JUST A LITTLE BIT OF YOUR HEART | TO [1]

XX • A CLOSER WALK WITH THEE

Rousseau's Restaurant, Father Kieran O'Connell's Wake

The entirely vibrant French Quarter is throwing an Irish-style wake in the local priest's honor, complete with Irish music, lots of alcohol, and tons of people who have gathered to share stories of Father Kieran and celebrate his life after his recently unfortunate demise at the church, in which Klaus murdered him with no other alternative left when he was about to hurt Cami in order to protect her. Now, Cami O'Connell herself is sitting at a table for four people with Kaleb Westphall and a young teenage girl with straight chestnut brown hair and fair skin, almost resembling the former as possibly being his younger sister, being her two cousins as they drink together when the blonde young woman herself spots Klaus sitting alone at a small table for two with a glass of scotch, hence she gets up from her seat.

"Where are you going?" The dark brunette teenage girl mentioned her.

"I'm going to sit with my friend, for a while. Excuse me." Cami walks over to the Original's small table by the wall as her two younger cousins watch her go curiously, with knowing smiles about who he is, "Hey! Earth to you!"

Klaus effortlessly notices the dry wounds and bruises on her face from the violent fight she had to undergo to protect herself from Kieran, "Your face--"

"Will heal." Cami assured him with a nod, "Listen, I wanted to thank you--"

The young man holds up his glass, "Unless you've come equipped with the means to fill this, no additional platitudes are necessary." He smiles at her.

"Okay...I'm in a half crap mood because my uncle just died, and the other half is okay considering more of my cousins are coming back, and people are partying like it's Mardi Gras. What's your excuse?" Cami effortlessly notices his clear, unfriendly scowl, "Klaus, seriously, what's going on? Hey."

"I've been having these dreams about my dead father. 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." Klaus fakes a smile and takes another long drink, "It's horrifically cliché." Of course this would happen someway or somehow, regarding daddy issues.

"Truthfully? I'm just surprised to hear you acknowledge out loud that you're going to be a dad. Your baby mama has been living out in the bayou for months, it's not exactly What To Expect When You're Expecting." Cami said.

Marcel steps in through the main door of the restaurant, who Klaus quickly notices as he listens to Cami speak until he speaks once again, "I know more about the trials of fatherhood than you might imagine, Camille." That would be a huge statement, considering he was abused and abandoned by his own fathers; resented, beaten up, hunted, his father was a true monster.

The young woman trails his gaze curiously, to see Marcel walk up to the main bar alone, "And it worked out for you so well the first time, why change a thing?" After one last glance at the Original, she walks away again.

Once she's gone, Klaus catches Marcel's eye across the restaurant, which triggers a flashback of memory from almost two hundred years ago in 1820; Klaus continues to sulk and drink at his table as he glances over at Marcel, who sees the formally framed photos of Father Kieran, Kaleb, Sean, and Cami by the bar, and grabs an untouched glass bottle of scotch to make a toast to the entire party and effortlessly earns his audience's attention.

"I know I haven't been around these parts lately. 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 twenty-five years ago. And damn it, that guy could party!" Marcel and some of the audience laugh, "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 raises his glass for a toast, "To Father K!"