AN - Two things. 1 - Tried writing this from Klaus' POV. Man, writing as him is rough. Don't know if I'll try it again, we'll see. Let me know what you guys think if you want. 2. I really swore to myself that if I ever wrote a story, I wouldn't leave my chapters off on cliffhangers… sorry about that. I have come to realize that it is actually really helpful for me to do that so I can gather my thoughts for what I want to happen next. Sorry, not sorry. I'll try to do it less though.

Chapter 8

Klaus was in his room when he heard Rebekah announce that she was home. He'd had a very long morning, including several phone calls about possible intel on Sage's whereabouts that had all led to dead ends. It wasn't until 11:30 that they had finally gotten a good lead. One of his associates had seen her just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Elijah was currently on his way there to try to find Sage and hopefully convince her to help them. Kol had gone out to the local community college to 'celebrate.'

He was very much enjoying the peace and quiet of the house, so he chose not to respond to Rebekah. For what seemed like the hundredth time, he commended himself on having the foresight to have his room spelled. He'd had a witch cast a spell on his bedroom so that no one, not even one of his siblings, could hear into it, yet he was still able to monitor what was going on in the rest of his home. This spell had saved him from several of Elijah's lectures, Rebekah's tantrums and Kol's incessant pestering.

He tried to turn his attention back to his sketchpad, but Rebekah's next words caught his interest.

"See? No one's here."

What was his sister up to now? He heard two sets of footsteps going up the stairs and approaching Rebekah's bedroom, which was right across from his. He froze when he heard her voice. What were Caroline and Rebekah doing together?

He smiled when he heard Caroline compliment his sister's style and ask her about her career plans. As he tried to get back to his drawing, his ears perked up when he heard Caroline mention him. He rolled his eyes when he heard her say that he didn't take no for an answer. He was just about to tune them out so he could focus on his sketch when he heard his sister ask Caroline about compulsion.

His whole body went rigid as he heard her response. When he didn't hear Caroline deny Rebekah's theory about Damon, he almost vamped out of the house to find the man in question.

Horrible memories flashed through his mind as he heard his sister mention their mother's sufferings. All of them had known what was happening back then. How helpless they had all felt, knowing there was nothing they could do to stop him or help her. They had tried their best to shield Henrik from the knowledge of how Mikael had treated Ester, but Klaus knew that they had not succeeded. He remembered Henrik asking why Ester would scream and cry out at night. Why he would notice bruises on their mother at breakfast that had not been there at dinner the previous night.

It took all he had in him to stay there and listen when she started describing her first encounter with Damon. He waited with bated breath when she paused in the middle of everything. He knew he shouldn't eavesdrop; knew that she would not want him to hear all that she had revealed or anything else that she was about to tell Rebekah. Yet, he just couldn't bring himself to leave; he needed to know.

He felt his eyes burn golden when he heard the next few words out of Caroline's mouth. The biting, the compelling, the sex. Damon Salvatore would pay. He would be begging for death before Klaus was through with him. Klaus felt something sticky running down the palm of his hand. At some point, he had snapped his pencil and it had stabbed into his palm. He quickly pulled the pencil piece out and threw it across the room as he wiped his hand on his pants; his ears fixed on the conversation still taking place across the hall.

Useless, a waste of space, stupid. He was very familiar with having those very insults hurled at him from a man he wanted nothing more than to prove his worth to.

He almost lost it when he heard Caroline explain the full story of the damned meeting that took place on Saturday. Elena would also feel some of his wrath before he was through. What kind of a 'best friend' did something like that?

Klaus couldn't contain himself anymore. He threw his open door and slammed Rebekah's open within seconds. Surprisingly, Caroline recovered from the shock of his entrance before his sister did.

"I cannot believe you!" She screamed. "What happened to trusting me, huh?" He furrowed his face in confusion and tried to speak, but she kept on yelling. "What happened to letting me come to you when I was ready to talk? You couldn't do it. Instead you made your sister pretend to befriend me so you could overhear any information that I spilled to her. I can't believe I was stupid enough to fall for this!"

She shot a glare over her shoulder at Rebekah before fixing her blazing eyes back on him. "I trusted you." With that she vamped out the door, knocking into him on her way.

Klaus was about to speed after her, but was stopped by his sister's icy voice. "What did you do, Nik?" She moved so that she was standing right next to him.

He turned to face her, his confusion being replaced by rage once more. "I didn't do anything, little sister! Why does everyone always assume I've done something wrong?"

"Because you almost always do!" She screamed back at him. "What did you do? I listened for you, for anyone, when Caroline and I got here. I heard nothing, even you aren't that quiet, Niklaus; so what did you do?"

"Again, I didn't do anything wrong. There was no plot against anyone! I had a witch spell my room so that no one could hear into it. All I'm guilty of is wanting some peace and quiet."

"And eavesdropping." Rebekah hissed back at him. "You better fix this, Nik. You go tell her that I had nothing to do with this. I finally started to make a friend and you ruined it!"

"I didn't ruin anything!" He exclaimed. "And if I recall correctly, you two were enemies. What happened to that?"

