Chapter 35

None of them were really in the mood to go to their afternoon classes after that, so the four of them went to the Mikaelson Mansion.

They found Klaus and Elijah in the sitting room going over the police files from Caroline's mom.

Klaus' eyes met hers immediately. "What's wrong?"

Caroline sent him a reassuring smile before plopping down on the couch next to him. "Nothing's wrong, we just didn't feel like going to class this afternoon. We had a bit of a run in with Elena."

Bonnie sat in one of the armchairs while Matt and Rebekah took the other couch.

Klaus raised his eyebrow. "And?"

Caroline sighed. "She apologized for some of the stuff that she's done and said -"

"She half apologized." Matt cut in.

"Right," Caroline nodded. "She half apologized. We all tried to explain why we're doing the truce, but she just wouldn't listen. She's convinced that you are all manipulating us and plotting something."

Klaus shook his head. "I'm sorry, Sweetheart."

"It's not anyone's fault but hers. She just isn't being reasonable. Stefan even tried to explain why he joined the truce, but she wouldn't hear it." Caroline sighed again. "I think she just started tuning us out when we said something bad about Damon." She saw Klaus' hands clench at the other man's name.

"You should have seen Caroline and Bonnie, Nik." Rebekah spoke up. "They defended us to Elena, and the Doppelganger just ran out the door."

"We just told her the truth." Caroline said softly; Bonnie nodded in agreement.

"Thank you, ladies, for your loyalty to our family." Elijah looked at them both solemnly. "We clearly made an alliance with the right people."

"You don't need to thank us for doing the right thing." Caroline replied. She paused as she looked at the papers from the files spread across the coffee table. "Have you guys managed to find anything else out about Meredith?"

"Actually there was a note here in your mother's handwriting, Sweetheart." Klaus looked over at her. "She put 'revenge for Logan Fell?' Who is Logan Fell?"

"Logan Fell was Meredith's cousin." Caroline explained. "He used to be a TV reporter in town and part of the Council. He kind of kidnapped me once when I was human to get back at my Mom. After I turned, Stefan filled me in on that a bit more. He was planning to turn me to get revenge on my Mom because she helped to cover up his death. Ric ended up staking him. I don't know if Meredith even knew about any of that; she didn't say anything about it at the cemetery."

Bonnie shook her head. "I doubt it's a regular thing that the Council talks about. One of their own turned against them; I don't know why they'd go around discussing it."

Elijah nodded in understanding. "I suppose we can disregard that note then. We've found the name of a bar Meredith frequents in the next town over and a few friends that she has that live near her university. Kol and I were planning to look into them this evening, while Niklaus went to the bar."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Bonnie asked.

"Actually, Kol and I were wondering if you would join us tonight, Ms. Bennett? And you as well, sister. Meredith's friends are all female, so we were thinking that they would be more willing to talk if there were other females around." Elijah replied, looking slightly awkward.

"Sure," Bonnie responded. "That makes sense. And, please, Elijah, Bonnie is fine."

Caroline smirked over at Bonnie for how quickly she had just agreed to spend her evening with Kol. Bonnie simply rolled her eyes before turning back to Elijah to discuss the plan further.

Caroline felt Klaus slip his hand into hers; she turned to him and he angled his head towards the stairs. She nodded and let him pull her to her feet so they could both make their way out of the room. He led her into his bedroom and closed the door. They both sat down on the couch before speaking.

"Are you alright, Sweetheart?" Klaus asked her, his fingers brushing against her knuckles gently.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Caroline responded, trying to smile. "I just wish Elena would believe us. She isn't being reasonable, and she keeps defending Damon no matter what I say. It's just frustrating."

"Are you sure you don't want me to go have a chat with the elder Salvatore?" Klaus said, his eyes ringed with gold.

"I'm positive." Caroline squeezed their joined hands. "We all laid everything on the table to Elena today. I told her that Rebekah was practically a sister to me and that I was in love with you. If she can't accept the fact that you make me happy and that you are all good people, then I don't know how much longer our friendship will last. The ball is in her court."

Klaus nodded. "I am sorry, Love. I know how important friendship is to you."

Caroline shook her head. "She hasn't been a very good friend in a long time, Nik."

They both sat quietly for a few seconds before he asked her a question. "Exactly how many times have you been kidnapped or tortured, Love?" He looked at her seriously with concern in his eyes. "Why haven't I heard of this Logan bloke before?"

Caroline sighed tiredly. "That one was a long time ago. Nothing even really happened; I didn't know about vampires at the time, so I didn't really know how serious it could have been. Once Stefan explained things to me after I turned, I was a little freaked out about it, but it helped that he was already dead."

Klaus nodded. "You didn't answer my first question, Sweetheart. If it's too much right now, I understand. I just want you to know that you can always talk to me about everything and anything."

Caroline sent him a small smile. "No, it's fine. Honestly, I've never even stopped to count all of the times something like that has happened to me. There was everything with Damon; and Logan was pretty soon after that. Then there was when Tyler's werewolf friends captured me and shot me with wooden bullets because they were mad at the Salvatores for killing one of their own, Tyler's uncle. I remember begging Tyler to help me, but he just stood there. He was mad at me because I didn't tell him that Stefan and Damon killed his uncle. He did eventually help me escape, but not very well. After that, your witch, Greta, kidnapped me to use me during the ritual."

Klaus shifted. "I truly am sorry about that, Caroline."

