Notes: So updates have been a wee bit scarce from me, due to some pesky writer's block. I've been writing drabbles on Tumblr though, and here's the latest three. Pretty sure they will have have continuations at some point. Enjoy, and I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Take My Body Home

(Dead Like Me inspired AU in which Caroline is a grim reaper. Title from "In My Time of Dyin'" by Bob Dylan. Rated K+.)

Everything has been grey, since Henrik died.

Kol does not laugh, Rebekah does not smile.

Klaus eats, when food is set in front of him, he fetches water, when their supply has run low. He tries not to listen to his mother's soft weeping. He can hear it, though Esther has mostly locked herself away. He ignores the glares of his father, as he always has, though they are blacker and more hateful than ever before.

He knows that he deserves it.

Klaus keeps his head down, as he leaves home, buckets in hand. He does not want to see their friends and neighbors. Does not want to read the pity in their gazes.

Tonight is the full moon, and Klaus dreads the close quarters of the caves, the condolences he will surely be forced to hear, the grace he will have to muster to accept.

Henrik is dead, and it is his fault.

His feet know the path to the wells, the dirt is worn and smooth and poses no danger, so Klaus pays no attention to his surroundings. Until he is jostled, his shoulder colliding with another. The empty bucket drops, Klaus' eyes to fly up, an apology for his clumsiness on his lips.

He never manages to utter it. Golden hair, blue eyes, flushed cheeks. A green dress. Klaus does not know this girl, but she is color and light and it startles him. He averts his gaze from her brightness.

She is the one who apologizes, and crouches to pick up the bucket Klaus had dropped, before he can think to do it himself.

She hands it back to him, and her free hand traces his bare forearm. Awfully forward, for a stranger and Klaus is shocked by the sensation. He feels heat, an itch. But only for a moment, so brief he thinks he has just been listening to Rebekah, and her fanciful notions of romance, far too often.

Love at first sight is an idea for silly girls, and Klaus is a grown man.

Still, he watches her walk away, her steps light and graceful. He wonders about her name, how she had come to this village, when so few outsiders do.

It is the first faint stirring of interest, in anyone or anything, that Klaus has felt in a month.

She is the last thing Klaus expected to see, when he awakens, gasping for breath. She is seated, on the floor of his family home, watching him with curious eyes.

"Something is not right," she says, and her accent is foreign, unlike anything Klaus has ever heard.

His hand flies up to his chest, where a hole should be, as his gaze finds Rebekah, pale and still next to him.

"She is dead," the strange, beautiful girl tells him, "and yet she is not. Like you. Tell me, do you have magic?"

Klaus ignores her, kneels next to Rebekah. Her skin is smooth and unmarred, where the sword had pierced it, though the hole in her dress remains.

"I am supposed to take your souls, and yet I cannot. They remain stubbornly tethered to your bodies. It must be magic. The dark and unnatural kind. Did you do it?"

"Why does she not wake?" Klaus demands, shaking Rebekah.

The girl merely shrugs, "I could not tell you. This is beyond my experience. I suspect she will, eventually. As you did."

She speaks as though Rebekah is inconsequential, as though her death does not matter, and Klaus feels his temper build. Many men would cower from the heated glare he sends her, but not this girl. Her head tips to the side, and her study of him only intensifies, her lips curving, "Oh, yes. You are interesting. But you are not a witch."

"No," Klaus confirms, "my mother is. My brother and sister, but not I."

"Then I suppose it is not you to whom I should direct my anger."

"You don't seem angry."

"I used to be. Now I just read the names, and I go where I am sent."

"Names?" Klaus asks, confused.

"Yours, Niklaus Mikaelson. You sister, Rebekah. Mikael, Finn, Elijah, Kol. Henrik, at the last full moon."

Klaus freezes, for a moment. No one has spoken his brother's name aloud since they had laid him to rest. But then he reaches for her, instinctively, needing to know more. But something is not right, his body feels wrong, unfamiliar, and she uses his momentary befuddlement to her advantage, standing and dancing backwards a few steps. "He was a lovely boy," she tells him, voice soft and eyes sad. "It is always hard when they are so young."

"You took him?" it comes out accusing, guttural and pained.

"It was his time. As is should have been yours."

"Please. Take me to him."

