I don't own The Vampire Diaries or its characters. If I did, The Originals would never have happened, Kol would be alive and happily causing mayhem somewhere, and Klaus and Caroline would be travelling the world and sexing it up.
Don't own the characters of the MCU, although Steve and Bucky are a constant source of distress.
New York City, 2015.
Caroline has already been standing on the busy sidewalk staring up at Salvatore Industries for far too long. The building in front of her is intimidating, immense in its stature and a symbol of the power that Damon Salvatore, and Salvatore Industries now has in this city.
She's already starting to get a few curious stares, even dressed down in her jeans and a light sweater. It's strange, to imagine that her face is still so recognisable. Of course, she's been told that her re-emergence from the ice was one of the most significant, if not the most significant things to occur this decade. Which is a big deal considering the amount of things that have apparently already happened this decade.
"Ms Forbes?" A voice calls to her left, and she turns at once to source the owner, caught slightly off guard.
The man is as tall as her, bronze hair and light green eyes. He has a friendly smile, but that doesn't mean much in this century, or so she's been told. People have become far better at masking their emotions, and she's hard pressed to keep up at times.
Nik always used to say that he could read her like an open book, so fond she was of wearing her heart on her sleeve for the world to see.
"Yes?" Caroline responds, raising a single eyebrow at this man.
"Stefan Salvatore." He offers in reply, snapping his heels together and saluting her. It's an odd gesture considering they're in public, but one that's oddly reassuring. "My brother couldn't help but notice you standing on the sidewalk, and was wondering if you were planning on coming inside anytime soon?"
Caroline blushes, well and truly caught out.
"I wasn't sure if this was the right building." She replies lamely as Stefan gives her a look. He however, refrains from replying, instead waves her towards the entrance of the building, falling into step beside her.
"I wasn't aware that Damon Salvatore had a younger brother." Caroline mentions after a pause, giving Stefan a grateful smile as he holds open the glass door for her.
It's a small gesture, but it's enough to tell her that chivalry isn't quite dead yet in this century.
She's rewarded with the sound of Stefan's chuckle as they cross the lobby.
"I'm more than happy to let Damon have the spotlight to himself, believe me. But yes, I'm Damon's brother, and the heir to Salvatore Industries should anything ever happen to him."
Stefan pauses in front of a bank of elevators, jabbing his finger against the call button repeatedly as he taps his foot against the marbled floor. She looks around at the glass and steel lobby with awe, the building unlike anything she'd ever seen in this century or the previous one.
The elevator unsettles her. They'd had one in the apartment that her and her parents had lived in, but it was slow and manually operated, and she'd much preferred to take the stairs.
Caroline is stepping out into the penthouse of the building far too soon for her liking, and Damon Salvatore turns away from the bank of windows, drink in hand and a smile on his face.
"Caroline Forbes, so lovely to see you again. You'll have to forgive me for crashing your press conference, although if the look on your face was anything to go by it seemed like it was the worst form of torture for you."
"Damon." Stefan scolds, striding further into the room. "Play nice please."
Damon places a hand over his chest, clearly wounded by his little brother's request.
"I'm insulted that you'd even think I'd do anything but play nice Stef. What can I do for you Cap? Can I offer you a drink in the meantime? I've got a Russian Vodka that might even be enough to get you drunk."
Caroline frowns at the man before her, slightly unnerved that he knows such a little known fact about her.
"How did you know I can't get drunk?" She asks warily as Damon glances in her direction.
"I read my mother's file on you. It's not public knowledge, so don't worry. I'll keep it need to know, but god that must be depressing for you. Drink?" Damon holds the glass aloft like a trophy, and she shakes her head minutely as she sinks down onto one of the leather couches.
Stefan and Damon exchange a look as they both turn as one to stare at her.
Caroline takes a deep breath.
"I want to find out what happened to my parents." She finally manages to say as Damon glances at her in surprise.
"That's what the internet is for Cap." He begins, realisation dawning as he takes in the confused expression on her face. "Good god they haven't told you about Google yet." He adds in horror, referring to her S.H.I.E.L.D handlers who keep an eye on her every now and then.
Even Stefan looks distressed by this and it's enough to have her looking confusedly from one brother to the other.
