A siren coming from the outside made Caroline open her eyes and take a deep breath just as if she was waking up from a coma; and she indeed felt like that was exactly what happened. Rays of sun coming through a gap between the curtains made her eyes hurt and her head feel like it was about to split into two. Pulling a sheet over her head Caroline groaned, trying to recollect her memories from the last night.
She could remember vodka and that was quite hard to forget giving the fact that she still had that ghastly aftertaste in her mouth. She could remember spilling her guts to a random guy and him being very supportive, and… Caroline jumped in the bed, pulling the sheet down just a bit so to take a peak around and, off course, what she saw was Jesse splayed on the other side of her bed, rays of sun dancing on his bare olive skin while he slept peacefully. Please, God, let me be dressed. She thought to herself, yet her high hopes were crushed into dust momentarily as the realization and rest of the memories from the last night came rushing back.
She could remember the fact that it was her who suggested that Jesse escorts her back home and it was her who pulled him inside her apartment while having one finger hooked around his belt, and then… Well there was no need to try and remember as a trail of clothes on the floor leading from the front door to her bedroom spoke for itself and her being completely naked was a proof that it wasn't philosophy and contemplation of existential dilemmas they were engaged in the last night.
Truth be told – Caroline was never a prude, yet sleeping with a guy she knew for a total of fifteen minutes was somewhat of a new low even for her. Running her hand through a lump of messy bed hair Caroline silently lowered her feet on the ground and pulled the sheet from the bed, wrapping her body tightly around it while trying to make no noise on her way out of the bedroom. She could hear Jesse snore once and it was good enough for a proof that he wasn't a light sleeper. Rubbing her temples she entered the bathroom yet it was her biggest mistake as her reflection in the mirror greeted Caroline in what seemed to be a manner from a bad horror movie.
"What are you looking at?" She murmured to herself and turned the faucet on so to splash her face with ice-cold water as no one took their time to fix the water pipes and apparently hot water was somewhat of a luxury she couldn't afford.
A thought about all things luxurious made her jump up and squeal in panic. "What time is it? What time is it? What time is it?!" She kept on repeating while running out of the bathroom and straight into the kitchen just to catch a glimpse of the time in the oven-clock and throw her hands up into the air in despair. Caroline had to be at work precisely a minute and twenty seconds ago, yet she still looked like someone who just came back from the docks after a busy night while feeling like she was beaten up while at it as well.
Finesse wasn't her top priority at that moment as she raced back into the bedroom and dropped her sheet back onto the bed while slipping a bra and underwear on in a matter of seconds and diving into her closet to find something appropriate to wear.
"Good… Morning?" A man in her bed that apparently was awake was the least of her worries and she continued on pulling pants and sweaters just to look at them before throwing them over her shoulder. "Easy there. Do you want to suffocate me with skirts? Don't tell me, was I that bad?"
Him chuckling made Caroline roll her eyes while she was pulling a sweater over her head and trying to pull on a pair of jeans. Jesse was perfectly lovely for a one night stand and he had a sense of humor yet she was neither in the mood nor did she have time for pleasantries and awkward morning-after talks. When her messy look thrown together in minutes was done with, Caroline rushed back into the bathroom and removed yesterday's makeup, revealing a couple of lovely black circles under her eyes that went together so well with her extremely pale skin. She wanted to swear and cry, yet instead — while tying her hair into a messy bun with one hand — she threw her make up into the purse with a plan to apply it while in the cab.
"There's half of a donut somewhere in the kitchen and I'm out of coffee filters. So I presume that you wouldn't want to extend your stay." She blurted out while leaning to the doorframe of her bedroom and trying to zip up her boots. "See you… I guess."
Well, that wasn't at all awkward. Caroline thought to herself while running down the flight of stairs and into the street with her hand already up to hail a cab. It took her a minute to get one and she blamed her appearance for it; drivers were probably thinking that she was a homeless person and all of them were simply driving by until one charming gentlemen in his yellow car stopped and Caroline didn't waste time prying the door open and almost jumping inside onto the back seat.
"Corner of East Broadway and Jefferson, please." Caroline barked and dived into her purse to pursue her plan of looking a bit more presentable with thick layers of makeup.
