Chapter Two
Three days later, Caroline stood awkwardly in front of the mirror, in her smartest dress suit, which also happened to be the most expensive suit she owned, having cost her almost two months wages. It was a knee-length, black pinstripe skirt with a matching blazer, and she was wearing a crisp white shirt underneath.
She frowned at her reflection. "Are you sure I look okay?" she asked Elena, who was sprawled out on Caroline's butterfly patterned duvet, flicking through a magazine.
"You look fine, I told you a hundred times."
"Yes, but do I look posh-investment-company fine?"
Elena sat up on the bed, and threw a cushion in Caroline's direction. She ducked, and the cushion hit the window. Caroline wandered over to the window and picked up the cushion. As she looked out of the window, she sighed. She hated living in the Bronx – mainly because of the journey she had to take to get to Manhattan for work. She had to walk straight down Webster Avenue to get to Melrose to catch the subway, and Webster Avenue meant going past the horrible, grey apartment building that was run by the state, and housed all of New Yorks jobless jerks. They often catcalled at Caroline and other women as they walked past – which wasn't a problem during the day. It was the evening when Caroline worried – there was a reason the Bronx had such a bad reputation.
Elena seemed to read her mind. "I can walk to Melrose and meet you when you finish, Caroline. I'll be coming from Brooklyn, so I can meet you there and we'll walk back."
Caroline turned to her friend and smiled. "Thanks, Elena."
Less than an hour later, Caroline had caught the subway and found herself standing outside the doors of an intimidating high rise building on the Finance District. She was extremely daunted by the task of wandering into Klaus' company, but she had no other choice. Thanks to him, she had lost her job - and it was up to him to give her a new chance.
So, she straightened up her back, and stalked confidently into the building. She signed in with the lady on reception, and then stepped into the elevator. The office she needed to be in was on the top floor, so she tapped the penthouse symbol impatiently.
Just as the doors were closing, an arm shot through, prising them open. Much to her discomfort, Klaus forced his way into the elevator. Once the doors closed, he shot his trademark lazy smirk in her direction. "Caroline," he greeted.
"Mr Mikaelson," she replied, slightly meekly.
"Caroline, we're going to be working together everyday for the foreseeable future. You're going to have to start calling me Klaus," he returned, but there was a hint of humour in his voice. Caroline offered him a small smile back, but it was strained. In the small, confined space of the elevator, she felt extremely nervous beside him.
When the doors finally reopened, Caroline let out a sigh of relief. Klaus strode out of the office, and beckoned for Caroline to follow him.
The office was enormous, but Caroline was glad to discover that it wasn't the same as Rebekah's had been. Rebekah had valued everything pristine and white and she deliberately picked out employees who were typically attractive. Klaus' office was much more homely - the employees sitting around were chatty and dressed smart-casual, and the walls were covered with various charts and graphs, but Caroline was relieved not to feel as apprehensive as she usually did around Rebekah's employees.
There were about three people sat in the foyer of the elevator, but Klaus led her around a corner. There was a desk on it's own, facing a wide glass wall that looked into what Caroline could only assume was Klaus and Elijah's office.
"I've had this little area set out for you," Klaus gestured his hand across the empty desk. "You can bring in your own things and such. That telephone on the desk is set to accept my calls, so you will answer them first and then forward them to me if they're necessary. Now, come into my office and I'll discuss a few other things with you…" Klaus marched over to the door that led into his office, and held it open for Caroline. She ushered in, and waited for Klaus to sit down on one of the desks. She stood in front of him patiently, while he reached into drawers and pulled out a few things.
"This is my planner," he told her, handing her an a5 leather filofax. "It has my day-to-view inside, and I'll expect you to add and cancel any arrangements that happen in there. I'll need you to arrange any meetings, plus provide condiments for those. Elijah may also ask you to do a few things for him, but don't let any of the others in the office tell you what to do," there was a brief, possessive glint in his eye. "You might be the newbie of the office, love, but you're my assistant," he reached back into the drawer and handed her a smaller planner. "This is my personal planner, I'll expect you to list only my personal arrangements in there, and this is your work phone," he placed a brand new BlackBerry on top of the planners. "It's set up to accept my emails as well as your own. Now, are you taking this in, Caroline? You look a little distant."
