It was another one of those nights where, after days of staying awake without any rest, Klaus finally succumbed to the exhaustion. Over the past 6 and a half weeks, he had only slept through the night three times, and each one was as uneventful as the last. However, those were the nights where Caroline barely slept. Every movement he made, every hitch of his breath and every sound that left his lips, she was there, staring at his beautiful features and hoping against hope that he wouldn't wake up until the sun came back up again.
So far, they had been lucky and those sparse sleep-filled nights went uninterrupted until he woke up naturally the morning after. She could see in those few seconds in between sleep and reality where, for a brief moment, Klaus forgot what was happening and the curse had yet to strike him. A smile would curve at his lips, and the tension that caused his brow to wrinkle would be gone, leaving behind the looks she had grown accustomed to waking up to over the years.
However, that night, Caroline was sure they had barely laid their heads down when her usual calm dreams transformed into the familiar scenes of Klaus' nightmares. It didn't matter how often it happened (which wasn't much, thankfully), she still couldn't get over her shock at the sights, emotions and pain that would rock through him each and every time. A thousand years hadn't been enough for him to forget what his father had done to him, and it made her so, so angry that the wounds Mikael inflicted, both physical and mental, still affected Klaus.
Unintentionally sucked into his dreams, she gulped at the immense emotions overwhelming her at first. Fear, anger, hurt. Klaus' thoughts filled her mind, questions about why Mikael treated him as such and why no one stopped him. They were juvenile and innocent, and as the scene cleared up, the feelings of constriction and drowning along with the icy coldness of phantom water washed over her. She knew this moment well, having seen it before in Klaus' dream. It had taken a while before he had opened up to her about the event when, as a child, Mikael held him repeatedly under the water of the nearby river until the point where letting him die would have been a kinder act than allowing him to live.
Pulling out of his bad dream with a practiced ease she rather wouldn't have had, Caroline took in a deep breath to refocus herself before directing her attention towards comforting the man who still looked troubled. Fists curled up, one by his side and the other clutching his pillow, with every muscle in his body taut with tension, she knew better than to rouse him from his sleep. Instead, she hushed him gently, running a hand through his unruly hair whilst she reached down with the other to cover his fist until he awoke with a start.
Her hands fell off him when he pushed himself to sit up, visibly trying to catch a breath he no longer needed but hadn't realised yet in his terror-riddled mind. Watching him struggle to calm himself down in the dim room, she sat up and gently reached out.
"Hey, hey, its ok. You're alright," she soothed when he stiffened at her touch on his shoulder. "Its just me, Klaus."
"Caroline?" he rasped out, turning his head in her direction though he refused to meet her eyes.
"Yeah, I'm right here," Caroline assured him, gently rubbing his back. She could feel him begin to breathe regularly and slowly relax under his flushed skin. He nodded distractedly before he straightened up, all remains of the nightmare forgotten when he cocked his head to the side and gazed around the whole room. "What's wrong?"
"Where's the stake?" he questioned quietly, so quiet that even she struggled to hear it in the dead of the night.
"I have it," she told him.
Klaus turned his head to look at her, eyes boring into hers with a glaze of dire foreboding. "Are you sure? Have you checked?"
"No, but I know it's still where I put it," she said confidently, but it did nothing to assure him. "I'll check tomorrow, ok? But I swear, no-one even knows where it is let alone having touched it."
She saw his eyes search hers before he nodded, albeit hesitantly and averted his eyes down onto the mattress. Deciding to give him a moment, Caroline laid back against the pillows and waited for him to join her. When a few minutes passed, she propped herself up on an elbow and looked at his face to see apprehension covering it. Carefully tugging at his shoulder, she pulled him back towards her as she laid back down, allowing him to rest his head on her chest and wrap her arms around him.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked softly, carding fingers through his hair in a tender manner. Klaus merely sighed and remained quiet, though he shifted ever so slightly to loosely curl an arm around her waist. "Is it worse?"
