A/N- Got this idea from my cat.
The problem, Caroline Forbes realised, was that she was just too good.
At a lot of things- she knows her own worth now- but specifically, she was too good at event planning.
Between the charity galas she'd hosted as Miss Mystic Falls, the annual policeman's ball and any dance at her school worth a damn, she had developed a talent for throwing a hell of a party.
Unfortunately, people had noticed.
They'd also noticed that because she was seventeen and not a professional- in name only- that they could save themselves hundreds of dollars by having Caroline do it for free.
At first it had just been Mrs Lockwood and the charity boards she sat on, but then others had wised up and before she knew it, Caroline couldn't even walk down the main street without being stopped by some lady in pastel she knew by name only asking how she'd feel about helping out 'a little' for a fundraiser they were planning.
And before she knew it, she was knee deep in seating charts and colour schemes and calling up the Grill to poach their bartenders for the day.
As if she didn't have other things to worry about.
And yes, thankfully the town wasn't aware of the supernatural, but she still had schoolwork, cheerleading and college applications, but no- these women played up to her natural empathy.
It's for the children, Caroline.
Don't you care about the environment?
We have to preserve our history and heritage, Caroline.
That last one had been a fundraiser for the restoration of a crumbling plantation on the outskirts of town that may or may not have been set on fire by Bonnie's ancestors after they cursed the land around it to never grow a successful crop again.
So no, Caroline would not be raising money to restore a plantation house that had been built and run on the exploitation of slaves.
She'd said as much to Mrs Rose, loudly, as she stormed into the Sheriff's department to bring her mom her dinner.
And whatever response that old biddy had been formulating- presumably while clutching some oversized pearls- was lost as Caroline somehow found herself in the middle of a petting zoo.
"Seriously?!" she cried, stepping up onto the wooden bench in the waiting area, looking around for a police officer, "What is happening?"
She was surrounded by cats.
Lots and lots of cats.
It was something out of a stupid comedy.
She was getting yowling, howling feline cries in surround sound, not the best noise when you had supernatural hearing.
And the smell.
Cat urine was the worst thing she'd ever encountered with a supernatural nose.
Worse than decaying corpses.
Caroline wanted to flee to the forest and stick her head in a stream.
"Hi sweetie," her mom called, popping up from behind the desk where she was trying to force a collar onto an unhappy kitten.
"Welcome to my nightmare."
As it turned out, Mrs Rose pearl necklaces had been paid for by Mr Rose running a backyard breeding of kittens and selling them between Mystic Falls and Richmond. While his wife had been on the phone to Caroline trying to guilt her into planning a charity gala, he'd been getting arrested for animal abuse.
Her mom had called up the local animal shelter to come collect the cats.
And then another animal shelter.
And then another.
After the thirtieth cat had been collected, any shelter within a twenty-mile radius was out of room, which left the police department with twenty cats on their hands.
They'd raided the vet for supplies and were now stuck trying to figure out what to do with the remaining felines.
"You did always want a pet?" Liz suggested, as they watched a tiny kitten staring off into space apparently in the throws of an existential crises.
"You're allergic to cats," Caroline pointed out, noting her mom's runny eyes and stuffy nose even after she'd taken two different pills and one nasal spray.
With her vampiric reflexes, she manages to pull her and her mom back just in time to avoid the cat who'd decided to spray the door of its cage.
After a quick glance around to make sure nobody had seen them, Caroline runs a hand through her hair only to remember that her fingers were covered in cat fur.
Great.
"Okay," she sighed, "I know what to do."
Exactly one week, thirteen hours of planning, six acts of compulsion, forty pounds of litter, and fifty dollars later. Caroline's Adoption Drive was in full swing.
Matt had volunteered the Grill to host the adoption drive, partly because Caroline had been letting him hold a gorgeous white kitten when she'd asked but mostly because Damon had been propping up the bar that night, bitching about cats and sworn he wouldn't be within three miles of one.
As Caroline understood, he was spending his Saturday sulking about his cat free parlour.
Meanwhile, Stefan had gently liberated a blue Persian from its cage and was dangling some string for it to catch.
Bonnie was handling the supply desk, selling people the necessary goods, on a slight mark-up with the extra funds going to their local animal shelter.
