A/N: Okay originally, I wasn't going to post anything until the New Year and just focus on writing everything off site, but this story is the exception and here's why... THIS STORY WAS NOMINATED FOR A KC AWARD! I literally just found out cause I hadn't been on this site since the last posting and when i checked the messages and saw that, I was like "OMG OMG OMG" and had no idea what to do with myself. I still don't know what to do with myself, I'm so excited! So with that announcement comes this chapter.
I want to thank each and every one of you for your support on this story! I appreciate it so much and I hope all of you are having an amazing holiday vacation!
Summary: Klaus was not the only one affected by the hybrid curse, denying him his werewolf side. The curse had a second victim, his wife Caroline, who for a 1000 years he thought was dead. Only days before he is meant to break his hybrid curse, he learns she is alive and closer than he ever imagined. Klaroline!Time travel story.
Chapter Thirteen: Happy Birthday
It was the middle of the day, everyone was eating lunch together in an almost comfortable silence. Once the meal was over, Caroline knew what was going to happen. Mikael would take Finn and Elijah out to train, possibly Niklaus as well. Rebekah would then take Henrik into town to get some more supplies. That would leave Caroline alone with Kol and Esther.
It was the tenth day of what should be October, her birthday. Caroline had been born in the morning, so she was officially eighteen now. It made her happy sure, after all she had been really upset on her last birthday, but she was anxious about this afternoon. Esther was certain that her powers would come through, that she would be able to do magic officially.
Kol was almost just as certain, though he thought there was a high chance of her magical age being twenty one instead. The idea didn't sit well with Caroline. If she did have magic, then it would be her only chance of getting home and she had to get home. Before she could get too lost in her head, she felt a warm hand on top her own under the table. Slowly, she lifted her head to look at Niklaus who had a concerned look on his face.
"Are you okay Caroline," he asked her softly.
Caroline flashed him a smile, "Yeah, I'm okay."
Niklaus raised his eyebrows in disbelief, "Are you certain love? It does you no good to be upset on your birthday."
"I'm sad I can't spend it with my friends and family," Caroline admitted, "But I am glad to celebrate with you- and your family. Rebekah insisted that we do something this evening in honor of it."
"Ah yes, she has quite the surprise for you," Niklaus said.
"Do not say another word brother," Rebekah said sharply, causing Caroline to jump, "Not another word."
Niklaus rolled his eyes, "Calm down Bekah. You still have your errands to run in order to get that particular-"
"Hush Niklaus," Rebekah said, her eyes alight with annoyance.
Niklaus grinned innocently at her, but said nothing. His eyes glanced at Caroline to see that amused smile on her face. It made his heart flutter slightly in his chest, a feeling he usually ignored and hated, but coming from her was perfect. There were still hours to go before he could give her, her present, but he was prepared to wait. Of course he was certain she would love it, but his nervousness still seemed to get the best of him at times. All too soon, the meal had ended.
Mikael took his sons, excluding Kol and Henrik, out to the woods to do some more hunting and training. Rumors of invaders nearby meant all the men needed to be prepared, there was a chance his sons would be asked to join in the fight. Mikael wanted Finn and Elijah to go, they were well prepared. It was Niklaus he was concerned for, the boy still had too much weakness in him.
Niklaus told himself he didn't care what his father thought, but he was eager and desperate to prove him wrong. Caroline knew all about it, based on what she had seen and what he had told her. She watched him leave with a weary feeling in her stomach, but she pushed it away as best she could, besides she was anxious enough about her 'lesson' with Kol and Esther. God was she terrified.
If she could perform a spell or light a candle or make something float, then that meant it was true. She had magic. She could find a way home. Caroline wrapped her arms around her stomach as the nerves started to settle in again. Terror stirred in her chest and she knew if she focused on it too much, she would make herself sick. Wordlessly, she cleaned up the area with Esther who thankfully was silent. Rebekah had already left with Henrik for errands which meant it was almost time for Caroline to test out her powers. Once everything was cleaned, Caroline said, "Okay, no time like the present. Let's do this."
Kol grinned at her, "Alright, we'll test it with something simple. What do you think mother? Perhaps a candle stick? Leaves floating? A bit of healing your dried up herbs?"
Esther thought for a moment, "Have a seat you two. We'll try a candle first."
Kol eagerly took his seat at the cleaned table and Caroline joined him a moment or so later. It took a minute of silence before Esther returned with an unlit candle in hand, a soft smile on her face. The older woman could practically feel the nervousness radiating off of Caroline and she wanted to ease the tension. Esther placed the candle in front of Caroline who stared at it uneasily. A brief memory of watching Bonnie light candles flickered in and out of her mind. She wished her friend was here to help her.
"You can look at the candle or close your eyes," Esther informed her, "Whatever feels more comfortable for you."
