A/n: Edited 9/02/2014
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 27: Sleepwalker
She didn't know how long she slept. It seemed like forever. After being propelled into time-traveling, this whole experience has changed her whole perception of time. Ever since she was immortal, she always thought that time went on forever. There was no stopping point, and it was a true fact. However, time maybe eternal but her life could stop at any moment. All it would take was one simple action; too bad that one action rippled other events.
Speaking of other events...
Caroline truly didn't know where she landed this time. It was a mystery. And even more so in why in the hell she landed in her wolf form after traveling through time. It was too damn confusing for her. There was too much in the dark about this damn mission given to her. Well, at least she wasn't alone in the same boat now that Kol had his own frustrations with the Gate Keepers.
"Hmm...Kol...Bekah...Klaus." Caroline mumbled their names in her sleep as she shifted in the bed she slept in with her fingers clawing the sheets. The sheets over her body were pleasant and kept her body in a cool cocoon.
Caroline wasn't aware of the pair of eyes watching her as she slept. For a while now, she slept in the bed, tired and exhausted from the ordeal. There was always someone watching her. It was a command to be obeyed if none of the Original siblings didn't want the dagger in their heart.
That's why Rebekah and Kol made sure Caroline didn't leave out of their sight.
Therefore, Rebekah remained still by Caroline's bedside after she and Kol insisted to Nik to actually take a break. After many death threats and poetic insults were thrown at each other, Klaus made a quest to his stash of scotch hidden somewhere in their residence. Rebekah learned to stop wondering how her 'dysfunctional' family functioned in the midst of the chaos of every day a long time ago.
It's a miracle that they were getting along as they are now.
Too bad her impatience and low tolerance for annoyance wouldn't be magically cured with a miracle.
"Come on, Caroline. You can't be sleeping for this bloody long." Rebekah grumbled under her breath. Who sleeps for four days at a time? Really?
The door opened, revealing Kol as he walked into the room. "You know, I could always improvise as her personal alarm clock. I've scared her enough into a fright in the past so it could work."
Rebekah turned to her brother, frowning at her brother's antics. "And have Nik down on both of us for jeopardizing any progress of her healing. No thanks, Kol, but I would still like to have my head still attached my body."
"That's still a bad way to die, though. Decapitation." Kol inwardly shuddered, but he masked it under his signature grin. "I kind of feel for the poor lad you were romancing with. What was his name again? Travis? George? Skylar?"
Her frown deepened. "Andrew."
"Whoever he was, he rather had a bloodier end than I anticipated. Good God, Nik practically swung the ax like a bat when he chopped the man's head off." Kol kept on, much to Rebekah's chagrin. Her brother really had no censor whatsoever when it came to his mouth.
Rebekah's eyes shifted back to Caroline again, somewhat relieved to see that she was in more of a normal state. It was a little unnerving to see a damned wolf stumble at her feet and just pass out. Rebekah would have left the animal out there for the world to deal with, but her mind had changed when she stepped closer and looked into the wolf's eyes. The familiar shade of blue-green eyes that struck her family nearly a decade ago came hurling back into her memory, and Rebekah knew what she had to do. She had no doubt in her instincts at the time, and seeing the look in Nik's face was enough to solidify what she guessed.
Caroline came back to them after all these years, literally running towards them on all fours. The last few years had felt longer than what they usually were. Rebekah surely felt them, traveling with her brothers surely didn't keep you bored. Nevertheless, she rather have a balance to the dynamic of the three instead of the scales tipping towards the crazy and unpredictable. She missed Elijah still after all these years, and it had been a while since she'd seen him. Rebekah wondered how he was faring these days.
"You have to admit, I think Nik's moods will finally balance out better with Caroline here again. It could give us a break for a while. A nice little holiday from our favorite fouled-temper brother is just what we need." Kol commented, walking closer towards the edge of the bed, his dark eyes scrutinizing the hybrid in the bed. "You know, I wonder if our favorite blonde wolf here was the one causing all of excitement downtown a few days ago. People screaming about a wild wolf running about like its a terrifying monster. I swear, humans unconventionally create their own humor right under their noses."
