A/N uh oh a bump in the road
Chapter 10
"Mmmmmm" she hums lazily and turns in his arms, pulling his free arm over her as she goes so she's spooned against him. He tightens the hold without really waking up and makes a low contented noise. She's not awake enough yet to process anything other than his warmth behind her and the warmth of her own happiness spreading our from every point their bodies touch.
She sighs and snuggles against him smiling slightly as she opens her eyes to a sudden coldness splashing over her. Elena stands in the doorway, not shocked, perhaps she's been there a while, but frozen with something like disbelief and icy anger.
"Elena" she sits up quickly rousing Klaus behind her.
Elena turns sharply on her heel and disappears.
"Oh God"" she mutters burying her head in her hands.
Behind her Klaus is awake now, he lifts himself up and touches her shoulder. 'Are you alright love?"
She shakes her head.
"You shouldn't let them…" he begins.
"Don't ok" she stops him and stands sharply, dislodging his hand. Her nervousness comes out, as usual, as irritation with him. "Seriously just let me handle this"
He lifts both hands in surrender and stands himself a little angrily. "Fine," he stalks off towards Hope's room and she watches his back regretfully for a moment before squaring her shoulders and heading to the kitchen and Elena's judgment.
"That wasn't what it looked like" she opens as she slips into the stool opposite where Elena is warming blood in the microwave.
"What wasn't what it looked like?" Bonnie's voice comes from the doorway behind her and she closes her eyes. Great.
"Caroline sleeping with Klaus." Elena turns to them, forgetting her breakfast.
"Again?" Bonnie asks in angry disbelief.
"No! I told you it wasn't what it looked like. I didn't have sex with him, okay."
"No it was worse, don't you see that? You were actually sleeping with him, Care, cuddling, with Klaus." Elena runs her hands through her ever-perfect hair agitatedly. "Like he's your boyfriend or something. Like he's an actual person"
"Seriously? Elena, way to overreact" she presses her hands to either side of her head. "You may have noticed that everyone had a pretty rough day yesterday. I didn't want to be alone and he was there"
"That's always your excuse Care." Bonnie chimes in. "'He was there'. It doesn't make it ok"
Their judgment is like physical blows against her tired body and she slumps a little in her seat.
"Are you in love with him?" Elena asks directly and she startles.
"No God. Of course not Elena that's insane, it's Klaus" Her eyes travel to the doorway as she denies him and there he is because evidently universe hates her today.
She holds his wounded eyes, torn between the pain she sees in them and the inquisition of her friends. His jaw clenches and his eyes go hard for a moment before he turns away leaving her sorry and helplessly staring at the spot where he stood.
"Have you totally lost your mind?" Bonnie snaps her back into the room with a painful jolt. "He gives you those big sad eyes and you just forget he's a killer"
"He killed Jenna" Elena picks up the assault. "And Tyler's mom and so many others. Care, how many orphans has he made?"
Enough of this, enough already with this barrage of recrimination. Her temper snaps, "How many has Damon?"
Elena rocks back as if physically pushed by her harsh tone. "You cannot possibly be comparing Klaus to Damon"
"Why not?" she bowed her head and took their condemnation last time she's not about to do it again, not when they're all neck deep in the same crap. "Damon's a killer too Elena and he's not sorry."
"Damon…" Elena begins but trails off unable to deny the truth.
"Exactly" she doesn't feel victorious the truth is pretty damn depressing after all. "We all forgive and forget with Damon because you love him?"
"Care Klaus is way worse than Damon," says Bonnie affronted, and didn't she hate Damon herself not so long ago?
"Worse? Better? Seriously? We're vampires we're all varying degrees of terrible." She's on a roll now. "If I were in love with him, which I am not, would he get a pass like Damon?"
They both look at her a little bewildered, somehow she has turned their assault around and she's on the offensive
"No didn't think so, I mean is it even about Klaus or Damon at all? Maybe it's just that Elena's happiness counts more than everyone else's." She doesn't know where this is coming from but it's no doubt been coming for a long while. "It certainly always counted more than mine."
