Something Stupid

15

"Where is the lion?" Hope asked as she searched the lion enclosure for an animal of prey with a mein.

"The lion is probably sleeping, I think. Lions sleep twenty hours a day." Caroline told her.

"Twenty hours?" Hope asked, not sure how much that meant.

Caroline quickly explained: "Yeah. That means, while you stay up from morning until evening, the lion only gets up for lunch and goes back to bed before dinner."

Hope giggled. "Lions are such sleepyheads!"

Caroline grinned. "They definitely are!"

Klaus watched how Caroline and Hope were interacting with each other. He enjoyed seeing them being so fond of each other.

"I see you are enjoying yourselves, ladies. Mind if I join you?" he asked, approaching them with a bottle of apple juice in his hand.

"Hmm. What do you think? Can he join us?" Caroline asked the little girl on her arms.

Hope nodded ferociously and beamed at her father. Caroline looked back at Klaus with a smrik on her lips. "Hmm, you know, I think so too. After all, he's got the apple juice!" she said and grinned.

Klaus just grinned back and opened the bottle. It was a warm day, so the cold juice was twice as delicious as usually when Caroline, Klaus and Hope shared the bottle.

After Caroline closed the bottle again and put it into her bag, the three went on to see the zebras.

***

Somewhere else

Elijah arranged a nice lunch for himself and Elena at his place. He was just putting the salad on the table when the doorbell rang.

"Hello there!" he said after opening thr door and hugged Elena. She returned the hug, holding him close to her, saying a muffled "Hey" into his shoulder.

He smiled at her. "Come on, I just finished preparing the food."

With a hand on her back, he led her to his dining room. Elena looked around, admiring his penthouse.

"You have a beautiful place!" she said.

"Thank you! I was hoping you'd like it. Even though it's not as cozy as your apartment. Fewer couches to accidentally fall asleep on."

She giggled.

"Come on, let's eat before the food gets cold." Elijah siad, smiling. She nodded.

They started eating. Elijah was enjoying her company, as always, but he sensed that she was somewhat tense, pensive.

"Elena? Is everything alright? You seem a bit uncomfortable. Is something wrong with the food?"

She shook her head no. "No, that's not it."

"Well, then what is it?"

She sighed and looked at him. "We've had a family dinner this weekend. Me, my parents and my sister."

"And?"

"And Katherine thinks I broke you and her up on purpose. Dad said she'd be furious if she found out I'm dating you. I mean, you know what happened with Stefan. I didn't even do anything back then, but she still holds a grudge against me. What if she'll decide never to let me see Nadia again when she finds out I'm seeing you? What if that makes me lose her as a sister for good?" Elena's voice became more panicked the longer she talked.

Elijah took her hand in his. "Hey, sshhh, calm down! Nothing of the sort has happened yet." he said in a reassuring tone. Then, as she calmed down a little, he looked at her with concern in his eyes. "This is really getting to you, isn't it? Oh Elena, if I had known!"