Chapter 36
Caroline and Klaus walked into Pub 231 around 7 that evening. It was relatively crowded, seeing as how it was a Tuesday night. Klaus kept his arm around her waist as they made their way over to the bar and managed to get two stools that were facing the entrance. Caroline saw Klaus' eyes sweeping across the whole room as if he was trying to commit everything he saw to memory.
A young bartender approached, his eyes on Caroline. "What can I get you?" He asked, not even acknowledging Klaus.
Caroline had to refrain from rolling her eyes at the man's obviousness. "I'll have a Tequila Sunrise, please." She said before turning to Klaus and lacing their fingers together. "What about you, babe?"
Klaus smirked at her before meeting the bartender's eyes coolly. "Bourbon, neat, mate."
"Coming right up." The man walked away winking at Caroline.
She scoffed, "Some guys just can't take a hint."
"Oh, I don't know, babe," Klaus smirked at her as he replied in his uncanny southern accent. "Some boys are rather stubborn."
"I was just trying to hint to him that I'm taken." She rolled her eyes at him. "You're a little possessive sometimes."
"Am I? I hadn't noticed." He responded playfully.
The bartender came back with their drinks. He placed Klaus' in front of him without even sparing him a glance before sliding Caroline's to her. "I added some extra cherries to yours, beautiful, on the house."
"Thanks." Caroline said uncomfortably.
The bartender leaned forward, his eyes darting to her chest. "Is there anything else I can get you?"
Caroline shot a look to Klaus, who was currently glaring at the other man. She didn't understand how this guy didn't feel the animosity coming off of Klaus. "Well, actually, my boyfriend and I were, like, looking for someone." She began, emphasizing the word 'boyfriend,' hoping this guy would take a hint. "She's one of my very best friends, around 25, brunette wavy hair. Her name's Meredith; this is, like, her favorite bar." She tried playing up to her hair color stereotype.
The bartender's eyes narrowed at Klaus for a few seconds before focusing back on her. "She sounds familiar; I think I've probably seen her around her a few times."
"That's totally great!" Caroline chirped. "You see…" she glanced at his name tag, "Jesse, her and I had kind of a teenie, tiny fight, and I'm trying to find her to apologize. You know, girl stuff." She tilted her head to the side. "Have you seen her around lately? Like, maybe this past weekend?"
He smiled at her, obviously happy that she was paying attention to him instead of Klaus. "Yeah, actually, she was here Sunday night. She usually hangs out at the other end of the bar." He jerked his head towards the opposite end, where another bartender was serving some customers. "I think Shawn was working that night too. Your friend could go talk to him, while we keep chatting." He sent Klaus a triumphant look.
"I don't think so, mate." Klaus responded coldly as he made a show of slipping his hand around Caroline's waist and pulling her stool closer to his. "Why don't you go ask Shawn to come over here to talk to us?"
Klaus stared Jesse down until the other man squirmed slightly and looked away. Caroline rolled her eyes as she watched the bartender walk over to his friend. She assumed he finally must have sensed some of Klaus' power.
"You really didn't need to have some alpha male competition, you know." Caroline whispered.
"It wasn't exactly a competition, Love; I am the alpha male. It seemed young Jesse just needed a little reminder." He smirked, clearly pleased with himself. She rolled her eyes again. "Oh, come now, Sweetheart. I thought seeing me jealous got you all hot and bothered."
She tried to cover her blush with a scoff. "You really need to stop guessing about things that get me hot and bothered."
"You're right, Love." He leaned further towards her and nipped her ear gently. "I already know most of what I can do to accomplish that. I'll just add possessiveness to the list; I can smell your arousal, Sweetheart."
Caroline shivered at his husky tone before reaching for her drink to try and cool herself down. She saw him smirking at her out of the corner of her eye. She was saved from having to come up with a snappy comeback by Shawn walking over to them.
"Hey," he smiled at both of them. "Jesse said you guys wanted to ask about one of our regulars?"
Caroline went through the whole spiel about Meredith again, watching the man closely for any reactions. She was pleased when she saw his eyes widen at Meredith's name.
"Yeah, she comes in here a lot after her shifts at the hospital. She was just in here Sunday night." He explained.
"Did she seem alright?" Caroline asked, trying to act like a concerned friend. "We had a fight this weekend, and I haven't been able to get ahold of her ever since."
