So! I'm having a bit of time writing my other story right now and this idea popped into my head so I rolled with it. It's probably just a one shot, but...I have no idea. I could continue it as there's enough material but we'll see if there is any interest. Not super thrilled with the writing but I was letting it flow.

For this story, I'm ignoring season 4/5 and most of season 3 of the Originals mostly because I haven't seen it but also because I heard they were awful. It does follow the canon for the TVD for the most part.

Anyway, enjoy!

2058

"That's feels wonderful."

Decades of tracing his fingers over her skin and he had never waned in his astonishment of how smooth she was. He ghosted over the curve of her bare spine, her head pillowed in her crossed arms. Curls spilled across her shoulders and down her back as he tucked some away and kissed the hollow of her neck. Her body was the canvas he got to paint over and over; a different landscape each time they came together.

Promises of last loves aside, he actually hadn't expected her to make him wait as long as he continued to do so. But this was Caroline Forbes he was in fact dealing with and she was nothing if not thorough. Years as a widow lead into a tentative friendship with him. Emails first, then text messages. They had graduated into phone calls and video chat that spanned nearly twenty years after their tentative and entangled friendship had bloomed.

2022

"If I'm in London, where do I go for the best shopping?"

"Well hello to you too, love." Klaus was taken by surprise by her voice flittering through the line. "You're across the pond?"

She cleared her throat. "Look, if this was a mistake- god, I knew I should have called Rebekah. Even if she hates me she wouldn't let me go dressed badly."

"Where as with me, I'd rather you be not dressed at all." To his surprise a laugh greeted him. "It's good to hear from you, Caroline."

"We talk often enough, Klaus." She reminded him gently. "Although, it's annoying nice to hear your voice. Did you have any idea how pleasant you can actually sound without threatening to rip someone's heart out?"

He listened as she spoke of her growing girls-the pains of raising teenagers and the fear of not measuring up as well as their actual mother might have. Alaric was tense subject as Klaus never really got over the envy of their sham engagement. Bonnie and Elena became large topics of coverage; their marriages and expanding families.

2030

"Ric doesn't see it, but I swear sometimes when Josie is laughing I see Kai's smirk. It gives me the heebie-jeebies."

"I think I would have liked to have met this chap." Klaus simpered from his side of the computer screen.

"Why? Because he would give your psychosis a run for its money?" she blinked her annoyance. "Anyway, did I tell you Elena and Damon are pregnant again? And honestly, thank god. Pregnant Elena is mean Elena and it's great amusement to see human Damon not be able to compel his way out of that."

"If you had just allowed me to be rid of him years ago-"

She pointed her finger at the screen with a scowl. "We talked about this. Friends don't kill other people friends. That's not how this works."

"You know, you come equipped with a bloody large list of rules for being your friend."

"Well you're a vampire, so suck it up."

She still missed her mother dreadfully; had cried for hours into the phone when she found her mother's badge in a box when she moved once. She had told Klaus her secret comfort was sitting in front of the fireplace, her mother's leather jacket pulled tight around her. It wasn't often, but every once in a while, she would speak in soft and pained whispers of Stefan. There was a long simmering resentment there but she would never utter a single word in relation to it.

2038

Through the phone screen, he could see her fiddling with the ring on the chain around her neck. "Something on your mind, sweetheart?"

She licked her bottom lip; another small tell. "Lizzie wants to wear my wedding dress." Her forehead crinkled in the center. "And I want her to wear it. I just wasn't expecting it. I wasn't expecting to-"

"Still be in mourning?" the words were just as painful for him to say as it was for her to hear. His voice was thick as he continued, his jaw clenched. "It's perfectly understandable."

"Actually, what I was going to say was that I wasn't expecting to feel so…" she searched for the right word and looked at him directly. "…free. Like maybe giving the dress a new life somehow releases me from the one I was holding onto so much."

"What were you were holding onto?"

"A memory." She breathed. "I feel apart after my mom died. I even flipped my humanity off and I knew I couldn't, and wouldn't do that this time. I had the girls to think of, and it would have been selfish of me." A small sheen of tears glossed over her eyes and she sniffled once as the gained her bearing. "And I'm not selfish, unlike some people. I felt like I had to honor his memory and his sacrifice. But this is a new start."

"For the dress." He hedged carefully, unwilling to get his hopes up.

"And for me." She smiled and shrugged, the light finally radiating from her face once more. "Maybe more."

On her part, she took great pleasure in advising and admonishing him on his various quarrels and quests he found himself in. After a while, and he would never admit to it, but he found her to be the voice in his head-quelling tempers and forcing him to think through his actions. There were many supernatural beings throughout the Quarter and the world that owed their lives to Caroline. Furthermore, she had helped guide his way through the depths and doubts of fatherhood.

2031

"I have not only a prom to plan and chaperone, but I have two teenage daughters that have a graduation in a few weeks." Caroline raged into the phone as she tucked it between her cheek and her shoulder. "I don't have time to chaperone you in your wild antics across the swamps of the bayou."

