Fandom(s): The Vampire Diaries
Summary: Caroline sells her soul for something pure and true.
Title: Blowing This Popsicle Stand
Series: Part of my series of mostly unrelated one-shots inspired by songs.
Author: Lilly Gray
Characters: Caroline Forbes, Klaus Mikaelson, Kol Mikaelson. There are also mentions of Damon Salvatore, Alaric Saltzman, and Tyler Lockwood.
Relationships: Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson and mentions of Caroline Forbes/Tyler Lockwood
Genre: Drama, Supernatural, Romance
Rating: Rated T. This story is pretty tame for me.
Warnings: None.
Beta/Pre-Reader: None
Banner by: Lilly Gray
Word Count: 1,381
Prompt/inspiration: Inspired by the lyrics to #1 Crush by Garbage. The song video can be found here on Youtube… watch?v=locBtYh90-0
Timeline Notes: Set in the middle of Season 03 Episode 15, 'All My Children.'
Status: Complete
Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries. The recognizable characters, settings, locations, plot lines, quotes, etc. from the franchise above belong to their respective owners, not me. Also, I don't own the lyrics to #1 Crush they belong to Garbage. I am making no money from this story, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Notes: I quote the show in the beginning of the story. Those lines don't belong to me.
So this story came about because I wanted to use some of the 307 songs I have in a folder full of lyrics to write some one-shots. However, my muse couldn't choose one, so I had some friends pick numbers and then used the songs' places in the folder to figure out which song was which number. Kat Luner Marie chose #1, which is '#1 Crush' by Garbage. Hope you enjoy it, Kat Luner Marie!
Thanks to everyone who picked a number… eight down, twenty-three more one-shots to write! Lol.
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Blowing This Popsicle Stand
By Lilly Gray
Walking into the Grill, I catch Ric's eye and then look away. Please God let this work.
I walk towards the bar, and when I'm close, Klaus says under his breath, "Say another word, and I'll tear out your liver," then louder he says, "Caroline!"
Scowling I put as much attitude into my response as possible and crossing my fingers say, "Oh, it's you."
He grins at me and asks, "Join us for a drink?"
He never gives up I'll give him that, and it's tempting, but I have a plan I need to stick to and doing it in here would be way too dangerous for all involved so I tell him, "Hmm, I'd rather die of thirst, but thanks." And then I turn and leave the building.
Pushing open the door I walk across the street and sigh when I hear the Grill's door open behind me and a car honk. Looking back I watch Klaus slap his hand on the hood of the car that almost hit him. Thank God he's following me. Now to get far enough away from the Grill so that no one will overhear what I'm about to say.
Klaus shouts, "Caroline!"
When I get to the bench across the street from the bar, I stop. This should be far enough away, so I turn to face him.
I grumble under my breath, "Man doesn't know how to take a hint, does he?" Silently I thank God for that fact.
He's smiling at me with that boyish grin of his and says, "Don't be angry Luv. We had a little spat. I'm over it already."
Truth is I'm over it too and banking everything on the fact that he was serious when he said he fancies me. I fight the grin that tries to cover my face, and although I hate to wipe away his smile it's necessary, so I ask, "Does your brother have a cell phone?" Everything depends on Kol being reachable from out here.
His grin turns into a little frown before he asks, "Kol, you mean?"
I nod, so he smiles again and nods back. Please don't kill me for this. I look him in the eye and tell him, "Then you need to text him that Alaric plans to dagger him on Damon's behalf. I was supposed to distract you so they can get close enough to do it."
And there goes his grin. Now he's scowling at me and he takes a step closer to me, probably planning to throttle me but I hold up my hand and say, "Yell at me and threaten me after you've warned Kol or my betrayal will be for nothing."
He's still scowling, but he nods and takes out his phone sending a text. His phone beeps at him, and he smiles again before looking at me and asking, "Why did you warn me? Why betray your friends?"
Frowning I decide to go with brutal honesty, so I tell him, "Because I'm always second place and you're the only person in my life who has chosen me first. You might hurt me on occasion, but you always admit you're wrong and make things right. Like that beautiful drawing you left me last night."
He's grinning at me, but I close my eyes and screw up my courage before opening my eyes and telling him, "You're also the only person in my life who actually listens when I talk. Do you know I had a whole one-sided conversation with Tyler yesterday morning? I went on and on about how I was running off with Damon and having his baby, and he just kept 'uh huh-ing' me and making agreement noises. It wasn't until I changed Damon's name to yours that I actually got a reaction out of Tyler."
He chuckles despite the frown on his face. Shifting my weight, I press my lips together and cross my arms over my chest before telling him, "That's typical of everyone in my life, well, everyone except you. Therefore, I decided to honor the friendship you have freely offered me and warn you of the danger to your brother. If I thought it wouldn't have caused a nasty scene in the view of humans, I would have warned you inside, but I figured telling you out here would be safer for Ric. I'm hoping your text came early enough to avoid Ric having to use his ring again. Anyway, apparently, now I'm team Mikaelson or team Klaus at least."
He takes a step closer to me and reaches out his hand before saying, "Caroline…"
Taking a step back from him and interrupting I say, "All I've ever wanted, Klaus, is to matter to someone. I would sell my soul for something pure and true and apparently I've chosen to betray my friends and sell my soul for someone like you."
He nods but drops his outstretched hand and then says, "I hope you know they won't forgive you."
Nodding I tell him, "I know, but for the record, I don't regret it."
He nods and then asks, "And I also hope you know my family won't forget what you've done for us."
I grin and tell him, "I hope so because I probably just gave up lifelong friendships so I'm going to need all the friends I can manage."
He grins and then reaches out and brushes my hand with his before asking, "What will you do?"
Shrugging I shift on my feet again and say, "Well, if you manage to stop your mother from killing all of you, I might be persuaded to take you up on your offer of a tour of the world."
His smile returns full force before he asks, "You'd go with me?"
Taking a deep breath, I slowly let it out through my nose and then nod and tell him, "Yes. I—I will travel the world with you, but I would like some reassurance that my friends will be safe. They may hate me in the very near future, but I still love them despite their disinterest in me and my life."
Nodding he tells me, "If you leave with me I'll convince my family to come with us and that way you'll know none of us are attacking your friends even if I don't think they deserve your love or consideration."
God, am I really making plans to travel the world with the original family? Why yes, yes I am, so giggling I tell him, "You know they think the same thing about you. They don't believe you are deserving of my time or my consideration never mind my friendship.
I take out my phone and ask for his number before texting him my cell number. Right after his cell phone beeps, his brother shows up.
Kol smiles at me and says, "Darling, thank you for the heads up."
Frowning I ask, "Did you kill Ric?"
He laughs and shakes his head, "No. I abruptly left my billiards game with the pretty brunette with the sharp tongue, finished my drink, and then came out here. I imagine your friends aren't quite sure what went wrong."
He turns to look at his brother and tells him, "I texted Elijah and told him of the Salvatores' new plan. He said he'll take care of it."
Klaus nods and looks at me for a minute before saying, "Well, Luv, I do believe I need to see about stopping our mother from killing us all so that you and my family can leave this place for good."
I nod, so he turns and begins walking away. A few feet away he stops and turns before telling me, "Thank you, Caroline. And for the record, I'd much rather you run off with me instead of Damon Salvatore."
Giggling I nod and tell him, "Well if you hurry up you just might get your wish."
Smiling he nods and then the two brothers walk away leaving me alone. I figure I have a few hours before my friends come looking for me, so I head home to pack and get ready for when the original family and I blow this popsicle stand once and for all.
The End