Taking a Chance: A Klaroline Fanfic
Based on the movie The Holiday
Written and directed by Nancy Meyers

Author's Note: Klaroline and Mabekah on the Amtrak Express continues with Chapter 7... Will Caroline change her mind about going home and pop in to see Klaus at the pub? I think you all know the answer to that one ;)


Chapter 7

Klaus shook his body, trying to get as much snow off as possible as he stood in the entrance of the pub. It had started snowing when he was half way to the pub from work and he was keen on getting there before it got too thick, and he luckily made it before then. He shrugged his peacoat off as he scanned the pub, studying the faces around him; he wasn't looking for his friends though, he was looking for one face and he didn't see it anywhere. He paused where he was for a moment and started to think and reason to why he didn't see her around, but then stopped himself. He wouldn't let himself get bogged down and start wondering why she didn't come, because then he'd start thinking about what he could've done to make her stay, or worse; he'd start missing her. He didn't want what they'd had to be tainted with sadness, so he locked that down and smiled thinking of that look on her face.

That look after he'd kissed her the second time; that adorably confused and contemplative look as she tried to reason through their chemistry and what was going on. He grinned, showing his dimples, as he remembered little details about her and moments that made him happy to think about and as he was lost in thoughts, his friend Paul's wife, Torrey's voice suddenly called out his name and he saw the pair sitting in the back area sitting at a table with chairs on one side and a booth seat attached to the wall on the other. They were seated in the two chairs, leaving him the booth, so he smiled and walked over to them and hung up his jacket on a coat rack near their table.

"How's it going, mate?" he said as he shook his friend's hand then crossed to kiss his wife's cheek before sitting down.

"Not too bad, yourself?"

"Not too bad..." he said, with a small smile.

"I can't believe you didn't see Torrey when you came in, she looks like a blooming taxi!" Paul laughed, his wife scolding him and pinching his arm.

"You said this yellow looked nice on me! You liar!" she laughed. Klaus laughed along with them half-heartedly and it wasn't unnoticed by Torrey.

"What's the matter? You seem distracted..."

"No! No I'm..." He started, but then he caught a glimpse of blonde curl that captured all of his attention. But his view was obstructed by two men downing two glasses of Guinness and he laughed at himself. You're losing it, Klaus... get a grip... he thought to himself, she's gone, she said she was leaving, she left... end of stor- But then the two men walked away to get more Guinness at the bar and he saw that beautiful, bright face he'd been looking for sitting at the tiny table meant for two with a glass of white wine in front of her. Once again, her appearance stunned him, and he was only snapped out of it when her face spread into a big smile and she waved at him, and he felt his cheeks stretching into a big smile. She came... I can't believe she came...

Paul and Torrey didn't understand what Klaus had been staring at, one second he was talking to them, the next he was staring off into the pub. They kept looking back and forth between Klaus and the space he was staring off into and they tried to get his attention again and again, but finally they followed his gaze again and they saw what had pulled his focus... who had pulled his focus.

"You dog..." Paul laughed and punched Klaus's arm.

"Klaus... do you know her?" Torrey asked, interested in who the woman was. Caroline looked and saw his friends attempting to talk to Klaus and saw how clueless he was to what was going on, so she stood and took her coat in one hand and her glass of wine in the other and crossed up and over to where their table was. She stood by the table and Klaus couldn't stop grinning like an idiot.

"You came..." he said.

"I did..." she said with a smile, her eyes flitting around his face.

"You changed your mind? Missed your flight?" he asked.

"Something like that..." Caroline answered ambiguously but softly, looking down at the table, seeing how close their hands were, then looked back up at him, a gentle smile on her face. Paul and Torrey stayed silent through the exchange, their gazes bouncing back and forth between Klaus and Caroline until the two weren't speaking and simply gazing at each other. Paul took the silence as an opportunity to reiterate their presence and cleared his throat. Klaus gaze broke away from Caroline's face and followed the source of the sound, and when he saw Paul and Torrey's expectant faces, he snapped back to reality.

