A/N: As you have probably noticed, I'm followed the season three storyline vaguely. But of course, there are a lot of differences and I'm going to start to stray from the original story so we're going pretty AU here. And also, some characters may be a little OOC, but hey, what do you expect from a fan fiction? I had a writing bug so I finished this pretty fast and I figured I might as well post it.

Thanks to everyone who had been reviewing, following, favouring or doing all three and enjoy!

"No!" Klaus roared. He saw the fear and shock on Caroline's face as the stake past through her skin. "Not her!" He ripped Mikael away from the blonde vampire by grabbing him into a headlock and slamming him up against the wall. "How dare you!?"

The man just smiled at him. "I had a hunch, Nikklaus, about your feelings for this girl. Apparently, my hunch was right." His words had a taunting edge. "Luckily, I had enough sense to aim a little bit too far to the left…"

Klaus spun around, his rage forgotten for the moment as he watched Caroline, now on her knees, curl up and gasp for air. Damon was beside her immediately, ripping the stake out of her chest. She let out a pained cry and Klaus ran over to her, cradling her in his arms. He grabbed her face and searched her eyes. "Are you okay?" He asked pleadingly.

Caroline couldn't control the tears that fell down her face as she let her panic escape. "I thought I was dead!" She cried, burying her face in the crook of his arm. "I almost died."

"Shh, you're okay." He soothed, brushing her curls. He was currently oblivious to everyone else because all he could think about was helping Caroline. After her breathing had slowed, he stood up with a glare directed at Stefan. "You dare betray me like this? Put Caroline at risk of true death?" He spat.

It was Bonnie who replied, her stone mask threatening to break in fear. "He wasn't supposed to hurt her. That wasn't the plan." She said shakily.

"You were dead." He said dully to his father. "I watched you die. I killed you myself."

Mikael gave him a threatening grin. "Well, most of us here are dead, aren't we Nikklaus?" He taunted. "However, I do believe you've underestimated me. You're not the only one who has access to powerful witches. Consider myself very much alive, in a sense, for the time being."

Klaus was seeing red, his rage manifesting. "I will kill every one of you!" He snarled at the group sitting around the table. "Starting with you." His eyes narrowed onto his father. "Once and for all, I will be rid of you."

Caroline couldn't find the strength to move from her slumped position on the floor. Getting staked had taken a lot of her energy away, so she looked up helplessly at Klaus as he glared down his father. "You dare challenge me? You will lose, I assure you." Mikael said. "However, the satisfaction of killing you so soon would be too easy, after all the hell that you have caused."

There was a glint in his eyes that Klaus recognized too easily, and a shot of fear ran through him. "Get her out of here." He said lowly to the others in the room. Damon was across the room again in an instant, lifting Caroline into his arms and starting to head out of the room behind Alaric and Elena. Stefan and Bonnie stayed where they were.

Mikael quickly disappeared from Klaus' view, knocking Damon against the wall. In an instant, Caroline had disappeared from his arms and Mikael had her in his grip again, gripping the stake that she had originally got out of her chest already, positioned right by her heart.

Bonnie was on her feet, eyes directed right at Mikael and he fell to the ground, clutching his head in pain. "Maybe I'm mistaken, but are we not on the same side?" He managed to choke out in a strangled voice.

"You promised to kill Klaus. You never said you were going to harm Caroline." Bonnie snapped. "I won't let you hurt my friend."

In a mere moment, Mikael was back on his feet, trapping Caroline. He smirked at the surprise on Bonnie's face. "I've been around a long time, dear Bonnie. You must do better than that." And the he looked at Caroline, stroking the side of her face. "Now, what better way to kill Klaus than to torture him with his only weakness? Why give him the satisfaction of death, when this could be so much sweeter?"

It was Stefan who finally spoke, with a heavy realization. "Klaus is in love with Caroline." He announced and Bonnie shot him a shocked look as it finally hit her as well.

Mikael laughed and it was a chilling sound. "You two need to brush up on your perceptiveness. I figured it out the minute they walked in the room. Dear Klaus has fallen in love with a baby vampire. How unfortunate for you it seems, falling in love with such a weak creature. This girl will be your demise, my son. You have many enemies who will jump at the chance to grab the girl."

"I won't let anyone harm her." Klaus replied in a firm voice. "Let her go, and we will settle this once and for all."

