1x01: Always isn't Forever

"I will walk away and never come back. I promise"

Packing the last box, Caroline let herself reminisce. She hadn't let herself think of him for fifteen years. Fifteen years had passed since the day that she let her walls down to the Original Hybrid. She finally confessed to Klaus that she cared for him, but it was bittersweet. In return for that one day, she begged that he never returned. And he had stayed true to his word.

Caroline had finished college, she went to parties, and she planned a future for herself. At first, she had tried to fix things with Tyler, but those words, eerily and seductively, reminded her of something important, "It won't be enough for you, small town boy, and small town life." He was right. Of course he was right. He had always been right as far as she was concerned. About everything. Of all the people in her life, the sociopathic immortal hybrid had to be the one who got her. Not her mother, her family, not even her best friend, Elena, whom she barely recognized anymore. In fifteen years, Elena had… changed. She had gone back and forth between Damon and Stefan so many times, it was a wonder that she didn't just say she was dating both. There was especially a confusing time right after her fling with Klaus, that later turned out to be Katherine's doing. She was finally put to her overdue end. But until recently, Elena just kept switching, but Stefan finally just walked away. Caroline hadn't heard from him in a year. He said he was moving on with life and wanted to get past all the destiny crap and true love – and in the time he'd been here, still optimistic old Stefan, he could not grasp how she could care for Klaus, but he did try to emphasize and wished her luck with whatever she decided to do.

Matt, well, he was the same blue-eyed blonde-haired guy he'd always been, still working at the Mystic Grill – he owned it now, thanks to a certain blonde Original who visited him from time to time. Of them all, he remained human and survived throughout it all. He was pushing his mid-thirties now, but he still refused to turn – claiming that one life was enough. He was also one of the people hardly in a position to judge, considering his girlfriend on the side killed his ex-girlfriend. Bonnie, who'd been the anchor for so many years, was finally able to fully return to the living with the help of her classmate, the potentially dangerous and newbie witch, Liz. Jeremy had proposed, and the two were the only ones who stayed in perfect bliss. It could have been the same for her and Tyler, but there were two problems. Well, one problem. But it was Caroline's feelings for Klaus that – at the time she had denied – kept her from starting over with Tyler, especially after that fateful day. Then, Tyler's later realization of what she did on said day made any chance of reconciliation inconceivable to him. Oh, how did he put it?

"I cannot be with a girl who slept with my mother's murderer! How could you betray me like that, Caroline?"

Okay, so that was putting Tyler's all out breakdown to her lightly. But, soon after he returned, he left. And had never returned to Mystic Falls. She had never heard from him again; she didn't even know if he was alive. This left Caroline. She, who was technically in her thirties, still remained the youthful appearance of a seventeen year old. Her insecurities about herself had changed dramatically in fifteen years. She learned things about herself she never even knew. It started with the death of her mother by – what had been – a warlock, a Traveler to be exact; he killed her not even a year after the whole ordeal with Klaus. All she knew at the time was: Her mother was gone, she couldn't help. So, she did what every other vampire had done. At first she tried to fight it, but eventually she lost hope, and turned it off. That period of her life was dark and she barely remembered those days, black outs and flashes of nothing. When she had come to her senses, it was Stefan who found her. It took her years to find herself after that fall. She had left countless victims. But they all had.

But, she had done what she said she would do. She told Klaus she had a future without him, and she'd tried. Sooner or later, the feelings began to creep in and settle. Of seeing the world, of tasting the different cultures, taking in the art and music. She never realized just how badly she wanted a taste for something more. Darker, more mature, something with passion to it. She didn't want to live her life a Mystic Fall cheerleader at some college who married to a simple boy, and led a simple life. She wanted to be a vampire, she had embraced it more so than she ever had in her first few years of vampirism. The feeling was indescribable but she did remember the one person who also brought those feelings out in her.

"I don't mean to wear you down with sentimentality, love, but I doubt I can ever just forget this. Even if it is the goodbye I promised, I hope you'll still accept my offer to be with me in New Orleans one day…" he was so gentle, brushing his hands across her blonde hair.

