Thank you peeps, for reviewing and following! At first I said I will be following a little from the book I read, but I realized as I typed, I got drifted off the idea in the book. LOL! Now I'm just writing on how I wanted it to happen. It changes as the days go. But I'm going to keep Klaroline, that you don't have to worry. We don't get much from TVD, might as well make myself satisfied in my own fanfiction, hehe!
Caroline gave her a small nod before gesturing her to come in, completely ignoring Klaus. She still hadn't thought how to explain to him. Besides Bonnie, Matt knew. He saw Caroline in the park with Daniel one evening.
Bonnie put her hands on Caroline's arm, "Oh no, Care. I should go pick up the pizzas. Daniel hasn't eaten. I'll be back. And—I'm really sorry!"
"No, it's not your fault," Caroline said "Kids fall all the time in the park. And yes—go get the pizzas. Be safe!"
Bonnie smiled before leaving. Caroline shut the door and came face-to-face with Klaus. There were so many expressions on his face; Caroline couldn't tell what were there.
"You—you are married?" he spat "Why didn't you tell me that?"
Caroline sighed "I'm not!" she walked towards the lounge and placed Daniel down. "Be good. I'm going to get the first-aid," she said to him before turning back to Klaus "Would you just keep him company for now?" and she left to the kitchen before Klaus could nod.
Klaus sat next to Daniel not knowing what to do. "Is Caroline your mother?" he asked after a moment.
"Yes," Daniel answered looking up from his knee to Klaus "And who are you?"
Klaus smiled a little and said gently, "I'm Klaus, your mother's boss." Klaus offered his hand to shake and said, "Nice to meet you, Daniel."
Daniel took it before returning back to his knee.
"Uh—where is your father, Daniel?" Klaus asked slowly.
Daniel looked up to him but didn't say anything. "I don't have a father. Mommy is enough," he said after a moment, and added "Mommy said I shouldn't talk to strangers."
"Found it!" Caroline said from the kitchen before she rushed back to Daniel. She sat on the floor in front of Daniel and took a cotton swap and alcohol before looking back at Daniel, "Well, darling—this is going to hurt a little."
"It's okay, mom. I can do it!" Daniel said before hugging Caroline.
"Darling, I can't clean your wound if you're hanging on me like this," Caroline said to his shirt.
Daniel sat back up straight and quickly put both his hands on his face, covering his eyes. "Ready!" he shouted.
Klaus laughed a little, enjoying the scene taking place in front of him. "You could grip my hand," he offered.
"Okay!" Daniel said before throwing both his hands on Klaus's hand and shutting his eyes close tightly.
"Done!" Caroline said to Daniel before mouthing thank you to Klaus.
"Huh?" Daniel looked at his left knee and smiled, "That was fast, mom!" before hugging Caroline again.
Caroline pushed him back up, "Ok, now let me cover the wound."
Daniel touched the square cotton gauze on his legs before climbing down the lounge and kiss Caroline on the cheek, "Thanks mom! Can I play with Ninja Robots now?" Caroline nod and he ran straight into his room.
"So—I guess our dinner is canceled?" Klaus frowned and added "But we can also eat in and you shall tell me about this" he motioned towards the air.
"Daniel is my son and I'm not married," she breathed.
"Yup, that—I've already picked up from Daniel. More?"
"I'd rather not if you don't mind," Caroline replied. "I don't really like talking about his dad in front of him. He—he was being teased for not having a father, mother who is a lesbian—not that I am but—but they see me or Bonnie with him—they get this ridiculous gossip planted in their brain. I don't want Daniel to be hurt" Caroline blinked off a tear.
"Oh, very well, love." Feeling as though Caroline is about to cry, he stood up and smiled. "You can tell me about it tomorrow—over lunch? I should let you get back to Daniel now."
Caroline stood up too and smiled.
He gave Caroline a pat on her shoulder before walking towards the door. "Oh, and—" he turned back to Caroline. "Your housemate isn't Bo—"
"Bonnie." Caroline cut.
"Right, Bonnie. But Daniel?" he grinned.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to lie. I didn't mean all these to happen." Caroline said guiltily.
"Well, make it up to me over lunch tomorrow." He smiled before turning his heels to the door. "Goodnight, sweetheart and—goodbye Daniel!" he said before shutting the door.
Caroline sighed and locked the door. Lunch.
Caroline arrived at work the following morning feeling on top of the world in spite what happen last night. And in spite of the fact that it was Friday, when everyone traditionally drooped and hailed on the onset of the weekend with relief.
