Caroline was rushing to get ready, she was already running late, but it was all about the little details now.

The classic white dress fitted her like a glove and over it, she was wearing a short red-coral blazer that matched her high heels and she had a last look in the mirror, to make sure that she was flawless.

Her hair was caught on the left side with a black hair clip, and she stroked her cheeks to make her blush pop.

Lastly, she applied some shiny lip gloss and left the room with a big smile.

The soft Christmas music that she selected earlier was playing and the house was full of joy.

Caroline stopped on top of the staircase to watch the party happening downstairs.

Along with the main family she could see her mother and the girl that Elijah invited to the party, she could also see Bonnie's father and the Salvatore brothers with Katherine.

As soon as she saw her, Bonnie waved at her from the main floor.

She was wearing a dress that had a dark-wine color to it and a sexy front that was made of an intricate maze of strings. It showed Bonnie's chest but without revealing too much.

Caroline started coming down the staircase and she could feel the eyes starting to follow her movements, but she wasn't uncomfortable, she liked the attention.

As did the man, waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs.

Klaus looked dapper in his black suit and red shirt and held out his hand for her to take, the minute she did so, the sparkling diamond-bracelet around her wrist stole the show.

Klaus didn't miss the touch and smiled happily that she had kept it. "Welcome to the party Mrs. Mikaelson."

She returned the sly smile. "I hope you missed me."

Klaus moved across the room with the dashing woman by his side, feeling proud and lucky, he took her to the arranged dance area so that the owners of the house could officially start the festivities with a dance.

She rested her hand over his shoulder, and he took her waist gently. They moved effortlessly, like always and all eyes were fixated on them.

Kol smiled at Bonnie asking for her hand, and after they joined the couple, Elijah and his date followed and then a few other couples as well.

"You look ravishing as usual, sweetheart." Klaus shared with her his most prominent thoughts.

Caroline caressed his shoulder. "And you look hot, hubby."

Klaus laughed softly and twirled her around.

She was giving him that overpowering smile of hers, when she returned to his chest.

"Do I get a kiss from the dashing woman in my arms?"

She tilted her head to the side adorably. "I have guests to attend to."

"I see… it will be one of those nights then…" He sighed.

It was done so dramatically that she laughed.

The song ended and the room erupted into a loud choir of clapping.

Klaus addressed the family and guests at the same time that a small army of elegant waiters arrived with champagne, he retrieved two glasses from a tray, giving Caroline one of them.

"My beautiful wife and I, wish you all a Merry Christmas." Klaus raised his glass in the air. "Enjoy the party."

There were loud cheers echoing through the house, while he made a toast with her, and Caroline was having a hard time taming all of her happiness as she sipped from her pink champagne.

Liz looked at Rudy, remembering their talk from earlier, she was nervously touching her dress not only because she was wearing one but also because she was troubled by what he told her, she needed the cold night air to think straight and went outside to the garden.

Rudy didn't follow her, instead he had his drink slowly and kept his cautious posture as the man in the dark suit approached him.

"Elijah Mikaelson, if I'm not mistaken." He said with a hint of a smile.

Elijah bowed his head slightly. "I've always been curious about Bonnie's father."

"You've been to New Orleans a few times lately. You could have searched for me during one of those occasions. I would've happily found the time to have a drink with someone of your importance."

Elijah had his drink with a smile. "I had other affairs in mind."

"I think that we are both on the same level of curiosity now." Rudy stirred the champagne in his glass. "You want to know why I chose to come back now, and I want to know why I have the older brother poking me, instead of the one sleeping with my daughter."

Elijah pressed his lips in discontent, he didn't like that the man was referring to Bonnie in such vulgar ways. "Bonnie is very dear to me."

"I bet… after all she did bring you back from the dead."

A glimpse of knowledge escaped Elijah's hard features. "For someone who chose to live so far apart from her, you seem very well-informed about your daughter's life."

"Circumstances kept me away from Bonnie, but change is in the air." He circled a finger in the air. "Nice party…" He started to walk away with a final smile at Elijah. "Not bad for a horde of vampires."

