Future starts slow
Caroline stretched her legs and she took a deep breath trying to calm down.
You can do it, Caroline. She kept repeating to herself in a silent mantra. You're a strong, powerful vampire and you're Miss Mystic Falls. There's nothing to be afraid of.
If she kept repeating those words she was going to persuade herself and she would have overcome her fear. Sure thing she was.
"Frightened of flying, Sweetheart?" The Hybrid sitting next to her smiled lazily. Of course, he knew she was terrified and obviously he was loving every second of it.
"Me? Frightened?" She replied putting her brave face on "Not a chance"
She closed her eyes and listened to the hostess' explanation on how to behave during a plane crash. As if this could have helped anyone survive.
She had her safety belt tightly fastened even before the warning light went off.
She had never been on a plane and the experience was scaring the bloody hell out of her, but she wouldn't have admitted it under torture. Ironically, she should have had nothing to worry about, she was a vampire, a plane crash wouldn't have been nice, but it was hardly going to kill her, right?
"You know I could just compel you to sleep throughout the whole flight," He whispered in her ear "all you have to do is ask"
"I am perfectly comfortable with flying" She lied while she absently scraped something off her nails, she used to do it whenever she felt nervous. Anything to prevent her hands from shaking.
The plane wasn't even moving and she had already started to panic. Well, she already had when they were checking in even if she was too proud to tell him she was scared.
Suddenly she felt an unpleasant clang and the enormous plane jerkily started to move. It hadn't even taken off when she grabbed the closest thing to her hands, which happened to be Klaus' hand and she held it so tight that she would have turned his bones to dust hadn't he been a Hybrid.
"HolymotherofGod!" She shrieked in a single breath "What's going on?"
Klaus couldn't contain his laughter as he enjoyed the feeling of her hand on his, even if she was squeezing it quite painfully. Of course he would have never admitted that she was actually hurting him.
"Get a grip, Love" He sighed trying to free his hand "We're not going to crash anytime soon"
"That's not funny!" She hissed "Not funny at all"
"Don't worry, it's not like you're going to die anyway" He comforted her in his oh so creepy way.
"Do I really have to sit with you through the whole flight?" She muttered as she considered the idea of willingly jumping off the plane.
"It's only 9 hours, Love," He smirked as if he found her uneasiness extremely amusing "it's not eternity, you know"
Thank God I have my iPod. She thought as she dug her hands in her bag looking for her the pretty pink music player.
"We may as well talk, get to know each other" He suggested observing the young, nearly hysterical vampire sitting next to him. She was so cute, even when she acted so pissed.
"So, Caroline," He smiled wickedly and she suddenly stopped feeling shivers down her spine "how come you chose to hang with the likes of me?"
"None of your business" She spat as she finally found her iPod.
"Well, it actually is, Sweetheart" He laughed quietly "but we'll talk about it later since your iPod seems low on battery"
Damn! He was right, as usual. Why hadn't she put the damn thing in charge before leaving? Oh yeah, of course, because she was in such a hurry that she had barely had time to throw a couple of changes in her suitcase.
She took a deep breath and she tried to focus on the music, feeling utterly ashamed every single time he glared at her amused by the lyrics of the songs she was listening to: of course the first song she had to come across was Sexy Naughty Bitchy Me by Tata Young. He was going to be a damn tease about it, obviously.
She hoped her iPod would last long enough for him to fall asleep, or at least for her to fall asleep. Of course, she wasn't that lucky.
He smirked as soon as he realized that the music was no longer playing, he had to admit he was kind of relieved: she had a dreadful taste in music! Caroline squirmed uncomfortably in her seat and turned to face the window.
"Caroline, I've known you for a while now" He sighed "and you've never been able to shut up for more than... 10 minutes maybe? So why don't you just give up and talk to me instead?"
He relaxed in his seat and closed his eyes, apparently giving up the purpose of starting any conversation with her.
