Chapter 3 - From Bliss to Heartbreak
Last time...
Caroline deals with aftermath of sleeping with Klaus and struggles with her feelings concerning it, both positive and negative. In the midst of her musings and giving in to her forever need to "fix" things, she tells Klaus, when he contacts her, that they can't be together, and they need to move on. Klaus's reaction causes her instant regret and sadness, but before she can delve in her sorrows, dear Katherine, whose hijacked Elena's body, kidnaps Caroline with plans to bring her to New Orleans.
A/N Oh my GOD! Is this another update in one week?! Uh...*blushes sheepishly* Yeah. *then gets defensive* It isn't my fault! You guys are just too awesome with all the follows, favorites and the REVIEWS and I just cant help it :).
Speaking of which, thanks to those who:
Followed starting last chapter: 112384, AnadoraBlack, Anita-U2, Bam71290, BloodyCrystal 4eveKLAORINE, ETKnoth ,Ellavm18, ForeverAnon, Hellzz-on-Earth, Lady Augustin, Live-Forever-Love-Always, Lu Mach, Lursey, LuvWords, More Black, Nevea6, nightwing's Gal, ObssessedMuch13, SabbyDeeKnowles, Samantha Mikaelson, Sblck, Seaborn101, Soihra, starjade101, StrawbeeryLove, TheCuteVamp, TheNationOfMe, Tiggersk82, addictedtoreading89, agusgrz, beverlie4055, cat turned fat, cece45, cosininaguapa, giss88, itsrenaa, jtucker728, kelan, klauscarolines, krabbycow1110, la danza della vita, lunaisabella, mandii-xo, mollyjoshaw, mrmrjo505, sallyyounan, sasusakufan2357, silverdust23, smarty7, thereisnotry, xxMissOriginalxx, messy75, Hockeywriter19, avrilp, amymikaelson, Poison2545, setsailforthegoldensea, RCB04, meganfjones5
Favorited: 112384, Bam71290, Britt6037, dimitri'sfuturegf, ForeverAnon, Hellzz-on-Earth, LadyCassie, Lu Mach, LuvWords, M-BlueRain, Nevea6, Remus Bane, Sblck, StrawbeeryLove, cece45, foreverwishing, itsrenaa, kelan, lunaisabella, mollyjoshaw, xxMissOriginalxx, Amymikaelson, volturivixen
Reviewed: sasusakufan2357, foreverwishing, Ellavm18, bookworm7117, Lady Augustin, Klaroline-lovegames, ForeverAnon, KrazyKoolKickFan 1098, 112384, TheCuteVamp, LadyCassie, messy75.
SPECIAL REQUEST! I would love a story cover for this fic but I blow at that type of creativity. If anyone comes up with anything, please let me know and I'll GLADLY put it up!
Sorry for the two POVs this chapter. It was too hard to avoid it...
FYI - This fic is officially going off canon. There might be some things I incorporate, but it won't be anything that happened in the last episodes of TVD and TO.
Klaus POV
Caroline.
Caroline, Caroline, Caroline.
I sigh, unable to stop the smile that spreads on my face at the simple thought of her and what we shared that was so...
Perfect.
Our coupling was nothing I could of ever imagined. Neither could I have ever predicted the way, the when and the how it happened.
Truth be told, I had fantasized about it numerous times (I lost count at 1,500), the moment she would give in. How her lips would taste, FEEL moving against mine.
Were they really as soft and luscious as they looked? Would our kiss be any way like the way it felt in that pup Lockwood's body?
Breathtaking, magnetic, so...right?
And of course, I never stopped there, being a man. I wondered how she would feel in my arms, I wondered how her more than ample breasts would fit in my hands as I entered her womanhood for the first time.
How tight would she feel as I pushed into her, how my name would fall from her lips when I gave her pleasure and orgasm after orgasm...
Well. That puzzle was now solved.
Kissing her with my own lips far surpassed what I thought was glorious in Tyler's body.
It was so much more.
I do not know if it was what lead to that moment, or our time apart from one another, or the fact that she initiated it knowing it was me this time, but kissing her made me feel like a lost man that had found his home.
Do not misunderstand. There was fire, passion but it went so much further than that.
It only comes to me now the more I ponder over it, but there was a reason I wanted more, that I bedded her the way I did.
