Elena shoved Stefan off the chair so she could get to the computer.
"Caroline? Are you ok? Where are you?"
Caroline smiled. It was good to see Elena's face again.
"Hey, 'Lena. I'm ok, I don't know where I am, but I think it's pretty safe."
"Where is he?"
"He left. To, uh, you know. Do the job."
"Do you think he's going to kill us next? We know what he does, doesn't that make us a liability?"
"I don't know. I think.. maybe because of our work, it's not an issue. If we out him, we out ourselves as his client, and open up ourselves to investigation that would lead to
the business being discovered. So I think he knows we won't tell, for our own good."
"He gives me the creeps, Care. I can't believe I kept pushing you to hook up with him. I really thought he was nice."
"Yeah" Caroline said sadly.
"Wait. You don't still like him, do you?"
"No. Of course not."
"I can always tell when you're lying."
"I don't know what to feel! I'm really confused."
"Caroline! He's not who we thought he was! He said he was a paramedic and we know that's not true, and he kept showing up where we were, obviously he was stalking us as part of the job."
Caroline just nodded. It was all true, but it didn't make things any less confusing. She wondered if Elena knew who had hired Nik. Would that change things for how she felt about her boyfriend? Was it super evil to even mention it, when it would only hurt Elena?
"Elena... I found something out.. that I don't know what to do with. I want to be honest with you about everything, but I know if I tell you It'll hurt you."
"He told me yesterday."
"What?"
"Damon. He told me yesterday that he and Stefan were the ones to hire Nik or whatever his real name is. That's what you were going to tell me, right?"
Caroline was shocked. She didn't expect Damon to be so honest with her.
"Yeah, uh. Wow."
"Obviously, I'm mad at him for doing something so crazy, and for not telling me earlier, but I kinda understand it. And the only thing that would have made me really angry would have been that it would hurt you if Tyler died. But after seeing you so relieved that he was gone, I don't really feel so bad about what Damon did. Of course, I'm not going to tell him that, I want him to make this up to me for the next year."
"Elena. How can you be so calm about your boyfriend taking a hit out on someone he was that close to? Don't you worry that he'll.."
"Never. Trust me Care, that's never going to be how things go with him and me."
"Hey, Lena?"
"Yeah?"
"If you didn't know already, would you have wanted me to tell you?"
Elena thought for a moment. "Yeah, I'd want to know the truth even if it sucked. I wouldn't want anyone to hide something from me because they didn't think I could handle it. What would you want if it was you?"
Caroline scrunched her brow. It would have been so nice to stay blissfully ignorant with Nik the paramedic forever. But now she had the real deal, and as much as it hurt to let go of what was all lies, the real Niklaus was starting to get under her skin in ways she couldn't understand. She wasn't sure what to do with that information other than torture herself for feeling something for someone she should hate. And then there was Tyler, who she stayed with because she didn't know he was cheating, something Damon and Stefan hid from her because they didn't think she could handle it. She's rather have pain and truth than stay ignorant.
"I'd want the same, Lena. Promise me you'll always tell me the truth"
Elena was about to respond when she was shoved away from the computer.
"Has he contacted you yet?" Rebecca asked impatiently.
Caroline nodded no.
Rebecca made a face. "Me neither. I'm sure he'll contact me first, so I'll let you know when I hear something." She stomped away, dragging Elena with her, going off about how Damon was drinking them out of house and home.
Caroline watched them disappear up the stairs and the computer screen only showed an empty room on the other side. Now she was really alone.
Let him be ok, please let him come back, she thought, not sure who she was asking or praying to. She needed him to be safe, although she didn't know why. His kiss before he left had shook her to the core. The way he looked at her was all Nik, but only the day before that, he had been Klaus, aggressive and unyielding, and she had almost given in to him.
