AN: I don't know if anyone has noticed, but I'm choosing song titles for the chapter titles . . . songs that are love songs, and yet sort of aren't love songs. They exist in the same kind of ambiguous emotional landscape that Caroline does in this story at the moment.


While they were still over two hours from New York, Klaus's phone began to buzz in his pocket. He pulled it out, and smiled when he saw who was calling. "Sheriff Forbes, how lovely. Oh, yes, she is here. Yes, I realize that, of course. I hope you know that I would never- Right. So we understand each other then. Yes." Klaus glanced over at Caroline, who was bouncing in her seat and reaching out for the phone. "Actually, she wants very much to talk to you. Here we are."

Caroline snatched the phone from him. "Mom! What's up?"

"Are you kidding me with this, Caroline?" Her mother said, in exasperation. "I've been worried sick. I called everyone, and no one knew where you were, or where you went in the middle of graduation. It never occurred to me that you had taken off with Klaus."

"I didn't take off with Klaus!" Caroline said, indignantly. Then, catching his eye, she amended. "Well, okay, I totally ran off with Klaus. That's a fair assessment. It just sounds weird when you say it. Sort of skanky."

"Tyler came over this morning, completely distraught, said you had left this very strange voicemail on his phone, but that you were calling from Klaus's phone - which made no sense."

"Oh, poor Tyler. Is he okay? Wait- didn't Rebekah tell you where I was? She was supposed to."

"Well, she didn't. And no, of course Tyler is not okay. The two of you should have been at the beach condo by now. How did you think he was doing?"

"I know," Caroline said, soberly. "I know, and I'm sorry."

"What has gotten into you, Caroline? This is not like you at all."

"Isn't it? I don't even know anymore, and that's the problem." Caroline lowered her voice and turned away from Klaus. "Mom, do you remember a couple of months ago, when you came into my room because I was crying, and I couldn't stop crying, and Oh, God I was so sad, and I couldn't even stop long enough to tell you why?"

"Yes, of course I remember that."

"That was the anniversary of the day I died, Mom. That's what I wasn't able to say to you. It was the day that everything ended for me. . . . but the day that everything else began, and I was crying because I knew, I knew that the ordinary girl's life that I have been living, the high school girl so busy with everything, so in charge of everything . . . none of it mattered. I've been pretending. Pretending to still be human, but I'm not. I am dead. A year later, and I am still dead. I think part of me always thought, oh hell, I don't know. That maybe it was a mistake. Maybe I would wake up human again someday."

"Oh, Caroline. I wish I had known it was that day."

"It's okay, I don't think I ever told you when it happened. But graduation just made everything even more clear, you know? I was there, and we were all graduating, and it was another ending. Another reminder that nothing I have done in the past four years matters. Accomplishments and all that work - what for? I can't go off to college like everyone else. I'm never going to be human again. Never really going to grow up. I'm frozen and stuck like this, and this is me forever. And I'm not even sure who I am when I stop pretending to be that girl, that human girl with the bright future. I have no future - definitely not the kind that can be summed up in a graduation speech."

"Oh, sweetheart. I'm sorry."

"Can you see why I just had to . . . to do something radical, to do something drastic? I had to leave that girl behind for awhile. I can't pretend to be her anymore."

Caroline could tell that Klaus was looking at her, but she kept her face turned towards the window.

"Caroline, I had no idea you were thinking about all of this. Is this why you have been refusing to decide on a school for the fall?"

"I can't live in a dorm full of humans, mom. Not a good idea. Even high school has been harder than you can imagine."

"I hadn't thought about it like that. I guess you are not the only one who has been pretending here."

"I hold it together, and I am Caroline Forbes all freaking day long, but it takes effort, Mom. And I'm tired, and I don't want to work that hard every day. I need a break. I'm sorry that I scared you, but I just need a break."

There was silence, and then her mom said, "I think I understand, Caroline. But why Klaus?"

Caroline looked over at him, to see that he was still watching her. "Seriously? Eyes on the road, buddy," she said to him. Then she turned back to the phone. "Don't read anything into it, mom. Klaus is going to New York, and he's taking me there to see Elena."