"Funny. I don't seem to recall asking for your input into the matter, love." He gritted out on the other end as Caroline uttered a groan of frustration. "Far be it for me to put a dent in you party planning duties."

"I resent that." She snapped dropping the box in her hands onto the floor beneath her and taking hold of her phone once more. "It's not just a party, thank you very much. You would know that if you spoke with your daughter more. I know your like a million years old, but there's this new technology called a cell phone."

"I'm aware." His tone was flat and Caroline could picture his narrowed eyes. "I chat with Hope often enough. Besides, I was explicitly told I wasn't to step foot back into Mystic Falls. Caroline Forbes does not dole out idle threats."

"Don't get cute with me, Klaus." Caroline sighed. "Stop killing people and Elijah won't have to call me to try and corral you in line. Do you think maybe you could try using your words instead of your hands to rip out hearts and snap necks?"

"The bloody witches started-"

"Oh, for crying out loud!" she interrupted, her hand finding her hip. "Be the bigger person instead of the big bad wolf for once."

She found amusement in his siblings' squabbles and often found herself in the middle of them. Elijah was stuck on a pedestal Klaus was content to constantly try and knock over. Rebekah was as spoiled and petulant as ever and Kol was a public nuisance even if he were entertaining. The only sane one in the lot was Freya who had settle down with a family of her own.

2028

"You agreed to give up the daggers, Klaus." Hitting send she tucked her phone back into her pocket. Kol's frantic phone call had gotten her both amused and annoyed but she had promised to text Klaus regardless.

"That was before Kol taught my daughter a spell full of optical illusions."

She studied the message that popped up before responding. "What did she make you see?"

There was a long pause, the three dots dancing as he typed. "Well I don't see how anyone could particularly enjoy waking up to a massive spider crawling across the bed spread."

A loud boisterous laugh erupted from her chest and the shoppers around her in the frozen food aisle stopped to stare at her. "Could have been worse."

"I don't see how."

"She could have made you think you were human."

It wasn't until their respective children were starting were well into their foray into adulthood that Caroline suggested they meet in person.

2040

"I think we should meet."

"Have we not?" Klaus asked with a smirk from the other side of their phone call. He could sense her nervousness with her fluttered responses the entire conversation.

"I'm serious." He could hear the long-held sigh escape her, could envision her lip between her teeth in contemplation. It wasn't often, but they had had the back and forth banter about the scandal it would cause with her friends if they expanded their friendship past their current borders. Klaus found the whole thing ridiculous since they were decades into this.

"And just what would Scooby and the gang think of that?"

"Seriously?" she scoffed. "Fine. It was just a suggestion..."

"I can have my plane ready within an hour." His abrupt but serious interruption had Caroline's sputtering.

"Not here!" rushing across her office, she closed the door and sank into the seat in front of her desk. "Not right now. Gosh, you're so impossible. I just meant, soon." She groaned but settled into her next confession softly. "I want to see you. Somewhere neutral."

Somewhere neutral had ended up being a heart of New York City. They planned for a week during the autumn that coincided with the school's fall break. She had visited a few times over the decades but it was new experiencing it with him. He had greeted her at the airport with a bouquet of sunflowers and she had embarrassingly launched herself into his arms, the flowers slipping from his hands as he gripped her. She looped her arm through his as they leisured through the MET, his face alight with passion as he regaled her with various stories of the paintings and artists. There was a quiet reverence he showed lacing his fingers through hers as they strolled through Central Park in a bustling array of crimson and ginger through the falling leaves.

Their fourth day there, after a dinner consisting of Thai food and very expensive wine that Caroline could not pronounce, she walked to his hotel room door instead of her own. He had quirked up an eyebrow, determined to keep it at her pace, but she had instead rolled her eyes and fisted the fabric of his shirt before rolling her tongue against his. He was embarrassed to admit that he had known exactly how long it had been since the last time and was pleased that once again it was her who took to first step.

Her kisses had been long and languid, a savoring of each other bodies as they mapped the various dips along their skin. He had the time to find the scar on the top of her knee, the sensitive spot at the hilt of her thigh that had her taking in a shudder breath, the warmth of her voice as his name fell from her lips. It had been a startling contrast to their time in the woods so may years prior-then had been all bruising and hard; an explosion of deep-rooted passions being released.

2058

"I can't believe we finally made it to Paris." She grinned as she turned her head to face him. There was nothing but a spattering of twinkling Parisian lights dancing across her cheeks as he tucked an errant stand of hair behind her ear. "It will be every better when we finally make it out of bed and into the city.

His fingers continued their dance down her spin as he smirked. "I suppose I still need to show you what the Eiffel Tower has to offer."

"Yes." She agreed with a solid nod. "But also there's the Louvre-"

"Overrated."

"Happening." She narrowed her eyes with a playful smile as she tugged at the cords around his neck. "I really love to hear you talk about the art as we walk around."

