A/N: Glad to see the positive feedback the first chapter got! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as much as I did writing it. Of course, I own nothing. Enjoy!


Caroline had never been inside of a tattoo shop before. She imagined that The Hybrid might be a dingy old building with flickering lights, peeling paint, and a vague smell of alcohol. She imagined it would look old and tiny. She was very wrong.

The Hybrid sat on the corner of Maybrook Main Avenue and Hartland Drive. It was a smart location, seeing as Hartland Drive led directly into Mayberry West University. Maybrook Main Avenue was where all the clubs, lounges, boutiques, restaurants, and lofts were. There was no way The Hybrid wasn't making piles of money every month.

The shop itself didn't look brand new, but it didn't look old as dirt either. When she walked in, she realized that someone must have lit incense, as there was a vague smoke to the air and a pleasant smell that accompanied it. The walls were painted a dark red and were covered in posters and pictures of old musicians, movies, and wildlife pictures. The floors were a dark mahogany and the lights were slightly dimmed. The waiting area where she stood currently contained two large, long black leather couches and a long coffee table covered in magazines. The front desk was currently abandoned, though an unfinished coffee and a half-eaten sandwich sat on the desk next to an appointment book, computer, cash register, and bank card scanner. Above the desk was a poster with prices for each service.

Through the large doorway ahead was a larger room with about six stations in it. Almost each one seemed to have a mini fridge and a small armchair within it. There was a speaker in each corner of the room, making it so that the music playing seemed to engulf the entire shop.

"Oh, good, you came!" An accented voice said, startling Caroline. She looked over at the now occupied front desk and saw a girl with dark hair and bright brown eyes. She had a slight accent that sounded Australian.

"I'm Caroline Forbes. I'm here to see Klaus Mikaelson. Is he busy?" Caroline asked the girl.

She smiled in return, though Caroline got the impression that it wasn't quite genuine. The girl took a long sip from her coffee before replying. "I'm Hayley, the receptionist. Klaus is in his office if you wanna go back there. It's the door next to the restroom."

It was ten minutes before 7pm and there was no one else in the shop but the people who worked there. Soon, Caroline was at the back of the shop and she brought her hand up to knock, only to have it open suddenly in front of her. Klaus stood there, staring down at her with those oceanic eyes of his.

"You made it. I take it the weather was not too horrible." He breezed past her and sat down on the tattoo chair before indicating for her to sit in the armchair. They currently occupied the last station that was mere steps from Klaus' office.

"It's super cold with the wind blowing out there and there's a slight drizzle that will likely turn into a downpour later." This was why Caroline's hair was up in haphazard bun and her neck was wrapped in a thick tan scarf that offset the black riding boots and pea coat she was currently donning. Her hands felt slightly numb from the wind and she quickly placed them underneath her when she sat down.

She watched as Klaus pulled a thick binder from one of the shelves beneath the table and passed it toward her. "Every person that works here, bar Hayley, has a book with all their work in it. A lot of times, we show it to customers when they need inspiration, or we look back in them when we've hit a block."

"So, you're showing this to me because I've hit a block." Caroline replied, her fingers on the edges of the thick pages.

Klaus nodded. "I want you to look through every tattoo I've done and tell me how you feel afterward."

He left Caroline to look through his book as he went around the shop preparing to open. Two other artists arrived: a man by the name of Marcel and a girl who looked even younger than Caroline named Davina. Klaus mentioned their names and Caroline responded in polite greeting before returning to the book. Nearly two hours had passed and she was almost to the end of the book. She'd tried to take time to look at each piece, trying to figure out what each of them meant to her and what they might have meant to the person that got them. She was fascinated by Klaus' versatility. He seemed to have mastered an array of different styles and Caroline had a fleeting thought that whenever she decided to get a tattoo, she wanted to come to The Hybrid for it.

"I got hot chocolate if you want some." A voice said, forcing Caroline to tear her eyes away from the final page of Klaus' book. Standing in front of her with a cup of hot chocolate in an outstretched hand was the tiny girl called Davina. She had long dark hair, huge brown eyes, little puckering lips, and chubby cheeks that made Caroline want to reach out and pinch them. Presently she was wearing a dark blue sweater, tights, and brown boots that clicked when she walked in them.

Caroline smiled at her. "Thanks. I didn't really notice how cold I started feeling." The shop was filled with the sound of buzzing. Marcel was currently at work doing a large and intricate flower piece on a possibly drunk Mayberry student. Klaus was replacing the ink in some off the stations and straightening them up. Hayley had her earphones in and was watching some program on her computer intently. It was a Monday night and therefore, one of The Hybrid's slower nights.

Davina sat down on the tattoo chair and sipped at her hot chocolate before speaking again. "So, Klaus told me you're a photographer. That's pretty cool."

