Chapter 2
~ⓛⓞⓥⓔ~ POV Klaus ~ⓛⓞⓥⓔ~
Klaus learnt that Caroline, Hope, and the Bennett Witch lived in Chicago for almost two years, in a small cosy house close to Alaric and the twins. Elizabeth and Josette, two meaningful names that belonged to the kids whom Caroline would forever consider to be her own. Klaus noticed that Caroline avoided all mentions of Stefan and wasn't particularly eager to dig dipper into that hole. Caroline kept checking her phone and most of the times put it down disappointed. When Stefan called her to ask if everything was okay, Caroline smiled before answering her phone.
"Yes, I'm okay," she nodded even though Stefan couldn't see her. "I fed Klaus some blood to revive him, and later he had a few more blood bags. He regained his strength, even if someone followed us, you don't need to worry," Caroline said trying to convince her boyfriend that she was safe.
Did Klaus enjoy the long silence that followed… He could almost hear how anger roared through the reaper, who was still trapped inside of that melancholic Stefan the Good Guy. Being just out of a coffin, himself, Klaus felt for that imprisoned beast. Stefan insisted on keeping himself in chins and posed as a reserved man, who kept his emotions under control. Klaus could never do that very well, his temper when crossed could be almost uncontrollable, and occasionally people would die, or get daggered, or bitten, or cursed… The list went on and on. Hence, evil hybrid has always enjoyed challenging those stoic and impassive people. Now, being true to himself, he decided it was a good time to join the conversation.
"Caroline is safe with me, old friend, you've got nothing to worry about," he assured Stefan and added, "unless by some unfortunate twist of fate you die a violent death far away from us, we'll see you soon."
Caroline's mood veered sharply to anger, and she gave Klaus a withering glare.
"Looking forward to it," Stefan said in his usual disconnected voice.
Wave after wave of disappointment mixed with anger slapped at Klaus. Was that a reaction of a man madly in love with a woman? Not just any woman. Caroline! Stefan wasn't nearly as protective or passionate with her as he was back in those happy days when good doppelganger girls chose good vampire boys. Paradoxically, in theory Stefan and Caroline, having similar values they lived by and being friends for years, should've made a nice couple too, but in reality they just didn't add up.
Klaus had seen Stefan in love, he had seen him fiercely fighting his own nature just to keep his girl safe and then waiting patiently for Elena to choose him over his own brother. He gave that love his one hundred per cent and, yes, got his heart broken. But Klaus believed, it was that kind of insane, selfless, and unconditional love that never dies. Caroline got what was left of Stefan, mainly his respect, admiration, and friendship. Some would call it "being in a mature relationship", but Klaus knew better than that, he had known those two well enough to see that whatever they had wasn't it. Each of them deserved better. They fought so hard for their humanity, and love was the main reason to keep the damn switch on.
When Stefan hung up, Caroline fell into a reverie and stayed silent, her mouth tight and grim, and expression stilled with sadness. Klaus was looking at her out of the corner of his eyes. Her feminine ivory face always had a light-rose flush on the cheekbones with a slightly darker colour in her soft lips. Against smooth pale skin her silvery gold hair twisted in long graceful curls and moved in the light breeze coming from her open window. She was loving, strong and beautiful; she shined bright, resilient to the darkness that surrounded her. Did Stefan see her? Truly see her like Klaus did?
He still didn't know what exactly was going on between Caroline and Stefan, how Salvatore felt about Hope or even twins for that matter. All Klaus knew that Caroline and Stefan didn't move in together and was relieved.
That was strange… A realisation that he was in a coffin for over five years while others were living their lives. It was probably how his siblings felt, when daggers were removed from their chests, and they returned to life… Completely out of place, unsettled and uncertain about everything. If Klaus cared enough, he would even feel guilty for daggering them, but at that moment he was too preoccupied thinking about how he was wronged.
Klaus' mind was engulfed by rage and desire for revenge. Marcel stole more than five years from him! It wouldn't be such a big deal for a thousand-something-year-old undead like Klaus, but those were five precious years of Hope's childhood. He will never get them back!
