Final part of 'I'll Come for You'.

Klaus angrily punched the wall of the living room with all of his strength, leaving an obvious hole into the white plaster and making everybody else in the room visibly wince.

"Nik–" Rebekah tried, hesitantly taking a small step forward towards her brother, only to be stopped by Stefan's hand on her shoulder.

She turned to look at him with pained, worried eyes, and he lightly shook his head at her, tenderly caressing down her arm to take her hand into his and thread their fingers together, bringing her back to his side. Elijah was standing just beside them, the same extremely distressed look troubling his usually stoic features.

"How could this happen," Klaus roared, his eyes flashing a dangerous yellow which scared even his own siblings. He seemed to have the whole house shaking and trembling underneath the anger of his loud, resounding growls.

"They–they came out of nowhere," Rebekah stuttered, her hand tightening around Stefan's almost unconsciously, seeking his support and reassurance.

She knew that she was to blame. After all, Caroline had been taken while under her supervision.

The two girls had simply gone shopping like they so often did, but everything had turned for the worse in the matter of a few seconds, and afterRebekah had finally taken care of the vampire attacking her, the others had alreadytaken Caroline away.

(When the baby vampire would finally be back and safe again—because she would—somebody was really going to have and teach her some proper, basic, fighting skills.)

Klaus remained silent, pacing around the room in anguish. While nobody but herself really blamed Rebekah for what had happened, there was no doubt in everybody's mind that the hybrid was definitely blaming himself.

Being with Klaus, being, even more than his own family, the only real source of happiness in the Original's existence—an existence that had, up until her arrival, been plagued with nothing but loneliness and misery—had put Caroline under the radar of his countless enemies since day one. Of course, being constantly under possible threat—even once the kingdom of New Orleans had been conquered once and for all—never made Caroline any less reckless, and, even if her feisty, independent vibe was one of the many things that Klaus loved about her, it had proved to be quite the problem on more than one occasion.

Allowing Klaus to trap her inside a golden cage, entertained by Stefan and Rebekah, wasn't something that Caroline would ever let happen. She understood his worries and the need for protection but there was a limit to everything, and having, at the very least, four hybrids following her every move was already more than enough in her book. After all, while she wasn't as immortal as Klaus would have wanted her to be, she still was a vampire, and she could take care of herself.

That had worked rather nicely. For two months.

Now, there they were, with no idea of where Caroline could have possibly been taken to.

It was even worse than the first time that Caroline had been taken by the werewolves, together with Stefan. Back then, they had known where to go, and, although scared to his core, Klaus had been somewhat more composed.

But, this once, there would be no telling what Klaus would do if something were to go wrong, if anything were to happen to Caroline.

Everyone in the room dreaded that possibility.

While finally being with Caroline had in no way made Klaus any less ruthless—actually, quite the opposite, since he did have something (someone) to lose now—or any more considerate, to those who really knew him such as his siblings and Stefan, the more subtle changes in him had been as clear as day.

The perpetual darkness clouding his eyes had disappeared, little by little, won over by the genuine smiles that he would effortlessly grant her, his boyish dimples showing and the love that he felt for her shining in rays of blue.

He had become a somewhat better brother. And a somewhat better friend.

Gone were the constant dagger threats, the looks of mistrust, the feelings of neglect and abandonment, slowly replaced by pats on the backs, tentative smiles and odd acts of kindness in his own, still twisted way. Jokes and easy fun had entered the Mikaelson mansion for the first time since they had become vampires, to never leave again.

The light—her—now warming his heart had never fixed his mistakes, nor bettered his rotten parts, it never changed him, nor it wanted to; it simply made him feel thoroughly and genuinely accepted and loved for the first time in his long, long existence, and it gave him a purpose. He didn't need to pick silly, petty battles just to fill in the voids in his life, because there was nothing that he missed anymore, not with her in it.

Knowing that Caroline would be waiting for him in what was now their room at the end of a particularly stressful day, that she would greet him with a beaming smile and immediately run into his open arms whispering that she had missed him, meant everything to him. Hearing her excitedly talk about her day, finding greatness even in the smallest of things until she would slowly fall asleep with her head on his chest made everything better.

