"Kol is sent to pick up his niece/nephew from school, and is all too willing to pick them up again after meeting their teacher (caroline)." –EveryonesFavoriteVampireBarbie

It's so cutesy it hurt. Featuring Hope AKA Baby Mikaelson.

Kol doesn't think his brother and Hayley make a stable environment for their daughter. With the love algorithms that went on in their house, you'd think they needed a brilliant mathematician or Sherlock Holmes to figure out who was really meant to be with whom. You want Kol's opinion? They all deserved to end up as lonely idiots.

Hope was already old enough for kindergarten and since Hayley was busy volleying between his brothers, Kol was left to take her and pick her up at school. Rebekah did most of the raising of Hope but as the blonde was busy actually running New Orleans since everyone else was too stupid to do it, Kol liked to help her out. It was no problem as he adored Hope and he was his niece's favorite uncle (because the other choice is Elijah who wanted to shag her mum and awkward).

It was Hope's first day of kindergarten and he was going to kill anyone who dared upset her that day (or pay Davina to curse their bloodline, either way). Hope was nervous and fidgeting, tugging on her dark blonde curls and looking every bit the lost little lamb (hilarious really, considering who her daddy was) but Kol kept his amusement at bay and was being full on cool uncle.

From where he was kneeling in front of Hope, he took out a pink mechanical pencil from his coat pocket, it had a heart-shaped eraser and little girls painted on the side (he had to kill the store clerk but that's irrelevant) and held it up to his niece. "This is your good luck charm," He told her. "Davina charmed it to give you confidence. When you have this, you'll be the bravest little girl in the world."

She smiled at him so brightly and hugged him, his heart swelled. And heart pencil in hand, she walked away to the inside of her school, not knowing he just lied to her. Or maybe she did but Uncle Kol was so cool, it didn't matter if the pen was magical or not. Either way, Uncle Kol is cool.

That left him hours of being bored at home, trying to drown out the circus act that was Nik/Hayley/Elijah and waiting for the moment he could go and fetch his niece so he could escape it all. After watching Elijah get stabbed by Nik with a nail file, Kol decided to pick up his niece. He was the first person there but it didn't matter as Hope practically ran to him, mechanical pencil in hand broken into two. The sight of his teary-eyed niece made him see red.

"Who did it? What's his name?" He tried to demand as gently as possible. "I will end their lineage right this instant. Who was it, Hope?"

"I sat on it." She sobbed out and he calmed somewhat, slightly disappointed he would not be ending any lineages today. "I'm sorry."

He wiped at her tears and shook his head. "It's fine, Hopscotch."

"No!" She protested. "You said it was a magical pen and I broke it! The magic's gone!"

"No, it isn't." Kol assured her, taking out another mechanical pen, one with yellow stars on it. "Because I got Davina to make a back-up."

So he killed two store clerks. Get over it. But he had a feeling Hope's inhuman abilities would overcome his (un)magical gift so he came prepared for this. Uncle Kol is the coolest.

She let out a toothy smile and took the star pen from him, hugging him and calling him the coolest uncle in the world because Uncle Kol totally was.

"Oh, Kol,"

He looked up and saw Caroline Forbes walking towards him, wearing a pink sundress that made her look lovely. He could see in that moment why Nik had been besotted once upon a time and it made his head spin for a minute. "Forbes," He got to his feet so he could be taller than her. "What are you doing here?"

"I work here," She answered him with a sweet but awkward smile.

Hope decided to contribute to the conversation. "This is Miss Care-o-line. She's our teacher."

He kept his eyes on Forbes as he asked his niece, "Is Miss Caroline a good teacher, Hope?"

"Miss Car-o-line-" She mimicked his pronunciation. "-is cool like Uncle Kol."

He frowned playfully. "I thought I was the only cool one, Hopscotch."

"The cool has been shared," Hope nodded like it all made sense and it probably did in her head. "Let's all share the cool."

Caroline giggled. "She talks so cute for her age." She raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm guessing that's your influence?"

"It's me or Elijah," Kol shrugged. "Do you prefer her to talk like a Shakespearean actor?"

"Nah," She shook her head. "I like the cool."

"Literally!" Hope giggled and grabbed her uncle's hand. "See you tomorrow, Miss Car-o-line!"

"See you tomorrow, Hope." Then she gave Kol a mischievous little smile. "See you too, Uncle Kol."

He considered making some cheeky remark but Hope was tugging on his hand like a tugboat and forcing him to leave with her inhuman amount of energy so he could barely throw a grin at Miss Car-o-line before he was whisked away.

"Hopscotch," He said when she stopped vamp-speeding him and was walking back to a normal speed. "I have a confession."

"Good or bad?"

"Good, I think,"

She nodded. "What is it about?"

"I think I like Miss Car-o-line and I'm going to be picking you up from school every day until she's no longer your teacher."

"Do you like-like her?"

"Yes."

She grinned widely at him. "Cool."

He returned her grin. "Literally."