"Sorry! Uh... Paul! Torrey! This is..."

"...hi, I'm Caroline, it's very nice to meet you..." Caroline picked up, extending her hands to Torrey and Paul. They introduced themselves and Paul looked over at Klaus and cleared his throat again.

"Uh, Klaus? Are you just going to make the girl stand there or are you going to let her sit down?"

"Oh! Of course, please, sit..." Klaus said, getting a grip on himself again and scooting over on the seat to allow Caroline to sit. He took her coat that she'd been carrying draped over her arm and hung it up on the rack with his and she sat down and they settled in. They were pretty close, it was a comfortably packed pub and they were sitting on a single booth seat together, so Caroline and Klaus's legs were pressed against each other. Klaus seemed to still be searching for words until Caroline looked over at him beside her and squeezed his leg encouragingly and looked back at Paul and Torrey and took control of the conversation.

"So how did you guys become friends with this one, Mr. Million Words?" she said. Paul and Torrey laughed, immediately liking Caroline, and Klaus was happy to sit back and admire her as she got along perfectly with his friends.


Three hours later...

It was a great night, Caroline completely won over Paul and Torrey, and Klaus was so glad. He considered Paul one of his closest friends and the fact that he liked Caroline only made him happier. They had left already, they had to get up early tomorrow morning, so they left him and Caroline alone. Klaus threw back the last of his beer, and he looked over at Caroline who was slowly downing her 6th glass of wine. He didn't realize it was her 6th until then, she had been keeping up with Paul and Torrey so Klaus hadn't noticed how much she'd been drinking. She finally finished it and Klaus took the empty glass.

"Alright, I think you've had enough, love..."

"Oh, I'm fine! I'm on vacation! I can have another!" Caroline said, waving to the waitress and she came and refilled her glass and Klaus caught the girl's eye and gave her a hard look, looked at Caroline, and then very subtly shook his head to let her know not to give her anymore.

"And I think you got all the potato too, darling..." he said, taking the fork out of her hand that she'd been licking, trying to get the last few tastes of mashed potato. Caroline murmured and let him take it and her plate away.

"I am so glad that you told me to try those mashed potatoes! They are amazing..." she said, overemphasizing, "...I don't know what it is, but whenever I drink, I get so... hungry..."

"Yes, I noticed that, you're a regular garbage disposal, aren't you?"

"Shut up! I'm on vacation! I can do whatever I want!" Caroline said, slapping his chest, but her hand stayed planted on his chest. Her fingertips were able to touch the skin exposed at the collar of his thermal shirt and she moved her hand up to caress the front of his chest and neck and leaned in close putting her lips to his ear and whispering, "And whomever I want..." Klaus's breath caught as he felt her hands on his skin and her breath in his ear, and he felt a stirring that he knew he shouldn't. At least not here.

"Caroline..." he started gently, trying to fend her off without upsetting her, but she only latched on tighter and kept her lips at his ear.

"I know you want to... I know you want me... why else would you invite me here to meet your friends unless you really wanted me..." Klaus shivered and let out a small moan.

"Sweetheart, I will always want you, how could I not?" he said, turning to look into her eyes, "But I didn't invite you here to get into your trousers, love..."

"But I'm not wearing trousers..." Caroline giggled, mimicking his accent and rubbing her hand along the front of Klaus's chest through his shirt, until she reached up again and put her lips to his ear, "...and guess what else I'm not wearing..." Klaus groaned he knew he had to stop her or else he wouldn't be able to help himself and the second he felt the kiss on his neck, he grabbed her firmly by the shoulders and yanked her away from him.

"Caroline!" He said forcefully, a little more forcefully than he'd meant to be, and he immediately regretted it from the look on Caroline's face. It was filled with so much hurt and he could see how similar it was to how she looked when she told him that her last boyfriend said she was bad a sex; the same hurt, the shame, feeling not wanted. That's when he realized, her last boyfriend had to have cheated on her, which of course meant he'd stopped having sex with her when the affair started, and he probably pushed her away using the excuse she was bad at sex. The sad thing was, it had nothing to do with her, and she'd never believe otherwise unless she heard the bastard admit it himself. He'd seen his brother Kol use it countless times on women as he skipped from one girlfriend to the next, unfortunately, but he saw it right away, and he couldn't let her think that; he wouldn't be her Kol.