"I assume you saw, sweetheart, so you know its always the same," he muttered nonchalantly. "It's the feeling it leaves after, like I can't place myself in this reality that's different. Worse."
"I-" Caroline faltered, burying her face in his hair. "What can I do to help?"
"Nothing," he gritted out harshly before exhaling deeply and silently squeezed her hip apologetically. She pressed a kiss into his hair in response and then rested her chin atop of his head. "Nothing that you haven't been doing so far. You're my link to this world; my lifeline in a way."
"It'll take more than a stupid hunter's curse to make me leave you," Caroline whispered into the dark of the night, smiling softly when she felt him relax into her. "Go back to sleep. You'll be fine, I promise."
...
Idly talking about the following year's Mardi Gras ideas she had floating around in her head, Caroline glanced over at her husband, awaiting a response he usually always gave her. It was never anything productive, but she counted on his half-hearted participation in their conversation to help her thought process. He was her sounding board, but right then, she doubted he even heard a word she said. Instead, he sat silently on the couch in the sitting area of their bedroom, staring blankly at his hands.
"Klaus?" she questioned whilst slipping her top on over her vest. "What is it?"
"Nothing, I'm fine!" he all but snapped at her without sparing her a look. Pursing her lips, she refrained from replying, knowing it would do nothing to help the situation. It had been a long and trying couple of months, but she had learnt to keep her patience when, before the curse, she would have given back his attitude in threefold. He exhaled heavily and she could see him close his eyes momentarily through her lashes when she focused on her hands buttoning up her top. "Caroline, I'm sorry, love. I didn't mean to snap like that."
Clearing her throat, she put on her sunny smile as she walked over to him. "It's ok. I have a thick skin so feel free to let it out. I can handle it," she told him lightly with a light shrug, coming to stand next to the couch he sat on.
"'I give this ring as my gift to you. Wear it and think of me and know that I love you.' That's what you told me when you gave me my ring," Klaus spoke quietly as he gently twisted his wedding ring around his finger, causing the sunlight to glitter off the diamonds that dotted it.
"Yeah, I remember." Caroline said because she did remember, almost as if it had been yesterday.
"Its getting harder and harder to discern reality from my cursed thoughts but for some reason when I look at my ring, I can fight it off even if it's just for a moment. I can have peace. It's all I can hold onto right now," he told her, voice still low and eyes still on his hands.
They both knew things had started to get harder for him, with the hunter's curse playing with his mind most of the time. He recently restricted himself to their room, only occasionally stepping into the rest of the house if he needed to, usually for art supplies, blood or to discuss further with what was happening with the search for the potential hunter. No one else was allowed into their room any longer and without anyone else around, it was easier for him to determine what was real and what not. It wasn't easy, not by a longshot, but it was easier.
Stepping around, she crouched in front of him and covered his hands with her own. "Then you keep holding onto it for as long as you can, because what I promised you on our wedding day will never change."
Klaus finally met her eyes, sliding a hand out from under hers to twine their fingers together. "I will keep that in mind," he murmured with a ghost of a smile, squeezing softly.
Caressing the back of his hands, she smiled up at him. "Do you need anything?"
"Actually, could you get me something to eat?" he asked suddenly, seriousness taking over his features and voice.
"Like real food?" Caroline questioned in curiosity, brows furrowing together because she honestly couldn't remember the last time Klaus had eaten anything substantial that hadn't been stolen from her. He nodded once and she smiled warmly before pushing herself up onto her feet, stealing a kiss as she did. "Yeah, sure. I'll be right back."
She was peering into the fridge, trying to decide on what to make with the items they currently had stocked when a sudden crash claimed her attention. Freezing, she unconsciously held her breath until there was another crash, this time sounding very much like glass and most definitely from her bedroom. Without even shutting the fridge door, she flashed upstairs hurriedly.
