Happy Tuesday! Thank you so much to honestgrins and klarolinedrabbles for beta work and to arrenemris for the gorgeous cover. Hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter I: Devils Roll the Dice
Caroline had been trained her whole life to lock up all of her emotions and then carry them to her grave, but she'd never been very good at it. Staring at her unconscious father lying on the hospital bed in St. Mungo's was not conducive to improving the skill. She looked up when she heard the door to the private room open, seeing Healer Fell walk in. The healer gave her a sympathetic look before she sat down on a stool by the ticking magical instrument hooked up to Bill's bed, the squeaky fabric of the stool making a sound that made Caroline's hair stand on end. She noticed that the stack of parchment in Healer Fell's hands was much too thick for just a few notes on what potions to force feed him when they got home, and Caroline felt her heart sink to her stomach.
Caroline just stared, waiting for Healer Fell to spit it out already, knowing that if she tried to talk she'd just cry.
"It seems that your father has been a victim of some sort of poison," Healer Fell began, her tone gentle. "A rare one. We're not quite sure which one yet, but Healer Gilbert, the poison specialist from Winikus Hospital in Salem, will portkey to London within the hour to take a look."
"Thanks," Caroline whispered, swallowing audibly before she continued, trying her best to keep the emotion from her voice. "Is there anything else you can tell me?"
"We don't know anything for sure," Healer Fell cautioned, waiting for Caroline's nod that she understood before she continued. "His lungs seem to have collapsed, but you got him here fast enough that we can keep him breathing with magic. We're wary of giving him any potions just yet because we're not sure if the poison he's fed would react badly with them. The fairly nasty ones tend to be brewed specifically so that if they are tried to be cured by regular healing potions the symptoms will worsen."
"Okay."
"As long as he keeps reacting well to the charm, we should be able to keep him stable for another week at minimum. I know it looks scary, but there's no need to fear the worst for now. All right?"
"Okay. Thanks."
Healer Fell gave her a small smile in what was probably an attempt to make her feel better. It didn't. "Your father is in good hands, Ms. Forbes. I promise."
He'd better be. They paid the hospital enough galleons to buy a box at the world cup.
"Thanks."
"We need you to sign these," Healer Fell said, handing Caroline the stack of parchment. "Because he's a muggle, your father's partner can't consent to any possible emergency magical procedures on his behalf, so you're responsible for that."
Caroline nodded slowly, looking through the stack. Healer Fell seemed to grow more annoyed as the minutes ticked by, Caroline reading every section carefully before initialing or signing the designated lines.
"It's really just a simple consent form," Healer Fell said impatiently after a few minutes, stiffening when Caroline looked up at her, her eyebrows raised.
"You don't have to stay while I read it," Caroline pointed out, keeping her tone as pleasant as possible. "I'm sure you have other patients you can see."
"I'm happy to wait."
Caroline returned to her work, resisting the urge to go through it even more slowly to be petty. With Bill out of commission, Caroline was the de facto head of the family, and with it the head of the business, at least temporarily. Moving too quickly through paperwork could leave her open to someone slipping a magical contract into it without her noticing, and once those had been signed it was impossible to revoke consent, whether the signer had the intent to agree or not. She couldn't take the chance that someone saw an opportunity to hoodwink the grieving only child of a rich, slightly shady business owner and attempted to take it.
When she was finally done, she handed the stack back to Healer Fell with the provided quill. "Anything else?" Caroline asked, already picking up her purse and putting it over one shoulder, intending to go get a snack and catch up on some work before she came back to keep watch.
"Not for now. We'll be in touch."
Caroline motioned for Healer Fell to exit first before following her out the door. She nodded at the two security guards that immediately moved to block the entrance to her father's hospital room, their wands already drawn, scanning for threats. "I'm going to go get something to eat. Do you want anything?"
"I'm happy to get it while you stay with your father, gorgeous."