She averts her eyes, and when she looks back at him, the blue is shiny and regretful as she shakes her head.

"Please," Klaus asks again, unable to feel shame at the way he is begging.

"It is impossible, I cannot. I am very sorry."

That is not good enough, for Klaus. He wants answers, will do anything to get them but he senses movement behind him and he whirls. Rebekah arches up from the floor, a groan torn from her throat, eyes wild and searching, "Nik," she chokes out, her hand, stained with dried blood, clutching at her throat.

He goes to Rebekah, lays a soothing hand on her shoulder, and when he turns around, the girl with the blue eyes is gone.

And she'd never even told him her name.

magnets pull me in

(Prompt from klarolineforevermine: kc + Hogwarts AU. "You were injured in a quidditch match and I'm the first one to visit you in the hospital wing when you wake up." Title from "Magician" by Jefferson Starship. Rated K+)

The hospital wing was silent, and dark, beyond the light from the candles Caroline had lit. She was trying to study, mostly failing.

Madame Pomfrey, just a year or two from retirement, and desperately in need of a trainee, had gone to bed an hour or so ago. She'd left Caroline a list of things to watch out for, and instructions to summon her immediately if Klaus' condition worsened. So of course, Caroline's eyes had barely left Klaus, obsessively scanning his face, for signs of distress, and watching his chest, bare save for some bandages over his right side, rise and fall.

She hadn't known about the tattoo, and would never admit to finding the flapping wings, and gentle motion of the feather, fascinating.

Caroline smothered a yawn, rubbed her eyes, before glancing down at the book in her lap. She wished she was snuggled under her own blankets, instead of sitting cross legged on an unoccupied bed, pushed next to the one Klaus laid in. But Caroline had volunteered for this, had no one to blame but herself, and her too soft heart. She'd come to check on Klaus before bed (he was her housemate, and she was Head Girl. She was basically obligated, okay?). She'd found little Rebekah Mikaelson arguing heatedly with Professor Nott. The girl had flat out refused to leave Klaus alone, and a fiercer, more stubborn, twelve year old Caroline had never met. But Rebekah had clearly been exhausted, by the events of the day. She'd been to her first Hogwarts Quidditch match, seen her brother's fall, and had to fight through the shouting crowd to get to his side. Her eyes had still been puffy and red rimmed from the crying she'd done.

Caroline had taken pity, and promised to stay until Klaus woke up, and to get Rebekah immediately if anything went wrong. It had nothing to do with the sneaking suspicion Caroline had that sleep wouldn't come easy for her, that she'd toss and turn with her own worries. The younger girl had looked at Caroline with suspicious blue eyes, but Rebekah had reluctantly left, with a hard stare that promised retribution, should any harm befall her brother on Caroline's watch.

And while Caroline was confident in her ability to fend Rebekah off now, she had no doubt that the girl was capable of putting her vengeance on hold, until her magical capabilities were a match for Caroline's. It was the Slytherin thing to do, and Caroline both understood and respected that.

Caroline's eyes wandered from her book, looking at Klaus critically. He hadn't exhibited any of the warning signs Madame Pomfrey had enumerated, so far seeming okay, just occasionally shifting restlessly. His breathing was normal and he didn't seem to be in any severe pain.

A mean part of Caroline thought he kind of deserved a little pain, for being such a reckless idiot on the pitch today. Hopefully landing on the bottom of a pile made up of a chaser, and a particularly bulky beater, both from Hufflepuff, would teach Klaus a lesson in caution.

Caroline doubted it, truthfully. But maybe a couple of lectures from her, and some quality puppy eyes from Rebekah, would drive the message home. Or maybe Caroline would research some kind of spell. Could you make people bounce? Maybe some sort of charm on the Quidditch gear, to slow the descent when a player was in free fall? There had to be something, and she did have a final project that she was determined would be beyond impressive. Caroline turned to a fresh page, and began to scribble a list of ideas.

Because as annoying as Klaus was, Caroline had nearly had a heart attack today, when she'd seen him fall from his broom. And she had way too many plans and aspirations to be okay with dying at seventeen. Klaus would be getting a big peace of her mind when he woke up. Both for landing in the hospital wing to begin with, and for distracting her from the Ancient Runes homework that was due on Monday.