Who would he be when he came back? Would it matter? This was the end of their story. He would bring her back to her friends and that would be the end of that. There was nothing else for them to do. There was no happy ending for them, real life would get in the way and stamp out any glimmer of hope she held on to, dreaming of some possible life where she could hold on to him without letting go of her sense of right and wrong or her friends.
Nik and Emily were crouched behind the brush on the side of the hill. The main house was surrounded by fields of cattle and a long dirt road pointed out of the farm to the highway.
It was a good place for hunters, isolated, but not too far away from civilization. The farm was an easy way to launder their money, cover their tracks, prove they had legitimate jobs.
Two of the men were walking around the yard together, smoking cigars and laughing about something. Emily checked her view. They had a clean shot on each of them. They could wait for all four of them to come outside, it would be easier to pick them off, or they could get these two now and move closer, although the other two would be prepared.
She gave him the signal and he nodded. He was tired of waiting.
The two shots rang out in quick succession, and the two bodies dropped. No one had aim like Nik and Emily. The nodded to each other and began to creep down the hill, noticing the figures moving franticly within the house. The others were probably grabbing their weapons, ready for the fight.
They circled around, trying to avoid being caught in sight as long as possible. Emily was already pressed up against the side of the house, she was much better at being slinky than he was. He was a few paces away from one of the windows when he locked eyes with the man on the other side, holding the machine gun.
Nik ducked and rolled just in time to avoid the peppering of shots that smashed
through the window. Emily had managed to climb onto the roof and she was crawling over to the opposite side of the house. He got up and edged along the wall, then broke though the door, charging at the man he saw from the side. He was just about to pull the trigger when he saw the man crumple to the ground. Emily had snuck up behind him and taken him out. One left.
They listened but there was nothing to hear. The house was silent, but they knew there was one more man inside. He walked though the living room with his back against the wall, stepping around the couches and pool table. The dartboard on the wall made him almost snort with laughter. A picture of Nik's face was taped to the center, with darts protruding from his forehead, nose and mouth. It looks like Mikael didn't hide his loathing of his stepson from his men.
There was a slight creak as Nik stepped on a loose floorboard, and he paused, waiting for the man to approach. He kept moving, looking all over for the hidden assailant. He heard a shot ring out and Emily curse. She had missed. He ran towards the noise and collided with the man, knocking the guns out of both of their hands and out of reach. He headbutted the man, giving himself enough time to reach for the knife in his pocket. The man wasn't going down without a fight, he had a knife of his own and he aimed for Nik's heart.
The knife missed, hitting him in the left shoulder. His right hand curled around the handle of his own knife and hit the man square in the chest. He felt a rib crack as he made contact, but the single blow wasn't enough to kill him. They were swinging and grabbing at each other on the ground when Emily raced into the room, gun cocked.
He rolled off the man and out of the way and she finished the job.
Emily pulled out the emergency kit she kept with her and motioned for him to sit down.
"It's fine, let's just go. I need to get back to her."
"And what good are you going to be to anyone with an infected wound?"
"It's nothing."
"Nik, I'm sewing it up before we leave this place."
"I don't want you to."
"Stop being a baby. I swear, you can take a bullet without flinching, but the second it comes to stitches..."
"I'll just hold it shut with bandages."
"No." she barked, and pulled out the needle and thread. He gave in and reached for the bottle of antiseptic, pouring it over the area and gritting his teeth.
Nik looked away as she pushed the needle through his skin, creating a neat little row of stitches.
"There, all done."
He pouted a bit when he looked at it.
"Oh, don't be so dramatic, Nik, girls love scars."
"I was sloppy, I shouldn't have let him make contact."
"You're fine."
"No, if you weren't here, he might have taken me out."
"Which is why we decided to do this job together."
He shook his head. "You were right earlier. I am distracted."
They cleaned up and made their way back over the hill, finding the car on the other side. They drove in silence before making it to the boat and climbing aboard. Bonnie steered them to the island airport that would be bringing both of them back to where they came from on separate flights.
Emily checked on his shoulder again, dabbing it with antiseptic and re-doing his bandages.