"Seriously, it's fine. I need the walk."
Enzo seemed to want to argue, but thought better of it. He nodded, giving her a small smile. "In that case, I'd take some coffee. Rosza?"
"Same," Josh said, giving Caroline an easy smile before his face turned serious at the hitch in her breath. "The boss is going to be fine, Care. He's had worse happen."
"But what if all the worses add up?" she choked out, turning to face them, shielding her face from the only entrance to the hallway of the private ward so that any intruders wouldn't see her cry. "What if this is it?"
She could tell that Josh was about to reassure her that everything would be fine, but Enzo shook his head, cutting in before he could get the words out. "Then you'll be a brilliant company head. You've been preparing your whole life for this, Caroline. You've been shadowing him for years, and the whole family loves you. You know everything about the finances and the..." he lowered his voice, "you know."
She smiled in spite of herself. "Enzo! You can't talk about that in public!"
"See, gorgeous? Already enforcing the rules. You sure you don't want me or Rosza to get the food?"
"I'm sure."
"All right. I'll send a patronus to Salvatore to have him meet you at the entrance."
"Okay."
She took a shaky breath, about to turn around to leave when Josh reached to lay a gentle hand on her shoulder, giving her a comforting smile. "You're going to be okay, Caroline. No matter what happens. And we'll be with you the whole time."
She nodded, forcing a smile, her heart constricting in her chest. "Thanks."
When Stefan dropped her back off at the entrance to the ward a half an hour later, a tray of coffee and sandwiches floating behind her, she was in a slightly better mood. It persisted through most of the afternoon as she made mobile floo calls to the staff as she paced up and down the hallway and went through her paperwork at her father's bedside, only pausing to greet Healer Gilbert and watch him take some blood and administer an antidote minutes later. It faded when Healer Gilbert returned with the results of her father's post-antidote blood tests an hour or two later, the jovial face she'd remembered from her childhood playdates with his daughter Elena pulled into a deep frown.
"Is something wrong?"
He didn't look like he wanted to share whatever news he had, and she braced for the worst when he sat down, giving her a grim smile. "The majority of my news you won't want to hear, but I'll start with telling you that he'll live."
Caroline felt relief overtake her whole body, and she nearly burst into tears on the spot. only pulling herself out of her internal celebration when Healer Gilbert continued with, "For now."
"For now?"
He sighed. "As I understand it, you got him here as soon as you recognized symptoms. Is that correct? From what I remember, I doubt he was an easy person to herd into the fireplace."
Caroline snorted. "He was not."
"Well, you can tell him that you did the right thing. Even if he'd waited to come in until the morning he would have only made it the month. The antidote rapidly loses its potency after forty-eight hours from ingestion from the original poison. He has about a year now. Give or take a few months. It'll be hard to tell until his symptoms worsen."
"A year?" Caroline repeated.
Healer Gilbert nodded. "We can regrow the lungs easily, but the poison's done irreversible damage to the windpipe, and it will become difficult for him to survive without a breathing machine within a few months. After a year, it's likely that the breathing machine will become less effective, and he'll be in a lot of pain."
"Oh," Caroline breathed. She didn't know how else to respond or what to say, her eyes filling with tears. "I...okay."
"I'll let Healer Fell know the details, and she can see him for checkups monthly, or weekly if you prefer. She was one of my favorite residents at Salem. Your father will be in-"
"In good hands. I know," Caroline said hollowly.
"I'm so sorry, Caroline."
"Thanks. Me too."
XXX
Caroline tried not to groan when she saw her father's patronus bound into the room, the silvery bloodhound jumping up on to her desk and sitting down, looking at her expectantly as it waited for her to pay attention so it could deliver its message.
He'd gotten out of the hospital the week before and after getting an earful from her about not walking around too much when she'd found him trying to go up the spiral staircase without magic, he'd begun to send a patronus to call her. She tried not to grumble about it too much, knowing he was just following her directions and that she only had a year left with him. She didn't want to take a single moment for granted.
