||Until you find out what you are running from, you will never figure out where you are going - Joseph A, Meyering Sr||
Willow woke up the next morning to the sound of Allison talking on the phone. She felt the warm arms of Klaus still embracing her and holding her close since last night. She yawned before looking up at her lover, who had also just woken up moments ago.
"Morning love" Klaus mumbled, kissing her forehead.
"Hello, Parkland Hospital? Yes, I'm looking for a patient. Reynolds Chestnut. He may have been brought in last night after the riot at Stadler's. Why does that matter? Of course you don't treat Negroes, how silly of me" Willow heard Allison say into the phone, clearly frustrated.
"You all right?" Willow asked Allison as she turned around on the couch, facing away from Klaus.
"No. Ray didn't come home last night" Allison replied as she paced up and down the room.
"Okay, no problem. I'm sure he's fine" Willow tried to reassure her the best she could, knowing that if Klaus was in that situation she would be just as worried.
"Okay, first thing we're going to need is coffee, vitamin B12 and a piping bowl of menudo. And we're gonna sort all this stuff out" Klaus said to the two women as he sat up on the couch.
"Menudo?" Willow repeated. "But I agree on the coffee part"
"You can't drink coffee" Ben reminded her, although she couldn't even hear him.
"He saw me rumor that cop, Klaus" Allison replied.
"I know but uh, you..you were saving his life. That asshole was gonna kill him" Klaus justified her reasoning behind the rumor.
"I'm such an idiot" Allison said with a sigh, turning around to sit at her kitchen table.
"No you're not" Willow reassured, standing up.
"I promised myself I would never do this again. Nothing good ever comes from it" Allison said, putting her head in her hands.
"But you had to do it, I would've done it for Klaus if I had your powers" Willow told her.
"Have you ever heard the fable of The Scorpion and The Frog?" Klaus asked as he sat down next to Allison.
"What?" Allison asked.
"The scorpion wants to get across the river, so he asks the frog to carry him across. But the frog's like, "What's in it for me?" And the scorpion's like, "How about five bucks?" And the frog says, "Make it twenty." The scorpion's like, "Ten." The frog goes, "All right, fine, fifteen." And the scorpion's like, "All right, fine, fifteen." Then halfway across the river, the frog feels this terrible pain on his back and... eh, the scorpion stung him! And the frog's like "well what the hell, we're both gonna drown now" and the both did" Klaus explained, acting all inspirational and shit.
"What the hell is the point of that story?" Allison asked in confusion.
"Point is, frog's are bitches and we do not negotiate with terrorists" Klaus finished.
"Babe, no" Willow said, shaking her head.
"I actually can't deal with you right now. Absolutely not" Allison said, standing up and picking her things up off the table.
"I'm not a morning person, can we do this again at...where are you going?" Klaus started but got distracted by Allison's departure.
"To find my damn husband" Allison replied as she exited the room, slamming a door behind her.
"Well then, I guess it's just the two of us again" Klaus said, looking over at his lover and giving her a small smile.
"Mhm" Willow hummed in response as she sat down next to him. "What's the plan for today?"
"I have something I need to do later, I need you to come with me for emotional support" Klaus replied.
"And what's that?" Willow asked.
"I'll tell you in a minute, can't say it out loud in front of moaning myrtle over there" Klaus commented.
"How many fictional ghosts are you going to refer to me as?" Ben asked, crossing his arms.
"I have many more" Klaus replied.
"Ghost names?" Willow asked, raising an eyebrow as Klaus leaned in towards her.
"Mhm" he hummed before kissing her. Right after that, Allison entered the room again and scoffed slightly.
"Not in my kitchen, please guys?" Allison asked as she picked up a book that she had forgotten.
"Uh, sorry?" Klaus apologized.
•••
"It's go time, baby" Klaus mumbled as the couple watched Dave's uncle Brian leave the table. Willow nodded before following him over to the table.
"Hey Willow! And Mamie Pink, right?" Dave asked, smiling at his former babysitter and the random man who had bought paint at his store the other day.
"Klaus Hargeeves, but you can call me whatever you want" Klaus told him as he took off his sunglasses.
