A FEW YEARS LATER

Caroline clipped the earring to her lobe and straightened up. With one final look in the mirror, she flattened out her dress before stepping out onto the balcony to wait for him.

New Orleans was beautiful at night. The fluorescent, coloured lights shining, the rumbling chatter from the tourists below, the competing melodies of street performers dancing in the air. There was so much to fall in love with, but for the first time in a long time Caroline wanted to be somewhere else. Even if tonight was a celebration of their victory, their time in the city was limited. Years ago Klaus had promised her the world and she was itching for him to deliver on it.

As she took in the familiar view of the French Quarter, she thought back on the years that had passed since leaving home.

Whitmore College had been fine, but not far enough away from Mystic Falls to really thrill her. Still, she had to draw the line of Klaus' generosity somewhere and for a reason she couldn't quite remember, she'd chosen paying for an out-of-state college. She frequently regrets that call but was too stubborn to ask for a transfer, because that would mean that he won the argument when he definitely hadn't.

After maybe a month at college, he'd certainly been right about their living arrangements. While Caroline loved the idea of living in a dorm, the reality was just kind of yuck. It was loud parties around the clock when she really wanted to sleep. It was sharing a kitchen with people who didn't know how to clean dishes. It was having to co-exist with people who she'd never, ever choose to hang out with.

So the odd sleepover at his apartment swiftly became their apartment. For those first few months, it was bliss. After a summer in the north, Boston, Cape Cod, Acadia National Park, Martha's Vineyard, New York, then all the way over to Chicago for one of Kol's allied witch covens to perform an Immortality Spell, Caroline loved just having Klaus all alone with nothing to do.

Because with nothing to show her, no dazzling itinerary on the horizon, Klaus became more and more himself. He'd tell her things, stories about his childhood, his family, the people he'd met and sights he'd seen. That's when things started to change. Because for all the affection the mating mark had stirred up in her, it wasn't until he cracked open parts of him long hidden away that she really felt it. Some things would make her cry laughing, others would fill her heart with so much love she could hardly bear it. And that's what it was. Love.

There were things that were still too painful for him. There were things she didn't like to talk about either. And god, there were fights. So many of them, mostly petty and irrational. A stray look here, a sharp tongue there.

Then there were blowups when they stumbled upon things that neither of them would compromise on. Like when Klaus came home drenched in fresh, hot human blood and tried to coerce her into licking it from his skin. Or the next week when he'd taken it a step further, bringing in a young man only to open his jugular in front of her. Caroline had resisted, but it hadn't been easy. The ensuing fight wasn't pleasant.

But through all of the conflicts, none ever diminished how she felt about him.

Living with him was an experience, dragging him to college parties a joy, helping him through his second rut a pleasure. She loved nothing more than provoking his monster into making an appearance. The wolf always made its affections for her crystal clear, whether it was walking on four legs or two. Caroline quickly grew addicted to the glowing golden eyes and possessive hands on her when they went out in public.

In private, Klaus was usually quiet and respectful of her school work but knew exactly when she needed a distraction. And he was always willing to be said distraction.

Freshman year was great. The summer was brilliant too. Mexico this time - weeks and weeks of endless sun, sand and sangria.

And then sophomore year came and things got tough. Klaus headed to New Orleans for a weekend as a favour to Elijah - some unrest he needed back up for - and that weekend had spread into ten days. He'd come back to her of course, but only temporarily. With an apology and the assurance that he'd have things under control as soon as he could, he left again. He stopped by for the odd weekend, but they didn't do much talking with the fleeting time they had. Even after his third rut had them shacked up in the apartment for days on end, Klaus left her in bed as soon as the fever had died with a kiss on the cheek and another apology.

So just like that, their apartment became her apartment. She missed him. When he was away for longer than a week at a time and when his scent had faded from their sheets and when he couldn't stay to talk long on the phone because he was in the middle of some rather important business. God, she missed him.

And sometimes it sucked, being his mate. Occasionally she'd feel the stabbing or burning or aching pain quite suddenly. Sometimes it was just a niggle, but sometimes it had her curling up in tears. There was never any warning, never any indication of how long it'd go on for. He wouldn't answer the phone for hours. It scared her, just how often he got hurt.

He'd apologise when he eventually called her, tone dripping in sincerity. And then again with pretty flower deliveries and gifts. Sometimes the apology came handwritten on a postcard with a trinket just for her.

She knew he meant it, but it didn't make up for him being away. It helped, though.

