Full of Light, Full of Love

by thatsanotherlovestory

A home for the gifts I've written for Klaroline Gift Exchanges hosted on Archive of Our Own.

4. lightning strikes the heart

Hello lovely readers!

Here is the gift I wrote for the Klaroline Sweet Swap Valentine's Day Gift Exchange. It is an all-human college AU romantic comedy trope-fest, inspired by a tweet I saw about not having a New Year's kiss and also not having a valentine, which made me want to write something in which Klaus is Caroline's New Year's kiss and her valentine, and my imagination spun out of control from there.

I really hope you like it!

The title comes from Colbie Caillat's song, "Brighter Than the Sun."

---

New Year's Eve

Caroline's year had ended on a very strange note to say the least: at a party she hadn't wanted to attend, in a crowded bar, surrounded by hordes of drunken partygoers, none of whom she knew, since her best friend and roommate who had insisted she come with her was off flirting with a handsome man in a suit.

Caroline's preferred way to spend New Year's Eve was on her couch, with a bottle of cheap champagne and Ryan Seacrest for company, but Katherine had seen a flyer promising half-price drinks until midnight at Wasted Minds, the bar near campus, and Katherine wouldn't be Katherine if she didn't take any opportunity to dress up and consume cheap alcohol.

And when Caroline had told Katherine that she didn't want to go, Katherine had refused to take no for an answer.

In the end, Katherine had ended up convincing Caroline to come by using her New Year's resolution—spend more time with friends—against her. Although fighting through loud masses of revelers at a bar wasn't the image of quality bonding time that she'd imagined, Caroline had decided that if her friend really wanted her at the party, she would go.

So while Katherine donned her shortest, tightest dress—the black one designed to look like it was made out of leather, with the zipper down the front, the low-cut front and the even-lower-cut back—something she wore when she was looking for male attention, or trouble, which—when certain men forgot their manners, or their girlfriends—often garnered both, Caroline selected a long-sleeved, ice pink velvet skater dress that felt both festive and modest.

The contrast between the two girls' styles didn't end there. Katherine towered over Caroline in fierce black stilettos that had to be at least five inches tall, while Caroline chose comfortable grey ankle boots with a sensible wedge heel. Katherine refused to cover her outfit with a jacket, while Caroline bundled up with nude tights under her dress and a grey blazer over it. Katherine had the confidence, the exotic beauty, and the talent at applying makeup to pull off both smoky eyes and a matte wine color on her lips, while Caroline opted for a sheer wash of shimmering bronze on her eyelids and clear lip gloss. Katherine left her long, wild curls loose, while Caroline pulled her hair up into a neat ballerina bun.

"The party don't start 'til I walk in…" Katherine announced as she opened the door, causing everyone within earshot to turn and look at her. Though with the volume of the music, and the conversations that needed to be shouted in order to be heard over the volume of the music, that wasn't very many people.

The bar was packed. A crowd of bodies occupied the dance floor, there was already a line for the ladies' room, and every table, booth, and barstool was occupied.

Katherine took another look around before turning back to Caroline.

"Drink first or dance first?" she shouted.

"Dance first!" Caroline yelled back, just as the song that Katherine had referenced when she'd made her grand entrance started playing at top volume through the speakers.

After several high-energy throwback dance jams that had the crowd shouting the lyrics enthusiastically, the next song was a slow dance. Caroline and Katherine, along with a significant portion of the crowd, took the opportunity to catch their breath and get a drink.

"I need water," Caroline panted.

"I'll be right back," Katherine said.

Katherine returned a few minutes later, handing Caroline her water.

"There's a guy at the bar who keeps looking at me every few minutes," Katherine told Caroline as quietly as she could.

Katherine was no stranger to male attention. She enjoyed it, encouraged it, sought it out. Caroline had always viewed it as the price that people as stunningly beautiful as Katherine had to pay for being so stunningly beautiful.

But that attitude was limited to innocuous behavior: lingering glances, offers to buy drinks, stuttered compliments.

"Is he making you uncomfortable?" Caroline asked.

Katherine had been subjected to harassment on multiple occasions, and those incidents always ended with Katherine making the harassers wish they'd never spoken to her, but now she seemed more confused than disturbed.

"He keeps looking at my face," Katherine explained. "Not my legs or my chest. And a lot of strategic planning went into making my cleavage look this good, so why isn't he looking at it?"

Caroline had to stifle a laugh. Only Katherine would be upset that she hadn't received attention for the physical attribute she'd made an effort to draw attention to.

