AN: My readers rock! And here is your reward!

On another note, this story is going to start to take a more AU route now because let's face it, without Caroline around for the end of Season 2 and the first part of Season 3, somethings are going to be happening differently. I will try to keep it clear as possible, but if you have any questions about what the hell is going on, please feel free to ask.

That is all...Enjoy!

10. The Ring In Return

Two weeks bed rest was just want the doctor ordered and just what Caroline needed. She was starting to feel more like herself, though she was having some trouble getting used to modern day food. Tyler had tried to help, bringing her favorite meal from The Grill, a bacon cheeseburger with fries, but it had only made her sick, but she still was thankful for the sentiment.

Bonnie visited when she could, without raising suspicion from Elena. The last thing they needed was Elena running her mouth to Stefan or Damon about the situation before the time was right.

Liz knocked on her daughter's door, "Hey honey, I'm starting back with the night shift tonight. If you need anything just call."

"Can you pick up some ice cream on the way home? I forgot how much I love ice cream."

She could only laugh. Her daughter seemed to grow up over night, but she was still her Caroline. "I'll bring home a gallon of cookies and cream."

"Thanks mom!" Caroline called from her room.

Today was the first day that she was allowed to venture out of the house, and she had to admit that she was starting to get cabin fever, but going over to the boarding house and breaking the news that she had been back for over a fortnight was not on the top of her list. But just like ripping off a band-aid, if she did it quickly it would only hurt for a moment and then they could all move on.

The day she returned home from the hospital she was dismayed that none of her clothes fit her growing bump, so she partook in what used to be her favorite pastime, online shopping. Slipping on the pale pink maternity dress felt like a dream with proper under garments and comfortable flats. But old habits die hard, and she pulled her neat braid over her shoulder before heading out of the house.

Bonnie was picking her up to act as moral support and perhaps backup if the conversation took a turn for the worse. So when her phone beeped with a new text she had to take a moment to find it. Technology was something that she had to get used to again.

The ride over to the boarding house was quiet because Caroline was nervous. She kept running her hands over her baby bump. "It will be okay, everyone will be happy to see you." Bonnie tired to reassure her friend.

Caroline could just smile, but it felt like a thousand butterflies had taken up residents in her stomach, or that could be the twins, fighting again; she could already tell that these two were going to be a handful. The thought of her babies brought a smile to her face, and as long as they were healthy, she was happy.

They pulled up and parked Bonnie's Toyota on the roundabout. "I just sent Elena a text and she said that everyone is in the living room. I asked Tyler to come too, just incase you needed him."

"Thanks Bonnie. I can't tell you how much this means to me."

Bonnie gave her a sincere smile and hugged her in a reassuring gesture.

As they entered the house she could already hear Damon moaning about being dragged away from his murderous plotting.

"Bonnie is that you?" Elena called from the main room of the boarding house.

"Yeah 'Lana, and I brought a surprise."

"If it's one of your two bit magic tricks, we are not interested." Damon shot back as they entered the room. He didn't even bother looked at the hallway as he downed the rest of his drink.

"I see someone is still moody as ever," Caroline chuckled.

"Oh my God, Caroline!" Elena yelled running towards her friend.

Bonnie stepped in front the running brunette, "Be gentle," she warned.

As Elena looked over her blonde friend she was speechless. Damon on the other hand had turned at the sound of her voice and was sneering at the blonde, "Look at that, I had no idea they were making an Over-Weight Barbie these days."

Tyler stepped in from the kitchen, "She's not fat you ingrate, she's pregnant, so show some respect."

"Look whose puppy nuts finally decided to drop." Damon said stalking towards Caroline to get a closer look at her. "So wolf boy knocked you up and you ran away, smart move there Blondie. But tell me, how is it that you managed to create that little monster," he pointed towards her stomach, "when vampires can't get pregnant."

"I'm not a vampire anymore." Caroline shortly clarified, choosing to ignore his other rude comments.

"And an accent to boot, so what should we call you, British Teen-Pregnancy Barbie?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes before sending waves of white-hot pain towards Damon, "Would you shut up for once in your life?"

The pain seemed to do it because he sat down on one of the couches, holding a glass of iced liquor to his forehead, muttering under his breath, "I hate witches."

Caroline looked around the room, "Where is Stefan?"

Everyone wore a forlorn expression, but it was Damon who answered from his sulking spot on the couch, "My baby bro has fallen off the wagon again." When Caroline just furrowed her eyes in confusion, he continued, "Klaus made him flip the switch, so he's God knows where, as the ripper, probably taking the heads off of a whole town of people."

