Welp, I am the worst. Do you know the feeling, when you find a story you like and the author takes forever to post new chapters? Yeah, I do too. That doesn't stop me from being one of those. Sorry :)

Anyway, here's Wonderwa- um, the next chapter. Enjoy!


Caroline watched Klaus leave, shoulders hanging in disappointment. When she got the idea of inviting him to the event, she thought he might be able to get an innocent first impression of Elijah without feeling the pressure of needing to talk to him or revealing their secret connection too early. Now he was severely stressed out because he ran into both hidden half-siblings too early, and it was kind of her fault. She was very relieved that Rebekah was still in the dark about this whole matter; if it affected Klaus – a grown man – that much, her moody teen might completely flip out.

She sighed and walked back towards her table. Naturally, way too many people stopped her to talk and congratulate her on her success. She tried to point out Andie's part in planning the event but being humble about her achievements had never been a positive trait of hers.

When she finally reached her seat, Katherine was back there as well and looked at her with what she had learned to recognize as her cross-examination face. Bonnie's look was softer, but even she could not hide her curiosity and worry.

"Okay, spill Care Bare: what did he do?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes and glanced around. The remaining occupants at their table were distracted with their own conversations and Trevor seemed to be terrified of Katherine, looking down at his phone very intently and clutching his drink.

"He didn't do anything, Kat. It's a family matter and none of your business." The brunette raised her eyebrows at her friend's tone and Bonnie frowned.

"Why does Elijah Cadogan want to know everything about him though? What kind of family matter would involve a wealthy lawyer from the UK?"

"Yeah, what does that weasel have to do with him?"

Caroline frowned as well and thanked the heavens that Freya had not returned to the table yet. As much as she had not chastised Katherine before, everybody probably had a limit on how much their brother could be insulted before they cracked.

"Guys, I really appreciate your concern. But it's honestly Klaus' business and I only know because I'm Rebekah's guardian. It's nothing illegal, he isn't in trouble and I'm most certainly fine. Can you please just drop it for now?"

Katherine leaned back in her chair, arms crossed and face unreadable. "I don't know if I like this new habit of yours. Keeping secrets from us isn't something you usually do."

"It's not her secret to share, Kat. We trust your judgement, Care. But if you do end up needing help, please let us know." Bonnie added seriously and Caroline nodded relieved, touched by their concern.

"I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?" The three young women turned their attention to Freya, who sat down and smiled charmingly. Caroline quickly denied any interruption and Bonnie – God bless her – immediately took Freya's attention by talking about some scientific procedure, which was supposed to make brain surgeries much less risky in the future.

Caroline sighed relieved and leaned back, taking a sip of water. There was no doubt that Elijah had shared whatever knowledge he had about Klaus with Freya and she had no idea how she was supposed to get through the rest of the evening.

Katherine, intuitive as always, asked her to check out the bar and she gladly obliged. Poor Trevor was left behind without her, which perhaps was for the better.

Once they ordered their cocktails, Katherine turned to her, face stern. "If he's not in trouble, Elijah has some personal interest in Klaus. But what could they possibly have in common?"

She sighed. "I thought you agreed to drop it, Katherine."

She shrugged, accepting her cocktail with a wink towards the bartender. "BonBon might have, but she also doesn't know what I do."

Caroline frowned. "And what would that be?"

"Let's just say, there is a possibility that I hired one of our company's private investigators to gather some intel on Klaus Mikaelson when you told us about fostering Rebekah."

"You did WHAT?" Some people near them turned their heads at her outburst and Katherine grabbed their drinks, guiding her into the much less crowded hallway.

"I had to make sure that they wouldn't cause any trouble to you. You have no idea how creative scammers can be and what some foster families experience."

Caroline shook her head furiously. "I can't believe that you did this! What, did you think the 14-year-old girl, who has been put through the wringer might rob me? Or her brother, who quit college and sacrifices his own happiness just so he can get custody of her? I knew you thought it was a stupid idea for me to do but I can't believe you went behind my back to sniff around in their lives!"

"Okay I admit, it wasn't my proudest moment. I just wanted to protect you."

Caroline scoffed. "Protect me? How chivalrous of you. So, did your sneaky PI find anything interesting?"

Katherine glanced away, checking how private their conversation was and took a sip from her cocktail. "I don't know how much you're aware of, but it seems that Klaus and Rebekah's mother was involved with some high-profile politician in England before she moved to the States. That politician might be Klaus and even Rebekah's father and after some further digging, he seems to be the deceased Cadogan patriarch."

She paused for a moment and observed her. "You don't seem surprised."

"I'm not. Klaus only knew the name of their biological father and pieced together that he had siblings after-" She stopped, staring at her friend disbelievingly.

"Did you bring up Elijah on purpose when Klaus came over to apologize weeks ago?"

Katherine rarely suffered from guilt – a trait that was sometimes concerning, but very beneficial for her job – but she looked away, no need for a verbal answer.

"I cannot believe this. Just – don't talk to me tonight, Katherine. I can't stand to even look at you."

She walked away briskly, mind racing. She knew exactly how far Katherine could go once she was fixated on something. But the audacity of not only hiring a private investigator to spy to dig up dirt on Klaus and Rebekah and not letting her know about it? No, it was even worse: purposefully dropping Elijah's name in Klaus' presence so he could freak out and go down that rabbit hole of researching his family further. Who the hell gave her the right to do that?


