Smiling, Ansel handed Klaus a glass with whiskey. "We have a great deal to discuss, Niklaus."
Klaus accepted the drink slowly. "You can start by telling me why you expect me to believe that you're a genuine parent of mine."
"I assume that your mother has never taken the time to tell you about me."
"The only thing she ever told me about you, was that Mikael killed you and your entire clan, after he found out that she had been promiscuous with you."
Ansel turned to the window nostalgic. "He wasn't too happy about our affair."
Klaus walked over to the desk and harshly dropped the untouched drink there. "Your adultery indiscretion was never forgotten, Mikael made sure of it."
"I'm sorry, Niklaus." The man turned quickly to face him.
Klaus shook his head, denying him the right to even apologize for a life of humiliation and pain caused by Mikael.
"How did you survive?"
Ansel rested his glass so that he could open the buttons of his shirt, he showed Klaus a deep long scar that went all the way from his heart up to his neck.
"He missed."
Klaus was conflicted, there were too many emotions riling up inside of him when there shouldn't be any.
Ansel came closer to Klaus. "I know that you must have a great deal of questions, but we'll have time to answer them all. I've spent centuries watching you closely and I've learned how you think and how you act in every situation."
"It appears that all my parents share a similar trait, you are all either trying to kill me or watching on the sidelines while it all unfolds."
"The witches knew how evil Mikael was and they spared me with the price of keeping me as their slave. For the majority of my life, I fought wars that weren't mine, but I've also made an army of my own. I have werewolves sired to me, scattered around the world and they will answer to you as easily as they answer to me." Ansel's eyes sparkled with pride.
Klaus shook his head in disbelief and there was a smile there on his lips, but mostly because he was having a hard time restraining from throwing the man against the wall.
"After centuries of silence, you've decided to suddenly come find me with an army to sweet my mouth. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts." He turned around to leave.
"I knew that you would find it hard to trust me… you wouldn't be my son if you did it blindly."
Klaus stopped by the door. "Stop wasting the family analogy on me, old man, the only family I have is waiting on the other side of that door for me."
Ansel smiled. "And she is a true finding, Niklaus."
Klaus didn't say anything, he opened the door ready to leave.
Ansel still had one last word. "I've raised Eric as my son and he would be the natural choice to take over the empire I have built over centuries, but he is not my flesh and blood, you are. So, take your time, but please consider what I can and am willing to give you."
"I've waited 1000 years for a father I didn't know, you can wait as long for an answer." Klaus sneered at him.
Ansel had his drink nonchalantly. "I've made my first move." He nodded once at Klaus. "I'll be waiting for yours."
Klaus turned away to meet Caroline in the big lobby, without a word he locked his hand with hers and left without a glance behind.
"This is a horrible trial." Rebekah grimly closed the door of her locker.
Caroline was still putting away her books inside of hers. "He didn't say a word after we left that place."
"This is far worse than having Mikael persecuting us all the time. Now, all of a sudden Nik's genuine father pops up to haunt us." Rebekah rested against her locker, letting all of her frustration and angst come forward.
Caroline looked at her warmly. "You're his real family, Bekah."
"But I belong now to the part of the family that hunted him down for what he was. Now his father shows up with smiles and a great deal of love to share…" She slammed the back of her head against the locker. "This is a nightmare."
"We've been through a lot, and we never lost our way as a family so we can do this. Right?" She asked softly.
"I'm not really the optimistic type, C…"
"But I am, and we pushed our way through the bad stuff that happened to us over these past two years, so we will not let this mysterious father scare us now." She said determined.
"A father who can either destroy all that Mikael ever did to Niklaus or everything we achieved so far, Caroline."
Caroline's expression grimaced a little, but it went instantly into annoyed, when she realized who would be her new locker neighbor.
The brunette arrived with a petulant smile. "You actually come to school when you have a man like Klaus as your husband? I would never leave my bed."
Caroline gave her a scolding look. "That's my bed you are talking about, so try not to overdo it."
