[~Don't Seem to Make Things Better~]
Caroline was still shaken when Klaus took her to the kitchen but even like that her mind drifted back. Klaus clearly remembered that she never liked eating in the dining room. It was too formal. She always preferred the kitchen. It was cozy and Maria's presence always made the kitchen feel homey.
This time was no different because the moment they entered the kitchen Caroline was pulled from Klaus' hands and was wrapped in a crushing hug that brought a comforting smile on her lips and made her forget all about Kol, the dread that followed his visit and his ominous words.
"My girl!" Maria greeted her, squeezing her tightly and Caroline wrapped her hands around the plump woman.
"Hey Maria," Caroline mumbled hiding her face in Maria's neck.
"Maria. Let Caroline breathe," Klaus chuckled and Maria gave him a dismissive gesture and Caroline almost laughed at the way Klaus simply moved out of their way and went and leaned at the marble island that had endless plates filled to the brim with breakfast food.
Maria kissed Caroline on both cheeks and for the first time, Caroline felt as if she had truly returned home.
Maria pushed her back and looked at her from head to toe.
"You've lost weight!" she accused and Caroline bit her lip and glared at Klaus over Maria's shoulder when he dared laugh.
"So skinny! We have to fix that!" the woman rambled and Caroline remembered how she used to try to stuff her with food all the time, "No matter! Nothing my pancakes can't fix!" Maria briskly said and Caroline beamed at her as Maria dragged her to the table and made her sit in front of a plate of pancakes with bacon and maple syrup. The smell actually made Caroline's mouth water and Maria kissed the top of her head and also poured her a glass of milk. She always used to make her drink milk in the morning Caroline remembered.
"Dig in!" Maria prompted her and Caroline knew she wouldn't leave her alone if she didn't eat at least a few bites and so she reached for the fork making the older woman smile at her contently before she turned around and pointed a warning finger at Klaus.
Klaus arched an amused eyebrow at Maria and Caroline took the first bite of the heavenly pancakes Maria made her trying to contain her laugh as Maria actually scolded Klaus Mikaelson - probably the only person allowed to do that - calling him a brute and waving her hands angrily at him for not letting her see Caroline last night.
"You treat this girl right you hear me?" Maria warned him and Klaus pressed his lips humbly and nodded.
"Yes ma'am," Klaus obeyed seriously and even gave her a little bow only for Maria to use her dish towel to swat him before she walked away.
And Caroline only hoped that Klaus missed the look Maria exchanged with her before she left the kitchen.
The moment Maria left so did Caroline's appetite. The air became charged as Klaus came at the table and poured himself a cup of coffee before he did the same for her.
He gave her the steaming cup which she accepted cautiously as Klaus sat next to her. He turned his attention to her and clasped his hands on the table studying her closely. Caroline refrained from fidgeting.
"Are you okay?"
The concern was obvious in his voice and she felt unable to look at him.
So she only nodded and then she took a sip from her coffee before she sighed and pushed it away. Klaus' eyes were still on her. She felt as if she was very small and he examined her through a microscope's lenses.
"Kol would never hurt you, Caroline," Klaus promised her and she made a noncommitted sound.
Kol's warnings and riddles still echoed in her ears and the fear returned. She couldn't let fear rule her though so she gathered all her courage and faced Klaus.
"What the hell is going on Klaus?" she eventually asked him and Klaus smirked.
"Hell love," he responded with a crooked smile, "always. Isn't this how you see me after all? Like the devil incarnate?"
Well, no arguments there Caroline thought and it was her turn to study him too and realize once more that he had truly changed. He was different. Harder. His exterior was dark now to suit what he hid underneath the surface too.
"Eat your breakfast love."
"We should talk," she deflected but Klaus gave her a reproving look.
"First you eat."
His order was nonnegotiable and Caroline, despite how much she hated it, knew that it was childish to get into this kind of argument with him since she knew how stubborn they both could be. She had to choose her battles carefully now and breakfast wasn't worth fighting for. Besides she realized that she was indeed somewhat hungry so she reached for the plate she had pushed to the side and proceed to demolish Maria's food.
