AUTHOR'S NOTE: Your eyes are not deceiving you, I have updated again. I'm doing so for several reasons

1. I'm almost done with my next part so I feel confident that my buffer is in place

2. This part and the one before are short, don't worry they will be longer from here on out.

3. I'm smiling from ear to ear from last night's episode

Also wow, interesting to see everyone's reaction to Katherine's first meeting with Caroline. Some of you thought she was spot on while others of you were mad she was so mean to Caroline. Glad that she made an impression and you guys are interested to learn more about Tatia because there will be more of both later in the story.

PS. Thanks for all of the reviews! This story is over 100 now and I'm just completely shocked by that so thank you all.

And thanks to CeCeVolume for all of her help with this.

Part 7

Klaus walked inside of the house and was surprised when he was met with silence. He couldn't remember a time when that had ever happened unless it was late and the twins were already in bed. However, it was almost lunchtime on a Saturday, so he knew that was not the case. His children fancied a lie in most weekends, but not until almost noon.

Today had been one of the few Saturday mornings where his part of the family business required him to work. Occasionally, they had clients or events that happened on weekends that they just couldn't schedule for normal working hours. He didn't like giving up the time with Lexi and Henry, but he had explained it to them earlier in the week as well as told Caroline that he needed her. Thankfully, she had been fine with it and had no plans that she had to reschedule. He was glad that he had been up front in the beginning about his schedule. The kids hadn't been particularly happy, but she assured him she'd get them over it.

It had been a month since Caroline had moved in and things had been going famously. She brought a different kind of energy to the house and the occupants in it then Ayanna had. Not better or worse, just different, and he found the change quite nice. That made the quietness of the house even odder to him.

Klaus briefly wondered if perhaps Caroline hadn't taken them out for a bit when he heard the door to the basement open and the woman he had just been wondering about came out with her hands full with a laundry basket. She was dressed in a pair of yoga pants and a long sleeve t-shirt with her hair pulled up. He had noticed over the past month that she always seemed to have her hair put up in some fashion when watching the twins. Her eyes met his and he noticed for the lack of the bright welcoming smile he had been used to seeing when he arrived home. "What's wrong?"

"Well the honeymoon is officially over," Caroline announced

"Come again?" Klaus asked utterly confused by what she was talking about.

"You know that period at the beginning of a relationship when everything is perfect and nothing bad can happen? Well, it took a month, but ours is over," Caroline explained with a huff as she sat the basket of clean laundry at the bottom of the stairs before turning back to Klaus. "The kids are mad at me."

"Whatever for?" Klaus asked. He couldn't imagine what she had done that would make Henry and Lexi mad at her. According to them, she was perfect and could do no wrong. It was quite irritating actually; while his kids had never been very difficult, they were still kids and misbehaved or didn't listen at times. However, it seemed that their attitudes didn't extend to Caroline in that respect. When she told them to wash their hands or brush their teeth, they raced each other to the bathroom instead of trying to claim they already had; or if they left their stuff lying around and Caroline reminded them that it needed to be put away, they did it without argument while if he had been the one, they balked and bickered over who was supposed to do it. He had yet to ask Caroline what her secret was, but it seemed that her spell over them had been broken.

"After they got up this morning and had breakfast, I made them get dressed before we got to work. Henry finished his weekend homework yesterday while we were at the gym watching Lexi, but she still had some so I sat her down to do it while Henry started on his room. They both started whining and pouting about having to do anything on Saturday morning," Caroline explained. "If I hadn't separated them, I know they would have tried to gang up on me to get me to back down."

Klaus smiled a little at her frustration. "Well, love, you can't expect them to be happy about it. Most Saturdays around here, we lie around in their pajamas and watch cartoons while eating breakfast. It's their time to relax and just be kids."

"I know, but…wait did you just call me 'love'?" Caroline asked.

"I don't know; did I?" Klaus asked as he replayed his words in his head and found she was right, he had called her love. He hadn't even realized that he had done it; it was just a natural way of addressing friends or family. "I did. I apologize if it makes you uncomfortable; I often call the women around me love or sweetheart. You could say it's a British thing."

"No, not uncomfortable. I just wasn't expecting it, though I guess I should have," Caroline stated. She had heard him refer to Mindy as sweetheart before at his office and other people when he was on the phone with them, but to hear him use a nickname with her had just been odd. And not necessarily in a bad way, it made her feel that he was comfortable around her like she had found herself becoming around him.

"I'll try not to do it again."

"No, it's fine. Really," Caroline assured him. It might be very inappropriate to some people for their boss to call them 'love', but it wasn't as if he was being a creep about it; it was the culture he was brought up in. She had heard Rebekah do the same thing a time or two she thought. "It's your house; you should be able to talk however you want.

Klaus nodded in acknowledgment. "Um, what were you going to say? Before about why you have the kids working on chores…"

"Right," Caroline said trying to go back to her argument before she had gotten distracted. "I realize that usually the kids clean up their room and finish their homework on Sunday afternoons, but that's on a normal weekend."

"That's the usual schedule," Klaus stated. "The kids and I like it."

"I understand, but you had to work this morning, which means you lost time with them. I just thought that if they got their stuff done now, while you were gone, that it would give you more time with them tomorrow," Caroline explained. "Kind of gain back the time lost today."

Klaus had had every intention of taking his kids side on their argument with Caroline. After all, he was the one who had started the little Saturday ritual of starting the weekend with a lazy morning but after hearing Caroline's explanation, any bit of argument left him. She was doing what she could to make sure he had time with the twins. "Thank you."

"Yeah, well, I know how much you cherish the time with them," Caroline acknowledged turning her eyes away from his face. She hadn't expected the intensity of the expression on his face.

"And I'm sure that they didn't give you a chance to explain why you were making them do it, did they?" Klaus asked.

"Not so much, no. Seven year olds don't really listen to reason when they are mad," Caroline said with a smile.

"I'll talk to them," Klaus assured her.

"No, it's okay. They have to discover for themselves that while they might think I'm fun, I'm still the adult in charge and I'm going to do stuff sometimes that they don't like. And they still have to do it. They should be about finished," Caroline declared before heading into the kitchen. "I went ahead and made lunch since you said you would be coming home just about the time to eat. Nothing big, just some soup and sandwiches."

"That's great, thanks," Klaus said gratefully; he had thought about just ordering in lunch or seeing what they had in the freezer. He watched as she retrieved bowls, plates, and silverware. "Are you eating with us?"

"Nope, thanks. Now that you're home, I'm going to put the laundry upstairs, change and then head out. Girls' night with Bonnie and Elena. It's going to be an overnight thing, so I won't be home until tomorrow," Caroline explained as she finished getting everything that they would need for lunch. "So are you good? Cause if you are, I'm going to go…"

"Yes, have a good night Caroline. Have fun with you friends."

"Bye Klaus."

So what did you guys think? They are definitely getting more and more comfortable with each other are they not?

Anyone think it's funny that the twins are so well behaved with Caroline? That happens all of the time with my kids, I've had coaches, teachers, and parents of their friends go on and on about how sweet and polite my kids are when they are around them. I'm not saying that my kids are horrible at home but they definitely put on a different face when they are gone.