Hey! Sorry for not updating for a week or two but I'm going to try and get onto a better schedule! Thanks for hanging in there!

Chapter 10

Klaus had long since sent Caroline up to bed in one of the inns available rooms, instead of retiring to one of the other beds upstairs, he remained at his bar stool, tracing his fingers over the map that meer moments before they had poured over together.

Their plans were still unclear, all they really had was their final destination. But as Klaus thought more and more about dropping Caroline off at these so called "Lockwoods" be began to wonder if he was making the right decision. Could he so willingly ship is girl off to a life of misery? But then again, maybe these people weren't as bad as she had made them out to be. After all she was only a child the last time she had coincided with them. Despite her obvious rebellious streak and quirky personality, he could see that she really was a perfect young lady, when she put her mind to it . One he was sure " Carol Lockwood" would be proud of . He had witnessed the way she carried herself in the dinning room aboard the ship, she knew how to act and when to hold her tongue, she was everything a mother could ask for. But could he condemn her to spend the rest of her life pretending to be something she wasn't? he doubted she would be with the Lockwoods long, he felt confident that after spending a few months without their daughter, her parents would write begging to have her return to England to be with them. he couldn't Fathom how they had sent her away in the first place! He had spent only days in her presence yet he dreaded the day when they would have to part ways. He was sure her parents would soon come to their senses.

But returning to England would mean she would have to board yet another ocean liner. She had expressed her annual nightmares to him, of finding herself trapped in her cabin as it slowly filled with water, or drifting in the ice cold water with no boat returning to save her. Before he had spent her up to bed he had looked her in the eyes and whispered

" Sweet dreams" compelling the nightmares away from her brain before they had a chance to form.

Klaus couldn't understand how this had happened to him. How he had gone for caring about nothing and no one ( his sister a side) to chasing away the nightmares of a young girl who had captured his heart. He wondered what his sister would say to him If she could see him now? He imagined he would laugh, at how big bad Nik had suddenly grown a heart, and he smiled a little at the idea of her happy, poking fun at him the same way they had when they were children. He would travel west once he had figured out what he would do with Caroline, and he and Beck would take some time off from their worries, if only for a little while.

The sun began to rise only a few hours later and as soon as it was visible over the mountain in the distance he could hear the thumping of a pair of boots against the stairs that lead down to the pub for the inns rooms above. Before he knew It Caroline was beside him, ready for the day as if she had been lying awake in bed simply waiting for the sun was rise so she could rise.

Klaus tried to stop himself from grinning like a fool at the sight of her, so eager to start their adventure but failed miserably. A smile spread across her face as well at the sight of Klaus beaming at her. They ate a hurried breakfast before venturing out onto the quiet road outside the pub.

"Which way?" He asked as Caroline bounded out onto the road, twisting around to smile at him. She skipped towards him pulling a hankie from his jacket pocket.

Klaus laughed a little, raising an eyebrow at her.

"And what exactly are you doing?" he inquired as she tied the hankie around her face like a blindhold. She began to spin, one arm extended in front of her finger stretched out as if pointing out a point in the distance. She stopped suddenly, wavering a little as she if was about to fall to the ground. Klaus reached out to steady her, but before his hands reached her waist she had ripped the bling fold from her face smiling triumphantly.

" That way." She stated pointing in the direction she had stopped at. She handed the hankie back to him before taking his hand and pulling him along, through the wheat field straight across from the pub. They waking for a few hours, taking easily about their surroundings, about the birds flying overhead and the shapes of the clouds in the skies above them, somewhere in between the third and fourth hour their conversation slipped away from small talk and towards a deeper meaning. She spoke of her family back in England, of the few fond memories she could re call of her parents of how terribly she missed her cousin Matt, and that he would be the first person she wrote to when she had the chance. He spoke of his family, of his siblings who were scattered across the globe, he gave a vague description of his relationship with his father and how they had spent many years locked in a mutual loathing. He surprised himself by bringing up Henrik, a story he had shared with no one, and admitted to the guilt he felt towards his youngest brother's death. At that point Caroline had squeezed his hand, a hand she hadn't dropped the whole time they had walked together. After a few more hours, Klaus had pulled Caroline onto his back, and speed off making up more ground in a matter of minutes then they had covered all day. Caroline had jumped off his back, smiling widely as they took a spot by a river somewhere in the eastern tip of Indiana. Tomorrow they decided they would cross Kentucky, before finally arriving in Virginia the day after that.

They slept in a farmhouse a few miles down the river that night, the owners of which seemed to have conveniently been out of town for the time being. Caroline had been hesitant at first about breaking and entering the her exhaustion got the best of her, and she happily collapsed onto one of the couch in the living room. After a feast of the bread and cheese they had dug up in the kitchen, Klaus had sent Caroline up to bed, wishing sweet dreams upon her once more, his compulsion chasing away the dark thoughts.

Once her breathing had evened out, and he was sure she was asleep, he slipped out of the house, listening for a sound of a beating heart nearby. Lucky for him, a man came staggering up the road a few minutes later, drunk from a long night at the pub. Klaus called him over, quickly compelling him not to scream. He had no interest in killing the man but after running so far with Caroline on his back that day he needed to refuel. He bet into the man's wrist, treading carful as to not cause him great pain. When he suddenly felt the presence of someone behind him. He turned to see Caroline, standing barefoot on the grass behind him, watching as he fed.

To his surprise she did not seem fearful or repulsed at what she had just witnessed, but rather her eyes were full of curiosity, then her voice broke the silence, it did not shake or seem timid, and despite how quietly she spoke, it was almost conversational, as if they were simply continuing in the same way they had before.

" What are you?"