A/N: Hey everyone :) I finally got done editing the second chapter, it took longer than expected because I decided in between the editing process to add more than a thousand words to my first draft lol. So forewarning this chapter is kind of sad, not overly so but it's not all cupcakes and rainbows because Caroline is finally facing some harsh realities she's put off. It's a 15-year time jump, and as you'll read Caroline is still mourning Klaus, in case it wasn't properly conveyed in my last Author Notes, this story is not only for my piece of mind on those Tik Tok's I seen that inspired this story, nor is it just an exploration of a possible way Kol and Caroline could connect to each other but it's also a story about Caroline learning to let Klaus go.
A fun little fact, a couple of the lines in this chapter are inspired by other TVD/TO Tik Tok's I've seen, such as the part where Caroline is thinking about her past loves, it's inspired by a song lyric "Love Only Left Me Alone" that's a line in a popular song on Tik Tok that the TVD/TO characters are sometimes correlated with. I always felt this lyric specifically matched to Caroline so well.
Hope you guys enjoy :)
Chapter Two: Leaving A Fabrication
There would come a moment where you know your children are grown up, a moment where you as their parent realize they don't need you anymore, this is what Caroline's read in the countless parenting books she obsessed over as the twins had aged. Some of those books had put it bluntly, some had made it out softly so they wouldn't upset the parent reading said book, but they all told her the same thing, her twins, Josie and Lizzie, wouldn't need her one day in the future, they would be all grown up, living their own lives, they would hardly have time to spare for their mom. She had foolishly overlooked this concept, she never put value into thinking this concept could become reality, in her head and in her heart, her little girls were always going to be her little girls, they would always need her there, no matter what, she was their mother, she wouldn't be pushed aside.
Those books were just a warning for a possibility that would never come to play, they didn't apply to her.
She wishes she would have taken those warning seriously, she wishes she can go back in time to tell herself to read that information carefully, to tell herself to prepare for that day those parenting books talked about, she wished she would have planned for a way to go about that moment they warned of. She wouldn't be Caroline Forbes if she didn't obsessively prepare everything in her life, this would have been no different. That moment of knowing your child doesn't need you anymore was happening right now to her, and she was wholeheartedly unprepared for it.
Lizzie was walking down the beautifully decorated blush pink aisle with her father, Alaric, holding on tight to his arm staring straight ahead at the love of her life, Hope Mikaelson waited patiently at the end of the aisle, having had her turn to walk down it with her Aunt Freya. Caroline was seated in a family section of the seating arrangements for the ceremony, watching as her not so little girl was given away to another not so little girl to be wed. It was when the priest said "you may now kiss the bride" to Hope and Lizzie that Caroline had the shocking realization that her daughters didn't need her anymore.
If she was being completely honest with herself, they hadn't needed her long before this moment, truthfully she should of have had this realization a long time ago.
Her daughters were now twenty-eight years old, both of them looked their age, they had grown up to be gorgeous, respected, successful women who were confidently living their lives, making choices, making mistakes, laughing, and enjoying the time they had on this Earth. She couldn't have been prouder of the women she had raised if she tried.
Caroline herself still looked her age as well, forever seventeen years old, she looked more fitted for a teenage guest at this wedding then she did the mother of one of the brides. The guests of the wedding agreed with that assessment, their varies looks were lingering on her, suspicious on why she hasn't aged a day, there was no good excuse she could give them this time if they asked. Her excuses of creams, exercise, and really great genes had run dry years ago. She's stayed away from the Mystic Falls public eye for that very reason, content to live her life inside the walls of the Salvatore Boarding School if it meant she got to be apart of her daughters lives, if it meant she was there for them when they needed her. It wasn't always fun being trapped in the school like some criminal, only allowed to go so far beyond the gates before she was called back but it was worth it, her daughters were worth it.
This wedding was an important milestone for Lizzie though, Hope too, Caroline wasn't going to miss it for the world, despite both her daughters, Alaric, and Klaus's daughter advising her otherwise. They all told her that the town would notice she hadn't aged, they would question it, and that would bring up unnecessary tension for the supernaturals in town. They wanted her to not attend the wedding, telling her it was for the best for everyone, but Caroline couldn't do that. She not only wanted to watch her daughter get married, this was going to be an important moment in Lizzie's life that she wanted to be a part of, but she felt like she also owed it to Klaus to be here for Hope, since he very well couldn't be.
