recklessthings | © cami o'connell

Dawn again. Another morning, another day.

Klaus is not holding a brush in his hand, but a 2B pencil. He is randomly sketching on the hospital’s patient meal menu. After Marcel had left and Cami had fallen into a deep sleep, Klaus had transferred her to the hospital for a thorough check-up. No broken bones, no internal bleeding. Just a sprained wrist, a few bruises, scratches, and a minor concussion.

He could have healed her with his blood, but instead he had relied on the expertise of the doctor and the nurses at the hospital. Klaus cannot remember the last time he had done such a thing. Or perhaps this is a first.

Every now and then he watches Cami while she sleeps, wishing he could take away her pain. All of it. But he knows he cannot compel her to forget. She has to face this.

All anyone needs is time to grieve. He will support her however he can. He worries; hopes that she will not be looking to make an enemy out of the witches. There is enough of that going around, what with the rift between the different factions. Perhaps he can convince her to move on. To pack up and leave the city.

And if Marcel truly cares for her, then maybe he will go with her.

Ah. But if only it could be so simple…

The morning almost seems harder.

The night before it all had seemed like a disorienting dream, something that someone else was living and she was watching it as it played out in slow motion, almost like a movie. The things she had done, the things she had made other people do, the things done to her, all of them had seemed like someone else's problems as she sobbed into Marcel's shoulder, grieving all that was lost in that night. Because it wasn't just Kieran that she had to let go of, it was the idea that things could be alright as long as she existed in this world - that death was death, the people she knew would always been how she remembered they were when she met them, and that the world didn't have so much more in it than anyone else ever saw.

Then the sun comes up and reality sets in, and she knows that she can't ever go back to the way things used to be.

She wakes up in the hospital and the first thing that greets her is confusion, not entirely sure how she had gotten there in the first place. It's almost a startling sort of fear, because it's not where she fell asleep but her body aches too much to move more than the startled shock into a sitting position. There's a wince as she puts too much pressure on her bad wrist, and that draws her attention to the side of the room where Klaus was sitting. Seeing him seems to invoke some sort of clarity. If he's there with her than wherever she is can't be dangerous - at least not immediately.

She isn't sure when she got to the point where she trusted Klaus Mikaelson with her life, but ... well, here she is.

After that, things start to fall into place. A hospital. It makes sense, given everything - she's surprised he didn't take her there sooner. She leans back against the bed again, relieving the pressure on her wrist before she turns and finally speaks.

"Which hospital is this?"

Of course Cami had reacted the way she had. Kieran was the only family she had left. If anyone can understand her inability to let him go; her wanting to keep her uncle around at all costs — well, he can. But the tragic truth is that, she would have lost him anyways, just as he had lost his own sister. Perhaps he had been selfish in acquiescing to her wishes. She had been desperate and had not been in the right frame of mind herself, while he could have done the right thing. He could have let Kieran die instead of feeding him his blood; knowing he would not choose to complete the transition anyways. Cami would have despised him for it, but she would have understood in time.

And if he had not gone to see Genevieve last night, he probably would have been too late to save her. One bad decision breeds another. He wonders now if there is a limit to what he will or will not do for the bartender.

"If it had been up to me, you would be in the Hôpital Les Broussailles in France. But…" He stands up and moves to place the breakfast menu on Cami’s lap. It says: Ochsner Medical Center, New Orleans. "I hear they serve a mean cup of jelly."

He sits by the edge of her bed. "The doctor says you are going to be fine, love. But you do have a sprained wrist." He places a pillow by her side to allow her to rest her hand on it. "I will pour you a glass of water."

"Thank you."

It seems inadequate, given what he did for her yesterday, but in some aspects, she doesn't regret it. She got the chance to say goodbye to him rather than the deluded monster the curse turned him into, and she knows, consciously that she needs to hold on to that. She hugged him goodbye and walked out the door and Kieran died. Everything that came after was something else.

If only she could actually convince herself of that, focus on that, not the flashes that kept echoing through her mind.

"How long was I asleep?"

"Not long enough considering…" He puts the glass of water in her good hand. "Only about four hours or so." During the time Marcel had been with Cami, Klaus had placed Kieran’s body in a coffin and moved him to a secure location. If Cami so wishes, the man can have a proper burial and not a burning.

