Title: Family Ties
Ships: klaroline, rebekol
Rating: T
Spoilers: up until s3 to be safe.
Warnings: violence, swearing, murder (it's actually a true story...you'll see), incest (non graphic)
Author's Note: It's a little Caroline-centric, but I think I can do better with her, so you might get another Caroline/Cecilia fic. Now I've been to other zoo's in the US, but I'm using the Phoenix Zoo because I live here, I have a friend who works there, and I've been there so many times I could walk it in my sleep. It's also the largest non-profit zoo in the US and…because I can that's why.

After that first year, time started to fly by and before they knew it Cecilia was four. A beautiful, dark haired, blue eyed little four year old…utterly spoiled and so argumentative, that it was almost impossible to get a word in edgewise, explaining why she was put in time out. Every member of the Mikaelson family spoiled Cecilia, so much so that disciplining her became a bit…challenging. Elijah and Klaus remembered their father's treatment of them, and hadn't wanted to behave to Cecilia in any way, shape or form as Mikael had toward them. Unfortunately they were both short tempered, had little patience for explaining things and usually ended up giving into the little girl just to make her tantrum's cease.

Caroline was much better, even Rebekah had more patience (though she promised Cecilia things in exchange for good behavior). Kol was not allowed to participate in disciplining the baby. For one, he was conveniently never around whenever Cecilia misbehaved, and two... Ever since The Very Bad incident that no one talked about, Cecilia had clung to Kol like a security blanket. He was her favorite, and he couldn't stand being cross with her.

"I don't understand how you put up with him," said Caroline one night, shaking her head as she brushed out her hair. Klaus leaned around the doorframe of their bathroom and gave her an amused look.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, sticking his toothbrush in his mouth. Caroline rolled her eyes at him.

"Kol," she clarified. Klaus' expression didn't change. "The way he treats Cecilia. He let's her do whatever she wants and-"

"Hold on," interrupted Klaus, his voice muffled around his toothbrush. He pulled it out and pointed at her with it, a bit of toothpaste clinging to the side of his mouth. She smirked at him. "You want Kol to be an authority figure in our daughter's life? I don't think he's been capable of that ever."

Caroline sighed, dropping her head backward exasperatedly. "I don't think it's good for her to rely on him like this."

Klaus stared at her blankly for a moment, then turned back to the bathroom and tossed his toothbrush into the sink. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand he walked toward her, wrapping his arms around her tightly.

"Cece is always going to think of him as Fun Uncle Kol," he said, his voice all know-it-all-y. "Yes, he's a terrible role model, but he's better than say…Damon."

Caroline snorted. "You really need to get over this thing you have with Damon."

"He's just so much fun to bother," mumbled Klaus against her hair, smirking and pulling away. He touched her cheek lightly. "Does Kol really upset you?"

Caroline looked at the floor sheepishly. "No…I just want to monopolize all her attention and it's hard when everything's always 'Uncle Kol this, and Uncle Kol that'." Caroline harrumphed, sticking out her bottom lip. "Pisses me off."

Klaus chuckled at her, swooping down to steal a kiss and then heading toward the bed. "Spend the day with her then. She has the attention span of a golden retriever- watch it!" Caroline's shoe hit the bed post and ricocheted into Klaus's shoulder. He was laughing at her even as she shook her head.

"I can't believe you just compared our daughter to a dog."

The next morning, after smacking Klaus across the back of the head before breakfast to the amused and confused faces of her in-laws, Caroline proposed an outing to the family.

"The zoo?" Kol's face would have been amusing in any other circumstance. But since Caroline was trying to get her daughter away from him for a little while, at the moment it was down right annoying.

"Yes, Kol, the zoo. I'm taking Cece to the zoo." she shrugged, looking at Elijah with splayed hands. "Why is this such a problem?"

Kol shrugged, glancing at Rebekah. She returned his look, but turned back to Caroline with a smile. "I've never liked zoo's," she explained. "I've seen most of the animals in captivity roaming about freely and watching them in cages is depressing."

Caroline waived her off, turning her eyes to Klaus. "Uh-huh, you don't have to go, I thought it would just be me, Klaus and Cece."

Klaus barely managed to suppress a groan, and there was a beat of silence from the other three during which Caroline had a sinking feeling that she may have hurt their feelings. But Elijah didn't look all that upset as he shrugged.

"That sounds like a fantastic idea," he said. "I've actually been meaning to take a…"

Caroline ignored him after that, turning her smug face onto Rebekah and Kol. They were staring at each other again, a silent conversation passing between them. Over the years, Caroline had grown use to the two youngest Mikaelson's communicating this way. Whenever she would bring it up Klaus would shrug and just tell her they were close.