Klaus stirred once again, drawing Caroline's attention from her notebook. She flicked her wand, shifting the floating candles, so the brightness wouldn't hurt Klaus' eyes if he opened them. A grimace crossed his face, and his eyelashes fluttered, but after a moment he settled back down into sleep. She chanced a quick glance at his arm, laid out on a pillow and immobilized, while the Skele-Gro worked. Bone mending sucked, as Caroline vividly remembered, from the pyramid disaster that had left her with a shattered femur and four broken fingers.

Her mother, who'd had no idea the wizarding world existed, prior to marrying Bill Forbes, didn't quite trust in its healing methods. But the accident had happened in July, and Liz had been unwilling to deal with her energetic thirteen year old daughter being housebound for two months, as recovery by muggle means would have required. A floo call to her father, a trip to the wizarding hospital in D.C., and Caroline had been as good as new the next day.

And she'd taken home three cheer camp trophies that summer, of course.

God, imagine if Klaus had to wait months to use his arm? She can only imagine how cranky he'd be. Klaus wasn't the most even tempered guy to begin with, and he frequently scared the younger students, if they dared to speak with him before 10 AM, off with sharp words and vicious glares.

Totally not cool for a prefect, in Caroline's opinion. Which she'd shared with Klaus. Repeatedly.

It was probably something of a blessing he was sleeping through the worst of the bone regrowing. Caroline's sure Klaus would reach new levels of insufferable, tied down and in pain. He'd say something rude, and she'd respond. She was completely incapable of not responding, when Klaus began picking at her. He knew exactly what buttons to push, and delighted in poking and prodding until she had to walk away, or risk a little accidental magic.

And Caroline knew she was too old for that kind of loss of control, but he just made her so mad. And it would totally serve Klaus right to end up bald or covered in fuchsia boils if she snapped.

Perhaps his pack of fawning admirers would thin if he wasn't so pretty.

Klaus made a noise, and the fingers on his mending arm twitched. A good sign, according to Madame Pomfrey, and Caroline felt her anxiety lift.

Caroline bit her lip, and put her hand on Klaus' good arm, pressing her fingertips to the pulse there, comforted by how strong and steady it was, how warm his skin felt. He'd probably tease her endlessly, if he saw her fretting over him. Probably make some lame innuendo about all the ways she could make his pulse race.

She was only worried about her grades, Caroline told herself. They had a transfiguration project to finish, after all, and Klaus might be full of himself, but he was smart, and actually did his fair share of the work, unlike numerous other people she'd been forced to do group projects. Plus it was her job to worry about her fellow students. Totally in the Head Girl job description. All excellent reasons for her concern.

That possibly didn't explain why she kept touching him, but then no one else was here to know that, were they?

It was just a little unnerving to see Klaus like this, pale and bruised and silent. That's why she was finding it difficult to focus on anything else for very long. As often as Caroline storms off from their near daily arguments, cursing Klaus' inability to just shut up, for once in his life, she sort of wishes he'd open his eyes and say something. One of his stupid pet names, a comment about her excessive use of adverbs, a jab at her addiction to Chocoballs (and really, who was he kidding? Caroline wasn't blind to the way he watched her lick escaped strawberry mousse and clotted cream from her fingertips).

But Caroline firmly believed that the whole 'boys are mean because they like you' thing should not be rewarded. Whether the lusty eyes meant Klaus was into her body, or if he was actually interested in her, (and she occasionally caught him glancing at her semi-adoringly, so it was possible) Caroline wasn't going to be swayed by his pigtail pulling BS. Sure, she occasionally found herself genuinely amused by him, and she maybe found his relationship with Rebekah cute as hell. And yeah, he was super easy on the eyes. So were a lot of people.

Caroline shook her head, and threw herself down on the bed, tearing her eyes from Klaus. None of the entries on the 'pro' list meant anything if she couldn't have a decent conversation (aka not a fight, however flirty their fights sometimes got) with Klaus, once in a while.

If, and it was a big if, Klaus could ever manage to approach her in a non-antagonistic way, Caroline would maybe consider the tangled ball of complicated feelings he inspired. But as of right now, she wasn't sure it would be worth the effort.

Turning her head, to watch Klaus once again (because it was technically her job, while she was here), Caroline stretched her legs out, and absently noted how comfortable the bed was.

She closed her eyes, intending just to rest them, for a moment. Or two.

