Contract
Slowly twirling the spaghetti on her plastic fork, Caroline tried to distract herself from the awkward situation. Klaus on the other hand felt anything but that. He knew this lunch meeting was for business and business alone.
He needed to outline the details of the contract and set up a meeting for both of their lawyers go over the paperwork discretely.
The slower she ate, the more irritated he got. He could tell she was nervous, but he didn't have time for that. As she took the last bite, he cleared his throat loudly and Caroline's head snapped in his direction.
"Let's go over the logistics shall we?" He pulled a stack of papers from a briefcase that was placed next to him. Her eyes widened and she became instantly overwhelmed.
He reached over and handed her a copy of the agreement. She scanned the first page and couldn't believe what she was reading. All of the rules were in roman numerals with bullets beyond bullets of details.
"I hope you're going to summarize this." She told him flipping through the pages.
"Of course I am. I don't have all day, sweetheart." Her cheeks flushed. Why would a man as successful as him spend a few hours going over the next year of her life? It was a lot to take in and he wasn't giving her anytime to adapt.
She remained silent as he proceeded to explain the details. "The contract states that you, Caroline Forbes agree to be wed legally to me, Klaus Mikaelson for the duration of a year starting the day of our wedding. If you abide by all of the rules listed below you will then have ten million dollars transferred to your account the day after our marriage ends."
Caroline took in a deep breath of air. "And what rules must I abide by?"
"I'm getting there." His eyes pierced into hers clearly annoyed with such a trivial and childish question.
"You must attend all public and social events with me. I will provide clothing, jewelry, shoes and whatever else women wear to these things. You will dress to the nines. I will have no wife of mine looking cheap and trashy."
Instinctively Caroline looked down at her own apparel. She thought she looked fine in her form fitting little black dress. Did he think she looked trashy?
"That means you can't wear clothes like that and expect not to receive unwanted attention." He was clearly referring to her own apparel.
She scoffed at him. "I think my outfit looks fine."
"I think your outfit is too revealing." He commented.
"You're going to have to modify some of these rules Klaus. I'm not living like a nun." Ten million dollars was a lot of money, but not enough to completely forget who she was over the span of a year.
Truly, her outfit of choice wasn't bad. Klaus was just worried that someone would look at her in a way he didn't like. He wanted to show her off, but he didn't want to draw attention.
He didn't realize that he future wife was a spitfire. He ignored her animosity and continued to read from the contract.
"You must watch what you're doing, who you're involved with and even where you chose to eat. I'm not a simple man Caroline. People will be watching and I'd rather not read an article about how you got wasted at the bar down the street and made a complete ass out of yourself. Image is everything and you will maintain a clean image. I also provided a list of charities you need to be involved with and a list of events that you will be required to host at our home."
Caroline took the list and scanned the entire page. There were a total of ten charities and fifteen events she would be required to be involved with for this year.
Five of the events she would be solely hosting. This part of it didn't scare her. This was exactly her element. She knew how to host events and thrived at the excitement of event planning.
"I think I can handle that." She told him confidently.
"We also need to meet once or twice a week to get to know each other. I will be questioned on the validity of our marriage and if we do not know a thing about each other, they will deport me. I'm not sure when we will be called upon, but when it happens we need to be ready. I plan on starting as soon as were married."
Caroline raised an eyebrow at him. They had to schedule meetings to get to know one another? Shouldn't something like that come naturally?
It should, but Caroline quickly remembered her circumstances and realized that this entire situation wasn't natural. Why would she think getting to know him would be any different?
"Another very crucial and important rule is that you will remain monogamous. Our marriage needs to appear realistic and I don't want you running off with some random man that's not me." He looked up at her for a response, but he found none. "I do not particularly care how you get your fix, but it won't be in the arms of any other man." Then he saw a reaction. She looked amused. He didn't like it.
"What if I can only get a fix from a man? How do you expect me to last a year without that?"
He looked at her sternly, clearly not in a playful mood in which she appeared to be in. "I will not tolerate cheating. If you do, it states that I will add two more years onto our marriage in the result of infidelity. I advise you not to break that rule Caroline."
She quickly challenged him. "And what about you? What if you're not faithful? Won't that look bad to the government?"
"I will be faithful Caroline. I'm a lot of awful things, but I'm not unfaithful." He said without a single thought.
Caroline shifted awkwardly in her seat. Clearly uncomfortable with the conversation, she desperately wanted it to be over, but she knew it was far from that.
"I'm running out of time, but I will go over one last major thing with you. You need quit your job. I can't have you work and be my wife at the same time. It will not work."
"No." Caroline looked up at him. "I won't stop my whole life for you."
"You're getting paid ten million dollars," He pointed out.
"It's not worth it if I have to change every aspect of my life Klaus." She fought with him.
"It'll happen anyway love because if you do not agree to these terms and conditions you won't have a job here… or anywhere for that matter."
Klaus arranged for a car to pick her up at 7:30. After their lunch date ended. Klaus insisted on meeting her for dinner to finish business. It seemed that there was more to the contract that he had yet to reveal.
She struggled to find a 'Klaus appropriate' outfit and hoped he wasn't too critical of her dress. Secretly, she hoped he was because it was slightly revealing and seeing his reaction was a far better satisfaction than doing what she was told.
