The One You Once Were

A tad of happiness

Carefully, I knocked at Heather's and Kilian's door. I heard hasty noises from inside, then Kilian opened the door with a quick swing, Heather right behind him. By now, her baby bum had become visible and her glare seemed deadly.
"Hey...", I tried to seem casual. "Look, I'm sorry, I-"
Heather cut me off angrily. "How could you! Do you know how worried we were?! We didn't know where you were, if something had happened to you... I thought you might have been captured or killed or-", she took a deep breath for air before deciding to stop at this point and return to staring at me.
Kilian took over. "I did suggest you had reconciled with your husband"
"Boyfriend", I corrected.
"And had simply been with him for the time being.", he just continued.
He gestured for me to go through into the house while Heather didn't let me out of her sight.
"Even so, you should have said something!", she growled. "You were gone for a month! What were you doing?!"
"I didn't want to get back so soon, I was too upset if I'm being honest." , I tried not to uneasily shift as I said so. The past month had not been great, it really hadn't.
For a second, it was quiet and Heather seemed to debate whether to still be mad at me or just let it go. To my luck, she decided for the second option.
"Never do that again!", she sighed and suddenly pulled me into a hug. "I was worried."
"I know. I'm sorry."
In the brink of my eye, I saw Kilian smile. Heather seemed to notice as well and gave her lover a questioning gaze while she let go of me.
"It's nothing.", he grinned. "Just that your motherly instinct is showing and that is very cute."
She tried looking at him in an angry manner but couldn't hide her blushing cheecks. "I do not have a motherly instinct!"
"Ohh, but you do! And I love it. I cannot wait until you hold our child in your loving arms.", just the thought of it seemed to bring him happiness.
Watching the two being all lovey-dovey was cute. However, it also reminded me of the past month. After Rebekah had told me how Klaus was trying to banish me from even his thoughts, I was sure not to return here so soon. Instead, I had roamed around, looking for something to distract me with, running from werewolves in a full moon night and trying not to let my emotions get the best of me. My urge for blood was stronger than ever and right now I could hear Kilian's and Heather's hearts beating and pumping their life's essence through their veines. But I was better than this. I could not let this control me!
"Elizabeth, are you okay?", Kilian's worried voice breached the sound of blood.
"Caroline. Call me Caroline. That's my first name."
If I was to spend more time with them, they should know what people usually called me.
"Okay. Then, Caroline, are you alright? You don't look so good.", Heather said.
"I don't feel so good.", I replied, now not able to hold back my tears. They just started dripping down my cheeks and I quickly wiped them off in embarrassment. I'd had a month to deal with this, how was I not able to handle this yet?!
"What did he do?", Heather asked calmly, making me sit down next to her. "Did he say something bad?"
"He wants to forget me!", I sobbed. "Why would he want that? What have I done wrong? Should I just have told him the truth? I never wanted this! Does he hate me? Oh my god. He hates me..."
Heather kindly squeezed my arm. Her previous anger had now fully disappeared and she was offering me the most uplifting smile I had ever laid eyes on.
"I'm sure that isn't true.", she calmed me. "He's upset, trying to make sense of everything. But the way you alqays describe him lead me to have many doubts about him hating you."
Kilian joined us and put a steady hand on my back.
"Look, we can't change what he said or how he sees you right now. We can only offer you comfort and security. You are free to stay here however long you like. We quite enjoy your company and would hate to see your sadness progress.", he told me.
"Kilian's right. Whatever happens, we're here for you.", Heather agreed.
I wiped away one last tear and hugged the both of them.
"Thank you two. I mean it, I couldn't ask for more. You're making my stay way more worthwhile right now."

