A/N: Hey, everyone! If you follow me on tumblr, you know that I said I wouldn't post this until Diplomacy was done, but it's close enough to being done that I figured this could go up.
Just so you all know going in, Klaus does not meet Caroline until she is an adult. She grew up with Elijah, and as far as she knows, Klaus is a terrible person that should not be approached under any circumstances. We don't even see Klaus in this chapter. I would say it's more of a prologue, except I don't know any prologues that are over 5k words...
Thank you so much to Wifey, Sophie, and D for beta work.
Enjoy!
-Angie

Chicago, Illinois - 1929

He'd killed her.

Or, rather, he'd daggered her and thrown her into the ocean, never to be seen again.

Elijah knew that Niklaus had daggers from very vivid personal experience, but to actually kill their sister? His favorite sibling?
His brother was clearly beyond redemption.

Elijah fixed his cuffs and checked the mirror one last time before he left the house where he'd been staying. He had outrun Niklaus for now, but who knew how long it would take for his brother to catch up? No. Best to keep moving.

He was walking down the street when he heard it, the shrill scream of a child. He had made a rule for himself long ago that he wouldn't feed from children. Originally women had been included, but there were times when he'd broken it. However, children and pregnant women were off the table (pardon the pun), and he'd never strayed from that ideal.

He also tended to intervene in a situation where a child was in danger if he could, and that was how he found himself in the alleyway with a little girl-probably four or five-bending over a blonde woman, who was lying in a pool of blood on the ground.

"Mommy? Mommy, no."

Elijah was uncertain as to whether he should leave the girl to fend for herself or escort her to an orphanage, when the girl turned around, he found himself struck by the resemblance to Rebekah.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Elijah. And you are?"

"Caroline. Caroline Forbes. Can you help my mommy?"

"I'm afraid there isn't anything I can do for her."

Caroline's eyes filled with tears, and Elijah immediately felt overwhelmed with the loss of his sister, and barely registered that he'd told the girl to come with him. She was looking at him skeptically, tears still streaming down her face. "Are you going to take me home?"

"Are there any other...er...grown-ups at home?'

Caroline shook her head, sniffling. "No."

"No father?"

"Mommy says he's gone on a trip."

Dead, then, most likely. He felt a pang of sympathy as she looked at him with big blue eyes. He felt an irrational sense of responsibility for the child. Her mother had clearly been attacked, and if he left her, the attackers could very well come back for her. He wondered why they left her in the first place.

"How old are you?" he asked.

"Four and a half," she said, pride bleeding into her voice, almost making him smile. He was unsure where this new paternal instinct was coming from. He'd never felt unsure about leaving a child to fend for themselves before, and it had happened a few times over his 959 years of life.

She regarded him with confusion and not a small amount of suspicion, and he wondered if he was only contemplating taking her because he'd lost Rebekah and his brother had betrayed him irreparably. He felt the need for companionship, and having Marcellus around had been pleasant...to a point.

"You will come with me, then."

"Why? I don't know you. Mommy says I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."

He felt exasperation creep up in him, and resisted the urge to remind her that her mother was gone, and the option of going with him was far more preferable to living on the streets.

"You remind me of my sister."

"Where is she?"

"My brother killed her."

Caroline frowned. "Oh. I'm sorry."

He smiled slightly. "It is not your fault."

"I know," she said with a small shrug, her reaction honest with no hint of social niceties, as children often were.

They'd have to work on that.

"Will I be safe with you?" she asked, still not moving towards him.

"Yes. I might even go so far as to say that there is no safer place for you to be than with me."

She nodded slowly, and hesitantly moved forward to stand with him. They started walking, and after a few steps, she tripped slightly, grabbing his hand when she regained her balance. "Where are we going?" she asked, apparently completely unruffled, though she didn't drop his hand.

"Home."

Minneapolis, Minnesota - 1932

"Why are you not married?" Caroline asked curiously, moving her peas around with a fork.

"Why do you ask? And do not play with your food, Caroline. It is unbecoming."

She put her fork down. "I heard Deborah Finch's Mom tell Daisy Baker's Mom that it's unnatural. And she called you handsome."

"Caroline. I asked you not to play with your vegetables. I did not ask you to not eat your vegetables."

She pouted but obligingly stabbed a pea with her fork. "You did not answer my question."

"I am not married because I have no wish to be," he said simply, not bothering to scold her for pouting. He generally attempted to pick and choose which of her habits he wished to stop, simply because reprimanding her for every move she made would do no good.

