The One You Once Were

Family gatherings

"Birthday, birthday, birthday!", Dalia jumped up and down around the house. I hadn't seen her this excited in months so it was a nice shift for once.
"Bada!", Caleb, the new younger one, tried to mirror her words, inflicted by her happiness. Caleb wasn't Heather's and Kilian's son but Heather's sister's, who had died when he was only two months old. Even though, we were already stressed, we'd taken him in and Heather wanted to raise him as our own. He was now precisely one year old and had started speaking about a week ago. Heather had shown her utmost motherly pride when I'd let her see the memory in her mind. She loved him unconditionally as if he was her own and everyone accepted him in the family like another sibling as well.
"Birthday!", Dalia had now stopped jumping and instead bowed down to her younger cousin to see how many times he'd repeat her.
"Bada!"
"Birthday!"
"Bada!"
This conversation went on for several minutes and it was a true joy to watch. Caleb really was persistent to learn this new word and Dalia seemed to love his attention and curiosity.
"What's going on here?", Ellie asked while entering the room, a bright smile on her lips.
"There she is!", I rushed over to my little angel and pulled her into a hug. "Happy Birthday, hun!"
"Thank you, Caroline!", she giggled and returned my hug until I had to let her go so Dalia could take my place.
It was so crazy to finally have this day arrive, Ellie's eighteenth birthday had always seemed so far away but now, she was actually pretty grown-up. We hadn't really fought since our talk, some minor issues here and there but overall, our relationship had developed for the better, which made life easier for all of us. My last time seeing Klaus was very far back and I hadn't gone back for him since then. Why should I? He had that Aurora girl to take care of him, what would he need me for? Besides, the family counted on me.
Heather had gotten a bit better for a period of time, right now however, she was worse than ever. We tried not to think about it too much but it was clear, she did not have much longer to live. It was a miracle she'd even made it this long.
"I have a present for you!", Dalia happily told her sister and showed her the wooden figure she'd been working on for a week.
"Is that me?", Ellie weighed the wood in her hand and Dalia gave her the biggest smile as an answer.
"It is!"
"I love it!", Ellie stated to Dalia's pride. "Did you show Mom?"
"Yeah, I needed her opinion. She said it really captured your essence.", the girl told proudly and Ellie gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Well, I think so too. Thanks, baby sis."
"Bada!", Caleb made himself noticed, arms spread wide and a faccial expression as sweet as honey. We all burst into laughter and Ellie quickly gave Caleb a kiss as well to thank him equally. We all loved that kid.
Aiden and Thorn took a bit longer to wake up and joined us by the time breakfast was ready. I reckoned they had smelled the food and decided it was time because both were so hungry, they immediately dugged in.
"Can't you wait for Dad?", Dalia asked judgy and the boys shook their heads in denial. However, when their father finally did enter, they almost spit out their food in surprise. He wasn't alone. Instead, he was helping Heather through the door to her chair. The woman was pale but carried a smile on her face as if she wasn't actually deadly ill.
"Mom!", Elisabeth exclaimed in shock. "What are you doing up?! You should be in bed!"
Hiding her exhaustion, Heather shook her head. "On your birthday? No way, I would miss this. This is too important to see through another one's eyes. Come here, sweetie."
Ellie stumbled to her feet to carefully embrace her mother, tears in both their eyes.
"I cannot put in words, how proud I am of you.", Heather whispered quietly, which made Ellie start to sob. "Thanks Mom.", she sniffed. "I love you so, so much!"
"And I you!", her mother chuckled. "You will always be my little girl."
Kilian dried his eyes smiling, a rare look of happiness on his face.
"This is the best thing ever!", Thorn clapped his hands and Caleb joined in, yet again yelling: "Badaaa!"
Heather and Kilian now joined us for breakfast, though Heather barely touched her food, probably not wanting to vomit on her daughter's birthday. She had an everlasting smile on her lips and even though we knew, she was in pain, she covered it up pretty well. Today was for laying low, no magic activities or chores, only family time to celebrate our ongoing grown-up.
"Aren't I in a way older than you now?", Ellie asked me, recalling I had died at seventeen years old.
"You wish!", I pinched her cheek laughing. "I've been around longer than you had even been planned."
"Well, technically not. If you take that approach, you were planned after me since your birth is centuries in the future.", she said and I nodded slightly. "Fair enough. But did you feed me when I still wore diapers?"
Cheeks turning red, Ellie hit me on the arm. "Stop, now, you're embarrassing me."
"That's my right as your guardian, isn't it.", I claimed, laughing. Her siblings were grinning like crazy too until Ellie shot them a jokefully warning look to shut them up.
"She did the same for you guys too.", she told her brothers and sister, which made them drop their facial expressions.
"Furthermore, I was at every single one of your births.", I added to the general awkwardness. The kids shook their heads in disgust while their parents and I were having a blast.
"Change of topic, please!", Aiden begged.
"Here's one.", Heather suggested. "How does my little girl feel now that she's all grown?"
