Another year later
"So, did you defeat them?"
"They won't dare to show their heads around here anymore." Klaus said proudly.
Caroline was silent and meanwhile Klaus could practically hear how her thoughts wandered. He had gotten so used to her that he could practically read her thoughts by now. "What is it, love?"
"I am not sure, but honestly, sometimes I miss the exciting times. Sometimes I miss walking around vampires and werewolves. Sometimes I miss being who I am."
"You of all people Caroline!" Klaus joked referring to her humanity that she had not lost throughout all those years, no matter what had happened, she was still the only vampire he knew who was still so close to being human after so many years. Maybe that was why he wanted her so much, because she was something that he was not. And it was definitely the reason why he believed that his daughter was in the best hands.
"It's crazy, isn't it?"
"Maybe not as much as you think it is. How is Hope handling herself?"
"You know that she needs blood just as much as food, but she has no problem at all controlling bloodlust. She can walk with a group of hurt kids without even flinching."
"You let her out of the house?"
"Klaus, she is a kid and not a thing that you can put in a closet!"
"But…"
"No buts! It's even more suspicious if I lock her up! She would start to rebel and escape and what then!?"
"Then…"
"No! I am not going to lock her up!" Caroline snapped.
Stupid paranoid hybrid!
What the hell was he thinking?
"Caroline…" Klaus said warningly, but Caroline heard steps and quickly cut him off again.
"I need to go. I'll call you again. Take care!"
Hope entered the living room just a second later and Caroline gulped.
Had she heard something?
"Mum, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure, sweetie."
Hope stalled and Caroline tilted her head. "Do you have a boyfriend?"
Caroline chuckled lightly. She put her arm around Hope's waist and pulled her onto her lap. "Whatever gave you that idea?"
"I was just wondering." But Hope pursed her lips and Caroline got that she didn't want to tell her, however, Caroline knew the gossip about her.
"Did someone say something stupid?"
Hope was still stalling. "No…"
"Savannah's mum?" Caroline guessed and Hope finally nodded with a sigh.
Caroline rolled her eyes. Of course people were talking, because she was raising a kid on her own. Especially people like Mrs Nettlestone. She was part of the upper part of society where they knew everything and talked about everyone. Say one wrong word, behave out of the ordinary once, be a single mum and you were labelled for the rest of your life.
Caroline had never wanted to be like her mother, but eventually she figured that their lives were more similar than she wished they were. Caroline caressed Hope's hair. "No, I don't have a boyfriend, but I'll let you in on a little secret: that is perfectly fine, because Savannah's mum is simply jealous."
"Jealous?"
"Jealous, because she doesn't have someone like your aunt as a help and I am not alone, I have you, right?"
"Yes, but…"
Jealous; was that one of those adult's excuses?
Hope didn't dare to say that out loud, because she didn't want to argue with Caroline about the topic. She surely wasn't overly convinced that it didn't bother her mum at all. Hope looked at her face, at the same eyes that she had caught lighting up when her phone rang; the phone that she practically carried with her twenty four/seven. And those were the same eyes she caught looking sad after she had hung up again. But Hope had never figured out who was on the other end of the line. At first she hadn't thought about it much, because she had assumed that it was just some friend, but lately she got the notion that the person must be really important.
She started to play around with some strands of her hair. "Who are you always talking to on the phone?" She arched her eyebrows.
Caroline felt suddenly caught off guard. As if she was standing in the middle of a stage in a spotlight. "An…old friend."
"Form your college times?" Hope offered and Caroline jumped at that.
"Yes. Yes, we met at college and we cannot see each other, because he lives in Louisiana and has a lot of work to do, but we keep in touch."
"Mh…" Hope nodded. She wondered if she minded, if her mum found a partner? Since she always has had a wild imagination her romantic brain already concocted the perfect heartbreaking story about an unhappy college love; that her mum was still in love, but he only wanted to stay friends and has meanwhile married someone else and had her kid…Hope almost sighed out loud then.
When she caught her mum staring at her with amusement Hope remembered the original reason why she wanted to talk to her. "Can I go to Sara's birthday party on Friday? She's having a sleepover. Can I? Pretty please!?"
"Okay, but I'll call Sara's mum tomorrow for the details."
"Oh mum!" Hope groaned.
"I just want to make sure that you are safe!"
"I am no baby anymore!" She complained.
"Yes, you are my precious baby!" Caroline cuddled her fiercely and Hope laughed. "And I love you so much."
"I love you too." She answered and Caroline felt warm inside. She had grown to love this girl so much that she didn't want to think about what would happen if Klaus finally visited them, in fact she didn't even wasted a thought about it. As much as she wanted to see him again, at the same time she somehow wished that he would never come or that maybe, maybe, in a sick and twisted way he would still have enough feelings for her to be able to forgive her and come up with a good solution for all of them.
"Wanna watch a movie?" Caroline asked to rid herself from those disturbing thoughts.
"Yes!" Hope said enthusiastically.
The phone started ringing again.