"Caroline, I-"

"Forget it..." she said angrily, grabbing her purse and getting out of the booth.

"Caroline, please, stop... I didn't-" he said, standing to cut her off from getting her coat off the coat rack.

"No, it's fine Klaus, don't worry about it..." she said brushing past him to get her coat and she slipped her arms into the sleeves quick as a flash and turned to him, "...have a nice life..." before spinning on her heel to leave.

"Oh... fuck..." Klaus cursed as he grabbed his coat and ran after her. He was pulling on his coat and walking out the door and he saw her a block away trying to hail a taxi. He didn't try to understand how she'd gotten there so fast and ran to her.

"Caroline..."

"Leave me alone, Klaus..." she said, ignoring him and trying to get a taxi.

"Caroline..." he said, slowing down to a walk. "Don't be angry, love... it was just a little spat..."

"Leave me alone, Klaus..." she repeated.

"Caroline..." Klaus said again, softly, his voice barely a murmur.

"KLAUS! I SAID LEAVE ME AL-" Caroline turned, shrieking at him, but was cut off as Klaus grabbed her face and attacked her lips with his. It took a second for Caroline to realize that he was kissing her and when she did, she started pushing him and trying to fight him off, whimpering and whining against his lips, until he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her towards him, crushing her against his body. When he did, her hits became weaker and less and less until her hands were sliding up his chest into his hair instead of pounding against his chest. She knew then he wasn't rejecting her, no man kisses a woman like this if he doesn't want her, but that was the only clear thought in her mind before it went blank again, absorbed in kissing him.

Klaus refused to let her go and once he felt her fingers in his hair, he smiled against her lips and he knew she wasn't angry or hurt anymore. He relished having her in his arms and her body crushed up against his, but suddenly Caroline broke her lips away from his, gasping.

"I'm dizzy..." she breathed, pressing her forehead against his and squeezing her eyes shut. Klaus chuckled, he hadn't meant for his kiss to discombobulate her that much. Caroline heard his chuckled and groaned and moved her head down to press her forehead to his chest and hit him with her right hand.

"No... seriously, Klaus... I feel dizzzz-" Caroline trailed off, her body starting to slump as her legs folded underneath her. Klaus tightened his grip on her, his arms having never left her waist.

"Whoa whoa whoa, steady there, love..." he soothed, hoisting her up so she rested her body against his, "...Easy now..." He turned his body for her to rest against his right side, tightened his grip on her with his right and raised his left hand to call a taxi. Once the taxi pulled up to the curb, Klaus helped Caroline into it, which was essentially carrying her into the car and putting her in. Once she was in, he followed, closing the door and giving the cabbie Rebekah's address. He gently pulled Caroline over to him, and she quickly folded into his arms and snuggled her head into his chest and he let his chin rest on top of her head as he wrapped an arm around her.

"You smell like Tuscany..." Caroline murmured.

"Oh really, and how would you know that, Miss I-Never-Go-Anywhere?" Klaus laughed.

"I don't, but you smell like what I dream Tuscany smells like... like lemons and vanilla and almonds and orange zest and wood and..." Caroline rambled, muttering into Klaus's chest and Klaus chuckled. But he had to hand it to her, she must be part blood hound with how she nailed each of the smells in the cologne he was wearing, his favorite cologne Armani Code. He stroked her hair and couldn't help admiring the fragrance she was wearing herself.

"Well you don't smells so bad yourself, sweetheart..." he chuckled, "...it's unique... like you..."

Caroline murmured happily and buried her face into his chest.

"It's my favorite... Tyler always hated it..."

