A/N - This is a one-shot that wouldn't get out of my head after the last episode of the Vampire Diaries. Since the people involved in the show seem determined to keep one of its most popular couples forever apart, I decided to share this with you guys. Forgive me if tis a bit rubbish, was written in a hurry and I wanted to get it all out so I could focus on the next chapter of my other Klaroline story. But hey, tis free so stop complaining lol. Please drop me a review or message to let me know what you think. This will remain a one-shot for now, but if there's interest in a continuation then I may add more later.

She had been sitting on a balcony in Spain with Damon of all people, when she heard the news. Sixty years had passed since she had last seen the Original Hybrid, yet every time she heard his name her breath still hitched in her throat. Memories she had thought would fade over time only seemed to get stronger. The touch of his hands on her body... So strong yet infinitely gentle. The shy smile he seemed to reserve solely for her. The way his eyes had lit up with happiness the one and only time she had kissed him, admitting, finally, that he was what she wanted.

She and Damon had been drinking and arguing, as usual, ("You're blocking the sun again Damon." "Well then go back to your own place Blondie and stop drinking all my scotch." "But yours lets more sun in, Damon." "You live right next-door Caroline.") , while pretending they weren't trying to listen in on Stefan. He had been beside them trying to play referee when his phone had rang. Both had noticed and shared a smirk as Rebecca's name flash up on the screen before he had flashed away to pick up.

"What do you mean they killed Klaus?"

The effect he had on her was still so great that for a moment she hadn't even noticed the words that had preceded his name. The woosh of air that announced Damon's sudden standing was all that alerted her that something was wrong. Then it hit her.

"What do you mean they killed Klaus?"

Panic immediately filled her. She reached for Damon's arm to steady herself as Stefan slammed open the balcony doors. She barely noticed Damon slide an arm around her as they both stared expectantly at Stefan.

"Apparently Tyler has teamed up with some all-powerful witch from the other side and put Klaus down. For good." He told them.

Caroline's voice was small when she spoke, even with vampire hearing the Salvatore's had to strain to hear her. "Klaus is... is, d-dead?"

Damons free hand crushed the glass he was holding. He didn't appear to notice. "Shoulda killed boy-wonder years ago. So. Last night on earth..." He was trying to appear calm but his voice held a small quiver that he didn't manage to hold back. "...how long do you think?"

If she had been human, his arm would have crushed her by now. As it was, Caroline barely noticed it was there. She could hear the brothers talking, discussing how long it took Sage to die when they killed Finn. She remembered those few days. Klaus had chased her from the Grill and dared her to get to know him. Somehow she had forgotten, after just a few minutes that it wasn't real. That she was just the little blonde distraction, leading him to his downfall. It was just one of a long list of times that she had unwillingly and unknowingly, let him in.

They were still talking. Didn't they understand that it didn't matter? Klaus was dead. What else was there to say? They were all going to die now. She wondered, if maybe, just maybe, she would see him there. On the other side. Her mom wouldn't be there, she knew that. She would never see her again. But at least Klaus would be there. She would finally be showing up on his doorstep. Just not in a way either of them had imagined.

And she had imagined it, over the years. How it would go. No matter where they went in the world, Caroline and her family of three, she would pause to wonder if she was ready yet. She, Stefan, Damon and Elena had been everywhere. Always together, never far apart. Yet the others could never understand why she chose to go off alone whenever they wanted to visit Paris, Rome and once, Tokyo. And how could she tell them that she was saving those sights for someone special?

As the years had went by it had only grown harder, not easier, to tell them about her brief time with Klaus. And her lasting feelings for him. How could she bring them into even more turmoil than they had already been through? Things had finally began to settle down after Mystic Falls. She and Stef had taken off on their own for a while. Visits from Damon and Elena had been few for the first few years until Stefan had finally let go of his love for the Doppelganger. Then they had ended up somehow inseparable, their own little family.

Of course they had kept in touch with Bonnie and Jeremy. Matt too. All had stayed in Mystic Falls. With the vampire's gone the town had settled into a safe, happy place to raise children and that's what the three of them had done. They had the normal life that they wanted for themselves. The vampires had stayed away, at the heartbroken request of Bonnie after she had fallen pregnant with her and Jeremy's first child. Little Grayson would never have a normal life if they were a part of it. So they had reluctantly agreed to stay away, returning to their hometown only for the funerals. Matts had been first. Then Jeremy, and eventually Bonnie. Watching over the children of their friends from afar was all they could do. And now they wouldn't be able to do that anymore.

