C15

The moment Caroline woke up she knew something was wrong. She opened her eyes to see Rebekah pacing and biting her nails nervously. As soon as the Mikaelson blonde had seen that Caroline was awake relief washed over her face and she sat next to her.

"Are you feeling better?" Rebekah asked softly.

Caroline nodded and sat up straight wincing a little. "I am but what troubles you?" she asked narrowing her eyes.

Rebekah averted her gaze. "Nothing. Nothing at all." She stammered. "Why would something trouble me? Except for you ill health of course" she added with a nervous chuckle.

"Rebekah" Caroline said suspiciously. "What are you trying to hide?" she asked straight forward.

Rebekah glanced around and saw two guards lurking in the shadows. No doubt sent by her mother to see if Rebekah would expose her brother's plans or not. Rebekah shushes her my placing her finger on her lips indicating for her to be silent and nudged her head in the direction of the guards. "I will tell you" Rebekah whispered and Caroline nodded slowly.

"So are you ready to meet your friends and family?" Rebekah said changing the topic with a smile. "You have been asleep for an awful lot of time. They arrived an hour ago" she told the excited blonde.

Caroline was all ready to go and run up to her friends but Rebekah stopped her. "Don't you want more good news?" she teased with a small smile.

The other blonde's ears perked up at that bit and she settled down in bed. "The healers said that you should not exert yourself physically any more than you already have. So…" Rebekah trailed with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Oh spill it Rebekah Mikaelson!" Caroline spoke up too loudly and excitedly but instantly covered her mouth with her hands.

Rebekah giggled lightly before smiling. "The wedding has been postponed." She told her. "But you must rest. If Nik even gets the slightest hint that you're well enough, the wedding is going to take place sooner rather than later" she warned her.

"Okay. Can I see my friends?" Caroline asked hopefully.

Rebekah nodded. "Of course. I'll send them right up" she replied and stood up to leave. "Whatever they say Caroline, remember that they all love you and they would never do anything to harm or hurt you" she advised with a small smile and walked away leaving Caroline confused as hell.

As Rebekah passed down the hall to make her way towards the guest wing she couldn't help but peek through the opened door of her brother's art atelier. To her surprise, Kol was also inside and both her brothers were smiling and talking to each other without a care in the world. But it was the fact that Nik allowed someone to enter the room. He had forbidden everyone to go inside once he had turned 16 but now, Kol was inside and they were conversing with each other instead of hauling threats.

She passed by with a smile on her face. Even though, she had promised to help Caroline, she knew she would do everything in her power to make sure that Caroline and Klaus would end up together and not by force or responsibility but by love and adoration for each other.

"So we are not following Katerina's plan?" Kol asked confused as he gazed at his brother who was busy throwing paints at a canvas. Well, it looked like thrown paints to him but apparently it was genuine art.

"Of course not" Klaus said not tearing his gaze from his art piece. "She hates Caroline and she's trying to trick us into hurting her." He answered as if it was so obvious.

Kol frowned and looked at his brother. "Then why did you tell Katerina we were going forward with her plan?" he asked.

Klaus rolled his eyes at his brother's idiocy. Sometimes he wondered how Kol was also a Mikaelson. "If I wouldn't have assured her that we were going forward with the plan, she would've sought to some other source to harm Caroline" he answered shaking his head.

Kol's eyebrows shot up. "Aaah!" he breathed out. "So my dear brother does care about the feisty blonde" he deduced smirking.

Klaus glared him and turned back to his painting without answering. "So what is it that you plan to do?" Kol asked him.

"I plan to win her favor. I'm sure, by now Rebekah has warned her that something is being plotted against her and her friends. She just needs to know that I'm going to be the one to help her" he said shrugging his shoulder.

Kol smirked again. "You are truly a clever bastard Nik" he complimented which made Klaus frown.

"You really should stay away from the people of the brothel. Your language is more like a commoner than a royal" Klaus advised and scrunched up his nose in disgust. "And do everyone a favor and stop putting these low things in Henrik's mind. He is a child" he told him strictly.

Kol rolled his eyes and bowed before walking out, muttering. "As you wish your majesty" he said sarcastically.