Hayley laughed at her. "It's funny how Tyler never mentioned how jealous you were. Well… it's not like we talked that much either. He was very straight forward, if you still remember, he wasn't that much into foreplay, but I bet that's a completely different case with that Alpha of yours…" She licked her lips. "He looks so sturdy and strong."
Caroline's response was a loud snarl.
Hayley went away smiling.
"You should give me a few lessons in torture, when you find the time." Caroline asked Rebekah.
"Unable to feed from a human or harm anyone with intent but dare to go after her man and the true colors of Caroline Forbes Mikaelson, will appear." Rebekah laughed as they started walking to class.
The day seemed to drag on for Caroline, although the first days of school were always boring for her, Caroline wasn't as excited as previous years, there was no interest in meeting new people or reconnect with her old friends, the ones who were still alive at least.
Bonnie didn't show up at all and neither did Kol, and then, midway through the afternoon she realized that she had merged her life around the Mikaelsons and that for better or worse, she was sharing school with Rebekah.
They had a complicity now that was annoying to others, and they both started grinning at Kensi, when she screwed up her routine at cheerleader practice.
"Maybe it's the new haircut." Rebekah cuttingly said.
"I should get a restraining order against you." Kensi threatened.
Rebekah did her part of the routine flawlessly and she waved at Kensi when she was done.
Uninterested in practice altogether, Caroline kept checking her phone, which was unusually quiet.
After cheerleader practice, the girls walked to the parking lot together and Caroline smiled when she saw the way that Rebekah was excited over the blue car waiting for her.
"Don't tell Nik…" Rebekah asked her.
Caroline drove straight home, and she found Klaus inside of the library.
"Well, that was an incredibly boring day." She dropped her gym bag on a chair.
"Perhaps it's time to take a break from school." He easily said with a smile.
"The thought did cross my mind today a couple of times, even more, because Kol has decided that he is too cool for senior year, but I don't want to leave Rebekah alone." She neared Klaus.
"She would understand." He stroked her cheek while placing a kiss on her lips.
Caroline frowned. "Why are you wearing a suit, Nik?" She ran her hand through his smooth navy-blue attire.
"I was hoping to take my wife out for dinner." He charmingly smiled at her.
"Give me an hour." She smooched him happily, before running upstairs to get ready for her date.
Klaus kept his smile, although it wasn't as bright as when she was in the room, and he stared at his glass without a will to drink the alcohol on it.
"A father as in a dad?" Damon asked, surprised.
"Yes." Rebekah grumbled from the sofa. "And they sort of look familiar."
Damon sat next to her with a lifted eyebrow. "Hmm... Klaus Senior... suddenly the world sounds so unsafe for all of us, supernatural beings."
Rebekah tilted her head. "This is serious..."
"Take it from me. I was the unworthy embarrassing son as well, and one father was enough. I could have 20 more dads, but none would be able to erase what my dear father said and did to me."
"I just don't want to lose Nik to some unknown man... he wasn't with Nik throughout everything, I was. Elijah was..."
"Umbilical attachment alert, Bex." Damon warned her, annoyed.
She gave him a side-look. "Are you jealous of Nik?"
Damon gave her a crazy look in return. "Not even for a long shot..."
She laughed while he finished his drink. "I think that you are." She cuddled closer to him.
"I'm not jealous. I just think that this thing that you have with Klaus is a little too much. It's verging on the incest word."
Rebekah laughed even louder at him, because he was ridiculous.
Damon decided to change the mood and the subject. "Were there any Vicki-zombies at school?"
She shook her head while she moved so that she could straddle him.
He narrowed his eyes. "What?"
"I'm not some mundane human, so I'd appreciate it if you would stop overbearing me. I can levitate things, remember?" She placed her finger under his chin, while smoldering him with her big eyes.
Damon's smile was full of malice. "That's not all that you can levitate..." He guided his eyes along her short and perky, red cheerleader outfit.
"That's my Damon..." She smiled, leaning over for a kiss.
His hands were thankful that there was so much skin to touch and caress, while their kiss became deeper, he was excited to know that she was wearing lace under the outfit, and he was moments away from removing her top when he heard the front door slam shut.
