Skyla71 - I don't think it's a matter of Elijah having more faith, as it is Klaus being super preoccupied. Maybe even a little selfishly so, but she'll rein him in.

SaltedCaramelIceCream - Aw thank you!

KatieB373 - Sorry, sorry! Didn't mean to leave you hanging (at least not this long!).

BecomingFearless1F - Thank you so so much! This was such a great review to read :)

Guest - I'm thinking 2 to 3 more chapters, just because I want to round it out to a nice number (25) but knowing me, it might make it to 30. But I draw the line there!

Mckennagrace4092 - Thank you thank you!

Hello my lovelies!

I have risen!

There's been a lot going on that's taken away from my writing time. I've been investing time with a book coach working on my novel, I got engaged, I'm wedding planning, I'm also just really bad at updates... :P But I am here with the next installment of the saga! This one's, uh, well, it's... a lot.

Enjoy beauties!


**TRIGGER WARNING: Mention of sexual abuse and addiction in this chapter.**


PART 23

"I don't understand."

Klaus went stone cold as his brother launched into a legal discussion with Tyler. Their voices were miles away as he relived his last night with Tatia, the moments before that last door slam flashing before his eyes.

Why can't you just walk away!?

Don't touch me!

If you won't do it, I will.

Coward!

Don't come back this time!

His eyes snapped shut and his shoulders shuddered as he let out a shaky breath. In the years he'd spent mourning, he never once thought his mother could be as monstrous as she was being presented now. He'd stewed over the events of that evening night after night, wondering what he could have done different.

"Someone's tampered with the police report," he heard Tyler say, ripping him out of his head and back into the attorney's office. "There are redacted details on the original and I've been pulling every string I can to try to get it sanitized."

"What would they be trying to hide in a drunk driving accident?" Elijah wondered.

"It wasn't an accident," Klaus guessed, his tone arctic.

Tyler leaned forward, clasping his hands atop his desk. "Hit-and-runs are reported every day and rarely does the perpetrator get caught. Whether it's luck or…a cover up."

Elijah sat back, eyeing him cautiously. "That's a very dangerous allegation."

Rage coursed through Klaus' blood, his mind running wild with accusations. If she had any ties to Tatia's death, if she had left her for dead – a startling thought stopped his heart. Had she murdered the woman he loved?

"Look, I'm not after any accomplices," Tyler said. "If I can prove Esther's culpability in a past crime, I could reopen my client's case and put Esther Mikaelson back where she belongs." He turned to Klaus. "I know this is a delicate matter, but, if you agree to help me, maybe we can bring justice for more than just my client."

Klaus glanced to Elijah briefly in warning. His brother conceded with a nod. "What can I do?"

Tyler's eyes lit with excitement. He pulled out his recorder and switched it. "I'd like you to tell me everything about the night Tatia died."


Mystic Falls Elementary: Miss Caroline's classroom – 12:13 p.m.

While the children were enjoying their lunch and subsequent recess time outside, Caroline was taking the time to catch up on her lesson plans–and texts. She was never more grateful for the playground aides. Her meeting with the social worker was looming and there was still no word from Klaus. The idea that he was across town in Tyler's office had her simultaneously hopeful and nauseous. If Tyler really did have something beneficial up his sleeve, well then good. If not… Her salad was becoming less and less appealing.

"There's my favorite educator," came a cheerful voice accompanied by two knocks on her open door.

She looked up, confused to see Kol waltzing in. "What's wrong?"

"Why does everyone assume something's wrong when I appear?"

"Let's just say unexpected visits aren't usually a good thing with your family."

"Ouch." He pressed his hand to his chest before sauntering toward the back carpet and began examining the toy cubbies. "No wonder Henrik likes coming here. You've got all the good stuff."

She smirked, welcoming his distraction. "You know, I owe you a big 'thank you'."

"What for?"

"For what you did to Tyler." His head turned. "Klaus told me."

His eyes softened briefly before he looked away, observing the wall of kindergarten fame. "Someone had to beat him off his pedestal."

Caroline smiled, shaking her head. "I almost wish I could have seen his face."