"I know you are, and I forgive you." She replied. "That one was actually the least bad of all of them. And then everything with my dad that you already know about. I guess the last one would be Ester and Meredith."

Klaus stared at the beautiful woman sitting next to him. She was only seventeen years old and she had already been abducted or tortured six times. "Sweetheart," he brought up one of his hands to cup her cheek. "You are truly one of the strongest people I have ever met. You have gone through so much and you're still so full of life and light."

Caroline scooted closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. "Thank you. I'm happy that you're teaching me how to fight so I can start trying to protect myself now."

He put his arm around her shoulders. "As am I, Love. But, I will always be here to protect you."

They sat in comfortable silence together for a while, just enjoying being with the other.

Caroline spoke first. "Can I come with you to the bar tonight? You'll look less suspicious if you're on a date."

Klaus hesitated before nodding. "That's not a bad idea, Love. I want you to stick by me the whole time though; no wandering off by yourself."

"Deal."

"So," Klaus began. "Since you skipped your art class this afternoon, would you like some private tutoring?"

She rolled her eyes. "You really aren't going to let this drop, are you?" Klaus simply smirked in response. She huffed. "Fine, let's go to your studio so you can laugh at me."

"I promise not to laugh at you, Sweetheart." He replied as he stood up and pulled her to her feet. As they were making their way downstairs, he took a few seconds to appreciate her. She was wearing black skinny jeans with a red and white flowered top that scooped low, showing the tops of her breasts. She had a white cardigan over the top, and her hair was down in loose curls.

She turned her head slightly and caught him staring at her, which only caused her to smirk back at him.

On the way to his art room, she grabbed her school bag from its spot next to the front door. Once they entered the room, she flopped her bag onto one of the large drafting tables and pulled out her art folder. She handed it to him.

"Here." She said flatly. "This is all of the work that the teacher has given back to me. The stuff I'm currently working on is in her room."

He accepted the folder and set it on the table to go through. He pulled out a few sketches and examined them slowly. There were several of different buildings around town and one of a bowl of fruit.

"Well?" She asked impatiently. "They're terrible, aren't they? I knew it; they are. I told you they weren't any good -"

"Love," Klaus cut in. "You didn't even let me speak." He chuckled at her glare. "They aren't terrible."

"But…" She prompted.

"But… they don't show any… passion, emotion."

"How am I supposed to put emotion into a drawing of a bowl of fruit or a building in town?"

"What were you thinking about when you were drawing them?"

Caroline furrowed her eyebrows at him. "I was thinking about how I wished I was done drawing so I could do something else."

Klaus chuckled softly. "You have the basic techniques down, Love. You just need to be excited about what you're drawing." He reached across the table and picked up a sketchbook. Flipping to a fresh page, he grabbed a pencil and placed it in front of her. "What is your favorite spot in Mystic Falls?"

Caroline thought for a few seconds. "The Falls. Up at the top where there's a little picnic area that overlooks the drop. It's just so peaceful and calm. We used to go up there for lunch sometimes when I was really little."

"Excellent." Klaus replied, nudging the book closer to her. "Keep those memories in mind and draw."

Caroline looked at him in confusion. "How am I supposed to draw the Falls if I don't have a picture of them in front of me. That's what we do in class; we look up a picture of something we want to draw, and we do it."

"You're not always going to have a picture of whatever it is that you want to draw, Sweetheart. You need to feel the drawing as much as see it in your mind's eye."

Caroline shot him a doubtful look before picking up the pencil. "Fine. I'll try, but if it turns out terribly, it's your fault."

Klaus merely chuckled at her again and grabbed another sketch pad. He pulled up another chair next to hers, and they both sat there silently drawing for the next few minutes. Klaus kept his attention split between his own drawing and glancing over at hers several times. The seventh time that he heard her huff and flip the pencil around to erase something, he gently caught her elbow.

"Love, it doesn't need to be perfect. It's just how you imagine and remember it." He flipped her book to another sheet of clean paper before setting it in front of her again. "Take a deep breath, close your eyes and picture the Falls."

Caroline sighed before doing as he instructed. He saw some of the tension in her shoulders dissipate.

"Now," he continued softly. "Put pencil to paper and see what happens."

Caroline opened her eyes and picked up the pencil again.

They continued sketching side by side, and Klaus noticed that there was a good deal less erasing coming from the blonde next to him this time. He got absorbed in his own drawing, and was slightly started when Caroline put her pencil down in triumph twenty minutes later.

"Done." She announced, scooting her sketchpad closer to him.

He placed his pencil down and picked up the book. She had drawn a lovely picture of the Falls with the sun sparkling off of the water. "Very good, Love. I can feel the calmness and joy that this place brings you." She smiled up at him proudly as he ripped the page out of the book and tucked it into her folder.

"Ugh," Caroline groaned. He turned to see her holding his sketchpad in her hands. "No fair. I draw the best thing I ever have and in the same amount of time, you're able to do this?" She turned the book around at him. He had drawn a picture of her riding Sunrise from their first date. He had just been working on the shading of the horse when she had said she was finished.

"I've had a great deal more practice than you, Sweetheart. Yours really was quite good." He offered with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah. I guess I'll just have to accept that this is the one thing that you'll always be better than me at." She smiled back at him.

"The one thing, Love?" He smirked, raising an eyebrow at her. "I can think of a few things that I can do to you that I'm sure you wouldn't be able to do half as well…"

Caroline smirked back. "I don't know… you might have to prove it."

With a glint in his eyes, Klaus grabbed her and flashed them both up to his bedroom.