Why even now, as I sit in my study, drawing Caroline in the moment ecstasy washed over her when I made her mine, made me feel nothing but bliss.
It is the affection I have for her that made me want, no NEED more. This, all encompassing...love that only had grown since the one week, 5 days, 1 hour, 10 minutes and 2 seconds (I will not acknowledge that I was counting) since what was now the most treasured time of my existence occurred.
There was something special about giving yourself so completely to another person that you cared for. A sweetness, a value to it that is unlike the liquor fueled one night stand I experienced with Hayley and soooooo many others in the span of my thousand years of existence.
I had given all of myself when I laid with my blond angel in those woods. When I whispered the Eternal Vow in her ear...
It was something that I would not soon forget.
That will never cease to bring a smile to my face.
"Okay. What happened?"
I snap my head up in surprise, taking in my sister with her arms folded, that I did not hear approach me in her nightgown, so deep I was in thought.
Getting over her sudden appearance and her confrontational countenance, I turn my attention back to my drawing.
"Whatever do you mean dear sister?" I ask nonchalantly, not really caring about her answer.
"You've been..." she trails off, struggling for a word that evades her.
"Been what?" I press impatiently when she doesn't continue, still sketching.
"Happy. Sickeningly so. Ever since we came back from Mystic Falls."
I freeze in midstroke. I have a feeling I don't want to have this conversation.
"Something happened over there," says Rebekah confidently, reading my reaction no doubt, to my annoyance. "I've never seen you like this...genuinely happy. Not since we were human. Even Elijah's asking questions..."
I shut my book and get up. Yes. It is official. Without a doubt, I do not want to have this verbal exchange, least of all with Rebekah, the helpless romantic. If I must, alcohol will be required.
"I did not know my good mood was something that was so frowned upon," I say gruffly, passing her as I stride to the liquor cabinet. "As for Elijah, he needs to go back to doting over the woman whose not having his baby by the way, and leave me alone." I pour myself a drink. "I already killed Mikael, the pathetic excuse of a patriarch for this family. I think I speak for all of us when I say we aren't looking for a bloody replacement." I turn to Rebekah then, tasting the amber liquid as I narrow my gaze at her in aggravation. Why the hell do my bloody siblings need to know everything? It's a miracle they don't record how many times I need to go to the bathroom in a day.
"Well, seeing how fast your mood has soured," she collapses onto the armchair I had sat on, crossing her legs as if she is a queen on a throne. "I'm guessing that I'm right about something happening during our recent visit to Mystic Falls. Wonder if has anything to do with a certain blonde baby vampire bimbo," she says thoughtfully, tapping her index finger on her chin with a smug smile.
I wasn't amused.
"Caroline is NOT a bimbo," I hiss.
"Yet you knew who I was talking about," she shoots back.
Again. Not amused.
So not amused that my sister finds herself up against a wall, my hand crushing her windpipe.
"If you so wish to continue to show your disdain for Caroline in my presence, know that you will be doing so without a voicebox," I say in an cold, even tone. I release her, leaving her gasping for breath.
"Sweet dreams sister," I throw at her, not bothering to look back as I grab my sketchbook and make my way back to my room.
Right when I get to my door, I hear Bekah speaking, just loud enough for my vampire hearing to pick up and not to wake anyone else in the compound. It was soft and genuine, dousing my irritation once I process her words: "Whatever happened between you and Caroline, I'm happy for you Nik. If the way you've been acting lately is real, then I have to agree with Marcel. You should go back to Mystic Falls more often."
I smile at that, glad she isn't near to see how much her words affected me.
"Good night Bekah," I say fondly, rolling my eyes when I push open my door.
"Night Nik."
Within twenty minutes, I had showered and dressed for bed. Falling heavily onto it, I mentally go over the errands I need to run in the Quarter tomorrow...correction...today, seeing as it's nearly 1am.
I wait for sleep to come, turning on my side to take in the empty space on my King size bed. I reach out, spreading out my fingers against the coldness I feel on the silk sheets.
Empty.
Lonely...
I feel a pang on my chest at the thought. My frown deepening the longer I stare at pillows that support no one's head.
I close my eyes tightly, willing for sleep to come.
"Klaus..."
My eyes snap open to see Caroline lying next to me, smiling.
