Ariel C Rilmonn - I can't blame him either. I kind of felt his rage while I was writing it. I've never been cheated on (hope I never am!) but just imagining that feeling? It's a doozy.

flipped - Well, as a former Forwood shipper, I could never belittle what the two of them had. I still get feels for them from time to time, but Klaroline has won my heart. I think the fact of the matter is, I respect Tyler's character and I love him. (I know, unpopular opinion much?) So I don't want to just brush him off with some lame send off and be like the TVD writers. :P

RawrDelena - lol Wake up, wake up!

redbudrose - Yeah, I had a lot of struggle with Caroline's character in the last chapter. It's hard, you know? Because it's really NOT in her character to cheat but dealing with the WHAT IF is kind of interesting because I have to tie in who she is with it. But I think all the guilt just kind of made her feel victimized by Klaus and she sees it more as his fault. Even though she knows she's totally to blame too.

Kjsama - lol "neglected my hubby" Sorry, bro. :P (p.s. you're awesome!)

AngelofMusic44 - I have not given up. I was on hiatus, yeah. But holy smokes you're so kind! One of the best? And this is just a side project. *hugs* Thank you. By the way, your penname rocks. I love Phantom.

desiredxwishes - Don't worry, you're not a nusiance. Rush me as much as you want. I'm forgetful and sometimes I need the push to get the show on the road. :)

janettecortez78 - I know, right!? Someone pay me! I'll write Klaroline forever!

nolechic512 - Yikes! Caroline like Elena? Well...in this case, yeah. But not anymore. I hope.

Remember how I said I would never give up on this story? Well, I haven't. I'm sorry I left you guys without a word for a few months. Things have been hectic with the holidays, and my new gig writing reviews/recaps for TVD and TO for a pop culture website. Time to write has been hard to find. But if you're all still with me, I do treasure you and thank you for hanging in there, reading, reviewing and whatnot. You're the best readers a girl could ask for. :)

All right, all right. I heard the pleas and I'm not making this the final chapter. There will be one more chapter after this one to tie up all loose ends and conclude this journey of guilt and acceptance that Caroline's been on. Don't hate me!

Chapter 10

Caroline sat on her bed in isolation, her mind completely blank, eyes devoid of anymore tears. They called these kinds of euphoric moments a "state of shock." And that seemed like a pretty accurate description of what she was feeling.

After Bonnie and Elena had finally stormed out, too overwhelmed by all of her revelations, Caroline had had all the time in the world to sit and really think about her not-so-Freudian slip. She was in love with Klaus. She was in love with Klaus.

Fed up with the ringing silence, she grabbed her phone and her fingers sped faster than she could think.

Caroline to Klaus:
Can we talk?
4:57PM

Klaus:
Go ahead.
4:57PM

Caroline:
I mean in person.
4:58PM

Klaus:
I'm busy.
4:59PM

Caroline:
Doing what?
4:59PM

Klaus:
Things.
5:02PM

Caroline:
Serial killer things?
5:03PM
Hello, that was a joke?
5:08PM

Klaus:
Funny.
5:09PM

Caroline:
What's wrong with you?
5:10PM

Klaus:
Nothing.
5:11PM

Caroline:
You're being short.
And vague.
5:11PM

Klaus:
I wasn't aware I had
to answer to you.
5:12PM

Caroline:
You don't. But you
seem kind of...off.
5:14PM

Klaus:
Is there a point to this?
As I've said, I'm busy.
5:17PM

Caroline scoffed at her phone in disbelief. Was he serious? All of a sudden he was going to start being a jerk – why, because she'd shooed him away in a moment of irrationality? No way was he going to get the last word here and brush her off after everything she had gone through. After all the pain and lecturing she'd had to deal with just for doing what he wanted. She broke up with Tyler. She told her friends, endured their anger and judgement. She even had to hear how she disappointed her mother with her behavior. And this was the thanks she got for it?! No. She suffered all of the consequences of her actions. She was done letting everyone make her feel bad. Even Klaus.

In the Great Room of the Original mansion, with a sketchpad open in his lap, Klaus was sitting with a frown on his face and creases in his forehead rereading the text exchange. He sighed in defeat, wishing they could have just swept everything under the rug and continued being happy as they were. What she could have to say after the way she'd dismissed him earlier? That alone made the urge to make her grovel even stronger. His thoughts were interrupted when Rebekah wandered into the room, smirking all too happily. He locked the screen of his phone and peered at her curiously. She was up to something, he decided.

"A little birdie told me Tyler Lockwood is now a free man," she announced.

"Good for him," he muttered, going back to his sketch.

"That means Caroline is a free woman." She tilted her head, waiting for his reaction. But he remained stolid. "Why aren't you happy?"

"I'm ecstatic, couldn't you tell?"

