Hello everyone!

I really cannot stay away for long.=D

Anyway, this is a story that has been sitting on my laptop for a long time and I finally decided to publish it and see if someone is interested.

About the contents:

Everyone who has read my story "Cursed Gifts" knows the set up and you will also meet two chracters from the story again in later chapters, but let me tell you that if you not read the story before it is perfectly fine! You will understand everything anyway, I promise!

However, the starting point of this story:
Klaus and Caroline are already together for a long time now and he has solved the issues he had with his siblings. He leads a perfectly different life now from what he had once wished for (little hint there at the title;)) and he has made peace with it. Of course he still has to look over his shoulder every now and then for his enemies!

Well, with that settled, let's jump right in and please tell me if I should upload more chapters!=)

Happy reading!

He opened his eyes slowly when his subconscious noticed the changes in light. The sun was already up and a few dull rays weaved its way through the thick red curtains that hid the widows and the world behind it. A world that was about to wake up.

Birds were chirping happily and the last drops of the night's cold water dream, began to melt away.

Klaus Mikaelson drew a deep breath and his muscles stirred slightly. He turned his head to the other side to face away from the curtains, as if he could drown out the birds and sunlight that was disturbing his deep slumber.

He took another deep breath and blinked for a few times trying to shake the sleep off. A soft moan escaped his lips as he stretched his sleepy limbs. He was too lazy to fully open his eyes yet thus he could only make out hazy silhouettes in the room around him.

The covers were warm and far too comfortable to shake off. A deep content sigh left his lungs and he rolled over to the other sight of the large bed.

However, a frown crept across his forehead first.

He was laying rock still while his brain tried to solve a puzzle.

Something was wrong.

Something was very wrong.

Because…

At once his mind was full awake. The birds sounded louder while his eyes flew open and he supported the weight of his body on his arms. One quick look was enough to tell him that the bed and the room were empty. Though, everything looked normal, nothing was.

There was the dressing table, cluttered with his stuff. The plush chair in front of it held the clothes he had just worn yesterday.

The frown on his face deepened as did his confusion.

He listened to the silence inside the room and even extended it to the attached bathroom, although the dark door framed signalled no light inside. No.

There was definitely only one beating heart in the room.

His.

But he should not be alone!

Where was Caroline?

The covers flew off his body with one swift movement of his hand and he walked towards the bathroom.

She was never awake before him.

He would wake up first thing the sun showed its head, if he wanted to or not. It had always been like that, he had been raised to go to bed at sunset and rise again at sunrise. Caroline, however, liked to lie in whenever she could.

And before Caroline, he had immediately risen to the new day, already concocting the plans for the day even before the first cup of coffee. But since she had entered his life and his bed room as a permanent resident, he had changed and become calmer. He had learned how fulfilling it could be to not jump right out of bed.

He would turn to her and pull her warm body against his to spend at least half an hour relishing in her presence.

He flicked the light on even though he knew that the bathroom was definitely empty.

Huffing he switched the light off again. With one hand buried in his hair he strode over to the door of the room.

Sure they had had a fight yesterday, but had it been that bad?

"I hate you!" Caroline yelled and glowered at him. The angry fire in her eyes burnt his soul and left a tingling feeling behind. He loved her fire. He hated their fights, but there was this part of him that loved her fire and thus loved their fights. Not mentioning the awesome make up sessions…

"Caroline, we have had this before, you are not coming!" Klaus told her again determinedly.

Caroline ground her teeth and stared angrily at Klaus who tried to stare her down, but being Caroline, she did not back off. She would never do that and that's the other part about why he loved her so much.

Klaus tried to suppress his grin. "Love." He put his hands onto her shoulders, but Caroline shook them off. "Those witches are not amused about us being here, which means that…"

"I know that! I know how dangerous they are and I know that you want to protect me, but can't you get it into your thick head that I am worried as well, that I can help you? I am just as capable…"

"No, love, you are not!"