"How are you Willow? I feel like I haven't seen you in forever" Dave asked, looking towards her.
"Listen Dave, we have to talk to you about something important" Willow responded, before looking at her boyfriend to continued speaking.
"This is gonna sound kinda crazy but uh...I know you" Klaus told him.
"Well yeah, from the hardware store" Dave replied.
"No from before, well after actually. But I know that you're thinking about enlisting and thinking it's your duty cause you grandfather fought in World War 1 and your father fought in World War 2 and you're eating brunch with your Uncle Ryan who fought in Korea" Klaus explained.
"Brian" Dave and Willow corrected him at the same time.
"Brian. And you look up to Brian and you're starting to believe all this stuff he's saying about the military making you a man." Klaus continued.
"Is this a joke or something?" Dave asked, looking to Willow for help.
"Dave if you enlist, they're gonna send you out to Vietnam" Klaus told him.
"What the heck are you talking about?" Dave asked, looking behind him.
"50,000 American soldiers and a million Vietnamese, all die for nothing. Because the dominoes aren't gonna topple, Dave" Klaus continued. "The communists aren't going to invade all of East Asia"
"Says you" Brian interrupted him, standing by the table and looking down at him.
"Oh. Hey Brian" Klaus said, clearly disappointed to see the man, knowing from Dave that he was very homophobic.
"You know this clown?" Brian asked his nephew.
"He bought pink paint at the store" Dave explained timidly.
"Pink paint? Makes sense" Brian taunted.
"You know pink can be very masculine in the right setting" Klaus defended.
"Is that right? How about you get out of my seat, queer" Brian threatened.
"How about you shut the fu-" Willow started before Klaus interrupted her.
"Oh if I had a nickel for every time I heard that" Klaus chuckled, slapping the table before Brian grabbed him and forced him out of the seat, pushing him down the restaurant
"Oh! Take is easy there Brian" Klaus mocked as he stood up, followed by his girlfriend.
"I just need 5 minutes of your time Dave" Klaus told him desperately.
"Are you just gonna sit here and listen to this pansy?" Brian asked Dave.
"You don't have to join the military to become a man" Klaus continued.
"Hit the queer!" Brian told him.
"Don't sacrifice yourself" Klaus pleaded with Dave.
"Hit him damn it!" Brian edged Dave on.
"Hit him! Hit the queer!" Brian exclaimed as Dave stood up and punched Klaus across the face, making him fall onto another table.
Klaus looked up at Dave in shock, his hand touching his now bloody lip. Willow put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back up carefully.
Klaus grabbed his face before walking out of the café. Willow sent Dave a look of disbelief and disappointment as she shook her head slightly at him before following her boyfriend out of the diner.
Dave looked extremely shaken and even he was shocked at his own actions. He didn't know why he did it. He didn't want to. Dave wasn't like that. He wasn't a bad person.
•••
"Why are we here?" Ben asked as he stood next to his brother in front of the liquor store. Klaus didn't answer him, he only dramatically swung open the door of the store and walked in, sighing happily.
"It's not too late Klaus" Ben tried to reason with him, the last thing any of them needed right now was this.
"Oh, I think we both know that it is" Klaus replied as he picked up a bottle of vodka and held the bottle close to himself.
"You really want to throw three years of sobriety out the window?" Ben asked as his brother laughed at the statement.
"In case you didn't notice Ben, the last three years have been a total shit show" Klaus replied, causing the ghost to scoff, clearly getting very angry at the statement.
"I can't believe you would say that! You're really going to say that all your time with Lola has been a 'shit show'?" Ben asked, he was not about to let anyone, especially his brother, say anything bad about his best friend.
"Especially after all she's done for you. I've never seen anyone care about you as much as she does and you're still going to say that?" Ben continued. Klaus instantly regretted what he had said, and he knew he didn't mean it at all.
"I can't believe you're doing this to them" Ben finished, shaking his head slightly. Klaus just assumed that the 'them' he was referring to was his cult, but it was something very different.
"This is going to make everything worse" the ghost advised. His attempts proved to be useless when his brother only ignored him, taking the cap off of the bottle.
