Rebekah gave her one day. She told Caroline that by the time she returned, she needed to have her bags packed and say her goodbyes, because no one could come looking for her. Not her friends and not her mom, of course Rebekah had left her with a sharp quip about how little her friends cared about her. Caroline didn't have a response.

As a natural born planner, Caroline made a list. The first thing she would have to do was find a way to say goodbye to her friends and make sure they wouldn't come looking for her. At first, she had thought she could prove Rebekah wrong, that her friends weren't the kind of people she made them out to be. But the longer she stared at her empty dorm room and the pathetic note Bonnie and Elena left for her, she was beginning to see the flaws in their relationship. She didn't want to nor have the time to ponder over them, so she pushed them aside for now, pulling out a fresh piece of paper to begin a letter of her own.

It was short and to the point, while also conveying her sunshiny persona. She simply said that college, while a necessary experience, wasn't for her. That she was taking off, going to explore the world while there was still a world to explore. She talked about the sights she wanted to see, travel to the places that normal humans couldn't but she could because of her immortality. She talked about the kinds of languages she wanted to learn and the culture she wanted to experience. It was enough to be believable, but not so alarming that her friends would come looking for more details. She added a note at the bottom, telling them she would contact them when she was settled down in a big city with lots of lavish boutiques to fulfill her childhood dreams of joining high society.

It was pathetic, and laughable, and heartbreaking, because it occurred to Caroline then and there, that they wouldn't come looking for her. That her last vain comment at the end of her letter was enough to make her friends brush her off as a second thought. That they would probably go months, perhaps even years, without trying to contact her until she was useful to them. Klaus was gone, and she wasn't the useful blonde distraction anymore, she was just their little blonde friend Caroline with the bossy attitude and neurotic tendencies. But, that was the point she supposed. That they wouldn't come looking for her. If she was a glass half full kind of girl, she might've counted it as a blessing, but it just made her bitter. It didn't matter though, at least not for a while. Bonnie and Elena were gone for the summer, and Caroline was going to mail the letter to her mother and have her pass it on at some point.

The second item on her list was contacting her mother. While they hadn't had the best relationship, it was significantly better after Caroline had turned, and there was very little chance her mother wouldn't come looking for her.

So, she picked up her phone and dialed. One ring, two, answer.

"Hi, Mom." Caroline said, settling down on her bed and pulling her feet up to her chest.

"Hi, sweetie, how are you?" She asked, a little out of breath, and Caroline could probably guess she was still at the sheriff's office, running around the station.

"I'm good, kind of a bizarre night though." Caroline sighed, closing her eyes and leaning her head against her headboard. There was a good chance she wouldn't be able to talk to her mother for a long while.

"Bizarre? What happened?" Liz asked, her tone taking on an immediate panicked tone, she was cop afterall.

"Nothing important." Caroline lied, hoping she sounded convincing. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something. Do you have a minute?"

"Yeah, of course." Her mom said, and Caroline could hear her shut her office door from the other end. "What is it?"

"I was thinking of leaving Whitmore." Caroline murmured, waiting for her mother's reaction. Her delivery on the line was just a bit too rushed to be nonchalant.

"Leaving? Why? I thought you loved college, you only talked about it your whole life." Her mom teased, after her initial shock.

"Yeah," Caroline laughed, letting out a shuttered breath, "I was just thinking. I'm not getting any older, and people will notice. I've changed my major way too many times, and it's all just a little-"

"Boring?" Liz guessed with a knowing tone.

"Yeah." Caroline confirmed. "How'd you know?"

"I talk to you every week, Caroline, and you never sound as excited about your classes, and I never hear you talk about any of those great college adventures that you were going to go on with Bonnie and Elena." Liz explained.

"Well, those were human dreams I guess." Caroline sighed softly. "Are you mad?"

"Of course not." Liz responded. "I want you to be happy, Caroline."

