I remembered little about the car ride home the next morning. When we left or how I got in the car were all one giant blur, literally and figuratively. All I could recall was me laying in the reclined car seat watching the world around me swirl aimlessly. The only constant seemed to be the strobing effect of passing street lamps. Even Klaus was unusually quiet.
When I awoke the next morning my curtains were again displaced, which allowed an overwhelming amount of light into my room. This of course did my crushing hangover no favors. As soon as my feet set foot on the ground I was suddenly nauseous and made a beeline for the bathroom.
In the middle of hugging the porcelain throne, and making fake promises to myself about never drinking again, I heard my phone buzz. The vibration was a distinct one that I had set for my favorite person, Jeremy. Stupidly I answered.
"H-hello?" I murmured before releasing another stream of last night's wine into the bowl.
"Oh my god Caroline? So it's true?" he sounded concerned.
"What's true?" I groaned.
"You're pregnant!"
"I'm wha-" I couldn't finish the sentence, another wave of nausea hit me, he didn't seem to notice.
"I got your text yesterday. You said you thought you might be pregnant but weren't sure yet, I guess the morning sickness confirms it huh? Wow," he awed.
For a moment my hungover confusion had left me in a daze. I had no idea what he meant, then I remembered Klaus' text. Son of a-
"No! Jer!" I said, wiping the vomit from my lips "I'm fine, really." I wasn't fine, not really.
"Then why are you vomiting at 9:30 in the morning?"
"Because I'm hungover, Jeremy," I replied miserably.
"What? Caroline! You can't drink if you're pregnant!"
I sighed. When I told Klaus to make something up, I didn't mean this. I had enough problems already.
"Caroline?! Are you there?" Jeremy persisted.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I finally answered.
"Well? What were you thinking?"
I had to think fast. "Well, yesterday I bailed to get a pregnancy test done at the clinic. Came back negative. Guess I celebrated way to hard." Not bad, Forbes.
"Oh. Well thank god! I thought you were gonna give your kid fetal alcohol syndrome or something. Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?"
"No, Jer. I really just want to lay down." Finally, something I could tell Jeremy that wasn't a lie.
"You got it dude, and hey, congrats!" he said with a possibly inappropriate amount of joy.
The end call beep was the sweetest sound I'd ever heard.
For the entire day I was able to nurse my hangover in peace. Not one bossy vampire came to my door threatening to kill my family, and my "brother from another mother" knew where I was, it was very peaceful. I was even able to get some of my long overdue homework done.
When night fell I silently wished things could be this way again, so easy, so normal - but then my wish came true.
The 24 hour vacation I so desperately needed turned into a 48 hour one, then 72. Before I knew it it had been two weeks since I had last seen Klaus. I kept expecting him to come at the most inopportune time. Like during an exam, or at a town function, but he didn't.
The longer it became the more uncertain I felt. Had I scared him away? Did he find someone new? And most unsettling of all, was he even real?
All in all I meet and knew Klaus within a span of four days, but the intense circumstances and awkward timing made it feel like a month. I'd never become attached to someone so quickly, and his vampire status meant no one could know. There were no witnesses to my adventures and the few that existed were dead or MIA.
For the first week I was depressed. What had I done to make him leave? Before I couldn't get rid of those piercing blue eyes and perfect smirking mouth if I tried. What had become of him? I felt like I'd been broken up with by an imaginary friend.
Everyone could sense I was going through some sort of emotional pain. I'd gone uncharacteristically quiet, offering words only when approached first and leaving the house only when necessary. My mother knew something was wrong, but as usual her job kept her at arms length. Any substantial conversation between the two of us meant she lost precious sleep, or precious lives. Unlike my mother Jeremy had an idea of what was going on, though mistaken he was. Having it was something related to the pregnancy he offered to beat up "the sorry son of a bitch" who left me to deal with this alone. If I thought he could win I might've let him.
For this first week I stayed locked in my room, devouring pint after pint of cookie dough ice cream between my cotton sheets, with an occasional shot of Patron to soothe the deeper mental wounds.
But by week two that had all changed, I was pissed.
Who the hell did he think he was? Making me think I was crazy? And leaving without warning? Making me feel like he wanted me too? I knew he was real. He had to be. I wasn't creative enough to come up with a story this elaborate. I couldn't even make a convincing white lie when I needed to. No way I could convincingly lie to myself.
It was on week two I finally snapped and went in search of his home. This mystery mansion, with the winding vines down a white gravel road would be my savior. It would prove to myself that I wasn't crazy, he was real, this did happen.
