Author's Note: So here we are. At the end of the story.
I didn't expect this to be so emotional but it is. This is a ship that I have loved and love so much and that has inspired me to write and share this story. A beautiful ship and a beautiful fandom. It is bittersweet to finally get to the end. But all good things have to come to an end someday.
A few days ago I received a private message telling me how Songbird won a KC award. For best angst multi-chapter story. In the past this story has also gained another Klaroline Award and just like back then I feel just as grateful if not more since this is the best farewell this story could ever get. Thank you! For reading and nominating this story. For voting. For loving this story so much. It is overwhelming and I can't express how honored I feel.
I want to thank everyone that read and reviewed this story. Everyone that stayed for the whole journey, through my admittedly slow updates and all the ups and downs, and I hope that the end will be just as fulfilling.
.
.
Songbird
Summary: She asked for his protection. He gave it to her. But with Klaus Mikaelson everything came with a price and into his web Caroline Forbes went. However that was only the beginning. Mafia!Klaroline AU/AH.
...
Previously in Songbird
...
"And what do you have to give in return for my protection love?" Klaus asked and Caroline pursed her lips together in defeat.
"Nothing. I have nothing," she admitted.
Klaus trapped her chin between his fingers and tilted her face up. Their gazes met.
"That's where you are wrong sweetheart. You have more than nothing. You have everything," he told her with a soft voice that left her breathless.
"You have yourself," he said, his eyes glowing with expectation and he waited until she nodded.
And just like that what she had told him earlier that night proved to be wrong. She had claimed that he would never have her.
And now she was his.
In order to escape the demon, she had given herself to the devil.
.
.
This was her. The woman known as the mistress of the King.
Caroline Forbes.
And this was her story.
…
For you, there'll be no more crying,
For you, the sun will be shining,
And I feel that when I'm with you.
...
~Epilogue~
...
It's alright, I know it's right
To you, I'll give the world
to you, I'll never be cold
...
Adulthood always stole things from childhood. Until all that was left from children was shades of memories and grown-ups walked instead in their shoes. Adults that had lost so much. Lost innocence, lost memories, lost loves, lost homes.
Life wasn't that much different for Caroline Forbes either.
There were things she had lost and could never find again.
Her mother's song was one of them.
...
Mystic Falls
December 1996
The storm was raging outside the window and every thunder was making her jolt up and clutch the blanket and her teddy bear tighter.
Caroline was afraid to go to sleep in the dark but more so she was afraid to sleep like this. She was feeling as if she couldn't breathe.
She looked around scared knowing it was irrational to feel that way. After all, she was a big girl now. She was six years old and big girls shouldn't be afraid of the dark and the storms. Her mom surely wasn't afraid.
When the door creaked open she jumped up with a muffled scream only for her shoulders to relax when Elizabeth Forbes came in her room with a knowing comforting smile.
Caroline lowered her head and sniffed hugging her sort bear close and bit her lip when her mom sat down at her bed and gently brushed her hair away from her face.
Her mom was so different when she wasn't wearing her uniform and Caroline preferred her that way.
"I don't like storms either," her mom confessed and Caroline looked up surprised. Her mother was smiling.
"In fact, I used to be terrified of them," Elizabeth Forbes confessed and Caroline blinked because she knew that her mom was not afraid of anything. She was the bravest person she knew.
"Not anymore?" she asked her mom with a soft voice and sighed when her mother took her in her arms.
"No. Not anymore."
Caroline moved on the bed and her mom lied down with her, holding her close. Another thunder and Caroline whimpered.
"My mom taught me how to not fear storms or… anything else really."
Elizabeth Forbes shrugged as she admitted that and Caroline looked up curiously. She wanted to know how to do that too!
"It's pretty easy really. When I am sad or afraid I do what my mom told me and all the fear goes away. Do you want to know what it is?"
Caroline nodded eagerly and her mother hummed.
"I sing my favorite song until it makes me happy and chases away the dark," her mom winked at her and Caroline giggled.
"Daddy says your singing chases away everyone."
"Well your dad doesn't know any better," Elizabeth Forbes snorted indignantly and then cleared her voice and sang.
...
And the songbirds are singing, like they know the score.
'Cause I feel that when I'm with you, It's alright, I know it's right
Caroline made herself comfortable in her mom's embrace and inhaled her scent. She loved her mom's smell. It made her feel safe. And warm. She smelled like vanilla and cookies and Caroline really loved cookies.
She didn't know how much time passed but her eyelids grew heavy and the storm outside her window was more of a soft tapping on the window now that actually felt nice to listen to.
Her mother gently detangled her from her arms and put her head carefully on the pillow making sure not to disrupt her as she also covered her and her teddy bear with the blanket.
"Mom?" Caroline mumbled sleepily.
"Yeah?"
"Will you always be with me?"
Liz smiled and kissed her forehead.
"For as long as I can."
Caroline's eyes grew open again, the fear suddenly coming back, stronger than before.
She gripped her mom's hand making sure she wouldn't leave her.
"What if you can't?"
Elizabeth Forbes sat back to the bed and kissed her hand that now held her tight.
"Then you will be strong," her mom said, "and you will know that wherever I am I will still be with you."
Caroline stared at her mom's serious face and she knew this was a promise and her mom never broke a promise. Her hold eased up but she still intertwined her fingers with her mom's and she closed her eyes and got comfortable in the warmth of her covers.
"I love your voice mommy," she sleepily said and it was her mom's laughter that lulled her to sleep after all.
"You are probably the only one."
After that night when Caroline was sad or unhappy or afraid she didn't sing her favorite song. She closed her eyes and thought of her mother singing to her instead. And when she was truly happy that music and that song would come alive in her mind and she knew she would be okay.
After her mother's death, the song has been muted. She had never heard it in her mind ever again and no matter how much she tried she could not force that lively memory to come alive.
So instead she sang herself. And yet that song was gone.
And with it so was home.
Chapter XII: The Songbirds are singing
White and yellow bright lights hang in strings all over the gardens.
The silk of the tents was almost transparent and tables were set everywhere. Candlelight and fine crystal. Everything elegantly set. People were laughing and smiling. Music was softly played.
The darkness of the falling night was illuminated by the spotlights, the fires in the torches and the starlight itself.
Everything was shining, glowing and glittering in soft hues of gold and cream and…he absolutely hated everything.
Klaus Mikaelson kept his distance and watched with uninterested eyes the romantic setting all around him. His little sister had transformed the gardens of his estate in her wedding venue.
She had not taken a no for an answer of course. This was her dream wedding after all. Marrying the man of her dreams and all that romantic nonsense.
So everyone had fallen in line. No matter Rebekah's tantrums, her inner perfectionist's panic attacks and her destructive nature in the face of wedding catastrophe. No matter her insane expectations she was in charge and may God show mercy to anyone that would mess up the slightest thing of her so perfectly planned celebration.
They had all collectively killed anyone that could have been a threat tonight and Rebekah had hired a wedding planner to transform the gardens into her fairytale setting.
It was joy and love all around.
The sound of the microphone adjusting once more annoyed him but not as much as what followed next.
The married couple was about to share one more dance as Rebekah's favorite singer, hired to sing for her wedding, started humming slowly as the orchestra played the instrumental music.
The humming turned to words and the words crashed over Klaus like waves that swallowed him whole.
…
Give me love like her [1]
'Cause lately I've been waking up alone
…
Klaus gripped his glass tighter. Something tightened around his throat. Like a noose. Like a noose that was constantly wrapped around his fucking neck suffocating him and not allowing him to live, to breathe, to even fucking be.
He closed his eyes and tried to loosen up the constricting muscles of his chest that threatened to burst leaving the gap in his heart exposed for all the world to see.
Everything was loud and irritating. People believed this to be music but it was nothing but torment.
Caroline had sung that song once.
How pathetic was he that he dreamed of her voice in his waking moments and he dreamed of her every time he closed his eyes. Every sound, every song, every whisper was marked by the echo of her songs.
By the memory of her touch, her kiss, her light.
He looked around at the hollow lights and the hollow happiness that was so real for everyone else here except him and it all paled in comparison.
She wasn't here.
She used to be here. She used to walk in these gardens that were far more luminous in her presence than were now.
Caroline used to sing in the gardens too, Klaus remembered. A long time ago.
…
Give me love like never before
'Cause lately I've been craving more
And it's been a while but I still feel the same
…
And how truly pathetic was he that he had memorized every song she had sung and found that nothing could compare to her melody?
Klaus watched straight ahead and tried to contain the monster that no longer screamed inside him.
It didn't rage anymore. It didn't roar. It only pitifully wailed now. Broken by her absence as everything else in his life was.
Three years had passed since she had left and he couldn't imagine how he had even survived a day without her.
If only his enemies could see him now.
He was defeated.
He was totally and utterly defeated.
…
Maybe I should let you go
No I just wanna hold ya
…
He looked straight ahead and the pang in his heart was painful as if a bullet lodged in the muscle. He watched Marcellus dancing with Rebekah.
His sister looked happy. They both did. After all those longs months of her recuperation, Rebekah was now standing on her own two feet again and was claiming her happy ending.
A part of him envied her.
A part of him smiled for her. Sad a smile as it was.
And maybe he could take in the beautiful newlyweds dancing with a more lighthearted mood if it wasn't for that redhead singer his sister adored and now sang live on stage.
That dude really irked him.
"We wouldn't want to ruin our sister's big day brother so refrain from shooting the singer tonight Niklaus," Elijah Mikaelson's voice carried mirth and a hint of caution knowing that humor aside this wouldn't be such an impossible thing to happen.
Klaus ignored the need to glare at his brother that now stood beside him and watched Marcel and Rebekah dance with a teasing smile on his face and instead he gulped his champagne down while he decided to direct his glare to the singer instead.
"Tomorrow then," he only said and Elijah smirked.
Rebekah threw her head back at something Marcel had whispered in her ear and she laughed. It was enough for both him and Elijah to look at her and smile too.
Tonight was her night indeed and no one was allowed to ruin it.
Elijah squeezed his shoulder and Klaus nodded at him. This was a new start for their family. Rebekah deserved all the happiness in the world and she was going to get it.
Someone from them should.
Klaus watched as Elijah left and went to mingle with the guests that believed this to be a great opportunity to gain favors but Klaus was not in the mood for such a thing.
The only reason he was even in this celebration, to begin with, was the fact that Rebekah had demanded it and he couldn't refuse her.
He had become a sort of a recluse in the last years.
He only cared for expanding his empire and ensuring his family's survival and what hurt the most was that he knew that there was a guardian angel looking out for him from afar. An angel set out to punish all those that would seek to harm him and his family but while she would reach out to Marcellus and Elijah she would still keep her distance from him. And in doing so he kept diving more and more into his self imposed loneliness that was vast and unending without her.
He just hadn't expected this to be so painful and he had expected it to be devastating, to begin with.
He should be used to this pain by now but somehow he wasn't impervious to it and the memories a simple song sang in a wedding could bring back to him.
Caroline should have been here tonight. By his side. And maybe in another life, in another fairytale ending it would have been them dancing and laughing and getting their happy ending.
And maybe he could have gotten that ending.
If he had been deserving of it. If he hadn't wasted it away.
This pain was raw. It was real. It was bleeding through his darkness, his shadows, his soul.
Every day he woke up with only one thought. To go get her back. To search for her. To find her. To bind her to him either she wanted it to or not and every day he knew that he would never do that to her. He had let her go because that was what was best for her and that hadn't changed. So every day he wanted her back and every day was one more lost day without her.
And Klaus wished for the first time he could forget.
All the things he remembered and all the things he once hated...and all the things that reminded him how nothing could compare with how much he missed her.
…
To memory now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
…
Detroit
March 2013
It was night and somehow they had found themselves in the park, sitting on a bench, facing each other in the dark.
It was dangerous to be out in this park this time of the night but nothing was as dangerous as him and Caroline seemed to know this enough to feel…safe.
And he…well he hadn't felt this relaxed in ages.
He had been chasing her, trying to get her to give him a chance and after the stunt, Rebekah had pulled by trying to scare and blackmail her into submitting to him he thought he had lost all chance but it would seem that the fact that he put his sister in her place gained him a respite with Caroline.
It wasn't enough to get into her good graces or win her heart. Not by a long shot.
He knew it would not last.
But for tonight…it was enough.
"So you just want to talk. About my hopes and dreams," she nervously tapped her hands on her knees, "what about yours?"
He simply shrugged as if he didn't have any or even worse as if he was shrugging his away.
Caroline narrowed her eyes and he tensed. It was as if her gaze was penetrating the walls he covered his darkest secrets with.
"You have so many people around your orbit. Begging for you to notice them. Why me?" she finally asked in a low voice, filled with curiosity that sparked a weird sensation in him. It was warmth. It was soft. It was something he should be incapable of feeling.
He just couldn't name it.
He stared at her. Seriously. He could avoid her question. He could manipulate the truth. He did it all the time.
But he couldn't. Not with Caroline.
"You have something they don't."
She arched her eyebrow in question.
"Honesty," he simply said.
Her eyes scanned him for a moment.
"Are you really that lonely Klaus?"
His breath was caught in his chest. Uncomfortably tight.
But then all he had to do was gaze into her clear eyes and the weight lifted. He could breathe again.
"Not tonight… Not with you."
She couldn't understand it then. But for someone that was always utterly alone, such fulfillment was a trap. Because he would not let her go now. Not when she filled that hole in his heart like no other ever could. Like no other ever would.
Not when he would need her to breathe.
...
Give a little time to me or burn this out
We'll play hide and seek to turn this around
All I want is the taste that your lips allow
…
My, my, my, my, oh give me love
…
Marcel twirled Rebekah around and Klaus watched as Elijah interrupted their dance so to claim their little sister for a spin too.
Marcel didn't seem too happy about it but Rebekah looked happy and her new husband didn't seem to be able to refuse her anything.
Marcel Gerard loved his sister. More than anything. More than anything else he wanted or craved or…hated.
'Love,' Klaus thought.
A curse. A remedy.
Poison itself.
Pain.
Pain sharp. Unrelenting.
