Marriage of Convenience

Chapter 30

Chapter 30: XXX
Court

The evidence was stacked against the man that Klaus once called father. Caroline sat there biting her nails off as the trial went on. After what seemed like a lifetime, they dismissed the court for break.

They had only a few more pieces of evidence to present and then they would announce his sentencing by the end of the day.

"We need to find Richard." Klaus spoke in hushed tones with Caroline.

"How are we ever going to get him alone with all of these people here?" She whispered back to him.

"We don't have to get him alone, Caroline. We just have to see him." Caroline looked at him not quite understanding what he meant, but she went along with it.

They weaved their way through the crowd until they found Richard and Tyler Lockwood standing together.

"Mr. Mikaelson." Richard said acknowledging his presence.

"Richard." Klaus said equally.

They looked at each other for a moment and some wave of agreement passed between them. Richard knew what Klaus came to ask him.

He pulled an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Klaus.

"I'm sure you'll find everything you need in here, Mikaelson. But you may not even need to look inside the envelope once the rest of the evidence is presented."

Caroline could only hope that was a good sign.

Once they were back in their seats the court resumed without any delay.

"In closing we have one final piece of evidence that links Mikael Mikaelson to the murder of Mason Lockwood."

The audience remained silent, but curious about the final piece of evidence.

"What I hold in my hand here is a DNA test." The room looked at the lawyer strangely. "This test was willingly preformed by two parties." He stated as a disclaimer.

"This evidence proves the real reason behind the murder of Mason Lockwood. A paternity test was done and the results show that Mikael Mikaelson is not the father of a son that he claims to be his first born, Klaus Mikaelson."

The roomed gasped loudly.

Caroline quickly looked over at Esther whose hand was on her heart. She could see the tears swell and begin to fall down her face.

Klaus' face remained impassive. It was the news he wanted to hear, but it was still hard to listen to.

The DNA test had proven Klaus' link to the Lockwood's thus making him a citizen of the United States.

Klaus never realized that the DNA test served as a motive for Mikael to kill Mason, his real father.

A part of Klaus was relieved, but sad at the same time because there was a whole other part of himself that he still didn't know.

But he knew that he still had time.

In fact he now had all of the time in the world and right now he was only worried about what was right next to him: His wife and the two little babies that were growing inside of her.

As soon as they announced Mikael's sentencing they did not hesitate to take him away as fast as they could.

Esther remained in her seat not once looking up at Mikael as they took him away. Caroline felt that the woman was almost relieved that he was serving a life sentence in jail.

The rest of Klaus' family left as fast as they could in an attempt to avoid the press.

Klaus' only concern after court had ended was getting Caroline to safety. He could deal with the rest later.

About a month had passed before they appeared in court again to prosecute Meredith Fell.

Tyler had apologized to Caroline and Klaus multiple times about the incident. He told them that he had no idea that she broke into his office and stole the documents.

After a few days in court, Tyler's word was true and Meredith really did break into his office to steal the legal document.

She tried to plead insanity, but it failed to fall through. She received five years in prison for the act.

"Where are we going?" Klaus had Caroline blindfolded in the front seat of his car.

"It's a surprise Caroline." Caroline groaned out loud attempting to remove the blindfold. Klaus stopped her.

"Don't ruin the surprise, silly girl. I don't get to do this often."

"But I hate surprises." She complained, but he could hear the amusement behind her voice.

"Which is why were doing this." He told her.

The car came to a stop and Klaus lead Caroline out of the car.

He took her blindfold off and they stood in a nearby park. A large cardboard box was placed in front of Caroline.

"Do you remember when we went to the doctors two weeks ago and he said that he didn't know the sex of the babies yet?" Klaus asked.

Caroline nodded looking at Klaus' questioningly.

"I want you to open the box."

Caroline carefully removed the tap that was on top of the box and opened it.

A blue and pink balloon emerged from the box and began to float towards the sky. Caroline watched the two balloons soar in the sky before her gaze came back down to Klaus'.

But when she looked at him he was no longer standing. Instead he was on one knee, a ring in one hand and a smile.

"Klaus..." Caroline couldn't control her emotions.

"Caroline." She could tell that he was nervous.

"I didn't want to keep the sex of the babies away from you. I just wanted to use this moment to begin a new life with you, a new life with our baby boy and girl. I'm asking you to marry me again, Caroline. But I want you to marry me for all the right reasons and not the wrong ones. Forget contracts and arrangements. I want you and our babies. That's it. Please Caroline do me the honor of marrying me again."

She was quiet for a moment, but it was only because she couldn't control her excitement.

"Oh Klaus..." Happy tears began to roll down her face. "I love you so much. Yes... yes.. YES!"

Klaus stood up and embraced her, placing a new ring onto her finger. He placed kisses all over her face and finally on her lips.

He cradled her cheeks with both of his hands and spoke. "How soon would you be willing to do this, love?"

Caroline looked at him again, puzzled.

"What I mean is... would you marry me right now?"

Caroline didn't hesitate. "Of course I would marry you right now. You already gave me a fairytale wedding. This right here is the real thing Klaus. I don't need extravagance to let everyone know how much I love you."

"I though you might say that." He said dropping his hand from her cheeks. "Turn around."

Caroline turned around and was greeted with yet another surprise.

All of their friends and family were standing behind her. She wasn't sure how she didn't notice it before but she didn't care.

Klaus had set up an entire wedding without giving Caroline the slightest hint.

Rebekah and Bonnie came up to her with a white veil and placed it over Caroline's head. They handed her a bouquet of wild flowers and the ceremony began.

Klaus smiled at her from the altar and Caroline began to walk down the aisle for the second time and last time.