AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello my lovelies, how are we today?

Your reviews have blown me away. I want to thank each and every one of you for every review you have left me. It came to my attention this week that this story is ranked 5th in highest amount of reviews out of all TVD fanfictions on this site, one of only two Klaroline fics in the top 5, the other one being Prowl which we all know is an amazing Klaroline story so that humbles me a lot. If it wasn't for you guys, that wouldn't have happened.

And speaking of reviews, it was great to see that you all loved Bill and Stephen's visit. On the show, until she became a vampire I think they showed that Caroline was close to her father so I had to elaborate on that in this story and he seemed like a very upfront and frank kind of guy so I couldn't see him beating around the bush when it came to finding out what was going on between Caroline and Klaus. Caroline had to get her bluntness from somewhere after all.

To Sam: Thank you for the proposal, but I'm taken ;)

Also, some of you might not know it but I have also written and finished another Klaroline story called The Memory Remains. check it out and let me know what you think.

Thanks to klarolineepiclove and a-little-blonde-distraction for helping me with this part, their encouragement kept me going despite my frustrations and Cecevolume for her betaing skills.

Okay, now I'll shut up and let you read the part. Enjoy.

Part 39 Wake up Call

*Knock**Knock*

"Dad."

*Knock**Knock*

"Dad."

*Knock**Knock*

"Dad."

Klaus came awake to the sound of persistent knocking and jiggling of the doorknob to his bedroom door as well as the sound of his children's voices calling to him. He was confused for a moment as to why they were still outside of his door rather than barging their way in until he opened his eyes and saw a familiar mess of blonde hair next to him.

He bolted upright at the sight and looked at the clock. It was past eight, no wonder the twins were at his door. "I'm up, guys, just hang on a minute."

His shout caused Caroline to stir next to him and he quickly placed his hand over her mouth to stop her from making any sound. She jumped at the feel of his hand but when her eyes opened and she saw it was him, she calmed though she looked confused.

"Why is the door locked, Dad?" Henry asked as the doorknob jiggled again.

Caroline's eyes widened in shock at the sound of his son's voice and he knew that she has reached the same conclusion he had, they had overslept. He had talked her into sleeping in his bed with him the night before, just as they had a couple of other nights, with the condition that the alarm be set so that they got up before the twins. He remembered setting the alarm, but it seemed to have failed.

Klaus placed his index finger over his lips and when Caroline nodded in understanding, he withdrew his hand from her mouth as he spoke. "Sorry, I must have done it by accident last night."

"But you never lock the door." Henry called back.

He closed his eyes in frustration at his son. He was telling the truth, as far as Henry knew he never locked his bedroom door, it was something he had only started recently when he and Caroline were alone inside. "Maybe I bumped it last night. Give me a second."

The two of the climbed out of Klaus' bed as quickly and quietly as they could. Caroline was thankful that she had put on her pjs back on the night before, at least she wouldn't have to search out her clothes and dress. No, all she had to do was figure out how she was going to get out of there without being spotted.

Caroline looked around quickly and spotted the door to his bathroom. It was either there or the closet. She motioned at the door to Klaus and he nodded in understanding before slipping a t-shirt over his head. She had barely moved two steps when she heard Lexi's voice.

"Dad? Do you know where Caroline is? She's not in her room."

"Maybe she's downstairs?" He answered, looking at her as the blonde in question froze, looking like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. Things just got more complicated.

"Nope, we already checked." Lexi answered.

"She must be out. You know she has a lot of stuff she wanted to do before we leave tomorrow." Klaus called back with a shrug of his shoulders when Caroline glared at him. Now not only was she going to have to sneak down to her room and change, but she was going to have to get out of the house without them finding out and then return as if she'd be running errands. He was so going to pay for that.

Klaus cringed a bit at the cold stare Caroline threw at him before she disappeared behind his bathroom door. Once he knew she was secured, he went to his bedroom door, unlocked it and threw it open. As expected, Lexi and Henry were on the other side, still dressed in their pajamas and looking very annoyed. "You know I would think that two kids who are leaving on their dream trip tomorrow would look a tad bit happier."

"You locked the door." Henry stated.

"Now it's unlocked and I'm awake." Klaus replied.

