Please don't hate me. No fowl, no harm, right?

~!~

"What are you afraid of?" "You. I'm afraid of you."

When Klaus finds her, it is in the middle of an intricately shaped labyrinth of well maintained tall hedges, sitting on a white wrought-iron bench.

He steps into the small area but doesn't close the distance between them. "Hiding inside a garden maze is useless when the person you're trying to avoid is a hybrid."

Caroline looks up with a hard stare. "Funny, here I thought you were the one trying to avoid me."

Klaus shrugs noncommittally. He looks at her quietly for a moment, letting his gaze wander over her face. "Why didn't you come in?"

Caroline's brows draw together in confusion for a moment before her face clears up with realization. She shrugs and draws her knees up to her chest. She looks up at him between her long bangs. "I told you I was too smart to be seduced by you."

Klaus takes an exasperated breath and shakes his head, but his eyes don't leave her for a second. "Then why didn't you tell Tyler that he was free?"

She rolls her eyes and scoffs, dropping her legs to the floor. "That's none of your business." She jumps up from her seat and starts to walk away.

"Why, Caroline?" he calls after her, turning to watch her walk away from him.

She whirls around and glares at him, arms flailing as she raises her voice. "I just didn't get around to it, okay?"

"Not good enough," he says insistently, stepping forward to close the distance between them. "Tell me, Caroline. Why?" He narrows his eyes, looking at her searchingly. "After begging me for mercy, after threatening to let me die, after moving heaven and earth to make me free him - why didn't you tell him when he could finally come home? That he could come back to you."

"I don't know!" She runs her hands through her hair and holds it back at the back of her neck. "I was confused, okay? I wasn't sure if I could believe you and then we had that moment and things got complicated. And I didn't want complicated, I wanted simple. I wanted normal. So I didn't want to make it worse by bringing back Tyler when I wasn't even sure I-" She snaps her mouth shut and shakes her head. "It doesn't matter." She brings her hands up to ward off any questions.

"It bloody well matters!" Klaus roars in frustration, hands reaching out and stopping just short of grabbing a hold of her. He clenches them into shaking fists before he forces them open and drops them at his sides. "God, you are the queen of mixed signals!"

Caroline jerks her head back wide-eyed as she blinks rapidly. She smiles shakily. "I'm not sending any signals."

"Yes, you are." Klaus gets right in her face, nostrils flaring as his lips curl with a snarl. "Constantly. But it's like you can't decide whether it's push or pull, stop or go, come here or go away."

Caroline shakes her head. "You're delusional." She walks past him again, in the opposite direction from before, even though there's no exit in that direction.

"Really? Am I?" Klaus turns around again to watch her go nowhere. "You tell me that you want nothing to do with me, but then you let me take you out not once, but twice." He holds up two fingers for emphasis. "You tell me that I'm perfect and let me make you laugh. But then you turn around and help Tyler destroy everything I built in Mystic Falls."

Caroline whirls around open mouthed. The only thing that comes out of her mouth is a small incredulous noise.

He goes after her, thrusting one hand in the air for emphasis. "You drive me to the brink of my sanity and push me over, only to turn around and make me believe that you still have faith in my humanity."

Her gaze flicks away from him to the ground and she shakes her head slowly, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"You tell me I'm a terrible person, but when I offer you comfort, you're more than willing to take it." He closes the last few steps between them and lowers his voice as he stops in front of her. He tilts his head and even bends his knees, trying to make her look him in the eyes. "You scream you'll never have me, but then you kiss me like you own me."

"That was when I thought you were Tyler!" she shouts defensively, taking a step back to point a finger accusingly.

"Not the time I was talking about," Klaus says quietly, stepping right into the pointed finger as he stares into her eyes.

Caroline's bravado falters as she stares at her trembling hand with bated breath. She's about to pull it away when it gets trapped against his chest.

He holds it there and slowly strokes his finger over the soft skin at the side of her thumb. "What are you so afraid of?"

Nervous laughter bubbles out of her mouth as she shakes her head and finally looks up at his face. "You." She still chuckles a little bit. "I'm afraid of you." She bangs the fist that is still caught in his hand against his chest. "And the things I want because of you."

"And what is it that you want?" His voice is barely above a whisper as he leans even closer.

Caroline takes a deep, shaking breath and closes her eyes as she sways forward on her feet.

Klaus holds himself perfectly still as his gaze slides to her slightly parted lips.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, brother.."

"Bloody hell!" Klaus whirls around to glare daggers in the direction of the intruder.

"Oh my god." Caroline jumps about a foot in the air at the same time, eyes going wide. A second later, she quickly tucks her head down and scurries away as fast as dignity allows.

Elijah watches her departure nonplussed before he turns back to his brother. "Bad timing, I take it."

Klaus's expression is murderous. "The worst."

Elijah's face doesn't betray any concern at the threatening tone in his brother's voice. "I still thought you would prefer to be informed immediately that there is a quite peculiar development underway in the French Quarter."

Klaus grits his teeth and juts his chin out, sucking in a deep breath through his nose before he releases it slowly. "And what would that be?"

Elijah smirks slightly as he brings one hand up to smooth over a perfectly smooth eyebrow. "It appears that Marcel and his inner circle have already started to...recruit if you pardon the term."