"Klaus, what the hell am I doing here?" I asked in a bratty whine, scuffling my feet along the pavement as he dragged me down the streets of New Orleans. "I am supposed to be in the safety and comfort of my own home, not galavanting around with you before the sun is even up."

It was currently five in the morning, and Klaus Mikaelson had made himself all too welcome in my apartment, waking me up and insisting that I came with him that instant. He didn't (and still hasn't) given me an explanation, but he has given me a good amount of chuckles and head shakes as he drags me along with him to wherever he is going.

"Millions and millions of people wake up at this hour, love, you're just the exception." He chided, a smile still on his face regardless of his light scolding.

"Exception or not, what the hell am I doing out here?" I whined again, stomping my feet against the pavement as he lead me further outside the city limits. "If you're going to kill me, can't you do it a little later than this? Besides, everyone who knows me at all knows that I would never be up this early. The cops would suspect fowl play instantaneously!"

"Why do you always assume that someone is trying to kill you?"

"Because they always are...?"

Rolling his eyes at me, he continued our little venture into the middle of nowhere, much to my dismay.

"Can you, like, not?" I pouted, throwing my head back as a hill approached. "I can teleport you know! But no, you don't want to tell me where the hell you're dragging my sorry, sleepy ass—"

"We're here, Ophelia," Klaus rolled his eyes, sitting down and pulling my hand, taking me down with him. "You can stop your incessant tirades."

"Good," I nodded, satisfied with the fact that we had finally stopped walking. "Now, why are we sitting on the side of some hill?"

"You know," Klaus began instead, looking out at the horizon. "New Orleans is my favourite city in the world, and there is no place else that I'd rather be."

"Still doesn't answer my question."

"This is just one of the many, beautiful spots that it has to offer that — fortunately for us — not many people know about." He continued, ignoring me. "You can see everything from here. The city, the people, the establishments of all sorts... Hell, you can even still hear the sound of jazz being played on Bourbon Street."

As he smiled, I found myself doing so as well. Even though I was tired, sweaty, and quite frankly done with his shit at the moment, I couldn't not smile when Klaus spoke. I couldn't help it. His smile was contagious, and there were very few things that caused it. So when he smiled, I smiled.

"But none of that is here at the moment." I pointed out.

"Exactly, love," He smiled softly, seeming proud of himself. "We're looking at the skeleton of a city that seems to never sleep. But, in the right moments, you can see it at rest. And it's beautiful."

Looking out over it once again, I realised that he was correct. It seemed as if there wasn't a single soul in our great city, and you could almost hear the ghost of the previous festivities that always seem to happen. Klaus was right. It was beautiful in its own weakness.

"Why am I here, then?" I asked curiously, turning to look at the Hybrid. "I don't understand."

Klaus suddenly became a little more shy at my question, looking down at the grass we had been sitting upon.

"Because it's beautiful," He shrugged. "It's serene. Nothing can bother anyone here. And..."

"And...?"

"...I brought you here because this is my favourite getaway, and so are you.

"Klaus..." I said in a warning tone, closing my eyes at his lovely remark.

"You said that we couldn't be together now," He defended himself. "Not that I couldn't attempt to woo you and win your affection."

"I have a boyfriend, you know."

"One that means nothing to you, you know."

"That's not fair."

"Fine. Say that he did mean something to you. Say that you two were committed to one another. Would that change what we undoubtedly have?" He asked, turning his body so that he could look he in the eyes directly. "And where is he, if he is your boyfriend? I sure don't see him around, love. In fact, the only time I really hear of you two being together is when you're at work. Tell me — and correct me if I am wrong — does he know the first thing about you? What your favourite colour is? What your favourite book is? What your pet peeves are? What you like to wear? What you like to eat? Does he know about your past? Does he know about your power? Does he know how much you hate it when you see 'lost dog' posters? Does he know about your odd obsession for Harry Styles? Does he realise that you're the most beautiful woman that has ever walked the planet? Does... does he know how to calm you after a memory plagues you in the middle of the night? Does he know what the secrets you hide underneath your brave exterior hold? Because I know all of these things, Ophelia. I know all of them and I made sure I knew every single thing, every little trivial fact, there was to know about you. Because I care for you. And I care for you more than that little dimwit Derek does. I meant it when I said I would wait forever, but that doesn't mean that I am going to stop trying."

At his passionate little monologue I felt my eyes well up a little bit with tears. I couldn't help it. The more I tried to push away and bury my feelings for the man, the more he digs until they were brought back up to the surface. And my god, did he just find the jackpot of all feelings.

"You think I don't know this?" I asked in a whisper. "Nik, you're the man of my dreams. Literally. But we just can't. Not right now, at least."

"But why?" He asked in return, scooting closer and taking my small hands within his larger ones, eyes wide in eagerness and excitement. "What will change if we unify now instead of after all of this has blown over? Ophelia, with people like us, nothing ever just blows over. Nothing. We aren't able to lead happy lives and we sure as hell aren't going to be left alone any time soon. So what's stopping us?"

"What's stopping us is the fact that we aren't able to be happy, Nik!" I cried, desperately trying to keep my composure. "None of us can ever be happy. Nothing can just be normal with us. We won't be able to fully enjoy it because we can't always have just desserts, Nik. If we get together right now, we risk losing a battle against most of the supernatural population in New Orleans due to a weakness."

"I used to say that love was a vampires greatest weakness, but now I see that I was wrong." He whispered, wiping my cheeks that were a light shade of pink due to the fucking freezing temperatures of the morning. "Love gives you something to fight for. Something to defend no matter what. Something that you can put all your belief into. Something that will give you a never ending string of hope that there is something or someone that proves that in this ugly world, there is at least one thing that makes it beautiful. And you, Ophelia Armstrong, you are the one thing that I would live for and die for."

And before I could hear anymore, I kissed him like my life depended on it. I kissed him like it was my last chance. I kissed him like I would never kiss anyone ever again. I kissed him like the world was going to disappear. I kissed Niklaus Mikaelson like I was in love with him.

And he kissed back with the same feelings.

Placing a hand on the back of my head, he deepened the kiss and allowed me to lace my fingers through his wild curls and eventually rest them on his broad shoulders. It was in that moment that I realised what a king he really was. Klaus Mikaelson was everything. Strong, powerful, loving, caring, protective, beautiful, perfect, flawed, gentle, harsh, and just about any other contradiction there could be. He was everything. My everything.

Breaking away for air, I placed my forehead against his as he pecked my lips a few times more. Closing my eyes, I let him caress my cheek in a loving manner as we kissed once more.

"I think I might just be in love with you, Ophelia Armstrong."

"Yeah?" I asked, breathless. "Because I think I feel the same about you, Niklaus Mikaelson. And I can't seem to stop."