One dreary morning, while mom was at work and Jeremy a basketball game, I took it upon myself to go down every unmarked road in the outer areas of Mystic Falls. Two hours of educated guesses later I found the signless path he had taken me down several weeks ago.
It wasn't the same today. The road that had a seemed almost magical appeared boring and grim. The lush vines that once hung majestically from the trees had begun to brown and shrivel into nothing, with fallen pieces lying along side the road. Even the gravel that had appeared ivory seemed more on the side of cement today. It was all so strange.
When I finally reached the house up the winding path it was clearly deserted. The driveway vacant of cars, and the windows with their curtains drawn looked as though no one had lived there in months. If I didn't know any better I'd have made an appointment with a psychiatrist that very moment, but something was wrong here.
Somewhere along the line Klaus had managed to switch off the better instincts that being a Mystic Falls native gave you, because instead of running from that tingling sensation in my spine I ran towards it.
As I approached the doors I remembered the way it felt when Klaus carried me here through the rain. The nostalgia I felt for that moment momentarily numbed my pain.
Half dazed I reached my hand out to grab one of the large brass handles when I felt a strange electric pull emanating from the door.
"Don't bother. It's locked."
Startled I turned toward the voice. There stood a woman in a simple attire of jeans and a black tank top. I noticed her neck was adorned in silver with tiny dagger like pendants hanging from a simple chain. Her only distinct feature was a single purple feather dangling from her left ear amongst her jet black hair.
I looked to her eyes, trying to determine if I should be afraid, but she smiled. It was a friendly gesture that warmed her eyes in way that reminded me of a better time.
"Caroline Forbes, you don't remember me do you?" she looked bemused, but there was a sadness in her eyes.
For a moment I examined her face, then I let out a soft gasp.
"Bonnie Bennett?"
PART 11
Without hesitation I ran towards my childhood friend and clutched her tightly in my arms. I hadn't seen her in years. One moment she was at the mall with me and Elena, talking about our first high school dance, and the next her father said she had gone to live with her grandmother. He would never tell us exactly why and he would never say how to get in contact with her.
"Bonnie oh my god. What happened to you?" I said, trying not to break down into tears.
"I had to go Caroline," she said sadly. She gently pried me off of her and gazed into my eyes, her expression suddenly serious.
"You and I need to talk," she announced.
"Yes, we do," I sniffed through withheld tears. I wanted to know where my friend had been all this time. Why did she leave? Why didn't she come to Elena's funeral?
"No. Not about that. We have more important matters to deal with."
"What matters?" I asked confusedly.
"I need to know about your relationship with Niklaus Mikaelson."
I took a step back.
"What about?" I questioned in a decisively more defensive tone.
"I think you know what," she replied her eyes narrowing.
I frowned at her. I hadn't seen Bonnie for five years and now she mysteriously pops into my life, asking questions about my imaginary friend in front of his locked house.
Sensing my hesitation she proceeded.
"Caroline this is serious. If you don't answer my questions Mystic Falls and everyone we love could be in trouble."
I decided to play dumb.
"What are you talking about Bonnie? How do you know Klaus? How do you know that I know him? And most importantly how exactly do you know that Mystic Falls is in trouble?"
She raised her eyebrow with a look of sheer annoyance. I simply cocked my head in return, oh so eagerly waiting for a response.
"Fine. If I tell you what you want to know, will you tell me what I want to know?"
I nodded.
"Fine," she replied before taking in a big breath of air.
"Well?" I prodded after a moment of silence.
"I'm a witch," she added honestly.
My eyes went wide.
A few years ago you couldn't have told me that supernaturals existed. A few weeks ago you couldn't get me to believe I'd be romantically interested in a supernatural. And today I would've never thought my long lost friend would come back to tell me she was one. My life was one giant emotional roller coaster lately.
"What?" I said, stunned. Thankfully she didn't repeat herself but instead elaborated.
"When I was fourteen strange things started happening to me. I knew when it would rain even when meteorologists were stumped. The answers to exams practically floated off the page. But things really started to get interesting when I started to see the future."
Unexpected memories triggered by her words started to float to the surface. Memories of lunch time sitting around a picnic table with Bonnie saying cryptic things like "I've been feeling different lately" and "things I don't quite understand are happening". At the time we just thought it was your usual adolescent bullshit. Boys, bodies, strained home lives - clearly we were wrong.
"That's when my grams told me we Bennett's come from a long, powerful line of witches. Her and my dad decided it was best to get me out of Mystic Falls and under the safety of a coven. At the time I didn't know what was going on with the vampires, but now I do. I only wish Elena could've had the same option," she said quietly.
