Thank you all so much for your lovely feedback, I read every review and honestly they warm my heart. You're all super adorable, cookies for everyone!
To all of you who are wondering about their time in Paris… keep wondering, loves. Chapter eight might be interesting.
This has been beta read by Tanya as always, whom I love dearly.
It was only breakfast, simple breakfast and even though her companion for it might be slightly unnerving that didn't mean that she would let him fluster her. The occasion in his office hadn't left her mind all night despite how hard she may have tried. Every time she got comfortable and thought that she'd finally be able to fall asleep she'd feel his lips on her skin or his hand brushing her hair back and then she'd have to try all over again. It was unfair that he was able to torment her even when he was sleeping. Seriously unfair.
Her reasoning hadn't stopped her from getting up an hour earlier than necessary, to dress. She tried googling 'what to wear to breakfast with someone you were trying your best to keep your hands off of all morning while simultaneously ensuring that he still wanted his hands all over you' but apparently nobody had made that guide yet. Typical. She finally settled on a plain blue dress with her jacket, she looked nice, but not as though she had been up all morning deciding just how nice she wanted to look. He'd never let her live it down otherwise.
She was more than willing to walk to Klaus' seeing as it wasn't too far from her apartment but the limo that was waiting outside told her that he had different ideas. She would object but it was early and far too cold for her to give up the option of a warm car, so she got in and let them drive her there. She was determined that nothing would happen, they would talk about work and things that they had going on in their lives now. He'd undoubtedly talk about his last few hundred conquests and she'd have to do her best not to stab him with one of the silver forks. She didn't see being notch in his bedpost as a compliment and she hoped that he knew that.
By the time she had gotten to his house the weather had turned colder and it looked as though it was going to rain, making her extra glad that she had put her pride to one side and taken the limousine. She was about to walk inside when she saw Bonnie storming out of the front door, yelling at whoever was walking after her, she couldn't quite make it out. She wasn't even sure what the argument was about but judging from the slap that she just gave the man before her she assumed it wasn't good.
Eventually she got out of the car, seeing as she didn't want to get stuck in the rain. Bonnie was long gone and the figure that she could now make out as Kol Mikaelson was still looking down the street in the direction she had left.
"Kol?" She wouldn't usually bother prying into his life, but Bonnie was her friend and she couldn't very well just let her be upset without trying to solve the problem.
He turned around and let a smile cover his true expression, folding his arms. "Caroline, my brother is waiting for you upstairs." He nodded and then went to turn away once again, making her walk over to him and put a hand on his arm to turn him around.
"What have you done, Mikaelson?" He looked as though he was going to fob her off with more details about his brother for a moment but then he shook his head and gestured back down the street.
"It would appear as though Bo- Miss Bennett is angry with me. For reasons that are none of your business, with all due respect."
She was relatively sure that he didn't think she was due any respect but it didn't particularly bother her, this was Kol Mikaelson afterall. She couldn't expect the usual degrees of human decency from a man who took great pleasure in acting like a weasel at all times.
"Then go after her. Bonnie's always the one who has to take charge, go and chase after her for once." She shrugged slightly and then walked towards the doorway, smiling once she heard his footsteps heading down the street after the judge.
"How were you late when I sent a car? That's quite impressive." Klaus' smug voice rang down to her from the staircase, where he stood at the top and she couldn't help but smile at the crisp sound.
"I was dealing with your brother, you're lucky I wasn't hours late." She walked up towards him and he didn't move from where he was leaning, still grinning at her.
"Is that so?" He didn't wait for an answer as placed a hand on the small of her back and lead her out to the balcony. She frowned as she realized where they were going.
"You do realize that it's freezing outdoors, don't you? I'm not going to freeze all morning, Klaus." She assumed that he had just gone slightly insane, it was the only explanation that would excuse thinking that Artic weather was perfect for croissants and coffee.
"So I hear."
He was being cryptic and if this continued he was going to have to start dodging cutlery. Surprisingly when she stepped outside she felt warmth on her skin, turning around she realized that she owed the heat to the heaters that were circling the table of food. It was almost impressive, not that she'd let him know that.
"If you're going to do that, why not just eat inside?" She asked as she sat in the chair he'd pulled out, he tutted as he sat down beside her.
"Where would the fun be in that?"
It was such a stupidly Klaus thing to say that she honestly couldn't think of how to reply to it, she assumed that was probably his intention.
"Are we waiting for other people? There's enough food here to feed an armada." She doubted that she was overestimating either; pastries, cereals, toast and a more drinks than she had seen at a grocery store littered the table. He was probably just trying to show off but honestly it was just making her hungry.
"I would get you the same as you usually have but somewhere amongst my memories all I can remember you having is chocolate and champagne. Well, I would usually be the one eating the chocolate…"
She shot him a look but he seemed unfazed by it, smirking wolfishly as he glanced at her from the corner of his eye and then poured himself some coffee.
"So anyway, what's with Bonnie being here? Is Kol trying to sway the verdict, I hope you know she'll never fall for it." She took a bite of a croissant, tearing off a piece of it.
"Ah, I wish I could tell you what was going on between my brother and Miss Bennett but unfortunately I don't quite know myself. They have been together rather often recently. I'm surprised you didn't know, being her best friend and all."
She knew what he was implying. If anyone had the ability to sway anyone it would be her, but that wasn't the case. Trying to sway Bonnie Bennett about anything was like trying to hop backwards up a mountain.
"Are you particularly interested in the love lives of my siblings? I believe Elijah and Katherine are reconciling and I have no idea what my sister is doing with Stefan." He shook his head and reached for his coffee, sipping it.
