500 Miles
In which Caroline breaks a heel and Klaus has to carry her.
So, this is my first foray into the Klaroline drabbles territory and I thought Klaroweek would be the perfect time to try this out and I'm really excited about it. This started off as a drabble, but turned out to be more of a oneshot than anything. So, please be kind and don't forget to tell me what you think!
It all started with a simple snap in the neck of the woods, her feet skidding across a stray rock that lined the forest floor. Caroline groaned as she tumbled to the floor, her knee cracking against the floor as she fell. Klaus was at her side in a moment, crouching beside her, with his hand splayed across the small of her back, the heat of him bleeding into her back.
"Are you okay, love?" Klaus asked, lowly, his voice like liquid heat in her ears, the scruffiness of his jaw tickling her cheek.
"Yeah," Caroline sighed, sliding to her feet with a muffled grunt, twisting her sore ankle in both directions until she was sure it didn't hurt anymore. "My stupid shoe broke."
Klaus sighed and hooked his arm around her waist, hauling her up against his body. When she put weight on her foot, she couldn't help the whimper that escaped her lips, crumpling once more. She would've fallen to the floor had Klaus not grabbed her right before it happened. Caroline groaned, twisting her foot and wincing at the sharp pain that shot up her leg as it twisted in an uncomfortable and therefore, pain-inducing direction.
Steadying Caroline's hand on his shoulder, Klaus crouched down on one knee, propping up Caroline's injured foot on his thigh. His thumbs stroked across the delicate curve of her ankle, along the arch where her ankle met her foot, feeling his heart ache when she visibly winced at the pain of his touch. He clucked his tongue and set her foot back on the ground, swooping up and lifting Caroline off her feet. In a second, she was on his back, her legs wrapped around his waist, his hands hooked around her thighs, holding her against his waist, while her arms were looped around his neck.
Caroline dipped her head down, her blonde hair tickling his face, her nose brushing against the stubble that she so loved to feel against her skin when he decided that personal space wasn't something very high on his priorities list.
"Seriously?" She muttered, half in offence.
Klaus snorted, not faltering for a moment after hearing the edginess in her voice. "Your shoe broke. This was the best way to get you through these woods without you throwing a hissy fit every five seconds."
A shriek of outrage built up in Caroline's throat, which she furiously bit down, instead choosing to dig her nails into the soft flesh of Klaus' throat in a blatant passive-aggressive move.
"I would not throw a hissy fit!" Caroline protested.
"Experience says otherwise, love." Klaus said, pointedly.
"Ugh, you are such a jerk!" Caroline growled, her head lolling onto his shoulder. "Why did I agree to come with you to see this witch in the first place?" She snapped.
"Well, because you're madly in love with me," Klaus ignored the way Caroline scoffed. "And you just don't want to admit it. Not to mention, you like being my portable conscience at these little meetings. It gives you a certain high to stop me from ripping out peoples' hearts for incompetence that I can barely stand on a good day. But you seem to have a knack for accommodating incompetence on a daily basis, if that's all that can be said by the company you keep." He paused. "You need new friends." He said, blithely.
"What I need is an Original hybrid who carries me on his back without complaints and smartass comments every other second." Caroline grumbled.
"I wouldn't complain if I were you." Klaus gave her a withering look. "I don't see any other potential suitors here, waiting, eagerly, to carry you the entire way."
Caroline rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't be such a baby. What do you expect? Would you prefer if it I walked barefoot on all of the rocks and twigs and creepy insects that could bite me? Then, I'd probably get some weird disease and I'd fall down dead. Is that what you want, Klaus? Huh? Is it?"
If she were in a position to do so, her hands would be crossed over her chest and she would be giving him her trademark 'I know you think you're funny and really witty, but all you are is a smartass and I really don't appreciate it right now and we both know you don't plan on doing any of the things you're threatening me with' look.