When the blonde gasped in horror Bonnie stepped up and placed her hand on Caroline's shoulder, "I told you Klaus wasn't someone to mess with. He can compel other vampires, he's brutally unstoppable."

"We'll see about that," Damon said more to his drink than to anyone else.

Wanting to get the topic back on track, Elena asked, "How long have you been back?"

"Two weeks."

"And you didn't tell me?" Elena sounded hurt.

Caroline made her way towards one of the couches since she was already starting to feel tired from all the day's excitement. "I had my mom go get Bonnie because I thought it was her magic that brought me back, but after she told me about the Original problems you are having, she thought it was best if I stayed in the shadows."

Elena looked thoughtful for a moment, "So wait…you are human, pregnant, and magic brought you back? Where were you?"

"I'll tell you everything, just can we please sit down? My back is killing me." Caroline didn't wait for an answer before plopping her self down.

They all sat on the couches that faced each other by the fireplace in the home's living room. She started from the beginning when Katherine had snatched her that Monday morning.

"So the Turners took me in and when Edmond was on his death bed, I couldn't sit by and do nothing, so I married Nik, the son of the village's leader. We fell in love after we were married, which I know is backward but I wouldn't have traded it for anything."

"How sweet, Princess Barbie nailed herself a Prince." Damon cut in again, "What I don't get is why wolf boy is so calm over this whole situation, you know since there is another man involved."

Everyone in the room ignored Damon this time, too engrossed by the story.

"Are you excited about being a mom?" Elena asked, again looking at her stomach.

Tyler gave a slight laugh from his spot over by the window. When everyone gave him a strange look he just smiled, "Oh, you are going to love this next part."

All eyes were back on Caroline, waiting for her answer. "Actually I'm expecting my third and fourth."

Elena's eyes went wide again, "What? You are having twins? And you have two others? Where are they?" she hardly took a breath between questions.

Caroline laughed, "William was our first and Elizabeth our second. I was pulled from the past just shy of being there three years. I'm guessing they are still back in the past with their father."

"That is why I can't be upset about any of this," Tyler said, walking over and placing a hand on Caroline's shoulder. "She has two children out there somewhere missing their mother, and I don't think I need to tell any of you how much it hurts to loose a parent." He looked around the room at all of them.

It was just one shocking point after the other. Elena was having a hard time wrapping her head around it all. "So you have a whole other life, somewhere and sometime in the past."

"Yes, and as soon as I am healthy enough I would like to go back." She looked at her hands in her lap as she said this, she knew that her friends would think that she was abandoning them, but they had to understand that her two small children needed her.

A few days after coming clean to her friends Caroline readied herself for a doctor's appointment with her OB, she was going to get her first sonogram. The thought of it made her chuckle, she had two children already, with just rags and boiled water, but now everyone wanted to hook machines to her and run blood tests.

"Hey Tyler," she said into her phone, "I was just making sure that you were still taking me to my appointment today?" She was calling him to make sure that he remembered to pick her up.

He had come to visit her while she was on bed rest and he told her that if she couldn't find a way back to the past, and if would have him, that he would step up to the plate for her children. He knew that he could never replace their real father, but having had his father just taken from him, he knew how much a positive male role model meant to growing children. So this included taking her to her doctors appointments.

His voice got low and it sounded like he was moving into a smaller room, "I'm so sorry Care, I can't leave my house right now."

She couldn't hide her disappointment. "It's alright, I'll just drive myself."

"Do you even remember how to drive Care?" he snorted.

What surprised her most, out of all her friend's reactions was how understanding about all of this Tyler had become. She expected him to have a fit when he found out that not only was she married but that she was also a mom.

"Hello…you still there?"

She had completely forgot that she was on the phone, "Yeah I'm here, and yes I remember how to drive. Gas is on the right."

He laughed again, "I'll make it up to you, I promise. How about you come over after your appointment and I'll make you lunch."

"That sounds good, I'll see you in a few hours."

She jumped in the shower to shave her legs for the first time in three years and wanted to do it while she could still reach them.

"That was perfect," Klaus sneered at his sired hybrid. "Now forget we had this conversation."

The original hybrid was holed up in the Lockwood house for the past few days while his mansion was being rehabbed. It was just yesterday when he was wondering the halls upstairs that he found himself in young Tyler's room. Looking over the shelves of sports trophies he laughed at how cliché the boy's life was, but what really grabs is attention was a picture of Tyler in his lettermen jacket with a pretty blonde cheerleader on his arm.

There was no mistaking that bright smile, but he just couldn't understand how this was possible. He fingered the tiny gold ring that hung around his neck as he thought of his next move.

