AU. Werewolf!Klaus + human!Caroline + all the fluffy fluff.

Caroline carefully deposited a second bundle of blankets, just slightly smaller than the previous one and of a light blue instead of pastel pink, into the cradle.

She barely breathed as she straightened back up.

It had taken her exactly one hour and forty-three minutes to rock both Henrik and Lizzie to sleep, the five-month-old twins taking turns wailing every time the other had finally quieted down. She wasn't sure whether she loved watching over them during the night because they were so peaceful or because, finally, she was.

Klaus insisted it was her protective instinct.

But Caroline wasn't a werewolf.

Of course she felt protective of her babies, she still hadn't even completely gotten around to accepting the fact that they were no longer inside of her but out in the world where she knew she wouldn't be able to take care of them in quite the same way. Werewolves, however, seemed to really take the whole concept to another level.

Throughout her pregnancy, Klaus would literally growl at any poor stranger who as much as glanced at her funny in the street.

If she hadn't feared her accidental baby daddy would be arrested for murder she might have found it endearing.

And a little hot.

Not that she had un-grounded her hormones for getting her into that mess, in the first place.

She had met Klaus during an event for singles on Valentine's Day a little over a year ago.

While every other man in attendance had simultaneously appeared on edge and over-confident, throwing pitiful flirting at whomever would give them the slightest modicum of attention, he had spent the majority of the evening nursing some drink at the bar's counter, turning down the ridiculous amount of both women and men accosting him, as if waiting for someone in particular.

Not that Caroline had been keeping an eye on him or anything.

Her gaze had glided his way, perhaps, a couple of times, but only because his had seemed to be following her around, the heat of it prickling the exposed skin of her back.

No matter his gorgeous face complete with chiseled jawbones and raspberry lips, as well as the odd pull she had felt towards him from the very instant she had walked into the bar, she hadn't been willing to give him the satisfaction of going up to him.

She had bided her time, instead, let him come to her himself.

She wasn't proud to admit that she had needed to bring out the big guns in order to give him a little push. One big gun, rather. Jealousy.

As soon as she had stepped one foot out of the bar, a random guy in tow, one hand had stopped her.

For the remainder of the night and well into the following day, Klaus had, then, proceeded to show her just how talented he could be with that hand, and his other hand, and his tongue, and his cock. Particularly his cock.

Caroline had never felt so thoroughly sated before in her life.

A kind of sated that actually made her want to go at it again and again and again at the mere memory.

It probably didn't help that that had been the last time she had gotten any.

Seriously her fault, that.

Studying his profile bathed in golden rays as the sun had started filtering in through the windows of his New Orleans apartment, sheets pooled low around his hips and arms bent under his head by way of pillow after she had stolen all of them for her side of the bed, a curl swaying adorably along the curve of his temple every time he would breathe out in his sleep, she had panicked.

It couldn't be healthy, the way her heart had taken to trying to beat its way out of her chest.

She hadn't wanted to stick around to find out whether she would actually suffer a premature heart attack because of a complete stranger. Even if everything about him had felt so familiar.

She had left without a sound, a note, or a phone number.

She had ended up regretting it, predictably, nothing and no one able to erase their moments together from her mind... and her heart.

When, two months later, alone in the bathroom of her childhood home in Mystic Falls, she had found herself staring at a positive pregnancy test, that regret had skyrocketed to immeasurable heights.

The pill hadn't done its job, apparently.

Although, to be fair, with how many times Klaus had come inside of her in the span of mere hours, Caroline doubted any contraceptive would have been one-hundred-percent effective.

Plus, she was convinced he had super sperm.

Perks of being a werewolf.

And perks of her being his mate.

As in soulmate.

Yep.

Caroline was still trying to wrap her head around that part, trying to adjust to the supernatural dumpster fire her life had become.

Hence why they weren't together.

Yet.

When Klaus had showed up at her doorstep, having, unbeknownst to her, been searching for her ever since that night, only to find her three months pregnant, he had skipped polite pleasantries and told her everything, knowing she would have never agreed to follow him back to New Orleans otherwise.

At first, she hadn't exactly been a fan of the idea of moving halfway across the country essentially for him, but, after her mother's death, she had nothing of importance tethering her to Mystic Falls.

