a/n :: holy crap, i completely fail at updating I AM SO SORRY! everything has been really hectic lately with exams etc but i promise i shall be more regular with updates as soon as exam month is over.

on a brighter note, the response to this never fails to make me happy and i love all of you forever, okay?

i hope you enjoy this chapter!

chapter three
unexpected surprises

It was with surprising calmness that Caroline awoke the next morning. The previous evening had been tepid, at best. Damon was no idiot and had sensed something was going on; his eyes had kept flicking between Caroline and Klaus for the whole meal, but Caroline had kept her eyes steadily on the plate of rather delicious lamb stew in front of her. Klaus on the other hand had spent the whole dinner talking amiably to Stefan about a long gone memory from when the pair lived in New York. Looking back, Caroline figured it could have gone a lot worse.

Now, as she stretched out sleepily in her large bed Caroline was feeling oddly refresh. Her alarm clock read that it was seven in the morning, which meant she had time for a shower and good breakfast before work.

Work.
Ah, crap. Seeing she had skipped it on Friday, the beginning of her new project – of which she still had no idea – had been postponed to today, and judging by the annoyance in her boss' voice when she had feigned a few coughs down the phone two days ago, it was a pretty big project.

Deciding it was better to get it over and done with, rather than lie around in bed all morning, Caroline stumbled sleepily out of bed, half falling into the shower as she lathered her body in soap. Half an hour later she was dressed and hurriedly scoffing a croissant in the large kitchen.

She had seen neither hide nor hair of the male occupants of the house, but it wasn't as if she was particularly eager to see any of them – Kol had spent dinner with his eyes fixated on her chest, Caroline had a nasty feeling Damon was waiting for an opportunity to hurl more questions about the whole Klaus debacle at her and Klaus. Well, Klaus was Klaus and it was far too early to think about that particular department.

Grabbing the keys Stefan had given her the night before, Caroline exited the house. The day was pleasantly warm for early April – the sun was rising in a watery blue sky as wearily Caroline pushed open the door of the Mystic Falls Journalistic Office. She smiled at Jenna Sommers, the hard-working women who worked at reception. "How's it going?" She called.

Jenna looked up and beamed in return. "Hey, Caroline! I'm brilliant – are you feeling any better?"

"Wha–" Caroline began, forgetting about her feigned illness she had called in with on Friday. She gave a slight sniffed and hoped her acting skills weren't as non-existent as they had been when she had pretended to be ill to get out of Algebra in High School. "Oh, it's alright. You know how these twenty-four hour bugs are."

Jenna shot Caroline a sympathetic look. "Well, I hope you are better – Alaric may or may not be fuming that you missed work on Friday – you're one day behind his new tabloid project!"

Caroline groaned. Alaric was a fair boss but he had precise schedules and liked to keep everything on or behind the line. "Thanks for the warning," she told Jenna. "Does he want to see me now?"

"Yup," Jenna squeezed her hand a supportive squeeze a Caroline maneuvered her way past the front desk. "Good luck!"

"I'll need it," Caroline replied darkly, pushing open the door to the back offices and reluctantly dragging her feet in the direction of Alaric's.

As she knocked on the heavy wooden door, Caroline attempted to think of some way to get her back into Alaric's good books. She was debating between slipping a bottle of bourbon into the top draw of his desk or staying late on Friday night, when the door flung open, revealing a slightly flustered Alaric on the other side. His hair was pushed back in tufts off his handsome face and his top shirt button was undone, tie hanging loosely around his neck.

"Caroline! Do you know how behind we are? I need this published at the beginning of next month or lord knows what will happen!"

He half dragged Caroline into his office, steering her into the chair on the other side of his desk. "Right – You'll need to start right away, I'll give you until lunch to read the files and then–"

Caroline coughed politely. "I'm still not quite sure what the–"

"Oh, bloody hell! You weren't in on Friday that's why! Oh, shit!" Alaric shuffled through the copious spread of papers on his desk, triumphantly producing a thick, purple binder. He threw it across the table at Caroline who caught it. The label on the front read SILAS AND KATSUYA.

"Cat-soya?" Caroline asked in confusion. "What the hell is that?"

"Not cat-soya!" Alaric groaned. "Kat-si-a. And it's who, not is."

"Fine then," Caroline opened the folder and stared at the picture, a handsome couple standing next to each other in front of a large mansion, hands linked. The man was tall and rugged, his good looks resting in his enticingly oddly structured face and wide green eyes. The woman was just beautiful – her face was shrouded by long waves of thick black hair and her skin was a rich coffee colour. Caroline could of stared at her face all day but she was too busy wondering – "Who are they then?" She asked Alaric.

"Now you're asking the right questions!" Alaric winked enthusiastically, all annoyance he may have at Caroline disintegrating at the thrill of a juicy new tabloid story. "Silas and Katsuya Iwealea. They both grew up in Mystic Falls but left fifteen years ago after their graduation. Now they're back and they are somehow rolling in it – no one knows why, know one knows how. All they know is that if you're friends with the Iwealea's, then you're sorted."

"Okay," Caroline began flicking through the file, taking in the pictures of glistening white mansions, expensive cars and champagne drenched parties. "What am I meant to be writing about?"

"Them," Alaric said quite simply. "I have a four page spread saved for you in the Life magazine. If you do this, Caroline, your sorted."

"What about them? There's a catch isn't there?" Caroline eyed her boss. "I can always tell when there is a catch."

