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And thank you for your kind words on my birthday! You guys are amazing!
When Caroline had finally woken up at past ten, she had waited until she didn't hear any more noise downstairs and was sure Stefan and Elena had regained their room before she went to take two blood bags in the cellar. Usually, she only needed one but it seemed like being in a frustrated mood increased her blood lust. Her argument with Elena still being fresh, Caroline didn't want to risk running into the latter or her boyfriend for that matter.
She hadn't stopped thinking about her last conversations with both members of the couple and wondering what she could have done to raise up so much insecurity inside Elena about their relationship. She loved Elena and she would never ever let anything or anyone come between them; she thought that was an established fact. But when Elena dared state she was in love with Klaus, the blonde just lost it. She had no right to say such allegations… especially when they were unfounded.
First of all, she had come back into Mystic Falls hardly a week ago and no matter how fast Caroline Forbes was known to move with men, she did NOT fall in love within a week. Besides, if she had effectively developed romantic feelings towards Klaus, as hard as it may be, she would have talked to her friends about it; and considering her dim past with the Original Hybrid, Elena would have hit first position on her list. Second of all, indeed, she and Klaus were getting more and more comfortable with each other, which made sense given that time had passed and things had changed and she had matured… Still, she was nowhere near love: that was a word way too big, one she hadn't even thought about before Elena brought it up. And third of all, if her memory served her well, when Elena fell for a certain questionable bad boy not so long ago, though Caroline was in denial for quite some time too, when it finally hit her the raven-haired girl was actually feeling for the guy, the blonde let her friend deal with it on her own like the big girl she was and never dared state the latter was in love with Damon because, after all, she wasn't in Elena's heart to tell; she did express her disapproval when things started improving between the two though.
Caroline had just left her room trying to be the smarter one and make peace with her BFF. She was in the corridor heading for Elena's room when she saw the latter getting out of her own room and joining that same corridor. They kept walking towards each other and eventually stopped at the middle of the path.
"I was hoping we could talk." Elena spoke first.
"I was on my way to your room." Caroline replied.
"Stefan's taking a nap." She paused. "Let's go to your room."
Caroline headed for her room.
"Or we could do this right here." The brunette intervened.
The blonde turned around slowly, hesitantly.
"I'm sorry for what I said yesterday night… for most of it anyways. I meant it. But there is some stuff I shouldn't have said; it wasn't my place." She admitted.
"You called me a hypocrite." The blonde pointed out.
"Yes, I AM sorry about that one."
"I am anything but a hypocrite. As a matter of fact, I'm the most honest and straightforward person in this group!" Caroline stated.
"I just apologized, Caroline. And you might be honest as far as our stories are concerned but when it comes to you, you ARE in denial quite often, Caroline and you…" she stopped and brought her hand to her face. She let out a sigh which noise was softened by her hands covering her face.
"I'm not here to argue with you. I said I was sorry, Caroline… I am sorry, ok? I am sorry that I lashed out on you. I am sorry that I am concerned about you and Klaus! I am sorry that I don't want you to get hurt! I am sorry that I'm afraid of losing you, ok?! I am sorry!" the raven-haired woman lost her temper.
Stefan who was quietly resting in his room in his bed was obviously woken up by the hurricane his girlfriend was. He drew himself up and got in a sitting position. The next second, Elena was slamming their door and hitting her head once against that same door.
"So… have you decided to give Niklaus a chance?" Elijah bluntly asked.
"Have you?" Caroline asked back shrugging a shoulder.
"Excuse me?" he creased his eyebrows as he served the blonde a glass of water.
"Thank you." She said with a small smile after he finished. "You're asking me to give your brother a chance whereas you're not willing to do the same by telling him about Katherine when he's YOUR brother." She explained. "You've known him his whole life, Elijah."
Indeed, the way Caroline saw it, Elijah wanted her to give Klaus a chance but he wasn't willing to do the same which made him quite a hypocrite. Klaus was his brother after all… if Elijah himself wasn't disposed to take a chance on him, why on earth should she?
"It's not the same thing."
"It is to me. You're lacking logic."
"Niklaus hates Katerina." Elijah pointed out. "With reason." The Mikaelson male pointed out. "She hindered him from breaking his curse. He'll never forgive her that."
"Who's asking for forgiveness?!" Caroline got annoyed. "We don't care if he forgives her… You just want him to let you be happy."
"He won't." Elijah stated. "Not with Katerina."
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." The blonde said.
"Personally, I'm not giving him a chance until you do." She added before lying back on the couch.
