"You cannot tell me you didn't expect him to be there, skulking about and eavesdropping on all your personal conversations. Like right now! Klaus - stop being a creepy stalker!

Caroline snorted out a laugh and stretched out on her towel. Shifting her phone against her ear to adjust her expensive, designer sunglasses she grinned at the water. It'd been a day since Stefan had sulked back into her life, and she liked this beach. She'd fallen asleep under the entirely cliche umbrella she'd sweet talked a nice, teenage boy into hauling for her earlier.

She might also be on private property, but whatever.

"Duh." She glanced at her toes and decided it might be time to update her pedi. "But while Stefan is being an asshat, I do still claim him."

Klaus was apparently taking detailed notes about that. She was both alarmed and you know, flattered. Only a tiny bit though. Waiting for her to discard friendships so he could maim, torture or all around ruin someone was more about him than her.

She kept waiting for the guilt.

"Care - do not subject me to Stefan's moping. I cannot. Between him and Elena, I might lose my mind."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "You deal with grumpy, homicidal, psychotic original stalkers on a regular basis and its Stefan's moping that is driving you crazy?"

"Yes."

Caroline laughed. "Your ridiculous."

"I'm being driven insane." Bonnie protested. "Why are we friends again?"

"I'm pretty sure you coveted my glitter crayons in kindergarten." Caroline said seriously. "Then I refused to give you one, on the basis that only friends shared. So you declared us friends."

"I'm pretty sure not how it went." Bonnie retorted. "You tried to steal my Lisa Frank folders."

"Well I'm pretty sure your memory is going in your old age, while I'm still perfectly preserved. Don't hate the crayons. You only have yourself yourself to blame for this." Caroline paused. "And it was Elena who tried to steal your folders."

"Uh huh," Bonnie replied, voice laced with sarcasm. "I'm terribly sorry. I must be mistaken."

"I forgive you." Caroline graciously allowed.

"You're unbelievable."

"The word your looking for is epic, but I'll accept legendary." Caroline corrected.

"Can I help you with the ego? Are you breathing through it okay?" The fake concern heavy in Bonnie's voice.

"Vampire," Caroline sing-songed. "I don't need air."

"For which we're all grateful, least you choke to death."

Caroline flopped back, smiling too hard. "Why aren't you here? I miss you."

"Don't blame me," Bonnie scoffed. "Blame your other set of friends. I'm trying to wrangle Elena. Don't you understand my pain?"

Caroline sighed. "I'm sorry that's she's being difficult, but I'm not sorry about why."

Caroline hoped Elena's determination to get Damon back had to do with real feelings - the romantic kind. Caroline knew what it was like to fight for what you loved. She just didn't know if that was what this was or not.

"I know." Bonnie said gently. "Honestly, Care, I don't expect you to be. I'm just sorry it took someone this long to do something about it."

Caroline went still. "Do you mean that?"

"I don't agree about the way he went about it, or the methods, but looking back I handled it about as horribly as possible. Did I ever apologize for that?" Bonnie's voice was soft, laced with guilt.

"Not necessary." Responding just as softly, Caroline clutched the phone. "I didn't say anything. What could you have done if I had?"

"As adults, I think we both know why you didn't say anything. That's as much on me as you. Spirits, we were such kids. Why did we think we could handle any of it?"

"That's what bring a kid is really, being an idiot while thinking your indestructible. Plus, some of us are mostly-indestructible."
Caroline sighed. "I just know in two hundred years I'm going to be having a similar conversation with myself. Why didn't I spend more time with you, why so much time on a beach? But then I decided that that kind of regret would choke me. So I'm trying not to."

"I think we all know why we're still all alive to even have this conversation." Bonnie said softly. "Thank you, for that. I never said that either."

"You're my family. And it's not like I did anything special..."

"Other people obviously don't agree." Bonnie said firmly. "Regardless of how you feel now, what we did then was wrong. I feel like my teenage-self could have seriously benefited from a shirt that said 'Friends are not bait. Real friends are the getaway drivers.' Or something."

Caroline laughed into the phone. "I think we could have tattooed it to Damon and he'd have ignored it."

"Says something, doesn't it." Bonnie said after she stopped giggling. "But in all seriousness, Klaus."

Both of Caroline's eyebrows arched. "Klaus? I've always taken him seriously. Sometimes I'm the only one who does - though I didn't always believe him."

"I know, I know. Sorry. But you've sort of baited a thousand-year-old Hybrid. Whose crazy." Bonnie pointed out. "This time, because you wanted to."

