prompt: "klaus shows up at caroline's june wedding and makes her realise she is meant for bigger things than what stefan can offer him. the safety and bore is no way to live an eternity".
written for day five; canon of klaroline au week. hope you all enjoy this one. feel free to come over and talk to me on tumblr for klaroline au week. you can find me at emmascaptn. also, pretty sure everybody knows this but a reminder that i know zero things about canon, so let's just roll with it, okay? no babies because i can't deal with that crap.
- shauna! xo
They talk about it in January, Caroline and Stefan, and it's not a real proposal, not by a long shot, and it's not what she wants. It's not the proposal that she's been dreaming of her entire life, like every other girl. In fact, she's sure that it's not even worded as a question, she's almost positive that Stefan just assumes that she'll marry him. But, she agrees nonetheless, and she finds herself diving head first into planning a white wedding and the white picket fence life that she wanted when she was a small child.
It's not the same. Not anymore.
It's a short engagement, and she only has a few months to prepare, after all, but Caroline is nothing if not efficient, and so she pours everything she has into planning her perfect wedding.
Or, so she'd hoped.
(If it was her perfect wedding her mom would be here.)
(Her mom should be here.)
June soon strolls around, and Caroline finds herself getting into her wedding dress.
The one she hadn't had made just for her, like she'd always wanted, because by the time that she'd gotten around to dress shopping, it was too late and her wedding planner (who she barely used, honestly) assured her so, too. So, Caroline had resorted to the local display of dresses, with Bonnie by her side.
Sure, it wasn't what she wanted but she was marrying Stefan, whom she loved. That was what mattered.
Right?
Bonnie helps her get ready, doing her hair and such.
(Bonnie always was amazing at crazy curly things that Caroline could never get right.)
The two laugh, as Bonnie recounts the many times of their early adolescent years, and her eyes meet Bonnie's warm, brown ones in the mirror.
"Seems like forever ago, doesn't it?" Bonnie murmurs.
Caroline finds herself nodding, almost instantly.
"Yeah," she sighs. "It really does."
Bonnie looks like she wants to say more, but she doesn't. Instead she goes back to happily curling Caroline's hair carefully, preparing to place the bridal veil in her hair. However, Caroline isn't as willing to let that slide, her eyebrows furrowing.
"What?" She asks. "Is something wrong."
Bonnie shrugs, and then shakes her head.
"Of course not. Why would something be wrong?"
But Bonnie is refusing to meet her eyes, her lips pulled up into a half-smile, half-frown, and her forehead is creasing slightly.
"You're leaving something out," Caroline accuses, her eyes narrowing. "That's your lying face."
"I don't have a lying face," Bonnie returns, her eyes finally meet hers.
Caroline raises an eyebrow.
"Out with it, Bennett."
Bonnie sighs, placing the curling iron back down onto the side.
"It's just-" Bonnie breaks herself off, before staring back at Caroline with determination as she moves around to the front of the mirror so that they can actually see each other. "Are you sure this, Stefan, is actually what you want?"
Caroline hesitates slightly, and it seems to be enough for Bonnie.
"Of course," Caroline says after she gets over her stump. "I love him."
"And I'm not doubting that," Bonnie immediately murmurs. "But... are you sure that you're in love with him? Because I've seen you in love. With Tyler. Even Matt, for the short period of time. And I've seen you heartbroken. Time and time again, and I'm just not sure that's what this is."
Caroline pauses and she let's that settle, before she shakes her head.
"I love him," she repeats, though she doesn't acknowledge that claim. "And I'm going to do this, I'm going to marry him."
Bonnie shoots her an almost pitying look.
"One more thing, and I swear, I'll walk with you into there, and we won't speak of it again. But, just so you know: nobody will hate you for leaving here, and not looking back. Not even Stefan. We all just want what is best of you, and maybe being by yourself is that." A pause. "Elena won't want to come back and see you unhappy."
Caroline stares up at her childhood friend, and she presses her lips together before letting out a huge burst of air.
She knows mentioning Elena is her weak spot, and it almost makes her change her mind.
Forcing a fake smile onto her lips, Caroline looks over to the side.
"It's time to do my make up."
Bonnie doesn't hesitate, and she doesn't mention it further, as promised.
"Of course. Let's make you hot."
This time, Caroline's laughter isn't so fake and it carries all the way down the hallway, to where she's going to be married in two hours. Soon.
-/-
Caroline decides not to have anybody walk her down the aisle, since it just doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel right to ask somebody to step in and fill the shoes of her father and mother, when her mom should be here. She should be. Liz should be the one to walk her down the aisle, and the fact that she isn't, makes her want to cry for days.
Being the perfectionist that she is, Caroline shakes it off and plasters a smile on her face, as Bonnie bows her head slightly before she walks down the aisle first, as her maid of honour.
She'd decided against bridesmaids. Sure, she wanted Elena to be here, but she couldn't be. Not at least for another century, and by then, it would be a strong possibility that Bonnie would no longer be with them, and that's a harder thought, as careless as that sounded.
So, the nerves start to settle in when she hears the music play, and Bonnie skips down the aisle, and Bonnie's words start to register with her, the ones she'd shared moments before she'd left.
You deserve to get what you want. And I promise no one will hate you for this.
She's slowly starting to believe that.
That is, until she hears of a calling of her name in an accent that is far too familiar.
"Caroline."