"Katerina" Elijah said softly as he looked at the brunette who was ordering around a few servants.

She smiled brazenly seeing him. "Elijah" she purred seductively. "What are you doing here?" she asked running her hands up and down his chest.

Elijah cleared his throat and dismissed the maids and servants from the room before he kissed her lips softly. "I came to inform you that Caroline's friends and family have arrived" he told her and watched her reaction closely.

Katherine rolled her eyes. "They're Caroline's friends. Not mine" she answered offended. "Why would I need to know about them coming?" she retorted even though deep down she was jealous of Caroline. The blonde had everything she had wanted and yearned. A loving family, friends who would die for her and a lover like Damon and now another one like Klaus.

Elijah stroked her hair. "They were your friends too. Once" he told her. "Perhaps if you apologize and try to mend your bond with them" he suggested knowing her stubbornness would be her downfall.

She stepped back from his embrace. "They were never my friends. Don't you remember how Damon used me?" She accused offended. "I won't go back to them" she said crossing her arms over her chest.

Elijah sighed. "Perhaps you could go and check up on Caroline" he suggested.

Katherine's eyebrows pulled together. "Caroline?" she asked. "What happened to her?" she asked confused. Last she had seen Caroline, she was well. A little emotional and stupid to slap her but fine.

Elijah frowned. "Her stitches pulled out. Poor girl bled for quite some time. That is the reason the wedding was called off" he told her shaking his head that she was so poorly informed.

Katherine bit her lip and nodded. "Fine. I'll go see her this moment" she said and pecked him one last time before heading towards the door. As she was about to leave, she turned to him. "Did you find something about my family?" she asked narrowing her eyes at him. "My real family?" she elaborated.

"Your mother and father are also your family. Even if they…. He trailed off not knowing what to say.

"They disowned me" she completed for him. "But I'm not asking about them. I'm asking for you to check if you have found my sister?" she asked.

Elijah shook his head. "No I have not" he informed her sadly. "But Trevor is going to go to Bulgaria tomorrow and will hopefully be able to retrieve her" he told her with a small smile.

"Alright. I'll be heading to Caroline now" she said with a smile and walked away from Elijah. As soon as the door shut, she walked down the hallway and then instead of turning right and taking the stairs to the upper floor she turned left and went downstairs towards the guest quarters.

She quickly went over to the last room and nodded on the door. "Who is it?" the voice asked from inside.

"Open up moron" she replied rolling her eyes.

The door opened and she was quickly pulled inside by a smirking Damon Salvatore. "Oh how I missed you Katherine" he said sarcastically after shoving her inside the closing the door.

"The feeling's mutual Damon" she spat with disgust.

Damon turned to her. "Did you do what I asked?" he asked seriously.

She walked closer to him and smirked. "I did" she purred before placing her hand on his chest seductively. "Now where's my reward?" she asked, her lips brushing against his cheek.

Damon rolled his eyes and pushed her away. This girl was not one to take rejection lightly. "Your family isn't dead. That's all the reward you're going to get" he bit out.

Katherine scowled at him. "That is all I get for helping you?" she asked feeling the sting of betrayal and rejection. What was so special in Caroline that Damon didn't even think of cheating on her even when she was getting married to another man?

"It's more than you deserve" he said moving away from her. "Now leave before anyone sees you" he ordered not even looking at her. "I hope you've got Mikaelson convinced otherwise that year will not be the worst thing in your pathetic life" he warned her seriously.

"And I do hope your plan fails and I can't wait to see the look on your face when Klaus gets to marry Caroline right in front of your eyes" she hissed at him angrily before storming out.

Damon ignored her gaze but the thought kept lingering in his mind. What if he did fail? Would he be able to watch Caroline be on Klaus' mercy? Would he be able to stand it? He shook his head and tried to remove those thoughts from his head. Leave it to Katherine to rile everyone up. He needed to focus on his plan. Get Caroline back.

Little did Katherine know that her visit to Damon had been seen by none other than Rebekah Mikaelson? The blonde narrowed her eyes and watched as Katherine disappeared from her view. She walked up to Bonnie Bennett's room and walked on it.

