A/N- Nothing to report really. The next one or two chapters are going to be Caroline front and centre.
P.S- If anyone wants to review and let me know if they figure out what's happening in the background of these last two chapters and guess what will happen when Caroline takes a backseat in chapter 15/16, I'd love to hear from you. :)

Caroline's POV

Was it only a few weeks ago when my biggest problems were a missing boyfriend, absentee bestie and Klaus infested sex dreams?

How did I go from inertia and worrying about Stefan and Tyler's whereabouts to mourning Bonnie, fearing Silas, questioning Stefan's sanity, becoming head honcho of a dozen witches and realising that the boy I loved had reverted back to his cruel ways and the man I could now love may be gone?

Same way I got from my bed to Klaus' bed with a short stop-over in Tyler's I guess, I put one foot in front of the other and continued breathing no matter what.

Still, I am so exhausted right now that I can't even lift my head from the pillow, I'm so dispirited that I haven't moved since Stefan lay me down.

I think I've given up. I'm throwing in the proverbial towel and I would shut off my humanity if someone would just explain to me how the damn switch worked.

I'll have to ask Katherine because Damon will give me a tough love spiel, Elena will be devastated and Stefan will preach to me about Band-Aid solutions until I want to claw my eyes out at his sanctimonious bullshit.

Stefan Salvatore might be my best-friend but his ideals for vampirism are a hindrance to my own clean lifestyle.

I'm still enjoying my in-depth analysis of the ceiling when Katherine walks in to the bedroom with baby Erik in her arms,

"Caroline…if you can hear me, give me a sign" she demands, somehow sounding not like her usual bitchy self,

"Okay…well listen…Elijah and I are going back for Klaus'…uh for Klaus and we need someone to watch over baby Erik so…"

Oh.

I sit up and nod to her, trying to project the image that I'm mentally sound and not half-way towards a psychotic break. In return she lowers Erik onto the bed, I can tell he's been bathed and he's wrapped up in Elijah's jacket but he's still trembling and looking around as if he's still in danger.

My maternal instincts come back with a vengeance and I gather him up into my arms, trying to remember how I used to rock my dolls. He's staring at me fearfully and I kiss his little forehead,

"Hello sweetie" I croon "Try and sleep okay? You've had a long day"

"Why not have Elena babysit him?" I ask curiously, looking up "She looks just like you"

Katherine smirks, "Elena's…busy at the moment and seeing as you're the one who saved him, we can trust you to keep him safe"

That's true, I'm one of the only moral compasses in Mystic Falls and I don't care who this baby was fathered by, nobody will hurt a child on my watch.

"And if Tyler…" I swallow and dry to moisten my desert dry mouth, "If Tyler comes to Mystic Falls?"

Katherine chewed her lip, "We're pretty sure he won't…we reckon he'll have a hard time convincing the pack not to run for the hills and besides…if he does…Stefan and Damon gave their word that they'll roll out of bed and catch him before he gets into the house"

Oh crap.

I now have a vulnerable baby falling asleep in my arms, "I have no idea what to do" I confess but Katherine is already half-way out of the room, "Google it" she calls back as a suggestion.

By some miracle and in spite of his DNA, Erik is pretty low maintenance. He tugs on my hair a couple of times, gives it a taste and then falls back asleep.

I settle back on the bed and wonder how sensitive his hearing is, for example- can he hear Elena moaning from down the hall and the bed scratching against the floorboards?

I have to hope that babies aren't that impressionable.

When I tuck him under the duvet and decide that there is no way he'll be able to fall off the bed or suffocate I slowly get to my feet and tiptoe out of the room. I can only hope he doesn't wake up and panic in the few minutes I plan on leaving him alone.

I wonder whose room he sleeps in back in New Orleans, I figure Hayley and Klaus aren't sleeping in the same bed so does the little guy have his own nursery or does he alternate between bedrooms?

And that train of thought gets unpleasantly cut off when I remember that Hayley's dead.

I rub my hands over my face and run my fingers through my drying hair, I pad barefoot down the stairs and look around the packed up house. The sheets that were covering the furniture have been pulled off when needed but everything is still largely untouched. Priceless antiques still sit on chiffoniers, Klaus' many paintings still adorn the walls, there's a bookshelf filled to the brim with first editions.

I wonder if Rebekah was meant to finish packing when she got back from Europe or if they were planning on returning to Mystic Falls. Or perhaps after so many centuries, they just can't be bothered taking anything but the basics and sentimental items when they move, maybe in every part of the world there are houses, apartments, castles, townhouses, lofts, plantations and heck even yurts fully furnished with the products they bought or created and just waiting for their owners to remember them.

I wonder if after fifty years or a century whether I'll be a packrat like Stefan or a minimalist like Damon.

I still can't accept the fact that in fifty years I won't have aged a day. I'll still be a seventeen year old girl in some other city maybe with a fake name, maybe playing the high school student to give myself a few extra years in this new life.

Maybe I'll be living with Elena, we could go to New York and party it up there.

Except that in fifty years Jeremy will be seventy years old.