"What?"
"Please come to my office when you have a moment. It's important," the dog said in her father's voice before disappearing into thin air.
She frowned. Her father usually didn't shy away from giving her a specific reason for asking her over unless he thought she was in a meeting. It made her nervous. What if he was going to tell her something she didn't want to hear? Was he getting worse? Had he gotten hurt?
She made her way across the mansion to her father's private wing, peeking in to make sure that he was alone before entering, closing the door behind her. "You wanted to see me?"
"Sit down," Bill said, waving to the chair in front of his desk and turning around to open the liquor cabinet behind him. Exasperation surged inside of her when she saw that all the liquor she'd managed to steal and throw out when he'd been on his work trip had been replaced.
"Dad, the healer told you that you can't-"
"It's a special occasion," he said impatiently, waving off her protests and pouring them both a glass. His excuse made her wary, and she didn't touch the bourbon when he set it in front of her.
"What's the occasion?"
"Your engagement," he said, clearly much too pleased with himself.
"My what?"
"You were in the same house as Klaus Mikaelson, weren't you? He was a year ahead of you at Hogwarts. Head Boy as well, if I remember rightly?"
"You remember right," Caroline said slowly, knowing that her father knew perfectly well that she'd remember that and already dreading what she was sure would be the next part of the conversation. He'd stopped talking about her getting married after the...thing with Lucien for a few years, but he'd been after her to find a partner since she'd graduated. Both of them knew she needed one to cement their control over the business, but Bill was in more of a hurry. Now that Bill was dying and her cousin Camille had married and was pregnant, they were on an even faster timetable. If Caroline didn't have an heir to take over soon, Camille could easily make the argument that her baby should inherit the title, the wealth, and the company, and that was a risk that Caroline and her father were united in not wanting to take.
The Forbes family officially made their fortune by managing a few businesses, mostly apothecaries and other more specialty stores in the various magical neighborhoods, but they didn't shy away from dipping their hands in a few less traditional sectors of magical commerce. If you needed a potions ingredient that was dubiously legal, or a dark object that was hard to track down, the black market in Knockturn Alley was the place to go, and those black markets, after being funneled through a few shell companies and various off-shore accounts, all led back to the Forbes family.
Camille had her strengths. She was kind, good with people, and she knew how to read a room. But Caroline refused to have her family legacy put in the greedy hands of Camille's husband, who she was sure would run the empire into the ground. Her family had worked for centuries to build up the power and influence they had, and Damon Salvatore could easily burn it all down with a single impulsive order.
She was hoping to find someone herself, but she wasn't surprised that Bill had gone ahead of her to take care of it. They were similar people, both tending to get impatient when they perceived someone else to be moving too slowly to reach a goal they considered important. She wasn't exactly happy with the choice, but Klaus was, on paper, an excellent candidate.
Other than the fact that he was, like, a murderer.
"I went to him with a proposition," Bill said with a grin, his manner telling Caroline that he expected her to be excited, that he thought she'd be happy. "I've had my eye on him for you since you were teenagers. You've always told me about his talent for making friends wherever he goes. I think he'd be a good match for you."
Caroline resisted the urge to laugh. Klaus didn't have friends. He had followers. And he was ridiculously charming, even under an immense amount of pressure. Unfortunately, that was what they desperately needed. Caroline had been raised to schmooze, but she'd managed to convince her father to give her a leading position in the company after graduation, and now she basically ran it under Bill's supervision. She was too busy to go to events anymore, but they occasionally got in hot water no matter how careful they were to keep their more...creative endeavors under the radar. Having someone to attend fundraisers and keep up connections with the people in power who could make things disappear when necessary was important. As much as Caroline liked people and throwing parties, she was too busy to keep up with everyone she needed to, and keeping herself in check when faced with the upper echelons of pureblood society was exhausting.