Elijah's senses flagged him about the new menace in town.

Caroline smiled as she neared her mother, who was sitting outside on the little edge of the garden fountain.

"Look at my mom, she's all classy tonight."

Liz looked at the almost empty glass in her hand. "I had to resurrect the only dress I own. It was a dinner party at the Mikaelson manor, after all."

Caroline sat down next to Liz, playing with her bracelet. "I might have gotten carried away a tiny bit…"

Liz looked at the house in front of them all decorated with white lights on the frames, the garden was paved with burning torches and the music was audible even from here, the waiters were constantly doing rounds to make sure that nothing was lacking to the guests.

"If this is only for a small family gathering on Christmas Eve… I wonder how New Year's Eve will be."

"Klaus needs to learn how to say no to me." She sighed. "He indulges me in everything."

"This was always your dream, Caroline. The notorious marriage, the big house to look after and the extravagant parties…" Liz looked at her with a teasing smile.

"All I wanted was to be happy, mom."

Liz finished her drink and placed the glass next to her on the fountain's edge. "And are you happy, Caroline?"

Caroline truly beamed. "Yes, I am."

It was an answer filled with conviction and Liz stroked her hair like she had done so many times when Caroline was still little.

"I know that I wasn't the most present mother, that I constantly neglected you because of my work. I wasn't the mother you deserved, but that didn't stop you from becoming a confident, strong and beautiful woman. I'm proud of you, Caroline. No matter what you think of me, I am."

"You are going to ruin my makeup, mom…" Caroline complained, touching the corner of her smoky eyes.

Liz stroked her cheek. "We had our fights, and I didn't always understand the choices you made, or accepted you…" She looked down on her lap "… it was hard for me when you became a vampire, but I should have seen that it was harder for you. All the things that you had to give up…"

"You need to stop that, you are all emotional and making me cry, when I have a party going on." Caroline whispered, emotional as well.

"I'm sorry, Carebear..."

Spontaneously, Caroline hugged her mother. "I didn't give up on anything, mom. I have everything I could ever wish for." She pulled back. "No, I have more, because I love my husband and he loves me as much. I have a family now and we protect each other, and we laugh, and fight and cry together."

"All I ever wanted was to see you happy. I wasn't happy with your father and I always worried that you would have the same fate."

"I would never be this happy, if Klaus hadn't walked inside of my room that night and I owe you for letting him inside of our house, in the first place."

"Do you like being a vampire, Caroline?" Liz asked her slowly.

"It doesn't define me, mom, but I wouldn't change what I've gained from it."

Liz pulled her back into a hug, she wasn't confused anymore.

Bonnie couldn't hold back the deep breath as she saw her father walking in her direction.

"You look very pretty tonight, honey."

"Thanks." She dryly replied.

"It's Christmas… could we try and at least be nice to each other?" Rudy asked with a real plea in his eyes.

Bonnie smiled with a lot of sarcasm. "Merry Christmas, dad. Thanks for spending the first Christmas ever with me."

"I see that it wasn't you who sent me the invitation…" He dropped his voice discouraged.

"Actually, it was, but only because I wanted to tell you face to face how much I don't want you in my life."

"You can't cut me out like that."

"I'm taking a page from a book that you wrote yourself."

"Bonnie… I know that you're disappointed and that you don't understand why I left but Sheila wasn't an easy woman… After your mother fled, she protected you from everything and from everyone. I couldn't get near my own daughter without having to listen to her opinions about everything I did or said."

"Don't you dare to pin this on Grams."

"She didn't make my life easy." He raised his voice. "I wanted to take you away with me, I never meant to leave you here with her."

"You still left."

"Bonnie, listen to me…"

"No." She pushed him away. "You and Abby left me here, like I was nothing, and Grams took care of me. She loved me when both of you moved on and found new families."

As she walked away, Rudy tried to follow her, but he was swiftly stopped by Kol, who appeared determined in front of him.

"The party is over for you." He said sternly.

"So, you're the boyfriend, I assume." Rudy eyed him, unhappy.

