Author's Note: Hello, my lovelies! I just loved the reception on this story so I decided to update it next! Thank you all so much for the support so far! I do hope that you continue to enjoy it! This is the most detailed I've ever been with a sex scene for forgive me if it really sucks. I am no good at this stuff! Let me know what you think!
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 waits with bated breath as Klaus considers her words. There are tears brimming in his eyes and he looks heartbroken. Conflicting thoughts flicker across his face. It's early in the morning, and they both have been tossing and turning all night and this conversation is a lot to take in, she knows this. But she felt like she was being dishonest with him having all these feelings circling around inside of her and she wasn't saying a word about it. It wasn't fair to Klaus. Not at all. He deserved to know what she was thinking about since he was at the core of it all.
And for lack of a better word, he looks conflicted by it as well. He looks happy, scared, pensive, contemplatively, and then resolute.
He sucks in a deep breath, blinking a few times before locking beautiful blue eyes with her own, eyebrows falling flat. "I would never do anything to hurt you, Caroline. I admit that I'm not the best at controlling my temper but I assure you, I am a better man now than I was before I met you. I..." he hesitates, swallowing thickly. "I have noticed the change in me. Even Elijah has brought it to my attention, so it must be happening. He's always been a firm believer in my redemption, that brother of mine, but still, if he sees it..."
Caroline tries to ignore the way her heart flutters at his words. Tries to ignore the soft expression on his face, the openness of his eyes. How all of that makes her feel. Caroline didn't know of Klaus before she met him. She has only heard stories and even those range from admiration to vengeful. He sounds like a ghost story in all of them. She can't claim to see how he's changed. She doesn't know anything about that. But still, he feels he has to justify her own desire to stay with him and he shouldn't have to do that. But he does, because while he's a monster to others, he never was to her. Not for a moment. "Klaus, you don't have to explain yourself to me. You don't owe me anything."
Klaus stares back at her through long lashes, definitely looking like he's starting to get mad at her own words. "Is that what you think? Is that what you really think? That this last year has been nothing but some sort of game to me? That everything that we've had since the moment that we met has just been a fancy of mine?"
"I don't know, Klaus, because we don't talk about stuff like that," Caroline says, louder than she intended. She lowers her voice a bit, aware of the touch of nervousness pitching the ends of her words. She definitely didn't like talking about this, so it's clear whose fault it is that they don't. "Klaus, you know me. The idea of commitment is the absolute worst conversation topic for me. But I don't know what else to do here. I don't want to completely forsake my chances of making friends wherever I go, but I also know that I can't just say goodbye to you." Just talking about not wanting to leave him is choking her up. It may already be too late.
Klaus's lips tremble a bit as more emotion flicker across his face. "If it doesn't scare you away, I'll tell you the truth about how I feel," Klaus says softly, scooting closer to her until their knees are resting on top of each other. Caroline feels tears trickle down her face, not sure her heart's restraint can hold up if he does. The fact that she didn't immediately get up and run out of the room must have proven to him to be a good sign, even though her fear has paralyzed her in place. "I love you, Caroline. I never told you because I can't bear you running away from me. I knew from the moment I met you that I wanted you, but this last year has shown me that I need you."
Caroline rubs at the tears in her eyes until Klaus grabs hold of them to stop her from covering her face, which is her go-to when embarrassed. She hates it when he does this. "Klaus," she whines.
"I can't promise that everything will be perfect or I will always be the man you want me to be but I promise to try. I promise to try to be worthy enough for you to fall in love with. Wholely and with certainty." He stares into her eyes, still open and with sincerity.
She's not sure if it's because she's exhausted or just so desperate for the threat of them separating to pass, but the relief was the most prominent of emotions that surged through her at his words. The thought of losing him... of leaving him behind forever hurt so badly it felt like she was tearing out a piece of herself bit by bit. Slowly and painfully. It hurt more than every bump, scratch, or sprained part of her body she's endured since her time on the road. It hurt more than all of her bones breaking on every full moon she's ever turned out. Thinking about it now... it hurts harder still.
