AUTHOR'S NOTE: Klaus and Caroline reunite at the same college costume party on Halloween. Canon-ish (sans magical babies). Fluff. Slightly crack. Happy reading.

xx Ashlee Bree

Skeleton-pumpkin flames illuminated costumes in flickering ghostlight and moon shadows branched across masked, painted faces as college couples swayed like flitting autumn leaves to spooky music. It was a holiday. A midnight celebration accented by hay bales, crackling bonfires, weathered headstones and gargoyles, bubbling cauldrons, hot (and spiked) apple cider, chocolatey treats, and twisted tricks that transformed grinning Jack O'Lantern mouths into gaping bat caves with teeth. Tonight was a night of welcome, of coffined thoughts that resurrected in cackling whispers. And of memories that no longer slept in peace.

And while Caroline knew All Hallows' Eve ushered back many lost, restless souls on this same night every year and once again deposited them among people and places they'd vacated long ago, not one of them haunted her more than him. Not one of them terrified her more than a certain hybrid. The same one who strode toward her right now on his long-living mummy feet.

"Trick or treat, Caroline," he drawled, his eyes arresting her with brazenness, "how lovely to bump into you amid all the celebratory festivities. What's new?"

"I think Hallowboo would be a more appropriate greeting, don't you?" she replied.

"If you say so."

"Why are you here, Klaus?"

He slipped his hands behind his back and shrugged, "Because I was invited."

"What!?" Caroline blanched. He compressed a chuckle between his lips. "By who?"

"Friends of yours, I presume," he said. "They were quite persuasive. Insistent, I should say." He fished something from his pocket. "Notice the inflated language."

Grinning now, those dimples of his on full display, he extended to her a personalized invitation. It was addressed to one Klaus Mikaelson of the Original Family and was written in Enzo's familiar, scratchy scrawl and signatured in Katherine's swirling xoxo swoops. It read:

Klausy,

Are you a fan of Halloweeny magic? Doubtful.

Are you a drinker of blood and booze? Only for centuries.

Are you desirous of a reunion with one beloved and blonde perky angel of death? Definitely!

The time has come at last, my fanged friend, for two undead souls to re-meet!

To retrieve your exclusive Caroline Pumpkin'd Treat, therefore, you must compel yourself a flying broom and deposit your costumed buttocks at this year's Spook-Tastic Autumn Smash.

Decline and you risk spoiled (Forbes) Hershey kisses For. The. Rest. Of. ETERNITY.

XOXO Your Trusty Bloodsucking Cupids,

—Kat and Enzo

P.S. Bring your family, if you please!

Arrival time: Before Midnight

Arrival date: October 31st

Arrival place: Whitmore College Cemetery

Throwing a hand over her mouth, Caroline gasped.

Drunken confessions about sexy, stubbled Klaus at Whittle's Bar were outlawed as nonsense, goddammit! She'd chainsaw massacre the two of them for this! They were dead— buried alive under mountains of dirt and hammered-in-rusty-nails kind of dead. Dead, dead, dead!

Shoving the invitation hard against the emblem resting in the middle of his chest, she huffed and said, "Please don't tell me you let these two idiots trick you into coming here tonight? What was your plan? To appear like the Phantom of the Opera and bewitch me with flattery and an accent?" She sneered. "Nice try, but it won't work."

"Easy, love," he said. Raising his hands, Klaus shook his head and dropped his chin, "I assure you the power to bewitch is entirely on your side."

As Caroline's heart thumped with sugary adrenaline at this, rendering her mute; he kicked at a ghost decoration with his shoe. Both lost in thought, neither one of them noticed Corrupt 'Frisky' Cop Katherine handcuffing Business Man Elijah with his necktie and disappearing into the haunted maze. Or saw Deadpool Enzo dribbling chocolate spiders into Caped Assassin Rebekah's mouth near the zombie brains table.

"Since I am present, however," Klaus said, clearing his throat and looking up again, "I had hoped to procure myself a spot on your Monster Mash sheet this evening. Is that honor possible? Or should I skulk back to the unvisited French Quarter grave from whence I came?"

"You traveled all this way to dance?"

"I did."

"Here?" Caroline gestured at the crowded cemetery around them. "At a college costume party? Seriously?" She laughed. "I bet New Orleans boasts a much better night life, so I don't know why you bothered."

"It does," he said, "but to clarify: you are the reason I made this trip. I'm prepared to dance the night away…but only with you." He bit his lower lip sheepishly as he spoke, slowly meeting her gaze with a look of hybrid intensity. "This can't be hard for you to believe, surely?"

