Thank you guys again. I mean it, you're awesome.

Chapter 37

Ep.12

Katherine Pierce on her deathbed and Caroline Forbes willingly giving herself over to him. Klaus was having trouble thinking of a better day in recent years.

Caroline clawed at him, gripped his shirt and was more than willing to shred him of it as she kissed him ferociously. Klaus couldn't wipe the smile from his lips as he kissed her back. He'd been wanting her to finally succumb, to come to her senses and realize he was worth the few moments of fun for awhile.

As he pressed her to the tree -her shirt gone and him leaning back to remove his- Klaus caught sight of the flustered blond vampire and paused. He looked her over, taking in her parted lips, her heavy eyelids, and the look of lust shining back at him through the sea of blue and realized something quickly.

He no longer wanted this.

His brows pulled together and he stared at her breathing heavily and all but begging to continue. Caroline noticed he hadn't moved in a moment and found her gaze sharpening on him.

"What?" she breathed.

"Nothing, I just…" he paused.

A smile tugged on his lips and a disbelieving laugh escaped. Klaus stepped away from Caroline, still musing over something unsaid as he ran his hand down his lips to wipe away her gloss.

"What?" Caroline repeated with an annoyed tone.

Klaus looked at her and chuckled.

"Not that this hasn't been wonderful darling, but I think I'm going to have to pass." He said with a simple shrug.

Caroline's eyes immediately narrowed and her voice dropped to a low, dangerous volume.

"What?" she growled.

Still Klaus smiled, unable to stop because of the revelation he seemed to have had. Instead of speaking further on it, he sauntered to the nearest piece of clothing. He picked it up between his fingertips and tossed the garment to Caroline. She immediately began to pull on her shirt to shield herself while Klaus grabbed his jacket.

"Are you kidding me?!" she nearly screamed. She was flustered again, but for another reason entirely. When she pulled her shirt on over her head, she shot him a furious glare. "Then why the hell have you been stalking me for months? Why have you been trying so hard to get me to like you? Why bother?"

Klaus, instead of being angry by her words just listened while she ranted, still grinning like an idiot as he threaded his arms through his jacket.

"Well," he sighed, adjusting his jacket briefly before looking at her. "While that was lovely, you're just not my type."

Her eyes shot wide and he could see the angry fire burning in them. Again, Klaus wasn't affected at all.

"You're such an ass!"

Klaus chuckled and nodded.

"I've been called a lot worse by a lot better." He replied easily. "No worries though. My lips are sealed and I'll keep my word. I won't go near Katerina."

