Chaos.

The plantation house was filled with shouts as everyone gathered in the living room, and that was the only word Caroline could think of.

"Alright, SHUT UP!"

Silence fell abruptly.

"Thank you, Caroline," Klaus said. "You beat me to it. We all knew this was coming," he continued. "We just didn't know when. And frankly, it sounds like the Crescents are winning the first round."

Now the noise inside the house had settled, they could hear the screams coming from the bayou – and they were almost certainly not coming from wolves.

"Head's up!" Caitlin called from the window. "We've got kids coming out of the trees."

"Why are there kids?" Matt asked immediately.

"Well, there are young members of the pack who haven't triggered the curse yet," Caroline said. "I guess their parents must have sent them this way – we can protect them easier in here than they can out there."

Jeanette darted out of the house, and Caitlin and James followed her. They hurried back in with twelve young children between the ages of two and twelve.

"Caroline!"

Caroline knelt down and caught Laura and Melissa as they threw themselves at her. "Hi girls! Are you okay?"

"Mom told us to come here," Laura said, shaking. "There are bad vampires in the bayou and …"

"We know, sweetheart," Caroline said. "It's okay." She straightened up, taking the youngest of the children from Jeanette. "Hey, honey. What's your name?"

"That's Mikey," Melissa said. "He's two."

"You scared, honey?" Caroline asked quietly.

The little boy nodded, rubbing his eyes.

"It's okay," Caroline repeated. "We'll look after you. Are your parents all out there tonight?"

"My mom hasn't triggered her curse yet," Laura said. "Everyone else's has."

"My parents are gone," the oldest boy said. "It's just me and my brother. My brother's out there."

Caroline nodded, holding a hand out. "I'm Caroline."

"I'm Nick," he said, shaking her hand. It was an oddly strong handshake for such a young boy.

"You're Aiden's brother," Josh said quietly.

"Alright, let's postpone the rest of the introductions," Klaus said. "Caroline, I'm going to need you upstairs and somewhere safe."

"Okay, well I'm going to make a cursory protest about being able to look after myself," Caroline said. "And then I'm going to do it anyway, because I agree with you. C'mon, you lot, up we go. Up the stairs to the third floor."

"Josh, go with them," Adrian said. "Stick to Caroline like glue."

"Got it," Josh said, jogging after them.

Caroline directed the kids into one of the bedrooms that looked over the front of the house. "Alright, I've picked this one so I can see what's going on out there. I want you guys to stay back away from the window, okay?" She glanced up as Josh entered. "Hey, do me a favour and grab some ice cream? For the kids, not for me." She paused. "Okay, maybe grab some for me."

"Marcel's going to be here any minute and you want ice cream?" Josh asked.

"I'm trying to keep the kids calm," Caroline said quietly.

"And sugar is the best way to do that?" Josh asked.

"They're scared," Caroline said. "It's comforting. I know you've probably been sent up as my bodyguard, but before we shut ourselves in, please get some ice cream. There's some in the freezer."

Josh cracked a smile. "Alright, I'll be right back."

As he blurred out, Matt walked in.

"That didn't take long," Caroline said. "I thought you'd fight on this front."

"I did," Matt said, scowling. "Apparently, Rebekah's made sure I haven't had any vervain for the last two weeks, so she could compel me today to stay up here."

"Oh, dear," Caroline said, hiding a smile.

"Caroline!" Matt protested. "You're supposed to be on my side!"

"Look, Rebekah's compelled you to stay in here to keep you safe," Caroline said. "You kidnapped Elena to get her out of Mystic Falls to keep her safe. Neither of those things was the right thing to do, but it's now been done."

"Not the same thing," Matt grumbled.

Caroline sighed. "I'm not going to complain that you're not going to fight."

"Oh, I didn't say that," Matt said. "She told me to stay up here; she didn't tell me not to fight. I need a weapon!"

Caroline closed her eyes. "Any chance I can talk you out of this?"

"I'm done with having things happen to me," Matt said firmly. "I'm just done."

"Alright," Caroline conceded. "Josh …"

"I got the ice cream," Josh said, setting down a tray of various ice cream tubs and bowls and spoons.

"Okay, kids, help yourselves," Caroline said.

"Really?" Laura asked, wide-eyed.