There were no wild trips that summer. News of her mom's diagnoses hit in the spring, and the summer went by in a flurry of hospital visits, beeping machines and white walls. Some days she felt as though Klaus was the only thing keeping her tethered to the earth.

All of a sudden he was there, not through every hospital visit, but when she came home to the house. He'd open his arms and let her cry every emotion she'd been holding in the second she came through the door. He make sure she'd shower, set out clean clothes for her, drive her too and from the hospital when she was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open. He'd take every piercing, vicious word she spat at him when the sleepless nights caught up and made her snap.

When Liz died in September, Caroline thought that the world had ended.

Initially the pain was more than she could bear. She'd function enough to eat when Klaus offered her blood bags, she'd sleep curled up on clean sheets, she'd respond to the town folk's well wishes with a tiny fraction of a smile. She got by, but just barely.

The thought of staying in her mom's house when she wasn't alive was unthinkable. So was the thought of going back to college.

For something her human self had placed such a huge emphasis on, school just seemed so laughably pointless then. A degree she'd never use for the job she didn't need to pay the bills she wouldn't have. When she brought up taking a year out to clear her head, Klaus' grin stirred up the first sparks of joy she'd felt for a while.

They started in New Orleans, and it was magical.

Being away from the small towns and the single-mindedness of Virginia was just bliss. Caroline hadn't realised just how much she needed to sit and deal with her feelings. To understand and accept the deep grief that she had been carrying around for weeks, and to choose to move on with it. With her high school friends, her mom, her dad, everyone gone, she had to face the loss of not just a parent, but a life.

Then there was Klaus, who was just bursting to show her everything. His enthusiasm was infectious, and day-by-day Caroline warmed herself to the city. She felt his happiness, warming her heart when they went for dinner for the first time in a while. Little by little, his brightness became her own until she could smile freely again.

New Orleans brought a whole cast of new faces too. Klaus' family was really something. Kol was a fleeting fixture in their townhouse, showing up mostly at inopportune moments to slip in a lewd comment before leaving to find somewhere to spend the night. Elijah was stoic, but incredibly polite and respectful. Rebekah was anything but.

Somewhere in between the constant threats of violence and the infighting, Caroline enjoyed seeing them coexist. The love and loyalty they had for each other made her wish she had siblings too. And while Klaus - or Nik, as they so frequently called him - was short and moody with them, Caroline enjoyed playing the buffer. She grew fonder and fonder of them by the day. They weren't quite friends, but close enough.

Slowly Caroline started to piece together the political scene too. With the stirrings of a supernatural war on the horizon, she familiarised herself with the local covens, the hybrids and the vampires.

Little by little, Klaus had less free time for her. He was always fighting or negotiating or strategising elsewhere. He tried to keep her out of it initially, but somewhere between their petty spats and his preoccupation with the war, Caroline entwined herself with his plans. In the course of the following eight weeks, there were exactly twelve attempts on her life. It was on the tenth that, backed by a full coven of witches, a rogue vampire had been quick enough to stake her.

When she awoke hours later in his bed, the relief on Klaus' face had her falling in love all over again. He made love to her that night and Caroline couldn't believe that they'd gone so long without it. The attacks stopped soon after that, what with news of her immortality traveling almost as fast as the rumours of the torturous, nightmarish things Klaus had done to those who had tried to harm her.

One night he'd come home bloodied, but victorious. Witches mostly vanquished, rogue vamps cast aside and the city all but ruled by the Mikaelson's. Adrenaline high, he'd barely made it twenty minutes in the door when the cramps started. Hours later, he was in a full blown rut.

Caroline liked to pretend like helping him through a rut was more of an inconvenience than a delight. Despite the impossibility of it all, every year his wolf fully embraced its chance to mate her with a thick knot and primal need. After a year of having to share him with so many other causes, she couldn't hide how good it was to have him alone for a few days. Days of him proving his want for her over and over again, sex-filled and instinct-driven, but just the two of them. In truth, she wished it had lasted longer.

Just as she was enjoying memories from the last few days in the wam night breeze, familiar hands wrapped around her waist, pulling Caroline from her thoughts.

"Why did we agree to this?" Klaus grumbled in her hair, stroking over where his mark was covered by her dress. It was always harder for him after a rut, the come-down making his temper even shorter than usual. Instead of spending the day tangled up in each other, dozing in bed and feeding, Klaus had decided that their end-of-war celebration could wait no longer.

