Moral Dilemmas

Klaus stood at the foot of Hayley's large bed and listened intently to the rhythmic thrumming of the embryo's heart from where it was residing in its werewolf mother's womb. It was mildly hypnotizing in a way, but above all it was thought provoking. That little blob of tissue had the potential to change everything in his predictable and easily controlled world. It was entirely new territory that would need exploring.

He knew logically that he was better off without it. And yet, when Hayley had so brazenly told him that she had bought wolf's bane with the intention of poisoning the blob, it had sparked an unexplainable rage of betrayal and fury in the center of his chest. He didn't even decide to lunge at her; it simply happened anyway.

And then came Rebekah and her soft-hearted speech about caring and dreams. Though he didn't say anything back, he knew his sister had aimed her words to strike at the one kind desire he had kept with him through the centuries. Even when he had daggered every member of his family and was totally alone, he had always thought of a day when they'd all be together and would hopefully live in harmony.

Of course, that would never happen now after the deaths of Finn and Kol. The closest they had come was in Mystic Falls for the short period when even their mother was alive; although that was now tainted with the knowledge of Finn's betrayal and Esther's plot to simultaneously kill all her children.

Perhaps it was time for a new dream.

A big change.

Something else to motivate his actions besides creating a perfect home by sheer, brute force.

A buzzing and increasingly loud chiming sound came from his pocket then and Klaus silenced it in under a second before it could wake Hayley and trigger what would likely be a very uncomfortable conversation as to why he was staring at her while she slept.

The cause of the sound was a text and when he opened the mailbox and saw who it was from he felt his chest ache.

Caroline Forbes

Is the ticket still valid?

It was the first text either of them had ever sent. Their usual methods of communication were calls, gifts left on doorsteps and fiery face-to-face conversations.

Klaus read over the words two dozen times, and then almost called her out of habit before realizing that there must have been some reason she had decided to send this via text.

Tapping the input window instead, he typed in his response.

Am I to take this as you accepting my graduation present?

He watched screen until the time popped up beneath the message to indicate it had been sent and then turned silently and left Hayley's bedroom for his own on the opposite side of the house.

"She has to be messing with me," he muttered to himself, now pacing the width of the room from window to wall. "Why the bloody hell else would she choose now to start texting?"

The phone buzzed and chimed in his hand and Klaus lifted it instantly to read her reply.

Caroline Forbes

I guess it didn't even take me a year. Let alone a century.

A flashback hit him in an instant from the 20's Decade Dance. Caroline in a red and silver dress with feathers in her flawlessly styled hair, silver gloves that covered almost the entirety of her arms, and a simple pearl necklace that hung right down over her breasts . . . looking far too happy for Klaus' liking while clutched in Tyler's arms . . .

"Perhaps one day, in a year, or even in a century, you'll turn up at my door and let me show you what the world has to offer." He had made the offer as they danced, and she had rejected it with a small scoff.

It was the same offer he had made to her again at her graduation, only the second time he had very directly told her that he intended to be the last person she ever fell in love with-whenever she was ready for that to happen. Caroline had responded to that proposal with a smile rather than a scoff, and neither of them had mentioned it again after.

Klaus pulled his mind back to the present and quickly composed his reply. The exact same thing he would have said to her if the conversation had have occurred in a call.

I'm coming to get you.