The relief in her mom's voice was apparent. "Elena is going to be there?"

"Yep."

"Oh, good. And you'll come home after that? After you spend some time with Elena?"

"Yes, mom. I will come home. I'm not running away forever."

"If anything happens, and I do mean anything, Damon and Stefan are on standby and ready to come and get you, wherever you are, you understand?"

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Yes, mom. You can tell them to stand down, though. Everything is fine. And if they ask, just say that I'm on an epic journey of self discovery, 'kay?"

"What do you want me to tell Tyler?"

Caroline sighed. "I don't know. Just tell him I'm sorry. We're done - for now, anyway. We've been fighting all the time, so this can't be too big of a surprise for him. It's not his fault, though. Nothing that he did. I just can't worry about him and figure out me at the same time."

After exchanging 'I love yous' and hanging up, Caroline put the phone down in the center console area, and turned to Klaus. "Go ahead. I know you are dying to say something."

"I apologize for my sister. I assume she simply couldn't be bothered to inform your mother." He paused, and then said, "Going off to spend time with Elena? Is that what you are doing?"

"I don't even know if Elena is in New York. Is she?"

"She should be. She doesn't normally miss a Mikaelson family dinner. However, I haven't seen her or spoken to her since she and Damon escorted Katerina to my house last week to hand over the silver stake that Katerina rather conveniently 'found'."

"Oh, so you saw right through that, huh? Yeah, Katherine thought holding onto it was leverage, but Elena wasn't going to allow that for a second. I suppose you did something safe with it?"

"You are changing the subject. But yes, the stake is quite safe, and quite out of reach. Now let us talk about that phone call, Caroline."

"Oh, let's not," Caroline said, looking out the window again. "In fact, let's definitely not." She turned back to him. "Does it bother you to see Elena living as a member of your family? I've always wondered."

"Just because Elijah likes to play house, and pretend he has a daughter now, it doesn't mean that I have to pander to that delusion. The fact that she had his blood in her system when she turned obviously means nothing to me. Generally, we just ignore each other."

"If the whole bloodline thing was significant to you, I'd be your what? Great-great-granddaughter?" Caroline wrinkled her nose. "Ew. You dirty old man. And you had a fling with Katherine, too, didn't you? She's your great-granddaughter."

"Enough, Caroline. I do not want to discuss Elena or Katerina, or anything related to the Petrovas."

"Can we at least just agree to call her 'Katherine' from now on? Everyone time you say 'Katerina', I think of ice skating for some reason, and it's just confusing." Caroline reached over to the console and turned off the radio. "That was totally giving me a headache."

"Not surprising. It was basically just caterwauling."

"Oh, stop harshing my musical mellow. Can we talk about Tatia?"

Klaus glanced at her in surprise. "You know about Tatia?"

"Elena tells me everything, and Elijah tells her stories about Tatia all the time."

"Does he? That's very interesting."

"So who was first, you or Elijah?"

"I don't know, to be truthful. Tatia was . . . she was a child of nature. Quite wild in many ways, and I say that in it's truest sense. When the other ladies of our acquaintance were gathered around the village well to chatter about the petty gossip of the time, she was always off in the woods, talking to the birds."

"Like, literally talking to the birds? Was she a bit cuckoo?"

"In those days, we would have said she was simple. Just a very pretty girl with a simple heart, sweet as honey and so gentle. And she was also generous with her affections. Perhaps overly so. Her mother died when she was young, and her father was a drunkard. There was no one to rein her in. My mother found her to be quite shocking. Tatia cared far more for animals than she did for people, and she always had a wounded rabbit or a lame deer she was trying to heal. She ran wild in the forests and in the meadows, and we boys would try to catch her. Sometimes she would let us. I enjoyed chasing Tatia, she was the doe to my wolf. That's how I always thought of her, as a shy doe."

"It doesn't sound like you were actually in love with her," Caroline observed.

"It doesn't? Well, I certainly thought I was. However, I have always suspected that my brother stood first in her affections, and perhaps that had influence over how much I wanted her for myself."

