"Caroline,"

"Klaus,"

"You know I love you, right?"

"Mhm," Caroline was only half-listening to her boyfriend, since she had been steadily on her way to falling asleep on his chest. It had been a tough week for her, most of her term papers were due, the last-minute topic changes her professors had dropped on her were not helping, and she was pretty sure she was the only person in her group that had two brain cells to rub together, which meant she was doing all the work because she was not letting those idiots drop her perfect 4.0 GPA again. Plus, she was helping Angelique from Sociology plan her wedding to that neanderthal Freddie. Angelique had recruited her even though they weren't really that close because she had been to a few of the parties Caroline threw at the compound and she loved her style. Between that and school, she was swamped. She had pulled a few late nights at the library, so by Friday evening, she was bone-tired. Klaus, ever the doting boyfriend, had run her a nice hot bath, lavender-scented and all, and by the time she got out of it, her muscles had turned to mush. His words sounded like one continuous, British lullaby to her ears.

"Love, seriously." Klaus nudged her a little, running a hand down the leg she had thrown over both of his in an attempt to coax her to total consciousness.

Caroline's mouth quirked up at the term he had so clearly picked up from her and looked up at him lazily, only to find his jaw set and his face grave.

"What's wrong?" She asked instinctively, sitting up straight. She was conditioned to having a weekly life-threatening problem, and to being in danger all the time, so her body instinctively steeled in preparation for horrible news.

"Nothing. Nothing at all," Klaus soothed, running a hand down her back to calm her. He hated how akin she was to threats of danger looming ahead. She was such a bright and bubbly being, and she never deserved the tumultuous life she had lived in Mystic Falls.

"Klaus if there's something wrong, just tell me. I can handle it." Caroline insisted, not at all convinced that his strange behavior was not fueled by some catastrophe.

"Sweetheart. I'm being honest. Everything's fine. I just want you to know, I love you." He looked her dead in the eye, their way of confirming to each other that they were telling the truth. She searched the cerulean in his eyes for even a shadow of a lie and when she found none, she gave him a small smile and leaned back into his side.

"I love you too."

Silence took over their expansive bedroom, and Klaus counted three beats of Caroline's heart before speaking up.

"Even though I won't marry you?"

"What?"

"I heard you talking to whats-her-face about her upcoming nuptials to that nimrod and when she asked you if I'd ever make an honest woman out of you, you said no and rather wistfully, I might add. And while I realize that I have made my distaste for human traditions abundantly clear, the last thing I want is to be the cause of your misery-"

"Klaus, stop. I don't want to marry you either." Caroline interrupted hastily.

"Wait, what? Well, that seems a bit insulting."

"I didn't mean for it to come out like that," Caroline began, stifling a giggle at the genuinely hurt expression on his face. "I just don't want to marry you. I mean, it was really important to me when I was human, you know? Go to college, get a job, get married, kids, a cocker spaniel because golden retrievers are so cliché and a neighborhood house with a front porch swing and a barbecue in the backyard for Sundays. That was going to be my life. But then I died. And the thought of sticking to the plan is just... sad. I'm a different person with a different kind of family but with all the love I always wanted, we live in this big, kind of creepy mansion, I still went to college, I have a super-hot boyfriend who likes to think he's the King of New Orleans-"

"Hey!" He complained, nudging her knee with his.

"Which is fine, because I get to play Queen, I have Sam too, and he's adorable. And I get to have it all for eternity. So no, I didn't get your typical happily-ever-after, but I got my version of it. And I love it. And so, Niklaus Mikaelson, will you not marry me and spend the rest of our undead lives together?"

"I'd be honored."