Prompt: Caroline is the chat show host and Klaus is the visiting actor. He tells the story of when they met at a dinner party or something, but she didn't realise he was interested at the time.

She pauses, waiting patiently as one of the sound guys adjust the lapel mic clipped to her blouse. It's with a nervous sort of energy that her heeled foot taps against the floor, the muted sound of the audience beyond the stage wall apparent.

"You're good to go Caroline." the sound guy smiles kindly at her. "Good luck tonight."

It's her turn to smile, a little nervously this time. She'd been hosting Saturday Night Live for almost a year now, improving some very poor ratings and drawing in a larger audience. Even so, every time she gets a big name guest on the show, she can't help but feel the pressure.

This time, it was Nik Mikaelson. Big time actor and all around nice guy, she'd had a crush on him for years before she'd met him face to face over a coffee, only to lose all of her trademark grace under pressure and burst into tears over her shitty ex boyfriend. He'd just cheated on her okay?

To his credit, rather than making an escape and thinking of her as a complete and total psycho, he'd instead stayed and let her spill all of her feelings to him as he sipped patiently at his cup of tea.

That had been 3 years ago, and she hadn't seen him since. His career had gone from strength to strength ever since, and his latest role had involved him signing on for the next 3 James Bond movies.

She'd seen the most recent one, and he'd owned it. He made a totally hot James Bond and that one scene with his shirt off…

"Ladies and gentlemen please welcome your host, Caroline Forbes!"

She pastes a smile onto her face and struts confidently out onto the set, waving to the crowd and smoothing down the skirt of her black bandage dress before taking her seat behind the desk.

Good evening and welcome to Saturday Night Live. We've got a solid show for you guys tonight, but please, first join me in welcoming our first guest, the one and only Nik Mikaelson!"

The crowd leaps to their feet as the James Bond theme music plays and Nik comes walking through the doors. It's with an easy smile that he waves to the crowd, eyes landing on hers with a somewhat surprised smile.

She gets up from behind her desk and allows him to pull her into a quick hug, pressing a kiss to her cheek before taking his seat on the lounge reserved for guests.

She settles back into her own chair, waiting for the applause of the crowd to die down. It takes longer than usual, which is usually a given when there's a young, single, absolutely gorgeous young male in attendance.

Nik smiles at her widely.

"Hello Caroline." He begins.

"Nik. Long time no see. It's been what, three years or so?"

"Give or take a few weeks." Nik allows with another flash of white teeth. "What have you been up to?"

She half stands a teasing smile on her face.

"Sorry do you want to swap seats and you can interview me?"

Laughter comes from the crowd as Klaus chuckles along with them.

"Sorry love, as you were."

They soon slip into an easy banter as he updates everyone on what he's been up to lately. He's doing a press tour for James Bond at the moment, but he'll have a month off in which he'll probably go travelling before he heads back to start filming for the next Bond movie.

Nik manages to turn the conversation back to her without making it overly obvious. His eyes are gleaming with something that she can't quite put her finger on.

"So love. Last time I saw you, you were quite distressed and crying into my tea." He begins with a quick smile towards the crowd, who burst into surprised laughter.

"Oh god." She groans, burying her face into her hands theatrically, very much aware of the camera trained on them both and the dozens of eyes watching their every move. "Why don't you tell your version of the story then, since you remember it so well?"

Nik just beams at her before turning to face the audience.

"Right well as mentioned, the last time I saw Caroline was about three years ago. Our mutual friend Stefan had rang and mentioned that Caroline wanted to talk to me about possibly being interviewed for the show. So I agreed to meet her for coffee in this tiny, hole in a wall place."

She lets her hands fall from her face, turning instead to watch him speak. He was absolutely captivating, not that she expected anything less of course.

"It was quite intimate, and for a moment I thought, maybe I was on a date and Stefan had set me up. And then of course Caroline comes through the door, and I couldn't believe my luck. For the record love, you're still as gorgeous now as you ever were back then."

The audience hoots appreciatively as Nik throws a wink in her direction. She just gapes at him, well and truly caught by surprise.

"Of course, it was then I noticed that she was obviously quite upset. She mentioned something about an ex boyfriend before bursting into tears. But she powered on admirably with the conversation despite it. I really wanted to ask you out. I thought you were absolutely delightful." Nik turns back towards her with another kind smile.

She just stares at him, completely and utterly flabbergasted.

"What?" She finally manages to gasp out.

Nik just smiles a Cheshire cat smile.

"I really wanted to ask you out on a date." He admits a little bashfully. "But I had the feeling that you weren't exactly in the right headspace for it."

She blinks down at her agenda in front of her, trying to get all of her thoughts in order before she opens her mouth again and inevitably puts her foot in her mouth.

"Are you saying that despite my horrible crying and me dominating the conversation by venting about my awful ex boyfriend, I actually had a shot at dating you?"

"Well you still do, if you'd like." Nik replies, stunning her and half of the audience into silence.

"What?" She repeats again as Nik grabs her hand, leaning across the desk towards her.

"Would you, Caroline Forbes, like to go out to dinner with me?" He drops his voice as he looks at her uncertainly. "You are single aren't you?" He adds in a whisper.

She nods towards him as the rest of the crowd waits with bated breath for her answer.

"Yeah okay." She replies as nonchalantly as possible.

Nik fucking beams before he's pressing a kiss to the back of her hand. She refrains from rolling her eyes as she quickly wraps up the interview and bids him farewell. He types his number into her phone with a secret smile before he's swaggering off the stage with another wave.

She goes through the rest of the show on auto pilot, making a mental note to call Bonnie when she's done for the evening. She has a date to prepare for after all.