Elijah tilted his head and smiled. "Now, that's what I call blackmail, Miss Forbes." He teased.
"No. It's called a deal." The blonde corrected smiling as well.
He laughed inwardly.
"Be honest, Caroline." Elijah asked of her.
At that, the blonde tilted her head and creased her brows in incomprehension.
"The only reason you want to make this 'deal' is because you know I can't say anything to Niklaus about the matter."
She dropped his gaze and lowered her head.
"Caroline, why are you so unwilling to move in here?"
"I am not unwilling to…" she stopped when she noticed the look Elijah was giving her; a look which meant 'Really?'
Caroline sighed and lowered her head once again. She rubbed her eyes in a mix of fatigue and irritation.
"I'm not moving in here." Caroline declared, surprised by the determination in her own voice.
"Why?" he inquired.
"Because I am not that stupid!" she yelled meeting his gaze again.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Elijah asked.
"I cannot give him a chance, Elijah… not the way you'd like me to, not the way he'd like me too." She paused. "Not the way I'd like to." She added in a whisper.
Elijah looked at the blonde intently understanding exactly what she meant and what her mind was going through. He could now see she did care about his brother at least a little if her eyes and her voice when she talked about Klaus were any indication. His uproarious past, his murderous tendencies and his impulsive behavior were the main things holding her back.
"You know Niklaus wasn't always such an anger-filled man…" Elijah declared.
Caroline raised an eyebrow at him.
"What? You think he was born this way?" Elijah asked.
"No." she paused. "I'm waiting for you to proceed. Develop!"
"What happened?" she encouraged him.
"Mikael happened." He responded simply. "Tatia happened…" he added lost in his thoughts. "Life happened… and wasn't easy on Niklaus… on either one of us for that matter." He paused. "But it was worse for him."
"Can you be a little clearer?" the blonde tried to get more out of him.
"That's not my story to tell." He replied. "All I can say is there's more to my brother than meets the eye."
Truth be told, Elijah wasn't so sure himself of what his was advancing. He wasn't so sure his brother was worth taking a chance on. But he had to convince Caroline that Klaus was. He had to make her take a chance on the latter. Indeed, the only rare times he saw Klaus with the blonde, Elijah caught a glimpse in his brother's eyes he couldn't remember the last time he had seen.
Klaus felt different with Caroline. He WAS different with Caroline. Elijah hadn't seen his little brother so taken by a girl since Tatia. As a matter of fact, he wasn't sure Klaus had been this bewitched by Tatia. And even though he had no clue if his brother could be saved, he knew one thing: Caroline was the one key to Klaus' redemption; if she couldn't save him… nobody and nothing could. And Elijah really wanted his brother back.
"He doesn't have the purest heart… that's for sure. But he doesn't have the darkest one either. He has his good sides." Elijah paused. "I believe you've seen some of them." He met Caroline in an intense gaze; his eyes telling her something, making a point. "He's let you." He pointed out. "Don't you ever think that's nothing." He put the emphasis on the word 'ever'.
/
"I'm going to head upstairs." Caroline told Elijah. "I got to talk to Rebekah."
"Ok."
"Caroline…?" he called as she was about to get up stopping her from doing so.
"Yep?"
"About…" he began.
"Don't worry." She cut him off. "It's not my story to tell." The blonde declared just like Elijah had a few minutes before and then, winked at him.
His lips curved up into a genuine smirk; and she eventually got up.
"Ha-ha, I told you I heard voices!" Bonnie exclaimed.
"You know for a vampire your hearing really isn't that good. But then again, you're not all that young so…" she added teasingly.
Kol smirked at the witch's joke: she was getting comfortable around him; that was a good sign, even more considering this was only their first date. He had made sure to be thoughtful but not too enterprising. He had made the oh so obvious move by putting his arm on her shoulders when they were on one of the loveseats in the mansion's theater room The way things were going out was very encouraging; Kol couldn't be happier about it.
"Are you calling me old, Bonnie Bennett?" he asked raising an eyebrow at her.
She shrugged with a teasing lips-closed smile on her face.
"For the record, you are the reason I didn't hear anything." Kol put the emphasis on the word 'you'.
Bonnie raised an eyebrow at Kol as if to say 'Is that so?'
"It's not my fault if I was so caught up in your being." He elaborated.
She rolled her eyes in response.
"Bonnie!" Caroline exclaimed, surprised to see her friend in the Mikaelson's manor.
"Caroline…" she replied. The witch's gaze shifted towards Elijah.
"Elijah." She greeted the Mikaelson man.
"Miss Bennett." The latter greeted her back.
