Petrichor - e.mikaelson

04

"You saved my brother's life, I'm at your service."

"Ah, you sound so tedious and indentured," Klaus was nonchalant before spinning around to gesture at Frankie swaying and Ray pinned against the wall whimpering, "Aren't you even having the least bit of fun?"

Stefan didn't smile at Klaus' reply, his face emotionless as he replied before leaving, "I'll make sure that my brother doesn't bother us any more."

"Why are you so mean to him?" Frankie asked as Klaus returned to the seat beside her, plopping down as he pulled out his phone with a grin. She was staring at him with a frown across her face, her buzz dulling slightly with the distraction of Stefan.

"Hmm?" he didn't look up

"You know he's miserable, why do you force him to do bad things."

"I'm just trying to bring out who he really is," Klaus replied finally looking up to meet her eyes, "Who he's meant to be."

Frankie sighed and turned her head away, her worry for Stefan and the man chained against the wall was majorly killing her buzz and the mellow that had embraced her was moving into an anxious nervousness where she could feel everything. She could feel the shirt on her back and the loose thread on her shorts ticking her skin gently and the fabric of her socks pulling against her toes. She was so aware of every molecule it took her a moment to realise Klaus was still talking.

"-you knew him as well as I did, he was amazing love, worse than I ever was and he loved it. One time-" Klaus cut himself off from talking as he realised Frankie wasn't listening, a frown covering her face as her sleepy smile turned nervous, "Are you alright?"

"I need to eat," she told him firmly, "I need to eat right now."

Frankie had this before, she wasn't necessarily a stoner, but she was well experienced with getting high and she knew a bad day combined with an empty stomach, for her, resulted in an anxious and paranoid high. She knew she needed to eat before she got too in her head.

Klaus was searching around for some food now, he'd compelled a patron into returning to the diner to get her a meal but in the interim he had spotted a bag of chips hanging out the bag of one of the bartenders. Requesting it forcefully, Klaus brought it back to Frankie who took it gratefully, a smile returning to her face as she numbly ate.

"This is why you shouldn't have gotten stoned."

Frankie stared at him for a moment as she continued to shovel the chips into her mouth. She was too mellowed out to care to argue with him but she wasn't going to argue about getting high when she was getting reprimanded by Klaus. He'd kidnapped her, granted it could've been a lot worse, but he'd literally kidnapped her. She still didn't know why he'd taken her in the first place and now the food was gone that was all her head could focus on, casting possibilities on why he brought her along with him and Stefan in the first place.

"Why did you kidnap me?"

"I didn't kidnap you."

"You did."

"It's not kidnapping when-"

"We're family," she cut him off, "I know you've said that before. But we're not related, are we, so why are we 'practically family'."

Klaus stared at her for a moment before turning away, "Now's not the time, I'm going to make a phone call, don't move."

Klaus left before she could reply and Frankie sank her head down to her hands in frustration. She wasn't feeling as stoned anymore and now she couldn't pull her mind off why she was here, why he wanted her. Why she could turn sometimes and catch him staring at her as though he was drinking in every moment of her existence before she disappeared. Why his brother, Elijah, had stared at her with such surprise when they'd met.