"It might've looked something like this." He made a comically horrified face of pain causing her to burst out a laugh. Kol grinned.

"Sounds about right," she said once her giggles trailed. "Thank you. Seriously." He waved her off and her smile started to wane. "So...is there a reason you're here? Or..."

He flashed her a wicked grin. "Don't want me dropping in to audit?"

Caroline snorted. "Audit my kindergarten class? I would say you're overqualified but then again…"

"Mind your manners, Miss Caroline."

"Seriously."

He pursed his lips, half-wincing. "Promise not to be mad."

Her face dropped. "So something is wrong."

"There's been an development, yes." He sighed. "It's Rebekah. She went and got herself into a proper bit of trouble at school. Trouble she doesn't want any of our brothers to know about."

The adamancy in his gaze almost gave her chills. "Did Enzo have something to do with this?" she asked quietly.

Kol's eyes went skyward with faux innocence. "Well, he was there…"

Her heart started pounding rampantly. "What did he do?"

"I can tell you on the way, but we best leave now." He gestured her toward the door as he started for it. "Just get your things, I'll drive."

"What?" She laughed incredulously and he stopped. "Kol, I can't leave. It's the middle of the day. I'm at work. You haven't told me what's going on, where you want to go, and as much as I care about Rebekah and would love to help, I'm not her legal guardian."

His eyes narrowed darkly. "So you'd rather I get my mother involved?"

"No, that's – I didn't mean it like that. Of course I don't want you to get Esther involved."

"I came to you out of courtesy to my sister. And because we have no one else to turn to." He ran a hand through his hair as he paced away. "If we can't get her out of this, and my mother gets wind, it's likely she'll petition the court for full custody of my sister until her birthday." His frown was discerning. "We already lost Henrik."

Caroline sighed, her heart aching. Damn it, he was good. "Okay, but whatever happened, what is it you think I can do?"

"Your mother, actually."

"My mother?" She watched his brows twitch as he tried to maintain his poker face. And then it clicked. Caroline squeezed her eyes shut, gritting her teeth. "Please tell me Rebekah hasn't been arrested."


Mystic Falls Courthouse, 1:49 p.m.

The day was half gone by the time Klaus and Elijah walked out of Tyler Lockwood's office. To Klaus, the expression about walls caving in felt like and idiotic idiom. Walls crumbled and fell in a heap. This was like an implosion – a sudden, inward eruption of turmoil and emotional debris that suffocates the life out of you and leaves a gaping, concaved void. Rehashing that night had taken everything out of him, and yet adrenaline rushed from the revelation just minutes before he'd started. The word murder rang continuously in his ears and his heart ached as he pictured Tatia's face before she'd stormed out. Before he'd told her to leave.

"Are you okay?" Elijah asked once they were far enough from the building.

Klaus' eyes snapped to his brother's angrily. "I will kill her if it's true," he growled, tears shining in his eyes.

"Niklaus…"

"I'll kill her!" he shouted.

"Control yourself, brother," Elijah warned.

"With my bare hands!"

Elijah grabbed him back forcefully. "You are hurting, and you have every right–"

"She did this, Elijah!"

"You don't know that," Elijah told him calmly.

"Don't I?" He swallowed hard, stretching his jaw as he tried to contain his emotions. "All this time, torturing myself into thinking I could have stopped it. If I hadn't let her go. If I hadn't said what I said." His hung his head with a shaking breath. "It's my fault."

"Tatia's actions were her own."

"So were Esther's." Klaus brought a shaking fist to his mouth, breathing heavily against his skin. "She never cared for Tatia. She treated her no better than she treated me. For all we know, she planned this."

"We have no proof."

"We don't need any bloody proof! You tell me you don't feel it in your bones, Elijah. You've seen what our mother is capable of."

"Seeing and providing evidentiary support are two different things."

"Then I'll prove it."

Elijah grabbed him back, taking hold of his shoulders. "Get a hold of yourself, Niklaus." He shook his head piteously. "You've done all you can do right now. You've given Tyler more than enough to reopen the investigation." Klaus looked away but Elijah turned his face back, holding his palm against his cheek. "What you did today is selfless. Tatia would have been proud." Klaus looked him in the eye now. "I am proud."