For a moment we stood there in a mournful silence that only the doves dared to break with their coos.
"So?" I began. "Why didn't you come back and why the Klaus interrogation?"
"I couldn't come back, Caroline. My grams wouldn't let me. The coven said it was safer for me away from here. That there was something brewing amongst the vampires and the wolves and they needed all of their witches ready to mediate."
"What, there are wolves too? As in, werewolf?" I was shocked, this was almost too much information to process and she hadn't even told me about Klaus yet.
"Yes. There are also wolves. Now you understand why I'm here."
"No, actually, I still don't understand why you're here and I still don't understand why you're asking about Klaus." After all of the crazy things Bonnie had said today the one I was most interested in was still Klaus.
"I see you're on quite the first name basis with him. You must know him very well," she said suggestively.
I furrowed my brow. "No. Not really."
"Well good. Because he is a very bad vampire. He is an original and his power is unmatched. His bite alone will kill the average vampire and it is also the only antidote. He is not someone you want to mess with," she warned.
I was unimpressed. "Just tell me what you know and why you know it."
It was her turn to frown.
"My coven and I have been monitoring the originals and their whereabouts. It is clear they are looking for something but we aren't sure what. We also know he's been spending a large amount of time with you. Even having you break into the police station and kill an officer," her tone was shaming.
"I didn't do that. That was Rebekah!" I corrected.
She raised her brows in obvious surprise.
"Rebekah is here too?"
I swallowed. I wasn't sure how much I should be telling Bonnie. As mad as I was at him I still felt some strange form of loyalty to Klaus, but I had to tell Bonnie something. So I kept it vague and as indignant as I truly felt.
"Yes. She's here. Well, she was. I haven't seen her or Klaus in over two weeks. They just up and vanished and I haven't heard from them since," I sniffed.
She deliberated, obviously trying to decide if I was lying.
"You know, I can make you tell me the truth right? I am a witch."
Was she threatening me? Times really had changed.
"Bonnie I'm not lying," I deadpanned. "Even if I was your witches should've been keeping an eye on me right?"
She seemed to accept this.
"So, did he ever say what was going on?" she proceeded.
"No. He never said what was going on. You could ask but he would just say 'it was all a part of a bigger plan,'" I grimaced at the pain my honesty brought.
She seemed a bit disappointed but believed me.
"I guess that's for the best," she finally said. "The less humans know about supernatural business the better. My witches tell me he seems to be quite smitten with you, is that true?"
I shrugged. I wasn't sure how he felt about me, and the time for girl talk between me and Bonnie had long since passed.
"I haven't seen him in two weeks and he didn't say he was leaving. You tell me how smitten he is."
She gave me a sympathetic smile, clearly relieved that I had nothing current to do with her enemy.
"Look, Car," she said, taking me by the shoulders, "I know that look. You liked him and he left. You can't lie to me. You had that same look when Billy Blake gave you a box of candy for valentines in third grade, only to ask for it back when Penelope Smith said she liked him."
I looked away to hide a sheepish grin. I hadn't thought about Billy in years, but Penelope? She could suck an egg.
"And if I know you, and I do, you aren't over him. Do yourself a favor. Find yourself a nice normal guy, and stay out of all this mess. I know if I could I would," her voice trailed off, seemingly stolen by an intense emotion.
"I can't tell you how jealous I was of you and Elena. I was learning how to disable a vampire with my magic and you got to go to prom," she wiped a single tear from her eye and sniffed away a runny nose.
For the first time I felt bad for Bonnie. This whole time I thought she was a bitch to leave us, to leave me when Elena passed, to never speak to anyone again. I didn't realize she wasn't acting like the rest of us because she wasn't like the rest of us, she couldn't be.
She looked out on the horizon, a wistful look on her face.
"I have to go now," she said softly. "If you see Niklaus you will tell me won't you?"
I was thankful she was looking away so she couldn't watch me lie.
"Of course."
PART 12
To my surprise I took Bonnie's advice. For the next few weeks I cherished the normalcy of my life. Planning dances, going on dates, and spending time with Jeremy became a normal part of my life again. Yet no matter how I tried Klaus was never far from my thoughts.
Wavy haired blondes reminded me of running my fingers through his, smirks reminded me of his devious personality, and I had to quit watching Doctor Who entirely because the accents were overwhelming.
I thought I would never get him out of my head, but then I found Tyler.
In many ways he was the total opposite of Klaus. Unlike Klaus who was a complete mystery to me Tyler had lived in Mystic Falls his whole life and had only recently moved for a campus life. Like everyone else here we'd grown up together and as a result had little interest in each other. If it hadn't been for one of Mystic Falls mandatory town parties thrown by the mayor, Tyler's mother, I may have never seen him again.
