Klaus's eyes followed Caroline as she walked ahead of him. She had only kissed him in the cheeks, and yet it meant so much more than the intense kisses they had shared back in Mystic Falls. It had always amazed him how the gorgeous blonde could keep him on his toes all the time.

Grinning from ear to ear he caught up with Caroline and put his arm around her shoulders. Caroline immediately stopped walking and removed his arm that was on her and turned to face him.

"What was that?" her brows furrowed and her lips pursed.

Klaus didn't know what to do. Again."What was the kiss for then love?"

"We're friends, okay. Just so we're clear about the status," she turned and continued walking ahead of him.

"Then I guess I'm glad it's not complicated", Klaus muttered loud enough just so Caroline could hear him.

Caroline wasn't able to hide her laugh and threw her head back as she did so.

Looking at the scene, Klaus felt warm. It was a blissful moment for him, no speculations, no pretense, no tension. It was almost too good to be true. He laughed with her as he caught up.


Rebekah observed the baby vampire and her hybrid brother as they entered the house, immersed in a conversation. Something about Klaus needing to be more social and gaining true loyalty through some whatnot. She was atop the stairs and scoffed when Caroline and Klaus only noticed her after a few minutes of entering.

"Glad you noticed me Nik. After all, I'm only your sister."

Klaus snickered much to her surprise,"Yes, you are my sister and not my mother."

Ah the irony, Rebekah descended the stairs and proceeded to raise her eyebrows at Niklaus.

"Don't you have something important to do Rebekah?" Niklaus was now serious and she knew what he meant by 'something important'.

"Yes. I do," she drawled in a manner that would pique Caroline's interest. And she was right, Caroline looked at her as if trying to figure something out. Rebekah gave her the don't-you-wish-you-knew look and strutted out of the house.


They were in the study, with Klaus sitting in front of the desk and Caroline slammed her hands down in front of him,"What was that?"

As if it was a usual scenario Klaus feigned innocence. "What was what, love?"

"You know very well what I'm talking about. What's Rebekah gonna do?" Caroline was now crossing her arms.

"It's not polite to stick our noses in somebody else's business is it now, love?"

"I'm sure you have something to do with this Klaus. And I'm gonna find out."

Klaus didn't like the sound of it. Poking her nose in places she should not would endanger her. He decided to play a dangerous card, one that could end the glorious day that should've been ahead of him.

"I think we should enforce certain limits to our deal love. After all, I'm not the one with the most benefits in it."

Caroline looked at him with shock, easily replaced with anger. Turning away from him she flitted to her room and Klaus endured the sounds of furniture breaking for a good number of minutes. He wasn't sure if it was just her room that was trashed or if his was also in ruins.


Caroline critically eyed her room and its catastrophic state. Her vanity mirror was in pieces, so was the window, the armchair had a leg off, the pillows and duvet ripped to shreds, and the wall lamps were torn off the side of her bed. Only her clothes were safe from her wrath. On the other hand, Klaus's room was in a similar state as hers, if not worse. She also rejoiced in the fact that she ruined a good number of his clothes, apart from the henleys that she had always been fond of.

Opening her dresser, she pulled out the clothes and placed them on the good side of the bed and continued to do so until she had emptied even the drawers. She was counting on Klaus hearing her pile up her clothes, and the man didn't disappoint her and was already by her side in a matter of seconds.

"Where do you think you're going Caroline?" he was angry now.

"I want to move to a different room."

"Don't dream of it love, the other spare room has already been turned to a nursery. I'm not sure you could stomach it,"Klaus announced with triumph.

Caroline frowned and ran her hand through her golden hair. Klaus just enjoyed the view of a frustrated Caroline. In his mind he thought Caroline might already be creating ways and scenarios she could get away from him. It caught his attention when she finally sighed, it was one of defeat. A rare thing from his Caroline.

"I guess it was too much to ask. How could I forget? I'm just a prisoner here, part of a bargain. I guess I should even be grateful that you let me out of the house. We're just hanging out because we agreed to something we thought we could both benefit from. I'm actually supposed to follow your orders and basically I'm like one of your trophies. It's a trophy that says, you win because you get me, you make Tyler suffer, my friends are under the gratitude of being protected by you because of our deal, which they don't even know, and I'm supposed to behave so they'll stay safe. That's not friendship, it's impossible. You're never gonna be a good person, no matter how much good I see in you. You'll always turn out to be the villain in the end. Ugh, why did I even think that we could be friends?!" Caroline threw her hands in the air with frustration.

