AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello my lovelies, can you believe I have another part for you? Me either but this part is shorter than the others lately so that's probably why. Hopefully you can forgive me for the length. Glad that you all loved the last part, both the smut and the comedy.

Thanks so much to klarolineepiclove (who helped me with the opening), jomosfamilyjewels (who helped me greatly on the ending), approvesomuch, and hybridlovelies for their betaing help.

As for the fanfic reference in the last part, it was the story Beauty and the Geek by jomosfamilyjewels.

Well now, onto the part. See you at the bottom of the page.

Part 50

From her spot between the stove and the sink, Caroline had a clear line of sight to observe the intense game of cards going on and she couldn't help but smile at the scene. Her dad, Stephen, Henry and Lexi were all around the table, their eyes cast down as they focused on the cards in their hands. Her dad had always been the kind of man who didn't believe in letting kids win unless they did it fairly so he was giving the twins a challenge. Most people were surprised that Henry was as competitive as his sister but he was, especially in games of strategy. She felt a little bad for Stephen, who was the least competitive of the group but it hadn't stopped her from feeding him to the wolves so to keep the twins occupied.

The seven of them had had a wonderful meal; full of good food, and conversation. Of course despite that, Caroline had noticed the way Henry and Lexi had been eyeing the adults plates, waiting for them to empty so that they could move onto the next part of the celebration, the presents. So it was no surprise at the end of the meal when everyone stood up, the twins jumped up shouting it was time for gifts. Sadly her mother and her had to inform them that they had to do clean up first. Caroline had felt really bad about, she remembered the torture of waiting when she was little, it was horrible.

Thankfully, Klaus had suggested that the twins play a game or something to take their minds off of it and the two had quickly drafted any of the adults who weren't cleaning to play. Her father and Stephen had agreed but Klaus had declined, stating that he'd help then in the kitchen as well as watch the game. He had acted a bit on edge, not overtly so but just off enough that she noticed. She chalked it up to being surrounded by her parents on unfamiliar territory and she tried to reassure him with smiles and hand squeezes.

However, Caroline was pulled out of her observation of Klaus by a loud sigh from Lexi. She had a frown on her face as she put down her cards. "Can we play a different game?"

"Aw, come on Lexi. You're not trying to say I'm a bad partner are you?" Stephen asked.

"No." Lexi replied though she sounded a bit unsure. "I just want to play a game that I can win."

"Oh, that hurts." Stephen said as he jokingly clutched his heart.

"Well you aren't exactly the best at cards." Bill stated to his partner before turning to Lexi. "What game would you like to play?"

"How about poker?" Lexi requested, her face lighting up at the idea as did Henry's.

"Yeah, can we play poker? Please?" Henry appealed. "I love poker."

"Poker is a game I can get behind." Stephen commented.

"No underage gambling in the house." Liz announced. "I don't want to have to arrest any of you."

"Oh I don't know, handcuffs can be fun." Stephen retorted with a roguish smile that earned him a glare from the other adults. He cleared his throat as he looked at the twins. "I mean, to try to escape from, like a magician."

"But we want to play." Lexi declared.

Klaus' face wrinkled in confusion at his children's request. "You two are too young to play poker, and you don't even know how to play."

"Yes we do," Henry stated. "Five card stud, Texas hold'em …"

"Where did you learn to play?" Klaus asked, glancing over at Caroline who shook her head in the negative to tell him that she hadn't been the one to teach them.

"Uncle Kol." The twins answered in unison.

Klaus closed his eyes in irritation. He should have known without asking that his younger brother was the one responsible for his children's education in gambling. "Well I will make sure to speak to him when we get back, he will regret teaching such impressionable young minds to gamble."

"Oh, he said he already regretted it." Lexi announced.

"Why is that sweetie?" Caroline asked.

"Because he hasn't been able to win since the first time he taught us." Henry replied instead. "Lexi and I always end up cleaning him out by the time we are done; now he won't play anymore."

"Please tell me you haven't been using real money." Klaus inquired but he could see by the looks on their faces he wasn't that lucky.

"Just pennies and nickels." Henry explained.

"So that's why I keep finding jars full of them in your bedrooms." Caroline announced, the laughter she was trying to hold back clearly coming through in her voice. She looked at Klaus and added, "Unfortunately Kol wasn't betting singles and fives or you'd have quite a bit of money for their education just from their winnings."

"Kol? He's the brother that is dating Bonnie right?" Her mother asked casually from her position next to Caroline. "I thought that Sheila mentioned something about it.

"Um, he was. Well they weren't actually a couple it was kind of casual." Caroline tried to explain. "She wouldn't get more serious so they ended things."

"Now he's dating Anna who teaches at my gym." Lexi announced.

"He was talking about Bonnie to Uncle Stefan though." Henry said.

"Well son sometimes just because people stop seeing each other doesn't mean they stop caring about each other." Klaus tried to explain to Henry.

Henry's face was now the one that scrunched in confusion, looking very much like his father had a few minutes before. "So you mean Uncle Kol likes two girls and two girls like him?"

"Pretty much." Caroline replied. "That happens."

