Notes: The lovely fanfantasticworld has made me a cover for this thing and I figured it might as well get it's own doc since it's now several parts long! The first three were previously published in Make Some Noise but the last part is new.

Notes: Lightly edited 11/17.

Oh How Strange

(Prompt from an anon: Would you do a werewolf! puppy Klaus AU? Where Klaus is spelled into turning into a cute werewolf puppy and Caroline has to take care of him and search for a witch to undo the spell. Title from "Strange" by Patsy Cline. Rated T.)

Caroline Forbes is well versed in weird. She's experienced all sorts of abnormal happenings in the years since she'd learned that impossible things, monsters and magic, were real and all around her.

So when Enzo walks into her apartment, a body slung over his shoulder and a struggling bundle of fur under his opposite arm, she isn't immediately alarmed. Caroline takes a second to hope that he hadn't run into her building manager. She'd hate to have to compel the poor man. Again.

She studies Enzo, checking for injuries and finding none. He doesn't seem anxious or scared, so Caroline relaxes, confident that she won't need to call in the cavalry. She'd long since given up trying to predict what Enzo would get up to on any given day. This little incident is only like a level yellow on the weirdness scale. Besides, if there was no blood it probably wasn't an emergency. Caroline turns her attention to the squirming animal, a sandy colored puppy, that's frantically trying to escape Enzo's hold, but quickly decides that the body is the more pressing issue.

She put down her magazine and stands up from the couch, raising her eyebrows expectantly.

"Hello, Gorgeous," Enzo greets her with a nod. He flinging the body onto the couch cushions she'd just vacated, completely unconcerned when the guy's legs dangle over the arm at an uncomfortable angle. He uses his newly free hand to hold the puppy, which had begun barking, more securely. He nods at the body, "Found that one loitering around your building, all suspicious like. He's a vampire but young enough that I took him out with no trouble. D'you know him?"

Leaning forward, Caroline peers at the guy's unconscious face for a few moments, but he's not the least bit recognizable to her. She steps back, shaking her head, "Nope. Never seen him before. And geez, Enzo, you can't just go around snapping necks. Maybe he was just checking out a vacant apartment. Vampires have rights too."

Enzo scoffs, "Doubtful. There was a definite sinister lingering happening. What about this guy?" Enzo hoists the puppy to eye level by the scruff of its neck. "Look familiar?"

The poor thing struggles, its little legs flailing as it whines. Caroline doesn't know a whole lot about pets, but she reaches for it automatically. "Don't be mean, Enzo!" she scolds before pulling the animal to her chest and stroking its back soothingly. It noses at her neck, "Never seen the puppy either." She waits for a few moments then, thinking it must be sufficiently recovered from Enzo's manhandling, puts the puppy on the floor before kneeling down and petting its head. It leans happily into her touch, tail wagging. "What kind of dog do you think it is? And is it a boy or a girl?"

"I'm no expert but I think it's probably just a mutt with some shepherd in it. And the other thing's easy enough to check." Enzo crouches down and the puppy turns its head and growls, edging away. Enzo ignores the warning (to be fair it was more cute than threatening) and reaches out. The puppy snaps at Enzo's hand when it nears and darts around Caroline, pressing against her side.

A laugh bubbles up and she rests her hand on the puppy once more, ruffling its fur. "Looks like someone's a little shy."

Before Enzo can try again a phone begins ringing, coming from somewhere on their temporarily dead visitor. Both Caroline and Enzo's heads twist in that direction. "Um, should we get that?" Caroline asks.

"Might as well," Enzo replies. He gets to his feet and yanks the stranger over enough to dig through his jacket pocket. He shows Caroline the screen, but no name or picture is displayed. Caroline recognizes the area code though, and a small alarm sounds in her brain. Surely it couldn't mean anything that a strange vampire had shown up and was fielding calls from New Orleans? It had to be a freaky coincidence.

Her little bout of denial is incredibly short lived once Enzo answers the phone. A very familiar voice (not one she's missed) blares out of the tiny speaker. Caroline closes her eyes in resignation. "Josh, are you there yet?" Rebekah Mikaelson snipes. "I swear, if you've mucked this up I will happily spend decades upon decades slowly unfurling your insides in the most painful ways imaginable. And I have a vivid imagination."

The puppy lets out a series of sharp barks and paws at Caroline's hip.

"I do like a woman who's creative," Enzo murmurs in reply, and Caroline rolls her eyes at the blatant flirtatiousness in it. "But your friend, Josh was it? He's a bit indisposed. May I take a message?"

"Who is this?" the tone changes, from annoyed to menacing, and Caroline winces. Enzo, of course, is unfazed since he has only a passing knowledge of Rebekah Mikaelson and the numerous reasons why a person didn't want to get on her bad side.

"Now that's rather rude," Enzo reprimands. "After all, you called me. I do believe that you should be the one making the introductions, not making demands."

