Author's Note: Everyone is being so sweet to me! Thank you so much for your kind words! They are really inspiring me to continue on. We are quickly closing in on the soon to be an epic return to Mystic Falls and the reunion between long time friends, and newly minted enemies. I'm excited to see how you guys like it! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!
There is freedom waiting for you,
on the breezes in the sky,
And you ask "What if I fall?"
Oh but my darling,
What if you fly?
-e.h
Caroline's face is so flushed with embarrassment that she's afraid that her face was melting. She has to fan herself in hopes that it will cool her down a bit. With that devilish look on his face, she thought that today was going to be filled with weird kink play or something. She wasn't sure what to expect at all. This... now, this was about a million miles off from the spot on the map that she thought it was going to be.
"I have no idea how this could possibly be fun for you," Caroline grumbles, face flushed. She twists around in the next dress to face the man sitting, propped up like a king against the cushions of the luscious couch in the viewing area, his legs crossed at the ankle on the table in front of him. He rests his temple against his fist, a wineglass full of blood sloshing around in his free hand. The only thing that he's missing is the crown perched on his head. But even without it, he doesn't look any less kingly.
"On the contrary," He smiles, amused. "I am having a lot of fun, Caroline."
Caroline rolls her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "You're kind of a tool, old man." He laughs at that, shaking his head. "Besides, I don't know why this is how you wanted to spend today. Even if you bought them for me, I wouldn't take them. I live out of a backpack, I can't afford to carry around too much stuff." She looks down at him.
Klaus purses his lips, pouting unhappily as if he hadn't thought of that.
"Perhaps we can make other arrangements..." he considers, looking over at the glass before taking a long, leisure sip of the blood from the attendant that has been helping Caroline get ready. It was a little strange but Caroline figured that if it wasn't a vampire thing, it was definitely a Klaus thing. He holds the glass out at arm's length, watching the red liquid as if it holds the secrets of the universe.
"I'm never going to wear any of these dresses despite how pretty they are. I live day by day. I don't have a closet. They're beautiful and I would like to say I'm enjoying being a Barbie-doll you're dressing up for some ungodly reason - but really I'm just a bit creeped out and worried about your sanity and my own safety. Think, Criminal Minds, but anyway, I'm not going to wear any of them. Not out and about and they aren't practical on the road," Caroline says, feeling the fabric with her fingers, hating how soft it was and that she had to send it away. It just wasn't practical. It would be taking up space that something else could use. Like a bus pass, or a pair of shorts. Or a hoodie.
As much as she liked the dresses, it didn't make sense to take them.
Klaus stares at her long and hard before saying, "Criminal Minds? Like the television show? The one with the serial killers?"
Caroline laughs, rolling her eyes. "Out of everything I said, that is what you took from it?" She shakes her head as he sends her a boyish smile.
"I just find it interesting that a girl like you would watch something like that," he says, intrigued. Then, a look crosses his face as he stares at her. "Wait a tick, love, when did you find the time to even watch it while on road?" His eyebrows pull together, a curious look spreading across his face.
"Klaus," Caroline says rolling her eyes, walking over to the couch, sitting down on the table in front of it, scooting his legs over a bit. "If you want to buy me something, can I make a request? Something I'll actually need."
Klaus pulls his legs down and sits forward, laying the glass down onto the table and looking at her with curious blue eyes. "I'm listening, love, ask away." He seems amused by her being willing to ask for something from him.
Caroline crosses her ankles and leans in closer to the man in front of her. "I would like a pair of nice running shoes." He stares back at her with raised eyebrows, genuinely surprised by her request.
"Running shoes," he echoes, blinking a few times. "Better to run away from me with?"
Caroline rolls her eyes. "Why do you always just assume that everything others do it is either in spite of you, to harm you, or to get away from you?" She looks into his eyes for a moment and sees something. She sees the truth there so plain and painful. He does. He will always assume that to be the truth. He's lived a thousand years with that being the only three things that remained constant. She can't bear to look at it any longer. "No. No, I'm not going to use these shoes for any other reason besides the obvious. I wore out my last ones and they are so much more comfortable than the flip flops that I've been wearing down. I live on the streets, I could keep saving so that I could spare enough for new ones, but if you are offering to buy me anything at all, that's what I want."
Nevermind the days of meals she would have to skip to afford really nice ones that won't wear down as quickly.
Klaus presses the tips of his fingers together, pursing his lips in thought. "Shoes? That's it? You could ask for a home if you wanted."
