Caroline POV:

When Matt dropped me off at my home. I invited him to sit with me on the porch swing. I could see he is nervous; his heart is racing fast due to fear. "Matt, I do not want you to act for me." he was shocked at my statement, and I continued before him interrupting me "I could see you are not completely over Elena, and you are struggling to love me as you loved her. I do not want to be the one to push you to love me Matt. And I am afraid that, if we continue like this then things will not work out and we would not be able to even be friends in the end. I do not want that. You are a very good guy Matt. Kind, lovely and protective, if I could not be your girlfriend or lover, I want you to be in my life at least as friends."

I could see Matt was relaxed immediately after I brought up Elena. He was relieved that I do not know of him knowing about me as a Vampire. He started "I'm really sorry for making you feel that way, Caroline. I seriously do not know what to do. I think I am not ready for a relationship at all after Elena, Vicky and my mom disappear again. With all these things, I just couldn't think of anything. I'm sorry. Yes, I want you in my life too. Maybe before we damage each other without the path of recovery, we can break up now and be friends in each other's life."

I got up and hugged him and whispered "Thanks for understanding, Matt." He hugged me back and patted me on my shoulder. "Okay, I'll see you in school, Caroline. Bye, take care." Once he got in his truck and started, I went inside the house.

I went into my room, changed my costume to pajamas and refreshed myself with a night routine to get ready for bed. I settled in my bed and took my phone to check for messages from Klaus. As expected, there was a message from him enquiring about my talk with Matt.

I smiled at that text and made a call to him to ask about his day and talk about mine. He picked up a single ring "Hello love, how was your day?" he asked without missing a beat after picking up my call.

"My day was fine. I talked with Matt but didn't tell him that I know he is in vervain. I broke up with him stating that he is not over Elena yet and I do not want to be the second. He took it well and now we are just friends. Now, how was yours? Did you speak with Elijah?"

"Good, sweetheart. Yes, I spoke with Elijah and informed him of waking up all our siblings. Also, I sent him their numbers to speak with them as proof. He was shocked and asked me what made me do this. I said that is not important now. I made him know that after ritual doppelgänger is required alive and human for hybrids. Also, I released Katerina in front of Elijah and had talk about his betrayals"

"Wow, you have had a very eventful day it seems. So, the ritual is taking place tomorrow, right?"

"Yes, sweetheart. Already I have acquired the wolf boy Brady and some random vampire in a secure place and placed a decoy of Lockwood boy and another vampire in the Lockwood cellar."

"Super, so far so good. My mom is not home. She is in Night Shift covering for one of her colleagues. I'll make her invite you in at the earliest as possible."

"Do not worry about that sweetheart. We will definitely get there. So now how about mansion renovation? Did you think about that love?"

"Do you not know me at all Klaus? I already looked into the interior designers online and had them contacted for a visit tomorrow morning 11.30 AM at the mansion. Once they see the location, they'll start right away."

"Sorry love, I forgot for a minute that I was speaking with Miss Mystic Falls" he chuckled and I grinned "And love" he started speaking again and after a pause he said, "I would love it if you called me Nik instead of Klaus." I was shocked to hear his request, I know only his family calls him Nik, "It would be my honor to call you Nik"

"Thank you, sweetheart". I know it overwhelms him, so make it light l repeated his dialogue "You don't have to thank me for anything at all, Nik". I grinned like a baby myself on tasting his name as Nik. Suddenly he spoke "Open your window love"

I jumped from bed and went to open the window and saw him on the tree edging towards my room's window. I asked him "What are you doing here?". He smiled so sweetly with dimples, waved his hands and said "Came to see you sweetheart"

I exited out of my window and jumped into the tree he is in and sat near him on the branch. Taking his hands with me, intertwining them and placed in my lap, my head resting in his shoulder. "So, you came just to see me." I asked without lifting my head. He kissed my crown and answered "Yes, sweetheart"

"Everything will be fine, Nik. Ritual will go as planned I will not say without hindrances, definitely the Salvatore brothers will try something. But you'll only win at the end of the day" I said. Even though he will not accept it, he is nervous about tomorrow and every other thing. He kissed my forehead and squeezed my hands showing that is what he expected. We sat in silence for a few more minutes with each other's company.

