RECAP: Everyone makes their way to Salt Lake City to shut down a human blood farm. Ridley got left behind in Vegas with Elijah and Rebekah. Klaus & Caroline & Co. all stopped in a town called Provo along the way to find out what happened to a weapons stockade Klaus had hidden there. On their search, Klaus and Vale get caught in a deadly trap and Caroline discovers they're not alone in Provo when she hears a familiar voice…

"I have heard the languages of apocalypse, and now I shall embrace the silence." ― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman: Endless Nights

21

Old Friends

Lights were all upon her and, perhaps, if Caroline hadn't been stuck underground all those years, the lights wouldn't have bothered her. As it was, the moment she stepped outside from the hotel in Provo, Caroline fell to her knees in an effort to shield her eyes from the painfully blinding bright lights of their potential enemies.

"Turn the lights off or redirect them, now!" the same British voice ordered and all of a sudden, Caroline could see without pain again as the lights trained upon her immediately clicked off.

She took a moment to scrub fruitlessly at her eyes as she knelt at the marble entry foyer of their former hotel, but her discomfort was quickly replaced by being wrapped in familiar arms in a warm and nearly bruising embrace. The familiar scent of one of her oldest and dearest friends overwhelmed her as powerfully as the lights had.

"Gorgeous, what in bloody hell are you doing here?" Enzo asked, "I thought you were still in Chiang Mai?"

"Enzo, you have to lift the elevator," was all that Caroline first responded with. No greeting. No hesitation. No warmth behind their embrace… not while her first priority right now was getting Klaus and Vale out of that death trap. "There are people stuck underneath the trap you set in the elevators, we have to get them out-"

"Caroline… if your friends got stuck in our elevator trap… they didn't survive," Enzo said, holding her at arm's length to study her critically, trying to decipher why she was here and who had her so upset.

"Trust me. They did," she replied, resolute. Well, at least one of them had. Of that, Caroline was absolutely sure.

"Look, Caroline, there's really someone you should see first-" Enzo tried to distract her, not wanting to face her disappointment when Caroline discovered that whomever she'd lost down in the elevators had almost certainly been staked.

"-It can wait! They can wait, whoever it is you think I should see. Get the elevator back up, Enzo. Now!"

If Caroline had been demanding back in her time in Mystic Falls, becoming a ruler had exponentially multiplied that part of her personality. When Caroline Forbes wanted you to do something, who were you to say no?

Enzo picked up his own walkie before ordering into it, "Get the elevator back up and turn off the vervain."

The moment he made the call, Caroline was dashing back inside the hotel, Enzo right behind her. She ran beside Hope who was anxiously watching as the elevator slowly began to lift itself back upwards to a few floors above.

When it was finally clear of their floor, a figure hurled themselves up so quickly from below that it sent both Caroline and Hope skidding backwards across the floor. It was Klaus, of course, with Vale in his arms.

"He needs blood!" Klaus demanded before gently laying the young vampire on the floor. Caroline could see that, though Klaus's skin was quickly healing from the vervain burns, it was taking considerably longer for Vale.

Hope was at her boyfriend's side in an instant, biting her own wrist and bringing it to Vale's lips before placing his head in her lap tenderly.

As Klaus stood, giving Vale and Hope some space, he found himself shocked to be quite suddenly locked in Caroline's embrace. She was squeezing herself so tightly around him that Klaus honestly didn't know what to make of it. All he could do was wrap himself firmly around her in return.

"Love, it's alright," he sighed into her hair, breathing in the scent of her, "We were in the tunnel away from the elevator shaft. Even if we hadn't been, you know well enough that regular wooden stakes can't kill me."

"I know, I know... I just-" Caroline cut herself off then, seeming to regain a sense of clarity very quickly. She pushed herself away from Klaus. "I'm just glad you're okay and that you were able to help Vale."

Enzo cleared his throat very pointedly behind them, making Caroline whip around in embarrassment and Klaus look over her shoulder suspiciously. Hope and Vale were in their own world as she healed him but Freya was glaring down Enzo like nothing in the world would make her trust him. Kol, Ezra, and the hybrids were all anxiously scanning the windows outside as more people from Enzo's group approached.

"Can't be harmed by wooden stakes?" Enzo asked, "And you've caught Caroline Forbes's affections? I've heard of you… let me guess. The Original Hybrid, Klaus Mikaelson?"

"And who the bloody hell are you?" Klaus growled back, before leaping at the Brit to lift him by the throat into the air. "And what have you done with my weapons?"

