Petrichor - e.mikaelson

52

Klaus kept true to his promise, he made sure Cami stayed the night with her and he didn't let anyone else in the room, least of all Elijah. It wasn't a promise he liked keeping; for all of his complaints about his brother and all this joking efforts to slide between them, this was something that he knew was wrong.

Even as he eventually withdrew from the room, locking it behind him with both Frankie and Cami inside, a pained expression fell to his face when he tried to addressed his brother. Elijah didn't say anything to him but his face was furrowed with hurt and as Klaus tried to speak to him, he turned sharply away.

"Brother," he said gently, "We will fix this."

"Thank you Niklaus," Elijah said cooly, a dismissive note to his voice as he fiddled with his cufflinks, "Will you take care of Aurora at last or must I?"

"I'll see to it."

"Wonderful," he said sarcastically, "I'll let you know if we need you."

Klaus didn't reply, leaving Elijah as he knew he wanted. He knew that his brother's rage wasn't truly directed at him, but that he was the only one who it could be taken out on. In all honesty he was filled with a fear that he hadn't felt in centuries, there were a rare few who he ever let in and Frankie was one of those people. There was very little he wouldn't do for her and now that he was losing her without any reason, his body burned with anguish.

Frankie was doing little better inside the room. Klaus had stayed with her as she ate, teasing her lightly though in a more careful manner than he usually would with her. Eventually another knock on the door had come, Frankie had frozen in fear but Klaus calmed her again, explaining it was only Cami and reminding her that he'd keep his word to keep Elijah away.

"Hey," Cami said, a gentleness in her tone that told Frankie she knew everything and she believed her fear about as much as Klaus did, "How're you feeling?"

Cami's presence at least overrode the terror she felt, guilt bubbling up at the memory that she'd left her at the church alone with Aurora. She didn't ever intend on leaving her friend even when they'd made the pact to do so and she couldn't exactly remember why she did it, but she felt bad knowing what she'd done.

"What happened after I left?" she asked, "Are you okay?"

Cami shrugged, "Not much happened. Aurora talked a lot, threatened me, tried to make Klaus hate me, tried to kill me. I'm fine now."

Frankie could remember Hayleys surprise at the nonchalance which she once spoke with of her own kidnapping and attempted murder and while she'd brushed it off then, she understood now.

Cami really did seem fine with everything that had happened, much more concerned with Frankie and with herself. She wondered briefly whether her assurance that she was good was a nod to the fact that Frankie clearly wasn't. Though she knew Cami was her friend and that she cared for her, she knew too that she like Klaus and Freya believed she'd been compelled and wasn't in her right mind. If there was a way she could get her friends to understand the truth how she saw it she'd do it in a heartbeat but she was resigned for now to leave it be.