"I can't believe Matty is the first of us to get married," Caroline huffs into her phone as she darts through the crowds of families and businessmen, her rolling suitcase threatening to flip with every step.

"I can't believe I'm on a three way phone call right now," Bonnie laughs on the other line, "are we in the eight grade again?"

"Hey, there is nothing wrong with three way calls," Caroline says, "right Elena? Elena?"

"I'm here, sorry," Elena sighs, "I've been roped into helping with the rehearsal dinner but I only seem to get in the way."

"What does she look like?" Caroline asks.

"Tall, blond, gorgeous," Bonnie says.

"Ugh," Caroline scoffs.

"She's good for him, Caroline, he's happy and he deserves to be happy," Elena adds.

"But they don't even know each other, its been six months, if that!" Caroline exclaims.

"Well, she's not marrying him for his money," Bonnie laughs.

"Bonnie!" Caroline snaps.

"What? She's loaded, her family is paying for the entire thing,"

"They are," Elena hums in agreement, "she's having half the wedding flown in, and we're not just talking about the guests, here."

The airport loudspeaker crackles then, and a woman begins announcing flight plans and Caroline lets out a groan.

"My flight's been delayed, again," she says. "I have to go, I'll let you know what happens."

"Are you going to be okay?" Elena adds quietly.

"I'm fine, Elena," Caroline moans, "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

She says her goodbyes and hangs up. She was fine. So what if Tyler had broken up with her not even two weeks ago and over the phone. It was a strained enough relationship, and it was time. She was fine. Just fine.

Caroline cringes as she nears Gate 14A and spies the angry crowd gathered around a flustered young woman behind the gate counter. The woman is waving her hands in an attempt to calm a very angry, and red faced man. The woman is wearing a neat, pressed, blue uniform and she's shaking her head at the angry man. She steps away and grabs a mouth piece and the closest PA crackles again and Caroline can hear her speaking.

"If everyone will please, please, calm down. We are watching the tropical storm off the coast of Virginia Beach and - " she's interrupted as the angry man begins yelling again. "Sir, if you don't calm down, I will call security," she yells into the PA and the man finally stops talking. "Your flight has been delayed, and we will update you within the hour whether you will be flying out on the red eye tonight," she pauses and cringes before finishing, "or not."

She places the mouthpiece back behind the counter and begins clacking away at the computer. Caroline looks at her phone and debates calling Elena back. She was supposed to be on a plane by now. She spots a small bar to the right of her gate and walks over. She orders a club soda and sends her mom a text. The bartender has the weather channel on and she groans at the footage of Virginia Beach flooding. Bonnie and Elena are going to kill her if she misses the rehearsal dinner. She could always be fashionably late, make Tyler wonder a bit. Tyler, she winces inwardly at the thought.

Tyler had stayed at home in Mystic Falls after high school, reassuring Caroline that they would be okay. Take the internship in New York, he said, it was only a year, he said. A year turned into three, and a full time job. It was far too good to leave, a prestigious event planning company in Manhattan, and a boss who adored her. All in all, it was a dream come true. Other than the failing relationship, that was.

It isn't like you, Caroline, he said one night, I thought I could depend on you, I thought I knew what to expect, he said. He'd called her predictable and it was then that something inside of her snapped. So he broke up with her, and she cried, for a good twenty minutes. Then, her mom called and told her she was proud of her and suddenly, everything was okay.

Caroline takes her phone out again and send Bonnie a quick text.

Don't think I'll be getting out tonight. Tomorrow morning, at best. xx

She smiles as she sends it, Bonnie will deal with Elena.

"May I buy you a drink?"

Caroline frowns and turns to her right when she realizes the question was aimed at her.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, may I buy you a drink?" He nods to the club soda in front of her. "A real drink," he smiles.

He's handsome. Broad shouldered, blue eyed and foreign.

"Oh," she shakes her head, "no, thank you. I'm not staying long," she offers him a small smile.

He's sitting two bar stools away, almost directly across from her and nursing a small glass of dark liquor.

He's wearing a very nice suit, Caroline can't help but ogle him now, as she wonders how she missed him in the first place. He pulls his sleeve over his wrist and looks at the time.

"Are you on this hopeless flight to Virginia too?" Caroline asks.

He looks up at her and gives her a small smile before nodding.

"Unfortunately."

"Can I get you another one, mate?" The bartender asks in a similar accent.

"Why not," he lets out a laugh, "bloody weather." He looks up at Caroline and squints at her drink. "You sure you're alright? Maybe a Cosmo?" he's still smiling at her.

