Notes: A teeny bit o' fluff for Klaroline + At The Office day of 25daysofklaroline.

Back Office Intrigue

(Prompt: KC+ "i'm hiring you as a favour to my friend you better be good" au. Rated K+)

There's a knock at his office door and Klaus takes a minute to remind himself he has to be nice – or else he risks Rebekah's wrath – before he calls for his 4 PM interview to enter.

This little meeting is just a formality. The job's hers if she wants it, even if she turns out to be an unbearable moron. Caroline Forbes is the best friend of Rebekah's current (and longest lasting to date) boyfriend Enzo. She was moving to Chicago to get what he'd been told was a belated start on her education and was in need of a job and quickly. She had an apartment lined up but the city wasn't cheap and she'd reached out to Enzo in hopes that he could supply her with a lead or two.

That was where Klaus came in. His bar was always busy and they had an incredibly high turnover of the wait staff. Some people simply couldn't handle the high volume and he had little patience for incompetence.

Serving drinks with a smile wasn't that difficult though you'd never know it from watching some of the bumbling idiots who'd worked behind his bar over the last few years.

From what Klaus had gathered Rebekah hadn't any fondness for Enzo's friend but his little sister was nothing if not keen to look out for her own interests. Enzo was the generous short and, if his best friend happened to remain down on her luck, he'd be quick to offer assistance, perhaps his couch, something Rebekah would loathe.

Her lover's attention split? Enzo not available to immediately cater to her ever whim? The stuff of Rebekah's nightmares.

She'd paid him a visit three days ago, all sugar smiles and faux concern about how busy he was covering shifts since he'd once again had a waitress walk out in tears.

He may have been a bit harsh but, in Klaus' defense, the girl had dropped three trays. She'd not even been through half her shift. She obviously was not cut out for the service industry. Was it really a crime for him to have pointed that out?

Klaus, familiar with Rebekah's tricks, had let her prattle on, only half listening, knowing that she'd eventually wind her way to a point. Eventually she'd casually mentioned that she knew someone, with experience, who was looking for a post immediately and would Klaus perhaps like to meet her?

The holidays were fast approaching, Bekah had said. Things would only get busier.

He'd been instantly suspicious. Rebekah had never shown even an ounce of interest in the more tedious aspects of running the bar. As long as she received service the second she caught a bartenders eye, and they didn't bother her about a silly thing like payment, she didn't care who mixed the drink. A few minutes of back and forth, and Klaus had ascertained exactly how Bekah knew the girl she'd been attempting to foist on him and that she actually didn't know Enzo's friend all that well.

He'd declined at first, mostly to be contrary and also because he'd rather his employees not have any personal connections to his family. His siblings had a tendency to hang around and Klaus was forever kicking Kol out for leering at the waitresses, even those that seemed susceptible to his brother's advances.

Klaus didn't want to deal with any dramatic nonsense once Kol's inevitably wandering gaze shifted away from whatever woman who was in Klaus' employ.

Then Rebekah had played a card she'd been holding on to. He shouldn't have been surprised because blackmail amongst the siblings was far from uncommon. He'd just been a bit taken aback that she cared so much about this particular issue and was willing to bring up The Cabin Fire Incident.

Kol had taken the brunt of the blame for the small fire that had destroyed the porch at the ski cabin Elijah had rented for the holidays three years ago even though he'd swore, repeatedly and emphatically, it wasn't his fault.

In truth it hadn't been but Elijah hadn't taken him seriously. Kol did have a habit of twisting situations to put his actions in the best light, often wouldn't cop to misdeeds. Elijah had insisted Kol cough up the funds to cover the damages. Klaus had been irritated with Kol for one reason or another at the time – a common enough occurrence that he no longer remembered the source – and so had kept quiet about the fire's true source.

Oil paints, liquor and candlelight did not mix well.

Somehow Rebekah had sussed it out, threatened to tell both Elijah and Kol, and Klaus frankly had not been willing to deal with the headache that entailed.