Klaus sighed. "Nonetheless, love, would it have killed you to wear more hiking-appropriate footwear? No matter how delicious your legs look in those pretty little heels."
Caroline gave a disgusted sound. "Okay, pervert," She stressed the word. "It's nice to know you obviously ogle your travelling companions. Remind to never go anywhere with you again. Ever." She snapped.
Klaus squeezed her thigh, making Caroline squeak in surprise, determinedly ignoring the way her stomach clenched at the simple action. "Don't be cross, love. You know I'd never do anything that would offend you. I only think the best of you. All I was wondering was why you thought it would be good to wear heels on a quest that required hiking." He said, as sweet as he could muster, hoping that his tone was enough to suggest that honey was dripping from his lips.
Caroline wiped a stray wave of hair away from her face, as the anger shot right through her. "Hey, so sue for me for trying to at least look hot on this stupid trip to see some witch who lives in the middle of some backwater swamp. I mean, seriously?" She exclaimed. "What kind of witch expects people to come and visit her if they have to trek through the freaking woods to actually get to her house?" She paused. "And those 'pretty little heels'…" She mocked. "…happen to be freaking designer wear, very chic and very pricey. Not that you'd know anything about that." She said, spitefully. "Just because your idea of a fashion statement begins and ends with a Henley and rustic necklaces doesn't mean-" Caroline began, hotly.
"To be fair, love, you don't need a pair of unnecessary heels for you to look… hot. If I may say so myself, you look 'hot'-"
"Don't… finish that sentence." Caroline said, sharply.
Klaus hid a smile behind an apologetic quirk of his lips, his head ducking down to display his regret at his unfortunately timed comment. "And if we're being critical about fashion sense, I would like to point out to you that one of those heels that you so modestly call 'chic' and 'pricey' happens to be lying on the forest floor a mile behind us." He smirked.
Caroline paused. "Oh, shut up." She grumbled.
Caroline groaned, the heat of the sun blistering against her skin as the canopy above them parted. It were times like this she was thankful for her Daylight ring. She had experienced the burning heat of the sun on her skin without one and she had no desire to ever experience that pain again. Ever.
"Are we there yet?" Caroline asked, wearily, resting her chin on Klaus' muscled shoulder.
Which she absolutely did not recognise. Whatsoever. Nor did she fondle, sneakily. Because that would be wrong. He was Klaus, of all people. And she didn't like him. At all.
Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Caroline.
"Love," Klaus blew out an irritated breath out of his clenched teeth. "Just because you ask me that question every few minutes doesn't mean that we reach the witch any quicker."
"Why don't you just whoosh to her place?" Caroline complained. "Aren't you an almighty Hybrid? Can't you just vamp-speed us to her place in like a minute and save us all of this time of having to hike through the freaking woods?"
"Well, in normal circumstances, I would." Klaus said, patiently, shifting her weight slightly to the side, enjoying the way that her arms and legs tightened around him. "But I may have… upset… this particular witch a few years back, and she placed a boundary spell around her home. And I do not have the precise location of where the boundary begins. So, if I were to 'vamp-speed' us to her door, it would result in me hitting a metaphorical brick wall and being knocked on my arse." He growled.
Caroline giggled, a warm sound in his ear that sent tingles shooting up and down his spine, a feeling that he wasn't too eager to analyse. "Now, I'd pay to watch that." She said, playfully.
Klaus growled low in his throat.
Caroline smacked him on the shoulder. "Oh, come on, Klaus. I'm only joking. You know I'd prefer it if it were me who's knocking you on your ass." She smirked. "So, what did you do? To the witch, I mean."
Klaus would have rubbed the back of his neck, sheepishly, if he could.
"Oh, my God." Caroline breathed. "You killed someone she cared about, didn't you? Why do I expect anything different from you?" She shook her head in disbelief at her own naivety.
"It wasn't that simple." Klaus said, defensively, feeling his own righteousness rise up in response to her skilfully placed admonishment.
