Caroline found the bag that held the dirty clothes she had worn on their trip over there and brought it into the bathroom. She had tried to clean them with shampoo and hang them to dry over the shower, but they still looked gross. It was either this or make the trip in his clothes, so she pulled on the mud stained outfit.
He was organizing things around the little shelter, looking over at maps, checking things on the laptop, writing lists. She tiptoed around, trying not to interrupt whatever he was working on at the moment. He had his serious "Klaus" face on, and she didn't want to risk setting him off when he was like this.
"Road's out" he commented, without looking up from the laptop.
She turned to see if he was speaking to someone over video chat or talking to her.
He looked up at her. "We'll have to walk part of what I was planning on driving. These dirt roads turn to mud, eventually the car will get stuck."
"Great." She muttered, looking down at her flip flops. Not exactly the best footwear for trekking through a muddy jungle.
"Next time I save your life, I'll try not to do it during the rainy season."
She rolled her eyes at him "That's not what I meant."
"We could always just wait in here until the roads dry up. It'll be a few weeks. I certainly don't mind your company."
"Forget it. I'm not spending another day in this tin can with you. Just let me wear a pair of your shoes or something, ok? I can't hike through the mud in flip flops."
He pulled a pair of boots out and looked at them "They'll be a little big on you."
"I'll wear extra socks or something." She reached for the shoes but he pulled them back.
"What's in it for me?"
"What?"
"What do I get in exchange for the shoes?"
She put her hands on her hips and scrunched her brow. "What do you want?"
He just smiled.
"Forget it!" She laughed as she swatted him.
"It was worth a try" he shrugged. "How about a date?"
"A date?" she raised her eyebrows.
"Yes. I'll give you the shoes if you agree to go on a date with me when we get back to the resort. I get to pick the place."
"No way."
"No shoes, then." He shrugged.
"No extravagant gifts or fancy dinners." She said.
"I believe this is my date. I get to pick what we do. I certainly don't want to rule out so many things."
"I'm not going to just go along with whatever crazy thing you're about to come up with."
"No shoes, then." he shrugged.
"Can you at least promise not to murder anyone on this date?"
"I want a loophole. Self defense, in defense of you."
"That seems fair." she hesitated. "No groping me without my permission."
"Is that how you think I would behave on a date?"
"Agree to my terms."
"Very Well. I agree to the terms you've set forth."
"Fine." she grumbled, and grabbed the shoes.
He revved the engine again, sending the tires spinning and spraying mud backwards.
"It looks like this is it for the car. We'll walk the rest of the way."
She pouted. "How far away is the airport?"
"It's another five or six miles to town, once we're there we can probably catch a ride to the air field."
"Five or six miles?"
"Too much walking for you, princess?"
"It this heat and with all this mud? Yeah, it's a bit much."
"I can try to give the car a push, if it lifts out of this pit we'd probably get another mile or two before it gets stuck again."
She nodded and he begrudgingly got out of the car.
He told her to sit in the drivers seat and step on the gas when he said so, so she climbed over to the spot where he had been sitting.
"Now!" he shouted and she pressed hard on the gas. The tires spun furiously as mud splashed up at him but the car didn't move. He took a breath and braced himself against the car. "Again!" he shouted, and she stepped on the gas again.
He had tried it again and again, but the car wasn't budging and he was covered in mud. It had sprayed him from head to toe and he paused to wipe it away from his eyes before opening the driver's door to pull Caroline out.
She gasped when she saw him. He was caked in mud all over. She waited for him to yell at her about how he wouldn't have had to get so dirty if it wasn't for her complaining about the walk. He didn't yell, however, he didn't even look bothered by it. She hesitantly took his dirty hand and let him pull her out of the car.
When he didn't drop her hand right away she gave him a confused look, only to see the devilish grin that let her know what was coming.
"Klaus, no!" she shouted, but he was stronger and she couldn't get away in time.
He pulled her into a hug, effectively smearing the mud he was covered in all over her. She tried to break free as he took a dirty hand and wiped it in her hair, but he wasn't letting go.
"No! not my hair! You're evil! Stop!" she was shouting at him, but she was smiling under all her protests. He felt the thrill of having her pressed up against him, smiling like that as he mashed more mud into her hair.
She wriggled free and scooped up a handful of the mud, and mashed it into his shirt. His eyes widened at her brazen retaliation and he bent down to grab a handful and chased after her with it. She was stomping around trying to escape him, and he took his time catching her, not wanting the game to be over.
