Chapter 4: Originals and Attraction
Klaus's POV
"Yes Elijah, what is it?" Ester asked as she walked out the door. She always had this presence when she was near. Some people were intimidated by her, but she was always very kind and compassionate. Stefan stood there holding Caroline in his arms staring at her. Klaus had never seen someone so beautiful. She looked like angel who had fallen from the heavens. Her golden hair hanging from her tilted head and she had this brightness about her that drew him in.
"My sister, she's unconscious. I don't know what happened." Stefan finally said.
"Bring her inside." Ester said as she walked back into the house followed by Stefan.
"Rebekah." Ester called. She probably wanted her to help her with Caroline.
Klaus became worried, he hoped Caroline was okay. He had never seen anyone like her before. The village didn't have that many girls that were of their status and Mikael would not allow them to court peasants. Klaus wondered what Mikael would say about Caroline and Stefan. Right then Mikael walked over to them.
"Why are you all gathered here? Do you not have any work to do?" Mikael said furiously. He sometimes felt that his sons were of no use to him.
"Father..." Elijah said and walked over to Mikael. He explained about Caroline and Stefan. Elijah was the best at talking to the old man. Mikael always remained so calm with him. If it were Kol or Klaus, his anger would know no bounds and they would be blamed for everything especially if it was Klaus. Then there was Finn who barely spoke to him. No one can say anything to Mikael's little girl, Rebekah. He was always happy to hear what she had to say.
Stefan walked out of the house looking concerned. Elijah had finished explaining to his father about them. Mikael walked over to Stefan.
"How is your sister?" Mikael asked.
"I do not know. She is still unconscious." Stefan said worriedly. His eyes shifted toward the door checking if Ester had come out yet.
"What is your name son?" Mikael asked.
"Stefan, sir." Stefan said.
"Your full name." Mikael demanded. He always needed to know the person's class if they were going to be his guest. His was a well known landowner in this village and he would not have a peasant living under his roof. Stefan stood there looking at Mikael for a moment and then said,
"Stefan Forbes and my sister Caroline Forbes."
"Forbes. I heard of that name. Landowners." Mikael said with affirmation, he had approved of their status. Klaus felt his heart flip out of happiness but didn't quite understand why. Stefan and Caroline had just arrived, why would them staying here make him so happy? Just then Ester walked out of the house saying that Caroline was fine and had regained consciousness. Stefan asked if he could go see her. Ester agreed as she went to talk to Mikael. Klaus felt a strange sense of relief inside and he too wanted to go in with Stefan.
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Caroline's POV
Caroline sat up on the bed she was lying on. She was in shock. She had just seen the original witch and Rebekah. But didn't Ester die? Caroline was so confused. Then she saw Stefan walk into the room. He was wearing a long white shirt with a wide leather belt around his torso and dark brown leather pants. His hair was longer too. Caroline looked down at herself. She was wearing this long lavender dress. What was going on?
"Stefan? What's going on? Where are we? Oh my gosh, are we dead?" Caroline asked panicking.
"Caroline calm down. We've been transported around thousand years into the past." Stefan said.
"What? But how?" Caroline said.
"I think Bonnie accidentally must have done it with that cleansing spell she was doing or it must have been a side effect." Stefan explained.
"What are we going to do?" Caroline said. She was tensed, how were they going to get back?
"I don't know. But we'll figure it out. But since we're here now, this is the story so far. You and I are brother and sister and our last name is Forbes..." Stefan said and then was interrupted.
"Forbes? Why did you use my last name?" Caroline asked.
"Because my ancestors are still in Italy! You're more local." Stefan said. Caroline rolled her eyes.
"Whatever you say bro. Go on." Caroline said. Stefan smiled.
"I said that we're from a far away village, our family died long time ago and we've been travelling most of our lives." Stefan finished.
"That's easy to remember." Caroline said as she got up.
"Are you feeling okay? Maybe you should rest for a while." Stefan said.
"Stefan I'm fine." Caroline said as Rebekah walked in.
"I've brought a set of clean clothes." Rebekah said as she placed them on bed. She looked at Stefan and smiled and then looked away. She was totally checking him out Caroline thought. Stefan smiled back and said,
"I'll be waiting outside." And he nodded to Rebekah and walked out. Rebekah closed the door after him. She had brought Caroline a dark peacock green dress. Caroline adored it. She stripped off her lavender dress and put on the dress Rebekah had brought for her. Rebekah smiled at her.
"Do you need help buttoning it up?" Rebekah asked.
"Yes, please." Caroline said. She always had trouble buttoning up anything from the back. Rebekah buttoned up the back.
"Here we go. All done." She said.
"Thank-you." Caroline said.
"The dress looks amazing." Rebekah complimented her.
"Thank-you, your dress is beautiful. I haven't seen one like it." Caroline said. You couldn't find something like this in the twenty-first century, let alone the length of it.