"Oh?" Caroline raised an eyebrow, knowing fully well that he couldn't see the action. "So explain to me how it was complicated, Klaus." She said, challengingly.
Klaus hid the fact that her blatant defiance of his actions sent a strange sort of thrill rushing through him, a thrill that had been non-existent in his life until a blonde baby vampire with no sense of self-preservation, a smile that beamed like the sun and golden hair that made her porcelain skin glow, had stumbled into his life, behind pursed, annoyed lips. There were times when her insolence made him want to do nothing but reach through inches of flesh and bone and blood and pull out her heart as proof of his superiority, but those times, few and far in between, were far eclipsed by the wonder of such a being existing in this world. Honest and loyal to a fault, no underhanded techniques and no ulterior motives – as the people he had chosen to surround himself with for a thousand years, never faltering in her convictions for a single moment.
"So, come on, out with it, what did you do?" Caroline asked.
"I, uh…" Klaus visibly hesitated. "I may have… killed her brother." He said, lowly.
Caroline threw her hands up in the air. "Of course you did." She snapped. She felt a shard of shame slice through her heart. "I don't even know why I bother to think better of you, Klaus. You never meet me half way." She said, darkly.
"Perhaps you should let me explain before you come to all of your conclusions." Klaus said, coldly, the anger and regret in Caroline's blue-green eyes slamming, painfully, directly into his undead heart.
Caroline clenched her teeth, grinding them together. "Fine." She spat. "Tell me what happened."
"I heard a rumour about a witch with a special knack for locator spells." Klaus explained. "And I thought she may be able to assist me in searching out the doppelganger."
Caroline's brow furrowed. "The doppelganger? But I thought…" She frowned. "You were looking for Elena even that far back?" She asked, confused. "I thought you didn't know she existed until recently."
"I didn't." He nodded, pride at her intelligence warming in him. "I wasn't speaking of Elena. When I said 'doppelganger', I was referring to Katerina."
Caroline grimaced. "Right. Katherine."
"So, I visited her in this very neck of the woods." Klaus said, lowly. "You see, this woman is a bit of a hermit. Doesn't stray too far from her little hut in the forest. Hunts and cooks all of her food at home. So, I thought it best to come to her and have her do the locator spell."
Caroline raised an eyebrow. "'Have her do the locator spell'?" She said, mockingly. "What, did you expect her to do it the second you told her to?" She asked, spitefully, a hot anger burning in her stomach.
Klaus grinned widely, a boyish smile flitting onto his face that Caroline could easily see perched on his back, the innocence of the action causing an unwilling smile to curve on her pink lips at the gentle tease. She realised what she was doing, her reaction to him clear on her face, and she bit down her smile, turning her head away with a huff before he could see what he had provoked in her and start getting even more silly ideas that they would end up together.
"You may not have realised this yet, sweetheart, but I am very good at getting what I want."
"Not everything." Caroline sniffed.
The grin widened. "Don't worry, love. I have every belief that you will soon become mine."
Caroline snorted. "You're delusional."
Klaus held a hand to his heart. "Your words hurt, Caroline."
"That's not all that'll hurt if you don't stop trying to get on my nerves." Caroline said, threateningly.
Klaus pursed his lips to hide the smile that wanted to spread across his face at her adorable threat. She reminded him of an angry kitten, her face scrunched up, her eyes warning him off. He had the sudden urge to kiss her on the mouth and feel her tremble under his ministrations.
He cleared his throat, his blood rushing and his skin warming at the wicked turn to his thoughts. "Anyway,"
His voice was a low growl: strained and tense with longing. For her. Always for her. Since that damnable night he decided to use her as a pawn in his little game with Stefan – to punish him for daring to go up against him and steal his coffins from right under his nose –, a prospective toy in his desire to lay siege to Mystic Falls and take the town as his own. To establish control over a town he couldn't truthfully stand, Caroline had become collateral damage in bringing her mother onto his side. He hadn't regretted it then, but the defiance sticking to her sweat-stricken face, lying in bed with a raw, bloody werewolf bite on her neck, her eyes filled with nothing but hatred and terror for him, the honesty and slight desperation in her words, something in the little blonde vampire had enchanted him from that moment and he hadn't be able to rip her out of his veins ever since.
