WHO: Alex & Kara WHAT: Having an important talk WHERE: Al's Dive Bar WHEN: Monday, April 26th afternoon WARNINGS: Brief talk of murder STATUS: Complete
Alex wasn’t ready for this talk.
Well, she was. She had done a little digging to make sure she went into this situation prepared. Hearing from Katherine, then Caroline, had made it clear that her concerns were completely founded. She hoped with all her heart that this Klaus guy was better now (and had to assume Caroline was right and he was behaving), but she couldn’t let go of everything she’d learned about his past without questioning.
Coping with this unpleasant information had consisted mostly of absence on Alex’s part. She’d spent most of her time since Katherine’s infodump holed up at Al’s, drinking and trying to make business decisions — which was, perhaps, not the best combination. When she saw Kara during her brief trips home, she was tired, hungover, a little distant, and not very social. Until she figured out the best way to confront all of this, she hadn’t asked her anything. She was going off the assumption that this would all be a revelation for Kara, too.
It was either that or she knew and had kept it all to herself because she knew what Alex would think. She still hadn’t really decided which option was worse.
By just after noon, she had picked up a lot fit for her super sister. Take out bags and boxes covered the surface of two tables and a bottle of alien-strength liquor sat on the bartop for later, if Kara wanted it. The front door was unlocked, and she’d made sure to share her location when she got here — not that Kara couldn’t find her on her own if she wanted.
Kara was concerned about why Alex might be avoiding her. Alex had told her that she was busy because she’d found Al’s, but Kara couldn’t help but worry it was more than that. She just didn’t know what it could be. Maybe she’d get some answers when they spent some time together, which they had planned to do today.
Kara was looking forward to it, but part of her was also dreading it because it seemed like there could be something wrong. She felt a distance between herself and Alex that she didn’t like. Maybe it was all in her head, but she didn’t think so. Hopefully, meeting with her today would get Kara some answers.
She arrived a little after Alex and looked at the spread on the table. And the booze. Oh boy, whatever was going on was going to make Kara want to day drink? This was already starting off well.
“Hey, I’m here,” Kara said, crossing her arms. She hadn’t yet touched anything on the tables.
“And you didn’t instantly jump on the food. I’m shocked,” Alex teased her, smiling at her as she twisted open a two-liter of lemonade. She pulled out two glasses from beneath the bar and filled them up before rounding the bar and offering one to her sister. She looked like she was on the defensive, with her arms crossed like that. This wasn’t going to be a fun talk.
“Come on, sit. Eat something.” She looped her free arm through Kara’s and led her over to sit, sliding into the chair right next to her instead of across the table. “So, I say we start at potstickers, obviously, and keep going until we hit the table. Sound good?”
“Well, I wanted to at least say hi first,” Kara said, trying to relax. She just couldn’t help worrying about what was going on with Alex. She took the glass of lemonade from her and nodded.
“We definitely start with the potstickers,” she agreed as she sat down. Alex seemed to be acting like nothing was wrong. But there had to be something wrong. And she’d said she wanted to talk to her. So there was definitely something going on. She would try not to think about it for now and just enjoy her time with her sister.
“Talked to anyone about running this place yet?”
Alex wasn’t going to throw all of this at Kara without any warning. That wasn’t her style. She would get to her questions and concerns, but she really had missed her sister. She had brought this on herself; she’d had reasons she’d chosen to avoid her, but none of those reasons made the way she’d acted around Kara okay.
She knew Kara would forgive her, though. For that, at least. There had been very few times in their lives they’d been able to stay mad at each other for long.
“Not yet. I’ll probably start looking more seriously this week. Lena and I just started looking into everything it takes to get this place operational a few days ago.”
They had come up with a general plan of what needed to be done, but it would be a process. She wanted to make sure she handed this over to someone with experience who would take care of it right. That was the least she could do, since Al himself wasn’t around.
