"Rebekah, darling, could you come downstairs and stop your temper tantrum? It is extremely unbecoming for a woman of your age." Klaus called up the stairs as he, Caroline, Elijah, and Katherine walked in the door.
"Oh, are my absentee brothers finally back from their little day trip?" Rebekah appeared at the top of the stairs. "I just got the wolf to go to sleep. Could you please not shout?"
"She can't put herself to bed? She's pregnant, not an invalid." Katherine snickered.
"I am well aware, trust me. But apparently her ankles were bloated and she needed a glass—or seven—of water. So I had to fetch them. And then she needed her computer. And then she was hungry." Rebekah was clearly not amused as she came to stand at the bottom of the staircase with everyone else.
"When I was pregnant I had to go fetch my own damn water. And that sometimes required a hike in the woods." Katherine muttered, though everyone heard her comment very clearly, and agreed.
"Yet another reason to get her out of this house as swiftly as possible!" Klaus said, shooting a look at his brother.
"I'm going to start checking for places later. There is the manner of getting the witches to approve, however, and we do not want to compromise the security of your child, no matter the misdeeds of the mother." Elijah explained as the group made their way into a room that Caroline and Katherine had not seen yet.
It was a big room, with maps on two of the walls, and a large table in the center. The maps had different colored pins on them, and various other decorations were placed around the room. Another table with a fancy-looking computer system was set up in along one wall, and bookshelves were on the last wall of the room.
Noticing their wondering glances, Rebekah enlightened the other females as to what the room actually was. "This is our strategic headquarters, informally known as the war room. We plan everything in here; there's one in each of our many homes across the world."
"You guys actually have a need for something like this?" Caroline asked in awe.
"We spent almost a thousand years running from a man who knew exactly how our minds work. Whether we had split up or were together, a place to stay five steps ahead of Mikael was essential. So yes, we actually do have a need for it." Rebekah answered frankly. "I've tracked my father in a room similar to this one more times than I can count. We've planned wars, determined the sizes of rival armies, and finalized the details of subterfuge missions a hundred times over." She laughed at Caroline's expression. "What, did you think that just because we're the Original vampires that life was a party?"
"To be honest, kind of, yes. Stefan had always made it seem like that, and he was our closest authority on you all." Caroline shrugged.
"Stefan caught us at a very good time in life. The twenties were glorious." Rebekah smiled, remembering an age where she could dance until she dropped, and the blood flowed free.
"Gloria's was a lovely little joint back in the day, wasn't it?" Katherine smirked as all eyes in the room snapped to her. She was leaning against a bookshelf, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
"How would you know about Gloria's?" Klaus asked, turning from the maps he had been examining on the walls.
"I may or may not have spent the duration of the 1920's within a good twenty yards from you. I got a bit bold, actually, but since I had spent the previous decade making sure Damon was getting along well with vampirism, it was Stefan's turn to be watched over. I disapproved of his company of course, but what could I do?" A very self-satisfied look took root on Katherine's face as she took in the reactions of her companions.
"You're saying that you spent the better part of a decade right at my fingertips, and I never noticed." Klaus was shocked, and his ego was a bit hurt, if he was to be honest.
"She's lying! She has to be." Rebekah crossed her arms. Caroline took a look at Elijah, and she was actually surprised at the impressed look on his face.
"Let's see... You and Stefan had a penchant for feeding in public. Very messy, if I may say. And then there's the night Mikael found you two. Didn't you lose that necklace that ended up becoming my doppelganger's in the fray? Oh, and white really isn't your best color, cupcake. It washes you out." Katherine shot off one after another. By the unhappy look on Rebekah's face, Caroline knew that she was telling the truth.
"Where did you spend the twenties, Elijah?" Caroline asked, genuinely curious. Unfortunately, she missed the looks that his siblings exchanged, or maybe she would have considered dropping the topic.
However, the man never got to answer as his sister jumped in. "Oh, he spent that decade moping. He was never really the same after, oh, the mid-186—"
"Enough, Bekah." Elijah cut in, clearly trying to stop her from saying something. He brought out a few books and a map, arranging them on the table. "We have business to get down too." Caroline found it very interesting that he wouldn't look at Katherine in that moment, who was currently very interested in the carpet. She shot Rebekah one of those looks, who nodded imperceptibly as if to confirm Caroline's perceptions.
"Yes, business! I want to know if there's actually a witch within the next fifty miles or so that's going to stop me from falling apart. I've had to give up my high heels because those things hurt when one is rapidly aging, and that does not make me a very happy woman." Katherine crossed to the table and rolled out the map, avoiding Elijah's gaze but at the same time trying to not make it awkward.