"I was quite appeasing at first." He said, mollified. "Charming and cautious. I never threatened her once. You may find this hard to believe, but I don't always resort to threats to get what I want. I can be charming when I want to."
Caroline snorted. "Don't I know it?"
Klaus smirked. "Is that your backhanded way of telling me that you find me charming, Caroline, love?" He asked, playfully.
"Shut up." Caroline said, sharply. "Continue with the story."
"How can I continue with the story if I shut-"
Caroline dug her sharp nails into the juncture between his throat and shoulders. "Don't be a smartass. Keep going." She said, warningly.
"Well, at first, she was willing to help me. Got out all of the necessary ingredients and everything. Of course, the cash in my wallet only quickened her preparation." Klaus chuckled. His eyes turned stormy. "And then her brother waltzed in at just the correct time."
Caroline groaned and tipped her head back, the sunlight gleaming on her creamy, soft skin, her eyes and hair sparkling in the bright light. "Oh, God." She moaned, shaking her head, resisting the urge to smack her forehead with the open side of her palm. "What happened?" She said, grimacing as if she knew the story was about to take a bad turn.
"He took one look at me and started shouting for all the world to hear." Klaus shrugged. "He wasn't a witch, you see. And I suppose he was always a bit jealous of his sister's abilities. He wasn't really fussed that she was doing a favour for me. He was more upset about the fact that she was young girl in her early twenties, entertaining a man in her home without any supervision."
Caroline snorted. "When was this, the Fifties?" She joked.
"Actually, yes." Klaus said, slowly.
Caroline blinked and tipped her head forward, her blonde waves tickling Klaus' cheek and stubble – a gesture which he most certainly curved into as slyly as possible, his eyes briefly falling shut as the scent of the lavender in her hair and milk and honey on her skin drifting to his heightened Hybrid senses, as she leaned over his shoulder, her lips grazing the curve of his ear, unbeknownst to her.
"No. Freaking. Way." Caroline breathed, a giggle rising in her throat. She barked out a laugh, a blinding smile appearing on her pink lips. "You met this witch chick in the 1950s?"
"It was 1957, I believe." Klaus corrected. "So, I think she's in her early seventies now."
"Oh, great," Caroline muttered under her breath. "An old witch who's the only one who can help us, but happens to have a bone to pick with you. We're definitely going to pull this off."
Klaus clucked his tongue. "Love, what did I tell you about being optimistic?" At the picture of rage induced on Caroline's face, Klaus cleared his throat, awkwardly, and decided to change the subject before she had a fit and tried to rip his head off. "Anyway, he raged at her for being in the company of such a rogue and for acting in the manner of a harlot," He couldn't help but smirk. "And then he called me a few choice words, words that I will not repeat in the presence of a lady-"
"You know I'm eighteen and I've had two eighteen-year-old boyfriends, right?" Caroline raised an eyebrow. "There's nothing that guy could've said that I haven't heard before, trust me." She rolled her eyes.
"Nevertheless," Klaus said, lowly. "I was taught that basic manners dictated that I should never speak in such a way in front of a lady and I intend to adhere to that, unlike your previous suitors who have shown they have no clue of how to treat a lady." He said, formally. "Of course, if we were in the right circumstances, I would never be so conservative." He growled.
The innuendo wetted his words and Caroline furiously stamped down on the rush of blood into her cheeks at the wicked purr that his voice had adopted, her stomach clenching at the more racy thoughts his comment provoked.
"Shut up." Caroline mumbled, half-heartedly. "So, you killed him because he insulted you?" She scowled, remembering the turn the story had taken.