Klaus was hurt. Sure, he had heard it from everyone else, but the way Caroline had said it made him seem like a thousand times more evil. More evil than he thought of himself. But Caroline knew it. She knew his tendencies, how far he could go, and what he would be willing to do for all the right causes. Why was she questioning this now? When she knew from the first place what he was and still declared that they were friends.

"Caroline, you know who I am and what I am capable of. You knew that when you called me your friend, and yet you bring it up now. You should know how to make up your mind Caroline." He said it between his teeth.

Caroline only gave him a defiant look and walked out of the room.

"Where do you think you're going Caroline?" Klaus followed in her steps.

"You should think of sending someone to fix the rooms, so I would have somewhere to sleep in the night."

"You're not answering my question Caroline," he grabbed her arm to stop her.

"I think I have SOMETHING IMPORTANT to do," she replied. Knowing it would piss him off.

Let's see how you like it, she felt triumphant. Caroline turned around to fully face him."And isn't it impolite when you stick your nose into someone else's business? You said that to me yourself."

Damn the girl had such a bloody smart mouth. And just like that instead of being angry, Klaus became amused and grinned at Caroline to let her know she hadn't beaten him yet.

"All right then," he held out his credit card,"I think you've earned the need to go shopping. Buy anything that pleases your eye love, and be back in time for dinner."

Caroline pursed her lips, contemplating on using Niklaus card. In that moment she perked up with a brilliant idea in her mind and greedily snatched the card from his hands.

Klaus watched as Caroline skipped outside the door, suddenly nervous for himself. It felt as if Caroline would be doing something devious, although he couldn't imagine what.


Caroline took a deep breath once she entered the mall. She was delighted at the number of boutiques and the clothes that only needed a swipe of a card to be hers. She never thought revenge would be so sweet and fashionably wonderful.

Scouring the entire mall, she made sure not to miss even one shop, looking at each rack and buying almost everything. It was already six in the evening when she was done. She couldn't believe she spent the entire afternoon shopping, and actually buying every little thing she took interest in.

She walked outside the mall and called Klaus.

"Done so soon, love?" his voice was sweet. She smirked.

"Klaus, I need you to fetch me. I need help with my shopping bags, there's too many," she feigned a tired voice hoping he would fall for it.

He did."I'll be there in a few love."

Caroline giggled at how Klaus had fell for her act. Now the surprise was all that was left.


When Klaus arrived at the mall and saw Caroline he began to be suspicious. She didn't have a single bag on her, nothing. He carefully assessed her movement as she climbed into the passenger seat.

"I thought you needed help with your bags Caroline?" his voice wary.

"I do, they're in the shops. Here's a list, I need you to pick it up." She handed him a paper with more than a dozen names on it.

"I'm sure you didn't buy all this just because of the pretty clothes, love. This is my punishment isn't it?" Klaus glared at her and threw the list in the backseat."I'm not your butler Caroline."

"No you're not, you're my friend. And friends do this, help each other."

So she was going to be friends again if he did this task. He looked at her, judging her expression, which of course was smug with her triumphant grin. He bet nothing could wipe that grin off her face. He was troubled, yet happy that Caroline had known he could never refuse her. Not to mention her batting eyelashes. Surely she knew that his affection only said more about him. He looked at the entrance of the mall, and to her again. Contemplating. Weighing his decision.

"You forget Caroline, we're already friends. You said so yourself."

Caroline was appalled. He was bargaining."Fine. I'll give you a surprise."

"Another surprise, love? Well, aren't we full of surprises today."

"No, it'll be for..." she contemplated on a date,"next week. I'm sure you'll be full of surprises by the time this day ends."

Niklaus squinted his eyes at her but got off the car and retrieved the list he tossed in the backseat.

Caroline could not hide her amusement at watching Klaus go back and forth the car and mall, retrieving a dozen shopping bags and boxes. She would laugh loudly to ignite Klaus's temper whenever he said bloody hell and called almost every item bloody.