"Yeah, but we didn't know it was locked and we came running up here. When the door didn't open, I ran into it and Henry crashed into me." Lexi explained. "It hurt."

Klaus tried to hold back a smile when Henry nodded in agreement with his twin. "Well if you're hurt, maybe we should postpone the trip? We wouldn't want you to suffer when you're on vacation."

"NO!" Both of the twins yelled at the same time.

"We're fine." Henry added. "We promise. We can still go."

"Only if you're sure." Klaus looked at them, as if he was checking them over to make sure they weren't injured. They both nodded quickly and he did as well. "Glad that is settled."

"Can we have breakfast now?" Lexi asked. "You said you would make us Mickey Pancakes."

"I did, didn't I?" Klaus replied, internally cursing himself for momentarily forgetting. He had known that there would be no living with the twins' excitement for the trip with them leaving tomorrow so he and Caroline had tried to come up with things to keep them occupied throughout the day when they weren't packing. And the first one on the list had been a Mickey Themed breakfast. "Okay, go down to the kitchen and I'll be there shortly."

The twins looked at him curiously. "Why?"

"Because I said so, now go." He retorted. As soon as the twins scampered away and down the stairs, he turned around and headed to the door to this bathroom. He knocked lightly before speaking. "Coast is clear, love."

The door opened then, and Caroline glanced towards the door hesitantly before she slipped out. "That was close, almost too close."

"Thankfully the lock worked even if the alarm clock didn't." He commented.

Caroline nodded in agreement. "We need to be more careful next time, maybe set the alarms on our phones as well."

Klaus smiled a little as he grabbed her arm and tugged her close to him. When her soft body collided with his, her arms automatically came up to loop around his neck as he looked down into her eyes. "You're forgetting that as soon as tomorrow they will know about us and we won't need to hide."

She laughed a little as she spoke. "I can't believe after all of the sneaking around and planning we've done to make sure this all goes according to plan, we almost get caught due to oversleeping."

"I blame you for keeping us up late last night." Klaus declared jokingly.

"Excuse me? I'm not the one who couldn't keep his hands to himself last night. Maybe if you had then I could have finished up with my stuff a bit earlier." Caroline said indignantly.

"You were taking too long." He argued.

"And now thanks to your grabby hands, I have to figure out a way to get of the house without the twins seeing me." She stated. "Thank you very much."

"How can I acquit myself?" Klaus asked as he leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers, his hands massaging her hips.

"Well you're doing a good job so far." Caroline mumbled as she returned his kiss. She felt him smile against her lips at the same time she heard two little gasps of surprise. They jerked away from each other and looked at the door, where Lexi and Henry were staring at them open mouthed.

"Um, I found Caroline." Klaus declared, not knowing what else to say at the moment as he looked at his shocked children.

"Morning." Caroline said as she looked over at the gaping twins and waved sheepishly. She pulled away from Klaus' arms and took a step back.

Neither of the twins said a thing, just continued to stare at them open-mouthed. He could see by the looks on their faces that they were in a state of disbelief, trying to come to terms with exactly what they had walked in on. He knew it must have been quite a shock blow to them, they had never seen him kissing a woman and here they had walked in on him kissing Caroline. Klaus couldn't help but chuckle a little at them. "I think this is the first time I've ever seen the two of you this quiet when you weren't sleeping."

"Caroline's here," Henry stated breaking the silence. "In your room."

"Yes, she is." Klaus replied.

"Did she just get up here?" Henry asked. "Because we didn't see her on the stairs."

"No. She didn't." Klaus answered, not wanting to lie anymore now that they had been caught.

"So she was sleeping in here." Henry acknowledged as he looked at Caroline, motioning to her pajamas.

"Yes, she was."

"You were kissing her," Lexi declared looking from her father to Caroline. "And she was kissing you."

"That means you guys are together, right?" Henry asked, enthusiasm seeping into his voice instead of the confusion that had been there.

"How about we go downstairs and get started on those pancakes and talk?" Klaus requested, deciding it was best to explain everything at once as opposed to just giving a few short answers.

