This idea have been floating around in my head for a while and I decided to write it out and see how it went. Not exactly sure how long it's gonna be but if I get enough reviews I'll continue writing it. Wait For It is being stubborn right now but the new chapter should be up soon! Please let me know what you guys think of this one. It's a bit like a Harlequin Romance but who doesn't love those? Especially when it's Tyler and Jeremy :)

Disclaimer: I don't own. :(

Tyler Lockwood yawned from his place sprawled out on the couch, the Chinese food from earlier settling in his stomach making him less inclined to pay attention to the end of the movie in favor of sleep, the two bundles curled up on either side of him making him warm and not helping in the slightest. He sighed as the love-struck teens from A Cinderella Story practically rode off into the sunset together; if only relationships were as easy and magical in real life.

Pom-Pom, the fuzzy Pomeranian that was snuggled on his left side, shifted and growled slightly as the song for the credits started. He petted the furry creature once, smiling slightly as he remembered how excited Katherine had been to bring him home after weeks of searching for that perfect dog.

A car horn blared outside and loud voices drifted through the open windows; it was a Saturday night in New York City and, of course, there was always something going on. The bundle on Tyler's right side stirred and a little head full of curly, brown hair poked out from under the Scooby-Doo blanket. A pair of big, brown eyes opened and blinked sleepily at him.

"How much did I miss?" she asked through a yawn.

"We're at th-th-the credits, your favorite," he teased and she scowled at him.

"Daaaad, why didn't you wake me up?" she whined.

"You were—were tired, you've been staying up t-t-too late," he murmured gently. He pulled her into his lap, effectively waking Pom-Pom and earning a growl from the miniature dog. Katherine snuggled against her father's chest and sighed.

"Another movie?" she asked hopefully.

He glanced at the clock on the wall and shook his head, "N-No Kitty you need to sleep; Caroline's coming early tomorrow and you need to get on schedule for sch-sch-sch-school on Monday."

"But I'm not tired anymore," she said as she gave a big yawn. Tyler laughed and kissed her forehead.

"Bed, now," he said pointedly and she pouted before she wrapped her tiny arms around his neck and allowed herself to be scooped up in his arms to be carried to her room, still wrapped in her blanket and Pom-Pom trailing behind.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

After another half hour of convincing Katherine to go to sleep did Tyler finally made his way to his own room, Pom-Pom happily trailing him. He collapsed on the soft blankets, exhaustion overtaking him. Caroline was right, he did work too hard, was probably the hardest working employee in the company but he didn't have a choice. He needed to make more to be able to afford rent on their two-bedroom apartment and to keep his daughter in school.

Pom-Pom hopped up on the bed and snuggled next to him and he smiled gently; the dog was annoying at times but it was hard to stay mad at something so fuzzy for long. He shifted to turn off his lamp when his eyes caught the photo sitting next to the alarm clock. He sighed as he picked it up, looking at the three smiling people in the picture; he was so much happier back then, before he and Kol separated and when everything made sense. In the picture, he and Kol were sitting close together on a park bench surrounded by the beautiful fall leaves falling from the trees, smiling as they gazed at each other with love and happiness and Katherine sat between them, a huge grin on her face and brown curls being swept to the side by the wind. The picture was taken in Central Park one day in late September, a couple weeks after they finalized signing the adoption papers. They were celebrating because they finally brought their little girl home; they had stressed constantly the following months over the multiple rejections and fake smiles of the social workers who politely told them they were not the right type of people to care for a child. It drove them to near insanity, arguments threatened to tear them apart, the rejections messing with them both. But Caroline came through for them in the end; she had said she would fight as hard as she could to get them a child and she had done her job. And she couldn't have found a more perfect child for them; Katherine Pierce was a shining star in both their lives and they loved her with everything they had.

Well, at least Tyler did. He guessed that same feeling didn't apply to Kol, considering he hadn't once tried to reach out to her since he kicked him out three months ago.

Tyler bit his lip, the memories of the past threatening to take him places he didn't want to visit tonight. He was tired and he had another busy day at the office; this trip down memory lane would bring him nothing but pain.

He awoke to the sound of his alarm and the smell of breakfast being made, figuring that Caroline had let herself in like she usually did. Turning it off he stumbled out of bed, looking at the other side of the bed where Pom-Pom was still fast asleep, not at all roused by the smell of food. He shook his head as he made his way to their kitchen/dining room; the clock read 8:30 and he needed to be at the office by ten so he had more than enough time for breakfast with his girls. He smiled; Caroline had their schedules down to a tee. For all the doubts she had about being a nanny after leaving her stint as a social worker, she was doing a damn good job. Tyler didn't know how they would survive without her.

