A/N: Wow! I'm blown away by all the support this story is getting. Thank you so so much for reading and reviewing, it's made this such an amazing experience.
This chapter is dedicated to KlausNCaroline and Inge/Swinty81. KlausNCaroline has been so amazing and supportive and I think a lot of people reading this story found it though her, and Swinty81 made this amazing new graphic that's now the cover pic for this story. If you're on tumblr, you should follow them, they're good people.
Finally, today is election day in the U.S. so to all the Americans reading this, if you haven't already, go vote!
"Tyler?" She gasped.
"Caroline?" He responded, equally baffled. "What are you doing here?"
Jeremy bounded up the stairs behind Tyler.
"Hey, I've got some more glasses and the second bot- Caroline?"
"Jeremy?" She exclaimed. She looked back and forth to him and Tyler, neither seemed to have an explanation. What were they doing here? How did they know him?
Jeremy looked to Kol. "What's going on?"
"Hell if I know." Kol muttered, taking a seat. "But judging by Nik's face, the party's just getting started."
A vein was pulsing in Klaus's neck, his entire face clenched in anger as he looked straight at Tyler.
Tyler. He never called the Lockwood kid by his first name. In fact, he had entirely forgotten what it was. But she had told him all about her Tyler, the cheating ex who just happened to be in the same city where he was training the Lockwood boy. What were the chances that she knew more than one Tyler studying in Johannesburg? Why had he not thought of it earlier?
She knew the Gilbert boy too. That meant... He couldn't even begin to think about what that meant. Right now all he knew is that stupid little puppy he had spent the last year training had been cheating on her the entire time. Kol's sniper, her name was something with an H. Heidi? Hadley? That girl was always in Lockwood's bed, in his apartment, sitting on his kitchen counter without any pants, drinking out of the carton like she lived there. It all started to add up, the little details he never bothered to notice. The silly little care packages and letters Lockwood was always shoving aside, the calls he would hit the ignore button for, it was all her.
Jeremy took the bottle and glasses out of Tyler's hands and set them on the table.
"Tyler? Did you bring her here?" He asked.
"No... I .. what's going on?" Tyler stuttered out.
Caroline felt Klaus let go of her hand and she watched in horror as he stormed across the boat to Tyler, who was nervously inching back until he hit the railing.
Klaus's fist connected with Tyler's cheek with enough force to knock him backwards and off the side of the boat.
Caroline screamed.
Hayley mumbled something under her breath as she scurried over to the side of the boat to make sure he was conscious.
Tyler popped up from the water.
"What the hell?" He sputtered, rubbing his cheek.
"Fantastic" Kol said, slapping Jeremy on the back. He popped the cork on one of the champagne bottles and took a big swig from it before passing it to Jeremy. "Drinks with the show?"
Jeremy took the bottle from Kol and warily watched Klaus as he took a long sip. Kol's brother looked fucking scary and he would not want to be the one to be on his bad side.
Caroline shoved past them to look over the edge of the boat. Tyler was chest deep in water, looking up at the boat he was just tossed out of. She glanced over at Klaus, who was boiling with rage.
"I don't ever want to see your face again, you little shit." Klaus screamed down at Tyler. "We're fucking done as soon as we get off this boat. You hear me? Done! You work for Kol now. You stay out of my sight or I'll kill you myself."
Tyler looked up at Caroline, trying to piece it together.
"Caroline, whats going on?" He asked.
"I could ask you the same." She stammered out.
"No!" Klaus shouted down at him again. "You do not get to say her name and you do not speak to her. Don't even look at her."
Tyler nodded slowly, finally understanding the motivation behind the punch.
"Get him up." Klaus motioned to the other men on dock.
He grabbed Caroline's arm, pulling her towards the door that would lead them below deck.
She felt like everything was spinning as she felt herself being led away. What was going on? What were they doing here?
Kol came scurrying behind them.
"Your favorite puppy, Niklaus? What did I do to deserve this?"
"Just keep him away from me, Kol. I spent a year training that little bastard, I'd hate to see it all go to waste from me strangling him."
"I hope you're not expecting a trade. I've grown rather fond of the Gilbert boy. We have a, what do you call it, a bromance?"
"Keep your Gilbert and take the Lockwood boy. Just leave me alone. I need to talk to her."
Kol nodded and turned around to go crack a few jokes at Tyler's busted face.
Caroline followed Klaus down the tiny staircase down below the deck. He found a bedroom and pulled her in closing the door behind them.
