Bonnie outlined his chin gently, then she traced his neck with her index and finally his chest.
They were still lying naked and, in each other's arms, on the sofa, where they had made love until she couldn't control the energy around her anymore.
Bonnie looked up at him with a question. "Do I feel different to you?"
Kol smiled. "Why would you?"
"Because I feel different."
Kol caressed her back, along her spine. "You only feel perfect to me."
She smiled with her hands resting on his chest and her chin on top of them. "I'm a vampire now and that's strange… I mean, I never imagined I would be in your arms after a night like that as a vampire."
"I don't care what you are, Bonnie, as long as you're mine."
She rested her cheek against his chest with a smile. "I like that."
For all he cared, she could very well be a demon straight out of hell, he loved her, and he only wanted her.
Caroline pulled the woolen cardigan closer to her and cleaned her tears.
She was holding a mug, but the coffee inside was cold already, she couldn't force herself to drink anything, she was sitting in the dark and lost her hands inside of the cardigan after putting the mug away.
At first, she missed the sound that came from her front door but there was a second knock that she wanted to ignore, it probably was one of his hybrids checking on her.
There was a louder knock this time and she got mad, she stood up ready to fight the sired jerk and opened her door with anger, just that her anger turned into tears again when she saw Rebekah smiling at her.
Caroline laced her arms tightly around the other for a hug, she cried but she was happy that her friend was here with her.
Damon closed the door of the car, watching the blondes with a smile but also noticing Klaus's hybrids who were keeping surveillance from the other side of the street.
Kol came down from his bedroom fast and went straight to the library, he ran his hand through his wet hair, it was the second time he was having this conversation with Elijah, and he really hoped that it would be the last.
Elijah looked up from the table and by the look on Kol's face, he worked things out with Bonnie.
"I'm happy for you and Bonnie." He said candidly.
"The first time around, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I won't allow you to stand in the middle of us again."
"She could never love me the way that she loves you."
Kol started preparing two drinks. "I'm happy that we've all reached that conclusion… But it's kind of unsettling that the powerful Originals are nothing more than ordinary humans, when it comes to feelings."
Elijah chuckled. "We all want the same. Love, camaraderie and a family."
Kol nodded. "The sweltering sex is welcomed as well."
There was a harsh slam of the front door, which meant that Klaus was home, and they both waited for him to show up in the library.
"You two have decided to be friends again?" He asked as soon as he saw them.
"Yes, we've decided to put our differences aside from now on." Elijah handed Klaus a stack of papers.
Klaus started analyzing them in detail.
"I'm also back with Bonnie." Kol said, simply because it felt nice to say it out loud.
Klaus didn't show any affection for the news.
"Then call the witch and Stefan as well, we need to come up with a plan." He left the library taking the papers with him.
"And we have the old Klaus back." Kol grimaced.
"Perhaps, it would be wise to hide the daggers for the time being." Elijah solemnly said next to him.
"You made a joke, Elijah." Kol looked at him surprised.
"I can be very amusing at times." Elijah defended.
"You just lost all witty points now." Kol decided with ease, which was something brilliant to feel around his brother again.
The woman at the door couldn't do a thing to stop Klaus from barging into the office, but Liz nodded at her to leave them alone.
"Can I be of service, Klaus?" She asked him, while closing the door.
He handed her a list with all the names in the council. "Someone is making their way into that open vacancy for mayor."
Liz was confused. "Someone from the town? Because no one has come forward yet, they all seem afraid to sit on that forsaken chair…"
"Someone has been gathering secrets to use as leverage, and Elijah found some generous gifts in the accounts of the most influential council members."
"No one came to see me." She looked at him miffed.
"Your daughter is a vampire married to a hybrid, and she's living in a house with a supernatural family. I highly doubt that they will take the effort or the money to gather your support."
Liz dropped the papers on the desk and leaned to sit against the edge of it. "I don't accept bribes, Klaus."
"The man behind the conspiracy is my father." Klaus informed her.
"I thought that you were fatherless."
Klaus wasn't too thrilled about her tone, she didn't like him, and she made a statement out of every pronounced word.
