1st May, 2028

Kaitlyn's POV

A week. It has been a week since Hayley's funeral. A week since we said our goodbyes. We didn't stay in New Orleans for long. Rebekah and Marcel went back to Paris, Kol and Davina left for New York and so did Damon and Elena. Bonnie, Enzo and Jeremy left too but Caroline stayed back. Most important of all, Elijah pretty much disappeared. He said he needed some time to himself and then just packed his bags and left without any further notice. He won't even answer our calls or texts so we don't know where he's at.

Besides that, the kids have been alright. Lizzie and Josie apologized to Hope for pushing her away and they're thick as thieves now. Hope seems to be holding on better now. Yeah sometimes when she's staying over, I hear sniffling from her room or when she's back the mansion, Nik calls to say he thinks Hope needs help so I rush there but besides the occasional breakdowns, she's been holding on well for the most part.

As for Nik and me, we've been alright too, I guess. We haven't really had time to talk about us or our situation now that we know the truth about Hope so for the most part, I'm sticking around the kids and making sure they're all fine. I can think about myself later.

Hope stayed here last night and right now, we're all in the kitchen seated for breakfast that Ric so kindly prepared for us all.

"So mom, what're we doing for tomorrow?" Lizzie asks as she munches on her cereals.

"We're not doing anything this time," I say. It's my birthday tomorrow and we usually have a family picnic or something of that sort on that day because birthdays are a big deal to me, but I don't think any celebration would be appropriate this time.

"But you can't do that to Hope. It's her first birthday with us too," Josie complains and my eyes widen.

"What?"

"Yeah, your and Hope's birthday is on the same day. Cool, right? We should totally celebrate," Lizzie elaborates and I gasp.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry Hope. I didn't know it's your birthday too tomorrow or I would've planned something," I say as I turn to her.

"It's alright, mo- um, don't worry about it. I don't feel like celebrating either," she says and I don't know if it was just me or did she almost call me 'mom'?

"We've got the planning under control, don't worry. Ryan and Madeline are already working on it with Aunt Care," Lizzie says and I try to interrupt but she won't let me, "no I know, so we're not doing anything extra. Just us, family at home, a few balloons, a cake, maybe some fireworks. That's all. I promise," Lizzie reassures.

"If it's you and Care planning, I somehow doubt that," Alaric chimes in and we all laugh as Lizzie glares at him.

"It seems like a good idea actually. Isn't this what you and dad kept telling me? That we need to move on and accommodate ourselves to this new norm?" Hope speaks up and I nod.

"Well then, this is the new beginning after...everything that happened. So maybe now is a good time?" Hope questions rhetorically and I smile at her.

"See this is why we're besties," Lizzie, Josie and Hope high-five before getting up, saying good bye and leaving for school.

"I guess we're having a party at home then," I say as I turn to Ric and he chuckles. We too then get into his car and drive to school.

༆☼︎☾︎ꨄ︎☽︎☼︎༆

By the time we reach school, the classes have already started. We get out of Ric's car and see the nine kids standing outside the entrance, gossiping.

I clear my throat and they all immediately turn to look at me, "why aren't you all in class?" I ask them using my 'Headmistress' tone.

"We were just talking about tomorrow's party and-" Lizzie starts to speak but I hold my hand up, motioning for her to stop talking.

"You're supposed to be in your classes now. If you guys keep doing this, I'll cancel the party. Now go back to your classes, apologize to your teachers and detention today for all of you," I scold them and they groan in frustration, knowing they can't get out of this.

Alaric chuckles at them, "you guys deserve it," he says and they all glare at him before heading inside.

"That wasn't very nice of you," Klaus' voice comes from behind us.

"Well, like Ric said, that's what they deserve for bunking classes," I say as I turn around to face him. Or them, I guess because I see Caroline is with him, as she scribbles away on her 'management board', as she likes to call it. I narrow my eyes at them, "did she rope you in into helping for tomorrow?" I ask him as I motion towards Care and she rolls her eyes at me.

"He offered to help," she says and I raise my brow at them.