"Sit." He motioned to the bed.
She sat, watching him pace around the room.
"If you expect me to apologize, I'm not going to." He said.
She wanted to be mad. Really, she did. Aside from the whole cheating thing, Tyler had been really good to her. He helped her survive. He was the one who shot Damon, kept him from killing her. He helped her get back to her old self. She had so many happy memories with him. But at the same time, he broke her heart. He crushed her by doing what she was so sure he would never do. It was a tiny bit satisfying to have someone crack him across the face for it.
"Why did you do it?" She asked.
"Lockwood is the Tyler you spoke of. The boy who cheated on you. The reason you were on the plane."
"Yes."
"I wanted to hurt him. He hurt you so I hurt him. That's how this works."
"You don't need to do that. You don't need to hurt people."
"Of course I do."
"It doesn't make me feel any better." She offered. Maybe a little, she thought.
"It makes me feel better. I should have done more. I'm not going to smile in his face knowing he did that to you."
"Why is he here? What does he have to do with you and your brother?" She asked. "And Jeremy?"
"I'll explain." He said. "But first. I have to know something."
He was burning circles in the carpet pacing around.
"Did you meet Gilbert through Lockwood? Were they friends, and that's how you knew his name as well?"
"No, I've known Jeremy my whole life." She said. "Why?"
He shook his head. This couldn't be happening. Not her. He held out a little hope. Just because she grew up with them didn't mean she was from a council family. She might have nothing to do with it. And she didn't look 25. She could be younger. Lockwood was only 23, and Gilbert was younger. She had to be younger. Their secrecy was notorious, they never ever let anyone under that age know a single thing about it. If she was under the age, she wasn't a spy. If she was under the age, she really did kiss him because she wanted to. Not because she was trying to get close to him to sell him out to the council.
She would end up hating him the second she found out, it was more than likely that she was from one of those families. She wasn't a Gilbert or a Lockwood, He prayed she wasn't a Fell or a Salvatore, they were the worst.
"You grew up in Mystic Falls, Virginia?" He asked, already knowing the answer.
She nodded.
"I need you to tell me the truth." He said, picking up her hands, his fingers holding her pulse point, a reminder that he could always tell.
The tone had changed. He wasn't the Klaus who kissed her on the beach or the one who swore to protect her. The tiny threat in his voice, in the way he held on to her reminded her of who he was the first time they spoke. He was so dangerous, so volatile.
She nodded again.
"What is your last name, and how old are you?"
She shot him a confused look. It was a strange thing to ask.
"Forbes."
"Shit." he muttered.
His heart sank. She was one of them. He had come across Liz Forbes before, she was much tougher than she let on, and now he saw the shared features between the two women. He had been so vulnerable, so personal with her. Liz Forbes's daughter? How could he be so foolish?
"And I'm 23." She added.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
She didn't know.
She wasn't a spy.
It was real.
She would hate him as soon as he told her, she would beg him to let her go. She would use everything she knew about him against him. She would laugh with her mother, with all the Salvatores and Fells about how stupid he was, how he told her all those things. But for a moment, she had felt something. She kissed him back on that beach. He wished he could just have kept her there forever.
"Klaus what's going on? What does my name have to do with anything?"
He shook his head. "I don't want to be the one to tell you, you'll hate me for it."
"You saved my life today. You're keeping your promises, keeping me safe. You just knocked my ex boyfriend off the side of the boat for cheating on me. Not that I condone violence or anything, but that was kinda amazing. I don't think hating you is possible."
He exhaled and took her hands.
"Everything I said, it's still true. I ... I care about you. I'll keep you safe."
He regretted the words as soon as he said them. Not because they weren't true. Because they were, but it wouldn't matter. Shut up, stop saying it. She'll only laugh harder with them. Why do you keep making these promises to her? She won't want you. Not after this.
She looked at him, trying to figure out what he couldn't bring himself to say.
"Can you just kiss me one more time?" He asked "Before you won't want to anymore?"
"What's so bad that you don't want to tell me?"
"Caroline, please."
She moved closer to him and kissed him softly.
He held on to her tight, desperate to make it last, not wanting to face the moment when she broke away.
He kept kissing her, pulling her towards him so she was pressed against him, his hand moving again along her lower back, trying to remind her. You're safe. I won't hurt you and I won't leave. Just stay here with me. When he felt her start to pull away, he franticly tried to get in a few more kisses, trailing down her jaw and neck, getting in one last taste. This was it. This was all he'd get.
