With Silas defeated and the Mikaelsons permanently settled in Mystic Falls, Klaus and Caroline explore their friendship-that-is-not-actually-just-a-friendship. Theoretically set in the same alternative universe as 'Thank You for Loving Me'.
The calm after the storm was something nobody in Mystic Falls had ever really experienced. The calm before the storm, that one, sure. But not the one after, the real calm, the kind that didn't make you look over your shoulder at every turn in the street.
After successfully giving Elena the cure and yet managing to defeat Silas once and for all, everyone had thought the war against Klaus for the doppelganger's blood would have started again, but the Original had apparently been honest about not feeling any need for new hybrids after all.
It took everyone a couple of months to fully realize and accept that no bigger evil was coming down for them, not yet at least, and eventually things fell in a comfortable routine in which, on different levels, they all were at least nice and civil to one another.
The most surprising friendship that came out of all that mess, was Caroline and Rebekah's. It had always been obvious how much alike, in both qualities and flaws, the two girls were, that was indeed the main reason why they always ended up being at each other's throat, and they could only argue for so much time before they finally took to each other.
After eventually deciding on her own to not take the cure, despite the fact that Bonnie had managed to find a spell that would have made it available to other vampires as well, Rebekah had indeed started to spend a lot of time with Caroline, who, among them all, was the most human, and the most comfortable and accepting of her immortal nature. She was of huge help to the Original female vampire.
The two girls were currently in Rebekah's room, trying on several dresses for the upcoming prom – Rebekah being Rebekah, had dozens of different designer labels' gowns shipped to her from all over the world especially for the occasion, in both hers and Caroline's size.
The young vampire was trying on a silk, cream, mermaid dress, looking over at herself in Rebekah's floor-length mirror.
"Nik would love that on you," the blonde Original teased her with a knowing smirk.
Caroline stiffened and blushed slightly. "Rebekah..." she warned, sighing. Her and Klaus were still just friends, nothing more. Yes, she felt intrigued and attracted to him, not to add the fact that it was undeniable how much he had changed in these last few months. For her, he always said. But she still couldn't let anything happen between the two of them. She was afraid, afraid that it wouldn't last, and she would rather have the possibility of him than not having him at all. Because everyone left her sooner or later, it was all they ever did.
Rebekah raised her hands in innocence. "Hey, I'm just saying. Although, I don't understand what you two are waiting for."
Caroline closed her eyes and huffed loudly, bringing one of her hands up to run through her blonde hair. "You know what it is."
"No, honestly I don't. Are you waiting for some sign from heaven, Caroline? What more do you need to trust him?" the Original protested. Was it really too much to ask for her brother and best friend to finally be happy together?
"I just–I don't know, okay. He's still Klaus, and I'm–me, and–"
"Do I have to give you the 'he will never leave you' speech again?" Rebekah interrupted her, eying her with a tad of annoyance in her stare, they had had that talk over a million times already, Caroline could really be the most stubborn and headstrong person ever when she wanted to be.
Caroline rolled her eyes, smiling despite herself. "No, but I need some time, okay?"
It was Rebekah's turn to roll her eyes. "I think you've had enough already, please just put both yourself and my insufferable brother out of your misery, it's getting tiresome to be around the two of you, all lingering stares and stuttering. Ugh. It makes me wanna puke."
This time, Caroline laughed wholeheartedly. "I think you just need to get laid, Bex."
Rebekah glared at her from across the room, putting on some shiny lip gloss.
"Have you asked Matt to the dance, by the way?" Caroline asked, taking off the cream dress to put her own clothes back on.
Rebekah sighed, shaking her head and lying on her bed. "I don't wanna pursue him anymore. I mean, I won't take the cure, I doubt he will ever want to become a vampire, what's the point?"
Caroline smiled sympathetically at her friend, adjusting the zip of her jeans before joining her on the bed and lying at her side. "You will find someone." She assured her, and it was obvious that she wasn't just referring to prom, but to her immortal existence as well – she was going to find someone with whom spend her forever with, she just had to wait a little longer.
The Original nodded her head, a bittersweet smile playing on her lips.
The two girls just lay there for a couple of minutes, in complete silence, looking at the light blue of the ceiling, before a familiar voice startled both of them out of their reveries.
"Girls' time?" an amused, thick accent called from outside the open door.
Both Caroline and Rebekah quickly raised to a sitting position, and the latter threw a fluffy, pink pillow at her brother. "Yes, so go away!"
The girls laughed at the hybrid's shocked face – did they just really throw a pillow at him?
