The Contract: Chapter 11

This chapter gets kind of heavy, hope you guys don't mind. It will get lighter in the next chapter…

XxX

"Kol," Caroline sighed, "it's late."

"Exactly, darling," said the brown eyed Mikaelson as he seated himself upon her sofa, "this is usually when our fun begins."

"Kol, I'm tired after that debacle of a dinner. I need to get some sleep if I'm going to have the energy to cope with Rebekah for an entire day tomorrow. So, please, can we do this another time?"

"You will not get rid of me so easily darling so," he patted the cushion beside him, "have a seat. It's time we had a little chat, wouldn't you say."

Caroline knew entering into the situation that this confrontation was an eventuality but did it have to be tonight? She dragged herself to the sofa and flopped down, readying herself for the inquisition.

"So, Caroline, or would you prefer I call you sister now that you are to marry my big brother?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Kol," Caroline said, not fully prepared to defend herself.

"I'm sorry," said Kol, "am I interrupting? Were you expecting your fiancé at this hour?" He looked Caroline over and smirked. "I mean you are certainly dressed for seduction, aren't you darling," he said, pulling on the front of her oversized long sleeved flannel top and pretending to look down the front. "How many people are supposed to wear this at once, Caroline? It's like the pajama version of a clown car…"

Caroline slapped his hand away, "they're supposed to be baggy," she argued, "and not that it's any of your business but Klaus has never complained about them."

"I'm sure he hasn't," Kol's grin became wicked. "I have to admit, I like to credit myself as being practically impervious to shock but you and Klaus certainly managed it with that little announcement of yours this evening. I mean, imagine my surprise upon learning that you've successfully hidden any relationship from me, much less one with my brother."

Caroline was twisting the materials of her shirt in her hands, hoping it would hide the trembling that had begun. "Well, my relationship with Klaus has been kind of a whirlwind and he and I decided not to tell anyone until we were absolutely sure there was something to tell. Plus, you and I haven't spent much time together recently…" she trailed off, knowing she was offering pitiful excuses.

"Really? You agreed to tell no one and somehow that included me? Didn't you think I had a right to know that my brother was stealing you out from under me? You didn't think to share that with me at any point during the night we spent together last week?" Kol finished waving his hands dramatically.

Caroline rolled her eyes at the man's histrionics. "Kol, he's not 'stealing' me from anyone and it's not like you ever share with me what's going on in your love life. I mean, everything I know comes through Jeremy who, by the way, seemed very upset that you didn't invite him to our karaoke night on Thursday."

Kol pointed an angry finger at the blonde, "Do not think that mentioning my boyfriend will divert me from my mission here tonight, darling."

Folding her arms over her chest, "And what mission would that be?"

Kol relaxed against the cushions and splayed his arms across the back, a smug grin upon his face. "To expose this little engagement of yours as a sham, of course."

Caroline paused, considering the best way to handle the situation. Diversion? Unless she suddenly developed pyrokinesis and managed to set her apartment aflame, she knew Kol would not be deterred. Make counter accusations? Naw, she could try to protest that she didn't tell him about being with Klaus because she knew he wouldn't understand/would meddle or because he never shares with her but Kol, a former debate champion, was not someone to engage in an argument. Honesty? With the confidentiality clause in her contract, that wasn't even an option. So, she found herself either feigning a narcoleptic fit or selling it. Come on Forbes, she thought, people still talk about your performance as Little Red Riding Hood in the 6th grade…, you can totally do this.

Caroline softened her expression and turned her face to look Kol directly in the eye. With a deep sigh she began, "Kol, I understand why you would be skeptical that Klaus and I could care for each other. I mean, no one was more surprised than I was," she said, giving a small chuckle. "We haven't always seen eye to eye and we argue constantly but there has always been this underlying tension and we finally gave into it. You know as well as I that Klaus is not the easiest person to deal with: he's moody, rude, inconsiderate, condescending, arro-"

"I think you were trying to convince me that you actually love him, darling," Kol goaded.