"It is quite beautiful. My father bought it for me last year at the festivals. It's really nice to have you here. I've been stuck with all brothers. It's nice to talk to a girl of my age." Rebekah said. Caroline didn't know what to say. She had friends to talk to all the time. But she couldn't reveal that so she said,
"Same here. We've been travelling for so long. Never really get the chance to sit down and talk."
Rebekah looked ecstatic. She seemed like she had someone to relate to and talk to; she had found a friend. From the way Rebekah talked to her, Caroline felt like she was just like her friends back home.
"Guess what? My father is allowing you guys to stay with us. You'll be sharing my room." Rebekah said as she smiled.
"Oh my, that's wonderful." Caroline said. She had to be careful not to use modern day expressions.
Caroline and Rebekah walked out of the house towards Stefan and the rest of the Mikaelsons.
"This is Caroline. Caroline these are my brothers Finn, Elijah, Niklaus, Kol and Henrik." Rebekah introduced them all. All of them walked up to her and kissed her hand as they were introduced. When Niklaus took her hand and gently placed a kiss on it, Caroline blushed. She remembered the time she was with Klaus a day ago and here he was human. He was so gentle and his lips were so soft as they touched her knuckles. She couldn't help wondering what they would feel like on her lips. She drew in a deep breath. He looked right at her. She wasn't able to look away from his deep blue eyes until Kol pushed Niklaus and said,
"My turn. Don't try to hog her all to yourself Nik. She's just arrived."
Once Caroline had met all the Mikaelsons she turned to Rebekah,
"This is my brother Stefan, Stefan this is Rebekah." Stefan smiled took her hand and kissed it. Rebekah smiled at him and Stefan stood there continuing to look at her. Caroline could see there was some kind of connection between them. Stefan seemed to be drawn towards her. Well, it might have been weird. They were kind of together back home.
"Listen boys it's time you go do your chores." Mikael said as he walked towards all of them. "Same goes for you two. If you want to stay here, you must help out with the chores."
Caroline and Stefan nodded. Everyone scattered to do their chores. The boys took Stefan with them on their hunting trip while Rebekah pulled Caroline into the house.
"We have to start preparing for lunch so it's ready when they come back." Rebekah said. Caroline nodded and followed her into the kitchen. It was very small; there was a fireplace where a large pot hung. Beside it there were some cut up vegetables and pieces of meat in separate bowls.
"How are we going to cook for so many with only this small thing?" Caroline asked.
"Well, I'm almost done" she pointed to another big pot in the corner. "Mother tells me to prepare it outside but I prefer this better. I make it in two batches. Can you cut up more vegetables please? I'll need to make a little bit more." Rebekah said as she took a large spoon and stirred the stew.
"Sure. It smells delicious by the way." Caroline said. It really did smell good; her stomach growled because she hadn't eaten for so long. Last thing she remembered eating was ice cream. Rebekah laughed.
"I think you are already hungry." Rebekah said. Caroline laughed too. She started to cut up the vegetables.
"So is this your daily chore?" Caroline said.
"Yes, unless Mother is free. Then I get to go out for a bit. But there isn't much to do. There aren't that many girls in the village of our status and father doesn't let me hang out with peasants." Rebekah said. Caroline felt sorry for her. What kind of person was Mikael? He cared about his social class so much that he would let his daughter have friends.
"So you're stuck with your five brothers all the time." Caroline said. That must suck, not having any female company to confide in during these teenage years.
"Yes. It's okay. I mean I barely talk to Finn. He's much older and always off doing work or chores. Elijah is very kind. He doesn't do anything that would hurt me in anyway. Niklaus is the only one who spends time with me. I would say he's my favourite brother or both him and Henrik. Henrik is still young though, but he loves spending time with me and Nik. Then there is Kol who is ridiculous and annoying. All he does is flirt with every girl he could find. Beware." Rebekah laughed.
"That's nice. At least you're not completely alone." Caroline said. Now it made sense why Klaus and Rebekah were always together. He was her favourite brother. This brought out a new side of Klaus. He was so kind and considerate of his sister as a human. What could have gone wrong to turn him into such a monster, Caroline wondered.
"You know one of my brothers will probably court you." Rebekah said.
"Really? Why?" Caroline said. She had just arrived, they didn't even know her. Caroline took another carrot and chopped it up.
"There are not that many girls in this village whom they can court and father would never give them permission to court a peasant." Rebekah explained.
"Do you think it'll be Nik?" Caroline said before she could stop herself. Rebekah laughed.
"You've chosen one already?" Rebekah teased. Caroline's face went red and she looked away. "Don't worry; I'll put in a good word for you with Nik." Rebekah said.
"You will not!" Caroline said. That would be so embarrassing.
