A/N: Thank you so, so, SO much for all of the reviews, follows, and favorites. This has been a really interesting month, and I'm happy that this story (which was my first real try at a multi-chapter fic) got the response it did.
So, we're on the last bit now, which is more of an epilogue than a chapter. It ties all the loose ends together, and it's supposed to make the transition into the one-shots go more smoothly. I have JUST posted the first one shot on my profile page under a new story (called "Home"), which will be marked as a sequel to The Safehouse.
Again, thank you so much for your support and your advice. You guys are all awesome. :D
Enjoy!
-Angie

Day 195, Mystic Falls Graveyard

The first thing Bonnie did was reach into her jacket pocket to pull out her cell phone, which had started vibrating the second they had fallen into the graveyard and wouldn't stop.

The phone hadn't worked in the pocket dimension, but apparently it started receiving messages as soon as it came in contact with an actual cell tower.

She had 200 voicemails.

Every single one of them was from Jeremy.

Damon pulled himself up next to her and mumbled something about calling Elena before walking off, but she barely heard him. Once she listened to the first message she couldn't stop herself from listening to the rest of them.

You told me you were dying over the phone…

Bonnie, why did you leave me, I love you…

I miss you Bonnie…

I don't know why I keep calling, but I asked your mom if I could keep paying your cell bill. I just want to hear your voice…

They went on and on, and Bonnie was sniffling by the tenth message, in tears by the fiftieth, sobbing by the hundredth, and by the last one her face was raw and painful.

She hit the call back button, and the call only rang once before it was answered.

"Hello?" Jeremy asked, sounding confused and scared.

"Jeremy…" Bonnie breathed into the mouthpiece.

"Bonnie? You're back? Where are you?" Jeremy asked, his voice rushed.

"The graveyard," Bonnie said, her voice hitching.

"Hold on, I'll be right there," Jeremy said, hanging up before she could reply.

True to his word, he pulled up in his car in less than ten minutes. When he pulled her into his arms and buried his nose in her hair, she could tell that he was crying, and she did too, her tears leaving burning trails down her dry face.

She had missed him so much.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I just didn't know how else to tell you."

"I'm really mad at you, Bon."

His voice was shaky, but he was steady as he held her.

"I know."

He pulled away slowly and grabbed her hand, leading her to his car. "I'll take you home."

"Okay," she agreed tiredly, wanting nothing more than to curl up in her bed, preferably cuddled up with Jeremy, and sleep for days.

He opened the passenger door for her, but pulled her in for a bruising kiss before she got in. "I love you, Bonnie."

"I love you too, Jer."

Day 195, New Orleans

Caroline, Matt, and Elena were sitting in the living room together chatting and catching up. They hadn't had very much contact with each other over the last few months, and they were glad to have some time together.

"So, you've been living with Klaus's daughter, then?" Elena asked after taking a sip of her water, seeming to want to clarify.

"Yeah. I've been living with her and Rebekah."

Elena screwed up her face slightly, but Caroline knew that her friend was coming around. Elena might be inherently judgy and a little bit self-centered, but she was a good person at heart, and really just wanted the best for her friends.

"I love him, Elena," Caroline said gently.

Elena just shrugged. "Yeah, I do get it, Care. I mean, Damon's done some pretty terrible things. I'm not saying I like it or anything, but you've been almost nothing but supportive of Damon and me. I should do the same for you and Klaus."

"Thanks 'Lena."

Elena gave her a shy smile, before stiffening and pulling out her phone from her purse.

She raised her eyebrows and answered before Caroline or Matt could ask who it was.

"Damon? Omigod. Damon. You're okay! When did you get back? Where are you? Should I come back? When can I come back?" Elena said, so fast that Caroline had trouble keeping up.

Elena had a huge smile stretching across her face, and waved a half-hearted goodbye to Caroline and Matt before she scurried up the stairs, still talking, presumably to pack. Caroline and Matt just shared an amused glance before starting up the conversation again.

"So, you and Rebekah?" Caroline asked, smiling slightly.

"Me and Rebekah," Matt agreed, an easy grin stretching across his face.

"I'm glad you two are happy, Matt."

"I'm glad for you too, Care. I know it's been kinda hard for you, but I think Klaus is good for you."

