A/N: Well, at least we have TO to look forward to tomorrow. Until then, hope you like this. I have a couple more surprises for you in the chapter after this one. =) Thank you so much for all the reviews: PerfectlyGoodHeart, Iansarmy, PLL and Victorious RULE, jessnicole, lateVMlover, SwanQueen4055, spongee09, xTeamDamonx, willowaus, Rose Jean Black, An Amber Pen, SarahCullen4, nightingale243, ilyreid, Carmen Rae, Hajar, Kaylabeth21 and all my guests. Over 300! I would never have expected this. Thank you SO much! Thank you for all the favorites, follows, everything!

laurenroxbrough - I'm working canon in there as much as I can. But I have a game plan for this story so from week to week, I tweak to match up to the shows as much as I can. But hey, it's fun!

xXAngelicBowXx (HUGS) - I like that idea and might try that, Klaus' POV.

Chibi Tsuki Hikari - Good catch. I'll go back and fix. Thank you!

Deviljolie - I agree. Why are they doing that?

We pulled up to what looked like an old farm house. The outside showed some wear but the grounds were neat with some colorful flowerbeds and a few items scattered out in the yard. Someone liked to play cornhole here. It was a simple place, a home.

"So, you think this is it?" I asked Rebekah as I shut off the engine.

"Clarice Michaels," Rebekah told me.

"The last name is Michaels? Really?" I asked. Subtle much?

"Yes, so it's worth a shot."

We got out of the car, stretched. I followed Rebekah to the front door of the house. Rebekah knocked and we listened using our vampire senses to see if we could tell if someone was inside. There was definite movement in there.

The front door swung open and a younger teenage girl stood there staring at us. She had dark hair, dark eyeliner, dark clothes. Emo. And her narrowed green eyes moved over us with suspicion.

A younger girl came up behind her. Her hair was long, flowing blonde. She wore a pink frilly top, jean shorts and her blue eyes were decidedly friendly. She grinned before yelling, "Mom!"

The younger girl was still looking us over. "There are two girls here. They're dead!"

The older girl rolled her eyes.

"Hi," Rebekah said to them. "We just wanted to talk with your mother if we could."

"She's coming," the younger girl told us. "So are you guys vampires or zombies?"

I snickered at that, impressed that they knew to ask that. Rebekah scoffed.

"Is your mother here?" Rebekah was snippy.

"Mom!" the older girl yelled.

The blue eyes of the friendly girl met mine.

"Yeah, we're vampires," I told her.

A woman came to a stop behind them. She was barely taller than the dark-haired girl, her eyes were blue also. She had blonde hair bobbed off at jaw-length and she looked like any other normal mom with her summer sweater and jeans. She was a pretty lady.

"Mom, they're vampires," the younger one told her, excitedly.

"I can see that," the lady told her daughter. "Go to your room, girls, while I see what our visitors want."

"What? No," the younger one said.

"Just go," she told them, her tone kind.

The older one smirked at us, walking away with a little wave. Yeah, she had to be related to Kol. The younger one didn't want to go but reluctantly she did. I liked that one. She reminded me of myself at that age.

"Can I help you?" the mother asked us, politely all things considered.

"You're Clarice Michaels?" Rebekah asked.

"Why are you here?" she asked, her gaze moving over us.

"You don't want to know who we are?" Rebekah asked.

"I know who you are," she said to Rebekah. "So again I ask, why are you here?"

"We're hoping you can help us," I told the lady, drawing her attention for the first time.

The woman smiled at us but it didn't reach her eyes. "And why do you need my help?"

"Because we have a problem and we need the help of an all-powerful witch or two," Rebekah told her, her tone losing its warmth with each word.

The woman took a step back. "Look, whatever you've got going on, I want no part of. I certainly don't want my children in any way exposed to the world of vampires and werewolves and whatever. So you can leave."

She went to close the door on us and we couldn't stop her because without an invitation, we couldn't enter the house.

"Please," I tried. "I understand about your kids, I do. But we really need your help. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't important."

Sighing, she regarded me curiously. "I understand why the original would be here," she began, nodding at Rebekah. "But you? You're a young vampire, aren't you? A very young vampire. You're not even compelled."

Rebekah stared at her now. Wow, she had some sort of super witch perception to know all that.

"I know and I have a reason for wanting to see you too. But please give us a chance to let you know what's going on?" I begged.