Once the door opened she was shocked to see … Katherine standing on the other end. "Yes?" the brunette asked sweetly. No it wasn't Katherine. The girl had straighter hair and more warm eyes and maybe an even rounder face than Katherine. Was she related to Katherine? Family? Who was she?

"Umm… Can I help you?" the brunette asked again snapping Rebekah out of her fantasy.

"I'm sorry. I'm Rebekah Mikaelson. I was here to get the Bennetts." She told her formally. "Caroline is awake and wants to see her… friends" she elaborated with disgust on seeing the confusion on the brunette's face. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Elena from the Bennett kingdom" she explained.

Rebekah frowned but nodded. Suddenly Bonnie came up and her face hardened at the site before her. "Rebekah" she said curtly in greeting.

"Bonnie" the blonde said just as coldly. "Caroline's awake if you want to see her" she told them. "Follow me" she said and watched as they did indeed follow her.

"I must warn you not to stress her too much. She needs to rest" the blonde told them. She would not let anyone pressure Caroline any more than she needed to be.

Bonnie gave her a sharp look. "We're her friends. I assure you we're not the ones giving her any stress. If you want anyone to blame perhaps you should go find your brother" she accused angrily. How dare she assume that they were going to harm Caroline?

Rebekah stopped walking and turned to them with a cold glare. "You may be her friends but now she is my family. Our family." She informed them coldly. "She is my brother's wife. It's their private matter what he does do or does not" she said. "You are in no position to tell him or me what to do" she warned towering over the Bennett.

"Not yet. She's not your brother's wife yet" Bonnie replied with a smirk. And she won't be. She added mentally. "She is my sister. So actually you are in no position to tell me what to do or not" she threatened her raising her chest and meeting the blonde's gaze.

"I'm glad we're all on the same page then because if anyone so much as hurts a hair on Caroline's pretty little head. I'll be ripping out their hearts with my bare hands" came Klaus' threat as he came and stood by his sister with a smirk.

"Yeah we can see how well you've been taking care of her" Elena voiced mockingly after staying silent for such a long time.

Katherine and Kol came by too and stood at Rebekah's side. "Better than you took care of her actually. If you'd been more careful she wouldn't even be here" Katherine accused and smirked as her words had the desired effect and guilt marred Bonnie and Elena's faces.

"Another thing we have the Mikaelsons to blame for" Stefan said as he came by with Damon in tow and eyed the Mikaelson clan with a stern glare.

"And who did you protect her? From the fire or from your brother?" Kol questioned narrowing his eyes at the younger Salvatore.

Damon's face hardened at the memory and he stepped forward narrowing his eyes and clenching his fists. "I didn't see you there saving her" he said angrily.

"She wasn't my concern back then but as long as she has been here she has been safe…" Klaus said excluding the fact that Caroline had been stabbed.

Damon chuckled humorlessly. "Do you think we are fools? We know she was attacked" he spat angrily.

"To the first part I have to say yes mate" Klaus answered with a grin. "But how did you know about the attack?" he asked suspiciously.

"As we said, we didn't leave her unprotected" Damon answered with narrowed eyes.

All humor left Klaus' face and he glared Damon as he stepped forward and stood head to head in front of the elder Salvatore. "Do you want to say something?" he asked narrowing his eyes and clenching his fist.

"Not really. Just this" Damon replied and leaned in to whisper something in Klaus' ear. "She still loves me. She'll always love me" he whispered and after that all chaos started.

No one knew who attacked whom first but after that the only thing that could be heard were curses and the sounds of kicks and punches that were being blown between the princes. Rebekah and the girls stood still. No one tried to intervene and even the other male members stood still.

"ENOUGH!"

Both of them pulled apart to see a very angry Caroline standing weakly against the doorframe. Everyone could practically see the smoke coming out of her ears. She glared both of them in their disheveled appearances.

Damon let go of Klaus' collar and almost smiled seeing Caroline after such a long time. Klaus, too, let go of Damon and stepped back. Caroline breathed in and out to calm herself but it was of no use.

