"I cannot believe you are doing this to me!" Eva exclaimed, trying to tug her wrist from Rebekah's hold.
"And I cannot believe you are making such a scene." Rebekah hissed, glancing around at the other arrivals passing through immigration around them.
"I don't care." Eva whined, her short blonde hair practically flying around her head in agitation. "I don't do Christmas. Especially not with the Mikaelsons. Especially not with Kol."
"Unless I say you do. And you do."
"You are such a controlling cat."
"And you are a seductive snake."
"And you two are driving me around the bend." Caroline huffed, standing on tiptoe to search the crowd for a familiar evil face. "Where the hell is that big bad man?"
"Please tell me that isn't your pet name for my brother." Rebekah groaned.
"Why do you jump to that conclusion first?" Caroline asked.
"Is that them?" Eva's eyes widened like saucers, ducking down behind the two mermaid hair blondes. Caroline on the other hand, jumped like she had just been electrocuted and ran towards the Mikaelson men, immediately jumping at vampire speed into Klaus' arms and enveloping herself in his embrace with a sigh.
"Missed me, love?" He chuckled into her curls.
"I'd never admit it out loud." She answered, but it was still enough of a confirmation to put a smirk on his face.
"Is that Eva?" Kol froze.
"Be nice, she's our guest." Elijah warned, and Kol's eyes popped.
"She's our what?"
"And we only brought the one car, looks like you may have to squish in the back seat Kol." Klaus grinned evilly, and Kol's eyes narrowed as he spun on him.
"I will tear you limb from limb."
"I'd like to see you try."
"You'll have to get past me first." Caroline warned, and Klaus instantly tried to put himself between her and his brother.
"Do we have to do this in an airport terminal?" Elijah said in a low tone as the two girls joined them, Eva doing so due to the fact that she was dragged by Rebekah. "Eva, wonderful to see you again." He smiled politely, then shot a glare at his brothers who were still throwing snide remarks at each other under their breath. "Please forgive my family for being so crass."
"Never mind, we all know I'm used to crass from over the years, particularly from some." Eva smiled sweetly, but Kol's ears turned red. Caroline was more than amazed. Eva had made Kol embarrassed? The woman must have a super power.
"Can we skip all this and get to the house? I'm so over airports." Rebekah huffed, and they all rolled their eyes but complied.
The car ride was interesting to say the least. Elijah refused to let anyone else drive ("It's an Aston Martin Classic, there is no way you are even touching the wheel, Kol.") and Rebekah claimed the passenger seat with such force that no one had the energy or the will to challenge her, which left Klaus and Caroline to happily canoodle in the back (or canoodle as much as someone like Klaus could) and left Kol and Eva to their silence.
"I still can't believe we're in London for Christmas." Caroline breathed, looking out the window at the many well-known attractions all covered in slightly slushy white snow.
"We fit in a little better here." Klaus said. "Now its you and Eva who stick out like sore thumbs."
"Eva always sticks out." Kol said, before visibly biting his tongue and refusing to take his eyes off the leather cover of the front seat even as he felt Eva's gaze hot on the side of his neck.
"I hope you meant that in a good way, Kol, for your sake." She replied, before settling back and trying to forget how close they were due to the limited room of the back seat and how their thighs and shoulders and forearms were touching.
"Are they always like this?" Caroline murmured in hushed tones , and Klaus smirked.
"No. Sometimes they're all over each other like glue."
Eva snarled at him, and Caroline stuck her tongue out in Klaus' defense.
The moment they arrived at the house both Kol and Eva cleared out of the car like it was on fire. Caroline took a moment, taking in every detail of the beautiful house they had pulled up to. It looked to be at least three stories high, and capped with snow. She had seen snow in Mystic Falls, of course, but there was something about seeing another country dusted with snow, particularly when seeing the country for the first time, and everything seemed more heightened. That feeling increased when Klaus joined her, wrapping his arms around her and watching her take in the simple sight.
"Do you like it?"
"Love it." She breathed with her usual bright smile, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"I missed you." He said with honesty, and she looked up at him for a long moment.
"I missed you too." She replied. "What did you end up accomplishing with Elijah and Kol?"
His face darkened slightly into one she recognised from Mystic Falls days, and she was struck again by how different he was with her.