"Super interesting, really. What about you? I guess you've been single. Is nobody interested in a catch like you?" She smirked at him over her tea, almost choking on her sip at his next words.
"On the contrary. Perhaps there is someone I've been waiting for."
All rational thought told her to believe that he was talking about Tatia. Tatia made sense, she was the rational option. The other was too insane for her to let herself believe it,;despite the way his eyes seemed to avert hers as he said it.
She had known it was going to rain.
He had closed the doors to keep some privacy between them but she was less than grateful for that thought, it meant that they were outside in the rain for an extra three minutes. She was soaked through.
"Of course it was going to rain. Did you see the sky? You're an idiot. Stop laughing at me, it's not funny. Now I'm going to have to go home and change before going to see Stefan and it's your fault entirely. Stop laughing. Why are you laughing?- Is that a record player?"
She was cut off by herself as she saw the old gramophone in the corner, going over to it before he could block her view of it. "Wow, really? A gramophone. Someone needs to buy you an I-pod."
Her actions betrayed her words, though. Her fingers reached out to trace along the brass work, along the polished wood. Obviously he took care of it and he had been with her long enough to know that she appreciated fine things; if those things were vintage then that was a bonus.
She didn't notice him coming up behind her, not seeing the smile on his lips from her reaction. He leaned over her shoulder, placing the needle at the beginning of the track and taking her hand from the varnished wood, placing it in his own and then pulling her around to face him as the soft tones began to play from the horn.
"Miss Forbes, may I have this dance?"
Caroline couldn't help but laugh, he looked infinitely cute in that moment. A wry smile on his lips and a subtle glint of hope in his could she ever say no?
She placed her other hand on his shoulder as his moved to her waist, swaying to the music slightly, when she looked up at him, his eyes were on her. She'd never understand the way he looked at her, as if she were the most precious thing on Earth. It wasn't a look she ever got from anyone else; it wasn't one she had thought she would ever see outside of old movies.
Then again, that was Niklaus Mikaelson all over. He was full of his old courtesies and small chivalrous gestures. That was, of course, when he wanted to be. Less than half of the time he was a real life black and white romantic hero. The rest of the time he was Klaus Mikaelson the lawyer, an asshole who Caroline knew that she shouldn't be talking to at all. He was trouble; it was well known that he was not the good guy in this picture. He was definitely the bad guy.
What did that make her then?
"You know, you really are breathtaking." There was no hint of humour in his voice then, he looked as serious as he usually did, his eyes scanning her face for any indication that she believed him.
"Thank you." She nodded slightly, not knowing what there was to say on the matter. She could deal with the compliments that Damon gave her, the odd 'you're hot' and 'nice ass, blondie'. Those were easy to deal with. Even Stefan's claims of her beauty, he was her friend, he would say such things. It was when Klaus said it that she wanted to believe it, wanted to be the person he thought she was.
"No, really. Why do you never believe me? Take Paris, for instance." He spun her before she had the chance to cut him off, holding her tighter in his arms once she returned before him.
"What do you think it was that made me invite you to stay with me? The connection to my rival company? Of course not. If it were Damon or Stefan there I would have laughed at their misfortune and gone on my way, but not you. You were astonishing in that moment. The rain falling on your head, the black suit you wore clung to your figure." The fingers on her waist fanned out across her skin and she was suddenly aware of the fact that her clothing seemed to be drenched from the rain, somehow she didn't quite care.
"You should have looked helpless, as lost as the other girls who were on the verge of crying at the front desk, but you didn't. You were angry. The receptionist you were talking to looked as though he wanted to run away. You're more than beautiful, Caroline. You're astounding, magnificent and more than that, you're more passionate than anyone I've ever met."
She didn't notice that they'd stopped dancing, the hand on his shoulder, dug into the damp fabric of his shirt, his lips moving closer to hers hovering dangerously close to her own. She could lean up and kiss him now, she wanted to, god only knew that she wanted to.
But she couldn't.
She wouldn't.
She pulled away, shaking her head and picking up her purse.
"I can't do this. Not now, not ever. This isn't happening, Paris was a long time ago Klaus, leave it be."
He growled, frustrated by her sudden movement and turned around, grabbing her wrist with his hand.
"Leave it be? How am I supposed to leave it be, Caroline? Please, do tell me. I have attempted to do exactly that – leave it be, but I can't. You intoxicate me. I know you feel the same way, you did in Paris, stop fighting this." He tried to step towards her but she moved back away from him.
"I will never stop fighting it because it's wrong! You fail to mention an important detail about Paris, Klaus. You were married. You were married to Tatia and you used me! You used me!" She pulled away from his grasp as he faltered for something to say, looking upset by the accusation but not knowing what to say to change her mind.
"I never-"
"Yes you did! Shut up, just shut up! You and your fancy breakfasts and your romantic dances can leave me alone, okay? You used me in Paris, I was nothing to you so stop saying that I was. Don't think I don't remember how you and Kol sneered at me as he met you off of the plane. Poor stupid Caroline, I never could tell when I was being played. Well, I've changed. I'm not the same Caroline who fell for your tricks before. I'm not being hurt by you again."
He tried to call after her, to explain himself, but she was already out of the door, running along the street, barely noticing the rain as it fell on the pavement below her. She should hate Klaus; she should want him to suffer for the things had done. He wasn't good, he wasn't a good person but somehow she never seemed to care. None of it seemed to matter, anyway.
She loved him. And that was enough for her to hate him eternally.
I am terribly sorry that this took so long, everything has been hectic recently. I will try and get the next chapter out soon! It has copious amounts of plot twists and a good dash of kalijah.