A/N: For everyone who has been reviewing—I truly thank you. Like from the bottom of my heart. It makes me want to keep writing because I know people are actually enjoying reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. This whole chapter is pure and unabashed fluff. Enjoy it now, kids. "Even the sun sets in paradise" and all that. ;)
The Dessert Course
"Is that what you're wearing?" she asked after she'd been brave enough to venture over to where his room was located. Caroline leaned against the door frame, which had been ajar. Klaus was dressing in front of the mirror and had a light blue button down shirt tucked into charcoal slacks that were torturously tight (for her, he was quite comfortable, including in her discomfort). Caroline forced herself to draw her eyes back up and meet his gaze in the mirror. Judging from the smirk on his lips, he'd caught her peeking. She flushed brightly and cleared her throat, lifting a hand to brush the hair out of her face. "Anyway, I was just asking because it could get a little messy and I didn't want you to ruin anything." After being caught blatantly staring at his arse, Caroline refused to meet his eyes again and instead adjusted the hem of the lacy shirt she was wearing.
"You're in white and you're lecturing me about getting dirty?" he quipped.
"Duh, what color do you think flour and sugar are? You'll never see it on me."
"Mm, and are those all of the ingredients we'll be using?"
"Well no, but, that's what aprons are for."
"Then I'm sure my shirt will survive…" he paused for a beat before taking in his reflection and then added, "and so will my pants."
Damn him. Caroline bit her lower lip and turned to leave the room. She decided eating before she left would probably be a better idea than not, and spent the rest of the time that he was getting ready slowly nursing a cold bag of B+. She noticed there was an envelope on the table addressed to Klaus and she picked it up, trying to discern where it was from.
"That came today from Rebekah," he supplied the answer to the question she hadn't asked out loud. "I've ignored it like I have her texts and voicemails. She can be so tedious," he said, and plucked the letter from her hands, and then tossed it back on the table.
"Is Mystic Falls falling apart without you?" Caroline teased.
Klaus moved closer, catching her with one hand by the hip and pulling her a little closer, "She's jealous that I'm here with you."
Caroline felt the heat rise into her cheeks again and looked away. She couldn't bear that intense gaze for too long. It made her feel vulnerable. When he didn't immediately move away, she stole a glance up and was taken aback by the way he was looking at her. That look made it hard to remember how much he'd put them through. But Elena had forgiven Damon after everything he'd done, hadn't she? Was this so different? Yes, yes Caroline it is very different, she admonished herself, but realized too late that she still hadn't looked away either. "We…we should go. I don't want to be late."
Klaus smiled and motioned for her to lead the way. "Après vous," he crooned. Caroline had no idea what he said (and to be honest did not care. He could have recited the phone book to her), but assumed it meant she should start walking.
She deposited the half-finished bag of blood back into the refrigerator and grabbed her purse off the small kitchenette counter. Caroline didn't bother looking behind her because she already knew he'd be right there. She could sense his closeness, and for once, it felt more comforting than oppressing, particularly when he placed a hand on the small of her back to guide her along the busy cross-walk. At first, she was worried about making conversation for the walk across Paris to 21 Rue Custine, but she shouldn't have.
"Have you considered, Caroline, what's next?" he asked after a few minutes of walking in silence.
"Well, I thought, you know, it would be baking and—"
"I meant after Paris," he interrupted.
Caroline stopped walking and Klaus took a few steps before he realized she wasn't still with him. He turned around and came back the three paces to stand in front of her. "You can't really want to go back to Mystic Falls after all of this," he spoke before she could say anything. "There is so much more to see. So much more than you can even imagine."
"I know, it's just…I don't know," she sighed and dropped her hands in defeat. "I just never really thought about what life would be like outside of Mystic Falls. I had this whole idea of what my life was going to be like and now look at where I am. I'm in Paris, Klaus. As in France, Paris, not just some little town called Paris in north Virginia, but THE Paris, and with you—you of all people in the entire world who has put us through so much and almost killed me."
"I did save your life though," he pointed out.
