A/N- Here we go. An extended story of my one shot Wedding Days, which if you've read you pretty much know how this story will end.

Then again, ninety-nine percent of Klaroline stories end with Klaroline and the other one percent have us reduced to sobbing, screaming wrecks.

Also, I own nothing associated with the Vampire Diaries etc.

It was supposed to be the happiest day of her life.

Hell, it was supposed to be the happiest weekend of her life.

Caroline had planned everything down to the last detail. She had booked the hotel months in advance and paid in full, she had met her hairstylist and make-up artist personally numerous times and reviewed their work, she had made sure her dress was ready the week before and would be delivered on the eve of the wedding. She had sent out all the invitations herself and chased up all the RSVP's, she had selected every item of food on the menu and the caterers were all people she had worked with before. She had planned for everything except for the one thing that would unravel everything.

Her future mother-in-law Carol Lockwood.

She had always looked down on Caroline and hated that she was engaged to her son, thinking that she wasn't good enough for Tyler.

She had decided that the wedding was going to be her big day.

She'd received one of the invitations, had it copied and sent it to her friends and numerous people not on the list, most of whom had replied affirmative and with several plus ones.

She had promised to contribute towards the expense if her friends were invited and then backed down, leaving Caroline and Tyler to try and find another thousand dollars for the extra guests.

Caroline had several friends with various food allergies and a few vegans thrown into the mix, so she and the caterers had sat down and figured out a delicious alternative for them, only for the manager to ring Caroline two days later and ask why her future mother-in-law had tried to cancel that option.

When confronted, Carol had thrown a fit, stating that all proper weddings had only steak and fish meals, and that anything else was hipster nonsense that would ruin Tyler's big day.

Tyler personally hadn't given a damn about the menu, he'd been happy to sit back and let Caroline organize everything and wasn't about to step in now. So, Caroline had called everyone involved with the wedding and asked them not to accept any orders from Carol regarding changes unless they rang and double-checked with her first.

That was when she found out that her wedding dress had been altered, as per Carol's orders.

She'd had sleeves and several inches to the hem added and it was now too late to make the adjustments without damaging the dress. When Caroline had furiously confronted her, she'd just said,

"Well dear, we couldn't have you looking like trash marrying treasure."

At this point, Liz and Bonnie had had to talk Caroline out of kidnapping Tyler and heading straight to Vegas for an elopement.

But it had got worse.

When Caroline had arrived at the hotel with her bridesmaids, Bonnie and Katherine, it was to find that Carol had taken her reservation in the bridal suite, shrieking two of the bellhops to tears and causing the manager to cave under her threats of bad reviews and public shaming.
She refused to move out of the suite, claiming that she needed the space for her mental health, to recover from the stress of the wedding. She had booked a single room which she was sure Caroline would find adequate for her and her friends.

But Caroline got the last laugh because the manager was so annoyed and apologetic that he gave her the Presidential suite for free. Apparently he himself had a mother-in-law that he couldn't stand.

So, the night before her wedding, Caroline had thrown a girls-only party that had been crashed by her mom and Bonnie's grandmother Sheila, who had embarrassed them all by proving to be the best dancer and outlasted them all by a good three hours.

She had then insisted on dragging them all down to the garden to watch the sunrise.

"Trust me, you beautiful girl," Sheila had wrapped an arm around her, "You'll want to remember the start of the best day of your life."

Caroline couldn't sit still, she had to keep moving.

Excitement was coursing through her blood stream.

She was getting married!

She squealed with delight and Katherine laughed,

"Chill," she ordered, "We can't have you hopping down the aisle!"

She reached into the neckline of her bridesmaid's dress, which despite Caroline having bought identical dresses for both her and Bonnie, somehow seemed to be slightly tighter and possibly containing a built-in push up bra because, of course Katherine would, and withdrew a joint.

"Want to be nice and calm for the big day?" she offers and Caroline rolls her eyes,

"Seriously?!" she demands, "Do you know how many cops are downstairs right now? And aren't you on some sort of probation anyway?"

Katherine gives a careless shrug and steps out onto the balcony to light up, "Your loss."

"Let her get buzzed," Bonnie calls from across the room, where she was slipping into her shoes,

"It's the only way she'll not be a bitch for the day."