"I-" Caroline stuttered, wondering what exactly she was going to tell her mother, "Rebekah Mikaelson showed up at my door tonight."

"Mikaelson?" Her mother repeated in shock, "as in Klaus?"

"His sister, but yeah." Caroline nodded even though her mother couldn't see her. "She kind of offered me something."

"What kind of something?" Liz questioned. "Ever since you were a little girl, you've only used that tone when you want to do something you think I won't agree with."

"I do not have a tone." Caroline said petulantly, but bit her lip knowing her mother was right. "I also can't talk about it."

"Caroline," Liz sighed with a hint of disappointment, "I don't want you to be pulled into some kind of supernatural drama that's going to get you killed. Which is what tends to follow the Mikaelsons."

"It's nothing like that." Caroline promised, knowing she was lying through her teeth, but she couldn't bring herself to feel bad about it. Not when it was about protecting Hope, a child who was unfairly born with blood on her hands. "I can't give details, but Rebekah offered me something. It's a really appealing offer, and I want to take it."

Liz paused from the other end, and Caroline could only hear her breathing. "You already agreed, didn't you?"

"Yes." Caroline muttered, both a little amused but also guiltily.

"Will it put you in danger?" Liz demanded, not unkindly, but in a motherly way.

"No." Caroline said firmly. While the circumstances were dangerous, she had no doubt that her and Hope would be alright. "It's not."

"But I sense there's a catch, there always is when the Mikaelsons are concerned." She said.

Caroline sighed harshly and held on a little too tightly to the phone, like it would make her mother understand. "I'll have to disappear for a little while."

"Disappear how?" Liz demanded.

"Just off the grid." Caroline said vaguely. "I won't be able to see you or contact you. And I don't know for how long."

"Caroline…" Her mother hesitated.

"Mom." Caroline whispered. "I want this, I want what Rebekah's offering me. I promise I'll be safe and I promise it's not dangerous. The circumstances are just… unconventional."

"Are you sure, Caroline?" Liz asked. "You're an adult, and you've dealt with much more than I'd ever imagined, so I trust you. But you are still my daughter. I need you to tell me explicitly that this is what you want, that you'll be safe and happy."

"I will." Caroline promised, letting out a teary laugh. "I will be happy, and safe, and when it's time to come home, I'll tell you everything and bring lots of postcards from all the places I've been."

"Okay." Her mom whispered, and Caroline knew her mom was crying on the other end too, because she was saying goodbye to her daughter.


Caroline spent all night packing, folding all her clothes neatly into a suitcase. It was serving as a distraction, to keep her mind off contemplating what she'd actually agreed to.

A sharp knock, just like the one the night before, shocked Caroline out of her thoughts. This time, Rebekah let herself in instead of waiting for Caroline to open the door.

"Ready?" She asked, settling the baby carriers down on Bonnie's bed.

"I'm ready." Caroline nodded, looking around her untouched dorm room. Bonnie and Elena's things were mostly gone, and hers was now too. Caroline had stood in the doorway of her dorm, wondering why she felt nothing leaving it behind.

"You did what I asked?" She questioned sharply. "Said your goodbyes? I'd hate to have to kill your friends if they become a threat to my niece."

"Yes, Rebekah." Caroline said dryly, rolling her eyes at the other blonde only for her to return it with a smirk.

Ten minutes later they were in Rebekah's car. Heading towards a witch that she knew. She was apparently an old friend of Kol's that owed the family a favor. Caroline was almost a little in shock when Rebekah told her that. She'd always just assumed that every witch hated vampires in general, especially the Mikaelsons.

"Your brother," Caroline began hesitantly, and Rebekah sent her a dry look, "was he a witch?"

The question seemed to throw Rebekah off, because the moment Caroline brought up one of Rebekah's brothers, it usually seemed to be Klaus. "Kol?" Caroline nodded. "He was, the rest of us were too, technically."

