Chapter 25

Mystic Falls, VA

2012

It had only been a little over an hour, but Bonnie was starting to worry about Caroline. She didn't really know much about vampires and how much blood they needed to be satisfied, but she was pretty sure that it didn't usually take this long. Just as she was about to call Kol and send him after her, her phone rang.

"Hello?" she said, not recognizing the number.

"Hey Bonnie, this is Liz Forbes. I was just calling to let you know that Caroline is at my house and she fell asleep, so she won't be back tonight. Is that okay?" she asked, secretly hoping that Bonnie would have somewhere to be and needed to drop the girls off at her house.

"Yeah, that's fine, but what's going on? Caroline ran out of here without telling me anything, and I'm really worried," she said, biting her lip.

"I don't know if I'm supposed to say anything, but she and Klaus are having some time-travel, memory-retrieval issues. I'm certain that they will work it out, they just need time," she said quietly, in case Caroline had woken up.

"Okay, I guess I'll find out more when she's ready to tell me. In the meantime, I think I'm going to have Kol come over. He's actually spent time with the girls, so they are probably more comfortable with him than me. Talk to you soon." After Liz's goodbye, Bonnie hung up and dialed her boyfriend.

"Hey Kol, can you come over to Klaus's? Him and Caroline are both out and they need someone to watch the girls, but they don't really know me," she said, adding a little whine to her tone to persuade him.

"What? Where did they go? Never mind, I'll be there in a few minutes," he said as he hung up. Bonnie smiled victoriously, thankful that she would be off the hook once he arrived.

Once they got in his truck, Matt could not get Rebekah home fast enough. She was currently kissing his neck and running her had up and down his leg, which was making it increasingly harder for him to concentrate on the road. Thank goodness Rebekah's house was nearby.

He hadn't wanted to wait this long to take this step with her, but he also hadn't wanted to scare her, or himself, out of doing it. After Caroline, he was really unsure about the whole vampire thing, but with Rebekah it felt different. It felt right.

He knew that she was aware of the effect that her ministrations were having on him, because whenever her mouth left his skin, he could see her smirking, but it only served to arouse him further.

Rebekah, on the other hand, was concentrating on Matt so that she could avoid thinking about what was about to happen. She wanted nothing more than to feel him inside of her, but she knew his opinion of vampires, and she was worried what his reaction might be if he saw her face change and her fangs elongate.

Before she could talk herself out of the situation, Matt pulled into her driveway and jumped out of the car. Within seconds, he had opened her door, pulled her out, and dragged her as gently as possible to her front door. She reached into her purse to find the keys, but before she could find them, Matt backed her against the door and her hands found his blond locks much more interesting than the keys.

They stood like that for awhile, Matt's clear arousal pushing against Rebekah's stomach before she remembered that they actually needed to get into the house so as not to traumatize the neighbors.

"Matt," she said softly, breaking away from his lips. He put his hand behind her head and brought her mouth back to his.

"Matt," she said, placing her hands on either side of his face and looking into his eyes. He stopped for a moment, but he looked dazed and shot her a crooked smile before kissing her again.

"Matt!" she finally said more insistently, placing a hand on his chest, careful not to apply pressure. This got his attention and he backed away with wide eyes.

"I'm really enjoying this, but I should probably find the keys to my house so that we can continue this in the privacy of my bedroom. Don't you think?" she asked, smirking at the look of relief on Matt's face when he realized that she wasn't sending him home.

He nodded, obviously still affected, as Rebekah dug through her purse.

"A-ha!" she finally said, jingling the keys in front of her face before inserting them one by one into the lock. As she fumbled with the keys, trying to figure out which one actually opened the door, she felt him push up behind her and place his mouth on her exposed neck. She moaned loudly and her head fell back against his shoulder.

"You are not making this easy, Donovan," she mumbled, as she finally found the correct key.

As soon as the door was open, the connected couple stumbled inside and Matt kicked the door shut. Bekah set her purse down and turned to face Matt. She squealed as he picked her up bridal style and followed her directions to her bedroom, trying not to look at her so that they would make it there faster.

Once they had crossed the threshold, she hopped down from her place in his arms, and pulled him towards her bed.

Caroline awoke in the morning with a start after having the worst nightmare she could remember. She knew that Nik was gone, but in her dream, he never came back. The sunlight had started to creep in through the windows and she realized that she had slept on her mother's couch.

