Disclaimer: I own nothing having to do with The Vampire Diaries in any shape or form, nor do I have any fiscal stake in writing this story. It is purely for creative enjoyment. The only things I own are my original take on TVD universe and any original characters if I feel like adding some.
Author's Note: Hello again. A new chapter for everyone. I re-wrote this a few times. Things just weren't working/feeling like the would fit with where I want this story to go, so I had to make some changes. This chapter is short, but I hope it's good and you like it. I'm super happy people love the character of Kol as much as me! Much like Klaus, he's not the best person morality wise, but he's just so spunky and funny that I can't help but adore him! So in the show, it made me super sad that Klaus impaled Caroline to get to Tyler, but that conversation they had was one of my all time fav Klaus/Caroline moments. Obviously it wouldn't make sense to have him stab poor Caroline in this story, but I wanted to have them still have that conversation, even if it's slightly altered due to the situation. So if you loved that moment as much as me, it's in this chapter and I hope I did it justice.
As always, I'm my own beta so any mistakes you find, I apologize. Other than that, I hope you like it and if you have any thoughts, please share them. I love getting PM's and comments! Anyway, enjoy this chapter. Another one should be coming soonish... :)
-SB
"So, I know this probably makes complete sense to you because you're so old and so smart, but what are we doing? I thought you said we were getting somewhere." Klaus and Caroline had spent the wee hours of the morning searching the island. The sun was now up and according to Klaus they were getting close. To what or who, Caroline wasn't entirely sure, but she had the feeling Klaus's intentions were slightly less altruistic than he had led her to believe.
From where he was crouched on the ground, Klaus ran his hand lightly across the dirt. "Tracking, sweetheart. We're tracking."
Squatting down next to Klaus, Caroline poked the soil, gaining his attention. "You've been abnormally quiet for hours. Who are we looking for? Do you have any ideas yet? It could be Bigfoot for all I can tell."
Dusting his hands off, Klaus flashed a small smile. "Adult male, six-feet tall, early thirties and human. Perhaps he was able to take Damon by gaining the element of surprise. That or the abduction is a statement of Damon's incredible ineptitude. Either way I am sorry to report that we have not discovered Bigfoot."
Sighing, Caroline gave him a judgmental look. "You're being a bit immature."
"Am I?" he replied, his hands coming to rest on his knees.
"Why are we here?" she murmured, her eyes searching his face.
"We are looking for Damon," he said, his face blank.
"You're lying, or at the very least not telling the whole truth." Caroline stared back at him. "You hate Damon. Why are we out here looking for him and not with the others looking for the cure?"
Klaus didn't miss a beat, turning slightly to face Caroline fully. "Why didn't you tell me when I asked? Why didn't you tell me about Damon?"
Caroline's mouth slipped open slightly as her face fell. "I… what?" She blinked in confusion several times before his words settled in. "Because that's not any of your business."
"Isn't it though?" he asked, his eyes narrowing and his jaw set. "It's funny, because just the other night while locked away in his brother's basement, Damon saw fit to lecture me on the art of being- how he put- bad with purpose. As if there is a method and good side to his madness. Foolishly I bought into it only to find out that he's a misogynistic sadist who forced you to be his slave."
"Klaus, just, please stop," she muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose as she tried to keep a lid on her emotions.
Shaking his head, Klaus pulled her hand away from her face. "Do not hide from me, Caroline." Klaus had held his anger in check for too long and it was starting to bubble over. "Why didn't you tell me?" Caroline shook her head, blinking quickly as her face betrayed how upset she was getting. "Tell me!" he yelled, finally losing his temper.
"Because!" Caroline screamed, her hands balling into fists at her sides. "Because he's awful and I don't talk about. Because at first everyone was so upset about it and then it just sort of slipped away. Because you seem to really care about me and you're slightly unhinged and I don't want you killing him because of me. I don't want anyone killing someone because of me."
"Why would you possibly lobby against killing Damon?" Klaus growled, his eyes dark. "He deserves death a thousand times over."
Caroline shook her head as her arms crossed her chest angrily. "You have to stop doing this, Klaus. You have to stop your knee-jerk reaction to killing people you don't like. What is wrong with you?" she breathed, more to herself than him.