Caroline had 'gifted' her a black cat with green eyes because at this point, she should really just lean into the fact that she was a witch.
Meanwhile, she was co-ordinating with the volunteers from the local animal shelter, having pooled her knowledge on the town residents with their knowledge on the amount of work that went into pet ownership to find the best candidates and ensure that none of these furry little creatures bounced back to her.
They'd gone from twenty cats down to three and right now, Elena was being headbutted by a tabby and Jeremy was flicking its tail. She knew Rick had spent the week browsing the internet researching the benefits of pets as emotional support for troubled teens.
Of course, what Elena, Jeremy and probably the rest of them needed was one super-qualified therapist who was either aware of the supernatural or whose brain wouldn't melt from frequent compulsion.
But in the meantime, a cat wouldn't hurt.
And then there was two.
A white and orange cat named Pumpkin who had wandered into the kitchen and was currently asleep in a round cake tin, probably going home with Matt and the other one…
Caroline didn't believe that animals were capable of evil.
Sure, she wasn't an idiot who thought they only killed to eat, she knew some of them hunted for sport and even with her supernatural ability to heal, she wasn't about to try and hug a bear or a mountain lion. But she didn't think animals were capable of evil.
But this feline was probably the exception to that rule.
This cat was an All-American Bobtail and all-round psychopath.
When the police and animal shelter had first arrived at the scene, this cat had clawed and slashed its way through three different sets of arms and legs until they'd managed to throw a blanket over it and get it into a cage. In the week that Caroline had been aware of its existence, it'd bitten another two people, urinated on a pair of Caroline's shoes and kept up a constant yowl that had driven the nightshift to tears of frustration.
So, nobody in their right mind wanted it.
Even the animal shelter didn't want to try and rehabilitate it, apparently, they knew a lost cause when they saw one and even with the funds Caroline had raised for them today, they wouldn't be able to afford to keep it indefinitely.
But Caroline was on a winning-streak dammit, nineteen cats adopted- Stefan was pretending to be on the fence but Elena had talked about kitty playdates, so he was a done deal- and she wasn't going to let this one cat be the reject.
Not on her watch.
And perhaps fate was doing her a solid for the first time in a while because it was at that moment that she heard a familiar accented voice raised in argument with one of his many siblings and came up with an idea.
Klaus Mikaelson had been a hybrid for months now and vampire for centuries, and while he knew that he couldn't get headaches, every time one of his brothers came to town, he swore he felt what a doctor had suggested to be a migraine wreaking havoc in his ancient skull.
And since arriving last night, his younger sibling had managed to drink every drop of alcohol in the house.
An impressive feat which Klaus hadn't actually realised was physically possible, he was pretty certain that if he stabbed his brother right now, the only liquid coming out of him would be liquor.
Which meant that they were stuck visiting the Grill until their weekly shipment of whiskies and wines from Europe was delivered.
"I don't care if you saw it in a bloody movie, Kol," he seethed, picking up his pace as his brother struggled to walk in a straight line behind him,
"I am not helping you hire a convertible to drive to Vegas with a trunk full of drugs."
"But…it'll be…awesome!" his brother slurs, and Klaus takes a moment to be impressed that he can still speak English. He's about to say as much when he hears his name almost shouted.
He turns back to see Caroline racing at almost supernatural speed from the Grill and while a quick scan of her face shows no panic or reason to be alarmed, she did look a little…off.
Not to say that she wasn't stunningly beautiful- in his opinion that was her default setting- but her hair was a little messy, her make-up hadn't had its usual half-day touch up and her clothes were covered in some sort of…
"Hello sweetheart," he greets- charmingly he reckons- as she stops only a few feet short of colliding with him, "Fancy a drink?"
"You're an evil villain!" she gushes excitedly and behind him Kol chortles while a few passers-by give them odd looks. And he would take offence but not only is she right, she's also a little wild-eyed and he's trying to figure out whether she's caffeinated or hysterical.
"A little louder, love," he encourages sarcastically, "I'm not sure all the pitchfork wielding residents of this town heard you."
Caroline either didn't hear him- unlikely- or purposefully ignored him.
"And do you know what evil villains need?" she asked, her smile teasing and flirtatious, which typically means there's a scheme afoot but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out how he was in immediate danger.