It had been fifteen years since Klaus's death, Caroline had spent those years trying to be there for Hope in anyway she could. She treated Hope the way she treated her daughters, with kindness, with support, with love, sometimes Hope recuperated that, sometimes she didn't. Caroline never really knew where she stood with Hope, even after all this time, things ran cold one day with the young tribrid and hot the next, she was her father's daughter after all, she couldn't truly be Klaus's kid without giving Caroline a near aneurysm every time she talked to her.
Klaus should have been here to walk his daughter down the aisle, he should have been here for a lot of things over the years, but he wasn't, and Caroline sometimes wondered if she was allowed to be as upset about that fact as she was. She hadn't been with anyone serious since saying goodbye to New Orleans, she's went on dates but they all paled in contrast to The Hybrid Caroline subconsciously compared them to. The ending she should have had with Klaus never came to be, she could admit to herself that she was angry over that, she was cheated in life, love never did anything for Caroline except leave her alone in the world. It never ended as a perfect fairy tale like all the Disney movies had promised. The list of past loves racked up in her mind, Matt, Tyler, Stefan, and Klaus, even Damon, Jessie, and Alaric if they somehow counted, all these men and what did she ever get out of it, nothing but pain.
All those past loves didn't really matter though when compared to Klaus, they didn't hold the same place in her heart, they didn't tear into her soul like he did, he was supposed to be the one, her one, but she had lost him anyways. This moment right now, watching their daughters get married, should be shared with him, he should be seated next to her, grinning in mischievous joy, asking her who he was allowed to eat since so many people were giving both of them the side eye. That's probably what the other world Caroline is doing, she's seated next to her last love watching proudly as their daughters said their vows to each other, she both envied and hated the other world Caroline.
"Caroline!" Someone shouted next to her ear, effectively bringing her out of her daydream. Matt stood in front of her, dressed nicely in a button down with a tie and slacks, for once out of his sheriff's uniform that Caroline couldn't stand to be around for long periods of time, flashbacks of her Mother in that same uniform always invaded her mind.
"Yeah?" The ceremony had cleared out of guests for the most part, most of them had already congregated to the reception area, that was a mere walk away. Matt, Lizzie, Hope, Alaric, and Josie were gathered around her, all of them looking at her with concern. It's sad that she couldn't place the last time any one of them expressed concern for her, though Caroline had stayed in Mystic Falls for her daughters and even Hope, the interactions between them and by extension the emotions between them grew far and in between, only coming out in a blue moon.
Walking in the direction of the reception were the Mikaelson's who had come to support Hope, Rebekah, Marcel, Freya, Keelin, Davina, and lastly Kol. Caroline had noticed them when they had arrived, everyone had, they made a spectacle with the large group not from Mystic Falls dressed far to nicely in such a small town but she hadn't gotten the chance to do more than hug Freya and have a weird stare down with Kol before she was told to take a seat for the ceremony.
No one in Mystic Falls knew anything of Hope's family, except for select individual's at the school, Rebekah, Marcel, and Kol were free to roam without eyes on them questioning why they haven't aged. No one here knew them like that to question them, Keelin, Freya, and Davina of course had all aged, the only one Caroline was shocked to see age though was Davina, she had assumed Kol had changed her a long time ago.
Behind the Mikaelson's, trying to keep a respectful distance from the Original family, were Elena, Damon, Jeremy, and Bonnie. All aged, all humans. It pained Caroline's heart every time she saw one of them, they had all grown up, they had families, wrinkles, and aged memories that Caroline couldn't relate to, communication between them had dried out as the years passed. Interaction between them had stunted when Caroline made the decision to stop leaving the school, she no longer could make that effort of stopping by their houses, meeting them for coffee or dinner, going shopping for town events.