He had spent the most part of his existence leaving places without a care, running, playing a game of cat and mouse, and now, for the very first time, he finally really had a home. He had Caroline.

And if he had thought that it was desperation that he had felt for all those mindless years, then he couldn't even fathom the idea of keep on living—existing—after having such joy ripped away from him. Maybe he deserved that—he didn't doubt it—but it shouldn't be Caroline to pay for it with her life. He would never—could never—allow it. He would sooner find a way to sever their bloodline connection and die himself.

"We have to think fast," Elijah finally and bravelybroke the deadly silence encompassing the whole room.

If they wanted to rescue Caroline, somebody had to take control of the situation, and it was becoming rather obvious that Klaus currently wasn't in the right state of mind to do so himself.

"They won't kill her," Klaus immediately spoke in a scarily cold tone, his eyes flaring with a mix of anger and terror. "They will want me to be there for it."

"Well, let's try and understand where there is, all right?" the older Mikaelson replied, trying to keep a somewhatcool head.

"Did they leave you with any indication, Rebekah?"

Stefan squeezed the blonde's hand in support as she sighed.

"No, not really. But, uhm," she paused, turning around and meeting Stefan's eyes before speaking again. "They seemed surprised to find me there with her."

"Wednesday is usually Caroline's free day," Klaus immediately interjected in a pained tone, not sparing any of his siblings a single glance.

At their confused silence, he elaborated.

"We had compromised that she would have a day a week to herself. Whatever she would do, she would only ever allow one hybrid—Aiden—to accompany her. They must have studied her usual movements, and, when they didn't see Aiden with her, they decided to attack."

Rebekah nodded thoughtfully. "That makes sense. I was just inside a store and then I heard a commotion from outside... they must have thought she was alone."

"Well, that plays in our favor then," Stefan pointed out. "They were obviously sloppy and disorganized. They can't possibly be a match for us."

Elijah sighed, somberly uttering the same thoughts that were currently swirling around Klaus' mind.

"Those are actually the worst kind of enemies."

:

:

"Ugh, get your filthy hands off of me!" Caroline yelled at the top of her lungs, thrashing about inside the circle of her captors' arms as the dark figure hauled her down a flight of shaky stairs into a suffocating room that looked way too much like a cell.

Ugh—not again.

Barely avoiding a kick from the furious blonde, the older vampire grunted, obviously annoyed.

"Listen, Princess, for how much I would love to see your hybrid suffer the sight of your death before my eyes, I am more than willing to kill you now if you don't fucking shut up," he threatened in a low voice.

Feeling a tremor of fear all over her body, Caroline humphed, opting to direct a mere glare towards the man.

After all—yes—she was Caroline 'just because I talk a lot doesn't mean I always know what I'm actually talking about' Forbes, but she did know when to keep her mouth shut, especially if her life depended on it.

Once they were finally all the way down the stairs, the man chained her to the rocky wall, almost mindlessly, tightening a pair of shackles around her wrists with probably more strength than it was actually necessary.

The situation felt all too familiar to her, and for a moment Caroline allowed herself to sigh in annoyance, because—seriously?

She heard the noise of a few pairs of feet approaching and, soon enough, other three vampires entered the dimly illuminated room.

"Josh didn't make it," one of them, with dark hair and anonymous brown eyes, informed, restrained anger and a hint of pain clear in his firm tone.

The man who had locked Caroline up sighed heavily, running a nervous hand through his hair.

"We should have been more careful. Just because there was no hybrid guard, it was too unlikely that they had let her go out alone."

"Hey!" Caroline protested, self-preservation spirit be damned. "I don't always need a babysitter, thank you very much."

Luckily for her, the other vampires seemed rather amused by her little outburst, turning to look at her funnily. One—he looked the youngest—even scoffed, folding his arms over his chest with a raised eyebrow.

"Obviously," he pointed out sarcastically, looking over her and earning himself a death glare from the blonde.

Hadn't she been currently shackled to a wall (and hadn't her life pretty much been in their hands), she would have probably looked a lot more intimidating and dangerous, but alas.

"Chris, please."

"What's the plan, now?" another vampire cut in.

"We just wait. I'm sure the Mikaelsons will find us somehow."

"And what do we do with her?"

"Just inject her with some vervain. That way she might actually stay quiet for at least five minutes."

