Another birthday present that got out of hand. This is for soapmaniac22, aka she-walked-away on tumblr. She requested human viking wooing and it turned into this. I hope you all like it. This should also be short-ish (about five or six chapters). This takes place in two parallel universes. One is TVD universe, and the other has Original!Caroline. Let me know if it's followable, because it's hard to mark the switch between the two universes.

Thank you to garglyswoof for betaing.

New York City, 2052

Caroline tightened her coat around her as she walked down the city streets, her heels clicking on the pavement. She wasn't exactly in a rush, but over the past thousand years she'd learned not to take any chances. Just because the stupid relic had been in the witch's shop two days ago didn't mean that it was still there. A lot could happen in mere hours, let alone days.

She'd managed to track down one of the Bennett witches, who had enchanted a bracelet to make her pass as a human to witches when worn. It clinked against her wrist now, and she tried not to look too apprehensive as the bell rang over the shop door.

The girl at the register looked up at her and muttered a quick 'let me know if you need any help' before boredly returning to her phone. This suited Caroline just fine, as she'd rather not get too close.

The shop was cramped, and it only took Caroline a few minutes to find the ancient spellbook. She'd been looking for the damned thing for years, and now that she'd finally found it, everything felt a bit anti-climactic. Still, now she'd be able to protect herself. She sat down on the floor, glancing at the girl at the cash register again to make sure she wasn't watching, and opened the book to find the cloaking ritual she needed.

She muttered the ingredients to herself, pulling out her phone to take a picture of the pages, and when she saw the last one she almost groaned out loud. "Blood of the one who hunts you," she muttered to herself exasperatedly. "Of course. The one thing that'll be practically impossible to get."

For just one moment she had thought that everything would be fine, that she could get the ritual done and wouldn't have to run anymore, but now her heart sank.

Running from her husband was exhausting, and she was so tired of the fear of being put down for years at a time if she angered him. He loved her, she knew that, but sometimes his protection felt like poison.

"I wish he couldn't dagger me. He'd be much more careful that way," she muttered, slamming the book shut and leaning back against the shelf before hissing in pain. She turned to see a pretty necklace that had poked into her neck when she'd leaned back, and she huffed.

When people put things back on shelves, they should make sure they weren't dangling everywhere. It was just common courtesy.

Whatever.

She decided to buy the book despite its exorbitant price, knowing that it could be useful and that it was silly to give up a one-of-a-kind relic like that. She was lost in her thoughts as she made her way back to the hotel, kicking her shoes off in the closet as soon as she entered, wriggling her toes against the soft carpet. There was no reason to stay in New York now that she had the book, and it would be better to be on the move until she got the ingredients she wanted.

Still, a little rest would be nice. She let herself flop down on the bed. Her eyelids were heavy, and she curled up to sleep.

Maybe everything would be better in the morning.

London, 2052

"Let's go in here," Caroline said, already opening the door to the tiny antique shop with her hip. Klaus followed her inside and she shot a smile at him over her shoulder when she felt his eyes on her.

They'd been in the U.K. for a few weeks now. She loved window shopping, and Klaus was always willing to indulge her, amusing himself while she spent hours in one single spot by telling her stories. He seemed to have one or five about every city they visited, whether he'd been there or not.

There was a small area in London that was well-known among those in the supernatural community as a good place for purchasing favors or rare artifacts from open-minded witches. This shop lived up to the hype, the seemingly-random items carefully arranged on large display shelves, a golden rope dangling by each one with a small card that said 'Pull for Assistance'. Caroline carefully inspected every item they came across before a pretty necklace on a velvet pillow caught her eye, the purple stone glittering in the light, a symbol carved into it.

"I saw a necklace just like that in the 14th century," Klaus said from behind her.

"Was it worn by a princess almost as beautiful as me?" Caroline teased, reaching to touch the gem, and Klaus grabbed her wrist, his other arm sliding around her waist as he pulled her back against him.

"Don't touch it," he said, his voice hard.

"What? Why?"

"It was worn by a witch, actually," he said quietly. "It's quite a dangerous artifact."

"What does it do?" she asked, wriggling in his arms until he got the message and loosened his grip so that she could face him.

"It provides a near irresistible temptation," he said cryptically, and she huffed.

"That's specific," she said sarcastically, though there was no bite to her tone.

"If it's near irresistible, wouldn't you rather not know, sweetheart?"

"I'm curious now."

He sighed. "It grants wishes."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"Haven't you ever heard anyone tell you to be careful what you wish for, love?"

"Yeah, of course. I've seen Disney movies," she said with a grin. "It's pretty, though."

"It is," he said.

"Tell me more about the witch?" she asked, and he gave her a dimpled smile.

"If you like," he said, and she smiled as he pressed his palm to the small of her back, leading her further back into the displays, pointing out things he was familiar with. She soaked in the information, wondering what life would be like when she was as old as him, whether she'd someday look back on the first few decades of her life and think about how primitive things were. Sometimes she wished that she could have the same experience, that she'd lived through the times in history textbooks, that she could share that with him.