"She was a little jumpy actually, now that you mention it." The bartender responded. "She said that she was going on a trip to Richmond this week and that she wouldn't be in for a little while. It's a bummer too because she leaves really good tips. I'm sorry I can't help you anymore."
Caroline smiled at him. "No, you've helped a lot; thank you!"
He nodded at her before going to serve another customer.
Caroline turned back to Klaus. "Richmond? What is she doing there? Do you think that's really where she is or was it a cover?"
"Not sure, Love." Klaus replied, shaking his head. "Why don't we go check out her apartment?" He threw back his drink as she gulped down hers. Klaus stood up and put a few bills on the bartop before offering her his hand.
The drive from the bar to Meredith's apartment went by quickly. They both glanced around the parking lot as they exited the car and started to walk towards the building.
"Stay close, Sweetheart." Klaus spoke softly as they approached the door.
They were both surprised to find the door unlocked when they tried the handle. They exchanged a concerned look before Klaus opened the door and stepped through. He held up a hand for her to pause as he looked around the living room. When he decided there was no immediate threat, he waved her inside and closed the door behind her.
Caroline tapped his shoulder and pointed to the lightswitch. He nodded and she flicked it on. The room was illuminated, and they were able to look around properly. The place looked like Meredith had just left for work. There was a half full coffee cup on the table and old mail scattered on the kitchen counter.
"There has to be something here." Caroline muttered. "Meredith is a Fell, a member of a founding family…" Her eyes darted to the coat closet. She walked towards it with Klaus close behind her. "Elena told me that the closets at her family's cabin had false backs where they stashed vampire hunting weapons. I wonder if that's a thing the Fells did too…"
She opened the closets and pushed several coats to the side. She felt around the back wall and found a small latch. She knocked on the wall and they could both hear that it was hollow behind it.
"God, I hope there's not any real skeletons behind her." Caroline groaned.
Klaus moved forward and helped her to undo the false backing. He set it aside and pulled out a box from the hiding spot. They brought it out of the closet and set it on the kitchen table to go through.
"Medical records on my dad, Alaric, Vanessa Lockwood and that medical examiner guy, old court records, photos of the crime scenes. She must have hid all of this when my mom searched this place." Caroline pulled file after file out of the box.
"And two journals." Klaus said, reaching his hand into the box.
They each picked up one of the journals. The one Caroline was holding was old and yellowing, but Klaus' looked much newer.
"Logan Fell." Klaus read the inside of the front cover. "It looks like she was closer to her cousin than we thought."
Caroline inspected the journal in her own hands. "This looks like one of the Gilbert family journals. Why would the Fells have a Gilbert journal?"
They both began to skim through the journals quickly.
"Okay, so this one belonged to Elena's ancestor, Jonathan Gilbert. It mentions Pearl and her daughter Anna." Caroline explained.
"This one seems to be from after Logan's transition." Klaus remarked. "It's not very long, but it also mentions Anna. She turned him to try to help her get to the tomb where her mother was. It mentions how she was upset with him for getting involved with the Salvatores. She didn't want them involved because she knew Katherine wasn't in the tomb."
"So that's how the good doctor knew about me." A silky voice said from behind them.
Klaus and Caroline whipped around and found Katherine standing behind them with her hip popped out. Klaus immediately rushed towards her and pinned her against the wall.
"What are you doing here, Katerina? I thought you would be far away from this town." He growled, tightening his grip around her throat.
"I'm back," she gasped out, clearly not willing to say anything else.
"And why would you be stupid enough to reveal yourself to me of all people?" Klaus spat.
"Nik," Caroline called out behind him. "She said that Meredith knew about her…"
Klaus narrowed his eyes at the brunette. "You know where Meredith Fell is, don't you?"
Katherine just smirked at him. Klaus slammed her against the wall with a roar before snapping her neck. He dropped her body to the ground, breathing heavily and trying to control his rage.
"We need her, don't we?" Caroline said quietly.
"Unfortunately." Klaus responded, looking down at the Doppelganger in disgust.
Klaus and Caroline walked into his mansion twenty minutes later; he was carrying Katherine over his shoulder. He made his way into the living room and tossed her body into the desk chair. He flashed away for a few seconds before reappearing with some rope.
"Ugh… hey, Care, Klaus." Matt stood up from one of the couches. "I'm guessing you found out some information at the bar…" His eyes darted between both of them and Katherine.
"The bar wasn't actually super informative." Caroline responded as Klaus vamped away once again. "We found Katherine at Meredith's apartment though."