Just as Caroline wiped her lips with the napkin Klaus tapped his fingers on the table, his eyes set on her.
"The stunt you pulled with Lucien earlier. I'd rather if you didn't do that again."
Klaus sounded polite in his request. Too kind really. Which told her it would lead nowhere good.
Caroline pushed the napkin to the side. Of course, Lucien either tattled or Klaus kept watching her through the camera system. Probably both.
She didn't know which thought was more uncomfortable to her though. To have constant jailers all over her or for Klaus to not allow her any privacy and watch her constantly as if she was a bug in his microscope.
"And if I do?" she challenged him and Klaus appraised her with a cold stare. He didn't seem that he expected her to push back. He didn't seem to appreciate it either.
"You won't like the consequences."
She pushed her seat back, ready to get up and walk away but Klaus grabbed her hand over the table forcing her to sit back down.
She glared at him and he leaned closer over the table, his face close to hers.
"You are still a compassionate person love. You know I would never hurt you. But I doubt you'd like another to be punished for your lack of judgment. Another man casts his eyes on you I will deliver them to you in a jewel box as a gift. They lay a hand on you I will hand you both of their hands wrapped in a bow. You kiss anyone else, I will rip their face off inch by inch and make you watch."
Caroline's mouth opened and she watched him horrified.
His gaze became even more intense and Caroline realized that she was indeed facing the devil incarnate.
Klaus meant every word. She could tell he did. More so she could tell that this was not an empty threat or simply his bad temper. He had done this before. He was capable of doing it again.
She always knew Klaus was capable of things that could turn her blood to ice but he had never been so callous with her before. The lengths he was capable of going scared her. The things he could do turned her stomach.
This was why she had left in the first place. She had wanted out. She didn't belong to this world. To Klaus' world.
"Don't tempt me, love. I won't hold back and for you to provoke such misery to another… Can your soft heart handle it?"
Caroline pressed her lips into a tight line that hurt her face and Klaus seemed pleased and let her hand go.
Her soft heart he had said. As if it was a weakness. As if he hadn't taken her soft heart in the past and twisted it until she was left with a hole to the place where her soft heart should be.
And what about him? How could he have become so heartless?
"Besides," Klaus pointed out, once more wearing his indifferent mask as if he hadn't just threatened her with the kind of violence no human mind could comprehend, "Lucien and the security team I have on you are for your protection. And that is not negotiable," Klaus informed her in a cold tone.
Caroline didn't know what to say. She knew that Lucien and Klaus' goons were not a security team. They were her prison guards but at the same time, she could tell that Klaus did bring her back into a reality where she may as well need those goons to save her.
What happened with Kol earlier was an example. Facing Klaus' brother without a backup had been challenging to say the least and she was still reeling from that experience but seeing Klaus now she realized that the danger he posed could not be compared with anything else. Not even with Kol Mikaelson. And no one could save her from him.
She remained frozen and then everything that Kol told her started replaying in her head.
Over and over. Kol had been right. Klaus wasn't the man she remembered. He was all monster now. A different kind of monster.
She ran her tongue over her dry lips slowly trying to get them into moving again.
"What Kol said-"
"Is not of importance right now," Klaus dismissed her concerns and Caroline fumed.
She realized this was in a way how Klaus had been treating her in the past too. As if she was too naïve, too pure to be included in any kind of conversation that would require him to show her his true intentions. She was happy being his arm candy in the past and leaving in the happy ignorant babble Klaus had created for her but the status quo had changed now. And yet Klaus expected her to go back to who she used to be. To smile and act as if she didn't understand that his dark side was there or that it was a repulsive part of himself.
She quickly regained her composure. It would get her nowhere to fight with Klaus on this. She could tell he wouldn't give her any answers.
"Must be if you are evading," she mumbled ruefully, "but have it your way. For now," she said and Klaus smirked at her.