"Are you all right?" he heard Caroline's concerned voice and realised his hands on the steering wheel tensed so much that he nearly crashed it. "Is someone going to die soon?" she half-joked.
"Many people are going to die soon enough, this is what happens when you free a bloodthirsty paranoid psycho like me," Klaus replied in such a flat tone as if he was talking about the weather.
"Is that so?" she raised her eyebrow.
He felt a little disappointed that Caroline didn't argue with what was a rather unflattering and overly harsh self-description. However, Klaus liked the idea that despite knowing how deadly he was, Caroline still chose to put her life in danger by taking his child under her care and later even brought Klaus himself back to life.
"Did we make a mistake when we freed you?" Caroline asked without any hint of smile this time.
"You didn't, I can't say anything about others."
"You are not going to hurt my friends," Caroline said firmly, but when he didn't answer anything back, she pressed for a confirmation. "Klaus?"
"If only I knew myself quite as well as you know me."
"Klaus!" her eyes bored into him and he looked at her.
"I'll do my best not to hurt them, sweetheart," Klaus looked straight in Caroline's eyes and she quickly turned away.
They were crossing West Virginia and had about five hundred miles to go. His thoughts went back to Hope again. Did she remember him? Was she waiting for him? Caroline told him that Hope had read his letter many times and kept it folded in her secret treasury box, which everyone in the house knew about.
"I think the only reason Hope started to learn how to read was just to read your letter herself," Caroline smiled. "I remember when dad moved out, I found a few things he left behind. I was afraid that mom would throw them away, so I kept them all in a box under my bed," she threw back her head. "Now I think mom knew."
Klaus didn't leave his little one by his choice, but Hope could be upset with him all the same. She was just six after all with her birthday less than half a month away. And he would be there for her seventh birthday. Klaus would get his littlest wolf anything she wanted, would do anything the little princess asked him for. But first things first, he would get her family back, a simple location spell should do. That would be a perfect present for Hope's birthday, even though most of her family might be celebrating it in their coffins. Well that was just the Mikaelsons' way, spending some of their lifetime in the coffins. Nothing unusual about that.
"I have a good feeling," Caroline spoke softly. "Now that you agreed to help us, we will get Damon and Enzo back, and by the time it's Christmas, it'll all get back to normal."
Klaus took a deep breath and massaged the back of his neck. It was one of that moments when he truly felt their age difference, how much younger she was, how naive and wide-eyed at times. Caroline had seen so much death, had been through so much pain and suffering, and still she thought that the normal way of life was to be happy and enjoy it. No matter how stormy it was at that time, it never rained forever in Caroline's world. Klaus wasn't quite as optimistic as Caroline, but deep inside he was glad that Hope was part of her world, at least for some time before she would return to his. Perhaps she adopted Caroline's way of being and could bring some of that sunshine in the Mikaelson family.
Caroline believed that if you played your cards right, any situation could have a happy ending. In reality, Damon had been stripped away of most of his humanity, if not all, by now. And while fighting for him and Lorenzo, Caroline was risking her life and lives of those few friends she had left.
"I'll help you to get what's left of Damon and Lorenzo back," Klaus said with his expression hardened. "But if it's the monster that I think it is, most of their humanity had been stripped away and souls eaten."
Caroline wrapped her hands around herself and shook her head in a silent rejection of what her mind realised was a very possible reality. Caroline took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Klaus shoot a glance at her and suddenly noticed that little vamp looked achy and exhausted, as if she hasn't slept for days. Saving him wasn't exactly an easy mission, and it seemed the worries of the last few days finally came crashing on her.
As if to confirm his assumption, less than half an hour later, Caroline's breathing became steady, and her body relaxed. Klaus pressed a button on his door armrest, and Caroline's window went up shielding her from the night-breeze. Klaus caught himself enjoying the black night sky, freckled only by the fewest of stars, and the darkness, that surrounded him and Caroline.