Or several, as it turned out, when Caroline was jolted awake by a stream of curse words, coming from about two feet to her left.

The candles had burnt down considerably, and she sat up, letting out an, "Oh, shit!" of her own.

Klaus was struggling, half on his side, his free arm clawing at the bindings on his injured one. Caroline hopped out of bed, and put her hand on his chest, shoving him (and oops, she should probably have been a little more gentle, but there was a reason she had no interest in being a mediwitch) onto his back once more.

"Stay still," she told him sternly, "you're not supposed to get out of bed yet."

Klaus blinked up at her, "Caroline?"

"Um, yeah? Good to know you don't have amnesia, I guess."

"What are you doing here?" he asked, confused, body tense under her hand. "What am I doing here? Is this the hospital wing? Are you hurt?"

"Hmm. Possible brain damage," Caroline noted aloud and Klaus' eyes narrowed dangerously. Some people might cower, from the heated look, but Caroline was kind of glad. Grumpy Klaus she could deal with, adorably bewildered, but somehow concerned for her welfare Klaus freaked her out.

"My brain is fine. Just a bit muddled, is all. The last thing I remember was putting on my Quidditch pads."

"That's because you fell off of your broom, and hit the ground, and then two people fell on you. Good news: you broke their fall and no Hufflepuffs were injured. Bad news: you ended up a super gross pancake and the bones in your arm basically turned to powder. Good news: you should be mostly fine by morning."

Klaus glanced down at his arm, flexed his fingers and let out a pained little grunt, "Mostly?"

"Yep. They don't tell you, but you'll be pretty stiff for a week or two. Or at least I was. Made doing hurdlers a bitch. Try to weasel a muscle relaxant out of Madame Pomfrey. I had to use Tylenol and it didn't work so well."

"What's that?"

"Muggle pill," Caroline explained, assuming he meant 'Tylenol.' Because she so wasn't up for explain cheerleading right now. "Used for aches and pains and headaches. Not as effective as magic remedies, but no gross taste to deal with either."

"Oh," Klaus glanced down at her hand, which was still resting on his chest. On the skin, and had she ever touched him like that before? Caroline didn't think so.

She snatched her hand back, taking a step away, feeling a blush crawl across her face, "Oops. Sorry. But try not to move so much."

She braced herself for Klaus' usual teasing, was pleasantly surprised when he let it slide, "I'll try. Where is Madame Pomfrey?"

"Bed."

Klaus raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing around the corner of his mouth, "And you volunteered to nurse me back to health? I knew you liked me, love."

Caroline rolled her eyes, "Please. Don't flatter yourself. I'm just a nice person, even if some people don't deserve it. Madame Pomfrey's too old to be staying up babysitting boys who can't stay on their brooms, and your poor sister's too young. She wouldn't leave you alone, though."

The smug look dropped off his face, and Klaus winced, "Bekah saw me fall? Was she very upset?"

"At first? Yeah. Kol found her pretty quick, distracted her. She was better once she knew it was just some broken bones."

"I'm pretty sure I'll have quite the list of things to purchase, as penance, next Hogsmeade weekend."

Caroline let out a soft laugh, "That sounds about right."

"Would you like to accompany me?"

It was Caroline's turn to be bewildered, and her mouth opened and closed a few times. Did Klaus just ask her out? All casual like? Was it the concussion, maybe? "Um, what? That's like a month away, Klaus. Your arm will be fine by then."

"I'm aware of that, Caroline. Perhaps I just desire your company? Surely you've noted my interest."

"Of course I have, I'm not an idiot,"

"Then why the skepticism?"

"Because you've seemed pretty committed to the whole annoying me to death thing."

"And that's gotten me nowhere, though you're particularly lovely when you're angry."

"I'm way too smart to be seduced by you," Caroline told him, pinning him with an unimpressed look.

Klaus smiled, open and almost shy, "That's why I like you."

Caroline sat back on the bed, and picked up her book. She fought a smile, when Klaus cleared his throat, a few minutes later, "So was that a no, then?"

"It wasn't a no," she told him, idly flipping a page. "But it wasn't a yes."

"So…" Klaus drew the syllable out, sounding apprehensive, "It was a maybe?"

"It was a 'try being nice, though I know that's a strain for you, and then ask me again.' And then we'll see."

