We're Coming Up - by: Dirty Epics

Damon woke to the front door slamming. The house had been empty for the last few weeks and he had been enjoying his solitude. But in truth, he hadn't been enjoying it at all.

Stefan had swept Elena away without word to anyone and she was completing her transition at an undisclosed location, for an undisclosed amount of time, and Damon was an undisclosed amount of pissed off. And by that he meant that he was going to stake his brother in the chest once he showed up at the front door of the boarding house.

But that day was not today, it was far of in the way distant future. Today, Caroline was bursting through the door and shouting at the figure on the other end, the well known Hybrid King, Klaus.

"I don't care what you have to say Klaus. Just leave me alone!" She shouted after opening the door only to slam it in his face again.

"Hey! Last time we refused to let Klaus into a building he started through fence posts at my face. If there's trouble in paradise don't bring it in here, because I don't care."

Caroline turned to Damon, anger still flashed in her eyes and for a moment Damon felt a tinge of fear, but it didn't last long. She was still Vampire Barbie after all.

"First of all, he won't break down the door and attack your face because whether he admits it or not," She said opening the closed door and shouting at the stunned, blonde hybrid on the other side. "HE IS THE GUILTY ONE!" She slammed the door and turned back to Damon "Second, not paradise, never paradise, hell, pure hell with flames so burning hot that I sought you out as an escape. You, of all people!"

"I should call the witch and have her block you out of my house too." He muttered. He could see Klaus pacing back and forth on his porch through the frosted glass surrounding the front door.

"And three!" Caroline shouted over him. "Don't pretend like you don't care. I know you Damon, I know you care."

Damon sighed and rolled his eyes.

"What can I do for you Caroline?" He asked. Caroline turned back to the front door and swung it wide open.

"Klaus is under the impression that even though he tricked me into thinking he was Tyler for months, he's under no fault for what went on between us when I thought I was with my boyfriend. I can't seem to convince him that he's completely wrong, so I'm giving up, and he still won't leave me alone."

"So what's the new plan of attack?" Damon said, eyeing the angry look on the Hybrid's face.

"You've been holed up in here moping and getting angry over everything that happened with Elena?" She asked. He gritted his teeth and answered.

"Yes."

"Well I've been doing the same recently, over Tyler." She said glaring at the front door.

"Are you suggesting we watch a sappy movie and talk about our feelings?" He mocked. She scoffed at him and ventured further into the house, leaving Klaus motionless on the other side of the open doorway.
"No," She opened the liquor cabinet and grabbed two full bottles. "I'm suggesting we get drunk." She said shooting Klaus another glare before motioning to Damon to close the door on him. A wicked grin spread over his face as he obliged.

"Alright brother what seems to be the problem here?" Kol asked striding up to Klaus from the woods. He was carrying a baseball bat on his shoulder and a smirk almost identical to his brother's.

However today, Klaus was too troubled to take part in his brother's antics.

"Put the bat away you juvenile idiot." He spat at his brother.

Kol gave the bat a few meager swings before replying,

"If I'm a juvenile idiot brother it's only because you deprived me of years of maturation when you stuck a dagger in my heart."

Kol looked up at Klaus' grimace and dropped both the bat and the smile.

"Still having troubles with your lady then?" He asked.

"She'd not my lady anymore." He said.

"Well to be fair you're not possessing her boyfriend anymore so can you blame her for the confusion?" He asked, tilting his head to the side with that boyish charm he owned so well.

"She's been in there for hours with the Salvatore." He said pointing up at the boarding house, and the loud music they could hear pounding out of it.

"Well then you must've truly made her miserable." Kol wagered, staring up at the dark windows of the house.

"What makes you say that?" Klaus asked.

"Why else would someone subject themselves to the company of Damon Salvatore?" He said, raising one eyebrow up and looking at his brother.

"What kind of guy does that?" Caroline shouted for the umpteenth time. She was on some kind of loop, never giving Damon any real information, just repeating the same non-descript sentences with each drink she took.

