Klaus to Caroline - "Just five more minutes."

Requested by justanotherfiveminutes.


Try as she might, Caroline could never crawl out of Klaus' embrace without waking him. That didn't mean she wouldn't keep trying, but she would have thought the exasperation she felt momentarily when he stirred at the first sign of her leaving would have diminished by now. If there was one thing about him that was true, it was that he was always alert. Awake or asleep, she had discovered, Klaus' sense of self-awareness never lessened.

"Where are you going?" he asked, voice deep and husky, and half muffled by the pillow his cheek was pressed into. The arm around her waist tightened, hand clutching at her hip, as he sleepily blinked up at her.

"I have to leave. I have an early lecture and I need to go back to mine to change first," she replied, keeping her words low so not to disturb the peacefulness the early morning held, even in a place like the French Quarter right outside the windows.

Running a hand through his hair, she smiled victoriously to herself when he smiled back lazily and allowed his eyes to droop shut as he buried his face back into his pillow. He laid on his front, one arm tucked under his head with his legs stretched out along the entirety of his side of the bed. Caroline loved taking him in as he slept. It was a side of him no one else got to see. He looked younger when he slept; the thousand years vanishing in one simple act to allow her a glimpse of the 23 year old man he was underneath.

"You have clothes here," Klaus said matter-of-factly.

"I've worn them all, and everything else has been destroyed," Caroline pointedly reminded him, hissing slightly towards the end in reprimand for his repeated actions of tearing off her clothes in the prelude of their passions.

"I'd apologise but I wouldn't mean it," he answered nonchalantly, pulling her closer into him (which was the complete opposite to what she needed to do right then) and nuzzling his face into the crook of her neck. "Just five more minutes."

"No," she said strictly, leaning her head back and making sure to keep her hands on his shoulders in a show of pushing him away. His lips brushed against her skin continuously until there was no way of denying how awake he was or how he was trying to seduce her to stay by peppering her neck with kisses. Huffing, she admonished him, "Five is never five."

"Then make it 10," he stated slyly, with a smirk to match on his beautiful features and full lips as he pulled back to catch her eyes.

"I can't," she emphasised, adding her own pout when he reacted in the same manner. Taking advantage of his sullen mood, she quickly managed to shuffle away and sit up until the only hold he had on her was a hand around her thigh. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to be late. I'll pop back later if I can. I have so much housework to do, too."

"I don't see the point of you having your own place, love. We spend almost every night together as it is, and its mostly here," Klaus all but grumbled when she finally slipped out of his grip and to the edge of the bed.

"Its closer to campus," she reasoned, picking up his discarded top from the night before by her feet and slipping it on.

"This is only another 20 minutes," he countered, turning onto his back and pushing himself up against his pillows so he could lounge lazily against the headboard. There was a slight pause where she moved to stand up when he suddenly spoke up to add, "You should move in."

Freezing, Caroline twisted around to stare at him incredulously. He looked so innocent and unfazed by the sudden proposal which would undoubtedly take their relationship to the next level. Elbows pressed into the mattress on either side of him with his hands resting lighting on his stomach, he merely gazed back expectedly as she couldn't help but take a moment to simply blink in disbelief. They had been together (officially) for over two years now, but when the timescale was forever, was that a decent pace before moving forwards?

"Seriously?" she gasped, still shocked at his suggestion.

"Yes," Klaus replied curtly with a nod, furrowing his brow as he admitted, "I always thought you would when you came down to New Orleans."

Caroline couldn't deny the thought had passed through her mind at first, when she had turned up on his doorstep with a couple (or ten) bags and a sunny smile asking if his offer to be her last love still stood. They had had a whirlwind romance as he lived up to his other promise of taking her wherever she wanted to go; London to Rome, by the way of Paris (Tokyo had to wait on account of her college semester starting at Tulane). They had settled into a somewhat 'normal' relationship once her classes had started and they had found themselves apart for the first time in three months since her arrival in his city. His home had never been hers for longer than a handful of days at a time, so the thought of moving in with him had passed quickly. Until now.

