Have Yourself a Cheesy Little Christmas
The invitation was gaudy as hell. All flowery and using way too much green and red that was appropriate – even if it was Christmas. Caroline stared at it with disgust. It was one thing to be cute, but it was whole other thing to be tacky. It dropped from her fingers and landed on the table with a light smack.
But that wasn't what was nagging at her mind at the moment.
It was a company Christmas party. Which meant the whole company was invited. Ergo, company Christmas party.
Tyler would be there.
Which would be all manners of awkward and slightly upsetting and it would just make her hell of lot more bitter if she had to see Tyler all happy-go-lucky with the brunette she had caught in his bed over a month ago, destroying the two-year relationship they had that she was sure would be heading to the altar sometime in the next couple of months. When she finally broke it off with him, she had to deal with all the whispers and stares from everyone in the office. She didn't want to have to deal with the knowing looks of pity she was sure to get when they all dressed up and drank champagne and danced to cheesy Christmas carols around a crowded ballroom. Especially since with Tyler walking in with someone that was most definitely not her unlike how he had for the last two Christmas parties, it was sure to draw unwanted attention and comments she had no strength or desire to deal with right now.
She cursed under her breath and leant back against her chair, feeling the leather creak. The loose back of her office chair tipped back and Caroline scrambled to take a hold of the desk before she toppled over herself, her legs flailing in the air, her heels narrowly missing the desk when she lunged forwards and dug her nails into the wood, her heart jumping into her throat at the sudden fear and surprise that echoed through her.
Fucking office chairs. She grimaced.
"Nice save." A drawl came from the door to her office and she looked up, warily.
Klaus Mikaelson.
Oh, joy. Just what I need. She grumbled to herself. And he just had to see my clumsy attempt to stop myself from doing a gymnastics move that I haven't done since grade school.
"Oh, shut up." Caroline muttered, tucking a particularly bothersome lock of blonde hair behind her ear.
Klaus' lip curled into his trademark smirk that Caroline itched to smack or punch or kiss – in some of her less inhibited thoughts – off his face and he sauntered into the office, looking as though he owned the place, his suit clinging to lean muscle and looking like it would spit at the words 'off the rack'. Caroline had to grudgingly admit that he did look really good in it, even though she did feel it was a bit much for work everyday. It suited him – pun unintended, of course – he wore the whole arrogant, I-know-I'm-better-than-you rich boy routine with a surprising amount of class and certainty – as if it were a part of him. She had thought Klaus to be exceptionally handsome the first time they had met – she had even harboured the slightest crush on him, which she would go to her grave denying right now, especially as to whether she still had said crush or not – curly blonde hair, blue eyes, a scruffy jaw and a red mouth that looked like he had slathered lipstick over it, what girl wouldn't go crazy over those features? – but his cocky attitude – asshole – had been enough to deflate her libido immediately – actually, the moment he had opened his insufferable mouth had cinched it.
"Are you always this charming or is it just because you haven't had lunch yet?" Klaus asked, teasingly.
Caroline sighed, long-sufferingly, tipping her head back and sweeping her palm across her forehead. "What do you want, Klaus?" She asked, tightly.
Klaus nodded at the card that rested alone on her desk, bordered by a number of stacked documents. "I see you got the invitation as well." He commented.
"Really?" Caroline's smile turned feral. "What was your first clue?" She asked, sarcastically.
Klaus scowled. "Love, you are aware that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, aren't you?" He shot back. He paused, obviously remembering why he had approached her in the first place. "Are you going?" He asked, gesturing to the invitation.
Caroline laughed, harshly. "Oh, yeah, that's how I want to spend my Christmas. Dressing up and drinking champagne and smiling while people make stupid comments about how horrible it must be and how I'm a pretty girl, I'll find someone else soon while my ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend that he happened to cheat on me with will probably end up canoodling in a corner or making out underneath the mistletoe."
Klaus snorted. "Canoodle?" His eyes flashed with amusement.
Caroline paused. "Shut up." She muttered.
Klaus rolled her eyes. "Defeat is such an ugly look on you, sweetheart."
Caroline crossed her arms over her chest. "What would you have me do?" Her voice was cold. "Go there – stag, I might add–, pretend to be happy and content with my life when all I want to do is punch him in his smug, unapologetic, cheating bastard face?" She asked, incredulously.
