A/N: THREE CHAPTERS WITHIN TWENTY FOUR HOURS! This was originally a part of a WAY bigger chapter, but I decided to split it in half because this felt a lot more like its own chapter. I hope you enjoy. The next chapter brings us to Bonnie's funeral, and Caroline's reunion with her friends (cue the tension).
CHAPTER TWELVE:
CAROLINE P.O.V.
I tapped my hand on the handle of the door impatiently, watching the trees as world flew past us. Klaus was speeding, which wasn't surprising considering he was an immortal hybrid who couldn't die. But, I was breakable. I could die. Not that he would crash, but if he did I would likely become a crushed pile of flesh and bone.
It was making me feel sick.
Pushing the nausea down I looked at my hand which was nervously beating against the leather lining of the arm rest of the passenger side door of Klaus' car.
We had been on the road for almost twelve hours now. Klaus had arrived at Katherine's early in the morning, before sunrise, insisting that he be the one to drive me home to Mystic Falls. We were expected to arrive at around 7pm, giving me enough time to settle in and get a good night's sleep before the funeral tomorrow.
Bonnie's funeral. That's why we were driving back to Mystic Falls. It was impossible to wrap my head around it. My mum had told me all of the details of how Bonnie had died at graduation, and how Elena only found out because she caught Jeremy talking to Bonnie's ghost.
The moment that I had calmed down on Klaus' porch, I knew that I would need to return to Mystic Falls as soon as possible. My mum had tried to convince me that I didn't need to come back for the funeral. That everyone would understand if I didn't come. But, I wasn't going to miss the chance to say goodbye to my friend, even if I was afraid of my other friends finding out that I had mistakenly been cured.
Katherine had been the one who initially offered to drive me back, but both Klaus and I thought that that was probably a bad idea. With her involvement in the awakening of Silas, and the fact that she was the one who was supposed to be cured, who knew what my friends would do if they saw her?
So, here we were, twelve hours into a drive that was killing my back and my legs. The dull ache, that I still wasn't used to, was beating against my body as I sat watching the day darken into night.
"Can you please stop that infernal tapping?" His voice cut through the silence like a knife. I stopped immediately. "I know that you're nervous, and that you're upset, but there's only so much I can take. First you were picking at the seam of your jeans, then you were playing with your fingernails, and now you've graduated to this."
Turning to him, I glared indignantly. "Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry that I can't focus on anything other than the fact that I'm going to be burying my best friend tomorrow. That I feel sick to my stomach about the fact that I never even got to say goodbye."
His hand moved from its place on the steering wheel and landed softly on my thigh. I tried not to smile at the gentleness in his gesture then I placed one of my hands on top of his. "I understand Caroline. But everything will be fine. It's going to hurt, but it'll get easier with time."
We slipped back into a silence that was remarkably less tense than it had been previously, and instead of tapping my hand on the arm rest besides me I distracted myself with tracing the lines of the hand Klaus still had on my leg.
#
A bright light flickered on above the front porch as Klaus turned the key in the ignition, killing the engine. I watched as the front door was pulled open and my mum emerged from inside. A smile found its way onto my face at the sight of her wearing her uniform, knowing that she had probably just gotten home from work. Wanting to be here when we arrived, but still wanting to spend as much time as she could protecting the people of Mystic Falls.
Klaus removed his hand from my lap not once looking up at the house. His movements were stiff as he kept his head down, unbuckled his seatbelt, and then flung open his car door. The muscles beneath his shirt jerking at the tight actions.
Copying his actions, I then reached down to retrieve my handbag from the floor in front of me. The cold air from outside sending a shiver down my spine, I then looked over my shoulder at where he still sat, letting out a soft sigh. "You know, you didn't have to agree to have dinner with my mum. You're over 1000 years old, you could have gotten out of it."
He didn't respond or move as I flung one foot out of the door onto the hard concrete curb. Pausing before pulling myself up and out, I reached one of my hands back over to grasp his, whispering softly that it was going to be okay. He seemed to instantly snap out of whatever it was that had been going on and climbed out of the car in a blur. Rolling my eyes, I moved my other leg out of the car, wincing at the pain that shot up my legs and back from the pressure of my own weight. I would need to take another one of Kida's pills before we had dinner.
Klaus and I made our way up the path side by side, it was almost like this was a normal situation. Except, it wasn't really, not when I noticed the worry so clear in my mums eyes and then remembered why it was we were actually here.
