New chapter :) I was busy with school, but I hope I will be able to upload once a week, no promises though.
Ouat-in-vampirediaries suggested the Museum of Natural History in New York as the story location (thanks again). It would propably fit so for all of you that want a specific location I guess it would be this, though I won't really acknowledge it in the story, due to my lack of knowledge and I don't want you to be dissappointed when things aren't adding up.
But now unto the actual chapter :)
Chapter 4: The Dinner
"1,2,3,4,5…. " Klaus spoke into his mic, testing the connection. "Okay Bonnie if she doesn't show up in the next minute I will tell Shane that my fiancée got shot by her ex today."
Caroline was running late and it was testing his patience. He still had to brief her and he was afraid that she would ruin all his efforts. Although she did a good job earlier this day. Whatever.
"Alright connections there. And calm down it's only half past seven." Bonnie who was once again sitting in the surveillance van tried to reason. "If you're already under that much pressure what will happen when you two ma…"
"Another word and I will tear out your liver" Did she really have to shove that in his face every single time?
He could practically hear Bonnie rolling her eyes. Letting out an exasperated sigh he scanned the street once again, noticing a cab that pulled over. Caroline was sitting in it. Finally.
"Okay, she's coming, she's coming… she's not leaving the car?" Klaus frowned. Why didn't she leave that bloody car?
"What's up?" Bonnie inquired.
"I really don't know"
Caroline pulled down the car window and signalled to Klaus to come over.
"Is the tip part of the expenses?" She wanted to know.
"What?"
"If the tip is part of the expenses. I want to tip the driver, but is the state paying for that or should I not put it on the receipt?" She looked at him like he was stupid for not understanding right away.
Instead of answering he just pulled out some cash, handed it to the driver and opened the car door for Caroline.
"The tip is being taken care of. Now could we just please go inside, sweetheart?"
She left the car and handed him the receipt. She noticed that he sounded slightly annoyed and felt bad.
"Have you been waiting long?" He ignored her.
"I'm going to give you a wireless mic" He stated, handing her the device. "Here that goes into the ear, ok?"
"Yeah."
"With that Bonnie is able to hear everything what is being said on the table and can give you instructions if needed."
"Understood" After all she wasn't stupid, right?
"Hey, Caroline" She heard Bonnie's cheery voice.
"HEY Bonnie! Can you hear me?"
"Yes, very clear and very loud."
"Well, you don't need to shout in it, love, this is after all an undercover mission and not an order at the drive-thru"
Klaus said before Caroline could respond.
"Sorry" she mumbled. "But isn't it unbelievable what we're able to do with technology these days?" She quickly found back to her normal peachy self.
"Well first the steam engines and then wireless mics, who would have thought of that? Can we now please go into the restaurant, love?"
"Yes, of course"
Klaus put his hand on her lower back, guiding her to the entrance. Both were trying to ignore the warm feeling where their bodies touched.
A blonde hostess came to greet them.
"Bonsoir!" Her name tag identified her as Camille.
"Good evening. Atticus Shane has made a reservation for three?" Klaus said.
"Yes, your table will be ready shortly. Do you want an aperitif?" Caroline wasn't sure if her French accent was real.
"Thank you, sweetheart"
Both followed Camille to the bar. When she left Klaus started to fill Caroline in.
"Okay, listen Caroline. Shane knows me as Nicholas Morgan, that's my pseudonym. That means during the whole mission you will have to call me Nicholas."
"Okay… Wait isn't it better when I call you Nik?" He had to stop himself from smiling. She was catching on quickly and of course she didn't realise that Nik was his sister's nickname for him.
"And how do I call you during non-mission time?" She realised, that she didn't know his name, even though he knew hers.
"Klaus. But that won't happen anyway, after this evening our cooperation stops" he ignored the feeling of sadness at that thought. She had caused him nothing but trouble this far.
He noticed that she was taking notes of what he said, furiously writing in a little green notebook.
"What do you need that book for?" He sounded pissed.
"Oh, that? I can remember stuff better when I wrote it down."
"Do you want to read out of it for desert? Or do you just want to hand Shane a memo?"
Caroline opened her mouth to tell him that he didn't need to worry about that, when Camille returned telling them that there table was ready.
Caroline sat down making a loud squeaking noise while she pulled the chair closer to the table, causing people to look at her weirdly. She blushed.
Shane chose this moment to enter the restaurant.
"God, why is he already here? You haven't even briefed me."
"Caroline" Klaus spoke gently.
"I'm not prepared." Caroline hated not being prepared and not knowing every little detail.
