Notes: Chapter 6! Thanks to justanotherfiveminutes, cupcakemolotov and Angelikah for the cheerleading when this one was giving me fits. Also, many thanks for the reviews and alerts from the last chapter! They are always much appreciated.
DAY SIX: GUSTAVIA, ST. BARTS
She knows it's late, the ship is quiet, and the last drunk straggler in the hallway had long since passed. But Caroline refuses to grab her phone and glance at the time. It'll only make her feel worse tomorrow.
She's been tossing and turning, once again unable to get any rest. Her stupid brain just won't turn off. She'd blamed Klaus yesterday, but finds that she can't do so this time. He'd put his cards on the table, and yet she's still so uncertain.
She rolls onto her side, away from Klaus, hoping that if she can't see him, she'll forget he's there. It's highly annoying, this insomnia thing. Caroline really, truly, enjoys sleeping, and is usually excellent at it. Two sleepless nights in a row? Not a good thing. It's possible that even mainlining coffee will leave Caroline extra short tempered tomorrow, and she pities the first person to piss her off. Maybe she'll just hide out in the room all day, take advantage of the very nice, very large bathtub the room came with.
It's an option, because there's nothing concrete planned, another veg day, so at least she can sleep in. Assuming, of course, that Caroline can ever manage to get to sleep.
Caroline flips her pillow again, smothers a sigh in its semi-coolness. Her entire body kind of aches (totally Stefan's fault, with his insistence on throwing in the day of kayaking/hiking. Who thought exercising was an appropriate vacation activity? Weirdos, that's who). And for all that she'd hoped 'out of sight, out of mind' would work she knows that Klaus is awake too, even with her back to him. Caroline can feel him turn in her direction, every so often. She feels the weight of his eyes on her, feels him thinking about saying something.
He hasn't yet. And Caroline's kind of glad, because she doesn't trust herself not to word vomit her all over him and she'd really prefer to avoid that. She's acted like a nutso basket case where Klaus is concerned, more than often enough, these last few days. His patience can't be endless, and she'd hate for him to decide that he's just not that into her.
Because she'd had a really good time with him yesterday. At no point had things felt date-y, to Caroline, so she'd been able to relax, and had stopped analyzing Klaus' words and actions for hidden meanings. Klaus, as it turned out, was really good company. A little prickly, with strangers, but he'd made an effort not to be outright rude, at least.
Yesterday morning he met her on the deck, with two minutes to spare, hair damp and dressed for activity. The sneakers had thrown her off, to be honest. Logically she knew Klaus must work out (because the abs she'd felt up that first night did not lie) but she just couldn't picture him on a treadmill.
She might devote some mental energy to picturing him lifting weights. Shirtless. Later on, when she was alone. Because it was probably creepy to be mentally drooling over the image of him, sweaty and half-naked, when he was less than two feet away.
Approaching him, Caroline had been a little leery of how Klaus would act with her. He'd kind of kissed the crap out of her, and she'd barely had time to process it, before he'd super casually insinuated that he wouldn't be opposed to something relationship like. With her. Because he enjoyed her.
How was Caroline even supposed to take a statement like that? Was he expecting some kind of response? She'd fretted about it, waiting in line for food and coffee, and had been a ball of tongue tied anxiety as he'd strolled up to meet her.
But he hadn't brought it up, had just taken the breakfast sandwich and the paper cup she'd offered him, and said thanks. She'd begun pelting him with questions, for lack of anything better to do. He'd amiably answered them. Yes, he'd been kayaking a few times, no it wasn't that hard, and don't worry, this excursion is probably designed to be pretty easy, etc.
And he'd been right, and Caroline had kept up just fine. Even now, the soreness in her arms and shoulders wasn't necessarily overexertion, but more that feeling you got when your muscles had been challenged in a way they usually weren't. Like how one thigh always had a twinge in it the day after she'd kicked ass at the bowling alley.
