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The week had been crazy and Caroline was reluctant to approach Damon and Alaric to confirm she could indeed miss two days of work to be in Dean's wedding. Things had been tense and they were all concerned about not reaching the deadlines the network demanded from the Damon and Alaric and it only made Caroline feel worse about her request.
They had been able to move the premiere for August ninth, but that was still too close and although the rest of the week had been productive, it was still a big challenge.
Not knowing how to approach Damon, she decided for the brother she became closer to after one month working together.
"Hey," she approached Stefan who was talking to Klaus – obviously – as they had lunch.
"Caroline, join us," Stefan offered, while Klaus smiled at her, pointing the chair by his side.
"Thanks, but I already had lunch,"
"I thought we weren't going to rehearse now?" Klaus asked, most of their scenes together were shot in the morning and although they still had a few scenes, they were to be shot during night time and they wouldn't have to worry about them until after dinner.
"No, we won't. Actually I was wondering if I could talk to Stefan for a bit," she bit her lip and both men knew she was nervous about something, even if they had known her for a short time.
"Of course, sweetheart, I'll move my tray somewhere," Klaus answered politely and just then she realized they weren't done yet.
"I'm sorry, Klaus, I didn't realize you were still eating, I can wait, it can wait. Stefan also didn't finish his lunch. How about you go to me once you're done?" she turned to Klaus, and then to Stefan, wishing she could face palm herself for her stupidity.
"You're still invited to sit with us," Stefan pointed to the empty chair, and this time she moved to sit.
"Thanks, I hope I'm not interrupting?"
"No, of course not, we're talking about the script,"
"If you want to carry on," she shrugged, and both men laughed. They knew she really loved their script. She had said so many times and right now she almost looked like a fan. She even relaxed on her seat as they resume their conversation, a look of expectation on her face. Stefan offered her a small smile, before muttering okay and then turned to Klaus.
"I think we should increase the pace, regardless of the tight schedule and the potential additional episodes,"
"I don't really care about Tatia and Niklaus' relationship, Stefan. You had always handled that part," Klaus shrugged dismissively.
"But their relationship is a big part of the story,"
"Because you thought we needed the romance element,"
"And you agreed!"
"Romance may draw more viewers and readers, but I fear my collaboration with that specific storyline isn't significant for it's none,"
"Maybe you should ask Tatia," Caroline shamelessly offered, and both men smirked.
"I wasn't aware Tatia had an opinion about her fictional life?" Klaus asked amused.
"I represent her wishes," she offered with a smug smile.
"And based in what I've seen and heard from you, I wouldn't call you a shipper," the actor smirked.
"What? Of course I ship Niklaus and Tatia!" she protested immediately, while Stefan frowned.
"What is shipper and shipping?" he asked confused.
"How come you've never lectured him about it? Why am I the only one that lost one hour of my precious life learning about shippers, rabid fans and death threats?" Klaus feigned hurt.
"Death threats?" Stefan asked alarmed.
"We've never really talked about Klatia, I just explained to you what you needed to know so we could have the fandom passionate about them," Caroline rolled her eyes.
"What in the name of God is Klatia?"
"Klaus and Tatia, of course,"
"It's a ride mate, get ready," Klaus smirked before sipping his juice.
"What does it mean?"
"I can't believe you've never heard of couples names, shippers and bromances!"
"No?" Stefan looked at her expectantly.
"Where have both of you been in the past few years? It's all over Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook."
"What is Tumblr?" the writer asked.
"At least I knew that one, sweetheart," Klaus offered amused.
"At any other given time I'll update you all about fandoms, Stefan, but what really matters is that I'm supporter of Klaus and Tatia, though I wish she hadn't chosen an asshole for a husband,"
"I'm hurt, love," Klaus moved one of his hands to rest against his chest.
"Well, but she did marry him and I'm against divorce, so now of course, I want their relationship to work, though I do hope she makes him suffer first."
"Such vindictive feelings," Klaus smirked, and Stefan watched quietly the dynamics between the series' lead stars. When did they start to get along? He had realized Caroline wasn't cold to Klaus as she used to be and even the protests about his behavior had dropped. He thought it was simply the fact that for a week Klaus had been nice and didn't miss any day of work, although he still got late a couple of days.
"He deserves it," she shrugged.