"Now, baby, remember to change these every day, I don't want you getting an infection."
"I'm not new at this Emily, I know how to take care of it."
She gave him a soft smile and gently pulled his sleeve back over the fresh bandage. "Let me fuss over you a bit, you're the closest thing I'll ever have to a child of my own. And you only have to deal with me today, tomorrow you can do it yourself, or better yet, get that girl to help you."
He gave her a withering stare. Caroline wouldn't want anything to do with him when he came back, and the last thing she would want to see was the evidence of his scuffle with his recent victim.
She did kiss back though, right before he left. Didn't she? He was half convinced he had imagined it. Maybe she did. But that was only because she thought he might die. Now she would be anxious to get away from him. Once he came back, she would want him to take her to the Salvatores. He could tell her he needed a night to rest before leaving again, that would give him one more night to try something, anything.
Emily was getting off the boat, ready to walk in the opposite direction.
"Oh, Nik! I forgot to tell you before, your cut of the money from the Lockwood job just got wired into your account."
"Thanks, I'll see you Thursday."
"Thursday?"
"That's how long it'll take me to get the girl back to the Salvatores, try to pry Becca away from Stefan, and get back to the offices."
"No." She shook her head and scrunched her brow.
"What?"
"I'm not letting you do this."
"Do what?"
"Run away."
"I'm not running, I'm jut being rational. She'll want to go back to them, she doesn't want to be with me. She won't even look at me."
Emily shook her head. "You really don't understand women at all."
"You weren't there! You didn't see how she looked at me when I pulled Mikael off of her and ripped him apart. There's no going back."
"She's terrified of you! She knows you could kill her just as easily."
"Like I said! No going back!"
Emily laughed. "You're clueless. You've never bothered to really connect with or relate to women. You have no idea how to be with her, or anyone. Any girl with a lick of common sense would be wary of getting involved with you. You have to convince her you're worth it."
He was getting angry with her. All of her motherly wisdom or whatever she was trying to push on him wasn't helping. "Well, what am I supposed to do about it, Emily? I can't just..."
"FIGURE IT OUT! God, Nik, I've heard enough of your whining about this girl, so you can't pretend it's nothing. I'm giving you a month off. Don't you dare come back to the office on thursday or any time this month."
"What am I supposed to do for all that time?"
"Ask her what she wants to do!" Emily turned around and walked away, leaving Nik standing there, feeling baffled.
He spent the plane ride thinking about her. She never left his mind, not even for a minute. He was getting closer and closer to her. When he got off the plane and took the car he tried to figure out what he would say, but nothing worked.
He walked into the little shack and sat on the floor next to the control panel that would let him down into the underground shelter. She was right there, and he still didn't have the words he was looking for.
Caroline closed the laptop. She had just talked to Stefan again. He was in an impossibly good mood, considering the situation. He kept looking off to the side and smiling. She could hear Rebecca's voice on the background. He gave her an apologetic look, and excused himself to go help her make dinner.
Caroline looked wistfully at the cans along the shelf. She would be eating microwaved soup alone for the the third day in a row. Nik or Klaus or whoever he was should be back by now. She had spent all day pacing around worrying about him. She hated it, wondering if he was alive or not. She hated that she even cared. What did it matter to her if something happened to him?
She touched her lips and thought about what had happened right before he left. She had all this time to sit and think about it, but she didn't know what to do. She wanted to be with him, but she still felt betrayed by him. He had lied about so much, and she saw a part of him she was terrified of. She didn't want to make the first move, not when she was still so unsure if she could trust him or of who he even was.
There was a beep, a click, the sound of metal sliding across metal. He was back.
She watched him climb down the ladder and turn to face her. He looked disheveled and filthy, but he was alive.
"Hey." He smiled at her.
She felt dizzy. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She didn't know what to say or do or think. Everything faded away when he was standing there, looking at her like that.
"Hey."