"You don't need to know details, but everything was taken care of. We spoke to some and they passed on the message, and anyone who dared question it was dealt with easily."
Caroline shivered, and Klaus tightened his embrace in comfort, but he did no more to assure her.
"This is our life, sweetheart. You had better get used to it, fast."
"I know," Caroline nodded, eyes closed. "It's a little hard to put all of my morals behind me."
"Not all. Caroline," Klaus held her face between his calloused palms and waited for her eyes to lock back onto his. "I will never force you to drink from a human or kill anyone. I won't force you to do anything unless something compromises your safety. Your moral guidance is very different to mine, but that's what gives you your light. All I ask is that you accept that while you don't do those things, we do. And in our case, we do these things because they're necessary."
"Its necessary that you all are feared?" Caroline asked softly.
"'It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.'" Klaus quipped lightly.
"I don't believe that for a second." Caroline murmured, nuzzling into his palm while her fingers traced along his jaw. "I believe you can do both."
Klaus was silent for a moment, watching her thoughtfully, before shaking off the mood entirely.
"Lets get inside. I know for a fact the house is warm and lovely."
...
It was Caroline's idea to set up lights. Elijah and Klaus had never bothered to decorate the house before, and Rebekah and Kol hadn't been around for a Christmas with lights and fantastic garden displays. Eva said she didn't particularly like Christmas as a rule, so she too hadn't ever decorated. Nothing could have prepared them for a Caroline Forbes Christmas.
She roped Klaus into lining the house in intricate flashing lights, and Kol and Rebekah were intrigued enough to set up a display of reindeer and a Santa Claus on the front lawn, despite Elijah's protests of how tacky they were. Eva was secretly happy to festoon the front door with a wreath, despite the irony of traditional wreaths being weaved with vervain.
Caroline also refused to let anyone back out of decorating the Christmas tree inside the house, becoming a little terror when Elijah started a speech about the pagan traditions not corresponding with the modern interpretation of Christmas.
"And gifts." Caroline nodded, after she had silenced Elijah with her own rant. "We have to do gifts."
"Really? Is it necessary? We haven't done that for years." Klaus commented.
Caroline gaped at him. "No Christmas for years."
"Well we were all in boxes, weren't we." Kol said dryly.
"We have to do it then. Its no wonder your family is so twisted if you don't do things like this." Caroline sat down between Eva and Rebekah, knowing the girls would back her opinion against Klaus.
"Its been years since we have." Rebekah sighed.
"Plus I want to see what kind of gifts people as intricate as you would come up with." Eva said smoothly.
"Elijah?"
"I do have to agree with the positive aspects." Elijah acquiesced.
"Kol?"
"Presents? How could I ever argue with that?"
"Outnumbered, Nik." Caroline smiled smugly, but Klaus' dominant posture didn't change and neither did his opinion.
"I'm the alpha male, I don't have to accept that."
"Think it through, Nik." Kol said slowly. "Presents. Gifts. Caroline. Lingerie. Caroline in lingerie."
Elijah smacked Kol across the back of his head, but Klaus for once still agreed with his little brother.
"Point made. Fine, we'll give gifts."
...
Christmas Eve came and Caroline organised a traditional human Christmas feast with Rebekah's assistance, frowning upon any suggestion from Kol to turn it into a less human, more vampire style feast.
"No blood baths. You had your fun earlier, now its time to do things the human way." Caroline said firmly while basting a large turkey – she was determined to do the cooking by herself as well.
"I haven't had to do that for a thousand years, and I don't plan on doing so now." Kol shot back, unhelpfully sticking his finger in the various surrounding ingredients till he was smacked on the hand with a wooden spoon.
"Stop being such a baby." Eva demanded, spoon in hand, bumping hips with Caroline to wordlessly ask if she needed any help. Caroline passed a bowl of potatoes along to her along with a chopping board and knife. "I can't believe I ever was tempted into your bed when you still act like such a little boy." Eva continued, and Kol frowned, her words actually getting under his skin before the cocky demeanor returned.
"I bet I could easily do it again."
"Doubtful."
"Doubtful you could resist."
"Please, don't make me throw up."
"Yes, Kol, please." Caroline interjected, a few wayward curls batting her cheeks as she turned to place the turkey back in the oven and whirl around to find another dish to prepare. "I want to actually eat this meal, not try and salvage it."