Staring at her, he felt his temper begin to slowly dissolve. "I'm 1000 years old, sweetheart. Call it boredom."
Pursing her lips, Caroline stared him down. "I don't believe you."
"Fine," he said shrugging. "Then maybe it's because I'm pure evil and I can't help myself."
"Stop. Just stop it," she hissed, taking a few steps closer to him. "All this crap is pure deflection."
"Deflection," Klaus huffed, rolling his eyes. "And what am I deflecting from, sweetheart?"
"This," she said poking him in the chest.
"My sternum?" he murmured, glancing down at where she was pointing.
Reaching up and pulling his hand up to cover the middle of his chest, Caroline placed her hand over his. "No, your heart."
Drawing his eyes away from his chest to her eyes, Klaus blinked slowly. "I don't have a heart." He was calm but his voice held its usual touch of self-loathing.
"Yes Klaus, you do," she said quietly, refusing to look away from his stormy eyes. "Contrary to popular belief, there's a part of you that's still human. I know you don't want to admit it, but it's true."
"How could you possibly think that?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Because I've seen it." Caroline gave his hand a small squeeze. "Because I- I've caught myself wishing that I could forget all the horrible things you've done."
Klaus's eyes searched her face nervously. "You couldn't possibly though, could you? Even you aren't that good."
Caroline gave him a small smile, her other hand reaching up to cup his cheek. "I don't know, Klaus. But I do know that you're in love with me, and anybody capable of love is capable of being saved."
Taking a deep breath, Klaus nodded to himself. Reaching up, he removed her hand from his face and chest, giving them a small squeeze before dropping his to his sides. "Alright."
"But- wait, what?" Caroline murmured, blinking in confusion.
"I will honor your request and not kill Damon, but I cannot promise not to maim him," he grumbled, turning and stalking away. Once Caroline had picked her jaw up off the floor, she had to jog to catch up with his quickened pace. They didn't speak for a while, but Klaus finally glanced over to see Caroline smiling at him. He tried to be irritated or at least maintain the same level of annoyance he had previously for going against his own desires to kill the eldest Salvatore brother, but her goofy, wide smile made his temper falter. "What are you doing?" he hissed, the corner of his lips twitching towards the hint of a smile of his own.
Shrugging, Caroline glanced around them as if she were looking for someone else he could be talking to. Klaus simply rolled his eyes. "I'm just smiling. That's all."
"That's not all," Klaus accused, his eyes narrowed.
Caroline let out a small laugh. "Listen, I'm sleep deprived, I have mud and twigs in my hair and we are currently on one of the creepiest islands in existence looking for Damon. Damon, of all people! And while we are doing this, another group is looking for the cure for vampirism and possibly the end of the world in human form."
Sighing Klaus nodded to himself as he looked forward again. "Perhaps there is something rather comical in all of this."
"You think?" she snorted, earning a genuine smile and chuckle from the original as they continued on their way. "So a human man took Damon... the only question is, what's a human man doing running around this place?"
"Doesn't seem like a nice place to live, does it?" Klaus asked, his arm shooting out to stop Caroline from taking a step. Silently he nodded down, drawing her eyes to a trip wire.
"What the hell," she hissed, jumping over it.
"I get the distinct feeling we're getting close."
Her eyes scanning the forest in the low light, Caroline felt a chill run up her spine. "Close to what?"
Klaus paused in his movement and pointed ahead to a whole in the ground. "A cave, apparently."
"A cave?" Caroline muttered, her arms crossing her chest as she came to a stop beside him. "Why is it evil things are always underground?"
"It's kind of our favorite place to be," Klaus joked, earning a smirk from Caroline. Turning his head to the side, the original squinted as if he were concentrating. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Caroline asked, trying to focus her ears but not picking up what he had.
Smiling widely enough that his teeth showed, Klaus nodded towards the cave entrance again. "I believe we've found Damon and our human."
The pair shared a look before taking off at vampire speed towards the cave.
Stopping in the shadows of the cave entrance, Klaus held Caroline back as they listened to Damon tell the man who had a gun on him, "I'm going to kill you, then I'm going to go get that cure and give it to the girl I love."
"You know, if he wasn't such a creep that would be romantic," Caroline murmured.
"Your attachment to your friends will be the end of you," the human said, his gun poised.