Caroline accepts this with a small smile and practically skips across the room to where Bonnie is sitting, "Is it time to go down yet?"

Or course, as an event planner, Caroline knew the very second she should head down but she was so excited that she hoped her internal clock was wrong.

Bonnie gives her an understanding smile and is about to answer when there's a knock on the door,

"Come in." she calls, standing up and brushing down her dress unnecessarily.

Her step-father Steven walks into the room and stops dead upon seeing her,

"You look stunning, Caroline." He tells her with moisture in his eyes and she beams, hurrying over to kiss his cheek,

"Where's daddy?" she asks, "Is it time for me to go down?"

He suddenly looks uncomfortable and clears his throat, "Uh…is your mother here?"

She shakes her head and frowns, "What's wrong?"

He shuffles his feet and plays with the cufflinks on his sleeves, "Um, Care…Carol is throwing a tantrum, she says that your father can't walk you down the aisle because…well, gays can't legally get married so it's bad luck and he's just doing it to make a statement so…"

Caroline blinks three times in rapid succession and waits silently to make sure that she had heard correctly,

"Are you serious?!" she asks incredulously, "Because if this is a joke, it is so not funny."

Steven's shoulders sank, "I wish, Billy walked away so he wouldn't lose his temper and he told me not to speak to you because he didn't want to stress you on your big day but…he's your father, Care."

"And walking me down the aisle," she assures him, squeezing his hand comfortingly,

"Let me go speak to Ty about reigning in his mother."

Tyler was two floors down, in the groom suite which was practically next to the bridal suite and had caused Katherine no small amusement trying to think of all the Bates Motel, Lannister and other incest jokes she could come up with. Bonnie had eventually had to threaten to throw her favorite shoes out the window just to shut her up.

The door to Tyler's suite is slightly ajar and she guesses that the groomsmen, Matt and Stefan, had left it that way so they wouldn't have to remember their keys.

"Ty?"

For some reason, she'd intended to call his name but it had come out as a whisper, and she can't figure out why.

Until she moves deeper into the room and her eyes find her fiancé.

In the very center of the room, with his pants around his ankles and some random brunette on her knees in front of him.

At first glance, she's sure she's mistaken, that her stressed out and overexcited mind is playing tricks on her.

This woman is probably a seamstress, taking care of some last minute adjustments for Tyler.

Or perhaps she's a nurse and her fiancé, her boyfriend of ten years, somehow cut himself manscaping and she's stitching him up.

She vaguely recalls seeing this girl, that Tyler had mentioned her a few weeks back, he hadn't mentioned her profession but maybe she was a nurse.

But when the woman moans and Tyler sinks his fingers into her hair- her rather thick and beautiful hair, Caroline can't help but note. She knows exactly what she's seeing.

Her fiancé is getting a blow job twenty minutes before he's meant to be marrying her.

And by a woman who's wearing a white dress.

Caroline's stomach flips violently and she clutches it, retching as she wheels around, staggering into the wall and trying to dig her nails into the plaster in a failed attempt to keep herself upright.

Her throat is burning and she's certain that she's going to vomit and ruin her dress.

Which would be fitting considering.

There's a gasp and she hears Tyler shout her name but as if from a distance.

She gasps for air and pushes herself off the wall, breaking a nail and tripping over her gown as she stumbles into the hallway.

Both elevators are in use and she needs to get outside now, that's all she can think about, so she almost crawls to the stairwell, falling against the door and only opening it enough to slip inside where she leans against the closed door for strength.

Their wedding day.

It was their wedding day.

The wedding she had had to organize almost single-handedly, she had chosen the flowers, the color scheme, the food, the outfits for the bridesmaids and groomsmen, hell, she'd even picked out Tyler's tuxedo for him because he'd have left it to the last minute otherwise!

She had toured ten different venues, all of which she'd worked with before but wanted to see from a customer's perspective. She had sampled enough menus that she'd needed an extra two hours at the gym and even chosen Tyler's favorite flavors for the wedding cake.

All her fiancé had had to do was turn up the day before, not get too drunk and make it to the actual wedding without cheating on her.

Had that seriously been too much to ask?!

Caroline sniffs and clenches her hands into fists. She's angry now, angry and hurt and she wants to get away from this place.

Before she even realizes what she's doing, she's racing down the stairs and out the door, into a side garden of the hotel that opened onto a tiny stretch of woodlands.