"Oh really? Why so willing?" I tease with a smile.

"Because," he says as he walks up to me and puts his arm around my shoulder, "it's my daughter's birthday. Also happens to be my soulmate's birthday but she's been ignoring me lately, using her kids and work as excuses, so I thought maybe she'd finally pay me some heed if I help throw a party for her. What do you think?" he jokes as Alaric and Caroline laugh.

I roll my eyes and say, "I think she really is just busy. Ignoring you is too much effort."

He has a mock-hurt look on his face, "really, what's wrong with you today? You're so rude," he asks in a joking manner and I move his arm from around my shoulder.

"I don't know. Maybe it's because I didn't get enough sleep last night because this guy made me sit on Facetime with him at 3AM due to his sudden urge to paint me," I say. It's true. Last night, Nik called at 3AM and literally begged me to go over to his place because he wanted to 'paint me' but I said the best I could do is stay on a Facetime with him, which I did. Needless to say, I didn't get any sleep last night.

"You guys are so cute it makes me wanna puke," Caroline chimes in.

"Sure it's not food poisoning from that diner you dragged us to on the way back?" Nik asks and she glares at him.

"How far did you guys go that you had to stop at a diner?" I ask them.

"After we ended the Facetime last night, I texted Caroline to ask if she had any plans for your birthday. She, and I'm not even exaggerating, replied instantly and said her and the kids have been planning this for the past three days. Then she said, if I wanted to help, I needed to meet her at this address an hour away from here, at 6 AM. So you can say we went quite far away," Nik says and I chuckle.

"Yeah, Care tried to get me to help but I said I needed my beauty sleep, so I guess she made you do all the work this time," Alaric chimes in.

"Okay enough, it wasn't that bad, Klaus. Stop complaining," Caroline accuses him and he holds his hands up in mock surrender.

"We'll I'm headed to work. Have fun planning my birthday without me," I tell them, kissing Nik's cheek and then walking in the school and into my office.

༆☼︎☾︎ꨄ︎☽︎☼︎༆

It's around 4:30 when I'm still in my office, catching up with two weeks' worth of work that I missed out on. Just as I finish sorting through the fifth folder of new documents, my phone lights up to show texts from Nik.

We plan on getting dinner together and I think that's a good idea, considering we've barely spent any time together lately.

We were supposed to meet in an hour but around 5, Nik shows up at my office door.

"Ready to go yet?" he asks as he barges in and takes a seat opposite me.

"I thought we were supposed to meet in an hour?" I say without even looking up at him as I sort through the new files that Alaric left for me.

"Well I did say I was missing you so I thought I'd show up early but you're clearly still busy," he says and I nod.

Just then, Caroline texts me and I laugh looking at it.

After I'm done replying, I put my phone down and look up at Nik.

"So when you said you missed me, did you mean to say you messed up and Caroline drove you away?" I ask with a smirk and he rolls his eyes.

"Of course she told you. But she's exaggerating, I think I did a fair job," he says and I laugh again.

"I'm sure you did. But fair isn't good enough for Care, it needs to be perfect," I tell him as I put the rest of the files aside and shut off my laptop.

"Since you're early, maybe we should leave after all," I say as I grab my phone and keys and Nik immediately jumps up from his seat and hands me my bag with a smile.

He then holds out his arm for me, which I take and we walk out of the Boarding House. As we get into his car, he holds out the door for me and then gets in the driver's seat.

"So where are we going?" I ask him as he starts driving.

"Just this place I found when Caroline dragged me to the florist's this morning," he says.

"Florists for the party? I thought we agreed on 'small'! And florists from a place an hour away? She's doing too much," I say and he laughs.

"Well, you know Caroline better than me but even I knew her definition of 'small' and yours aren't the same," Nik says and I nod because it's true.

༆☼︎☾︎ꨄ︎☽︎☼︎༆

After over half an hour of driving and me nagging Nik to sing along to the radio with me, we finally reached the destination. As we get out of the car, I look around.

"These...are the woods, Nik," I say, clearly confused as to why we were here.

"Yes and our destination is just a little further ahead," he says as he takes my hand and leads us towards 'destination'.