"I was wrapped in surprise as well."
"Where is Caroline?"
"She's in New York and she will stay there until it's safe for her to return home."
"Did she stay there willingly?"
"It took some persuasion…" He lowered his tone a notch.
"Oh, I bet… but you climbed really high on my list for doing that. She shouldn't be around when your unknown father is trying to take over the city." She crossed her arms. "Do you know why he is doing this?"
"I suspect that he wants to turn Mystic Falls into his headquarters and to assemble his army here."
Liz sighed. "Another one with world domination issues…"
"I see that Caroline does take after her mother."
"Yes, and the temper as well." Liz warned him sternly. "I also carry a gun, so don't make me use it."
"I wouldn't dream of it." He assured her with a bigger smile.
It set the tone for the rest of their meeting, and Liz even eased up on her hostility.
Rebekah handed Caroline a mug with fresh coffee and another one with blood. "You can pick but you are still obliged to drink one of them."
Caroline slowly chose the coffee. "I'm happy that you came."
Rebekah sat on the sofa next to her. "I admit that I was surprised to still find you here. When Damon told me that Klaus was going to leave you in New York, I thought that he was hallucinating."
Caroline had a sip of the strong coffee. "I'm hurt that he went and made a decision for me. I hate when he does that and he knows it, Bekah."
"He didn't want me in Mystic Falls either, but this time he didn't arrange for my own escort, so that's massive." Rebekah widened her eyes.
"He's still in control." Caroline pointed out.
"He's always going to be in control."
Damon arrived with a small package that he handed Caroline. "That's your new phone."
She dropped it on the sofa uninterested, she wasn't bothering with it.
Rebekah shared a look with Damon, somehow the world didn't shift in the right way, whenever Klaus and Caroline were mad at each other.
Stefan stepped out of the car suspicious of the trio waiting for him outside of the house. Bonnie was here with Klaus and Kol.
"What's with the strange committee?"
"I know where Katherine is." Bonnie started.
"And I need you to go rescue her." Klaus added.
"Any ideas of how I can walk in and out of a fortress with her?" Stefan asked the helpful lot.
"I require for you to get caught." Klaus explained.
Stefan wasn't looking forward to being part of another crazy plan.
Bonnie stepped in again. "I've been in there and it's tricky to go around so many guards, but if we had someone inside, we could do it."
Stefan looked up. "They would kill me before I even saw her."
"Maybe so." Klaus easily said.
"Why do you want to save Katherine? She means nothing to you."
"My dear doppelgänger knows a lot more than meets the eye and I need to speak to her alone." Klaus smiled.
"Why don't you send Bonnie in?" Stefan pointed at her. "It seems that she has contacts…"
"You are expendable, she is not." Kol spoke up.
Stefan looked at Kol. "This is a stupid plan."
"And you both might not get out alive, still, you are the only one with a reason to go in for Katherine." Klaus insisted.
"I will only do this, if you promise me that you won't hurt Katherine once I get back with her." Stefan said determined.
"A little torture never hurt anyone."
Klaus eased on the scoff when Stefan reacted too seriously and slowly raised his hands compromising.
Stefan thought about it for a bit longer, Damon would never help him, and he really couldn't do this alone, so he nodded at last. It was a bad plan, but that's the only kind he knew anyway.
With the details sorted out, Klaus reached for his phone and stepped away from the small group.
He tried the number that had been disconnected since they last spoke and clasped his lips because it was still disconnected.
"We're meeting with Elijah now." Kol told Klaus.
He didn't bother turning his head enough to face him. "Bonnie stays with me, we need to work on a spell."
Kol wasn't too happy about leaving her with Klaus, but she seemed on board with it as well, so he left with Stefan while she eyed Klaus and his attempts to speak to Caroline.
"Hello, Nik."
Rebekah answered his second connection and Klaus was straight to the point.
"May I speak to her?"
"She doesn't want to talk to you."
Klaus closed his eyes, at least everyone was being honest with him, he ended the call rudely and looked at Bonnie.
