A/N: So, here is the new Crime/Mafia story. It's not quite all written yet, and the updates will be NO WHERE NEAR as frequent as Safehouse, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. I should update about one chapter per week (but don't hold me to it).

Enjoy!
-Angie

May 19th, 2012

Caroline let her eyes fix on the scenery outside, which over the last two hours had transitioned from towns to forests, and now to a neatly paved road wide enough for one car that seemed to go on for miles. Stefan was fidgeting uncomfortably in the driver's seat, and she didn't blame him one bit. He had after all just told his best friend that he had essentially been manipulating her for years so that she'd continue with gymnastics, martial arts, and cheerleading, not that she wouldn't have continued them on her own anyway, to make her ready to join some secret organization, The Travelers, that free-lances in a variety of different illegal activities.

When she had said as much to him, he had grimaced and said, "Well, when you put it like that it sounds pretty terrible."

She agreed, though she personally felt that it probably would have sounded terrible no matter what way he put it.

She and Stefan had been friends since Kindergarten, and until he had been shipped off to boarding school in the middle of the fifth grade after his dad died they had been inseparable. Of course, she had been informed during lunch two days before that he had never been at boarding school, and she was not at all impressed by that information.

After finishing up her first year at Whitmore College and her parents' accident a week ago, Stefan had invited her out for lunch and asked if she was looking for a job. When she said she would be interested, he warned her that if she took the job she wouldn't be able to quit. She thought he was joking.

He wasn't.

"What do you do for this place, anyway?" She asked, as she fished around in her purse for her chapstick.

Stefan considered her question for a few moments. "I do lots of different things. I work with a partner, Klaus, and we're one of the best teams in the area, so we get a variety of assignments."

"What's Klaus like?"

"He's the most dangerous person in the world."

She laughed, snapping the cap of her chapstick back on carefully and then rubbing her lips together. "How so?" She asked.

"Klaus is…Well, short answer is that he has a short fuse, and he's one of the best assassins we have. That, combined with his wonderful personality, makes him extremely dangerous."

"Your partner kills people?"

"Yeah." Stefan said, clearly anxious, but resigned to the direction the conversation was going.

"Do you kill people?"

"Sometimes. Clients hire us to kill people and make it look like an accident, or at least like a suicide," seeing the expression on her face, he hastened to add, "Caroline. You probably won't be killing people."

"No shit I won't be killing people. Are you crazy?"

"Caroline, calm down."

"Calm down? Stefan, you kill people."

"What did you think 'illegal activities' meant, Caroline?"

"I don't know, not killing people?"

"Caroline, if you're not serious about doing this, you should probably tell me now."

"No, I am."

He raised his eyebrows at her.

"No, I really am, I swear. It's not like I have much of a choice now. But, like, my parents died five days ago, I just finished my first year of college and I don't even know if I've passed my classes yet, and now you want me to join some secret illegal organization where you murder people?"

"Look, I know it's been hard—"

"Do you? Do you really? Because as much as I'd love to believe you, I don't."

"Caroline, I know this isn't the ideal solution, but you need time to grieve away from Greensboro, and I think that after you get situated, this might actually be a good fit for you. And you won't have to kill people unless you take on that kind of job."

She glowered at him and turned to look out the window. Stefan was her best friend and she trusted him, and if he said that she wasn't going to have to kill people, then she believed him. It wasn't like she could turn back at this point anyway. She had always been good at adapting. She could do this.

She continued alternating between giving herself a mental pep talk and practicing her deep breathing exercises until they passed a creaky-looking wooden sign reading "Mystic Falls, Virginia" and pulled into a gravel driveway in front of the most beautiful house Caroline had seen in her entire life.

Stefan helped her out of the car and they walked up the front path to the sturdy wooden double-doors. He punched in a code on a keypad over the doorbell, there was a click, and he pushed the doors open. Caroline barely had the time to glance around the lavishly decorated front room before Stefan was ushering her up the stairs and through a hallway with numbered doors. They stopped in front of the door labeled "112" and Stefan pulled her inside.

He gestured for her to sit on one of the overstuffed plush couches in the corner, and he took the other.