"He mouthed off at me and he was insulting an innocent girl in my presence." Klaus said, defensively. "Was I just supposed to stand there and take it?"
"God!" Caroline scoffed, shaking her head. "You are so full of yourself." She paused. "So, what happened next?" She asked, quickly, trying her hardest to hide the spark of curiosity that flashed in her blue-green eyes.
Klaus smirked, knowingly. "See, love, you are interested."
"Are you going to continue with the story or not?" Caroline asked, irritated.
"What do you think I did, love?" Klaus raised an eyebrow. "I tore his heart from his chest." He shrugged, as if his words were similar to asking how the weather was.
Caroline hesitated. "The guy might have been a misogynistic, sexist dick, but no one would ever want to see their brother die just because they insulted them. No wonder she doesn't want to see you, let alone talk to you." She grumbled. "Great, we're going to see a witch who knows just how much of a jackass you really are. This is going to be such a productive trip, don't you think?" She said, sarcastically.
Klaus clucked his tongue, smirking. "Oh, come on, love. If you keep telling yourself that you're going to fail, of course you will." He said, patiently. "Sometimes you just have to go for it and hope for the best."
Caroline snorted. "I never knew you were the picture of optimism."
"I've been after you for the better part of two years, haven't I? In my opinion, that says a lot about my capabilities for optimism." Caroline scowled and Klaus grinned, tightening his hand around the thigh that was slung around his hip.
"Don't get your hopes up." Caroline said, snarkily, her legs tightening around his waist when she felt herself slipping from his hold, momentarily.
Klaus cleared his throat. "Well, when you've been alive for a thousand years, you can't afford to be a pessimist all the time." He shrugged. "Sometimes you've got to put your best foot forward, otherwise you find it difficult to keep living each and every day of eternity."
Caroline fell quiet, biting her lower lip, humbled and taken aback by the gravity of his words. She was suddenly reminded of what he had said that night of her eighteenth birthday, when he had entered her room to heal her of the hybrid bite.
"I thought about it myself, once or twice over the centuries, truth will be told."
"The day…" Caroline hesitated. "The day that you healed me when Tyler bit me. You said…" She bit her lip, nervously, her heart jumping into her throat at the thought of bringing it up. "You told me-"
"I told you that I had considered suicide a few times over the past millennia, is that what you were getting at?" Klaus asked, sharply.
"Yes." Caroline said, quietly. She paused. "Why?"
"Why I considered suicide?"
"Yes."
"Because I have spent a thousand years being hunted by my tyrannical stepfather." Klaus said, bluntly. "I have never known peace until the moment when I stood over his burning corpse. Whenever I would settle down somewhere, Mikael would swoop in and drive me away with the never-ending threat of a white-oak stake to my heart. I may be the most powerful being in the world, Caroline, but around my father, I have never felt more low." He gritted his teeth. "After the first couple of centuries of running, I began to consider whether it was truly worth it. Survival, I mean. Mikael would never stop hunting me, therefore, I would never stop running. Sooner or later, my siblings would get tired of having to run with me, seeing as I was the true object of Mikael's anger. They would be sick of having to risk their own lives for a man who was only partly their brother, hunted only for choosing to align with me rather than against me. I had no other friends or family that would mourn me, so I began to question whether ending my life would be a comfortable respite." His eyes tightened and his fists clenched. "Is that what you wanted to know, Caroline?"
Caroline licked her lips. "I'm sorry." She offered. "I didn't mean… I wasn't trying to…" She trailed off, unsure of how to form the thousands of thoughts that were swarming in her mind at his speech into a coherent sentence that didn't make her sound like a stuttering idiot.
She could feel the tension in his muscles, his shoulders suddenly tight. She swallowed hard, every word that Klaus had spoken ringing incessantly in her ear until she could do nothing more than to close her eyes and try vainly to drown them out.