Mikael gave a wry smile. "Now you see, why would I do that? I'd much rather keep her."

Caroline's chest felt heavy. She knew that if she was taken by Mikael, he would do horrible things to her. Caroline had been tortured twice, and it's something that definitely doesn't get easier with experience. As she tried to formulate a plan, she realized that the stake that had once been in her chest and held over her heart, the one that Mikael was letting dangle so carelessly at his side, was a white oak stake.

Frantically catching Bonnie's eye, she gestured wildly with moving pupils to the stake and mouthed 'magic' to her. It didn't take Bonnie much time to catch on to Caroline's plan, and using all the power that she could muster, she directed all her energy towards Mikael.

The lights started flickering, the curtains blew around, one of the lamps in the room shattered and Bonnie's nose started bleeding. Mikael's bones began to crack and twist and he abruptly dropped Caroline, who took his moment of weakness as a chance to grab the stake, turn around and jab it into his chest.

Staring right into his eyes as he began to wither, she spat, "go to Hell."

His body clattered to the ground and set fire, along with the stake. Caroline watched it burn in satisfaction, only pulling away when she noticed Bonne crumple to the ground out of the corner of her eye. "Bonnie!" She cried out, rushing to her friend's side. There was blood dripping off of her chin.

The veins in Caroline's eyes tightened out of reflex, but she ignored it and cradled Bonnie's head in her arms, which she was too weak to hold up herself. The witch opened up her eyes into a squint. "Did we get him?" She rasped.

Caroline smiled weakly at her friend. "We got him. You can rest now, Bonnie. It's okay." Bonnie let her eyes closed and she drifted off, feeling weak and drained. Caroline looked up at Damon, who was recovering from getting his head smashed against the wall and finally getting to his feet. "Get her home, Damon. She needs to sleep."

Damon obeyed silently, and Caroline also got to her feet wearily, licking the blood off of her fingers. Unconsciously she drifted back over to Klaus' side, either the result of compulsion or fear, and he gripped her arm tightly. Deep down, Klaus was scared that she was going to disappear. She seemed to have a knack for getting kidnapped. "Now…" Klaus said slowly, starting directly at Stefan. "What am I going to do with you?"

Stefan smiled all too smugly. "Nothing. You lost your leverage, Klaus. We all know that you won't hurt Caroline anymore. So if you kill me, you won't get your family. You've seen what Bonnie can do alone. You can only imagine the power that she has with others."

Stefan's mouth snapped shut and the minute that Klaus sped off, he knew that he had said too much. So he called Damon. "Klaus knows. Get them out." And then he hung up, leaving the room and Caroline behind.

She stood in the room bewildered, unable to figure out if she was still Klaus' prisoner or not. When the front door open, she spun around expecting Klaus, but surprisingly feeling disappointed when she noticed it was someone else. She recovered quickly. "Tyler!" She exclaimed.

His face filled with relief. "Caroline…" He breathed and pulled her into his arms for a kiss. "Come on, let's get you somewhere safe."

As he pulled her behind him out of the Salvatore house, she couldn't help but notice that she didn't quite feel the same excitement around him.

Klaus knew exactly where he was headed when Stefan mentioned Bonnie and the witches and he berated himself for not thinking of it earlier. Of course those damn dead witches would be willing to hide the coffins. They would do anything to ensure Klaus' unhappiness.

The minute he entered, he was immediately assaulted. Through his pain, he managed to spit out a threat. "Reveal your secrets to me, or I will kill off every single bloodline that you have. That's a lot of dead ancestors, believe me."

And just like that, four coffins appeared in front of his eyes. Smiling with relief, he started to haul them into the moving truck that he stole and headed home. When he pulled up to his mansion and started to roll them into the house, he thought that something felt eerily wrong.

It was too… Easy.

In a panic, he began opening up the coffins.

Empty, empty, empty. The first three had no signs of his sleeping brothers. No Kol, no Finn and no Elijah. Snarling, he turned his attention on the fourth and final coffin, the locked one. When he touched the latch, it swung right open.

Empty.

Klaus could feel the shock settling into his body. "Looking for me, brother?" Someone said from behind him. Someone with a voice that he hadn't heard in many, many years.

"Kol," he breathed.

He opened his arms wide dramatically. "Surprise! Finn and Elijah are around here too, regaining strength I would say. Oh and undaggering our dear sister Rebekah, trapped in the trunk of your car. What did she do to piss you off this time, brother? I guess it really doesn't matter because you don't need that much of a reason to dagger your family as it seems."

