She had sat outside with Tyler until it became dark out. She knew that she had to go inside and try to talk to Klaus. There was no more putting it off. She knew that he had heard the entire conversation, and likely by now, he had made a decision about Tyler. Nothing she could say would change that, but she had hope.

She walked inside and shut the door behind her, then walked straight up to the barrier, trying to show no fear. He was sitting inside of the living room with a lamp on above him, looking rather... regal... in the arm chair. He was looking at her, as though he had been expecting her. Somehow, it felt like the Godfather, but comparing Klaus to Al Pacino felt like an insult to the Hybrid. He was a whole new level of class and mystery.

On the outside, Klaus was perfectly calm, but on the inside, a storm was raging. Caroline was coming in to barter for Tyler's life. His mutt. The mutt that had tried to kill him, time and again. And how many times had he tried to kill Tyler? He hadn't. Oh yes, he had killed the hybrids and Carol Lockwood, but that was only after the latest attempt on his life. And now, Caroline was once again protecting Tyler.

"You can't kill Tyler."

She knew how wrong it was to ask this of Klaus. She knew that she had no right to use his feelings for her against him. But she had to ask. She saw the good in everyone, and that meant that everyone had to be saved. She couldn't just stand by and watch someone die. Regardless of who it was and the reasons for it.

Klaus stared back at her and she held her breath, waiting to hear his verdict.

"Not only can I, I have to. I have a reputation to uphold."

He was simply stating a fact. Someone had tried to kill them numerous times and he was just going to let them live? No. He had to cut them down along with their entire family. Well, he had already done that. Now all that was left was the Mutt himself. And he let a little smirk slip onto his face as he finished his thought, getting rather comfortable, knowing he was going to get blood soon.

"Moreover, I want to."

How could he be so calm? Caroline was trying to appear calm as well, but she was scared. So very scared. She was here, at the barrier, facing Klaus. The last time she had been so close to him, he had impaled her on a pole and bit into her. Even earlier in the day, she had stayed back a few steps, not wanting to risk her life again.

"I'm not asking you to forgive him. All I'm asking, is that you let him live, somewhere far from here."

Caroline was staring him down, showing no fear. He liked that about her. Even when she should be scared beyond all belief and running, she stood her ground. She wasn't looking for other people to get her out of her problems either. No, Caroline faced it head on. Truly, she was the strongest woman he had ever met. She would go far in the Supernatural world.

He pushed himself up out of the chair and walked towards her, then began to speak as he moved closer. "So he gets to live a happy life, after he turned all my hybrids against me. After he tried to kill me. After he made it his life's mission to find the cure so he could use it against me."

He almost couldn't believe her request. Even with as strong as she was and as brilliant as she could be, this was the wrong time for her to stand her ground. There was no way she could ever save Tyler. His fate had been marked long before his imprisonment, and he should have run when he had the chance.

Caroline cut him off from saying anymore as he stood at the barrier, so close to her, and yet still somehow so far away. "We all want the cure."

"Do we?"

Caroline opened her mouth to speak, but wasn't sure of what to say. No one had actually asked her about it. If someone had asked her when she was first turned, she would have said yes. Now, though...

"Do you?"

His undead heart was asking as he waited for her response. Did she want to end it all? He was going to live forever, so he had forever to win her affection and to show her he was worthy of her trying to save. But if she had given up and didn't want to be a vampire anymore...

Caroline looked away from him, and he knew that he had hit the mark. She didn't want it. Caroline LIKED being a Vampire. His face remained calm. He had to hear her say it. He needed more than his own twisted reading on the situation.

"It doesn't matter. There's only one, so it's not like I'm gonna get it anyway." She almost felt like laughing as she spoke, but looked away from him, unable to look him in the eyes as she spoke. How could she admit to the most powerful man in the world that she actually liked being a Vampire. How could she actually admit out loud that she didn't want to be human?

"But if you could."

She looked up at him as he spoke and could see that the smirk was gone. There was no mask there. All that was left was a man. A man that loved her. A man that would live forever. A man that would live forever alone. And he was asking her, the woman that he loved, if she wanted to live forever too. She stared right back at him, unable to voice that she wanted to live forever.

"You wouldn't. Would you."