Enzo grunted out a pained cough, trying to give as little of a reaction as possible.

"O-oh?" Enzo choked out, hanging limply more than struggling back—probably a wise decision. "Those were your weapons? Well, don't worry, we'll give them back, no harm done!"

"Klus, put him down!" Caroline hissed.

Klaus merely turned his head to the side, glare still plastered to his face, apparently unmoved. Enzo had to mask a smile though, even as his throat began to bruise. The moment Klaus had heard her command, Enzo had felt the Original's grip loosen ever so slightly.

Caroline rolled her eyes when Klaus didn't listen. "Klaus, he's my friend, we can trust him, I promise."

Immediately this time, Enzo was dropped and Klaus took a casual step back while Enzo adjusted himself and clearing his throat. The rest of the Mikaelson's were watching the whole display with curious eyes, though Freya's gaze kept darting suspiciously between their new visitor and his friends outside the hotel.

Klaus made a show of sizing Enzo up, waiting for the man to finally say something but Enzo just smirked, giving Caroline a look, asking her to make the introduction.

"Klaus, this is one of my oldest friends, Enzo… but, god, Enzo what are you even doing here?" Caroline asked. She stepped between the two of them to approach her friend and the ease and familiarity with which she did so made Klaus seeth internally. Enzo? Enzo didn't mean anything to him. Who was he to Caroline?

"Look gorgeous-" Enzo started (and Klaus wanted to snap his neck right then but Enzo forged ahead despite the further withering glare sent his way), "-I'm just as curious to find out why you're here instead of in Asia where I just saw you five months ago-" (Five months ago? Klaus's fists clenched by his sides. How often, exactly, did these two see each other?) "-But I'm not the only one here…"

"Clearly," Caroline replied sarcastically as she too eyed the group of vampires circling the hotel from outside, waiting for some word from Enzo.

"That's not what I mean-" he started again when he saw her glance but was quickly cut off when a door from the other side of the lobby abruptly slammed open. The group from the higher floors—whoever had dropped the elevator trap—had finally made their way back down through the stairwell.

"Huh, well this a fun surprise…" an arrogant but joking voice rang out.

Caroline's heart just about burst from her chest like someone was trying to pull it out. Holy hell…

"Damon!" she shouted in excitement before vamp speeding over to him as he exited from the stairwell. He caught her in a friendly hug the second she was at his side.

"Hey there, Barbie," Damon said, squeezing her once tightly before they stepped apart from one another, "Long time, no see."

If Klaus had been mad watching Caroline with this Enzo just seconds before, he was seeing red now that Damon Salvatore was at her side. In fact, all of the Mikaelson's had moved further into the lobby to watch them with calculating and uncertain eyes. Vale had finally healed enough to be hoisted upright by Ezra and Hope.

Over his walkie, Enzo gave out a brief order, "Everything's fine in here for now. You can stop guarding the perimeter. Someone tell Harper it's Caroline."

Hearing Harper's name, Caroline's eyes lit up. "Harper! Where is she Damon?" she asked.

"Eh, she's around here somewhere. She'll turn up when she learns you're here. Better question, where's Ridley?" Damon asked.

"She's not here, she's back in Vegas-" Caroline interrupted herself at this point, realizing that she was getting far too carried away in the midst of some awkward introductions and reintroductions.

"Las Vegas?" Damon asked, so thoroughly confused that he genuinely may have believed there was some other Vegas at this point. Why weren't they in Chiang Mai?

"Um, yeah," Caroline said, distractedly as she looked behind her towards Klaus, who was still silently fuming and watching their every move with hawkish eyes. "That's where Klaus lives…"

There had, very briefly, been a time in Klaus's life where he'd held a moderate amount of affection for Damon Salvatore — namely when Damon had called him to alert him to Katerina Petrova's death… which had subsequently led to his most intimate moment with Caroline to date. But both before and after that, he'd basically always loathed the man. Currently, that feeling was only increasing tenfold.

A soft hand at the crook of his crossed arms almost startled Klaus. It was Hope, looking up at him softly. With her magic, she pushed out and into his mind — Cool it Dad, they're divorced. Remember?

It was a good thing that Hope had intervened when she did because it was right then that Damon chose to fully acknowledge his presence. Damon let out a low whistle of surprise.

"Klaus… well, buddy, how are you? I haven't seen you since… hell, I can't even remember!" Damon quipped, making Caroline wince.