"Tell me." She said, pulling away slightly.
He did. He told her everything about the council, about how they were organized, how her parents were part of it, his family's greatest enemy, another powerful organization bent on destroying them. How he knew more about her parents than she did. He told her about how they were poaching potential council members to join them, how they scouted Lockwood and Gilbert. He told her about how they would sit her down on her 25th birthday and reveal everything, expect her to join. How at 30 she would be a full member, with more responsibilities and voting power in the council.
"30." She whispered.
"Caroline?" He asked. She had nodded along calmly as he told her everything. He was waiting for her to lash out, scream at him. She hadn't had the reaction he was expecting.
"I can't believe they lied to me my whole life. I thought I had... 30?"
"Caroline, what's 30?" He asked, trying to figure out what she was fixating on.
"The first time he... did something. I threw him a party for his 30th. He didn't want it. I thought it was just because he didn't want his inappropriately younger girlfriend reminding him of his age. Now it makes sense. No wonder he was so stressed out."
Klaus blinked. He had been so wrapped up in the realization that she came from a council family. He hadn't thought about it since they got back on the boat. He had been planning on finding a way to kill him, even with only a first name to go on.
He hadn't put the pieces together right away. Of course. Mystic Falls. It wasn't exactly a common first name. The same Damon who hurt her was the one he had been coming to blows with for years. Currently number three on his personal hit list right after the Fell brothers, but right now he was switching them. Damon Salvatore was now number 1; he was a dead man walking.
"Damon Salvatore?" He asked.
The look on her face was all the confirmation he needed.
It turns out she already had dated someone as murderous as him. Damon's body count rivaled his own, and his ambition as he rose through the ranks of the council had been prolific. Few people on the Council had as much blood on their hands as the elder Salvatore brother, and none of them had accrued it so quickly.
The thought of that vile, disgusting council member with his hands all over her made him clench his fists until his knuckles cracked. Of all the people in the world, it had to be him? He felt numbness wash over him, a feeling he always got when he geared up to cause serious pain.
"Damon Salvatore?" He roared.
He was practically snarling as he stomped around the room. She was getting a glimpse of the wolf inside him and it terrified her. He looked like he was ready to rip someone apart with his bare hands.
She backed away, afraid of the rage building inside him.
He punched a wall, creating a crack in the hard plastic that cut though his hand.
She grabbed a pillow off the bed and held it in front of her as she moved slowly towards the opposite wall.
He punched the wall again and again, leaving smears of blood from where his skin split at the knuckles.
Visions of Damon Salvatore flashed through his head. Damon Salvatore hitting her, holding her down, forcing himself on her, throwing her in a ditch and leaving her for dead. It made bile rise up in his chest, it made him see red. He couldn't stand the thought of it, the images that wouldn't go away.
He kept hitting and kicking the wall until a hole caved in, exposing the other bedroom next to it. He didn't feel any pain as his hands bled from hitting over and over. All he felt was anger, rage flooding his mind as he couldn't stop the images from overtaking him. Images of Salvatore inflicting pain on her and getting away with it. He wanted to drown him in his own blood, cut him in half, feed him to sharks. No, that would be too quick. He needed to suffer, after what he did to her.
"Stop it!" She screamed.
He looked down, noticing the blood on his hands and started laughing.
She flinched.
It was a scary laugh, devoid of humor, she could tell he was contemplating something horrible.
He ran a hand down his face. He was boiling with anger and at the same time, it was like someone just handed him a christmas present. He had spent the past few days dreaming of ripping apart the Damon who raped her. Now he finds out it's a man he already hates? And he knows where he lives. Fantastic.
"Klaus?"
"I'm going to kill him." He muttered.
"That's not necessary." She said.
"Oh, yes it is." He laughed.
There was something going on behind his eyes that terrified her. He looked wild and dangerous. He was planning something.
"I don't want you to do this, please." She begged.
"Why?" he screamed at her. "He's not so bad now that you know you're part of it just like him? You want me to deliver you right back to Mystic Falls? So you can run back to all your Council friends? Tell them how pathetic the Wolf was, saving you, chasing after you, telling you those things about himself? They'll love it. I'm sure you'll all have a good laugh about it."
"I don't understand." She said, blinking back tears.
"There's nothing to understand. You're going to pick them. You're going to be one of them. And like a fool, I told you things, things I don't tell anyone."
"I didn't know anything about this!"