"Perhaps. That would make sense. And it doesn't freak you out whenever you see Elena or Katherine? Elena says it sometimes makes Elijah a little sad to look at her."

"Neither Elena nor Katherine remind me of Tatia at all. They are all so different." He glanced at her again. "And I never had a fling with Katherine, you know. Yes, I bedded her, naturally. But I always found her tiresome. Demanding, selfish and childish."

"Do you realize that you just described yourself?"

"Pardon me?"

"Well, let's think about that. Obviously, I don't find you tiresome, or I wouldn't be sitting here now. But demanding? Um, absolutely. Selfish? Yep. And childish? Sometimes, definitely."

"If that is how you see me, then I am surprised that you turned up on my doorstep."

"Oh, don't get huffy with me. I am just stating fact. And I don't even know why I turned up on your doorstep yesterday. Maybe I'm just an optimist, you know? Despite the fact that you are demanding, selfish and childish . . . I don't know. I guess I think there's hope for you."

"I happen to think there's another reason why you walked seven miles in the rain, Caroline. You simply couldn't stay away."

"God, don't flatter yourself." Caroline looked out of her window, noticing a sign listing exits for New York. "Are we starting to get close?"

"We still have a little ways to go."

"Would you have taken me to New York even if you hadn't been planning a trip there anyway?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"There is a postcard in your room. It's the only one you have bothered having framed, and it's of the Brooklyn Bridge."

"My dad sent it to me when he and Steven were in New York a couple of years ago. Steven has family there, so they used to go all the time. They travelled a lot, anyway."

"Did your father send you many postcards from their travels?"

"Yeah, lots and lots."

"But you only framed this one."

"So? I wouldn't read too much into that. It doesn't mean I am harboring a secret desire to run off to New York and become a Broadway star or something."

"Of course not. But it's of a bridge, Caroline," There was a patient tone in his voice. "A bridge. And what do you think we are doing? What could this trip signify for you, for us?"

"Oh."

"New York is a city of bridges, Caroline. That is why I am taking you there."


Klaus's phone buzzed again, and Caroline glanced down at in. "Huh. It's Damon."

"It's probably for you."

Caroline answered the call. "Hey there, Mayor Salvatore."

"Is he compelling you?"

"What?"

"Klaus," Damon said, impatiently. "Did he get you off the vervain somehow?"

"No, Damon. God, what is wrong with everybody? We decided to go on a roadtrip. We are only like, six hours from home. It's not this giant, earth shattering huge deal. You need to chill."

"Your mother was freaking the fuck out, Caroline. And when your mom freaks out, she makes everyone else freak out. She carries a gun - and an unstable woman with a gun makes people nervous around Town Hall."

"Well, we are all cool now, okay?"

"Good to know." There was a pause, and then Damon asked, "Speaking of Town Hall, are you going to be at work on Monday?"

"Oh, God," Caroline said. "I totally forgot. The internship in your office."

"Yeah, that thing, you know? The thing you nagged me to death about and made me get for you, even though half the town's civil servants know that you are a vampire, and were not comfortable about it? It took me two hours of sucking on butterscotch candies in his hideous mint green living room to convince Wilber Fell not to put the kibosh on the whole fucking thing. The internship."

"Well-" Caroline began, but Damon cut her off.

"I even delayed your start date, so you could go to the beach with Tyler. You wanted this, Caroline."

"I know, I did."

"And now you don't? Seriously?"

"I don't know if I will be back on Monday. Hold it for me, 'kay?"

"Oh, for fuck's sake. I've got Tyler Lockwood drinking my good bourbon and crying in the Playstation room, Matt Fucking Donovan loading up a rifle to take down Klaus as though he was hunting for bear, and Stefan pacing in front of the fireplace for the past several hours muttering to himself about how we never should have given up the damn stake. And you're off gallivanting like 'la di dah di dah, hey Klaus, let's go tiptoeing through the fucking tulips'. "

"Aww. You guys really care about me. That's kind of sweet."

"Yeah, sweet," Damon grumbled. "Maybe Elena can talk some sense into you. I already let her know you are on your way."

