AN: So I'm back for another chapter. I have some of these chapters planned out but that might change as the story goes along, but nevertheless I hope you enjoy :)

Chapter 9: Family secrets

Caroline stands awkwardly at the door contemplating if she should walk in further or just run away. She was all for the latter but she wanted her moms box. Call her crazy and as scared as she was at the thought of opening it, it also brought her comfort. It felt as though her mom was still with her. So with a sigh she found herself moving further into the room.

"Hey" she says awkwardly to Hayley. The brunette awkwardly smiles back at her and gives her a quick hey before focusing on the baby again. "I'm just getting my stuff. I though you were in the bayou?" Caroline says and moves toward the chair that the box was sitting on. "Yeah, there's a storm coming so..." Hayley trails off and Caroline understands. This place was like a fortress. If the storm got rough, both Klaus and Hayley would want their daughter protected. She turns around to see the cute little baby giggle at her and Caroline can't help but smile. "She's beautiful" Caroline states as she moves closer. "Thank you" Hayley says and Caroline sticks out her hand to the baby.

Hayley is the first to break the silence when she sighs and opens her mouth to speak. "Look Caroline, you and I aren't exactly best friends but I feel like I owe you an explanation" she says and Caroline's eyes snap up to her in confusion. "Klaus...Hope" Hayley clarifies and Caroline puts a hand up to stop her.

When Caroline first found out about the miracle baby she was quite shocked. As far as she knew vampires couldn't have babies. What was more shocking was that Klaus Mikealson was going to be a father. Everything else- the fact that Klaus slept with Hayley was just a fact of life. She had no right to be upset. "Your right, we aren't best friends or anything close to it and I'm still kinda still pissed at you for snapping my neck, which by the way will never happen again" she says and Hayley gives her a slight smile while Caroline sits down on the bed to play with Hope. "It's just...you don't owe me any explanation Hayley. Klaus and I...we..." she struggles to find the words to describe what Klaus is to her. How would anyone define flirting and having sex with someone that one time and then having not see the person for quite some time thereafter. "I was with Tyler at the time" she chooses to say, "and you and Klaus are both capable of making your own decisions. I don't have some sort of claim on him or whatever. If you two are...together than who am I to stop you" she ends and she will never say it out loud but there's a small, tiny hint of hurt when she tells Hayley everything is fine. Alright maybe it's just a little bigger than small. Maybe like medium size hurt.

Hayley chuckles and look to Caroline, "I'm glad your understanding about all this but you have to know, Klaus and I are so not together. It was a one time thing and yes I got something amazing out of it" she says looking to Hope with an adoring smile, "and Klaus and I both love her and will do anything to protect her but that's the extent of our relationship" Hayley finishes. There's a beat of silence as Hayley looks on at Caroline playing with Hope and they both see the baby's bright eyes drooping, "I should get her down. It's way past her bedtime" Hayley says looking the time and realizing just how late it is. "Oh yeah, sure" Caroline says, "goodnight little one" she says to Hope and picks up her moms box again.

As Caroline walks out of the room looking at her moms box she bumps into something hard. She looks up to find Klaus looking at her while his hands go to her waist to steady her. "Be careful love, don't want you to get hurt" he says with that infuriating smirk and Caroline thinks that his face has a permanent smirk on it. "Sorry" she says sheepishly as he leads her into what looks like his art room.

She looks around for a while before turning to face him. "So Freya is going to need a little more time with the spell" he says, never breaking eye contact. She looks to him in confusion. "How come...Rayna" she begins worried about what this means but is cut off by Klaus, "she will not touch you" he says with a slight growl, "you'll be safe here" he continues. "Thank you" Caroline says quietly locking eyes with him, "I mean you could have easily kicked us out but you didn't...so thank you."

Klaus steps closer to her and it feels like every nerve ending is buzzing and she hates that he still has an effect on her. "I'll always help you Caroline" he says to her and she can feel the heat radiating off his body. If she was human he surely would hear her heart beat at a rapid pace. "So I see you've gotten yourself a new admirer" Klaus says referring to Enzo.

Caroline chuckles at the thought. It's not that she didn't like Enzo or anything and sure they've flirted but him siding with the heretics left a serious dent in their friendship. "We were friends. I need his help. So I met your daughter" she says with a smile, trying to change the subject. "Is that so sweetheart" Klaus replied unsure of what she's going to say next. "She's amazing. Has your eyes" she giggles slightly. "Hopefully that's all of mine she'll inherit" he says and even though he's smiling there is a hint of seriousness to his voice. "No there is good in you. It's been a while since I've spoken to you but I still see it in you. There's good in your siblings too. If anything, that's what she'll inherit" Caroline says assuringly.

He looks at her and it's like nothing has changed. She's still the same optimistic, naive, bright, bubbly, small town girl he meet. He knows, however, what she's been through and even though that's what he sees, he can tell she's struggling. She may be a fantastic actress but he can see the cracks that are forming. "There is good in you as well Caroline" he says before he could stop himself. She shakes her head and turns to look away from him. "I'm not so sure anymore. The things I did" she says referring to her time without her humanity. She opens her mouth to continue but Klaus speaks first. "Is not even a fraction of the things I've done and yet you still see the good in me" he says trying to make her see that they all have done terrible things. That if there is hope for his redemption then there most certainly is hope for her.