"Please call me Bonnie." She told him.
He nodded.
"Evening, sweet Caroline." Kol greeted Caroline.
"Evening, Kol." The latter greeted back kindly instead of rolling her eyes like he expected.
"Sweet Caroline, lovely Bonnie…" the witch enumerated. "Is there a girl in this town you don't have a nickname for?" she inquired.
Kol tilted his head to the side so he could look at her. "Jealous, lovely Bonnie?"
She huffed.
"Wow, you two sound like a couple already." Caroline remarked not thinking twice before speaking causing every pair of eyes in the room to turn to her.
Her eyes went round their faces. "Oops, did I say that out loud?"
"Yes." Bonnie, Kol and Elijah answered pointedly all together.
"Sorry." The blonde said looking at Kol and her friend.
"Oh please, don't apologize on my account." Kol declared.
The witch turned her head in slow motion; her jaw clenched, and shot the Mikaelson male beside her a deathly glare.
"What were you doing down there?" Elijah asked his brother in an attempt to change the topic of conversation.
"Oh, just watching the Harry Potter movies." Bonnie answered Elijah in Kol's place.
"The Harry Potter movies?" the blonde repeated with an air of disbelief. "Really, Bon?"
"What?" Bonnie asked in a child's voice. "I like them! They're cool!"
"Well, anyways, I was heading upstairs so… I'll talk to you, later." Caroline declared walking away towards the staircase.
"Okay, later." Bonnie replied.
"I was talking to Kol." The blonde clarified before walking.
The witch let out a half-indignant half-amused huff.
A few seconds later, her phone buzzed with a text message.
Glad to see you followed my advice.
It was from Caroline.
Bonnie just rolled her eyes at the screen.
/
Caroline was in front of Rebekah's door. The blonde knocked and waited for a response.
"Come in." Rebekah said.
Caroline half-opened the door, slipped her head into it, and peeked.
"Hi!" she greeted in a cheerful mood. "Can I come in?" she asked.
"That's what I said, didn't I?" Rebekah declared, dropping the nailbrush and putting her nail polish on one of her nightstands.
Caroline eventually entered the room. "Well, you didn't know it was me, so…"
"So what you think my answer would have been different if I had known it was you?" she asked playfully.
"I don't know." she shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe."
The two blondes looked at each other and a smirk formed on their lips.
"Yeah, definitely!" they both exclaimed teasingly before giggling together.
"Dinner date with my brother?" Rebekah inquired.
Caroline hesitated before she answered opening and closing her mouth once; sighing as well. "I wouldn't exactly call it a date but… yes, we are dining together."
"Oh it is." Rebekah stated causing the other blonde frown her brows in incomprehension so she explained herself. "It is a date… whether you want it or not and whether you admit it or not."
Caroline stared at Rebekah during her whole intervention but eventually dropped her gaze and lowered her head. She cleared her throat seeming embarrassed.
"Too honest?" the only woman of the Mikaelson family asked.
Rebekah already knew the answer to that question, just like she knew she probably shouldn't be that straight-forward with the blonde –especially when her favorite, untimely, brother was the topic –given that they were just starting to get along. If anything, this kind of comment would scare off Caroline and bring her further away from Nik and herself.
Indeed, she and Caroline had only been out once. They were barely friends and they weren't one bit close. Nevertheless, Rebekah hoped they'd get to that point… eventually.
Caroline lifted her gaze towards Rebekah. She opened her mouth willing to speak but ended up sighing not sure what to say.
"No." she answered. "You're… not." She reassured. "You're not." She repeated with more conviction.
"It's just… I…" she started before clearing her throat again. "I'm having a hard time talking about Klaus with you." She confessed. "Or with anyone for that matter." She added in a lower voice.
"Why? I'm not going to repeat what you say to me to Nik, you know?"
"That's not the question." Caroline said. "I'm not comfortable talking about him, that's all." She confessed again. "Not especially with you..." She clarified gesturing towards Rebekah. "… With anyone." She stated gesturing with her hands.
Rebekah stared at the blonde intently. "Look, Caroline, I know you and I aren't exactly BFFs… but I appreciate you, and Nik is on my good side these days. Therefore…" she began earning a small smile from the blonde. "I'm going to give you a piece of my mind. Don't you think your reluctance to talk about whatever relationship you and Nik have going on is a sign and should tip you off?" Rebekah questioned Caroline. "If anything, it says to me that you DO care about my brother way more than you'd like to admit and that you are afraid of your feelings for him!" Rebekah said pointedly.
"Maybe." Caroline said.