"Yeah, I mean, yes," Caroline gave herself a mental slap for going off script. "What I meant to say is that was the Klaus I used to know but he is a different man with me, now. He loves me and it's the kind of love that awakens the soul; that makes us reach for more, that plants the fire in our hearts and brings piece to our minds…"

Kol went from maintaining a straight face to bursting into laughter, "Did you really just try to quote The Notebook to me? After all the times you've made me watch that bloody film, you thought I wouldn't recognize the blatant plagiarism?"

Caroline grimaced, knowing she'd been busted. "I wasn't plagiarizing, Kol," she huffed, "I was just borrowing… and it just so happens that Nicholas Sparks says it better than I ever could. BUT, to put it in my own words, Klaus is loving and sweet. He gives me his coat and holds my hands between his when I'm cold, he watches black and white movies with me on Sundays when I'm not feeling well and he knows how I like my coffee." Caroline adopted a dreamy expression as she continued to describe this perfect man who was most decidedly not Klaus. "He doesn't mind when I sing at the top of my lungs in the shower, he tells me I'm beautiful when I just wake up and he doesn't mind my PJ's." Caroline found herself choking up slightly as she realized she was describing the kind of love that she wanted but no longer believed she would ever find. "He looks at me like I'm the most important person in the room and I never feel like I'm second best," she finished, her eyes glassy.

Kol removed his arms from the back of the couch and reached towards the emotional girl. She leaned forward slightly and closed her eyes, awaiting his embrace. When none came, she opened her eyes to sfind Kol holding his hands on either side of her face like a movie director framing a shot.

"Ok, darling, let's try it one more time. This time with feeling…"

"Jerk," she cried, hitting with a pillow.

He began convulsing with laughter, "I'm sorry, my dear, but you will have to do a little more than wax poetic about your imaginary Prince Charming and work up some crocodile tears to convince me, the king of deception, that my brother hasn't somehow forced you into something untoward."

Caroline threw up her hands in defeat and stood. "Kol, I don't know what else to say to convince you. If you don't want to believe that Klaus and I are in love and getting married, that's fine. But as I said before, I should be getting to bed."

"Now darling," Kol tutted, "don't get your knickers in a twist. Come, sit back down because I now have a tale for you."

The blonde wasn't sure of what to expect but figured it would be best to hear Kol out. It wasn't like he was going to leave until he said his peace…

"So?" she asked, prompting him to begin.

"Prepare yourself, dear Caroline, for a tale chalked full of betrayal and intrigue. And feel free to stop me at any point if I lose you; you see there are some twists and turns in this story."

"Get on with it, Kol!" she huffed tiredly.

"Well, you remember Marisol Gray, don't you dear? She was about yay high and yay wide," he said gesturing dimensions equivalent to 3 feet by 3 feet with his arms. "Irish, blind as a bat and old as time itself?"

"Yes, of course I know her. She was Klaus's old assistant," she mumbled.

"Indeed but she was Mikael's assistant before that. I can still remember visiting my father's office as a child. Back then, Marisol was quite the fox, if I do say so myself. Always dressed to the nines, that one… She's the one who first made me appreciate the art of accessorizing."

Kol noticed Caroline making a face, "Don't you roll your eyes at me, young lady. You have benefitted from my deft touch with picking the perfect belt and earrings on more than one occasion. But I digress. As I was saying, Marisol had no children of her own and would spoil the Mikaelson children rotten when we came in; none so much as Nik. She positively doted on him. Over the years, Mikael essentially demoted the poor bird, opting for a younger model to sit outside his office. Of course, this would not do for Nik – she was one of the few people my brother could tolerate and vice versa. So, he had her transferred to the asset management company and she worked for him ever since. When he decided to move and run the company from US, he even paid to her to move her over; he set her up in a sweet little apartment in Tudor City."

"I know most of this, Kol. What's your point?"

"Patience, little one, I told you this was a long story. Where was I?" he asked, placing his finger to his lips causing Caroline to send him a quick kick in frustration. "Oh yes, so considering their past, imagine my surprise when I learned she was so abruptly dismissed from Mikaelson & Co. and at a time when she was just a couple of years away from collecting her pension. No, I thought there is something amiss here."

Caroline began looking around the room in an effort to look bored when really she was attempting to avoid Kol's hawk like eyes.

