AN: AU. After the Mikaelson Ball, Caroline sees an unfortunate Finn looking more lost than a child in the store without their mother. She goes over to help him and seals her fate. Her long and exasperating fate where neither realise the true depths of their unique... bond

It was overwhelming. After nine hundred years, Finn was released in to the world. It had changed so much but he knew nothing about it. His siblings would not teach him anything of this new world. Elijah was trying to save Niklaus from himself and keep the family together. Niklaus was sulking whilst plotting a takeover for the little town he was stuck in. Kol had fled from the house, finding somewhere else to reside in but that didn't stop him returning 'home' to bother them all. Rebekah was pretending to be human and failing, simply pouting all the time with no effect – Niklaus didn't care.

He was out of his element. Science had progressed so wonderfully and he had missed it. Magic was fading in the modern times. Werewolves were a dying breed. Luxuries and money and... everything had developed and evolved. He was completely lost, even in a small town such as Mystic Falls.

Caroline looked up from her textbook and saw one of the Originals sat at the bar with his eyes flitting about somewhat afraid. He may have been one of them but she remembered he was the one that had been locked away for nine centuries. Closing her book, she made her way to him but he didn't notice until she sat next to him.

He was the eldest, greying slightly – probably stress – with a stern face set with the beginnings of wrinkles. "Hello," she greeted, trying not to use slang to make him comfortable. "Hello," he returned confused. "You were the girl with Niklaus at the ball."

"Unfortunately," she muttered, looking down a moment before offering her hand to him. "Caroline Forbes. Baby Vampire and saviour of lost." She offered him a warm smile and he took her hand cautiously.

"Finn Mikaelson. Original vampire and extremely lost." A giggle escaped her and he found himself smiling.

"How about I teach you how to live in the here and now? I am the smartest person in this town," she bragged lightly.

"I would very much like that, Miss Forbes. Thank you."

"I'll only do it if you call me Caroline. Miss Forbes is my mother... when she's out of uniform. Otherwise she's Sheriff. Sorry, I'm rambling again. I'll stop in 3 2 1. Okay."

He smiled brightly and she found that his stern expression softened and the wrinkles were actually smile lines not frown lines.

Everyone found the pairing unusual. Caroline, the teenage ball of sunshine, and Finn, the self-hating brooder. It had been a month since she started teaching him how to live in the 21st century. They spent almost all their time together in the Grill, a textbook in front of them almost all the time. The humans assumed he was her tutor and the supernatural were just slightly put off by Caroline's detailed teachings.

They grew closer as summer came, lying on the grass at the park and talking. She would talk mostly but then get distracted by a cloud in the shape of something ridiculous. He was too old for that nonsense but he adored her for her youthful insight.

She made him realise over the months that existing and living were not the same thing. So, when Esther came to him with an offer to end them all, he told Niklaus and Elijah who dealt with their mother accordingly. To say they were shocked by the development would be an understatement. Caroline's mother had even invited him in to the house one evening, realising that he was just a kind hearted man lost in his eternity. He wasn't a monster. Slowly, she realised none of them were.

Niklaus was furious and jealous, but made no move to break the pair apart. Not even when Caroline grew comfortable enough to walk in to the house straight up the stairs to his bedroom. At least he would knock before entering. He never walked in on her in compromising positions or indecent states of dress.

The months rolled in to years. Mystic Falls became a memory and human conventions were left for the living. The pair of them learnt how to indulge with their humanity as their only restraint.

He didn't understand his possessiveness or protectiveness when it came to her lovers for almost a century later.

They had ran in to Sage and he felt... nothing.

It was strange to see a woman that had been the only one for you, that had waited almost a thousand years for the two of you to be reunited only to feel nothing for her. He remembered the love he felt, the love they had shared, but could not make it a present emotion. "I'm sorry, Sage. Its been too long." He had walked away with a slack jawed Caroline stumbling after him.

He realised that everything he loved of Sage was not what he needed. She had been strong, wild, brutish, rebellious. He wanted that. He wanted that so his hatred of what he was could be justified by her hatred of almost everything. What he needed was light, beauty, inner strength, morality and humanity.

Sage was the past, she was what he needed in a time of his greatest weakness.

Caroline was his present and what he needed in a time of his greatest strength.

She had told him once: Never make decisions when you're angry. Never make promises when you're happy. Never fall in love when you're weak. Never hold a grudge when you're strong. Decisions need a clear head. Promises need to be realistic. Love is not a saviour. Grudges hold you back. Those are the rules I live by. My only rules.

She was right, of course. He found that she was almost always right unless she was angry in which case she was just unreasonable and he had to agree for the sake of both his sanity and his extremities.

"Why did you let her go?" Caroline demanded, snapping him from his thoughts as they walked down the empty streets in the Parisian night to their home. "She waited for centuries for you to be released!"

He stopped then to face her. "She isn't the woman I'm in love with."

…

"Oh."

…

There was a pause of thought before she cupped his face, stepping up to her toes to press her lips against his. He steadied her with his hands on her waist, their eyes closing in bliss with the long overdue kiss.

It escalated quickly, with them stopping against the back of the front door finally inside. He took her then and there. Then on the sofa, on the coffee table, on the stairs (twice), against the wall (three times), and against the back of his bedroom door. They were exhausted when they eventually made it to the bed with the rise of the sun. He estimated their activities took up a good four hours but he certainly wasn't finished with her.

They got married three months later in front of his siblings – Niklaus had long since given up pursuing her – and Stefan, Elena, Damon, Matt and Bonnie. The first four were vampires, though the Stefan/Elena/Damon triangle ended when she left them for Elijah. Matt had turned to be with Rebekah and Bonnie had just stopped her ageing with magic to be with her friends and, after a good two centuries of resistance, Kol.

It was a quaint little ceremony in Mystic Falls where it had all begun. They left to travel the world and, needless to say, their honeymoon consisted of ruining almost every piece of furniture in the Mikaelson estates they visited that they could.

He was insatiable for her and she loved it. She teased and he responded in... kind. Even as a vampire, the bruises lingered and the soreness stopped her walking straight for almost the rest of the day or the whole of the next day. He was... talented, she'd give him that.