"I bet that I could, though." Kol said doggedly, his eyes never leaving Eva's face. "I bet I could do it by New Years Eve."
Eva raised an eyebrow before returning her gaze nonchalantly to the potatoes she was quartering. "Lets make it a little more interesting. If you win by New Years Eve, I'll do anything you ask."
"Anything?" Kol grinned.
"Yes. And if I win," Eva looked up at him again with her features set grimly. "I get to leave and never deal with you again."
Kol's face fell instantly before he had time to slip on a mask of indifference. Caroline watched the exchange with interest.
"Leave?"
"Yes."
"Is that what you really want?"
Eva inhaled slowly. "Yes."
Kol blinked, and then set his jaw resolutely. "Very well then. I'll see that I win."
The words took Eva by surprise, and a small smile crept onto her face as he winked at her and sauntered off.
"What was that all about?" Caroline asked softly once she was sure he had at least left the room.
"My way of giving it one last chance." Eva replied quietly. "I'm done with playing cat and mouse. Its fun, don't get me wrong, but it hurts after a few centuries." She sighed, clearly wondering if she should confide fully in Caroline. "And I have to admit, seeing you with Klaus puts things in perspective for me. I always thought that of all the Originals, he would be the last to find anyone who he not only let stand by him but also could be strong enough to hold their own. And then you appear, and everything fits. Its magical, and not in the supernatural sense, more the fate and stars aligning sense."
"Way to make it sound Disney." Caroline laughed, and Eva smiled.
"I know. But still. It makes me think, well, if you and Klaus can have that, why can't I? Why can't Kol?"
"You both can, and you both deserve it." Caroline said honestly, before smiling cheekily. "Even if you're both little terrors at the best of times."
"I'll take that as a compliment, thank you." Eva sniffed, head held high, before succumbing to chuckles.
Dinner somehow got itself done and on the table, and the Mikaelson's and guests talked well into the evening. Laughter wormed its way into their serious lives, particularly when Rebekah brought out Christmas crackers.
"Really, Beks?" Caroline giggled at the unexpected move from the usually icy blonde.
"I heard it was a tradition, and I've never done it, so tough, you all have to as well." She nodded, and everyone grabbed a cracker each and pulled with a partner.
"Are they always meant to have these in them?" Kol asked as he pulled out the paper crown and other meaningless plastic junk usually found in the crackers.
"Yes," Caroline said, forcing one on Klaus and Elijah's heads before placing hers on her own crown of golden curls.
"And they also are meant to have pointless trinklets," Eva explained. "Like a whistle or a key ring or – "
"A race car!" Kol exclaimed with a boyish grin on his face, and despite her earlier snide remarks at his immaturity, Eva smiled fondly at him while he wasn't looking.
"Will you never grow up, Kol?" Klaus shot, but Kol was far too caught up in the tiny delights of the Christmas cracker to bother rising to his brothers words.
"Let him have his fun, you put him in a box for a century just for being annoying." Elijah commented, fiddling with the spinning top he had received in his cracker.
"Again? How long are we going to bring up the dagger-and-coffin incident?" Klaus asked, and Caroline elbowed him.
"You chucked your family in boxes for years. They should continue to bring this up forever."
Klaus scowled at her, but couldn't deny that she was right, and so remained silent for fear of retorting and being proven wrong. He was never wrong. Just sometimes not right. But that didn't equal wrong.
"There's something else in here too." Rebekah said, fishing out a scrap of paper.
"A joke, probably. They're usually awful." Caroline said.
"No, something else." Eva said, scanning her own. "A fortune."
"Those who walk in others tracks leave no footprints." Rebekah read aloud, and scoffed. "Well that is a fairly obvious one."
"Come on, Beks, you know the true meaning." Caroline cajoled. "People need to make their own way and set their own path or they wont ever make their mark and prove themselves, find themselves." She noticed Rebekah's thoughtful face and decided to let her mull over the message herself. "What about you, Eva?"
"The object of your desire comes closer." Eva recited, and Kol smirked. "Nup, sorry, must have gotten yours mixed up with mine, Kol."
"Well the one I have here is If you are afraid to shake the dice, you will never roll a six, so it works out either way for me." He retorted with a cheeky grin plastered to his face, and Eva rolled her eyes in good humor.