Caroline returned home at five o'clock in the morning. The guests at the gala had started trickling out after midnight, with Katherine being one of the first ones to leave. Fortunately, she had listened to Caroline and not addressed her anymore for the short while she had stayed. Bonnie had been concerned, but Caroline placated her and claimed being busy with planning duties. She knew the conversation was not over yet; Bonnie was not as persistent as Katherine, but she did not like being left in the dark. Besides, her birthday was coming up on Friday and they always organized something for her.

Rebekah was sleeping over at Camille's place, so she would not need to answer any questions about the evening for a few hours at least. She took a quick shower, packed her gorgeous gown into a clothing garment to take it to the dry cleaner on Monday and snuggled into her bed, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the comfy pillow.

Hours later, she was rudely awakened by a horribly tenacious bell ringing in her head. Confused, she opened her eyes, regretting that she had not thought of closing the blinds before falling asleep. The sun was pointing directly in her face and she groaned, throwing the blanket over herself. However, that did not stop the doorbell from ringing and after fuming under her warm safe haven for a minute, she sighed and rose carefully.

She threw a short satin robe over her pajama shorts and tank top and headed towards the intercom.

"Rise and shine, Cinderella. I come bearing gifts if you open the door for me."

She rolled her eyes and pressed the button to let Enzo in instead of answering. While he was making his way up to her floor, she put her messy hair into a bun and turned on the coffee maker.

"So, that's how Cinderella looked after the ball? No wonder that prince needed a glass slipper to identify her."

She threw a dish rag at him and he dodged, chuckling.

"You said something about food?"

He handed her the box, which smelled delicious, and observed her curiously. She pretended to not notice, digging into the pasta he had brought. If somebody met Enzo at a bar or just randomly on the street, they would not expect him to be a fantastic chef or that he had graduated from The Culinary Institute of America. He probably could have opened a rather successful restaurant if owning a café had not always been his ultimate dream.

"So…did something happen last night? This is not your usual mood after completing a job successfully."

"Maybe I'm just hungover?"

He shook his head and tutted at her. "Trick question. You never drink much at work related things and most definitely don't get drunk in the vicinity of your bosses or board members."

That stupid idiot knew her far too well.

"No, everything went great. I just had a little…dispute with Katherine, that's all."

"I know, she called and told me to check on you."

Caroline paused, contemplating her next words. "Since when do you follow orders? Specifically, Kat's?"

He shrugged, walking over to her coffee maker and put one cup under the nozzles. "I might have been promised one free trial defense if I don't ask any questions and just do as she said."

Caroline frowned and reached for her water. "Are you planning on committing a felony in the near future?"

Enzo shrugged and turned back towards her while the coffee maker did its job. "Not necessarily. But having a good lawyer on standby is never a bad idea and I also kind of care about you. So, what happened?"

The blonde shook her head and devoured the rest of her pasta without answering. Honestly, she did not even know what to tell him. If she admitted to having a fight with Katherine, he would want to know what it had been about. And she was not a bad liar per se, but Enzo just knew her far too well. And there was really no reason for even more people to know about the Mikaelson family situation.

Enzo groaned. "Do I really have to beg you for some intel? My life is so boring at the moment and yours is like a freaking soap opera. Bloody hell, give me something to live for!"

"Could you be any more dramatic?"

"Try me."

Caroline sighed and finally reached for her coffee, hoping it would ease her piercing headache. "Kat and I got into a fight because she did something bad."

"Could you be any vaguer?"

"Try me."

"Hilarious, Cinderella. Come on!"

"Did anyone ever tell you how freaking annoying you can be?"

"That's a trick question, right?"

The disheveled blonde groaned in frustration. "Ugh, fine! She hired a private investigator to gather information on Klaus and Rebekah when I started fostering her. And he found something very private – which I'm not going to tell you about it, don't even try – and used it to upset Klaus. And she didn't tell me about it and probably didn't plan on doing so if I hadn't figured it out yesterday."

Enzo let out a low whistle and digested the new information. "Okay. But it's nothing dangerous, illegal or something that could get you in trouble, right?"

She sighed, somewhat appreciating his concern. "No."

He nodded and sipped his coffee thoughtfully. "That's kind of messed up. But hey, that's Katherine for you. You know what she's willing to do to win a case, let alone protect her friends and family. Remember when that father on the school board wanted to blame Elena for something she hadn't done and Katherine basically ended his whole existence? And she regularly claims to dislike her sister. Imagine what she would do to somebody trying to harm you."

Caroline crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. "That's not exactly comforting."

Her friend just shrugged. "I'm just saying. She went about it the wrong way of course, but she really was trying to make sure you didn't end up being used or something else."

"What, should I run to her and thank her for the invasion of privacy and going behind my back?"

He raised his hands in defense at her biting tone. "No, that's not what I was going for. But maybe listen to her reasoning and consider accepting an apology. That is, if she manages to do it. I don't know if Katherine is physically capable of admitting being wrong or if she'll just spontaneously combust."

Caroline snickered and went to the sink to wash the container. "I suppose you're right. I'll give it a couple of days though and I'm not going to be the one, who contacts her first."

Enzo nodded and grabbed the dishrag she had thrown at him earlier to dry his Tupper ware.

Just at that moment, they heard the front door being opened and closed followed by a loud: "Caroline, I'm home!"

The teen was quickly shushed by Camille's velvety voice. "She might still be sleeping, Rebekah. You have no idea when she got back."