"You're not like the other witches who get turned." Caroline murmured, glancing at the babies through her mirror. "Usually, they feel more loss-"

"What a nice way of calling them whiners." Rebekah said. "But, Kol was the only one who really did magic. My father wasn't exactly fond of magic, and he wouldn't even let my mother practice unless it was necessary or benefited us."

"I see." Caroline nodded.

"Kol was a prodigy of sorts." Rebekah explained. "After he lost his magic, he couldn't quite find the same thrill. That's why they call him the wild one, because he used to kill to feed into his vampirism, hoping it would fill his void."

Caroline was silent for a moment, thrumming her fingers rhythmically. "I am sorry about his death, Rebekah. I didn't know they were going to kill him."

"Don't." Rebekah snapped, his eyes glossy. "You may not have known, but they were your friends and you were a part of some of the horrible plans to destroy my family."

"And look at us now?" Caroline murmured. Sitting in a car together, with Klaus' daughter in the back.

"I still don't like you." Rebekah muttered drly. "But, I do find you more appealing than your other friends."

"And I find you tolerable." Caroline replied. Rebekah didn't look at her, but Caroline spotted the soft smile.

They drove for another couple of hours, and because Rebekah was driving, Caroline was on baby duty. At some point they had pulled over on the side of the road, and Caroline had moved to sit between the two babies, holding a bottle for both.

"What will you tell Klaus?" Caroline asked Rebekah, as she tucked in both girls, humming a soft lullaby her mother used to sing to her. The movement of the car and Caroline's voice was enough to lure them to sleep.

"I'm not going to tell him anything." Rebekah responded shortly, eyes trained on the road and her hands clutching the steering wheel.

"You're not going to tell him where his daughter is?" Caroline demanded in disbelief. "He deserves to know."

"He does, but not at the risk of his daughter's safety." Rebekah reminded her sharply. "The less people that know where she is, the better. No one will know to come looking for you."

They drove in silence for another half an hour or so when a sudden thought occurred to Caroline. "What happens when I have to give her back?"

"If you're going to back out of this now, Caroline, I will kill you." Rebekah threatened her, looking at her sharply from the rearview mirror.

"I'm not." Caroline responded softly, but in a firm tone. "But I'm serious, Rebekah. What happens when the war is over and I have to give her back? Will you come and take her? Will I ever see her again? Will you even tell Klaus or will you pretend like you've had her the whole time?"

"I suppose that depends." Rebekah said, her tone turning sympathetic, and it was clearly a thought she'd had herself. "I agreed to this, knowing I'd have to give her up, but I did it anyway. Because she is my niece, and she was born with blood on her hands that did not belong to her."

"That doesn't answer my questions." Caroline said.

"It means I don't know." Rebekah responded. "Wars can last a long time. In a year or a decade, however long it lasts, New Orleans will be different and I can't tell you what will happen."

Caroline wasn't sure what that meant. She'd barely run over any of the details at all, which was very unlike her. The possibilities of her new life were very vague and unsure. She didn't know what she was supposed to be to Hope, what she was going to tell the little girl growing up. How to explain the supernatural, why they had to keep moving, why Caroline was the one raising her. But every time the thoughts would begin to flood her mind, she would look down at Hope and Ingrid, and suddenly they didn't matter. They would stare up at her with wide, innocent eyes, and Caroline didn't care that it was only a temporary life.

"What about Ingrid?" Caroline asked her softly, running her fingers along Ingrid's cheek.

"What about her?" Rebekah asked stoically. "What happens to her when the war is over?"

"I don't know what you're insinuating, but you better be careful with what you say next." Rebekah snapped.

"Calm down, Rebekah." Caroline sighed, sending her a look. "All you Mikaelsons, so paranoid and ready to think the worst." She muttered under breath, but she knew Rebekah heard her. "I just mean, when the war is over, are you going to keep her?" She paused for a moment. "I know you want this life, Rebekah. With the kids, the husband, and the white picket fence. I know you see Ingrid as your chance for that, but she's a human child and you'll be bringing her back into a supernatural life."

