Summary: When nurse Caroline Forbes is hired by Elijah Mikaelson to take care of his younger brother with a terminal illness, Klaus, she didn't expect to fall in love with the charismatic blonde.

A: I don't own TVDU or any character. Sorry, my english isn't good.

It's time to start talking about the truth, because the road is dead and the soul is caught.

Katherine walked down the hallways of the courthouse, talking with her sister on the phone. Tatia had just gotten a new job and honestly, Katherine couldn't care less. The young judge didn't have a very good relationship with her sister, but Tatia wasn't Amara, her sweet Amara that she could guide in life, who would stand by Katherine's side no matter what. Yes, she was a little protective of Amara, but it was a good thing, she loved her, she was her ally, her only family. With Tatia it was a different story. She was trying to copy Katherine to everything, ever since they were kids, from clothes, to behavior, to friends.

"Tatia, go talk with someone who cares, like your mirror." said Katherine, then she hung up.

"A hard day, Miss Pierce?" Elijah's voice was heard from behind her.

"Just by talking to people who don't matter. And you, how's your day? How's Nik?"

"He's trying. I want to contact a hospital in London, to see if there are any other solutions..."

"Tell me if I can help you with anything, I have contacts, and I adore Nik."

"Yes, sometimes I feel like you know him better than I do." Elijah had a resigned smile.

"So, I heard you had a date," the brunette said, and then, looking at Elijah's confused gaze, added: "Nik called me. But, Elijah, choose...wisely."

Katherine said cunningly, with a smile around the corner of her mouth. She was...so beautiful...so perfect...

"See you in court." she added, then talked away.

"Wait here, I'll ask him if he knows anything about the new gardener."

Caroline said, motioning for Mikael to sit down on the couch in the hallway, but he didn't.

"Hey, Klaus, are you awake? Did Elijah tell you anything about~"

Before the blonde woman could continue, the door opened and the "gardener" walked in on them. Caroline immediately noticed how Klaus's face turn horrified, his hands began to shake, and his breathing became extremely rapid, catching the bedside with his nails.

"M-Mikael?"

"Hello, boy."

"Mikael? Like...?" Caroline was horrified, had she just brought a criminal into Klaus' house...? Had he just brought the man from Klaus's nightmares into his house? He had tricked her...

Klaus tried to stand up to face him, but fell, catching on the bed frame. Mikael laughed.

"Ha, I should kill you when I had the chance. That would save your mother and siblings from that miserable life. After all, you destroyed them, boy. How pathetic..."

"No" Caroline said.

"What, girl?!"

"No, he's not! And he didn't destroy them! He's smart, and strong, more strong than you could ever be." Caroline said, moving between Klaus and Mikael.

Then she realized: Mikael had a gun. He pulled it out and pointed it at her as he caught Klaus by the elbow, who fell to his knees from the sudden movement.

"You're mine, boy! I will make you suffer as you deserve!"

The whole room was spinning with him, his chest hurt, he was feeling sick, everything was foggy, he was dizzy, extremely dizzy, the room was spinning again and again. Then he saw Mikael pointing his gun at Caroline, no… No! No, he couldn't pass out now, Caroline...but Mikael's grip was so hard, purple marks had formed where Mikael's fist held him...and the room kept spinning...Caroline! He had to help her, he had to protect her..Klaus tried to break free from Mikael's grip and fell to the floor next to the closet, distracting him. Before he could come to his senses though, Caroline smacked Mikael in the face, twisting the arm he was holding Klaus with and flipping him over his head like her mother had taught her.

She hit Mikael in the head and knocked him to the ground with very little effort.

"Klaus! Are you okay?"

"That's not important, love. Are you alright? He didn't shoot you, did he?" the blond man's eyes were concerned for her, despite the fact that the man who had abused him his entire childhood was sitting in the same room with them, despite the fact that his nose was bleeding, or that his arm was hurting so bad, despite the fact that he couldn't see well from how dizzy he was or that he couldn't stop shaking.

