Mid-year exams over, term's just finished, and the past month has really left no time [or the brains] for leisure writing, I'm sorry! There you have it; pathetic excuse for not uploading. I know, not good enough. Anyways in between holiday homework I really hope to be more consistent in my uploads for the next couple of weeks, so...yay? o.O

(I edited this through twice, lost it both times [waste of a nights work, argh!] so I apologise for any typos!) Please R&R loves! xx

12. Choice

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." - Kurt Vonnegut

Trudging from the library, Caroline avoided the parlour - which adjoined to the library. She stopped midway in the hall on the way to her bedroom, an involuntary shiver coursing through her body. Stop it, she chided herself. There was no one outside. She knew there wasn't.

But she couldn't be sure.

Yanking the curtain closed so roughly she almost tore it from its rings, Caroline rolled her shoulders, and then sped to her bedroom in a flash, tossing the book onto her bed, and whipping around the room, pulling the drapes closed there also.

But the doors at the far right of the room had no curtains.

A black, glossy window shared the reflection of a girl. Her.

But it wasn't her; it was something else.

Someone scared of their own shadow, she thought, tasting the blood from her cheeks, pooling beneath the bite of her teeth. A vampire scared of their own shadow.

She went to sit on the bed, and pack the newly clean clothes into her duffel bag. She reached for the book, to stow it away. From the corner of her eye, a blonde reflection ghosted her, frozen in its glassy prison.

She slid off the bed, and down its side, landing on her bottom. She pressed the book to her chest, and squeezed her eyes shut. 'If you stay, Tyler Lockwood and Elena Gilbert won't be the only orphans in this town.'

Rebekah's words rang in her head like a broken record.

'I will give you two days grace'.

But they weren't tailing her - yet. They had only threatened to touch her mother if she didn't leave, and then her if she ran to Klaus. She still had time. Not much, but enough. She'd leave before dawn; around three in the morning.

Reaching for her phone, her heart throbbed with a different kind of fear; dread, in hoping that there would be no more threatening messages.

A godsend; there were none.

She set an alarm.

Closed her eyes.

Drifted.

- TVD -

"We don't have long," a voice whispered - its presence universal, wavering on the wind around her.

Caroline didn't know where she was. It was cold, dark, and all around water covered the ground and fell from the trees; she was in the aftermath of a rainstorm. She shivered uncomfortably, and realised that she was still in her pyjamas. Taking in her foreign surroundings the best she could, she discovered that she was in a cemetery. Though…it wasn't one overrun with gravestones; instead, crypts. It was someplace old. Really old.

"Who are you?" Caroline called in a trembling voice.

Come a bit further and find out." It was a young woman's voice - but whose? "I won't bite." The girl smirked, voice still floating around.

Caroline froze, eyes darting about her. "Rebekah, I know it's you!" She snapped - jumping to conclusions. "Get out of my head."

"I'm not Rebekah, and want nothing to do with her. It's you I want to talk to." The voice seemed to drop in volume. "And we have to do it quickly; I can't stay for much longer." An almost ghost-like apparition emerged from its cover behind a weepy willow.

Caroline frowned. Wrapping her arms tightly around her ribcage, she tentatively took a step forward, but then halted.

The girl wouldn't step out of the shadows.

"Give me your hand," she whispered.

"But I can't see you."

"Put out your palm," the girl pressed.

Reluctantly, she did so, immediately snapped it back when the other struck out to grasp it.

Another voice cut it. "Don't push her, Sophie."

"Jane-Anne, it's already too dangerous. They're going to get you. He's-"

"Like you said," the other girl interrupted. "We don't have much time. Continue." She turned to Caroline. "Come forward, Sweet-heart."

Caroline frowned, and clenched her sides more tightly. "I won't."

"Don't make this difficult," the younger girl - Sophie - warned. "This doesn't have to be difficult." Something in her eyes made Caroline believe that 'difficult' alternatively stood for 'painful'.

Caroline's own eyes widened in panic. She went to step backwards - but was immobilised. Her feet wouldn't move. Looking down, her chest heaved. Her eyes shot back to the girls. "What are you doing?" She demanded, tone hardening in agitation.

"We can help you."

"I don't need your help."

Jane-Anne stepped forward. "Not yet," she cut in, "but you will soon."