…
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover…
…
Flashback
"How do you care for me? In what way?" Caroline pressed and Klaus seemed stunned. As if she was talking to him in a foreign language he could not understand.
"You put your family first and you always want to win but I don't want to be a game. I want more. More than being a trophy for you to parade around. More than a challenge and certainly more than a conquest," she insisted, "it is so easy to lose myself in you but I want someone to care for me with no strings attached and not selfishly. And maybe I want too much and maybe it is me that is being selfish here but you always ask me what it is that I want. So this is what I want," she came clean.
"So can you tell me that there will be a day that you will be able to give me more than this? To give me yourself without holding back? Scars and wounds and all? Even healing? Can you tell me it is worth the wait? Should I even wait?" Caroline asked shedding her armor down for the first time in years. This was her. Bare and honest. No pretenses. No middle ground. She wanted everything. She wanted him. But she did not want to let go and turn to a shade because of love. That kind of love was not the kind she wanted. And if this was the only thing he could give she would not take it. And she would not allow him to pretend that he was giving her what she wanted either.
Caroline faced him and raised her chin up. Her heart was pounding so fast and so hard.
"Above your Kingdom and your crown. Above everything you hate. Can you care for me more than that?"
More than that he thought. Much more than that.
It didn't compare. It couldn't compare. Not back then. Not now. Not ever.
…
give me love, love me…
...
Yes, the pain was unending. It was deep. It was depriving him of breath.
"Are you really that lonely Klaus?"
The glass cracked in Klaus' hand and the blood stained the white tablecloth.
"Above everything you hate. Can you care for me more than that?"
Little did he know back then…From the very start. To the very end. He already had her answer but he had been too blind to see it. To recognize it for was it truly was.
Not until it had been too late.
…
My, my, my, my, oh give me love
My, my, my, my, oh give me love
…
It was love.
France
Paris
…
My, my, my, my….oh give me love
...
The music from the radio drifted in the air like a vibration of a memory she almost remembered but could never forget.
Caroline Forbes stood in the balcony of her luxurious studio apartment with the panoramic night view of the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile and far beyond she could stare for hours the incredible sight of the Eiffel Tower standing tall in the distance casting its light in the darkness giving Paris a beautiful majestic glow.
The night was warm and the last gulp of her martini had left a sweet desire humming in her bloodstream. Her bath had relaxed her enough, her damp hair was still dripping on her shoulders and as Caroline's eyes kept taking in the breathtaking view of the city of lights she let the peaceful feeling of completion that always came in the aftermath of danger envelope her whole.
The thrill had washed away and all that was left was blissful silence.
She set her martini aside checked her phone and smiled. She was certain that Gerard would appreciate her wedding gift the most even though Bonnie had berated her for hours.
Rebekah's wedding.
Caroline wrapped her silk robe tighter around her body and smiled. Who would have thought… Klaus Mikaelson had given in and allowed Rebekah Mikaelson to marry. She could pretend this was proof enough that miracles were possible but she knew better. She knew how Klaus was capable of sacrifice and of putting those he loved first even it went against his desires and selfish instincts.
He was capable of love. Of care. Of gentleness.
As he was capable of murder and mayhem but who of them wasn't anyway?
Caroline rolled her shoulders letting the last remnants of exhaustion wash away. Her team had secured the premises and her cleaning crew had taken care of everything that could be tied to the last mission she supervised.
Bonnie herself, despite her grumbling, had cleared up all the records and now Caroline could focus on new investments and maybe distract herself with a few shopping sprees that her security team had learned to anticipate with dread by now.
The last month had been challenging but that was probably because she had broken her own rules. She had let it become personal and as Bonnie Bennett pointed out that wouldn't have happened if Klaus Mikaelson wasn't still her one and only weakness.
'Where have you left your heart Caroline Forbes?' was what her best friend had asked her because according to Bonnie she could pretend all she wanted with everyone else but not with her. She had left her heart back in Chicago she had then told her and this was why it had been easier for her to play at being heartless now.
Bonnie's words echoed in her mind like bullets being shot in the dark.
...
"You go around pretending as if you have everything sorted out but you are like half a person," Bonnie ranted, "I am so tired of seeing you struggle like this but at least most of the time you don't go on suicide missions yourself."
Bonnie threw up her hands in the air desperately.
"Agents Care? Freaking agents? After your whole mess with Vaughn you go and do this? How much leverage can we pull out of our asses to fix this? And all that for whom?"
"Bon-"
"Don't 'Bon' me right now! Don't make it personal!" she sarcastically bit out, "this is your red line and god forbid anyone of us crosses it and here you are bleeding out both mobsters and Interpol agents torturing the hell out of them."
Caroline's eyes darkened. There was that sort of judgment in Bonnie's words. The kind of guilty conscience that Bonnie had and expected from her to also have but Caroline had crossed that divide a long time ago.
There were things she didn't regret. Things she would never regret. Things Bonnie Bennett would never understand.
This was one of them.
"I've done worse," she reminded Bonnie that stilled.
"This is what scares me. You have and it doesn't faze you," Bonnie surmised and then shook her head, "it doesn't make you happy either…so you know what? Instead of sticking out your neck like this for him maybe you should actually go back to Chicago. God knows you want to. You have me stalking freaking Klaus Mikaelson for crying out loud! And I can't believe I am about to say this but go but he loves you! He still waits for you. So go to him!"
"I can't do that…"
Bonnie approached her carefully and focused an inquiring gaze at her.
"What are you so afraid of Care?"
Caroline said nothing afraid that her best friend could see deep into her truth. The truth that still broke her apart and left her with a huge hole in her heart.
Bonnie advanced at her until she faced her.
"You can be quite heartless when you want but you can't pretend with me. He is your weakness Caroline and in our trade weaknesses of this kind can and will be exploited. All it needs is this information to get out," she warned her, "so either put a stop to it or nullify it by actually acting on what you feel instead of running away."
Caroline closed her eyes.
Klaus Mikaelson used to think love was a weakness too but she knew better. It was strength and contrary to what Bonnie believed she never pretended to be heartless.
Yes, she had learned how to steel her heart and guard it with care and maybe she had left that organ of fire back in Chicago but it was still not the time for her to return.
There were times she wanted that more than anything but it wasn't time yet.
She hadn't faced all her demons yet.
The evil King of her story still waited for her but she had yet to don her own crown and she would not return until she would.
The next time she would face Klaus Mikaelson she would be as an equal.
Till then she knew her heart would be perfectly safe in the hands of the man that had set her free and in the meantime she would be there to watch after him in any way she could.
She knew Klaus kept an eye and an ear out for her but she did the same for him too. And now she could do that without making herself known.
Except from the times she wanted it to.
This was one of those times. She had first reached out to Elijah Mikaelson himself, relishing in surprising the one man that could never be surprised and always held all the cards in his hands.
In the last years, she had tried to found her way and so she did. While the Mikaelsons dealt with their own criminal activities that included dealing with guns, drugs and anything else that could be sold and bought she had found out something far more expensive and delicate to trade with.
Information.
It all started with her and Bonnie.
Klaus had taught her how to exist in the belly of the Underworld and had shown her the ropes but Caroline knew that Bonnie's hacking talents were a treasure that could provide them far more leverage than any gun and any carnage could give to any criminal mastermind.
In truth, it was only a matter of time before Bonnie would find herself in lots of trouble with her ending up being snatched away by someone that would want to use and abuse her talents. Either it would be an intelligence agency or someone far more dangerous even.
Bonnie knew it and so did she. So before that would happen they decided to act. They became a team. They became unstoppable and made sure they would also become untouchable.
Bonnie at first was reluctant to follow her lead and it took some convincing but in the end, even Bonnie could see that Caroline now was able to pull strings that she couldn't. Being Klaus's student had given her an edge that Bonnie feared but eventually admired and respected and soon both of them moved forward.
Caroline herself assured her that they wouldn't have to follow on Klaus' footsteps. She didn't frown upon Klaus' handiwork of course. He was a master at what he was doing and what he had created. But she knew that she couldn't just follow in his footsteps. If she had to shine she had to create her own empire and starting from scratch meant that she had to follow a different strategy.
Besides, the crudeness of being a mobster didn't hold the same appeal as it did when she relished at that environment next to Klaus. Doing that and that alone would only be a constant reminder of him. And she wanted something else to thrive in. Something that she could define. Something that could give her more intricate power and could allow her to create even a legitimate business web without having the authorities marking her down. And if they would they'd prefer to avert their eyes. If anything she wanted complete control even of those that would want to hunt her.
She could play this game with her own rules. And so she did. She created new rules and for doing so she realized that what gave power was knowledge. That was one of Klaus's first lessons after all and she perfected that to a whole new level.
She started with Bonnie and then moved forward. She created a wide network of connections. There were people out there that were dangerous but were lost and so she gave them a chance. The same chance she wished someone would have given her when she had needed it the most. The same chance Klaus had given her a long time ago and for every chance, she gave to someone else and for every helping hand, she extended she made it clear that there would always be a price to pay, a choice to be made.
She created an army of broken things that rose from their ashes just like she had once. She redefined devotion and loyalty and as her reach extended and as her charity progressed so did her vengeance and her swift retribution to those that would dare believe that she was nothing but weak and easily manipulated.
And in the center of this new world, she had started creating the pillars stood on the most valuable information she could find. Something that didn't matter to one person could be another's entire world. It could make the difference between life and death. It would be the stone that could tumble down economies or provoke wars. Information was always needed. To allies, to enemies, to the mob, to cartels, to the authorities, to governments around the world, to intelligence agencies. Information was priceless really and when she put a price on it she turned it to a commodity that gave her more than just money. It gave her influence. It gave her power.
She had spies to help her and high-level officials in agencies that needed what she had to offer more than they needed oxygen itself.
She held on to neutrality and never took sides. And soon the high-level officials became the highest-level heads of known agencies that made her not just powerful but also invisible to all.
Of course, it wasn't that easy to get into this tight network and create a new one of her own. Bonnie's skills were good but both of them were relatively new in the game and that's where Klaus' lessons came handy. They found loopholes and took over people that had created a similar organization but had turn weak. It was more or less a hostile takeover, with lots of murder and destruction but in the end, they used them as a cover to do their startup. Caroline to this day would pretend that Klaus had not sent out of nowhere reinforcements that had secretly helped…but she knew better. It was an unspoken give and take between them. To help each other when they could from afar. Silently. Without asking anything in return.
After that things became easier. Caroline took over the industry she had conquered and anyone that dared oppose her found a gruesome end. It had been a few bloody months turning to bloody years. She still had a long way ahead of her but she had marked her territory and then she and Bonnie had started digging up all the archives they could find, all information they could reveal, decode and snatch. They turned information to their weapon and used it where they had but most importantly didn't use it and shared it where they also had to. They made it known that they could engage in both war and diplomacy but preferred the second despite excelling in the first.
Gaining trust and moving into such cycles took time and a certain waiting period and for speeding things up a certain brutality had been necessary but it was their ability to remain neutral that gave them more traction.
After that, it had been a matter of sorting out the information they truly needed and to know how to use it. Many times it was as if they had to see which information was legit and which one could be actually useful presently and in the long run. Many times it could be a gamble and others it was like searching for a needle in cities of haystacks.
But it was worth it. And where Bonnie knew how to find information Caroline had the instinct to see which one could be more profitable and how they should use it. Once they got their hands on the information they wanted it became theirs. It became…hers.
Her information was more profitable than anything really. Information could prevent a terrorist attack, could give a solve mysteries, give a lead to kidnappings and murders. Information could overthrow regimes or install others, influence royalty and give connections with people flying under the radar. It was a never-ending of well-placed dominos that could create a solid structure or destroy a creation as easily as if it was never built, to begin with.
And now she could call in favors at any time of the day and could do pretty much anything. Investments followed; both legal and illegal businesses came to life and Bonnie knew how to turn those into unsuspected sources of income and then re-brand them into a new shape that could expand in the market.
They searched for revolutionary ideas and invested in them too. They entered the stock market and kept using every bit of information they could get their hands on. They had already created a fortune and created a network of all sorts of businesses and corporations that could already afford them millions in a rapidly increasing rate and in the next decades their worth would multiply incomprehensibly.
Bonnie had the protection she needed and the life and money that allowed her to turn her dreams to life.
For Caroline, however, it was more the thrill she got from the success than the fruits of the labor themselves. She loved playing the game more than she enjoyed the winnings.
And one of her rules that she never broke was to never make anything personal. She was to maintain neutral at all costs, to never take sides, and to treat all information as a commodity to be traded. The information itself had no value. The value came from how she would use it.
Getting attached was out of the question.
And the most important rule was to never…never, gift away even the slightest bit of knowledge that she came across unless she had to gain something else from such a move.
And then she had to go and break her rule. Not only she gave away information for free but she solved the problem before it even became one when she knew that in her line of profession conflict gave her more power. But here she was. She took sides and made it personal when it came to a problem that not only wasn't hers, to begin with, but could potentially bring in more valuable information and leverage in the table when it came to one of the most feared mob bosses in the modern crime history.
The problem's name, of course, was no other than …Klaus Mikaelson.
There was a new uprising in the making and this time even Interpol had their clutches ready for Klaus. They had set a new game. Ready to overturn the existing balance in Chicago in order to take down Klaus Mikaelson that in her absence grew far more ruthless and vengeful to the point of expanding his reach far beyond the criminal activities of Chicago and straight into… politics.
Her old lover was also upping his game.
Caroline didn't know if she wanted to scream or laugh.
Klaus was playing a dangerous game to ensure his family's survival. He had his eyes set on the far future and even though she admired that she was also worried that he had become reckless in seeking new thrills that would take his mind away from what he truly wanted.
She knew that what Klaus truly wanted was to come after her. To chase her down. To get her back.
But he wouldn't.
He wouldn't take away her choice and he would wait. And until then he would relish in playing games of chess with those that wanted to destroy him and everything he held dear.
She knew that Klaus was the kind of man that never missed thinking steps ahead but she couldn't just leave him without a safety net despite knowing he could handle himself.
Caroline gritted her teeth. Klaus loved taunting and setting his enemies up but it could take only one particular enemy in an unexpected moment no one could predict to cause Klaus damage. And those that wanted to destroy Klaus Mikaelson were many and so she wanted to destroy many people too.