I smile back, reaching out to touch her face. "You're here."
She curls up into me and I hold her close, breathing in her strawberry and lavender scent.
"You came to me." I increase my hold on her, determined not to let her go now she was here. I close my eyes, so happy, so at peace.
"Uh, yeah you dummy," her reply making me smile into her hair. "After what we shared, how could I ever stand being away from you."
My heart skips a beat."Sweetheart..." I whisper, opening my eyes so I can lean in, and give her a kiss.
Only to find a pillow in my arms.
There are no words to describe the level of disappointment that settles in when I realized I dreamt of holding Caroline just now.
It wasn't real. She wasn't here.
But I wanted her to be.
Oh I wanted her to be.
In my home, in my bed...
Caroline...
What was she doing at this moment? Was she thinking, dreaming of me as I was dreaming of her? I knew she didn't love me, but if our last encounter was any indication, she at least cared. She had taken my shirt instead of discarding it so that must have meant something. Perhaps she had kept it as a memento? Or maybe she took it to burn it? I haven't the faintest clue.
I wanted to know though. How was she? A week and half wasn't long but I found myself worrying about her again for the 400th time since I left her, wanting to see her but couldn't since I promised I would never come back.
I run my hand over my face in frustration. Can't believe I'm doing this again. Every night I draw her, reminiscing over a particular scene from our love making, then yearning for her till the point of madness when I lay in bed. Finally, I worry over her welfare all night. Lucky for me, I'm an Original and my restless nights can not physically take a toll on me.
Had I known it would be this difficult being away from her, I would of never agreed to not returning to Mystic Falls.
Wondering how much time I squandered thinking and not sleeping, I sit up, leaning on my headboard as I open my nightstand, reaching for my phone in the dark. The minute I open it, her fragrance mingled with mine reaches my sensitive nose. I take the phone and her ripped shirt, shaking my head at how sentimental I've become.
Yet, I was all I had of our time together, making it the most valuable possession I own.
Yes. I know. I am the Original Hybrid, King of New Orleans sounding like a lovesick fool.
I knew this was far from healthy. Nothing can good can possibly come from pining over a baby vampire who was full of light. Had the purest of hearts. Whose friends have plotted my demise plenty of times.
I had enemies. I didnt even want my siblings to know the extent of my feelings towards her out of fear they would use her aganist me.
There was so many reasons why we shouldn't be. That I should leave her be.
However, I was far from righteous. Far from selfless.
I ached for her.
I missed her.
She consumed my every thought, more so now I've tasted how it could be.
How WE can be.
My thumb goes over her name in my contacts. I hesitate briefly but the need to have some form of contact with her overtakes me. I send her a text:
Me:
I can't stop thinking of you sweetheart...
As I stare at the phone, holding my breath in anticipation of a response, I note the time at right hand corner of my phone, stating it was 2:55am.
Realizing that her responding was probably not going to happen tonight, if at all, I text her again:
Me:
I know it's late and you're probably asleep,
I stop, about to erase the text altogether but I decide to continue our pattern of honesty that we established in those woods and do not filter my emotions. She wasn't awake anyway. I would have time to contemplate my response to her possible reaction to my words. Yes. Why stop? Things were different after all. She can't discredit anything after what we shared. Now confident, I finish:
Me:
But I couldn't find rest tonight, oppressed with the thought of holding your body close to mine, wanting to go to you but knowing I cannot because you do not wish it of me...
I think of stopping there, but another truth comes to mind that I just need to let her know...
Me:
I miss you...and I fear it might be the death of me.
I let out a yawn, the emptying of my emotions via text unexpectedly draining me. I move to set down my phone but it begins vibrating in my hand.
It...It cannot be.
I stare at the screen in disbelief, Caroline's name staring back me. It takes me awhile to note that this was real and not a dream. By the 5th ring, I accept the call, waiting to hear the voice I longed to hear.
I can hear her breathing heavily, fiddling with some cloth in her hands, her sheets perhaps.
Which meant she was in bed, talking to me.
Wearing little to no clothing most likely. Since I hear nothing but her own breathing, I assume she is alone, the prospect making me smile wickedly.
Oh the things I would be doing to her...
"I miss you too," says her sweet voice, bringing me back.
