Hi!
Please prepare yourselves for the world's longest author's note.
Thank you so much for the reviews on the last chapter! As always, I loved reading your thoughts. I was glad that most of you liked that Bonnie has finally made her grand re-entrance into this story. I think it's good for Caroline to have a friend around who isn't a Mikaelson. I love that so many of you flipped out when Marcel said "however long it takes" because so did I when I was writing it! That wasn't how Marcel's threat was originally supposed to end, but I guess since that line is so iconic for us, I just typed it automatically, without even really thinking about it, then when I saw it on screen I flipped out, but it was too perfect not to keep, so that's what I did. For the record, Marcel was only threating to keep them there until an agreement was reached. He wasn't spying on Caroline at graduation or since, his choice of words was just a coincidence on his part, but Caroline and Klaus don't know that. I love that more than one of you said that you missed the twins already, but don't worry, they'll be back soon. I'm glad that most of you were pleased that Caroline was the human representative and that she and Rebekah were on the council together. I want to make sure that the female characters are well-rounded and making substantive contributions on their own, as well as supporting one another.
I have a couple of notes about reviews themselves, actually. The first is, please never apologize for leaving long reviews! I love long reviews! I love and am so grateful for any and all reviews, but I am especially amazed when I get to read the extremely detailed commentary on my story that my lovely, thoughtful, intuitive, genius readers come up with, and I get to see that you are paying really close attention to what I write, which is so exciting and such a gift for me as a writer. For example, one review from last chapter commented on the colors of clothing that Caroline wears, which has little to do with the plot of the story, but I was thrilled to see someone acknowledge those details because they can be a way of showing a character's personality, mindset, and current situation, and I put a lot of time into choosing them. In response to that particular comment, as Caroline becomes more and more entrenched in New Orleans, she'll start to wear darker colors, as well as jeans more than dresses, though I don't think she'll ever have a signature color the same way that Hayley has green, Rebekah has red, and Lizzie has pink. And I don't think that's an insignificant detail. I specifically chose those colors both to represent their species (Red for vampires, to symbolize blood, green for werewolves to symbolize the woods in which they live and their connection to nature), as well as their personalities-and because red and green are opposite each other on the color wheel, they show that Rebekah and Hayley are usually at odds. Lizzie's is a little different because it isn't about her being a witch, it's about her being in a feedback loop where she's being praised and rewarded for being the sweet, girly, little princess Barbie doll-something that's already an existing part of her personality, as we see before the twins even meet the Mikaelsons, but they encourage it (remember when Rebekah went shopping for clothes for the girls and almost all of Lizzie's were pink?), so she continues to wear pink because that earns her more attention and affection. Plus, those three characters, as you've seen and/or will see, have strong personalities, and are not flexible or adaptable, whereas Caroline, Josie, Hope, Freya, and Bonnie, who you'll see wearing more than just one signature color, are more amenable to compromise, which is important for this chapter.
Sorry, that was really long, and I usually try not to write about what people are wearing unless it's for a symbolic purpose like I mentioned, or to show that people are matching/coordinating, because that shows unity between those characters.
The other thing is, please feel free to send me questions, comments, and suggestions at any time; you aren't interfering at all with me writing the next chapter. Plus, I love hearing them, and they can help me go back and clarify things you didn't fully understand or wanted explained in more detail when I edit upcoming chapters right before I post them.
Speaking of my writing/posting schedule, updates are going to slow down a little for the next couple of chapters. I have two other projects that you'll get to see next month that I'm really excited about, but working on them does mean that I have less time for this story. And, this might sound a little silly, but I really love Valentine's Day (it's my favorite holiday) so I've decided that I want to make sure to update that day as my little Valentine to all of my readers to show you all how much I love and appreciate your support for my writing.
This chapter contains a conflict that I'm really nervous about publishing, so I tried to very explicitly and plainly explain why each character did what they did, why each character reacted the way they did, and why they each feel they are right and the other is wrong. If you have any other questions or want further explanation, please leave a review so that I can address those concerns and/or clarify the writing. On the flip side, though, this is the last chapter in which Marcel is an opponent/adversary. I said from the start that I liked him and didn't want him to be the villain in this story. You still aren't going to see why he missed the party (will you ever? That's for me to know and you to dot dot dot).
Also, I know I warned last chapter that this chapter is the first of two that contain more angst and conflict than we're used to with this story, but this chapter also has some comedic moments and dialogue that I didn't intentionally add (a lot of the characters just decided to be funny this chapter, what could I do?), but I hope they help to balance the inevitable drama at the end of the chapter.
