Caroline froze a full three seconds before Klaus did. He smirked against her at the sound of Stefan's voice. He pressed another wickedly sinful kiss against her aching lips before he pulled back. The sharp poke in the side he received in return was entirely worth it.

Caroline could barely catch her breath. And since looking her friend in the eye any time in the next century wasn't a possibility, she buried her face in her hands and let out a humiliated groan.

Stefan stared at the two of them with a mixture of disapproval, disgust and amusement.

Finding it difficult not to laugh, Klaus decided not to miss an opportunity to show the change in his relationship with Caroline to her friend. He casually reached over and hauled Caroline into his side. He kept an arm firmly around her. Part of him expected an instant withdrawal from him, possibly some angry words. But she said nothing.

"Can you give us a minute, mate?" He asked with a smirk.

Stefan looked genuinely relieved as he made his escape.

He could tell that Caroline was mortified, but he tried not to take it personally. This wasn't difficult as she had turned to bury her face in his chest, another groan escaping her. A natural smile formed on his face as he watched her. She was clearly a lot more comfortable with him than she had ever been before. It wasn't a declaration of undying love and loyalty, but he would take what he could get. This playing the hero business definitely had its good points.

The sexual tension between the pair was at least providing them with a brief respite from worry. And having her unique scent this close to him was always welcome.

Especially when the rage inside of him threatened to boil over, as it had done for days now. He still hadn't quite forgotten the mixture of terror and fury he had experienced when he saw Silas with Caroline.

Terror wasn't something he was used to feeling. The last person he had been frightened of was Mikael. And he hadn't truly feared him for centuries. As with everyone else, he had always been one step ahead of his vengeful father. But this Silas was a new entity altogether. He was not only a thousand years older than Klaus, he was also obsessed with the same girl. And it was the girl he was afraid for. Without his noticing, his hand had come up to her hair. His fingers ran through the soft strands as he pondered on the situation. She had told them that she saw visions from two thousand years ago, visions that included not only her but also him. According to her, they had seemed to be a couple, caught up in a triangle between him and Silas. Klaus rolled his eyes. Love triangles seemed to rule all their lives. His witch friend was still outside chanting, when she came inside again he would question her about past lives and whether all of this was even possible.

Caroline shifted in his arms and brought his attention back to the present.

"So... Um, thanks for the rescue."

"You're welcome love."

She pulled back to look at him. "No really, I know you seem to have developed a habit of saving me, even if most of the time it's your fault i'm in danger." She ignored his smirk as she shifted uncomfortably. "I was beyond afraid and you came for me, even though he's older and stronger than you, you still came."

It was his turn to shift uncomfortably. "Love, he is not stronger than me." He ignored her smile. "And I'll always come for you Caroline. I hope you know that."

She didn't know what to say to that.

"We should talk love, about the things he showed you."

"Do you know what he was doing? Or how he did it?"

"I wish I did sweetheart, not knowing what's going on.. It is... frustrating... to say the least." Klaus was clearly thrown by this whole thing, a feeling that wasn't sitting well with him.

Her next question reminded him of why he liked this woman so much.

"Do you think that what he showed me could be real? I mean... you saw that picture of me. Could I be a doppleganger? Or is it a reincarnation thing? He said that all things are meant to happen, that I was born to be here when he rose.. I think he really believes that I'm this Abi person. And why the hell were you there? That doesn't make any sense either. He kept saying that you wouldn't take me from him, that you tried before."

"I really don't know love, perhaps my friend will be able to enlighten us when she is done with her protection spells. Rest assured sweetheart, whatever he is after from you, he will not get it as long as you are with me. I will not let him harm you." The fierce look in his eyes told her that he meant every word he was saying. Having a thousand-year old hybrid immortal on her side was definitely making her feel better. She gave him a soft smile, one that she rarely gave anyone and he smiled back, touched at the look of gratitude on her face. He could get used to this side of her.

"Klaus... Just before, when I was asleep, when you woke me up.." He knew that her face would be turning purple right now if she were human. Regardless ofher embarrassment, he refused to be sorry that she had kissed him again, only sorry that they had been caught before he could ravish her. "I was dreaming.. About us. But it didn't feel like a dream. It felt like reliving a memory or something. That's dumb, right?"

"What were we doing, in this dream?" He asked her.

"Em, we were, uh, you know, you know." Klaus was delighted. Between her awkward response and the fact that she was still sat reasonably close to him, talking to him as though she didn't hate him, it had been a good days progress between them as far as he was concerned. Not to mention that judging by the fact that she could barely look at him, and her reaction to him when he woke her she had clearly been having impure dreams about him as well. "We were human.. And we talked about Silas as if we both knew him." His face took on the exact expression it had in her dream when she had ruined his mood by mentioning Silas. She was starting to have a small taste of what it felt like to be Elena, torn between two men.

Luckily for her, she couldn't remember most of her "love-triangle". If that's what it was. They knew nothing about what was happening and it was getting old quickly. Caroline always had a plan and she always knew what to do. This time, she was screwed.

Caroline gave a sigh of frustration. "This is just stupid! I don't know why I was ever envious of Elena. Being the one in constant danger is not fun."

Klaus frowned, "Love, why would you ever be envious of the doppelgänger? She's a self-righteous, self-absorbed little girl who can't keep her head outside of herself for long enough to care that she is destroying the relationship of two brothers. You outshine her in every way imaginable. In fact, you outshine every other woman I have ever met and trust me Caroline, I've met a lot of women."