"She's involved in all of this too?" Matt's eyebrows furrowed.
"We're not entirely sure yet." Klaus said as he reappeared with a bucket of clear, yellowish liquid. "Would you mind helping me out with this, Matt?" Klaus gestured to the ropes and the bucket of liquid.
"Vervain?" Matt asked, stepping forward.
Klaus nodded. "If you could coat the ropes with it, I can instruct you on the best knots to tie."
Caroline and Matt chuckled, making Klaus look at them questioningly.
"I was in Boy Scouts." Matt replied, taking the ropes and beginning to soak them in the bucket of vervain. When Klaus still had a puzzled expression, he added. "It's a sort of outdoor group that teaches kids how to camp and survive in the wilderness. We spent two whole months on different knots and how to tie them."
Klaus smirked at the information. "I didn't know you had such diabolical knowledge in you, Donovan."
Matt laughed again as he moved over to Katherine and began to secure her arms to the chair. Klaus stood behind the chair and held Katherine by her shoulders just in case she woke up. Matt glanced at Klaus, "I don't really think this is what my Scout Master had in mind when he was teaching us."
Caroline saw Klaus watching Matt as he did each knot to tie Katherine to the desk chair. She noticed that her boyfriend seemed impressed with Matt's skills.
Matt finished off the last knot around Katherine's ankles and looked over to Klaus. "Do you want me to do one around her waist too to decrease her range of motion?"
Klaus nodded. "Good thinking."
When Katherine was finally secured to the chair, the three of them moved away from her. Matt went back to the couch he had been sitting on before they came home, while Klaus moved over to the drink cart. He fixed three whiskeys for each of them and settled into one of the armchairs. Caroline pulled out her phone.
"I'm going to text Rebekah about what happened." She explained.
Not even one minute later, she had gotten a response. "She says that they haven't had any luck so they're going to head back now. Elijah is just going to run here, but her, Bonnie and Kol are going to drive back."
"Excellent," Klaus replied. "They should be here momentarily then."
Two minutes later the front door flew open and Elijah sped into the living room. His eyes fixed on Katherine. "Katerina." He whispered. "What did she say?"
"Not much, Brother." Klaus put his hand on Elijah's shoulder. "Just that Meredith knew about her and that she knew where the other vampire was."
Elijah nodded. "Do you really think that the ropes are necessary? She could be here to help this time…"
Klaus shook his head. "I cannot risk it, Elijah."
"Maybe we can untie her after we learn what she has to say." Caroline said, offering Elijah a small smile.
He nodded again before getting himself a drink, still barely looking away from Katherine.
They all sat in silence for a few minutes until the Doppelganger gasped and regained consciousness.
"Fantastic." She muttered as she looked at Klaus and Caroline. "Not you too, Matty Blue Eyes; I thought we had a connection." She pouted in Matt's direction, but he just rolled his eyes at her.
"What are you doing here, Katerina?" Elijah asked quietly.
Katherine's whole body stiffened at the sound of his voice. "Elijah?" She whispered.
"I asked you a question, don't make me repeat myself." Elijah said seriously, staring at her intently.
Katherine quickly masked her surprise at seeing him and tried to relax back against the chair. "Oh, Elijah, you know I like it when you use your stern voice with me." She winked at him.
"This is serious, Katerina!" Elijah yelled out. "What do you know about Meredith Fell?"
"Why are you so interested in her?" Katherine narrowed her eyes at the Original.
"Stop playing around with us." Elijah threatened.
"You used to like it when I played with you…" Katherine wiggled her eyebrows at him.
"Gross." Caroline muttered.
"You're one to talk." Katherine's eyes met hers. "Little Miss Mystic Falls hanging all over the Big Bad Wolf."
Caroline rolled her eyes. "You don't know anything about me."
"I know a lot about you." Katherine replied. "I know that I made your life better when I killed you. I know that you used to hate yourself as a human, and I gave you immortality and power. You're welcome by the way."
"I suggest you stop talking to her." Klaus bit out, stepping in front of Caroline. "Tell us what you know."
"Ohh, I seem to have hit a nerve." Katherine smirked at him. "Did someone catch feelings, Klaus?"
"Katerina." When Elijah spoke, his voice was deadly serious. "Tell us about Meredith Fell."
Katherine seemed to shrink back slightly as the tone Elijah had used. She seemed to calculate her next words carefully. "Fine. On one condition."