"Yeah, but you were the reason I was in that position to start with—but that's not the point. The point is that I should be terrified of you. I should have never left and here I am and it's beautiful and I'm enjoying it and I'm enjoying you and I don't know what happens after Paris because I can't think past what's going to happen five minutes from now." Caroline looked so put out in that moment, but Klaus hadn't missed the significance of the statement in the middle of it.
"What do you want to happen five minutes from now?" he asked, moving perilously close to her again.
Caroline found herself distracted by his mouth again and she swallowed—hard. "I want to bake something delicious and enjoy that chocolate isn't going to make me fat or break out," she said, chewing on her lower lip and looking away so that she didn't have to look at him.
He smirked and put an arm over her shoulders and got them walking again. "Then I suppose, love, we ought to hurry up and not stand around in the middle of the sidewalk." He got no resistance from her, but just a smile as she fell into step alongside him. Klaus really did enjoy it when he was winning.
Dans la classe…
There were quite a few other people in the class, mostly groups of three or more, some with kids, some just traveling companions and friends. Chef Defehr had already decided that they were on their honeymoon and Caroline had been too embarrassed to say anything. Klaus, on the other hand, had played right into it by pulling her close and kissing the side of her head affectionately as though they had been a newly married couple. Caroline huffed. "Here," she said and unceremoniously draped the apron over Klaus's head. He tied his apron easily and then brushed her hands out of the way to finish tying her own. Caroline glanced over her shoulder at him, blue eyes almost shy as she regarded the reverent way that he took on his task.
It was not at all the way he was regarding her about ten minutes later when she was doubled over in laughter after he'd started the mixer on high with only the dry ingredients in the bowl and flour had practically exploded all over them both. In fact, he looked rather murderous—moreso when the chef came over and tsk'd at him and started instructing him on the proper way to do it. Generally speaking, Caroline knew that it could become a very dire situation in a matter of seconds, but she couldn't stop laughing, and ultimately, Klaus just snorted in derision and declared that baking wasn't a true art form, as Chef Defehr had called it. That made Caroline laugh even harder, as well as the rest of the class. He was brooding, she couldn't help it, when she stood up she grabbed his hands from where they were tucked against him with crossed arms and forced him to uncross and look down at her. It didn't seem to matter how angry he was, the look on her face and the sparkle of laughter-inspired tears in her eyes had him smiling as well. Kind of. "So glad I could amuse you," he practically grumbled.
"Oh. My. God. You're pouting!" she exclaimed and giggled again. "Stop that," she said, reaching into the bowl next to them and smearing flour across the top of his nose, which went perfectly well with the flour covering the rest of him. "It doesn't fit you at all," her voice dropped, "but neither does killing a room full of people, so...I guess this is better than that."
"I would not kill them, Caroline. You asked that I not do it in front of you. I will respect that. Until you leave, anyway," he eyed the chef again and got a hard jab in the ribs from the smaller blonde before she went back to the task at hand—which involved the mixer and not slinging flour all over the kitchen. Klaus stood by, playing with the various utensils that were laid out.
"I'm surprised you don't know how to cook," she said, cracking another egg into the mixer.
"That was always Elijah's realm," he said, gesturing absently with a wooden spoon. "He would cook these elaborate dinners back when we used to try and be a family." Caroline didn't have to look at him, she could hear the sting of bitterness in his voice. She decided to try and change the subject.
"Well, if I can't microwave it or put it in a crock pot, it usually turns into a disaster, so this is probably going to be awful anyway, so try not to judge, okay?" she wrinkled her nose when she said it in a way that made Klaus want to lean over and kiss it. He resisted that much, but had been steadily moving closer to her. "Here, try it and tell me." When she turned with a spoon covered in batter she ran right into him and found herself pinned between the table and his body. Her heart fluttered and her body heated when he leaned forward to run his tongue along the edge of the spoon, never taking his eyes off her own.
