A/N: Thank you to nfinneman for the lovely new graphic!

Chapter 22

Mystic Falls, VA

2012

As Caroline walked hand-in-hand with her husband, who couldn't keep his eyes off of his little girls, she felt tears make their way to her eyes once again. Hearing her sniffling, Nik stopped walking and turned to her, concern in his eyes.

"What's the matter, love? Aren't you happy to be back?" he asked softly, catching her tears with his thumb.

"Of course I am! It's just when I think of you and your family, spending one thousand years thinking that we left you… It breaks my heart, Nik! I love you so much, and I caused you pain!" She cried, as the sobs wracked her body. Klara and Carina came running towards their mother, upset by her outburst.

"It's okay girls, mommy's just crying happy tears," Nik said, noticing the quivering bottom lips of the twins. Once they were no longer on the verge of breaking down, he turned back to his wife.

"Caroline, I love you. We all love you. When you left, you told me that we would see each other again. Granted, I was expecting it to be within a human lifespan, but when we were turned it all started to make sense. I haven't gotten my memories of the years in-between yet, but right here and now, I understand why you left, and I'm not upset with you. In fact, I'm probably the happiest I've been since you left! I thought that you would come back so infatuated with human-Klaus that you would decide you wanted nothing to do with me, and you've proved me wrong, sweetheart. All I want right now is to take my three girls home and have an amazing night. We can figure everything else out later," he said, pressing a kiss to her knuckles.

"You promise?" she asked quietly, as her tears subsided.

He shot her one of his dimpled grins for reassurance, and soon she was wearing a grin of her own as they hurried to catch up with their crazy toddlers.

Rebekah walked into the Grill practically humming with excitement. She knew it was only a matter of time before her sister-in-law/best friend and beautiful nieces would turn up, and to top it all off, things were going really well with Matt. She noticed the blue-eyed blond clearing a table as she walked in and shot him dazzling smile. He gave her a crooked smile and went back to the table.

When her eyes locked onto her brothers at the bar, she started to walk towards them. Before she even reached them, she could see the identical apologetic looks on Kol and Elijah's faces, and it nearly stopped her in her tracks. What could possibly have happened to turn her two volatile brothers into pathetic puppy dogs?

"So listen, Bex… We were just in here waiting for you, when we were attacked by two toddlers…" Kol said, bracing himself for the impact.

Rebekah looked confused for a moment, when it hit her like a ton of bricks.

"They're here?! They've been here and no one thought it might be nice to pick up a phone and call me? Leave a message? SEND A TEXT?!" Rebekah grabbed the drink from Elijah's hand and downed it.

"Rebekah, it all happened very fast and there really was not time to call you," Elijah said, looking around to make sure that people had calmed down after his sister's outburst.

"Everything okay over here?" Matt asked, slinging a towel over his shoulder and looking at Rebekah with concern.

"Yeah, Matt, everything's fine, except that Caroline and the girls are back and my dear brothers decided that it would be a good idea to KEEP IT FROM ME!" She yelled, winning back the attention of the entire establishment.

"Care's back? When did that happen?" he asked Rebekah, who was disappointed that his attention was no longer focused on her.

"About half an hour ago. Bekah, if you would stop being so overdramatic about everything, we could go over there and see them. They just went to the mansion," Kol said, rubbing his temples in hopes that Rebekah wouldn't freak out again. When he looked up, Rebekah was nowhere to be seen, leaving only a swinging door in her wake.

"Let's go, Kol. We don't need to get on Niklaus's bad side today of all days," Elijah reasoned before blurring after his melodramatic sister, with Kol close behind. Matt stood open-mouthed at the bar before he decided to get back to work so as not to alarm the customers who had most likely just watched three original vampires using their super speed.

Klaus stood in the doorway of his studio, smiling at the scene in front of him. His daughters that he hadn't seen in one thousand years were playing on the carpet, fascinated with their new clothing, particularly the leggings, while his beautiful wife looked at his art. There was a time when he would've been embarrassed to have anyone see his work, especially Caroline, but after so much time together, and even more time apart, it seemed natural. He poured two glasses of wine and approached her from behind.

"I still can't believe how good you are, Nik," Caroline said, taking her glass from his outstretched hand. His eyes dropped to the floor in embarrassed pride.

"I don't see how, sweetheart. You knew about my art before you left, and I never kept it secret while you were with me in the past," he said, reaching for a small sketchbook that he had been longing to show her.

She set her glass down and took the book from him as she looked at him confusedly. "What's this?" she said softly as she flipped it open. She gasped when she saw the first drawing. It was her on the night that she arrived in the past, when he came out to walk with her. The next few pictures were of her reading, walking by the lake, and playing with Henrik. She felt the sadness in her throat as she looked at Klaus's youngest brother. The next set of sketches was of their wedding. She smiled when she recognized the meadow where he proposed, and her pale blue dress and braided hair.