Jeremy and I had gone together, as friends of course, but he quickly found a prettier blonde he'd rather spend his time with, and left me alone to nurse my boredom at the bar. It was here where he first approached me. I immediately knew who he was. In this house who didn't?
He was far better looking than I remembered. Strong shoulders and muscular arms looked well under his black suit and the boyish grin was icing on the cake.
When I saw his black spikey hair and dark eyes I knew that he was exactly what I needed to make Klaus go away.
Where Klaus kept secrets, Tyler's brash personality wouldn't allow it. Everything between us was open. I knew his family and he knew mine, no bitchy sister taking stabs at me. He never threatened me, he didn't scheme. Tyler was the normalcy I hoped for.
PART 13
"Happy Anniversary, babe," Tyler said, smiling warmly and handing me a small black box.
"Oh my gosh, Tyler! I told you not to get anything. Three months is such a weird thing to celebrate," I chided gently. I couldn't be too mad, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy unexpected gifts.
"I know, but you're pretty important to me, and I just feel like I don't deserve you," he said a little sadly.
I flashed him an adoring smile and caressed the side of his face. It was times like this I truly loved the guy. Whenever I needed him he was there. Even when I least expected it.
"Well? Open it!" he urged, taken from his poor mood. He was as excited as I was.
I didn't need to be told twice. I quickly grabbed the box off the table and opened it. To my elation I found a gorgeous silver necklace with a heart shaped pendant hanging from the thin chain, and an ornate emerald vine wrapped along the side.
"Oh Tyler, its beautiful," I gaped.
"I knew you'd like it," a familiar voice said. I turned to see our waiter, Jeremy, had come to our table.
"You knew about this?" I said accusingly.
"Duh. You think this goof would know your favorite stone without me? Yeah right."
"Hey! I picked out the necklace at least!" Tyler defended.
As I watched the two bicker back and forth I felt grateful to have such great guys in my life who cared about me.
"Whatever, dude! Don't you have other tables to wait?" Tyler finally asked.
"What? Oh right. I should get back to that. Matt gets pissed if I linger too long."
Jeremy had been working at the grill for only a few weeks now and he'd been begging me to come see him at work. It was Tyler's idea to come here for our "notversary" now I knew why, Jeremy wanted to see my face.
"Anyway," Tyler began once Jeremy had left "put it on, I wanna see how it looks."
Happily I obeyed, gently brushing the hair off my neck, I locked the chain together.
"Wow, you look beautiful," he said, a look of wonder in his eyes.
I suppressed a blush.
"Tyler..." I began, but his phone rang.
In a flash he checked the caller ID and said urgently, "sorry I have to take this, be right back."
Before I could respond he had already darted outside, phone in hand.
I sighed. This was always happening. If there was one thing I could've changed about Tyler it was his urgent phone calls from his mother, or honors group at college.
"Hey Car can you do me a favor?" Jeremy asked, having returned to the table in a rush.
"Sure, Jer," I said woefully.
"I am running way behind tonight. Can you pop your head in the back and get a new box of napkins out and set it on the bar? Like half the tables are empty and I haven't had the chance to fill them."
"No problem," I said with forced cheer. He didn't have time to notice, before I had completely answered he was already yelling his thanks and off to help another table.
I'd been to the back room many times before at the Grill. When Matt was a lowly waiter and not a manager he and I would come back here for a make out break, now I was grabbing napkins. I guess this was growing up.
As soon as I entered the dimly lit room I was greeted with the stale scent of cardboard boxes and poor ventilation. Nothing in here was perishable so the owners of the Grill saw no reason to install an air unit. This left the winters freezing and the summers excruciatingly hot. Both temperatures were terrible to get heated with your boyfriend in. Luckily, the mild weather of fall made the room almost bearable.
I quickly spotted the boxes marked "Napkins" in black sharpie and made my way to that shelf, but before I could pull it out I felt a presence behind me.
"Jer, could you give me a ha-" my words were cut short, first by a scream, then by hand to my mouth.
"If you promise not to scream I will remove my hand," Klaus whispered playfully. His blue eyes were dancing.
I nodded in return.
"That's a good girl." He said in a thick accent as his eyes traced over me hungrily.
For a moment I stood in silence, too stunned to speak. For months he was gone, without a single word he vanished, and now he was back and we were alone.
Before I could say anything his mouth was on mine. His hand at my jaw, making my mouth wider until his tongue was exploring my mouth.