After straying further into the woods, I see lights sparkling around a little clearing and in the middle of it was a little table with two chairs opposite each other.

"Do you like it?" Nik asks and I turn to him with a smile.

"I love it! But you know you didn't have to go through all this trouble-" I go to say but he cuts me off.

"Of course I did, love. I'd do anything for you," he says as we settle down and start with our dinner date.

"You know, we never got to go on that first date we had planned," he says and I look up from my food and at him.

"We're doing it now," I say but he shakes his head 'no'.

"This is just us having dinner together...in the middle of the woods," he says and I chuckle, "but I want a proper date with you. Just us, the entire day and I already talked to the kids, we're doing it tomorrow," he states and I raise my brow at him.

"You want to go on a date tomorrow? And the kids agreed to let us go?" I ask, not believing that they'd let me have any other plans on my birthday, of all days.

Nik, however, nods with an amused look on his face, "you see, my convincing skills are still as good as they used to be years ago, love. So tomorrow, the entire day up until the party, it's just you and me," he says and I smile widely at him.

"Sounds great. What do you have planned for us?" I ask as we move on to the desserts.

"I can't tell you that. But I assure you, you'll love it," he reassures.

"I love anything you do for me, Nik. Nothing new there," I say and his smile widens.

"Still good to hear sometimes," he says and I just look at him like he's the most handsome man in the entire world, which he is, in my opinion at least.

"You know, you really have the most amazing smile," I whisper with a mesmerized tone and he raises his brow at me, snapping me out of my trance, "did I say that out loud?" I ask as I feel my cheeks blush with embarrassment.

"You did," he says with a cheeky smile on his own face.

"Well, I meant it," I shrug, trying to sound casual and not embarrassed.

"And you have the most beautiful eyes," he says and I blush even more, if that's even possible.

Before I can say anything else, he gets up from his seat and reaches his hand out for me to take, "let's dance," he says.

"There's no music," I tell him and just then, he does something on his phone and a slow version of  'Just The Two of Us' starts to play from his car. My smile widens when I hear it play. This was the first song we ever bonded over, back when me and Stefan went on a 'road trip' with him for the entire summer. Stefan was being a grumpy ripper and Nik was just being broody. So I dragged us to this karaoke bar when we reached Chicago and we partied all night. That was also the night we kissed for the first time ever but in my defense, I was really really drunk so I didn't remember much of it the next day.

"You really had this all planned out, didn't you?" I asks him in a teasing manner and he shrugs as we dance along to the music.

"I'd be lying if I said Caroline didn't help," he says and I smile at the thought of them getting along.

"I never thought I'd see a day when you'd get along with my friends but here we are," I say and he smiles at me.

"Only for you, love," he leans in and whispers into my ear. Goosebumps erupt throughout my body as I feels his warm breath hit my ear and neck.

As he moves his face away from my ear, I turns my face to look him in the eye. For a second or what felt like forever, it was just the two of us  dancing in the dark as we started into each other's eyes, secretly daring the other to make a move.

Eventually, Nik inhales sharply and leans in closer so now our noses were brushing. I look into his eyes to see them darken and desperation take over them.

I slowly part my own lips as he removes one of his hands from my waist and cups my cheek with it, looking between my eyes and lips, every now and then.

Warmth blossomed in my chest, sparks igniting as Nik leaned in closer, our lips now brushing together, tentatively. The smell of his perfume and having him so close was dizzying, as if there were butterflies dancing in my stomach.

And then...it happened.

In seconds that felt like years, he kissed me. Maybe time stopped when his lips met mine but the flutter only intensified. My heart was pounding in my chest as I felt my knees get weaker. All I could focus on was how soft he felt against my mouth, how addictively he invaded all of my senses still.

3rd person POV

Klaus Mikaelson felt as if he was in a trance. The world around them was meaningless. Nothing could have possibly meant more than them, nothing could have more beauty than this moment: those small hands pressed into his, the way her round eyes fluttered to a close. She fit into him like a glove, her kiss like the beating of a butterfly's wings, soft until it became addictive.

