"Alright, what's going on?"

In all fairness, Matt probably should have known that keeping secrets around Rebekah was not a good idea.

Still, he gave playing dumb a try. "What do you mean?"

"That's not going to work," Rebekah said, the irritation in her eyes fading into badly-masked fear. "You've been really secretive; what's going on?"

Matt hesitated. "I'll tell you," he said. "I swear, I will. Just … give me five minutes, okay? I have to have another conversation first and then I'll be right back. Please just … wait here."

Rebekah gave a small nod, sinking on to their mattress. He hesitated a second longer, then sprinted out the door.

Five minutes later, just as she was beginning to consider giving up and going to find him, he returned, looking faintly sick and very nervous.

"Are you okay?" Rebekah asked, brow creasing with concern.

"I'm fine," Matt said, closing the door behind him. "That was just as not-fun as I expected it to be. Okay …"

"Do you want to leave New Orleans?" Rebekah blurted out.

Matt paused, then smiled at her. "Not without you, Beks."

His smile was genuine, but she didn't return it. "Are you sure you're not having second thoughts? All the drama going on right now … I wouldn't blame you."

"Rebekah, I am not walking out on my family," Matt said softly, kneeling in front of her so he could meet her eyes. "I love you. I know I've been secretive lately; there was some thinking that I needed to do, and I needed some advice, but leaving you was never an option I'd even considered, and I'm not about to, okay?"

Rebekah searched his eyes and finally relaxed. "Okay. So what is going on? And what was the five minutes for?"

Matt took a deep breath. "There's a conversation I need to have with you, Beks. And I needed some advice to figure out what to say and how to say it, but I don't think it matters. You know me; you know I'm not great with big shows of affection."

"You left Mystic Falls and followed me to New Orleans," Rebekah said with a teasing smile. "That's pretty big."

"Fair enough," Matt said, with a chuckle. "I needed to speak to Klaus just now."

Rebekah paused, slightly taken off-guard. "Why?"

"Because I don't have a death-wish," Matt said, grinning. "Not even Caroline could protect me forever."

"I'm now more confused than when I started," Rebekah admitted. "Matt, what the hell is going on?"

"Marry me," Matt blurted out, almost before she had finished her question.

Rebekah gaped at him for a few minutes, in a way that her mother would have scolded her for for being 'unladylike'. "W-What?"

"Marry me," Matt repeated, his heart beating so loud he was sure she would have heard it even without vampire hearing. "I love you. I want to spend forever with you."

Rebekah took a shaky breath. "You know that my forever and your forever are two very different things?"

"I know," Matt said. "That was why I needed advice. I already knew that I wanted to spend my life with you. I just needed to figure out how long that would be."

Rebekah took his hands. "I promise I will visit the nursing home every single day."

Matt chuckled. "Thanks, but I was hoping not to need one."

Rebekah paused. "Sorry?"

"I want you to turn me," Matt said. "I want your forever, Beks. Mine isn't long enough. So … will you?"

Rebekah's face broke into the bright smile he adored, the one that wiped away a thousand years of heartbreak and made her eyes light up like a child at Christmas. "Yes."

Caroline paused mid-typing, smiling as there was a faint squeal down the hallway, probably as Matt spun his new fiancee around. "Thank you for being nice to him."

"Well, you were right there, love," Klaus said, reclining on her office couch with Hope dozing on his chest. "And so was Hope."

"Still," Caroline said, "I was expecting you to at least give him a hard time."

"He threw me off," Klaus admitted. "I knew he was going to say something …"

Caroline hid her smile. She had warned Klaus weeks ago that Matt was planning to propose, so that he had time to get his head around it before Matt finally plucked up the courage.

"… but I wasn't expecting him to start by saying that he categorically wasn't asking my permission because only Rebekah can give that."

"I'll be honest," Caroline said, "if he'd asked me for advice, I would have advised against that."

Klaus smirked. "I'm glad I can still surprise you, love. Because you actually would have been wrong."

Caroline stopped typing at that, giving him a disbelieving look. "Liar."

"Okay," Klaus conceded. "If I hadn't seen him with her and I didn't trust him not to hurt her, it wouldn't have been the best approach. But you know why I have aways disliked Rebekah's suitors."

"Because you want to protect her from getting hurt," Caroline said. "And …" Realisation dawned. "And because you don't want to lose her. And part of the reason why a man would have asked for a lady's hand, it would be because she was considered her father's property, and with marriage that 'ownership' would pass to her husband, wouldn't it?"

"Exactly," Klaus answered. "And I know that Rebekah is a vampire, and any man she married would not be able to make her do anything she didn't want to, but …"

"But he could in theory keep her away from you," Caroline finished. "Not to mention, as overprotective as you can be, you also want to see Rebekah happy and you know that she wouldn't be happy with a man who saw her as subservient."

"Matt looked me in the eye and told me he'd appreciate my blessing to marry my sister because he knows how important her family is to her, not because I have any say in what she does," Klaus said. "The fact that he said that knowing full well what I'm capable of has increased my opinion of him even more. What?" He asked, when she just smiled at him.

In answer, Caroline rose from her chair, rounded her desk and walked over to the couch, leaning down to kiss him softly. "I love you."

"I love you too," Klaus said slowly. "What did I do?"

"Nothing," Caroline said, sitting down beside them. "There's the man I fell in love with, and then there's the mask you put up to convince everyone you're a heartless monster. Recently, I see the first more often, and it's rather lovely."

"Is it?" Klaus asked.

Caroline smiled. "It is. Convinces me that I'm not mad and that I don't have Stockholm Syndrome."