"Oh no," she said, groaning as her head fell forward. She couldn't believe that her mom had let her stay all night knowing that Bonnie was watching the girls. Just as she was about to get up, the front door opened, revealing her mother carrying coffee.

"Morning sweetie. Did you sleep okay?" Liz asked, hanging her keys up and sitting next to her daughter on the couch.

"Not really, but it's fine," Caroline said quietly, running her fingers through her messy hair.

"I brought you some coffee," Liz said, handing it to Caroline. She smiled, grateful that her mother had thought of her, but she could really use something stronger. Liz must've been able to tell, because before Caroline could take a sip of her drink, her mom had gone to the kitchen and returned with a few blood bags.

"Oh my gosh, you literally read my mind," she said as she took the blood from a smiling Liz. As much as she wished she could turn back time and keep Caroline from turning into a vampire, she would rather have her like this than not at all, and that was good enough.

"Caroline honey, I don't want to seem pushy, but I have been waiting months to meet my granddaughters, and I honestly don't think I can wait any longer," Liz said, and Caroline smiled.

"Of course, mom, let's go right now. I should relieve Bonnie anyway since she has been there all night. I can't wait for you to meet them," she said, getting up and straightening her clothes as much as she could before following her mom out the door.

Rebekah grinned at she looked at her sleeping boyfriend. She had never felt so happy, at least not in the last century or two. Now that they had finally taken their relationship to this level, she could hardly stop thinking, let alone sleep. She had even managed to make it through their multiple passionate rounds without her face changing. She lay there, propped up on one elbow watching Matt as he slept for hours.

As she started to feel the effects of the tiredness of her body, her eyes closed and the memories of what had just transpired went through her mind. She could feel her body relax as she felt the beginning of arousal creep up from her toes. She smiled lazily as she thought of the blond beside her.

After some time had passed, she felt a hand softly caressing her face. As she opened her eyes, she jumped when she realized that Matt was looking at her eyes, and more importantly, the veins beneath them. Rebekah was upset with herself for losing control like this. She looked away, afraid to see any emotion in Matt's eyes that would indicate fear or disgust. Matt used his other hand to guide her face back towards his, and they locked eyes. She gasped at what she saw.

Lust. That was all he could feel when he saw her vampire face. He had never seen it before, and while he thought it would scare him, he couldn't stop looking. He saw the bloodlust in her eyes, but he also saw fear. He knew that she was afraid of rejection. He had expected this to happen during sex, and he secretly hoped that it would. Ever since Elena had stopped feeding on him, it was all he could think about. And now that he had seen how much Rebekah clearly wanted it, he made his decision. He closed his eyes and swallowed nervously, knowing what he wanted, but worried about her response.

He opened his eyes, and saw that she had once again looked away from him. He took advantage of this and quickly pulled her flush against him, so that almost every part of their bodies were connected. He brought his hands to the back of her head and positioned his neck so that she was at the perfect angle to satisfy her needs. When she finally looked up and realized where how close his neck, and his veins, were to her fangs, she tried to back away.

"Matt, no, I don't want to hurt you," she said quietly, panic creeping into her voice. He held her in place as best as he could and looked into her eyes.

"Rebekah, please. I want you to do it," he said, never breaking eye contact. Apparently that was all she needed, because after placing her forehead against his briefly, she tangled her fingers in his hair, and sunk her teeth into his neck. His groan of pleasure was almost enough to finish her off, but she maneuvered herself so that she was straddling him, and once his hands had reached her waist, he pushed her down onto his length, making her moan into his neck as he hissed. Sensing that he was growing weak, she retracted from his neck, secretly grinning at the displeased sound that he made, and bit into her wrist for him. He clearly didn't need any persuasion as he quickly brought his mouth to her wound, and she knew that this night would not be over any time soon.

As soon as Caroline opened the door to Klaus's house, she regretted it. The noises coming from the living room were enough to make her wish that she could rip out her own ears, so she walked back out the door and knocked, loudly, three times. When Bonnie finally managed to come to the door, in nothing more than a baggy t-shirt, she at least had the decency to look embarrassed.

"Hey Care, I hope you don't mind but I invited Kol over so that the girls would feel more comfortable," she said meekly, moving out of the way of the door to let her friend and her mother into the house.

