"Nine shots of vodka on the wall,"
"Nine shots of vodka…" Caroline warbled, her voice off-key and cracking before disappearing into the warm night.
She's making her way up a street, away from the bar that they'd only left because last call had been enforced with a bouncer. She has an arm draped over the shoulder of the guy she'd met only that day and considering how drunk she was, it'd be a miracle if she could remember his name in the morning.
But for now, at least, she knows that he's called Klaus, and he's smirking as he contradicts her,
"Pretty sure it was eleven." He slurs and she points a finger in his face,
"No," she argues, "The last two were tequila!"
He squints and tilts his head back in thought, the broken street lamp casting his face into definition before hiding it again.
"Why am I thinking we had fifteen shots?" he finally asks, swaying a little and they stagger away from the road, she shrugs, "We didn't count the jager."
"Bloody hell," He moans, running his free hand over his face, "Right, home time."
"No," she pouts, "More drinks!"
He shakes his head, "Unless you have a twin I don't know about, we should probably stop drinking now."
"Well, I don't want to go home," she grumbles, "Drunk, alone and humiliated."
He moans in sympathy and they stumble a few more feet along the path before she wonders if they have any destination in mind.
"Wanna crash at my place?" he offers, reaching into his pocket and pulling out keys that he drops almost instantly and she has to release him so he can bend down to pick them up,
"Yeah?" she drawls, running a hand through her now messy hair, "But don't you have…stuff to do?"
He frowns and looks around, "S'middle of the night?"
"No…" she waves her hands, "Tomorrow."
He snorts, "Family lunch, but that'll be at…lunchtime."
"Oh!" she smiles sloppily and nods enthusiastically, "Okay, but we're not doing anything…anything."
He chortles and waves wildly at a passing taxi, stumbling backwards when it speeds past them,
"I don't think we're at legal consenting, consensual" he smacks his lips as he tries to think,
"No anything." He finishes in agreement.
The taxi driver didn't understand Klaus' accent, so Caroline had to provide translation before dozing in her seat, coming awake with a sharp jolt when the taxi hit the brakes sharply in front of an apartment building. Klaus is clumsily slapping money into the driver's hand, getting snapped at when it turns out he's handing over British pounds. When the driver finally releases them, not handing over any change, Caroline clambers out into the now chilly night, shivering as Klaus staggers out behind her.
There's an after-hours keypad and he punches in the code twice before getting it right and ushering her into the entryway. She blearily notes the art-deco wallpaper and faded red velvet runner carpet as he ushers her to the elevators.
"Do you have a couch?" she mumbles as she leans against the mirror, covering her mouth as she yawns and he nods, "Yeah, it's bloody comfortable."
"Good," she blinks as the elevator dings and the doors slide open, "Dibs."
He frowns and shuffles to his door, "Not a chance."
She wants to argue but is really starting to feel tired so she waits until they're in the apartment and she can see the couch, striding over quickly and flopping down onto it.
"Dibs!" she says again, triumphantly and he groans,
"I cannot let you sleep on the couch," he protests, heading into the open plan kitchen and running the tap, "My mother will literally kill me."
She yawns theatrically and closes her eyes, "Goodnight."
He puts a glass of water on the stand beside the couch, "You know, it opens out into a bed."
She stretches and realizes just how soft it feels under her, "It's pretty comfortable already."
But when he returns with blankets, she- reluctantly- rolls off the couch and helps him pull it out, making the bed while he hands her some old shirt and sweatpants to change into.
She stands in his bathroom, looks down at what remained of her wedding dress and contemplated just flushing it down the toilet.
But that might block the plumbing.
So instead, she kicks it to the corner and wanders out barefoot, not even worried about how tired and messy she must look, even as Klaus gives her a once over,
"Need anything?" he offers, his voice rough with tiredness and she shakes her head.
"Thanks," she murmurs as he turns off the light, "It…means a lot."
He grins, "You're welcome."
Weirdly, considering everything that had happened that day, in spite of the fact that she was staying the night with some guy she'd only known a few hours, she felt safe and the moment her hid hit the pillow, she fell into a peaceful sleep.
Unfortunately, when she finally woke up the next morning, after a few false starts where she'd opened her eyes long enough to feel confused and passed out again, she stretched, rolled over and shrieked when she saw nothing but sky and the streets below.
Scrambling, she hit the back of the couch and groaned with relief when she confirmed that she was safe on solid ground.
