Late at night, when Elena and Bonnie are asleep in Caroline's bed, Caroline hears light knocking at the door. It isn't loud enough to wake the humans, but she hears it well.
"We haven't officially met," he starts when she opens the door. "I'm Elijah."
Caroline's eyes widen. She's not scared of him, though. "Look," she says, "I was just put in a cage and tortured by werewolves, so now is not really a good time for a heart to heart…or whatever it is you want."
His raises eyebrows in surprise. "Feisty," he murmurs, lacking the sexist tone that would otherwise make her angry. She settles for annoyance instead. "I think I am going to like you."
"That's nice," she says with an eye roll and closes the door.
-x-
After she learns of Tyler's disappearance, she breaks down. She runs through the woods at vampire speed and tries to find somewhere to hide. Eventually, she settles herself on the edge of the Salvatore property. Close to safety, but far from everyone.
She cries for a while before a voice stops her. "What, exactly, are you crying over?"
She looks up and glares at him. "None of your frickin' business," she hisses and turns away from him. She hopes that by ignoring him, he'll go away.
He doesn't take the hint like he should, though. Instead, he sits next to her on the dead tree she's perched on. "I believe I've told you my name," he says conversationally. "Would you now tell me yours?"
She doesn't want to answer, wants to ignore him until he finally leaves her alone, but she's hurt and angry and he's here. "Caroline," she says on a sigh. "Caroline Forbes."
-x-
She sees him when she walks into the Grill and walks right back out the door. She and Bonnie have just done the spell on Luka, and she is not in the mood to be dead right now.
He must have seen her, though, for he follows her out.
He pushes her up against the side of the restaurant and forces her to stare into his eyes.
She closes hers. "Let me go," she says, not even looking at him. She wants to, would love to stare directly in his eyes and demand he leave her alone, but she remembers what happened with Damon and knows not to look into his eyes because even as a vampire, people like him can still do that to her.
"I'll ask you once, and once only, to open your eyes. After that, I'll start killing people," he threatens.
Caroline hates him for this, but she opens her eyes as he asks.
"You will save me," he commands her. "When you figure out how to undo whatever it is that kills me, you will save me. Until that moment, you will not remember this conversation."
He leaves after that, and Caroline trembles. She hates the feeling of compulsion.
-x-
Caroline's trembling.
Damon's out with Andie—she has to deal with that situation later—and Stefan's taken Elena back to the lake house for the weekend. Now she's making her way down to the Salvatore basement, praying no one comes in here and sees what she's about to do.
She fumbles with the lock on the door of the pseudo-mausoleum. Once she has ripped it off, she slowly opens the door and sees him lying on the floor. When she walks closer, she sees how gray he is and she can't help but think: that's what I'm going to look like when I die now?
Her trembling hands reach for the dagger and wrap around it. She hesitates for only a moment before she hears his voice in her head and pulls it out.
Quickly, the gray fades and Elijah's eyes open. "Hello, Caroline," he says. "Thank you for saving me."