Hi! :)

So I just want to start off by saying a HUGE THANK YOU to all you amazing, loyal and extremely sweet readers out there for taking the time out each day and reading this story. Honestly, I wouldn't have gotton to this stage with this story if it wasn't for your tremendous support and you make the long evenings of me staying up, writing each chapter worth the while. I absolutely love you guys! :)

And I hope it's good news to you guys when I say that I think i'll be continuing this story for a little while longer ;) (what can I say, this Klaroline coupling have grown on me!)

So without further ado, here's the next chapter you've all been waiting for. Enjoy & don't forget to review & tell me what you thought :)

Those Three Words

"Caroline" he whispered silently once more. "I love you" he admitted to no one as the last teardrop fell.

And then it went quiet in his world. The deafening silence fell.

It continued forever.

Until…

"Klaus!" The voice interrupted the serene calm moments later.

"Klaus!" this time, the voices echoed as footsteps approached.

The calls faded into the distance as Klaus's stance froze, those pained eyes staring back in a trance at those all too perfect, bright eyes. There was life in them again for a fraction of a moment, there was purity, there was innocence, and there was love. They were bursting of emotion, of fulfilling hope. They held him there; the beautiful grace in them reminded him to find his own. All that he was, all that he is, all that he ever was reflecting back at him from those eyes. They were all that he could see.

But then they drifted apart, away. The light in them began to get dimmer, the shadows crept up in them, the light was suffocating, he was suffocating. He watched on edge a, teardrops merging down his cheeks as they drained of all the innocence, of all the radiating life until finally, they scalloped, merged into her sockets and then…and then….and then the inevitable happened.

It was as though the life was sucked out of him, as though someone had switched off the light in his world. The dark wilderness disorientated him. He was lost.

He couldn't breathe. It was like a huge hole had been gaped into his chest, like someone had torn his heart right out this very instant. He gasped breathlessly, falling to the ground beneath him, praying, hoping that it would just eat him up. That he too would just lay here, lifeless, becoming a corpse just like his beloved. He didn't want to live, not if it meant that he'd be alone, without her.

No, he'd rather die.

At least then he'd have one last chance with her, the afterlife. He'd die right now if it meant being reunited with her in heaven or hell or wherever it is that lost souls go. He'd give anything to see those eyes again, l to see that beauty again, to have his heart restart.

Anything.

Those three words.

Those three words.

Those three words that were never said enough.

Those three words that were kept hidden for far too long.

Those three words that redefined what he felt for her; the burning desire, the endless hope, the undeniable, radiating devotion.

And he waited until now to voice them.

For her to finally hear them.

And she never did.

She'd never know.

And it pained him so.

He couldn't fathom it. This wouldn't be the end. This couldn't be the end. The world would not lose its light. He would not lose his light.

His sharp breaths muffled his sound weeps as the world around him moved around slowly. There were bodies around him, moving in trance, shifting, moving the limp body over to the other side of the cave.

"Klaus", it was Bonnie fain voice that woke Klaus.

She held onto his shoulder and shook him lightly, "Klaus, you have to help her" she said in urgency. He blinked vigorously as he realized he was looking at an empty chamber.

Instantly, he got up, blinking away the tears as he glanced around. He saw her on the other side of the cave, cradled in Damon's arms as he laid her down on the floor. He took a deep breath before he made his way to her.

"Get out of the way" he said brusquely as he knelt down beside her. Damon instantly moved, standing behind Bonnie who tried to muster up a spell, any spell, anything to bring back her best friend.

Without hesitation, without brushing away the lest streaming tear on his face, Klaus bit into his hand before he pulled her limp neck up and forced her hand to her desiccated lips.

"Drink, love" he whispered, "Please, Caroline, just drink" he said to himself.

He didn't give up as her lips remained unmoved. He pushed his wrist further, forcing her to drink as he held her head up right.

But nothing.

"Drink" he said once more, with a little more force in voice.

"Please, just drink it!" he repeated.

"Dammit Caroline, drink!" he said again, falling behind her and holding her up. His arm was wrapped around her fragile torso as he held up her head with his free hand, his face matted into her loose hair. The teardrops came all too suddenly now and streamed onto her head as he continued pleading, ordering, forcing her to drink.

But nothing.

"Please Carolineee" he pleaded once more, his voice loud, strained, laced in anger. "Just. Drink" he ordered, holding her tighter. "Bonnie!" he called, not breaking his eyes away from Caroline, "Do something!" he ordered.

"I can't-I'm trying" she cried as she groaned, praying there was a spell, that the spirits would help her. But nothing.

"Do anything Bonnie. Save. Her!" Klaus commanded as panic set in him. "Please" he cried.

The heartbreak and attempts continued as Klaus grew more desperate.

And then Bonnie stepped forward, her silent cries becoming louder as she came up blank with her spells.

"Klaus" she said breathlessly, the tears strolling down her cheeks too.

Klaus took another deep breath as he continued pushing his bitten wrist to her mouth, praying it would seep down into her system before it was far too late, before she was far too gone.

Bonnie's teary eyes glanced at Klaus, his face was fallen, a mess, you could see the strain, the anger, the hurt, the pain on his face. He was a broken man. A broken man trying to put his life back together. A broken man trying to hold onto a shred of life.

"Pl-easee!" Klaus cried, his breathing shifting.

"Klaus" Bonnie cried again, the desperacy in Klaus' face and voice throwing her off. She'd never seen him like this, no one had. Desperate, frantic, frenzied… his emotions were going into overdrive.

Klaus shook his head as Bonnie put her hand on Caroline's.

"It's not-It's not gonna-"

"No" Klaus roared furiously, causing Damon to force his eyes upon the wreckage on the floor. The wreckage that was Klaus and Bonnie, falling to pieces over the mummifying corpse.