Klaus raised an eyebrow. "Did you punch him?" He asked, curiously.
"I might have hit him with my stiletto the night I found them in bed together." She grudgingly admitted.
Klaus grinned. "That's my girl."
Caroline cracked an unwilling smile at his unashamed praise of her actions. Their beginnings may have started rocky, but Klaus had only ever been one of her best friends since she had started working at the publishing company. He had been blatantly unimpressed with Tyler the entire time she and him had dated, but he had still been such a good friend to her. He had been the first to rage at Tyler's treatment of her and he had been the first to want to go and kick the crap out of him when she had told him of Tyler and Hayley and how she had found them together.
All in all, Caroline was incredibly fond of Klaus.
No matter how much she wanted to smack him everyday.
And if a part of her wanted to wrap herself around him and never let go, well, she was just content to ignore it.
Klaus slid into the chair on the other side of her desk and leaned back, propping up one foot on his thigh. "So," He drawled, thoughtfully. "The way I see it, you're deliberating over ditching the Christmas party because you don't want to show up alone and see Lockwood and his so-called girlfriend being all lovey-dovey because you think it'll make you look desperate and pathetic and people will feel sorry for you for being single when he's moved on, even though you couldn't care less about Lockwood and you just really don't want to have to deal with all the idiotic things people are going to say to you and about you?"
Caroline sighed. "How the hell do you know me so well?"
Klaus shrugged and smiled, charmingly. "I always pay attention to what's important." He winked.
Caroline's lips twitched, amusement and affection flashing in her blue-green eyes, and she felt a gentle heat spread to her neck at the warmth in Klaus' eyes. It was incredibly hard to forget or even ignore the stupid, lingering crush she had on him when he said things like that and made her feel like he just had. In fact, much to her chagrin, she could feel the fondness curled in her heart that she had for him – and determinedly kept hidden from him – only grow, making her grit her teeth.
The last thing she needed was to actually have proper feelings for Niklaus Mikaelson – feelings that she would never be able to disclose because they would ruin a friendship she did, in fact, hold very dear to herself, and Klaus was worth way much more than just a rebound guy to her.
"I propose a deal." Klaus said, simply.
Caroline's brow furrowed. "What kind of deal?" She asked, suspiciously.
Klaus rolled his eyes. "Tone down the paranoia, love." He smirked. "I think it will solve your problem of the Christmas party."
Caroline sighed. "Just leave it alone, Klaus. I'm not going." She said, firmly.
"If your main problem is that you're worried that if you go without a date, you run the risk of looking 'desperate and pathetic' while Lockwood looks content and moved on with his two-bit girlfriend, why don't we go together?" Klaus asked.
Caroline raised an eyebrow. "Are you asking me to go as your date?" She said, incredulously.
She couldn't stop the way her heart lurched in her ribcage in anticipation of his reply.
"No," Klaus shook his head, although something odd – almost like regret – glinted in his eyes – although Caroline could only focus on the way her heart sank into her stomach, reluctantly. "I'm asking you to pretend to go as my date."
Caroline frowned, sitting up in her chair, making sure she wouldn't topple over any other way on her way up. "What's the point of that?" She asked, confused.
Klaus shrugged. "You don't want to go alone, I'm available, I'm hot and single and rich,"
Caroline rolled her eyes. And modest, apparently.
"Lockwood hates me and everyone would think that you finally realised you could do better than some middle level manager in Accounts." He smirked. "Everyone wins and Lockwood goes ballistic when he sees you show up with me. I'm willing to make the sacrifice."
Caroline scowled. "I can't believe I never noticed your charitable nature." She said, dryly.
Klaus grinned and leaned forwards, his cornflower blue eyes glinting with mischief. "Come on, Caroline. You know it's a good plan. You won't look desperate and pathetic if you show up on my arm." He said, arrogantly.
Caroline dragged a hand over her face, wearily. "I can somewhat see the benefits in your plan," She said, slowly, approaching the idea as if it were a client sitting in front of her. "But, do you think we could pull it off?" She asked, uncertainly.
Klaus shrugged. "We've been friends for two years now. We spend a lot of time together – both inside and outside of work. It's not a huge leap for people to think we've taken the extra step."
Caroline sighed. "You make it sound so easy." She crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm still not sure that anyone will buy it."
