The After
It's a dreary, rainy day when she lays her mother rest.
Bonnie and Elena had left half an hour earlier, wanting to give Caroline some time alone with the headstone in front of her. It's beautiful; her mom's name scrawled in a looping cursive, a twist of roses along the edges.
Caroline feels cold as she looks at it. She is the last of her family.
The air beside her shifts, a sprig of wild daises is laid at the foot of her mother's stone. Truthfully, she isn't surprised he's come. Under any other circumstance, they would bicker about his broken promise they both knew meant absolutely nothing—a means to an end—but today, she appreciates the gesture, his sentiment. He could only be here for one thing; making sure she was okay.
"Hello, love." Klaus says, without the usual flirtatious edge. She smooths a hand down her black dress, fidgets with the hem of the skirt. "You look beautiful today."
Caroline snorts. She know she looks a mess; unbrushed hair twisted into a haphazard updo, mascara tracking down her cheeks from the random crying bouts. "Isn't Mystic Falls supposed to be a Klaus free zone?" She jabs, mostly joking, when the silence stretches too long.
"In theory," Klaus agrees, smiling a little. He is somber and gentle today. For her. As always. "I'm sorry for your loss, Caroline. Your mother was an extraordinary woman, like you."
Caroline looks away from his sympathetic eyes, blinks the sheen of tears from her own, "Thank you." She says, elbow brushing against his as he steps closer to her.
Klaus reaches out and swipes a dried leaf from the top of the headstone. He twists the stem in a circle, musing, then lets it go, the wind carrying it away from them.
"I thought I would have more time." Caroline says quietly, eyes on the leaf as it flutters in the light breeze. The sun has set around them, headstones casting shadows across the grass. Elena's parents and Jenna are buried two rows away. All they've loved and lost is resting here.
"It still wouldn't have been enough," Klaus says, "Nobody is ever ready to say goodbye. But you should feel comforted; your mother loved you, and she is still here in everything you do. And you will see her again."
"Do you really believe that?" She asks. The other side has long since collapsed, and her mother was human, she wouldn't have gone there anyway. But maybe—maybe there was something beyond this world.
"I do, and I think you need to believe it, too."
Suddenly, she wants to tell him everything. How hopeless and lost she feels, how much she wishes she could crawl into the casket with her mom and be dead and buried with her. Wants to tell him that, for the first time since she'd died and woken up, she can feel the switch Stefan and Damon always talk about. All she had to do was reach out and flip it. Her troubles and pain would melt away.
Mostly, she wants comfort. The kind only he can give. He'd fill her with champagne and compliments and make her smile just enough to stave off the impending doom for a little while.
So, she asks him if he wants a drink, already knowing the answer.
AN: I've been wanting to do a drabble series for awhile now so here it is! I will happily take requests :)