Caroline snuck a peek at him, found him nodding to himself, a determined expression on his face, "Challenge accepted, love," Klaus voice dropped, to nearly a purr, "I'm sure you'll find I can be very nice."

Caroline refused to react to the promise in his tone, but her pulse sped, just a little.

oh how strange

(Prompt from an anon: Would you do a werewolf! puppy Klaus AU? Where Klaus is spelled into turning into a cute werewolf puppy and Caroline has to take care of him and search for a witch to undo the spell. Title from "Strange" by Patsy Cline. Rated T.)

Caroline Forbes was well versed in weird, had experienced all sorts of abnormal, in the years since she'd learned that impossible things, monsters and magic, were real and all around her.

So when Enzo walked into her apartment, with a body slung over his shoulder, and a struggling bundle of fur under his opposite arm, she wasn't immediately alarmed. Caroline just sort of hoped he hadn't run into the building manager, because she'd hate to have to compel him. Again.

She studied Enzo, and he didn't seem anxious or scared, so Caroline was pretty sure that she wouldn't be needing to call the cavalry. She'd long since given up trying to predict what Enzo would get up to, on any given day, so this was only like a level yellow on the weirdness scale. Besides, if there was no blood, it probably wasn't an emergency. Caroline glanced at the squirming animal, a sandy colored puppy, that was frantically trying to escape Enzo's hold, but decided that the body was probably the more pressing issue.

She put down her magazine, and stood up from the couch, raising her eyebrows expectantly.

"Hello, Gorgeous," Enzo greeted her, with a nod, before flinging the body onto the cushions, unconcerned when the guy's legs dangled over the arm. He used his newly free hand to hold the puppy, who'd begun barking, more securely. "Found that one loitering around your building, all suspicious like. He's a vampire, but young enough that I took him out with no trouble. D'you know him?"

Leaning forward, Caroline peered at the face for a few moments, but he was not the least bit recognizable to her. She stepped back, shaking her head, "Nope. Never seen him before. And geez, Enzo, you can't just go around snapping necks. Maybe he was just checking out a vacant apartment."

Enzo scoffed, "Doubtful. There was definite sinister lingering happening. What about this guy?" Enzo hoisted the puppy to eye level, by the scruff of its neck. "Look familiar?"

The poor thing struggled, its little legs flailing as it whined. Caroline didn't know a whole lot about pets, but she reached for it automatically, scolding, "Don't be mean, Enzo!" before pulling the animal to her chest and stroking its back as it nosed at her neck, "Never seen the puppy either." She waited for a few moments than, thinking it must be sufficiently recovered from Enzo's manhandling, put the puppy on the floor before kneeling down and petting its head. It leaned happily into her touch, "What kind of dog do you think it is? And is it a boy or a girl?"

"I'm no expert but I think it's probably just a mutt with some shepherd in it. And the other thing's easy enough to check." Enzo crouched down and the puppy turned its head and growled, edging away. But Enzo ignored the warning, and to be fair it was more cute than threatening, and reached out. The puppy snapped at Enzo's hand, when it neared, and darted around Caroline, pressing against her side.

She felt a laugh bubble up, "Looks like someone's a little shy."

Before Enzo could try again a phone began ringing, coming from somewhere on their temporarily dead visitor. Both Caroline and Enzo's heads twisted in that direction. "Um, should we get that?" Caroline asked.

"Might as well," Enzo replied. He tugged the stranger over enough to dig through his jacket pocket. He showed Caroline the screen, but no name was displayed. Caroline recognized the area code though, and a small alarm sounded in her brain. Surely it couldn't mean anything that a strange vampire had shown up, and was fielding calls from New Orleans?

Her little bout of denial was incredibly short lived, once Enzo answered the phone, and a very familiar voice blared out of the tiny speaker. Caroline closed her eyes in resignation, "Josh, are you there yet? I swear, if you've mucked this up I will happily spend decades upon decades, slowly unfurling your insides, in the most painful ways imaginable."

The puppy let out a series of sharp barks, and pawed at Caroline's hip.

"I do like a woman who's creative," Enzo murmured in reply, and Caroline rolled her eyes at the blatant flirtatiousness of it, "but your friend, Josh was it? Is a bit indisposed. May I take a message?"