"Which one is he?" Caroline asked.

"On the third stool from the right," Katherine answered.

Katherine had earned the attention she'd been looking for from a man who looked older than them by a few years and had clearly been coerced into attending the party by a younger sibling or friend, consider his bored expression that finally disappeared as soon as Kat made eye contact with him, as if she was the only thing there that he found worthy of his attention.

"Did you see the way he lit up when you looked at him? That's adorable," Caroline commented.

Katherine decided to approach him, pulling Caroline along with her, because "I need you to tell me if he's actually cute, or if he's just wearing a suit."

He introduced himself to them, clearly focused more on Katherine than Caroline as he told them that his name was Elijah, that he would be graduating in the spring with his MBA, and that he was wearing a suit because he'd just come from a board meeting at his father's company—where he was being groomed to eventually take over for the rapidly-approaching-retirement Chief Financial Officer—which had gone so poorly that he'd decided he needed a drink immediately, completely forgetting that it was New Year's Eve and a party was underway.

He'd stood up when he'd introduced himself to them, and another patron had immediately taken his seat. The crowd of people jostled them away from the bar, though none of them seemed overly concerned.

Caroline started to feel like an awkward third wheel only seconds into Elijah's story. He only had eyes for Katherine, and Kat seemed genuinely engaged in what he was saying, interjecting with thoughtful comments and questions interspersed with some flippant ones about what possessed him to voluntarily take so many math classes.

Katherine turned to Caroline and raised her eyebrows, silently asking, "He is cute, right? It isn't just the suit?"

In response, Caroline gave a slight nod to signal her agreement.

When Katherine seemed charmed when Elijah earnestly questioned how he'd never seen her on campus throughout his time at the university for both his graduate and undergraduate degrees (he'd double-majored in business administration—with double concentrations in accounting and finance—and economics, with a minor in applied statistics, which made Caroline feel like a stupid underachiever just hearing about it), she knew her friend was genuinely interested in him and it wasn't just the suit.

Upon first glance, Caroline wouldn't have thought that someone as conservative and stoic as Elijah would be Katherine's type, but after he apologized for monopolizing the conversation and asked Katherine about her own studies, Caroline realized that they actually did seem compatible. While directed towards different subject areas and goals, they both were equally intelligent, determined, ambitious, and focused. Caroline could see them having a solid relationship where they continually supported each other and pushed each other to be their best, and while Caroline wasn't mentally designing her maid of honor dress or anything like that, she could see that Katherine was interested in him for more than just that night's entertainment.

So when Elijah offered to buy them both a drink, Caroline politely declined and remained where she was while he and Katherine went to the bar.

Katherine offered Caroline a grateful smile as they walked away.

Caroline, certain that Katherine wouldn't be back any time soon, tried to stake out a spot to wait until midnight that was far enough from the dance floor, the bar, and the bathrooms that she wouldn't be in anyone's way.

It wasn't that Caroline was the shy, bookish type who hated parties, because she wasn't. As the events coordinator for her sorority, she spent a significant amount of her free time planning and attending parties.

Caroline just didn't like these kinds of parties, the kind where it seemed that the only purpose was to get as drunk as possible, as quickly as possible. There was no theme, no decorations, no ambience, just copious amounts of alcohol.

In fact, the only indication that this was a New Year's Eve party and not just an ordinary Friday night was thanks to the deejay who was blasting a playlist of songs that turned ten years old in 2019.

And while Caroline was enjoying the nostalgia of being in a room full of people screaming the lyrics to "Good Girls Go Bad" like it's 2009 as much as anyone else at the party, it wasn't enough to make the party festive or special, and the loud off-key screeching just served to remind Caroline how embarrassingly drunk many of the partygoers were.

A quick check of her phone showed Caroline that there was still over an hour until midnight.

Since she had some time to kill until she could go home—and Caroline had made Katherine promise that they could leave at exactly 12:01—Caroline navigated a path through the crowd towards the bar and ordered a diet Coke.

The bartender, who Caroline had seen working there before and had mentioned to Caroline on a prior occasion that she was pursuing her master's degree in psychology, promptly asked her if childhood trauma caused by an alcoholic parent was the reason she wasn't drinking.

Considering the answer was none of her business, Caroline remained pointedly silent as she paid for her drink.

Thanks to good fortune Caroline wasn't expecting, there was an empty booth in the corner. She rushed towards it, hoping that no one else got there first, and quickly sat down.

Only to discover a young man with dark blonde hair slouched in the opposite side of the booth.