Caroline blinked. She was taking in all of the responsibilities that Klaus expected her to perform, and frankly she was daunted. "Of course," she replied, trying to juggle her handbag into a comfortable position alongside the pile of items he had handed her.
Klaus leaned forward, clasping his hands together. "What did you do for my little sister, love?"
"Picked up coffee, mostly. Occasionally I answered the phone. Oh, and not to mention going to her events with her. I'm sorry," she mumbled. "Nadia - the first assistant - she did most of the work. I was just the back up."
One of his eyebrows lifted slowly. "Are you sure you'll be able to manage this?"
Caroline straightened her back, trying not to look offended. "Of course! I juggled college as well as three other committees two years ago!" she shot back, defensively. Klaus simply smiled, and nodded through the glass to her desk.
"How about you put your things down, and go meet your new workmates," Klaus dismissed, and then spun around in the black leather chair he was inhabiting, and looked out of the window.
Caroline stepped out of his office, and placed her things on the shiny wooden desk in her area. Once she had taken off her blazer in a radical attempt to try and make her outfit a little more casual, she wandered back into the foyer, where three other desks were. Two of the employees had already dashed off, but a smiling woman with long, dark blonde hair was sitting at her desk, folding some documents into envelopes. When she sensed Caroline's presence, she smiled up at her brightly.
"Hey! Come over, sit down," she insisted, and pulled one of the chairs from the other desk across to her. Caroline sat down tentatively, and offered her new workmate a smile. "I'm Lexi Branson," she said to Caroline. "Help me with these, and we'll have a chat."
Before Caroline could respond, Lexi had halved her pile of envelopes and documents, and dumped a section of them on Caroline. She opened her mouth, remembering what Klaus had told her about only accepting jobs from him, but she closed it again. She needed to build bridges with the people in this office, and it was only a couple of envelopes. So, she buttoned her lip, and started folding documents into the envelopes, the same way that Lexi did.
"I'm Caroline Forbes," she told her politely. They soon got chatting, and Caroline discovered that she had quite a lot in common, and Lexi was extremely easy to talk to. It wasn't long before they were laughing, while Lexi joked around and told Caroline about the other employees.
"You don't have anything to worry about here," Lexi promised. "There's honestly nothing to be nervous about. There's me – and I'm harmless," Lexi gave Caroline a jokey nudge. "Logan Fell is a bit of a jackass, but he spends half of his time that far up Elijah's back end he probably won't give you any trouble, and Kol is just an intern."
"Kol?" Caroline flashed back to the soiree she had been at just a few days earlier, where she had met the younger Mikaelson brother. "Kol Mikaelson?"
"The very same," Lexi replied.
"I thought he was travelling the world," Caroline had assumed that Kol would just jump straight on a plane to the Middle East after the party.
Lexi lowered her voice. "Apparently he's low on cash, so his big brothers have offered to help him out. But let's save this conversation for an out of work event," she muttered, nodding in the general direction of Klaus' office. "Speaking of which – a bunch of us are going for drinks after work today, if you want to join? There'll be a few of my other friends there, too."
"Sure!" Caroline replied, enthusiastically – until she remembered that Elena was meeting her at Melrose. "Oh, actually…I made an arrangement with my roomie, so tonight won't really be a great idea."
Lexi made a scoffing noise, but offered Caroline an apologetic smile. "Oh well. Next time, yeah?" she questioned. Caroline nodded.
"Definitely next time," she answered, smiling brightly. She folded the last document into an envelope, and then stood up from the desk, saying a brief goodbye to Lexi before heading back to her own area.
As Caroline watched the clock ticking slowly towards five p.m, she couldn't help but smile. Her first day at Klaus' firm had gone perfectly. She had made a new friend in Lexi, managed to get Klaus and Elijah's lunch orders right, and had organised Klaus' personal and professional planners for the next two weeks. Everything was looking positive – and nothing had gone wrong.
As she leaned back in her seat, smiling at the organisation she had created in Klaus' diaries, she looked forward to getting back home and telling Elena all about her first day.
When the clock finally struck five, she stood up and pulled her blazer on, and picked up her work phone and the planners. Before she dashed off, she looked through the glass at Klaus, who was still working on something at his desk.
He looked up at her almost immediately, catching her eye. Caroline felt herself flush instantly, and quickly conjured up a smile, before she started to wander out of the office. She barely managed to get to the elevator, however, before he was calling her. "Caroline!" he shouted through the empty office.
