Caroline spent the night in the police station talking to the Chief and going over every detail of what had happened. She told him about the box and how it hadn't appeared at all threatening. She told him about how Bonnie had left, how she hadn't stopped her and it wasn't her fault, and how she watched the attacker come into the house through the kitchen door. She told him how she'd run for the knife just as the man jumped at her and how she's stabbed his hand.
She'd been re-bandaged after the assailant had opened her split lip and the on-site doctor had given her some pain medication for her aching body. Bonnie was called and was inconsolable, guilt tearing her apart. Caroline cried with her on the phone for two hours trying to get her to calm down and to believe that she wasn't angry, and it sort of worked. She'd told Kol to put Bonnie to bed and that she would see the two of them in a few days, hanging up the phone and returning to the Chief's office to finish off her questioning.
"God – I'm just so sorry, Caroline. There will be 24 hour surveillance outside of your apartment and we won't let anyone else get past us. If we see something suspicious, I'll call your cellphone and alert you. You probably shouldn't be alone, too. We're taking the blood from the scene and running it through the database, but if this guy hasn't been in the system before, he won't show up - same with the fingerprints. If you see somebody you know, anybody at all, with a bandaged hand, you tell us. Okay?"
Caroline nodded. "Okay."
The Chief stood from his seat and came around the desk, holding out his hand for her to grasp. He pulled her out of her seat and gave her a curt hug, wrapping his arm around her shoulders to walk her to the front door of the station.
"Perry!" he called behind him to the Officer. "Will you drive Miss Forbes home?"
Officer Perry came out from behind the desk with a sad smile on his face. "Of course, I'll take you home right now."
Caroline nodded and walked through the front door with her eyes on the ground when she bumped into a hard chest and stumbled backward. She felt hard hands wrap around her upper arms and then she was pulled into an equally hard chest. Her eyes immediately flew to the eyes in front of her and she felt the breath leave her lungs and tears fill her eyes.
"Klaus?" she whispered.
Klaus looked like hell. He had a 5 o'clock shadow that looked like it'd been there for days and he was in rumpled, wrinkled clothes. His eyes were bloodshot and his worry lines were more pronounced than they had been the last time she'd seen him.
"Caroline, I got here as fast as I could," he said, crushing her to him. He buried his nose in her hair and breathed in her scent, needing to make sure she was truly in his arms. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there."
Caroline wanted to cry with happiness but also sadness, two emotions that she couldn't quite identify the origin of. She was ecstatic and relieved to see Klaus but so stressed about the situation. She felt the tears pour from her eyes and she clung to Klaus for dear life, her fingers digging into his sweater as she burrowed into his chest.
"I'll take her home," Klaus told Officer Perry. "Thank you."
Caroline didn't hear what Officer Perry said but could feel his presence get further away as he went back into the police station. Klaus steered her still shaking body in the direction of his car and he put her into the passenger seat, quickly running around the car to get behind the driver's side. He shut the door and hauled her across the seat until she was in his lap with her face buried in his chest, his hands running up and down her back in a soothing gesture. Caroline sighed with relief for the first time in hours and she immediately became exhausted, needing sleep.
"I'm glad you're here." She closed her eyes.
Klaus hummed deep in his chest and kissed her hair, smoothing the blonde tendrils that were a tangled mess on the back of her head. "Of course, love."
He pulled back and stared into her tired blue eyes, his own eyes mirroring her deeply hidden happiness. Being back in each other's arms felt right, at least to him it did. He'd never admit it aloud, but holding Caroline was the highlight of his week. Possibly his month.
He leaned forward quickly and placed his lips on her, trapping her bottom lip between his and sucking lightly. Caroline murmured and leaned into him as their arms wrapped around each other to hold their bodies in place. Klaus tilted his head and broke their lips apart to rest his forehead against hers, breathing softly.
"Let's get you home, love," he whispered."
He ran his hands down her arms to grasp her fingers in his, pulling her in the direction of his car. The two of them were both oblivious to the darkened figure standing in the trees just a few short feet away, a large Nicon camera strapped to their hands and glued to their face. The unknown person, dressed completely in black, snapped photo after photo, catching the passionate kiss, tentative hand holding, and Klaus opening Caroline's car door for her.