Caroline rolls her eyes again, the muscles starting to hurt from the number of times she's done that action today. "I don't need a home. Not like a physical house because I don't have anywhere I want to stay yet. And my aunt has a house that I can return to if I really needed to. I am far better off than some people. Or a lot of people, who really have nowhere to go or turn so I'm not complaining."
She looks down at his fingers dangling between his legs, watching as he slowly presses the tips of his fingers together, splays them out, then presses all of them back together again in his thoughts, considering what she's said.
"I suppose that is an interesting take on your predicament," Klaus says, lips barely moving as he speaks. His blue eyes half-lidded in thought.
"Think about it," Caroline says, "I'm going to change out of this dress." She stands up and heads back into the changing room, looking at the full body mirror one last time, admiring the soft purple dress. She likes how it hugs her nicely, the shape of the dress itself, it was all so beautiful and soft. The touch of the dress was foreign and nothing like she's used to.
Faintly, Caroline can remember a time when she was young. She loved dressing up in pretty dressed, dreaming of one day being a beauty pageant winner. She loved watching them walking across the stage, in their beautiful dresses with elegantly styled hair with pearly white smiles and airy voices. They were beautiful. They were what Caroline thought made a beautiful woman. Now she knows so much better. Now she understands that beauty isn't limited to the clothes one wears or how they style their hair or how they speak, the color of their hair, skin, or eyes, or even the cut of their jaw or the shape of their body.
Beauty is so much more than any of those things.
Caroline likes this dress, she thinks it's pretty and wished that when she took this dress off, it would go onto a hanger and into her closet, not to go back onto a rack for some other girl to peruse for one reason or another. But it's not practical for her to have it.
She tuns her fingers over the soft fabric of the dress one more time before finally taking it off, placing it back on the hanger that it belongs on and starts pulling on her leggings and holey t-shirt. She stands in front of that full-body mirror, staring at herself once more, envious of the girl before but not hating this one. In a different life, perhaps, she could be both girls. She could dress up in beautiful dresses and shoes that pinch her toes one night and then sit at home in a sweatshirt and leggings eating ice cream straight from the carton and watch movies the next.
But that's not her life. Right now, her life is finding her aunt and going home. It's the only thing that matters to her now. Her aunt needs her help, so it's only right that she goes looking for her and make sure that she's safe. Especially if somehow, she's the reason why she left. Caroline can't imagine what she could have done that would have made her aunt leave, but if she didn't do something she should apologize for it so that they could go home.
Caroline reaches out, touching her reflection in the mirror, letting out a long-winded sigh. Hopefully, Different-Life Caroline is having a more mundane, less hectic life than she has. Caroline pulls her hand away, makes a terrible face at herself in the mirror as a print is left behind before apologizing quietly to whoever was probably going to have to clean that and grab her sweatshirt with her phone and wallet and rush out without offering the colorful assortment of dresses behind without a second look.
Klaus is on his phone when she walks out. "Yes," he draws out, smiling pretty when she comes into view. "I have something more to finish in the city tonight and then I'll be heading out tomorrow evening. I'll meet you then."
Caroline walks back over to the table and slips her flip flops on. She plops down next to him on the couch, closing her eyes. She's still pretty tired. She pulls out her phone, glancing at it to see that it's getting into early evening and she's starting to get hungry too. If she's going to eat, sooner would be better than later. If she eats right before she transforms, she'll painfully vomit it all up. She hates it so much.
He moves his phone to his other ear, still listening to the person talking to him before resting his arm around her shoulders as she rests her head on his own shoulder, typing out a text, "I want to eat before it gets too late. Transforming on a full stomach is a pain." Then she holds it to his face for him to see. He nods, petting some of her hair from her forehead. She lowers her phone, finally relaxing into his gentle embrace.
Caroline plays on her phone after deleting the text before playing a free game on it while she waits for him, droning out his words while just listening to the sound of his voice.
Klaus hangs up, pushing some of her hair off of her forehead. "Alright, love, ready to head out?"
Caroline nods, dragging herself away from him, missing his gentle warmth as soon as she pulls away. She shoves her phone into her big pocket and holds her hands out for him to take. He smirks, taking her hands after sliding his own phone into his own front pants pocket before taking her hands and letting her help pull him up onto his feet. Klaus puts his arm around her shoulders as if it's the most natural thing in the world and leads her out of the store, stopping to compel the sales assistant to forget that they were there.
