Originally: 'Honey, I'm Home!'
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This is a sequel to "Angels Appearance"...I advise you to read that before this to understand the plot and character dynamics...
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Angel faces a difficult decision...Will she decide to spend the rest of her...
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A FEW DAYS LATER
The champagne I'd picked up was far too bubbly for my taste, rushing down my throat with the same speed as a soft drink. The odd trinkets dotted around The Grill for the 'Winter Wonderland' auction distracted me from Damon's late arrival, my eyes rolling at the thought of my drinking buddy fixing his hair in the mirror and moping over the near week-long struggle of not seeing Elena-- "Don't you look gorgeous, little wolf(?)"
My grin was automatic with the sound of Klaus' voice, "Back so soon(?)" My body tilted to face him, "I hope that means your trip to Italy was successful."
It was a silent question, Klaus guiding me toward a familiar exhibit with his answer, "Extremely."He grinned, "And according to my hybrids, the progress of our Hunters mark is close to being done based on the description you gave me."
I tried to smother the small spark of guilt when I thought of who Connor was actually killing, Klaus having accepted my first offer of hunting down travelers and slaughtering them before they could cause the future damage they hoped. "Perfect..." I shook my head of further dwelling, finally taking in the painting in front of me. "Did you submit this?" Although his expression was quite bashful, his posture held nothing but confidence, "It's a cute snowflake."
He chuckled, "Is my work really so literal?"
"I'm afraid so," I smiled, "It is beautiful though, a little lonely..." The silence was quite nice, that same look of wonder filling his gaze when he took me in, assessed me, picked apart each of my reactions to every little thing that he did-- "And if it wasn't obvious, you look very handsome."
He grinned, "My, my, Miss. Jones." A teasing lilt entered his tone, "If these compliments continue, I may blush(!)"
I couldn't stop my smile from widening as I rolled my eyes, "Well, I suppose I'll have to control myself(!) Wouldn't want to stroke that ego any harder, would we(?)"
"Certainly not," mischief brightened his eyes, "I'd hate to have you falling to your knees before me(!)" I hated how I blushed from the innuendo our conversation had morphed into, the hybrid seeming to take the harsher redness crossing my cheeks as a win. "Allow me to get you a refill, sweetheart."
He motioned toward my half-full glass, recognizing my distaste for the drink and thankfully choosing to stop prodding my rising shyness during our tête-à-tête. "I'd appreciate it..."
His brief departure allowed me a chance to breathe. The growing tension between us was oddly reminiscent of the beginning of mine and Damon's relationship, while simultaneously feeling nothing like it. With Damon, I felt all wide-eyed and excited, positively giddy over the possibility that something could occur with a TV character I'd crushed on for years. But with Klaus...maybe it was because of how disillusioned I'd become with this world in general now that it actually felt real and like home, but whatever was actually happening with Klaus seemed to ground me to this world far more than Damon ever could. I could just be overthinking it. My mind could just be ignoring the possibility that I'll fall hard for another obvious heartbreak just because it wants me to be completely happy again. Trying to recreate all of those hormones from the beginning of my Salvatore and me to counteract the stress of finding the cure and the guilt of what it was taking to track it--