The two of them drove away in Klaus' car and suddenly, there were two people standing in the trees.
"Did you get them?" a quiet, feminine voice whispered.
Tan hands gripped the camera tight within their fingers and dark lips pulled over bright white teeth. "Oh yeah."
Caroline and Klaus sat on the sofa in the living room; Caroline curled up with a cup of coffee clutched between her fingers with Klaus sitting right beside her, his thigh pushed against hers. The two of them were sitting in an un-awkward silence as the last 24 hours soaked in and Caroline felt her entire body sag with exhaustion.
She sighed, shaking her head. "My life has exploded."
"As long as nothing your inside of explodes, I'm fine."
She snorted and turned an amused grin to Klaus, finding her was smiling at her. "Cute."
Klaus' smile fell slowly and Caroline watched his eyes go from teasing to sad. He grasped the coffee from her hands and set it on the coffee table in front of him, one of his hands still holding hers. He used his strength to pull her from her cross-legged position to fall into his lap, her head lying in the crook on his neck and shoulder as he held her tightly.
"I'm so sorry, Caroline," he whispered, voice going raspy. "I should never have treated you the way I did yesterday. I have a habit of hurting people I don't wish to and I'm afraid you were one of those people."
Caroline closed her eyes. "I just wish you trusted me. I feel like you push me away, but I'm not sure why. Do you think I'm going to hurt you, or are you afraid you're going to hurt me?"
Klaus was silent for a moment. "I will hurt you."
She froze at the certainty of his tone of voice, pulling back to gaze into his eyes. "I won't let you."
"You won't have a choice, love. I hurt everybody. I've hurt my entire family and I can never make it better. It's what I do and it's why I am the way I am; it's why I push people away from the moment I meet them until we no longer talk to each other. I always hurt people and it kills me."
"Then talk to me, because maybe, just maybe, I can help. I want to help you, Klaus. I want you to trust me and I don't want to feel bad for falling for you."
He opened his mouth to speak but she laid her finger over his lips.
"Don't make me feel bad for loving, Klaus, because I won't. I will not let you or anybody else keep me from loving something because love is one of the only emotions a person can enjoy. It hurts them, it makes them want to die, it makes them feel like the world is ending, but it also brings us the most happiness. It gives us a reason to get up in the morning and it gives the world a meaning. Don't make me feel bad for wanting that, even the bad part."
Klaus stared at Caroline in awe, his eyes dropping to her lips. "You won't feel the same when I tell you what I did."
Her heart pitter pattered in her chest. "Try me."
Klaus pulled away then, certain that she would do it if he didn't do it first. He stared deeply into her bright blue eyes, pictured the way she looked when she smiled, when she laughed. It was those thoughts that made it nearly unbearable to tell her the things he was about to tell her…but she was right. She deserved to know what she was falling for.
Who she was falling for.
"You've met my brothers Elijah and Kol. You've probably never heard me speak of her, but we have a sister, Rebekah. But there is one other sibling that we never speak about. Our youngest brother, Henrik…he died…and it was my fault. I killed him."
Caroline's mouth fell open slightly and her eyes opened wide. "You killed him…how?"
"I didn't murder him or something insane like that," Klaus said rapidly, shaking his head. "I might have been 16 at the oldest and I'd just gotten my driver's license. I wasn't the most experienced driver but I was legal to drive others and I'd promised mother that I would pick Henrik up from soccer practice. Father and I had gotten into an argument just as I was leaving and I was angry when I picked Henrik up. I wasn't – I wasn't paying attention and didn't realize that a car was blowing through the red light when ours was green." Klaus shook his head as tears fell from one of his eyes and slid down his cheek.
Caroline was afraid to touch him. She was too afraid to reach forward and brush the tear off of his cheek; afraid she would shatter what was clearly so close to breaking. "Please – go on."
He took a deep breath. "The truck plowed into Henrik's side of the car and we flipped. The entire passenger side was demolished and Henrik was killed. The accident wasn't considered our fault…but…oh god, I just can't stand that it happened. I'm responsible for his death, Caroline! If I'd been paying more attention – if I hadn't picked a fight with my father just before leaving – maybe he'd still be alive!"