Like most of the cruise activities the eco tour they'd booked had been heavily populated by couples, who seemed to assume that she and Klaus were also a couple. Caroline had just gone with it, this time. Having to explain her relationship with Klaus took forever (and often resulted in people making the 'okay, I'll humor her because she's crazy' face, as Caroline had discovered a when she's attempted it, the first few days of the cruise). Plus, Klaus had gone from being a friend's older brother who she semi loathed (despite the fact that they'd hooked up that one time), to a 'we're stuck together, so let's make lemonade!' travel companion, to a tentative friend, to a guy who she maybe wanted to date, all in the span of six days. Who knew what he'd be to her on day ten?
And yeah, maybe glaring at a woman who'd been ogling Klaus' ass, when he'd bent over to tie his shoe, didn't exactly scream 'We're not together!' But the woman hadn't known that, had she? Which made the lusty eyes pretty rude, in Caroline's opinion.
Caroline had been about to say something biting, but the woman had turned to her, and her expression had been respectful, more 'congratulations on tapping that,' than 'I'm so going to tap that,' and so Caroline had been slightly mollified. The woman had introduced herself, and her own reasonably hot husband. The couple, Jenn and Dave, had actually turned out to be pretty cool, so Caroline had managed to forget her initial impulse to scratch out Jenn's eyeballs.
She hadn't gotten around to explaining that Klaus wasn't her boyfriend, though.
Flipping onto her back again, Caroline startles when Klaus sits up, and flicks on the lamp next to the bed. She throws her arm up to shade her face from the sudden brightness, groaning, "Ugh, my eyes," in protest.
She's still squinting, when she drops her hand, and Klaus is watching her expectantly, looking tired and adorably rumpled, "What's the matter, Caroline?" he asks, soft and concerned. "You barely slept last night, and I know I'm exhausted after today so I can't imagine you aren't."
She feels kind of terrible, keeping him up, just because she can't keep a lid on her palpable anxiety, "I'm sorry! I'll try to stop moving, so you can sleep."
"It's not the moving, really. I can practically hear your thoughts clanging about. Penny for them?"
Caroline considers the offer. If she was at home, she'd need some solid girl talk, complete with Ben and Jerry's and wine, to get her head on straight. But she lacks that option here. She's made a few acquaintances, yes. But no one who knows her, how she thinks, her idiosyncrasies and insecurities, which she'd be the first to admit are many and varied.
No one except Klaus, who's proven to be kind of an excellent Caroline-reader, and isn't that a pain?
Caroline chews on her lip for a minute, before making a decision, "Can you turn off the light? And maybe not look at me?"
Klaus looks confused, not that Caroline blames him, but he does as she asks, turning off the lamp before laying back down. He lies on his back, mimicking Caroline, and looks up at the ceiling. She clears her throat before speaking, "So, this is about to get super personal and probably awkward. But I have some questions. About some things."
Klaus laughs softly, "Thank you for the warning. And while I cannot promise answers, I can try."
"Fair enough. You're 29."
Klaus shifts, probably thrown by the statement when she'd promised questions, but he rolls with it, "Correct."
"You're attractive, successful. And not a total loss, in the personality department."
"Such compliments, love. I'm blushing."
Caroline rolls her eyes, let's her arm travel over to his side of the bed to give him a shove, ignores his surprised grunt, along with the sarcasm, before continuing, "You date, a lot. According to Rebekah. But always casually."
"That would depend on your definition of 'a lot.' My sister does tend to exaggerate."
"When's the last time that you had a relationship that lasted more than six months?" she says it in kind of a rush, wanting to know but feeling like it's maybe none of her business.
Klaus is silent, for several long moments, "University, actually."
"So you see my issue?" Caroline doesn't wait for him to reply, "Look, I make no bones about the fact that I'm a relationship kind of girl. I like them. I get invested, and I'm not good at casual. Sometimes that sucks, and sometimes I get screwed. I've learned to be a little cautious, and not dive right into situations that are going to end with me in tears, you know?"