"I'm up!" Caroline shouted, amused by the exchange.

The two blondes walked into the kitchen soon after, Rebekah smiling widely when she spotted Enzo next to her. "That's not the company I expected you to have after last night but okay. Much better choice than Nik anyway."

Caroline let her head fall back and sighed deeply, while the other two adults in the room had trouble keeping their giggles in.

"What can I say? The girl has good taste."

"Her brain is literally swimming in hormones and this is the dumbest she'll ever be in her life."

"Hey!"

Caroline ignored her foster daughter's outcry and turned her attention to Camille. "Thanks for watching her, Cami. Would you like some coffee?"

The other blonde of the trifecta smiled and accepted gratefully. While Caroline went to work, Enzo led her to the dining room table and tried to charm the pants off her, like usually.

Rebekah watched the scene miffed. "So, he does have a type. Aw man, couldn't I have been born ten years earlier?"

Caroline chuckled and handed her the bowl with some store-brought cookies she had just prepared. "Then you probably would have never met him. Besides, Enzo's type is 'attractive female'. It usually doesn't go deeper than that."

"I am an attractive female!"

"And like you pointed out so sagely: too young. Now, shoo!"

They spent a rather pleasant early afternoon with coffee, cookies and conversation. Rebekah wanted to know everything about the gala and see photos and Caroline did her very best to neither mention her fight with Katherine nor the run-in with her secret siblings.

She showed them some of the photos she had already gotten for official PR-reasons and then there was a moment, when she wanted to strangle Enzo.

"Holy shit! Who's that?" He exclaimed when she showed them a picture of her table. Knowing immediately that he meant Freya Griffin, she tried to deflect.

"Oh, that's Trevor Porter. He's another lawyer in Katherine's firm, whom she dragged along."

Enzo scoffed. "Not that dude, dummy. That gorgeous angel sitting next to BonBon!"

She rolled her eyes at his antics despite the nervous feeling she got from that topic. "A new doctor in her clinic. Stop salivating on my table!"

Camille, who apparently had recognized Freya as well, looked at her with big eyes. "Wow, did you know she was coming with her?"

"I had absolutely no idea." She answered seriously, the other woman still astonished.

Rebekah looked up from her phone and glanced at the picture as well. "Eh, she's alright. Care, can April come over later?"

Her foster mother nodded and Rebekah smiled satisfied, getting up from the table and walking into her room. The blonde let out a sigh of relief. At least she did not want to know more about her sister.

"Alright, as much as I enjoy spending the day with two beautiful women, I have to go. I've got a date this evening." Enzo grinned and got up from his seat.

"I'm seriously contemplating if we should just neuter you already." Caroline answered, making Camille giggle and Enzo snort.

"Now that would be a disservice to the world. Bye Cinderella. Lovely to see you again, Sunshine." He winked at Camille and left the room soon after.

The bartender shook her head at his disappearing form and then addressed Caroline softly.

"That must have been one hell of a night."

She groaned loudly. "You have no idea."


"Now that's just unfortunate. Have you talked to Klaus yet?" Cami asked, shaking her head in disbelief after listening to Caroline's retelling of the event before taking another sip of her coffee.

The other blonde sighed. "Nope. I thought I should give him some space for now. The whole thing is a mess but them knowing about Klaus and Rebekah's existence has made it even worse.

The young bartender nodded and stared into her cup thoughtfully. Caroline watched her nervously, waiting for her input. It really came in handy to know somebody with a lot of psychological knowledge, who was simultaneously compassionate and rational.

"If they know about them and were trying to get information out of your friend, they will definitely try to make contact sooner or later. The question is: are they looking for a way to secure their wealth or not? They could either try to find out if Klaus knows about the connection, try to pay him off to leave them alone or…"

"Or?" Caroline asked, not knowing if that could get any worse.

"Or they could want to establish a relationship with him and Rebekah." Cami finished and Caroline looked at her dumbfounded.

"Seriously? You think they'd want to meet the illegitimate children of their father?"

Her new friend shrugged and leaned back. "I don't know. But they did suffer some terrible losses in the last few years. They might actually appreciate having some family left and getting to know them. Especially, since Klaus and Rebekah never met their father and were not influenced by his questionable behavior. You've met them both: what kind of impression did you get from them?"

Caroline thought about that for a moment and then sighed. "Honestly? They both seem surprisingly normal for being so rich and well-known. Freya was really sweet and is obviously, super smart but not condescending or anything. Elijah appears to be a bit more uptight, but he does seem to have a sense of humor since Katherine's bitchiness didn't seem to bother him."

Cami quirked an eyebrow at her. "You want to talk about that?"

The other blonde shook her head resolutely and started cleaning up the table. "No thanks, I'm still processing it. But if anybody knows how to deal with Katherine, it's me. And Bonnie, but she's got the patience of a saint."

"Alright then." Cami grabbed her bag and jacket and Caroline accompanied her towards the door. "Thanks for the coffee. If you need to talk some more, call me. Just not tonight please." Cami smiled bashfully and Caroline smirked at her.

"Got a hot date as well?"

The older blonde threw her hair back and shouldered the bag. "I hope so."

"Oh God! Please don't tell me it's Enzo. Honestly, why do my friends always have to fall for that stupid charm of his?"

The bartender laughed and put a calming hand on her arm. "Don't worry, it's not him. Although, he is kind of growing on me. Helps that he's easy on the eyes."

