[~Teddy Bears and "I'm Sorry" Letters~]

When Klaus entered the room Caroline was sitting by the window seat staring outside the window without looking at anything in particular. It was a better option than pacing inside the room like a caged animal waiting for its master to come to pet it. Besides the only thing she wanted was to stop torturing herself by looking at the nude portrait of hers that Klaus had dangled over the fireplace.

She wondered if this was one more of his twisted games. A message for her and of what he would expect from her now.

She knew he had never loved her in the past. She had been convenient for him. She used to be his mistress without acknowledging that title since she foolishly believed that what they shared was love. Now that all pretenses were gone she couldn't help but wonder if those were the shoes Klaus wanted her to fill.

He had already shed the mask of civility when it came to her. He was set on demeaning and humiliating her and she felt the anger he kept underneath the surface.

He was different from the man she used to remember. Maybe this was the real him. The one she had avoided to see when they had been together and now Klaus wouldn't bother with soft gloves anymore. He wouldn't pull his punches. She just had never believed she would be on the receiving end.

A part of hers, when she ran away, believed that either he would never catch her or once he did he would kill her.

Somehow what he was doing to her now was far worse and that painting was proof of that.

She wondered if Klaus wanted her to be like the girl in the painting. Both hidden from the world and put on display for him too. Naked from all pretenses and all left to his mercy. A concubine. Loving him, trusting him, succumbing to him. The girl of the painting was shamelessly in love. She was the sight of adoration, naivety and she was an erotic dream. Sin and beauty. Klaus's fantasy. A mindless woman to submit to his desire and love him.

She couldn't be that. The more she looked at that painting the more she realized she hated what she was seeing. She wanted to take the painting down and tear it apart but had a feeling that if she did that Klaus would retaliate in ways she didn't want to even imagine.

That painting was one more humiliation she had to endure. And a reminder of how stupid she had been.

"You haven't changed your clothes," Klaus admonished her and Caroline said nothing. She hated his scolding tone and his controlling attitude. He also sounded surprised. He had expected her to simply follow his command and dress up for him.

She had considered it but when she got into the adjoining walk-in closet she realized that Klaus had kept it as it had been the day she left. All her belongings were still there. All her old clothes, her personal items, her shoes. It was as if she had never left.

And then when she had let herself explore her old collection of clothes she felt as if all those designer pieces belonged to another woman. A frivolous woman that spent Klaus' dirty money without any second thought or care. Every piece in that closet screamed glorified trophy.

"Where is my bag?" she asked him, hoping that for now at least she could wear some of the clothes she had brought from her old apartment.

"In the trash."

Caroline fisted her palms, her nails dig into her flesh painfully. She glowered at Klaus that simply shrugged her anger and indignation off.

"None of the things you had in there suited you love," he pointed out snobbishly, "I won't let you walk around dressed in rags."

Caroline shook her head.

"You are unbelievable," she muttered pinching the bridge of her nose trying to soothe the throbbing she felt in her head.

Klaus' eyes scrutinized her.

"You look tired," he said, "maybe instead of having dinner downstairs I can order something to be brought to us here."

Caroline kept herself from snorting at Klaus' attempt to show that he cared for her well being. Instead, she looked outside the window.

"I am not hungry."

"You ate nothing in the plane," Klaus reminded her with a scowl.

"I wasn't hungry then either," she shrugged.

"I won't allow you to starve yourself, Caroline," Klaus warned her and there was a lethal undercurrent in his voice that would have been unsettling if Caroline could find it in her to care.

"I should start making a list of the things you allow me it seems," she mumbled with an empty voice.

"So it seems."

Caroline swallowed down her bitterness before she turned around to face him.

"When can I go see my dad?" she asked him again and tried to keep her voice humble so it wouldn't come off like a demand. It would get her nowhere to antagonize Klaus at this point. His power over her was absolute.

"Once you settle in."

Caroline looked away feeling her chest twist in despair. He wouldn't allow her any freedom at all. He wanted her to suffer. He was being so cruel that she wanted to cry but she was starting to feel so hollow to do even that. Would he just treat her like that from now on?

"What do you want to eat?" Klaus repeated and Caroline could hear the strain in his voice. He was trying to be patient.

Caroline gave him no response until Klaus sighed.

"Let's meet halfway then," he proposed and went and sat next to her. She would have gotten up to step away from him if he hadn't offered her his phone.

Caroline watched the device cautiously. Back in Virginia, he had used his phone as a weapon against her. She still remembered the video call. Her father beaten up to a pulp. Kol drawing his gun.

"Your house's contact is in," Klaus told her when she didn't reach for the phone, "call your father."

Caroline blinked, unsure if he truly meant it but he gave her an encouraging nod and she took the phone.