She got through an enormous amount of work, which was as well, because she still had her own work to do as well as shouldering some of Jenna's.
"By the way," the editor said on that subject, "Klaus wants us to discuss your replacement and make recommendations to him. I wondered about Hayley. She's been showing some interest in the editorial side lately. What do you think?"
"I'd hate to lose her as a secretary, of course." Caroline smiled. "She's so good in that job. But I think if she would like to try it, we should give her a chance—if Klaus approves. She's certainly a person I can work with."
"Well, we'll recommend her, then. Shall I tell him or will you?"
"I will, if you like. I could go up and see him now, if he's free."
It was only about an hour to lunchtime, and she could have mentioned it to him then, but he had said that business topics were banned.
When his secretary waved her into his office, he was on the telephone. He looked up and smiled, and she smiled back, but a little stiffly, because she was suddenly rather shy of him.
Klaus put the phone down, and she realized with a shock that the coldness was back in his eyes when he looked at her and said, "Yes, Caroline? What can I do for you?"
"Jenna said that you wanted us to recommend someone for my job."
He seemed to relax a little, but she dared not do the same. She was determined now to be businesslike and efficient.
"Are you ready to make a recommendation?" he asked.
"Yes. We thought—Hayley."
"Your secretary?"
"Yes. She's been working closely with both of us for over a year, and we think she could do it. We haven't mentioned it to her, but I think she might be interested. And I would like to have her."
"If you want her, I'll offer her the job," he said.
He made it sound almost as though he would given her anything she wanted.
"Yes, well—it is important that we should be able to work well together," she said.
"Undoubtedly." His mouth quirked up at the corner and she relaxed a little and smiled at him again. "We'll have to find another secretary, then."
"Yes. Hayley's so good it won't be easy to replace her."
"Leave it to me. I'll get my secretary on to it in the morning."
Caroline stood up to go and he said, "I'll come down to your office and fetch you at lunchtime."
"I could meet you outside," she offered.
"Why on earth would you do that, love?"
"Well—office gossip, you know." It would be the second time. "And stop calling me love."
Klaus smirked, "Tell them it's business. I have a lot to discuss with my new editor."
They might believe it this time, but if Klaus and she made a habit of lunching together, the grapevine would run positively hot. She could hardly say that to him, though, as if one lunch date was necessarily the precursor of a series.
But as she reached the door, he said gently," Does gossip bother you?"
She remembered telling him how gossip bothered Daniel. The entire population of the school watched him like a veritable flock of hawks, always picking on him.
"I think it might," she said slowly. "I do rather prefer my private life to remain private."
"Don't worry, love," he said. "One lunch doesn't make an affair in any language. And after today, I'll be careful."
Caroline smiled, "Well, you got to work on calling my name instead of love." She closed the door and went down to her office. Now, what to tell him later? Lies or truth?
Klaus decided to have lunch somewhere far from their office block. He drove smoothly and patiently, showing no signs of irritation at traffic lights. He conversed easily as he drove and Caroline began to relax. He drove down a side road between rows of houses to a parking area near the bay.
"Feel like a walk?" he asked.
Caroline nodded. Even with the windows wound down and the wind ruffling her hair, it was warm in the car, and a stroll in the fresh air would be cooling.
He took her hand to help her from her seat, and didn't relinquish it as they strolled along the grass above the beach. Children were playing and there was a hotdog stand nearby, the smell of sizzling sausages wafting to them as they passed.
Caroline lifted her head and sniffed it pleasurably.
"Hungry?" Caroline enquired, amused.
She turned her head and smiled at him. "Yea, a little."
His fingers tightened fractionally on hers, and she looked away, because she didn't want him to know how that affected her.
"Almost there," he said.
They ate overlooking the harbor, at a table near huge windows. It was an English café that served fine tea. From talking about food, they progressed to publishing in general, and Klaus held her fascinated as he told her about his four years in England and the beauty of the world there.
"But they give people what they want," he added. "Something larger than life—an escape from the humdrum routine that they live everyday. You must go there one day."
Caroline smiled, "Well, I haven't exactly been anywhere. New York is my first."
"Oh, what brings you here then?"
Caroline smile dropped and she took a sip of the tea. Well, story time. She looked back at Klaus and realized his eyebrows were up, waiting for her answer.
"Uh—uh," she stammered. "Busy and fast world, good place to earn money."
His eyebrow went up again. "Really?"
Caroline sighed softly, eventually she'd have to tell him. "The population here is high. The chance for me to bump into anyone I know from home is low. Very low."
