Clara & Klaus - The Untold Story: Keywords

About two weeks had passed since the girl had arrived, and Kit so far showed no signs of giving up. Klaus was almost starting to hope he might be a successful father after all, except for the fact that he was entirely out of his depth.

The house was currently under renovation as Kit was forced rethink his entire decorating scheme to avoid scarring the child for life. Klaus, for one, was grateful as some of the more uncomfortable artworks were removed and stashed away out of sight. The three of them had set about childproofing anything potentially dangerous, censoring anything blatantly adult, and buying whatever they needed to make a child happy. The house wasn't just supposed to be livable: it needed to be comfortable and welcoming enough for the girl to finally feel safe enough to speak.

Which was why they were currently renovating the kid's bedroom so that it looked like it had been built for a 5-year-old girl. And with the new paint and new furniture came a new wardrobe, which theoretically shouldn't have been difficult, except for the poor timing of the decision.

Clara had gone home for a few days to take care of her own stuff, and the two men currently in the house were at a loss. Even Klaus, who had so far been perhaps the most experienced of the three when it came to typical parenting things (though he hadn't been particularly outspoken about his knowledge - he simply pointed things out that should have been common sense, and sometimes took care of things behind the scenes when the other two were busy) had no clue where to start when shopping for a little girl. He'd never faced this problem before.

So Kit had sent him to do the only thing that either of them could think to do: fetch Clara.

Klaus had never been to this part of town. Kit had told him how to get there, but the closest point familiar enough for him to apparate to had still been quite a ways away. He ended up walking over a mile to get to her neighborhood.

It was about the farthest thing from Kit's mansion that Klaus could possibly imagine. The surrounding neighborhood was obviously nowhere close to wealthy; the streets were poorly maintained and the whole area had a dull, dirty vibe to it. As Klaus strolled down the cracked pavement, scanning the surrounding buildings for the address Kit had given him, he felt more comfortable than he had since arriving at Kit's place several weeks before. There was something vaguely nostalgic about the worn-out architecture, although the style of it hardly resembled anything he'd seen in the UK. He was reminded of his childhood home in Edinburgh, before they'd saved up enough to move out of the city.

He finally found Clara's door. He hesitated a little outside, knowing she probably wouldn't be happy to see him, then sighed and pounded the knocker. This was on Kit. Klaus was just helping a friend.

In the moment before the door opened, Klaus wondered briefly if he'd come to the right place, and what he would do if he hadn't. Kit had warned him about the stairs, so he thought he'd found the right door, but if not...

The door swung open to reveal someone who looked like Clara but who acted like someone Klaus had never met. He stared. Blinked twice. Tried to process what he was seeing. Something about this scene made him immensely uncomfortable. The Clara he knew was frustratingly genuine. This new persona she'd assumed was...jarringly fake. He never would have expected those words in that tone to come out of her mouth.

Suddenly Clara reclaimed her body and things were back to normal, but it took a moment for him to catch up as her questions bounced off of him while he stared dumbly at the woman in the doorway.

"I...ah...no, they're both fine. Kit just...asked me to fetch you. Sorry, what...?" He gestured vaguely in reference to her attire, and the mystic ambiance of the apartment he glimpsed over her shoulder. He shook his head. "You know what, you're clearly busy, perhaps I should come back later."

He took a step back, suddenly feeling very awkward.

He didn't know what he had expected Clara to do for a living. Honestly, he hadn't even thought about it. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew she had to do something, but he'd never seen her outside of the context of Kit's house and a little part of him was almost surprised she existed at all.

Klaus somewhat dazedly followed her orders, awkwardly stepping into the apartment as commanded. His curiosity got the better of him and he looked around, feeling a bit like he'd entered a dream. Obviously the first thing to stand out to him was the artificially constructed atmosphere. The dim lighting, drawn curtains, soft music, incense, candles, the whole shebang - it all had the combined effect of making him both relaxed and slightly disoriented. Underneath it all, though, he could make out the bones of her flat: a small living area connected to an even smaller kitchen, the main feature of which was a microwave. One door led off of the kitchen to what he guessed was a bathroom, while another door off of the living area most likely led to a bedroom, though both were closed at the moment. With some relief, he found traces of the Clara he knew underlying the rest of it and it made him feel a bit better.

