Hey! I'm back with an update!

So, here's chapter 3 to Evolution. I'll probably be posting five or six chapters in all for this story, all of which might be uploaded in the next two months.

Enjoy!

"Hey, Caroline, Jenna's asking for you," said Elena, poking her head into Caroline's office. Caroline looked up from her books, and frowned.

"Jenna Sommers?"

"Well, yeah," said Elena, rolling her eyes. "Which other Jenna could I be talking about?"

Caroline was tempted to inform her that there could be a number of Jennas working at Whitmore hospital, but decided not to.

"What does Jenna want with me?" Caroline asked, puzzled.

Elena rolled her eyes again, making Caroline want to punch her in the face. "How am I supposed to know? I didn't ask."

"Cool," Caroline muttered, and Elena waved and walked away.

"Another thing," Elena said, coming back inside. "I have a thing tonight with Damon, and Kat and I were supposed to go to my Uncle John's, so could you please tell her I'm cancelling?"

Caroline nodded absent-mindedly, half-noticing Elena didn't look too happy, and half-knowing that Kat wouldn't be pleased to know that she would be visiting her weird uncle alone tonight. "Sure, Elena."

"Ok, thanks!" said Elena, and then promptly disappeared again.

Caroline sighed and turned back to her computer, shut it down, and walked out the door.

"Hey, Care," said a familiar voice, and Caroline turned around to see Stefan walking towards her.

"Hey, Stef. What're you doing here?"

"I was looking for you, actually. Are you free? Kat, Bonnie, and I were going out to dinner. Want to come?"

"As much as I'd love to, I can't," said Caroline reluctantly, looking at him. "I have this meeting with Jenna Sommers right now, and after that I have to stay back for a few hours with the nurses to monitor Annie Lucas and three other kids."

"Oh, ok," said Stefan, looking slightly disappointed. "Next time, then."

"Yeah," she said, and started walking away.

"Wait," said Stefan's voice again. "I have to tell you something."

"Sure," said Caroline, curiously.

"Ok, keep in mind I'm not supposed to be telling you this. Kat will have my head if she finds out I told you," said Stefan, and Caroline raised an eyebrow.

"Are you ok? Is she ok?"

"Yeah. So, you know that patient that Frank Eaton's had? The quarterback?"

"Frank Eaton's the orthopedic surgeon, right?"

"Yep. So, you know that guy he's had?"

"The quarterback. Marcus, right?"

"Matt, actually. So, Kat told me he noticed you when you went to wish Frank happy birthday last week, and apparently now, he's taken an interest in you."

"Oh," said Caroline, pleasantly surprised. Stefan nodded.

"He also asked Frank to ask Kat to ask me to ask you if you were seeing anyone."

"Obviously not."

"Yeah, I know, and it's nice for you, and all, but Kat didn't want me to tell you."

"What? Why not?" Caroline asked. Why would Katherine not want her to know?

"Well," Stefan grimaced. "Kat kind of wants you to go out with Klaus."

"Oh, come on," said Caroline, groaning. "Seriously?"

"I told her you'd want to know, but…"

"I'm going to have to talk to her," she muttered, and Stefan's expression completely changed.

"Oh, no, you can't do that. She'll kill me. I wasn't supposed to tell you, was I? You can't tell her you know, she'll know that I told you."

"No, she won't," Caroline said dismissively, waving a hand. "I'll tell her that Frank told me."

"Please, Caroline," said Stefan desperately, and Caroline wondered why he was looking so frantic.

"Why don't you want her to know?" she asked, laughing. "Kat'll get over it in a few days; it's not like she stays mad at you for long. You haven't asked her to do anything, have you?"

Stefan suddenly looked very interested in the white flooring tiles of the hospital floor, and Caroline narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Stefan? What did you ask Kat to do for you?"

He mumbled something incoherent, which made Caroline even more suspicious. "Stefan?"