"Yeah but not to Uncle Kol, Aunt Bekah always says he can't find someone who likes him like he does without looking in a mirror." Henry stated. "So I guess he better enjoy it because it probably won't happen again."

Caroline didn't know if it was the words or his matter of fact tone but Henry's statement struck her in just a way that she couldn't stop the laughter from bursting out of her mouth, with the other adults joining her.

Liz was still chuckling when she placed the last item away and turned around. "Okay guys, we are all done in here."

"Yay! Present time." The twins squealed, dropping their cards where they sat and bolted towards the living room.

Klaus shook his head for a moment before addressing the Forbes family. "I promise you, they have been taught better manners than this."

"It's okay Klaus; we remember what it was like. You should have seen Caroline at that age," Bill assured him. "She was quite demanding around this time of year."

As they entered the living room, they saw the kids sitting by the tree, anxiously looking around the packages piled there but before they could touch any of them, Liz spoke again.

"Hold on a minute. We have one thing to do before we do presents." Liz announced, causing both of the twins to groan. "It's time to search for the pickle."

"Mom, I thought we lost the pickle, we haven't done that for years." Caroline declared.

"Why are we searching for a pickle?" Henry asked. "I don't like pickles, they're gross."

"It's not that kind of pickle sweetie." Caroline clarified. "It's a Christmas ornament. Since it's green it blends into the tree and makes it hard to find. So whoever does find it gets a special present for doing so. It's kind of like a game. We did it for years until Mom said that it got lost one year."

"That wasn't entirely true. I might have put it away and told you it was lost." Liz confessed.

"What? Why?" Caroline asked confused as to why her mother would hide a simple ornament that had been a tradition in her family for years.

"Because you didn't know when to relax and enjoy the game Caroline, you were always obsessed with finding it. No one else could win." Liz explained. "So finally one year I lied and said it was lost."

Caroline opened her mouth to argue but found no words came out. What her mother said was true, like in everything she did, she had taken finding the little ornament very serious every year and she felt a bit embarrassed now. "Well now that you are bringing back the tradition for the twins, I'll just abdicate from playing and help you hide it instead."

"Now love, I don't think you need to do that. These two are pretty good at finding hidden treasures so I believe that the competition would be fair." Klaus said speaking up before turning toward Liz. "I'll help Liz with concealing the ornament and then the rest of you can search it out."

"That sounds like a plan. Come on honey, let the two of them get to hiding, I don't think the twins are going to wait much longer to unwrap something." Her father declared as his hand landed on Caroline's shoulder and directed her away from the tree so that they would not be able to see where Liz and Klaus would hide the ornament.

"I like this pickle game." Lexi declared as she followed Stephen, Bill and Caroline out of the room. "I hope I find it, I want to know what the special present is."

Caroline listened to Lexi and Henry chatter back and forth over what they thought the present might be, asking her and the other two adults what the special present usually was while they waited. It seemed to be taking a long time, longer than she remembered anyways and she was about to comment on it when her mother appeared with a big smile. "Alright guys, all set. Go see if you can find it."

The twins sprinted towards the tree, while Caroline, Bill and Stephen followed at a slower pace. Once they were back in the living room, she hung back and watched them searching through looking for the elusive pickle. Klaus stared at her uneasily as if he found what she was doing just as odd just as she found his behavior to be earlier.

"Caroline get up there, you're playing too remember." Her mother encouraged.

"Yes, love, go join the twins. Don't you want a special present?" Klaus added.

Despite the fact that she thought that the kids should be the only one playing since this whole tradition had been restarted for them, Caroline stepped forward and made her way to the tree. She had to watch where she stood though because the twins were underfoot as they moved around trying to search every branch. For fear of losing a limb, Caroline decided to search a bit higher than their heads. She wasn't actually planning on finding the thing, but she figured she at least look like she was giving it her all until one of the twins announced that they had found it.

After a minute or two of looking around the branches, something sparkly caught her eye. Granted there were a lot of sparkly objects on the tree but this wasn't in a Christmas ornament or light kind of way. Caroline focused on that area and suddenly out of the camouflage of tree foliage, she spotted the pickle. As she reached for it, she noticed that there was something resting on the top of it, where the hook met the clasp. It was a ring, a diamond ring, a diamond engagement ring.

Suddenly a pair of large male hands encompassed hers, taking the ornament and ring from her hand which was now shaking. Caroline looked up and her eyes met with Klaus'. She knew hers were wide due to surprise but his were filled with love, devotion and if she wasn't mistaken a bit of fear. "Klaus, what…."

"You asked me a month ago what I wanted for Christmas and as I considered what I might possibly want, only one thing came to mind, you." Klaus professed as he took her left hand and got down on one knee. She gasped as she watched him begin to slide the ring down her ring finger. "The only thing I wish for is for you to agree to become my wife. Will you marry me?"

Caroline couldn't stop the tears that sprung up in her eyes as she listened to the words of his proposal from running down her cheeks. Her heart felt like it was beating a thousand beats a minute, like a hummingbird's wings, and she felt a lump of emotion catch in her throat as he looked at her for an answer. But she couldn't find her voice to give it to him so instead she showed him by leaning forward and capturing his lips with hers.

