Chapter 8

Mystic Falls, VA

-2012-

"Why does this worry you so much?" Kol asked Bonnie as he stood up and walked over to where she was pacing.

"Because I never anticipated that she would be spending so much time there! I'm worried about her, and she will probably hate me by the time she comes back because this is all my fault!" She yelled, her eyes filling with tears that threatened to spill over.

"Shh, darling, it's not your fault. No one blames you," Kol reassured her, as put a hesitant arm around her shoulders.

"Yes they do," She whispered, turning so that her arms were wrapped around his waist, burying her face in his neck as she let the tears fall.

Kol was shocked. He had been flirting with Bonnie for months now, and nothing had ever come of it. He slowly moved his hand to her lower back, leading her to the couch. As he took hold of her hand and sat down, he thought that she might come to her senses and kick him out. Instead, she let out another sob as she collapsed onto the couch and curled up against him, as he rubbed her back and brought his other hand around so that it was holding hers. As he let his eyes close, all he could do was hope that this wasn't some cruel dream.

The sound of footsteps woke Kol from what seemed like a 30-second nap. He rubbed his neck as he realized where he was. He currently had Bonnie Bennett curled up against him, her mascara dried in streaks down her cheeks. Before he had time to process the situation further, Bonnie was startled awake by a sharp knock on the door. She moved to answer the door, but he placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"I'll get it." He smiled at her, and it felt different. She genuinely returned the smile, albeit tiredly, and walked to the bathroom.

He made his way to the door, unsurprised to find his older brother wearing an amused expression.

"Am I interrupting something?" asked Klaus, barely able to keep the smirk off of his face.

"As a matter of fact…" he trailed off as Bonnie came up behind him.

"No, you aren't. What do you need?" She asked, still not in the mood to deal with his pestering about Caroline.

"Well, I would like to be invited in like my brother, but as I don't see that happening today, I was just wondering if you had any more news," he said, still looking curiously between his brother and the Bennett witch.

"Klaus, I just spoke to you five hours ago. How would I have new information?" Kol wondered why she was lying, but decided to play along.

"You spoke to me five hours ago? I don't seem to recall," he said, his forehead wrinkling in confusion.

"Yeah, outside the Grill," said Bonnie, not understanding his problem.

"Bonnie, you spoke to me yesterday at lunch time. Are you having trouble with your clocks?" He asked, smirking as Bonnie's eyes travelled to the clock in the foyer, widening as she realized that he was right, she and Kol had slept for over twelve hours.

Kol had been unusually silent, wondering how he could have actually slept that long. He rarely slept more than a few hours, and that was when he was really plastered. He looked at Bonnie's embarrassed expression then back to his brother.

"Well, I can see that nothing is getting done over here, so I guess I will just go back to sorting out my memories," he said, turning to walk off of the porch.

"Wait! We did find something. Time here passes more slowly than it does in the past. She has only been gone for one- well, two days here, but it may have been a lot longer in the past," she called. His bewildered expression was expected. He nodded at them, and turned away again.

"Oh, and Nik? Rebekah remembers, and she's not happy that you didn't tell her," said Kol, a satisfied smirk coming to his face as he saw his brother's face transform into a look of horrified realization. He flashed away before Bonnie could figure out what was going on.

-992-

Rebekah was ecstatic. Not only had she gained a new best friend, but her brother was finally happy. She could hardly believe that it had almost been eight months to the day that she had found Caroline in the pond. She knew that her parents were not as delighted as her and her brothers were to have Caroline, but they too, at least her mother, saw the change in Nik that had taken place since he met Caroline. As she looked out her bedroom window, she watched Caroline watch Nik, and vice-versa when they were not looking. They were so cute. She wished that she could find someone with whom to have that kind of happiness.

Caroline looked up from her book to see Nik and his brothers fighting with swords, sweat dripping from them as they stopped to drink from the pond. She smiled, grateful that she had found this tree to sit beneath to avoid the harsh sunlight. As she thought about the sun, she looked at her ring. After recovering from his romantic picnic, Caroline had asked Nik where he found the ring, and he had told her that it was for sale on a table at the market, and when he saw it, he knew that it belonged on her finger. She was happy that when she got back, her daylight ring would actually hold significance, instead of merely being the ring that Bonnie had found.

When she got back… As much as she had missed her friends and family, she couldn't imagine leaving now, especially when Klaus was finally starting to open up to her. He had told her the whole story about his father, and seemed relieved when she told her about hers. Not the whole story, of course, but close enough to get the point across.