No, it wasn't. Not anymore—it hadn't been for a long time now. And yet, her stomach still somersaulted at his words and upended cages upon cages of flapping hummingbirds inside of her, soaring her heart's pulse sky high.

"Besides," Klaus continued, "it's not every day that a man like myself has the opportunity to twirl Lady Vamp Liberty through a sea of belligerent frat boys."

Caroline crossed her arms and quirked her right eyebrow at him. "And here I thought old farts like you had already done everything?" she countered.

"I may be ancient, sweetheart, but a few pleasures remain this life from which I have yet to partake—and this is one of them. So," he said, his expression quickly transforming into pretty-please puppy pout, "shall we dance?"

That scruffy, dimpled face…those hopeful and penetrating golden-blue eyes…the hesitancy which trembled his knees as he treaded forward on tip-toes, eager but watchful…the foot-popping charm that melted from his mouth in milk chocolate…the patient posture of his words…those two parked feet, how they tapped to each tick tock of time that passed on Life's clock…waiting…always waiting.

Damn him! The man was incorrigible. Freaking impossible.

"Fine," she sighed, resigned, "one. Just one dance."

Klaus looked more than a little pleased. "One is all I need."

Mirth and mischief danced across his upturning lips as he offered her his hand, which she took after one head lull and a large roll of the eyes, and escorted them around numerous tootsie-rolling-gettin'-jiggy-with-it undergrads toward a clear patch of floor that was a little isolated and trellised in intertwining cornstalks. The melody to Michael Jackson's Thriller cut through the chilled October breeze to mingle with the crumpled rustling of leaves. Soft orange ghostlight licked across their faces as Klaus' arm enveloped her by the waist, his fingertips pressing gentle trumpet notes into the sleek green fabric of her costume. Reeling her in tighter. Closer.

Gold bracelets clunked against Caroline's wrists as she slid one hand onto his shoulder and rested the other in his left palm. She considered him. Her head was tilted, and her was smile curious but controlled.

"Speaking of the number one, by the way," she said, "can we please talk about what in the name of hell you think you're wearing?"

"It's called a costume, love." She groaned at his evasion. "Which, if I'm not mistaken, was a requirement to attend this soirée, yes?"

"But if you'd prefer," he added, "I'm sure I could slip into something less cumbersome and more—what's the word?" He paused, leaning in all waggling eyebrows, his voice deepening to a husky rasp, "Ah, yes—I could change into something more freeing and…" he smirked, desire springing from his eyes "…nude."

"No, no! That's okay!" Caroline answered with a hurried gulp and a blush, her mind traveling back to their (steamy) tryst in the woods three years ago. "I think I'll pass. No birthday suits from you tonight, thank you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"Positive?"

She whacked him hard in the arm. The smart ass.

"Okay, okay," Klaus chucked as he spun them to the right. "But if you change your mind…" How he loved to ruffle her complacency. "I'm more than happy to oblige," he said with a wink.

Pumpkin and black cat ornaments dangled like mistletoe from a cornstalk canopy above their heads while they swayed together on the gravelly ground, both lost in a private yet shared harmony. Enchantment sprinkled over Klaus and Caroline. Like fairy dust, it lightened their feet. Propelling their hearts, if only fleetingly, into a supernova'd star where they blazed with fire forever young and dazzling. Beautifully untamed, it ignited spectrums of color only they and their two eyes could see.

The DJ drifted into a sixth song now and, still, Caroline made no move to tear herself away. Instead, like an iceberg, she floated closer to the scrumptious sizzle of the Original's mouth and sunk into the sturdy pillow he provided, becoming ice that felt both delicate and dense in his arms.

After a few moments of charged silence, Klaus breathed into her hair to say, "Judging by that scrunched look on your face, I take it you disapprove of my choice of costume?"

"I don't disapprove but—"

"But you dislike it." He sighed. "I'll have you know I went to a lot of trouble to put this concept together."

That, she believed. Everything he donned tonight appeared to be expensive, one of a kind, and tailored to perfection. (Meaning God only who knew how many poor souls he'd compelled to make this look possible).

"Well, I mean…it's creative and ostentatious? I'll give you that much," she laughed against his cheek.

"That's better than boring and predictable."

"True."

"At any rate, I thought you'd appreciate the metaphor," he said.

Caroline's forehead crinkled at that word 'appreciate.' Why should she? Because the man wore a silver-lettered crown that flashed the word THE in diamond lights? Because he dressed himself two-feet-above-the-head-to-the-knees in puffy, poker-red topped off with black jeans and long furry werewolf sleeves? Because he stuffed himself into a ginormous foam finger that transformed his lithe figure into a staunch number? All for hordes of university-partiers to gawk at or whisper about with laughter? Or with intrigue?