She turns and strides out.
…..
She finds him outside cradling Hope in his arms and watching Haley drive away. She wants to say she's sorry, because she is. Her denial of him seems such a cruel, dishonest, blow after last night.
But last night makes everything harder, especially 'sorry'. She's kissed him before, she's wanted him and touched him and had him before, but last night was different. Intimate in a way sex, with all its carnal wanting, cannot be. That intimacy had almost destroyed her defences last night and today she must rebuild them.
He moves to pass her and return to the house. "Klaus…" she begins not knowing what else to say.
He closes his eyes briefly and she can see he's trying to control his anger. "Not now Caroline" he hisses.
"Seriously? Klaus come on, don't pout ok. " She flicks her hair over her shoulder, she's just stood up to her friends for him which took some serious guts, so he can just stop acting like a child.
He doesn't relent. "Caroline, I have a good deal to do before I can return home, weddings to organise, alliances to cement, murders to plan." He is really angry now and she can see all his ugly pettiness. "Go back inside, don't you have friends to lie to in there?"
"Klaus, look I…" suddenly her mind catches up with what he said. "Wait, hang on, murders? Who's getting murdered?"
"Not that it's any concern of yours Caroline but I cannot simply allow Jackson to lead the wolves. If I am to use that army to protect Hope they must answer to me"
"Is Jackson" she searches for the correct label, fails. "erm, bad?"
Klaus raises and eyebrow. "No Jackson is a good man. He has integrity and honour, under different circumstances I'm sure I would consider him a fine leader"
"Then why kill him?" She's forgotten she's here to make a mends and she's pushing him again. "He and Haley can make sure the pack protects Hope"
"And have anther vying for kingship in my city?" He shakes his head. "Have my daughter grow to call another father"
"Oh my God, that's what this is about, you're scared Hope will like him more?"
He strokes Hope's head and narrow's his eyes at her and she knows she's right. "You said he's a good man, you should want a man like that in her life, but you're so unbelievably insecure that you'd rather kill him than risk she'd prefer him to you"
He glares at her and his silence is confirmation enough.
"That is so pathetic"
"Its no business of yours is it now love?" the endearment that has melted her heart in the past feels like ice creeping over it now. To be loved by him feels like guilt by association. "You made that quite clear"
He goes and she's glad, her defences are impenetrable now. She remembers why she built them in the first place. Klaus Mikaelson is damaged, paranoid, murderous and vindictive. Suddenly she believes the lie she told Elena, no she does not love him; 'that's insane, it's Klaus'
She stands looking at nothing and hating herself for being fool enough to open herself up to him and all the disappointment she should have known would come for hoping, once again, that he can be fixed.
"Carebear" Damon's mocking voice makes her cringe; she really can't be bothered with him right now.
"What do you want Damon?" She asks tiredly
"Hear you've been upsetting my girl"
"Oh just back off Damon" he's an easy target for her pent up emotions. "Elena and I both said some things we shouldn't have but she's my best friend and we can sort this out ourselves. We don't need you swooping in making everything worse, ok"
He shrugs and changes tack. "So you and Klaus, getting all snuggly on my couch? Do I need to hire a steam cleaner? Because the last thing I want is to find myself sitting in hybrid spunk."
"Jees Damon, gross" she rolls her eyes, he's such an ass. "I told them, I didn't screw him ok, we were just…"
She trails of because Damon's eyes are sharp and knowing, she's always has had the unsettling feeling that Damon sees everything. "Just?" he prompts.
"Sleeping," she supplies weakly.
"Careful Blondie" Damon says sharply. "Might not be smart to get the conscienceless killer's hopes up"
"I guess not" she glares at him. "They could do something terrible, like, say, snap Jeremy's neck. Oh no that was you"
He shrugs, like its not important.