She was slightly disappointed that he didn't come get her himself. So when Harold, his chauffer dropped her off in front of the Italian restaurant, she had no idea what to do.
The setting was intimate. Burgundy drapes hung from the long windows. It was dim and elegant. Not a single table had less than two sets of silverware per person. Caroline was afraid to touch anything.
She walked up to the hostess thinking maybe Klaus was here already.
The snotty girl glanced over at her. "We don't take walk-ins." She told her without even looking up.
Caroline was about to argue with her but before Caroline could protest she felt a hand settle down her lower back. "She's with me." She heard the rough sound of Klaus' voice.
The hostess looked up at Klaus and immediately groveled. "I'm so sorry Mr. Mikaelson. I didn't realize she was with you." She grabbed two menus and ushered them to follow her.
"I'll take you to your usual table." They walked straight to the back of the restaurant. They both took a seat and before the hostess could hand them the menus, Klaus pushed them away.
"We won't be needing those. I would like two glasses of the house wine. Order both of us tonight's special, Sirloin steak with a side of Italian wedding soup and Italian dressing for the salads."
The hostess quickly walked away. Caroline glared at him. "I like balsamic vinaigrette."
He ignored her. "I do believe we have some business to finish." He clasped his hands above the table and leaned into her. She had to admit, even though he was an arrogant bastard, he did look very pleasing in the dim candlelight.
"I set up a meeting with my lawyer this Thursday afternoon. I expect you to have your lawyer present. If you don't have one, I assure you my lawyer would be able to represent you equally."
She crossed her arms, already annoyed with him. "I have a lawyer."
"Great. We will do all of the paperwork and can discuss wedding plans. I was thinking early next week?" He looked at her for approval.
"Whatever you want Klaus." She honestly gave up. She felt as if this was all being done against her will anyway, so why try? Sure, she was a fighter, but he was making it evident that she held no power in the relationship.
He looked at her waiting for a snide remark, but it never came. He reached his hands across the table and grabbed her hand. "I want you to enjoy this, too. I don't want you to be miserable with me."
This time she was the one to ignore him. "We should go over the rest of the contract." She proposed.
Klaus wasn't one for sappy situations so he didn't push his 'moment' any further.
"If you give me your lawyers information, I would be happy to send all of the paperwork over to him. I would like to give you sometime to look everything over." He told her.
"Two days?" She rolled her eyes at him. "How generous."
"If you don't watch that pretty little mouth of yours sweetheart, I'm going to have to revise my contract." He warned her, but didn't give her the chance to react before continuing.
"You will change your last name to Mikaelson. It would look suspicious if you kept any part of your maiden name." Caroline nodded, expecting this.
"I will set up a personal account for you for the duration of the year you are with me and provide you with a monthly income of one hundred thousand dollars." Caroline's mouth dropped. What would I do with that money? Shit.
"I know it's not a lot of money, but…"
Caroline then cut it off. "It's not necessary. I don't need that much money a month. I don't even make that a year working for you." She argued with him.
"I'm not making you spend it Caroline. I'm just saying that the money is there to use at your expense." He told her. "But I do advise that you use it. We have a great number of events that we are required to attend next month and you're going to need it."
After they ate their salads their dinner arrived shortly after. Caroline was already on her sixth glass of wine and Klaus could tell that she was drunk. He mentally cursed himself for not paying attention to her wine intake.
Caroline was also not used to binge drinking wine. Klaus knew the wine was strong, but didn't think it was possible to get drunk on six glasses. But she was small and he figured she must not have been much of a drinker since she was affected this much.
When they finished their meals, Caroline was stumbling trying to leave the restaurant. Klaus grabbed a hold of her, leading her out so that people wouldn't notice.
He took her to his car, insisting that he drive her home because for one she was in no shape to walk herself up the stairs and he didn't pay his driver to take care of drunks.
It took him ten minutes to get Caroline to explain where she lived. Although, her drunken state was rather adorable he was tired and annoyed. He unlocked her apartment using the keys he found in her purse and helped her inside.
Once inside he found her bedroom and helped her onto the bed. He felt embarrassed when she asked him to help her change.
"Please can you get my nighty in that drawer right there." She was rather coherent despite her drunken state.
She pointed towards the dresser that was placed on the side of her bed. He rummaged through the drawers and pulled out the first thing he saw and tossed it over to her.
"Help me put it on." She asked him.
"Caroline. I can't." He closed his eyes trying to fight the attraction he felt in his lower region.
She began to peel off her clothes not particularly upset that Klaus wasn't helping. He found himself unable to pull his eyes away from her sporting only a lacy black bra and panties. He quickly ran over to her and helped her cover up. He would not lose control.
As soon as she was dressed he went to help lay her down, but was almost knocked on his ass as she raced to the bathroom to throw up.
He then realized that he couldn't leave her alone. He loosened his tie, kicked his shoes off and walked into the bathroom to hold her hair.
AN: Thank you for the awesome responses! I love it. Keep it coming and you shall receive another update soon.
Also, is anyone willing to make a poster for this fanfic so I can promote it on my tumblr?
Thank you guys!
