The One You Once Were

Bedtime stories

"Run along to Aunt Caroline, sweetie, she'll tell you something interesting.", I heard Heather's voice from somewhere. A smile crossed my lips as I heard two little feet running across the ground and a young girly voice calling out for me. A second later, a child came up to me with incredible human speed and looked at me with two big shiny eyes.
"Auntie!", she greeted me. "Mommy said to come find you."
"I heard, sweetie.", I laughed. She opened her arms to me and I gently put her on my lap.
"Super hearing!", she giggled.
"Super hearing.", I nodded and gave her a peck on the cheek. Elisabeth was already six years old by now and she was the light of all our lives. We all had a sweet spot for her and it wasn't hard to figure out why. She was just too sweet. A little witch and yet, a cutie.
"Now, what brings you to me this time, bunnie?", I asked. Ellie seemed to just have waited for the question as she happily squeeked.
"Story!", she grinned. "Tell me a story."
"A story, huh?", I chuckled and ruffled through her golden locks. "About who do you want to hear? The incredible Bonnie?"
She shook her head intensely. "No! Today, I want to hear about the almighty!"
Thoughtful, I drew circles on her arm. She had given my friends' the nicknames herself. Every time, I had told her a story from my time or past events in general, about one specific person, she would grow quiet and think. After a few seconds, she had always said one or multiple words she thought fit the person. Bonnie was "the incredible" one, my mother was "a strong star", Elena had been given the name "kind when normal" because Ellie knew about the stories from the alternate universe as well. Then there was "Bad Becks", refering in a positive way to Rebekah since Elisabeth had learned the term badass as in powerful. Her learning the word might or not have been my fault as well because it may or may not have slipped out in one of the tales. We also had "Stefan the Wise" and "Damon the mice" because she wanted names that rhymed for the brothers and couldn't think up any other word. I don't think Damon would have liked his nickname very much but Ellie loved it and that was what mattered. Hayley also had gotten her name as "the balancing soul", which I found to have a nice ring to it. For Elijah, she stuck with "the noble one" but the "almighty" was special. She used that term to describe Klaus. Once, she'd smiled at me and said: "Almighty in power, almighty in who he is and almighty in being your true love."
I never told her I was involved in the stories. The way I put it, made them seem like being fictional but she was smart. She understood who the people were without even knowing them. And she had her favorites. Klaus was one of them. While she liked hearing about the others, she adored hearing about him. He was the strong one, the one who had saved and fought for a girl until she admitted her feelings for him. Apparently, she admired that. And I loved telling her about it.
"Okay, let's see. Have I told you the one about how he chased the girl in the yard and discovered a family of wild boars?", I asked and she shook her head. It was something I'd lived through with this time's Klaus just a few months ago. Talking about something this recent was harder but I knew she'd like the story.
"Would you like to hear it?", I triggered her curiosity and she nodded quickly. "Okay, fine. It was a beautiful sunny day..."

"What are you doing?", I laughed as Klaus picked me up and spun me aroud in the yard of our current host family. He seemed to enjoy teasing or caressing me all day long when we had no chores to do.
"I'm having fun in the sunlight.", he grinned. "Something I haven't been able to do as much lately."
He was right about that. We were changing host families constantly and it was really tough. On top of that, the Mikaelsons weren't as familiar with daylight yet because their daylight rings were still new for them.
"And you involve me in that?", I asked cheekily and turned around to give him a peck on the lips.
"I do actually.", he smiled. "Without you, my day wouldn't be complete."
"Oh, you charmer.", I shook my head and moved away from him. "If it is so funny then you let's see who is faster."
"A speed race?", he seemed intrigued. "With vampire speed?"
I nodded challenging.
"You're on!", he accepted and before he could even finish speaking, I ran away. Klaus followed me, wanting to uphold his dignity and racing for the winner's pride. I teased him, hid behind trees by the yard and circled him when he didn't exactly know where I was. His fun had turned into mine. And I was having plenty of it.
"Caroline, where are you?", he asked in an upbeat voice and I held back a chuckle as I hid behind another tree. Suddenly, he was before me and I let out a surprised squeak.
"Got you!", he smirked and kissed me deeply as I laughed to myself for getting so spooked by him. Then, we heard an angry noise from behind. A wild boar had spotted us and seemed to not be very amused by our presence.
"What is it doing here, so close to the yard?", I wondered and eyed the animal carefully. It seemed stressed but we couldn't be the only reason for that.
"I'm not sure but it looks like it wants to kill us.", Klaus stated, tilting his head a bit. "But why?"
We decided to back off a bit, the animal angrily eyeing us.
"It's a female.", I said, looking closer.
"Are you sure?", he asked and I nodded because it really looked like it.
"I think it's looking for its child.", Klaus suddenly noticed and pointed towards a bush that was moving continuously. "It's stressed out because of worry."
I followed his finger and now I saw the smaller animal as well who seemed to just now notice its mother's presence. Happy, it squeaked and ran towards the older wild boar who immediately turned away from us.
"How did you know?", I asked Klaus while we left the animals alone. He shrugged his shoulders.
"The bush was moving so I drew the only logical conclusion. Nothing more."
But it had to have been more. A smile crossed my lips. He was so much more than what people saw.