"The love of a good woman to set them onto the path of righteousness?" he suggests, again charmingly because he likes to use his good looks and accent to try and cover the less enjoyable parts of his personality.
"An evil cat!" she declares.
Admittedly, Klaus doesn't immediately respond, his brain is too busy running those three words through all his learned languages to try and process what she means.
He still isn't entirely sure what she's getting at until she withdraws her hands from behind her back to reveal…
A cat.
A shell-shocked cat by the look of the poor creature.
Animals didn't really react well to being moved about at supernatural speed.
It managed to recover enough that by the time Caroline presented it to him, holding it under its forelimbs, it was keeping a steady growl, its fur standing on end.
Acting on societal expectations, Klaus held out his hands and received an armful of unhappy feline. He could feel its warmth on his bare skin and hear its heart beating rapidly in distress.
A quick examination down south told him that he was holding a female and he adjusted his grip, resting his hand on her back so that she would feel more supported. She hisses and tries to claw his arms but she's not the first animal he's had since he became a vampire.
Although war horses adapted easier to vampires as they were used to the smell of death.
"Well," Klaus begins, "This is new."
"She's…right you know," Kol hiccups, reaching his side and tilting forward colliding with his shoulder and he has to choose between catching his brother or dislodging the cat.
"I saw it in a movie." He declares as he sinks down to the pavement and Klaus nudges him slightly with his foot, wondering if he could kick him into the gutter to sleep it off or whether they were no longer allowed to do that.
Caroline had disappeared in a literal flash the moment her hands were free, and Klaus is just starting to wonder what exactly is expected of him when she reappears,
"I filled out the adoption papers for you!" she explains cheerfully, sparing only a second to glance down at his unconscious brother on the ground before she held up a wicker basket overfilled with strange objects.
"And I got you some supplies."
She darts past him, headed to his car and he tentatively follows her still not entirely sure that this isn't some bizarre attempt to kill him.
His family never bothered locking their cars in Mystic Falls, theft rates were low for luxury vehicles because they were too much effort for the local criminals to break into and sell on.
And on the rare occasion some out of town thieves decided to help themselves, the fun he and his siblings had in tracking them down and making them pay more than made up for the temporary inconvenience.
So, there is no barrier to Caroline letting herself into his car and depositing the basket on the floor, before speeding around to the driver's side and opening it up for him.
Well, there was no rule that the lady couldn't be chivalrous once in a while.
Although he was somewhat concerned that if he didn't go willingly, she would try to get him back into his car by force.
He lets the cat jump from his arms onto the seat beside him before he turned back to Caroline who still had a slightly manic look in her eyes.
"Shall I let you know how this pans out?" he suggests, and she gives a quick, little nod.
"Sure."
He watches her hurry back into the Grill before getting into his car and closing the door, as he waits for the engine to warm up, the feline yowls and he looks at her,
"I'm not quite sure what happened there, either," he tells her, "But the rest of my family would probably be annoyed if I came home alone."
Here's hoping they saw Kol and a cat as interchangeable.
From the moment she had flashed back into the Grill, her face lit up with triumph and satisfaction, announcing that she had successfully adopted out all twenty cats, with the final asshole cat going to Klaus Mikaelson, Matt and Bonnie had been quietly sharing notes down on a napkin.
They were placing bets on how long it would take Caroline's brain to really process what she had done.
Surprisingly, possibly because of all the caffeine in her system and the fact that she had so much on her plate, it wasn't until six am the next morning that Bonnie was awoken by her phone vibrating violently on her bedside table.
Text Message
Caroline: Oh My God!
Caroline: I gave a cat to KLAUS!
Caroline: The evilest creature in the world
Caroline: And I gave him a poor defenceless animal!
Caroline: What have I done?!
Caroline: I'm a monster
Caroline: I have to go save her!
Bonnie pushed her hair out of her face and sniffed, feeling the lure of her warm blankets and her sleep-addled brain trying to reassure her that Klaus wouldn't harm Caroline…not over a cat anyway.
But he was psychopathic….
Text Message
Bonnie: Want back-up?
Caroline: I'm already in their driveway
Caroline: I'm going in
Bonnie: Keep me updated.
Bonnie: Alert me if things go south.
She set an alarm to wake her back up in an hour, if she hadn't heard from Caroline by then, she'd send in the cavalry.