"What is Google? Like some sort of disease or something?" Caroline directs this towards Damon, who looks at her askance.
"Google is life Cap." Damon replies faintly. "But sure, I can help you find out what happened to your parents."
"I just want to know where they're buried. I'm not under any illusions that they're still alive." Caroline remarks with a bitter smile as Stefan offers a sympathetic glance.
She takes a deep breath before making her next request.
"I want to know where Nik is buried as well."
Damon says nothing to this request simply slides a slim black device out of his pocket and brings it up to his ear. She frowns at him in confusion as Stefan nudges her, his look conveying that he'll explain as much as he can later.
"Yeah Elena? I need some information form the world wide web." Damon begins with a cheeky smile. He pauses, looking slightly mollified at whatever this 'Elena's' response had been. "No actually I can't right now. Look can you please just get this information for me? I need to know the location of three gravestones."
Another pause and she stands, moving over to the glass windows offering a breathtaking view of New York City. Not much of the skyline is familiar to her, but she cam see the Empire State Building and she has a clear view all the way to the Brooklyn Bridge.
"All three of them are here in the city? Fantastic, thanks sweetheart. Yeah I love you too. Okay bye."
Damon scribbles something down on a piece of paper and hands it to Stefan, the two brothers exchanging another look.
"Why don't you accompany the Captain on this little expedition Stef?" Damon requests as she turns from the bank of windows.
"If it's all the same, I'd rather go alone." Caroline replies, holding her hand out for the piece of paper. Stefan relinquishes it somewhat reluctantly to her as she glances down at the unrecognisable address.
Damon jumps on her unease immediately.
"You'll be eaten alive out there Forbes. Do you even know where that address is going to take you? Look at least take Stef, he's served as well so you have something in common at least. And while you're at it Stef, try and fill her in on what happened in the world after 1945."
Officially, Niklaus Mikaelson was buried on the 25th July, 1943. Full military honours with a 21 gun salute. And God he would have hated it.
Unofficially, they never did find his body. A part of her hopes that he found his peace, sleeping beneath the snow in that desolate mountain range.
The grave marker is simple, a white cross and a Sgt. N. Mikaelson scrawled across it. It joins the hundreds of others that march across the lawn in neat rows, stretching as far as her eye can see.
It sort of hits her then, the complete and utter devastation that was the Second World War, the generation of men that it stole away quietly in the night and in the Cold, robbing countless families of husbands and fathers and sons and lovers.
It's impossible to pinpoint the desolation and loneliness that she feels, ripped out of one decade and dropped into another, hopelessly out of her depth.
She has no parents, no lover, and has no idea where to even begin tracking down what might have happened to Bonnie Bennett. And she is far too proud to ask Stefan Salvatore for help, doesn't want to see the pity in those green eyes, the placating gestures and the kind smiles.
She's sick of hearing them whisper behind their hands, wondering what to possibly do with her. She's not stupid; she knows that she's a liability. The only thing that's probably stopping S.H.I.E.L.D from making her disappear is the whole national icon thing and the fact that she's a historian's version of a wet dream.
So for now, S.H.I.E.L.D are happy to put her up in an apartment in Brooklyn and organise the 70 or so years of back pay she's owed. She could take off and ride off into the sunset, but she has nowhere to go and no one to go to.
She swipes at her eyes angrily, trying to keep the tears at bay as she kneels at the graveside of the man who she was supposed to build a life with, wishing more than anything that she was sleeping beneath the ground, even if it wasn't with him.
And impossibly, the world spins on.
New York City, April 1940.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Nik asks a little uncertainly as she waves him through the door of her apartment building.
With his hand me down shirt and a ratty pair of pants he sticks out like a sore thumb in the otherwise neat and tidy lobby. They're already attracting more than a few stares from some of her well heeled neighbours.
"It's fine. My dad's on some business trip and mom could be anywhere at this point in time."
Rather than leading him towards the elevator she heads for the stairwell, Nik tucking his cap under his arm and making some attempt to smooth down his unruly hair. He'd been working at the docks ever since he left school in December, trying to bring in more money for his already large family.