His glassy eyes and uncoordinated movements indicated that the drink in front of him wasn't his first. He looked rumpled, in a grey button-down shirt with the top two buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't see you so I thought this booth was empty. But now I do see you, so I will leave you alone," Caroline quickly apologized and stood up.

"Since you're not my brother or my father, you're welcome to stay," the young man slurred. "It's quite selfish of me, really, to claim a whole booth for myself when the bar is so crowded."

Caroline remained standing, but didn't walk away. Sitting with a drunken stranger wasn't on her to-do list for the evening, but she didn't want to hide in the corner avoiding any interaction with anyone for the next hour either.

She glanced around, looking for Katherine, but she couldn't see her in the crowd.

"I mean it, feel free to sit there," he continued.

Caroline liked to think that she was a fairly good judge of character, and her instincts were telling her that this wasn't a bad guy. Sure, he'd apparently consumed more alcohol that evening than Caroline ever would, but he'd only been pleasant and polite to Caroline, repeating his invitation to sit with him without being pushy. There were far worse people in this bar right now, she was sure. And for the most part, the crowd was centered around the dance floor, the bar, and the bathrooms, leaving the booths stretching along the walls fairly calm in comparison.

Caroline hesitated for another moment before sitting back down.

"Thanks," she said.

He just nodded.

"I don't know if you care, or if you'll remember, but I'm Caroline, by the way," Caroline introduced herself.

"Sweet Caroline…" he sang drunkenly.

"Bum, bum, bum," someone sitting in the booth behind him obligingly sang along.

After a long moment, he seemed to remember that it was customary to introduce yourself to people you had just met, especially when they had already introduced themselves to you.

"Klaus," he said simply.

"Nice to meet you," Caroline replied politely.

For the next half an hour, they sat in a silence that wasn't exactly companionable, but somehow wasn't awkward either.

Caroline slowly sipped her soda and listened to the music. Occasionally she would make eye contact with her companion, and he would nod or smirk or wink to acknowledge her.

When Klaus finished his drink—one of those amber-colored, old businessmen drinks that Caroline couldn't tell by looking at it whether it was whiskey, scotch, or bourbon, since she wasn't a fan of any of them—he stood up and slid out of the booth.

"Is there whiskey in that?" he asked, pointing to her now mostly empty drink.

"No," Caroline shook her head.

"Rum?"

"No."

"Vodka?"

"No, it's just diet Coke," Caroline answered.

"All right, well, I'm going to the bar, and I might return with all three," he said.

"Okay," Caroline acknowledged.

When he returned a few minutes later, he had a drink identical to the one he'd just finished in one hand, and a diet Coke in the other.

He set Caroline's drink down in front of her.

"That woman is insufferable," he complained. "This is a bar, no one wants to talk about their childhood trauma with a stranger."

"Well, thank you," Caroline lifted the drink he had bought her.

It had been a kind gesture, and if Caroline had been observing the situation with Katherine in her place, she might have thought he had been trying to flirt, but they'd barely spoken a dozen sentences to each other—all about either the booth they were sitting in or the drinks they were drinking—and Caroline had long ago accepted that she didn't stun men into silence with her beauty the way that Katherine did.

So while Caroline certainly wouldn't mind if he did try to flirt with her (he might be a drunk stranger, but he was a cute drunk stranger!), he was clearly just being nice.

He nodded. "Don't mention it."

They lapsed back into another silence.

"You aren't planning on driving yourself home tonight, are you?" Caroline blurted out.

Klaus looked up at her with an odd, almost suspicious expression.

"No," he answered finally. "My brother drove us here, and he will drive us home. He lacks my temper, so he'll have had one drink when we first arrived, calmed down, and will be completely sober by the time we leave."

Caroline nodded and took another sip of her drink.

"I would ask about you, but you aren't drinking, so I assume you are the sober driver and there's no need for me to verify that you have one of your own," he remarked.

"Right," Caroline nodded.

They fell silent once more, until someone with a microphone shouted over the music that there was one minute until midnight.

The crowd immediately began a raucous countdown, some people floundering comically in their state of intoxication.

Caroline cheerfully joined in at 58 seconds, while Klaus waited until 30 seconds.

"10!"

"9!"

"8!"

"7!"

"6!"

"5!"

"4!"

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"Happy New Year!"

Then they were surrounded by couples kissing. Some of them seemed to be in established relationships, while others seemed to be pairs of strangers who didn't want to miss out on the tradition.