"By the brooding in your eyes? Yes, I've never seen you happier." She flopped onto the couch, picking up a metal letter opener to examine. "So what is it then? You've finally realized what a complete waste of time she is?"

He stilled his pencil, keeping his eyes averted as he silently debated letting his sister in to one of the vulnerable parts of his heart. With a heavy sigh, he put the pencil down.

"I've been letting her off easy," he confessed. "Letting her call all the shots, allowing myself to become a lesser man."

"Tragic."

He smirked. "I've become you, baby sister."

She rolled her eyes, throwing the letter opener at him with sharp agility. He caught it expertly, just before it could graze his cheek.

"Don't be rash, Rebekah."

"I'm not the one being rash here, Nik. You're the one grueling over how impotent one little baby vampire makes you. And yet, there must be a part of you that enjoys it, otherwise you would have been done with her ages ago."

He narrowed his eyes at her words, too wise for her to have devised herself. "You've been talking to Elijah about me."

"We've discussed it, yes. He's got this god awful theory that she could be good for you. That her dominance over you is a humbling experience that works in your favor."

Klaus scoffed. "She has no authority over me."

"You're the one who just said you were bending over backwards and forwards for her." She watched him get up and walk over to the fireplace in denial."So stop letting her demean you," she offered. "You love control. Take it back."

He peered at the flames, too many thoughts running through his head. "I've started to, but I'm afraid I'd lose her in the process."

Rebekah stood with a small sigh. "Then you've got to decide what's worse, Nik – losing her or losing yourself?"

With that, Rebekah blurred out of the room and the front door opened and closed, leaving him alone in the house. Klaus contemplated the glow of the flames as he tried to decide what to do about his predicament. Rebekah was right. It was him or her. And though every other time in his life he had always picked himself, the decision at this particular moment was wearing on him.

It took an hour for Caroline to collect her thoughts before she decided on confronting the hybrid who had wrecked her life. She'd procrastinated long enough, making her hair as perfect as she could get it, trying on twelve different outfits until she found the right one, and even sucking down a bag of B positive just to make sure she was going in with a clear and focused mind. When she got to the mansion, she felt strangely at ease. She'd planned what she was going to say and promised herself she wouldn't let emotions get the best of her.

The door opened midway through the third knock and Klaus was there, an all too unenthused look in his eyes. She blinked for a second, quieting the sudden swarm of nervous butterflies in her stomach at the impatience riddling his face, then walked in when he stepped aside. All of her planned words had suddenly vanished, overpowered by the coldness he was emanating. As she headed into the foyer trying to regather her thoughts before she spoke, the door shut, causing her to jump. When she turned around, he was waiting with crossed arms and a tilt to his head. Caroline shrugged, at a loss.

"You were being standoffish so I decided to make you listen, face to face."

Klaus held her gaze a moment longer then raised a brow, unimpressed. "What a shame. You've come all this way and I'm just leaving." He turned away and pulled the door open again for her.

"Seriously?! What is your problem?"

"You are my problem, Caroline. Now if you'd please," he urged, gesturing her out.

She stomped through, stopping in her tracks before she stepped a foot outside and turned around to face him. "Don't you even want to know what I have to say?"

"No. I don't."

Glaring, she stepped forward and slammed the door shut, the knob being ripped from his grasp.

"Well that's too bad, because I'm not leaving!"

Klaus glared. "Then I will." He began walking away towards the hall to exit through the back door.

"No." She sped around to block the doorway he was about to walk through. "You don't get to walk away from me."

"Isn't that what you wanted when you pushed me away earlier?"

It took a second for her to understand but she rolled her eyes when she did. "I was mad!"

"Then perhaps you should look into some anger management therapy." He pushed past her and continued down the hall.

She dropped her jaw in an insulted scoff. "Fine." She crossed her arms petulantly, following him. "You first." He kept walking, no response. Caroline ripped her arms apart in a frustrated shrug. "This is your fault, you know! You started this whole mess and in a short two month span ruined my entire life!"

He began shaking his head wryly. "Don't play dumb, love. You knew what you were doing all along."

"Yeah, and so did you!"

He turned back around then. "I made my agenda clear to you from the start. You can't blame me for your own weaknesses."

"Seriously?!"

"What do you want from me, Caroline? An apology? You won't get it."

"Right. So it's just completely my fault that you were so damn persistent that you basically forced me into bed with you!"

He snarled, zooming into her face, enraged by her accusation. "I did not compel you, I did not threaten your life or your loved ones' lives. So don't you dare come to me and say I forced you to do anything!" he roared. "You did what you wanted, sweetheart. Your guilt is your own!"

"Fine!" she yelled back in his face. His eyes widened, still in her breathing space, furious. For a split second she could see her death in his eyes and then it faded back to rage. She held his gaze as long as she could before finally breaking with a guilty puff of breath. "Look, I know you didn't force me. I shouldn't have said it. Okay?"