Klaus knew what bonnie was about o say and eh couldn't let her finish. No. he couldn't hear it. Because hearing it, hearing those words of simply giving up would make it all the more real. He couldn't give up. It was going to work. It had to work.

"Please-Klaus!" Bonnie wept but he just shook his head, anger rifling through his eyes; he looked like a crazed monster. Everything was running wild his head, his emotions were running high, and he didn't know what was going on. He didn't know how to stop it. Time felt like it was speeding by but at the same time, everything in front of him played out in slow motion. But Caroline, she just lay there lifeless. It was like working over a corpse. They should have stopped, given up. But he just wouldn't.

It was hopeless. It was denial. It was love.

"I'm. Not. Going. To. Lose. Her" he swore through his teeth as he clutched onto her body.

Bonnie let out another tear as she took a deep breath and faced him.

"There" she paused, trying to get her breath, "There's nothing we can do, Klaus" she forced her words, regretting them instantly.

Her words shot through him like a broken arrow. It knifed out his heart, carved a whole in it. He wouldn't accept it. He couldn't.

To think that he'd never see those dazzling, longing eyes again, that they were forever gone, that he'd never see her captivating smile again, or ever be in the company of the girl who made his heart flutter with enchantment and skip a beat, the girl that hushed the rest of the world around him with just a glance. No, that wasn't an option.

Klaus' enraged eyes met hers as he matted his lips.

"I'm not going to lose her," he vowed.

And with that, he acted upon impulse.

Holding Caroline with the one hand, he placed his face down on the other side of her neck and it looked as though he was planting a kiss. Soft kisses. He did the same to her arm, the back of her elbow. But then Bonnie's eyes widened in alarm as she realized what he was doing.

He was biting her.

"What are you doing?!" Bonnie cried as she tugged furiously on Klaus' arms but he tossed her grip aside and continued, piercing holes all over her body, on her arm, her wrist, her neck…all the vital veins.

The wounds he made didn't heal which made Klaus question his attempts but he was biting down into his own skin before you could blink and tracing his wrist all over her new wounds.

"Please" he prayed as Bonnie and Damon watched in horror.

"You're gonna be okay" he promised, "You have to be okay", he gulped the new wave of pain away. "I'm not going to lose you. Not now, not when I've finally found you."

He continued, tracing every new wound he made onto her skin, trying to put life back into them, trying to replace the light and energy in, trying to relight the fire in them.

He didn't give up. He wouldn't give up. He remembered her confidence and strength and motivation and everything that was good in her and tried to find all of those within him so that he could muster up the courage to continue, to never give up, just like she used to.

"There's syringes back at the house, we can use them to inject blood into her system" Damon suggested but Klaus was far too busy trying to find the will to continue.

Maybe he should give up…

Maybe it was time to let go…

As Damon ran out of the cave, starting for the house, Bonnie knelt down beside Klaus, taking Caroline's cold hand.

"Klaus" she whispered after a moment. He didn't look at her, he just focused on Caroline's closed lids, waiting for them to blink open, waiting for them to seep life back into his world.

"Klaus, Maybe" she hesitated, "maybe it's too late. Maybe she's found peace." Klaus didn't answer, he was adamant in keeping faith in her. She wouldn't leave him. She wouldn't. All of his life, he was never a believer but right now, if it was the only thing he believed, he believed that. That she'd return. That she wouldn't leave him, not like this, not without saying goodbye.

"Klaus-she'" Bonnie began but Klaus broke her off.

"I know you're there Caroline. Even if you can't hear my voice, I know you're still there, somewhere. And I'm not going to give up until you hear me. Until you wake up."

Bonnie's eyes wept again as Klaus' confident and hopeful words set her off. She never thought she'd see the day.

"You don't have a choice love, you have to wake up. You have to." He broke off, pausing before he laughed once. Bonnie's eyes widened as she gulped.

"I'm a very patient man Caroline, you should know that. After all, I've waited a thousand years for you." He shook his head with a small smug smile. "And I'm not going to give up so easily. So just remember that." He relaxed his arm as he clutched onto her tighter, kissing her forehead softly. "I'll be right here beside you love, waiting for you to open those eyes" he breathed, "Because I love you" he finished softly.

He stayed there, planting soft kisses all over her as Bonnie's eyes swelled up. She had given up hope long ago, but she remained there, watching Klaus as he still held onto that last shred of hope.

It would be the death of him.

Minutes passed since Klaus had last pierced her cold skin and fed his venom through.

It was a couple more before he planted long kisses on her forehead.

And then a couple more before her arm wound started to snag, started to pull… started to heal.

And it was a couple more before Bonnie met Klaus' eyes and they both glanced at her hand, her small, cold, fragile little hand that had a huge gash from where Tyler had bite it. The hand with the gash that had no slowly disappeared. Had healed.

Klaus jumped forward in an instant as he held her head up, his breathing hitching.

"Sh-she's healing" Bonnie announced as her eyes started watering again. They watched as her entire arm started to become clear, began to heal momentarily. "She's healing!" Bonnie chimed with more enthusiasm, her tears streaming down her cheeks.

Klaus brushed away his cheeks as his eyes widened at the sight before him. He couldn't believe his eyes. He blinked away the haze from his eyes as he tried to see more clearly, to see whether it was real or just a dream.

"Caroline" he breathed, awe-struck.

And then he felt the weight on his arms as Caroline's body convulsed rapidly, blood spurting out of her hollow mouth as she coughed and spluttered.

And then finally, a new, pounding beat momentarily enlightened the entire cave.

Thank you so much for reading! Please don't forget to review, even if it's to demand a new chapter ;) it'd mean a lot! :)

Until next time... ;)