Summary: Part of TVD season 4 all from Caroline's perspective
Notes: Okay. I know some people in the comments wanted to see the aftermath of Kai turning Elena, but this is supposed to be a Klaroline short story about these people having children and being badass like they were meant to be. I really don't feel like writing all of Elena and the Salvatore bullshit the creators dragged on for four seasons.
So… previously on the Vampire Diaries:
Kai fed Elena his blood to make her into a vampire, which he regrets almost immediately. As Procreator and Offspring, he and Elena share a telepathic bond whenever she's in crisis and for the doppelganger, everything is a crisis. Her contrasting feelings for Damon, how she doesn't want to be a vampire, and her constant war with the Mikaelsons. She seriously made Kai want to rip her head off so he could have some peace and quiet.
Alaric had revealed the vampires in town to the council and they were swiftly rounded up. To save Rebekah and Caroline, Kai and Klaus teamed up again. The council still blew themselves up and Connor came to town to hunt vampires. Klaus never jumped into Tyler's body and he and Caroline never made out in Tyler's body cause it's gross.
On the hunt for the cure, Vera, Kai, and Kol warned them about awakening Silas. But no one listened. Everything else happened exactly how it did in canon. Kol's dead.
Alright, let's jump right into the action.
Place: Gilbert Living Room
Date: February 2, 2011
Caroline laid on the couch, her breathing shallow as the bite wound on her neck burned. The bite from Klaus hurt worse than when he had Tyler bite her, not just physically but emotionally.
Her first few interactions with Klaus were quite amiable. She understood what it was like to have a part of your mind force fully locked away. She felt the same when Damon compelled and raped her. No matter how much she was screaming for help on the inside, she was forced to smile. He had told her how he could still feel his wolf, chained by the curse begging to be freed. The pain of the shift while being unable to, every full moon for the past 1000 years.
His mother had cursed him and denied him while his father, the man who raised him, hunted him for a thousand years, for not being biologically his son, something he had no control over. Much like her own mother who would rather forget finding out she was a vampire than accept her for who she was and her father who spent days torturing in an effort to cure her need for blood.
She sympathized with his wish to be free of his curse and his wish to find others like him, just like she wanted to find people who understood her.
She found that in Kai, Luna, Vera, Maggie, and Enzo, but Klaus had no one. Even after he made his hybrids, they would never be able to fully understand him. He was even forced to kill them.
No matter how much she tried, she couldn't hate Klaus like her friends did. He hadn't done anything to her at that time. Sure his witches picked her to be the vampire in his ritual, but being chained up in a cave wasn't anything worse than what the Salvatores and the werewolves had done to her.
The sirebond and having Tyler bite her was the straw that broke the camel's back. She was collateral damage to him. She was collateral damage to everyone.
So she chose her friends. Elena and Bonnie had been like sisters to her since they were children. They had been there for her in the past. Even if their friendship had hit a speed bump, Caroline felt she had to make the effort to tear down the walls that had come between them. Even if she had to play distraction for the big bad Hybrid.
She had been spending a lot of time with Klaus because her friends were using her to distract him. He had made his attraction obvious at the ball.
Klaus was like a yoyo to her, pulling her close before pushing her away. Her insecurities fed on the fact that she never knew what to expect from him. He healed her after having Tyler bite her. When he invited her to the ball and even bought her a dress, he showed her his human side. His likes, dislikes, his charming wit, and his talent and love for art. He wasn't showing her the monster. She saw a man, vulnerable and flawed, who had done horrible things.
But he was the terror of Mystic Falls. She had to constantly remind herself that he had killed Jenna. She was disgusted when she learned of the sirebond. Having been forced to turn was one thing but she didn't like the idea of him forcing the hybrids to do everything he said with no way of disagreeing. At the ball, she lost her temper and she told him off and expected him to kill her, but he didn't. He was angry at first and sent her away but then thanked her for her honesty.
He wasn't angry with her. He didn't lose his temper. He didn't yell or hurt her. He was just so confusing to figure out but she liked that he had shown her a softer side of himself.
But she pushed that feeling away. Her friends needed her and Klaus was still the enemy.
She told herself she was only humoring him to distract him. It was for Elena.
No, her heart did not flutter whenever he gave her that smile no one else got to see, all full of dimples and teeth. She definitely didn't enjoy their banter. And she didn't feel safe in his arms when he came to save her when Alaric tortured her. She absolutely did not feel flattered to hold the fancy of the most powerful man in the world.