Although Damon didn't really want any full description of Caroline's now mixed feelings towards their enemy, he was glad for the situation which was keeping Klaus' focus away from Elena's transition. In fact, that didn't even seem to be bothering the Original Hybrid, he was too preoccupied with the blonde distraction. Who had done her job all too well. Damon even congratulated himself a little on coming up with the idea in the first place.

"The thing what kind of guy tricks you like that? Makes you do things, makes you want things,"

"Caroline, I'm going to stop you right there because I don't want to hear the details of your fucked up Hybrid crazed sex life, believe it or not."

"Ew!" Caroline shouted, her face scrunched up in disgust. "You think I slept with him?"

"Didn't you?" Damon taunted.

"No!" She answered.

"Then what have we been talking about for the last two hours?" He asked.

"Haven't you been paying attention?" She yelled.

"Just the bare minimum." He muttered, pouring himself another drink. Caroline scowled, but then became quiet for the first time since she'd arrived at the house.

"I wanted to, he wouldn't. That should've been the first sign, the warning lights should've gone off then. Tyler was never not in the mood, he always said yes." She laughed slightly, "I'm such an idiot." She said, downing the last of her drink and pouring herself another.

Damon would've normally rolled his eyes, but to tell the truth, a part of him didn't like seeing Caroline looking this sad and guilty. He preferred her usual annoyingly bubbly self.

"What kind of guy tricks a girl into loving him, and then ruins it like that? All the lies and the secrecy, it's ridiculous." Damon hung his head and when he looked up Caroline was staring at him, looking shockingly sober.

"I talked to Elena." She said suddenly. And then Caroline's words came ringing back to him.

"She's starting to remember some stuff isn't she?" Damon said, staring down into his drink.

"She mentioned a few things yeah. Nothing specific, but I've got some theories rolling around." She said, "She just said, that with the transition and everything that's come with it, she's very confused. Apparently, she hasn't talked to Stefan in days." Damon couldn't help but perk up a little bit at that. But if Caroline had any more information, she didn't come forward with it then.

"But I wasn't talking about Elena." Caroline said quietly.

Damon watched her for a moment, and saw the subtle guilt and the slight blush on her cheeks.

"Oh fuck me," He said running a hand over his face, "You fell in love with him!"

Caroline slammed her hand on the table and yelled back with equal vigor.

"I thought he was my boyfrie-" She cut herself off and shook her head, "Fuck this." She got up and tossed her glass into the fireplace, "Enough of this feeling sorry for ourselves bullshit, enough of trying to justify what we've done. We're immortal superbeings and we're better than this. I'm ending this now." She walked over to the bookcase and began snooping around,

"What," Damon said, "You're going to turn it off?" He asked. The idea was laughable. Sweet, loving Caroline turning off her emotions, giving in to the dark side, he'd never see it happen in a million years.

"No, I'm turning it on." Caroline said, inspecting the sound system.

With the flick of a switch the whole house lit up with a pounding bass line. Caroline turned up the volume and shouted over the noise to Damon,

"Come on Salvatore, dance it off, I know you've got the moves." She shouted, already returning to the bouncy Caroline he was used to.

He shrugged, if you can't have the ones you love, stop giving a shit, that motto had worked well for him in the past, why couldn't it work now?

"What's going on?" Klaus asked. Caroline had been locked away for hours in the Salvatore house and he was in no position to go barging in. So he was waiting outside, attempting to maintain his dignity.

"Nothing," Kol said from up in the tree, his brother had a pair of binoculars and a view of the house's main room. Klaus sighed, the thread from which his dignity hung was stretching thin. "I can't see them they're gone. Oh wait, there they are, they're" He said, pausing a moment, "They're,"

"For the love of all," Klaus muttered, "They're what Kol? Use your words!"

"They're dancing." He said then he chuckled, "My, my, I was right, she is a tasty thing." Next thing Kol knew he was lying flat on the ground and Klaus was standing over him.

"I told you what would happen if you spoke about her like that," He said, his eyes and fierce golden colour that Kol had only seen a few, rare times before. "Last warning little brother."

"Shouldn't you be worrying about what's going on inside the house?" Kol said, standing up and brushing himself off. "I can't do much damage from out here after all, but Salvatore can."

They were both in the tree now, staring in at Caroline as she and Damon danced around the house.