At hearing those words, Caroline immediately panicked, uselessly pulling at the chains that were keeping her trapped. That couldn't be happening again, it just couldn't.

She needed to think of something, of a way out, and she needed to do it fast. She wasn't just going to wait for Klaus to come and save her for the umpteenth time like some freaking, brain-damaged damsel in distress. That was so not her.

Rebekah, albeit an Original and certainly stronger and more experienced (and also not really the attackers' target, to be fair) had managed to fend for herself and even kill one of the vampires, while she had basically just stood there motionless and let herself be kidnapped, only understanding what was happening when it had already been too late to do anything about it.

That wasn't the vampire—the person—that she wanted to be.

While knowing that Klaus would always go to any length to protect her made her feel loved and cherished and important, she still wanted to be her own person, and putting up a fight against the people who had kidnapped her and wanted to torture her seemed like a good starting point to affirm herself.

The older vampire, the one who had brought Caroline down into the cell earlier and who seemed to be the one in charge, moved towards the stairs, all the other younger vampires except one following behind him.

"Be careful," he warned the remaining guy—the one named Chris, from before—with a scowl, pointing an index finger at her. "You have to put her out."

"Will do, Boss. Don't worry."

As the other vampires left the room, Caroline started to form up a plan.

No matter the fact that she currently was immobilized and a bit shaken up, in theory she still had all of her strength, and she was sure that she could take on this Chris, as he didn't look too much older than she was even in non-human years.

He moved towards her with a long and full syringe held between the fingers of his right hand. He didn't seem smug or excited at the prospect of injecting her, he actually almost looked annoyed at having been chosen as the one to do it, which made things a lot easier for her.

Crouching down on his knees to be at her level, he harshly seized one of her arms, preparing himself to vervain her as he looked down at the syringe one last time, carelessly baring his neck to her with the motion.

It was the perfect opportunity.

Caroline immediately launched forward, the length of her chains enough to let her sink her elongated fangs into the other vampire's carotid, taking him by surprise. The syringe fell from his hands to the ground, a single groan leaving his lips as Caroline managed to twist his neck in just the right way before he could even really comprehend what was going on.

His momentarily dead body fell to the ground with a loud thud, and Caroline swiftly licked his blood off her lips as she panted. There was no time to gloat over the fact that her quickly made-up plan had actually worked; the other vampires would probably notice their friend's absence soon enough, and she hadn't thought that far ahead yet.

Reaching out, she sneaked the still intact syringe behind her back, her heart thumping loudly beneath her ribcage as the wheels spun and turned around in her worried, frantic mind.

What now, Forbes?

Suddenly, she heard a loud commotion coming from upstairs, her eyes widening in panic as they shifted towards the stairs. She tried to strain her ears, but all she could hear were angry roars and the crashing of furniture.

When the sound of footsteps approaching reached her, she gulped, tightening the grip that her hands had around the syringe behind her back, and gritting her teeth together in apprehension.

Finally, a familiar dark shadow came into view, and Caroline's eyes widened in both surprise and relief.

"Klaus?"

The hybrid immediately flashed to her, his hands breaking her shackles and chains in mere instants.

"Hey! How the hell did you do that?" she frowned, slightly massaging her aching wrists.

Klaus chuckled—always his little spitfire—sighing softly as his eyes finally found hers.

"Are you all right, love?" he asked, looking over her with obvious worry plaguing his features.

She nodded. "I am," she promised with a small smile, her arms immediately winding around his neck.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, lowering his forehead to hers and circling her waist to bring her closer. He needed to feel her, to feel that she was safe and that she was really there with him.

Her fingers lovingly threaded themselves through the light hair at the nape of his neck.

"It's not your fault," she reassured him, her big and genuine eyes trapping his pained ones in their gaze.

"If you weren't with me–"

"I wouldn't be happy," she immediately interrupted him, gently and yet emphatically framing his face in between her hands.

"Klaus," she paused, making sure that she had his full attention. "I knew what I was signing up for, being with you. But it's worth it. I wouldn't want it any other way," she kept her eyes firm on his. "I love you."

After a moment, Klaus sighed, nodding as a smile finally curved his lips and his grip tightened around her small frame.