"Will this great dilemma have an impact on me?" she asked, looking from Rebekah to me and back.

"My brother, the original hybrid, has managed to get a werewolf girl pregnant," Rebekah threw out there. "This girl is with another hybrid and a group of werewolves planning to make more hybrids."

The woman gave Rebekah a confused look before she walked out onto her porch with us.

"So Klaus broke the curse?" the woman asked.

"Yes," Rebekah told her.

"He figured out how to create hybrids and has, in fact, created some?"

"He did but I think Tyler is the only one of those he has left now," I explained. "And he can't really make anymore because Elena's a vampire now."

Her blonde brows shot up at that. "The doppelganger is a vampire now?"

I nodded.

"The unborn child can create hybrids without the blood of the doppelganger and has fallen into werewolf hands, paws, whatever," she went on. "And since vampires nearly wiped out the existence of the werewolves, the hybrids will come after the vampires and destroy them."

"I know that sounds like a good thing," I tried to explain.

Holding up a hand to me, she stared me down.

"That's a terrible thing," she told me. "Werewolves are a creation of nature and once they become hybrids, they'll be abominations, just like vampires. No offense."

"None taken," Rebekah told her, smirking.

"This poses a threat to my kind too, as if we weren't having a bad enough year with the whole Silas thing," she went on.

"So you'll help us?" I asked her.

Shaking her head, she ran a hand through her hair. "I don't want to. I don't have other family to watch my girls and honestly, I don't want them to have any part of this."

"But aren't they also witches?" Rebekah asked. "Aren't they already part of this?"

That earned Rebekah a look.

"Not by choice," she answered.

"You're our descendants even so," Rebekah said sharply. "Until he was killed by the doppelganger and her brother, Kol watched after your line, kept you safe."

"So I owe you?" the witch asked. "Right. Kol never looked after me or my girls, he never looked after my mother either. Or my grandmother. Probably something to do with being in a box, daggered for a century or so. Which one of you did that?"

Rebekah was losing patience. "That's none of your business witch and I find your lack of gratitude offensive. I would choose my words more carefully if I were you."

I snorted. I told Klaus this would happen.

"Let me ask you this," the woman said as if an original vampire hadn't just threatened her. "What happened after Kol was undaggered? I heard through the grapevine that he was looking for us and then I realized he was gone entirely."

"How did you know that?" I asked.

"Some familial link, I guess," she explained. "I had a great aunt once who believed that our power diminished when Kol was daggered. I don't know if that's true of not since he really hasn't been around in the last few generations."

"So maybe you're weak and you have no value to us all," Rebekah challenged her.

The woman smiled at her. "Let's find out."

She extended one slender hand in Rebekah's direction, almost as if in a gesture meant to silence her. In seconds, Rebekah screamed, clutching her head and dropping to the porch in what was obviously terrible pain.

"Please, stop," I begged the lady. "Please!"

The woman lowered her hand, leaving Rebekah gasping for breath. She didn't look the least bit afraid when Rebekah jumped to her feet looking ready to rip out her heart.

I did the only thing I knew to do. I moved between them.

"Wow, that's some display of power," I told her, not even wanting to know what she could do to me. "So you're really powerful and we could really use your help."

The woman sighed. "You want my help with this situation where exactly?"

"New Orleans," Rebekah said from behind me.

The sounds of girls squealing in delight came from inside the house.

"In your room!" their mother yelled.

"You know it's not that easy," the woman told me. "I have an online business. I home school my kids. It's not like I can just pack up and run to New Orleans with you to save the world. You know? Reality?"

"You could work online from New Orleans," Rebekah said, sounding a little more reasonable. "You could homeschool your kids from there."

"In the world of hybrids and vampires?" she asked.

"They'll protect you," I offered. "There's always the chance others will come after you guys because of your link to the original family."

"Who's to say they haven't already?" The woman glanced at Rebekah and then shifted her gaze back to me with a look that said "right."

"Elijah will protect you." It was the only card I had to play there. "Just come with us and talk to him."

"He's the moral one, right?" the witch asked.

I nodded, willing her to believe me.

"And what is that you want?" The woman looked me in the eye.

