A/N: First off, thank you all for the follows/favorites/awesome reviews! They make my inbox a happy place. A couple notes about this chapter:

One, Arnaud's is a real thing. If you're bored, put "arnaud's restaurant new orleans" in to Google images. It's really pretty.

Two, I think I'd better tell you now that this story isn't gonna be super long. I planned it to be about four or five chapters, since everything happens over the course of one day. Just warning you now so you don't hate me later.

If Caroline had thought that her day with Klaus would consist of staying in while he stared at her—which in her mind, had been a definite possibility—she was sorely mistaken. Klaus seemed to have an entire day planned out for them, though he would never tell her what the next part of his plan would be.

He insisted on starting the day at Arnaud's, a little restaurant which on weekends, he said, featured a three-piece jazz band to play during breakfast. As soon as Caroline stepped inside, she knew why Klaus had picked it. The whole place felt like stepping in to a different era, one with warm light and polished mirrors and wrought iron climbing over the building like ivy. The bright, bold sounds of a trumpet and bass filled the room.

"Very fancy," she said, in a more cynical tone than she really felt. She didn't want to give Klaus the satisfaction.

He either didn't sense her tone or decided deliberately to ignore it. "Lovely, isn't it?" he said.

The truth was, Caroline had never been somewhere this elegant, especially not for breakfast, which, when she was human, usually consisted of a power bar at best.

The tables were covered with cream-colored linen and accented with fresh cut yellow flowers, still heavy with morning mist. The waiter who sat them down was wearing a coat and tails and referred to them as "sir" and "miss". The only other time Caroline was called "miss" was when she got cards from her grandparents addressed to "Miss Caroline Forbes." And, of course, Miss Mystic Falls.

"What will you be having?" Klaus asked after they had perused the (elegant, expensive) menus for a while.

"Scrambled eggs," said Caroline flatly. It was the cheapest item she could think of. She felt strange letting Klaus buy her expensive things—not that it had ever stopped him before. Besides, she could hardly pronounce most things on the menu.

"You can't be serious," said Klaus.

"What?" she asked.

"You're in New Orleans, love," he said.

"So?"

"So…" he shook his head. "Caroline, you are a beautiful, bright, intelligent girl, but you've been stuck in that stagnant little town for so long. Now that you're out, you might want to consider trying something new."

"Geez, it's just breakfast, no need to analyze it," she said, her brow furrowed.

"Why do you think I suggested that you spend the day here with me?"

She set her menu down with a slap that turned a few heads, despite the loud music.

"I'm sorry, suggested?"

"Fine, blackmailed. Do you know why I did that?"

"We've already been over this, Klaus. Because you're a psychopath with a weird thing for me."

"No," he said, suddenly stern. "It's because you've never been out of Mystic Falls and if I hadn't forced you to stay, you would have been back there again the second after I cured you. Am I wrong?"

Her silence let him know that he wasn't wrong.

"And it's terrible for me to see you stuck there when you should be out, having new experiences, seeing the world. Believe me, Caroline, the world would be the poorer for your absence."

She didn't really know what to say to that. Thankfully, she was spared having to think of something by the arrival of the waiter. "What will you be having this morning?" he asked.

Klaus cut in before Caroline had time to reply. "She will be having the Oysters en Brochette." He smirked at her as he handed the waiter the menus. "And I'll have the same."

"Very good, sir."

Caroline wrinkled her nose as the waiter walked away. "Oysters?" she said.

"Trust me," said Klaus.

She gazed over at the three-piece band and lost her train of thought in the music. "Haven't had any reason to so far," she said mildly.

Klaus only gave her a cryptic look, and turned his chair around to watch the band, too.

When the food came, Caroline poked at it suspiciously with her fork before she finally took a bite.

"Good?" Klaus asked.

Caroline closed her eyes, and covered her mouth with her hand before saying, "No."

"You're lying."

Damn it. She opened her eyes again. "I'm totally lying. This is amazing."

He laughed. She started to laugh, too, in spite of herself.

XXX

Next on Klaus's itinerary was a walk down Royal Street. This looked like the New Orleans that Caroline had seen before only in movies and pictures, complete with iron lace balconies and hanging flowers. It felt like walking in to a world which she'd thought before was only make-believe.

Klaus, as she had expected, seemed to know everything about everything, and he would stop as they walked along to tell her about the copper gas lamps or the shop with the most elaborate jewelry or a part of the street where some famous writer had walked once upon a time. Caroline found herself enjoying strolling lazily along in the midday heat, listening to him speak enthusiastically about this and that. She kept having to remind herself that this was Klaus, Klaus the murderer, the psychopath, the one who had an unsettling obsession with her, who had forced her to come along on the promise that he would kill innocent people if she didn't. But it was hard to remember when she saw him like this—so engaged, so patiently explaining little pieces of history or art, so gently placing a hand on her lower back to lead them along. It was hard to remember.

