Disclaimer: I do not own TVD.

AN: Thanks for all those wonderful reviews; they always make me so happy! :)

Also thanks to those who followed or favorite this story or me.

Without further ado, I give you, Chapter 10!

Chapter 10 - You lean towards despair; any given opportunity you're there

"Kol. You." Caroline was a bit taken aback by the mention of Kol, but entered the salon anyway only to see a familiar face staring at her and the two vampires.

"Bonnie?"

Two hours earlier

Bonnie Bennett had been a witch her whole life. And she was a damn good one too. Actually, the best she knew of. But she was not arrogant, nor cocky. All she wanted in this life was to live a quiet life, not to be dragged into the business of the supernatural and take care of her Grams. But that was not what life had in store for her. Last night she had gotten a visit from Elena. She was worried about Caroline. Now, Bonnie had met Caroline only a short time ago, but she already considered her as her sister. Bonnie liked Elena well enough, but Caroline was the one she had truly connected with. So when Elena had come to her door and begged of her to find Caroline and take her away from the vampire, Bonnie had no choice but to do as she asked.

Caroline's mother was in a bad condition, and she barely even noticed when the two girls snuck into her bedroom and drew blood from her to complete the tracking spell. After that it was fairly easy to find where Caroline was.

Bonnie had refused to take Elena with her. She would only be a liability, so now she found herself standing in front of the building Caroline was supposed to be in. Bonnie was no vampire, but witches had their ways of getting people do their bidding. So it was almost child's play to convince the doorman to let her in and tell where one blonde man resided with a blonde woman. She took the elevator to the top floor, only to find her way blocked by a spell. This Niklaus Mikaelson was no fool, but unfortunately for him, his witch was not quite as talented as she was. Bonnie broke the spell without breaking a sweat and stepped into the enormous apartment. There was no one there. She searched the living areas to only find them empty. She found a few servant girls, but that was it. No one was home.

But it became certain to Bonnie that Caroline indeed was residing here. She found some of her things in one of the bedrooms. Bonnie recognized her beloved teddy bear and few pieces of jewelry on the vanity table.

Bonnie was no vampire lover and liked to stay out of their business, and she knew the Mikaelson family. Well, she did not, but her Grams recognized the name. The Originals. Bonnie knew it was perhaps very stupid of her to come here. She was powerful, yes, but the Originals weren't ones to be messed with. Even if Bonnie did not fear for her own life, she had a family and she wanted to keep them safe. But right now, Caroline was not safe. Bonnie did not know what exactly was going on, but Elena was convinced that Caroline had been glamoured by Klaus to make her stay with him and do god knows what else. And if that was the case, Bonnie needed to be here, she needed to help her. She didn't need to lose a friend. She had lost too many to vampires already.

Bonnie was just glad that Caroline was not dead yet. She very well could have been. Now Bonnie needed to take her to safety. Nothing good ever came from fraternizing with the blood suckers.

"Hello, sweetheart," a man called from across the room. He made no attempt to come any closer, but Bonnie was not letting her guard down. He was clearly a vampire, and possibly an original vampire, too. Normal vampires were easy enough to control and make them feel pain, but the originals were somewhat a different thing.

He was handsome, she could not deny it. Even when she was supposed to be assessing the enemy, she found herself eyeing the vampire in a completely different purpose.

"I am no one's sweetheart, sweetheart." The man laughed and took a few casual steps towards her, but did not seem to be in any hurry to attack her. Bonnie would never be relaxed in the same room with a vampire, but surely he would have attacked her already if that was his intention.

"So, beautiful, what is a witch doing all alone in my brother's apartment?" He took a seat, but before that he poured himself a glass of whiskey.

"I don't think that's any of your business, whoever you are," Bonnie snapped and crossed her arms across her chest.

"I'm Kol. And you would be?" Bonnie just shook her head and refused to give him her name. She had no intention of ever seeing this man again, so why would she bother with him?

"How rude of you, darling." Bonnie proceeded ignoring him.

"I bet you're here for the lovely Caroline." She could not help but to glance at him when he mentioned her. How many vampires had she been associating with?

"Ah, I've sparked your interest. Yes, I've met your precious friend. She was quite helpful in insuring I won't be lying in a coffin ever again. Although that only made my brother even angrier. Oh well, he'll get over it," he chatted cheerfully.

"What did you do to Caroline," Bonnie hissed through her teeth. The candles on the far table lit by themselves.

"Calm down, darling. She's unharmed. I just needed her to get to my brother."

"What do you mean?"