"Look out!" She heard, and she looked up just in time to see a makeshift wooden sword, Henrik's, no doubt, sailing towards her head. Quickly she rolled to the side and out of the way as the sword hit the tree with a loud clap. All four boys looked at her in shock, probably expecting her to explode like Rebekah would have, but when she burst out laughing instead, they all looked relieved and jogged towards her.

"I am terribly sorry, Miss Caroline! I did not mean it!" Said Henrik, shyly clinging to the back of Nik's shirt.

She smiled and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards her. "That's alright! See? It didn't hit me, I'm fine! And I told you, Henrik, call me Caroline." She said with a grin, pleased when he returned the smile and grabbed the fallen toy, running back towards the pond.

"You have been so good with him. I fear that he does not have many good influences, besides Rebekah's occasional words of guidance, and mother is always working with Ayana," said Elijah, smiling as a small blush crept onto her cheeks.

"Thank you, Elijah. I just don't think that he needs to grow up so fast, you know? He's still so young, he should be allowed to make mistakes," she said, laughing as she looked past them to see Henrik sword-fighting with the air. The main reason that she had taken to Henrik was because she knew what the future held for him.

Elijah ran over to Henrik and took the place of his imaginary partner, leaving only Kol and Nik with her.

"So, how long have the two of you been courting again? Eight months? Seems like a pretty long time, yeah?" Said Kol, smirking as he walked away. In truth, he was happy for his brother. He had put up with a lot from Mikael ever since he found out about his parentage. He deserved happiness, and he saw that Caroline gave that to him.

"Pay no attention to Kol, he is just jealous. He asked father yesterday for permission to court one of the girls in the village and was rejected," said Klaus, noticing the embarrassed expression on Caroline's face at Kol's comments.

"Well, he is a bit young, isn't he? For courting?" She asked, not really knowing the answer.

"Not really, but I think he was denied because of the girl. She was a peasant. Father would never allow his actual sons to date someone without any money," he said, looking away.

"Nik…" she said, her hand coming up to rest on his cheek. He leaned in to her touch, his hand coming to rest on top of hers. "You don't have to pay attention to him Nik. He doesn't know what he's missing with you. Trust me," she said, bringing her other hand to the back of his neck and pulling him towards her.

Just as her lips met his, Esther called for dinner. As the three other boys ran past them, Kol with a wink, Caroline moved to follow them. As she pulled away Niklaus backed her up against the tree, where no one would be able to see them, especially as the sun was setting.

"Stay," he said, leaning in to press his lips to hers.

She really hadn't needed convincing, especially since they didn't get a lot of alone time with his four siblings always around. Nodding she slid her arms around his neck, her hands pulling at his hair as his lips moved to her neck. She moaned, using her hands to pull his mouth back to hers, sliding her tongue into his mouth before he could distract her again. As his hands moved to wind around her waist, she jumped up, wrapping her legs around his waist and locking her ankles behind him. He moaned as he pushed her back against the tree, his hands moving to cup her cheeks as she moved to take off his shirt. He broke away from her, breathing heavily as he looked down at her hands.

"Love, I may not follow many rules, but I am still traditional," he said, helping her down before re-adusting his shirt, not missing the embarrassed blush that stained her cheeks.

He stopped for a minute to brush a stray hair from her face. "Caroline, do not misunderstand me, I want to, but this is something that I need to do. Do you understand?" He asked, disappointed that he had upset her.

"Of course I do, I know your morals, I don't know what came over me," she said, as she pushed her dress back down, making sure that she looked presentable.

"You are beautiful," he said, pressing a kiss to her lips, and then to her hand as he smiled at her and led her inside. Now it was her turn to look at him and marvel at how different he was with her, and how lucky she had been that he had chosen to be with her.

-2012-

When Klaus arrived at the mansion, he expected Rebekah to attack him right away. To his surprise, she was nowhere to be found. As he poured himself a drink and sat down, he sensed that someone else was in the house. He quickly stood, so as not to be caught unawares, and walked towards the door. Suddenly someone flashed behind him.

"Hello, Niklaus. I think that it is time we have a little chat," said the figure, as Klaus turned around to see his face.

"Elijah. What a surprise," said Klaus as Elijah took the drink from his hand and took a sip, smirking at his brother's shocked expression.

Here it is, the longest update yet! I hope you enjoyed it, because I really enjoyed writing it. I am in a very romantic mood, so don't expect that to go away anytime soon. Just for clarification, Klaus and Caroline have been courting for about 8 months, but they have only kissed, and they haven't said 'I love you' yet. I am working on when and where that will take place right now. Sorry if anyone was disappointed with Klaus's morals, but I feel that they are appropriate for the time.

Anyways, thank you for reading! Until next time ~