Hi y'all! Long time no update. I got a little invested in my other stories, but I have not forgotten about this one.

I hope you like this next chapter. Sorry that it's a little bit of a slow burn. Enjoy and please don't forget to review! :D

The dark hair man strolled off the elevator and towards the wooden door. He lifted his fist to knock loudly.

"Nik!" his voice called from the front door. "Nik! I know you're in there! Wakey wakey!"

Within seconds, thudding footsteps stomped to the door and a growling Klaus yanked it open. He glared at his younger brother who stood smirking for all he was worth on the other side. He hadn't seen him in over a month and should have been happy to see his face, but at the moment, he could not care less for pleasantries.

"What do you want, Kol?" he emphasized each word and practically spat out his name. It was five in the morning and he had at least thirty more minutes until the princess was suppose to wake up. He didn't appreciate his uninvited brother knocking down their door in his very obnoxious way.

"Is that any way to greet your favourite brother? Mother told me where you were and I thought I would come say hi to you and the rumoured beauty that you guard," Kol said smirking. In a second, Klaus knew that he was mostly their to sneak a peek at Caroline. The thought made him growl even more.

"So instead of waiting for a more appropriate time, you came here and interrupted our sleep. I swear if you woke up Caroline with your insistent screaming, I will personally feed you your own liver." He didn't need a crabby Caroline all day. She almost clawed his eyes out the last time he was too loud in his morning work out and woke her up from her "beauty sleep."

Kol leaned on the door frame. "Being over protective of your girlfriend already, Nik?"

"Not my girlfriend, Kol. It's my job," he grumbled.

"Come now, we both know better. There is no way you are going to stay away from such a beauty. Even mother warned me not to touch."

Klaus began to close the door on the younger man, having enough of him. A voice behind him made him stop.

"Who's there, Klaus?" Caroline said as she tried to conceal a yawn. Her hair was tousled from sleep and she wore nothing but shorts and a large t-shirt.

Klaus opened his mouth to answer her but was cut off when Kol blatantly shoved his way into the apartment. Before Klaus could stop him, he was in front of Caroline holding one of her hands in his. "Name's Kol Mikaelson, sweetheart." He planted a kiss on the back of her hand. "The younger, more handsome brother of your guard. It is an honour to finally meet you."

Caroline stared at the dark haired man blankly, then turned her gaze to Klaus who did nothing but glare at the back of his brother's head. "Not to mention modest," she responded as she pulled her hand out of his. "Caroline Forbes. And I would say that it's a pleasure to meet you as well, but it's a tad too early for that. I would also say that you should come in and make yourself comfortable, but I can see that you've already done that."

Kol stared at her in surprise for a moment and then chuckled. "She's got spirt. I like her," he directed the comment at Klaus who was still glaring at him.

"Watch out. Her bark is as good as her bite," Klaus responded in a grumble, to which Caroline rolled her eyes.

Without another word, she walked around both the men and began making herself a cup of coffee in the kitchen. Noticing that the other two followed her, she motioned to the coffee pot. Klaus nodded and Kol shook his head, declining her offer.

"What exactly are you doing here, little brother? Last time I heard you were in Asia trying to get laid by every woman on the continent," Klaus questioned as they sat around table.

An unladylike snort came from Caroline's direction, and both men turned to see her walk towards the table and set a mug in front of Klaus. "I remember you now," she said to Kol, "And if I remember correctly, your the party animal of the family. Mama E would always rant about you to my mother."

Klaus chuckled at Kol's appalled expression. "I'm not that bad. Besides, Nik was there for more than half of the parties. Bet you didn't know that your professional guard was known for quite a few one-night stands himself."

A loud laugh erupted out of Caroline and a smirk formed on Klaus' face. "I know more than you think," Caroline responded cooly as looked at Klaus.

"Anyways, I'm actually here because a wonderful little lass that I met in Asia has bewitched me into following her to this city," Kol answered the previous question.

Perking up an eyebrow, Klaus was sceptical. "And who might this woman be to be able to put up with your insufferable company?"

"Bonnie. Wonderful name isn't it? She's a doctor here."

"A normal girl," Klaus drawled, "Have fun with that one." He could see that trouble was coming. It always did when outsiders were involved.

