What Now?

Chapter 16

Klaus woke up to a small knocking on his door. He sat up looking around the room groggily as he tried to focus and make sure the knocks were real. He heard small taps again on his door. He rubbed his eyes to wipe the sleep out of them. He swiftly pulled on some black sweatpants he kept by the bed in case of emergencies and a black t-shirt he sat out for the day while the tapping continued. Klaus groaned at the noise and flashed to the door. He inhaled a deep breath to get ready to yell at whoever was on the other side of that door then swung the door open. Klaus slowly exhaled at the sight of his nephew sitting in front of his door smiling up at him waving a wooden block in his small hand.

Klaus bent down and scooped up Nik. "Hey Nik. What are you doing beating on my door this early?"

Klaus concentrated to see if he could hear anyone moving around the house, but all he heard was silence.

"Well let's go see what kind of trouble we can get ourselves in, shall we?"

Klaus walked downstairs holding Nik in his arms and glanced around the open space of the compound. He smiled at Nik and then proceeded to a small play area next to the sitting area. There were several play areas set up around the compound, but Klaus decided this one will do for now. It had a medium size dark blue round rug with colorful stars on it and 3 fabric bins with the same type of blocks of the one Nik has in his little chubby hand.

Klaus sat them both down on the rug and started playing with Nik. He had an enormous smile on his face as he was helping his nephew build random things just for Nik to knock them over.

Nik who was sitting across from Klaus on the rug gave Klaus a big smile as he crawled over and sat in his lap still playing with the blocks and saying baby gibberish. Klaus remained still and admired him for a moment with an ear to ear grin plastered on his face.

"You know nephew, I am glad I got to meet you. I want to help you grow up and be a part of your life the best I can. I wasn't a constant in your cousin Hope's upbringing, but I will ensure both her and I are in your life. I'm making this vow to you that when I am away, at least every three months I'll be here to see you and spend time with you. I can't wait to watch you turn into the best little witch ever with your parents coaching you. They are the best witches I know, but if you ever tell them I said that I will deny it. You are loved by me, little Nik."

Klaus heard a noise above him that startled him out of his deep thoughts. He glanced up and saw Freya, Rebekah, Hope and Marcel standing at the balcony watching them.

"Looks like they've come to wreck our fun, little one." he whispered to Nik earning the sweetest baby giggle from him. Everyone walked downstairs to join them as they all laughed and conversed playing with the baby. Klaus loved the way his family gathered with love around his nephew. He finally felt a sense of normalcy after having none for over a thousand years. This is his family.

Vincent and Keelin both walked in with pink boxes full of donuts and other breakfast pastries. "Oh! You guys are up?! We brought breakfast and put on the coffee before we left!" Keelin shouted as she wobbled to the table to put everything she was holding down on it.

Marcel flashed to the kitchen and brought back several blood bags on a bucket of ice and sat it down on the table. He grabbed one and quickly gulped it down. Rebekah flashed over to the blood bags and did the same thing, but washed hers down with a quick sip of coffee. They said something about the museum of death and then flashed away.

Vincent grabbed a donut and ate it as he walked out of the house too. He didn't say anything to anyone, but Klaus assumed Freya and Keelin knew where he was going.

Freya and Hope both got up from their spots in the sitting area to go grab some breakfast pastries. They quickly gulped down some coffee and then left to go to the market for herbs and other spell ingredients. They made those plans last night before everyone went to bed.