And so…she did.
She created a web of protection around the Mikaelsons and she ensured that Marcel Gerard would be her intermediate. The man would do absolutely anything for his wife. Even give her access to New Orleans and let her take over long enough for her to sort out the mess the Mikaelson family could find itself in once again.
Marcel didn't trust her completely of course but she didn't need his trust. She needed his tolerance and she knew that after her time with Klaus Marcel Gerald had learned to appreciate her efficiency.
And efficient she was.
Both with agents in positions way up and with members of the Underworld way far down.
The first she dealt with personally much to Bonnie's dismay. Torture and dismemberment was one thing but she also used information that had nothing to do with Klaus and was something Bonnie and she had been working on for the last year. She just gave it away as if it was nothing so to make sure that she could ensure Klaus' future safety and certain people would get off his back. People that belonged to certain political circles and even going far up to known and some not so known intelligence agencies and authorities that wanted to put an end to Klaus' reign and replace him with someone else they could control and wouldn't try to step on certain toes and invade their territory as Klaus was now trying to do.
For the second lot, however, she allowed Gerard Marcel to play along for as long as she allowed him to of course.
Hours before his wedding feast with Rebekah Mikaelson she had sent Marcel's men away with the first flight making sure she would get him the information he needed. The names of all those she had found and those he would have to kill. She had already taken out of the board the last remnants Mikael had left in certain positions outside Chicago. People that bid their time with only one goal. To eradicate Klaus in Mikael's memory.
Instead, they lost their heads. And she even sent those in a silver platter to Gerard which she was certain he would definitely consider a great wedding gift really.
After all, she knew that prior to the wedding all the Mikaelsons cleared the board and went on a killing spree to ensure no one would be left to move against them during Rebekah's wedding. And the few left standing would not dare.
One would assume that after Finn's incident they had eradicated most of their enemies but funny thing with this kind of life was that once you took out one enemy at least three more grew in the fallen's place. It was neverending.
Caroline knew that all too well as she knew that this would be a great opportunity to rip out root and stem those enemies that lingered the most and were a thorn in Klaus' side for years. She now had the means to do it and so she did.
She supervised the whole operation overseas and made the right connections for Marcel Gerard by asking only one thing from him. To act as if this was his own doing and for her involvement to be kept under wraps when it came to Klaus.
She didn't want to complicate things between them. That was why she asked the same from Elijah too.
She was sure that Klaus would find out one way or another but for now, if he didn't already know but she had to keep her distance nonetheless. Emotionally and otherwise. She didn't want to reopen Klaus' wounds if she wouldn't be there to mend them.
She tried to fill regret. For killing all those that opposed Klaus and for killing the agent back then and those agents now. For all the kills she had ordered before and afterward. She felt none.
She protected what was hers. She protected Klaus. And she would do it again.
…
That I should rise and you should not
I'll gently rise and I'll softly call
…
For now, she covered her tracks. No one would learn what she did. She was safe and so was Klaus.
And Bonnie was right. This didn't faze her. She could have set everything on fire and start from scratch and it wouldn't matter.
She wasn't afraid to start over.
Things had changed for her. In so many ways. She had tried to find her way in the years that passed. And she did.
And somehow she knew that her way would lead her back to the start. Eventually.
Back to Klaus Mikaelson despite how for now she was bidding her time.
Maybe she was sabotaging herself. Maybe she was torturing both herself and Klaus for no reason but they had both faced so much loss. So much ache. And there was still a hollow place in her heart. It was empty and lost and she didn't know what that emptiness was or why it persisted so much but she had to find a way to fill that void because if she didn't then going back to Klaus would not be a happy ending.
And she was selfish enough to want their story to have a happy ending.
She would not accept anything else.
…
After my blood turns into alcohol
…
Caroline turned off the radio with a sigh and without knowing what possessed her she very slowly went into her room.
She moved, barefoot, to the safe room that was connected with her bedroom. Where she kept her most precious possessions. Her books, her guns, her high heels, and…her guitar.
She carefully opened the case and let her fingers hover above the music instrument almost with reverence. She kept dragging her guitar along wherever she went but she had not dared produce any music with it.
It seemed as if she was unable to do that ever since she had left Chicago. Nowadays she was more used into pulling a gun's trigger rather than pull the strings of the guitar.
She rarely ever even mumbled a tune in the shower but today for some reason she had the need to do more than just that. She didn't know what was igniting the itch in her fingertips and the ocean that threatened to spill from her mouth in music and tunes she had put behind her.
She closed her eyes and swayed her body to the music that was echoing inside her.
...
…My, my, my, my, oh give me love…
...
She hummed allowing the sensation to take over her. Her hand moved and before she knew it she was by the fireplace holding her guitar.
She smiled as she remembered a time when she had tried to teach Klaus how to play the guitar.
...
Flashback
"So lesson one," Caroline started seriously, "these are called strings."
Klaus clicked his tongue at her gibe.
"You are not funny, love."
...
Caroline's smile grew bigger and made herself comfortable.
She let her hands roam over the strings she closed her eyes and sang imagining her voice traveling miles and miles away, dedicating all her songs to him.
She didn't know why she chose that song either.
She only knew that for some reason he wouldwant to hear it.
From her lips.
Like before. She had once sung this song for him. A long time ago. Both in Loup Noir and in his gardens.
…
Give a little time to me or burn this out
We'll play hide and seek to turn this around
…
She sang for him, finally breaking the fear that had held her back from singing ever since the day she had left Klaus and Chicago behind her.
...
Flashback
"There's still hope for you yet," Caroline promised him.
Klaus' smile was a tentative one. One she would cherish. No matter what would happen between them. No matter where their story would lead them. That smile she'd take with her.
...
She remembered his carefree laughter too. It echoed in her ears as clearly as the lyrics of the song she sang now and her need to sing changed. From a faint itch, the need started blazing out of control again and soon the epiphany came.
She had left her songs behind too. After leaving Chicago it was as if she had been emotionally drained. She couldn't sing. She couldn't create music. Maybe this was why the hole in her heart was growing larger instead of stitching itself back together.
Bonnie's words echoed again.
…Where have you left your heart?
Caroline closed her eyes and sang.
It was time to get her songs back and then maybe get back all that she had left behind too.
...
…And it's been a while…but I still feel the same…
One year later
Mystic Falls Grill
Caroline Forbes was swirling the red wine slowly. It sloshed inside the confines of the cheap glass as she looked around with a sense of nostalgia that had not dissipated despite the fact that she was actually back in her home town and was sitting in one of the tables in the Mystic Falls' Grill.
Memories of strawberry ice cream with her friends, late-night pancakes with fries dipped in milkshake with her dad and burgers on Sundays with her mom came rushing in her mind. She remembered how she used to come here on dates with boys and how she would come here after school with Bonnie and Elena. How the Grill was considered one of the few decent places one could hang out in and how apparently when it came to this small town this was still the case for so many.
Caroline snickered and tried not to grimace at the stale taste of the cheap wine. Having tasted the best of the best really put everything on perspective and yet the Grill still had the scents and colors of her memories. Memories of laughter and of carefree smiles. Memories of friends and karaoke nights and snacks with her mom. Memories that hurt and memories that healed and everything in between that still made her nostalgic.
She hadn't come back here for so long and she now felt like a stranger and evoking those memories was her last attempt to ground herself into some old familiarity.
Admittedly there were also memories that were less bright. Logan had taken her out on dates in the Grill too.
It was funny how those memories used to burn hot and painful in her past and now they were not even a dim flickering.
Remembering Logan didn't hurt any longer. It seemed as if he belonged to another lifetime. To another woman's nightmares. The woman she was now ran and danced in such nightmares. She became the nightmare. And nightmares were really nothing to fear. In the end, they were nothing but dreams and who didn't like to dream?
She was a dreamer too.
There were nights she still dreamed of the way Klaus had killed Logan. How he had beaten him to within an inch of his life and how he had finally casually shot him down ending his miserable existence once and for all.
Those dreams didn't really move her. They were just a reminder of justice being served and she felt the sweet feeling one gets when they remember an old book they had read that somehow managed to make an impression by having a nice ending that wasn't even that memorable, to begin with.
Those dreams seemed inconsequential now.
She had bigger and different dreams now because truth was that the nightmares she had, at last, embraced ignited a far stronger emotional impact on her.
And yet there were certain times when she still dreamed of vengeance to those that would wrong her or had wronged her. Maybe she wasn't that evolved because truth to be told she was not one to turn the other cheek or forget the debts she was still owed. But the difference between her past and her present was that at least she now knew how to make her dreams come true.
Caroline ran her fingers over the title of the local newspaper.
Meredith Fell was top news apparently. After her brother's imprisonment and eventual demise all those years ago along with her failing to gain the Mayor's seat, more than just once, she lost herself in alcohol. It was a quick downfall after that. She lost her clinic, she drowned in debt and eventually lost her medical license too.
It was as if she got caught up in the perfect storm that led to her death because it would seem that driving and drinking was not a good combination.
No one suspected that such a tragedy could be anything but an accident or Meredith's fault.
If there was ever such a chance it would have to be the perfect cover-up.
Who would hate Meredith Fell to orchestrate such a twisted horror story for her? To dismantle every part of her life and tear it apart from the inside out? To wait, to take their time, to bring her down and only when they had taken everything away from her would eventually take her life too?
Besides, there was not such a thing as a perfect crime and if there was such a thing only a specialist could achieve it and such criminals didn't exist in the little world of Mystic Falls.
Who would be such a monster to do such a thing?
Caroline smiled and tapped her perfectly manicured nails over Meredith's photo next to the article sharing the news of her death.
'Rest her soul in the same fucking hell her brother is burning,' Caroline thought gleefully, casting aside all the old memories of Meredith Fell helping her brother cover up his abuse in the past.
Caroline folded the paper and discarded it at the side of the table just as Matt Donovan entered the Grill.
His eyes searched for her among the tables and Caroline's smile changed. It became sweet as she saw her old friend wearing the Sheriff's badge.
Yes. If there was one person that could honor her mother's legacy that was Matt Donovan.
Her mother would have been proud.
"Hey Care," Matt greeted her just as she got up and faced him with a dazzling smile.
"Well, hello to you too Sheriff," she told him playfully pointing out at his uniform and Matt actually blushed.
They both sat at her table and Caroline sat back watching him with an unfaltering smile. A part of her ached to see him wearing her mother's badge but it was an honor to have such a good person like Matt walk on her mom's shoes.
They haven't met for years and she was glad to know that Matt was doing so well. He had been so worried about her but any source of contention between them had been forgotten. At least for the most part.
None of them spoke of what had happened all those years ago in Chicago. There was a part inside her that knew Matt would always feel guilty for covering for the Mikaelsons but she couldn't find it inside of her to feel ashamed for the way she had coerced him into doing that. It was going against Matt's personal code but at the same time, he also owed her for all the times he hadn't covered for her in the past. For believing Logan. For believing Vaughn. He almost lost his life because of his naivety and almost cost hers in the process too. Now he owed her nothing. It was all settled between them but even so, she would never feel bad for making sure Klaus and his family were exonerated and safe from the authorities. She didn't care if she had to sacrifice Matt's sensibilities and his conscience in doing so. Truthfully she didn't care for the price she would have to pay or force others to pay. In the same way, Klaus protected his own in the same way she did the same and she knew that no matter how uncomfortable Matt felt he accepted that simple fact when it came to her. He didn't understand it but he didn't try to change it either.
Of course, Matt didn't want to get his hand dirty. So in time he took his distance and made it clear that even though in the past he had wanted from her to return to Mystic Falls it would now be preferable if she didn't.
He put his town and his duty first and she was just like the criminals he chased now. A magnet of danger and the kind of danger Matt wanted to keep far away from Mystic Falls. So it was a good thing their needs when it came to this coincided.
Caroline found it amusing that he didn't share the same opinion for Bonnie while he still couldn't make the connection between her and her former alter ego Georgie. These days Bonnie was known in the dark web by the Witch alias but they always had some good laughs when it came to Matt and Georgie.
The hour passed and she and Matt kept talking about everything and at the same time nothing. Caroline indulged Matt's need to keep this meeting sort and light and she gossiped with him as she used to do when they were kids and he couldn't stand her shallow ways.
They kept their conversation civil and superficial, neither of them getting into anything controversial until Matt's eyes focused on the newspaper she had left on the table.
It was then that Caroline realized that Matt wasn't that much of a fool and that wearing the Sheriff's badge was not entirely a fluke.
His experience in Chicago had opened his eyes in many ways and the way he looked at her now proved as much.
As did the way he mentioned how Meredith Fell's car accident was weird.
Caroline's smile was unsettling and she didn't bother hiding it. She relished in the way the Sheriff's eyes narrowed. In the way Matt seemed to stiffen from head to toe but didn't dare challenge more answers from her. Not even when she couldn't resist mocking him.
"Weird how?" she had asked him, wearing her most innocent face until Matt gritted his teeth.
"Such a pity though," Caroline batted her eyes with a sassy pout, "to die so young. So young and not a Mayor."
Her sarcasm was accompanied by a wicked smile and Matt cleared his throat trying to not give in to his need to lecture her or even remind her that he was the Sheriff.
"I guess…everyone, in the end, gets what they deserve," Caroline pointed out, her gaze focusing on Matt's that seemed to be taken aback by her cruelty that she so rarely had ever revealed to him and the spike of fear and worry she saw in his eyes had her exhaling tiredly.
Matt wasn't the person to play such games with. He was uptight. So..good…so boring. She needed more of a challenge and she hadn't come here to get into this dance with him. She'd need a far more experienced partner to intrigue her and pose an actual challenge. Someone like…Klaus.
How would he smile and play along! How would he taunt and give into her mockery with some of his own.
Oh, the things they could do together. The things they could be together. The mayhem and the beauty they could create out of darkness and destruction even. They could dance in the ashes and make love in the aftermath.
'Don't go there,' she thought, realizing that Klaus Mikaelson always seemed to pop in her mind at every convenient of inconvenient moment. She was starting to believe that this was becoming a pathological condition of hers.