Caroline turned around as she reached the elevator, and looked at Klaus questioningly. "Yes?"
"Where are you going?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Erm…home? It's five."
"I'm taking you home," he said dismissively. "Let me get my coat."
"Oh…" Caroline shifted awkwardly from foot to foot, as she watched Klaus rush back through the office. "It's really not necessary!" she shouted after him. "I have a week pass for the subway, so..."
"Not at all," Klaus replied, as he returned with his coat slung over his shoulder. "Winter makes the afternoons dark, Caroline, and New York is a dangerous place in the dark," he said this with a strange smirk on his face, as he leaned over Caroline and pressed the elevator button.
When they were down the elevator and out into the street, Klaus led her over to a sleek, black streetcar that was waiting for him on the sidewalk. She noticed that there was a woman stood by the car, holding a camera to her face, and Caroline raised her eyebrows. Klaus was only stepping out of work – did he really need paparazzi right this moment?
He was apparently oblivious, however, as he opened the car door for Caroline. She tried one more getaway attempt. "Look, Mr Mikaelson," she started.
"Klaus," he corrected her.
"Klaus. It's not that I don't appreciate your offer – I really do – but I live all the way out in the Bronx. Plus I'm meeting a friend at Melrose from there, so she'll be waiting for me. Honestly, thank you, but…"
"Get in the car, Caroline," Klaus insisted. "You can call your friend and tell her to meet you at home instead, I'm sure she won't mind. Now hurry up – she isn't going to stop taking photos," Klaus nodded towards the photographer. Caroline groaned inwardly, and gave in, climbing into the car. Klaus slid into the back seat beside her, and nodded at the driver in the rear-view mirror. "Where are we going, Caroline?"
"East 176th Street," Caroline replied. "It's just off Webster Avenue."
Klaus raised his eyebrow. "That's no place for a lady like you to be living, Caroline," he told her. Caroline shot him a defensive look as the car lurched out into the street – she hadn't yet fastened her seatbelt, and she gave a small scream as she was plunged sideways into Klaus. He caught her quickly, and pulled her to a sitting up position. Caroline suddenly found herself looking at Klaus' soft lower lip, and was reminded of their almost-kiss at the soiree.
But she pulled back quickly, feeling flushed. "Thanks," she muttered quickly, but Klaus didn't leave it there. As the car hurtled on towards the Bronx, he leaned across her. She became aware of his weight on her body, the warmth that came off him, as he reached around for her seatbelt, and clipped her in. When he retreated to his own seat, she released a breath that she didn't realise she'd been holding. "I could've done that myself," she told him.
"No harm done," Klaus replied with a smirk.
The car journey home was torture. After Caroline had telephoned Elena to let her know she wouldn't be meeting her at Melrose, she didn't really know what to do with herself. She was constantly worried of her legs brushing Klaus', or her hand touching his by mistake, and she desperately didn't want to make awkward eye contact with him. For the first time in her life, she was glad to see the litter-strewn Webster Avenue, and relieved when the driver pulled up outside her apartment.
Quickly, she unstrapped her seatbelt and made to get out of the car, but Klaus' fingers closed around her wrist. She glanced at him questioningly. "You did really well today, love," he told her. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Caroline couldn't help but give him a dazzling smile. She wasn't used to receiving praise for her work – Rebekah barely glanced at her during her time at Magnifique. She thanked Klaus and collected up her bag, and then closed the car door behind her, using her hip. When she staggered into the apartment, she noticed that the car didn't drive away until Caroline was safely in her apartment.
As soon as the door opened, Elena was on her. She was already dressed in her pyjamas, and Caroline could smell coffee coming from the Tassimo. She snatched Caroline's bag from her arms, and threw it over the coat stand. "Who was that?" she exclaimed excitedly, pulling Caroline into the kitchen by her arms.
"My boss," Caroline replied.
"Your boss just happened to give you a lift home all the way to Manhattan?" Elena raised her neat, dark eyebrows. "He's clearly crushing on you."
Caroline scoffed, and took a seat in the living room. "I don't think so. You should see his personal planner. He has four dates with four different women over three days this week."
"So he's a womanizer," Elena responded, bringing a coffee over to Caroline. "That doesn't mean he's not the love of your life."
Caroline glared at Elena. "Don't be ridiculous. He's my boss. Now shut up about Klaus – let me tell you about my day!"