Alaric grimaced. "They're refusing to talk to the papers. About anything."

Caroline closed the folder so fast there was a snapping sound as the metal rings clashed together. "I'm a journalist, Alaric! Not a bloody undercover agent!"

"Hear me out," Alaric implored. "This will be your break, Caroline – there's a massive promotion waiting at the end of the street! If you just do this, then there's a whole window of opportunities open to you – New York, California – you'll be rolling in applications and offers!"

"But–" Caroline began to speak but Alaric cut her off.

"You'd be an idiot not to take this opportunity."

Sighing in defeat, Caroline re-opened the binder and glared at her boss. "What do I have to do?"

"That's my girl! Page fifteen."

Hesitantly, Caroline flicked to page fifteen. There was yet another picture of the happy couple, perched on a low brick wall with a stunning backdrop of a clear blue swimming pool, heralded by azure skies and a white sun. The next underneath was a short few paragraphs of text:

WHAT MYSTERIES LIE IN MYSTIC FALLS?

Silas and Katsuya Iwealea, one of Virginia's richest families have just moved back to their hometown the cozy town of Mystic Falls. But what are the reasons behind their mysterious return? No one knows – Yet! But the happy couple are embarking on what they're calling a "Summer Camp" for newly wed couples. Katsuya, who spoke to our spokesmen briefly yesterday night, disclosed very little information about the camp but said it is set out to be a thrilling adventure for all who partake! Keep an eye on our website for more information!

Caroline looked back at Alaric, frowning slightly. "So you want me to go to this camp, gather all the information about these people, write up a four page spread and then I get a promotion. There's another catch, isn't there?"

Alaric sighed. "You're far too quick."

"Tell me."

"Read the article again and you tell me."

Scanning the article once more, Caroline spotted the catch within seconds. "I'm not married. Sorry to put salt in your tea."

"There's the genius," Alaric beamed. "You're going to be."

"Excuse me!" Caroline's eyes widened. "I'm not getting married just so I can write up some report on a pair of posh twits who moved into the local mansion!"

"You're not literally getting married. We've found someone whose agreed to be your partner over the next few weeks as you tackle the report."

"Seriously?" Caroline ran a hand through her hair. "I have to pretend to be married, to some random stranger? Even for you this is a bad plan, Alaric. I can't act to save my life!"

"Oi, watch it – I am your boss!"

"You have to see logic, I–"

Alaric interrupted her. "You're going to do it, Forbes. The reservation in the camp cost a pretty penny."

"If I don't agree to–"

"Caroline, you know as well as I do you're not one to back out of something like this." Alaric smiled slightly. "You'll be fabulous."

"Fine. Fine." Caroline sank back in her chair defeatedly. "Who do I have to marry then?"

Alaric beamed. "He should be here right now. I'll call Jenna to send him up." Alaric picked up the receiver on his desk. "Would you tell Mr. Mikealson I am ready to see him now," Alaric said, before turning back to Caroline. "He's an old friend of Elijah's or something – you remember Elijah don't you? The one in the suit who came up from the office in NY?"

Somewhere at the back of Caroline's mind, alarm bells were ringing – Mikealson, Elijah. It all sounded strangely familiar. Caroline didn't have much time to dwell on it because there was a knock on the office door and Alaric bounded up to open it.

"Mr. Mikealson," he said brightly. "Thanks for coming!"

"Anytime," came the slow, drawn out reply, "And please, do call me Klaus."

:-:

Caroline was fuming. Of all the goddamned people she could have been asked to pretend to be married to and it had to be Klaus Fucking Mikealson. Life was on a down which never stopped, right now.

After Caroline had gotten over her initial shock, she had managed to choke out a tight hello and her shock was rapidly melding into annoyance. It was like the bloody man was following her. Trying to stop herself from slapping Klaus around his smug face, Caroline tried to listen to what Alaric was saying.

"–Klaus is an actor. He was on a Shakespeare tour around the country now but when Elijah told me he was looking for a job, I had just been informed of the Iwealea's and it was perfect. I trust you two will get on well together!"

"Of course, Mr. Saltzman," Klaus replied smoothly. "Miss. Forbes seems like a lovely young lady."

A small snort escaped Caroline and Alaric turned to her curiously. "Everything alright there, Caroline?"

"Quite," Caroline replied stiffly. Miss. Forbes. That man had cheek. "Klaus seems equally...intriguing."

Caroline caught Klaus stifling a laugh out of the corner of her eye and she cursed herself for her terrible choice of adjectives. She hated it but her tongue seemed to get twisted into a thick knot every time Klaus looked at her. As she felt his eyes burn into her, she had a nasty feeling that this whole situation was not going to end well.

Finally Alaric drew to an end and stood up, Caroline and Klaus following suit as Alaric held open his office door.

"Well, I assure you'll both get yourselves acquainted for the rest of the day. The camp starts in three days. I will probably see you before then to make sure you are all briefed, but for now good luck." Alaric shut the office door, leaving Caroline and Klaus alone in the corridor.

Klaus turned to her, a small smirk on the the corners of his mouth. "Well, love, I was never one to believe in destiny but I think this is too fateful to ignore. How about a coffee?"

a/n :: i am sorry there wasn't much klaroline in this chapter - it was kind of a filler to explain to whole marriage thingy but i promise, there will be lots more in the next chapter. i am equally sorry if this was packed with mistakes – it's late and i am tired so i haven't checked it properly but i thought i ought to get it up whilst i remembered! i love you all!

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