When we finally reached the top of the stairs, she wrapped me in a large bear hug. As someone who hadn't been overly affectionate growing up, I was pleasantly surprised at this sudden embrace.
My aching muscles relaxed as I took a deep breath in and recognised the familiar notes of whiskey and the woods, which had clung to her body for as long as I could remember.
She pulled me tighter to her body before letting me go, holding me an arms distance away from her. "I've missed you so much Caroline. I was so worried when you wouldn't wake up."
"I know. You were worried enough to go and seek out Katherine."
"I didn't think your friends would be able to help you. I at least figured that Katherine would know someone that could help you." She let me go and stepped back, her blue eyes taking me in. "You look older."
"That's because of the cure. My body has caught up to my actual age."
She nodded as if I had mentioned the weather and not the fact that I had gone through a magical growth spurt, then level her eyes onto Klaus. "Thank you for driving all the way down her. I'm sure you had a lot of other…things you could have been doing."
Klaus, ever the gentleman, stepped forward to shake my mum's hand politely, spouting some nonsense about it being his duty to ensure my safe return. Rolling my eyes I walked straight passed my mum and into the house.
Letting my eyes travel over every surface that was visible, taking in everything that was within my eye line, I was relieved to find that it was all pretty much the same. The house wasn't as clean as it had been, which I wasn't surprised about considering how much mum worked. The majority of the housework had fallen to me.
Walking further into the house I turned into the lounge room, smiling at the fire going in the fire place, as well as the delicious aroma that permeated the air.
"Dinner's almost ready." She said from behind me. I spun around to face her, almost laughing at how awkward Klaus was looking. "I cooked chilli. Is that okay?"
I smiled widely. The only thing that my mum excelled at cooking was the famous Forbes chilli. It was amazing, and I was thankful that she hadn't attempted to cook anything else.
"That sounds great, mum."
"Okay. Well, I'm just going to go and get changed. Why don't you get Klaus something to drink?"
Watching after her as she hurried from the room, I turned to face Klaus. The last time we had been alone in my house had been when he had come to cure me from the bite that he had forced Tyler to give to me. Klaus came to stand beside me. He looked around curiously, seeing the room for the first time even if this wasn't his first time here.
"Is your mum's chilli any good? You looked relieved when she told us that that was what she would be serving."
"It happens to be the only thing she doesn't ruin. It's amazing."
"Amazing that she doesn't ruin it? Or that it tastes amazing?"
#
To say that this dinner was strange would be a gross understatement. Strange didn't even begin to cover it. Everything was managing to go surprisingly well, but it was the looks that mum kept shooting between me and Klaus that was filling the entire room with tension. She looked as if she wanted to ask us something, but then she would look back down at her food. This meant that the conversation around the table was pretty scarce.
Eventually my mum looked up and me Klaus' eyes steadily, putting on her best 'cop' expression. "So, Klaus. Are you sleeping with my daughter?"
I choked on the mouthful of water I had just sipped from my drink, trying to swallow it down without it spraying out of my mouth. Grabbing my napkin, I wiped the water from my face. Where the hell had this come from? Why would she automatically assume that he and I were sleeping together?
Looking between my mum and then to Klaus, who was sitting there wearing his trademark smirk. "Would it be a problem if we were?"
My eyes narrowed, not liking the menacing tone in his voice. Or the smile that was causing dimples to form in his cheeks. I decided that it would be best if I stepped in before Klaus could make this any worse. "No. We are not sleeping together."
She took a long sip from her glass of bourbon, raising an eyebrow at me over her glass. "I was just checking. This is the first time you've been away from home without any family, I was just making sure that you're behaving yourself."
"The only trouble Caroline had gotten into is over-spending with my credit card. She's been remarkably…dull. I'm sure if any of her friends were with her then the whole city will have imploded by now."
I groaned internally, suddenly wishing that I had chosen to stay away in New Orleans. Anything would be better than sitting at a table with this conversation. It was one thing for mum to accuse us of sleeping together, it was another for her to speak about me like I was still a child, but I was instantly flustered by the fact that Klaus was playing along with it.
My face grew hot and the temperature of the room seemed to increase. Taking a deep breath I tried to ignore the feeling that had spread through my body. It shouldn't have bothered me. This whole conversation shouldn't have bothered me. Klaus was just being his usually sarcastic self, and of course my mum would question us, I had barely spoken to her since being in New Orleans and she was obviously curious to hear what was going on.