She had stupidly thought they would put in the effort to come see her when she could no longer go out in public without raising questions. It hadn't surprised her when Damon and Jeremy didn't, she had expected that, she hadn't been particularly close to either of them but when Elena and Bonnie cut contact with her, she hadn't expected that. They were her best friend's, she had thought they all would be there for each other until they couldn't anymore, they would support each other till the very end, that hadn't extended to her as it did to them like she thought. Caroline had fought so hard for them, but in the end it really didn't matter, they didn't fight for her when she needed them most, they dropped her like she was nothing, like their years of friendship were nothing more than a distant memory.
It was something Klaus had warned her about, something he turned out to be right about, her friends would grow older, they would age as humans and they would leave her behind in the supernatural world they wanted no part in. Caroline didn't want to believe that at the time, she assumed they had placed the same loyalty to her as she did to them but Elena and Bonnie no longer called her, texted her, or came to see her, there was no mistaking their intentions to rid their lives of her. Even when they did have contact, it was Caroline forcing it upon them, she hadn't seen that then but she did now. They didn't want anything to do with the supernatural world anymore then what was necessary, and Caroline as their vampire friend wasn't necessary. Bonnie was a still a witch but one that didn't use her powers, Elena was a doppelganger still but one that wasn't wanted in the world for her blood anymore.
The only one who put in a half decent effort anymore was Matt, it wasn't extravagant or done all the time with happiness, more out of obligation then anything else but he did try to make time to see her, to call her, check up on her, it was more then anyone else has been doing, for that Caroline is grateful yet still saddened that her once upon a time friend seemed to put forth this effort under a false sense of duty rather than a genuine interest in her wellbeing.
Both the Mikaelson's and the Mystic Falls gang had stopped walking, now they were hanging around the entrance area to the reception, like they were waiting for something to happen, or for someone to tell them something, Caroline assumed they were waiting for the main bridal party to go in. She took a step forward to walk their way, intending to jump start everyone back into their roles, when she was pulled back by her arm harshly, had it not been for her vampire reflexes she would have fell on her face.
"Mom, we need to talk to you." Lizzie told her in a low voice, her daughter had a firm manicured hand on her forearm, holding Caroline tightly so she wouldn't move, her instincts were screaming at her to snap Lizzie's hand, to rip it off, she didn't like how trapped she felt with Lizzie's hand holding her the way it was, she restrained those instincts though, she wouldn't dare hurt her daughter like that.
"What's wrong?" She glanced over everyone with a quickness, a vampire feature Caroline loved, being able to assess a situation in seconds, her instincts were on high alert, something was wrong, she was checking for anything unusual or worrying, memories of another wedding going horribly wrong were not wanting to be quiet.
"Caroline, the towns people are asking questions." Matt told her with his "don't be afraid" cop voice, she hated that voice, like his dreaded sheriff uniform it brought back memories of her Mother that were better left buried, it didn't help her nerves at all, she wasn't some victim in a random crime Matt had to calm down from their hysteria, she would have appreciated him not treating her like she was one.
"Questions?" She looked over to where everyone had gathered at the entrance of the reception in an odd assembly of people, it irritated her that half of them were pretending to not pay attention to what was being said to her and the other half were paying to much attention, they all made it plainly obvious they knew something she didn't know. She relaxed her shoulders back, pushing down the feeling that was telling her something wasn't right, no one would be standing around if anyone at this wedding was in danger.
"Too many people are asking why you look like you haven't aged a day, their asking why Lizzie and Josie look older then you." Hope was the one to speak up to her in the group, telling her bluntly what people were questioning, what they were gossiping about. Hope was never one to beat around the bush, she preferred to say things in a matter a fact way, but for once Caroline wished the younger woman would have softened her words, it's not like she was oblivious to the stares, to the looks, or to the questions being asked but she hadn't expected to be cornered about it either. She hadn't thought anyone would come up to her to point it out, to make her feel like she had done something wrong by wanting to be a part of one of the most important days in her daughters life.
"So?" She said in a flamboyant way, carful to keep her real emotions hidden. A familiar insecurity of being unwanted started to grow in Caroline's heart, she didn't want to hear their next words, she didn't want to know what they were going to tell her, every part of her mind and body told her she shouldn't be here listening to them.