"Did he know because of intuition?", Ellie asked after I'd finished the story.
"It had to have been something like that.", I nodded. "He definitely had something to him. Something, not many people would believe to be there."
"I believe it's there! He's a hero!", she grinned.
"Yes, he is in some way, isn't he?", I chuckled. Seeing her be so excited about such plain stories about Klaus made me happy. I still missed him a lot. The feeling of not knowing how he felt about me had gone away after seeing him in my hallucinations but my longing for him remained. However, I knew he needed time. And I'd said I would grant him that. That didn't make it any easier though.
"Come on now, honey.", I stood up and took the youngster into my arms. "Let's go help your mommy."
We rejoined her mother and I set the girl down. Every time, Elisabeth went to help her mother or father, it became clear what a strong witch she already was. It was truly astounding, her power's grew stronger day after day. Her parents reckoned by the time she was grown-up, she would have more power than both of them combined. I liked that fact for some selfish reasons because I had spoken to Heather about the spell. She was pretty sure that with everything going on, they would not be able to finish it any time soon. Having Elisabeth as a powerful allie might help in creating it. Quietly, I watched as the family worked in the garden. After a while, I decided to instead make dinner and gathered some ingredients. As I put the stove over the fire, I felt as if someone was watching me and I looked around in confusion but didn't see anyone. Maybe just my imagination again? This feeling came up from time to time and always left me feeling like I had missed someone important. But it couldn't be Klaus, right? He wouldn't just come to see how I was. Why would he? He didn't know I had almost died before. Sighing, I shook my head and turned back to cooking. The only thought that still gave me comfort was that Klaus was alive in my time. Since Heather had spoken those words aloud, some of the weight resting upon my shoulders had disappeared. I'd finally known that what I was doing had effects. That there was a chance to turn everything back to normal and see him again. I finished the dish and called my by now second family in to eat. Thankful, they dug in and I smiled as I watched them dine. Kilian handed me a glass of blood as he always did every two days. It was okay to restrain myself from drinking each single day but having blood as often as this helped me a lot. I had no idea how they always got it but didn't ask either. Maybe I didn't want to know. As long as I had it, things were fine.
"Caroline, can you bring Elisabeth to bed after dinner?", Heather asked. "Kilian and I want to try out some spells so we both can't do it."
"Sure.", I agreed. It's not like this was the first time. Actually, I'd brought the girl to bed several nights already. She and I were used to it.
As asked, after dinner, the two of us headed to Elisabeth's room and she quickly got underneath her blanket. Her googly eyes stared at me and it felt like she was being bothered by something important.
"What is it?", I asked concerned and she hesitantly scratched her nose.
"Why doesn't Klaus ever come see you?", she wanted to know, her voice low as if she didn't want to scratch open an emotional wound. I understood why she asked, part of me would have wanted to ask that question as well if I were her so I got it but to phrase the answer in a way she would understand seemed tough.
"Well, you see, Klaus and I had a bad fight and now, he needs some time without me to figure things out.", I put into words and Ellie seemed to reflect on that real quick.
"But he still loves you, right?"
"I believe so, yes.", I answered, my voice a bit shaky. I certainly hoped so at least.
"That's good.", Ellie offered me a big smile, which quickly turned into a yawn.
"Someone's tired", I chuckled and tugged her in deeper. "You should sleep now, sweetie, else you won't have your usual energy for tomorrow."
She nooded, her eyes already half closed as she was dozing off.
"Good night, honey." I gave her a peck on the forehead.
"Night Caroline. Love you.", she mumbled.
"Love you too. Sweet dreams, angel."

Hey everyone!
Yes, I'm finally back with a new chapter! I must admit, I don't know if I'll be able to update regularly from now on because I'll be heading into my senior year of high school in a week and as you can imagine, that is kinda stressful. However, I'll try my best to give you good content that's enjoyable to read.
Have a great week and I'll see you next Monday (hopefully).