Title: enough for you
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Pairing: Klaus/Caroline
Rating: Angst
Words: ~2000
Summary: Years later it repeats again, "You mark my words. Small town boy, small town life, it won't be enough for you."
Author's Notes: So, petitemachine actually gave me this quote for Tyler/Caroline, but after Klaus's speech in the last episode, I couldn't help myself! "Ask me now I'll give you the reasons / My love will not fade / Through the fire and rain" - Mat Kearney. Don't own Kearney or the Vampire Diaires. Un-beta'd.
I'm leaving town tomorrow. I'd invite you to come with me, but we both know you're not ready to accept my offer. Perhaps one day, in a year or even a century, You'll show up at my door and let me show you what the world has to offer. You mark my words. Small-town boy, small-town life, it won't be enough for you.
In a way, Klaus had been wrong. It had been longer than a day, longer than a year. But it hadn't been a century, either. The year was 2025, thirteen years after they had a danced and had put such wild thoughts of happiness in her head. Caroline had graduated from Hampton University in 2022, she had an apartment down near Virginia Beach, and she and Tyler had enjoyed weekends in Mystic Falls, beach parties, and visits from Damon when there wasn't a crisis to handle. It seemed Elena always had a crisis, so they didn't see her much, but over bottles of cheap Virginia Gentleman and Knob Creek, they learned that she was doing well in Denver, with Jeremy and family friends, getting away from it all and trying to give her little brother a normal life.
Caroline reveled in the 'normal' of life at college. She was a cheerleader, Tyler took her to the school dances, and her junior year she was even named homecoming queen (the first white girl in the history of the school to be honored with the title). They never spoke of his maker, or of the drawings she kept in a small box in the back of her closet. They never left the state of Virginia.
After graduation, Tyler's video games and frustration with his lot in life started to wear on her. She loved him - the way his smile lit up a room, the passion with which he loved, the feel of his arms around her at night - but there were moments when she really didn't like him all that much. There was one night, a year after school ended, that he'd gotten drunk and asked her if she ever missed Vicki. He said he did, but he felt like he didn't deserve to because of how he'd treated her. He'd ended up crying into her chest and apologizing for a multitude of all too human sins before falling asleep. It was moments like that one that broke her heart, the thought of not being that person for him anymore, that vampire, that girlfriend, for this man, this hybrid who needed her. It broke her heart. The next day he was fine, as if it had never happened, nuzzling her neck as she cooked eggs for breakfast and settling in to play XBox Live with Matt back in Mystic Falls. Shaking her head, her heart no longer broken by his sadness, she huffed and left for work.
One call to Damon to vent and a full work day later, she went home and packed her bags. "I miss Elena," she explained, "it'll only be for a vacation, I want to see Denver," all of her excuses only left him confused and her flight didn't seem long enough. Far enough away. A vacation lasted two years, calls from Tyler growing more stilted and silent, word of his whereabouts harder to come by. She and Elena worked at a mall together and laughed like they hadn't since they were kids. She spent time in the mountains, learned to ski, and spent Christmas with her mom on a cruise in the Caribbean.
It was the most adventurous she had ever felt, living in Colorado, and Elena got a panicked call from Matt that Klaus had moved back into the Mikaelson mansion, all carefree plans went out the window. Elena insisted they go home, help the Salvatores and Matt handle the threat, but Caroline took a deep breath and shook her head. "This isn't your fight anymore, 'Lena. You got out, stay out," Caroline said, feeling ages older than her appearance belied. "You're not a vampire, Elena, your brother isn't immortal anymore," she looked over at the closed door to Jeremy's room of the three bedroom apartment they shared, "he's not in love with a witch or a ghost, and you're not caught between Damon and Stefan. I know you're the doppelganger, but if this was about you and your blood, he'd be here, not back home." Elena had tears in her eyes, knowing what her best friend was going to say next, "It's our fight. I'll go." One more fierce hug and then Caroline went to pack and was on a place back to the East Coast just a few hours later.