"You have trained me!"

"That I did, but immortality cannot be trained! I am not letting you run into your ruin! You are capable, but not in…"

"Well, try to stop me!"

Klaus flexed his fingers and fought his demons inside. He loved Caroline. He loved her to death.

Literally.

That's when her body dropped lifelessly to the ground.

"I love you too much." He mumbled and stared at her for a second with sad eyes, before he carefully picked her up to carry her into their room. He placed her onto the bed and push her hair out of her face. His fingers ran down the side of her face.

He would be back before her neck would heal.

He groaned and rolled his eyes while he jogged down the stairs.

Admittedly, he really had been an ass and Caroline would of course punish him for that, but he wouldn't have thought that she'd stay away from him. She had never done that before.

If anything she would have kicked him out of the room.

So, why would she sleep on the couch now?

The house was silent and the shadows were still pitch black from the lack of full morning light. His bare feet were almost soundless on the floor. But Klaus did not need to be silent inside his own house, did he?

He rounded the corner and carefully pushed the door to the living room open.

He knew that the sight of the new colourful interior would still be new to him for a while, but despite he felt like it had been the right decision to give Caroline free reign. For Caroline had made it her project to brighten up the house and give it her personal touch, thereby making it a little more to her own home. Claiming the space inside the house that would from now on always belong to her.

He pushed the door open and suddenly drew in a sharp breath.

His face hardened when he looked at the room in front of him.

"What the…?"

He stepped inside spinning around his own axe. Not believing his eyes, his mouth fell open when he stared at the dark walls around.

There was his black leather couch, on each side a tray with liquor; the old book shelves made from dark cherry wood, full of centuries of history and dust; the rusty fireplace covered in deep black soot.

What the hell happened here?

Everything was back as it had been before, when he had originally built the mansion.

Where was Caroline's stuff?

The new red couch she had picked? The curtains? The new lamps to lighten up the room?

No, this was impossible!

He quickly exited the room and closed the door behind him. But before he started to move again he paused for a moment and then opened the door again. This was a mistake!

But when he opened his eyes, he was still staring at the cold dark interior.

Klaus shook his head and walked back into the hall. He perked up his eyes and listened to any movement. He heard the cars outside on the street, the birds in the trees, a dog was barking somewhere.

But there was no sound within the house. Nothing!

It was deaf silent.

Too silent!

The blood was starting to pump quickly through his whole body.

He proceeded into the kitchen.

The surfaces of the table and the counter tops shone in the light that blinked shyly through the windows.

Everything was clean and neat. There were no stains, there was no dirty dishes in the sink, there was no food lying around.

Everything looked like the kitchen in the real estate catalogues. Almost sterile instead of homey.

Klaus heartbeat sped up.

This wasn't how this was supposed to look like at all!

At this time in the morning his big brother, Elijah would usually sit right there at the table and sip his morning tea while reading the paper. Klaus rounded the table. He would sit right there at the edge where he had made himself some room on the cluttered table prior, so he could indulge in his morning procedure. The table was not supposed to be empty!

Rebekah and Caroline always left their stuff lying around, not even mentioning Kol.

Where were the books and magazines? The purses and empty shopping bags? The CDs and DVDs? The mobiles and headphones? Empty cups and blood bags?

He frowned at the blinking space in front of him and one question formed in his mind.

When had someone last used this kitchen?

He lifted his nose. The air was stale and he wondered:

Has someone even used this room before?

There was a noise at the door and Klaus vamp-sped into the hall.

Only a second later was he breathing down the neck of the intruder while he pushed him violently against the wall with a loud thud.

"Who the hell are you?" He snarled and showed his fangs to let the man shudder in fear.

To his surprise the creature under his fingers didn't squirm or fight back. It just stared back at Klaus with a slightly confused, but dull expression.

"I am bringing you your blood bags, master, like every morning."