Enjoy!
Caroline stayed behind Klaus as they walked out of the elevator. Klaus was leading the pack, with Rebekah next to him and Caroline clinging close behind him like a shadow, Freya and Hayley bringing up the rear. Klaus reached behind him to quickly squeeze Caroline's hand.
"Everything is going to be fine," he told her reassuringly.
They all made their way down the short hallway between the elevator and Marcel's front door. Just as Klaus grasped the door handle, the door swung open from the inside.
"The gang's all here," Marcel said, stepping into the doorway.
"Yes, we're here," Klaus said.
Marcel stood back and waved them all inside. Klaus, Caroline, Rebekah, Freya, and Hayley all filed into the entryway. In the living room, there was a large mahogany table with eight brown leather chairs around it. Marcel had already claimed the head of the table, so Klaus sat at the other end. Vincent sat in the seat on Marcel's right, and across from him on Marcel's left was a vampire that Caroline had never met, but she assumed was Josh, the vampire Marcel had chosen to represent the vampire population on his behalf.
Rebekah and Freya sat next to their counterparts from Marcel's delegation, and Caroline and Hayley sat next to them.
Once everyone was seated, Marcel cleared his throat and commanded everyone's attention.
"All right, everyone, here are the rules: the vote on the final rules must be unanimous, but until then, anyone can propose anything to anyone. Klaus and I will oversee this entire process, and each of you are responsible for representing one of the species living in the city," Marcel announced. "Does anyone have any other rules they want to add?"
No one said anything.
The room quickly fell into discord after Marcel finished laying out the rules. Rebekah sidled up to Marcel, Freya started talking animatedly with Vincent, Hayley began frantically scribbling on a piece of paper, and in the madness, Caroline looked to Klaus for some indication of what she should do.
"If he does anything that you don't like, or that makes you uncomfortable, we'll walk away," Klaus promised.
"We'll walk away," Caroline deadpanned skeptically, Klaus's comment causing a sudden flash of strong irritation to shoot through her.
"Of course," Klaus said. "This isn't worth you getting upset over."
"You can't just walk away from everything you don't want to deal with," Caroline told him.
"Why are you so upset by this? I'm just trying to look out for you," Klaus asked.
"This isn't the time or place to talk about it," Caroline insisted, effectively ending the conversation.
Klaus stood up, placed his hand on Caroline's shoulder, and pressed a kiss to the top of her head before walking over to talk to Rebekah and Marcel.
Right after Klaus left, someone else sat down in the empty seat on Caroline's other side.
"Hi," Josh said. "I'm Josh, it's nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you, too. I'm Caroline," Caroline replied.
"I've never seen anyone… handle Klaus like that," Josh said.
"What do you mean?" Caroline asked.
"You just decided that you didn't want to talk to him, so you aren't talking to him," Josh said. "I've never seen him so accommodating or affectionate, he must really care about you."
This was the second time in less than twenty-four hours that someone had told her how different Klaus was around her and how it was obvious how he felt about her. Caroline, however, wasn't so sure.
"Well, thanks, but like I told Klaus, I'd like to stay focused on the matter at hand," Caroline said.
"Okay," Josh agreed.
Caroline had a lengthy discussion with Josh about the feeding habits of vampires in New Orleans. Caroline used the conversation as a way to gather research so that she would know what would be reasonable to ask for.
After Rebekah finished speaking to Marcel, Hayley took her place, and Rebekah sat down next to Caroline in the seat Klaus had vacated.
"Why is Nik wearing his 'Caroline rejected me' face?" Rebekah asked.
"His what?" Caroline asked, looking over to where Klaus was standing, alone, silently observing everyone in the room.
"Nik has a sad facial expression that only appears when you've turned him down. Trust me, I've seen it often enough," Rebekah explained.
"I didn't reject him, he just said something that annoyed me," Caroline replied.
"What did he say? I'm sure he didn't mean to offend you. He didn't even mean to offend you when he tried to kill you," Rebekah said.
Josh looked completely bewildered.
"Your life is insane," Josh commented.
"Yes, it is," Caroline agreed.
"What did he say that annoyed you, Caroline?" Rebekah asked.
"He said that if anyone said or did anything that I don't like or that makes me uncomfortable, we would walk away from this whole thing," Caroline admitted.
"How exactly was that upsetting?" Josh asked, still confused but seemingly willing to participate in the discussion.