No, she couldn't. She was just bait. A distraction. She had to constantly remind herself that he was the enemy. Collateral damage is what he called her. That's all she was to him.
But, then if that's really all she was, why hasn't he killed her for her part in the Salvatores' plans to kill his family? It didn't make sense. Damon kept on saying that Klaus was a monster who didn't feel anything and yet his plans always threw her at him because of his feelings for her.
"I'm glad you came to your senses, Blondie. Cause let's be honest, the big bad doesn't feel anything. Once he got what he wanted, he'd just throw you away. Then again you'd always been desperate. Caroline opened her eyes in a gasp to find herself still on the couch in the Gilbert living room.
The hallucinations had begun and of course, Damon was the main character. She remembered how he would pin her to the bed by her neck as he whispered that she was worthless and useless. Nothing more than a toy. A lousy lay. Easy, he called her. Desperate.
He tried to kill her when she turned. Kai's protection spell, the one that caused him immense pain if he ever approached her, had broken because she had died. But he stopped when Elena batted her lashes at him. Kai wanted to retaliate but she didn't want that. She had seen how Elena looked at him, how she was falling for him even though she was in love with Stefan and it disgusted her.
Did Elena forget what he had done to her? Did she forget the bite marks she saw in the bathroom?
But she put up with it. With Bonnie avoiding her, Elena was the only friend she still had. And Katherine was threatening her mom, forcing her to have to stomach spending time with the Salvatores.
Her skin crawled every time she had to interact with Damon. And after every meeting at the Salvatore boarding house, she went home and showered and scratched her skin. The sensation of his fingers were fresh on her body and she needed to rid herself of it. Every piece of skin her nails peeled off healed but she was covered in her own blood, which she quickly washed away under the shower. It happened every time he touched her or stood in her personal space. Every time he called her Blondie or Barbie. Every time he ordered her. She hated it. She hated him.
And she hated Stefan for being a bystander. He knew what Damon was doing to her but did nothing. He used her to keep Damon distracted, to keep him away from Elena. The same happened with Andy that she had to do the one thing she hated: use compulsion to control another person's life.
Caroline had only ever used compulsion when she was feeding, to make people forget about the supernatural world, in a sudden bout of temper. But she never used it to completely make a person do something against their desires or to completely change their life. But she couldn't watch Andy being Damon's victim like she had been. And Elena and Stefan and everyone else could see it and they did nothing, not even reprimand Damon. So Caroline kidnapped Andy and painfully removed Damon's compulsion from her mind. She, then, compelled the woman to move away, far away to Hawaii, and never think of returning to Mystic Falls and to make sure everything she used contained vervain so she could never be compelled again.
Then she acted like nothing happened and returned to put up with Damon. She put her own needs behind her for Elena's sake. For her friend's sake she did as Damon told her and seduced Klaus to the best of her ability. No matter how her heart broke when he looked hurt by her betrayal. The guilt ate at her heart whenever she used the vulnerability he showed her for her friends' benefit. And he knew because after every betrayal, he hid his vulnerability away behind a wall of indifference and the monster that was Klaus returned to the surface.
So why didn't he kill her? No matter how many times she acts as a distraction while her friends acted against his family, he never hurt her. He would grow angry and he would yell, but he never touched her. He never tried to compel her, and that, to her, made her better than both Salvatore brothers.
Klaus was the monster monsters feared. He's killed for sport and even less, yet after the sacrifice, other than demanding Elena's blood for his hybrids, he never incited conflict with her friends.
He killed Tyler's mom as punishment for Tyler turning the hybrids against him. Caroline had also been involved in the unsiring of the hybrids and yet he didn't hurt her. He sent Tyler on the run but wasn't actively hunting him down.
They had killed Finn. And even though he wasn't the most liked by the siblings, Elijah had always claimed that no one who hurt his family could live. Yet Mystic Falls wasn't a pile of ashes and her friends weren't dead. Caroline knew it was because Klaus had reined in his big brother. He didn't want to hurt her by killing her friends. And, frankly, maybe she got too drunk on the power she had over him when she taunted him after her friends had killed his younger brother before his eyes with said brother's burnt corpse still on the kitchen floor.
Well, it was only a matter of time. Maybe she deserved it for betraying him. For constantly hurting him.