He was hurt. He could care. He wasn't just the monster that her friends said he was. There was more to him. She had always known it. She hadn't always seen it, but she knew it was there burning in his belly. He hurt because he cared. She could see it in the way his eyes softened whenever she entered his vision, no matter with how much scorn she treated him, the way his face brightened when he had the opportunity to teach her something, the way his hands trembled at his sides, almost as if in longing to touch her. He cared. He cared for her. That was the only reason he had even confessed that dark part of his life to her.
"It's fine." Klaus sighed, harshly, cold breath blowing out through his teeth. "We're getting close to the barrier anyway. I need to concentrate or we'll be set back a mile or two by the boundary spell if it shoves us back."
Caroline flinched at the coldness of his voice, but rested her chin on his shoulder, nonetheless, in a show of solidarity and affection that would never be admitted let alone spoken out loud, her lips twisting into a small smile when she felt him tilt his head into her.
It was after a few minutes of silence that Caroline began to cluck her tongue in a rhythm set to the ticking of a clock. She continued this for at least ten minutes, as Klaus' teeth started to grind together, until finally, Klaus tightened his grip around her thigh as a warning for her to keep her mouth shut. Caroline couldn't help but smirk to herself, feeling a stab of pride at managing to annoy the Original Hybrid, especially knowing that there wouldn't be any bloody consequences for her.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Caroline began, snidely. "Was I annoying you?"
Klaus growled low in his throat and Caroline refused to admit to herself that the growl stirred up anything inside of her but irritation at him.
"You know what I need?" Caroline said, suddenly, jarring Klaus from his thoughts that pretty much centred around Caroline.
"What is that, sweetheart?" Klaus asked, curiously.
"A curling iron." Caroline said, simply. Klaus chuckled. "What?" She exclaimed. "I'm serious. Come on, this backwater bayou is getting all up in my hair and something seriously needs to be done about it."
"I think your hair looks fine, love." Klaus said, patiently.
Caroline rolled her eyes. "Well, you have to say that. You're like in love with me." She paused, her eyes widening, comically, hearing Klaus' heartbeat slow as they both took in exactly what she had just said. "I didn't… I, uh, I didn't mean to say that out loud." She bit her lip. "Crap!" She hissed. "Why do I always say the wrong thing?" She groaned. "I need a freaking brain-to-mouth filter, pronto."
"It's fine, sweetheart." Klaus said, reassuringly. "We'll just pretend you never said it. Or that I said it. Like we do everything in this relationship." He said, bitterly.
"Excuse me?!" Caroline snapped. "We have no relationship." She growled.
"When will you stop kidding yourself, love?" Klaus asked, coldly.
"I'm not kidding myself!" Caroline protested.
"Oh, is that so?" Klaus snorted. "So, is there another reason as to why you immediately try to change the subject as soon as something remotely resembling my feelings for you becomes the point of conversation… except for your obvious dodging of what you and I both know to be the truth?" He snapped.
"Put me down." Caroline said, coldly, her nails digging in to her palm, her face flinty with repressed anger. "Put me down, right the fuck now!" She shrieked.
Klaus growled, lowly, an irritated and regretful sigh blowing out of his clenched teeth, annoyed at himself for baiting her with something that remained unsaid between them. He crouched down, allowing Caroline to slip her arms and legs from him and step, gingerly, onto her own two feet, mindful of her sore ankle.
"Oh, my God." Caroline ran her hands through her hair. "Oh, my God. I can't keep doing this with you, Klaus. This has to stop."
"Stop what, love?" Klaus asked, bitterly. "There's nothing between us to stop."
Caroline rounded on him. "You know what I mean!" She snapped.
"No, I don't!" Klaus roared. "I don't know what you mean, Caroline. Because every time I bring it up, every time I think we've made a step forward, you find a way to bring us two steps back. So, tell me. What do you mean?" He asked, coldly.