Caroline grimaced. "Just don't tell him; his ego would swell to an immeasurable size."

She giggled and walked through the door. "I can keep a secret."


The next day, Caroline decided to ask Klaus to meet up for coffee during her lunch break. If he declined, she would know that he was not ready to talk about the elephant in the room and she would have to give him more time. Unfortunate, since patience had never been one of her virtues. Lucky for her, he accepted and she sent him the address of a cute little coffee shop near her work building.

She nearly would have been incapable of leaving since one of their lead anchors threatened to quit the show over something miniscule and it took her quite a while to calm his diva attitude down. It might not have been the worst-case scenario, since his female co-anchor was the main draw to the show anyway, but the higher ups would not have been impressed by a sudden exit so close to the charity gala, threatening to over-shadow it with bad publicity.

Out of breath and severely annoyed, she rushed through the door of the coffee shop and spotted Klaus already sitting at one of the small tables by the window.

"I'm so sorry; this work emergency came up and I had to deal with it."

He smiled and she tried not to melt on the spot. She was honestly so pathetic and probably desperate if a simple smile could get her so riled up.

"It's no problem, love. Go get your order, I'm not in a hurry."

She smiled in return and went towards the counter, relieved to only find two customers in the line in front of her. She ordered a caramel latte with a double shot of espresso and observed Klaus while waiting for it.

Something about him seemed…muted. He was not a super outgoing and optimistic person to begin with, but he was also not the type to blend into a crowd even if he wished to. Today though? He seemed invisible.

Her order came up quickly and she walked back to his table.

"How are you, love? Stress at work?"

She offered him small smile and warmed her hands on the cup. "Yeah, but that's not why I wanted to meet."

"No?"

"Klaus…"

He sighed and leaned back, playing with his own cup instead of answering. Then his gaze drifted outside, thousand-yard-stare present and mind elsewhere.

She felt so bad for him. Despite her parents' tumultuous relationship and bitter divorce, she had always known that Bill and Liz Forbes loved her to death. It must be horrible to know your father did not acknowledge your existence, let alone care about you. And then to suddenly be faced with highly successful siblings, who grew up with their existence not being hidden from the world and all the possibilities money could buy. If they had actually grown up happy and beloved was a whole different subject of course.

"I'm so sorry that you have to go through this. Is there any way I could help you?" She finally asked, not able to keep her mouth shut any longer.

He slowly moved his gaze back to her, the tiniest smile appearing on his lips.

"You're taking care of Rebekah and incredibly supportive during this whole mess we have found ourselves in. I don't know what more you could do. I just want you to know how much I appreciate your kindness and honesty. I don't know how I would have managed to stay sane if it wasn't for you."

And in that moment, Caroline knew that she was utterly and totally screwed.


"CAROLINE!"

The young foster mother sighed, getting up from her position on the bed and walking towards the living room and her banshee of a foster daughter. After work, she had prepared some food for Rebekah, who was diligently studying for an upcoming test and then excused herself to lay down for a bit. Naturally, she had not managed to fall asleep anyway. The situation of the Mikaelson family was complicated enough without her developing feelings for Klaus. She really needed to nip those in the bud before it escalated completely. Both of them omitting the truth from Rebekah, who would inevitably find out about it, was just the tip of the iceberg of problems they were currently facing.

She found her teen standing at the kitchen counter, raising a card and looking at her accusingly.

"What is it?"

"You got a birthday card from some guy named Steven."

She smiled weakly and took the card from the smaller blonde. "Oh yeah, my stepfather. He lives in Australia now and probably sent it earlier so it wouldn't arrive too late."

Rebekah put her hands on her hips and frowned at her. "I'm sorry, I think you haven't grasped the seriousness of the situation!"

Confused, Caroline tore her gaze away from the photo of Steven and his dog with party hats on and looked at Rebekah. She actually seemed to be mad about something.

"What situation?"

"Um hello? Your birthday! Why didn't you tell me it's coming up? When is it?"

The older blonde grimaced. Great. "On Friday."

"WHAT? How could you keep it a secret?"

Caroline frowned at the loud tone. Too bad Rebekah could not sing well; her lung capacity was remarkable. "It's not exactly a secret. Also, not really a big deal."

The teenager deflated and looked at her skeptically. "You don't want to celebrate it?"

Caroline shook her head and walked towards the fridge to get something to drink. "Nope."

"But you love parties."

"Not birthday parties. Not mine at least."

"But why?"

"It's… a long story. And you have to study, remember?"

The girl glanced at her books but then followed Caroline towards the couch. "I've got most of it covered. Come on, tell me."

"Rebekah, it's really no big deal."

"Come on, Care. You always want me to open up to you. Why can't you do the same?"

The young woman looked at the teen next to her, eyes big and expectant. She sighed.

"Fine, I'll tell you. You know that I had a complicated relationship with my dad. After he left my mom to live with his boyfriend, I completely iced him out. I was actually really mean to him whenever he tried to reconnect and also pretty cold towards Steven. Well…we made up at my high school graduation. It was pretty great and I spent half the summer with him and Steven and we were able to rebuild the bond we had when I was little. Then he died the day before my 19th birthday."

Rebekah gasped, looking at her wide-eyed. "I'm so sorry, Care."

The older woman smiled at her compassionate words. It was not often that Rebekah dropped her snarky attitude, but Caroline loved when she showed her sweet side.