She was Klaus-bait so of course, she'd end up Klaus-food. Perhaps it would be better for her to die so she would never have to confront her growing feelings for him.
Yes. She finally admitted it. She had feelings for the Big Bad Hybrid. But they were on different sides of a war. Like Romeo and Juliet, they were star-crossed. Their love was destined to end in tragedy, with one or both of them dead. And Fate decreed it to be her.
Who knew her eternity would be so short? She'd never get to see the great cities and art and music he promised her.
But she wanted to. She wanted to travel with him, to see the world through his artistic eyes. She wanted to hear the history he lived.
Caroline didn't want to die. She liked the feeling of being strong, ageless, fearless. She loved being a vampire and all the possibilities it brought her.
She had been so focused on being her best human-self, graduating high school and going to experience college with her friends like she planned before she even became an adolescent.
She never got to be the vampire Maggie, Enzo, Kai, Vera, and Luna saw that she could be.
She bound herself to Mystic Falls because she was afraid of losing everything she had ever known. Being human was all she had ever known. It was how she fit in Mystic Falls: the bubbly blonde cheerleader, the Sheriff's daughter, a member of a founding family, pageant queen, and future wife of the mayor. No, not the mayor; the future wife of the mayor because that was what was expected of her. She had internalized it all, planning parties and leading committees that had adults and her peers as school bowing before her. She had loved the power it gave her that she didn't realize that Carol was grooming her to be Tyler's wife.
She denied Klaus' feelings for her and her own burgeoning feelings for him by staying with Tyler even after the relationship had run its course. He cheated on her with Hayley but she couldn't let go. She couldn't let go of everything she had ever been. If she chose Klaus, she'd have to let go of her friends and everything she's ever known. She'd lose everything.
No matter how many times Vera, Kai, Luna, Maggie, and Enzo propped her up, something came to knock her down. No matter how many times they told her to be proud and have confidence in herself, she was still that insecure, neurotic teenager, always looking for attention. Elena was the doppelganger everyone wanted. Bonnie was the badass witch that the supernaturals either revered her name or feared her power. Stefan and Damon were the older vampires who would do anything to protect Elena.
Caroline, on the other hand, was just a baby vampire. She wasn't strong nor was she special. She was just a regular human who became a regular vampire. She didn't want to lose her friends. She didn't want to be forgotten so she had to be useful. Or else she'd be left out of the loop. She wouldn't be able to be with her friends.
You're beautiful, you're strong, you're full of light. I enjoy you.
To Klaus, she wasn't just a baby vampire. She wasn't weak. He had tried to convince himself that she would be a weakness, but she has proven him wrong time and time again. To him, she was beautiful, strong, fearless. If only she could see herself as he had come to see her.
Caroline didn't want to die. She had so much to live for.
"Perhaps one day, in a year or even in a century, you'll turn up at my door and let me show you what the world has to offer."
She wanted to take him up on his offer, maybe in a few years. She didn't want to die. Not by his hands.
"If you don't feed me your blood, I'll die," she said in a hoarse voice.
"Then you'll die and Tyler will have earned his lesson the hard way." He couldn't look at her.
The movement of her neck as she spoke caused the bite to burn but she continued, "I'm sorry. I didn't know they were going to kill Kol. And I never should've said what I did. I know I hurt you."
Klaus finally turned to look at her.
"No matter how much you try to be the monster everyone is afraid of, I know there's a part of you that's human."
He sat on the edge of the table beside her. "How could you possibly think that?"
Their eyes met as she inhaled a shallow breath. The bite felt like a million fire ants were stabbing her neck every time she breathed or spoke. But she wanted him to know everything she had denied over the past few months. She wanted him to know her real opinion of him. "Because I've seen it. Because I've caught myself wishing that I could forget all the horrible things you've done."
"And you can't, can you?"
No, she couldn't. Even now, she could see all the warring emotions in his eyes and the hard lines of his face. "No. I… I took part in unsiring your hybrids because I didn't like how you treated them as slaves. But that led to their deaths. you may have killed them but I am partially responsible. And I have to live with their blood on my hands because I would do it again."
Klaus bit down hard trying to keep from lashing out at her again. She was going to die anyway. The most he could do was allow her a few last words.