"Far be it from me to deny you." He kissed her then, a gentle tug on his bottom lip as he pulled away. "How long to I have you for this time?"

The trip to New York had been the first of many. They had spent their remaining days in a cocoon of bliss, a snow swirling around their floor to ceiling windows of their hotel room. Caroline had felt they were in a snow globe tangled in sheets unsure where each other limbs began and ended. He had been wonderful and accommodating and it was effortless to forget all the terrible things he had ever done when he was grinning against her lips and whispering in her ear.

Years passed before their next excursion. Still neutral, but Miami had offered dancing and sandy beaches. Chicago was next years later; then Seattle, Lake Tahoe, San Diego, even his compound in New Orleans. It was decades of week-long rendezvous before Caroline allowed international travel. Tokyo had been the first stop in their world tour. The Maldives had been beautiful and India had been transcendent. They gorged on vino and cheese throughout their week in the Tuscan countryside and skinny dipped in the Turks and Caicos.

Biting her lip, she ran her hand along his jaw and cupped his cheek. "Lizzie's son is having a baby." Her brow furrowed, Klaus knew that look of all too well. "Klaus, I think maybe we should take a little break. I'm technically a great grandmother and I have to just pretend I'm some long-lost cousin all the time. It's exhausting."

"All the more reason to stay with me, love." He ducked his head to look into her eyes. "Best looking great grandmother if I do say so myself."

"The girls are getting older." She sighed, her forehead resting against his. "Ric passing away was hard on them. Bonnie and Elena-"

"I know." He offered a half-hearted smile, but it seemed off with his hard line. He had already waited an eternity for her already, accepting the small doses she afforded him throughout the years. What was a few decades more?

X-x-X

2133

To date, this was the longest they had stayed apart.

Being a supernatural dynasty was tough business and Caroline had thought it best to focus on what remaining family she had left. They had an eternity she had said; a never-ending supply of forever. She would never admit to it, but Klaus had the sneaking suspicion she had met someone, or multiple someone's of the course of the years. He would never be able to deny anything that created joy for her and he patiently bid his time.

It was an unwritten rule that she wrote the rules; it would have to be her to come to him when the time was right. He wanted her safe however and had various hybrids and vampires alike keep tabs on her throughout the years. She had decidedly ended that when she had sent all four vampires back to him in a suffering of werewolves' bites and a cheeky pointed letter to back off.

His kingdom had come under attack and fallen multiple times over the decades only to be risen once again by him. It found it be taxing with very little reward or reaping of benefits. Supernatural and humans alike feel at his feet, hybrids were sired to him in unwavering loyalty and he had never felt more alone in his thousand years.

75 years was long enough and he had grown tired of waiting.

He convinced a witch to conjure a locator spell and within a few days he had arrived in a wild, vast open space of Tennessee. The house was small nestled in a valley of mountains, the colors of fall a vibrant cacophony of blistering reds and burnt oranges. A fire was burning in the hearth, it's smoke billowing across the sky as he made his way down a path and through a small fence into the large back yard.

As someone who typically had a contingency plan for plans B, C, and D he found himself at a lose for how to approach her. He hazard that she would be happy to see him, if not annoyed at first but that he could probably persuade her to come around. In the back corner of the lawn is where he found her; her back facing him as she dug in the vegetable garden around him. It was very much hers; a animated display of red and green and yellow peppers, carrots, and tomatoes. He could smell cilantro and basil, and the smallest hint of lavender.

A small breeze swirled around him and he was overwhelmed by the scent of her honey perfume wafting through. A present he had gifted her in Rome, it was nice to know she still wore it after all the time that had passed. She shuffled on her knees, running her hand along her forehead before bracing herself to stand up from kneeling.

As a vampire he wasn't required to breathe, and he logically knew that, but he still sucked in a deep breath as she stood erect in front of him. Three quarters of a century in waiting and he was finally going to see her one more. He had pictures and letters to placate him, but he ached for her smile and all of her light that she showered upon him.

She spun slowly, her apron tucked up in her fisted hand to hold up the vegetables in her makeshift hammock. Dusting her other hand off the side of her dress she took a few steps forward before glancing up. Seeing Klaus standing in front her had her gulping in a harsh intake of air, her hand letting go of the fabric as the vegetables dropped around her feet.

"Klaus."

"Hello, love."

Her face was still everything he had memorized and painted and sketched throughout the years and it was everything he was so focused on; her bright blue eyes, the lips he has spent so much time worshipping, the constellation of freckles he had explored, the soft lines of her cheeks. Closing the short distance, he cupped her jaw relishing in the feel of her skin next to his. Tugging her into his grasp, she coiled her arms around his neck and squeezed as her face nuzzled into his neck.

With that, three things were a realization in quick succession.

She was too warm.

He could decipher the distinct beating of two hearts against his chest.

Strong, beautiful, full of life Caroline was human and with child.