"It's okay, it happens. I just haven't been in the mood to celebrate my birthday ever since."

The teen nodded and they sat at the couch in silence for a while.

"It must have been horrible to lose a father that loved you so much." Rebekah mused quietly and Caroline stiffened, anxiously awaiting her next words.

"I guess my father just never cared enough to form a bond with me."

Caroline closed her eyes momentarily and then turned to look at Rebekah. She was staring off at the distance with a sad look on her face, looking younger than ever.

She took her hand, getting Rebekah's attention. "His loss."

The teen offered a small smile, but her eyes were still full of sorrow. God, Caroline detested that damned father of the Mikaelson siblings. He brought them nothing but pain despite never meeting either of them.


Two days later on Wednesday, Caroline was already anxiously awaiting the next two days. Thursday was her father's death's anniversary and she was usually awful on that day. Cleaning everything within sight, bossing people around more than usual, arriving at work first and leaving last. One year, she actually made one of the sound guys cry. Naturally, she had apologized profusely afterwards and tried to make it up to him with Mets tickets, but she still felt awful about it. And it was not like she was not aware of her behavior; she tried to reign herself in constantly, but there was just something about this day, where some of her darkest thoughts and most hurtful feelings burst out of her, her usually great self-control completely thrown out of the window. The people at work already knew to interact with her as little as possible on that day.

Friday would be a fully different problem. Bonnie, Katherine and Enzo usually planned something for her to have a special day without it feeling like a celebration. She really appreciated the effort and creativity going into those days. Last year, they had taken her to have a picknick at an old, abandoned building where Bonnie swore she could feel the presence of ghosts. Enzo had screamed in fear like a little girl when a cat came out of the shadows and graced his back, making the girls nearly die of laughter.

This year though? She was in a fight with Katherine – the longest they had ever had –, Bonnie was scheduled to leave for a medical congress in Denver early on Saturday morning and Enzo had managed to catch the flu. Not to forget the whole Mikaelson family drama she always had in the back of her mind.

She closed the spread sheet on her computer and sighed. Maybe she could just spend a nice, quiet evening at home with Rebekah, if she had not made any plans for the weekend already.

There was a knock on the door and she sighed before granting them entrance. Josh's head appeared and looked at her with big eyes. "Caroline, are you busy?"

"You're my assistant, Josh. Shouldn't you know my schedule?"

He blushed and looked down at his tablet. "Um, right, I guess. I mean, it's just-"

She smiled at his fumbling words. "I'm kidding. What do you need?"

He straightened out and seemed rather relieved. "Right, sorry. Someone's here to see you. I told him that you were very busy but he's insisting on seeing you. He's a lawyer and I think he was at the gala the other night."

Caroline stiffened but tried to keep her face neutral. There was no need for Josh to think that she was in legal trouble or anything. "Okay, you can let him in. And please ask Sophie if we can postpone our meeting half an hour."

"You got it, boss." He answered and disappeared through the door.

Caroline took a deep breath, trying to collect her thoughts. She was somehow not surprised about this development, but she had thought it would take a bit longer before anybody from the Cadogan family decided to contact her.

Just at that moment, Josh came back with Elijah Cadogan in tow, dressed impeccably in a dark suit and looking like he just stepped off a GQ cover.

He walked towards her desk as she stood up.

"Thank you for meeting me on such short notice, Miss Forbes."

She took his outstretched hand and gestured for him to take a seat. Josh left her office again and it was quiet for a moment.

"I must say, I quite enjoyed myself at the fundraiser the other night. Your party planning skills are beyond reproach."

He offered pleasantly but she was not able to enjoy the compliment like she usually would.

"Thank you, I'm glad to hear that. Though, I highly doubt that you took time off from your own undoubtedly busy schedule to stop by and tell me how great the gala was."

Elijah chuckled lightly and leaned back, just as Josh returned to the room with two cups of coffee for each of them. Gratefully, she took the hot beverage from him and offered a genuine thank you, just as Elijah did.

They both stirred some milk into their drinks and another silence spread through the room. When she finished putting in the sugar, Elijah cleared his throat and her attention returned to him.

"I assumed that Dr. Bennett would tell you about our conversation topic during our dance. And here I thought I was being somewhat subtle with my intentions." He smiled lightly and Caroline relaxed a bit. There was something disarming about him despite the strict aura and sharp edges of his face. Probably good for a lawyer.

"She mentioned you being interested in my companion of the evening, yes." She answered nonchalantly, taking a sip from her still piping hot coffee. Ignoring the burning pain of her tongue, she put it back down and stared at him inquiringly.

He observed her similarly, eyes definitely searching for something. "Why do I feel like you know more than you are leading on?"

She shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Elijah sighed and proceeded to try the coffee as well. "I don't know if I should be worried about your secretive behavior regarding this topic or relieved."

"Well, if you tell me what exactly this is about, I could help you figure it out."

The lawyer chuckled and clasped his hands together. "Very well. As you may know, my father passed away four years ago. He was not exactly discreet about his extramarital affairs and after a while, curiosity got the best of me and I started digging. Which led me to an Esther Mikaelson, who immigrated to the United States over a decade ago. Unfortunately, she passed away several years ago, leaving her two children behind. As soon as my sister and I moved to New York, I decided to track those children down. I found out that Niklaus Mikaelson was a college drop-out working odd jobs and Rebekah Mikaelson had been in foster care for most of her life, currently residing with a certain Caroline Forbes."