Speaking of Clara, she was talking to him now, and looking a lot more concerned than she really ought to be.

"Start talking, now!"

He snapped to his senses, reluctantly ripping his attention away from his surroundings and focusing on Clara, suddenly realizing she probably expected the worst. He felt a bit guilty for disturbing her now. They honestly could have just waited for her to get back on her own time; it really wasn't an emergency. He rubbed the back of his neck.

"I told you, they're fine. Really. Come to think of it, it's actually quite stupid and I shouldn't have bothered you at all."

Seeing the look on her face, he sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets, preparing himself against whatever reaction his next words would elicit when she found out it was nowhere near as serious as she seemed to think.

"Kit just wanted some help picking out clothes. The kid hasn't given us much to work with and we're both rubbish at the whole, you know...girls." He shrugged a bit helplessly. "We didn't know who else to ask. But it can wait, really."

His eyes drifted way from her, continuing to inspect the apartment as he slowly got used to this new side of Clara. "I didn't know you were a fortune teller."

"Did she say she wanted any?"

"Well, no, but she's barely got anything at the moment, so it seemed like a good idea." And he suspected at least to some extent that Kit's method of dealing with problems was just to throw money at them until they disappeared. Since the kid obviously wasn't feeling quite at home yet, Kit would continue buying things for her until she responded.

At least Clara seemed more relieved than angry. Klaus felt a bit bad about making her leave her home/work again for something so trivial, but she was coming along willingly enough. He figured if she really didn't want to come, she could always say no and he wouldn't push it.

He didn't know how to respond to her muttered admission that she should never have left. On the one hand, it really shouldn't be her responsibility. On the other hand, things did run a lot more smoothly when she was around. In the end he decided saying nothing was his best bet, since the less involved he was in her decision-making process, the less responsible he was for the consequences.

MACUSA. So she was a witch after all. Since the night they'd shared on the rooftop, he'd been surreptitiously watching to see if she ever did magic, and had come up short. It appeared she preferred doing things the muggle way. He hadn't wanted to ask, but it had been a question on his mind for a while now, since the moment he'd realized he'd never seen her use a wand. He supposed it didn't really matter, but at least now he knew.

As she turned her back to him, he hesitated for a split second before gently tugging the zipper down until it reached her lower back. It suddenly occurred to him that the last time he had done that was with Marcia, on their anniversary.

That had been less than a year ago.

It felt like a lifetime.

He swallowed thickly and shoved his hands back into his pockets to hide how they trembled slightly. Not now. Now was not the time for these thoughts.

Merlin, what he wouldn't give for a scotch.

Klaus quickly looked away as Clara shamelessly undressed in front of him, seeming unconcerned about whether or not he saw her naked. His ears burned as he stared pointedly at the opposite wall. When she called out to him about beer and pop-tarts, he gladly took the excuse to leave her line of sight and enter the kitchen.

He'd prefer scotch, but a beer would do. He opened the fridge to see a couple of cans and retrieved one, pulling the tab. He grimaced a little as it hit his lips. Cold. He never understood why Americans insisted on cold beer.

Still, it was better than nothing. He downed half the can in one go as he waited for Clara to emerge from her bedroom, hopefully with something covering her. By the time she did, the can was empty and he was somewhat calmer than he had been moments earlier. He watched from the kitchen as she collected her belongings and turned to face him.

The stick? Oh. Wand. Right. He'd never seen her use it before, but he guessed she must have one somewhere.

"Well, we could apparate, but if you'd prefer not to we can always call a cab or take the bus, I guess. Up to you." He really didn't care either way. Apparition would obviously be faster, but he wasn't in any particular rush to get back to Kit's place. Honestly, it was kind of nice to get out for once. He didn't normally have a reason to leave the mansion.

Well, supposedly he was still house hunting, but all of that had kind of been put on hold while they sorted out the whole adoption situation. At least Clara wasn't nagging him about it anymore.

As an afterthought, he looked around the room once more. "You might want to blow out the candles," he suggested.