Caroline looked down on her hand which was chained to Klaus'. Their skin was touching and she could feel the electrical charge coursing through her body. When she looked up again Klaus was staring at her intently.
"Are you okay?" He whispered.
Tyler's harsh words were still echoing in her mind, but she tried to ignore them. He was angry and it was her fault. Acting out was only natural. Despite knowing all that she still hurt. Having their hands so close she wished she could just intertwine their fingers, just bury her head in Klaus' chest and let him comfort her. How cruel the close proximity transpired to be. She tried to suppress the tears and was thankful for the diversion this game offered to be.
"We don't have to do this, love." Klaus looked concerned.
"No, it's fine, it's our last day, right?" She put on a smile.
"We don't have to do this," Klaus repeated.
"What about your Glenfiddich? This rare collectible," Caroline pointed out.
"You do not truly believe a bottle of liquor, even if it's the world's finest, is more important than you, love?" He gave her a disapproving look.
That made her smile, genuinely.
"Let's get you that bottle of whiskey," she said, more cheerful now, and squeezed his hand once.
"On your marks!" Kol yelled.
"What marks?" Bonnie asked annoyed.
"Just play along, will you?" Kol rolled his eyes. Why could not everyone be as enthusiastic about this as he was?
"On your marks!" He repeated. "Ready, set," and before he finished his sentence he pulled Tyler behind him as he jumped into the water, giving him a head start before everyone else. "Go!"
"Hey! What the hell?!"
"I forgot to mention one more rule: Everything is allowed!" Kol yelled out amused, disappearing further into the water.
"That bloody cheater!" Rebekah cursed and yanked Jeremy behind her.
The chaos Kol left behind soon dissipated and everyone was eagerly following his tail. However, their handicap turned out to be a much bigger problem to some than they had anticipated.
"Damon, be careful, if you pull that strongly the chain will rip!" Elena warned her partner.
"Crap, this is more annoying than I thought."
"Can't you swim faster, Matty?" Katherine groaned annoyed as she couldn't swim at full speed with Matt handcuffed to her.
"I'm a human, chained to another person. What do you think?" Matt replied.
Others, however, came up with their own solutions to the dilemma. Elijah had pulled Bonnie on his back, face up. She was completely lying on her back, her right arm hooked over his shoulder, her other arm straight handcuffed to Elijah's right. Like this he was able to swim fast with minimal restrictions caused by Bonnie. His technique was one of the best and he was soon second in place.
Stefan and Alaric looked like a well oiled machine. Their rhythm was perfect and with Stefan's strength he was almost able to pull Alaric along to his usual speed.
Klaus used his Original hybrid speed and strength to pull Caroline alongside without her having to contribute much.
Soon the others found their own technique as well and it was not long until the first pair reached the other shore.
"Piece of cake," Kol said, running with Tyler around the pole he had put into the sand early this morning.
"That was a good head start you gave us there. Everything is allowed?" Tyler smirked.
"It's more fun like this, right?"
They both started their second round long before the second pair even arrived at mid route.
"We're never going to catch up with them. Don't take this the wrong way, but your brother is an ass," Bonnie said, when she and Elijah arrived at the pole.
"How can I possibly take this the wrong way? I fully agree, he is an ass," Elijah agreed, but had not resigned yet. "However, I promise you we will catch up."
He stopped and bend down to pick something up and before Bonnie realized that he took a stone, he was already throwing it with full force toward his brother, hitting his head so hard he caused lethal trauma.
"Oh my god! Did you just kill your brother?" Bonnie looked at him incredulously.
"Everything is allowed, right? Shall we now?" He said as nonchalant as if he was talking about the weather.
"Not so fast, brother," Rebekah said, tossing a handful of sand into Bonnie's face.
Bonnie cried out in pain, trying desperately to wipe away the dirt from her eyes.
"Rebekah!" Elijah yelled after her furiously, but diverted his attention back to his partner, trying to help her wash away the sand.
"Why did you do that?" Jeremy asked outraged.
"Relax. She'll be fine. It gives us enough time to get first place though," Rebekah replied self-satisfied.
Tyler had a hard time keeping himself and Kol afloat with the dead weight pulling him down, much less keep on swimming. And he could see Rebekah approaching fast.
"Not much fun anymore, is it Kol?" He decided to keep him under water and just pull him along with him. It's not like he could get deader than he already was.
Alaric and Stefan got into second round next, followed by Klaus and Caroline.
"You alright, Bonnie?" Caroline asked concerned when she passed her and Elijah.
"I'm okay now. But I swear I will pay that bitch back," Bonnie cursed, unusual to her character.