Her name is murmured slowly, his accent wrapping around the syllables just right, and she's sure she's dreaming as she turns around, stumbling in her silver heels, and that's when she sees him, in all his handsome glory.
And she's almost certain that this isn't real.
"Klaus," she breathes.
He smirks that crooked smile of his, and she watches as his head tips to the side, his eyes sparkling over at her, as they trace over her form.
"Did you miss me?"
Her eyes are still wide, as they take him in, and her lips open and close a few times, before she presses her lips together firmly, her eyes narrowing slightly. Caroline's arms cross over her chest, her fingernails cutting into her skin, and she sighs.
"What are you doing here?" It's a question, but it sounds more like an accusation.
But, Klaus still has that unnerving smirk on his face.
"Whatever do you mean, love?" He asks, just as innocently, as he strides towards her, but she's not buying it.
She hisses as she glares at him.
"I mean it's my wedding day, which you damn well probably know, and you show up. Out of the blue, when you haven't seen me in nearly five years? Bull shit."
Klaus merely raises an eyebrow at her angry stare, before he shrugs, stopping a couple of feet away from her.
"Perhaps I was hurt that I didn't receive an invite, Caroline," he tells her, his voice purposefully light, and almost mocking. "It is the most important day of your life. Correct? Isn't that what most women say on the day they marry their soul mate?"
Yeah, she muses, he's definitely mocking her and her eyes darken in anger.
"This has nothing to do with you," she returns, and she means it.
Because she may have had feelings for him, once upon a time, but that's behind her now. It's in the past, especially considering she hasn't seen him in so long. He has no hold over her any longer, and he had no right to show up like this.
This time, Klaus' eyes are the one flashing amber.
"That is wrong and you know it," he hisses, and before she knows it, he's flashed forward until theres less than a few centimeters between them.
She glares right back.
"No," she tells him, her voice firm, though it cracks slightly and so does her resolve. "I love Stefan, and I shall be marrying him. Now, today. And that has nothing to do with you, Klaus. Not now. Not ever. And you don't get a say in who I decide to be with."
Klaus seems to regain his posture because he's staring up at her amusedly.
"Is that so, sweetheart? Because all of your friends, clearly, don't agree with that."
The sentence makes her eyebrows furrow slightly and she looks up at him. That's when it clicks, why and how he's here.
"Bonnie," she says slowly. "Bonnie is why you're here."
He doesn't answer her, but he also doesn't deny it. Not that she needs him to.
Straightening her shoulders, Caroline shoots him a dark look over her shoulder.
"Well then, I'm sorry to have wasted your time," she tells him, almost coldly. "Because Bonnie clearly doesn't know what she's talking about. I'm happy," Lie, she thinks, "with Stefan, and I love him so, if you'll excuse me," another lie she thinks, "I'm going to get married."
But, Klaus is in her way once more.
It only agitates her further.
"Are you?" He asks, and his blue eyes are peering down at her with so much sincerity and compassion that she suddenly wants to hit him. "Happy, I mean."
Caroline doesn't think she has it in her to say yes one more time, so she merely nods, and his shoulders drop slightly.
"I didn't come here today with the purpose of stealing you away," Klaus says slowly, his eyes still on hers. "After Bonnie's call, I wanted to see if you were truly as unhappy as she had proclaimed, and I understand what she was saying now. You don't look happy, not as happy as a woman should on her wedding day."
Caroline doesn't answer that either, because she knows he's right, that the both of them are. But she doesn't want to say it.
"So, if you want to go into that church and get married, I won't stop you," he shrugs. "I won't be the monster you've cooked me up to be in that pretty little head of yours. But I will tell you this, Caroline, if you don't want to walk down that aisle, all you have to do is say the word, and I'll get you away from here. Any where you want, and I don't even have to be with you. As much as I might like to."
She doesn't answer for a while, her lips pressing together and that must be answer enough for him because he shrugs slowly and takes a step away from her.
"I wish you a very happy life, Caroline. You deserve all the beauty and happiness in the world, sweetheart," he tells her, as he leans forward, his lips pressing briefly against her cheek, before he's gone with a whirl, and Caroline's left startled.
But she didn't have time to dwell on that, because she had to go get married.
-/-
The music comes on, and she knows it's her time to walk down the aisle.
She steps forward, alone, and Klaus' words seem to register with her more and more, along with Bonnie's, and she ignores the tears that spring to her eyes, as she clutches the bouquet of flowers in her hands. There's a smile on her face, fake as it may be, as she steps forward into her new life.
There's still a nagging feeling on her gut, and Caroline doesn't even realise she's paused halfway down the aisle, until there's a collective gasp around her, her eyes wide, as she catches Bonnie's.
"I-" She cuts herself off, and she twists slightly, to catch the movement, of the door, and she knows that he's waiting just outside.
She's back down the aisle once more, and she's out of the church doors before she can even breathe, a whirl of white skirts behind her.
Caroline's never been so relieved to see Klaus' face before, and she doesn't think she ever will be.
"Get me out of here," she practically demands, but he smiles up at her, dimples and all.
"As you wish," he tells her.
So, she leaves it behind. Whispers of not being good enough and being second choice, and she lets the man who had always put her first, whisk her out of the church, with promises of being her last love.
(Rome was totally beautiful, even if Klaus was there to share the experience with her.)
(And maybe, she didn't send him packing straight away. He did make a great tour guide, after all.)
