AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well guys, here is the newest drabble. It's longer than the last one and hopefully not as sickening sweet. Thank you so much for the reviews.

And those who asked for more Will, here you go:

First Outing

"Momma! Claws!" Will exclaimed as he pointed to the animal that had him so excited. "Horsies!"

"Like mother like son." Caroline mumbled before she laughed at her son's excitement, "Yes, sweetie that's a horse. Do you want to see it closer?"

Will nodded his head so hard that Caroline knew if it had been her, she'd have a huge neck ache but he didn't seem fazed by it.

"I'm pretty sure that's the most enthusiastic yes I've ever seen." Klaus said with a chuckle from his spot next to Caroline. She smiled at him before she turned Will's stroller in the direction of the temporary pen and riding enclosure that had been set up in the town square for the Fall Festival.

It had been over a month since her and Klaus' first date and things had been going fantastically. They saw each other several times a week, sometimes they went out when her mother was able to watch Will for her but on the nights when they wanted to see each other and she couldn't get a sitter, Klaus would come over. After she put Will to bed, they would spend the time talking, watching a movie or TV, just enjoying the other's company as they got to know each other more.

So today was the first outing for the three of them. It had been his idea, Klaus had spent time with her son when he had gone to see her, but he thought it might be nice for them to go out together so he had asked Caroline if she'd like to go to the Mystic Falls Fall Festival. Caroline had replied that she would but that she was already planning to take Will and was surprised when Klaus had stated that the invitation was extended to the little boy as well.

They'd been there for about an hour, checking out all of the booths, activities and games. It had gone well except for one awkward moment when one of the game barkers had called to Will, telling him to have 'Daddy' win him a prize. Klaus had been dumbfounded when he heard the man but shrugged it off after he got over the shock. Caroline had tried to apologize but he assured her that it was okay and in no way her fault. They probably should have expected it, after all when a stranger sees a man, woman and young child, it was common to think that they were a family.

As they drew nearer to the pen, the stroller started to shake a bit from the motion of Will hopping up and down in the seat, anxious to get closer to the animals. There were four small horses tacked up and being lead around so that the children could indulge in a short ride and two others to the side for petting.

"What do you think Will? Want to go for a ride?" Klaus asked the toddler.

Will's eyes doubled in size at his question, before a huge smile lit up his face but before he could answer, his mother spoke. "Oh no, he's too little for that."

"I'm a pretty good rider; I could take him if you don't want to." Klaus offered but Caroline continued to shake her head.

"Thanks but no." Caroline said, feeling bad that she had to turn down his nice offer but she didn't feel comfortable even if she had been the one on the horse with Will. Her brain had quickly played out too many scenarios that could end badly and she was too scared to even consider it. "I think we need to wait a year or five before he gets up there. This year we'll just pet them."

Will wasn't old enough to understand every word that the grownups were saying but there was one he knew very well, No. He knew it meant that he didn't get to do what he wanted yet that didn't stop him from trying again. "Ride, Momma?"

"Sorry my little man just petting." Caroline said with a shake of her head before she bent down and started to unfasten him out of his stroller. Being used to it, it didn't take her long before he was free and she lifted him up. "Though not so little anymore, I think you get heavier every time I pick you up."

"He's a growing boy." Klaus teased. "One day he'll be bigger than you."

"Don't remind me, I'm not ready for that." She stated before her nose wrinkled as it caught a smell. "Though I'm very ready for him to get old enough to start potty training."

Caroline quickly reached down and gathered up the diaper bag, "If you'll excuse us, we're going to get cleaned up before we end up smelling worse than the horses."

"Not a problem, I'll just wait here for you." Klaus declared. He watched as she walked
off with Will, pushing the pram with the other hand. It didn't occur to him until just then that perhaps he should have offered to watch it for her since she had her hands full but it was too late.

As Klaus waited, he drifted around the area looking at some of the exhibits that had been set up next to the horse pen. He was looking over the carved pumpkins when he heard his name.

"Mr. Mikaelson?"

Klaus turned and saw that a couple of his students, April Young and Gracie Lockwood, had come up behind him. He smiled at them in greeting. "Hello girls, how are you both this evening? Enjoying the festival?"

Both students nodded before Gracie spoke. "It's been fun, we were just walking by and April said she thought it was you so we came over to say hi."

"I'm glad that you did. I'm surprised though that it's just the two of you, I would have thought that the two of you would be surrounded by escorts fighting for your attention." Klaus commented. Both girls giggled a little at his suggestion that they should have boys all around them.

"Yeah, well we liked to keep our options open, you never know who you might run into at one of these events. You might find someone better than your everyday high school boy." Gracie stated.