He turned away silently and began walking away again. She groaned, balling her fists as she kept after him.

"You are such a giant, humongous pain in the ass!"

"You brought yours and Tyler's pain onto yourself. I played no part."

"Oh you played a part all right."

He whipped around, eyes wild. "All I wanted was you!"

She stepped up, almost against him. "Then why did you give me an ultimatum?!"

"I made you get out of your own way in letting yourself be happy! If Tyler was such a tremendous loss to you, why did you even bother with me?"

Her lips wavered, voice cracking. "I don't know..."

He nodded as if his point was becoming clearer. "You love going off on me and saying how I've corrupted you and ruined your life, the perfect little vision of who you are and what you wanted to be. But all along it's you who's ruined me! I'm not a man who waits around. I'm not a man who puts his desires beneath someone else's. I don't allow myself to be taken advantage of, nor do I ever fail at getting what I want!"

"Well I'm sorry!"

"I don't think you are!"

She let out a slow, shaky stream of breath. "You're right. I'm not. I have no reasonto be."

"You've broken me!" he shouted.

She flinched, leaning back only slightly and spread her arms, letting them flop to her sides, at a loss. "What did you expect, Klaus? That I would break up with Tyler and come running to you?" He looked away, saying nothing and Caroline shook her head sadly. "It doesn't work that way. I'm hurt. He's hurt. Things aren't going to get better over night just because you want them to."

He was quiet for a long time, anger swirling in his eyes as he chose his words carefully, coming out crueler than even he intended. "I find it incredibly hypocritical that the girl who cries herself to sleep at night because she's never first choice, is blind to the fact that she's putting the only man who's put her before him in the same exact position." He frowned, face hardening. "Congratulations, love. You've finally allowed yourself to come first. But I'm through with coming in second."

Her throat dried, a lump forming and her heart jumped in panic when he turned away. "Klaus, wait - "

He turned around once, lifting his hand to swipe it across the air, physically cutting her off. "I'm done waiting for you, Caroline."

The door slammed and his silhouette became a blur.

A day and a half had passed since the confrontation at the mansion. Caroline was sitting on the couch at home, in defeat. All of a sudden everything that was so great was now in shambles. And it was all her fault. Maybe if she had been honest in the first place. Maybe if she hadn't tried to have the best of both worlds. It wasn't like her. But something about Klaus drove her to be what she wasn't, and maybe that wasn't a good thing. On the other hand, it almost felt like their time together had awakened her. Her eyes were open for the first time and everything was more enticing. The world was waiting for her and she could see it now. And it was thanks to him. Not Tyler.

And Tyler...he must hate her. How did you come back from such a big mistake? Sleeping with the enemy was one thing. But falling in love with him? There was no coming back from that. And it was out in the open now. Bonnie and Elena had heard it right from her own mouth. Now, she was here. A lump of sorrow and self-pity sitting on the couch in dismay. This wasn't how she was going to go down. This wasn't Caroline Forbes. This was some pathetic illusion of her, moping and letting everyone's hate weigh her down. Not anymore. She was taking a stand and she was taking it now.

Sighing out a huff of frustration, Caroline got up, grabbing her keys on the way to the door and called out to her mom, "I'm going out!"

It was her every intention to go confront her friends, or even Tyler. But for some reason, she drove right past their houses, unable to muster up the courage to face them. She slowed the car as she came up on the Mystic Grill, wondering if Matt would still talk to her. She parked the car and walked in briskly, stopping suddenly in the doorway. Her heart dropped. Elena and Bonnie were already there, sitting at a table. And Matt was standing there talking to them, his busboy tub under his arm. They all looked up at her simultaneously, guilty looks on all their faces. Which, of course, meant they were talking about her, and no doubt it was bad. So she slept with the town psychopath. Classic Caroline behavior. Why were they surprised?

Except her horror wasn't over yet. On the other side of the Grill she caught a glimpse of Tyler by the pool tables, lining up his shot. Her stomach dropped, contorting itself with dread. He was assessing the table when he saw her. His jaw set and he threw the cue stick down, storming his way through the bar, headed right towards her. Her heart pounded, and she prepared herself taking a deep breaths.

"Tyler, I - "

But he brushed right past her without a word, leaving the Grill. Her heart and face fell. She looked over to her friends but Matt was turning away to go back to work and Elena and Bonnie bot ducked their heads, avoiding eye contact. Caroline felt her chest tighten, her throat starting to close as tears pricked her eyelids. She sped out of the bar and back to her car, breaking down completely as soon as the door shut.