"Maybe?" Rebekah repeated, incredulous and the other blonde just stared at her in response until she eventually dropped her gaze. "I see." She spoke again, her brows having a rise and fall motion.
"Okay…" she started. "Since you didn't come into my bedroom to talk about Nik, obviously…" she pointed out. "Why did you come here?"
"Do I need a reason?" she playfully asked but with a serious expression on her face, very happy that Rebekah eventually dropped the subject.
"No but…" Rebekah tried to recoup.
"Just kidding." Caroline reassured. "I have a few stuff to buy so I thought I'd go to the mall tomorrow or after-tomorrow and I wondered if maybe you'd like to come with me…'
"Sure. Definitely. Just send me a text a couple of hours before you come pick me up.'
The blonde nodded.
"Where is Nik anyway?" the latter's sister asked.
"I don't know." Caroline responded nonchalantly. "He mentioned Chinese takeout."
"Chinese food?!" she made sure, her excitement palpable.
"I think."
"That's my favorite!" Rebekah exclaimed.
Caroline's eyes widened. "It's mine too…"
"Why don't you come eat with us?" she offered.
"Uh…" the Mikaelson woman pretended to think. "I don't think so." She said
"Why not?!"
"Beeecauuse I would like to keep my head on top of my body." Rebekah declared as if it was obvious.
The other blonde rolled her eyes.
"You have a date, Caroline." Rebekah stated. "Whether you want it or not… And I don't feel like playing third-wheel." She said picking up her nail polish on her nightstand and opening it with the intent to continue her work on her nails.
/
Klaus and Caroline were in his art studio. He was giving her a special tour.
It had changed a lot since the last time she was here. There were paintings hung all over the walls. The blonde could recognize landscapes from China, France and even parts of Africa. Now, that was art!
The Forbidden City in Peking and the Wood of Boulogne in particular were greatly done.
All Klaus' paintings she had before her seemed linked: they had a common tie, a certain 'je ne sais quoi' that bonded them. The truth was they bore Klaus' mark: there was no doubt he was the artist whom had realized all of these canvases.
"These are beautiful." She complimented totally captivated by the art masterpieces.
Klaus slightly shifted so he could look at the blonde from the corner of his eyes. He loved the glint that shone in Caroline's eyes as she looked at the landscapes he had painted. She stared at them with what he perceived as adoration. At that image, Klaus couldn't help a smile to cleave his lips. The fact that his work was what put her in such a state of wonder overwhelmed Klaus with joy, a feeling that he seemed to have experienced more this past week with Caroline than during his whole existence.
One must say also that the mere presence of the blonde by his side was enough to make the Mikaelson male feel happy.
"You are very talented, Klaus."
He smiled at her. "Thank you, Caroline." She turned and gave him a genuine smile mirroring his own.
They stared at each other –completely mesmerized by one another –in an intense exchange. His eyes deviated towards her luscious lips and Caroline's eyes had a similar motion for a second before anchoring her gaze in his once more. The eye-contact rapidly turned into a burning eye-sex.
They both felt the tension build between them and the air surrounding them get heavier. The atmosphere shifted and got substantially warmer. As her mouth unconsciously drew open, Caroline felt the heat flood through her every nerve and slowly reach her cheeks. She wanted to look away; she was desperate to look away, to break the moment… but she found it impossible. Klaus made a step towards her reducing the distance between them.
There you go: the 12th chapter.
What did you think of Caroline/Elena? Who do you think will make the first move? What about Elijah?
If you don't know what to say but are desperate to leave a review, here's an idea:
Dear antoemati,
What's with the cliffhanger? Klaroline feels!
You better update soon!
I loved the Caroline/Rebekah moment as well as the Carlijah interaction.
Elijah should talk to Klaus about Katherine!
I hope there will be more and hopefully, the two BFFs can work it out.
Can't wait for more Klaroline!
Love, your name.
I would really love to hear your own words though. REVIEW ANSWERS:
MysticGirl200: Thank you for my birthday, sweetie!
And thank you so much for keeping me posted on what's going on both series:
I'm so happy about the Forwood breakup, I could throw a party right now
DancingToTheBeat : Thank you very much. I'm glad you understand Elena's POV, I'm not trying to make her bitchy, I just want the whole story to be realistic. And I'm so pleased you like Stefan intervening. I just had to put that scene in as I LOVE Steroline!
LizGarza: Yeah, I don't think we're gonna get some Klaroline in TVD or the Originals
Glad you're team Stelena too.
As for Damon like I said, he will make his so desired appearance.