The cold breeze blew in, moving the white, light curtains. It carried the salty scent of the ocean with it, and when it reached Klaus' nose, he couldn't help but turn his face away.

There was a time when he loved that scent. A time when he loved waking up to that view. He loved the sight of the ocean, so wide and limitless to his eyes. Those days were far behind. Now it made him wanna roll over on his bed and bury his nose in his pillow, but it didn't take the ocean away. No. It was still there, surrounding him, mocking him.

"Good morning mister Mikaelson!" Kimberly's annoying voice pierces his ears as she walks into the room.

Klaus barely groans a reply and rolls over on his back, not without some difficulties. Kimberly then proceeds to move the hospital bed tray and place Klaus' breakfast in front of him.

"Eat this, and then I'm helping you shave. You have your appointment with Doctor Martin in exactly one hour and you're meeting your new physiotherapist after that." Kimberly said. "Try not to scare this one away." She added.

Klaus rolled his eyes and turned his head away as Kimberly lifted a spoon with oatmeal.

"I can eat by myself." He mumbled –more like growled-. "And I can shave myself too, unless I had to shave with my feet. Which I don't."

Kimberly nodded and placed the spoon down.

"Alright then, I'll come back in a few to help you get ready for your appointment with Doctor Martin. Meanwhile, eat. Your mother wants you to eat the whole thing."

Klaus looked down to the tray filled with food and growled again.

"Name?" the guard at the front door asked.

"Caroline Forbes." Caroline said from behind the wheel and watched the guard look for her name in a sheet of paper.

"What brings you to the Mikaelson's manor, Miss Forbes?"

"I'm Niklaus Mikaelson's new physiotherapist."

The man lowered the chart he was holding and looked at her for a moment, like he was inspecting her.

"Good luck." He said simply before pressing a button and opening the gate. Caroline frowned but put the car in gear and drove through the large front garden to the front door. The house was a freaking mansion. Caroline wasn't so surprised, after all Mikael Mikaelson –what kind of name is that?- offered her a filthy amount of money, and was willing to pay even more, for her to make his son walk again. Everything was so elegant, Caroline felt embarrassed of her old beat up car.

As she parked her car, a handsome and stylish man in a suit opened the door and stepped outside to greet her.

"Miss Forbes? I'm Elijah Mikaleson, Niklaus' brother. Thank you for being so punctual." He said as he shook her hand.

"It's a pleasure. You have a beautiful house." Caroline commented while following up the stairs to the door.

"I'll make sure to tell my parents. I don't live here anymore, but I'm right next door."

Caroline looked to both sides. To her left there were just trees as far as her eyes could go, and to her right she spotted a house just as beautiful as this one, about three hundred yards away.

This people are ridiculously rich!

"Niklaus is having an appointment with his psychiatrist so I'll give you a quick tour. Kitchen, dinner and living room are over there." He said pointing further inside the house. "This is just the common area. Bathroom is to the left." Elijah added before making his way upstairs. "Here are the bedrooms, the library and this…" He said stopping in front of a door. "… is where you'll be working with Niklaus."

Caroline stepped inside and found a room better equipped for her job than most hospitals she had ever seen.

"You have all of this here? No wonder why your father refused to take his son to the hospital."

"Yes, well…" Elijah sighed. "Our parents invested a lot to make sure Niklaus would get back on his feet, but it hasn't turned out that way."

Caroline tilted her head.

"I read mister Mikaelson's clinic history. His accident was almost a year ago. With all this equipment he should be doing better than he is."

"My brother has been somewhat resistant to the rehabilitation." Elijah said softly, making Caroline frown in confusion. "We don't know why. We don't know what happened that makes him act this way, but he refuses to take his meds and do his exercises, all he does is sit on his bloody chair and growls at everyone." He explained and to Caroline he looked like a hopeless man. "He even stopped painting…"

"I'M DONE! YOU HEAR ME?! I'M DONE!"

Caroline and Elijah rushed back to the hall when they heard the screaming.

"Doctor Martin?" Elijah asked to the raging man stomping his way to the stairs.

"I'm done, Elijah! He is IMPOSSIBLE!"

"Please sir, don't leave…" Elijah tried to stop him, but the doctor kept going. Caroline watched him leave while throwing his arms in the air and curse and then she heard Elijah sigh. "This is the fifth psychiatrist that quits." He said pinching the bridge of his nose. "He also managed to scare away housekeeping personal, nurses and well… his previous physiotherapists."

Caroline swallowed hardly and tried to stand straight, showing no sign of discomfort.

"Let's give it time. Some patients take longer than others. But for now I'd like to meet him and start doing my job." She said.

Elijah nodded and started walking to the room Doctor Martin had just exited.

Caroline took a deep breath and stepped in.

"Good luck." She heard Elijah whisper before closing the door behind her. Caroline wanted to curse. Bastard! He left her alone with Niklaus without even introducing them.

The room was dark and gloomy. Book shelves went from the floor to the ceiling and the only light in the room came from the fireplace and a small lamp on a table. By the way, who closes the curtains and lights a fireplace at 10 am on a sunny day?

At first Caroline didn't see him, but then her eyes adjusted to the darkness and noticed the hunched figure in a corner, intense blue eyes looking at her curiously.

"Good morning mister Mikaelson. My name is Caroline Forbes and I'm your new physiotherapist." Caroline said with her best smile.

Klaus only looked at her up and down for a moment and then scoffed.

"I either managed to scare all the good ones…" he mumbled. "… or father is getting desperate."