Pushing my chair away from the table, catching their attention immediately, I muttered a quick excuse before rushing from the room and heading to my bedroom.
The ensuite bathroom door slammed as I shut it behind me, and I came to a stop in front of the mirror, staring at my reflection. My cheeks were red, my face glistening with the slight sheen of sweat. I gripped the tap in my hand almost flinching away at the cold contrast against my skin, then turned the water on so that I could pour it over my face. Drying my face, I cleaned up the slight mascara smudges, feeling almost better, but still not wanting to return to the dining room just yet.
Turning around I reached over and pulled the toilet seat down, planting myself on top of it and laying my head in my hands. Slowly but surely the heat left my body, and my mind swam with thoughts on what they could be discussing down stairs.
After five minutes of just sitting there perched on the toilet, I decided that it was time for me to go back downstairs and join the hopefully-not-so-awkward conversation. I didn't bother flushing the toilet as I left, knowing that Klaus would know that I hadn't actually used the bathroom.
When I re-entered the dining room both Klaus and my mum looked up from their plates, their eyes following me as I made my way to my seat, picking up my glass and taking a small refreshing sip.
"Are you alright, Sweetheart?" Klaus asked, sitting up straighter in his seat.
"I'm fine. I just needed a minute to myself."
#
"What did you and my mum talk about while I was out of the room?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest as Klaus drove us to the outskirts of town.
"She just wanted to make sure that you were really okay. She knew that you wouldn't tell her if you were having a hard time or not, so she asked me."
A part of me was relieved by the fact that she was so worried about me, but another part of me was still worried about her other intrusive questions. And I definitely knew that it didn't help that I had asked to go back to the Mikaelson mansion with Klaus. Not for the reasons that my mum was probably assuming. It was more so the fact that being in my bedroom felt strange. I felt out of place.
I tried to forget the eerie feeling that had spread over me when I had brought my bag to my bedroom, which was promptly followed by a cool wave of goose bumps. It had freaked me out, not that I was going to admit that to Klaus or my mum.
"She didn't ask you anything else?"
The car filled with the sound of his deep, gravelly chuckle as she turned to look at me. His face scrunched up in humour. "No. She didn't ask me anything else about you. She was more interested in why me and my family had abruptly moved to New Orleans. She doesn't want you to get stuck in the middle of something. And you can't blame her for that."
Keeping quiet, I watched the familiar patches of trees pass us by. Trees that I had spent most of my adolescence running around in, even before I became a vampire. I remembered all of the times that we would have parties in these woods, people scouting the woods for clearings that were ideal to drink and have loud music without being caught. It had been how Bonnie, Elena and I had spent the majority of our teenage years, before all the drama started.
The thought of Bonnie was like a stab to my heart as my mind reminded itself why it was that we were here, and where I would be going tomorrow morning.
It was all organised for my mum to come and pick me up tomorrow morning so that she could drive us to the Salvatore Boarding House, where Bonnie's funeral would be held.
They were having it there because they didn't want her death to be public knowledge. You never knew with our friendship group. One minute you could be killed, the next you're waking up as if nothing had happened.
I found this to be utterly ridiculous. We had brought enough people back from the dead using magical loopholes, and it never turned out good for us in the long-run. Bonnie deserved to have a proper burial, with a funeral in a church.
Klaus pulled into the large garage and killed the engine, grabbing my bags as he led us both into the house. I had expected to see a build-up of dust throughout the empty house, but I guessed that Klaus had hired a cleaner. Every surface seemed to shine.
"You'll be sleeping in the spare bedroom across from mine." He handed me my bag and turned towards his own bedroom door. "It's quite large. A king bed with an adjoining shower and bath. Make yourself at home."
"Thank you."
He entered his room, leaving me alone in the hallway. My eyes strayed to the walls that had once held artwork, but were now bare. I wondered if all of the Mikaelson homes seemed this empty after they decided to inevitably clear out.
He had been right, the room was large, and unlike the rooms we had passed through to get to this part of the house, it was fully furnished and decorated. It reminded me of the bedroom at Nadia's, but this room definitely had a more modern feeling to it. It wasn't a museum for the past, but a combination of the past and the present. Instantly I felt comfortable amongst the off-white walls and wooden furniture.
I couldn't wait to fall into the massive bed and forget about what tomorrow would bring.