“Well, I’m sure you’ll find someone great,” Kara said, picking up the lemonade and taking a long swallow. It was delicious. Then she grabbed the takeout container that contained the potstickers and opened it up, eager to get in. Alex had really gone all out with this spread. It wasn’t unusual but given that Kara had barely seen her in the past couple of days.
“Is everything okay, Alex?” Kara finally asked her. “Did I do something? I’m so sorry if I did.” If Kara had done something, they probably would have talked about it. They were so close and they talked about stuff. So if it was something Kara had done, surely they would have talked about it. But maybe not. She couldn’t help feeling this disconnect was somehow her fault.
“Kara, no! Hey.” Alex dropped the bag she’d picked up and quickly turned in her seat, one hand reaching out to clasping Kara's shoulder. She should have known better than to essentially say they needed to talk, then hesitate to broach the topic. Her sister was just as much of a worrier as she was. “You have nothing to be sorry for, okay? I’m the one who’s sorry. I should’ve told you what was going on. But I…”
She trailed off with a deep sigh. She had hoped for some easier conversation before getting into this, but she had no choice but to cut to the chase now.
“Listen, I’ve, uh. I’ve learned some information about that guy you’re seeing.” Yes, there was a bit of emphasis on the term guy, but there was no disdain in her tone. Concern, definitely. A lot of concern, displayed on her face with knitted eyebrows. “And I just want - well, I need to make sure you’re aware of it.”
While Kara was relieved it was not about her, she was a little concerned that it was about Klaus. But Alex’s reassurance that it wasn’t about Kara or anything she did made her relax a bit. She offered Alex a small smile and then quickly ate a potsticker. They could totally eat and talk at the same time, besides Alex was more than used to Kara’s appetite.
“About Klaus?” Kara asked, after she’d finished up that potsticker and taken another sip of the delicious and refreshing lemonade. Kara didn’t know much about Klaus’ past, but they’d been talking pretty much since he’d gotten there. And they had grown close especially after being stuck in the snowglobe.
“What about him?” Kara knew it was bad because she knew Alex’s concerned face well. She took her job as Kara’s big sister very seriously. And she was extremely protective of her. Kara was protective of Alex too. “Just tell me, Alex.” Kara could handle it, whatever it was.
Alex pulled away to let Kara eat, but she couldn’t stomach trying to go back to eating herself. She was actively wishing she’d poured herself some bourbon in place of the lemonade she picked up for a drink. She wanted to get through this sober, though. She had a tendency to speak without much forethought when she’d had too much to drink. This was too important to risk saying anything wrong or unclear.
“Well, you know he’s a vampire-werewolf hybrid, right?” She hadn’t shared that information, but Alex had to assume she knew that much. It was literally the most basic information this guy could give the girl he was supposedly dating. “And he’s been alive more than a thousand years?”
“Yeah, I know that,” Kara said. She knew of Klaus’ hybrid status. It didn’t bother her. After all, she was an actual alien. But something about Alex’s tone said there was cause for concern outside of that. “And his daughter Hope is a tribrid.” Kara didn’t know too much about that though. Hope seemed nice from what Kara knew of the girl, and Klaus definitely loved his daughter.
“I knew he was pretty old but I didn’t ask him how old,” Kara said. It wasn’t exactly polite to ask people their ages. Technically Kara was a lot older than she was physically as she’d actually been born in 1966. “Why?”
Alex nodded slowly. Right, okay. Tribrid. That wasn’t really a word, and the scientist part of her mind wanted to ask what the ‘tri’ part of this girl was, but she refrained. Not what they were here to discuss. Maybe they could circle back around to that at some point, but it wasn’t important right now.
“He killed people, Kara,” she said bluntly. “And he - not accidentally or in self-defense or because of circumstances out of his control -” She supposed there could have been times like that in the past thousand years, but that wasn’t what she was focused on here. “He slaughtered people. For - God knows what reasons.”
