A/N: Omg I'm so so so sorry for the long wait! I hope you will all stick with me even if my updates get sporadic! I'm dealing with a lot of things in RL atm but I'll try to start updating this every week. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

oOo

Trivial

She didn't get much sleep. She woke up thinking she should just go home. This was a mistake, she wasn't going to get anywhere and getting lost without any money was a romantic idea in films but didn't work so well in the real world.

Just as she was pulling on a shirt, there was a tap on her door. Frowning, she hid behind the door and pulled it open. The B&B's owner stood there with a gentle smile on her face. "Sorry to disturb you so early," she started, "there is a young man waiting for you down in the front room, m'dear."

Caroline didn't ask who it was because she knew only one person in town who could walk around during the day. "Okay, thank you. I'll be right down." With that, she shut the door and looked at herself in the mirror. The good thing about being a vampire was that she never got bags under her eyes when she didn't get enough sleep. Her hair was a wavy mess that she dragged her hands through before she pulled on the same jeans she had traveled in and stepped into her three-inch heeled boots. She put her phone in her pocket, took a deep breath and stepped into the hall. She walked right into one of the other tenants who was coming from the communal bathroom.

"Sorry, sorry," she said before slipping down the wooden stairs and holding her breath as she reached the bottom. She gave the woman, who was now behind the desk sitting directly opposite the front door and to the right of where Caroline came down the stairs, a small smile and slowly approached Klaus, who was standing in the middle of the quaint living space, with stuffed chairs, a fireplace and four tables with two chairs each farther back for those who ate meals here. "Klaus," she said with uncertainly.

Even under early day sunlight, his face appeared darker than before. "Caroline," he replied. "I was hoping we could go for a walk. So we can talk."

It was a good idea. Daytime, walking, no enclosed spaces. "Okay." She turned on her heel and headed toward the front door. He followed, grabbing the edge of the door when she yanked it open. The sun was bright, yet the air was a million times less humid than the previous day. She crossed her arms and began walking. She didn't know where much of anything was in this city, but she didn't care.

"Are you going to talk to me?" Klaus asked, falling into step beside her.

"I'm not childish, Klaus," Caroline said with a roll of her eyes. "I'd just like an apology first."

"Apology?" Klaus was surprised, but the look Caroline gave him seemed to change his mind. He cleared his throat and looked forward. "I apologize for my behavior last night and any distress it caused you, Caroline."

Caroline hid a smile and bit the inside of her cheek. "Apology accepted," she said after a minute, pushing her hair behind an ear and glancing over at him. "I'm sorry, too."

"Good."

"Did Hugo talk to you?"

"Possibly. I wanted to clarify what I said last night." She nodded for him to continue. "I don't blame you, Caroline. As far as I know…as far as I'd like to know, you weren't involved in Kol's death. But your friends took him away from me, took the pleasure—"

"Klaus," Caroline warned, noting the plenty of humans around who could overhear them and run to the authorities about the man and woman who talked about so much death and killing.

He let out a harsh breath through his nose. "They took that away from me and were stupid enough to believe in that cure…"

"They're all dead," Caroline said shortly. "Katherine, Elena, Bonnie, Jeremy…Stefan."

"Stefan?"

She blinked a few extra times. "Yes. He took the coward's way out after Elena sacrificed herself. He took his ring off at sunrise." She folded her arms against the invisible coldness that swept over her. It was a touchy subject considering Caroline had been so close to Stefan and she still found phone calls from Damon on her phone speaking about Stefan because he didn't know his brother was dead.

"Ah…I would have imagined Stefan would move into the opposite direction after a great loss," Klaus commented.

"You mean…into the Ripper?"

"The very same."

"Is that what you've done, Klaus? You have no one to kill," she whispered the word, "who was involved in Kol's death. What have you been doing with yourself?"

"I don't think you want to know that, love," Klaus warned.

Caroline furrowed her eyebrows. "I know the kinds of things you do, Klaus. I'm not blind." She stopped walking abruptly and reached out a hesitant hand toward his arm but he noticed and turned before she touched him. "Like I said before, I try to forget those things. Not completely, I know they happened. I just know that other…more likeable things have happened, too."

"Are you saying I'm likeable?" A hint of the old Klaus pushed through the darkness, the type of Klaus that joked and opened up to Caroline at the Lockwood mansion what felt like an eternity ago.

"Sometimes you are," Caroline said, looking down at the pavement and walking passed him. This time it was Klaus who reached out, curling his hand around her upper arm. She let out a sigh and faced him, slightly annoyed.

"Why did you really come looking for me, love? To redeem me? To run away from the loved ones gone?"

She met his eyes. "No. There was nothing left for me in Mystic Falls. And I…I want to get lost."

Klaus raised an eyebrow. "Lost. And you came to me? I'm quite flattered, Caroline."

"You told me once…or twice," she swallowed thinking maybe it was three times, "that there were places I could go…places you would take me."

"Oh." There was pleasant surprise in his tone. "You want me to show you the world?"

"I'm here, aren't I?" She felt a squeeze in her heart that hadn't beat in nearly two years. Something nice and familiar flashed through Klaus' eyes. A warmth spread through his fingers to her bare skin. "You're not going to try to kill me, are you? For being so big and bold against the original hybrid?"