"What do you want from me?" Klaus asked stonily.

Kol shrugged. "Revenge of course, however with you being an all-powerful hybrid that might be a little hard."

"How do you know about me breaking the curse?"

"Elijah. He was the one to save your miserable arse before you daggered him. You really are a mean bastard aren't you?" Kol said with a laugh. "Now, how am I going to do this?" After a quick pause, he stabbed a piece of metal dipped in white ash through Klaus's hand.

Klaus yelled out in surprise and yanked it away. "So you're going to torture me? That's quite low of you, Kol. I expected better."

"You haven't seen low yet. However I promised our brothers that I would wait for them so you're in luck. But when they get back, you will know no worse horror." Kol threatened.

"You will do no such thing, Kol Mikaelson."

The two brothers forgot their feud for the moment and stared at each other with wide eyes. That was a voice that they both thought they would never hear again. In sync, they said, "Mother?"

She stepped forward in all her glory, silently like a whisper, perfectly coiffed like she had never even died. "My dear Kol, my dear Klaus."

"Are you here to kill me?" Klaus whispered.

Esther pursed her lips. "No, I am here to forgive you. Just like your brothers and sister should. That is what family does. Nikklaus, are you really willing to risk everything over a silly grudge with your family? Especially now that you have found someone to care about."

Klaus shot her a look. "How do you know about Caroline?"

"The Bennett witches released me yesterday and I have been following and listening ever since. I watched you take down your father from the confines of the Salvatore house and I watched you protect her with your life. You are in love with her, are you not?" Esther prompted, causing Kol to look at him in disbelief.

"You, in love?" He asked with a taunting edge. "Unbelievable, I must tell the others."

And then he sped off out of the house. When Klaus went to follow him, his mother stopped him with both hands. "Why won't you let me go?" He said tersely. "What if he tries to harm her?"

She smiled softly. "Your distrust is a problem. You must have faith in him because he is your family. I trust he will not harm Caroline. Now please, sit with me and talk. We have much to catch up on."

Klaus sat with her warily. She had forgiven him after everything, so maybe his family would do the same. But he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that he had in his stomach.

Unknowingly, he had a good reason to be nervous. Esther had another agenda, much more sinister, that started with finding Klaus' weakness. Luckily she had her other children to do that job for her. She would just focus on gaining his trust.

Caroline knew it was late and she was worn out, tired and sore, but she couldn't sleep. She sat up in her bed, knees hugged to her chest with wide eyes. How was it that she could be a vampire, strong and supposedly fearless, and still be scared so much that she couldn't even manage to close her eyes?

Funnily enough, it wasn't Klaus that she was worried about. Well, not for those reasons anyway. He had basically declared his love for her today. Her! Little baby Caroline. That in itself was terrifying enough, but she knew now that he would never hurt her.

But even though she was free from her kidnapping and free from her terror of Klaus, Caroline couldn't shake the bad feeling that she had in the pit of her stomach. Mikael had "died" once and came back, what if he did it again? And he was going to come after her, because Klaus loved her.

She was a liability, being the only thing in the word that Klaus actually cared about. How does someone get over that fact?

Just as she was beginning to calm herself, there was a knock at her door. She froze stiff, debating on whether she should open it. Her mother should be coming home from work soon, maybe it was her and she had forgotten her key? Caroline didn't usually lock it, but she was too scared not to.

Or maybe it was Klaus coming to explain what had happened today. Although she didn't doubt that he would just barge right in.

After a quick moment of debating with herself, she decided to answer it. If it was a human and they tried to harm her, she could easily take them out. If it was a vampire that had been invited inside, she knew they wouldn't harm her because they were her friends and if it was a vampire who hadn't been invited inside and did want to harm her, all she had to do was stay inside the doorway.

She peeked through the peephole, but she didn't recognize the figure standing there, so she peeled the door back and poked around. "Can I help you?" She asked.

The man, or boy maybe, he had one of those faces, smiled at her. "Well, well, well, you must be Caroline. I have to say I'm not disappointed one bit."

She narrowed her eyes. "Who are you and what do you want?"

He gasped in false modesty. "Oh I'm being rude aren't I? We haven't met. I'm Kol Mikaelson and you are Caroline Forbes, the object of my brother's affections."

