AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well TVD might be taking the week off but I am not so here is my weekly post. I did want to put on here that I am thankful for every single review, follower, and favoriter (I'm making that a word) and I hope anyone celebrating the holiday this week has a good one. I'm spending Thanksgiving morning at a Charity run and it's my first so hopefully I'll still be alive afterwards to keep posting for you guys.

Glad everyone is okay with my not making Klaus a man-whore. It just doesn't work for me for this story. Also, I realize that Caroline and Klaus have been very formal with each other but remember, they have only met twice and aren't living together yet, they will loosen up around each other starting in this part.

Now for the next part...

Part 5

It was moving day for Caroline. She'd been mentoring under Ayanna for just over two weeks and tomorrow, Monday, was Caroline's first day on her own with the kids. She had enjoyed training under the older woman; Ayanna was very kind and warm hearted. They would take the kids to school together and then go back to the house where she explained to Caroline the intricacies of the household as they ran through the day. Caroline loved to hear the little stories and family history that Ayanna shared. Caroline now knew that Kol and Rebekah were not the only siblings Klaus had but also two older brothers as well as a younger one that had died when he was a teenager. Ayanna never spoke about Klaus's ex-wife Tatia, though.

Caroline could see that the woman really cared for the family, but she also noticed various times when tiredness or pain would overcome Ayanna's features and she would quickly step forward and try to take over as best she could without seeming intrusive or demeaning. Ayanna seemed to understand that and by the last day they worked together, Ayanna had told Caroline that she was very comfortable knowing that the family had Caroline to help look after them. Caroline couldn't think of any greater show of respect than that.

Caroline along with Bonnie, Elena, and Damon pulled up in front of the Mikaelson house and parked Elena's SUV. Since Caroline had been living with the families she worked for several years, she didn't have a ton of stuff, mostly clothes and things but the boxes filled the back of the car. Nothing that the girls couldn't handle, but Elena thought it would be a good idea to bring Damon along to help as well as move anything heavy.

"Wow, Caroline. This place is beautiful," Bonnie exclaimed as they got out.

"Isn't it?" Caroline agreed. "And there's so much stuff nearby, the market, a park not to mention the Commons. Ayanna and I took the kids there last week, I have a feeling we'll go there a lot."

"Do you want to start grabbing out the boxes now, Blondie?" Damon asked.

"Let's wait on it, I want to get into the room and see what we might want to move around," Caroline told him. "From what I remember, I'm going to want to do some rearranging."

"When did the other nanny move out?" Bonnie asked as they went up the stairs.

"Late last week, I haven't had a chance to look in the room since," Caroline answered before headed to the front door to knock. She had a key, but thought it'd be polite to announce their arrival. However, it didn't look to be necessary because before her fist touched the door, she could hear a commotion on the other side before it swung open. On the other side were Henry and Lexi, anxiously waiting for her with big smiles on their faces.

"Caroline! Finally! We thought you'd never get here," Henry said as he rushed forward to give her a hug, almost knocking her over.

"Dad! Caroline's here!" Lexi yelled though it wasn't necessary considering that at that moment, Klaus came down the stairs.

"I can see that, sweetheart. Why don't you and your brother back up so that she and her friends can come into the house."

The twins did as their father told them and stepped back to let the new arrivals come in however Caroline's focus was now on Klaus. He was dressed in a gray Henley long sleeved shirt, and what looked like a pair of dark well-worn jeans. It was the most casual she'd seen him. Most evenings when she had seen him after he had returned from work, he had been dressed similar to the day she had come to his office. The look worked very well for him.

Caroline noticed that Klaus was looking at her and she blushed. "Um, these are my friends. Bonnie and Elena, and Elena's boyfriend…"

"Damon," Klaus finished for her as he nodded to the other man. "We've met before."

"Right, Stefan," Caroline figured. "This is Klaus Mikaelson and his children, Lexi and Henry."

"Well, its nice meeting you, ladies," Klaus said politely, smiling at each of them. The kids looked at the stranger girls apprehensively but still waved politely.

"They just came to help me with my stuff and to see where I'll be living," Caroline explained. She wasn't sure if he minded having three strangers in his house. She probably should have asked him, but she hadn't even thought about it.

"It's not a problem," Klaus assured her before the twins grabbed Caroline's hands and started tugging her upstairs towards her room with Caroline's friends following them.

"Come on Caroline; let's go to your room," Lexi urged

"Yeah, it might have changed since you saw it last," Henry acknowledged before he got a slap in the arm from his sister. "What? I said might have. I didn't say did."

Bonnie and Elena laughed at the two kids. "They are so cute."

Caroline laughed with them in agreement. She let them lead her until they got to the back of the second floor where she could see the door to her room was closed. On it was a homemade sign that said 'Welcome Home Caroline.' She felt her smile grow as tears came to her eyes. "Guys, that is so sweet."

"Henry and I both worked on it," Lexi beamed.

"Look, I drew the zebra on it," Henry explained. "Lex did the letters."

"Well, thank you," Caroline said as she leaned forward to look, but the twins had other ideas. Instead, they pushed the door open and Caroline felt her mouth drop open. The room looked completely different. When Ayanna had occupied it, the walls were painted a dark green and had been filled with dark wood furniture including book shelves everywhere. It had made the room seem cramped and shadowy but it was nothing like that now.