"She's my responsibility." Rebekah whispered, and that was the end of it.

They drove in silence, and after another half an hour, they arrived at an old house quite literally in the middle of nowhere. The wood seemed to be rotting and so was the paint. A woman in her thirties dressed in a shawl was standing on the porch, and she didn't look happy.

"Is that her?" Caroline asked, getting Hope out of the back of the car as Rebekah grabbed Ingrid.

"That's her." Rebekah nodded, looking exhausted already. "Come on."

"I don't recall you mentioning another vampire." The woman called out, grumbling under her breath. "Or babies. What exactly am I doing for you?"

"I'm sorry." Caroline said, unsure of what she was actually apologizing for, but all Mikaelson's had a tendency to rub people the wrong way. "I'm Caroline."

She looked Caroline up and down for a moment and huffed. "Well, come in."

She swept to the side and ushered the four of them in, slamming the door closed behind her. The inside was in much better shape than the outside, with shelves of herbs and nice furniture. There was something off about the witch too, and if Caroline had to guess, she was a lot older than she appeared to be.

"I need you to perform a cloaking spell." Rebekah said, pulling out a grimoire from Ingrid's baby bag. "On the girls."

"Who's babies are they, Rebekah?" The witch, whom's name Caroline had yet to learn, asked. "I don't want anyone coming after me because of your family drama."

"It doesn't matter whose children they are." Rebekah responded. "That's none of your business and it has nothing to do with the spell."

"And no one's going to come after you." Caroline assured her with a soft smile.

"Here's all the components of the spell," Rebekah said shortly, handing the woman a bag, "I'm calling in that favor you owe my brother."

"Please." Caroline added, sending Rebekah a look. To which she returned with an eye roll.

"You sure you should be mixed up in all this?" The witch asked Caroline, looking oddly at her. "You've got more manners than any vampire I've met."

"Thank you." Caroline laughed lightly.

"We're on a time constraint, Matea." Rebekah snapped, and Caroline took note of the witch's name. "Can you do the spell or not."

"Let me have a look." Matea said, looking over the spell that Rebekah had previously handed to her. She glanced back up at the two girls, then at the babies for a long moment. "If you want me to do this, I'm going to need more details."

"Trust me, you don't." Rebekah snapped. "The more you know the more danger you'll be in, and that's exactly what you want to avoid, right?"

"I'm not just going to go around and cast spells on little girls for Mikaelsons." Matea snapped. "That's a death sentence in and of itself."

A second later, Rebekah the witch by her neck and pressed up against the wall. "You will cast this spell for me, or I can snap your neck. You aren't the only witch that owes a favor to my brother."

"Rebekah." Caroline hissed. "Stop."

"Well?" Rebekah asked, staring Matea dead in the eyes. "Is that enough detail for you?"

"Fine." Matea choked out. "Fine, I'll cast the spell."

Rebekah let her go, and Matea dropped to the floor, rubbing at her neck and gasping. Caroline rushed over and helped her up, sending her an apologetic look.

Matea patted Caroline's hand and snatched the spell components from Rebekah, and began to set up, grinding herbs and lighting candles.

"Bring the girls here." Matea said, waving them over. Caroline and Rebekah brought both babies over to Matea, but when she touched Hope, she recoiled and brought her hand back.

"What's wrong?" Caroline asked, but it was clear that the look on Rebekah's face meant that it was nothing good.

"I've never felt so much power before." Matea whispered, looking down at Hope's sweet face. "She's Klaus' child, isn't she? The Tribrid."

"Matea." Rebekah hissed, clutching the witch's hand in a bone breaking grasp. "You will not breathe a word of her existence to anyone. Do you understand me?"

Rebekah's voice was hard and her tone was dark. She looked less like the insecure girl that just wanted to be human, but like an original. Rebekah's appearance tended to mean people underestimated her, and it was easy to forget she was just as cruel and merciless as her brothers.