Maybe it already was too late to leave on her own. Each time growing harder and harder.
She thought for sure that this was going to end in Caroline running from Mystic Falls, crying her eyes out, vowing to never see Klaus ever again. It broke her heart to accept that reality but she is pretty pessimistic when it comes to her situation. Which is hypocritical seeing as she actually really believes in the goodness of the people around her and the fact that she generally liked people.
It's just that whenever it comes to her, she suddenly has no faith in people wanting to deal with her and she just doesn't understand it. Or perhaps she is only like this with Klaus. She knows that he is way too good for her and she's developing really strong feelings for him and that scares her more than anything else, which she also doesn't understand.
"I love you, Caroline," Klaus says softly, releasing her hands to cup her face, wiping her tears away with his thumbs. "I love you. A thousand years is a long time worth of habits to try and mend, but I love you enough to try."
Caroline tries to shake her head, which is hard to do with an immortal hybrid holding it in place. "Klaus... please..." The squeezing in her heart is becoming too much for her to bear. She can hardly breathe.
"I will wait for however long I have to, I will wait for you," Klaus says, voice a low rumble in his throat. "Please don't give up on me. I'm not perfect. I... am easily angered and I know that I'm not the easiest to get along with, but I'm going to try. I just... need your patience. And maybe a reminder once and again."
Caroline feels a small laugh bubbling up in her chest, so touched that he was willing to try. And the happiness his words bring her walks hand-in-hand with fear. She is too scared to imagine a future with Klaus because if it doesn't come to be, she's going to be heartbroken even more. And hearing that he loves her is bittersweet, for if his love were to ever fade, she's not sure what she would do.
What she told Elijah was true, Klaus really was all she had left. Seeing her mother yesterday just reaffirms that feeling even more than before.
"Klaus," Caroline whisper, reaching forward to grab his face between her hands. "Klaus, please kiss me."
Klaus's eyes lock onto hers before he's launching forward, lips locking with her own. One hand still rests against her neck while the other goes to her lower back, pulling it closer while leaning forward so that she can lay down on her back with him hovering over her, kissing her again and again. Sometimes long and slow, sometimes fast and simple. However she wanted, with his body pressed up against her own.
She's not sure how long they laid there, kissing to her heart's content before she felt her own hands sliding beneath Klaus's shirt, nose filling with that beautifully delicious scent radiating off of Klaus. She couldn't smell it before, maybe her anxiety was clogging her senses from the smell, but now that she was starting to relax, it was filling her brain, sending off those fireworks once more.
And it was Caroline running her hands up and down his chest all while keeping his lips locked onto her own, then she grabbed onto his shirt and pulled it up over his head, discarding it into the far corner of the room somewhere. She leaned up, pulling her own shirt off as he slides his pants and underwear off before helping her with her own as she pulls off her bra, and then they are latched onto each other, licking and kissing and rubbing against one another like they've done so many times before, except now there was that absolutely wonderful scent filling the room, getting Caroline drunk on the feeling.
Klaus takes a slow, deep breath and she watches as the blue of his eyes vanish as both his irises turn golden and his pupils expand until it's a thin yellow ring surrounding darkness, making blackened veins pulsate up toward his eyes.
And Caroline feels it too, that deep breath he took, she mimics it, feeling her own eyes transform as the fireworks explode in her ears. The trickles of moonlight that settled around the world float lethargically into her skin allowing her eyes to change, and she can hardly feel the strain with the number of endorphins firing through her veins.
Her legs fall open as he slides his fingers into her, their eyes locked together as she gasps for air, not having felt him in over a month and a half, yet it feels like a lifetime. Her eyes find the rosary dangling from his neck, watching it sway back and forth between them as she squirms beneath him, grabbing onto the back of his neck and pulling his lips down to meet hers.
She reached down, grabbing hold of him just to hear the sweetest most mouth-watering moan escape him. And she loved him. She didn't need all those wonderful endorphins or those explosive fireworks or that sweet scent or the touch that makes her skin feel like it's prickling to know this. All of these things added to it. But that feeling of love came solely from her heart. Just being with him, being around him, talking to him, listening to him it was all enough to fill her heart with love, and joy.