When he over heard Tyler talking about taking his friend 'Care' to the doctor he had not paid much attention to it, until he saw that picture. Now he had to find a way to get this friend to come over so he could see if it was really his wife or just another doppelganger issue that needed to be sorted out.

His mind drifted back to the day after that full moon so many years ago. It had been the most painful time of his life. He had lost his younger brother, his wife, and their unborn child in one fail swoop. When he had finally found Henrik that night it was too late to make a run for the caves, so they took up refuge in a near by tree.

Sometime in the night he had fallen asleep and when he woke in the morning Henrik's body was motionless on the ground. He wasn't sure if it was the fall that killed him or the wolves, but all he knew was that his little brother was gone, he would have to face his family and tell them that the sweet eight-year old boy had been killed under his care.

So as he carried the lifeless body of his brother back in to town he had more bad news waiting for him. While his mother was crying over the body of her last-born, Rebekah held Elizabeth asking where Caroline was.

"What do you mean, where is Caroline? She should have been with you." He didn't mean to sound so angry with his little sister, but he couldn't live if anything happen to his wife.

Rebekah held a crying Elizabeth closer to her chest, "She went out looking for you and Henrik last night and never came back. We thought that she was with you."

With a curse he ran back to the caves calling out for her. Knowing that she had once escaped the wolves by going up in a tree, he looked up every tree within a fifty-foot radius of the caves. That is when he found her journal, tossed in with the leaves, and hanging from a cord that was acting as a bookmark was her wedding band. In the moment he knew that his wife was gone.

She had promised him that she would never take it off, and while he understood that she had to while she was pregnant, she never left it far from her person.

Walking back to the village felt like he was trying to work his way out of quick sand, his chest was so heavy that he had to find strength to breath.

Mikael was waiting for him; waiting with a fist and a slue of harsh words. Niklaus took his beating, he deserved it, and he thought for just a moment that if he was to die this day, at the hands of his father, that perhaps he could see Caroline again in the afterlife. But Elijah had intervened.

"Father, stop this! You lost one son today, we can not live though anymore."

"She's gone," Niklaus couched up blood as he rolled over on his side.

"What are you talking about?" Elijah helped his brother off the ground, inspecting his busted lip and swollen eye.

"Caroline, she's gone."

The days after that were all a blur, the next thousand years were all a blur, but at this moment all he could do was look down at the smiling cheerleader in the photo.

Glass shattered on the far wall. Klaus had thrown the picture frame across the room; he couldn't stand to look at her face another moment and if the sad pup Tyler wasn't serving a purpose at the moment, Klaus would find pleasure in ending his life for any role he play with Caroline's disappearance all those years ago.

Now nervously watching the clock in the Mayor's old home office, Klaus waited to hear the door chime. His hybrid had said that her appointment was at one o'clock and it was nearing two-thirty. So many possibilities ran thought his head; maybe Tyler had tipped her off and she wasn't going to show, or she got in a car accident and was injured.

He jumped out of his seat ready to go look for her, his wife or doppelganger be damned; this friend of Tyler's looked like his Caroline and he couldn't live in a world where another bright soul like hers was lost. As he reached for the door handle he heard the bell ring and he could have sworn that he stopped breathing.

He could hear Tyler answer the door and place a kiss on the girl's cheek. She said something so softly that he could hardly make it out, but he could tell that he was moving them towards the sitting room.

"How was the doctor?" Tyler asked.

There was movement again and then the sound of fabric moving as if they were sitting down on the God-awful couches that Mrs. Lockwood had decorated with. "It was fine. I'm not used to all the poking the prodding, but I got a picture of them," the girl said.

Her voice was like the sweetest music to his ears. It was the voice that he had been yearning to hear for these past thousand years. The voice that haunted his dreams, and that he had tried to describe to their children time and time again. He couldn't wait another second to see the woman attached to the voice.

Rushing out of the office he took both of them by surprise, as they both stood the girl gasped and Tyler moved in front of her in a protective gesture. In the few second that it took all of this to happen he took in her appearance, well what of it he could see peeking around Tyler's broad frame.

She stood in all of her beautiful glory, blonde hair falling in waves over her shoulders, wearing a sun dress that showed her creamy legs, and perfectly painted pink lips hung open in surprise. She held an index card sized paper in her hand and as her gaze fixed on him the whole world seemed to drop away.

The sound of Tyler's voice brought them both back down, "I will kill you if you hurt one hair on her head, even though it will mean my own death."

Caroline looked from Tyler to Niklaus, trying to figure it all out. How could he be here? How did he know Tyler? Why did Tyler think that Nik would hurt her?

"I think you should leave, mate." Klaus ground out through clenched teeth.