"Klaus?" she called out just before swinging the door open and crossing over the threshold into their room. The first thing she felt was the warm wind breezing in, and a look at the balcony doors told her why. They were flung open, but thankfully still intact. The glass coffee table in front of the couch where Klaus had been sitting, however, was shattered, as was the vase that once sat on top of it and a lamp from the far corner table. His clothes laid ripped on the floor and Caroline couldn't help herself from letting out a shuddering breath. "Oh, Klaus, you idiot."
...
"Start from the beginning, Caroline," Elijah instructed soothingly from where he sat with a glass of scotch in his hand. She had sought him out in the library after Klaus' disappearance, fingers twisting together in anxiousness until she rested them on her hips and straightened her back.
"Well, he said he was hungry so I went to get something for him, but then there was a crash so I ran upstairs to make sure he hadn't done something stupid - which he totally did - because the balcony doors were open and there was a mess left behind," she babbled in one breath, not sparing a look at Kol and Rebekah when they entered the room.
"He wouldn't just run. Nik knows how out of control he'd be out there," Rebekah commented worriedly, making Caroline turn to include them all into the conversation.
"What? No! He turned," Caroline explained incredulously, unsure how she couldn't have made the connection. Over the past two months, Klaus had been careful enough to stay away from the public, confessing to her privately he feared harming anyone who would come in his way. He was a man who never shied away, who would never play by anyone's rules but his own, who never lost control. However, he knew best what being under the hunter's curse could do to even the most strong willed minds, and the last time he hadn't even been a hybrid. "He changed into a werewolf and left."
"I suppose being in wolf form might help. Technically, the hunter's curse only affects us vampires so perhaps he's at peace this way," Elijah mused calmly, swirling his drink around the tumbler as he lazily tapped a finger against his temple. Caroline wondered how on earth he could be so collected and normal about his little brother running around the city, in wolf form no less, and whether she could learn that nifty skill too. God only knew she would need it with Klaus.
"But why would he just leave? Couldn't he have just said it instead of worrying us?" she asked the question that had been playing on her mind for the past 15 minutes. Why didn't he simply tell her he wanted to turn?
"Because it's Nik," Kol retorted frankly, answering all of her questions with one sentence that was somehow correct. Because it was him. He left so he wouldn't harm her, and he didn't say anything so he wouldn't worry her. If she knew he wished to turned, she would have insisted on at least staying with him as he did so, not able to leave the man she loved whilst he was in pain.
Caroline merely glared at her youngest brother-in-law, refusing to tell him how right he was. He didn't need that kind of attention when he was trying to be mean, nor when he was grinning like an idiot without a care in the world.
"He'll come back, Caroline. I doubt he'll be able to stay away for long," Elijah said with a soft smile that helped to slightly calm her.
"I'm more worried about what he'll do. What if the curse still haunts him now?" she questioned, gnawing on her bottom lip at the thought of Klaus as a wolf, all alone in the city and the surrounding areas with a tortured mind.
"You're worrying far too much, darling," Kol added, losing his smile for a rarely seen earnest look. "Nik is a survivor. He coped with the curse for 52 years last time. He'll make it through this."
Caroline caught Rebekah's nod out of the corner of her eyes, and Elijah agreed with the same gesture. Standing up, he laid a hand on her shoulder and rubbed it gently. "Why don't you go rest? I'll make sure to let the hybrids know to keep an eye out in the bayous," he suggested with sympathy. She threw him a half-hearted glare, but smiled thankfully at him taking charge nonetheless.
...
It was late when she finally fell asleep. After Elijah's recommendation to get some rest, she laid around on the couches and the bed in her bedroom, unable to switch her mind off for long enough to allow her eyes to close. Figuring some action to work out her agitation might help, she had cleaned up the broken glass and various other items Klaus had left behind before moving on to stress clean the rest of the room for another couple of hours. It was only out of a mix of pure exhaustion and worry she managed to fall asleep after crawling onto his side of the empty bed.