True to his word Klaus let her call her father.

Only it wasn't her dad that picked it up but Stephen. Her father's boyfriend.

When her mother had died from cancer Caroline was twelve and she would have probably ended up in foster care. Her father had her custody but Caroline wasn't sure up to this day if he truly wanted the responsibility of raising a child. But his lover did.

Stephen was kind to her. He was the one that fed and clothed her and gave her ice cream when her father was disappointed by her grades.

"Hey Stephen," Caroline said softly as she got up and stepped away from Klaus. She couldn't do this while sitting next to him. She had to put some distance between them. She knew Klaus didn't like the way she grew up and he hated both her father and Stephen.

She turned her back to him feeling his gaze drilling holes into her and focused on Stephen on the other side of the line.

Her father's boyfriend was shocked to hear from her again. She hadn't told anyone she would leave Klaus. She had just run away without looking back. She had never contacted Stephen even though she had been dying too. She knew Klaus would be keeping tabs on him too.

Stephen bombarded her with so many questions that brought tears to her eyes but she couldn't talk to him for long. She knew Klaus wouldn't allow it and even if he did she didn't want to do this in front of him.

But she found out what she needed. Klaus had sent one of his doctors to care for her father. It was Kol that delivered him back to his house. According to Stephen, her father was in a bad shape but he would get better. Right now he was sleeping and the painkillers were working.

Klaus and Kol hadn't held back and her father would remain bedridden for weeks if not months. But there would not be any permanent damage. Bruises and broken bones would heal.

"I'll try to come see him…and you," Caroline promised Stephen knowing that it was probably an empty promise because she wouldn't be able to go unless Klaus let her and she didn't know if he would let her, "I-…tell him…I love him," she whispered hating that she was confessing this in front of Klaus like this.

When Stephen called her Carebear and told her he loved to the moon and back she had stifled a sob.

She reluctantly ended the call feeling the need to cry.

She gripped the device for a moment but she knew it was futile to try to hold on to the phone that had felt like a lifeline for a few moments. God, she had missed her family. It wasn't the best family but it was the only one she had.

She tried to breathe and recollect herself before she returned Klaus his phone realizing that she wouldn't be having any contact with the outside world unless Klaus allowed it. She had already realized that Klaus had removed the phones from the room. He had taken her old laptop away too. The only device of technology here was the intercom device for her to call Lucien or the personnel downstairs if she needed anything.

"What would you like to eat?" Klaus repeated stoically and even though she wanted to refuse him again and tell him to go to hell she couldn't help but recognize that the phone call he allowed her to have had been an act of good will. One she could appreciate. It was still not right for Klaus to control her like this but she knew that she preferred a reasonable if not a contrite Klaus than an irate one.

Caroline looked at him before she bit her bottom lip.

"Is Maria still your cook?" she asked giving in.

She hoped that this was the case because she used to like Maria. A plump woman of sixty years old that loved spoiling everyone with her cooking. Four years could have changed a lot of things but she hoped this wouldn't be one and from Klaus' smile, Caroline could guess that Maria was still around.

"Of course," Klaus confirmed her guess and Caroline fidgeted for a while before she finally caved in.

"Then fried chicken with-"

"-peanut butter," Klaus finished for her with a smile.

The moment felt natural and intimate. As if no time had passed between them and without realizing it she couldn't help but smile too.

They ate in silence and then Klaus left. Telling her that he had a little more work to do and he'd come back later to sleep.

Caroline realized that she didn't have anything to do so she took a shower and eventually wore one of the most modest nightgowns she could find in the closet which of course didn't say much. Back when she was with Klaus she used to sleep naked and the only nightdresses she owned were not meant for comfort or modesty. All the lingerie and the nightclothes in the closet had only one purpose. Seduction.

Caroline hated the fact that she had no options when it came to what she would wear tonight but she would rather put something provocative on rather than sleep naked.

Finally, she fell asleep on the couch in front of the fireplace holding her teddy bear which had been of the few things she had brought along from her old home when she had first moved in with Klaus. He used to make fun of her and Mr. Cuddles but he didn't really mind that she had brought it with her in their bedroom. Her mom had given her that bear and Caroline had left that behind too when she had run.

And Klaus had kept that too.

She didn't know how many hours had passed but she woke up in Klaus' arms when he carried her in bed. Her teddy bear still clutched in her arms. Klaus didn't seem to mind as he gently placed her on the bed.

"Is there a reason for not using the bed?" he asked her and Caroline tried not to show any shame at the way his eyes slowly traveled up and down her barely clad body.

Caroline said nothing and Klaus' lips became a flat line.

"You sleep where I sleep Caroline," he announced and his tone had an unyielding quality. Caroline knew he wouldn't budge on that. So she pulled one of the sheets over her body and covered herself fully from chin to toe.