"Like hell I will," Tyler was trying his hardest to fight the sire bond.

Placing her hand on Tyler's arm she had to put a stop to this, "He won't hurt me," she said calmly.

Looking over his shoulder at her, he was dumbfounded, "That's Klaus," he said as if that would bring fear to her expression. "How do you know he won't hurt you, he's hurt everyone else in this town."

"Because," Caroline stared, taking in a large breath, "he's my husband."

The room was filled with stunned silence; Klaus because the blonde had just confirmed that she was in fact his long lost wife, Caroline was still puzzled as to how her Niklaus was standing in Tyler's living room, and poor Tyler thought he might as well go mad with this newest bit of information.

The latter finally broke the silence, "Whoa, whoa, wait…your beloved husband, 'Nik'," Tyler provided air quotes, "is really Klaus, the big bad original hybrid?"

"The one and only," Klaus spoke. "Now leave." This time he had no time for games; he compelled Tyler to leave them.

Without another word or protest Tyler left from the room, going as far as to walk out the front door of his house. Once they heard the soft click of the door closing behind the boy, Caroline ran the short distance between her and her Nik.

Throwing her arms around his neck she kissed his face, "I don't care how, I am just so happy to see you."

Her tears of happiness quickly turned to sadness when Klaus pulled her arms from around him and holding on to her shoulders, pushed her gently away from him. To twist the figurative knife that was embedded in her heart even further, he took two large steps back from her.

His face was an emotionless mask, "Caroline."

She tried again, reaching out for him, "It's me, your wife. Your Caroline."

Klaus brushed off her touch. If she was involved with Tyler and his circle of friends this could be a trap. "It has been so long that I barely remember her, but I can tell you that y wife died over a thousand years ago."

Caroline kicked herself again for not telling him about the spell that sent her into the past to him. "No I didn't."

"This is a trick, and I will not be fooled." He turned from the woman claiming to be his wife and started for the door. He wouldn't be manipulated and lured in to some trap set up by the likes of Damon Salvatore.

"Nik please, let me explain," this wasn't working. He was still headed towards the door; she had to think of something that only they would know. "The night you first told me you loved me, I taught you about stars and French kissing!" Caroline yelled out after him, desperate for him to believe her.

Klaus stopped dead in his tracks. No one besides him and his Caroline would know that.

"You asked me to marry you that night, and I told you that I needed time, but that I choose you and would never hurt you."

He saw red, "Oh sweetheart, but you did hurt me." Klaus rounded on her, stalking the distance between them, "Every day you were gone you hurt me. Every time William and Elizabeth asked where their mother was, it hurt me." Seeing the fear and utter sorrow in her face made him lower his voice to normal, yet there was still hate in it, "You standing here as if I haven't been through hell without you, hurts me."

Tears were freely flowing down her face, "I am so sorry. I should have told you the truth long ago. But I can see it is no use now."

She didn't know what else to do but flee. He didn't love her anymore, and from the stories that she had heard from Bonnie, he wasn't her Niklaus anymore, just a monster in his skin. Without another word, she ran from the house, leaving him standing there in all his rage.

As he watched her disappear out the front door he saw the paper she had been holding flutter to the dark wood floor. Bending to pick it up he looked at it with some confusion, it was a black and white grainy picture, printed at the top of the glossing page was 'Mikaelson Baby A' and 'Mikaelson Baby B' with arrows pointing to two white blotches on the print.

He had been in such a state of pain and anger that he didn't even notice her rounding belly under her pretty little dress. Rushing for the door he hoped to catch her, but all he saw were taillights.

Using his increased speed he was down the drive way in seconds, blocking the path of her little Ford hatchback. Caroline slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting him. Wiping the tears from her eyes she stormed out of the car.

"What do you want now?" she stomped towards him as the dust kicked up by her car started to settle. "You made it perfectly clear back there that you have forgotten me, so just let me go."

Three steps is all it took to be within inches of her, and before they both could think of the meaning or ramifications, his lips crashed down upon hers.

The kiss was urgent and full of need. Klaus had been a man living a thousand years in darkness and now he felt the sun rise for the first time.

Caroline felt like she could breathe again; a weight had been lifted off of her now that she was back in his arms. As his lips left hers a chill ran though her body, she keep her eyes closed, hoping that this was not a dream. "Nik…" she whispered, feeling breath across her face.

When he didn't answer she opened her eyes, but saw nothing but the empty road ahead of her. He was gone; there was no proof that he was even ever there.

Tears fell again and she lifted her hand to wipe the wetness form her cheek when she felt something cold touch her skin. There on her finger was her wedding band with a rather worn leather cord hanging from it.

AN: So...what did you think?