Forbes House

It's several hours later since Caroline's outburst at the Grill.

"Call him. Pick up the phone and just call HIM!! Come on Caroline." she says to herself. Caroline picks up her phone and starts scrolling through her contacts searching for his number. Not that she needs to, because if she was honest with herself and at this late hour hidden under the cover of darkness and all alone in the safety of her childhood bedroom bedroom she could let all her defenses fall.

Caroline doesn't need to look for his number, it's just a stalling tactic. She knows it by heart. Has known about it for a very long time. Much longer than she would ever admit to in the harsh, unforgiving and extremely judgemental light of day.

"What if he's busy? Or asleep? I couldn't wake him. Could I? Caroline thought.

It wasn't that it was unusual for them to talk late at night. He often called, more often than he should. But on the nights when he didn't or due to unforeseen circumstances he couldn't, Caroline felt an emptiness she couldn't understand until it dawned on her she needed that constant contact, because she misses him. Misses the way he says her name with a raspy english accent. Conjuring thoughts about their time together in the woods, making her shiver in delight everytime they talk.

Klaus makes the most ridiculous excuses for their late night chats. Just to see how she's liking college and her classes. If Whitmore is truly the college for her. Has she considered his offer to transfer to Tulane University as he knows they have a fantastic drama program and it wouldn't be a problem for him to get her in. He also asks if she's changed her mind about accepting his offer to visit. Let him show her his city and all it has to offer. Even though they both know what her answer will be. However tempting an offer it is.

So what is stopping her? He calls her. Klaus is the one who instigates those calls. Not her. Never her.

Although it's not like she never calls Klaus, they are however under strict conditions. Caroline only calls during daylight hours. Sometimes in-between class. Or if she is having a really crazy day and just needs to hear someone is on her side. And he is. Klaus always is.

Once she even left him a voicemail in case she didn't survive that week's apocalypse.

It was her last confession. Caroline needed him to know that she didn't regret a single moment they'd shared. And Yes!! She wanted to be his Queen, Yes!! She loved him. She told him of the exact moment she' discovered she loved him as he loved her, against her better judgement.

*Flashback*

"Well I had considered offering you a first class ticket to join me in New Orleans...but I knew what your answer would be. So, I opted for something I knew you would accept." Caroline looks at him waiting. "Tyler is now free to return to Mystic Falls."

"What?"

"He's your first love. I intend to be your last. However long it takes." Klaus then kisses her on the cheek.

It happened when he promised to be her last love, and for her sake had given Tyler his freedom and the love of his life. A small voice screamed in her head or it might have been her heart for him not to leave and return to New Orleans. To stay in Mystic Falls with her or ask her to go with him. God how she had wanted Klaus to take her in his arms and kiss her senseless. But she also knew the timing was completely wrong. She was ready to be with him back then...so she had said nothing. But if she were to die tonight, Klaus deserved the truth. Caroline intended for Klaus to be her last love.

Somewhere deep in Caroline's soul she had known he was right. Eventually they would be together...however long it took. She just wasn't ready, but she swore that if she survived one day she would be and in the meantime they could build towards that future.

Klaus still offers offers to have anyone who hurts her head severed and presented to her on a silver platter. While she tells him it's completely wrong on so many levels,Caroline's come to understand what a sweet if somewhat gruesome gesture it is the hybrid is making. It means he still cares about her. He still loves her. Even after everything, including the whole Hayley and their magical-miracle baby debacle. Which to his credit Klaus had decided to be honest with Caroline and fessed up about their "hook up" and that at the time it meant nothing. Klaus was also clear on numerous occasions that his impending fatherhood, does not and would never change the way he feels about her. Hayley was no threat to Caroline in his affections. Nor would any other woman. Ofcourse, she wasn't expecting him to be a monk by any stretch of the imagination but the knowledge that they would never hold his heart the way she did comforted her. Klaus was giving her the time she'd asked for that was all. These other women or distractions as he prefered to call them, would be as had Hayley been merely a means to an end. Something to dull the constant ache he felt without Caroline. Until she was ready to be by his side and then they would start their life together.

"How many times has he said just call me. Anytime. For any reason. OK! I can do this!" So why was't she diialing already? If she's honest...she's stalling. Because this call would change her life forever.

Finally having decided to just bite the bullet Caroline dials his number. "Here goes well...everything."

The phone rings once, twice, three times and then she hears the click of the connection and his voice. Sharp and thickly accented. "Speak."

Caroline takes a deep breath before answering. "Nik, I need you."

"Try enlisting Elijah or Marcellus into whatever scheme you're planning to undertake. I am done Rebekah!!"

"No, it's not, I'm not scheming"

"GOODNIGHT SISTER!!!" Klaus hangs up.

"I'm not Rebekah."

TBC