A/N- Continuing on with the post S3 of TO
Klaus Mikaelson was having somewhat of an intense day.
For the last five years, he'd been imprisoned behind a brick wall while Marcel madly drove New Orleans into the ground, rendering it into a ghost town where only the paranoid and insane remained.
But on the upside, it had been nice to have a little peace and quiet.
Right up until that morning when his family had burst right back into his life like a meteor crashing into earth.
One of the really big ones that should have wiped out all lifeforms and left shattered chunks of planet floating in its wake.
Freya throwing spells like they were m&ms, Elijah taking out more hearts than a twenty-first century boy band, Rebekah managing to dismantle everything Marcel had built while also defining their relationship which they idiotically seemed to think could recover from the latest coup d'etat.
And Kol- well, he was being Kol, his default setting left havoc in his wake.
It was rather impressive. Not that he saw any of it firsthand, he was too busy practically pushing Hayley out of the way- hybrid so she could handle it- to stare in complete and utter bewilderment at the girl standing behind her.
His littlest wolf, his Hope.
His redheaded daughter?!
"It's just the light," Hayley explained after he'd finished reuniting with her and in true Mikaelson form, she'd manipulated the emotional situation to wrangle the promise of a puppy from him. "She's blonde in summer but when she first started getting red tinges, I swear I ordered the DNA test myself."
Klaus turns from the hotel bed where he'd tucked his daughter in, "And?"
"Oh, definitely yours, specific genetic material that could have only come from a Viking. Lots of compulsion necessary to get away with that one."
He'd smirked, kissed her cheek goodnight and gone to the hotel roof top bar where he'd received the colorful description of the day's events.
From Caroline Forbes herself.
Of course, that had been over the celebratory glass of champagne, and the mimosa to toast his freedom, the martinis had been because she hadn't had one in years and then, when they'd got to the tequila shots- then her presence in NOLA had been explained.
"Stefan broke up with me!" she'd sobbed, "Because he thought he had another chance with Elena!"
Klaus had sat rigid on the couch in shock as she'd wept into his shirt,
"Bonnie found a way to wake up Elena so she could save Damon but Damon didn't want to be human right away so then Stefan told me that Elena was his first love and if she was willing to live as a human with him that he had to take it and now he'd chasing her across Texas, because Elena's chasing Damon across Texas and he left me on a freaking maybe!"
"No," Klaus shook his head, unable to process, "Sweetheart, he cannot be that bloody thick."
He reaches down and drags his nails across his arm, watching the blood pool as a means of determining reality from fiction. It had worked every time before but he doubts the results now.
Whilst he'd figured that Stefan would break Caroline's heart one day, he'd always assumed it would be when the doppelganger specifically requested the resumption of his services in the bedroom.
Who ends a relationship with an amazing woman on a microscopic chance of something else?
He asks this out loud and Caroline hiccups through her tears, "Right?! And then I realized that you would never of treated me like this, which is why I came to rescue you and because I wanted rebound sex to turn into relationship sex and I'm drunk right now but I'll totally sound less like I'm using you for your body tomorrow."
She patted his hand and pushed herself up, "But seriously? We're gonna do lots of cuddling tonight!"
Well, considering that sixty percent of the hotel inhabitants were his siblings and they were all on the same floor, he was definitely okay with this scenario.
Besides, after the day he's had, and the preceding one thousand, eight hundred and twenty-five beforehand, a little rest would be nice.
One of the downsides of being in a long-term relationship was picking up your significant other's habits.
For example, Klaus now had a tendency to eye-roll that had at one point driven Elijah to try and remove aforementioned eyes with a grapefruit spoon.
It had been the only cutlery on hand at the time.
He had also started using the word seriously a lot more and was consciously trying to stop that because it was embarrassing for an evil hybrid to have the vocabulary and crutch words of a twenty-one year old woman.
Besides, Freya was getting way too much amusement from the situation.
However, that fine October morning, when he and Hope had been walking Miss Peregrine the blonde Chow-Chow, they had been in the middle of discussing all of Hope's favourite things about Halloween when Klaus had suddenly found himself facing the scenario of borrowing one of Caroline's key words or swearing up such a storm that he'd have to compel away his daughter's memories.
So he'd settled for 'Seriously?!'
Stefan Salvatore was standing on Bourbon St, out of view of the manor which they'd finally rebuilt, but definitely intending to go inside.