"So? It's dangerous Caroline, we can't have anyone questioning anything, the kids at the school have to come first, we all knew people were going to talk, you should have never came!" Alaric reached out to take Lizzie's hand away, gently batting it off of Caroline's arm, only to replace it with his own, squeezing it harder than Lizzie had as if that would somehow solidify what he was telling her. She had ignored Lizzie's hand on her in fear of hurting her daughter, but Alaric was pushing boundaries he had no right to by laying his hands on her, her carefully crafted control was tethering on a dangerous edge.
"Dad!" Josie and Lizzie exclaimed at the same time, they had identical expressions of worry on their faces despite not being identical twins, expressions that didn't comfort Caroline in the least, neither twin disagreed with their father, neither made a move to offer some form of assurance to their mother or even attempt to remove their fathers hold on her, even after seeing the caged way Caroline looked.
"I'm only telling the truth, all of you guys know that," Alaric defended himself, "I-We think it's best if you go back to the school." He finished saying, she knew they didn't want her coming for this reason when they had each talked to her about her insistence on being here, but she hadn't thought in a million years that once she was here they would kick her out like she was some random wedding crasher. That they would gang up on her with spectators there to watch the show like it was some trashy reality TV program.
Caroline's heart was shattering, she waited for at least one protest in her favor, someone to come forward to say she had a right to be there the whole night. That this was her daughter's wedding, she waited for someone to say instead of asking Caroline to go home, they should ask the oblivious guests asking questions to go home, she wanted someone to say she was the mother of one of the brides, she was the closest thing to a mother the second bride had since both her parents had died, it was unfair to ask family to go home and keep strangers there. No one spoke up in her favor though, as Caroline looked at all of them, her eyes flickered from person to person, they all looked down at their feet, not even having the guts to look her in the eyes as they kicked her out, the only one who held eye contact with her was Hope, Klaus's daughter did seem apologetic, just not enough to speak up for her. Caroline risked a glance to the others waiting by the door, the spectators, only to see most of them looking down as well, avoiding her eyes like the people in front of her, as if they weren't shamelessly standing there enjoying the show. The only exceptions were Damon, Rebekah and Kol, they all looked right back at her, refusing to look down.
Damon seemed to be getting some amusement from this, he couldn't hear them, not with his human ears but he knew what was being said all the same. She was right to assume they all knew something she hadn't, they had purposely stuck around to watch how it played out. It was like she was a seventeen insecure little girl again, one whose only use was to provide entertainment, a side show that people laughed at, rolled their eyes at, and made remarks about. Rebekah and Kol at least had more class then Damon who openly enjoyed her embarrassment, they pretended to have sympathetic looks on their faces, Rebekah more so then Kol.
Everyone must have had a conversation well she was lost in her thoughts; they must have all came to the same agreement to tell her she had no place there; she was better off going home instead of causing unwanted attention on them. To make it all worse, to add the topper to the cake, she had an entire audience to be shamed in front of, Lizzie and Hope could have taken her aside to tell her this in private, instead each and every one of them decided it was better to humiliate her in front of Elena, Bonnie, Damon, etc people who have already deemed her unworthy of their time.
"Seriously? I'm Lizzie's mother, I have every right to be here." Caroline hissed out, she yanked her arm out of Alaric's tight grip, using her other hand she pushed him away from her, purposely using more strength then necessary, causing him to fly back a few feet.
It was difficult to hold her head high, to pretend as if the whole thing wasn't hurting her, like it wasn't crumbling her from the inside out. She found herself putting on a familiar mask of superiority that use to be paired so well with her insecurities in her teenage years, trying to maintain her dignity, inside though she knew it was just a mask then and it's just a mask now.
She couldn't help her hand from going to her wrist to roughly rub the bracelet there. The diamond bracelet Klaus had given her had sat on her wrist for the last 15 years, she had only ever taken it off when it needed to be fixed or cleaned. She had developed a little habit of rubbing the bracelet not long after Kol had put it on her wrist, giving her bracelet back to her as a favor to Klaus after he had died. It gave her strength when she needed it most, it helped her pretend that everything was going to be okay. She found herself rubbing the bracelet most when she thought about Klaus, when his promises and warnings of the future plagued her thoughts, it was probably an unhealthy coping mechanism for Klaus's death but she couldn't bring herself to stop doing it.