He caught her and she held up her hands as a sign of truce, giggling.
"Come on, sweetheart, we've got a long walk ahead of us." he said offering her his hand. For once she didn't balk at his little pet names for her, and she took his hand, lacing her muddy fingers with his as they walked down the road.
Rebecca looked out the window of the plane. They were high above the clouds and had another hour before they'd land on the island. This plane was bigger than the one they had taken on their way out. They didn't have to worry about being followed anymore so they could take a regular commercial flight.
Damon and Elena were asleep in the row next to them. She hadn't completely warmed up to Stefan's friends yet, but they were getting there. She argued with Damon all the time, but it became a fun kind of arguing, and it seemed to amuse Stefan. Elena was more quiet than the boys, and Rebecca didn't really see the point in bothering to be friendly with her, but she would try to be a little nicer if it was what Stefan wanted.
Stefan looked up from the magazine he was reading over at Rebecca. She caught his eye and tilted her chin towards the bathroom at the front of the cabin.
He gave her a confused look and she slowly got up, motioning for him to follow.
"Are you crazy?" he whispered.
She just smiled and walked down the aisle, wagging her finger at him to follow.
He looked around to see if anyone was paying attention, and hesitantly followed her.
A small plane sat on a tarmac field just outside town. There were a few little outbuildings and a lopsided fence running around the field, but the place looked pretty deserted. They walked along the tarmac towards a single man sitting outside in a lawn chair. He wore a Hawaiian print shirt and a big straw hat, and his face was obscured by the book he held out in front of him.
"Hey Jimmy, we need to get here, as soon as you're ready to leave." Nik said, handing the man on the folding chair the location of the closest private airport to the resort.
"Nik! How's my favorite customer?" The man said, still absorbed in his book "Someone will be very excited that you showed up today."
Jimmy looked up from his book at the two mud caked figures in front of him. "Fuck if I'm going to let you on my plane like that. Hose off." He pointed to the hose coiled up along the side of the little outbuilding his office was in.
"Seriously, Jimmy."
"Seriously, Nik. I like you, but you and your girlfriend aren't going to track mud all over my plane. Wash up and then we can go."
"Alright. Washing up." Nik conceded.
"I'm not his girlfriend, by the way." Caroline added.
"How rude of me." Nik said "Jimmy, this is Caroline. Not my girlfriend. Yet."
Caroline bent down to shake Jimmy's hand. "Nice to meet you." She felt a cold shot of water hit her in the back "Eek!" she screeched and turned around to see a precocious seven year old holding the hose.
The little boy pointed again and squirted Nik with the hose.
"Robbie!" He shouted, and charged at the kid, picking him up and spinning him around.
The boy laughed and Nik wrestled the hose from him, and ruffled his hair.
Robbie held out his hand expectantly and Nik dug through his pockets. He found a coin, wiped the mud of of it and pressed it into Robbie's hand.
"I don't have any of this one yet, where's it from?" Robbie asked.
"The Cayman Islands. Hold on, I think I have another one you don't have yet." Nik searched through his wallet and found another coin. "Bosnia? Is that crossed off the map yet?" he asked.
"Score!" shouted Robbie, who shoved the coins in his pocket and hugged Nik. He scurried back to the office to hide his loot.
Caroline walked over to Nik and gave him a quizzical look.
"Jimmy's kid." he said "I bring him coins from different places whenever I'm here. He wants to collect one from every country."
"He likes you." She commented.
"Don't sound so surprised." He said lightly, and he turned the hose back on her.
"Klaus!" she shouted and reached out to block him. He let her take the hose and she drenched him with it.
"Why am I always Klaus when you're mad at me?"
She rolled her eyes and motioned for him to bend down so she could get the mud out of his hair. She looked over at the little kid peeking out the window of the office as she rinsed out Klaus's hair. He had looked so excited to see him when they arrived, she wondered how often Klaus spent time with this little kid.
"Alright, love, your turn." He reached for the hose again and started rinsing off her hair and her back.
"I told you not to call me that."
"Can I tell you not to call me Klaus, since you seem to think of that as my evil twin or something?"
"Nope, I'm going to keep calling you that when you're being Klaus."
"Fine, then I'm going to keep calling sweetheart, and love and every other name that makes you scrunch your nose like that."
"I'll be annoyed with you."
"You're always annoyed with me." He shrugged.
