He turned around and saw her. His love, his Caroline. She was looking straight at him, at his hand wrapped around her friend's exposed heart. This is who he was and he couldn't hide it from her anymore. In that moment, he knew that he had lost her.

Everyone was looking at her. Elena and Stefan were confused. They had thought she had run away with Tyler weeks ago, she shouldn't be there. But then again they thought Klaus was dead. And here he was.

Rebecca gave her an anxious look, griping the stake she was pointing at Elena. She wasn't sure if Caroline was going to lunge at her and try to rip the stake away or run from the room crying.

Caroline just looked at Klaus. His arm against Stefan's neck was caked with dried blood. The other arm was in Stefan's chest, his hand wrapped around a heart, and she could make out shapes that looked like lungs and ribs, in places they didn't seem they should be. His fangs were out and his eyes had gone yellow. When he turned his head to look at her, he looked so savage, scary even. She caught a glimpse of the big bad wolf they had been trying to put down for the last year.

Remember this morning she told herself. You choose him. You will be there for him. You will be by his side. You knew who he was and fell for him anyway.

Caroline took a moment to take it all in.

"Stop." she said sternly. "Klaus. I need you to let go and take your hand out of Stefan's chest. Rebecca. please keep the others confined to this room. Elena, Stefan, just stay here, ok? We're going to fix this, but first I need to talk to Klaus alone."

He hesitated for a moment, not ready to end this particular torture session so soon, but he felt his hands leaving Stefan's chest, answering her command. He was confused. What was going on? She should have run from the room screaming, or attacked him for hurting Stefan. Why was she so calm?

Rebecca raised an eyebrow at Caroline's sudden bossiness, but dragged Elena up and pulled her and unconscious Damon over to where Stefan was sitting, clutching the slowly shrinking hole in his chest. She waved the table leg she was still holding, reminding them that she could easily stake them.

Caroline marched over to Klaus, laced her fingers around his bloody ones and led him from the room. He was dazed. What was she doing? Was she trying to be nice by breaking up with him in private? Could it even be considered breaking up if he hadn't even gotten the chance to take her on a real date?

Elena saw the way Caroline had taken Klaus's hand and the ease in which he followed her out of the room. She felt herself boiling with rage. What was Caroline doing with him? How could she? What about Tyler? Was Caroline ever really on their side, or was she informing to Klaus the whole time? With her new vampire strength and speed, she wanted to charge at her and attack, but a blonde original was in her way.

Klaus absently stared at his hand, being led by the girl walking in front of him. He saw it all, she would break up with him and leave. He would go back and snap Stefan and Elena's necks so he had some time to search the house for the bags. Then what? The hybrid army didn't seem nearly as enticing now. He would still need it, of course. But he was getting used to the new life he had begun picturing. He wouldn't just have an army, he would also have a queen. But now it was all over before it even had a chance to begin. Caroline had been a rare person, the only one in a very long time who he had actually had an interest in beyond the short term who gave him a chance. He wouldn't find that again any time soon. He didn't even want to.

They were in Damon's bedroom. She pushed him on to the bed and straddled his lap. She was kissing him. Wait, why was she kissing him? It didn't matter. He wasn't sure if this would be the last kiss he would ever get out of her, so he pulled her in closer. his hands ran up and down her back, leaving bloody smudges on her shirt.

She broke away after a minute and he looked back at her, confused.

"You should have told me you were coming here" she said

He looked down.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you wouldn't like it."

"You're right. I don't like it. But what I like even less is not knowing what's going on."

"You would have told me not to come, you don't understand"

"So explain it to me" she said, annoyed.

"The Salvatores managed to paralyze me and almost killed me. they would have if it wasn't for Bonnie. They would have taken themselves and you along with me when I died. They came even closer than Mikael ever had. I couldn't let them think they could get away with it. I had to show them how easily I could kill them. I don't wan't them dead, I like having Stefan around, and I know he wouldn't be very friendly to me if I killed his companions."

"You just needed to scare them." she said

He nodded.

