A/N: Hey all! So, Here's CH.20...There are a few surprises in this chapter! :) Enjoy & Thanks for reading!
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CHAPTER TWENTY-The Ties That Bind Us-
Elena's P.O.V.
I feel like I've been waiting in the lobby for hours as Caroline comes strolling in, a huge tote bag in her arms as she smiles at me and places it down next to me. "Oh Thank God...We're here! I am so happy to just get away! So, How are you..Mrs. Salvatore?"
"Good. But, waiting for you and Lexi has given me some time to think..Caroline, I was wrong about Klaus..I don't think that you two will survive this..I mean, he's been lying to you for 4 years...I just..I said all that stuff before about how I think you two should work it out because I would hate to see you hurt. But, staying with him would be worse." I comment, watching as Caroline sits down next to me with a huff, grabbing my hand into hers when she nods.
"Elena..I'm divorcing him when I get back. I know, I said I hated him the other night. But, it's because I do. What Klaus did to me and to everyone that I love, I won't be able to forgive him for that. So, I'm set on it. Once we get home to Seattle. I'm getting a lawyer and I'm terminating our marriage, saying that we had irreconcilable differences." She states in a firm tone as I grip onto her hand and lean my head against hers.
"Okay..But, Caroline I want you to know that whatever you decide to do. I'll be here for you. And, when it gets rough..I'll be here to help you pick up the pieces. Just like you were there for me when I was going through all that drama with Katherine and then the whole Stefan thing..You showed me that it was okay to love and to mourn." I say, hearing as Caroline exhales and leans her head against mine, just nodding.
"Aww. You two are soo adorable! Now, chop chop..We've got facials in about an hour and that will give us enough time to go swimming before." Lexi says, appearing from behind us as Caroline and I turn around to look at her.
"Where are the girls?" I ask, watching as Lexi smiles at me, placing her hands on my shoulders as she speaks. "They took off down to the pool with magazines and their cell phones. Lillian told me to tell you that she'll let you know if Stefan calls. Since you two can't be away from each other for more than just one night." Lexi says as I stand up suddenly, staring at Lexi and watching her give me a confused look.
"What is it? Elena.." Her voice trails off as I run my hands through my hair and sigh.
"You gave my daughter my cell phone..Lexi!" I shout, watching as Lexi's facial expression changes from happiness to total horror.
"Oh shit! I'm sorry..I forgot about that thing that you and Stefan do when you're not together for a few days..Dirty test messages and that you two act like newlyweds when you're apart from one another..I am-" Lexi starts to say as I sternly tell her to go get my cell phone and give Lillian my ipod instead.
"Tell her that I need to have it with me and just give her the ipod. She'll understand..Plus, I bet you that all those two are doing is chatting on Facebook with these guys from school." I tell her, watching as Lexi laughs and turns to look at me. "Oh yeah, totally not what we used to do when we were their age or still do today..But you know, instead of Facebook for chatting..We use our assets to get their attention!"
Stefan's P.O.V.
"Where is she..hmm?" Klaus asks, leaning further into the sofa cushions, making me want to smack the smirk on his face and send him flying through the glass window of my house.
"Caroline isn't here. Now, I suggest that you leave. Now." I tell him, handing Scarlett over to Damon and telling him to go and take my daughter upstairs, get her ready for a nap.
"Oh, come on..Stefan! I just came over here to collect my wife. Now, where could she have possibly gone?" Klaus asks, rubbing the tip of his chin with his fingertips, looking over at me with curious eyes.
"The girls went out for a weekend thing. Ha..Collect your wife? Caroline isn't a fucking trophy to be 'collected'. She is Elena's best friend and mine as well and I really do care about her and her well being. So, here's what I propose. You leave her alone. You turn in your brother. Say sorry to my daughter and you get the fuck out of Seattle. I don't care where you have to go...Just as long as I don't ever have to see your sickening face again." I tell him, stepping in front of him and gripping the collar of his shirt as Klaus eyes me up and down, staring down at my hand.
