HEY GUYS!
Here is the next chapter. It's pretty plot heavy, light on KC but lots and lots of Katholine friendship :)
Also, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE KLAROLINE AWARD NOMS! I was shocked out of my gourd (sorry, southern saying) when I saw that I was nominated in 6(!) categories. I never thought it would be possible for me to ever be nominated since I still feel like a newbie to this fandom.
I decided to chose these three categories to participate in: "Best Underrated Author," Best Fluffy Drabble/OneShot for "Baby Talk" (found in Lumiere Over Me on my profile), and Best Crack Drabble/OneShot for "Thinking Out Loud" (which is also found on my profile). Voting is going on now so remember to get all your votes in for all your favorites! There is a lot of great talent out there this year :)
And here we go!
Caroline let herself into Katherine's apartment quietly the next morning. It about an hour and a half before she was due for work, and she was avoiding staying at her apartment where Tyler was. It wasn't like she had any issues with her fiancé, but she had barely slept a wink the night before due to stressing over the Mikaelson article and her argument with Klaus and the absolute last thing she wanted to do that morning was have sex.
She had rebuffed his advances the night before, citing a headache and stress from work. Plus, she was slightly drunk from all the wine consumption at the bar. However, that wasn't going to fly this morning. It's not like she wanted to avoid having sex with him. On the contrary, sex with Tyler was amazing, but all the recent stress from work had put a hit on her libido as of late. She high tailed it out of there super early that morning, leaving a sleeping Tyler and a half consumed pot of coffee in her wake. She went to her favorite bakery and picked up some more coffee and pastries, sure to cure the usual Friday morning hangover that Katherine would have from her drunken adventures the night before.
Setting her purse on Katherine's kitchen counter, Caroline wrinkled her nose at the open take out boxes and half filled wine glass next to it. She threw away the takeout box and reached for the glass of wine. She eyed it for a minute before tipping her head back and draining the glass, savoring the bittersweet taste.
It would seriously be a crime to waste all that good wine.
Making her way to Katherine's bedroom, Caroline prayed that her best friend had the decency to stay dressed the night before, having walked in on her many times after Thirsty Thursday adventures.
Oh God, hopefully she's alone this time, Caroline thought, thinking back to many awkward times where some of Katherine's bedmates assumed they were invited to breakfast the next morning. Poking her head into her best friend's room, Caroline sighed in relief as she spotted her fast asleep. Her brown chestnut curls were mussed, mouth open, and she was snoring slightly. Grinning at the visual, Caroline reached for her phone to snap a picture.
Nothing like a little friendly blackmail to start the day.
"Morning!" Caroline chirped, dropping the bag of pastries next to Katherine's disheveled head.
Katherine jolted awake, sitting up quickly. "Oh my God!"
Caroline giggled as the other woman shot her a dark glare. She plopped down on the bed, pushing Katherine's feet out of the way.
"What time is it?" Katherine grumbled, massaging her temples.
"7 AM," she answered, glancing at the bedside alarm clock past Katherine's shoulder.
"What on earth possessed you to break into my apartment at 7 AM and wake me up?" Katherine asked, her usual biting tone muffled by her hands. "I'm hungover."
"I know," Caroline shrugged. "But I couldn't sleep, nor did I feel like having to deal with morning sex, so I went and brought breakfast."
She picked up the pastry bag and dangled it in front of Katherine's face who in turn, glared at her.
"There better be something cream-filled in there," the brunette mumbled, snatching the bag out of her hands. Caroline grinned in response, watching her tear into the bag.
Popping a bite of an éclair in her mouth, Katherine moaned in bliss and Caroline chuckled, sipping at one of the coffees from the drink holder in her hand. Katherine held her hand out and raised her eyebrow at the other coffee, Caroline rolling her eyes before handing the cup over.
Taking a sip, she exhaled happily before fixating on Caroline's face. "Avoiding morning sex? You're not even married yet and you're acting like you have been for 15 years."