After a meal, Klaus takes her to a safe house in the city where she can safely turn. As they walk there, Caroline soaks in the energy of the rising moon, feeling it wash over her body and into her bones. She's going to change tonight, she can feel the tingling beneath her skin. She needs to wear out her body then safely change into the wolf tonight.
"What's it like for you?" Klaus asks. "Tell me how this day feels for you."
"The night of the full moon?" Caroline asks, looking up at him, curiously, holding his hand over her shoulders. She's not sure if it's the full moon itself, this man, or the fact that she's conditioning her body, slowly, but surely, to respond to the full moon in such a way, but she doesn't want to separate from Klaus. She feels safe with him and they really are connecting. Which is strange.
"Yeah," Klaus says, blue eyes scanning the streets around them. Caroline can smell water in the air. It's going to rain again.
"It's a lot of mixed feelings," Caroline says. "I get anxious and have a hard time sleeping. But I also feel more connected to nature. My aunt hates the full moon. Hates the pain and the change - which I get. I hate the feeling of the change too, but I've adapted and I'm used to it now. It's just another thing for me to go through every month."
They walk in silence for a few minutes.
"Why are you so interested in werewolves, anyway?" Caroline asks. "You have a lot of questions, or should I be worried about it since they all have really been about me?"
Klaus laughs, pulling her a bit closer as they walk inside the safe house, which is off the beaten path but still close to plenty of shops to be considered in town. She walks up the front steps, stopping outside the door. She looks at Klaus as he unlocks the door with a quizzical, "If you had a place to stay, why would you shack up at a hotel all this time? Room service?"
Klaus smiles charmingly down at her. "No, love. I just bought it. Quaint little thing, isn't it?"
Caroline gives him a withering sideways glance. "Are you kidding? You didn't buy it today, did you?"
"In between you changing clothes at the shop, yes," Klaus says, shrugging his shoulders. "I knew that I was going to need something that you could tear apart. I like the location of this place but it's going to need to be gutted anyway if I want to fix it up and resell it."
Caroline tilts her head to the side. "You bought it today? For me? So that I would be able to turn? And after I tear it up, you're going to what? Remodel and then sell it to some family of four?"
Klaus laughs, shaking his head. "Maybe, if that's who wants to buy it, why not?"
Caroline stares at him trying to decide which one of these pieces of information she's more interested in exploring at the moment. The fact that his lucrative business is selling homes to suburban families, or the fact that he bought it - which is no doubt worth a pretty penny, at least to her, no doubt - because she needed somewhere safe to change so that she doesn't run the risk of attacking anyone who couldn't defend themselves. She's not ready to explore the meaning behind that second one so she decides on, "You sell homes for a living?"
Klaus laughs again. "I do many things, Caroline. Selling refurbished homes is just a way to make some spare change."
Caroline makes a face at that. Selling a home for spare change? That is way too rich for her blood. She is way out of her league when dealing with him. She needs to just not think too much about it and move on tomorrow.
As soon as they get inside, Klaus leads her through a modest, sparsely decorated house with absolute bare minimum furniture before leading her up to the nicest part of the house, a bedroom. Caroline stips off her sweatshirt, dropping it to the floor and throwing herself into his arms. He uses vampire speed to move them both across the room and onto the bed. Caroline's lips lock onto Klaus's kissing him as hard as she can, pulling back just enough to pull her shirt and bra up over her head before latching her lips back to his as he tosses his own shirt across the room.
Caroline runs her fingers up and down his chest as he presses close to her. He knees himself between her legs which she allows without a second thought, her tongue twisting together with his. With one hand she reaches up and grabs hold of the back of his dark blond haired head. A part of her wished that his hair was just a little bit longer but she won't complain. She grabs onto the back of his neck instead as he kisses down her neck, between her breasts, kissing each of her rips as he makes his way down to her stomach to the top of her leggings before smiling up at her.
"I hate you," Caroline groans, her chest heaving. He meets her eyes through long dark lashes, looking hungry and animalistic. There is something about him that just feeds into the wolf's desire. He makes her feel more alive than anyone else has before him. She not sure if it's because this is the second time that she's been with him or... or if she's just thinking too much because she's drunk on their shared passion or as the moon starts to rise higher into the sky, falling in through the curtainless window and wrapping her body in a silver light that sinks into her skin.