Hope watched how Caroline's head flew around as if it had already become a basic reflex reaction. Caroline bit her lip and her fingers itched to press the green button to hear his voice again, but she knew that he wouldn't tell her what she wanted to hear right now. So, she gathered her strength and decided to ignore it for now. She smiled forcefully at Hope, while she told her that it could wait.
Hope swallowed. This was so tragically romantic, she thought, thinking about the story she made up.
Nine months later
Caroline parked the car on the street in front of her small white house. Humming a cheery tune she got out of the car and performed an unsteady dance, when she had almost dropped her keys clumsily after closing the door. Oops!
She got the shopping out of the trunk and started to walk to the front door. One of her neighbours waved at her and she waved light heartedly back. Today was a good day!
She had gotten everything on her list and she was looking forward to having two hours to herself to do whatever she felt like doing.
Maybe she could…
When she was half way through the front garden she startled and dropped the shopping bag, when she saw a figure hidden by one of the front posts sitting on the porch. Various things suddenly happened simultaneously at a tearing pace.
Rebekah and her had mapped out an emergency plan that immediately came into force should someone ever discover their hideout and with that Hope's location. While her shopping fell towards the ground Caroline's brain went rapidly through all the details and she waited for some kind of loud noise.
But the shopping bag never hit the ground, because someone caught it with inhuman speed and Caroline jerked even more, because she wasn't used to vampire speed anymore.
"Didn't mean to scare you, love." He showed her a row of white teeth.
Caroline froze and her heart threatened to jump right out of her chest.
"Klaus!"
"Hello Caroline." Her name on his tongue let her shiver. Her heart pumped even faster, when his scent hit her nose and she tried to hold on to any coherent thought. She held her breath, when she suddenly fell into two deep blue pools. She had totally forgotten how handsome he was and now it hit her like a truck with full speed. Her mind went totally blank, as if the film strip just ripped apart in the cinema and she couldn't say or do anything. She just stood there like a gaper at the scene of a crime. It was almost painful.
Klaus smirked. Just like she remembered him to always do so. "You look well."
"You too." She whispered with a dry throat.
Klaus chuckled. "I take it that you are surprised."
She blinked and tried to become master of her senses again. "I…yes, yes…a heads up would have been nice." As soon as she said it out loud she realised that it really would have been nice. Everything was about to change now! Her whole life would change, everything she just established! And suddenly Caroline shivered out of a totally different reason. What if this was the beginning of the end of her life with Hope?
He was here!
And he had no idea!
Klaus smiled.
He was like a soldier who was supposed to be dead, but had suddenly returned alive and well.
While Caroline was trying to hide her sudden panic, there was a shout soaring through the air from out of the neighbour's garden. "No! You idiot!" A ball landed on the green grass a couple of feet next to them. "Now I am gonna get it back!"
"Sorry!"
Oh no! Caroline held her breath. Hope, stay where you are!
A wooden plank of the fence was pushed to the side and a girl slipped through the hole and ran towards the ball.
Too late!
She didn't notice the adults at first and Klaus simple petrified. He just stared at the girl who looked so much like him. His mouth dropped open.
Caroline watched him nervously. She cleared her throat. "Honey?"
Hope looked up. "Oh, you're back!" She smiled but it faded when she saw Klaus who stood totally still, eyes fixed on her. She arched her eyebrows looking from Caroline to Klaus.
"Hope, this is Niklaus Mikaelson." Caroline carefully presented watching every reaction of both of them. "He is an old friend of mine." She quickly explained and Klaus shot her an irritated look, but Caroline motioned for him to be quiet. Whatever he was about to do, she had to make sure that he wouldn't cause any trauma.
"Nice to meet you. I'm…"
"Hope!" Flo called and stuck his head through the hole in the fence. "What's taking so long?"
"Coming!" She quickly replied running towards him. "I'm Hope. Can I have dinner at Flo's?"
"No Hope, we're having a guest tonight!" Caroline was suddenly back in her comfortable parent mode. Hope paused, before she slipped back through the fence.
"But, mum! Please!"
If Klaus had looked shocked before, he looked utterly defeated right now.
"Don't be rude! You know I can't stand that!"
"Yes, mum." Hope groaned and was about to disappear again into Flo's garden.
"Hope!?" Caroline said sharply with her hands on her hips.
She stuck her head back through the fence. "Excuse me, Mr Mikaelson." Klaus visibly shuddered at the distant address. He wasn't sure what he had expected, but this was certainly not it.
Caroline nodded at her and she was gone.
She smiled nervously gripping her shirt tightly between her fingers. "Mh, kids. You know."
Klaus narrowed his eyes and she couldn't tell if he was angry or not.
"I guess I have to tell you something." Caroline mumbled.
"Indeed I think you do…mum!?"
Caroline motioned for him to follow her into the kitchen then. She closed the back door behind her. Klaus dropped the shopping bag on the counter and Caroline started to unpack it to have something to do.
Klaus crossed his arms and waited for her to finally start telling him what was going on.
"Would you mind stopping that?"
Caroline sighed and faced him. She was confused and her emotional train just ran off the rails, so she got immediately defensive. "What was I supposed to do? Tell her that I am not her mother? It would have crushed her, Klaus! She is such a great girl and I love her and…"
"You let her play with a human!"