"Actually, maybe it would be better if the three of you stay here, while I go and get breakfast going? That way you can have some privacy." Caroline suggested. She knew that Klaus was trying to include her but she thought that it might be better if he talked to the twins by themselves. It was something that they had discussed before when they were planning on how to best to tell them about their relationship though they had still not reached an agreement. Now they had run out of time.

Some people might find it odd that Caroline thought she shouldn't be there but she didn't want the twins to think she was intruding. She remembered how she felt when her own father had come to tell her about Stephen and she couldn't imagine how much harder it would have been if Stephen had been there with him.

"Caroline…" Klaus started but she shook her head in response.

"No, it's okay. The four of us can talk later, right now I know that they just need to talk to you and not worry about me." She told him before she headed to go downstairs. When she reached the door, she turned and smiled a reassuring smile before leaving. She didn't know how long they might be and she contemplated changing into some regular clothes but decided against it since she wouldn't be the only one dressed in her pajamas and headed down to the kitchen.

Once Caroline had disappeared, Klaus sat down on the corner of his bed and motioned to Henry and Lexi. "Come and sit."

The two of them scampered over before climbing onto the foot of the bed next to him. When they were settled, Klaus spoke. "I know you walking in and finding Caroline and I together was a bit of a shock, and you guys probably have questions."

Both of the twins nodded as he went on. "Henry, you asked the first one a few minutes ago, you asked if Caroline and I were together and the answer to that is yes, we are."

"So you guys are boyfriend and girlfriend?" Henry asked.

"Yes." Klaus replied.

"YES! Finally!" Henry exclaimed as his face lit up in a smile and he bounced a little on his father's bed. "Does that mean you guys are going to get married? Is she going to be our mom?"

Henry was firing off his questions so fast that it was making Klaus' ears hurt a bit. "No, it doesn't."

Disappointment was evident on Henry's face and his shoulders drooped at his father's answer. "But if you guys are together, you love each other and when grownups love each other they get married."

"No it doesn't, it means that they go out on dates and stuff." Lexi snapped at her brother. "Right, Dad?"

"Pretty much." He replied, a little surprised at the harshness in his daughter's voice.

"So you don't love Caroline?" Henry asked.

His son's innocent inquiry hit him like a sledgehammer to the chest. He should have expected one of them to ask that question but hadn't. As for his feelings regarding Caroline, well now was not the time to explore where that discussion could lead. Not when he hadn't completely explored that area himself. "I care about Caroline very much, as much more than a friend, which is why we are dating. There are times when adults are just friends and other times when that friendship becomes more, like it did with the two of us."

"Henry, you need to understand that just because two adults are seeing each other doesn't mean that they are going to get married. I mean, Aunt Rebekah dated before she married Stefan, didn't she?" Klaus questioned his son.

"Yeah, Alexander. I'm glad she didn't marry him, he was weird and kind of scary." Henry answered. "One time it was dark outside and when he walked by, I thought he was Bigfoot."

Klaus smiled at his son's very accurate description of his sister's former beau. None of his family had been particularly fond of Alexander and they were all very happy when she had called things off with him. "Do you understand what I mean though, Henry?"

Henry replied with a nod before Lexi spoke up. "So how long have you and Caroline been lying and sneaking around?"

Again, Lexi's words surprised him, she sounded very upset and angry. "Lexi, we weren't lying to you."

"But you didn't tell us, isn't that lying?" Lexi asked.

"We chose not to tell the two of you until we were ready." Klaus explained. "And to answer your question, Caroline and I started dating after Aunt Rebekah's wedding."

Lexi frowned a little as she absorbed his answer. "So if Henry and I hadn't come back upstairs, you weren't going to tell us for a while still?"

"We planned to tell you tomorrow once we were settled at the hotel but oversleeping this morning and you finding us has made that plan unnecessary." He replied. "I'm sorry that you found out the way you did, but I'm glad that you know now."

"So what happens now?" Henry asked.

"What do you mean?" Klaus replied.

"Well now Caroline is your girlfriend, is she going to be our nanny too?" Lexi inquired. "Will she still be taking care of us?"

"She's not going to move out, is she?" Henry butted in.