The room had been repainted so that it was now a pale yellow color and all of the dark wood furniture had been removed and exchanged for a queen size bed with a white headboard, matching nightstand, a small white vanity, and a dresser with a flat screen TV mounted above it. The curtains matched the yellow and blue comforter and with them drawn back, let in a lot of light but were heavy enough it appeared to block it as well if she wanted.

"Daddy did it after Ayanna left; he had Uncle Kol come over to help him," Lexi explained.

"It's perfect," Caroline said just before Damon and Klaus joined them. She smiled at Klaus in gratitude, but didn't say anything. She wanted to thank him later. "The room is set up just like I want, Damon, we can start bringing up the boxes and stuff now."

Damon rolled his eyes at her before walking back the way he came, mumbling under his breath about her neurotic control tendencies while Bonnie and Elena followed after him. Caroline moved to go after them when Klaus stopped her. "Um, I know it's officially your night off, but we were wondering if would join us for dinner?"

"Dinner?"

"The kids want to make you dinner, to welcome you," Klaus explained with a smile. "They are kind of excited that you are here."

"I noticed," Caroline laughed. "Sure. Dinner will be nice."

Klaus nodded before following her down to help her friends with her stuff. It didn't take long for them to unload the boxes. Once that was done, Klaus shooed the kids out of the way and left Caroline and her friends to unpack them into Caroline's room.

"Care, you weren't kidding when you said the man was hot," Bonnie commented once the door was closed and enough time had passed that she knew she wouldn't be overheard.

"Bonnie…" Caroline hissed as she looked over at Damon. She thought of him as a friend and thought he was a good boyfriend to Elena, but the man could not keep him mouth shut for anything. She did not need it getting back to Stefan—and then Rebekah—that she had thought that Klaus was good looking.

"Oh, come on, Blondie, it's just us girls here," Damon commented as his lips curved into a sly smile, he put down the magazine and gave the conversation his full attention. "I know the guy with kids thing is always a big turn on for the ladies."

"He's my boss, and I am not having this conversation," Caroline said in a voice that stated that she was indeed done talking about it.

Bonnie and Elena helped Caroline unpack and organize everything while Damon lay on her new bed and flipped through her magazines, making comments about the articles until he was driving the girls so crazy that Elena thought it was best to get him out of there.

Caroline spent the next couple of hours putting the finishing touches on her new space. Her closet wasn't huge but big enough that she was able to fit all of her clothes and shoes in it and the rest of the room was starting to feel like hers. She saw that it was getting to be early evening and if the smells of food wafting through the house was any indication, Caroline knew that dinner would be soon so she jumped into her shower and got cleaned up. She dressed in clean clothes and threw her hair into a high ponytail.

Once she was done, Caroline went in search of the other residents of the house. She found Klaus in the kitchen, working on what looked to be a salad and no kids in sight. "I thought you said Henry and Lexi were cooking?"

Klaus turned his attention to her and smiled. "Yeah, well they thought that the idea of cooking was fun for about the first five minutes. Once there wasn't anything to cut up, they abandoned me."

"You should have come and gotten me," Caroline stated.

"It's okay; I know my way around the kitchen," Klaus assured her. "Take a seat; I need to finish this up before we call the kids."

Caroline sat down on the stool that was ducked into the little kitchen desk area across from where Klaus worked. "Um, I didn't say it earlier but thank you. For my room, it's beautiful."

Klaus looked up from his task and smiled at her. "You're welcome. I hoped that it would suit your tastes. Ayanna had it so dark in there; I couldn't picture you feeling very comfortable. It's your home and you should have what you need to make it feel like it."

Caroline watched as Klaus moved around the kitchen finishing the salad while dealing with various pots on the stove. He was still dressed in his Henley and jeans but had lost his shoes and was walking around barefoot. He looked very relaxed, both in the clothes and in the kitchen. She could see that he meant what he said about being familiar with the kitchen. "Who taught you to cook? Your mother?"

"No, my father would never have allowed that," Klaus chuckled more to himself than to Caroline. "I taught myself the basics; I could only deal with take away for so long."

"I know what you mean; my mom worked a lot of hours and I could only live on pizza, frozen dinners and casseroles for so long," Caroline agreed.

"So who taught you to cook?" Klaus asked. Caroline had cooked a few times over the last couple of weeks for them and shown that she was quite the cook.

"Um…my dad's partner," Caroline answered. When Klaus looked at her confused, she explained. "My parents divorced when I was a teenager after he left her for a man."

"Oh," Klaus replied; he hadn't expected the bit of Caroline's family history that she had shared. Not a lot of people would be so forth coming, but he could see that Caroline was comfortable with her family dynamics and didn't care who knew it.

"Like I said, Mom worked a lot. So I asked Steven to teach me on my weekend visits, he said I took to it like a duck in water. But the cleanup sucks. I hate doing dishes," Caroline stated.

"Tonight, I'll be taking care of that as well," Klaus laughed, "Now, dinner is ready. I'm going to call the kids to wash their hands, do you mind going back to your room? I think they wanted this to be a surprise and I'll send one of them to get you."

"Sure thing," Caroline said with a smile before getting up and heading back to her room. Her first night in her new home was turning out to be perfect.

So what did you guys think? What do you think about Caroline's new room and what Klaus did for her? Next part, Caroline meets more of the Mikaelson family. Any guesses who?

The line that Klaus said regarding knowing his way around the kitchen is not mine. If you can guess the movie, I'll answer any spoiler question you want to ask. It's a very small line in a blockbuster movie that I happened to have been watching when I wrote this part.

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