Kol had a goofy smile on his face, "I shall, dear brother." Caroline giggled behind her cup. The boy had the look of love in his eyes. "Besides, I heard about Kai. I thought that you may need my specialities sooner or later. I might as well stay close for a while."

"What do you do?" Caroline asked, her curiosity peaking.

"Everything," Kol said smugly.

"He's a weapon's expert mostly," Klaus interrupted before Kol went off on a narcissistic monologue. "Mother sends him around the world to acquire top equipment for missions."

"Does that mean you know where to get me a M27 automatic rifle?" Caroline asked rather excitedly. She had been looking for the lightweight weapon since they were produced, but could never seem to get her hands on one.

"Goodluck with that, sweetheart. The government seems to buy out most of that model. You know about guns?" Kol's surprised tone made Klaus smile.

"In this line of work, who doesn't?"

"Not many bother to do research on their weapons. You'd be surprised to know just how many hitmen can't even tell the difference between a Glock 17 and a Glock 19. They just care that it's a gun with bullets."

"And that is why we have such a high turn over rate," Caroline joked, "I find that you can never have enough weapons."

Klaus gave her a scoff. "That's an understatement," he mumbled, earning a glare from her. "Come on, love, you know that no one needs that many throwing knives."

"You are just perfect aren't you?" Kol said. He would never have pegged her to be a weapons buff. "I swear if I wasn't in a relationship, I would pine over you like Klaus does." Now it was his turn to receive a glare from his brother. "Chill, brother, it was just a compliment."

Before Klaus could respond, Kol let out a low whistle when he glanced at his watch. "Now that I've seen the rumoured Caroline and have confirmed her beauty and her intensive knowledge about weaponry, I should get going since my goddess is waiting for me."

His eyes darkening at the mention of Bonnie, Klaus spoke in a serious tone. "Don't get too invested, Kol. Be careful to not end up in jail because you let your career description slip."

"Does my big brother actually care about what happens to me?" he mocked, putting a hand to his chest as if to slow his beating heart. Kol stood from his seat and made his way back to the entrance. "Don't you worry, I won't end up like Finn. I'll see you around, brother, and of course, you too Caroline."

Caroline offered a small smile and waved a hand goodbye and the man walked away.

"Make sure to wake her up in the same lovely manner that you did with us!" Klaus called after him as he heard the door shut.

The apartment fell into silence once the younger man departed.

"Your brother's weird," Caroline said to break the quiet.

Klaus chuckled. "That's the most tame word I've ever heard to describe him."

Remembering the way Kol's eyes sparkled and the smile one his lips, Caroline said, "In love with a normal woman. That's going to be a tough one." It was hard enough to be in a relationship in this job, but to be with someone who knew nothing of this world they grew up in was even worse. It was like Romeo and Juliet-destined to be doomed.

Getting up from his chair, Klaus put the now empty mug into the sink. "Chances are he'll tire of her before the end of the month."

He heard a tsk from behind him and turned to see Caroline walking towards him. He had been too busy with his brother's company to notice just how lovely she looked this morning. Her hair was tousled in just the right way that it made him jealous that he wasn't the one making it tangle like that. She looked so beautiful even without make up on. He'd have to remember this moment so he could draw her later on.

Lost in thought, he didn't notice she was speaking to him until he was looking at her expectant expression. "So?" she asked.

"Sorry, love. Repeat that again. Your radiance seems to have taken me by surprise this morning," Klaus said, his lips curling into a smirk when he saw a light blush on her cheeks.

"It's too early for your terrible pick up lines. I asked why you're so bitter towards romance. Kol looked pretty lovestruck to me."

"I'm not bitter. Just saying the truth."

"You are so bitter," Caroline replied quickly.

"If that's the case, I should be asking you the same question, love," he scoffed. She wasn't exactly the most open to relationships either.

A slight pout formed on Caroline's face. "I'm not bitter to love," she said matter-of-factly, scrunching her nose. "I happened to believe in soulmates."

He raised an eyebrow. Soulmates. He did have to admit that the very idea fascinated him, but it had been a long time since he ever entertained the thought. It had been back in the days when fairytales were something he read and before his reality came crashing down around him. Shaking of his thought, Klaus took a step forward and used his hand to lift her chin slightly.