Klaus' eyebrow rose at the boldness in the girl's words. Surely she wasn't implying him? But before he could ruminate on the matter more, Caroline reappeared behind the girls with Will. "Sorry that took so long, he didn't want to stay still."

"Not a problem Love." Klaus replied. "I was just talking to a couple of my students."

As she looked over the girls, Klaus noticed Caroline's stance stiffening a little as if she was uncomfortable around them. Had she overheard Gracie's flirtatious remarks? Gracie's eyes widening in surprise at Caroline's entrance hadn't escaped his notice either.

"Wow, Mr. Mikaelson, you never said you were married." April exclaimed as she smiled at Caroline and Will. "And you have a little boy? He is too cute. He looks just like his mom but I'm sure he takes after you too."

"No, actually Caroline is my girlfriend and this is her son." Klaus corrected. "Caroline this is April Young and Gracie Lockwood."

"Nice to meet you April," Caroline said with a smile before turning to the other girl. "Hello Gracie, how are you?"

"Um, good. Thanks." Gracie replied as she stared at Will. "He's gotten big."

"Yes, he has." Caroline responded frigidly, her arms tightening around her son protectively.

Klaus started to open his mouth to ask if the two of them knew each other but decided against it since their greetings and behavior seemed to state that they did. And from what he could tell of their body language, they weren't friends. So instead he decided it would be best to break up the gathering. "Well if you girls will excuse us, we have some horses to check out. Right, Will?"

The toddler lit up at his statement and began nodding again. "Horsies! Horsies, Claws!"

After saying quick goodbyes, April and Gracie took their leave while Klaus, Caroline and a squirming Will made their way over to the horses. Once they reached the fence, Will reached out to pet one of the horses, squealing when his little hand touched its mane.

Klaus watched the toddler enjoying himself for a few minutes before he focused on Caroline. She was smiling at her son but he could see that she wasn't as relaxed as she had been and before he could stop himself, the question tumbled from his lips. "So you and Gracie know each other?"

Caroline shrugged. "Kind of."

"Kind of? There was quite a bit of frostiness between you two for you to only be acquaintances." Klaus remarked.

"The 'frostiness' you mention doesn't have to do with what small association I have with Gracie but her family." Caroline explained. "She's Tyler's cousin."

Those three words explained everything to him, Tyler was Caroline's ex, Will's biological father, who had deserted the two of them when Will was born. She had told him the story but he hadn't known Tyler's last name until now.

"Most of the time, I can avoid his family, however while the town is growing, Mystic Falls is still somewhat small and the Lockwood family is anything but. Thankfully it's usually his extended family I run into and not his parents." Caroline declared.

"Do they acknowledge you or Will?" Klaus asked.

"Not usually. His father, Richard, is a class A douc...um jerk." She answered, checking her language for young ears. "He wasn't happy that I fought and won sole custody of Will even though his son wanted nothing to do with him so he kind of acts as if we don't exist and has his family act the same way. I think Tyler's mother Carol would try to see Will if she didn't think he would make her life miserable for it."

"I'm sorry, if I had know who Gracie was…"

"It's not your fault." Caroline stated. "They are your students and it's not surprising that they would want to say hi. Though it did feel a little odd and not just because of who Gracie's family is."

"Why was it odd?" He questioned.

"Because those girls are your students and they aren't much younger than me." She clarified.

"There you go again about the age gap." Klaus grumbled. It was the one issue that he had been unable to get Caroline to overlook. "It's only eight years, not a thousand."

Caroline smiled as she looked at the small pout on his face. "I know. But it's a little weird to think that if you had been here three years ago, you could have been my teacher."

Klaus nodded as he conceded her line of thought. "Well it's a good thing that I wasn't, because I probably would have been fired for having less than pure thoughts about one of my students."

When he saw the blush rise up on her cheeks, he couldn't keep himself from chuckling but before he could say anything, Will got bored with the horse he was currently petting and starting twisting in an attempt to reach the other one.

A couple hours later, they returned to Caroline's house, and Klaus carried a sleeping Will into the house. The little boy had enjoyed himself immensely and had fallen asleep in the car. Once inside, Caroline reached for her son so to put him in his crib but Klaus shook his head. "I'll take him in, there's not reason to jostle him more than necessary."

Caroline nodded before leading Klaus back to her bedroom. After he laid Will down in his bed, Caroline quickly removed his shoes, socks and jeans so that he would be comfortable while he slept then headed to join Klaus in the living room where he had retreated to.

"Thanks for that." Caroline stated as she sat down next to him on the couch and tucked herself under the arm that he had draped over the back.

"You're welcome." Klaus replied as he leaned in and nuzzled her hair.

"You're good with him." Caroline commented. "He doesn't always take to those outside of my family and a few friends. Are you good with all kids?"

