Written for Klaroweek Day 6.

All human KC. Sorry for errors

They were in the Mystic Falls forest when they said their goodbyes. He just gave her her first outdoor sex experience – the best orgasm of her life – and he's leaving town.

It's not like they're together together anyway. They're not even friends, just casual acquaintances, and, only after a particularly interesting dance had they decided to explore the possibilities of this non-relationship.

The timing however was way off.

As per usual, hot rich guys never stay long in Mystic Falls – the same way hot rich guys who seemed to actually like her never stay in her life.

But they're young. They both have their futures waiting ahead of them and Caroline knew she would meet a lot of Klaus Mikaelsons along the way, maybe without the dimples and the accent and the you're strong, beautiful and full of light so…

She didn't let herself think too much of it.

Not even when he said he's probably never coming back and he's looking at her like he's saying something else, daring her to give them a chance.

Good. Is what she told him and he turned his back, walked away without a second glance.

Fast forward six years, in a bar in the city of lights, they met again as strangers.

Not like actual strangers. He spotted her golden head and ivory skin the minute he came in but the slouch on her shoulders, the weariness in her cornflower eyes were… Unfamiliar.

She merely raised a brow when he sat across from her but didn't protest, and by their third drink, he got her talking.

She said she's taking a break from being Caroline Forbes, overachiever control freak with her thousand lists and goals. Her ex had just dropped her off like a hot potato the moment he was reunited with his "first love" and instead of being bummed out, Caroline declared, Fuck it. I'm going on a roadtrip.

Well imagine that.

He just got dumped too, he said. Divorced and driven homeless by his cheating wife. Not that he's destitute. Mikaelsons never do destitute. But his ex didn't want to leave the house and he'd rather stake himself than spend another day under the same roof.

"Guess love isn't for people like us." Klaus found himself telling her.

She blinked at him. "People like us?"

"Never the first choice but too stubborn to settle for the second. We're too unyielding to bend to the world, you and I. We're the same."

He saw the way her eyes shined and he knew she wouldn't contradict. She knew her worth and he liked that.

Klaus leaned in, savoring her smile.

"Do you want to know what's for people like us?"

"What?"

Klaus dimpled. "Revenge."

Three hours later, they were married.

They had 365 days, as agreed. One whole year –

To spite.

And revenge was a dish best served with a big ass wedding ring and a surprise announcement at his sister's engagement party.

It was priceless, the look on everyone's faces, especially after she tongue-kissed him in front of the family and Rebekah decided to throw a fit because they apparently stole her thunder.

That night set the tone for the rest of the 365 days of their quote unquote marriage –

Them being that couple and them annoying everyone else.

The PDA turned out to be helpful when dodging nosy relatives with their nosy questions. Once the hands and the tongue came out, they all just scamper away.

But truthfully speaking, they just found it easier to give in and go with the flow. The moment they stopped pretending that they weren't obsessively attracted to one another and wanted to jump each other bones, their lives became so much better.

(In other words, yes, fucking was part of the deal.)

On their 365th day, their supposed last day, his ex wife married his elder brother.

They were in Cabo that time having a last hurrah when she showed him the Facebook photo.

Caroline was wearing a smile that seems conspiratorial. "Now we can't have that can we?"

Klaus beamed. "No we can't."

And so they stayed together for one more year.

The second year, they went far and away.

This time they decided to be that couple who lived by the YOLO and had too much time and money in their hands.

Truth was, she just wanted to see the world so he took her.

They went to Rome first, then Paris and Tokyo. Just sightseeing at first, learning language, imbibing culture all the while filling everyone else's facebook and instagram feed of just how fucking awesome time they both were.

She's the eager student to his patient teacher.

Caroline was never a follower.

But at the same time she wasn't used to people regarding her with pride not doubt, as if she's capable of doing anything. And when he looked at her like that, as he always did, she'd follow him anywhere.

He had her hiking the Andes and, by the end of the year, they skydived in Queenstown, got high in Amsterdam and swam with sharks in the Bahamas.

The day before their last day, they lay side by side in a hotel at Rio, sweaty from dancing and sex. He was tracing the lines of her palm with his finger as she rubbed her nose on his stubbled jaw.

"Tomorrow is our last day, huh." Caroline mused, her blue eyes catching his.

He responded with a heart stopping grin and slid his hand over hers, lacing their fingers together. "I think you're mistaken, love. I'm quite sure we still have a few more days."

Klaus was lying, obviously. She knew for a fact that this was day 364 but somehow, she didn't find the inclination to correct him.

"Huh." Was what she said instead. "Okay."

"Okay."

They stayed married for another year.

On the third year, they had their biggest fight.

Caroline was practically living with him since they started sleeping together and Klaus didn't bat an eye when she started crowding his condo with her color-coded things. But when her shoe boxes which contained more memorabilia and souvenirs than actual shoes began taking up space in his studio, he had enough.

And so Klaus bought a house.

She was hysterical as expected. Yes they were already sharing a bed and for God's sake, they're married. In paper. And as far as everyone knew.

But a house –

A house was like giant leap.

Klaus thought it was the next logical step and so of course he refused to sell the house back.

They fought like children for the first month and ignored each other on the next. They would fight more for another if fate hadn't decided to intervene.

At the middle of the year, Liz Forbes was diagnosed with cancer.

They ended up moving in to the very house that started everything since it was closer to her mom's home. For the next few months, they fell into the blur of hospital routine — Caroline staying with her mom and Klaus running errands, staying with Caroline.

In one of their endlessly long nights, he held Caroline in her sleep.

They were on the couch beside her mom's bed. He was so used to being pused away, of people leaving him but this girl –

She's gripping his fingers until her knuckles turned white, clung to him like her life depends on it. On him. And so when she whispered to him in a tiny voice –

"Don't leave me."

He didn't.

The next year, their fourth year, Caroline got pregnant.

It was a difficult time for them. Liz died just after New Year. Caroline was just getting over her grief and Klaus was picking up her pieces.

They thought it was just exhaustion. They didn't know how it happened. They were careful, always had been, but perhaps, once again, fate decided to poke its nose and turn their world upside down.

One thing was clear, however –

This wasn't part of the deal.

Caroline was quiet after they'd gone to the doctor. She lost her mom and now she'd become the mom.

She didn't know what to make of that.

She had her hand on her stomach, her gaze on tge car window when she spoke.

"Until only the baby is born." Her voice rang with finality.

Klaus didn't know what to say to erase the sadness in her eyes.

And so the silence stretched on.

Nine months later, after ten hours of labor, Klaus was holding his newborn son in his arms.

Caroline was on the bed watching them, looking tired and beautiful. She was smiling for the first time in a long while and God, how his heart just lurched at the sight.

She reached out to him with one hand, an olive branch, and reverently pressed a kiss on his knuckles.

"Not yet." She whispered against his fingers. "Please, not yet."

Klaus slid his hand away from hers and held the side of her cheek.

"Alright."

Not a year after on a beautiful sunny day, he told her he loved her.

They were having a mini-picnic in their backyard. Klaus was lounging on the mat with the baby sleeping on his chest and Caroline was sneaking photos of them with her phone.

She wasn't stunned at all by his declaration but the look she gave him then took hold of his entire being.

It took them years to get to this point, Caroline thought. But this time, the timing was right. Just perfect.

Leaning down, she placed the softest of kisses on his lips.

"I love you too."

Klaus smiled and held her until the baby cried and they had to go back inside the house.

This time, they both knew, it's forever.

There's so many reviews I haven't replied yet. Been too busy with RL but know that I love you all! Thanks for reading!