And without another word, Klaus left the young vampire to herself. The sound of a furious shriek filled his ears and he knew he'd angered the cheerleader. He didn't care. All he could think of was getting home to New Orleans.

~~~!~~~

The smile on Klaus's face hadn't disappeared even after he walked onto the compound and gave Thierry back to the day-walkers. Marcel was wallowing and felt even more annoyance at Klaus's obvious chipper mood. When he commented on it, Klaus simply chuckled. While he had business to attend to, Klaus was excited with the realization he'd had while visiting Mystic Falls.

When he told the day walkers they could have their fun in the Cauldron and after Marcel did his best to dampen the hybrid's mood, Klaus caught sight of Hayley on the balcony. He met her eyes as he jogged up the stairs.

"Where's Kali?"

Hayley made a face. "How would I know? We're not exactly book-club buddies."

He cocked a brow in annoyance when he reached.

"Less sarcasm if you can manage."

"Her room I guess." She shrugged, still eying Klaus like something was wrong with him. "I haven't seen her walking around today."

Without bothering to thank her, Klaus stepped around the increasingly pregnant wolf and set off towards K's room.

When he reached her door he noticed it cracked. Klaus pressed his palm against it and let it gently sway the rest of the way open. Sure enough she was in her room.

K was busy reading a book on her balcony. The balcony outside her French doors was in reality no thicker than an average sized pot. It was made for people to decorate their windows with elaborate pots and hanging plants, not for much more. That was the purpose of the balconies overhanging the main street.

The French doors were wide open letting the mild breeze flow through the room. She was leaning back in a simple wooden chair just to the left of the doors, her legs crossed and ankles propped up on the wrought iron railing. The sun was shining brightly and making her bare legs glow nearly white. K looked at peace, but she tensed when she felt the air in her room shift. K sighed as she turned the page.

"I don't know what the Mikaelsons are doing," she said in a voice thick with annoyance. Klaus eyed her curiously as he continued into her room. "I don't care what they're doing. Go talk to Marcel."

"That answer seems a bit rehearsed." He said when he reached her side.

K looked up at Klaus's smiling face. She laughed breathily and turned her eyes back to her book.

"It's amazing how many of these little day-walkers think I'm privy to every little thought that surges through your collective brains."

"Don't they realize you can hardly stand the lot of us?" he teased.

K laughed. She shook her head at him, but found herself agreeing. She turned to Klaus who was sitting in a chair near the round table holding her flowers. He was smiling at his joke.

"Apparently not." She replied with a light giggle. "So, what put you in such a good mood? You never smile unless you just ate a kitten or something else adorably fluffy."

He rolled his eyes at her comment, but the smirk remained.

"Well what can I say," he sighed, gradually meeting her gaze again. "Perhaps I'm simply happy to be home?"

K felt her stomach flutter. Klaus made no secret of the meaning behind his statement and smiled a bit wider at her reaction. They two stared at one another, neither speaking while the sounds of the city echoed softly around them. It was an oddly peaceful moment and made Klaus remember why he'd come to speak with her in the first place.

Despite popular belief, it was possible to have a civil conversation –borderline delightful one- with Klaus.

"Do you believe in second chances?" Klaus found himself asking, still harboring a hint of a smirk given he felt he knew the answer.

Without hesitation, K replied, "No."

Klaus's face dropped. That wasn't the answer he'd expected. He thought she would for sure, especially considering how many she seemed to give out to everyone around her. There were no limits to Kali's immense understanding, but second chances seemed to be too much. She noticed his face fall and it brought a soft smile to her lips. K rested her head against the back of the chair.

"I think you should give as many chances needed," she said. "As long as whomever you're giving them to actually wants to redeem themselves." Klaus relaxed a bit with her answer, but didn't give any indications as to why he would have asked. "Why?"

"And me?" he asked, skipping over her question entirely. "Do you believe as Elijah does that something like me can be saved?"

K narrowed her eyes briefly and examined the man sitting a few feet from her. She didn't know where his questions were coming from, but she had no reservations telling him or his siblings what she thought.

"I don't know." She answered honestly. Klaus physically twitched. "It's almost like you'd rather have people hate you more than anything else."

Silence began to stretch between them and Klaus found himself mulling over K's words. But she could see something else, something lingering in his features.

"Since when did you care what other people think about you? What's changed?"

He took a deep breath and sighed, tapping his palm against the arm of his chair briefly before meeting her eyes.

"Marcel's men love him, respect him. They'll never treat me like that and what's worse, not only does Marcel hate me as well, but he seems to share the sentiment with my siblings and probably you too. Especially since Davina."

K groaned to herself and shook her head again. She wasn't trying to act judgingly, but Klaus had trouble seeing it as anything else for a moment. In a split second of exposing himself, he felt slighted, then anger and almost immediately began plotting his cruel retort.

"I don't hate you, Niklaus." K sighed, rolling her head to look at him. Klaus' wicked thoughts immediately vanished and he was given a glimpse into what everyone was talking about when they said he was broken. "Elijah doesn't hate you because honestly, I don't think he's capable of hatred anymore. Rebekah and Marcel? I don't know. I don't know what you've done to Rebekah through the years and you have to realize what you did to Marcel. Of course he's angry."

"He's been sulking, drinking everything in sight and shirking his duties as my second."

"He lost a dear friend, Niklaus." She snapped weakly. "He's hurt. He's in mourning. How is he supposed to behave?"

"Life moves on. Most of us are a testament to that little fact. She was mortal. Mortals die. It's the way of life."

She didn't know if he meant to be callous or not, but his words were cold. They were true, but they were just so cold. It was for reasons like that, that people didn't like him. Klaus, while clever and charming, had absolutely no tact when dealing with things he considered trivial.

"Doesn't make it easier." K said simply. "I watched forty-seven generations of Bennetts be born then die. Just because I'd seen it happen before didn't mean it was any easier the next time." He looked at her as she spoke, absorbing her words like she was singing gospel. "We expect death, cope with it when it comes, but it's never easy."

"He'll hate me forever for what I did to that girl." He said somberly.

"Forever is such a limitless void." she said gently. "He might be angry with you for a while, years even, for what you did to Davina and her boyfriend, but it won't be forever."

He chewed briefly on the inside of his cheek.

"And you?" he asked, forcing her to sharpen her gaze on him curiously. "Will you hate me for years because of what I did after you warned me not to be cruel?"

Her brows came together.

"Why do you care so much what I think?"

He chewed on his lip again.

"Truth be told, I don't want you to hate me too."

She paused for a moment before speaking. There it was, another hint of who he used to be. It was times like that she honestly had hope for him and that made her think maybe she wasn't as stupid as everyone thought for caring about him.

"It makes me sad." She said softly. "I can tell at the time you honestly thought you were in the right, but you weren't. You recognize that, don't you?" he didn't speak and her heart sank again. She sighed lightly and rolled her head again to face forward. K looked out over the scenery below. "You've spent so long perceiving everyone as enemies; you have no idea how to treat friends."

Klaus' brows twitched together and gathered in the center of his forehead. He felt K's words seep into him, forcing him to rethink everything he'd done.

"You're right." He said after a moment or two. K rolled her head lazily towards him again. "But history's taught me…"

"No," she shook her head. "No, you don't get to sit there and blame everything and everyone else. Have you ever heard the saying, you teach others how to treat you?" she asked without expecting an answer. "You can't expect people to suddenly devote themselves to you just because you told them to. If you want loyalty and love, you have to show compassion and respect. Fear only gets you so far. You and I have lived long enough to see Dictators overthrown all around the world because eventually people rose up against them, proving tyrannical oppression doesn't work. Besides, fear only breeds hate."

He didn't speak for a moment, but listened to her words. He honestly listened to them which was more than he could claim of nearly anyone else.

"You should write greeting cards."

K snorted a weak laugh and shook her head.

"You're an ass." She told him honestly causing Klaus to smile.

The pair mused over the comment briefly before Klaus decided to change the subject entirely. He looked around the room before back at K.

"How do you like your room?"

Her smile turned genuine as she took in her surroundings.

"It's beautiful." K smiled. "I've never had a room this nice before that, you know, I didn't have to pay for."

After a moment of silence -the pair in the room amazed they'd continued a civil conversation- the door to K's room was suddenly filled with another body. Klaus looked, K shifted in her seat and they both spotted Diego looking as though he'd seen a ghost.

"We've got a problem." He said.

Klaus sighed heavily and glanced briefly to K before standing and following after the young man. K felt her brow rise curiously at the display. The little vampire looked honestly worried. Interesting.