.

I


Staying true to his words to his sister, Klaus was in New Orleans on Saturday, as he was supposed, though he was far from being on time. Over three hours late, in fact.

Caroline had decided to take the high road for as long as she was capable, deciding that it would be better to punish him only if he misbehaved. And while his tardiness was already a bad start, she overlooked it, as Alaric and Damon, the executive producer and director respectively decided to start the table reading without Klaus. Being an actor for most of his time, Damon assumed Klaus' part for the reading, as Niklaus was after all the lead character.

The series was set to have twelve episodes, but it wouldn't air until the following year. It was Alaric's plan to have the first episode shot in one week and a half at most before they moved to the second, and hopefully they would have more than enough time to shoot and produce the entire season before it premiered. Although the whole series was already scripted, each actor was receiving the scripts as the episodes went by - except for Klaus - because Damon wanted them to focus on what they had at the moment, instead of where it was going.

Introductions had been made, and Damon briefly explained to the crew how he liked to work, so when Klaus arrived they weren't through with the first half of the reading yet.

"I'm sorry for my tardiness," Klaus offered with a smirk stamped on his face, while Caroline rolled her eyes. Not only did he lack a reason for being late, but his tone couldn't be any more contradicting. He was anything but sorry.

Damon had once worked with Klaus as a co-star during his golden days, and the two grew quite close. He was the main reason why Klaus was sitting there and even though the man across him wasn't the committed and talented actor he used to be, Damon had an action plan. He was Damon Salvatore after all and saving the world was the next thing to be ticked out in his list of awesomeness. Didn't saving a cheerleader once save the world? Saving Hollywood's prodigy was almost life's imitating art.

"We're doing the reading, Nik. It's a good thing you joined us, otherwise I would have stolen the part from you. Even just in the reading I can say I have incredible chemistry with Mrs. Forbes here," Damon kept his tone playful and lighthearted; he knew demanding an explanation for Klaus' lateness would be pointless and counterproductive.

"Be my guest, mate. Maybe I could take the director's chair then?" Klaus looked amused at his old buddy.

"I was thinking more along the lines of multitasking, buddy" the director offered.

"I think I'm going to try my odds. I'm sure Mrs. Forbes has incredible chemistry with everyone sitting at this table now, but I feel like ours will be explosive," Klaus said to his friend, but his eyes were glued at the blonde sitting by Damon's side.

"He's got a point, Caroline. We're really happy to have you in this project with us, not only because of your chemistry, but also your underrated talent," Damon offered, and she smiled sweetly at him.

"Thanks, Mr. Salvato…" she started, but seeing him look at her disapprovingly, she changed her words, as per his many previous requests. "Thank you, Damon. But why don't we finish page forty-seven, so Mr. Mikaelson can take a hold of what's going on or at least read the parts we already did… so we don't need to regress much?"

"Actually, love, I had Alaric send me the first script earlier this week, as I didn't know if my previous commitments in LA would allow me to be here today. I have studied it carefully and I may even know a few lines by heart now," he added smugly.

"Is that so?" she challenged, doubting every word out of his mouth.

"Absolutely, Tatia. I know you still have that fire within that draws you to me, and it makes me want to tame you, although I'm not sure taming is what I'll be doing with you," his voice lowered, as his demeanor changed completely, the seducing predator written in his expressions.

"I don't plan making it easy for you. I play with fire because I like to feel the burning. It may have been four centuries, but I still haven't forgiven you, Niklaus," Caroline said, although she wasn't sure those were the exact words she had just read over a few minutes before he entered. She doubted he had the script memorized by heart to know page forty-six included that dialogue.

But what the actress wasn't aware – as Alaric hadn't informed them beforehand – was that the script was divided between present time and flashbacks. Page forty seven was the last of present time scenes, which was as far as Klaus read the script he already had for four days.

"In that case, I'm keeping you here for longer than I planned," Klaus concluded, remembering his character was supposed to lock the door to the cellar where he was keeping Tatia as a prisoner.

