Author's Note: This is something with a little belated Christmas spirit, enjoy!
For we need a little music,
Need a little laughter,
Need a little singing,
Ringing through the rafter,
And we need a little snappy
'Happy ever after"
We need a little Christmas now
"Fancy meeting you here, sweetheart."
Caroline looked up from her notebook, raising an eyebrow at the hybrid who now stood over her table, hands clasped behind his back, obviously making an effort to appear nonchalant. Her first instinct was to bolt in the opposite direction, but she had a sneaking suspicion that he would see nothing wrong giving chase through the French Quarter. "Klaus, this café has the best beignets in the city, I'm always here," she said bluntly. "What's wrong?"
His eyes widened comically, and Caroline fought the urge to snort – he'd spent so long being a drama queen, he probably didn't realize how bad he was at subtlety. Still, she didn't stop him from taking a seat opposite her.
"I just wanted to see how you are," he said with a grin, eyes fixed on hers.
Meeting his stare evenly, Caroline shut her notebook, folding her hands neatly on top of it. "Klaus. What's wrong?"
He broke his façade then, rolling his eyes and it gave her some peace of mind – annoyed Klaus meant nothing was seriously wrong and she could get back to her work just as soon as she got rid of him.
"We need to talk Caroline," he said, a little sterner than before.
"Oh no, are you breaking up with me?" she asked in mock shock, grinning when he pursed his lips in irritation.
"Well, since you've so deftly avoided spending more than five minutes with me ever since you stepped foot in New Orleans two weeks ago, I think it's safe to say that's not the case." Klaus tried to keep his feelings tempered, but there was no disguising the fact that when Caroline Forbes finally reached his kingdom, he had hardly expected her to treat him like the bloody plague. "Suffice it to say, our lack of relationship is not why I've come to see you."
Caroline sat up a little straighter, her lips pressed into a straight line as she took in his curt words. It was true, for the most part – she had been avoiding him, and she knew that it was only a matter of time before things came to a head – but if he wasn't here to force her into confessing just what was going on in her life, she couldn't figure out what was going on.
"Seriously Klaus, just tell me what's going on."
He took deep breath, regarding her seriously. It was a moment before he said anything, and then –
"We need to talk about the carolers."
Caroline sighed, rubbing at her eyes. "And what is wrong with the carolers?"
Klaus leant forward, "Sweetheart, you cannot simply walk into this city and attempt to strong-arm the population in feeling some semblance of 'Christmas spirit' by having a bloody army of singers belt out 'We wish you a Merry Christmas' on every street corner!"
"They're not on every street corner," Caroline muttered, avoiding his stare, but he was not to be deterred.
"To say nothing of the Christmas trees, and the garlands on the balconies, god only knows how you smuggled those up there – "
"I got permission for all of those!" said Caroline indignantly.
"Even the carolers?" Klaus asked with a smirk.
"Special permit from the mayor," she said smugly, leaning back and folding her arms over her chest.
Klaus sighed, not expecting her to be so obstinate. "Funny you should mention the good mayor, because I paid his office a visit and he seemed to have no recollection of those permits he so 'willingly' signed"
Caroline fidgeted in her seat, suddenly embarrassed. "It wasn't like I was hurting him!" she insisted, "It was just a little compulsion for a good cause!"
Klaus regarded her with a raised eyebrow. "A good cause?"
"Spreading Christmas spirit!"
Klaus sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose. Granted, he should've intervened sooner. He should've intervened when he saw the first trees go up on every street corner, but he had simply brushed it off as some over-zealous human taking their decorating duties too far. How was he supposed to know the object of his affections had waltzed into his city and single-handedly taken it upon herself to turn New Orleans into some garish reimagining of the North Pole?
"Caroline," he said, as patiently as possible, "Now, as happy as I wish I could be about you coming to New Orleans, might I ask why you couldn't keep this abundance of – spirit – constrained to Mystic Falls?"
Whatever he said must've struck a nerve, because in the next moment she had stiffened and ducked her head away, saying nothing in return. "Caroline? Love, is everything alright?"
Turning to face him, she locked her jaw and gathered her things, standing up abruptly. "Forget it," she muttered, her voice sharp. "Look, I just – if you hate it all so much, I'll stop, I'll leave, I'll – "
Startled by her abrupt mood shift, Klaus shot to his feet and grabbed her arm, stilling her before she could get anywhere. "Now sweetheart, I didn't say leave." He grinned, but she didn't return the gesture. "Your designs might be a bit much, but that's no reason to run off."
She gritted her teeth, trying to pull her arm away but he only tightened his grip. "Klaus", she said, warningly, but his returning glare shut her up.
"Now, Caroline, are you finally going to be honest?" he asked, his tone clearly patronizing her.
For a moment, Caroline remained silent before finally conceding. "My mom's dead," she muttered, low enough that anyone without enhanced hearing would never have caught her words.
Whatever he had expected to hear, the news of Sherriff Forbes's death was not high on the list. If nothing else, it at least justified Caroline's erratic behavior, even if he didn't completely understand it. "I'm sorry for your loss, love," he said carefully, gauging her reaction.
Caroline scoffed, kicking aimlessly at the ground. "You and everyone else," she muttered, a little bitterly. "Anyway, it was a few months ago, so once I 'grieved', I decided to get the hell out of Mystic Falls."
There was no way to help the small smirk on Klaus's lips, but he tempered any satisfaction he felt, mindful of her grief. "Happy as I am to see you here, that still doesn't explain why you've been so adamantly avoiding me. Or why you've seen fit to become a one-woman decorating committee."
"I found out that she was sick this time last year," said Caroline, her voice small. "She'd known for weeks but didn't say anything, and then a few weeks before Christmas, I found out." Hurriedly, she brought a hand to her face to swipe at a few errant tears, but before Klaus could bring himself to help her, she took a deep breath, steadying herself.
"Anyway, I when I got here a few weeks ago, I was planning on seeing you…but I didn't know how to do it. It was like I was finally saying goodbye – to my mom, to Mystic Falls, to my life. And I guess I got scared."
It's not something he can pretend to understand; the fear of leaving the familiar. Anything familiar to him once upon a time had been tainted by the memory of Mikael's anger, but for Caroline, still young and full of light, there was a lot to give up. So despite the fact that he can't empathize, he still let go of her arm in favour of trailing his hand down to hers and squeezing lightly, offering whatever support he can. "And the Yuletide spirit?" he asked.
Caroline smiled then, a little sheepishly. "Christmas last year was awful, and it's my favourite time of year – I guess since I was scared to see you, I needed a project. And come on, you've got to admit everything looks great!"
"Not my style perhaps, but it's beautiful," he said, grinning when her smile widened and he caught sight of the light he'd found so intriguing about her. "I do stand firm on the carolers though. Some of the vampires have taken to treating them as a convenient snack." He didn't mention that he was in that group of vampires, but her scandalized look told him that he wouldn't be interrupted by anymore unexpected bursts of 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas', and he tried not to look too victorious.
"Come on then," she said begrudgingly, tugging him by the hand as she scooped up her notebook and started towards the nearest street corner. "I need to tell them to take the rest of the month off, and you can fill me in on what's been going on around here."
Klaus didn't know if this was the sort of thing that counted as a Christmas miracle, but as he held Caroline's hand tightly in his and they meandered through the steets of the French Quarter, he decided that this was something he could definitely feel grateful for. And if anyone were to ask any of the vampires wandering about that day, they might've said that they saw Klaus Mikaelson humming 'Deck the Halls', hands clasped with a bubbly blonde.
Unfortunately, no one would ever believe them.
Until next time!