And Klaus doubted it was because somebody was trying to kill him.
He turns to him and offers a brief nod, "Klaus."
He's being treated aloofly by his own guest.
Hope and Miss Peregrine look between the two of them, "Daddy?"
Klaus sighs and strokes her hair, "Run along and grab your breakfast, sweetheart."
Of course, because she's a Mikaelson, Hope wants to stay and watch whatever drama is about to unfold but she settles for taking her puppy's leash and stalking away, giving Stefan such a pointed sniff as she goes past that he has to wonder how Rebekah's only her half-aunt.
When she's out of ear shot, Klaus shakes his head, "Come on then," he sighs, "Might as well get this over with."
"You know why I'm here?" he double-checks and Klaus shrugs, leading him into the courtyard.
"I'm not an idiot and you're still a vampire, but Caroline would be awfully upset if I decorated Bourbon St with your innards."
He leaves Stefan in the courtyard and goes in search of his girlfriend of sixteenth months now, swinging past the kitchen to find Freya and Elijah in the midst of a pancake production line for Hope, Josie and Lizzie.
For the life of the lot of them, they still couldn't tell the twins apart and Caroline refused to let them put name tags on her daughters.
Caroline is in the bathroom getting ready for work and, in a moment of terror, he wraps his arms around her, pulling her close and burying his nose in her hair.
"Do you think this lipstick works?" she asks, frowning at her reflection in the mirror.
"Stefan is downstairs." Klaus offers as answer. The look on her face is almost beautifully comical, not an expression you saw outside of an Audrey Hepburn movie and she spins around so quickly that he reels his head back,
"Seriously?!" she demands and he blinks,
"That's exactly what I said but there was always a chance of this happening."
Caroline is speechless for a good minute before slapping his shoulder,
"Are you freaking kidding me? Of all the nerve!"
She storms out of the bathroom and unfortunately, every Mikaelson over the age of fifteen picks up on the drama and gathers along the outer gallery, watching with coffee or tea cups in hand, in various stages of dress.
Caroline greets Stefan with a slap so loud and sharp that Klaus almost feels jealous- he'd never got a smack like that.
"What are you doing here?" she shrieks, "I didn't hear a word from you for two years and now you walk into my fiance's house and…oh my god we're reliving history…this is beyond pathetic."
As one, his siblings turn to him, somewhat surprised about the news of his engagement, as was he but if Caroline wants to promote him he's not going to argue.
"I made a mistake," Stefan begins bravely, "Caroline, seeing Elena again, it drove me crazy…all I could think about was her and it was wrong, I know that now."
Now being two years after having broken her heart to go chasing after his newly awakened ex-girlfriend who had been determined to make a life for herself with his brother.
It's rare that Klaus isn't arguably the biggest ass in the room.
Caroline's shout of frustration and disgust is so loud that it manages to draw Katherine from her room, she sticks her head out the door, but sees Stefan and hastily makes herself scarce. Elijah looks relieved.
"You left me to go chase after my best friend- who you always chose over me- and when she rejected you, which duh! Everyone knew was going to happen, you decided to come and try your luck again with me? And what was the plan Stefan? You think I'm just going to run off with you into the sunset? Hey, why don't I quit my job and just leave my girls here as well, I'm sure Klaus wouldn't mind raising them after I ditch him for the guy who ditched me for Elena Gilbert."
Honestly, Klaus didn't really mind Twin 1 and Twin 2, but admittedly Freya did the lions share of care taking when Caroline was at work.
Stefan is clearly trying to come up with a response but he's about two years and several positive progressions in Klaus and Caroline's relationship too late.
He probably should have at least sent a text before their month long holiday in Paris.
Caroline isn't cruel however, so she does pity him slightly, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Stop trying to recreate the past, Stefan, you did it with Elena and now you're doing it with me. Move on, find a new town, new friends and a new love who doesn't look like Katherine."
Or Caroline, Klaus adds silently but wisely keeps his mouth shut.
That evening, he sneaks into her office with dinner for two and dessert for the team who were only ever too willing to accept his bribes. Caroline's emotions are still wrought from the day so he finds himself naked against the wall as she rides him like it's their last night on earth.
Five minutes later she looks perfectly immaculate while he's sitting on the floor trying to remember his own name.
"I love you." she sings as she heads down the hall,
"Love you too." he manages to croak out.
A/N- Thanks for reading.