"Listen to me very carefully, you half-wit cretin. If you…"

Caroline holds out her hand, "Give me the phone, Enzo."

He turns towards her, his eyes bright and amused. "You know this charming creature? And you've never introduced me? And here I thought we were pals."

Rebekah makes a disgusted noise, "I see your taste in company has not improved in the slightest, Caroline."

Caroline waits until Enzo passes her the phone, standing up and walking to the other side of the room before bringing it to her ear. The puppy stays close, hot on her heels. "Hey, Rebekah. I'd say it's been too long, but really it hasn't been nearly long enough."

"Trust me, I completely agree. But since Nik's not exactly great at making friends we have very few options. He's gotten himself into a bit of a mess."

Caroline's heart begins to thud, the uneasiness she'd started to feel upon hearing Rebekah's voice growing. "What mess?" she demands. "He's not…" she trails off, taking a deep breath, unable to continue. She tells herself to calm down because Klaus obviously wasn't dead. Rebekah sounded more put out than devastated and Caroline (along with the rest of her friends who were tied to Klaus' line) was still among the living. And, as Klaus had once delighted in telling her, he was the most powerful creature on earth. How bad could things really be?

Rebekah lets out an impatient sigh, "Did Josh not explain things to you? Honestly, good help is so hard to find these days."

"I'm guessing Josh is the semi-cute vamp with dark hair? Yeah, he didn't really get a chance to say much. Enzo's a wee bit paranoid so your minion got his neck snapped for lurking around my building."

"Ugh," Rebekah grumbles, "and I told him to be discrete. Well, I'll sum things up for you. Nik pissed off some witches. Not an unusual occurrence, mind you. One of this batch was particularly clever and managed to weave a tricky little spell. It's left him vulnerable and then things got a tad heated and she ended up dead. Kol's fault, really. We've not had a lot of luck in reversing it and the peasants get uppity when they think the throne is weak. We had to get Nik out of the city. That's where you come in, sweetling."

"Wait, Klaus is here? Where? And what's the spell?"

Rebekah sighs again, this one deeper and filled with suffering, "Oh, Caroline. Please use your brain. I know you're smarter than you look."

Caroline glances up at the ceiling, unwilling to admit that she has no idea what Rebekah is talking about (and a little shocked by the backhanded compliment). Her attention is drawn down, caught by the little paws scratching at the denim covering her legs. The puppy is gazing up at her, eyes big and blue and strangely… intelligent. Almost knowing.

And now that she thinks about it that particular shade of blue is really familiar.

Caroline bites her lip, fighting the urge to laugh. The thought that had just occurred to her is completely nuts. She has to be batshit insane to even consider the idea that Klaus is currently in her living room, trapped in an adorable ball of puppy shaped fluff, standing no more than twelve inches tall.

But then again was it really all that much weirder than the whole prison dimension thing? If a coven of witches could make a copy of the entire freaking world, and everything in it, was it so unfathomable that one witch could turn the original hybrid into a puppy?

Not really in Caroline's opinion.

She looks over at Enzo who is watching her curiously, waiting on her reply. Caroline hesitates for a moment because what she's about to do could very well make her seem like the biggest idiot on the planet. Enzo might be the least judgemental friend she has but he'd mercilessly mock her for trying to carry on a conversation with a dog if it turned out that she had, in fact, lost her mind.

"Hold on a second, Rebekah," Caroline murmurs into the phone. She tucks it between her ear and shoulder before bending to scoop the puppy up. It doesn't struggle, or try to escape, like it had with Enzo and she carries it over to the table. She sets it gently on top and pulls up a chair.

This is definitely a conversation that she needs to sit down for.

The puppy sits, its tail thumping gently against the table top. Enzo ambles over and the puppy's eyes track his movements warily, "What's going on, Caroline?"

She shoots him a glance, "Damon told you about The Originals, right?"

"Your hybrid, his evil sister, etc?"

"Yeah." Caroline thinks about offering a correction – Klaus wasn't hers – but that can wait. She shakes the phone, "You kinda just met the evil sister. And I think…" God, is she really going to say this out loud?

"You think…" Enzo prompts. They both ignore the sound of Rebekah's complaints. She's pissed about being ignored, and insists that anything Damon Salvatore has to say about her is utter nonsense.

"I think this is Klaus," Caroline says, with a significant nod towards the animal stretched out on her table. It comes out in a rush, the words barely separated. But Enzo hears her and the puppy reacts too, barking excitedly, its (his?) body wriggling, tiny feet sliding on the polished wood.

An abrupt laugh bursts out of Enzo, "The big bad hybrid is a puppy? I'm all aquiver." He reaches out to touch the puppy (Klaus? Should she start thinking of it as Klaus? That was going to take some getting used to) but once again the puppy bares its teeth, snapping and nearly catching Enzo's fingers.