He sat next to Kitty and kissed the top of her head. She smiled up at him, "Morning daddy."

Caroline brought the pan over to the table and scraped the scrambled eggs onto three different plates which each had two pieces of bacon and buttered toast. He picked up the steaming cup of black coffee next to his plate, smiling appreciatively at the blonde as he took a sip and closed his eyes; it was hot and bitter, just the way he liked it.

"How do you drink that stuff? It's gross," Kitty asked, watching her father savor his coffee as she took a gulp from her tall glass of chocolate milk.

"When you're older you'll come to appreciate it," Caroline said as she placed her own mug next to her plate. "It keeps us alive in the mornings."

"Well I don't drink it and I'm still alive in the mornings."

"That's because you're young and h-h-have energy," Tyler said smiling fondly; Katherine was in that stage of questioning everything she saw and heard and he found it endearing.

"Just wait until you get to college, coffee will be your best friend," Caroline said and laughed as the bubbly girl wrinkled her nose before taking another bite of her toast.

"But that's not for a long time Caroline! Are you still gonna be my nanny when I go to college?"

"Of course! Your dad wouldn't know what to do without me," she winked at her as Tyler snorted into his mug; even though she was right he wasn't going to admit it.

"Okay, that's good," Katherine sighed in obvious relief as she finished off the rest of her toast. She pushed back the empty plate to meet her empty glass, "I finished it all Daddy! See, look!"

"I'm p-p-p-proud of you Kit-Kat," he said quietly, smiling as he held out his hand so she could give him a high-five. "Go g-g-g-get ready so you can go with—with Caroline."

She smiled and hopped down from the chair and hurried off to her room, Tyler watching her and shaking his head with a smile. He turned back to see Caroline watching him carefully and he sighed, knowing what was coming.

"It seems like it's getting worse and stress is one of your triggers," she took another sip. "What's going on Ty? You okay?"

"Just…work," he spoke slowly, trying to lessen the stuttering as much as possible though he knew it would start again. Her gaze didn't waver from him and he sighed, "My f-f-f—my father keeps asking me to work for him at th-th-th-the firm. He doesn't—doesn't th-think marketing for St-St-Starbucks is using my full p-p-potential."

"Oh God Ty, I'm sorry," she sighed as she sat her mug down. "You should tell your dad to shove it; you have a fantastic job that you love, though I still think you work too much. Every time I see you in the evenings you look ready to drop. And Kitty told me she misses you."

"I know," he said quietly, looking down, "I want to sp-sp-sp-spend more time with her but since…since he left its b-b-b-been hard to keep up with rent…and I want—want her to st-st-st-stay at Hillmark; she's happy there."

She smiled sadly; ever since the split Tyler had to work longer hours in order to have enough for rent. They even moved from the apartment they were originally living in to a smaller one but she thought that was more because he didn't want to be faced with the memories. She felt guilty that Tyler insisted on paying her so much to take care of his daughter; if she didn't need the money so bad she would have done it for free; she loved spending time with them, they were practically her family.

"You really need to take a vacation Tyler," she murmured covering his hand and squeezing it, "you were doing so well; it was almost gone until Kol left. Ever since then it's gotten worse; even Kitty's said something. She worries about you."

Tyler bit his lip; he had a feeling that Kol was another trigger to bring back the stuttering, much as he didn't want to admit it. But he couldn't hide things from Caroline; she knew him too well.

"I'll…I'll be fine," he whispered. Truthfully, he wouldn't be fine for a while but his life couldn't stop because of Kol. The man didn't deserve his time after what he'd done. Yet it still hurt; no matter how many times he tried to tell himself otherwise, his heart felt heavy and sometimes he felt like he couldn't breathe when he thought about him. His eyes burned; he pretended it was from the coffee.

"You're not fine Tyler! Just let me set you up on one date; I know plenty of guys that would be interested in you!"

Tyler snorted, "Yeah they're interested until they meet me, then they can't g-get away fast enough b-b-b-because of the st-stutter. And even—even if th-they looked p-p-p-past that then it's—it's the single father bit that'll dr-dr-drive them away. I'm not exactly a hot com-com-commodity Caroline."

"First of all, there are plenty of single parents who are dating, you just need to make sure whoever you choose is kid-friendly. Second, you're stutter isn't a big deal Tyler; you just need to work on it more and if that makes guys uncomfortable, then you don't need to be with them anyways. There are plenty of people who stutter and they manage to have successful relationships."