"Well now you do, so what's it going to be?"
"Why are Tyler and Jeremy working for you, if they're from Council families?"
"We approached them before they knew. Once they understood, they decided to stay with us."
"Why? Their families..."
"We offer things their families couldn't. I don't expect you to make the same choice."
"Why do I have to make one at all? I don't even know whats going on between us, and now you tell me this? I don't know what to do about it."
"There's a war going on! I'm on one side, your parents on the other. Don't you get that? You can't have both! You can't stand in the middle."
"You can't ask me to choose you over everything else, even with them lying to me. I just met you. I can't just turn my back on everything for you. I hardly know anything about you. "
"You should have turned your back on them years ago! They did it to you! I can't send you back there. Those people... Caroline, I won't let you walk back into that. You're not going back to Mystic Falls. I'm not going to let you. That town is a death trap."
He reached out to her and she moved out of his reach. She was afraid all over again, as if all the progress they had made had been wiped away. He knew she would hate him after he told her. It wasn't fair. For once he did the right thing, and he was being punished for it. He wanted to scream and throw things. She would hate him for it, for holding her back as long as he could manage. But he wouldn't just drop her off, knowing people like Damon Salvatore prowled around her, knowing that she slept in the same house as Liz Forbes, someone his mother had been meaning to get rid of for months. What if she sent a bomb in? Or a sniper? He couldn't stand the thought of her walking around Mystic Falls with a target on her back.
She glared at him. So much for not being a hostage. Now she finds out that her family and friends are all part of some secret club she never knew about. That they were his enemies. And now he's freaked out because he opened up to her and he thinks she's just going to go back to them and dish all the details over cosmos like an episode of Sex and the City. He thought she would laugh with her friends about all the personal things he told her, about their moments alone. He thought that little of her. That just because of what she found out, that the feelings she had tried so hard not to have would just all disappear. He made her crazy. She was going to be stuck now, all because of his ego.
"So I guess I'm stuck with you. So much for having a choice."
"If it was anywhere else..."
She just glared at him.
"You're not a prisoner, Caroline. I just... it's not safe."
She crossed her arms and continued glaring.
He felt the ice in her glare and looked down. What did she expect of him? To send her right back into the lion's den? Why couldn't she see that it was for her own protection?
"I'll give you some time alone." He muttered.
She watched him stalk out of the room, slamming the door behind him. It was the first time in days he wasn't right beside her.
She waited to feel relieved that he had given her time alone. After all, hadn't she spent the last few days reminding herself just how nice it would be to finally be rid of him? So why did watching him leave make her feel so empty?
Kol approached his brother, who was rinsing blood off his hands in the sink at the bar.
"Kill her already?" Kol smirked.
Klaus just glared at him.
"Is that a no?"
"Leave it, Kol."
Kol shrugged and picked up a bottle of liquor, pouring two glasses of it straight. He held the bottle over Klaus's hands, waiting.
"Go ahead." Klaus muttered.
Kol poured it over the cuts and Klaus grit his teeth at the sting. He could go downstairs to get some real antiseptic, but then he would risk running into her. He didn't want to face her, the way she glared at him, the way everything had turned to shit once they got on the boat. This was better for now.
They each picked up a glass. The little ritual came without having to think about it. The same since they were teenagers. Tap it on the table, clink glasses, tap on the table again, and down the whole thing in one sip. Kol poured another for each of them and they repeated the motions. Tap, click, tap, slurp.
With the second glass burning down to his stomach he was ready to talk to his brother about it.
"She's a Forbes. She used to date Lockwood, he was going behind her back with your sniper."
"Small world." Kol muttered. "Want me to kill her or would you rather do it yourself?"
"Touch one hair on her head and I'll make you beg for death." Klaus growled.
"Still attached, Wolfy? Even with her being a Council kid? Keeping her alive is only going to make things messier."
"Why wasn't I given a file on her? I would have recognized her face."
"So thats why she looked so familiar..."
"You must have seen her when you were scouting. Why didn't I have a file?"
"I only gave you files for the ones we thought had potential. I remember her now. She was weak, clumsy. Always in the hospital. Besides, she seemed kind of shallow and useless."
Klaus glared at him. "She's not. You weren't doing your research. Her photo should have been on my desk last year along with the Lockwood boy, the younger Salvatore and all those Gilberts."
"What is so special about this one?" Kol asked. "I don't see it."
"I'm not going to warn you again, Kol."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Serious bodily harm. No problem. So what are you going to do with her?"
