• • • • • • • • •
I regretted asking Caroline for help.
Right now, I was sat cross legged on my bed, watching as Caroline tore through my bedroom and rummaged through my clothes. I had originally called her to ask for her help with packing my bags. She'd come over to my house instantly, took charge of the packing and ordered for me to sit down and spill the details on Kol's proposed trip.
"That's vague," She muttered under her breath, holding up two seemingly identical pieces of clothing that I didn't even know I owned. Looking back at me she raised an eyebrow, "So he didn't say anything else? Just that he's taking you away for a year? He didn't even specify where?"
I shook my head, pointing to the item on the left. Caroline packed the one I had pointed at and returned the other to my cupboard.
"It's really annoying to be honest," I admitted, rising from my bed and starting to pack my cosmetics away. "I have no idea what I'm supposed to be packing because I don't know which countries we'll be going to."
"And that is why you made the right call by asking me to help." Caroline called out with a smile, zipping one suitcase up and moving to the next. She was insistent on packing three suitcases for me and, to me, that just seemed like a bit of an overkill. "Besides, from what I've seen, you have open access to Kol's credit card. If you need something, I'm sure he'll give you his card without you even asking for it."
"She's right, you know," A smug voice called out from the open doorway, making me jump slightly in shock. I turned my head to see him leaning against the open door, watching the two of us curiously.
"Goodness Kol," I said walking towards him to slap his arm. "A little warning would be nice."
"But then I wouldn't get to see your wonderful reaction darling." He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my lips, drawing back when Caroline cleared her throat pointedly. Looking at the other vampire over my head he said, "Caroline, my brother's still waiting for an answer to his offer. Not that he wants me to tell you this, but he's getting kind of anxious."
"His offer?" I repeated slowly, looking at Caroline over my shoulder with narrowed eyes. She knew everything about my relationship with Kol but here she was, hiding details from me.
Ignoring the look I was giving her she zipped up the final suitcase and rose to her feet. She did a final sweep of the room before turning to face me again. Although she was looking straight at me, she was avoiding my eyes.
"I should probably be heading out now -"
"Wait, what was Klaus' offer?" I asked but she was already out of the door and practically running down the stairs. Turning my eyes onto Kol I asked him instead. "What offer did Klaus make Caroline?"
"He offered to take her to New Orleans." Kol answered, walking into my room and looking at the three full suitcases. Glancing back at me he gave me a look. "I'm guessing she didn't talk to you about it then?"
"No, she didn't." I said with a sigh. "But I guess this is something she needs to think about herself without anyone else trying to force their opinions on her. Care's realised that now."
"That is very mature of you, darling." I sat down in front of the suitcases, Kol doing the same thing beside me.
"Of course it is." I reached for the suitcase closest to me and unzipped it. Looking through the clothes Caroline had packed, I removed the things she'd snuck in without asking me first, including the four boxes of condoms. Kol reached out to catch my hand before I could put the boxes aside. Taking them from my hand, he put them back inside the suitcase. "This body might only be 18 years old but my soul is over 1000 years old. You of all people should know that."
"I still have trouble believing it sometimes," Kol admitted after a moment of silence, making my hands stop sorting through the clothes. I turned to look at him curiously. "It's hard to believe sometimes that I get to keep you and that I'm not going to have to wake up one morning and see that you've disappeared in the middle of the night."
"Kol -"
"Don't look at me like that. I know this is all still very new for you so I'm not going to push you." He pulled a suitcase towards him. "Now, what have you actually packed?"
"I have no idea truthfully," I answered quietly, still looking at Kol in wonder. Sometimes I'd forget all the bad he'd done and just remember him as Kol, my Kol and wonder how people could see him as any sort of a monster. And then I would remember. But even then, I couldn't see him as a monster. He was still my Kol, he was just a version of my Kol that needed redemption. And in my eyes he'd found that.
"Darling?" Kol prompted, realising that I was still staring at him.
"That's why I'm checking through the bags," I said with a smile, snapping out of my thoughts and looking back through the suitcase. I continued to rifle through the clothes and briefly I heard the sound of Kol unzipping the suitcase he'd pulled towards him.
Kol made a sound as if he'd been choked. "Darling, are you expecting something to happen a lot during this trip?" He asked, his voice hoarse. "Because believe me I do not mind at all."
"What are you talking about?" I asked, not able to understand what he was getting at.
Looking over at Kol, my eyes widened at the sight of him holding a bra in his hand. Snatching it from him I shoved it back in the suitcase only to find it full of lingerie alone. I groaned aloud, silently cursing Caroline. I didn't even know I owned so much lingerie. The answer was I didn't. Half of the lingerie in here still had their tags attached.
"I am going to kill Caroline," I muttered under my breath.
"And I am going to buy her the car she's been eyeing so for long." Kol said, stopping my hand as it moved back towards the suitcase. He gave me an apprehensive look, his hold on my hand tightening when I tried to pull my hand away. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like? I'm going to put most of this away and pack the rest."
"Don't!" He said urgently.
"Kol!"
"There's some I really want to see you in." He gave me a charming smile and I blushed heavily, squirming uncomfortably under the weight of his eyes. He released my hand, leaning towards me.
"Stop it, that won't work." Avoiding his now smouldering eyes I tried to unpack the lingerie again. Only he didn't let me. "Kol."
"Keep three quarters of it." Seeing that I wasn't budging he amended. "Fine, keep half of them?"
I let out a sigh and nodded reluctantly. "Fine."
"But I get to pick the half." He added once I'd already agreed.
