"Morning, Love," Klaus whispered into Caroline's golden hair. She nuzzled her head deeper into his chest before opening her eyes.
"Good morning," she replied, smiling. Caroline was curled up to Klaus, her head in the crook of his neck, one leg wrapped onto his. Klaus' hands were firmly gripped to her waist. "What time is it?" Caroline wondered aloud, sitting up and reaching for her phone. The two of them were in Klaus' bed. Caroline slept there most nights now.
"It's a quarter to ten, sweetheart," Klaus informed her, drinking in what he saw as she sat up. Her bare back was smooth and creamy white. He couldn't resist sitting up behind her and giving her shoulders a kiss as his arms enveloped her. Every morning Klaus could hardly believe this was his life. Glancing around his bedroom, little bits of Caroline were everywhere. After Klaus had decided to reside in his old home here in Mystic Falls, Caroline had helped -or just completely taken charge- him fix it up. Caroline redesigned the kitchen, picked out all new furniture and accessories, hung up art (some was Klaus' own), and even did some gardening outside. She really didn't know how to do anything half-way. In Klaus' bedroom, Caroline's design touches were very easy to spot. There were fresh cut flowers on his bedside table and lavender incense in his en suite bathroom.
"I'd better head to the school to see how Lizzie and Josie are doing," Caroline sighed. "Alaric doesn't really like how much time I spend here with you, you know?"
"I know, Love. Do you mind if I join you? I'd like to see how Hope is. It's getting close to the anniversary of Hayley's death…" Klaus looked troubled. "She acts strong, but I know her mother's death destroyed her. Well, it destroyed all of us. Hope would never show it, though. She's too much like me," he finished, with a small smile.
"That's an understatement," Caroline said, effectively lightening the mood. "I'm going to take a shower, if you'd like to join?" She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Darling, in what universe would I ever turn that down?"
"So, how's Caroline?" Hope asked, looking at her father expectantly as they both sat on Hope's bed.
"She's quite extraordinary, as usual," Klaus told her, a glint in his eyes.
"You seem happy. And you haven't been on a killing spree since you've been here. I'll take that as a win," Hope laughed.
"Oh, very funny," Klaus retorted, trying desperately not to find her comment funny. "Remember, Aunt Bex and Marcel are coming up for dinner tomorrow, so don't make any plans," he reminded her.
"Dad, I think you need friends first before you can make plans," she informed him.
"Come on, Littlest Wolf, anyone would kill to be your friend. You're nearly as incredible as your family name implies," Klaus joked. "Why don't you start hanging out with the Saltzman twins?"
"Um, I don't particularly like hanging out with the devils incarnate," Hope said, her face forming a look of pure disgust.
"Are they really that bad?" Klaus wondered.
"Well, no. I don't know. Josie isn't so bad. But Lizzie… she's neurotic," Hope said, flustered. Klaus laughed.
"I think you should extend your social circle to beings under a thousand years old. Even if the young ones tend to be… neurotic, as you said," Klaus explained. His mind wandered to a particularly neurotic young vampire he'd meet here a decade ago…
"Maybe," Hope relented. "I don't really fit in with them, though. They could never understand."
"Understand what, sweetheart?" Klaus inquired. Hope shot him a look.
"I'm a Mikaelson witch who can turn into a wolf and is impervious to injuries. Not to mention, my Alpha mother is dead, and my Original Hybrid dad is potentially the most hated supernatural being in history. Pretty relatable," she said, exhaustedly. Hope watched her dad's face crumble at her words. He took a moment before speaking.
"Hope, you're so much more than that. Our family is… quite unique, I'll admit, but we love you. Anyone who has the opportunity to know you will love you too. You're brilliant, strong, kind, and quite possibly the funniest of the bunch. Don't tell Kol I said that," Klaus told her. "The point is, you're the best of us. You've always been our Hope."
"Nice of you to show up here on your day off," Alaric's voice told her from the doorway. Caroline turned slowly to face him.
"Ric, we've talked about this," Caroline began.
"Caroline, I know. We've been through this before with Stefan," Alaric spat, clearly annoyed.
"Do not bring Stefan into this," Caroline muttered harshly, her hand instinctively reaching for her necklace where she kept her wedding ring to him. "I'll always put our family first. You know that."
"I'm sorry," Ric said, clearly simmering down at her words. "Look, I just want you to be more present here with the girls. Josie and Lizzie, especially, are going through a hard time. Supernatural love lives, friend drama, and magic on top of all that."
"You don't think I know that? I was them. You remember. When I was their age I was a neurotic control freak and possibly the shallowest person in the world," Caroline said with a forced laugh.
"I know, Care. We'll talk about this later. Go talk to them," Ric told her.
"Mom, you'll never guess what M.G. did," Josie gushed when to her mother as they sat in the twin's room.
"You'll have to fill me in. A lot can happen in a few days," Caroline said, shrugging dramatically.
"Come on," Lizzie replied, laughing. "Dad told us all about how much of a gossip queen you were in high school."
"That snitch!" Caroline exclaimed. "What did M.G. do?" she asked, easily getting sucked into her teen daughter's drama. Some things never change.
"He went to the bon fire with Bailey," both sisters fake-gagged at the name, "and she got so wasted, she streaked!" Lizzie recanted. Caroline shook her head.
"The witches at this school have got to realize they don't have nearly the tolerance of the werewolves and vampires," she told her daughters, half scolding and half joking.
"Yeah, I learned that the hard way," Lizzie muttered under her breath.
"Excuse me?" Caroline inquired.
"Oh man," Josie said, putting her head in her hands.
