Authors Note: Hi! This is the first multi-chapter fic that I have done in a million years so do bare with me. This chapter is basically just to get you settled on the AU universe they're in. If you enjoy then let me know!
Beta read by my dearest Tanya!
A wash of gold billows in the wind as the door opens, Caroline's hair flying in front of her face and causing a laugh to escape her ample lips. Chicago may be the windy city but New York certainly didn't let down in that category either. The eldest Salvatore brushed it out of the way for her and she replied with a short curtsey, something that elicited another bubble of laughter to break the 8pm city sounds of cars and hushed chatter. The small group of five headed towards their usual bar to celebrate winning their latest case.
At the opposite end of the street, coming from their own towering skyscraper another blonde set foot outside, his short curls a sandier shade and the laughter nowhere to be seen between him and his companions. He murmured a complaint about the weather to his brother as they walked downtown. He didn't want to be in one of their usual spots tonight, couldn't stand the usual 'congratulations' from patrons almost as crooked as they were. Tonight wasn't a celebration as far as he was concerned; tonight was a night to drown out any memory of the case.
The warm interior of the bar was a welcome sight after braving the weather outdoors, it had started raining when they were near and Damon had managed to turn it into some kind of race to see who could get there first. Caroline was sure that he had cheated when she saw him inside the bar first, shoving him gently as she walked in just after him.
"You cheated, Salvatore! There's no way that you beat me. I took track in college." She reassured him as if that supported her claim. He simply laughed her off with a shake of his head and a rustle of her already unruly hair.
"I know you did, I watched." He grinned wolfishly and then headed off to buy the first round of drinks to avoid earning himself a slap. She rolled her eyes and turned to see Stefan walking in with Alaric and Jenna. The older Salvatore made a gesture to his hair, taking the hint she hurried off into the bathroom to fix any damage done by the wind and rain.
Re-entering the bar she frowned as she saw who was sitting on the table with her friends: Mikaelsons. What where they doing in their bar? She unbuttoned the last button of her jacket only to have it slipped off her shoulders by someone behind her, turning around to see Niklaus Mikaelson putting it up on the coat hanger and then smirking at her in his usual predatory fashion. There was something about him that unsettled her; she wasn't sure if it was the knowledge of his dirty tactics when it came to law, the ever present look in his eyes when he saw her that made her feel like he wanted to press her against the nearest wall or it might just be the fact that part of her wants him to do so.
"You missed a spot, love." He reached out to brush the spot of rain from her collar bone and she did her best not to shiver at his touch. She looked up at him about to attempt some kind of witty comeback when a voice pierced through the tension, causing her to step back and roll her eyes at the sight in front of her.
"If you two are done making everything awkward I need help carrying the drinks." Kol Mikaelson smirked at his brother, pointing to the drinks on the bar that he could have easily taken on his own and gesturing for Klaus to take them.
"Caroline, a pleasure as always." The infuriating grin was still planted firmly on the younger Mikaelson's lips and suddenly she had the urge to try and slap it off. He wasn't the youngest, or at least not that she knew. He and Rebekah were twins but neither of them would say who was the eldest one and she'd never bothered to ask. He ushered her towards the table the others were sitting and she was quick to slap his hands away, sitting down next to Stefan and looking slightly confused as to why there were two drinks in front of her.
"Damon wanted to get drinks too." Stefan explained at noticing her confusion, he had an amused smile on his face that he tried to hide by taking a sip of his beer but Caroline knew why it was there. Out of all of them Damon was riled up by the Mikaelsons the most, there had been a short fling a while back between him and Rebekah but even then they had barely been on speaking terms. Alaric had theorized that there probably wasn't much talking involved in the relationship anyway.
Looking over at Damon she saw that he was currently glaring at Kol and the two seemed to be stuck in some kind of staring contest that everyone was too amused by to bother breaking up. She wasn't too sure why they were sitting with them anyway, it was weird enough that they were even in the same bar as them, let alone that the two law firms were sitting on the same table.
For as long as Caroline could remember working at Salvatore & Saltzman there had been a feud between them and Mikael & sons. A name that she had thought would be changed seeing as Mikael Mikaelson had died a year ago, a funeral that she had attended along with the rest of the senior partners. Memories of which still made her unconsciously glance towards Klaus, catching his eye for a few seconds. It was as if he knew what she was remembering because he broke away first, ashamed of the memory.
Some polite (and some less than polite) small talk later and they'd lost two members of the group already, Kol and Damon had spotted a barmaid that for some reason they both had their eye on and were off to try and win her affections. Caroline could've sworn she'd seen her walk off with both men but she wouldn't bring that up right now seeing as Damon wouldn't appreciate what she was insinuating.
"I'm terribly sorry but you'll have to excuse me, I have to meet with someone." Elijah smiled his goodbye and nodded to Stefan as he went, leaving them with two more Mikaelsons once Jenna and Alaric had said their farewells. Stefan seemed to be torn between which one of them he was looking at, a glare at Klaus (which he seemed to be enjoying) or a glance at Rebekah, who had been her usual bitchy self for the past hour or so.
"Caroline, I forgot to ask. Where did you get that shirt? I saw one just like it while I was looking around Donna Karan but I don't suppose we shop at the same place." She smiled with her version of a sweet smile that made Caroline's skin crawl. Stefan interrupted her chance at a retort by leaning forward to talk to Klaus, cutting off their view of each other.
"Where's Finn? Isn't he usually the one to buy the first round with you lot?" He asked although somehow it sounded like an accusation, just what he was being accused of though was unknown to Caroline and she frowned as she tried to recall anything in regards to it.
