AN: Hello lovely readers! I come bearing the next chapter! Please keep in mind, this story is nearing it's end. Only a couple of chapters left. I want to tank you all for reading and for your comments/reviews! I didn't really edit this chapter as thoroughly as I usually do, so I apologize for that. I hope you still enjoy! I look forward to your reviews! :)
The final hour of the road trip back to New Orleans is absolutely silent. Enzo tried, more than once, to engage Caroline in lighthearted conversation, but she would just sigh and turn her focus back to the road. Bonnie watches the interaction and she is glad that Caroline has someone like Enzo, who wants to try to take her mind off of the situation she is in. Bonnie watches out the window and her jaw nearly drops as Caroline pulls the SUV up to the driveway in front of the large Mikaelson home.
"This is where they live?"
Enzo stifles a laugh. "Impressive, isn't it?"
Caroline shakes her head and turns off the engine. "Let's leave her boxes in here for now. I just want to check on Lizzie and get some sleep." Caroline tries not to let the look of shock stay on her face, when the front door of the home is opened to reveal Klaus.
Klaus had heard the approaching vehicle and flashed to the door. He can't hide the smile on his face at seeing Caroline again. He still has one more chance to convince her to stay with them, long term. "Caroline, welcome back." Klaus lets the warmth and joy be evident in his voice.
Caroline nods slowly. "Thanks. We can get all Lizzie's stuff tomorrow. I just want to see my daughter and get some sleep."
Bonnie registers the detachment in Caroline's voice and slight hurt in Klaus' eyes. "Right, yes. Come in." Klaus moves aside so Caroline can walk into the house. Bonnie walks slowly, taking in the beauty of the looming home. "The Bennett Witch." Klaus nods in Bonnie's direction.
Bonnie rolls her eyes, but Caroline spins around on her heel. "Her name is Bonnie and she is my guest. Please be respectful, Klaus."
Klaus' lips form a small smile as he allows Caroline to reprimand him. "Apologies, Bonnie." Klaus watches Caroline, even though his comment is directed to Bonnie.
Caroline shakes her head. "Can you please just show Bonnie and Enzo to some guest rooms?"
"Where do you intend to sleep, sweetheart?" Klaus asks, eying Caroline questioningly.
"I'm going to crash in Lizzie's room. Just for tonight." Caroline replies softly. The matter is dropped and within minutes everyone in getting settled in their rooms.
Caroline quickly changes into a pair sleep shorts and an old t-shirt. She tries to be as quiet as possible, but Lizzie begins to stir. Lizzie rolls over toward Caroline, her eyes half open. "Mama?" She croaks out.
"Hey Liz." Caroline sits on the edge of the bed and rubs Lizzie's back.
"Mama, you're back?" Lizzie sits up and wraps her little arms around Caroline, as a few happy tears leak out.
Caroline hugs her daughter back and breathes in deeply. "I'm here. But let's go back to sleep. We can talk in the morning, ok?" Caroline brushes Lizzie's unruly hair out of her face and smiles genuinely.
"Ok." Lizzie yawns and scoots over so there is room for Caroline to lay down next to her. Lizzie snuggles up to her mom and falls back asleep quickly. Caroline, however, lays awake for a while. She takes in the moments with Lizzie and tries to think of a way to let Lizzie know that she won't be staying in New Orleans.
Morning comes quickly, especially for Caroline who barely got more than a couple hours of sleep. Lizzie is buzzing around her room, gathering her clothes for the day. Not only is it Saturday, so she doesn't have school, but her mom is back. "So, what are we going to do today?" Lizzie asks as she get dressed.
"We have to bring all your boxes up here and unpack you. And I was hoping you and I could spend a little time, just the two of us." Caroline suggests.
Lizzie runs up to Caroline and hugs her. Lizzie looks up at Caroline with a bright smile. "That sounds perfect!"
Lizzie skips down the stairs and Caroline follows, chuckling at her energetic daughter. Elijah, Hayley, Klaus and Finn are all sitting at the dining room table. A chorus of "good mornings" is heard as Lizzie rushes into the room. "Look, my mom is back!" Lizzie points to Caroline, who is timidly arriving into the room.
"Miss. Forbes, welcome back." Elijah politely greets.