"I might've found out that Elena wasn't too happy with Damon. And I might've asked Kat to talk to her and find out if she was willing to meet me at a place for dinner."

"Stefan!" Caroline screeched. "Why did you do that?!"

"What?! I didn't sabotage their relationship, Caroline! She and Damon—"

"Seriously, Stefan?" Caroline asked, frustrated, raking her hands through her hair. "When are you going to get over Elena already?! She's not a good person to get into a relationship, how can you not understand that? She broke your heart four times. And Damon's! She even managed to drive a wedge between you and your brother! You guys are the closest pair of siblings I've ever met! And you know that Damon's not my favorite person, but even he doesn't deserve to have something like this done to him! Elena's broken your heart so many times, but the first chance you get, you're going to jump at the chance to get back together with her?! Haven't you learned anything from the past four times?! Even Katherine doesn't want you to date her, and Elena's her sister—"

"Well, maybe that's the reason!" Stefan said defensively, interrupting her rant.

"Are you kidding me? Kat doesn't want you to go out with Elena because you're her friend and she doesn't want you to get all sad and mopey when she leaves you again! Why can't you see that Elena Gilbert's face masks the selfish person she is inside?!"

Stefan looked miserable, and even though Caroline knew she should feel bad, she didn't. She had wanted Stefan to understand this from the second time he got back together with Elena, and finally, it was out.

"I…" Stefan trailed off. "I love her, Caroline. I can't just let her go."

"No, you don't need to let her go, you need to understand who she is," Caroline hissed at him. "I liked Tyler a lot, even came close to loving him, but he decided to screw that shitty girl Hayley, didn't he? And did I sulk for the next three months? No."

"But you didn't love him, did you—"

"How does it matter? I still got over him, didn't I? It was hard, but I did! And you and Damon can't be Elena's backups every time, Stefan! It's time for the both of you to let her go. The sooner, the better."

Stefan looked desolately unhappy, and Caroline huffed. "Come on, Stefan, I can't always pretend to be happy for you when you tell me that you're going to get back together with Elena. Please get over her. You know it's the right thing to do."

He nodded slowly and reluctantly, earning a satisfied smile from Caroline. "Good. I know this is going to be hard for you, but this is a good thing, and you know that."

Stefan smiled at her weakly. "I know. Are you sure you can't come to dinner, though, Care?"

"I'm sure," she said, squeezing his shoulder. "Maybe next week."

He smiled. "Ok. Thanks, Care."

"No problem," she said, and turned away to walk into the elevator.

Jenna Sommers was an internist, and her office was on the second floor, so it took Caroline a minute or so to get there. The doors opened soon enough, and Caroline strode over to Jenna's office, where she found her bent over her laptop, a pen in one hand and a coffee in the other.

"Ah, Caroline, there you are. I was hoping to talk to you about something. Sit down, please."

Caroline sat down in the chair in front of Jenna's desk, and the latter smiled at her. "You know the yearly benefit we hold?"

"Of course," Caroline replied immediately. It was an annual fundraiser-type event the hospital held to pay the bills for the families who couldn't pay for their own, and each year it was an amazing success. A different team of doctors was chosen each year, with their own consent, of course, and took a week to plan the benefit, with the additional package of being exempted from hospital duties for the planning time.

"I was talking to Katherine two days ago, and she mentioned that you have a flair for event managing. I'm the head of the fundraiser committee this year, and I was hoping you would lead the team this year."

Caroline could hardly breathe; she had always wanted to do something like this since she joined the hospital staff.

"Are you serious? Of course, I'd love to do it!"

"Great!" Jenna smiled at her. "You'll have five more doctors, and other staff working with you, with a week minimum, and two weeks maximum to plan everything. The budget and plans will be sent to you soon, and you have to be sure you can handle it. Although, the way Katherine was talking about you, I have no doubt you will be up to the task."

"I will," Caroline said breathlessly. "You can count on me."

"Great. Thanks, Caroline. I have faith in you."