He was falling even further in love with her, 'if that was even possible', he thought to himself. And he was falling fast, craving her scent and the feel of her so close to him, unsure where he ended and she began. He had never been more grateful to have lived until now. He would have rather walked into hell again and again than lose this: her entrancing eyes, her captivating smile against his lips. All he could think of was her laugh when he did something stupid, her hair and how it fell over her shoulder when she looked at him, her raspy voice in the mornings, and her hands, those tiny hands, conforming and loosening to his calloused fingers in perfect rhythm with him.

But their stupid, stupid lungs had to find air, and he was forced to separate from her with the feeling of gravity being torn out of his core. Somehow, she had been moved up against a tree, with him towering over her. She disconnected her tangled hands from his (with another pitiful drop in his stomach) so she could run them through his disheveled hair, and he closed his eyes at her soothing touch.

"I don't think I can ever let you go again," he whispers as he rests his forehead against hers, eyes still closed.

"I don't think I ever want you to," she whispers back and he opens his eyes to meet hers.

She was looking up at him with such an inviting warmth that he wanted to kiss her again. And so he did.

He wasn't sure if nature rooted for this moment but every breath he took smelled like jasmine. It smelled like her. If anything, the warm feeling of her breath, although destabilizing, was inviting. This time around, he draped both arms around Kaitlyn's small frame and met her lips again halfway.

Her whole body tingled, the feel of his frame leaning on hers as his arms wrapped around her felt nearly forbidden. He pulled her in, claiming her mouth again, hungry and intense, until her knees gave in. As soon as he realized it, he pushed her upwards, allowing her legs to cross around his waist. Their lips remained sealed. It was like they couldn't get enough of each other. They were devouring one another, drowning in each other, making up for lost time, all at once.

Soon, his hands were moving down, under her shirt, his fingers skimming over her skin, sending a rush of blood to every part of her body. Although euphoric, the touch snapped Kaitlyn out of her daze as she stopped Klaus' hand from trailing further and slowly broke away from the kiss, reluctantly. He groaned softly, low in his throat and then his arms circled her, gathering her against him as she let her feet fall to the ground again.

He looked down at her, "I can't get enough of you," he whispered, his voice now raspy.

"We're in the middle of nowhere, Nik," she replies, pretending his voice wasn't affecting her, as she tries to move away but he only tightens his grip on her.

"Exactly," he says as he goes to lean in again but Kaitlyn places her hand on his chest, slightly pushing his back.

"Not here, not now," she says as she moves his arms from around her and steps away slightly.

Klaus sighs as she walks back to their table. He follows behind and wraps his arms from behind her, placing soft kisses on her exposed neck.

"I've waited for this moment for the last sixteen years now," he mumbles into her neck and she hums lightly.

She places her hand on his face while he continues to kiss her neck while his arms are still wrapped around her, from the back.

"It's getting late," Kaitlyn whispers.

"Come home with me," Klaus mumbles again.

"We're already spending all day together tomorrow," she retorts and he groans in return.

"So what? A day isn't enough time with you," he replies.

"You can't hoard me from my own kids," she jokes as she turns around to face him.

With his arms still wrapped around her waist, he smirks, "watch me."

Kaitlyn chuckles and places a small kiss on the corner of his mouth before moving away, grabbing her purse and walking towards Klaus' car.

"You coming?" she asks as she looks back to see him still standing there by the table, watching her.

"Yes ma'am," he says with a love-sick smile, as he walks up to her and takes her hand in his, walking towards his car together.

'This could really work', they both think to themselves at that moment.

Author's Note

Soooo, after all that tragedy, I decided that we needed a cute moment of Klaitlyn to make ourselves feel better and thus, THEY KISSED!

Writing this chapter felt like a privacy invasion tbh and was also the first time I've written such a scene. How do you guys feel about it? Do you like how the story is unfolding?

Also, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to klausbitchh because you've been the most interactive and supportive reader ever! And these interactions make my day better, so thank youu! This one's for you.

With love and appreciation to all my readers,

Awwmoons.