She knew it wasn't polite to call people bigots to their face, but someday she would, if she wasn't careful.
Klaus definitely had a temper, but she'd never seen him lose it when it wasn't advantageous to him to do so. He was much better at keeping a lid on his snappy retorts than she was, much more strategic in how and when he cut people down.
So yeah, great on paper, but unfortunately he was also a total sociopath. It was rude to armchair diagnose people, but she'd make an exception for him.
"I thought he was dating Aurora de Martel?" Caroline asked, reaching to take a sip of her bourbon, now thankful for the alcohol. It had been a little bit of a relief when she'd heard that he'd moved on to someone else with similar influence, but maybe he'd just been biding his time.
Bill smiled slightly. "Haven't you heard? Her father had to step down from the board of Cleansweep due to a...financial issue. It was anonymously reported to the authorities, but apparently their intel wasn't wrong."
Caroline wasn't surprised. Bill's spies-soon to be her spies-rarely were mistaken, though she had no doubt it took a considerable amount of political capital to actually get the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to investigate at all. Bill must really be serious about this.
"And Klaus broke up with her?"
"From the grapevine, I heard it was mutual."
Caroline sincerely doubted that.
"That's too bad," Caroline said blandly, her fingernails clicking on the desktop as she fidgeted. It would be stupid not to be scared about getting married to Klaus, but if she could get a guarantee on her safety, there was no better choice. She was a good enough strategist to recognize that, and if she wanted to keep their legacy out of Damon's Salvatore's dirty paws, she was happy to let pretty much anyone shove a ring on her finger, even him. It's not like she had to like him, or anything. She didn't even have to talk to him unless they were in public. Caroline had barely been in her bassinet for an hour when her parents had moved to separate wings of the house, and they'd communicated primarily through assistants for most of Caroline's young life, up until they signed the divorce papers the day after Caroline came of age. "So, I'm assuming that you need my signature on a few things?"
"That's right," Bill said, pulling a folder out of his desk and sliding it to her. "He's coming over to sign everything tomorrow afternoon, so let me know if there are any changes you want to make by evening so that I can owl it over for his review. Sound good?"
"Yep! I'll probably want to add an unbreakable vow for protection from inflicting harm," Caroline said absently, already flipping through the documents.
"Do you think you need one?" Bill asked cautiously, and Caroline looked up at his tone, wincing at the look of concern on his face.
"I'd like one."
"Do you think he's dangerous?" Bill pressed, reaching out as though he wanted to pull the contract away from her, but she held fast.
"Just better safe than sorry," she said, shoving the folder into her briefcase, hoping she didn't sound like she was dodging the question. "I'll be fine. I promise."
She was not letting her family company fall into Damon's hands, even if she had to make an heir or two with someone who was clearly incredibly dangerous. Luckily, Klaus definitely wanted the power her family brought and he wasn't stupid enough to kill her for it, even if he almost certainly could have gotten away with it. He needed her alive to keep Camille from being able to stake her claim.
"If you're sure," Bill said slowly, and Caroline shot him a reassuring smile.
"Totally sure, Dad. I'll bring them back in a few hours, okay?"
"And then I'll see you for dinner?" he asked hopefully, beginning to push himself out of his chair to walk her to the door.
"Don't get up!" she scolded. "Merlin, it's like you're trying to die."
"I can walk, Caroline," he said, waving her off as he clambered to his feet, grabbing his cane and waving his wand to have his breathing machine trail behind him as he limped his way towards her. "Don't worry about me."
She kissed him on the cheek as she left, sighing as he closed the door behind her and running a hand through her hair before making her way back to her office on the other side of the mansion.
She began to pore over the paperwork as soon as she got back in her desk chair, writing up a copy of a protection clause and sending it off to her father, getting a response an hour later that it had been sent to Klaus to look over. She managed to forget about her pending engagement while she and her father ate dinner together, joking around and debating the prospects of the Holyhead Harpies versus the Appleby Arrows, and it was only when she was in her bed that night that it really hit her.
