Author's Message: I'm not going to lie. This one hurt to write. Tuesday morning continues below with Caroline.
Bonnie hastily gazes away towards the fireplace. She looks like she might be sick. Caroline's eyes feel hot, a build up of tears threatening. Caroline waits for her to say something else with bated breath. She decides she has to get through to her, urgently.
"Bonnie," Caroline begins. "I never went to a spa. On Friday, I took the day off from school because for a few weeks now, I've been in a mood—just pretty down in the dumps."
Bonnie grimaces, the news startling her.
"I've been contemplating what it is I have to do in the near future while trying to stay true to what I thought I'd be doing. I needed a break from everything, Bonnie. Honestly, I needed a break from everyone, too. I just needed a few days to live in my own head because it was weighing on me, and I didn't even like my own company anymore."
Caroline splutters a soft laugh. "I was either pissed off or sad, and after my mom found me alone at home and we talked, I decided to take off for the weekend. I went somewhere that I've always found so peaceful—so full of hope and simplicity. That's where Klaus found me."
Bonnie scoffs. "Talk about the total opposite of peace," she says.
"You don't get it," Caroline utters. "I'm so glad he came when he did. That day, I was a mess, Bonnie. He actually restored the peace within me. "
"God, Caroline. The guy stalked you!"
Caroline rises. "How can you say that!" she shrieks. "He came because he was helping my mother with this threat against me, but he would have been there nonetheless because he worries about me. He sensed I was off. He's attentive, Bonnie. He's observant and thoughtful. I know Klaus is a walking contradiction, boy how I know it," Caroline says, squeezing her eyes shut. "I won't deny that one of the reasons I left was to figure out how I feel about Tyler, or maybe I had figured it out and I needed to accept what it meant for me and Klaus."
"You and Klaus? Do you hear yourself! What… you think your boyfriend and girlfriend now? He's an ancient, murderous vampire! He shouldn't fit in anywhere, and he certainly doesn't do the girlfriend thing."
"I haven't resolved the logistics of our new… understanding," Caroline endeavours. "But, I'm in better spirits when I'm around him even when I want to wring his neck, and trust me… I want to wring it a lot." She manages a small smile.
"I know it doesn't make any sense, but that's how it is for me right now, and I'm not asking you to understand it. I'm not asking you to suddenly like him just because I like him. All I ask, as one of your best and oldest friends, is that in the next few days I may need some comforting and support, and I'm hoping you can find it in your heart to want me to be happy. Isn't that what friends do—stand up for what makes the other person happy even if we're pessimistic about it? Isn't that what we've always done for each other? I don't want that to stop, Bonnie."
Bonnie shoots up. "Tyler can't even live at home because of that lunatic! Elena almost died and he's tortured her ever since. And Jenna… my God, Caroline. Jenna did die!"
"I know!" shouts Caroline. "I know."
She takes a seat again, stabilizing her breath and nerves.
"But, Stefan tortured and killed people, too. He ripped the heads off of daughters and sons, husbands and wives! Just because his killings didn't directly affect us doesn't mean he's any better. When Damon came to town, he twinkled his famous eyes and I was stupid to let it get to my head. He fed on me, raped me, and I tried to escape it. I pleaded, Bonnie. Sometimes, he healed me just enough to get by, and the next day, all I knew was that someone had their way with me and I had the marks to prove it."
Caroline leans in with elbows on her lap, hands together as if in appeal. It occurs to her that Klaus heard that bit, and she's anxious now. At the same time, she's relieved. Calling the elder Salvatore out is healing in its own way.
"Do you know that he channelled me once? Damon called out for me when Stefan locked him up in the boarding house and I went there all the way from school, but I fought the compulsion. I got the hell out of there and it pissed him off that I could defy him or beat him at his own game. He tried killing me when I turned, Bonnie, because he thought I'd suck as a vampire, but I riled him some more, being better at it than any of them put together.
"I know we're monsters. I was dying from a head injury and you asked him to save me because you loved me. We're best friends, but then Katherine came in and killed me and I turned. I didn't ask to become this. Not even the originals asked for this."
Bonnie looks appalled, taking a seat next to Caroline nonetheless.