"Don't look at me. This was all you," she muttered resentfully.

She felt him groan against her back, but couldn't be mad at him. Not when the scent of his rut still lingered on his skin.

"Come, they'll be here soon."

Hand in hand, they went downstairs where a collective of cooks had made themselves busy. In due time, Elijah had arrived, then Rebekah and then Kol with a white box with a hand-tied bow. He handed the box to Caroline, grinning as he poured himself some wine.

She peeked in it curiously - a cake, congratulations written in blue font. "It's poisoned, right?"

"Now why would you ever accuse me of such a thing?"

"Experience."

The siblings took their place at the dining table while Caroline left the cake in the kitchen before moving to take her seat.

"Nik, will you leave her alone?!"

"Let them live, Bekah. You know the old dog gets handsy after a rut."

Klaus' biting growl made the glass of the chandelier shake. For a second, they all fell silent. Then wild laughter broke the tension, their chuckled quips layered over one another.

"Christ! You're not a real dog-"

"-some decorum-"

"-I thought beastiality was still illegal-"

Caroline giggled along with them but stroked at Klaus' hair when he buried his face in her neck.

It was true, after all. But she loved the post-rut, when even sated with non-stop sex for days, Klaus' wolf couldn't keep his hands off her. He'd just pulled her onto his lap, even though there was an empty place setting right next to him.

"-And at the dinner table! Look at them Elijah, it's disgusting!" Rebekah jeered but with no real malice behind her tone.

"I'd rather not, I'd like to keep my appetite."

Klaus rubbed his hands down her thighs all the same, kissing at the skin of her shoulder until Caroline guided his face up for a sweet, innocent kiss before pulling out of his embrace to take her place beside him. The long look they shared told the room everything they needed to know.

"Right then. If you're all quite done acting like teenagers, shall we eat?" Elijah deadpanned from his seat.

Caroline hid her smile in the sip of wine she swallowed before digging into the food. After so long with only occasional visits from each of the siblings or the odd impromptu family get-togethers to scheme, finally having them all together - unthreatened and at peace - filled Caroline's heart. As much as they were Klaus' family, they'd become hers too.

"Top shagger." Kol muttered under his breath, holding out his hand for a high five.

Caroline burst out in a giggle while Klaus' warning growl once again shook the room.

"One to talk, Kol. I think maybe you should ask Davina to soundproof your room." Caroline smirked, placing a gentle hand on Klaus' knee under the table to try and distract him a little. He was always so damn testy after a rut.

Kol hadn't brought his lady friend to dinner, but he grinned boyishly just at the mention of her. "But then you'd miss out on all the delightful noises she makes when I-"

"-Rebekah, why don't you tell us all about your time in Baton Rouge, please." Elijah moderated.

Still, the youngest brother threw her a wink and Caroline grinned back. Kol was undoubtedly her favourite of the siblings. He was volatile, reckless and cocky as all hell - very like Klaus in a lot of ways. He'd banter and tease, and never liked to sit down for too long. She hadn't spent a great deal of time with his new witch friend, but liked how happy she made Kol.

She found Rebekah to be tolerable in small, measured doses, though she thought she was going to murder the blonde when she stayed with them for a whole month in March. Caroline understood Rebekah. She could see how lonely she was, how she pushed people away. Still, she couldn't find the part of the Original that wasn't a raging bitch every ten minutes. Klaus could though, and Caroline didn't mind having her around so much when Rebekah brought such a bright smile to her mate's face. While it'd be nice to have her as a friend, she'd decided to give it another twenty years and see how it went.

Elijah was fun. Not as entertaining as Kol, but every bit as witty. It took Caroline maybe two years to finally crack his ridiculously formal exterior, but when she did, Elijah kind of rocked. He'd come out with the best one-liners, keep Klaus in check and he'd take her side in like 90% of arguments against his siblings.

While Rebekah launched into her trip summary, Caroline picked at her food and let her gaze trail to her mate again. The last time he'd had outside company straight after a rut, they'd ended up dead.

She caught Klaus staring back at her. Slowly the filthiest smirk spread over his face and Caroline knew that he was thinking about what they'd been doing on this very table just a day ago, and good god is it hot in here?!

She looked away and tried to refocus, though she could feel his eyes burning through her. And she understood. She wanted to be with him too. But later.

The food was nice but Caroline needed to feed. The burning in her throat was faint, but with the rut she'd been skipping meals. She excused herself from the diner table to grab a couple of blood bags from the fridge, while also debating the merits of going into the city a little later to watch him.

