Klaus stepped out of his cabin, cleaning his hands on a dirty washcloth. The state of living he'd be subjected to, honestly. He couldn't live like he did before. If Marcel could find him there was no doubt he would kill him. And Elijah and Hayley had gone into hiding somewhere else; he wasn't allowed to know where. Marcel was his son. His blood. And perhaps he had this day coming. But there was no way the former king of New Orleans would not take back his throne.
As he traveled back to the cabin where he lived alone, he saw a figure racing. Marcel had found him. Why was he hunting him, he'd promised Rebekah he'd let them live. God the irony of that statement. Klaus crouched behind the closest tree and waited for the figure to reappear again. It stopped, but it wasn't the kind of person he'd expected to see.
It was Caroline.
Klaus came out from behind the tree and stood there, wide-eyed, before her. The beautiful blonde who looked so angry at him he actually would've welcomed Marcel's vengeance.
"How did you find me, love?" Klaus asked.
"Does it matter?" Caroline bit out, crossing her arms.
"Actually it does, because if you can find me a certain old friend of mine most certainly will jump on the opportunity to end me." Klaus replied. Caroline huffed
"Let's make a deal." She snarled. "I'll tell you how I found you if you tell me why you made it so damn hard to do." Klaus raised his head, his eyes wide, and nodded. He gestured behind him.
"Shall we walk?" He asked. Caroline's glare neared him and Klaus felt the need to step aside more than necessary as she breezed by him.
Klaus caught up with her when they were half a mile from the cabin.
"This isn't a walk, it's a sprint." Klaus muttered.
"Yeah, it is a sprint" Caroline snapped, spinning to face him as she stopped, Klaus needing to steady himself to avoid crashing into her "and you know why? You promised I could show up at your damn door, without bothering to mention, 'oh by the way, I might not be there!'"
"Well you promised to let me explain but all you're doing is running from me." Klaus protested
"Because I don't want to hear another lame excuse. Not from you, not from anyone." Caroline stepped closer to him. "I am sick of people trying to justify their actions when they're just made for selfish reasons."
"And you think that's why I left, without leaving you a word or telling you how to find me, because I was backing out of my promise?!" Klaus yelled
"Then tell me what happened!" Caroline yelled back, gritting her teeth. Klaus huffed and gestured again, this time breezing past her. She looked after him and charged forward, catching up to him.
"With all the running, I never got a chance to check up on you. What's been going on in your quaint little Houston?" Klaus asked
"I was engaged to Alaric, broke it off with him and then got back together with Stefan." Caroline replied in a rush, ignoring the hybrid's wide eyes at the beginning of her story. She didn't want to say what had been happening with Bonnie, it all seemed so wrong. So she plowed through her relationship with Stefan. How she finally realized he wasn't ever going to give her the respect she deserved, and high tailed it out of there. But not without leaving a 'don't follow me' wooden plank through his abdomen as a warning. Klaus couldn't hide a laugh at that.
"And what of the siphon twins? Did you keep in touch with them?" He asked. Caroline looked at him.
"You're not going to say how stupid it was to leave them?" She asked in reply. Klaus shrugged.
"I would be lying if I said I wouldn't do the same. Although Hope rarely expects me to tuck her in at night any longer." Klaus said. Caroline caught his eye and he saw the pity on her face. Not the kind of pity that made him less than her. But the kind that made her want to help him.
"So, despite this getting off to a bad start, I did come here for a reason." Caroline said. Klaus gave her a raised eyebrow in reply. She turned around and started walking backwards in front of him.
"I want your confession." Caroline said with a smile. Klaus returned it.
"And what confession would that be?" He replied
"The one where you say you need me. And that you were a total jerk not to tell me you weren't in the place you said you'd be if I ever wanted to 'turn up at your door', as you put it." Caroline said, and stopped walking. Klaus bowed his head and smiled slightly. "Because despite what you could've thought, I needed your help, and you weren't there. I couldn't find you. How pathetic was that?" She added, trying not to let him see the tears springing to her eyes at the memory of what happened. Klaus stepped toward her and she backed away. Her eyes landed hard on him and he looked at her as if she'd slapped him.
"You do not get to do anything, until you tell me why." Caroline ordered. Klaus nodded.
"I'm sorry, love. I'm really...sorry. I felt that if you knew where I was, you'd be in more danger. And over the past five years, I've lost too much to bear losing another person I care about." Klaus replied. She chuckled darkly and kept smiling.
"You were just fine telling me where you'd be when you wanted me before." She snapped.
"That was when I believed myself to always be the most powerful creature on the planet." Klaus protested, switching his stance. "If I could protect you from whoever it was and win, effectively securing your life once more, I would welcome the chance to be with you." Klaus chuckled "I'd take the chance in a heartbeat. But knowing there is someone out there who's more powerful, stronger, and more invincible than I am, made it impossible for me to believe I should seek you out." He cried.
"It wasn't your decision to make!" Caroline yelled back, stepping closer. "I could've handled myself better than you think! It's not always been you saving my life and me owing you, it's always been both ways! Whoever you pissed off might hate you but that doesn't mean they'd hate me!" She protested in return. Klaus closed his mouth and stared at her.
"You're right." He replied, trying to hold back a chuckle. Of all the people he'd be surprised at saying that to; he should've known it would never have been Caroline. "You're right; I shouldn't have made that decision on my own." Klaus said. He stepped closer to her, and let out a breath of relief when she didn't back away again. Klaus took her shoulders and kept her eyes. "I promise I will never do so again." She put one hand up to cup the side of his face and smiled at him.
"Thank you." She replied. Klaus smiled in return and wondered what she'd do next. Caroline pulled away and started back towards the cabin.