Caroline re-adjusted her footing, accidently moving a loose rock. Klaus's eyes closed as he sighed before turning to give Caroline a disbelieving look. "Sorry," she mouthed, shrugging.
"You don't know my friends," Damon smirked, clearly assuming Elena was coming to his rescue.
"Should we-?" Caroline started but Klaus's hand shot out and covered her mouth as he pulled her against him. The pair watched as Rebekah ran past them at vampire speed into the open area Damon and the human were in.
Seemingly unphased by his new assistance, Damon continued to smile. "Or my enemies."
Caroline and Klaus watched silently as Rebekah had her chest blown up by what appeared to be a stake-bomb and Damon was now anchored by his neck to one of the shafts wooden support beams. "Silver," Klaus hissed, his eyes narrowing in the low light.
"What do we do?" Caroline breathed, her eyes flicking between the scene in front of her and Klaus.
"Well Damon, it's been fun, but I think this is the end of the road," the man said, stepping up to Damon as he reached into his bag for something.
Sighing, Klaus appeared behind the human, knocking the stake and gun out of his hand and grabbing him around the neck. "The end of the road is such an overused metaphor if you ask me." From where he stood against the beam, struggling to get the silver rope from around his neck, Damon sputtered as he tried to say something to Klaus. "Sorry, I couldn't catch that, mate?" Klaus said, enjoying Damon's suffering a bit too much.
Caroline appeared by his side and cut the cord with a large knife she'd taken from the human's pack. Gasping for air, the newly freed Damon rubbed his throat. "Thanks," he said to Caroline before turning to the original. "I was saying you might not want to kill him," Damon explained, his voice very hoarse.
"And why is that?" Klaus said, smirking as the man in his grasp tried to unsuccessfully slip of out his hold.
"Because he's a hunter."
His eyes narrowed to slits, Klaus quickly ripped the man's sleeve clear from his wrist to his shoulder. "He doesn't bear the mark," Klaus hissed, shoving him away from himself as if the man was diseased.
"Aye, but I am a hunter," the human muttered, his eyes moving from vampire to vampire.
"Damon!"
As all three vampires turned their attentions to where Stefan and Elena came barreling into the space, Vaughn jammed a silver stake he'd had up his sleeve into Damon's shoulder as he ran past, jumping down the hole in the side of the room.
"What the hell!" Caroline hissed, running to where the hunter had disappeared to glare down the hole.
"Damon, are you ok?" Stefan asked, kneeling beside his brother with Elena as Klaus moved to look over his sister as Kol appeared beside her.
"What's down there?" he asked quietly, his face eerily calm.
"Probably Silas," Caroline murmured. That was all he needed to hear apparently. Kol jumped down into the hole after the hunter. Glancing to where her friends were tending to the wounded, Caroline made a command decision. "Fuck it," she whispered to herself, following Kol down the rabbit hole.
"Do you think Bonnie and Jeremy are down here?" Caroline asked quietly as she followed Kol through the tunnel they were now in.
Sparing a glance back at her, Kol smirked. "Without a doubt."
Pulling her coat tighter around herself, Caroline suspiciously looked around. "Doesn't this place give you the creeps?"
Laughing quietly, Kol shook his head. "Not really. When you're as old as I am, not many things are able to give me the creeps anymore." Pausing, Kol shrugged, as if he had said something to himself. "I suppose this place is a certain level of disturbing, but I'm willing to bet all of the chills you get are because of Silas. You know-" Kol started but, his face started darkening as veins spread up his neck.
"Kol?" Caroline asked, stepping forward, her arms coming out to catch him as he started falling. As they did, Caroline felt something in his back. Glancing around his body, she saw he had been daggered.
"What the hell?" Caroline whispered, turning just in time to see Elena- or what appeared to be Elena- jam a stake into her chest. "Elena?" she muttered, dropping Kol's unconscious body to the ground of the cave as she fell to her knees.
"Aw, poor Caroline," the brunette said, her voice dripping with mock concern. "Are you alright? What's wrong, did your new best friends the original boys not cut it as a protection detail?"
