title: how can the darkness feel so wrong
notes: set post 3x11, my take on their next meeting. thank you to afamiliarsmile for being a lovely beta :D

Caroline wasn't sure how she found herself standing outside his door. She just knew she needed to come. It wasn't compulsion; it was just her own humanity, and curiosity, tugging at her. She fingered the bracelet in her pocket; she couldn't bring herself to put it on... but she couldn't ignore it either or the question of what it could possibly mean. She wound her way through the precarious construction site, ending in an open room. Klaus was bent over a table laid with blue prints. Of course he heard her coming and lifted his gaze the moment she entered, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

"Caroline," he greeted her. "What brings you here, love?"

She hated how he seemed much more comfortable than she was. Maybe it was that persistent sense of fear at him being able to rip her heart out without blinking. Though she wasn't quite sure if he would. Not anymore.

She took another step into the room, but a certain wariness kept her from coming too close. It was peculiar in a way, considering how close they'd been last night. She hadn't flinched when he sat next to her; she hadn't moved when he leaned in. Something in the way he looked at her made her want to trust him. Maybe it was just a dying girl wanting to trust the man who could save her.

"I just - I wanted..." she sighed, flustered. She didn't know how to do this. Caroline closed her eyes, raking a hand through her hair and exhaled, the way Stefan told her calmed her frantic vampire emotions. She opened her eyes, meeting his. She could see something in his expression again, some raw side to him that he'd only just shown to her last night. Caroline stepped forward until only the table stood between them.

"I wanted to say thank you. For saving my life." She smiled softly. "You could've let me die." She looked down and chuckled without humor, the smile falling off her face. "I expected you to."

It had been eating away at her, the way he saved her. The way she felt indebted to him somehow even when she owed him nothing.

"I mean, you are the one who wanted him to bite me, right?" Slowly she dragged her eyes back up to meet his with a coldness very uncharacteristic of her.

"I told you, it was merely-"

"Collateral damage, yeah, I heard." She laughed bitterly. "You know, you talk about the world being this beautiful thing but you didn't really plan on me getting to see it, did you? What if my mom hadn't agreed to help you? I'd be dead."

He gave her that knowing smirk of his and shrugged. "Perhaps."

"No." Caroline narrowed her eyes. "You sacrificed my best friend, you fucked up Stefan's life, you brainwashed my boyfriend and you expect me to believe you would've spared me?"

"You have an interesting way of showing gratitude, sweetheart."

"I'm thankful to be alive," she said with as much venom as she could muster. "Not that you thought I was just another pawn you could use." Caroline gave him a scathing once over, shaking her head. She was already walking a dangerous line, and probably taking it too far, but she didn't care anymore. She'd driven herself insane analyzing everything over and over; telling herself how much of a lie it was and how little she mattered. Clearly if he was willing to kill her one second and save her the next, Klaus couldn't have put much thought into the value of her existence. "No wonder you had to sire people to get them on your side. Do you actually care about anything?"

"My family," he shot back at her with an annoyed drawl. "But I seem to have misplaced them. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that now, would you, love?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I should've realized. The daggers to the heart must've confused me."

He growled, and in a flash his hand closed around her throat, crushing her windpipe. "Don't talk about things you don't understand, sweetheart. You know nothing of my family." Just as quickly, he released his hold, dropping her unceremoniously to the ground. Klaus moved a few steps away, and Caroline thought she saw him almost quivering with rage, but perhaps it was just the aftershock of his attack.

Suddenly, he turned on her, fixing her with a stare that was positively frightening. "Your precious Elena sacrifices her life for her family. How noble. I suppose my actions don't earn the same courtesy?"

He wasn't really looking for an answer, but Caroline, stubborn and headstrong as always, still gave one. "Why would they?" she asks in disbelief. "You took Stefan's life from him then get to live for eternity with your family and your precious hybrid pack? You don't deserve that."

This time when he moves closer, Caroline doesn't flinch. It's not violence she senses in him. There are merely a few inches separating them and Caroline is forced to tilt her head up to look him in the eye. He's smirking at her dangerously. "And what do I deserve, sweetheart? Death?"

Caroline opened her mouth, ready to vehemently protest yes, that's exactly what he deserved. She'd been so quick to condemn him last night. But something stopped her. Something in what he'd told her when she lay dying. She truly didn't understand him. She could understand he was a sadistic monster, who sacrificed Elena, murdered Jenna, tried to kill Jeremy, stole everything from Stefan, and turned Tyler against her. She could understand he would kill anyone and do anything to get what he wanted. She understood he was volatile, animalistic and had no regard for human life. But with her, he was also vulnerable, conflicted, and full of regret and pain he'd carried for centuries. He was almost human. And she didn't know how to understand that.

Slowly, she closed her mouth and her expression softened, her body releasing tension. "No."

For once, she thought she actually succeeded in surprising the Original. "No?" he questioned just as softly, leaning in closer to her. Something in her compelled her not to look away; it wasn't his power, but something about the way they were drawn together. "Perhaps you don't hate me as much as you like to believe."

Caroline shook her head automatically, breaking eye contact with him. She swallowed hard, barely realizing she was anxiously playing the bracelet between her fingers again. "I hate you," she insisted but the words seemed meek even to her.

When Klaus caught her wrist, Caroline instinctively froze up, her body going rigid. But his touch wasn't meant to hurt. Slowly he drew her hand from her pocket, exposing the bracelet dangling from her fingertips.

"I think it's time to do yourself a favor, love, and stop lying. You can't help yourself."

She finally dared to glance up and found a smirk curving across his lips. With gentle hands, he dropped the bracelet back into her palm and closed her fingers around it. "And one day you'll realize you don't want to." For a moment, Caroline was stunned. She didn't know how to move or even how to accept what he just said. Her instinct was to deny but something else inside her quiets that impulse and that confuses her even more.

Suddenly she became aware that her hand was still in his and she drew it back hastily, tightening her fist around his gift. She took a step back, trying to give herself distance and find sense. This wasn't how things were supposed to happen. Unable to help herself, Caroline unclenched her fingers and looked down at the glittering silver jewelry in her palm before finding Klaus' eyes again. She let out a shaky breath, feeling thoroughly rattled. Slowly, Caroline took another step back, tearing her eyes from his and turning her back.

He almost let her walk away before she heard him calling out her name. Caroline turned back to look at him.

"You're welcome."