She was just next to a floor to ceiling window.
An amazing one too.
But not first thing in the morning.
"Sorry, love."
Running her hands through her hair, she twists around to see Klaus in the kitchen, brewing coffee,
"I forgot to warn you last night, I've fallen asleep on that thing one too many times and woken up fearing for my life."
She laughs and recovers, chirping 'Good morning' as brightly as possible in her hungover state as she padded over to the kitchen area.
"Sleep well?" she teased and he scowled,
"Not in the bloody least" he grumbled, "Even now I'm expecting my mother to storm through that door and disown me for having let a woman talk me into giving her the couch"
"Talk you into it?" she smirked, "I stole your whole day from you and cost you at least one hundred bucks worth of alcohol I wasn't going to kick you out of your own bed as well."
"I wouldn't say you stole my day," he argued as he handed her the coffee,
"You certainly made it interesting."
She smiled and stared resolutely into her cup, trying to ignore the fact that Klaus' sleep pants were slung low on his hips and his sleeveless shirt showed off a hint of tattoo.
And he didn't look half-bad when he was still rumpled with sleep.
Desperate not to think about this however, after all, she was still wearing her engagement ring, she stared at the clock on the oven,
"I should probably check in with my family," she sighed mournfully and reluctantly,
"If I'm MIA any longer my mom's going to have a BOLO out on me."
Caroline was surprised she hadn't done so already actually, her mom had always tended to fall back on police training when it came to mothering her, interrogation techniques, examining her like she was a piece of evidence, and when she couldn't find her during her teenage years, asking her deputies to keep an eye out for her.
She'd got a little better but her go to parenting method was to give Caroline space whenever she got emotional, but considering she had run away from her own wedding and been out of contact for almost twenty-four hours now, she was probably starting to worry.
"Well," Klaus said, patting himself down before remembering that he was in his pyjamas,
"My phone has a British simcard in it, so that'll be useless, but I can drive you wherever you need to go," he promised, taking her by the shoulders and shifting her three steps sideways, "Once I remember where I left my bloody keys."
She smirked, "You sure the alcohol is out of your system?"
He stopped mid-rummage through a stack of junk-mail, "Not really, but there's a breathalyser in here, somewhere,"
"My oldest brother is an absolute bore and works in safety analysing or something like that." He explains, when she blinks and shakes her head in confusion,
"He got one for all the siblings, including our ten-year-old brother, fun fact, you eat enough wine gummies and you can blow a positive."
Caroline snickered and headed into the bathroom, looking for the dress she'd left balled up in the corner.
She really didn't want to put it back on but she doubted Klaus had a change of clothes for her.
He finds his keys and tosses them in his hand in triumph before shouting that there's a spare towel in the bathroom closet.
The towel in question is soft cream, full body and fluffy and Caroline wonders if Klaus has really good taste or his ex-girlfriend had gone shopping with him?
She probably shouldn't ask.
But there aren't any girly things in the shower, just an expensive shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, though she does note an exfoliating stone with lingering flecks of paint.
She feels clean when she steps out of the shower but when she slips on her wedding dress, she feels dirty again.
It was literal symbol of her ruined hopes and dreams.
God, she so did not want to go to her mom's house still wearing her wedding dress.
How sad would that be?
And the mere thought of having to face her mom, her family, her friends, Tyler…
She takes a deep breath and forces herself to smile.
Because the alternative would be to cry.
When she pads back into the kitchen and helps herself to another cup of coffee, she sees Klaus standing by the open door,
"Uh, Caroline?" he calls, "I think this is for you?"
With a frown, Caroline joins him at the door and sees a carry-on suitcase sitting in the hallway.
A familiar pink suitcase that she'd had for five years.
How the hell?
She looks up and down the hallway but there's nobody there and nobody knew where she was.
So how?
She picks it up and carries it inside, seeing a corner of something slipped into a side pouch, she pulls on it and a napkin comes out.
She turns it over and sees writing in blood-red lipstick,
'Good on you, he's hot! xx K'
Katherine.
"One of my best friends," she explains to Klaus, "She…uh…she's well…intense."
Klaus hasn't seen the napkin but he's still looking confused,
"How'd she get into the building without the code?" he asks and Caroline can only shrug,
"You don't ask questions when it comes to Katherine," she says, zipping open the suitcase,
"The answers are terrifying."
