No, no, nope, no...ooh...damn, too small, no, hell no...ah ha!
Caroline plucked the deep purple dress from the wardrobe, holding in front of her in the mirror.
"Find anything yet, sweetheart?" Klaus called again from the other side of the bedroom door.
She rolled her eyes and replied, "Not yet!"
"Well you do know the dance starts in just over an hour, right?"
"You know I organized said dance, right?" she fired back, stepping into the strappless gown and pulling it up over her black lacy undergarmets. Sure no one would see them, but it just made her feel better. "Wait, how do you know what time my senior prom starts?"
A light chuckle floated through the closed door. "You have met my darling little sister, have you not?"
Caroline smiled and whispered, mostly to herself, "'Nuff said."
"I did hear that, you know?"
"Oh, I know." For a second, Caroline forgot the exact situation she was in and just stared at the gorgeous dress hugging her form like a second skin. The bodice was dark purple satin with wire ribbing to form atight cage around her torsoe. It was a traditional corset style, full lacing down the whole of the back, leading to a lavender bow, also of satin, which formed a border with the skirt. The gown flowed freely to the floor in layers of toole in various shades of violet. It was stunning.
But it didn't feel quite right. The 146th dress she'd tried and it still wasn't the one.
Caroline frowned and sighed heavily, sweeping her loose curls to the side again, moving to undo the zipper. It didn't budge.
"Seriously..." she breathed, trying to move the zipper down without damaging the dress. That's all she needed, was Rebekah mad at her for ruining a gown.
"Everything alright, love?" Klaus' voice brought Caroline back to reality.
Right. At the mansion, rummaging through Rebekah's collection, Original Hybrid stalker man in the hallway, prom in t minus...shit! 45 minutes?!
"Yeah!" Caroline yelled, still trying to unzip the dress. "Its just...being...kind of...difficult...Ugh!" With a huff, she stopped, having no luck. No luck seems to be a recurring thing in my life lately, she thought bitterly.
Caroline could hear Klaus calling her name, banging on the door, asking if she was alright. But she was frozen. She was panicing. And not the I'm-in-a-flurry-of-movement panic, but full on deer in headlights, half melt down panic.
None of this should be happening. She shouldn't be a vampire, her boyfriend - or whatever Tyler was to her at this point - shouldn't be a hybrid, Elena shouldn't be a crazy, remorseless, psycho-vampire, her father shouldn't be dead, and she shouldn't be in enemy camp trying on prom dresses and getting stuck in the wrong freaking one; the wrong one she could hardly see for the tears in her eyes.
Finally Klaus just got fed up and burst in the room, his look of frustration and impatience dissolving completely into concern as soon as he laid eyes on Caroline.
She was, quite simply...a beautiful mess. The dress she had on - on of his personal favorites - looked absolutely flawless on her tiny form. The way the bodice pushed her breasts up just enough to reveal an alluring amount of cleavage made Klaus hold his gaze there perhaps a second longer than was gentlemanly.
From the neck up,, she was a stunning, broken, mess. Her normally perfectly curled hair hung in loose curls over her right shoulder. Buther eyes, her beautiful blue eyes, were reddish and blurry, tears spilling out and down her flushed cheeks.
Those eyes flashed up to meet his in the mirror, remaining vulnerable for only a second before she reached up to wipe the make up just starting to rub off on her face.
"What's the matter, love?"Klaus found himself whispering while taking a step toward her, coming within arms reach.
"I - I'm fine. Its okay," Caroline stammered, fidgeting with her hands, and fixing her hair. Its just...the, the zipper is broken and..." she chuckled humorlessly, "...and my life is a mess and this was supposed to be perfect and I hate that it isn't and I'm sorry, I'm rambling..." She trailed off, looking aywhere but his eyes.
Klaus gave her a small smile and slowly reached for her hand. The contact seemed to send a jolt through her as she breathed in sharply and raised her paniced eyes to his calm ones. He used their joined hands to turn her to face him fully. Before he could think better of it, he raised his other hand to her face and wiped away a stray tear cwith his thumb, his fingers gently threading in her hair. The corners of his mouth tugged up a bit when she sighed at the touch.
