The Original Baby Girl

Tantrums are for Toddlers (edited-a lot)

"Here we go sweet angel." Merit choked on a coo that tried to surface when his old pet name for her rolled off his tongue seemingly without effort.

She was sad when he sat her down on the soft chair. But quickly recovered her smile when he sat down beside her on a tall bar stool, and then placed some newspapers down in front of her on the coffee table with some paints and a white sheet of paper for her own masterpiece.

She watched him as he set up a canvas on his easel and faced her so she couldn't see what he was doing. She decided not to peek at his drawing in the future. Instead she closed her eyes and drew from her sight, the many things that swirled through her mind without control.

The silence droned on, occasionally opening her eyes to watch him concentrate on his work. She loved to see his brow crease as he contemplated the lines and colors he glanced across his canvas. Their eyes locked periodically and she would blush each time they did, and tuck her chin to her chest again timidly. She knew she was safe with him, that he would never dream of hurting her, but she was trying to sort out her new emotions that seemed to throb and pulse every time he looked into her eyes or smirked at her out of the corner of his eyes. She'd always loved being with him, but now that she was a grown woman, she didn't understand how her feelings from him had somehow grown into physical responses to him.

Hours later they finally placed down their brushes and looked at the final result of their works. Merit's once white page depicted many different scenes. A mother holding her baby lovingly. A man getting robbed at gun point. A witch casting a spell. Kol drinking Klaus's good brandy. And Klaus himself painting a woman who she intentionally blurred so that she couldn't spoil his surprise for herself.

Klaus turned his attention to her paper, pausing for a moment before looking up at her. "You have the gift of sight?" He admired the adorable way her knees tucked up into her dress, and pressed firmly to her chin, and the way she hugged her legs with her slender arms. He frowned slightly at the way her dress seemed to have aged without her, being worn and dirty from years of dirt settling down on top of her, and the grime that clung to her petal soft milky white skin.

"Curse of visions." She corrected, almost sadly. Her voice barely rose above that of a whisper as she aggressively swiped at a lock of hair that seemed to annoy her with it's persistence to become a part of her angelic face.

"Is it a curse my sweet girl?" He smiled kindly. "You can see, well... everything." He finished after a brief pause.

"I don't wanna." She pouted, picking at a hole in the knee of her filthy dress.

"Your magic is pure, raw, strong and untainted. Why would you not want it?" He asked with genuine curiosity.

"It won't stop." She gestured to the many things her mind had been showing her while she had simply moved the brush with closed eyes.

"I'm sorry my sweet girl. I'll try to help you soothe them. I promise." He collected the small girl into his arms. "Would you like to see what I've drawn?" He asked in an attempt to distract her from her sad mood.

She nodded excitedly reaching out to grab ahold of his painting. He smacked her hand causing her to jump and look at him with her brows knitted together and her eyes wide open. "It's wet love. We don't touch wet paint." She nodded once to let him know she understood, but her expression of shock and sadness did not follow the tension that left her posture.

He turned his painting around by the frame it stood on and she stared blankly at what she assumed was how he saw her. She was absolutely breath taking through his eyes, absolutely stunning. The picture was of a petal soft pale girl glancing up with a mischievous grin on her full untouched lips, her eyes sparkling as she peeked out from under long and full lashes. "Wow." She looked up at him from her perch on his hip. "Is that really how you see me?" She knew it was her as she recognized her features, but he seemed to have embellished them into a raw and natural beauty that she never saw in her reflection.