He still believed that Stefan would whoosh away to his bedroom and that Rebekah wouldn't be too loud while he developed things right there on the sofa.
She wasn't thinking of that, only on how she wanted to make love to him and one of the possibilities was definitely riding Damon while wearing her outfit.
It was all aligning for something epic, until Stefan sat right down next to them.
Damon broke the kiss to look at his brother incredulously. "Are you missing the girlfriend on my lap?"
"I know where Katherine is." Stefan told him.
"Go away and find her." Rebekah snapped, annoyed with this interruption. "I was about to fulfill one of your brother's fantasies."
"The Luna people have her." Stefan waited for a reaction, something else than having Rebekah and Damon looking at him blankly.
Enervated, he stood up and left the house, storming away on a one-man mission.
Rebekah ran her fingers through Damon's black hair.
"Fantasy?" He asked her expectantly.
"The outfit stays on." She lowered her hand to his pants. "No matter the position."
Damon's breath triggered to a hiss. "I hope that your brothers give me a quick death."
She nudged his lips with the tip of her tongue. "We're about to have sordid sex, Damon… don't mention my brothers now."
He nodded. "Good call."
She smiled on her way to engage him for a rough kiss.
Caroline happily smiled, as the host walked them to the secluded table in one of the most expensive restaurants in the world.
She didn't even dare to ask how Klaus managed this because she was still not over the fact that they were now in New York City.
The host pulled a chair for Caroline, and she took her seat resting her little clutch on the table.
He opened the expensive wine and after serving them, he left the couple alone.
Noticing her smile, Klaus was the first to speak. "I take it that you were happy with my change of scenery for tonight."
"I'm still processing." She answered playfully.
"I intended to have this journey earlier but somehow things never seem to flow as planned, lately." He took a large sip from his wine.
Caroline licked her lips, glossing with a shiny red lipstick, she was building up the courage to ask what had haunted her all day but before she said the words, Klaus touched the silver on his side, working his way to open up to her.
"I have a living father…"
"Why didn't he come for you before?"
"He was watching me." He said dryly. "While he was working on building an empire that apparently is my legacy."
"So, this Luna thing… it's all for you?" She asked in a low voice, not because someone could hear them but because she was genuinely worried.
"Yes, he's been rounding up wolves from all around the world and he supposedly has a massive army, ready for me to lead them."
Caroline grabbed her wine, she took most of it in one take before she gave him that soothing feeling that he desperately needed, by sweetly looking at him.
"Lead them where? And for what?"
"I'm an Alpha, I could lead them to bring down the world as we know it, if I wanted to."
"World domination..." She finished her drink with widening eyes.
Klaus laughed softly, while he refilled her glass, he made a gesture to the waiter calling him over to their table.
"We should order because we both know how you can't handle your alcohol, sweetheart."
"World domination with a sense of humor." She laughed at him scornfully. "I can't wait for it."
Klaus gave her a naughty smile, before the waiter arrived with the menu, when he left them alone, he looked at Caroline.
"Just because an old wolf showed up out of nowhere with big promises and offers, it doesn't mean that I will even consider any of it. When someone comes bearing these many gifts, it only means that they are desperate."
Caroline replied without taking her eyes from the big menu in front of her. "I agree completely, the last man who gave me jewelry wanted a lot more than just a dance at a family party."
"Cheeky." He smiled. "But I did go through a lot of hassle to convince Elijah, to ask my mother to organize a formal party."
Caroline raised her eyes from the menu.
He did the same, meeting her eyes. "It was a Cinderella fetish, after all."
She opened her mouth in dismay and dropped the menu on the table. "Is there anything you didn't know about me?"
"Yes… I had no idea you would look that good in blue." He said with a smile that was set to kill Caroline's possible complaints about any of this.
"Unbelievable, Klaus." She still tried to come across at least outraged.
"You looked almost as breathtaking as you look tonight." He returned to his menu. "Still, you know how much I love seeing you in red."
She bit her lip smiling, she had bought this really amazing dress back in Spain but hadn't had the chance to wear it yet.