She waved her hand dismissively getting back into reality. She was in the Grill with Matt. In the boring suffocating third rate Grill that resembled nothing of Loup Noir.
"I haven't come here to talk about Logan's lost long relatives Matt," Caroline shrugged and decided to put the past behind her once and for all. Matt would do well to do the same. "What I came here to do is apologize for not being able to come to your wedding," she gently said and there was a soft part inside her that mellowed down at the way Matt smiled back.
Her eyebrows arched then.
"So…April Young Donovan?"
"Weirdest things have happened," Matt alluded to her relationship with Klaus which turned her heart into a knot but she shook her head not commenting on his teasing dig.
Matt laughed and looked happy and she didn't want to ruin that for him. He seemed so happy that she actually envied him at that moment.
Matt had left behind him the darkness of Chicago and even though there was a part of him that was wary of her and probably wanted to get it all out in the open in the end he managed to keep their conversation light and keep all judgment for himself.
He knew it too that he wouldn't win anything if he ever decided to stir Meredith Fell's case or revisit the mess in Chicago.
And Caroline could tell that for the sake of their old friendship and for honoring Elizabeth Forbes's name Matt would always look out for her in his own way. Even if it meant keeping his mouth shut and looking the other way.
Especially when it came to old scores that were finally settled for good.
Matt also needed his peace of mind. And so did Caroline. Mystic Falls would always be a neutral zone for her and neither she nor Matt would change that.
They both knew that their paths had diverged a long time ago and deep down Caroline could tell that Matt knew more than what he led on. He more than just suspected of who she was and what she did for a living. He gave off a vibe of disturbed worry when it came to her. Maybe it was the shock of seeing how much she had changed and how much of different people they had ended up being or maybe it was purely instinctual and it was the same kind of fear those that knew what she was capable of expressed.
She wasn't prey any longer. She was the hunter and Matt could see it and it seemed to leave an impression on him.
When it came to her enemies she fed that kind of fear. When it came to Matt she tried to tame it up to a point. It would serve as a good reminder to let him understand who she was. It would ensure his continuous peace of mind because it would keep him from doing anything stupid that could endanger all that he had achieved and Caroline didn't want that for him. Matt was one of the few people she cared for in a sweet kind of a way. In the way that reminded her of the girl, she used to be. Girly little Caroline who had fallen in love with Matt and had once dreamed of being his Mrs. Donovan.
The idea now made her shudder but back then it had been a charming dream.
Things had changed from then to now so much though.
She could see it in the way Matt looked at her now. With caution and with having qualms on how to ensure that she wouldn't stay here for any longer than necessary.
He didn't want her here. Not now. Not ever.
And Caroline was sure that if she ever decided to return to Mystic Falls and somehow spread her darkness in their hometown she would find Matt on the opposite side standing against her. Not that he would ever be able to manage any blow at her. It would be laughable really but that didn't matter. Matt belonged to the world of white knights that would always fight to kill the dragons in a self-sacrificing kind of way despite his inability to see past the weakest of fires and look straight into the real danger.
Caroline studied him now as she would a child and treated him as such too.
She would indulge him and be on her own way soon enough.
Matt could keep his clean little world intact because now that Meredith Fell was out of the picture along with everyone else that had aided her and Logan in her abuse, names that not even Matt knew and no one would ever hear again, she had no intentions of staying to Mystic Falls.
As a matter of fact, this was probably the last time she would come here for a long time if not for ever.
She stared outside the window as Matt kept mumbling about how wonderful his wife was.
And Caroline realized once and for all that Mystic Falls wasn't her home anymore.
This would always be the place her mother loved to protect though. The place that she grew up. Yes, Matt wouldn't have to worry about anything. Mystic Falls was under hers and Bonnie's protection. It would remain idyllic and protected. In more ways that Matt would even know or understand even though she was sure that he was smart enough to avert his eyes from things that he would never admit he saw or suspected. Matt would never go out of his way to get the big fish. He was content in playing the good cop with Mystic Fall's small fish and Caroline would always make sure the pond here would remain occupied only with such small fish.
She turned her attention back to Matt and tried not to wince at the bad taste of the wine.
She knew she had made the right decision. The documents in the envelope she had brought with her belonged to Matt Donovan. It was the right thing to do.
For a while, she pretended that things hadn't changed. That she was part of this town and that she talked with a friend that would invite for dinner at his house. They would reminisce and would laugh and life would be as beautiful as they had once believed it to be. With no dragons and villains.
Caroline laughed at the stories Matt told her and they talked about his life and his happiness in this small town and no matter how she tried to pretend that nothing had changed Caroline wondered how it was possible to have once wanted to live the same life.
She was happy for Matt. She really was. He had found his purpose and he had the life he wanted but she could never imagine being stifled like this. In a small town, in a small house with a white fence popping out kids and being a soccer mom dreaming the time when her biggest achievement was being Miss Mystic Falls and a cheerleader.
Not that this wasn't a life that made people happy. It was just not cut out for her. And she had come to accept it. Small town life, small-town boys…they would have never been enough.
And deep down she knew what was enough for her. She knew it and all she had to do was go after it.
But first, she had one last dragon to slay herself. One last thorn to spit out.
So she started by the deed of her house in Mystic Falls. The one thing her mother had left her after her death.
Matt's eyes popped open comically when Caroline presented him the documents by which she gave him her house in Mystic Falls. Her mother's house that had been closed off for so long.
She had never been able to sell it. She hadn't understood why since she hadn't had any intentions of ever living in that house again but now she knew why.
This house was meant for a family.
For centuries it was passed down to her family. To the Sheriff's family. And it was a place that housed good families. Good people. People like her mom and like Matt.
It was time. It was time for her to cut the ties.
"I can't accept this," Matt uttered flabbergasted and Caroline smiled. She reached out and held his hand over the table and squeezed it in encouragement.
She knew that Matt didn't own a house of his own and with his salary that wasn't about to change anytime soon.
"Of course you can," Caroline shut down his objections, "We both know you won't accept anything else from me, Matt," she told him and withdrew her hand, "but this is a gift from my heart. My mom would approve of this," she assured him softly, letting out an almost pained breath, "and it is time for that house to become a home again. If anything it always belonged to the Sheriff of the town. Let us not break with tradition."
Matt didn't know what to say but she pushed the envelope forward. She wouldn't take a no for an answer and her lawyer had already dealt with the technicalities.
"What about you?" Matt asked, his voice shaken a bit, "what will you do now?"
Caroline let her eyes drop for a moment to the badge Matt wore with such pride and swallowed down slowly.
"I have one last visit to make," she whispered and Matt seemed moved at the way her expression shuttered. He could tell where she was going to go and he sympathized as he placed his hand over the documents she gave him and gave her a thankful nod.
"Then I will be on my way," she assured him and smiled at the somewhat conflicted yet relieved expression that spread over Matt's features.
And then Matt did what she hadn't expected him to do.
"And what about…him?" he carefully questioned and Caroline tried to ignore the way her heart jumped at his mention. Matt spoke of him with terror and dread and yet she couldn't help the warmth that spread in her bones, "you've left him, haven't you?"
"Have I?" she rhetorically posed her own question with a melancholic smile before she got up and gathered her coat in her arms, "have a nice life, Matt," she wished and both of them looked at each other in a silent farewell. They wouldn't see each other again for a long time. Maybe a lifetime's worth of time.
A long time ago they had said their goodbye in Chicago with a hug. This time they said it with a slight tilt of the head. They were friends and they were not. They would always care for each other but what connected them faded slowly yet surely.
Before she left however she turned around unable to resist.
"Oh, one more thing."
Matt lifted his gaze as she approached him and leaned over him. She tapped at the newspaper she had left on the table, a dark smile creeping up on her face at the sight of Meredith's picture. Matt stiffened at her expression and her smile grew wider.
"You should consider running for Mayor now that the opposition is gone. Something tells me, Sheriff, you'd definitely get the job," she winked at him and strode out feeling Matt's startled eyes following her on her way out.
If he ever decided to go for it she would make sure he'd get elected. It would actually do this town some good.
Caroline's smile faded once she finally exited the Grill. She wore her coat and pushed her hands into the warm pockets as she looked at the clock tower in the distance.
People passed her by, some of them gawking at her with surprised gazes, others pointing at her from a safe distance believing she couldn't see them. She hadn't been here for years and given her past with Logan and her mental health issues after her mother's death she had quite the reputation. She was more or less a cautionary tale here and in a small town that was gossiping about the change of weather that was quite something. And they didn't know even the half of it.
Caroline walked away comfortable in the knowledge that she would never have to deal with these people again in her life. By nightfall she would leave this place for good. She had done what she came here to do… Almost.
She only had one last thing to do.
One last place to be.
It had taken her such a long time to come to terms with what she had to do. Far too long.
One last visit.
The last one…to truly set her free.
Caroline walked among the old and the new tombstones slowly.
She passed Meredith Fell's fresh grave without bothering to even glance at it and kept walking.
She knew where to go. She had memorized the path a long time ago and it was not the first time she had come here but for some reason, she knew this would make all the difference.
Each step was heavier than the one before and yet she felt lighter than ever before.
Caroline walked until she found herself standing in front of her mom's grave.
This time her destination brought an ache of nostalgia. She had missed her mother so much.
She breathed in the scent the rain had left behind on the trees and the flowers that surrounded the pebbled trail and she knelt down leaving the daisies she had brought with her.
She gently pushed away the autumn leaves from the headstone and sat on the cold surface. She ran her hand over the letters that created her mom's name and even though she half-expected the devastation to come drifting in her heart in waves of crippling sorrow she felt at peace.
"Hi mom," she let out a steady breath and smiled, "I know I haven't come for a while."
She owed that apology. She knew she did. But after everything that had happened she had dreaded coming here. She had felt like a failure for such a long time. Her mother had expected better things from her. And instead, she had messed up. She had allowed Logan's abuse to go on for so long and then she had run away. She had survived but she had run away. A broken little girl failing at life when she had only wanted to make her mom proud.
And maybe that was the void she hadn't been able to fill for so long. It wasn't the darkness that loomed over her or swallowed her whole. No, it hadn't been that. She had been misguided to think that was what held her back. Sometimes in order to find your light, you had to plunge into the darkest of darks where the light would shine brightest. Caroline had come to terms with that.
The only thing she hadn't been able to come to terms with was the last chapter of her life that still awaited here. Her guilt belonged here. To this tombstone. And it was time for her to bury it along with all the ghosts of the past.
Maybe then she would be able to move on. Truly move forward.
"Here I am," she finally said and she knew that wherever her mom was she could hear her, "I gave Matt the deed to the house. He will make it a home again and I know you would love that."
Caroline sighed before she continued.
"I am sorry I couldn't stay there myself. It wasn't just the memories or the loneliness. I just…I don't belong here anymore mom. The world is a big place and for me, Mystic Falls has been a place to start not a place to end at. It was scary leaving this place at first but I don't regret it. Not anymore. You see I did get to travel," she confessed with a smile, "you won't believe all the shopping I've done! Well, you'd believe that but mom! The shoes are to die for!" she giggled, "I finally learned how to ski too. I love horse riding the most though. Unfortunately, cooking is still not my thing. I can make a mean Mai Tai however. I know that doesn't exactly fit the cooking list but it's really good!" she laughed as she carried on with her ranting.
So she kept talking to her mom. She told her all about her travels and her new experiences and Bonnie and before she knew it the afternoon had passed and the sun was starting to fade from the sky in colors of purple and pink but she wasn't done. She had more to share.
"This last year, in particular, a lot has changed. I started singing again. I haven't for a long time but when I focused on my music again I couldn't stop. And now there is a record company that is interested in me. They want me to sign a contract for them. It all began after the demo I sent," Caroline said but failed to mention how this came to be.
She had sent the demo yes but this wasn't the only thing she had done.
She had bought off the company she sent her music piece too. Along with the strings she pulled by setting the trap with the profits of the money laundry of another company she used to buy them off. It wouldn't have been long before she would have been able to legitimately buy out the company anyway but she wanted to produce her first album without any visible connections to her name and to see if she could make it for real without influencing anyone to get to the top as a singer. Even though the company now belonged to her she kept her involvement a secret and no one knew that the demo belonged to the owner of the company. Sure she made sure that the demo wouldn't get lost in the clatter but beyond that, she stepped back and let everything work out on their own.
She knew her worth. She knew she had talent. So she waited to see how it would all unfold.
And once she gained the attention she wanted everything began falling into place.
But truth was that after that first step she wanted full control. Of everything. She was greedy when it came to cashing in her success and she was very good at covering her tracks. She would be the only one when it came to setting up her future. And maybe she would be able to help other artists get the recognition they deserved based on their worth and not on a corrupt system.
It was a start and she didn't use only just means to get where she was now but that wasn't something she would confess in her mother's grave.
So she kept talking about her demo instead. She could close her eyes and imagine Elizabeth Forbes being there listening to her babble.
"I am sure you would love it. It's a cover really," she told her mom as she took out her phone and searched her files until she found the album of her demo.
"Remember that one?" she asked as she pressed play and her voice blasted from her phone.
…And the songbirds are singing…Like they know the score….
"It took me a while to be able to sing that one," Caroline admitted remembering all the times her voice wouldn't come out and how empty and yet whole she felt when she had finally been able to sing her mother's song again.
She had let it all out then. She had cried until she couldn't breathe and cry any longer. It was as if the dam that held back all her pain broke. The barrier shattered and the flood came. She hadn't cried ever since Kol's death and then all it took was a song and all her pain poured out leaving her raw and somehow lighter.
In that moment she knew she was ready. She was ready to let go of the past and move forward. This was why she had decided to use this song for her demo. "I could have chosen any song really. But I wanted you with me to this new start. So I really tried."
Caroline paused the song by gliding her gloved finger on the screen and she felt a slight burn on her eyes.
"I am still trying," she confessed softly and pushed back her hair smoothing the tangled curls, "So much. In some days I try harder but I am trying to not give up. Strong is not that easy you know. But I got my life in order now."
She knew it was time then. She knew it was time to be truthful and to stop hiding who she truly was. Her mother would understand. Caroline knew she would.
