A/n: Thank you to everyone who is reviewing and reading this chapter! You guys are fantastic! And I hope no one is too confused yet! I tried to break it down for you. This chapter is more klaus/caroline time in both dimensions and some other characters as well. If you have any questions let me know! And if anything's too confusing let me know as well and ill try and clear it up!

Thank you to: glgi, tina, guest, Ethereal Prey, shawol-cassie-elf, justine, pixie415, time-twilight, susl, lele, guest, jessnicole, EmmaRedVelvet, Aleandra Odinson, mrsmorgan2013, and the tree was happy, arielmermaid, glevez25, and VD-HP-Glee!

Let me know what you think of this chapter! please review!

Enjoy!

Chapter 4: Painting Conversations

New Orleans 2112

It took Caroline awhile to find Stefan, the palace that she apparently lived in was huge with several different wings where each couple lived. When she did finally find him he was sitting in the corner of the library in the west wing reading a book in French. She hesitantly walked towards him aware of how loud her footsteps were in the quiet of the room.

"Stefan?" she said quietly.

He continued to read his book ignoring her presence.

"Stefan, I just…I just wanted to talk to you." Caroline stuttered slightly confused as to why he wasn't responding to her.

"What do you want, Caroline?" Stefan snapped turning the page of the book.

She shuffled her feet awkwardly and went to sit down on the chair beside him.

"I wanted to talk to you." she said again twirling the diamond bracelet on her wrist.

He smirked darkly at the book in front of him, but being closer to him she could tell he wasn't reading anymore.

"Rebekah mentioned you've been acting strangely. What happened? Feeling guilty?" he asked finally putting the book down.

She frowned at his tone of voice and turned away. "You were talking about me with Rebekah?" she asked lowly curious as to what was going on between Stefan and Rebekah in this time.

He chuckled under his breath, "of course, she's concerned about you and since you've sought me out I'm a little curious to know what's made you grow a conscience." He said turning to look at her.

She had to bite her lip to hold in a gasp since his eyes looked even darker than they had when he was a rippah. And now…it seemed in this future he was a rippah again. Full fledged by her observation.

"What's happened to you?" Caroline whispered staring at him.

He looked at her a frown creasing his brow. "What's happened to me?" he repeated a note of bewilderment in his voice. "I'd ask you the same thing, but I don't really care. Not after everything you've done." He said standing up and looking down at her.

"What are you talking about?" Caroline demanded hurt and for what felt like the millionth time since getting here confused. Everything in the future was totally flipped around, she thought annoyed.

"Don't play dumb Caroline it looks bad on you." Stefan said beginning to walk to the door of the library.

"Stefan! Please! Please talk to me?" Caroline begged standing up and using her vampire speed to stop him.

He stared down at her as she blocked the exit.

"Why? We stopped talking after you killed Elena." He said anger in his eyes. He pushed past her and exited the library leaving Caroline stunned in his absence. She went to sit back down on shaky legs and felt the tears slowly slide down her face. Why on earth would she ever kill her best friend? Elena was everything to her! Sure over the years she felt jealous of the brunette, but never enough to kill her. What kind of monster had she become? And what was with Stefan not talking to her? Had they gone decades without speaking? How evil was she in this future? What had happened to her? All of these thoughts raced around her head in fright as she cried in the dark musty library. She wasn't sure how long she sat in the library crying but it must have been awhile because the door eventually opened and Elijah stepped in curiosity showing on his face.

"Caroline, are you alright?" he asked approaching her.

Her instincts yelled danger, but she could see the concern etched into his face and for the first time since arriving she allowed him to approach her without feeling scared of any of the Originals.

"Do you want me to go get Niklaus?" he asked sitting in the chair Stefan had previously vacated.

Caroline shook her head slowly and looked down at her hands.

"I just…I just feel really tired." She mumbled looking over at Elijah who nodded thoughtfully.

"I see, well Niklaus is back now so you can go find him and talk to him if you'd like. He's in your wing." Elijah said standing up and looking down at Caroline who made no move to get up.

Elijah sighed heavily watching the young vampire, "what's really the matter, Caroline?" he asked again.

"What happened between Stefan and I?" Caroline asked her head snapping up to look at Elijah.

He regarded her with raised eyebrows and looked outside thoughtfully. "You don't remember?" Elijah asked.

Caroline looked away from him knowing if she answered wrong then he'd become suspicious if he wasn't already. "I just…I figured Stefan would have forgiven me by now." She whispered.

Elijah chuckled darkly and looked down at her. "Stefan and you haven't talked in years, Caroline, why would you start now? The only reason he lives under the same roof as you is because of Niklaus and Rebekah. Vampires can hold a grudge for quite sometime it's the downside of being immortal." Elijah said smiling slightly.

"Eventually after another couple centuries I'm sure he'll forgive you for killing his love." Elijah said thoughtfully.

Caroline was silent as she comprehended what Elijah was saying. She made a mental note to go looking through the diary as to some clue as to why she had murdered Elena. The thought pulled at her heart however and a sickness swirled away in her stomach.