"What Elena did was wrong. She committed genocide. Thousands of vampires died, all for the sake of one person, for Elena. How can I judge you when we've all done the same things. Since you came back to Mystic Falls, you only asked for Elena's blood. They took your siblings and tried to kill you using your father and mother. We killed your siblings and made you kill your hybrids. And I played the blonde distraction. Klaus-bait , Damon called it. But you never retaliated against us." She went on a tangent as her mind grew muddled. She looked at him and tried to keep her vision focused. "I know you're in love with me." She inhaled a shallow breath. Her limbs felt cold and numb. "And anyone capable of love is capable of being saved."
She heard him inhale a shaky breath. Her vision had gone but she knew he was clenching his jaw like he always did whenever he was trying to keep his emotions under control. But she couldn't hold on much longer. Her hearing was now gone too. "But I guess I'll never know."
He saved her and allowed her to use him so her friends could get the cure.
But when her friends returned, there was no cure, Jeremy was dead, Bonnie was missing, and they let loose an immortal witch set out to bring hell on earth. So many people died and it was all for nothing.
We should've listened to Kol. We should've listened to Kai. We should've listened to Vera. Those were Caroline's thoughts as she watched Elena deny that Jeremy was dead.
The scent of his decaying body was overwhelming to her supernatural sense of smell that she had to leave the house. She took out her phone and made a call to the only person she wanted to talk to.
She heard the call go through and she heard him answer but he didn't speak.
After Kai had turned Elena into a vampire, he compelled her to forget he was a vampire. But he still offered to take her to Maggie and Enzo to teach her to be a vampire but the Salvatores wouldn't allow it. At the same time, Caroline had been furious with Kai for turning Elena against her will. Elena didn't want to be a vampire but she had been forced to complete the transition when the council rounded them up at Pastor Young's farm.
When they discovered the existence of the cure, Caroline wanted to get it for Elena. Kai warned them getting the cure would wake Silas and they argued.
"Kai, please help us get the cure."
"No!"
Kai's cold indifference grated on her nerves. "Well, then you shouldn't have turned her. You shouldn't have forced this life on her."
"What did you want me to do, huh? Let Alaric kill us and every vampire in the world so Elena could live a happy human life?" He scoffed. "Please, with the way she's jumping between Salvatores, I wouldn't be surprised if she became Mrs. Salvatore with a cup of blood rather than a ring."
"You took the choice from her! She's out of control, Kai! She's angry all the time. If she's not angry, she's depressed or obsessing over Damon. Her feelings for him have heightened since she became a vampire."
"I know, Caroline. I haven't been able to have a minute of peace because everything is a crisis to Elena Gilbert. Which Salvatore will she fuck that day, or how she feels so guilty for everything that's happened, or how much she hates the Originals and wants to kill Rebekah. It's taking all my self-control not to go rip the fucking bitch's head off."
"Don't even think about hurting Elena," Caroline shook her head.
"It's getting harder not to," Kai muttered under his breath.
Caroline shot him a glare and pretended she didn't hear him. "And all the more reason for you to help us get the cure. Once she's cured, the connection between you and her will be broken."
"No. Hasn't Kol told you that the cure is buried with Silas? You get the cure, you awaken Silas. I don't want Silas to destroy the Other Side because frankly, there's a few people I'd prefer to remain dead."
"Why do you believe Kol about Silas? Even Klaus and Rebekah don't believe him. Trust me Kai, we won't awaken Silas."
"Well, first, Silas is more feared in the witch community than any of the Originals and they know the danger Silas and Expression poses more than a human occult professor or a baby Bennett witch. Sheila Bennett is probably rolling in her grave. Second, Klaus and Rebekah are egotistical fools who will never admit they're wrong even when it's staring them in the face. And third, you want me to trust you and your trouble-magnet friends? Caroline, you're an 18-year-old girl who's never been farther than an hour outside of your small town. Pardon me for not trusting you'll prioritize the fate of the world over Elena Gilbert's useless existence. You really need to tell me what shrooms she's feeding you cause you all share some strong delusions when it comes to her."
Kai's words had struck at several of Caroline's insecurities without him realizing it and the blonde shot back. "Well excuse me for being a gullible and stupid girl who cares for her friends. Thanks for everything you've done for me but I need real friends watching my back, not a sociopath." And she turned around and marched out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her.
She and Kai hadn't spoken since. She even avoided all calls from Enzo and Maggie and Vera. Caroline shook her head at the memory. "Would you talk to me if I said I called to apologize?"
"We both know that's not why you're calling. So I'm guessing the quest for the cure didn't go as planned."