She was meeting her future husband in less than 24 hours, and with her father's illness and Camille continuing to hint at family functions that it might be time to hand the business over to her side of the bloodline, chances were that her wedding would be sooner rather than later, likely before April to make sure that her father was alive for it.
If you had told her sixteen year old self that Klaus Mikaelson was going to be her husband, she would have been horrified, and honestly Caroline wasn't sure that she felt any differently about it as an adult. She might even be more afraid now. Klaus was attractive and charming, and he used to remember her interests and follow up on things they'd talked about. He made her feel special, even if she could tell that he was only after the power that being associated with her could bring. Once the whole Lucien debacle happened, he was even more careful to be warm to her. As an adult, she was even more certain that he had only been out to use her, and the fact that he was handsome wouldn't be as distracting.
She was experienced enough to know that even though the package was pretty, Klaus was as clever and ruthless as he was powerful, and that made him dangerous.
She'd have to make sure to keep her head clear of any emotional distractions.
XXX
When he walked into the sitting room, his eyes immediately landed on Caroline, who was sitting in an armchair focused on paperwork, a glass of red wine balanced between her fingers. She tensed when he entered, her eyes moving up for a fraction of a second when she heard him sit down on the couch across the table, but she didn't speak.
He decided to wait her out. From what he remembered from his time with her at Hogwarts–which, considering how much time he spent observing her, was quite a lot–Caroline had been chatty enough that it shouldn't take too long. While he was waiting, he took the opportunity to admire her, to catalogue every twitch of her fingers and fleeting expression, looking for hints of how this afternoon would proceed.
He'd always been fascinated by her. At eleven years old he'd been more annoyed than anything else. She was bubbly and full of life, talked with her hands and smiled with her eyes. After growing up in a home as cold as his had been, his siblings all but forbidden to speak to him unless Mikael was out of the house for fear of getting a lashing, he'd found her vibrancy off-putting. Over the years as they grew, he realized he miscalculated. He'd found himself impressed with her magical abilities and admiring her sharp tongue. He watched her even more, noting her likes and dislikes, remembering anything and everything she'd told him about her family and her life.
He'd told himself it was for research, of course, that he'd needed to ingratiate himself with her because of her family. She could have been his ticket to pureblood high society, to the power and influence he craved. No one had ever thought he'd amount to anything, but he was determined to prove them wrong.
He'd made the mistake of underestimating her, and by the time he'd realized his error she'd grown from the bubbly, exuberant chess piece he'd hoped for to a clever tactician, as vibrant as ever but twice as likely to figure out his games. She'd always been wary, of course, likely having been taught that outsiders were risks, but after he'd learned that she could be an asset and behaved accordingly, she'd grown even colder.
She'd been attracted to him, that was obvious enough, but even though he occasionally coaxed out a smile or a laugh, they always seemed to have been extracted against her better judgment. He'd bait her just to get something out of her, needing that hit of her fire. He suspected that if he'd figured out her worth even just the year before, he could have been able to convince her to take a chance. Unfortunately, he'd slipped up. He would never claim that preventing her engagement to Lucien was a mistake, but he should have been more careful when he'd done it. His anger got in the way of his sense, and Caroline had grown skittish after that. She was clever as well, and had likely also deduced that he was after her money and influence.
She hadn't quite been wrong. That was what he wanted, but he also wanted Caroline, herself. He'd grown fond of her over the years, had kept abreast of her movements and activities, and he'd orchestrated a few casual run-ins, all of which had left him more certain than before that she was the one he wanted. He'd been laying the groundwork for years to receive the proposal for her hand, had turned his ambition into something Bill could view as an asset rather than a possible source of a hostile takeover, and he'd succeeded. Caroline would be his, the way she was supposed to have been seven years ago when she'd made what she likely thought was the unfortunate but sensible choice of stopping herself from wanting him.
