AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well it looks like everyone wants to go to Barbados! We should all go, get a group rate. On the link that I previously posted, if you didn't click on the pictures at the bottom, do so and you'll see a lot more of the condos.

I have gotten several reviews saying that they just found my story and I wanted to say hello and welcome all my new readers! Thank you everyone for the reviews, we hit 500! Holy crap that blows my mind.

ilovetvd-Wanted to answer you directly but I couldn't. You are the only one to figure out that hint.

Part 18 Memories

After finishing her dinner, Caroline sat back in her seat and tried to absorb the scene in front of her. All thirteen Mikaelsons plus Stefan were seated around her, split between two tables. All of the kids, except for Daniel, were at the smaller table while the adults were seated around a large round table eating and talking animatedly.

It hadn't taken her too long to unpack, so Caroline had taken a quick shower to wash off all of the grime from traveling all day before braiding her hair and dress in one of the sundresses she had brought. It was cold when they had flown out of Boston this morning so, when they had arrived on the island, she had been overdressed in a pair of jeans and long sleeve shirt; the lighter garment was welcomed. She had noticed then that it was time for dinner and had left her room to find Klaus and the twins.

They had been in the living room, all of them also dressed in fresh weather appropriate clothes. The kids were in shorts and short sleeve shirts while Klaus had changed out of his jeans and long sleeve Henley and into a V-neck short sleeve gray shirt and khakis. They had then headed out and walked up to the main building of the resort. It had been a scenic walk; she had been able to see more of the resort and beach.

Once they had reached the restaurant, they had met up with the other members of the family before being seated. They were in a private dining area out on the beach. There was floor and a roof but no actual walls which gave diners a wonderful breeze and view of the ocean. The two married couples had automatically taken spots next to each other and, though not married yet, Stefan and Rebekah had followed suit. Klaus had designated the seat next to him as hers, which left Kol to squeeze into the last empty chair since Daniel took the other one next to his parents.

She came from a small family, the only child of parents who only each had one sibling themselves. Her friends' families were larger especially Bonnie's, who was also an only child but had a ton of cousins. However, Caroline had never been to a family dinner like this before. They shared bottles of wine and plates of food while they talked and joked loudly. Caroline couldn't help but think it was good that they were in an open area or the noise level might be too much.

It was a bit overwhelming at first, but she had quickly relaxed into the situation. After all, she had been around all of them at one time before at Lexi's meet but this was different. This was more comfortable and laid back, instead of excited and nervous like at the meet. And she was enjoying every minute of it.

Caroline looked next to her where Klaus was sitting, a huge smile on his face as he talked to Elijah, who was seated on his other side. Without breaking away from his conversation, he reached over for one of the bottles of wine in front of him, refilling his glass before moving to do the same with hers. She stopped him though by putting her hand over top of it. He looked at her confused. "One is enough for me, maybe too much."

"Worried you won't be able to hold your liquor, sweetheart?"

"Not a bit, but I am technically on the clock, so I don't think I should be drinking a lot, even if you have been the one serving me," Caroline explained as she looked pointedly at the kids.

Klaus saw her look at the twins and realized his mistake. He had been acting as if she was simply a guest of theirs who had joined them on vacation instead of an employee accompanying them. Their rapport had become so casual in the last month that it had made it easy for him to forget. But in looking at her, he should have noticed the French braid she had her hair pulled up, her clear sign that she was taking care of the kids. "My apologies, you are right."

"Besides, if she drinks too much tonight, she won't be able to keep up with me tomorrow, right Care?" Stefan asked from where he sat on her other side next to Rebekah.

"I assume that the two of you are fancying going for a run in the morning?" Klaus asked glancing between the blonde and his friend though he was sure he was correct. He knew that Caroline ran frequently as a means to stay in shape and wasn't surprised that she would continue to do so on vacation.

"Yep, I've already looked at a map for some of the running trails that were left at our condo. I've never ran in a place that is so…exotic," Caroline said excitedly. "But don't worry, I'll be back to help with the kids' breakfast."

