Cold Kisses on the Cheek

Okay, so this is for Klaroline AU week and I suppose it's for both Day 4 and Day 5. This is dedicated to my-light-into-the-darkness because she requested a Pretty Little Liars AU and we were talking about it ages ago. This is like the first drabble in an ongoing series called 'Dirty Little Secrets'. And I hope you guys enjoy it. By the way, disclaimer alert, I don't own anything in this drabble that remotely resembles Pretty Little Liars or The Vampire Diaries.

Elena Gilbert – all doe eyes and sweet smile – was the devil incarnate.

She had the ability to make you love her, idolise her, envy her and despise her all at the same time.

That was why, when she disappeared, Caroline had to admit to the relief that bloomed in her chest at the absence of the chaos that Elena usually brought along with her.

It was jarring, when they realised Elena had disappeared and was quite possibly never coming back.

And when they found her rotting corpse sitting up in her house, well, Caroline's heart broke for the girl who had simultaneously been her rival and her sister – the second thump to her heartbeat, the other half of her.

And then they had to bury her.

The funeral was surreal – to say the least.

The four girls had their hands clasped in each other's, as they walked, slowly, to the front of the church, where the coffin lay ominously.

To say goodbye to the girl who had brought them together and in death, pulled them apart.

They bowed their heads over the coffin, imagining the pristinely white skin of the girl who had tortured them mercilessly with her sharp smiles and sly jabs that clawed underneath their skin, but had still managed to envelop four lost girls into her warm, toxic embrace in a show of what they had first interpreted as pure compassion.

They could picture the way Elena's eyelids were shut, perfect doe eyes that managed to fool anyone and everyone hidden from view, her lips thin and pinker than what one would normally expect from a corpse, but Caroline expected that was the mortician's work.

But the coffin was shut and these were all just delusions.

Delusions that accompanied the torturous task of putting one of their best friends away into the earth for good.

But Caroline was sure of one thing: even while rotting inside a coffin, Elena Gilbert would still manage to look beautiful.

Katherine tugged on Caroline's hand, insistently, and the four walked like zombies over to the nearest bench behind the altar where the coffin was placed. They sat, quietly, in a row, hands still clasped in one another's, as if they would join Elena if they let go for a brief moment.

Caroline licked her lips, nervously, and her head tilted to the side as Katherine dug her hand into her purse, pulling out a small metal flask. Katherine took a deep swig and handed it over to Caroline, who gratefully took it with both hands and sipped at the harsh liquid inside, her face grimacing.

Oh, well, I'm not drinking it because it tastes good. I'm drinking it so I can actually make it through this craziness.

When she held it out to Bonnie to join them, Bonnie's eyes widened, comically, and she shook her head.

"Really?" She hissed. "Did you have to bring that here?"

Katherine rolled her eyes. "Come on, Bon-Bon, don't you think this calls for getting hammered?"

"There are way too many parents around." Caroline, grudgingly, admitted. "And I really don't want to be the next cautionary tale at the next PTA meeting."

Rebekah snorted. "Yeah, wouldn't want to ruin that perfect Mary Jane 'goody-two-shoes' thing you've got going on." She purred.

Caroline gritted her teeth. "You know what, Rebekah-" She began to whisper back, hotly.

Whispers blew up behind them and Caroline turned her head, curiously, to see what could possibly be more interesting than the murdered sixteen-year-old girl lying in the coffin in front of them, and froze. Their eyes met and Caroline's breath caught in her throat, her grip tightening just the slightest on Katherine's hand, who squeezed back, reassuringly.

"Rebekah," Caroline hissed, her teeth bared in a snarl. "Why didn't you tell me your brother was back?"

Rebekah snorted. "What? You think I keep track of all my brother's movements?" She raised an incredulous eyebrow.

Caroline glared at her and she sighed, relenting grudgingly, her stomach knotting with guilt. Caroline was her sister, after all. Like Katherine and Bonnie. The closest thing she had to sisters. More so than Hayley, at least. She owed that bitch no loyalty. Like the brunette lying in the coffin in front of her.

