I am going to miss you guys so much. There's little I can say that I haven't said before (thank you thank you thank you so much for the support, I love you, thank you for winning me a KA) and I know it's been a while, so I don't want to write an essay here before you get to the actual chapter, but I just wanted to say that. You guys have been an amazing audience to write for. So much so that what was supposed to have been a 34 000-word story (LOL at my very first Author's Note) turned into a whopping 95 000 words. I will also miss this story. It's been such a great adventure with these two characters (and practically nobody else!) in this particular situation.

I didn't know so many of you were unaware of my imminent retirement. Thank you so much for your wonderful words of kindness, encouragement and love. If you'd like some more explanation (or if you have any other questions for me), you can hop over and chat to me on my tumblr at mrslackles :)

Without further ado -

P.S. Ok, a little further ado - for those of you who didn't remember, the reason Caroline says "Takes" at the end of the last chapter is because that was the word she wasn't able to say just before the spell 100% took over her and she went into the coma...

"No."

His eyes are as wide as she's ever seen them. He takes a step back.

"No, no no no. This isn't real."

Her hair blows back as she rushes forward. Gently she rubs her thumb over the back of his hand.

"Does it feel real?"

He looks down at where their hands touch and she can't help doing the same.

His skin on hers. So simple, and yet it makes her want to cry.

She's waited so long.

Her other hand goes up to his face and it's like he wants to move away but can't. He's staring at her like she's genuinely some kind of phantom.

"Do you remember when you told me that you wished you knew when I was coming back to you?"

He nods jerkily. "Of course." His voice is gruff.

She draws closer so she's breathing on his lips but her eyes are still on his.

"The answer is now, Klaus. I came back to you."

He still doesn't seem to believe it. He shakes his head.

Then: "You heard that?"

She smiles. "Of course I did."

It was then that she'd realised their souls were connected. That there was nothing in heaven or earth, nor anything in between that could tear them apart. Not even magic.

But he pulls away from her, shaking his head.

"How is this possible?" he accuses. "How do you remember? Where did you go?!"

"To New Orleans. To find Rosemary."

"Who?"

"The witch who found the spell originally." She sighs. "It took longer than I expected to track her down. Turns out, finding a witch in New Orleans thirty-five years later, with nothing more than a first name, takes a while. As does performing a memory spell." She tentatively takes a step closer, hoping he won't pull back again. "I'm sorry. I really hoped I'd be back before you woke up."

He's staring at her and now it's like he's witnessed a miracle. In an instant he's closed the distance between them, his hands on either side of her face.

"You really have your memories back? All of them?"

She nods, realising she's smiling so hard her cheeks kind of hurt.

"Yes, Klaus. It's me. Finally."

He pulls her to him and she smiles even harder into his neck as her eyes close, taking in the scent and feel of him. But she barely gets a second before she's ripped away from him again, his eyes laser-focused.

"I don't understand. Why find the witch? Why find her now? How did you know she would have a spell that could bring back your memories?"

Her smile drops away.

She bites on her lip. Slowly she steps back so they're not touching anymore, watching the frown lines appear on his forehead. She'd been dreading this moment – having to explain decisions she hadn't even made. Well, not this version of her, anyway.

"Well, um…"

His eyes narrow. "Caroline."

"She… she figured that since her memories were coming back naturally, maybe there was a way to unblock them all at once. She remembered Rosemary from my journals."

He takes a step back again, fury and disbelief in the widening of his eyes this time.

"Since what?"

She sighs at the growl, stepping forward.

"Can we skip the being mad part and just go right to 'Oh, look, you're here!'?"

He doesn't smile. "You were getting memories back and you kept it from me?"

"Technically, she did, not me. And it was a completely random and undependable process."

"But you kept it from me," he growls.

"She kept it from you. Because she didn't wanna get your hopes up."

He folds his arms, his jaw mutinous.

"You've become good at lying to me."

"I've always been good at lying to you," she smirks.

"You think this is a joke?"

"I think you're being ridiculous! This is a good thing, what does it matter how it happened?!"

"It matters that you lied to me."

"Oh god, fine! If we're gonna be crazy, then it matters that you cheated on me!"

His jaw drops open and a sound comes from his throat that she can only describe as a cat drowning.

"I did what?"

"You heard me. You slept with someone who wasn't me. Since we're choosing dumb things to be mad about, I'm choosing that."

"That's nowhere near the same thing and you know it," he accuses. "She was you."

"If that were true, then it wouldn't matter that she was getting memories back," she points out with a self-satisfied tone that makes him glare at her.

