Klaus strode towards her happiness growing in his chest at the sight catching her hand as it fell to her side tossing the skirt of her dress around.

Caroline's blonde curls almost slapped him as she turned her head surprised her smile fell at the sight of him and she tried to snatch her hand back.

He didn't let that faze him, "Trouble in paradise, Love," Klaus asked as he kissed her palm before he folded her hand closed and gave it back.

She rolled her eyes thinking it was such a perfect time for him to show up, uninvited, and wreck her already ruined night by confusing her feelings.

She tried to shake of the feelings in her chest that she thought had long since burned out, high school was so long ago and yet she still felt the same, "Go away," she sighed in frustration.

He looked on as she began walking in the other direction of her home in order to avoid him rather obviously and what she knew she wouldn't be able to avoid since he came back into town.

She shivered in the cold hoping he hadn't noticed as she walked her heels clicking under the road below her feet, she counted her steps trying to focus.

Her dress swaying as she did back and forth these were thoughts she tried to prioritize instead of giving him the time of day -Instead of giving him the opportunity to ask.

"He didn't come back did he," Klaus asked a few feet behind her where she had left him Caroline stilled pursing her lips in annoyance because he had anyway.

"No, he didn't," she spat behind her wishing she hadn't said a word but her pride was too big his ego was even bigger and her feet were not moving no matter how badly she wanted to flee.

"You must be thrilled about that," she alleged as she turned around to look at him directly wishing she could be angry with him instead feeling close to tears.

"How can I be when the one person I care about more than anything isn't happy," he asked as he walked to her not expecting an answer him.

Klaus then removed his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders to keep her warm. "Come on, I'll walk you home," he offered in a last attempt to be around her even if for a few minutes.

Caroline didn't reply but she did let him lead as he nudged her in the right direction of her home, "Why are you always so nice to me," she asked when she spotted her home a few blocks away.

Klaus smiled as looking down at the girl he'd always been in love with, "One day you'll figure it out Caroline," he said as they walked though he was surprised when she rested her head against his arm.

"You could just tell me know," she retorted as she pulled his jacket tighter around her body smiling at the memory of her first kiss when she caught his scent.

Klaus stepped onto the sidewalk by her home and extended his hand to her which she took as he unnecessarily helped her up along with him.

Klaus walked with her down the path of her doorway his blood singing as he remembered it, the porch light doing little to diminish his sight of her in the dark of the night.

The way she felt against him, her voice distracted him from his wayward thoughts, "Mystic Falls number one bad boy walking Caroline Forbes home," she said like a paperboy trying to gain sales.

"What would they say," she teased making him smile as she made it to her porch knowing that no matter what anyone thought, even her, she was safest with him.

She hadn't always known how he felt but now she did and even then he still didn't even have inkling as to how she felt about him since that night.

She looked to the spot on the porch nearby where he had kissed her, where she had kissed him the night before he left.

Klaus still held her hand, something she tried not to dwell on as she pulled his jacket off with one hand to give it back she looked over at him seeing that his eyes looked over too.

Klaus passed his tongue over his bottom lip sensing her different tonight. "Like I said," he tried, hoping, "One day you'll see that the things we have with each other," he whispered to her as she shut her eyes.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead, "That feeling you get at the heart of you," he gestured to his own heart as he spoke her eyes opened wide as he confirmed that he knew how she felt.

Caroline searched his eyes as he spoke about impossibly true things, "I don't have that with anyone else," he confessed as shifted on his feet his hands on either side of her face.

"Nor would I want to share those feelings with anyone else." he said as his lips grazed her cheek with a whisper of a kiss. "I'm just waiting for you to see that." he sighed as he took his jacket back.

Caroline followed him with her eyes as stepped further into the shadows looking like he always had, waiting like he always was for her.

Klaus smiled warmly now, "Sweet dreams Love." He called to her now that she was home safe his frame disappearing into the night.

The further he went the easier it was to breathe for Caroline, she heard the door behind her open and she turned her head to look, "Did Klaus walk you home," her mom asked.

Caroline smiled, of course her mom had everything to do with this, "You told him where I was," she asked as she went to her door her mom moving a side so she could come in.

"He just wanted to catch up," Liz said with a shrug going back to her cup of tea as if she hadn't just put a nice bump in Caroline's carefully laid plans to not fall for Klaus Mikaelson again.

"Well we caught up," Caroline said as she sat down at the dinner table with her mother, "He knows I love him." She said as her mom poured her a cup wishing she had something stronger when her mom smirked.

"Are you going to see him again," He mom asked carefully from behind her tea as she drank and her daughter looked at her disbelievingly.

"You're the one who told me to stay away from him," she replied knowing this story was as old as time itself, "I don't know," she caved dropping her head on the table with a loud thud.

"So you want to," Liz said with a smile in her voice.

"Mom," Caroline whined, "Yes. He looked so good!" she said with hard sigh. "He still loves me, how is this happening? We kissed once!"

"Everything is sideways," she began slurping at her tea, "I have a boyfriend of three years you know, Klaus knows that!" she complained.

"But you don't love him," Liz said butting in as she poured herself the last of the tea.

"No," she groaned, "I hate Nik, I really do." She told her mother firmly believing it. "I'm going to bed," she said as she stood up.

"Are you going to have 'Sweet dream, Love'?" her mom teased making her cheeks turn red at the fact that she'd heard that.

"I should have never come home after graduation," she muttered as she trotted up the stairs into her old room and threw herself on her bed.

She placed her hand over her stomach remembering the night before they were both set off to go to different colleges on different sides of the continent.

He surprised her with flowers, she recalled looking over at the dried up bunch by her mirror, she bite back a smile as she dropped her last bag on the floor.

She thanked him differently that last day, she kissed him he was surprised but happy to comply as he kissed her in return.

Caroline hated to admit how much she had thought about it over the years, but it seemed Klaus hadn't forgotten either.

She turned on her side squeezing her eyes shut in hopes of tomorrow and for the future whatever it would bring for them both after all strange things happened every day in Mystic Falls.