Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Note: This was written for my dear ravensclawlibrary via tumblr, whose prompt was-"I loved the museum scene in Inertia Overcome. It would be interesting to see Caroline ask Klaus a thousand questions about the real story behind certain events."

A tastefully wrapped package appeared under my nose and wiggled excitedly. "Happy Birthday!"

I looked up from my sketchbook and smirked. "Not exactly what I was hoping for, my love."

"How do you know? You haven't opened it yet."

"You are fully dressed and there is no slinky teddy to be found." My tongue swept over the inside of my cheek. "Unless you have a naughty surprise planned for tonight's gala?"

She shot me a look. "Ha ha. Here, you will take this—let me take that—" She plucked my tools from my unresisting fingers and set them firmly on the coffee table.

In a sweep of happy grace that pleased me so, she arranged herself on the arm of the sofa, hands clasped in her lap excitedly.

These last five years had not dulled my lady's appeal to me. One weaker than I might even have been dismayed to find my regard for Caroline had grown rather than diminished. I was always a man capable of great things. Devotion, it seemed, was one of them.

"Happy One Billion and One! Open it," she urged.

"Can I? It would be a tragedy to ruin all this exquisite wrapping."

"Oh, don't be like that. Come on." She patted my leg to stir my enthusiasm. Sadly it was not the sort of enthusiasm I preferred. "I want to see your face."

Never let it be said I denied her.

I made short work of the crinkly ribbon and paper, then held up the DVD box set. "The Borgias," I read slowly. "Seasons one through three. The original crime family...?"

"Isn't it perfect? I thought we could watch it together. I can ogle Cesare and you can tell me all about the historical inaccuracies."

Cesare Borgia. Now there was a name I had not thought of in many years. "This is meant to be Cesare, I take it?"

"Yep." Loud smacking emphasis on the p.

I eyed the image critically and hummed.

"See? You're pointing them out already."

"Contrary to what you may believe, my love, I did not know every famous figure in history."

Her eyebrows arched delicately. "You didn't know the Borgias? I thought they would be the kind of people you'd want to have on your side."

I browsed the back of the box, intrigued despite myself. "When was this...ah, the 1490s. I remember now. The Katerina Years," I drawled, an unpleasant smirk playing across my lips. "Suffice it to say I had other interests whilst the Borgias were using God as a sword."

I felt the power of Caroline's gaze keenly. She understood what I was telling her.

"And news did not travel as fast as it does today, though I did try to keep tabs on the Roman pulse. One never knows when the pope will try to win favor by burning witches and the like."

"I guess." Her brow wrinkled. "You really never thought about meeting them?"

I considered her. "Disappointed?"

"No. Well, maybe a little. I kind of wanted to get the inside skinny."

My lady did enjoy her gossip, even if it was five centuries out of date. "I did briefly consider making my way back to Italy around...oh, I don't know, 1503 I think. I heard rumors Valentino had managed to engage Da Vinci. Now there was an alliance I gladly would have been part of."

She blinked, puzzled. "Who's Valentino?"

"Borgia. His nickname."

"You remember his nickname but not the year?"

"By the time the Borgias scraped themselves into some semblance of Renaissance respectability, Caroline, I was five hundred years old. Many men had tried and failed to become emperors during those centuries. I took note of them—but expect anything lasting?" I raised a brow. "There was no need to do more than keep a weather eye out."

"Seriously? There's got to be more to it. The guy like—I don't know, people still know who Lucrezia Borgia is! Even if you didn't have email or newspapers, you can't have been totally uninterested in him."

How amusing. "You know me so well?"

She spread out her arms to indicate the library—indeed, the house itself. Perhaps even the whole of New Orleans.

She did have a point. "If Borgia had managed to last a bit longer, I might have taken steps towards introducing myself. He made quite the impression on Italy." I waited a beat. "And I did appreciate the rumors of his sister's...charms."

Beautiful eyes narrowed at me. "I'll bet you did."

Had Caroline imagined I had not noticed her little digs about ogling? Tit for tat. "Alas I never saw for myself."

Truth be told, I was intrigued by the whispers of poison and murder. The Renaissance was not only a period of stunning art. It was perhaps the loveliest era of moral decay. God's laws were flexible. Sinners and saints were one and the same. Lucrezia Borgia may have been stunning, but she was reputed to have a soul as dark as anyone's.

I held up the box. "Warning: Rated R for explicit sex and violence. Well well. Perhaps we should watch this together, darling. I'll be happy to critique-"

I laughed as the set was summarily snatched from my hands and tossed over a lovely shoulder. It crashed into something or another and then I was ambushed, smothered in mock anger and kisses. I avoided the first and snatched up the second greedily.

Five years. A blink of an eye. Not even a drop in the vast ocean I was determined to experience with her.

I drank in her caresses and lost myself in them. Her smell hadn't changed. Would never change, no matter how much fashion would ebb and flow. I took hold of her hair and held the tresses to my nose, breathing in the familiar citrus that clung to her.

Her voice drew me from my reverie."I heard they died young." She sat on my armrest now, hands braced up on my shoulders.

I shrugged. "All humans do."

"Yeah, but thirty-one?"

"You died at seventeen, my love. Don't forget."

She sniffed. "Trust me. Not going to happen." Fingers combed through my hair, arranging it as she saw fit.

These were quiet moments. I hadn't expected them today of all days. She should have been downstairs, directing her army as well as any commander in history. Parties were rare in our lives these days, nothing like when we met. The former Miss Mystic Falls was given an opportunity seldom presented to her and she had been taking it by the horns for weeks.

"No busboys to order around tonight, Caroline?"

"In a minute. I wanted to give you your present before you got caught up in your own ego."

I smiled beatifically. "It is my birthday, after all."

"Tell me the truth; did you like your present?"

"I have a terrible habit of liking everything you give me," I confessed with no small amount of consternation. The wallet she had given me once was in my pocket even now.

That pleased her. "Don't forget that you and I have a date with the DVD player after the party. Just you, me, and Cesare."

"And Lucrezia."

She wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, her too."

"She could never have compared to you," I leaned up to whisper—swooping in for a kiss—

—only to be denied by a simple turn of the cheek and a laugh. "I know." She stood, hands on hips, striking that delectable pose I relished.

She flashed to the door before I could think to give chase. A pause in our banter? But then a delicate hand stilled on the jamb, and she turned to me. "Klaus?"

"Hmm?"

"If you're late for your own party, you can kiss that new teddy I know you found in my drawer goodbye."

Ah, Caroline.

The End