Kaitlyn's POV
March 15, 2028

The past few weeks have been running smoothly for all of us. There has been minimal interactions with the Mikaelsons, except for Kol along with Davina and Freya, whom I've learned to like quite a lot lately. After one of our teachers had an accident with Hellfire, Alaric and I decided to let him off for a while.
When I was hanging out at the Grill with Kol, Davina and Freya, it slipped out that we were looking for a temporary, substitute teacher for one of our magic classes. Freya immediately sounded interested and decided to sit for an interview the very next day. No doubt she got the job. She's more than qualified to. So for the past week, Freya has been a substitute teacher at our school, teaching a magic class to the seniors.

I've been knee deep in work for school and simultaneously chasings leads for the twins as their birthday is fast-approaching. After the twins' birthday, I'm taking a trip to Italy with Caroline, for another promising lead we found. But for now, my main priority is planning the perfect 'Sweet Sixteen' party for my girls.
I've already requested the mayor to let us have the party at the Town Hall.

I hear a knock on my office door and look up to see Ric walk in.
"Hey, you done here? We should head home soon if we want to make it to our own daughters' party," he jokes.
"Yeah, I'm done. You go ahead, I'll meet you in the car," I tell him as he nods and leaves.
I grab some paperwork that I need to sort through at home later and head towards the car.

On the way out, I run into Freya.
"Oh hey, Freya, how's it going?" I greet her.
She gives me the charming Mikaelson smile, "it's going great. I love spending time with these curious minds," she replies.
"Good to know it's not becoming too much of a bother for you."
"Oh please, it's anything but a bother. You're heading out early today," she states.
"Oh yeah, it's the twins' birthday so I need to go ensure everything's running smoothly for the party. You should totally stop by," I tell her, "the twins would appreciate it."
"I'll try," she tells me with one final smile as she walks back to her class and I get into Ric's car and drive off.

༆☼︎☾︎ꨄ︎☽︎☼︎༆
It's 4 in the afternoon when I reach the Town Hall to recheck the decorations one last time. The girls' friends convinced Ric to participate in a performance they prepared for them. They even convinced Ryan and Madeline to participate, somehow.
I was fixing some flower vases when my phone starts ringing. I check to see it's Lizzie.

"Hey sweety,"
"Hey mom, are you done with the decorations? We want to head there soon," Lizzie tells me.
I look around the hall once before replying, "yeah sure, head on over."

Soon, all the guests are here and so far, everything looks perfect. We decided to go with a blue, sort of old-decade party theme for the party, upon Lizzie's request.
We turned off all the lights and waited in our spots for Ryan to bring the girls inside.

As the door opens and they walk in, we all shout out, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"
Soon, the party is in full swing and the girls look as happy as ever, as they dance along with their friends.

Lizzie performs "Sweet Sixteen" by Hilary Duff.

Then, the kids then put on a performance of "Sixteen Candles" for the twins and being the embarrassing dad he is, promised to join their performance later.

The twins walk up to me during the performance, "do we have the best friends or what?" Josie screams over the loud music.
"Oh yes, just wait till your dad's bit starts!" I reply to them.
"What? Dad's in on this?" Lizzie asks.
"Just hang on," I tell them with a smirk.
Just then, Ric comes on stage and dances his part out, or at least tries to.

"Please tell me you're not going to embarrass us like that too," Lizzie asks me as they both turn to me.
"I will but Ric's enough for today. I'll wait till your graduation," I tease them as I walk away to greet the other guests.

༆☼︎☾︎ꨄ︎☽︎☼︎༆
Caroline's POV

While Lyn and Ric socialize with the guests, I ask the caterers to set up the cake and then start serving the food as well.
"Hey, what did I tell you about the 'no empty juice glasses' policy?" I yell at one waiter when I notice him carrying around empty glasses.
"Still the same, I see Caroline," I hear a voice from behind me. I turn to see it's Klaus.
"Klaus, so you're really back. You know, when Ric told us, I almost didn't believe him. What's it been? Sixteen years?" I ask.
"Give or take," he shrugs.
"I didn't know you were invited today," I half-joke,
"I wasn't. I just came to pick up Hope but looks like the party isn't over yet," he says looking towards the dance floor.
I turn to see all the kids paring up and dancing in a circle with Kaitlyn and Alaric dancing in the middle, with big smiles on all their faces.

I turn back to Klaus as scowl when I notice the earning and jealousy on his face, "no, stop it!" I scold him.
He looks at me with a confused look, "stop what?"
"Stop with the doe eyes you're giving Lyn. She's been through enough. You don't get to just waltz back into her life after sixteen years and give her 'love eyes' now when you're the one who left her all those years ago," I say sternly.
"Trust me, Caroline. I've heard this enough times from my family and hers to know I messed up when I left," he sighs.
"Good, then maybe it's time you start acting on it," I tell him.
He just hums in response as he keeps looking at where Kaitlyn has now let her hair down and is dancing with the kids.

"Wanna know something?" I ask him.
"If you want me to know," he replies.

"Years ago, when the girls were little and Lyn was going through a lot, Chris had just passed away and she was still coping with vampirism, the heightened emotions didn't make it any better, so I kept the kids with me for a while.  I was so scared for her that I just... I just put the kids in the car and I drove. I ended up in New Orleans. Looking for you. Because even though I hated you so much, I knew if there's one person that could've helped her, it was you," I pause for a bit, thinking back to that day.