"The entire purpose of this meeting is to reach a compromise; something that's better for both parties than what we have now," Caroline explained. "If people don't participate in these negotiations with a willingness to compromise, they will certainly fail. And I already have two children who I need to teach how to compromise, I don't need a third. It's annoying that I feel like all I ever do is compromise, like with the girls' custody, and Klaus can just happily and easily walk away from anything that doesn't go exactly as he wanted it to."
Rebekah laughed at Caroline calling Klaus a child.
"First of all, Nik is a thousand-year-old tyrant. He won't change unless he really wants to and is willing to put in the effort to do so. Second of all, walking away from you was not easy for him, even though he wanted to do what you asked, no matter how much it hurt him. You didn't have to see him after we left Mystic Falls. I did, and he was equal parts thrilled, smug, and devastated. He may be annoying, but he's just trying to show you, once again, that his first priority is making you happy," Rebekah told her.
"If you say so, Rebekah," Caroline said.
"How did I get involved in this?" Josh asked.
"You sat down next to me. My craziness is contagious," Caroline said.
Klaus walked over to the group.
"How is everything going over here?" Klaus asked.
"The vampires of New Orleans could really benefit from the Stefan Salvatore vampire training course and vegetarian diet," Caroline explained.
"Who's Stefan Salvatore?" Josh asked.
"My ex-fiancé, he died a few weeks ago," Caroline told him.
Josh looked from Caroline, to Klaus, and then back to Caroline.
"Klaus didn't kill him," Caroline insisted quickly.
Rebekah laughed.
"He totally would!" she exclaimed.
"I never even threatened to kill Stefan," Klaus protested. "I told him there would be hell to pay if he ever hurt Caroline, but technically, I never made any specific threats against him."
"How nice of you," Caroline mocked.
"Compared to how rude he was to me, I was very nice," Klaus retorted.
"Stefan sacrificed himself to save his brother and his ex-girlfriend on the day we were supposed to get married in an attempt to save them from another one of his ex-girlfriend's plan to destroy our hometown," Caroline told Josh.
"That would explain the appeal of the virtually indestructible Original Hybrid who hates pretty much everyone except you," Hayley said, walking up behind them. She'd clearly intended to be funny, but her words and her tone were just a little too biting to be humorous.
"I like to think I have more attractive qualities than just hating almost everyone in the world," Klaus said.
"You really don't," Rebekah told him.
"How have we gotten so off-track from what we're supposed to be doing here?" Caroline asked. "I know that I'm not exactly an important contributor here, but I feel like I've done nothing all day but gossip."
"You're representing the humans, love, your job is to verify that none of our rules, once we finalize them, harm the human population of New Orleans. You can't do your job until we've done ours," Klaus reassured her.
Freya came to join them as Vincent consulted with Marcel.
"There are some specifics, like curfews and off-limits areas, but the overall agreement is as long as we don't use magic against them, they won't use magic against us," she told Klaus.
"We can live with that," he answered.
"Don't do magic in front of humans, it makes them uncomfortable," Caroline added, trying to contribute.
"Maybe in Mystic Falls that would be true, love, but in New Orleans, voodoo and spirits are part of the culture the tourists are looking for," Klaus explained.
"Well, I tried," Caroline conceded.
"It was a valiant effort," Klaus told her.
"I don't think I'll be getting a participation trophy just for being here," Caroline retorted.
"Marcel isn't willing to budge on giving the werewolves any more freedom," Hayley complained, directing Klaus's attention away from Caroline. "He let me have pretty much anything else I asked for, but most of it had to do with pack territory and rituals that I don't think he really cares about since the wolves have to stay in the bayou."
"Hayley, you learned very early in your stay in New Orleans that the city does not welcome werewolves. The wolves have the bayou, which they don't have to share with vampires, witches, or humans, and they're happy there. Just leave it alone," Klaus ordered.
"It isn't fair," Hayley muttered.
"Life isn't fair," Klaus said. "Did you have to give Marcel any concessions in exchange for what you asked for?"
"Not much," Hayley beamed, clearly proud of herself. "You just can't make any more hybrids using werewolves from New Orleans and the surrounding areas, even if they want to become hybrids. The only exception is if they won't survive unless they transition. I think Marcel isn't a fan of you having your own sired army."
"But I wouldn't do that anyway," Klaus said slowly, in a way that suggested to Caroline that they'd had this conversation before. "I don't need any more hybrids, and I don't want to make any more unless anything happens to the ones I already have. I don't want to use up what remains of the doppelganger's blood unless it's absolutely necessary, and I don't want to use Hope's at all," he explained.