"That tosser... it's lovely, just like you..." he said, kissing the top of her forehead without even a second thought. She smelled like strawberries, violets, grapefruit, jasmine, and with just a hint of vanilla. "It's like smelling when Spring turns into Summer, when everything is in full bloom and everything is bright and juicy and full of life..." he whispered, stroking her hair and then stroking her back through her coat.

"You're good with saying words..." Caroline sighed, eyes closed. Klaus chuckled, his dimples showing.

"What can I say, love? It's part of my natural charm and charisma..."

"Yeah... and sooooo modest too..." Caroline said, attempting to slap his chest again, but lacking the energy to complete the action, so her slaps became more like soft taps on his chest. Klaus simply laughed and continued stroking her hair as he waited for them to reach their destination.


A while later, they finally reached Rebekah's cottage, and Klaus tipped the cabbie and turned back to Caroline, who was awkwardly sitting with her head back over the seat.

"Come on, love, we're here..." Caroline just groaned in response and turned her head away from him, apparently content to just sleep in the back of the cab.

"Trust me, Caroline, you're going to thank me for not letting you sleep in the back of a taxi, darling... That's going to be really uncomfortable by morning..." he said, trying to reason with her. Caroline let out an exasperated breath and swung her legs out of the car.

"Okay... fine!" she snapped, hoisting herself up, and immediately slipping on ice and flailing. Klaus quickly caught her.

"You alright?"

"Yes I'm fine!" Caroline said, suddenly getting haughty again, pushing him away, but flailing and stumbling as a result of the push. But she grabbed onto the stone wall that was surrounding White Oak Cottage and shooed him away with her hand as she rummaged around in her bag for her keys. Klaus nodded to the driver, who took the cue that it was fine to leave, and looked back at Caroline.

"Would you like me to take those and-"

"I can manage thank you!" Caroline said, her voice going up on the last word, and she marched as proudly as she could up to the door, brandishing her keys. However, the effects of her alcohol binge and sleepiness contributed to her lack of coordination and she nearly went flying into the snow covered yard. Klaus caught her again and pulled her close and scooped her up in his arms.

"Come here, love, before you manage to succeed in actually injuring yourself..." As he walked up to the door, Klaus struggled to keep a hold of Caroline as he walked up the front steps of the cottage. Not because she was heavy, she was light as a feather; he struggled because she was drunkenly flailing around, babbling to him and making it very difficult not to drop her as he tried to make his way into the house.

"Like I said, love, you can just hand over the keys..."

"Pshhhh I don't know what you're talking about, I can let myself in!" Caroline mumbled, still unaware that she was being carried.

"Oh, allow me, love... I insist..." Klaus chuckled, easily snatching the keys from Caroline and priding himself on how he was able to get the keys, unlock the door and get inside all without dropping her. She struggled to get out of his arms, and now that they were inside, he let her down, steadying her as she stumbled, but once she was mostly steady, she started stripping off her coat.

"Look, just because you're handsome and have a great body and a sexy accent, you can't just waltz in and expect to be my knight in shining armor, okay bucko?" Caroline babbled, in what Klaus suspected was supposed to be a lecturing tone. Klaus listened, interested in hearing what she was admitting in her drunken state. She attempted to put her coat on the coat rack, but missed it by about 2 feet, but Klaus easily caught it and hung it up for her. Klaus chuckled.

"Whatever you say, sweetheart..."

"Gawwwd sweetheart, love, darling... I've got myself a regular Casanova here..." Caroline said over dramatically. Klaus couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"I'd prefer Romeo, but if that's what you think, Caroline, so be it..." he laughed.

"Ooooh I'm Klaus... Mr. Literary Genius... I know everything about literary people..." Caroline tried to mock, as she brought her arms inside her dress, acting instinctively to take her bra off since it was making her uncomfortable. Klaus watched with amazement as Caroline expertly and precisely, save for a bit of stumbling, managed to take her bra off underneath her dress, pull it up and out of her sleeve, and fling it across the room. Klaus laughed incredulously.

"Unbelievable..."

"What's so funny? Don't laugh at me..." Caroline whined, pathetically swatting at Klaus's chest.