"I'm getting preached at from all sides about spooning with Klaus while somehow Elena being all 'epic love'" yes she makes air-quotes too because she's too frustrated to worry about how lame that is, "with you is not a problem."
"Klaus is a dick." Damon states as if that ends the argument.
"So are you if you hadn't noticed, and seriously, where's your conscience?"
"Don't need one" He makes a dismissive shrugging gesture. "I have Elena"
Is that it? Why they all trust remorseless amoral Damon, because he has a conscience in the form of Elena Gilbert gently whispering to his heart. Is Elena in all her goodness the guarantor of his morality?
What a burden, she thinks, to bear another's integrity as well as your own.
"Now go and apologies to Elena" Damon is telling her and she returns her attention to him. "Because maybe you're right maybe me and Stefan and even Bonnie do think her happiness counts more than yours, but do you know who never, ever, thought that?"
She nods, of course she does. "Elena"
"Yes, now go"
…..
"Hey" she steps tentatively into Damon's room where Elena lies on her stomach on his bed reading a textbook.
"Care" the brunette get's hurriedly up and comes to her with hands reaching pleadingly forward. "I'm so sorry, I never thought-"
"I know. Elena. I know" she takes Elena's outstretched hands in both of hers and smiles a watery smile. "I'm sorry too"
"I should be supportive," Elena says with a determined nod, and God bless her she would be even in this. "And if its what you want then I will be even though Klaus is, you know, Klaus"
She shakes her head and they sit down together on the bed. "Don't worry Elena, he's just done a great job of reminding me why I was right, I couldn't love him. He's too," she frowns. "Broken I guess, too far gone."
Elena's listening, she's dialed back the judgment to listen to her friend. "I keep getting sucked in to thinking, hoping, that he can be fixed, you know, but he can't"
"Some people are just irredeemable Care," Elena says gently. "No matter what you do, they just don't have any humanity"
"But that's the problem, he does. I know he's done terrible terrible things, but he's not like Makael or Finn, he's not just a shell. He get's hurt and he loves and he protects his family. Every time I see that, I see humanity and I catch myself hoping…"
"You want to save him" Elena state with some understanding, they are in basically the same boat after all.
"I do. I know it's impossible. But I think he wants to be saved, somewhere under everything and that makes me want to try." She hold's Elena's hand as she speaks, it feels wonderful to be able to talk about this with her friend. She'd been silent about him for so long.
"Well I guess I saved Damon" Elena offers
"I guess you did," she smiles warmly. "But you're Elena Gilbert, shining beacon of love and compassion. I'm Caroline Forbes bitchy control freak"
She stops Elena's predictable protest before it leaves her friend's lips. "And besides" she continues, "Damon's severe emotional deficiencies are nothing compared to the thousand years of damaged goods that is Klaus Mikaelson."
She scrubs her face. "I just need to get away from him, get back to college, get my head clear and move on"
"Yes" Elena says decisively then she looks sheepish. "But can we just pause that for a little while, just twenty four hours maybe?"
"Elena what did you do?"
"I kinda convinced Klaus to stay here until Rebekah comes to collect him" her friend admits looking guilty.
"You did what?" she pauses to bring her voice down a few decibels and octaves. "Why would you do that?"
"Well I thought the mansion was all cold and shut up, it might be damp for Hope, and it's not like he knows what he's doing, she might need us"
She sighs, knowing exactly what has happened here. "You just wanted to keep her a little longer?" she says feeling very perceptive.
"Yes I'm sorry, I just couldn't bear to say goodbye to her. Please stay here with us"
"Elena" she whines. "Distance"
"I know I know, but Klaus is volatile and violent and Damon is really annoying," the brunette grimaces slightly before she delivers her winning argument. "Someone could die"
...
A/N sorry please don't run away form this story screaming "it's not Klaroline". It is I promise and chapter 11 is almost written and has Rebekah in it and some Klaus and Caroline softening up, I may even through in some smooches, who knows
Do you know what's nice? Reviews are nice. Just saying :-P