Klaus rolled his eyes. "You're not in a position to be making conditions, Doppelganger."
Katherine tilted her head at him. "I think I am, actually. I have information you want, and it's good. You need my help."
"What do you want?" Elijah asked, his hands clasped behind his back.
"My freedom." Katherine met his eyes. Caroline saw several emotions flicker behind Katherine's mask: sadness, anger, hope… caring?
She saw Elijah stiffen as he looked back at the brunette before his eyes darted to his brother. "Niklaus…"
Klaus was staring at the Doppelganger in silent contemplation. "You want your freedom for information about Meredith Fell?" He asked Katherine.
Katherine tore her eyes away from Elijah and met Klaus' stare nodding. "Yes. You completed the ritual and got what you wanted. You have no more use for hunting me."
Caroline was still watching Elijah. His hands were grasped so tightly behind his back that his knuckles were turning white, and he seemed to be holding his breath.
Klaus was about to speak before Caroline gasped. She looked between Katherine and Elijah. "You two are in love… aren't you?"
The whole room was silently looking at the pair, even Klaus was eyeing his brother, seemingly interested in his answer.
Elijah opened his mouth before closing it quickly, his eyes on the brunette in front of him. "I am." He breathed out.
Katherine even seemed surprised by his answer. "After all this time? You still care for me?" She asked, her voice softer than Caroline had ever heard it.
"I never stopped loving you, Katerina." Elijah said.
"I love you too." Katherine replied, her eyes on him, clearly not caring about anyone else in the room.
"Then tell us what you know. Prove that you care about me." Elijah responded. "Meredith Fell is very dangerous to everyone, and I do mean everyone."
Katherine bit her lip slightly. "She's in Richmond, Virginia. She was asking every vampire that she could find in the city if they knew me or where to find me. Apparently, she wanted to be trained to take down an Original. One of my acquaintances tipped me off. I was in Florida at the time, and got here this afternoon. Klaus and Caroline walked into her apartment before I could finish searching it. I can't believe I didn't check for a false back on the damn closet."
"How did Meredith Fell know about you?" Elijah asked, his eyebrows furrowed.
Katherine nodded to the box that Caroline had brought from Meredith's apartment and set on the desk. "She had one of Jonathan Gilbert's journals that mentions Pearl, and one of her cousin's that mentions me."
"Did you meet up with her?" Klaus asked sharply.
"No," Katherine met his eyes. "I had never heard of her before and wanted to know who she was before I made a decision or not."
"How do we know that you're telling the truth?" Caroline asked, warily.
"You don't." Katherine responded bluntly, her eyes moving to focus on Elijah again. "You'll just have to trust me."
Elijah met her eyes and searched her face for a long while before looking away to Klaus, who was also scrutinizing Katherine to try to detect any lies.
Klaus met Elijah's gaze. "No, Elijah. I am not trusting Katerina Petrova."
"Come now, Niklaus." Elijah tried. "She just told us the truth. You yourself can't even detect any deceit."
Klaus shook his head. "Absolutely not. It doesn't matter that she didn't lie this one time. You know what she's capable of."
"Please, Brother."
Caroline watched the genuine emotion play across Elijah's face during the conversation. He really did love Katherine. She looked back over to the woman in question, trying to read her as well. Katherine's focus was solely directed at Elijah. Her eyes soft as she watched him plead with his brother for her freedom.
"Nik," Caroline moved over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder to try to calm him. "Remember our truce? Having to try to trust people who have crossed you?"
"That's completely different, Sweetheart." Klaus faced her. "She is nothing like you or your group of friends. She double crosses everyone."
"She did in the past, yes." Caroline conceded. "But what if she's actually trying here, Nik? What if she means it this time?" She gestured between Katherine and Elijah.
Klaus looked between his brother and the Doppelganger before looking back at Caroline. "After everything she's done to you? You're really willing to trust her?"
Caroline met Katherine's eyes. The brunette looked back at her, knowing that Caroline could determine her future with her next words. She saw defeat in the older vampire's eyes, Katherine knew that there was no way that Caroline Forbes would stand up for her. She averted her gaze so she wouldn't have to watch the blonde reveal her death sentence.
"I'll never know if I don't try." Caroline said. She saw Katherine's head whip back to face her, genuine shock etched on her face. Caroline spoke again, her eyes still fixed on Katherine. "She obviously has some sort of care in her heart for Elijah; you'd be blind not to see that. If she can show that emotion, she can't be all bad, right?" She looked back to Klaus, and saw that he obviously remembered her saying the same thing about him. "We'd be idiots to just believe her right away, but I think we should extend her the same truce we made. Wouldn't that be fair?"