Rebekah scoffed. "Nik's moods are always going to be foul regardless if it were us or someone else who was the cause of it. Besides, if you were actually paying attention, you would have already known that the witch and the werewolf who accompanied her already confirmed it was Caroline. There's no wondering about it."
"Fine, fine. But at least you didn't get the brunt of Nik's reaction despite you bringing the girl in first and being the first to see her." Kol complained as he stepped away from the bed, his thirst slowly running parched from not being able to hunt. Despite all the glory and appeal Chicago had, he didn't long to be in cramped windy city.
The small temptation to actually get a nip from Caroline was there, but Kol knew better than to think about it more than once. God knows Klaus would do worse than just drive a dagger through his heart. 'Look at poor Andrew,' Kol chuckled darkly at the thought of the poor sap.
"Well, I'm sure you've got everything handled, dear sister. I'm off." Deciding that he had his own matters to take care of, he gladly marched his way over to the door, leaving his poor sister to fend for herself. "You know how it is, darling. Things to see, things to do. Being an Original isn't all that easy."
Rebekah's mouth dropped. "Are you joking? You're going to seriously leave me here to play nursemaid for her! Don't I get a say in this?"
Kol's head popped into the doorway again before making his leave. "Bekah, what are you talking about? You were already playing the part before the words came out of your mouth so I don't see why you would start moaning about it now."
Furious at his comment, Rebekah stood up from the wooden chair, grabbed the porcelain pitcher of water on the nightstand, and used her brother as a target. Unfortunately, there was no victory for Rebekah. Only an annoying mess to clean up after and Kol winning this round by evading the cold and wet impact just in time. She really hated her brothers, sometimes. It wouldn't be bad to stuff them in a box for day or two. Or a week, depending on Rebekah's mood and tolerance level.
Letting out an audible growl, she ran after him only to stop at the door, craning her head out to see Kol making his last leave. "You're lucky you didn't get wet clothes to ruin your big day, you bloody git!" she yelled. He was lucky enough to evade it in time before she could have thrown something heavier and worse at him. Like a damn dresser.
"But guess whose favorite brother is coming up for a delightful visit to see how everything is going!" Kol shouted with a smirk of victory pulling at his lips. He wasted no time in avoiding his big brother making headway upstairs. Kol wasn't in Klaus' sight as a target. That would be Klaus' favorite sibling, dear lovely Rebekah. She was certainly going to have her hands full.
Meanwhile, Klaus stormed up the staircase, his footfalls echoing from the heavy incensed steps he took. No one could describe his state now. There was too much going on with him to make a clear description. He surely wouldn't be able to with his thoughts consumed with paranoia, anger, and shock. The past eleven years pushed hard on him, especially with his siblings. It was up to him to look after of not only Kol, but Rebekah too as well.
Kol wasn't so hard to look after since they were basically the same chip off the old block. Klaus often thought of Kol as a version possessing both worlds. While Kol held Klaus' deadly villainy, he also carried Elijah's beguiling charm, which made him a noteworthy vampire. He was a walking time bomb with fangs if riled enough to bring the fangs out. Then again, every Mikaelson was basically a walking time bomb.
"Hey brother!" he heard his younger brother call. "Need my help with anything?"
"No thank you, Kol." Klaus replied curtly, not even paying his brother any mind. "I'm sure you've done enough on this occasion."
Kol's eyes followed Klaus' back until he disappeared to the top of the last stair. He sighed to himself, wondering what Klaus was going to do next in the presence of their beloved sister. Sometimes, it was easy to predict him. However, Klaus proved the opposite on enough questions to make the siblings question. It's typical these days for Klaus to be in a foul mood, but the past few years have been more tense than the usual misery-for-company atmosphere lurking everywhere they went after all this time.
Either way, Kol was just relieved he wouldn't have the short end of the stick of Nik's reputable and eternal anger. "At least it's not me this time." He said to himself before he flashed to the front door and made his way out.
Finally, freedom.
Meanwhile, Rebekah wasn't having the best of luck as her lucky brother was. Still in her gelded cage, she was having her hands full with a sleeping-like-the-dead blonde hybrid and her angry brother who raged in like a bull in a chinashop. He certainly wasn't helping in the efforts of trying to keep Caroline asleep the way he was going about it. And now, he's angry at HER about it.
