Petrichor - e.mikaelson

40

"Are you alright?"

After Klaus had explained the news on her brother it was as if Frankie had frozen. Her arms wrapped around her knees that were suddenly pulled tight to her chest and her eyes had been squeezed shut as she tried to figure out what she should do now.

The irony over her last conversation with Elijah didn't escape her, the way she'd voiced exactly this hope, to have one more chance to see her brother. It had been a truth secretly plaguing her for months, the regret over her final actions but it had only been with the reminders she'd had today at the funeral that had forced her to really consider it. She knew she couldn't let the opportunity slip again, that she couldn't allow the Salvatores to attempt it without forcing her own involvement.

But that too proved another issue, Elijah.

She didn't want him to come with her, that wasn't fair considering his life here and Hayley, the baby, and Klaus, but she couldn't tell him she was leaving for Mystic Falls. She didn't know how she'd be able to force herself to say it when secretly she knew that she'd be breaking his heart by telling him she was leaving without knowing if she'd return.

It was terrible but even after every single action he'd ever made showing her she could trust him, that he'd never hurt her or let anyone else and yet she still felt too scared if she said something that he'd be filled with a Mitch like reaction forcing her to stay. Even as she sat here she wondered which would be worse, if he hit her or yelled at her to make her stay, or if he let her go, the sadness crossing over his face as she betrayed him again.

"Can you tell him?" she asked Klaus, her words coming out more strained than either expected, "I can't tell him I'm leaving, just wait till I'm gone and then tell him why."

"You'll return of course," Klaus presumed, "See whether the Salvatores plan comes to fruition and then-" Klaus broke off with the guilty expression that seemed to flood her.

"Klaus," she said gently.

It was one of the first times since he'd met her she seemed actually weak. Certainly she'd been in life threatening situations before when he'd been around and certainly she hadn't always known how to cope with them but for the first time she seemed terrified of what she was asking for. He'd rescued her a dozen times from physical threats and imminent danger but this was the first time she was asking him to help her hurt herself.

"You can't just leave and not come back," he pressed, "You know it'll crush him."

"I'm not saying I'm leaving forever, I just need to know my brother's okay. If you thought Bekah was dead, not just dagger dead but really truly dead and then you got her back you wouldn't leave her."

"We don't even know if it'll work. If it doesn't work you'll return, yes?" Klaus pressed her, half wishing he could go and prevent any success at all.