"So, some weeks back I decided to pay Marisol a little visit. I mean, she was practically a member of the family; I had to make sure she was alright. And, I just happened to remember from a few of the Mikaelson Enterprise holiday parties that she had quite the affinity for Connemara whiskey "

"Of course you did," she responded, her voice thick with sarcasm.

"This story will go much faster without your interruptions, you know," he said, flicking her in the ear, causing her to wince.

"I must say," Kol began, returning to his story, "after a few glasses, Marisol recounted the most fantastic tale. It seems that Mikael came to her with a proposition. Now, being loyal to Nik, she flatly refused but shortly after, you hired the sweet, young, energetic April. A pretty girl who knows how to do things like turn on a computer and that a blackberry can do more than act as a paperweight."

Caroline became indignant with the silent accusation in Kol's words. "I did not hire April as Marisol's replacement; she was to act as her back-up. Marisol was complaining about her arthritis so Klaus suggested we get someone to help with errands and other, more active tasks. I was not firing her."

"Regardless of your intentions, darling, Marisol had gone through this with Mikael once before and she saw the writing on the wall. She knew it would only be so long before Klaus phased her out in favor of someone who can actually hear the phone ring and has peripheral vision… So, the old bird decided to take my father up on his proposal. What proposal, you ask?" Kol asked, clearly enjoying unraveling everything Klaus, Stefan and Caroline had painstakingly tried to cover up.

"Well, it appears that Mikael knew that Nik's current visa was close to expiring so he charged Marisol, the very person who would be responsible for submitting the renewal paperwork with misplacing it, instead. He convinced her that no one would suspect her deception; she would walk away with a hefty sum that she could live off of once she lost her job and the worst thing that would happen would be that Nik would have to return to London for a bit until he could sort out the mess. Poor thing had no clue of what was really at stake."

Kol stretched his legs out and continued, "You know I actually felt quite sorry for the old girl at first. You see, Mikael can be very manipulative." He gave a dark chuckle, "I guess none of the apples fell too far from the tree with that. However, I now find myself unable to find any sympathy for her now that I see the end result of her actions."

"It's been a really interesting story, Kol. Especially the part where you got some old lady housed on whiskey but I need to go to bed and-"

Kol began talking over Caroline, completely ignoring her, "I'm not sure you know much about getting a visa in the US but I can assure you that it's a sticky process, indeed. That is, of course, unless you are lucky enough to fall madly in love with a US citizen and get married. In that scenario, everything is smooth sailing," he said, trailing his hand in the air. "So it appear that Klaus is luckiest of men! I mean, not with the whole being betrayed by father and his assistant part but by finding his soul mate just in the nik of time! I mean, how fortuitous!"

"Kol, I don't know what you're getting at but I think you should go," Caroline said worriedly.

"Caroline, I do not believe in luck and neither does a man like my brother. While I hate to admit it, he and I are very similar in that we will choose to manipulate events to work in our favor. We will go to great lengths to get what we want, not to mention what we need. While I was completely taken off guard when Nik stated he intends to marry you, things became very clear to me when I recalled my visit with Marisol."

"Caroline, I need you to look at me." Kol reached for the blonde's wrists to turn her to face him. "Tell me that my brother has not somehow forced you to marry him so he can stay in the country. If you can look me in the eye and tell me that, I will leave this instant and never mention this, again. But if you, cannot, God help me, I will tear my brother apart for forcing you into this."

Caroline could feel Kol's grip tightening around her wrists but she could not bring herself to meet his gaze. "Kol, I can't. Please…just let go."

Kol released her wrists before standing to pace the room. He started manically running his hand through his hair before shouting, "Goddamn him! Did he threaten you? Is that what he did?"

"No!" Caroline said, knowing that while should could not be completely forthcoming, she had to offer Kol some answers before he flew off of the handle. "Kol, please believe me when I say that I am a willing participant in this. I can't tell you much more than that but I am not being threatened or forced into anything. I even had Damon help with the contract."

"Damon knows about this?" Kol cried, completely incredulous. "I cannot believe he would allow such lunacy on your part. I guess I can safely assume that Stefan, Nik's loyal lap dog, is also in on this. How long have you promised to stay married?"

"Yes, and 1 year," Caroline said, closing her eyes and placing her head in her hands. This had been one of the longest weeks of her life and she felt completely drained. "Kol, please understand that I have my own reasons for doing this and no one is taking advantage of me."

