Kadlin POV:

"How much of that did you hear?" I asked

"All of it, how much I understood is another question."

"I would say I can explain... but that would be a lie." I admit.

"Well, lets start with something you can explain... who the hell are you?" She asks and no believable lie is coming to me, all thats left to me is the truth and lord knows how unbelievable that is.

"My name is Kaitlin and I was born in 1989, I'm from the future." I expected her to laugh but she didn't... her eyes got wide in shock but there was also something else, acceptance I think.

"There's more isn't there?" She asks and I nod regretfully,

"I've seen a version of what happens to your family, played out like a play... it's possible I'm not only from the future but from another reality. What I was burying were the names of my family, my real family... I was saying goodbye and asking for forgiveness I suppose."

"So your giving up finding a way home?"

"No I know the way home, at least I think I do. No, I chose to stay... to give up everything I know, everything that makes sense."

"Why?" She asks me.

"For Elijah." I explain.

"I suppose you expect me to keep all this a secret?" She asks a bit haughtily.

"I expect nothing." I told her honestly.

"Well, it would be hard for others to believe." She contemplates out loud.

"But you believe me, don't you?" I ask, wondering what allowed her to see I was telling the truth.

"Yes, well I am infinitely more wise than my idiot brothers." I smiled at her and nodded.

"This doesn't make us friends." She warned me.

"What does it make us?" I ask.

"Well... I suppose you're family now aren't you? But you will warn me if I am ever about to do something you know ends poorly. Wait have you changed things already?" She asks.

"Henrik... the way I saw it before he died, I didn't know who he was when I saved him, not that I wouldn't have if I'd known but it wasn't until I was Klaus that I recognized this place."

"Klaus?"

"Right, that's how he's referred to where I'am from... apart form you, you still call him Nik." I tell her.

"But I thought where your from is 1,000 years in the future... how could I still be calling him Nik?" Crap, me and my big mouth.

I tell her the broad strokes, you know blood sucking live forever monsters...and she's horrified. I try to sooth her by mentioning it's not certain it will happen now, things have already changed but we should start being wary once Tatia shows up.

We walk back to our hovel, closer with a new understanding between us.

"So what were your family's names?" She asks me.

"Greg, Thomas, and Deborah... my mother."

"You miss her most of all don't you?"

I smile sadly, "You really are wise, yes I do... I miss her very much."

She takes my hand and holds it the rest of the way back, the small gesture fills me with warmth even in the frigid night air.

In bed now every time I close my eyes and start to drift off she asks me another question, this must be like what its like to have a sister.

"So what's my husband like? Is he tall? Do I meet him when I'm human or a vampire? Do we have children, oh I hope we have children."

I am thankful its too dark to see my face. How do I tell her she's the most unlucky woman in love I've ever seen.

So I don't.

"He's tall, dark, extremely handsome, quite the charmer. He loves kids... he's a good man, and he will love you fiercely." I picture Marcellous in my mind as I speak of her "husband" who knows maybe thats what he will be this time around.

"I can't wait." She says dreamily as she finally drifts off to sleep.

Me, I am wide awake.