Caroline dropped her gaze to Katherine's comforter and shrugged. "I didn't sleep well and I didn't want to have to deal with the 'Lockwood seduction.'"
During the last part, she used air quotes, causing a giggle to fall from Katherine's lips.
"Is he still calling it that?"
"What do you think?" Caroline shot back with a pointed look. Katherine barked out a laugh, and the blonde slapped her knee through the bedcovers.
"It's not that funny," she muttered and the brunette beauty gave her an "are you kidding me" look.
"Whatever you say, Care," Katherine shrugged, sipping her drink. Caroline put her own cup to her lips, blowing gently on the steam as she stared at the headboard deep in thought.
"So?"
Caroline snapped her head back to look at her best friend who was staring at her with an inquisitive expression.
"What?"
"You want to tell me why you're here at 7 in the morning?"
Caroline raised her eyebrows, shrugging noncommittally. "Just thought I'd bring my best friend a hangover breakfast."
Narrowing her eyes at Caroline, Katherine swallowed her bite. "I don't believe you."
Caroline scoffed, taking a sip of her coffee. "I swear, no ulterior motives."
"No, I know you don't have any. But something is bothering you," Katherine mused. "Better tell me now or I'll pester you all day long."
Caroline sighed, situating herself next to Katherine as they both sit on her pillows, leaning up against the headboard.
"It's this whole Mikaelson article," she began. "I just have a lot of moral issues with it. I mean, what if we actually do uncover something big? Yeah, that would be great for the paper, but what does that say about me as a journalist? And then I ran into Klaus last night and-"
"Hold up," Katherine interrupted. "You ran into Klaus last night?"
"Yeah, he was at the hotel bar when I was waiting on Tyler. Anyways, we had words and I said something incredibly accurate, but incredibly rude about his sex life-"
"He deserves it."
"True, but I still feel kind of bad," Caroline sighed. "And now I'm just dreading to see what he'll do to retaliate."
Katherine snorted. "Please, it's Klaus. The only thing that bothers him is if the store is out of his hair gel and condoms. He'll return to his usual douchebaggery flirtation with you in no time."
Caroline rolled her eyes and leaned her head back against the headboard.
"I feel guilty about this, Katherine," she whispered. "Klaus is annoying, rude, and an asshole, but I don't feel right digging into his past and his family."
Katherine didn't say anything in response, sipping her coffee as they both sat in silence, stewing in their own thoughts.
"Is it his family that you feel guilty about, or him?" Katherine asked. Caroline exhaled, turning to look at her best friend who watched her with warm brown eyes.
"I don't know," Caroline murmured. "I mean, it's one thing for us to throw mutual shallow insults at one another. But it's a whole other thing when it comes to taking those insecurities he has and spinning it into a story. Klaus has never talked about his family in the time I've known him."
"Sometimes people don't talk about their families. Especially in the workplace," Katherine offered.
She shook her head. "It doesn't make sense that he's the only family member that doesn't work for Mikaelson Corp. It's fishy."
She sipped her coffee again, Katherine content to let her continue. "I know that there is a story. There always is with families like the Mikaelsons."
"So, what are you going to do?"
Caroline sat in silence, contemplating her choices. On one hand, she could find the biggest story of her life and help save the Chicago Herald, saving her job, and jump starting the rest of her career. On the other hand, the whole story could bomb and her career could be ruined, she could risk messing up her somewhat working relationship with Klaus, and be forced to bring coffee to editors for the rest of her life.
But man, Caroline Forbes would be a great byline.
What was life without taking risks?
"I already said I'm doing it," she declared. "But I have conditions. I won't specifically target just him. I want to look more into Mikaelson Corp. Those companies always have something."
"Look at you, being devious," Katherine smirked at her. "I'm so proud."
Caroline rolled her eyes, swatting at Katherine with a pillow. Her friend ducked, bending over to cover her coffee cup.
"Be careful! I'm hung over," she pouted.
Caroline snorted before kicking her leg slightly. "Get up and get dressed. We have work to do."