"I know that," Hayley said, then leaning in close to Klaus, she whispered in his ear, "But Marcel doesn't know that."
"All three of you did well with these negotiations, I appreciate it," Klaus said, gently nudging Hayley away from him.
"Now I'm really worried about being the one who messes this up," Caroline whined.
"No pressure," Rebekah chimed in.
"Be nice, Rebekah," Klaus scolded his younger sister. "I'm sure that you will be spectacular, love," Klaus assured Caroline.
{ }
After several hours of the eight people in the room talking to each other, in various numbers and combinations, Marcel finally called the room to order and asked everyone to sit back down at the table.
As they had before, Klaus and Marcel sat at opposite ends of the table, with Vincent and Josh next to Marcel, Freya and Rebekah next to Vincent and Josh, and Hayley and Caroline next to Freya and Rebekah.
"We've all spent hours now making suggestions and getting feedback on your ideas, now let's start putting this treaty together," Marcel announced. "There are a few general propositions I'd like to make, then the representatives will propose their rules."
"The biggest change that we all agreed on is that having one king of New Orleans doesn't work. We've seen with the Mikaelsons that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So I propose a triumvirate: myself, Klaus, and someone else who we both agree on, someone we both trust to help us govern, someone who isn't here, so we know they didn't use these negotiations as a way to grab power. I assume you'll nominate Elijah?" Marcel asked Klaus.
Klaus nodded in response.
"Do you find that acceptable?" he asked.
"Naturally, I'm not too fond of him, but I know that he's smart and strategic, he can generally restrain some of your more violent impulses, and I know that I'm safer with him on my side than with him as my enemy," Marcel explained.
"In addition," Marcel continued. "We should each keep these roles and meet weekly. In an advisory council, of sorts, Rebekah and Josh will represent the vampire population of New Orleans, Freya and Vincent will represent the witches, Hayley will represent the werewolves, and Caroline will represent the humans. It will be each of your jobs to make sure that the triumvirate is keeping the promises we made to each of the species living in the city, and to advise us on how to best fulfill their needs."
After Marcel finished his proposals, everyone voted on them. The eight people at the table unanimously approved the new governing system of the triumvirate; Klaus, Marcel, and Elijah as the three members; the council with themselves as representatives; and weekly meetings of the council.
The vampire representatives were chosen to present their proposed rules first, though Rebekah and Josh spent more time debating the wording of the rules they had come up with than actually explaining the terms they wanted in the treaty.
Writing and approving the treaty was a long and tedious process. Each representative proposed each of the rules they wanted added to the treaty, then everyone else voted on each rule. According to Marcel's rules, all votes had to be unanimously in favor of a rule for it to be approved.
As much as Caroline adored Rebekah, she was having trouble remaining focused or interested in her squabbling with Josh and Marcel over proper vampire burial practices.
"Are you all right, love?" Klaus asked after the second time Caroline sighed.
"In the event of my death, all I ask is that you make sure my body is not left on the side of the road," Caroline told him.
"You're never going to die, so there's no need for you to worry about that," Klaus dismissed.
Caroline shot him a surprised look, which he answered with a shrug.
"If I had either the capability or the interest in allowing you to die, I would have done so already. As it happens, I find the idea of your death tremendously unappealing, therefore, I will do everything in my considerable power to prevent it," Klaus proclaimed.
"Okay," Caroline said. "Well, thank you, then."
While they were talking, Rebekah and Josh had finally come to an agreement, so after a quick vote in which everyone voted yes, since they also didn't care and just wanted to move on, Freya and Vincent took over to negotiate the witches' requested rules.
The new rules for the witches took almost as long to finalize as the rules for the vampires did, but eventually they came to a consensus, finally allowing an exhausted Freya to sit back down.
Unlike Rebekah, who'd seemed perfectly content to argue with Josh all day long if that was what was necessary to get the terms she wanted, Freya was less eager to debate. She would gladly fight for her right to do magic, and would even willingly spend half an hour arguing for an 11 o'clock magical curfew rather than a 10 o'clock curfew, but she didn't consider it fun the way Rebekah, Klaus and even Hayley did. Caroline could see a look of relief plain on the witch's face from across the table once everyone approved a list of extenuating circumstances that would permit magic after the curfew.