"Me too."

Day 199, New Orleans

Hope was wriggling around in her high chair as Caroline tried to feed her. After a few minutes, the baby jar cracked down the side—a sure sign that Hope was done with the whole business of eating—and so Caroline cleaned up.

"Caroline?" Rebekah called from the next room.

"What?"

"What are we dressing Hope up as for Halloween?"

Halloween was the next day, and Caroline knew that there was no way they were going trick or treating. However, Rebekah seemed determined to dress Hope up and take pictures, and Caroline decided to humor her.

Plus, that meant that Caroline got to go shopping for costumes herself, which she always enjoyed.

"I don't know. A vampire?"

She could almost hear Rebekah's exasperated eyeroll at her suggestion, and snickered to herself, picking up Hope in her arms. When she walked into the dining room, she found Rebekah at the table with five large pumpkins sitting on top of some spread-out newspapers.

"Are you carving jack-o-lanterns?" Caroline asked, surprised and a little amused.

"Yes. I was actually hoping that you could convince everyone else to join in, too. We can take pictures and everything."

Elena had flown back to Mystic Falls to be with Damon, which meant that only the original siblings, Matt, and herself were still at the house. Frankly, she wasn't sure whether anyone would be able to convince Elijah to participate in carving jack-o-lanterns (anything messy was pretty much a guaranteed "no" for him), but she suspected that everyone else would be up for it (though Klaus might require a little bit of extra motivation).

She sat Hope down in the dining room high chair and gathered a huge bowl for the pumpkin seeds, as well as some serving spoons to scoop them with. Rebekah left the house and returned quickly with a few pumpkin-carving kits.

Caroline walked upstairs to try to convince everyone to join in.

"Matt?" she called, sticking her head into his and Rebekah's bedroom.

"What?"

"Want to carve jack-o-lanterns with Rebekah and me?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not really," she said, laughing.

"I'll be right down."

She found Kol and Elijah in the library and asked them too. After explaining the entire process to Kol, and reassuring him that yes, they would be using knives, he agreed. She then hastened to clarify that she'd rather there wasn't any violence involved, but he just smirked. "Of course, darling, if you insist."

Elijah, as Caroline had expected, adamantly refused to have anything to do with the activity.

Klaus was a bit more difficult to convince, though.

"Klaus?"

"In here," Klaus called from his studio.

She wandered in and studied the canvas he was working on. It depicted her, Rebekah, and Hope sitting on the couch in the safehouse. They were all smiling, and Caroline admired the way he'd captured Hope's expression.

"Do you want to carve jack-o-lanterns with us?"

He turned to face her, drying off his hands with a rag. "Not particularly."

"Please?"

"I'm in the middle of something, love."

"It'll be really fun," she cajoled, sauntering closer to him and resting her hands on his shoulders.

"I'd really rather not, love."

"Why?"

"It just doesn't appeal to me, to be honest."

She put on her best puppy dog eyes. "Please?"

He still looked unenthused by the idea, so she pulled out the big guns. "I'll let you pick out my Halloween costume."

He raised an eyebrow. "Really, now?"

She nodded and nearly broke down into giggles at the serious expression of contemplation he had on his face.

"Fine, I'll be down in just a moment, all right?"

"Mmkay."

She took her chair at the dining room table next to Rebekah and sawed off the top of her pumpkin, starting to scoop the seeds out. Hope watched with interest as Matt and the two girls began their pumpkins, and Kol joined them a few moments later, eagerly cutting into his. It had been a little longer than twenty minutes when Klaus arrived, taking the seat next to Caroline.

She grinned as she watched him. His brows were furrowed a little bit in concentration as he carefully scooped out the seeds of his pumpkin and pulled out a pen to draw the design. She realized that he was actually taking this incredibly seriously when she saw him start to outline a picture on the pumpkin, glancing at a sketch next to him every few seconds for reference.

He noticed her looking and shifted his pumpkin a bit so that she couldn't see what he was drawing, making her roll her eyes.

They chatted as they worked, occasionally commenting on each other's designs (except Klaus, who was incredibly focused on whatever he was doing and wouldn't let anyone see).

She stuck her tongue out between her teeth as she concentrated on carving a perfect smile on her pumpkin. Rebekah seemed to be trying to do a flower, and Kol seemed to be mostly succeeding at a rather scary-looking skull.