Caroline scoffs, "Do I look like a Cosmo girl?"

"We are in New York, love," he says, "I just assume all you New York women drink cosmos and obsess over shoes."

Caroline's eyes furrow and she turns to the bartender as he refills the man's drink.

"I'll have a straight gin, please,"

The stranger lets out a chuckle and Caroline shakes her head, "What?"

"Straight gin, dry martini," he shakes his head, "I was right, New Yorkers and their cocktails," he's teasing.

"Now you're reaching," Caroline smiles and she's flirting back.

"What's your name?" he asks, and extends his hand out to her.

"Caroline," she takes his hand.

"Just Caroline?" he asks and he's still holding her hand. "Just Klaus."

"That explains the accent, sort of," she pulls her hand back and takes a sip of her dry martini.

"Painfully British, I know," he winks, "my mother's quite a Loyalist."

"You're far from home,"

"Ah, on the contrary, I've found New York quite welcoming. I've been calling it home for a while now."

His phone beeps and he looks at it briefly before he turns it off.

"How about you, Caroline?"

"I've been here for a few years, not long," she breaks his eye contact and takes another sip of her drink. "Virginia is home."

"So its pleasure, not business," he adds.

"A good friend of mine is getting married," Caroline smiles at the thought of Matt. "What's in Virginia for you?"

"A family reunion of sorts," he laughs.

"You're from England, living in New York, with family in Virginia?" Caroline ponders out loud.

He shakes his head, "I've got three brothers and a sister, so getting us together in the same place is something my mother accomplishes only once in a while."

"Three brothers and a sister," Caroline exclaims before adding, "are you the," she pauses and squints at him. "You're definitely not the youngest, maybe the oldest," she's studying him and he seems to be enjoying it far too much.

"You think I'm the oldest?" He bites his lip and shakes his head. "I'm the middle child."

"I'm an only child," she adds and he leans in.

"You don't seem like the bratty, spoiled type,"

"Total cliche," she scoffs and he's staring at her again, and he's smiling, and she notices he has dimples. Caroline takes another sip of her drink and he quickly changes the topic.

"What do you do, Caroline?"

"I'm an event planner," she says, "I plan events."

"Not weddings, I hope," he frowns.

"No, but what's wrong with weddings?" she exclaims.

"I can't handle bloody crazy people, and nothing's crazier than weddings," he shudders and downs his drink.

"No weddings, yet. Mostly corporate events, some Hollywood type stuff,"

He gives the bartender a wave who nods in return.

"What about you?"

"I own a small art gallery," he says without much detail.

Caroline's face must convey her surprise because he smiles at her and nods.

"Yeah, I don't know why people find that so hard to believe. Do I not look like someone who can recognize a thing of beauty when I see it?"

The bartender places another drink in front of Caroline and she opens her mouth to protest but the young woman from earlier is suddenly back on the PA.

"E-excuse me, ladies and gentleman, flight 727 to Virginia has been canceled-" and with that announcement, the crowd breaks out into a loud protest. "All ticket holders have been placed on the 9:35 morning flight, your tickets will be taken at the gate, tomorrow morning."

"Seriously?" Caroline exhales and pulls out her phone.

"I'd say shame, but -" he arches his eyebrows, and gives her a teasing smile.

Caroline looks away, and blushes as if she was still in junior high but he catches her smile.

One phone call to Elena, and two more straight gin's later, Caroline finds herself on the stool next to Klaus, laughing at his imitation of something on the TV. She's warm from the alcohol and probably blushing every time he looks at her for too long.

"I'd love to paint you," he whispers and Caroline almost doesn't catch it.

She blinks at him, speechless, and he brings his hand up and brushes a piece of hair away from her face. She's looking at him and he already knows what she's thinking.

"You're quite beautiful," he licks his lips and her eyes dart to them, "if no ones told you, recently." His fingers trace along her jawline, and if he doesn't kiss her right now, there is no God, she thinks.

He pauses with his fingers under her chin and gives her a moment, but she doesn't move. She doesn't remember who bridges the gap, and in the end it doesn't matter because he's kissing her and she all but melts into him. His hand is splayed across her jaw, and his thumb softly sweeps across her cheekbone. She lets out a soft whimper as his lips part hers and he pulls back before going any further.

"As much as I enjoyed that," he licks his lips and Caroline is having a hard time focusing. "I'd rather not cop a feel at an airport bar,"

Something about the words 'cop a feel' being voiced in an english accent prompt a fit of giggles out of Caroline and she's far too buzzed because she's leaning into him and whispering into his ear.