Nodding, Caroline excused herself from the room, feeling almost light-headed with happiness. She knew it was a silly thing to get so excited, but she couldn't help it.

A few hours later, at eleven in the night, Caroline was finally done with her work and decided to finish her last task so she could finally go home. She walked out of her office, closing the door behind her.

"Caroline?" asked a familiar voice, and Caroline turned around, surprised at the absence of the usual groan that greeted Klaus whenever he appeared in her sight. She turned around, to see Klaus walking towards her, hands in his pockets.

"What are you still doing here?" He looked pleased to see her, and she supposed she was too; they hadn't seen each other in three days.

"I had a thing, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be out on the town, partying hard in bars and getting unsuspecting girls to go home with you?"

He laughed. "Do you really think so low of me?"

"Yes."

He laughed again. "I'm not like that, love. Plus," he continued, staring at her. "I might be taken with someone else

"Really?"

He looked her over, making her feel self-conscious. "Someone else has caught my eye."

Caroline felt herself start to blush, before quickly changing the subject. "Yeah, well, I have one last thing I need to do before I can go home. Want to come? I just need to check on Annie Lucas and a few other kids. They all like you, they'd like to see you. Assuming they're awake, that is."

Klaus grinned. "Anything to spend time with you, love."

She rolled her eyes and got into the elevator, Klaus following her. "So, Annie Lucas, eh? I haven't seen her file. She seemed fine enough last time I saw her."

The smile melted off of Caroline's face instantly. "She's not, in reality. She was only feeling well enough that day, so we let her go out."

"What's she diagnosed with?"

"She's had thyroid for the past two years."

"She's from here?"

"Yep. She's really weak, for her age. She's fourteen, but she has the strength of a six-year-old."

Caroline sighed shakily, before looking at Klaus. "I'm worried for her. She's getting sicker every day. We're going to try another dose of chemo in a few days, but I'm still apprehensive about her health. She deserves a better life."

"She does," Klaus murmured, before the elevator shuddered to a halt and the doors opened. They walked towards Annie's room together, whispering jokes or making each other laugh quietly once in a while.

Caroline stood in front of the glass in Annie's room, watching her. The nurse on duty had informed them that Annie had fallen asleep around ten, and it was now eleven. Her pale, blonde hair was spread out over the pillows, her thin, worn face looking peaceful during her sleep.

"She always looks like that when she falls asleep," Caroline whispered. "Better than when she's awake. All she can think about when she's awake is her school."

"What about it?" Klaus asked.

Caroline felt a pang of sadness. "Annie liked outdoor sports. She always wanted to go for cross country when she was younger. She was even considering trying out for track when she was twelve. Then the little car called cancer crashed into her."

"Oh, no," Klaus murmured.

"Annie was devastated. I know. I was there when she was diagnosed. It's the worst feeling, you know, when you have to tell someone, especially a kid, that they might not have a chance to live and their lives could be shortened by some disease which wasn't supposed to affect them. And of all the types of cancer Annie could get, she had to have thyroid."

A look of sadness passed over Klaus's face. "I talked to Annie Lucas a few days ago. I was there during her last MRI scan. She…I'm worried for her too. It wasn't easy telling her parents."

"Annie's such a great girl. She deserves a full life, not one restricted to her. She should be able to do whatever she wants, and whenever she wants to. She should be out there, sleeping over at a friend's place, giggling at some lame movie, or hanging out with guys past her curfew or something that makes her feel like a normal teenager."

Klaus smiled sadly, then looked at her. "While I was taking her blood pressure, she told me she had never tried on that stuff called lip gloss before. Isn't that strange?"

"I'll let her try mine," Caroline murmured, then looked back at Annie. She shifted a little in her sleep, muttering something incoherent. The nurse came back and told her everything was normal, and she and Klaus decided to move on.

"I have to check on Dylan, Teddy, and Russel next. Are you sure you want to stick around for this, Nik?"

He smiled. "Of course, love."

She smiled back and moved on, but stopped in her tracks, seeing that Dylan's bed was empty.