"Now I think it's time you go find Niklaus he's been in quite a mood all day and frankly I'm tired of it." Elijah said gesturing for Caroline to get up and go find Klaus.

She nodded hesitantly and dragged her feet back to her wing of the palace dreading coming face to face with the evil Hybrid himself.

Except when she found him, he wasn't doing anything evil at all. He was in a large studio in their wing painting a large canvas. The painting matched the forlorn and lonely nature of the other pictures she had seen earlier and she couldn't help but let out a gasp.

"Caroline." Klaus said without turning to look at her.

"Are you back to your usual lovely self, yet?" he asked dipping a brush in a can of paint and splattering it on the canvas.

"You did these?" she breathed impressed by the other paintings in the room. She slowly approached him and gently touched a few sketches of her on a table. Now everything was beginning to make sense when it came to the paintings in their bedroom at least.

She cringed inwardly when the thought of their bedroom invaded her head. She hated the thought of sharing a bed with Klaus.

He put his brush down and turned to stare at her through narrowed eyes. "Of course, Caroline, who else would? Rebekah? Kol? God forbid bloody Katherine?" he snarled making her wince at his tone.

He stepped closer to her, "bloody hell what has gotten into you? First you act like you don't even know anything about our lives together, you won't let me touch you, you won't drink from humans, Rebekah told me what happened today and so did Stefan. What's really going on here Caroline? Are you bored? Are you wanting to go somewhere else? What do you want?" He yelled at her.

She glared at him and crossed her arms in defiance. "Nothing is fucking wrong with me, Klaus!"

He laughed loudly and pointed at her accusingly. "Right there! You're calling me Klaus! Something isn't bloody right, sweetheart! Are you still angry about our little spat? Because I'm over it." He said.

"I'm not angry about anything I'm just…I just want something different." She said lamely and trying to hide the fact that she wasn't the girl he thought she was. She had already decided that she needed to pretend to be this future Caroline so she could a) not get killed and b) find a way back to her own time. Except by the way things were going neither seemed to be going her way.

"Different how? I've given you everything you've ever wanted what more is there?" Klaus cried in annoyance.

"I just…I want some space." She said haughtily.

"Space?" he asked lowly looking at her through narrow slits of his eyes.

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say. She gulped uneasily and moved away from him. All he had done since she had arrived was become angry with her, how could her future self be with this monster? What was wrong with her?

"Space to do bloody what? Fool around with other men? I've given you the world Caroline and this is how you repay me? By finding someone else to fuck for all eternity?" Klaus yelled moving closer to her.

He was now nose to nose with her and she could feel his sweet breath on her face. She breathed it in against her better judgment and was surprised to feel a jolt of electricity run through her when he placed his hands on her shoulders. His skin was hot on hers and she tried to ignore the quivering of her stomach not from unease at being around him, but at the lust that suddenly coursed through her at his touch. His eyes seemed to darken as they looked into hers and she wanted so desperately to pull away, except she seemed to be rooted to the floor and he was pulling her in.

"How about you go sleep somewhere else tonight, love. It hurts to look at you right now when all you want to do is leave me." He said his voice having gone from angry to vulnerable within minutes.

For some odd reason she felt guilty at the emotions she was welling up within him, but honestly she couldn't stomach going to bed with him. He was after all Klaus the evil Hybrid. A small taunting voice in her brain though reminded her that she slept in the same bed with him last night, but her neck was broken, she reminded herself. That didn't count.

"I don't want to leave you, Klaus, I just want space." She heard herself say and she wanted to kick herself for it. But for some reason she wanted to erase the pain from his eyes and the guilt from the pit of her stomach.

He chuckled darkly, "say it how you want, sweetheart, it's all the same. In the end you're just like everyone else. Now go! I don't want to look at you anymore." He said pushing her away.

She stumbled back and hurried to the door ignoring his eyes on her back. She left the room hearing loud crashes coming from behind her obviously from him throwing things in anger. She was feeling a mixture of emotions, but the strongest one she felt and couldn't rationalize or explain to herself was guilt at the vulnerability she had caused the big bad hybrid. But why would she feel guilt, among sadness, and loneliness for such a monster? He wasn't vulnerable, he was Klaus. He was evil and dark and it wasn't like he was in love with her.

Monsters didn't love, right?

Mystic Falls 2012

Caroline walked into the art studio behind Klaus. Once she was in the room he shut the door with a small click and she looked around in awe. She had seen a lot of Nik's paintings before, but every time they always seemed to make her speechless. They were always beautiful and so lonely, but there was a difference to them when she had come around. The paintings he made when she entered his life were brighter, filled with hope and possibilities. She liked to think that was her doing, although when she became darker and more jaded his paintings took another turn, but there was still hope in them, a fact that never escaped her and made her feel warm in her dark heart.

"These are beautiful." She breathed taking in the various artworks. She swore he looked bashfully away from her.

"Did you do all of these?" she asked trying to make it seem like she didn't already know that in fact he did.

