A/N: I won't even apologize for the late update. I already know I slacked off. With Christmas break coming up, I'm hoping I will have more time to update. Anyways, onward.
Caroline was passing all of her classes with flying colors. Professor Haughton loved Caroline's project and told her she couldn't wait until it was finished. That encouraged Caroline to expand on her project somehow, but she was not quite sure how she wanted to do that. She was thinking about this when her phone rang.
"Hello?"
She hadn't looked to see who called as she was currently trying gather her camera and locate her bag. It was a bright and sunny Saturday and she wanted to take advantage of it.
"Caroline? It's Elena."
She froze where she was. She had not heard that voice in months. Of course, she never outright told her friends back in Mystic Falls that she was moving or why she'd stopped talking to them. She had only hoped they would get the hint and give her some time.
"Elena! How have you been?"
She was sitting on her bed now, absently twirling a large chunk of her hair.
"I've been good! I've missed you like crazy! Well, we all have. Do you think you'll come for Thanksgiving?"
Caroline opened and closed her mouth, trying to force words out of her mouth. Finally, she sighed and closed her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Elena. I don't think-"
"It's fine, Care. We get it. I'll talk to you later."
The room was filled with an overwhelming silence. Her heart hurt and she was breathing far too fast. She could hear her blood rushing through her ears. Then she was crying.
She wanted to go back to Mystic Falls. She really did. But Mystic Falls reminded her of her mother and her failed relationship with her father. It reminded her of everything she had been before her life changed forever.
Caroline gripped her blanket tightly as she pulled it over her head, sobbing until she thought her eyes might fall out of her head. She was exhausted in so many ways. She thought she had been doing well lately. She'd been smiling, laughing, and talking more, but today reminded her that the pain she felt was eternal. It would never go away.
"She said no, just like you said she would."
Klaus smiled to himself. "Good. That makes this a lot easier. I would like for you, Bonnie, and the rest of your friends to come here to Mayberry for Thanksgiving. She might not want to come back home, but perhaps home could come to her."
"That's very nice of you, Klaus. Of course, we will be there. We can surprise her the day before. She's going to love it. I'll call you Wednesday when we land."
"Of course. Goodbye, Elena."
He was excited. Thanksgiving was fast approaching and while he knew Caroline would not want to go back to Mystic Falls, he figured it might be better if she finally saw her friends. The way he saw it, she might either love it or hate it, though Klaus was never a person to back down from a challenge.
"Who was that?" A voice asked.
Klaus looked up and saw Marcel in the doorway with that same broad smile on his face.
"Can you keep a secret?" Klaus replied cryptically.
Marcel let out a soft laugh and closed the door behind him, settling down on the sofa across from Klaus' desk. "To my grave, Klaus. What is it?"
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He would have to be certain Marcel wouldn't share any part of his plan with Davina. She was a lovely person but her ability to hold secrets was weaker than a plastic bag holding twenty cinder blocks.
"I've invited Caroline's friends here for Thanksgiving."
A look of understanding passed through his best friend's eyes. "You want it to be a surprise," he answered. "My lips are sealed."
Caroline finally got out and got some photography done. She went through the woods, but stuck close to the highway to avoid getting lost. Being outside with her camera distracted her from her earlier feelings and she was glad she was able to pull herself out of her bed to ensure the day was not a total loss.
She was walking back to her apartment when her cellphone rang for the second time that day. Peering down at the caller ID, she let out a breath of relief upon seeing it was Klaus calling her. He told her to dress nicely as he would be taking her to dinner that night.
2 hours later found Caroline getting out of a much needed bath and applying her make up while steamrollers took residence in her hair. A bright red dress was draped over her bed and she'd dug her favorite black heels out of her closet. She eyed the time on her phone as she finished her makeup and swore. Klaus was supposed to be arriving in ten minutes.
She quickly pulled on her dress and ran lotion across her arms and legs. Just as she was pulling on her heels, she heard a knock on her front door. Giving herself a onceover in the mirror, she nodded and went to open the door.
Klaus stood there in a dark red sweater, dark pants, and dress shoes and was holding a bouquet of roses in his hands. He handed them to her with a wide smile on his face. "You look absolutely stunning, Caroline."
Caroline smiled in response and let him step inside her apartment. "You can wait here for a bit. I just have to put these in some water and get my coat. I won't be long."
She tried not to rush around her apartment for fear of sweating and screwing up her makeup. It took her a solid ten minutes to decide which of her coats went better with her dress and ten more minutes to search the storage closet for a vase Elena had given her a few years back for her birthday.
Finally, she was ready and rushed back to the living room where Klaus made a big show of pretending to be asleep and waking up when he heard her enter the room. "Good lord, woman, it took you long enough! I was certain I might have wasted away into nothing before you'd be ready."
Caroline rolled her eyes in reply and pulled on her coat before tugging a scarf around her neck on pulling on dark leather gloves. "Ha ha. Where are we going, Klaus?"
They were outside and nearly three blocks away before he finally decided to tell her. "There is a wonderful seafood restaurant near the school. They have quite possibly the most amazing salmon cakes I have ever experienced. I thought it was only right that I allow you to experience those small pieces of heaven."
The wind blew hard around them, practically knocking Caroline into Klaus' side. Her legs and feet felt like blocks of ice and she was beginning to regret not wearing thigh-high boots. She didn't actually mind being closer to Klaus. Her stomach fluttered every time he pulled her closer to him.
"I didn't know you liked seafood. You strike me as a Thai person, or maybe Indian. For some reason I kept picturing you loving those foods more." She watched as a puff of air escaped her mouth with every word she spoke and smiled slightly.
"You would be correct in that assumption, love. I barely like seafood, but I will only eat seafood if it is from this restaurant."
They crossed the street then and rounded a corner before they were on Mayberry Main. The school was a beacon of lights in the distance. About halfway there, she saw a bright neon sign for a restaurant called Cami's. It was nicer than she would've expected a restaurant near a university would be, and she found that she was suddenly hungry.
When they entered, they were brought to a cozy corner booth that gave them a modicum of privacy. When they were both seated and had ordered their drinks, their conversations moved to other things.
"How is your project coming along?" he asked, before taking a sip of the sweet tea he'd ordered.
Caroline sighed and began playing with her hands. "My teacher loves it, and I kind of want to expand on it a bit. I was really excited about it until this morning."
Concern flashed across Klaus' face. "What happened this morning?"
A small silence stretched between them before Caroline spoke again. "Elena called and asked if I was coming to Mystic Falls for Thanksgiving." She looked at Klaus with a slightly nervous look on her face. He gestured for her to continue. "I told her I wouldn't. I mean I would but it's just…too much too soon."
"Your mother?" Klaus guessed.
"Yeah," she replied. "It sucks."
Things were quiet between them after that. Their food was delivered soon after. Klaus insisted Caroline get the salmon cakes and she'd insisted that he try something different and get the stuffed lobster tails.
Later, Klaus walked Caroline back to her apartment and he came in at her insistence. She'd gotten changed into a large t-shirt and he'd changed into the track pants and t-shirt he'd started keeping at her house recently.
They were sitting on the sofa watching the episodes of Once Upon A Time that Caroline had missed when her cell phone rang for the third time that day. This time, it wasn't a number she recognized. She answered anyway.
"Hello?"
"Is this Caroline Forbes?" a female voice asked from the other end.
"Who wants to know?"
There was a pause on the other end before the person spoke again. "My name's Maria Forbes. I think you're my sister."
A/N: Well, isn't that interesting? Until next time…