They were making their way through the airport, looking for a good place to stop and wait to meet up with Caroline and Nik. Rebecca was the only one who wasn't openly annoyed that Nik would be staying at the resort, and even she was a little annoyed that her controling older brother couldn't just let her have some alone time wtih Stefan. At least he wouldn't be staying in the same room as them. Everyone knew Caroline probably couldn't wait to get some space between herself and the hitman she had been forced into a cramped shelter with for the past week.
Stefan checked his phone. There was a message from a burner cell number he didn't recognize. It was from Caroline.
"She says they're running late, so we shouldn't wait for them here. They'll meet us back at the resort."
"Fine by me." Rebecca shrugged. "More time to get you all to myself before my big brother swoops in and tries to scare you away."
"He can try all he wants, I'll take more than an overprotective brother to scare me away."
"I'm starving" Damon interrupted. "Can we get the good tacos on our way back to the rooms?"
"The ones in the South tower?" Stefan asked.
"No, the ones in that little stand by the beach." Damon responded.
Rebecca shook her head. "No, the ones we got by the pool were the best ones."
"The pool ones, are you crazy?" Stefan responded.
"Says the guy who gets food in the South tower." Snorted Damon.
"They're better!" Stefan protested.
"I think a blind taste test is in order." Elena suggested. They were approaching the entrance of the resort. "I think each of you should go pick up the tacos you like, and then we'll see which ones are really the best."
"Don't you have a favorite?" Rebecca asked.
"Nope, but I would kill for a shower right about now. I just want to go back to the room and have a quiet moment by myself. I'll meet you guys up there."
The four of them parted ways.
Caroline flipped through the old issue of GQ someone had left tucked into the seat on the plane. They were only hours away from the resort. Tonight she'd probably sleep up in the room in the penthouse she had shared with Tyler, and Nik would be down in his room on the fifth floor. It felt weird going back to sleeping alone. It was strangely nice to have him there next to her. She would never admit it to him, but it made her feel safe to be near him. The others would have a field day if they knew the details of what went on between the two of them. She dreaded the conversations with Stefan and Elena she would have to have, they would interrogate her within an inch of her life about her time alone with Nik and Damon would tease her for the next decade about her terrible choices in men.
Rebecca would be attached to Stefan for the rest of their trip, so she'd be surrounded by couples. Fantastic. As if her awkward situation with Nik or Klaus or whoever he was today wasn't bad enough, she'd probably have to sit around and watch everyone else get all PDA with each other in front of her.
Jimmy called out to Nik from the cockpit "Hey, Nik, if he's annoying you, just send him back up here."
"Not a chance." Nik called back.
Caroline looked over across the row and saw Robbie practicing a magic trick and Nik pretending to fall for it.
"That is my card! How did you do that?" Nik exclaimed.
Robbie beamed with pride. "A magician never reveals his secret."
The little boy shuffled the deck and held it out for Nik to pick another card.
"Now show the audience." Robbie commanded.
Nik looked over at Caroline, and waved the card at her, a hand clapped over Robbie's eyes so he couldn't peek.
Robbie took the card back and shuffled it into the deck. Caroline got absorbed in the whole thing, watching Nik laugh and joke with the little kid, pretending to be surprised and amazed by the silly little card tricks. She couldn't believe how patient and natural he was with him.
Robbie eventually got bored and scampered off to sit with his dad in the cockpit. The door slammed behind him as Robbie pulled himself up into the copilot seat.
She looked over and caught Nik's eye. He smiled back and she looked down, pretending to be interested in her magazine. After a minute she looked again, and he was giving her an intense look. A Klaus look. Before she could protest he was moving over to her. She stood up by her seat but he moved his body so she didn't have anywhere to go. Her back was to the wall and he was only inches away, blocking her escape.
"Don't think you can just" She started.
"Just what, love?"
"Just be all adorable with that little kid and it'll make me want to be with you."
"Oh, that didn't work? I guess I'll have to find some other way to be adorable on our date, what would convince you?"
"We are not going on a-"
"Shoes" he reminded her with a smirk.
"Hmmft." she replied, pouting a bit.
He had gotten closer, letting one hand trail up and down her arm. She shoved him away.
"Stop cornering me like this, you psycho. I'm not something you can hunt."
"Do you really want me to back away?" he asked, getting even closer.
"Yes." She lied.