"I'm sorry mom, I wish it was different, but you still look seventeen, of course people are going to ask "why". Today is for me and Hope, I don't want to deal with that on our day, I don't want to deal with lies, I just want to be happy and have a good time." Lizzie tried explaining to her in what she assumed was supposed to be a reassuring way but it missed it's mark by a long shot. All Caroline heard was that her daughters, her family, and what little bit of semblance of friends she had left would have an amazing time without her there to put a supernatural damper on things.
She wasn't wanted, she wasn't needed.
It was humiliating how long she stood there trying to prevent herself from crying, she held her breath in a vain attempt to hold back the tears in her eyes, she wanted so desperately for someone, anyone to step up to talk in her defense. When no one came forward Caroline took a final look around her before she nodded her head in mock understanding to Lizzie, she left without another word to anyone, vamp speeding to her car, getting in she drove silently to the school, only allowing a few stray tears to escape her eyes. No one tried to stop her, they all immediately had a look of relief on their faces as she left, going inside the designated reception area without looking back, solidifying Caroline's decision.
Parking outside the school Caroline left the car running while she got out to go inside. Once she was in her room is when she let all the tears she was holding in freely flow out, she didn't bother dampening her cries. She rushed through her room, getting the luggage's she had stored at the back of her closet to pack inside of them. Caroline didn't pay attention to how she was packing; she just threw what she knew she needed in the luggage's and in bags for her to take with her, for once not concerned about perfectly organized bags to sate her OCD tendencies.
Klaus had been right, this town could never accept her, they could never know her secrets without wanting to exploit them. She really had fooled herself into thinking she could live in Mystic Falls for decades, watch her daughters grow, have kids of their own, watch as those kids had kids and so on, and no one would be the wiser about her or bother to question her. She was so stupid to think she could have a normal life here, like normal was even possible for her still, she was a vampire, she wouldn't be able to stay anywhere for decades at a time with no questions, except maybe New Orleans, being the supernatural hotspot that it was, but that was the last place Caroline would ever willingly want to be.
"Going somewhere Darling?" Caroline finished shoving the last of her shoes into one of the biggest luggage's she had before she acknowledged Kol's presence in her room. She had felt when he came into her bedroom, she had been aware she wasn't alone anymore, but she hadn't paid him any thought, too caught up in packing her belongings, she had paid him even less attention when he chose to remain silent.
He was smirking at her like he had a right to be smug about something, casually leaning on her wall that had a mural painted on it of a beautiful snow day, the snowflakes in the painting each uniquely and intricately falling from a dark sky. She had it done a year or so after Klaus's death, the winter festival that year was hard to get through, Klaus's snowflake painting haunted her before and after said festival, until she had finally paid an artist to come paint the mural for her. It was nowhere near Klaus's caliber of talent, the snowflakes didn't feel as important as his one snowflake had, nor as lonely but Caroline still loved the mural, it reminded her of one of the happier memories she shared with Klaus. Something so insignificant at the time that was now so important to her in the present.
"Away from here." Caroline snapped in reply to him, she picked up two of the bags to put them on her shoulders before she grabbed two of the bigger luggage's in her hands, she bumped into Kol when she walked to her door to leave her bedroom. She couldn't find it in herself to apologize to him, the bags were bulky, had he not wanted to get trampled on, he should have never followed her. Caroline let out a sigh of frustration, hiccupping she tried to reign in her tears, grabbing everything would take a few trips back and forth. She didn't really mind; she had some time to get all of her stuff out before anyone would be coming back from the wedding but the job would be exceptionally harder if she couldn't clear her vision and if Kol insisted on being in the way.
"I didn't peg you as someone who ran away from their problems." Kol trailed after her, not even bothering to offer to help with her heavy bags, he watched as she struggled with them, getting a good laugh out of it, she was tempted to throw one of the bags in his face, if only just to shut him up.