Pulling herself together briefly, she pulled out of the lot as fast as she could, driving with no clear destination, just needing to get away. This was torture. Why wouldn't they talk to her about their issues with what she did? Why did everyone keep isolating her and treating her like second rate, girly little Caroline who always did the wrong thing and never knew any better? And even worse, why was it okay for Elena to be with Damon but not her with Klaus? It was essentially the same moral dilemma! She swerved once, almost hitting oncoming traffic, as tears fogged her vision. She pulled over, sobbing over the steering wheel as her heart twisted with guilt and shame. It wasn't fair. Why was she getting the brunt of this when Klaus had been in the wrong too? She hated that he made her love him. And at the same time, being around him was the most genuine she felt. He didn't treat her like a ditzy blonde. He treated her like Caroline. God! The stupid, manipulative bastard...

With a heavy breath, she blinked away the tears and forced herself to start driving again. For hours she just followed the road, sometimes going in circles, exploring streets she hadn't been down. For a while she was calm, numb to the aches in her heart. But, undoubtedly, the crying would start again the second she started thinking. It was dark by the time she stopped, and silent tears were streaming down her face. Somehow, without realizing it, she had pulled up to the mansion. Without even bothering to wipe her eyes or fix her hair, she turned the ignition off and got out of the car and went up to the door, weakly knocking over and over. By the time he had answered, her breath was heaving and she was hyperventilating on his stoop. He didn't say a word but stepped aside to let her in.

"Everybody hates me!" she sobbed out, hugging herself as she turned around to face him in the foyer. Klaus shut the door, keeping his poker face intact. "My friends won't talk to me. Tyler won't even be in the same room as me. My mom is disappointed. They all think I'm a slut, and I am!"

She buried her face in her hands and cried and cried. Klaus frowned, wanting to keep up his new no-nonsense attitude towards her, but he couldn't bear seeing her so broken down. He shook his head and pulled her into his arms, smoothing her hair down her back. She sobbed against his chest while he rested his chin atop her head, gazing out at the room in thought. It wasn't worth all this – making her beg, being brash and treating her like she didn't matter. If he had to emasculate himself a little to see her smile, so be it.

When she had quieted down, she kept her head there against his chest, ear against his heart so the drumming of his heartbeat would calm her. The tears had stopped but her voice was still raw from emotion, wearing from being drained.

"Why?" she whispered out, hopelessly.

He glanced down at her, snapped out of his trance by the question. "Why what?"

She lifted her head to look at him, woefully. "Why couldn't you leave me alone? Why did you have to keep pushing?"

He looked down again, pursing his lips and swallowing. "Because I'm stubborn. And selfish. And think only of what I want with no regard to what consequences it will bring to others involved."

Caroline's lips twitched a little. "You said you would take whatever you could get. That's not selfish, that's compromise." He inhaled deeply, denying with a shake of his head and getting that panicked look in his eyes she'd come to know as fear whenever things were getting too close to home. "When did you know that you – " She stopped herself from completing the question, unsure if right now was the right time to ask.

His eyes flicked to hers in caution. "That I what?"

She looked down, taking in a shuddery breath. "When did you know...that you were in love with me?"

His lips parted, eyes slowly growing bigger. "I never said – "

"I've seen it, Klaus. In the way you look at me, the way you touch. Even the way you talk to me, sometimes." She lowered her eyebrows and readied herself for the bravest confession she'd ever make. "I know because I've...caught myself falling in love...with you."

Klaus' lips wavered, opening and closing as if he wanted to say something but couldn't find the right words. His eyes stayed wide, and, for the first time, unshielded and completely vulnerable. She swallowed her nerves and raised a hand to his cheek, blinking furiously. He closed his eyes at her touch, feeling himself succumbing to all of the emotions he kept trying desperately to push back. Every time he thought he was winning, she pushed back.

"You once told me that if you really meant nothing to me, that I should just walk away," she reminded him. She put her other hand to his face and shook her head slowly as their eyes locked. "I never walked, Klaus."

He pulled her hands off and dropped them, taking a step back. The shields were slowly rising back into place. "Forgive me if I don't quite believe such a rapid change of heart."

He started to turn away and Caroline was appalled. "I''m telling you the truth."

He turned around, arms spread wide. "It's been one day since you told me I ruined your life. Why should I believe it now when you've been consistently indecisive all this time?"

"You seriously don't believe me?"

"Would you?"

That stopped her, her mouth half ajar. Well. When he put it that way...

He walked to the stairs but stopped, gripping the railing with his back to her, looking up at the steps but not really seeing them through the fog in his eyes. "I'm sorry your friends aren't taking your infidelity as well as you'd hoped, but I can't allow you to tear me down all over again."

She let out a breath, her heart breaking in two all over again. She looked down with a small nod, trying not to let him hear the tremble in her voice. "So that's it?"

He swallowed, the muscles in his back shifting as he tensed. "That's it," he said softly.