The young woman was at a loss for words. For one, she had not expected for Elijah to basically pull a Katherine and do thorough research on the Mikaelson siblings. But even more so, she had not expected him to just willingly reveal this to her like it was no big deal whatsoever.

"So you just, what, decided to go to the gala to confront Klaus about your connection?"

She asked, tone far from friendly.

Elijah shook his head. "I'm afraid, you are wrong about that. I would have attended the event either way, I was just hoping to get a chance at talking to you. I never would have expected for him to be there as well. My sister was also quite surprised when I informed her about it."

He paused for a moment, observing her, which was now making her nervous. No wonder Kat struggled to win cases against him.

"I just was not certain if the two knew anything about their father. But it seems like they do."

"Rebekah doesn't!" She blurted out immediately, facepalming herself internally.

Elijah nodded. "Only Niklaus then."

She sighed. She had not wanted to reveal anything, but what was the point in hiding it? He would probably just hire another private investigator to collect more intel on Klaus anyway.

"He just found out recently by chance. I don't think he's ready to face the reality yet."

Elijah sighed and nodded. "I understand. It took Freya and me a while to accept the possibility of having additional half-siblings as well."

He reached into his jacket and handed her his card. "If you would be so kind to give him my contact information? I would really like to get a chance to meet him."

She nodded and he thanked her for taking the time to talk to him, leaving her office swiftly. She looked down at the card, where he had written down a private phone number by hand. Alright, now everything had gotten even more complicated.


The next day, Caroline was in a worse mood than expected. She had left her apartment at the crack of dawn, leaving some lunch money and a note for Rebekah. Their floor at work was nearly empty, save for some janitors cleaning and Caroline greeted them with a tense smile. Reaching her office, she turned on the lights and plopped down at her chair, where Elijah Cadogan's business card stared at her accusingly. She had neither informed Klaus about his half-brother's unexpected visit, nor had she relayed the contact information to him. She was not even sure why. Maybe she was worried about his reaction or how this might negatively impact Rebekah down the line. Maybe she was afraid of him accusing her of butting into his business again, despite it not even being her fault.

Her phone vibrated on her desk, and she quickly silenced it. It was her mother. She reacted similarly to Bill's death as Caroline, probably having been at work for hours already. Despite their ugly divorce and pain it had caused her, Liz Forbes had loved him dearly once and his death had devastated her as well.

Caroline decided to shove away all thoughts about her dad and the Mikaelsons to get some work done. She turned on the computer and stayed focused for quite a while, working on budget plans and reviews and scheduling issues. She only looked away twice: once to say good morning to Josh and thank him for the coffee and breakfast he had brought her and once to read Rebekah's text message of arriving at school safely. It was around lunch time when Josh knocked again, cautiously sticking his head through the gap and nearly retreating because of the incensed look she shot him.

"I- I'm sorry Caroline…but you have a visitor."

"Didn't I tell you to not schedule anything today?"

"I didn't! She just showed up-"

He was not able to finish as the door opened fully and Katherine strutted past him, dropping her designer bag on the chair in front of her desk."

"Jesus Josh, grow some balls. Now go and get me a coffee." Her poor assistant did as he was told and Caroline rolled her eyes.

"What do you want, Katherine?"

The brunette shrugged and let her gaze wander around her office, finally landing on her and her and the bags under her eyes, which she had not been able to hide completely.

"I figured you are mad at me already. Might as well come by on the day you won't bother trying to stay calm and just give it to me straight."

Caroline scoffed and turned back towards her computer. "What makes you think I wouldn't have laid it onto you on any other day? What you did is pretty fucked up."

Josh arrived with Katherine's coffee and basically ran out of the room again.

She threw a sugar cube into it and stirred, thoughtfully.

"Okay, I know it wasn't exactly nice to do that. But I won't apologize for trying to protect you."

"Oh my God, can you get off your high horse for a second and just admit when you're in the wrong for once in your fucking life?" Caroline yelled, maybe a bit louder than intended.

Katherine looked somewhat taken aback. "This isn't really about me being right-"

"Yes, it is! You always think it's your way or the highway. If you really wanted to protect me, you would have told me about everything. You would have told me about their family history instead of trying to bait Klaus and let him spiral by researching his father, who never wanted anything to do with him and Rebekah. Did you even stop to consider how that might have affected them? My 14-year-old foster daughter, who was put through the wringer since she was a little child and has enough trauma to deal with already?"

Katherine looked at her defiantly but there was something in her eyes that revealed that Caroline's words did not fall on deaf ears.

"You're right. I'm sorry."

Caroline raised her eyebrows, not having expected her to cave so soon and so easily.

Katherine groaned and leaned back in her chair. "I guess I did not think it through before. There might also be a chance that my judgment was clouded by my dislike for Cadogan and Rebekah's attitude. I kind of forgot that she's just…a child."

Caroline nodded, also leaning back and crossing her arms.

"What? Is that not enough? Do you want me to beg for your forgiveness too?"

The blonde could not help but crack a grin. "I suppose you admitting being wrong and apologizing are enough miracles for one day. We wouldn't want to upset the universe's balance."

Katherine snorted but grinned as well. "Well, thankfully I've got you and BonBon to keep my evil ways in check."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "You know you're not evil. Just kind of ruthless from time to time. You also have more in common with Elijah Cadogan than you think."