The rest of the occupants of the room joined them around the table.
"Here's the thing. Other than the out-of-control baby witch Davina, witches are not allowed to practice magic within New Orleans. But since the covens down here practice something called ancestral magic, they literally do not have any power outside of the city. And did I mention that Davina is under Marcel's control and protection?" Klaus said, bracing his arms on the table as he leaned over.
"So you're telling me that no witch in New Orleans other than Marcel's personal witch can practice magic in the city. Okay." Katherine breathed in. This was something they could work around. "What about someone else?"
"What about that witch you brought to the Masquerade party? The cousin of Bonnie's?" Caroline popped in.
"Lucy was only there because I saved her life once. After that, she wanted nothing to do with me." Katherine replied before turning to the Mikaelsons. "Doesn't your family always have a witch or two on speed dial?"
"We would," Elijah agreed "but unfortunately they all seemed to perish in Mystic Falls. Kol always had a few dozen that owed him favors, but we have no way of knowing who they were."
"So basically, right now the best bet for my life is a power-high witch with no training whatsoever who sort of has a tentative alliance with you." Katherine stared straight into Elijah's eyes, pretty much done with this whole situation. "In that case, where's the nearest funeral parlor? I think I might need to start making arrangements."
Caroline raised her hand. "Um, may I make a suggestion?"
"Have at it, love." Klaus nudged her side gently.
"Okay. Well, Bonnie may not have her magic anymore, but as the anchor between this side and the Other side, she's sort of got like... A foot in both. And she can talk to ghosts. So technically, she could talk to Kol and see what he thinks of this situation and maybe if he knows of a witch that could do the job. And if that doesn't work, then maybe she could coach Davina and help her gain some control. She really misses her magic, and I don't think she would mind. I mean, I would have to ask her first of course, but I don't think she would refuse." She shrugged. To be frank, she knew how much her best friend missed her magic. It was a big part of Bonnie's life, and she had been cut off from it totally. It would be good to show her best friend that she could still be involved with magic, even if she couldn't experience it.
"You're a genius, Caroline. That is a marvelous idea." Klaus smiled. It wasn't so much the saving Katherine part that he was congratulating her for, but for her incredible idea. It was the most likely to work out of all of them.
"Perfect! Then I'll call Bonnie this weekend—she's been really busy with classes and adjusting—to ask if she'll come down! See Katherine, I told you this would work out!" Caroline bounced.
"Let's not get our hopes up." The latter grimaced.
🌸🌸🌸
Some time that night, Katherine was headed back to the 'strategic headquarters', as Rebekah had so pompously put it, to look for a book on types of magic that she had seen in there. When meeting her long-lost and now absent vampire daughter, she was reminded of a few things from her childhood that she had wanted to forget. However, she had not expected to find Elijah poring over the maps outstretched on the table, his suit jacket hung on the coat rack by the door, and his tie loosened a bit. It was a scene that she had seen many times while they were hunting for the cure, and it took her back to a happier time. A time where she had actually believed in love once more.
"It's late. I hadn't expected to see you in here." Katherine said as she strutted into the room.
He looked up, and raised an eyebrow. "It is late, Katerina." Elijah agreed. "I am trying to find a place to put Hayley so that my brother does not murder her. What might you be doing?"
Her back was to him by now as she was browsing for the book. "Looking for a book that I saw earlier." Katherine said vaguely. "Your brother won't kill the little wolf, and you know it. You're just doing this to appease Klaus."
"And how do you know that?" He asked, genuinely interested.
"As much as it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, I know how Klaus thinks. If he had ever planned on killing the werewolf girl—and subsequently the baby—he could and would have done it already. He may be a sadistic ass, but even I don't think Klaus is cruel enough to kill his own kid." Narrowing her eyes as she could not seem to find the correct book, Katherine bent over and began browsing the lower shelves. "Hayley seemed all over you this morning." She commented. And it seemed as if her filter had disappeared when she turned human. Stupid mouth.
"Hayley and I are friends, nothing more." Elijah countered as he averted his eyes from her form and went back to marking spots on the map.
"You probably should let her know that." Katherine scoffed. "She was mentally stripping you of that delectable suit in the kitchen this morning. I mean, she's knocked up with your brother's kid. Talk about trashy." Whoops. There goes the verbal filter once more. Stay guarded.
He looked over at Katherine just as she glanced back at him. "Katerina, are you... Jealous?" Elijah could feel a slight smile creeping on his face. To be honest, he would like it if that were the case. Leaving this marvelous woman was the biggest mistake of his life.