"Who is this?" the tone had changed, from annoyed to menacing and Caroline winced. Enzo, of course, was unfazed, since he had only a passing knowledge of Rebekah Mikaelson, and the reasons why you didn't want to get on her bad side.

"Now that's rather rude," Enzo reprimanded, "after all, you called me. I do believe that you should be the one making introductions."

"Listen to me very carefully, you cretin, if you…"

Caroline held out her hand, "Give me the phone, Enzo."

"You know this charming creature? And you've never introduced me? And here I thought we were pals."

Rebekah made a disgusted noise, "I see your taste in company has not improved in the slightest, Caroline."

Caroline waited until Enzo passed her the phone, standing up and walking to the other side of the room, and bringing it to her ear, the puppy hot on her heels, "Rebekah. I'd say it's been too long, but really it hasn't been nearly long enough."

"Trust me, Caroline. I completely agree. But, since Nik's not exactly great at making friends, we had very few options, when he got himself into this mess."

Caroline's heart began to thud, as the uneasiness she'd started to feel, upon hearing Rebekah's voice grew. "What mess?" she demanded, "he's not…" she trailed off, taking a deep breath. He obviously couldn't be dead, since Rebekah sounded more put out than devastated, and Caroline herself was still among the living. And, as Klaus had once delighted in telling her, he was the most powerful creature on earth. How bad could things really be?

"Did Josh not explain things to you? Honestly, good help is so hard to find these days."

"Josh is the semi-cute vamp with dark hair? Yeah, he didn't really get a chance to say much. Enzo's a wee bit paranoid, so your minion got his neck snapped for lurking around my building."

"Ugh," Rebekah grumbled, "and I told him to be discrete, too. Well, I'll sum things up for you. Nik pissed off some witches. Not an unusual occurrence, mind. But one in particular managed to weave a tricky little spell, leaving him vulnerable, and then things got a tad heated and she ended up dead. Kol's fault, really. We've not had a lot of luck in reversing it, and the peasants do get uppity when they think the throne is weak. So we had to get Nik out of the city."

"Wait, Klaus is here? Where? And what's the spell?"

Rebekah sighed, deep and long suffering, "Oh, Caroline do use your brain."

Caroline glanced up at the ceiling, unwilling to admit that she had no idea what Rebekah was talking about. Her attention was drawn down, caught by the little paws scratching at the denim that covered her legs. The puppy was gazing up at her, eyes big and blue and strangely… knowing.

And now that she thought about it, that particular shade of blue, was really familiar.

Caroline bit her lip, fighting the urge to laugh, because the thought was completely nuts. It was batshit insane, to even consider that Klaus was currently in her living room, as an adorable ball of puppy shaped fluff, standing no more than twelve inches tall.

But then again, was it really all that much weirder than the whole prison dimension thing? If a coven of witches could make a copy of the entire freaking world, and everything in it, was it so unfathomable that one witch could turn the original hybrid into a puppy?

Not really, in Caroline's opinion.

She looked over at Enzo, who was watching her curiously. Caroline hesitated for a moment, because what she was about to do could very well make her seem like the biggest idiot on the planet. Enzo might be the least judgemental friend she had, but he'd mercilessly mock her, for trying to carry on a conversation with a dog, if it turned out that she had, in fact, lost her mind.

"Hold on a second, Rebekah," Caroline murmured into the phone, tucking it between her ear and shoulder, and bending to scoop the puppy up. It didn't try to escape, like it had with Enzo, and she carried it over to the table, setting it down on top, and pulling up a chair.

Because this was definitely a conversation one needed to sit down for.

The puppy sat, and its tail thumped against the table top. Enzo ambled over, and the puppy's eyes tracked his movements warily, "What's going on, Caroline?"

"I know Damon told you about The Originals, right?"

"Your hybrid, his evil sister, etc?"

"Yeah," Caroline shook the phone, "you just met the evil sister, sort of. And I think…" God, was she really going to say this out loud?

"You think…" Enzo prompted, and they both ignored the sound of Rebekah's complaints about being ignored, and how anything Damon Salvatore had to say about her was utter nonsense.

"I think this is Klaus," Caroline said, with a nod at the animal on her table. It came out in a rush, the words barely separated. But Enzo heard her and the puppy reacted too, barking excitedly, body wriggling, feet sliding on the polished wood.