"I also did some things you would not like," she admitted, resting her hand on the headstone trying to reach out to the comfort the stone could not give but maybe her mom was still somewhere close. Listening. Understanding. She had to believe that because her mom had once promised. A long time ago she had promised to her little girl that clutched her teddy bear while being afraid of the storm that she would still be there for her.
The storm had come and gone and swept her away and she was still here. She wasn't afraid of the storm now. She had overcome it. She had become the storm and she had lived through her worst fears and through it all she had still kept her mom's song in her heart even when it was muted. Deep down it was always there with her.
"Things you would not approve but life is not black and white for me anymore. I walked the line. I saw the colors. I lived."
She pressed play and let the song be heard again. This time she sang along with a shaky voice that became strong with each verse.
...
And I wish you all the love in the world, but most of all, I wish it from myself.
...
Caroline mumbled the tune feeling tears in her eyes again. Those tears were precious to her. It was a relief to know her humanity wasn't gone. To know her mom was still there with her. She was able to cry. She was able to feel. She was able to love.
It was really cathartic and Caroline once more gave in to the pain completely. This time she held nothing back. She sobbed as she hadn't for years. Not even in her mom's funeral.
She hadn't been able to tell her mom how much she had missed her. How much she still missed her. She had run from that simple truth ever since her mom died. She did everything in her power to run away from that pain. To not acknowledge it. To not admit that she had lost a part of herself when she had buried her mother.
She had given in to Logan and all the terror that followed because of that. Because it had been easier to hurt that way and to take in all that abuse instead of facing the emptiness her mom's loss had left behind. She had felt guilty because she hadn't mourned her mom as she should and a part of hers had felt as if she deserved what followed next.
Because the guilt inside her had taken root and had spread like poison.
She had fought with her mom so much when Elizabeth Forbes had been alive and even blamed her for dad leaving them. She had hurt her mom and hadn't told her how sorry she had been. And then it had been too late. She had lost her chance to make it up to her. It was easier to hide and pretend than admit how much she missed her. How much she would always miss her.
But she had grown since then. She had learned. She knew better now.
There were parts the storm hadn't swept away and the fear had washed away now. Because now she knew that her mother may not have approved her choices but she would still be there. No matter what she'd choose she would still be there because that was what love was. Selfless love. Indomitable love. It meant conquering your fears. It meant loving in the dark. Despite the dark and maybe even because of it.
And Caroline felt a weight lift from her shoulders when she was finally able to speak one simple truth. The truth she had run away from for so long.
"I miss you, mom."
The gaping hole in her heart started mending.
Yes. She missed her mom. But she would be okay. Missing someone didn't mean they couldn't still be there. And the more she opened her heart Caroline realized that the part of her that was able to love was still there. It was the one and only part of her that hadn't altered. Hadn't wavered. Hadn't changed. That was what she had been truly afraid of. Because she wanted to love. With all her heart. In the way, she used to love when life was innocent. In the way, she wanted to love now that life wasn't just as innocent and through her tears, she laughed.
Yes. She was still capable of it. She had truly loved after her mother's passing when she thought it would be impossible. When she felt guilty for all that she felt. It hadn't been just the guilt over Kol Mikaelson's death. In truth, it had run deeper and for a much longer time, she had wanted to admit even to herself.
Because loving Klaus, in the end, had felt like a betrayal. The worst betrayal of all. As if she had betrayed all that her mother had held dear. She was breaking all her rules, all her beliefs. It was a twisted emotion one that echoed how much of a disloyal daughter she had turned out to be. More in the wake of her mom's death than when the Sheriff had been alive. Klaus was one of those terrible people who did terrible things and represented all her mother hated in life and so a part of hers had ached with shame.
At first, she had tried to pretend that she had no other choice. That asking for Klaus' protection was her only chance of survival and the way he had forced their deal on her was somehow making her mother's principles still exist inside her. She had felt completely lost. She had pretended as if she had lost her freedom and as if the blood on her hands had been unavoidable only she knew better.
Klaus made her feel alive again. He made her feel free and strong and desirable but most of all saw who she really way underneath all the pretenses and her compulsive control. He saw beyond the wounds and the insecurity and her hostility. He saw past the fear and made her see past her fear too. It hadn't been coercion and manipulation. It had been honesty. And…love.
It was, in the end, the love that she felt that almost broke her.
It was as if she shouldn't love him and all that he stood for. As if it was wrong for her to feel so when her mother was gone and she was finally able to live again with a murderer. With the villain. But how could love be wrong?
She had loved him. She still loved him. She'd always love him.
She was long past denial now.
She loved him and even Bonnie couldn't understand why she wouldn't return to him but she tried to live without him. For the sake of all her old memories of this place, of this grave, of this old life of hers. She had tried. She had tried to put Klaus in the past and set a new course. To move on and exonerate her guilt somehow despite what she had become. Despite how terrible she had turned out to be all on her own. God knows how much she had tried.
She tried and she failed. Because it wasn't Klaus that had corrupted her. She was who she was without him and the person she was then and now didn't view him as a monster or a tormentor. Now more than ever she understood him. She felt him. And she had turned out to be the same as him without his influence and without any façade.
With Klaus or without him she was past the point of no return. And being here was her own way of coming to terms with it.
Who she was could not be denied. And the person she was, good or bad, moral or evil yearned for all that Klaus could give her. For the all-consuming feeling that stole all reason and common sense from her. For all the love he awakened inside her.
Because in the end…Klaus wasn't the villain of her story.
She laughed and she let it all go. She let it all out.
She would be alright.
"I miss you so much, mom."
She closed her eyes.
She could still miss her mom and love her and she could still be who she was. Those were not mutually exclusive.
Caroline let go of all the guilt. It was time.
It would all be alright now.
"And I know that maybe I shouldn't… But I miss him too."
…
What kind of heart doesn't look back [2]
...
All those words came undone and now I'm not the only one
facing the ghosts that decide if the fire inside still burns
…
Drops of strong alcohol slithered down at the back of his throat as Klaus Mikaelson drained one more glass.
The melodic voice that reached his ears was nothing but a pale imitation.
The scene was all wrong.
The brunette that was holding the microphone trying to spell out lyrics in a blend of a sexy whisper and a hushing mumbling was failing miserably to draw his attention.
She didn't deserve to be on that stage.
But it didn't matter. No one could ever replace the one and only person that could give life to the music that had once woken him right out of his misery only for that misery to now swallow him whole again.
Klaus Mikaelson didn't have to order another glass. Those that served him knew better than to do that mistake. They knew how to keep pouring and not dwell for any longer than that.
So here he was.
Sitting in Loup Noir. Alone. In one of the stools of the bar. Hidden in the shadows, away from prying eyes that knew better than to cast their curiosity at him and approach him when it would only sign their death warrant.
Everyone knew better. He was not to be touched. He was not to be looked at.
Next to him the astray was overflowed with used up cigarettes that had left their putrid taste in his tongue mingling with the acid of the booze that could not take away the edge of the pain. Not tonight.
…
Oh, It hurts to be here
I only wanted love from you
…
Tonight was a special night. One he always celebrated in his own way.
Tonight the alcohol he consumed had no taste. Tonight all he tasted was her.
Their last kiss. Their last moment.
Tonight, more than every other night, Caroline was singing in his bloodstream. Like a siren. Calling him home.
Only she was his home and she was gone so like every siren's voice hers was an echo that kept sending him crashing between rocks and waves.
Home. Such a peculiar concept.
He had no such thing anymore. He only had a mansion that served as a reminder of his power to all that would dare look up from their little insignificant world and look at the Kingdom he had created. At the symbol of his power. At his domain.
At the place where he rarely every left nowadays.
He wasn't very likely to leave his mansion unless he had someone to kill…or he had to attend a special occasion like this one tonight.
For the last years, the very same night, the only night of each year he was coming to Loup Noir. The place he avoided like the plague every other night of the year because it reminded him of her.
But tonight it was their anniversary. A sad one. It was the night she had gone to the airport. Four years ago.
The night he had given her the plane tickets that would lead her to her freedom. One to take her to Europe and one to take her to Mystic Falls.
Till this night he still didn't know what she had chosen that night. He only knew that whatever her choice had been it had led her far away from him.
Caroline's reputation in the following years preceded her so he knew that at least at some point she had gone to New York and from there to Asia and eventually Europe where she thrived.
But Caroline left no tracks to be followed anymore. She was elusive and untraceable now.
Not that he had tried to track her down. Not anymore anyway. Not after knowing she was safe and able to fend for herself. She didn't need him so, for the most part, he stopped following her tracks.
Despite how every instinct of his wanted to. He knew if he did he wouldn't be able to resist going after her and truth was that he intended to wait. He could be chasing her and maybe it would be another kind of allure but in the end, this wasn't how he wanted their story to end.
He would wait for her. However long it would take. Even if she would never come back to him.
He would always wait and he would always be here, in nights like this, to drink and remember how he had let her go. To remember the worst mistake of his life. Letting her go. To remember how it was the one thing he would never regret because it was the best thing for her. To remember letting her go and remember that he would never forget it. That he would never let her go from his heart.
That he would always wait for her.
…
Yeah, it hurts to be here
What am I gonna do?
Open up next to you and my secrets become your truth
And the distance between that was sheltering me comes in full view
…
Tonight was their anniversary.
She counted it as one of the most important ones they shared. Four years ago, in a night like this, Klaus Mikaelson had admitted his love. He had told her he loved her, that he wasn't good enough for her and then he had let her go.
He had put her first. He had set aside all his selfishness for her and had set her free and there hadn't been a day since then that she hadn't thought of him. That she hadn't dreamed of him.
In her dreams, they always found their way back to each other. In her waking moments, she was always a step behind him. She had him followed and she knew that he knew; and she knew that he let her. Maybe because that way he felt her close to him. Maybe because he needed the reminder, the connection they shared. Maybe because as messed up as this was it represented hope. Maybe because he had done the same thing with her in the past when she wasn't able to do the same. Maybe because they were the same and maybe because this was his way of telling her that he would wait for her without having any expectations. However long it would take he would wait and this was her own way of telling him that one day she'd appear to his door again.
One day.
This day.
This night.
On their anniversary.
In the night their story ended. On the same night, it would start again.
Yes. Tonight was their anniversary so she knew where she'd find him.
…
Hang my head, break my heart… built from all I have torn apart
…
The doors of Loup Noir opened. Through the smoke and the darkness and the blackness, this place held.
Through the memories.
Oh, how it felt like walking on sacred ground again. It felt like destiny. She was always meant to come here again. It had been fated. As it had been the night bullets had rained down on them.
As it had been the night she had stepped in here for the last time.
Or the first time.
When Klaus Mikaelson had brought her to Chicago for the first time and introduced her as his mistress to the Underworld. And then she had sung for him.
Every night. Midnight to dawn.
She sang for him.
A beautiful songbird caged in a gilded cage singing only for him.
She had asked for his protection. He had given her more than that. He had given her his love.
The first time she performed in Loup Noir she had trembled. She had been hot and ice cold. She had felt his gaze marking her through the distance and she felt both protected and in danger. She had wanted to be on stage as much as she hated being there.
There was a part of her that didn't belong. A part of her that hadn't come to terms with what she had done to survive.
A part uncertain. Lost. With wings bound and crippled.
There were no faltering steps tonight. There was no indecision.
Tonight her wings were spread out. Open wide and free.
Caroline had walked these steps before and now she felt as if she was walking through her memories. She inhaled the same scent. From the stage of Detroit to the streets of Chicago. From Loup Rouge to Klaus' domain.
The same smoke, the alcohol. The same but different.
Flashes of memory came and left.
She still remembered the echoes of the shooting. The blood. All the death.
She remembered Stefan's dead body and Kol's dead eyes in the dark.
She remembered Klaus' body covering her from the blast.
She remembered his promises. His lips covering hers. His kiss.
She remembered the bullets she had fired. She remembered the death she left in her wake. The loss. The pain.
She remembered the art. The poems they read to each other.
The first smile and the last.
She remembered the sinister laughs and the carefree ones.
Nights of passion and soft nights.
She also remembered the stage. The lights. The keys of the piano, the strings of the guitar.
The King of Chicago watching his mistress singing to him from far away.
The Crime Lord she fell in love with. The man that loved her back.
…
And my burden to bear is a love I can't carry anymore
Holds my love in his hands, still I'm searching for something
…
Yes. She remembered their start. Their less of an ideal start. Klaus chasing her down. Wooing her. Stalking her. Offering his protection.
She had remembered the fear, the despair. The dead-end she had found herself in.
She remembered the lack of trust and how they built on that. She remembered the freedom Klaus had taken away from her and the absolute freedom he gave her in return before he set her free.
She remembered it all. She hadn't forgotten and neither had Klaus.
Klaus that had not changed anything in the club. He kept everything in the way she had left it. He had locked this place in time. Loup Noir remained as she had left it just after she raised it back from the ashes and death. It was now thrumming with noise …and darkness.
The only difference was the cacophony that was coming from the stage but otherwise, nothing had changed.
Nothing had changed. And everything had changed.
Not just in the world that surrounded them but in the world that existed inside them.
Klaus had once been a necessary evil. The devil she had chosen in order to slay her demons.
He had been the nightmare and now he was her choice.
She had to change. That much he had known and so had she. She had to grow, learn. Be who she was first and for herself before committing to anyone else.
Klaus had given her a taste of his world but he hadn't wanted to corrupt her soul. He had wanted to set her soul free. He wanted her to choose for herself. It was the one and only thing of all those that he gave her that she cherished the most.
She didn't need the devil any longer. She had found the devil inside her.
This was now her lifestyle with or without Klaus. This was who she was.
Klaus became a little better and she became a little worse. Klaus allowed her to see a glimpse of humanity in him and she gave him a glimpse of the monster in her.
It should have been enough. Even back then. Four years ago it could have been enough.
Only enough wasn't…enough. Enough wasn't everything. It wasn't coming to full circle.
Back then Klaus could feel that she wanted more. That she needed more. That a place inside her heart would always crave things he couldn't give and would always be stifled because of it.