"What's yours, Elijah?"
"If you wish to know the mind of a man, listen to his words. All common knowledge." He replied with a sage voice. "Niklaus?"
"There are no limitations aside from those we acknowledge. Arguable, but I'm willing to let it slide. And you, Caroline?"
"Love, because it is the only true adventure." Caroline glanced up to catch Klaus' eye, and a mutual understanding passed between them before she blushed slightly and looked away. "Typical fortune cookie stuff. I'm amazed it's even in Christmas crackers."
"Insightful, but silly." Elijah agreed with a knowing glance, before standing to help clear the table.
...
Christmas Day came quietly. Caroline and Klaus had lain talking in bed for hours. Caroline was not willing to sleep.
"I remember back when I was a kid, I used to try and stay up to hear the reindeer on the roof, to hear Santa go down the chimney." She chuckled in the airy pre-dawn voice that Klaus had come to know. "Silly, I know, but I still clung to that for a few desperate Christmas' when I was in high school. I knew it wasn't real, but sometimes I liked to imagine I could hear them, just to feel that magic again."
"It isn't as childish and silly as you think." Klaus murmured, entranced by her youthful ways and light heart. "It creates the lightness in your bones that makes you stunning."
"You get very romantic in the early morning." She noted with a roll of her eyes, and he shrugged.
"I promise it's the only time it will ever happen."
"Agreed." Their interlocked hands lay between them and she ran her nose back and forth along his knuckles.
"This is perfect." Caroline murmured into the pillow, so quiet that even Klaus with his heightened senses could not hear the individual words.
"Hmm? What was that, love?"
"This is perfect." She said a little more clearly. "This moment. Being here. Being with you. It's perfect. You're perfect, Nik."
He looked stunned, then something else, beyond his usual look of being pleased. Joyful. Happy. A very foreign expression for him, but it made him look so beautiful that it hurt her heart a little.
"You're perfect, which is so beyond annoying, I can't even look at you." Caroline scoffed, burrowing her face into the pillow, but the large smile that stretched across her mouth gave her own happiness away.
"Thank you, Caroline." He whispered against her forehead before brushing his lips tenderly across her smooth skin. "Thank you."
...
"Gifts! Now!" Rebekah's voice rang through the halls, waking up any straggling family members who had elected to sleep in a little, though according to the youngest Mikaelson, it clearly wasn't an option. The household assembled by the Christmas tree, looking like a ragtag bunch in their pajamas. Even Elijah was still wearing his sleep clothes, though they looked much more formal than his brothers.
Gifts were exchanged with far too much ribbing for the hour and lack of proper breakfast, but it wouldn't have been Christmas without a few Mikaelson spats.
"Is there any reason why you decided to get me a lump of coal, Kol?" Rebekah snapped. "Aside from the hilarious similarity?"
"I did my research, I know what bad girls are meant to get for Christmas." Kol shot back. "Especially harlots."
The coal was suddenly wedged into his stomach somewhere between his lungs and his intestine.
"Very funny, Rebekah." He groaned.
"Oh, I know." She smiled sweetly.
"Is this supposed to be enticing me?" Eva mocked.
Kol's grimace instantly transformed into a smirk. "Well, that depends. Are you willing to play nurse for me?"
"Hmm, let me think, no."
"Darn. Well that's your Christmas gift out the window." Kol snickered, his laughter growing as Eva unwrapped a nurses uniform from the box he had given her with an open mouth.
"That's an old school nurses uniform." Caroline commented.
"Smoothly done, Kol." Klaus nodded in almost approval.
"What do you mean?" Caroline asked.
"Sweetheart, Kol may have fought in a war and Eva may have already played nurse with him." Klaus said with a wink.
"Eww, gross!" Caroline and Rebekah chorused together.
"I so don't want that image in my head." Rebekah added for good measure, as Caroline giggled at Eva's blush. It was the first time she'd seen the girl in any shape or form of being flustered, and it was adorable.
"Hush up all of you." Eva hissed, fangs bared. "That includes you, Elijah."
"I have not said a word." He said, but his thoughts on the topic were easily read through his expressions.
"For you, love." Klaus distracted Caroline with a present of her own.
"You remembered." She breathed, opening it with a delighted gasp.
"Of course." He said casually, still not expecting to be covered in kisses.
