This is a continuation from my Klaroline fanfic "Where You Want To Be". That story was meant to be a standalone one-shot, but ideas kept coming and I felt that Klaus and Caroline wouldn't get their true happily-ever-after if we don't address the elephant in the room.

The final motivation to get me writing was this song I heard on the radio, which fits the whole Klaroline dynamics so perfectly, I had to make references to it in this chapter.

If you haven't read "Where You Want To Be", please pay it a visit!

In this story, we follow Klaus and Caroline in their pursuit of happiness in New Orleans, while solving the combined mysteries of Marcel, Silas, and the unexpected new life bound to arrive in the city. The pair will be joined by Elijah, Rebekah, Stefan, Tyler, and Katherine throughout the story.

Do read and review!


Picture, you're the queen of everything

As far as the eye can see

"Food, music, the arts, people, history. Everything you want, you'll find. There are reasons why this city is my favourite place. You'll love it there. I'll take you to my favourite bar on Bourbon Street and we can have all the drinks we want. Trust me, they make their Bloody Marys extra special."

Under your command

"There's been some complications, but I'll have it all sort out soon. The city will be ours to keep."

I will be your guardian

When all is crumbling I'll steady your hand

You can never say…

Caroline pulled her earpiece out, cutting off the song mid-sentence. She had let the song linger too long since it started playing on the radio station. This was the same song off the cd he left at her bedside before disappearing to New Orleans. On the cd insert, he left her a message echoing the lyric to the song.

A whole new world is just beyond those doors. I'll be there whenever you are ready. Forever yours, Klaus.

"Never," Caroline mumbled as she threw her Android into her bag and got up to leave the Grill.

"Hey," came Stefan's casual greeting as he slipped into the seat across the table. "Haven't seen you since that day."

Caroline settled back into the seat and forced back a weak smile. The two haven't spoken since that day, almost two weeks ago, when Stefan spilt the beans about the secret Klaus had been harbouring.

They were also in the Grill, the two of them seated at a table not so far from the one they are seated at. With Elena and Damon on a vacation over Europe, Bonnie and Jeremy on family visit, Matt putting up a disappearing act, and even Rebekah enjoying her own graduation trip to who-knows-where, Caroline had no one to share her dilemma with. She had thought it inappropriate to discuss her love dilemma with Stefan, who was still nursing a broken heart, but she had to get it off her chest!

She invited Stefan to the Grill and told him all about her guilty liaison with Klaus. She knew she had to make a choice, but everytime she starts to count the positives and negatives of their relationship, Caroline was back to the neurotic, indecisive human she originally was. She could no longer deny what was so clear; her heart was drawn to Klaus, selfish, warped and broken as he was. Yet in her heart, there were still lingering feelings for Tyler, her first true love, the person who shared her journey from ordinary highschooler to supernatural monster.

It was in the middle of such a conversation when Stefan told her what she needed to make her choice.

"Caroline," he started, "I came across an interesting piece of information lately." Leaning forward across the table, he lowered his voice to a mere whisper, which would have been lost to the backdrop of excited Grill-goers had Caroline not been paying attention with her super hearing powers. "I heard that the source of your problem is intending to start a family in New Orleans."

Seeing the confused look on Caroline's face, he added, "He's expecting a baby. A baby with Hayley."

Armed with that knowledge, rational Caroline took over and made a clean break with the man, marking it with love bite trace too deep when she chomped into his neck like she was making a kill. "You and Hayley can go make hybrid babies in New Orleans for all I care," were her last words to him as she stomped out of his house and slammed the door shut in his face. At least she had the thrill of being the only person in history to do that to Klaus. Caroline did not give him a chance to explain when she confronted him on Hayley, but neither did he try to explain himself in the days which have since passed. A lousy cd and a stupid song was all he left behind before he disappeared, presumably to join his lover and baby over at the "whole new world". How dare he leave just like that, as if he had done nothing wrong to warrant an apology, or an excuse even!

"Caroline, you're going to tear the strap." Stefan gestured to the unfortunate piece of fabric caught under Caroline's death grip.

The blonde released her hold and forced her thoughts away from the scenes which had been haunting her nights. "It's you who has been MIA-ing since that day. I'd assumed that you went on a graduation trip like everyone else did."

"There're only few places worth travelling to when you've lived a life as long as mine and seen every corner of the earth," Stefan chuckled. "But you, this is your first graduation. Shouldn't you be travelling?"