I swallowed hard. It was now or never. For Bonnie…

"I was hoping you could bring a friend back from the other side," I told her. "She's a witch, like you. She's done so much for us, her friends and family, and she doesn't deserve for her life to be over. Is there anything you could do like that? I know it's dark magic but…"

The woman looked as if she were going to laugh at me for a moment but then she dropped her gaze. She seemed to be considering something.

"I'm sure somewhere in all of our spell books and grimoires we have a spell like that, not that you want to be doing that often, but it would take me a few days to even find one," she told me.

"I have a grimoire in the trunk of our car with such a spell. It was my mother's. The original witch," Rebekah said.

"Elijah sent that along?" I asked her.

Rebekah smiled, nodded. Elijah sent it along for me and his support made me happy.

"Did this all happen when the veil dropped?" the woman asked. "Is she the one who did it?"

I nodded.

"I need access to the expression area where she dropped the veil. Can I get that?"

I nodded again.

"I can't promise anything. But I'll try. And we'll go to New Orleans to talk to Elijah, I guess. But my family and I had better not be walking into a trap."

"You're not," I told her.

"I've heard a lot about the hybrid, Klaus. I've heard he doesn't play well with others and I'm a little concerned about putting my children in his path," she admitted. "I can't lose them."

And I totally understood her concern. I did.

"He won't be a problem," Rebekah told her. "Elijah and I can help. And he won't want to make Caroline here unhappy."

The woman regarded me with a smile. "So that's it. That's you're role in all this. You're with the hybrid?"

"I guess." It was a lame explanation but close enough to the truth.

"For your sake? I hope he's in love with you too," she said, leaving me agape.

Rebekah's smile was knowing.

"Thank you, Ms. Michaels," I said. She was willing to try to bring Bonnie back. It was all I could ask for.

"It's Clarice," she said. "I have a feeling we'll be spending some time together."

A blonde head peaked around the door. "So are we going to New Orleans?"

"Yeah, go pack," Clarice told her daughter.

The squeals that erupted from the house could probably be heard in Georgia.

My new phone buzzed and I pulled it out of my pocket, not surprised that it was Klaus.

"Hello," I answered.

"Hello, love. How are things going?"

"Well, we're waiting for Clarice and her girls to pack a bag as we speak," I told him. "They're coming with us to talk. But that's good enough for now, right?"

"Indeed it is." There was a pause. "So you're returning to New Orleans once they are ready?"

"Yeah," I said, not convincing to my own ears.

"You mean to go next to Mystic Falls," he said, the disappointment clear in his tone.

"Klaus, she said she would try to bring Bonnie back for us," I pleaded with him. "If she can, I'll be happy. I'll visit with everyone for a few minutes and we'll head straight for New Orleans."

"Wish I could believe that, love," he said quietly.

"Why don't you?" I wanted to know. "You've trusted me this far. I know for a fact that you didn't even give Rebekah orders on how to deal with me if I appeared to defect."

"You and my sisters are old chums now?" he asked.

"Yes. But she's still willing to snap my neck if I don't keep my promise," I told him.

"She told you that, did she?"

"Yes, she did."

"I miss you, Caroline," he said, his tone lighter. "I've been regretting this morning all day."

"Regretting?" I had to ask. "Which part?"

"The part where I let you out of my bed."

"We'll see if you can finish what you started," I said to him, grinning.

"Is that a challenge, love?" His tone was purely sensual now.

"Maybe."

"Come home." It was an order. The word home sounded so good coming from him.

"I will," I promised. "Soon as I can."

"Don't keep me waiting, Caroline," he warned. "If I have to come after you, things will not go well."

"What? Will you huff and puff and blow my house in?" I asked, being saucy.

He was laughing on the other end.

"Oh sweetheart, the things I'm going to do with you…" he promised.

Looking up, I saw the family coming out of their front door, lugging suitcases.

"They're coming," I told him. "We're going to get back on the road."

"I'll be waiting for you," he whispered.

I started to hit the end button but impulsively, I brought the phone back to my ear.

"I miss you, too," I told him, meaning it.

Then I hit the end button, leaving him there.

As I watched Clarice and her daughters approach, I couldn't help but wonder how things would go at the Mikaelson mansion with them there. They were so perceptive. And if the mother was as powerful as she appeared...

For your sake, I hope he's in love with too.

How could I deny it to myself anymore when someone who didn't even know me, albeit a powerful witch, knew instantly?

In that moment, I realized I did want to go home. To Klaus. When had this happened?