"I know you're not fine, Caroline..." he started and had to pause then she squeezed her eyes tighter shut, causing fresh tears to falll. "I know you're not fine and that is perfectly fine. And its alright to be a bit of a mess sometimes, love. You've got eternity to get it right." he added with a bit of hopefulness that it would cheer her up. It had the opposite effect.
"Thats exactly the problem! I shouldn't have eternity, Klaus. This should be a single, unique night, only to happen once in my life, but I'll have a thousand more!" She paused to take a shkey breath. "But this is the first one. The original night. It should be perfect but everything's a mess, I'm...a mess..."
She tried backing away from him, but Klaus wasn't done. His hands fell to her shoulders, keeping her close.
"I know it feels like a mess, and maybe it is but, " he rushed on even though she was shaking her head and tears flowed again. " Caroline, listen to me. You need to know this, sweetheart, look at me." When she continued shaking her head, lip quivering, tears falling, Klaus gently placed his hands on either side of her face tilting it up slightly and stopping her movements.
She let out a steadying breath and Klaus just decidded to let everything else go and just go on impulse. His Forehead came to rest on hers for a moment.
"Oh, my sweet Caroline," he breathed, then leaned back so he could see her properly. 'Please, love. Open your eyes."
Perhaps the gentleness of his voice or the soothing feel of his fingers softly away her tears, but for whatever reason, Caroline's eyes fluttered open and found his.
After a moment of simply gazing down at her, Klaus whispered, just loud enough for her to hear, "For the part I have played in causing the mess in which you believe you find yourself, I..." his voice caught seeing the expectation and vulnerability in her eyes. "I am truly sorry, Miss Forbes."
He gave her a moment to register the fact that the almighty Original Hybrid was apologizing to her, an 18 year old, baby vampire.
"A creature so beautifu should not be so broken," he stated, placing a quick kiss on her forehead before she could object. "Now," he continued - mostly - ignoring the look of shock on her face from the display, "if you'll allow me to fix what I can and get you to that ideal prom night of yours."
Finally, Caroline cracked a smile.
"You can try the zipper, but I'm telling you its - whoa! What are you doing?" The panic in her voice rose as Klaus wrapped his arms tighter around her waist, pulling their bodies almost flush together.
Klaus smiled, dimples showing as he said, "Relax, love. Simply untying a knot. There's only one other way- well - one other acceptable way out of this dress."He winked at the last part and Caroline rolled her eyes.
Great, she mused, back to normal already.
Her thought was interrupted whe Klaus turned her to face the mirror again and began unlacing the corset holding the dress in place.
Caroline took slow breaths, trying to ignore the thick sexual tension that now filled the room and avoided looking at Klaus in the mirror. She couldn't help it; there was something incredibly sexxy about watching him undress her - wait. sexy?! Did I really just describe him as sexy?
"Look, I can get the rest of it, really" she said as she reached behind her only to have her hand literally slapped away.
"You'll only tangle the strings." He replied cooly, eyes not leaving his work.
"Oh, and you won't?" Caroline retorted.
Caroline gasped as she felt his scruff graze her shoulder, his breath ghost on her ear as he said huskily, "I've undone a few corsets in my day, love."
"Oh, gross!" she joked, leaning away from his smirking face.
He chuckled and finished unlacing the bodice with a flourish. Neither of them laughed however when their eyes met in the mirror and Klaus let his knuckles drag down Caroline's now exposed back, leaving a trail of goose flesh in their wake. The tension lingered in the air for a moment longer before Klaus took a step back.
"Well," he sid, voice thick, "I'll leave you to it then. Let me know if you need...anything else."
With his signature smirk in place, he disappeared from the room, leaving a confused and intrigued Caroline to find the perfect prom dress in...
Oh my god! Thirty minutes?!
