PROMPT: "You're European, you came to the U.S. because you were dating an American, but they dumped you. Now, you're pretty much homeless, lost, and alone. To top it off, it's raining and I found you on the side of the road...but your accent is cute as heck, so there's that" AU

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I tweaked this a little, but it fits in well with Caught in the Rain/At First Sight tropes for Day 7. Happy Klaroline AU Week. Have at it, lovelies. :)

xx Ashlee Bree

"I find the rain cleansing at the present moment, love," he drawled with his eyes closed and his head tilted upwards into the dark clouds. "Since you were wondering."

Caroline halted on the sidewalk, hand on her hip, cursing herself for discreetly side-eyeing the stubbled stranger as she exited the backdoor of the Mystic Falls Library. She turned and narrowed her eyes, "I wasn't."

"You were."

Affronted, Caroline huffed. She was wondering, but how arrogant and presumptuous was he?

"Those coy but curious eyes of yours gave you away," he added, dimpling.

Excuse him. Bold and obnoxious much?

"If they did," she replied audaciously, "it's only because I'm surprised to find some lunatic deposited in the middle of the street worshipping the freaking weather."

Running a hand through soaked and disheveled blond curls, he laughed.

Of course she noticed him! Who could help it? Rugged good-looks aside (not too many hot apples fell from trees in a small town like this, okay?), only pneumonia-seeking idiots stood outside in a rainstorm in the early spring with no umbrella and wore nothing warmer than short sleeves. It was forty degrees! Sexy or not, mindless morons like him demanded to be noticed.

"The lunatic's name is Klaus." He inclined his head in introduction and squinted at her through the drizzle. "And you are?" he probed.

"Smart enough to be prepared for Virginia weather," she remarked with a haughty wave at her umbrella, evading his question and continuing her march down the sidewalk.

"Afraid of a little precipitation, are we?"

Matching her stride, his arms clasped casually behind his back, Klaus' eyes raked over her form with piqued interest and amusement. Caroline shivered, blaming it on the chill in the air.

"Considering the fact that it's March—" she paused for emphasis "—yes."

Klaus shrugged.

"I find cold rain to be restorative. It rinses away blood, dirt, and sins. Revives dying plants and flowers. Refreshes the cynical soul," he mused.

"Well, gee, aren't you philosophical," she spat.

"Thanks for noticing," he countered. Cocking his head to the side, he tossed a coquettish look over his shoulder, "That being said, I could use some spirited sunshine by my side on this rainy day. Would you care to join me for a walk on the wild side, Little Miss Polkadot Galoshes?"

The words dribbled off his tongue like dollops of whipped cream—light and sweet and smooth.

"—Or wet side, I should say," Klaus amended with a smirk.

"Caroline. My name is Caroline," she grumbled begrudgingly, unable to bare any more flowery endearments.

Why she continued to engage with this man, this smug, infuriating, drenched-to-the-bone accented stranger, she had no idea (he could be a raging psychopath trolling for teenage blondes for all she knew!), but she couldn't stop. She could not stop.

His magnetism fishhooked her by the waist and dizzied her brain like the loop-de-loops of a merry-go-round, all the while drawing nearer the center of his busy noise. She became a bumblebee—buzzing and fussing before the open doors of his beehive with suspicion fluttering her wings above the honeycomb he presented at her feet—part-fascinated, part-vexed that the potent prick of his stinger unsettled her the moment they first met.

Already late for lunch with Bonnie, Stefan, and Elena at the Grill, Caroline picked up the pace and ignored the alluring hum of her raised heartbeat.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you," she added tartly," but cold and wet aren't my thing. I'm not an amphibian who enjoys splashing in icy puddles, thank you." Turning the corner onto another back road, she gestured in dismissal. "Enjoy your rain."

"Ouch. That's a little harsh, Caroline."

Klaus, refusing to take the hint, followed her and feigned hurt by clutching his hands to his chest. Behaving like she'd lodged a corrosive arrow into his heart.

"I may be British, sweetheart, but I'm not cold-blooded…at least not where you're concerned, " he purred.

Flattery poured from Klaus' mouth like a faucet splashing hard against Caroline's ears. It begged for her to drink, drink, drink. To sink, sink, sink. What a drowning effect this man possessed!

"I'm grateful to you, you see," he explained, "for you've distracted me from the rage I felt against the sister-in-law who threw me out of the car when I commented on her poor taste in music this morning. Katherine's always been a petulant little minx, truth be told, but I find I don't resent my castaway meandering any longer."

"Is that so?" Caroline replied, eyebrow arched at him skeptically.

Oddly enough, in the same way that oxygen entered and carbon dioxide exited, words of seduction transformed into words of sincerity as Klaus spoke, "Precisely so, yes. Like the rain, your lively company has restored me—you have brightened not only my mood, but my day. Is that so hard for you to believe?" he asked.

Yes. Yes, it was.

While Caroline's fingers moved to scratch at this pesky new nerve he had struck, at these unsanctioned goosebumps his continued presence had prickled against her skin, her mouth itched to sass, sass, sass.

"Listen, Gene Kelly," she quipped as she stopped to address him, "I don't know how they do things in the U.K., but here in America, being abandoned in the rain doesn't warrant a tap dance down the middle of the street."

"I beg your pardon, but I'll have you know that I'm a strutter…not a tapper," Klaus replied cheekily.

Caroline rolled her eyes.

"Just Saturday Night Fever yourself over to the sidewalk, would you? As a member of the town's Beautification Committee, I'd hate to see you get run over. Or worse, mar our beautiful streets with your British roadkill," she added teasingly.

Looking left to right to left, eyes surveying the vacant road stretched before them, heavy rain still pelting his clothes and sticking to skin, teeth chattering from cold, he scratched his head and turned to look at her with interest twinkling in his blue eyes, "By all the cars?" he prodded.

Was it her, or did this suddenly feel like a scene from the Notebook?

"Traffic or not—" a blush reddened Caroline's cheeks as she shrugged at him nonchalantly "—I thought you'd enjoy a walk on the dry side of things for a while? There should be enough room under this umbrella for two…" she trailed off.

Tilting her head, she fluttered her eyelashes and bit her bottom lip, shocked at her own forwardness.

"I can make room for you if you want?" she offered shyly.

As the clouds continued to coat Mystic Falls with pellets of heavy raindrops, creating a romantic musicality with the pitter-patter on rooftops, Klaus crossed the street and assumed refuge beside her.

"I feel warmer already," he breathed with delight, his wet shoulder brushing against hers as they passed along the sidewalk together.

Short-ish, but full of fluff and banter, no? Reviews are wonderful. xx