"Hey." Hayley nods at Caroline.
"Thank you Elijah. Hi Hayley." Caroline takes the seat being offered to her by Klaus.
"Good morning, Caroline." Klaus whispers in her ear as he helps push her chair to the table.
Caroline turns to look at him, his face mere inches away and their eyes connect. "Klaus." Caroline says it in an amused tone, but there is a hint of a warning. Klaus gives Caroline a wily smile and pulls back, giving Caroline space.
The rest of the occupants of the room pretend to ignore the charged tension between Caroline and Klaus and Hayley clears her throat. "So, Lizzie. What would you like to do today?"
"Mom said we have to unpack all my stuff and then I am going to spend some time with just her." Lizzie chirps, unaware of the reason for Caroline wanting alone time with her.
"Oh, ok." Hayley is a little disappointed that Caroline just arrived back and already Lizzie is ditching her to spend time with Caroline, alone.
The irritation is apparent on Hayley's face and Caroline tries to send her an apologetic smile. Breakfast continues smoothly and Caroline gets all the vampires in the house to help bring up Lizzie's boxes.
Caroline, Hayley and Lizzie are all sifting through Lizzie's belongings when Bonnie knocks on the door. "Hey, Care?"
"Hey Bon!" Caroline hops up from the floor. "Lizzie, I want you to meet one of my best friends. This is Bonnie Bennett. Bonnie, this is Lizzie."
Lizzie stands up and looks at Bonnie in awe. "Are you a witch, too?" Lizzie whispers. Bonnie laughs and nods. "A real Bennett witch?" Lizzie's wide eyes turn to Caroline. "You know a Bennett witch and I am just meeting her now?"
"First of all, we didn't know you were a witch until recently. Secondly, Bonnie and I, kind of lost touch for a little while." Caroline returns to going through boxes. "You missed breakfast, Bon. You want me to grab you something?"
Bonnie sits down and opens a box to help. "It's nothing personal, but I really didn't want to sit through a meal with a bunch of vampires and hybrids. My coven would freak just knowing that I spent the night at the Mikaelson's home."
"Why doesn't your coven like my family?" Lizzie asks, a little hurt.
"You have to understand, Lizzie. Most witches are not raised by vampires. Most witches are raised to hate vampires. We are charged with maintaining the balance and vampires kind of throw the whole balance off. It's nothing personal. You are lucky to be raised without prejudice and to love all species. Most witches are not given that gift." Lizzie nods, still a bit unsure. "Don't worry, Lizzie. From what your mom has told me, you are a special kind of witch anyways. You don't have to share in the opinions of a bunch of plain, old, boring witches." Lizzie lets out a giggle and goes back to unpacking all her stuff.
After another half hour of unpacking, Lizzie is starting to put all her stuff away. "Care, would you mind taking me to the kitchen, so I can grab something to eat?" Bonnie asks.
Once they are far enough away, Bonnie leans in to Caroline. "When are you going to talk to Lizzie?"
"We are going to spend the afternoon together, just her and I." Caroline replies quietly.
"Ok." Bonnie nods and offers her friend an encouraging smile.
"Have you seen Enzo this morning?" Caroline asks as they arrive at the kitchen.
"I think he went out pretty early this morning. Probably out causing trouble." Bonnie suggests as she digs into some left over pancakes.
"Ok. I'll have to give him a call and see if he is going to continue to travel with us. I figure we will either leave late this afternoon or maybe tomorrow morning." Caroline says, but she is a million miles away, thinking about her conversation with Lizzie.
After lunch ends, Caroline and Lizzie go to take a walk around the French Quarter. Caroline knows that Klaus has sent a couple of vampires to watch over them, but she ignores it for the time being. "I'm so glad you are here, mom." Lizzie says and she grasps Caroline's hand tighter. "I like my family, but they don't know me like you do."
Caroline sighs. "Liz, that is what I wanted to talk to you about. I know things have been a little bit difficult, but it's a learning experience for you, your dad and Hayley. I know this is going to be hard for you to understand, but your relationship with your dad and Hayley won't grow with me here. I'm the one who raised you and I am your comfort. It would be so easy for us to fall back into our routine without you getting to know your dad and Hayley if I stick around."