Klaus didn't comment on that. He simply started undressing and Caroline had to force herself to look the other way no matter how much she wanted to let her eyes devour him.

Klaus acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary and he went to take a shower leaving her agitated.

Klaus' body wash was the first thing that attacked her senses. She had forgotten how much she used to love that smell. She couldn't resist inhaling it in letting it caress her senses. When Klaus got under the covers Caroline realized that he wouldn't bother putting any clothes on. Klaus always slept naked.

Back when they were together it was him that had taught her how to sleep naked too. Of course, the fact that he would always rip off her clothes and fuck her to unconsciousness helped with her getting accustomed to sleeping nude.

Now things were different and she tensed so much that she felt as if she was about to break into thousand pieces. She felt as if the bed was an inferno and it would either burn her right down to the bone or boil her until she would melt.

She pushed herself to the edge of the bed and used one of the pillows as a barrier between them knowing that it would offer no protection against Klaus. She held on to the sheet and closed her eyes letting the darkness surround her hating herself for the tingling she felt all over her body and the traitorous voice that whispered to her that it would be so easy to reach out to Klaus and let him erase all thoughts from her mind with his touch. She still remembered how he made her come in her apartment in Virginia. It had been demeaning and yet her body seemed to crave the same sensation again. She hadn't come like that for years. Four years to be exact.

Klaus was a magnificent lover and she didn't want to compare and contrast his skills in bed with Tyler's. Tyler loved her. He was gentle with her and sweet and the pleasure he gave her was…okay.

While with Klaus sex was really truly-

No. No! NO!

She mentally slapped herself and forcibly put a halt to those thoughts.

God! Why did she have to think like this right now?

"Relax."

Klaus' voice startled her and she almost jumped right out of bed. She gritted her teeth.

"When I fuck you, you'll be begging and screaming my name," Klaus told her smugly, reassuring her that they wouldn't have sex tonight and Caroline felt the need to kick him.

"Fat chance," she shot back annoyed.

Klaus laughed and then pushed his hands behind the back of his head and made himself comfortable.

How could he be so nonchalant about this when she felt as if her blood had turned to lava inside her veins?

"Sleep Caroline," he advised her and she grumbled under her breath.

She wanted to get up and go sleep on the couch but she knew this wasn't an option. Klaus would carry her back to the bed kicking and screaming and she didn't want to push her luck. Sleeping on the same bed with him was torture but she knew Klaus was capable of even chaining her on this bed if he wanted. Or worse, he would keep her trapped in his arms and she didn't think she could deal with that.

Minutes ticked away and she couldn't help herself. Klaus' breathing was calm and even but she knew he wasn't sleeping.

"Klaus?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you sleep here when I was gone?"

She felt the way he tensed before he gave her his curt answer.

"Yes."

Now that Caroline's eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the room she realized that she couldn't avoid staring at her nude painting. It made her feel uncomfortable and fidgety. Klaus had hung it right across the bed. It was impossible to lie on this bed and not see the painting.

Her breath hitched when she felt Klaus' lips against her ear.

He had moved on the bed and before she could react he pulled her at him. The sheet was the only barrier between them but it wasn't much. It was nothing.

Their bodies rubbed together and shivers erupted up and down her spine quickly spreading to every inch of her.

"I hung it there a few weeks after you left," Klaus murmured, his hot breath wafting over her ear. It was as if he was inside her mind.

"For four years your painting was the first thing I saw when I woke up and the last thing I saw before I fell asleep, the few hours I could sleep that is," he paused before he drew her closer and Caroline had to rest her hands against his chest to stop their bodies from merging. She felt his heartbeat against her fingertips. The muscles of his chest flexed against her touch and Caroline wanted to push him away but she couldn't.

For some reason, she couldn't.

"That will change now," Klaus told her and Caroline stiffened.

She was almost afraid to ask even though she knew the answer. Her voice was an almost inaudible echo in the dark.

"How?"

He pulled her even closer and buried his head into her hair snuggling closer. He let out a sigh of relief and she felt his body relax.

"You are here now."

Something was foreboding about Klaus' statement and she didn't dare say anything else or even move an inch. Caroline closed her eyes feeling a painful tug at her heartstrings. She knew Klaus wouldn't let her go tonight and she was proven right because when she tried to detach herself from his hold his grip on her tightened and he pushed his leg over both of her legs completely trapping her.

Klaus' breath against her neck made goosebumps erupt in all her body but despite the predicament, weirdly enough against all logic, her body seemed to have a will of its own and gave in to the comfort of Klaus' grasp.

There in Klaus' embrace, Caroline finally slept and for the first time in years, there were no nightmares to torment her.