"Soulmates and happy endings. Sorry to say, but they don't exist, love." Life had long since proven that to him. And even if they did exist, it would seem that faith had left him out of the rotation wheel.

Rolling her eyes, Caroline swiftly turned on her heel and strolled away. "Be a bitter old man then, but don't bash on love," she tossed the comment over her shoulder. "Get ready. We have 45 minutes to get on the road."

Klaus stood with his back against the half-wall as he watched Caroline look through a pair of binoculars for the third hour in a row. They had been camped out on the roof of the building since early morning watching as men came in and out of the building across from them. The hot sun burned their backs without a cloud in the sky to shield them. No AC or breeze was there to cool them off.

Being in the business for as long as he was, he understood the drill. He normally didn't care that quiet filled the space since hours and hours of surveillance was something that he was used to, but there was something about having Caroline along with him that made the silence unbearable.

Caroline had been so invested in watching the window across the street that she hadn't said more than a peep in an hour. From past experience, Kol or his sister would usually fill the hours with mindless chatter that would make him want to shoot himself, or he would spend the time by himself in meditation. It wasn't that he had been looking forward to the chitchat, in fact the thought turned him off the idea of going on recognisances missions. However, the usually chatty woman was rather quiet today.

When it came to her work, Caroline was thorough. Most of the time, she was a spoonful of sugar and the goddess sent from heaven. But one day, he had the pleasure of walking in when one of the many men who worked for her happened to have an off day and forgot to print out the papers that she needed. To say, the fire that lit in her eyes when she calmly talked to the man with a thinly veiled threat didn't make even him proud would be a lie.

At present, he looked down at her as she crouched on the ground holding up large binocular to her face with one hand and a notepad balanced on her knee as her other hand wrote down notes. Just as he was about to talk to break the bore of hot midday sun, she opened her mouth.

"Your eyes are burning a hole through me, Klaus," she said without turning away from the window.

"There's not much else to look at, Caroline. And you are a lot more attractive to look at than some brick wall," Klaus drawled, amusement in his voice.

"Grab a binocular and pick a window. There is more than one you know."

He made no move towards the binocular on the floor of the building. "I took the shift last hour."

"You know, I'm surprised that you even did that. The Lone Wolf was never a team player last time I heard."

"It isn't my fault that my siblings take the time to annoy me or that other workers can be described as incompetent at best. There's a lot less to worry about when it's just yourself."

This time Caroline did take her eyes away from the window and glanced at him. "Boring." She stretched out the word. "Bickering with friends and family are what makes life interesting."

"Then I've had enough excitement to last me a life time." His family were known to get into fights quite often. With four siblings of completely different personalities, it was hard not to argue about everything and anything. Family dinners did not come without knife throwing or gun drawing.

"I like your family," Caroline said with a small smile. They reminded her of her brothers.

Klaus let out a light scoff. "You wouldn't if you had to spend your whole childhood with them."

"They can't be as bad as my brothers."

"I highly doubt that, love. Your brothers may scare away potential bed partners, but my sister's indiscretion would rival that."

Amusement glittered in Caroline's eyes. "What did she do?"

Scenes of Rebekah running around his mother's house screaming at the top of her lungs about how she didn't appreciate walking in to see her brother's naked arse hanging in her face ran through his mind. To be fair, it was in his bedroom and it was her that had walked in at a less than appropriate time. However, that didn't stop her from telling everyone in the general vicinity about him and his underdressed bed partner. His mother wasn't too thrilled that he had brought "another scantly clad woman" into her home.

But instead of saying all that, he mumbled, "Nothing."

A laugh escaped Caroline. "Fine. I'll just ask her myself when I meet her, or perhaps Kol would be willing to tell me about every embarrassing moment you've ever had."

She was enjoying this a bit too much. "I shouldn't have told you scat," he mumbled.

A smirk stretched on his lips when he thought of something. "At least I wasn't," Klaus pulled out the paper from his back pocket, "'Chair of the Beautification Committee and director of the policeman's year-'"

Familiarity donned on her. "That's my pageant application!" Caroline shrieked and lunged for the paper to no avail. It was from her days in high school when she did her best to pretend she was just a normal teenager.