"I'm aware."

"I just... Caroline. I'm worried."

"I know." Caroline said. Her lips twisted. "I'm not sure you're wrong to worry. But I'm pretty sure we've hashed this out like, a hundred times now.

"Fine. I'll stop repeating myself." Bonnie noisily dropped into a chair. "How's the world tour of beaches going?"

"Fine, but that judgement I hear in your tone is completely unnecessary. I like beaches."

"You've taken 'like' and elevated it to life-style choice." Bonnie retorted, voice full of good natured teasing. "Thought about changing it up? Mountains? Snow? Visit here?"

"Seriously? Cold and snow are like, only acceptable during Christmas. Maybe Thanksgiving. The rest of the time it's horrible. Screw winter wonderland."

"It's fall and you don't feel the cold! But there are leaves on the ground; still, it's like, and a balmy sixty degrees. You used to like sweater weather."

"Are you inviting me for Halloween?" Caroline asked. "I thought we were going to go to Romania?"

"No!" Laughter colored Bonnie's voice. "You want to go to Romania. You're the one who wants to see all those terrible Dracula exhibits or tours or whatever they are."

Caroline grinned. "It'll be fun."

"It's a terrible idea."

"It's a fabulous idea. You know it. I know it. Come on." She wheedled. "You want to."

"Oh, look at that! Someone is at my door. Gotta go!"

"You're a horrible liar, Bonnie Bennett."

"You love me anyway," Bonnie retorted. "Be safe! Love you."

"Love you too." Closing her eyes, she dropped her phone and breathed in the ocean.

It took a moment for her to realize she wasn't alone. Turning her head, she blinked at the sight of him. Klaus was standing a few feet away, arms crossed as he watched her with something that looked like a cross between amusement and affection.

He was wearing a pair of amusingly bright board shorts, and a dark, short sleeved rash guard. Even covered, the clean lines of his chest and shoulders were distracting. His curls were damp, and she tilted her her head curiously.

"What are you doing?"

His smile was boyish, that amused affection still coloring him. "Romania?"

She huffed at him. "Stalking then."

"I heard my name. I thought I'd investigate. Though, once I was here, I admit, I was distracted."

His eyes slid along bare skin and the curves highlighted by her dark blue bikini, lingering on the length of her legs. Muscles twitched under the heat of that gaze, and she didn't back down when his eyes met hers again.

"Creeper." She ignored the flash of dimples. "Don't tell me you can hear the whole damn island."

"Not all of it," he said mildly. "Volcanoes are fairly decent sound barriers."

"I can't even look at you." Caroline said flatly, turning to face the water.

"That's alright sweetheart." Klaus returned. "I've no issue with my view."

"Klaus!" She pointed at a patch of sand. "Sit and stop leering."

He laughed and walked forward, dropping into the sand next to her. "Hello, sweetheart."

"Oh, don't even start." Caroling warned him. "Not when we both know you've listened to two of my personal conversations in as many days."

Klaus grinned. "Hybrid hearing can be such a curse, love."

She eyed him. "I hate repeating myself... and what are you wearing?"

"I'm told I look dashing."

"Grow your hair out, cultivate a beard and you'll fit right into the local surf culture. Or was that the hippies?"

"Short hair is a modern ideal." He dismissed. "And you could hardly expect me to prance around in what parades as modern swim wear. Although I certainly have a great appreciation for yours."

Caroline considered his outfit, and realized she's rarely seen him anything but covered. Extenuating circumstances aside, in public he was clothed. Even now, on a pleasantly warm beach. God knew it wasn't modesty. A throw back to propriety? His days before his daylight ring? For a moment, she just looked at him and wondered what else he'd carried with him through the years.

Still...

"It's a beach, Klaus. Some of us like swimming and sunbathing. No, I do not care that I cannot tan."

Klaus' lips curved as he leaned back onto his elbows. "The ocean is a beautiful thing. I've always enjoyed her, handful of shipwrecks aside."

"Do not tell me you were a pirate."

He laughed then. "Hardly, but air travel is a fairly recent invention love. Previously, if you wished to cross the ocean, it was by ship. And Mother Nature is tempestuous when she chooses."

"Did you seriously just play the 'I'm-older-than-dirt' card? Twice?"

He ignored her, reaching to push a fallen curl over her shoulder. "Besides, pirating is only considered romantic now. Back then it was filthy, diseased ridden and boring. I had no desire to dine on someone so poorly fed. The smells of rotting wood and human waste were also a deterrent."

