I totally stole a famous line from the show, but since none of S3 happened in my timeline I thought it was fitting to replace it in that context ;o)

Enjoy, review and have a wonderful weekend.


They spent the next day walking around in the city, visiting places where they had been before, but doing it as an official couple added a new flavor to it.

In the middle of the afternoon, Stefan met them in Central Park. They sat on a bench, soaking in the winter sun.

"This is amazing," Caroline sighed, leaning against Damon's shoulder, his arm around her. "The sky is so blue."

"That's because you are in love," Stefan commented. "Everything seems brighter and nicer."

She raised an eyebrow and looked at Damon. "Really? Is that the same for you?"

He grinned. "Of course, Darling," he said while exchanging an amused glance with Stefan. She scoffed and elbowed him slightly, and he had the good grace to pretend it hurt.

"Are you guys free tomorrow night?" Stefan asked. "Because Klaus wants to invite you for dinner. He wants to talk."

"Did he tell you about what?"

Stefan shook his head. "No. Just asked me to invite you. But it didn't seem like he was plotting some atrocious evil scheme. Then again, you never really know with him. He can be so…charming."

"Oh yeah, he totally does," Caroline agreed, earning a glare from Damon. "Don't worry, babe, I like you more," she said with a kiss on his cheek.

"Yes, I like you more too, babe," Stefan said and leaned towards Damon who raised a hand.

"Don't even think about it," he told his brother with a threatening look.

Stefan chuckled and sat back straight.

"So, what do I tell Klaus?"

Caroline looked at Damon, who nodded slightly.

"Tell him we'll be there," she said.


They met Stefan and Klaus the next evening at Craft, a restaurant in the Flat Iron building district.

Klaus welcomed them with a smile, kissing Caroline's hand in an old-fashioned way that had the young blonde vampire blushing and Damon rolling his eyes. Stefan just smirked.

"Miss Forbes, you look ravishing," Klaus told Caroline, before turning to Damon. "Am I allowed to say it? I wouldn't want to cross any boundaries," he asked with a lopsided smile.

Damon just shrugged. "Well she does look ravishing, so I can't exactly stop you from telling the truth, right?"

Caroline gave him a loving smile before turning back to Klaus.

"Thank you. And thank you for the flowers. They were beautiful."

"You're welcome. I'm sure they paled in comparison of…" he caught Damon's warning glance and cleared his throat. "Right. Shall we go sit down?"

Stefan offered his arm to Caroline and they followed the waiter. Damon and Klaus stayed a few steps behind.

"I don't mind the flowers and the lyrical declarations, but look at her funny just once and I'll end you."

Klaus sighed. "Damon, I can promise you I have no romantic intentions towards Caroline. I just seek out her friendship. I know I don't seem the most trustful guy to you right now, but I'm not a dishonest person. If you trust me with one thing, trust me with this."

Damon relaxed a bit. "As long as we're on the same page."

As they were approaching the table, Klaus muttered, "But I hope you know how much of a lucky bastard you are."

Damon smirked. "Oh, believe me, I know."

"What took you so long?" Caroline asked.

Damon bent over and pressed a kiss on her blonde mane.

"Just making sure everything was clear."

She looked between him and Klaus with an interrogating look. "Well, is it?"

Damon and Klaus exchanged a knowing look.

"Crystal," the hybrid answered good-naturally before sitting besides Stefan.

The dinner was spent in a very agreeable atmosphere, Klaus telling them amusing historical facts, and Damon and Stefan sharing funny childhood stories. Damon was a bit suspicious at first but he relaxed as the night was progressing.

Caroline was observing Klaus and could see that he was genuinely having fun. She was more and more comforted in the fact that he was slowly pulling out of evil designs and paid more attention to the simple things and just appreciated life in general. She was not kidding herself though. He was not going to suddenly stop feeding on humans altogether and start hunting bunnies hand in hand with Stefan. And Stefan was not on the animal diet anymore anyway.

But maybe with time he wouldn't feel the need to kill the people he fed on each and every time.

She caught Damon's gaze who was watching her with amusement. She smiled back. She bet he knew exactly what she was thinking.

Damon turned to Klaus. "So, Stefan told us you wanted to talk."