His bashful expression turned almost embarrassed and he nodded. At that moment the only thing she wanted to do was go over and kiss him, but she knew that would be wrong. Well, she knew that it would be wrong, but that didn't necessarily mean she wouldn't. She slowly walked over towards him with a small smile on her face.

"They are all so magnificent." She said looking into his eyes.

He looked back at her with a slightly guarded expression. Their eyes seemed to get lost in each other and finally he turned away and looked down at the various sketches on the table.

"One of them is hanging in the Hermitage, have you ever been?" he asked walking around the table.

She smiled remembering fondly when he had taken her to see many of his paintings all over Europe. They had called it The European Vacation of Niklaus's Art and she had snuck pictures of each wanting to remember their time there. Her heart sank thinking of her Nik in the future without her.

Before she replied that yes, she had been in fact there and yes she had indeed seen the particular painting he was trying to impress her with, she remember that she had never been anywhere until he took her. So she shook her head sadly and looked down at the pictures before her.

"No, I've never been anywhere." She lied sadly.

He smirked at her, "I'll take you sometime, Paris, Rome, Tokyo?" he said and they laughed together making her heart swell with emotion for this man in front of her. Sadly he had no idea the effects he was having on her.

Well then I'll just have to show him, she thought stepping closer to him. She smiled seductively and looked at him through long lashes.

"I'd like that." She whispered tilting her head.

He smirked down at her eyeing her lips intently.

"So tell me, Klaus, why did you invite me here tonight." She said moving even closer to him and quietly congratulating herself for calling him Klaus instead of Nik. She watched his eyes darken and he stood up straighter. He gave her a half smile and looked away for a brief moment before letting his eyes rest on her again.

His expression was one of amusement as if he was waiting for her to ask that very question. "I fancy you." he said simply.

She chuckled under her breath and nodded slowly licking her lips in thought. "Huh." She said before walking to the other side of the room and looking at the other pieces of artwork over there.

"Is that so hard to believe?" he called to her.

She continued to gaze at the large pieces of artwork in front of her and suddenly she felt his presence right behind her.

"Where did you get that?" He asked lightly touching the tattoo that was on her back.

She had almost forgotten that this dressed did nothing to hide the small black flock of birds tattooed on her back. It showed off the right corner part of the tattoo and she smiled inwardly at the fact that he had a matching one on his left shoulder. He had gotten his years before meeting her, but after they had gotten together she wanted something to match it. So she had gone out one day and got a tattoo of a cage on her lower left side of her back and a flock of birds escaping the cage and flying up to the upper right side of her shoulder. It had taken hours, but she was quite proud of the outcome, and so was Nik when he realized that she had gotten it for him.

He touched the delicate black birds on her right shoulder and she felt that familiar jolt of electricity shoot through her.

"It's new." She said thinking fast and turning around to face him. They were mere inches apart at this point; she could feel his breath of her upper lip.

"Why do you fancy me?" she asked going back to their previous conversation.

He chuckled and looked down at her with amusement. "Why not? You're beautiful, smart, strong, and full of light. What's there not to like about you?" he asked.

"If you like me so much than why did you have Tyler attack me?" she asked bluntly raising an eyebrow at him.

Klaus scowled at her question and looked away. "I was testing Tyler's loyalty see how far he'd go to protect his girlfriend." He said.

"Well Tyler's gone now." Caroline said easily stepping closer to him. She cocked her head up at him and she swore that his eyes darkened in lust.

"Although who knows when he comes back and I'm his again." She added with a smirk.

He frowned, "I thought you two ended things." He said.

Caroline shrugged, "because of you we did. Although that's what you wanted right? Him gone so you could swoop in and save me. Congratulations, Nik, you got what you wanted." She mocked smiling darkly him.

He glared down at her, "This has been fun and all, Caroline but—"

"What? You can't take the truth, Niklaus? I'll tell you something, I kind of hate being the victim. So don't pull that shit again. It gets old after awhile. So the next time you want to get my attention, try something cleaner, like flowers or jewelry. I like roses and diamonds. Hint. Fucking hint. The way to a girls heart isn't through being saved because of her idiot boyfriend having no balls to stand up to his sire, it's through companionship and trust, something I'm beginning to think you have no idea about. It's been nice and all, but I think I'm going to go." She said smirking one last time and exciting the studio leaving Klaus's mouth hung open in shock.

She wanted to do a small victory dance for her attitude and standing up to the man she loved, but she knew it would have to wait until she got home. She knew without a doubt she had created an impression in his mind and he would come a knocking she was positive about it.

She lightly touched the chain around her neck that she had put her wedding ring on earlier in the night. She didn't want to arouse suspicion by wearing a wedding ring in the first place since she wasn't supposed to be married and she knew that putting the rings on a necklace was the next best thing. She twisted the chain all the while replaying the night. She knew he would approach her again, he had too.

Never one to disappoint when she got home there was a sketch of herself in the blue gown waiting for her on her bed along with a single rose. On the back of the sketch was a note.

See you soon.

Was all it said.

She smiled happily to herself that night as she went to bed excited to what the tomorrow brought.

(A/n: so what did you think? Please review and let me know!)