She was sleeping peacefully after Rebekah had left and slightly stirred when she heard feminine voices outside her door. She knew it was probably Rebekah and Bonnie. But then the quarrelling noises got louder until she heard a number of other voices joining in. The moment she recognized Damon and Klaus' voice in a heated argument she knew they were all heading towards trouble. So muttering under her breath, she sat up straight and limped over to the door. As soon as she opened it, she saw both Damon and Klaus fighting like animals and to top it off the rest of the group were watching and not doing one thing to stop them.

"When you both learn to behave like civilized people only then come to me otherwise you are both banned from coming near my chambers" she hissed at them and turned around.

"Caroline love- Klaus started but stopped when Damon's voice came through. "Caro-

Caroline turned and gave them both another glare before turning back and slamming the door with as much force as possible. Even the walls rattled from the impact.

After an hour passed, Caroline had finally allowed her friends to come and meet her. She even introduced them to Rebekah and assured them that Rebekah was on her side. They were still wary of her.

But that wasn't the true moment of awkwardness. It was when Caroline sat at the dining table in the Great hall for dinner. By the time she had reached none of the men were present. Ester was being extremely kind to her which made her suspicious but she shrugged it off. Once all the ladies were settled, the men came through. Damon, Klaus and Henrik were the last ones to arrive. Damon took his seat across Caroline while there were two seats left. One beside Caroline which was obviously Klaus' but Henrik seeing the empty space beside his new sister plopped himself into the seat leaving Klaus standing. Caroline smiled at Henrik warmly, internally thankful she didn't have to sit with Klaus. Especially in front of Damon.

"Henrik. You're sitting at your brother's place. Go sit with your sister" Mikael said to the boy with a smile.

Henrik frowned along with Caroline. He crossed his arms over his chest and frowned harder making Damon roll his eyes while the girls swooned at the adorable expression of the boy. "But Caroline is my sister too. Is she not?" he asked innocently.

Mikael chuckled in good humor. "Once you are older and have a fiancé then I'll ask if you want another man sitting with her my boy. Now go sit with Rebekah" he said still chuckling but no one found his joke even remotely funny.

Henrik nodded and begrudgingly dragged his feet to sit next to Rebekah while Klaus smirked and took his seat next to Caroline. His fiancé.

Caroline kept avoiding, both, Damon and Klaus during dinner. She didn't even dare glance their way. They had behaved like children and not one of them had the sense to come apologize to her. She left her eyes trained on her food and kept ignoring both the men throughout the dinner.

"Your parents will be arriving tomorrow dear" Ester told her sweetly causing her ears to perk up.

"Hmm" was all the reply Caroline gave before poking her food uninterestedly again.

Klaus leaned in towards Caroline. "You really should eat. It's not good for your health to be skipping meals" he whispered as his lips brushed against her earlobe.

Caroline turned and gave him a stern glare. "Still the silent treatment love?" he asked with a teasing smile. She continued to glare him without uttering a single word.

Klaus sighed. "Alright. I apologize for my behavior." He said in a remorseful tone. "I will try my best to tolerate them in future" he said. "But only for you Caroline" he whispered looking into her eyes.

Caroline's heart jumped at his words and a part of her melted at the way he said those words to her. Her eyes softened and she gave him a small smile. "Just to be clear. I'm too smart to be seduced by you" she whispered back.

Klaus' smile left his face and that annoying smirk came back, making him look even more handsome. "That's why I like you" he replied without taking his eyes off her.

She smiled back at him and shook her head rolling her eyes and focused her meal.

Damon clenched the glass in his hand so tight that he hadn't realized that the glass cracked. He couldn't bear to watch Caroline interact with Klaus that way. He knew it was a ploy by Klaus to distract him. To make him forget Caroline. But he wouldn't fall into that trap.

"Are you alright Damon?" Caroline's voice snapped him back to reality. He looked up to see her worried expression.

"I'm fine" he replied rolling his eyes. He let go of the crystal in his hand and let a maid clean it up.

Caroline kept looking at him in worry. "You're bleeding. Let me help you" she said and was about to grab his hand when Klaus stopped her.