Caroline slaps Enzo's hand away, "Hey! Careful. If I'm not totally looney toons here then those sharp little teeth are your one way ticket to a painful death." Turning to the puppy, she points a finger at it sternly, "And you. No biting Enzo. Or any of my friends. Or anyone in general. I mean it."

The puppy huffs, sitting down on its haunches, petulance bristling from its every strand of fur. Caroline is certain that it had totally understood her and she feels a little more confident in her wild theory.

Taking a deep breath Caroline grabs the phone again. She presses a slightly shaky hand to her forehead, "Rebekah, please tell me that this is a joke. That you've gotten super bored and decided on a new way to torment me. Tell me that you didn't actually send me Klaus the mini werewolf puppy."

"I'm afraid I can't do that. You've got to give the witch credit for style, hmm? Kol's headed off to search out some contacts in South America. Elijah and I have our hands full here. The list of people Nik trusted to mind him, and not attempt to kill him while doing so, was pitifully short. You were right at the top."

Klaus glances away, suddenly finding his paws fascinating.

"I…" Caroline has no idea how she's supposed to reply to that.

Luckily, Rebekah isn't really the fuzzy emotions type and she gets straight to the business of threatening. "Now, Nik may trust you, at least as much as he's capable. But I do not. You will protect him with your life, Caroline. You, and your little friend, will not tell a soul about his predicament. I will be most displeased should something happen to Nik. And my displeasure will mean the slow agonizing death of you and everyone you love. Do we have an understanding?"

Caroline swallows heavily, and looks over at Enzo who's looking impressed. Clearly those years with The Augustine Society had warped him. "I get it, Rebekah. I think you're forgetting the part where if Klaus dies, I die. Helping is in my best interest, right?"

"Excellent," Rebekah drawls, sounding satisfied. "Whatever you need to tell yourself to justify things is your business."

Caroline grinds her teeth together to keep from snapping something that will prolong the conversation. It's been relatively pleasant so far and, for that to remain true, she needs to get off the phone ASAP.

Rebekah seems to have the same idea, her tone growing brisk. "Now, Josh has the keys to one of Nik's vehicles and a credit card. The phone you're holding has the location of a few witches programmed in. They're related to the pesky little wretch that cursed my brother. I need you to track them down."

"Whoa. Dog sitting is one thing. Now you expect me to hunt down and interrogate witches? I have a job, you know."

"Yes, I'm sure it's very important. Just compel who you need to and scamper off."

And her patience was just about done. "Look, I can't just…"

Rebekah cuts her off, exasperation dripping from her words. "Oh please, Caroline. Don't pretend you don't enjoy Nik's usual form. Something kept him occupied, for hours and hours, the last time we were in Mystic Falls. I'm quite sure it wasn't the scenery."

Caroline is just about to utter a protest she's stopped by Klaus, who's still sitting patiently on the table. He's shooting her literal puppy eyes and damn it that just wasn't fair. She sags into her chair, accepting defeat. "Ugh, fine. I'll help. But you better believe I am abusing that credit card," Caroline warns, mostly to cover how easily she'd just caved.

Klaus barks once and Caroline isn't sure if that meant 'go ahead' or 'don't you dare.' She'd bet on the former given Klaus' penchant for lavish gifts.

"Enjoy yourself, by all means," Rebekah says condescendingly, "but focus on the task. I'll touch base with you tomorrow."

Rebekah hangs up without waiting for a reply or bothering with a goodbye. "Awesome," Caroline mutters, "great talk." She regards the puppy, Klaus, warily for a few moments, before she rubs her hand over her face. Caroline groans, "What even is my life?"

Enzo pats her on the shoulder and sits down, "Never dull, at least." He addresses Klaus, sounding remarkably normal, but then Enzo is pretty great at dealing with curveballs, "I'm Enzo. Heard a lot about you, mate. Sorry I tried to check under the hood. No hard feelings, alright?"

Caroline snorts at that, a tiny, hysterical giggle spilling out before she can stop it. She slaps a hand over her mouth, "Sorry, I'm sorry," she apologizes when both Enzo and Klaus give her funny looks. The urge to laugh only grows stronger at the affronted expression painted on Klaus' puppy face. Caroline gives in, letting her head fall onto the table, her whole body shaking in amusement. Klaus lays down on the table, resting his head on his paws, managing to project an air of annoyed patience as he waits for her to calm down.

She does eventually though it probably takes longer than Klaus likes. She wipes her eyes before clearing her throat. "Okay. So. To recap, Klaus is a puppy. I have a mission. One that I must accomplish under threats of death and dismemberment."

"Sounds about right, Gorgeous."

Caroline nods once, resolute. She's got plans swirling through her head. "Grab me a notebook, Enzo. I'm going to need to make a list."