Klaus swallowed, conceding with a disheartened exhale.

Elijah let his hand slip away and slowly loosened his hold. "We need to be strong, brother."

"I'm tired," Klaus said softly. "Of all of it. All of the burdens we've been forced to carry."

"Resilience comes at a steep price." Elijah met his gaze, his expression softening. "But it should not be a six-year-old's cross to bear. And that's why we are here."

How could he have forgotten? Klaus checked his watch instinctively. It would have been time to pick him up in an hour. His stomach lurched at the thought of Esther taking him by the hand, leading him to the car and driving them both home. Esther feeding him an afternoon snack. Esther helping him with his homework. Running his bath. Filling the void she had created. Erasing the only family he'd known. It was all a game to her. How long would it last?

Klaus looked up to his brother, weary. "What do we do now?"

"Now, we put our faith in Tyler Lockwood," he told his brother, "and we wait."


Mystic Falls Police Department – 1:34 p.m.

"The drunk tank, Rebekah? Really?"

Caroline glared at her through the rearview mirror. It had taken extreme convincing to get the principal to allow her to leave school suddenly for a pseudo-family emergency. She would be unpaid for the half day, a fact that she grumbled about to Kol the entire drive to the police station. Money was the last thing she wanted to worry about right now.

Rebekah's eyes rolled. "Oh don't act all high and mighty. You were young once."

"I didn't bring alcohol to school."

"That's because you had a cop for a mum."

"No, it's because I have morals. And because I wasn't stupid enough to get caught drinking underage in public."

"Yes, your life was so bloody hard. What with pageants and parents," she muttered. "And staying in one place your whole life."

Caroline glanced to Kol but his eyes remained on the road, his expression stoic. She sighed and shifted around in her seat to face Rebekah. "Look, I get it. You've been through a lot, especially in the last few weeks, but this is not the way to blow off steam."

"You don't know anything."

"I know Enzo is a bad influence on you."

"Don't you dare blame him!"

Kol snorted. "The bloke's done nothing but aid and abet."

"Shut up, Kol," Rebekah shot back. "You're not one to talk."

"You two were drinking!" Caroline argued. "Drunk! At 10 in the morning!" She balled her fists, groaning as she turned to face forward again. "I could kick myself for letting him convince me he cared about you."

"He does care about me!"

Caroline whipped around again. "He got you arrested, Rebekah!"

"As if it's the end of the world," she muttered.

"Maybe not for you. You're a minor and this is your first misdemeanor so you got off with community service and counseling. Do you know what kind of penalties there are for an adult convicted of giving alcohol to minors?" Rebekah's lips pursed in silence. "Jail time. Fines. Suspended driver's license. Not to mention, he's probably fired from his job at the high school."

Rebekah's lips wavered as they opened and closed, a small breath escaping. "But… That's not fair. He didn't give me the alcohol. I brought it. It was Elijah's."

"It doesn't matter. He's an adult and you're not. I know you don't think the few years between you matters, but believe me, it does."

Rebekah quieted, staring out the window until they pulled up to the school. Kol set the car in 'Park' and laid his arm along the window edge. "Thank you," he told Caroline softly.

Caroline nodded, unbuckling her belt with a long, drawn out breath.

"Are you going to tell Nik?" Rebekah's voice came from the backseat, timidly.

Caroline let her arm slip from seatbelt and sat back, quietly contemplating and imagining the pitfall that would follow. On the one hand, keeping secrets wasn't her style and telling him would probably help set Rebekah straight. Or it could make things completely worse.

Damned either way, she figured, so she said, "No."


Caroline's Apartment – 9:30 p.m.

There had been nothing but silence from Klaus for the rest of the day. By evening, Caroline felt herself starting to spiral. Her concern for the family and Henrik had transformed into concern for Klaus and his own well-being, given the circumstances. She had almost convinced herself to call Tyler, demanding to know what happened, but her conscience stopped her. It had been a nerve-wracking day already, and Rebekah's secret on top of it was almost the tipping point. Now, in her living room, in her pajamas, she could do nothing but try and fail to repress her tears.