"Such irony," Klaus says sarcastically although I can see the sorrow behind his eyes.
I rolls my eyes at him, "maybe it was ironic but I looked for you, for her and you weren't there, again. Then I reached out to Kol and he immediately drove to Lyn and helped her cope with things. That was the one time we all decided to give you another chance for Lyn's sake but you weren't there, even then. Lyn doesn't know about this because I didn't want her to be more disappointed in you. I don't know why I tried to protect your image even after everything you did to her. Maybe it was because she always saw the good in you and sometimes because of her, we saw it too or maybe it's because deep down we all knew she never really stopped loving you," I finish talking and walk away, leaving Klaus with his thoughts.

༆☼︎☾︎ꨄ︎☽︎☼︎༆
Klaus' POV

Time and time again, I'm reminded on the thousand ways in which I've wronged Kaitlyn, all the ways in which I failed to show her how much she means to me and how much I love her. With every story of her past that I unfold, the heaviness of this guilt I've been carrying around for sixteen years just grows more and more and I feel even more unworthy of her love and forgiveness.
But I've always been the selfish one and maybe that's why fate made us soulmates, she's everything I could never be. She's the missing piece of my puzzle and I plan on redeeming myself and winning her back, treat her right this time and love her for however long 'forever' is. I'm willing to wait for her, however long it takes, I'm not leaving her behind this time.

After a while of being lost in my thoughts of Kaitlyn, I look up to see Hope approaching me and the guests are slowly leaving.
"Hey dad, I know I'm barely home nowadays but Miss K is leaving for Italy tomorrow, so Lizzie and Josie planned a girl's night at their place tonight. Can I please, please, please go?" she asks me with puppy eyes.
I chuckle at her request, "sure you can. But like you said, you're barely home nowadays. So I want you to also be spending enough time with your mom and aunts and be safe, okay?" I tell her.
She nods, "yep I promise. Besides Aunt Davina is joining us, so you don't have to be worried," she reassures me and then leaves with the twins.

As I go to walk out, I notice Kaitlyn is still here talking to the caterers so I approach her, "not leaving yet?" I ask her, making my presence known.
She dismisses the waiters and turns to look at me, "yeah I'm almost done. When did you get here?" she asks as she crosses out something from her clipboard and again, I get Deja-vu from that day before the Miss Mystic Falls when I asked her to be my date. It was this same hall, too. I wonder if she remembers.
"I came to pick up Hope but she told me about the sleepover at your place and left with your daughters. You know, I feel like you've been hoarding my daughter," I joke.
"Or maybe...she just prefers my company over your constant 'protective-dad' nagging," she jokes back and I scowl at her.

"Someone needs to scare off the guys with bad intentions, you know," I tell her.
She nods with a smile, "yeah I know, but you also need to trust your daughter enough to think that she can tell the bad guys from the good."
"I wouldn't be too sure," I reply.
She laughs at my reply as she thinks of something else and then says, "some girls just like the bad boys."
"You say like it's inevitable. It's not rite of passage."
"For some girls it is," she retorts, "it was for me. If there was a bad boy within a five-mile radius, I would find him and some were even way too old for me," she teases knowing full-well that I'd catch her drift.
"Well, I'm sure some had very pure intentions," I tease back.
She laughs at my response, "yeah maybe. Maybe some of these 'bad boys' you want to protect Hope from do too. You just need to let Hope take control of her life little by little, you know," she says back.  
I let out a sigh, "Hope told me you're going to Italy tomorrow?"
"Oh yeah, just something I need to take care of," she replies hesitantly.
"Anything I can help with?" I offer but she shakes her head 'no'.
"It's nothing I can't handle. Besides, Caroline's coming with me," she tells me and I nod.
"Well then, I guess I should head back. I have a girls' night to plan back at home and a suitcase to pack," she goes to walk away.

"Kaitlyn," I call out for her.
She turns around with a raised brow.
"You know everyone keeps reminding me of how I'm the villain of your story and I know I can't take it all back. But I want you to know, if I could, I would. It was never my intention to hurt you although looking back, looks like that's all I did," I look down to my feet, "do you think you could ever forgive me?" I ask as I look back at her with a pleading smile.
"I'll consider it," she says with a smile as she gets into her car and drives off.

I realize this was one of the first proper conversations we've had ever since we moved back to town. As I drive back to the mansion, I have a smile lingering my lips the whole time, as I replay the conversation over and over again in my head. Maybe there is a chance for things to go back to normal again. Maybe she will forgive me. Maybe she will give me a second chance to show her how much I really love her. Just maybe...

Author's Note:
I realised how long the last few chapters had gotten and I think they need to be cut down a bit. What do you guys think? Do you like where the story is going so far? I want to put some more Klaitlyn (Klaus+Kaitlyn heheh)  moments in the future chapters and also time jump a little instead of sticking to the day-to-day filler stories.

This is a relatively much shorter chapter but it's one that I really enjoyed writing. Especially, the Klaitlyn bits, obviously. I'm really looking forward to writing more of those! Hope you guys like the story so far!
With love,
Awwmoons