His undead heart was racing. She actually wanted to be a Vampire. He couldn't help the little smile that crept onto his face as he looked down at her, and she seemed to shift a little, knowing that he understood her so well. Oh yes, she understood everything about him, it seemed, and he knew so much more about her than anyone else in this town even realized.

"You prefer who you are now to the girl you once were."

He felt even his eyes light up as he looked down at her, his beautiful angel, the first light to come into the darkness. "You like being strong... Ageless... Fearless..."

He took a step towards her and he wished the barrier was gone. He wanted to kiss her, to take her in his arms, to make her understand that he understood her. That he saw her. The real her. To her friends, she was, what had Stefan said she called it, the "neurotic control freak", and towards him, the "little blonde distraction". But to Klaus, she was the light in the darkness. The happiness in the emptiness. The fellow soul in the lonely world.

"We're the same, Caroline."

"All day, I've been trying to remind myself of all the horrible things he's done."

"See, that's the thing. We've all done horrible things, and I'm sitting here, trying to figure out what makes us any better than him."

Caroline stared at him for a moment, thinking back to that night, only a few weeks before, when she and Stefan had discussed Klaus. Yes, he had a lot of blood on his hands. He was also a thousand years old. He had been chased down by his abusive father for centuries. Everyone had betrayed him. He was alone.

She had been alone when she turned. And she had killed someone. Would she have been like him, if no one had helped her get control of it? If she had been alone in the months since her turning.

She had said the night before that he could be saved. And she truly believed it. "Then show me."

Klaus stared down at her, waiting to hear what she had to say next. He was almost scared to hear her speak. And after the first sentence, it took all of his strength to just stand there with the mask on his face. He couldn't move. If he had been human, he wouldn't even breathe.

"You know how much I love Tyler. You can see how scared I am to lose him," she was saying, but all he could hear were those first words. He had heard her say it before, but never had it stung like this. She loved Tyler. "If you and I are so similar, then show me your compassion."

Klaus just stared down at her, not moving. She had told him the day before that she knew he was in love with her. She hadn't said that he loved her. No, she had used the words in love. And today, she was saying she loved Tyler. Not that she was in love with him. And even still, she chose Tyler. She was standing here, the brave one, the passionate one, the one so full of life, begging for him to spare Tyler.

"Show him the mercy that I would show you."

The words were ringing in his ears, and he had to swallow down how sick he felt. He wanted to rip Tyler to shreds for using Caroline against him so many times. No, not for using her, but for willingly putting her in danger. Caroline was standing here, risking her life again for that mutt, while the boy hid on the front porch. It made him sick.

"Mercy." The word felt foreign on his lips, and he forced himself to continue. "For Tyler."

She stared up at him, waiting to hear his verdict. Klaus' face, which had formerly seemed so vulnerable and sad, had returned to having a hardened shell for a moment, but it was gone again so quickly. Now he just looked... sad. She could read it in his eyes. And she hated herself for putting that there.

"Very well. Tell him to leave town immediately."

Klaus had to turn away from her. He couldn't look at her. He couldn't bear to see the happiness spread across her face. He didn't want to see the light that was shining through... for Tyler.

He turned back towards her again, and forced out, "And tell him to run, and hide in a place I will never find him."

Caroline couldn't believe it. Klaus was going to let Tyler live. Tyler could be free of this place, and never return. He could see the world, and one day perhaps, she could join him. Klaus was actually going to let him live.

"Of course." A smile spread across her face, and she felt complete relief. She turned away from him and let out the breath she was holding in, then went to the couch to grab her jacket. She knew that Klaus was behind her watching, and she had to resist the urge to look back again. She could hear him approaching the barrier.

"Tell him that this is the mercy I extend for your sake."

He sounded hurt, but she didn't turn back towards him, just getting her jacket on, ready to get out of the Gilbert house. Everything would actually be ok.

"That I will give him a head start, before I kill him."

Her entire body went cold and she turned to look at Klaus, who had a little smirk on his face. He was never going to let Tyler live. Katherine had been the only one to ever live, and she was far smarter than Tyler at hiding. Tyler would want to challenge Klaus again, and then he would die. The boy she loved would die at the hand of the man in love with her. She should have known.

Lucky Duckies. We're almost done!