Back again! I really hope you enjoy this update and thank you so much for your patience and replies, they really do mean a lot to me and keep me going.

I realize that people have some general questions about the plot, so I tried to answer some of them here (the ones that won't give away spoilers). Skip to the story if you wish :)

Guest: I can 100% tell you that Gabriel is not going to be a romantic interest for anyone. He loves every angel as if they were his children and they love him back as their own guardian and protector. There is deep love between them, but nothing romantic.

redbudrose: The act of sex, according to the Bible and very spiritual people, is one of those most personal, intimate, and loving acts that two people can do. It's the one moment when you are "at one" with another person and they can see all of you. With that in mind for the story, when an angel commits this act, her true being will show and thus God/Satan will see as well. God protects his angels from Satan, but this would be the one time Satan could "see" her and possess her to get to God.

NikMik: My unfinished klaroline stories were deleted due to my very busy schedule (I kept up this one due to my love for angels/klaroline, plus the popularity). Klaus and Caroline will see each other soon and Elena was stepping in for Katherine. Katherine has always been Elijah's guardian angel.

Ariella Forverrr: No Jesus, although that would be cool! And demons and the devil will always be a possibility...

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me ~ The Bible Psalm 138:7

Caroline had never been more anxious to arrive back to heaven. Not that she wished to leave Klaus, of course, but she was impatient to see everyone she had missed. Gabriel, Elena, Bonnie, Matt, and Lexi. She missed living amongst her own kind.

When she approached the gates and saw Raphael, she was filled with astonishing happiness. Even if he were to turn and frown upon her, she would have accepted it with a glad heart.

To her surprise, when he saw her, the tips of his mouth turned up into a small smile.

"Angel of Light, Gabriel would like to see you."

She bowed to him humbly before quickly making her way to The Hall. Without Raphael's usual frowns and foreboding looks perhaps Gabriel would also meet her without any warnings and disappointment, as was the usual.

She saw him instantly at the entrance of The Hall. She grinned as she glided towards him, amused at his general look of deep thought.

He glanced up right when she was before him, smiling kindly as she bowed.

"Caroline, I am glad to have you back," his angelic voice murmured softly and she realized suddenly just how much she had missed home.

"I am glad to be back," she replied, looking up to meet his kind eyes. Filled with a sudden guilt, she lowered her head again. "Gabriel, forgive me for all the time I have upset you. For all my actions, I have never meant to disappoint you and fail you."

"Caroline.." She felt his holy hand against her chin, lifting her head up to look at him. "You are forgiven. And your Lord has forgiven you. It is about time you forgive yourself."

She nodded, relief flooding her. She could see that he wished to speak again, so she remained silent, putting aside all her words for another time.

"Mikael will strike soon, I fear. Things cannot be as they once were."

Caroline furrowed her brow, confused at Gabriel's statement.

"This was not an easy decision to make, but I had to do something. I am allowing you and the other guardian angels of the Mikaelsons to appear before them if they are in danger. Obviously, not in your true form. But should you ever find yourself in a position where your guarded desperately needs you, you are allowed to appear and aid them. I fear this is the only way to protect this family."

Caroline, although stunned, forced herself to speak. "What of our Lord?"

What must her Lord think of this?

"I have prayed for many days on this subject. Our Lord accepted my request, but I fear that it will not be for long. You and my angels are more precious to me than all of heaven and I will not allow you to be in danger longer than is necessary."

Caroline could not remain silent any longer.

"I am beyond happy with this unexpected freedom, Gabriel…but how can our Lord allow this? Are we not what is most precious to him?"

Gabriel raised her to her feet, his wings unfolding beautifully behind him. "All life is precious to our Lord. We are simply closer to him than those who walk on Earth. He will always protect you, as he will always protect them. Did he not save the Angel of Bravery from Mikael when all hope seemed lost?"

At her small nod, Gabriel sighed heavily, as if relieved with her quick acceptance.

"Now, I believe you will want to see the others now that you are back. Do not allow me to delay you."

Bowing, Caroline left without another word, still a little stunned from what she had heard. Perhaps Elena and the others could help ease her mind on the turn of events.

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When she entered her home, she was incredibly surprised to already find her friends sitting together, talking excitingly among themselves.

She did not really have a chance to admire them before Elena was flying towards her, smacking her wings in Matt and Lexi's faces as she tried to get to Caroline.

Elena's arms were around her instantly. "I am so glad you're back!" Elena exclaimed, pulling back and smiling at her. The smile did not reach Elena's eyes…but with the other guardian angels quickly coming up to see her, Caroline had to push back the observation and save it for later.

