It's been five hundred years since magic tossed Caroline into a Timeline where humanity belongs to the stars. She's carved a life from the chaos in this new world, but there are some memories that you can never shake.

Caroline woke slowly, her mouth tasting like death. For the first time since she'd woken as a vampire centuries earlier, she was disoriented and her body wouldn't cooperate. Lids heavy, limbs unresponsive, she tried to draw in air on reflex and found even her lungs weren't quite working. Panic flooded her system, and she desperately tried to twitch even a fingertip.

She must have managed something, because there was movement next to her, and the clipped, accented voice that haunted her dreams spoke into the silence. "Waking up then? Apologies, love. You were an unfortunate bit of collateral damage. You should find use of your body returning shortly."

If she'd had a pulse, it would've been a jackhammer in her throat. Desperate, body aching from venom and old memories, she tried to pry open her lashes. When she failed, Caroline tried to recall what had happened.

She'd been drawn by the noise of the crowd.

Curiosity overrode even the beauty of the space station she'd been admiring. Andromeda was a marvel of technology, the first multispecies, self-sustaining station located so deeply in space. The nearest habitable planet was several light years away, not even in the same star cluster, and that was partly what made it such an attractive station. Stationed in the middle of several popular trade routes, Andromeda was built with the intention of not only becoming a waypoint, but housing its own population.

Caroline had heard rumors of Andromeda for years. It wasn't until nearly a century ago that she'd realized it wasn't just a flight of fancy, and the truth of it had been breathtaking. A week ago, she'd signed a five year lease on an apartment. The cost wasn't cheap, and the apartment wasn't extravagant by any means, but having the space to stretch without touching metal walls, the freedom to walk around without her extravagant camouflage and just be was one she'd missed for two centuries. But it was the small, human touches that invoked such a deep sense of longing in her chest.

Humanity wasn't exactly an anomaly in space, but she'd given up on finding the familiar centuries ago. Earth was gone. The ships that had escaped its destruction had left behind so many of its population, no one had expected humanity to survive. But they had. Centuries had passed, and humanity had found its way among the stars to the disgruntlement of several races.

She'd eaten the first alien that had called her the equivalent of a cockroach. It'd been the first real sign that the magic in her blood had shifted to accommodate whatever had happened. Her monster preferred human blood, but her ability to live off of species that were far from iron based was straight out of a science fiction novel.

Five hundred years later, she knew most of the major alien species by sight. Strange teeth, strange limbs, and skin that ranged in a wild rainbow of colors that had left humanity dull in comparison. Some of them were amazingly beautiful, more of them were just strange.

Somehow, she'd not only made it work, Caroline had thrived. She'd sweated through her first smuggling run, eaten her first crew when her co-pilot had screwed up the star charts, and very determinedly stayed in the shadows. She collected and discarded crews as she'd once worn shoes. She formed few attachments, avoided mystics, and rarely dreamed of home anymore.

Even if the memory of blue eyes and wild curls tugged at her sometimes and was occasionally a physical ache in her chest. But Klaus was a ghost. She'd never found a single scrap of evidence that he existed in this strange universe she'd found herself in. There were other vampires, smaller and darker, as humans born in space tended to be, but not even a whisper of hybrid.

She'd listened for it. Carefully, slowly, she'd tracked the threads of hearsay and rumor, had sat with trembling fingers as she'd learned that vampire was an accepted mutation. Humans in space, afflicted with an unknown disease. Science offered no cure, and in the darkness of space vampires thrived.

And sometimes Caroline wondered.

Her last memories of Earth had been Bonnie screaming in panic, the shouts of the Salvatores. But that was then. And although she'd long since stopped dreaming of home, Caroline had never quite managed to stop listening for ghost stories.

Some aches time did not fully erase. No matter how hard you tried to forget. Paris. Rome. The hot press of skin against your own, the texture of dimples beneath your fingertips. Those memories lingered in her bones and sometimes they ached. She'd hoped the Andromeda would give her a place to hide those lingering ghosts, some place to store her memories.

She'd gone for a walk.

Caroline had hardly been the only civilian who wanted to soak in the open space of the park. For all of her wariness at the luxury of free movement, even layered in clothing and her gear out of habit, she found herself moving closer. She'd padded over to railing and peered down to see what the commotion was all about.

It had looked like an opening ceremony, for one of the opulent apartment buildings. On earth there would've been reporters and flashbulbs, but here it was just a delighted road of investors and future occupants. She'd attended her own complex's unveiling weeks ago.