"Fine. Okay. But, When you see Caroline, you tell her that her husband is looking for her. Alright? Oh and Stefan, I suggest that you be careful..I could take out your pretty little family. Just like I did Katherine. You know, the last thing that she told me before she died was that she wanted her and her unborn baby to be happy. I guess, that didn't go over very well." He says, shoving me away from him as I glare at him, just about to charge at him at full speed, my blood is boiling at the thought of Katherine and Lillian even being near the Mikaelson brothers and that she had seen them both, just a few days before her untimely death.
But, just when I'm seriously about to consider sending Klaus flying through the large glass window of our house, probably killing him in the process and then going after his brother and finishing the job. Damon's voice stops me. "Stefan. Don't do it. He's not worth it. Let him go. But, know this Klaus.. If you and Kol don't leave town and leave our families alone. I will make you wish that you never laid eyes on any of us and your death will be way worth than what you did to Katherine. I will make sure that you suffer painfully!"
"I'll leave town. Once I get my wife. Then, your families will never see me or my brother again. You can all go back to living your blissful lives." Klaus informs us, getting up from the couch and brushing past me.
"Oh and Stefan..Tell your daughter that I'm sorry for calling it like it is. Yet, you know, Katherine was addicted to those drugs more than she loved her baby or you even. But, At least someone was being honest with her. Telling Lillian who her mother really was..a dumb bitch that was a drug addict and didn't give a damn about her own child. I mean, who sleeps around and then wakes up one morning and realizes that she didn't even know who the father was!" Klaus says, sending this surge of anger through my body that I can't hold back anymore as I pull my arm back, fists tightened as I punch his face, watching carefully when the force of it sends him tripping over an end table in the living room and falling onto the floor.
"You son of bitch! You're a liar! She loved that little girl and yes she may have not known who the dad was at the time. But, Katherine was a good mother. She was just lost and confused because of you and your fucking brother! I don't blame Katherine for wanting our daughter to know me. Lillian is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I blame you and Kol for taking Katherine away from her little girl too soon!" I yell at him, the anger inside of me reaches a boiling point when I watch Klaus try to get up from the floor and I kick him, straight in the stomach, pulling him up by his shirt so that he looks directly up at me, a small hint of fear in his eyes when I whisper into his ear, my own voice is unrecognizable to my own ears as I speak in a low and threatening tone.
"If you and your brother don't leave town tonight and if you don't give Caroline a new start without you. I swear to God that your death will be way more painful and agonizing than what you did to Katherine. I will make you suffer for everything that you have done. Starting with hurting my wife and my daughter...I hear that drowning is the most agonizing way to go..You suffer until it all goes dark." I tell him, shoving his body down onto the ground when I hear Klaus groan, wiping the blood from his face and watching as I shake my hand out, the pain throbbing and sending a numbness up and down my arm.
"Ha..I won't leave that easily. You should know that, Stefan. I have family here..Why would I leave. What's in it for me if I do leave? I mean, I already know what would happen if I stayed, Kol and I would be going to jail..But then again, I'm sure I could get out of going to jail too. You have no evidence to hold me or Kol." Klaus says in a bargaining tone, watching when I run my hands through my hair and rub my hand over my face.
"If you leave town. You'd get a fresh start and I won't press any charges against you. But, there is no way in hell that I am letting you take Caroline. She doesn't deserve you, Klaus. She never has..I actually never even liked the two of you together, now that I think about it...Because there was always someone else that I liked her with better." I tell him, watching as Klaus gets up from the floor, straightening his shirt, gazing over at me as I shrug my shoulders back and raise my eyebrows at him.
"Oh, isn't that so? Well, Caroline would never leave me. She loves me too much. So, if I go, She goes. Anyways, have a nice day boys." Klaus says, wiping away blood from his face with the bottom of his shirt as he turns to leave, glaring up at Damon before he gets to the door.