He bit his lip, looking down and she sighed, placing her mug on the table, "Tyler, you're a great guy! You're smart, you're funny, you're smokin' hot and you have a high-paying job at one of the biggest companies in the world. On top of all of that, you are one of the most caring and loving people I've ever met; if guys can't see that, then it's their problem! It might take you a while to find someone but they're out there and you will find them. You're going to meet someone who will adore and cherish everything, single about you—including your stutter—just like I do and they'll be a hell of a lot better than that asshole."

"Yeah we'll—we'll see," he said, deciding to humor Caroline. He loved her like a sister and knew she was just trying to help but going out and trying to find someone to try and fill the hole in his heart wasn't going to fix anything. Plus he knew his odds of finding someone—and keeping them—were slim. He needed someone who had the patience to understand him through his speech impediment and most people just weren't like that. His musings were interrupted by Katherine thundering through the hallway and back into the kitchen, a fuzzy, bunny back-pack on her shoulders and a stylish hat on her head to match the shirt and skirt combo she picked out. At seven, Katherine was heavily influenced by Caroline when it came to fashion and definitely knew how to dress better than most her age.

"Ready," she panted. "How do I look?"

"Like a superstar," he murmured and he held out his arms for her to run into. He kissed her hair and buried his nose in her hair for a moment, once again thanking fate for bringing this bouncy girl into his life. Caroline's chair scraped back against the hardwood floor as she stood to grab the dishes and wash them quickly before she picked up her stylish, designer purse, one of the few she didn't have to sell to keep up with rent, and coming around to hug Tyler as well.

"Just think about it Ty, please," she muttered and he nodded. She pulled back and smiled at the bouncing girl, "Ready to go see some animals Kit-Kat?"

"Yeah!" she exclaimed happily. "I'll bring you back a good present Daddy since you can't go."

"Alright baby," he murmured and waved as they left. Once he heard the door close he dropped his head in his hands and sighed heavily, Caroline's words waging a war in his head. He couldn't just go out and find someone, he had a daughter to think about and he wasn't about to become one of those parents that let random men in and out of her life. He needed someone who would be there for the long run, someone not only he could depend on, but Katherine could too.

Deciding not to dwell on it anymore he made his way to the bathroom and turned the water for his shower all the way to hot. It was going to be another long day.

He got in to the office around five minutes early and he smiled as he saw Matt Donovan in the lounge fixing his daily cup of bitter Starbucks coffee.

"Hey man," he said, nodding to him and Tyler nodded back. Out of the hundreds of employees that worked at Starbucks, Tyler only talked to Matt, Bonnie with the cubicle next to his and his boss when occasion called for it. He tended to avoid everyone else and everyone else tried to avoid talking to 'that guy with the stutter.' It suited him just fine; he hated seeing the pitying looks on people's faces when he tried speaking to them anyways.

He made it to his cubicle without anyone bothering him and he sat, preparing to get started on his latest project. A Venti sized Starbucks cup was placed on his desk and he smiled at Bonnie. "I got it just the way you like it."

"Thanks Bonnie," he said quietly as he took a sip. When she was first hired Tyler was instructed to show her around and to let her be his shadow for a few days. He had been extremely nervous, meeting new people had always frightened him, so of course the stutter was more present than usual but Bonnie had simply waited patiently every time he had difficulty spitting out a sentence and would smile encouragingly and continue on like nothing happened. Tyler quickly became comfortable around her and the two became fast friends, mostly because Bonnie liked to talk a lot and he just preferred to listen.

Matt came around to Tyler's other side with his own large cup and sighed heavily as he sat down. "Another day in paradise."

"At least today is payday," Bonnie said as she sat down. "And after this, we get two days off…well most of us do."

"Yeah. I don't know how you can work six 10-hour days Ty and not want to shoot yourself," Matt said as he took a large gulp of coffee. "It's hard enough to do five around this hectic place."

Tyler hummed and sipped his coffee. His thoughts strayed to his daughter and Caroline at the zoo and he wished he could be there with them. The zoo was one of Katherine's favorite places to go besides Central Park; when he and Kol first brought her to the zoo there were there for more than four hours as she took in all the animals with big brown eyes full of wonder and awe. Tyler smiled inwardly; that was one of his favorite first memories with his daughter.

"Here comes the boss man, better act like we're doing something," Matt muttered and he hunched over his desk pretending to be engaged. Tyler's computer finally booted as Klaus rounded the corner, his sharp voice snapping at people to get to work.

Tyler unconsciously held his breath as he walked by and let it go when he disappeared around another corner. Something about Klaus gave him the chills; maybe it was the way he always seemed to be leering whenever he spoke to him or maybe it was the tone of his voice. Tyler never tried to be alone with the man, the times he had been alone with him some of the most uncomfortable in his life.

With a sigh he pulled up his latest marketing project and started working. The sooner he finished, the sooner he could go home to his girls.

Continue?