But near the back, tucked into a shadow was a human that caught and held her gaze. The wild tumble of curls had her breath catching, but his eyes were hidden behind protective glasses. Her bones shook. Everything inside her locked up, fingers leaving imprints in the metal beneath her hand.

God, it hurt, that even now after all this time she still saw his ghost.

In the end, what her eyes claimed was impossible. Whatever had created her kind of monsters in this timeline, they seemed to be rare enough that she'd only seen a handful in five centuries. No, the lingering shadow was just a genetic quirk. A painful reminder of the spell she'd never known the details of that had thrown her into this reality. Even if the sharp, painful hope in her heart wanted to argue with her.

Caroline had walked away with burning eyes.

Vaguely, she remembered there had been shouting behind her, and then a terrible burning sensation on her neck. After that, it was just darkness. And now she woke with a ghost in her ears. Finally prying her lashes open, it wasn't to find herself looking at Klaus, but a painting.

It was on the far wall. The lines of the forest were so vivid she could almost smell the wind. The soft fog hinted at the falls hidden in the trees, the low light the perfect camouflage for slinking shadows. For the first time in five centuries, she was seeing her home.

Her inability to draw in a breath and nothing to do with the toxin. Fingers flexing, she pushed herself up carefully, body trembling with reaction. Eyes squeezing shut, monster crawling along her skin, she turned to look.

Klaus sat across from her, sprawled across the furniture in a carefully relaxed posture. The lazy curls, the slight curve of his mouth and hint of dimples were a deliberate play to keep her relaxed. Caroline drank him in with greedy eyes, bewildered and shuddering with a craving to touch him so potent, her fingers nearly punctured the couch she sat on.

Only the fact that Klaus couldn't recognize her beneath the gear that she'd put on out of habit stayed her hands. Goggles, hair wrap, tool belt, bulky clothing to change her shape, sturdy work boots. Most dismissed her as maintenance, others thought her beneath their notice. She preferred it that way.

Caroline opened her mouth and froze when nothing came out. Klaus tilted his head and his face shifted to something almost sympathetic. She wanted to bite him, see how long this facade would last with her teeth in his skin.

"Your vocals cords might require a bit of blood to start functioning I'm afraid. I've sent for a servant."

She couldn't wait that long. She had to know. Frantic, she ripped off the goggles she wore to protect her eyes from the radiation. Klaus arched a brow, sympathy shifting to amusement, but the laughter died in his eyes as she freed her hair, goggles falling away. His body went rigid, monster crawling black and yellow into his eyes, and she ripped her sleeve in a furious attempt to uncover her tattoo.

For a moment, Caroline just stared at him with wild eyes, chest heaving. He stared back, jaw clenched tightly, as flummoxed as she'd ever seen him. Then he was a blur, body pressing tightly against her side, bloody wrist pressed firmly against her mouth. She needed no encouragement, teeth sinking into his wound fiercely, hands clench with bone grinding force around his forearm.

Her monster was greedy for the taste, the feel of him. All that existed for a single moment was his blood and scent. It was the way he said her name, harsh and demanding, cheekbones stark above his beard, that allowed her to release him at all.

Lips and chin slick with blood, she stared at him as she inhaled deeply. "Klaus."

The lean lines of him shuddered, and his free hand cupped the side of her face, gaze nearly feral. This was what she knew, what roused her monster, not the stranger earlier with his false emotions. The starving rawness in his gaze was match for the knot in her chest.

"Caroline," he rasped a second time, and she understood the tremble across his skin, because it echoed along hers. She released him, and he immediately moved his palm to cup her face, shifting till their breath mingled with each exhale.

"How long?" Caroline demanded, fingers fisting in the soft material of his shirt. "How long have you been here, Klaus?"

How long had he been in space? Was he hers? Or an merely an echo of what she'd just opened her hands for back on earth, what she'd just reached with careful fingertips to claim? Understanding softened his gaze and his thumb grazed along the line of her cheek.

"I've lived in this accursed timeline for five centuries, Caroline."

Five hundred years. Hers. Trembling with the need, she took a slow breath. Every instinct she had was to lunge, to take, but it'd been so long and there was a tightness to his jaw that held her still.

"Where have you been, Caroline?" He dragged his tongue across his lips, eyes glancing away. "For five centuries, I was unable to find even a hint of your existence."