She didn't want to lie to him, especially after she had just spent all afternoon – well into the evening – being utterly honest, so she simply smiled, leaned in and kissed him, the conversation completely gone. But, their farewells had been bittersweet, a pang in her chest full of longing for the way he made her feel.

After fifteen years, Caroline wished to seek him out, should he still go through with his offer to be her last love. She had done what needed to be done, and now she wanted to see, to feel something more. She had lost her parents, she had lived her life, and she had been in the worst place of vampirism, and come out stronger than ever. She wished to share it with the person who seemed to be the most significant. The one who she never gave a chance because she felt it wrong – to hurt her friends – to love someone who had done so many despicable things. Now, she had lost all those she cared for her, and her friends had moved forwards with their lives. She wanted him, and she refused to deny it anymore, consequences be damned.

For once, she would put herself – her feelings first.

She was Caroline Forbes, and letting herself remember the vain confident teen she had been, who always said, she liked challenges.

A long night of driving to the French Quarter, and she was entirely ready to stop at the nearest establishment to eat. She, while learning herself, had come to accept Damon as an actual companion, and learned his method of: compel, eat, erase. Food – though disgusting – blood bags, and alcohol, could normally distract her from her real hunger, but tonight was not one of those nights. Looking hungrily at a blonde woman leaving a restaurant, she sped towards her.

The woman looked around, read to speak, when Caroline met her glance, "Don't scream, don't move," the woman appeared frozen, and Caroline tore into her neck. She was only able to enjoy it for a moment because once the taste of vervain kicked in, she regurgitated the blood.

"Vervain?" she questioned weakly.

The blonde was about to attack with what appeared to be a sort of mace – she clearly had not been compelled – when Caroline was roughly shoved into a nearby waste receptacle.

She groaned in pain looking up as a voice began speaking, "You must be new here or otherwise you'd know that Camille is off limits to all vampires, night-walker…"

"What?" was all Caroline managed. She was bewildered, and her look must have said as much. The speaker stepped into the light, revealing brown eyes and dark skin.

His smile revealed his fangs, and she had to admit he was handsome.

"Oh, a pretty new face with a rule-breaking attitude," he laughed, "the boss man will be thrilled by this; 'ey, Thierry?"

A newcomer entered the fold, smiling at the question.

"Who are you?" she asked them. She wanted to ask another more important question like, what happened to the badass hybrid that inhabited this town?

She suddenly felt a sharp pinch as something was injected into her side, and fell into the newcomer's arms; Thierry, wasn't it?

Before her eyelids shut, she heard the voice of dark and handsome, "I'm Diego, and you're coming with us."

Her world became dark.

Waking up took her eyes time to adjust, and she appeared to be underground – shrubbery and chains aplenty – and tied with vervain ropes. The men who'd captured her were standing in front of her, alongside another man different from before… but other than that, was Rebekah!

"So, what do you think, Marcel?" the one called Diego said to the newcomer. Marcel smiled, "I'm sure his royal highness," his tone dripping with sarcasm, "is going to be happy to finally get to kill someone again for actually breaking his rules. How long's it been? A week." He laughed, "He's probably ready to tear off someone's head by now."

That's when Rebekah realized exactly who Caroline was.

"Oh, dear God, Marcel..." her eyes were wide with shock and surprise to see the blonde haired baby vampire who had his brother trailed behind her like a puppy oh so many years ago.

"Long time no see, Rebekah," Caroline said, her tone easily reflecting what she really meant by those words.

"Caroline, what the bloody hell are you doing in New Orleans?" it was no secret that despite all the fighting, Rebekah was overly protective of her brothers, and was no idiot. She knew what Caroline had done with her brother and that she had sent him away.

For Caroline to be here, had to be mind boggling to Rebekah. Fifteen years? All the times Rebekah had been in Mystic Falls and Caroline hadn't even tried once to ask after Klaus. She just couldn't.

"Well, I was here for something to eat," she said sarcastically, "until your little henchmen threw me around like a ragdoll after – what was going to be - my dinner poisoned me with vervain."

"Still the same old, Caroline…. But there's something different about you," she said, the tone just as malicious.

