Hey Everyone! Hope you enjoy this chapter, sorry for the long wait :) I'll have a few authors notes at the end.

"I was scared of losing you. I just wanted to end it before you did. But I was an idiot. I realize that now. So I'm here to sweep you off your feet, tell you I love you and that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Caroline Forbes."

It had been a good speech, Caroline thought as she sat in the back of the town car on her way back to the hotel. Short and sweet and to the point. When she had burst into tears, Tyler had stood up and hugged her, thinking that they were tears of joy. Which only made it harder in the end, to reject him.

She didn't know how or what to say, she always thought that she would have a few more weeks until she had to go home and face the music with Tyler. It was awful, but she hadn't thought much about him since he had yelled at her over the phone. That had to have said it all. Her no longer wanting to be with him didn't even have anything to do with Klaus. It was just the fact that she was living her life, without Tyler, and never once did she wonder about having him there with her. She realized that as much as she cared about him, she had to let him go.

Tyler wasn't a crier. He was an alpha male, to the core, rarely letting his emotions slip. But she saw the glimmer of tears in his eyes when she told him no. She tried to be gentle, tried to preserve his feelings as much as she could, but in the end there was no way he was not going to feel hurt. He had come all that way and it was all for nothing.

If anyone was to be blamed, it was Elena. Well, not really. Her intentions were good. Tyler told Caroline that Elena had called him up a couple days ago, saying that she felt bad about their recent fighting, and offered to fly him to Paris. Tyler accepted in a heartbeat, of course, making the rest of the plans on his own with a little extra help from Elena. She was just trying to be a good friend. Trying to right her wrongs. Caroline appreciated the gesture, but it was clear they were overdue for some girl talk. It was time that Caroline came clean about everything that had been going on during their trip that Elena wasn't aware of. She would make up with her tomorrow, right now she was emotionally spent for the night.

As she rode up in the elevator, she remembered she had missed her perfect date with Klaus. So much for that surprise. She hoped it wouldn't be too late to salvage the evening, although after her time with Tyler—who was staying at another hotel—she wasn't sure if she was in the romance mood anymore. Maybe they would just have another night like they did before, falling asleep in one another's arms, just talking. The thought of it made her feel better already.

There was so much she needed to tell him. The moment Tyler had dropped to his knee, Caroline knew that she wasn't the same woman who had left Mystic Falls. She was a brand new person. If she was being honest with herself, it was a feeling that had been growing inside of her even before she came on this trip with Elena and since then it had only developed and changed and become something she could no longer ignore. Caroline Forbes knew she was meant for better things. What those things were, she wasn't sure, but now she felt like a free woman. Like Elizabeth Bennett after she rejected stupid Mr. Collins and was free to explore the world and fall for Mr. Darcy.

Not that Klaus was Darcy. Not even close. She wasn't sure what Klaus meant to her at this point, but she wanted to find out. With this surge of empowerment, she would confront him, tell him that she wanted to stop playing around with each others feelings and have something more real.

She bit her lip, smiling to herself, feeling a little guilty that she wasn't all that guilty anymore about rejecting Tyler. The thought of her future, and Klaus, made the decision seem too right to feel remorseful.

The elevator dinged and she stepped off onto her floor, rounding the corner, just in time to see Klaus…yanking a busty redhead into his room. The door shut with a giggle. Caroline's heart dropped to the floor as she stood there, her mouth hanging open, the sight of him pulling the bimbo towards himself playing over and over again in her head. Somehow, her feet moved forward and she did her best not to listen as she passed his room. She didn't want to hear whatever was going on inside of that room.

The tears fell once she was inside of her room. The high that she had been feeling on her way up in the elevator deflated. She was right about Klaus. All along, that little niggling voice in the back of her mind was right. Klaus did break her heart.

The ringing of her cell phone interrupted her crying and she reached over to see who was calling. It was her mom. She thought about sending it to voicemail, but then thought that maybe she could use a chat with her mother. She whipped at her cheek and let out a sniffle as she answered the phone.