"I hope he does court you. That would be perfect and that Tatia would be out of his life." Rebekah said bitterly.
"Tatia?" Caroline said. The green monster strung its rope around her. Who was this Tatia? Then she remembered Stefan telling her about the original doppleganger. Great, thought Caroline.
"Well she's a girl who lives a couple of houses down. She's even had a child out of wedlock. Elijah and Nik are both after her. They don't seem to see the truth that she's playing both of them. You have no idea how many times I've tried explaining it to Nik. But he just doesn't seem to get it." Rebekah said.
Caroline looked down at the vegetables she was cutting as she became angry at the thought of Tatia coming in between two brothers. This Tatia being the original doppleganger must look exactly like Elena. She wondered what Stefan would do when he saw her.
"I hope Nik turns towards you and leaves that Tatia." Rebekah said. Caroline didn't say anything after that.
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Stefan's POV
"Tell us about your family. What happened?" Finn asked as they walked through the forest.
"There was our father Bilius." He couldn't say Giuseppe. "Our mother, Eliza." Liz would have been weird to them, "and my older brother Damon. We lived in a prosperous village. One day, these dacoits came and stole everything and burned whole village down. Caroline and I managed to survive. We left and never looked back." That sounded okay, Stefan thought.
"So Stefan, have you seen any beautiful girls in any of the villages you have stayed in so far?" Kol asked.
"Kol, please behave yourself." Elijah said before Stefan could even answer.
"I was just asking brother. There are barely any girls in our village that our father would let us court." Kol said. "I mean I use to feel sorry for Rebekah. She didn't have any friends and she can't stand Tatia."
"Kol don't start." Klaus said warningly. He looked mad and on the verge of knocking Kol out.
"Relax brother. Stefan should know she's taken." Kol smirked.
Tatia? Why did that name sound so familiar? Stefan wondered for a bit until he remembered the dinner with Damon, Klaus and Elijah. Tatia was the original doppleganger.
"Kol enough." Elijah said.
They hunted enough for the whole family plus their two guests and returned home. They washed up and met by the fire pit for lunch. The girl had stew and bread ready for them to eat. Stefan was so hungry. He had forgotten what it had been like to be human. Stefan took his food and sat down on the log. Caroline followed and sat down beside him. Rebekah came and sat beside Caroline and Kol came and sat beside Stefan. Klaus sat on the log beside theirs. He looked at Caroline and when he saw Stefan looking at him, he looked away.
"Stefan." Caroline whispered
"Yes." Stefan answered.
"The food looks... a bit different." Caroline said. She was a picky eater.
"Caroline just eat. You haven't eaten for so long." Stefan said. Caroline looked at her food and slowly placed a spoonful into her mouth.
During lunch everyone took turns asking them questions. Caroline had caught on that Stefan had given her dad's name but changed it a bit to fit the time period as well as her mom's name. Caroline wondered what Liz would think if Stefan came home and called her Mom. She smiled at the thought. Then there was Damon. Caroline rolled her eyes when Stefan mentioned him.
Once everyone was finished lunch, Rebekah and Caroline cleaned up as the boys went to get fire food and water. Now dinner had to be prepared. Caroline was already tired. She had never done so much house work ever in her entire life.
Everyone sat around the fire pit again during dinner. However, this time Kol sat in between Caroline and Stefan. Rebekah gave Stefan his dinner. She looked so radiant as her skin shone with the fire in the dark night. Stefan's heart rate sped up. Stefan couldn't get over how beautiful she looked. His eyes followed her as she sat down on the other side of Caroline. As everyone was having dinner, a woman came by. She had chocolate coloured skin and jet black hair.
"Ayana. How nice of you to come by. Would you like to join us for dinner?" Ester said.
"No thank-you. I have already had dinner. Just came to say hello." Ayana said.
"How nice. Let me introduce you to our guests. This is Stefan Forbes and his sister Caroline." Ester said.
Stefan and Caroline nodded their greetings. Stefan looked at Ayana and then at Caroline. She had understood what he was thinking. She was a Bennett witch, perhaps she can help them. Stefan had thought about telling Ester but then felt queasy about it and left it at that. All he had to do was find a way to talk to Ayana.
After dinner Stefan excused himself saying that he wanted to see the village a bit more. He told Caroline to meet him a couple houses down as soon as she could so they could go together.
Stefan paced around as he waited for Caroline to come out. What was taking her so long? He thought. Finally, he saw Caroline run towards him.
"What took you so long?" Stefan asked as Caroline came towards him.
"Sorry, it was hard getting away with Rebekah there and Ester watching." Caroline said.
They walked for a bit, stopped and asked people for directions to Ayana's house. Finally they arrived outside her house. Caroline knocked on the door and Ayana opened the door.
"Yes?" She asked.
"Hello, can we please come in? It's really important." Caroline said.