She released a heavy sigh. Kai and Vera had warned them of the danger of Silas and the cure, just like Kol had. But they didn't listen. "No, it didn't. Bonnie's now missing, we think Silas was freed, and… Jeremy's dead."
"What is it you want, Caroline?"
Caroline winced at his cold and indifferent tone. He had never spoken to her like that before. But she did what she was always good at and ignored it. "Look, I know you don't like my friends, but maybe you can, I don't know… help, somehow." Elena's in denial about Jeremy's death."
There was silence on the other end for several long seconds before the sound of space ripping open came right from beside her. The blue-rimmed portal appeared and Kai and Vera stepped out.
"Hello, darling Caroline." Vera kissed her cheek.
"Thank you for coming."
Kai stepped past Caroline and walked up to the front porch of the Gilbert house without a word or glance at her.
Caroline hung her head. "Ugh, he hates me."
"He doesn't hate you, but words do hurt. Both of you said hurtful things but he cares about you. Your absolute loyalty to your friends and your lack of self-preservation will get you killed." Vera held her hands. "You're a confident and outspoken girl, Caroline, but around your friends, you shrink. You don't speak your mind even when you know they're making a big mistake."
Caroline knew her words were true but she said, "But they're my friends. I can't just let them fight on their own."
"I commend your loyalty. It's what caused Niklaus to fall so hard for you." She raised her hand when the blonde opened her mouth to stop Caroline from denying the obvious attraction between the two. "But do your friends return your loyalty? Tell me, Caroline, do your friends know whose bloodline you're from?"
Caroline's eyes widened in sudden realization. She was turned from Kai's blood but her friends didn't know that. She never told them about Kai being an Original Vampire. They didn' know whether or not the blood that turned her could've been Kol's or Finn's. They didn't even know if she would die but they killed them anyway. If Kai wasn't an Original, she could've been from any of the Mikaelsons' bloodlines. She could've died.
Vera gave her a soft smile before walking toward the house's front door, pulling the blonde along with her.
When they entered, they found Kai leaning against the wall with his arms across his chest as her friends sat around the table. "What's going on?" Caroline asked.
"They want to complete the Expression triangle to bring down the veil to the Other Side."
"Ah, the sacrifice of the 12 witches," Vera said.
Caroline's eyes widened as she looked at her friends. "What? We can't kill 12 people, Bonnie!"
"And why not?" All eyes turned to Vera who shrugged. "Jeremy killed Kol, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of vampires. What's 12 more?"
"Vera…" Caroline began.
Vera ignored her as she walked around the table to Elena. She took the girl's chin in her hand and forced the doppelganger to look at her. "Kol warned you. I warned you. Kai warned you. We warned you the cure wasn't worth waking Silas, yet, you, children, believed you knew best. You thought you knew better than adults who had lived lifetimes more than you." Her voice was low as she spoke to the doppelganger but everyone in the room could hear her. "You are weak, Elena Gilbert. How many people have been turned into vampires against their will? Caroline was smothered in her hospital bed and yet, she adapted. And she thrived. But you, Princess Elena, can't handle being a vampire. And everyone else has to bow and make your wishes come true. Your selfishness led thousands of innocent people to their deaths. But you didn't know them, so who cares, right? But what about Jeremy? He's your little brother and you're supposed to protect him. But you led him into a war for your selfish agenda."
Elena's eyes welled with tears. "No!" She charged at Vera, who quickly held her hand out, catching the doppelganger mid-stride in a blue mist before throwing her into a wall.
The wall broke under the force and Elena landed in a heap on the lawn. Everyone moved and Elena's friends rushed to stop Vera but they found themselves frozen in place by Vera's magic. Vera raised her leg over the broken wall and stepped out to the crying Elena who was trying to get off the ground.
"No, I didn't…"
"What? You didn't mean to? You thought you knew better than the people several times your age and decided it was best to drag your 17-year-old brother on the hunt for a murderous immortal?
"You think you're so much better than Klaus. In his thousand years, he's killed thousands of people. You've murdered thousands in less than a year of being a vampire." Vera bent down and whispered to Elena. "Their blood is on your hands. And your brother's life is the least you deserve to pay for your sins."
Kai stepped out and followed Vera away from the Gilbert house. She removed the immobility spell and left the doppelganger crying on the ground.
When Caroline returned home after Elena turned off her humanity and burned down her house, she found Kai and Vera on her front porch. "Did you have to be so cruel? And how could you say it's okay for her to kill 12 witches?"