She should have hated him for his words about her friend. But everything else he said was making her try her best not to beam at him.

"It's just," She paused, unsure whether opening up to someone who was still her enemy was the wisest thing she could do. But screw it, he was the only person who bothered to ask. The only one who showed any interest in her outside of what she could do to help Elena. With a small sigh, she continued, "Even when we were all human and didn't know anything about vampires or witches or dopplegangers, everything was always a competition between us. One that I could never seem to win. Teachers all loved her, guys all wanted her, I was never first choice when she was around. All of that changed when I became a vampire of course. I grew up and realised that not everything is a competition. And began to care enough about myself to not make everything one. But all of our lives recently have revolved around the things happening to her and sometimes I feel like it would be nice to just, just" she trailed off, aware she probably sounded like a jealous brat.

"It would be nice for someone to worry about you for a change." He said quietly. "For the things that you go through to matter as much as the things she goes through."

"Well, yeah," she looked up at him. "When did you get so insightful?" She laughed with him as he gave a small chuckle. He was always insightful when it came to her, in fact he sometimes seemed to know her better than she did herself. "Anyway, Elena is the center of everything because someone is always trying to hurt her. You included." she spared him a glare, just to remind him that she hadn't forgotten the things he had done.

"Yes, well. Unlike Elena, you are not going to be throwing yourself on some sacrificial alter to protect your friends. You will stay here with me until we find a way to get rid of this Silas. And you will not run off like that again." He told her, his voice suddenly harsh.

Caroline flinched. She'd put it off for so long she forgot that he was probably furious with her for running. But she wasn't ready to be ordered around like something he owned just because she had gotten in trouble like minutes after leaving last time.

"I heard you. You were going to take me away and leave my friends in this mess. I wasn't gonna let that happen." Her stance had become defensive now, he saw that her eyes had clouded over again. But he wasn't about to let this drop. He had come so very close to losing her today. Sheer luck had been the reason they had gotten her away from the old warlock safely. He wasn't going to be letting her out of his sight until he had personally witnessed Silas being sent over to the other side to join his witch lover.

"Love, I don't care about your pathetic friends. I care about you. Getting you as far from Mystic Falls as possible is the best thing to do-" he waved her off with a hand as she indignantly opened her mouth to speak, the fury danced in her eyes and he bit back a smirk, "however, considering your utterly disturbing lack of regard for your own safety, I have, for the time being, put that plan aside. No doubt you would get yourself killed trying to get back to the people who often throw you headlong into danger when it suits their purpose."

She paused for a second to absorb this, then launched into what he was certain would be a speech of epic proportions.

"First of all," she spat at him, "my friends are the first to place themselves in danger when I'm the one in trouble. Stefan and Damon came for me as well today, in case you had forgotten. I will not leave them and run away like a- like- like some kind of coward!" She was expecting a lot of different responses from him at that. But the one she got was one she had never imagined.

Klaus sprang up from the couch, away from her. His eyes glowed yellow for a brief moment as he glowered at her. "Damon Salvatore has his head still attached at present merely because he may be useful in getting rid of Silas. But the second this is over he dies. I don't understand why you would defend him. You of all people." Caroline's eyes widened in horror, but he wasn't finished. "Why you would want to place yourself at risk for him and the people who excuse him is beyond my understanding!"

Realization dawned on her. Klaus must have heard her tell Matt what Damon had done to her. This was so very not good.

She buried her face in her hands again. Humiliation burned her from the inside out. It was one thing for Stefan and Matt to know what Damon had done to her, but Klaus? Something inside of her was curling up and dying at the idea of him seeing her the way she was then. Weak, pathetic, afraid. A used little victim at the mercy of a bad man. But he was threatening Damon and as usual, this couldn't be about her feelings. She needed to make sure that he didn't do anything horrible to anyone else she loved. Not that she loved Damon. But people she did loved him and he wasn't so bad to have around these days.

"Klaus, you can't kill Damon." She uttered in the same weary tone she had used when asking him to spare Tyler.

Klaus felt frustration burn through him. This girl was too much! The man who had defiled her was still walking around on legs that hadn't been ripped from his body and she was telling him he couldn't rectify that situation?

The fact that she hadn't received a response told her that he wasn't interested in what she thought he could or couldn't do to Damon.

"I mean it. You just can't. What happened... it- it happened. I haven't forgotten, but I have forgiven him. I don't need or want you to kill anyone for me."

This just confused him. "I don't understand you Caroline. You can forgive him for that. Yet you despise me. I would never have hurt you like that. Ever. And trust me love, I have thought about it on some rather lonely evenings. Or after a particularly harsh reaction from you."

He seemed calmer now, but the look on his face was tired, and hurt. Yep, he was very hurt. This made something inside her clench painfully.

She got to her feet and stood in front of him. He gazed at her imploringly. "Damon was different back then. He changed. A little. But enough. Caring for Elena, it made him a better man. And I thought- I mean-" She suddenly became interested in her feet. "I know, that he stops himself from doing horrible things because he knows that it'll hurt her. He makes an effort not to disappoint her. But you... You killed Tyler's mom. And you knew that it would make me hate you, but you didn't care. You didn't care enough about me to stop. And I was disappointed. I was-I was- hurt. Caring about someone is supposed to make you better. When I heard about Carol Lockwood I knew I had been fooling myself that you could have cared about me, about anyone. I had hope. For you. That one day maybe you could be someone that I could care about. I hated you for taking that away."

Then she turned and walked away, leaving Klaus to stare after her completely lost for words.