Klaus caught Caroline's eye and shrugged as if to say, "I'm game if you are."

Then he leaned forward, slowly enough that his intent was clear and that Caroline could stop him if she was inclined.

But Caroline found that she wasn't inclined to stop him. He was good-looking, polite despite being so quiet, considerate enough to buy her a drink; and it was one kiss to keep with tradition and then they'd likely never see each other again.

Jenny McCarthy did it every year on TV, and some of those strangers she kissed had to have wives or girlfriends, not to mention the fact that she herself was married.

Compared to that, Caroline kissing Klaus at midnight because people kissed at midnight on New Year's and he was close-by and seemed interested was totally innocent.

So Caroline leaned forward as well until their lips met.

The kiss was surprisingly good. It wasn't sloppy, it wasn't an awkward peck, and it didn't escalate into an X-rated make-out session either.

They broke apart after a respectable amount of time—not as short as middle school students playing Spin the Bottle, but not so long that they only ended the kiss out of a desperate need for oxygen.

"I should find my roommate so we can get going," Caroline said timidly. "But it was nice meeting you."

"The pleasure was mine," Klaus replied.

"Bye," Caroline said quickly before hurrying away to look for Katherine.

She found her friend near the entrance of the bar, pouting at a reluctant-looking Elijah.

"Hey, Kat," Caroline greeted. "Are you ready to go?"

"Apparently I am," Katherine glared at Elijah.

"Katherine," he sighed, resting one hand on her shoulder and gently lifting her chin so that she had to look at him with the other. "I am not rejecting you. I eagerly anticipate the next time I am able to enjoy your company. But I made a commitment to my brother and I always honor my commitments. Perhaps I could take you out to dinner tomorrow evening, so that we can continue to get to know each other, in a setting that is more conducive to such a conversation?"

"I don't know what restaurants will be open on New Year's Day, but that sounds good to me," Katherine agreed.

"Excellent, I will call you in the morning," Elijah promised.

"Not too early," Katherine whined.

"Of course," Elijah chuckled, kissing Katherine on the cheek before walking away.

"Let's go," Katherine told Caroline.

By the time they reached Caroline's car, she could no longer contain her curiosity.

"So what happened?"

"You heard what happened, we're going on our first date tomorrow," Katherine said.

"Well, that's exciting!" Caroline exclaimed.

"We'll see," Katherine responded. "Let's hope I still like him as much as I do when I'm drunk when I'm sober. What about you? What did you get up to while I was with Elijah?"

Caroline squirmed under the weight of Katherine's full attention.

"I ordered a diet Coke and sat in a booth with a stranger who was sitting alone," Caroline answered.

"Did you kiss him?" Katherine asked.

"How did you know it was a him?" Caroline returned.

"I'm all-knowing," Katherine deadpanned. "Answer the question."

"Yes, I did," Caroline confessed. "He was cute and nice and it's tradition, but I don't know anything about him except his first name and I'm probably never going to see him again, so it's not like it matters."

"You never know."

{ }

Caroline had carefully planned her coursework so that she would finish all of her general education requirements by the end of her junior year, so that her final two semesters would be entirely devoted to her major.

But when she walked into her upper-division GE anthropology class, she couldn't help but wish that she'd planned her schedule differently.

There had been four sections of this course available, and she had to end up in the same one as both Elena Gilbert and Stefan Salvatore.

She'd spent all last year trying to get away from those two and their endless drama, and now they would be stuck in a room together for an hour and fifty minutes every Monday and Wednesday for the next fourteen weeks.

Caroline did her best to steadfastly avoid eye contact with either of them, but Elena turned around in her seat to look at the clock at the same moment that Caroline looked in front of Elena for a seat in the first few rows.

Elena gave Caroline a wistful look that Caroline recognized as the one she wore when she was trying to guilt someone into taking the blame for something that had been her fault.

"Come on Caroline, you can't throw away our lifelong friendship over one fight."

"As my friend, you should be happy for me."

"I can't believe you're being so selfish!"

After Caroline took a seat in the second row, she pulled out her phone to text Katherine.

Caroline: S.O.S. 911 emergency please send help ASAP, Stefan and Elena are in this class

Katherine: OMG have they tried to talk to you?

Caroline: No, Elena's just given me her kicked puppy face

Katherine: Except it's Elena, so instead of looking like that because you kicked her puppy, it's because she killed your puppy and to make amends she brought you a new puppy that isn't nearly as cute and then acts devastated when you don't profusely praise her kindness and compassion

Caroline: Your mind is a very dark and scary place, you know that?