I close my eyes, letting her voice, her words wash over me like a warm blanket. She missed me. I can't even describe how good that makes me feel. All I want at that moment is to grab her, kiss her, hold her till I can feel every inch of her.
"Caroline..." I breathe out, heavy with unsaid desires. Before I can voice them, she cuts me off.
"But I..." she takes a deep breath. "We can't do this."
No...What are you saying love? Don't. ..
"You have your life and I have mine," she continues, every word being like the white oak stake driven deeper into my heart. "There is no point in holding on to one time in the woods. It meant nothing. It was just sex."
I clench my teeth, hurting at her final say. I should have known she would do this. Try to "fix" what I'm now seeing she views as a mistake on her part. Nothing special, I conclude sadly.
"For you, perhaps," my pain now switching to anger at how foolish I was to think this conversation would go differently, "But to me...to ME, it was EVERYTHING!"
"Klaus..."
"No! NO!" I shout loudly, jumping up and pacing about my room to calm myself to no avail. I catch a glance of a clock nearby, a reminder of the vampires who can easily awaken and overhear me. I continue with furious whisper. "You DO NOT get to belittle this of ALL things! I will not allow it Caroline! You and I both know that what transpired in the those woods was far from fucking. How DARE you elude to it being such?" I hiss.
"You're right!" she confess loudly. "I DO know that! It was beautiful, amazing..."
She admits it! It DID mean something to her! "Then why..." I murmur, confused.
"Because it cannot and will not happen again okay?! It was all types of wrong and you're you and what you did to me, to my friends..."
Ah. Now I understand the problem. "They know." It wasn't a question.
When she doesn't deny it, I continue grimly, disgusted that the damn Mystic Falls gang is sabotaging my potential happiness.
"They know," I say. "And that is why WE can't happen. Why I can never make love to you again," I finish, allowing myself to be vulnerable one last time. Never again. I promise myself, fervently. Never again will I leave myself open to such an emotional onslaught, open to weakness.
"Klaus...I'm sorry. I..."
"Forget it Caroline," I snap, hard and cold. "I have no interest in your pity or your pathetic attempt to exude a miniscule of caring towards me. Obviously, this was all one sided and I conjured the rest in my head."
Yet, even as I say all this, it dawns on me: I hate her...and...love her...still. I almost laugh at the ridiculous notion. But I was done with her abusing my feelings.
The unattainable dream that I know I would always want at some level, an eternity with her, will always plague me but I had enough of imagining her wanting the same things I did.
She had said something, but I didn't hear it, didn't care. Not anymore.
"Good bye Caroline. Don't worry. It will be like you never existed."
With that, I end the call, falling on the bed. I wait, a little voice saying she'll call back and apologize, but it doesn't happen, making it clear to me that there really wasn't going to be a future with her.
That she would never, ever choose forever with me.
Though I had already chosen her...
The next day, I hear a disappointed sigh as I release the 10th girl I drained on the compound floor.
"Well, somebody was hungry," muses Marcel, next to a disgruntled Elijah.
"This had nothing to do with hunger," says Elijah.
I roll my eyes. "Please do tell, Elijah the all knowing!" I say sarcastically. Looking at Marcel, I gesture to the dead bodies on the floor. "Be a mate and clean this up will you?"
Marcel scoffs. "You serious? You lose control and now you want me take care of your mess like some bitch? You have got to be..."
In a flash, I come up to him and snap his neck.
"Really Nik?!" shouts Bekah who just arrived, running to the temporarily dead Marcel.
"Yes Niklaus, that was quite unnecessary," adds Elijah.
"I was not aware I was asking your opinion," I snap.
Bekah looks up at me from Marcel's body with that awful penetrating gaze of hers, reading me.
I turn away, knowing she would figure things out if I maintained eye contact. "Don't Bekah," I warn her, grabbing my 5th bottle of scotch, chugging it.
"Don't what?" asks Elijah in confusion.
"It's Caroline isn't it?" she asks quietly.
"I SAID DON'T!" I roar, the mere mention of her name ripping me apart.
"The Forbes girl?" asks Elijah unfazed by my outburst, his eyebrows furrowing in thought. "What does she have to do with this?"
"She doesn't," I say dismissively. Lies, but no matter. I really don't have the emotional capacity to deal with this right now.
