For our Klaroline battered hearts in need of comfort.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the characters or their stories, merely my imagination.

"Klaus…"

Caroline's voice was close to a whisper, the air running out near the end of his name. Why was he there, she did not know, but there he was, the man who made everything in her life ten times more complicated. There he was now, in the moment when things couldn't possibly be any worse for her.

Her mother's lifeless hand was still between hers, growing colder by the minute. It was long now since she'd stopped hearing anyone around her, but she'd just assumed she'd blocked them out. After all, there was nothing but her mother now, the absence of her mother, the void threatening to suck her all in, there where her body laid, eyes closed, life gone forever.

She'd turned around when she heard him call her name, and she'd known it was him even before her eyes confirmed it.

"What are you doing here?"

His face was weary and it grew even wearier when he saw the hopelessness in her eyes.

"I heard what happened, love, and I had to be here."

He took a step forward into the hospital room and she shook her head in tiny motions.

"How did you –"

"Last time I saw you, you had me promise I wouldn't come back. I had every intention of keeping my promise but I couldn't just leave not knowing what became of you, Caroline." He took another step towards her. Their eyes never left each other, not even while Caroline sniffed and freed one hand from her mom's to run her knuckles under her eyes and wipe her tears. "I compelled your friend Matt before I left. He was to tell me if anything of importance happened to you while I was gone. I believe this qualifies."

Caroline turned back to look at her mom and all of her work at wiping her tears was lost. They were coming out in sobs again and she felt like she would drown in this endless pit of pain.

"I just… I can't!" The words got caught between her crying and her gasping for air. Klaus moved silently, with reverence, and he stood behind her not daring to lay a hand on her, even though it broke his soul to watch her quiver with loss like that. "She's gone! I couldn't… I tried, I –" There no words, nothing, there was just emptiness and fear. Fear of what it would be like to carry on without her. "I can't do this."

"If there is anyone who can overcome the many death traps life sends us, it is you, love."

His voice was deep as it had always been, enrapturing, just like she remembered it. Just like it still hunted her from time to time in a dream.

"You said this life was worth the living." Caroline ventured a look at him. He contemplated her with quiet ease, his hands behind him, joined in perfect poise. He was both threatening and reassuring all at the same time. How he could manage that was beyond Caroline, but that's how he felt to her. For a moment she allowed herself to wonder where everyone else had gone, why they'd agreed to leave her with him without so much as an argument, but she didn't dwell on it much longer. She needed answers and he might be just the person able to give them to her. "That the whole world was waiting for me. How am I supposed to do any of that if she won't be there with me?"

The look in her eyes was accusing. He felt as though she was holding him responsible for telling her a lie, like he was supposed to fix that, to bring her mom back so she could get what he'd promised, a life of wonder with a thousand more birthdays and the lights of Tokyo, Paris and Rome.

"Loss is eternal. It is as old as the world, we cannot escape it. Only one thing came before loss… We can only mourn that which we have first loved. Find something to love, and you'll have found your reason to live." He paused, gazing into the sky blue of her soul, the face of an angel, a blonde, weeping angel, surrounded by light and the promise of a life that could be wonderful. "I did."

"I heard about your baby," she said, attempting to wipe her tears away a second time. "Who knew the big bad hybrid would turn into a dad someday," she teased him with a tearful smile, her hand still not ready to leave her mom's just yet.

"Hope was an unexpected surprise, a twist along the way. But I did not count on her to give me reasons for living."

"Hope?"

"My daughter, that's her name."

"Seriously, Klaus? What, Candy and Sunshine weren't available?"

His chest expanded at the sight of her smile. Her eyes were watery but there was a glimpse of light trying to make it back to them. Even if that was all he managed to get out of there, his job there would be done. He'd gotten her to smile.

"A bit too descriptive, I know, but it'll grow on you, love." It will grow on you. Klaus could kick himself for being so transparent. But this was Caroline; she already knew where he was coming from even if she refused to believe it. "Hope is my focus, my legacy," he continued. "She's family. I'd destroy the world to keep her safe, to make her happy. You are something to look forward to, an end to all the madness. A peaceful reign."

Caroline didn't say anything. What could she say? He wasn't asking her, he was just telling. And she didn't really want to prove him wrong. Every time he mentioned what he had planned for them, Caroline never really tried to prove him wrong. Did she embrace that they would end up just like he said, totally consumed by their love for one another? If she did, she'd never say. No matter who asked, she'd never say that Klaus was right. But deep, deep down, where the darker secrets go, the answer she would only admit to herself was yes.

Yes, they would be each other's last, that all consuming love that would be the thing of legends. But not right now, not in this era. Right now was the time for grief and silent company. Now was still the time for unspoken words and hidden truths, the time for lighter feelings. Perhaps the time for Stefan, she thought.

Klaus had arched maybe an inch closer to her as they spoke but it'd been enough to immerse them in a private bubble that now felt too intimate to maintain. He straightened up and offered to leave and let her be in peace.

"I just wanted to make sure you'd be okay, even if I never doubted it for a second," he said with a pouty smirk.

Those lips had kissed Caroline, and she'd never be able to erase their mark from hers.

Klaus swiveled on his heel to leave, hands still behind his back, when one of Caroline's hand on his wrist stopped him. He didn't turn right away afraid his face would betray what it felt like when she touched him.

"Don't leave yet," she pleaded, in that sweet, raspy voice of her. It wasn't commanding, she was asking him to stay.

He felt composed enough to face her then with a serious look. "Wouldn't dream of it, love," he said, pulling up a chair to sit right beside her.

The lights were dim , the whole room was filled with the solemnity of death and they sat quietly next to each other while Caroline cried the loss of her mother. Her head came to rest gently on his shoulder and neither of them broke their silence because of it.

This wasn't a break on his promise. He would return to New Orleans and she would carry on with whatever feelings filled her heart after her mom's passing became more bearable. This wasn't a change of plans, it was merely a reminder. However long it takes.