Notes: As promised, we meet Klaus in this chapter! I wanted to post this today (KlarolineFoolsDay!) and I finished just under the wire. This chapter was also the first time I struggled with my self-imposed word limit but I managed. Thanks to those who've reviewed and set alerts! I always enjoy hearing your thoughts. Outfit collections for this one are on Polyvore – link in my profile. Did y'all know Jimmy Choo does sneakers? They seemed up Rebekah's alley…

OCTOBER - SUNDAY

CAROLINE:

It's just after 2PM when Caroline steps out of the elevator. She'd volunteered to handle groceries this week. Mostly to avoid helping with the 'moving in' part. There are few people she'll willingly haul boxes for and Kol does not make the list. He should be grateful that the building manager loved her (and the cookie basket she sent him last Christmas) and allowed her to reserve an elevator at the last minute.

At the grocery store she'd begun to regret offering to do the shopping. Kol's list was very specific, finding everything on it time consuming, and she'd bought the wrong kind of balsamic vinegar. The stuff he wanted was ridiculously expensive (what was it even used for? Salad dressing? Who made their own salad dressing?), and since he'd yet to make a financial contribution Caroline was prepared to tell him to suck it up and deal if he complained.

A glance down the hall has her noticing that the door to her apartment is ajar, boxes stacked up against the wall next to it, and she curses mentally. Why weren't they done already? How was it possible that Kol had so much stuff when he'd lived the life of a super well-funded hobo the last few years?

Klaus steps into the hallway. He doesn't notice her and she takes the opportunity to ogle his forearms bared by the pushed up sleeves of the blue t-shirt he's wearing. The Mikaelson's are a genetically gifted group but something about Klaus has always appealed to Caroline. She's usually into tall, dark and handsome, so logically it should be either Elijah or Kol that did it for her. But no, it had always been Klaus that made her pulse race a little. Maybe it was the dimples.

It certainly wasn't his personality, as she'd yet to see any evidence that he had one, and Rebekah frequently referred to him as a 'wanker.'

Klaus looks up, and his eyes land on her immediately. Caroline's feels self-conscious. Had she made a noise? A tiny, appreciative sigh, perhaps? God, she hopes not.

Klaus sets the box he'd just hefted down, and walks her way. Caroline glances behind her, wondering what he's doing. But he merely takes the grocery bags that had been weighing her down, and heads back into her apartment.

Caroline doesn't follow him immediately. Why would he not just talk to her like a normal human?!

She stomps down the hall, slightly annoyed. When she sees the mess of boxes and discarded packing materials littering the living room and kitchen, her annoyance skyrockets.

"Seriously? Where did all this stuff even come from?" Caroline addresses the room. Elijah's seated at the kitchen island, focused on his phone. With his suit jacket discarded and sleeves rolled up, it's the most casual she'd ever seen him, though his tie remains perfect. Rebekah's on the couch, sneakered feet on the coffee table (bitch!) reading November's Vogue. Kol's in the kitchen, lovingly cleaning a set of stainless steel pots. Klaus is unpacking the groceries, and maybe he's not so bad, even if he won't deign to speak to her. There are also two guys that she doesn't know, by the window, and that's a little weird.

Rebekah answers, "Storage," removing her feet from the coffee table at Caroline's glare.

"Good afternoon, Miss Forbes. You're looking well," Elijah says.

"Thank you," Caroline replies automatically, as she takes off her coat. She feels somewhat underdressed, next to Elijah, especially in her plain sweater and flats. Does the man even own jeans? Or sweats even? From the look of him he had to workout sometime, right?

He continues speaking, breaking her train of thought, "I'd like to introduce you to my assistant, Joshua, and his boyfriend, Aiden."

They both look up and nod at her, and she's slightly less alarmed that they're in her home. Caroline's sure Elijah Mikaelson runs CIA caliber background checks and a psycho killer would not make the cut.

"Yes," Kol interjects, "'Lijah's about as fond of manual labor as Bekah dearest. He's paying his assistant and his assistant's boyfriend an exorbitant amount of money to do it for him."

"Despite the fact that family move in bonding day was his idea," Klaus says with a pointed look at his older brother.

Caroline longs to burst out with a sarcastic, 'and he speaks!' but she curbs it.