"We just have to pull it off for one night." Klaus said, reassuringly. "We can tell people that we've been dating for a few weeks, that we got together after you broke up with Lockwood-"
Caroline frowned. "And that doesn't look bad?" She asked, pointedly. "It makes you look like my rebound."
Klaus cleared his throat and waved her off. "No one's going to dig that deep into our story."
Caroline scowled.
"And once we come back to work after the Christmas-New Year vacation, if someone asks you or I if we're still dating, we can just say it didn't work out. Or that we didn't want to ruin such a good friendship. It's simple."
Caroline's nose scrunched up. "It still looks really suspicious."
Klaus smirked. "That's where our acting skills come in. People will be too waylaid by our performances to actually read too much into our story." He waggled his eyebrows.
Caroline's uncertainty showed on her face and Klaus sighed.
"Come on, Caroline." He practically whined. "This is practically the best time of the year to get away with a con like this. All of these mediocre, mundane people are stupidly naïve enough that they believe in the power of Christmas and Santa Claus and magical fairy dust and all that other storybook rubbish, right? There isn't anything we could tell them that they wouldn't believe, as long as we went out of our way to make it seem like it was straight out of the next Hallmark Christmas special that'll be forced upon the masses at this time of the year for the next decade or so. They'll just think it was a Christmas miracle that we could put up with each long enough to actually date without wanting to off each other in an incredibly painful manner." A teasing smile played on his mouth.
Caroline couldn't help but laugh. "You're a sneaky one, Mikaelson." She said, playfully.
Klaus grinned. "All in a day's work, Forbes. So, do we have a deal?"
Caroline took a deep breath. "I'm sure I'm going to regret this at some point. No good can come out of making a deal with the devil."
Klaus glared at her and her lips curled into a sweet smile.
"But, what the hell. I'm in."
The room was entirely too bright and golden when she walked down the marble staircase, her arm looped through Klaus', her hand poised on his forearm, nails digging into his skin out of nervousness – although, if she was hurting him, Klaus was damn good at pretending as if nothing was amiss – she did admire his poker face, it was amazing. A large Christmas tree towered in the middle of the room, adorned with greens and reds and silvers and golds until she had to look away, lest it blind her with its over-the-top splendour. Golden lights, pasted to the walls, circled the room, enveloping the room with an artificial hue that made Caroline's nose scrunch up with distaste and disbelief, a look she was sure was mirrored on her date's face. Caroline tipped her head up and stared at the large chandelier that hung from the mosaic ceiling and was genuinely surprised that her bosses hadn't managed to engineer snow falling from the ceiling and make the entire room.
It would've completed the slightly nauseating picture. A true Winter Wonderland.
"Did they engage Martha Stewart as an event planner?" Klaus murmured in her ear, his low voice and warm breath sending shivers up and down her spine.
Caroline snickered. "Hey, you're the one who wanted to come. We could've been drowning in tequila shots in some bar somewhere. But no…" She drawled. "You wanted to go to a Christmas party. How old are you exactly?" She asked, snidely.
Klaus raised an eyebrow. "If you really didn't want to come here, why did you go to all that trouble to buy a new dress, new shoes, new jewellery?" He asked, pointedly.
Caroline reared back in shock. "How-how did you know these were new?" She asked, quickly.
Klaus looked offended by the mere question. "Caroline, sweetheart, I am not the uncultured swine you think I am." He sniffed. "I happen to have a sister who's been traipsing in designer clothes since she could learn to spell 'clothes'. I spent many a day in my childhood, forcibly seated, as she read aloud the number of fashion magazines that she had delivered to our doorstep. And now she's a famous model. I believe my education in fashion is complete." He shrugged, mischief glinting in his eyes that made her want to smack the smirk right off the curve of his mouth. "Not to mention, I saw the dress on a mannequin in the window of some store on Michigan Avenue, when I was passing by last weekend." He said, sheepishly.
"Smooth." Caroline drawled.
"Do you want to go schmooze?" Klaus asked, gesturing to the throngs of people gathered in little groups scattered across the entire ballroom.
Caroline sighed. "Oh, what the hell." She said, resignedly.