"I'm not running away from my problems," Caroline said to him well she dropped the bags next to her car to pop open the truck, "I'm doing something I should have done years ago; I'm leaving."
She left the bags on the floor outside to go get more from her room, she wanted to have everything down by the car before packing it so she could properly fit everything inside her small car. She might have packed the bags themselves hazardously, but she didn't think she could take packing the car like that as well. Inside the room, Kol wandered around, curiously looking at the things she owned.
"Finally realized that everyone around you wants to play human, something you'll never be able to do for long?" Kol asked her as he peeked into one of her bags, it had multiple hair products in it, far more then he thought any one person needed, he took out a couple of bottles to mess around with, to occupy his hands as he watched the blonde vampire pack even more things into bags.
Caroline scoffed, choosing not to answer him, she couldn't say anything back to that, he was right. The supernaturals in the town like Bonnie, Hope, and the twins didn't use their supernatural abilities, they were for all intents and purposes, human.
At one point she was positive when the girls got older that they would want to turn into heretics, she had secretly looked forward to it, that time never came though. The girls instead grew apart from their siphoning magic, they both thought the supernatural world was too dangerous to live with anymore then they had already experienced. Caroline couldn't have faulted them for not wanting to be a part of the constant fear, loss, and pain if she had tried, but it still had hurt her tremendously to know her daughters didn't want to live a forever life along side her.
At the same time, a secret Caroline also hid was she thought Hope would change as well, that even if her daughters decided to stay human, Hope would never. She counted on Klaus's blood in Hope's veins being stronger then it was, she was sure that at some point Hope would want to be the most powerful creature in the world (more then she already was) and she would become a full tribrid, unlocking abilities that were dormant. Caroline had secretly rooted for the wrong side of Klaus to come out in his daughter, that part of Hope would have been hungry for power but it was also something that would make sure Caroline wasn't alone in the world. Like her daughters though Hope had decided that she was done with the supernatural world, she wanted to have a normal human life that would one day lead to death so she could reunite with Hayley and Klaus in whatever afterlife remained.
"It was wrong of them." Caroline titled her head at Kol's statement, briefly stopping her packing to observe him, she couldn't understand why he was here, what he would gain from talking to her.
"They should have never asked you to leave, you're Lizzie's mother," he told her quietly, his voice low, focusing in on her with an open expression that allowed her to see the truth in his words, Caroline couldn't help but think of the small conversation they had in Klaus's room fifteen years ago, how he had whispered to her "Always and Forever".
"For the record, I disagreed with that decision." Kol leaned over to put the hair products back in the bag he took them from, picking up the bag he gestured for Caroline to take the last bag that was already situated by the door, ready to go. She hesitated before she picked up the last bag, he almost sounded angry at everyone on her behalf.
"Thank you." She said to him, she wouldn't have expected Kol to be the one to speak up in disagreement for her, it was a nice surprise finding out that he had. It still upset her no one bothered to speak up in the moment that she was being told to leave, but at least someone other than herself had said something in her defense at some point when they discussed kicking her out of the wedding, plus she reminded herself, Kol was under no obligation to do anything in her favor.
Walking out her bedroom door, Caroline turned around to survey the room one last time, her eyes lingered on the mural, she would definitely miss waking up to it every day but the room as a whole didn't feel like home anymore, it was just a room, a room that she should have packed up and left years ago.
"Perhaps they should be counting their blessings Nik isn't alive, he would have slaughtered the lot of them for daring to upset you." Kol joked going down the stairs, letting out an amused laugh at whatever image he conjured up in his mind. It was so easy for him to talk about Klaus, joke about him even, as evident, Caroline envied that, everything she thought of that had a smidge of Klaus dashed in had to be held inside of her, she couldn't share it with people who had openly hated him. Hope was really the only person she had thought of going to once upon a time, when she wanted to share anything concerning Klaus, that was until it became abundantly clear that Hope didn't want to speak about Klaus in any context with anyone.