"Do not worry, I will see to it that you get that chance," Elijah replied and pulled her back onto his back. They followed soon after Klaus and Caroline.
Damon and Elena arrived second to last, just before Katherine and Matt.
"We have to come up with a better technique," Damon said out of breath.
"How?" Elena mustered their handcuffs worriedly.
"Like this." Damon swirled Elena around so that she was curled up in his left arm. Her back was to his side and he lifted her up so that he could run full speed into the water. "Much better," he said when he was finally able to swim properly at a better pace.
"I can't move at all like this," Elena yelled above the noise.
"You don't have to, as long as I can move freely," Damon said. "Besides I like having you this close to me." He smirked smug.
"Matt, you gotta keep up," Katherine complained annoyed when she and Matt arrived last.
"I can't, I'm trying to find a rhythm, but with you yanking me around it's impossible," he groaned exhausted.
"You're not the only human here, the others don't drag their partners down, so why do you? I suggest you stop with the excuses and step up your game," she replied. "Katherine Pierce doesn't come in last, you hear me? Never!"
"Threaten me however you want, it's not going to change the fact that we don't work well together. You need to rethink your approach," Matt said annoyed.
Katherine took a few seconds to contemplate that.
"That isn't such a bad idea, Matty-blue-blue." She grinned mischievously.
"I've got a plan, Elijah. Bring me as close to Rebekah as you can," Bonnie yelled out. Both Rebekah and Jeremy were already in sight. Stefan and Alaric had managed to catch up with them and Tyler's two -men group and were now first place. Klaus and Caroline were at the same level as Rebekah and Jeremy, but a little bit further away to the side, out of reach.
"You finally decided to join the party? What kept you?" Rebekah asked, racing head to head with her brother Elijah.
"You really shouldn't have done that," Bonnie said. "Did you forget that I know magic and that vampires are normally my natural enemies?"
Using her powers she burst a couple of aneurysms inside Rebekah's head, rendering her completely immobile.
"Bloody witch," she cursed, trying to get a hold of the searing pain in her head.
"Nice one," Jeremy could not fail to acknowledge the ingenious payback his girlfriend bestowed onto his partner, even though it set his team back quite a bit.
"Did you just knock out my sister?" Elijah asked amused.
"Everything is allowed, right? Shall we now?" She repeated his earlier words.
Bonnie kept up her magic for a while longer until she was out of reach and accumulated enough space between them.
"You okay now?" Jeremy asked.
"Peachy," Rebekah groaned annoyed. "Your girlfriend is a bitch."
"You started it. What comes around..."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it," she said, still holding her head from the pain.
"Come here." He pulled her onto his back, wrapping her legs around his waist.
"What are you doing?"
"What's it look like? I'm swimming. We can still make it, at least before the others. 10 points for each team that arrives after us, right?"
"I get that, but why are you carrying me?"
"You're still hurt. It's my turn now to do the hard work, you've been dragging me along for the most part," Jeremy explained, keeping on swimming as best as he could with only one arm.
"That's because I'm stronger. What can you do?" Rebekah pointed out, not realizing her words could be taken as offending.
"Ah, shut up and watch me," he said and sped up a notch.
"Damon, hurry up, Katherine and Matt are right behind us," Elena warned Damon.
"Always chasing after me, Katherine. When will you learn? I'm just not that into you," Damon said.
"Coming from the person who is in love with my splitting image."
"We're nothing alike Katherine. We might look the same, but I don't remember being a self-involved bitch," Elena shot back.
"Speaking of looking the same. I got to know, do we really look exactly the same?" Katherine asked in her sweet velvet voice and reached for Elena's bikini strings.
A shrill shriek escaped Elena's lips as she suddenly found herself naked in Damon's arms.
"Are you insane?!"
"Hmm, I still think I look better," Katherine shrugged nonchalantly and pulled ahead of their rivals.
"Was that really necessary?" Matt asked, having averted his eyes respectfully from Elena's naked body when Katherine had pulled her act.
"Everything is allowed, remember? You were the one who said to change my approach. That's what I'm doing." She smirked satisfied.
"That was not what I meant," he sighed.
"Did you see that?" Caroline asked Klaus.
"I did. Katherine is playing dirty, are you really surprised, sweetheart?"
"I guess not," she sighed.
"Don't worry she wouldn't dare to try anything like this to us."
"You mean, she wouldn't dare to try anything to you." Caroline scoffed.
"Same thing, love. Anyone crossing you means crossing me now," he elaborated.
"I can take care of myself," she felt the need to point that out.
"I know, but you will have to understand that I still don't like seeing someone try."