"Interesting choice of rhyme here, love. 'Aspire, inspire, and perspire.'"

"Give me that!" She lunged for it again.

Laughing, Klaus moved the paper out of her grasp and stared at her face with an amused smirk. Caroline stood in front of him unmoving for a moment, but seeing the dimples that appeared on his face, she couldn't help but laugh with him. He was being so silly.

Leaving it alone, she crouched back down with small giggles still escaping her. "How did you even manage to get that?"

Klaus folded up the paper and continued to chuckle at her. Truthfully, he had ran into it while doing some research on her background. "I'm good at my job."

"What does my application have to do with protecting me?" she quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Never know when an old rival is going to pop up and run you over for stealing her dress colour," he said sarcastically.

She rolled her eyes, something he realized was her signature move. "I'm so going to talk to Kol."

They fell into a comfortable silence for a while after that until Caroline felt Klaus' tap her on the shoulder. She turned around to see him holding out a hand to her.

"Take a break. I've got the next hour covered."

A smile spread on her face and she for once took hold of his hand so he could help her up. He crouched down to take her place with the binoculars, but turned around when he heard shuffling behind him.

He sighed when he saw her unlatching a large black case. "You really can't sit down can you?"

Caroline shrugged and proceeded to assemble the sniper weapon from inside the case. In less than thirty seconds, the weapon was teetering on the bipod and aimed at the building window. She looked through the scope at the bustling people on the other side. From here she could see Kai in front of a wooden desk talking to the two men sitting in front of him.

Shifting the barrel of sniper rifle, she positioned it to aim at the man's head. No magazine was attached to the rifle, but she clicked the trigger a couple of times with her finger. It would be so easy to just take him out right now. However, that wasn't the plan. They were only here for information today, but the temptation still nagged at her. Patience was truly a virtue.

"Careful, sweetheart. You wouldn't want to take of his head right now," she heard Klaus' amused voice.

"I know. I know," she sighed and lifted her eyes from the scope. "You know, I don't even really care if the bastard dies. But mother does, and that means it's my problem too."

Klaus looked up from his crouched position. "The things we do for family."

"Isn't that the truth." A small smile formed on her face. "Can I ask you a question?" Caroline asked pensively after a few seconds.

"What is it, love?"

"Who's Finn? Kol mentioned him." The silence that met her ears made her look away. It seemed like a touchy issue and she didn't want to push it.

"He was my eldest brother," Klaus replied with a solemn voice right after Caroline had given up on getting a response from him.

"Was," Caroline repeated, "I'm so sorry, Klaus. I didn't mean to pry."

"It's quite alright. He died a long time ago when my siblings and I were a lot younger." He took a deep breath. "Being the eldest, he began helping my father out with the family business before any of us. He was great at it. Made Elijah and I want to be just like him.

"But then he fell in love with one of his marks. A red-head by the name of Sage. She was the daughter of a casino owner down in Sin City. He was ordered to kill her and when he couldn't, they decided to run away together. They didn't make it out of the city. Their bodies showed up in the middle of the dessert a week later. Killed a part of my mother that day." Klaus let out a cold laugh and turned to see the sadness in Caroline' eyes. "Now, love, don't be sad."

"But it is sad, Klaus." Caroline never knew that this had happened. This was the type of world they lived in. Cruel enough to kill a couple of teenagers who did nothing but fall in love.

Klaus surprised even himself by even telling her the story. His family rarely talked about Finn or Henrik with his mother in the vicinity.

"It was stupid death," he responded.

"It wasn't," she argued, "It was a romantic death. Loving someone so much that you'd be willing to risk your life for them."

"Perhaps," was all he said back, letting the roof be engulfed in silence. After a couple of minutes, he looked at her direction.

Seeing how her eyes were still clouded with sadness, he stood from his position and walked towards her. Klaus leaned on the ledge next to her and offered her a small smile when she looked up at him.

Caroline gave him a weak smile back. "I'm sorry for calling you bitter before."

He blinked several times in surprise not realizing that she was still thinking about that. Klaus let out a chuckle. He hadn't thought much about the comment.

"Stop laughing when I'm trying to be serious." Caroline glared at him softly, the usual anger not really reaching her eyes. "Life hasn't given you the best of role models when it comes to love, but I'm sure one day someone will make you feel like you've found your soulmate. Like how Finn found Sage."