"I don't know, I haven't really been around many of them. I mean yes my students but they don't qualify since they are teenagers. I think the only young child I've been around is my brother Henrik. I was thirteen when he was born."

"Wow, I didn't know that there was such a big age difference." Caroline acknowledged.

"He was kind of a...surprise." Klaus explained. "After Bekah was born and my mother got the girl she'd been wanting, they decided not to have anymore children. Nine years later, Henrik was born."

"I think that's about the most I've heard you talk about your parents." Caroline declared.

"What do you mean? I've told you all manner of things about my family."

"You've told me your siblings, things about how droll Finn is, how moral Elijah is, how crazy Kol is and how sweet Henrik is but nothing really about the people who brought you into this world.." She explained. "I've told you about my parents and their divorce but what little I know about yours comes from Rebekah."

"There's not much to tell." Klaus said cryptically.

"I don't believe that, not considering the children they bore." Caroline retorted. "All I really know about your parents is that they divorced when Rebekah was fourteen and that your father died a year later."

"Mikael was not my father." Klaus snapped.

His outburst surprised her but despite it, Caroline only looked at him with confusion, her eyebrows crinkling as she thought about what he said. "I don't understand, Rebekah said…"

"Mikael was my siblings' father but not mine." He explained.

"But you're the middle child, how…"

"I'm the product of my mother's infidelity." Klaus said interrupting.

"Oh." Caroline replied, her eyes large and her mouth pursed in a line. "I"m sorry, Rebekah never said anything."

"It's not something that a lot of people know about outside of the family but something Mikael never allowed me to forget."

"What do you mean?" She asked, confused again though she had a hint of what he was implying and when she saw Klaus hesitate in giving her an answer, she got a very bad feeling about it. "Klaus what do you mean?"

"Nothing." Klaus declared, he wanted to kick himself for slip up. "Forget I said anything, please."

"But…"

"Please." He repeated as he looked into her eyes and tried to convey his desire for her to drop the subject.

Caroline could hear the pleading in that one word as well as see it in his eyes and nodded in response. "Okay, I won't push on that."

"Thank you." He said with a sigh of relief.

"But can I ask you a couple of questions?" Caroline asked.

Klaus groaned in response. "If you feel that you must."

"I'm only trying to learn more about you." Caroline explained. Couldn't he see she wanted to know everything about him just as he said he wanted to get to know her as well.

"I know love," Klaus admitted. "It's just not a topic I'm very comfortable with."

"Yeah, well if you recall a few hours ago, I shared something uncomfortable with you too, it's not as if I enjoy talking about Tyler." She reminded him.

Klaus nodded to her in defeat, she was right. If he was going to ask things of her, he should be prepared to deliver them as well. "Fair is fair, ask your questions."

"Do you still see your biological father?" She asked. "Is he here in the States or back in England."

"I have no idea, I've never met the man." He answered. "From what I was told, he disappeared shortly after Mikael found out about the affair but I do not know where."

"And your mother and Mikael stayed together after her affair?"

"Yes, and had three more children." Klaus stated.

"So why did they get divorced?"

"My mother told me once that she stayed because despite the fact that she no longer loved him, Mikael provided her stability. It wasn't until after Henrik's birth that his drinking got out of hand and he no longer provided that. Rebekah, Kol, and Henrik were the only ones still at home so she left him, left England entirely and moved to the States. His liver gave out not long after and he died." He clarified. "Ironically his death granted her more stability than the man himself did in their final years of marriage."

Caroline wondered if Klaus realized he had just given her a clue to what he hadn't been willing to talk about earlier when he had brought up his stepfather's drinking. If the man drank enough that it played a part in his death, he must have drank a lot and she knew that a lot of time when people drank a lot, they talked without a filter. She wondered what the man might have said to Klaus during those times, she doubted it was nice. She couldn't help but think that if things continued with with the two of them, Klaus would do everything he could to make sure to treat Will better than he had been treated. And that warmed her heart.

She decided then not to continue with her questioning and change topics to something lighter. "So what did you think of the festival? Too small town?"

Klaus shook his head. "No, not too much. It was nice."

Caroline laughed at his answer. "Liar. It's okay, you can admit it. Mystic Falls is a small Southern town that still believes in tradition and celebrates by having way too many parties, balls and events."

"Mystic Falls does seemed to have quite an active calendar but I knew that before I moved here." Klaus replied. "I did enjoy myself though I think it was more the company I had then the event itself."

"You should have met me a few years ago when I sat on almost every committee that planned those events." Caroline stated. "You might not have liked my company quite so much then."

"Well I don't know about that but I do know that I like you now, very much so." Klaus said as he leaned in to kiss her.

Just as his lips touched hers, she whispered. "I like you too."