"Where is he?" asked Klaus. He sounded apprehensive, Caroline noticed.

"I know where he must be," she muttered, and ran in the opposite direction, Klaus following her. Caroline stopped at another room, this one without a glass window. Caroline turned to him, grinning.

"This," she said. "Is Violet DeLaria's room. Dylan Arnold's girlfriend."

She walked in, ready to say the familiar 'ha!' almost all the kids got, but found her words melt away as she found Dylan and Violet holding hands, lying on the bed, eyes closed, an earphone in each of their ears: the left in Dylan's, and the right in Violet's. The music was still playing; Caroline could hear the faint sounds of Maroon 5 drifting throughout the room. Leaning down, she quietly shut up the music and took the earphones out of their ears. She walked out of the room to find Klaus, watching her with a smile.

"What?" she asked, blushing.

"You're good with them," he said quietly. "The kids. You're a natural."

She turned redder, then smiled. "You're not so bad yourself. I saw you with Lu the other day. You looked like her dad."

Klaus's mouth quirked up at a side, and he shook his head. "Lu's already got a great dad; I've met the bloke, he's a good chap."

She nodded and turned back to the door, closing it behind her quietly. "Violet and Dylan are one of the only good things they've got going on in their lives. Vi has neuroblastoma, and Dylan's got gastric. Both are stage two. She's a good kid."

Klaus breathed through his nose heavily. "They're just kids. They don't deserve this."

Caroline nodded, watching him out of the corner of her eyes.

They checked on Russel and the new arrival, Teddy, soon, and after they were done, Klaus suggested they go down to the cafeteria to get something to eat.

"Coffee for me, please," Caroline said, yawning, and with good reason, it was eleven fifteen in the night. Klaus smiled.

"Don't you want to sleep tonight?"

"I do, but if I have anything else, I'll fall asleep right here on the table."

Klaus's mouth quirked up. "I'll carry you home."

She snorted. "Yeah, cause that's going to happen. You should be lucky we're even talking, you know, one-night stand don't see each other often."

Klaus cocked his head at her. "Do you regret our time together, Caroline?"

She looked at him. "Honestly?"

He nodded.

She smiled. "No, I do not regret our time together. We wouldn't have become such good friends if we hadn't met before, would we?"

She noticed his face had fallen slightly at the word 'friends', but reverted back to his usual easy smirk. She poked him in the chest lightly.

"But don't even think this qualifies me saying I'll go out with you, Nik. You still don't have a romantic bone in your body."

He looked at her, amused. "How quickly you judge me. You wound me, love. Do you really assume that?"

"I don't assume it, Nik, I know it."

He grinned at her. "Well, we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?"

She looked at him, eyes narrowed. "Just drink your tea."

He laughed softly. "Alright, alright."

She grinned, grimacing when he took a sip from his tea. "What?" he asked, noticing her expression.

"Nothing, really, it's just…tea? Really?"

He laughed again. "Tea? That's what you're so fussed about?"

"Yeah. Coffee is much better."

"Unlike you, sweetheart, I don't fancy the idea of myself staying up the whole night after a tiring day at work," he said, raising an eyebrow.

There we go with the whole Britishness again.

She shook her head. "You're an ass."

He grinned. "I've been told."

"Oh? And who has the balls to really say what they've been thinking about you to your face other than me?"

"My sister. And my younger brother. They're both like you. You'll like them a lot, I'm sure. In fact," he said, leaning closer towards her. "My elder brother Elijah is visiting next week, and my sister Rebekah and my younger brother Kol have needled him into bringing them along. It's been a month since I last saw them. Why don't you come? I'd love to introduce you."

The idea didn't sound so unappealing.

Why not?

"Sure," she said, smiling. "I'd love to."

"Lovely," he said. "And one more thing," he added. "Keep in mind that even though they're a bit like you, they can be hard to get along sometimes."

"What are you saying?" she asked.