Where was he? Why was he keeping her in the dark? Did he even care about her? Everything had been all about the familial drama, but somewhere beneath it all were questions that he'd still left unanswered. She was stuck in the pits of insecurity and hopelessness when a knock at her door jolted her nervous system.

Her stomach turning, she got up to answer it, half-expecting some tragedy about to be reported. Instead, there was relief.

"Hi," she greeted Klaus in a breath. She'd forgotten to turn on the porch light so he was shrouded in shadows.

"I went to the school," he told her. Her heart jumped and she could feel her cheeks burning. "You weren't there."

"Oh. Yeah." She twirled a piece of her hair around her finger. "I had something to take care of." Klaus nodded absently. There was an awkward lull. "…Do you want to come in?"

She gestured and he silently brushed past her. She closed the door and held onto the knob, confused. That's weird, she noted. Normally he'd push the subject until she confessed. Also, why was he going to the school? Esther was picking Henrik up now. Was he trying to cause trouble? He wouldn't be that idiotic. Unless something happened. She turned to ask him and his back was turned.

"How did it go with Tyler?" she asked nervously. He didn't move. He seemed to be staring dead ahead, eerily still. She wasn't even sure he was breathing. "Klaus?" A tiny shudder ran though him and she watched him tense. "Okay, you're kind of scaring me."

"I want to tell you about Tatia," he finally spoke. His voice was muted, his tone unrecognizable.

Caroline's brows slowly raised and she hugged herself. Left-turn central. She wasn't sure she was ready for this. "You don't have to."

He faced her at last, his eyes pleading, but for what? "I want to," he said.

Helpless, she gestured him toward the living room and they sat on the couch. There was more distance between them now than ever before. Klaus opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to begin and falling short.

"We can talk about something else," she offered.

"Please," he begged. "I need to get this out."

She swallowed and nodded.

"I..."

Klaus looked down with a defeated sigh and closed his eyes against what she was sure were tears. She gingerly took his hand and held it between both of hers, giving it an affectionate squeeze. He licked his lips one last time and steadied his breath.

"We met during our junior year of high school," he began. "She was a bit of a degenerate, encapsulating me in my most rebellious phase. I thought everything she did was so miraculously brave. It wasn't until after I had fallen for her, I realized how broken she truly was. Everyone assumed she had an affinity for partying, but her alcoholism was attributed to a particular traumatic experience." He squeezed her hand this time, seemingly for reassurance as he never let it loose. "You see, her previous relationship was with a boy who had severely abused her." He glanced briefly at Caroline's eyes and then away. She did too. "One night, he'd gotten her extremely drunk at a party and assaulted her. Let his friends violate her."

Caroline felt her heart stutter, a familiar twinge of resentment making her feel self-conscious. She held onto his hand, listening.

"I never told anyone. She asked me not to. Ironically, drinking had become her vice. Allowed her to 'turn it off', or so she said. And then, eventually, drinking turned to drugs.

Getting her clean was a battle. It bonded us, but it also broke us. Our arguments became blow outs, and neither one of us could hold ourselves accountable. I was young and stubborn. Impatient with her. She never believed that I loved her, fought me at every turn. She never thought she was worthy. She walked out several times, telling me it was for my own good. Sometimes she would be gone for days, out on a bender only to return a heap of guilt and sorrow. She hated that I loved her; hated that she loved me. But she always came back," he said, his voice thick. "Except…"

His breath shook and he looked down, swallowing. His fingers began to tremble and Caroline squeezed them.

"We had an argument. About my mother. She couldn't understand why I wouldn't just leave with her. Why I stayed behind, why I cared. She wanted to make a clean getaway, escape all our problems and leave everyone behind. I couldn't do that. So she decided she was going to confront my mother herself. She'd been drinking. Heavily. I took her keys. We fought. She got them away from me and, out of sheer frustration, I said…"

Silent tears rolled down his cheeks. Caroline put her free hand on his arm and she could feel the muscles move as his trembling worsened.