"Seems like I've been marked, wolf boy," she said amused and kissed him to the side of his head.
"You seem to have a type." Klaus took her hand and did what they had not been able to do back at the starting point.
"Well, who can resist those puppy eyes?" She sighed.
Incredulously he stared at her, did she just tell Niklaus Mikealson that he had puppy eyes? And instead of getting angry he just laughed and shook his head in amused bewilderment.
"Trust me?" He asked, puppy mode full on.
Rendered defenseless, Caroline just nodded. Klaus smiled satisfied and pulled her under water with him.
Once completely out of sight, he reached for her face, cupping it gently. His eyes locked with hers and he slowly got closer until their noses touched. And before he kissed her, a full blown huge smile painted his face, realizing that he finally got the girl. That beautiful, smart, strong, fun, and kind girl. And even though he regarded love as a weakness, he was prepared to allow one weakness in his life. As long as it was Caroline he would do anything to protect her.
The kiss was a happy one, so out of character for Klaus, Caroline thought. But she enjoyed it, enjoyed the feeling that for some reason she was special to him and, foremost, she enjoyed seeing him happy. Through all the bitter- and loneliness he seemed to have finally reached a point where he could be happy. She hugged him closer and reciprocated the big smile on his face with her own.
"We're back to second place," Bonnie said. "I don't see Caroline and Klaus anywhere. Katherine is coming close though."
"I suggest you take extra care of your swim wear." Elijah had to clear his throat once, feeling apologetic for his girlfriend's behavior.
"She comes near my bikini and she gets a hit worse than Rebekah's," Bonnie replied, prepared for Katherine's underhanded attempt to stop them. Or so she thought.
"Hey there, handsome!" She smiled seductively.
"I'm warning you, Katarina, do not try anything." Elijah eyed her suspiciously.
"You're afraid I'm going to use the same trick I pulled on Elena? You should know me better. That's already gotten old; I'm not doing the same thing twice. Besides I don't like seeing another naked woman on you," she explained, brushing a feather-light trail with her index finger across his underarm. "I rather just do this." She hooked her finger around the handcuffs' chain and broke it with one swift move.
Bonnie full on crashed into the water upon the sudden lack of restraint. Elijah stared at one of the handcuffs that remained on his wrist, after Katherine had broken the linking piece to the other one.
"What did you do?!"
"I just disqualified you, oops!" Katherine feigned innocence. "Didn't you hear Kol? You're not allowed to break the cuffs. You should have taken better care of them."
"Katarina!" He angrily called after her, when she passed him and Bonnie, pulling Matt behind her.
"Bye bye!"
By now the shore was only a few minutes away with Stefan and Alaric closest to it.
"We're getting visitors," Alaric warned.
"Katherine," Stefan sighed. "Don't let your guard down."
"Don't have to tell me twice. She's not getting past me."
"Wanna bet?" Katherine called out from behind.
"We're still ahead of you and we're not letting you anywhere near our cuffs. And if you think pulling of our trunks would slow us down, you better think again. We're prepared to see this down, with clothes or without," Stefan said, determined to come in first.
"You underestimate how much we actually want that Glenfiddich," Alaric added.
"Thanks for the offer, but we'll pass. I have a much better idea."
"What is she trying to do now?" Alaric asked, a little worried about her overconfidence.
"See, I don't have to sabotage you, if I can just swim faster than you guys."
"I want to see you try, Katherine," Stefan scoffed.
"You're going to regret having said that," she said and turned to Matt. "Matty-blue-blue, hop on my back."
Matt knew better than to ask why. Though he was curious as to what she was intending to do. Even if he was on her back she still only had one arm to swim with, impossible for her to be faster than Stefan and Alaric.
She pulled out a pin from her hair and before anyone could see it, she was already out of the handcuffs.
"What are you doing? You've just disqualified yourselves," Stefan asked incredulously.
"No, Stefan. The rule said not to break them. Kol never said we couldn't take them off," Katherine explained smug. "Matty, hold on to these, will you? I got a race to win."
With both her arms free now it was easy to overtake them.
"Damn it! Let's get out of these, too!" Stefan said, eyeing the cuffs.
"Yeah? How?" Alaric looked annoyed.
"What? You don't have a hairpin?" Stefan commented sarcastically.
"Sorry, must have forgotten them at home; next to my fake eye lashes and high boots!" His teammate rolled his eyes.
And as promised Katherine and Matt came in first. Stefan and Alaric second.
"You never play fair, do you?"
"Why would I if it's so much more fun like this?"
