AUTHOR'S NOTE: No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. I am updating and it's only Wednesday. I had a crappy night last night after being mentally exhausted from writing a long part and I need the pick me up I get from you guys and your reviews. Don't worry, I'll still update on Sunday.

Glad everyone was okay with the lack of UST in the last part. When I said a slow build up, I definitely meant it. When the two of them do get together, they will be risking a lot; Caroline with her job/career and Klaus with his kids and their attachment to Caroline if something was to go wrong. I just can't write it any other way.

BTW, I have come up with an idea for a new story and I wanted to know what people thought of it. The relationship between Caroline and Klaus would be very different, you can find out more at the bottom Author's note, please let me know if you are interested in reading it. It won't take away from this story.

Okay, I'll stop rambling now.

Part 11

"Can someone explode from eating too much?" Caroline asked with a groan as she flopped back on one of Elena's couches. They had just finished having Thanksgiving at Damon and Elena's townhouse. None of them were able to travel back to MysticFalls for the holiday so, years ago, the girls had started the tradition of making the meal together. Over the last few years, their threesome had grown to include Damon and Stefan when Elena and the elder Salvatore brother moved in together and Jeremy when he had followed his sister to Boston for school.

"Hey, no getting blood on the rug, Blondie," Damon bellowed from his spot where he and Jeremy were currently watching a football game.

Caroline stuck her tongue out him as Bonnie laughed. She walked over, lifted up her miserable friend's legs and sat down, placing them in her lap. "You probably shouldn't have eaten that second plate of food if you were going to eat a piece of pie, too, Care. Not to mention all of the samples while we were cooking."

"Now you tell me," Caroline complained. "I couldn't help it; all I had for breakfast was coffee. I fed the kids but didn't grab anything."

Elena's eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "I thought you had the day off."

"I do."

"Then why were you feeding the kids?" Elena asked.

"Klaus was occupied with prepping some of the food for their meal and arguing with Rebekah on the phone. I was in the kitchen working on the little bit of stuff I had to do before I came over so I fed them," Caroline answered, not sure why Elena was looking at her so strangely. "What?"

"Nothing," Elena answered.

"No, that's not a nothing look Elena. I know that look, it's an 'I'm judging you look," Caroline replied.

"I'm not judging, I am just…concerned that you might be losing sight of where the line is between work time and your off time," Elena explained.

Caroline rolled her eyes. "The kids were hungry; yes they could have waited until their dad was off the phone, but why when it was such a simple thing to get them out some cereal? Besides from what I heard of his side of the argument, he wasn't getting off of the phone with Rebekah any time soon."

"Speaking of Rebekah, why didn't her and Stefan come over?" Bonnie asked, trying to break up the tension between her two friends.

"I told Baby Bro not to worry about it," Damon answered as he took a drink from his beer. "This is their first year doing holidays with both families. He and Rebekah were going to do the big meal with her family and come over for desert, but I shot him down. Thanksgiving has never been a big deal for us, so I told him it wasn't a problem to skip coming over."

"That was nice of you," Bonnie said skeptically. She hadn't always been a huge fan of Damon, but he surprised her sometimes with his selflessness towards his brother and Elena.

"It's not like I don't see him all of the time anyways," Damon replied. "And I'm sure I'll see him plenty while you guys are gone at Christmas."

"Ug, don't remind me," Jeremy complained before he looked over at his sister and her friends. "Did you guys have to book the earliest flight possible?"

"We wanted to get there early so we have as much time as possible before we head back, Jer," Elena explained.

"It's a three hour flight, not like it will take a day to get there," he argued.

"He's got a point, Elena," Caroline stated. "It's not like when I fly to Barbados a week later, taking an early makes sense then, otherwise we'd be arriving close to midnight."

"I'd rather be going with you, Caroline," Jeremy stated. "New Year's in the tropics sounds better than New Year's in New England."

"I will actually be working you know, granted it will be in a much warmer climate," Caroline agreed. She had decided to go on the offered trip with Klaus and the twins not long after she had moved in, and she was very happy that she had. It might be a working vacation, but it was still much warmer than Boston. "You guys should see the swimsuit I bought online."

"Why did you have to get a new suit?" Bonnie asked. "You have to have almost half a dozen suits."

"That are bikinis. I can't wear those with the kids while I'm working." She explained though she didn't mention how she thought it might be a little awkward to wear a skimpy suit around Klaus. She still remembered how tense things had gotten on Halloween night. She had avoided him the next day and thankfully things had been normal between them when she finally saw him after he got off work on the second day but she didn't want to get into another uncomfortable situation.

"Besides, don't want to blur the lines right?" Caroline said snippily at Elena as she got up and headed to the kitchen. She went straight to where they had left the opened bottles of wine and poured herself a glass. She wasn't really mad at her friend, but she didn't like her questioning her professionalism either. So what if she helped with the kids when it was technically her day off, it's not like she minded a bit nor were they a burden.

"Caroline, don't be like that," Elena whined as she followed her. "Look, I'm not trying to be a bitch here; I'm just trying to look out for you. You have a huge heart and I just worry that you are going to get too attached. It's okay to love your work, but I don't want you to get so lost in it that you forget about the rest of your life."

