When Caroline awoke, Klaus was sitting in the chair by the window aimlessly taking in all the details of her room.
"What the hell are you doing here?" she hissed, and because if she got too close he could rip her heart out, she picked up her alarm clock and threw it at him. He deftly caught it and chuckled as he reached over and set it back on her nightstand.
"Really Caroline," he scolded, "It's still early and your mother had a late night. You wouldn't want to wake her up now, would you?" She huffed and pulled the blankets up around her chest, glaring at him as he opened her curtains and let the sunlight fill the room.
"Are you here to kill me?" she asked and his face fell.
"Always the assumption I want you dead," he said, "Honestly Caroline, if I wanted you dead you wouldn't have woken up this morning. I'd of killed you in your sleep."
"That seems too merciful for someone like you."
He was there, suddenly, sitting at the edge of her bed just by her knee. She wanted to slide away from him, to get up and run out of the roof, but this was her bed and her room and no one kicked Caroline out of her own space. This was her personal space and he was invading it and judging by the smirk on his face, he knew exactly what he was doing.
"What do you want?" she asked because it was better to discuss his intentions than the fact he could kill her while she slept. She sent a silent thank you to her mother for inviting him in. Just one more problem she had to deal with.
"I want to take you somewhere," he said and then stood, gesturing to the clothes he had laid out for her at the foot of her bed, "Get dressed."
"I thought you hated me," because he really should, "After the whole thing with your family and Ric staking Kol." She hit a nerve and she knew it, his face darkening at the memory of that night. In that moment, she didn't know if she was being very brave or very, very stupid. She really hoped it wasn't the latter.
"I don't hate you," he said after a beat, "But I don't trust you either, which is why I'm choosing where we're going. Now get dressed. I'll be outside waiting in my car."
Caroline complied. After all, he was the big bad in town who had a standing invitation into her home. If she resisted, he'd either compel her, kill her, or drag her kicking and screaming. None of those options were good ones in her opinion.
So she got dressed and tried not to read into how he'd picked her favorite shirt for her to wear.
•◊•◊•
"So you bring me to the woods to kill me." Klaus snorted and shook his head at her antics, leading her further from the backroad they'd parked on and deeper into the Mystic Woods.
"Again with the killing," he said and she huffed, arms crossed, but ready to run if she needed to.
"Well, you are the big bad Original hybrid who's been ripping out hearts since forever."
"And you're the baby vampire who was foolish enough to manipulate me."
"Look," she said, planting her feet and glaring at him. She was tired and hungry and impatient and hungry and being led through the forest by the world's most dangerous predator was not her idea of a good Sunday morning. She was also very hungry.
"If it's any consolation," his face told her it wasn't, "I didn't know they were going to dagger Kol. All Damon told me was to distract you and I…" She trailed off because she was going down a trail of thought she should not be walking so early on a Sunday morning when she was as hungry as she was. Klaus, however, wasn't about to let the subject die.
"And you?" he prompted, stepping closer when she refused to answer. It was rather clear then, either she finish her sentence or he'd compel her to. And since Caroline Forbes was done with guys messing with her head, she gave in to the former option.
"I didn't know you'd follow me," she said. She looked at the ground, at the trees, but not at the sky because that would make it obvious that she was trying to avoid looking at him. But the silence stretching between them was starting to infect the forest, which was growing quieter by the minute and it was really starting to irritate her, like most things irritated her when she was hungry.
"I thought you were done with the whole fancying thing," she confessed, not because she wanted to, but because she'd go insane if the silence persisted anymore, "And I didn't think you'd follow me. But then you did and I didn't know what to think about it, but I knew I had to distract you. I thought I'd just keep walking and you'd keep following and I could lead you further away from the grill. But then you sat on that damn bench and told me to take a chance and I-"
She looked up at him and saw baby blues watching her intently as she babbled and something inside told her he wasn't tuning her out like other guys. That he was listening to every word she had to say and was overanalyzing it the same way she did.
"I forgot, okay?" she said, "I forgot I was supposed to distract you so Damon could carry out some plan of his. You were asking me what I wanted in life and no one has ever done that before and I just forgot. I forgot you were some big bad Original hybrid and that I was just some baby vampire who was supposed to distract you. I forgot about all of that because you, you who are supposed to be the villain, were asking me things no one has ever bothered to ask me before and I forgot I was supposed to distract you because I was too busy wondering why. Why me? Why ask me those things?"