"My brother has become very fond of your blonde friend." Bonnie shuddered. To think what they had done to her.

"I don't care about your brother. I'm here to take her home." Kol chuckled.

"I don't think the beautiful Miss Forbes would like to go home with you," he said gleefully.

"She doesn't know what she wants if you people have been glamouring her."

"I don't think Niklaus has been glamouring her."

"You know what, Kol, I don't care what you think. I don't want or need to talk to you. So let's just sit here quietly until Caroline gets here and I can take her and leave." He just shrugged and filled his glass again.

They sat in silence for an hour before they heard the elevator coming up. Finally.

Klaus was not happy to see his brother and the witch in his apartment. Of course Caroline had not listened to him and was just behind him.

"Bonnie?" she asked, surprise written all over her face. She was as surprised as he was. At first he had thought she had invited her friend over for whatever reason, but it was clear that she hadn't done that. Klaus was more surprised that Kol had shown up. He had given him a proper beating after all that happened with Caroline, and he had made it quite clear that he was not to show his face here again.

"Hi Care!" Bonnie said with a smile and took steps towards Caroline. Klaus made no effort to move out of her way. The witch stopped and glared at him murderously.

"You'd better move, vampire. I'm taking my friend home," she hissed. Klaus just lifted an eyebrow. Sure, she had broken into his apartment, so she surely had to be a powerful witch, but she would be no match for him. Klaus was just about to argue with the witch, but Caroline got there first.

"What? I'm fine here, Bonnie. I told that to Elena over the phone!" Bonnie looked at her suspiciously.

"Care, I told you about vampires and how they can glamour humans. I'll take you home." Caroline shook her head and stepped to reach Bonnie's arm which she squeezes.

"Bon, I've not been glamoured. See, I've been wearing your bracelet this whole time," she said and pointed at her wrist where the vervain filled bracelet still was.

"He could have easily taken it away!" Bonnie yelled frustrated. Klaus was getting real tired of listening to the witch, but it was somewhat amusing watching her insist that he had somehow tricked Caroline here, so he let it continue.

"Oh, he demonstrated just how easy it would be to take it away from me. But he gave it back. Well, he did glamour me once to go to sleep, but that's all, Bon. I wasn't somehow tricked into being here. I came because I had nowhere else to go. I needed to get out. Do you understand that?"

"See, I told you she wouldn't want to leave," Kol smirked, only to be stared murderously by the witch.

"I get that you needed to get away from your father, Jeremy explained that to me when you went missing, but you have other options, Care!"

"And what would those be? I have no money. I'm not likely to get a very well-paying job and I have no place to live. So, please, do tell me of these other options."

"I can help you get a place of your own. I'll help you get a job. I'm sure Elena would be willing to help with the money issue." Caroline shook her head. Klaus had been keeping a keen eye on her reactions. Even with all the things they had discussed over dinner only few hours ago, he got immediately anxious when the witch brought up Caroline leaving. She couldn't leave. He didn't want her to. He wanted her to stay.

"Bonnie, I don't want to go." Klaus almost sighed with relief. The conversation was taking a more private turn, and Klaus pondered if they should leave the girls alone, but Klaus did not want to leave her alone with the witch and he would hear every word even if he did leave the room.

"Caroline. You clearly aren't thinking clearly. He's making you –"

"He's not making me do anything! I came here because I wanted to. And I'm staying because I want to. And I will be staying here for some while!" Bonnie stared at Caroline, letting the words sink in.

"Listen to me –," Bonnie started, but Caroline interrupted her.

"No, you listen to me. I do not wish to be human anymore." The whole room fell quiet. Bonnie and Caroline were breathing heavily due to all the shouting, and Caroline's heart was beating fast.

"Care, no, don't say that," Bonnie whispered. Caroline shook her head and moved to take a seat.

"This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you. I knew you wouldn't support me."

"You need to think about this. Do you realize what you are giving up?"

"I know perfectly well what I am giving up. I'm giving up the power my father has over me. I'm giving up on the power my husband would have over me. I'm giving up on a life with nothing else in it than your home, husband and children. That is not the life I want. I want to see the world. I don't want what the society has to offer for me. Can't you see that Bonnie?"

The sadness in Caroline's eyes made Klaus want to comfort her. She deserved everything she wanted in life. And he was never going to deny her.

"I can, but you don't need to become a vampire to give all that!"