Klaus held out his arm, pointedly, and Caroline rolled her eyes before sliding her hand through his looped arm. Her lips turned up at the sides until a bright smile was pasted on her face. Exactly that, pasted. When Klaus looked at her out of the corner of his eyes, a pang of sadness hit him as he realised that the smile didn't quite touch her eyes, which were still a dull blue-green, unlike the fiery gaze he had come to associate with Caroline Forbes before Tyler Lockwood was stupid enough to break her heart with someone as insipid as the brunette girl currently hanging off the idiot's arm like she was scared that if she let go for even a second, Lockwood would disappear. Klaus resisted the urge to snort – like Lockwood's some great prize to keep a hold off.
He gritted his teeth, remembering the dead look on Caroline's face the morning after she caught Tyler in bed with another woman. At first, he didn't know what to make of her dismal mood. He thought she was sick or tired or maybe she hadn't slept last night, and he had begun his usual acerbic banter with her, hoping that his taunts would be enough to spark the life back inside the only girl that he found was worth his time – both inside and out of the publishing company they both worked in. However, when tears had come to her eyes and she had collapsed into sobs after a particularly brutal comment brought on by his usual insensitive nature and his desperate scrambling to provoke some sort of reaction in those terrifying dead eyes – I don't know what Lockwood sees in you, Forbes – he had just been left cold. Immediately, he had knelt before her and hesitantly placed a soothing hand on her shoulder, listening patiently, while anger thrummed inside of his chest, as she managed to tell him exactly what had happened the night before in between sobs choking in her throat. When she had looked up at him after, her face streaked with tears and shame and betrayal – as if she were to blame for his faithless heart, he had thought with fury and disbelief and scorn – like she wasn't perfect and he an absolute bastard – flooding her eyes at the reminder of her ex-boyfriend's betrayal – he loved to remind himself that Caroline was no longer attached to that worthless degenerate – all he had wanted to do was sweep her up into his arms and hold her and stroke her hair and keep her warm and safe in his arms and kiss her mouth until her tears stopped and she realised how fortunate she was to have escaped that idiot's toxic embrace, not before delivering a punch to Tyler Lockwood's face that would surely break his jaw and hopefully a couple more bones in his face.
That singular thought ran through his head every time his eyes landed on a chatting Tyler in another corner of the room. Every time he saw that easy, sleazy smile on Lockwood's face, he had the urge to rush over and put his fist in his face, if only to cause him a fraction of the pain and shame he had dealt Caroline. Of course, whenever he looked over at Caroline and saw the effortless way she talked to everyone and how she radiated without Tyler pulling her down by his mere presence at her side, pride bloomed in his chest.
He wanted her.
He had known that for months. It wasn't some momentous occasion where he had come to this realisation, like the ones they talk about in movies. In fact, it could easily be argued that Caroline hadn't even done anything to incite his admiration and affection – but it had gone down in his eyes as that singular moment where he realised that his universe now revolved around Caroline Forbes and his understanding of what he wanted most in life had been infinitely been changed by the bubbly blonde currently on his arm. It had just been a day he had walked into her office, intent on asking her something, and she had turned around from the window, and the glare from the sun had hit her face and enveloped her in a glow. He had been struck for words and had the sudden, incessant thought that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He had stumbled back and fallen on his arse straight afterwards, much to his embarrassment, and she had flown to his side, worry etched on her pretty face, and it occurred to him that she was perhaps the kindest person he had ever known. Her hand had reached up and scraped through his tousled blonde curls and he was assaulted with the subtle vanilla scent of her perfume and it took all the strength in him to not close his eyes and lean into her warm touch.
With a few hasty, mumbled words, Klaus had surged to his feet, keeping his eyes lowered, and rushed from the room before he said something stupid and lovesick that made him utterly embarrassed in front of Caroline, but as he ran from her, he knew the truth that had been branded into his bones as of that moment.
He wanted her – more than anything.
But she had been Lockwood's girlfriend at the time and already halfway up the aisle, he thought, bitterly.
He would have given anything to prove to her that he was leagues better than Tyler Lockwood.
All he could do now is take pleasure in the fact that Caroline was currently unattached and she came to him for comfort, not Tyler Lockwood. Tyler Lockwood had screwed up and lost the best woman in the world and it was Klaus' chance to take her for herself, because he was Klaus Mikaelson and he always got what he wanted because he worked for it.
And he would work for her.
The normalcy of their charade – as if it were the simplest and easiest thing in the world to pretend to be madly in love with each other, something neither Caroline or Klaus had any intention of digging deeper into, at least not tonight – crumbled around them once they were finally put face-to-face with Tyler and his new girlfriend.