"Hey mom," she said.

"Caroline, I didn't wake you did I honey?"

"No it's still early," Caroline replied, glancing at the clock. She did the mental math, figuring out the time back in Mystic Falls and realized that it was her mother who was awake at an odd hour. "Why are you still up? Is everything ok?"

"I've got some bad news." Caroline shifted, sitting up in attention, unnerved at the extra gentle tone in her mother's voice. "It's your father."

The alarm on his phone beeped loudly, in time with the pounding of his head. He hadn't woken up feeling like this since…before Prague, he thought. With his eyes still shut, he felt around the night table for his phone, knocking over the almost empty bottle of whiskey, spilling what was left of the cheap brown alcohol onto the hotel carpet. The phone vibrated angrily in his hand and he considered chucking it against the wall for a moment before pressing the button to silence the damn thing.

He reached over to the other side of the bed, grabbing a pillow to use as a shield from the sunlight. His thoughts returned to the night before. The bar, the drinking, the redhead, the liquor store, bringing her back to the hotel and immediately coming to his senses about two minutes after kicking the door shut. More like he was forced to his senses, rather. Klaus had gone through the motions, the choreographed touches and kisses and words; a dance of seduction he had become a master of. But it lacked passion; something that hadn't ever bothered him before.

With an apology he had quickly sent the girl on her way, a wad of cash in her hand for cab fare, and a short prayer that Caroline hadn't run into in the hallway. He needed to get the story straight, needed to find out what had happened between Caroline and her boyfriend. Elena had seemed confident that the couple would reunite, that Caroline would accept Tyler's proposal, but Klaus wasn't so sure. If the past few days were anything to go by, he knew that Caroline was coming around, maybe not to the idea of him, but to the idea of herself and how much more she deserved than the life she was settling into.

He hadn't wanted to confront her the night before. It was too late and he was too drunk, but now in the light of day, sober, he couldn't wait any longer. Throwing a fresh pair of jeans and white t-shirt on, he rushed down the hall to her room and knocked on the door. No answer. After another failed attempt he went back to his room and grabbed the phone, making a call to the front desk.

"We're sorry Mr. Mikaelson, Miss Forbes checked out late last night," the woman explained to him.

"Did she happen to say why or where she was going?"

"No sir, only that there was a change of plans and she was returning to the States."

That was it, he thought as placed the white phone back on the hook. Elena was right in her prediction. Caroline had accepted the proposal and was heading back home. Klaus stood, grabbing the bottle from the floor and pitching it into the trashcan, lamenting the fact that he had spilled the rest of his alcohol.

An hour later he was packed, showered, and ready to move on. In more ways than one. He wouldn't dwell over Caroline. She was nothing. Just a blonde in a bar, a way to entertain himself as he put on this miserable show of being some other woman's reformed bad boy boyfriend. There was no reason for him to feel hurt or disappointment because she was no one special.

He strolled over to where Elena was waiting in the lobby, making idle chatter with her publicist. His smile stretched across his face like armor, hiding his true feelings underneath an expression of cocky amusement.

"Great you're here," Elena said to him as he approached, "Elijah's out front in the car already."

"Will Caroline be meeting us at the airport then?" It was the most casual way he could think of asking about what had happened the night before without seeming too interested.

"No," Elena said, extending the handle to her rolling suitcase, "she's already headed back to the states."

"That was fast," Klaus remarked following her as she headed through the revolving lobby doors, "shame the happy couple couldn't stay a night or two in the city of love to celebrate."

Elijah came forward and grabbed Elena's suitcase, taking it to the trunk of the car for her. "Not that's it's your business, but she and Tyler broke up for good last night." Klaus's cocky grin faded away as he heard the news of Caroline's rejection.

"Then where is she?"

"She went to Chicago, to see her dad, he had a heart attack," Elena's voice dropped, "her mom called her last night. She said he was in bad shape." Klaus remained standing, stunned, as Elena slipped into the car.