Caroline frowned but she wasn't going to let him rile her up that easily. She was going to prove to him that she was just as good as any other specialist. So instead of replying, she took a deep breath and put her briefcase down.

"We need more light!" She said rushing to the window and opening the curtains. Klaus quickly turned his head to a side, to shield himself from the light. "Much better. Let's get started!" She took Klaus' clinic history from her briefcase and sat down on the couch. "You had a boat accident and now suffer a spinal cord injury. This means you aren't entire paralyzed, you can't move from the waist down, however you haven't lost sensibility on the skin. Is that correct?"

"Well it's all in there, isn't it?" He asked in a condescending tone while glancing at the file before looking away. "I hit my back against some rocks." He then explained.

Caroline nodded her head and carried on, trying not to imagine the painful experience.

"Most of the damage is in the 3rd lumbar vertebrae which is the one that allows us to stay in balance. We'll work on that in the future. I think with some massages and exercises you should walk again soon."

"You're wasting your time. I won't ever walk again."

"No, you won't, unless you start the rehabilitation right away. It's been almost a year, the longer you wait, the-"

"You don't get it. I won't!" Klaus said determined. "It's useless." He added softly.

Caroline frowned at that. Why would anyone give up so easily? Wouldn't people in his situation jump in at any chance of walking again? Caroline flipped through the pages in the folder and reached Klaus' psychiatry history.

Depression.

Attempt of suicide.

She quickly shut the folder and decided to use a different approach.

"Alright then." She got up and walked around Klaus' chair. Klaus turned his head to look at her with wide eyes when she started pushing the wheel chair.

"Where the bloody hell are you taking me, woman?!"

"To your therapy room. Just because I can't help you walk again doesn't mean I don't have a job to do. If you're staying in that chair forever, we need to make sure your blood circulates or the muscles will die."

"I'll fire you." Klaus grumbled.

"You can't. I'm your father's employee, not yours." Caroline replied while pushing the chair down the hall.

"Then I'll make you quit!"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you? But at least give me a chance. Who knows, you might enjoy it!" Caroline said, back to her cheerful self.

"Doubt it." Klaus mumbled as he sulked on his chair.

"Alright, here we are!" she said as she stopped the chair in front of the medical bed. "Let's take your sweater off first."

Klaus looked at her like she had grown a second head.

"Excuse me?"

"What? You never got a massage from your other therapists?" Caroline asked while looking through the cabinets.

"Yes, but they massaged my legs…"

"Your spinal cord is all connected. We need to work our way down from there." Caroline explained before she found what she was looking for. "Lavender lotion, perfect!"

Klaus took his sweater off and wheeled his chair to the bed, then he pushed himself up with his arms and climbed up. It took a lot of effort, but when Caroline tried to help him, he quickly pushed her away.

"I can do it myself."

Caroline rolled her eyes and stood by the bed. Once Klaus was laying on his stomach, Caroline poured the lotion on her palm and rubbed her hands together.

"Will this help with the pain?" Klaus asked. "My thighs hurt. I mean, what's the point of being paralyzed if I can still feel pain…"

"They hurt because you sit on your ass all day and don't work out." Caroline replied.

Klaus leaned up on his elbows and turned his head to glare at her. No one ever talked to him like that.

"Just do your fucking job."

"Mister Mikaelson! Language, please! Or I'll bring a swearing jar!"

He said before laying back down. Caroline took a deep breath and started massaging his back. She was gentle, applying the right amount of pressure when needed, never touching the injured vertebrae. She didn't want to say anything and spoil the moment, but she had to pat herself on the back when she heard Klaus' happy noises.

She found that giving massages could be relaxing for herself too, which was what she needed while working with such a difficult patient. As she focused on the way her hands glided on his back, she noticed observed his tattoos. He had a black triangle on his shoulder blade and she could tell he had another one on his arm and a third one on his shoulder. She also noticed he had a lot of moles, which she found adorable.

She had to admit, he was a good looking man, with his blue eyes and red lips, his short blond curls and thick British accent. He was a little pale, and looked tired, but that was understandable. It surprised her that his lesion wasn't caused by too much sex –she remembered vividly one of her patients, the 72 years old mister Collins, who sought her help after hurting his back while having sex with a younger lover-.

If only he wasn't such an asshole.

"Okay mister Mikaelson, we're done with the back. We'll start working on your legs."

"Mister Mikaelson is my father. I'm Klaus."

Caroline nodded.

"Alright Klaus. Roll over, I need to take your pants off." Klaus tensed "I need to massage your thighs and calves to stimulate the blood flow."

Klaus opened his eyes widely and shook his head.

"No, no. There will be no blood flowing today." He said while trying to sit up.

"Klaus-"

"I'm done for today." Klaus said. "I'm tired. I'd like to rest."

Caroline nodded and pushed the wheelchair closer to the bed.

.

"Mister Mikaelson?" Caroline called out as she entered the living room.

Elijah, who sat on the couch sipping his tea, lowered the newspaper he was reading and looked at her.

"Yes, miss Forbes?"

"I have the phone number of a very good psychiatric doctor, in case you still need someone to cover doctor Martin." Caroline said while handing him a card.

Elijah took it and read it.

"Dr. Alarick Saltzman." He looked up at her. "And you think this man can help Niklaus?"

Caroline nodded.

"Yes. He dealt with a patient a lot like Klaus in the past. You know, someone… resistant to the treatment. If anyone can change Klaus' mind, it's him."