Liar, liar pants on fire. That ass knew the entire time and didn't bothering mentioning it to her once.

A heads up would have been very nice.

"We should get going if we want to beat the crowd," mentioned Klaus, already waving a piece of toast in Caroline's face. She rolled her eyes, smiling, and snatched it out of his hand before he got the great idea to start making airplane noises.

"What are you all going to do while we're gone?" asked Caroline offhandedly, munching on her toast. Cecilia, having ignored most of the conversation while she ate cheerio's, looked up at her mother.

"Gone?"

"I told you," muttered Klaus, giving his wife an amused look. "Attention span of a cocker spaniel."

"You said golden retriever earlier."

"What's the difference?"

Caroline turned back to her daughter, shoving Klaus face away from her while his siblings chuckled along with him. Caroline propped her elbows on the countertop, close to Cecilia's face and gave her a grin. "We're going to the zoo."

"Zoo?" repeated Cecilia. She turned her head to look at Kol, then back to Caroline. "Unc'l Kol come?"

Caroline flicked her eyes onto Kol, unable to mask her annoyance with him and earning an outrageously confused look in return. Caroline sighed and shook her head. "No baby, Kol can't come."

Sticking out her bottom lip in a pout, everyone held their breath, waiting for the inevitable tantrum, but Caroline cut her off before it could even start, pulling her out of her highchair with a bright, overwhelming smile. "We'll leave in half a hour."

Okay, so it was forty-five minutes, but in Klaus' defense he only went overboard with the sunscreen because Cece was so freaking pale and he was overprotective and something about skin-cancer, whatever she was too busy tapping her foot impatiently to listen to his excuses. Cece was dressed in her favorite blue dress and bright yellow sneakers (they let her pick her own clothes…sometimes they regretted it) and by the time Caroline had buckled her into her car seat, having babbled all about the zoo for the last almost-hour, she was practically bouncing.

After the Very Bad Incident they didn't talk about, the Mikaelson's had sat down and had a very serious conversation about their home. For the last fifty years they had mostly stuck together; occasionally Kol or Elijah would leave for a moment of solitude, or because Rebekah really couldn't stand Greece for some reason, but they would always come back. Moving was a family decision, something agreed on by everyone and no exceptions. After the Very Bad, they talked about leaving Virginia.

They hadn't been living there very long. After fifty years of missing her home, Caroline had wanted to go back, just to see something familiar and be close to her family. The Mikaelson's couldn't disagree and that was how the werewolves found them. They had to make a decision: stay in the epicenter of trouble and mystical fuckery, or leave for Cecilia's sake.

Arizona was not really on everyone's top ten list. The only thing Caroline knew about Arizona was what she learned from Twilight, and she figured there wasn't much else to know besides sun, cacti and the Grand Canyon.

Eh, well she wasn't wrong.

The restaurants were great (she lived with foodies, and if they liked the places they ate at, then they must have been good), the heat was less than desirable (vampires though, Cecilia was the only one they had to worry about it and hey! Pool in the backyard of their mountaintop home), the driving laws were ridiculous (she was never drinking and driving ever again, no matter what kind of vampire metabolism she had), there were like three malls she could drive to in twenty minutes, and the Phoenix Zoo was fantastic.

Caroline loved zoo's. She always had. But this zoo…She felt a little bit like an animal nerd as Cece immediately dragged her to Stingray Bay to feed the rays. Klaus made a face and opted out of that, but watched from the fence with a wistful smile on his face as both Caroline and Cecila shrieked and cooed as sardines were suctioned out of their palms.

"Daddy they're squishy!" Klaus shook his head, laughing to himself as Cecilia waved a wet hand in his direction.

Twenty minutes of Cecilia leaning over the edge of the pool stroking the Cownose stingray's, giggling whenever one would break the surface and nuzzle against her hand, before Caroline kissed her cheek and suggested they visit some other animals.

"Can we come back?" asked Cecilia after they washed their hands and headed back to Klaus. Caroline touched her hair.

"Of course we can, love. Maybe you can convince Daddy to go with us." Klaus snorted at her.

"And wind up smelling like a mermaid fart? I don't think so."

"You need to stop watching reruns of How I Met Your Mother with Rebekah," mumbled Caroline, reaching down to take Cecilia's hand and heading through the doors leading to the Arizona Trail.

