Okay, so she knew she was totally crazy, and if asked in court she would totally plead insanity-or in front of any of her friends for that matter-but he couldn't be totally bad, right? 'I mean, he had to just be a little boy chasing fireflies like the rest of us at one point, right?' And it wasn't like he was currently threatening the lives of her or any of her friends…right? And, well, it was sort of sweet how long he had kept this going. Sketches of her would appear on a weekly basis, and if not sketches, then it would be jewelry, handbags that she was sure came off the latest issue of Vogue,or bottles of wine with names she couldn't even hope to pronounce. And all of it had been coming for months. A 'wooing'-she was sure Klaus would laugh at her stealing of his vocabulary-that had to be five times longer than any of her past boyfriends had even attempted. And so far, she had resisted admirably, she threw the diamonds and pearls in a bottom drawer of her dresser that she never used, and refused herself the privilege of wearing the purses, even the candy-cotton Prada that matched her toenails. Sure, she may have imbued a number of the older-than-her-my-gosh-bottles after one particularly disastrous breakup with Tyler, but no one would ever know, and if she might have a series of sketches carefully piled beside her bed to look through every night before she slept, it was just because she was still an insecure, neurotic, teenage girl that liked that they made her look pretty, right? She resisted with the skill of a soldier. Until tonight. It was just a date, okay!? One measly date to get him off her back: the end. Uhg, but he was a total monster! Like, literal, tried to kill all her friends, succeeded in killing several of her friends' family, probably worse than Hitler, definitely killed more people than Hitler-monster. Thus continued the will she or won't she debate that Caroline had been arguing internally for the last quarter of an hour. It wasn't until she heard the distinct click of the downstairs door unlocking did she realize that her mom was home from work and it was definitely far past the time she had agreed to 'maybe' meet Klaus. In no mood to explain her actions to her mother who had a decidedly better moral compass at the moment, she grabbed her bag and jumped out her bedroom window.
After speeding through half of Mystic Falls, she finally rested in front of a small Italian restaurant that was equally as unpronounceable as the wines. She took French, okay? Fourteen-year-old Caroline was decidedly for meeting hot French dudes in Paris. She recognized the restaurant as the place Tyler once mentioned his parents went on their Anniversary. A little weirdly upscale for small town Mystic Falls, but this was Klaus we were talking about. She was somewhat surprised he hadn't forced her on-ahem-offered a day trip to Paris. She still nervously fidgeted with the scalloped edge of her decidedly less fancy blue sundress before she managed to walk past the door. She was slightly thankful when she realized that the restaurant was empty exempt from staff and one high-backed chair that she couldn't quite see in front of. While she wasn't sure if it was due to compulsion or a massive pile of cash, her first demand was that absolutely no one see them together, so she had to give it to him that the demand-ahem-request was fulfilled. Oh gosh, the chair was turning. And there he was, dressed just a little too nicely to not make her feel embarrassed, in all his original glory. Caroline glared as even his hair seemed perfectly tousled. She held his hair personally responsible for her embarrassment.
"I wasn't sure you would come." His smirk gave him away as he oh-so-gentlemanly pulled her chair out for her. He settled into his chair with the grace of an annoyingly arrogant king. "I'm glad that you did."
"Well it was either caviar or sympathy casseroles." She parroted back, refusing just slightly to return his eye contact, and settling for the bridge of his nose.
He chuckled while signaling the waiter with a jerk of his head. Even from glaring at his nose she could see the mischief in his eyes.
"Don't laugh. I was mocking you," she says while crossing her arms. Points for witty insults Caroline, you might as well stick your fingers in your ears and scream 'I'm not listening' at him.
His smile grew, like the cat that caught the canary as a dish of something that looked far too fishy appeared at the table. "Oh? And what for, love?"
Caroline, who was decidedly distracted by the smell of oysters, looked up at him in concern. "For…for stupid repeat conversations." She huffed, and tried to avoid inhaling. "That's why. At least I know not to bore someone to death twice."