She searched for more…for something more. Something that was nowhere to be found. Because she searched it in the opposite direction from where her heart always told her to look for it.
She had tried to use even Klaus as a diversion. To focus on her feelings for him as not to hurt. So she kept going in the opposite direction of the one she had to go to. The painful one. The only one that could lead her here again and Klaus knew it.
And know she knew it too. Now her heart was healed. There was no place inside her that craved more. Now she only craved him.
Because she had searched for that something for so long. Even though it was in front of her eyes for so long she still searched for it.
And she wasn't miserable in doing so…she did find most of the things she had looked for alright.
She had found herself. She had found her purpose. She had found who she really was and who she could be. She found who and what she was without Klaus Mikaelson and she found out how much she missed who she could be with him by her side.
There was only one more obstacle left for them to overcome.
Because she wanted to be with Klaus Mikaelson more than she wanted anything else really but only if he could give her what she deserved without holding back. If only he could love her first and foremost. If only he could open up his darkness for her and her let share her own with him.
Her light, his darkness. Her darkness, his shadows.
She would not accept anything else from him. She would not accept anything less.
She came here prepared to fight for him but only if he was worth the fight and that was his choice now. Tonight she would give him the choice he had given her four years ago.
Tonight he would have to take the first step to the unknown and if she would have to she would be the one to wait for him now. However long it would take.
She would wait for him.
...
Holds my love in his hands, still I'm searching
All I have, all I need, he's the air I would kill to breathe
…
It was so simple and so complicated to think and dream of how this would go. How she would feel when she would see him again. How her heart would not betray her. How it would be like centuries had passed and how no time but seconds had passed between them.
But nothing could have prepared her for how her heart and her mind started spinning until the world itself abruptly came to a screeching halt. Slowly the silence spread in her bloodstream until she could hear her heartbeat echoing. It was a thundering sound until there was no sound because she finally stopped.
She had nowhere else to go.
She was finally here.
She felt eyes on her. Most of those that were here tonight knew who she was. She heard the soft gasps and felt the startled gazes of surprise. But she didn't care.
Nothing else mattered and she knew she would savor this moment. It was all she cared for.
All she cared for was the man that was sitting at the bar drinking. Alone. There. Without her. Waiting for her. Always. Always and forever.
His body was covered in shadow. He looked like a dark shadow himself. Covered in darkness, cut out from the world, with his back turned on her.
All the memories vanished. All the world vanished and finally…she had found her way home.
She was home.
...
All I have, all I need, he's the air I would kill to breathe
...
He tensed.
His whole body became an exposed live wire. The surge of electricity was like life itself. The moment where the darkness bursts in Technicolor.
That moment.
That defining moment.
The kind of moment that is pure instinct. That seems as if it doesn't belong to reality and yet it is more real than anything else that ever had existed or could ever exist.
He didn't have to turn around. He didn't have to see her in order to feel her.
He knew she was there. It was as if her presence was a cloud covering him. His heartbeat fluttered, his pulse thundered in his veins. That cloud, that potent sensation dove straight into his soul, his heart, his mind.
Caroline.
He could feel her. She was here. She was everywhere.
He didn't have to turn around to see her but he craved to see her face again. To see her eyes. Her smile.
And then…fear.
Terror and dread.
Let it be real.
There was that traitorous part of his mind that believed this to be a twisted malignant imagination. He feared that his mind was playing tricks of him. He wanted her to so much, he dreamed of her every second of every day that maybe, just maybe he had finally lost his mind. It would poetic to lose his grip with reality, here. In this club. The night of their saddest anniversary.
He closed his eyes. He was drowning. He couldn't breathe. It would be too cruel. So cruel for his heart to play such tricks on him.
His cowardice was almost too strong for him to handle. It almost broke him and forced him to merge more into the shadows. To ignore that feeling.
But the need to reach out to even that figment of his imagination was so strong. He had to know if she was real. If she was here.
The feeling was overwhelming.
Stronger than everything he had ever felt before. It drove his senses. His will. His desire.
It was stronger than anything else he had felt before. Stronger than his rage. Stronger than his hate.
Stronger even than the longing he felt for her.
Not as strong as the love he felt for her…but close enough. So close.
Klaus Mikaelson pushed the astray and the empty glass aside. His eyes glossed over, burned and he tried to force his body to obey him as his back turned to steel that he slowly pivoted around inch by inch until he finally lifted his gaze.
Slowly. So very slowly.
And his mind went blank.
Caroline.
It was if he had glimpsed at the sun itself. In the darkness, among everyone else that didn't matter there she was. It was as if light itself illuminated her face in the midst of shadows.
Time altered its course until it stopped existing. Until nothing else existed.
Caroline.
She was here.
They stared at each other for so long.
Maybe it seemed too long. Maybe it was seconds. Maybe it was hours. Maybe it was a whole eternity but none of them dared to breathe.
And then, suddenly, it was as if the hand of the imaginary clock moved with a thunderous sound that broke them both into movement at once.
Klaus found himself getting up slowly from the stool just as Caroline turned around and walked away.
It seemed as if the crowd parted but he could see nothing else, he could feel nothing else. Each step Caroline was taking was putting distance between them. But there was a strong pull that carried both of them away. Closer to each other. It was like a magnet. It was like gravity. Undeniable. Unstoppable.
Caroline disappeared from his view and he felt panic taking over forcing him to follow her, to go after her, to chase her. He would. This time he would not let her go. This time he would follow her to the ends of the earth if he had to.
This time there would be no turning back. No stalling. No goodbyes.
Klaus walked out from the club, past the doors of Loup Noir and with a blend of fear and hope he sauntered closer to that taunting scent. To the beauty that moved him.
Caroline waited for him outside. At the same spot, he had let her go four years ago. Under the flickering light of the street lamp.
Her back was turned. Her figure a beauty half immersed in light and shadow. Her hair, a halo of light cascading down her back. But it was that scent, that fragrance he had missed for so long that drew him closer. That made him breathe again.
He approached her slowly, afraid she would disappear as if she was nothing but a segment of his imagination. A wraith, a shade…a dream.
…
Out of breath, I am left hoping someday I'll breathe again
…
One more step.
One more.
So close.
He could feel her. He could feel her warmth coming out in waves seeping into his bones finally saving him from all the cold.
He was out of breath.
His fingers burned. He wanted nothing more than to stretch his arm and touch her. Make sure she was real but he didn't dare. If she wasn't, if he was losing his mind, he wouldn't want to know. He wouldn't want her to disappear. Even like this, she was back and he needed her to stay.
And then she turned to face him and that blue-green gaze that locked with his made him realize that this truly was Caroline. She was here. Not even his most vivid imagination could replicate to perfection the way she looked. He had tried for so long and he had failed. That deep penetrating gaze, those flickers of gold inside the emerald green of her eyes. It was impossible to trap that color in his sketches, it was impossible to dream it as he saw it now.
…
Out of breath, I am left hoping someday
I'll breathe again, I'll breathe again
…
Caroline's lips parted. She looked almost as dazed as he felt. She looked at him with eyes that shone. With cheeks flustered.
He could feel the echo of her singing voice before she even spoke. He could hear her singing for him like she used to in what seemed to be another lifetime and now there she was.
More beautiful than ever. Looking straight at him.
No ghosts lingered in that beautiful gaze any longer. His Caroline, his strong, beautiful Caroline had found her inner peace and she was here. Smiling at him.
He found himself unable to move but a smile split on his face too.
Caroline pushed her hair back and how much he wanted to tangle his fingers in those unruly curls. To bring her closer. To taste those lips again.
Four years. Four years without her. Trying to survive in her absence.
And yet now that she was here it seemed as if only but seconds had passed. She had never been gone. Time didn't matter. His heart wasn't broken anymore.
Her heart wasn't broken either. It had mended.
"That just won't do," Caroline said casually, indignation and humor lacing her words and at the sound of that beautiful teasing voice, he finally understood why the word happiness was invented in the first place. Even if it was such a small word to describe what he felt. He stared at her mesmerized as she pointed arrogantly at the club behind him, "we will need to find a better singer than the one you have screeching inside."
He could barely speak. He could barely believe she was here but mechanically his mouth moved.
There was sound escaping his lips. His body was instinctively trying to shake away the daze he felt. To grasp what was going on.
He, the King of Chicago, the fear, the terror, the menace…tried and failed…miserably.
"We?"
Caroline beamed at him. A wide beautiful smile.
It rendered him powerless to her spell.
"Well I am a rising star you know," she laughed with that tantalizing giggle that was so…her. "I can't just go around and sing in shady stages anymore."
He swallowed and tried to control his ecstatic heart. He closed his eyes, his smile faded but the happiness lingered and yet he was so afraid to hope, to believe. To embrace that feeling that was bursting inside him. He was undeserving of it. He knew he was. People like him didn't deserve happy endings but there she was…his Caroline and he was selfish enough to want that happy ending. To want to take it, keep it, never let it go.
He wouldn't survive if she wasn't here to stay. Heaven would turn to hell and he had already been in Hell for so long.
"Caroline," he whispered, her name again in his lips, a blessing and an ache, his voice unsteady, "what are you doing here?"
This time there was no giggling. This time her gaze changed from lighthearted to serious. A force of nature wrapped in silky smooth skin. In beautiful golden hair. It threatened to take him under and he wouldn't object. Like a siren, Caroline could lead him to his demise and he would happily let her destroy him.
"Don't you know?" she asked him and his hands had a will of their own as they cupped her face. The electric current that passed through them made them both shiver. It had been so long. So long since they had touched each other.
She was real. She was here.
"I want to hear it," he demanded but he didn't know if this was a demand or if he was begging.
Caroline moved closer. So close.
She was in his arms. She was here. She was here and he could finally breathe again. He was finally home again.
He cradled her face possessively. As if she would disappear at any moment. And so lightly as if she was made of glass.
Caroline closed her eyes and rested her forehead against his. He felt his whole body melting against hers as her hands covered his and she kept his hold on her face for some precious moments. It was as if a cocoon of joy and softness and warmth wrapped around them sheltering them from the rest of the world. Their breaths mixed, their scents intertwined as their fingers interlaced and Klaus relaxed. His eyes closed too. He almost moaned in relief and undiluted happiness.
Their lips almost touched.
Almost.
Caroline stepped away first and his hands lingered in the air for a second burning from the loss.
His arms dropped down, his heart beating painfully.
Caroline straightened her spine.
She wasn't the girl she had come to him for protection all those years ago. No. This woman was a warrior. This woman wore a crown. And he found himself attracted to her more than ever before.
"I traveled," she started with a dreamy expression, "I achieved dreams I never thought possible. I tasted new things, experienced different cultures. A little bit of danger here and there. I became reckless and I mindful too. I flirted much to your dismay I am sure," she pointed out relishing in the darkness that gleamed in his eyes, "and tried a few new hobbies too. I persevered and made my aspirations come to life in the best way possible," Caroline told him and then gave him a confident smile, "my life is perfect right now," she confessed and he narrowed his eyes waiting for her to continue as she started circling him like a hunter would his prey, like a demon would haunt the soul she wanted to claim.
Claim me his mind screamed at her. I am here. Take me. I am yours.
"Too perfect," Caroline softly said, her voice the sound of temptation and he found himself lingering at the edge of everything he ever wanted.
His lips curled then. In a way mirroring her insidious intentions. He was her prey but he was also the hunter. He knew. All the things she left unsaid.
There she was. His Caroline. With her too-perfect life. So perfect that she could find herself drawn to him in the same way he had been drawn to her. She had everything. But it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough as it hadn't been enough for him. Nothing had been enough until the day she had entered his life and from that moment he knew he had to have her. He knew he had to keep her, make her his.
And now there she was. His Caroline.
Aiming to have him. Keep him. Make him his.
They were the same after all. Him and her.
And here she was. Facing him. Wanting him to sign his life away to her and never look back.
"So perfect that…it's not exactly perfect," Caroline acknowledged as she ran her finger up and down his upper arm and then just as she knew she had him hooked she stepped back letting him sway in both despair and desire. Dangerous little thing she had turned out to be. Playing with fire like this.
"But it is perfect enough," she granted, her perfect eyebrow arching so to let him know that she wanted him but she didn't need him. She would survive without him. She was there not out of despair. She was there by choice.
She chose him. She could outlive and survive without him. She could have her perfect enough life in order. But she chose him.
Caroline nodded at him, letting him know that she was in his mind. She could hear his thoughts. His thoughts were her thoughts.
And so he knew what she knew.
She had waited to return to him when they would be on equal ground. When they would be equals and nothing less.
Caroline knew now she was strong enough. To survive without him. To survive on her own. To shine. To create. To be her own individual personality. He couldn't taint her or break her or fix her. She was her own person and she could live without him. She was strong and beautiful and full of life and she didn't need him to point that out for her now.
She knew it, she owned it, she was that and more. And he could see that she loved her freedom and her independence and she was proud to be able to deal with life and pain and beauty on her own.
She could stand on her own two feet. She knew what she deserved, what she wanted and she could get it. On her own.
But being able to survive on her own didn't mean that she wanted it to. In the same way, he didn't want to.
She could be without him. She just…didn't want to.
He had given her a choice in the past. Her freedom for his protection. Now she had made another choice. She wanted him. And she was going to keep him but for doing that it was his time to choose and this time it was a choice that she was going to give him.
Caroline looked at Klaus and she knew that he understood. In their own special way, they always shared this honest connection. This kind of communication.
And she felt a warm feeling at the way he looked at her now. With pride. With longing. With understanding.
What they shared now was different. It was mature. It was confident. It was on even ground.
There was a tortured part of him that maybe resented her for being able to live without him and for waiting for so long to return back to him. Klaus wasn't perfect and totally selfless in the same way she wasn't perfect either. But she knew that deep down Klaus understood her. And he was proud of her and that was all that mattered. That kind of acceptance. That kind of shared compassion to what they both needed from each other. They were both selfish yes. But not with each other. Not where it mattered. And they could start building from that. They would learn again.
They would heal the wounds they had inflicted on each other and the wounds the world had opened in their hearts. They had chosen the darkest parts of the world and so now they had to face the consequences but they would do it together.