"Maybe not, but it sure as hell makes it easier. I want to be strong. No one will hurt me. No one," she whispered. Her face was hard, emotionless. Klaus did not want to see her like this. She was the light in his constant darkness. She felt things, made him feel things. And when someone made her so cold, dark, it just made Klaus want to rip her father's head off even more.

"Caroline, please think this over," Bonnie pleaded.

"I have. And I think you should leave." Bonnie made no move to leave.

"You heard her. You were only welcome as long as she wanted you here. Now leave," Klaus told the witch. Bonnie was still looking at Caroline, but she had turned her eyes to the windows.

"Please, Care. Come to the Inn tomorrow. Or any day. We'll talk about this. I promise I won't judge you." Caroline said nothing. The witch sighed and started walking just as Klaus was about to remove her forcefully.

Caroline rose from her seat as the door closed behind her friend.

"I think I'm going to go lie down. Thank you for the lovely evening, Nik," Caroline said and smiled sadly.

"It was my pleasure, love." She gathered her purse and left to her room. This evening definitely had not gone according to Klaus' plan. And now he had to deal with his brother.

"And you thought it would be a good idea to show your face here again?"

"Well, I thought you might want to know that Elijah is coming back from Europe." Klaus had been prepared to beat the life out of him, but now his interest had sparked. He hadn't seen Elijah since Katerina had gotten away from him. Klaus didn't forgive easily, and he knew that Elijah had been chasing for Katerina all these years. He had fallen in love and he just refused to give up on her. Just like Klaus refused to forgive his brothers betrayal.

"You have my attention, brother."

"I got a telegraph today. It informed me that Elijah has boarded a ship and will be in New York in about five days. It also might have mentioned something about being daggered in a box for the past decade and that your beloved Katerina has been in the United States for as long, and she apparently has something that would be very dangerous for us."

Klaus sighed. He didn't want to deal with all this. He had been after Katerina ever since she escaped, but he'd had no luck finding her. The girl was smart; he had to give her that. It served Elijah right to have been lying daggered in a box for a decade. Loving Katerina was pure madness and now he had paid for it.

"I will deal with this when Elijah gets here. I am assuming he will come to Chicago to shed further light on this matter?"

"Yes. He will be here."

"Good. We need to deal with Katerina, preferably before she finds out we know that she left Elijah daggered in a box and that now he's out. I am sick of that woman." Kol smirked and kept draining his older brother's whiskey supplies.

"Well, at least there seems to be one woman in your life you're not sick of." Klaus glanced at his brother. Sometimes you just couldn't believe that he was older than twelve.

"You better keep your mouth shut about Caroline. You're lucky that you are my brother. If you weren't you might be short of a head right now." Kol just chuckled like he always did and ignored his threats. He knew he was Klaus' favorite brother, and he took full advantage of it.

"Are you really telling me that this girl is more important than your brother?"

"Family comes first," Klaus replied and fixed himself a glass of whiskey.

"But you were willing to seriously harm anyone who hurt her."

"I still am," Klaus said, making sure the message was sinking in to his brother's brain.

"I've never seen you like this! Well, maybe when you had that huge crush on Tatia," Kol said and paused for a while, a thoughtful expression on his face. "You're in love with her!"

His laughter was full of disbelief. Klaus did not respond. He had been thinking about his feelings for Caroline for a time now. When he had still been human, he had thought he loved Tatia. Later he had realized that he had been foolish and it had just been an infatuation. Since his human days he had never felt anything close to how he had felt when he was with Tatia. Until now. And being with Caroline was… He was not as quick to label his emotions like he had been when he had been human, but he had to admit that already he felt more deeply for Caroline than he had ever felt for Tatia.

"You're not even denying it. I thought I'd never see this day, brother. You always were the cold brother. The one telling us others that love was a weakness. Finn had his Sage, Elijah his precious Katerina and I… Well, you know how that turned out. You and Rebekah were always the polar opposites. She is always so eager to trust, to believe in true love. And you trust no one, love no one besides your family. What is it about her, Caroline? I see she's beautiful. But that's not what sparked your interest."

"I wasn't aware that you came here to discuss my relationship with Caroline," Klaus said dryly.

"I didn't. But I told you about Elijah and Katerina and now I want to talk about this human woman who made my evil brother actually feel something."

"It's her. Everything about her. Don't you see the light in her? She is so good," Klaus mumbled, thinking back to Kol's questions.

"I see it, brother. But it's like fresh snow. You see how beautiful it is, but you can't help yourself but to fall on your back, make a snow angel, leave your mark. But then it won't be the same again. The beauty is gone. But you couldn't help but to leave your mark."