"She loves you? You've been lying to her for 4 years about you and your family! She doesn't love you, Klaus. She just settled for you because the other option, the one that she really loves..Well, he was taken at the time by someone else. So, leave town Klaus. Or you will regret it." Damon says, making his way down the stairs and glaring at Klaus who lets out a laugh, shaking his head and smiling at us when he opens the door, turning his back towards us as he says "Oh, I doubt that...Because, if she loved him so much..She would have never chosen me."
Damon and I stand by the door for a while, watching it shuts behind him when Klaus leaves. "I hate him, more and more. So, are you going to tell Elena that you broke that vase that I bought you both for a honeymoon present?" Damon says, pivoting on his heels as he pats me on the back and I give him a confused look, looking down at the floor and noticing the dark green vase, smashed into a million little pieces.
"Oh shit! She loved that ugly thing." I comment, hearing as Damon scuffs, bending down to pick up the glass.
"Ugly? This beautiful piece of art was over $500!" Damon chimes in, glaring at me as I laugh a bit, wiping the sweat from my face when Damon looks over at me and pats me on the back.
"I don't trust Klaus by the way. I don't think he'll leave just like that. I mean, I would love it if he just picked up and vanished without a trance, leaving us all alone. But, you know that he won't be leaving without Caroline. So, the only way for him to get the hint is if Caroline tells him to get lost first or she moves on, quickly." Damon says, staring up at me as I nod at him. Damon's right, Klaus won't leave until Caroline tells him to or unless she gets a nice little distraction at the resort tonight.
Caroline's P.O.V.
I watch as Gracie and Lillian pick at their food. Elena and Lexi have been laughing about something that I'm barely even listening to. I'm too relaxed after our facials and I'm lost in my own thoughts of what I need to do with Klaus when I get back home that I don't hear Elena gasp or even shake my shoulder as she says "Oh my god! Caroline, look who's here!"
"Huh...What?" I ask, shaking my head as my thoughts disappear for the time being and I turn my head to see what Elena and Lexi are staring at like they've just seen a ghost.
I turn around slowly in my chair, my hair's flowing over my shoulders as I lock my eyes on him. He still looks the same, that same athletic build, same dark brown hair that I used to run my hands through when I was dating him and Klaus at the same time, all those years ago. He's sitting alone, drinking a beer as I stare at him, not able to take my eyes off of him when I hear Elena lean forward and push my shoulder. "Go talk to him, Caroline!"
I turn back around, taking my mesmerized gaze off of him, blushing a bit as Elena smiles widely. "God, he's still hot..I always thought that he was..Even after you broke up with him and I'd see him at the bar and grill, just like he is now..sitting and drinking. Caroline, I think you should go catch up. I mean, it has been more than 4 years since you've seen him." Elena comments, instantly taking me back to the night that I had told him that I couldn't be with him anymore because I was falling in love with someone else, someone that I had thought that I loved and eventually married, Klaus.
"I don't know..What if he's here with someone? I mean..Come on..." My voice trails off, tightening at the thought of going over to his table and making myself look like a fool.
"He's divorced!" Lillian and Gracie comment, looking over at their mothers who both chime in as well "And, he works at the same school that Gracie and Lillian go to..He's the principal there!" Elena and Lexi both say in unison, gleefully smiling at me as I glare up at them and shake my head, exhaling deeply and fixing my hair before I get up slowly. Taking a few deep breathes by the time I make it to his table and telling myself that I have nothing to be nerves about!
My hands are shaking when he looks up from the menu in his hands and locks his eyes on me, a stunned facial expression on his face, speaking in an unsure tone as he looks me up and down and in a soft tone he says my name. "Caroline."
I look behind me, looking over at Elena and Lexi who are acting like they were never the ones who suggested any of this in the first place. Then as I turn my attention back to him, I hear as he clears his throat when I pull up a chair, sitting down in it slowly as I smile at him and speak in a sweet tone. "Hello Tyler. It's been a long time."
A/N: Caroline and Tyler? Oh and anyone else think that Klaus will actually leave or will he just cause more trouble..especially if he finds out about Caroline's weekend with Tyler!
-Until Next Time!-