"Be careful with that Klaus, I wouldn't want the dress to get crumpled," she chastised him after carelessly dumping the last batch of clothes she had purchased. The task took almost an hour, a very entertaining moment in her life as far as Caroline was concerned. Klaus only huffed and brought the car to life, speeding down the highway, back to the mansion.

When they arrived home, Rebekah was with a human. A bloody one at that. Taking Caroline and Niklaus' arrival as her cue to finish her meal, she told him to leave and wiped the bloody mess on her face.

"Well it was nice having you two out for dinner. It provides much more fresh options."Rebekah comments as she disappeared at the top of the stairs.

Caroline decided to ignore Rebekah."Are the rooms fixed?"

Klaus nodded.

"Good. I'd appreciate it if you carried all the stuff into my bedroom. I still have to get ready for bed,"she sped up the stairs and he heard the shower turn on.

Klaus sighed, knowing he had no choice. He had to do this to soften her up. And with much enthusiasm as he could muster, he started to gather Caroline's purchases from the car and put it in her room.


Caroline decided to leave the bathroom when she heard the shuffling of feet stopped, assuming Klaus was done bringing all the things to her room. She wrapped herself in a towel and hummed as she walked out the door, almost letting go of her hold on the towel when she saw Klaus sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Klaus! Privacy! Ever heard of it?"

Klaus stood up and turned around to look at her. He basked in her radiance. Her face was free of makeup, but she was still so beautiful and the light in her seemed to shine brighter.

"You look beautiful, love." It was a declaration.

"Yeah, says every man who wants to get in my pants." Caroline snorted.

"Caroline, if ever that were the case, I'd make sure I will be the last one to get in those pants of yours. But I don't like the way you look at yourself, I don't just want to get in your pants. I want to make love to you until you scream out my name, until you're writhing under me in pleasure, until you pant and feel like you're out of breath. I'll make love to you until you beg me for it. And I'd gladly indulge you Caroline, remember that." His eyes were on hers, piercing her very soul.

Caroline took a step back but was immediately against the wall. Klaus followed suit, until their bodies meshed and his lips were on her lips. Searing. Hot. Needy. But it was full of butterflies. Then she felt something so much more. She felt comfort, security, she felt special, and loved. She savored the moment, their tongues dancing with each other, his right hand angling her head with such care and the other on her lower back, pressing her to him. It felt so damn good, and she didn't want it to stop. But it had to. Everything was just so messed up she knew it was right to end things the way they are tonight.

As Klaus 's kisses slowed down that soon became butterfly kisses that rained on her face, she giggled and slowly put distance between them. Just enough but not too much, she was still in his arms but their faces were now at least a good 12 cm away from each other.

"From the kiss, I'd say you were like a lover Caroline. A true lover, mine." He was about to kiss her again but she stopped him, putting a hand on his firm chest.

Damn, she loved the feel of his Henley fitting his chest like a second skin.

"No Klaus, we're friends. Let's be clear on that," her tone firm.

"I'm a bit unsure with your offer of friendship Caroline," Niklaus' brows furrowed.

Caroline sighed,"I know. That's why I'm offering a better friendship. I know who you are and what you can do, but I won't base our friendship on that. Not anymore. I know you can be better Klaus, I've seen it. You've sided with us once, against Silas. From now on I'll always remember all the good in you, if you promise to listen to me and share things with me. Because that's where it all starts. With trust. We'll be partners in crime for now, since I'm basically going behind my friends' back. Although I can be judgy and all, I'll try not to be. With you. So let's be friends, okay."

She searched his eyes as he stared at her intently.

"Friends then," he confirmed.

"Best friends," she nodded.

Caroline beamed when she saw him smile warmly at her and leaned down to kiss her on the forehead. It was such an endearing act that she did the same and stood on her toes as she kissed him on the forehead.

Klaus let out a heavy sigh and released Caroline,"Goodnight Caroline."

"Goodnight Klaus," she said it in such a warm tone that it made his heart swell.

He was smiling even as he made his way back to his room, and even when he heard Caroline lock her doors he only chuckled. He thought it was probably better, especially with a magnificent beauty within his reach.

"My beloved Caroline, you are a walking temptation."

And he knew she could hear him, and couldn't shake the feeling that she was probably smiling. "I'm glad we're friends," he said and prepared for bed.