Which was why she was not in a particularly good mood when she was woken up an hour later by the faint sound of something landing with a gentle grace on the stone balcony. The room was dark, lit only by the nearly full moon, but she could clearly see the werewolf making its way slowly into the room through the doors she had purposely left open.
"Klaus? Oh, thank god!" Caroline sighed in relief, pushing herself onto her elbow to watch him carefully eye her with his yellow eyes.
He paused a couple of steps away from her, body taught as if preparing to leap and she realised that he was waiting for her permission to do so. Giving him a single nod, she let out an involuntary gasp of awe when he jumped up to join her on the bed. Waiting until he decided he was settled, laying in the space she left clear, she huffed and narrowed her eyes at him.
"You are in so much trouble when you turn back! Do you understand me?" she chastised, whispering harshly in the dark and pointing a finger at him. "I was so worried."
He whined softly, resting his head upon his front paws in submission. Caroline huffed again but ran a hand over his head and down his neck to bury it into the luscious fur on his back.
"Are you ok?" Klaus didn't reply, simply keeping still as she began to card her fingers through his fur. "Is it better like this? In wolf form?" he nuzzled her shoulder gently, and she got the feeling that he was inhaling her scent as he often did (and she did with him).
She rolled her eyes at his typical behaviour, inwardly smiling at the fact that he was somewhat better and much more himself as a wolf. She wouldn't admit it out loud, not when the reason behind it was so dire, but she had missed it.
"I'm going to take that as a 'yes'. Where have you been?" Klaus retracted his head but only blinked at her, not giving her an answer in his movements. "Ok, I guess you can't answer everything. You know you left a mess behind when you turned? I should banish you to the couch!"
He exhaled deeply at her comment, merely shifting closer to her in an act of defiance. Pursing her lips, she scoffed at the clear challenge in his eyes for her to send him away. They both knew that she wouldn't, though there was a part of her that wished she could, just to see the look of incredulity on his face. If it was possible for a werewolf, that was.
"Yeah, yeah, you can stay. You're just lucky that you're extremely cute and fluffy like this," Caroline commented, curling an arm on top and around him as she shifted onto her side.
A smile pulled at her lips when he glared at her with his yellow eyes, narrowed slightly in a threatening way.
"Ooh, I'm so scared! Go to sleep." Klaus growled deep in his throat and nudged her jaw with his nose. "What, Klaus?" she demanded tiredly, annoyed at his disturbance.
When he simply nudged her again, this time a bit harder until she had to pull her a head back to rest onto the adjacent pillow, he wasted no time in getting settled into the space that she vacated.
"Seriously? Even as a wolf, you're insanely OCD," she grumbled, letting him sleep in the place which he claimed as his side of the bed. She wasn't stupid; it was the side closest to the door and the balcony. He was protective to a fault, even in his sleep.
Caroline wasn't sure if a wolf could smile, but she couldn't call the self satisfying look that graced his features anything other than smug.
...
A knock on the door woke Caroline up, groaning drowsily and attempting to bury her face back into her pillow even as a voice followed it.
"Caroline?" Elijah called politely through the door even though she was sure it was unlocked.
"Hmm?" she replied, still half asleep when she heard the doorknob rattle softly. All memories about the day and night before came back to her as her bed bounced suddenly and Klaus stood at attention at the end of the bed, placing his wolf form in between her and the possible intruder. Shooting up straight in bed when he snarled menacingly, Caroline reached out at the golden animal to keep him from leaping away. "It's ok, it's ok. Its just Elijah."
Klaus still hadn't backed down, even as she wrapped her arms around him and tried to calm him. "Is everything alright Caroline?"
Hushing the wolf in her arms comfortingly, she spoke up to answer Elijah. "Everything's fine. Maybe you should leave for the moment? I'll meet you downstairs in a bit."
"If you're sure," he said before pausing briefly. Klaus was still snarling under his breath and there was no doubt an Original vampire could hear him through the door. "Is Niklaus with you?"