"You have the same body –"

"Oh, so now you only care about my body?"

His glare is frustrated and she steps closer with a smile, till they're chest to chest.

"Can you now stop being ridiculous and kiss the woman who has gone completely unkissed for thirty-five years?"

All her fingers go up to twine into his hair, and there's the smallest hint of a smirk on his lips before they hit hers. She smiles and tries to get closer, getting up onto her toes as she opens her mouth and lets his tongue invade.

For the first time since getting up off Rosemary's floor, she relaxes. For thirty-five years, her body had been frozen in suspension in that coffin, but now, finally, it relaxes. As if her every atom has reached home.

Her tongue tangles with his and he lifts her up from the floor a little as their heavy breaths become hotter and hotter. Her hand goes from his hair to his ear then his jaw.

She tries to keep it soft and intimate, but far too quickly they're both panting and he's moving them into the lounge where he lets her down on the back edge of the couch. She's grinning when his mouth goes to her neck and her legs wrap around him. His lips are on the peaks of her breasts when he stops.

"Fuck."

She frowns. "What?"

He straightens and the expression on his face is sheepish.

"Your mother is on her way over."

Caroline gasps. "You called her?"

"Of course I did, you were missing!"

"How long ago?"

"Almost an hour now," he sighs heavily and she grins.

"That's what you get when you invite over the woman with the world's slowest walker," she laughs, unwrapping her legs from around him. "I guess that means she'll be here soon."

"Hopefully," he sighs, backing up.

She smirks as she rounds the couch then drops down. In a second he joins her and she gets closer, putting one hand on his leg and the other on his face. It still feels surreal just to be able to touch him. To be able to see him. She can't stop staring.

"You really heard everything?" he asks, concern in the way he swallows.

She wonders how desperate some of the things he'd said to her had gotten.

"Not everything," she shakes her head. "At first I thought I was, and maybe I actually was, but as time went on, I thought I'd been sleeping for only a few minutes and then you'd tell it had been a year. And then it became even less often than that."

"So you didn't feel the passing of time?"

"Not really. It was like zoning in and out of a conversation. Until, eventually, I forgot to zone back in."

"That must have been when your memory began fading."

She nods. It's the same conclusion she'd arrived at on the way back to Mystic Falls.

Klaus turns his head to kiss the inside of her palm, closing his eyes for a second.

"Love, I'm so sorry. I never should've let them do that spell on you."

She rolls her eyes. "It was my idea. And it was the right one. Did it suck? Yeah. But it worked, right?"

"All's well that ends well?" he scoffs, and she almost giggles at the positive saying struggling off his sceptical British tongue.

"…You know, it's actually pretty cool, if you think about it. You made the same woman fall in love with you twice, from scratch. No one else can claim that."

Which was how she'd finally been able to come back to him. Realising she was in love with him was what had made the other Caroline want him to have the version of her he really wanted; the one he'd begun building a life with.

It's like he can read her mind.

"What was it like? Being stuck in your own mind with an earlier version of yourself?"

"Better than being in a coma. Although worse whenever she hurt you." She sighs. "It was like being stuck in the passenger seat of a car you really love. And you know the driver, you know she knows how to drive, you know she's the one you'd want if someone else had to be driving – but you really really want to be in front of the wheel."

He nods slowly.

"…Were you inducing the memories?"

She shrugs. "Not on purpose. But I think she could feel me there, pressing down on her mind, and I think that's what induced the memories. Rosemary figured the same."

"Rosemary…" he ponders, twirling a piece of her hair. They're practically on each other's laps. "How did you get to New Orleans? I'm assuming you didn't drive the whole way?"

"With your jet. I found the number in your car."

He glares, murder clearly in his eyes and she rolls hers.

"I told Gary not to tell you," she brings up the pilot. "You can't give your staff a blanket command to do everything I tell them and then get mad at them for it."

"…Very well," he sighs.

She nibbles on her lip for a second before deciding to just spit it out.

"And I also told him where we're headed next."

A brow shoots up.

"Where?"

She takes a breath. "Cairo."

It takes only a second before he's vehemently shaking his head.

"I know you have a fondness for fixing everything, love, but Elijah and I are beyond reconciliation."

"I think you mean you were beyond reconciliation. Now I'm back," she smiles sunnily.

"I miss the version of that who didn't know you could boss me around," he grumbles, and she laughs a little. "Alright. But I'm not apologising."

"Yeah, you are."

He gasps. "You don't even know what happened!"

"No, but I know he's him and you're you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That he was probably just trying to act in everybody's best interest and you said something terrible to him." He looks stumped by this and her smile widens triumphantly. "You're apologising."