Gasping, Caroline's hands wrapped around the stake and attempted to pull it out but she was too weak. "Don't even bother," Katherine hissed, frowning. "You're so pathetic you can't do anything for yourself. Don't worry though, Stefan Elena and Klaus will be along any minute. I am a bit disappointed I didn't hit the heart though," she breathed, reaching forward and twisting the stake, causing Caroline to cry out in pain. "I must be going, Caroline darling. There's a cure to vampirism with my name on it."
It had been two days; two days since they had returned to Mystic Falls from the island. Everyone was devastated that Jeremy had been killed, no one more so than Elena. She was convinced that Jeremy was going to wake up, that there was no way that he could be dead.
Caroline sat in the living room of her house, her knees pulled up to her chest as she stared into the fireplace. She'd been holding it together for Elena, but when she was alone, she felt an emptiness creep over her.
She didn't even register the knock on her door as her mother moved from the kitchen to answer it. "Mrs. Forbes," Klaus greeted, his hands folded behind his back and his face solemn. When Klaus and Kol had brought Caroline home after they'd returned from the island, she was more than clear that he was to call her Mrs. Forbes and not Elizabeth as Klaus had tried initially. Of course after Caroline started crying and told her mom all of what had happened on the island, Elizabeth Forbes was slightly more forgiving towards the Mikaelson brothers.
"Mr. Mikealson," she answered, stepping out of the doorway for him to enter.
"Klaus, please," he murmured, giving her a small smile. "Caroline asked me to pick her up this morning to bring her to Elena's."
"Right," Mrs. Forbes frowned, nodding. "Caroline said they're going to have Meredith come to try and convince Elena to release the body."
Giving a small nod, Klaus gestured towards Caroline's room. "Is she ready?"
Giving a small shake of her head, Mrs. Forbes nodded her head towards the living room. "See if you can get her to eat something. She wouldn't take anything from me. I have a mug of blood in the microwave. I was waiting for you to get here before I left for work."
Nodding, Klaus peered into the living room to see Caroline with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. "Right."
Entering the living room with the warm mug of blood in his hand, Klaus carefully set it down on the coffee table beside her. "Good morning love. How are we feeling?"
"Cold," she answered, looking away from the fire to where Klaus had sat down opposite her. "Any word on if your sister or Damon found Bonnie?"
Klaus shook his head, pointing to the glass of blood. "Nothing. The sooner you have your breakfast the sooner we can go check on Elena."
Sighing, Caroline leaned forward and grabbed her glass and took a sip. "I don't know how to feel., Klaus. I don't know what to do. What do I do?" she murmured, staring into the glass.
Reaching forward, Klaus gently gave her arm a small squeeze. "Just keep doing what you're doing, love," he breathed.
"But what's going to happen?" she asked, her eyes lifting to meet his. Her eyes were filling with unshed tears as she held his gaze.
Sighing, Klaus cupped her cheek with his other hand, a rueful smile gracing his face. "I don't know, sweetheart. I wish I had answers for you."
Klaus held open the door to the Gilbert residence and allowed Caroline to enter before he followed her inside. "Oh god, what is that smell?" she breathed, her hand coming to pinch her nose.
Frowning, Klaus pointed to the second floor. "Unfortunately I believe that is Jeremy Gilbert."
"Jesus," Caroline hissed, frowning as she stepped further into the house. "Stefan?"
A second later, Stefan and Meredith Fell came down the stairs and into the living room where Caroline and Klaus were waiting. "Hey," Stefan greeted, his voice and face defeated.
"How's Elena?" Caroline asked as she hugged her friend.
Shaking his head against her shoulder, Stefan sighed. "Matt took her out for a drive. We can't keep Jeremy here more than a few more hours. He's starting to decompose."
"Yeah, we can smell him," Caroline frowned, taking a step back and pulling her sweater closer around herself. "So what do we do? What can we do?"
"I gotta call Damon back," Stefan said, shrugging. "We don't have any other options."
"But what about Bonnie?" Caroline asked, her face falling. "We can't just leave her there."
Klaus reached out, his hand coming to rest on her shoulder as he gave it a supportive squeeze. "We have to use the sire bond to make her see reason. That's the only way," Stefan muttered, eyeing Klaus suspiciously. Ever since they had returned from the island, he was very calm and supportive and could be often found one step behind Caroline.
Nodding, Caroline glanced around the living room. "Can I clean or something? What can I do?"
