The events that led to this moment were unexpected for Caroline to say the least.

First, Hayley had shown up. Caroline wasn't fond of the woman and that was an understatement but she had a young girl with her and a truck full of coffin ridden Originals on death's door if she didn't help. Rebekah was the easy one to sort out. All she had to do was discuss the method with Rick and they were able to talk their girls through it.

"Okay, now put your hands on her."

"But mommy, she looks dead," came Lizzie's disgusted reply.

"Not really, sweetheart. She's like mommy and she's in a deep sleep. Now, please girls, put yours hands on her."

Reluctantly, both Lizzie and Josie did as they were instructed. Their little hands placed on Rebekah's room temperature arms. The cursed mark was on her forearm but that was the second step. An anxious Hayley paced some ten feet away.

"Do you feel that? She's like mommy only a little stronger." Alaric asked them.

"Yeah, daddy, she's like mommy but something's wrong with her."

Caroline and Rick exchanged glances and Caroline proceeded. "Well, that's what we're going to try and fix. Do you see that scar on her arm?" The girls nodded. "I need you to put your hands on that now." They both looked hesitant but did so anyway.

"What does it feel like? Can you sense that too?" Rick asked.

Josie was the one to answer. "It feels like crazy. Like cold and death and scary stuff. Hungry and dangerous like she's sick."

"That's exactly right. She is sick, girls. Do you feel the difference? The difference between the magic that she has in common with mommy and the bad magic that is different that mommy doesn't have?" Caroline asked. The twins nodded. "Do you think you can take out only one of them and not all of the magic?" The little ones looked at each other and reached a silent consensus then nodded.

Hayley was still pacing which was driving Caroline nuts. It was hard to focus with her putting pressure on the whole situation. Even harder was getting Rick to agree to this in the first place. When Hayley had shown up to the Armory that they were preparing to renovate into a school for the young and "gifted", Rick's initial reaction had been to turn her away. Especially since she wanted help for Rebekah. The blonde Original had been no friend to them and rarely an ally. But Caroline made him focus on the little ginger haired six-year-old that the hybrid had in tow and Rick had softened.

The werewolf venom was something that Hayley said she could find herself so Caroline was putting her energy into this piece of the puzzle. A puzzle that she could have never seen happening. The news had shocked them. Rebekah with a hex driving her insane. Kol and Elijah bitten by a vampire that was somehow stronger than the Originals and more lethal. Freya, a sister that she had only heard about through Stefan from his visit to New Orleans when running from Rayna Cruz, had been poisoned. Klaus himself, the anchor that kept all of them clinging to life, their differing afflictions frozen so long as he had his life. A life that was nothing but excruciating torture as Hayley described it. When Hayley relayed that part of the story, Caroline's heart skipped a beat and her stomach dropped as she forgot to breathe for several moments.

Klaus had been one of the strongest men she had ever known. He was fierce and cunning, one of the most powerful creatures on the planet. How had he been taken down? So much had happened in Louisiana that he had not told her. Unbeknownst to everyone else, Caroline had kept in contact with Klaus. A text here, a phone call there. They weren't frequent but enough that she was ashamed and felt the need to hide it.

He told her simple things like how he had a daughter. He reluctantly admitted who the mother was and quickly clarified that it had been the result of a meaningless one night stand. He told her about the city and all it's splendor. He told her of his plans to recapture control of it. Regain the Kingdom that was once his. With Liz Forbes' death however, their contact dwindled to nothing until she'd called Stefan's phone and a sultry British accent answered.

Emotions that she believed to be gone, rose up and nearly choked her. Almost everything he said had such deep meaning. The condolences for the loss of her mother and how Liz would have loved seeing her daughter with the twins. His quoting her verbatim about plans. His obvious double entendre when advising that it's not a crime to love what you cannot explain. Caroline was so surprised at how much she was horrified when he said goodbye, how desperately she wanted to ask him not to hang up. Stefan even filled her in later about how Klaus had known the Mystic Falls evacuation had been mainly due to her and how he'd known better when Stefan said she'd give up the babies to Alaric.

The memory of Klaus stuck in Elena's house before it was destroyed hit her. He'd known she hadn't wanted the cure. He knew how she loved being a vampire and how it had changed her for the better. He'd known the darkest parts of her and she hated to admit it. He'd known what she did- that deep down, they were the same. Klaus Mikaelson truly understood Caroline Forbes. In a way that no one else did.

Then, not long after Stefan's return, the texts and calls had stopped completely. He didn't initiate and he didn't respond either. Now Caroline knew why. The hybrid that had filled her with conflicting emotions almost since the moment she met him had been imprisoned, martyred himself to save those he loved. She'd seen the good in him before but after Hayley's recounting of the last few years, Caroline saw more than just good. She saw heroism, honor, loyalty and someone worthy of the love of others.

Hayley had known of the twin's ability to siphon because Stefan said their gestation and birth nearly killed his then girlfriend. That's why she'd come in that big moving truck of hers. And whatever else they might know that could help would be a bonus.

