A/N: Hello, all! So, last week the chapter was a bit weird and kept going up and down, and it was difficult for people to access it. Because it has now been two consecutive weeks of technology being mean to everyone, I'm posting this early... Again...
So, if you didn't get to read chapter 13, I advise that you go back and read it now, or a lot of this won't make any sense at all :P
One of the things I love writing about this fic are the side character sub-plots, and the Petrova family definitely has one that we're visiting. Katerina and Elena are sisters and they do love each other even though they're very different people, so that dynamic is, I think, important to explore. There's an important development to that sub-plot in this.
Qetsiyah is not the big bad in this. I don't think I've said that before, so I just wanted to make it clear. She definitely serves a purpose though.
There have been requests for more Klaroline feels and missions, hopefully this chapter will satisfy both of those :P
Thank you wondygal & justanotherfiveminutes for betaing :D
Enjoy!
-Angie
January 15th, 2013
They had less than six hours. If only he'd given in and taken her over his desk instead of telling her that he had work to do. That contract could have waited an hour or two…Maybe she wouldn't be gone…Maybe she'd be…Well, maybe she'd be not in a fucking cage three hours away held captive by her grandfather's crazy ex-fiancée.
And then Damon fucking Salvatore goes and announces to everybody his intention to save his fiancée.
Not that Elijah was against rescuing Elena, but to imply that Elena was more important than Katerina…And in front of their heartbroken grandfather. He had the subtlety of a flash bomb and the sensitivity of…Well, he supposed that he couldn't use Niklaus as a measuring stick for emotional challenges anymore.
Either which way, here he was trying to think of a solution to their problem that didn't involve any luck. He wanted a guarantee that both women would make it out alive.
He sat in the office chair in between Matt and Marcel, determined to figure it out.
"Pause the footage," He ordered.
Qetsiyah was frozen in time, an insane smile on her face, but Elijah was more interested in the video screens behind her. "Zoom in," he said, pointing at a spot in Katerina's side of the footage, "Is that the explosion device?"
"I think so," Matt said, leaning forward slightly, lightening the picture using image manipulation software, "That's probably the company logo," he said, pointing at a white blip on the side of the device.
"Zoom in on Elena's," Elijah ordered, "Put the two pictures side-by-side."
Matt did so, and they were able to make out the logo completely.
Marcel immediately began running an image search and soon found the company. "It looks like this is one of the newer models of the X2300," He was saying, pointing at the picture, "If we can get one I might be able to mess with them. Two would be even better."
"Where are they stored?" Elijah asked quickly, pulling out his phone.
Marcel frowned. "Off the coast of Hawaii."
"Hawaii?" Matt asked incredulously.
Marcel nodded. "It makes sense if you think about it. There are lots of small islands and it's far away from anywhere besides itself."
"We'd never get there in time."
"He's correct. The flight is approximately six hours from here on our fastest private jet."
"Oh! Here, let me," Matt ordered, pushing Marcel aside slightly, his fingers flying over the keyboard, pulling up a page with a list of addresses, "These are the recent orders and their shipping addresses. If we can intercept one in transit…"
"Good idea," Marcel interrupted, immediately finding all of the orders for the X2300, most of which were to military bases, "There's one going towards the North Carolina navy base, actually. We should be able to get there in time."
"I'll call Silas," Elijah said quickly, pulling out his phone.
If they could hack the explosives in time…He took a deep breath and let it out again.
If you come out of this alive, Katerina, I will never deny you excellent desk sex again. I give you my word.
XXX
Caroline sat in between Kol and Stefan in front of Silas's desk, with Klaus standing behind them, leaning against the wall, and Jeremy off to the side looking out the window. "Immediately after Marcellus and Matthew figure out how to disarm the explosives, I need you to be ready to leave. They should be done in less than half an hour. You'll fly in the jet with Matthew and Marcellus. They'll brief you on the situation with the explosives. You will kill anyone in those buildings you come across, including Qetsiyah. Do you understand?"
The three of them nodded.
Caroline still wasn't comfortable killing people, really. But Katerina and Elena were worth it.
"Kol, Niklaus and, Marcellus will retrieve Katerina, and Caroline, Stefan, and Matthew will retrieve Elena. Gilbert will be your handler. Are we all clear?"