It was a condescending response but it didn't matter. Caroline didn't want to deal with Kol's madness right now or what Klaus was planning to do in his criminal life. She had no plans to become part of it or stay. In the long run, she had to find a way out no matter how hard it would be.
But she had to first try to fix her current predicament as much as possible. If she had any chance of Klaus' relaxing enough with her to give her some room to breathe she had to prioritize. She had to navigate carefully and to see if there was still any humanity left underneath the monster.
Because if there wasn't any… Well, she was totally and utterly screwed.
She straightened her back against her chair and faced Klaus trying to appear calm and collected. Even if she felt anything but that.
"Upstairs you said things between us will be different now. So let me have it," she braced herself demanding without any preamble for Klaus to finally tell her what he wanted from her. How he believed this could work with them and how.
Klaus' smirk grew.
"Still straightforward I see. I am glad. It saves us time."
Klaus got up from his chair and went and leaned against the table towering above her like a shadow that blocked all light from reaching her.
It was a power move. She had to tilt her head back to look into his eyes as he watched her from above.
"If only you had returned on your own," Klaus started in a soft voice, his knuckles brushing her cheek and Caroline had to consciously force herself to withstand his touch and not flinch away, "things would be different between us. I would have taken you back no questions asked," he confessed honestly surprising her but then his eyes darkened, "but you didn't."
His fingers gripped her chin startling her and he pushed her head back further. Her heart started beating faster as she felt the danger that started pulsating from his touch all over to her body. She didn't fear him exactly but there was a kind of uneasiness she had never felt before with Klaus and she resented it.
"Your old life is over Caroline. You understand that, right?"
She nodded, hating herself for being so submissive with him but Klaus held her father's and even Tyler's life in his hands. She couldn't take any chances.
She weakly pushed her head away from his grip and he let her. Klaus watched her with hard eyes.
"Say it, love."
It felt like a punch in the gut.
"I understand," she got out with difficulty. She wanted to wrap her arms around her body but didn't. What happened yesterday, what happened in the shower, what happened with Kol. It was all building up and the way Klaus was acting was not helping. She started feeling like a ticking bomb. Klaus' cruelty was starting to get to her in ways she couldn't explain. The fact that she 'understood' didn't mean that she could do this.
"You obey my rules from now and on. You are in my world now and I make the rules here which you follow. No questions asked, no resisting. I want you willing. Obedient."
Obedient. Such a disgusting word. An ever more disgusting concept.
Was he always like this? How could she not have seen it before?
Maybe because in the past she had been obedient. She used to be who Klaus wanted. She used to do what he wanted. More so she had loved every moment of it. How could she have been so stupid?
Only now that she wasn't the obedient doll she used to be Klaus decided to put her on a leash and force her to be. She stared at him unable to form even a word.
He could take his obedient crap and shove it right up his ass, her mind screamed at her.
He was delusional. Cruel. Somehow even though she rationally knew that Klaus held the upper hand in this predicament she had found herself in all the numbness she felt from the moment he dragged her back in New York was becoming to shimmer into something else. Something that was threatening to boil.
Fuck this bullshit!
The bruise on her arm started throbbing sending pain all over her body. Only the pain was deeper. And sharper.
She numbly realized she had dressed up in a way to cover the bruise Klaus left in her skin. She had tried to not let it show. To hide it as if that would change anything.
Only the bruise was still there. And nothing was going to change.
The way Klaus was treating her was not right. This was why she had run. This was why she should run again.
Why wasn't she fighting harder? Why was she letting him do this to her?
"What else?" she asked without commenting on what he had just said about her becoming his obedient plaything.
"No contacting anyone you shouldn't," Klaus added oblivious to her inner struggle and the turmoil in her started growing, "I won't be held responsible if anyone gets hurt because you chose to be reckless."
Caroline dug her nails in her palm at his mocking tone.