"Sorry, love, it's just a trip seeing you like this..." he said, steering her upstairs, and moving her towards the bed as gently as he could.

"Yeah, well you know what I think? I think-" Caroline suddenly froze, Klaus's smile fading into a worried look.

"What is it? Are you-" Klaus started, but Caroline had already slapped a hand over her mouth and pushed past him and was running towards the bathroom in the bedroom. All she managed to do was fling open the door and just in the knick of time, she reached the toilet just before she began throwing up profusely. Klaus gave her a second before he followed her in, walking to the toilet, where Caroline was sitting on her knees, grasping the outside of the toilet hard, and kneeled beside her and gathered her hair out of the way and held it back with one hand and proceeded to rub her back soothingly. The second she felt her hair being moved, Caroline moaned, her moan echoing in the toilet.

"Noooo... go away... I don't want...hrmph... I don't want your help..."

Klaus laughed softly, not moving, and reassured her, "Sweetheart, it's alright, it happens to the best of us... I've been to university, I've seen plenty of girls tossing their cookies..."

"But you haven't seen me tossing my... hrmph..." Caroline gagged, trying to get words out despite the onslaught of vomit.

"No, I haven't... but I'm honored to be taking care of you, darling... just breathe and let it out... better out than in..." Klaus said, pausing his hand on her back momentarily to look around the sink to find a hair tie. He found one and used it to tie Caroline's hair back, freeing his other hand, and he began alternating between massaging her neck and shoulders—which he knew would be hurting from hunching over the toilet—and rubbing her back like he had before. Caroline had to admit, what Klaus was doing felt great, and it was welcome relief from her discomfort from being draped over the toilet. And his hands rubbing her back gave her something to focus on rather than notice the horrible clenching and heaving of her stomach, which she hated worse than the actual puke itself.

Once the retching came to stop, Klaus helped Caroline up, having her lean on him as he brought her to the sink, knowing she would want to rinse her mouth out. Caroline gratefully took a cup and some mouthwash and gargled, ridding herself of the disgusting taste in her mouth, and allowing Klaus to basically carry her back into the bedroom. He began to change her into her pajamas, but Caroline used what little strength and coordination she had left to fight him off.

"No... no..." she moaned.

"Sweetheart, I've already seen you naked, it's no big deal, and as much as I enjoy seeing you in this slinky dress, you'll be much more comfortable in these," he said, motioning to her pajamas. The skin tight, black bandage dress she had been wearing drove him crazy all night, but he knew she'd be uncomfortable sleeping in it and insisted he change her. Caroline moaned but didn't protest anymore, so Klaus took it as a confirmation and changed her. He didn't oogle her while he changed her, he was focused on changing her as quickly as possible so he could tuck her into the covers. Once she was tucked in, he moved the small wastebasket over towards her, readying her so he could get her a glass of water and some crackers or something for her stomach. However as he turned to leave, Caroline suddenly grabbed his arm, and the motion of him walking away caused her hand to slide from his wrist to his hand, which she held onto with all her might. He paused looking down at her hand in his, and then to her face which looked heartbreakingly distraught.

"Don't leave!" Caroline pleaded.

"Caroline-" Klaus started to explain he was coming back, but was cut off.

"DON'T LEAVE ME! PLEASE!" Caroline started to wail, no tears, just gasping sobs, which scared Klaus. He was afraid she'd start hyperventilating, so went to her side, knelt beside the bed, never letting go of her hand, and using his free hand to stroke her face and hair.

"Hey... I'm not leaving... Caroline, love, don't get upset... I'm just going to run down to the kitchen and grab you a glass of water and crackers, sweetheart... I'll be gone 1 minute, and then I'll be right back, I swear..." he said soothingly, knowing how terrified she must feel being so helpless in a foreign place. Caroline listened intently to him, then nodded, leaning into his touch as his brought his hand to her cheek and stroked it with his thumb, just like she had done to him the first night they spent together.

"Okay... just don't leave me..."