Caroline swatted his fingers away. "So fastidious."

"Modern bathing habits are an improvement." Klaus rolled into his side, close enough that the heat of his skin warmed her arm. "Although Bekah does enjoy that particular plot trope, based on her recent reading purchases. Anything I should know of love? I'm not adverse to the occasional role play."

"First - currently, that's none of your business. Second - seriously? Pretending to be the Big Bad Wolf might lose something, when, you know, you actually are."

"What exactly is required to make those fantasies of yours my business, Caroline?" His voice was low and her stomach dipped at the heat in his eyes.

"Why are you here, Klaus?"

He arched both brows and she rolled her eyes. "Other than whatever paranoia drove you to threaten Stefan."

"Tell me about Tyler."

Caroline's head snapped around, and she stared at Klaus with eyebrows raised. "Why?"

"I'm curious."

"About Tyler?" Caroline asked in disbelief. "Regarding what?"

"Why you cut him out of your life."

Klaus didn't seem angry, mere curiosity on his face, but she remembered his warning. He'd make them both bleed for their truths. Hesitating, she sat up and looked across the water.

Tyler.

Why wouldn't Klaus be curious. She'd chosen Tyler over him repeatedly. Had defied Klaus, their basic natures, her friends. She'd loved him. It had burned to ash in her hands, had left her worn and hollow, and sometimes she missed the boy Tyler had been. The before Klaus. The one before what they were - hybrid, vampire, antagonist and love interest - had divided them.

"I don't think we outgrew each other," Caroline said slowly. "I've never liked that saying. People aren't shoes. But our priorities differed."

She'd have never have thought that something as seemingly inconsequential as priorities would have ripped them apart. She valued her mother, her friends, her life. He wanted revenge. There was no room for what was between them to grow with that kind of hate. And he'd never forgiven her for having sex with Klaus.

Caroline took a steadying breath. "I did not let Tyler go for you."

At the time, she'd been determined to forget Klaus. Forget everything - the feel, the smell, the taste of him - and grow up. Instead, she grown up and found him.

Maybe.

"I know," he said calmly, watching her from calculating eyes. "You'd have contacted me either sooner or centuries from now, if that'd been the case."

"Why do you think you know me so well?" Caroline demanded, unsettled by the knowing in his gaze.

Klaus closed his eyes, tipping his head back to absorb the sun. The open vulnerability was both real and a facade. Klaus was never physically vulnerable and she'd have sworn he was never emotionally, but under a tropical sun he was letting her fingers pry him open.

Letting them both bleed.

"Only a fool ever claims to know someone completely, Caroline. I've memorized every physical cue, every twitch, and each habit. I've learned that you bite your lip when your unsure, your eye-roll is both to scoff and deflect, your hair a shield. But a thousand years from now when my fingers have memorized the lines of you, when your skin carries the memory of me as closely as my own; when I've shared my stories and scars, collected yours like jewels... I'll still be your willing student."

Caroline stared at him, lips parted, frozen in place by his words. That matter of fact, assured tone of his words. The lazy heat. To speak of a thousand years like they're nothing, as if they were not enough.

As if he'd never have enough of her.

"But Tyler is not a complicated creature. He's a fool, to not realize what he had." Klaus continued. "But a boy's heart is fickle - hardly a match for your devotion. I imagine you were both a torment and a comfort, Caroline."

"Torment?" She finally managed, eyes narrowing. "How so?"

"It's difficult, knowing you don't deserve what you have." Klaus said lowly. "The difference between Tyler and I, love, is that I'm selfish."

"You can't know that's how he felt." Caroline argued quietly.

"When I told you that you're full of light Caroline, it had little to do with the concept of goodness. Although I'm sure you took it that way."

Caroline frowned at him, eyebrows tucking together. "What?"

"You care about people, sweetheart. Stubbornly. Determinedly. That's what I see when I look at you - your unwavering devotion for those you love. That is what makes you bright." He tilted his head, lashes lifting and his eyes had gone hot. "I want all of it."

She stared at him, perfectly still under that look. Not predatory - not yet - but it was feral. Old, with a weight she couldn't name behind those eyes.

His mouth curved.

"Tyler though - knowing your own worth, trying to accept your limitations can drive a man insane. His choices had nothing to do with you sweetheart, even if his own impotence drove him to blame you."

Caroline took a slow breath and asked the question that had been on her mind for months. "What did you do to Tyler?"

