The Bite

Caroline POV

I was sitting in my bedroom, waiting to die. I knew it wouldn't be long. Tyler had bitten me. My boyfriend. The guy I loved had bitten me. I just couldn't understand how he was incapable of fighting the sire bond for me. Stefan fought compulsion for Elena, so why couldn't our love be as epic? My mom has been trying to help, but in the end she knew I was going to die. On my birthday, none the less. I heard my bedroom door open and saw Klaus coming in. Probably to mock my death.

"Are you going to kill me?" I asked. That was a question usually asked in fear of dying, but at that moment I wasn't afraid. I had taken the past few hours and dedicated them to accepting the fact that I was dying at my boyfriends hands. I knew he felt awful about it, too. I asked this question with every bit of defiance I could muster.

"On your birthday? Do you really think that low of me?" Klaus asked. I expected there to be some sort of playfulness, teasing in his tone, but to my surprise he said as if he was actually asking, and his face said that he was disgusted by the idea, which would have made me laugh if I wasn't afraid of the pain that would follow the act. If anything his face looked like he was in more pain than me.

"Yes." I croaked after a few moments of thought and staring into his eyes. Maybe it was the werewolf venom getting to me, making me hallucinate, or maybe I was just trying to see the good in him, but I thought I saw some pain in his eyes by my statement, and those blue orbs that brought so much fear to the eyes of enemies suddenly looked more appealing to look at as I died than they did moments ago. I shut my eyes and breathed deeply as he slowly walked towards me, frowning as he pulled the thin blanket away from my shoulder to observe the wound my boyfriend had inflicted. He sighed out, almost disappointed as he stepped a bit away from me.

"That looks bad… My apologies but you're what's known as collateral damage. It's nothing personal." He said. I winced. That's what really stung. Ever since I became a vampire, hell ever since Damon moved to town that's all I've been. Collateral damage. I knew I should expect a monster like him to say that, but it still hurt.

"I love birthdays." He said. I scoffed.

"Yeah, aren't you like a billion or something?" I said, rolling my eyes. I was trying to play it off like that whole collateral damage thing didn't hurt, and it seemed like it was working.

"Well you have to adjust your perception of time when you become a vampire, Caroline. Celebrate the fact that you're no longer bound by trivial human conventions. You're free." Klaus whispered. It sounded nice, this idea. Sadly it was one I would never get to live, considering my final moments were coming shortly.

"No. I'm dying." I reminded him, hoping this would stop the flow of words that were possibly more agonizing than the bite. Even if I did manage to live through this nasty bite, I would never get through the hell hole that was Mystic Falls.

"And I could let you. Die, if that's what you want. If you really believe your existence has no meaning. I thought about it myself, once or twice over the centuries. Truth be told." Klaus said. My expression must have looked scared, but I wasn't. I was just… confused, alarmed, almost. I had never met this side of him. The side that cares. I didn't think Klaus, of all people had one of those sides, but despite the fact that it must be rusty, it was a really nice side to behold.

"But I'll let you in on a little secret. There's a whole world out there waiting for you. Great cities and art and music. Genuine beauty. And you can have all of it. You can have 1,000 more birthdays. All you have to do is ask." Klaus said. I was blinking back tears, trying to fight the effect those words had on me. I wanted so badly to do it. To see all of the genuine beauty he was describing. But I knew I couldn't. I knew I never could, either.

"I don't want to die." I said, giving up fighting back the tears. Hell to my mascara. I knew the idea of me ever leaving Mystic Falls, leaving my friends, leaving the save Elena crew was absolutely insane. But if there was a chance I could get out of this mess without dying, a chance that I could see all of those things, then I was going to take it any chance I got. He was seated at the end of my bed, and gently pulled me into his arms. Despite how careful he was trying to be, which was very nice, especially from him my shoulder moved and the mere move made my whole body burn. I gasped at the movement, wincing slightly. He put his arm in front of me, just waiting for me to bite into it.

"There you go sweetheart, have at it." Klaus offered. I stared at it. My cure. He had offered it to me, practically on a silver platter. I bit while I had the chance he was so generously offering.

"Happy birthday, Caroline." He whispered into my hair. As I drank, I felt this…. presence in my mind. Almost like I could sense him. I didn't know what it was, or if it was my imagination, but it felt like a good presence. I don't know how I knew, but I knew it was Klaus's. I don't exactly remember that night, but when I woke up, I saw a bracelet. I knew it was from Klaus. I smiled, slightly at the thought. He thought of me. I knew it wasn't anything special, that he probably just dug out a random bracelet from his creepy memorial shrine, but I felt like I had some sort of an understanding with the hybrid, even though I will never admit it, to myself or anyone else. I'm Tyler's girlfriend. I love him, I hope. He's probably beating himself up over the thing that happened last night, and I know I should blame Klaus. I should hate his guts. But somehow the emotion he showed me last night had been getting to me. And I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried get him off my mind or blame him for what he did to me.

Hey! So that was the first chapter….. Yeah I know it's just Klaus curing Caroline and it already happened in the show but hear me out! I just wanted to give it what I pictured Caroline thinking that episode and I was going to make it longer but… sadly I decided that 1,000 words was enough for one chapter….

I have had this written for around a month now and it has been sitting on my computer rotting away. After seeing 8*02 I had to post it. I was literally sobbing over the Steroline thing as I edited this. Anyways…. I know I have like 5 other stories being Witten now but I had to post this because there will only be one more season of TVD before it's done for. :*( This will be slightly cannon but nothing to serious. It'll be cannon up until a certain point and I WILL be changing things that are cannon that either I don't agree with or I decided I don't want to include and yeah so please let me know what you thought!

Love -S