Before joining the cavalry at the Boardinghouse, she took her rented car down the long narrow drive to the mansion, rain pounding down. She wondered if Tyler was here, in Mystic at all, if he had gone back to his sire, if he thought of her. And before she knew what she was doing, she was sprinting at vampiric speeds through the rain and knocking on the front door, her tshirt plastered to her body and her hair a blond, sopping mess before he answered. And there he was, black jeans and shirt, his hair a little longer than she remembered, stubble still perfectly crafted.
"I went to Denver," she said, feeling suddenly tongue tied and useless. Shaking her head, she turned, laughing at herself. What was she thinking? She'd just presented herself to the world's most dangerous being, who she had come back to town to help put down.
She was only half way to her car in her daze when she heard him laugh. "Denver?" He called out. "You went and lived with the doppelganger, that was your great adventure?" Caroline stopped stubbornly and turned, pride etched on her face.
"Some of us have loved ones, lonely boy," she insulted, "Some of us care about the people in our lives, they're what makes sticking around for eternity worth it!" She shouted through the rain, her anger taking her by surprise. What did she care what he thought of her. Other than maybe that he'd been right, in a way, all those years ago, at a dance she could barely remember for the events later in the night. She didn't want him to be right, she wanted the white picket fence and the two kids and the pet golden retriever. And yet, she'd had as close as she'd ever get with Tyler and still left, to Denver of all places. And still, standing in the rain, she heard his words again. It wasn't enough. And she didn't know what she was doing here but he was walking out into the rain toward her, a smile on his face that looked nearly genuine in it's ferocity.
"Did you come here to kill me, love?" He asked, his eyes playful. Caroline could only shake her head.
"Damon said you were in town, they were worried about Elena," she didn't know why she was telling him the truth but just as suddenly as it had come, the anger left her and she could barely get the words out. It was as if he had compelled her, but she knew better.
"If I wanted Elena, wouldn't I be in Colorado?" He had known all along where the Gilberts were. "I'd been entertaining myself in Paris," he said over the sound of thunder and water, "and I thought how lovely you'd be atop the Tower, and so I came back when Tyler didn't know where you were. Low and behold, it worked, you found me." He'd returned for her? And why were they still standing out in the rain? Her mind raced, confusion, history, and a sudden urge to either kiss him or knock him out all coming over her.
He slowly made his way to stand right in front of her, "Are you ready to take me up on my offer, love?" He asked, his voice low and dangerous in a way that sent shivers down Caroline's spine. Shaking her head in fear, she backed away before sprinting for her car and gunning it out of his driveway, to the Boardinghouse where Stefan, Bonnie, and Damon were relieved to hear that Klaus meant no harm. Stefan and Bonnie didn't ask why she'd visited him, but over whiskey they night Damon broached it.
Shaking her head, mimicking her earlier move, she shrugged her shoulders. "Part of me just wanted to see him for myself, I guess," was all she could come up. Damon didn't pry, which was something she had come to appreciate about him over the years, and they sipped their liquor in silence in front of the fire.
The next day, danger averted, she flew back to Colorado with good news that brought color back to Elena's cheeks and a rare smile to Jeremy's face. Caroline nudged Elena as they made dinner together, "Damon misses you, you know," Elena's surprise was obvious and so Caroline elaborated, "The fight's over, back there, no one's running anymore, why are you?" Dinner that night was quiet as soon as Caroline caught them - Stefan and Bonnie had gotten a house near Wickery Bridge, figuring once they'd gotten together that living with Damon would be awkward at best. They seemed happy, the way they held hands and shared quiet looks that Caroline didn't know the meanings behind.
Two weeks later when Elena announced she and Jeremy had planned to go back - now that the coast was clear, she couched it - Caroline wasn't surprised and she hugged them both tight and watched as they drove away in the early morning light. With whatever threats in their past gone, it seemed everyone was ready to embark on their own great adventures. It was with this thought and a new confidence, that Caroline sold their apartment the next day and took only a bag with her to board a plane to Paris.
At the top of Eiffel Tower, she turned at a familiar laugh, and smiled lightly at Nik. "I figured I was as ready as I'd ever be," she shrugged, laughter bubbling up out of her. He came to her, hugged her, gentlemanly placed a kiss on her cheek and she approved. This wasn't about him, or romance, or Tyler, or home. This was her chance for more, for the whole world, and she was ready.