Hello and welcome to my first published Klaroline story!
I love Klaus and Caroline, and I love writing, so when I had this idea, I decided I wanted to share it! I really enjoyed writing this, so I hope you enjoy reading it as well.
The title of this story comes from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
A few warnings: this story starts with episode 8x15, then takes a sharp turn away from canon, but all magical children will be present in the story, so if that will prevent you from enjoying the story, you might want to stop reading now and save yourself the trouble. This chapter also mentions Damon's abuse of Caroline, so if that will make you uncomfortable in anyway, I sincerely apologize and recommend that you skip the second section of the chapter (if the formatting works properly).
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, their characters, plotlines, or anything else. I'm just a fan who loves the show and wanted to share a story idea that randomly occurred to me.

Caroline was wearing a wedding dress. Not the wedding dress she would have chosen if she'd had months to plan her wedding like she thought she would, but a nice enough wedding dress. It was white, and lacy, and Caroline couldn't find fault with it. But she couldn't honestly say that she loved it either.

She was surrounded by the three girls she loved most; Bonnie, Lizzie, and Josie. She wished her mother could have been there, but she hoped that her mother was watching fondly from wherever she was, and had a bird's eye view of her daughter's wedding.

Caroline Forbes was getting married.

She was excited to get married, with Bonnie at her side as maid of honor, and her daughters acting as flower girls. She couldn't wait to marry Stefan; really, that was why she agreed to move up the wedding, not because she wanted to be involved in another one of the Salvatore brothers' schemes.

Especially now that Stefan was human, she really didn't want to waste any more time before they got married. She knew herself fairly well, and she knew that if she were given unlimited time to plan her perfect wedding, years would go by before she was satisfied.

They didn't have years anymore.

The twins were twirling around the room in their flower girl dresses, trying not to spill any of the flowers from their baskets. They were excited about the wedding, which at their age meant they were excited about wearing fancy dresses and throwing flowers as they walked down the aisle in front of their mother. They didn't know that the wedding was meant to bring Katherine Pierce storming into Mystic Falls, and Caroline and Alaric had already agreed that if she did show up, their first priority would be getting the girls away safely.

Bonnie, while still upset with Stefan and not overjoyed at Caroline's decision to marry him today, seemed resigned to the plan to lure out Katherine using her best friend's wedding, and had stopped offering criticism, or promises that it was part of her job as maid of honor to whisk Caroline away if she had second thoughts.

Caroline and Bonnie had helped each other with their hair, done each other's makeup, and zipped each other into their dresses. It all felt like when they would get ready for school dances together. Except this wasn't homecoming or prom, they weren't teenagers anymore (well, Caroline was, but she always would be, at least physically), and the third member of their trio was absent.

Caroline thought that they hopefully should have outgrown using formal events as cover for supernatural schemes at this point in their lives. After homecoming had been upstaged by a plan to kill as many Originals as Damon could reach before he was killed himself, prom was spent babysitting an emotionless Elena, and one decade dance after another had been victimized by magic and mayhem, Caroline would have hoped for a calmer wedding day, yet here she was, on the fringes of yet another plot.

This was a real, adult milestone in her life, and it made Caroline feel sick that she would have to do it without her parents and one of her best friends. When she had imagined her wedding as a little girl, it always included her father walking her down the aisle, her mother crying and giving her some family heirloom jewelry to wear, and Elena and Bonnie helping her get ready, then catching her bouquet at the reception.

Of all the people Caroline had always wanted at her wedding, only Bonnie had actually made it. Caroline had been clinging to her friend all day to hold on to some semblance of the dream wedding she had planned in her head when she was younger.

Caroline looked around the room at Bonnie and the girls, shaking her head to clear it. There was no use dwelling on childhood fantasies. This was her wedding, and she didn't need it to be perfect, because she was marrying the man she loved, and their marriage would be perfect.

"Are you ready, girls?" Caroline asked, smiling at her daughters.

"Yeah!" they cheered in response, clutching their baskets of flowers.

"Bonnie, are you ready?" Caroline questioned.

"If you're sure you want to do this, I'm right there with you," Bonnie confirmed.