She and Tyler had planned a honeymoon in St Tropez and her carry-on suitcase hadn't contained much more than her toiletries, a bikini and some lingerie for their wedding night. Katherine had left the toiletries, the lingerie but had thrown in a few of her outfits and a pair of boots.
Also, six condoms and a travel pack of lube.
Because of course Katherine's solution to a broken heart would be an instant rebound with the first hot guy she came across.
Her cell-phone is under the condoms and turned off and Caroline ducks back into the bathroom, changes, puts on her make-up and does her hair, wanting to delay the inevitable before she turns on her phone.
She places it on the bench as it powers up and she and Klaus watch as it vibrates the full length of the wood, message after missed call driving it off the edge, into the air and into her hand.
"Wow." she stares at the screen, floundering as she tries to figure where to begin.
She totally did not want to deal with this right now.
Klaus checks the clock on the wall and winces, "I have to be at lunch in an hour."
Caroline blushes as she remembers that she was eating into his free time, "Right, I should…"
"No, no," he waves his hand, "Trust me, I don't want to deal with the outside world any more than you do. I'll be facing my brother for the first time since I tried to break his nose and god only knows how my other siblings are going to act."
There's colour in his cheeks and he looks absolutely miserable at the thought, Caroline wants to hug him or say something to make him feel better when the idea comes to her,
"Do you think they'll mind if I go with you?" she asks, "A tragic runaway bride at the table means nobody is going to focus on their brother."
He perks up but with a little furrow in his brow, "You sure, sweetheart?"
She tries to fight the smile on her face at the hope in his eyes, "It's the least I can do, if your parents don't mind?"
He shakes his head, "Just my mom, and she'll be fine."
She beams, "Then, let's go."
Elijah pulled his car into the gravel circular driveway outside the family home, leaning back in the driver's seat and closing his eyes.
This was going to be somewhat awkward.
Something hits the bonnet of his Porsche with a bang and his eyes shoot open, looking for the source of the noise when he sees a familiar face in the window.
"Hiya!"
Shuddering, Elijah pushed open the door, catching his younger brother in the stomach,
"Good morning Kol," he says curtly, "You seem to have a little something on your chin," he gestures to the imaginary mark, "A little coal perhaps?"
Kol's hand had been halfway to his face before he snorts, "Nice try, I'll have you know I haven't done anything illicit in three whole days!"
"Oh, I'll alert the papers," Elijah remarks drily, "Does narcotics anonymous hand out coins for that incredible benchmark?"
Kol clapped him on the shoulder as they reached the front door, "Poke fun if it helps you feel better, how is my older brother Nik, by the way?"
Elijah spins around quickly, using a move he'd learnt in Muay Thai to jab Kol in the throat, causing him to stagger backwards, choking and spluttering.
"Boys!"
He winces as Esther's voice cuts down the hallway, "You are grown men," she lectures, as she sweeps across the polished wooden floors, "Brothers do not fight!"
Physical fighting was the primary means of communication between the Mikaelson brothers but Elijah's not about to disabuse her of any illusion she had about her son's levels of maturity.
She clicks her tongue as she takes Kol by the shoulders, examining his neck as she glares at Elijah,
"Wash up and set the table," she orders, "And leave room for Freya's flowers."
Properly chastened and momentarily distracted, Elijah cuts through the industrial kitchen to the large dining room with the table that had been made especially to Esther's requirements.
It was a sixteen seater which, when she wasn't hosting friends, had the benefit of giving the children spaces between each other.
Finn had once calculated how much bickering was avoided with these extra places between the siblings and gave a figure around twenty percent.
His explanations behind the number had been lost in the subsequent arguing.
Elijah runs his finger along the polished table, seeing the seating order in his mind, Esther at the head of the table and each of them placed either side based in descending order of age.
Mikael had sat at the other end of the table but had not once been missed.
He moves to the chiffonier and bends down, opening the doors to see the Venetian lace tablecloths, shaking them out, he drapes them over the wood, shifting them so they are dead centre before returning for the Wedgewood china and silverware.
His mother had different settings depending on the season and he knows to use the cornucopia settings as he sets the plates and carries the vegetable dish and soup tureen to the kitchen where he saw the large pot simmering on the stove.
The kitchen is filled with the aroma of butter, mushrooms, garlic and herbs and he leans against the pantry door, enjoying the scent and momentary peace.
The sliding door to the backyard opens and Sage steps inside, giving him a calm smile that immediately has him eyeing her suspiciously.