It was only a matter of time, as they made their way through the throngs of co-workers and their wives and husbands and boyfriends and girlfriends and friends that had just chosen to tag along to a Christmas party that would be reported upon in the newspaper the next day, that they would come into contact with Tyler at some point.
Since the night she had caught Tyler cheating on her, Caroline had to admit she found it difficult to look him in the eye afterwards. Not because she felt like she was responsible for his wandering eyes and hands and cock, nor because she still had feelings for him, but because she felt shame that she had given up two years of her life to this inconsiderate, disloyal asshole – prick, as Klaus would call him – and that shame still niggled, uncomfortably, at her tonight, even though she mustered up the will to look the cheating bastard in the eye and give him all the regard as she would to a cockroach.
"Wow, Care, you look great!" Tyler crowed, boisterously, and leaned in to press a small kiss to her cheek.
A part of Caroline – which, unbeknownst to her, was mirrored in Klaus – seethed at his audacity – as if he was stupid enough to forget that his ex-girlfriend would be at the same Christmas party as he was attending with the girl he had cheated on her with.
When Tyler's gaze drifted over to Klaus, his dark brown eyes turned cold, to which Klaus simply gave one of his trademark smug smiles that he knew irritated the hell out of most people, his blue eyes twinkling with mischief and a twisted pleasure at Tyler's discomfort.
"Mikaelson." Tyler acknowledged, curtly, his chest puffing out in a show to make him seem bigger than Klaus.
"Lockwood." Klaus replied, similarly, but with a bored look in his eyes that said he clearly thought Tyler to be beneath him.
The girl at Tyler's side cleared her throat and looked at him, sharply, clearly offended by the lack of introduction on his part.
Tyler blinked. "Oh, right," He exclaimed. "Caroline, Klaus, this is my girlfriend, Hayley. Hayley, these are my co-workers, Caroline and Klaus. They work in the editorial department."
Co-workers. Caroline thought, scathingly. Like I wasn't your fucking girlfriend for two fucking years, you dick. Not that I'm give a fuck how you introduce me as. You've been dead to me since I found you in bed with her and I put you away weeks ago – you're nothing to me. But we were fucking friends before you decided to stick your cock in some other chick while we were going out. I deserve better than fucking 'co-worker'.
"We've met." Caroline said, coldly and pointedly, until Tyler paled with recognition and realisation.
"Oh, right." Tyler said, lamely.
As if he hadn't just made the dick move to end all dick moves. Caroline wanted to laugh.
"So, how have you been?" Tyler asked, carefully, his eyes widening in earnestness.
Caroline grimaced. What the hell did I ever see in him?
Klaus was having similar thoughts by her side, glaring at Tyler with disgust at his utter lack of tact. The idiot just kept on digging his foot deeper into his mouth with every word that came out of his stupid mouth. Klaus rolled his eyes – why can't he just save us all a lot of grief and keep his mouth shut?
"I'm great." Caroline said, tersely.
Tyler pursed his lips. "No hard feelings then?" He offered, hesitantly.
Caroline chuckled. "Over what? All you're doing now is just falling asleep on top of her instead of me." She said, snidely. "Trust me, I don't miss it, Tyler."
Tyler flushed with anger and Hayley bristled at his side.
"Hey, you can't talk to him like that!" Hayley said, hotly. "Just because he wanted to dump your prude ass because he met someone better-"
Caroline raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry? Someone better? That's supposed to be you?" She ran a discerning eye over Hayley's figure, dressed in something that was more suited for clubbing or a night drinking in some seedy pub, rather than a Christmas party for a high-end publishing company that catered to some of the best literary works in the past century. "Sorry, I don't see it." She sniffed.
Klaus had never been more proud of Caroline Forbes than he was at the moment. She was back in her element and it was stunning. And all he wanted to do was dip her down and kiss her thoroughly so he could see how far that endearing blush of hers that he was sure would appear the moment he laid his lips on hers would go.