They would move on to not making impolite facial expressions once she'd mastered table manners.

"Will you ever get married?"

"I cannot say for sure, but most likely not in the near future."

"Why?"

Katerina's smiling face flashed through his mind, and he gave Caroline a sad smile. "I have not found anyone who appeals to me in recent years."

"Recent?" she asked innocently, and he tried not to grimace at how well she caught on.

"I have been in love before. It did not work out," he said shortly.

"Why?"

He had sworn to himself that he would never be dishonest with Caroline, simply because it could cause complications later, and, should he eventually turn her, she had an eternity to discover any lies he told (and to hold a grudge). He had never before been more tempted to break his word to himself.

He dabbed at his mouth and folded up his napkin carefully, setting it on the table. "My brother attempted to kill her, and she fled."

Caroline frowned. "Why did he try to kill her? And which brother? And why didn't you find her later?"

"It was my brother Niklaus."

"The one that I am not allowed to speak of?" she asked a bit petulantly.

"Yes. As for why he tried to kill her, and why I did not find her, both are stories for another time."

That was a neat and convenient loophole to his rule, was it not?

"How long ago was this?"

"Many years."

"Do you still love her?"

"Of course."

"That's very romantic," she said before taking another bite of her peas.

"Perhaps, perhaps not."

"Do you think I'll ever fall in love?"

"I'm sure you will, Caroline. And even if you do not, I'm sure there will be many young suitors who wish that you returned their affections."

She made a face. "I am not sure that I want a suitor."

"Don't make unbecoming facial expressions," he said, making an exception for this particular uncivilized grimace. "And I am sure that time will change your opinion. However, I do agree that now is not the time."

"Yes. May I please be excused?"

"You may."

She slid off of her seat, wandering away to amuse herself, most likely in the library, and he smiled after her. She had been his daughter for barely three years, but he was already well aware that he would most likely be wrapped around her pinky finger for as long as she remained so.

Always and forever.

Portland, Oregon - 1937

"We are moving again?"

"Yes," he said shortly, trying to mentally construct a list of things that must be done before they departed.

"Why must we always leave a place as soon as I am settled?"

"I have told you before, Caroline. Because it is not safe."

"Why not?"

He sighed. "My father is determined to kill me, along with the rest of my siblings. Now that Niklaus and I are the only ones left, he relentlessly searches for us. The best way to stay safe is to change location periodically."

"Does this have something to do with the way your face changes when someone is injured nearby?" she asked.

He froze.

"Or the way you move very quickly when I am frightened?" she continued, seeming to realize she'd discovered something important. "I do not know of any other father who has such abilities, or any other person in general."

"You have noticed."

"I am not unintelligent," she said primly, her badly-concealed indignance almost making him smile.

"Very well. We shall speak of this once we are underway in the automobile."

"All right, then."

She packed more quickly than usual he noticed, and without the normal amount of complaining (though he suspected that had more to do with her age and that she knew she'd be scolded for it). Once they were safely sitting in the vehicle, Elijah at the wheel, having dismissed the servants, she turned to him.

"So, Father. Please explain."

He restrained an undignified sigh, instead launching into the story of how his family had become supernatural, as well as why his brother Niklaus was an untouchable subject. He told her in more detail about his siblings, as well as about witches and werewolves. She listened raptly, her eyes wide with curiosity, and he shouldn't have been surprised that her first question was, "Did you meet any princesses?"

Caroline had accepted his explanation immediately, and very clearly non-judgmentally. She asked an entire stream of questions that did not cease for the entire first day of driving. When they went to dinner, she asked him what his diet consisted of, and if this was why he didn't eat much. She asked him if he had to sleep when they checked into the hotel, and seemed to be too excited to fall asleep herself.

The next morning was filled with questions about what his capabilities were (which he'd honestly expected to be the first subject she'd wanted to know about).

Let it never be said that Caroline Mikaelson would not have made a good interrogator.

Once she seemed to be out of questions, she was silent for a moment, and the question that he'd been half-dreading half-anticipating fell from her lips.

"Will you turn me into a vampire?"

"Do you wish to be turned?" he asked.

"I think I'd like to."

"Well, think about it some more. It is not a choice to be taken lightly. You may make a final decision when you're older."

She hummed in agreement. "How much older?"

"Your eighteenth birthday," he said promptly, having given it a lot of thought over her eight years of life with him.

"All right, then," she said, seemingly satisfied with his answer, before turning to look out the window, silent for the rest of the day.