It takes her some time and heavy persuasion to convince him that she is in fact sober and clearheaded in what she wants. Then they're in the cab and her skirt is hitched far too high and she must be imagining the body heat emanating off of Klaus, because she is burning up. His hand rests on her knee and all she can think about is parting her knees, just a little bit, just enough to let his hand slide in and around her thigh.

He throws some bills at the cabbie and he's got her suitcase in one hand, and her in the other. He nods at his doorman and she's suddenly self-concious for some reason. The sheer size of the building he lives in has given her a complex. He ushers her into the elevator and an older woman gets in after them. The hand on her lower back slides lower and he gives her a squeeze that shoots a pang of arousal through her entire body. The elevator dings and he's leading her out, unlocking his door and its dark but neither of them bother with the lights. Caroline slips her heels off and Klaus lifts her up and against the wall. It's hot and filthy and rushed and so good. His hands are under her skirt, and then they're in the bedroom and on the bed. He talks to her while he fucks her, just a string of nonsense.

Yeah, love, that's it, god, look at you. what do you want, hm?

She arches into him and swears at him to go faster, please, fuck.

He kisses her and obliges.

When she wakes up, her phone is flashing angrily at her. She has a voicemail from the airline telling her she's been moved up to an even earlier flight. She checks the time. She can still make it.

She picks up her clothing as Klaus sleeps, naked and stretched out face-down on the bed, dead to the world. She dresses, writes him a note, leaving her phone number and an apology, and she leaves.

Bonnie is waiting for her at baggage claim and she hugs her best friend for a good minute.

"I've missed you," she mumbles into Bonnie's shoulder.

Bonnie drops her off at home and her mom is crying before Caroline can get in the door. Her room is just as she'd left it three years ago. Her mom hadn't touched a thing and it was strange and comforting at the same time. She changes into her old pajamas, and slips into bed.

She wakes up to her phone and its Elena with directions to the rehearsal dinner. Caroline checks her messages, and does some quick math in her head. The flight left at 9:35 which meant that he was already in Virginia, somewhere. She gives herself a mental shake, shoves last night to the back of her mind and starts getting ready.

The house was not a house. It was a mansion, and a new addition to town. It was built on the edge of the woods and was the size of three of Caroline's houses.

"You need this," Elena hands her a flute of champagne and grabs her other hand, "and you need a tour."

"This place is incredible," Caroline mumbles.

The backyard was exquisite and romantic. Lights twinkled in the trees over a large dinner table adorned with flowers. It was like something out of a dream. There was a small bar on the far end with Matt behind it.

"Look at you, city girl," he about crushes the breath out of Caroline when he hugs her. When he pulls back, something behind Caroline catches his eye and he smiles.

A gorgeous blond girl in a beautiful red dress walks up and Matt takes her hand.

"Caroline," he smiles, beaming and proud, "this is Rebekah."

Caroline smiles and before she can extend her hand, the blond is hugging her.

"Caroline," she says and her accent just about kills Caroline. "I've heard so much about you, we're glad you could come," she's smiling and Caroline can tell she's trying her hardest to be nice and friendly. Caroline can tell because Caroline does it too.

"Your accent," Caroline blurts out, and shakes her head. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, I just wasn't -"

"It's all right," Rebekah laughs. "You're from New York, right?"

"Yeah," Caroline nods.

"You have to meet Nik," she says and turns back towards the house, frowning, "I just saw him. He's from New York too," she smiles at her but then someone calls out her name and she's gone.

Caroline meets everyone. She meets Esther, the overly polite but seemingly scheming mother. Elijah, who she quite liked and Kol who she did not, and Finn who nodded at her without a word. As dinner was about to begin and everyone began finding their seats, Rebekah cornered her again.

"Caroline, this is Nik," she's smiling at whoever is behind her. "Niklaus, this is Caroline."

If Caroline hadn't put her drink down earlier, she'd be wearing it now. Intense, far too familiar blue eyes stare back at her and her mind completely deadpans.

"Niklaus," he repeats and extends his hand out, "you can call me Klaus,"

Her hand is moving on its own accord and she's talking, "Caroline."

"Pleasure," he says, still holding her hand. Rebekah's gone, no one's around, just those blue eyes. Her brain kicks into overdrive and Caroline pulls her hand back as if he'd burned her. He opens his mouth to say something but she's gone, and already seated at the table when he turns around.