on mother’s grimoire.” He told her not being able to resist placing his hands on her hips and pulling her close.

“You think she’s going to try to steal it?” Katie asked curiously.

“Yes.” He answered. “She can’t risk not being seen at the festival, so she’ll most likely send a lackey or two. I’ll be here to intercept them if need be.”

Elijah cleared his throat and Katie turned from Klaus to see him walking down the stairs before she turned back to Klaus, who let go of her sides and tucked his hands behind his back. “See you at the after party?”

“Yes.” Klaus answered. “And I’ll give Davina the gift we discussed.” Katie cupped his cheek in her hand and caught his lips with hers. When the kiss broke she looked up at him through her lashes, a silent reminder that she loved him, then turned to Elijah.

“Ready?” he asked as he held his arm out to her.

“As I’ll ever be.” She told him as she took his offered arm and they left the courtyard.

“I’m a bit surprised Niklaus told you to ask me to accompany you tonight.” He told her as they strolled down the busy sidewalk waiting for the sun to set and the parade to start.

“I was too.” She admitted. “I just hope I’m not getting in the way of another woman who may wish to be wooed by you tonight.”

“I take it you’re referring to Francesca?” He said with a look at her across his shoulder and she gave him a knowing smile that made a smile pull at the corners of his lips. “If anything you are helping me send her a message.”

“And what message would that be?” Katie asked curiously.

“That her particular brand of business woman is not my type.” He answered.

“Then what is your type?” she asked without thinking as they walked past a booth selling glow sticks, light up noisemakers and other light up accessories.

“I’m afraid my answer to the question might overstep certain boundaries.” He answered with a look that only further answered her question. “So instead I’ll say you look beautiful tonight.”

“Thank you.” she told him with a smile that said she was grateful he didn’t make things too awkward.

“Have you already eaten dinner?” he asked to change the subject.

“I had a small bite to eat a while ago.” She answered. “Why?”

“There’s a vendor around the corner selling gumbo. I hear it rivals Sophie’s.” He explained.

“Thanks, but I’ll pass.” She told him politely, but he still seems let down that she declined his offer of a food he knew she liked. “I appreciate the thought, but the baby’s in a weird position. She’s been putting pressure on my stomach all day. I can’t eat more than a few bites of something at a time without getting sick to my stomach.” When music started playing from the speakers on the stage at the end of the parade route they stopped walking and turned to the street.

People all dressed in the same shades of light brown lined the outer edges of the street, walking with lanterns on poles while The Harvest Girls were carried down the street on sedan thrones like queens. “Are you at least able to enjoy the festivities?” Elijah asked with a look across his shoulder at Katie who was still holding his arm.

She took her eyes off of Monique Deveraux, who was currently passing them, smiling and waving at the cheering crowd while wearing a headdress of white roses, accented by earthy elements and a brown dress, to smile up at him. “Yes. Is there ever a boring day in this city?” she asked.

“Only if you live on the outskirts.” He told her with a smirk referring to the time she spent bored out of her mind at the plantation house. She just shook her head at him and went back to watching the parade.

Abigail, the blond harvest girl, representing air, dressed in a simple white dress with shimmering long sleeves and a head dress made of draping cords of crystals passed by waving elegantly to the crowd, trying way too hard to look like a princess. When a light breeze caused Katie to shiver, Elijah noticed, took off the jacket he wore over his suit and draped it over her shoulders.

Katie knew it would be pointless to argue with him so she simply said, “Thank you” and accepted the coat. When she turned her eyes back to the street Davina was passing by, sitting in her throne as the embodiment of fire in a bright orange dress and an orange, red and black beaded headdress. When her eyes found Katie in the mix of people her face lit up and gave her a wave. Katie smiled and waved back, just happy to see a smile on the girl's face.

“That is yet another example of why I believe you will make just as wonderful of a mother this time around as you were with Jonah.” Elijah told her, making her look at him from Davina. “You care about her for no other reason than she needed someone to. She’ll never forget your kindness and honesty.”

“I just hope the witches aren’t being as hard on her as the ancestors were.” She sighed then watched as the Harvest Girls were lowered to the ground and helped down off their thrones.

After they took the stage Genevieve joined them. “And now in accordance with the Fête des Bénédictions, the witches of New Orleans bless you all.” Genevieve stepped aside and Monique stepped up and held her hands out to the side. The earth shook and while most people looked around in awe, Katie and Elijah simply watched as she lowered her arms and the earth calmed. She stepped back and Abigail stepped up and held her arms up beside her head. As she made a sweeping motion the wind kicked up and Katie pulled Elijah’s coat tighter around herself until she dropped her hands and the wind died down.