He was so beautiful in ways that there weren't words. He was unbelievably powerful, and unkillable, having been around for a thousand years and seen all the beautiful women that the world could behold, yet here he is, right now, moaning and groaning, staring down at her with dark golden eyes nearly as black as his sclera with lust and he was like mush in her hands. When she pushed his shoulder, he rolled onto his back without any other prompt and grabbed hold of her hips when she crawled on top of him.
She positioned him and slide down until he was as far inside of her as possible and her body felt like she was burning alive. Something about his werewolf side awakened something in both of them. Sex with Klaus had always been good, and she had always enjoyed it to the fullest, and he always seemed satisfied at the end of it all too, but this was different. Their first time without the curse holding back Klaus's werewolf was on an entirely different level. Caroline felt like every fiber of her being was tingling. Her skin, her nails, her hair, everything. Every piece of her was being filled with Klaus and his energy.
And it felt like their souls were becoming one. Their pleasure felt like it was shared, and cranked up to a thousand. It felt so good that her legs trembled so hard that she could hardly move. Klaus had to practically throw her onto her back so that he could move, locking his lips with hers to try to keep the wanton cries at bay.
She hadn't realized she was doing it until Klaus framed her sweaty forehead and face with his hands, kissing her repeatedly and slowing his hips down, whispering, "Shush, my love, shush. You'll wake the city." Then kissing her over and over again as she tries to reign herself back into reality. She wraps her legs around him, holding him close, feeling like if he separated from her right now, she would literally die.
"Klaus," she moans, physically shaking from her desire, "please... oh God, please."
She hears Klaus growl in her ear. It's a primal, animalistic growl to go with his werewolf eyes that sets her entire body on fire in a different way. She usually cares a bit about modesty seeing as both Elijah and Rebekah were home and could probably hear them, but she couldn't force her mind to focus on anything other than Klaus and how his entire body trembles with the need to move while he fights to slow down.
He shakes and his heart raced in his chest as sweat pours from him and he tangles one hand in her hair while kissing her neck, shoulders, cheeks, lips, and ear, trying to keep his composure as his hips speed up. He wraps his free arm around her waist, maneuvering it to a better spot that makes Caroline forget how to breathe.
She arches her back, pressing her chest to his and it isn't until he is hissing in her ear that she realizes that somehow her nails transformed, elongating and becoming razor-sharp as she slices his back to ribbons only for it to heal over almost immediately. She pulls her hands back, seeing the lines of blood-forming between her fingers.
"I'm sorry," she whispers, barely able to fill her lungs with air, "I'm sorry."
Klaus shakes his head, leaning in to kiss her lips. "What's a little pain, my love?" He smiles, lightly, black veins pulsating toward his eyes. She kisses him again and again, trying to distract herself from the aching spreading across her body.
She curls her hands into fists before wrapping them around him again, whispering against his lips, "I don't want to hurt you at all, even if you'll heal from it."
"I know," Klaus says softly, breathing heavily and kissing her lips sweetly. "I know, and that's one of the many things I adore about you."
She smiles, sucking in a deep breath, her brain filling more with that beautifully delicious smell that drives her crazy. "More, Klaus."
Caroline opens her eyes, seeing the dim light of the setting sun trickling in from the window. She shifts slightly, resting her head in the crook of Klaus's arm with her hand settled on his chest. She feels Klaus's breath against her forehead and hair. She can hear his heart beating slow with sleep and it's all the lullaby she needs to shift closer to him, as his arm moves to settle onto her ribs, giving it a loving squeeze until they both fall still.
His skin is so smooth and warm that she couldn't help but slip back into slumber after placing a loving kiss against his chest. She breathes in deeply before letting herself slip back into slumber, ignoring the somewhat gross feeling of dry sweat and the aches that come with both the hours of sex that they had earlier in the day and the physical drain that came with maintaining the partial transformation the entire time.