They spent almost an hour looking at the Mexican Wolves. The exact moment Klaus stepped up next to the fence, the four large males padded up, sniffing the air and woofing at him in greeting. It was…amusing to him. Cecilia was terrified at first, clutching at Klaus' pant leg while the wolves yipped and pawed at the ground.

"You are way to smug about this," grumbled Caroline. Klaus had Cece in his arms and was whispering to her soothingly, both of them staring in fascination as the four wolves played with each other and rubbed against the fence. He glanced back at her. Caroline had her camera out, taking a video of the two of them with the wolves. Elijah would get a kick out of it later.

"Are you bored, love?" snickered Klaus. One of the wolves howled in response to his subtle mood change and Cecilia howled back, earning an appreciative look from her father. "That was perfect, sweetheart."

"Daddy, you're a wolf," said Cecilia excitedly, patting Klaus' nose.

Caroline snorted. "Oh sweetie, if only you knew."

That earned her a quick kiss on the cheek, but Klaus conceded and they left the enclosure. After that there were the Condors, a pair of mountain lions which Cece made meowing noises at, prairie dogs in their open enclosure who were actually somewhat violent toward one other, the giraffe's, a young male lion playing with two larger females, a trio of juvenile tigers, fennec foxes - the list went on. By the time lunch rolled around Klaus had already pulled out a small sketch pad filled with quick doodles of Cece and the various animals they'd encountered so far.

Caroline was smiling around the straw of her frozen lemonade as Cecilia babbled about seeing the elephants next.

"I remember there was some elephant that used to paint," said Caroline thoughtfully. Klaus raised his eyes to look at her, intrigued by the idea. She nodded. "Yeah…Ruby the elephant. She painted."

"When was this?" asked Klaus, going back to sketching Cecilia stuffing french fries into her mouth. Caroline's face scrunched up in concentration.

"Late 90's I think?" said Caroline. She paused for a moment, leaning over Klaus' shoulder to watch him draw. "She was pregnant I think, and she died."

"That's terrible," said Klaus softly, closing his notebook with a snap and bopping Caroline on the nose with it. She stuck her tongue out at him. "I'll have to see if there are any prints in the gift shop."

"Momma, momma, I wanna see monkeys too."

Monkey Village had been a bad idea. It was an open enclosure filled with Squirrel Monkeys; they walked right into their sanctuary and, after being told the rules by a slightly unenthusiastic keeper with a farmer's tan and hipster glasses, got to see the small tan and white monkeys up close.

It was fine until a stray pigeon swooped down to land on one of the vines. After that there was chaos. The monkey's tackled the bird to the ground, pinned it down and ripped open it's rib cage. Caroline had been horrified, Klaus had gotten it on camera.

"They're so cute and sweet looking!" she cried as they left the enclosure. Cecilia kept turning her head back to see what all the fuss was about, and Caroline was trying her best to shield her daughter from that kind of mental trauma.

Klaus chuckled at her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in close to him as they continued walking.

One of the cheetah's was lounging in the sun, and no matter how much Klaus tried to gaud her into admitting it, she did notgeek out about the Andean Bear and the two cubs napping on the rocks near the waterfall.

"The squeal was adorable, love."

"I don't know whatyou're talking about."

Two of the elephants were bathing when they finally reached their exhibit. Klaus and Caroline sat on one of then benches under a mesquite tree and watched Cecilia watch the elephants. Caroline had her arms wrapped around one of his, and her cheek resting against his shoulder.

"This was a good idea," he said softly against the crown on her head. Cecilia turned her head to look back at them, her face filled with awe. Caroline sighed happily and snuggled closer to him.

"I know. I have a feeling we'll be coming here a lot." Klaus chuckled.

"I don't know if I can spend another six hours here love."

"We've been here for six hours!?"

They stayed for another two before, utterly exhausted and a little cranky, they decided to call it a day and head home. Cecilia was fast asleep in her car seat when they pulled onto their street. Caroline was twisted around in her seat, watching her baby sleep; one hand clutching the stuffed pangolin (until that day, Caroline had absolutely no freaking idea what the hell a pangolin was, and she had assumed Cece didn't either, but the girl had just fallen in love with the little animal) and sucking the thumb of her other.

"You hungry?" Klaus asked softly, glancing at her while he drove. The sun was just starting to set, casting orange and yellow against the mountain. Caroline shrugged.

"I could eat."

"Do you want to go inside and I'll pick up something for us all?"

Caroline frowned at the house as Klaus pulled into the driveway, looking up at the windows for any signs of life. "Is anyone else even home?"