"Okay. So, this place is basically just a bunch of empty offices, although there are a few in use. It's really only for show, mostly used to do orientations and meetings with clients. After we're done here, I'm going to bring you to the old Lockwood property, and we're going to head down to the Caves, which is basically a set of underground tunnels that connect to different buildings around the town. Each facility we use is connected to the Caves. With me so far?"

"Yeah."

"Good. We're going to talk to Jenna first, she'll tell us where you're staying. Dean dropped by your house and packed up all your stuff, so it'll be there when we get there. You'll only be staying here while they're figuring out what to do with you."

"Who's Jenna?"

"She basically just makes sure everyone has a place to stay and all the administrative details for the buildings that no one else thinks about, like keeping the training facilities running and the safehouses stocked. She has a few other jobs too, but nothing else that you'll have to deal with."

"Okay."

"I think you'll like her," Stefan said, grinning at her. "Tomorrow," he continued, "you'll need to wake up bright and early to meet with Alaric."

"How early?"

"Early enough that you'll want to go to bed around ten."

Caroline wrinkled her nose. She was many things, but a morning person was not one of them. "Who's Alaric?"

"He helps train new recruits."

"Oh. Okay. Do you know what I'll be doing?"

"Not killing people." He said, smirking at her.

"Right, but like, how do the tests work?"

He shrugged and smirked slightly. "That's a surprise."

"I hate surprises."

"I know. Don't worry, he'll probably have you spar with him, and then you'll talk about other options once he figures out that you have the worst right hook I've ever seen in my life."

"Yeah, but I could bitchslap James Bond's face off." She muttered.

"True that."

She huffed irritably, watching him walk over to the file cabinet near the window and rifle through the top drawer before pulling out a giant stack of paper.

"This is a contract. It's basically just a giant stack of paper you sign to commit to confidentiality."

"What happens if I break the contract?"

"Don't break the contract, and you won't have to find out."

"That sounds ominous." Caroline muttered, grabbing the pen Stefan was offering to her.

"Just don't do it."

By the time all the paperwork had been sorted out—she made sure to read it all thoroughly, and she was confident that she hadn't signed away her first-born child or anything—and they had left the building it was early evening. They walked down the forest road to what she assumed to be the Lockwood property. They arrived at what looked like the entrance to a basement. Stefan bent down and lifted up a rock to reveal a metal covering that he opened to a keypad similar to the one at the door of the mansion. After typing in a code, there was click and the basement door released slightly so that he could pull it open. He gestured for her to enter, and then followed after he replaced the rock, closing the entrance behind them.

She expected a bunch of damp tunnels, but she was surprised to find what basically looked like an underground office building. The floors were smooth stone, and the well-lit walls were painted a light shade of green. There were doors along the sides, and she could see a few hallways branching off.

"How did they manage this?"

"I asked that once, and Klaus just kind of stared at me for a minute and then shook his head and walked away. My guess is that we probably don't want to know."

She nodded, following him as they walked. Since The Travelers was supposed to be secret (although, how secret could it be if they had clients), she expected the hallways to be confusing, like spy movies, but the hallways had, as her mom used to put it, "excellent signage."

The hallways were deserted, which she assumed was because everyone was at home—was assisting clients with illegal activity a nine-to-five job?—and she was currently following Stefan in the direction of "Temporary Living Quarters."

As they walked, he continued what seemed to be an endless lecture on the inner workings of the organization, which she tuned out most of to observe her surroundings.

"There are a bunch of different areas you could be assigned to, but as I said I think you'll be behind-the-scenes. Besides the guys who actually go out into the field, like me, we have a medical center and a tech department, as well as a bunch of administrative positions that keep things running. Klaus' brother Elijah makes deals with the clients, for example, and Damon does a bunch of organizational stuff for us."

"It'll be nice to see Damon again." Caroline said, trying her best to sound at least a little excited about it, but that just made Stefan chuckle.

"You don't have to pretend to like him, Care."

"He's your brother."

"Yeah, but you're not obligated to like him like I am." He said, making Caroline smile.

They turned into a hallway that ended with a staircase, which they climbed up to a landing with a door that Stefan pushed open to reveal some sort of kitchen, which connected a small room with a desk and a file cabinet. There was a pretty young woman sitting at the desk reading a paperback. She stood up when Stefan closed the door behind him.

