During the earliest years of adolescence, when Caroline Forbes often spent hours at a time away from the home in which her parents were waging a brutal war for and against their marriage and for their child, the only daughter they had ever been given and the daughter whom spent much time away from her own home due to the coldness with which her mother treated her father and the cruelty with which her father treated her mother.
She didn't truly know why the end of their marriage was ending, nor did she think to ask about it at the time. Her mother was often furious when she arrived home from her schooling, mumbling to herself or screaming angrily into the phone over things that Caroline couldn't find much importance in. When her father was home, he wasn't actually there in anything other than a physical way, and, eventually, Caroline stopped speaking to him at all when he was home.
She wasn't surrounded by hatred, of course, as there were always people who spent their time entertaining her and protecting her from the reality of her mother's battle for a failing marriage. Her father had given up, of course, having accepted who he was, but her mother couldn't understand why he had lied for so long. And, of course, Caroline's father was unable to explain his reasoning to anyone.
The people at the very top of the list were Elena's parents, Miranda and Grayson. She often went to his practice in the afternoons and he would let her hold the babies of sick patients with their approval or allow her to help him with his signature even though everyone knew that he was perfectly capable of doing it himself. Miranda would bake cupcakes and other sweets when Elizabeth forgot Caroline's birthday and would sneak over in the earliest hours of the day to drop them off at the Forbes family home. Aside from her biological parents, Miranda and Grayson were the closest thing she had to family.
Despite this, though, she still often chose to hide from reality, as it was the easiest path imaginable. Her mother and father were ending their marriage, and her father was leaving, although he claimed not to be leaving her. He was leaving all of them, and nothing was going to stop him.
So, with this knowledge, she spent much of her time in the capitol city of the state. She would call a cab and have them drive her to eateries, libraries, or anywhere else that she could enjoy herself without her mother or father, and she would spend hours there, reading or writing or laughing at comedians.
It was this place that she chose to take Klaus, her hand clasping his tightly as they walked through the doors of the mall in the capitol. It was nearly empty, as it was nearly three in the morning, but Caroline still found the bookstore, a place that stayed open all hours of the day, and walked in.
"Caroline," the woman behind the counter greeted. "It's been a while since you were in here. How are you? Is this your daughter?"
"Oh," Caroline said, glancing at Klaus, who nodded. She turned back to the woman with a smile upon her face. "Yes, it is. Her name is Hope."
"That's a beautiful name," the woman said, grinning at them. "What can I do for you?"
"I actually don't know."
"Well, the café next door still sells those amazing milkshakes, and they're open all hours, as well, so go on and get one and then come back and browse."
"I think we will do that. Klaus?" she questioned her boyfriend as she cradled the baby closer to her.
"That sounds like a lovely idea," Klaus said, his proper British accent making her want to laugh. He obviously knew how to be polite, she pondered, but she was often happy he chose not to.
Caroline held Hope close to her as they entered the small café and ordered chocolate milkshakes. Hope began to fuss a bit, which caused Caroline to pull out some formula and a bottle and ask the waiter, a young man with kind eyes and a bright smile, to fill the bottle with warm water. He did as bid, but Klaus tested the water with a fingertip to make sure it wasn't laced with vervain.
"You know, sweetheart, you're extremely paranoid," she said, mixing the bottle together quickly before feeding the baby.
"If you trust people, love, they are too often the wrong people, and I have been bitten too many times not to be shy." Klaus sighed as he glanced at his daughter. "There are many enemies who would happily harm her in order to break me."
"And what does that mean?" Caroline said.
"It is of no matter." Klaus's eyes glittered dangerously. "I am entirely too bloodthirsty for them to even consider being offered any form of mercy." He laughed without humor. "After all, the death of a man who dares to harm the heiress to a throne should be full of humiliation."
Caroline smiled as she realized what his daughter meant to him. She had known he cared for his daughter, of course, but there was such devotion and dedication in that moment that there was absolutely no denying it.
"So," Caroline said, lacing her arm through his as they approached his home in the city she had grown up in, "are you ready for this?"
"For you?"
"For my quirks and my panic attacks and my often irrational anger, Klaus. You can't claim to love all of me and get parts of me, and those are parts of me. Those are parts of me that are flawed, and incapable of being repaired, but they still make me who I am."
"Caroline Forbes," he breathed, his eyes on her face before they closed, "as if your flaws are anything but perfection."
"No, I bite my nails and read horrible romance novels and cry over movies that everyone else finds funny. I'll make you watch Mean Girls and The Notebook and The Fault in our Stars and you'll think I'm insane."
"Caroline," he laughed, his eyes on hers. "I knew you were flawed when I fell in love with you. If you're trying to scare me away, it's not working."
"Everyone else ran," she murmured.
"What are you talking about, love?" he questioned.
"When they saw my flaws, everyone else ran. I guess I'm just expecting you to do the same."
"I have stood against armies who have wished death upon myself and my followers, Caroline. Your flaws are the nearest thing to perfection and beauty I have ever seen."
And Caroline learned, in that moment, that the most flawed people became perfect in the eyes of their lovers.
A/N: Again, sorry for the horrid wait! I would like it known I wrote this several days before I actually was able to post it, so I had to wait, as well! I'm sorry!