Her friend grimaced and Caroline had to swallow a giggle. "He also hired private investigators to find information on Klaus and Rebekah. He told me yesterday, when he asked me to give Klaus his contact info."

The brunette shrugged. "Many lawyers do that. In fact, it's a surefire way to find out information that the opposing side might try to hide."

"Still sketchy though. Especially, if you use it for somebody who you're not planning on taking to court."

"As far as you know."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Katherine leaned forward, game face on. "They come from old money and are probably worried about any claims Klaus and Rebekah might stake to their fortune."

Caroline frowned. "They wouldn't do that. Klaus was barely able to stomach the information about secret half-siblings."

"That might be true. But the Cadogans don't know that and are probably used to people trying to leech off of them. They will make sure it doesn't happen. I highly doubt that he just wants to get to know him."


Going against her normal routine, Caroline left work earlier than usual that day. Naturally, everything was taken care of and she did not have a bad conscience about it, especially after arriving super early that day. She felt like she could hear the collective sigh of relief when she stepped into the elevator and chuckled to herself. At least, her co-workers liked her well enough on the other 364 days of the year.

When she stepped outside into the brisk autumn air, she decided to forgo the company car and took a walk through the block. On one hand, she was relieved that she and Katherine had made up and especially relieved that she had not been the one to cave and let her shitty behavior slide. However, Katherine's assessment of the Elijah situation had not exactly helped to ease her mind. Sure, it could just be that she didn't have an objective look on the situation due to her dislike of the rival lawyer. Or she was more experienced with cases like that and knew what it could lead to.

Without giving it another thought, Caroline stopped a taxi and gave the driver instructions to take her to Bonnie's hospital. Maybe Elijah had experience in faking his sincerity, but she hoped that Freya might be easier to read or at least better at showing her real feelings about the issue.

Once at the hospital, she did not stop at the lobby but opted to walk straight to the elevator. She knew enough from Bonnie to find the neuro-ward without assistance. Once at the right floor, she paused. She had visited her friend at work from time to time, but they had usually gone for a quick coffee break at the cafeteria or she had waited for her to get her stuff from her locker. Freya, being a highly esteemed doctor in her field, probably had her own office, right?

The blonde turned away from the patients' rooms and looked around, following the signs on the wall. 'Dr. Freya Griffin' was supposed to be in room 215 and Caroline swiftly made her way down the hall, walk confident to not make any nurses or doctors wonder about her presence in that wing.

When she finally reached the door with the right name tag, she paused and took a deep breath. In her rush to get to the hospital and determination to talk to the neurosurgeon, she had not exactly thought about what she would even say to her.

"Caroline? What are you doing here?"

The young woman turned around at hearing the surprised voice of her best friend. Bonnie was standing next to an equally surprised Freya, both several medical charts in their hand.

"Oh, hey! I was just…uhm." She stopped, not knowing how to continue. Way to go, Caroline.

"I assume you wanted to talk to me?" Dr. Griffin asked, raising an eyebrow at the younger blonde, who nodded defeated.

"Alright then. Dr. Bennett, would you mind taking a look at Mr. Miller's vitals? He needs to be stable enough if we want to head into surgery later."

Bonnie paused for a moment, looking from her friend to her attending but then finally nodded and stepped away. Caroline sighed. Somebody would demand an explanation later.

"Please, come on in." Dr. Griffin walked past her and opened the door to her office. Caroline did as she was told, taking the offered seat and looked around. The office was rather bare, stuffed with medical books and file cabinets on one wall and a big window on the other. Behind the desk, Freya's diplomas were hanging on the wall. There were two picture frames next to her computer screen. She could make out what seemed like a family portrait of two dark-haired boys and a blonde girl – probably Elijah, Freya and the deceased Kol as children. The other photo was obscured from her view.

"Well, how can I help you, Miss Forbes?" Freya's voice brought her back to reality and she turned to look at the young doctor, who was observing her thoughtfully.

Caroline sighed. "I talked to your brother yesterday."

Freya raised her eyebrows. "You did?"

The younger woman nodded. "Yes. I'm sure you know what it was about."

The doctor nodded and leaned back in her chair. "I do. I'm sorry that he bothered you about the issue. I told him to drop it."

"You what?"

Freya's face hardened. "I told him to refrain from reaching out to the Mikaelson kids, just like I had told him before we both relocated to the States."

Caroline frowned. "But why?"

The surgeon glanced at the picture in front of her and then looked back at Caroline. "Miss Forbes don't be offended but I have no intention of revealing anything private about my family. But you might know some of our history if you did any research at all. I have had to deal with much tragedy in the last decade and am not willing to suffer any more losses. Thus, I am not willing to contact any potential siblings my father has begotten with his philandering ways and get attached to them in any shape or form. The less I know about the Mikaelsons, the better."

Caroline was stunned. While she kind of understood Freya's feelings, it did surprise her how different she and Elijah approached the whole situation. While the lawyer seemed eager to meet Klaus and subsequently, Rebekah, Freya seemed to more than shy away from the possibility – she actually feared connecting with them.

"I…I get where you're coming from. But how do you suppose that will work? Your brother is trying to reach out to them already. What will you do if Klaus decides that he wants to meet him? Are you just going to pretend like they don't exist?"

The young woman leaned forward on her desk and stared her down. "Frankly, that is none of your concern and between me and my brother."

Caroline mimicked her pose, not planning on being intimidated by the initially pleasant woman.