"Why didn't you say anything?" she questioned, curious, because Klaus wasn't the kind of man to keep his desires to himself. After all, he did try and court her for two years whilst she was with Tyler.

"Because you had your plans. You already knew where you wanted to look for an apartment, and what kind of place you wanted," he told her with a shrug to play off the emotions she could see whirling just beneath his stoic exterior. But she knew him better than that (than anyone by now) and she could detect the hint of disappointment he had kept hidden for her happiness. However, the mask slipped soon enough when he gave her a soft smile. "I couldn't deny you that. You were so excited."

Smiling brightly, she fought down the lump that formed in her throat and urged away the fluttering butterflies breaking into dance in her stomach at the truth behind his words. Finally, she had someone who put her first and for whom she was the one. Klaus was a selfish man, but when it came to her happiness, he compromised; evidently, sometimes without her knowledge. The simple, pure and adulterated love she felt for him swelled inside her for the millionth time since she had known him, allowing her to love like she never knew she could.

"I would have been just as excited to be here," Caroline said honestly, reaching out to cover his hands with one of her own. "Thank you for giving me the choice, though. Living by myself has been fun and different. I think I needed it."

"Of course," he brushed off, capturing her hand between his in one easy sleight of hand. Tugging gently, he forced her to bend a knee up onto the mattress so she could lean in towards him as he slowly licked his lips and informed her, "You know if you move in, that's it, right? I won't let you move out again."

Swallowing at both his sensual actions and the words of an ultimatum, she nodded. "I know," she said, understandingly.

Klaus nodded back, eyes boring into hers with a dark heat and a small hint of nervousness she rarely ever got to see in him. "And?"

Pursing her lips, Caroline tilted her head before offering him a gentle smile and a squeeze of the hand. "Can I think about it?"

"Sure," he breathed out, and she could see the relief fill his being by the way his shoulders slumped and his features lightened up. But there was still a hint of edginess to his tone, and she instantly worried that he might mistakenly take her early morning apprehension as rejection. Luckily for her, however, Klaus seemed to know her as well as she claimed to know him. "Caroline, its ok. Take your time; think it through. The offer stands for whenever you want."

Sighing in reassurance, she crawled up onto the bed until she could lean over him and press her lips to his in a sweet yet passionate kiss. She curled a hand around the back of his neck whilst keeping another on the pillow under him to balance herself. Her sleep tousled hair fell around them to form a curtain, and she could feel his fingers thread through them until he was gently massaging her scalp in the most provocative way.

"I love you," she murmured against his mouth when they parted. Giggling when he tried to keep her in place, she trailed her hand down to his chest until she could push herself away enough that he was forced to retract his hands. "Shoot! I'm late!" she gasped suddenly as she caught sight of the clock next to his bed.

"Well, if you're already late…" Klaus began suggestively, hurriedly trying to grasp at her when she began to scramble off the bed.

"Haha, no," Caroline deadpanned, managing to avoid his half-hearted attempted to reel her back into bed with a light slap to his hands as she scurried to her feet. "Klaus, seriously!"

"Fine, fine. Go; leave," he huffed, dramatically throwing himself back onto the bed and turning onto his side so he could snuggle back into his pillow. "Enjoy your class. I'll just be in bed for another couple of hours."

Throwing him a glare at his jealousy-evoking words, she scoffed when she saw the smirk pulling at his lips even as his eyes remained shut with his face half buried into the luxuriously soft and comfortable pillow. "I hate you," she hissed before turning on her heel and making her way to the adjoining bathroom.

His words had formed an image in her mind which would only make her long day even longer, but luckily she had methods of pushing them aside. For today, it would be mentally moving her stuff into his room. She was a design major after all, and his room was large enough for her to make her presence known in every way she had ever wanted to.