He looks down and it's quiet for a moment.

Then: "What of the cause of the quarrel?"

She stares at him in consideration, trying to figure out how to phrase her feelings.

"…I thought about it the whole way here. And I know you did what you did out of love. But that doesn't make it ok."

He looks up, disquiet in his eyes.

"That being said…" She sighs. "I feel safe. And I have felt safe. Throughout this entire thing, with people hunting me for my heart, Reese storming into the bedroom – I felt safe. Because of you. When I'm with you, I feel safe, no matter what."

He's looking at her incredulously and she realises there are tears coming from her eyes. His aren't entirely dry either.

She smiles. "And that's because there are two things in this entire world I know for sure – that you will always, always protect me. No matter what." Her hand reaches out to his face and he keens into it. "Because, two – you love me." She moves closer, till their breaths mingle. "And I love you too."

He presses his forehead to hers and they're both breathing heavily.

Licking away a tear, her smile widens.

"But you better have had all your fun with that massacre, because it's going to be your last." He pulls back a little to chuckle and she grins back. "…You'll always protect me and I'll always rein you in."

"Is that our thing?" he teases.

"I guess it is," she laughs. Then, not smiling: "My serial killer, remember?"

His eyes widen as his smile falls away too. The words are not lost on him.

"I remember."

Her smile returns. "Me too."

Liz pushes open the door to her son-in-law's mansion.

It had been half ajar, which would normally set off all her sheriff alarms, but she's learned that no cause for concern for humans counts when it comes to Klaus Mikaelson. Well, apart from anything involving her daughter, that is.

She shakes her head as she enters, still thinking about his tone on the phone.

Utter hopelessness and guilt.

She'd had it on her mind throughout her time at the station. Thirty-five years and never had she heard it quite like that.

Liz never thought hope could be a person. But for Klaus, Caroline is.

Without her, life holds nothing for him.

Over the years she'd gotten judgement from friends and peers for letting him into her life the way she has. But when someone loves your only child that much, what else is there to do?

Hearing light talking coming from the lounge, she pushes her walker there.

She stops almost immediately at the doorway.

Klaus' head is resting, his expression drawn yet vibrant, as if being reluctantly forced by a sunny day to open up. It makes no sense – except in the presence of the other person on the couch.

Her daughter has her hand on Klaus' face, caressing and smiling. Beaming; beaming light onto him.

Liz thinks of something he'd once said to her, when she'd asked how he was doing and he'd said Nine.

I never understood what she did with my darkness, Liz. But she took it, some of it, and replaced it with the sort of light that leaves no corner untouched. With the ferocity of fire; incandescent as the sun itself.

But now she's not radiating in the dark room; she's not even shining into it. The darkness self-perpetuates; becomes ever-consuming, and I'm drowning in it.

She wipes away a tear as she watches Caroline stroke at his hair. She'd always loved her daughter unconditionally; had always known she was special.

But Klaus had taught her that she is a miracle, too. She could turn a monster into a man before your very eyes. Blood and sadism transmogrified into someone to touch and comfort, with just her hand on him.

To look at Klaus is to see a malignant threat. To look at Klaus being looked at by Caroline is to see someone worthy of care.

It's so special that even though Liz wants to move and go to her daughter, she's frozen, watching.

"Thank you for telling me," Caroline is whispering. "I really hope losing my memories isn't the secret key to getting you to talk to me about your parents."

He smiles just a little.

"You know I'd do anything not to have to talk about Mikael or Esther. But not that."

Her smile echoes his and she leans forward to lay a barely-there kiss on his lips. They break apart then share eye contact that Liz feels awkward watching.

She clears her throat and they both look up with surprise.

"And here I thought it was impossible to sneak up on vampires."

Caroline duly flushes pink before jumping up.

"Mom!"

"Frail bones," Liz reminds a second before her daughter barrels into her.

She smiles into the bone-crushing hug, Caroline attempting and failing at human pressure.

She shoots a look at Klaus over her shoulder. "You know, it's good manners to both inform a mother when her daughter goes missing and when she returns."

To the Original's credit, he does look semi-guilty for a second before he finds a rejoinder.

"Yes, well, I did think of calling, but I feared you may have died on the way over, seeing as it's a ten-minute drive and it's been nearly an hour and a half."

Caroline pulls away from the hug with a light laugh and Liz rolls her eyes.

"I was at the police station, laying a Missing Creature report."

Caroline gasps in horror. "Missing Creature?"

Liz sighs. "Yes, I know the terminology could use some work but, trust me, just getting the Council to agree it should be a thing was tough enough."