"Never..." Klaus said, standing up and walking calmly away, Caroline holding his hand until the last possible second before letting him go. He hurried to get a glass of water and found no crackers, but grabbed a slice of bread and wrapped it in a napkin and hurried back upstairs.

Once he got back, he placed the bread and water on the nightstand, saying calmly, "See? I'm back, I'm right here..." as he walked towards the bathroom, knowing that Rebekah must have a bottle of aspirin in her medicine cabinet, which luckily he found and he brought the bottle back to the bedroom with him. He was glad to see she hadn't needed the wastebasket, and Caroline had extended her arm again, apparently waiting to grasp his hand again, which Klaus took after he positioned himself on the bed next to her. He pulled her up so she was sitting up reclining, half against him and half against the pillows and headboard. He helped hold the glass of water to her lips, watching her steadily drink, then offered her the bread to help settle her stomach and absorb any leftover alcohol in her system, if there was any. Once she'd finished the slice of bread, he handed her a single aspirin pill, hoping the bread was enough of a buffer in her stomach, which was still doing flip flops judging by her moans and how she held her stomach with the hand that wasn't holding onto his.

He gathered her in his arms, holding her close and rubbing her back, trying to soothe her and lull her to sleep. He thought she was nearly asleep when he suddenly heard her quiet voice.

"Please stay... don't leave..."

"I won't, sweetheart, not as long as you need me..."

"I do, I need you Klaus... stay..."

It tugged at Klaus's heartstrings to hear Caroline say she needed him, and he kicked off his boots, not caring as he heard them fall to the floor, and he pulled the blanket up to cover him and Caroline. He gently leaned over Caroline to turn the lamp on the nightstand off.

"Goodnight, Caroline..."

"Goodni-" Caroline murmured, her voice trailing off as she fell quickly to sleep. Klaus just smiled and placed a kiss on the top of her head and he let the darkness consume them both and fell asleep.


Klaus woke up first the next morning at nearly 11:00, they'd slept in quite a bit. During the night, he and Caroline had moved and rearranged to sleeping on their sides spooning, Caroline's back pressed to his chest, her head tucked underneath his chin, his arm wrapped around her waist, and her arm on top of his, keeping it in place. He smiled down at her, placing a kiss to the back of her head, loving how sweet she smelled, just like she had the night before. He figured she'd probably be thirsty when she woke up so he carefully removed his arm from her body, sad to go, and slipped stealthily way from the bed, afraid of waking her. He grabbed the aspirin bottle and her empty glass and went downstairs to refill it, and just as he turned the faucet off, he heard the clunking footsteps indicating that Caroline had just woken up and gotten out of bed.

When Caroline had woken up, she was happy to see she was in bed, and not curled up on the couch or who knows where, but then immediately groaned as the worst hangover headache she'd ever had hit her like bag of bricks hitting her on one side of her head, then hitting her on the other side. She also realized her throat was as dry as the Gobi desert, so she swung her legs out of bed and did her best not to tumble down the stairs to the kitchen, groaning. She heard a sympathetic sounding "ooh" and looked up and saw Klaus turning from the sink, a glass of water in hand, and he looked at her with a guarded smile.

"Morning... how are you feeling, love?" Caroline was mortified. Bits of the previous night came flooding back to her as she stared at Klaus standing in her-well, Bekah's-kitchen. She'd skipped her flight and met up with Klaus at the pub he'd told her he was meeting his friends at, and all she remembered was drinking; an excessive amount of drinking. And from what she could remember, an excessive amount of drinking solely on her part. She vaguely remembered Klaus bringing her home, and she felt like she could just curl up in a ball in die. Klaus the mega hottie had brought her home while she was smashed. He must think I'm a total lush now, Caroline thought unhappily, immediately trying to reset his perspective of her.

"I haven't had that much to drink since..." Caroline was going to say college, but she realized that that was a lie, she'd never drank that heavily in college to the point where she blacked out or didn't remember things that had happened the previous night, so all she managed was a groan, "...what am I saying? I have never had that much to drink..."

