I just wanted to clarify that in the previous chapter Caroline was not somehow being her insecure self from S1. She wasn't overcome by jealousy but just had that tiny hint of it that is almost a little natural when you see your crush with someone else? It was fleeting and mostly just enough to persuade her into giving Klaus the time of day. What I think was problematic was that Klaus orchestrated that reaction and have no fear, Caroline will be dealing with him.
Chapter 3: Potential Last Love
I want to hide the truth
I want to shelter you
But with the beast inside
There's nowhere we can hide
Caroline pried her eyes open to the sound of persistent loud knocking on her front door.
She dug her head back into her pillow, hoping that if she ignored it, the knocking would stop.
No such luck.
Caroline groaned and pulled herself out of bed.
Instantly feeling the change of temperature as she climbed out from under her blankets, she sucked in a breath even though the cold couldn't affect her. She was so glad she wasn't human anymore. Vampirism even made getting out of bed slightly easier.
Slightly.
She pulled on her mini pink gown lazily, annoyed by the fact that the person at the door was still knocking.
"Seriously? Hold up a second, god," she complained, mostly to herself.
The knocking immediately subsided and Caroline couldn't help thinking that vampirism was also creepy at times.
She slipped on her fluffy black-and-pink slippers before finally making it to the front door and, already heavily annoyed with whomever stood behind it, ripped it open.
The icy breeze from outside woke her almost as much as seeing who it was.
Instantly she re-arranged her facial expression from surprise to annoyance, flipping her slightly mussed hair over her shoulder.
"Oh. It's you."
"Good morning, love."
She rolled her eyes. "Do you know how early it is, Klaus?" she asked, though she wasn't sure herself.
What she was aware of was that behind Klaus the sun hadn't even properly risen yet, which meant it was definitely too early for her to be up.
"I know," he said, holding up a finger and smiling sweetly, "but… I brought breakfast," he said, grinning and triumphantly lifting a small white-and-pink paper bag as evidence.
Caroline huffed. Despite her peaceful sleep, none of her anger towards him had dissipated, and the fact that he was currently on her doorstep before sunrise was so not helping his case, no matter what kind of confectionery he'd brought.
But she also wanted to give him a piece of her mind, preferably not while he was standing on her doorstep. She sighed and stepped backwards, gesturing for him to come inside.
He stepped in looking so pleased with himself that she began to look forward to what she was about to say.
"I assumed that if I brought the croissants, you'd cater for coffee," he said, placing the bag down on a counter in the kitchen.
At the thought of croissants, Caroline's unfed stomach grumbled, but she resisted. Breakfast could wait.
"Yeah, you assume a lot of things, don't you?"
Klaus frowned, her hostile tone clearly taking him completely from left field.
"What's the matter, love?"
"What's the matter? What's the matter? I can't believe you have the audacity to come to my house after what you pulled last night! Or I guess you thought I wouldn't figure it out?"
"Calm down, love. Let's talk about this rationally."
"Rationally? That's not what you did yesterday! No, instead you resorted to underhanded scheming."
He sighed and glanced away quickly before returning his gaze to her guiltily. At least he wasn't insulting her intelligence by pretending that he didn't know what she was talking about.
"That is not fair. I tried when I was here–"
"No, you know what's not fair? That you would use my own insecurities against me like that. You know, I always knew you were pure evil, and you've done a lot of things to me and my friends, but not even I would have imagined you capable of this!"
Klaus looked dumbfounded. And, moreover, hurt.
Good. She would not allow her feelings to be played with. Not even by him.
"I can't believe you'd toy with me like that!"
"I couldn't think of anything else–" he started softly.
"Oh, please. Save it," she muttered, crossing her arms. "I'm not just one of your hybrids that you can manipulate."
She watched as that familiar all-encompassing mood change took over. His eyes turned dark, his jaw set and, instantly, she saw the man who had deliberately killed 12 of his own hybrids in cold blood.
She found it strangely attractive.
"What about when you spend afternoons with Tyler?" he asked, in what was almost a growl.
Caroline faltered, both in fear and because his question confused her.