"Matea," Caroline said softly, breaking the witch out of her thoughts, "your life, the girls, and mine, quite literally rest on this secret. Promise us that you won't tell anyone about Hope's existence." Caroline was pleading now, because Rebekah was going to kill Matea if there was even a chance of Hope's safety being at risk.

"I-I, okay." Matea said. "I promise."

"Spell, witch, now." Rebekah snapped.

Matea nodded, eyeing the babies wearily as she set up the rest of the spell. When she was done, she pulled out a needle to prick the finger of each girl, but she paused. Rebekah looked exasperated and tapped her foot impatiently, and Caroline put a hand on Rebekah's arm softly.

"What's wrong?" Rebekah demanded.

"This spell isn't used very often because it tampers with the balance of nature. You can't just erase a person from existence, especially not a tribrid." Matea explained tentatively. "There are consequences to this spell."

"Consequences?" Caroline repeated. "What exactly does that mean?"

"It means there's a loophole, what's the loophole?" Rebekah asked exasperatedly. "Bloody witches and your balance."

"When witches use this spell, it links the pair together. Usually to counteract the unnatural effects, the participants are usually very similar. Such as the same age and same species, as in two witches, two humans. One of the girl's is human, the other is a tribrid. I don't know what that could mean for either of them."

"How will we know?" Rebekah asked. "What the consequences are."

"I won't know till I cast the spell." Matea responded.

"What if the girls get hurt?" Caroline questioned.

"They shouldn't be." Matea promised. "But I don't have to cast the spell."

"Rebekah?" Caroline called. "What do you think?"

Rebekah looked between the girls once before looking back at the witch. "Cast it, but if any harm comes to either of them, I will not hesitate to kill you."

"You and your brothers, death follows you everywhere because you create it." She hissed in response.

Rebekah grabbed Matea's wrist tightly and pulled her close, but Caroline grabbed her first. "Rebekah," Caroline said softly, "stop."

Matea quickly pricked the fingers of both girls and let their blood drop into the bowl of herbs. Hope's finger healed within seconds, and Rebekah placed a bandage around Ingrid's.

When Matea started chanting Caroline was expecting some flourish or even some kind of weather shift, probably due to the many spells she'd seen Bonnie cast. But most of those were life or death situations, and the spells were equal to the effects.

Matea's spell was quite anti-climatic. Once she mixed a few drops of their blood into a bowl of herbs and other ingredients from the bag, which Caroline was sure she didn't want to know where Rebekah had gotten them from. Matea closed her eyes during the spell, each word enciated and her breathing was composed the whole time. Caroline kept an eye on both girls, ensuring the spell wouldn't affect either of them, and so far Matea's promise had held true and both of them were fine.

After a few minutes, she'd finally finished chanting, and the mixture of blood and herbs had turned a glowing white before fading into a symbol burned into the bottom of the bowl.

"Is it done?" Rebekah asked, rocking both of the carriers, despite the spell being cast, neither baby seemed to be in distress.

"It's done." Matea nodded.

"And the consequences, what are they?" She demanded.

"Hope is a tribrid, much more powerful than any being. Because she is so powerful, the cloaking spell will be weak if both girls are in the same place for too long. Her magical signature will overpower Ingrid." Matea responded. "You have to keep them apart."

"That's it?" Caroline asked.

"Not quite." Matea said hesitantly. "They're essentially linked now, and to account for the power imbalance, Ingrid may develop certain magical aspects."

"What?" Caroline asked. "So she's a witch now?"

"I can't say for sure." Matea responded. "All I know is that because Hope is a tribrid, you can't take away power like hers to placate Ingrid's human nature."

"What exactly do you know, Matea?" Rebekah demanded.

"As long as she is linked to Hope, so are their lives. She may grow up to be just like any other witch. She may grow up with just a gift. She could develop enhanced senses." Matea explained. "My point is that I don't know, just that she will."