"How am I?" Klaus asked darkly, "You mean since you tried to drop an elevator on me?"

Damon winced, "About that… hey, if I'd known it was you-"

"You very well would have done it anyway," Enzo finished for him. "Come on, now that we've all established that we aren't going to kill each other, let's get to somewhere more civil to make our introductions. I assume you're here for the farm, Caroline?"

Caroline nodded, "Of course."

Enzo smiled, "We'll be lucky if they haven't heard us all the way in Salt Lake now that we've made this commotion. Come on, follow me."

"Have you set up traps in all the buildings around here? Or were we just particularly lucky?" Kol asked, speaking up for the first time as Enzo led them quietly through the streets while a small troop of other vampires with guns trailed behind them. Some of them Caroline recognized and others she didn't. Some of them she'd shut down farms with and others were simply vampires she'd seen a handful of times in different places across the globe over the decades.

"Uh, no. We set up a trap in that building because we found someone's weapons supply and we knew they'd be coming back for it," Damon answered ahead of him.

"We assumed it belonged to the vampires up at the farm," Enzo said, "But it looks like we were wrong about that…"

"Damn straight, you were wrong," Klaus hissed bitterly, looking entirely distrustful towards the newest members of their party. "I've been building that weapons stockade for a long time and I'll expect each and every one of them to be returned to me-"

"You'll get your damned weapons back, Mikaelson," Damon sighed out in exaggerated exasperation that made Caroline wince. Now was not the time to be baiting Klaus Mikaelson. "Don't worry, we have plenty of our own. Not to mention, aren't we sort of partnered now anyway?"

"That certainly remains to be seen," Freya spat, sounding equally as venomous and distrustful as Klaus, not surprising Caroline one bit. It had taken Freya a due amount of time to even warm up to her and had ultimately only done so because of Ridley.

"We're both here to take down the farm in Salt Lake," Enzo said with a casual shrug, not even sparing the other blonde a glance as they approached an inconspicuous looking former bank. "Sounds like we're allies to me."

Their group had been keeping as quiet as possible as they progressed through the streets of Provo, genuinely concerned about attracting attention from anyone nearby from the Salt Lake farm. But the eerie silence of the dead town was once again broken as the door to the bank they'd come upon was hurled open and a squealing brunette vamp sped through it to throw herself into Caroline's arms.

"Caroline, you're here!" a woman's voice shrieked, in such a familiar tone and cadence that it gave goosebumps—not to Caroline… but to Klaus.

"Harper, it's so good to see you," Caroline breathed out as she embraced the girl.

At that moment, the two pulled apart and Klaus finally got a good look at this new person. The brunette too, this Harper, gazed back at him from over Caroline's shoulder with impassive and unrecognizing eyes.

"Elena Gilbert…" Klaus breathed out, knowing almost as soon as he said the words that they could not be true. Elena Gilbert was dead. And even before she died, hadn't they all heard that rumor of a spell that bound her life to the Bennett witch's in a perpetual coma until Bonnie passed?

Picking up on the sound of Klaus's whisper and Harper's suspicious glance over her shoulder, Caroline whirled around almost only to begin promptly laughing. She really had to hold it in. Poor Klaus's expression of shock and disbelief almost exactly mimicked that of his expression when he'd first seen Ridley.

"Oh, Klaus, no. This isn't Elena-" Caroline tried to begin before her voice broke and cracked with laughter at catching sight of Kol's equally shocked face.

Giggling beside her, Harper had to step in and step up to reach out with an amicable hand outstretched towards Klaus, "Harper Gilbert," she said. "Nice to meet you."

Klaus accepted the handshake as it finally clicked for him, "A doppelganger?"

"Elena's niece and possible doppleganger, we aren't sure," Caroline quickly jumped in to explain. "Harper is Jeremy's daughter."

"Jeremy Gilbert's daughter?" Klaus asked, approaching the girl skeptically. "A little young aren't you?"

"I was turned at 25," Harper synopsized. "It was back in 2045, my parents were dead and the disease was out of control. My choice was to face the disease or turn. Clearly you can see what I chose."

"Mmm, well I bet your family was completely in support of that…" Klaus let the thought dangle as he gave the once over to this suspicious Petrova doppleganger or look-alike a nasty once over.

"That's really none of your business," Harper spat back, making the Hybrid nearly snarl. "In the meantime, I think it'd be good to put history behind us, where it belongs, and get to know each other now. If you're all ready, we've got space set up to talk in the bank."