Somehow he doubted they'd be content to leave it in the past. And with various holidays coming up and forced proximity to his family inevitable Klaus had decided to cave to Rebekah's request despite the unfortunate precedent he'd set.

He only hoped it didn't come back to bite him in the future.

Klaus shuffles papers to the side of the desk and glances up as his office door opens. He sees blonde curls first, slightly windblown as she slips into his office.

Klaus is suddenly far clearer on just why Rebekah's distaste for Caroline was evident even if she'd been trying to talk the other woman up. Her boyfriend having a female best friend would have been enough of an affront to Rebekah's sensibilities if the girl had been homely.

Something Caroline Forbes is definitely not.

She offers him a small slightly nervous smile as she stops next to his desk, extending her hand. "Hi. I'm Caroline. Thanks for agreeing to meet with me."

Klaus grasps her hand and stands, "I'm Klaus and it's my pleasure," he tells her, glad that she'll never know it was a complete and utter lie. "How are you finding Chicago, love?" He nods to the armchairs that are meant for guests and waits until she's settled into one before he takes a seat.

Her hands twist in her lap and she lets out a soft laugh, "It's… different. I'm always kinda terrified that I'll get lost but so far so good."

"Rebekah tells me you're from Virginia? Forgive me but the name of the town escapes me. I know that's where you met Enzo."

"I grew up in Mystic Falls. Met Enzo at college, a town a little ways away called Whitmore."

Right, now Klaus is remembering the story. Some of the details had been vague. He tries to phrase his next question delicately, "And now you're going back to school? A second degree or…"

Her smile turns a bit brittle and she shakes her head, "No, I had to drop out. I moved back home to deal with some family stuff. That's where I started bartending. At a restaurant slash bar called The Grille. I tried to commute and go part time for a while but it just didn't work out."

Klaus finds his curiosity piqued though he knows it would be impolite to pry. Perhaps later on, once they were better acquainted.

Caroline sits up straighter in her chair, an air of determination crossing her features, "Anyway, I am totally familiar with mixing drinks. And I know it gets pretty busy here and you might think I can't handle it but The Grille was literally the only place that served alcohol in town and it could get pretty rowdy. It's the south and we take our football seriously so trust me Super Bowl Sunday was nothing to sneeze at. I'm smart and hard-working and I am really efficient."

Klaus does his very best to keep a neutral expression. He finds her little rant oddly charming but thinks that if he laughs she might assume he's patronizing her.

Something tells him she wouldn't appreciate it.

"Well, as luck would have it I'm in a bit of a bind. Can you start tomorrow?"

She blinks, surprise plain across her face. There's a long pause and she's looking at him like he expects him to tell her he'd been joking. Finally, she opens her mouth. "I… can do that," she stutters.

"Lovely. Can you start at 3? We'll get your paperwork sorted right now and tomorrow I'll run you through the basics, where to find things, the register, etc. before things pick up with the post work crowd."

A task Klaus was usually keen to delegate. He wasn't very good at answering the endless questions – often silly or stupid – that new employees seem to have in abundance.

Something about Caroline intrigues him, the bit of steely determination he'd glimpsed, and so he'll make an exception. It may raise a few eyebrows but most of his employees would be unwilling to ask any too pointed questions about it.

She nods enthusiastically, "That's perfect. Thank you so much."

Klaus waves away her gratitude and digs out the file he'd prepared, hands her a pen and the first of many tedious legal forms. He can't be upset about them today, idly planning on working in a few hopefully casual seeming inquiries about Caroline's studies and interests.

He suddenly regrets that he's never been particularly nice to Enzo, knows that any attempts to pump the other man for more information about Caroline will be met with hostility and may very well lead back to her, making things exponentially more difficult for Klaus to get to know Caroline and see if his interest holds.

He rather suspects it will.

Eventually, if things progress, he may even have to do something to set Rebekah off, have her spill the beans to Kol as a method of distraction. If Kol was busy raging about the blame he'd shouldered for the burned porch, the funds he'd been forced to part with, he might not notice Klaus breaking his own rule about fraternizing with employees.