TVD/TO Oneshots

Fatherhood (Klaus Mikaelson)

Written for Fictober 2022 on Tumblr!

Prompt: "Do you remember?"

Summary: Y/N and Nik have been dating since the Mikaelsons moved to New Orleans and Y/N got turned into a vampire. When Nik starts to feel worried about his ability to parent Hope, who's due to join the world soon, Y/N helps reassure him.

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I hummed to myself as I walked through the door of the bedroom I shared with my boyfriend, Klaus Mikaelson. I'd just finished baking a BUNCH of cookies with Hayley and Rebekah, and it had been a much-needed stress relief, especially after all the chaos of New Orleans lately. Besides, Hayley had been craving cookies in her heavily-pregnant state, so who were we to deny her?

I headed into the bedroom fully intending to change my clothes and go run some errands, but I stopped short at the sight of Nik staring out the window with his hands behind his back, a grim expression on his face.

"Uh oh," I said, gently closing the door behind me before slowly crossing the room towards my boyfriend. "I recognize that expression. You've got your brooding face on."

Normally, the teasing would've at least made Nik give me a half-smile or an eyeroll. But this time he didn't even glance back at me from his vigil.

"Nik? What's wrong?" I asked, finally reaching him and putting a hand on his shoulder as soon as I did. "C'mon, you can talk to me."

He sighed heavily before shaking his head and plastering a smile to his face. For those who didn't know him very well, it probably would've been quite convincing. But I knew him better than almost anyone else, and it didn't fool me for a second.

"Nothing," he said, trying to maintain the ruse all the same. "Some trouble with the witches that I'm deciding how to deal with, but nothing out of the ordinary."

With that, he tried to step around me and head towards the door. I frowned and caught his arm, gently pulling him to a stop. He turned to look at me, the fake-unbothered expression still on his face as he raised his eyebrows at me.

"Nik. I know you way better than that. I can tell something's wrong, so please, talk to me," I said. Nik hesitated, so I held his stare, trying to communicate nothing but openness and acceptance. He'd lived so much of his life alone, and carrying secrets without trusting anyone, that I knew he was still getting used to letting someone else in. We'd been making incredible progress lately, though, and I hoped we could keep that momentum up.

"I suppose..." he said, starting softly as he turned away from me and went to put on some loud music to defeat anyone trying to listen in. "I'm starting to doubt whether or not I will make for a very good father."

He stayed over by the stereo as he admitted it, fiddling with the knobs and not looking at me. I didn't want to spook him off of the conversation, so I sat down on our bed and watched him.

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

He shifted around on his feet, and it was a few minutes before he finally answered. He still didn't look at me as he spoke, either.

"Well, just look at the example set by my father," he spat the word father, and I couldn't help frowning a bit at the thought of Mikael, too. "I've never had a stable parent. I don't want to be like them, but they're all I've ever known. I'm... afraid... of turning into them."

I chewed the inside of my lip, thinking over my next words carefully. After a second, I stood, and crossed the room to Nik. He still didn't look at me, but I put my hands on his shoulders and saw some of the tension ease out of them all the same.