"Caroline, you cleaned the whole house yesterday. I think we just need to wait for Damon and be here for Elena," Stefan said, giving his friend a small smile.
"I think I'm gonna go sit on the porch," Caroline breathed, her eyes darting towards the second floor. "I need some air."
Klaus, Stefan and Meredith Fell silently watched as Caroline walked out onto the front porch and over to the swing. Once she was outside, Klaus turned to Stefan, his face expressionless. "You know it's only a matter of hours before the neighbors start smelling this. I know everyone wants Elena to be ok, but with her on board or not, you need to get Jeremy out of this house," he breathed, his eyes shifting to Meredith.
"She has to sign the body over to me," the doctor frowned, her face sad. "I can't take Jeremy until she does."
Rolling his eyes, Klaus sighed in frustration. "This is ridiculous. The boy is literally rotting away upstairs. That's not sanitary nor is it dignified. Jeremy Gilbert is dead. Allowing Elena to pretend he's going to wake up is cruel to all parties involved."
Meredith gestured to the front door. "Stefan, I have to go to work, but if you get Elena to agree to let me take the body, call me and I'll have someone over here right away."
"Thank you Meredith," Stefan said, giving her a small smile as she left. Turning back to Klaus, Stefan gave him an incredulous look. "Listen, I know you're trying to help, for whatever reason, but you're not being particularly beneficial to the situation. Jeremy is dead and has started to rot, but Elena is unable to come to terms with it. Obviously I don't want to force Elena to come to terms with this, but it's the only way."
Rolling his eyes, Klaus nodded. "Fine. Will you keep an eye on Caroline? I have a few errands to run."
"Errands?" Stefan questioned, one of his eyebrows rising.
"Yes. I should be back later tonight." Turning and exiting the house, Klaus approached Caroline. "Are you feeling ok, love?"
Caroline shrugged, turning to face the original as he sat beside her on the swing. "I guess. Where are you going?"
"I have to take care of a few things," Klaus breathed, his face sympathetic to her pain. "I need to start opening the channels of communication. Katherine needs to be found sooner rather than later."
Nodding, Caroline looked out over the front lawn. "She's evil and she needs to die."
Klaus couldn't agree more, but hearing Caroline talk about killing someone, seeing the serious look on her face, it made him feel like he was witnessing something wrong, unnatural even. Caroline was kind and strong. Losing Jeremy was hitting her hard. This Caroline in front of him was very vulnerable and sad. "Let's not overreact love."
"She's killed enough people, Klaus," Caroline breathed, her face void of all emotion as she simply starred off into space. "She killed me… she killed Jeremy. How many other people have to die?"
"She killed you?" Klaus asked, shocked. He'd never heard how Caroline became a vampire and was rather taken aback that Katherine had a part in it.
Turning to face Klaus, Caroline reached out and took one of his hands in hers. "You need to promise me that she will pay for what she's done. Promise me you will help us hold her accountable."
Klaus nodded, his fingers lacing through hers. "Alright love, calm down. I promise to do what I can, but she's been eluding me for quite a long time now."
Sighing in relief, Caroline nodded to herself. "Thank you."
Klaus sat with her a few more minutes before excusing himself. He promised to have his cell phone on him and told Caroline to call if anything happened or if she needed him. As she watched him go, Caroline hoped he would be able to help them find Katherine Peirce.
Elena had a nuclear meltdown. It was like something in her head snapped and was wasn't able to control herself any longer. Caroline was there and witnessed it all firsthand. Then Damon had told her to turn it off, to flip the switch and become an emotionless monster and that's exactly what she did. Elena Gilbert burned down her home with her brother's body inside.
Closing the door behind her, Caroline padded silently into the kitchen and looked at her mother's schedule on the fridge. Today was a double and she wouldn't be home until Caroline was at school the next day. Great.
Grabbing a carton of ice cream from the fridge and a spoon Caroline made her way into the living room and parked herself in front of the t.v., turning it on. She mindlessly watched a few hours of reality t.v. before she couldn't do it anymore. Switching her television off, Caroline glanced down at the black screen of her cell phone. Not one call or text; nothing. Why hadn't Klaus come back? Had he found something?
Picking up her phone, Caroline selected Klaus from her contacts and hit send. Biting the corner of her lip as it rang, Caroline silently hoped him not picking up was a good sign. When it went to voicemail, Caroline couldn't help the sinking feeling in her heart.