She looks down at him between her legs and watches as he stares back at her with his mouth hanging open as if they are both hypnotized by the same feeling, she grabs onto her leggings as he unbuckles his pants and they both rip them off of their bodies. Their skin couldn't be touching fast enough and Caroline feels like her body is on fire. They wrap around each other and Caroline feels him hike her leg up over his hip as his stubble rubs across her face and her neck when he moves there to give her scratchy butterfly kisses.
He pushes inside of her as soon as she exhales, making her choke on her breath. She wraps her legs around his waist to pull him further inside of her faster, moaning his name over and over again. He keeps whispering sweet nothings in her ear that drives her crazy. She ranks her nails down his back before wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him again and again and again, loving how his lips feel against her's. How his body seems to fit perfectly against her own. How he knows everything that she needs before she can even find the air to voice them.
"You are absolutely ravishing, Caroline," Klaus whispers against her lips, pulling her back into her body. She's not sure how long they've been at it, but he looks like a dream against the moonlight pouring in on them. She loved the look on him.
"Say my name again, Klaus," Caroline rasps, loving to hear how her name rolls off his lips.
"Caroline," he says obediently, and Caroline can feel her skin prickle with pleasure as it washes over her. "Caroline."
Caroline's breathes out deeply, stretching out on the bed against the moonlight as Klaus hovers over her. His skin glistening but it has already begun to start drying. It's not dripping on her anymore, which she surprisingly didn't mind. She pulls him down until he's settled across her, his head on her shoulder with his forehead pressed against her chin and she holds him close, relishing in this feeling. She runs her hands up and down his back, using her nails to lightly scrape against his skin hoping that this feeling is as soothing to him as it is for her.
It takes him a minute to get used to the feeling before letting himself relax a bit. Then a little bit more. Then a tiny bit more until he's laying with his weight on her and breathing more contently. She could feel that little jump of his heart in his chest and she has to wonder if it's fear. She's not sure what he's afraid of, but he eventually starts to calm down.
She could feel his long lashes touch her neck every time he blinked which is an interesting feeling. But she feels good, like last time. She likes this feeling. Not just the sex, but also this feeling. This closeness. She hasn't felt this closeness or anything similar to it. It's not just their bodies that are close, it's their hearts beating in sync. Their breathing rhythmically. This feeling that the two of them are connected. She just doesn't know how to explain it. She's not sure how it got to this point or what makes it feel like this, but she's happy.
She's happy that he can relax, even if only for a moment. But she knows that it has to come to an end. As much as she would love to stay in this moment forever, she knows that she can't. She can feel the moonlight pulsating through her, calling like a siren.
"Klaus," Caroline whispers, pressing her lips into his forehead. "I need to change now." Despite her words, she wraps her arms around him to keep in place. The feeling washes over her, the need to transform, but she forces it down to hug him close, kiss his forehead again before running her fingers across his back, his neck and then through his hair. "I feel it. I have to transform now."
Klaus finally pulls away, seemingly as unwilling to do it as she does. He stares down at her as she finally lets the moonlight in, feeling her skin tingling, and releases the part of her that's been holding back, allowing the transformation to start. Her arm cracks first, then her back, and then her other arm. She grits her teeth as a yell of pain tears through her.
Klaus scoops her up and leaves the room, walking with purpose but not rushed. They go from the upstairs down into the unfinished basement. The floor has a bunch of pillows and blankets strewn out over the concrete for some unexplainable reason that she can't find the air in her lungs to question it. He slowly lowers her down onto the pillows and covers, running his hand over her hair as she cries out in pain.
The old vampire presses his lips onto Caroline's hairline before walking up the stairs and closing the door behind him as Caroline complete's her transformation into the wolf. As usual, the wolf angrily tore into anything and everything down there. She tore into the blankets and pillows, tossing feathers and stuffing all over the basement floor. She scrapes her nails against the concrete floor when she disheveled enough of the covers to find it. Grew bored of that pretty quick and took to attacking the stairs, ripping at the supports with her teeth and then digging into it with her claws, snarling and angry, searching desperately for a way out so that she could get to... get...
She doesn't know.
She just has to get out of here.
Her wolf brain figured out how to use the stairs and scaled it, then bashed herself against it a few times. Long, sorrowful howls of pain that reflect this pain in her chest that only the wolf understood. She needed to get out of there, she needed to, but her wolf can't articulate what this need is. Just that she needed to get out of this basement and find whatever it is that she's looking for.