There were murmurs of assent, and Silas nodded towards the door.
Caroline lingered for a few seconds while everyone was filing out before speaking. "Can I ask you a question?"
He nodded, motioning for her to shut the door. She did so, and sank back into the chair in front of his desk. She bit her lip, trying to figure out how to phrase it.
"Do you think there could be…could be someone feeding information to Qetsiyah? In the organization, I mean. I feel like Kat and Elena were found way too easily, and—"
"You have good instincts," Silas said quietly.
Caroline's eyes widened. "You mean—"
"Yes. I'm fairly certain there is someone in the organization feeding her information. I have my eye on a few in particular."
He was silent for a moment, and Caroline could tell that he was considering his next words.
"I know that you are in an intimate relationship with Niklaus," He said abruptly.
"You think…You think that it's Klaus?"
He smiled and shook his head. "No, no. Not at all. I just wanted to ask…How much do you know about his family life? As a child?"
Caroline frowned. "I know that his mother took him and his siblings here to get away from his father when they were young, and that his mother disappeared and Finn kind of got forced into caring for them all. But that's it, I think. Why?"
"I assure you that it's relevant. It's a long story, but there are some things that you should know. Once Elena and Katerina are back at the base, we'll talk."
Her eyes shot up to look at him, surprised at his optimism, and he smiled softly. "You care for Katerina and Elena, do you not, Miss Forbes?"
"Of course," She said, almost angrily.
"And you would be inconsolable should they die?"
She felt slightly uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation, but nodded.
"Then there will be nothing that Niklaus would not do to bring them back to you," Silas said simply.
XXX
"All you have to do is get us close enough to reprogram the devices," Marcel said, clutching a small black box in his hand while Jeremy fiddled around with the collar, trying to find the best way to attach the microphone and earpiece, "Hey, hands off, Gilbert."
Jeremy snorted as he finished adjusting Marcel's and moved on to Matt. "No offense, but I wouldn't touch your dick if you paid me, regardless of whether you liked women or not," Jeremy shot over his shoulder irritably, making Caroline giggle.
She'd adjusted her own microphone and earpiece, and helped Stefan and Klaus with theirs.
"Anyway," Matt said, trying to draw the conversation back to the mission, "Just cover us until we get to the cages. The devices are linked to each other. All we have to do is re-link them to these," He said, holding up his own explosive.
"We took pictures of the ID numbers on our phones. If the linked devices are separated more than a mile once they're linked, they both blow at once. We just need to drop these less than a mile away from the warehouses, and then give us about ten minutes at the cages," Marcel continued.
Klaus had been silent almost the entire flight, and when they began their descent to the ground Caroline squeezed his hand. "Is everything okay?"
"Don't die to save your friends," He said simply.
"I'll try," She joked, but then stopped smiling when she saw how serious he was, "I'll be fine. I'm a good shot, and I'll be with Stefan the whole time."
He squeezed her hand back and looked out the window, seemingly lost in his thoughts.
XXX
"You know, if you want Papa to fall in love with you, this whole 'killing his family thing' is pretty counter-productive," Katerina said, picking her nails.
"He's already in love with me. He just doesn't realize it," Qetsiyah said shortly.
"Oh. Right. Your one true love," Katerina said mockingly.
"Be careful, little girl."
"What are you going to do, kill me?"
"I can."
"But you won't," Katerina said shortly, "You want Papa to suffer, so you'd rather torture me in front of him. I know how this works."
Qetsiyah shrugged. "But imagine his face when he comes to rescue you to find that you're already gone."
"Yeah, okay lady, whatev—"
There was a short string of gunshots, a scream of pain, and a thump of at least one body hitting the ground outside the room, and Katerina instinctively dropped to the floor, her head covered. She heard Qetsiyah curse under her breath and pull out a gun from the waistband of her jeans. "Don't bother trying to grab the gun. Reaching through the bars will make both cages explode," She shot over her shoulder, before moving into the shadows as another gunshot went off.
