Welcome, my lovely loyal readers! To Chapter 22. I hope you enjoy your stay in the 10th century, and come visit as often as you can. XP I'm sure the Mikaelsons will throw a huge party for your arrival. Just make sure not to share any secrets, shhhh.

I do not own The Vampire Diaries, though I do own the plot and all original characters.

Chapter 22: A Lack of Subtlety

"Father?" Rebekah's voice came from behind me. She stood up to give him a hug. He returned it with a stoic smile. After she broke her embrace, she glanced over at me and remembered.

"Papa, this is Caroline. She's been staying with us for the past few months." She said, and I stood up to face him. He was tall, and intimidating. I wasn't really sure how to act or carry myself around him. I was nervous after all the things that I had heard about him before, in my time.

"Hello, sir." I said, looking at him.

"Hello." He answered. "Where is your mother and brothers?" He asked Rebekah, almost ignoring me now.

"They should be home soon, you know. Daily chores and all." She said and laughed. He nodded.

"I have somethings to do in town, I'll be back in a little while." He said to us, smiling at Rebekah, and then he left the house.

"Wow, he's . . ." I said sitting down after he had left.

"I know, he's like my mom, he doesn't open up fast to strangers. But he's a really good man." Rebekah said reassuringly as she sat back down beside me.

"Where has he been for the past few months?" I asked curiously.

"He's a blacksmith." She said simply. " He has his own forge on the edge of town, he's one of the only ones in this land. So he forges swords, and metal pieces needed in these areas. Then he goes around from town to town selling what he can. He makes quite a bit of money from it. Whenever he returns home we all celebrate." Rebekah explained to me. I nodded as she continued.

"I see, should we make a big supper then?" Bekah grinned at the idea.

"That's a great plan! I'll set up the kitchen and dinning room. Do you want to go to the market? Get whatever looks good." She said eagerly, as she handed me a pouch of money and rushed off to the kitchen. "It's good to have Father home." I heard her say to herself as she started pulling out spices and other things she thought she might need. I chuckled to myself as I walked out the door and towards the market. It wasn't very large, but it covered all the requirements for a town this size.

I slowly walked down the isles, looking for the makings of a good welcome home dinner. Potatoes, corn, maybe a turkey or a chicken. All sounded good, though I couldn't seem to locate any of them. I sighed as I continued wandering around, looking for them. Until I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I quickly turned to face them, and saw a warm smile.

"Benjamin, hi." I said looking up at him and smiling back.

"What are you doing?" He asked curiously.

"Mikael is back, Rebekah and I are making a welcome home dinner." I answered him.

"Oh, I see." He said. "Need a hand?" He asked with a sweet smile. I glanced over at him and grinned.

"That would be great, thanks." I said as we walked together through the stores.

"So, I heard about you and Niklaus." He said after a while, and I become uncharacterisically silent.

"Yeah." Was all I could say, my mind was completely blank, blank of all thought except for Nik. He nodded his head, and then seemed to push it to the back of his mind. As he offered up his hand, to lead me through the market.

"So, how have you been?" I asked as we walked, trying to start some semblence of a conversation. He chuckled softly, which made me smile.

"I've been pretty good, keeping busy." He laughed warmly and I couldn't help joining him. Benjamin helped me find all the things I need for the meal, and soon my basket was overflowing. He quickly noticed and reached over to pull it from my hands. His fingers brush over mine as he removed the weight I was carrying. I glanced over at him and grinned as we headed back to the Mikaelson's house.

Once we got back to the house, he reached out to grab my hand, and he held it in his for a few seconds before placing the handle of my basket back into it. I blushed and then streched up to kiss him on the check.

"Thank you, I'm not sure how sucessful I would have been on my own." I said, looking up at him and grinning. He nodded looking down at me.

"No problem, I enjoyed helping." He replied and I laughed quitely under my breath. By then I was repetitively glancing between him and my feet. He chuckled as he stepped closer, put a finger under my chin to pull my face up. And then he moved closer, leaning in for a kiss. And then of course was when the fire works began.

"Benjamin! What are you doing?! And with her?!" I heard a screach from the left, and I knew all too well who was yelling. I turned to face her.

"What do you want, Tatia? What in the world could possibly be bothering you now?" I asked, impatientwith her above all others. She stepped forward though, reached out and pulled Benjamin's arm, to pull him farther away from me. She tried to ignore me as best she could, as she focused solely on Benjamin.

"What are you doing with her?!" She asked him again, not as loud as before, but still loud enough to draw attention.

"What do you care that I spend time with her. It's not like you even speak to me anymore." He practically yelled back at her. I was looking between the two of them, lost to what was occuring.

"So? What do you care if I speak to you?" She demanded angrly.

"You know damn sure why I care." He shot back.

"That issue is no longer relevant." She said, looking of in a forgein direction.

"Relevant? How is it not relevant?!" He yelled at her.

"What's going on here?" I asked out loud, though it was barely audible. By this time, there was a circle of people surrounding us and Rebekah and Kol had surfaced from the house behind me.

"It's dealt with, it's gone. It's long gone. Just forget it ever happened, I basicly have." She replied monotone back at Benjamin. At that moment, Kol stepped forward so that he was slightly infront of me. Just so that his shoulder was infront of me, like a protective brother.

"She's not an it, she's a baby and she's ours! Or have you forgotten that on the road to get everything you've ever wanted?! Remember that time when all you wanted was a family? What happened to that girl, Tatia?!" Benjamin exploded, and watching his face, he looked torn up inside. Everyone around the parameter gasped, including Rebekah and myself. The only one that didn't was Kol. Rebekah then reached out for my hand and squeezed it tight.

I felt stupid now. I knew that Tatia had a child, other wise Elena never would have existed, but I never thought the father would be Benjamin.

"I'm not talking about this!" She replied defensively and then turned and stormed away. Not even taking a glance back at the mess she had caused. There were mermers and loud whispers filling the streets about Benjamin and Tatia, and the baby. I just turned and hugged Rebekah. Then I took a deep breath.

"I really liked him." I said quietly.

"I know you did, sweetie." Rebekah replied back, equally as soft.

"Come on, let's get back inside." Kol said, as he took the basket of food from my hands and led us inside the house. I sat down on the sofa, and pulled a blanket over my lap. For some reason I felt like moping. Kol put the basket down on the table and Rebekah quickly pulled out the food and started to prepare it for dinner. Kol came over to sit beside me, and then squeezed my shoulder gentley.

"I'm sorry, I tried to warn you he wasn't someone you wanted to get invovled with romantically." He said, with an empathetic smile. I nodded and smiled back, but then I came to thinking.

"How did you know? Everyone in town seemed surprised but you already knew, for a long time." I asked looking over at him, with the curiousity eating away at me.

"It's interesting how much you see when people don't think you're watching. How sneaky people think they are, when really they aren't. All you have to do is pay attention, and they is a wealth of information right at your fingertips." Kol chuckled quietly to himself. "And to be honest, subtley has never really been a strongsuit for Tatia." He explained, and a small smile spread across my face.

"Thank you, for trying to look out for me." I said, looking over at him.

"Of course, you're family. What else would I have done?" He asked teasingly and I smiled at him. Then Rebekah's voice came from the kitchen.

"Are you guys going to sit around and talk all day, or help me with 'Father's Welcome Home' dinner?" We both chuckled as we stood and headed into the kitchen to help with the food.

a/n: And the was the end of Chapter 22. What did you guys think of Benjamin's 'Big Secret' ? Was it as bad as you thought? =P

Please let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading my story.

DramaticInvisibleGirl