A singular eyebrow twitched upwards as Klaus watched her face become increasingly red. He tapped his fingers in an excited rhythm on the table cloth. "I must apologize then. I hardly mean to commit such a faux pas in front of such lovely company. You must allow me to make amends." The corners of his lips twitched and he took in hand a tiny fork and one large, slippery, slimy oyster. "I shall admit: it was tiresome finding a restaurant that could procure properly fresh oysters in a town as land-blocked as Mystic Falls. You can't say that you've truly had oysters until you've tried la Gigas from the étang de Thau fresh from the morning market. However, we shall have to make do."
As he said all of this he continued to prod and poke at the miniscule, gelatinous, alien-goo like substance that rippled and curled with each stab. Caroline changed from red to green as he drained four drops of lemon onto the substance. "Now, give it your best shot, love." He tipped the monstrous liquid slowly towards her, inching it towards her lips. Caroline watched in horror as the glob separated from its shell to reach her mouth shoving it and Klaus's hand away from her with an audible squeal.
Klaus chortled, his head lolling back and forth while his hair caught in the retreating window-light. In a single motion, he slipped the oyster past his lips and swallowed it with a grimace. "Clearly you have a distaste for seafood. Luckily for you, that oyster was clearly two hours too old to be worth eating."
Caroline shuddered, and pushed the entire plate away from her person. "Eww! If I had known you brought me here to poison me you could have had the decency to use vervain." She looked distastefully at the offending dish. "I can't believe you actually ate that."
"I assure you, I meant no such nefarious purpose. However, perhaps there can be some…improvements in your culinary palette." With a nod, the platter was swiftly taken away to a forgotten corner of the restaurant where Caroline's nose was finally freed.
She squished her face up, her nose curling upwards and she rubbed her upper arms as if recovering from the cold. "No way. Not if it involves those…things." She glared once more in the direction the dish left. "And I thought every guy on the football team downing two pizzas at lunch was gross."
"I can hardly imagine your suffering in viewing such an atrocity. Surely such men were brutes to have acted so gluttonously." The flat tone of his voice and the extra line on his forehead displayed extreme sarcasm. "And while I agree with you on the horrors of consuming cardboard triangles coated with rancid cheese and salt, I cannot allow you to miss out on one of the chief sensual pleasures in life."
Caroline choked on her own tongue and had to swallow a mighty gulp of water before responding. "Gosh, of course you're one of those "they're a major aphrodisiac' guys. I should have known. That's totally gross, you know."
Klaus clicked his tongue and shoot his head. "Sensual as in involving the senses, love. The cool as it crosses your lips and the feeling of silk slipping down your throat is a sensation that cannot be replicated." He smiles, just a bit more cheekily than he normally allows. "Of course, if you wish there are many properties that increase the…" a well-placed glare shuts the original up. "Perhaps a debate for another night, however I can hardly allow you to go hungry." With another glance at the wait staff two enormous hamburgers were readily placed in front of them.
Caroline did her absolute best to not look impressed, really. But gosh, she could smell the beef, and they were piled high with thick cut tomatoes and bacon that was literally dripping with grease. How did he even know her burger order of choice? And with a quick look at her surroundings, anyone could clearly tell that hamburgers were most certainly not ever on the menu. To her credit, Caroline wasted all of five seconds before taking a giant chunk out of the patty.
Klaus waited significantly longer before taking a much more delicately-sized bite of his own. "Can I assume that this is more to your pleasing then?"
Caroline slowly and with no small amount of displeasure put down the burger and casually snapped off an end of a fry. "Well, you're just lucky I missed lunch." Pride be darned, another large bite was taken.
"Well, I will take that as the highest of compliments then. However, I hope you will not say no to some refreshment." A bottle of champagne was poured into two crystal flutes as he said this. "While champagne might be more regularly accompanied by something of slightly higher caliber than American street food, I can hardly imagine a 30-year-old Dom Perignon can worsen things."
Caroline unconsciously licked her lips. Darn it, she was supposed to play cool and he was bribing her with fancy alcohol and bacon.
Klaus carefully lifted one of the glasses and it sparkled and danced in the light that ran through the table. "Can I tempt you?"
A Caroline in a better, less tempted by fancy booze world would have splashed it in his face, especially after the oyster incident. But seriously, who was she to waste such a precious commodity? She snatched the glass from his hands like she was trying to avoid the snatches of the hungry, hungry hippo.