Katherine: In my defense, I do know that. Let me know how it goes!

Caroline: Will do!

Caroline put her phone back in her bag as the professor approached the lecturn.

"Welcome to Anthropology 303: Language, Culture, and Society. I'm Dr. Meredith Fell," she said. "This course satisfies your upper-division Contemporary International Perspectives general education requirement, which I'm sure is why most of you are here, and will cover an introduction to linguistic anthropology; a brief history of language and human communication, both verbal and nonverbal; the development of language over time, especially as it relates to the development of human society; and analysis of the social, cultural, political, and economic impacts of language from both national and international perspectives. If none of that sounds familiar to you, you either signed up for this course without reading the description, or you're in the wrong place and you should probably go find the class you're supposed to be in right now."

"I'm passing around a sign-in sheet, please sign your name next to where it is printed on the roster so that I can see who didn't bother to show up on the first day so that I can start giving away their spots to people on the waitlist who did show up on the first day," Dr. Fell continued.

At least the professor had a sense of humor.

Caroline wasn't sure how many people were enrolled in the class, but the lecture hall was by no means full. In her row alone, there were two empty seats to her right and one on the aisle to her left.

The sound of the doors opening caused everyone to turn around and look at whoever had just walked in. Caroline couldn't see them from her vantage point in the right side of the front section of seats, which was on the opposite side of the hall from the doors.

Instead, Caroline busied herself by pulling out the desk attached to her seat and readying it with her notebook, planner, and different colored pens.

"Ordinarily, I do not look favorably upon those who are tardy, but since it is the first day, I will be lenient," Professor Fell announced.

Caroline didn't look up until someone sat down in the aisle seat next to her.

And immediately did a double take.

"Hello, love," said Klaus.

Klaus, as in, the guy who she kissed on New Year's and assumed she would never see again.

That Klaus.

"Hi," Caroline replied.

As the professor started to hand out syllabi, a piece of paper landed on Caroline's desk.

'Am I making you uncomfortable? If so, I can make sure to sit far enough away that I won't disturb you next class meeting,' the note read.

Caroline found herself both touched and unnerved by his solicitous concern. While it was nice of him to offer to accommodate her comfort with his presence, he must possess a certain level of arrogance to consider the idea that he had any effect on her after only one kiss.

'I appreciate your concern, but you aren't bothering me. You can sit wherever you want,' Caroline wrote back, hoping that her message was sincere enough if he was only trying to be nice, as well as detached enough if he was just being smug and trying to tease her.

Klaus quickly scanned her reply, then nodded and tucked the piece of paper into his notebook before turning his attention back to the professor.

Even though he didn't initiate any communication for the rest of the class, Caroline was still obsessively conscious of his presence next to her. It was disorienting, and made it difficult for her to pay attention.

This is going to be a long semester, Caroline thought to herself.

It was a blessing when the professor let them go after they read over the syllabus.

"Wait, Care!" a voice called out from behind her as Caroline made her way out of the lecture hall.

Caroline reluctantly turned around and faced Stefan, who was looking at her expectantly.

"How was your winter break?" Stefan asked.

"Fine, thank you," Caroline answered curtly.

"Good," Stefan nodded. "So, the reason I wanted to talk to you was—"

"Let me guess, Elena's with Damon again," Caroline interrupted.

"Well, yes, that's true, but that isn't why—"

"And now that Elena has dumped you for your brother, again, you've assumed that, since you think I possess no self-esteem, I'll jump at the chance to get back together with you," Caroline continued as if Stefan hadn't interrupted.

"I mean, I've thought about getting back together, but it wasn't because of Elena and Damon," Stefan insisted.

"Really?" Caroline raised her eyebrows.

"I was hoping you would be more amenable to the idea," Stefan admitted. "Weren't you happy with me?"

"Sometimes," Caroline responded. "But Damon and Elena have always been more important to you than me, and they always will be. Whenever either of them would call, you'd come running, and you would leave me in the dust without a second thought. I don't think that you're a bad guy, Stefan, but I was always your last choice and your last priority, and that isn't fair to me, or whoever else you have a relationship with until you get over Elena and start letting Damon clean up his own messes."

Caroline could almost see the wheels in Stefan's head turning as he changed tactics.

"Okay, well, how about this," Stefan started. "You're planning the Valentine's Day charity event for Sigma Chi Omega again this year, right?"

"Yes," Caroline answered.