"Thank you." Rebekah whispered. She looked down at both girls in relief, but she also looked on edge. While they were probably safer than they were before, it was real now. Caroline was going to have to take off with Hope, Rebekah was going to take off with Ingrid, and all their lives were resting on a secret now.

"Rebekah, I was sorry to hear about Kol." Matea murmured. "A pain in the ass he was, but knew more about magic than any witch I've ever known."

Rebekah looked at her kindly, the only ounce of emotion beside disdain and irritation she'd shown since they'd arrived, and snapped her neck.

"Rebekah!" Caroline cried, barely catching Matea's body as she fell to the floor. She looked down helplessly at Matea's lifeless body and she felt sick. "She promised not to say anything! She helped us!"

"If you thought we were going to leave here with her still alive, then you're naive." Rebekah said, packing up the girls' things. "When you agreed to take Hope, you agreed to this too. Are you prepared for that, Caroline? Because if you aren't, I will take my niece, and leave you laying on this floor beside Matea."

She was right, and Caroine hated it. Mikaelson's had the way about them she supposed. Being realistic, and calling her out on things. She may have wanted to paint them as villains, but with a thousand years, perhaps she would be the same. Cruel, unforgiving, and have a death toll bigger than the days she'd been alive, but she'd do it all. For the people she cared about, just like Rebekah was doing it for Hope. She could justify Matea's death, even if she didn't want to, even if it sounded selfish.

Caroline placed Matea's body softly on the floor, closing the dead witch's eyes. "I understand why she's dead, Rebekah, but she didn't deserve it."

"Neither do Hope or Ingrid." Rebekah reminded her as they buckled the girls into the car. "If I had let Matea live and broken her promise, then hundreds of vampires, witches, wolves, and humans would've died in her place."


Two hours later and Caroline was sitting on a private plane, Hope buckled in next to her. They had gone straight to the airport from Matea's. Rebekah told her to pick a destination and not to tell her, and that it was safer that way. Rebekah had kissed Hope's forehead goodbye and held her tight, before passing her back to Caroline. Caroline had done the same to Ingrid, whispering a silent prayer, that the little girl would grow up safe and protected like Rebekah promised.

"I'll come find you when New Orleans is safe." Rebekah promised, as the two of them stood facing each other, each holding a baby, ready to leave. She also handed Caroline another bag, full of documents and deeds to properties the Mikaelsons owned all over the world, and more money than Caroline had ever seen in her life.

"She'll be happy, Rebekah, I promise." Caroline had whispered back before they parted ways.

Alone with Hope, thousands of feet in the air, was the first time Caroline had actually picked her up. They were a couple hours into their flight, and Hope had started crying.

Caroline acted on instinct, gently picking her up and rocking her back and forth. Caroline's warm body and soothing tones seemed to calm the baby, and she simply looked up into Caroline's eyes for a moment, there was a sparkle that reminded her so much of Klaus. Caroline knew she was gone at that point, she loved Hope already, and that would only grow the longer she was raising her.

"It's just you and me now." Caroline whispered. "I hope that's alright with you, even though neither of us really have a choice at this point." The baby only cooed in response, sucking on her fingers. "Your father, I hear, is the King of New Orleans, but I also know without you, he will be a mad one. One day, when it's safe, I'll bring you home, and with his princess returned the kingdom will be healed. Isn't that lovely, Hope?" Caroline murmured, beginning to hum the tune of a lullaby. "To live happily ever after. That's very rare for a Mikaelson, but I have no doubt your father would burn the city to the ground and rebuild it from the ashes, a kingdom built for you."


Thank you for all support!

Review Responses:

Guest: You're definitely right about Ingrid, the poor girl would have a rough time as a human child among the Mikaelsons drama. The plan was always going to have her be supernatural, and I hope you like the way I incorporated it!