"We need you to come to New Orleans," Sophie supported, "as leverage. We need Niklaus Mikaelson."

A strange form of protectiveness boiled in Caroline's stomach. "I don't know what you're doing, but I won't have any part in it - and neither will he."

"But that's the thing; you already do. More than you know. More than he knows."

Caroline's eyes tightened in a glare.

"Her conscience is fighting you," Sophie warned. "It's fighting you."

"And don't I know it," the other - Jane-Anne - snarled through her teeth. "Quickly, take my hand."

The girl complied.

And then Caroline's cried out in agony asback wrenched, pulling her upwards - toes touching the ground, heels in the air. Wake up. Wake up! Her mind rambled in panic. She was being channelled. This was something psychic. Not a dream. The pain was too real.

She screamed.

"Don't go, Caroline! Hold on," the girl pleaded desperately. "We still need you. It won't hurt for much longer. This is the only time we can-"

"Something's pulling her out - it's not just her mental strength anymore, it's-"

"Someone is. It's him."

Caroline could feel consciousness lifting a fog from her eyes.

The dream was gone.

But it was too late. It still hurt.

Caroline gasped, eyes flying open as a pinching sensation targeted the centre of her back - her spine - making her writhe in agony. "No, stop, stop," she cried. The pain tore through her whole torso, wracking her stomach. "Stop, please."

His hands gripped her arms. "Caroline. Caroline tell me what's going on-?"

"I don't know," she cried, hands clasping around his forearms, head bowing. "It hurts. Just make it stop, please. Klaus make it stop." Her hands left him, and she clutched her abdomen, gasping slightly for air between sobs.

"I can't," he answered quickly, eyes frantic. "I don't know what's happening, but Caroline listen to me-" his hands lifted to her neck, one near her shoulder, the other under her jaw. "Look at me," he coaxed, his urgency somewhat diminished. His voice was smooth - calm with reason. Her eyes locked with his, and he breathed deeply for a few moments, encouraging her to do the same. "It was just a dream." But it hadn't been. He knew that it hadn't been.

Then it stopped. Her eyes widened, disorientated, tears freezing in their place. She held her breath for a moment, silent, waiting for it to come back.

Klaus gently took hold of one of her arms again, and tugged it - literally tugging her back into reality. She fell into his chest. The top of her head fit in beneath his jaw, and he rested his chin on it. She relaxed exhaustedly against him, heaving. He cradled her gently.

"It's okay," he murmured. "You're with me." His heart jumped nervously as a thought briefly entered his mind - and he acted on it. He shifted his chin from her head, enough so her could briefly press his lips against her hair. "You're safe," he whispered, closing his eyes in relief as he heard her heart rate settle.

Her fingers gripped and curled around the grey material of his tee-shirt, and she closed her eyes. "What happened?" Her voice cracked, thick with fear.

"Tell me what was in the dream."

Haunted by her nightmare, Caroline's reminiscing was brief and bitter. He watched her frown as segments of the dream darted across her mind. She didn't answer for a minute.

"It's okay," he then murmured. "You don't have to-"

"There were witches," she answered suddenly, cutting him off - although too absent-minded to realise she was doing so. Lost in a trance of thought, she continued in a monotonous voice, "It was in a graveyard. Old. It was cold. Wet. And they wanted me for…leverage. They said they needed me to get to…" She struggled, unsure whether she should continue.

"Who?" Klaus pressed, perplexed.

In his arms, her gaze darted up to his. "You," she breathed.

The cage of his body around her turned to stone - and then he slipped away from her, pacing her room.

Caroline swallowed a sob, sniffing. "K-Klaus?" He didn't answer. "I won't do it. I won't help them. You know that right?"

His head whipped to the side, so he could see her. Eyes glistening, disbelief darkened their dilated pupils. "What do they want to do, Caroline?" He demanded, tone hard, seemingly brushing past her pledge of loyalty.

"I don't know," she answered warily, aware of his ripe temper.

He hit the wall as he passed it, making her jump. "Witches," he muttered, and then walked over to her. "Where were you?"

"I don't know Klaus, it was just a dream-"

"It wasn't just a dream-"

"But you said it was!"

"It was a psychic attack. By witches." He blurred to her bedside. "But you can answer that for yourself," he said through his teeth. "How real was you pain?" He taunted. He reached out towards her, and before she realised what he was doing, his fingers swept underneath the back of her tee-shirt. He kneaded the centre of her spine.