Having her suddenly kissing him was not exactly the reaction that Klaus had been expecting but he didn't pull away either. They had kissed hundreds of times over the months they'd been together but there was something different in this kiss, as if she was trying to tell him everything she wanted to say that she was unable to vocalize, yet he still wanted to hear the words. He broke the kiss after a minute and cupped her cheeks, looking into her beautiful eyes. "I take it that's a yes?"

Caroline laughed a little as she nodded. "Yes, yes. I'll marry you."

A smile, one of the biggest she thought she had ever seen, appeared on his face then and Caroline got a glimpse of the dimples she loved so much before he pulled her forward to kiss her again. However this one was interrupted quickly by the sound of applause as they became aware of the fact that there were other people in the room.

Caroline retreated a bit from Klaus, but with his hands still on her face to look over at her family who was smiling happily at her. "We're getting married."

Cheers erupted then from the group and the twins scurried to their father while Liz came forward to hug her. "Congratulations sweetie."

"You knew about this didn't you?" She asked her. "That's why you had Dad and Stephen come early."

"Not exactly." Liz answered. "I had an idea but didn't find out until just now when Klaus approached me about using the ornament to give you the ring."

"I told her that Stephen and I would really love to be with you four here today and she was kind enough to invite us." Her father said as he reached forward and hugged her as well. "Klaus spoke to me last week and I couldn't miss the chance to be here."

Before she could say anything to them, Caroline noticed Lexi standing next to her with tears in her eyes and pulled away from her parents to kneel down by the girl. "I hope those are tears of happiness like mine are."

Lexi nodded. "They are. We finally got what we wanted."

"Really?" Caroline asked.

"Yes, a mom." Lexi replied before she launched herself at Caroline and wrapped her small arms around her in a hug. The tears that had retreated suddenly returned to flood Caroline's eyes when she felt Henry's arms hug from behind. The three hugged for several moments, tears running down her face before she looked up at Klaus. He was smiling at her, at them and she felt as if she should pinch herself to make sure it wasn't a dream.

After a few minutes, the moment was broken by Henry's voice. "Does this mean that there really isn't a pickle present? Or was it just a ring for Caroline?"

The adults laughed at his question but Henry didn't seem to get the joke. "What's so funny? I'm serious."

Hours later, Caroline sat curled up with Klaus on her mother's sofa in front of the fireplace with a mug of hot chocolate warming her hands. All of the presents had been opened; boxes thrown away and pieces put together and the twins were enjoying the bounty. However as she watched the twins playing with their new toys Caroline couldn't stop her eyes from wandering down to gaze at the new 'toy' Klaus had given her.

The ring was beyond beautiful; the setting that the round diamond that wasn't too big or gaudy sat in was domed, and would hold the stone in securely. The dome was carved with filigree designs with accent diamonds in interspersed among them. The ring picked up the firelight as well as the Christmas lights and made it shine like the North Star.

Even though she had the proof on her finger, a part of Caroline couldn't believe what was happening. She was engaged.., to be married…to Klaus, the man she loved more than any man before him. Who loved her despite her faults and not only returned her love but gave her something else, a family of her own.

Caroline's eyes drifted away from her ring and back to the twins. They looked so happy and her heart swelled as she remembered what Lexi had said to her earlier. She felt Klaus shift a bit beneath her and she lifted her head away from his shoulder to look at him.

"You look like you are thinking awfully hard on something love? Already mapping out the wedding in your head?" Klaus teased.

"And if I was?" Caroline replied.

"I have no problem if you did, one of the things I love about you is that you know what you want." He answered. "But I hope that it's not as big as Bekah's, I hope not to take that long to marry you."

Caroline smiled, remembering Katherine telling her before that Rebekah had taken over a year to plan her wedding to Stefan and while she did have some dreams about her wedding, she didn't want to wait that long. "No, actually I wasn't thinking about the wedding at all, but after."

"The wedding night?" Klaus asked, "Sounds interesting."

"No." Caroline said as she motioned with her head towards the twins. "I want to adopt them, after we're married."

Klaus brought his fingers to her chin, looking into her eyes again as if to confirm in them the truth behind her words. "You do?"

"Yes, I mean I already feel like they are mine, but I want it to be official. If it's okay…" Caroline stuttered, unsure of what his thoughts might be on it but he silenced her worries with a quick kiss to her forehead before he pulled her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her tightly.

"It's more than okay, love. So much more than okay."

Are you still alive? I've been told that it was pretty emotional and I know my heart was beating like crazy when I wrote it. Again sorry it's so short, but I didn't feel like I could add any more to it after the proposal or it would take away from it. I would love for you to review to let me know what you think, they are like my crack.

For those of you who are interested, the Pickle ornament is a real thing, from what I know it's a custom that started in Germany. My family does it and it's lots of fun.

And one more thing about the pickle ornament part, when I was typing up my notes on how I wanted this part to go I wasn't paying attention and typed 'Klaus helps Liz hide the pickle' and it wasn't until I looked at it how wrong that sentence looked.

One more part of them in Mystic Falls and then its back to Boston.