Caroline was sure. She was nervous, of course, and she was worried about Katherine, and she still felt a little resentful that her wedding had been so rushed, but she was sure. She wanted to marry Stefan, she wanted to help with their plan to defeat Katherine, and she could do both. She just needed one last detail.

She was sure, she told herself, trying to ignore the way her hands shook as she reached for the necklace.

{ }

It was as she fastened the clasp of the cameo necklace that Stefan and Damon had encouraged her to wear to taunt Katherine that she lost it. This wasn't about her. This was about Elena, and Katherine, and Stefan, and Damon. Not Caroline. Her wedding day, the one day of her life that she was supposed to be the center of attention, the queen for the day, had been hastily thrown together in order to lure an old enemy to Mystic Falls out of jealousy, so that Stefan and Damon could ascertain and foil Katherine's plot to harm Elena. Even when the other girl was stuck in a magical coma, Caroline was still second choice after Elena.

Caroline missed Elena, of course she did, and she wished she was here, to fight with Bonnie over who got to be maid of honor, to find Caroline's old, new, borrowed, and blue; but an overwhelming part of her knew that if Elena was there, this wedding wouldn't be happening.

She had said it herself on numerous occasions: Stefan and Elena were each other's epic loves. There was no way that Caroline could compete with that, and while Elena was out of the picture, she hadn't had to. But if this plan succeeded and Elena was brought back to life, Mystic Falls would once again be the battleground of the Salvatores' fight over Elena.

She knew, she'd seen evidence of the fact that Stefan was willing to sacrifice everything, including his own life, for Damon, and for Elena. In all of the years they'd known each other, she'd seen no evidence that he would do the same for her. Even after he'd known she was being abused by his brother, he'd allowed it to continue, complicit in all of the pain and trauma she'd been forced to endure, in the name of protecting Elena and keeping her safe from Damon. When she'd been turned into a vampire, Stefan had helped her adjust, not out of empathy, but because Elena had asked him to. Stefan had asked to take Jenna's place in the hybrid ritual, not even to save Elena's life-they'd spent all day working on contingencies for that-but so that Elena wouldn't have to feel the guilt and grief that he had foreseen would accompany her death, when it had been Damon, and not Stefan, the supposed good brother, who rescued her and Tyler from the sacrifice, and that had once again not been about helping friends or doing the right thing, but about saving Elena.

Stefan had sacrificed his freedom, becoming the Ripper he had worked so hard to put behind him, to get the cure for a werewolf bite to save Damon's life. He'd been prepared to give up his one chance at being human, something he wanted more than anything, to save Damon's life after another encounter with werewolf venom. He'd been marked with the Hunter's Sword defending Damon while she had been giving birth to the twins, nearly dying in the process.

And Stefan had selflessly ended his relationship with Elena so that she could pursue her growing feelings for Damon, letting her go so that she could be happy, even if it wasn't with him.

Stefan had rejected her and treated her poorly in the past, but now, even when they loved each other and were getting married that day, Caroline still knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Stefan would risk everything for Damon and Elena, even if that meant Elena ended up with Damon. As long as Elena was happy…

As much as Caroline loved Stefan, and she truly did love him, she couldn't spend the rest of his life waiting for him to inevitably sacrifice her and their relationship for Elena or Damon.

"Bonnie," Caroline whispered.

"What's wrong?" Bonnie asked.

"I can't do this," Caroline confessed, pulling the cameo necklace until the clasp broke, the chain falling in two pieces onto her lap. "I can't get married as part of a trap for Katherine. I have to get out of here."

"Are you sure? Because once you leave someone at the altar, you can't really come back from that," Bonnie warned.

"This is all about Elena, Bonnie. Katherine doesn't want to hurt me, or you, or the girls, or even Stefan and Damon. She wants to hurt Elena, and Stefan and Damon will both do anything, sacrifice everything, to protect her. I said so many times that Stefan and Elena were each other's epic loves, and I guess it's still true," Caroline explained. "Every time I've imagined what my wedding day would look like, it was about me, and I know that sounds selfish, because I love Elena, you know I do, and I would never want her to get hurt, it's just that I wanted to plan every detail of my wedding, and be overjoyed to get married, and that isn't happening now. It just doesn't feel right."