Caroline opens her eyes again to see it dark out with Klaus turning toward her, running his hand up and down her side. She stretches as far as her limbs will allow her to, listening to all her joints crack. She squirms a bit, muscles aching and body weak. She rolls, slowly, onto her side as Klaus wraps himself around her, which brings her joy. She places her hand over his as it wraps around her ribs.
"How do you feel?" Klaus asks. "Are you ready to wake up? It's almost two."
Caroline shakes her head, pulling his arm around her tighter. She just wanted to sleep and relish in Klaus's warmth. He used to be slightly chilled, which was fine to sleep with, but now he was so warm. He feels so good. Her body is aching and tired still but she knows that she's going to have to get up at some point to eat and stretch out her limbs, and definitely shower.
"A little more," Caroline says softly, eyes drooping closed. "Then shower. Then food."
Klaus curls around her, pressing his face into the back of her head. "Okay, love, sleep tight."
It's about dawn the next time she opens her eyes, almost twenty-four hours later, to the sound of her own stomach growling. She's weak and tired, but now Klaus isn't going to let her keep sleeping, crawling out of bed, stretching, then pulling the covers off of her and grabbing onto her arms and pulling her out of bed, despite her groaning in protest.
He drags her into the shower, where they proceed to shower together. There is a lot of kissing and touching and just slowly washing each other while staying lip-locked almost the entire time. It was nice, it felt like she was being worshipped, and honestly, after the conversation they had, Caroline could do with some mindless kissing and just pretending like the rest of the world wasn't blowing up around them. And after their hair and bodies were washed, she rested her head against his shoulder and they just stood there under the spray, swaying back and forth slowly.
"Are you alright, Caroline?" Klaus asks, kissing her forehead.
Caroline nods, locking her hands together around his waist. "I'm okay. I'm just worried. I feel like I've backed you into a corner. I'm sorry." To be honest, she feels kind of backed into a corner too, but Caroline knows all of her problems are really psychological. She's just too neurotic at times that her brain creates issues when there isn't any.
"I'm alright. I know that we are in different worlds, love," Klaus says easily, water droplets from the shower head drop from his long, dark lashes. "I know that the gritty stuff isn't your thing. I know it. I don't want you involved in all the nasty business. Just focus on here, at this moment. Don't worry about the rest of it."
Caroline sighs softly, laying her head down on his shoulder. "I just feel bad. I hate that this is even an issue. I'm sorry."
Klaus hugs her close, kissing her hair as they rock back and forth. "Don't, love. Just stay with me. After that, we can figure the rest out. It feels right to be here by your side. This feels good."
Caroline smiles lightly, pulling back to look up into his eyes. "It does. Isn't it insane?" Caroline flushes a bit. "I mean, we usually have a good time together, but yesterday... it was different, wasn't it?" Klaus grins wolfishly, making Caroline feel a bit better as she rolls her eyes. "Come on, I'm serious. Didn't it feel different for you?"
He sobers up, staring at her as his smile softens a bit. "Yes," he says softly, "it was different. It felt more..." he raises his eyes to stare at the spray of water from the showerhead behind Caroline. "It felt more intimate than before."
Caroline nods. "It did. It felt more complete, somehow." She flushes again, shaking her head. "I don't know how to explain it, but it felt great. I'm not sure why it happened but I'm glad it did." Then a thought occurred to her. "You don't think it was because you awakened your werewolf side, do you?"
Klaus purses his lips in thought. "Perhaps. I suppose I don't know."
"I've never had sex with another werewolf before," Caroline admits softly. "Or a vampire. Aside from you. In both ways, now."
The corners of Klaus's lips quirk up at that a bit but manages to keep it under control. "I've had my fair share of vampire lovers, as for werewolves, though, those are much trickier. The last werewolf lover I had was well over a hundred years ago. And my time spent with her was nothing like this. In any of the times that we've slept together. You have always been special."
No one has ever called her that. And it makes her flush more in embarrassment. "Well, I guess it's safe to say that yesterday was great and we are definitely going to have to do it again."