"I can't do this with you!" Caroline bit out. Her face fell as she took a short, sharp hitched breath. "Oh, fuck!" She whimpered, her shoulders slumping. "You know why, I've told you a million times. Klaus, I… I'm not an idiot and I'm not emotionally stunted. I know what I feel. I know… I know I have feelings for you." She admitted, finally, her heart jumping into her throat as she spoke the words that she had buried deep inside of her the moment she had found herself looking on him with something more and scarier and life-affirming than mere hatred or annoyance. "Pretty strong ones. After all, that's the only reason I put up with you in the first place." She sighed and watched with trepidation as Klaus' face changed, his eyes brightening and a slow smile curving on his lips. "For the good of everyone, I have tried my hardest to tear you out of my head, but you won't leave me alone." She said, hoarsely. "But, we can't happen. We just can't." She said, adamantly.
"Why the bloody hell not?" Klaus growled, taking a step closer to her.
Caroline shook her head. "It's complicated."
"Caroline, you just told me that you had feelings for me. And now you're telling me that this, that we can't happen because it's complicated. What is so bloody complicated about this?" Klaus snapped, furiously, his eyes hardening.
"What happens in like fifty years when you meet some other girl and decide that she's beautiful and strong and full of light?" She asked, mockingly, feeling the traitorous tears rise to her eyes. "What happens to me, Klaus?" She shrieked. "I get thrown in the garbage like yesterday's trash, while you walk away, and that's on me, Klaus!" She shouted. "That's on me because I was the one who was stupid enough to take a chance even though I knew you'd hurt me sometime in the future. And I can't do that to myself. I won't do that to myself. Not again. I can't be second choice again. I want more. I deserve better than that."
Klaus advanced on her and suddenly, Caroline was more terrified of him than she had been since the night he had walked into her bedroom, hovered over her death-bound, withering, heartsick, pain-stricken body, and healed her from that god-awful hybrid bite, not before giving her a speech that sent her blood quaking with intensity. She wasn't afraid that he would hurt her – this was Klaus she was talking about, he could never put his hands on her to cause her pain. But, mentally? No one had the power to destroy her more than the immortal Hybrid standing in front of her.
"In a thousand years, you are the first woman I have ever dreamed of spending eternity with. Before you, the idea seemed laughable. In fact, I have mocked many others who have held similar notions in their heads. And then I saw you, I saw your strength and your beauty and your determination and your loyalty and your kindness and you shed light into the entirety of my existence that hadn't seen warmth and kindness in far too long. I need you in my life, Caroline. I exist only for you. I can't breathe without you. I'll have you for as long you'll have me." He said, lowly, his face unchanging at the way her face went wounded. "Is that enough of an assurance for you?" He raised an eyebrow. "Or do you need more?"
"That doesn't solve my problem." Caroline said, bitterly. "And you didn't even answer my question. What do I do if you decide centuries down the track that I'm not really the girl you want to spend eternity with?"
"What part of 'you're the only one I could ever imagine spending eternity with' don't you understand?" Klaus snapped. "I love you, Caroline. I'm in love with you. Do you know how many times I have said those words in my very long life? None." He swooped forwards and took his hands in hers. "So, trust me when I say that you are the girl I want to spend eternity with."
Caroline shook her head, reluctant to believe him, snatching her fingers out of his grip. Klaus lunged forward and caught her before she could spring away, his arm sliding around her waist and rucking her up against him.
Klaus ran his tongue over his lower lip. "Do you remember, earlier, when we were talking about optimism?" Caroline nodded, shakily. "Do you remember what I said?" Caroline's brow furrowed in confusion. "I said that if you keep telling yourself that you're going to fail, of course you'll fail. It applies to us as well, Caroline. If you keep telling yourself that we're going to end even before we begin, we will never work. I'm asking you to take a leap. I'm asking you to jump and I swear to you, I give you my word that I won't let you fall." He swore.
Caroline trembled. Her hand reached up and cupped his jaw, her thumb sliding against his cheekbone, her eyes intent on his.