"I may agree with her on that, Klaus," it was Stefan's turn to be amused.
"So, dear Tatia, what devices you suggest for Tatia to torture Niklaus with to pay for everything he did to you?" Klaus asked just as amused as his best friend.
"I think I'll leave the torture to you and Stefan, as I think you're both specialists in the supernatural aspect… and torture devices. I'm here only for the shipping,"
"Of course," the Brit offered smiling.
"I was talking to Klaus that I think we should speed up Klaus and Tatia reconciliation,"
"I thought we had just agreed she should punish him!" Caroline raised her hands playfully, showing her fake disapproval.
"But now that we don't know if the show will have twelve or sixteen episodes, we should make sure they reconcile this season, regardless of having a second one. I don't think their reconciliation should be one of the cliffhangers by the end of episode twelve. I think they should reconcile and we should add the threat to Niklaus' kingdom in New Orleans as the cliffhanger,"
"You didn't have any opposition from me on that, Stefan. As much as romance is important and this story revolves somehow around Niklaus and Tatia, it's not the main element," Klaus finally seemed to assume a serious posture in the conversation.
"But the first part of the season is basically focused on Tatia and Niklaus' background while his brothers' betrayal plays in the background," Caroline offered.
"And your point is?"
"Niklaus and Tatia's relationship is the most important thing the public will perceive, Klaus, even if your book isn't about a love story,"
"And why do you think people will be more invested in their relationship than in the story being told?"
"Because they're a powerful couple, people will root for them from episode one," Caroline shrugged as if it was obvious.
"Don't you think that's a romantic view of it? I don't see Game of Thrones fans protesting because of Khal's death,"
"They knew it was going to happen because it happened in the books. It was part of Dany's journey to raise the dragons all by herself,"
"Why are we comparing our show to Games of Thrones? It couldn't be more different!" Stefan asked.
"Oh, but that's how Klaus would have wanted it to be. No compelling relationship, just a war for the throne, short and superficial relationships based on sex, tons of smut with random people and messed up family dynamics,"
"I'm honored you know me so well, sweetheart, maybe you should try to convince Stefan that this is how it should be,"
"It's not that I don't agree with you, Klaus. I can understand why you want romance to be in the background, but as I said, this isn't Game of Thrones. Niklaus and Tatia's relationship is much bigger than the ones there. They've spent five centuries apart and Niklaus still loves his wife,"
"He's changed. He isn't the same man he was when she abandoned him,"
"As she should after his betrayal," Caroline defended, but Klaus only shook his head softly.
"And that's why we should focus in their relationship, Klaus. Being away from the woman he loved changed Niklaus for good. It turned him into a monster, someone nobody in his family recognizes which led them to betray him after he went against them in so many occasions!" Stefan tried to reason, but he knew it would take a lot more to convince Klaus to change the main focus of the scripts.
"Which is why we shouldn't delay their reconciliation. They already know they got married at some point, it's inevitable for them to make up," Caroline added.
"And why is that?" Klaus asked curious.
"Because then we can move to the next stage of Niklaus' journey. He'll finally learn that love can be a weakness, but it can also be a strength. Also divorce sucks, especially between vampires. Forever could be literal for them. We shouldn't take it lightly,"
"You're just an incorrigible romantic, Caroline," he mocked, but she didn't mind. It was the truth after all.
"Shut up, Klaus. So what is your plan, Stefan?"
"To speed up the process,"
"When were they supposed to be reunited again?"
"In the final episode, episode twelfth,"
"And why change it?"
"Because deep down Steffie here shares the same opinion as you, sweetheart. He thinks romance will improve our ratings and assure us a second season, so he was thinking about reuniting them by episode ten,"
"When are they supposed to get together in the flashbacks?"
"Episode eight,"
"Their wedding?"
"I'd like the wedding to be one episode before the reconciliation, to make it a cliffhanger. As we could have a two-week hiatus after episode eight, I thought that would be a good cliffhanger,"
"How so?"
"I was aiming a kiss in present time as the cliffhanger,"
"A kiss that Niklaus will force upon Tatia," Klaus completed and Caroline took a moment to think about it.
"Is the kiss already part of the script?" she asked and both men answered positively.
"And it's forced?"