Katherine huffed, slinking off her bed as Caroline wiggled slightly on the bed, getting herself comfy as she waited. Her phone chimed with a text from Tyler that read that he was sorry that she missed out on the "Lockwood seduction" and that he was canceling their date for the next day due to work.
It's Saturday
-Care
I know babe, but Mrs. Salvatore isn't available for the depo today so we have to do it tomorrow.
-Ty
You suck. It's a good think you're cute.
-Care
I love you too babe. I swear, I'll make it up to you! I'll arrange a spa day for you...
-Ty
You had me at spa. xoxoxo Love you and call me later?
-Care
Of course I will. xo
-Ty
She sighed and flung her phone down on the bed and slithered down the headboard, lost in her own thoughts.
Sitting in her cramped office chair, Caroline scooted up to her desk to peer at her computer better.
The file Jenna had given her not been helpful at all. Either Klaus was squeaky clean, highly unlikely, or Jenna was just terrible at research, more likely. All she and Katherine found were parking tickets and an indecent exposure charge from when he was 17.
Unsurprisingly.
She was on the Mikaelson Corporation website looking at the "People" section, carefully assessing each any every person with the last name Mikaelson. So far there was the oldest son, ; Finn, who was the Chief Financial Officer; Elijah Mikaelson, who was head of the legal department (So, he must know Tyler, she muttered to herself); Kol Mikaelson, Marketing director; and Rebekah Mikaelson, who ran the social media department.
It struck her kind of odd that Klaus seemed to be the only Mikaelson child who didn't work for the company, minus the youngest brother Henrik who was only 16.
Finn was the oldest at 32, Elijah at 30, Klaus was 27, Kol 25, and Rebekah at 24.
That's quite the age gap, Caroline thought, making a note of it. Not necessarily suspicious, but interesting enough to look into.
Turning her attention on to Mikael Mikaelson, (What a name, she snorted) Caroline studied his picture.
He was handsome, for an older guy. Dark blonde curly hair, slight stubble, and a steely glare. There was a glint of something in his eyes. It was more malicious looking than Klaus' normal impish expressions.
"Hey!"
Katherine burst into Caroline's door, startling her. She shrieked a little, accidentally flinging her pen across the room. She glared at Katherine who was smirking back derisively.
"Payback," she remarked, stalking over to Caroline's desk settling on the edge of it.
"It's a good thing I wasn't drinking anything or it'd be all over my research," the blonde glared, motioning towards her journal. Katherine rolled her eyes before picking it up and flipping through the pages.
"Anything juicy?" she asked.
Caroline shook her head. "Not unless you count an 8 year gap between the two youngest kids and the fact that Klaus is the only Mikaelson kid that is of age not working for the company, which we knew already."
Katherine hummed noncommittally as her eyes roved over the pages, reading them.
"So basically, the only thing you have is that Esther and Mikael didn't do the dirty for 8 years."
Caroline rolled her eyes and turned back to her computer screen. "At least I've done some kind of work today. Did you get anything done?"
"Unless you count changing my background and googling pictures of Ryan Gosling, then no."
"Katherine," Caroline sighed. "You're supposed to be helping me with the research."
Katherine shrugged. "I'm hungover. Sue me."
"You know one of these days, when I'm married to Tyler, I just might," Caroline grumbled.
Katherine giggled and put the notebook down, glancing around the blonde's shoulder at the computer screen.
"Holy shit! Who is that stud muffin?"
Caroline swiveled around and looked at the picture of Mikael that she had been staring at. "Who? Him? That's Klaus' dad."
Katherine shook her head impatiently before gesturing below his picture. "No, him!"
Caroline looked down at the person of interest, furrowing her brows in confusion. "Elijah?"
"Yes!" Katherine replied, her eyes glued to the handsome dark-haired man on the computer screen. "What a fine piece of specimen."
"Really?" Caroline asked, skeptically. "I mean obviously he's attractive, but he looks super straight-laced and rigid. Not to mention boring."