Yes, Marcel stole five years of memories that Klaus could have shared with his only child. However, the Original hybrid felt slightly better knowing that some of those memories Hope shared with Caroline and two little supernatural abominations his trybrid could relate to in many ways. Klaus was glad that not all five years his baby-wolf spent in a truck full of coffins and comforted only by her stressed and scared to death mother.
Hayley had made an enormous sacrifice, and Klaus will be forever grateful to her for giving Hope a chance of a better life. He couldn't imagine what it meant for Hayley to give Hope away, but he also knew that Caroline, who truly cherished ordinary human experiences, did everything she could to make Hope's life as normal and enjoyable as was possible. At that point in Hope's life, neither Klaus nor Hayley could have given her that.
It was an early morning when Klaus stopped the car near one of the clothing boutiques. By that time Caroline had been sleeping for more than two hours and didn't wake up when he stopped the car.
The store was closed and sadly guarded by only two men, one of who didn't look appetising at all. Luckily, when Klaus made his way in and was done with the gentlemen, at the very back of the store the hybrid discovered a young healthy looking woman hiding under the till with cleaning supplies stored neatly nearby. Less than half an hour later, Klaus and Caroline were back on the road, a large bag with new clothes was on a backseat, and the dry ache in Klaus' throat was gone.
Klaus was listening to latest news, when Caroline woke up. She didn't notice that he was gone at one point, it seemed Caroline was a vampire only when she specifically turned her vamp on. Klaus couldn't be like that. He stayed more or less alert even when he slept.
"Why are we stopping?" she asked when there were few hours of driving to Chicago left.
"I can't meet Hope in the clothes covered in blood," he responded. "And I'm quite certain I still smell of a coffin."
"I'm not sure that smell is a new development," Caroline shrugged her shoulders. "I figured you just smell like this when you're antique-year-old," she added while getting her backpack with a change of clothes and a toiletry kit from the trunk.
"Not a morning person, are you, love?" Klaus asked, opening the hotel door for her. "Or missing your beau makes you grumpy?"
Caroline shot him a dirty look, and Klaus smiled. He was teasing her, affectionately, not maliciously, plus today was a great day! Klaus was just a few hours away from Hope, his body regained its strength, and Caroline was by his side, far far away from her Darling.
"I'm sorry if I touched a sensitive subject," Klaus put his hand up, but when she didn't answer anything at all, he pressed a tiny bit further. "Trouble in paradise I see…"
Caroline pushed back a wayward strand of light hair, the tensing of her jaw betraying her deep frustration, and walked through the door Klaus held open for her. "Nonsense," her mouth spread into a thin-lipped smile. "What trouble?"
They came to the reception desk and waited for someone to show up and check them in. Caroline leaned back on her elbows, calm and careless.
"Well with all this mess with his brother, things could have become complicated… Again," Klaus threw his hands in the air as if genuinely upset. "And with my littlest wolf getting in the way…" Dipping his head slightly, he shot her a shy apologetic look. "How did Stefan take your devotion to protect my child? I remember he wasn't exactly thrilled about you being a mother to those witchy twins you gave birth to, and Hope wasn't really your responsibility at all."
Cold dignity created a stony mask of Caroline's face. "I had to help another undead mother with a supernatural child in an extremely difficult circumstances."
"Is that a club?" Klaus wondered.
Caroline straightened up, anger poured through her eyes.
"May I help—" a woman came to the front desk to greet them, but Caroline hold her hand up to silence her, not taking the eyes off of Klaus.
"I just meant I could relate to all that. Also shortly before you dug dip into your black heart, found a bit of compassion left in there, and saved your so called old friend's life."
"You are welcome," Klaus' expression held a note of mockery.
"We owned you a big one," baby vamp growled at the Original hybrid. "Also Stefan had to understand that I couldn't just forget about a little girl and her mother, whose only fault was that she was sleeping with you."
"Slept," Klaus corrected holding up his index finger, "one night stand preceded by a one bad day."
Caroline exhaled and turned away finally remembering the woman who was witnessing their heated discussion.
"I don't care," Caroline threw his way before smiled to the woman. "Forget everything you heard since we came in."