The last time Sage hadn't been frazzled when surrounded by his family had been the first time she'd been exposed to them.
Unfortunately for her, prolonged exposure hadn't built up any immunity. He'd offered her a script for Valium but she'd turned him down.
"Hello," he murmurs as she heads to the pot, lifting it up and checking it before taking it off the stove, "How are you?"
Sage gives him a sardonic glance, "Sober, Doctor Paranoid, how are you?"
He runs his tongue along his teeth, "Are you making lunch?"
"Esther and I made it together," she informs him, "She kept taking photos to upload to Facebook so she could brag to all her friends about her chef-in-law."
He smirks and opens the fridge, perusing the contents and seeing the wine bottles,
"Well, at least she's got one of us to bring her pride and joy." He remarks, wondering why none of his brothers had thought to bring beer.
Sage sighs, "Could you please head out the front?" she requests as she opens the oven,
"If you are going to confront Nik, I'd rather it not be near the food."
"I'm not going to confront my brother," he argues, "I'm planning on apologizing."
"Just do it outside!" she orders, grabbing a wooden spoon and poking him with it until he's back in the hallway.
Kol, seeing an opportunity, had headed into the living room to recover and was playing video games with Henrik, who barely looked up when Elijah said hi.
He walks outside, edges into the front garden, along Esther's beloved vervein patch before quickly doubling back.
If Niklaus does end up throwing a punch or two, mother would be ropable if he landed on her plants.
He hears his brother's car pulling into the drive but keeps his back to him and his hands in his pockets, courage fleeing his body in direct proportion to his climbing heart rate.
He expects the sound of the car door shutting to be followed by the sounds of gravel flying as his brother hurtled towards him for a full-body tackle.
Instead, cheerful laughter cuts across the tense silence.
"This house is beautiful," a woman comments, "And huge."
"There's seven of us though," Nik points out, "Plus our mother."
Elijah forces himself to turn around and sees a beautiful young woman with blonde hair, blue eyes and a wide, friendly smile on her face. She waves to him and turns to his brother, clearly expecting an introduction.
Niklaus takes a breath and leads her over, "Caroline, this is…my brother Elijah," he announces in a tight voice, "Elijah, this is Caroline- a friend of mine."
Elijah notes the full pronunciation of his name and the accompanying dashing of his hopes.
He couldn't remember the last time his siblings hadn't abbreviated his name to ''Lijah'
Caroline holds out her hand and shakes his enthusiastically, "Nice to meet you."
She's bubbling over with happiness and he can't help but smile, "Lovely to meet you as well."
Niklaus isn't meeting his eyes and Elijah figures the day is going to be a wash for fixing his relationship with his brother when Sage appears in the doorway,
"Caroline!" she waves, "Hi, how are you? Come inside, let me get you a drink!"
"Oh." Caroline looks to his brother, who gives her a gentle nod and she follows Sage inside, the two of them chatting away.
Elijah watches her leave with interest, trying to figure out who she is to his brother exactly.
If he's moved on from Jules, then perhaps he has a shot of forgiveness.
"She seems nice," he blurts quickly to try and break the tension, "Did you meet her in London?"
Niklaus has the slightest frown on his face and Elijah deliberately relaxes his body so that if he is punched, he won't injure himself on the way down.
"Yesterday," he finally answers, "She was in a bit of a situation and I helped her out,"
"She's a friend," he adds, a bit savagely as Elijah opens his mouth to reply, "She's with someone and I respect that."
'Unlike you.' Is the unspoken implication and he flinches, his mind whirling desperately as he tries to figure out how to heal the rift between them.
"What can I say?" he asks with a hint of desperation, "What I did was horrendous and unforgivable, but if you could find it within yourself to grant me forgiveness…"
"Are you still with her?" Niklaus demands, "Jules?"
Elijah shook his head quickly, "No, I broke things off the moment I realized I was risking my relationship with you."
"Good," his brother nods, a cruel smile on his face, "Because yesterday, Caroline walked in on her blowing her fiancé Tyler, which led to her and I meeting."
He had clearly been hoping that remark would hurt Elijah, but he finds the news interesting for another reason, "Is her last name Forbes?"
Niklaus is clearly surprised, "How'd you know that?"
Elijah smirks with humour, "I met her fiancé in the ER, after her bridesmaid was finished with him."
"Huh," he smiles, "Small world."
"Boys!" Esther calls from within the house, "Come inside, lunch is almost ready."