"Take your time; I promised the twins we'd play on the beach tomorrow as well as possibly one of the pools, so there is no rush," Klaus replied simply. True that the reason she had come with them was to help, but this time was different than when they were at home; she didn't have to be on the clock all of the time. After all, it wasn't as if he would be rushing off to work in the morning.

"I think Bekah and I will be joining you, I think she needs a bit of a break after all of the wedding stuff she's been dealing with over the past week," Stefan stated.

Upon hearing her name, said blonde turned her attention away from her conversation with Kol to join them. "Well if the wedding planner we'd hired did her job and hired the right people then we wouldn't be in this mess."

"What happened?" Caroline asked, last she had heard everything was ready to go for the wedding. Her question was met with a groan from Klaus, which only earned him a glare from his sister before she explained. "Apparently, the photographer that Bree hired was too good to be true and not able to meet our needs. We booked him six months ago and he has just now decided this."

"Um, I don't know if it would help, but one of the girls' father at Lexi's gym is a photographer. He does the photos and videos for the gym as a favor, but his work is good. Really good," Caroline declared. "I could ask Anna for his contact information if you are interested."

"If he's as good as you say he is, I highly doubt he would be available to us," Rebekah retorted, though Caroline could tell that she was considering her words.

"They just moved to town four months ago, so he's trying to establish himself. Maybe you can meet with him when we get back? Or he could probably email you some of his portfolio," Caroline offered as she used her phone to quickly pull up the gym's website. Once she got to the pictures she was looking for, she reached over Stefan to show Rebekah. Though the other blonde tried to hide her reaction, she could tell that Rebekah approved of what she was seeing. Once she saw all of what the website had to offer, Caroline quickly sent a message to Anna asking for the information.

"Thank you very much, Caroline; if this photographer works out, I will be in your debt," Rebekah replied. "I might not even expect a wedding present from you."

Caroline wasn't sure what to say to that; she hadn't even been aware that she was invited to the wedding. She thought she might be since she was quasi-friends with Stefan but hadn't gotten an invitation yet so she really had no clue. "You're welcome."

"Bekah," Kol called to get his sister's attention. "Settle a bet between Finn and I. He says that you are the only one of us who has never broken anything, but I know I remember you breaking your shoulder when I was eight. You were chasing after us and fell."

"I didn't break it," Rebekah answered.

"Yes, you did. I remember it," Kol insisted.

"She didn't break it, she dislocated it," Klaus interrupted. His voice, Caroline could swear, held a touch of irritation in it.

"Oh, are you sure? I could have sworn she broke it. I remember it being in a sling…."

"Drop it, Kol," Rebekah warned just as Klaus replied, "I'm quite certain of it, brother; if you recall, Father was quite upset with me that she got hurt."

Caroline watched as Kol's eyes widened a bit at his brother's statement. "Um, right."

The jovial, easy-going mood of the dinner vanished at that moment. Caroline wasn't entirely sure what was going on but she could see the rigidity of Klaus's body and knew that he was upset, though she didn't think his anger was directed at Kol. She watched as he looked over at the twins who were still eating before standing. "I'm going to get some air."

Without another word, he walked away from the table and towards one of the exits that lead to the beach. Once he disappeared, the tension eased a little bit only to be replaced by something else, something she couldn't put her finger on. And she wasn't going to ask because whatever it was it was their business.

When the wait staff came to deliver their deserts a few minutes later, the tension seemed to break and conversation returned, though muted. Caroline saw the plate holding Klaus's desert and made a decision. She leaned over his empty chair towards Elijah so she could talk to his wife, "Katherine, will you keep an eye on the twins for a few minutes? I'll be right back."

Knowing that she was planning to follow his brother out, Elijah spoke up. "Caroline, perhaps you should stay here. Niklaus will return when he is ready."

But Katherine didn't seem to agree. "Go on, they'll be fine."