"I was–" he gulped, shaking his head as a flash of vulnerability and fear appeared across his eyes.

"I know. But—hey. I did take care of myself quite fine," she joked, trying to lighten up the mood as she nodded towards the temporarily incapacitated body of the vampire who had tried to vervain her.

Appraising it with a raised eyebrow for a few moments, Klaus turned to look at her, a broad smirk on his lips.

"That's my Queen," he murmured, his tone a mixture of pride and affection, leaning closer to cover her lips with his own.

It was a slow, reassuring kiss, their noses softly brushing together and their arms tightening around each other.

Klaus tenderly bit down on her bottom lip with blunt teeth one last time before slightly moving back with a smile.

"Come on, love. We should get out of here."

Caroline nodded, gratefully letting him help her up with his firm hand around hers. His eyes shifted between her and the body still lying motionless on the floor.

She gave him a sad smile.

"I know," she said in a low but confident tone, giving him her approval to dispose of that one vampire as well.

They all were a threat to her—to them, to his family—after all, and she knew that Klaus wasn't one to leave loose ends hanging. Those vampires had all wanted to kill her, and there was only so far that her forgiveness could stretch. Deep down, she knew that they probably had a good reason to go against Klaus—who didn't?—because she was in no way oblivious to all that he had done and still did and would always do, but she was ready to stand by his side, no matter what.

There was no black or white in their world, only an infinity of shades of gray.

Without preamble, Klaus kneeled down and tore the vampire's heart out of his chest in one fluid motion, carelessly tossing it to the ground next to the now dead body. He tried to wipe the blood against his shirt, but the garment was already soiled with evidence of the previous kills that he had made.

Exhaling a tired sigh, Caroline reached out for his hand as he moved to her side again, intertwining their fingers together. She stumbled slightly as she took a first step towards the stairs.

"Love–"

Caroline immediately rolled her eyes at him, straightening herself up on her feet. "I'm fine."

Klaus sighed in worry, a hint of the affection that he felt towards her absolutely endearing stubbornness showing across his features.

"I know you are. But... just let me take care of you, okay?"

Before she could even answer, he had already swept her off her feet and into his arms, a smug grin on his lips.

Sighing in mocked exasperation, Caroline tightly wound her arms around his neck, letting her head relax against his chest like she had done so many times before already.

"This feels familiar," she joked, her laugh tired as she closed her eyes and let herself feel safe into his embrace for the first time that day. His familiar scent and warmth encompassed her, slowly starting to lull her to sleep.

Klaus chuckled, looking down at her with utter adoration shining brightly in his blue orbs.

"It does."

:

:

Caroline stirred slightly in her sleep as Klaus deposited her on the bed of their bedroom. The action seemed to be starting to become a rather recurring occurrence for the two of them.

She whimpered in annoyance, only half awake, making him chuckle in affection as he freed her of her clothes and covered her with one of his Henleys—her preferred choice of 'pajamas'—instead.

Stripping down to his boxers, he quickly joined her under the blankets, bringing an arm under her body so that he could roll her frame onto his, until her left cheek comfortably rested on his warm chest.

She sighed in contentment as he softly trailed his fingers up and down her back, signaling that she was more awake than asleep.

"Is Rebekah okay?" she asked, genuinely concerned as she suddenly remembered that the blonde Original had been there with her when she had been kidnapped. What if something had happened to her after Caroline had been taken away?

Klaus smiled, looking down at her and meeting her eyes, raised to look up at him, a small frown adorning her features.

"She's perfectly fine, sweetheart, not a scratch on her. She was just worried about you."

With a small nod and a heavy sigh, Caroline settled against his chest again, closing her eyes as she wound her arms around his waist and enjoyed the comfort, warmth and security that having him so close provided.

A comfortable silence encompassed them for a few moments, both simply enjoying the presence of the other, basking in their little bubble of calm and love.

When Caroline finally spoke again, her dainty fingers twitching against his bared abdomen, the grogginess in her soft, low voice indicated that she was already on the brink of sleep.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Klaus furrowed his eyebrows together, tilting his neck slightly to look down at her peaceful features.

"What for, love?" he asked, his tone just as soft.

Caroline's lips parted in a small sigh, sleep overcoming her just as she uttered a few, last words.

"Because you came for me."