A single blue line appeared and Charlotte gasped. The two minutes she had been waiting for the test to change colour had felt like an eternity to her. She dared not look at the instructions which had come with the test. She wasn't sure she was to know what the result meant.

Caroline grabbed the box off the dresser and sat back down next to Charlotte. Reading the instructions, Caroline smiled.

"Relax, you're not pregnant."

Caroline heard Charlotte let out a sigh of relief and watched the girl as happiness spread across her face. She hoped that the scare would make Charlotte see that what she was doing with Klaus could have serious repercussions if she allowed it to go on any longer.

"Thank god."
"You got lucky, Charlotte but you might not next time."
"Don't worry. I don't intend on letting this happen again."
"Good. I care about you. I don't want to see you throw your life away all for Klaus."

Leaving without another word, Caroline let Charlotte be alone with her thoughts. Collapsing backward onto her bed, Charlotte closed her eyes and felt calmness wash over her; her body now in a state so completely different from what it had been less than an hour earlier. Caroline was right; she had, had a lucky escape. She was far too young to be a mother and she vowed to herself that she would not be so stupid from now on.

Klaus frowned as Charlotte's phone rang off for the fourth time that evening. He had not spoken to her in over a week and had barely seen her, except for a glimpse of her a few days before as she returned home from school. She had taken one look at him and had sprinted off to her room without so much as a hello.

He had racked his brain over the previous days trying to figure out what he had done to make her ignore him and his mind had come up with absolutely nothing. She had been fine with him the morning they had spent together and it puzzled him why she had chosen now to be so off with him.

Throwing his phone down on the sofa in frustration, he paced the floor of his living room with great annoyance. He needed to see her; talk to her; get her to explain what he had done to make her mad at him so he could fix it. It was a new sensation to him. Klaus had never in his lifetime been so affected by a woman as he was by Charlotte; if she were anyone else he would not so much as bat an eyelid at why she was avoiding him.

Retrieving his phone from the sofa, Klaus grabbed his jacket and shrugged it on as he left his home and travelled the distance to the Salvatore Boarding House.

Klaus banged on the door repeatedly but to no avail. No one came to answer his knocks and he supposed that everyone must be out. Growing ever more annoyed, Klaus trudged through the layer of snow that had fallen with the arrival of December back to his car and dialled Stefan's number.

"Hello, Klaus." Stefan answered.
"Hello, mate. Where are you?"
"I'm at the Grill. We're having dinner."
"Do you mind if I join you?"
"Not at all."
"Great. I'll be there soon."

Ending the call and starting the engine to his car, Klaus drove the short distance to The Grill and parked in the last available spot before opening the doors to the bar and searching the place for his friends.

Inside, Stefan, Caroline, Charlotte, Damon, and Elena were sat together awaiting the food they had ordered just minutes before Stefan had received Klaus's phone call. Charlotte was dreading seeing him and Caroline could see that the young girl was quite visibly distressed at the knowledge that Klaus would be joining them for dinner.

Since Charlotte was seated next to Caroline, it gave her some comfort to know that Klaus would not be able to sit next to her. She had cut off all communication with the man after her pregnancy scare; ignoring the dozens of calls and texts he had sent her. She was aware that Klaus would be wanting an explanation for her actions and she didn't know how to tell him without letting him know about the scare.

Caroline placed her hand on Charlotte's underneath the table and gave it a light squeeze to reassure her, as Klaus took a seat besides Damon and greeted everyone with a smile. Ordering some food for himself, Klaus stole a look at Charlotte and found himself wishing he could kiss her.

The food did not take long to arrive and everyone ate; chatting and laughing among themselves and talk turned to Damon and Elena's wedding plans.

"Will you be bringing a date to the wedding, Klaus?" Elena asked of the man.
"Elena, it's four months away. Leave the guy alone." Damon smirked. He knew exactly what his wife to be was up to.
"He'll have a hard time." Stefan said. "I haven't even seen him look at a girl in months."
"Actually, there is this one girl I happen to like a lot."
"What?! You never told me this! Who is she?" Stefan asked, surprised that Klaus had even had time to find a new woman in his life.

Charlotte froze. She could not believe that Klaus was about to practically out their relationship to her family.

"Hey, Klaus, can I talk to you for a minute? It's about your idiot brother." Charlotte said, straining to keep the anger out of her voice and appear normal so that her brothers and Elena would not become suspicious.
"Sure thing." Klaus smirked as he left the table and followed Charlotte through the back and into the alleyway behind the bar.

The second the door had shut behind them, Charlotte slammed Klaus against the brick wall; her anger with him reaching almost boiling point.

"What the hell was that?!" Charlotte screamed at Klaus; infuriated even more by the smirk that was still plastered upon his face.
"Well, I had to get your attention somehow."
"Do you have a death wish? That wasn't funny."
"Relax, love. I wasn't going to tell them anything. I just needed to get you alone so I can ask why the hell you've been avoiding me."
"I'm not avoiding you, Klaus."

Charlotte rolled her eyes. She didn't believe her own words so she doubted Klaus believed them either.

"Like fuck you haven't! I deserve an explanation!"
"How about… I just don't want to sleep with you anymore?"
"I don't buy it. You could barely keep your hands off me the last time we slept together. That's not it, so what is it?"
"It doesn't matter why."
"It really does! It's Caroline, isn't it?"
"What? No!"
"It is! I'm going to kill her for interfering!"
"Why are you so bothered? It was just sex. I'm sure you can get it from someone else."

Klaus groaned in rage and frustration. He wanted to go back inside and call Caroline out for sticking her nose into his business, but he knew that wasn't an option until she was alone.

"It's not just sex to me!" Klaus shouted, seeing an impression of shock form on Charlotte's face at his words.

Placing his hands on her shoulders, Klaus stared straight into Charlotte's ocean blue eyes and sighed. Lowering his voice so not as to attract the attention of any passers-by.

"It's not just sex to me, love."
"Then what is it?"
"I… I like you. I care about you."

Charlotte didn't know what to say to his confession. The tone of his voice and the way he was looking at her, told Charlotte that his words were true and that he meant what he said. She felt confused. What she was seeing in front of her didn't match up to what Caroline had told her about Klaus.

"I deserve to know what I've done wrong so I can fix it. I hate the thought of you being mad at me."

Klaus's voice sounded pained and Charlotte felt her own heart begin to feel heavy as she stared back into his blue eyes.

"You didn't do anything…"
"Then why…"
"I missed my period, Klaus."

Falling silent for a second, Klaus tried to take in the meaning of what she had just said to him. Gulping, his faced turned to stone.

"Are you pregnant?"
"No."

Relief washed over him but he kept his face still.

"You should have told me."
"I know." was all Charlotte replied.

Klaus pulled Charlotte in for a hug and rest his chin on the raven curls of her head, as she wrapped her arms around his waist. They stood together in their embrace, listening to the sounds of the patrons of the bar.

"We'll be more careful from now on."
"Klaus…" Charlotte began, pulling her body away from his. "I don't think we should…"

Klaus silenced her with a forceful kiss.

"No. I'm making some changes to our arrangement. I don't want this to be casual anymore."
"Klaus…"
"Just listen. We'll use condoms. We'll be a proper couple. I don't care about the age difference and I promise, I won't put you in this situation again."
"Okay."
"Good."

Manoeuvring Charlotte towards the door and back through the bar towards the table they left, Klaus did not miss the look of disapproval Caroline gave him as he sat down and smirked at her.

Hello my dear readers chums! The reviews have been great and I'm glad you're all liking the story. I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and feel like gifting me with a little review :) xxx