"Niklaus, are you alright?" Elijah was standing there, staring at him, a hand on his arm. He backed away from the door, shutting it, and grabbed his suitcase from the trunk.

"I can't go to Spain," Klaus said.

"You don't have a choice," Elijah replied.

"You're right," Klaus said, "I don't. I have to get to Chicago."

Exhausted didn't even begin to cover how Caroline felt, as she walked into the single family home where her father and his partner, Stephen, lived. She had been in Chicago for two days and had gotten maybe six hours of sleep total. As soon as she had landed at O'Hare, she had taken a cab straight to the hospital. All she kept thinking the entire time was about her father being alone. It was lucky a neighbor hand dropped by and found him passed out on the floor of his kitchen, otherwise he could have died. They weren't even sure how long he had been there, which is what made the situation so touch and go at the beginning. Stephen was a journalist, stuck on assignment in Brazil, and wouldn't be home the next day. He called Caroline for regular updates.

Her dad was going to be fine. He was lucky. After a triple bypass the doctors told her he would be on the mend soon. Still, it was scary. Scary enough that she hadn't hesitated to jump on a plane the second her mother called her and told her he may not even make it through the night. Elena, still attempting to right her wrongs, paid the insane amount to get Caroline on the redeye to Chicago. She hadn't had a chance to talk to Elena much, but her friend rode with her to the airport, and their fight was forgotten as she briefed her on the news of things with Tyler. But all of that seemed like weeks ago when she thought about the possibility that her dad was dying in a hospital and she wouldn't get to see him and say goodbye.

She kicked her shoes off and slumped onto her father's green couch, with a box of leftover sweet and sour chicken in her hand. She had picked it up from the Chinese takeout place on the corner. It had been one of her favorites to eat at whenever she visited her dad, every other Christmas and Thanksgiving and a few weeks over summer breaks. She clicked on the flat screen, a random entertainment channel popping up.

Klaus and Elena were on screen, a clip of the two of them holding hands at some event in Barcelona. The announcer was going on about their new movie, the news having been made official. Klaus looked unfairly handsome in a black t-shirt, with the wind whipping through his curls against the backdrop of the blue ocean, as he talked about his character in his new movie and his excitement to be working alongside Elena.

Caroline groaned, turning the channel to the next station and shoving a piece of chicken in her mouth. At some point she realized her cheeks were wet. Tears she had been holding back for the past two days had finally spilled over. Tears of worry for her father, tears of guilt over Tyler, and tears of even more guilt at the fact that she was angry she had had to leave Paris before she got a chance to yell at Klaus for being such an ass.

She hated him so much. Maybe she was fixating her current worries on hating him, but she did. All she could hope was that she would see him again one day so she could really let him have it; let him know that he only did her a favor by sleeping with that redhead. So maybe they weren't officially together, and technically he hadn't done anything wrong, but if she was so special then why would he be wasting his time with other girls? The only explanation was that he was tired of making effort with her and just wanted some easy slut to bed after all. Well that was fine, he was free to do whatever he wanted and now so was she. He could stick that in his bourbon bottle and drink it right up. She hoped he would choke on it.

The doorbell rang and Caroline shot up, whipping the tears from her cheeks. It was probably another one of Stephen or her dad's friends, dropping by to check on her, bringing her yet another sympathy casserole or other gift as others had been doing over the past couple of days. She thought a moment about ignoring the door, pretending she wasn't home, but they might call Stephen or her dad at the hospital and worry them. Lifting herself from the couch, she trudged to the door, her feet dragging on the hard wood.

A quick glance in the mirror showed her that her face looked a little splotchy from crying, but she hoped the dimness of the porch light would hide that. She flipped the switch on and opened the door, her eyes forming wide surprised circles at seeing the person standing on the other side.

"Klaus?"

"Caroline," he said, her name sounding full of relief at seeing her behind the door.