"Thank you." It was silly, but still after all this time together, she still got rosy cheeks after his complements. "But we were talking about your father…"
Klaus closed the menu slowly. "He's not my father, Caroline."
"What do you mean?" She asked him softly.
"Elijah has been more of a father to me, than this Ansel fella, will ever be."
She closed her menu as well and smiled lovingly at him.
Klaus reached for her hand, playing with her wedding ring leisurely. "Besides, I came to New York to have dinner with my wife alone and to enjoy her company, without having her claimed by my siblings every two seconds. Tonight, Mrs. Mikaelson is all mine for as long as I please."
Caroline licked her lips, but this time she did it seductively. "Is that a promise, Mr. Mikaelson?"
He gave her that look that didn't require him to raise his chin, just his eyes and then he smiled that bastard cheeky smile of his.
"Have you decided what it will be?" The waiter arrived to clumsily interrupt the eye-sex going on between the couple.
Yes, I will have the dashing man in blue on top of this table. Caroline thought to herself.
"You really must think that I'm that stupid." Vicki said, surprised that Jeremy was actually trying to lure her into a meeting alone.
He didn't have a good plan, he just had to try something.
"I need you to do this for me, Vicki." He reached for the stake hidden inside of his jacket.
"Do what? Hand myself to Klaus, so that he can try to kill me. I don't think so, Jeremy." She laughed at him.
"I wasn't expecting you to do this on your own free will."
She looked around the dark surroundings. "Have you checked if he was alone?" She asked her sired boys.
Two of them looked at each other.
"I thought that you did…" One of them whispered.
"Wasn't that your job?" The other murmured.
Vicki rolled her eyes. "Go look in the woods!" She yelled at them.
As soon as they started walking, they fell to their knees in pain and Vicki was next.
She looked for the cause of her torment and jarringly saw Bonnie walking in her direction. "It's not possible... magic doesn't work on me..."
Bonnie raised her hand, there was an invisible wind surrounding them out of nowhere and when she closed her fist, the newborns fell to the side dead.
Vicki tried to stop the blood coming out of her nose. "How can you do this?"
"A Bennett witch gave you life, and a Bennett witch will take it back." She narrowed her eyes.
Vicki coughed on blood, there was a scorching fire taking over her chest and she began to roar in pain.
"Stop it, Bonnie." Jeremy asked her.
"She can't live." Bonnie told him with a fist that was tight.
"She has to." Jeremy hadn't expected this, he only asked her to join him, because he needed to neutralize Vicki, but not like this. "Bonnie, stop." He grabbed her arms.
Bonnie looked at him with fiery eyes and Jeremy was blind for a moment, it was as if flames were tearing away his eyes and he dropped to the ground screaming in agony.
Bonnie concentrated on Vicki and soon the flames were real and completely consuming a yelling vampire that burnt to ashes.
When her work was done, Bonnie looked at Jeremy. "Elena would never forgive you, if you did this to her."
Jeremy's agony was gone, so he could properly look at Bonnie, but he was so incredibly scared of her that he didn't do it, instead he kept his eyes on the pile of ashes in front of him while Bonnie walked away.
Back in New York, dinner was actually a lot different from what Caroline expected.
Klaus asked about her day at school and listened with interest to every angry remark she made about Hayley and Kensi.
He listened attentively and gave her advice when she asked for it and made her laugh when she got too serious, and he easily offered to kill both girls to consequently end her annoying issues at school.
She threw him a piece of bread in response, she was still not that at ease with murderer.
The waiter came to take the last orders but both skipped desserts.
Klaus quickly handled the bill and stood up reaching for her hand, and easily, she smiled taking it and when he pulled her closer to him, she sighed softly in his arms.
"I love you." He said, still lost in all of his thoughts tonight.
She stroked his cheek. "You know that you are the love of my life, don't you, Nik?"
He half-scorned her words, mostly because they meant too much to him and that made him vulnerable. "It's still not a very long life, is it, love?"
She left a perfect kiss on his lips and then ran her thumb over them cleaning the red lipstick away. "Maybe, but you are still the one for me."