Hypocritical, much?
"Nik, calm your nerves before you have a heart attack." Rebekah knew the statement was only ploy material for him, but she didn't care at this point. He always had a way of pushing her to the point of God knows what.
"Funny how you mention the vital organ so loosely when it could be so easily taken away from you with the ideas running through my brain." Klaus responded with his words laced with dark humor, but his face remained angry all the same.
Rebekah could hear his heavy footsteps making the wood creak underneath him, knowing this visit wasn't going to be a pleasant housecall. Crossing her arms, she sent him an angry glare in return. "Seriously, Nik. Can't you just listen to your own advice and be silent? If not for me, at least do that for Caroline, which is the reason behind you wanted silence in the first place."
At the mention of Caroline's name, he bristled. "Don't speak of her."
"Or what, Nik? Your threats grow old, and it won't be long before they catch up with your true age." Rebekah scoffed. "She's real, brother! Don't you get it? She's sleeping in that bloody bed like she should be; how you've been wanting her to be for nearly a decade."
"I said don't speak of her." Klaus repeated the same command, but it fell on deaf ears.
"Don't be in denial. Look!" Rebekah exasperated, pointing to Caroline still sleeping in the bed. "She's here. She's real. Real like flesh and blood, and you're just wasting time exchanging colorful words with me when you could let her recover properly."
"I don't recall you being so caring toward others besides our family." He threw the statement out there, throwing Rebekah off course in her argument.
Klaus got her there. It's true in what he said. Rebekah never showed any special kindness to anyone else (unless they're her romantic consorts), and that more humane side was only exposed to her siblings. Within their circle, most of everything was in the open. Things in the family stay within the family. That's what they tried to do, anyway.
Rebekah shook her head, trying to mask any sign of what could be weakness. "I'm not sentimentally caring towards your little blonde distraction. What you mistake as concern for her is actually for you, which I remember last being perfectly normal. Excuse me if I don't like dealing with your emotional turmoil."
'Excuse me if I can't watch the real pain festering inside you.' She left that out for her own sake. Saying that would only put herself into the crossfire of whatever Klaus' anger manifested.
"'Emotional turmoil?'" He spat the words off with a scoff, unbelieving at Rebekah's audacity. "That's rich considering how I've managed to keep this family together, despite all chaos thrown in our path. I'm still standing here before you strong and leading to what's best for our family. Yet, I never could quite manage to get everything right. There was always something I fail in...always someone I fail..." His voice trailed off, unable to finish but it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what he referred to.
Rebekah had enough. "Jesus Christ, Nik! Will you stop running in circles?!" she exasperated. "No one is doubting your ability or your love for our family! Me and Kol are fine! We've been here just fine. And yes, you've had your many shortcomings, but it doesn't mean you're a failure."
Klaus sighed dramatically. And just like always, no one understood him. Not even his own family, who were supposed to be his closest confidantes, never could hit on target in understanding his view. "It still doesn't matter with all the comforting words you could try to muster. I still failed and nothing can remedy that."
"How many times do I have to say it?!" Rebekah yelled in frustration, coming to her boiling point with him. She walked towards the bed, grabbed her brother's hand and clasped it to Caroline's own with force. "Feel that! That's flesh, not some bloody mannequin. Use your senses and you can hear her heartbeat, no matter if it is undead. Don't you get it? You have all the proof right here yet you're still too damn stubborn to get yourself out of denial!"
Klaus wretched his hand away from Caroline, her hand falling limp to the side of the bed, her body still in a deathlike sleep. The images of Caroline dying in his arms still burned in his memory. Her body turning cold just like his dark heart, and having to gather the strength to actually bury her. Like the selfish beast he was, her body remained in his possession for most of that day, only to come out of his solitude when he carried a coffin made from the cypress trees. Dressed in a beautiful yet simple dress of pastel pink, blue, and white, a crown of wild roses colored in faded pink and yellow. In the midst of his grief, Klaus wouldn't even let anyone be near him when he buried her. He was the sole occupant in her funeral. His grief and selfishness overruled any logical reasoning. He buried her underneath the Spanish willow tree in his secret place where she was supposed to rest.