Lizzie rips her ahnd away and stops walking. "Wait, are you leaving me here? Alone?" Angry tears fall down Lizzie's cheeks.
"Lizzie, listen to me." Caroline bends down, so she can look Lizzie in the eyes. "I love you and your dad and Hayley love you too. And I believe they have a right to get to know you. Not the manipulative little girl who tries to get her way. The sweet, funny and smart girl who I raised." Lizzie casts her eyes down, embarrassed by her previous behavior. "Your dad and Hayley deserve to get to spend time with you, the way I got to. You are such a wonderful girl and you have so much love to share. They deserve that love, too." Caroline wipes the tears from her daughter's face. "I won't leave you forever. I promise I will come back. I just want to give you some time with them. Your dad and Hayley can teach you about being a werewolf, should you ever activate that gene. You can learn how to be a witch from Davina and spend time with all the family you have gained." Lizzie nods, but remains silent. "You know I love you with my whole heart, my sweet little Lizzie." Caroline whispers as she pulls her daughter into a big hug.
Lizzie lets her tears fall again, but they aren't angry this time. "I love you too, mommy." She sobs. "You promise you will come back to me?" Lizzie buries her face into her mother's neck.
"I promise Lizzie. I would never leave you completely." Caroline pulls away enough so she can look at Lizzie. "Do you understand?"
"Yeah. How long do you think you be? What will you do?" Lizzie dries her eyes on the sleeve of her sweater.
"A couple of months, maybe a year. I'm going to meet a friend of Bonnie's from her coven in Boston. I won't be too far. I promise."
"Will you send me post cards and presents?" Lizzie perks up a little.
Caroline throws her head back in laughter. "Of course. Even if I am away, I will still shower you will all the love I can." Caroline promises.
"Ok. I understand. It will be fun getting to have such a big family. Do you think they ever take vacations? Like maybe daddy and Hayley will take me to Disney World?" Lizzie takes Caroline's hand again and they begin their walk back to the Mikaelson home.
Caroline tries to picture Klaus and Hayley being dragged through Disney World, Hayley wearing Minnie Mouse ears and Lizzie forcing Klaus to pose for a picture with her and Cinderella. "If you can convince them to take you to Disney World, make sure Stefan goes too and sends me lots of pictures." Caroline and Lizzie talk about silly things for the rest of their walk, both just content to be together.
They get back to the mansion and it is a flurry of activity. There are vampires all over the place and Caroline immediately holds Lizzie close to her. Rebekah pushes past some of the vampires and Caroline calls her attention. "Rebekah, what's going on here?"
Rebekah looks down at Lizzie's worried face. "Um, just some stuff." Rebekah's eyes dart from Lizzie to the stairs and Caroline understands.
"Hey Liz. Why don't you run upstairs to your room and make sure everything is where you want it? I'll be up in a minute." Caroline smiles, but it's forced and Lizzie knows it.
"Ok." Lizzie walks up to her room, mumbling under her breath about adults treating her like a child.
Caroline and Rebekah share a small giggle at Lizzie's mumblings. "What's going on?" Caroline asks again.
"Nothing big, just a pack of werewolves from Canada. They are claiming that they are descendants of Nik's and are demanding a piece of New Orleans."
Caroline's eyes widened and she began to worry about leaving Lizzie in New Orleans. "How is that nothing big?"
Rebekah smiled at Caroline. "Since we took over New Orleans, we have faced many situations like this. It's nothing big to us. We determine how serious the threat is and then we work together to take care of it. Sometimes, Elijah is able to talk the threat away and other times Nik and Kol shed blood to keep the city and our family safe. You don't have to worry about Lizzie being here. She is priority number one in the house." Rebekah explains.
Caroline releases the breath she was holding. "Ok. When Klaus comes back, can you tell him I need to talk to him?"
"Sure." Rebekah left and went back to ordering the vampires around and Caroline vamped to Lizzie's room.
Klaus dragged his body into the house full of vampires, waiting for directions. He had just gone head to head with the Alpha of the pack from Canada. He won easily, but not before he had to take out some of the wolves who had a death wish. All Klaus wants to do is find a warm body and drain it to regain his energy. But Caroline is here and he needs to be on his best behavior so he can convince her to stay. "So?" Rebekah was standing in front of him, hands on her hips and tapping her toe.