Tyler scowled. "Wow, Caroline, I never thought I'd see you this desperate that you'd have to sink this low. And if we're being honest with each other, I never would've screwed Hayley if you had just stopped being such a controlling, neurotic bitch." Caroline gritted her teeth and Klaus bared his in a snarl at Tyler, his hand curling into a fist at his side, practically shaking with the desire to just bury itself in Tyler Lockwood's face. "I just got so sick of you complaining about everything that I did and you were always so pushy and demanding and you're so fucking high maintenance. Everything is such a fucking spectacle with you and I got sick of all the drama. You literally have two defaults – zero and fifty on the emotional scale – and it's exhausting to deal with your jumped-up, high-strung, bitchy self. And you don't have a fucking off switch." He laughed, harshly. "You just talk and talk and talk. And I had to find someone else, or my dick would have fallen off from boredom of the same three moves I was allowed to do to you every time we had sex." He shot back.
Caroline snorted. "This coming from the guy whose record in two years was just over a minute? And whose signature move was missionary position?"
Tyler shook his head in disgust. "You always think you're better than everyone else. You just wear that perfect, princess smile and look down on everyone that doesn't meet your stupidly high expectations and you're so fucking full of yourself that it's nauseating." He spat. "Well, guess what, Caroline, you're not that great. You're just some insecure, boring bitch from some Podunk town that was lucky enoughto get a good job in a big city. Otherwise you'd just be like every other girl who came before you – married to some fat slob in Mystic Falls who gropes the waitresses at the bar who bring him his daily beer while you clean the house from top to bottom."
Caroline's face was impassive as she took in the vitriol from the man she once thought she was madly in love with – the man whom she had thought would become her husband in the near future. No emotion showed on her face, but her heart thumped erratically in her ribcage as pain sliced like a white-hot knife through her, his words echoing and striking at every single one of her insecurities until she was sure she would fall apart in the next moment. She didn't even notice how hard her nails were digging into Klaus' arm, until she felt him pull away from her, leaving her fingertips remarkably sore. Caroline flinched, imperceptibly, as she felt Klaus' warmth leave her side, wondering if this was the moment that Klaus himself realised how much of a waste of space she really was, especially when faced with the results of all the blood and sweat and tears she had poured into the relationship with the man standing right in front of her, as he spat out all of his bile towards her.
What did I do to make him hate me so much?
So enveloped in her own thoughts, she didn't even realise Klaus' hand lash out and strike Tyler in the jaw until her ex-boyfriend was groaning and shouting in pain from his position in the floor. Caroline stared in shock at the blooming bruise on his jaw and split lip that did nothing but make her warm with pleasure, and she turned to look at Klaus with questioning eyes.
"He should've kept his mouth shut." Klaus said, coldly, ignoring the number of shocked stares and whispers that surrounded them from the crowd that had suddenly gathered to watch the altercation with interested eyes. He knelt beside a fallen Tyler, who scuttled away slightly. "Listen to me, Lockwood, because I'm only going to say this once," He began, dangerously, his eyes glinting with violence. "This is the last time you will even look at Caroline, let alone talk to her. Do you understand me? As far as I'm concerned, you don't even know her. If I ever hear of you bothering her or harassing her or even fucking opening your mouth around her to talk about the fucking weather, I will cut out your heart and feed it you. You are done, Lockwood. Consider this the end of you." He said, coldly, and slid back to his feet. He regarded the crowd with a dark look. "Don't you people have anything better to do? Go away!" He snapped.
Caroline took a deep breath, wiping away any trace of the blow to her self-esteem and confidence, and stepped closer to Klaus, placing a careful hand on his shoulder and feeling the tense muscles under his suit.
"Klaus, it's okay." She said, quietly. "Let's go and grab something to eat and sit down somewhere." She stared Tyler and Hayley down, coldly. "Away from here." She said, pointedly.
Klaus nodded, stiffly, still eyeing the number of people who had surrounded and witnessed their altercation with distaste and warning, and hooked his arm in hers, leading her over to the buffet table. They quickly grabbed two plates, upon which they piled food, and settled down in a corner somewhere, away from the throngs of their colleagues, hoping with everything they had that no one would approach them to reignite the drama.
"I should go and clock him another one in the jaw." Klaus growled, glaring at Tyler with hatred.
"No," Caroline said, hesitantly. "You really shouldn't." She squared her shoulders. "I don't need a knight in shining armour, Klaus." She said, warningly.
Klaus gritted her teeth. "I wasn't trying to be a knight, Caroline." He shot back. He softened. "I didn't like the way he was talking to you and he needed to be taught a lesson in respect and how to talk to his betters." He said, pointedly.