"Don't stress yourself sweetheart. You should be more careful" he tusked her and placed a soft kiss on her cheek, causing the whole table to fell silent. "Besides I'm sure the nurse can tend to his wounds" he announced and smirked at Damon's expression.

"Of course. Get the bloody nurse" Mikael shouted at one of the serving maids who scurried off.

Ester nodded at her son admiring his decision to speak up while Stefan kept his hand on Damon's shoulder to keep his brother from attacking Klaus.

"Actually I need to speak with Damon" Caroline said wiping her mouth with a napkin. "In private" she added looking at Klaus for permission.

Klaus seemed skeptical for a moment but when he saw Caroline's blue pleading eyes, he knew he had little choice in the matter. "Of course" he said and stood up to help her out of her chair.

Damon smirked and looked towards Bonnie who nodded encouragingly, telling him to continue with the plan. Damon stood up and walked over to Caroline and offered her his arm with an annoying smirk which he plastered just to irk Klaus.

Klaus lowly growled at Damon before another idea took place in his mind. He bent down and kissed Caroline's cheek right in front of Damon. "I'll waiting for you in my bedchambers tonight" he whispered in her ear and watched as her eyes went wide. "Only to talk" he added with a cheeky smile.

Caroline nodded and then walked over to Damon and grabbed onto his arm as they walked out of the room.

"She should have the manners to at least finish dinner and then get up" Katherine commented poking at her food.

Elena turned to the brunette and glared. "She's a royal. I'm sure she knows manners better than you Katherine" Elena retorted angrily. Ever since she came to the Mikaelson territory Katherine was siding with them instead of standing up for Caroline.

Kol snickered at the girl's bickering and turned to his brother. "It seems all the girls from there have quite sharp tongues. You're lucky you got the pretty one" he said to Klaus who merely gave him a tight lipped smile.

"I heard we missed quite the ball that you hosted" Bonnie commented looking directly at Klaus and Mikael. Both of them quickly recognized her effort to deceive them and put of their facades.

"Yes it was a rather spectacular evening" Mikael commented staring directly at the Bennett.

Klaus sipped his wine and gave a mischievous smile. "Shame you missed it" he added.

"How did you miss such a huge security breach that someone got to Caroline like that?" Bonnie asked narrowing her eyes at Klaus who glared her with equal hatred.

Henrik looked between the two. "She got hurt because of me" he spoke up in a tiny voice. All eyes turned to him confused.

"What are you speaking of Henrik?" Elijah asked sternly. He should not have said something like that in front of the girl's family and friends.

Henrik gulped guiltily. "Well that bad man was just talking to her. But when I got there, he aimed the sword at me but she pushed me back and came in front of it" he told them all looking down with pink cheeks.

Klaus was baffled by this information. He could not believe Caroline had taken the hit for his little brother. And here he was thinking that he might need to keep a special eye on Caroline to make sure she wouldn't run away with Damon Salvatore.

"The girl just keeps proving she's already a part of this family" Ester commented with a smile.

"It's not your fault Henrik. You were brave to go out and help her when you saw her alone" Rebekah whispered to him and pinched his cheeks.

Henrik huffed and pouted. "Don't do that. I'm a man" he said jutting his chin like Caroline. "You and Caroline make me seem like a little boy" he protested.

Kol grinned at his younger brother. "You're no little boy Henrik" he said shaking his head. Henrik turned to his brother with bright eyes. "You are a little man" he corrected and chuckled.

No one else laughed at his joke and Henrik looked really confused. Mikael sighed before running a hand through his hand, a habit Klaus had inherited from him. "Kol must you confuse the young boy?" he asked tiredly.

"I apologize for Kol's lack of manners. His company these days has been of whores and drunk sailors of the local tavern" Finn said with a smile on his face.

Kol rolled his eyes at the exaggerated gasps from the table from everyone. "Oh bugger off will you!" he shouted in an aggravated voice.

"Kol!" Ester warned glaring daggers at him. "Enough!" she said grabbing everyone's attention. The whole room went eerily silent. "Let's just finish dinner" she spoke up after some time in a much softer tone.