"Elijah texted me about ten minutes ago. He'll be home in twenty. Don't know about Kol and Bekah though."

Caroline shrugged again, unbuckling her seatbelt and leaning over to plant a lingering kiss against Klaus' lips. "Italian?" she suggested hopefully, sliding her purse onto her shoulder and reaching for the door.

"You're obsessed."

"I love you!"

Caroline waved goodbye to Klaus as he pulled out of the driveway once again, smoothing her hand over Cecilia's hair and walked through the front door as quietly as she could. Cece had barely stirred from her slumber except to shift to a more comfortable position against Caroline's shoulder. The house seemed almost dead, and Caroline shivered involuntarily as she made her way quietly up the stairs to put Cecilia to bed until Klaus came back with food.

Her daughter's room was at the end of the hall, right next to her and Klaus' bedroom. She stopped suddenly, frowning at the cracked door on her left with light slipping out of it. She could have sworn there was no one else home, though she hadn't exactly been using her senses to check. Creeping forward, Caroline focused her hearing on the room, picking up breathy gasps from Rebekah's room.

Bekah wasn't the type to bring home people, usually they would all take the piss out of her for it when she did. Checking to make sure Cecilia was still asleep, Caroline peeked through the door to try to get a glimpse of whoever Rebekah was with.

"Oh my god."

Covering her mouth with her free hand, Caroline backed away form the door; they didn't stop, so hopefully they hadn't heard her. All the same, Caroline waited a beat for some sort of reaction before she spun on her heel and blurred down the hallway to Cecilia's room.

She was in a daze as she put Cece to bed, tucking her stuffed animal under her arm and turning off the light. Somehow she managed to get downstairs without bursting into Rebekah's room and stopping everything before it could even happen; she pulled out her phone and dialed Klaus, keeping her voice to a shrill whisper when he answered.

"Yes, Caroline, I'm-"

"Rebekah and Kol!" She hissed, cupping the mouthpiece with her hand. She started pacing frantically, her eyes darting up toward the staircase every few moments when she hallucinated noises. "Rebekah and Kol, Nik!"

The other end was silent for a beat, and Caroline could picture her husband blinking at his phone in confusion. "I'm sorry?"

"Upstairs," she hissed, ignoring his bewilderment and throwing one hand up in the air. "Oh my god, Nik…oh my god!"

Another pause. "Caroline, I have no idea what you're talking about. I'll be home soon."

"Nik-!" But he had already hung up on her. She muttered darkly under her breath for a few moments, sticking her phone back into her pocket and crossing her arms over her chest. With once last, uncomfortable glance upstairs, Caroline turned and headed to the opposite end of the house.

Why she wasn't making as much noise as she possibly could, she didn't know. Maybe it had something to do with having been a vampire for so long. Before it had been a pass for her to be herself with no reservations, now it gave her a chance to lurk and stalk without being noticed.

The kitchen is where Elijah and Klaus found her ten minutes later, both of them talking, and laughing loudly about something or other. She was glaring at the countertop in the dark, earning a weird look from Elijah.

"Cilia upstairs?" he asked, already headed out of the kitchen after depositing the bags of food in his hands on the counter. Caroline nodded absently, her eyes following Klaus as he grabbed plates from the cupboard.

"Nik." she said shortly. He glanced at her over his shoulder, quirking an eyebrow.

"Caroline."

"You hung up on me."

His face twisted in amusement, moving over to her with the plates in his hands. "I was driving, Care."

"It's important."

"Right, what about Kol and Rebekah?" he asked, leaning against the countertop. He was being sassy; her eyes narrowed.

"I saw them." Klaus' eyebrows pulled together in confusion.

"Saw wha-?"

"Something smells amazing."

Caroline and Klaus looked up as Rebekah walked into the kitchen, smiling brightly at the two of them with Kol close behind. He shot them a small grin and headed toward the food.

"Saw Elijah upstairs, he's rousing Cece."

"I went to the shop," started Rebekah, opening the fridge. "We now have beverages otherthan blood in here…"

Klaus' eyes flashed from one sibling to the other before Caroline saw the realization click behind them. He swung his head onto her and cleared his throat gently, stepping into her shoulder to whisper in her ear. "Later, Caroline."

"What?!"

But the look on his face told her to drop the subject, so she did, just in time to see a sleepy eyed Cecilia walk in with her uncle, clutching her pangolin to her chest. Kol looked up at her, opened his mouth and paused.

"What the hell kind of creature is that?"