I found myself up against the shelves breathing heavily. His hand had already pulled down the strap to my dress and was now roughly cupping my breast through the fabric of my bra, his mouth only leaving mine to press feverish nips down my neck and onto my chest.
I couldn't fathom what was happening. I had been here for napkins moments before and now he was here working me into a frenzy.
Suddenly his hand had found my center, his fingers working in rapid motions, increasing the pool between my legs.
For a second he pulled away and looked into my eyes, he was crazed. He smirked fiendishly before pulling my thong down to my ankles, I knew what would come next. For the life of me I was sure there was some reason I should stop this, but the words wouldn't come, hell even the reason wouldn't come.
I heard the jingling of a belt coming undone and then a body slammed into his, pinning him to the wall.
There was two of him.
The one with his belt undone was pinned to the wall, his identical attacker keeping him there by a tight grip to his throat.
The attacker appeared tense and livid while the victim...laughed.
"What do you think you're doing?" The assailant hissed.
"Sorry brother," the victim cackled, "I didn't know this was your bird."
"Like hell you didn't. I tell you to stay away from blondes, and what do you do? Try to fuck the one that sounds exactly the way our sister describes. How convenient." His tone was calm but there was most certainly something brewing beneath the surface.
"Apologies brother," the victim snickered again, his lips turning a subdued purple.
"Wha-what's going on here?" I finally blurted out.
The attacker looked at me for the first time. His rage was undeniable, but it was not for me. Beneath that visage was a warmness that calmed me.
"Come on, love. You know something's not right. Focus," he said calmly.
I was taken back to that rainy day months ago, the man with the unremarkable face.
I looked at the Klaus with his pants half way undone, and indeed something wasn't right.
The more I focused the stranger the picture became. One moment he was Klaus. Then he wasn't the same build, then he wasn't even the same age. Eventually he wasn't even the same person. This man was smaller and younger than Klaus. His hair a dark brown and his face boyish, but undeniably mischievous.
I inhaled sharply.
"That's right, love. It's not actually me," he said maintaining wicked eye contact with the stranger.
"Again brother, apologies," the imposter choked.
"Kol," he said pressing both palms at the man's head in a deceptively caring move "I am going to crack your head against something solid now," he stated.
Without another word I heard a sickening crushing of bone against the concrete wall, followed by the even worse sound of a snapped neck.
Now stood Klaus, alone. His brother a limp pile on the floor with only a shallow dent left in the wall to prove something had happened.
He stood there a second, possibly to collect his thoughts before his eyes arose to mine.
I felt suddenly vulnerable. Half of my chest was still exposed and my panties were at my ankles. I felt sick. I had come so close to being with that creep.
He was at my side in a flash.
"Shh, love. Don't worry," he soothed. "You thought it was me, that is an honest mistake. The little bastard is quite the imitation," he seethed the last part.
Slowly and tenderly he placed my strap back on my shoulder, taking care to adjust it in a way that covered me entirely. Then he bent to his knees, and just as softly slid my thong back up my legs and over my ass. The gesture sent goosebumps across my legs.
I stopped breathing when he finished and came back up to kiss me gingerly on the forehead.
"H-how do I know you're actually him," I stammered.
He smirked and even after all I'd been through I wanted to melt.
"Well love, I believe you dreamt about me spanking you once. How else would I know that?"
I blushed.
"Perhaps one day we'll make that dream come true," he added darkly.
My legs felt like jelly.
He was so close now. I wanted him to kiss me and hold me in his arms, I wanted him to fix what just happened and make it go away forever.
He glanced down at my neck and his eyes met mine with a renewed intensity.
"That's an interesting necklace, love. Where did you get it?"
Without warning the door flew open.
"Caroline! Jesus, what are you doing in here? The napkins are behind you!" Jeremy shrieked.
And just like that he and his brother were gone. Once again leaving no evidence that any of this ever happened.
Jeremy, seeing my troubled expression finally decided to ask me if I was okay.
As I absorbed everything that had just happened I realized the gravity of the situation. Klaus was back. I was clearly not over him. And there was no one to talk to.
I sank to my knees clutching my head in desperation.
"No, I really don't think I am."
Hey guys! A few things, first off thanks for reading. Sorry this was a bit long, unfortunately chapters need plot at some point :-/. Hopefully the ending made up for it.
And I finally expanded the dream sequence from chapter 3 called Dreams in Blue. Please read and let me know what you think!
Also I made a tumblr account for this fanfic page if y'all wanna chat about TVD/TO or make a request for a story. I'm totally up for it! Be warned though its NSFW.
Tumblr (I follow back): veiledorchids