And now, seeing her now before him seemed like a bad dream. This had to be a nightmare. A hellish hallucination conjured by a witch, perhaps.
"This is not possible. It's nothing, but a trick, Bekah." He remained firm in his stubbornness much to Rebekah's chagrin. It only fueled her anger and aggravation more.
"Dammit, brother, open YOUR eyes!" His younger sister screeched, pushing him back with a good shove to get his attention. "She's there! She's back and this isn't some bloody hallucination! What do I have to do? Whack you with a frying pan to make you see reason?!"
That crossed a line. She watched as Klaus' already angry expression darkened; his consuming rage he tried to rein in bubbled up to the surface. Klaus grabbed Rebekah by her arm. "You weren't there." He growled in a low tone with his voice tight. "YOU WEREN'T THERE! You didn't see what happened! Don't make demands of me as if I cannot make the distinction between fiction and reality!"
He shook her shoulders harshly as if Rebekah was a ragdoll. Peering up, Rebekah saw Klaus' face marred with black-red eyes fueled with his ferocious rage. She'd seen him angry before, but never on a level like this. Rebekah would never confess this to anyone, but seeing her brother like this frightened her, making her question what he would do to her as the target of his fire-fueled anger.
Rebekah finally pushed him, but she didn't mean for it to escalate like this. She needed to get out. Now. "LET ME GO, YOU BASTARD!" Rebekah yelled as she struggled against him.
Klaus ignored her with his rage consuming all of his senses. He saw red in front of him. That's all he saw.
"Klaus!"
The voice sounded distant at first...like waking up slowly from a dream. Klaus ignored it, and only saw the fear in Rebekah's face with her mouth wide open. His hunger for the fear of others resurfaced, and he fed on Rebekah's, satisfied of the results.
"My God..." The words left from Rebekah's lips, but they left Klaus confused. The words weren't filled with fear, but something else instead.
Shock.
"Dammit, Klaus! Let Rebekah go! NOW!"
The voice came in clearer now through the fog, angry and full of emotion. To even distract him from his own rage was a feat in of itself. Only a few can do that. And if that weren't enough, an electrifying shock ran through his body, like lightning struck him then and there. The familiarity of the spark ignited something he thought was dead long ago. It burned brightly and coursed a fierce path through his veins. Turning around, he didn't count on being assaulted by a flash of blonde.
"Rebekah, get out! Go!" The voice called out again louder than before.
Klaus' eyes wandered to Rebekah who was more than happy to get the hell out of dodge. He couldn't exactly make out what she said before she sped away from the scene. All he could do was focus on how in the bloody hell he would get out of this mess. Damn weight. Klaus looked up to see a face he never thought to see. Hissing with her own set of fangs and onyx-golden eyes was the woman who redefined everything he knew.
Caroline. Sweet Caroline.
Only this wasn't Caroline. It couldn't be. It was impossible.
"No." Klaus growled. "You're not real. This is just a wicked hallucination."
"I am real, Klaus. Believe it or not, I am." The Caroline lookalike replied to his declaration. Everything seemed so real, and it tempted Klaus. She tempted Klaus to release and give into her spell. She was a lovely dream, yes. But Klaus' dreams were always tainted, and nothing was as good as the real thing. This Caroline wasn't real. It was a just a copy.
"Whatever game you're playing, you've already lost. I refuse to be exploited what people sum up as my weaknesses." 'Even if they're dead ones,' Klaus said mentally. "Now, I don't usually use manners so I'm going to ask this once. Get off of me."
Klaus gave a strong shove to the Caroline imposer away from him, the female blonde land against the wall, and the wall cracking and giving way from the heavy impact. Klaus stood up from the floor dusting himself off from the assault; he sauntered over towards the blonde demon. Whether she was an angel or demon didn't matter. All he wanted to do was exterminate this hallucination's existence before it could torture him further.
Klaus bent down and grabbed the Caroline lookalike by the neck in an iron grip. His Original strength pressed firmly around the demon's windpipe, and his grip kept on tightening. The corners of his mouth turned up in a twisted smile as he saw the color drain from her face. The struggle against him brought him a twisted taste of happiness and a smug victory wrapped up in a bow. His sick joy grew as he extended his arm, raising the blonde up into the air with her back going up against the wall. Her feet dangled in the air as she clawed for breath. 'Good,' he thought evilly in glee. 'Die and then I can finally finish you.' She would be gone and this torture would be over. No more foul things conjured up to haunt him again. He refused to be a victim to someone's trickery.