Hope got bored about half an hour in, and started fussing. Caroline carefully wiped off her hands with a cloth and got up to attend to her.

She plucked Hope from her high chair into her arms. "Do you want a nap, Hope?"

Hope babbled as Caroline hitched her up a bit higher in her arms, walking up the stairs to the nursery. She set Hope carefully in the crib and stroked her cheek softly before leaving.

She was almost to the top of the stairs when she heard her name in the dining room, and strained her ears to hear.

"—Caroline will be willing to, though?" Kol asked, apparently finishing a question.

"I should hope so. She was there for her first six months, there's no reason she can't stay as Hope's parent," Rebekah said.

"Have you actually asked her?" Kol continued, sounding a little uncharacteristically concerned.

"I think she wants to," Rebekah argued.

"How will you know unless you ask?"

"Kol," Caroline heard Klaus say in a tired voice. "If Caroline is staying here, she'll stay with Hope. It's a rather clear-cut situation in my opinion."

"I still think you should ask her," Kol said.

"Don't be silly, Kol. Caroline's Hope's mum just as much as I'm her aunt."

Caroline stilled completely, taking a sharp breath, before forcing herself to relax.

She had already decided that she could do this, and if there was anything that Caroline Forbes was not, that was a quitter.

She was Hope's mother.

She returned to the dining room, a beaming smile stretched across her face, and sat back down next to Klaus, gasping in awe when she realized what his picture was.

It was a wolf silhouetted against a full moon. "It's beautiful," she breathed.

He just smiled at her.

Day 200, New Orleans

Caroline had been up since late morning, making the final plans for the night. Matt and Rebekah would be babysitting Hope while Caroline, Elijah, Kol, and Klaus attended the annual Halloween party that Marcel hosted.

Rebekah had already went to the store and brought back a costume for Hope (a ladybug), and she and Matt were planning on watching Disney movies with her all night.

Klaus still wouldn't tell her what she was dressing up as, but Caroline was sure that Rebekah knew, because she had dragged Caroline to one of the many spare bedrooms to prepare around three in the afternoon (even though the party wasn't until evening), and had given the hairdresser and make-up artists some very specific instructions.

Caroline had spent the last hour or two having her nails done, and her make-up had just been finished. Currently the hairdresser was tugging and twisting her curls, and while Caroline wasn't quite sure what the style would end up being, she thought that it looked beautiful already.

She and Rebekah were pronounced done around five, and Rebekah ordered Caroline to stay put while she grabbed a blood bag and Caroline's costume. Rebekah left the garment bag and wooden case on the bed and immediately left again to put on her own costume.

The anticipation to know about her costume was killing her, and Caroline nearly guzzled down the blood bag just so she wouldn't have to wait any longer. Once she had made sure that there was no chance of a bloodstain anywhere, she unzipped the garment bag to reveal a beautiful ball gown.

It was made of flowing powdery blue tulle. The bodice was fitted with a golden lace overlay, and the skirt would float around her, trailing on the ground even with the high strappy heels that she was wearing.

Once she had slipped on the dress, she opened the wooden box to find a beautiful tiara and the infinity bracelet Klaus had given her on her eighteenth birthday.

"Need a hand, love?"

She turned to see Klaus walking through the doorway in a suit, smiling at her.

"Sure, I guess."

He shook his head and plucked the tiara from her hands, carefully settling it into her hair.

She turned around to face the mirror. The gown fit perfectly to her figure, highlighting her small waist and the curve of her hips. She fastened on the infinity bracelet and turned to Klaus.

"A princess? Seriously?"

He shook his head.

"Not a princess, love. A queen."

A/N: And there you have it. There's a link to my polyvore account on my profile, and Caroline's dress is in the Safehouse collection. I didn't purposefully schedule everything so that Halloween would end up being day 200 (and the last day of the fic), but since it happened I decided that I'd do something with it.
Again, thank you so much for reading and for your feedback. I appreciate it so much, and I can't wait to share more with you guys :)
The first one-shot should be up on my profile by now.
Last opportunity for me to shamelessly plug my other fic: Go read The Travelers! :)
Hugs!
-Angie