Caroline scoffed. "She goes to a human high school."
"What!?" He burst out loudly.
"Yes, Klaus she goes to school. She goes to birthdays. She goes to dancing competitions. She does everything a normal kid does!"
"She's not normal!" He told her defiantly.
"But she wants to be!"
"I told you to keep her safe!" He snapped.
"And she is, isn't she?"
"You're exposing her!"
"I am raising a child and I am doing a bloody good job!" Caroline yelled and forced her angry hot tears back down her throat. She had endured it all; all the gossip from the other parents who thought her too young to raise a kid on her own or who simply pitied her for it. Her hands balled into fists. She didn't need it from him now, he was the last person to jump to any wrong assumptions.
Klaus stepped closer, just like he did with his enemies that he threatened.
"I am not so sure about that!"
Her nails dug painfully into her palms by now and she suddenly smelled blood. Her nostrils flared and she felt her fangs push against her gums because she hadn't fed for hours. Caroline got really defensive now. He had no idea about children. He had no idea how hard it was!
She also stepped closer and she suddenly vamped out and snarled. "I know what's best for my daughter!"
Klaus was taken aback. His eyes widened and his mouth hang open with a reply that wouldn't come, while he tried to grasp what was happening.
Caroline gasped, shocked about herself the minute she realised what she just said. Her fangs retreated and she put her hands in front of her mouth. "Sorry." She mumbled. "I'm sorry, I didn't…"
The door opened. "Mum?"
Klaus watched in awe how Caroline quickly got control over herself again and smiled for the girl as if nothing had happened. For his daughter.
"Hey, hun. Come here." Caroline put her hands onto her shoulders and sought comfort in the small gesture. As relaxed as possible she went on: "I want you to meet Niklaus." She wanted Hope to get to know him by his birth name without any prejudices.
No Klaus, No Nik, just Niklaus.
Hope smiled then stepped forward extending her hand politely. "Hi."
Klaus hesitantly took her hand and he looked as if he expected a jolt of energy, a spark of lighting or a roll of thunder, but nothing happened. "Hello Hope." His voice had suddenly lost its volume.
"You've got a cool accent." She simply stated and Klaus raised his eyebrows.
"He grew up in England. Right?" Caroline jumped in.
"Yes." Klaus answered, still somehow not master of his senses again.
"Honey, why don't you get yourself cleaned up? We'll have dinner in an hour."
"Okay." Hope grabbed an apple from the counter on her way out of the kitchen.
Klaus looked at her retreating figure. "You seriously attached yourself to her." He sounded surprised now, not angry, just astonished.
Caroline chuckled humourlessly. "Of course I did! You know me, Klaus! You must have known that I would. I have been through so much with her already!"
"But she's not yours." He looked at her and knew he'd said the wrong thing. Tears welled up in her eyes, but Klaus couldn't stop asking the next question. "Why not tell her who I really am?"
Her voice was thick. "You can't just drop a bomb like that on her. You have to be considerate! If you tell her the truth just like that, she will hate you and we both don't want that!" She wiped her tears away and suddenly Klaus felt odd. He felt bad. He didn't want to see her cry. He didn't want to be the reason why she was crying.
Hours earlier he had been positively excited to see her again and right now everything was so messed up.
"Are you staying for a few days? If you want her to know, than she needs to get to know you first."
Klaus looked at her and tried to see through her scheme, but he couldn't. He frowned considering and finally nodded. "I'll stay."
"Good."
"Mummy, I need you to sign this!" Hope entered with wet hair and Caroline quickly wiped the last traces of tears away, but Hope had already seen it and stopped. "Are you crying?"
"No, hun, I am okay. What's this?" Caroline cleared the teary lump in her throat, but Hope pursed her lips and looked suspiciously and maybe even angrily at Klaus, while Caroline examined the paper. Klaus made an indifferent face, but he had never felt as exposed as under the eyes of this girl, which was really ridiculous. He was Klaus Mikaelson for crying out loud and she was just a small girl. A small girl who had his whole future in her hand.
"It's about the dance competition, remember?" Hope still scowled at Klaus and he didn't know how to handle her obvious protectiveness about her 'mother'. He just realised that he really wanted her to like him and that he didn't want to screw this up like Mikael had.
"Sure." Caroline said and signed the sheet.
"You'll come, right?" Her focus was back on Caroline.
"Of course!" Caroline caressed her wet hair and pushed some strands behind her ear. "Listen, Niklaus, will stay for a while, do you think you got room for one more fan?"
"Sure. Do you want to come?" Hope asked him. It didn't sound too friendly though.
Klaus looked at Caroline and regretted that he had upset her.
"It would be an honour."
Maybe she wasn't doing such a bad job.
Thank you for the response to this story.=)
I am glad that you like it and I am curious as to what you are saying to this chapter...
I have three more sitting on my laptop in which Klaus gets to know Hope and Klaus and Caroline get closer to each other, also a confrontation between Klaus and Rebekah.
So, what do you think? Should I continue? Anything else you would like to read?=)
Looking forward to your response!