She smirked at him when she saw her own sleeping form under only a
sheet on what must have been their wedding night. He smirked back and turned the next page for her. She giggled at the next drawing, of when she told him that she was pregnant, and he had to reassure her that he was truly happy. That reminded her of what came after, and she flushed bright red, looking up in time to see her husband's wolfish grin.

The next few pages were Klaus's favorites. As beautiful as he always thought Caroline was, there was something different about her beauty while she was pregnant. Caroline grimaced at these sketches, except the one with his hand on her expanding stomach. She always loved when he did that.

When she turned the page, she brought her free hand up to her mouth and inhaled sharply. It was her holding the girls right after they were born. The smile on her face was so genuine and loving, she had no idea how he could remember every detail so well. The last few drawings were of the girls at various milestones, with the occasional one of Caroline thrown in.

When she looked up at him, she saw hesitation in his eyes. As if he was nervous what her reaction would be once she had seen the whole book. She couldn't understand why. He had provided her with the one thing that she could never have from the past three years of her life: a scrapbook of memories. She put the book down carefully and flung her arms around his neck, burying her tearstained face in his neck. He seemed shocked for a moment before she felt his arms snake around her waist, his hands drawing circles on her lower back as she murmured 'thank you' and 'I love it' through her sobs.

"Don't cry, love. It was supposed to be a happy present," he said quietly, chuckling as she whacked him on the chest playfully.

"Why were you nervous that I wouldn't like it?" She asked him, pulling away so that she could look into his eyes.

He looked away, still unsure about being so vulnerable with her. "I don't really know. I mean, I think there's a part of me that worries this is all just a dream, and someday I'll do something, show you something, or say something that will wake you from this reverie, and send you running for the hills," he said softly, brushing a stray tear from her cheek.

"Nik, I know that I will never understand how hard it has been for you, but no matter what, I will always love you. I promise," she said matter-of-factly, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips. He smiled as he took her hand and walked her over to the girls, taking a seat on the floor beside them where they were playing with a paintbrush.

"Nik, we really have to get them some real toys," she said quietly, trying to keep from laughing. Her husband was right there with her when he realized that they were playing with an art utensil.

"Yeah, we'll definitely have to find something different," he said with a chuckle, before grabbing both girls around the waist and pulled them onto his lap, grinning as they squealed in excitement.

Klaus tensed as the front door to the mansion crashed open before catching the familiar scent of his sister followed by his brothers. He set the girls down and stood up, helping Caroline do the same before they each picked up a giggling toddler.

"HOW DARE YOU! BOTH OF YOU! Caroline, I thought we were best friends! Yet you come back from a one thousand year absence and I'm the last to know?! And you! I am your sister! I have been by your side through all of this moping around and you didn't even have the decency of calling me?!" Rebekah yelled to her wide-eyed brother and sister-in-law. Her expression of pure, unadulterated hatred transformed completely the moment that she saw Klara and Carina.

"And how are my little angels? Auntie Bekah has missed you so much!" Caroline and Nik looked at one another before dutifully handing the girls over to their… loving aunt. The girls spent a moment trying to figure out Rebekah's straight hair and modern make-up before smiling and playing with her necklace and earrings.

"Nik, we tried to stop her, but she was like a tornado all the way here from the Grill!" Kol said. Klaus merely shrugged. Rebekah did have a point. She did find out pretty late.

Kol and Elijah both seemed relieved by Klaus's reaction, or lack thereof, and joined Rebekah in talking animatedly with their nieces.

"My siblings definitely need lives," Klaus said, taking a seat on the loveseat. Caroline gave him a pointed look before joining him and placing her hand on his knee.

"They haven't seen their nieces in one thousand years, much like you. Give them a little break!" She said as she gave him her best exasperated expression.

He draped his arm over her shoulder and nodded. "I suppose you're right," he said, giving up.

"Besides, in a few days we'll be begging them to babysit. Let's just think of this as training," said Caroline, turning to face her smiling husband. He responded by bringing his lips to hers.

"I love you so much."

Sorry if that seemed like the last chapter, it is definitely not! I just wanted to end happy because there are some not so happy things coming up… I am soooo sorry for the excruciatingly long wait! It was awful for me as well! I have had a lot going on and a lot coming up, so I will hopefully be able to update again soon. If I don't have enough time while I'm in Spain, I will be home in 3 weeks, so I will definitely be updating more often then. Thank you so much for those of you who have stuck with me despite my irregular updating schedule and short chapter updates… I am working on making them longer, it just means more time, and I already have so little! Just know that I am still dedicated to this story and I am so thankful for all of your support and feedback! Also, thanks to those who have continued to review even this past week, because although I don't like being reminded that I'm terrible with updating, those reviews are the little pushes I need to keep going! Thanks so much! Until next time~