"Yeah, he came back last night," she told him, shuffling closer to the wolf and therefore towards the door. He immediately pressed back up against her, almost as if to stop her from getting any closer and she knew he was trying to protect her more than anything. "You're ok. It's just your brother. He won't hurt me."
"I will see you both downstairs." Caroline loosened her hold on the werewolf whilst listening to the retreating footsteps down the hall, subconsciously running her fingers over his fur in a soothing gesture. It was only when Elijah, or anyone else for that matter, was out of earshot that Klaus loosened his stance and turned around to face her.
"What?" she asked when he seemed to size her up, eyes traveling the length of her body when she shoved the covers aside and shifted to the edge of the bed. He followed her down onto the floor when she stood up, and Caroline swore she saw a piece of human Klaus (metaphorically speaking) when he tilted his head slightly to the right at her, tongue darting out quickly. Eyes widening, she pointed at him warningly even as she cringed at the words about to leave her mouth. "Please don't tell me you're checking me out, even in that form? Because that would be creepy."
She didn't expect a response, but Klaus' indifference was enough to confirm her suspicions. Once he turned back and once they broke the curse, she was going to have several severe words with him.
Heading for the door, she stopped dead in her tracks when Klaus appeared in front of her, blocking her way. Raising an eyebrow in confusion, he growled deep in his throat before nudging her bare leg with his nose. She all but jumped at the warm touch, which was followed by another not so gentle shove until she began moving in the direction he was guiding her to; the closet.
"Really? You want me to get changed? You do realise that your brothers have seen me in less than just your long shirt and boxers?" She understood Klaus' answering growl as an affirmative but stopped short of the closet doors. "If you want me to change, then I need to shower first. Not only is it the dead middle of the summer, but I just spent the night laying with a wolf."
He seemed to consider her words but Caroline turned on her heel towards the bathroom before he could snarl at her once more or nudge her anywhere. Somehow, she was much more obedient to his controlling ways when he was a wolf than human. But she still needed a shower.
"Stay here and don't break anything else, alright?" she ordered him, pointing to the bed which Klaus jumped onto. Watching as he sat on his hunches in the middle of the bed, tail curled up next to him and facing the bathroom as if to guard it (which he probably was), she smirked. "Good doggy," she patronised, ruffling the fur on his head as she passed him on the way to the bathroom. His bark of irritation made her giggle even after she had slammed the door shut behind her.
...
"Wait, they found him? A potential hunter?" Caroline asked surprised. They were gathered in the main room with Elijah explaining to the three of them what he had learnt that morning. Klaus stayed behind in their bedroom, still in wolf form, though she was sure he heard each word they spoke.
Elijah nodded from his seat opposite her. "The witches are confident he will be the one we need."
Rebekah, sitting on the other end of the couch, scoffed at his careful phrasing, but Caroline was the one to comment on it. "So, they're not sure?" she asked disheartedly. After so long (though in reality, two months was nothing in the eternity of their lives), she was ready for a breakthrough on their search, but knew not to get her hopes up too high with no concrete information.
"Location spells on vampire hunters are not an exact science, Caroline. The best they can do is find us a location and a name, and we will do the rest," Elijah explained diplomatically, ever-stoic and completely calm despite the potentially great news. Once again, she couldn't help but wonder how long it would take for her to begin acting like that as if it was natural, or if she would ever be able to. Emotions came far too easily for her and as someone who often wore her heart on her sleeve, it was hard for her to imagine tapping it down constantly.
Clearing her mind, she nodded and allowed the small smile to pull at her mouth. Her hands unconsciously squeezed the corners of the cushion she had on her lap. "When?"
"We will leave tomorrow after we have all the details we need and have arranged the... required company," he stated vaguely though they all knew what he meant. A potential hunter needed to kill a vampire to activate his skills, which meant they needed a vampire to take with them.
"I can do that if you want," Kol volunteered lazily and shrugged at their simultaneous inquiring glances. "I haven't turned anyone in a long time, what with that stupid 'no-killing-humans' rule."