"It is, actually. Rebekah is my foster daughter and anything happening to her concerns me. She already lost her mother at an early age and feels like she was unwanted by her father. I'm not going to let her know that she has half-siblings, who know about her existence but don't want anything to do with her."

Freya frowned at her words, but she did not answer. The two women sat in silence, blue clashing with green, stares unwavering.

The doctor was the first to yield and she leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. "I admire how protective you are of the girl. I understand that she had many hardships in her life, but would you prefer for her to meet me and then be disappointed when I can't bond with her? Wouldn't that be worse?"

Caroline shrugged. "That's on you to decide. As of now, she doesn't know anything about this situation. But if your brother and Klaus hit it off, we'll sooner or later have to tell her. I'd urge you to think about it some more. You decided to ignore Klaus and Rebekah's existence to not get hurt again, which I understand. But you're robbing them of the chance to get to know members of the family they never had and yourself of getting to know two exceptional and kind-hearted individuals. You'll regret it if you don't give them a chance."


Later, when she was finally at home and had changed into some lounging wear, Bonnie called her for the sixth time. Feeling bad for dodging her friend's calls and keeping her in the dark about the situation, she picked up.

"Care, finally! I was worried and honestly, a bit annoyed."

"Which you have every right to be, Bon. Listen…"

"I know, I know. You can't tell me because it's about Klaus and Rebekah. I figured as much."

Caroline sighed and then she decided that Bonnie might as well just know as well. While she could keep a secret just as well as Katherine, she was definitely more understanding and compassionate and could offer some advice beyond 'They want to protect their assets'. Besides, she had worked with Freya for a while now and could probably assess her behavior better than she could.

There was a moment of silence once Caroline finished her short summary. Bonnie cleared her throat. "Wow, okay. That's not what I was expecting."

"Huh? You did not think I would tell you, that my foster daughter is the secret love child of your role model's father?"

Bonnie chuckled and Caroline relaxed somewhat. Her childhood friend somehow always managed to calm her down and make her feel safe, even if they were just talking over the phone. She truly was a gem.

"Not exactly. But that's quite the situation you've gotten yourself into against your will. How are you holding up? And how is Klaus dealing with this?"

Caroline smiled. "I'm fine; just worried how that will affect Rebekah once she finds out. Klaus is…uhm, dealing with it, I guess? I was quite worried, but he seems to be coping better than when he first found out."

Her friend tsk-ed on the other line. "I'm not happy about Kat's involvement in all of this, but at least it was coming from a place of concern."

"Yeah, that's the saving grace. So, what do you think? Will Freya really not want to meet them?"

Bonnie sighed. "I don't know. She's rather closed off about her private life and it's really no wonder. Of course, the hospital rumor mill is worse than any high school and pretty much everybody knows about her husband and family members' deaths. It's actually astounding, how well she's holding up and how fantastic she is at work."

Caroline smirked. Bonnie really seemed to look up to Freya and she might tease her about a possible crush at another point.

"But she's not a bad person, Caroline. From the way she interacts with patients alone, she just has a big heart. You know, surgeons aren't usually the most compassionate people. And honestly, Elijah also didn't strike me as being some awful corporate asshole when we talked at the gala. The situation's not exactly easy for them either."

Caroline would have loved to continue the discussion, but Rebekah trotted through the front door at that moment. The young foster mother thanked and said goodbye to her friend and welcomed the teen, who was carrying several bags, home.

"Hey there. How was your test?"

The younger blonde dropped her bags on the counter and flipped her hair back. "I'm pretty sure, I aced it. Honestly, I could just skip some grades and get straight into senior year."

Caroline chuckled and watched her curiously. "We'll talk again when you are dealing with calculus. Is the allowance you're getting too high?" She said and nodded at the bags on the counter.

"Oh, no. In fact, you could probably raise it since I've been a model daughter in the last few weeks. Jenna was impressed by my grades so far."

The young woman smiled and took a seat at one of the stools at the counter. "True. We'll talk about it if you keep that up. So, what did you get?"

"This" Rebekah started as she began to unpack the bags. "is everything we need for a perfect girls' night. I've thought about some movies we could watch, ordered some desserts from Enzo and got enough greasy snacks and sugary drinks to wreak havoc on our skin."

Caroline was bit perplexed, watching Rebekah arrange her favorite snacks and desserts on the small living room table.

"Okay…but you do know that tomorrow's a normal school slash workday? We can't exactly stay up long."

Rebekah shrugged. „It's like, 5:30. There's plenty of time to watch at least two movies, order pizza and devour all that." She said and looked at Caroline expectantly.

The foster mother sighed. "Why the sudden need for a girls' night? I thought you wanted to go to the mall with April?"

The teenager crossed her arms behind her back and seemed hesitant. "Well…I figured – I just thought that this day might be hard for you and wanted to cheer you up. And since I can't exactly hit a bar with you or something…" She shrugged and looked at her, eyes uncertain about her reaction.

Oh, this family would be the death of her. Both Mikaelsons were so rough around the edges at first sight but so very sweet and thoughtful once one got to know them better. Caroline had to fight especially hard to keep her tears at bay, her eyes watering, nonetheless.

Rebekah noticed of course and seemed alarmed at first. Then she approached her foster mother determined and hugged her. What had been difficult before, was now a sheer impossible feat and Caroline could not help but let out silent tears of sorrow while she was holding on tighter to the girl.