Walking around the desk, she stuck out her hand for Caroline to shake. "Hi, you must be Caroline, I'm Jenna. It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too."

Jenna pulled open a drawer in her desk and fished around for a few seconds before pulling out a keyring and gesturing for Caroline and Stefan to follow her back through the kitchen to a little lobby. "This building is a one-story motel where new recruits come to stay. It isn't much, but we try to make it comfortable. Your have room three, which is just the third room down the hall. Your stuff should already be there. I'll let Stefan help you get settled in."

She unlocked a wooden door with a "3" painted on it to let Caroline inside, and left after pressing the key into her hand.

The room was small, but had all the necessities. Her bright pink polka-dotted suitcases were set on a double bed in the center of the room with a hideous floral comforter. The end table and dresser were made of the same cheap-looking wood, and she wrinkled her nose when she noticed that the floor lamp had mysterious-looking stains on the shade. A door on the opposite side of the room was slightly ajar to reveal a bathroom. She started over to unzip her luggage.

"You won't want to unpack all of that stuff. You'll probably only be in here for tonight while Jenna figures out where to put you. We usually have two or three people to a house for safety reasons. Sometimes four if the house is big enough."

"Oh. I'll have to share?"

"Yeah."

"Would I be with you?" Caroline asked. She dug through her suitcases to find an outfit for the next day so that she wouldn't have to search through her suitcases all week.

Stefan laughed. "No, probably not. Jenna usually has same-sex housing unless a couple asks for their own place. She's kind of traditional. And you won't want to wear that tomorrow unless you usually like working out in skirts."

Caroline wrinkled her nose and repacked the blouse and skirt she had been holding, and picking out yoga pants and a tank top instead.

"Anyway," Stefan continued, "I think you're seeing Alaric tomorrow at seven-thirty, so you should probably get some rest. Set your phone alarm early enough that you'll have time for the walk over after you get ready. You just have to go back to the cave entrance and follow the signs to the gym. The key code is 7-4-5-2-7, but I'll text it to you so you don't forget."

"Thanks Stefan."

"No problem. Goodnight Care."

"Night."

She brushed her teeth and then spent a few minutes searching for an outlet to plug in her phone. After setting her alarm for six in the morning—six in the fucking morning, god she hated her life—she changed into pajamas and got in bed.

This whole thing was more than a bit overwhelming. She hadn't really had much time to process what was going on before Stefan had her packing up her stuff at her mom's house. Now that she was alone and had time for a private moment, she decided to use it to have a silent and intense panic attack, stressing herself to sleep.

May 20th, 2012

The next thing she knew her phone was blaring a cheesy pop song and there was sunlight streaming through the dusty windowpane. After resisting the urge to cover her face with a pillow and let herself sleep some more, she threw off the covers and padded into the bathroom to start the shower, swearing to herself that she would give whoever this Alaric person was a piece of her mind for requiring her to wake up at such an ungodly hour.

She mentally scripted the lecture she was going to give the guy as she went through her morning routine and stalked through the hotel and down the hallways in the Caves towards the open gym doors.

A middle-aged man met her at the entrance, introducing himself as Alaric, and she was about to start her well-prepared speech when she had the wind knocked out of her by a male body colliding with her side. She heard Alaric scolding someone named Jeremy, and a guy that looked around her age grasped her hand and helped her hoist herself up.

"Sorry, we were running laps and we weren't looking where we were going."

"It's okay." Caroline said, a bit breathless.

He was cute. Tall, with dark hair and an easy smile. He was covered in sweat and his shirt was sticking to his skin revealing a very muscular chest. He looked amused by her appraisal and felt her face warm. She stuck out her hand. "Caroline Forbes."

"Tyler Lockwood, nice to meet you Caroline."

"Likewise."

The other boy, Jeremy, walked over, sheepishly running his hand through his hair. "Sorry, my bad. I wasn't looking."

"It's okay." Caroline said, smiling.

"Go ahead and clean up. I need to get a sense of where Caroline is, and I can't do that with you two taking over the gym during her training time," Alaric said, making shooing motions with his hands.

"See ya later, Caroline." Jeremy said, walking past her out of the gym.