"That's my rule, Kol," Caroline scowled, tossing the cushion in his direction with all the strength in her. Unfortunately, it still wasn't enough against the Original, who caught just before it would have smacked him in the face.
"Still stupid," he repeated with a wide sarcastic grin aimed at her. Opening her mouth to retort, she was cut off by the sound of hurried footsteps bounding down the stairs and heading in their direction.
"Do as the rules say, brother. Find a 'lowlife' and take them out of the city limits before turning them," Klaus told him even before he entered the room, changed back into human form and having taken a shower from the looks of it. She could still see the little droplets of water clinging onto a few strands of his hair.
"Nice of you to finally join us, Nik," Kol drawled with a hint of amusement. "How were the bayous? Did you happen to leave any lowlifes for me to turn?"
Caroline stiffened for a moment, hoping that he wouldn't react to his younger brother's endless teasing. He fixed his jaw and set a killer glare at him, but perched silently on the armrest of the couch next to Caroline before turning his attention back to the conversation they had been having. "What else is needed, Elijah?"
Elijah cleared his throat before speaking up, sitting up infinitesimally straighter as he did so. "It is good to see you, Niklaus, but perhaps you should sit this out. We can take care of this and, should it go to plan, it will all be over this time tomorrow."
Klaus gritted his teeth and leaned forward to speak to his his brother directly. "I have been sitting out for the past two months, but this is my curse and I will see it through. Tell me what is needed and I will see what I can do." Elijah casted a quick glance over to Caroline, who nodded minutely. It was the first time in a long time Klaus had been passionate about doing something other than painting, and if it helped him concentrate on something other than the curse for a few hours, then she was all for it. Of course, he caught their silent communication and rolled his eyes at their actions, glancing from one to the other. "I didn't realise I needed my wife's permission to do certain things."
"Luckily for you, she said yes," Caroline quipped with a smirk and a pat on his back.
The others laughed and she could even see a smile quirk on Elijah's lips as he began to stand up and button his suit jacket. "Very well. Lets go into the study and we will work with the information that the witches have given us."
Klaus started to get up to follow his brother, but not before turning to look at her and asking her in a very condescending manner, "May I, Caroline?"
"Shut up and go," she laughed, pushing him off the armrest until he staggered onto his feet and left with a small chuckle following behind him. It had been a long while since she last heard that sound, and she could only pray that their only lead so far was not false hope.
...
Caroline found him in the living room after hearing the front door open and sensing his arrival. She took her time to reach him, though she wasn't sure whether it was to calm herself down from the anger that still flowed through her or out of fear of what she might find. In the end, if all of this hadn't been worth it, how much longer would it take to find another potential?
She had woken up early that morning with the full intention of seeing Elijah and whichever sibling would be accompanying him on the trip to visit the potential hunter. Instead, she had woken up the news that not only had the eldest Mikaelson had already left, but the sibling that had gone with him was Klaus. Kol had been very loud with his displeasure about the fact, and she joined him willingly, swiping the bottle of wine off the table and downing half of it in one go. They had both clearly been left out of the plans and neither were happy.
The low tone of his chuckle was what caught her attention first. It was a sound she hadn't heard in a long time, and with a sigh of relief she realised that their trip had been a success.
"Caroline, love, join us for a drink," he greeted her when she appeared in the doorway. Elijah excused himself after taking a long glance at her, softly squeezing her arm as he passed her by. Klaus continued to stand in front of the mantle with that dashing grin of his that began to falter slightly. Clearly, she was portraying something she wasn't aware of if it could scare off one Original and make another uncertain. "What's wrong?"
"It worked? You found the potential?" she asked tersely, stepping closer to him slowly.
"We did and yes, it worked. I feel back to my normal self," he told her, smile back in place when she stopped in front of him.
"No more voices?" she asked, carefully taking him in from head to toe before gazing back up into his eyes to see how honest he was being. Without a doubt, the haunted look that she had been forced to look at for the past months was gone; a glimmer of hope and love shone freely instead of doubt and self loathing.
