"Come now Caroline. I want you up, showered, and dressed properly in an hour." Liz burst into her daughter's room unannounced. "And do something with your hair." Liz added as an after thought as she made her way to her daughter's bed, playing with the ends of her hair. Liz did believe in her husband's plan to simply give Caroline time. It had been weeks now and Caroline still had not stepped foot out of the house. Besides the chat she had with the Salvatore's she hadn't contacted any of her friends either. Bonnie, the poor dear, called non-stop but she hadn't heard a peep from Elena. Liz assumed that it was residual guilt from what her husband did. She would reconnect the friends too. Besides, her husband was a ?, and for all of his good intentions he simply did not know their daughter. Sometimes you needed to be a little forceful with Caroline. Especially when she was being stubborn. No matter; mother always knows best.

Caroline was snuggled in her bed with a pint of rocky road in her arms watching TV. "What? Why? Where are we going?" Caroline couldn't leave her bed now they were about to find out the results of the paternity test on Murray. That guy was so the father of those three kids as far as she was concerned. "Mom I'm watching my show!" Caroline whined.

Liz huffed. "This is nothing more than trash TV." To prove her point further she turned off Caroline's TV. "Is this what you have been doing up here all this time? Eating, sleeping, and watching trash?" The disgust was very clear in Liz's voice.

Mom!" Caroline cried out. "What the hell was that for?" Did her mother understand that she was depressed? God, why couldn't she leave her alone? Her father always knew when it was time to stay away.

Liz had made her way to the door before turning around and addressing her daughter once more. "Get up! Get dressed!" Liz set her lips in a hard line and the words escaped her mouth through gritted teeth. "I will put you in that shower myself if I have to." Liz took a step towards Caroline to show just how serious her threat really was.

"Fine!" Caroline threw the covers off her body and headed towards her bathroom. Sometimes it was better just to do what her mother wanted and get it over with.

"And put on a dress." Caroline stopped at her mother's words and cracked her neck before cursing under her breath. Her mother could be a real dictator at times.

Liz found her husband sitting in the TV room watching a football game. "Did you get through to Caroline?" Bill didn't even spare his wife a glance as he addressed her.

"Yes, I got her to get out of bed, and to take a shower. We are going to go into the city and have tea, maybe do some shopping." Liz was rather pleased with herself.

"Good, she'll enjoy that." Again Bill didn't take his eyes off the game he was watching.

Liz huffed and rolled her eyes. Bill could be a real ass sometimes. Now was just one example of one of those times.

An hour later Caroline was dressed and ready to head out with her mother.

"Where are we going?" Caroline asked as she rode in the back of the limo with her mother. The fresh air was already making her feel better.

"I thought that we could go and have tea at the Plaza. Hit some of the stores after. Just a nice girls day." Tea at the Plaza was something that the mother and daughter did weekly when Caroline was a child. Ever since Caroline read the Elois books.

A small smile graced Caroline's lips and she reached over and squeezed her mother's hand. "That sounds lovely mom. Thank you."

Tea was lovely, and Caroline was thankful that her mother stuck to safe subjects. Not once was Klaus brought up, although it was the elephant in the room. Caroline would be lying if she said that she hadn't thought about him. There future, if they had one, was still uncertain. "Sweetheart, I'm going to use the rest room and settle up the bill. Think of place you might want to shop."

Caroline was enjoying just watching the rest of the occupants as she finished up her last cup of tea when an all to familiar voice spoke up from behind her. "Hello sweetheart."

Caroline's hand shook and she nearly dropped the dainty painted cup. "Klaus." The name escaped her in a breath.

"Do you mind if I join you for a moment?" Klaus asked motioned to the seat that Liz had vacated.

"No." Again Caroline was only able to answer in one word.

Klaus made himself comfortable. He took in Caroline's appearance and was pleased that she looked well. "I've missed you. Not being able to be near you or talk to you has been more painful then I could ever describe." Klaus reached across the table and took hold of Caroline's free hand the other still firmly around the cup

Liz was going to kill her husband. He must have called Klaus the minute they pulled away. Whatever he thought he was doing she was going to put an end to it. Now was not the time for Caroline to be dealing with the Klaus issues. She had finally had gotten her to leave the house was Bill trying to have her back in her bed again?

"Klaus I don't think think now is the time for you to be talking to Caroline. She'll call you when she is ready to speak." Liz approached the table making it clear that as far as she was concerned Klaus was not welcomed.

"Apologies. It was great seeing you again Caroline." Klaus gave Caroline's hand a squeeze before leaving.

"Caroline if you want to go back home I completely understand." Liz stated once Klaus was out of sight. She rubbed her daughter's back hoping to calm her.

Caroline was not going to allow him to ruin her day. "No, you wanted to take me shopping and shopping is what we will do." Caroline threw her hair over her should and walked out determined with her head held high.

Liz smiled, this was the Caroline that she knew. Strong, confident, and determined. Her daughter was coming back to her.

Caroline paced back and forth in room seething with anger. Klaus and his arrogant self. Who did he think he was? Did he really think that he would simply show up and she would fall into his bed again? Well then he had another thing coming,

Caroline burst into Klaus' family home hell bent on giving him a piece of her mind. "Klaus who the hell do you think you are," however, she stopped mid sentence when she noticed that Klaus wasn't alone. Stilling in the grand sitting room was the entire Salvatore family along with Klaus' parents and siblings.

Damon, Stefan, Klaus and Elena smirked at Caroline's behavior. Speaking before thinking was so a Caroline thing to do. Because if she had been thinking she would have realized that something was up when she went to Klaus' apartment to be told that he was at his parents, or the odd amount of cars parked in the drive way, and lastly that one of those cars was Damon's camero.

"Caroline so lovely to see you." It was Guisppie who was the first to speak.

"Yes it is. Caroline why don't you join us for dinner?" Mikeal asked from the head of the table.

"Yes dear. I'm sure Rebekah could lend you a dress." Esther spoke up. The older women was taken back by Caroline's behavior. This was simply not something that either she or her daughter would do.

"Here I'll help too." The three young women made their way to Rebekah's room and quickly found a simple dress.

"What the hell is going on Elena?" Caroline whispered when the pair were alone in the bathroom.

"This is Damon's official engagement dinner. He is going to marry Rebekah." Caroline did not miss the jealous that laced Elena's voice.

"How did I not know about this?" Caroline was angry again stomping her foot.

"You've been out of commission for awhile Caroline." Elena huffed defending herself.

"Well this is just great. I came here to yell at him. Now what I am suppose to do?" Caroline threw her hands up in a huff.

Elena laughed. A real honest to goodness laugh. It was the first laugh that she had since finding

out about Damon. "You'll get your chance to yell at him." Elena stated.

And just like that the two women shared a hearty laugh. "I missed you Elena." Caroline confessed.

"I missed you too. I just didn't know how to act around you." Elena admitted. "Not after," Elena allowed the sentence to drop.

"I know. I understand." It was true Caroline couldn't fault her. Caroline was sure how she would react if the situations were reversed.

"Come on the sooner this farce is over the sooner you can get to yelling." The two friends left the bathroom smiling and laughing.