Caroline paid off her money problems the next morning, still trying to get over the amount of money that was in the account. He hadn't been exaggerating when he'd said his family was rich.
When she got home to her apartment, she heard voices inside that made her eyes narrow suspiciously- who the hell was that-?
She pushed the door open to stop dead, looking at the pair sat on the sofa. One of them was the one she'd taken in, but the other.
Oh, she recognized him.
Caroline closed the door, stepping into the living room at arch a brow at Klaus and his elder brother Elijah. She hadn't met him since she'd been at the hospital, and she vaguely remembered him being the clever clogs of the family. Went to University, the whole thing. The younger of the pair grinned as if he was guilty, telling her. "Oh Caroline. Sorry, my brother came around and I-"
Caroline held up her hands, shaking her head a little. "No worries. He's your big brother. I'm just pissed off that you got out of bed on that leg."
He actually smiled all innocently, nodding down to it as he replied. "It feels much better Care. I did hear the doctors when we left the hospital. It wasn't a bad break."
"You got slammed with a car, Niklaus-! You were in a coma!"
"I'm a fast healer Caroline! My rib's already feeling better, and my leg-"
"Shut up!" She snapped, stepping before him and folding her arms. Klaus rolled his eyes and his brother shifted to let him put his leg up on the sofa. "Better?" Klaus grumbled and Caroline nodded, finally relaxing as she sat her bag down on the table and turned to her guest.
"Sorry about that."
Elijah actually chuckled, making Klaus shoot him a filthy look, even more so when he replied. "Niklaus has always required a firm hand. I'm glad he ended up with you, you seem to be able to keep him in check, Miss. Forbes."
Caroline smiled and nodded to their empty mugs. "Tea?"
The pair nodded, making Caroline snag the cups and walk into the kitchen to boil the kettle.
Elijah waited until the young woman was gone until he commented to his brother. "So this is the woman you're so taken with?"
Klaus scowled at his elder brother, snapping out in a much more older version of himself way. "I'm not taken with her!"
The elder Mikaelson rolled his eyes a little as he replied with a quiet scoff. "I know you've had an accident, Klaus. But I refuse to believe you've changed that much."
"What are you talking about, Elijah?"
"You, Niklaus, like her."
Klaus lounged back against the sofa now as he replied. "I don't, brother. You're becoming blind."
"Or you're in denial." He shot back with a chuckle, adjusting the front of his suit as he walked to the kitchen, telling Caroline he had to leave, so there was no need for a cup of tea.
Elijah told Klaus just before he left, so quiet he almost missed it.
"Just tell her how you feel."
And then he was gone, leaving Klaus to sit and feel sour about all this shit.
"Why was he over?" Caroline asked as she sat down next to him, handing the man a cup of tea. Klaus took it with a mutter of thanks, shaking his head. "Stuff about my gallery. About the night I got hit by that car. Apparently we made a ton of money with selling a painting, and now that the money's gone in… Elijah is in charge of the money, and we're missing ten thousand pounds. He thought maybe I knew, but I literally cannot remember."
Something at the back of his mind was niggling Klaus about the money.
He just couldn't remember what.
"Are you calling the police about this?"
"No. Not yet anyway. Because I might have just put it somewhere and forgotten."
"What can you remember, anyway? Your earliest memory?" Caroline asked curiously now, gazing steadily at him. Klaus paused, then told her. "My earliest memory would be one where me, Bekah, Kol and Elijah were about six, or something. Playing in the sandpits at Kindergarten." He chuckled, adding. "Kol used to eat the sand and-" his eyes suddenly widened as he realized. "Rebekah. My sister. I remember her. She was at the hospital, trying to tell me who she was and… I told her I had no idea."
He was horrified that he'd forgotten his little sister, eyes widening as he set his cup down, muttering to Caroline. "Please can I borrow your phone? I have to talk to her."
Caroline was pleased that he'd remembered, giving up her phone in an instant and leaving the room to wash up and finish the dishes.
She overheard him talking to his little sister, actually laughing with her.
That was a good sign.
When Caroline stepped back inside, Klaus was looking a lot more cheerful. It made her smile with him as she asked. "Do you… want to go to your gallery? It might help?"
Klaus nodded in return, glancing down at his leg, laughing out. "Pull me up?"
Caroline tutted, holding out her hands, avoiding his eyes as she pulled him up. It… disturbed her, the recent developments with the pair of them. She cared about him, of course she did. All these years she'd been in love with him, but this accident… it threw her off. A part of her wanted to still be in love with him, but the other part was scared. Scared that she was taking advantage of him, because he sure wanted to spend time with her now. He was brighter than ever, watching her when he thought she wasn't looking. It made Caroline think, wonder; was he in love with her now? Had the tables been turned.
The accident made her fall out of love for him.
The accident made him fall in love with her.
She didn't dwell on it, swearing to herself she'd never hook up with him because he was easy now. All her childhood and teenage years, she'd been besotted with Niklaus Mikaelson, the cocky young man.
Not this one.
But what were the differences between them, really? Sure, he'd had an accident, forgotten some things, but more and more of him was returning. He was still Klaus.
Still the man she…
She just couldn't say 'loved' anymore. It felt so weird.
Caroline had never been to Klaus' gallery in daylight before, and as she walked inside with him just behind, now only needing the one crutch, she looked around.
It was beautiful.
The walls were the lightest shade of sky blue, almost white you could say. Massive windows along the sides that let the light stream in. There wasn't a dark spot in the whole place.
Klaus left her alone as he wandered around, staring at the paintings, occasionally remembering when or where he'd done them.
He stood before a seascape one now, raising a hand as if to touch the light waves upon the canvas, chuckling under his breath. "Africa. Cape Town. With Bekah."