Yes. Of course she was bloody jealous. He had spent the entire summer with the werebitch, doing god knows what. "Me? Jealous? Please." Katherine rolled her eyes. "I'm just making sure that you haven't lowered your standards, being down here in New Orleans. I mean, going from me to her, well, that's a bit of a backslide." Seeing the book she had been looking for, she grabbed it and stood up.
"Finally found what you were looking for?" Elijah asked, sensing that she did not really want to continue with their previous vein of conversation. "What is it, may I ask?"
"That would be yes to your first question, and a 'see for yourself', for the second." Katherine pulled a chair next to him as he scooted over some papers before grabbing the book. She reclined back as he scanned the table of contents.
"Well, since I assume you do not wish to read about cults around the world... It's the Travellers, you're curious about, correct?" Elijah was confused as to why Katherine would be reading about that pack of magic-practicing gypsies called Travellers, but he waited for her explanation.
"To make a very, very, long story short... My long-lost daughter showed up in Mystic Falls!" Katherine made the sarcastic jazz hands that she had seen Caroline use on more than one occasion before continuing. It would suffice to say that Elijah was shocked. "Anyways, Nadia is obviously a vampire now, but before she turned, she was a Traveller."
"But that would mean..."
"I know. It didn't click until I was browsing through this book earlier. My father was a Traveller—non-practicing, yes—but a Traveller nevertheless. I've known that since childhood. Looking back, I guess I could have practiced in England, but I really wasn't concerned with delving into my family's history back then. And even though I've never had any training or any of that and I really don't even know what I could do with this stupid gene, if it poses a possibility of me surviving, then I might just do it." Katherine sighed, running a hand through her hair.
"It certainly is something to look into, Katerina. If it saves your life, then it is most definitely worth pursuing." Elijah said sincerely. He could not imagine a world without Katerina Petrova in it. He had been so broken, those years that he had believed her to be dead. It was what his worst nightmares consisted of, after Mikael coming and torturing his siblings. She was the woman that made him feel again, even when he was not supposed to feel anything. She had made him fall madly in love, and he could not let this charming woman go. He would not let her go again.
"I'm just..." Katherine started, running her hand over her face, smearing her eyeliner slightly in the process, knowing that she was about to venture into very dangerous territory with this man. "I'm just really scared. And it's different than all the years running scared from Klaus. I don't know why, but it's different. Maybe it's because I can feel death creeping up on me." She stood abruptly and began pacing. "I can feel it. I can feel myself degenerating every single day. My eyesight is going. Same with my hearing. My hair? Well, this is dyed, because otherwise there's a shit ton of grey in my hair, and I look terrible. It's harder and harder to get out of bed every morning because I'm in pain. I'm in real pain that I can feel deep in my bones for the first time in five hundred and twenty years, and it scares me to death. God, I can't even make death jokes anymore, because they might actually happen." Katherine turned away from Elijah, and tried to breathe in deeply, but it wasn't working and she started to hyper-ventilate, tears creeping at the corners of her eyes. "Oh god. I'm dying. I'm actually going to die. Five hundred and thirty-eight years and it ends like this."
Elijah stood up and swept over to her, Katherine breaking down once she felt his arms around her. The last time they had been in a position like this, he was mourning his brother's death. Now instead, it was her death she was mourning.
She was a woman that prided herself on being strong, independent, and fierce. She had spent the centuries alone, surviving solely on her wits. But Elijah had always had a way of making her come undone. He did not treat her as if she were still the girl he had fallen in love with so many years ago—he was more than aware that she had changed too much for that—but he did treat her as if that girl had not died completely. He was the only one to act as if maybe she wasn't the monster that everyone portrayed her to be. It was one of the reasons that she loved him.
It was only around Elijah Mikaelson that Katherine Pierce thought it okay to cry, and cry she did.
"Katerina, shhh." As he held the sobbing woman confronting her imminent demise to his chest, stroking her hair, Elijah could not help but feel sad. If they did not find a cure for this disease, she would be dead, and soon. That could not happen. "Katerina, it shall be alright."
"You don't bloody know that, 'Lijah." She spluttered out, making him chuckle.
"I do. We will search the ends of the earth until we find a cure for you, and then you will be able to enjoy your life. I promise it."
Katherine took a step back, drying her eyes roughly and breathing deep, calm breaths. "Please don't make promises you can't keep. Not again. I can't handle it one more time." Sadly, Elijah knew what she was referring to.
It was in London, about six months ago.