"My idiot brother did something right for a change and made a truce, which could lead to me having a normal life for once. I was trying to mend the fences I had destroyed and realized that Caroline wasn't who I thought she was. It was going rather well until the same idiot brother screwed it up!" With that, she too rushed from the room, leaving Klaus to wonder how all of this was suddenly his fault.

True, he knew eavesdropping wasn't the best choice considering the circumstances. He understood why Caroline would be upset that he had overheard what she'd said. However, he couldn't believe that Caroline would think that he was plotting to do anything that would upset her. He felt a pain shoot through his chest as he thought about how that was the first thought that had come to her mind, how she still assumed the worst of him.

He turned out of the room to head downstairs with the intention of going straight to Caroline's house to set things straight. Instead, he was shocked to find Elijah in the entrance hall talking to Rebekah. Sage was standing just behind him examining one of the paintings on the wall. Lastly, his eyes fixated on Caroline, who was standing just in front of the closed front door with her arms crossed tightly over her chest, glaring at a spot on the floor.

"Niklaus, finally." Elijah began, his eyes darting to Caroline when he noticed the direction of Klaus' stare. "Ah, yes, I ran into Ms. Forbes as she was on the way out to her car. I asked her to stay so that she could relay the news about Sage to her friends. Sage has agreed to help us. I figured we should all decide on a plan of action together. Shall we move to the sitting room?" He motioned to the same room where Klaus, Caroline, Bonnie and Kol had agreed to their truce.

The group filtered into the sitting room as Elijah led the way. Klaus sped down the stairs so that he was right next to Caroline. He put his hand on her arm, trying to get her to hang back before heading into the sitting room.

Caroline wretched her arm away from him, glaring. "Don't. The only reason that I am still here is because Elijah asked me to be a part of this meeting." She hurried to follow after Rebekah.

Klaus sighed, his older brother had the worst timing. When he entered the sitting room, he saw that Elijah had seated himself on one of the couches with Rebekah next to him. Sage had made herself comfortable on the couch opposite them. Caroline, however, was leaning against the desk that was next to the windows. As he made his way to stand next to the fireplace, he noticed his sister glance over at Caroline every so often, trying to catch her eye.

Elijah must have sensed some of the tension because he cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Right, well, I have explained our situation to Sage and she has graciously agreed to help us get Finn back."

"And by 'get Finn back', he means getting him to come talk with us, not get him to come back only to have a dagger shoved in his chest for another 900 years." Sage glared over at Klaus.

"I will not have him put the rest of our family in danger." Klaus growled.

"Which I'm sure Sage understands," Elijah cut in. "Sage and I decided that it would be best if she tried to talk with Finn when he comes back here. She thinks she can convince him to give us some of his blood willingly instead of us taking it by force. She also thinks she can get him to agree to stop helping our mother."

"And if she can't?" Rebekah eyed Sage with distaste.

"We shall cross that bridge if we come to it." Elijah responded cryptically.

"How are you even planning to contact your brother?" Caroline finally spoke up, keeping her eyes firmly on Elijah.

"We're planning to have my hybrid, Josh, relay a message to him from Sage, Sweetheart." Klaus said, trying to get her attention.

"Right, I'm sure he'll believe someone who is bound to do and say exactly what you order him to." Caroline rolled her eyes, still not looking at him. "Why don't we have Josh give him a burner cell phone? Sage can call it and he can hear her voice. You know, convince him she's really here, and not just some ploy to lure him into a trap."

"What's a burner phone?" Rebekah asked.

"It's a phone that is prepaid and untraceable." Sage said, looking at Caroline. "And that is actually a great idea. You're right; Finn's too smart to believe anything one of Klaus' servants tells him." Klaus scoffed. "I know that if I can just talk to him, even over the phone, I can at least get him to come back here and hear me out." She studied Caroline for a few more seconds. "Who are you again?"

"I'm Caroline Forbes," she said, walking over to shake Sage's hand. "I live here, in Mystic Falls. They've been terrorizing my friends and I for months." She gestured to the Originals around them, making Klaus scoff once again. "I'm the one who suggested a truce with them."

Sage flicked her eyes between Caroline and Klaus as she shook the younger vampire's hand, before smiling. "I like you."

"Thanks," Caroline returned the smile. "I look forward to getting to know you."

"So is that it then?" Sage asked, directing the next question to Klaus. "How soon can your errand boy get a phone to Finn?"

"I suppose the plan has its merits," Klaus grit out. "I'll call Josh within the hour. Finn should have the phone before sunset."

Sage nodded. "Let me know when I can call him. Can I use one of the guest rooms to freshen up?"

Elijah stood to show her the way. "Thank you for staying Ms. Forbes. I trust you'll relay all of the information to your friends?"

"The ones that agreed to the truce, yes." Caroline responded. Elijah nodded and showed Sage out of the room. Caroline started to follow them out, but was stopped by Klaus who had flashed over to her and caught her arm again.

"We need to talk, Love." He said firmly.