Her stomach suddenly lurched, ice jagged in her lungs. She'd taken lovers, had never expected to find him with a cold bed, but there were so many new, wonderful things in the galaxies. "Am I interrupting something, then? Someone else?"

Her voice filled with frost, and his gaze slammed into hers. His head lowered, his eyes moving to slowly drag along her lips, before he spoke with a rumble in his voice. "I built Andromeda for you."

Caroline's brows bunched together, the unease in her muscles softening beneath that harshly voiced statement. Pushing the need singing through her veins down to clear her mind, she frowned in confusion. "Klaus, I don't understand?"

Another infinitesimal shudder, as she murmured his name. But his gaze stayed locked on hers, and she waited with narrowed eyes for him to get to the point. "Where did you wake, Caroline?"

"On a ship. Alone. It sucked. I sort of ate the crew, and then manuals were written in the trade tongue. It took me ages to figure out anything, I almost starved. Got picked up by some smugglers, who thought they'd found easy prey."

His eyes flared, as he absorbed her words, spine as rigid as his jaw. The angry cant of his head spoke more than a thousand words and the last of her resistance broke. She surged forward, mouth opening against the softness of his lips and there was no gentleness in her. With teeth and tongue, hands moving to fist in his hair, she took what she'd been starved for. He hauled her close, his hands demanding in her tangled waves, meeting every frantic movement of her mouth with his. It was Klaus who gentled the kiss, coaxed her into something hotter, languid.

She'd finally relaxed enough to drag one hand down the back of neck to slip beneath his collar, skin hybrid hot beneath her needy fingers, when a polite knock sounded on the door. Caroline snarled, when Klaus lifted his head. Instead of inviting their intruder in, he dismissed them with clipped words.

Caroline took a deep breath, unable to keep her hands still, delving one hand beneath his collar to seek out skin. Her heart lurched, at the shift of chain and leather, this one bit of home on his skin leaving her trembling.

"What happened, Klaus? Why are we here?" She caught her lip between her teeth uncertainly before whispering her next question. "What did you mean by you built Andromeda?"

For her?

"Witches thought they'd be clever, send my line to prison world to rot." Klaus slipped his hand beneath her shirt, fingers spreading hotly along her lower back. It took a moment, to drag her brain away from his fingertips to do the math.

His entire line. Caroline spluttered her disbelief. "But…"

"Hmmm. The majority of my line ended up with me on some god-forsaken rock." There was something in his eyes, an old grief, and she swallowed.

"Rebekah?"

He'd miss Elijah, would mourn Kol, but it was his sister Klaus would raze the skies for.

"It seemed the witches intended to only remove my line from the playing field." His voice was a blade, when he spoke again. "When the dust cleared, you and the Salvatores were the only vampires missing."

"I was with Bonnie, when things went sideways," Caroline said softly, heart aching a little. For five hundred years, she'd struggled, but so had Klaus. Rarely, had he walked alone. Rebekah's lost must have gouged at him.

"I know."

She stared at him. "You know?"

The sudden shifting of his weight, the flex of muscle as he pinned her to the couch left her breathless. She flexed her wrists, trapped beneath his with irritation, but Caroline could get behind him pressed against her. Klaus moved his face into her neck for a long moment, until she'd relaxed beneath the warm weight of his body. She finally twisted her wrist in a silent demand, and he made a low noise of amusement.

When he lifted his head, the glint behind his eyes sent a rush of heat through her veins. She'd spent less than a year with him before they'd been banished, but she'd become very acquainted with this particular mood. Klaus was an incredibly indulgent lover, particularly when the moon was full, but sometimes when the wolf crawled into eyes, indulgence became demand.

A wicked smile curved his lips as her breathing went uneven, his hold on her wrists shifting to one hand. Hand now free, he smoothed his fingertips down her bare arm, movements lazy as he finally reached her breast. He traced a slow outline, voice low and languid.

"I discovered the Salvatores two centuries ago, peeled the story from their mouths. Discovered it was possible that you might've been flung somewhere among the stars, that you might live."

She strained against his hold, needing him to touch her. He deliberately ignored the hard, aching point of her nipple, and she swallowed a whine. It was clear that Klaus wasn't done pressing for information, for all that he was giving into the live wire of need between them. Her voice was softer than she'd intended, when she managed to voice her question.

"Andromeda?"

He gave a little pleased hum and finally ran his thumb across her nipple. Her legs tightened along his hips, but he kept her pinned, not allowing her to grind against him. "Do you remember what I told you when you came to me in Edinburgh, after a century of cat and mouse games, Caroline?"