"Calm down, if I have anything to say about it Caroline won't be going anywhere." Klaus assured them. He briefly thought about the compromise he had agreed to with Caroline regarding her continuing to work for him but thought there was no point in saying anything about it to them, not when he believed that nothing would come of it. "She is going to keep living here, and looking after you, that part won't change. She cares about the two of you a lot, and that has nothing to do with me and her."

Henry grinned big at his father's words and Lexi also smiled, though her smile seemed a bit off to him. "I'm not saying things aren't going to be different because they are. She's not only going to be your nanny but also the woman I'm seeing, which is not something the three of us have experienced before. As you saw, Caroline and I kiss as well as show affection in other ways so things are most likely are going to be a little peculiar at times, but we'll figure it out as we go along. Does that sound okay to you two?"

"Yes, Dad." They answered in unison.

By the expressions on the twins' faces, Klaus knew that they understood the weight of his words, at least as much as two seven year olds could. He had always done his best to ensure that his children knew that his world primarily revolved around them and that he wanted them to be nothing but happy. As much as he wanted to be with Caroline, he would give her up if his children asked him to. He waited as they both thought over what he said, the room silent until Henry spoke. "It's okay Dad, I love Caroline and I don't mind her being your girlfriend too."

"That's good to know son." Klaus stated before looking at his daughter. "What about you Lexi?"

"I agree with Henry, I like you being with Caroline." Lexi answered.

Due to her earlier reactions, Klaus didn't entirely believe her. "Are you sure? I don't want you to believe that you have to say you are fine with it just because your brother is. You acted mad just a bit ago."

"Not mad, it hurt that you didn't tell us." Lexi stated. "But I do like you being with Caroline. You're two of my favorite people in the whole world."

Klaus smiled at both of them before opening his arms for them to give him a hug. They both rushed forward to do just that. He held them for a couple of minutes, before Henry spoke up. "Can we go eat breakfast now? I'm still hungry."

He chuckled at how quickly his son's priorities changed before he nodded. "Yes, we can. I'm sure Caroline has a huge stack of pancakes piled high just for you."

"Whoo hoo!" Henry hollered before jumping off of his father's lap and racing towards the door.

Klaus watched as Lexi just rolled her eyes at her twin before standing up to head after him, but grabbed her father's hand first and tugged on it to get him to come with her. He obediently followed her downstairs until they got to the kitchen. Once there, they were met with Caroline's smiling face. "There you two are, I was just telling Henry that I just got the sausage finished so it's time to eat. I put the pancakes in the oven to stay warm so let me just pull them out and we can get started."

"Lexi, go ahead and sit down, I'll help Caroline." Klaus instructed as he nudged her towards the table before heading towards the coffee pot. Caroline stood nearby as he poured himself a mug, putting the finishing touches on the meal.

"How did it go?" She whispered inquisitively. Though it had been her choice to leave them alone, Caroline had been dying of curiosity as she had cooked. .

"It went well. Lexi was a bit upset and angry, but she didn't have any objection to us." Klaus answered quietly.

"She seems okay now." Caroline observed as she looked over and watched the girl chattering away with her brother. "Maybe she was just a little jealous at the thought of sharing you; she's had you all to herself for so long."

"I guess it's possible." He responded. "It's going to be an adjustment for them but we'll figure it out."

"I can't believe they caught us." She giggled as she recalled the look of shock on their little faces.

"Well at least now they know and I can do this," Klaus said as he reached over and pecked her on the lips, "without a problem."

"Hmmm, yes you can." Caroline said with a smile before she shoved the large plate stacked with pancakes into his stomach. "But you better get these over to the table before we have a mutiny on our hands."

"We wouldn't want that would we, love?" Klaus replied as he took the plate and his mug and headed over to the table.

Once Caroline sat down to join them, she looked around the table before saying, "Now that all of the excitement of the morning is over, is everyone ready to leave tomorrow?"

So what did you guys think about the kids' reactions? What about Klaus willing to give up Caroline if his kids asked him to? I know some of you might not agree with that, but his stand on the matter mirrors my own when I was a single mom so I couldn't write it any other way.

I just want to apologize for them not being at Disney yet. My intention was to have them arriving at the end of this part but since it took me so long to write the twins' reactions, I decided to end it here instead so I could post. Next part, I swear they will be there and we are going to start with some fun in the pool!