A/N: And finally, a new update for all you wonderful people. I'm so sorry it took so long in-between chapters. I've been really busy, but I'm going to try and get a chapter or two in a week, but I make no promises. Hopefully you will all forgive me.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries.

It felt like she had just finally gotten back to sleep when Caroline felt a rough shove on her shoulder. It took her a moment to blurrily blink her eyes open. She found herself looking at Klaus' side of the bed, the only sign he had been here at all was the rumpled bedding. She was allowed another brief moment of confusion which elicited another rough shove, which finally got her full attention. "What?!" Caroline asked in frustration as she rolled over, seeing Rebekah standing there, her look of distaste clear.

"You need to get up. Your little human friends are already eating," Rebekah told her, hand on her hip. She looked like she was expecting something from Caroline, and the younger of the blondes had no idea what it was she wanted.

"Why are you here?" Caroline asked as she slowly raised herself from her bed, attempting to keep civil for now. She didn't need to get her neck broken first thing in the morning when she was already late, or rather, late for her. She wanted to be up and ready to meet everyone for breakfast, but now it would seem she would be late, and she wasn't going to have time to talk to Elijah before she went down, so she had no idea what sort of excuse for her absence he had come up with.

"Elijah's old fashioned and didn't want to come in here while you were asleep and in pajamas. Now get dressed," Rebekah's voice was menacing and Caroline found herself manoeuvring herself around Rebekah to move to the closet. Once she was safely dressed in her clothes she walked out and mimicked Rebekah's pose, hand on her hip.

"So you're Elijah's little errand girl now?" Caroline practically sneered. With the information that Elijah had basically sent Rebekah in to make sure she was up and decent gave Caroline more confidence. She was almost positive Rebekah wouldn't attack herm knowing she would be punished by her eldest brother.

"I'm not one's errand girl. Make no mistake, there will come a day when you're no longer under my brother's protection, so you best learn some manners," Rebekah practically hissed. And then she was gone, the door slamming behind her.

Caroline scoffed as she shook her head. Rebekah was very much like Klaus in their dramatics. She turned around, planning to make the bed when the door opened again. Unsure of which of the Original's was now entering the room, Caroline's head whipped around, relieved to see that it was just Elijah. She wasn't sure how she was going to react when she actually saw Klaus, how was she supposed to save him?

"You seem to have put my sister in a mood," he told her as he walked about the room, his hands clasped behind his back. He stood in front of the window and looked out at the back yard a moment before turning back to Caroline who hadn't done much but follow him with her eyes since he had entered the room.

Caroline opened her mouth to argue, but shut it as Elijah raised his hand to stop her explanation. "You don't need to defend yourself to me. Rebekah is easily put into a mood; it'll blow over soon enough. We have more pressing issues to discuss," he moved closer to Caroline and motioned for her to sit on the bed so they could discuss whatever it was that Elijah needed to say, though Caroline was sure she knew at least a part of what he planned to say.

"Now, don't worry about your classmates. I explained to them that you came home yesterday early, feeling ill and that you must have gotten a 24 hour flu. Since your male friend didn't remember anything besides leaving you, it was easily believed," Elijah explained to her. Caroline felt like a weight had lifted off her shoulder. There wasn't really anything complicated about that excuse and it would definitely be easy to forget about and move on.

"Thank you," Caroline offered as she stood up thinking that was all Elijah had to say. However Elijah continued, even as she stood.

"Don't thank me yet. Your class and Professor may be satisfied with what happened, but you are in danger now. I did what I could, but Marcel is a dangerous man and most of his fury is focused on you. He's not fool enough to outright attack me or my siblings, but you Caroline, are an easy target. I'm afraid I must insist that a member of my family accompany you on the rest of your outings while in New Orleans." Elijah's face showed the fact that he was sorry. He must have known how Caroline would react to the idea. She didn't think she would mind having Elijah around, but she didn't need to be constantly breaking up fights between Jesse and Klaus, and she really didn't want to constantly be fighting with Rebekah.

"If it'll keep my class safe," Caroline finally conceded.

"Excellent," Elijah declared clapping his hands together and smiling. He turned then and started for the door, but Caroline's outburst stopped him.

"Who is Marcel? How does he have so much power? Why does Klaus let him keep it?"

Caroline watched Elijah's shoulders sag as he turned. "Those are all fair questions; however, I think you should ask Niklaus about that. It's a long and complicated story which contains certain facts that are not mine to tell," Elijah told her and then turned and walked out of the room.

Caroline groaned and ran her hand through her hair before moving to walk out the door herself. She didn't see anyone on her way to the kitchen, only hearing the voices of her classmates in the dining room. She would join them once she had managed to get something red and sweet into her.

She was thankful to find there was no one in the kitchen as she moved to the fridge and removed a blood bag, ripping it open and drinking it as fast as she could. She didn't want to be absent from the breakfast table for too long.

Once she was finished she moved through the door that connected to the dining room and found the only available seat left at the table. Right beside Jesse.

"How are you-" Jesse started to question Caroline as she sat down, yet he was cut off by a thickly accented voice. "Feeling better this morning, sweetheart?" asked Klaus, and there was a kiss pressed to the top of her head. Caroline felt one of her fists clench tightly on her lap as she felt everyone staring at her. Klaus was going to end up getting bolder as the days went on, she just knew it.

She turned to chastise him, but found herself looking directly at a brand new cell phone. She had totally forgotten that she had dropped hers yesterday when she had been grabbed by Marcel's men. Instead of the harsher words Caroline had been planning, Caroline found herself taking the phone in her hands like it was a baby bird and held it to her chest. "Thank you," she told him. It was a simple gesture, merely replacing her phone for her, but it was so thoughtful. She hadn't even remembered that she had dropped her phone, but Klaus was always thinking of her, even the small things like the loss of a phone.

"Anything for you, love." Klaus told her with a grin and then excused himself and walked out of the dining room.

"He bought you a new phone?" Jesse asked a littler perplexed. Of course that would seem odd to other people, they didn't know she had been kidnapped and had lost her phone.

"Umm, yeah. I accidentally dropped mine in the toilet last night. I wasn't feeling well," Caroline wasn't too happy with her excuse, it was embarrassing, but at least it was believable. Jesse nodded apparently accepting it.

"Well, glad you're feeling better," he told her, his voice a little stiff as he returned to his breakfast. Caroline didn't even respond, she merely nodded and turned reached out for the coffee in front of her and looked through her phone, ready to program the names and numbers of all her friends, only to find that Klaus once again, had been thoughtful enough to do it for her, as well as taking the liberty of making himself her first speed dial.

Now that was the Klaus she knew and loved. As soon as the thought crossed her mind Caroline's eyes widened and she found herself looking around, as if checking if anyone had heard her tainted thoughts. "Werewold venom," she immediately muttered under her breath, attempting to blame the rogue thought on some sort of after effect.