Was it cruel of her to say that she was glad that Elena was dead? Maybe. But she had spent her entire friendship with Elena pretending to like the sociopathic, blackmailing, two-faced bitch, knowing that the brunette could sense deceit from a mile away and she had no intention of losing Caroline, Katherine or Bonnie for a slight slip in her mask. At least in death, she could be more liberal with her distaste and still keep her girls – who had finally begun to see how the weed that was Elena Gilbert had wrapped around their lives and squeezed and squeezed.

Rebekah pursed her lips. "My father intends on making sure that Klaus completes his penance for what he did to that bitchy stepsister of mine by becoming her shadow and bodyguard etc. To be honest, it's not something that really interests me." She said, blithely.

"Be nice," Bonnie said, lowly. "We did that to her, remember."

"Bonnie!" Katherine hissed. "Not the thing to admit to in front of a murdered corpse. This place is crawling with cops." She eyed the pews, suspiciously.

Caroline had to agree with Katherine on this one.

'The Hayley thing' was off limits to all of them – none of them wanted to give voice to what was quite possibly their darkest hour.

And forgive Caroline for saying, but staying away from Klaus Mikaelson was probably the best thing to do in the circumstances, considering the part they had played in Hayley's blindness. She remembered that night with vivid clarity. She remembered Klaus' sombre look when Elena threatened him with whatever she had on him. She remembered the way their eyes had clashed when he looked at her over Elena's shoulder. Cornflower blue met aquamarine and Caroline's heart clenched and she looked away, shamefaced.

She supposed she'd never get a chance with him in the end. She had ruined it for herself the second she let herself get sucked into Elena's macabre revenge plot.

He'd never want her the way she wanted him.

Not after what had went down.

All those secret looks over biology textbooks in the lunchroom disappeared in a flash when he was sent to reform school. The way her heart jumped in her chest when she laid eyes on his tousled blonde curls and glinting blue eyes was replaced by her stomach churning with guilt and regret every time she saw his empty seat to her left in Algebra. Her dreams of the way his hands slid over her soft skin, his hips slotting between her thighs, the arch of her back with every thrust and his teeth grazing her neck were now curdled sickly by the reminder of the part she had played in his ruin.

Stop thinking, Caroline. You have Damon now. Klaus is in the past and it was never really anything anyway. Just a few love-starved looks from across the cafeteria and drunken hook-ups or two at a few parties. Your best friend just died. Focus on that.

"Tactful to the end, Katherine." Rebekah said, dryly.

Katherine shrugged. "She's dead. What can I do about it?"

"She's your cousin." Caroline reminded her.

Katherine's eyes tightened, imperceptibly. "I mourned her a year ago. I'm not going to mourn her again." She said, grimly. "Now back to the reappearance of the Wicked Witch of the West and her creepy bodyguard." Caroline glared at her. "Oh, wait, sorry, I forget you had a thing for him, right?" A devious smile played on her lips.

"That was years ago." Caroline said, coldly. "It… he means nothing to me now." She sniffed, running her hand through her hair. "I'm over him."

Katherine coughed. "You're not a good liar, Care." She said, pointedly.

"And this is inappropriate conversation for one of our best friend's funeral." Caroline shot back.

Rebekah nodded. "For once, I actually agree with Kat. I'd rather not talk about you wanting to screw my brother." She grinned to herself.

Caroline gritted her teeth. "Look," She bit out. "I'll admit I may have had a thing – a very small thing – for Klaus years ago. I was hormonal and stupid and he was hot and nice, I'm not going to deny that. But the Hayley thing happened and… well, now, nothing could ever happen between us. We'd never work out." Her voice lowered, colouring with pain and grief. "He probably hates me now, anyway." She murmured.

Rebekah swallowed hard, shifting in her seat until she could see Klaus' impassive form out of the corner of her eye, pain striking her hard in the chest. "If it makes you feel better, because of Elena," She said, bitterly. "He hates me too." She said, hoarsely.