"I'm not as polite as Elijah is, and unlike him, I do fancy a good spectacle, so I wouldn't have a problem adding your heart to the Christmas ornaments." He sneered.

"That's not the best way to win over your girlfriend's father."

"Rudy… mate…" Kol smugly smiled at him. "Your existence is entirely irrelevant to me."

"That's mayor Hopkins." He pointed out, offended.

"I've never been good with parental figures, and I really don't want to upset Caroline on her special night, therefore, I would recommend that you turn your back and leave. Considering how that's a somewhat specialty of yours, it shouldn't be a hard task to execute." Kol provoked him.

The man kept his angry stare on Kol for a moment, but then he did what was best for everyone and walked away.

He did not stop to speak to anyone, and he was already by his car when he saw Liz waiting for him.

"What do you want?" He rudely asked her.

"About the talk that we had in my office…" She clutched her handbag.

"What about it?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not going to help you."

He slammed his fist against the roof of his car. "I need your support in this, Liz. Our daughters deserve better than facing eternity as monsters."

She shook her head. "I can't do this to Caroline. I love her and I don't care anymore what she is."

"They are living in a house full of vampires and caring to them."

"My daughter is married to Klaus, and even if she was a ghost, she would still be around him and I don't know about Kol and Bonnie, but I know how much Klaus loves my daughter and how good he is to her."

"I need you." Rudy calmed down. "Only Caroline knows the location of that sword."

She still faced him firmly. "Stay away from my daughter, or I will tell Klaus what you're up to."

"I bargained for Bonnie's cure, and I can't back away now."

"Can't or won't?" Liz confronted him.

"Ansel promised me, he…" Rudy pressed his fist against the car again. "If I bring him the sword, he will use it to make Bonnie human again."

"She made her choice, Rudy…" Liz touched his shoulder.

"No, she didn't." He looked at Liz. "Neither did Caroline. They were turned against their will, and I have the ability to make things right again."

"We both failed our daughters as parents, but there's nothing that we can do to change that now."

He grabbed her arm forcefully.

With a fast gesture, she turned and elbowed Rudy right in the middle of his face, and before he recovered from his dizziness, she pushed his face against the window of his car.

Although he was a big man, she still managed to out-strength him.

"I'm going to tell Klaus about our little chat." She let him go and walked away confident.

Rudy moaned with a bleeding cut on his face, just next to a really throbbing nose.

"Who's Elijah's date?" Caroline asked Rebekah intrigued.

"I heard that she's the new town's doctor."

Caroline looked at her with a smile. "Everyone behaved tonight."

Rebekah smiled bitterly, because it was obvious that she was referring to Damon. "They haven't talked to him but that's always a step up from assaulting him."

"It's the holidays but don't expect miracles, B… they are all very protective of you and that will never change."

"I could kill everyone inside of his house by only using part of my abilities, and for me, it's quite ironic that I keep being offered a protection that I don't want."

"Wait…" Caroline stepped in front of Rebekah. "What are you hiding?"

Rebekah licked her red lips and looked around the room.

Elijah was having a warm talk with Meredith while the two Salvatore members were entertained with Katherine, so she asked Caroline to follow her outside to the balcony.

Caroline frowned. "I'm not going to like this."

"I asked Damon to turn me, with a second intent." Rebekah confessed.

"This is scary… not to mention annoying, that all of you keep doing stuff with ulterior motives" She sighed.

"I was worried about Kol." Rebekah admitted. "He didn't tell anyone that he was linked to Bonnie in the first place, and then he further went and hid that she was draining his energy. He always does this, Caroline. He takes advantage that we are all busy, battling each other and he deals with his problems alone. He takes for granted that we don't care about what's happening in his life, and he's not wrong about it."

"What did you do, Rebekah?" Caroline asked her in a low pitch.

"I used Damon to turn me, so that I could be like Bonnie."

"How is that even… possible?" Caroline was baffled.

Instead of answering her, Rebekah caught his back as he left the main room and hurriedly rushed after the blue-eyed vampire, for sure he just overheard her conversation with Caroline.