"I think you're right," Bonnie agreed. "You should be the queen on your wedding day, not the distraction for another evil mastermind. I thought this idea wasn't fair to you from the beginning, I just went along with it because you seemed happy to be getting married and I wanted to support you. What do you want to do? Do you want to talk to Stefan yourself or do you want me to do it? Do you want to go home, or do you want to get out of town for a while? Should I call Alaric to pick up the girls, or do you want to keep them with you?"

Caroline took a deep breath, overwhelmed with Bonnie's questions.

"Would I be a terrible person if I said I didn't want to talk to him? I just don't want anyone to try to guilt me into going through with this because then I will," Caroline considered.

"No, you aren't. You're looking out for yourself and your daughters. You don't want them to see you in an unhappy relationship because you felt guilty and sacrificed your happiness for someone else's. I'll talk to him," Bonnie said.

"Please just tell him that I love him, but I couldn't get married just to lure Katherine here so that Stefan and Damon could save Elena. Tell him that I hope they all get to be safe and happy, however it works out," Caroline requested, handing the broken necklace to her friend. "And I want to take the girls with me to keep them out of harm's way if Katherine comes, so will you please tell Ric that they're with me?"

"I can do whatever you need, it's part of the maid of honor job description," Bonnie told her. "But you should go while you still have time,"

"You're right. If you need me, I'm going to my house to pack some things for me and the girls, and I'll have my cell phone, but I'm not sure where I'm going after that," Caroline responded. "Come on girls, let's go!"

"Where are we going?" Josie asked.

"We're going to make a quick stop at Mommy's house, and then we're going on an adventure! Doesn't that sound fun?" Caroline cheered, taking each of the girls by the hand and walking out of the room, mouthing "thank you" to Bonnie over her shoulder.

{ }

Caroline was in her bedroom, scrambling to pack as much clothing as she could fit into her suitcase when she received a text from Bonnie.

'Stefan and Damon think that you leaving Stefan at the altar will make sure Katherine comes to try to "comfort" him. They think you're a genius.' Bonnie had written.

'Did you tell them that this isn't part of their plan, this is real?' Caroline replied.

'I tried, but they're both so focused on protecting Elena and defeating Katherine. Maybe once you leave they'll finally figure it out.' Bonnie informed her.

Caroline wished her friend luck, then sat on her suitcase so that she could zip it shut. She probably didn't need her entire wardrobe, but she wasn't sure where she was going or when she was coming back, so she figured it was better for them to be prepared.

It had been easier to pack for the girls, whose clothes were smaller so she could fit more in a suitcase, even with two of them. She managed to shove all of the girls' clothes that they had at her house into a suitcase, figuring that if they got bored with their own clothing, they could always swap, meaning she could put off shopping for new clothes for them as long as possible.

The first thing the three of them had done upon arriving home was change into more functional clothes so that they could pack the rest of them. Caroline dressed each of the girls in jeans, tee-shirts, sweatshirts, and sneakers, with Lizzie in pink and Josie in orange. She quickly changed into a plain grey long-sleeved shirt, a black corduroy jacket, black skinny jeans, and black knee-high boots. After they were all dressed and packed, Caroline started filling her oversized purse with essentials she needed to have on her, including her driver's license and passport, copies of the girls' birth certificates and their baby books, snacks and toys to entertain them in the car, a few blood bags for the road, and her wallet, stuffed with all of the cash she had in the house, though she would still stop at an ATM before she left town.

Caroline was aware that she was acting like someone who was on the run, but she was trying to outrun a potential supernatural apocalypse. She didn't know what Katherine was planning, and she wanted to get the girls out of harm's way as quickly as possible.

Caroline took a look around her now practically empty house. The furniture was all that remained; the closets and pantry were empty, the books, toys, and pictures all in suitcases, toiletries, makeup, and jewelry in Caroline's bag.

Caroline's phone vibrated again with a new message from Bonnie.

'Katherine is here. She's trying to destroy Mystic Falls with hellfire. She has Vicki Donovan working with her. Matt is evacuating the town now.'