Klaus held her eyes. Let iron fill his gaze. "I broke him."

Caroline licked her lips. She'd known that was the answer, but to see that expression and hear the satisfaction in his voice? Knowing that the danger there wasn't directed at her, had stayed it's fury because of her? The spike of heat in her veins was entirely inappropriate.

"Why?"

"Why?" Klaus repeated, eyebrows raising high. "You mean besides the threat he made on your life, your mother's life?"

"Yes."

Klaus shrugged. "I gave him a gift. He repaid me by breaking the sire-bond, sought to be alpha among my hybrids, and was responsible for helping destroy what I spent centuries creating."

"I helped with that." Caroline reminded him, eyes narrowed. "We all did."

"Yes," Klaus agreed. "But that goes back to your devotion to your friends, your family."

He rolled, and the long lines of him pinned her to the towel; the heat of him scalded her, even in this sun. She let him pull her sunglasses off her face, toss them lightly into the sand. He watched her, the lines of him relaxing only once she made no move to throw him off.

"Do you think I was unaware of your motivations?" He asked, skimming one hand down her throat, lingering where he'd bitten her. "By all logic, I should've compelled you to watch me drain Liz to death, perhaps forced you to drink her dry; have you seen someone claw their heart from their chest, love? Watched the desperation, the weight of knowledge of their impending death as their fingers dig into their chest, the screams as they crush their life with hands that have betrayed them?"

Caroline held his gaze, refused to back down. "But you didn't."

"I tried letting you die. You'll find that denial will feed a man when hope is nothing but a blighted winter. But you'd already rooted out my feeling with your small hands and sharp words. "

Leaning down, he kissed the hollow of her throat, lingering as muscles and skin jumped, flared to life beneath his touch. Her hands caught his upper arms, fingers flexing in surprise.

Lifting his head, his expression made breath she didn't need catch. "You've had ample opportunity to betray me, my family, since then. You've chosen not too."

"I like Rebekah," she breathed, trying to ignore the way he settled himself even more firmly against her. "Milan wouldn't be the same without her."

He smiled at her, eyes bright. His gaze dragged her down her throat, lingered where her pulse had once been. "As for Tyler? Twice, I spared his life - gave him the gift of time. He chose to reject each mercy. Does it bother you that you're the only reason he lived untouched for so long?"

"His mother's death hardly left him untouched." She pressed her fingers to the line of his lips when his eyes narrowed. "I'm just pointing out we have different ideas of mercy."

He bit at her fingers.

"I gave him a chance to learn from his mistakes. He took something of value from me, so I took something of equal value from him. Do you understand, what your presence alone won him? I have destroyed villages - entire generations - men, woman and children, for lesser slights. I helped Rome burn, ruined civilizations that have no names in your history books. I toyed with Katerina for five hundred years, tortured her with freedom; I hunted a cure of doppelgänger blood for a millennia. The death of Carol Lockwood was a mere penance."

"So much death, for the price of your ego." Caroline said softly, fingers lightly grazing his stubble.

"Hardly just my ego, love. Should I have let Tyler, my other countless enemies continue to campaign against my family? Given them hope, shown them my weakness?"

She sighed. "And there is that contradiction of yours. You kill so many for slighting you, you've killed more people than I've seen, much less known. Yet, Elijah, Rebekah, Kol. You love them."

"A thousand years we have burned, pillaged, built kingdoms and laid ruin." Klaus said softly. "What is a spat or two compared to that?"

Caroline cupped his face. "I'm not your conscious."

His laugh was low. "Aren't you?"

She shook her head. "No. I might be a wake up call, the opposition - whatever you want to call it. But I will not be the fulcrum on which you base your decisions. Good or bad."

"What about my reason?" Klaus asked, lashes shading his eyes.

"Friends and family are reasons," Caroline conceded finally. "But not excuses."

He tucked a loose curl behind her ear. "I don't need an excuse. You'll find that I'm particularly annoyed by them. But you'll also find, love, that I do not require your approval either."

She opened her mouth but he shook his head. "I want it. I'll go to great lengths to receive it. But need?"

His mouth lowered, slowly grazing hers as he kissed her with soft, lazy movements. Heat was a slow tangle in her veins, and her hands slid lazily to his shoulders. Sliding his weight to his elbows, he tangled his hands in her hair, arching her neck as he feathered kisses across her lips, her jaw.

"What I require from you," he murmured, pulling back just slightly. "Is so much more than mere approval."

