anne

30 | Sun before the storm

Anne's Timeline

• ____________ •

"Klaus, it's been a week. I'm fine. Things have settled down. Damon told me that he knows about Enzo being killed by Stefan, so I hope he got what's coming to him. My dreams have stopped being too frequent, I don't know if that's a good thing or not... But it's sunny out here," Anne got up from the couch and walked over to her large floor-to-ceiling windows to check the skies.

"In fact," She continued, her eyes scanning the weather, "It might even be too sunny..."

"Well, I'm glad you're doing okay. Things have been chaotic over here: Marcel is plotting against me, Hayley wants to roam around freely like she isn't currently pregnant with my miracle child, and politics here are relentlessly complicated."

"Aren't they always."

After a pause, Klaus said, "Something's coming, Anne. And I want you to know that I'm glad you'll be by my side when it does."

She nodded to herself, "I know."

Although she couldn't see it, Klaus was smiling ever so gently, comforted by the knowledge that at least one person was still indefinitely by his side—as she had always been.

Anne glanced at her watch, "Hey, I gotta get going to work. Let me know if anything happens."

"Will do, stay safe."

"Of course, bye."

After hanging up, Anne started getting ready for work. Finding a pair of black jeans, she matched it with a long-sleeve black turtle neck, a warm red coat, and some black leather boots. It only took a few minutes to get out of the door and into her car, and an extra twenty minutes to drive to the office.

She'd spent the better half of the morning frustrated with the coffee machine in the staffroom while ticking off her to-do list of meaningless admin, but a message from Charles broke her out of focus.

"Hey, do you have time to chat?"

Anne felt a slight skip in her heart but she buried it quickly with a reality check; they were not supposed to be talking.

"Has something happened?"

Almost instantly he replied, "No, everything's all good, was just wanting to catch up if you have time?"

She knew that the reasons she'd say 'yes' were all selfish and ignorant of the danger she'd be putting him in, not to mention complicated because he was her client first and foremost—she was not supposed to be a friend. She began to type out her rejection of the idea, but Charles sent another message.

"Caroline was wondering if you wanted to join us for dinner tonight? We're making a roast and she wanted to get you to make those mashed potatoes you made the other weekend at the cabin."

Anne bit her lip as well as the urge to say she wanted to come. She knew better, so she reluctantly replied, "It's safest for everyone if we keep our distance, sorry."

She turned off her notifications, flipped her phone to be screen-side down on her desk, and immersed herself into her work.

::: ::: :::

Anne clocked out around just past five p.m. and decided to get some takeaway pasta from her favourite Italian place, Vito's. After about fifteen minutes of driving, she found a park around the block from Vito's and walked the rest of the way. The random sunny weather still nudged at Anne's mind; whether it was from how uncommon a pure sunny day was in Seattle, or from the general feeling of impending doom she'd had since she had the vision with Rebekah, she didn't know.