A/N: 06/24/2017

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Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries.

Chapter two: Baby-Daddy~

Caroline laughed as she, Alaric and their daughters walked out of the movie theater, strolling lazily along the sidewalk.

"So what did you guys think?" She asked.

"I really liked it." Josette said happily, jumping a little with excitement.

"Me too!" Lizzie chimed in.

"Haha, good," Caroline smiled, patting their heads and smoothing their hair.

"Can we get ice cream now?" Josette asked.

"Oh, uhh...I don't know, honey. It's late..."

"But you promised," Lizzie reminded her.

Caroline looked to Alaric for help, who only smiled and shrugged.

"Alright, mommy'll take you guys to go get ice cream." He said, looking to Caroline. "I'm gonna go start the car. See you in a bit."

He leaned forward and kissed her on the top of her head, and she nodded. Grabbing hold of the twins' hands, she leaned down as they walked to whisper in their ears. "Okay, let's go get ice cream!"

They laughed amongst themselves and continued to walk down the street-lit sidewalk, going all the way to the end of the block and turning the corner. The ice cream vendor was just beginning to close up shop from the looks of it (the lights were out) and Caroline rushed to the window to place an order.

"Excuse me, could you get us two vanilla ice cream cones, please?"

"Coming right up," the ice cream man said, his back to them as he worked.

The girls began to jump with excitement, and Caroline smiled and jumped with them.

"Alright, here you are," the man said, turning around with their order.

He leaned over the counter and held out the cones, and Caroline's smile dropped when he came into the light. "Two vanilla ice cream cones, for the little angels."

"Kai..." She said breathlessly, eyes wide with fear.

"Hey! Long time, no see!" He smiled as the twins took their ice cream.

Caroline pushed the twins behind her as he slinked back into the darkness of the ice cream shop, reappearing moments later through a side door in the alley.

"Oh, you got a new hairstyle!" He remarked, still smiling. "I loved the old one!"

"What do you want, Kai?" She asked, expression guarded as she stood in front of the twins.

"To meet the two little adorable monsters that popped outta you, of course. Why else?" He answered, squatting down and waving at Lizzie and Josette. The girls happily licked away at their ice cream and waved back, oblivious to the danger they were in.

"Do you know him, mommy?" Lizzie asked.

Caroline looked down at her daughter. "Well, yes, but...it- it's a little complicated, sweetie..."

"Come on, guys," Kai invited. "Don't be shy. Come say hello to your mommy's old friend!"

Caroline tried to stop them from coming any closer to him- "Girls, no!" -but she was unable to catch hold of them in time. She watched as they trotted up to him with their ice cream cones and each shyly shook one of his hands, and she hoped to God that he wouldn't hurt them.

"Aww," he cooed, smiling at them before standing up. "So wait, does this make me their uncle? Or would it technically make me one of those 'family friends' that has close ties but nobody ever talks about?"

Caroline crossed her arms, irritation flaring despite her concern for the twins. "Kai-"

"Ooh, maybe a godfather!"

"What do you want, Kai?" She asked again, patience waning.

"To meet the twins. Duh."

She rolled her eyes.

"Oh, and to kill you."

She immediately went on guard, adopting a fighting stance and getting ready to grab the twins and run for it.

"Oh, don't bother," Kai said. "I cloaked us so they can't hear what we're saying. As far as they know, we're smiling and chatting and talking about the weather."

She looked between him and her daughters, uncertainty clear on her face. She began going over a thousand different scenarios on how to get the twins away from him and get back to Alaric. She looked at the twins, seeing that they were as calm and happy as could be eating their ice cream.

"Really?" She asked, trying to keep him occupied. "You're seriously gonna pull a Rumplestiltskin and take my kids away?"

"Okay, one: they're not your kids. Two: no, I just wanted to see how you'd react."

He chuckled and she sighed, once again rolling her eyes as he placed his hands in his pockets.

"But no, in all seriousness, I do plan on taking over this little 'family unit' thing you've got going on here. I mean you clearly don't know how to handle Gemini siphons, so..."

He shrugged and tilted his head, a 'you know' expression on his face.

Caroline crossed her arms. "Ric and I are managing just fine, thank you."

"You think you are," he said, pointing at her. "But you really have no idea what you're doing, and I will be taking the reigns on this one."

"So what, you're just gonna 'off' us both and hope the twins don't hate you for it? Nice parenting."

He held up a finger. "Correction, I'm going to take over as father-figure to the two little demons. And if that means taking Ric out of the picture, then yes. I will 'off' him."

Her eyebrows pinched together. "But not me?"

"Let's face it, without you, Ric wouldn't even have twins right now. And I don't mean just because my coven zapped them into your belly."

She huffed.

"But no, honestly I think you and I would make a great team. And the age difference? Way less creepy."

She scoffed. "Yeah, your twenty-plus years definitely trumps Alaric's fifteen."

He dramatically gestured a hand over his face, reminding her of a magician. "Less wrinkles, I win."

She glared at him, lost for words.

"So anyway, how do you want this to work? Should I be bad cop and you be good cop when they get into trouble, or...?"

She made a sound of annoyance and shook her head. She couldn't believe this...

"Or wait no, maybe that'd be too cliche. Maybe I can be good cop and you can be bad cop. They'll never see it coming-"

"Kai..."

"What's it gonna be, Clarice? I can either take the twins now and bring you with me, or I can kill you both when you try to resist and still take the twins. Your pick. Personally, I'd go with option one." He smiled and blinked a few times, patiently waiting for her answer.

Caroline considered her options.

She could take the twins and run, probably, but if Kai was able to find them all the way down in Texas, she was sure he'd be able to find them again. She could try killing him - ripping his head off, maybe - but Damon had already done that and here he was, head still attached and still very much alive. Reasoning with him was almost completely out; he was a certified sociopath, and therefore any deal she tried to strike or reason she tried to point out would almost certainly be met with deaf ears.

No matter what she did, it was a lose-lose situation. She could strategize and fantasize all she wanted, but the fact was, her friends weren't there to help her, and she was just one vampire against a very powerful sorcerer. The best she could do was go along with what he wanted, at least until she figured out how to stop him.

"...So Ric won't be hurt?" She asked carefully, wanting assurance even though she knew it wouldn't mean squat if he decided he wanted to kill him anyway.

"Not a single hair on his middle-aged head." He promised, holding a hand over his heart.

She closed her eyes, steeling herself for what she was about to say. "...Okay. Okay, I'll come with you."

He smiled. "I knew you'd see reason. You may be blonde, but you're not half as dim-witted as all those other folks you hang out with." He held out a hand and Caroline rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time, stepping forward to take it.

"Think of it this way, Clarice," he said, and for one ridiculously silly moment she thought he was trying to comfort her. "Nothing's changed; you've just got a new baby-daddy."