Abigail stepped behind Monique putting the spotlight on Davina who turned from the crowd and held her hand out at a fleur de lis that was hanging behind the stage setting off sparks that outlined it and when the out line was complete fireworks shot up from behind the stage lighting up the night sky with bursts of green, white and purple. “Is it stupid that I love fireworks?” Katie asked Elijah as she looked up.

“Not at all.” He answered and she looked at him. “I enjoy them quite a bit myself.” She simply smiled and looked back up at the sky as he rested his hand on her lower back and followed her gaze.

When the fireworks were over Katie and Elijah moved to the entrance of the building the after party was being held in and stood just inside the gate, welcoming the guests with a smile. When The Harvest Girls walked by Abigail and Monique just gave them polite smiles, but Davina stopped, “I’m so glad you could come.”

“What you thought I’d miss all this?” Katie asked with a look around. “Fire suits you by the way.”

Davina smiled and looked down at her bright dress. “Thank you.” One of the witches called Davina’s name from the door, getting her attention and then waved her inside. “I gotta go, but we’ll catch up later? I missed you at the last party.”

“Yeah, of course.” Katie answered then jerked her head for Davina to go inside before she got in trouble for lollygagging.

Davina was disappearing through the door of the building when Genevieve stopped and looked at Elijah. “Thank you, for all of this.”

“This isn’t for you.” Elijah replied choppily. “I didn’t even want to entertain the idea of this silly party, but Klaus argued that your people would never accept a truce unless we showed them some respect. So be it.” he held his hand out to the door with a condescending smirk on his face. “Enjoy your party.”

Genevieve looked down at Katie standing next to Elijah, dressed appropriately in an outfit that was showing far less skin than Genevieve’s black dress with two slits in the front of the long skirt that were just inches away from meeting her hip bones, showing a generous amount of leg when she walked. Seeing that Genevieve was trying to figure out Katie’s one eighty when it came to party attire, Elijah wrapped his arm around her waist and closed the small space between them. Genevieve just lifted a brow and hummed at the new development before she walked off.

“Why did you just give Klaus all the credit for this party?” Katie asked, not mad, just curious.

“I simply gave her reason to believe Klaus is on her side.” he explained with a look down at her. “It goes without saying that your argument was the reason I agreed.”

Katie just shook her head and looked back at the people passing them by. When Hayley and Jackson walked into the gate they stopped and turned to Katie and Elijah. Elijah and Jackson shook hands while Hayley, holding a white gift box in her hand, looked at Katie. “Are we good?”

Katie looked at Elijah then back at Hayley. “Yeah. No harm no foul.” Katie nodded graciously. “Our agreement still stands.”

Hayley gave her a tight lipped smile. “Thanks.” She took Jackson’s offered arm as they walked into the party. Then Elijah took his arm out from around Katie, closed the gate then offered her his arm. She took it and let him walk her into the party.

As the party started and people started sitting gifts at The Harvest Girls feet where they sat on thrones, Katie noticed that not a single gift was given to Davina and it was starting to hurt Davina and piss off Katie. “May I ask what that look on your face is about?” Elijah whispered from where he stood next to her.

“They are excluding Davina.” Katie answered and Elijah noticed the lack of gifts in front of Davina. “Excuse me for a moment.” She went to the restrooms, made sure no one else was in there then locked the door as she pulled her phone out of the silver clutch she’d been holding all night and called Klaus.

“Are you alright?” Klaus asked when he picked up.

“I’m fine. Listen, the witches are excluding Davina. They haven’t let her receive even a single gift and that part of the night is almost over.” Katie explained.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure she receives our gift.” He told her with a devious tone in his voice. “I’ve taken out Genevieve’s lackey and mother’s grimoire is safe. I’m on my way now.”

“Then I’ll see you soon.” She replied then hung up. On her way out of the bathroom she bumped into Davina. “Hey, are you okay?” The hurt look was clear on the girl's face.

“Not really.” She sniffled then noticed someone behind Katie. “Josh, what are you doing here?”

“Are you kidding, there’s no way I’d miss out on your big day.” Josh answered. “Besides, music, wind, fire, the club kid in me is, like, in heaven.” Davina smiled but it quickly fell. “You don’t look like you’re having much fun though.” He looked at Katie wondering what happened.

“The other witches are being petty, as usual.” Katie explained.

“Do you want to get out of here?” Josh asked Davina who nodded and they turned to leave.

Katie was trying to think of a reason for her to stay when Klaus’s voice hit their ears. “Joshua.” The two teens turned and looked at Klaus. “What a fortunate coincidence finding you here.” They probably thought he sounded angry, but Katie knew why he called it a fortunate coincidence that Josh was there. “We have unfinished business.”