Caroline winced; it hurt.

"See?" He proved, turning once more.

Dejected, Caroline fell back onto her heels, kneeling. "How did you know I was having a nightmare?"

"I heard you scream."

Caroline shuddered. "I screamed? But that was only in my dre-"

"You've never woken up in floods of tears before, after dreaming the death of a loved one?" He stepped towards her once more. "Ran a marathon in your sleep, and woken up feeling no more rested than you did when you closed your eyes?" He came to the edge of the bed, where her knees pressed against his torso. He reached out, rested his fingertips in a feather touch against her side. He leant closer, so his breath tickled her face. "Entertained your darkest desires, and woken with the surety that you actually experienced them?" She shivered beneath his touch. "Just because your eyes are closed, doesn't mean the rest of your body doesn't act in responsewhile you're asleep, Caroline. And if you were under a psychic influence, what makes you think if you could feel physical pain you wouldn't be able make a sound?" He allowed his fingers to trail from her spine to the back of her head. "If you had been awake, and hurt, you would have screamed. An attack from a witch is no different. It doesn't matter if you are sleeping, or fully conscious."

Much to his surprise, she closed her eyes, head falling back into his hand, which flattened into a palm for her.

"I need you to concentrate," he requested. "Where were you in the dream? Describe it to me."

She opened her eyes for a second. "You're going to find them, aren't you."

"And kill them, yes."

Guardedness iced over Caroline's eyes.

Klaus's fingers caressed the back of her skull, generating another shiver across her frame. "I'm only teasing," he murmured, with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "But if they hurt you again, I will."

Caroline's grew round, troubled. "I can't remember." She pressed the heel of her right palm to her forehead.

"Try," Klaus coaxed.

Caroline gripped her hair with the fingers of her hand, frowning. She was silent for a moment. "I don't know where it is, Klaus. I've never seen it before, I can't-"

"Hold on," he settled her, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I know what I need to do."

Caroline felt the gentle pressure of his hand pushing her backwards, and she submitted to it reluctantly, easing onto her backside. She stared up at him, eyes wide and unsure. "Klaus," she warned. Though she had been distressed and thus disorientated upon waking up - she wasn't a fool. As she further regained her consciousness, the walls went back up.

"It's not what you think," he swore, his hand moving to her cheek.

A telling flush flooded through her cheeks, and her pulse quickened. "Stop, Klaus, I'm serious," she said flatly. "Do-"

"Be quiet, love - or I'll compel you to be so." He leaned forward slightly. "I need you to relax" - she opened her mouth to protest, but her frowned -"I need you to fall asleep again; I can't get inside your head if you're not relaxed."

Caroline's chest rose with sudden fear; he couldn't get inside her head. If he did, then he would know it all.

Everything.

All the times that she had pretended to feel nothing, but had felt everything.

The way he made her feel - what he did to her. How he affected her - and just how much of an affect he had on her. The way he effected her sense of reason, the way he made her question herself and believe in higher aspirations - and how that only made her admire him more.

If he got inside her head, she knew that he would see everything.

"I can't do that," she answered aloud.

"It's completely painless." He leant back a little, pausing. "And I don't want to compel you, Caroline."

"You may just have to."

His head tilted slightly and his eyes narrowed with interest. "Why?"

"I can't relax."

"Caroline, compulsion won't-"

She sat up in a flash. "I can't have you inside my head like that," she snapped, shoulders rising. She became suddenly aware that he hadn't moved when she had risen, and how little apart they were.

Klaus acknowledged this, and didn't care. He decided to push - playing with fire. He leaned in further still, until their noses were an inch or so apart. "Why don't you want me to get inside your head?" He hummed huskily.

A ripple of desire ached through Caroline's lower abdomen, and she bit her cheek.

"Scared I'll see something I won't like?" He taunted.

"Compel me," Caroline said suddenly. Begged. Ordered.

Klaus couldn't be sure which way she had intentionally said it, but he couldn't reckon with her.

"I haven't consumed vervain in the past twenty-four hours and am not wearing it," she reasoned quickly.

He couldn't curb the internal questions that probed him; there was something she really didn't want him to know. "Are you sure this is what you want?" He whispered, taken aback at her words as regret twisted in his gut; shamelessly, he'd wanted to know what she was thinking. What she was hiding; he wanted to know if all those times when he had thought of her, she had been thinking of him too. Desperate, or perhaps out of loneliness…he couldn't deny the desire to just know.