"We'll manage. It's just dinner. You'll be silent, smiling and chewing your food. I'll do the talking"
"Don't worry, Caroline. You can do that" Bonnie reassured her.
Caroline had survived the first thirty minutes, smiling and eating, while Klaus and Shane spend the time with seemingly pointless chitchat. Finally they got to the point.
"I would have to see the mask first, of course." Shane said.
"Of course. If you want I could bring it to your mansion tomorrow?" He hoped to finally get the much needed invitation.
"Caroline, do you know the mask as well?" Shane avoided Klaus.
He hadn't addressed her all dinner and know she didn't knew what she was supposed to say.
"Caroline and I restored it together." Klaus saved her. She nodded in agreement.
"You're working at the restoration department as well?"
"Yes. That's where we met." He hoped he wouldn't regret saying that.
"Fascinating. What was the first piece on that you worked together?"
Yep, regretting it already. He had to come up with something quickly.
"The statue of Anubis. From the grave chambers. Of Ramses." He slowly said watching Shane's expression carefully.
"Which one?"
How many where there? "The third."
"Strange. I can't remember an Anubis statue. And I visited his grave chambers myself back in 2002. after it's discovery." Shit.
"What I meant…"
"Was the fourth, of course." Caroline quickly intervened when she noticed that Klaus was absolutely clueless what he was supposed to say. "Ramses III. was digged up in 2002, but at this point the fourth had been in museums for over 100 years. But it was assumed that there was an Anubis in both grave chambers, just that in the case of Ramses III it was probably stolen by grave robbers."
"That's how it must have been" Shane said, the irritation leaving his face.
"Yeah, that's my Nik. Always confusing the Ramses." Caroline smiled brightly at Shane hoping he bought the story.
In this moment Camille came to their table turning to Shane:
"Excuse me, Mr. Shane. You have a phone call. It's your wife, she says the alarm went on again."
"We had the same problem last week, something is wrong with the system." Shane sighed, excusing himself.
When he was gone Caroline turned to Klaus.
"I'm sorry I know I wasn't supposed to say anything, but I figured it would help more than hurt"
"No, it was quite alright, sweetheart." He wouldn't admit how relieved he was that she had spoken up. Maybe it was good to her have her with him after all. She seemed to know quite a lot.
"That was amazing. Caroline, you're a big help." Bonnie said, slightly mad at Klaus that he was so discouraging.
"Well than, don't forget to mention that Caroline Forbes helped, to solve this case. Who knows maybe there is a job in it for me?" She winked at Klaus, who looked a little horrified. She continued "But isn't that a little bit too much effort for art thieveries?"
"That is standard procedure." Klaus tried to play it down. Caroline frowned.
"Klaus, tell her." Bonnie demanded.
"Tell her what?" Caroline stared at Klaus.
"Nothing" She continued to stare at him with an expression that said "seriously?!".
"We believe that Shane wants to sell the formula of a newly developed nerve gas to foreign terrorists. With that you could annihilate a city like New York in 24 hours." Bonnie told Caroline.
She started choking on her wine.
"You alright, love?" Klaus managed to look slightly concerned.
"Shit I think I lost my earphone. It must have rolled under the table." Now it was Klaus turn to look at her. Rolling his eyes he got up and bend under the table searching for the device.
"Do you see it?"
"Yes, got it." He came up again.
A waiter that came by at that moment saw Klaus on one knee in front of Caroline (he was handing her the earphone back) and exclaimed:
"Sacre bloue, a proposal."
The people at the tables around them looked over and started clapping.
"No,no,…" Caroline said, her face turning crimson.
"Merde, she said no."
"What, no, no. What I said was no, no, that's not a proposal, because we are already engaged" Now it was the waiter's turn to feel embarrassed.
"Thank you, now please enjoy your food." Klaus said, trying to get the people to stop staring at him. He really didn't want to have the fact that he was fake-engaged thrown at him all the time.
"Right, cause it's delicious… open your mouth honey" Caroline said, holding a fork in front of his mouth. He took it to keep up appearances. The people turned away.
A minute later Shane returned.
"Sorry for the inconvenience"
"No problem" Klaus said starting to feel weird.
"Is everything all right with you?" Shane asked, noticing red spots appearing on the face of the man in front of him.
"Where there peanuts inside your food, love?" He asked realising what had happened.
The next second he started coughing.
"I'm so, so sorry" Caroline said, while calling an ambulance.
Hope you liked it, let me know what you think :) Reviews keep me motivated ;)