'Where are you? Are you safe? What is the plan to stop her?' Caroline responded.

'Alaric and I are on our way to the Armory, Stefan and Damon went to their house. I don't know if we can fix this one, Caroline.' Bonnie replied.

Caroline was torn. She didn't want to leave all of her friends during their time of need, but she also didn't want to put her daughters in danger.

'Is there anything I can do? Do you want me to meet you at the Armory?' Caroline asked.

Bonnie's reply was instantaneous.

'We both want you to take the girls and get as far away as you can. We only have until ten to stop her. We'll meet you later if we can."

'Take care. Please be safe.' Caroline told her.

Caroline quickly shepherded the twins into her car, threw their luggage in the trunk, and pulled out of the driveway. She wasn't sure where to go, but she knew she had to get as far away from Mystic Falls as possible before it was reduced to a pile of ash. In the space of only a few minutes she had turned from a runaway bride to running for her and her children's lives.

When she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, she pulled over to read the new message.

'Katherine took Elena's body and had her spelled into the boiler room at the high school. Stefan found her there, now Damon won't leave without Elena and Stefan won't leave without either of them.'

Devastated that the nightmare she had run away from earlier seemed to already be coming true, she continued driving and called Bonnie, putting her phone on speakerphone so that she had her hands free to drive, even though she would rather the girls not overhear what was happening in Mystic Falls.

"Hey, Bonnie, I can't text and drive, and I need to get the girls out of here, what do you mean Katherine has Elena's body?" Caroline questioned.

"I don't know how she got it, but she took it and now Elena's trapped in the school. Matt says nearly everyone is out of town. Damon, Stefan, and Elena are basically the last ones. Ric and I have come up with what might be the only plan that can save Mystic Falls, but I have to run it by Stefan first. I'll call you right back," Bonnie rushed out.

"Okay, I love you," Caroline said.

"Love you, too," Bonnie replied before hanging up.

On the vacant street, Caroline approached two highway onramps.

"Which way, girls? North or south?" she asked the twins sitting in the backseat.

"North," said Lizzie.

"South," Josie responded.

"I'm thinking of a number between one and ten," Caroline told them, using the same game she always did when the twins disagreed. It seemed as good a way as any to decide which way to go.

"Eight," Lizzie chose.

"Two," Josie guessed.

"And the number was three! South it is," Caroline announced, turning onto the southbound highway.

{ }

Without a destination in mind, Caroline decided to just keep driving until she heard from Bonnie or she saw somewhere she wanted to take the girls.

It was five minutes to ten when Bonnie finally called Caroline back.

"Bonnie, what happened, are you okay? Is your plan working?" Caroline asked frantically.

"I haven't started yet. I can save Elena, though. I'm going to use the hellfire to destroy Katherine and all of Hell once and for all," Bonnie answered.

"That sounds dangerous! Are you sure you want to risk doing that?" Caroline worried.

"I'll be fine. That's not what I'm worried about. Caroline, someone needs to stay behind to make sure that Katherine is in Hell when it's destroyed," Bonnie admitted.

"And everyone else is out of town? No one else is going to be collateral damage, whether you can save Elena or not? I'd hate to see innocent people get hurt because of Katherine's vendetta," Caroline said.

"The only people still in town are Matt,-he's as safe as he can be, but he's the sheriff, he can't leave-Stefan, Damon, and Elena. Elena can't leave and you know Stefan and Damon won't leave without her or each other," Bonnie explained.

Caroline quickly understood what she wasn't saying.

"So one of them is going to stay behind, and sacrifice themselves to save Elena," Caroline deduced.

"I'm sorry, Caroline, but that's the only way this plan will work. I have to go, I'll call you as soon as it's over," Bonnie told her.

"Good luck, I love you," Caroline responded.

"I love you, too," Bonnie replied, then hung up.

Caroline wasn't a person who took many risks. She like plans, and order, and everything in its place. But when she dialed his number, she didn't think she was taking much of a gamble.