"And I can die a romantic death," he said sarcastically.

"Let's hope not," she responded with a small laugh trying to lighten the mood. "I don't need my guard dead."

Looking down at the golden hair that framed her face, the twinkle of her eyes, and the sweet smile she gave him made him think that perhaps Caroline was right about soulmates.

They sat on the couch and overlooked all the buildings they had visited that day trying to weed out the main houses. A pot of pasta sat on Caroline's crossed legs as she scratched off yet another building from the list Elena had given them. Reaching over, Klaus took hold of the wooden spoon in the pot and scooped some of the noodles into his mouth.

He took another spoonful and held the spoon close to Caroline's mouth. With her hands and eyes still on the papers, she turned her head and opened her mouth. Klaus felt the urge to touch the spoon to her nose instead, but refrained since the last he did, Caroline had flicked a spoonful back at him.

It was nearing midnight and they had been at this since they had come home that night. Both being too tired to care about proper dinner etiquette, they had decided to eat from the pot instead of placing it into bowls. No bowls, meant less dishes in the end anyways.

Klaus placed the spoon back down and rubbed his sore eyes before reaching for the notebook.

Both their sensitive ears picked up on the creak of the floor boards from the other side of the front door and were not surprised to hear someone knocking a second later.

"Who's it?" Klaus yelled and cringed slightly when he heard his mother's voice respond.

Klaus's eyes found Caroline's and they both looked down at the lack of clothes the other wore-Klaus in only shorts and Caroline in only a shirt large enough to cover her underwear. Since living together, they had gotten used to the minimal clothing the other wore, but if his mother saw, it could be easily mistaken as post-coital attire.

"Did she say she was coming?" Caroline asked in a panic as she placed the pot on the floor.

"No. Not unless she texted." Klaus lunged for his phone and swore under his breath. There were several texts that he must not have seen throughout the night.

A knock came again. "Coming!" Klaus yelled back. He had to find a shirt.

He was about to run to his bedroom when Caroline's hand pulled on his arm. Turning around, his eyes almost fell out of their sockets when he saw he pull her white shirt over her head and toss it at him.

"Go, before she gets suspicious!" she whispered. "I'll be right back." He watched as she ran to her bedroom.

Walking towards the door, he had slipped on her shirt and was surprised that it fit him at all. Klaus unlocked the door and saw his mother's figure standing in front of him.

"Hello, mother," Klaus greeted, not paying attention to Esther's unimpressed look.

Esther strolled into the flat and looked around. "What took you so long?" she asked. "And where's Care?" Her strict tone made it seem as if she suspected Klaus of murdering Caroline and hiding her body in one of the bedrooms.

Suddenly they both heard a flush, and a moment later, Caroline came out of the bathroom wearing pyjama bottoms and a tank top. It made Klaus wonder how she had dressed and ran to the bathroom so quickly.

She gave Esther a big smile. "Hi, Mama E."

In less than a second, Klaus watched as his mother's face went from suspicious to happy. One smile was all it took for Caroline to win people's hearts. He swore that his mother loved her more than she loved him at this point. And he couldn't blame her.

"So what's all this?" Esther asked as she pointed to the coffee table.

"We scouted half the building on the list and finding which ones took in the most cargo and business. We're going back tomorrow for the other half," Caroline explained leading Esther towards the kitchen table.

"I trust everything if going good then?" Caroline nodded as she boiled some water for tea. "And how is my son faring at his new job?"

A smile made it to Caroline's face. "He's a great guard," she said glancing over at Klaus who had moved closer to the kitchen. "He's not as troublesome as I thought he was going to be. No torn up couches or anything."

"Stop making me sound like I'm a puppy," Klaus growled out, making Caroline laugh a little.

"Aww is Wolfy grumpy?" Caroline cooed.

Esther watched the interaction and was surprised by the ease of their countenance when talking to each other. Most of the time, Klaus and Caroline were both guarded around strangers, but she was happy to see that they were both getting along. The first time she came to check up on them, there was some tension in the air as if an argument had already broken out. Perhaps weeks of living together had dimmed their original animosity.

She would have to report back to Liz that everything was going fine for now.