"Impressive," Caroline offered, honestly. She was surprised by him, and the cocky smirk on his face along with the nonchalant shrug of his shoulders showed her that impressing her had been his plan all along. If that was what he was aiming for, she would pretend to be oblivious to his tactic. As long as he helped her to make the miniseries a success, she wouldn't have a problem playing clueless Caroline.

"Don't look so impressed, Caroline, he's the one who envisioned this character after all. More like decided to write himself, but still," said the younger Salvatore, leaning back from his chair.

Stefan was Damon's brother and the head writer. Although he had help, most of the twelve scripts had been adapted by him alone. He had been working on that project for years now and it would be his last work for television before he moved to the big screen. That if the series wasn't picked for a second season, but even then he wasn't too worried. He had thirty episodes almost completely written and about twenty outlined.

When he and Klaus started working on The Originals – title that Klaus came up with – they planned for it to be a book, not a script, much less a series. Klaus had written a few chapters on his own, while Stefan did the same, but most of the work they finished back then had been made by both of them and they outlined the whole story.

"My manager didn't contact me saying one of my projects was going to be adapted to television, Stefan. Should I contact my lawyer?" Klaus smirked softly. His friendship with Stefan was one of the few genuine ones he had. He was like a brother perhaps, a comrade.

"It's nice to have you here again," the green-eyed writer offered with a happy smile.

"Can we continue working?" Alaric called from the head of the table seeing how some of the other actors were bored already by Klaus stealing the show with only five minutes in, while others were becoming too distracted by the exchanges between the male lead and the people he chose to interact with, especially the female part of the crew.


They continued the reading for another couple of hours, before they were released to eat, at a little bit over two in the afternoon.

"So, Mrs. Forbes, we didn't have a chance to be officially introduced earlier. I must say I was positively surprised when I heard you would be playing my lovely wife, Tatia Lancaster," he started, following her outside the room along with the rest of the crew.

"Ex-wife, I suppose?" she raised her eyebrows.

"I don't think vampires file for divorce, even after centuries and with a nonexistent sex life. There are so many repertoires one can come with," he smirked, shaking his head slightly.

"And they've been apart for almost as much," she offered. Tatia and Klaus Lancaster were two of the oldest vampires in the world according to The Originals mythology. The series was named after them and the plot revolved basically around Niklaus chasing his runaway wife.

Tatia had a twin sister, Catherine, while Klaus' siblings were Noah, Caleb, Rosemary and August. At first Tatia wasn't supposed to be part of the spell that turned Sarah and Zackary's children into the first vampires of history. Tatia was supposed to die, but fooling Sarah she made Catherine die in her place, although she didn't expect her sister to be used as an human sacrifice. Klaus and Tatia were in love before they turned, and just after they got married, his mother did the spell that turned them into immortal predators of the night. But when the spell revealed Klaus was also a werewolf, Zackary found out about his wife infidelity. Sarah had enough time to cast a spell on her bastard son, blocking his werewolf side through with a curse, before Zackary killed her.

Klaus ran with his wife being followed by Noah and Rosemary, as they moved as far as possible. Eventually they reached the Pacific, but it didn't stop them from building the best ship they could make in the 900's. They reached Russia and stayed in the Old World for centuries, until Klaus figured out the answer to break his curse was closer than he thought. Looking for his sister-in-law's descendants he finally came across a doppelganger to Catherine. After running from Zackary for a long, Tatia found her sister's descendant and from then on she compelled vampires to protect her family from the shadows through the centuries. She even found a way for them to follow her into Europe through the same route the Originals had taken two hundred years prior. But that had been the end of the Petrova bloodline as Klaus didn't hold back the chance to sacrifice Viktoria along with a vampire and a werewolf to break his curse.