"That my sister sometimes acts like a bitch, and my brother has the maturity level of a fork and makes lewd comments towards every attractive woman he meets. He's become better ever since he met Davina, though, so you don't have to worry."

Caroline laughed nervously. "And the other brother?"

"Elijah? Oh, he's fine. You don't have to fret about him, he's like a dream to most women. Polite, rich, and charming, what more could you possibly want?

She laughed. "Maybe I like the flames more than the politeness," she said in a low voice.

He lifted his head up, his eyes dancing in interest.

Shit, what was up with those butterflies in her stomach.

"Dr. Forbes?" came April's voice. Caroline looked up. It was the afternoon after her meeting with Jenna, and she was already busy with the plans for the benefit.

"What is it, April?

"You have a delivery," April replied, her eyes shining. Caroline looked at her, confused.

"I'm not expecting anything."

"Oh, you were definitely not expecting this," April said, her eyes twinkling. A delivery man walked in, holding a clipboard and a pen in his hands.

"Caroline Forbes?"

"Yeah," she replied, bewildered.

"Sign here, please."

"I wasn't expecting anything," she said, all the while signing.

The delivery man shrugged and walked outside, and came back in, clutching a large bouquet of red roses.

"What the—" Caroline started, but was cut off as the flowers were dumped into her hand by the delivery man. She spluttered and spat out stray petals, before catching sight of the white card nestled in between the roses, with neat, thin handwriting lettering it.

I can't be romantic, eh, love? I told you I'd take that as a challenge.

I will win you over, Caroline.

I hope you like the roses.

Yours,

Klaus

Caroline couldn't help it; she laughed. "Seriously?" she said, between giggles. April poked her head back inside.

"Dr. Forbes? Are you alright?"

Caroline nodded, then laughed again. "I am, sorry. I just…I'll be right back," she said, dusting petals off of her lap and walking out the door. She walked a few doors ahead of her office and stopped at the room with the shiny plaque over the door saying, 'Dr. Niklaus Mikaelson.'

She snorted.

His name sounded so incredibly, pretentiously British.

She pushed open the door, to find Klaus tapping away at his laptop, a steaming cup of tea at his side. He lifted his head slightly to see who had come in, and his face broke out into a grin. "And she appears," he said, looking pleased with himself.

Caroline walked over to him, hands on her hips. "Flowers?! Seriously, Nik?!"

He looked infuriatingly smug. "You were the one who said I couldn't be romantic, love. I believe I just proved you wrong."

"You—you can't just send me flowers, Nik!"

"Oh? And why not?"

"Flowers are a third date kind of thing! Not an I like you and you don't so I bought these for you to prove you wrong kind of thing!"

"Why can't they be?" he asked innocently. Caroline huffed.

"Oh, be quiet, Nik. You can't just randomly send me flowers. We don't even know each other that well."

"Ah, but one of us is certainly trying to get to know the other very well, isn't he?"

"Nik! I am trying to prove a point here!"

"Then prove it, sweetheart. No one's stopping you."

She growled. "Stop interjecting! Just…why can't you drink your stupid, British tea and let me finish?!"

He had the nerve to actually laugh at that moment, which made Caroline even angrier. "No flowers, Nik! No chocolates, no jewellery, and no other romantic gifts, because we are not dating!"

"So you did think the roses were romantic, then."

Caroline wanted to scream. He had an unfortunate habit of taking notice of the things she didn't want him to take notice of.

"Stop it, Klaus! You—"

"Oh, so we're back to Klaus, are we?" he asked, smirking, leaning back in his chair. Caroline narrowed her eyes at him.

"Fine. Nik—"

"Better," he said, satisfied. Caroline clenched her hands into fists.

"Nik, you can't go around making romantic gestures to me!"

"You said I wasn't the romantic type, and I set out to prove you wrong. What's so wrong in that?"

"Nik, have you ever actually given anyone flowers before? Anyone?"