In contrast, Hayley saw her turn to add rules to the treaty as her opportunity to stand up for her subjects and demand rights for them. As Hayley had reported to Klaus earlier, Marcel didn't really seem to care what the werewolves did on their own territory, and neither did anyone else. The lack of interest from the rest of the group didn't stop Hayley from zealously campaigning for the wolves' rights to recognize their own pack leaders and other rules that really had no impact on the daily lives of anyone living in New Orleans, of any species.
All of Hayley's rules were quickly approved, since no one begrudged the wolves the right to do as they pleased on their own territory, none of which would affect them.
The wheels fell off the wagon when Hayley asked for the werewolves to be able to have complete access to all of New Orleans whenever they wanted. She argued that vampires, witches, and humans were free to go into the bayou whenever they wanted to, so the reverse would be fair as well.
"We can't have werewolves wandering the streets, getting into fights with vampires," Klaus insisted. "When the wolves prove themselves trustworthy, then we'll consider giving them some access to the city. Until then, they'll stay where they are."
"And how are they supposed to prove themselves if you won't let them?" Hayley asked.
"I'm sure you'll think of something if it's important to you," Klaus said.
"She has a point," Caroline interjected, trying to be supportive of Hayley to prove to the other mother that she wasn't a threat to Hope or any other member of her pack. "It seems only fair to let the werewolves have just as much freedom as every other species. Maybe there's a compromise we can agree on? Something like a trial period, where the wolves can come to the city on the weekends for a while, and if everything goes all right, then they can come and go as they please."
Hayley seemed pleasantly surprised that Caroline was trying to help her.
"We can work with that if that's what it takes for the wolves to get the freedom we deserve," Hayley said. "Thanks for the suggestion, Caroline."
"Absolutely not," Klaus said. "Werewolves can be violent, aggressive creatures with short tempers and an innate hatred for vampires. A bite from a werewolf can kill a vampire. You know that."
"Technically, I've never been bitten by a werewolf. I was bitten by hybrids, twice, but I was only tortured by werewolves once… and hybrids once, and a super vampire once, and my dad once… All I'm saying is that werewolves are not the only species with violent tendencies."
"You were tortured by the hybrids? Why didn't you tell me? I'll tear their hearts out!" Klaus threatened.
"You killed them already, Klaus, remember?" Caroline pointed out with a subtle nod in Hayley's direction.
"Would anyone other than the Klaus and Caroline comedy act like to offer an opinion?" Marcel interrupted.
Everyone else looked around the table uncertainly.
"Okay, let's put it to a vote," he ordered.
When they voted on werewolves having complete access to the entire city, only Hayley voted in favor. When they voted on Caroline's compromise of a trial period, Caroline, Josh, and Hayley voted in favor, while Klaus, Rebekah, Freya, Marcel, and Vincent voted against it.
Hayley slumped in her chair, visibly angry and disappointed, as Marcel directed Caroline to take over the proceedings.
Both nervous and sensing everyone's desire to finish up and leave, Caroline rushed through her proposals, which were primarily small restrictions or alterations to earlier rules.
Caroline took her responsibility as the humans' representative very seriously, so she asked for the most stringent restrictions on feeding, compulsion, and magic that she thought the other representatives would agree to. She wanted to think that they agreed because they knew that treating humans decently was the right thing to do, but she wouldn't be surprised if they only agreed because they feared Klaus's retaliation if they went against her.
Once Caroline was satisfied that the humans were being sufficiently protected, Marcel declared the treaty closed and called for a final vote to approve the entire agreement.
After nine hours of collaboration and debate, they finally had a verified peace treaty.
{ }
"Before we finish up here, there's one more thing I want," Marcel said. "Caroline, I want to know how a vampire who was turned less than ten years ago and two witches who couldn't be more than five years old managed to undo the magic that my witches put in place to imprison Klaus, and then presumably revived all of the other Mikaelsons as well."
"My children aren't here; they aren't a part of this," Caroline answered.
"I'm not going to hurt them," Marcel insisted, trying to be reassuring.
"I don't believe you," Caroline said. "And I don't trust you."
"So you aren't going to tell me how they were that powerful?" Marcel shook his head. "None of you would consider giving me that information in exchange for one more of the terms that you wanted for this agreement? Not for one less restriction on your magic?" he glanced at Freya. "Or for more freedom for the wolves to have full access to anywhere in the city they might want to go?" he challenged Hayley.
"They're siphoners," Hayley blurted out. "Their magic works by absorbing the magic from other magical objects or spells, or even people, like vampires or witches. They would have virtually unlimited power as long as they have something to channel," she rushed to explain.