"Are you sure Klaus?" says another voice.
My siblings and I look up, watching wearily as Sabine walks confidently up to us, smirking.
"This doesn't concern you witch," I snarl viciously.
"I think you might want to take that back," she says, pulling out her phone and tapping it furiously. "Especially since I hold the life of your beloved..." She turns the phone to me and my heart stutters in my chest at the visual of Caroline chained up.
"...In my hands," she finishes, her smile widening.
Bonnie POV
I sit up, rubbing the back of my neck as I wince from the throbbing pain radiating through my head. When I get the chance to look around, I realize that I am at the Grill.
How the hell did I get here?
Oh. I remember. When I stand up, I immediately notice that I can feel the energy radiating from the air, the earth.
My magic. I had my magic back?!
"Bonnie?"
I whirl around, seeing the bitch that is the cause of my ultimate headache.
I raise my hand, chanting, smiling in delight that I could do this again. She starts crumbling before my eyes, holding her head in pain.
"No! Bonnie! Aaaaahh!"
"I don't know how you're alive Katherine," I sneer, walking up to her, "but I have no problem fixing that. You should of just killed me."
"Bonnie!" she gasps. "Not Katherine. Elena. I'm Elena!"
"The same trick isn't going to work twice..."
"I remember the first time you did magic!" she says in a rush, biting back a scream. "Feathers!" I start to lower my hand as she keeps talking. "And your Grams always made us fried chicken every Friday after cheerleading practice, saying there was looking good and looking..."
"...Anorexic," I finish for her, releasing her from my spell.
She smiles at me, slowly getting to her feet. "So you better eat up and get some meat on them bones!" she continues with a slight southern drawl.
I laugh, running up to her. She opens her arms and gives me a hug.
I pull away, the smile falling from my face. "What the hell is going on? Why are we at the Grill? How is Katherine still alive? How did I get my magic back?"
"I really don't know Bonnie," she says with a sigh. "All I know is that Katherine hijacked my body. Before I was able to get control but something's changed, and here I am. Whatever "here" is."
"Well. I can answer that."
I turn around, hearing Elena gasp behind me. My eyes grow wide, not believing what I'm seeing.
"Hello Ladies. Welcome to the Other Side."
"Kol..." Elena whispers.
Instinctively, I raise my hand, but in a flash he pulls me flush against him, taking my wrists and pulling them behind me so hard I cry out in pain.
"Let her go!" shouts Elena.
"Quiet!" he lashes out at her harshly. "They'll be here any minute!"
"They?"
"Listen," he says urgently. "I'm not your enemy. Not today any way..."
"And why should we believe you?" I sneer at him, squirming under his grasp.
"If I let you go," he says to me, his breath tingling my skin, sending weird shivers down my spine. "Will the two of you let me talk? You both want to know what's going on so..."
"Fine," I snap. "Whatever. Just let me go."
Surprisingly, he does, making me stumble forward. Elena quickly comes to support me. We glare at Kol, Elena speaking first.
"Tell us what you know."
He squints at her, irritated at her demand. "You know doppelganger, you can try being a bit nice to me, especially since I'm so tempted to make your visit to the Other Side permanent. You know, for killing me and all."
"What's going on dammit!" I demand shrilly, now officially aggravated.
"Something big. Something major and it involves Niklaus and your tasty looking blond friend."
Elena just looks at him confused, while I immediately connect the dots.
"Caroline."
"Yeah. Her. Everything is in uproar and..."
He stops talking suddenly, his eyes growing wide in terror before he flashes towards us and quickly pulls into a dark corner behind the bar.
"What the hell?" Elena hisses furiously.
"Stop touching me!" I say in disgust, trying to pull my hand out of his.
"Shut up! They're here!" Kol snaps.
Before I can ask who "they" are, I hear the door of the Grill open.
"What is the meaning of this Esther?"
Esther?!
All three of us cautiously peek from behind our hiding spot. Sure enough, Esther takes a seat on the left near the head of a long table that wasn't there before in the middle of the room, along with...
"Mikael!" gasps Elena.
"Shut. UP!" hisses Kol.
We watch in disbelief as Mason, Anna, Pearl, everyone who died in Mystic falls fill the Grill. This really is the Other Side," I say in amazement. As anchor, I could only see them if they revealed themselves to me, or just died, never like this.