Because yes it did take her some time to realize what was holding her back. It was another kind of guilt. It was survivor's guilt. She had survived and then she had realized that she led the kind of life her mother would condemn and judge. Her mother had expected her to be strong and to survive but not to fall into the kind of world she dedicated her life fighting against.
She was the Sheriff's daughter for crying out loud. Loving Klaus Mikaelson felt as if she was betraying the memory of her mother. Her mother's morality, her ethic, her ideals. All the things she had tried to instill into her and teach her.
And so Caroline had finally come to terms with that. She came to terms with it and moved on. She let go of all the things that held her back. Even parts of her mother. She only kept the things that mattered.
In the end, she knew that what her mother would want for her was to be happy.
The world wasn't black or white. It had colors in it and she wanted to paint her own world with vibrant shades and spills of bright color and for that, she needed Klaus by her side.
He had a light inside him too. She knew that. She always knew that. Not much. But enough. Enough for her. And she had darkness inside of her. Enough to need a man like Klaus to help her balance it. To help her tame it and unleash it.
She couldn't be two women at once. She couldn't be the old Caroline while not trying to embrace the person she had become.
This was on her. Not on Klaus. Klaus hadn't corrupted her. This had been her choice.
Pain, abuse, loss. They had changed her. She hadn't wanted to admit it but they had changed her and in order to survive, she hadn't let the change define her. She embraced it and defined it instead.
And maybe her mother would not approve but that was the point where she decided to keep the good, to keep the hope and let go.
There was a part of hers that finally said goodbye to her mother and her past. She said her farewells and admitted her truth.
She decided to stop living in guilt and memories. She decided not to be ashamed.
She wasn't feeling guilty for the things she was doing. So she wouldn't feel guilty for who she became and she wouldn't be ashamed of whom she loved.
Klaus was capable of love and so was she. And more so he was deserving of love and so was she.
Maybe they were not good people. But they were good for each other and maybe her mother wouldn't understand that but deep down Caroline knew that all a mother truly wanted for their child was to be happy. And she would be exactly that.
And she would not shy away from happiness any longer. It was time to close the old chapter of her life that held back and settle into the new one.
And this new chapter included Klaus. It was written for her and him.
She hadn't acknowledged that very simple truth in the past. She hadn't closed her old scores.
She wasn't ready then.
She was ready now.
This time the commitment would be forever.
This time her perfect enough life would be more than just perfect enough.
"Perfect enough," she said again, her gaze locked with his, urging him to understand.
Perfect enough wasn't…enough. It could be. But it wasn't.
They stood in the middle of the road staring at each other and then heat scorched her from the inside out. It was that trademark crooked smile of his. That confidence and that determination. Those parts of him that were so lethal and intense. He was both her hurricane and her haven and he knew all the things she didn't have to express for him to know. He could reach deep inside her and unravel her. Only with one look. With one smirk.
Like he did now.
His hands reached for her waist, his fingers buried in her skin and he gathered her close. She took in the way he smelled. So masculine. So very him and she wanted nothing else than to kiss those taunting lips. Than to feel him inside her again. To feel that unshaven face burn a path of fire all over her body. She wanted to have him hold her close and never let her go. He ran in her veins and he was there to ruffle her wings and destroy her almost perfect life and she wouldn't have it any other way.
"That won't be enough for you," Klaus knowingly taunted her and she smiled and gave him her own taunting look that screamed challenge accepted.
He brought her impossibly closer, his lips hovered above hers.
"What will be enough?"
She trembled. Her voice was shaky. Her control was dissipating. No one could get such a reaction from her. No one but him. She gripped his shoulders trying to hold on from him. Her whole body was vibrating.
"Us," he simply stated the fact they both knew and wanted, "me," he whispered in her ear, dragging his lips all over the column of her neck, inhaling her in, gently tasting her pulsing heartbeat that throbbed against her neck, "if you let me."
Caroline closed her eyes.
It would be so simple to give in.
But there was a last obstacle to overcome. One truth she wanted. She would never settle for anything less than what she deserved. What they both deserved.
She gently pushed him away and Klaus' features contorted in confusion and worry.
Her fingers touched his lips and she felt the way he wavered at her touch. The way he craved and wanted her. The way he had missed her. He was thirsty for her touch and she had starved without his.
But there was one more thing.
"That depends," she mumbled, her heart beating fast, so fast. Needing him, wanting him, but only if he could give her everything. She would not accept anything less.
She stared at him, not yielding, not giving in. She demanded. Her conviction was unbreakable and she was aware of how this could either break or make them. This was it. Their beginning or their end.
She stepped away from his embrace. And then compelled him to tell her the truth by standing her ground.
Like she had done before. A long time ago.
...
Flashback
"When all is said and done your forever is me becoming the mistress of the King and I do not deserve this. You know I don't," she urged him and then took in a sharp breath expecting from him a truthful answer.
"So can you tell me that there will be a day that you will be able to give me more than this? To give me yourself without holding back? Scars and wounds and all? Even healing? Can you tell me it is worth the wait? Should I even wait?" she asked shedding her armor down for the first time in years. This was her. Bare and honest. No pretenses. No middle ground. She wanted everything. She wanted him. But she did not want to let go and turn to a shade because of love.
That kind of love was not the kind she wanted. And if this was the only thing he could give she would not take it. And she would not allow him to pretend that he was giving her what she wanted either.
Caroline faced him and raised her chin up. Her heart was pounding so fast and so hard.
"Above your Kingdom and your crown. Above everything you hate. Can you care for me more than that?"
Klaus' lips compressed to a thin line. She was asking too much. More than he could give. Things he did not even know if he had to give.
He glanced up at her and he felt as helpless as he used to be a long time ago. When he had no power. No walls of violence to hide behind. His frustration flared and he felt trapped. He wanted to lie. To tell her whatever she wanted to hear. Anything that would keep her by his side and so he opened his mouth with every intention of telling her yes. Even if it would be a lie.
"I don't know."
He could not lie. Not to her. And it shook him to the core that his answer was not a 'no' either. But even that answer was not enough. It would never be enough. Not for her. And if he had to be honest. Not for him either.
Caroline nodded and exhaled painfully. Her face contorting to a mask of disappointment showing him how much she longed for another answer. Showing him that she had grown to care for him despite everything.
"I don't know if I can forever wait for you to find out. I don't deserve that."
This was the one and only thing that hadn't changed when it came to how she wanted him. She had changed. She had shed her skin and reinvented herself. She turned her weaknesses to strength and rose from her ashes but this hadn't changed.
This was the kind of love she wanted. The kind of love she would fight for. The kind of love she deserved and she would not accept anything else.
So she faced Klaus and waited. She waited for the love she wanted. This was her however long it takes and she came to collect it but in the same way, Klaus had given her time to grow and become the version of the woman she wanted and needed for herself in the same way she had given him the same to time to accept what he truly wanted, what he could really give her and to come to terms with how he could love her. If he could love her in the way she deserved. In the way they both deserved.
"What can you give me?" she asked him again and waited with bated breath.
Only Klaus didn't hesitate. Not even for a second.
"Everything."
Caroline gulped down, afraid to hope.
They had come full circle. So it was all or nothing now.
"I don't want everything. I want you to-"
"To love you above everything I hate," he finished for her repeating her words from all those years ago. He hadn't forgotten. Not even a word.
His hand framed her cheek and Caroline felt herself leaning over to his touch. Her heart grew several sizes, almost breaking out of the confines of her chest as she saw the softest smile he had even given her.
He had already confessed his love for her in the past but this was more. This was so much more. She could see it in his eyes. The answer she wanted. The answer she had been waiting for years.
But she had to hear it.
"Can you?"
She uttered the question softly. Uncertainly. Hopefully. And with so much longing.
There she was. The girl she used to be. The hopeful and insecure and endlessly and forever young. The best part of hers. The most innocent. The girl Klaus had fallen in love with.
But it was the woman that she was that wanted to get her happy ending now and let that girl finally get the fairytale she had always wanted. Maybe not with the white knight and the beautiful prince. No. She would get her wicked King in all the ways that mattered.
And she could see it in Klaus' eyes now. They were not drowning in hate. The only thing he truly hated was not being with her.
The only thing that mattered was his love for her and it was there. Above everything else. Before and beyond everything else. His heart belonged to her and his love was more than enough. His love for her came first. It was the only thing that mattered.
And she still wanted to hear it. In a whisper. In a scream. It didn't matter.
Could he give her what she wanted? Could he put her first beyond his hate and love her more than his rage and destruction? Could he love more than he could hate?
Could he love her? Broken parts and all?
Could he love her?
"For you… Because of you. It was all for you Caroline," Klaus whispered, "What I hated, what I feared, what hurt me. It all paled in comparison. There was no comparison. For you… I've shown mercy, kindness. Love. I always did… I just didn't know it."
Her face lit up.
"Do you know it now?"
His thumbs stroked her cheeks, catching the tears before they'd even fall.
Oh…yes…he knew…he had learned it the hard way. He, like her, had changed too.
"I do Caroline."
Caroline stepped forward. Straight into his arms. Straight into his personal space until no air could shift between their bodies.
She placed her hands over his chest and felt that powerful heartbeat, so in sync with her own.
Klaus held her close, no intention of ever letting her go.
"If we do this then no more holding back!" she stipulated. She wanted it all. And she would not compromise. "No more backtracking. I want in. All in. The bad and the ugly. No more middle ground."
Klaus hummed, his nose tracing the line of her jaw and she gripped his jacket as if her life depended on it.
"If this is what you want," he accepted her conditions, yielding completely to her will.
"I want you," she told him, letting him now that he was all that she wanted. That he was wanted. Loved. Needed. That he was for her all that he had never been for anyone else. He was enough. He was everything. He was what she dreamed and wanted and she would spend the rest of her life showing that to him. And even though she adored all of him it was that boyish smile that always undid parts of hers, "all sides of you," she enunciated, "the good and the ugly too."
"You know how my world works," Klaus reminded her, his fingertip trailing her lower lip and she caught his finger in her teeth and kissed it until the darkness she saw in Klaus' eyes called forth her own.
"I know," she simply said and then gave him a knowing look, "as you also know this is my world now."
Klaus smirk was dangerous, provoking and so very similar to her own.
"I know."
Such a simple acceptance of the truth. Spoken in such a dangerous and alluring way.
It made her blood ran faster in her veins and the hair at the back of her neck stand in attention. Desire bloomed and she saw in Klaus a kindred spirit. A kindred spirit that had kept tabs on her in those last four years in the same way she had with him.
Stalkerish tendencies aside she relished in the pride and glorious acceptance she saw in the way he looked at her now.
Because Klaus did know…he had heard the rumors…of the Songbird across the seas. He didn't know how she had exactly done it but his Caroline's accomplishments astounded him. He knew she also had ex-special forces and high trained spies working for her. She had taken over agencies and organizations that now functioned under her rule and she had created connections with governments.
Caroline's trade was information. She had ties with the dark web and she was having hackers at her beg and call. She had created a thorough network. She could take down her enemies with the digital click of a button or with force even though she preferred strategy. She could even take him down if she so desired and there was a part of him that couldn't wait to see what they could do with their combined forces. Together they could rule Chicago, the world, everything they desired.
His Caroline…she had thrived and now she was here to join him. Her soul a singing tune between her light and her shadows.
He couldn't wait to start living in her light along with her darkness. The perfect balance. His perfect other half.
"But you should know I am not here to be the King's mistress once more Klaus," Caroline stated with so much power that both aroused and provoked him. He couldn't wait to get to learn all her new sides. To experience all this power. To submit to it. To make her yield to him.
"No," he accepted and a wide smile spit all over his face, "you are here to become the Queen."
His beautiful Caroline. She already was a Queen. But she would be his Queen and he would lay down his kingdom and crown for her. All she ever wanted. It was hers for the taking.
Caroline smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. She stood on her toes her lips reaching for his mouth in a kiss that was a signature both of her love and dominion over him. And he surrendered. To his lover, to the love of his life…to his Queen.
And Caroline smiled into that kiss and deepened it until she claimed the King of Chicago for all his worth that now belonged to her. Body and soul.
She made love to him with that kiss. She conquered him and she let him conquer her.
Klaus Mikaelson was her choice. He had intended to be her last but she was the one that claimed all he had intended to give and she did it without regret.
And if the price to pay for her happy ending was a kill for a kiss then she did not mind paying it. It was worth it. Songs and gunshots, crowns and love and all.
…
And the songbirds keep singing like they know the score.
And I love you, I love you, I love you,
Like never before, like never before.
.
.
And at that moment Caroline could finally hear the verses of that song in her head again and she knew that all would be okay.
She had already paid the price for all the things she had lost and all the things she had won and she had found home. And thank God it was not perfect. But it was enough.
It was more than enough.
It was the beginning of another story. Their story.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Ten years later
.
.
.
You and I—we were made to thrive [3]
And I am your future, I am your past
Never forget we were built to last
...
And just say the word, we'll take on the world
...
Caroline Mikaelson sat at her private table at Loup Noir checking at the camera feed on her tablet.
Klaus and she had upgraded their security and their mansion was unbreachable. They had turned their home into a literal fortress. Along with all the conventional security measures they had also hired a trained army of elite soldiers to surround the premises. They had set motion detectors, weight sensors, silent alarms, retina, and fingerprint scans and had all sorts of redundancies in place. All upgraded even further with Bonnie's security systems.
And yet every time she wasn't there she felt restless and had the compulsive need to check the live feed in her tablet and phone constantly.
Maybe she was overprotective or just she missed them.
It seemed to her like yesterday when she sang soft lullabies to put her babies to sleep but now as she was staring at her tablet's screen she was giggling at the way Cole and Lizzie refused to go to bed. Without her there her six-year-old son and daughter were completely undisciplined something for which she had to blame their father.
Her children used their willfulness and their cuteness to defeat the enemy which in this case was their babysitter that was, frantically and in a completely frizzled state, trying to chase the little demons that wouldn't stop running away from her and the house guards in their midnight ice-cream induced energy burst.