He ran his finger along the other side of the spoon and then held it to her lips. It was a dare. Caroline knew instinctively that this was not a good idea at all—no, it was a very bad idea, and she couldn't even use YOLO as an excuse because now she lived forever, which meant a very, very long time in the future of facing the consequences of her actions in the present. Still, the way he was looking at her, waiting, she couldn't stop herself. Pink lips parted and he went to smear the batter on her tongue, but she didn't let him. Instead, her mouth closed around his finger, suckling softly. He could feel her tongue moving against him and his eyes went wide. Caroline could feel almost immediately the affect that she was having on him, but their moment was interrupted by the chef clearing his throat just behind Klaus. If she thought that he'd looked murderous before—it was nothing compared to what he looked like in that moment.
She giggled again and bit the end of his finger when she let it go and then apologized sheepishly. No one else had particularly seemed to notice, thankfully. When the chef walked away, she glanced up to Klaus and smirked triumphantly. If only because he couldn't know how much he affected her, but he couldn't hide the same. Klaus glared at her and shifted uncomfortably before leaning on the counter to hide his arousal while Caroline poured the batter into the molds. Fortunately, the molten chocolate cakes didn't take long to bake—seven minutes and then they were out again and being turned over onto plates. The first bite was heaven. Caroline groaned, "Better than sex," she murmured.
"Perhaps with Tyler," he snarked. Caroline glared at him and Klaus returned the gesture with an innocent shrug. "Don't look at me, you're the one who said it."
"I meant in general," she pointed out, poking in his direction with her fork.
"Considering you've never been with someone who actually knows what they're doing, I don't think it's a very fair comparison. And no, Damon Salvatore doesn't count."
Caroline went absolutely scarlet. How did he even know about that? Then again, he knew that she'd been Miss Mystic Falls, as well as other details about her life that she'd certainly never told him herself. "Well…well…" she had nothing. Caroline hmph'd! at him and tossed her hair over her shoulder to go back to eating her cake. "Doesn't matter," she pointed out, lifting the plate so that she could turn and face him. "Do you see this? I am having my cake and eating it too. I'm not thinking about Damon. Or Tyler." After she said the words she asked herself if she'd said that to cater to his ego or because she actually meant it. Unfortunately, she realized that it was the truth, whether or not she'd wanted to mean it or not. Her words though had caused one of those rare, sincere smiles on Klaus's face that didn't come from death and destruction. It was a reaction—she smiled as well and then offered him a bite of her cake, picking a piece off with her fingers. She even fed it to him, or started to. At the last minute, she decided to be contrary and smushed it against his nose. Klaus glared venomously and Caroline squealed with laughter, quickly depositing the plate and running out of the classroom.
He gave chase, catching up to her out in the street, where he picked her up from behind and spun her around, growling as though he might actually tear her throat out, it caused her to laugh even louder. People were staring and she didn't even care. When he put her down, she turned in his arms and didn't even think about it—she leaned up onto her toes and pulled him down at the same time and kissed him right there in the middle of the street. Cars honked angrily and she didn't care about that either. Klaus picked her up and carried her to the sidewalk, where she did finally stop kissing him. When their eyes met again they both looked absolutely shocked (no, she did, he looked quite pleased with himself) about what had just transpired. "Um…that didn't happen," Caroline said as though that would erase it. "Seriously, that did not just happen. This isn't happening." Her hands came up to push the hair out of her face and she started pacing. "Oh my God, Elena will kill me."
"Need I remind you of everything she's forgiven of Stefan and Damon?"
"They never actually tried to kill her though, you did, and you tried to kill me, and you almost did kill me, and you killed other people that we knew. You killed Jenna! You killed Bonnie's mom. Not directly, but it was your fault. She's not going to forgive you for that. And she's not going to forgive me if I fall—" Caroline stopped. No, no, she was not going to go there.
Klaus stood there, gob smacked at what she'd almost revealed. "Caroline…" he began, but she held up her hand to cut him off.
"Uh uh. Nope. I'm not listening. You are not allowed to talk right now. You are not allowed to talk anymore ever. Or look at me. You can't do that either." Caroline was so serious when she was speaking that he couldn't help but laugh with incredulity at her.
"I shall not speak of it again," he said, holding up his hand to "swear" himself to not bringing up the kiss again. Caroline nodded her acceptance of that and was hesitant, but did place her hand in his own when he offered it to lead her back to the hotel for the night.
