Chapter 11.

Caroline dug herself more deeply in the comfortable, large, leather chair she sat on, putting one leg up on the arm rest.

Her eyes left the book in her hands to look around her once more. Thousands of books on shelves surrounded her and she had to admit that she loved it. The library in the Michaelson's mansion had immediately became her favourite room upon discovering it. She loved its quietness and the fact that no one ever came in. She even liked the way it smelled of books.

'So this is where you've been hiding?' Klaus voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts and she sighed heavily. Goodbye quietness, it seemed.

Before she had time to look up at him, a bunch of clothes rained down on her head.

'You really find this funny?' He now asked.

The fresh smell of softener reached her nostrils as she moved a clean shirt away from over her head.

She bit on her lower lip to stop herself from laughing as she saw the amount of pink stuff that had been thrown on her.

'I hope you weren't crazy enough to touch any of Rebekah's clothes cause I really don't think I would be able to save your hair this time.'

'My hair?!' That caught her attention.

'Yes,' he said, 'she did a list of things she could do to you without hurting me and shaving your head was number one on the list.'

Caroline's eyes widened slightly and her hand went up to smooth her hair as if to reassure herself that it was still all there.

'You know what happened to the hybrid who was supposed to take care of this?'

'Oh my God you...killed them?' She said in a trembling voice. 'Oh my...'

'No!' He denied vehemently, deeply frowning at her, 'she now has to go around buying me new stuff...so as you can see, it was of no inconvenience to me...just as it was no inconvenience to me that you left the water running in my bathroom yesterday, flooding my room. It was just all extra work for the hybrids.'

Why must he always win?! She asked herself angrily. He had a way of making her feel like she was nothing but a naughty little girl.

'You've been here less than a week and they already hate your guts.'

'No, they don't,' It was her turn to deny his words. 'They're always very nice to me.'

'Simply because those are my orders.' He replied with a smirk. 'Personally, they hate the stupid pranks you keep pulling...at their expenses!'

Her eyes fell downwards. Her intent had been to annoy Klaus as much as she could. Even if he wouldn't let her leave at least she'd made it hard on him as possible. Now she realized she had only been making it hard on the hybrids. And they had no fault in her being here.

The man in front of her did.

'If it's just at their expenses, why did you shout your head off at me for ten minutes yesterday?' She asked smugly.

He tied his arms in front of him. 'Because you actually had the audacity to pretend it hadn't been you! With your innocent open gaze...as if I would ever believe those pretty eyes of yours.'

She lowered her eyes. He had a way of doing that. Even when arguing he would throw out a phrase or a word that seemed nice in a twisted way, and she couldn't tell if he did on purpose or not.

'I really didn't believe you would stay away from your room for so long.' She said again thinking of how the water had gushed out from the bathroom to his bedroom for hours. She pressed her lips together to stop from smiling as she remembered how he had roared her name for all the house to hear.

'Liar. And a lousy one at that!' He said, his eyes widening on her.

Damn him and his radar to her lies. It's true, the whole house could have drowned and she wouldn't have cared.

'You know, love, if you want to be invited in my room, you just have to ask.' He smiled at her.

'No, thank you.' She answered with a roll of her eyes.

His smile grew wider and showed his dimples. 'Are you sure? I mean...first you leave me that alarm with that beautiful song to wake up to...how did the lyrics go?...something about loving me for...a thousand years...' His head cocked sideways to look better at her lowered face, as her nose and mouth twitched in anger. She still didn't know how that had happened! She had left the alarm on a hard rock channel she didn't understand how it had ended up on love songs instead!

'And then you came back to...prepare me a bath? I mean what's a man to think?' He chuckled now.

'Shut up!' She grumbled, then noticing the clothes still scattered over her she asked in a desperate attempt to change the subject.

'What need did you have for new clothes anyway? What's wrong with you wearing this?' She asked as she put up what was once a white shirt and which now sported some huge pink smudges on the front. 'Or even this?' She smiled as she threw him a bright pink boxers.

'And you do it again! Is this a roundabout way to tell me you want to see me in them?'

'As if.' She replied angrily pushing the rest of the clothes off her.

'What are you reading?' He asked as he picked the book that had slipped off her lap with the clothes. 'Jane Eyre?' He looked at her after glancing at the worn old cover. 'You never read this before?'

'Of course I have...I just wanted something familiar.'

His eyebrows rose slightly as he frowned at her in confusion.

'I miss my home, okay, my mom...and my room. Jane Eyre is a book I've had in my room since I can remember so...having it with me now feels good...familiar. Well, of course mine isn't a first edition...but still...' She shook her head slightly. 'I bet you don't even know what I'm talking about.'

'I thought your taste in reading would be something less...gothic...more romantic.' He said totally ignoring her words.

'You don't think Jane Eyre is romantic?'

'What exactly is romantic? The crazy wife locked in the attic? Or the fact that Rochester took advantage of a young naive girl.'

'He fell in love with her!' She answered, almost in shock that he didn't get that. 'He thought he would never find happiness...and yet he found it with the most unsuspected person, he wanted to marry her.'