Ellie shook her head laughing. "Not that different actually. After all, I am still going to be living here, taking care of this bunch and being bossed around by my guardian."
She shot me a joking side glance and I nodded fairly. It was true after all.
"Still, it's weird thinking about how I'm all responsible now and am some day going to move out and start my own family. Eric did say he would want to marry rather quickly."
Oh, right. I'd almost forgotten about Eric. He was Ellie's boyfriend slash lover or whatever you called it in this time. I'd double checked him, he was a nice guy, good enough for her though I sometimes did give him warning looks when I felt him overstep his boundaries when it came to family life. Ellie however really loved him and thus, I accepted him around her, not that it was my decision either way but I had to look out for her, right?
"Oh stop, you." I sniffed, worked up about her saying all that stuff about moving out. I finally got why my mother had been so emotional when we talked about my college admissions. "You're having me all in tears, growing up so fast. What happened to the time of me holding you in my arms, singing lullabies?"
"Right?", Heather agreed with me. "Can't they stay babies forever?"
"Mom, Auntie, you're not gonna start having this talk now, are you?"
We both sighed simultaneously. "No, we won't. For you.", Heather apologized even though we did really want to have this talk. Time just went by too fast.
For a bit, we continued talking and eating until it knocked at the front door. Ellie stood up, nervously pushing her hair back over her shoulders.
"That's probably Eric and the rest of my friends. I'll let them in real quick.", she smiled.
"You do that.", her father nodded and she left to do as she'd announced. I heard the front door open but no "Happy Birthday"s reached my ears. Instead, there was a weird silence and Ellie gasping for words.
Confused, I shifted in my seat, starting to get a weird feeling in my gut.
"I do apologize.", someone very familiar stated from the open entrance. "I hope I am not interrupting anything but is there a chance I could talk to Caroline if she is not absent right now?"
Why today of all days? Why had he decided to come see me today?
"You... are you...? Oh my god.", I heard Elisabeth stutter and decided I should maybe swoop into the conversation. Quietly, I excused myself and started walking towards their voices in human speed, my hands shaking.
"I what?", Klaus asked. "Is it not convenient for me to be here right now? Should I come back later perhaps?"
I stepped around the corner, now able to spot him standing outside the house. Ellie shook her head in disbelief.
"You're Klaus, aren't you? You are him.", she almost stumbled through her words. "Holy sh*t."
"Elisabeth, language!", I warned her and brought both their focuses on me, Klaus' eyes widening at my sight.
"Caroline.", he smiled but didn't step in, probably because he had not yet been invited to.
"Hi.", I answered, not knowing how else to greet someone who had caused my heart to break several times already.
"So it really is you.", Ellie concluded. "This is insane, I never thought I'd actually get to see you, you were always just the dude from the stories."
"Honey, please. Enough.", I begged, embarrassed as his smirk appeared on his face.
"Stories, huh? You talked about me!", he grinned widely and I rolled my eyes.
"Not always good, don't flatter yourself.", I said, a bit of ignorance in my voice.
Ellie finally stepped aside, seemingly having had enough of this tension and went by me to return to the table. Though she couldn't resist whispering a "show him what he missed" into my ear.
I went closer to the door and was now able to see Klaus entirely. His hair had changed, it seemed darker and was a bit shorter to my notice. It suited him though, made him look a tad more like the version of my time that I still so deeply missed.
"What are you doing here?", I wanted to know harshly and he pretended to be hurt as he ironically touched his chest.
"No need to be so grumpy.", he laughed. "I came to see you after all."
"Why?"
"What do you mean 'why'?", he asked confused. "Hasn't it been long enough since I last saw you? I missed you."
"Did you now?", I snapped back. "Because last time I saw you, you didn't seem to as much."
He raised a brow at my sappy comment. "And when would that have been, love?"
"Oh, you know, love. You were hanging with that Aurora girl back then."
Immediately, his smirk disappeared. He stepped into the house, which surprised me for obvious reasons, and grabbed me by the shoulders.
"I don't know what you saw but her and I are nothing more than friends!", he tried to assure me.
"Yeah right. Friends with benefits? Or do you make out with all your other regular friends too?!"
Upset, I shook him off and turned away.
"You have seen us at the worst possible time then.", he said as if that were to make it better. "She did try to kiss me but I pulled away soon after. You want to know why?"
"Do tell!".
"Because I love you. I have never stopped loving you! But I needed time. I told you, didn't I?", he attempted to reach my feelings.
"No, you didn't! That was only a hallucination...", I stopped as I realized what I was saying and noticed how he just now understood what he had told me. "It wasn't, was it? You were there. Like really there."
Unbelievable. All this time, I had thought it had only been a dream.
But it hadn't. It had been real and he had been by my side.

Two weeks in a row, suprising, right? Can't promise anything for next week though.
However, as you have all so desperately awaited, Klaus is finally actively back in the story...