"Damon? Please wait." She flashed, to cut his way to the car.

"I'm sorry, Rebekah…" He said with a smile. "… is there anything else I can help you with, anything else you can use me for?" He finished angrily.

"I know that it sounds bad…"

"You used me!" He spat out the words. "I expected a lot from you, Rebekah but I didn't expect that."

"Damon… I didn't..." She shook her head. "I just needed your blood, but the rest was real, I promise you."

"Why me?" He asked between teeth.

"I think that there's something in your blood that triggers my witchcraft… I was first suspicious of it, when you saved me the day that Matt supposedly died."

"And I just kept on saving you.".

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you the truth before."

"It's not important." He turned away, heartbroken.

"Damon…" She called him softly. "Please, don't leave."

He arrived next to his car with an immediate pause, and for a second, Rebekah thought that he was going to stay.

Painfully, he chose to open the door and got inside of his car, and he left nothing but smoke behind, as he raced away.

Kol found a sad Bonnie inside of the library.

"Is he gone?" She quietly asked him.

"He is." He neared her to take her into his arms.

She found comfort in his strong arms. "I really wish that he hadn't come back."

He stroked her back slowly. "You don't have to accept him, just because he wants you to."

"I don't want him in my life." She said against his chest.

Kol held her closer to him. "I'll make sure that he stays away from you."

She smiled facing him.

"I hate seeing you like this, darling." He addressed the gloominess in her eyes.

"I'm already feeling better." She kissed him softly on the lips.

As she pulled away, he looked at her very strictly. "That's good, because I have something important to ask you, Bonnie."

She narrowed her eyes, puzzled.

"And it would be an awful experience if you were crying and upset…" He cleared his voice.

He was visibly nervous, and so was she now.

He gave her a weak smile. "Caroline reckons that I need to grow up, and she could be right. I feel as if it's time."

"What are you…" She wobbled her head, as he went down on one knee, and gulped down. "Kol, please… don't play games with me."

"I'm very serious about this." He assured her, while reaching inside of his suit-pocket to retrieve a small red box.

She covered her lips with her hands.

"Bonnie Bennett, you're the most amazing, beautiful, sexy, fun, powerful and a bit crazy woman I have ever met…" He widened his eyes.

She smiled, through her first emerging tears.

"When I lost you, I lost a part of me. Not just my humanity, but a real part of me that I never allowed anyone to see, before I taught you how to play baseball. You've sneaked your way into my long-dead heart with that smile and that fire that leaves me weak, with those eyes that were my doom from the minute I dared to look deep into them. I love you, Bonnie, and I want to marry you. Will you marry me?"

He opened the box to reveal a stunning engagement ring, made of white gold with tiny drops of emerald tears around the band and finished with an oval piece of blue diamond.

It was so over the top and beautiful that Bonnie flustered with a jittery smile, she began laughing, because her nerves took the best of her.

"Is that a good laugh?" He asked, worriedly.

"Yes…" She whispered, nodding. "I will marry you."

"You've genuinely scared me there for a second, darling…" He took her hand to slide the ring into place.

She kept on laughing and trying to stop her happy tears, as he stood up.

"I love you so much, Kol." Her green eyes were sparkling with undying love.

"Of course, we don't have to get married right away, we can take our time with it. 50 years or a century from now, sounds reasonable to me." His smile was sly.

She laced her arms around his neck. "You're mine now, Kol."

"I've always been, Bonnie. Even when I didn't know that I was."

He kissed her with passion and love, and she answered his kiss intensely, stroking his neck with the hand that had a shiny new ring on her finger.

"Are you feeling tired already, sweetheart?"

Caroline smiled as Klaus sat down next to her on the garden bench. "I just need a little break from the party."

Klaus had a bottle of champagne with him, and he refilled her glass with a smile. "What's on your mind, love?"

"Rebekah…"

"Is it something that I should know?" He inquired, while filling his glass.

"I found out tonight that she's still a witch." Caroline shared her findings, wondering how he would react.