"And yet Klaus takes everyone's choice away. He turned Tyler into a vampire, even sent him out of town so he can put the moves on you."
"Trust me, I've discussed that with Klaus plenty of times," Caroline answers, her impatience dangerously close to bubbling over. "I don't need a fact sheet, Bonnie. It's tattooed on my brain. I know what Klaus did," she says. "I know his potentials, but I also know they're not all bad. Let's be clear," Caroline says. "Tyler's happy as a hybrid. He's stronger than the Salvatores and loves to show it off whenever he can. He's always been cocky that way, and he's been a good boyfriend most of the time, but we came together when we were both adjusting. We looked out for one another. We were in synch, but now the distance went to prove that we can make do without each other. We don't need to be together. I don't miss him like I should."
"Fine, but why Klaus?"
Caroline sighs, her irritability palpable.
"I didn't choose Klaus. I've been trying to steer clear of him but I can't, Bonnie. I won't—not anymore. I want to get to know him. I want to spend time with him. I want to give him a chance. There's a connection and I'm not turning my back on it."
Bonnie drills her with a disappointed look. "Well, I guess that's all there is to say."
"I guess so," retorts Caroline, grabbing the cup for coverage. She takes a sip, her heart breaking a little. "The ball's in your corner, Bonnie," she says, her eyes glazing over.
"Obviously I don't want you dead," Bonnie adds, unflappable. "So, I'll help with a spell around the border, but when this is over, I'm not sure I want to see you for a while Caroline Forbes. I just don't know you anymore."
Caroline tries reaching over, as if to comfort her or tell her she'll grant her space. It's a mistake. Bonnie looks like she's about to shatter, and Caroline's proximity only tightened the witch up.
Caroline's wounded. The scar on her heart she'll carry through eternity crops up as her phone chimes. She's startled, reaching into the large square pocket of Rebekah's bulky off the shoulder grey sweater. She almost can't wrap her mind around what to do, trying to snap out of the hurt, opening herself up to an unknown caller.
She flinches. Caroline expels a breath as if injured, staring down at the screen, her breath bursting in and out.
"Care?" tries Bonnie. "Caroline, what's wrong? Klaus!" Bonnie calls. "Klaus!"
Caroline pushes out a grunt. It's a pained hiss as if in the middle of exertion. Her limbs tremble.
Bonnie pushes off the sofa, her eyes searching, yanking the phone. Klaus appears, his hands at Caroline's shoulders.
"No, no, no…" Caroline cries. "No, no, please, no…"
Klaus' horrified expression feels like it makes her earth quake, shuddering and paling from it, her body icing over now. The tears are torrid, scalding her face.
"No!" Caroline wails again. Her spirit has been breaking for days, and finally the pieces drop. She's aware of the cautious movement around her, the sounds of the outside world bleeding into the house. It's all fusing into a monotonic drone.
"Caroline?" Klaus pleads.
His voice is like a jolt to her heart rate, a fleeting spike in a lifeline. Things are in slow motion, but she's conscious that she hasn't collapsed. Caroline gazes numbly at the two figures before her, from Klaus' alarmed face to Bonnie's woeful one. She blinks, relieving her burning eyes somewhat and smears the tears across her cheeks. She watches Klaus stagger as he glares at the phone.
So, it is true, she thinks. It's true! His anguish is clearly identifiable.
"Who is that, Klaus?" Bonnie asks. "Who sent her this? Oh my God, is the woman dead? Who would do this!"
Caroline's neck collapses, taking her head down with it to her heaving chest. It's a cutting pain. She looks up wildly around the room, registering Klaus's panicked face. Her hands go up, supporting her head. She wails an eerie cry that's almost inhuman, angrily brushing more tears with the back of her hand, the pain a poison gushing through her veins.
"Shhh…" he pacifies, clasping her against his chest.
Caroline's fingers intertwine as if in prayer under his neck, sheathed by Klaus's cocoon she stays there, crying in her nest.
"Klaus, who is that?" Bonnie begs.
He swallows. "That is Caroline's dear friend," he says, clutching her closer.
Caroline weeps. "Miss Elma."