Tyler waved goodbye as well, and caught up with Jeremy to leave, grabbing his hand. Why are all the good ones taken or gay…

Alaric turned to her and grinned at her. "This is going to be really fun, Caroline. Are you ready?"

The next two hours sucked.

She basically spent the entire time wondering how Stefan ever thought that she could do this job. She knew she wasn't amazing at martial arts, but she felt completely inadequate. The only one of her skills Alaric seemed even remotely satisfied with was that she knew how to fall. He also seemed mildly impressed by her triple back-handspring that she did when he asked what kind of gymnastics she did, but he informed her that as cool as it was it probably wouldn't be all that helpful in practice.

Her limbs ached, and when she complained about it enough he finally gave her a water break, but only after assuring her that they'd start doing "actual work" afterwards. She was not excited. While she drank her water as slowly as physically possible he asked about her hobbies. After she regurgitated the extensive list of committees she had led and events she had planned, he grinned.

"Good. So, I think that I'm going to talk to Silas—he's the big boss—about putting you as a handler."

"A what?"

"A handler. It would basically be your job to facilitate communication between the agents, make sure everything's on track, and make sure people get their shit done. You'll still need to be able to hold your own in a fight, at least well enough to get away, and you'll get first aid training that's a bit more in depth than the guys that are actually doing the dirty work."

"Oh."

"I still have to talk to Silas about it. However, since you'll need to know this shit no matter what you do, why don't you do pushups until I get some sparring pads in your size."

By the time she stumbled out of the gym around lunchtime, Alaric calling after her that she should come the next morning ready to go at seven, she was absolutely convinced that Alaric was Voldemort in disguise, or at least a sadist.

Jenna met her at the gym entrance, and motioned Caroline to follow her down the hallway. Caroline decided that it should be illegal to look so chipper when talking to someone after they had done four hours of exercise. "How was your first session with Alaric?"

Caroline didn't dignify that with a verbal answer, and contented herself with a long-suffering sigh.

"Went that well, huh?"

Seeming to realize that Caroline wouldn't be talkative anytime soon, she got to the point. "One of the girls, Elena, is moving in with her fiancée, so her twin Katerina needs a roommate. Elena moved this morning, so your things should be there by now. I'll walk you over, and then you can take a shower," Jenna said, wrinkling her nose.

"Thanks." Caroline said dryly.

The exit from the Caves that they used opened into a shed in the middle of a park. Caroline tripped over a lawnmower and swore.

"Are all these secret entrances actually necessary?" Caroline asked, as she picked herself up off the floor and stepped carefully towards the exit.

"Probably not," Jenna said shrugging, "But they're fun."

They walked through a small residential neighborhood together, and Jenna told her about the living situation.

"This isn't like a college dorm. We pay for your utilities, obviously, but we don't cook for you or fix anything. You guys are all responsible for your own grocery shopping and upkeep. You could probably think of it like a housing complex."

"Does everyone in the town belong to the organization?"

"No, but we own a little under half the houses here under various aliases, and we rent some of them out when we don't need them."

It was about a fifteen minute walk from the shed to a cozy-looking one story house, and Jenna used every second of that time to give Caroline directions and answer her questions. Jenna opened the door to the house and then handed Caroline the key, ushering her in. "Your room is the one with your luggage. Katerina is out right now, but I'm sure you'll meet her soon. I've gotta run. See you later, Caroline."

Deciding that the first order of business was a shower, she quickly located her room to grab an outfit and then found the bathroom. The bathtub was huge, and the rim was so full of beauty products that she could barely find room for her razor.

She decided that this Katerina girl probably wouldn't miss a squeeze or two of her shampoo, and she was too lazy to go back to her room to grab hers.

May 29th, 2012

She was draining the pasta she had found in the cabinet when there was a knock on the door. She quickly dumped the pasta out of the colander into a bowl and then walked to answer the door, wiping her hands with a dishtowel.

Stefan was standing on the doorstep, and she opened the door wider to let him in. "Hey Care, how are you settling in?"

"I'm fine. Katerina still isn't back from wherever she is, and I feel like I'll get more anxious about meeting her the longer she's away."

"Well, to be honest you probably should be worrying."