🌸🌸🌸
Katherine yawned, padding downstairs. It was very late, but Elijah hadn't come to bed and as much as she needed her beauty sleep, whatever was going on with him was more important. Tying the belt of her robe over her short nightdress, she ran a hand through her messy hair as she walked in the study.
"Did I wake you, Katerina? I apologize, if so." Even in her sleepy state, Katherine could appreciate the sight of her partner poring over files, sleeves rolled up and tie loosely hanging around his neck.
"You didn't come to bed. I was just checking on you." She crossed to behind his desk, perching on the arm of his very comfy chair, and leaning her head on his shoulder.
"There were just a few more things that needed to be organized before you leave in the morning. I would go with you, but,"
"You can't. Your sister can pick up your scent from a mile and a half away. Mine will be covered by my doppelganger being present, but stealth is crucial. It will be easy. I'll get in, grab the cure, and get out. The safehouse in Pennsylvania is sufficiently prepared for my impending arrival, and you can join me there once it is clear."Katherine stated. As much as she would like for him to go with her to get the cure, it was too much. It was a tiny island, and ever since she had gotten the call the day before that the Mystic Falls gang was on the move, the two of them had gone into overdrive mode to beat them there. "Will you..."
Elijah did not need to hear the rest of her sentence to know that she was speaking about Kol, who had not been dead forty-eight hours yet. It was just he, Niklaus, and Rebekah left of their once-large family. It was a shame. "I will be just fine, Katerina. You do not need to worry about me."
"You aren't doing a very good job of convincing me of that fact, you know" Katherine shot back.
"Nevertheless, it is the only answer you will get, ergo, you will have to accept it." Elijah enjoyed the feeling of Katherine's body leaning on him, and absentmindedly played with the ends of her hair.
"Stupid man." He faintly heard her mutter.
"Impulsive woman." He retorted, satisfactorily enjoying her huff of indignation that he got in response.
They sat like that for a few moments, simply breathing in the other, reveling in the fact that they were able to spent such unrestrained moments with the one that each had yearned after for over five centuries.
In the end, it was Katherine who broke the silence. "Life will be nice, I think, once I am free. We can be happy for the first time in a very long time."
"Being happy. Together. That does sound very nice." Elijah agreed.
"You were the first man that I ever loved, did you know that? I think you might be the only one that I ever truly fell in love with, now that I think about it." Katherine said, her voice taking on a tone that worried Elijah.
"You know that I love you, Katerina. But what is troubling you? I can tell that there is something." He swiveled in his seat, facing her, stroking her cheek lightly.
She closed her eyes for a moment. "I have a bad feeling about tomorrow. I feel as if something is going to happen. Something terrible."
"Whatever happens, it will not affect us. You are mine now, Katerina, for eternity. I promise." Elijah spoke the ill-fated words, thoroughly meaning them.
"I'm going to hold you to that." Katherine yawned. "But right now, I'm bloody exhausted, and there's a flight at 7 in the morning waiting on me. And you are required to see me off at the airport, so I suggest that we get to bed." She stood and grabbed his hand. He joined her, and they walked up to their room, going to bed shortly after, dreaming of what the future could hold.
🌸🌸🌸
Both Elijah and Katherine shook themselves out of the pleasant memory they had been experiencing. It was a happier time, then. They were virtually untouched, and their relationship had been allowed to flourish without the critical opinions of everyone they knew. Of course, that meant that once reality hit, they were put to the test, and unfortunately they failed.
Katherine took another step away from her former lover, and ran a hand through her hair, avoiding his eyes. "Look, I've got to get back to bed. I'm tired." She turned away and managed to get to the door before he called out after her.
"We both know that's a lie, Katerina." Elijah could always be counted on to challenge her, that was for certain.
She whirled back around, her robe fanning around her legs, a stern expression on her normally smirking face. "Damn it, Elijah, of course it's a lie! But I can't go there right now. We may be living in the same house, but this isn't London. I want to get back to that amazing state because I am still so in love with you that it hurts, but I cannot. Not while I am dying. I won't do that to you, and I won't do it to me. And even if I do manage to survive this, I'm not even sure if I can go back to what we were." Her expression turned sad. "You broke me. Part of it was my fault as well, I suppose. I am not completely blameless in this situation. And I know that you had to be here for your family. But it doesn't change the fact that you tore my heart to shreds when you walked out that door. That is going to take a lot of getting over." Sighing, she looked up at the ceiling before back at him, a sad smile on her face. "Goodnight, Elijah. And don't stay up too late. Over-working yourself will get you nowhere."
With that, Katherine left the room before Elijah could get another word in.