Although, she hoped she wouldn't have to because she had tried to pat the feline Caroline was so concerned about and had received three deep claw marks on her wrist for her effort.
Personally, she thought Klaus and that cat were perfect for each other.
She shifts down deeper into her bed and hears a quiet mewl, lifting the blankets, she sees Magic- Maggy for short- curled up by her feet and is still smiling when she falls back asleep.
Mikaelson Manor did have a doorbell.
Caroline had heard through the grapevine that Klaus had shipped it over from England and installed by a professional.
However, the Mikaelson's didn't bother locking their front door and as this was an emergency Caroline felt justified in walking right in without invitation.
Unfortunately, someone- probably Rebekah- had purchased a large, ornate gold framed mirror that caught her eye in the foyer and showed just how much of a hot mess she looked right now.
In her defence, she had been woken up by the knowledge of the horrific thing she had done, she hadn't had time to do anything more than pull her hair into a ponytail and throw on her yoga outfit.
She senses someone in the movement of the air and the barely audible sound of a light footfall, looking up she sees Klaus' older brother coming down the stairs.
He was immaculately dressed in a three piece suit, his shoes shining and his nails perfectly manicured.
Caroline didn't know Elijah that well, Elena trusted him and in the long list of people who'd betrayed them, he didn't rank that high considering that killing Klaus would have killed them all.
"Morning," she greets, clearing her throat when her voice comes out raspy, "I'm Carol…"
"Caroline Forbes," he interrupts, his smile polite but cold, "The reason there is now a cat in this house."
His voice was well-mannered, but the undertone suggested she was on par with a war criminal in his books.
And he was an Original.
Later she'd pretend that she was sleep-deprived when she snapped back,
"And you're Elijah Mikaelson, the reason there's a hybrid in this house."
The smile dropped right off his face and he dug under one of his nails, cleaning away dirt that wasn't there and she takes note of that nervous tick.
"Niklaus and…the creature are in his ground floor studio…it's the eighth door on the left, you can't possibly miss it."
She thanks him and moves into the front parlour, one of the few places she'd been in the manor before realising that she had no idea about the layout of the house. And Elijah was already retreating upstairs.
Asshole.
Seriously.
How was Klaus not the rudest member of his family?
She huffs in frustration and wonders if he'll have his phone on him before remembering that she is a vampire.
Closing her eyes, she focuses on her other senses.
There are six heartbeats in the house- not including hers- four of them beating twice every minute, the slow thump of dead supernatural creatures, one beating thirty times a minute- hybrid- and one beating one-hundred-and-fifty times a minute.
That was the cat.
She followed the sound through two rooms to a hallway where she found the aforementioned eighth door slightly ajar and decided to breeze right in, so she had the element of surprise.
Klaus was at his easel, paintbrush in hand and finished his stroke before turning to face her,
"Good morning, sweetheart," he greets, his eyes running over her and she's about to be outraged when she realises that he's looking at her hands and her waist.
He was looking for a weapon.
Right, because she was storming into his house at a weird hour.
She feels a stab of guilt that he expects an attack because she showed up uninvited and a contrasting sense of justification if she was here to attack him.
She's about to say as much when her eyes land on an armchair.
Where the cat was lying.
On its back.
Legs in the air.
"Oh my god!" she shrieks, flashing over, "You killed it!"
Her hands barely touch its sides before it yowls loudly enough to make her eardrums protest and darted away, running for the safety of Klaus's legs and sheltering between them as it hissed at her.
"As you can see," Klaus commented, wiping his brush, "She's perfectly fine."
He reached down and received a head bump against his palm, "It was touch and go there for a little while when she shed all over Elijah's suit pants, but we've managed to split the house into two territories. He gets the first floor; she gets the ground floor and the second and third once we figure out how to get her up there."
Caroline's panic has subsided enough for her to manage a smile at the ridiculousness of the situation, which turns into a wince when the cat starts digging its claws into the legs of the easel, shifting the wooden stand as it leaned its weight against it. Klaus grabbed the top to steady it but otherwise didn't react.
"I'm sorry," Caroline sighed, sinking into the armchair and running her hands over the crown of her head, "I just…I wasn't thinking when I forced the cat on you and then when I realised what I'd done…" she trails off, frustrated that she can't put her thoughts into words but Klaus shrugs as he moves closer to her.