"Maybe. Let's find out" Klaus replied, raising the glass bottle to his lips, only to be stopped before he could take a sip, a hand wrapping around his wrist and pulling his arm down forcefully.
"Let go of me Ben!" Klaus said angrily, trying to tug his arm away before he saw that it wasn't his brother.
"Lola..." his voice trailed off as he looked at her.
"Klaus" Willow said softly as she carefully took the glass bottle from his hand, still holding his wrist. He watched as she did so, allowing her to do it.
"I-I'm sorry" he stuttered out, regretting every decision he had made up to that point.
"Shh, let's just get out of here, okay?" she said as her hand moved from his wrist to his own hand, interlocking with it. All she needed was to get him out of the store before he did something he would've regretted.
"Okay" Klaus agreed with a nod, letting her guide him out of the store.
•••
"Are you mad at me?" Klaus asked, breaking the silence that the couple had walked in for the past twenty minutes.
"Of course not, why would I be?" Willow asked, glancing over at him.
"Because I almost relapsed" he mumbled, slightly embarrassed.
"But you didn't" Willow replied "and even if you did, I wouldn't be mad at you, not at all"
"I don't deserve you" Klaus mumbled.
"Shush, none of that now" she hushed him as she opened the gate of their home. "And when we go inside I'll clean your lip up and then we can do whatever you want, okay?"
"I just want to sleep with you" he replied before pausing. "Shit that sounded wrong. I didn't mean like...sexually, I mean just normal sleeping"
"I got what you meant" Willow said with a chuckle before they noticed that the door of the mansion was slightly cracked open and there was various voices coming from the inside.
"Oh no" Klaus mumbled when realization hit.
"For fuck sake" Willow muttered as the door opened to reveal the people they had been dreaded to see.
"He's here!" One of them exclaimed as they noticed Klaus.
"The Prophet!" Another called out.
"The Holy wander has returned!"
"Prophet!"
"Stay in the mansion" Klaus told them as he began backing away from his followers.
"No! No! Stay in the mansion" Klaus begged, none of them listened to him and all decided to flood out of the mansion as fast as they could.
"Prophet!" They all called out after him as they ran away from them.
"Fuck" Klaus muttered.
•••
"Ray?" Allison called as she opened the front door, hoping to see her husband coming to apologize. To her dismay, it wasn't her husband but it was her brother and his girlfriend.
"¡Hola! ¿Está Allison en casa beuna?" Klaus asked as he leaned against the doorway of Allison's house "We just need a place to crash for one night"
"Couch is all yours" Allison said, motioning to the couch as Willow closed the front door behind her.
"I'm so sorry, we had no where else to go" Willow apologized, Allison only shook her head and gave the woman a small smile.
"Don't worry about it, it's all good" Allison replied.
"Thanks Allison" Klaus mumbled as he flopped down onto the couch.
"Are you okay?" Allison asked, looking over at Willow with concern.
"Oh I'm fine, but I don't know about him, he hasn't had the best day" Willow motioned to her boyfriend, who was already almost asleep.
"Well...do you want some coffee or something?" Allison asked with a small smile.
•••
"Here you go" Allison said with a small smile as she handed Willow a cup of tea, as the two sat outside on the steps of Allison's patio.
"Thank you" Willow replied as Allison sat down next to her.
"You're welcome" Allison replied with a small smile.
"I'm guessing Raymond hasn't come home yet?" Willow asked, looking over at Allison, who shook her head.
"No, I haven't seen him since earlier. He's angry at me because I can't tell him the truth about anything" Allison said sadly, her face dropping.
"Aw I'm sorry Alli" Willow said with a frown.
"How did Klaus tell you about everything? You know, the powers, time traveling, the apocalypse?" Allison asked, needing to figure out a way to tell Ray the truth without freaking him out.
"Well I asked him first, about Ben. Because I would always hear him talking to a person who wasn't there. Then he told me about Benny and then everything kind of unraveled from there" Willow explained.
"How did you believe him so easily?" Allison asked.
"I dunno really. He did show me how he conjured Ben, so I guess that helped" Willow replied.
