A/N: I am so sorry for how long it took to get an update for this story! But here you go! Some Kol with Henrik, Caroline and Rebekah, plus some Klaroline below.
When I first met you I honestly didn't know you were going to be this important to me. -Unknown
"What are you guys feeding him? He's getting heavy," Kol teased as he lifted a fussy Henrik from the stroller. It'd been a busy month since Klaus, Caroline and the baby had arrived back in town. Especially with Rebekah and Caroline starting school again. Kol had made himself scarce for a few weeks, needing to get some things together overseas so he could move more permanently back to NYC, and hadn't seen as much of them while gone. There had been texting daily, email updates with photos of Henrik hitting milestones and a few Skype phone calls, but it still amazed him how much his baby brother had managed to grow in his absence.
"You'd have to ask Caroline the exact name of the formula and baby food brands," Klaus shook his head as he parked the stroller by the table they had snagged at the coffee shop. "I'll get our drinks and something to eat. Want the usual?"
"Extra shot of espresso today." He'd been out late the night before, catching up with some old friends. Kol turned his attention back to the baby, setting him so he was sitting on the tabletop in front of him. Though he continued to keep his hands close in case the sturdiness he'd been seeing wasn't quite mastered yet.
Henrik blew some bubbles and Kol arched a brow, quickly grabbing one of the napkins from the table to wipe the wetness away. "We need to work on your style though, Hen. Convince your mommy that 'cute' isn't the way to go." A coat that had an elephant trunk as the hood? Really, Caroline? A baby leather jacket would have looked ten times better in his opinion. "Don't worry. I'll make sure to get you some good outfits she'll have to dress you in." Even if she'd roll her eyes while doing so.
There was a string of babbling that he still didn't understand but at least the talking thing was happening. Kol knew his brother and Caroline had been concerned because one of the doctors had told them that babies who grew up in abusive households could have any number of delays.
Kol caught sight of a delicious looking brunette glancing his way though, her focus on his baby brother for a moment and he grinned, ready to try and play this hand to his advantage. Caroline and Klaus hadn't said that he couldn't use Henrik to pick up chicks. They'd never said that he could either but well, better to ask for forgiveness and all that.
"You ready to help your favorite...Uncle out?" Kol asked the baby as he scooped him up while standing. It was still weird to call himself that but with Klaus and Caroline being Daddy and Mommy, him being Uncle made the most sense. "Be all smiles now, Hen."
Kol was ready with his most brilliant smile, ready try one of his usual lines on the woman walking over to him. "Hi," the young woman said, her focus on Henrik instead of him though, waving excitedly to the baby. Henrik clapped his hands, babbling again. "You're just too cute."
"Takes after his dad, don't you think?" Kol asked with a wink, pleased that she turned her attention to him, even if she was arching her brow. Henrik let out a few more nonsense strings earning another smile from the woman. Kol tried to figure out how exactly single dads did this. What lines did they use? Or did they just let the babies do their thing and women got all mooshy with the cooing? He was more than fine with letting his baby brother do all the work so he could get this girl's number.
"Where's his dad?" the woman asked and Kol arched a brow, confused.
"I'm his dad." Did he not look dadlike? Okay, that'd actually be a good thing, but come on, he wasn't wearing anything that made him look completely incompetent.
She laughed at that and he scowled. "Uh huh," she held out her hands and Kol blinked as Henrik reached to be taken by her. Kol kept hold of him though. Maybe she was one of those crazy ladies who tried to steal babies. Caroline and Klaus would never forgive him if he got Henrik kidnapped.
Henrik made an angry squawk-like noise at being held so tightly while the woman looked expectantly at him. "Hey Bonnie," Klaus greeted as he arrived at the table with drinks and two different pastries. "You on break between classes?"
This time when she reached for Henrik Kol let her have him, realizing who she was. "Yeah, just going to grab something to eat before heading to my next one." She cooed happily at Henrik who giggled before trying to catch her hair in his fists. "This one-" she nodded toward Kol "-was trying to pass him off as his."
Klaus shook his head as he sat down, Kol following suit with a shrug. "You never said I couldn't try picking up women with him." Though he couldn't believe he'd tried to pick up one of Caroline's best friends with the baby. Ugh. He wasn't going to live this one down. Unless he could flip this around to be a win on his side.
He leaned forward, upping his level of charm as Bonnie handed Henrik over to Klaus. "What are you studying, darling?"
She looked back at him and actually laughed. "Sorry, Kol, right?" she asked and he nodded, ready to use the fact she already knew his name to her advantage. "I already know all about you and that smile is definitely not good enough to get you anywhere near my pants." She turned back toward Klaus before he could say anything in response. "It was good seeing you, Klaus. Bye Henrik."