Her skirt somehow makes it into her hands and she's running, faster than she had ever run before. The wind is pulling at her veil and her skirt billows out behind her, tears blur her eyes and her chest heaves under the tight gown.

She has no idea where she's going as the skirt tears against the sticks and fallen logs of the woodland and her veil catches on the tree branches. The sunlight dapples through the trees and blinds her and all she can do is keep going and going until…

Screech

Why the hell had his family ever left London?

Bad things always happened when his family left London.

And he wasn't even being facetious, he could trace the Mikaelson family linage back to the Viking invasion of England and when his great ancestor and his men had left London to wage war on Wessex, a king had lain siege to the town and captured it.

In the Middle Ages his family had left London to join the York's and support them against the Tudor insurgency. That had ended with two imprisonments, three beheadings and a severe loss in fortune.

In the twentieth century, his great-grandfather had been best friends with King Edward VIII and had made him promise not to make any decisions about Wallis Simpson before speaking to him first. With this promise given, his ancestor had gone to Bath for his health and the King had abdicated the throne the very next day.

His family had been exiled from the Royal Court after that mistake and while they kept their family home in Holland Park, they had moved to America two generations back to try and escape the scandal and shame.

Still, the curse lingered. They had left London a mere hour before the Blitz had begun and now, Niklaus Mikaelson was waiting impatiently in the taxi rank at Richmond airport with his duffel bag in hand and wondering if London was going to sink into the Thames in the next day or two.

Although this time, he doubted the curse would hit the city, more likely it would hit him instead.

After all, he had gone to London to seek refuge from his broken heart.

His broken heart and his asshole of an older brother who'd thought nothing of shagging his girlfriend.

His older brother whom he had trusted with his life.

His younger brother Kol, he'd almost expected to try and shag one of his girlfriend's at some point, Kol would shag anything that moved, male or female but Elijah, he would have never suspected him capable of such an act if he hadn't bloody walked in on them in the middle of it.

He'd walked in and walked straight out again, gone back to his apartment, grabbed his passport, a duffel bag with some random clothes thrown in and gone straight to Richmond airport and bought the first flight out of the States.

Which is how he'd ended up in Prague and had to catch a connecting flight to London and then realized that he'd left the keys to the family home in his apartment.

Fortunately, his younger sister had heard of what happened and arranged for the gardener to meet him with his set of keys.

He'd bounced around the old and empty house for a few weeks, immersed himself in the rainy, grey London with the tube and red buses instead of taxis and cars. Endless cups of tea instead of coffee. Pubs instead of bars and most importantly, no women or brothers to break his heart.

Especially because his phone hadn't bloody worked the entire time he was over there and he'd blocked his brother on all forms of social media and communication.

He could have stayed there as well.

He designed graphic novels and there wasn't really much he couldn't have managed with a few skype calls into the office and the purchase of the necessary materials in London, but his mother had sent him a ticket for a first class flight back to Richmond and an invitation to family luncheon the very next day.

Apparently, she'd decided that he and Elijah had been at odds for long enough.

He'd thought of telling her no but he figured that if he had, she simply would have flown Elijah out to London, which would have ruined the house for him and inconvenienced his brother who would have been forced to take time off from work.

And he was an orthopedic surgeon, so when he skipped out on work, people tended to die.

So here he was now, sitting in a taxi, lost in his own thoughts as he was being driven through every backstreet of Richmond by a cabbie who idiotically assumed that his British accent meant he was a tourist and not a long time citizen.

He's about to rip him a new one when a flash in the corner of his eye catches his attention.

And he wonders if he's not dreaming because there's a bride in a wedding dress running across a park.

He figures it must be a photo shoot or a movie scene and watches curiously as she acts as though she's running for her life.

But then he realizes that she is running for her life and apparently not looking where she's going.

"Stop!" he bellows at the driver who is on his phone, and doesn't see the woman until the last second, swerving violently to avoid colliding with her.

He doesn't even wait until the taxi's finished moving before he's unbuckling his seat belt, scrambling out of the backseat onto the quiet road.

"Bloody Hell!" he murmurs as the woman sways on her feet and sinks down onto the gutter, the hem of her skirt stained from the dirt.

Cautiously, he crouches down in front of her, "Are you alright?" he asks gently, "Are you hurt?"