"It had always been forced. Niklaus isn't a very patient man, although he claims otherwise. He's been apart from his wife for over five centuries. There's so much he can wait until she makes up her mind. So he wanted to speed up the process a little bit," Klaus smirked, and Caroline rolled her eyes.
"I have a feeling of who wrote that particular part in the original material,"
"I don't write romance, sweetheart, that's all on our friend here," Klaus said pushing the tray away from him.
"So the idea of Niklaus forcing his way on her wasn't yours?" Caroline challenged.
"Stefan knows me and the character well,"
"For they're the same person," the writer quipped.
"Mate, you and I both know I would never get married, and if for some mistake it happened, I would never pine for a woman for five centuries and let her stomp over me like dear Caroline suggests," Klaus smirked, leading Caroline to roll her eyes yet again on him.
"And the female population worldwide breathes relieved knowing they aren't at risk of being married to you,"
"Your love warms my heart, Caroline," Klaus pulled a cute face.
"Anyway, Stefan, I think the series' primary focus should be Klaus and Tatia. Maybe not their relationship, but how they will work as a team once they reconcile,"
"And what makes you think they will work as a team instead of her trying to stop him from doing things the only way he knows how to do them?"
"Because her absence has been what changed him forever and her presence will have the same effect and I hope you two wrote her smart enough to know which cards to play," she pointed her index fingers to both of them.
"I'll add Caroline to the writers' team," Stefan chuckled, while Klaus simply shook his head lightly.
"I'm not going to stay for you two to gang up against me and my ideals for Niklaus. I think you still want to talk to Stefan, sweetheart?" Klaus asked, and just then Caroline remembered that she had a plan when she approached their table. She was so involved in the conversation about Tatia and Niklaus that she had completely forgotten about her plans for the approaching weekend.
"I promise to be fast," the blond woman turned to the writer.
"See you later," Klaus offered to both before taking his tray and walking away.
"It's good to see both of you getting along. A good relationship between actors always benefit the characters," Stefan said before sipping the rest of his juice.
"I've been such a bitch to him. I finally understood what everyone else seemed to understand since day one. He needs help, he wants to make it work, but maybe he won't be able to do it all by himself," Caroline and Stefan watched as Klaus discarded the trash in his tray, before piling it up the others, greeting a woman approaching him to collect the trays.
"He really is trying hard," Stefan said quietly, as he watched his best friend walking away towards the trailers area.
"And you hired the right girl to be his opposite. I'm a fixer, and under the bitch façade I happen to care about him and I made it my personal goal to help him through,"
"From one extreme to the other, Forbes?" he smiled.
"In this case yes. I don't know how to explain it. But in one of our rehearsals I actually had the chance to see the real man. He seems so lost, broken, afraid and guarded. He tries to keep this wall up all the time, but in one of his vulnerable times – maybe when he felt the withdrawal – for a brief while I could see the man beneath the mask," Caroline offered while she watched Klaus walking in the distance, his hands on his pockets, his head a little bit down.
Stefan was impressed with her ability to read Klaus so well. That side was nothing new to Stefan, Damon, Rebekah, Elijah and Katherine, but it was also a side only them knew.
"How can I help you, Caroline?" Stefan broke the brief silence between them.
For a moment she wondered if he meant with Klaus or with the problem she was yet to uncover to him, but she had a feeling he meant both.
"Before the network announcement I had asked the weekend off to Damon because my husband's best friend is going to get married and it's really important to Tyler for me to be there with him," she confessed, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.
"And?" Stefan asked a few moments after she didn't continue.
"And now we have a tight schedule and I'm not sure they can still afford to release me. Neither Damon nor Alaric said anything, but it's now Friday and I'm supposed to leave tomorrow…"
"If they didn't say anything to you then it means no change was made and you can leave,"
"It's not that simple anymore, Stefan. We have a tight schedule now. I don't think we can afford my absence for two days,"
"One day, as everyone else will have the Sunday off,"
"So do you think everything is settled?"
"I know my brother. He would have let you know if there was any change of plans and he would have done it as soon as possible, not the evening before you're supposed to leave,"
"Thank you, Stefan. I think Tyler would have filed for divorce if I didn't show up," she offered relieved.
"Go have some fun, Caroline," he offered before standing up.