Much to hers and mostly Elijah's dismay Klaus spoiled their children to death and even though she wasn't having it he always found a way to turn their kids, that happened to be brilliantly intelligent, incredibly stubborn and unabashedly wicked, into an actual terror for the poor people that would look after them both in their presence and in their absence.
'Come on love, how will they succeed us when the time comes? They'll have to learn from a young age how to terrorize the innocents,' Klaus would joke with his alluring accent without any shame at the way he loved to indulge their children and encourage their whims.
Klaus was trying to preserve their kids' innocence the most but never failed to integrate in them the kind of strength and independence they would need later on their lives since they were born in their family that came both with blessings and burdens.
Lessons in strategy and manipulation along with spoiling them to no end was Klaus' idea of good parenting. He was already preparing them for what they would have to face in the future while also protecting them from anything that could hurt them mentally or emotionally.
She was left trying to teach the twins some manners and humility but it was impossible not to follow Klaus' lead when all Klaus wanted was to be for their kids everything Mikael and Esther had never been for him. A good parent. Of course, he was overdoing it but she couldn't help but smile and give in at the way Klaus loved their children.
And that was the part where Klaus' humanity shone the most. Cole Mikaelson and Eliza Mikaelson were Klaus' Achilles heel which was a good thing to balance the rest of his darkness that was coming and going in terrifying ways that left their enemies broken and bleeding in the streets of Chicago. And that if they were lucky.
Now more than ever Klaus was not allowing anyone to perceive him as weak. There were no weaknesses to be exploited. Because he knew that now that they had children their enemies could very easily try to go after them through their blood which none of them would ever allow.
This was the part where her darkness shone. In absolute symphony with Klaus' cruelty. Come hell or high water they had no mercy to spare. They had no pity or kindness to give to anyone that would dare defy them or go after their family.
And they never would. If Klaus and her were past morality before they became parents now their ruthlessness reached new heights without any lows. And there were no regrets or guilt when it came to this.
Becoming a mother has been a turning point for her. She now understood what sacrifice truly meant. It defined her in an indescribable way and she could finally understand all the things she once had wondered about her mother. She could see through her patience and all the times her mom had forgiven her in the past. She could understand why her mom tolerated her tantrums and why she was always there for her and Caroline now knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that the path she had chosen wouldn't diminish her mother's love for her. Despite any judgment or disappointment, in the end, this kind of love had no beginning and no end. That kind of knowledge brought her the kind of fulfillment and inner peace she was missing and once and for all she came to terms with any remaining guilt she may have buried deep inside her.
Now she was happy. Truly happy.
Caroline ran her fingers over the tablet, letting her fingers trail the figures of her children that now jumped up and down their beds demanding to be told better fairytales meant for smart kids and not just silly boring stories.
Caroline smiled. She never knew such happiness was possible and she would do anything and everything in her power to make it everlasting. No one would take away from her what she had fought so hard to gain. Before she became a mother she had once believed to be a terrible person and then she gave birth to her twins. Maybe motherhood brought purity and goodness to other people and in a certain way that applied to her too because she was filled with raw emotion and gentleness for her children but in her that worked in more ways than just embracing the pure side of a loving emotion. There was the kind of terrible love to be feared too. Now there was no line she wouldn't cross, no rule she wouldn't break in order to keep her family safe.
Caroline knew first hand how cruel and ugly the world was and maybe she had a part in making it crueler and uglier in many ways but now that she felt what it was to be a mother and a wife she knew she would kill, destroy and die in order to protect what she held dear.
There were no heroes or villains in her and Klaus' story. There were only him and her and the world they shared and owned. There were no stories of atonement or redemption. There was no price to pay or sacrifice to be made. Murder, blood or beauty and art. All were theirs for the taking.
She had never regretted returning to Klaus ten years ago. She had married him soon after and she had never regretted joining him as she had never regretted letting him join her either.
Together they had built a new empire. Brick by brick with no hesitation. They had merged most of their forces and created a dynasty that kept rising. One that expanded far beyond Chicago's borders. They left all shadows behind them and cast their own heavy shadow over their domain.
Over the last decade they had created more together than they could have ever hoped to build apart.
She still remembered the night she had returned to him and the nights and days that followed. It was bliss and it wasn't always easy. It was not perfect but it was real.
They had started with Rome, Paris, Tokyo and then the world awaited. Chicago was always the center of their world, the place where they always returned and ruled.
They united their power and there were times when they disagreed or competed with each other but then there were the times when they were completely in sync letting the thrill take over and make their bond stronger.
There were times they fought with their enemies and draw blood and times they fought between them and couldn't stand each other. They had some legendary fights but in the end, none of that matter because they knew that they shared the kind of love that in the end could kill them both as well as it could bring them back to life. Besides making up afterward always made their fights a delight.
Intellectually Klaus was her equal and emotionally they complimented each other.
And with Klaus by her side, there was nothing she couldn't do, nothing she couldn't achieve.
She had committed crimes some would deem unspeakable but she had also found ways to help those in need. She didn't only venture into the underbelly of the criminal life that sustained her and challenged in more ways that she could count. She also worked with charity and with the music industry. She had created several shelters for abused women and she had also created an underground agency that was more set on punishing and avenging and taking action where the law wouldn't be able to intervene rather than just giving a home to those that were abused and broken in the aftermath of their struggles.
Hers and Bonnie's organization had expanded in ways that not even they could have ever predicted. They had ties and contact even with their government now and with known and not so known agencies to the point where their illegal activities were nothing but a fluke that no one actually bothered with given how they needed what she and Bonnie could offer them the most. This gave them the chance to create investments and bring to life companies that influenced the worldwide economy.
Which now was becoming quite handy as she was giving directions to one of her ghost mediators.
"I want that company dismantled," she casually gave her order knowing that this was a safe line with the signature of the call bouncing between different satellites and being encoded with Bonnie's personal encryption, "we will buy out the pieces left afterward."
Caroline closed the tablet but not before sending a message to the head of her personal security. Her children had enough playtime as it was. It was time for them to get to bed and they both knew that if she sent her own guard to the house she was on to them.
"If he resists selling convince him," Caroline told the man to the other side of the line sweetly, "Kindly."
She smiled when Klaus finally came and sat at their table. She pointed at his bloody knuckles and he rolled his eyes as he took one of the napkins and wiped the blood from his fingers. She had forbidden him to torture, anyone, in their house. Their kids lived in that house. If he wanted to put heads on spikes he could do it in several of the other establishments they owned.
So, of course, Klaus, being who he was, in retaliation, he had created an underground basement right under Loup Noir only to spike her for daring to mess with his fun. Truth was that Klaus had agreed immediately to her demand. He didn't like the idea of traumatizing their children prematurely if something went wrong, especially given the tendency Cole and Lizzie had to snoop around and not leave even a rock unturned in their estate.
Klaus had actually gone through the trouble of making sure that their little ones wouldn't accidentally uncover or unbury the remains of the enemies he had buried in the gardens.
It had actually been quite funny to see Klaus trying to actually remember where he and his siblings and even his ancestors had deposited their victims and under which plants there were actual remains and leftovers.
"Is everything okay?" Klaus asked her when she ended the call.
"Yep," she shrugged giving him a light kiss, "I am just making arrangements for Rebekah's birthday gift," she told him with a wink and then rolled her eyes when Klaus showcased the same compulsive need to check the live feed and see how their kids were faring in their absence. Although checking to see how the personnel of the mansion managed to survive Lizzie and Cole would be a more accurate description.
"If you don't ground them any time soon I'll consider sending them to a boarding school Klaus," Caroline threatened him in the hopes of actually managing to contain him a bit when it came to the twins.
Klaus snorted, his smirk at place as he took pride in the way his son, in particular, had an overprotective attitude when it came to his sister and didn't let the guards of the house intimidate them. It kind of reminded him of him and Rebekah when they were kids.
"Before or after you buy the school love?" Klaus pointed out and Caroline rolled her eyes. Well…duh! She would never let her kids go to a school she didn't own.
"After," she sweetly acknowledged, "which means that you wouldn't be able to burn it down so to get them back," she taunted him and Klaus gave her his most mischievous smile.
"Nonsense love. Why would I need to do that? Lizzie and Cole are perfectly capable of doing that on their own," he reminded her with glee and she shook her head exasperated as she remembered the accident in the pool house. Wasn't that a nice disaster all together?
Caroline opened her mouth to lecture her husband for the thousandth time on how this was not the way to raise children when Elijah came to their table fixing his tie.
It was one of the very rare instances in which Elijah came to this club these days. As a senator, he now more than ever was keeping a distance from anything that could undermine his reputation.
It was right after she had returned to Chicago ten years ago that Klaus had revealed to her that the only reason as to why he had meddled with politicians in the first place was to pave the way for Elijah's political career. It would be one of the many ways they would manage to give their family a far more prosperous future. One secure enough to ensure the Mikaelson name would outlive their criminal reputation and grow into something else. Something more respectable and honorable. At least when it came to the public perception of them. A plan that became far more of a necessity after they had their children.
Klaus always had the talent of seeing far into the future and being many steps ahead. And even though he acknowledged that a career in politics wasn't suited for him he also knew that Elijah would thrive in such an environment and that would benefit their family too.
Besides…being a criminal and being a politician were not that different in Klaus' eyes and after all the information she handled through her agency she had created with Bonnie she could not deny the truth of Klaus' beliefs.
So between Klaus pulling certain strings and Elijah's ingenious capabilities to enter the political arena all that had been left was for her to ensure that the Mikaelsons would gain full immunity and clean their record. It had taken some time but she had gained the necessary leverage and used it appropriately. Through her contacts with the government, she had managed to exonerate the Mikaelson name completely. Clean slate altogether.
Mikael's reign took the hit. It was a nice story that only had to be half believable. The Mikaelson siblings, the true victims of the story, withdrew from their criminal activities, for which no concrete evidence could be found anyway, that was the legacy that Mikael had left them and not what they truly embodied. After Mikael's death, all the Mikaelsons wanted to do was abide by the law and it was only Finn Mikaelson who refused them. After Finn's death that left the Mikaelsons mourning the loss of one more family member they retreated and devoted their lives to correcting their family's wrongs. They shut down all their criminal activities. They gave away millions to charity. They helped people. They became lawful.
Rebekah Mikaelson's charitable donations gave her the reputation of a philanthropist. Her husband Marcel Gerald gained the key to the city of New Orleans for his humanitarian work.
Elijah Mikaelson devoted his services as a lawyer to those that were in need too until he decided to join the political arena to serve the people and in order to repay everyone for all the misery his family had inflicted.
As for Klaus. Caroline made sure that the fact that he had been funding for years certain art galleries, museums and colleges would be revealed along with his talent for painting. The tortured artist persona irritated her husband to no end but his work actually put him on a pedestal in many ways that were also quite profitable and eventually this became one more of Klaus' passions and together they combined their art. His paintings, her music. Their art galleries hosted several charity events and art exhibitions that combined her unique performances along with Klaus revealing his art to the public. Given Klaus' reputation, his pieces drew critiques and investors alike.
It took time and trading lots of information but Caroline achieved what had seemed impossible to do. Even Klaus doubted that she could actually do it but she always loved to prove others wrong. When someone told her she couldn't do something she went ahead and did it anyway.
The Mikaelsons got full immunity.
Then it was only a matter of PR and manipulating the public opinion which was also something she thrived at too.
It didn't take a genius to understand of course that both her and Klaus would not forgo their underworld adventures. Once into this world, it was impossible to get out unless you were dead. But there were ways to achieve the silver lining of creating a respected dynasty that looked clean or at least managed to keep certain mouths shut when it came to the image they gave.
It was a matter of understanding the bigger picture and seeing what worked and what not on a greater scale.
Caroline knew that as long as she served the authorities the right bait and switch and offered them the kind of deals they could not refuse they could keep a beneficial balance between what the Mikaelsons did under the radar and what they showed to the public and even their crimes could be pushed under the rag even more so if they were also profitable for certain officials.
She and Klaus made sure to point their endeavors in mutual rivals of the state and in ensuring that certain places in their domain would be controlled in the way that made everyone comfortable. Caroline and Bonnie also allowed some undercover not so neutral pro bono mediation between their agency and different targets certain government officials marked around the globe. So it was a win-win.
"We are going to be late Niklaus," Elijah warned them and Klaus sighed in boredom.
They were meant to meet with certain members of the board of Governors tonight. High profile members that loved to secretly enter the shadows of Klaus' world and give in to their perversions far away from their respectable personas. Something that gave Klaus power over them and gave her all the more information to gather for a rainy day.
Tonight it was important to make their trip into the darkness a memorable one. Elections were soon to come and they would need to make certain preparations.
She, herself, had made sure that after tonight they would have all the clout and the bargaining chips they would need to ensure their family's impunity for future hypothetical infractions for the next decade or so if not more.
It was a game she loved playing. And Klaus loved to indulge her.
"Care to join me, love?" Klaus offered, his eyes glittering in the dark.
Caroline smiled and pushed her hand in his awaiting palm.
She got up and allowed his scent to envelop her. There was a hint of blood that had a special scent for those that knew how to tell the difference. She kissed him tasting the alcohol in his tongue before she detached her lips from him and gave him a gaze filled with promise. Tonight they would celebrate their victory privately. This kiss was all but a prelude for the all-consuming need that never faded or diminished between.
Caroline intertwined her fingers with his and walked with him.
And as she walked by all those that feared and respected her she held her head high and kept Klaus' hand in the confine of her possessive grip. He was hers now. He belonged to her and the whole world knew it.
Once upon a time, in another life, Klaus Mikaelson had offered her his protection in the exchange of her becoming his mistress. Only he had gotten more than what had he bargained for. It wasn't every day that a mistress rose to power and claimed the King.
Now, they walked together, side by side. Only this time she wasn't the mistress that followed the King of Chicago a few steps behind. Tonight she led. Tonight, like every night, she was the Queen and the world bowed.
.
.
.
This was her. The woman known as the Queen of Chicago.
Caroline Mikaelson.
And this was her story.
The end.
Song: Fleetwood Mac - Songbird
References:
[1] : Give me Love by Ed Sheeran
[2] : Breathe Again by Sara Bareilles
[3] : Take on the World by You Me at Six