She laughs and chokes, holding the back of her hand to her mouth, "I'm sorry…I wasn't…"

The driver, after hanging up the phone and clearly worried about litigation storms over in a self-righteous fury,

"You stupid bitch!" he shouts, pointing threateningly at her, "You ran in front of my car so if you're hurt that's your…"

"Sod off," Nik snaps at him, "She's not injured and your bloody taxi's fine."

The man raises his finger to the sky as if to begin another rant and Nik feels his blood rising,

"Leave her alone or I will personally call your company and complain about you making calls while driving and intentionally taking me the most indirect route possible." He grabs his wallet,

"I'm only paying what it would have cost if you'd gone the right way." He warns and the man is blusteringly red with fury,

"Piece of pommy shit." He growls and Nik raises an eyebrow,

"Can you even spell pommy?" he asks, feigning surprise and the driver stomps to the trunk, throws his duffel bag onto the side of the road and speeds off.

Nik turns back to the woman and sees that she hasn't moved and the tears are still streaming down her face, although she isn't sobbing or gasping for air after her sprint so he figures that she's either rather fit or in shock.

He rummages through his duffel bag and sees the expensive handkerchief that Elijah had given each of their siblings last flu season when they'd left tissues all around his house. They'd never used them and he's grateful that he'd forgot to take it out of his duffel bag.

He crouches back down in front of the bride and reaches for her hand, noting the soft skin and manicured nails,

"Here" he closes her fingers, "Handkerchief"

"Thank-you." She whispers politely and holds it to her eyes, dabbing at them and giving herself a little shake before she starts looking around her, staring down at the gutter as though she was trying to figure out how she'd got there.

If Nik had to guess, he'd say her day had gone very badly wrong.

She turns her head, looking left and right up and down the road as if worried about traffic and he wonders how far she had run,

"Don't worry," he assures her, "We're in a pretty quiet area, damn taxi driver heard my accent and thought I was a tourist…bastard."

She has a pretty laugh, and an even prettier smile which he probably shouldn't be noticing.

"So…" he glances down at her wedding dress, which he personally thought was hideous but it looked lovely on her,

"Is there someone I can call or…?"

"I walked in on my fiancé getting a blow job from a girl he's only known for three weeks twenty minutes before we were meant to get married" she explains in a rush, offering him back the handkerchief which he waves away, figuring the least he could do was let her keep it.

She closes her fingers around it again and then starts tugging on her veil, trying to ease it out of her golden locks.

Well.

Nice to know he wasn't the only person in Richmond getting his heart stomped on by those he had trusted.

He comes to a decision and grabs his duffel bag, climbing to his feet,

"Okay, I know a restaurant not far from here that does great coffee."

Of course, caffeine was probably the last thing she needed but he doubted that, as an American, she would drink proper tea, especially the decaffeinated kind.

He holds out a hand to her and she blushes sweetly, "Look, it's not that I'm not grateful but you don't have to…I'm sure you have somewhere to be."

Not really, he wasn't due back at work til Monday and the only thing he had to do in his apartment was dust, some laundry and restock his fridge.

She doesn't know that though, she probably thinks he's a right prick trying to score on her broken heart.

"Actually, I just got back from holiday after a really nasty breakup with my girlfriend" he tries to give her a compassionate smile, which wasn't one of his most practised expressions, "I know what it's like to be absolutely and completely devastated and when I was sobbing in the gutter…well the fire-escape of my apartment, I really wanted someone to talk to"

In truth, he'd done his crying in the indoor swimming pool of the Holland Park mansion but that confession would probably make him sound pretentious beyond belief.

She bites her lip and considers him, appraising him with aqua eyes that he can't decide if they are more blue or green. She slips her hand into his and he pulls her up slowly and gently, making sure she's steady on her feet before releasing her.

"It's about five minutes that way," he jerks his head, down the road,

"One of those industrial warehouse makeovers."

She looks about, dazed as if trying to figure out where they are and he realises that he's probably setting off every alarm in her head right now.

"I swear I'm not a serial killing psychopath" he adds jokingly when he sees her hesitation but she laughs and holds out her hand,

"I'm Caroline by the way,"

"Caroline Forbes."

He grins, "Niklaus Mikaelson."

A/N- Let me know what you think!