But he wanted her, and Klaus tended to get things he wanted.
"Sorry. I'm just finishing up my section of the agreement," she said without looking up from her parchment, her self-inking quill scratching the only noise in the otherwise silent room.
"Not a problem, love."
When she finally set it down to look at him, she gave him a forced smile, though he noticed her eyes look him up and down quickly, saw the quick swipe of her tongue over her lower lip and heard the quick skip of her heartbeat with the increased senses he gained near the full moon. He had hoped she would still be attracted to him after all these years, but the confirmation was good. He needed as many controlled variables in his study of how to make Caroline Forbes tick as he possibly could.
Soon to be Caroline Mikaelson, of course.
"So," she began, her fingers lacing together on her lap. "How have you been, Klaus?"
"Good," he said, flashing her a dimpled smile that she didn't return. "I'm doing well. Yourself?"
She shrugged. "Work is work. But things have mostly been fine."
"Glad to hear it."
She nodded. "Did you chance to look over the paperwork?"
"Straight to business, I see," he murmured, smirking at the flash of annoyance that crossed her face. "Yes. As you well know, I had a chance to send it back with a confirmation yesterday."
"Good. We should get started, then. Did Jenna offer you a drink when you came in?"
"She did, but I'm fine without."
"Okay." Caroline swallowed, glancing down at the stack of parchment before setting it on the table, turning it towards him with the quill. "So, we have the regular non-disclosure agreements and the financial stuff for if we decide to get divorced."
"Of course, sweetheart."
As if he'd ever let her leave.
"And then just the agreement not to cause harm to each other. It's just for the safety of the family, since in the past...well, let's just say assassination attempts by spouses haven't exactly been uncommon."
"I understand," Klaus said lightly, reading the text quickly to ensure that it was what he'd read the night before and then adding his signature. He'd revised it slightly from the original wording to center on unwanted harm-perhaps it was the optimist in him-but she appeared to either not have noticed or missed the implication. It was all well and good anyway, he had no desire to hurt Caroline (unless, of course, she asked for it very nicely with his title on her lips), but keeping her comfortable was important if he wanted her to stay. "Anything else?"
"Not contract-related, but we need to talk about a few other things."
"Anything you like."
"Great! So, Pearl Zhu and her daughter Anna do most of the high-end weddings here," she began, her fingers twitching as though she was itching to write something down. "I'm thinking February? We need to do it before April, and-"
"February's perfect, love," Klaus said quickly, not wanting to have to navigate possible tears about Bill's looming death. He wasn't sure how close they were, but as much as Bill's old-fashioned attitude towards arranged marriages benefited him, he couldn't imagine being close to someone who wrote him off like chattel without his permission. Then again, he'd noticed that Caroline was rather sentimental. She cared deeply for the people she loved, was loyal to them until the end, and he couldn't say that it wasn't part of what attracted him to her. Her devotion to him would be a useful weapon once he managed to make her fall for him.
"Great!" she said, clearly pleased that she hadn't had to get into the specifics of why she'd chosen the date. "So, I'm not sure if there's anything you feel strongly about, but if there isn't I'm just sort of going to give them some themes and colors and let them do their thing with a check-in nearer to the date. I'm really busy with my job, and I know you are too with the Ministry's project order."
He supposed he shouldn't be surprised that she had sources who would know about his current assignment, but he wasn't happy that his sources had failed to report her connections. Aiden would have to answer for that later. "I have no real wedding preferences, I suppose. Out of curiosity, love, how did you know about the project? It's supposed to be confidential."
She flashed a smile at him that seemed more genuine than any other expression she'd made so far. "It's my job to know!"
"I suppose that's true," he allowed. He'd have to try to ferret out what other information she had about him that she wasn't supposed to know about. He knew everything he could find about her, of course, but knowledge was power, and Caroline was resourceful, excellent at wielding whatever advantages she might have.