Caroline flinched and reached over Bonnie's lap to squeeze Rebekah's hand for a moment before pulling her hand back to fold over her thighs. Bonnie bumped her shoulder against Rebekah's in a show of solidarity which Rebekah returned with a trembling smile, the loss of her brother because of her own stupidity and selfishness glinting in her blue eyes. Katherine's eyes darted to the way Caroline's hands clenched and unclenched over her lap, her eyes shifting focus from the coffin at the front to somewhere on their right, where she guessed Klaus was seated. She bit her lip and hooked her arm in Caroline's, her hand falling on top of hers and their fingers entwining.

Katherine may not be one to shower affection on people but Caroline was one of her girls and she was hurting and she hated seeing the bubbly blonde sunshine girl hurt. No matter how much Caroline wanted to deny it, her feelings for Klaus ran deep. She had been the one that Caroline had confided in about the few drunken hook-ups she and Klaus had shared at the odd party, Caroline feeling awkward about sharing her sexy times with Rebekah's brother to Rebekah herself and shying away from Bonnie's judgment, seeking the kind of understanding that she knew only Katherine could provide. Katherine had been surprised when she first heard Caroline's stories, the frat-boy move seeming strange coming from Klaus of all the guys, but those brief moments of closeness had made Caroline blissful the next day and she couldn't dampen her joy.

Whatever she thought of Klaus, the guy made Caroline happy. That made him suitable – just suitable, she wasn't going too far – in her books.

"Well," Bonnie cleared her throat. "You have Damon now, at least." She said, weakly, to Caroline.

Yes, Caroline thought, I have Damon now.

Damon Salvatore. The only boy that could make Elena smile as if she were truly happy. And he was hers. Caroline imagined Elena would have reached out and ripped her eyes from her skull if she knew Caroline was still fucking the one boy that Elena wanted more than anything. Of course, at the beginning, Caroline hadn't seen what was so great about Damon Salvatore. Frankly, when Elena had told them she dumped Damon's brother, Stefan, because she lost interest in him and realised she had feelings for his brother, Caroline had just stared at her like she was insane. In what universe did someone want Damon over Stefan? Stefan Salvatore, who was every high school girl's dream guy. Elena just dropped him like a hot potato and jumped on the Damon bandwagon, never making it a secret how eager she was to replace Stefan with his own brother. But the injustice dealt to Stefan by Elena had not really registered to her at the time. All she had known was that Damon was someone Elena wanted and for once, for once, she just wanted to beat Elena at something.

And she did win, sooner or later.

She had been a virgin at some party or another, late sophomore year. Damon had looked particularly miserable that night, nursing his red cup of cheap bear. She chose to lose the particular ball and chain that was her virginity to him that night. She had been somewhat drunk and it had hurt like hell and honestly, she still didn't understand what all the fuss was about. But it had been worth it, seeing Elena's shock, seething face when she stepped out of that bedroom with Damon, clothes askew, make-up smeared and skin flushed, thighs still sore.

And after Elena disappeared, she suddenly became more of a viable option for Damon, now that the girl that he had actually wanted was perpetually out of his reach. A part of her had balked at the idea of being his second choice, but the fact that she had him before Elena was enough to dampen any of her worries.

But that meant Damon wanted to have sex. All the fucking time. Like enough was enough already. After a year of Damon crawling on top of her, she should like it by now, shouldn't she? At least, that was what Katherine said. And Katherine always seemed to like it. And she, herself, had loved it with Klaus in those few, brief moments with him – the guy's definitely good with his fingers. But Damon seemed to like it a lot, so she just decided to push through it every time his sweaty hands made a beeline for her thighs. She supposed that was what mattered after all. Damon had made no secret of the fact he was willing to look around if she wasn't willing to give him what he wanted. Therefore, she had to make sacrifices with her self-respect to keep him.

And she did want to keep him. It was her sort of 'fuck you' to the girl inside the coffin. Even if that sounded downright twisted. She got the guy Elena wanted and it was a victory.

You have Damon now. Caroline reminded herself, sharply. Stop thinking about Klaus. It's over and done with and buried ten feet under.

It wasn't like those dirty-blonde curls and glinting cornflower-blue eyes and that scruffy stubble did anything – no, stop it!