Atlanta, Georgia - 1942

"I don't have time to arrange one, Caroline, you know that."

"I don't understand. All of the other girls get to do it!"

"Yes, well, none of them have me for a father."

"What am I supposed to tell them? 'Oh no, I would be having a debutante ball, but my father just doesn't feel like it'?"

"Watch your tone."

"No."

"Caroline!"

Caroline huffed, knowing that she was treading on thin ice but not caring enough to stop herself. "Is this about Uncle Niklaus again?"

"Do not speak his name."

"Oh, what, is it going to magically summon him as though he were the devil?" She was almost positive that she heard her father mumble, 'you'd be surprised', but decided not to comment on it, instead pressing on with, "What's the harm? You said just last year that you think he isn't actively searching for us."

"You'll draw unnecessary attention to our presence here for a meaningless dance that you'll forget within a few years time."

"It's not just a dance–"

"In fifty years you will forget you had even asked."

"Or I'll still remember and be mad at you," she mumbled, stalking off to her room and slamming the door behind her.

So what if it was a bit childish? She sat on her bed and looked out the window, knowing that if she sat here for just long enough…

She smirked as she heard a soft knock on her door. "Caroline."

"Yes?"

Elijah walked inside, closing the door softly behind him and standing by the window, his hands clasped behind his back before turning to her. "Please explain to me without a childish show of temper why this is so important to you. I want to understand your reasoning."

This was what her father did when she wanted something. If she could make a suitable case for it, she got it.

"Linda James has been going on and on about hers for months. She's rubbing it in my face."

"Well, Linda James is also going to live life as a human and is satisfied by petty actions to prove how important and special she is compared to everyone else, and you, my dear, know that you are far superior in every way to the peasants that inhabit this city."

"She's not a peasant," Caroline said, her lips twitching into a small smile at her father's attempt to cheer her up. "She's just snobby and rude and thinks she's better than everyone else, and I just want to show her–"

"Why is it so important to you to show her that you're better? Are you not satisfied with your own opinion of yourself?"

This made Caroline pause, and she bit her lip. "I don't know," she admitted. "I just feel like an outsider. I understand that it was necessary to move locations often, and I'm not upset by that, but it gave me little time to make friends. I must confess that I feel a bit lonely."

"And you think that presenting yourself to society and drawing attention to yourself when you will soon depart will help you feel less so?"

"I don't know," she said again, crossing her legs at the ankle and resting her hands in her lap. "I suppose it is a bit petty of me."

He stiffly moved to sit beside her, clearing his throat in a way that she recognized as him attempting to momentarily overcome what she privately thought of as his allergy to emotions. "I...understand you are displeased by the situation, and I will admit that it is not ideal. However, I will not allow you to have a ball."

To be truthful, she didn't really want one anymore, so she nodded, knowing that he was about to give a counteroffer.

"I was planning on informing you this evening that we must leave again in the near future, and this seems as good a time as any."

"We're leaving again?"

"Yes. Originally I intended to stay in this country until the end of this human war, as I did not want to cause a large change in your life when you are so close to adulthood."

"Originally?"

"Yes. You have been pestering me for years about visiting Europe," he began, and she felt her heart swell. She'd always wanted to travel, but he'd insisted that unless they were in danger he did not want to uproot her too much. "I trust that is still the case, despite the debatably undesirable living conditions?"

"Yes," she agreed, trying not to sound too excited, though she knew she'd failed at his faint smile.

"Perhaps you could give some thought as to where you'd like to settle?"

"I don't understand," Caroline said slowly, thinking that his offer was too good to be true. "You are willing for us to move to a place in Europe of my choosing in exchange for me not having a debutante ball?"

"Yes," he said, looking a bit bewildered. "Is that not a satisfactory exchange?"

She blinked. He seemed to have outrageously overestimated how much she wanted the ball, but she wasn't going to complain. "More than," she said, a smile spreading across her face. "Thank you, Father."

Elijah had certain quirks, one of which was a strong dislike of touch. However, he often was willing to put it aside for Caroline, who attacked him with what he considered to be a rather uncivilized display of affection.

A hug.

London, England - 1943

"Are you sure?" he asked again.

If you had asked him a year ago, he would have said that Caroline was a thousand times more likely to get cold feet when the time came for her to actually transition than he would, but he had been proven wrong a hundred times over in the last week alone.

Caroline gave him an exasperated look. "Yes, Father. I'm very sure."

"All right, then. Are you comfortable?"