She was tired. She was hungry. And even the fact she was wearing her favorite shirt couldn't make her feel any better on a sunny, Sunday morning in the middle of the Mystic Woods where she was currently ranting to the Original Hybrid about how his stupid questions made her forget all about Damon's stupid plan. She just wanted to go home and drink a blood bag and go back to sleep. She wanted to forgot about Klaus and his baby blues and his dimples and that smile he got when he laughed. She wanted to forget everything and go to sleep for a hundred years because she had the time and what else was she going to do with it?
"Hasn't anyone ever asked what you want in life?" Oh great. Of her stellar rant, that was the one thing he'd zeroed in on. Just great.
"No," she snapped because she was hungry and tired and frustrated, "No one ever asks what I want or how I'm doing because it's always Elena. Everyone is always concerned about Elena and even being turned into a vampire by stupid Katherine didn't change the fact that it's always been about Elena." The light bulb went off inside her mind and she socked him the shoulder. She couldn't give a damn if he was some badass hybrid who could kill her. She was Caroline Forbes and she was pissed.
"Is that what this is!" she screeched, "Is you pretending to be nice to me part of some Elena plan you have going on? Because that would make a ton of sense since it's always about her and you probably want to take her far away from Mystic Falls so one of the Salvatore brothers doesn't turn her into a vampire because then her blood would be useless. And why not go after me? It's not like you could convince Bonnie to give you a chance since she hates vampires. So you go after me. Insecure, neurotic Caroline who is always second fiddle and has self-esteem issues that are so easy to pick on because everyone is always comparing her to Elena who is just a perfect fu-"
Her brain shorted out when Klaus pressed his lips to hers and cradled her head in his hands. There was a part of her that was screaming this was a bad idea, no, you can't be kissing him because he's pure evil. But then there was another part that was trying to make sense of it all as he ghosted his lips over hers, once, twice, three times before pulling back just enough that he could see her eyes flutter open.
I dare you, was the challenge hanging in the air. I dare you to get to know me, I dare you to kiss me. It was a challenge that made Caroline's head swim a bit as she overanalyzed it the way she overanalyzed everything.
"We're alike, you and I," he whispered and she leaned back so she wouldn't be staring at his lips and would actually have a shot at forming a response.
"I thought it was opposites that attract," she said and he smiled that brilliant, take up your entire face grin that made her forget things like hybrids and vampires and perfect Elena with her Salvatore brothers.
"You're not a mass murderer," he said, "You're not a thousand years old and you're an especially attractive woman. There, opposites." She laughed, a breathy sort of laugh because his fingers were toying with the hair at the nape of her neck and if she were a cat, she'd probably be purring at the moment.
"I'm nicer," she said, "And I know how to get along with people."
"I could learn." It was a promise, she could hear it, but it was also a dare. That same dare. I dare you to get to know me, I dare you to kiss me.
"You wouldn't be Klaus anymore," she countered and he shrugged as if it was just a name and he didn't care about it.
"I could be Nik then," he said, "Or Niklaus or Simon or Gregory or Edward." She laughed and shook her head, leaning against his shoulder as her body shook with mirth.
"No, not Edward. Anything but Edward. Or Jasper, or Emmett, or anyone else from Twilight." She shook her head, forehead grazing the fabric of his shirt and she caught a whiff of something that smelled like earth and rain and promises of paradise.
"Niklaus," she said, rolling the name on her tongue. He stiffened slightly and she pulled back to look at him taking in his tired eyes and weary smile and how weighted he seemed to be.
"Why me?" she asked because she needed to know and he knew why. She wasn't sure how, but he did and that's all that really mattered at the moment. He pressed his lips to hers again, feather light, once, twice, three times and the challenge was still there.
I dare you to get to know me. I dare you to let me show you the world. I dare you see who you really are. I dare you to kiss me again.
She rested her hand against his cheek, thumb tracing his cheekbone as she pressed her lips firmly against his. Klaus nipped at her bottom lip and she sighed into his mouth as he hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her closer, his hand spanning across her back as his other hand tangled in her hair. Her arms draped around his neck, fingers threading through his hair as her other hand dropped to his chest. Klaus brushed his nose against hers as he pulled away, resting their foreheads together as she grinned and gripped at his shirt.
They were frozen in this moment, wrapped up in one another early on a Sunday morning when they were both hungry and tired. Caroline rubbed her head against his chest and he dropped a kiss to her hair, hands coming to rest on her waist.
"My friends are going to kill me," she whispered as the reality of the situation set in. Klaus' arms tightened around and he pressed a kiss to the side of the her head.
"Again with the killing."
Their laughter woke up the forest.
•◊•◊•
a/n: You know the drill. Fave, flame, faint.
Exciting news, only eleven more days until this ridiculous hiatus ends! Start the countdown!
oxox