Caroline snorted, eyes flickering to the tousled blonde curls on top of his head, watching the way the glint from the fairy lights caught them and turned them golden. "You saw exactly what he thinks of me." She said, bitterly. "One punch to the face isn't going to make him respect me."
"There's something else you want to say." Klaus intoned. "Just say it."
"Fine." Caroline bit out. Her shoulders sagged. "How could I have been so wrong about him?" She said, helplessly. "How could I have built up this relationship all in my head and not see how much he hated me?"
She was ashamed at the way her voice caught in her throat, as if she were about to cry. But she wasn't. She had already wasted way too many tears on Tyler Lockwood.
No more.
Klaus clucked his tongue. "He's an idiot." As if that explained everything.
"But," Caroline bit her lip. "He can't have made all of that up. I had to have done something wrong." She said, earnestly.
"Why?" Klaus snapped. "Why should you have done something wrong? Did it ever occur to you that he was just lashing out at you with all the insecurities that have plagued him over the course of your relationship and he decided that you would be good target practice now that you've finally broken away from him and realised just how amazing and beautiful and perfect you are because you're not with him anymore?"
In his ferocity, he hadn't even realised what he had just said to her.
"A-amazing and beautiful and perfect?" Caroline asked, quietly, looking up at him with disbelieving blue-green eyes. "That's what you think about me?"
Klaus threw his hands up in the air. "That's what you got from what I just said?!" He asked, incredulously.
"Well, it's not every day that the guy from work who barely seems to tolerate me admits that he actually has nice things to say about me!" Caroline said, defensively.
"Did it ever occur to you that maybe it looks like I barely seem to tolerate you because I was very much aware that you were in a committed relationship for two years and you never showed any interest to me, at least not in the way I showed to you?" Klaus asked through gritted teeth.
Caroline threw her hands up in the air. "When have you ever showed any interest in me?" She asked in disbelief.
"You think I give anyone the kind of attention the way I do you?" Klaus snapped. "I bring you coffee every morning. We have lunch together every day. I see you to your car every day after we finish work. We go out and have drinks together. We get dinner sometimes. I've had take-out at your house before. I even let you force me to watch those stupid Real Housewives reruns. Did you think I did that because I thought you were just some ordinary friend of mine?"
"Well, why didn't you just say 'Caroline, I have feelings for you'?" Caroline hissed.
"When?" Klaus challenged. "When you were dating Tyler? Or when you were getting over him?" His voice softened. "When you were with him, you were happy." He said, earnestly, pain reflected in his eyes. "And I couldn't ruin that for you. Don't you understand that? I hated it. I hated seeing you happy with him. I wanted you to be happy with me. And then you broke up with him. And you were in such agony that I just wanted to sweep you up in my arms and take you away from the world. But then you got better. You were strong and resilient and tenacious and I didn't want to throw a wrench into everything that you were trying to build for yourself. So I couldn't say a word to you. Because you were happy. And I didn't want to be the cause of your unhappiness. I couldn't bear for you to be unhappy because of I've ever wanted is for you to be happy."
"You should have said something." Caroline intoned, quietly, her face cast down.
"What would you have said if I had?" Klaus asked, curiously, his heart thumping a mile a minute.
Caroline shrugged. "I would've said… 'then, you should've asked me out on a date way before this stupid Christmas party'."
Klaus stared at her for a moment. "You don't mean that." He said, finally, his voice dripping with doubt.
"Try me." Caroline challenged.
Klaus sighed and his shoulders slumped, leaning back to the rest against the wall. "Well, haven't we both been idiots then."
Caroline snorted. "Speak for yourself."
Klaus narrowed his eyes. "Oh, don't act like you didn't keep your mouth shut too."
Caroline opened her mouth to argue when she was abruptly cut off by a voice belonging to a man she had once imagined gagging with his own tie on more than one occasion. In fact, as her eyes turned to slits as she regarded him, she could picture herself reaching into his mouth and ripping out his tongue – it was too bad he was currently going out with Elena Gilbert, a girl from the Creative Department and one of Caroline's close friends. She just knew he was going to say something that would come back to bite her in the arse in the end.
"Hey, Mikaelson, don't forget about the mistletoe." Damon Salvatore, another irritating – almost on par with Tyler Lockwood – figure from Marketing, crowed from buffet table. "Your lady love could use a good make-out after that dramatic confrontation with Lockwood." He waggled his eyebrows.