Caroline frowned, she had no idea which would be better. As bits of fear began to build in her, she decided to close her eyes. Esther spoke to her about what to do, to find this feeling in the dark and bring about the light, but she could barely hear her. The moment Caroline felt what she assumed was the magic in her, she was lost in the feeling.
It felt like jumping into a cold pool on a hot summer day, rush of the air as you fell only to be engulfed by the water. It felt like rushing inside to feel the warmth of a house as opposed to the snow outside, the hot air surrounding you. It was jarring to feel both at once, but she let it consume her for a moment. She pulled herself out quickly, she needed to concentrate to get the candle to light up. With a little focus, she was able to light the candle stick in front of her, but that was not all. The chimney came to life behind Kol, the other unlit candles that Esther could see in the other room lit up together, followed by the torches outside.
Caroline opened her eyes, she looked at the candle first in surprise. She did it! Excitement burst inside her, she actually did it!
Her smile was bright like the fires, "I did it! I lit the candle!"
Kol chuckled, "You more than did it love. Look around."
Caroline made a confused face, but did as he said. Her eyes widened as she noticed the chimney fire, the candles in the other room and the torches outside. A pit formed in her stomach that made her want to sink, though she couldn't deny the adrenaline that made her want to fly. The contradictory sensations were driving her crazy, but she supposed maybe that would get better with the more magic she used. Her eyes watched the dancing flames for a moment longer before she turned her attention elsewhere.
"I did that," Caroline asked as she turned to look back at the mother and son.
Esther smiled at her, Caroline could see the pride in her eyes, "Yes. On your first attempt no less. Now, let's see if you can put them out."
Caroline nodded slowly. She closed her eyes again and searched for the feeling. When she found it, she held onto it relentlessly and this time, she felt each flame go out, one by one. Warmth engulfed her, the cold rushed around her. Her body didn't know whether to start sweating or shiver from the feeling.
"Remarkable," Esther said causing Caroline to open her eyes, "Truly impressive."
"It took me forever to light one measly candle when I first tried, you showing me up already," Kol told her with a frown.
Caroline released a soft laugh, "I have a lot to learn from you."
He winked at her, "Definitely Carolena."
Caroline looked at Esther, but didn't know what to say. The woman had been right, she was a in fact a witch and Caroline didn't know how to feel about that. Sure she was scared and a little thrilled at the idea, but she didn't know how she was supposed to feel. Bitter had been an emotion to flare up inside her. She was bitter that her mom, if she knew, never told her. She was bitter that she died before her eighteenth birthday. Bitter that she would have never unlocked her magic without this fiasco of going to the past. What would her mom say about all this? Did her mom know and decided not to tell her?
Caroline gritted her teeth for a moment as dark spots appeared around her vision and for a moment, she wasn't sitting at the table with Esther or Kol. Caroline was looking at them one moment then she blinked to see she was in her living room and there was her mother. Her mom dressed in regular clothes and not her uniform, her expression was pained. Caroline saw her mouth was moving, she heard her own voice say something back, but it was so distorted and muffled. Before she could focus any longer, the sight faded and she was staring at Esther who was giving her a curious and expectant look. Had she said something?
Caroline blinked, "Uh, sorry I, I lost focus."
"It was a little more than that," Kol remarked, he leaned forward, "Your eyes started sparkling."
"Really," Caroline asked with a frown.
Esther nodded, "Yes. Nothing to worry about though, just your powers are increasing as the lock on you is gone."
Caroline leaned back in her seat, she felt dizzy, "I, Uh is it really that easy? That it just unlocks, no spell or potion I need?"
"No, that would likely interfere with the natural process of your powers being released," Esther explained to her, "Should things get out of hand, I will give you something to help."
Caroline nodded absently. The warm feeling of the magic was warm like the flames she had extinguished and she could feel it's… pulse almost. As if it were alive beside her or in her. It sent a brief shudder through Caroline. The cool feeling clouded her head, goosebumps scattered across her arms.
It will feel all over the place at first, but you have to let it pass. Don't fight it.
Caroline shook her head. That was her mother's voice, it sounded like a memory, but Caroline had no idea when her mom would have told her that.
"Would you like to continue," Esther asked her with a hopeful look.
Caroline nodded, her grin was slow to come, "Yeah, yes. I would like that."
And for the next two hours, that was exactly what she did. Caroline had managed to light and put out candles around the room with ease. It had gotten to the point where she could get the candles to light and unlight themselves in time with her blinking. Esther had brought in several flowers, some dead and some alive. Caroline was able to resurrect the dead flowers and decay the once blooming ones. Getting items to hover had been a little harder for her to get a handle on, but she did it after a couple of tries.