Klaus looked at her for a long moment, trying to see if this was really the way she was feeling. He seemed to have found his answer because he took a few steps towards Katherine. "You are very lucky that Caroline is a better person than me. Katerina Petrova I hereby revoke my pledge to hunt you down and kill you; I grant you your freedom. But, this is your only warning: if you ever double cross me or my family or hurt anyone I care about, I will find you and make your death last a century." He kept his eye contact with her until she gave a slight nod. He turned around to face Elijah. "She's your responsibility, Brother." With that, he left the room.
Elijah looked stunned at everything that had just happened. He moved forward and quickly used a letter opener to cut the ropes binding Katherine. He took her hand in his. "Don't make us regret this." He turned to Caroline. "I don't know why you just did that, but thank you, Caroline. I am in your debt."
"No you're not, Elijah." Caroline replied seriously. "This is what friends do for each other. I truly wish you to find happiness… even if it is with her." Caroline glanced at Katherine to see a shocked expression still on her face. Caroline nodded to Matt, who stood up and followed her out of the room.
"Are you alright, Care?" He asked when they were back in the foyer.
"Yeah," Caroline nodded. "I don't really like her, but everyone deserves at least a chance. Listen," she looked around, "I really need to go talk to Nik, are you going to be alright here by yours -"
The front door flew open for the second time and Kol came charging in with his baseball bat followed by Bonnie and Rebekah.
"Where is she?" He asked, his eyes sparkling. "I need to practice my swing."
"I'll explain everything to them." Matt looked back to Caroline. "Go on, I'll be fine."
Caroline looked up at him gratefully. "Thanks, Matt." She nodded to him before flashing up the stairs to find Klaus.
She entered his room and found him staring out his window. She closed the door behind her before walking towards him.
"I wasn't walking away from you, Sweetheart." Klaus spoke before she even had the chance to open her mouth. "I didn't leave because I was upset; I'm not breaking my promise to talk to you. I just needed to be away from her before I did something I would regret."
Caroline nodded to him. "Thank you, but I didn't think you were… Actually, I kind of thought you might be mad at me…"
He turned around to face her in confusion. "Why would I be mad at you, Love?"
"Because I just made you let go of a 500 year old grudge." She offered. "I know that you hate to look weak, and I practically forced you to back down because you don't like saying no to me."
Klaus sighed. "I don't like being or looking weak, Love, but that's not what that was. You didn't force me to do anything; you just made sense. I can't be mad at you for that. You were right, hell, Katerina was right too. There is no reason for me to keep hunting her; I'm finally happy. You made me see that there was a connection between her and Elijah, a real connection. I saw the same emotions in both of their eyes that I assume you did. They care for each other deeply. I cannot deny my brother that after I know what he is feeling. If the roles were reversed and someone tried to keep me away from you, I can't even imagine what I would do. I want him to be happy too."
"Wow." She breathed out. "You really are getting better at looking at your actions from other people's points of view."
"I'm trying." He replied.
"You're doing a really great job." She reached for his hand. "You promise you aren't upset with me for doing that? I feel really guilty about it now. I feel like I forced your hand."
He pulled her closer to him and into her arms. "I probably would have been had this happened a month or two ago, but no, I promise I'm not upset with you. I know that you weren't trying to use my feelings for you to make me do something. You wouldn't do that. You were speaking up for what you thought was right, and I realized you had several valid points. Caroline, I love you, but I don't make decisions lightly, especially ones as important as that one. I wouldn't have agreed with you if I genuinely didn't want to do it."
Caroline relaxed against him. "Okay. Good. I really never want to make you do something that you don't want to just because I want you to." She paused for a second. "Okay, not anything important like that; the Harry Potter books and stuff doesn't count."
He squeezed her tighter to him. "Agreed, Love. I never want to do that to you either."
"Are you really going to try to trust her?" Caroline sighed.
"As much as it goes against everything I've ever done, I am." Klaus nodded against her. "We'll never know if she meant what she said if we don't give her a chance to prove it. If she makes my brother happy, then I'll accept her as much as I can."
Caroline nodded. "That's kind of what I feel too." They heard a loud shriek from downstairs. "I think Bekah will be a bit harder to convince…"