Her mouth ran dry. Licking her lips, Caroline nodded. "That once I said yes, there would be no more chances to walk away."

"For five hundred years, I've looked for you." Klaus said lowly, gaze wolf-yellow. "Then, when I learned that my search might not be as futile as I believed, I spent considerable time and resources, building a honey-trap that would tempt you into walking back into my territory. And here you are, glorious, and so very, very wet for me."

He punctuated his growl with a roll of his hips that lit up her nerves. She was without shame of how badly she wanted him, not when she could feel the hard line of his cock. Curling her legs around his waist, she rocked against him.

"I stuck mostly to the outer planets." Her head tipped back with a gasp when he shifted, cock rubbing against her with each roll of their hips. "Did a little illegal trading."

"Smuggling, Caroline?" The genuine curiosity was mingled with rough arousal. Even through the layers of clothing, she could feel the heat of him, and the scent of his arousal was heady. It was a struggle, to speak in a full sentence, with the tightening of her stomach, the feel of Klaus after so long.

"I've a knack for it. Who knows, I might be worth more than you." The last bit was a low tease.
His head dipped at the challenge in her voice, tongue a rasp against her throat. She arched into his mouth, lashes fluttering with a moan at the sharp scarp of teeth.

"I want you inside me."

Her blunt, rasping words didn't seem to surprise him, not with his fingers snaking along the hem of her shirt. His eyes told her he needed her as badly, as she wanted him. He settled himself a little more firmly against her, erection a brief, rough grind against her center. His lips curved, and Klaus canted his head to watch her from beneath his lashes.

"Tell me sweetheart, did you miss me the way I've missed you? Waking in tangled sheets, skin slick from old memories, unsatisfied by even the most skilled partner? Was it my cock you missed, my voice in your ear as you lay there, physically satisfied but still left wanting?"

She held his gaze. "I spent the last five hundred years trying to forget you, but I couldn't. I never stopped looking for even a rumor of you, even when I'd resigned myself to your ghost. I meant it when I told you in Edinburgh, that I wanted to try. I never regretted that. I missed you."

He released her hands, shirt ripping away as he palmed her breast, his other hand delving behind her neck as his mouth caught hers. His fangs sliced open her lip and Klaus sucked the wound with low, hungry sounds. Shuddering, hips rocking against hers, Caroline destroyed his shirt as ruthlessly as he'd ruined hers.

The hand on her chest dragged down her abdomen, casually ripping the fastening on her pants. She dug her nails into his skin as his fingers delved through her slick folds, his rough groan of appreciation heady in her ears. Thighs locking tightly around have his hips, Caroline rasped his name.

"In fifteen hundred years," Klaus said harshly, "No one has ever felt like this, Caroline. I want to drown in your scent, your taste, with your desperate cries filling the air. You're so beautiful, love, but rarely more so when you're begging and flushed, skin slick with sweat and our combined releases. I want to wake with your blood on my tongue, arousal on my flesh and your body sprawled against me."

"Why are you still wearing pants?" The slow half-moons above her clit as she rode his fingers was amazing, but not want she wanted, what she needed. Her toes curled as her orgasm built, head pushing into the cushion. "I want you to fuck me."

His lips pressed against her breastbone, tongue a slick rasp against her skin. "I will. I'll give you as much as you can take, and you'll come for me, Caroline. But not yet. Not until I decide."

Hissing, her complaint died as he pressed his thumb roughly against her clit, fingers pinching her nipple. She jolted, body arching into the sensation, shuddering on the edge of orgasm. "Klaus."

He nuzzled her skin, fingers speared through her wetness to find the place that left her mindless. Hands clawing at his back, voice keening as his mouth returned to his breast, she came in long, lingering waves as his fingers worked her through her orgasm. She came down just as slowly, lashes parting as Klaus sucked his fingers clean.

Breathing in deeply, she lifted a trembling hand to stroke his cheek. "If you're determined to make me beg, I want a bed."

Dimples creased his cheeks, he kissed her slowly, a languid meeting of mouths and tongues that spoke of need, but also of the affection her monster so craved.

"A bed I can provide."

The smile in his voice was her only warning as he scooped her off the couch and blurred through his home. Klaus gave her no quarter that night, dragging out each orgasm until she was nearly delirious with pleasure, teasing them both until he finally gave her what she wanted. The soft light of the artificial dawn found them tangled tightly together, bodies slick with blood and sweat, breathing even as they slept.