Katerina backed up slightly, incredibly uncomfortable with the situation. She was trapped. If whoever was coming in was not friendly, she was a sitting duck. The door burst open and Klaus and Kol walked in slowly, guns out. "Don't come in!" Katerina immediately shouted, making the men pause and back up slightly, "Qetsiyah's behind the box-"
Qetsiyah fired her gun and the bullet buried itself in the wall right by Kol's ear, causing all three of the men to immediately drop to the ground. Kol rolled sideways to aim his gun in the direction the shot had come from, while Marcel had moved forward on his hands and knees, Klaus covering him as they moved, also shooting at the boxes, though much less liberally than Kol.
Katerina was getting the feeling that they hadn't anticipated needing so many bullets.
Marcel had a tablet out that was being hooked up to the explosive almost as soon as he reached the device, as well as phone, which he was checking every few seconds.
Qetsiyah darted out and shot at them again, before returning to her cover behind the boxes, dodging Kol and Klaus's shots and returning fire.
"Almost done," Katerina heard Marcel mutter to Klaus through gritted teeth, who nodded that he'd heard as he took careful aim at Qetsiyah's position and fired again.
"You can't unhook them. If they aren't connected to another bomb it will malfunction and explode on the spot," Qetsiyah said, a hint of arrogance making its way into her voice, "You're just going to kill them both."
Klaus scoffed and started shooting the boxes, making them burst into splinters, causing Qetsiyah to let out a shriek of pain, before the click of his trigger made it clear that he was out of bullets. He swore.
"Done," Marcel announced, throwing down the tablet and disarming the explosive.
It unclicked and clattered harmlessly to the floor, causing the cage door to swing open. Katerina immediately sauntered out, trying to brush the dust off of her clothes before giving up after a few seconds, and instead mourning the loss of a two-hundred dollar dress, her high heels clicking on the concrete floor. "That was anti-climactic."
There was a gunshot from the direction of the boxes and Katerina immediately darted behind Marcel, who doubled over in pain as the shot grazed his leg. "Bitch!" He hissed out between his teeth.
"Sorry not sorry," Katerina said quickly, still hiding behind him.
Klaus sighed dramatically, and Katerina had a feeling that he was simply impatient with this whole business and wanted to kill Qetsiyah and get it over with.
"We're going to kill you, you might as well just surrender now so that you don't waste our time," Klaus said dryly.
"Don't. I have information that might be beneficial to the organization."
"Of course you do," Klaus grumbled, shoving his now-empty gun back into the holster at his waist, still within reach in case he got the opportunity to hit Qetsiyah over the head with it.
"Your mother's not dead, and I know where she is."
Kol froze, his hand dropping to his side, but Klaus just looked amused. "And I'm supposed to care about this why?"
"She's working with Mikael to take down the Travelers."
Klaus rolled his eyes. "She wouldn't do that, she hates Mikael."
"Look, I don't know her motives. I just know that it's true. I'll tell you if you let me go."
Kol shoved his gun back in the waistband of his pants and put his hands up. "Fine, come out, tell us where she is."
Klaus gave him a disbelieving look, but Kol returned with one of desperate hope. Katerina knew that Kol and Rebekah hadn't known Esther, and it made sense that he might want to know where she was.
Qetsiyah poked her head out to see if any of them had weapons, and then came out more fully, edging towards the door.
"She's trying to recruit your agents to her little band of mercenaries in New—"
Klaus elbowed his brother in the side, pulled the gun out of the waistband of his pants, and shot Qetsiyah in the stomach before she could finish.
"What the fuck, Nik?"
"What?" Klaus asked, looking completely unconcerned by Kol's anger, "We're losing time. Marcellus is injured. Let's go."
"She was about to tell us where Mother—"
"She's not our mother," Klaus interrupted dully, "If she was, she wouldn't have left us. Let's go."
XXX
He found himself attacked by a jumping blonde projectile as soon as he made it back to the jet with Katerina in tow. He flinched before hesitantly wrapped his arms around her, smirking slightly at the never-ending stream of "thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou" spilling out of her mouth.
"You know, darling, I did help, too," Kol said irritably from behind Klaus, "Where's my hug?"
Klaus had to restrain himself from punching his own brother, before he realized Kol was trying to provoke him. He was sure that he'd be getting a talk from all of his siblings once they returned, but honestly he wasn't sure why they cared about their mother. After all, he didn't.