"I don't know. She needs to stay with us until I can surprise a few choice people by rising from the dead. After that, it depends on what she wants."
"And what if what she wants is to join up with the council? Tell them everything she knows about us?"
"I'll deal with that. You don't. If you even think about harming her, I swear."
"Ok, I get it. God, Niklaus, I've never seen you so ruffled before. Are you going to tell me what makes this one so special? Your women always seemed so... interchangeable? disposable?"
"Well she's not, so drop it. And no talk around her about my previous indiscretions."
"You think you can get her to join up? She's be a terrible solider, but I guess she'd make a halfway decent lure. I could use a little blonde distraction for some of those Russian jobs."
"She's not doing anything like that. I want her safe."
"Boring." Kol muttered. "So who's going to get the delightful surprise of being visited by your ghost?"
"I have a few in mind."
"I love a good haunting." Kol smirked.
Caroline hesitantly made her way back onto the dock. She looked around but didn't see Klaus anywhere. Thankfully, Tyler and Hayley weren't around either. Just a bunch of scary looking men with big guns. And Jeremy.
"Jeremy!" She waved.
He smiled and walked across the deck to wrap her in a big hug.
"Care! I can't believe this! How did you end up here?"
"It's a long story." She sighed.
"Are you... are you dating the boss?"
"Klaus?" She shook her head, thinking of him back in that room, bloodied hands. "No, I just met him."
"It didn't look like that. He looked very... protective of you."
"We kinda bonded quickly. I don't really know. How are you?"
Jeremy noticed the way she dodged answering any questions about Klaus. He wondered what she wasn't letting on.
"Oh, fine. I guess you know the truth now."
"Yeah, Klaus filled me in. How long have you been with them?"
"Almost a year. Same as Ty I think."
"Oh."
"Sorry. I didn't know he.. I just found out."
"It's fine." she shrugged. "You know, Elena thinks you've been using again. She's worried sick about you."
"Yeah, it was an easy way to explain me always being gone, so I just kinda went with it. I didn't mean to make her worry."
"You look good, Jere. You're healthy, right?"
"Yeah. I feel really good. I don't touch the stuff anymore. This has been really good for me."
"Are you happy?"
"Yeah. I don't know, it sounds crazy, but this just works for me. At first it was a good way to get back at my family, but now, it's kinda like I found a new one. One that doesn't always look at me like the fuckup druggie little brother. Kol's awesome to work for. Best job I ever had."
"What kind of stuff... What do they have you doing?"
"You know I can't talk abut it. But nothing I don't want to do. This was my choice."
She nodded. It was a lot to take in at once. But she was relieved that Jeremy seemed like he was there of his own free will.
"Care." He said quietly. "I know it's kinda selfish, but I hope if you decide to be part of all this, whats going on, I hope you pick this side, not the council."
"Why did you?"
"It's more honest. They don't pretend to be something they're not, they don't lie to you about what's going on. And we get paid really well. Plus..."
"Plus?"
"Ok, so Kol met me when he was scoping out people who would possibly be inducted into the council in the next few years. He could have just killed me, but instead he convinced me to join him. He saw me as worth more alive than dead. That's pretty cool, right?"
"You're weird, Jere."
"Maybe, but at least I'm fun, right? Remember the parties we used to have at the falls?"
She smiled at the memory.
"Yeah, Elena always ended up having to drag me you and Katherine out of there. The way you used to dare me to do shots with you all night, we'd be too drunk to even walk home. I think Stefan carried me out of those parties more often than not."
"And you'd always be sneaking off with Matt."
"Like you weren't doing the same with Vicky. Remember how we'd do the walk of shame home from the Donovan house together?"
"Like every weekend." He laughed.
Klaus watched as she laughed with the Gilbert boy. They seemed to be reminiscing about something. He saw the boy nudge her playfully, teasing her about something. It made him seethe with jealousy.
She looked happy, relaxed. Like talking to Gilbert made her forget all about the armed guards on the boat, about how he had just told her about all the secrets her family spent a lifetime keeping from her. Why couldn't she be that relaxed around him? why did she always have to flinch away? She didn't, back on the beach. She didn't when she slept next to him on the island, in the cave. But everything was different now.
He saw her laugh about something and swat at the boy. He took a step forward, wanting to go to her, but he held back. She would be happier if he stayed away, There was no way she wanted him now. Not after everything she knew.
She looked over and spotted him.