"Soon," Klaus agrees, grinning wolfishly again.
Caroline laughs, shaking her head. She leans forward, kissing him sweetly on the lips before reaching back and turning the shower off. "I'm starving. Want to go eat something?"
Caroline found a new box of frosted cheerios in the pantry and knew that Klaus had to of gotten it for her when she was out or had someone else grab it for her. It was her favorite cereal, by far. She's chowing down on her second bowl when Rebekah, who came down a few minutes prior, finally speaks to her directly.
"I'm surprised."
"Hm?" Caroline hums around a mouthful of cheerios, blinking a few times, surprised that they were talking to her. When Elijah and Rebekah emerged from their rooms and found them in the kitchen, they started talking about where they were going from there. It sounded like Klaus was still interested in heading out of town in the next few days, and Elijah had planned on going with her but was waiting on something that would decide his next course of action.
Rebekah leans against the other side of the island, chin resting on one of her palms, staring at Caroline who was sitting on a stool on the other side. Caroline stares into Rebekah's pretty eyes. She looks very different, her shoulder-length blond hair is pin straight and she's even adapted to black leggings, boots, and a silken top. She is unbelievably pretty. Caroline feels frumpy next to her now in her own leggings and t-shirt.
"I said, I'm surprised. My brother Nik has horrible taste in women. All the girls he's fancied over the last thousand years have been ugly," Rebekah says. Klaus, who was standing behind her, leaning against a counter with his arms folded over his chest while he was talking to Elijah who was standing in the doorway with his arm propped up on the wall.
Upon hearing his sister's words, Klaus glares at the back of her head. "I do not have a terrible taste in women, Rebekah. If anyone has questionable taste in anyone, it would be you, dear sister."
"I'm not talking to you, Niklaus. You're so rude to listen in to our private conversation," Rebekah snaps, still no doubt sour about losing so much time in her life. To which Caroline still thinks that Rebekah is in the right for being mad about it.
"We are in the same room," Klaus retorts, shaking his head. "We're less than five feet away from one another. I would hardly call it a private conversation."
Rebekah rolls her eyes, then turns her attention back to Caroline. "As I was trying to say, all my brother's girls from the past were all ugly. Well, not all of them. There were a few pretty ones, I guess, but now I see that you're part of the rare minority. You're actually pretty."
Caroline's head is spinning, trying to figure out if she was being complimented or not. "Thank you?"
Rebekah's full lips curl upwards a bit, blue eyes sparkling. "You're welcome, darling."
"I am offended," Klaus points out, and Caroline couldn't help herself.
"I'm a little offended for him too," she admits, a laugh bubbling up in her chest. "I mean, we can't all be like me, and get all tens."
Rebekah laughs, shaking her head and looking over at Elijah, then to Klaus. "Alright, fine. Maybe I do like her."
Caroline laughs at the pointed look that Klaus send her way. "What?"
Klaus offers her a gentle, crooked smile that she absolutely adores. He raises his eyebrows with sparkling eyes of his own sent her way and Caroline tries desperately to stomp down that feeling of love building up in her chest at every freaking thing that he does. Once more, the control that he has over her is insane. It seems like he never has to do anything and she just falls a little bit more in love with him. Just a teeny tiny bit more.
"How do you get my siblings to just like you?" Klaus asks, narrowing his eyes slightly. "What are you doing to them?"
"I replaced them with clones, actually," Caroline says easily, spinning her spoon around her bowl with a smile on her lips, "this is all to lure you into a false sense of security."
"Don't joke about that," Elijah says mirthfully, eyes crinkling with his own crooked smile sent the blond male's way. "My brother is just paranoid enough to believe that."
Klaus rolls his eyes but doesn't deny it, which Caroline makes a mental note of, but when his eyes meet her own. She blows him a kiss and a wink. "If I was planning on a coup de tat, Klaus Mikaelson, believe me when I say that you would see it coming from a mile and a half away. And you would have to actually knowingly walk into it to fall for it. I would put evil mastermind scheming all the way at the bottom of my skillsets. Right next to cooking, jokes that don't make you want to roll your eyes, and the promise of commitment. You're a real fool if you fall for any of my half baked plans and you can only blame yourself for it at that point."
