After the football game, Klaus and I walked back to my house — neither of us wanted to attend the after party; and other than Rebekah, no one else would want Klaus there anyway.

At the house, Klaus left me right in front of the porch steps with a "Wait here" while he flashed to his car and came back with a large, rectangular object in his hands. He was holding onto the edges, and it almost went to his knees. "This is for you."

"What is it, an even bigger box of chocolates?" I asked in jest; even I could tell it was the back of a canvas.

"No." He turned the canvas around and the painting left me breathless. It was a beach scene; it looked exactly like what we saw yesterday.

"This is even better than a photograph. Did you do this?" I asked as he handed it to me. I was afraid to touch it, afraid of breaking it or ruining it in some way.

"Yes."

"When did you have the time?"

"I began immediately after I left you here yesterday and painted into the night. I've wanted nothing more for the past three hours than to take you away from that dreadful game, come here, and give it to you."

I sat down on the porch, putting my feet on the porch step and placing the canvas on my lap. I gestured in the direction of the painting. "Swirls of blue and white?" I asked with a laugh.

He laughed too. "And even some grey, in places."

"I'm surprised you didn't paint the sunset" I said, never taking my eyes off the painting. "We watched that too."

"As with roses, sunsets seem clichéd." I nodded in agreement. "Speaking of, I'm hoping this painting will serve as a redo of step one of our courtship. Or as I now refer to it, the 'roses disaster.' "

I looked at him as he sat down beside me. "They weren't a complete disaster."

"Yes, they were quite successful at annoying the young Gilbert boy."

"That's not funny, Klaus." I picked the painting up off my lap and leaned it against the pole. "Though he did seem quite perturbed by them."

"Riley, I wasn't completely honest with you yesterday." I didn't speak; I waited for him to explain. "I said I took you to the beach for our own day off, but that wasn't true. I actually took you as a celebration of our anniversary."

"We have an anniversary?"

"Yes. It was two months ago yesterday that I first laid eyes on you. I was standing on this very porch and you answered the door. I had come over to speak with Caroline, but had completely forgotten my purpose once I saw you. You called her to the door and I wanted nothing more than to stop you."

"I had no idea."

"And today is the two-month anniversary of the first actual conversation we had. In Mystic Square. You called me egotistical." I laughed. "I knew I was fond of you already then. Do you know what initially drew me to you, Riley?"

"The fact that I was Caroline's cousin?"

"No. That was merely how we were introduced. No, the lure you had for me was what I refer to as your misguided bravery. Even when you were scared, you would quickly mask it. And you weren't afraid to meet my stare head on; most people regard me with fear. I found you… refreshing, in a way. The way you would stand with your arms folded across your chest, glaring at me. It was endearing.

"I've also come to admire your honesty. It's an invaluable, admirable trait."

"What you call 'honesty,' I call 'speaking before I think it through.' "

He laughed.

"You have such a big heart; you feel towards everyone around you. Yet despite this, or perhaps because of this, you never seem to need anyone for anything. You're strong and fiercely independent.

"But the thing I love most about you," he continued "is that you have this naturally energetic personality that is very compelling to be around. And despite everything that you have gone through, you still find a way to be positive and move forward, even if you're scowling at the world. That alone makes you stronger, braver, and more powerful than I could ever be."

"Yea, because I was so brave that day in the woods where I was all-but sobbing in your arms."

"You trusted me — that's pretty brave, love."

We both laughed.

"You know," he said with a raised eyebrow, "in older times, after two months, we'd be engaged."

"Please tell me you are not proposing." I knew he wasn't serious, but I had to say it anyway.

He laughed and shook his head. "No."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Good."

He pointed around me to the painting, where it stood, leaning against the porch pole. "Think of this painting as a redo of step one of our courtship."

I looked at the painting, even reached my hand out and lightly touched the edge of it, without actually seeing it this time — all in avoidance of looking at Klaus while he spoke of courtship.

Courtship. How was I supposed to respond to that?

I didn't even know how I left about it. I suppose I should have been flattered, or at the very least intrigued. But I was neither. Mostly it frightened me.

"I let it pass before, Riley, but now I have to ask. You hesitate every time I mention courtship, and I don't understand. I apologized for the incident. And I meant it. Yet you are still hesitant. Why? Are you hesitant about our courtship because of the incident?"

My eyes shot up to meet his. "No. I hadn't actually thought of one in connection with the other."

"You're hesitant because of me." It wasn't a question.

I whispered a "Yes" as I turned my head to the side, away from Klaus. I felt tears welling up in my eyes; I hoped they weren't going to fall.

Klaus gently grabbed my chin and turned my head so I was facing him. "Talk to me, Riley. Please."

Something in the way he said please, something about his tone, broke down the wall I had been keeping up around the emotions I'd come to associate with Klaus. I moved my head slightly, forcing him to let go of my chin. "Look, C told me about you liking her. So you need to be made aware of something: I am not a Caroline substitute or replacement. Besides being related, we don't have anything in common. I'm not her, and you can't use to me to get to her. It won't work."

He sighed. "Your cousin is an amazing woman. I owe a lot to her; she awoken emotions in me that I thought were long dead. Without her, and without going through that period of time when I tried to court her, I could not now be able to realize how much stronger my feelings towards you are."

He took both my hands into one of his and used his other hand to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear as he continued. "I don't know how to convince you of this other than to say it, and possibly to keep repeating it until you do believe me: I know you are not Caroline. I have never seen you as 'another Caroline' and I am not using you as part of some plan to win her affections. She's content with the Lockwood mutt and I accepted that a while ago. The only one I'm trying to 'woo' now is you, Riley."

He paused for a moment.

"However, you should know that you're wrong about how different the two of you are. Yes, of course, you are quite different in many ways, but you have some astonishing characteristics in common. You are both incredibly beautiful, obviously, and rather insecure about or perhaps just unaware of how amazing you are; but more importantly, you both possess this incredible inner strength that is all-the-more amazing when you think about how young you both are."

When he stopped speaking, I realized he was waiting for some kind of a response or a reaction from me. But I couldn't move. Or think. Or speak.

And he knew this; somehow, Klaus always seems to know when I needed him.

"Hey." He tilted my chin up and looked into my eyes. But what did he see? How overwhelmed I felt? My uncertainty? My shock? I was certainly all three of the above and more. "Come here." He pulled me into this side and put his arm around my shoulders. "Just remember to breathe, Riley. Listen to my breaths and match them."

I did. I followed his lead. And it worked. Of course it worked; it had before. I felt myself calming down.

His other hand made it ways to mine in my lap; as I breathed, I lightly traced his fingers with my own.

Finally I was able to speak. It came out as a whisper. "Thank you. For today and yesterday; for the painting; and for everything you said. Thank you."

He didn't respond; he placed a kiss on the top of my head instead.