Everyone everywhere already knew Klaus was the world's one true immortal, right? He was The King of the Supernatural Species. The Hybrid One. The Alpha Omega. The MonsterMan Who Cannot Be Killed. Squeezing all of that symbolism into a Halloween costume was just plain insane, obnoxious, and unnecessary. And, yet, on the other hand, it was so unbelievably typical.

With grand gestures and spectacles borne of passion and impulsivity, Klaus compelled the world to marvel at his violent, artistic constructions. There was no halfway with him. The man was a credo: All in or nothing.

And if anything, Caroline wanted to howl with laughter at his arrogant selection of costume not appreciate it.

But what if…what if this was his intention all along? To make a joke of himself? To be ridiculous? (Because right now, with him standing before her all tall and proud as a flaming #1 Incarnate, he was.)

"I do. I get the metaphor," she said, "all except for, you know, the rockin' ruby. What's the deal with this thing, anyway?" Her fingers trailed around the plush circumference. "It's holed into your chest…perching there like you're Iron Man or something (which, ha, wishful thinking, buddy). I don't know, it seems out of place to me?"

"The candy apple is reserved," Klaus explained, "and right where it belongs."

Cryptic much? Caroline scratched her head. "I don't get it."

"Really, love?" His eyes twinkled as he tilted forward, his husky words gusting across her cheek when he added with a hum and a whisper, "Don't you?"

"Has anyone told you that you're an insufferable ass?"

"Not anyone who lived afterward, no," he smirked.

Unnerved by the taunt in his delivery and that strange glint in his expression, Caroline scoffed and scrutinized him with a curious squint before—without a thought—she plunged her hand deep inside a softball-sized cave of red foam to fist the ruby apple; ripping it forcefully, violently, like a heart, from his costumed chest. She'd take a closer look at this reserved thing whether he liked it or not. If he wouldn't give her any clues, she'd figure it out on her own. Time to get the bottom of his stupid symbolism once and for all.

Klaus' dimpled grin multiplied by three sizes as soon as she touched it. For the moment her fingers curled around the candy rock, it vibrated and ignited against her palm, shimmering with warm red and white light. The unexpectedness shot Caroline out of her skin…and crashed her into him. Hard.

"Oh my God, it's possessed! It's freaking possessed!" she shuddered and squealed, burying her face into the hollow of his neck.

"Calm yourself, sweetheart. It won't bite you."

He peeled her back gently, with fingers that traced circles against her bare shoulders, guiding her eyes back to the candy apple ruby which rested like a jewel on top of their joined cupped hands. The words for Caroline flashed up at them in beautiful, sparkling light.

"It's nothing but a little hocus pocus," Klaus said, "just some genuine magic that's all yours tonight. And always."

Kol and Kai, who were adorned in matching blue Snuggies patterned with silver lightning bolts, appeared then wielding (fake) star-tipped wands raised in love and war. In pursuit of the same enchanting Catwoman, they body slammed each other like bumper cars and bellowed I put a spell on you and now you're miiiiine at Bonnie's retreating back.

The two wizards flurried away the remaining air in Caroline's lungs as they zipped past. Leaving her lightheaded, exhilarated, and slightly giddy.

"You know what I think?" she asked at last, recovering her words.

"What's that?"

"I think your costume…your crazy, out-of-your-freaking-mind idea to come dressed as the 'One for Me'—" Klaus swallowed a lump in his throat "—to expose yourself and your feelings, literally wearing them in flaring, flagrant red, witch-spelling or hexing my name into a candy heart rock for a campus full of strangers to see whenever I touched it?"

"That," she said, eyes steady but glistening, "is the exact definition of Hallowbooze debauchery."

She smiled and stroked the nape of his neck with her thumb. He drew her in. Allowed her head to fall, to curl onto his shoulder with a sweet sigh so her breath could prickle his skin. It warmed the lonely shiver that blistered in pain within him.

"No, Caroline. The only booze I'm drunk on," Klaus said, connective spirits swelling around them in Halloween hymn; their hips swinging side-to-side like sweeping brooms to mimic the party mood, "…is you."

Caroline costumed as Lady Vamp Liberty (because all I want is for her to be free), Klaus as The One for Caroline (because corny symbolism gives me life) Kol and Kai as wizards in Snuggies (blame Kaitlyn aka she-walked-away), and Katherine and Enzo as Klaroline's Halloween-scheming Cupids (because I just couldn't help myself). I don't know where I get these ideas, honestly haha.

Thoughts? Reviews are lovely.

Thanks for reading! xx