Forever The Name On My Lips

twenty-three.

twenty-three.  my heart can't take any promises that break

"Good morning, love," Klaus said as you walked into the living room the next morning. There was another man there, in a police uniform. "That'll be all. You can go," he told the man. The man nodded at you and walked out of the room.

"Who was that?" you asked.

"Meet Deputy Jones, an esteemed member of the Mystic Falls police department," Klaus said.

You glared at him. "You do realize kidnapping a member of the police department isn't staying out of the council's way, right?"

"Kidnapping?" he looked at you with fake aghast. "Deputy Jones was here of his own volition. He just came by to chat."

"Right," you rolled your eyes. "And what was he chatting about?"

"No need to worry yourself, love," he got up and smirked at you. "Are you hungry? I have a delectable treat in the dining room for you."

You sped over to him and pushed him back onto the couch. His smirk grew as he looked up at you. "I suppose we could go right to dessert."

You had decided last night as you went to bed that you weren't going to hesitate again like you had with Stefan last night. You didn't want to kill them, but you were tired of this cat and mouse game. The problem was Klaus. He was so hell bent on keeping you away from the darker things he did that you didn't even know half the stuff he was doing. But he had never hidden it from you before. It was frustrating that he was hiding it from you now.

You pushed his hands off of you as he tried to grab your hips. "Don't even think about it," you said. "I don't need you to protect me."

"I know, love," he said, his eyes wandering over your body before they settled on your own. "If anyone knows how capable you are, it's me. However..." He grabbed you before you could react and pulled you properly onto his lap so you were straddling him.

"Klaus, get off," you pushed his chest.

"We do keep ending up like this, don't we?" he smirked.

"Hm I wonder why," you said sarcastically. "Let me go."

"Not until you listen to what I have to say," he said. "We are partners. But as I told you, I have to do some...unsavory things to uphold my promise. I just don't want you to sully your hands. I know you still care for them."

"I get you don't want me to get my hands dirty or hold the darkness or whatever, but I want the coffins, Klaus. And I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get them back," you said softly.

He looked at you for a long time, and you knew he was debating whether to tell you or not. You wondered if part of it was because you had both changed since you last saw him in 1919. Based on what Elijah said and what you had seen, he was more ruthless now. You wondered if he was trying not to scare you away. But you had your own darkness now. You'd done things you would never have imagined a century ago.

You put your hand on his cheek. "You want to show me you're still the same Niklaus I fell in love with?" you said softly. "Then show me. Because that Niklaus treated me like a partner and I never ran from him."

"Very well," he said finally. You knew he knew what you were doing, using his feelings to get what you wanted, but he didn't seem to care. "It seems Elena and her friends are looking for someone. One Abby Bennett, mother to our resident witch."

You tensed, putting the pieces together in your head. You knew how powerful the Bennett line was, but more than that. You knew what they could do, especially if they found a second Bennett. "Wait but then that means..."