A/N: The title of the fic is named after the Astoria bridge where the fic takes place! (Also, this is non-beta'd so please excuse any grammatical errors I may have missed.)
"This is my favorite place." Klaus stuck his hands in his pockets, something he rarely ever did but he had the feeling if he did anything else, she'd run away. Not that there was anywhere to go; not if you didn't know the place as well as he did. "It's quiet here. The air is clearer, I can hear myself think." A smile teased his lips. "Not to mention the view."
They were standing at the very top of a bridge. Well, he was standing. Caroline was sitting with her arms wrapped around her knees holding them against her chest. Klaus had begun to ramble on about the history of the bridge, he was obsessed with history. Normally she'd be fascinated with the story and she'd listen intensely, but for some reason her heart wasn't in it tonight. Perhaps it was the air up here. Or the view. It was amazing how you could see the beauty of the town lights in the distance and still see every single star in the sky. Caroline was slightly convinced she could see Mars tonight, but that was probably unlikely. It's not like she was an astrologist or anything. He was right about this bridge though, it made you think.
Klaus had insisted on taking a detour on the way back home to come here. It wasn't like she wanted to come with him in the first place, but they were looking for his mother and Caroline had to come because Damon was hell bent on putting her through torture because Klaus had this fascination with her, and the Salvatores wanted to make sure Klaus kept his word. Or something like that, it was hard to keep track of everything sometimes. Especially now that they were on top of this bridge where the air was clear and the lights were pretty and Caroline was noticing the sound of Klaus' voice when he talked about something he loved. It was the same tone he used when he talked about the horses.
It wasn't just his voice she was noticing a difference in. It was hard to put a finger on it, but if she had to describe it, she'd say he was tamer. He wasn't as reckless as he was when they first met. He wasn't killing people left and right, making hybrids out of every werewolf that crossed his path. He even had a tolerable relationship with Stefan and Damon. Hell, even Elena could hold a conversation with him without a hidden agenda. Granted they weren't BFFs with matching key rings and they were definitely ready to take him out if he tried any funny business, but he was tolerable. Admirable, even, to an extent.
"Klaus." Caroline had interrupted him, but she hadn't noticed and judging by the way his posture had snapped to her attention, he didn't seem to mind. "Can you sit down for a minute?"
"Of course, love." He smirked as he took his hands out of his pockets and sat down across from her, taking an almost identical position with his arms across his knees. "What's on your mind?"
She turned her attention away from the city lights to look at him, really look at him for the first time this entire trip. His expression was soft and she knew whatever she had to say, he'd listen and actually hear her. "You know when you turned Tyler, I hated you." She glanced down as he steeled his jaw. "And I know you already apologized for that, that's not why I'm bringing it up. I just- I hated you and I was ready to hold that against you, along with everything else you've done to everyone in my life that I care about. I wanted..."
"Caroline..."
She closed her eyes, "No, let me say this." She took a deep breath before opening her eyes to look at him again. "I blamed you for everything bad in my life because of what you did. Everything with Elena, Stefan, Bonnie, Tyler, my fa-" her voice broke at the memory of him, "My father. I didn't care if you caused it or not, everything bad was because of you and as far as I knew it, you took everything from me."
There was a pause. There was a part of Klaus that wanted to defend himself, but the other part just wanted to comfort her. She was on the verge of tears and the last thing he wanted was for her to be upset.
"You know there was part of me... there was part of me that was convinced that, even though the sire bond was broken, Tyler stopped loving me because you told him to."
"I didn't-"
"I know." she whispered, her eyes going back to staring at the moon. A few moments passed before she spoke again. "I'm starting to let myself believe that you could make me happy, Klaus."
A smirk crossed his lips, "I knew you'd come around sooner or later."
"No, I need you to understand." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. She slid her legs down away from her chest and let them sway between the bars of the bridge. "This isn't me 'giving in' to your charms and I'm not saying your attempts at seducing me were successful. What I'm saying is that I've seen you change. You're not the same person I met all those months ago. I'm starting to actually admire you and I'm afraid lightning is going to strike me down now that I've said it outloud. I like you, Klaus, I really do and I think the person you've become can make me happy. Why are you smiling?"
Klaus had, again, taken a position identical to hers, his arms crossed and legs dangling between the bars of the bridge and a smile plastered on his face. "Because, Caroline," he slid himself closer to her, "I stopped actively persuing you awhile ago. A gentleman can only be turned down so many times before his ego takes a blow. However," he held up his index finger and brought to his lips, "I never lost hope. Do you know how hard it was not to come swooping in the minute Tyler left you?" He shrugged as he crossed his arms again. "Well, I suppose it all worked out in my favor in the end though didn't it?"
"Klaus..." She breathed his name because he had moved so he was just inches away from her and she was unsure if that's what she wanted or not. She didn't really have time to think it through though because the next moment his hands were on her cheeks and his lips were on hers and she kind of just melted into them, bringing her hands up to cover his. Then she got her bearings back and pulled away. "I need to set a few things straight. I am not your girlfriend."
Klaus shrugged his shoulders and smirked, "I never did care for labels."
Caroline burrowed her brows together for a moment before shaking her head. "Let me rephrase. We're nothing official okay."
"So what are we then?" he asked, amused.
She took a deep breath, thinking before she spoke. "We're... something. That's all I can give you right now."
"I'll take it. Can I go back to kissing you now?"
Caroline smirked, she could only hope he was always going to be this easy to please. A couple moments passed before she finally nodded.