'But he already was...to a crazy woman!' He smirked. 'And he only asked Jane to marry him cause he knew she would never agree to be his mistress.'

'No! He wanted to be with her forever, whatever the cost...and she with him.'

'And yet the moment he revealed his biggest secret to her...she left him.'

'She came back.'

'Months later. To find him broken.'

'But their love still intact.'

'Ohh, so it's not the romance...it's the unrealistic happy ending you like.' He scoffed at her.

'Unrealistic?...Why?' Her eyes widened. 'I'll let you know, that while you may not know much about it, true love exists.'

'No, it doesn't. Not for real, not forever.' He rolled his eyes as he pronounced the last word

She stopped and just looked directly in his eyes. 'I don't believe you.'

He frowned at her. 'What is it you don't believe?'

'This...this nonsense you're pulling out of not believing in love...you once talked to me about art, music, all the beautiful things in this world that made it worth living in it, for centuries... you couldn't possibly appreciate those things if you didn't love them.'

'But that's not the kind of love we were talking about.'

'Love is love, in any kind or form.'

He looked at her for a long moment. 'You remind me of Elijah...he's always...praising the good to be found in love.'

'He's the smart one then.'

He shook his head. 'Smart?...he's still alone after all this time. What does that tell you?'

'No. What does it tell you?' Her eyes met his, challenging him. 'If after all these centuries, he hasn't given up, it means he knows that love is worth searching for, waiting for...'

He scoffed and shook his head.

'What do you think of love?' She whispered.

'What I always tell Elijah, that love is weakness.'

Her lips parted in surprise and she shook her head slowly. 'That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard...love is the opposite of weakness, love makes you strong, makes you capable of doing anything...'

'Oh look,' he interrupted her pointing to a space above her, 'there's a rainbow over your head with a unicorn flying over it.'

She shook her head again and got up, 'Why do I even bother?' She mumbled as she walked away.

'Wait.'

She turned to look at him and saw him putting his hand out offering her the book, 'It's yours, take it.'

'No.'

'Why not?'

Her eyes widened. 'Cause like I already said that's a first edition...an expensive first edition.'

'Which will certainly be more appreciated by you then anyone else in this house.'

She looked at the book, a part of her tempted to have it belong to her. 'No.' she said again.

He sighed and after a giving her a long look said, 'Then keep it in your room...for something... familiar wasn't it?...you can leave it behind when you return home.'

She shook her head and smiled wryly as her hand slowly went out to take the book.

'What are you smiling about?'

'What you...' Did he really not realize what a thoughtful gesture this was? That what he just did was completely at odds to what he had been saying just a moment before? Or was she reading too much in it and this was just a way to try to appease her and maybe make her stop creating havoc in his home? Not that what she did, seemed to touch him in any way. Not really anyway.

'Well?' He asked again when she didn't answer

She shook her head again, 'Nothing.' She said quietly holding the book to her. 'And thank you.' she added before leaving the library.

Ten minutes later, she was sitting on her bed, her back against the head board with her laptop on her knees, looking at Elena's smiling back at her. Stefan was playing a video game next to her with Jeremy. They had both popped their heads to say hi.

'So you already finished the homework I gave you?' Her friend was asking her.

Caroline sighed. 'That's to tell you how bored I am...where's Bonnie?'

'Where do you think she is?'

The blond girl closed her eyes tightly and shook her head. 'I feel so bad for her.'

'Then that makes two of you, cause she feels bad for you.'

'I'll call her later.' Caroline said quietly as she lowered her eyes.

'Hey,' her friend tried to cheer her up. 'Remember how we're always saying how we wish we had time to watch all those TV shows we like, well, you have the perfect excuse now.'

The blond vampire pouted her lips. 'But that would be fun, watching them with you and Bonnie.'

'What?' Elena chuckled. 'You're always shushing us cause we talk too much and won't let you listen to what's going on.'

'Cause you talk about other stuff, not what you're watching!' Her friend argued with her. 'Anyway, I don't have a TV set here.'

'Boo,' Jeremy's voice reached her. 'Is Klaus really that cheap, I wouldn't have thought it of him.'

'Actually, Rebekah took my flat screen.'

Elena's mouth opened in surprise. 'The bitch! Why?'

Caroline smiled as she remembered. 'Well...the first night they brought me here, I may have decided that it was fun to listen to heavy metal at four in the morning...'

'What?!' The three of them shouted almost together.

'Yeah...so she broke the stereo in half and took the TV.'

'Only you Caroline...' Elena chuckled under her breath.

Stefan's face came on her screen. 'You could watch them on your laptop then?'

Caroline shook her head at him. 'It gets on my nerves to watch on this small screen...but if I'll get desperate enough, I guess that's what I'll do.'

'Tell us what else you did.' Again it was only his voice she heard when Elena's brother talked.

'I left the water running in Klaus' room...flooding it.'

The hoots of laughter coming from her speakers made her laugh back with them.

Suddenly Elena made a face. 'You went in Klaus' room? Is it creepy much?'