"What's with the silence, sweetheart?" He asked with false sincerity. "No last words?"
{Louder Than Thunder}
The first thing she could think of was how much she wanted to get rid of this damn hangover. It felt like the worst hangover multiplied by ten. Too bright, too loud, and too crazy. This was worse than the time when she was sixteen and sneaked into her mother's alcohol cabinet by picking the lock to get the vodka for Homecoming night. She drank way too many Bloody Marys that night, which left of the worst tastes ever in her mouth. She could taste that bad salad taste on her tongue for nearly two days straight thanks to some idiot mixing the drinks. Unfortunately, not even her pristine skills in her influence with the grapevine didn't turn anything up.
In this instance, her skills were going to have to scrap herself out of this. Especially with Klaus' damn hands choking the life out of her!
"What's with the silence, sweetheart?" He goaded to her, his eyes flashing red and black like Lucifer himself. "No last words?"
With a nasty scowl, the furious blonde hissed with her fangs showing, and she held on tight to Klaus' arm as leverage for her to give him a good solid kick to the chest. She watched as Klaus landed twenty feet away from her, hitting the metal radiator with a bang. She ignored the painful bruises around her neck and focused on banging sense into Klaus' stubborn skull.
"Nope." The female hybrid popped out the 'p'. "I didn't need words. Actions helped me out in the end, and being an angry blonde hybrid does have its advantages." She watched from a safe distance as Klaus recovered from her attack. She could take a guess in what he was thinking. The blonde hybrid had been around him long enough to have pretty good instincts in these matters. "Now, are you going to use some of the common sense you still manage to have or am I going to have to keep on trying to convince you?"
He chuckled as the air from the radiator began to hiss behind him with loud volume. Her eyes narrowed at the damn arrogant smirk on his face. "As well as your façade may have charmed other fools, I don't like to be stereotyped as a laughing stock."
"For God's sake, Klaus! How many times is it going to take for people to tell you the truth that's in front of you?" She exasperated before the truth became existent from her own mouth. "I am Caroline! I am alive!"
Yes, Caroline was alive and kicking. An angrier start than what she anticipated, but it was one hell of a start to make things interesting. She didn't expect to be awoken to the Mikaelsons' presence much less them yelling at each other. Caroline didn't count on playing referee either, but she learned early on that you just got to what you need to do. And now to convince Klaus she wasn't some hallucination coming back to haunt him. But just like always, getting through to Klaus was as easy as talking to the wall. And Caroline thought she was hard enough.
Caroline watched as Klaus stood up from the floor, her eyes trained on him if he were to attack her again. It didn't ring alarms in her head, but she was alert enough to be wary. His eyes were still in vampire mode and they glared back at her own. Both of them mirrored each other. Monsters coming out to play and all. However, there was a difference between the two.
"You spoke of not having the need for words, only actions." Klaus began with a skeptical tone with no effort in subtlety. He remained uncharacteristically still, unnerving Caroline a bit. What the hell was he doing? He opened his arms out wide gesturing Caroline to meet him head on. "Prove to meet there's more to you than the words of a desperate woman."
Offense wrote itself in Caroline's face. Seeing that damn smirk again in his features, the urge to slap the crap out of him reigned in with an ugly vengeance. Caroline gritted her teeth and closed her fists tightly. Her emotions weren't so easily hidden as she would have liked to, but there was little she can do with the werewolf temper influencing her actions. And since when did Klaus had the gull to call her desperate? Anger flashing in her eyes, Caroline stomped over towards the Original, throwing caution to the wind.
"You know, you got a lot of nerve calling me desperate when I can personally say I saw the same thing in you last time I saw your face."
The last time that kind of desperation appeared in Klaus' face was when she died in his arms. Caroline remembered with perfect clarity. She wouldn't lie about something that burned so much into her memory.