They were walking back to the front when she felt the absurd urge to linger by the shelf holding the necklace, the need to touch it taking ahold of her. Klaus was a few steps behind her, distracted, still talking about the book with a peeling cover a few rows back.

She reached out as if in a trance, gently stroking the gem with her fingertip.

"I wish that I knew what it was like to be an Original," she whispered.

She felt an odd tingling sensation in her fingertip and blinked, jerking her hand away, horrified at what she'd done. Nothing happened though. She didn't feel any different. Maybe it hadn't worked?

"Everything all right, sweetheart?" Klaus asked from behind her, and she turned to face him, pasting a smile on her face.

"Yeah. Everything's fine," she said.

He frowned and she winced, knowing she was a terrible liar.

"I just..."

"I know that it's tempting, but whatever you wanted to wish for most likely isn't worth it," he said quietly, sliding an arm around her waist. "Dinner?"

"Sure," she said, trying to put the experience out of her mind. "Sounds great."

Anxiety twisted in her stomach for the whole dinner, and though Klaus seemed to notice that there was something off, he managed to restrain himself from asking again until they'd gotten back to their house.

She had mostly managed to pretend nothing had happened, and she felt the tension radiating from him as she tugged out her earrings. "Everything okay?"

"I'm not sure," he said, reclining against the pillows. His ankles were crossed, arms behind his head as he watched her strip out of her clothes, pulling on a thin silk slip before she slid under the sheets, shifting to get comfortable.

"What's that supposed to mean? And can you get under the covers and lie down? I can't use you as a pillow if your sheets are cockblocking me."

"I'm not sure you're using the word in the correct context, sweetheart," he said, sliding under the blankets and lifting an arm so that she could snuggle against him.

She scoffed. "Please. Who's the one who's older than dirt here?"

Her voice shook at the end of her sentence as she realized what she was saying, and Klaus frowned. "Tell me what's troubling you, love," he said, his voice low and deceptively calm. A clear warning.

"I...Can we talk about it in the morning?"

He hesitated for a moment, as though he wanted to say something, before eventually nodding. "Alright, sweetheart."

"Thanks," she whispered, resting her cheek against his chest and closing her eyes as he stroked her hair. "I love you."

She felt him press a kiss to the top of her head, tugging her as close as possible. She savored the feeling of his palm rubbing her lower back gently, the silk of her slip comfortable against her skin, and drifted off.

New York City, 2052

The first thing she realized when she woke was the distinct lack of Klaus's arms wrapped around her. The second was that the sheets underneath her did not smell the way they usually did. When she opened her eyes, she realized that she was in an unfamiliar bedroom. "Klaus?" she called. "You here?"

When there was no answer, she climbed out of bed, walking to the nearby window and pulling the curtains open, jerking her hands away and wincing when the cloth was ripped from the rod. She frowned, staring down at her hands. She was quite used to her level of strength now, hadn't had an accident like that in a very long time, and her mouth dropped open slightly when she realized that her daylight ring was...different.

Completely different. A delicate gold band with a brightly shining lapis lazuli gem in the center sat on her left ring finger, total contrast to the ugly rock she'd had before, and she felt her lips curl into a smile.

At least there was a bright side. Wherever she was, her daylight ring was actually pretty.

The view was incredible, the city below her bustling with activity, and her lips parted slightly when she saw the Empire State Building. She was in New York?

She looked around, frowning when she realized that she was in a hotel room, and she hesitantly moved towards the bathroom. She was getting more scared by the moment, realizing that her wish might have actually come true. What would that mean? She was clearly still a vampire, so was she an Original now? Was Klaus still an Original? Was she turned the same time as him?

She looked exactly the same in the mirror as she always had, though her hair was longer, the golden waves spinning into curling ends by her waist. She had to push away the panic starting to grip her insides, and she rushed back to the main room, deciding to look for any clue that could point her in the right direction of what was going on.

For some reason, the 'could have time traveled' theory seemed logical, and there was a phone resting on the side table, so she pulled it over quickly, pressing the button to see the date. She couldn't help but feel an odd combination of disappointment and relief that it was still March 12th, 2052. Time hadn't changed. She frowned as she hesitantly pressed her thumb to the fingerprint reader.

It unlocked and she wrinkled her nose at the background. Who used hipstery black and white landscape photographs as their wallpaper? Her Original self, apparently.

She opened the photo app, expecting to see selfies or pictures of her and Klaus or her friends, but there wasn't a single one. Her contacts list was next, and she'd never seen a longer list in her life. There were what seemed to be hundreds of names, and she clicked on a few to see copious notes on who each person was and how she knew them. Every Mikaelson but Klaus was in her contacts.
Was Klaus alive? Why wouldn't she have him in her phone when she had his siblings? What did that mean?

She frowned, trying to figure out whether calling one of his siblings was a good idea. They might be able to help her get back to her reality, even if Klaus wasn't there. It seemed like the best plan she had. But which to call?

She bit her lip, weighing her options. In her life before the wish, she wasn't on good terms with Kol at all, and Elijah was a bit too willing to scold for her tastes, but she and Rebekah were friends. Ish.