He had started speaking to her though, since that day on the street. They made an odd sort of match, he the English-German (now American), and she, the daughter of an intelligence officer and a proudly patriotic mother and father. Sometimes Bonnie Bennett, her neighbour joined them. Other times she fell in with the rest of the Mikaelson siblings still in school; Rebekah and Kol being her age.
But it worked somehow. For all of the airs that he liked to put on Nik was wickedly intelligent, and creative to boot. He was quite the artist, favouring paper and pencil over anything else (possibly because it was the only thing he could afford).
Nik looks impressed and out of his depth when she shows him into the apartment, all gleaming wooden floors and modern bench tops. The floor to ceiling windows offer the best view over the New York skyline, natural light streaming into the space.
Caroline can see his eyes rove about the space, a frown tugging at his brow. And a part of her just knows that he's probably wondering why three people need this much space, and that it could be put to far better use really.
The sound of voices has her grabbing Nik by the arm and hauling him around the corner, pressing herself up against the wall as footsteps pass just where they'd been previously standing.
"I appreciate you coming Lyanna. I'm sorry to push you on the super soldier program; the government is getting a little restless at how quickly Hitler is expanding across Europe."
Nik frowns at her, cocking his head to the side curiously. They were so not supposed to hear this, whatever her father was talking about with Lyanna Stark.
"Of course, I completely understand. I am as anxious as you are to see the program come to fruition. You do understand however, the struggle we face with finding someone who is worthy of the serum." Lyanna's voice is faint, as the footsteps stop.
"I don't see the issue. Just find someone strong and in good health. The serum should take care of the rest, shouldn't it?" Her father replies, a sharp edge biting into his tone.
"It is more than just finding someone strong and in good health." Lyanna points out mockingly. "We do not know the effect the serum will have on the mind. It would be of no benefit to us if we cannot control the subject. I need more time to perfect this."
"Hitler isn't going to give us more time. The President is giving us a little under a year to produce some measurable results or the program will be shut down. Ideally this is something I'd like to prevent before thousands more give their lives to this war."
Another pause as she and Nik stare at each other wide eyed.
"You think there will be war?" Lyanna asks resignedly.
"There's already a war. But yes. The President realises full well that eventually we'll be dragged into this mess and we'll have to sort it out just as he did last time. He wouldn't be pouring so much money into this project if he thought otherwise."
Caroline shivers, wrapping her arms around her middle, amazed at just how casually her father was discussing this, like it wasn't even a blip on his radar. Like a potential World War is just another day at the office.
"Come on then. I'll walk you down. I have to duck out for a meeting anyway." Her father adds, the twisting of the doorknob echoing loudly in the house.
She doesn't move until the door has slammed shut behind them, stepping away from the wall and into the lounge area.
Nik is still frowning, like he's turning the conversation over in his mind like a puzzle piece.
"What do you suppose that was all about?" He asks curiously, sinking down gingerly onto one of the many chairs scattered around the space.
"Whatever it was sounded serious. Hitler and war and super soldiers? It sounds like something out of a sci fi movie." She remarks with a quick smile for the boy in front of her.
His skin is tanned from hours spent in the sun and he's got dirt all over his face and arms but he is still unmistakeably Nik. He gives her a weary smile in return, and she pretends that her stomach doesn't flip flop over it.
"Was that Lyanna Stark?" Nik asks in awe as she nods once in confirmation.
Lyanna Stark was sort of legendary in New York City. She'd been the only heir to her parent's fortune, both of them dying when she was just 17 years of age. She'd turned their modest sum into a veritable empire, and had pioneered new forms of technology that were set to shape the decade and the years beyond.
People tended to view her as eccentric, maybe even a little bit crazy, but Caroline knew otherwise. Lyanna was brilliant and no one could ever convince her otherwise.
Nik wrings his cap between his hands ever so briefly before looking around the lounge space once more.
"Do you have anything to eat?"
AN: Boom, Chapter 2. I know it's been awhile kids; I've just been focusing on real life for a little bit. But I'm still here doing my thing, albeit in the background.
I sort of lost my inspiration when it came to Growing Strong a little bit, but I think I'm back on track with that one as well, so cheers all round.
Sorry for the overload of angst… it's going to get worse before it gets better!
Thanks to all who have reviewed so far! I know Marvel isn't everyone's cup of tea but I really like where this story is headed.