Slowly realisation about his reference dawned, and her cheeks grew red. Because it had been sexy time with Tyler. But also, absurdly, because Klaus was jealous.
Klaus was jealous of her and Tyler.
She cleared her throat.
"Were you… watching me?" she asked slowly.
He shrugged. "I'm having everyone in this town watched. I don't trust the lot of you."
That hurt. That he'd lumped her in with the rest. But 'the rest' were her friends – why was she offended by being included with them?
The confusion and hurt made her angry. She unfolded her arms and took a step forward that put them dangerously close to each other.
"You may have forgotten this, but Tyler happens to be my boyfriend. What we do is none of your business. And you? You are nothing to me," she spat. "Do you get that? Not my friend. Not my potential last love. Nothing."
She'd rejected him so many times, but the hurt she saw on his face now was something that she didn't think she'd ever seen before. And for a second she wondered whether being one thousand years old meant that it took so much more to feel but once you did, you felt more intensely than anybody else ever could.
She wondered at her power over him. His feelings for her.
But just for a second, then it was gone.
Because then came the ruthless Klaus. The Klaus who didn't let anyone get one over on him; not even her.
"And not the person you make out with on rooftops?"
She sucked in a breath, searching his face.
"Is that a threat?"
A sly smile gripped his mouth but it didn't reach his eyes. They looked cold; dead.
"We'll see, won't we, darling?"
With that he was gone.
She stared at the bag he'd left, from which the scent of chocolate croissants rose. Her stomach turned.
How could you be so appalled by something you'd once cherished?
"Come in!" she said, before Tyler had had the chance to knock.
She knew it was him from the heavy yet careless gait he had. She was glad he had vampire hearing too, otherwise she would have had to find a way to pull herself out of bed again.
Or maybe just ignore it, because the only human who would come here that she'd want to see would be her mom, who could let herself in. Matt was still furious with her, she knew.
But the angrier she was with Klaus, the stronger her belief was in what she'd said to Matt.
Tyler walked into her room frowning, then laughed when he saw her in bed.
"Second day and you're already lazing around?"
"You're looking at this wrong. Second day and this is the first time I'm lazing."
He shook his head in amusement and sat down next to her as she shifted to create space.
He placed a kiss on her forehead. "Any chance you're getting out of here today?"
Caroline winced. "Take your hint from the fact that I didn't come to open the front door."
"But I was going to take you for breakfast," he said as if he were bribing her.
"Breakfast: check," she said, closing her eyes and pointing to a spot on the floor.
Tyler glanced over and noticed an entirely drained blood bag lying on the hardwood floor. He frowned. Caroline was still in bed at 11 am and she had just haphazardly dumped a blood bag on the floor of her meticulous bedroom? Something had to be wrong.
But she had just gotten home yesterday. What could it possibly be? And how was he going to get her to tell him?
"So do I get laying space, or what?"
He felt relieved when she smiled a little and shifted over more. He pulled off his shoes and climbed under the blankets beside her.
"So, what's going on?"
There was silence for a few seconds before Caroline swallowed and took a shallow breath.
"What's going on is that I had a really tiring semester and I just need some time to relax." She paused. "Ok?"
It worried him that those words would normally have contained so much attitude – instead she'd sounded like a fragile little girl. But maybe she was just tired.
"Ok."
She settled into him. Caroline needed this. She needed time. By herself. With Tyler.
But most of all, without Klaus.
She'd spent a significant amount of her morning alternating between crying and cursing the day that she had met he Original, and now she just needed the absence of that. She needed to create distance in her mind. She needed to cement the things she had said to him and make them true.
Because she had to move on. She couldn't feel this way about the Original hybrid anymore. She couldn't. And the best way to do that was beside Tyler.
"Care, you know we can't stay here all day though, right?"
"I know. But can we just pretend?"
"Coffee comes after cuddle sessions with Caroline," Caroline grinned as she slid a hot mug of coffee over to Tyler, feeling pleased with her silly little rhyme.
It was three hours after Tyler had shown up and she'd been right: she felt so much better.