"What are you hiding from them?"
"Daniel. Well, not exactly hiding him from them. I ran away from home," she explained. "When I was pregnant, five years ago, I thought my boyfriend, ex-boyfriend—Tyler would be happy. But—he fled from my porch the second I told him. It was really fast like superhero Flash."
"That's why you ran away?" he said impatiently. "That's a stupid thing to do, love."
"I didn't run away because of that!" Caroline said coldly. "Okay, part of it was because of him. I wanted to start a new life, just me and Daniel. I ran because—because my mom disowned me. I was only 18. Been dating Tyler since I was 15-16? I had nowhere to go. My dad—God knows where he is."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to jump on you like that," he said. "So you have not contacted anyone since then?"
"The first two years, I kept in touch with my best friend, Elena. Keeping tabs on my mom incase she forgives me but she never even plan to look for me. Tyler—he never looked for me. I tried to call him when I was registering Daniel's birth certificate, but he changed his phone number. So—Daniel doesn't have a dad." She said softly.
"Have he asked why?"
"Of course," Caroline replied. "I told him the truth. But I didn't say that Tyler didn't want him, I said he didn't want me. And I wanted Daniel. So leaving me means leaving both of us."
"So this is where you decide to start your life?"
Caroline smiled and looked around. "Yea, it isn't so bad. Daniel isn't complaining. Bonnie is a good neighbor. Matt's a good buddy. I love my job, good pay. I'm not complaining either."
"Matt? Buddy or—" Klaus rubbed his hand across his chin trying to hide the jealously.
"Oh, the journalist from Travel News," Caroline said quickly. "And I know what you're thinking. I'm not with him. He's not my boyfriend. Daniel—he's my possession. I don't really plan to share him with anyone."
"Well, we'll see." Klaus grinned.
Klaus followed Caroline back to her office but was stopped by Hayley on the way in.
"Oh Caroline," Hayley jumped up from her chair.
Both of them turned to look at Hayley who quickly adjusted her skirt and picked up a paper from the desk. "You told me to look for a new secretary—"
"Yes. We can discuss about that later. I have business to discuss with Kla—Mr Mikaelson at the moment." Caroline said, trying to cover up why both of them were together.
"Oh but wait please—" Hayley said desperately but stopped when Klaus cleared his throat on purpose.
"What is it, Hayley?" Caroline asked.
"Uh—" Hayley looked at Klaus then back at Caroline. "I'm sorry but I have a friend who would like to try out for the secretary position. She just moved to New York with her husband, work purpose."
"Okay, pass me her resume and I'll look at it." Caroline said dryly before returning to the door handle.
"Actually—" Hayley half smiled. "She's here. I had lunch with her. I though you could interview her now."
"Walked in interview. We could do that now. You and me." Klaus said equably, then turned to Hayley. "Bring her in."
Both of them finally entered the room and Klaus closed the door behind him.
"What are you doing?" Caroline hissed. "I should discuss this with Jenna."
"The secretary will belong to you and Hayley. The opinion has to be between you and her, not Jenna." Klaus smiled slyly. "I don't think Hayley would reject her, so let—both of us test her instead. I wouldn't want you to be soft-hearted because she's Hayley's friend."
"Whatever you say, boss." Caroline smiled before sitting down on her chair. Klaus moved behind her and leaned towards the glass window.
There was a knock on the door and Hayley entered. Behind her was a girl about her height, but slightly skinner than Hayley and has curly brown hair resting on her shoulder. "Caroline, this is Vicki." Hayley said and motioned Vicki to enter.
Vicki move forward while Hayley left the room and close the door behind her.
"Hi Vicki, please sit down. I'm Caroline Forbes and this is Mr Mikaelson." Caroline smiled while Klaus only nod.
Vicki sat down and offered her hand to Caroline. "Vicki Lockwood. Thank you for giving me this chance."
Caroline took her hand but didn't smile. "Lockwood?" she said surprisingly. She highly doubted this girl is related to Tyler Lockwood. She knows Tyler doesn't have a sister. Maybe distance cousin.
"Yes," Vicki said shortly. "It's my husband's family name."
"Oh, how long have you been married to the Lockwood?" Caroline asked, hoping she would expose more of her background.
"3 years," Vicki smiled and added "We moved 2 weeks ago. My husband had a job offered in a developer company."
"Where does your husband origin? I mean—I mean where did you guys stay previously?" Caroline asked before looking down at the file and pretended to make notes.