The woman looked confused only for a brief moment before she smiled back and started again. "May I help you?"
"Two separate rooms, we just need to freshen up," Caroline replied.
While the woman was looking for available rooms and preparing the keys, Caroline suddenly noticed the bag in Klaus' hand. "Where did you get this?"
"We made a stop on the road."
"We did?"
"Here we go," the woman smiled from behind the reception desk and held up two keys.
Klaus paid upfront for their rooms, knowing that Caroline would insist on paying for the rooms like 'normal people', pathetic fragile creatures she admired so much. When he was in his room he went straight in the bathroom to take a quick shower eager to get back on the road.
While Klaus was getting dressed, he felt Caroline's presence nearby. The Original hybrid didn't quite know how to handle his relationship with Caroline that time around. Things were always complicated between them, and when he was leaving Mystic Falls, he thought with time everything would become simpler.
Klaus assumed that Caroline would come back in his life when everything cooled down and bridges could be rebuilt to start fresh.
Klaus shook his head, remembering the old days and feeling nostalgic. At the beginning the only real complication was him killing people around Caroline, some of whom she considered close to her. Understandably, she disapproved, judged him harshly, at times even hurt his feelings. And of course there was that first 'let's-run-away-together-and-never-look-back' love. Klaus rolled his eyes, remembering Tyler Lockwood and hoped to never see that pesky lad again. Then something completely unexpected happened, Klaus got a stranger pregnant, which was not desirable but manageable. He turned it all around, got himself a precious little person that belonged just to him and let Elijah take care of his one night stand lady-friend.
When Klaus learnt that less than a year later Caroline got parent and became a parent of two other supernatural abominations, he couldn't believe it. What were the odds? And when Stefan got Caroline, who at that time was engaged with Alaric, in serious trouble, she took only her kids with her and rushed to Klaus for protection. Now that didn't sound like a woman who wanted nothing to do with Klaus. That sounded like a very confused woman.
Thus, time didn't exactly made Klaus' relationship with Caroline any simpler. Instead they've got children with people they've never wanted to be with, brooding Stefan standing between him and Caroline, and indestructible monsters threatening their lives. Luckily, Klaus enjoyed challenges.
~ⓛⓞⓥⓔ~ POV Caroline ~ⓛⓞⓥⓔ~
Stefan phoned her when Caroline was in the shower, and she nearly missed the call. All the same, their conversation was dry and business like. She could hear Valerie ordering food in the background, and Caroline didn't feel like saying something sweet or sexy to lighten the mood.
Caroline was still thinking about Stefan, when she was dressing up. She suspected that Stefan wasn't quite happy with the idea of her and Klaus being alone together. Oh well, Caroline wasn't exactly thrilled about Stefan being with Valerie either. She would never forget how he once fled the town with Valerie, without even saying goodbye to Caroline, and then she found out from their friends that Stefan and Valerie became an item again.
For years Caroline watched Stefan fighting for Elena, and he hadn't noticed Caroline until Elena broke up with him for good. Even then, it took a lot of convincing from their friends to get Stefan to consider dating Caroline. Then her dying mom asked him to take care of her only daughter, which was a punch below the belt for a guy like Stefan. Regardless, Caroline could even deal with a ghost of Elena standing between them, after all Caroline had her first love too. But then Val was just too much.
Caroline wondered how would she be defined on the list of 'The Most Important Women in Stefan Salvatore's life'? Valerie was his first love and mother of his unborn son. Katherine made him who he was. Elena was the woman with whom he wanted to become a human and grow old together. And Caroline? They were close friends but did they make a mistake when decided to turn it into something more?
Caroline looked in the mirror and fought to force her confused emotions into order. Nonetheless, she smiled and tried to bring out cheerful, confident and optimistic woman that she was.
"Everything all right, love?" Klaus asked when Caroline came downstairs.
"Peachy," Caroline walked forward, stopping in front of him.
"How did I clean up?" Klaus stood with his hands locked together behind his back. "Not too dark? I don't want too look like a dad who just got out of the prison."
"Like?" smirked Caroline, but still she was surprised to learn how much he cared.