That was a big change, when she'd finally let Klaus show her how he fed. It was just with all the traveling they did a few summers ago, often it wasn't practical or safe to carry blood bags, and animals were few and far between. He'd eased her in gently, taking her to a vampire bar in New York City where thrill-seeking humans found their high. Humans who would consent without compulsion or alcohol, who'd walk home and nurse their own wounds before going about their work weeks.

And for all the moral arguments which came before, when Caroline had a pretty young thing between her and Klaus literally asking to be bit, she'd didn't stop her mate when he guided her fangs to the jugular. And it was good. Great in fact, hot and arousing and electric, but not nearly as good as drinking from him. When she'd had a mouthful, she pulled back and let Klaus have a taste.

Then later he'd taken her out to the city streets to show her how compulsion really worked. How he could compel them asleep before it happened, or go a step further and hurl them into the depths of pleasure before his fangs ever touched their skin. With the third, he'd showed her how to make them just… fine. With a healthy amount of compulsion blocking their fear, pain, consciousness and just about everything else, Caroline was quite convinced that they didn't feel anything at all. It didn't sit right with her, so she stuck to the blood bags or consentual donors where she could. When there was no other option, she'd go for the worst person she could find. The ones who leered at her for wearing a tank top or followed her down the dark alleyways. She never killed them, but she was pretty sure Klaus finished them off when she walked away.

She liked watching him feed, and Klaus could always put on a show for her. When he was done, he'd finish messily and let the blood linger on his lips or drip down his chin so that Caroline could have just a taste of it. Those nights usually ended with orgasms, so she never felt hard done by.

Strong arms snapped her out of her daydream, wrapping around her as his chest pressed to her back.

"You okay?" she whispered so that the others wouldn't overhear. Not much chance of that through, with the gentle background music playing in the next room.

Klaus was quiet, but she could feel his breath against her neck.

"It was your idea to have them over," she muttered, sensing his restlessness. "Want to go upstairs? I'll make an excuse for you."

"Just want you."

Caroline smiled at that. He could be so sweet. God, did she want him alone. "Later."

"Later," he relented, though he made no effort to move.

Dinner would be an endurance test. Though she definitely didn't want to, Caroline pulled out of his arms and grabbed two blood bags from the fridge, handing one to him at arm's length. He took it, but not without a sigh as they trudged back to the dining room.

A few hours later, Caroline once again gazed out at their view of the city while Klaus' charcoal made scratching sounds against paper.

New Orleans was magical. Not a city she ever intended to stay in, but one that she could get used to. Dripping in the supernatural, it seemed as good a place to settle as any. But not yet. Not yet.

She'd had her fill. Caroline turned and headed inside, snuggling up to him on the couch without a word. For a while, Klaus continued to sketch long lines of a stretching landscape, but eventually set it aside in favour of running fingers through her hair.

Thinking back on the last few years, Klaus wasn't particularly happy. His gaze turned troubled, though his eyes never left her face.

"What's wrong?" she breathed, enjoying the motion of his hands. It was so gentle, so intimate. It reminded her of what it was like in the beginning.

"I've missed you."

"I've been here the whole time."

"I know you have," Klaus hummed, pressing his lips to her hair, "but I missed you. It appears that perhaps I have been neglectful these last few years."

Caroline would have contradicted him, but having his sole attention, undivided and untainted by a rut for the first time in a long time felt marvelous.

"You've been so patient waiting for us to wrap up business here. What would you like to do now, my love?"

She smiled, nuzzling closer still. While everyone could be 'sweetheart' even fewer could be 'love.' 'My love' was reserved just for her. Taking in the handsome lines of his face, she stroked over his cheek with her palm. What did she want?

You was the first answer to come to mind. For someone who always had a plan, an ambition, a goal, what Caroline really wanted in that moment was something new and exciting.

"What I want," she began, "is to not hear the word 'witch' for at least a year. I want you, like this. Just us again. Maybe a couple of plane tickets too?"

He grinned at that, wolf positively delighting in the ideas which came to mind. Her, alone. Not a hybrid or a college or a witch in sight. Just her, for a long while. "I did offer you the world once, didn't I?"

With Elijah happy to stay and oversee the city, they left the next day.

So many cities and towns, all of them stunning. Klaus took her to the beautiful, tourist-laden streets of London, explained the Renaissance architecture of Prague, whispered sweet things in her ear while they watched the Opera in Vienna. Caroline gripped his hand tightly, wandering through one place after the other with child-like fascination.