She joins Klaus at the counter, expecting him to shy away as if she has leprosy, surprised when he does not. Peeking at him out of the corner of her eye she notes that his skin is slightly damp (not in a gross way. In an 'I wouldn't mind licking it' way) his hair curling around his ears and at the back of his neck. He was obviously not as adverse to physical labor as some of his siblings. He catches her gaze and shoots her a quizzical look. Caroline looks away, grabs the milk and a bag of apples, and turns to the refrigerator.

Kol's looking faintly amused when she turns around and Caroline hopes she's not blushing. Probably not smart to check out a guy surrounded by his meddlesome immediate family.

As Klaus empties the final bag, Kol's face drops. Caroline suspects she knows why, "What is that?" Kol asks, nearly horrified.

Klaus picks up the bottle Kol pointed at, "This? Balsamic vinegar," he says mildly, obviously not seeing the problem (another point in his favor, in Caroline's estimation).

"That is sludge, Niklaus."

"And you all insist that I'm the dramatic one," Rebekah mutters from the couch.

"The stuff you wanted was like $65 for a bottle, Kol. If you really want it you can buy it in two weeks. With your own paycheck."

"Fine. Don't expect the chicken paillard I'm making tomorrow to be mind-blowing, now."

It's a struggle not to roll her eyes, "I'm sure it'll be fine, Kol."

"I've not cooked something that was 'fine' since I was a baby, Caroline. I'm insulted that you expect me to start now."

"Oh, so you cooked when you were a baby? That is talent."

"How about," Klaus interrupts what is sure to be an incredible trivial fight (most likely one of many to come), "I come over tomorrow with the vinegar you bought when you stayed with me this summer. I assume it's the right kind, Kol?"

Kol nods.

"You can have it then, because I'm fairly certain I've never used it."

"Ugh. How are you even my brother?"

Klaus ignores him and turns to Caroline, "Assuming that's alright with you, love?"

Caroline blinks. He's addressing her directly. Something that's only happened a handful of times (and were mostly along the lines of 'pass the salt,') in the seven years she's been friends with Rebekah. Everyone's looking at her so she stutters out, "Fine. That's fine."

"It's settled then," Klaus nods, and begins to fold up her reusable grocery bags.

Kol has a devious smile on his face. It's thankfully (for Caroline) directed at Klaus, "Say, brother. How's the work on your next volume coming? You've a deadline coming up, don't you?"

"Yes," Klaus says slowly, seemingly caught off guard by the question, "At the end of this month. I've just got to make some final decisions about coloring and go through the last drafts of the text with Marcel."

"Caroline," Kol swings to her abruptly, "have you ever read Nik's work?"

"I have not," she says, with a slightly apologetic look towards Klaus. He appears tense, but relaxes and gives her a small smile.

Words and a smile? Someone woke up on the right side of the bed today. Not that she needed to be thinking about Klaus in a bed.

"Pity," Kol muses. "You really should. You might be astonished by what you'd learn."

Klaus is glaring, Kol is smirking. Caroline wonders if this is one of those artsy 'oh, my work's never good enough' things.

Rebekah adds, "I've only ever read the first few. Sorry, Nik. But it's your own fault for making the sister such a brat."

"Nonsense," Kol counters, "I think Nik captured you best of all."

"Children," Elijah says, and Caroline has to smile at how long-suffering he sounds. "Let's act our ages, shall we?"

"I don't know," Kol says skeptically, "are you capable of not acting like a decrepit geezer? You're only 34, are you not?"

"Perfectly capable, Kol. Though I'll admit to finding it difficult when the three of you so often revert to your teenage selves when grouped together." None of the younger Mikaelson's appreciate the slight, but Elijah keeps speaking, "Aiden and Joshua have finished bringing everything in and we'll be off now. I do thank you, Caroline, for allowing Kol to live here."

"Oh. Uh, you're welcome," Caroline replies, slightly flustered by such a formal expression of gratitude.

"Here's my card. Please call me if you require anything." Elijah kisses the cheek Rebekah upturns and nods goodbye to his brothers.

"Did you hear that, Kol?" Rebekah taunts. "Caroline gets to tattle to Elijah if you're naughty."