Klaus paused before drinking. "It's a never-ending surprise with Rebekah."

"Before Bonnie, I thought that this kind of thing never happened." Caroline leaned against him.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Bonnie was turned with the blood of an Original and she comes from an original line of witches, as well."

"Damon was turned by Katherine and that one is a doppelgänger…" She held her glass for a refill. "Great… Damon's blood is special. He's going to have a blast over it."

"I always found you special on your own."

She kissed his cheek. "That was sweet."

He took advantage of her proximity to sneak in a kiss.

"Do you know who I haven't seen for a while?" She giggled. "Kol and Bonnie. I bet that they ditched the party and went to their room to burn some candles."

Knowingly, Klaus smirked. "He had a very vital question for Bonnie tonight."

"A question?" Caroline looked at Klaus wary.

"Not just some random question, love… but the question itself."

Caroline covered her mouth. "Oh my God, Nik… seriously?"

Klaus nodded. "I suspect that she will say yes…"

"We will no longer be the only married couple in the family." She pouted a bit.

"So, you haven't regretted marrying me yet." He assumed.

"Not, yet…" She grinned.

"Ummm…" He nodded, taking a folded paper from inside of his pocket. "It doesn't make sense though…"

"What doesn't?" She tried to guess what was in the paper.

"That you still love being married, when you made a list of things that you hate about me."

Caroline knew exactly what he was holding and tried to grab the paper but to her horror he was quick to react and stood up clearing his throat to read out loud.

"I hate your hair, I hate your eyes, I hate that you have dimples when you smile…" He gave her a judging look. "I happen to fancy my dimples."

"Give me that!"

Caroline tried to fight with him to take hold of the paper, but Klaus was stronger and stopped her with his hand.

"I hate the way that you kiss me." He widened his eyes playfully.

"Don't read the rest…"

"I hate the way that you hold me after we make love, and I hate that you are always able to make me smile even when all I want to do is cry. I hate that I love you so much that everything loses meaning when you're not here." He finished serious.

Caroline looked down on the ground. "I stole the idea from a movie, and I was working on a love letter as a present for you…"

Klaus folded the paper. "If you wanted to keep it a secret, you shouldn't have left it lying around, like that."

"I gave up on it, it was just a bunch of nonsense that didn't make any sense. I wanted you to have a love letter that was written by me, but I'm not good at this…" She was really sad about this unfinished task of hers.

He smiled enchanted. "I hate your hair, Caroline. And your eyes and the way you always grit your teeth when you're upset and call me Klaus." He poked a lock of her hair slowly. "I hate the way you fall asleep, cradled against my chest, after we make love and that I miss it the most, when we are apart."

Caroline's eyes glistened with fresh tears. "I hate your accent." She said in a low voice.

Klaus circled his arms around her waist. "I hate that you look so good in red."

She finally smiled a bit. "I hate your necklaces and your lips."

"I hate that you're so beautiful that my chest aches by only looking at you."

"I hate that it took you so long to find me, Nik…" She whispered with tears dancing in her clear eyes.

Klaus was serious as well and licked his lips slowly. "I hate that I had to endure all of those centuries without you."

She rested her forehead against his, overtaken by emotion.

"So, I've decided to buy you a horse for Christmas."

Klaus laughed, of course, that he forgot to say that he hated how adorable she was.

Liz was searching for her house keys on her way to the front porch, it was dark and all the lights on her street were out.

It was probably a blackout, which was always nice, she would have to call the station and try to figure out what was going on but she wasn't done crossing the street when there was a loud shrieking noise that startled her.

Out of nowhere, there was a car speeding down the street and heading straight in her direction.

Liz tried to move away from his deadly path, but the black SUV violently hit her, before she got away in time.

Her body was propelled far, while her keys and her bag flew in another direction.

The car slowed down, only enough to make sure that she wasn't moving.

She was facing the concrete with blood running down and starting to cover her face and when her bloodied fingers stopped spasming, the unknown driver slowly drove away, into a quiet and peaceful night of Christmas Eve.