"Oh God. It's Isabel!" murmurs Elena.
"Grams..." I whisper, seeing her come through the door, my eyes filling with tears. I quickly notice that only a certain few sat at the table with Mikael and Esther.
Alaric takes a seat, along Grams, Mason, Rose, Silas, Lexi, some brown skinned lady with thick dreads and...
"Okay," says Kol in a hushed voice. "I got to get up there. Shut up and just listen. You need to pay attention so you can take back what happens here to the others. To my siblings."
Before we can stop him, he gets up, grabbing a liquor bottle, sauntering to the table casually, glaring at his parents that look at him wearily as he takes a seat.
"Kol. You? Of all people boy?" snarls Mikael.
"Hey," he takes a sip out of the bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand. "These chairs are enchanted by higher powers. If they had a problem, I would of been on my arse, so save your pouting for someone who cares, Father," he spat.
Mikael leaps up from his chair, ready to pummel him, but Esther puts a gentle hand on his arm.
"Don't make a scene," she mumbles, giving a disapproving look at Kol who rolls his eyes in response.
Mikael growls, sitting back down.
"Why are we here Esther?" asks the brown skinned lady tiredly.
"Patience Ayanna." She glances towards the seat at the head of the table. "We are waiting for one more. Perhaps they know why we've been summoned."
"The one at the head of the table of these bloody things usually does," chimes in Kol nonchalantly. "Like last time. I should know," he smirks. "It was me, before the veil went down."
Alaric rolls his eyes at Kol's smug comment. "Oh we remember. Revenge on all who raised Silas right? See how great that went."
Kol glares at him.
"Hey," interjects Silas, "Don't be so hard on the kid. He was going against me and my master plan. Didn't really have much of chance."
Kol opens his mouth to retort but my Grams interjects.
"Can we focus on the here and now? Like who can possibly be the one chosen to sit in that chair?" She asks, pointing at the empty seat.
At that moment, the door opens again and a silence falls over the room when Esther visibly stiffens at the sight of the man with dark brown, curly hair and stormy blue eyes that comes through the doorway. He is wearing a black, fitted medieval tunic that flatters his muscular physique with a leather belt and black pants.
Taking in the crowd whose attention is all on him, he smiles broadly, revealing his dimples.
"Oh..." stutters Elena, her eyes wide.
"...My God," I breathe, internally fanning myself. Can we say ultra hottie alert? Who the hell...
"You..." hisses Mikael, his body vibrating in fury.
The man turns his attention at Mikael, his smile broadening.
"Mikael," he replies back in a delicious accent that will make any female swoon. He then turns to Esther, and his eyes harden, the smile falling from his face. "Esther," he hisses.
"Manning," she whispers, eyes wide.
"Why is your former lover here?!" Mikael roars at Esther the minute the man sits at the head of the table.
Wait. Former lover?
Elena and I glance at each other wide eyed, an unspoken understanding crossing between us before we turn our attention back to the man at the table, leaning back regally with his arms resting on the chair handles. He raises his right arm slightly, relaxing his cheek on his fist, amused watching Esther and Mikael go at it.
The man who, the more we look, looks like a certain Original Hybrid.
Kol suddenly laughs loudly, stopping the bickering that was going on between Mikael and Esther. He sits up, wagging his finger at the man who looks back at him. "I've only seen that smirk on one other person, and," he glances at Esther whose squirming in her chair and blushing, actually BLUSHING, "seeing dear mother look like she just had an orgasm by you being the same room..."
"KOL!" she shouts, turning beet red while Mikael looks at her in a way that can burn metal.
He smiles, enjoying her embarrassment. "...You must be Niklaus's biological father."
There is a brief silence, then the man named Manning smiles.
"You couldn't be more right in your assesment. Now," he leans forward, clasping his hands together in front of him, "onto discussing my son."
And that is when the whole room goes into an uproar.
A/N Next time- More on the Council on the other side and Klaus makes a decision concerning Caroline. Kalijah might happen next chapter as well.
REVIEW PLEASE! I LOVE THEM!
Answer to guest review:
Guest - I know. Klaus does always get hurt, which annoys me, but only through fire can the strongest things be refined (like our Klaroline ship). Thanks for reviewing!