"You always blink when you're lying." he whispered, making her flinch as she could feel the heat of his breath on the skin of her neck.
"I'm not lying" she stuttered, looking away from him.
He ignored her protests and leaned closer to her. She put her hand on his chest, halfheartedly trying to push him away.
His lips met her neck and he placed a soft row of kisses along it. She felt her body betray her as the hand that was pushing him away gripped on to his shirt and pull him closer. He slowed down and worked his way back up from her shoulder to her chin, stoping to nibble and suck at the delicate skin. At first he was gentle, but after a moan escaped from her lips he pressed harder.
When she pulled him closer and wrapped a leg around his side, he slammed her against the wall and sucked ferociously at her neck, making her gasp and moan.
"Nik" She whispered, hooking her leg behind him and trying to draw him in closer.
He just continued, finding the spot that made her press herself against him harder.
"Nik, stop, you're going to leave a mark."
"Good" he growled, and kept going.
"Not. Fair." She stammered.
"Make it fair." He challenged.
With that she knotted a hand in his hair, pulling his face away from her neck and tilting his head back so his neck was exposed. She glared at him and he smirked, knowing he had her exactly where he wanted her.
She kissed along his neck until she settled on a spot and sucked hard on it. His hand pushed on the back of her head, encouraging her to be even rougher. He backed into one of the chairs and pulled her on top of him, her lips never leaving his skin. She nipped at him and trailed her kisses up, tugging on his ear with her teeth as she glanced down to see the tell tale bruise already starting to form on his neck.
She switched to the other side of his neck, attacking him, marking him, getting back at him double for leaving a mark on her. He let out a noise that made it clear he was enjoying it but she didn't care. His hands were moving all over her, and she wanted to punish him for making her feel so good. She felt his hand slip under her shirt, moving up and down the bare skin of her back. Every time he touched or kissed her she had felt herself flush with a mixture of arousal and fury. She sucked harder at his neck and felt his fingers dig into her thighs.
He pulled her away and started to bring his face to meet hers.
"I'm not going to kiss you." She challenged.
"Whatever you say, love."
He brought his lips to hers and she froze for a second, but she couldn't hold out. She felt herself melting into him, their lips moving together with urgency. Every kiss made her forget the million reasons why she could never be with him. She didn't care about tomorrow, she just needed him now. Soon she was moving against him, meeting each of his kisses with a more aggressive one. She rocked against his lap and felt a heat growing between them. It made her angry how much she wanted to be with him and how he could so easily get her to do what he wanted, so she kissed him harder, unleashing all her anger on him.
She slid against his lap, creating an agonizing friction. He gripped her ass and moved her hips against himself faster. She hummed in pleasure at the feeling and sucked on his lower lip. Once she let go he pushed against her, capturing her lips with another rough kiss.
Neither of them heard the footsteps approaching.
"EWWWW!" Robbie shrieked, looking horrified at Caroline straddling Nik's lap, her hands in his hair and his on her ass.
Caroline shot up looking guilty.
"Sorry" Nik smiled at the boy "She can't keep her hands off me."
Caroline glared at him.
Robbie just wrinkled his nose. "Dad says we're landing now so you should put your seat belts on."
Caroline tried to compose herself as she sat in the seat next to Nik and pulled on the seat belt.
Robbie plopped down on her other side and smiled up at her. "Wow." he gasped "That's a crazy bruise on your neck. Did you get hurt?"
"No, uh, I'm fine." She stuttered.
"How did it happen?" He asked her, looking curious.
"I um.. there was a .. a bird flew into it?" She answered lamely.
"Wow your face is turning really red." Robbie smiled at her "Why is your face so red?"
She could hear Nik snickering and wanted to haul off and slap him.
Elena closed the door behind her and went straight to the shower. She let the hot water wash down over her and tried to wash away all the stress of the past week. She didn't hear the sound of the main door opening as she washed her hair.
Mason had been waiting, watching. The Salvatore guy's girlfriend would make a great hostage. He could use her to lure them to him, much easier than going after both of them in one shot. It was a credit to his good luck that she happened to enter the penthouse alone. He slipped in and cracked the bathroom door open. There she was.
Elena saw the figure in the corner of her eye.
"Damon, that was fast. Are the others back too? I'm starving."
He didn't respond.
She wiped the soap away from her face. "Damon?"
She turned around and saw the unfamiliar man in her bathroom. He charged at her, covering her mouth with a towel before she even got the chance to scream.