He stood there devilishly handsome, and his arresting good looks captured all her attention. She admired his compelling dark blue eyes, the confident set of his shoulders, and the five o'clock shadow that gave him a wolfish manly aura. His dark blond hair was neatly groomed, but one lock fell a little forward onto his forehead. Caroline noticed the crispiness of his black shirt and mentally approved his bad boy jeans that fit like they were made just for him.
"I guess you'll be able to fool Hope this time," nodded Caroline, her sarcasm hiding none of her admiration, "but she'll learn the truth eventually." His eyes clung to hers, analysing, and she quickly dropped her eyes before his steady gaze.
They went outside and Caroline felt the power that coiled within him as he walked. The clean, bold look of him and an air of authority that exuded from Klaus, never failed to impress Caroline.
"I gotta grab a blood bag from the trunk," she said.
"I believe there aren't any left," Caroline heard Klaus and turned around.
He stopped a step behind her and glanced back in the direction of the hotel. She could read Klaus easily enough to follow his trail of thoughts.
"No!" her voice rose an octave. "Absolutely not. I won't feed on anyone," she said firmly and got in her seat.
"Still?" Klaus took his place and started the engine. "I'm impressed, you know, only a few vampires can control their primary instinct so well," Klaus said while switching between radio stations. "Makes you even more unique."
Driving over ninety miles per hour, he leaned back in his seat, relaxing and listening to the news. Caroline observed Klaus through lowered lashes, thinking if she should thank him for a compliment. But the Trouble looked as if he didn't mean to pay her one, just said out loud what was on his mind.
"One war after another I see," Klaus switched the radio station.
She nodded back at him without speaking. What was there to say? It was as if people had gone mad and now were destroying everything they've created over the centuries.
"If they continue to kill each other at this pace," Klaus said smoothly, with no expression on his face, "we'll have nothing left to eat."
Caroline nodded along until realised what he said, and for a moment there she was staring blankly at him with her mouth open. His royal blue eyes swept over her face, analysing her reaction.
"Oh I was being an arse," his lips twisted into a cynical smile, as he understood her look. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, but I'm over thousand years old and I intend to live for at least another millennia so I have to see a bigger picture."
"Another millennia, huh?" her brows rose in amused contempt. "Bold, coming from a man who just made it out of a coffin."
For some reason he found her reaction humorous, and his grin only widened. "I hope you didn't pass that charming attitude of yours to my little wolf, I get enough of those judgmental looks and not-very-lady-like snorts in my direction from you."
"She has her own ways, not the least bit less charming," Caroline murmured. "Be sure of that."
His laugh was deep, warm, and rich. "I assumed as much," Klaus replied. "With my blood and growing up under your care, she must be an exquisite wicked little thing who always gets her way."
Caroline couldn't resist laughing, as a part of her revelled in Klaus' open admiration of her and readiness to share someone as important as his own child with her. A sense of strength came to her, and all her insecurities seemed ridiculous then.
"She is a little wicked, sometimes she fools me to get what she wants. And what's worse, she's totally teaching twins her tricks!" Caroline watched Klaus, not sure if he found her blabbing about girls interesting, but he listened attentively, and she continued.
Caroline told him how Hope took position of elder sister towards twins, even though they were less than a year apart, and how they sometimes teamed up against Caroline, leaving her helpless against three little witches. Hope had magic of her own, and that has never failed to impress Lizzie and Jo, who were eager to dig dipper in the witchcraft, but didn't have the means to do it. Klaus didn't seem surprised when Caroline told him that besides his letter, Hope got a few other family things, including a grimoire. But to everyone except Hope, it was a book with sandy-yellow, darkened from age, pages. Only little Mikaelson could see the ink.
"Must be Freya's or Kol's doing. Regardless, I don't think Esther's grimoire has any spells fitted for children," Klaus noted meaningfully and shot a concerned look at Caroline.
"Yes, Klaus, I understand that it's not a toy for six-year-old witches," Caroline raised her hands in defensive gesture. "I keep it for now, but sometimes Hope overhears Bonnie or Valerie casting a spell and repeats the words. Occasionally she gets them right, so… Accidents happen."