"You will always be the only one for me." He said with conviction.
She closed her eyes with a laugh. "You can be so corny sometimes…"
"How come I'm one, while you're not?"
"I'm a girl, I'm allowed to be one." She giggled softly.
"That makes no sense... that's Caroline logic." He shook his head.
She laughed. "I like that."
"I want to show you the city."
"I like that even more." She told him elated.
Before they moved away from the table, Klaus reached out and plucked the red rose that was part of the decoration of the table and handed it to Caroline.
She accepted it, moved by the small romantic gesture, being corny wasn't so bad.
There was a knock on the door that made Ansel wake from his thoughts, the meeting with Klaus had left him a bit shaken and thoughtful about what was still to come.
Eric came in. "There's someone here to see you."
Ansel smiled. "I was expecting him." He moved his hand, so that Eric would let the Original inside.
Elijah stepped into the room calmly.
"Welcome, Elijah." Ansel greeted him solemnly. "May I interest you in a drink?"
Elijah slowly opened his suit for comfort. "That won't be necessary, since I don't plan to stay for long."
Ansel hit the desk a few times with his finger. "You came to give me a warning..."
Elijah shook his head. "It's Niklaus, there will not be a friendly warning in advance. I will behead left and right, but no one will harm him."
Ansel expected the confrontation and he was more than ready for it. "He is my son and I just want the time that was stolen away from us."
Elijah smiled. "He's happy now and I'll make sure that he remains that way."
"It's not for us to choose what he will do next."
"There's also no limit to how far I'm willing to go, to make sure that he is left alone, when he does decide against bringing you into his life." Elijah closed his suit stoically. "I'll let myself out."
He left the room with the last word.
Eric followed Elijah's exit with a quick pace. "What are your orders, Master?"
"We'll leave Elijah for last. For now, we'll focus on cutting the weaker branches of this family tree." He said with determination in his eyes.
Rebekah moved a bit in her sleep, she was nuzzled against Damon and warm under the covers, but it was like she was unconsciously aware that Damon was outlining her face with his eyes and smiling while he watched her sleep.
The sex hadn't been as lewd as they first intended, and they ended up in his bed without the outfit but with a lot of slow love involved.
Now that he had his arm around her, and that he felt her so close, Damon wondered which horrible event would tear them apart, because that was the only reality that he knew.
Every time he was truly happy, the earth opened up under his feet and stole that happiness away from him.
He circled his arm tighter around her and stroked her cheek, he had to be a step ahead this time around.
The girl giggled when Kol laced his arm around her waist and made this really annoying squealing sound when he pulled her closer.
From the shadows, Bonnie watched as Kol kissed the girl. It was gut-wrenching to see it but at the same time, she couldn't look away.
It had been stupid enough to come all the way to The Grill and now she felt like an idiot for sticking around long enough to see Kol making out with some random in the back of the pub.
One thing was to stay away from him deliberately, another was to lurk from the shadows, knowing that he was moving on, like he was supposed to.
She turned away around the same time that Kol pressed the girl against the wall and started kissing her neck.
She headed home slowly and took a longer route, which meant that she would walk right past the cemetery. It was a wonderful scenario for her mood, and she barely lifted her head during the walk.
"You left just as the show was about to turn visually appealing."
Bonnie gulped down before looking up. "I didn't know that you liked the audience."
Kol smiled. "I don't, but I wanted you to see it."
That one hit home, and Bonnie felt her stomach turn. "If you're doing this to get to me…"
He raised his hands. "Not at all, I've always been a fan of women."
"I'll leave you to it then." She started to walk around him.
"Is Elijah waiting for you at home?" He asked without turning to her.
Bonnie stopped, closing her eyes for the answer. "No."
He wanted to walk away but he couldn't, he slowly turned away to face her. "Why did you come back?"
She turned as well. "I didn't come back for you."
"I wish you hadn't come back, at all."
It hurt so much to be this close to her and not be able to touch and kiss her.
As he turned away and left, Bonnie's tears reached her eyes but he was right to hate her, there was no forgiveness for hurting him the way that she did.