Tatia had been heartbroken by the actions of her husband for six centuries, and being incapable of forgiveness she ran away from him. For four centuries she had been successful, but the day she tried to avoid in every possible way arrived when her estranged husband finally found her in the small city of Mystic Falls, Virginia, where it all had started. He immediately took her to his current location in the French Quarter of New Orleans. And that was where the series took off, bringing the past events progressively through flashbacks featured in each of the twelve episodes. The audience didn't know any of the Originals story when the pilot opened with Klaus finally finding Tatia after 423 years apart from his wife.

"But that's about to change, forever, if I have any say in that," his smirk progressed into a knowing grin.

"I didn't know you're collaborating with the scripts," she asked, taken aback by the revelation.

"I co-wrote the story, but Stefan did all the adaptation. I'll just make sure this series is picked up for a sequel, and that every little girl in this country will love Klaus and cheer for him to be with Tatia through eternity," he laughed, and she rolled her eyes internally, deciding against being rude to him just yet.

"Your commitment and self-confidence are impressive," she sarcastically added, knowing too well if anything Klaus Mikaelson would make those twelve episodes nearly impossible to be produced.

"Thank you, sweetheart, now back to my first point here, it's a pleasure to meet America's Sweetheart," he ignored her sarcasm, taking her hand and kissing her knuckles as they stopped in front of her trailer, his own parked just by hers.

"Nice to meet you, too, Mr. Mikaelson," she offered a sweet smile.

"Now, we're going to spend at least six months working together, why keep such formalities, Caroline?" he suggested, leaning against her trailer's wall.

"Actually, Alaric said he's planning on work with a week and a half schedule per episode," she corrected him, thinking he would have known that if he hadn't been late to the reading table.

"Unattainable, he should know better than that," he smirked playfully.

"And why would it be? It seems sensible to me," she asked, knowing too well that he would be the bump preventing them from reaching the deadlines if today was any indication.

"Let's see how the first couple of episodes go and then you let me know your opinion, sweetheart," he continued smiling as if he knew the secret truth.

"That is if you show up, on time or at all, now if you excuse me, Mr. Mikaelson," she offered a fake smile, before taking the stairs to her trailer. She was yet to enter it, but she had wanted to check it before lunch. They had a one and a half hour lunch break, as it was their first day. She was positive that would be reduced to thirty minutes soon, especially if they had to make up for Klaus ruining their schedule.


Damon and Alaric didn't waste any time, and when the crew came back to the meeting room they were informed they'd start shooting the first studio scenes that afternoon. They also already had the schedule for Sunday.

The outdoor scenes in the local woods were scheduled for the following day, and most of the main characters were included in the schedule board with their cast names.

Schedule for April 23rd, day 2, starting 7am

Niklaus Mikaelson - Niklaus Lancaster

Caroline Forbes - Tatia Petrova/Lancaster, Catherine Petrova

Mason Lockwood - Noah Lancaster

Serena Van der Woodsen - Rosemary Lancaster

Matt Donovan - Caleb Lancaster

Kol Smith - August Lancaster

Isobel Fleming - Ana Petrova

John Gilbert - Zackary Lancaster

The script started with a frenzy race that was soon revealed to be a hunt. The opening scene was the most important and longest in the first episode script, being mixed with flashbacks from the tenth century; it went through almost the first half of the hour, aiming to keep the viewers on the edge of their seats. There were a lot of blurred sequences of Klaus hunting something or someone, until it was revealed to be Tatia.

"We'll start with the young characters interacting in the flashback scenes. We'll shoot how the Petrovas arrived at the village, the Lancaster brothers hunting, and then the twins meeting the Lancasters. Everyone should get into characterization as soon as you arrive so we can start shooting with the men at eight thirty and with the girls at nine thirty," Alaric informed.

"Now everyone, but Klaus and Caroline are released for the day," he addressed most people in the room, and then turned to the main pair "The makeup and costume teams are already positioned at your trailers waiting for you. We'll shoot scenes #21 and #22 today, the last ones in the present time part of the script. You have an hour, and then meet the crew at studio B," the producer informed, and they nodded.