"Yeah, well I believe no one ever has..." Klaus said, with his signature smirk on his face. Caroline made a face at him, then began walking into the kitchen more.

"So... the last thing I remember is coming in here last night and..." Caroline froze as she approached the table and suddenly saw her midnight blue lacy bra, which she'd been wearing underneath her dress last night, tossed on the kitchen table. She squeaked and snatched it up, and as she did, she began to remember feeling uncomfortable and taking it off... in front of Klaus... She wrapped it up quickly and tucked it under her arm and covered her face when she realized Klaus had been watching her discover it and make the realization.

"I had nothing to do with that..." he said impishly. His laughing, but slightly defensive tone made Caroline laugh, but she covered her face, feeling mortified.

"Yeah I know but you were here..."

"I was..." Klaus said, sounding smug. A little too smug, Caroline uncovered her face and shot him another look and reached under her armpit to hold the bra, but realized as she went to get it, she was in her pajamas, and didn't remember changing out of her dress, and she suddenly realized, and looked back up at him with a guilty expression. Klaus watched her thoughts slowly piece together, waiting to see what she remembered, before she finally sighed.

"So I guess we um... we uh... did we, uh..." Caroline realized she'd started to make crude gestures with her hands alluding to sexual acts after she'd pointed up to the bedroom, and covered her face. When was she going to stop embarrassing herself in front of this man? She finally peeked out between her fingers and saw him smiling softly at her.

"We did not..." he said calmly.

"We didn't?" she said, shocked. Klaus shook his head slightly, still smiling.

"Oh thank god!" she suddenly exclaimed, a little more loudly than she'd meant to. Klaus's face looked surprised, and she realized that that was probably a little insulting towards him, and that's not how she'd meant it all.

"Not like, 'thank god'," she said gesturing with a hand up and down the length of his 5'11 stature, "but just... like... 'thank god'..." she said, finishing by putting her hands on her face. Klaus chuckled, understanding, as she continued, "...it's just because... I don't remember... anything... why... why didn't we? You know? Just um, remind me..." Klaus chuckled, realizing she remembered little to nothing about last night.

"Call me old fashioned, but a gentleman doesn't take advantage of a lady when her head is stuck in a toilet, tossing her cookies..." he teased, leaning casually against the counter.

"Tossing my...? Oh my god... that must have been... extremely attractive..." Caroline said sitting at the table, her mortification knowing no boundaries now, she'd puked last night in front of the mega hottie... She put her face in her hands and had to laugh at herself because she knew how much of a hot mess she was, and chuckled, "Seriously, why in the world did you stay...?" She was expecting a similarly teasing response, but he was still silent, so she looked up and saw him gazing at her tenderly, that tender, intimate look he got, and when her eyes met his, he finally spoke.

"Because you asked me to." Caroline was taken off guard by how tender he was, and hearing his response made her remember him walking away from the bed and her grabbing his hand. She couldn't believe she did that, it was so needy, but all her inhibitions had been washed away with the alcohol and then flushed down the toilet with her puke, and she remembered how desperately alone she felt as she watched him walking away.

"I did, didn't I?" Klaus nodded at her, still smiling softly. Caroline suddenly began to remember more of her actions from the previous night, and brought her head back down and rested her forehead in her hand.

"Did I... beg... at one point?" Klaus merely chuckled and looked at her understandingly.

"From the moment I met you... It's been... quite a wild ride..."

"Huh... that's for sure..." Caroline said, with a roll of her eyes, "...all I can say is, I'm deeply sorry, I don't know what the hell is wrong with me... I must be temporarily insane right now..." Klaus looked at Caroline as if he wanted to disagree with what she said about herself, but was interrupted by his cell on the table ringing. Caroline picked up and glanced at it, "It's Nina... SORRY! I didn't mean to look... again..." she looked up at Klaus apologetically, embarrassed that she read his phone again, and Klaus shrugged it off but upon confirming the name, he looked back up at her.

