Mystic Falls, 2013

CF*CF*CF

After parting from Bonnie and Jeremy, Caroline was walking in the woods, on the Salvatore property, alone searching for the place Nadia buried the safe with Matt.

"Matt! MATT!" She was yelling at the top of her lungs. Then suddenly she stopped dead in her tracks as she saw well recognizable figure standing among the trees.

"Hello, Caroline." Calm, smooth voice with alluring accent sounded, fallowed by the so familiar sinful smirk.

Caroline couldn't believe her eyes. He was really standing in front of her.

"Klaus..." She breathed out his name. She needed to say it to be sure she wasn't hallucinating. But shock soon worn off and her fearless and confident self was back in place. "Sorry. Matt's buried alive. No time to chat."

Caroline didn't wait for him to answer. Using her vamp super-speed, she got away from Klaus. But e used to her antics calmly followed after her, his signature smug smirk prominent on his face.

"Are you not the least bit curious as to why I'm here?" He shouted after her trying to gain her attention.

"I literally just whooshed at the sight of your face, so no."

Blonde vampire wanted to put as much distance between them as she could. But that little self assured smile she gave him did nothing to dissuade him from tagging along. It only fueled his fascination.

"Damon informed me that Katarina Petrova made a tragic turn."

"So, you're here to gloat over her corpse-to-be? Delight in the closure of five hundred years of revenge. Great. I'm even less interested." She mocked him before super-speeding away once more. Amused Original hybrid followed after her again.

This time he changed his strategy to draw her attention.

"Well perhaps you'd be more interested in talking about Tyler."

At the mention of her ex-boyfriend's name she stopped at the halt.

"Is he... Did you..." Caroline's voice came out hesitant. She didn't know how to ask the question gnawing on her mind because she was afraid of the answer. She might no longer be in love with Tyler, but he would always be important to her as a friend and her first love. Last time Caroline saw her hybrid ex-boyfriend he was preparing to go on revenge quest against Klaus. And those who get on the bad side of Original were rarely able to escape alive.

NM*NM*NM

"Nah. I sent him off with a little more than a bruised ego. He really does hate me, poor lad. Revenge...it eats at him. I hear you two broke up." Last part Klaus said with false sympathy.

Even though he was the one who let Tyler to come back to his hometown, he was never happy about it. He only did it for his bubbly, cheerful vampire who commandeered all his thoughts and feelings. After all, all he wanted was for Caroline to be happy. And at that moment it seemed she needed that stupid fool also he was confident that one day Caroline would come to him on her own merit. Of course his decision helped to lessen the animosity baby vampire displayed toward him. Klaus just couldn't understand how Lockwood boy could skip on the opportunity to be with the most perfect woman.

"Because I made him choose. Me, or his stupid revenge fantasy. He chose wrong. I suggest that you learn from his mistake and let Katherine die in peace. Dying sucks enough as it is...no need to rub anyone's nose in it."

Caroline speeded away again. But Klaus was not following this time. He stood still, pondering that she just told him. And just like that the perfect idea came to him.

In the distance he could hear Caroline once again yelling for Matt. He already heard the boy shouting for help a while ago and sent his sister Rebekah to rescue him. He imagined that both love birds were quite pleased to see each other.

He was fully concentrated on Caroline. They needed to talk. He had question for her and would not leave before hearing the honest answer from her.

Klaus found her in small clearing. She stood still fully absorbed into her task - listening for Matt's cries using her sensitive vampire hearing. She hasn't even noticed when he approached her. For a minute he just stood there and looked at her standing in the beam of sunlight. His artist's eye immediately caught that her milky skin appeared even fairer than usual or how rays of sunshine made it look like her hair was flowing like pure liquid gold. She had her eyes closed, but he could perfectly imagine her deep blue-green eyes, reminding him of the stormy sea. They're always so lively. Like the blonde herself. She is capable of such overpowering compassion, raging anger, passionate and all consuming love.

She was more precious than any artwork he seen in his immortal life. But she couldn't be owned. She was like unstoppable force of nature. Untamable. If he could he would just stand here all day, watching her in awe.

But he knew if he wouldn't say something now she'll run away and he'd have to go chasing after her once again.

CF*CF*CF

Caroline stood unmoving in the small clearing concentrating on trying to hear Matt's voice amid of wood noises with the help of her sensitive vampire hearing. But only thing she could make out was annoyingly enticing voice of devilishly handsome Original.

"Would you give me the same choice?"

"What?" She crinkled her brows in quite an adorable way.

"Were I to abandon my revenge against Katarina, would you give me the same choice as Tyler?"

This was not something she was expecting. Her mind wandered for the second before she forced herself to focus.

"I don't know what you mean." She denied his claim. But she herself could still hear defensive note in her voice. She didn't want to do this right now. Her carefully built walls were already starting to crack from his nearness.

"Yes you do." Klaus took a step towards her, slowly invading her personal space.

"You can't do this to me. You can't just show up while my friend is missing and is in danger and try to distract me."

Klaus was clearly amused by her rhetoric. He smiled at her like he knew something she didn't and started talking before she was even finished, chuckling softly.

"You know, while you've been vamping off in all the wrong directions, I heard Matt's distant and desperate screams." Original said smugly.

Blonde vampire's head darted around franticly. "Where?" She was ready to run at the moment's notice. She just needed a direction from Klaus. But he just shook his head amusedly.

"Don't worry love, I've got it covered. Trust me; he'll be quite happy with his rescuer." He grinned at her with a cocky smile.