"Yeah, but you actually like Kat," Caroline was saying, attacking her curly haired friend with a tight hug before realizing what she'd said and pulling back, "Um, no offense."
"No worries. The feeling is definitely mutual," Katerina said dryly, nodding at him.
"Where's Elena?" Katerina asked suddenly, her eyes scanning through her group of friends for her sister.
"She's fine. Just resting on the jet."
Katerina snorted. "More like having a private panic attack," She muttered before making her way up the stairs to see her sister, lingering on the steps with an annoyed look on her face as Jeremy helped a bleeding Marcel up so that he could be patched up.
It then occurred to Klaus that Caroline had just been on a similar rescue mission, and he pulled her back to him, causing her to squeak, and before he could start inspecting her for injuries, she pulled away rolling her eyes. "Don't worry, there wasn't a single gunshot that wasn't ours, but thanks for your concern."
"Yeah, she's a really good shot. Got them all before they even knew what was going on," Matt said, causing Caroline to stiffen.
Klaus immediately realized that it was the guilt hitting her and pulled her near him, letting her take comfort from his arms.
He was getting rather good at this whole comforting business, he thought, feeling proud of himself.
They all boarded the jet, and Caroline immediately pulled him down next to her, snuggling into his side. He felt like he should really stop being surprised whenever she touched him without warning, but it still felt odd. Nonetheless, it was comfortable.
"Thank you," She said again, much more quietly.
He nodded at her. "Of course, love."
He realized that the reason she was snuggling against him was because she was tired when her breathing evened a few minutes later, and he smiled to himself. Katerina and Elena appeared to be arguing about something regarding the wedding, but then Kol gestured to Caroline and told them to be quiet and let her sleep.
Klaus and Stefan both snorted at the same time.
"Caroline could probably sleep through a rocket launch," Stefan said, "Talk as loudly as you want; she won't wake up."
It was less than an hour before they touched down on the runway for private jets at the airport, where there was a small group of agents waiting, presumably to drive them home. Damon was waiting as close to the plane as possible. Elena was off-board first, launching herself into his arms, and Klaus's lip curled.
"I think it's cute," Caroline said quietly from beside him.
He didn't respond, but placed his hand on the small of her back, directing her to the group of cars that were waiting, and he unlocked one of them, holding the passenger door for her.
"Where did you get the keys for that?" Caroline asked.
He smirked. She must have remembered that they were all dropped off in one of the SUVs, and they hadn't left any cars there. "Mason should be much more careful about where he puts his keys."
She opened her mouth, looking like she was about to scold him before closing again, seemingly thinking better of it. He drove them back, and he smiled as Caroline fell asleep again in the passenger seat, her head pressed against the window. They pulled up to the boarding house and he picked her up out of the seat, carrying her up to his bedroom.
He'd never do this for anyone else, he realized as he carefully removed her shoes, trying not to wake her. If this had been Rebekah, she would still be strapped in the car with her cell phone and a text from him to call him when she woke up to let her out.
Caroline gave a little sigh and rolled onto her side, snuggling into his pillow, and he allowed himself a smile before leaving the room and walking down the stairs to his studio.
He hadn't bothered to mention it the day before, but though she'd hated it, he thought she'd looked beautiful in the vintage dress. It had hugged her torso so perfectly, highlighting her breasts and shoulders, and floated out past her hips in a swirl of blues and greens. It was the kind of dress that was made for painting.
He started the sketch on canvas with the shape of her body to get the proportions correctly, as he always did. Her full breasts that led into the curve of her waist and the softness of the swells of her hips and thighs, her thin ankles and delicate toes, uncovered by her shoes in his mind. The shape of the dress was next, its bell skirt and sweetheart neckline elongating the curve of her neck, which was bent slightly so that her curls were spread across the canvas, and her arms spread out beside her as she twirled around the hotel room on her toes, a bright smile lighting up her face.
He could see the scene in his mind's eye, though it had never occurred, Caroline dancing around and around to a song only found in her head…He started painting, adding the creamy color of her skin, the tiny spread of freckles on her nose that only showed if you looked very closely, the curve of her eyebrows, the spread of her eyelashes…
He froze at the gasp behind him and turned to see Caroline, her hair and clothes rumpled from sleep, looking around the studio in complete awe. He had known that she would walk into his studio eventually, and was glad he'd prepared by putting some of her portraits away, and bringing out some old landscapes and a still life or two.