"Oh. Well, that's good I guess. Later, 'kay?"

Damon sighed. "Just come the fuck home when you're done doing whatever, all right?"

"All right, Damon."

Caroline put the phone back down after she had ended the call, and she turned back towards the window again. The greenery of the past several miles was giving way to concrete at a rapid pace. She had become accustomed to the swiftness and surety of Klaus's driving. She wondered if he would drive this fast through the streets of Manhattan once they reached there. Surely, he wouldn't be able to.

"You were planning on working for Damon this summer?"

"Yeah. It seemed like a good idea. I enjoyed being on his campaign, even if it was unofficial. We make a pretty good team. We beat your ass after all."

"No. It's ridiculous."

"Why?"

"You are better than him. Smarter. It makes no sense for you to work as his lackey."

"You think I'm smarter than Damon?"

"Obviously. But that is not setting the bar very high."

"Oh, you are just bitter that he won the election and you didn't, even though you tried to cheat."

"I didn't care for being outmaneuvered by a Salvatore, that is true. Not that I actually wanted to be mayor, though."

"I wondered about that. It seemed weird. Why did you bother?"

Klaus shrugged. "My line of hybrids had practically come to an end, after a thousand years of planning and dreaming. The stake was missing. And I was angry with everyone. I was angry with you. You shut me out completely after our night in Tennessee. I knew running for mayor was a move that would shake everyone up."

"God, are you kidding me? Of course, I shut you out! That was like, the most dickish thing ever."

"It didn't matter whose body I was in, Caroline. We shared true intimacy that night, and you know it. And you acted as though it had never happened, you blocked me at every turn. You are still blocking me."

"Not exactly the kind of thing a girl gets over in a hurry," Caroline said, with a snort. "True intimacy. Yeah, right. You wouldn't know what that was if it smacked you in the face. You can't steal somebody's body and pretend to be that person, and then think anything honest and true is happening."

Klaus was silent.

Caroline asked, with a small sigh, "Are we pouting now?"

"It was the closest I had come in a very long time, Caroline. Don't belittle that moment for me."

"Do you want me to feel sorry for you?" Caroline looked at him in disbelief.

"Maybe we shouldn't talk about this."

"Damn right, we shouldn't." Caroline slipped her flip flops off, and put her bare feet on the dashboard. She flexed her toes in the sunlight. "God, that feels good. Can you turn the radio back on? I can't reach it in this position. Nothing with so many violins this time."

"And you have the gall to call me 'demanding'." Klaus said, as he turned the XM to dial to The 40s on 4.

"Benny Goodman?" Caroline turned to him. "Seriously?"

Klaus glanced at her, and then at her feet.

"What? Is this a problem? Am I messing up the rosewood veneer with my toes? Does this offend you in some way?"

"No."

"Then stop staring at them. God."

"Your feet are perfection."

"Um, what?"

"Your feet. Here," Klaus beckoned to her, and she obligingly slid her feet into his lap. Keeping his eyes on the road, Klaus took one of her feet in his hands. His fingers stroked the underside of the arch of her foot, and she couldn't keep herself from shivering slightly. "Ticklish?"

"Um, no. Not at all."

"Your feet are perfectly proportioned. The arch in relation to the width, the toes the right length, the sweet curve of your heel. Nymph with a Shell."

"Nymph with a what?"

"A Shell. It's a statue on the ground floor of the Louvre. Although," he said, still stroking her foot, "your feet are actually more beautiful than hers, I think. Less muscular, more delicate. There was a bronze that came up for auction at Sotheby's last year, that would have been even more apt. I'm sorry now that I didn't bid on it."

"Oh. I don't even know what to say to that."

"I'd like to paint them someday. I could do them in marble, I suppose, and that would suit them best. But it's not a medium I am terribly proficient in. I'd be willing to learn, however, if it meant doing your feet justice."

"Oh, by all means. We should do my feet justice." Caroline laughed, and then flexed her toes again in his hand. "But you have to agree to paint the toenails this same color. It's 'Play Date' by Essie in case you are wondering."