"the infamous coffee shop au with a twist, it's a speakeasy front for the supernatural contraband and export. Human!Kol is the barista that see people come and (sometimes) go every day from nine to five. Sometimes the big boss (vampire!Caroline) comes downstairs and talks to him. Things are getting weird though. He saw a dead guy get back up last week and now he's found a blood stash in the back freezer. Even worse, he's probably breaking like some moral work-code by having a crush his boss. This is so not worth minimum wage." –queenchesh

Okay. So this is the end. After three years, OMIL is officially over. I did promise I would get all the prompts done, no matter how bizarre and even incoherent they were. I'd like to take the moment to thank you all for being apart of this crazy series. It was really something that couldn't have worked without your participation and giving me endless prompts to work with. I got to write Kol and Caroline's story a hundred different ways. Those were a hundred different ways they could've fallen in love and since that was never happening on the TVD/TO universe, this was something amazing.

Here's a little crack ship with five people writing for them and yet we saw their potential and we loved them. Writing them is almost second nature for me now. I feel like I understand how they are as individuals and as a couple, strange as it is. It was oddly gratifying to watch TO and see how I wrote Kol was who he really was. And Caroline...I've always loved her.

queenchesh said that this OTP was my holy grail. It'll probably be hard to find another ship that demanded my creativity and devotion like they did. In reality, these were two people who never said a word to each other. But I got to write them banter, annoy the hell out of each other and be two perfect idiots who couldn't live without the other.

Kol Mikaelson's father had some very strong beliefs. One of which is that children should learn about the importance of hard work and money so while he was willing to pay for his son's university tuition and the rent for his flat, for everything else, Kol was on his own. This is why Kol ended up taking the part time job at Eternal Simmer because while his mother was willing to send him some cash so he wouldn't starve, it was not enough for certain things like gas and concert tickets. Having the job also got his father of his back about not depending on their family's wealth alone and learning how to deal with Insufferable customers and their ponce-y coffee orders.

Spelling names wrong on the coffee cups was one of his favorite things about the job when he would get the evil eye from customers who couldn't believe he could misspell even the most mundane of names (Oh, Mary wasn't spelled Meyreeh? Paul isn't Powl?). While he'd gotten good at making even the most absurd coffee orders and dealing with general idiots, a few weeks into the job, he'd noticed a few things. Particularly, his boss. Caroline couldn't have been older than him and even acted like she could be one of his classmates sometimes the few times he got to talk to her when she wasn't in her office.

She was a pretty blonde with bright eyes and a sweet smile. Tall but still shorter than him with porcelain skin. While he knew ogling his boss was not very professional, he couldn't help himself sometimes. And she never commented on it even if she noticed.

However, his unusually young boss wasn't the weirdest thing. One night, when his shift ended and he was tasked with closing up, he went to the back to take out the rubbish and found a man sprawled in the alleyway. He'd dropped what he was holding and immediately when to check on him. His throat was ripped open, blood congealed on his shirt and he immediately called 911 to report what happened.

He'd went back inside to tell his boss about what happened but she was nowhere to be found. Returning to the alleyway, the body was gone. His boss came out a second later asking him if he was okay as she'd just gotten a call from the police. He explained what happened but she'd just laughed and told him maybe he should stop watching horror movies as his imagination was getting the best of him.

He might have believed her story if not a few days later while he was tidying up the back fridge he found all the vials of red liquid. He'd tried to open one of the sealed bottles but they wouldn't give. His boss came in a second later and explained to him that the bottles were fake blood for the upcoming midnight Halloween party she was planning to throw at the café. Later, when he checked for the bottles again, they were gone.

There were other incidents he couldn't ignore. The other barista, Stefan, apparently was only allowed to mix a certain coffee order that Kol wasn't allowed to see the name and recipe of. When he left after his shift, if he hang back a bit, he could see a car driving to the alleyway at the back of the café. Two to three times a month, a dark-haired man would come to the café and go straight upstairs to Caroline's office without anyone bothering to stop him and when Kol asked about the man he would get different answers from people ("Old friend of hers", "Her older brother", "A cousin", or 'An ex from high school").

He was getting more and more suspicious over time and finally after weeks of observing the strange happenings at the café, he decided to hang back one night and see what the truck was there for at night. He closed up and pretended to be walking away but hang back at the corner and waited for the truck. When it turned at the alley, he quickly but quietly unlocked the café again (having taken off the bell at the door before leaving) and made his way through the dark room and toward the back. He hid beside the doorway and listened.

"That is less than what was ordered."

Caroline?

"Look, Care Bear, you go negotiate with the wolves. You know how stingy those mangy mutts are. I had to practically wrestle Lockwood to the ground to get these."

"Our clients trust us to deliver what they asked for and this is not the complete amount."

"Oh, bite me, Forbes."

"You know how unforgiving the Fae are. I don't want to have to tell them that you failed to-"

"Then tell them that if they want werewolf venom, they can go pick a fight with a werewolf and…Caroline, someone else is breathing besides you and me."

Kol's heart started beating faster as he realized they could hear him breathing.

"Yep. Faster heartbeat. Someone's afraid….Your boy toy locked up, right?"

"Damon…"

The light flickered on and he nearly yelped when he saw the dark-haired man who frequently came to the café was suddenly there beside him. Light blue eyes glared down at him, his hand at Kol's throat, pressing him into the wall with supernatural strength.