The inside of the bank looked like it had been torn out and repurposed some time ago. As they made their way in alongside the vampires that had arrived with Enzo and Damon, Caroline only saw a small smattering of new people inside this apparent hideout. There was a bit of computer and surveillance equipment set up. Glancing over the screens that lined the back wall of the bank, it appeared that most of what they had set up was monitoring Salt Lake less than 50 miles away. One of the screens was trained closely on the former Salt Lake Temple, the massive building that now contained a human blood farm. On their monitor, Caroline could count dozens of vampires guarding the front entrance alone.

"Your weapons, along with all of ours, are in the old vault of the bank," Damon said to Klaus as he strode past the main room set up with surveillance to a door in the back. "I don't see what good it'll do you to collect them all now but-"

"-Which is exactly why I'd like to wait a bit?" Caroline interrupted, directing her question to Klaus out of respect. It was clear he was more than on edge and pissed off right now, for a multitude of reasons. Whatever Caroline needed to do to placate him and keep this introduction running smoothly, she would.

"I'm sorry, love, you'll need to be a bit more specific," Klaus replied. "Why do you think we should wait, exactly?"

"Well, for one…" she began, gesturing to the screens monitoring the farm behind her, "They clearly have had way closer views of the farm than us. They have more intel than us. Two, we weren't planning on attacking tonight anyway. We wanted to set up camp and go over last plans. And three-"

"I think you've made your point Caroline," Klaus sighed. "What could point number three possibly be?"

"Three," Caroline started, her eyes softening as she focused directly on Klaus, "I haven't seen my friends here for quite some time. I'd like to take a minute to catch up… and to acquaint them with some of my other good friends."

That hit Klaus more than he'd have liked to admit. She was referring to himself and his own as her "good friends." She didn't want to keep him or his family separated from her past. She wanted to integrate them,

"Alright then," Klaus decided quickly. "I assume you all have somewhere suitable for us to sit and talk?"

He'd directed to question towards Damon but it was Harper who responded, though her eyes were targetly trained on Hope when she replied.

"Of course we do," Harper said. "If you'll all follow me downstairs… Amanda? Jacob? You should probably join us to explain our post here."

Hope alongside her friends and Ezra's team from the Waste had been cautiously silent ever since Vale had returned from the trap alive. Now she was regarding this new girl, with confusion. Harper's eyes seemed to burn right through her but Hope knew with certainty that she'd never seen one of the Petrova doppelgangers before, despite the many stories she'd heard.

"Let's go then," Klaus announced, totally oblivious to Harper's pointed gaze.

While they all trailed behind Harper through the bank, most of her team remaining upstairs, Caroline had to internally cringe. She knew that look from Harper.

And she knew the poor possible doppelganger was already signing herself up for some serious disappointment.

I apologize for this being a shorter chapter but I kind of needed it to be stand-alone for all the character reveals. We need some time to digest. Next chapter will get back into some history of where all of these characters' lives have been. The following will hopefully bring us back into the current main plot of shutting down the farm.

#SorryI'mNotSorry but once you knew Damon was her ex, obviously he was going to reappear at some point. I know probably a lot of you are upset to see Damon again, period. First of all, I promise he won't be a mainstay of the story the way other characters are. He might be around for a bit but… eventually Damon is gonna go do Damon and peace. Also, he and Caroline are only even friends in the sense that they are allies in the apocalypse. They've helped each other survive a lot of serious shit… they've also come to terms with each other and their problems in a (hopefully) palatable way that will be explained soon-ish. Honestly, the more you see of their alliance now, the more their political marriage will make sense and become less disagreeable… I hope. Some of you are real die-hard anti-Damon which I totally understand but their relationship in my fic is really just a solid alliance in the face of the apocalypse and nothing at all romantic.

Now that I finally got this tough transition chapter over with, I'm hoping to pump out chapter 22 of this as well as the next couple of chapters for The Mikaelsons imminently.

Please review! Love hearing your thoughts, even if you have problems with some of the reveals. Predictions also SUPER welcome. They are my favorite because sometimes they are spot on and sometimes so off-base that it gets me jazzed to show you what's REALLY coming.

I can guarantee, the biggest plot twist yet has not even sort of been dropped. And we will be seeing even more environments in this dire future soon.

Thanks so so so so much to everyone sticking through the long waits! Getting this far into this story requires a lot of self-editing and re-referencing past chapters.