"Do you think you scared them enough?"

"For now. but..."

"But what?"

"Theres something else. Something you'll like even less."

"What?"

He shot her an annoyed look. He pulled her off of his lap and stood up, taking a few steps away from her. "I'm not going to tell you. You're already gone so whats the point? Why are you still here? You want to hear the whole plan and go running back to your friends to tell them what I'm going to do? Stop pretending you can still be with me after what you saw in there."

It felt like a punch in the gut. She stormed over to him and shoved him hard. "How dare you tell me what I'm feeling! You think you know what I'm going to do? You're so used to people betraying you or choosing someone else over you that you don't even stop to consider that maybe I want to be with you anyway." She was right up against him, standing on her tiptoes so she could look him straight in the eye. "I thought we agreed this morning. Its you and me. you and me and no one else. That means that even when I don't like what you're doing, I'm going to support you. I'm always going to be on your side and I can't believe you thought you could get rid of me that easily. You're stuck with me now. So why don't you tell me whats going on so I can help?"

She put her hands on her hips and glared at him, waiting for a response.

He saw it again, the thing within her he saw the night she attacked him at the hunting cabin. She was a warrior. He didn't always know what her next move was and it scared the shit out of him and turned him on all at the same time.

It wasn't possible, No one had ever really been on his side above all else. Rebecca had come the closest, but even she had eventually picked Stefan over him. Eventually Caroline would do the same, she would rip him apart by telling him that someone else was more important. But for now he would allow himself to forget the inevitable and just enjoy the time until she would stick the knife in. He could have a few good years with her, maybe even a century until she changed her mind. It would hurt more if he let himself pretend it could last forever, but it would be worth the pain.

"Ok. I'll tell you everything"

They sat there and he told her about how he had captured Elena and tried to bleed her to death, collecting her blood so he could make hybrids. She but her lip, obviously upset that he came so close to killing her friend (again) but she didn't say anything. He told her he needed the bags. He needed the army he could make and he wanted to keep both of them safe.

She sat quietly for a moment.

"I think I know how you can get the bags and ensure Stefan's loyalty. I don't know about friendship, really, but it could be possible. At least for a while. But you'll have to give them something in return."

He listened to her explain the plan. It made sense and the terms were ones he could live with. He was surprised by how she took into account that Stefan's friendship was important to him, and she selected a plan that could leave the door open for that. He never said that the friendship was all that important to him, but she knew from that picture he had kept all those years.

When they got back in the room, Elijah was there, and Damon was awake. The two original siblings had placed themselves between the Salvatores and Elena on the couch, Elijah between Elena and Damon, and Rebecca between two brothers. When Caroline came in the room she sat on the couch next to Elena and Klaus stood across from the row of them.

"Care, whats going on?" asked Elena "Are you with him or something?"

"Shh. just listen"

Klaus looked at Stefan. "There were six bags. Do you have all six?"

Stefan nodded yes.

"Very well. This is my only offer and you would be wise to accept it. I will take one bag today. In exchange I will give each of the three of you a vial of my blood. A cure for a werewolf bite, should the occasion ever arise. You will continue to give me one of the remaining bags once every ten years. During these visits, I will give you another vial of my blood should you have had to need the old ones. From now until ten years after you give me the last bag, my hybrids and I shall not kill anyone you care about, and you lot shall not kill anyone I care about. If you try to deceive me by giving me someone else's blood, or if you come after me or send someone after me with the intent of desiccating me or killing me, you will die."

Elena spoke first. "So we have a guarantee you won't hurt us for as long as we're providing you with a bag of my blood every ten years?"

Klaus nodded.

She looked at Damon. He mouthed a no to her but she ignored it.

"There are 16 bags, not 6. You can have all of them if you extend the offer accordingly. So 160 years of peace instead of 60."

Damon shot daggers at Elena with his eyes. He hated when she did stuff like this.

Klaus looked at her confused. Where were the other bags from?