"Caroline?" He asked, breaking her out of her thoughts.
"Klaus," She said weakly, "Did you do all of these?"
He nodded slowly, suddenly concerned by the look of confusion on her face. She moved closer to the nearest one, which was of her on their date on New Year's, her cheeks pinked with cold and eyes bright, dangling a glass of champagne between her fingers. She shot him an impressed look before observing it more closely.
"I painted that after I took you home," He said quietly.
"I mean, I knew that you sketched me," She said slowly, and he nodded, remember his absolute fury with her when she'd looked through it by accident, "But…This is…" She trailed off.
"Not a sketch?" He suggested dryly, raising an eyebrow.
"Definitely not a sketch."
"Do you…not like it?" He asked hesitantly.
Her head snapped to look at him in slight alarm. "No, no. It's…It's beautiful, actually. I don't know how…I mean, I don't look like that."
He grinned before he could stop himself, and she gave him an angry frown, stepping closer to him. "What?" She asked.
"You're much more beautiful than I could ever manage to convey on canvas, Caroline."
It was her turn to laugh, and she did with an eyeroll and a shake of her head. "You can't say things like that."
He smirked. "Why not?"
"Just…Just because."
"If you say so."
"I do," She said, frowning, before yawning suddenly, covering her mouth, "Excuse me," She mumbled.
His lips twitched. "You're excused."
She slapped him lightly in the arm, making him grin unrepentantly, before looking at his painting in progress and curling her lip. "I hate that dress."
"I know," He said simply, looking back at the painting, "But I don't."
She rolled her eyes before changing the subject. "Silas wanted me to come see him later this morning. He said he wanted to tell me some things about the organization, and he mentioned that he wanted to talk about you…" She stopped talking when he flinched, and lightly laid a hand on his arm.
He resisted the urge to jerk it away.
"Sorry," She said quietly, "I just want to know…Is there anything you want to tell me? Before I go see Silas?"
He frowned. Was there? He recognized that she was giving him a chance to tell her anything she might not want to hear before she heard it from someone else. But what would Silas tell her? Was it worth the risk to reveal some of the things he knew that she wouldn't approve of? Which would be better?
He didn't want to tell her, but at the same time, he knew it would be worse if she didn't hear it from him.
"I…" He started slowly, "You should know that I…I care about you very much."
She nodded, raising an eyebrow.
"But I don't care about very many other people," He said slowly, causing her to nod along with him, as though she already knew—which she most probably did, "And as a result, I am often the one who interrogates prisoners. I wasn't exactly...encouraged to have sympathy for others as a child, which resulted in me having less of an issue extracting information," He finished slowly, rattling off part of the speech he had gotten from Amara—who had been the counselor for the branch before she'd died and been replaced by Lexi—when he'd been twelve. She'd been the one to immediately recognize that he "didn't play well with others" (her nice way of putting it), and had convinced her husband to help Klaus use it in a productive way.
Productive for the organization, obviously, rather than productive for his own personal health.
"And by 'extracting information' you mean 'torture'?" Caroline asked hesitantly.
He nodded, and she pursed her lips. "Thank you for telling me," She said quietly.
"If you want to know something, I'll always be honest with you, love," he said, causing her to give him a brilliant grin. He mentally congratulated himself on the loophole.
She kissed him lightly on the lips, and he immediately deepened the kiss, resting his hands on her hips and devouring her mouth, biting her bottom lip lightly before soothing it with his tongue, causing her to moan. She pulled back quickly, though.
"I have to meet Silas," She said, an apologetic look on her face.
He resisted the urge to sigh dramatically and instead nodded before kissing her chastely on the cheek and smiling softly at her. "Later, then."
She nodded. "Later."
XXX
"So basically what you're saying is that Esther's body was never found, and you think that Mikael kidnapped her?" She asked.
Silas nodded.
"But why would he do that if he was angry at her for cheating on him?" Caroline burst out. These people make literally no sense.
He snorted. "He didn't want her help. He wanted her as bait."
"Bait for what?"
"To kill Niklaus and the rest of the children," Silas said simply.
"But…That makes no…What?" Caroline spluttered.