"No, I'm fine, I'm more worried about you...I didn't want to lose you..."

"You to lose me...? Love, Mikael could kill you...y-you could d-die..."

"But I didn't. I'm not dead, Klaus, and neither are you. We're alive and we're together. Mikael will go back to prison and this time he won't get away, I promise."

Caroline put her hands on Klaus' face and pulled him into a kiss. He smiled with joy on his face, but still sadly.

"Don't forget, next time we go to town I owe you a tour." he said.

And then Caroline noticed how badly Klaus was shaking. His lip wobbled and his eyes filled with more and more tears. He accidentally looked at Mikael's passed out figure on the floor and started to sway.

"I-I'm n-not h-his so-onn, b-baast-tardd..."

"Klaus? Klaus, are you alright? Ok, breathe, it's alright, you're fine, you're safe, breathe, breathe."

Caroline hugged Klaus to her chest, trying to calm him down, and called Elijah with her other hand. Klaus's heart rate was pounding and he was shaking wildly, whispering meaningless words.

"Shh, shh, you're ok, you're safe, shhh."

It was just the two of them in a dark room with a criminal passed out on the floor. Caroline was scared, choking back tears and hoping help would come quickly. She was also scared for Klaus, how will he be after what happened? He was good? Will the police arrive in time? How was his arm? Klaus was still shaking in her arms, quietly arguing with the shadows and fighting, now, not only to live, but to survive.

Within twenty minutes, everyone was on alert: Katherine was on her way home, Rebekah and Kol had been called to school, and police cars and ambulances had gathered outside their house. In another few minutes, Elijah was holding Klaus on the bed as doctors circled the room trying to check their vitals.

"Mikael is home." that was the first thing Rebekah and Kol heard when they were called by their brother at college.

They both froze, imagining the worst possible scenario. Imagining their blond brother gone forever, badly injured, or worse, dead a little sooner than expected. They had imagined their family falling apart, Caroline hurt too, Mikael gone with their half-alive brother, and Elijah blaming himself for everything, hiding in loneliness, sadness and guilt until he could see Nik again in another life.

But it didn't happen that way. Nik was in Elijah's arms, Caroline had defeated Mikael, who would soon be going back to prison, where he would never come out from again. It was okay, they were okay, Nik was alive, he was shaking uncontrollably and hadn't spoken a complete sentence in hours, but at least he was alive, he was with them, and Mikael would never go near him again. Caroline was fine, she hadn't been hurt, she had saved Nik, she had stopped Mikael, she was fine, she was in Nik's room, she was fine, everyone was fine. They were fine, but the trauma was still present, the years of abuse were still present in Klaus's mind, and the current "incident" only added to their trauma.

A few hours later, Caroline approaches Klaus' bed. The doctors wanted to hospitalize him, but he had calmed down and Katherine was able to convince them to leave him alone in Caroline's care. Now Rebekah was clinging to her brother, who had his arm with a cold compress on it, she was crying softly into his hair, afraid that if she broke away from him she would lose him forever.

"Klaus, how are you...? Do you need me to take your temperature again?"

"Do...not...ask...again..." he said tiredly, in a small voice

"Rebekah...excuse me if I'm intruding, but Mikael...was arrested for child abuse, wasn't he?"

Rebekah took a deep breath, looked at Klaus, who nodded, and then she looked at Caroline.

"Yes, he was arrested for child abuse…" she looked at Klaus again for his approval to continue, and he nodded. "Nik is not his biological son, our mother had an affair with a co-worker...so Mikael made sure to make Nik pay for it for the rest of his life...he beat him every night until he passed out, locked him in the basement without food or daylight for weeks, insulted him by every time he could...our abusive father was destroying him inside and out... Then one day he nearly beat him to death, that's when our neighbors finally heard the screams and called the police...you know the rest."

Caroline was in tears. "Locked in the cellar, hungry, tortured...". She looked into the eyes of the blond man on the bed and didn't even realize what she was doing, she kissed him in front of Rebekah.