True, a long shower had contributed to that, but now she felt fresh and ready to face the world. Perhaps excluding one man.
Tyler took a sip from his cup. "Good coffee."
"Good cuddling," Caroline said, winking and taking a seat next to him at her kitchen counter.
She swung around in her chair to look out the window. It seemed like it was shaping up to be a warm day. If she were back at Whitmore she would have contemplated going for a swim at the college's huge pool.
She frowned as she heard heavy boot steps and then an angry key in the lock of her front door... which was unlocked. Her frown deepened as her mother walked into the kitchen looking frazzled and annoyed.
"Sheriff Forbes, is everything ok?"
"Long shift, that's all, thank you, Tyler. Caroline, could I speak to you for a minute?" her mother asked in a way that clearly was not a request but a command.
"I'll be outside," Tyler said, pulling a mocking terrified face that only Caroline could see.
He grabbed his mug and got out of there as speedily as was humanly possible.
"Hi, Mom. Nice to see you too," Caroline said sarcastically.
"Caroline, don't sass me. How did you know the information that you called me with last night?"
Oh. Caroline frowned. So that's what this was about.
"Was it right?"
"Yes, that's not the point, Caroline."
Caroline sighed. So at least Klaus hadn't been lying to her. All those people were ok.
"You found them all at the Grill?"
Her mother nodded curtly before looking at her suspiciously. "Did you have something to do with this, Caroline? Are your friends getting you into trouble again?"
Caroline hesitated. Technically it had a little to do with her. Or perhaps a lot since it had been done for her, but she still hadn't had any hand in it.
"Mom, first of all, my friends don't get me into trouble. And no, I had nothing to do with it."
She frowned as she heard someone approach the house. She'd only recently developed her ability to guess who was approaching by their footsteps and she could identify a few people already, but these stumped her. She heard Tyler greet the person and she was listening for the reply when she realised her mother had been saying something to her.
"Sorry, Mom, what did you say?"
"How did you know about it, then?" Liz repeated exasperatedly.
"Oh. Um…"
She wasn't sure what to say. For some reason, she felt unwilling to lay the blame at Klaus' feet. But she could think of no other plausible reason how she'd have known what she'd told her mother.
"Klaus told me," she finished lamely.
Her mother narrowed her eyes. "And how did he know?"
"Ok, look, Mom, I don't know, ok? He's an Original, he's powerful, he knows stuff. And he just told me. Ok?"
She knew she sounded defensive and worst of all, she knew that that was exactly what she was being. But for some reason she just didn't want to tell her mother that Klaus had done it. And, moreover, she was growing annoyed with her mother's line of questioning. Plus, she was curious to know what was happening outside.
Her mother glanced at her oddly, like she also knew she was acting weird, but she shrugged.
"Ok. Thank you for letting me know. But you have to realise how suspicious this looks, Caroline."
"I'm sorry, Mom. Maybe I'll call in with an anonymous tip next time."
Her mother smiled weakly at her joke.
"Hopefully there won't be a next time."
Caroline nodded. Her mother turned away, presumably to pour herself some coffee as well, and Caroline took it as being dismissed. She made a beeline for the front door.
When she opened it, she frowned. Not only was there no new guest, but Tyler had disappeared.
His mug stood on the coffee table, steam still rising from it and she stared down at it, frowning in confusion.
Klaus twirled the pencil around with his fingers absentmindedly.
He needed a drink. Something red, warm and fresh. But he didn't have the energy to go out and find somebody to drain. He wanted to finish this sketch. It felt as if there were a barrier between what it was now and the finished product he had in mind, and he could not for the life of him figure out what it was.
One thing that never got easier even after 1 000 years was art.
He flung his sketchbook down, closely followed by his pencil, before making his way to the kitchen. He had just passed the front door and was almost to the kitchen when he frowned and took a step back.
"If you're here to poke the bear, I'll be sportsmanlike and warn you that I'm not in the mood."
Klaus turned to face the man at his door and Tyler held up his hands.
"I come in peace. I just wanna talk."