"Mommy, do you want us to take out the bad thing to make her feel better?" Lizzie asked, bringing Caroline back to the present.

"Yes, that's what we need you to do. Take out all the bad magic that's making her sick, everything that you can sense that isn't the same as what's in me."

"Done." Josie surprised everyone as she withdrew her small hand from the disappearing wound on Rebekah.

"What?" Hayley asked, her pacing abruptly ending in a halt and her eyes locking in on the girl.

"I did what Mommy and Daddy said. I took the bad stuff."

"All by yourself?" Alaric asked, looking concerned. He was looking her up and down as if he would be able to asses some kind of outer physical damage but there was none to be found.

"Yup," Josie said it as though it were the most simple thing in the world. Lizzie standing there looking perturbed because her sister had taken all the glory and would get all the praise. Resentment evident in every one of her features. That sibling rivalry would be one to rock the world but that's getting ahead of ourselves.

Hayley rushed over to the coffin, bent down and examined her "sister's" body. All signs of the hex seemed to be receding into nothingness. It had worked. One Original cured and three more family members to go.

"We might be able to help with Freya too." Bonnie's voice jarred everyone, making them look up. She was holding a book in her hands; an old one of course. "The wound and symptoms looked familiar. There seems to be a remedy in one of my family's old grimoires."

"But you hate the Originals," Caroline stood. "I didn't think you'd want anything to do with this."

"Yeah, well, Freya's not a vampire or a hybrid. She's a witch. Like me. And if nothing else, I'll help another witch."

Hayley released a puff of air in astounded relief and held back tears of joy. Hope, whom Bonnie had been babysitting during all this, came out from behind her.

"Are you sure you want to? You realize all this will ultimately free Klaus, right?" Caroline asked her friend just to be sure.

"Well don't talk her out of it." Hayley snapped.

"I'm sure, Care."

So that set in motion work on the healing of the second Mikaelson. It took some time. It took weeks actually. Bonnie had sent Hayley out scouting for the herbs and other ingredients she needed. Hayley had gone by her self, leaving her sleeping family and Hope at the Armory as she could work faster that way. During that time, Hope bonded not only with Bonnie but with Caroline, Lizze and Josie. The kids played together and it gave Caroline and Rick a sense of solace seeing these children, who'd been in the middle of supernatural turmoil since each of their births, so happy, healthy and carefree.

Bonnie realized some of Hope's abilities and began tutoring her. She quickly developed the skills for healing living creatures. Mostly just small bugs and rodents but it was a start. And Caroline saw to her non-magical education along side her girls. Just because Hope and her mother were on the run didn't mean Hope got to fall behind on her schooling. Alaric found humor in that. Only Caroline, he thought with a shake of his head.

Caroline quickly realized that Hope was quite mature for her age and very intuitive; almost to the point of being psychic.

"You know my Daddy, don't you?" Hope asked one day.

Caroline hesitated for a moment but then nodded. "Yes, sweety, I do. Well, I did anyway. Like you, I haven't seen him in a long time."

"But he's special to you."

The blonde's heart was pounding but she kept a calm exterior. "What makes you say that?"

"Because Mommy didn't think you'd help but you are. You're doing a lot to help and you're getting other people to help too. It's important to you that my Daddy comes back."

Shock was all Caroline managed.

"Mommy loves Uncle Elijah. She opens his box a lot and just looks at him. She says that Mommies and Daddies care for each other but they aren't always in love. So she loves Uncle Elijah... Does that mean you're the one my Daddy's in love with? Are you in love with my Dad?"

Caroline gulped but decided to go with the truth. "Well, I know he was in love with me once. He said he'd wait for me however long it took but I don't know if he still wants to do that. It's been a long time, a lot has happened. And as far as me being in love with him-"

"Alright, so Hayley just called," Alaric interrupted coming in and breaking the air in the room, not realizing he had put a stop to such a revealing conversation. "She says she'll be back in a few days. Only one more thing to get and she knows where to go for it."

Caroline took a deep breath and cleared her throat, putting on a smile. "That's great! Do you hear that, Hope? Your Mommy is coming back."

The red head had a slight smile but didn't seem overly enthused. She was more disappointed that their talk had gotten cut off before she could get all the answers she wanted. It didn't bother her that her Mommy and Daddy didn't love each other but it would bother her if they weren't both happy with people they are in love with. Hope wanted them to both be loved in return.

Caroline's relationship with this man named Alaric (such a funny name, she thought) confused her. Caroline wore a wedding ring but Alaric didn't. There was no one else around that Caroline could be married to and Lizzie and Josie were their daughters. They also worked together and they were building a school together. They lived together and seemed very close but something was off. They didn't feel what her Mommy felt for Elijah. That was a good thing. It meant that when her Daddy finally came back, he could be with Caroline. And she really liked Caroline.

Hope spent the next few days drawing pictures of her Daddy, Caroline, Josie and Lizzie, Uncle Elijah and her Mommy all standing by a house with a sun in a blue sky. Her aunts, Uncle Kol and Alaric were either in the background or absent all together.