Klaus' smirk faltered. Caroline almost missed the second of inner grief of the experience of her second death before rage took over his features. "You don't know what you're speaking of."
"That's where you're wrong, Klaus." Caroline corrected him. "I know exactly what I'm talking about."
"Don't take another step or I'll-" Klaus warned with a snarl, but he never finished.
"Or you'll what?! Kill me? I'm sorry to disappoint you and your lust to kill everything in this room, but I've died too many times to count to let death threats affect me."
Caroline dared him to try to kill her. She kept stepping forward in Klaus' direction with her steely gazed fixed on him. Where this bravery was coming from, she didn't know. Neither did she question it. Judging the other end of the encounter, neither of them were giving in. Both of them were too stubborn, and it's a shock they hadn't figured out who was worse.
"Then I guess I will have to go through other means to end you." Klaus concluded with his eyes still glinting red.
Caroline rolled her eyes. "Seriously? Do we really need all the theatrical drama?"
"You're in my corner, love. I'm the alpha male here."
"'I don't have to prove anything, love. I am the alpha male.'" Klaus' voice rang in her head from the memory of the Twenties' Dance. Only a bit of nostalgia hit her, making her long for the simpler days where she was flirting to get inside of Klaus' plans. Operation: A Little Blonde Distraction was always in action when it came to her. She perfected it to an art.
Caroline shook her head and still braced herself for anything that Klaus would throw at her. Deciding to take a different approach to things, stopped for only a moment and closed her eyes in concentration. "I'll show you the truth, even if you don't believe me now," she said.
Her eyes that were once black and gold had faded back to their original shade of blue-green. The dark, spider veins of her hybrid features recoiled and faded too as well. The last of the monster within her returned from whence it came, and her fangs were no longer present in the open. Looking up at Klaus, there was no change in his features. They still remained the same. Caroline sighed heavily, having no choice but to wonder what she would do now.
Curbing her temper, her bare feet padded slowly in Klaus' direction with her white nightgown flowing in her gait. With the caution of approaching a wild animal, Caroline kept her distance despite edging closer towards Klaus. He probably thought she was out of her mind or being stupidly brave. She could agree that those kinds of brave actions led her to the predicament she was in now, but it was too late to brood over the past. (Or at least whatever anyone would call it in her situation.)
"Klaus," Caroline lowered her voice. She was so close to him now, so close to finally making him see through the foggy glass. The face of the beast was still functioning, but she didn't care. She wanted to take a chance, getting to know him beyond the monster now, at least in this moment.
Her hand graced the right side of his face; Klaus flinched against her soft touch, unable to comprehend anything of what's going on. Caroline could see the visibly frozen statue he had become. Was she really that much of a dream? That much of a haunting nightmare for him?
A small smile from Caroline lit the room and her blue-green eyes shined into his dark hellish ones.
"'I promised you once before. I'm not leaving you. I will always come back to you despite how I might want to fight against it.'"
Those words left from her mouth, and she knew directly on what she was trying to deliver. Caroline hoped that those words struck a chord with Klaus with even all the baggage he'd been carrying for so long. Deep in her heart, she wanted him to remember. It would make things so much easier. Little did she truly know the effect of her actions.
As if struck with a dagger to the heart, Klaus staggered back in shock, the words definitely striking a cord with him, hitting him in places he never thought would exist.
Caroline stepped forward a bit, but she saw him bringing his hand out away from himself, beckoning her to stay back.
Klaus staggered to the desk, leaning against the wooden edge to have something steady himself. None of his course for the past decade or so have steady. It was always rocky and unstable, and Caroline did things to him that shook the earth. Even in her death, he couldn't find the foundation that kept from teetering off the edge. It was always a constant war. He never knew when he would just let loose and kill everyone in his path. The instability messed with his mind more than he would admit.
Caroline watched his black and red eyes fade back to the blue-gray storm that always brewed in his eyes. The black veins receded and his fangs went back from whence it came. He turned to see her face, his expression surprisingly silent and black. What was he thinking?
She wasn't hiding anything from him. The truth was all Caroline had. She had nothing left to lose.
The phrase "The truth will always set you free" came into its fullest fruition when Klaus' lips slammed into Caroline's in a bruising kiss.