Klaus nodded, putting his napkin on the table next to his plate.

"Yes, I do. I've been thinking a lot about what Miss Forbes told me, and about what my life has been lately. I want to undagger my brother Elijah."

There was a stunned silence as three pairs of eyes watched him. He smiled. "Don't tell me that none of you saw that coming."

"Considering I've been the one suggesting it, I'm not really surprised," Caroline said. "I just didn't thought you had given so much weight to my words."

"I value your opinion very much, my dear."

"Where do we fit into this?" Damon asked.

"I want you to be there when I do it. I'm sure you can imagine how much he will be…"he searched his words.

"Majorly pissed off," Damon provided with a smirk.

"Yes, thank you, Damon. I was going to say upset but your way was so much more elegantly put."

"You're welcome." Damon toasted him with his wine glass and Klaus couldn't help but let a chuckle escape. Despite the cautiousness he felt in the youngest vampire – and he had to admit it, with good reasons – he had really appreciated Damon's company tonight. He was smart and entertaining. He was also obviously crazy in love with Caroline and Klaus envied him. He hadn't been in love in such a long time that he had actually forget how it felt like.

"Anyway," he went on, putting his mind back on track, "I thought you being there could help me explain to Elijah...what happened."

"You mean the fact that you betrayed him?" Damon asked.

Caroline laughed. "Basically, you want us to be your bodyguards in case Elijah is not in the mood to listen to your...'explanation'?"

Klaus smirked. "Does that make me a bad person?"

Damon and Stefan exchanged a look.

"I don't know about that," Damon said. "who's to say you won't kill us all once you wake up your brother and goes on a killing rampage?"

Klaus smiled. "I obviously can't prove to you that this is not my intention. I can only give you my word – which is not worth much in your eyes right now, I understand that. But know this : the last few weeks have been enlightening. My plans to create hybrids failed, I don't know why and I honestly don't mind that much anymore. There are so many things this life has to offer...music, art, literature...genuine beauty," he said with a quick glance at Caroline. "But I need someone with me to enjoy it. And since Miss Forbes here is otherwise engaged," and that earned him a smile from Caroline, "I thought about Elijah. Me and him traveled the world for a long time together, and I miss it. I miss my brother. Surely," he finished with an almost pleading look to Damon, "You of all people can understand that?"

Damon looked at Stefan for a moment - making his brother looking slightly uncomfortable - before saying, "I can, and I do. I'm willing to do this, on one condition.

Klaus chuckled. "I already know that condition, Damon. And the answer is yes."

Damon couldn't hide his amazement. "Just like that? No catch?"

"No catch," Klaus answered.

Caroline looked between the two of them, seemingly frustrated. "What? What's going on? Stefan, do you know what they are talking about?"

Stefan watched his older brother and Klaus, visibly surprised and also moved.

"I think I do, yes," he said softly, giving Damon a look full of love and gratitude.

"Go ahead, tell her," Damon said to Klaus. He was still a bit incredulous and wondered if Klaus really knew what it was about.

"If you help me with Elijah, I'm letting Stefan go," Klaus told the blonde vampire, who opened her mouth in shock.

"For real?" she asked, clearly not believing it.

Klaus nodded, and there was another shocked silence as everyone processed the big news.

"Don't get your hopes up, that doesn't mean I'm going to disappear from your lives," Klaus half-joked.

"I certainly hope not," Caroline said, putting her hand on his arm and pressing it slightly.

"Right," Klaus cleared his throat, trying to dissipate the emotional moment. "so, how do you suggest we do this?"

They spent another thirty minutes talking about it, and Damon said, "We should do this tomorrow, as Caroline and I are going back to school on Monday."

Stefan laughed and Damon looked at him. "What?"

"It's just weird hearing you say 'I'm going back to school'. You totally stole my line," Stefan said with an amused look.

After everything was decided, they got up and left the restaurant. Klaus put his hand on Caroline's shoulder.

"Well, Miss Forbes, did I succeed in changing you opinion about me? Was letting Stefan go epic enough for you?"

She smiled softly. "Not quite yet...but you can call me Caroline."

His smile grew wider.


Klaus had offered to Stefan to stay with Damon and Caroline as he would have a lot of things to arrange to bring Elijah's coffin at the hotel for the next day.