It took longer than Alaric expected, but just before six they started shooting. The moment Caroline and Klaus incorporated their characters and started playing; Damon knew for sure bringing both actors together was the best decision, even if Klaus was high maintenance. The chemistry between them was wild and noticeable in the very first shooting, so much that he didn't bother to shoot it again. The two blondes nailed Niklaus and Tatia's first interaction in a way that already blew his mind.

"So we finally meet again, love," Klaus pushed a struggling Tatia against the wall.

"Let go of me, don't touch me," the infuriated woman retorted, trying to release herself from his forceful grip.

"For centuries I've been chasing you, and you were never predictable, until now, but if I must confess, I didn't come here expecting to find you,"

"Let. Go. Of. Me!" Tatia yelled, taking the upper hand for a moment, releasing herself, but her freedom was short lived, as Niklaus quickly grabbed her again, this time bringing her to the dirty floor of the abandoned barn, his body keeping her in place, as he harshly manhandled her.

"Did you also come here to reminisce, love?" he smiled, while he moved one of the hands holding her arms over her head to touch her cheek. She turned her face away from his touch, trying to release her wrists from his grip, but she was no match to him. He had her immobilized between holding her arms with his hand, and keeping her body down with his own.

She continued to wriggle her body under his, but instead of freeing herself again, she was only flushing both of them, the heat rising quickly.

"Don't provoke me, love. It's been a while since I ravished you and I don't want to start forcing myself on you now. Not after a thousand years,"

Tatia realized the effect of her movements and remained still, avoiding to look at the man holding her in place, his gaze being too much for her handle. Her eyes averted to the dirty wall by her side as her memory brought her to the first time she ever met Klaus Lancaster.

"Happy 1016th anniversary, sweetheart," he whispered brushing his lips on her ear, leading her to close her eyes, using all her self-control to repress the shivers from arising.

"Cut!" the actors heard Damon saying, before the director clapped his hands.

"Our work is done here, guys," Damon rose from his chair.

"What? No reshoot?" Caroline asked, as Klaus moved his body from over hers, standing up and offering her a hand to help her stand up as well.

"Not necessary, why don't you come over here and see for yourself, Caroline. You guys surpassed my expectations with this scene," Damon offered, while he stood in front of the monitor.

Caroline moved to stand by his side, seeing the scene she just shot replaying on the screen, while Klaus simply started to walk away from the scenario, ready to get all the dirt from his clothes.

"Don't you want to see it, Klaus?" Caroline asked with a smile on her face, being proud of how powerful and emotional the scene came out. She didn't even realize she called him by his name, despite her effort to keep the formalities for as long as possible so he would know she wasn't like the rest of the crew.

"No need, sweetheart, I know I'm impressive," he added nonchalantly, still not stopping his lazy steps towards the door.

The actress rolled her eyes, as Damon moved the scene to the next angle they shot it.

"Also I was there, so trust me, I know how good you were too" he dismissed as he left the studio, thankful that nobody noticed how his body actually reacted to hers. He knew the scene was convincing without seeing it, after all, he was still feeling the after-effects of hovering over Caroline Forbes. And that he didn't expect.


AN: Despite the underwhelming first reaction, I'll continue and complete this story.

So as you can see I already started both story-lines: Caroline and Klaus and Tatia and Niklaus'. There will be more input about Klaus' part in the Originals story. As he said, he co-wrote it with Stefan many years ago. All 'fictional' scenes will be in italic so you know when it's the miniseries' characters and when it's the actors interaction.

Damon, Stefan, and Rebekah are going to be constantly in the chapters. As for the rest I didn't decide. I'll probably bring Elena for Damon. And once again I added Serena - from GG - because everyone knows how big my boner for Blake is.

Huge thanks to my mermaid beta, Flora, who is awesome beyond words. Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed or added me to their alerts and favorite.

Please read and review and make a writer happier.

I feel like I already said it a lot of times, but I'm not sure if I mentioned it in this story. I'm leaving on vacation Thursday and I won't be back until next week's weekend, so I'll probably delay to update next week.

xx

Babi