But she couldn't help the way her eyes shifted to the side as Klaus and Hayley approached up the aisle. Hayley walked carefully, as if the next step could break every single bone in her body, blank, eerie white eyes covered by shades, her arm tucked into Klaus' elbow, holding onto him for dear life, although exuding no warmth for the boy next to her who may or may not have set a fire that ripped her sight cleanly away from her – they never quite worked out whether Hayley knew it had been them or not.

Klaus, much like his stepsister, remained impassive as they strode up to the aisle, heading for the coffin. Caroline knew he bore no great affection for the dead girl in the box and was still finding it confusing as to why he had decided to make an appearance at the funeral of a girl who had sent him off to the reform school for a crime he never committed in the first place. It were times like this that it itched at her to know what Elena had had on Klaus to turn him into one of her dangling puppets that she loved so much. His face showed nothing – no bitterness, no hatred, no spite, no regret, no grief – he was just blank.

The two simply walked up to the coffin and bowed their heads over it for a moment, showing the minimum amount of respect for the girl they had despised in life, before turning away.

And then his face turned and his eyes speared straight through her and Caroline swore she stopped breathing. Guilt surged through her and she was sure it showed on her face because something flickered in Klaus' mask – grief? regret? understanding? – his eyes softened almost imperceptibly and his jaw tensed. His eyes didn't stray away from her as to regard her friends with the same look – not even Rebekah was allowed his attention at that moment – and he nodded at her, more warmly than she had expected. The small, trembling smile on her lips had the effect of making his lips quirk up at the corners and his hand to twitch at his side, as if to reach out and take her hand – to offer her some sort of comfort despite his hatred for the girl in the coffin, something which filled her with such warmth that if she hadn't been at a funeral for one of her best friends, a blinding smile may have spread across her face.

Oh, fuck. I am so screwed.

When Hayley finally tugged Klaus away from Caroline's gaze – something which Caroline could not be more displeased about –, unbeknownst to the electricity that had passed between Klaus and Caroline, she found it easier to breathe, her stomach tightening. She turned her eyes back to the coffin and swallowed hard.

"She would've liked this." Caroline murmured. "Popular in life, immortalised in death."

The four girls stumbled out of the church in a sophisticated fashion, in groups of two, Bonnie and Rebekah joined at the hip and Katherine and Caroline hand in hand. They made it to the footpath in front of the church when a shadow came across them and they turned around, a tall, blonde man standing in front of them, sharp eyes staring at them, distrustfully.

"Caroline. Katherine. Bonnie. Rebekah." He drawled.

Caroline frowned. "I'm sorry, do we know you?" She asked, confused.

"Not yet. I'm Detective Alaric Saltzman. As I understand it, the four of you were good friends of the victim?" Alaric asked, curiously, handing Katherine a small card that she read carefully.

Bonnie tensed, nodding. "Yes. We were." She said, grimly.

Rebekah gritted her teeth. "We already talked to the police when Elena went missing. Why do we have to talk to them again?" She asked, defiantly, her chin tipping up of its own accord.

Alaric raised an eyebrow. "The four of you may not have grasped this yet," He said, sarcastically. "But this is no longer a missing persons' investigation." His voice lowered. "It's a murder."

His last word managed to make the four stop in their tracks.

"And rest assured, I will find out what happened that summer." Alaric murmured, before turning on his feet and walking away.

At that moment, Hayley and Klaus walked into their visions and the four tensed as their eyes swept over the brunette girl who definitely had an axe to grind with them. Not to mention her companion would have his own score to settle, something which caused Caroline's heart to clench uncomfortably.

"Do you think he knows?" Bonnie asked, lowly.

"You mean about the-?" Katherine couldn't finish the sentence.

Rebekah shook his head, furiously. "How could he?" She asked, incredulously.

If their luck couldn't possibly get any worse, the phones chimed simultaneously, fear flitting across their faces as they heard the damning tones. Their eyes dropped and they switched on their phones.

"Oh, my God." Rebekah hissed.

Caroline's shoulders slumped and her eyes drifted shut, shaking her head.

"It's from…" Katherine trailed off.

"I got one too." Bonnie said, lowly.

With a dark voice, Caroline spoke out loud the words from the message.

You didn't think you could get away from me that easily, did you? I'm still here, bitches, and I know everything

– A.