"I, uh, better take this one..." and gestured towards the door, signaling that he was going to take the call outside. Caroline shrugged and gestured outside as if she was alright with him taking the call and so Klaus excused himself and answered the phone. As Klaus opened the door and left the house, Caroline stood to grab the glass of water that Klaus had left on the counter and to fix herself a cup of coffee. As he left, she could hear him answer the phone, "Hello? ...Hi!" with an excited tone. She got an ibuprofen from her purse and downed it with the glass of water, then as she was took a sip of coffee she heard laughing. She couldn't help herself and sidled over to the window that was above the sink to peer out and watch him. Nina must be awfully entertaining from how Klaus was acting on the phone; the laughing and his body language indicated just how much. She sighed and said out loud to herself, "Ettie... Nina... Caroline... busy guy..."

She faintly heard him say to Nina, "No, sorry, not day, sweetheart..." and he checked his watch, and suddenly glanced back at the house and saw Caroline watching him from the kitchen window. Caroline squeeked seeing that she was caught, and tried to make it look like she'd been doing something in the sink, but she looked silly since she had her cup of coffee in hand, and she couldn't help but sneak a glance up through her eyelashes to see how Klaus was reacting. She saw that cheeky dimpled smirk, and so she rolled her eyes and moved away from the sink. Like he needs anymore of an ego boost... juggling three girls... Caroline thought to herself. Caroline was only halfway through with her coffee when Klaus finally came back inside, cursing the cold outside. Caroline tried not to stare and looked around until Klaus finally spoke.

"I think we should go into London..." he said, looking at her plainly, his cellphone back in his pocket.

"What do you mean?" she said, looking blankly at him.

"I mean that you should go upstairs, get ready, get dressed, we take a drive, grab some lunch, and get to know each other..." he said, with the same devilish smirk that she began to associate with him.

"Seriously?" Caroline challenged, thinking of the phone call he just got off of, "Why?"

"Because I'm running out of reasons why we shouldn't..." he answered quickly, then added with a smile, "aren't you?" Caroline smiled back at him, but looked away from him, trying to weigh her options. Klaus saw the battle on her face and laughed.

"Oh, come on..." he said with a chuckle, but looking at her with imploring eyes, "...take a chance, Caroline... talk to me..." Caroline just looked at the ground, so Klaus took a step closer to her and leaned his head over and under so that he could bring her gaze back up to his.

"Come on, get to know me!" She looked at him incredulously, but he just smiled back at her knowingly.

"I dare you..." he said, and his face looked so confident, not overly confident, but content to just stand there and wait for her to cave, like he was betting everything that he could convince her out on another date. Caroline hated herself, but she wanted to go with him. She was intrigued, she really wanted to talk to Klaus and pick his brain. Plus the least she could do to thank him for taking care of her and not taking advantage of her was go out on a date with him.

She just rolled her eyes and turned to trudge up the stairs and muttered, "Fine..." Klaus chuckled, feeling triumphant that he'd gotten her to agree that easily and started looking for the restaurant's number in his phone.

"Hey, and just to be clear: I'm too smart to be seduced by you..." Caroline called over her shoulder, calling down the stairs as she started to shed her pajamas to hop in the shower.

"I thought after last night, it'd be quite obvious love..." Klaus laughed as he had already selected the restaurant from his contacts and was listening to the dial tone waiting for the hostess to pick up the other end.

"That I'm too smart for your seductions?"

"That that is why I like you..."


Author's Note: Okay so I finished 3/4 of this on the train, but got too tired and the environment of the ride back wasn't as conducive to writing as riding there was... plus I had the stress of being delayed nearly 5 hours, and I couldn't fall asleep on the train for too long so I've been recuperating the past 2 days and getting acclimated back to working.

Anywho, have been loving your reviews, keep 'em coming! And I'm probs going to be making Polyvore sets for Rebekah and Caroline's outfits for the next couple of chapters-just because I can and I think it's utterly necessary. They will be posted on my tumblr... But please R&R!

- xo a-little-blonde-distraction