She sat up against her pillows stacked against the headboard and nodded. He bit his wrist and offered it to her, watching with some trepidation as she latched onto it, sucking twice before pulling back, some of his blood smeared on her cheek.

He wiped it away with his handkerchief. "Last chance, my dear."

"Do it," she said, her jaw setting.

He closed his eyes and reminded himself that she would return in just an hour or so. That he was not killing her permanently. Yet, there was that little doubt in his mind that shouted that by some twist of nature she could be different. But that was ridiculous, he reminded himself. He opened his eyes and looked at his daughter, who met his eyes impatiently.

He reached out and snapped her neck, his heart breaking as she slumped against her pillows. He brushed her hair back and moved her so that she'd be more comfortable when she awoke. He did not want to leave her in this condition, even though he knew it would take time for her to wake, and so he rushed to find the nearest human, compelling them to slit their palm with a knife and pouring their blood into a cup before he compelled them to forget and continue their lives as normal.

As he sat by her bed, glass of blood next to him while he nervously twisted his fingers, he couldn't help but wonder how she'd change when she became a vampire. He loved her as any father loved their child (or any good father at any rate), and he felt that he'd raised her quite well. She was optimistic, compassionate, and polite, and he wondered if those qualities would be strengthened when she transitioned. Would she become more of a perfectionist than she currently was (if that was even possible, though if anyone could accomplish something impossible, it would be Caroline)? Would she still remain as warm and kind as she was now?

He reflected once again that though she looked quite a bit like Rebekah, their personalities were so incredibly different that it was no small wonder that he'd associated them in the first place (though he thanked whatever deity was responsible every single day). He loved his sister, but he remembered that an older witch told him once that she didn't know what love was until she'd had a child, and despite Caroline's late entrance to his life, he found it to be true. He was pulled out of his thoughts by Caroline's sharp intake of breath in front of him.

"Father?" she asked quietly, her eyes still tightly shut (something he'd advised before he turned her so that she wouldn't have the overwhelming rush of sensation that many vampires had when they first transitioned).

"Caroline, how are you feeling?"

"Thirsty," she croaked, her voice scratchy.

"Sit up, my dear," he said, moving to support her as she moved against the pillows, but she shook him off impatiently, pulling herself up. "Would you like something to drink?"

He could tell that she was about to talk back to him, but seemed to restrain herself at the last moment, simply pursing her lips and holding out her hand for the cup.

He handed it to her and watched the veins creep out from her cheeks, her fangs descending as she gulped the liquid greedily, licking her lips. She opened her eyes slowly and smiled at him, her blue eyes shining with happiness as her fangs retracted.

"Do you feel better?"

"Yes. Could I have some more, please?"

He laughed quietly. "Perhaps later. I would like to show you how to feed without killing. Right now, though, let us move to the drawing room. I have taken the liberty of clearing the furniture away."

"Why?"

"I would like to teach you to fight."

"Fight? Do you mean physical fighting?"

"Yes."

"That's not very proper for a young lady," she said teasingly, repeating the phrase he used often when she wanted to do something uncouth, such as wearing trousers or speaking rudely in public.

"Well, being a vampire is not very proper, either."

"I suppose not. All right, then. Am I meant to fight in this dress?"

"Well, as you will not constantly be wearing trousers, I would like you to learn to fight in the clothes you will be wearing when you are most often in danger."

"And I suppose you wouldn't just let me wear trousers?"

"I truly do not understand why you would want such a thing."

"Of course you don't. You are old-fashioned and refuse to wear anything but suits in public."

"It is natural for me to be old-fashioned, my dear."

"Yes, because you're old."

"I will wait for you outside while you freshen up."

He turned quickly to leave so that he wouldn't see her answering eye-roll.

Impertinent facial expressions were one of the only things she and Rebekah had in common.

Madrid, Spain - 1949

"Hello. Can I help you?" Caroline asked politely to the woman on the doorstep.

"I'm here to see Elijah," the woman said, pushing past her, heels clicking on the wooden floor as her long brown hair floated behind her.

"All right, well, he's not here right now. Would you like some tea or water? Something else?"

The woman was clearly a vampire, and probably an older one from the way she carried herself. She gave Caroline a cursory up-and-down glance before sniffing haughtily and turning away. "When will he be back?"

"I don't know," Caroline said slowly, mentally reviewing all of the possible escape routes.

The other girl turned around again, her lip curling. "Who are you anyway, the maid?"

"No. My name is Caroline Mikaelson," she said quietly, still trying to evaluate how much of a threat Mystery Woman was, whose eyes suddenly narrowed in fury.