But Enzo let out an abrupt laugh, "The big bad hybrid is a puppy? I'm all aquiver," he reached out, to touch the puppy (Klaus? Should she start thinking of it as Klaus? That was going to take some getting used to) but once again, the puppy bared its teeth, snapping and nearly catching Enzo's fingers.

Caroline slapped Enzo's hand away, "Hey! Careful. If I'm not totally looney toons here than those sharp little teeth are your one way ticket to a painful death." Turning to the puppy, she pointed a finger at it sternly, "And you. No biting Enzo. Or any of my friends. Or anyone in general. I mean it."

The puppy huffed, and sat down on its haunches, petulant as can be, and Caroline was certain it had totally understood her, and she felt a little more confident in her wild theory.

Taking a deep breath, Caroline grabbed the phone again, "Rebekah, please tell me that this is a joke. That you've gotten super bored, and decided on a new way to torment me. Tell me that you didn't actually send me Klaus the werewolf puppy."

"Fraid not, darling. You've got to give the witch credit for style, hmm? Kol's headed off to search out some contacts in South America. Elijah and I have our hands full here. The list of people Nik trusted to mind him, and not attempt to kill him, was pitifully short, and you were right at the top."

Klaus glanced away, seemingly finding his paws fascinating.

"I…" Caroline had no idea what to say to that.

Luckily, Rebekah wasn't really the fuzzy emotions type, and got straight to the threatening, "Now, Nik may trust you, at least as much as he's capable. But I do not. You will protect him with your life, Caroline. You, and your little friend, will not tell a soul about his predicament. I will be most displeased, should something happen to Nik. And my displeasure will mean the slow, agonizing death of you and everyone you love. Do we have an understanding?"

Caroline swallowed heavily, and glanced at Enzo, who was looking impressed, "I think your forgetting the part where if Klaus dies, I die, Rebekah. But I hear you, loud and clear."

"Excellent," Rebekah drawled, sounding satisfied. "Now, Josh has the keys to one of Nik's vehicles, and a credit card. The phone you're holding has the location of a few witches programmed in. They're related to the pesky little wretch that cursed my brother. I need you to track them down."

"Whoa. Dog sitting is one thing, but now you expect me to hunt down and interrogate witches?"

"Oh please, Caroline. Don't pretend you don't enjoy Nik's usual form. Something kept him occupied, for hours and hours, last time we were in Mystic Falls. I'm quite sure it wasn't the scenery."

Caroline was just about to utter a protest but was stopped by Klaus, still sitting patiently on the table, shooting her literal puppy eyes, and damn it that just wasn't fair. "Ugh, fine. I'll help. But you better believe I am abusing that credit card," Caroline warned, mostly to cover how easily she'd caved.

Klaus barked once, and Caroline didn't know if that was a 'go ahead' or a 'don't you dare.' She would bet on the former, given Klaus' penchant for lavish gifts.

"Enjoy yourself, by all means," Rebekah said condescendingly, "but focus on the task. I'll touch base with you tomorrow."

Rebekah hung up, without waiting for a reply. "Awesome," Caroline muttered, "great talk." She regarded the puppy, Klaus, warily for a few moments, before she slumped back into her seat with a groan. "What even is my life?"

Enzo patted her on the shoulder, and sat down, "Never dull, at least." He addressed Klaus, sounding remarkably normal, but then Enzo was pretty great at dealing with curveballs, "I'm Enzo. Heard a lot about you, mate. Sorry I tried to check under the hood. No hard feelings, alright?"

Caroline snorted at that, a tiny, hysterical giggle coming out. She slapped a hand over her mouth, "Sorry, I'm sorry," she apologized, when both Enzo and Klaus gave her funny looks. But the urge to laugh only grew stronger at the affronted expression painted on Klaus' puppy face. Caroline gave in, letting her head fall onto the table, as her whole body shook in amusement. Klaus laid down on the table, resting his head on his paws, managing to project an air of annoyed patience as he waited for her to calm down.

She did, eventually, wiping her eyes, and clearing her throat. "Okay. So to recap: Klaus is a puppy, and I have a mission, that I must accomplish, under threats of death and dismemberment."

"Sounds about right, Gorgeous."

Caroline nodded once, resolutely, "Grab me a notebook, Enzo. I'm going to need to make a list."