She sighed and she tried to relax as well. Obviously silence couldn't last that long when Caroline Forbes was around, her mind kept wandering in places she didn't want to go to: every thought she had gave her the unpleasant feeling that she had burnt every bridge to go back to her friends. How could they ever forgive her? She could almost see Elena's horrified and accusing face blaming her for riding off into the sunset with the King of Villains and Matt's resigned face because of course Caroline was lonely and desperate and definitely too weak without a man by her side and then Stefan's dead serious vampire look reminding her that Klaus was evil and heartless, not to mention Damon's never ending tease about how quickly she had forgotten about Tyler. She didn't want to think about that.
"I'm not good at being alone" She admitted quietly not even bothering to look at him knowing that he would have been able to read the despair in her eyes.
She saw a bitter smile forming slowly on his lips in the reflection of the window, he knew that kind of feeling like the back of his hands. He knew it even better than she did.
"Aren't we a pair, Sweetheart?" He smirked as she turned to him, her smile just as bitter as his.
"Do you think I will ever be able to go back?" She asked quietly.
"Already thinking about running away from me?" He joked "I'm hurt"
She shook her head "It doesn't make sense," She whispered more to herself than to him "You were the last person I was expecting to leave with, Tyler and I were supposed to run away together"
There was a dark shadow lingering in her blue eyes telling him that it didn't matter how hard he tried, he was never going to take Tyler's place in her heart. But wasn't it supposed to happen? We idealize our first love and when it's taken away from us we just build a sanctuary around it. But time cures everything, doesn't it? And slowly, imperceptibly we begin to let it slip. We forget how it used to be like and one day, without even realizing it, we are ready to let someone new in. Still it had taken him a hundred years to get over Tatia.
"Well to be fair I wasn't expecting you to come so willingly" He replied.
"Yeah... I guess your brother's rhetoric is to blame here" She scoffed pretending to be annoyed.
"I'll make sure to thank him then" He replied grinning.
He spent the few hours left before the landing telling her all the things he wanted to show her in London, he told her it was the city he had spent most time in. If there was a place he could call home that place was London.
She listened, absorbing greedily every word he said. He was so good at describing the city that Caroline could almost see the old, decaying building of the Victorian Age and the genuine beauty he was so fond of exhibited at the National Gallery, the view of the city from the London Eye at night and the marvelous St. Paul's Cathedral. He had already guided her there through her imagination.
Slowly, peacefully his voice led her into sleep and she found herself walking through the streets of a dream-like London holding Tyler's hand. She was no longer afraid of the plane crashing.
He spent the rest of the flight sketching her. She was so helpless while she was sleeping all curled up in her seat, seeing her like that made him want to protect her even more.
If she only knew how he felt when she was sitting next to him unaware of how deep under his skin she had gotten. Looking at her was enough for him, at least for now.
The plane landed and still she did not wake up. She barely stirred making cute noises in her sleep.
"Caroline, Sweetheart, wake up" He whispered shaking her softly.
She could actually feel his hands on her shoulder pulling her away from her sweet dreams. Waking up and finding out that Tyler was no longer by her side made her always feel so bitter.
"Are we already in London?" She asked rubbing sleep away from her eyes.
He nodded "You snored through half of the travel, Sleepy head"
" . !" She spelled out for him unfastening her seat-belt and sighing heavily.
"What abominably expensive hotel have you booked?" Caroline asked as he opened the door to the cab for her. Abominably, did she seriously use that word? Spending time with that dinosaur of an Original was really starting to affect her vocabulary, a few weeks ago she probably didn't even know how to spell such a word.
"None, Sweetheart" He grinned "You'll be a lovely guest to my house"
"You have a house in London?" She squealed excited like a child on Christmas morning.
The expression on her face was priceless: his house was simply gigantic and Caroline thought that the whole town of Mystic Falls could fit in.
"It's not a house, it's a damn castle!" She corrected him scanning the building from the ground to the roof.
"I promise my flat in Paris is much less luxurious" He joked and laughed hard when she turned to him with a puzzled expression that could only mean how many damn houses d'ya own?!