Klaus considered for a moment. He was admittedly curious as to what Tyler could possibly want to discuss with him. Besides, if Tyler threatened him, he could reasonably rip out his guts and this day might just start looking up after all.
"Very well, come inside," Klaus replied and led Tyler back into the lounge. He didn't offer him a seat.
Klaus leaned against the back of his sofa as Tyler hesitated then came to a standstill before the step down into the lounge. Klaus smirked. Tyler was such a boy.
"I guess I should thank you," Tyler began, "for allowing me to come home."
Klaus cocked his head, wondering where this was heading.
"But I won't, because we both know you didn't do it for me. And I'm not sure I would, even if you had."
Klaus frowned. "I don't believe that you quite grasp the concept of 'peace', mate."
"We aren't ever gonna be friends, Klaus. You killed my mother. I hate you."
Klaus waited, sensing more coming.
"But right now I'm here because of Caroline. You have feelings for her."
Klaus set his jaw at Tyler mentioning her name. For the past few hours he had been doing his utmost to distract himself from the memory of what had occurred that morning, and now it was being thrown back in his face.
The Original made a show of checking his watch. "Not to be rude, but is there a point to this, or do you just plan on continuing to hurl around arbitrary accusations?" he asked nonchalantly.
Tyler seemed equal parts incensed and taken aback by Klaus practically denying any feelings toward Caroline, but forged on.
"You know about the crazy that goes on in this town on pretty much a daily basis. I want you to give me your word… that you'll protect Caroline."
Klaus recoiled. He hadn't been this surprised since the day his dead mother had walked into this very lounge.
"What?"
"Just look out for her, make sure she makes it back to Whitmore alive."
"Not feeling up to the job, mate?"
"Klaus, I may be proud, but when it comes to Caroline, I can see exactly how things are. You're immortal and the most powerful thing on the planet. If you're genuinely looking out for her, she'll be safe."
Klaus hesitated. On the one hand, it was true. How Caroline – or anyone in this town, really – had managed to make it 17 years as a human was beyond him. Nowhere else he'd been in his 1 000 years was as calamitous as this sole small town.
On the other hand, Caroline wanted nothing to do with him. She had made that perfectly clear this morning.
"I assume this plan received glowing reviews from the lady in question?" Klaus asked, though he knew the answer.
For the first time, Tyler's resolution seemed to falter. "…She'll agree when she sees how much sense it makes."
Klaus considered. He doubted that Tyler could get Caroline to agree to this. But he had to admit, at least to himself, that the idea of being personally responsible for Caroline's safety was one that appealed to him.
The hybrid boy's move was annoyingly smart. He was offering nothing and getting everything in return.
It was the kind of deal that only made sense because it involved Caroline. Klaus wouldn't even consider it for anyone else.
He sighed.
"I'll do it… if Caroline agrees."
Caroline studied the third outfit she'd changed into since Tyler had left.
His sudden disappearance and ensuing inability to answer his phone had made her antsy. She'd considered cleaning, but the place was still spotless from when her mom had cleaned to welcome Caroline home. Besides, her mother was having a much-needed nap, and although she slept like the dead, Caroline didn't want to risk making any noise.
Instead she'd begun fitting on clothes that she'd bought on her shopping spree but hadn't had the chance to wear yet.
She'd left the most casual for last, hoping that by then Tyler would have returned and would take her to lunch after a sufficient amount of grovelling. She still couldn't believe that he'd just disappeared on her like that. And, honestly, she was starting to get worried.
Damon had reported a 100% safe Mystic Falls, but the last 2 years of her life made her feel like that was practically an impossibility.
She heard her front door creak open and she sped over to it, pushing Tyler outside before he could even enter. She closed the door quietly before rounding on him.
"Where the hell have you been, mister?"
"Caroline, calm down."
"No. Do not tell me to calm down when you just left without saying a word. You didn't even drink the coffee I made you!"
He smiled a little at the latter. It was just like Caroline to use such a trivial reason to support a serious point.
"Care, something came up and–"
"Dick move, Tyler! Dick move," Caroline said, folding her arms and leaning back on her heels, clearly now ready to receive his explanation.