No family left.

Except for her baby. Their baby. Babies, they would later find out.

But an unplanned pregnancy and real-life werewolves were as much as she had been able to deal with at once, so any and all thoughts of entertaining a relationship with Klaus as well as the onslaught of feelings that came with such thoughts had been neatly folded and shoved into a metaphorical box at the back of her mind.

She swore by organized to-do lists, thank you very much.

And she had already done Klaus. He needed to wait before she reached his turn again.

Did she feel like a terrible human being every time he looked at her with those puppy eyes of his full of unadulterated longing?

Uhm. No!

"Is everything all right, love?"

Caroline whipped around at the sound of Klaus' voice.

"Sssh!" she frantically waved her hands at him while making sure the twins were still sleeping. With a sigh of relief, she tiptoed away and pushed him out of the nursery they had set up in the place of his art studio, closing the door behind them as quietly as possible. "You wake them up and I'll have to kill you."

Klaus had the nerve to chuckle. "Don't worry, love. We have a couple of hours before that happens."

Right.

Because he was freakishly attuned to the babies' feelings which meant he could sense when they were in a state of deep sleep. Because her babies carried his genes, including the werewolf gene. Her babies were like tiny, furry cubs.

She could feel the pinpricks of a migraine on the horizon.

"Well, let's not tempt fate, okay?"

"Of course," Klaus acquiesced with a small nod of his head. "I apologize, love. I simply wanted to see them."

Caroline's expression softened.

While the art gallery he owned didn't take up much of his time, capable employees overseeing it for the most part and his own paintings coming to life during many a sleepless night, Klaus, as alpha of his pack, the largest in the Southern United States, had heaps of responsibilities thrown on his plate every day.

He was a present, dedicated father and even found the time to constantly come up with new wooing techniques where Caroline was concerned, but, still, he was often out of the house and she could only imagine how much he had to miss Henrik and Lizzie throughout the day whenever he was away.

"If you want—"

"No," he interrupted before she could finish offering to let him back in. "It's quite all right. Tomorrow. I've relinquished all pack duties to Marcel for a few days."

"You have?"

Marcel was Klaus' beta and Caroline's very favorite person in New Orleans, present company excluded, of course, not to mention the twins' godfather.

"Yes. I was thinking you, me and the twins could spend some time together?" he hedged, regarding her with a cautious look.

Caroline eyed him strangely. They lived together. Could it get any more 'spend some time together' than that?

"Sure."

"I mean," Klaus cleared his throat in a somewhat awkward manner that was so unlike him, "going out somewhere, perhaps?"

"Like where?"

"Wherever you want."

"Like... a date?" she asked, blushing, then hastened to add, "A family date."

"Very much a regular date, too, love," he clarified, looking so damn hopeful she felt like she was about to combust by the sheer intensity of him. "If you'll have me?"

What was even holding her back, at that point?

She had settled so well in New Orleans, his pack loved her and their babies and she knew each of the werewolves would protect them with their life. Henrik and Lizzie were cared for and happy. She knew they were, didn't need a werewolf gene but pure maternal instinct. She, too, was happy. Happier than she had ever been, perhaps. Like she had found her place in the world, at long last. Like she was exactly where she was meant to be with whom she was mean to be.

Again, she didn't need to be a werewolf to know it was fate that had brought her and Klaus together.

And who was she to argue with fate?

She took a step forward, then another, then one more, until she was face to face with Klaus.

His eyes widened almost comically when she raised her hands to frame the sides of his face, thumbs tracing the light stubble across his cheeks in gentle circles.

She was pretty sure he had stopped breathing.

One of them always had to risk heart failure during important moments, it seemed.

"I would love that."

Klaus' answering smile was blinding and Caroline would have mirrored it if he hadn't suddenly swooped in to cover her lips with his own.

She released a tinkling giggle into his mouth, the sound soon morphing into a whimper when he pushed her up against the wall with a loud thump.

The very same wall separating the hallway from the nursery.

A wail resounded, followed by crying. Lizzie waking up and waking Henrik up too in the process.

"Great," Caroline sighed, smiling fondly as Klaus nuzzled the length of her neck, "now the banshees are screaming."