Caroline stared at him, incredulous, for a few moments before leaping up and throwing her arms around his neck. Before he could say anything else, before he could even begin to explain what he was doing at her father's front door or how he had gotten there, she was kissing him. Her lips pressed fiercely to his. Klaus hesitated in surprise only for a moment before wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her feet off the ground, carrying her inside.

They crashed into the table by the front door, the back of Caroline's legs hitting it, and knocking over the vase of flowers that was there. In the back of her head, she registered the noise of ceramic breaking and the drips of water onto the floor, but she didn't care, she just kept kissing Klaus.

She knew she had lost her mind. Maybe it was the stress and the grief—she had been hating him only moments ago—but seeing him standing in the doorway made every single one of those thoughts fly from her mind. They didn't matter to her anymore as she separated her lips from his so she could focus on unbuckling his belt.

"Caroline," he said again, and she knew what he was doing. He was stopping her, yet again. Her eyes lifted and she peered up at him through her lashes. It wasn't rejection she saw there, as she had feared, but caution. Caution mixed with a tiny bit of hope that she wouldn't stop.

Her face twisted into a sultry smirk and she slid his zipper down, tugging at his jeans and pulling him toward the stairs. Klaus rewarded her with a devilish grin and stepped forward.

They crashed onto the full sized bed in Caroline's room, her back falling onto her pink frilly comforter. Klaus pressed a wet kiss to her throat as she striped him of his shirt, running her fingers down his long, sinewy torso. She giggled as Klaus seemed to fumble with the button of her shorts and he smiled into the kiss, finally catching it and pulling them down her legs. She followed him yanking off her own shirt, so that she was just down to her bra and underwear. Klaus didn't hesitate, throwing off the rest of his clothes and climbing back onto her.

She had caught a quick glimpse of him before he laid back down and began kissing her again, seeing his full on naked body for the first time. His mother really was an artist. Klaus was like a sculpted Adonis. She could feel it in the lines of his torso, the curve of his hip, the indent of muscle that led her down to his erection that throbbed against her stomach.

Her studious thoughts flew from her head has Klaus's deft fingers pushed aside the purple cloth of underwear and slipped into her wet folds. Caroline let out a wanton moan, arching against his hand. He thumbed her clit, sending glorious waves of pleasure up her spine. Her mouth opened in a small O and Klaus closed it with his lips, as he pumped his fingers in and out of her. His tongue danced in a rhythm with hers as his fingers worked her over. His lips brushed down the line of her jaw and down to her chest, nudging down the cups of her bra and latching onto her breast. She threaded her fingers through his curls in encouragement as Klaus sucked at her hard nipple. He bit down a bit roughly, the quick nip of pain sending an unexpected sensation straight to her core, eliciting a pleasured whimper from her mouth.

"Enjoy that sweetheart?" Klaus purred as he returned his lips to hers. Caroline nodded against him, grabbing his face and pulling him closer. Soon orgasm rushed over her, and she cried out against his kiss.

In her state of bliss, she hadn't noticed that Klaus had slipped off her underwear and unclasped her bra. As she came back down and into the moment, she saw him reach into his jeans on the floor and heard the crinkling of a wrapper. This was it, she thought, time for the main event. Caroline wiggled her toes in anticipation; as Klaus turned back to her, ready to go. His blue-gray eyes were almost coal colored, the moonlight coming in through the curtained window casting shadows across their bodies.

Klaus settled between her legs and entered her, Caroline sucked in a breath at the feel of him inside of her, at last. He began to move, feathering kisses along her jaw. It was unlike anything she had imagined. Better even. She had gotten so caught up in perfect moments and right times, but they were all just flimsy excuses. The excuses she made to protect herself, to protect her heart. And she guessed that perhaps Klaus, for all his bad boy bravado, had been doing the same. Somewhere between answering the door and making their way upstairs, it had dawned on Caroline that guys who wanted a quick roll in the bed didn't travel a billion miles for a girl he had only known a short time. They didn't some how show up out of thin air when that girl needed them before she even realized it herself.