“You need to leave here. Right now.” Davina told him, getting ready to defend her friend if need be.

“Now, to be fair, you’re not quite as powerful as you once were, are you?” Klaus reasoned. “You’re in no position to give orders.” Klaus whooshed behind Josh and grabbed him by the back of his neck. “Come along, lad.”

“Hey, can we talk about this?” Josh asked as he walked him out into the party, standing at the bottom of the stairs.

“Josh?” Davina asked with a look back at Katie, scared for her friend. Katie kept her face emotionless as she followed them into the party then walked back over to Elijah.

“What is going on?” Elijah asked, looking a little worried at his brother's antics.

“You’ll see.” Katie told him. “No one’s going to get hurt.”

Klaus left Davina and Josh at the bottom of the stairs then walked up a few of them to be the center. “Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please.” He asked with his arms held out to the sides as if he were the ringleader of a circus. “We’re gathered here today to pay homage to our beloved witches, but one very special witch has been utterly ignored.” He walked down the stairs to stand on the bottom one. “That seems a little unfair to me.” he held a small jewelry box, tied closed with a dark purple bow, out to Davina.

“No.” she told him with a shake of her head making Klaus’s diabolical smirk fall. “I don’t want your gift.”

“I understand why you would reject me, given my original intentions for you.” he told her, holding the box out to her, but she still didn’t take it. So he tucked it back into his pocket and addressed the rest of the room. “In truth, many of us here today have been wronged in the conflict which my brother's treaty ended.” He looked back down the Davina. “Your friend Josh was involved in a plot to kill me. It would be well within my right to execute him. Here and now.”

Josh looked nervously between Davina and Klaus. “I thought you said no one was going to get hurt.” Elijah whispered.

“No one is. Just watch.” Katie told him then looked back at Klaus.

“But, in the spirit of solidarity, and for your favor, Davina, I hereby pardon him.” Klaus said as he set his hand on Josh’s shoulder then looked down at him. “Josh, from this day forward, you have nothing to fear from me.” he dropped his hand from Josh’s shoulder then looked at Davina and pulled the box out of his pocket, holding it out to her again. “Please.” Davina took the box from him, making Klaus smile in triumph.

When Klaus walked away Katie left Elijah’s side to go to Davina who was staring at the box in her hand. “So, are you gonna open it?” Josh asked with a smile, happy to be off of Klaus’s hit list.

“You’re gonna like it.” Katie sing-songed with a smile as she bumped Davina’s shoulder with hers.

Davina just smiled then untied the bow around and opened the hinged felt box containing a silver ring with a blue stone and a folded up piece of paper. After unfolding the paper Davina cast a confused look at Klaus’s back then looked at Katie. “Is this real?”

“Yep, straight from momma original’s cookbook.” Katie confirmed and Davina beamed up at Josh.

“What is it?” Josh asked, wanting to be let in on things.

“It’s the spell that makes daylight rings.” She told him, making him smile, then she looked at Katie. “Thank Klaus for me?”

“Sure.” Katie told her with a smile. “So, how have you been?” Katie asked.

Davina frowned. “Better now that I can do magic again, but the coven hates me. Monique used to be my best friend, but now she acts like she’s so much better than me.”

“Yeah, I saw her give you a few smug looks.” Katie observed. “But you know what?”

“What?” Davina asked.

“She’s not the one who was given a page from the spellbook of a very powerful witch.” Katie told her, making her smile shyly.

Elijah walked up and placed his hand on the small of Katie’s back. “I hate to pull you away, but there are a couple of faction leaders you have yet to officially get acquainted with.”

Katie parted ways with Davina and Josh and let Elijah lead her in mingling with the faction leaders. The party was going boringly smooth when a group of men dressed in white suits playing drums came down the grand staircase Katie thought it was a nice change of pace, but when they announced that they had a message from Marcel and slit their wrists her opinion quickly changed and dread took over the pit of her stomach.

Elijah stepped out of the group of spectators that had gathered around to watch and spoke to the vampires in the room who’s true faces were showing. “Control yourselves. This is a vulgar trick. We do not violate our agreement.”

As soon as he finished his sentence the lights flicked off and screams filled the room. “Klaus!” Katie yelled not able to see a thing in the room, but before Klaus could get to her the lights started flashing and the face of Thierry appeared in front of her before he bit her neck. Klaus pulled him off and threw him into the wall behind him. Instead of going after Thierry he kneeled down next to Katie and scooped her up into his arms.

When the lights flicked on Elijah whooshed to them where they were on the floor, Katie with her hand on her bleeding neck. “What happened?” Elijah asked as he brushed her hair aside and moved her hand to see that she had healed.