The feeling of magic was a comforting warmth and a gentle cool touch. The more she used it, the stronger those feelings would be. At first she could only feel it on her arms or hands, but now as she sat in the main part of the house, she could feel it in every part of her body. The feeling was intoxicating if she was being honest and she had to constantly remind herself not to let it consume her.
She wasn't sure what would happen if she let herself be carried away by the feelings magic brought up and she didn't want to find out. It could be seriously bad or really good. Until she had better control, she wouldn't push it. Rebekah and Henrik returned as Caroline and Kol put away the candles. All the siblings were aware of their mother's and Kol's magical abilities, however Caroline didn't want to announce it to anyone yet. She still needed some time to process it. Besides, when she told the others of her magic status, she wanted to show them what she could do.
After dinner, Caroline had been given a gift from Rebekah and Niklaus. It was wrapped in cloth, but Caroline eagerly and carefully removed the cloth. The trio was standing outside a little ways from the house, each with a swirl of emotions in them. When the cloth was gone, Caroline grinned at the gift.
"It's from me, not Rebekah," Niklaus told her as Caroline lifted the item from the cloth.
Rebekah hit his arm, "Not true! I was the one who gathered the materials for you."
Caroline held back a laugh as Niklaus and Rebekah bickered over who the gift was from. She held the gift in her fingers, a leather string with a few wooden charms on it. The string was long enough to wrap around her wrist four times and there was plenty of room to add more charms. It was simply and beautiful. Caroline looked at the wooden charms, they were roughly the size of a quarter and the detail on it was unbelievable.
Niklaus was a talented artist and she wondered that if he were born in a different time how popular his work could be. There was a pendant that he had engraved with her name on it. She had quickly learned the alphabet of the land thanks to Rebekah so she was glad to recognize her own name. The next carving was of a bird which made Caroline smirk, of course he would carve her a mini bird despite her already having a figurine of one. The next charm was a sword and shield carving connected to each other.
You can be the sword and I'll be your shield.
"It's amazing. This was the surprise you two were discussing earlier," Caroline asked as she looked between them.
Niklaus shook his head, "This is only part of it."
Caroline smiled at him, "Well I love this part. Thank you, I appreciate it and all you have done for me. Niklaus, will you put it on for me?"
"It would be my honor," Niklaus said with a smile.
Caroline held out her left wrist, he wrapped the bracelet around her wrist delicately. When his fingers brushed her skin, he held back the surprise he felt at the softness of her skin and the warmth that spread through him as his heart began to pound. His blue eyes were focused on her own as he tied the string together so that it wouldn't fall away. Niklaus watched her eyes lit up and her smile was wide. It filled with him with relief and pride to know she really loved his work.
"So tell me," Caroline said bringing her hands together, "What is the second part of the surprise?"
Rebekah smiled nervously, she reached into her bag and pulled out what looked like a leather journal. It immediately reminded her Stefan, she knew he had the same type of journals and wrote him them over the course of his century plus life. A gentle pang went through her chest at the thought of him, she wonder how and the others were doing out there.
"I know you mentioned how you liked to plan things out," Rebekah said as she opened the journal, showing some pages with calendars, dates and note sections, "So I thought perhaps you'd like a journal to keep tabs on everything, the way you described it was a little odd and I wasn't sure if it fit this way, but-"
"You made me a planner," Caroline said in a whisper, her eyes wide.
Rebekah bit her lip, she really hoped her friend liked it. A squeal escaped Caroline, her hands flew to her mouth as she tired to hide her incredibly wide and excited smile. Caroline jumped and threw herself at Rebekah, which made the younger woman laugh. This was definitely a good sign that she had gotten the perfect present.
Rebekah stuck out her tongue at Niklaus before mouthing, 'I win.' There had been a wager on who could give Caroline the best present and Rebekah was certain she would be the winner, so she needed to bask in this moment. Niklaus rolled his eyes at her, but said nothing. He only smiled as Caroline flipped through the pages of the journal, her excitement blinding.
Without warning, she pulled the siblings into a hug and thanked them a hundred times in thirty seconds. These gifts made her top five on the list of best presents. Her birthday had always been a favorite time, the last one when she didn't actually turn eighteen due to vampirism being the exception. Now she was eighteen and she was a witch, a real life witch. That hadn't fully settled into her system, but she wouldn't dwell on that right now. For this moment, this small moment in time, she felt genuinely happy.
"These were perfect," Caroline said as she released them, "I love them so much. Really, thank you guy- both for making me these things."
"It was our pleasure," Niklaus said with a sideways grin.
Caroline's grin was beautiful, Niklaus was certain he had never seen a more beautiful smile. Then, Caroline did something that made him melt away. A feather light kiss to his cheek. The gesture so simple, but it was extravagant to him. He watched Caroline leave then with Rebekah on her arm with what he knew was a silly smile upon his face.