In New Orleans the weekend flew by. It had been a couple of hectic days on set, and a few of the actors had to come on the Sunday to finish the scenes they hadn't been able to finish on Saturday. Nobody seemed to complain or to bother that Caroline had the weekend off.
The blond was there on Monday morning, and although he couldn't point out what was wrong with her he knew there was something off about her. The always present smile in her face couldn't be found and it even reflected in her acting how lifeless she was that morning.
They worked through Niklaus and Tatia's scenes and then Caroline worked through Tatia and Rose's scenes. Serena and Caroline had a lot of scenes as it was uncovered by the end of episode three that Rose had been the one that tried to release Tatia from Niklaus' dungeon. It was yet another betrayal from his family as August and Noah had also betrayed him. But what Niklaus didn't know was that Rosemary was doing her best to make Tatia realize her brother needed his wife more than anything. The youngest Lancaster sibling tried to show her sister-in-law that she was the only one that would be able to make Niklaus be the man he once was. At least closer to what he used to be, as he was more and more wrecked.
But Damon wasn't happy with the scenes and the two blonds had spent almost their entire morning reshooting the same scenes over and over again.
Lunch time approached, and Klaus took the chance to try to talk to his costar. He didn't know why he was so invested, but he was and if they wanted to wrap the episode on Wednesday, they were going to need Caroline to do much better than she had done that morning.
"Can I join you, sweetheart?" he stood by the table where she was eating alone, although it looked like she had barely touched her food despite being there for ten minutes already.
"Sure," she answered distractedly.
"Is everything okay?" he asked, not knowing how else to check on her. He had never been good at beating around the bush.
"Yes, except Damon's bad mood," she offered a small smile, as she took a small amount of mashed potato and moved to her mouth.
"He is especially annoying this morning, but I couldn't help but realize you seemed a little bit different as well,"
"I'm tired, I had a very eventful weekend,"
"Weddings are tiring, I'd agree,"
"Difficult husbands too," she added, not really caring that she was sharing her personal life with him. But who did she have? Elena was in Los Angeles, her family in New York, and while Rebekah and Serena seemed nice, the first wasn't around and the second didn't ask anything, but a supportive smile through their repetitive reshooting. She should be happy that the other girl wasn't being a bitch to her at the moment as they both knew Caroline was the problem in their scenes. So if she had to open up, even if only a little bit to Klaus Mikaelson, she would do.
Klaus immediately remembered the weird phone call he witnessed in Mason's car a week ago. It seemed like Caroline's husband had a bit of a temper and was easily worked up if he thought there was a chance in hell for Caroline to sleep with her costar.
"I suppose he's better than your fake husband," Klaus tried to cheer her up and for a moment she plastered a genuine smile, but it soon faded.
"Yeah, he didn't kidnap me and kept me in a dungeon… or he killed hundreds of people and colored cities red, while betraying everyone in his family in the worse way. At least not as far as I know,"
"As you can imagine, I'm not the best person to offer relationship advice, especially to married people, but from afar it doesn't seem like this bloke knows how lucky he is to have you as his wife,"
Caroline also remembered of the heated argument she had with Tyler while she was in the car with her costars the previous weekend, and she could imagine why he would say that.
"But I guess your charming personality makes up for the lack of advice just fine,"
"I also happen to be a good listener, so if you want to vent, be my guest," he offered, with a soft smile and she appraised him for a while. Here was the guy she thought only a couple of weeks ago was the biggest jerk around. The guy that had no problem jeopardizing an entire project because of his reckless behavior and lack of responsibility. She had been wrong about Klaus Mikaelson in so many levels and maybe it was time to finally admit it.
"I owe you an apology," she offered and he actually frowned.
"And why is that, sweetheart?"
"I never really gave you a chance. Ever since we started working together all I did was judge you for your actions and I never really tried to understand you, to see if I could help somehow. I was a bitch and it was uncalled for, so I'm sorry about it,"
"I wouldn't say it was uncalled for, I'm aware I'm not the easiest person to work with, Caroline," he looked away quickly. That was not what he planned when he approached her. He was thankful she had avoided to talk about him and his problems since she changed her attitude towards him and he was comfortable with things that way. The change didn't please him. But he had also learned that once Caroline set her mind about something there was no stopping her.