Tyler sighed. He found his girlfriend adorable, at times even when she was angry, but sometimes it also worked him up. It was the irritability that made him just come right out and say it.
"I went to see Klaus."
Caroline blinked. Twice.
"You WHAT?"
He sighed again. "Calm down, just let me explain," he said rather unnecessarily, as it had zero effect on his girlfriend.
"You went to see Klaus? The man who, up until a few months ago, wanted your head on a stick? The most volatile man on the planet? The man who only agreed to stop hunting you until the end of eternity as a graduation gift to me? Which, by the way, is Exhibit A in how volatile he is. That Klaus?" she asked rhetorically.
Tyler hung his head. Not even he had thought that it would be this difficult. He hadn't even mentioned his idea yet.
"Look, the point is he let me come back, right?"
"Did you miss the word 'volatile'? Tyler, just seeing your face could make him change his mind. Have you met Klaus?"
He looked back up now, annoyed that she was worrying about what could have happened but hadn't.
"Well, he obviously didn't, did he? Here I am."
Caroline rolled both her hands into fists. "Urrrgh!"
She was worried to death about what could have happened. Klaus could easily have decided to re-instate his death warrant on Tyler, especially in light of what she'd said to him that morning.
But, moreover, she felt sick to her stomach because of what he had said that morning. His barely concealed threat had accounted for at least 2 hours of her crying.
Tyler could never find out about what had happened between her and Klaus on the Mikaelson mansion rooftop. She'd never live it down and he'd never forgive her.
But now, for some reason, he was paying Klaus home visits. What the hell was going on?
But, more importantly, what had Klaus told him?
Caroline sat down on the porch rocking chair, scared that her knees might give way otherwise.
She took a long, deep breath. "So tell me, exactly what did you have to pay Klaus a visit for?"
Truthfully she was more interested in what Klaus had told him, but she didn't want to lead with a question that suspicious.
Tyler sighed with slight relief, though he knew it wouldn't be easy. Caroline wouldn't be up for this. He didn't blame her.
They both hated this guy. He'd ruined their lives and the lives of all their friends. Tyler shuddered just thinking about all Jeremy and Elena had lost, directly and indirectly because of Klaus. And, of course, his own mother.
All those months on the run, it hadn't ever seemed fair to him. That he should be the one running, that he had to face punishment, that he had to leave Mystic Falls and the girl he loved. He should have been the one doing the hunting down. Klaus had killed his mother.
But of course that was the way the world worked, even the supernatural one. Survival of the fittest. And Klaus was the fittest.
At least for now.
And while Tyler worked on righting that wrong, he would have the Original protect Caroline.
Klaus wouldn't be on top forever. But while he was, Tyler would take advantage of it. And he needed Caroline to understand that. He couldn't lose her too. He couldn't lose any more.
"I asked Klaus to do something. Something he owes us."
Caroline looked incredulous. He continued.
"I asked him to protect you, no matter what happens."
"What?"
"He said he would–"
"What do you mean, protect me? From what?"
Tyler smirked. "Caroline, this is Mystic Falls. There's always something."
She was looking at him suspiciously, as she had every right to. He was still holding something back. But he had to get through this first.
"Look, he said yes, but only if you say yes too."
She opened her mouth to speak, but this time he was the one to interrupt.
"Caroline, he owes us this much. And the guy is practically immortal! It's about time he puts it to some good use."
Her phone began to ring but Caroline ignored it, glaring at her boyfriend. "And you think that makes it ok? I can't believe you'd go behind my back and do something like this!"
She waited for a defence, but Tyler seemed to have none.
He seemed to have said all he needed to. Fine, she'd just lay into him some more, then.
Except her phone would not stop ringing.
She almost growled as she plucked her phone to her ear, answering it without checking the caller ID.
"Hello!"
"Hey, Caroline!" came the voice, with an audible amount of relief.
"Jeremy?" Caroline frowned. It was definitely unusual for Elena's brother to be calling her. She began to worry. "Are you ok?"
"Tyler hasn't told you, has he?"