"Let me be your date to the party," Stefan proposed. "I'll ignore Damon and Elena if they call, and we can have a fun night where we get to know each other again after some time apart and decide once and for all if we should get back together, or if we want to take a break, or if we're better off as just friends."

"I don't want to do that," Caroline told him.

"Why not?" Stefan questioned.

"Seriously? I don't owe you an explanation for why I don't want to go out with you!" Caroline explained. "Actually, it's going to bother me if I don't take this opportunity to remind you of your horrible boyfriend behavior. Because you broke up with me nine months ago, the day after Elena and Damon broke up and you decided that your top priorities were winning Elena back and keeping Damon sober so that he didn't hurt himself or anyone else, and now you want to think of it as us taking a break? What is wrong with you?!"

"I don't think my suggestion was so unreasonable," Stefan insisted. "It's one night. What do you have to lose? The only reason I can think of that you would have to object would be if you had a boyfriend. Do you have a boyfriend?"

"That's really none of your business, nor is it relevant," Caroline insisted. "I don't want you to be my date to the party, and whether or not I already have a date has no impact on my refusal to go to the party with you."

"You do have a boyfriend," Stefan nodded to himself. "You must, or you wouldn't be so vehemently opposed to going to the party with me."

Biting back a frustrated scream, Caroline wondered why so many guys couldn't seem to believe that a girl might just not be interested in going out with them, why they couldn't take no for an answer when it came from her, but that they would back off immediately when they found out another guy was already in the picture.

While Caroline was pondering the appalling misogyny of male college students, she heard the familiar voice of a different male college student call her name.

"Caroline, there you are," Klaus said as he walked quickly towards Caroline and Stefan, holding a cup from Starbucks in each hand. He leaned in close to Caroline. "You may not want to have this argument right in the middle of the lobby between classes, love, you're making a scene."

Caroline glanced around, and sure enough there were a few people giving her judgmental looks.

"Oh, and this is for you," Klaus said, giving one of the cups he was holding to Caroline.

Caroline took a tentative sip and was pleasantly surprised to taste the skinny vanilla latte inside, though she wasn't sure how Klaus would have known her Starbucks order.

"Thank you," Caroline told him.

"Is this your new boyfriend, Care?" Stefan asked.

"Klaus Mikaelson," Klaus extended his right hand for Stefan to shake.

"Stefan Salvatore," Stefan hesitantly reached out his own hand.

"Ah, yes, I've heard quite a bit about you, mate," Klaus said with a cold, almost predatory smile. "Though letting Caroline go was obviously the worst decision you've ever made, I suppose I should be grateful for it, since I probably never would have met her if you hadn't."

Caroline could hardly contain her delight when she saw that Stefan seemed genuinely uncomfortable in response to Klaus's words. Even if he wasn't listening to her, at least someone was putting Stefan in his place.

(And she was impressed by how quickly and easily Klaus was able to slip into the role of her boyfriend. But would she ever admit that out loud? Of course not.)

"Well, I hope you're happy with him, Care," Stefan forced out through gritted teeth. "I'm still planning to go to the event to support you, and the cause, so even if you can't be my date, maybe you can still save me a dance?"

Before Caroline could answer for herself, Klaus had once again already swooped in to save her.

"I'm afraid Caroline's dance card is full," Klaus responded, his voice even but with an audible note of possessiveness. "I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not. Can you blame me for wanting to keep this beautiful girl all to myself?"

To Caroline's surprise, Klaus lightly rested his free hand on her back in a possessive gesture.

"I guess I'll see you both there then," Stefan offered awkwardly. "See you later."

Looking as if he couldn't possibly escape fast enough, Stefan darted out of the building.

"Look," Caroline turned to face Klaus, but paused when she couldn't think of how to even begin to say what she needed to tell him.

"Do you have another class this morning?" Klaus interrupted. "I would be happy to escort you."

"Um, no. My next class isn't until one, I have a lunch/study break between classes today," Caroline answered.

"Then how about we discuss what just happened over lunch?" Klaus suggested. "I can't imagine that you have much studying to do on the first day of classes."

"Okay," Caroline agreed. "But, can I just ask, how did you know my coffee order?"

"I didn't," Klaus grinned. "I'd actually bought it for my sister. I guess I just got lucky."

{ }

The student center didn't have many dining options, but the nicest by far was the Super Salad, which tried way too hard to offer students healthy meal options while also giving them the ambience of a real restaurant and failed hilariously at both missions—though more the latter than the former, to its credit.