"The life you remember is over," he said again, seriously, "I want you here by side and safe. Eventually, I want you to be happy but I know this will take time. Until then you need to understand how this is going to work."
Caroline gripped the napkin next to her plate tightly half tempted to reach for the knife instead.
She knew she had to be smart. She knew she had to tolerate this until she found a way out. She knew the stakes. She knew she had to protect those she loved. She knew it. She knew it all.
It didn't matter.
She couldn't take her eyes away from Klaus.
He wasn't the man she remembered. But she wasn't the woman he remembered either. She could not regress back to who she used to be.
Klaus held life and death above her head but she couldn't breathe like this. And how in hell did he actually believe this was going to work? How did he think there was a world where she could be happy like this?
"How is this going to work?" she asked, her voice empty despite the fact that despair and rage were starting to build up.
Who did he think he was?
"It is simple sweetheart. Your life is mine. You belong to me and until you win my trust back, until you prove to me that you will stand by my side willingly I will hold your life in my hands in any way I see fit."
Caroline felt tears starting to sting her eyes. She didn't know if they were tears of pain or rage though. She couldn't recognize the feeling. All she knew was that she wouldn't let them fall.
"I won't allow you any room for you to leave me again," Klaus' eyes flashed with rage, and Caroline at that moment knew that Klaus would rather tie her by his side than give her any chance to run away again.
She could tell that he was ready to chain her too if he had too and for that alone, the desire to leave him again burned brighter than ever.
Klaus' eyes turned to slits. It was as if he could read her thoughts.
"I can see it in your eyes you are still set on this nonsense. The desire to leave me, to betray me again," he spat with so much venom that Caroline almost shrunk back, "hasn't left your mind yet. In time it will. I will ensure it but until it does you won't have the freedom you used to have when we used to be together," Klaus stated without any emotion, "You'll have to earn that. Until then you'll be under close supervision. From now and on I will know every moment where you are, what you do, who you meet. If you want to leave this house you'll ask for my permission first and you will always have the guards with you. Anything, and by that I mean anything, you want to do you check it with me first."
Caroline held her breath. She wanted to get out of this nightmare only she couldn't and she knew that if she was smart she should just go along with this. She should just nod and placate Klaus. Gain some time and make him believe that earning back his trust was what she wanted too. To make him actually trust her again. She should be smart.
She swallowed down harshly and waited for him to keep speaking but he looked at her expectantly instead.
She uncurled her fingers from the napkin and glanced at him with a vacant expression.
"Am I allowed to get up from the chair?"
Klaus narrowed his eyes at her. She could see there was confusion in his gaze. From everything she could have said this was probably not what he had been expecting.
"Anything I want to do I check it by you first," she reminded him unable to keep the acid away from her tone.
Klaus' eyes flashed with anger.
"Don't push me, Caroline," he warned her and she got up.
She took a deep breath and faced him. She faced his threat, his anger, his animosity. He was ready to snap. He was a terrifying sight. Her face was an inch away from his and then… she pressed her hands over his chest.
Her action surprised him.
Klaus watched her curiously.
She was being sweet. Docile even.
She leaned closer to him instead of pulling away. She embraced his fury and felt it under her fingertips. She was facing both the monster and the man and she knew that both of his sides could devour her and spit her out. The monster wanted to hurt her, the man wanted her. She could tame the first and manipulate the second. It would be the smart thing to do.
"Ask me again," she softly prompted him.
"Ask you what?"
"Ask me if I understand," she explained, her voice even.
"Ask me." She insisted bringing her lips closer to his. Klaus narrowed his eyes suspiciously but when her hand cupped his chin, encouraging him to give in to her request his resistance was swept away.
"Do you?"
She said nothing. Only looked at him. The moment became long.
"Do you understand Caroline?"
"I do understand," she finally whispered, her voice so low that resembled seduction, "but I need you to understand something too."
"What is that love?"
The force of her punch was hard enough to turn his head to the side, the bone-crunching sound of the blow resonating between them like a gunshot fired.