The baby got another beautiful smile while Kol was left sputtering as she headed off to pick up her order from the pickup window. Klaus' laughter really wasn't helping Kol make any sense of what happened.
Unlike most of the people that she knew, Caroline Forbes loved studying. Maybe it was all of the charts she created to help her put everything in order, the countless graphs, and hour or so of organizing that she'd structured into every day so she'd be on top of her classes. She had always been a big believer in doing a little every day so when the big test or paper came that it wouldn't be overwhelming. This she could plan down to the little minutia and nine times out of ten it wouldn't be screwed with. This she always had control over.
Which was nice because she had definitely learned that having a baby meant she had to give up some control, that things might happen unexpectedly a lot more than she was used to. Though, routine was also really important to Henrik so it definitely wasn't like all of the others had been trying to tell her. She could change her routine just fine but babies needed one too and it was easy enough to adapt to him and figure out her life with him in it.
Plus wedding planning.
And doing things with friends.
And doing things with Klaus.
And his family.
Studying was her time. A chance for her to breathe for an hour a day with no interruptions.
Usually that was the case anyway. But the quiet, hesitant rapping against the study door alerted her that wouldn't be the case. She knew it wasn't Klaus; he was out with Henrik and Kol. That left Rebekah. "Come on in," Caroline called out, curious as to what her future sister-in-law needed.
The door opened and she arched a brow at how pensive the younger girl appeared. She didn't think she'd ever seen Rebekah look as confused as she was in that moment, apprehension seeming to come off of her in waves. There had been sadness and an underlying anger at the funeral, but nothing like this.
"I need your help," Rebekah started, and Caroline tensed a little. Hundreds of scenarios played out in her mind over what the girl could need help with. Usually Rebekah's troubles equalled a night spent in a jail cell or owing money for a ruined hotel room. But the girl had been doing so well and Caroline couldn't figure out when either of those things might have happened recently. "It's nothing dramatic."
Rebekah sighed, that was definitely dramatic, before nodding toward the books in set out on the desk in front of Caroline. "How do you even do this?" she motioned toward the laptop and Caroline frowned, not at all sure what the girl was getting at. "I never had to study. Daddy had paid for the new addition to my school in college. I just slid right on through as long as I showed up every once and awhile. And I didn't really care before…" She shrugged. "But I need to now and I don't even know where to start. You're like Queen of Studying."
Visions of schedules and charts seemed to dance through Caroline's head for a minute, a whole array of tools she could share with Rebekah right at her fingertips, but she reeled that all in quickly. It was probably a good idea to start out smaller than that, make sure she didn't overwhelm Rebekah before she'd even started. The fact that Rebekah had actually come to her for advice was huge. She was not about to blow this.
"The key I've found is to do a little every day. That way it becomes part of your routine. Then it doesn't get to be overwhelming," Caroline told her. "Plus it means when exams come you're not scrounging to remember all the details of like five different classes. Also then you usually don't have to spend sleepless nights cramming and instead it's like an hour or so a day that you use to go over things and get papers done."
"An hour, really?" Rebekah asked as she finally sat down. "That doesn't sound too long."
"Plus you don't have to do it every day at first. A day per class should be good to start with." Especially with Rebekah being a freshman. That could get her into the routine easy enough. "Though it'll depend on what classes you picked. Do you want to make a schedule?"
Rebekah slowly nodded. "Yeah, probably a good idea."
There was so much more to it than a schedule. Was Rebekah a music listener or did she need silence, snack supplies, adjusting for science and history classes, plus ones that required lengthy papers. But Caroline reeled that in, reminding herself again that she didn't want to overwhelm her. "Thanks, Caroline," Rebekah murmured as Caroline started to create a weekly schedule on the laptop.
"You're welcome," Caroline grinned as she glanced over at her. "And since you're family I won't charge you my scheduling fee."
Rebekah relaxed a little at that, laughing, and Caroline looked back down at the screen, pleased that the girl had actually come to her for advice. That had to be a step in the right direction for the two of them, right? She was aware that Rebekah resented her relationship with Klaus a bit because it meant he had someone else in his life he cared about and Rebekah wasn't used to sharing her brother's affections. Caroline also knew that his previous choice in women hadn't exactly been the best, a number of them after his fortune or leading him down dark paths. She couldn't really blame Rebekah for being wary at first-the hostility had been another story, one she hadn't put up with-but that had mellowed out, especially recently.
Caroline had a feeling that had to do with Henrik. The circumstances of them getting custody of him were horrendous but there was no discounting how much of a miracle he was for them.
"So exactly how red was Kol's face after Bonnie walked away? Because she told me he was pretty much like a tomato," Caroline cackled at the image her friend had created while retelling her about the chance meeting at the coffee shop. Out of all the people Kol would try to use Henrik to pick up a girl with it would have to be Bonnie. God, she was so never letting him live this one down.