"What?"

"Kat's kind of intense. Damon is engaged to her twin sister Elena, so I spend a lot of time with her."

"Damon's engaged?"

Stefan laughed. "Yeah, I know, if someone had asked me two years ago whether Damon would ever settle down I would have laughed in their face."

"Right there with you. Anyway, when should I expect her back?"

"She'll probably be back tomorrow."

Caroline scooped some sauce onto her pasta and gestured for Stefan to take some as well, which he did, and they sat down at the kitchen table.

"What's she like?" Caroline said in-between mouthfuls.

"She's…" Stefan trailed off, gathering his thoughts. "She's a character, definitely. She can be kind of bitchy, and she doesn't like very many people. She's smart though, and funny in that sharp sort of way where even when she's making fun of you you'll laugh."

"Oh. She sounds like she could be difficult to live with."

"Elena had trouble dealing with it, and they're twins. But I think you guys might actually get along if you give each other a chance. You have similar interests. And either way, you shouldn't get on her bad side."

"Why?"

"Kat and Elena are Silas' granddaughters, and he's pretty terrifying."

"Isn't he the head of The Travelers?"

"Yeah. He is. He's pretty protective too. They're all he has left. His family started The Travelers a few generations ago. He was engaged to Qetsiyah, who used to be in charge of the tech stuff, but he fell in love with her best friend Amara. Anyway, a whole bunch of drama happened, and Silas got Amara pregnant with Kat and Elena's mom, Isobel. Then Isobel got married to an agent from our Idaho location, John Gilbert, and they had Tatia and then Kat and Elena. There was this huge car accident right around the time Damon and I joined up. They were going on a family trip, and Tatia, Amara, John, and Isobel died. Elena and Kat were in the gas station buying snacks, so they survived."

"Wow. That's pretty tragic."

"Yeah, it is. They don't talk about their family much, so I wouldn't bring it up, especially with Kat. Do you know who Elijah is?"

"I've heard of him. You've definitely mentioned him."

"Elijah is Klaus's brother. He and Tatia dated for a bit before she died, and he's dating Kat now."

"This sounds pretty soap opera-y."

"It definitely feels that way sometimes."

Caroline nodded, chewing the last bits of her pasta. "Do you know when I'll be done with training?"

"That's a question for Alaric, not for me."

"Oh. Okay."

She stood up to rinse off her bowl in the sink, grabbing Stefan's on the way over.

"Do you want to watch a movie?" She heard Stefan call from the living room.

"Sure."

"I'll do the dishes and you can go pick something out from Kat's move collection. If you're careful to put everything back where you found it, she won't notice." Stefan said, coming up behind her and moving her gently out of the way, taking the bowl out of her hands.

"Okay, thanks Stefan."

"Yep."

Stefan randomly paused the movie about halfway through.

"I have to head back to my place."

"It's nine o'clock, Stefan."

"Yeah, but you probably have to go to the gym pretty early tomorrow anyway."

Caroline groaned and stood up, stretching. "Fine. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"I think I'm going to end up out for the next few days," Stefan said apologetically, "but I'll be back before you know it. You'll be really busy."

"See you soon then," Caroline said, hugging Stefan goodbye.

Once she had finished her nighttime routine and was in bed, she realized that Stefan was going on a mission the next day. A mission that most likely involved murdering someone. It occurred to her that she should probably be about five thousand percent more freaked out than she was. She was now the member of a secret illegal organization and was being trained to help mercenaries kill people.

Wow, Caroline, she thought to herself, you certainly make excellent life choices.

May 30th, 2012

"Good morning, sunshine!" Alaric said, as Caroline entered the gym.

She sent him as filthy a look as she could muster this early in the morning, and drained the last of her coffee. She saw Tyler and Jeremy sparring on the other side of the room.

She grinned in their direction, and Jeremy noticed and waved at her. Tyler gleefully took advantage of Jeremy's momentary distraction to shove him down on to the mats.

"Sorry, they tend to take over the gym in the mornings." Alaric said from behind her.

"It's fine, it's kind of cute actually." Caroline, said turning around.