"Oh please, Bonnie, if you had my daughters' comfort in mind, you wouldn't have been screwing, loudly, I might add, less than fifty feet from their bedroom!" she said with frustration. Bonnie's eyes widened, and Caroline regretted it immediately.

"Bon, I'm sorry," but Bonnie cut her off by turning around and starting to walk away. Caroline knew what she had to do.

"Klaus is gone and I have no idea if or when he will ever be back," she said, probably a little louder than necessary, but she was finally ready to talk about it, so it didn't really matter.

"What?" Bonnie and Kol said in unison, as Kol emerged, half-naked from the living room.

Caroline sighed. "A few nights ago, he got all of the memories from the one thousand years that he spent missing us, and he couldn't handle them, so he left," she said quietly, as a tear slowly traced its way down her cheek.

"Caroline, I know my brother, better than anyone besides you, and I know how much he loves you and those girls. There is no way that he would just leave you like that," said Kol, sure that there had to be some sort of misunderstanding.

"I'm sorry Kol, but it's true. I expected it, and I don't anticipate him being gone forever, but he is now, and it hurts," said Caroline, walking towards the bedroom from where she could hear the sound of her toddlers whimpering. When she emerged holding Klara and Carina, Kol was gone, leaving only Bonnie, who was now clothed, and Liz standing in the entryway.

"Where's Kol?" she asked, already knowing what the answer would be.

"He said he was going to find Klaus and bring him back," said Bonnie quietly. Caroline could tell that she felt partially responsible for all of this.

Caroline sighed. "Bonnie, you need to know that I don't blame you, for any of this. It wasn't your fault that I went back in time, or that I got sent back here when I did. I love you, and I know that you didn't do this," she said softly, hoping that Bonnie would believe her and stop beating herself up.

"Okay, well, I think I'm going to head out. I'll see if Kol is back at my place, but otherwise, I think I'll go and stay with Elena for the day," she said, gathering her belongings and walking out the door.

"Poor girl, this can't be easy on her," said Liz, walking towards Caroline.

Caroline nodded her head in agreement.

Liz finally took a moment to look at her daughter, looking no older than seventeen, but such a grown-up with her twin daughters in her arms. She smiled proudly at Caroline, before taking a seat on the couch next to where Caroline had sat down with the girls.

"Mom, I'm sorry it took so long, but I would like to introduce you to your granddaughters, Klara Elizabeth and Carina Rebekah Mikaelson. Girls, this is your Grandma," Caroline said with a smile as the girls looked tiredly at Liz, before reaching for her and cuddling into either side of her on the couch.

Klaus had stopped running, at least for the moment. He had worked through all of the memories, at least the more unpleasant ones, and he needed to take some time to think about his family. He couldn't even begin to imagine how Caroline must be feeling. He knew that she felt guilty, but he had really needed to take a step away from her to make sure that he could handle all of these memories. He also felt guilty for leaving her with the girls. She was a magnificent mother, but it wasn't fair of him to expect her to raise them alone for days, especially on top of how she was feeling without him there.

Just as he was about to start running again, he heard a rustle in the trees. He looked around quickly, and realized that he recognized the intruder's smell.

"Kol," he said, as his younger brother emerged from the trees.

"Hello brother. We need to talk."

First of all, I am so so so so so (x 1,000,000) sorry that this update took so long. This has honestly been the most stressful semester of my life, and I am so glad that it is over. Also, I was suffering from a lack of Klaroline inspiration until a few days ago, so I'm glad that I waited to give you something actually worth reading. Thank you to all who have followed and favorite and reviewed, even during such a long absence and I promise that I am not going to abandon this story.

Secondly, sorry for all of the Mabekah, especially to those who aren't fans, I just really needed some happiness in this story after the Klaroline unhappiness that is going on both in this story and in the TVD/TO world. Also, sorry for the lack of actual Klaroline in this chapter. I promise there will be interaction in the next few. Thank you so much to all of you who have continued to stick by me even though I have proven to be terrible at updating in a timely fashion. I want to say a special thank you to regrets-collect93 and HotHybridSex for the two beautiful new covers that I have for this story. I am going to try to alternate between them because they are both great! Anyways, thank you all for reading, and I am planning to update again within the next few days, so keep an eye out for that. Until next time~