A/N: We're back with another chapter! Hope you enjoy! This wouldn't even be possible without you, Megan, and all the readers. Thank you all so much for the support.
It was two days before Thanksgiving and Caroline could not shake the anxiety that had latched on to her since the previous week. Klaus informed her that he'd rented a cabin for four days up near the ski lodge for her, Marcel, Davina and himself to spend Thanksgiving at. She thought that was a little odd since it was only the four of them but she wasn't going to complain.
"Are you seriously checking your computer again?" Davina asked as she zipped up her duffle and threw it on top of Marcel's in Klaus' living room.
"I'm just making sure all of my assignments are done and submitted. I don't want any stress while we're at the cabin." Caroline replied absently as she scrolled through her student e-mail account.
Davina rolled her eyes. "Klaus, your girlfriend is such a nerd." She picked up her bag and Marcel's and walked out of the living room, complaining the whole way about how insufferable Caroline was.
"She is right, you know." Klaus said with a smile. "This trip is about getting away and leaving school and work behind for a few days."
Caroline closed the computer and looked up at him. "Who's going to run the shop while you're gone?"
"I hired a few new artists last week. Hayley is more than capable of running the shop in my stead." Klaus replied confidently.
Caroline nodded and scrolled through her e-mail one last time to make sure she hadn't missed anything. With a long sigh, she exited out and closed the computer. Klaus was right. She needed to leave life behind for a few days.
Twenty minutes later, they were piled into Marcel's BMW with Davina in the front and Klaus and Caroline in the back seat. The cabin in Douglass was about two hours away and the exhaustion of the last few days was beginning to catch up with her.
In preparation for taking four days off, she'd worked at the coffee shop for the last two weeks straight every day. Having Rose there helped since they could alternate who opened and who closed, but Caroline worked from six in the morning to nine in the evening on the days she didn't have class. She was drained.
Klaus spotted her yawning as she stared out at the trees going by. He hadn't seen her much other than stopping into the coffee shop when he could and bringing her lunch or dinner.
"It's okay if you go to sleep, Caroline. You won't miss anything." He joked. She rolled her eyes and smiled at him sarcastically before leaning onto his shoulder. He spread his coat across her arms.
It was nearly eight in the evening and it seemed the sun was in a hurry to vacate the sky. They wouldn't make it to the cabin until ten, and by then everyone would be too tired to do anything more than eating and sleeping.
Two hours later, they arrived at the Douglass Woods Ski Park and drove through to the few cabins that were build on a particularly large and somewhat secluded hill, away from the others. Marcel and Klaus brought all the bags inside to their respective rooms while Caroline and Davina tried to find something to eat out of the fully stocked fridge and pantry. They settled on sharing a frozen pizza.
"Good job, Klaus. This place is amazing!" Davina said, giving him a quick hug before taking a bite of her pizza.
She was right.
The cabin had four bedrooms and two bathrooms as well as a large kitchen and living area. The bedrooms and bathrooms took up the second floor while the kitchen and living room took up the first floor.
In the center of the living room was one of the biggest fireplaces Caroline had ever seen. Surrounding it were two dark leather sectional sofas and similar armchairs not far behind. Despite the floors being hardwood, almost every inch of it was covered in large rugs.
The kitchen opened into the living room almost effortlessly. A large bar made for an eating area. Caroline eyed the granite countertops, dark wood cabinets, and stainless steel appliances with envy. The kitchen was a dream and she fleetingly wondered if she could get Klaus to make her kitchen similar to this one somehow.
"Thank you, I try. I practically had to beg for it. They were going to let some high school club rent it but I guess 'responsible and well established adults' sounded better to the owners." He replied, biting an apple loudly.
Caroline practically inhaled her pizza before complaining that she was sore from the ride and needed a shower. She went to the room that Klaus dumped their bags in and dug out a large t-shirt and shorts before creeping across the hall to the bathroom.
As beautiful as the bathroom was, she couldn't quite appreciate it. All she could think of was how tired she was and how much she hoped she didn't fall asleep in the shower. She was out in record time and when she got back to the bedroom, Klaus was there.
"Do you need the shower?" she asked as she put her old clothes in her bag.
"I did it before we left."
Part of Caroline was relieved. As tired as she was, she was hoping Klaus would be there at least until she fell asleep which, judging by how her eyes were stinging, would be soon.
She burrowed under the blankets and Klaus opened his arms expectantly. She curled into his side with her head across his chest.
Downstairs, Caroline could hear the muted sounds of Davina and Marcel talking about something. The low buzzing from the heater sounded in the room and a low wind lapped against the window. It was deeply relaxing and Caroline sighed in content.
"Is this alright, Caroline?" Klaus asked a bit later when Caroline was drifting off to sleep.