"When you left with Stefan, Damon and I thought you would be back eventually to take me, or more specifically, my blood. So we drew a little out at a time, hoping to stockpile enough to make some sort of deal with you so I could stay here. We had ten bags worth before you kidnapped me and tried to kill me."

More bags. Better yet, more hybrids. He could live with keeping peace with them for a longer period of time.

He smiled. "Agreed. I'll have that first bag now."'

Stefan sulked down to the basement, and Rebecca and Elijah went home. Caroline wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. She had been so excited to see Elena for the first time since her friend had become a vampire, but now she just wanted to get away. The look Elena was shooting her was pure disgust.

"Caroline, Can I talk to you for a minute? Alone?"

She tried not to groan with annoyance as she followed Elena out of the room, leaving Klaus and Damon to ignore each other while they waited for Stefan to return with the bag.

"What the hell is going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you here, and Why are you so friendly with Klaus? How long have you known he was still alive? Does that mean Tyler is still alive?"

"I came back just for a few days. I know it's not safe with the council knowing about me, I wanted to see everyone. I'll be leaving soon. and Tyler is really dead."

"You skipped the part about Klaus"

"Can we just not."

"Are you with him?"

"Elena."

"Answer the question."

"Yes. I'm with him."

"That's disgusting! You know what he's done! How could you? I can't believe you, Caroline!"

"Calm down."

"No. Caroline, how can you be with him? How long have you been with him? Were you cheating on Tyler? Did you kill Tyler? Were you helping him all along behind our backs?"

"No. I would never, how can you even say that? This is new, but its not going away. I'm with him now."

"He's just using you, Care. How can you be so stupid? You keep going after these guys who don't want you, or only want you for sex. None of them love you, and you keep running after them like a stupid little girl who wants a fairy tale ending. Matt didn't love you, he just gave in because you were pestering him. Everyone except you knew what Tyler was like, but you fell in love with some warped version of him you thought was in love with you or something. Tell me Caroline, how long did you wait to sleep with both of them? You think you can fuck someone into loving you? I don't even need to bother asking if you're already fucking Klaus."

"Why do you care so much? This has nothing to do with you! I don't have to justify who I'm with to you."

"I can't even look at you. You should know better. I think you should leave"

Caroline was stunned. How could Elena of all people hate her this much? "Really, Elena? You look pretty cozy with Damon. After all you insisting that it was always going to be Stefan, you go and jump right to his brother? And you know what Damon did to me. Don't give me your shit about friendship and the honorable thing to do or try to shame me for sleeping with who I want to sleep with. You're no better."

She walked back in to the other room and saw that Stefan had already handed Klaus the bag. Stefan was giving her a confused look. She felt bad for him, wondering why he put himself through the pain of being around his brother with his ex.

Klaus saw the pained expression she still had from her conversation with Elena. They had been shouting, and all the vampires still in the house had heard it.

He put the bag in his pocket and wrapped an arm around her, kissing the top of her head.

"We'll be leaving now. I'll see you here again in ten years."

"I guess I won't be seeing you again for another ten years" Damon whispered at Caroline "That is, if he keeps you alive that long"

They sat in silence on the ride home. As soon as they arrived he slipped away to put the bag in a small refrigerated safe that was hidden behind a panel in his closet.

She flopped back on his bed and closed her eyes.

She could still hear Elena's words burning in her mind. Had they ever really been friends? Or was it just a mix of the convenience of having people in common and being in the same place at the same time? She heard the words all over again. There was truth in there, of course, but it was tied to remnants of what they thought was right and wrong when they were human. The lines blurred when she turned. It became harder to see someone as pure evil for killing when she had killed people and liked it.

An arm snaked behind her neck and pulled her up. He was sitting there next to her. She curled in to him and held on. Her eyes still shut, she focused the other senses, taking a moment to smell him and feel him against her.

"Are we going to go find Weres for you to turn into hybrids now?"

"Soon. But first I want to spend a little time with you. Me and you and no one else. Where would you like to go, love?"

She was absorbed by the sound of his voice. If his voice was a place, where would it be?

"London"