"You little bitch," she hissed, her hand closing around Caroline's throat as she slammed her against the wall.

Caroline struggled under the grip of the brunette, flashing her fangs, before throwing the other girl off. "Who are you, and why are you attacking me in my home?"

"Katherine Pierce."

When Caroline frowned, unable to place the name, Katherine looked even more angry. "Oh, so he hasn't even spoken of me? Some epic love he is."

"Katerina?" her father's voice came from behind her, shocked and slightly angry.

Caroline whirled on him. "Wait, this is Katerina?"

"Oh, so you have heard of me?" Katherine—Katerina?—asked haughtily before turning to Elijah. "Moved on, have you?"

Elijah's lips quirked. "Katerina, this is my daughter, Caroline."

"Daughter?" Katherine asked, unimpressed.

"Yes. Why are you here, Katerina?"

"I came to see you," she said, her throaty voice suddenly dripping with affection.

"And what if you are caught by Niklaus?"

"He's across the world, Elijah. I checked," Katherine said, walking up to Elijah and cupping his face. Elijah stiffened before leaning into the touch, and Caroline felt the need to gag.

"I'll just leave you, shall I?" Caroline asked awkwardly, moving to the doorway.

"Please," Katherine snapped, just as Elijah told her to wait.

"What is it?"

"Come here," he said gently, disentangling himself from Katherine, who pouted. "Caroline is very important to me, Katerina. She is my daughter, and part of my family. I never want to see you hurt her again. Is that clear?" he asked, his voice firm as he laid a hand on Caroline's shoulder.

Katherine gave him an elegant shrug. "If that's what you want."

"Indeed. Do not make me choose, Katerina. You will not like the result."

Katherine narrowed her eyes. "Is that so?"

"It is. Now, introduce yourself again, please."

"Katherine Pierce," she said, holding out her hand, palm down, as though expecting Caroline to kiss it.

Luckily, Caroline had quite a lot of experience with unpleasant women, and knew exactly how to put the other girl in her place.

"Caroline Mikaelson. It's lovely to finally meet you, Katerina. I do hope that if there's anything I can do to make your stay more comfortable before you leave again, you will tell me," she said, a smile frozen on her face as she kept her hands determinedly clasped in front of her, not even reaching for the other girl's hand, who dropped hers with a raised eyebrow.

"I would have thought a child of yours would have turned out more polite," Katherine said, not even looking at Elijah as she spoke.

Before Elijah could answer, Caroline cut in. "I would have thought a woman my father had loved once would have been a bit more refined than the common peasant, but occasionally things are not what we expect, are they?" Caroline said coldly before sweeping out of the room, not bothering to wait for Katerina's response, or her father's inevitable reprimand.

When she realized a few days later that Katerina had no intention of leaving anytime soon, and the other girl refused to be the least bit civil despite Caroline's repeated attempts to mend the schism resulting from their initial meeting, she decided to subtly encourage her a bit. Caroline was no stranger to sex at all, and though she knew her father preferred to look the other way (as most fathers did, she presumed), he often pointedly left some enchanted sage and a pack of matches for her on her dresser whenever she was going out for the night.

However, as far as she knew, he's never had the need to use it himself (and she preferred not to know). This presumed knowledge was thrown out the proverbial window later than week when she heard giggling and a thump of a body hitting the door of her father's room, followed by a loud moan, and Caroline huffed, throwing her book on the floor of her bedroom and marching down the hall, banging on the door.

Her father opened it a moment later, dressed in his normal silk pajama set, looking absolutely mortified when Caroline glared at him, feeling her veins emerge on her face. Katerina sat up from the bed, apparently not having even bothered to cover up at all. "Either use sage, or find a hotel like most men do for their whores. I have no wish to hear my father's sexual activities."

"Do not speak of Katerina that way, Caroline," he said, his voice low and dangerous.

"And why not? She has been nothing but rude to me throughout the time that she has stayed here despite my attempts to reconcile after our initial meeting. Though you told her to address me with respect, she has done nothing but belittle me and purposefully rearrange my belongings to enjoy the anxiety having things out of order instills in me. I am not so blind as to pretend that you have been celibate all of my life, but I do ask that you not make me listen, especially when you are having relations with someone so unpleasant," she said, emotion welling up in her voice.

"I am sorry, my dear," her father said, pulling her into a rare hug and stroking her hair. "I did not mean to neglect you. Katerina will only stay for another week, and then she must be off somewhere else."