Her daughter folds her arms determinedly. "Sounds like something else for my to-do list."

"Speaking of Missing Creature – where did you go?"

Caroline breaks into a grin.

"Mom, I have some amazing news."

"So what now?"

"Well, we were going to have sex, but knew you were due sometime this year," Klaus replies evenly.

Liz shoots him a dirty look.

"It's moments like these I miss having a gun."

Klaus chuckles as Liz rolls her eyes and Caroline watches in fascination.

"I still can't believe you two talk to each other like this."

Liz stands from her seat where she'd listened and marvelled at Caroline's story of getting her memories back, first naturally and then with Rosemary's help. And, of course, her complaints about Klaus' exaggerated reaction to it all.

"I suppose I should go. Not least because I've been here for almost an hour and haven't even been offered coffee," she glares at Klaus.

He shrugs with zero guilt. "I don't make warm beverages. And I have yet to hire staff."

"You should get on that," Caroline points out. "We need to have a big family meal as soon as we get the Mikaelsons back together."

"Oh, it will be so nice to see Elijah again," Liz swoons, before both Forbes women laugh at Klaus' almost audible eye rolling.

Stepping forward, Liz lays a kiss on her daughter's forehead.

"Glad you're back, baby." She eyes Klaus. "Are you coming over for dinner?"

"Are we coming over for dinner, or am I coming over and cooking dinner?"

She narrows her eyes. "Why do you ask questions you know the answer to?"

He throws up his hands. "You're supposed to be perfecting the crockpot duck!"

"And what's the best way to learn than to watch it be cooked right in front of my eyes?" she says with a tone so silky smooth, no one could deny her relation to Caroline.

With a wink at the younger blonde, she hastily makes her way to leave before the Original can object.

Caroline curls back onto Klaus, her legs on his lap and her face on his shoulder.

"Crockpot duck?" she questions into his neck, giggling.

"Your mother's cooking is atrocious; I don't know how you managed growing up."

She laughs even harder, playfully hitting him. "Hey! That's my mom you're talking about. And her talents lie elsewhere. Like miraculously managing to get along with her daughter's pain-in-the-ass boyfriend."

"Getting along with me? She just managed to finagle me out of making a cup of coffee and into making an entire dinner. If there was ever any doubt that you two are related…"

She hits him again.

"It's not our faults you're so easily manipulated."

"Swindled is probably more accurate."

"Don't make me request something harder than crockpot duck."

"My ceviche last night wasn't sufficient?"

"Obviously not," she teases. "Then again, nothing last night was particularly sufficient."

She breaks out into belly-aching laughter at his look of insulted surprise.

"Can you get the other Caroline back? I think I prefer her."

She only laughs harder.

"Want the easier-to-please audience, huh?"

"No, just the less mouthy one," he shoots back.

Leaning closer, she smirks. "Too bad. You're stuck with this me."

His voice is low, his breath on her lips when he replies.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

Then he kisses her and she responds in kind, pushing forward and onto his lap. Her hands in his hair, the kiss becomes fiercer; both of them moaning when he rips open her shirt. She's too busy getting off his top to bemoan the buttons flying everywhere and no sooner has it cleared his head than his mouth is on her breasts, sucking desperately.

She grinds down on him, her breaths coming too hot and quick as his hands squeeze her ass then travel to the juncture between her legs.

Her head falls forward, her heart pounding against his shoulder as his fingers draw up her slit. She grinds down and he growls.

"Easy, love."

But her fingers bite into his biceps and he groans against her hardened nipple.

"Shit, I can't wait," she realises all at once, then pulls away to get to his jeans.

With her mouth she erases all argument from his lips as she undoes the buttons then expertly pulls down his jeans. Using her considerable strength, she pushes them both over so she's on top, drowning in the way he's looking up at her.

She's concentrating on the waistband of his underwear when suddenly he makes a sound of annoyance. She looks up in surprise.

"What?"

He pulls a face. "There's something beneath me."

Frowning, she moves back a little so he can shift and pull it out from under him.

Immediately his face mars and the mostly pink object drops from his hand as if it had burned him, jangling as it hits the ground.

Klaus looks like he may just be sick.

"…Aunt Jacqueline's teeth, I presume."

Caroline wants to respond, but it's all she can do to breathe as she bursts into laughter.

It only gets harder when Klaus begins muttering about how he's definitely killing the old bat next time.

But she's still laughing, harder and harder, and eventually Klaus gets to chuckling then full-on laughing too, and then they're kissing and laughing; laughing and kissing.

And she thinks: she could never forget this.