"No, Nik," Rebekah said, also making her way over to the other blonde. "I want to talk to Caroline."

"I don't really feel like talking to either of you." Caroline bit out through clenched teeth.

"Caroline, I swear to you, I had nothing to do with Nik being home. I listened for him, for anyone in the family. He had a spell put on his room without telling anyone. Tell her Niklaus!" Rebekah demanded.

Klaus sighed, "Rebekah, I would like to talk with Caroline alone."

"I don't bloody care what you want! Tell her the truth; tell her I had nothing to do with what you did!"

Klaus looked over at Caroline, who was glaring at him. "Is she right, Klaus? Did she really not know that you were here? I want the truth."

Klaus rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Yes, she's telling the truth. I had a witch put a spell on my room so that no one could hear into it. Happy?" He directed the last part to Rebekah. "Now leave, little sister, you're on my very last nerve."

"No! She doesn't have to talk to you if she doesn't want to, Nik!" Rebekah said defiantly. Caroline shot her a look, clearly surprised that she was standing up to Klaus on her behalf.

"I'm serious, Rebekah." Klaus snarled in his sister's face. "If you don't leave, then you'll -"

"Stop it!" Caroline snapped, making both siblings' eyes snap to her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. She focused her eyes on Rebekah, "I'm sorry, Rebekah, for assuming you were only talking to me as part of some plan of your brother's. I hope you can forgive me for getting angry at you. I really did appreciate our talk earlier."

Rebekah quickly took a few steps closer to Caroline, giving her a small smile. "I understand. I'm glad you believe that I didn't do any of that. I'm here if you ever need to keep talking about anything. I meant what I said earlier at school about friends."

"I know you did. I might take you up on that offer to talk." Caroline offered Rebekah a smile as well. "Maybe we can look for dresses for the dance together soon."

Rebekah positively beamed at that. "I would love to!" She quickly walked over to the desk and scribbled something on a scrap of paper, which she handed to Caroline. "Call me when you want to set something up."

"Well as delighted as I am that you two are making shopping plans, I need to talk to Caroline. Alone. Goodbye, Rebekah." Klaus grit out, glaring at his sister.

Rebekah looked to Caroline and raised an eyebrow.

"He's not going to leave me alone until he gets what he wants, Bekah." Caroline said. "I'm fine. I'll text you when I get home so you'll have my number."

Rebekah darted her eyes between the two of them before she turned to leave. She knocked her shoulder with Klaus', and hissed, "Don't be a wanker!"

Klaus and Caroline stood staring at each other for several seconds after Rebekah left the room. Klaus broke the silence first, "Would you like to go up to my room so we won't be overheard?"

"I'm not going to your bedroom." Caroline glared at him. "How dare you eavesdrop on my conversation? Especially after you heard what it was about."

"Sweetheart, I know I shouldn't have, but I ne -"

"Don't call me that! And that's just it. You knew you shouldn't have, but you did anyway. I cannot believe you! All of that talk about wanting to look at how your actions affect others, and that's all it was: talk." With that, Caroline stormed out of the room and into the entrance hall. She found her boots sitting by the front door; Rebekah must have brought them down for her. She quickly bent down to put them on and heard Klaus walk up behind her.

"I'm not finished discussing this with you, Caroline." Klaus said, trying to keep a lid on his growing anger.

"You don't get to decide when I talk about something or not, Klaus!" Caroline retorted. "I'm done talking about it today, so don't even think about showing up at my bedroom window." She pointed her finger at him as she said this.

As angry as he was, he couldn't help but admire the fire in her eyes as she 'threatened' him.

"Fine, Sweetheart, I won't try to talk to you for the rest of the day." He agreed as he opened the front door for her.

She eyed him suspiciously before she nodded and left.

"I'll come talk to you tonight after midnight," he said to himself after he had closed the door and heard her start her car. He went back up to his room and found Rebekah waiting in her doorway.

"Please tell me you're not going to do something stupid." She eyed him warily.

"None of my plans are stupid, dear sister." He told her smugly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a hybrid to contact."

He went into his own bedroom and shut the door. He made his way over to his desk, where he had left his phone, but noticed the sketchpad that he had left sitting on his bed. He picked it up and looked at the drawing he had been doing before all of this started. Of course, it was of her. Everything he drew lately turned into her. Even if he started off drawing something completely different, somewhere along the way it morphed into her. Her hands, her hair, her lips, her eyes, all of her. She was all he could think about. Even with the looming threat of his mother out there, Caroline was all that he could focus on.

Klaus hadn't been this consumed by another being for longer than he could remember. Loving those outside of one's family is a weakness. No child of mine will be weak. He recalled the words that his father had literally beaten into him. This wasn't love, he told himself firmly. He didn't quite know what it was, but it wasn't that. At least not yet.

Rebekah's words from the hallway came back to him. His idea to go see her after the day was technically over wasn't stupid, was it? He was the Original Hybrid; he wasn't about to let his little sister mess with his plans and get into his head. No, he would go see her and he would fix this, even though he was still pretty sure he hadn't broken anything in the first place...