Caroline nodded surely, lips drawing in a tight line.

Klaus let out a slow breath, taking her shoulders in his hands. His iris' dilated and shrunk, capturing her in his spell. "I need you to tell me everything you remember about that dream. I need you to describe where you were." A hand of his slid to the base of her neck. "Close your eyes, and let your conscience tell you." The hand trailed up her neck, and carefully caressed the back of it."You will remember. Will you do this for me?"

"I remember," Caroline murmured mechanically. "I can do this for you." Her eyes drifted closed, and her forehead creased in concentration.

Klaus felt a pang of regret, realising that this was the first time he had ever compelled her. And he hated it. It would certainly be the last.

Disjointed, and at times unclear, Caroline described the graveyard to him. It's crypts. The sort of trees. The details came more easily to her - but when she focussed for too long, her frightened subconscious would block her thoughts, fearing another psychic attack.

But he had had enough.

Amidst her talking, the blood had drained from her face. The concentration had dissipated. The caresses on her neck had died, and his hands had slipped to his sides. Klaus looked as though he'd seen a ghost.

"Klaus?" Caroline murmured, falling from his compulsion when he diverted. Her brow furrowed when he didn't respond. "Klaus." She reached out to him, just as he moved away, muttering something. "Where is it?" She asked.

His fingers curled, clenching into fists. "New Orléans."

- TVD -

A branch slammed against the window, screeching against the glass sickeningly. Caroline didn't move at the sound, every cell directed towards anticipating Klaus' next move. She could practically see the waves of anger rolling off him - she certainly felt them.

The past half an hour had been torture.

At first, Klaus had paced, and then at Caroline's protestations had explained to her through gritted teeth his connection to New Orléans. Since he had finished, an uneasy silence had settled between them.

Though Caroline wouldn't admit it, his obvious distress unnerved her emotionally.

"I'm going," he said lowly, breaking the silence.

"Klaus, that's what they'll want," she reasoned desperately. "They want you to go to New Orléans. You'll be walking straight into a trap."

But he wasn't listening to her. "Don't you need to get out of town?" He reminded her. "With a mark on your mother's head and all…"

Caroline's eyes darted to the small clock on the bedside table: it was nearly two in the morning. If she hadn't had her nightmare, she would have been preparing to leave at that moment. Or close to it.

As if in confirmation, the screen on her phone lit up, and it vibrated with her alarm.

"I thought so," he muttered.

"Not like this," she said, catching him by surprise. "You make it sound as if we'd be running away for good - and I refuse to hide away like a coward forever."

"I don't think you have a choice."

"Well I won't do it. There are other options-"

"Why not?"

Her nails dug into her palms. "Because I have family, I have friends, I have school - priorities, Klaus. Responsibilities-"

"You're immortal; you can finish school a thousand times over if you wish - at schools a thousand times more prestigious than Mystic Falls Highschool. I don't understand why you believe Mystic Falls is the one and only way." His fingers tightened on her arms. "You have time. I can get you wherever you want. We can go anywhere."

"But we're not just going anywhere - we're going to New Orléans and walking straight into a death trap." She folded her arms across her chest, face tight with sarcasm. "I admire your ability to make light of and lie about something so grim-"

"Come on, Caroline that's a little-"

"A 'little' what? Dramatic?"

"Yes."

"No. I saw you freak out. There's something else going on here, and I don't want to be a part of it-"

"But they want you."

Caroline massaged her temples. "Klaus, I need to leave this town before your sister and my ex kill all the family I have left. Granted. Do I need to walk straight in complications and captivity - avoid one danger, by entering another? No." She tucked her hair behind her ears, swallowing. "Leaving his already hard enough. There's only so much I can take, and constantly fighting for my life or my freedom-"

"Love, so long as you're with me, I'll protect you. You won't be fighting for your life, or freedom-"

"But that's just it! I can't be with you either. Kol or Tyler will find me, and my mom will die anyway. Your sisters afraid that if I meet up with you, we'll join forces and then everyone else - namely Bonnie, Stefan, Elena...Damon - will all back you, because they back me. And then we'll never give her the cure."