Apparently this one was a lovely Victorian building on the outside, but on the inside it probably hid underground prisons and torture chambers. She wanted so bad to have reasons to despise him, because the more time she spent with him the more human he appeared to be before her very own stupefied eyes. Was Elijah right, then?
The front house slowly opened and a woman in a clever dark green suit greeted them "Mr Mikaelson it's a pleasure to have you back home, I was looking forward to meet your lovely guest"
The woman gave Klaus the keys to the house she took care of during his rather long absence and she happily took the money he gave her. But Caroline was too distracted by the interior design of the house to pay attention to the two of them dealing with bureaucracy; the modern interior design clashed with the old facade of the house in a odd, yet amazing contrast. The first impression Caroline had was that of steeping in a different era: she just jumped from the Victorian Age to the XXI century.
Her stream of thoughts was interrupted by the woman in green wishing her a wonderful holiday as she parted. Knowing that she was completely alone with Klaus was kind of unsettling, not that a hybrid woman could have helped her against him, yet she would have found the idea of having someone else in the house rather comforting.
"I expected it to be creepier" She just commented as she strolled around the living room taking a closer look to the huge TV screen and the powerful Dolby surround system.
"Like dusty old coffins and rusty torture chambers?" He asked cocking an eyebrow.
She allowed herself to laugh "More or less"
"I guess you have to blame Rebekah, she decided to renew it" He replied popping on the black leather couch.
"So where do I sleep?" She asked eying the stairs leading to the first floor.
"Why, with me of course" He answered her flashing a sly smile.
"I'd rather sleep on a bench at the train station, but thanks" She replied dryly.
"It was worth a try," He grinned "there are about ten guest rooms in this house, feel free to take whatever you want"
She was just grateful that her sleeping arrangements did not include sharing a bed with Klaus. She still had morals after all: she was his guest, not his concubine.
She'd better text Elena, just to let her know she was safe. She really didn't want to talk to her at the moment, she still feared the moment when she'd have to tell her the whole truth.
With trembling finger she sent a message.
Just arrived in London and got a room in a fab mansion. Miss you lots! XOXO
Elena smiled as she quickly typed a message to her friend. She was sitting in her living room with Elijah sipping hot tea and relaxing after a long day of training.
"How's Caroline?" He inquired seeing Elena's smile grow wider.
"Safe and sound in London apparently" She answered "I hope she doesn't get too lonely"
Elijah tried to suppress a laugh, of course Elena had to stay oblivious of the weird, dangerous Original who was traveling with Caroline.
"Miss Forbes has such a positive personality, I'm sure she'll quickly make a lot of new friends" He replied trying to comfort the worried Elena.
"I know, but she is also so naive and she trusts people too easily" Elena said "I don't want her to get hurt"
Elijah clumsily put an arm around her shoulder and squeezed it gently, making her feel oddly comfortable.
"She's strong, Elena, nothing bad will happen to her," He whispered reassuringly "I promise"
Elena nodded feeling a little less worried, unsure of why she believed him when he said that nothing was going to happen to her best friend.
"Take some rest now, tomorrow is going to be stressful" He suggested as he quickly regained composure. He could not let his feelings get in the way while he was in charge to teach Elena.
When she was ready to handle being a vampire he could start wooing her as she deserved, but for now she already found it hard enough to control her feelings without additional forms of stress.
Once he found himself all alone, phoned Klaus to inquire after the young blonde vampire with him. He felt kind of responsible for having persuaded Caroline to leave with his brother, if something happened to her he would be overwhelmed with guilt. He had to make sure she was safe with him.
She hadn't come back to Mystic Falls accusing his younger brother to be a bloody murderer yet, which meant that she was either dead or comfortable around him. Elijah really hoped it was not the first, how could he explain his precious Elena that he had kind of pushed Caroline in the arms of his kind-of-subject-to-crazy-mood-swings brother?
This is kind of a filler chapter, promise the real journey will start with the next one!
I'm sorry it takes me so long to update but I'm really stuck with uni stuff right now so I can't really focus on writing as much as I'd like to :(
Thank you as usual for the kind reviews and suggestions! :D
Byeeee xxx