Silas shrugged. "I don't pretend to understand the way insane people think, Miss Forbes. And I'm not guaranteeing that I'm correct either, Qetsiyah may be accurate in saying that she's joined him, though I doubt it. My theories usually end up being correct. I think that Mikael kidnapped his wife in order to punish her, and hoping that Niklaus would take the bait. Mikael, however, did not count on Niklaus legitimately not caring about what happened to Esther, and therefore the bait was useless."
"Okay…?"
"He then most likely contacted someone within the agency who was willing to bargain for her life, hoping that they'd make a deal to feed him information. I would also bet that he made a deal with Qetsiyah as well in order to obtain the support of the Hunters."
"So, no offense, but why are you telling me all this? I'm not exactly—"
"He was waiting for Niklaus to care about something significant that he could use," Silas interrupted.
"Oh, fuck," Caroline muttered before she could stop herself, looking up at Silas in alarm after she realized she'd sworn in front of her boss.
"That about sums it up," He said dryly.
She sat there in stunned silence for a moment. "So am I banned from missions, then?" She asked nervously.
Silas snorted. "As much as Niklaus would most likely appreciate that, no. We've had much more dangerous situations before, which reminds me: The rest of your team is due here in approximately ten minutes for the brief for the next mission, which will be long term."
"Wait, what?" Caroline snapped.
He had literally just spent half an hour telling her that her murderous boyfriend's insane adoptive father was out to kill her and now he was sending her on a mission without giving her time to process?
When she looked up, she was surprised to find him looking rather apologetic. "If you must know, Miss Forbes, I'm not a monster. I suspect that you are the kind of person that throws themselves into their work after a traumatic incident."
She nodded slowly.
"I am trying to do you a favor. In addition, you are the only agent in the United States at the moment who…ah…Cheered in high school."
Um, what?
January 17th, 2013
"I cannot believe that Silas is making me go back to high school," Caroline complained.
"Yes, love, we understood your dissatisfaction the first five times you expressed it," Klaus said irritably.
"And it's we, not you," Stefan added.
"If it's any consolation, I am rather unhappy with the situation as well," Stefan snorted and Klaus's head snapped over to look at him, "Something you'd like to say, Ripper?"
Stefan shook his head. "Nothing at all."
The mission was deceptively simple-sounding. Carla and Sherman Amell, a middle-aged couple in their early forties, lived in the suburbs of a northern California town, and used the basement below their estate make and sell some kind of hallucinogen, nicknamed "Vervain," and they were supposed to find the stock and destroy it.
Normally, this would have been easy. Unfortunately, Silas, for some reason, was adamant that every single trace of vervain was destroyed, which meant that they had to find all of it. It wouldn't be a fast job, and they needed a way to stay there.
Which is where Caroline (the future walking cliché) came in. They had a son, Brady, who attended the local school and played left tackle on the school football team. Her job was to date him and get him to let her in their house so that she could find the hiding places.
Worst came to worst, Stefan, who was joining the football team, was the become-the-best-friend backup plan.
Caroline squeezed Klaus's hand, almost cheered up by his sulky expression. "I know it sucks, but we'll still be living together. I promise to disinfect my mouth every time I get home."
"You're hilarious," Klaus muttered, staring out the window.
"Hey, at least we talked Silas out of making you our older brother," Caroline said cheerfully, "You've been demoted to family friend."
Really what she and Stefan had talked Silas out of was sending Klaus near the high school at all. Silas hadn't really needed much convincing anyway.
They pulled up at an apartment building and Finn led them up the stairs before unlocking the apartment door and standing by while they walked in.
"The next semester starts in two days. I'll drive you both down to the school with your paperwork tomorrow. I've called ahead and arranged most of it. Be up at eight, please."
Caroline mock-saluted him. "Sure thing, Dad."
Klaus and Stefan both snorted at Finn, who had wrinkled his nose in a decidedly impolite way.
"That doesn't make me feel old at all."
"You're not old," Caroline reassured him.
Finn had allowed his wife to dye parts of his hair and eyebrows grey, as well as thinning his hair quite a bit, and Caroline could tell that the thirty-one year-old was feeling incredibly self-conscious.