"Fifteen years changes a person," Caroline said with clearly fake optimism.

This got a scoff out of Rebekah, as she had lived ten centuries.

The men were all gazing at the women, curiously, but Rebekah, instead of pointing out what Caroline was here for, said, "She's with me, she's an old friend; bugger off"

Marcel came up to Rebekah, "Bek…."

"I mean it, Marcellus. I can handle this. This is business from… another life."

He gave her a look that questioned her motives, but all the same, left them in peace – though not before sparing Rebekah a longing, yet inquisitive, glance – taking the other two slackers out of the underground tomb.

"I mean it, Caroline, what are you doing here?"

"I think it's fairly obvious that I'm not just here to enjoy this lovely scenery and take dance classes on the side."

"Not funny, it's been too long, what made you come now?"

"I came… to see your brother."

Rebekah's hand moved from her hip and she looked at Caroline in surprise.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm pretty sure we don't have to play dumb with each other. I came looking for Klaus. You know, Original Hybrid, bad temper, annoyingly charming British accent?"

"After fifteen years with a one night stand, and you're still on about him? What exactly did you two do that was so fantastic? Of all the times I was around that supernatural breeding ground, and you never once asked after Niklaus. In fact, if I remember correctly, you told him to never come back." Her suspicion was right, no surprise.

The younger Caroline would have blushed, but the one before Rebekah shrugged.

"He had told me eventually a small town life wasn't enough. For once, your brother is right about something. I wasn't ready to hear it then. But, I am now. So much has happened, and… I just… I need to see him. I need to talk to Klaus."

Rebekah bit her lip, betraying nothing.

"What is it?"

"Well," she grimaced, "we've a bit of a problem."

Caroline sighed, "It sounds like home already… let me guess, Klaus doesn't care about anyone, least of all, me?"

Rebekah snorted, "Close. It's not that he doesn't care about anyone, but more so, that he can't. He's turned it off."

Eyes wide Caroline spoke, "What did you say?"

"I didn't realized age impaired your vampire hearing, Caroline."

"He turned it off? But why?"

"Why would you think?"

She met Rebekah's gaze with a blank and bewildered stare, "How would I know what would make the almighty Hybrid turn off his emotions? I was almost under the impression his switch was off almost all of the time." That wasn't entirely true. She knew him to be full-force, passionate and impulsive. He may get murderous, angry, hurt – all very human emotions – but his lack of empathy for life, tended to make her and many others think him without feelings.

"Oh, he didn't tell you…" Rebekah grinned, "Well, how sweet. Seems even to those he loves, my brother still hasn't a slightest clue about how to treat them."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Hayley, the werewolf girl," the blonde Original said bluntly, her accent thick.

"Oh my god! He fell in love with Hayley?!" Caroline shrieked. She entirely missed the part where Rebekah mentioned that Klaus loved her. Instead, she focused on the crazy werewolf slut, the one who'd ruined the entire plan and screwed over Tyler – not even mentioning when she broke her neck.

Rebekah's look became a bit appalled mixed with an emotion she couldn't recognize, "No, god's no. He cared very little for her – affection at most, but… well, it's an entirely long story. How long are you staying here?"

"I wasn't sure yet. I was kind of weighing that on whether or not your brother even wants to see me, especially given that according to you, he's apparently turned off his humanity. That makes me doubt my presence will be welcomed very long, which means I'll probably be leaving soon. Which brings me to my next question, what is going on?"

Rebekah sighed, "Here's not the place to discuss such things." She yanked the ropes off Caroline, hissing slightly when the ropes burned her. "I could use a drink, what about you?"

Caroline rubbed her wrists, debating on how much of a good idea it would be.

"After losing my dinner, getting thrown around, and now this, I think that I could use more than a drink."

Rebekah smiled, "Good. Let's go."

A few drinks later, Rebekah was still trying to figure out how to explain everything. Caroline was getting frustrated with every moment that passed in silence. She cleared her throat, and Rebekah looked up from her drink.

"I am still trying to figure out how to explain everything. It has been fifteen years, Caroline. As you have explained, a lot has happened."

