Caroline tried to ignore the mess of paints and bowl shards in one of Klaus's living rooms when he led her past it. Once she saw the catastrophe, however, there was no unseeing it. Her control freak instincts came out and she barged into the room before Klaus was able to stop her.

"I thought you cared about cleanliness and interior design and all that," Caroline remarked as she began searching for a mop.

Klaus, who had been worried of what she'd think of the aftermath of his tantrum, smiled.

"Never use those two words in the same sentence again. In no world are they synonyms."

Caroline ignored his comment. As she slammed another cabinet door, she threw both hands up in exasperation.

"Klaus, where do you put your cleaning supplies?"

"Look in the next cabinet, love." He gazed at her patiently as she began rummaging. "Is this what I'm going to spend the rest of my time with doing with you? Cleaning?" Not that he minded. Any time with Caroline—excluding the times when she acted as if she couldn't stand the thought of him—was good. Klaus took a step closer to her.

Caroline turned to face him, a wet cloth in one hand and a sponge in the other.

"It wouldn't hurt you to pick up a lesson or two from…" She snatched up the paintbrush Klaus had tossed on the floor earlier and pretended it was a microphone. "…Housewives 101, brought to you by Caroline Forbes!" She grinned. Klaus noticed with some amusement that Caroline had gotten a drop of the purple paint on her chin.

"And how are you so certain that I haven't picked up some housewife abilities already?" Klaus teased.

"You seriously have?"

"I have lived a thousand years."

Caroline scoffed. "Not this again."

"What?"

"The 'thousand years' thing. I get it, you've painted with Van Gogh and initiated the French Revolution. You know what? You've probably even ran track with the dinosaurs! I bet they gave your Original hybrid speed a run for your money."

Klaus couldn't help it. He laughed again. It was a deep, booming sound. Caroline realized with shock that she had never heard him laugh like this before. Sure, they had chuckled for a while at the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant. But this was a real laugh, one in which Caroline had initiated in him.

Apart from the small burst of pride and satisfaction she felt, a part of her also knew that this was wrong. She shouldn't be laughing with the guy who stabbed her with a lamp, whether or not he saved her in the end. She should definitely not be laughing with the guy who would potentially end Tyler's life.

Stay in control, Caroline, she thought fiercely.

She gripped the sponge and walked away to fill a plastic bucket with soap water, avoiding his eyes. Klaus watched her admiringly.

"I'll get us a drink, Caroline," he called.

"I'm bored," Damon heard a voice call from the bed. He shifted in his seat on the couch and turned his bright blue eyes towards her. Elena.

She stood up and stretched, not looking at him. Damon gulped and averted his eyes from her provocative pose.

Elena smirked. "Why so shy now, Damon? I could swear that a few months ago we were in the exact same positions." She vampire speeded in front of him, so that her face was the only thing that filled Damon's peripherals. "Just switched," she whispered.

It was true. Damon had not too long ago appeared shirtless before the human Elena, causing her to shy away. Now he returned the smirk, although it was a little difficult.

She reminded him so much of Katherine.

He supposed that he should have expected this. After all, Vampire Elena with her humanity turned off was basically Katherine. Damon just hoped that Elena's feeding habits wouldn't become like her double's either.

No. Not double. Elena was her own person. Damon struggled to clear his thoughts.

"Caroline will be here later," he said, answering her previous question. "She has plans for you guys. You won't be bored."

At this, Elena rolled her eyes and unpeeled herself from him, flopping back onto the bed.

Squeak squeak squeak.

The patches of color under Caroline slowly faded away as she scrubbed them with a soapy dishcloth. It had been no more than two minutes since Klaus had left to get the champagne, and she was already halfway done.

Soap. She needed more soap.

As she walked towards the bathroom to refill her bucket, something caught her eye. One of Klaus's paintings was leaning against the wall. Of course, Caroline knew that he collected many famous portraits over the centuries. He even worked on his own paintings—and they more than just good.

This one was obviously one that had been recently done by him. Caroline could still see the wet paint. She also recognized the color scheme as the oil paints that had been so mercilessly scattered across the floor.

She peered for a closer look. Dark woods with a patch of light. A broken, beautiful horse standing in the dark, its head tipped towards the light colored trees.

Caroline knew that his paintings were never this simple. Her mind flash backed again to a memory with him. This time, she had been examining his painting of a snowflake when he walked up behind her.

"Here to steal Tiny Tim's crutches?" she'd asked, quoting A Christmas Carol.

Klaus smiled. "Dickens was a dark man. You would've liked him."

Caroline rotated around the table when Klaus took a step towards her.

"Nice snowflake, by the way."

"Is my work really that literal?"

She smiled. "I'm serious. There's something… lonely about it."

Now Caroline examined the horse painting. The black stallion was obviously supposed to be Klaus. Not only was it broken in all the right places, but Caroline remembered that Klaus liked horses.

Something wasn't right. Why was Klaus tipped towards the light then? The Klaus she knew would stay in the dark, preferred to stay in the dark.

Maybe there was hope for him yet.

Someone cleared his throat behind her.

"I like it," Caroline said without turning around.

Klaus stepped up beside her silently. His hands holding the two glasses and bottle were clasped behind his back. Although he had not wanted her to see such a private part of him, Klaus also secretly hoped that she would understand the true meaning of it. Klaus hoped that she had found the bird.

"It is beautiful, isn't it?" he asked, only looking at Caroline.

She met his intense gaze and looked away quickly.

"You're good at painting horses, I'll give you that," she replied haughtily. So she hadn't seen the bird.

They stood there for a few seconds just looking at the painting. Caroline broke the silence.

"So are we going to get to the champagne or what? And it had better be the best brand you own."

He smiled.

I hope you liked this chapter! Sorry if it was on the short side. I don't really have time to write much, so I try to aim for posting short chapters daily instead. When I have more time on my hands, I'll definitely make them lengthier ;)

Please review and let me know what you liked/didn't like!