Klaus looked at his brother, at first thinking he was threatening Caroline again, but he was warning him instead. He had darkness in him that not even his brother was fully aware of. If Caroline stayed, Klaus would taint her, for good.

Caroline had retired early and tried to get some sleep. But Bonnie would not leave her head. She wanted her friends' support, but it was unrealistic to expect that, she knew it. Caroline did not want to think of Bonnie and Elena. It made her want to cry. Instead of thinking of her life and choices, she picked up Jane's diary from the year 1904. Jane had been twelve. And the stories of this careless aunt of hers kept her depressive thoughts at bay. But it didn't work for that long. When she got to the summer of 1904, she put the book down, put a dressing gown on and wandered into the kitchen where she poured herself a glass of water. The apartment was quiet, but she could see the light coming from the open door of Nik's study.

She didn't even fully consider what she should do. She just walked toward it, opened the door a bit further so she could slip in and stopped by the threshold. Nik was standing by the fire place, staring at something that was on his hands.

"Couldn't sleep, love?" he asked but did not life his gaze. Caroline wrapped her arms around her middle and took a few steps towards him.

"No. I have too much going on in my head," she confessed and glanced around the room. Her attention stopped on a painting. It was her. From that day.

"Why would you paint me like that?" she whispered. Nik finally lifted his eyes and stared at Caroline.

"I tried painting you happy and smiling. It just didn't turn out quite right. Now this one… Those darker emotions are easier to capture. Maybe it's because I'm more familiar with them. And also, I wanted a reminder. Of how I made you feel so scared and how I never wanted to see that look on your face again. I of course failed, since you had that look on when my brother used you to get to me."

"There was nothing you could have done, Nik."

"There is always something you can do better. Like tonight." He smiled a bit sadly at her. She stepped right next to him and took his hand in hers.

"Tonight was perfect," she told him, but that only made him laugh.

"Sweet Caroline, you clearly haven't been treated much like a lady if you think tonight was perfect. We had a spat in the restaurant, you got a little bit drunk in a speak-easy, I treated you like no gentleman ever should behind that said illegal establishment and then you fought with your friend. Do tell me again how the night was perfect."

"For your information, mister, I very much enjoyed your ungentlemanly behavior," she said and grinned boldly at him. He chuckled and rubbed his thumb against the back of Caroline's hand.

"The night was perfect because I was with you," she whispered. They both fell silent. Caroline had wanted to say something like this to him. She felt something for him. She wanted him. Physically and emotionally. She craved him every time she saw him, and when they talked like they had done tonight, it made her realize that no one had ever understood her quite like Nik did.

"Every second I spend with you is more magnificent than the last," he said to her, gazing in her eyes with such intensity that Caroline wanted to turn her eyes away, but she found herself unable to do that. His eyes were so mesmerizing. He was so mesmerizing.

"Why do you paint me?" she wondered aloud, unable to stand the silent tension between them.

"I don't really know, love. You came into my life and lately you have been filling all my thoughts, awake and asleep. You tell me, how did you do it?"

"I didn't do anything." He laughed and let go of her hand, leaving it aching with the loss. He poured himself a whiskey and offered a glass for her too, which she accepted.

"That must be it, love. You do not need to do anything. It's enough for you to just stand there and make men forget everything they were supposed to be doing and suddenly their lives revolve around you."

"But I never get picked first. Even when I'm at a dance. It's always Elena." Nik took a seat and pulled Caroline next to him, so close that their sides were touching.

"Do not concern yourself with those puny humans. Their eyes are weak. They wouldn't know genuine beauty even if it was standing right in front of their faces." His hand found hers again, making Caroline less anxious at once.

"Thanks, Nik. I don't care about that, not really. I just wish my friends would be here for me. Why can't they accept that this is where I want to be?"

"I don't have that much experience with friends, but I'd say that if they were ever truly your friends, they will get over themselves and accept you as who you are and who you want to be." Caroline sighed and pressed her head against Nik's shoulder. She yawned.

"You should go to sleep, love."

"I will only be racking my brain over what happened today if I go back to bed."

"Then stay. I'll paint, but you can do what you like. There are plenty of books to read."

In the end Caroline ended up watching as Nik painted her face on the canvas until dawn. She fell asleep as the first rays of sunshine reached the study and the last thing she felt was a soft kiss against her cheek, and a soft blanket placed over her.

AN: Soooo, what did you think? Did you like Bonnie's POV? Would you like more different POV's in the future and if so, which characters? Please tell me what you thought and leave a review! They always make my day :)