Caroline's eyes widened. "How did you get out?"

"Surprisingly, it was your friend Damon Salvatore un-daggered me. I'm assuming to get back at Klaus. Your little boyfriend sure does have a lot of enemies. Does that scare you?"

Caroline was good at staying calm in tense situations because she has had a lot of practise, so she just gave him her famous bitchy face. "He's not my boyfriend. I couldn't care less about him."

Kol just shrugged. "It's a shame that doesn't really matter. You will still be harmed by many enemies, anxious to get back at Klaus." He caught eyes with something and gestured with his head towards Caroline. "I'm assuming you know my sister, Rebekah?"

The other blonde vampire smiled a dangerous smile. "Caroline." She said in a bored voice. "I hear you've got my brother in a tizzy. All finished with Tyler already? I call dibs."

Caroline clenched her teeth. "What do you want?" She repeated.

"We want you to come outside and play, Caroline. Pretty please?" Kol mock-begged.

"I'm not leaving my house and you can't come in." She growled, getting ready to slam the door when she saw her mother's squad car pull up. "Oh no," she whispered to herself.

"Well, well…" Kol said. "Your mother, I'm assuming?" Liz got out of the car slowly, shotgun in hand. Caroline recognized it as the one she carried around with wooden bullets in it. Unfortunately, her mother had no idea that those bullets were useless. "Hello, Sherriff Forbes!" Kol greeted. "How are you on this lovely evening?"

Liz narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Who are you?" She asked the two of them. "Why are you at my house?"

"We were hoping that we could play with Caroline. However, she doesn't seem to want to come outside so I guess we'll just have to play with you instead." Kol said.

She aimed the shotgun up at his chest. "I've got wooden bullets in here laced with vervain." She threatened.

Kol smirked. "Go ahead, shoot me. See what happens."

"Mom, don't!" Caroline cried. "They're Originals!"

Liz's face dropped and she lowered her gun. "Smart girl." Kol taunted, sending a glance to his sister before speeding behind Liz and grabbing her head in his arms. Caroline cried out and Kol said to Rebekah, "If she comes out, grab her."

That stopped her in her tracks. How could she even attempt to save her mother when there was no chance that she was even going to make it to her? She knew Rebekah wouldn't hesitate to grab her, so she stayed where she was. "Kol, what are you doing?" Rebekah asked, sounding mildly confused. This obviously wasn't a part of their plan.

"I want Caroline to come out now, or I will snap her mother's neck." Kol threatened, and Liz shot Caroline a frantic glance and shook her head back and forward, telling her not to. "No? Fine then say goodbye to your mother."

Both Caroline and Rebekah looked panicked and Caroline started to run towards them. "Kol don't!" Rebekah cried, but she was too late.

The cracking sound that filled the air was enough to send Caroline to her knees, along with the terrified look on her mother's face. "What have you done!?" Caroline cried, getting to her feet and rushing over to where her mother lay after Kol had dropped her. "Mom? Mommy, wake up! Mommy? Mommy, please!" She sobbed, cradling Liz's head in her arms.

Rebekah was appalled. "You said there would be no killing."

"Did I? I guess I lied." Kol said in a bored voice.

"Nik is going to kill you. He's going to kill us." She said in a frightened voice.

Kol shrugged. "I'm not worried so grab Caroline, now."

"No."

Kol rolled his eyes. "You know what? I knew you were going to do this. You always loved Nik the most. Pity on you, Rebekah, because he doesn't love you. The only person he loves, apparently, is this girl right here."

"I won't let you harm her anymore. Not after what you just did to her. We need to leave." Rebekah said.

"Fine." Kol looked down at Caroline. "Consider this a warning for the next time you decide to disobey me." Caroline didn't even look at him as he talked and she didn't look as the two of them disappeared from her front grass. She just sat there with her mother in her arms, and her blank eyes staring up at nothing.

Her heart felt like it had so much pressure on it that it was being crushed, but she just sat there, stroking her mother's hair. "I'm sorry Mommy." She sobbed. Caroline wasn't sure how long she sat there alone, but at some point, he showed up. He just stared at the scene in front of him in horror, unable to process it. Caroline lifted her head to stare at him with tear filled eyes.

"Caroline, love, what happened?" He whispered.

She let out a gasp of air. "Look what they did, Klaus." She said in a strange tone. "Look at what they did. They killed her."

A/N: Poor Caroline.