"We have work to do."
Bonnie followed him to the car without a word, no one missed this version of Klaus, but there was no point in telling him.
Rebekah dropped her phone on her lap with a widening of her eyes. "Just by the way that he was breathing, I can assure you that he's not going to handle this positively."
"I don't see why. He wants to be seen as the soldier and not the married man, so I'm making his life easier." Caroline snapped.
She stood up from the sofa mad and exchanged her coffee for blood instead.
"He wanted so badly to forget that he has a wife now that I'm making sure that he does. He can go back reliving his single mass-murdering days because I am done crying and feeling sorry for myself. I am in New York, and I have an entire city to see and explore, and you and I are going out." She removed her cardigan and her top on the way to the bedroom to change clothes.
Rebekah wasn't too happy that she was flashing her perfect figure in front of Damon, but he was busy texting Klaus.
She came to the room and watched as Caroline got dressed mad, she had moved on from being miserable and Rebekah was astonished that she was now in charge of mending the shaky pieces of her big brother's marriage.
The bar was small, dirty, dark but mostly it had a criminal feel to it.
Jeremy could guess that half the clientele was hiding from the police, but he focused on the black man having a beer alone by the counter and that's where he headed.
He could tell how built up the man was from the tight shirt that he was wearing, and Jeremy sat next to him on an empty stool, asking for a beer as well.
"Are you old enough to drink?" The man asked in a deep grave voice.
Jeremy looked at him. "Is your name Connor?"
The man smiled with his eyes in the small mirror in front of him. "Do you have a death wish, kid?"
"I've spent every saving that I had to find you."
"I'm flattered but if you did so, you know that I can easily kill you just for talking to me." Connor had another sip from his bottle.
"My name is Jeremy Gilbert. I live in a town full of vampires and I need your help to kill them all."
Connor was done drinking for now and placed his beer down on the counter.
"If you went through all that trouble and money to find me, then you also know how expensive I am, and you just said that you're left with no money."
"I need your help." Jeremy insisted.
"I'm not in the charity business."
"I don't want you to go there and kill them yourself, I want you to teach me. I come from a very long line of Vampire hunters, and I want to be the one to kill every single one of them."
Connor looked at him. "Killing a vampire is easy, kid, all you have to do is shove a pointy piece of wood into their hearts."
"Originals don't die from that." Jeremy angrily said.
There was a big smile on Connor's face. "Why didn't you tell me about them in the first place?"
"Will you help me?"
Connor turned on the stool so that he could have a better look at the kid.
"Let's have a couple of beers first and while we're at it, you can tell me all that you know about the Originals."
Jeremy grabbed his beer. "What do you want to know?"
"Everyone has a weakness." Connor's smile grew.
At The Grill, Elijah noticed how uneasy Kol arrived after leaving Bonnie behind with a highly volatile Klaus.
"Stefan will do it." Kol informed him.
"Katerina is always a valuable source and I'm sure that she will be helpful, if Stefan manages to get her out of those premises." Elijah easily said.
Kol nodded, asking for a drink while also checking his messages.
Meredith arrived that instant and happy to see Elijah, she approached their table.
"Elijah, hi."
Kol looked up to the joyful guest.
Elijah politely smiled at her. "Miss Fell."
She countered with a warm smile.
"I trust that everything is well with you."
"I found my wallet!" She waved the red item in her hand.
"I never doubted that you had misplaced it momentarily." He said honestly.
Kol widened his eyes, amused at how easily they were reacting to each other.
"I still owe you that drink but I'm on duty tonight, and I shouldn't be drinking now."
"That's a very wise choice, Doctor Fell." He said with natural charm.
She laughed coyly. "Please, call me Meredith."
He nodded, smiling while she walked away tucking her brown long hair.
"Meredith… interesting girl, she's pretty but I don't trust her. A Doctor who drinks during the day and fixes the poor folks in Mystic Falls by night, can't be trusted." Kol easily opinionated.
"I'm surprised with your reluctance towards a woman." Elijah murmured.
"She's making a move on you and I'm not even sure that you know what to do, Elijah."