"Really," Caroline said. "Your mom's probably gonna be pretty mad at me, but I think we've got a good enough excuse; what do you think?"

"Are you going to have some?" Melissa asked.

Caroline hesitated. "Tell you what; save me a bowl of chocolate chip, and you can have the rest."

A little cheer went up.

"And, Josh, could you please get Matt a weapon?" Caroline asked.

"Something I can use from in here," Matt added.

Josh thought for a second. "Hang on." He vanished for a second and came back with a crossbow and a bag of wooden stakes. "You'd be amazed at what Klaus has in the basement."

Matt took the crossbow and checked it over. "No, I really wouldn't. Thanks."

"Hey, can I get one of those?" Nick asked.

Josh hesitated. "If you get hurt, your brother's gonna kill me."

"You must be the boyfriend," Nick said. "Nice to meet you; Aiden never shuts up about you."

Josh promptly turned a very interesting shade of pink. "I'll get you a crossbow."

"Josh, you can't get him a crossbow just because of that," Caroline protested. "Can you use a crossbow?"

"No," Nick said. "But I'm a quick learner."

"If we say no, you're going to fight out there, aren't you?" Caroline asked tiredly.

"Yep," Nick said. "And you can't compel me not to, because we're all on vervain."

"Lucky you," Matt grumbled.

Caroline sighed. "Josh, get him a weapon. If something happens, blame me. Alright?"

Josh hesitated. "Caroline …"

"Do it," Caroline said. "Matt, can you use a crossbow?"

"Jeremy and I did talk about something other than football and girls in that house," Matt said. "Don't tell Elena."

Downstairs, while Klaus dealt with the vampires and the hybrids (who had apparently decided there was a time and place to insist on dealing with Caroline, and had taken Adrian and Jeanette's lead), Kol was calming Sophie and Davina, who were both a little shaken to say the least.

"We are going to need your help, ladies," Kol said.

"We're not immortal, Kol," Sophie pointed out. "We can die."

"You are not going to die," Kol said firmly. "Neither of you. I don't want you two out there any more than you want to be out there. So go and join Caroline, find a window, and give them Hell."

"On it," Sophie said immediately, jogging up the stairs.

"I'm not leaving," Davina said.

Kol sighed. "Davina …"

"I'm not," Davina repeated. "I am not leaving you."

"Darling, I need you to," Kol said softly. "I need to know you're safe."

"Kol, I can help," Davina said. "And I need to help …"

"And you will," Kol said. "From up there. Please."

Davina closed her eyes.

The shouts from the bayou were getting closer. The room was slowly emptying as everyone poured out into the grounds, preparing to meet the first survivors.

"Okay," she whispered. "But you need to promise me that you'll be careful."

"I promise." Kol tucked a loose curl behind her head and dipped his head to kiss her softly, slowly.

Despite the urgency of the situation, Davina couldn't help smiling when he pulled away. "I love you."

"I love you too," Kol said. "Now, please …"
"I'm going," Davina said. "I'll see you on the other side." She followed Sophie's tracks up the stairs to the third floor.

"How do we know who's on our side?" Nick was asking, peering out the window.

"If they're coming out of the woods, and you don't recognise them as a wolf, they're not on our side," Caroline said. "Davina, I thought I was going to have to come and get you."

"Well, Kol talked me into it," Davina said. "Why does this bedroom have so many windows?"

"Because we knocked two rooms into one when we first got here," Caroline answered. "I'm not complaining right now."

"Marcel's made it out of the bayou," Sophie reported. "He looks pissed."

"Brilliant." Nick loaded his crossbow. "Hey, if I kill a vampire, do I still trigger the curse, or does it need to be a human?"

"No idea," Caroline said, settling down beside the children. "Best aim for the gut, just to be on the safe side. Unless you want to trigger the curse. Josh, be my eyes, please."

"You got it," Josh said, standing behind Davina.

Little Mikey crawled on to Caroline's lap, and she gave him a hug, taking the bowl of chocolate chip ice cream from Laura.

For the next twenty minutes, Caroline tried to tune out the sounds from outside, focussing instead on talking to the children, telling them stories and trying to make them forget about the fight going on outside.

Then, suddenly …

"Marcel's down!" Josh said.

Caroline looked up sharply. "What?"

"Marcel's down," Josh repeated. "I think it's …" He cut himself off with a curse, yanking Davina back away from the window.