"After my ritual, I planned to throw a Ball love. I informed Elijah of this today. And I have to introduce you to my family officially. We have to tell them something, since every one of them has already asked about my change. I have promised them after my ritual is completed successfully, I'll inform them on what's going on. And you have to convince Bonnie to be trained by Kol, that is a request from Ayanna. To protect her descendants and train her." Nik stated.

"First things first, once you complete the ritual you have to go with Elijah to murder Mikael. That is what you should do first. I'll make the interior designers complete it within a few days and I want your card for that to make payment. Next would be making Stefan come to you. Even if Damon is not bitten by Tyler Lockwood tomorrow, have him bitten by a werewolf, that will make Stefan come to you."

"Why would I want Stefan sweetheart?"

"For two things, one if Stefan came to you, you could give his memories back. Second, I want Damon to suffer a bit" I said with determination. I know one day I should share everything about my past before I became a vampire with him. And since last time, nobody was there for me, and I went along with them due to my insecurity of being left alone. But time and time again they used me and once all supernatural issues were over both Elena and Bonnie never considered me or visited me. While I could understand Bonnie's decision to leave Mystic Falls which gave her lots more pain than happiness, Elena was living here and working in Mystic Falls Hospital and still avoided having a normal human life.

Seeing my reason, Klaus understood that elder Salvatore hurt me. "What did he do to you sweetheart?" asked his fist on the other hand which is not intertwined with mine. I turned to see him, I could see he was furious, his eyes raging red, his jaw clenched. I smiled at that and pecked his cheek, thinking that this one person who always put me first, who will be there for me in all eternity. He was confused by my actions.

Again, I rested my head on his shoulder and said "That's a story for another time, Nik. Now our first priority is ritual and then Mikael's death. Please, don't give him any value by dragging his ass here and showing off the world of how powerful you're. He is not worth that much of your attention"

Klaus thought that I was deflating his question, but he had to let it slide for now. They have all the time in the world. Clearly, he has missed something in his research in earlier times. "Okay, sweetheart, I'll leave it for now. You're right I have to finish him as subtly as I can so that the myth of destroyer will remain intact, and we can use that for our advantage"

"Good, so this is what I'm going to do tomorrow. I will coordinate with the interior workers and compel them to complete the work soon. You should send a witch when I'm there to have our rooms spell shut. For that I have to know where your room is and where is mine"

"Then, a home tour is in order for us now. Shall we? Sweetheart." Klaus asked to take me to a mansion for a tour.

"Yes, Nik." We both jumped out of the tree. He carried me and vamped to the mansion. We were there in seconds; I was shell shocked on how much power and speed he has even before lifting his curse. Maybe his family handled us with gloves in hand while they were here.

At the front door, he held my hand in one and opened the door for me with another and said "After you, my lady" I giggled at that and entered the mansion pulling him with me.

Once we entered, we were in the main hall in which sofas are arranged in an open square with a love seat on one side and three-seater on the opposite, in the middle it was a lengthy sofa, all covered with white clothes due to incomplete work.

He led me to the next part with his hand at my back, where the liquor cabinets and bar setup was made. Then to the right was the dining room extended from Kitchen which was parallel to the living room with a wall as separation. Further to the left there was a storage room and utility area for the kitchen.

When we reached the left side of the living room, there was a big ball room to the full length with two gigantic chandeliers covered with clothes in the sealing. And to the end of the living room, there were two separate rooms with a hallway in the middle which led to the stairs down to the basement with liquor cellar, coffins room and five torcher chambers, typical Mikaelson housing.

To the right of the hallway was a movie room with big screen and comfortable recliner sofas, two-seater recliners with fur cover and cushions. And on the screen wall were empty shelves to fill all those with the film's records. To the left of the hallway was a gym room with loads of equipment, boxing ring, sandbag, everything related to training.

Then we climbed the stairs to the first floor, and he showed me his room first. The room has a modern four poster bed with headboard and a veil covering the bed from the top with four sides pillar. Walk-in closet was to the left side of the bed; it turns to the suite bathroom with a bathtub option near the window. I was dreaming of having a luxurious bathtub with us in there and the modern shower heads with water flow and speed control. Then to the right side of the bed was a sit out for two with a coffee table and big balcony with French glass doors to the stretch of the bedroom with front yard view.

Klaus spoke from behind me while admiring the room with us living in there in the imagination "I take you like it sweetheart?" I spun around to hug him and whispered, "I couldn't wait to live here with you". He hugged me tightly back without any words. That is his way of telling he is thinking of the same.