"I'm quite good with animals," he assures her, "Always have been,"
"Even the more difficult ones." He adds as the cat approached him and rolled over onto its back.
"Besides," he adds, smirking now, "Spoiling Bast irritates my siblings."
"Bast?" Caroline asked, raising her head and receiving a stink eye from the feline who seemed to recognise its name.
"Would you have preferred Catoline?" he teased, and she had to turn her face away to hide her laugh.
"Definitely not."
He grimaces theatrically, "I should probably cancel the diamond collar I got to match that bracelet of yours then."
She scoffs, "You're joking right?"
Bast interrupts them with a yowl, stalking towards the door and issuing another howl of the damned.
"It's time for breakfast," Klaus announces, following the cat from the room and Caroline is only a few steps behind him.
"Klaus…please tell me that you're joking about buying the cat diamonds!"
Three weeks later
Text Message
Rebekah: Caroline, were you aware that my brother planned to have an elevator installed in the manor for the cat's exclusive use?
Caroline: ?
Caroline: I'll try and talk him out of it
Rebekah: It's being installed as we speak
Rebekah: The design appears to be baroque, but I can't be certain
Rebekah: There's a lot of gold
Rebekah: Elijah is having a fit
Since Bast had moved into Mikaelson Manor, Caroline had found herself spending a lot more time there.
At first, her excuse had been that she was checking up on the cat, making sure that it didn't end up as a meal for one of the Original family members.
But when word got out that Klaus had thrown Kol through a wall for deliberately scaring the creature and then let that same creature urinate all over Kol's belongings, Caroline didn't really have a leg to stand on.
She'd been forced to admit...that she was going over there a few times a week because…she enjoyed spending time with Klaus.
He had always been different around her, playful, kind and it appeared she wasn't the only one that elicited such a reaction from him.
Bast had a tendency to steal his expensive paint brushes and he either bought more or made do without them. She tore up a two hundred year old deer leather sofa and he shrugged his shoulders and muttered about it having belonged to Finn anyway.
When Caroline pulls into the round driveway, timing her arrival to just after the construction workers have left and thus preventing her from having to step into the middle of that Mikaelson meltdown, she finds herself on the verge of being attacked.
Bast was crouched behind an old red convertible, head down and wiggling her bottom as she prepared to pounce.
"Seriously?!" she demanded as Bast shot over and lunged for her handbag, hissing as Caroline held it up out of reach, "You get that I'm a vampire, right?"
Foiled in her attempts, Bast took a swipe at her legs, blinking in confusion when Caroline flashed into the house, essentially disappearing on the cat and she would feel bad about that, but she liked her legs unclawed.
She heads into the sunroom where Klaus and Kol liked to have their afternoon drinks and dare each other to take their daylight rings off to find Klaus alone with his sketchbook. She crosses the room and helps herself to the wet bar.
"I'm thinking of designing a miniature temple for Bast," he begins as she pours herself a whisky,
"Maybe hiring an archaeologist to ensure that it's historically accurate?"
Caroline sips on her drink as she settles down on opposite end of the couch, "Because it's what Bast needs or because you want to annoy your brother?"
He chuckles, "Why can't it be both?"
She rubs her forehead, "Okay, I admit, Bast does look cute in her Harris Tweed jackets and her Tiffany and Co collar and her mink blanket, but maybe the elevator to the second and third floor and the temple is just going a bit too far?"
Klaus is clearly having far too much fun with the situation, which was probably why Rebekah and Kol were planning that trip to Vegas. And Caroline feels partly responsible.
Although, the town had been quiet for weeks now that most of the supernatural beings within it were distracted by their pet cats.
"Perhaps," he allowed, shifting his sketchbook off his lap before twisting to face her, one arm slung over the back of the couch, "Maybe I should find something else to focus my attention on?"
How did she not see that coming from a mile away?
But if she had to spend the day being charmed and romanced by a guy who would listen intently when she discussed colour schemes and actually provide input in order to keep the Original family from imploding.
Caroline was probably the only one up to the task.
"Fine," she groans, throwing her head back to hide her smile, "But if you buy me anything that even vaguely resembles something you gave Bast, I'll burn this manor down."
"That's fair." He admits as she walks away.
A/N- Thanks for reading