Reaction. That's all Klaus did. Reacting to everything. There was no thinking. There was no logic. All it of it now was just Klaus and Caroline. Nothing more, nothing less.
Caroline responded in kind with every part of her beginning to melt under his touch, but she remained hard. She wasn't the little girly Caroline anymore. Klaus wasn't the only one with power here. She wasn't made of porcelain. She wasn't made of ivory. She was made of steel, every part of her able to keep up with Klaus. Her feral instincts fueled the desperation of the relapse from the craving of his touch. Her lips melded against Klaus' and all she kept focusing was him. She was searching for him after all this time.
His hands wondered over her body, reminiscing every curve, every imperfection, everything that made Caroline who she was. All of what Klaus was cruelly deprived of by some insane sense of fate. His tongue sought hers out and he silently asked for permission. After an agonizing long moment, Caroline let him enter.
Both of them crashed into the wall, Caroline's back slamming into it and making a few meaningless pictures fall and onto the floor in a messy heap. Neither of them cared.
Everything drove him mad. Caroline was here! She was bloody right in front of him and she wasn't a dream. She was real. All of this was real...but he couldn't help but feel as if this was a dream that would end too soon.
With those fears and doubts plaguing his mind, he withdrew from kissing Caroline, his arms still wrapped around her slender frame. His eyes searched and bored into Caroline's. What he was sought out for was unknown to Caroline. The glint in his eyes was so unknown to her and unlike him.
"Klaus, say something." Caroline ordered gently.
What was he supposed to say?
The Original tried to make words, but nothing came out. Trying harder, he could only make a few words. "You're here."
Those words were enough for her. "Yes." said Caroline. "I'm here."
"Then everything...all of this is real. You, the bond, this time period, us, you." He kept mentioning her, and Caroline couldn't hide the small swell of happiness that formed in her stomach. It felt good. It felt good to be wanted, especially from after everything.
Caroline snorted jokingly with her laughter soon following. "Yes to everything. There. Does that answer your question?"
She truly had no idea, but Caroline caught a glimpse with the relief and the look of rare euphoria washing over Klaus' features, the marred parts of anger from before washing away too at long last. The way he smiled nearly shook Caroline to her core, but it was a good kind of excitement. She wanted to see that more. At least from something else besides her.
"Are you still going to going go through other means to end me?" Caroline asked.
He answered her with a coy smile. "Well, that would depend on the context you're implying. We've definitely been rudely interrupted on way too many occasions to count."
Caroline rolled her eyes at him and sent him a sugary coy smile in return. "That's interesting. I guess some things don't really change. But first..."
"What, love?"
Klaus' answer came in the answer of a very hard slap in the face, the sound echoing in both Klaus and Caroline's ears. 'Good,' Caroline thought. It meant she put enough effort.
Klaus mouth gaped open, shock and annoyance merged into one as he rubbed the red imprint of his sore cheek. Hybrid or no hybrid, that was some damn slap. But it didn't mean that was still warranted! "What the bloody hell was that, woman?!" Klaus exclaimed, not appreciating of being handled like some ragdoll when it's usually him inspiring fear and submission into others.
Caroline's lighter facial faded and was replaced with a more serious expression. With her hands on her hips, the frown on her face assured Klaus that he wasn't going to completely get out of this unscathed.
"That was for the trouble you gave your sister earlier." Caroline answered.
"Oh, come on, Caroline. Don't get yourself entangled with my family affairs." Klaus tried to easy Caroline off her scolding ride, but she wouldn't have it.
"Klaus, I've been tangled up in your family too long to have any way to get out of it. I might as well buck up and put on my big girl pants, even if that means defending the sister I'm not so fond of at the moment." Caroline explained.
"So rest assured, I'm also going to get what I deserved when my manners weren't so golden with you." Klaus laced his words with a hint of sarcasm, which brought out the frustrated reaction on her part.
"That's a complete understatement, and you know it!"
"You would have to remember that I wasn't in my best mental state, love."
"Did you easily think that I honestly forgot about that? You're lucky I didn't do anything worse to you despite the welcome I got. I'm not some little blonde vampire unable to stand on her own two feet."