Klaus rolls towards her, and Caroline cautiously turns her head to meet his eyes. His expression is serious, and he while he doesn't get louder than the hushed tone they've been using, he speaks firmly when he answers, "I know those things about you, Caroline. And I never would have pursued you at the wedding, so intently, had I not accepted them."
"Really?" Caroline blurts out, "because if I'm just some challenge, or whatever…"
Klaus sighs, scoots a little closer, though he does not touch her, "Yes, really. I've admitted that my designs on you, at our first acquaintance, had nothing to do with getting to know you. But you, quite obviously, made it known that you had no interest in rolling into and out of my bed, for a single evening. It would have been easy to move on, to find another woman more amenable to such an arrangement. Several of Rebekah's work acquaintances were incredibly forward, I'll have you know."
Caroline distinctly remembers a redhead in a tacky snakeskin dress getting handsy with Klaus at the engagement party. And she only recalls that because snakeskin and string quartets didn't mix. And maybe because she'd paid more attention to Klaus than she should have, even when she thought he was an uber-dick.
"But I got to know you, in bits and pieces, and when I left I still found myself thinking of you. That's not usual, for me."
Caroline can't help the sardonic raise of her eyebrow, though she bets Klaus misses it in the dim lighting. The wry way she says, "Oh, really?" probably clues him into her feelings on the statement.
He makes an aggravated noise, "I'll admit that it sounds terrible, love. But I like women. And they like me. I don't often need to work all that hard. And it's been a long time since I'd found myself thinking about a particular woman, long after they'd left my sight."
Caroline turns that over in her head, for a moment, "Stefan said you asked about me."
Klaus lets out a short laugh, "Well, that's a bit humiliating. But yes, I did. And not just Stefan, but I asked Rebekah, too. Even my mum."
That probably hadn't gone over well. Caroline had always gotten the feeling that Esther Mikaelson didn't like her. She'd never taken it all that personally, because Esther didn't seem to like anyone, save her oldest son, all that much.
Klaus continues speaking, "So I used what I'd learned and I set out to change your mind, at the wedding. I resolved to leave with your good opinion, if nothing else. Why would I have bothered caring what you thought of me, were I not genuinely interested?"
He wouldn't have, Caroline can grudgingly admit.
"And I very well might be shit at relationships. I might be the worst boyfriend you'll ever have. But I've every confidence you'll tell me that. And I like to think I'm a smart man, love. Capable of learning, at the very least."
It might not be flowery speech, but it was honest. And wasn't that maybe even better?
Caroline feels her heart speed up, her breath catching, when she feels Klaus' fingertips on her wrist. She doesn't know if that's always been an erogenous zone, that no one's ever exploited, or if it's just him and how she reacts to his skin on hers, however innocent.
Klaus rubs his thumb over her quickening pulse, glides it down and across her palm, feathery strokes that really shouldn't be affecting her like they do.
Such a simple, nothing, touch. It shouldn't make her thoughts tangle like it does.
"Take a chance, Caroline," Klaus murmurs, close to her ear, dark and low and almost beseeching.
Caroline closes her eyes, to better enjoy the heat radiating up her arm. She finds herself nodding, and her fingers cross unconsciously. She hopes that this is a gamble she won't come to regret.
Klaus has become accustomed to waking up, entwined with Caroline, though it's been less than a week since he'd first been introduced to the pleasure. This morning, however, might be the first time, in his life, that he's been the little spoon. Perhaps he should hate it, find it emasculating, but Klaus can't, for it is not without benefits.
Caroline had switched back to what he assumes is her regular night clothes, stowing the baggy, unflattering pink ones she'd bought. He can feel her breasts, pressed into his back, with only two thin layers of cotton separating his skin from hers. Caroline's legs are resting against his, all that smooth, warm, tempting, skin bared by her little shorts, brushing against him. Her hand has crept under his shirt again, and the occasional flex of her fingers, low on his stomach, causes his muscles to tighten in response.
It would be so easy for her, to slip her hand lower, into the waistband of the shorts he wears, and lower still to wrap around him.