"No, I do not care whether she stays or goes. You have your life, Father, and I have mine. I just ask that I do not have to hear you and her...living," Caroline said awkwardly with a curl of her lip.

Elijah's lips twitched. "Whether you wish for her to be here or not will be irrelevant after next week, though I would prefer you to be on good terms," he said, raising his voice to indicate to Katherine that she was included in the expectation that they would behave.

"Yes, Father."

"Perhaps once Katerina leaves we can go on holiday? The south of France is lovely this time of year."

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Her father's habit of making up for something undesirable to her with material possessions or vacations seemed to be his strategy for when she was upset, and she wasn't sure how well that reflected on her.

"I would love that, but I hope you are not offering simply because you wish to make up for this experience. I am an adult, and perfectly capable of handling unpleasant situations without needing to be rewarded for it."

He smiled indulgently, and she felt a flash of annoyance creep up in her. "Of course, my dear. Think of it as an early birthday present, then."

She had the distinct urge to scream at his condescension, but dropped it for the moment, simply nodding and standing on her toes to press a kiss against his cheek. "Goodnight, Father."

"Goodnight," he said, closing the door softly.

She waited until she smelled the pungent odor of burning sage before returning to her room, hoping that Katherine's visit would be over sooner rather than later.

Lake Geneva, Switzerland - 2010

"Caroline?"

"Yes, Father?" Caroline called, speeding across the house to the study.

"I have just received a call from one of my associates saying that they've located the doppelganger."

"The one Uncle Niklaus will use to break his spell?"

Elijah nodded. "The very same. She is in Mystic Falls, Virginia."

"Your birthplace?"

"Yes. I would like you to pack your things. We'll depart on the aeroplane tomorrow morning."

"But Father, I just made plans with Lara to see the new Harry Potter movie."

"They have Harry Potter movies in the United States, Caroline. You may see it there."

"But not with Lara."

He closed his eyes briefly as if in pain. "Caroline, you are eighty-five years old. I think that you can handle a change in your weekend plans."

"May I follow you on Monday instead? It's not as though he'll be able to break it until later this month, anyway. The full moon isn't for weeks."

"Fine. Contact Lara and inform her that you must depart for a family vacation on Monday. I will book a ticket for you."

"Will we be returning soon?"

"Soon enough that we can keep our belongings here. I will store them in the basement and we'll put the house for rent."

"All right."

Her father's phone beeped and he pulled it out, frowning slightly before passing it to Caroline. "What on earth does this stand for?"

"'O.M.G'. means 'Oh my god'. Who's Rose?"

"The associate that informed me of the doppelganger's return. And I fail to see the need for these abbreviations. Text messaging is useful, I'll admit, but I believe that it invites a lack of decorum and respect for the English language that a phone call or in-person visit does not."

"You're a fossil," Caroline mumbled.

"So you say, my dear."

"How long will we be in Mystic Falls?"

"As long as it takes to kill Niklaus, I suppose. We must first assess the situation of the citizens in the town, as well as earning the trust of the doppelganger, and I will need your assistance for that."

Caroline frowned before it dawned on her what he meant, and she shook her head. "No...Oh, no. No, I am not going to attend a human high school."

"It is necessary."

"It's ridiculous," she mumbled.

"This is not a negotiable deal, my dear. You will do this because it will ensure your safety."

She huffed. "Fine, then. But I'll need to go shopping for new clothes. These are not appropriate for a high school. They have 'dress codes', do they not?"

"I would assume so. Though I cannot pretend I will not be thankful for their requirements that your clothes not show so much skin."

"I am simply enjoying the evolution of fashion, Father. These are much more comfortable than dresses and skirts."

"So you say, my dear."

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
I know I might get some questions about this, so I just want to say that Caroline is still with Elijah after that many years because he's an Original and has enemies, and would want to keep her in his general vicinity. This lack of independence will come up again later on in the story, and there should also be a few more flashbacks. By majority vote, and by 'majority' I mean 'unanimous', there will be a heavy Kalijah subplot in this, which is why it is also marked as a Kalijah pairing. It will still be Klaroline-centric though.

Please, please let me know your initial thoughts on this. The only way that I know what you like/didn't like is by you submitting a review to tell me, and reviews really encourage me to write, and also help me improve as a writer. What do you think about Elijah as a parent? Do you think the relationship between Caroline and Katherine will improve? Are you excited for their visit to Mystic Falls? Do you have a favorite part or line? Please tell me what you think!

Hugs!
-Angie