Blunt, human teeth caught her lower lip, followed by the hot slid of his tongue. Gasping at the sudden change, she heard her nails cut into the fabric of his sleeves as he pressed a line of hot, biting kisses down the line of her throat. Her legs slid around his waist as his tongue pressed against her collarbones.

"I'm not having sex with you." Caroline gasped as his hips ground against hers, as her hands slid into his hair to tangle in his curls. "Beach sex is not fun."

He laugh was hot against her breasts, tongue even more so against her nipple and she whimpered in the back of her throat. His hand slid under the flimsy material of her top, massaging the fullness of her breast. Her hips bucked against his, and the pleased noise in the back of his throat made her shiver.

"Alright." Klaus lifted his head, hand stroking slowly at the underside of her breast. "I've never been overly fond of sand."

Slowly, body throbbing in protest, she unwrapped her legs from around his waist. Instead of immediately moving, the slow smile on his face made her abdomen tighten.

"Did I mention how much I approve of this beachfront you choose?"

Blinking at him, she frowned. "No. Why?"

Leaning down, he pressed his lips to her ear. "Semi-private, love. While I'm all for letting others hear you, I know you're still mostly suffering from modesty."

Then he slid down her stomach, shoved her suit to the side, and pressed his tongue against her clit. Spine arching, Caroline bit down on her lip hard enough to taste blood. He made a noise low in his throat as his tongue stroked against her, one hand sliding underneath her ass to keep her close. Hands grasping at sand, she bucked against his mouth.

"Klaus." Caroline gasped. This was definitely the exact opposite of of 'no sex.' One hand lifted, tangled in his curls. "Klaus."

Lifting his lashes, he caught her gaze. Pupils blown, the thin band of blue was so dark a human would think the color black. The desire, the demand there stilled her tongue. The edges of his mouth curled in a familiar, dimpled smirk as he held her gaze; his tongue caught the edge of his lip before he lowered his mouth and deliberately licked.

Shuddering, she let her head fall back in silent permission. A roll of his shoulders, and he'd hooked her right leg; a tug removed her suit bottoms completely. Bare, he spread her open and Caroline gripped her towel with her free hand, working to stifle her moans as his tongue stroked over her.

God, he felt good. Panting for air she didn't need, Caroline tugged at the curls fisted between her knuckles. He knew exactly what he was doing and she dug her heel into the muscles of his back, unable to hold back a whimper as he slid in one finger, then a second.

A third, and she arched into him, muscles contracting as she shuddered through her orgasm. He left her body draped inelegantly over his arms as he pushed up to look at her, spent and languid beneath him. Lashes heavy, she watched lazily as he just... looked her.

"No leaves in your hair," he said, voice rough with arousal. "But just as beautiful."

"There better not be anyone even close to us." Caroline finally managed, voice too sated to be biting. "I mean it."

Laughing, he untangled himself from her legs and leaned forward, kissing the blood from her lower lip. The hard length of his erection pressed against her stomach, but he simply lifted his head and smiled.

"Let me take you to dinner. We'll call it a date."

Caroline tried to glare. Failed. "Klaus."

He kissed her again, a mere whisper of touch. "I'll behave."

"Was what just happened behaving?" Caroline asked, tone exasperated, but unable to completely hide the tiny smile at the corner of her mouth.

He wanted a date.

"That was an indulgence." Klaus corrected, smoothing her hair from her face. "One you denied me last time, if I recall."

She flushed and pushed at him. "Off. And did you rip my suit?"

"Caroline, anything that ties so poorly on the sides can hardly be called a suit." He reached behind her and dangled the bright fabric in her direction. "Your usual undergarments would be more substantial."

She pursed her lips at him. "Would they have done any good?"

Dimples flashed at her. "No."

Biting the side of her tongue to hold in her unexpected laugh, she shooed him. "Go away."

"Dinner?"

"I'll think about it."

"I have reservations at that sushi place you like." He cajoled, the smile in his eyes brightening at their play.

Her eyes widened. "Sasabune?"

"Hmmm."

"You are such a cheater." She couldn't help her small laugh. "I'm still not having sex with you."

"Tonight," he murmured, devilry in his eyes. "You're not having sex with me tonight."

Glancing at him from beneath her lashes, she smiled at him, letting him see the affection she'd worn under her skin for too long. Holding that starved, wild gaze as she re-knotted her bikini bottoms, she shrugged and reached for her book.

"Impress me, and we'll see."

His laugh as he walked to the water lingered. As did his reminder.

"I do love a challenge, sweetheart."

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