Klaus pushes the thought away before he can begin to dwell on it. He already expects that he'll once again be reduced to wanking in the shower, no need to let his imagination run wild, and force the timetable up. He might as well take a few seconds to savor this, because while Caroline had seemed to make a decision in the wee hours, had seemed to agree to give him a chance, Klaus knows that it's entirely possible she'll see things differently, in the daylight.
But Klaus is fairly confident it his ability to change her mind, should she be attacked by doubts, once again. Because at least now he knows that she wants him, wants to try.
But it would be so nice if he didn't have to. If Caroline could be sure, at least a little.
He closes his eyes, and syncs his inhales and exhales to Caroline's. Eventually he feels her begin to move, stirring awake. She doesn't immediately stiffen, or roll away, which Klaus takes as a good sign. She even makes a sleepy, protesting grumble, her grip on him tightening, when he begins to pull away. Klaus chuckles, but pries her hand off of him, sitting up. She clutches his pillow, her face scrunched up, "Nope," Caroline mumbles, "not moving. Morning sucks. Still sleepy."
Klaus eases off the bed, pulls the blankets up so she won't get cold. He debates trying to wake her up, but they don't have anything pressing planned, and she probably needs it the extra minutes. Caroline burrows under the covers, until all that's left visible is the upper half of her face, and a mass of blonde curls. Caroline says something else, but it's garbled by her half-unconscious state, and the pillow she's snuggling into. But he smiles anyway, as he heads into the bathroom to shower. Because Klaus is almost certain, that somewhere in that drowsy string of words, had been his name.
She'd woken up sometime while Klaus was in the shower, having long ago trained her body to limit itself to only one snooze cycle. Caroline had stretched her sore muscles, listening intently. And while at first she'd heard only splashing water, she'd made out other noises soon after. Low, needful, sounds that she recognized as the ones Klaus made when he was aroused. Caroline's body had lit up in response, and her thighs clenched together in time with Klaus' groans. She'd felt a little burst of panic, when the shower had stopped running. Caroline wasn't entirely certain she could look Klaus in the eye, pretend she'd been asleep, immediately after that. Not that she was judging. She indulged in similar activities, once or twice, or pretty much every day since the cruise had started. Kind of hard not to, given the whole bed sharing, accidental cuddling, thing.
So Caroline had curled in the blankets (though she peeks when he comes out of the bathroom, unfortunately fully dressed), not emerging until the door to the suite shuts behind Klaus as he leaves.
At which point she immediately threw the covers off, and darted over to her bags. She'd retrieved her laptop and sat back down on the bed.
Because Caroline Forbes doesn't do things half-assed, and she needed to make some plans.
She'd been trying to remember all the things she'd researched about Gustavia, back when she and Rebekah had been in full planning mode. There was a Catamaran trip booked for tomorrow, but today was free. She'd sort of planned to just lie on one of the beaches, maybe do a little shopping. It was supposed to be a little swankier, than some of the other destinations, so Caroline figured that she'd maybe have better luck finding something for Katherine, who's tastes were nothing if not champagne.
But those plans have been pushed aside, because Caroline wants to do something for Klaus, something that shows that she's in, as much as he's said that he is. Can she top horses and a romantic sunset? Probably not. But then, he'd called for help, and she sort of wants to avoid doing that. She's pretty sure that Rebekah will have a billion and one things to say, and Caroline would rather avoid that, for now. Forever, if she's being honest. But Rebekah is nothing if not tenacious, so Caroline has no illusions that she'll actually be able to.
But then Klaus returns, far more quickly than Caroline had anticipated. Surprised, she shoves the notepad she's been scribbling on under a pillow.
She realizes that probably looked bad, like she felt guilty, half a second too late, when Klaus' face falls slightly. Caroline opens her mouth to explain, but Klaus beats her to it, forcing a friendly tone, "I didn't expect you to be awake. You were still dead to the world, when I left."