Cecilia was sitting in Caroline's lap as they ate around the coffee table. Elijah normally would have pursed his lips and muttered about decorum blah blah blah, but he seemed relaxed enough to sit along with them and listen to Cecilia prattle on about the animal's they saw at the zoo.

Caroline kept glancing worriedly at Rebekah and Kol, who didn't seem any different than how hey normally were. At once point during dinner Klaus caught her eye and subtly shook his head. Yeah, they would most definitely talk about this later.

"I don't get it," huffed Caroline a hour and a half later, throwing her hands up in the hair. They had put Cecilia to bed right after dinner, and Caroline had watched with narrowed interest as Kol and Rebekah went separate ways for the night. Klaus was currently propped against the headboard of their bed, his legs crossed at the ankles as he read and she talked. "I mean…how?"

Klaus' looked up at her from his book, obviously having ignored most of her rant. "It's complicated, Caroline."

She snorted, sitting down next to him in bed. She cocked her head to the side in irritation. "You knew."

"Of course I knew," said Klaus simply, going back to his book. "I know everything that happens, everywhere, all the time."

Caroline swatted his hip, catching the corner of his lips twitching. "I'm serious, Nik."

With a sigh, Klaus tossed his book to the side, sitting up and leaning closer to Caroline. "It's Kol and Rebekah, Caroline. There's nothing to discus."

Her eyes narrowed. "Does Elijah know too? Have I been making a fool out of myself for the last fifty years?" she demanded, now slightly more angry and hurt than just confused. Klaus shook his head, looking away from her. She pursed her lips and punched him in the shoulder. "Niklaus!"

His eyes snapped onto her immediately. She never used his full name. "No," he said finally. "Elijah does notknow. And it's better if he never does."

Her face fell as her anger left her. "Why's that?"

It was Klaus' turn to look angry, his upper lip pulled into a slight snarl. Caroline didn't even flinch, she had learned when and when not to react to Klaus and his moods. "Because it's Elijah. The fact that they were…" Klaus trailed off, struggling to find the right words, but shook his head when he couldn't come up with any and looked at her with a slightly frown. "What was it they were doing exactly?"

Caroline ducked her head sheepishly. "Making out."

Klaus raised an eyebrow, his voice dry. "Well I can see why your delicate sensibilities were so offended."

"It caught me off guard!" Caroline said loudly, defending herself. In retrospect, it probably wasn't the worst thing she could have caught them doing, especially since it was Rebekah and Kol. "You think I was preparedto catch my brother and sister sucking face against a desk?"

Klaus burst out laughing, reaching out to encircle his arms around Caroline's waist and pulling her into his lap. He pressed a kiss to her collar bone and another to the underside of her jaw; Caroline relaxed into his arms, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pillowing her head against his shoulder. "If it bother's you so much," he started hesitantly. "Or if you think Cece might catch them going at it-"

"They wouldn't do that when she's around," interrupted Caroline. Her fingers tracing patterns on Klaus' chest, taking her time to answer. "Rebekah is smarter than that and Kol…"

She could feel him smirk against her forehead. "Bekah has him on a tight leash. Always did."

"How are you even okay with it?"

Klaus shrugged. "The only thing that bothered me was the thought that one day they could leave me." Caroline tilted her head up, looking at him sadly.

"You really need to get your priorities in order."

Their bedroom door opened as Klaus laughed at her, catching their attention. They turned their smiles onto Cecilia as she peeked around the door.

"Hi," she said shyly, biting her lower lip. Caroline patted the spot next to her, moving out of Klaus' lap to sit next to him. Her face brightened and she ran in, climbing up onto the bed and bouncing in front of her parents, her brown curls flying around her face.

"Hi, darling," said Klaus, crossing his legs on the bed to give his overactive child some more room. "What's keeping you up?"

"I wanna go back t'da zoo," laughed Cecilia, stilling to catch her breath for a moment. Caroline took the pause in activity to scoop her into her arms, hugging her close.

"You want to go back to the zoo!?" cried Caroline, planting kisses on her cheeks. Cecilia squirmed, giggling breathlessly. "We were just at the zoo, silly!"

"I wanna go again," she insisted. She turned her eyes onto Klaus, her face lighting up. "We can see the wolves…"

"It's tempting, monster," chuckled Klaus, reaching out to poke Cecilia on the nose. "Why don't you get some sleep and we'll talk about it in the morning, alright?"

Cecilia took a deep breath, rolling her eyes before she sighed exaggeratedly. "'Kay."

Both parents watched her bounce off. Caroline rolled her head to the side, blinking innocently at Klaus. "I vote for Elijah."

"Second."