After the inevitable embraces from everyone, Bonnie quickly brought up the state of their conversation.

"I trust Gabriel has caught you up with everything?"

Lexi cut in before Caroline could reply. "He's insane! How can he allow this? We are unsafe this way."

"We only would have to do this if the Mikaelsons are in desperate need of our help, Lexi," Matt, ever the voice of reason, jumped in.

"Matt's right. Our guarded are strong, perhaps they will not need us as much as we suspect," Rose gently laid her hand against Lexi's arm.

Caroline, although glad that none of them were rattling her yet about Klaus, felt the deep tension within the room. No one would agree tonight and it was useless arguing over something that was already decided upon. Besides, Elena, usually wanting to calm the arguments, was staying behind the group, not really paying attention and lost in her own thoughts. The sooner she had Elena alone the better.

"I think it best if we simply put aside our difference for now. This is what our Lord and Gabriel have decided and despite what our opinions are on it, there is nothing we can do."

Caroline saw Elena glance at her gratefully as the other angels nodded and said their goodbyes. She heard Lexi continue to complain as they left, but as much as Caroline wanted to roll her eyes at Lexi's frustration, she could not help but agree with the other blonde angel.

Yes, these rules that were changing were not something that would really affect them. Klaus and his siblings were powerful and their guardians perhaps did not need to work as hard to protect them. Yet, these were rules that had never been changed…since the creation of angels. If the Lord felt it necessary to change these rules, then it was certainly a reason to worry.

I cannot dwell on this anymore.

Pushing aside her thoughts, Caroline looked at the more important issue…Elena. The angel had not looked up until the others had left, smiling at Caroline with little energy.

"What's the matter, Elena?"

Caroline cringed at addressing her so bluntly. Yet this was always the best way to get Elena to confess to her.

"Katherine is getting her job back as Elijah's guardian."

"I see," Caroline was surprised, but not very. She expected Katherine to eventually go back into guarding, but that is was this soon and with the same man was what caused her the greatest shock.

Caroline continued speaking, seeing Elena turning away to hide her watery eyes. "And obviously you will not be working again until Gabriel finds you another person."

"Yes…but it's not just that," Elena sighed.

Caroline made a confused hum and Elena turned to face her, a small smirk on her face. "I am in perhaps a similar situation as you are, although you are reaping the benefits of it."

Oh….oh…

Caroline did not know how much Elena knew about her and Klaus, but chose to ignore it, choosing instead to sit down next to Elena, wrapping a wing around her.

"So you have grown fond of Elijah…"

Elena nodded. "Yes, however, his interests are far more inclined towards Katherine. I am not surprised. You would think that after all this time, I would have learned my lesson about what happens when I start liking what belongs to Katherine."

As Elena rested her head against Caroline's shoulder, Caroline began to think about her situation with Klaus. Elena had made the small jealous quip about Caroline being lucky with her guarded…but yet…

"Elena, maybe you are the one reaping the benefits."

Elena raised her head, puzzled.

"My relationship with Klaus will one day have to come to an end…it matters not that we are both immortal, but we belong to different worlds and it will have to stop. When that day comes, it will be more painful than anything I will experience."

Elena shook her head. "It is what our Lord and the people on Earth always say…love is worth all that pain."

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"Where are we going?" Rebekah groaned as Stefan continued to drag her along through the woods. They were pretty far away from the house at this point. While they had run with their abnormal speed for most of the trip, Stefan was now forcing her to walk up a hiking trail, with no means of stopping.

"Almost there," Stefan grinned, stopping just for a moment to kiss her frown and continue her torture.

Rebekah rolled her eyes, helpless to Stefan's boyish happiness.

They were breaking a few rules to be out this far. She grinned, thinking of Niklaus and Elijah infuriated faces when they came back. Kol wouldn't care, he'd probably congratulate them and not following their brothers' rules.

Matt's caution hung above her head, but with Stefan by her side, she knew she was alright. If Mikael was out here, and that was a very big "if", then it would take a lot more than just him to take her and Stefan down.

Stefan suddenly stopped, pointing off into the distance. Following his gaze, Rebekah was able to spot out the campers…only two of them.

She grinned, kissing Stefan's cheek in her moment of glee.

"How'd you find them?"

Stefan grinned back, basking in her happiness. "I take this path sometimes when I want to run far. Campers aren't allowed in this area of the woods, but every once in awhile…"

Rebekah giggled, taking a step towards the camp.

Stefan grasped her hand, halting her as he looked onwards. "It'll be dark in about an hour. It's always more fun to chase them then."