Klaus frowned, and Caroline felt a spark of satisfaction light up a fire inside of her. "Well, no—" he started.

"Ha! I knew it!" she crowed, and Klaus looked immensely displeased, resentful of his slip-up.

"What does it matter anyway? I told you I would win you over."

"Why? We slept together once, Nik. It was a one-time thing. People do it all the time. I'm sure even you've done it loads of times!"

"You're much more than a one-night stand to me, Caroline," he said. "Even if you were very…pleasurable…that night," he added, smirking.

Caroline sat down in the chair in front of him, hands on the table, blowing air out of her nose heavily, and Klaus's lips curved up at a side.

He was laughing, the pretentious ass. Caroline wanted to throttle him.

She decided to go down the tactical path, making him see reason.

"We work together, Nik. It's just not professional."

"What if I don't care?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not much of a stickler for rules, Caroline, that title goes to my elder brothers."

"But I care," Caroline said earnestly, maybe saying in her mind she didn't completely want it to be true."

Maybe.

Klaus shrugged. "Why?"

That took her off-guard. "What?"

"Why do you care? Have you had a bad work-relationship with someone before?"

"I—no."

"Then why?" he asked, the gleam in his eyes back. "Take a chance, Caroline."

…

Crap.

She hated him. Just when she thought the ball was in her court and she was up by a margin of points, he had to go and spout off some line like that.

And the horrible part was that it was working.

She could feel herself start to consider going on a date with him, maybe even starting a relationship with him.

"Nik…" she tried, then trailed off, not being able to think of anything to say. "I…"

"Like I said, you're much more than a one-night stand to me, Caroline. You're not like any other woman I've ever met."

Caroline laughed humorlessly. "Do you say that to every girl you meet?"

"Perhaps I'm not interested in any other girl," he said, cocking his head to the shoulder.

"Why me, Nik?" she asked. "I've tried to ignore you for the past month."

"You didn't last night," he reminded her. Caroline grimaced.

"And while I enjoyed that, I haven't been the nicest person to you, Nik."

"Well, maybe not the nicest, but that doesn't mean that you despise, me does it?"

"I've screened your calls, not replied to any of your messages, complained about your gift, and basically been a complete bitch to you all this time. Everybody thinks I'm a neurotic control freak with OCD. Why are you so nice to me?"

He looked at her, his mouth quirking up at a side. "I fancy you."

She let out a quiet scoff, closing her eyes in amusement. He leaned closer to her, eyebrow raised.

"Is that so hard to believe?"

"Yes," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Why?" he asked, shutting down his laptop. "You're beautiful, you're strong, you're full of light." He smiled this time, when she looked incredulously dubious. "I enjoy you."

Ah shit.

"You…you can't just say that, Nik," Caroline protested, still trying to keep up an argument after his heartfelt confession about his feelings about her. He cocked his head to the side.

"And why not, love? I was merely being truthful."

"You—you don't even know me."

"Like I said before, sweetheart, I'm willing to get to know you. If you give me a chance, that is."

She huffed playfully, before narrowing her eyes at him. "Just to be clear, I'm too smart to be seduced by you."

He let out a pure, genuine smile. "Well, that's why I like you."

Hey! So chapter 3 complete! Huzzah! Lol

This was a short chapter, and I can understand if it's a bit lame, but I felt like incorporating this one into the story

Anyway, so, Klaus's feelings are out, and Caroline turned into a blushing schoolgirl again

IT'S SO CUTE

But anyway, I digress

Elijah, Kol, and Rebekah are coming to visit, and so, obviously, drama is sure to unfold. I'm planning on releasing chapter 4 in a few days, and it'll probably contain a lot of the Mikaelson siblings and Klaroline (of course!) I'm also definitely going to put in a ship which almost all of you have been asking for, and happens to be one of my favorites as well. Any guesses?

Also, along with the benefit, something else is going to take place. Again: any guesses?

PLEASE REVIEW, it's the only way I can get better and find out if you guys like it

See you soon!

Sophia