Alaric thrust a bundle of padded clothes into her arms. "Go change, and come back here as soon as you can. We've got a lot to do this morning. After we're done though, you need to take a shower and then meet me at the offices."

"The offices?"

"Yeah. I'm sure you've been there. That's where you sign the contracts and all that."

"You mean the giant mansion? Stefan said that it's only used for client meetings."

"It is, mostly. But the people that deal with clients on a frequent basis have their offices there just to make it easier. We're going to see Silas to talk about your placement. I think it'll be easier for you if we just jump right into the handler stuff."

"Oh. Okay. Do I need to bring anything special?"

"No, just yourself. Go change. You have ten minutes, and if you're not back by then we'll do extra pushups." Alaric said, grinning at her.

She groaned and trudged off to the closest bathroom.

XXX

The man in front of her was tall with a square jaw and a serious face. He still had a full head of hair, and if Caroline had seen him on the street, she wouldn't have pegged him as a day over 40, at the oldest. He strode towards Caroline and stuck out his hand. "Miss Forbes."

She shook his hand and sat across from him in the chair he gestured for her to take.

"Alaric was most impressed with your organizational skills."

She nodded. "Thank you."

He eyed her, and she had the distinct feeling of being judged.

"Do you know what a handler is, Miss Forbes?"

"Sort of? Alaric told me some stuff."

"Your job is to arrange transport to missions, reserve safehouses and hotel rooms, provide contact to your superiors and clients with your partners. You are to ensure that your missions are executed correctly."

"Okay."

"You will train with Damon Salvatore for the foreseeable future. He will 'show you the ropes' so-to-speak. After he deems you proficient, I will transfer him to a different team, and you will take over duties for Stefan and Niklaus."

She resisted the urge to wrinkle her nose, and Silas seemed to notice that she was not happy.

"Is there an issue with my choice of mentor, Miss Forbes?"

"No, not at all."

"Are you lying?"

"Damon and I knew each other as children. We had a short romantic relationship when I was 16, and he didn't treat me well. It ended badly."

Silas raised an eyebrow. "I assume that it will not interfere with your professionalism?"

"I'll behave if he does."

She was sure that the corners of Silas' mouth twitched, but it was suppressed so quickly that she wasn't sure it had even happened. "I will be assigning you to replace Damon once you finish your training. If you'll excuse me, I have work to do. Let me see you out."

He stood up and she followed suit. He started to move towards the door, but before he had moved an inch it slammed open. A young woman barreled into the room at top speed, her kohl-lined brown eyes narrowed in fury, and her five inch stilettos click-clacking harshly on the polished wooden floors. Completely ignoring Caroline's presence, she slammed her hands on the top of his desk.

"Papa, Jenna moved some new girl into my house without asking."

Rude.

"How was your trip, Katerina?" Silas asked, looking completely unsurprised by the girl's tantrum.

Oh. That's Katerina. Fantastic.

Katerina was clearly not in the mood for pleasantries. "It was fine. Now, you need to talk to Jenna and tell her that I refuse to be treated in this manner. I roomed with Elena because she was my sister, but I won't live with some bitch that I haven't even met."

This time she was sure Silas was holding back a smile. Caroline cleared her throat softly. Katerina whirled around to glare at her. "Who the fuck are you?"

Caroline stuck out her hand, "I'm your new roommate. Nice to meet you Katerina."

The other girl curled her lip and pointedly ignored the offered handshake and turned back to Silas, presumably ready to start ranting again. Before she could open her mouth, however, Silas spoke.

"Katerina, this is Caroline. She is Stefan's childhood friend. She is training to be his and Niklaus' handler."

Katerina scoffed.

"My expectation," Silas continued, "is that you make an effort, Katerina. And by 'expectation' I mean that it is not optional."

Silas turned to Caroline. "My granddaughter and I must discuss her trip. I am sure we will speak again soon."

Caroline took that as a dismissal, and left to go back to her house—her and Katerina's house.

Her phone buzzed on the way home, and she opened it to a text from Damon.

I'll meet you at the shed entrance to the Caves after you see Alaric tomorrow. Welcome to the big leagues, Blondie.

Oh, goodie.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed/will enjoy writing it. :)
Constructive criticism and/or reviews help me get better. I love them :P

Hugs!
-Angie