It sounds like their mother is in the dining room, but Elijah wouldn't have put it past her to have somehow eavesdropped on their conversation and anticipated the perfect moment to interrupt.
He holds his arm out, letting Niklaus go first and follows a step behind, stopping only to check that Kol and Henrik have left the video game and headed through to the dining room where everyone was crowding around the table.
And where Caroline Forbes was the centre of attention.
"Oh, you poor thing," Esther clucked as she sat her down in the seat beside Niklaus,
"You must be starving!"
She paused in the act of stroking her hair, "You don't have any allergies, do you?"
Caroline gave a winning smile as she shook her head, "Oh no, I eat everything and this all looks delicious!"
"Sage helped me cook," Esther boasts with clear pride,
"She's so talented, unfortunately, none of my children are interested in cooking."
Niklaus smirks, sitting down beside Caroline, "Sage did try to teach us once."
A strangled noise erupts from Sage's throat and she freezes, standing rigid as Kol laughs and Finn picks up her hand, easing a glass of wine into it, "There, there dear."
He turns to his brothers with a glare, "We promised we would never speak of that, remember?"
Caroline looks down at the large mug on her plate, "This smells amazing, is it mushroom soup?"
"Mushroom cappuccino," Sage manages after a healthy gulp of white wine, "With truffle aroma."
"There'll be three courses," Esther assures her, before calling up the stairs for Rebekah,
"I'll be surprised if Niklaus fed you anything but coffee."
Niklaus rolled his eyes as Rebekah thumped down the stairs and swung into the dining room,
"Sorry, I was online," she sees Caroline, "Who are you?"
"Caroline," she introduces, "Your brother rescued me yesterday."
"Rescued?" Rebekah asks, plopping down in her seat and reaching for the herb bread, "How?"
Caroline glanced down with a blush and took a breath,
"I'm a runaway bride," she begins, "I caught my fiancé cheating on me just before we were due to walk down the aisle and your brother found me after the taxi he was in nearly ran me over."
Rebekah's eyes gleam at the juicy piece of gossip and she clearly wants to ask more questions but Esther gives her a warning look,
"Well, better you found out now than afterwards." she sums up.
"If it makes you feel any better," Elijah interjects, catching Caroline's attention,
"I believe your fiancé came into the hospital yesterday, Tyler, is it?"
Her eyebrows shoot up, "The hospital? Is he okay?"
He runs his tongue along his teeth, "I can't get into the details but his injuries were caused by one Katherine Pierce."
"Oh," Caroline giggles as she picks up the mug, her eyes lighting up as she sips at the froth,
"Broken pelvis?"
She turns back to Niklaus, "Katherine's go-to method for dealing with asshole men is to fracture their pelvises. Do you know if she's in trouble?"
Elijah shook his head, "I don't think so, his two best men claimed not to have seen anything and your mother is a policewoman who seems rather sympathetic to her. Katherine had a minor head injury but they discharged her this morning."
Caroline beamed, "Small world, huh?"
She then looked across the table to where Kol was helping himself to another serving,
"So, I heard you went on a date with an orangutan once?"
After lunch, Esther chased Caroline and Sage from the kitchen, insisting on making the boys clean up and sent them to the living room with Rebekah to have coffee and Klaus could hear his little sister asking Caroline about what had happened at the wedding.
He's about to run interference when Esther draws him back into the kitchen,
"She'll be fine," she assures him, "Something tells me that girl can take care of herself."
"Besides," she adds, "That's why you brought her here today, isn't it, to divert attention?"
He scowls, unhappy at being caught out, "She volunteered, to pay me back for rescuing her yesterday and giving her a place to sleep."
Esther hands him the plates to scrape into the bin, "I hope you took the couch, Niklaus?"
"Of course,." he lied smoothly and she either fell for it for the first time ever or let it slide,
"Such a lovely girl," she continues, "An absolute darling."
Her compliment is so pointed that he rolls his eyes as Finn looks up from the sink,
"One who had her heart broken only twenty-four hours ago, mother," he points out, "She's still wearing her ring!"
Esther shrugged, "I'm not saying anything."
"Yes, you are," Elijah pointed out, finishing the last of the red wine, "When she complimented the china you all but invited her to join the family."
Esther scoffed and whacked him with the tea towel, "Considering the sons I have, is it so wrong of me to want decent in-laws?"
"She's my friend, mother." Klaus stated firmly, "Nothing more."
Yet.