So much so that she kept waiting for the catch.

Every few blocks, she would ask, "So, what's next? Just tell me."

And he would smirk in an infuriating way and tell her, "You look especially lovely today, Caroline."

He took her inside art galleries along the street as the heat started to build up outside. Klaus didn't have much patience for the more modern, experimental types of art, some of them flown in from New York or Prague.

"It's so...inelegant, isn't it?" he said, looking at one particular black and white abstract sculpture. "Ungainly."

"I like it," said Caroline, just to annoy him.

Klaus was drawn to portraits, still lifes. He liked to amuse himself by making up stories to go with the pictures.

"Oh, this one. Yes," he said. He was indicating an impressionist painting of three aristocratic men in top hats at a fancy dinner party. "This man to the side here, staring off in to space? He's considering letting the other gentleman know of his affections for him. He looks totally oblivious, doesn't he? And this third one, who looks like he's sleeping? He's not. He's trying to listen in on their conversation, but the damn potted plant keeps getting in the way…"

Caroline started laughing as he went on from painting to painting, inventing more unlikely scenarios with each one.

"This man with the pipe just realized he left the oven on…"

"No, no," she said. "He just understood a joke someone told him a week ago."

"Maybe he's trying to figure out what 'This statement is a lie' means."

"Maybe it's not tobacco he's smoking…" They were both laughing now, so much so that other people browsing the gallery turned their heads.

"Be honest," said Klaus, grinning. "You are enjoying yourself."

"I'm just humoring you," she said, with a laugh that she wasn't totally able to turn in to a derisive scoff.

"Oh, well then you're an excellent actress," he said with a sly grin.

Caroline wanted to move on from this topic. She turned around, gazing at the opposite wall full of painted faces. "What's her story?" She pointed to a portrait of a girl in profile, her hair up in a nineteenth century style, her dress a deep dark red with gold trim. Her face held a kind of knowing smile.

The painting seemed to surprise him. "You might not believe this," he said, "but I knew her."

"Really?"

"Yes. Sad story," he said. "She was a sweet, pretty thing—as a human. But she was turned in to a vampire. The usual boring reason, some vampire falls in love with a human, 'I want to be with you forever', 'love eternal', you know. Anyway, it turned out the girl had some repressed emotions, about her family, that she couldn't contain when she became a vampire. So one night she came home and decapitated them all. And then when she realized what she'd done, she blamed her vampire love and ripped out his heart. Poetic, I suppose."

Klaus turned his eyes back over to Caroline and watched her stunned expression closely.

"Oh my god," said Caroline. "That's terrible."

"Oh, that wasn't really the sad part of it. The sad part was when the girl was staked by a hunter in the twenties. A pity. She made such an interesting vampire," said Klaus. "You would have liked her."

Klaus stepped back to admire the painting while Caroline, wide-eyed, breathed, "Jesus…" and turned her back to him.

XXX

Their next stop was the French Market. Klaus let Caroline explore on her own for a while, which she was grateful for. She needed some time to breathe. Being with Klaus for too long sort of felt like being underwater.

She walked aimlessly around, letting her glance slide from souvenir stand to restaurant to storefront. It occurred to her that maybe she could leave now, now that Klaus wasn't watching. She'd promised him the day, but it would be easy to slip away in this crowd and head for the airport. She didn't think Klaus would really go through with the whole killing spree idea, not if she were already gone…

Still, she didn't. She told herself that Klaus would have prepared for that somehow, though she didn't know for sure.

While she was considering all this, staring in to space in the direction of a tomato cart, her phone started to buzz from inside her purse.

The caller ID read: Elena. Caroline picked up before it could buzz again.

She sounded frantic and far away on the other end of the line. "Care? Caroline?"

"I'm here," she said. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" she repeated, in disbelief. "You were supposed to be back hours ago. What happened? Did you get Klaus to cure you?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Caroline said, wondering if that were true. "No more werewolf bite. I just, um…got detained."

"Detained?"

"Yeah," she said. She didn't really want to explain the whole thing. "I uh, I couldn't get a flight until tomorrow." (It was sort of true). "I'm sorry you were so worried. I totally forgot."

Elena seemed to have calmed down. "It's okay. Just glad you're safe."

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said again.

"So Klaus isn't…up to any particular evil?"

"No more than usual," said Caroline.

"Good," said Elena. "That's good. Just…don't stay too much longer, okay?"

"Oh, trust me," Caroline said, with a laugh that sounded overly loud in her ears. "First chance I get I'm out of here."

"Really? I thought I just gave you a chance."

Caroline jumped at the voice behind her. She knew it was Klaus before she turned around, but she still stared daggers at him while she said, "I gotta go, Elena. See you soon." She hung up.