At least that one earned her a few laughs.
"Honesty is a charming quality to have in a lover," Rebekah says sweetly, then turns a pretty smile toward Caroline, "and perhaps a friend, seeing as they are in their usual short supply when it comes to our family. My brother seems to really like you and usually, that's a bad thing, but if both Nik and Elijah like you, then maybe there is something really impressive about you."
"I can't speak for anyone," Caroline says, embarrassed, "but I know that I really like Klaus. I really, really do. And Elijah seems like a really nice man, and a good brother, and I like you, Rebekah. You just woke up from a hundred years of imprisonment and yet you're adaptability is insane. You seem so in your element even though it wasn't your element two days ago. I think you're impressive."
Rebekah actually looks touched. "Thank you."
Caroline pulls the next book off the shelf that catches her attention, reading the back of it. Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah got back to talking about their - and by 'their', it was more like Klaus's - plan to go and prepare for his desire to make hybrids and Caroline knew that she had to skedaddle the heck out of there before the obvious was asked.
"Aren't you worried?"
Caroline jumps, nearly tossing the book she was holding into the air. She turns to look over at Elena standing a few feet away, her heart nearly pounding out of her chest.
"Holy crap, Elena, you scared me," Caroline says, eyes blown wide. "Why do you have to sneak up on me like that? What's up?"
Elena presses her lips together, at least she's able to appear apologetic. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," she says.
"It's fine," Caroline says dismissively, putting the book back on the shelf. "Now what am I supposed to be worried about?"
"Klaus," Elena says softly. "Now that he's a hybrid, he's going after other werewolves to make them into hybrids like him. Is that okay with you?" She doesn't really look like she's judging, but Caroline can't really tell, and to be honest, she has no idea how she feels about having this conversation.
"I don't have anything to do with it," Caroline admits. "I'm not his mother, his sister, his daughter, his lover, or his wife. In no way do I have any control over what he does. All I can do is tell him what I think and let him make his own decisions. He's a grown-ass man, Elena. And he's an immortal vampire turned hybrid. I'm not sure what you want from me."
"I want to talk," Elena says, crossing her arms over her chest. "Aren't you worried? Being a werewolf yourself?"
"No," Caroline says, turning her attention back to the books on the shelf, seeing if there was another to catch her attention. "Klaus and I already talked about this back when he told me he was a hybrid. I'm not worried because I told him what I wanted, and he respects my wishes." Elena's dark eyes burrow into the side of her head, making Caroline feel like she has to elaborate. "I told him that if he broke his curse that maybe one day I might want to become a hybrid with him, but not now. I'm seventeen. I'm not ready to die and live forever looking like this." She gestures to herself. "And he respects my decision."
Elena's eyebrows pull together. "Are you certain? How do you know?"
Caroline sighs, placing a book back on the shelf and turning to the pretty brunette next to her. "I know that you don't like him, and you have every reason not to. I have no room to say anything about that other than to offer my most sincerest apologies about your aunt Jenna. But I trust him. I trust him and his word because while he's the monster in your story, he's not in mine."
Elena nods slowly, letting out a little sigh. "Okay, I can respect that. I'm sorry. This must be weird getting the third degree from someone that you hardly know."
"Not weird," Caroline disagrees, "uncalled for, comes to mind, but not weird."
Elena nods, looking down at the carpet for a moment, letting out a little sigh. "You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just trying to process all of this, you know?"
Yes, Caroline can understand having a problem with processing one's thoughts. She just spent the entirety of the other night wracked with guilt and worry over a few words a boy she knew only barely in elementary school said to her. She feels foolish but knows that her fears could be real. Klaus is ruthless. He's an ancient vampire that has probably killed more people over his long life than Caroline has lived days. She hears the ghost stories. And those were fine when it wasn't really real, but coming to Mystic Falls and having to actually accept her own feelings might be more than what she's been pretending that they are has ruined her in an entirely different way.