She shrugged lazily. "It's fine. I personally think we could've just stayed home. Thanksgiving would be just as fun there." She meant it. While it was nice that Klaus had done this for them, a part of her was struggling with it.
She hadn't quite stopped to analyze her feelings for Klaus. They'd been dating nearly two months, but it felt longer than that. There was a deep connection there between the two of them. She wasn't quite sure what to call it.
Love was a word she was trying to avoid. It was a word she was afraid to use. The potential was there, yes, but she didn't think she could say she loved Klaus. She wasn't even sure how he felt about her. Clearly, he cared for her deeply. But part of her was afraid to get that close to him.
"You're either asleep or thinking quite loudly." He commented as he began to run his fingers through her hair.
"Well, I'm not asleep yet."
"Then what are you thinking about?"
Would this ruin things between them if she said how she was feeling? Would it make things awkward? She wouldn't know until she said something.
With her heart practically in her throat, she replied, "Us." If there is an us, she thought ruefully.
"And what about us?"
"What exactly is this? Just…just so I'm sure." She tried to bury her face further into his chest, embarrassed.
Klaus moved so that they were both looking at each other. He could see the clouds of doubt and fear of rejection in her eyes. She was afraid.
"Caroline, I want you to listen very carefully to what I am about to say. Listen, and ask me again, when I've finished, what I think this is between us."
She moved so that she was sitting up and paying attention to him. Her hands sat in her lap fidgeting and wringing, the only truly visible signs of the anxiety she was feeling.
"Okay" she replied.
Silence filled the room as Klaus got out of the bed and walked to the window. From there, almost the entire ski lodge could be seen, though it was almost entirely dark mow, save for the glowing lights from the cabin windows.
"I don't consider myself to be a particularly deserving person, Caroline. There is much in my life I cannot be proud of, much I have failed at. It has taken me quite some time to come to terms with the man I am, quite some time to be proud of the man I have become."
Admittedly, Caroline couldn't see what this had to do with her question. But she trusted Klaus, she realized. He was not one to speak for the sake of speaking. Much of what he said was deliberate. Despite the fact that she couldn't see the connection, she knew it tied in somehow.
"That said, I never expected I might find a person with whom I connected with so deeply as I have with you. I never expected to meet someone so very obviously different from me, and yet somehow similar."
Her hands were clasped tightly in her lap as she willed herself to breathe and listen to him, despite the fact that her body was practically buzzing with nervous energy.
"The day I came into Enzo's seeking shelter from that ridiculous rainstorm, I was well and truly tired. All I wanted was to go home and sleep for days. But then I saw you. I saw this beautiful woman who reminded me of myself, if you can believe it." His tone was wistful and she knew he was smiling a little.
"I reminded you of you? That isn't weird at all, Klaus."
She couldn't help but laugh at what he said. It was the oddest thing she ever heard him say, bit she knew he'd said it for a reason. Seeing the pleading look on his face, she decided to let him finish.
"I saw this beautiful woman with the saddest look in her eyes. I saw a woman that knew what it was to truly lose something, to truly feel that loss in every part of your life. I saw a woman that just wanted to be happy but was finding it so damn hard to. I saw a woman who felt alone, felt rejected, felt abandoned. I knew that woman, because she was me when I lost Esther. She was me when I lost Michael. She was me when I lost Finn and Kol."
He stopped, and Caroline could hear the crack in his voice when he mentioned his brothers. Her heart broke as she saw Klaus shudder slightly with tears. She wasn't sure what she should do other than listen.
"I knew I had to try to help somehow. Maybe with simple conversation, maybe with silence, maybe with a joke. I just…I just wanted to do what I wish someone had done for me: try to help without treating me like I was a fragile broken creature, try to understand. But it grew beyond that.
"I could sense the gentleness of your heart. I could sense the compassion for others that was a locked door just waiting to opened. I could sense, for the first time in my life, someone who could see me for who I was and someone that wouldn't judge me or run away."
Caroline was stunned. She hadn't expected all this when she'd asked what she and Klaus were. What he gave her instead was an answer to the deeper question she'd asked: What does this mean to you?
"With all that being said, ask your question again, Caroline." His voice sounded somewhat hoarse, and she wondered if this was the most he'd spoken in a long time.
"Okay," Caroline nodded, her voice a little quieter as she still tried to absorb what Klaus had just told her. "What is this between us?"
Klaus was back to the bed from the window in a few short strides. He held her face gently between his hands as ocean blue eyes met chocolate brown.
"This is us. I care about you and this relationship deeply and I hope you feel the same. What we have between us matters to me. I am willing to do this if you are, dear Caroline. To make a long story short, you are mine. Hopefully, I am yours as well for as long as you'll have me."
With that, he kissed her. But something about the kiss was…more. It was soft. It was sweet. It wasn't rushed and it wasn't fervent.
It was a promise.
A/N: Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Until next time...