A few months passed. The corn Heather and Kilian had been working on finally showed good results and the townspeople were generally happy without even knowing the reason behind the success. Heather's babybum was getting bigger and bigger and with it, her mood varied more and more. I wondered if I would be the same if I ever were to be pregnant. Not that something like that would ever happen, of course. Kilian managed his wife's moodswings pretty well and always tried to make sure she was comfortable. He really was a sweetheart, never getting angry at her but shrugging even harsh comments off like if she'd told him he was wearing his shirt inside out. I didn't know how he did it. Personally, I often times caught myself tense at some of her comments. It was only when Kilian explained that all this stress would be nothing compared to the feeling of finally seeing their child, that my heart melted and I understood why he remained so chill. Everytime I saw them like this, my thoughts wandered to Klaus and how he would treat being a father. He had looked forward to seeing his child so much. I remembered the little smile that used to play around his lips whenever he spoke of the unborn baby. Whenever this came up, I forced the thoughts down to not suffer from another breakdown. It hurt too much to spiral down and if I was fully honest, the fear of his anger carrying through the centuries and even manifesting in the Klaus of my time drove me crazy. Who knew what consequences this would have. Maybe I would be able to protect him but he would turn out to hate me forever and ever? Or was I reading into this? No, force it away! Just don't think about it.
I heard some cursing from the kitchen and without much thinking took the opportunity to flee my mind.
"What's going on?", I stormed in and found an upset Heather with a relatively helpless Kilian.
"I'm trying to cook but the fire seems to think it can do whatever it wants!", she scoffed. Kilian shot me knowing eyes and I held back an amused chuckle.
"Because, my dear, you seem to control the flames and as I told you before probably shouldn't cook like this anyways.", he told her calmly and moved her away from the already steeming pot. "You should just sit down and let me handle it. Surely Caroline will lend a hand as well?"
"Of course.", I nodded and Heather gave up.
"Fine. But don't you mess up dinner or I swear, I will...", she pointed her finger at her husband but decided not to end the sentence, which was probably for the better. "I'll supervise.", she warned instead.
And so, we cooked. We mixed different flavours together, roasted potatoes and used only very natural ingredients. It was the happiest I had felt since... a few months ago...
After we were satisfied with our dish and Heather had approved our creation, we sat down to dine.
Kilian told us about a talk he had with the townspeople today and we all had a good laugh after he mentioned them saying the corn harvest was almost like magic, a sign from the gods even.
Who knew, if there really was a god, maybe he really was the one who sent these two witches. After all, they were so kind and open, but more importantly incredibly willing to help. Perhaps this was some kind of fate.
"Oh, Caroline, Heather also had an idea in regards to the spell. We'll try it out tomorrow!", Kilian changed topic.
"Really? That's awesome! Thank you.", I smiled and Heather squeezed my hand. "I must say, I'm quite happy  you will be staying a while longer. I want our newborn to meet you.", she stated.
"You do?" My heart warmed up. "I am so honoured. Have you chosen a name yet?"
"Not a specific one.", Kilian answered. "If it's a boy, we were thinking something like Thorin or Balion."
"And as a girl, perhaps Frigga or Annabeth.", Heather took over. "But nothing is certain yet."
I nodded. For a while, we sat still and watched as the flames danced around in the night. They started to get smaller and smaller as time progressed and when they were just like steeming smoke, Heather stood up and put them out entirely.
"We should head to bed, there will be busy days ahead of us."
"Go ahead.", I told them. "I'll stay out here a bit longer."
The two left and I watched the whispering wood. Even without the fire, it seemed to mysteriously communicate with the sky. After what felt like forever, I decided to go inside. The fading scent of Klaus' t-shirt welcomed me as I took my place next to it. My love, hold on, we will see each other again soon.

Helloo everyone,
I am officially in my last week before the summer holidays and I am psyched about it as you can imagine! Now, let's see, do I have anything important or interesting to say?
Oh, maybe this: I usually don't advertise my stuff as much but I thought maybe you're interested. A while ago, I started a public instagram account for all the stuff I do and all that. If you're interested in what that is and what I'm like when I'm not writing this story: the account's name is lena.neff . Perhaps you'll look it up, perhaps you won't.
Either way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will see you all next week!