Caroline scooped closer to him, enjoying that someone else was driving them through the city tonight.
She should be looking at everything and making mental notes and screaming in excitement, but surprisingly she just wanted to stay close to him and to enjoy his warmth silently.
They reached a halt caused by traffic and Klaus told the driver that they would walk from now on.
After leaving the car, they paved a really famous avenue, hand in hand.
It was a good way to delve into the hectic agitation of the metropolis, and Caroline enjoyed how every skyscraper was bigger than the other.
When they reached the next street, Caroline was star struck for the first time because of the upscale boutiques and luxurious restaurants lined up along the long street.
At the end of it, there was a group of men singing and playing Italian music and she found it too romantic and adorable, it reminded her of Venice and she pulled Klaus's hand towards them.
As they got closer, one of the men sang to Caroline about love.
"It's like a serenade." She whispered happily.
The man bowed to Caroline. "Bella…" He said loudly, before looking at Klaus. "Bellissima!"
She waved at the men, as they left the group and looked at her rose.
"You still need to teach me how to Tango, Nik…" She admired the red beauty in her hands.
"Indeed, I owe you, sweetheart." He unexpectedly propelled her forward, only to sweetly bring her back to him.
She swiftly twirled around and ended up being dipped by him, she laughed loudly and happy as he straightened her up.
"I've arranged for accommodations, for us to spend the night."
"Is it far from here?" She asked sweetly.
"It's just across the street." He smiled.
Caroline turned around fast, in front of her, there was a huge brown bricked building and a small number of stairs that led to a green door.
"It looks so pretty."
With her hand in his, Klaus walked up the stairs and took a single key from the small pocket inside of his suit jacket.
"Ladies first, love." He handed her the key.
She opened the door, and stepped inside of an empty apartment.
She looked back at Klaus confused.
He was leaning against the threshold from the outside. "The light switch is right there." He pointed next to him on the wall.
"Why are you still out there?"
He shrugged. "I'm unable to come inside."
"Don't be silly..." She turned her head to the inside of the big space.
"I called in on a favor from a witch."
Caroline parted her lips with a gasp. "Are you saying…" She spun around.
Klaus smiled with a nod. "The lease is on your name."
She covered her mouth with her hands. "Seriously?"
Klaus chuckled, now she was freaking out about New York.
"I have my own apartment in Manhattan?"
"I wanted to give you something special and I figured SoHo was the perfect neighborhood for you. It's vibrant, colorful and interesting, and it comes with its own personality… it's you, down to a tee."
Caroline waved her arms excited as she had a small bouncing jump.
"Are you happy?" He inquired, amused with her reaction.
"I'm too excited to talk." She launched her arms around him. "Are you really forbidden to come inside?"
"The house is secure as if you were human and unless you invite me inside, I will have to stay at the door watching you bounce like a little girl."
She laughed happily. "I invite you inside."
Klaus closed the door behind him. "I've left you in charge of all the decoration, since I knew that you would love the opportunity to decorate your own house, as you pleased."
"Thank you… this is the best gift ever, in all the history of best gifts ever." She said elated. "I can't wait to spend the night here."
"The only problem with that, would be that the house is entirely stripped of furniture."
"Ummm…" Teasingly, she lessened her eyes at him.
"There's a magnificent hotel nearby." He suggested, although his hands were coming up, glued to her back.
Caroline started stroking the back of his neck. "We'll figure something out, besides... We have four walls and a floor, Niklaus."
Klaus found the V opening on her back, the dress left it exposed and he easily came up to her shoulders where the fabric only existed to create a small sleeve.
"You're going to pulverize my dress, aren't you?" She asked him with a sigh.
Klaus smiled with intent. "I will destroy it in minus five seconds."
"I'm going shopping tomorrow, anyway." She resigned.
"We're not returning home tomorrow?"
"It's New York!" She was offended by his question.
Klaus smiled, while he started pulling the dress down her shoulders.
Caroline did the same with his jacket. "You're five seconds late, Niklaus." She whispered, knowing that was all that it would take him.