"That was the plan before everyone went off on their own honeymoon vacation!" Caroline answered with slight frustration. She had the perfect post-graduation vacation planned, until Elena and Bonnie decided to ditch. Of course, she was too busy with Klaus to react then. But when everything started falling apart, she found herself without a travel companion.

"Well, you do have an open ticket waiting."

"Stefan! Of all people, you should know better."

"Yeah, I know how you sitting here and not in some café off the Parisian streets mean you're not over it yet," Stefan pushed.

Guilt-stricken, Caroline crossed her legs and leaned back against the cushioned seat, biting her lower lips. She didn't know how to face Tyler anymore. She prayed that he wouldn't turn up in Mystic Falls until she has everything sorted out. Fortunately for her, it seemed that Tyler had forgotten about high school graduation.

"You're escaping. Just like I was," Stefan said, hoping that sharing his own experience would make Caroline listen. "I wanted to escape from Elena so I won't hear her choice. But what good would that do? We can't be living out eternity in denial. We need closure."

The two locked eyes for a long moment before a resolve formed in Caroline's own as she nodded slightly. "Will you go with me?" she asked.

She knew how much Klaus wanted a family he could go back to. Deep inside, she knew what answer she'll get from him. When that happens, who'd be better than Stefan to keep her from breaking down? He was the one who taught her to control her urges when she first turned. She is determined to leave Klaus as the strong, unyielding woman she has been to him, to refuse him the satisfaction of seeing the impact he has on her.

Not surprisingly, her good old friend beamed her an assuring smile. "Of course," he said, struggling to kill the smirk which was threatening to break through that familiar good-natured smile.

Everything was going according to plan.

Not so much for a certain hybrid, miles away.

"If your plan is to hold out until the child arrives and make a run for it, I think it's wiser for us to come up with a Plan B."

Emptying his glass, Klaus said coolly, "Elijah, for the hundred and twenty-fourth time, I don't care about the child."

"Sophie sent this," Elijah slid a note across the bar top in front of his brother and took the seat next to him.

Glancing at the handwritten note disinterestedly, Klaus laughed. "How original. A ransom note?"

The note bore no message, just 2 digits.

"67 days?" Klaus rolled his eyes incredulously. "A week ago it was 83. Perhaps you should bring them a calculator the next time you visit. Or maybe a calendar."

Elijah laughed inwardly, not failing to notice how Klaus brought up the previous number without effort. He spun the bar stool to face the house and leaned an elbow against the bar top to face his straight-face brother. "As a matter of fact, I did drop by the quarter earlier. It really seems like the child is about to arrive anytime. We've got to rid New Orleans of Marcel before that or the witches will kill the baby, before it gets delivered."

"Brother, I have been working at it. Now, don't mistake this as concern for the baby or the girl - I'm not as honourable as you are - but kicking Marcel off his grand seat has been on my agenda since we returned to this city."

"I'm glad we've found a common purpose to spend time on, regardless of our," Elijah paused slightly. He knew Klaus would never admit how he has grown to care for the baby. Not for Hayley perhaps, not that Elijah could tell at least, but definitely for the unborn child - the sole being, other than those of the Mikaelson family (who are still alive), to share the same bloodline as him. "Differences in motivations."

Turning his face to Elijah, Klaus continued, "I've tried everything. Befriending his underlings, compulsion... Nothing works. No one seems to know how he manages the magic around this place."

"Or perhaps those who know just won't tell," Elijah suggested. "We've seen how fiercely loyal the inhabitants of New Orleans are to your old good friend."

Unconvinced, Klaus narrowed his eyes and questioned, "Loyal enough to fight off compulsion? Compulsion by me?"

The idea sounded ridiculous until memories of Stefan's resistance against his compulsion came to mind.

Klaus grew perplexed at that thought.

How did Marcel build such strong connections in the past hundred years? Even his hybrids had came to betray him. How did that slave boy win such loyalty and gain control over the entire city? How did he manage what Klaus failed to achieve in the past centuries of his existence? He needed an answer, and that killed off the option of ripping Marcel's heart out to end this wolf-napping drama. He wanted to know how. He wanted to build a kingdom where he could be King, and Caroline his Queen.

"But I also like people and they actually like me..." A conversation with Caroline several months before interrupted his thoughts.

Perhaps if the blonde was with him, he would have a better chance to figure it out. She seemed to have the gift of reading people and situations accurately, beyond what happens on the surface. But for now, all he had was Elijah and himself to solve the mystery that was Marcel.

"I think we need a witch," Klaus decided, stepping away from the bar. He crossed the lounge and gestured for his brother to join him. "Let's go pay my baby a visit."


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