She didn't know if things were different in this reality, but she hit Rebekah's name, holding the phone to her ear with a shaking hand. Rebekah answered on the first ring, her voice low.

"Caroline, what the bloody hell are you thinking? You can't call me."

"What? Why?"

"What do you mean why? You haven't hidden for this long for him to figure out where you are through me," Rebekah hissed.

Who would she be hiding from?

"I need help," she said. "I had a spell cast on me and..."

"What sort of spell?" Rebekah asked immediately. "I obviously don't know much, but Kol...You could take a chance if it's bad enough that you're calling me."

"I just...I think I need to talk to Klaus," Caroline said hesitantly.

"Klaus?" Rebekah repeated slowly.

"Yeah."

"Since when has Nik been Klaus to you, exactly? And what's wrong with your voice? Have you decided to take on one of those awful American accents?"

Caroline was now brimming with questions, but realized that Rebekah would be suspicious about her motives, especially since alarm bells were clearly already going off. Instead, she avoided the question completely.

"I need his help, Rebekah," Caroline said quietly. "Where is he?"

At least five full seconds of silence passed before she heard Rebekah clear her throat. "He's at the villa in Madrid right now, but Caroline...I wouldn't if I were you."

Caroline let that sink in for a second, trying to figure out why visiting Klaus wouldn't be a good idea. She hesitated before speaking again. "You don't think he'd help me?"

"Of course he'd help you," Rebekah said quickly. "But I'm not sure it'll be worth it to go to him."

"If he can help me, then I have to," Caroline said. "Thanks for the help, Bekah."

She hung up before Rebekah could say anything, looking around for suitcases and finding none before going to the closet and opening it, hoping to find clothes. She was not disappointed.

"Holy shit," she breathed, staring at the rack of clothes, trying to figure out if there would be anything appropriate for a plane.

Did this Caroline own any shoes that had heels lower than five inches? Who was she, Katherine? She managed to track down her laptop, but it was password-protected, and she scowled as she went through the five extra steps to get plane tickets on her phone.

She showered, pulled on the dress that was much too fancy for catching a seven hour flight at one o'clock in the afternoon, and set off for the airport, already perfecting the first draft of her speech to Klaus in her head before they lifted off.

She wasn't sure what she was supposed to say or how different things would be in this timeline, but she hoped that he could help protect her from whoever was after her and explain what was going on. Her stomach was in knots by the time she walked up the path to the familiar villa that she and Klaus had stayed in on their second, fourth, and seventh tours through Europe.

The door flew open just as she arrived, Klaus standing in the threshold with a dark look on his face as he glared at her with heated eyes and slowly moved aside. "Caroline. Come in."

She moved past him, eyeing the furniture with distaste, the dark leathers and burgundy accents a look she'd never have let happen if she'd had a say. She took a deep breath, turning to face him and meeting his eyes. "I need your help," she whispered.

He stalked towards her, invading her personal space, his palm cupping her cheek to hold her still as he bent so that they were nose-to-nose, his other hand landing possessively on her hip as he crushed her against his chest. "That is interesting, my love. I do recall that the last time I saw you I promised to rip your heart from your body if I should ever lay eyes on you again."

She took a sharp breath, her eyes going wide.

Shit.

"I'm...Klaus, I-"

"Klaus?" he asked softly, his eyebrow raised, his breath hot on her lips as he spoke. "You seek my aid even as you call me the name that falls from the lips of my enemies? You wound me, Caroline."

Caroline was panicking now, this Klaus behaving so differently from the one she loved, and her breath hitched as she realized that she could actually be in danger. "I'm not from here."

"I'm afraid I'm not following."

"I'm from another universe," she said. "I don't know what the Caroline you know did to you to make you so mad, but in my universe it was different, and I need to get back to my Klaus."

"Oh, we're playing that game are we?" he whispered, his hand gripping her hip more firmly as he nosed her temple, inhaling her scent. "I understand that you're a touch distressed by my treatment of you, but I'm unsure that it's fair to say that I'm no longer the man you fell in love with a thousand years ago. Incapacitating you for a mere decade hardly compares to the half-century I've suffered without you, the betrayal I felt when I woke to find that you'd left me. Perhaps I put a dagger in your heart, but you returned it with one in my back."

Her breath caught as he pinched her waist, and she felt his stubble brush against her cheek as he smiled. His tongue darted along the underside of her jaw, making her moan in spite of herself, and she felt a shiver run down her spine as he dragged a fang down her neck. Her body stiffened as he ran his tongue along the cut before pulling back, licking his lips as he stared at her with heavily lidded eyes. "I've missed your taste."

"This isn't a game," she gasped out. "I'm seriously from a parallel universe."

She suddenly realized that he'd somehow backed them up and had her pressed against the wall. Before she could push him away, he pinned her wrists to either side of her head, holding her in place with his hips. He pulled back to stare at her, his breathing heavy, eyes dark, and he leaned to press his forehead against hers.

"All right. I'll take the bait then, sweetheart. Let's say for a moment that you're telling the truth and you're from a separate universe. Why are you here, and where is my wife?"

"Your what now?"

Please let me know what you think! Is it followable? Do we like the stories so far? Please let me know in a review! :D