Think positive thoughts Caroline.

Elena certainly isn't worrying about Jeremy's mortality at the moment.

I hear a rustle of movement from baby Erik and figure that I'm probably running out of time and come to think of it, I'm not sure you're legally allowed to leave babies alone. So I grab the first book I see that doesn't look older than the United States and flash back upstairs.

Erik is using the pillows to push himself up into a sitting position and I smile when he frowns at me,

"I was only gone for a second sweetie" I promise but he holds out his arms and I give him a cuddle. He sighs and I settle him back down, hoping he doesn't get bored because I doubt there are any child friendly objects in this house for him to play with. Fortunately he rubs his hand on one of the velvet pillows and squeals in delight, I lie on my stomach while he explores every way he can touch the pillow with his hand, punching, tapping, poking, it's an endless supply of entertainment right there.

I look at the book cover, it's a pretty recent release, Cormac McCarthy's Child of God, I open the book and discover the entire first blank page has been covered in writing, two separate styles, one neat calligraphy, the other scrawled and messy, pen, charcoal and pencil, obviously moved around the house and filled out over a number of days.

Niklaus, Rebekah tells me that you're flirting indecently with Miss Caroline Forbes- might I ask why?

Elijah- she intrigues me and we're out of champagne

Niklaus, Again I must ask why, she appears to me to be little more than a burgeoning socialite.

Elijah- appearances can be very deceiving, have a conversation with her one time

Post Script- Kol's found out about ecstasy

Little Brother, don't worry I'll handle him.

Apparently the Original brothers haven't heard of Post-it notes.

I blush when I read Elijah's initial impression of me, burgeoning socialite, was that all he saw me as? Or had I eventually been upgraded to 'potential love interest for Klaus', or relegated to 'irritating distraction'

I hate being ignored or underestimated. It's been happening my entire life. It was heart-breaking how surprised my mom was when she saw my SAT scores or the fact that I'd been declared Valedictorian.

Maybe after last night he sees me as something more than a Vampire Barbie- at least Klaus defended me instead of giving some answer about me looking like a good lay.

I never really appreciated how well he treated me when he wasn't actively engaged in terrorizing Elena or messing with Stefan's head.

I wonder if Elijah and Katherine will be able to find the wolf pack, if they'll be able to rescue Klaus.

I know that without a white oak stake Tyler can't kill him, but there are worse things than death.

I've experienced some of them.

Perhaps Elijah wouldn't consider me such a brainless socialite if he knew that I'd been brutally tortured and abused by those I should have been able to trust but survived each and every time.

Erik flops down beside me and I lay one hand across his stomach, using the other to hold the book open.

I'm concentrating on the story and rubbing his little belly so it takes me a moment to sense that we're being watched.

I lift my head and look around the room, "Who's there?" I demand.

This isn't nearly as stupid a question as people believe. Our enemies will often pop out when we shout those two words, provided we're ready for the attack, we're fine.

"Caroline?" Damon's whisper reaches me from down the hall, "What's up?"

"I don't know" I admit, shifting back onto my knees, my hand still on Erik, "I just have a…Tyler!"

My boyfriend is standing in the open doorway.

He reeks of dirt, ash and blood. His face is dark as thunder.

"What the hell Caroline!" he snaps, taking a step into the bedroom.

One step is as far as he gets before two barely dressed Salvatore's tackle him to the ground and Elena follows with the Five Sword in hand.

"Wait!" I call as she goes to bring it down onto Tyler's head and crack his skull, "Guys, hang on a second"

The four people in front of me freeze and I climb down off the bed, making sure to keep Erik behind me, I hold up my hands and crouch down until Tyler can twist his neck and see me,

"If Damon and Stefan let you go are you going to try and bite them?" I ask him cautiously, "Or Elena, Erik or me?"

He scowls, "I might" he growls and cries out when Damon brings his foot down onto the back of his leg, breaking the bone, "Careful doggy" he snaps, his eyes widening, "Stefan and I have just worked up a big appetite"

"Ew Damon, don't be gross" I roll my eyes as Elena goes several different deep shades of red. I turn my attention back to Tyler,

"There's an entire army of vampires in Richmond under my command and thirteen witches at the Boarding House" I tell him in a no nonsense manner, "One word from me and it is open season on you. If you survive them, there'll still be the New Orleans vampires to contend with…think very carefully and then answer again"

He scowls, "Let me go"

I nod and they let him up but they don't lower their guard, keeping themselves ready for an attack.

Stefan catches my eye and deliberately glances over to Erik, I decide not to even bother with subterfuge and pick him up, cradling him in my arms as I walk him over to Stefan and Damon. He grizzles at the strangers but Elena has always been great at convincing the male population to love her so I figure that in ten minutes she'll have convinced Erik to like her more than me.

Tyler rolls his eyes as they leave the room, Damon stopping only to remind me to shout if I need.

What I need is a skilled diplomat and the mother of all self-help books.

I have no idea what to say to Tyler.

Fortunately he must have been practising his rant on his way over from Lynchburg.