So the three of them went back to the apartment. They still had a hard time believing what Klaus had agreed to.

"Honestly, I'll be waiting for the other shoe to drop," Damon told the others.

"I think he was truthful about this," Caroline said. "Stefan is free again," she smiled brightly to the youngest Salvatore.

"Mostly thanks to you," Stefan pointed out. "So thank you." He couldn't quite yet grasp the fact that he was indeed free to do as he pleased and didn't have to obey Klaus anymore.

It had been a long and eventful evening, and they went to bed. But soon after, Caroline started fidgeting, tossing and turning.

"Gee, Blondie, will you stop?" Damon asked in a sleepy voice, putting his arm across her waist to keep her from moving. She ignored him and sat straight in the bed.

"Damon, are we doing something wrong? Are we betraying our friends by doing what we do with Klaus? I don't know what to think anymore."

Damon sighed and raised on his elbow, putting his head on his hand. It was just like her, doing anything to save her friends, then having an attack of conscience once it worked.

"We're not betraying anyone," he assured her quietly. "We just did what we had to do for Stefan, and along the way we discovered that Klaus was not entirely the evil bastard we thought he was. We are not going to be best friends with him all of a sudden, we just acknowledge that he is a part of our life, and that we are ok with that."

She turned to him. "I'm just not sure how to explain that to Elena or Bonnie."

"Why don't you worry about it when you'll have to face Elena or Bonnie?"

"They can't possibly take this the right way," she insisted.

He joined her, putting her hair back behind her shoulder in a caressing manner.

"Babe, I'm sorry for being so blunt, but I don't give a flying fuck about what Elena or Bonnie would think about this. Especially Elena," he muttered, bringing his mouth to her neck and she giggled.

"Guys, I know we're vampires but I'm trying to sleep here. Can you tone it down?" Stefan asked from the threshold.

"Caroline is having a crisis of conscience," Damon explained, lying back on the bed.

"It's one in the morning. Can you have it tomorrow? Because otherwise I'm going back to sleep with Klaus," Stefan said then frowned upon seeing the look Damon and Caroline gave him. "Wait, let me rephrase that."

"Too late," Damon smirked. "See, Care? Don't feel guilty. We have to keep Klaus around because of the blossoming romance between him and my baby bro."

Stefan rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Damon. Why do you feel guilty?" he asked Caroline, coming to sit next to her on the bed.

She shrugged. "I was just thinking about Elena and Bonnie, and what Klaus did to them. I don't see how they could accept that we are..sort of friends with him."

Stefan frowned. "Well they don't have to accept anything. They don't know the whole story, and besides this is your life. Why would you let them dictate what you can or can't do?"

"Because they are my friends and I care about what they think."

"We understand that," Damon intervened, putting a hand on the small of her back. "But we don't want you to worry about it. They are not here, and like Stefan said, they don't know how it all happened, and they have no right to judge. I'm sure that once you'll explain everything they will understand. They love you."

"But don't forget that Damon and I love you more," Stefan told her with a lopsided smile.

She laughed, her worries quickly disappearing. She hugged Stefan. "Thank you," she whispered. She was so lucky to have those incredible two men in her life.

"Do I get a thank you too?" Damon asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Ok, that's my cue to get the hell out of here," Stefan said before asking Caroline, "Can you please thank him as quietly as possible?"


The four of them were sitting together the next afternoon in Klaus hotel's room in front of Elijah's opened coffin. Klaus had undaggered him a bit earlier, and they were now waiting.

"I feel like being at a wake except of being buried the guy is going to wake up. My life is so weird." Caroline commented.

"Did you think of what you're going to tell him?" Stefan asked Klaus.

"I thought about it all night and couldn't come up with anything," Klaus admitted, and he did look a bit concerned.

"Speak from the heart," Caroline advised, and Klaus smiled.

"I'm glad to know you're assuming I have one, Miss Fo...Caroline."

They exchanged a knowing smile and he suddenly felt more at ease.

"Better think fast about what you're going to say," Damon said, indicating the coffin with his head.

The gray color had disappeared from his face and Elijah moved slightly.

Klaus took a deep breath. "Here we go."