She looked so great when she danced. Her hair tossed around in every direction, her hips shaking in time to the music. And now Damon had his hands on her and rage coursed through Klaus' veins.

He hadn't meant to make her angry, but he also had known the truth: his time as Tyler was the only time he would ever get close to her. The only time she'd ever smile at him, not some momentary smile filled with contempt, but a truly genuine Caroline smile.

It was the only way he could get to know her, and the only way he could get her to hear what he had to say, and actually listen, instead of just ignoring the big bad hybrid she knew. He hadn't meant for things to get so out of hand, and for her to fall for him, but he'd be lying if he said the thought didn't make him smile.

And now he was touching her, his Caroline. Placing his hands on her hips as she danced against him. She didn't seem to care that he put his hands on her, she just continued dancing. He wondered if she liked it, or if maybe she was pretending it was him dancing with her instead of that insipid Salvatore.

After a few minutes he grabbed the bottle she held in her hand and zoomed throughout the house, dancing on the edge of the balconies and making her laugh. Then something strange happened.

She looked up at him, looking him right in the eyes and got a wicked smile on her face as she began to slow her movements, swaying her hips seductively and biting her lip.

Then Damon reappeared and drew the shades, blocking his view.

Klaus felt his brother clasp a hand on his shoulder,

"Brother, you need to get into that house." He said. Then he smiled excitedly, "And I know just who to call."

It was early in the morning by the time Bonnie arrived at the front of the Salvatore house.

She found Klaus leaning against a tree staring up at the solitary light in the Salvatore's house, the one he was hoping didn't lead to a bedroom.

"Well don't you look pathetic?" Bonnie said, staring down at him. He chose to ignore her. She didn't know it yet but she was about to do him yet another favour.

"It's about time you got here." He said standing up and towering over the tiny witch.

"He said Caroline wasn't in any danger." She said pointing to Kol who was curled up asleep hugging his bat like it was a teddy-bear. She kicked him and he startled awake.

"Hello Ms. Bennet." He said suavely standing up and leaning casually on the baseball bat.

"You said Caroline wasn't in any danger." She said, ignoring his smiles.

"And she's not." Klaus said, "But you're about to be." He snatched the witch and ran to the front door, pounding his free fist against it and shouting up at the lit window,

"Klaus." He heard Kol warn behind him.

"Caroline, I know you're in there! Come down and talk love!" He said, his hand clasped around the witch's throat.

"Brother, this was not part of the plan." He heard Kol say behind him.

"Caroline!" He yelled again.

"It's no use Klaus, they can't hear us from up there. Damon had me put a silencing charm on the house."

"A silencing charm? And suddenly I've been denied entry. Someone's been a busy bee hasn't she?" He growled in her ear. "What exactly was Damon preparing for hmm?"

"He was preparing for Elena to stay here for her transition." Bonnie said calmly. In fact she seemed much too content to be his hostage. Kol on the other hand was now charging at his brother with his bat pointing at him like a sword.

"Niklaus don't take this too far." He said.

"Shut up Kol." Bonnie said, rolling her eyes.

The door slowly squeaked open,

"What the hell is going on out here?" Caroline yelled, slipping a sweater on over her bare shoulders. Klaus was relieved to see she was dressed in an innocent pair of pyjama shorts and a tank top.

"Caroline, come out here and talk to me like a civilized being. I'm sick of these games." He said.

"You want call this civilized?" She yelled, pointing at her friend. "Bonnie, are you okay?"

"I'm just fine thanks," Her friend answered, "I'm about to be even better."

Klaus looked from Caroline, to Bonnie but found his arms empty. When his eyes returned to Caroline she opened the door further and Bonnie stepped out from behind it.

"Yeah, she can do that now." She said in response to his stunned face.

"Caroline," Klaus began, but she held up her hand and he bit his tongue.

"Just stop, I need some time, so just leave me alone. Okay?" She said, her eyes begging and pleading. He shook his head,

"Not a chance." She scoffed,

"Fine, then you better get comfortable." And once again she slammed the door in his face.

"Well I guess my work here is done." Kol said swinging his bat as he swaggered away. "By the way brother, if you hurt my girl again, I'll end you. And that's your last warning." He threatened.