"Hayley!" Caroline exclaimed.
Klaus gripped Caroline's hand and glared at Hayley, making clear whose side he was on.
"Sorry, Caroline, but you know I have to protect my pack," Hayley said. "You heard Marcel offer the werewolves freedom, I had to take him up on it, whatever it was he was asking for in exchange."
"You endangered my children's lives so that your pack can walk down Bourbon Street whenever they want!" Caroline accused.
"Your children aren't even in the state, and they are siphoners whether Marcel knows it or not. There's no way he wouldn't have found out eventually anyway," Hayley defended herself. "The twins aren't part of my pack, Caroline; it isn't my responsibility to protect them, it's yours. If they were really in any danger-which I don't think they are-you, and Klaus, and Rebekah can protect them," Hayley shot back.
Rebekah leaned over and placed her hand on Caroline's shoulder, nodding to show her support when Caroline looked over at her.
"Are there any other witches like them?" Marcel asked, trying to interrupt the chaos.
Hayley looked at Caroline searchingly. Hayley didn't know the answer to Marcel's question, and she knew that Caroline did know. But Caroline wasn't going to give Hayley any information that could be used to threaten her daughters.
"I don't know, I don't think so," Hayley said.
"Are we finished here?" Klaus asked abruptly. "Aside from your curiosity about two little girls who managed to outmaneuver you, have we concluded our business here?"
"Why are you so upset about this?" Marcel asked indignantly. "Hope is a powerful witch, too, and I've never tried to hurt her or take advantage of her powers. You should know better than anyone that I don't mean them any harm. I'm just curious. If I know where the weak link in my defenses is, I can fix it."
"And you should know better than anyone that if you touch a hair on those girls' heads, or if they so much as complain about you giving them a dirty look, I will end you," Klaus promised.
"What do you have on him?" Marcel asked Caroline.
"Is it really so hard to believe that I care about them?" Klaus asked. "Is it really so farfetched that I might care about someone outside of my family enough to want to protect them? They're three years old, and they've done nothing wrong. Leave it alone."
Marcel looked to Hayley, as if for confirmation.
"I appreciate that you've never done anything to hurt Hope in any way, and you've even tried to help her when other people were trying to hurt her," Hayley said. "I don't think that you want to hurt Lizzie and Josie. They're nice kids; I don't want to see them get hurt either. But everyone here who isn't a werewolf, who isn't responsible for the welfare of a wolf pack, doesn't seem to understand that basic, relatively easily accessible information about two girls, who at least half of the Original family would risk their lives to protect, is not worth sacrificing my pack's freedom. That isn't an opportunity that I can pass up."
Everyone in the room glanced over at Klaus, except Marcel and Rebekah, who continued to look (or in Rebekah's case, glare) at Hayley.
"Thank you for your help, Hayley," Marcel said, breaking the tense silence.
"And how exactly are you going to show the werewolves your appreciation for my help?" Hayley demanded.
Marcel glanced at Klaus, who glared back.
"If they promise not to harm anyone, and you promise to be responsible for them, I don't see why the wolves shouldn't be allowed to visit the city whenever they'd like," Marcel said after a moment of consideration.
Hayley grinned.
"See, I got everything we wanted!" she cheered.
"No, Hayley, you got everything you wanted," Klaus corrected. "And you didn't care who you had to betray to get it."
"Can we go now, please? I want to go," Caroline asked Klaus in a soft voice.
"Of course, love, let's go," Klaus stood, then helped Caroline to her feet and led her out of the apartment with his hand on the small of her back.
At the doorway, Klaus and Caroline turned around and faced the people remaining at the table. Marcel and Vincent looked surprised, Josh looked slightly confused, Hayley looked offended, Rebekah looked defiant, and Freya looked concerned.
"Finish this," Klaus directed Rebekah.
"Gladly," Rebekah responded with a devious smile.
Caroline hadn't seen her approach, but when Klaus led her out the door, Freya was on her other side, offering a sympathetic smile.
"You know that I would never let anything happen to the twins," Klaus promised Caroline.
Caroline didn't respond.
She didn't say anything the whole way home.
So... that happened. I've had this particular incident planned for a while, and I'm nervous to see how you all will react to it. Is what Hayley did unforgivable, or do you think Caroline will get over it? Can you at least see where each of them are coming from?
I would really appreciate it if you would leave a review, please and thank you! I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole(:
Thank you so much for reading!
love,
charlotte