Caroline dragged her suitcases to one of the bedrooms and started to put her clothes away. She'd worked with Katerina and Elena to "de-age" her wardrobe quite a bit, and she wrinkled her nose at the short-shorts and sundresses she would be sporting for the foreseeable future (thank you temperature-low-of-sixty-five-degrees-California-weather).
She heard the door open behind her and turned to see Klaus dragging his suitcase into the room and calmly coming to unpack his in the dresser next to her.
"What are you doing in here?" She asked, trying to fight a slight smile off of her face.
His lips twitched as well. "I live here. Didn't you know?"
She snorted. "Fine, as long as you don't try anything."
She honestly wasn't sure how she felt about what Silas and Klaus had told her. She somehow instinctively knew that Klaus wouldn't hurt her. She wasn't sure, however, how she felt about him hurting other people. She'd have to think about that. And Silas…Well, she wasn't going to tell Klaus that his father was after her, especially as they didn't know if it was true.
"Wouldn't dream of it, love," He said, though he leaned closer, his hot breath on her ear making her shiver, "But if you ask…Who am I to deny the lady what she wishes?"
"Well, we'll see," Caroline said, unable to fight down a smile.
January 18th, 2013
Elena was crying. Again.
She'd been crying for the last week, even before Qetsiyah had kidnapped them, and she was getting sick of it. She didn't even know why she was crying. All she knew was that her face felt like it was about to crack open from her tears that she was crying for absolutely no reason.
She had also been especially irritable, which was odd because she was never irritable. Katerina basically had dibs on that personality trait since the time that they were very young, and Elena was perfectly content with being the nice twin.
Elena had, in the past week, become incredibly adept at hiding her tears from her fiancé. She knew that Damon knew something was wrong, but he'd either decided that she was stressed about the wedding, or had figured that she'd talk to him when she was ready.
The front door opened and she scrambled to wipe the tears from her face as Damon walked into their bedroom. "Are you crying again?" He asked.
"What are you? The crying police?"
"No," Damon said slowly, seeming to realize he'd said the wrong thing, "I've just noticed that you've been…off for the last few days."
"Oh, I'm sorry to inconvenience you with my tears," Elena said irritably, pushing herself off the bed and stomping out of the room towards the kitchen.
Damon caught up with her quickly and touched her arm gently, and she shook him off. "Elena, calm down."
"Calm down?" She asked incredulously.
His mouth firmed and he seemed to root his feet to the floor before answering. "Yes. Calm down and tell me what's wrong. I've been worried about you all week."
"Oh, you've been worried? I'm so sorry, I will try my hardest to be a decent human being and limit my crying to times when you aren't present."
"Look, I know that the whole Qetsiyah thing must have been hard for you—"
"It wasn't the Qetsiyah thing. I just…I've been feeling weird lately."
He nodded slowly. "Is there anything I can do?"
"Not especially, no."
"Do you want to see Lexi?"
"Why would I want to see Lexi?"
"You sound…depressed," He said hesitantly.
"I'm fine," Elena said shortly, wondering how he'd come to that conclusion. She was sad, yes, but she still felt like doing things. She'd just been so tired lately…
Oh, good lord.
She felt her eyes widen and she swallowed hard. Had she gotten her period in December? No, no she hadn't.
"Fuck."
It was an unwritten rule that all the women in the organization start using some form of ongoing contraceptive method when they were old enough to need it if they were going to be field agents. Elena had chosen the pill (the other choice was an IUD, and she didn't particularly want Sage's hands anywhere near her lady parts to stick in something that would stay there for an indeterminate amount of time, no matter how scientifically proven the safety was, thank you very much), and though she had stopped working on the field in her late teens, she kept using it out of convenience. She must have missed a dose or two.
"Is there a reason that you look like someone just killed your puppy?" Damon asked.
"I need to see Sage."
"Now?"
She frowned at him, crossing her arms over her chest. "No, now as in next week. Yes, now."
Damon clearly had decided that it was pointless to argue any longer and grabbed his keys letting her follow him to the car. He unsuccessfully tried to wheedle out what she thought was wrong with her during the ten minute drive, but she refused to answer.
She couldn't have a child. She didn't even feel like an adult yet.