Rebekah lightly elbowed her friend, motioning to another of the pillows on the floor with her head, grinning. Caroline immediately retrieved it from the carpet, and before Klaus could react, another pillow hit him square in the face. "Yes, Nik, go away!" Caroline laughed.
Klaus' head shot up to look at her, his eyes wide open, his heart uncontrollably thumping in his chest regardless of the fact that he had stopped breathing as soon as the words had left her mouth.
Neither of the girls seemed to have caught up with what had happened, not even Rebekah, who was giggling away.
"Did you just call me Nik?" he asked in a low, awed tone.
Caroline gasped slightly, her eyes now as wide as his. Her head automatically turned to Rebekah to gauge her reaction, had she just crossed a line she wasn't supposed to cross? It had come so naturally to call him Nik. After all, she was around the Mikaelson household most of the time, and Rebekah and Elijah only ever called him Nik, she was used to hear him being called that, and it just slipped.
Rebekah sensed the shift in the room. The fact that Caroline had just called her brother Nik meant so much more to him than the young vampire would probably ever know. Because while Klaus was the terrifying hybrid he had grown to be to protect himself and the ones he cared about, Nik was his human side, Nik was the side Caroline above all brought out in him. And the fact that she had just used that nickname for him meant that she was inevitably cracking, that she was starting to fall more and more in love with him, it meant that she really saw him.
"I'll leave you two alone," the Original sister whispered quickly, standing up from the bed to exit her room, closing the door behind her. "No funny business on my bed!" she called from the hallway, making Caroline blush embarrassingly, but effectively breaking some of the tension that had fallen upon the room.
Klaus moved slightly towards her, and Caroline immediately jumped up from the bed, starting to rant. "I'm so sorry, it just slipped, I swear. I wasn't thinking, I know only your family calls you that, and I–"
"Hey," Klaus' soft voice interrupted her, as the hybrid brought both his hands up to caress her reddening cheeks. "It's okay. It's more than okay actually. I would love for you to call me Nik."
A sigh of relief escaped Caroline's lips. "Are you sure?"
Klaus smiled, all bright and happy and real, in that special way he reserved for her only. "Of course I am, love."
Caroline gulped, nodding her head. They were so close, and he smelled and felt so good, she wanted to do something, she wanted to lean into him, to hold him, to kiss him. Rebekah was right, hadn't she waited long enough already?
She licked her dry lips, and Klaus' eyes dropped to observe her action. She was so tempting to him, everything she did called him in, made him want to take her right then and there, to mark her as his. The mere thought of any other boy or vampire ever being this close to her made him blind with rage. At the same time, he knew he couldn't be the one to take the first step, she was coming around, she was coming to terms with her feelings for him, he could see it in every interaction they had, in every look or touch they shared, and he didn't want to push her, he was willing to wait forever for her. Quite literally. But that of course didn't mean it wasn't incredibly frustrating at times.
Eventually, the hybrid sighed, letting his hands fall from her face, his head bowed. "Should I call Rebekah back for you?"
Caroline nodded slowly, almost guarded. Why couldn't she bring herself to admit her feelings for him yet? Well, deep down she knew why. All of her previous relationships had been rushed, she dived into them head first because she didn't want to risk losing the boy's interest, because that's how things had always worked for her. She just wasn't worth waiting around for. But with Klaus it was all so different, and it wasn't that she wanted to test his love for her, because she knew he was going to wait for her as long as it was going to take, she was testing herself. She wanted to be completely, one-hundred-percent sure that this was what she really wanted, because she knew that once she said the words, there would be no coming back from them. Klaus was forever.
"Wait!" Caroline's voice stopped the hybrid just as he was about to open the door and walk out of the room. "Would you maybe want to accompany me to prom?" she mumbled out, her cheeks bright red. Baby steps, right?
Klaus' smile, all dimples and hope and genuine happiness, everything the smile of someone who had turned, tortured, killed hundreds of people shouldn't be, lightened up the whole room then, making Caroline feel like the most beautiful and special woman ever walking on Earth. "It would be my pleasure, love."
Caroline blushed even harder, biting down on her bottom lip and nodding at the hybrid. Only a month ago, the intense look in his eyes would have made her feel terribly uncomfortable, but now it gave her an odd sense of reassurance and sent shivers down her spine in the most delicious of ways.
Klaus turned again to leave the room, he opened the door but then stilled just outside in the hallway. "By the way, love," he smirked one of his tantalizing crooked smiles. "Rebekah is right, the cream dress is definitely my favorite." And with a wink, he finally left a very dumbfounded and blushing Caroline recollecting her thoughts in his sister's bedroom.