Once we parted from hug, he held me closely "Let's go to your room, love" and walked me out to the room beside his on the left side. That is the second largest bedroom in this mansion. My room has a similar bed like Klaus's room, but the walk-in closet and bathroom was on the right side of this room. Towards the right side of the bed there was a mini bookshelf with a sitting area in the middle, reading corner to the right corner and working table with office chair to the left corner.

"This is so much big Nik, I think it is 3 times bigger than the bedroom in my mom's house" I say ogling around the room and thinking of all the things I'm going to do in this room. He came from behind me, held closely and said, "Always best for the Queen, love". I sighed in content at his words, which I thought missed for all eternity. I rested my head back on his shoulder and closed my eyes, savoring the moment in my mind. We both stood there for a few more minutes in that position, then he slowly said reluctant to stay away "It's getting late sweetheart, sheriff will be home any time now".

We both parted but held hands and walked out of the room. He showed all his siblings' rooms and the attic with all his trophy cases and family collectibles in the next few minutes. Then again, we are back at the tree near my bedroom's window in a few seconds. There I asked, "Maybe we can have the werewolf bite me after your ritual to get you an invitation to my mom's house" I said. He responded immediately and firmly without second thought "No Caroline. I'm not going to give you any more pain than you already endured. We can think of another way or simply we can meet like this on the tree whenever you like".

I smiled at his protectiveness, "Thank you, Nik. But I want you inside of my childhood home and have to create some new memories which I have missed due to my blind loyalty towards my friends. This time I want to enjoy every moment with you and make you happy which makes me happy in turn. Whatever the hardships we face we should face it together and we should have all the good memories to share with our kids. So, I really want you to be with me in my room whenever possible."

He smiled heartwarmingly with all his dimples, full emotions in the brink of his eyes and kissed me ever so lightly brushing my lips with his fuller blood red lips, pouring his heart felt love in the kiss for me conveying his happiness at my words. We both rested our foreheads against each other with eyes closed. He spoke quietly "We will have all the time in the world sweetheart. I will make sure you are happy and have anything & everything you desire in this world. I'll think of other ways to get the invitation, do not worry about that" he parted and took out his purse, "You go ahead with the mansion project tomorrow and I already had a card placed in your name love, here have this for expenses not only for the mansion, but for yourself too."

I smiled and took the card Klaus and read the name on it, 'Caroline Mikaelson', on seeing my name as Mikaelson I started to blush contouring my cheeks to red. When I lifted my head to see Klaus, he was already smiling at my reaction to this. I thought of teasing him and had a mischievous glint in my eyes when I asked, "If this is your way of asking me for marriage, then my answer is 'No' Nik." I was trying to say it seriously with a straight face, but I couldn't since I am very much happy to be his wife even at the possibility. As usual he read me effortlessly and responded "Sweetheart, you, and I both know what my proposal will be like. We are the same love; we do not do anything halfway" he said with a smug face on having me blush even more then he changed his tone to serious and said "No this is not me asking you for marriage. As you said, we have to create more and more memories which we both missed earlier due to various mistakes we made."

"I agree, we both have to get the fullest of this second chance" I agreed with his point. Then he kissed my forehead "Good Night, sweetheart. Since tomorrow night is the ritual, I may not be able to get to see you. Last time I was in my wolf form for two days and Elijah was following me. I'm not sure how it will be this time after my ritual, so do not wait for me love. I'll text you before the ritual and hopefully you'll get to know about my success from your Scooby gang." I nodded my head "Yes, last time Stefan updated me when I called him"

"Fantastic, then you go ahead and move on with your plan for the mansion. I will call you as soon as I turn back into a human. Then I'll go with Elijah to finish our father in Charlotte. Will see you sweetheart. Take care of yourselves. If you have any emergency, do contact Elijah. I'll brief him that you are the town sheriff's daughter and I have agreed to protect you in return for your mother's support or you can say that Elena told you about their agreement. Do not hesitate to contact him, Caroline."

I kissed him on his forehead and said "Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself, but okay I'll contact him in case of any emergencies, and I'll not hesitate." I reassured him because I know he is still wary of all this second chance and not sure this is really a second chance all a part of his torment plan. "You have your ritual successfully and come back to me, My Original Hybrid." I winked at him to make him smile then he flashed out smiling to himself.