"How much, exactly, are we emphasizing the words "a lot" here?"

Rebekah looked down, remembering her niece so fondly, and feeling pain deep inside.

"You have no idea…" Rebekah replied, "Tell me about Matt. Mystic Falls… while I try to come up with the right way to say—"

"That your brother turned off his switch," Caroline retorted.

Another moment of silence passed for a moment. Caroline broke it with her own rambling.

"Matt's fine. He still refuses to turn," a small smile was thrown Caroline's way, "….The Grill is still the way it's always been. And no, he is still not seeing anyone. Bonnie told me shortly before I left that she was marrying Elena's little brother… Damon and Elena are currently together, Stefan gave up after that last time she broke his heart. So, I guess you could say the epic love triangle is officially broken."

Rebekah glared into space, clearly on the Stefan train, as was Caroline. Stefan had done so much, lost so much, and still cared so deeply for Elena. It was hard not to feel resentment towards your friend when she continued to break such a good guy's heart for someone who couldn't make up his mind about whether he wanted to be good or bad. For a few years there, Caroline worried Stefan would fall off the wagon. She still worried about it.

"…..He still won't tell me where he moved on to – I'm still hoping he hasn't fallen off the wagon – and I just finished college. After fifteen years, though, I think Mystic Falls has had the first form of normalcy since the Salvatore's moved into town."

"Sounds so completely…. perfect," Rebekah mentioned.

"Close to it, I guess. Which circles us back around to me being here."

"And Tyler?"

"I guess you wouldn't know," Caroline smiled sardonically, "He left a long time ago."

Rebekah pursed her lips, "I take it that it has something to do with the fact that you slept with my brother. Weren't you his girlfriend, his one and only?"

"Ex-girlfriend, to be clear. And, yes, as I've been often reminded. It was a one-time thing, or so I had thought. I really meant it when I said to not come back, that it had to be the end. I was nineteen, Rebekah. Your brother wasn't really the person I needed in my life then. Besides, he had his life to live. I had mine."

"And now, suddenly, Niklaus has some qualities that make him a suitable candidate?"

"I don't know exactly how to explain it, I care about him… Honestly, I always have… but I needed to do some growing up on my own first."

Rebekah straightened in her seat, "Caroline, there's a lot you need to know. In fifteen years, I have watched my brother fight, and redeem himself, and fall over again. Just when we thought he had reached a point where he'd never fall again, he lost it all. Then, Nik, did what was the only thing to do deal with the pain of his humanity. He turned off any semblance of humanity we had fought for in the past ten centuries."

Caroline's look remained thoughtful, unsure of what to say. Then, it brought a burning question to her mind. Why?

"You still haven't told me why he did this."

"That… that's a bit more complicated."

"I've got all night and nowhere to go."

"Well…" Rebekah began.

To say Caroline was shocked was an understatement. But, more than that, she felt a sting in her chest. It felt like betrayal, but she couldn't claim the right to feel that. She had spurned his advances, and when accepting of them, sent him away all the same. Still…

Hayley? He slept with her? He got her knocked up?

Caroline fought the urge to call for blood. She was a vampire, petty jealousy could turn into blinding rage if she didn't keep herself in check.

"….There's more than this, Caroline. He didn't expect this. He didn't want it, that's for sure."

"But…"

Rebekah's eyebrows rose and she leaned back in her chair, elbows crossed as she grinned knowingly, "Ah, I see, yes… you're jealous of the werewolf girl."

Caroline glared.

"Well, no matter. It was a one-night thing, never happened again, and he hardly felt much for her; they were just on the verge of becoming close friends, before he turned it off, and after….Well, let's get back to the matter at hand, dear."

"There's much more to this story, I assume."

Another smile, "Oh, you have no idea."

Caroline downed her bourbon in one gulp and then closed her eyes, grimacing. There was so much going on and she couldn't wrap her head around it.

Witches threatened Klaus? They told him he was having a kid with Hayley after a liquor fueled one-night stand? They wanted him to take down some guy, Marcel? The guy she had seen earlier. It was all about the witch's ritual, to kill off some girl to finish a ritual, but they threatened to kill his child over the life of another.