Caroline swallowed a rather large gulp of hot chocolate. "I'm a photography major. I really got into it when I started high school. It kind of started with me wanting to document everything that I saw that I liked in some way. It went from silly things like pictures of me and my friends to nature and things around the house to things like people sitting in the park or…or my mother at the table having her morning coffee."

If Davina noticed the wistful tone in Caroline's voice she didn't comment on it. Instead she wrapped her hands around the warm cup before saying, "My parents are dead. My mom was a little…maybe a lot…fucked up in the head. She used to say she could see things or hear people talking to her that weren't even there. One night she came after me with a knife, claiming some voice told her to get rid of me. My dad heard all the noise, heard me screaming, and ran downstairs to try to stop her. I was in a corner of the kitchen crying while he tried to talk her down. But the next thing I knew he had a knife sticking out of his chest and he was on the ground. He told me to get out of the house and go get help."

Caroline felt her mouth dry up from how wide open it was. Her hand was covering it as tears stung at her eyes. Davina had a distant look in her eyes and Caroline couldn't figure out for the life of her why the young girl had decided to divulge such information with her.

"I ran to Marcel. He lived next door to us. I've known him for as long as I can remember. He's six years older than me. He saw how upset I was and crying for him to call 911. He told me to stay in his house when the police arrived. They said that when my mother realized that she'd killed my father she slit her own throat."

Caroline let a pained sob escape her throat as a hoarse, "Oh, God." escaped her mouth. Davina nodded and took another sip of her drink before speaking again.

"Marcel saved my life. He took me in and let me stay with him and his family. I was twelve when it happened, so he was already eighteen, but he still lived with his mother and grandmother. They took me in and treated me as if I were another child. I was homeschooled after that and I graduated earlier than the other kids my age. Marcel used to show me the tattoos he drew on people because he knew I was really good at drawing. I wanted to follow in his footsteps."

Davina was openly smiling now and Caroline suddenly wished that she could smile like that, like there had been a light at the end of her tunnel. Her heart suddenly felt unreasonably heavy and it felt as if it was squeezing tightly. She longed for the innocent, sweet, bubbly Caroline that had existed before her mother died and her father decided he didn't want her.

"How did you end up here?" Caroline asked eventually.

Davina shrugged. "We grew up in New Orleans but once I finished homeschool, he insisted on getting me out of the city and start somewhere new. Klaus was a good friend of his from college and when he started The Hybrid, he asked Marcel to come work for him. I begged Marcel and Klaus to let me work here and they did one condition. I have to be enrolled at Mayberry and I can only work in the shop twice a week."

Despite the extremely heartbreaking story that Davina had just shared, she had a way of lightening the mood in way that made you almost forget that she'd recounted such a horrible thing. Caroline felt a small smile tugging at her lips.

"What's your major?" she asked.

Davina let out a sweet melodic laugh that reminded Caroline of wind chimes. "It's going to sound ironic but I'm majoring in child psychology. I want to be a therapist for kids like me, kids who experienced some really fucked up shit but don't have anyone to turn to. Anyway, the reason I said all that was just so you know there's someone that understands you and that understands why you're in a block right now."

Caroline found herself setting her chocolate down and leaning forward to hug Davina tightly. "Thank you so much, Davina." Her eyes were stinging with unshed tears and she squeezed her eyes shut tightly. She didn't want anyone to see her crying. "You're going to make a great therapist."

Davina hugged her back and gave her a wide smile before going back up to the front to see if there were any customers. Caroline tugged at her lip, unaware that she was now hugging Klaus' book to her chest. She decided then that she would try to come to The Hybrid as often as she could, not only to see Klaus but to also see Davina.

"What did you think?" Klaus' voice carried her out of her thoughts and for a second, she was unsure if he was referring to Davina or the book. She decided to answer the latter.

"Your tattoos are amazing. They all look so amazing." Caroline's voice sounded slightly awed and Klaus gave her a bashful smile that made her stomach flutter a bit.

"Which ones did you like the most?"

"Your flower pieces. They remind me a lot of my mom. She always loved flowers, especially magnolias." Caroline replied, smiling slightly.

Klaus sat on the chair across from her. "There is your out. Perhaps you can do your own book of your photography. Start off with flowers, since they make you feel closer to your mother."

For the first time in a while, Caroline felt hope spark within her. She realized that Klaus was right. She could start again with things that reminded her of her mother. She could already feel the excitement bubbling inside of her and it reminded her, for a few moments, of the Caroline she used to be. Klaus seemed to be able to sense all this as he watched her because he was smiling at her encouragingly.

"Thank you so much, Klaus." She said as she hugged him and smile gratefully at him. "You really don't know how much this means to me. I feel closer to her already."


A/N: Well what did you guys think? Should I keep going? Be sure to leave reviews! Until next time…