Caroline sighs knowing that he's not going to let this go. She's been pushing these feelings away ever since she got her humanity back. Now here he was forcing her to confront them head on. She takes a deep breath in preparation. If he wants her to open up then she's going to break and let everything out. "No the person that was good died when she did" Caroline begins, "do you wanna know why I didn't want to talk about her. It's to damn hard!" She yells at him. "It's because I can't...I can't live like this. Everytime I let myself think about her for even a second, it feels like I'm being torn apart. She's my mom" Caroline continues yelling and the tears are flowing freely now and Klaus lets her break, knowing she needs to let her emotions out, "she's my mom and I love her so much. But I hate her for leaving me all alone and now all I feel since she died is pain and rage and I don't know what to do about it" she cries and lets out everything she's been keeping buried.

Klaus walks forward and hugs her and she cries harder into his chest. The only time he's ever felt this way was when Henrik died and when he thought he was going to loose his daughter. She finally settles down a bit as she says, "I don't think I can live my eternity like this" she whispered and the tone of which she says it makes him feel like there is ice in his veins.

He slowly takes her by the shoulders and moves her so that they lock eyes. "Now you listen to me Caroline Forbes, I cannot begin to imagine what you've lost but you are strong and brave and you have a beautiful and long future ahead of you. It will not be easy and you will never forget her but the pain will fade. You will find yourself again in this big world and you will make your mother proud" he ends in a whisper all the while never breaking eye contact or letting go of her.

"She...she sent me this box after she died" Caroline says. "I haven't opened it. I'm to scared to find out what's inside" she finishes with a slight laugh. Klaus lets her go and moves to pick up the box and stands infront of her again. "I do not know what awaits for you in this box love, but I do know that your mother loved you wholeheartedly and I have no doubt that the contents will be proof of that" he says with a softness in his eyes that she's never seen before.

With a sigh she wipes away her tears and moves toward the couch and placed the box on the table. Klaus moves to leave, wanting to give her some space but her voice stops him. "Wait" she says and he looks to her. "Will you stay with me. I just don't wanna do this alone" she says in an unsteady voice. "Of course sweetheart" he says and moves to sit next to her.

Caroline takes one final breath and lifts the lid of the box. She reaches in to find pictures of her childhood. There's one of a new born Caroline in the hospital wrapped up in blankets as her mother holds her with a smile in her face. There's another from Christmas before her patents divorce. They all looked at the camera with happy smiles.

Caroline flips through the photos with a smile on her face and hands them to Klaus. He takes them and flips through. He laughs when he lands on one of a five year old Caroline in a princess costume and wings smiling at the camera with a missing front tooth. "Hey" she chides playfully, "I take Halloween very seriously. I'm a fairy princess" she states matter if factly and he pulls his lips together to try not to laugh. She's the most adorable thing he's come across.

They sit together, continuing to rifle through the box, finding more things from her childhood and laughing as they go along. They come to the very bottom of the box when Caroline finds what looks like a journal. She opens the cover and she finds a letter. She sucks in a breath and Klaus gives her a small smile in reassurance and she opens the letter.

Dear Caroline,

By now it's probably going on a month since my death. I know you well enough to know that you're pushing your feelings down but I want you know that's not the answer.

You have to feel and live your life to the fullest sweetie. I wish I was there with you. I wish I could see you explore the world and fall in love but I've accepted that I can't.

I have to tell you Caroline that I love you so much, more than anything in the world and everything I did was to protect you. Your father and I have kept a secret from you. A secret that we believed should stay hidden, but over the years I've seen how alone you've felt, like a part of you was missing even when you've had your friends around you. I hope this journal will help you feel whole again and I hope one day you will understand why we kept this from you. I'm so sorry Caroline. I love you, my baby girl.

Love mom,

Tears were spilling from Caroline's eyes freely. She was happy that in a way she got to say goodbye to her mother but she was also confused. What possibly could her parents have kept from her. Yes when she was younger she felt alone but she chalked it up to being an only child. Now all she felt was uneasy.

Klaus was next to her reading the letter that she handed to him. "It's going to be alright love. I'm right here with you. Your not alone" Klaus said. He had no idea what secrets where hidden within the Forbes family but he knew he had to be here for Caroline. There were a million and one threats that were coming after them but in this moment, he needed, no he wanted to be here. To comfort her when she found out what's been kept from her, because he had a strong feeling that she will not like what she was about to learn.

Caroline ran her fingers across the leather bound journal, working up the courage to open it. She felt a hand in hers and locked eyes with Klaus. In that moment she felt safe. His touch anchored and she felt like whatever was hidden in this journal couldn't hurt her.

She opens the cover and read aloud for Klaus to hear as well. "The journal of William Forbes. Alpha of the Forbes pack" Caroline breaths out.

A million questions run through Caroline's mind at once. How can this be possible. She's a vampire. Her parents were human. This was impossible. She looks to Klaus who looks just as baffled as she does. They look at each other with no words. This was one hell of a family secret.

*;KC;*

AN: Okay so don't hate me for stopping there. I know I said there will be Rayna and the MF gang in this chapter but some how klaroline interaction took center stage on this one.

I hope you like my twist in the plot with Caroline's werewolf lineage. There are other twists coming up which I hope everyone will like.

A big thank you to everyone who's following and reviewing. It means a lot. Please leave reviews for this chapter. I'm curious to see what everyone thinks so far.

Till next chapter. Hugs :)