Of all the wonderful things in the world, to walk around so many beautiful places with incredible company and not have a worry - not for money, or a job, or family - it was heaven. There was no aim to it, no purpose other than to make the other happy.

Caroline knew that he was saving Paris for a long time. They kept passing it, dipping into the South of France for two weeks in the sun before taking the train to Amsterdam or Brussels. Almost three years they'd been on the road, and it was December when he finally relented.

The sparkle of the Eiffel Tower against the dark sky set Caroline's heart alight and Klaus held her tightly as she stared. After everything, the ups and downs, near death experiences, the marks on their skin, she knew down to her core that they were going to be okay.

"I love you," she whispered into the night. She'd noticed over the years how it soothed him when she said exactly what she was feeling. Hearing it constantly calmed his anxiety. Make no mistake, Klaus was still paranoid and insecure, but it helped. And she was trying to get better at reminding him as often as she could.

His lips pressed to her temple in response, "where to now, sweetheart?"

"Let's just stay a while."

MANY YEARS LATER

When Caroline walked up the patio steps, the door was unlocked. It amused her that despite years of nagging, he never could be bothered to take up such a trivial human habit. When they lived in the city it was a real problem - no-one leaves the door open, Klaus! You're making us look suspicious - but now? Not so much.

She could feel that he wasn't home. It was quiet and still, but for the waddle of the cat as it came to greet her with a demanding meow. Dropping her bag at the door, she reached down to give him a good head scratch.

It's not something they'd ever planned on getting, but when they'd decided on the villa they realised that cats tend to adopt people, not the other way around. Caroline had just finished unpacking her suitcase when the cat had let himself in the window. Given that there wasn't another house for miles, it was fair to assume that the stray would become fox food if they'd forced him out. Initially Klaus had tried to show a smidge of resistance, but when the cat showed a distinct and frankly rude preference for his lap, he quickly started to fight its corner. And so, overfed and over coddled, Jinx had become a feature around their lives.

They'd only been in the villa for a year, but already it felt like home. They'd decided on Canada. Paris was a dream, London a blur and New Orleans a kingdom, but no matter how big a city they inhabited, eventually their immortality would raise some eyebrows. Moving didn't bother Klaus at all after his extensive experience, but it usually took Caroline a little time to settle. Even though Paris was her call, he'd let her pick again. She'd dabbled with the idea of California, but after years of city living her mind was set on something better.

Over the last few decades, she'd noticed the freedom Klaus felt every time he could run wild on all four paws. The way he was more settled, more at peace with himself. He never asked, but she wanted it for him.

And so Canada it was. English-speaking, with exceptional shopping and endless sweeping mountains for Klaus to run in. They'd picked out a pretty villa in the middle of nowhere with plenty of room, a forest surrounding and a view of the lake below. The closest town was twenty minutes away, the city a full hour, but with very little else to do in the area they didn't mind the travel too much.

It was beautiful, and theirs.

For Caroline after wandering around for so long, meeting humans from all backgrounds, settling in a real home had spurred her ambition back to life. The logistics of running a business as an immortal were difficult, but with Elijah's help, a few good figure heads and a great deal of compulsion, perfectly possible. Plus, being the boss meant that she could work from anywhere with just her laptop and some headphones. She set her own hours, managed her own employees and took all the time off she wanted, all while drawing in a profit large enough to invest some and donate more.

Caroline shut the door behind her and moved to refill Jinx' dish of kibble, even though it was really the last thing he needed more of. She paused for a second, noting the bleach on the counter. Which meant that Klaus had cleaned something. Or more likely, compelled someone to clean something.

She wouldn't change her mate for the world, but that didn't mean that it was all sunshine and rainbows. Klaus did a good job of keeping the violence under his skin around her. Rarely did he come home and trail gore through their space, ruining soft furnishings as he went. Rarely, but not never. Rarer still would she feel the slashes of his pain. He was better these days, more careful with his own being.

Caroline was better prepared for it now too. After so many years, she'd come to understand the emotions he held. The rage, the sadism, the uninhibited power he felt when he could control life itself. The nights when he did come home bloodstained, he wouldn't go straight for the shower. He'd go to Caroline. She didn't know where he went on those nights or what he did - she made sure to not watch the news for a couple of days after - but she loved the way it made him hungry for something more than blood could sate.

As she shook kibble into the cat dish, his voice startled her from her thoughts.