She hitched in a sharp breath and her eyes travelled to his red lips.
A moment passed and her hand dropped to her side, limp.
"We need to find the witch." She said, hoarsely, recoiling away from him.
Klaus growled, viciously, and spun on his feet, stalking away, Caroline shuddering before she followed him.
"Well," Klaus smirked. "I'd like to think that I accomplished that task very well." He said, proudly.
Caroline snorted. "Oh, yeah, because threatening someone to do your bidding until they quiver in fear is such a huge accomplishment." She said, sarcastically.
"You know sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, love." Klaus said, pointedly, his hand leaving a hot, pleasurable trail on the small of her back as he led her up the stairs to her home.
"But it's also the funniest." Caroline shot back.
They stood on Caroline's doorstep, Klaus' hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans, while Caroline fidgeted on the threshold, separating herself from his hold.
"All in all, it wasn't a bad trip. Wouldn't you say, Caroline?" Klaus said, playfully, nudging her in the side, his eyes sobering at the honest talk they had in the woods about their feelings about each other and her insecurities and his reassurances.
Caroline grimaced. "Well, you didn't have to put up with a homicidal hybrid for an entire day, trekking through some backwater bayou just to see a witch with serious anger issues against said homicidal hybrid that you are accompanying."
"Oh, come on, love. You can admit that you had fun." Klaus smirked. "There's no one here to judge you for enjoying spending some quality time with the Big Bad."
Caroline rolled her eyes. "You are so full of yourself." She sighed, tucking a curl behind her ear and turning her head to the side so he wouldn't see how much his words hung true. "Well, I should really get inside before my mom cocks the gun and comes to see what the hell's happening on her doorstep." She said, dryly.
Klaus ducked his head, hiding his smile at the effect he knew he had on her. "I'll see you soon, Caroline." He said, slowly, snatching her hand in his and lifting it up to his lips to press and slow, sweet kiss on the tip of her knuckles, enjoying the way the redness rose to her pale, creamy cheeks. "It was lovely spending this time with you." He said, honestly.
Caroline took a deep breath and snatched her hand away, her skin tingling from where Klaus' lips had landed on her nerve endings.
She cleared her throat. "See you later."
She spun on her feet, her hand twisting the doorknob and swinging open the front door, making to go inside, when she stopped in her tracks. For a moment, she simply stood there, not moving, Klaus becoming anxious and taking a worried step closer to her.
Suddenly, she swung around and leaned forwards, her hand cupping his face much like she had in the forest. This time, however, her head tipped forwards and her eyes fluttered shut, her lips slanting over the corner of his mouth in a sweet kiss that surprised him right to his bones. The warmth of her engulfed him and her sweet scent filled his senses, his eyes falling shut involuntarily, his hand sliding around the curve of her hip, as he nuzzled into her hair.
Her warmth left him as soon as it came and he was left standing alone on the doorstep, the sound of the door slamming shut behind Caroline's fleeing form ringing in his ears. He stood there for a moment, his hand reaching up and his fingers ghosting over the corner of his mouth where her lips had touched, the warmth of her still bleeding into his skin despite her absence. He couldn't help the boyish grin that stretched across his face at the show of unhindered and vulnerable affection from the girl who had snatched every sane thought from his head, proving to him that she shared his feelings for him. He had a chance and there would come a day where she would be by his side for eternity.
He could be content with wooing her for a little while longer and reassuring himself with that picture of their future together, while she dealt with whatever misgivings she had and came to terms with just how strong her feelings for him were, if it meant having her for the whole of eternity.
Of course, little did he know that while Caroline had rushed away from his side after kissing his mouth, she had smiled a similar sweet smile as she threw herself into her home and shut the door behind her, her heart thumping in her chest and her back pressing against the door as her mind revisited the indomitable feeling of finally giving into the urge to press her lips to his skin over and over again.
Perhaps she could try her hand at being a bit more optimistic. It wouldn't kill her.