Caroline's laughter died and she shook her head. 'No, not at all.' She said as she remembered the dark colored furniture with the beautiful paintings hanging on the walls.

'Was he angry?'

'Livid!' Caroline smiled brightly.

'Car-oli-ne.' Stefan said everything with the way he stressed her name.

'Don't worry, Stefan,' She reassured him, 'the only good thing out of this spell is that they can't hurt me...anyway, today he made me realize that it's his hybrids that have to clear the messes I make so...it kind of ruined my pleasure off it.'

'Add pee to his cologne.' Jeremy's voice said.

'Ewww.'

'That's disgusting, Jer, where the hell did you come up with that?' His sister made a horrified face at him as she turned her iPad so he could see the same expression on Caroline's face. His eyes never left the game and he just shrugged.

The girls looked at each other across the screens and burst out laughing.

'But how is Klaus with you?' Elena asked her, with a smile still on her lips. 'You never say anything about him when we talk.'

Her friend cocked her head sideways as she thought about this. How the hell did one respond to that?

He was Klaus. With his snarky smile and smart quips. She found a reason to argue with him whenever they were in the same room and he argued right back. He was intelligent, arrogant as hell, and sarcastic and she found herself almost enjoying their fights. It was stimulating trying to best him. Also, he had a way of saying words that sometimes made her doubt if he was really fighting with her or flirting.

Then there were those other times when he took her completely by surprise. Like with the book. Her fingers touched the leather cover softly where it laid on the coverlet next to her.

Or the flowers.

Her eyes went up to gaze at the vase full of Clivias, resting on one side of the vanity. She had come up after breakfast the morning after he had seen her watching the garden to find them in the room. She had stared at them, for God knows how long with an astonished look on her face that he had actually done this for her. She had later told herself that it was a stupid gesture which meant nothing to her, even when fresh ones replaced them a couple of days later, but the truth was that every time her eyes fell on them, a warm feeling would grip her insides and fill her with confusion.

Cause she wanted to keep thinking of Klaus as the dominant alpha male who disgusted her with his cruel ways, not the one who was capable of thoughtful gestures. This one reminded her too much of his vulnerable side, the one she had seen when he was sick, with his sweet smiles and the way he kept searching for her hand to hold, and of how it had felt to...

'Earth calls Caroline, anybody there?!' Elena's voice brought her back to the present with a jolt. 'Well, why don't you say anything? Is he treating you bad?'

'No. No, Klaus is just...Klaus.' Her friend replied lamely.

Stefan's face was back on screen next to his girlfriend. 'You mean, evil and manipulative?'

'A total sociopath?' Elena added.

'And a dick with a stupid accent?' Jeremy chimed in.

Elena burst out laughing once more and Caroline put her hand on her mouth as she giggled.

'Thank you guys. I don't know how long it's been since I laughed.'

'You're welcome.' Jeremy shouted.

'Caroline,' Stefan got serious again as he looked at her. 'Has he said anything about the witch?'

His friend shook her blond head. 'Not a word...but I'll ask again...Tyler hasn't had any luck either.'

Stefan nodded. 'I know.'

'Care,' Elena winced slightly, 'I'm afraid we have to go now...'

Caroline smiled at her friend, 'It's okay, go have some fun for me too...make Bonnie come too, I don't want her in front of her computer looking to unbreak the spell all the time, she'll go mad!' She replied knowing that they would be going to The Grill where they had promised to meet Matt.

Elena waved to her and promised to talk again soon before switching off her tablet.

Caroline closed her laptop with a sigh. Should I call Bonnie myself? She thought.

She turned to grab her cell phone from the bedside when there was a knock on her door.

'May I come in?' Danielle's voice asked and Caroline immediately invited her in.

The hybrid entered with fresh clothes in her arms which Caroline told her to leave on the bed and she would put them away herself.

'Danielle...' The girl turned to look at the blond vampire. 'I want to apologize. I'm sorry if my...behavior has caused you and your friends extra work, my intention was to annoy Klaus not you...I'm sorry.' Caroline repeated as she looked at the short haired girl.

'It's okay.'

Caroline frowned slightly. 'No, it's not, you've all been so nice to me, I don't want you...to hate me.'

'Hate you?! Maybe someone grumbled a little,' Danielle gave a little shrug, then smiled at her 'but personally, I think you're fun. This house is...too serious sometimes.'

Caroline smiled back, 'Thank you, and I promise that I'll pay more attention from now on...to whatever I...come up with.'

The other girl's smile got even wider. 'See you later.' She said as she turned, 'Enjoy dinner tonight.' She added, her eyes twinkling mischievously as she gently closed the door.

Caroline frowned at the door. What was that about?

She got up from the bed and put on her shoes. She touched her hair in front of the mirror and dabbed some lip gloss telling herself that she wanted to look good for herself.

Then curiosity made her rush out her room and vampire speed downstairs. She collected herself just outside the dining room and gracefully entered the room. She halted just on the door way as with a gasp she realized that there was someone else at the table with Klaus and Rebekah.

Kol Michaelson was home.