But Klaus is living up to his reputation once more before long Caroline's wolf tired out and coiled up in the tattered remains of the pillows and blankets before relinquishing control back to Caroline and reverting back into herself.
After some time, Klaus's hands run over her back, pulling her out of the blackout sleep she fell into. He sits down next to her, smoothing down her wild hair and running a hand up and down along the ridges of her spine as she curls into a ball. She feels the unease in her gut starts to settle. Klaus kisses her temple and whispers, "Beautiful little wolf, you amaze me." He places another kiss on her forehead.
Caroline reaches weakly back toward Klaus. He wraps one of the tattered blankets around Caroline and lifts her up into his arms with ease. She blacks out again when her head hit his shoulder.
Caroline wakes up again to see she's back in the hotel that she and Klaus were staying in. She's in the big, lush bed, wrapped up in blankets in new leggings that are still a crisp black and a long white t-shirt. She's tired and weak, looking around the room blearily.
"Klaus?" Caroline rasps. "Klaus?" She calls louder when there isn't a response.
Nothing. The rooms are silent. He must not be in.
A blinking in the corner of her eye catches her attention. She flattens the pillow with her arm to see her phone sitting on the nightstand, charging. She reaches out, grabbing hold of it and looking at the screen. She's got some emails, a message from her mom asking if she was okay - the same thing she asks after every night of the full moon - and a voice mail from a number under the contact 'Klaus'.
She frowns, rubbing at her eyes roughly, wondering if she was seeing correctly. Did he put his number in her phone? Her eyes flicker up to the time. It's early afternoon about two days later. Man, that boy really knows how to wear her out. But now that explains why he isn't there. He told whoever he was on the phone with the day of the full moon that he would be leaving the next evening, which was last night.
She clicks on the voice mail and brings her phone to her ear.
"Hello, love," Klaus says easily, "seeing as our adventures often leave you slumbering for a few days," he says smugly, "I decided to leave you this message. This makes us even for leaving without saying a word beforehand, but I'll show that I am the bigger person by calling you and leaving this message for you to wake up to. The room has been paid for until the end of the following week. Use it to your advantage. Room service and the like." A pause, then, "I've been thinking about what you said and I've decided that I will give you a gift. A few, actually, for being such a good little wolf. I got you a pair of shoes by your bag and a few more t-shirts and those dark leggings you fancy. And since I know that you would deny it otherwise, I got you a card to use, in case of emergencies. You're young, Caroline, and should never go hungry. Use it for food or whatever else you wish, but use it. Do not go a day without eating something."
She has to pause the message, feeling like she can't breathe. She stares up at the white ceiling trying to reign in her whirling, exhausted mind.
Caroline feels a prickle in her eyes that she immediately hates. He shouldn't have done that. He didn't need to do that. She was fine. She usually didn't go without eating unless she knew that she was going to have to spend her money on something expensive. She feels terrible now for having asked for anything at all. She shouldn't have asked for those shoes. She shouldn't have made him feel obligated to help her. She shouldn't have made it seem like everything was so much harder than it was.
It wasn't. She was surviving fine. She was content and most of the time, her life was fine. Now she feels manipulative and evil. He shouldn't have had to do any of that for her. There was absolutely nothing that she could do for him. All she could do was either leave everything there and it falls into the hands of someone else, or in the trash or she could take it with her and maybe do something good with it.
What? She has absolutely no idea.
"I left my number in your phone," Klaus continues once she unpauses the message. "I'll be in touch." The message ends there. Caroline listens to it three more times before deciding that she can't ignore the rumbling in her belly anymore and decides that, at least for this moment, she'll accept his kindness and order room service, thankful to have a soft, warm place to rest her head for a few days before she's off again.
It's raining outside and she's not too keen on going out there to face it. She'll stay inside where it's warm and she can eat for free.
Once she gets some food and water in her, she listens to his message three more times before pulling up his name in her meager contact list and composing a text message. She stares at the empty message for a long time, chewing on her lower lip as she tries to decide on what to say. Nothing seems adequate except that she has to say something.
Finally, after way too long and her phone screen timing out five times, she types up, "Thank you, Klaus" and sends it. She throws her phone down on the bed, turning on the television and channel surfing until something catches her eye. She uses it as background noise as she stares at the back of her phone next to her foot. It vibrates a few minutes later and it takes all of her will power not to snatch it off the bed as fast as her muscles will allow.
She picks it up, turns it around and the screen lights up with a message from Klaus. "Anything for you, little wolf."