Klaus scowled. "Shove off, Salvatore." He said, threateningly. "Before you end up with the same bruise Lockwood has."
"Geez, touchy." Damon said, mockingly, before walking away with a plate clutched in his hand.
Caroline and Klaus both glared at his retreating form, seething with irritation, before they were suddenly reminded of what Damon had actually said.
Their eyes rolled back in their heads as Caroline and Klaus both looked up to see a spring of mistletoe hanging from one of the fairy lights. Caroline cocked her head to the side, unsure of whether it was real mistletoe, or some cheap plastic crap someone had picked up from a ninety-nine cents store somewhere. A deep red blush rose up Caroline's neck and she shifted, uneasily, before stamping away the wave of embarrassment that rose up inside of her.
"So… mistletoe?" Klaus offered, his lips quirking up at the corner, his eyes twinkling, wickedly.
Caroline cracked an unwilling smile. "You can't be serious." She rolled her eyes. "Do you realise how absolutely cliché and borderline Christmas movie this is?"
Klaus took a deep breath and tipped his head back, as if he were praying for strength and deliverance. "Caroline, love, for once in your life, would you please be quiet so I can kiss you? I know that's a long shot for you but-"
Caroline surged forward and slanted her mouth over his. Her hand found its way into his blonde curls and her nails scraped against his scalp, making him groan against her mouth, Klaus edging close enough to wrap his arms around her and bring her against his body. Her other hand curled in the lapel of his suit and her grip around his neck tightened until they were pressed right up against each other, both of them unsure where one of them ended and the other began. All they could think of was the way their mouths moved against one another and how fucking right this was, like they were meant to do this, every day of every month of every year of their lives. Caroline, for one, couldn't believe how stupid she had been, swallowing down every inch of her feelings towards Klaus for two years because she thought she and Tyler were soul mates – how could I belong with him when I was clearly made for Klaus?
Finally, they parted when the need for air became entirely too essential for them to ignore.
"Well?" Klaus breathed, panting in short, chopping breaths that reminded her of the mint that still clung to her tongue as she licked her lips.
Caroline cleared her throat and brushed her hair away from her face, her hands – cool to the touch – resting on her flushed neck, as the rhythm of her heartbeat vainly attempted to return to normal.
"Well…" Caroline began, hoarsely. "I need a drink."
Klaus groaned.
"What?" Caroline said, defensively. "I like a nice glass of wine before I start making out with someone. Sue me." She sniffed.
Klaus slid to his feet, arguably having been demoted to her personal waiter for the evening. "I don't know what I see in you." He hissed, stalking away.
"Bring me back a decent red and I might put out tonight." Caroline called out after him, cackling to herself when she saw Klaus' jaw lift up in a tell-tale sign that he was smiling even though his back was turned.
That's what you see in me, babe.
Klaus rolled his eyes at the sound of Caroline's laughter reaching his ears, a familiar irritation at her wicked tongue fiercely tempered by his adoration for her wit – the wit he knew only thrived in his presence – for no one else could keep up with her.
I'll bring her back her bloody wine and then I'll take her aside to another room, pin her against the wall and lick the inside of her mouth until she's moaning my name. He nodded to himself. Everyone else will be in here singing those God-awful Christmas carols that are always on repeat this time of the year and sweet Caroline will be singing my name.
He stared at the festive tablecloth that lined the buffet table, as he poured a generous helping of red wine into two crystal glasses – knowing fully well that both of them could hold a great deal more liquor than this. Disdain flared in his eyes and his lips twisted as he caught sight of the smiling snowmen and reindeer with bright red noses on the print.
"Isn't that just darling?" An older woman gushed from beside him, her fingers stroking over the cartoons.
You, my dear, are an idiot of mass proportions.
He blinked.
Obviously I don't have this whole peace on Earth and goodwill towards all mankind down pat just yet.
Maybe next year – it'll be one hell of a Christmas miracle if it is though.
Caroline leaned back against the wall, a wickedly pleased smile curving on her lips as she ran her thumb over her red mouth. She watched him go, cocking her head to ogle his arse in those pants before licking the remnants of his taste off her lips.
Something flickered in her eyes and she looked up.
Stupid fucking fairy lights.