An hour later, Caroline was sat on Damon's bed gripping Elena's hand as he paced the floor in front of them. Stefan remained on the balcony trying to call Tyler. If the Hybrid really had finally achieved his revenge it was at a terrible cost. Elena kept throwing her worried looks, wondering, Caroline knew, why she was so calm. She had always been the one to react, to start babbling and panicking anytime something major happened. And now at the most major event any of them could have imagined, she was calmly gripping her best friend's hand, her face a complete blank.

But inside, Caroline was anything but calm. Her mind was racing. Her own death and that of the people who had meant most to her over the years had come. And it was much too soon. Yet the fact that she would soon be on the other side, with him... She could barely believe it. After so long, Klaus was within her reach in the most tragic circumstances. Typical. She would have laughed, if it had been funny.

There had been times over the years when she swore she could feel his presence near. She would be wondering a foreign street all by herself and suddenly from nowhere she would get the feeling that somebody's eyes were boring into her. As a vampire, she could always sense when someone was watching her, but these times were different. It was as though he was in her head, willing her to turn around and look at him. But every time she whipped her head around, there would be nobody there.

Now though, she felt nothing. And knew that she never would again in this life. So the sooner this life was over, she thought, the better.

The weight of Damon finally settling on the bed beside her brought her from her thoughts. Here, with two of the people closest to her with her, she was thankful that if they had to go, they would all be together at least. As he reached around her to grab Elena's free hand, his eyes turning from troubled to tender in an instant, she felt the bile rise in her throat. She should have had this, with Klaus. He should be here now, to comfort her in her last hours, they should be holding hands and awaiting the onslaught. All those years of running away from their connection, always convincing herself that it wasn't right, that she wasn't ready... They had been a total waste. And she had no one to blame but herself.

Abruptly rising from the bed, she began pacing the floor. Tears blurred her vision and she roughly wiped them away, staring hard at the floor. Caroline had always believed that if she ended up with Klaus it would mean the end of her family. Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, she had made it happen. She could only now be with him at the end of them all. It wasn't fair. "There should have been more time. Time for me to come to him, like he promised he knew I would, he knew. And now it's far too late. We'll never see Paris together. Or visit his painting at The Hermitage... I wonder if he waited for me..." She trailed off, yanking her hair back from her face. It was only then that she realized she had been speaking aloud.

Damon was on his feet in a flash. By the look on his face, she knew she was in trouble. A brief glance at Elena nearly robbed her of the little strength she had left. Her best friend had her eyes closed, a painful expression on her face. Caroline could feel her heart begin to race, as ludicrous as it seemed. In the split second since she had last spoke, Damon had ended up in her face.

"Please tell me I'm not hearing what I think I'm hearing blondie. We're all about to die and you're worried about all the time you didn't get to spend with Klaus?!" Anger radiated from every inch of him and had he been any of the others she would have shrank away from him, contrite and full of apologies. But this was Damon , the man who and used, abused and almost killed her. Their subsequent closeness gave her the courage to glare right back at him now. Of all of them, he had the least right to have a problem with her love choices. Grief and fear fueling her, she reached out and shoved him across the room with all of her strength. As he crashed into the wall, Elena let out a small yelp and Stefan raced into the room, as if on instinct he immediately placed himself between Elena and the fighting pair.

Before Caroline could catch her breath, Damon was on his feet and had her by the throat. She kicked out at him, vaguely registering Stefan's calls for Damon to stop. But she ignored them, she was lost to her fury now. "You," she managed to growl at him, "you of all people have no right to tell me how to feel. Klaus never treated me the way you did!" Her knee came up between his legs as he glowered at her. With pained groan, he finally let go. Stefan made to speak again but one look from the furious blonde shut him up. She wasn't done yet.

All four were so wrapped up in the moment that none of them noticed the door opening as a new presence entered the apartment.

"You treated me like dirt. You compelled me to do horrible, degrading things. You used me in the worst ways possible and then when you'd had enough you tried to kill me. TWICE. And after all of it, I forgave you. Everyone forgave you because you're Stefan's brother. Because Elena loved you. Given a thousand years what exactly would you be guilty of Damon? Just because I love you now doesn't mean I've forgotten all of the things you are capable of doing! What makes you so special that you deserve a second chance but Klaus doesn't?" She all but screamed at him.