Caroline would never want to go on an actual date there, but considering her other options were the cafeteria with all of the freshmen forced to live on campus and buy the meal plan, and the sports bar that she was fairly certain only served fries, beer, and maybe wings if you were lucky, it was an acceptable venue for lunch with Klaus.

Once they'd ordered their food (Klaus paid, over Caroline's objections and insistence that she could pay for herself) and sat down in a booth, Klaus looked up at Caroline, his expression expectant but patient.

"I apologize, if the circumstances of our first meeting make you uncomfortable in my presence," Klaus said after a few moments of silence.

"That isn't it," Caroline insisted. "It's just that I owe you an explanation for the confrontation you walked into, and that explanation is not exactly flattering towards me."

"If you'd rather not explain, you don't have to," Klaus offered. "You can just tell me about this party I'm apparently escorting you to, and then we don't have to talk at all until then."

"If that's what you want," Caroline replied. "I can't imagine that anyone would voluntarily be involved in all of my drama."

"Perhaps I should confess that my motives for helping you aren't entirely in the interest of enjoying your company," Klaus suggested.

Caroline's heart sank. She'd been used before, by guys who only dated her to try to make Elena jealous, or who thought that her insecurities and abandonment issues would mean she would be easy and eager to put out. But no one else had ever announced from the get-go that they were using her, and she wasn't sure if she should be offended by Klaus's brazenness or if she should respect his honesty.

"Right," Caroline nodded emphatically. "Well, if you can just point out the girl you're trying to make jealous, or the ex you need to show that you've moved on first, I'll be sure to bring out the PDA while she's watching."

Klaus looked confused.

"That isn't it at all," he said. "I wasn't lying earlier when I said that I'd heard plenty about Stefan. He seems to have set his sights on my little sister, and Rebekah is something of a hopeless romantic who believes every boy who catches her eye is her soul mate. My hope is to kill two birds with one stone: get Stefan to leave both of you alone, get you the revenge against him you deserve, and protect Rebekah from needing revenge against him in the future by showing her how horribly he treated you."

Well. The protective big brother act was a new one.

"Will she listen to you, if you warn her about him?" Caroline asked.

"She usually doesn't," Klaus responded. "But she might listen to you. She'll have no reason to believe you're anything other than her brother's well-meaning girlfriend, who'd like to see a younger girl she sees something of herself in avoid the pain she went through at the hands of Stefan Salvatore."

"So that's it? You just want me to talk to her?" Caroline questioned.

"Correct," Klaus confirmed. "I said that I was not entirely motivated by a desire to spend time enjoying your company. That is still my primary motivation."

Caroline rolled her eyes, but still smiled, at his brazen flirting.

"Stefan, and my former best friend Elena, and I all grew up together in the same small town," Caroline forced out in a rush. "Stefan and Elena were the golden couple in high school: Homecoming King and Queen, Prom King and Queen, he was on the football team and she was a cheerleader. It was like a Disney Channel musical. The three of us all decided to stick close to home for college, so we came here, and I'd resigned myself to being the third wheel, since the rest of our friends had enrolled in different colleges. But the summer after high school, Stefan and Elena broke up, and I swear, the whole town was devastated. It got worse for everyone when they found out that Elena had broken up with Stefan because she'd developed feelings for Stefan's bad seed older brother Damon. Then, a few weeks after we started our sophomore year, Stefan asked me out, and, after discussing the matter at length with Elena and receiving her blessing, I agreed. We were together for just over six months, until Elena broke up with Damon and she needed Stefan to 'comfort' her, which made him think that she wanted to get back together, and he, of course, jumped at the opportunity and dumped me, only for Elena to get back together with Damon the next week. The fight me and Elena had over it was legendary; we haven't spoken since. And when Stefan wanted us to get back together, I turned him down and have been avoiding him ever since, because honestly, watching him get his hopes up every time Elena and Damon break up only to get back together an hour later is really pathetic."

"Okay," Klaus said. "Why don't you take a breath while I process all of that."

With perfect timing, a waitress delivered their food, and Caroline eagerly attacked her grilled chicken salad while she waited for Klaus to respond.

Klaus rather deliberately speared a potato from his beef stew with his fork and let it hover over his bowl while he asked his first question.