Vera shrugged. "But I didn't say anything that wasn't true. Instead of kissing her ass all the time, you might want to give her a reality check every once in a while to knock her off her pedestal."
Kai looked at Caroline. "We came to warn you. Bonnie Bennett is high on Expression which makes it easier for Silas to control her. You need to be cautious of her."
"Bonnie wouldn't…"
"Wouldn't she?" A long silence followed before Kai let out an exhausted sigh. "I just want you to be safe, Caroline. Under Silas' influence, she won't be able to tell wrong from right or friend from foe. Her sole focus will be doing as Silas wants to bring down the Veil to the Other Side. It won't matter who she hurts."
Caroline nodded. "Alright, I will." She paused before adding, "I'm sorry about what I said. You had been the best friend I could ask for and I shouldn't have said what I did. I'm sorry."
Kai leaned in to place a kiss on her forehead. "Caroline, when I called you an 18-year-old girl, I didn't mean it as an insult or to call you stupid. You are 18 years old and you have very little life experience. I'm not expecting you to make logical life choices all the time. And I do care. I don't care for many but the few I do care about, I would walk through a field of vervain for them. You're included in that very short list of people."
Caroline laughed. "Thank you."
A portal zipped open and Kai stepped through.
Vera turned to Caroline. "You're strong but you need to be careful. You can easily chastise me and Kai and even Klaus when we do something you strongly disagree with, but you can't seem to do that with your friends.
Caroline lowered her eyes, not verbally denying her claim, but she knew, deep down, that Vera was right. People always made her feel like she always said the wrong thing, which alienated her. She already found it difficult to make new friends so she kept her mouth shut so the few friends she had wouldn't ostracize her.
Vera placed her hands on both of Caroline's cheeks and looked into her eyes. "You're so much like an old friend of mine. Being blonde, pretty, and bubbly makes people think you're an airhead. They underestimate you.
"My friend… she made mistakes, she was out of control, and she was hard to handle. Much like you. You made mistakes in the past and you will surely make more in the future. But, if your friends can't handle you at your worst, then they don't deserve you at your best. You remind me so much of Marilyn, Caroline. A kind woman, used and abused before she was abandoned by people around her, people she trusted. They used her insecurities against her and led her to her death." A tear fell from her eye. "I don't want to see you share her fate." She kissed Caroline's forehead and slowly backed away toward the portal. "Your loyalty is your best trait, Caroline. Are you sure the people you call your friends are the ones who deserve your best?"
It felt like she was losing her mind. Elena tried to kill her mom, she broke up with Tyler, and killed 12 witches.
"People who do terrible things are just terrible people." She had said that to Klaus but she killed 12 Witches and led 12 Hybrids to their deaths. She's done terrible things, so what did that make her? A hypocrite was what she was. She tried to justify herself and claimed to have done it for Bonnie. But what about the things Klaus had done for his family?
In the end, he still buried the witches while she was still in shock. He comforted her. She had done terrible things but he didn't see her as a terrible person. He didn't want her to see herself as a terrible person. But was she really any different from Klaus?
Even after everything she did to him, said to him, after all the betrayals, Klaus still trusted her with his weakness, his vulnerabilities. He called her when he believed he was dying. He asked her for help and trusted that she would help him. She had just broken up with Tyler and the intense look in Klaus' eyes almost made her give in to her feelings when she believed he was dying.
Why did he have to confuse her so much with his vulnerability and his sincerity? No matter how much she shut him out, he always found his way back in whenever his ocean blue eyes looked into hers. Those eyes always conveyed his deep feelings for her, no matter how many times she rejected him. He showed her mercy and compassion. He showed her love. He showed her he cared because no matter how many times she pushed him away, he would always stop everything when she came to ask him for help. Even if that help was getting a new prom dress after Elena, the backstabbing emotionless bitch, stole her first one.
But prom wasn't what she had been expecting. She was heartbroken after Tyler refused to return when she told him that Klaus had pardoned him. He didn't trust her word and preferred staying on the run rather than return to Mystic Falls, return to her. So she broke up with him. Finally. Their relationship was over long before then anyway.
Then, Elena ruined the party when she attacked April and Bonnie.
Caroline sighed as she stood in front of the door to the Mikaelson mansion. She had come to return the dress to Klaus. The moment she walked in, she heard the sound of music. "Klaus?" There was a red carpet on the floor, leading to what she knew was the ballroom, where the music was coming from.