Caroline jumped to her feet in time to see one of Marcel's vampires just outside the window, apparently having leapt up towards them.

Matt and Nick both fired at the same time, one stake shot through his gut, the other through his chest, and he fell back to the ground.

Caroline took a shaky breath. "Nice shot." She turned to the children. "Josh said a very bad word just then. Do not repeat it."

"That's what you're focusing on?" Nick asked.

"I'm trying to keep things calm," Caroline said, tucking a blanket over Mikey, who had fallen asleep five minutes ago. "Josh? What's going on?"

"I think it's over," Josh said. "I think it's actually over."

"I should …" Caroline began.

"Stay up here," Josh said firmly. "I'll go."

If it was anyone else, Caroline would have argued this time. But it had taken a while for Josh to get comfortable enough to stand his ground.

"Alright," she said. "Can you make sure Nik checks on anyone who might have been bitten? I don't think any of our lot would have been, but accidents can happen, especially when things are that frantic."

Josh nodded, blurring downstairs and stepping out of the front door. "Is it over?"

"Almost," Klaus said, glaring down at Marcel's unconscious body. "I'm still deciding whether death would be too kind or not."

"If I can add an opinion," Caitlin said icily, "it seems a bit quick, considering he was going to leave us to rot in that prison for God only knows how long."

"Look, all I want to know, is can we stand down?" Josh asked.

Klaus ran an eye over the remnants of Marcel's crew – all four of them, barely able to stand. "I'd say so."

Josh nodded, taking a step towards him. "Caroline wanted me to ask you to check that none of ours got bitten."

Klaus rolled his eyes. "Of course she did. Tell Caroline to stop fretting; I'll make sure it's a quick death."

"Nik!"

"Just kidding," he called up to the third floor. "I already checked; there aren't any."

"If there weren't kids up here, I'd curse you."

Klaus smirked. "We've got this covered, Joshua."

"Correction," Kol said. "You've got this covered. Good luck."

Josh blinked as he vanished. "Okay …"

Klaus just rolled his eyes. "Let him have that one." He looked back down at Marcel. "I've got bigger things to worry about."

Upstairs, Caroline shut the last window as a blur of wind passed her. When it stopped, Davina had disappeared.

"Should we …?" Sophie began.

"No," Caroline said, picking Mikey up. "I'm sure she'll be fine. Time for bed now."

"But we're not tired," Melissa said, though a big yawn.

"Oh, yeah, you look wide awake," Caroline said with a smile, tucking Mikey into bed. "Come on, into a bed. You'll have to share, but I'm sure you'll manage."

"I don't need to sleep," Nick said. "That should save some room."

"You're getting some sleep," Josh said from the doorway. "I am not telling Aiden that you stayed up all night."

Nick cracked a grin. "Yeah, that probably would be a bit unfair on you."

"The room next door's free," Josh said.

"I'm not winning this one, am I?" Nick asked wryly, following him out of the room.

On the other side of the house, Davina had barely blinked and the room had changed around her.

Kol was standing with her, in one piece, but with a strange glint in his eye.

"Well, that was fun."

"I'm not sure I'd call it fun," Davina said, folding her arms to keep her hands from trembling.

"Probably not for you," Kol conceded. "Are you alright, darling?"

"I think so," Davina said. "You've got blood all down your front."

Kol glanced down and shrugged. "One of the downsides of vampirism. Things do get messy."

"Caroline doesn't get messy," Davina said, her lips twitching.

"That is because Caroline has no idea how to enjoy herself," Kol said, pulling his shirt off. "And she did last time she got into a fight."

"Not that messy," Davina said.

Kol blurred in place, vanishing to the bathroom and back again in all the time it took Davina to blink. Now the bloodstains were gone, and Davina stepped forwards with a smile, into his arms. "He's dealt with?"

"I promise," Kol said softly. "Something tells me Nik's going to throw him in the garden rather than kill him, but I don't really care. Out of sight, out of mind."

"But you hate him," Davina said. "And you resent him so much, I mean … I would have expected you to go after him. Or at least fight Klaus on it."

"Well, I could fight Klaus on it," Kol said thoughtfully. "He'd probably just dagger me for undermining him though. And, honestly, I can think of much better uses of my time." He slid one hand up her back into her hair, tilting her head back. "Can't you?"