"I should not have left the church." But he had needed to look into the business of the bayou bombings. Attempt to find the culprit or culprits responsible. He knows it wasn’t Marcel. The witches, on the other hand, they are still a possible suspect and he cannot rule them out just yet.

"If Genevieve had not informed me that the hex would return, I might not have been there in time."

"You couldn't have known."

Her fingers grip tightly around the glass for a moment, almost as though they're glad to have something firm and solid to hold on to. It's something at least, and it's channeling her effort into something that isn't playing those memories in her head over and over again.

There's a part of her that wants to blame him for leaving her alone, but she knows that she isn't the priority. Hayley was on the other end of that particular situation, Hayley and his baby, and she wouldn't have wanted to keep him from protecting them. It's one of the few human urges he shows.

(The other is her.)

"He was fine. He seemed fine."

His concern with Hayley has to do with the fact that she is carrying his child and nothing else. But he had shown far more compassion and kindness yesterday than he has in centuries. He had even allowed Marcel to return to the Quarter in order to pay his last respects and to be with Camille in her time of need. It seems possible that the prospect of having a daughter; his very own flesh and blood, someone he will have a true connection with at last, has at times made him a little less of a monster.

Then there is Cami. The human that he clearly cares for. The one he seems to respect and adore, and would do anything for.

The one who is sleeping with his enemy… As he has been told.

"Cami, I am truly sorry for your loss." Kieran was a good man. His involvement with the vampires had allowed them a chance to thrive in the city and to live in relative peace. A man like him will be hard to replace. "I can help prepare the funeral arrangements if you would like. But first you need your rest. I should let you get more sleep."

Once. She slept with Marcel once and she told him it couldn't happen again, because she didn't want to jeopardize Klaus's trust in her. She doesn't tell him this because she doesn't have to justify herself to him. She doesn't have to justify wanting to have something that was just hers in a moment where it felt like everything else was falling apart.

And she doesn't deny that it was worth it.

But he wasn't wrong about secrets breeding more monsters than the truth ever would. And the fact that he took the news somewhat better than she thought he would (she was so sure there would be something more ... violent) gives her hope that somewhere under there is a person that understands enough to respect that those were her choices, even if they hurt.

(He gave her Marcel last night, when she needed him the most. He broke his brother's banishment for her. That means something, she just is too tired and sore to put her finger on what.)

She also knows that he's right about her having to rest. She feels it, the exhaustion that never really went away, despite the hours of sleep she did get. She nods slightly, in agreement, before there is a slightly anxious glance to the door.

Even though Kieran is dead, the mission wasn't completed. She's still alive. Maybe she wasn't the initial target, but there's a reason why the hex wouldn't simply let him die.

"Are you - " The question cuts off, because she has no right to ask that of him. She knows that he has other matters to attend to - the bombing in the bayou for one. But she also doesn't want to be alone. " - is Marcel - "

Asking for help has never really been her strong suit.

"Am I safe here?"

Genevieve had informed him of Cami’s involvement with Marcel in a bitter attempt to ruin his friendship with the bartender, but Klaus will not give the witch that satisfaction. His knowledge of what has transpired between the two has only so far proven to solidify his anger with Marcel. It is not enough that the vampire he sired was the cause of Rebekah’s betrayal towards him. Now he means to steal Camille away.

"I am afraid Marcel’s time in the city is up. But I do have a rather thick book to finish." He has his mother’s grimoire with him, which will keep him occupied for long enough. He will not be leaving Cami on her own. Having someone be willing to look to him for protection and for company; most only tolerate his presence out of fear or out of force, is fairly new to him. He quite likes this.

Klaus will stay and take the opportunity to look for a protection spell against hexes as they will need it. Considering the hex affects both the living and the undead, such a spell would prove useful all around.

"I will have Josh bring Davina by in the afternoon." Klaus plans to have a word with the young witch anyways, and he knows Cami would be glad to see her. "Rest assured, you will never find yourself alone. I promise." She will always have the company of friends, and someday she will have a family again.

Unlike most people, Klaus's promises actually mean something to her. Where she is concerned, he usually keeps them. They're not meaningless words that he uses to manipulate - they're actual promises.

She smiles softly before nodding in agreement, shifting to lean back into the pillows behind her again. Her eyes close and it's not long before she's drifting off to sleep again.

© cami o'connell | the originals

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