"Yet!" Kol cried, moving to take a seat beside her on the couch. "I know my brother Caroline and he is a broken man."

"Well, that's his problem, not mine," she said, giving a hollow laugh.

"Caroline Forbes, patron saint of all things in need of fixing, it is in your nature to find these broken birds and mend their wings. Over the next year, Nik will show you some redeeming qualities and then you won't be able to help yourself. Before you even know it, you will make him one of your projects and, my darling, you will be lucky if you only find yourself disappointed for all of your trouble."

"I'm not going to fix him," Caroline argued.

"That's right, Caroline, because Nik cannot be fixed. You know, my brother was not always like this, but after Henrik died, life became hard for him. All of my siblings felt the impact of the loss but Nik suffered most of all. My father held an irrational grudge against Nik when we lost Henrik and he could be very cruel. However my brother had two paths from which to choose: one was to remain a part of our family, as dysfunctional as it was, and the other was to turn his back on all of us and steep himself in the darkness that he carries with him. I cannot pity a man who chooses unhappiness for himself and then so readily inflicts it upon the ones who love him. Nik lost one brother but the rest of us lost two and I, for one, will never forgive him for that. Poor Bekah has never gotten over it. It doesn't excuse her for acting like a raging bitch half of the time but it does explain it."

Again, Kol took Caroline's hands in his. "Caroline, I need you to promise me something. Promise me that you will guard you heart against my brother. You see, Nik is always cruelest to those who love him the most and I cannot bear to even think of the damage he could do with someone as big hearted as you." Kol reached his hand to move a curl from her face. "And promise me that you will not allow him to come between us. I don't know what I would do without my karaoke partner…you know Jeremy always get so embarrassed by my song choices."

Caroline couldn't help but laugh at Kol's attempt at levity. "You know you can only sing "I'm Sexy and I Know It" so many times before you lose your audience. But, yes, I promise you all of these things. However, Klaus and I will be living together so it will be difficult to hide our friendship. Maybe this is the perfect time to come out about us and for your to come out…"

The brown eyed man let out a deep laugh. "Darling, I've never hidden the fact that I'm gay. Anyone who took the time to actually get to know me could figure it out like that," he said snapping his fingers. "For example, you knew as soon as we met."

"Well, I'd had some experience with a gay men early in my life," she muttered.

"Caroline, I am not your father. I am not hiding who I am. Everyone outside of my family knows - I live in Chelsea and am a member of the David Barton gym for Christ's sake! No, my siblings have chosen to focus on me being a shameless and completely inappropriate flirt; they have neglected to notice that its with boys as well as girls."

"If you don't care, then why don't you tell them? Why don't you introduce them to Jeremy? Why do I always have to sneak around to meet you?" Caroline asked, genuinely curious.

"Because, my dear, as I was saying earlier, I have a very dysfunctional family. And they would find a way to insinuate themselves into my life and ruin my relationship with Jeremy and my relationship with you. Nik would be the worst of the lot. I would never accuse him of being homophobic – he hates everyone equally. He would just do to me what he's done to Rebekah countless times, what he tried to do with Elijah and Katherine. To Nik, we are all his toys and he does not like to share his toys."

Caroline looked at her friend, trying to absorb all her friend said. While they become increasingly close over the years since they first met, she never had what could be considered a "deep talk" with her friend.

"And that brings me back to you, poppet. I think Nik has always a harbored some feelings for you. What kind of feelings I am not sure but he is a man used to controlling the people around him and you, my dear, are not easy to control. Now that he's essentially tying you to him he will be gaining some leverage over you. You are now sure to become my brother's favorite toy and he is a selfish child. He would rather break his toy than share it."

Caroline had no response.

Kol stood up, pulling Caroline to stand as well. "And I will leave with that to stew on. Now come and give the most handsome Mikaelson a kiss before I go."

Caroline wrapped her arms around her friend and gave him a kiss on the cheek before walking him to the door.

Caroline finally found herself back in bed but knew there would be no sleeping that night.

XxX

I hope readers aren't upset with my choice to make Kol gay. I just think he's such a fabulous, unapologetic character and if anyone could be a strong, proud gay character, it would be him.