The slamming of the door to the apartment awoke Caroline from her nodding off. She was seated cross-legged on her bed, with her lap top in front of her. She was ready to go yell at Kol for being so loud when she heard the feminine giggle coming from the hall way. Caroline shook her head thinking "Another Friday night, another one night stand." Kol was her best friend and roomie for the past five years, but that didn't mean she agreed with his life style. Kol and Caroline had been friends for the better part of 20 years. They were so different, but they shared a bond that time and distance just couldn't erase. And Kol made sure to remind Caroline of this, especially when she wanted nothing more than to punch him. His reminder came in the form of a beautiful handmade wooden picture frame that sat on her night stand next to her bed. The frame had four slots, each with a picture of them. The first picture is of when they were four years old. It was taken a week after the Mikaelson's had moved to Mystic Falls from England. Caroline, Kol and Kol's twin sister Rebekah were all in a sand box. Kol was pouring sand on his sister's head, looking at the camera with a mischievous smirk. Poor Rebekah was sitting next to Caroline and wailing, as sand piled up on her beautiful blonde hair. Caroline had one hand on Rebekah's shoulder comforting the girl, the other hand was on her hip and she had her best Miss Mystic smile plastered on her little face. That was the day that Caroline, Kol and Rebekah became best friends. The three of them were inseparable and while Caroline adored Rebekah, she always had a special kinship with Kol. The next picture in the frame was of Caroline, riding piggy back on Kol and Rebekah, riding piggy back on Kol and Rebekah's older brother Klaus. All four of them were smiling. Klaus was 18 and the picture was taken at his graduation party. Caroline was only 14 at the time, but had been harboring the biggest crush on Klaus for 4 years. Kol always teased her about it, which is why she was on Kol's back in the picture. Klaus had offered to take her, but Caroline had timidly declined. Only a month after this picture was taken, the Mikaelson's moved back to England. Caroline had been distraught and missed her best friends dearly. They didn't really keep in touch, even though they had promised each other they would. They were starting high school, and Caroline met new friends and got involved in every committee and joined the cheerleading squad. The third picture in the frame was of when Kol and Caroline got their first apartment together. They reconnected their freshman year of college when they stumbled across each other on campus. Due to unforeseen events, the summer before their sophomore year, they got an apartment just off campus together. In this picture, Kol had his arm around Caroline's shoulders and was taking the picture with his other hand, Caroline had one arm around Kol's waist and her other hand resting on her rather large baby bump. She was 8 months pregnant in the picture. Layla would arrive a month later, a mere 3 weeks before classes would start for the semester. The final picture was the one they had taken the day the three of them, Caroline, Kol and Layla, moved into their beautiful New York City apartment. It was 2 years ago and Kol and Caroline had both been ecstatic about graduating college. They both got jobs in NYC and decided they would continue to live together. Caroline loved the help that Kol gave with Layla and Kol loved Caroline's cooking, cleaning and laundry skills. In the picture, Caroline had Layla on her hip, but the sweet little girl had one arm hooked around Kol's neck as well as one arm hooked around Caroline's neck. Both Kol and Caroline were kissing Layla's cheeks and the little girl was laughing uncontrollably with her eyes closed and her mouth in a wide smile.
As soon as Caroline heard Kol's bedroom door close, she snuck out of bed to go peek in on Layla. Caroline smiled at her daughter. Layla was laying sprawled out on the bed, clutching her pink teddy bear, known as pink bear. Layla had beautiful blue eyes, just like her dad and soft blonde curls, like her mom. She was sweet and loyal, just like the father she would never get to meet. Some nights when Caroline watched Layla sleep, she thought about him. She missed him, a lot. Sometimes Caroline would look at old photo albums to remember his face. Sometimes she would curse him for leaving her. But most times, Caroline would just play with the necklace she never took off. It always made her feel better, because it reminded her of him. Caroline leaned in and kissed her sweet, sleeping daughter on the cheek and silently left Layla's room. Caroline tip toed to the kitchen to grab some cereal and granola bars and two bananas. She and Kol had two big rules concerning his revolving door of women. Rule number one was Kol was not allowed to bring them over until Layla was in bed. Layla worshiped her uncle Kol and didn't need to know the truth of his womanizing ways. Rule number two was that Caroline and Layla would remain scarce until the one night stand had left. No need to make an already awkward situation even more awkward. So on nights like tonight, when Caroline was awake and aware of Kol's date, she would grab some quick food for Layla and herself to munch on while watching cartoons and waiting on Kol's girl to leave.
Around 8:30 in the morning, Caroline finally heard the front door slam shut. She looked at Layla, who was happily munching away on a granola bar, watching Dora.
"C'mon sweetie. Let's go see Uncle Kol." Caroline said as she brushed the crumbs off her bed spread.
"Okay, mommy. Are we still going to buy my new school supplies for kindergarten today?" Layla asked, as she bounded out of the room and down the hallway towards the kitchen.
"Yup. Have you decided which back pack you want?" Caroline started the coffee maker and then looked at Kol, who was groaning and lying face down on the couch. "What's the matter, buddy? Not a good night?"
"Ugh! You have no idea. I have the hangover from he….Hey Lay." Kol smiled at his favorite girl, as he called Layla.
"Why'd you drink so much, Kol?" Caroline placed a mug of black coffee in front of Kol and began to make pancakes.
"Oh, only because my entire life is completely ruined." Kol flailed his arms around wildly as he sat up and began to chug his coffee.
"I doubt that, drama queen." Caroline teased. She turned Dora back on the TV for Layla to watch so her and Kol could have a grown up conversation.
"I'm a drama queen?! Here…." Kol grabbed his cell phone from his room. "Listen." He told Caroline as he pulled up a voicemail. "I received this last night as I was leaving the office."
Caroline put the phone to her ear and heard the gruff, accented voice that she hadn't heard in 10 years, "Kol, it's your father. Your brothers finally convinced me it was time to expand the business to the states. Elijah and Niklaus are both going to be heading over to NYC to begin the expansion. They will be arriving at JFK around noon. Pick them up. Also, I emailed you an acceptable resignation letter for your current job. You may have been able to avoid working for me by refusing to stay in England, but now you have no choice. You will start first thing on Monday, helping your brothers. Don't disappoint me." Caroline's eyes widened as the call just cut off. No I love you, no I miss you, not even a goodbye.
AN: This is my first ever fan fic, so please be kind with any reviews. I'd love to hear any comments, suggestions or helpful criticisms. Thanks for reading! I hope to post Chapter 2 in the next day or two.