"But, that's not the best part of all, love," Rebekah smiled, taking a sip of her own shot.

Caroline looked at her, clearly having no answers.

"When I left you Mystic Falls for what I thought would be the last time, twelve years ago, and returned here, there was something Hayley didn't tell any of us."

The time that Rebekah and Matt had sworn that it couldn't be anything more.

"…That she was a terrible person with a black heart?" Caroline spat. She couldn't possibly think of redeeming qualities in the werewolf-girl who had betrayed her own, tried to hurt innocents, and then after being protected by people who cared for her, to turn around and hurt them… Maybe – a darker part of her thought with guilt – that was why Klaus liked her… she was just like him. They could relate, because they were the same.

"No. Nik was not the only hybrid that she had slept with… multiple times, actually," Rebekah gave Caroline a meaningful glance.

"No," she gasped, "He wouldn't?!"

"He would, and he did."

So, Klaus hadn't been wrong. And Tyler swept it under the rug for another, bigger problem at hand. The stupid sire bond, what a perfect ruse to keep her in the dark. And all the while, she went on helping keep up a lie, it turned out to not be a lie after all.

"So Tyler is the one of the reasons Klaus turned off his humanity," Caroline proposed, feeling more emotions rushing together in a storm, each one becoming something more intense. Anger, rage. Hurt, despair. And lastly, the betrayal. How dare he criticize HER, when he was no better? She slept with Klaus after they broke up! Tyler cheated the entire time.

"Yes, he was. Tyler was no more aware that hybrids could procreate than Nik was himself. Hayley let it slip, soon after the birth. Nik went into rage, not sure what to feel. Was the daughter he held so cautiously even his? I don't think I'd ever seen Nik so at war with himself..."

Caroline closed her eyes, feeling sorry for him.

"Tyler made things worse by feeding the fire, claiming the child must be his, as much as he and Hayley had been involved, trying to play on Nik's doubts, to make him do something…. stupid. All as a way to get back at him for all he had done, all he had taken from him."

'Did he…. kill his daughter?"

Rebekah's eyes flashed, "Have a little more faith in my brother, Caroline, god, no. He didn't. But, he almost killed Tyler… but he remembered his promises to you. Despite your break up, he knew that Tyler still had to mean something to you, so he tried to keep that in mind, even if you didn't know where he was or who he was messing with. His love for you meant just as much as his daughter's life."

"I'm sorry—"

"Don't be. You're not entirely wrong, because he wasn't quite the angel this story is making him out to be, and he did end up taking someone's life. It wasn't Tyler though but it was someone Tyler cared about, someone we never thought he actually gave a damn about, especially not after he kidnapped her, and used her to get to Klaus."

"Who-?" But the answer flashed in her mind before Rebekah said a word.

Hayley.

"He killed her. Ripped her bloody heart out. The saddest part of all, was that the child ended up being his despite her indiscretions. Little thing that we eventually found out with the help of such a lovely witch," Rebekah poured herself another shot.

"Let me guess. That still didn't make him turn it off…"

"No, but it pushed him over the edge to the point he might as well have. Hayley was a lot of things, but Niklaus cared for her, in his own respect. She was the mother of his child and from his bloodline, after all. Not really things to start a perfect relationship, but still."

Caroline merely glanced out the window, with a thoughtful stare, wondering how on earth she would fit into all this.

"I'm going to assume that Tyler did something more to fuel the fire," Caroline said, "I doubt he would just leave his stupid revenge fantasy."

Rebekah mulled over her words for a moment, "Not in the way that you think. I would be aiming my sights a little higher, Caroline. Something that would matter to Klaus, something here, that made him want to feel… A new beginning, almost poetic, actually…"

His daughter.

"His daughter…"

Rebekah smiled, "Yes. His child, the one thing in this world that made Nik almost human. We had never seen him so vulnerable since before we were vampires," she frowned, then quickly spoke her next words with a bitter stare out the window, "But of course, with us, nothing happy is 'always and forever' for us.