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An hour later, Stefan found himself on the opposite side of the camping site, waiting for his cue. Rebekah always wanted to be the first to attack. He would wait patiently as Rebekah terrified the victims and listened until they began running. That's when he would turn up. That was the most amusing part for him. Seeing their hopeless expressions as they realized they couldn't run.

He heard the slight ruffle in the bushes on the other side of the site and he knew Rebekah would soon make her move. Leaning against a tree, hidden perfectly in the shadows, he waited.

It was then that he felt an unfamiliar presence hovering beside him. With reflexes he still could not get used to, he flung himself around to push the unwanted person against a tree, his fangs exposing to attack, when the person nearly pushed him away. Something only a nonhuman could do.

"Watch it!"

He straightened himself quickly to the sound of the voice, in complete shock as to who it was.

"Lexi."

"Yes, now can you please talk softer?" The blonde pulled him to the ground, bringing him close to hide away from sight.

"Stefan, you need to get out here."

There were so many questions he had from that night when he had met her, like who she was…what she was, but the urgency in her voice pushed him away from those thoughts.

"Why?"

She roughly grabbed the collar of his jacket, pulling him close in an agitated manner. "You know exactly why. Mikael."

Stefan's thoughts instantly flew to Rebekah, by herself and away from him. He attempted to rise up, but Lexi held him fast.

"Rebekah will be fine, but right now, you need to follow me."

"I'm not leaving Rebekah!" Stefan growled, breaking away from her grasp.

They glared at each other, daring the other to make a move. Despite this being their second meeting, Stefan knew deep down that he could trust this woman. Yet the fact remained that Rebekah was not with him, and god forbid something happen to her when he wasn't present.

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It was then that they heard the scream.

Stefan had never moved faster in his life.

Rebekah would later blame herself. She was dozing, waiting for the stupid campers to stop chatting and head to bed when she felt a hand grip her shoulder.

The scream was her initial reaction, but before she could turn and attack, somebody was throwing the weight off of her.

Turning, she gasped to see none other than Matt, lifting the attacker…a vampire from what she could see from his face…against a tree and attempting to hold him back.

"Rebekah!" Strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her in. A woman she had never seen before ran up beside Matt, helping to grasp the vampire's arms.

"Bekah, are you hurt?" Stefan's eyes rushed over her body, trying to find any hint of injury on her body.

She shook her head violently as she watched Matt and the other woman get the vampire to the ground.

Matt wrapped his hand around his throat, pushing him into the ground.

"Do you work for Mikael?" Matt growled, nodding at the woman as she helped keep his arms away from Matt.

The vampire groaned and Matt repeated his question, more forcefully.

When the vampire refused to answer again, Matt landed a strong punch across his face and he was out.

"Matt?" Rebekah questioned hesitantly, feeling Stefan's eyes glance to her in confusion.

Matt looked up to her and seemed to calm, standing up and offering a hand to the blonde woman who remained silent beside him.

"You need to leave…both of you. Mikael is not far behind now. I expect this one here was just a little anxious to get ahead."

"We need to leave," the woman whispered, grabbing Matt's arm and tugging. He nodded, but not before Rebekah made to step forward.

"Matt, please, tell us what's happening…"

The woman finally spoke, her voice fierce and strong. "We already have told you. Mikael is coming and from what just happened, we assume he's already somewhere nearby. You can't stay here any longer…and neither should we."

The woman met Stefan's eyes and nodded, before pulling Matt away. Rebekah could hardly move forward again before the two of them had vanished, as if into thin air.

Stefan moved forward, picking up the vampire and throwing him over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Her mind was jumbled from the attack, and Matt, and the woman...a woman who knew Stefan. So many questions, yet this was all she could ask.

"If we want more answers, it looks like we need him. I can only imagine how excited your brothers will be to have someone to torture."

He looked up to meet her eyes, his gaze questioning and curious, and to her sadness, a little betrayed.

"And I suppose we have some explaining to do with each other as well."

Not as much klaroline, I know, but I'm enjoying writing about all these other characters I love so much and I'm hoping you're enjoying their stories as well. I'm loving all the theories about the different couples we are seeing (I won't make everyone happy, alas!) and klaroline will of course see each other soon, I'm not that horrible. Okay, maybe with updates I am, but plot-wise.

You will definitely learn more about this new vampire next chapter and we will focus on the Original Family and their bonds, and the plans to move. As always, leave a comment if you wish, they are read instantly and really motivate me to keep going.

Until next time, lovelies 3