"I admit it can be challenging, but everyone has problems outside the studio, Klaus. Sometimes they're bigger than us and they interfere in our professional life even if we try to prevent it from happening. We may try to be the best professionals ever, but we're only human," she touched his hand, and he really felt uncomfortable then.
"I suppose the weekend was pretty difficult then," he continued to avoid her gaze, moving his hand from hers and reaching his water.
Caroline detected the deflection immediately, but she also realized they were almost strangers to one another. She wasn't his best friend of years and she had a feeling opening up wasn't something Niklaus Mikaelson was used to.
"Let's just say the only peaceful moment I had was during the church ceremony," she admitted, playing with the food in her plate.
"Not even the reception?" he asked thankful for her agreeing to move the subject. He knew Caroline was clever and that she had caught on his attempt to avoid himself as the subject of their conversation.
"Ugh, don't remind of the reception. Tyler's sister is the incarnation of Satan and she hates me. She spent the whole night sending jabs to me, talking about how great Dean's new wife was to him as well as Chris' and that they were there for their husbands all the time and that they were the perfect dotting wives, taking care of their partners and in Kim's case, Daniel – their kid. She would say how they were there for them during the playoffs, offering their support, even if they couldn't be in the same hotel as them, and how they were there in every family reunion, that both even went to Tyler's parents 25th anniversary,"
"And I suppose you weren't?" Klaus asked.
"No, I was shooting in Europe at the time,"
"It's just they're the typical southern family and his best friends happened to have married to housewives that are completely happy to tend to their every needs and follow them everywhere all the time. I have a career. I have had one even before I met Tyler, I'm not going to drop it to be his perfect dotting wife,"
"As you shouldn't. You're talented, Caroline, you could go so far," he offered, and she stopped her rant for a moment to look at him. He was looking back at her and she could see the honesty in his words.
"Thanks," she offered shyly.
"And let me guess, instead of defending you, he simply let his sister say everything she wanted?"
"Of course not! He agreed with her through everything, while sending poisonous glares at me and when we finally arrived at the hotel he started a fight with me and decided to sleep in the couch. Not for one moment he thanked me for getting out of my way to be on his best friend's wedding. Not once he tried to defend me or tried to see things from my angle," she said, and Klaus could see her eyes getting teary.
"I suppose you didn't make up yesterday?" he asked, not knowing exactly how to handle the situation.
"He's too stubborn and I'm not any better, we barely exchange a word and I took an earlier flight back here,"
"I really am sorry, Caroline," he tried to be sympathetic, hoping that it would make her feel better.
"He didn't give me an ultimatum, but it really hurt when he said with all words that I love my career more than I love him. That's such a ridiculous concept. One thing doesn't have to compete with the other and there's nothing I love more in the world than that son of a bitch! How else can I prove it to him?" she asked frustrated, fighting hard against her tears. She hadn't cried for the past two days and she wasn't going to do it in her workplace.
"I don't know, love," Klaus answered honestly.
"I'm sorry for ruining your lunch," she offered, feeling guilty that not only she made him take probably double the time he takes to have lunch, but that she was depriving him from his needed sleep.
"I'm the one who came to you, Caroline. I knew there was something wrong with you the moment you stepped in the studio and even I had no idea of what happened, I knew you wouldn't tell me how amazing Miami is in that time of the year,"
"You don't tell me! I should have gone to the beach and left those two Lockwoods bitches at the hotel,"
Klaus smirked at her demeanor. She was cute when she was angry and agreeing with her, he wondered only for a second how Caroline Forbes was the slowly indeed becoming his friend and someone he cherished.
AN.: hello, lovelies. I know it's been a while, but I had a monograph to send in, then I got sick and then I wasn't in the mood to write, but here it is the new chapter. It's not my fave, but I feel like progress. I also went through a little bit more of the Lockwood's marriage and their problems. It doesn't look promising to them, does it?
I know the first part of the chapter seems like a filler, but one of the things I like the most in the show is when Klaus looks at Caroline being all smart and insightful and I wanted to have it here as well, although I don't go through his perception of that yet. I will later.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter. I'm still beta-less, so forgive me for the mistakes (I actually fixed some typos and wrong info I had in the previous chapter). Reviews are love and I love it when you drop me some.
Have a nice weekend. xx
Babi