"I beat the Alpha fair and square. The pack will not be a problem." Klaus mutters tiredly.
Elijah throws a blood bag at his brother. "Did you kill him?"
Klaus drinks the bag in one long gulp. "No, he submitted. I did have to kill a couple of his pack who tried to challenge me after. Only seven of them and I left their bodies for their pack to dispose of."
Elijah nods. "Very well. You can all go now." The vampires are dismissed.
"Caroline is looking for you." Rebekah looks her brother up and down and scowls at the blood spatter on his clothes. "You might want to shower and change first, though."
Klaus looks down and smiles at his torn and bloody clothes. He speeds to his room and takes a quick shower. He assumes Caroline will be with Lizzie, so he goes to Lizzie's room first.
Bonnie is teaching Lizzie a few simple, little magic tricks, while Caroline watches. Caroline can't help but smile at Bonnie teaching her daughter magic.
"Caroline?" Klaus peeks his head into the room.
"Hi Daddy! You want to join us? Bonnie is teaching me some magic!" Lizzie runs to her dad and hugs him.
"I just need a word with your mom." Klaus kisses Lizzie on the top of her head and waits for Caroline to join him. "I was told you were looking for me."
"Yeah, we need to talk." Caroline closed Lizzie's door behind her. They walk in silence to Klaus' studio.
"This room is spelled, so you can speak freely." Klaus sits down on the leather couch, leaving enough room for Caroline to sit beside him.
Caroline sits silently for a few minutes and Klaus just watches her. "I'm leaving, Klaus."
"You're leaving?" Klaus repeats. This was not the conversation he wanted to have.
"Yeah. The only way Lizzie is going to connect with you and especially Hayley is if I'm not around. I already talked to Lizzie and she understands. I will be back, I'm not leaving forever." Caroline's hands were shaking from her anxiety of telling Klaus that she couldn't stay, not for Lizzie, not for him.
Klaus gently covers her hands with his own. "Caroline, I can't pretend to understand what you are going through. We both know, empathy is not my strong suit." Caroline's lips turn into a small smile. "It pains me to know that you are leaving, but I made a promise years ago. I still do intend to be your last, no matter how long it takes. I will be here waiting for you, with Lizzie."
"Thank you, Klaus." Caroline turns her hand over to hold Klaus'.
"When are you leaving?" Klaus' eyes focus on their joined hands.
"Enzo got us a red eye flight to Boston. It leaves in a couple of hours. We are going to meet some of Bonnie's coven. The part that won't fry our brains." Caroline adds with a shrug.
"Enzo is going with you." Klaus did nothing to hide his dislike of the dark haired vampire.
"Yes, as a friend." Caroline leans over and leaves a soft kiss on Klaus' cheek. "I'm holding on to your promise. When I am ready, I will come back. To you and Lizzie. Maybe in a year, or a century." Caroline smiles and is surprised when Klaus pulls her into a hug.
"Thank you Caroline." Klaus murmurs into Caroline's hair. They break away, but their eyes stay focused on each other. Klaus' eyes dart between Caroline's eyes and her lips and Caroline knows what he is thinking. She decides to give in one time before leaving. She has come to terms with who Klaus is and that he will never fully change. Including his love for her. And she now knows that when she is ready to accept all of him, he will take her. Caroline allows her eyes to flutter close and she leans in, tilting her head just a bit so Klaus gets the hint. Their lips meet in a soft, yet passionate kiss. This time there are no frantic movements, buttons aren't flying and clothes are not be shredded. It's simply two people sharing a moment of love and adoration, with promises of another day. They break apart too soon for Klaus, but he releases his hold on Caroline. He needs her to know that he trusts she will return for Lizzie and for him.
"Good bye, Klaus. I'll be in touch." Caroline smoothly stands up and walks out of the room, hiding all her emotions inside.
Klaus watches from the balcony as Caroline, Bonnie and Enzo say their goodbyes. Caroline and Lizzie are both sobbing and Klaus has to force himself to hold his emotions in. He will be there for his daughter, once he has dealt with what Caroline leaving has done to him. They will be together again, soon.