II

Twenty Years Later

Twenty seven year old Caroline Forbes stood back to admire her work in the bright sunlight, joy practically seeping out of her skin. She had done it, she had finally done it. After a lot of hard work, saving money, and even a few tears as well she finally had her own store. A small boutique called, Be Positive.

It wasn't a big store, mind you just roughly the size of a small dentist office, Caroline wished that she could afford a bigger place, but rent was expensive even in a small town like Mystic Falls so this would have to do for how.

Caroline pushed back a piece of blond hair behind her ear wanting to tell everyone within passing distance that this was her store, her creation, her damn baby. After she had dropped out of business school (nearly crushing her mom, Liz's heart) she had decided to open her own store that would sell clothes and accessories and maybe even shoes. Many people had thought that she wouldn't be able to do it, especially since Caroline had never run a business (again Liz) but Caroline had proven them wrong.

It had taken a lot of hard work, not to mention money to open this small store and get inventory to make a few sales which included a lousy job as a waitress, using her inheritance money her father had left her, and taking out loans from the bank. In other words Caroline had gotten her dream while at the same time being greeted with a large debt. Awesome.

But Caroline wouldn't let money and problems ruin this moment. She gently pushed the glass door open and if fearing that it might break. The walls were painted a hot pink with vintage lemon green lamps hanging from the ceiling and a shiny cash register just waiting to be used.

There were stacks of boxes filled with clothes and accessories that needed to be hung, but Caroline would think about that later. For the first few months since money was tight Caroline wouldn't be able to afford hiring help, so she would have to do everything by herself which would include a few restless nights, not that Caroline minded too much.

A tiny bell was heard as someone pushed the door open. "I'm sorry, we're closed-"

"Calm down, it's me." Her best friend, twenty seven year old Katherine Pierce came in. She was dressed in the standard pale blue scrubs from the Mystic Falls hospital which meant that she was done with her shift. Her curly hair was up in a ponytail and her makeup was perfectly applied even at seven in the morning.

Never in a million years had Caroline thought that Katherine would end up becoming a doctor, but she had been proven wrong and Katherine had quickly rose to the top of her class. She was almost finished with medical school and had just started as a medical intern at the local hospital.

"Katherine," Caroline half scolded. "You weren't supposed to see it until everything was done."

"I'm sorry," Katherine rolled her eyes as she dipped a hand into her bag. "But I just finished my third night shift in a row and I couldn't help myself. Besides I ran into Stefan and he gave me our invitation to his and Rebekah's wedding."

"Awesome, I forgot about that." Caroline said as she took the creamy invitation. Stefan was her childhood friend and they knew Rebekah briefly, but she was one year younger than them and they had hardly interacted. She was a nice person though, a little intense, but perfectly nice. "When is it?"

"A couple of weeks from now, I already asked for the night off." She reapplied her lip stick. "Elijah would kill me if I miss his little sister's big debut."

Elijah Mikaelson was Katherine's boyfriend and they had been dating for three years now and even though Elijah was a little older, they seemed to get along perfectly.

"Oh, please." Caroline scoffed. "He treats you like a princess."

"Well, I am a princess." Katherine smirked as she yawned. "I should probably go to bed, before I pass out. Today is our anniversary."

"Really? Congratulations! Anything planned?" Caroline couldn't help but envy her friend's relationship. Katherine was so pretty she had guys practically begging her to just look at them and even then she only had eyes for Elijah. It seemed that they had the perfect relationship and Caroline couldn't help but envy them.

Katherine shook her head. "Not really, we both work so hard it's a treat to stay indoors." She grabbed her purse. "I'll call you so that we can go dress shopping. Bye."

"He's late." Twenty nine year old Klaus Mikaelson scoffed to his older brother, Elijah Mikaelson who was thirty two. Despised his initial refusal Elijah had practically forced him to have an early dinner with his sister's fiancée, Stefan Salvatore to "get to know him."

And Elijah had not been amused when Klaus had pointed out that Stefan was a lawyer, came from a good family, and had graduated at the top of his class from Harvard Law so he probably wasn't a serial killer.

Klaus was easily the least sociable of all the Mikaelsons which consisted of his older brother, Elijah and his baby sister Rebekah. But that was because Klaus was in no mood for small talk and Klaus thought his sister was a fool for marrying Stefan.

Rebekah was all wound up about marrying the guy and having babies. Pathetic.

Elijah sighed. "He's three minutes late, Klaus not everyone arrives at exactly every minute to every meeting." Both brothers worked for Mikaelson Inc. the construction company their father Mikael owned. Klaus was the CFO (Chief of Financial Office) while Elijah was the vice president.

"Well they should." Klaus took an angry sip of his ice cold water. "Why do we have to do this again?"

"Because," Elijah said slowly as if explaining it to a child. "Stefan is about to become family and since he's marrying our baby sister we should probably get to know him. There he is."

"Sorry, I'm late." Stefan said as the waiter quickly filled his glass. "I had to drop off Rebekah for her last dress fitting."

"Well, we all know how time consumable women can be, isn't that right Elijah?"

"Forgive my brother, Stefan." Elijah gave him a pointed gaze. "He can insensitive at times, which of course doesn't help in his relationship with women."

Klaus rolled his eyes. "Woman are a pain in the neck, you're just too in love with your beloved Katherine to know better." Katherine and Klaus had meet and they were not impresses with each other, it seemed after all these years they still shared a sort of hostile rivalry.

The three men spend the next hour or so chatting before they were interrupted by Elijah's phone. He smiled when he read the screen and he quickly put it inside his jacket pocket. "Forgive me gentlemen I must excuse myself."

"Of course." Stefan said. "Thank you for joining us, Elijah."

"Nonsense, Stefan it was my pleasure." He gave his hand a squeeze. "I'm sure you will make Rebekah very happy." Stefan smiled.

"Where are you going, brother?" Klaus asked, the sarcasm evident in his voice.

"Today is the anniversary between me and Katherine." Elijah ignored Klaus' eye roll. "I promised her we would spend the evening together."

The apartment that Elijah and Katherine shared smelled of vanilla and spices by the time that Elijah opened the door. Which usually meant that Katherine was in their bedroom ready to go. Elijah and Katherine had started dating three years ago when Katherine was in the middle of medical school trying to become a medical practitioner.

At first Elijah had been concerned that he was too old for her, but Katherine had shown to be mature beyond her years and besides their little squabbles they had a good relationship

Katherine was waiting for him already dressed in a see through black nightie, with her dark curls adorning her face. She kissed him. "Happy anniversary."

"Happy anniversary." He murmured. "How was your shift?"

Katherine shook her head as she started unbuttoning his shirt. "Let's not talk about work."

Elijah pulled her into his arms and placed her on the bed where Katherine burst into giggles. "Your wish is my command."

Caroline stared at the numbers in the pages until she was sure that her vision was going blurry. It was late at night, but Caroline had almost finished decorating everything and putting the clothes and accessories in the right place. In a few days she will open and Caroline didn't know if she should be excited or nervous.

The numbers staring back at her, the bank loans, the credit card bills, the debts seemed to taunt her as if saying that she couldn't do it. She owed $5,546 to the bank plus interest and $1,300 on credit card bills and Caroline was starting to panic.

Katherine had offered to help her out, but she had refused even though Elijah paid for their apartment together Katherine was still paying off school debts something that Katherine would never let Elijah pay for and Liz Forbes didn't have much money either.

She ran a hand through her golden curls. "Don't give up Forbes, you can do it. You have too."

-End of Chapter Two-

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