“One of them bit her.” he answered. “I didn’t see who.”

“It was Thierry.” She groaned and sat up with Klaus’s help.

“This is all my fault.” Klaus said with wide eyes. “I went for his girl so he came for mine.”

“Klaus…” Katie sighed.

“No, he’s right.” Elijah spoke up. “If Thierry is out for revenge he will not stop until you are dead.” He told her then looked up at Klaus.

Klaus helped Katie stand up. “Are you okay?” Katie just nodded. “Stay with Elijah.” He told her then started to walk off.

“What are you gonna do?” he asked and he walked back over to her and cupped her cheek in his hand.

“No one harms my family and lives.” He answered then kissed her on the forehead and left.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie was getting out of the shower when her phone started ringing and she looked at it to see Bonnie’s name. “Bonnie, hey, I’ve been trying to get in touch with you guys for days now.”

“Yeah, I saw your missed calls, I’m sorry I didn’t return them. Things have been a bit hectic here recently.” Bonnie answered.

“Well, what’s going on? Is everyone okay?” Katie asked, worried.

“Everyone’s okay, but a bunch of Travelers took a lot of Stefan and Elena’s blood because the blood of the last two remaining doppelgangers can undo a witch's magic. A bunch of the travelers drank it and committed mass suicide. When they passed through me it did something to the other side. Spirits are getting torn away from the other side into nothingness and they’ve been able to interact with our side.” as Bonnie explained things Katie went to the closet and grabbed a pair of pajamas off of the shelf. She was walking into the bedroom when Klaus walked in with blood on his hand.

“I bet spirits like Mason Lockwood are having a field day with Damon right now.” Katie guessed remembering the last time spirits could interact with the living.

“Yeah it’s worse than last time considering this time I’m getting pestered by ghosts with grudges against Damon.” She said as if her statement was aimed at someone in the room with her. “Anyway I just wanted to call you and let you know that we’re all okay and to keep an eye out for vengeful spirits. I don’t know how widespread this thin vale thing is and with you living in a house full of originals…”

“I’ll watch my back.” Katie assured her.

“I wish we could talk longer, but I have to go.” Bonnie told her, sounding annoyed.

“Yeah, just…stay in touch, okay?” Katie asked.

“I promise.” Bonnie told her. “Goodnight.”

“Night, Bon.” Katie replied then hung up the phone.

Klaus walked out of the bathroom and slipped his now clean hand over her bare shoulder. “Everything okay?”

Katie grabbed her pajama top and he stepped back to let her put it on. “That was Bonnie, there’s something going on with the other side.” he frowned as she grabbed her shorts and pulled them on. “The spirits are able to interact with our side, she was warning me in case it wasn’t just happening in Mystic falls.” When she was done getting dressed she stepped back into him and wrapped her around him, resting her forearms on his shoulders while her fingers played with his hair. “Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary?”

“Nope.” He answered as he wrapped his arms around her, resting his hands on her lower back. “Have you?”

“Nope.” She popped the p at the end of the word. “So I take it Thierry is dead?”

“Yep, like I told you, no one harms my family and gets away with it.” he told her as he cupped her cheek in his hand, but she turned her head when she yawned. “You know he is just the first of many to come, right?” Klaus asked as she walked around to her side of the bed and pulled the covers back.

“Uh huh.” Katie answered and was about to slip into bed, but he whooshed in front of her. She looked up at him through her lashes.

“We have to talk about this, love.” He urged.

“You have enemies and your enemies tend to do to you what you do to them. It’s pretty obvious to me that you see, or have seen, love as a weakness and you’ve exploited that weakness in the past. So they will come after me because unlike the rest of the people you love I can die. It’s not anything I didn’t already know when I fell in love with you.”

“But tonight-”

“You saved me.” she pointed out then grabbed his face gently in her hands. “You pulled Thierry off of me and you saved…us.” she looked down at her stomach then back up at him. “I’m a human in a vampire’s world and tonight my life was threatened.” She moved her hands to rest on his chest. “It only reminded me that I have to take advantage of every moment I’m still breathing. We have to create as many little moments of bliss as we can because you are going to need them to look back on when I’m gone.”

To shut her up and keep any more talk of her leaving him from escaping her mouth he kissed her and he didn’t stop until they were both out of breath. “I will not let anything take you from this earth, you hear me?” Katie just nodded and let him scoop her up with a whoosh and lay her in bed then lay down beside her.

They didn’t talk, they didn’t kiss or make love. They simply enjoyed the warmth, the comfort and the relaxation of being in one another’s arms.

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