Caroline shook her head with tearful eyes. "You couldn't have stopped that from happening. Stuff like that…it's not something that can be changed or avoided. It's fate, Klaus. Yes, losing Henrik hurt and yes, it will hurt forever, but it wasn't your fault."
"You don't understand, Caroline. You don't see the way my family looks at me now. Kol and Rebekah were 13 and Elijah was 18, but they knew it was my fault. My parents – they hate me. They think of me as the monster that killed their precious baby Henrik and I am. I killed him."
"Your family shouldn't blame you for it because it wasn't your fault. It happened almost 10 years ago and it couldn't have been stopped. That driver, the one who killed Henrik, it's his fault. He should feel guilty for doing it – not you. You weren't driving the car that killed him, Klaus."
Klaus stared at Caroline and watched her eyes and the way she looked at him. He truly wanted to believe what she was saying. He wanted what she was saying to be true, but it would take more than one conversation for him to look past nearly 10 years of gut wrenching guilt and sadness.
"You deserved to know that," he whispered, crying softly. "You deserved know why I can't be close to anyone."
"Yes you can. You may not think you can, but you can. I won't hurt you and I won't leave you if you hurt me – not if you don't mean to. That's what's so crazy about love and falling into it – it's nearly impossible to run away from. I'm not going to leave you, Klaus."
There was a knock on the door and Caroline jumped slightly, her heart beating quick. She swiped the tears off of her cheeks and straightened her clothes as she stood and walked across the room to open the door. Tyler was standing there smiling at her, his kind eyes looking her over as he sighed, noticing her change of clothes.
"Hey," he said quietly with a look of pity. "You doing okay?"
Klaus appeared behind Caroline's shoulder and Tyler took a step back, his eyes widening. "Whoa, you're Klaus Mikaelson! It's an honor, man!"
Tyler reached out his left hand and Klaus grasped it with his, pumping his hand twice. "Pleasure is mine."
Caroline swallowed thickly and felt the awkward tension rise around her. "What's up, Ty?"
Tyler dropped Klaus' hand and turned his gaze back to Caroline. "I just wanted to see if you were okay. I heard about what happened and I needed to see how you were holding up."
Tingles crawled up Caroline's back and she stepped backwards, closer to Klaus. "I'm fine, it's no big deal. Klaus was going to stay with me and make sure nothing else happened…so…"
"I see." Tyler smiled tightly. "Well, I have to get back to my girl anyways. I'm glad you're okay."
He turned to leave but Klaus stepped forward to put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll walk you out, mate. Be right back," he told Caroline before dropping a kiss on her temple.
Caroline watched with one eyebrow raised as Klaus walked Tyler to his car and the two of them had a friendly chat. She closed the door and grabbed her cup before walking into the kitchen and setting it in the sink.
"You're being a good friend by checking on Caroline," Klaus told Tyler as he followed him to his car. "Friend from home?"
Tyler nodded awkwardly and cleared his throat, shrugging his shoulders. "Yeah, friend from home."
Klaus watched Tyler reach for his driver side door with a hand that was heavily bandaged. He cocked his head and watched Tyler falter before reached for the handle with his left hand, tucking his right to his side.
"Did you hurt your hand?" Klaus asked, watching Tyler's reaction.
"Just a little work accident, no big deal. I'll see you later."
Tyler fell into the car and drove quickly away, peeling out of the street and out of the neighborhood. Klaus shrugged but kept the image in his memory bank as he walked back up the pathway and into the apartment. Caroline wasn't in the living room when he walked in so he traveled the distance to the kitchen where he found her staring out the window.
For the first time in almost a decade, Klaus' heart didn't feel heavy. It was almost as if a weight physically lifted off of his chest when he stared at Caroline, because he knew that she knew about his past. He was no longer hiding anything from her and that fact was freeing.
"Would you like me to stay again tonight?" Klaus asked her quietly so as to not startle her.
Caroline turned around and gazed at him, a small smile on her lips. "Yes, I would like that, but with one stipulation."
Klaus crossed the kitchen to her and stood just in front of her, his hands going to her shoulders to pull her to his chest. She stared up at him and bit her lip, allowing her eyes to fall to his mouth which to so hungrily wanted to kiss.
"You're not sleeping on the couch."
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