"Let's get out of here... before twelve angry hybrids decide to pick a fight," said Klaus. Caroline couldn't suppress a snicker at his little joke, hooking her arm into his just as he was offering it to her. They walked down the aisle in companionable silence, away from the graduation stage.

Klaus smiled, thinking how apt this moment was - how it paralleled the graduation of their relationship into another phase. Friendship, definitely, for now. He had seen the way she looked at him when he appeared to save her and her friends from the ghost of the head witch. Her smile could light up his day - and for that, he was willing to give in and make a few exceptions. Exceptions he had never considered before.

The trip to New Orleans had opened up his mind. Stepping away from the situation made him realise that the wrath he had directed at Tyler was fueled more by his obsession with her than anything. There were so many chances when he could have killed Tyler, but he didn't. He didn't because he knew it would only push Caroline further from him. But keeping that wretched hybrid away from her had the same effect of fueling her obsession of wanting Tyler to come back to Mystic Falls.

It hurt to think of how she would go back to Tyler, but he knew it was a decision that had to be made. She had to find out for herself eventually that Tyler could never catch up with her in her pursuit for knowledge, love and art. She needed to go out and explore the world, and see it for herself because only then would she be ready...

"Can we walk all the way home?" Caroline interrupted his musings.

"As you wish, love" replied Klaus.

Silence resumed. Caroline struggled with her feelings. It was the first time they'd been together that they haven't fought about his neurotic need to control, command and conquer. This was the Klaus she had seen when he first came to her bedside when she was dying from the werewolf venom. Granted he had put her in that situation in the first place, Caroline couldn't not admit that she had seen a change in him, that he was a different person around her. This was the Klaus that had saved her in the halls of the school, when she was escaping from Evil Alaric. The one who shared a story about a boy and his beloved horse with her. The one who painted sad and lonely snowflakes. The one who, despite being the most spiteful person she had known, couldn't bear to let her die from his bite when she was drawing her last breath. The one whom she had rebutted ever so often, justifying the hurt she was causing him by telling herself that he was evil. But today, she couldn't bring herself to do that. His magnanimity towards her, the fact that he had actually bothered to come back to Mystic Falls after receiving her graduation invite, the way he had rushed to save Damon after saving them from the ghost witches...

"Are you staying in Mystic Falls?" she asked quietly as her house came into sight.

"I'm afraid not, sweetheart. I have business to attend to in New Orleans."

"When will you be leaving?"

"Tomorrow, first flight in the morning."

Caroline looked down, avoiding his eyes. She should be happy that he was leaving, after all the trouble that had happened after his arrival in Mystic Falls. She tried to sort out her feelings and she usually did that by talking. Her verbosity had led her to impossible situations. But this time, she was actually speechless. She had opened her mouth only to close it several times in the twenty-minute walk to her house. They were standing opposite her house, yet neither of them seemed to want to make a move to leave first. The roads were eerily empty.

"Well, it looks like the veil is up," observed Klaus. "Good night, Caroline."

"Wait!" she said. It came out more like a command rather than a request. "Please."

Klaus quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Can we... urm... talk for a while?" she said, leading him to the park near her house. They sat down at the bench side by side.

"Well, what do you want to talk about? The mini fridge?" asked Klaus, breaking the silence.

Caroline smiled at his attempt at humour and felt a little tension leave her body. Taking a deep breath, she asked: "Why?"

"Why the mini fridge?" Klaus pretended to be oblivious.

Caroline shook her head. "No, why are you doing this? Letting Tyler off the hook. I mean, not that I'm not happy about your decision - I am - but why?"

Klaus shifted to face her and took both her hands in his. Looking into her searching eyes, he said: "Because you deserve to be happy. Because I want you to be happy. No, I need you to be happy. I realised that after you pulled me out of the trance Silas trapped me in. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't snapped me out of it. The ordeal was as agonizing as the Hunter's curse. Maybe worse. But you led me out of the trap, the darkness." Klaus sighed. "I'm... It's... Even after all I put you through, you never gave up on me. Thank you, Caroline, for everything."

Caroline felt tears gathering. "Am I going to see you again?" she whispered.

Klaus flashed her a dimpled smile. "You're always welcome to visit me in New Orleans, if you want. And there's always this amazing gadget you youngsters have called the cell," he joked.

"It only works if you answer the calls, or at least reply to people's voicemails,"she chided.

Glad that he had managed to draw her bubbly self back and reassured by her smile, he continued, "But for now, I think you would want to see the world through your perspective, to discover college, knowledge, and everything else. Live your life, sweetheart, the way you want it. I don't want to be the one to take away your options of who you choose to accompany you on your little adventures - not anymore than I already have. And when you're ready for bigger adventures, perhaps... you will allow me to show you the world through my eyes."

Klaus leaned forward to kiss her forehead and put his arm around her, pulling her to his side. Caroline, mesmerised by the sincerity of his declaration, finally allowed her heart to rule over her mind as she leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, basking in one of the most peaceful moments she had felt for a very long time.

A/N: This little passage is a byproduct of the longer piece I'm working on right now. It would have never made the final cut, but I didn't want to let any chance of writing a Klaroline moment go, so I decided to post it here, separately. You can take it as a "teaser" for the story, as I probably will reference this in that.

Hope you enjoyed it!