Caroline wasn't ready for any of what's coming to her. She would always tried to be, but in the end, the facts were still the same. Not everything was an open book. She learned that lesson the hard way. She could never predict Klaus in everything he did where this...whatever this was between her and Klaus. Every action Klaus took would always unnerve her, and she couldn't help that. That was always the natural reaction she had when it came to Klaus.
But however, it was honestly amazing how fast one's mood can change so fast in a snap, especially about Caroline and himself. If it weren't for the man he was, Klaus would have gotten easily caught in the whirlwind of the whiplash that always came with Caroline. Then again, her ever-changing moods shifted liked the tide and it made her unpredictable. He could relate to that. He always did like a challenge.
There was a challenging glint in his eyes that irked Caroline inside. Not to mention, Klaus' hands snaking around her frame again, edging towards the curve of her hip bone, itching to raise the leg up. "Then who are you then, love?"
Caroline remained glued in her stance, his question ringing in her head loudly. She pondered over that question ever since she had been thrown in the complicatedness of this whole mission. Deciding to give him an honest answer, Caroline met him in the middle.
"All I can say to you is that I'm not the same girl I once was. So much has happened and..." she trailed off, but not for too long. "Look, I think both us will find the true answer soon enough when we've cleared some things. Is that okay?"
Not what he wanted to hear, but it would suffice his curiosity for now. He could be patient if he wanted something enough. Besides, Klaus remembered words from a certain war general that held an correct meaning. Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success. Klaus could do that if he set his mind to it.
His smirk grew, and he tested his limits. "That's fine with me as long honesty is on the table among other things."
"What other things?" Caroline dared to ask.
"That your presence is mine and entirely mine alone."
He fought too hard to let her just slip through his fingers again. He lost too much and suffered too much with the pain of emptiness inside of him and outside in the world. The open and raw wound was finally healing, and he refused to be rendered paralyzed by his own feelings he couldn't keep buried. Despite being the most powerful creature walking the Earth, there were certain weapons that he couldn't outwit. That sliver of humanity in him may be small, but it was his formidable opponent.
Klaus took the plunge and brought her leg around his waist. The Original leaned closer into her face, his warm breath tickling her milky skin. "What do you say, love? Do you feel that instinct in you to take what's yours and not let anyone have it? You have the desire, Caroline. I can feel it radiating from every part of you."
Damn him. Damn the bond. Damn herself for being so careless.
"Shut up." She weakly retorted before slamming her lips into his again.
Thank God for her skills in cheerleading or this would be harder than it looked. Caroline lifted her other leg around Klaus' waist and wrapped her arms around his neck in hanging on. Her blonde curls fell around her shoulders in wild ringlets with the feral look of lust in her face once more. Klaus couldn't get enough of her. Too much of a drug. Her hybrid eyes glimmered briefly as she momentarily broke the kiss, their noses barely scraping against each other. She couldn't help the smile on her face. She was here right in front of him, and she didn't plan to go anywhere.
The smile tugging on the corners of his lips made all of this so much more contagious.
Seriously?! Why did he have to have this effect on her?
Klaus took the initiative and proudly took what was his, and made his words a reality. He kissed her lips first, but he didn't just stay solely on that spot. He held on to her with need and possession, but his actions towards weren't all of his selfish need. His lips danced across her skin from her lower jawbone, to her neck, and his lips sucking on a spot right where her jugular vein pumped the blood inside. He could feel her elevated pulse and hear it loud in his ears.
Caroline moaned in response, her fingers tightening in his short light brown hair as her hands raked through them. She could feel his hands snake down towards her lower back, making her eyes widen at the tingling electricity sparking through her body. How in the hell...
"Klaus..." his name left her lips.
"Mmm..." He responded with a satisfied growl as he continued his dissension on her skin.
"Klaus, where are we?" She had meant to ask him earlier before all the chaos occurred.
"You're in Chicago, love. Eleven years have passed since your departure from me. It is 1922." Klaus answered casually.
He didn't know that he answered too casually without the results coming back to almost kill him.
I can't turn this around
I keep running into walls that I can't break down
I said I just wander around
With my eyes wide shut because of you
I'm a sleepwalker walker walker
I'm a sleepwalker walker walker
- "Sleepwalker," by Adam Lambert