The moment we're alone he faces me with indignant fury,

"What the hell were you thinking Care?" he demands and I let my confusion show,

"When Tyler? Last night…when I went with Klaus in the hopes of talking you down or when I rescued Erik from danger?"

"Both Care" he shouts, angry that he has to point this out to me, "If I had wanted you there, don't you think I would have let you in on the plan"

"Well maybe if you had I would have been able to knock some sense into you" I snap, "The only positive thing anyone could say about your plan was that it was both elaborate and terrible"

Tyler Lockwood has never been able to take criticism and when he gets an idea in his head, it's impossible to shake, he'll insist that it's the best idea and will refuse to listen to anyone else. I can see the wheels in his head aren't turning even the slightest.

In his mind, I am the sole reason his plan failed last night.

He's working up his fury, his hands are on his hips and he's shaking with rage and disgust at my actions, which are in his opinion, stupid and sabotage.

He reminds me of his father.

Carol Lockwood was married to that man for twenty years.

No wonder she drank every single morning.

I force those cruel thoughts from my mind and focus on the task at hand.

My final attempt to save Tyler.

The boy I had once loved.

"You betrayed me!" he rants, caught up in his own beliefs "My pack freaked and they abandoned me when they realised you'd taken Erik and run, he was our only leverage!"

"Against what Tyler?! What was the plan? You'd captured Nik, what were you just going to torture him until the sun imploded? The Originals were simply reacting but they wouldn't have stayed away for much longer, eventually Katherine and Elijah would have stormed the camp and rescued Erik…at least this way I gave you the chance to run"

"Oh yeah, run where? Klaus will hunt me to the ends of the freaking earth!"

"Well maybe you should have thought of his temper before you took his son!"

"I wanted revenge! He took everything from me"

"Not everything Tyler," I'm screaming at this point because I need him to realise who I was, to understand my fidelity "You still had me and all you had to do was love me more than you hated him"

"I did Care…that's why I did all this, I had to win you back, to show you that he is nothing"

I'm horrified, I don't recognise this man with his stupid logic in front of me,

"By becoming everything about him that I hate? That's how you decided to try and win me back? You never lost me in the first place Tyler! I spent the entire summer waiting for you to come back to me"

"Well I'm here now Care? So are you happy? Thanks to you, we have maybe a few hours to pack and get on the road…and don't think we're packing up your entire bedroom, we're going to be living out of suitcases and dodgy motels for the next few centuries"

We?

"I'm not going with you Tyler, I'm not going to spend my life on the run, I have a home and a family here and I'm not the one who crossed Klaus even after he gave you your freedom"

"You're choosing him?"

My answer will change everything. Three choices are open to me right now.

To choose Tyler, to stay faithful to the love we once had and run with him as we once planned to do.

To choose Klaus on my own terms and figure everything out as I go.

To tell both of them to go to hell and stay in small town Mystic Falls.

As if it's ever really been a choice.

"Yes," I surrender with a sigh "If he's still alive, if he comes back and asks me too, I will choose him, I will love him"

And that leaves Tyler with only one choice. One which I verbalise just to make sure he knows what he has to do.

"Leave Tyler…start running and don't stop"

He looks at me with complete and utter loathing in his eyes,

"I hope you're utterly miserable with him, I hope you can never be what he needs and that he fucks every woman the two of you ever meet"

I flinch in the face of such cruelty but stand my ground as he storms out of Mikaelson manor and I presume climbs into his car and drives down the long driveway, turning left instead of right because he won't be going through the city centre but towards the old part of town, towards Wickery bridge and probably take the fastest route to the Appalachian mountains where he'll find a new pack to run with, maybe even to scheme with, although I hope he won't be so stupid as to make another move against Klaus.

Suddenly I can see his future. I see years spent in backwater towns and boondocks, the anxiety he'll feel whenever someone new appears in his life, the resentment he'll feel at not being an alpha in whichever pack will take him, the bitterness he'll nurse every day when he considers Klaus with his family and with his kingdom, the desire for revenge which will destroy any last vestiges of the boy I loved.

Maybe he'll stay quiet and hidden long enough for Klaus to eventually grant him leniency and let him return to Mystic Falls a few generations from now, when nobody will recognise him and he can pass himself off as a great nephew of the Lockwood family.

But a part of me knows that will never happen. As soon as Tyler can build an army to lead against Klaus he'll emerge again and one morning I'll be eating breakfast and Klaus will call me or storm into my house absolutely furious that my ex-boyfriend is back and demanded to know where my allegiances lie. Even though by that point I'll have shown him complete loyalty for years.

But perhaps all of this is just a fantasy of my exhausted mind. Perhaps I will never see Tyler again, he'll just become a wound that will eventually heal and a distant memory that fades until I can't quite picture his face or the times we shared, except that I'll recall that I loved him and he loved me.

I stand there in Klaus' old bedroom with dawn breaking through the windows as Tyler Lockwood flees from Mystic Falls and possibly out of my life for the last time.

A/N- Good exit for Tyler? Yes/No/WTF are you drinking?!