He smirked, letting go of her arm. "You've never feared me, Caroline."

oOo

"Where are you going to take me?" Caroline asked, not thirty minutes later. They were back at Klaus' loft. The paintings there took on another form under the sunlight streaming through two walls of almost solid window. She was sitting at the same desk where Klaus had set his jacket the previous night—it was still there—with the sun behind her. She had a perfect view of the three large canvases that hid the small living quarters within the space. She sat backwards in the metal chair, draping her arms over the back and resting her chin on her forearm. Her fingertips brushed against the worn leather of his jacket. "Is there anywhere that you're not allowed to go?"

"What?" There was a hint of laughter on Klaus' voice. He was doing something out of her view.

She tilted her head, eyes focused on the painting right in front of her. There wasn't much paint except at the center of the canvas. Layers of darker to lighter shadows of blue, it was just sweeping lines and instead of looking horrific, it actually looked quite mystical and soothing. "I mean…did you ever get kicked out of a country for doing something bad?"

"I always do something bad."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll just pick a place. Um…" She closed her eyes, imagining the world map in her mind. Paris? Rome? Berlin? Amsterdam? Moscow? Dubai? They were all out of reach to her before and she wanted to see it all. I have forever, she told herself. "Rome…Florence…Naples…Italy?"

When she opened her eyes, Klaus was standing next to his unfinished canvas, staring at her in a way that made her wiggle in the chair. "What's wrong?" she asked, sitting upright.

"Nothing," he said, as if just realizing what he had been doing. He blinked and gave his head a little shake. When the world settled again, he couldn't help but take in the sight of Caroline in front of him. With the sun's light embracing her in pure gold, setting her hair alight like a halo, she looked angelic, otherworldly, more than beautiful. And she had no idea.

"So is Italy like…doable?" she pushed.

"Yes," he said. "I can make a few calls and we can be on a flight in two days."

She perked up like a kid hearing they were going to Disneyworld. "Seriously? That fast?"

"Mhm." He nodded and disappeared behind his canvases once again. Not long after she heard his voice, sometimes speaking in English, sometimes in what she guessed was Italian.

The thought of leaving the country so quickly gave her jitters in her belly. She bit down on her bottom lip to stop herself from grinning. She got mildly lost in her fantasies about traveling to another country that she was startled when someone banged on the door and walked in before Klaus could answer. It was Jerry and he had a large camera hung around his neck. Caroline stood up quickly as Jerry saw her.

Klaus walked around the last canvas. "Ah, good, you're here. Caroline," he lifted an arm and waved her toward him, "Jerry is going to need to take a photo for your passport. Come here."

"Passport? Doesn't that take like weeks to get?" she asked, though she followed him farther back into the loft, away from the brighter light. There was a large wall painted in grey. Klaus put his hands on her shoulders and moved her to the proper spot.

"Yes, but I have connections that can make them very quickly." He took a step back, behind Jerry, who was turning on the fancy camera. "And I assure you it is all very legal," Klaus added, seeing the frown beginning to appear on the blonde's face.

Her smile brightened and there was a quick flash. "Sorry, sorry," Jerry apologized, pulling the camera away from his face to check the digital screen. "That's…that is actually a very nice picture."

Klaus nearly yanked the camera right off the strap. He looked at the small screen for a few long minutes before replying. "It is very beautiful," he said finally. "Take another."

"Uh…less smiling, if you would, Miss Caroline," Jerry said, lifting the camera again.

Caroline softened her expression and there was another flash. She blinked a few times as Jerry checked that frame.

"This should work. I'll send it right away, Mr. Klaus." With that, he left the loft in a hurry. As soon as he was gone, Caroline started giggling.

"Mr. Klaus?"

"What's wrong with that?"

If she were human she would really be out of breath, but now it came from habit. "I'm—I'm sorry. I don—don't know why I'm laugh—laughing," she said through her giggles before she managed to calm herself and wipe her eyes.

Klaus smiled and shook his head, taking a few steps forward, toward the light streaming through windows. "You are so very alive, Caroline," he mused.

She poked her head around the edge of the grey wall, seeing his silhouette amid the rays of sunlight. He looked more like an angel than a demon. "You're just as alive as I am, Klaus," she said, stepping out and leaning against the edge of the blocks that created the wall.

"You don't really believe that."

"No. You don't really believe that," she turned his words around, resting her head against the wall. "You paint beautiful things and I've seen the life in you."

He turned, face cut sharply in half in light and shadow. "I've been on this earth for over a thousand long years, hating myself and harming those around me. I no longer care for trivial things."

"Oh-ho, really?" she teased. "Paintings aren't trivial?" He shook his head. "Killing isn't trivial?"

"I get little pleasure from it any longer, if I'm being perfectly honest," he said, shocking her.

Any sense of lightheartedness had dissipated quickly, and Caroline's face fell into a serious expression. "Am I trivial?" she asked quietly.

Klaus didn't answer right away. "No," he said finally, before lifting an arm and rubbing his jaw with his hand. "You should go and take care of your affairs, say goodbyes to anyone still around. I'll call you soon as I know when we're leaving."

Caroline noted the change, he was retreating back to the darkness and she didn't wish to push him farther in case he got lost there. She bowed her head and pushed herself away from the wall, walking around him. At the desk there was a pen and she found a scrap of paper on which she wrote down her number in case he no longer had it. She looked over her shoulder at him, the sun falling around him as if running away from shadows before she left quietly.