"Yeah," Caroline says softly. "I understand."
"Thanks," Elena says softly, tucking long brown hair behind one of her ears. "So, what are you doing here?" She asks amicably.
"Needed to get out of the house," Caroline says easily, happy about the transition away from Klaus. She's not sure she's comfortable talking about him when he wasn't there. It felt disrespectful somehow. Especially with someone who didn't like him. "My mom called, wanted to meet up at the coffee shop across the street so I came here. Something came up and she's running behind. So I'm finding new material to read while I wait."
"Oh," Elena says softly. "Well, it's good that you're going to talk to Sheriff Forbes."
"Sure..." Caroline says awkwardly, turning away to scan more books, pulling another off the shelf the read the back. She takes a picture of the title and puts it back before moving on.
Elena awkwardly follows her into the next row. "So, are you going to be coming to our school?"
Caroline laughs, shaking her head. "No way. I already graduated."
Elena's dark eyes widen. "Really? When?"
"Right after my aunt went missing," Caroline says, flatly. "I knew that I couldn't just sit around going to school like nothing was happening after she didn't come home, so I went in, took my GED and then went looking for her."
"At sixteen?"
"Fifteen," Caroline corrects, frowning a bit at the back of one of the books before putting it on the shelf once more. "I know it might sound impressive, but my school had a low overall academic score, I was dual-enrolled, taking online classes at a local university to get a hard start on my career and had been taking elective online classes to get a bit harder stuff coming my way. Just so happens that if you have no friends and no real familial connects outside of a paranoid aunt that you can get a lot of stuff done when you put your mind to it."
"That sounds hard," Elena says softly. "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it," Caroline says, casting the pretty brunette a sideways look. "It's not your fault."
Elena looks like she wants to say something, but then a conflicted look crosses her face. She picks at her nails for a moment before dropping her hands and looking back over at Caroline. "Do you want to do something tonight? I could get a few old friends together."
Caroline hesitates, not sure what she should do, before remembering the jam-packed day that Klaus was going to have and figured that she didn't want to sit alone in that huge mansion while he and his siblings went running around doing whatever it was that they were planning on doing. At least this way, Caroline might actually be able to get a bit of closure with her old childhood friends after the death of Elliott ripped them away from each other.
"Okay, sure. For a few hours," Caroline says, hoping her voice was even and not tinged with the apprehension she's feeling in her heart.
Elena's smile is pretty, lighting up her entire face. "Awesome! Here, give me your number, and I'll text you tonight." Caroline mutely passes over her phone to the brunette as she puts her number into Caroline's phone. "Let's see, I could get Matt and Bonnie to come. And I bet Stefan will come too if I ask. And maybe Tyler. Something small."
"Sure," Caroline says, noting that she doesn't remember vampire Stefan in her childhood memory, but so long as they didn't bring the other guy, Damon, then she's sure it'll be okay. Stefan seemed like the nicer of the two anyway.
"Okay, so I'll message you ton..." she hesitates, brown eyes flickering up to Caroline. "Um, tonight. Sorry, your mom texted you. She's at the shop. I should let you go."
"Thanks," Caroline says, taking her phone back from Elena and glancing down at the text to see her mom had said just that. She stuffs her phone into her pocket, looking back up at the girl in front of her. "Well, then I'll see you tonight." Then moves around her to head for the exit.
"Hey, Caroline!" Elena calls, pulling the blond's attention back over to her. "I know it's not really my business, but things have been really hectic these last few months, or maybe years, but take it from a girl who lost both of her parents in a car crash she also shouldn't have survived from," she stares into Caroline's eyes meaningfully, and Caroline feels a stab of pain in her chest, "try and hear her out. No one is perfect and the madness of Mystic Falls might be to blame for the reason your mom has been distant. Just listen to her and make your decision then, that's all I'm asking."
Caroline feels herself tremble a bit. "Okay..."
Elena forces a small smile. "I'll talk to you tonight."
"Okay." With that, Caroline's not afraid to admit that she basically ran from the library.