Arriving at the car, they set down her bags, "You know the funny thing is, I just might have let him this time." Caroline happily giggled, she knew she wouldn't have but it was an entertaining thought for her, a comforting one too, Klaus wanting to defend her, make anyone who upset her apologize or face an excruciating death, the thought helped to unclench her heart a little bit.
"So where are you planning to go?" Kol curiously asked while he helped her load up the car with her things, she was grateful for his help, she thought he was going to spend the whole time here watching her struggle, it wouldn't have surprised her had he done just that.
"I don't know." Caroline replied shaking her head, it wasn't a lie, she really didn't know where to go from here, she's always wanted to travel but she didn't know the first thing about leaving home.
She honestly had avoided traveling, even locally since Klaus's death, remnants of travel promises always stopped her. She had the money to travel for years to come, that wouldn't be a problem at least, but she had always pictured Klaus with her whenever she decided she was ready for the world, he wouldn't be here now, she wasn't sure she wanted to experience the world without him. She supposed she wasn't giving herself much choice anymore though, she had to leave Mystic Falls, she would be back to visit at some point of course, her daughters were here, but she knew that wouldn't be for a very, very long time.
"Might I make a suggestion Darling?" Kol pulled himself from her backseat where he was stashing one of her last bags on the floor, closing her car door, he walked to stand in front of her driver's side, waiting for her to close the other back door before making her way into the driver seat of her car. Looking up at him from inside her car, she nodded to him, curious on what he had to suggest, turning the key in the ignition, she shut the car door.
"I hear Rome, Paris, and Tokyo are quite lovely." He leaned into the driver side window to be able to look at her, grinning at her knowingly, pleased to have caught her off guard. Her eyes widened, how could he possibly know what Klaus had told her that day, he wasn't even there, no one was.
"How did-Why are you-What?" Caroline spluttered, Kol took her completely off guard, just when she thought she was prepared for the things that would come out of his mouth, he pulls a fast one over her, leaving her speechless, mouth open doing a terrible impression of a fish.
"It's where Nik promised to take you, is it not?" Kol nodded to himself, not really expecting an answer from her, already knowing it was where his brother had promised to take the young vampire when she accepted his invitation to join him.
"It's just a suggestion, you don't have to take it." Caroline was shaking her head before he even stopped talking, Klaus must have told him more then she assumed he had told any of his other siblings. She didn't know why he told Kol, of all people, what had transpired between them. Maybe because it was his last moments on this Earth and Klaus had wanted to express what their interactions meant to him, what she had meant to him and the only one around was Kol, or maybe it was Klaus confiding in his little brother about something neither of them put a name to but that came with tremendous implications and intentions.
It didn't matter now either way, Kol couldn't have suggested anything better to her, she was actually excited for this unknown world, terrified too but mostly she was eager to go explore the parts Klaus always wanted her to.
"Thank you Kol." Caroline couldn't properly convey what his suggestion meant to her with words alone, before she talked herself out of it she grabbed his hand that he had placed on the window before he could see her moving. She tightly took hold of it with her own, her fingers flexed around his, their hands surprisingly fit perfectly together, it was a thought she refused to dwell on, she pushed it from her mind. They both held on longer than necessary to convey her gratitude, Caroline was relieved to see she wasn't the only one who seemed mesmerized by the sight of their hands clasped together, Kol was staring at their hands just as hard as she was. He placed his free hand on top of the ones they held together, with a gentle squeeze they both let go.
Caroline smiled at him as he backed away from the car, as she was pulling out she took a chance glancing back at the school through the rear-view mirror. Kol still stood where she had left him, watching her car leave, his hand that had held hers clenching and unclenching at his side, much like her own was doing on the steering wheel, she stayed looking back at him until she could no longer see him or the school.
Rome, Paris, Tokyo, here comes Caroline Forbes.
A/N: I'm sorry to anyone who disagrees but I really do think Caroline would have eventually been pushed aside by everyone in her life, I think they all would have dropped her like she was nothing, especially if those people decided they wanted nothing to do with the supernatural world anymore, which is what obviously is decided in my story by the people around Caroline. It was kind of sad to write but it was interesting to explore that very real possibility for Caroline's future.
I hope you guys enjoyed, feel free to drop a review :)