"Thank you thank you thank you!" Caroline repeated, ignoring his family and Eva for a moment as she conveyed her gratitude.
"What on Earth did you give her to promote such a display?" Rebekah asked, her forehead furrowing even more when Caroline held up the gift. "A camera? A camera made you want to pash with my brother in front of us? You're weird, Caro."
"Don't care." Caroline smiled. "I wanted proper photos to document this, and now I can, easily. And now I can take my revenge on you." She added to Klaus, not forgetting the many sketches he had made of her.
"Revenge? Against me? Why would you try something so foolish, love?" He scoffed, and she raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, just watch me. Now, open yours."
Klaus complied, not knowing what to expect, for what could you really give the most powerful being on the planet when he had everything, including the vivacious Caroline? But he was amused and slightly confused by what he was given.
"Why?"
"For part of our trip." Caroline grinned with the slightest hint of mischief. "I've already booked the next part, but at some point, we are road tripping, in a car, and you will be able to show me music too."
"You got all this from an iPod?"
"Of course. And just in case you didn't keep up to date with music of the last decade while hunting down doppelgangers and witches and vampires and werewolves, I made you a playlist." She skimmed over his dark past easily, which made him slightly thankful that perhaps she was coming to terms with some of his past actions.
"Well, thank you, sweetheart. Oddly thoughtful."
"Its what I do best." Caroline nodded, accepting Klaus' kiss on her cheek.
...
Calls were made to home, for despite forgetting about the real world for just a little while, Caroline still missed her friends.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Mom."
"Caroline!"
"Merry Christmas."
"And the same to you. Everything okay?"
"All good on this end. You could almost call it perfect."
"That's wonderful to hear."
"And what about you?"
"Everything's...settled. We're having a quiet Christmas." A pause. "We all miss you."
"I miss you too." Caroline swallowed against the lump in her throat. "I'll send some stuff home for you."
"And will you come with it?"
"I think I might travel for a bit, Mom." She sighed. "There's just so much of the world I haven't seen yet, and I've loved exploring what I've found. I'm ready for the adventure." She realized she wasn't just talking about travelling when she saw Klaus reading in the other room. He looked so studious, and she was filled with a wonderful sense of fluttering stuttering heartbeat, contentment and fire, all at once. She was ready for that adventure.
"I understand, Caroline. I do." A rush of static indicated Liz's sigh on the other end of the line. "Well, I'm sure you have to get back to stuff, and I've got my hands full on this side too. Stay safe." Another pause. "Love you."
"Love you too, Mom."
A sigh, then the next number.
"Caroline!"
"Hey, Elena!"
Sometime during another phone call with Bonnie after chatting with Elena and catching up with Stefan and Matt, Klaus crawled over Caroline as she lay on her stomach on their bed, clearly wanting to distract her. Caroline stuck resolutely to the conversation until Klaus began inching kisses up the base of her spine, rolling up her shirt as he went.
"Sorry, Bon, I'll have to call you back another time...yeah, Merry Christmas to you too. Love you...bye." Caroline rushed a little breathlessly into the phone before hanging up and tossing it onto the armchair near the bed.
"Is that really necessary?" She huffed, not at all as irritated as she pretended to be.
"I let you have some time, but I've shared you enough."
"Shared me?"
Klaus grinned wickedly. "I'm the possessive, selfish, greedy bad guy, remember?"
"You know, even if you keep saying that, its not going to make me want you any less." Caroline noted, flipping over onto her back and allowing him to strip off her shirt. "Particularly when I am being the greedy one, and keeping you all for myself."
"No sharing?" He asked sarcastically.
"No sharing." She repeated. "You're mine."
Klaus crashed their lips together hungrily, setting off shivers and gasps from Caroline.
"Mine." He murmured against her lips, his fingers tapping down her sides like a piano so she jolted even closer to him while she tried to wrap herself around him as tightly as possible.
"Mine." He said huskily as his nose skimmed along the hollow of her collarbone while his fingers dipped and set her writhing.
"Mine." He growled, as her teeth sank into his shoulder and he claimed her throat as his own.
"Merry Christmas." Caroline murmured with a smile, her lips stained blood red. Klaus pressed his lips to hers again, sweetly and roughly, hunger and passion and desire and adoration all rolling together.
"Merry Christmas, sweetheart."