Silence reigned in the room for a second. The only sounds filling the air were the angry panting of Caroline and Damon. They seemed to be locked in a staring contest. It was only broken by Elena's voice, sounding very small, "Love." Three pairs of eyes immediately found her. "Love gave him a second chance. Not just me, but his brother, his friends. He changed because we forgave him and let him. Because we loved him"

"EXACTLY!" Caroline yelled. Now it was her turn to be stared at. Her friends gaped at her as she realized what she had done and immediately closed her mouth and looked to the floor. She did not just admit to loving Klaus. That would be stupid. And as silence once more descended, she refused to peel her eyes away from the floor, afraid of what she would see in their eyes if she looked at any of them.

"Did you talk to wolfboy?" Damon turned, changing the subject completely. He awkwardly glanced at Caroline before raising an eyebrow at his brother, begging him silently to rescue him from the situation he had put himself in.

Stefan gave a sigh, "I can't get through to his cell, keeps going to voicemail. Rebecca said she was certain that Tyler used the witch to try and make sure that when Klaus died, we didn't die with him."

"Well that's something." Damon shrugged, moving back to wrap Elena in his arms.

"So we just wait?" she asked from under his arm. "How did Tyler take out Klaus anyway? Even with a witch to help it would have taken more than that to kill him."

"Apparently whatever hoodo this witch of his could conjure up must have been more powerful than she was." Damon added, each person there knowing who the she was. They never said her name out loud if they could help it. It still hurt too much. "I still can't believe Tyler managed to take down Papa Hybrid. If we survive the night I'm gonna need to see his body for myself. It's unbelievable."

"Wholly unbelievable mate, I agree." Came a voice from the doorway.

Caroline's heart gave a lurch as she whipped her head up and saw him standing there. It had been decades since she last laid eyes on him yet he looked exactly the same as he always did. Same taste in clothes, and hair gel by the looks of it. She opened her mouth to speak but closed it again without trying. If he was some hallucination of hers she didn't want to break the spell by speaking. He seemed to be purposely avoiding her shocked gaze as he instead focused a smug smirk on Damon.

"I'm glad at least one of you had difficulty believing that Tyler Lockwood would be able to kill me. He tried of course, poor lad. Even made a proper go of it this time, had some power behind him and everything. But," he smiled now and Caroline felt like she'd been punched in the stomach, "my brother managed to snap the witches neck in time to stop the littlest orphans plan working."

He turned to Stefan now, carefully avoiding Caroline's gaze. "Poor Rebecca has been frantic. She has been trying to get in touch with you ever since she found out that Tyler's victory message to New Orleans was a tad premature."

"And now," he continued, "if you three would kindly disappear..." At last, he looked at her. His eyes roamed her face hungrily as she blinked at him, a hundred different feelings overwhelming her at once. "I'm here to see a girl about a trip I've been planning."

Klaus felt his heart flip as he saw Caroline's face break into the biggest smile he had ever seen. Its effect on him was instant. Before anyone had a chance to move, he crossed the space between them in a heartbeat and pulled her into his arms. It felt like coming home. His hands cupped her face as he drank in the sight of her. Of course he had heard what she said, the whole reason he had come here was the morbid curiosity of wondering how she would take the news of his death. He could have stayed in Italy where he was and let his sister tell them they were safe. But as usual, the promise of seeing even a glimpse of her face was enough to make him come straight here. Hearing her practically admit that she loved him had been more than he had dared to hope for.

Although he had played it down for the Salvatore's benefit, he had come closer to death tonight than he let on. One slip up by that idiot Hybrid of his had been the only thing that saved him. When Tyler had shown up ready for the kill, his witch was already dead. His gloating call to Rebecca had been made to make sure that if he died along with Klaus, it would still be remembered that he had been the one to end him. At the end of his life, much like the beginning, his pride and arrogance had been his downfall.

But none of that mattered now. Because he was here, with her. And she was looking up at him as if he was the reason the sun rose. No amount of power could match the feelings rising in his chest as she tentatively reached up a hand to cup his cheek, the smile lingering on her face.

Caroline felt the air change as her three friends finally snapped out of their stupor and left the room. She heard a faint "If they do it in our bed they're buying a new one." from Damon but her eyes were glued to the man in front of her.

He was here and he was alive. They had made it. Her fingers gently ran over his cheeks, feeling the stubble there that somehow convinced her that he was real. As his eyes slid shut and his tongue subconsciously ran over his bottom lip, she knew that finally, she was ready. Yet again that day, Caroline Forbes found herself lost for words. So she did the only thing that she could think of, the only thing she had been thinking of since he walked in.

She kissed him.