Kara was definitely taken aback by Alex’s words. That wasn’t like the Klaus that she knew. She had a habit of seeing the good in people, but killing was extremely bad. She would definitely need to talk to Klaus about all of this. She wasn’t going to say Alex must be mistaken or anything because she knew her sister would have gathered information before talking to her about it.
It made sense now why Alex had been avoiding her. She knew things about Klaus’ past that Kara did not and she had to be the one to tell her. No wonder there was alien booze in case Kara needed it. She didn’t speak for a long moment, trying to process what Alex was saying.
“That...that’s terrible. He’s never done anything like that here.” She suspected he might want to if someone hurt his daughter, but this sounded nothing like the Klaus she knew. “Alex, I swear I didn’t know any of that.” Kara was trying to keep it together. She really liked Klaus, she didn’t know how he could have done those things. They were definitely going to have to talk.
“I know you didn’t,” Alex assured her quietly. She had gone with that assumption, and the confirmation that she was right brought both relief and a touch of irritation. Kara always meant so well and wanted to see the good in everyone she came across. It was admirable, but when it left her blind to their faults, especially something as massive as this, it was a problem. They needed to work on changing that.
“Maybe he’s different now. I won’t assume one way or the other,” she continued diplomatically, lifting her arms to wrap around her sister’s shoulders. She hated that she’d had to tell her this and bring her down, but she was here for comfort and cuddles. “But you deserved to know about his past, and I had a feeling you didn’t.”
After seeing what Caroline had to say, on top of Katherine’s story, she didn’t trust Klaus for one second. He may be on his best behavior, and maybe he really had changed. She wouldn’t rule it out, at least for Kara’s sake, but she was staying on guard. She wouldn’t be able to stomach the way he had tormented others, not to mention killed so easily and frequently, personally. But she wasn’t the one dating him.
“He has to be,” Kara said. She wanted to believe that. But she couldn’t really believe that he’d ever been this other person. She was in shock. She was glad Alex was there because she was the only one keeping Kara from losing it. She searched her thoughts for any kind of explanation that made sense and it just wasn’t there. Klaus had done terrible things.
“Thank you for telling me, Alex,” Kara said, taking in a deep breath. She didn’t know how to proceed with this. But she was thankful to have her sister there, and her cousin (even if it wasn’t the one she knew) and Lena and Lois. They meant everything to Kara. Yes, she was going to have to have a talk with Klaus about all of this. She needed to hear what he had to say, if he’d deny it. And then she needed to decide how she would deal with it all.
Kara’s expression and the way she tended to curl into herself made it clear just how much she was struggling with this news. Alex didn’t relish that. Seeing Kara upset never did anything other than break her heart, but she knew this was something that had to be done. If Kara chose to try to look past Klaus’ past and continue to see him, that was her prerogative, as long as she was fully armed with the information she needed.
Really, Alex hadn’t even been able to get into all of it yet. Now didn’t seem the time to heap the specifics Katherine and Caroline had shared with her on her shaken sister. She would get to it, though. Today, all of her attention was on Kara and helping her in whatever way she needed.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” she promised quietly, wrapping her arms around her sister a little bit tighter. Firm pressure was always a safe bet when it came to Kara; gentle touches were harder for her to feel under a yellow sun. “I love you, sis, and I’m here for you. We’ll figure this out together, like we always do. Alright?”
Kara was going to do her best to process this, and she was trying not to freak out too much. But Alex’s news had definitely upset her. Anyone would be upset hearing something like that. But Kara needed to know and it was best coming from Alex over anyone else. She didn’t feel very hungry anymore and she felt bad because Alex had gotten all this food. Maybe they could eat it later.
She embraced Alex, not really wanting to let go. Of course she had to be a lot more gentle but she had years of practice in doing so.
“I love you too and I know we will,” Kara said, finally letting go of her sister. “I’ll see you at home, okay?” Kara needed to take the rest of the afternoon to deal with this information.