…
One long taxi ride later Caroline was rushing into the building while looking into the screen of the phone feeling terrified. It was her first normal day at work yet she was forty-five minutes late and not really dressed to blend into the crowd; she made herself a mental note to go shopping for business attire, yet it seemed completely unnecessary at the same time anyway since her job apparently was to sit in the dark office while sorting through the papers.
"My my, Nik never told me about you." An unfamiliar voice greeted her as Caroline ran into the office with an impeccable explanation on the very tip of her tongue ready to fight her way out of a very uncomfortable situation.
"Who the hell is Nik?" Caroline furrowed her eyebrows looking at a man in his early twenties propped against Klaus' table while looking her up and down with not even as much as a glint of shame behind his gaze. "And who the hell are you?"
She watched him chuckle and shrug while rolling her eyes impatiently in response. Caroline could swear that he seemed somewhat familiar, but then again – a lot of people were working under the same roof she did and she probably simply rubbed shoulders with him in the elevator on her previous visits.
"Do you have a meeting with Mister Mikaelson?" Caroline wanted to get to the bottom of this as fast as possible since the tension building up between them in a complete silence was weighing her already heavy head down.
"And here comes the man himself!" He waved his hand at the general direction of the door making Caroline swing around just to almost bump into Klaus. And what was even worse – he was carrying a coffee cup in his hand that causing her to have a very vivid flashback that pierced right through her skull. "Why didn't you tell me, dear brother, that you had such a perky secretary working for you?"
Brother? Caroline looked from Klaus back to the man grinning widely. Come to think of it, he looked a lot like a younger and less restrained version of Klaus; his eyes had that twinkle in them and he never seemed to stop grinning even though if that grin was less sinister and more sarcastic.
"I'm not a secretary." Caroline finally answered as Klaus still seemed to eye her with all the disdain in the world probably having the same kind of a flashback that she did. "My name is Caroline Forbes and I'm mister Mikaelson's assistant."
"Assistant, huh?—" He took few steps towards her and stopped only once a foot or two were separating them both to look into her eyes. It would've been far less awkward if she didn't look like a drunken panda with a messy hairdo; or maybe it would've had the exact same amount of awkwardness because him staring at her was honestly the most creepy and unflattering thing she had to witness. "— Niklaus, lets bet on how long does it take for you to drive this one off with your intolerable behavior. Do you reckon she will cry just as the previous one did?"
"What do you want, Kol?" Klaus' question sounded like more of a groan making it perfectly clear that he wasn't all that excited to see his brother.
"Rebekah sent me, actually. She's having one of her fits again because you, apparently, sabotaged Marcel's campaign." Caroline knew momentarily that she was getting a little scoop of just who exactly Mikaelson family was behind the curtains. And since all eyes weren't on her she took that chance to retreat to her corner and pretend to be occupied with a stack of documents.
"I merely revealed the truth that was about to get out with my help or without it." She heard Klaus answer nonchalantly and saw him going to his table with a corner of her eye. "And it's not my fault that Rebekah can't seem to find a decent man for herself."
"Amen to that." Kol sighed mockingly and shook his head before taking a look around the office just to have his gaze stop on the portrait hanging on the wall. "Yet she's not the only love-struck fool, Nik - I see you still have Tatia's painting on your wall and that, brother dearest, is just pathetic."
Caroline tilted her head maybe a bit too fast to make it look subtle and the first thing she saw was Klaus' icy-blue gaze piercing right through her. Whatever that mystery woman was it was more than clear that Klaus didn't want everyone knowing about her; or maybe it was about the fact that it proven him to have human feelings and apparently that idea was simply preposterous. Caroline lowered her gaze and flipped through the binder dramatically as if trying to show that she had more important things to do than eavesdrop.
"Well, that was awkward." Kol rubbed the back of his neck in that almost innocent boyish manner and chuckled. "Come on, Nik, Elijah wants us to have breakfast together. And I already checked your calendar and I know that you have no plans until later in the afternoon."
Caroline watched to two disappear through the door but it was not before Kol stopped and winked at her in a manner that made Caroline feel somewhat violated and she had to hug herself tightly. Alright, well maybe she was exaggerating just a tad, but it still didn't change the fact that she felt like a schoolgirl with two bullies never missing a chance to pull her pigtails. There was a time when that bully was Damon, but now he seemed like a saint in comparison with the Mikaelsons.
