Gravity

Bad Signs

Caroline woke to the sound of heavy rain outside, she moaned sleepily and moved her head on the pillow while her hand searched for him but she found his side of the bed empty.

Klaus wasn't in bed, like every night for the last week he quietly got up once she fell asleep, Caroline ran her palm across the smooth sheet and the empty space that should be occupied by his warm body and decided that it was enough, he was mourning Elijah but she didn't want him to do this alone so willing or not, Klaus was going to let her help him.

She swiftly jumped out of bed and shot out of their bedroom to find him exactly where she knew that he would be, Caroline rested against the threshold and stroked her naked arms, the image was powerful, Klaus was sitting on a chair inside of a dark empty room and staring at only thing in there, Elijah's coffin.

Klaus could hear her delicate barefoot steps but still he didn't take his eyes away from where they rested.

She stopped next to him and softly stroked the back of his neck.

Klaus sighed with the soothing feeling of it and looked at her silently.

Caroline felt her heart break into a million pieces, the pain in Klaus' eyes was hard to accept.

"I don't know what to do Caroline, I don't know what to do next without him." He confessed lowly.

The painful way in which he did it and the vulnerability behind his words brought fresh tears to her eyes.

He took her hand and gently pulled her onto his lap.

Caroline curled up in his arms resting her head over his shoulder. "What can I do?" She wished for an answer.

Klaus laced his one arm around her waist, the other casually played with the flannel loose pajama pants that she wore.

Caroline poked the metal pendant of one of her favorite necklaces. "Talk to me Nik... you can't keep everything inside." she softly spoke against his chest. "You don't have to." she hated that he had closed up so much since Elijah's death.

"After all this time, with everything that happened I never for once imagined a life without my brother. Even when I pushed him away from my life I never for once conceived the notion that he wouldn't any longer be part of it one day."

Caroline closed her eyes nesting her forehead against his chin while stroking the side of his neck gently.

Klaus locked his arms around her to bring her closer to him, the fact that he had Caroline was the only thing preventing him right now from completely losing it.

"Nik... Elijah knew that you loved him, he never gave up on you even when you didn't allow him to be part of your life, even then he knew..." she pulled her head away from him so that she could face him. "When you left me I didn't know how to deal with that, I couldn't understand how you would so easily give up on us but Elijah knew you better than anyone and he told me then that you have the tendency of pushing people away when you care for them. Every time that you pushed that dagger into his heart, he knew why you were doing it and he understood Nik."

"I always assumed that from all of us, I would be the one going down gently. I spent my entire life looking for a way to stop what I always took for granted, that my siblings would outlive me. Elijah wasn't supposed to die Caroline..."

She fiercely narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't even!"

"I'm the one they are after." he said serious.

"They are after everyone."

Klaus leaned over to gently kiss her forehead, he smiled at her but he could tell that she was scared. "I'm not going anywhere just yet."