"So, you know about how vengeful vampires think, Caroline. Hybrids, especially. Nik killed Hayley to hurt Tyler for his games, without a second thought. That was the start of the spiral downward, but it wouldn't end there. Tyler knew that witches were fearful of the child, the tribid that was supposedly the end of all witches."

"He told them… he convinced them to kill a child?! An infant?" Caroline shrieked. Klaus was a lot of things, and murdered a lot of people, but for Tyler to stoop as low as vengeance at the cost of an innocent infant… she would kill him herself if she ever saw him again.

"He told them about the child, where to find us," Rebekah grimaced, "but that was the least of our problems. I told you that Hayley and Nik shared the same werewolf bloodline."

"Yes…" A hesitant look spread across her face, before color drained completely from her face.

"No."

Her epiphany was met with a humorless smile.

"The werewolves were loyal to Hayley, believing her to be some sort of savior to their cursed clan. She was to marry one of the opposing families to unite them. Having Nik kill her completely destroyed any chance of Nik reconciling with his family. His father was the beginning of the Crescent clan, a bit ironic, actually."

"So werewolves and witches against Klaus," Caroline guessed, "wouldn't end pretty."

"Well, yes. But, the witches did nothing for fear of him. They remember well what he did to some of their leaders. They did, however, take part in it."

"They let the werewolves get involved, so they wouldn't get their hands dirty," Caroline proposed.

"Exactly. But, funny thing about werewolves… they couldn't physically go after Niklaus. Almost like a sire bond of sorts for vampires, except the werewolves feel no loyalty or love for him, but they are unable to go after him or try to kill him."

But not…

"I think you already know where this is going. The witches knew the werewolves were still pissed off, and came to them with a bargain. They were afraid of Nik's child, and the wolves wanted revenge against my brother. So, as an incentive, they broke the curse* on the pathetic clan, and instead gifted them with the ability to turn at will."

Like Hybrids.

Caroline closed her eyes and felt immense pain for the man who loved so little. They would have gone after his child, and the poor child stood not a chance in hell.

Rebekah began tearing up, "They killed her. They killed her and they didn't even care. It was a bloody mess, and we all felt that loss so strongly. Ellijah grieved in private, but has not been the same since. But, Nik went into rage and slaughtered the wolves and the witches he could find who were responsible, and then, when the pain consumed him, he just turned it off."

Tears fell from Caroline's eyes, as she realized just how badly the Original family had been broken apart.

"He has killed many in the past decade, so very many. And each year that has gone by, we lose another piece of him. One more slice of his humanity, gone."

Caroline watched her wipe her face, cleaning herself up in the lapse of control.

"Is there anything I can do?"

Those are six words she would seriously regret in the coming weeks.

Rebekah's expression became fierce, "Actually, Caroline, I thought we'd never get to that."

"Hello, Miss Forbes," a masculine voice greeted.

"You're, late, Ellijah, as usual," Rebekah complained.

He smiled a hopeless smile at Caroline, "My apologies, it's nice to see you again, after all this time."

"What's he doing here?" Caroline questioned.

"Negotiating, keeping the peace, noble brother-like things."

"And why would he need to keep the peace?"

"Because you're not leaving here, until we have our brother back," Rebekah said with intensity that nearly matched that of her glare.

Caroline looked at Rebekah, then back at Ellijah, "We're sorry about this…"

"But I'm desperate, and you may be the only one who can help," Rebekah finished for him.

And she closed her eyes, knowing that, in the back of her mind, she should have trusted her brains for once, and not her heart.

"What do you expect me to do? Your brother's feelings are off. Seeing me isn't going to magically make him go, 'Oh, Caroline, you've made me seen the error of my ways. I want my humanity back, just for you!'"

"You aren't wrong, love," a familiar British accent sounded. Caroline's eyes widened as she turned around.

The figure was covered in blood, and dark ripped clothing.

"Klaus," she mouthed.

He smirked with an amused look that didn't reach his empty eyes.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: SO, I hope you guys like this. I'll have the next chapter out soon. I was thinking about continuing but I figured this would be a perfect stopping point for the first chapter. More to Klaroline interaction in next chapter, as well as some more of what has happened to NoLA in the past fifteen years.