And Damon…She didn't know whether Damon wanted children. They'd talked about it vaguely earlier on in their relationship, but they'd both put it off as something to talk about later. In the agency, it wasn't common to have more than one, and they usually waited until later in life.
Sage made time to see her, and she made Damon wait in the lobby. Ten minutes later, she had her answer.
How was she going to tell Damon that they were going to have a child?
Forget Damon, how was she going to tell Kat?
January 19th, 2013
She felt the mattress sink in beside her and someone pulling her to them and nudging her shoulder slightly.
"Caroline, you need to wake up," Klaus said.
"No thank you," She mumbled, scooting closer to him and burying her face into his chest.
She could feel him laughing, and she frowned.
"It's seven o'clock."
"I don't want to go to school," She said sullenly, pulling back from him and yawning.
"You told me to let you sleep until seven. I just heard Stefan get into the shower."
Caroline groaned. "He takes forever, though. Why did you wake me up?"
"Because he takes forever, and so you'll want to have coffee and eat before you take yours, I'm sure," Klaus said promptly.
Why did he know her so well?
She rolled away from him, swinging herself out of bed and accepted the cup of coffee he handed to her.
"Thank you."
He nodded and laid back down on the bed, watching her as she started flipping through her closet. She wanted to make a good impression, but she didn't want to stand out too much.
She had checked the dress code the day before, and it was a lot less rigid than she was expecting. She drained her coffee and set it on the dresser before she pulled out a pair of white shorts and a floaty turquoise tank top, holding them up in front of her critically. She knew Klaus was still watching her and she turned around to glare at him. "Since you seem to have nothing better to do than watch me pick out my clothes, do these look okay?" She asked, holding them up.
"Those shorts are very short," He said.
She nodded. "That would be the point."
She heard the shower shut off and grabbed her make-up bag and clothes before heading into the bathroom. Her shower was quick—she had to be ready by seven forty-five—and she blew her hair dry as quickly as possible, abandoning the hair dryer and scrunching it a bit with her fingers when she realized that she was short on time and had to let it air dry. Klaus was still lying on the bed when she returned to her room to fasten her earrings and find shoes, though he now had his sketchbook in his hands.
He looked up at her and his eyes narrowed. "You're going out to school in that?"
"Yeah. What's wrong with it?" She asked, stepping in front of the mirror to check for stains or holes.
"You're meant to be in high school. Are you sure that's appropriate?"
She laughed. "There will be girls wandering around in less, I promise. And anyway, those boys can look, but they can't touch me," She said consolingly, walking over to pat his shoulder, before adding with a sly smile, "Well, except Brady."
She squeaked as pulled her down so that she landed on top of him before he rolled over to pin her beneath him, kissing her roughly, his fingers digging into the coarse fabric covering her hips. She responded immediately, her fingers winding into his hair as she arched her back, nibbling on his bottom lip, moaning slightly as his hands crept under her tank top, stroking the soft skin of her abdomen. He pulled away and began placing hot wet kisses on her neck, and the door flew open, revealing Stefan in the doorway, who immediately clapped his hands over his eyes.
"Caroline, it's time to go," He said, his hands still covering his eyes, "And having hickeys when we go to school will more than slightly defeat the whole purpose of this."
She sighed, disentangling herself from Klaus's arms and placing a last kiss on his lips. "I'll see you later."
She followed Stefan to the front room where Finn was waiting with a bagel for her. He pushed his car keys into her hand. "You'll drop me off on the way."
They piled into the car, Caroline scowling at the black and white polka-dot backpack Finn had packed for her, and after dropping him off a few blocks away they pulled up in front of the school.
"Ready?" Stefan asked.
"As I'll ever be."
A/N: Thank you so much for reading, and for the follows and favorites and reviews!
So, that was a reasonably action-filled chapter. Next chapter we'll see more of the mission (which involves Caroline becoming at least semi-involved with a person that's not Klaus) (Do I see some Jealous!Klaus in our future?) (Why yes, yes I do) and a bit more of the sub-plot action (including why Elena is anxious about telling Katerina that she's having a baby).
Also, any guesses to who the mole might be? I want to hear all of them ^_^
Hint: It's probably not your first guess ;)
Please review even if you don't have any guesses :P
Also, Arrow reference. Sorrynotsorry.
Hugs!
-Angie