"Nothing more than my own," he assured her.
Caroline nodded, closing her own eyes in gratefulness to have her husband back to the man she had fallen in love with before opening them in pure relief. "Thank god," she murmured, pulling him into her arms as she hugged him tightly.
"Pretty sure god had nothing to do with this. Pretty sure I was the one who gave the hunter the vampire to kill and activate his skills," Klaus corrected her bemusedly, cheek pressed against hers with his stubble rough against her smooth skin. It was a feeling she had missed over the past two months. Something so simple and something that use to irk her on occasion, but now, it was a welcome reminder of their pending normality.
A dry laugh bubbled out through her lips. "I see you've got your somewhat sense of humour back."
He chuckled wryly as she pulled away. "Remind me to pay you back for that comment when I'm feeling less cheerful, won't you, love?" he teased, causing her to shake her head at his empty threat.
"What did you do with the hunter?" she asked, realising the loose end that they hadn't discussed and had been playing on her mind all morning. It was one thing to activate a potential hunter to help rid Klaus of his curse. It was another to allow said hunter to run wild and free in the world waiting to inflict the same curse upon someone else.
"We compelled some human to kill him," he shrugged lightly. Pursing her lips, Caroline nodded singularly. He raised an eyebrow at her unusual silent response to his otherwise despicable actions. "What, no telling me off for compelling innocent humans?"
Shaking her head, she let out a sigh. It would eat at her another day, she was sure. But right then, she could only focus on one thing and her barrage of emotions. "I'm just so happy you're ok, especially so soon. I was planning for years, Klaus, just in case. I feel likeā¦"
"Like, what?" he prompted her when she trailed off.
"Like its a dream. Like I'll wake up and it'll be back to how it's been these past few weeks," she confessed, taking a step back to give herself some space but making sure that she was still within touching distance. "Or I'll wake up and you'll be gone again," she added in a colder tone, eyes drilling into his in accusation.
Klaus visibly cringed at her words before he cleared his throat and tapped at his mouth with his forefinger in what she knew as an act of guilt. "Yes, about that. It was my idea to leave you out of the loop, and I apologize-" he began so diplomatically that it irritated her to the end of her nerves.
"You apologize?" she repeated in disbelief, flinging her arms out to portray her astonishment at his nonchalance which only set her on edge even more. "Oh my god, Klaus! You- I mean- I ought to just..."
He waited a beat after she trailed off to question her. "Ought to what?" he asked, mostly confused with a hint of amusement underlining his words.
With the worrying out of the way, an onslaught of rage took over and before she could even comprehend it, she raised a hand and slapped him as hard as she could. The force of it was enough for him to react, face turning to the side with shock written all over it. Her palm tingled from the action but when he looked back at her in surprise, she repeated her action.
"Caroli-!" he began, grabbing onto her wrist before she could strike him a third time, but she cut him off with a shove to the shoulder with the other hand.
"You son of a bitch!" she growled at him through gritted teeth.
"No need to bring my mother into this, love," Klaus teased with a grin that caused her blood to boil and making her punch him in the shoulder once again. "Will you stop hitting me?"
"No! You deserve it, you idiot! How dare you go off without me?! Without even telling me?! You have no idea how worried I was that you might just end up offing yourself if this didn't work out!" she told him angrily, shaking off his hands whilst unloading all of her fearful thoughts and worries from the last couple of hours onto him with fierceness. "You didn't even take your freaking phone!"
"Firstly, I was with Elijah; he wouldn't have let anything happen. Secondly, in my feverish cursed mind telling me to 'off' myself, as you put it, do you really think I would waste time on something menial as taking my phone?" he questioned rhetorically with a raised brow.
Caroline fixed her jaw and rested her hands on her hips, portraying her solemn mood accurately as she spoke slowly. "Not only are you strong enough to overpower Elijah and run off, he didn't pick up when I called him too."
