Love and Loss (The Fun Gilbert Book 3)

Chapter 35- Staying One Step Ahead

He smiled, watching it play out, until he heard a voice behind him. "Such a shame that she has forsaken her promise to you." Klaus spins around and sees a woman who looks similar to his mother and realizes that the memory is not Jessica's doing, but hers.

"Dahlia, I presume."

"You are correct, nephew, and I come with an offer."

"Speak your piece and then leave," he commands and she smiles.

"You had so much faith in the siblings that have betrayed you, even your beloved has turned her back on you. She is very powerful, I can tell that much, yet she leaves the dagger in all because they believed you capable of killing the wolf."

"Something I have no doubt you've done so if you came to convince me to trust you, you have already failed because the dagger in my heart is your doing," he snarls before speeding away. He finally stops, only to realize he is in the same place he began.

"You can try to escape all you wish but this is your mind and for now, I control it." Klaus snarls at her but sits down, willing to give her a chance to make him an offer that he can hopefully use to his advantage.

Back in the real world, Jessica and Vivianne arrive at Ric's apartment to find Kai and Ric sitting on the couch, glaring at each other. "Wow, the testosterone in here is suffocating," Jess state and they both turn to her and smile, happy to see her. She walks over and hugs her stepfather before sitting next to him as Jo walks out of the bathroom, prompting Kai to speak up.

"This is what I need your help with," Kai says and Jessica looks at him, confused, so he elaborates. "I've been researching the Gemini coven since my father refuses to tell me anything, as he hates me, and he didn't tell Jo anything either because she gave up her magic. I don't think he ever expected Liv to win because she wouldn't tell Jo anything, but that may be because she hates me for taking her twin away."

"Does that upset you?" Jessica asks, curious, and he shrugs.

"Not particularly. I have Luke's emotions so in the back of my mind there is a little voice whispering to protect her but as time goes on it gets quieter and quieter. You were right about the merge pushing my emotions further to the front. As soon as the merge was over, I had an overwhelming need to have a relationship with my twin again, which is how we find ourselves here."

"Where exactly is here because we have more pressing matters, psycho," Vivianne says but he ignores the consistent nickname she's dubbed him with.

"I've been trying to be a good twin and be here for Jo during her pregnancy because Jessica said it's typically a hard time for women and I was the first to know she was actually pregnant."

"Because you can sense the power from it since it's in your coven," Jessica points out and he nods.

"Except lately, there has been something up with the power, like there is more," he says with a look that tells Jessica to listen so she does and that's when she hears it.

"There's two heartbeats," she gasps and Kai nods.

"That's what I thought which brings me to the whole not knowing much about the coven. Does this mean that Jo's children will have to merge or does it have to be my children?" Kai asks, worried, and it suddenly makes sense why Ric was glaring at him so she turns to her stepfather.

"You thought he was worried because he would lose his power if your twins merged," she states matter-of-factly, making Ric look down in guilt. "He's not," she assures. "He wouldn't lose his power he just wouldn't lead the coven, he's simply worried that you will have to lose a child if they merge. As for how the whole merge thing works, I don't know if they would have to merge, I assume that if you have twins the burden would go to them but since Jo is your twin and she was supposed to be the one to merge with you, it might fall to her."

"What if I gave up my magic?" She questions but Jessica shakes her head.

"It doesn't matter, the magic is in your genes, woven in your DNA, even if you give up your powers, they'll still have magic. Don't worry though, I can try and find a way around the merge without having to lock one in a prison world. We have 22 years to find a solution and I promise that I will find one," she vows, causing Ric and Jo to look at her gratefully until she turns to Kai. "Now you said that you had a plan for the dagger?"

He nods. "You said that nobody can touch it right, but have you tried removing it without touching it?"

"Yeah, I tried to move it with my power but my magic can't touch it either."

"That's not what I mean. It doesn't burn Klaus or you would see it while it's inside so if you make a connection with the dagger you can neutralize the power briefly, allowing him to wake and pull it out."

"Like Kol and Davina did with the white oak when Mikael kidnapped Jessica?" Vivianne wonders and Kai nods.

"That might work," Jessica responds, excited. "You're still ready to go against Dahlia, right?"

"I made you a promise and I intend to keep it. Besides you need someone with homicidal tendencies and no attachment to Hope to do it," he exclaims with a murderous glint in his eyes that makes Jessica laugh.

"You know, sometimes I forget that you killed most of your family. You seem so normal lately and then you say things like that." Kai shrugs and Jessica bids them all goodbye, promising to look into the merge and the Gemini Coven before leaving to test out Kai's plan.

Back inside Klaus' head, Dahlia has just finished her deal. "So you'll take out all my siblings and the pesky crescents and all I have to do is allow you to link yourself to me and I get to stay with you and my daughter?" Klaus reiterates and she smiles.

"Yes, and I will stay linked to you until Hope is old enough for the link to be harmless to her," she promises and Klaus thinks over her offer, when he remembers something Jessica said in the memory about compartmentalizing. He focuses on the idea of excepting Dahlia's offer and pushes it to the front of his mind while he comes up with a plan of his own. He knows that it's going to anger everyone, but Dahlia was right, they were all so quick to condemn him for Aiden's death and that's when he knows his plan will work.

He turns to Dahlia with an evil smirk. "You've got yourself a deal."

She matches his smirk. "Then wake up, Niklaus, we have things to do." As soon as the words leave her mouth, Klaus opens his eyes in the real world and grips the dagger, removing it from his heart and slipping it into his pocket before speeding away from the compound to meet Dahlia, ready to enact his plan.

A/N: So for anybody who was wondering, I've decided to do the cross over book since I only got one comment on it and it was a request for the book so if you don't want to read that, I will be continuing the Originals storyline as well as the Vampire Diaries storyline once they leave Beacon Hills. Also, I know that Ric gets married at the end of Season Six but he won't be in this book because I feel like it wouldn't fit with the character I've set up for him since he cares about Jessica so much he would be focused on her determination to help Hope and not his wedding. Oh, and for a time reference, Jo just found out about her pregnancy a few days before this chapter so she isn't very far along. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! ~J😘😍