Inhaling deeply Caroline managed to gather enough strength to push herself up from the comfort of the chair and made her way towards the same painting that caught her eye the day before. Name Tatia was spinning around in her head as she ran her fingers across the canvas, feeling every bump and rough patch of the paint until her eyes caught something else in the very corner of the painting. It didn't take her long to realize that it was a signature and that it read Niklaus scribbled in a disheveled manner. So it wasn't just a painting, it was his painting and now she could understand why it was so detailed and why the woman in it was pictured as a goddess – she was someone special to Klaus yet someone who wasn't in his life anymore even though it seemed that he refused to admit it.
Caroline was lost so deep in thought that her phone had to ring for a couple of times before she even realized it. Fishing the phone out of the pocket she quickly clicked the button and pressed it to her ear before even noticing the name on the screen, her gaze still focused on the painting.
"Caroline Forbes." She never heard herself sounding more distracted and uninterested yet uncovering the secret seemed to be taking her mind more and more with every second.
"Not the greeting I was expecting for, but I can go with it." The voice coming from the phone made Caroline forget the painting completely as widest of smiles curved her lips.
"Stefan!" She squealed in excitement and jogged back to her chair just to curl up in a little ball and hug her legs tightly. "I thought you got eaten by the bears! Where are you, by the way? Alaska? Peru? Siberia?"
"New Orleans, actually. I was feeling like having a glass of bourbon on the Bourbon Street." That being told, Caroline could actually hear chatter and music of a saxophone somewhere in the background, bringing the memories of them dreaming of visiting New Orleans together back when they were both in high school. Stefan was one of the dearest friends Caroline had; actually he was more like a brother to her and even if he left MysticFalls right after graduation, they never lost contact.
"Isn't it like… Eight in the morning there?" She questioned with a giggle, envying him the freedom to do whatever he wanted.
"The best time to get drunk if you ask me." She heard him swallow and moments later a sound of a liquid being poured into the glass made her roll her eyes.
"I'm contemplating that, actually. Maybe I should get drunk every day before work so to make it at least bearable?" It came out like more of a pout and Caroline hated the fact that she was complaining so much and to everyone who actually listened. Elena, Josh, Jesse and now Stefan who was having a time of his life were all forced to hear her ramble.
"Joys of being an adult. Cheers to that." Another gulp followed his sentence, yet that time he sounded more serious than before. "And now I want you to tell me all about your sorrows."
"Well, I'm working for an arrogant British prick in one of the most prestigious law firms here, so I don't know whether I should be happy about it or should I complain." Her sentence was accompanied by a sigh as Caroline herself was still debating if it was wise not to acknowledge the fact that she at least wasn't working as a waitress. "Mikaelsons my ass…"
"Mikaelsons? As in Klaus Mikaelson?" She could almost feel that Stefan's interest was peaked.
"The one and only." Her eyebrow rose subconsciously and she lowered her feet back onto the ground, staring at a wall in front and awaiting for Stefan's answer that never came. "And what about him?"
"We lived in the same dorm back in Chicago's college. And let me tell you – those were magical years." She heard Stefan chuckle and it helped her jog her memory as there was a time in Stefan's life when he couldn't stop talking about that one guy he met in college until an extent where she had to offer him to get a room. The name was never something that she paid attention to; to be precise she didn't pay much attention to Stefan's sharing either as it always revolved about parties, bars and seas of alcohol.
"So he's the one who tainted your pure and innocent soul until a point of no repair?" Caroline snickered sarcastically, yet there was no denying that little pieces of information she got during that day sparked her interest and made the whole experience that much easier just because she got something to be distracted from dull paperwork with.
"Precisely. Listen, Caroline, I'll tell you all about it next time, my date is here." The line broke before Caroline could protest and she was yet again left alone in a complete silence.
Her eyes trailed from his desk to the painting and then to the phone still in her hand. Chewing on her lower lip in thought she tried to explain to herself just why he provoked such an unhealthy interest in her, but Caroline had nothing. She was always overly-obsessed with the smallest of things and she learned to live with it without even bothering to question her intentions. And slowly yet assuringly he was turning into one of her projects.