"Because I didn't want to be distracted. Caroline, I wanted this more than anyone. I wasn't going to run off when the only thing that was keeping me from actually giving in was you," he reassured her softly, but it wasn't enough to placate her.
"Then why didn't you take me with you? I was so scared, Klaus," she told him, the anger that burnt through her turning into the familiar cold chills of fear as she recalled the four hours he had been away.
Klaus stepped up to her and she couldn't pull herself away when he gently framed her face with his hands to meet her eyes. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I didn't want you to get involved or hurt. A hunter started this mess and I couldn't let anything happen to you once he activated that side of him. Elijah and I can't be killed by them. You can."
Pausing for a second, she exhaled heavily and let go of her hostile demeanour. "That's a stupid reason," she muttered indignantly, knowing he was actually right.
"I know," he said softly, a smile playing on his lips as he indulged her. "But I stick by it."
Raising her hands to lay on his chest, she fiddled aimlessly with the buttons of his top. "You should have stayed with me and let Elijah go with Rebekah or Kol."
"And miss out on all the fun?" Klaus chuckled wryly, bringing a reluctant smile to her lips. She knew he caught it when he pushed her hair back and gently tilted up her face. "Am I forgiven, love? I am truly sorry for worrying you, but everything is back to normal."
"Please, like we were ever normal," she scoffed, revelling in the feel of his fingertips skimming her jawline. "I really am glad you're ok. I didn't know what I would have done if this didn't work out."
"You would have figured something out. You always do," he assured her confidently, brushing her lips with his. "Thank you. For everything you did to keep me sane and alive."
Shrugging nonchalantly, she wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled herself tighter into him. "I did it for selfish reasons, so no thanks needed," she huffed dramatically. "I kinda like having you around. No biggie."
Klaus chuckled lightly at her words. "You are my lifeline Caroline. Don't ever forget that," he reiterated the sentiment from a few weeks earlier that lifted her previously heavy heart.
"I love you, too," Caroline murmured and brought him into a sensual kiss. She could feel his hands begin to roam her body, ghosting over her sides down to her backside to give her a light squeeze (she had missed his teasing touches more than she had realised) before trailing them up to rest one between her shoulders and the other twinning into her hair.
Breaking apart when she realised if she didn't, they would have to take it to their bedroom (which they would soon), she pressed a few lingering kisses against his mouth before pulling away.
"Can I ask you something?" Klaus questioned after a moment of silence, and Caroline hummed an affirmative answer. "Where did you hide the white oak stake?"
"Under my lock and key," she teased with smirk, knowing the secret must have been killing him over the past two months. When she saw the beginning of his puppy dog eyes and pout begin to come out in full force, she sighed and relented. He would take it back soon, anyway. "It's in the safe," she informed him, proud at the look of utter shock on his face telling her he hadn't even thought about it. "What? I figured it'd be the last place you'd look."
"And if you were wrong?" he asked incredulously, shaking his head regardlessly at her smart thinking.
Caroline raised an eyebrow at him and squeezed him gently. "I know you, Klaus. I wasn't wrong."
x
And there's the rest of 'In Sickness'. I want to thank every single one of you who's been reading for doing so, and for those who have added my fic to favs and alerts, and if you have commented. I can't believe I'm almost at 100! Wow! Its such an amazing honour to receive such positive feedback from you guys :) Keep them coming!
In response to a question asked by a guest reviewer - Caroline not taking the Mikaelson name will be addressed in the next two chapters. You'll see why 'In Health' and what Klaus thought about it in 'In Love'.
Also, someone asked whether these chapters were in chronological order and I just wanted to mention that they're not. I try to slip into each chapter, usually near the beginning, how long its been since they got married or a relative time frame to figure it out. Hope its not too confusing :)
Once again, big up to my awesome beta ssklarolinewrites. If you haven't done so, go read her fics. They're also filled with Klaroline goodness!