"So it's not my professionalism you're worried about; you think I'm just going to be a workaholic who has no life?" Caroline asked confused.

"She wouldn't put it like that, but yes," Bonnie answered for Elena.

"I go out," Caroline argued. "Every weekend we go out."

"Yes, we do and we have a blast, but Elena and I were thinking more of company of the opposite sex," Bonnie explained.

Caroline leaned on the counter and put her head in her hands. "I can't believe this. You guys are worried about my sex life or lack there of?"

"Hey, if Blondie needs a boytoy, I know of a couple of guys…" Damon called from the living room.

"NO! We are not having this conversation!" Caroline exclaimed; feeling unbelievably embarrassed. She looked at Bonnie and Elena. "It's only been four months since I broke up with Tyler, and for almost three of them I've been busy with a brand new job. Let me have some time to myself before you start worrying about my lingerie collection gathering spider webs, okay?"

Bonnie and Elena seemed to realize that Caroline was serious after her outburst and promptly dropped the subject while she emptied her wine glass and quickly refilled it. She had a feeling that she was going to be draining the bottle pretty soon.

/

"You know, Bekah, if you plan on fitting into that wedding gown you keep going on about, you should probably lay off the desert," Kol quipped as he himself popped a piece of chocolate into his mouth and smiled at the blonde Mikaelson.

"If you don't shut your mouth, the next thing to come out of it will be your teeth," Rebekah practically growled from her spot across the table from him.

Elijah saw the daggers that his sister was sending at their youngest brother. "Behave yourselves, you two; I don't believe Niklaus would appreciate bloodshed in his house."

"I would be more worried about Caroline's wrath than mine if they make a mess. She is the one who ensured that the dining room was prepared for our get together today," Klaus stated from his spot at the head of the table. Finn might have been the oldest, but the family respected the fact that they were in his house and therefore he sat at the head of the table of adults, with the kids at the kitchen table. Both tables were covered in dark Fall colored table cloths with pumpkin centerpieces that Caroline had thought made the rooms look festive.

"And where is the enchanting Caroline today?" Kol asked. "I thought I might have the pleasure of her company today."

"Despite what you may believe, I do let the woman off of work on occasion. She is enjoying the holiday with her friends instead of being badgered by you," Klaus answered as he took a large drink from his wine glass. He knew that Kol was just trying to push his buttons, so he ignored him rather than give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was getting to him.

"While I would not want to subject her to Kol, it is a pity that we missed an opportunity to speak with her. It was a surprise but a pleasure to finally meet her at the meet after hearing so many good things about her from Katherine," Elijah stated as he picked up his wife's hand and kissed it before continuing. "And I know that Alexandria was delighted to have her there."

"I think Caroline was more nervous than Lexi was," Klaus said with a smile as he thought back to his daughter's first gymnastics meet. He had set his alarm so he could get the kids up early but found that Lexi was already up and with Caroline when he woke, the nanny plaiting her hair into some kind of complicated braid. She had later told him that Lexi had confessed to her that she was worried that her ponytail might not hold back her hair enough to not get in her face so Caroline had offered to braid it for her. The two of them had been a bundle of nerves the whole day.

"You don't say? I couldn't tell by the way she was pacing while Lexi was waiting on deck. And I think my ears are still ringing from her and Bekah shouting and applauding," Stefan commented before he received an elbow to his stomach courtesy of his fiancé. "But seriously, I wasn't all that surprised that Caroline was there."

"Why do you say that mate?" Klaus asked.

Stefan shrugged. "It's just very Caroline."

Klaus nodded in understanding. "I agree."

"Okay for those of us who don't know Caroline as well as the two of you seem to, what are you talking about?" Sage asked.

"Caroline is very devoted to those that she cares about and, although she is paid to be their nanny, she cares for the twins. Lexi asked her to be there, so Caroline would do anything she could not to disappoint her," Stefan explained. "It's just the way she is."

"A quality that is very valuable in someone involved with children," Elijah remarked.

"Yes, if I was one to be a traditionalist and say what I am thankful for on this holiday, it would be that I am thankful to have found someone like her," Klaus declared before adding, "For the children's care, of course."

Everyone nodded in understanding but as the conversation moved onto other topics, Rebekah shared a knowing but concerned look with Katherine.

So what did you guys think?

Sorry if Klaus sounded a little cheesy at the end.

In regards to Kol's remark to Rebekah, yes there are actually men out there that would be that stupid to say something like that to a woman. My husband said something like it to a friend of ours before her wedding. I was impressed that she let him live.

NEW STORY IDEA:

Klaus is living the life he's wanted for as long as he could remember; he and his brothers are members of the Motorcycle gang his father and Stepfather created, and he is set to take over as leader when Mikael steps down. He has plenty of money, women in his bed and his bike. So why should he care that the girl he loved in high school who abandoned him is back in town?

For those of you familiar with Sons of Anarchy, yes this would be a lot like Jax and Tara but with my own spin on it and all of the TVD characters in it.