Klaus nodded absentmindedly then paused and thought over his brother's words.

"Wait, what?" he said, but Kol was already long gone.

"I'm sorry you got dragged into this." She said to Bonnie as they walked into the house.

"I had some idea of what I was getting into." Bonnie said, "It's not the first time I've dealt with Originals after all."

"So why the hell did you come?" She asked.

"I wanted to practice my new tricks." She said, Caroline thought she was joking, or making light of the situation, but there was nothing but darkness in her eyes.

"Just to be clear," Caroline said, "I still don't forgive you for what you did."

"Just to be clear," Bonnie repeated, "I'm still not sorry."

Midnight the next night, Klaus still sat on the porch. The way he saw it he'd lived a thousand years, what was a week of waiting in the grand scheme of it all?

He'd just begun to finally drift off to sleep, his eyes trained on the front door as they flickered shut.

"You're still here?" He heard a voice say.

His eyes shot open and found Caroline sitting alone on the other side of the door.

"Yes." He said.

"Why?" She asked. He shrugged,

"Because I think you meant what you said." He said. Caroline's brow furrowed.

"You couldn't hear what I said." He smirked,

"Your friend is good, but she's getting arrogant, she couldn't even get a simple silencing spell right."

Caroline shook her head.

"Great. So what are we? 0 for two?" Klaus sat up straighter,

"What do you mean love?" He asked.

"You've seen me when I'm at my most vulnerable, what? Twice now? Three times? Too many times to count? If you want to know why I can't forgive you, look no further than that." She said.

"Caroline," He said, but once again she interrupted him.

"Stop saying my name!" She yelled.

"Why?" He yelled back.

"Because it makes it harder to hate you!" She yelled. He softened at that.

"Caroline," He said, and he saw her flinch. He began to inch his way closer, "You'll never believe me no matter what I say, but everything I've told you ever, no matter who I was pretending to be, that was me being real with you, that was me opening up. So I count us as equals."

"Oh." She said, as if there was nothing else she could muster.

"Yes." He replied. And then there was silence.

He leaned against one side of the door frame staring at her as she leaned against the opposite side from the other end of the threshold.

"Your evil plan worked by the way." She said, after a few minutes.

"Hmm?"

"I mean, Bonnie and Damon barely get along at the best of times, but now, they can hardly stand each other. It'd be funny if... I'm kind of worried about her to be honest." She said, looking up at him all doe eyed and innocent.

"As you should be," He said, "I've seen witches go bad over the years, and they rarely come back from it. They either stay bad or someone comes along with a much... simpler solution."

"That won't happen to Bonnie." She said shaking her head.

"It might, love." He said.

"Well thanks for the optimism." She said.

"I was giving you honesty, love, thought you might prefer it for a change."

"Well it sucks." She moped.

"Now you can see why I've avoided it for so long." He sighed.

Caroline laughed lightly and played with her fingers.

"So that dance?" Klaus asked. She blushed and hid her face in embarassement.

"I was giving you a test of your own medicine." She said, "How'd it feel getting all worked up with nowhere to go?" She cocked an eyebrow. "It wasn't one of my best plans." She said, covering her red cheeks with her hands.

"It was impressive," He said. "Kol thought so too. I would've covered his eyes but I was a bit distracted."

"He saw!" She yelled. "I didn't know he was there."

"He was standing right behind me love." He said.

"Well I didn't see him there." She said as he laughed. Caroline laughed too.

"So what do we do now?" He asked once they'd stopped. Caroline shrugged,

"I'm not leaving here yet." She said shaking her head. Klaus smiled at how wonderfully stubborn she could be.

"I'm not either." He said.

"I guess we could stay here for a while?" She said, lying down on the ground, the tips of her fingers grazing the edge of the doorstep.

"Alright love," Klaus said, lying down opposite her, "Sounds like a plan."

They lay there until the sun rose up, their fingers inches apart, separated only by the sheer force of a simple spell. But not for long...

AN: So, now you know, my true OTP, it's Kol x Bat. Those two are just too damn magical together, there were hints of Kennet, but we all know Bat will always be Kol's one true love.