Klaus raised his own glass and gently clanked his with hers. "To new beginnings."
Caroline glared. "To one time annoyances and no oysters." The champagne was sipped.
If anyone was to ask her, at the end of the night Caroline would state that she was strictly sober. The expensive bottle was clearly smaller than any normal sized bottle and Caroline Forbes knew how to handle her liquor. So, when Klaus guided her towards his way-too-expensive sports car she grinded to a halt.
"Let me go…I can handle myself." The slight sway in her too-high heels gave her away a bit too easily.
Klaus opened the door and gestured for her compliance, but she stumbled back a step. "I hardly want to be held guilty in your mind tomorrow morning when you recall running over innocent pedestrians." He tried again to no avail.
"I…I didn't drive. Sped through…the woods. Vamp style." At this point the sway was accompanied by a slur to her voice and a fluttering of her eyelids as they tried to claim the sleep they so desperately wanted.
"All the more reason to allow me to accompany you home. I would hate for your perfect nose to be ruined by running into a meddlesome tree branch." He tried again, but Caroline still fought.
Logic was quickly retreating from the baby vampire's head and so were her arguments for not allowing the vampire to take her to a second location. "My nose isn't ruined. It's right…here…see?" The placement of her fingers was a good two inches off.
Klaus normally would have laughed at the insanity of his companion, but his face remained sober. "Caroline, get in the car…please." Something in the tone of his voice, or maybe in the settling of the alcohol in her stomach led her to looking at him in the eye. With a slow, wavering compliance she sank into the soft leather of the passenger seat before finally letting her eyelids shut.
When she woke Caroline didn't realize where she was. It was only as a gentle pair of arms guided her towards a familiar, sunny-yellow house that she realized. "You…you took me home?"
Klaus adjusted his grip on her, guiding her by the waist towards her door. "I can act the part of the gentleman occasionally, love. Now let's get you inside."
The world was still swaying from Caroline's perspective, but she shrugged away and groaned in defiance. "Back side." In a clumsy shove, she pushed Klaus towards the far end of the house. "Mom can't know."
Klaus shrugged and took her to the back side. "Of course, I wouldn't think the good sheriff would appreciate her young daughter being escorted home by such a scoundrel. Appearances must be kept up."
Caroline voiced another sound of disagreement as she tripped over a small hole in the grass. "If mom finds me…. sloshed again…she'll kill me." She pauses as if shuddering in horror and trying to remember what she was saying at the same time. "Ban from school dances."
In that moment, Klaus's dark, blood-stained heart lightened a shade for just a moment. The thing that this completely inebriated, half-unconscious girl decided to fear wasn't that a mass murderer was alone with her, or even that a caring, maternal figure would find her with such company, but the repercussions of underage drinking. The simple statement floored him in a way he hadn't expected. "Come, we best get you inside." When he was under the open window with the fluttering white curtains he jumped her up to the bedroom he remembered all too well.
Caroline instantly slumped on her bed, already nearly asleep. "Thanks…. for taking me home." With a great yawn, she curled into her pillow.
As the baby vampire emitted a soft snore, Klaus smiled more gently than he had in a long time and brushed a wayward curl from her face. "Thank you for coming, Caroline." And with that he dove into the moonlight.
"Hi guys! I hope you enjoyed the first full chapter. By the way, a couple notes on the story if you've gotten this far: this timeline is not going to really follow the show. This takes place in an alternate season four where Elena was never turned into a vampire and thus the rest of the show will be following a completely alternate timeline. I will be using some elements from early episodes of The Originals, but this will be kept vague and also not follow cannon. I apologize if there are any unaccounted for errors in VD or tO cannon that I did not purposely write. It has been a bit since I've watched these episodes and I don't intend to be following the plots very closely. Thus, anything can happen in the future of this story. Please note that Hayley-Baby is not a thing in this universe, nor is any vampire being able to have a child going to be possible. Sorry, I just can't take you down the Renesme track again. Also, I'm so sorry for this really long author's note, but I just wanted everyone to be prepared. I know this is an usual pairing, but I hope people are willing to give it a chance. If not, please go enjoy all of the other stories with pairings more to your liking! If you're still here, much love till next time! xoxo /p