Kol turned back to sort through the lingerie and I felt like melting into a puddle of sheer embarrassment. Instead I continued to sort through my clothes. Something told me that Kol was going to spend a lot of time deciding which half he wanted to keep.
It was a miracle that we had made it to the airport in time. It was an even greater miracle that I didn't kill Kol during the seven hour flight. From the moment the plane had lifted off to the moment it had touched down again, he had made it his personal mission to rile me up. A part of me realised that it was to get me to relax because I couldn't help but worry about the Salvatore boys. The other part of me, however, was sleep deprived because of the early morning flight and because Kol wouldn't let me sleep.
We finally stepped out of the airport only to get drenched by the rain. Kol, clearly prepared, took out an umbrella and pulled me to his side and out of the rain.
"God, does it always rain in England or what?" He muttered, looking down at me with a smile.
"England?" I repeated in shock.
"England." He nodded and headed towards a taxi that was already waiting for us.
"Where are we heading to Kol?" I asked curiously, moving to help him put the bags in the boot. He batted my hands away and handed the umbrella to me, putting the suitcases away by himself. Once we were settled into the back of the taxi, he told the driver the address.
"You can go to sleep if you want?" Kol said, sitting back in his seat ad guiding my head onto his shoulder.
"I'll be fine," I insisted but my words were undermined by my yawn.
"We've got a three hour taxi ride now." He pointed out as the driver pulled away from the airport. I felt my eyes grow heavier and yawned into the side of Kol's neck. Maybe I could fall asleep for a little bit. "I'll wake you up when we get near our destination."
"Our destination being?" I asked, already half asleep.
"It's a surprise, one I hope you'll like very much."
And when he woke me up, hours later, I did like the surprise very much. He had shaken me awake and I had stared blearily up at him and frowned when he gestured for me to look out of the window as we pulled up the driveway towards a house. Sitting up, I peered out the window and let out a slight gasp. Home. We were home. Or rather the home before we had moved to Mystic Falls and before any of the trouble had begun.
"How did you find out about this place?" I asked quietly as the taxi came to a stop.
"Klaus," was all Kol said, pressing a kiss to the side of my head before getting out of the taxi to remove the suitcases from the boot.
I let myself out of the taxi, looking around the familiar large estate. From a young age I had been isolated from others, and I hadn't understood that we lived in the isolated English countryside to hide my identity from others. All I had known was that the large grassland around our home was mine to explore and it was an effective way to escape my loneliness. Goodness, I'd never thought I'd set foot here again.
As Kol paid the taxi driver, my feet carried me towards the front door and my eyes trailed to the car parked at the side. It was Nana's.
I looked to Kol as he approached me and took my hand in his. Squeezing it gently in his, he led me towards the front door and went to ring the front door bell. I caught his hand, halting him for a moment.
"What's wrong?"
I swallowed thickly, "I'm scared."
"Of what?" he replied quietly, looking at me with blatant concern, "Once I remove the compulsion, she'll remember."
"And what if she's angry because I left her?" I bit my bottom lip hesitantly, "I don't know what I'd do if she's angry at me."
"She won't be," he promised me, "Trust me."
I dropped his hand, letting him ring the doorbell and waited anxiously for it to open. When it did, Nana was revealed standing on the other side and at the glimpse of her face the relief that coursed through me was indescribable. When she had been compelled, I had resigned myself to the knowledge that I would never see her again, the she wouldn't remember me and yet here I was, standing in front of her.
"Can I help you?" she questioned, looking between the pair of us.
"We hate to disturb you," Kol stepped forward, the epitome of charm as he smiled warmly at her, "But would you do me a favour and look into my eyes?"
My eyes didn't stray from her face as Kol removed the compulsion from her and she began to remember. The glaze slipped away from her eyes and her hold on the doorknob tightened for a moment. She moved quickly, sending a bolt of energy Kol's way she flung him away from me and into a tree. He groaned, straightening up.
"Don't take it personally," she called out to him as he rose to his feet, stretching himself out, "that's your punishment for taking my granddaughter away from me."
I looked back to her with wide eyes and waited for her to address me. I expected her anger, her disbelief but I didn't expect for her to step out of the house and wrap me in her arms.
"Julietta," she murmured quietly, stroking my hair softly, "my sweet, sweet girl."
"I'm sorry Nana," I said quietly, hugging her back and burrowing my head into her shoulder.
"Don't be." She pulled back from me, framing my face with her hands, "You were in danger."
"But that's all over now," I reassured her, "no one is going to come after you now."
Her eyebrows rose in shock but she nodded, looking to Kol as he walked towards us. Stepping back from me, she watched as he took my hand in his and I saw the moment her eyes narrowed on the ring resting on my finger.
She took in a deep breath, "You need to be invited into the house now too, huh?"
I nodded, watching hesitantly as she took in the newest revelation. She did nothing more than nod to herself and I reasoned that she had dealt with stranger things in her life than finding out that someone had been turned into a vampire.
"Something tells me that we have a lot to talk about."
• • • • • • • • •
(A/N) So, before I posted this chapter I went back and read the entire fic and I'm kind of ashamed with how bad it is? Like wow - it's shocking.
That being said, I'm planning on putting the sequel on hold and rewriting this entire fic again so that I'm more satisfied with it. I'm not sure if I'm going to post it as a completely separate fic or go chapter by chapter but keep an eye on my profile, I guess for when I get round to posting the new version. I've got the next few months off so I should have some time but then again, it'll take a while to re-plan the entire fic.