Her eyes flashed back to Tyler's, glaring. "Told me what?"
Sounds that seemed a lot like Jeremy was getting harassed on the other end of the line emanated from her phone.
"Ok, ok!" Jeremy said to somebody in the background. "Bonnie's insisting that Tyler hasn't told you yet."
"Jeremy, Tyler hasn't told me what?" Caroline asked, growing more annoyed by the second.
"I came by earlier and Tyler said he would give you the message." He sighed as the harassment background noises seemed to pick back up again. "Look, it isn't important. The point is, Bonnie wants you to know…"
Tyler tuned out. He'd received the message from Jeremy earlier and although the kid had emphasised the urgency of it, he'd had more important things to take care of first. Like his girlfriend's safety. He had to make sure she was protected before she walked into something like this again. He'd almost lost her one too many times already.
Caroline put down her phone and glared at him once more.
"Seriously? You couldn't tell me about this?"
"I just first had to–" Tyler began to defend himself, though even he knew it was already a lost battle.
"Save it," Caroline cut him off. "I have to go now, but this conversation is not over."
She sped over to her car and in a few seconds she was gone.
Tyler sighed. He would text her later asking her to re-consider. He really didn't want to have this whole argument again. He hoped she would see the logic in his plan once she saw what she was on her way to see.
And the sooner he no longer had to worry about Caroline's safety, the sooner he could move on to thinking about other things.
Like getting rid of Klaus.
Caroline arrived nervously to the entrance to the tunnels underneath the school.
She honestly had no idea what to expect, but if Bonnie had sent her urgently then it had to be important.
She listened carefully.
She knew the rest were here, all she had to do was find them.
As soon as she heard shuffling sounds, she began to follow them.
Before long she'd caught up to Damon, Elena and Stefan. She wasn't sure who seemed more surprised to see her there, but Elena came up with the explanation first.
"Bonnie," she realised, sighing.
"Yeah, apparently at least one of my best friends still thinks I'm important," Caroline retorted, immediately on the offensive.
"Cool it, Barbie. It's just a recon mission, ok? No big deal." Damon, of course.
"Big enough of a deal for all three of you to be here," she retorted, pointing her finger at each of them as she said it.
An awkward moment of silence followed, during which Damon and Elena stared at each other and Stefan mostly stared at the floor.
"Well?" she demanded.
"Look, Caroline, we honestly have no idea what we're going to find here. We know as much as Bonnie probably told you," Elena explained with her best empathetic voice.
"Yeah, also known as nothing," Damon interjected.
"So Bonnie gives you a tip about something weird going on in the creepy school tunnels and the first thing you think is 'Let's leave Caroline out of it'?"
"We didn't want you to be in danger too," Stefan spoke up for the first time.
"That's them. I mostly just didn't want you here," Damon said, feeling obligated as usual to add one of his maddening jokes to every situation.
Elena elbowed Damon in the ribs.
"Please don't be mad, Care."
"So hold up a second… you're scared there's something dangerous through there," she began, pointing further down the tunnel, "but you decide to take Elena and not me? I happen to be older and thus stronger," she said with hurt pride, now addressing the Salvatores.
"And yet I seem to remember her almost killing you," Damon reminded her condescendingly.
"Damon!" Elena reprimanded, looking genuinely upset, but her boyfriend looked unfazed.
"Caroline, we'll call you to tell you what we find, ok?" Stefan was now doing his best empathetic voice, apparently trying to insert some calm into the insanity of this conversation.
Caroline couldn't believe this. She was being left out of the action as usual. And as usual it was under the guise that it was just to protect her. Until they actually needed her help, of course.
She was fuming and not even Stefan's Calm Voice was going to persuade her otherwise.
"No," Caroline said, folding her arms resolutely, "I'm staying."
Damon's fangs dropped and he glared at her dangerously. "You're. Leaving."
"Well, I beg to differ," came a voice from the darkness behind her that was low, husky and laced with a familiar accent.
Lyrics from Demons by Imagine Dragons. One of my all-time favourite songs, and primarily because of Klaroline.