She followed the path to the open door where she found Klaus in a gorgeous cream tux that matched her dress. Caroline looked around at the decorations.
"What is this?"
"I heard that your prom wasn't as perfect as you planned due to a certain doppelganger…"
"Please don't talk about Elena."
Klaus smiled as he crossed the room to stand before Caroline. He took her hand and placed a corsage of white roses on her wrist. "You deserve the world, Caroline. But since you won't accept it, the least I can do is to help you enjoy your prom. I know it's not what you had planned but…"
Caroline smiled brightly at his bashfulness. She shook her head. "No. No, it's perfect."
"Then, may I please have this dance?"
Caroline placed her hand in his offered palm, allowing him to pull her into the slow dance. "Thank you for the dress. And you look very handsome in that tux, by the way."
"I'm happy to meet your expectations, love," Klaus replied. "I'm sorry about Tyler. I called him…"
"I know. I told him you pardoned him, but he didn't trust me. We'd already run our course so I let him go." They spent the rest of the dance in comfortable silence, moving about the room, simply enjoying being in each other's arms. This is what she wanted. She wanted to party with her friends and enjoy a dance with her boyfriend. Klaus wasn't her boyfriend but he made her feel safe, warm, and just content. She didn't have to force anything with him. She didn't feel like she had to commit to anything she didn't want to.
She wasn't ready for Klaus' eternity yet. But in a year, maybe even in a century…
The music finally ended and he took a step back from her. "Thank you, Klaus." Caroline stepped forward and placed a lingering kiss on his freshly shaven jawline.
"You are welcome, Caroline. Although I don't want to ruin the mood, there is something I have to tell you. I'm leaving Mystic Falls."
It was as if someone dumped a bucket of ice water over her head. She looked at Klaus. "What?"
"I'm going to New Orleans. Katerina has informed me that a witch in the city is plotting against my family. Elijah and Rebekah are all I have left. I will not lose them as I lost Kol and Finn by becoming complacent." Caroline swallowed hard. "I was going to offer you a first-class ticket to New Orleans…"
Caroline inhaled a sharp breath. "Klaus…" She didn't want to reject him again but she just wasn't ready yet.
"But I know you're not ready for that yet. I will wait for your heart to heal, for you to move on from Tyler. He is your first love." Caroline's heart was almost beating out of her chest. "I intend to be your last. However long it takes." His lips were coal on her cheek.
Klaus told her to keep the dress and escorted her home. She was happy with his declaration but her insecurities couldn't help but rear their ugly heads.
Klaus was leaving. She knew he was leaving to protect his family and she had no claim over him, but she couldn't help herself.
Why would he stay for a girl who had done nothing but reject him, betray him, and hurt him at every turn? Whenever he revealed his heart to her, she used her words as a knife to stab him in the heart.
Caroline's breaths came in soft pants as she stood alone in her room, still in her prom dress and corsage as tears fell from her eyes. She was left alone with her emotions. There was no Bonnie, no Matt, no Elena, no Tyler… no Klaus. She had no one. She had chosen her Mystic friends over Klaus. Those same friends always prioritized Elena.
Caroline lowered herself to her bed as she began to hyperventilate while tears streamed from her eyes. Her sobs rang through the empty house as she let herself cry and mourn her last love. Her epic love.
She cried her eyes out that night. The next morning, she would get up and go about her day with a smile on her face as she had always done. Even if her heart was breaking.
Place: Forbes Home
Date: April 29, 2011
Yeah, so Caroline broke up with Tyler earlier than in the show and Klaus made his declaration of love.
I feel like season 4 missed a good chance to give Elena a reality check. No matter what Jeremy's death was her fault. Instead of coddling her, people really should've called her out on her bullshit, especially when her humanity was off.
Also, Hope's birthday doesn't make any sense. She was conceived on March 24, 2011. There's no way Hayley's still pregnant in April 2012 unless her magical pregnancy lasts 13 months. Hope should've been born in late December 2011, early January 2012. But it looks like Hayley went into labor early though so I'm pushing Hope's birthday to December 1, 2011. Everything that happened in NOLA between Hope's conception and birth will be condensed to fit within my new timeline.
Next Chapter: New Life.
Can anyone guess what the title means? There's gonna be smut. Please leave a review. Have a nice day.