Klaus seemed somewhat impressed. "Not a bad idea actually-"

"Klaus!"

"Except I want nothing to do with the cure anymore," he continued, as if she hadn't spoken. "Ergo, Rebekah won't kill your mother-"

"Have you been paying attention to anything that's happened? Me nearly dying? I think she's pretty serious, Klaus. Your sister doesn't bluff; exhibit 'A' - Elena Gilbert."

"Caroline-"

"She called me," Caroline answered very bluntly, articulating her words particularly sharply. "Before. And she made it pretty clear I didn't have a choice."

Klaus froze.

"One last warning, Klaus," Caroline continued shakily. "She wants me gone; out of the picture." Her fingers dug into her sides. "I have to go; that's a given. But that in itself is already hard enough. How am I possibly helping myself by running head-on into more strife? Not to mention with you! Hear me; it can't happen."

"No, hear me. If I'm off chasing something else, Rebekah gets the cure all to herself. She won't have any reason to chase me." He reasoned. "She's my sister, Caroline. Contrary to popular belief, I know how she operates. And New Orleans? You'll be safe with me. Like I said, I'm the king. We'd just be getting to the bottom of this-"

"You. You. You'll be safe. Klaus, your sister was pretty specific; I go with you, Kol and Tyler find me, I die. I stay, my mom dies." Her hands dropped. "There's only one solution, but you're just too scared to admit it."

"I'm too scared? Love, you're the one who keeps on making excuses."

"I'm not making excuses, I'm facing reality-"

"Which is why you're hiding away in my house."

"I'm not hiding."

"Then why aren't you home right now?"

"You're such an asshole."

"I'm just looking out for you."

"Well I don't need you to!" She yelled. "I can look out for myself." She paused, face hardening. "I'm going on my own," she added with finality.

"You can't."

"I can."

"You won't survive."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"You can't do it."

"Who are you, my father?"

"No, he's dead."

Caroline's eyes filled with tears at his thoughtless response.

"What?" Klaus demanded bitterly. "I thought you were intent on facing reality."

She struck him, chest heaving. The snap of her hand against his cheek bounced between their bodies, teasing the invisible energy that vibrated between them.

He should have been used to it; she hit him a fair bit as it was - as of late - and he always took it.

But only because he deserved it. And he knew that.

"You don't need me to come with you, and what even makes you think I'd want to?"

"Your feelings for me." There, he thought, you said it. He braced himself for another slap.

"Don't flatter yourself."

"You didn't want me to see into your head. Afraid of something, were you?" He stepped forward. "The truth?" Another step. "Afraid that I would see through your façade?"

"You only want me to go with you because you're in love with me!" Caroline yelled, breaking in a desperate attempt at a defence. "Because you can't live without me, for crying out loud-"

"Don't throw around my feelings as if they mean nothing," Klaus answered in a snarl, which visibly set her back. "You had the dream," he snapped. "Not me. I'm just trying to figure this out. You're my best shot at doing so."

"If I go off on my own, I go off the grid. You'd never be able to find me again," Caroline tried to reply confidently. "Could you be more obvious?"

"I wouldn't underestimate my resourcefulness, love."

Her cheeks tightened as she processed his words. She knew that he was right; after all, he had found Elena.

But he hadn't found Katherine; not for five hundred years, anyway. It was possible.

New Orleans was near enough to the coast. It undoubtedly had an airport.

She took a long moment before answering through her teeth ruefully, "I couldn't even if I tried." She went to turn towards her bag.

"What are you doing?"

"I've made my choice."

He gripped her back, restricting her escape. "What will it be? Solo, or hand in hand?"

"I don't think I have a choice," she muttered.

It was then, that he saw the fear that so often lived in her eyes. But it wasn't for her life; it was for the unknown.

He let go.

She had given him her answer.

Thank you for your response/follows and favourites so far - I was incredibly stressed this term, and coming home to find a mailbox full of them really lifted my spirits. I'm so sorry I've loss track of who I've emailed a thank you response or just ran out of time, so thank you to all that made the effort to do so xx I'll be back to emailing for this one! Please drop in a review if you have the time, because they really urge me to write faster, and as always, you know I'll do my best to get the next chapter up as soon as I can! Lots of love x

- ALSO - thinking of adding Elijah and Stefan to the character list with the story description [spoilers] in preparation for future chapters/storyline. Yay or nay? -