"Must've been the door," Caroline replies, "I got up right after you left." Only partially the truth. But things were awkward enough, with him looking at her like he expected her to bolt at any moment, without adding, 'I woke up to hear you masturbating in the shower' into the mix.
"Oh," Klaus blinks, looking apologetic, before he looks down at his hands, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you. I brought coffee. I know you haven't managed much sleep, these last two nights. There are croissants, again, as well. I thought you'd sleep longer, but they'll be serving breakfast, for another half hour, so if you want something else, you can hurry…"
"Klaus stop," Caroline interrupts his rambling. It's possibly the most discomfited she's ever seen him, and it makes her feel like the jerkiest of jerks. "This isn't me freezing you out again," she tells him.
He glances up at that, a little guarded, but hopeful too, "It's not?" he questions, and she can't blame him for the obvious skepticism.
"No," she insists. Caroline swallows, steels herself. She's pretty sure he won't reject her, but that doesn't make what she's about to do any less stress inducing, "Would you like to go out with me?" Caroline asks. It comes out quickly, pitch rising with her nerves.
But Klaus smiles, slow and pleased, after a few beats. "Are you asking me on a date, love? Or do I have to wait for you to kiss me goodnight, before I can officially consider it such?"
Caroline can't help the amused noise that emerges at his teasing. She tips her head, considering, "Whoa. I think you're getting ahead of yourself. Maybe I won't want to kiss you, huh?"
It's a lie and he knows it.
Klaus approaches the bed, eyes dark and smirk wicked, setting their breakfast down on the bedside table. He sits on the bed, his thigh pressed to hers. He trails his fingers along her calf, watches knowingly as Caroline presses her lips together to hold in a gasp, as they drift higher, "I'm not worried, sweetheart. I think you want to kiss me now, I think you'll want to kiss me then, too. Where are you taking me?"
Caroline shifts, suddenly unsure, "Uh, I found this place that does picnics? Fancy ones, wine and cheese and stuff. And I remember you seemed to know a lot about wine, at the wedding. So I figured you might like it? And maybe it's kind of lame, but I realized I don't actually know you that well, but I'd like to, and I'll do better next time…"
Klaus leans in and cuts her off with a kiss, letting out a satisfied hum when he licks into her mouth, and she meets him stroke for stroke. His hand slips around the nape of her neck, thumb brushing her jaw. The angle's a little awkward, but he encourages her to tilt her head, as he pulls back, runs his mouth down her throat, languidly exploring, until Caroline's got the sheets clenched in her hands and her eyes squeezed shut.
Klaus rests his forehead against hers, "It sounds fantastic, Caroline. Honestly."
She studies him, as she waits for her body to calm, and she thinks he's being truthful. And second guessing his every action has gotten her nowhere. So Caroline pulls back, tosses him a little smirk of her own, deciding he deserves a little payback for his smugness, "Good. I thought we'd have it on one of the beaches? They look very pretty, and I've been saving a particularly tiny bikini. You know, for a special occasion."
Klaus eyes widen momentarily, before he narrows them in a playful glare, "That's mean, love, taunting a man like that. I think the little blue one's been my favorite, so far, but I look forward to your version of 'particularly tiny.'"
Caroline leans in, kisses him again quickly, hopping off the bed as he reaches for her to deepen it, "Play your cards right," she singsongs, as she saunters towards the bathroom, "and you might just see the nighttime version of particularly tiny. I'll give you a hint: it's black and lacy."
The small, nearly inaudible, moan Klaus lets out sends a little thrill down Caroline's spine. She catches his eye, just before she shuts the bathroom door between them. The way he's watching her is heated, his lips are parted and his hands are gripping the edge of the mattress, like it's taking all sorts of self-control to keep himself from following her.
Caroline bites back a giggle, once she's alone in the bathroom. It was a heady thing, the way Klaus wanted her. And maybe she won't bite back her moans, as she follows his example, and takes care of her own needs in the shower. It was only fair, wasn't it? Since she'd listened to him.