"I don't like using my powers so I don't really want to show him that way" she said, sipping her tea.
"Mm I get that" Willow agreed. "But if Ray really loves you, and I'm sure he does, he'll come back. They always do" she assured.
"Really?" Allison asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I've kept secrets from Klaus. And sure, there was a few fights but he understood eventually" Lola explained.
"I don't think Ray would be as understanding as Klaus" Allison replied "I love Ray, and I know that he loves me, but it just seems different with you and Klaus"
"I've only met your husband once so I can't comment on how well he'll take the info about you having powers and being from the future" Willow replied.
"Yeah" Allison said with a nod. "You said earlier that Klaus had a bad today, mind telling me what happened?"
"Sure" Willow replied "I don't know if you know this, but back in 2019 Klaus accidentally time travelled back to 1968 during their Vietnam War"
"Wow well I uh...definitely never heard about that before" Allison commented.
"Yeah, well during his ten months there he fought in the war and met a guy called Dave. Unfortunately Dave died during battle" Willow explained with a frown. "And now Klaus is trying to stop Dave from enlisting to try and save his life and uh, Dave didn't really like that, well more specifically his uncle and today Dave punched him"
"Jesus poor Klaus" Allison mumbled.
"Then Klaus went to the liquor store and almost relapsed, but he didn't, I was able to stop him" Lola continued.
"I'm glad you were there. Not many people could get him to do that, we all tried when we were kids" Allison said.
"Yeah, I can't imagine growing up with a siblings who was a drug addict" Willow commented.
"He's had a tough life. Well, we all have but him specifically. He definitely got the worst power" Allison said, feeling bad for her brother. "Does he still get nightmares?"
"Sometimes, but at lot less than when we first started dating" Willow replied. "Now it's more flashbacks and 'episodes' as Ben would call them, from his ptsd"
"I can't even imagine how tough it must be for him" Allison commented with a frown.
"I know, it sounds stupid but I wish there was more I could do for him" Willow said. "I wish I could just take all his problems away, hug them out of him or something"
"If only it was that easy" Allison mumbled.
"I just wish I could help him the way he helps me, but I don't know how" Willow said with a small sigh.
"I think you help more than you think you do. I've never seen someone care about him so much, and I can tell how much he loves you" Allison assured before they heard the front door of the house swung open.
"Hi" Klaus greeted softly, his voice slightly hoarse as he walked over to the two women, sitting down next to his girlfriend, leaning his head on her shoulder and wrapping his arms around her.
"What's wrong baby?" Willow asked.
"Nothing, nothing" Klaus lied quietly. "I just couldn't sleep"
"You were asleep when we left you in there" Willow revealed, concern spreading across her face "Talk to me bub"
"Just another bad dream, I don't want to talk about it" Klaus mumbled into her shoulder as his hand wrapped around her wrist, his finger feeling for the steady thumping of her pulse.
"Babe, I'm alive. I'm real and I'm here" Willow reassured. He always got like that after having any nightmares or flashbacks. He just needed reassurance that she was alive and actually there, and that she wasn't just another ghost.
"Good" he mumbled, still feeling her pulse as he placed a kiss to her neck. Allison smiled sadly as she watched them, missing her husband.
"We should probably go back inside. I've had a long day and I'm sure you both have too" Allison said as she stood up, taking the mug from Willow before walking inside, allowing the couple to follow her.
"Thanks again for letting us stay here Alli" Willow thanked her as she kicked off her shoes as Klaus pulled her down onto the coach.
"Anytime guys, my room is just down the hall if you need anything. Come get me if Ray comes home?" Allison asked.
"Of course" Willow assured as she felt Klaus wrap the blanket around both of them.
•••
"Lola?" Klaus whispered at around 4am, unable to sleep. "Baby wake up please" he urged as he poked her lightly, his attempts working as she mumbled something incoherent before opening her eyes and looking at him.
"What?" she groaned.
"I can't sleep" Klaus complained.
"I'm sorry honey, but what do you want me to do about that?" Willow asked.
"Do you want to do something crazy with me?" Klaus asked.
"Depends what it is" Willow replied.
"Wanna get married?