He signed the rest of the paperwork and handed her back her quill, pushing the sleeves of his henley up to his elbows and leaning forward, grinning when her eyes followed the way his necklaces dangled in front of him. "Now, what are your plans for the rest of your day?"
She sighed. "I just have a bit of work to do. Nothing huge, but since I convinced my dad to let me take the reins on most of the projects I've been kind of swamped."
"Hence allowing someone who isn't you to plan the biggest party you'll ever throw?" he teased, and she laughed.
"Yeah. Unfortunately. I was really looking forward to bullying you over napkin colors and cake flavors, but I guess you've been saved by my very needy employees."
He raised his eyebrows, smirking. "Bullying me, specifically, love? I'm flattered."
"Whoever my husband ended up being," she corrected, rolling her eyes. "So, ultimately you, yeah."
He pressed his lips together, sensing the bitterness she likely hadn't meant to convey, and he stared at her for a moment as she shifted uncomfortably in the silence. "What?" she asked finally.
"Are you unhappy that I'm your choice?" Klaus asked lightly, somehow desperately wanting to know the answer even though he'd watched her sign her soul to him just moments before.
She gave him a small smile. "It wasn't a choice for me, Klaus. But I wouldn't say I'm unhappy."
"I'm sorry," he said, the words feeling foreign on his lips. He wasn't, really. Not for wanting to marry her or for managing to get Bill to offer her hand. He didn't want her to resent him for it, though. He wanted Caroline to radiate that warmth for him that he'd found so intoxicating years ago. He wanted her to smile at him the way he'd always imagined, for her to lay her head on his chest and look at him with affectionate eyes the way he saw her do to her teenage boyfriends in the common rooms while they gave her so much less attention than she deserved. He wanted her to come to him, to be happy that she belonged to him. "I do want you to be happy, Caroline. With me."
"Me too. And I want you to be happy with me. You know, since we're stuck together."
He could tell she'd meant it to come out as a joke, but it fell flat. He reached out to set his hand on hers, brushing his thumb over her knuckle, catching her eyes in a heated gaze with his and smiling slightly when he heard her breath catch, noticing a shiver run down her spine that he suspected had nothing to do with fear and everything to do with the way he was looking at her. "It will be no sacrifice to take you as my wife, Caroline."
He heard her audible swallow, and she glanced down at their joined hands as though just realizing that he was touching her, but she didn't pull away even though she looked like she might want to. He could see that she was having a hundred thoughts a second, clearly going through every possible response and trying to find the right thing to say. "You're not so bad yourself," she settled on after a few moments.
"I'm glad you think so," Klaus said with a dimpled smile, bringing her knuckles up to his mouth and brushing his lips over them, soaking in the scoff that Caroline gave when she wrenched her hand away.
"God, you're as ridiculous as I remember. Probably worse."
"Perhaps after your father oversees the vow you can tell me how much more you remember about me over lunch?" he offered with a smirk. "I took the whole day off."
"I remembered your crazy ego too," she said, rolling her eyes before looking at the stack of papers next to her, which he suspected must be more work. She seemed to be seriously considering it. "I really shouldn't," she said slowly, looking torn. "Maybe a quick one?"
"It's a date."
"Great," she said, not giving any indication if she found his designation awkward. "Are you ready? I'll just go put my stuff away and then we can get the vow done. After that, I should be good for lunch."
"Perfect," he said, putting his hands in his pockets.
He could be patient, he decided. He'd craved for years to know for certain that Caroline belonged to him, and now that she had agreed to be his, had given him her hand and her future, it was only a matter of time before he'd have her heart as well.
Thank you so much for reading! Do you have a favorite part or line? Any predictions? Questions? Please review! That's how I know you enjoy reading the fic, and it inspires me to write more!
If you wish, you can catch me on tumblr at thetourguidebarbie.