At that, Klaus blinked, frowning lightly as he remembered that he'd left home when he wasn't even twenty yet. What had made him do that?
He doubled back, knowing that he would have put them in a specific order, not just random.
The first one, next to the door was a painting of Mystic Falls. He recognized it so so clearly. Then ones of his travels with his sister, then another, then another…
He'd gone to escape his family. Someone told him to, gave him the courage.
As Klaus stopped at the last painting, it looked like the back of Caroline… beautified, he remembered.
Not just a little, but nearly everything.
It was jumbled at the start, but then it all came through. Caroline had inspired him to leave. He owed her so so much. He owed her even more now after this.
And then he remembered the night of the crash. He'd run out after her when she flipped at him. He'd taken her out for waffles, invited her to this dance, so much more.
She'd accused him of playing with her feelings. And before the crash, before that car smashed into him.
"Just tell me, right now… do you have feelings for me?"
"I thought I did. But… it's time I grew up."
Klaus was silent, lost in his thoughts as Caroline tapped him on the shoulder, making him recoil. She blinked, laughing out. "Sorry. Didn't mean to make you ju- what's wrong?"
He wondered what she meant for a start, like, why was she asking that? But then he felt his own chest heaving, eyes wide. Klaus returned to reality as he chuckled out. "My leg twinged, that's all."
Caroline frowned lightly, but nodded. "Okay. Be careful on that thing, and come over here."
"Why?"
"Pretty sure this is your studio." Caroline answered, and Klaus said nothing, just walking beside her as they went.
He was lost in his memories.
More specifically, the little blonde woman that had been in love with him all her life, and he'd been so blind to not notice?
God he sucked.
Caroline noticed his vacant expression at times, knowing that he remembered something at least from this trip. Something major no doubt from the way he'd reacted.
But what?
Klaus was silent the entire time, the entire journey back, because he'd been remembering so much.
And he had so much to do.
Someone to kill.
When they returned to the apartment, Klaus told the young woman with no warning. "I think I'm going to head back home to Mystic Falls."
That caught Caroline by surprise, for she even dropped her car keys onto her lap as she looked at him. "Wha-? Why? I thought you were okay at mine?"
"I'm fine there Caroline, but I want to return home. I've been away a long time."
This was weird to Caroline, for she knew he hated home.
"Why?" she asked, utterly confused. Klaus shrugged a little, not meeting her eyes as he replied. "I want to leave."
"Oh. Okay."
He couldn't help but feel the slightest big guilty.
The rest of the day was devoted to travel plans and packing, leaving Caroline more and more confused. Klaus never gave her another reason, and when the time came for him to leave, the taxi waiting downstairs, he took her hands in his own and sighed out. "I'm sorry. I just… need to get my head back. All these memories, all jumbled. I can't tell what's real or not."
"You remembered something earlier, didn't you?" Caroline asked quietly as he stood at the door, still confused, but also upset. She felt like it was her own fault as to why he wanted to leave.
Klaus paused at her words, cocking his head a fraction as he raised a hand to rest upon her cheek, not saying anything as he leaned forwards, pausing for a split second before he pressed his lips gently to her cheek, thumb tracing her smooth skin before pulling away and replying, voice barely more than a whisper. "I remembered enough love."
Caroline was frozen as he spoke, only replying with, voice barely louder than his own had been. "Will you be back?"
"I promise sweetheart."
He went to turn away, but before he did, he reached down and slid off his family crested ring, placing it into her palm, turning and leaving Caroline stood there to watch him get into the taxi, smiling faintly at him as the car moved on and out of view, hand closing over the metal in her hands.
Caroline was still confused. She didn't understand what was so important that he needed to leave now…
Klaus pulled out his mobile when he was in the car, heading towards his gallery, not home like he'd lied to Caroline, eyes almost dangerous as he called a number, pressing the phone to his ear as the person on the other end picked up, and he said-
"Hello there little sister. How do you fancy one killer of a trip to New York?"
Caroline sighed as she wandered into the bedroom that had been Klaus', sorting out the mess in the bin for recycling. She frowned lightly as she came across the front cover of the New York Times, scoffing quietly as she spied that Pierce Bitch had been promoted. Caroline also noted that the page in question had been ripped, as if balled up in anger.
Huh. She wasn't aware Klaus knew the bitch. But then… she had been assigned to his gallery by her. They must have been acquaintances.
She sat alone in her apartment that night, picking at her cold dinner in silence as the TV played away to itself, feeling miserable and all alone. She still didn't understand why he had suddenly just flipped out like that, kissed her cheek like that and left. He was confusing her.
Then there was a knock upon her door. She half wanted it to be Klaus, but knew it wouldn't be. Caroline opened the door to spy Tyler, smiling as they met each others eyes.
He nodded inside. "He still here?"
"No. He's gone back to Mystic Falls."
Tyler was silent, sensing that the girl was miserable more than anything and asked. "Want some company? Guess that date's not on tonight, hmm?"
An awkward pause later and Caroline truly smiled. "I'd love that. Thank you."
"I'll bring some food over and a movie? Make a night of it."
"Go on." She replied, resting her head against the doorframe as he walked away, feeling her smile grow-
Sometimes, people did change for the better.
She waited for Klaus, he promised to return.
But then a month passed.
Then another one.
Six months…
A whole year.
Nothing.
Annnd the next! Yes, confusing and vague! But for a reason. Klaus has left Caroline for now, and it will become apparent soon just why he has, and how they truly feel about each other, because at the moment, neither one really knows themselves. A lot can change in a year, and we shall see the next chapter when the vague events in this chapter will be answered, so no fret there! Thank you for your continuing support and reviews! Time to get into the proper story now! Dun dunnn dunnnnn. Reviews much loved than thanks once more x