"Hello, my love."

She turned and met his grin with her own, "hi."

He was naked, rugged and gleaming with sweat as he so often was when he came home from a run. "How was your trip?"

Caroline tried to force a tiny smile, but there wasn't much getting around it. Funerals sucked. Funerals sucked even more when you couldn't actually go to them, instead lurking in the shadows and watching from afar. It was Elena's this time. While she hadn't spoken to her in decades, Caroline couldn't help but cling to every little piece of her past life that she could. It didn't make sense rationally - she much preferred her life as a vampire - but the speed at which it was disappearing frightened her.

Nostalgia is a tricky beast, and Mystic Falls always brought out the worst sort of feeling in Caroline. For the few short days she was away, she had felt a deep melancholy which she couldn't shake. Even watching on as they buried her old friend, catching glimpses of an aged Matt Donovan and his daughter, of Bonnie and her husband, she only felt sadness that soon enough, there wouldn't be anyone left who remembered her human life.

And yet watching them struggle to navigate the hills and stairs of the funeral home, she also felt a great deal of relief. That wasn't her life. She was still young, beautiful, mobile. She still had options, possibilities, chances to do whatever she wanted with the great expanse of time ahead. While she still technically owned her mom's old house, she couldn't bring herself to stay there. Instead, Klaus had given her the keys to the Mikaelson mansion. Upon opening the door after the funeral, she'd found a great bouquet of flowers and a card - Thinking of you everyday. All my love, Klaus.

After even a week away from him, Caroline wanted nothing more than a hug but decided to delay it rather than getting herself covered in hybrid sweat. "It was good. It was fine. It's not the same place anymore."

"No," he agreed, stepping a little closer while the sound of the cat crunching kibble filled the air, "did you see your friends?"

"Yes, I guess. But you know, we didn't really chat."

She'd considered it, stopping by Bonnie's house one last time. It'd been years since she'd last paid her a visit. In the end though, it just wasn't the same. Each year that they grew older, Bonnie filled her life with something new - a husband, a job, kids and grandkids. Caroline supposed she filled hers too, just in a different way. She watched from afar, looked up Bonnie's kids on social media to see their latest posts and pictures of their family. But she also knew that Bonnie wanted them to lead normal lives, as untouched by the supernatural world as they could be. Caroline tried to respect that, but she still wrote birthday and christmas cards all the same.

"Are you glad that you went?" he asked, fingers twitching to touch her.

"I suppose. Yes, actually."

"Good. Well as happy as I am to hear it, I'm glad to have you home." And he was. His wolf was content most days - happy to run in the woods, happy to hunt at leisure, happy to co-exist with his other monster and the freedom they'd embraced. But most of all, it was happy to have a den filled with its mate. In the few days she had been away, it had been unsettled and aggressive. Even now, tired from a long run, it pressed against his skin and longed to have her close.

As though she read his mind, Caroline hummed and stepped into his space. She didn't touch him, but pressed her lips against his softly. "I missed you," she breathed.

"And I, you. I'm headed for a shower, if you'd like to join me?"

"Go on ahead, I'll be up in a second."

Caroline waited until she heard the running of the water before she moved, eyeing the pristine decor of the house with a smile. It smelled like them. While she knew that they'd have to up and move in a while when the townsfolk - who were initially suspicious of their wealth and youth - became suspicious of their agelessness. She could hold them off for a while with casual conversation about botox and anti-aging cream, but eventually they'd have to go.

She liked this house. She liked that it was the first one they'd picked out together - that they'd filled it with their things and painted the walls themselves. Yet the idea of leaving it didn't make her as sad as it once would have. After all, a few years here and a few years there, soon enough there would be a new generation living in the town and they could return.

Putting the kibble back in the cupboard, Caroline cleared the bleach from the countertop. As she walked up the stairs and pushed open the bathroom door, she thought she'd quite like to see Hong Kong next.

There was no rush though. They had time.

FIN.

A/N: If you liked this story, catch my other KC works on AO3 at emeraldvixen. You can find the drabble Reckless & Responsibility which wasn't written to fit in this universe but totally does, as well as my KC political AU which is great for US election season. You can also head to AO3 to subscribe to my author page for plenty more KC 10k porn oneshots coming soon because I just can't help myself. Lastly, you can find me at euvixen on Tumblr if you'd like to chat or request something spicy.

Thank you so much once again for your comments and love. This was really fun and I hope you liked it.