He watched as she excused herself and walked over to him. The Gilbert boy nodded to him briefly before slipping away to go find Kol.
Good, keep Kol occupied. He thought. I don't need him butting his nose into this.
She was marching over to him with purpose. There was a fire in her eyes that reminded him of when she first woke up on the island. She was angry. He was hoping she would cool off after their last conversation, come to terms with the fact that she'd have to stay with him a little longer than anticipated, but it seemed as if her anger only continued to brew and it was about to boil over.
He looked around and was glad to see that the guards and the Gilbert boy were all gone. Good. He knew what was coming and it would not bode well for his reputation for his employees to watch him get chewed apart by a little girl.
She shoved him as hard as she could. Which was not very hard at all. He didn't even stumble a tiny bit.
"Don't you ever do that again!" She screamed.
He looked down at her, confused. Do what, exactly? What was she so mad about? He had told her everything.
"Do what?"
"You know what."
"I told you as soon as I figured out who you were." He protested. "Well, I had some words with Lockwood, then I told you."
"That's not what I'm talking about." She growled.
"What, then?"
"This." She said, picking up one of his hands.
He looked down at the cuts
"Oh." he muttered.
"That's all you can say? Oh?"
"I might have gotten a little carried away. I'll pay Kol to have the wall fixed."
She shook her head, unable to formulate words for what he was so clearly not getting.
"You're that mad about the wall?"
"You were so scary... I thought...I thought you were going to..."
"Shit." He mumbled, finally getting it.
He had been so absorbed in his anger that he had barely noticed she was in the room. Of course. He knew her history. When a man lost his temper around her it meant he was going to hit her. He slipped up, forgot himself, let her see the wolf inside him instead of the well behaved, controlled person he tried so hard to be for her. He was used to being around people who expected that kind of behavior from him. He was used to not caring if he scared the hell out of them, or if he ended up hurting someone. The guilt clawing at him for making her feel threatened by him was an entirely new feeling. Didn't he like that fear when he first found her? It had been fun. What had changed?
"Sweetheart-"
"Don't call me that."
"Caroline." He corrected himself. "I apologize. I didn't mean to frighten you."
"Right. And next time, its 'I wasn't aiming for you' and after that it's 'you shouldn't have provoked me like that' and then it's-"
"No!" He shouted.
She took a defensive step back. He winced, knowing he just made it worse by raising his voice again.
"No." He said, this time much softer. "That is never going to happen. I'm never going to hurt you."
"You hurt people all the time."
"I do. And I'm going to do more than hurt anyone who's ever raised a hand to you. You know that."
"I just keep waiting for it to happen." She whispered. "I thought in there, you were going to-"
Every time his fist hit the wall, she pictured the next swing connecting with her.
"Never. I'm never going to hurt you. You're safe with me. You have to believe me."
"I thought I did, but, seeing you like that..." She trailed off.
He looked down. Again, his impulse had been his downfall.
"How can I acquit myself? How can I show you that it's never going to be like that?"
"I don't know." She sighed. "I just want to go home."
"I'm going to keep you safe. You're better off with us than in Mystic Falls. It's not safe there."
"I'd rather be in danger than be a hostage."
"You're not a hostage!" He protested
"Really? Then let me go."
He shook his head, growing more frustrated. Did she really value her own life so little? Or was it just the prospect of spending more time in his company that made her want to run into certain danger?
Kol popped up from below deck, and they stopped their conversation, neither one wanting him to hear.
"We'll be at the marina in a few minutes. I'm to take you straight to the boss lady or face a most cruel and unusual punishment."
"And what would that be?" Klaus scoffed.
"Hell if I know. Probably having to sit through another one of her brunches."
"Make Lockwood stay out of my sight until we get in the car and drive away. I'm serious Kol. Do whatever you want with him and his training as long as he never crosses my path."
"You don't have to-" Caroline protested.
"Yes I do." He cut her off. "Actually, Kol, tell him he's free to approach me whenever he wants. Let him see what happens if he shows his face."
"Klaus!" She protested.
Kol pointed to the docks ahead of them.
"Almost home. I'm going to call and let her know we're on our way."
Klaus groaned. He didn't want to deal with this already. Obviously she would be upset at him for making her worry, she would fuss all over him and smother him. But what about Caroline? He knew his mother wouldn't welcome her with open arms. It was going to be a nightmare.
"Where is he taking us?" Caroline asked.
He sighed. "It seems as if you're going to have to meet my mother."
