This is really just a filler chapter. It's all Kol Caroline friendship because I live for that :) Hope you enjoyed. Merry Christmas and happy New Year.

She woke up with a start. Her lips parted in a silent gasp. Her eyes wide and staring up at the white ceiling above her. A sheen of sweat covering her skin. She laid perfectly still. Slowly she flexed her fingers, twisted her wrists, lifted her arms. She did the same with her legs. Curling her toes, twisting her ankles, bending her knees, lifting her legs. It was a routine she found herself doing whenever she woke from a nightmare (which was about every time she woke up). It was a mental and physical check. It brought her back, grounded her to the present. She was no longer in that cell. She was no longer trapped.

The bed had been to big for Caroline, to comfortable. After about ten minutes of tossing and turning she had quietly moved off the bed and onto the floor. She laid on the right side of the bed, the door on the left. The bed a sort of barrier between her and the door. She had laid out the white duvet on the floor, over the rug that had been placed on the hardwood floors. A single pillow that she hooked her arm under and had turned on her side.

The blanket was no longer perfectly laid out. It was pulled in around her and the pillow had been pushed under the bed. She was still breathing heavily as she sat up. Caroline pulled her legs in to sit indian style and she let her head drop forward. Slow breaths in and out. Her breath out would stutter slightly and she would clamp her lips together. Trying to make the trembling stop.

A light tap on the door startled her and made her curl in on herself. She stared at the door as the knob slowly turned and the door pushed open. Her eyes widened at who stood there.

"I heard you wake up." He murmured staring at her over the bed.

"I'm fine." Her voice broke at the end.

"It's okay darling." Kol shrugged a shoulder. He gently closed the door and walked around the bed. His eyes lingered on the comforter on the floor and the pillow peaking out from under the bed. He paused and when Caroline made no move to shoo him away he sat down in front of her. She had twisted around so that her back was pressed up against the lifted bed.

After a few minutes of silence he spoke.

"I get them too. More often than I care for. More than I would like to admit." He whispered. He pulled his knees into his chest, crossed his arms over top and rested his head on top of them. She stared at him, tense and afraid. She was so damn tired of always, always, being afraid.

"The nightmares." Kol clarified. She scoffed at him, lightly shaking her head.

"Your an Original. What could possibly scare you?" She muttered under her breath.

"I may be, but there is still a weapon that can kill us. We had thought we burned down the last White Oak, but we had not. We thought we got rid of the last stake with Mikael. But who knows. Maybe there are still more. No my nightmares are much simpler than that. They are of when I was turned." His voice tapered off at the end. Like he were going to say something else but decided against it.

"Mikael killed you right? Killed all of you's." Caroline asked. Her feet sliding out a pace. Her body no longer clenched so tight. Slowly relaxing.

"He did. Sliced us up with his broadsword. Like we weren't even his children." Kol's jaw clenched, so did his fists.

"Finn and Elijah were first. Than me. Rebekah next and Niklaus last." Kol let out a slow breath. The subject still sore after all these years.

"But he's dead now." Caroline left the sentence hanging. It wasn't a statement. It wasn't a question.

"Darling if there is one thing you must realize it is that the supernatural don't always stay dead. If he want's to come back, I am sure he will find a way." Kol had an easy smile on his face that looked unnatural. To forced.

"What is it that keeps you up at night then?" He asked. He scratched at something on his neck before allowing his arm to drop back onto his knees.

She stared at him. It was something so simple to talk about. But yet she felt that if she talked about it she would have to admit it to herself. Admit that it had taken almost 200 years for her to escape. That she had come up with 86 different escape plans. Each one failing, one after another. That she wasn't strong enough. If any of her plans had included killing the witches she probably would have made it out on plan 3. But that was just it wasn't it. Her humanity. She couldn't kill. Even if they had done her wrong. It went against her nature. She felt that if she killed, she would lose herself in the process.

Caught up in her own mind almost ten minutes had passed of Kol staring at her. Waiting for her to say something. Say anything.

"I'm not ready." She whispered. A bare breath spoken. She wrapped her arms around her chest and dropped her head.

"That's okay. I'll be here when you are." Kol's words were soft. Softer than she had ever heard from the mischief maker Original (of the two times she had come in contact with him-now three).

"Would you like me to leave?" He asked. His hands braced on the ground, ready to push himself up.

"No. Can you just-I-" Caroline stuttered, her words catching in her throat. Her brows furrowing. What was it that she wanted to say?

Kol hummed and stood anyway. Instead of walking to the door he walked in the other direction. Toward the windows. Three windows lined up next to each other. A bowed inward ledge (like the one in the room downstairs). He sat on the ledge and stared out the window.

"I'll stay till you fall asleep." He whispered continuing to stare out the window. His eyes following something. Perhaps the wind.

Caroline stared at him for a long time. He had no reason to be nice. To be understanding. No reason to share his secrets. But he did. She pulled the pillow out from under the bed and laid down. Still on the floor. She curled up into a ball. Still staring at him.

Time passed like this for what must have been an hour or two. Kol sat perfectly still. His back against the window and his one leg propped up on the edge. The other dangling off the bow. His toes just barely touching the floor. His head turned over his shoulder and leaning against the window. Caroline laid on her side, her arm hooked under the pillow. Her other arm wrapped around her front. Still curled up tight. Her eyes shut in slumber. Kol would glance at her every once in awhile. Just making sure she was okay. When ever she would let out a small whimper Kol would shift and that would make her stir just the slightest. Not fully waking up, but leaving the nightmare.

It was around eight in the morning when Caroline woke up. Her eyes drawn straight to Kol who was still there. He was asleep, in the same position she remembered him in from last night. His eyelids fluttered as Caroline sat up pushing off a quilt that had been placed over her. Kol sucked in a big breath, inhaling deeply and then slowly exhaling as he pushed to sit up. He tilted his head to the side and a loud crack rang out. He sighed and opened his eyes. They stared at each other for a beat before Caroline took the initiative.

"Thank you. For staying. I think that was the longest i've ever stayed asleep." She sighed and stood up.

"You're welcome." He nodded but stayed sitting.

Caroline walked over to the small vanity that was pressed into the wall across from the bed. She stared at her reflection. Her hand reaching up to twist on of her brown locks around her finger. Kol watched her.

"Can you help me with something?" She asked letting her hand drop to her side. She stared at him through the mirror. Watching him stand up and nod his head.

*Few Hours Latter*

"Like it never happened." Kol smirked and pulled the towel out of her lap.

Caroline turned her head left and right then stared straight. She had asked Kol to get her blonde hair dye so that she could dye out the brown. Kol had offered to dye it for her.

"Rebekah went through this strange phase. She wanted to try every color possible." He had waved a hand when Caroline raised a brow at the fact he knew how to dye hair.

"Klaus would have nothing to do with it and Elijah was afraid it would stain his suits. Ah I remember the first time we dyed her hair. We did black and well you know her hair is naturally blonde so when you take two inexperianced hair dyers and try to do black, let's just say Bex didn't leave the house for a few weeks." Kol laughed as he opened the box and took out the bottles.

Caroline smiled at her reflection. It was nice having her blonde back. It was like she got a little piece of her old life back. She knew she could never go back to the way things were before the witches took her. But she could get as close as possible.

One step at a time.