Katherine smirked at Caroline, commentating, "Maybe he just needs a few rounds with me to loosen up."
"Ew," Caroline mumbled.
"I'm serious, Caroline, he's so hot. I would even tell him my real name before I bang him."
Caroline rolled her eyes as she turned to look back at her. Katherine's real name was Katerina Petrova, born in Bulgaria and moved to the USA when she was three. She used the pen name Katherine Pierce for her personal life and professional life. It was just always easier to pronounce and she liked it a lot better than Katerina. She didn't have much of a relationship with either of her parents much anymore, so she had ditched the foreign name when she turned 18.
"You didn't even tell me your real name until we'd been friends for over a year," Caroline remarked.
"I'm not trying to have sex with you," Katherine rebuffed and slid off the desk. "Move."
She wheeled her office chair out of the way as Katherine started typing into the computer, pulling up a google search.
"What are you doing?"
"Googling Elijah," was her answer. Caroline sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"How is this productive for our research?"
"It's not," Katherine mused. "But it's productive for getting me laid."
Caroline huffed, pushing Katherine slightly to the side so that she could examine the search results."Scoot."
Katherine scrolled through the pictures lazily, making sly comments about the various pictures she found. Most of them were pictures from corporate events, some professional family pictures that included Klaus (Caroline forced Katherine to skip those), and even some pictures from the past.
"Who is that?" Caroline asked, pointing to the screen. They had found a Mikaelson family paparazzi photo album online and they were scrolling through it. There was a man with curly sandy blonde hair standing in the background of a family paparazzi picture from the mid-nineties.
"I don't know," Katherine stated. "But he's been in a lot of these pictures from the nineties."
Caroline squinted her eyes at the man, noting that there was something familiar about him.
"He looks really familiar," she commented. "Very."
Katherine tilted her head at the picture, squinting back at it. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say he looks like an older version of Klaus."
Caroline's stomach twisted as the recognition set in. The man had a haircut very similar to Klaus' and if she didn't think she was crazy, she thought his jaw line was just like Klaus'.
"He's even got the same smirk," Caroline whispered, pointing at another picture. It was unmistakable, the familiar smirk was staring back at her in the picture, this one being directed at teenaged Finn.
"Who is this guy?" Katherine muttered, clicking on the photo and scrolling down to the caption. "An uncle?"
"A bodyguard," Caroline finished, "Look. It says, Teenager Finn Mikaelson speaks to Mikaelson family body guard, Ansel Erikson, as the family enjoys a fun spring afternoon in NYC as they finish out their family vacation."
"You don't think that-"
"Esther and Ansel hooked up and had Klaus?" Caroline interrupted.
"I wasn't until I saw how Klaus is literally a mini-Ansel," she continued, pointing at the little blonde boy in the corner of the picture, his signature smirk plastered across his small face, the exact same one that was on the man in question.
"This just got tons more twisted," Katherine remarked, Caroline nodding numbly in response.
"Do you think it's possible?" Caroline whispered.
Katherine shrugged. "Only one way to check. Shut your eyes unless you want to see me do illegal things."
Caroline groaned and reluctantly obeyed. "This is so not good."
She heard Katherine tap on the keyboard for a few minutes before she opened her eyes. Katherine was scrolling through some scanned documents before she stopped on one.
"What's that?"
"Klaus' birth certificate. Well, Niklaus'," Katherine said over her shoulder. "Look at this."
Caroline looked at where she was pointing with the mouse at the "father" section. "It's says Mikael."
Katherine shook her head. "Do you see where part of the line is missing under Mikael's name? Notice that his name was printed with handwriting and not a computer?"
Caroline peered at the screen, taking note of how the bottom line under Mikael's name was gone. Shrugging, she looked at Katherine dubiously.
"Why is that a big deal?"
"It's a big deal because it's possible that the birth certificate was fixed to say Mikael. His name could have been printed over whiteout or something if it initially said something else."
"That doesn't prove anything," Caroline expostulated.