His hand slid down the back of her thigh, hitching it further around her waist so that he could get a better angle. With that little maneuver, he hit her right in that sweet spot, and Caroline arched into him, digging her fingers into his back as he thrust, urging him to go deeper. Her thighs squeezed his hips and he slipped his hand between them, rubbing her swollen clit, bringing her closer and closer to that edge.

"Don't stop," she breathed out, pleading with him. Klaus answered her, increasing his pace, his thrusts becoming more frantic as he reached his own edge.

His thumb and forefinger gave her a little pinch and Caroline let out a whimpered cry as another intense wave crashed over her. Klaus followed her with his own release, a heady groan that mingle with her gasping breathes.

He rolled off of her, falling back to the other side of the small bed. Caroline's body tingled and she turned her head to see Klaus staring back at her, his curls rumpled from where her fingers hand gotten tangled in them. She let out a hearty laugh, earning her an odd look from Klaus.

"Oh my god," she said between chuckles, "what are you even doing here?"

12 hours earlier…

Klaus sat at the hotel bar, ordering another glass of red wine. His phone sat on top of the dark oak and he stared at it. He had been wanting to call Caroline since they had left Paris—when Elijah had told him there was no way he could go to Chicago—and see if she was alright. Elijah had forbade him from leaving. Forbade. And he used the word forbade. Klaus was beyond irritated with his older brother. If he thought he was the one in charge, he was dead wrong. If Klaus wanted to go after Caroline, he would bloody well do it.

The only problem was, he had no idea where she was. He knew she was from Mystic Falls, which was small enough that he reckoned he would be able to find her. But Elena had said she was in Chicago. That was a touch more difficult.

Klaus downed his glass of wine and hopped off the stool. Maybe he could borrow Elijah's laptop and do a little research. His brother was out at a dinner, so with a quick trip to the front desk Klaus was able to sweet talk the concierge into giving him a spare key to his brother's room. The time told him that he still had an hour or two before Elijah came back, so he slipped the key into the lock and opened his brother's room.

"Oh my god!"

Klaus nearly dropped the key at the sight that awaited him inside his brother's room. Elena stood there in front of his brother, scantily clad in some lacy maroon lingerie, her lipstick smudged across Elijah's mouth, her hand tugging at his tie. She looked mortified while Elijah stood there, gritting his teeth in annoyance. Klaus had already had an inkling that this was going on behind his back, but now here was the proof. A devious smile spread across his face from ear to ear.

"Well," he said, stepping further into the room, "it looks like I'll be going to Chicago after all."

Sooo, happy guys? They finally did the deed and Elejah has been outed! Kudos to everyone who saw it coming, which was most of you. I kept dropping big and little hints along the way. :) Just as a note, I'm usually a massive Kalijah shipper, but in this story Elejah just worked out better.

Second, I know some of you are probably thinking...Katie, Caroline would not sleep with Klaus still thinking that he had slept with the red head. Well I'm going to play devil's advocate. A) Caroline makes a mention that technically Klaus did nothing wrong because they weren't together. So it's not like he cheated on her or anything. What made her so upset about the redhead was the fact that she has been going back & forth wondering if Klaus just wants sex & after seeing him with the other girl she jumped to that conclusion. However, she quickly realizes that Klaus being at her door in Chicago goes a little beyond the effort of trying to get into someone's pants. B) I wanted to write a little impulse on Caroline's part. So far she's been very controlled about everything, but in this instance I wanted to write her as throwing all caution to the winding and just going after what she wants. Some of you may think it OOC, but I think it works here. Remember, this is an AU fic. And Caroline was never a perfect person.

And don't worry, talks will be had in the next chapter. They will be quite hilarious ;)

Feel free to let me know your thoughts. If you think the sex thing was too quick or didn't work, let me know. Fanfic is an experiment, I don't mean it to be perfect. So constructive crits are always welcome.

p.s. yes I have to set things in Chicago because I love this city!

follow me on tumblr at hybridlovelies