She bit her lip remembering the latest one. It was as if the devil's spawn actually aimed at Stefan. Klaus clearly waited for an expanded version of her last statement and she told him about a few times when Hope moved some objects around, made a teeny tiny fire, and blew up a vase.
"I didn't like that vase anyway," waved Caroline, "it was a present without a receipt."
"Then I have nothing to worry about," nodded Klaus, probably feeling like a fish out of water.
Oh well, that's how she felt around three little witch-abominations and she wasn't a powerful, all-mighty original hybrid like Klaus. They could do many things but surely didn't have any white oak in their voodoo reserves.
"Well at least twins don't have active powers," said Caroline reassuringly.
"The ability to suck magic out of anything and anyone seems active enough to me," there was a trace of laughter in his voice. "I've heard about heretics, but they'd been locked up before I got to them and when they were freed, they died on their own in the blink of an eye."
Caroline snorted at him describing yet another bunch of murders he'd had in mind. Strangely enough, although heretics were supposed to be ones of strongest creatures on earth, their species wasn't exactly lucky when it came to survival.
"Twins have nothing to do with heretics anyway," Caroline said.
"Not yet," corrected Klaus. "But you wouldn't want to watch your children aging and then die in just seven or nine decades when they can easily be turned into hybrids and live as long as they wish, would you?"
Caroline stared at him completely shocked by the idea that came so easily to Klaus and never occurred to her. She didn't have the right to decide something as personal as this for the twins. But Caroline didn't need much time to realise that she would love them to live longer than one lifetime. And if they had Hope's example in front of them, they'd probably want that too. Caroline never struggled with what she became, she was even lucky enough to become mom despite being a vampire. However, it was very unlikely that Alaric would wish that for the twins. Moreover, she probably wouldn't get any support from Stefan either. But twins would grow up surrounded by supernatural, and it'd only be their decision.
"You won't force them of course," Klaus read her thoughts easily, "but you already now what'd be best for them, don't you?"
Caroline was annoyed at the transparency of her feelings. "Oh just drive the car, will you?" She hugged her knees to her. "We're almost there."
Soon there were only few miles to Ric's house left, and Caroline felt mixed feelings surging through her.
"Thank you, Caroline," suddenly said Klaus, turning to Caroline and capturing her eyes with his gaze. "No matter where we go from here, I will always remember what you've done for my child and me."
Caroline tried to keep her fragile control, but she searched anxiously for the meaning behind his words. "You're welcome."
He wasn't sure how them working together would end. And that was fair enough. But did he also mean that they would eventually go separate ways and it'd be sooner rather than later?
Well, that was okay with Caroline, wasn't it? Klaus would reunite with his child, would find Hayley and his siblings, and as soon as he's done helping in Chicago, he would leave taking Hope with him. With her parents and surrounded by the Mikaelsons, Hope would soon forget about those two years with Caroline, Lizzie and Jo. It would be as if they've never been parts of each other lives.
The thing was that when Caroline opened the door and let a scared and confused child in, she didn't just invite Hope in her home, Caroline let that little abomination of nature in her heart. She and twins were so alike in many ways. It was hard to treat Hope differently, to assume she was a foster kid who would leave them eventually. For all Caroline knew, Hayley could never come back, chased by that freak of nature, who hated all the Mikaelsons and could kill with a single bite.
So as months passed without any news from Hayley or Klaus, Caroline stopped waiting to hear anything about the Mikaelsons. She accepted Hope as her own. Still Caroline was happy for Hope reuniting with her dad and, hopefully, with the rest of her family. Caroline's overwrought feelings almost overpowered her, and, unnerved, she crossed her arms.
"Are we here?" she heard Klaus.
"Yes," Caroline replied as casually as she could manage. "Just turn right at the end of the road."
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P.S. Thanks for reading guys! Special thank you to everyone who reviewed or followed after the first chapter! *big hug* I answered to everyone.
If anyone here loves proofreading, let me know :)