"No," Katherine began, "but the fact that all the other birth certificates have their father's name typed is enough probable cause that something was tampered with Klaus'."
Caroline ran her hands down her face, suddenly feeling nauseous. "Are you sure?"
"Checked them before I got to his," Katherine replied.
"Oh God," Caroline muttered. "This could be huge."
Katherine clicked a button to print out the certificate and handed it to her. Caroline stared at it numbly, her stomach twisting anxiously at the possible paternity lie. She didn't particularly care about Klaus by any means, but no person deserved to have something like this hidden from him.
"I have to tell him," Caroline whispered.
"What?" Katherine shrieked. "No, you can't!"
"This isn't some money laundering crap, Kat, this is his father!" Caroline gestured, shaking the birth certificate at her. "If he finds out that I knew-"
"Hold up, Care," Katherine cut her off. "Is this more about telling Klaus so that he won't be blindsided, or is it about telling him because you don't want him to hate you?"
Caroline wrinkled her forehead in confusion. "I don't care if he hates me, Katherine. I don't want to ruin his life."
Katherine looked at her skeptically. "Then why did you agree to do this article? You knew finding something big like this could happen."
Caroline stared back at her intensely, unable to form an answer. Katherine smiled sadly, patting her on the arm.
"Listen, I know this is hard for you since it's the first time you've dealt with a possible scandal like this. You need to separate yourself from the situation. He's not Klaus, not your rival, or whatever the hell you call your relationship. He's a story."
"A story," Caroline breathed. Katherine nodded back at her.
"He's a story. Just remember that."
Caroline nodded, biting her lip as she stared down at Klaus' birth certificate. Her heart was screaming to grab her phone and email Klaus to ask him to meet her, but her head was repeating the words "a story" over and over.
"Where do you think Ansel is now?" Caroline muttered. Katherine turned back to the computer, hitting a few more keys.
"Dead."
"What?" Caroline gasped. Katherine pointed to the screen, highlighting Ansel's name with the mouse.
"This is his death certificate and his autopsy report. He died in 2000 from a heart attack."
"Oh wow," Caroline breathed.
"Yeah," Katherine trailed off. "Wait a minute."
She pulled herself up closer to the screen and gasped.
"What?" Caroline exclaimed, poking Katherine's shoulder.
"This doesn't make sense. He died of a heart attack but the autopsy said he had a major head wound at the time. Like his head was bashed in with a brick or something."
"Like he was murdered?" Caroline dared to ask, her voice quiet with shock. Katherine didn't respond and the pit in her stomach grew.
"This just got ten tons more creepy," Katherine whispered hauntingly.
"Do you think it was Mikael?" Caroline asked. Katherine shot her a look.
"Well, now I am!"
"Oh my God," Caroline groaned. She covered her head with her hands, feeling them shake.
"I need a drink," Katherine murmured. Caroline nodded numbly.
"I just wanted to stick it to Klaus," Caroline mumbled. "I didn't want to find out that his possible step father may have murdered his possible birth father."
"What a soap opera," Katherine remarked and Caroline let out a dry chuckle.
"Isn't it always with big families like that though?"
Katherine raised her eyebrows and nodded, conceding her point. She turned back to the computer and printed out the death certificate before clicking back to Google, typing in "Ansel Erikson."
"The plot thickens," Katherine continued, scrolling down the page. "What are the odds that he had a heart attack on the 5th floor of the Mikaelson Corporation building? Outside in the hallway."
"What's on the fifth floor?" Caroline asked.
"Mikael's office," Katherine breathed and Caroline sighed.
"Shit," she hissed. "Seriously? How obvious is this?"
"Apparently, Mikael was out of town. The only one on the floor were the anonymous caller who noticed him on the floor. It seems likes the head wound part was covered up," Katherine read off the webpage.
"Of course it was," Caroline growled. Her phone rang, startling both of them. She snatched her phone, heart leaping at the name who was calling.
"Fuck, it's Klaus!"
"Well, you can't answer that now!" Katherine warned.