"It only increased in redness after she left and he realized that she'd most likely be calling you to say all that happened," Klaus informed her with a tip of his wine glass toward her. She laughed again and he smiled, enjoying how relaxed and carefree she seemed to be in the moment.
They hadn't had much time to themselves in the last few months, between Henrik, his siblings, her classes, his gallery opening, their time together had been taken wherever they could. Even with weekly date nights being penned into their planners they'd been busy finalizing wedding plans together. And while testing out frosting choices one more time had been fun for final wedding cake decision making, it wasn't the same as simply going out together.
Everything was still there in both of their minds but thankfully they seemed to both be pushing them to the background for the evening, enjoying the back booth of a friend's restaurant. The waitstaff was attentive but knew to leave them to their own devices.
"I'm still incredibly sad that you didn't get a picture of it," Caroline sighed dramatically, adding in a pout as she twirled her spoon around.
"I could paint it for you," Klaus reminded, laughing as her eyes lit up with excitement at the possibility. "I can't guarantee that Kol won't confiscate it and tear it to shreds but he'd have done that with a printed out photo too."
"As long as I can take a picture of it and get it up onto facebook first it's all good!" Caroline raised her glass and clinked it softly against his own. Klaus couldn't help but grin, loving how devious her mind could be at times.
Their waitress stopped by the table, setting down a plateful of chocolate strawberries. "Courtesy of Marcel," she told them before heading off again.
"Just like the first time you brought me here," Caroline murmured as she picked one up before taking a bite.
Klaus watched her for a moment, entranced by the way she licked her lips to get a bit of chocolate off them. "I had to impress you. After all I was only guaranteed one date and you were adamant that you wouldn't enjoy it."
"You thought entirely too highly of yourself. I had to bring you down a peg or two," Caroline reminded him, pushing the plate toward him so he'd pick up a strawberry as well.
"But I surprised you," Klaus pointed out as he dangled on the fruits between his fingers.
"I didn't think that you actually paid attention all those times you'd bothered me while I was trying to study," Caroline shrugged though he saw her lips pulling up into a small smile at the memories of their initial meetings. "You were just entirely too damn flirty, so sure of yourself, and always there."
"You wanted to see the Central Park zoo. It was on your list of things you still hadn't managed to get around to." He remembered the delight in her eyes when they'd arrived, the uncertainty that gave way to being touched by him remembering that small detail. Klaus knew she'd thought it unimportant, some forgotten little talk that had happened between them during one of their countless exchanges at the coffee shop. But he'd memorized everything about her, unable to get her out of his mind. She'd started out as a new muse he'd wanted to paint and blossomed into so much more.
"I'd penciled our date in for an hour. Had a backup plan with Bonnie to call and get me out of there with some excuse or another," Caroline mused. "And she did call and I told her that I was good to go. We started in the morning at the zoo and ended with dinner here. Longest date I'd ever been on."
"And you let me take you out to coffee the next morning," Klaus reminded before taking a bite.
She rolled her eyes at that. "I'm pretty sure we just met up like we always did at the coffee shop on Saturday morning."
"Yes, but you let me sit at the table with you instead of having to stake out openings at the tables beside you so we could talk." He'd known then that the game had changed between them.
Caroline shook her head, though she still smiled. "Because you always tried to talk when I was studying!"
Klaus shrugged as he leaned back against the booth. "You were always studying."
"And I have an impeccable GPA because of all that studying. No thanks to you." Hmph!
He arched a brow at that. "I believe I remember helping you with a number of late night study sessions."
She scoffed. "Those always end up in sex and way less studying."
"You never complained," Klaus grinned and reached across the table to take hold of her hand.
Caroline squeezed his hand. "It was a nice destressor."
He ran his finger over her engagement ring, causing the two of them to look down at their hands. "Two more months." And she'd be Mrs. Caroline Mikaelson.
"I'd say I wish it was sooner but oh my god there are still too many little things that need to be finalized that if it was any sooner I might actually have a panic attack." Her eyes widened a bit in horror at the thought of all they'd be cramming to do and Klaus ran his thumb reassuringly against her skin.
She looked at him then and smiled softly. "Ready to get out of here?" Klaus asked, food no longer on his mind.
"Are we going to go home and fake study?" Caroline asked, slipping her hand out of his while wagging her brows at him.
"I'm told it's a nice way to destress and you're looking a bit tense, sweetheart," Klaus replied as he slid out of the booth after dropping enough money on the table to cover their bill and tip.
"Very tense," Caroline agreed as she slid out as well. "Think you're up for a thorough study session?"
"With you? Always." He held out his arm for her, happily taking her arm in his as they headed out of the restaurant, ready to enjoy the rest of their evening.