"Hey Klaus, it's me… Caroline. I hope you not picking up means you found something and you're busy. You never came back, which is kinda a good thing. Elena lost it and Damon told her to shut it off, so she did." Sighing, Caroline felt the familiar sting of tears in her eyes as she tried not to let it show in her voice. "Anyway... Elena burned her house down with Jeremy inside, so no body to worry about I guess. I hope-" she started, but stopped herself. Should she be friendly with him? Was that wrong? Ignoring the nagging feeling in her brain, Caroline wiped away a stray tear. "I hope wherever you are that you're ok and that you've found something. Night."
Hanging up, Caroline tossed her phone onto the couch beside her and wiped at her eyes. She needed to stop crying. Caroline Forbes was tough as nails and she held her shit together, even when everything around her was falling apart. Frowning, she picked up her empty ice cream container and wandered off into the kitchen to clean up.
Klaus had received a phone call from the werewolf girl, Hailey. She was at a truck stop two states away. Klaus couldn't really blame her for running. She'd double crossed so many people and somehow gotten in league with Katherine; the list of people who wanted to kill her had to be growing rather long.
The voicemail she'd left asked him to meet her here. She wanted to trade information for protection. Klaus decided it was worth the gas money to go and see if she had anything substantial to offer. If not, he would kill her and that would be reward enough.
He had switched his phone onto silent as the meeting time approached, not wanting anything to take away from his focus. From inside his pocket, his phone vibrated indicating he had a new voicemail. Silently he cursed the wolf-bitch if that was her having canceled their meeting. He did not drive all this way for nothing.
Going into his voicemail, his stomach dropped when he saw he had missed a call from Caroline. He had figured she would be too busy with her friends to notice he was gone, but this was probably a bad sign. Selecting her message, Klaus held his phone up to his ear and hoped deciding to meet Hailey hadn't been a mistake.
Hey Klaus, it's me… Caroline. I hope you not picking up means you found something and you're busy. You never came back, which is kinda a good thing. Elena lost it and Damon told her to shut it off, so she did. Klaus was relieved Caroline appeared to just be checking in, but the news she was delivering was not the best. So anyway, she continued, her voice fluctuating just enough to let Klaus know she was crying, Elena burned her house down with Jeremy inside, so no body to worry about I guess. I hope-I hope wherever you are that you're ok and that you've found something. Night.
Exiting his voicemail, Klaus slipped his phone back into his jacket. Elena Gilbert had turned off her humanity and burned her house to the ground. Great. As if everything that was happening wasn't enough, now he had that psychotic teenage girl to worry about.
"What are you thinking about?"
From his place leaning against his SUV, Klaus scowled over at his younger brother. "Where the hell did you come from?" Klaus growled.
Shrugging, Kol came to stand beside him, leaning against the car as well. "I followed you. Duh." Pulling a Slim Jim out of his pocket, Kol ripped a large chunk of it off. "So, I am assuming you have a Katherine lead?"
Rolling his eyes, Klaus looked off across the parking lot. "Yes, I supposed I do. Why does that interest you?"
"Oh I don't really have any interest in that little harlot, but helping you find her means helping you finding the cure. Finding the cure means we're one step closer to stopping Silas."
"Ah yes, Silas," Klaus grumbled. Somehow he had completely forgotten about that mystical superior being he and everyone else was supposed to be fearing. The way Klaus saw it, if he could forget this guy existed, he really couldn't be much of a threat. "Tell me, how is Silas doing? Have you managed to run into him yet?"
Frowning, Kol glared over at his brother. "You jest, but once Silas starts moving against us, you won't be thinking he's so funny then. In fact-"
"Tell you what, Kol, why don't we save this for a little later. Our informant has just arrived," Klaus murmured, nodding over to where Hailey had exited the gas station building.
"Oh gross," Kol breathed, finishing his Slim Jim and tossing the packaging into the garbage can. "That werewolf is our source? You can't trust her, she's a fool."
"Yes, but she has information. I plan on extracting it," Klaus grumbled as they began walking over to where she had ducked between two tankers.
"Fine," Kol sighed, rolling his eyes. "But I get to help you torture her."