"If I don't, then he'll know something is up!"
"Caroline, he knows you hate him. He won't even notice,." Katherine chastised, rolling her eyes. Caroline glared at her before answering.
"This is Caroline."
"Hello, sweetheart, I was afraid you wouldn't pick up."
Caroline rolled her eyes, finding her annoyance at him seep back into her. "It's Caroline. What do you want, Klaus?"
"I was calling to speak to you about the press conference next week."
"What press conference? And how many times have I told you to lose my number? I thought I made that clear last night." She lifted her eyes to the ceiling, exhaling in annoyance.
"We had a little spat. I'm over it already." She could tell he was smirking through the phone.
"Oh, well I'm not," Caroline replied primly, hearing him chuckle through the phone.
"How can I acquit myself?"
"You can either hang up, or tell me why the hell you called so I can hang up afterwards."
Katherine, who had been listening quietly at the conversation, raised her eyebrows as she wrote something on a piece of paper, showing Caroline.
I CAN FEEL BOTH OF YOUR HORMONES THROUGH THE PHONE
Caroline threw her pen at a smirking Katherine.
"There is a press conference for the museum downtown next Wednesday at 2:15 and I was hoping you would accompany me."
Caroline furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
"What's the catch? Are you going to somehow steal my press pass again to humiliate me?"
Klaus chuckled again, the sound resonating through Caroline's chest.
"Think of this as an apology article peace offering," Klaus said, the amusement in his voice.
"I don't trust you," Caroline said bluntly.
"I don't blame you. But I think this will help me get into your good graces."
"As if you could get into any of my graces," Caroline muttered.
"He may get into your panties though," Katherine interjected.
"Katherine!"
Klaus was laughing through the phone and Caroline groaned, running her hand through her hair.
"Please, Caroline?"
She stared off into the distance, thinking. Should she trust him? Better yet, can she allow herself to be around him while she knows all this potential life-ruining things about his family? His fathers?
"Fine, meet me here at 2pm. You will be paying for the cab and anything else that I might need. It's the least you could do for ruining my commissioner and mayor interviews."
"I did not-
"Ahem," she interrupted.
That sounds fine, love. I'll see you then."
"It's Caroline," she growled, "bye."
She hung up and tossed the phone on her desk, avoiding Katherine's knowing eyes.
"One of those days all that sexual tension is going to cause orgasmic explosions between you two. I just hope it's not during a press conference," Katherine teased, throwing Caroline a wink.
"That's a great pick up line, Kat. Hey Klaus, your dad may have killed someone who was probably your real father. By the way, can we have lots of hot sex?" Caroline mocked and Katherine shrugged.
"Hey, he'd go for it. I swear, he would probably kill to get into your pants anyways."
Caroline glared at her before reaching for her purse.
"Do you want to go to Happy Hour and have a girl's night out? I cannot think about the Mikaelsons, or Klaus anymore tonight."
"Hell yeah!" Katherine crowed. "What about Tyler?"
"His team has another deposition with the Salvatore brothers tonight and another with Elena Salvatore tomorrow," Caroline remarked, pulling out her lipstick to touch up her makeup.
"That little hussy played both brothers for years," Katherine sniffed, having previously been told about the case by Caroline.
"You know she kind of looks like you when I squint my eyes and tilt my head at her picture," Caroline remarked and she scoffed, getting up to leave.
"Please, like she has the sexual prowess I have."
"So modest," Caroline giggled, following her out the door, the Mikaelsons and Klaus far from her mind.
So thoughts? I know it was light on Klaroline, but we needed to get the plot going. I promise next chapter is literally about 5K of just Klaroline interaction.
Please review and tell me what you guys thought! Reviews are the only feedback that I get on whether or not you are liking the story, if you have any thoughts on improvement or what you would like to see in the story.
You can also always message me on tumblr at she-walked-away!
Thanks again for all those who nominated me for the Klaroline Awards. I'm so grateful nd excited!
Until Next Time!
Kaitlyn