"I messed up, I know," Lizzie said, eyes filling with tears.
"Elizabeth, what is it?" Caroline asked, moving closer to put her arms around Lizzie.
"I had a couple too many a few weeks ago and I got really… you know?" Lizzie tried to explain, her breath becoming labored as her tears continued.
"I know, Sweetie. What happened?"
"She told M.G. about Hope breaking her curse," Josie whispered, shooting Lizzie a glance.
"Honey, why in the world would you do something like that? Do you know how hard it's been for her without her mother? With the whole school discovering who her father is?" Caroline vented.
"I know, I'm sorry. I don't know why I did it," Lizzie whimpered. "I just get so… jealous." Caroline's face softened at her daughter's words.
"I was a lot like you when I was human, you know?" she told Lizzie. She nodded in response. "You're going to apologize, though. And next time you're feeling that way, call me or talk to your father!"
Lizzie nodded, leaning in further into her mother's embrace.
Once Klaus had gone home, Hope sat down on her bed, releasing an angry huff. Feeling frustrated, she went to see if there was a vampire that was willing to spar with her to relieve some of her feelings. Hope loved her dad, but it was exhausting to pretend that everything was fine when he was around. The truth was that she wasn't doing well. If the anniversary of her mother's death wasn't enough, kids at the school knew now that she was a tribryd, and worse yet, a Mikaelson. Before, they had known her as Hope Marshall, a witch. That all changed this year. Word traveled fast around here, especially with everything that had happened with Roman last year… People realized who her family was. It was a tough adjustment considering in their 'History of the Supernatural' course, part of the curriculum was about the terrors her family had committed. There was no sugar coating it. Hope Mikaelson was someone to be feared, and fear causes people to become hateful. Things got worse recently when people figured out that Hope triggered her werewolf gene. The witches in her classes looked at her like she'd grown a second head and yet the werewolves wanted absolutely nothing to do with her. The vampires didn't go near her, and even went so far to call her a 'smelly mutt'. Not to her face, obviously. But Hope had excellent hearing. Hope couldn't exactly unleash this burden on her dad, fearing he would start ripping hearts out of bodies. That wouldn't exactly help her image. And her dad was the happiest she'd ever seen him. She couldn't ruin that with her own dumb school problems.
"Hope," she heard, breaking her out of her thoughts. Turning, she saw Caroline walking toward her, with Lizzie following behind, head to the ground.
"Yes?" Hope replied, slightly annoyed.
"Lizzie would like to tell you something, wouldn't you Lizzie?" Caroline explained, pulling Lizzie forward.
"Yeah…" Lizzie began, not meeting Hope's eyes.
"Go on," Caroline prodded.
"Uh, sorry about being mean to you and everything. I know you've had a tough year. I think I was just upset that you never wanted to be friends with Josie or I… I shouldn't've gotten into your business. I told M.G. that you triggered your curse. I didn't know he was going to tell anyone else, I swear!" Lizzie explained. Hope read the girls face carefully. She seemed genuine enough.
"Don't worry about it. I can handle myself," Hope replied, turning on her heel to continue walking down the corridor.
"Thank you. Don't you feel better now?" Caroline asked, unaware or uncaring that Hope was still listening.
"Yeah I guess," Lizzie said. "It didn't look like she cared much anyway though, Mom."
"It did. You can tell in the eyes. She's a Mikaelson, that's for sure," Caroline told her daughter. Hope knew by that comment that Caroline knew she was listening. It brought a slight smile to her face.
"That smells incredible," Klaus whispered, wrapping his arms around Caroline's waist as she stirred pasta on the stove. Caroline leaned into him, breathing in his scent and presence. Something about Klaus always made her feel butterflies.
"It's almost done," she said, wiggling out of his grip to turn. She leaned in, planting a kiss on his face. "Set the table?" she suggested.
"Of course, Love," Klaus replied, giving her a quick kiss before grabbing the plates. Caroline began plating their dinner before pouring some blood from the bag into wine glasses. Classy, Caroline thought to herself with a grin.
"This is exquisite," Klaus said after taking a hearty bite.
"It's not too dry?" Caroline asked. She much preferred cleaning to cooking.
"No, it is absolutely perfect. Much like the woman sitting across from me," Klaus continued. Caroline scoffed but couldn't help smiling. "Every moment with you is like a gift to me," Klaus said, smiling in the crooked way that made Caroline's heart get stuck in her throat.
"You're awfully complimentary tonight," Caroline noticed with suspicion.
"You caught me. I'm trying to put you in a good mood," Klaus admitted.
"And why would you need to do that?" Caroline asked thickly, looking at him through squinted eyes.
"Well… Rebekah and her fiancé are coming to visit tomorrow," Klaus began, stopping short when he saw her face.
"Wait wait wait… Rebekah Mikaelson… is coming to… Mystic Falls? Tomorrow?" Caroline inquired.
"Yes. They're only staying a couple of days. They want to see Hope," Klaus explained.
"I understand that. Why didn't you tell me until the night before?" Caroline complained.
"To be quite honest, Love, I know you and my sister don't have the best history." He shrugged as if that explained everything.
"Ric is not going to be happy about having more Originals in Mystic Falls. And neither are Damon and Elena…" Caroline brainstormed. "Well, what they don't know won't hurt them," she decided with a small smile.
"That's the spirit, Caroline." Klaus stood to put their plates in the dishwasher, kissing Caroline on the top of her head as he passed her. Great, Caroline thought, tomorrow ought to be interesting.
Let me know if you're liking this story so far! It's really a blast to write. Thanks for reading :)