Caroline was there and looked panicked. "Damon, don't!"

"Another mole? Seriously, can't the Strix just take a hint?" The dark-haired man's face morphed, the light blue reddened, veins protruding at his skin, his teeth baring long, sharp fangs. "Talk. Now. Who sent you?"

He stared in shock and stammered. "I…I…"

The hand around his throat tightened and he had trouble breathing. "Don't make me repeat myself."

"Damon!" Caroline pushed him away with a hard shove. "Stop it."

"I get it, Caroline. You think he's cute," Damon told her. "Yeah, the fragile human thing can be fun but he's one puppy in an ocean of them and right now you need to let me interrogate him."

Caroline glared at him. Her face morphing into that monstrous face like his. "Fuck off."

"Forbes, don't make me…"

She turned back to Kol. Her face back to that pretty, sweet face he liked. "Kol. Are you working for anyone?"

He found his mouth moving before he could will it to. "You."

"Are you associated with the Strix?"

"No."

"The Fae? The werewolves? The witches?"

"No, no, and no."

Caroline turned back to Damon. "See? He's fine. Must've just gotten curious. You know the smart ones always want to be Sherlock Holmes."

"Well, Mr. Holmes is about to find out what happens to snoops."

"I'll just compel him. Stop being so bitchy," Caroline rolled her eyes and turned back to Kol. "Now, about everything you saw tonight…"

"Compel him and he'll just do this again. Remember Seattle? I don't want to have move to move operations again just because you keep finding the nosey ones for your baristas."

Caroline sighed and looked defeated. She turned back to Kol. "He's right. I'm really sorry about this."

Her face morphed back to that monstrous face and he was terrified. He tried to shove her away and run past her but she slammed him back into the wall, hard. He was dizzy from the pain but he kept trying to fight. He tried to yell but her hand on his throat just made him choke. This continued for a minute before her grip loosened and he collapsed to the floor.

Caroline sighed. "This is like kicking a dog. It's mean."

"Just kill him quick. Stop letting him suffer."

"But…come on, he's cute and smart. He'd make a good vampire."

"Oh no! We are not taking in another stray because you're a bleeding heart…"

Kol finally got to his feet and ran.

"Son of a bitch!"

He nearly made it to the door before there was pain at his neck and everything went black. He didn't know how much time passed before he finally awakened. He was on the couch of the café's lounge area, a throw pillow behind his head. He winced at the brightness of the lights and the buzzing noise in his ears.

"Transitioning can be an assault to the senses," Caroline appeared into his view, smiling sheepishly. She was holding a mug in her hands and whatever was in it smelled absolutely enticing. "Sorry about killing you. But if I didn't turn you, you'd be dead for good."

"What do you mean by that?" He asked, his voice croaking.

She handed him the mug. "Drink."

He was swallowing half the mug before he knew it. It tasted amazing. The red liquid the best thing he's ever tasted. He licked his lips and wanted seconds.

She took the seat beside him on the couch after he moved to sit. She took the mug from him and settled it on the coffee table as he suddenly felt his teeth was too big for his mouth. She was watching him curiously and explained as he dealt with his changing appearance, "So, here's the thing. I'm a vampire and you're one now too. Damon is also a vampire."

"And Stefan!" Damon shouted from somewhere in the back.

Caroline nodded. 'And Stefan. He's Damon's brother."

He tried to talk through his new fangs. "And what are they to you?"

"Old friends," She answered. "Like, really old. We've kinda known each other since before we were turned around the late 1800's."

"In Mystic Falls, Virginia," Damon was there suddenly, sitting on the arm chair to their left. "Good times, if not completely boring."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Well, long story short, we left town after turning and we travelled a bit. Now we have a business together."

"This café isn't just a café, is it?" Kol asked, eyeing them warily.

"Yep. Just a cover," Damon shrugged. "It's not drugs. What the human authorities don't know can't be illegal either."

"We're into import/export," Caroline replied. "Whatever our clients need, we get. It's a lot safer with us. Less casualties."

"And our clients are not decent in any way so that is saying a lot," Damon smirked at him. "Course, we still need you to do your barista job. People need their coffee."

Kol rubbed his sore eyes. "I think we might need to rewrite my employment contract."

So, again, thank you for being with me through all of this. Thank you for sharing your ideas. Thank you for reading and reviewing. Thank you for favoriting and following OMIL through the years. If I could write Koroline saying their thank you's...

"Hey, so, Seph says we should say 'thank you'," Kol said, bored. "I don't get why we have to say thank you because you made her write me as some sappy prince charming who's so whipped over some blonde baby vampire who's obviously manic depressive..."

"Kol!" Caroline punched him in the arm. He didn't even wince. The asshole. "Don't be a jerk?"

"Caroline, after over one-hundred stories, you still don't get that I am a jerk?"

"After one-hundred stories you'd think I would've just walked away and been with someone else..." Caroline sighed. "But you see, you pervert, in this universe, we are in love."

"Yep. Disgustingly, madly, deeply in love. Lost your marbles and screws loose in love," Kol snorted. "What can you do?"

"Say, 'thank you', Kol,"

"Fine. Thank you. What she said."

Caroline smiled. "Thank you, because you helped give me a love story in a hundred universes...even if he is a jerk."

"Love you too, Forbes."