Klaus laughed. "I wouldn't be so sure of that, love. In case you were wondering, the only reason I haven't done the same thing as Matt is because I'm waiting for this Dahlia business to be over."

"I know," Caroline murmured, even though she hadn't until he just said so, "and I agree with you." Her smile turned a little mischievous. "Even though you actually already asked me."

"When did I do that?" Klaus asked.

Caroline giggled. "A few months ago. You suggested a soul bonding."

"That wasn't a proposal," Klaus said. "Is that why you said no?"

"No," Caroline said. "Or rather, yes, but not what you think. You're thinking I said no because I thought it was a proposal. I said no because I knew it wasn't. You were asking me to bind my soul to you for eternity, Nik. I understand why, and I completely appreciate the emotion behind it. And if when the time comes, you want us to do that ritual, I will be 100% in favour. But if and when that happens, I want a proper proposal and a proper wedding and I want my mum to be there and I want Hope to be safe."

It was going to be a June wedding, at the end of the month in order to avoid Elena and Stefan's anniversary (partly because they were going to be in New York, rather than New Orleans).

As April turned to May, Caroline was on the phone with the caterers and simultaneously messaging Mystic Falls, trying to organise a bachelorette party disguised as a dress fitting (but only partially disguised, because Elena was going to be a bridesmaid and needed a dress).

In hindsight, Rebekah's choice of Caroline as her maid of honour was obvious, but that hadn't stopped Caroline from being surprised - and very touched - by the request.

And Caroline was in her element with wedding planning, even if it wasn't hers.

Hope began to stir, and Caroline said her goodbyes, both on the phone and on the group chat. Since the vine incident, she had taken to putting her daughter down for naps in her office with her, rather than in her nursery.

Caroline reached the crib just as Hope's eyes blinked open. "Hi sweetheart."

Hope smiled, raising her arms to be picked up. "Ma-ma."

Caroline lifted her baby with a smile, planting a kiss on her forehead. She still wasn't completely sure if that meant what Hope wanted it to mean, but she was going to take it.

When Hope had first said it a few weeks ago, she had just about burst into tears.

There was a soft knock on her office door and Caroline called for them to come in, giving Hope a quick sniff to make sure she didn't need changing.

"Um, Caroline?"

"Hi Aiden," Caroline greeted brightly. "What's up?"

"I was hoping to have a word with you in private," Aiden said. "I can come back …"

"No, don't worry," Caroline said. "Do you want to light some sage just in case?"

"Yeah, might be a good idea," Aiden said.

"And is this a desk conversation or a couch one?" Caroline asked.

Aiden hesitated, blowing the match out. "Probably a couch one but I'm nervous so the desk might be better."

Caroline chuckled, settling back into her chair with Hope on her lap. Closing her laptop and setting it to one side, she waved at the chair on the other side of her desk. "So how can I help?"

Aiden sat down, fidgeting, and Caroline waited patiently, pulling one of Hope's toys from her desk drawer for her to play with.

"How do you become a hybrid?" Aiden asked finally.

Caroline paused. "That's … Where did that come from?"

Aside from the fidgeting, Aiden looked quite calm, but the tips of his ears were turning red. "I love Josh, Caroline. He means the world to me. And I want to spend the rest of my life with him, but the rest of his life is going to be a lot longer. So how do you become a hybrid?"

"Are you asking because you want to become one?" Caroline asked.

"No," Aiden said hastily. "I mean, not yet or anything. I just … I like to know what my options are, you know?"

Hope dropped her rattle, conveniently giving Caroline an excuse not to answer immediately as she reached down to retrieve it.

"Well, the short answer is that you die with Klaus's blood - or the blood of any other hybrid - in your system," Caroline answered finally. "However, there is a catch. Well, two really. First of all, every hybrid Klaus has ever sired has experienced a sire bond strong enough to force them to fatally wound people they love. On saying that, that bond can be broken, obviously. However the second catch is that hybrids have to transition on doppelgänger blood."

"How is that a catch?" Aiden asked, apparently skipping past the sire bond. "Josh said something about Elena being one?"

"She is," Caroline agreed. "Moreover, she's a Petrova doppelgänger which is conveniently the exact type of blood needed. Unfortunately, she's not human anymore, so her blood no longer works. I can't say we wouldn't find something, but if you're only considering options right now …"

"Yeah, absolutely," Aiden said. "So you're saying it's a maybe rather than an impossible."

Caroline shrugged. "Something like that."

She could probably trust him with the truth about Hope's blood, but she and Klaus had made a promise to one another to tell no one else.

"I'm glad you're here though," Caroline said. "Saves me from coming to find you."

"Oh?"

"We're still worried about Dahlia," Caroline answered. "If she's anything like Esther, she won't come straight for us."

"What will she do then?" Aiden asked, automatically taking Hope when she reached over the desk for him.

"She'll strike on the fringes," Caroline predicted. "She'll sow discord and scatter us so our defences fall."

"What can I do?" Aiden asked immediately, bouncing Hope on his lap.

Caroline smiled. "Nothing special. I just need you to be careful. You're kind of a prime target. Josh loves you so it'll be a personal blow. The wolves will blame the vampires; you're close enough to Jackson to potentially make him lose his cool. I would obviously be very upset."

"Okay, I'll be careful," Aiden said quietly, looking down at Hope.

"I'm sorry," Caroline said with a sigh. "I hate all of this."

"It's not your fault, Caroline," Aiden said. "Really. Hope's worth fighting for. She's worth dying for, if it comes down to it. My only concern is what you said - if she manages to twist it to cause a civil war. Any ideas to stop that?"

Caroline smiled sadly. "Just one."