Klaus widened his eyes and he took a step back from the man, though not letting him out of his claws yet. His eyes fell to the bag in the young man's hand.

"Can I get you anything else, master Klaus?" He simply asked as if nothing fazed him.

Klaus hissed as the realisation kicked in and he let go of him entirely. "You are a hybrid!" He stated silently, but full of surprise.

The hybrid frowned. "Are you not feeling well?"

Klaus quickly pressed his lips together into a thin line and nodded. "Of course." He held out his hand for the bag and the young warrior handed it to him. "Thank you, er…"

"Antony."

"Right, Antony." Klaus opened the bag and peered into it. There were four blood bags in there, flavour A negative.

A negative?

His eyes shot up to Antony's face. The hybrid waited patiently with empty eyes.

Klaus pursed his lips. "Well, Antony, that would be all for now."

Antony nodded, but still seemed to be waiting for something.

Klaus raised his eyebrows and simply stared at him.

Antony suddenly seemed to get pretty nervous. "Er, I'll join the others in the town square then?" It was a question not a statement and Antony obviously wanted to have Klaus' approval.

Definitely hybrid.

Klaus nodded and Antony let out a relived breath before he quickly exited through the door.

Klaus then quickly moved towards the window and watched how the young hybrid left his property towards the town centre.

The others? Klaus thought.

What was going on here?

Hybrids? Unfamiliar rooms?

And not a familiar soul to be seen.

Something was so wrong!

He listened to the rooms upstairs.

Emptiness was all he heard, but he had to make sure. So he quickly put the blood into the empty fridge.

Yes, empty. Something was definitely not right!

He sped upstairs and pushed every door open with so much force that they almost fell out of the hinges.

Empty!

Empty!

The loud bangs echoed through the whole house.

Empty!

No one.

Nothing.

The beds were all unused.

The air smelled like moth balls and the windows made the sunlight looked dirty.

This was a bad joke, if this was even one.

Dread crept into his bones and Klaus tried to regain control over his breathing.

His hands were far from easy when he checked his phone.

The calling list only held names he didn't recognize at all, except for Antony that was and…Tyler Lockwood.

He shook his head not understanding any of this!

He dialled the number he had deeply engraved in his brain. The one he would never ever forget again. He waited feeling anxious and tied up.

"The number you have dialled has not been recognized. Please try again."

"What?"

Caroline would never ever change her number!

His chest constricted and breathing became pretty difficult when he felt the panic surge through his veins. It was a feeling that he had lost long ago, actually since he had realised that Caroline wouldn't leave him and with her his family, he had finally made peace with.

But right now it came back crashing down on him just like a tidal wave and pushed held him deep under water.

Klaus straightened closing his eyes and tried to draw steady breaths. One, two, three…it was like he had to shake off the effects of a nightmare that he could not get rid of.

There had to be a logical explanation for all of this!

There simply had to be!

He dialled the next number he knew by heart.

He breathed when the call went through.

Thank god! Everything would be explained now!

"What do you want Niklaus?" Instead of feeling irritated by the distant tone in Elijah's voice, Klaus immediately answered:

"Elijah! Where the hell are you? And where is Caroline? What the hell happened?"

There was silence on the other side and Klaus became wary.

"Brother?"

"Have you revived Rebekah again?"

Klaus frowned. "What? But…"

"As I told you before, I am not speaking to you until you undagger our sister, brother!" He practically spat the word in his face.

He daggered Rebekah? When? Why?

"Elijah, something is wrong. Where are you?"

The original sighed. "Not that it is any of your business, but I am in Paris."

"Paris?" What? "Elijah, where is Caroline?" He dreaded the answer but he had to know.

"Niklaus, I don't want to know anything about the ladies you occupy your time with. Now try to keep your hybrids on a leash, will you? One more week and you will have exposed us all!" His tone implied how mad he was at him and Klaus couldn't understand any of it.

"Elijah, I…"

"Farewell, brother."