"Hi, Stefan, it's me, Caroline," she told his voicemail. "I just wanted to tell you that I know about Bonnie's plan, and I can guess what you're about to do, and I understand why you're doing it. So before you do it, I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry that everything worked out the way it did. I wish that today had gone differently, and I'm sorry I ran away, but I just couldn't agree to be your wife when we both know that someone else is your epic love. I've always admired how selfless, loving, and generous you were with Elena, and with Damon, and I would have been so happy if you loved me that much. I would say that I hope Elena's safety and happiness is worth it to you, but I already know that it is. Maybe we weren't in love enough to make a marriage work, but I think that I'll always love you, and I just wanted you to hear that. I wanted the last thing I said to you to be that I loved you."

Caroline hung up the phone with tears streaming down her face.

{ }

It was almost eleven when the phone rang again, and it wasn't Bonnie calling, it was Alaric.

"How did it go, is everyone okay? Where's Bonnie? She was supposed to call me and she hasn't," Caroline demanded.

"Bonnie was exhausted after using so much magic, but she's fine. She destroyed Hell while Katherine was there. The plan worked. I'm fine, Bonnie's fine, Matt's fine, Elena's fine, well, by Elena standards, Damon's fine…" Alaric trailed off.

"I know," Caroline told him. "I called him to say goodbye."

"How are the girls?" Alaric asked, to change the subject.

"They're both asleep in the backseat of the car. We are on the freeway, heading south, and we have almost made it to North Carolina. Do you need us to turn around and come back? I mean, everything we were running from is gone," Caroline reasoned.

"You don't have to come back right away. I understand if you need time to grieve away from where you've lost everyone you're grieving. Mystic Falls is a ghost town right now, and it's going to take some effort to put it back the way it was. And since Stefan cured Damon, you're the only vampire left, Bonnie and the girls are the only witches, the supernatural community of Mystic Falls is pretty much gone. I wouldn't be surprised if Bonnie took off on a well-deserved vacation soon, too. I think you all deserve some time away from this place, and I think it might be good for the town to take a break from being a supernatural battleground. I trust you to take care of the girls, however long you decide to stay away, even if you're going where I think you're going." Alaric said.

"Where do you think we're going? I haven't even decided where we're going yet," Caroline asked.

"You mean you aren't planning to go to New Orleans?"

Caroline's breath hitched. The idea of going to New Orleans hadn't even occurred to her. She had been so disappointed the last time she was there, in a similar situation: with the girls, needing someone who could keep them safe when she was scared, lost, and alone.

"No, I wasn't. Why would you think that?" Caroline challenged.

"Well, I guess I assumed if you ever ran away from your own wedding, you would go to Klaus, and if you were running away from Mystic Falls because you and the girls were in danger, you would go to Klaus, and you did both today. Right now, what you need more than anything else is to feel safe and loved, and he'll give you that," Alaric explained.

"And, hypothetically, in your imagined mental scenario where I go to New Orleans, you're okay with the girls being around the Originals?" Caroline inquired.

"Caroline, there's probably no safer place for the three of you than with them. I know that you would protect the girls with your life, and I know that Klaus would protect you with his life, and he can't be killed. I can't be with them right now, because I have to help Matt and Damon get Mystic Falls back to working order, but I'd feel better knowing that you were safe and settled and together, not blindly driving down the east coast until you find a theme park that looks like fun," Alaric said.

"Okay. Last time I was there, Klaus wasn't even in New Orleans, but I know that it's some sort of capitol of supernatural activity. The girls and I will blend in there even if we can't find him. But we'll look for him. You're right, I think we'll feel safer if he's around," Caroline told him.

They said their goodbyes and hung up, Caroline lost in her own thoughts about Klaus.

Alaric had been right: Caroline had also sort of assumed that if she ever became a runaway bride, the first person she would turn to would be Klaus, who she knew would keep her safe and wouldn't judge her. She had been devastated when she had gone to New Orleans with the twins, looking for him, only to be told he was nowhere to be found. She had needed him, and he was gone without a trace. This time, she wouldn't give up on him so easily.

"All right, girls," Caroline whispered to her sleeping daughters. "New Orleans, here we come."

I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! I would love to hear what you thought, so please leave a review!
Thank you so much for reading!

Love,
charlotte