"You know," she said, "that appearing suddenly out of nowhere thing was a lot scarier when I was human. Now that I'm a vampire, it's just annoying."

"I couldn't resist," he said.

"And what did you mean, you gave me a chance?" she asked.

"Nothing, nothing," he said, but he seemed pleased. He gestured down towards the rest of the market. "Shall we?"

She followed, letting out an aggravated sigh.

They strolled past shops with sequined masks glinting in the afternoon sun, flea market tents decorated with colored scarves, and open door restaurants hawking samples of crawfish, beignets—even alligator, which Caroline couldn't bring herself to try.

As the sky overhead turned the color of wildfire, Klaus and Caroline settled themselves in a little wine bar, watching tourists walk past, snapping pictures of food and souvenirs. They were silent for a long while, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. For Caroline, at least, it was a relief, though she never completely let down her guard. Klaus let his gaze wander over to her from time to time, and she always looked the other way when he did. She took small sips of white wine, watching the sun dip lower on the horizon.

As she watched, a band began setting up in the square in front of them. Two guitars, a bass, and a violin. Open guitar case in front of them, they began playing an up-tempo jazz tune that was somehow also intricate and hypnotic. Some people stopped and stood to watch them play, but most passed by without a second glance. The song lasted a long time, melody floating over melody, as they transitioned from one song to the next.

After a while they changed to a slower tune, one that reminded Caroline of twisting smoke and the dusky sky outside—purple streaked with gold.

"Pretty," said Caroline.

"Yes, it is," Klaus agreed. With a sideways glance at Caroline, he stood up and stretched out his hand to her. "Would you care to dance?"

Caroline looked around the square full of people walking by, shopping, standing. "Nobody else is," she said.

"Do you only ever do what everybody else does?" he asked, with a flicker of a smile.

She paused, let out a small sigh that was like a shrug. And she took his hand.

Klaus led her out to the center of the square in to a small clearing in front of the four musicians. If the musicians were surprised to see people approaching them, they didn't show it. With one hand he held tight to Caroline's, while the other slid around her waist, and with both he drew her to him. They turned slowly amid the milling tourists, making it seem like everybody else was on a fast-forward film reel.

It had been a long time since she'd danced this close with anybody. At least, anybody who wasn't Tyler. She rested her chin in the space between his head and shoulder. The soft stubble on his cheek brushed her face. She felt his warm breath on her neck. Caroline tried to concentrate on only the music, until Klaus finally spoke.

"Do you remember," he asked,"when we danced at my mother's ball?"

"I remember," she said.

He spoke softly enough that only she could hear. "It's felt like a long time since then, still, I find myself thinking of that night…"

Caroline racked her brain for some kind of clever retort. But it just wouldn't come. It must have been the sultry heat, must be making her brain feel slow and languid.

"Such an old-fashioned dance, though, wasn't it?" he said.

"Well, you would know…" she said (lamely).

"I remember vividly," he said, "wanting to be this close to you then." His hand drifted downward, feeling the curve of her hips, all the pressure in the tips of his fingers.

"Klaus," she said, with the beginnings of a nervous laugh. She'd meant it as a reprimand, but she couldn't quite say it that way.

"Caroline…" he murmured in her ear. "Always so prim. But it's funny, you never really say no to me, do you?" With a finger, he lightly traced the length of her spine, sending a shiver through her. "Tell me to stop right now, and I will. Just tell me to stop…"

"I…" she said. She couldn't seem to say anything.

He pressed his lips lightly to her neck, so lightly it was like a suggestion of a kiss.

Maybe it was that she didn't want to say anything…

She brought her head back to look him in the eyes.

"Klaus—"

But they were suddenly ripped apart.

They had been lost in their own world. They hadn't noticed the sun going down, the milling shoppers quietly disappearing down alleyways and street corners, hadn't noticed the music stopping the minute before they were hit.

Caroline was slammed to the ground with a force that left her gasping for air. She couldn't see, except for shimmering spots of light that flickered across her vision. She heard shouting, the sounds of approaching footsteps, running, struggling. She still couldn't get up.

When her sight came swimming back, she found the bass player from the band pinning her down, fangs out, eyes red. She turned her head to see Klaus being held back—and not easily—by four vampires. There were more coming. They were being surrounded.

Caroline tried to jerk her arms free of the heavy vampire on top of her, but he pulled a stake from his pocket and held it just above her. If she took even a breath, she could feel the sharp point digging in to her chest.

Klaus called out her name as he tried to break free from the group holding him back, yellow eyes flashing. "What is this?" he snarled.

"A message from Marcel," said a voice in the crowd. The rest of them laughed and shouted in response.

"Yeah," said another one. "He says to—"

"Hey, hey now. I can speak for myself."