written for Klaroline Trick or Treat on tumblr.-my gift to klarolinecuddling :)

"Look out!"

The warning came to late. There he'd been minding his own business while he filled his gas tank, when out of nowhere he found himself down on the ground, a clearly insane person covered in what appeared to be blood attempting to eat his face. As his life flashed before his eyes, Klaus Mikaelson was startled to realize the most exciting thing to ever happen to him was what was about to happen to him. 'How pathetic,' he thought to himself as the creature made a move to the right in an attempt to get at his neck, 'that being eaten by a zombie (because what else was he supposed to call it) was going to be the pinnacle of my existence.' Even his brief affair with his brothers girlfriend-who by the way had been his girlfriend first thank you, not that anyone cared to remember that particular fact-paled in comparison to this. So focused was he on his immanent demise he failed at first to notice the figure that moved towards the struggling forms.

She was a goddess. She was a Valkyrie. She was a cheerleader. And she had a big stick. As she drew her weapon back, Klaus used what little leverage he had to push the attackers face up, giving her a bigger target to work with. When the field hockey stick, which he was able to identify once it was six inches from his face, made contact with the head, it made a rather nauseating crunch sound. The momentum of her swing propelled the zombie off him and to the side, it's body jerking a few times before stilling, the only sound their heavy breathing. They turned to each other, a look of gratitude on his face and one of annoyance on hers.

"Seriously?"

She offered him a hand up, one he took gratefully. He noted how soft her hand was, and that her nails were painted red; a red that matched her uniform; a uniform that Klaus highly approved of. The skirt only highlighted how long and glorious her legs were, and the top did nothing to disguise her pert figure. Her golden tresses, gathered together in a high ponytail, just swept her shoulders. She spoke to the artist in him and his fingers itched for his pencils. When they stood facing each other, she spoke again.

"You should know that your situational awareness sucks. How do you miss the dead guy walking towards you?"

"Forgive me love but I wasn't aware I needed to be on the lookout for walking dead guys."

"Well, now you know. Since you appear to be clueless as well as helpless-"

"Hey", he tried to interject here, since he didn't think the events of the last few minutes were a true representation of his physical prowess, but she kept talking as if he hadn't spoken.

"-let me bring you up to speed. The world is now full of zombies. The recently dead are returning to life and they want one thing-us. So if you want to survive to see tomorrow, you'd better start paying attention to what's going on around you."

Now that she mentioned it, Klaus realized he hadn't seen a lot of people on the road the last day or so. In fact, he'd seen no one. He just thought it was because he was using back roads as he made his way through Virginia, but now he realized how wrong he'd been. As the adrenalin started to leave his system, he found that he was having trouble breathing. And when did he get so dizzy? Before he collapsed though, she was by his side, grasping his face in her hands and forcing him to meet her eyes. She was saying something, though he couldn't make out the words. It sounded like she was saying 'breathe', and so he thought it best he try and comply. He watched as she took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, and he endeavored to do the same. It took a few tries, but eventually his breathing pattern matched hers, their chests rising and falling simultaneously. His vision cleared, and he was able to make out her words.

"That's it, just like that. Just focus on my voice. Breathe in, breathe out."

When they were both sure he wasn't going to faint, she let her hands drop away, and Klaus immediately missed their warmth on his face.

"I'm sorry I told you like that," she said. "It's been a rough 24 hours. I had to kill like three field hockey players just to escape the practice field, not to mention my stupid car breaking down and having to trek through the wilderness, while avoiding flesh-eating monsters I might add, and I just…I just lost it for a minute. I'm sorry I took it out on you. Please forgive me?" And then she smiled at him, and he thought he might forgive her anything.

"You saved my life sweetheart. The way I see it, there's nothing to forgive." If he thought her smile beautiful before, the sight of her whole face lighting up at his confession could only be described as effervescent.

"Great! Now that we've go that all squared away, would it be possible for you to give me a ride?"

"I'll take you anywhere you'd like to go, love. But first I need to know one thing."

"And what's that?" she asked with only a touch of apprehension in her voice.

"What's your name?"

She laughed, and the bit of tension created by his question dissipated.

"Caroline. Caroline Forbes. And you are?"

"Klaus Mikaelson, at your service."

"Well Klaus Mikaelson, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure's all mine, Caroline Forbes."

Their eyes held for a beat, both content to just be in each other's presence for a second. A moment promptly ruined by the incoherent moans and shuffling feet of several dead people that were currently headed in their direction. They both turned towards the incoming threat, and then back to each other.

"Now might be a good time to make our escape," she said. As they made a hasty retreat to his SUV he tossed over his shoulder, "Whatever you say sweetheart. I'm yours to command."

authors note: so i kind of got into this idea a bit and i'm planning to write another piece-maybe two. not sure how soon they'll get here, but they will get here!

thanks as always for taking the time to read. also, i have no beta, so the mistakes are all mine!