"He has decided to spend the evening with Sage, I'll be sure to tell him that you asked after him." For a moment Klaus didn't sound anything like his usual self, his voice cold and harsh as if he was back in a courtroom, it caught Caroline's interest once more. It had to be something important if Stefan had managed to evoke such a response from him from one comment that seemed harmless.
"Stefan. Would you come and hail me a car?" She asked, getting up before he even had a chance to answer, leaving Caroline glaring at the back of his head as he agreed and made his small apology to the blonde who was sitting alone at the table with Klaus, now. As smoothly as if it were second nature to him he moved around the booth so that he was on her side, motioning for the waitress to repeat their orders. She had to purposefully keep her breathing regular to avoid it hitching as he came closer to her.
He knew exactly what he was doing to her; casually resting his arm on the back of the seat so that she would crave collapsing into the heat of his body, leaning forward to give his order so that she could smell his cologne. She crossed a leg over the other and rested her hands on her lap so that they wouldn't be accidentally brushing against his.
"So, how are you, love? I never did get the chance to ask earlier, what with all of the chit chat." He gestured vaguely with his free hand towards where the others had been sitting earlier. He was leaning back with his body turned towards her so she could feel his breath against her ear as he spoke and she had to hold back the urge to kiss him right there on the spot. Turning around to answer him didn't help at all; his lips were dangerously close to hers.
"I'm fine." She answered curtly, turning to look at the bar as if she was waiting for their drinks instead of at him. With him that close to her turning to him left only two different places for her to look and both his eyes and his lips were danger zones if she wanted to avoid redoing the same mistakes she had done a few times before.
"Of course you are." Was his reply, a small chuckle escaping him as he rested his hand on her shoulder when he reached for his drink, smiling his thanks to the waitress. Sure, he was being forward to most people but this really didn't even count as forward to them anymore, they'd fallen into a lull of having something there but neither of them was too sure exactly what it was and they didn't particularly feel like putting a label on it anyway.
They just existed as 'us', they had for a little while and nobody mentioned it or raised a brow at it because it didn't seem out of the ordinary, it was organic. Of course, they didn't know about the activities that Klaus and Caroline had enjoyed away from the prying eyes of their friends and family. Caroline usually fobbed it off as something that had happened 'once', something that was an accident and that she didn't want to recall but 'once' would be referring to that one 'weekend' where they had been in Paris together working opposite ends of a big case all week, and the weather had been too bad to fly back over to America. One weekend spent touring the best museums, galleries and a great deal of sightseeing (even if the sight she saw the most was the hotel room's ceiling). That was three years ago, though, before she was a senior partner at Salvatore & Saltzman and two years before the funeral. Two years of awkward glances and doing their best to avoid each other. Klaus was always all too keen to remind her of these things when they were alone but today he was silent on the matter. Something had to be up.
"You're not, though. What is it?" She asked, frowning, she didn't want to show any genuine concern of course, that was way off of the table for whatever coexisting relationship they had, she just seemed curious.
He sighed. The sigh of someone who had spent a long, exhausting day at work and hadn't enjoyed one minute of it. Something was definitely up. Klaus enjoyed his work more than most people, revelling in every victory, if what she had heard was right he had a pretty big win on his side; so he shouldn't be sighing like that.
"It's nothing of any importance. Just a case that didn't quite go as planned." He shrugged and then took a sip of his drink in an attempt to convey that the matter was closed but she wasn't having any of it.
"The hybrid case. You proved that the window screens to those cars weren't faulty; you were defending the good guys in this, right? The company was right when they said they had done the checks." She took her drink and sipped at it. It only took her a minute to realise that he hadn't answered her question.
Turning to him she saw the guilt on his face immediately. They had been guilty all along. Defending the ones in the wrong. That was the problem with the people who worked at Mikael & Sons, they really didn't care for who was actually innocent and who was guilty, they only cared about how much money you had in your bank account and that was the only condition when it came to hiring them to work for you.
She shook her head and didn't bother hiding the disgust on her features as she moved away from him and got up. He didn't go after her, he muttered for her to wait and hear him out but she walked away from him and out the door without a second thought.
Who did he think he was? Getting cosy with her and having drinks with friends when he had just helped defend a company full of murderers. He was just as bad as them, a liar amongst villains and she needed to stop thinking that he would ever be anything else. Stop having deluded dreams of him leaving the company and becoming something better than he was, he never would. He was just as bad as the rest of his family.
She shivered against the cold, looking up to see that she had been walking in no particular direction and that her house was the other way. She was about to call a cab when she felt the warmth of her jacket around her, accompanied by a familiar arm keeping it in place.
"You forgot your jacket, love." He told her as if she hadn't realized- which she hadn't, but she didn't feel like giving him the satisfaction of knowing that right now. "Yes. Well. I guess I did. If you'll excuse me I need to catch a cab."
His response was a laugh, a deep sound that she couldn't help but smile at, although she mentally chastised herself for it and hid it soon after.
"And how exactly do you expect to catch a cab at gone ten o'clock on a Saturday night in this weather?" He asked, the rain had gotten steadily heavier even as they stood there and she sighed in frustration. She could call her driver and get him to pick her up but that would take a good twenty minutes and by then she could envision a slightly, more blue version of herself frozen on the sidewalk.
"Here, take my car. George'll get you to your place and then come back for me when he's done." Had there been any better options, or really any other options at all she would have flat out refused but it really was her best option right now.
They walked back to where his car was waiting in silence; he wasn't going to make it okay with one nice gesture. Opening the door for her he gave her something that she was sure he was trying to pass off as a smile.
"I'll speak to you soon, love." He closed the door and she was gone.
Neither of them could have anticipated just how soon they'd be meeting, however, or quite how it would end up bringing both of their worlds crashing down on top of them.
If you liked it, read and review!