She had no reason to believe him, but that tiny spark in his eyes made her want to trust him about this. And she did, against her better judgment. She trusted that he knew better than letting something happen to Matt. Caroline could never forgive him that.

Caroline and Klaus were walking through the woods together in amicable silence. Now that they had time, neither of them was rushing anywhere.

"So, the quarterback has been saved. What now?" Older vampire asked, interested in Caroline's plans. She was yet to answer his previous question.

"Don't you have a dying girl you need to go punish for her sins?" She asked him bitterly. She knew that Katherine was no sunshine, but only thing she did directed to her came out as one of the best things of her life. She honestly thought that she was immensely better for becoming this bloodsucking predator. Before all of this happened and her eyes were opened to a brand new world, she led a very shallow life. Now Caroline couldn't even imagine what would have come out of her if she'd stayed on that path. So no, she did not felt hatred for murderer. She disliked her for her manipulative nature and what she made her friends to go through, but she also pitied the girl who lost everything when she was only seventeen. She knew how hard it could be. There was all that time her mother wouldn't even look her in the eyes for becoming the creature of the night and her father trying to torture vampire out of her.

"I do, but I won't, for you." Hybrid was almost flippant as he said that.

He said that not for the first time today, but she was still unconvinced. "So you came all the way to Mystic Falls to back off when I tell you to?" She asked him incredulously.

"No. I came all the way to Mystic Falls to gloat over a corpse-to-be, as you so poetically put it, but I will leave - minus the gloating - in return for one, small thing."

She did not trust him enough to agree without knowing all the details. So she asked him what he wanted from her.

"I want your confession." He said her simply.

She narrowed her eyes, becoming defensive once again. What kind of confession could he want? And what were his alternative motives? Caroline was already looking for hidden meaning in his words.

"My confession? I didn't do anything. Confession about what?"

Klaus was not thrown by her evasiveness. He knew that it was his perfect opportunity to get all the answers to the questions which were plaguing his mind for so long. He just needed to hear it from her lips the truth, just one time.

"Me. As soon as we're done here, I'm going to walk away and I'll never mention this to you again. You'll never again have to look me in the eye and cover our connection with hostility or revulsion. And you'll never have to loathe the darkest parts of yourself that care for me, in spite of all I've done. I will leave you be and you will be free. I just want you to be honest with me. Just this once"

Klaus put the ball in her court and now it was time for her to make a decision. Caroline appeared to be thinking deeply, weighing her answer to his plea. She knew that there would no way back if she told him the truth.

"I'm in college. I'm building a life for myself. I have plans; and a future; and things that I want and none of those things involve you. Okay. None of them." She hurried to let out all of this before she lost all the courage. But she made a mistake by glancing at Klaus' eyes.

Broken look on his face and the endless well of sadness in his eyes made her heart squeeze painfully. Always so smug and arrogant Klaus now stood before and looked at her as if she kicked his puppy.

"I see."

Two words. Just two words uttered with such deep disappointment was Caroline's undoing and she found herself pouring out all those things she buried deep down in the shadows of her heart. It was like the damp broke and she was unable to stop the words from pouring out of her mouth.

"No you don't. Yes, I do cover our connection with hostility, 'cause yes, I hate myself for the truth. So if you promise to leave me alone...like you said, and never mention this again. Then yes...I will be honest with you. I will be honest with you about what I want."

"I will let you go. And I won't talk about this again. I promise." He hurriedly agreed with everything she asked for.

Caroline walked up to Klaus and stopped to stand within few centimeters of his face.

"Good." She said softly gazing straight into his eyes, her breath glossing his lips.

She leaned to him slowly, capturing his lips in sweet kiss. She felt world stop for the moment as their lips connected. She withdrew a bit in surprise to look at Klaus. She wanted to know if he felt it too. If the look he gave her was any indication, he absolutely did. Grinning he captured her lips in more passionate kiss and pushed her to the nearest tree. By the time Caroline's back hit the trunk of the car they both were divested from their jackets and her wandering hands were trying to remove his Henley.

Klaus pinned her to the tree, ripping the buttons of her blouse to get to her smooth, silky skin. His lips were devouring hers. It was long time since Caroline felt this kind of rush, this kind of passion. Her blood was pumping and desire was pooling in the pit of her stomach. She felt like her heart was about to jump out of her chest. Klaus' touch on her skin was driving her mad. So she let go of her sanity and surrendered herself to the all consuming wave of passion threatening to swallow her.

After some time Caroline and Klaus were lying on the ground naked still tangled in each other, breathing deeply. They both were disheveled with twigs and leaves stuck in their hairs. But neither wanted to move yet and let the rest of the world in their little bubble.

"This can't happen again." Caroline muttered burrowing her nose into Klaus' neck as his fingers ran up and down her spine.

"Mhmm. You said the same thing after the first time, but here we are." Hybrid said with throaty chuckle.

Caroline smacked his naked, muscled chest. "I'm serious. No matter how great it was, I still have a plan. That hasn't changed."

"You said great? Maybe we should make it fantastic." Klaus leaned closer and captured her lips in the passionate kiss which promised so much more.

"That's what you got from all that?" Caroline gasped out when he released her lips to travel down her jaw peppering butterfly kisses.

"I still don't hear you opposing the idea." And she didn't. Right now she would do anything he asked, she would say yes to everything, but she trusted him enough to respect her decisions and don't pressure her.

Instead she took control into her own hands and rolled them over. Right now she was on top and enjoying the view.

Giving Klaus mischievous smirk she said. "Are you ready to make this phenomenal?"