Katherine watched as Caroline picked up Nik's plate as well as her own, Caroline headed in the direction that he had gone. She turned back to her husband then. "I think she'd be more likely to calm him don't you think?"

Elijah studied his wife for a minute. "Are you sure that was the smart thing to do?"

Katherine merely shrugged as she smiled at him.

Caroline knew he wouldn't have gone far, even knowing that his children were being looked after. She faltered a minute, wondering if he would be upset with her that she had left the kids as well but decided to keep moving. She found him only about twenty feet away from the restaurant, leaning against a large chair while starring at the water. He must have heard her because he turned as she approached. He looked at the plates in her hands and shook his head. "I'm not very hungry at the moment."

"Yeah, well this is crème brule and you can't just let that go to waste. It's like a sin if you do." Caroline replied as she shoved the plate into his hands giving him no choice but to take it. "I just wanted to come out and check on you. I thought we could have desert before we go back inside. Elijah and Katherine are watching the twins for a minute."

Klaus opened his mouth to argue but shut it when he couldn't come up with a valid argument. Instead, he eyed her plate and scoffed. "That's not a desert."

"Are you kidding me? These are mini macaroons, they are unbelievably tasty. Don't knock my desert." Caroline said as she picked one off the plate and popped it in her mouth. As it landed on her tongue, she could not help but moan at taste. "So good."

Klaus couldn't help but stare at her as she enjoyed her desert. His mind briefly flitted to the idea of if she made similar noises any time she felt pleasure but quickly shut the thought down. Instead, he turned his focus to the plate Caroline had given him and broke the crust with his spoon. They stood there in silence and watched the waves smash against the beach. He wasn't sure if it was the company or just time but he slowly felt the anger and fury leaving his body.

After he had eaten a majority of his desert, he spoke. "Thank you earlier, for helping Bekah."

"It was nothing, I barely did anything." Caroline said.

"Well that's not what she thought but I appreciate it. Even if she doesn't do the best job of showing it." Klaus replied.

"Your family is fun to be around. I have never around a family with so many siblings and you are all so close. You guys just all seem to love being around each other."

"Yes, we do. Family is very important to us." Klaus stated. He considered his words carefully before he continued. "About earlier…"

"Klaus, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to. It's none of my business." Caroline declared.

He smiled a little at her words; he could see that she was speaking the truth although he was sure that she was curious as to what had happened. "Our father…he was a hard man. He thought that children were an asset more than a blessing. He expected excellence and pressed us to get what he wanted. And when we did something to displease or disappoint him, he made sure we knew of it and that we would not do it again. Me more so than the others."

"That sounds like a rough way to grow up." Caroline admitted.

"It was." Klaus agreed. "However there are two things that came out of his iron grip on us. The first being the bond you mentioned between us."

"And the second?"

"I learned very early the type of father I never wanted to be." Klaus confessed.

Caroline looked over and starred into his sorrowful eyes. "You're nothing like that Klaus."

"And I never will be." He said.

"Let's go back inside, I'm sure Lexi and Henry are looking for you." Caroline suggested. She had a feeling that seeing the kids that were his whole world would be the best thing to drive the ghosts of his childhood away.

Klaus nodded before heading back with her, walking side by side. When they reached the area that his family was at, both of the twins' heads turned in their direction and smiled brightly, both of their mouths covered in ice cream and syrup. Caroline couldn't help but giggle a little at the sight they made. She heard Klaus chuckling as well as he walked over to their table. "I think the two of you got more of it on your faces than you did in your mouths."

"We are going to have to hose them down." Caroline agreed as she picked up a nearby napkin. As she and Klaus proceeded to help clean up the sticky mess that the twins had become, his family looked on. They all noticed the smile on their brother/brother-in-law's face, knew that the incident earlier had been forgotten, and were all pretty sure it had to do with the blonde next to him.

like it? hate it?

I've had some people ask when we are going to see some skin. Next part I promise!