Vicki was curious but decided to ignore it when Caroline restructured her question. "Oh, we were living in Pittsburg. And my husband is from Atlanta," she answered. "Met him in college."
Caroline gasped but she could be wrong. He gets to go to college and she has to work to feed her child. She's not complaining but damn you, Tyler! She thought. "Does your husband happen to be Mr Tyler Lockwood?" Caroline striked.
"Where is this interview getting?" Klaus interrupted.
Caroline jumped; she had forgotten Klaus was in the room with her. "I'm sorry," she flushed.
Vicki looked at Klaus then Caroline curiously, wondering at the sudden change of atmosphere. She stood up, feeling stronger if she's looking down at Caroline. "Yes, Tyler Lockwood is his name" she said and asked "How do you happen to know him? He's only been here for 2 weeks. And—and I know all of his friends." She tried to hold back her tears. Tyler would never cheat her, she's very sure of that.
Caroline didn't answer immediately; she tried to process everything she just heard. Tyler has never introduced her to his relatives even, what more friends. Considering they have the same circle of friends in Atlanta, she didn't take it personally. She should have figured it out when Tyler shrugged off every question relating his family, took her through the backdoor to his house. Caroline was just a fling. A 3 years fling! Caroline wanted to cry but she felt a weight on her shoulder.
She turned and saw Klaus looking worried, "Caroline, do you want to continue the interview?" Caroline turned back to Vicki was about to cry.
Caroline took a deep breath, "I'm sorry, Mrs Lockwood—Vicki. I didn't mean to create such suspicion. I—I happen to know Mr Lockwood in Atlanta. He is—a very old friend of mine."
"Oh," Vicki said before sitting down again.
Caroline half smiled, "So Vicki, tell me about you. Your strength, weakness."
"Well—I'm 23. My family is just my husband and I. We do not have kids, we really do want one. We got married after we graduated, when we were 21. I know it's early but we couldn't wait to start our life together. I got a diploma in marketing. I did a little of typing, sales work after getting married. Since we don't have kids, and I could only get to see my husband late at night, I don't mind committing in late working hours. We currently reside in an apartment 15 minutes walking distance from here. And weakness—I have a bad drinking habit but since we were trying for a baby, I have stopped. No alcohol and no coffee," Vicki breathes and laughed "I'm sorry, probably you don't even want to have kids. I shouldn't have mentioned it, been too much of counseling session. Oh and I read, lady editors are usually workaholics."
Caroline didn't know whether to snap or vomit or cry or laugh but she kept her smile plastered on her face. Before she could answer, the deep accent voice behind her answered, "Well, good to hear. So—Vicki, after we have decided, Caroline will get Hayley to contact you and let you know the answer. The rest of the details, you can alias with Hayley." Klaus offered his hand, "Thank you for coming."
Vicki took it; she shook both Klaus and Caroline hand before leaving. After the door snapped shut, Klaus turn Caroline in her chair to face him, "What was that?"
"Nothing," Caroline tried to turn back but Klaus was strong and his grip was tight at the arms of the chair.
"Caroline, looked at me!" Klaus move his hands to cup her face instead. "I'm not stupid. Vicki's husband is Daniel's dad."
Caroline shoved his hands away, "He is not Daniel's dad!" Caroline was crying.
Klaus cupped her face again but this time use his thumbs to wipe the tears, "Sshh, I'm not saying you should reunite with Tyler. You're better than that. You're strong. You went through 5 years without him. It doesn't matter if he has a wife, a better life. You deserve better, you understand. It's Daniel and you against the world." Klaus wiped her tears again and hugged her.
Caroline responded back, "Thank you!" hugging him a bit longer before letting him go. Whenever she was sad or stressed, in need of hug, she'd hug Daniel's petite body. Now, having a bigger, tougher warm body to hug, giving her comfort, she was loath to release him.
Klaus stood up and pick up her bag, "Now, have the day off! I can't have puffy eyes in my office."
"Hey!" Caroline smacked his arms. "It's not that bad," she wiped off the remaining tears with a tissue. She wasn't going to fight with Klaus for letting her go home now, she needed it. She needs to see Daniel, to know he is still there. He still belongs to her.
Thank you for reading! If you have a minute, please review! Just to share the news, I've got my job, starting next Monday. Yay! I'll be updating quiet frequently this week considering I have only a few more days to enjoy. I have Chapter 4 almost done, will probably get it up by tonight or tomorrow. Oh, and if you want smut, you got to wait. It will be either in 2-3 chapters time. I need Caroline to be comfortable with Klaus first. Thank you again for reading!