"I shouldn't have let her go," he half-sobbed. "She was in no shape…"

She pulled him in an embrace, his head resting over her heart, and hugged him. His whole body shook in her arms and she just stroked his hair, over and over. As the sobs cracked, she held him and silently cried with him.


Late night. Mystic Falls Town Square.

The gravelly sound of footsteps on cobblestone echoed in the town square. Tyler Lockwood was no stranger to dark trysts and rendezvous in the dark. Exhibition wasn't his forte, and while he thrived on his successes and getting his suspects to divulge, his own secrets were bolted tight.

"Last person I'd expect to hear from," he called out as he approached the benches in the center. There was a deafening silence before he asked, "What do you want?"

Caroline shivered, hugging herself before turning to face him. "The truth."

"Here we go again…"

"Are you really investigating the death of Tatia Petrova?" He laughed, actually laughed. It made her stomach gurgle. "Answer me."

"If I cared about breaking you two up, I would have done it by now."

"No. You wouldn't have. Because you like to draw things out. That's your game, isn't it?" His eyes went stony but she kept her resolve. "If that's what you're doing, and you're just toying with him, I swear it'll be more than a restraining order this time."

His face went placid and he looked away. "I'm not at liberty to discuss the details of an ongoing investigation."

"Tyler, it's me," she pleaded, stepping forward before she caught herself. "Please. He doesn't deserve this."

"This isn't about him, or you, Caroline. I'm trying to do my job."

"Then do it and stop acting like a dick!" she demanded, brazenly shoving his chest.

Her heart pounded at when he grabbed her wrists in retaliation and she gasped shrilly, fear encompassing her whole body with ice. For the first time, she saw hesitation in his eyes and he shockingly released her. She stood frozen in shock as Tyler took a few paces back. He ran a hand through his hair and dropped it.

"Okay, look. Fine. Maybe at first it was about that. You were getting too close to them. And I kept digging, trying to find something to get you away from him. I was scared, Care. These people–"

"These people?" She laughed. "Tyler, you have no right to judge anyone after what you did. Don't try to gaslight me into thinking you give a crap about what happens to me. It's not going to work."

"I'm not gaslighting you! I was trying to protect you!"

"Well stop! I don't need, nor do I want your protection! The only thing I ever wanted was for you to treat me like a person and you couldn't even do that!"

"Caroline–"

"No! You don't get to interrupt me, or push me around, or investigate the people I date behind my back! We are done!" She started for a dramatic exit but turned back in afterthought, adding, "And your little game with the Mikaelsons is done too. If you interfere again, I will call my mother who will call the Sherriff who will drag your sorry ass downtown. And honestly, even that's way more than you deserve." She shook her head at him with a scoff and turned her back on him.

"I found information of a falsified police report."

"I don't care," she grumbled, waving him off as she tried to make her getaway.

"It could put Esther away. For good this time."

She stopped, hating that he had ensnared her again. She turned slowly, eyeing him skeptically. "Tyler, if this is a joke–"

"It's not. I don't play games with my career, Caroline."

She swallowed against a familiar lump of resentment in her chest.

"Look, I can't tell you any more than that," he continued, "but I can promise you that taking her down is all I am after when it comes to Klaus."

She crossed her arms, eyeing Tyler carefully. His words had always been poisonous, but when it came to his work, there were no lies. Finally, she tucked a curl behind her ear and nodded. "Okay," she accepted.

His shoulders dropped in relief and it gave her a weird satisfaction. He nodded once and she thought he would turn to leave, and he did, but something stopped him. What he said next almost took the wind out of her.

"Hayley can't know we met," he declared, almost pleading as he faced her again. "Please." He let his arms flop helplessly. "She'd kill me if she knew I saw you again."

Her jaw unhinged in disbelief and she could help the little laugh that stuttered out. The sudden power shift sent a refreshing rush of adrenaline coursing through her. Was this what being in control felt like?

"I'll tell you what." She pursed her lips in a smug smirk. "You keep your word and I'll keep mine."