Elijah huffed with the comment.
Kol smirked. "Brother… if you need some advice, please ask. I'm always available to teach."
Elijah decided that it was a great time to carry on drinking.
Caroline stayed a bit behind, watching Damon and Rebekah.
They were fighting childishly over the last piece of a hotdog and Caroline looked down remembering that not even 48 hours ago, she was walking along Union Square with Klaus and holding hands with him like a normal couple.
Rebekah giggled happily that she won the fight over the remaining food and used her thumb to clean the corner of Damon's mouth that was smeared with Ketchup, then she took her finger into her mouth and playfully ran her tongue over the red substance.
Damon pulled her closer to him. "I'm sorry, but that was mine."
"Why don't you take it back?"
When the deepest kiss happened right in front of her, Caroline had enough and left the couple.
She started walking back to her new home, sensing the two hybrids closely behind her.
She walked slowly, enjoying the gloominess that was becoming part of her, and she didn't stop to see the artists on the street or the big posters advertising the big shows on Broadway.
Without her gravity, nothing mattered to Caroline and that was the raw truth of it all.
At home, she quickly changed and went to bed, in the dark and fighting the tears that wanted to come she tossed around a few times.
That was the other upsetting thing, before Klaus, she never spent the night with a man and now she didn't know how to deal with being away from his warmth.
It felt strange to have a bed all to herself, to not have him complaining that she slept in the middle of the bed on purpose, or that she stole his pillow.
Her new phone started buzzing and she slowly reached for it.
Caroline hesitated for a second, but then she touched a button to ignore his call.
She curled up into a ball, grabbed his pillow and wrapped her arms around it, waiting for the morning to come, knowing that she wouldn't sleep at all.
Klaus stared blankly at his phone, part of him couldn't believe that she just did that, but the other part knew his sweet Caroline all too well.
He was being punished for his actions and he was aware that he deserved it.
Klaus knew that she wouldn't take his call if he tried it again, so he gave up for tonight, instead he dropped the phone on the mattress and touched her pillow.
His eyes landed on the wedding band, and he brought his hand closer to touch the black ring and every memory that he ever had with Caroline came rushing to his mind.
Slowly, Klaus took the ring off, it felt strange not wearing it, but it wouldn't be a permanent fix, he took one of his necklaces and slid the ring onto the chain.
She might not be ready to talk to him, but he was far from being ready to give her up and their love.
With the necklace back to his neck and the ring close to his heart, he left the bed where he would not sleep until she was back with him, and he left the house that was empty and meaningless without her.
He reached the mansion where his new father was living and easily ripped the heart of some hero who tried to block his way inside.
Dramatically, he dropped the heart over the big desk where Ansel was sitting.
"I had time to think about your proposal."
The older man looked at the heart, before he smiled at Klaus. "And your answer?"
"I want in, on whatever you're planning." Klaus replied coldly.
Ansel stood up slowly from the chair. "You sounded very determined against it, when you left the other day."
Klaus looked at him in silence.
"It came to my knowledge that your beautiful wife stayed back in New York, alone…" Ansel artfully said with an attentive eye to Klaus's reaction.
Klaus had 10 centuries behind him to perfect this, and he wasn't going to let anything happen to Caroline by faltering on his bluff.
He shrugged it off with a small smile. "We are taking a break from each other, since she wasn't as supportive as I expected."
"She wasn't behind your decision at all?" Ansel was still suspicious.
"I don't know what you want from me, and if you are my father or not. But I still want to know why you're here after all these years. She couldn't see that."
"She's not as strong as I assumed she would be."
"She will come around, but for now I want to know more about this army that you've spoken about."
Ansel smiled and opened a drawer to take a scroll from inside of it, he handed it to Klaus.
He unfolded it, gulping down at the sight of a baby made with coal, the image was old and fading already, the paper was yellow and chipping on the edges, but it was an image strong enough to let Klaus understand that he inherited his love for drawing from Ansel.
"First and foremost, I want my son Niklaus, the one who was stolen away from me." Ansel said vulnerably.