"I see Elijah and Bonnie," Matt said, watching who was coming in next, but before they arrived, Klaus and Caroline emerged from under the water, making it third place.
"Didn't have you on the radar at all. You could have easily caught up to us. What kept you?" Stefan asked curiously, when the both of them joined them on the shore.
"It seems we got lost. It's hard to see through the lake water," Caroline replied, out of breath. Klaus gave her an amused side glance, liking her explanation of having gotten lost. They certainly had.
When Bonnie and Elijah made it to the shore, they looked more than unhappy.
"What happened to you guys?" Caroline asked, mustering their broken handcuffs.
"Katherine," Bonnie spat out.
"Oh, don't be such sore losers. This game was supposed to be played like this. Don't be angry at me for being good at it," Katherine defended herself.
"Doesn't mean I am especially happy about seeing you right now, Katarina."
"Like you're one to complain. You let your witch dog lose on me," Rebekah said angrily, having arrived next with Jeremy.
"Who are you calling a dog? You haven't gotten enough yet?" Bonnie asked exasperated.
"Where is she? I'm going to kill her!" Elena made a move toward Katherine, but was held back by Damon. By now she had her clothes back in order, but she was still furious.
"What are you trying to prove here, little Elena? Don't act so tough," Katherine replied unimpressed.
"Don't be fooled, Katherine. I might be holding Elena back, but that is because I'm still contemplating how I will hurt you," Damon said through gritted teeth.
"So much for having fun with this..." Jeremy murmured. "Everyone is frantic."
"Frantic is not the word!" Kol chimed in at last. Tyler had finally made it to the shore when Kol woke up again from his violently induced slumber.
"You started it, Kol," Elijah countered.
"You smashed my head in with a bloody rock!"
"Not to mention that it was a pain in the ass to carry him here," Tyler added, out of breath.
"You had it coming, Kol. Everything is allowed, that is what you said, wasn't it?" Elijah said calmly.
A giant ruckus started when everyone began to talk and accuse somebody else of playing them.
"And first of, is it really allowed to just slip out of the cuffs? I mean what's the point then?" Stefan demanded to know.
"The point is to figure out that possibility, silly," Katherine clarified.
"She's right. As much as it pains me to admit that I didn't come up with such an ingenious trick, she didn't break the cuffs and, therefore, not the rules." Kol sighed.
"Next time you explain each and every rule there is before we start the damn game," Rebekah said. "I hate losing. "Also, can we get different partners? Mine is slow."
"That's the thanks I get for carrying you here all the way?" Jeremy commented annoyed.
"Shut up and sit down. Don't die on me due to exhaustion."
"What's with her? I don't get her at all." He ran one hand through his hair in frustration.
"It's her way of giving you a break. She's just trying to be considerate, you're human after all so she doesn't know where exactly your limit is," Matt explained, a soft smile on his face.
"You're kidding me, right?" Jeremy stared at him incredulously.
"Who would be worried about that kid?" Rebekah just scoffed and turned away.
Somehow Caroline was rather amused by all of this. "So let me recap. If I understand everything correctly, Kol died, because he got hit in the head by a skipping stone. All the while Katherine pulled one prank after the other, stripping Elena while she was still bound to her boyfriend's brother, who had to probably have helped her getting dressed again, it's not like she could have done it by herself. She throws Elijah and Bonnie off course and leaves the best trick for last when she slipped out of the cuffs. Not to forget that Bonnie was going all witchy on Rebekah, after she got stopped by the probably oldest and unoriginal, no pun intended, trick in history."
She started laughing as she apparently could not stop herself. And at first everyone was dumbstruck, but soon enough one after another joined in and by the end everyone was laughing.
"It is quiet funny," Bonnie admitted.
"But all the fun aside, how many points did we get?" Rebekah asked.
"Let's see," Jeremy said. "Matt's team came in first... Do they get points for the disqualified team as well?"
"No," Kol clarified.
"So that makes 100 points for them then," he concluded.
Katherine high-fived her partner and smirked triumphantly in everyone else's direction.
"Katherine Pierce strikes again."
"We got 65 points," Alaric said.
"Caroline and I came in next, claiming third place," Klaus told the rest.
"Leaving you with -5. Congratulations! You're still last," Damon pointed out snarky. "We got at least 10 points."
"We'll catch up soon enough, Damon," Klaus replied, level-headed.
"We've got 20 points," Rebekah announced. "And the way I see it, you got nothing," she said looking at her brothers, Elijah and Kol.
"Whatever! This was just the warm up anyway! I'm looking forward to the next discipline!" Kol smirked happily. And the others could not help but feel a certain uneasiness manifest deep inside their stomachs.