"I'm still not entirely sure how this incident reflects poorly on you," Klaus wondered. "It seems to me like your so-called friends selfishly disregarded your feelings in favor of their own, and then expected you to have no qualms about them doing so. Your boyfriend cheated on you with your best friend—who happens to be his ex-girlfriend and his brother's current girlfriend—then tossed you aside when he thought he had a chance with her, only to see the error of his ways, at which point you rejected his advances. It seems to me like you were the victim of the situation, and in the aftermath have made careful efforts to keep your distance from those people who have hurt you in the past. I don't see how any of this is your fault, or anything you should have done instead in response."

"Still, it doesn't look great for me that my boyfriend cheated on me with his ex and then immediately dumped me for the possibility of maybe getting back together with her. He was willing to throw away his relationship with me for a chance of a relationship with her, which just goes to show how important I was to him," Caroline lamented.

"If anything, your story just made me more determined to keep Rebekah out of his clutches," Klaus told her. "But it didn't made me think any less of you."

"I appreciate that," Caroline smiled.

They continued eating in silence for a while, until eventually Klaus broke it with another question.

"How long has Stefan been harassing you?"

"I don't know if I would say harass—"

"Caroline," Klaus said sternly, raising his eyebrows.

"He seeks me out every time Elena and Damon reconcile," Caroline admitted. "So, once nine months ago, once seven months ago, once four months ago, once two months ago, and today."

"And he hasn't been able to leverage the fact that his ex and his brother are constantly breaking up in his favor?" Klaus questioned.

"You don't have to tell me, I was one of the many people who thought that Stefan and Elena were perfect together," Caroline remarked.

"Then…"

"Then why did I date Stefan when I thought that he and Elena were perfect together?" Caroline guessed.

Klaus nodded.

"Because I saw what a perfect boyfriend Stefan was to Elena, and I wanted a relationship like that," Caroline answered. "I just didn't realize right away that Stefan was only a perfect boyfriend to Elena."

"Is he as tenacious in his pursuit of your friend? Because you said that he only approaches you once she's gotten back together with his brother, and he retreated immediately once I challenged him," Klaus noted.

"He claims to be supportive of their relationship and happy that his brother is happy when they're together, but as soon as they break up, he swoops in to try to prove to Elena that he's the better man," Caroline said.

"So, tell me about this party we're going to," Klaus changed the subject.

"It is the Sigma Chi Omega Annual Open Hearts Valentine's Day Charity Event," Caroline announced proudly. "All proceeds and donations go to the American Heart Association, and as events coordinator, I'm in charge of planning the party this year. We take the heart theme very seriously, and the music is all sappy love songs, so it's a little cheesy and silly, but it's a lot of fun. I really love it."

"Well then, I am happy to be your escort to an event that clearly makes you so happy," Klaus replied. "And speaking of escorts…"

"Yeah?"

"My attendance is required at a party to celebrate the 25th anniversary of my father's company, and I would be honored if you would accompany me," Klaus said. "You can meet Rebekah, and if she asks Stefan to be her date, it would be good for him to see us there together, and it might stir up enough complications to give us a chance to talk some sense into Rebekah."

"Of course, I'd be happy to come," Caroline agreed easily.

Klaus pulled out his cell phone and set it down in front of Caroline.

"We should exchange contact information before you have to go to your next class," he explained.

As Caroline added her number to his contacts and sent herself a message so she would have his number, she couldn't help but see an angry message from Rebekah, who wasn't pleased that Klaus had canceled his lunch with her in order to eat with Caroline.

"Don't worry about Rebekah," Klaus told Caroline as he took his phone back. "She's quite fond of attention, and not shy about letting someone know when they've displeased her."

"Okay," Caroline replied. "I should get to class."

"Let me walk you."

They walked across campus in companionable silence.

"I'll see you soon," Caroline said when they reached her classroom.

"Indeed you will," Klaus responded.

{ }

"Caroline Elizabeth, I can't believe you left me hanging like that!" Katherine exclaimed as soon as Caroline walked through their front door.

"I was in class, what's wrong?" Caroline asked.

"What's wrong?! What's wrong is that you last texted me over six hours ago to tell me that Stefan and Elena were in your class and then I didn't hear from you again, even though I specifically told you to keep me posted!" Katherine exclaimed.

Caroline felt like years had passed since she had texted Katherine that morning. She'd experienced several more loops on the emotional rollercoaster since her nerves about Stefan and Elena being in her anthropology class.

"I'm sorry, I kind of got distracted with other things and forgot to text you," Caroline apologized.

"Distracted with what? It's the first day of classes! All I had to do today was introduce myself a few times and skim a few reading lists," Katherine reported.

"Well, my first day of classes was quite eventful," Caroline responded. "Stefan and Elena were only the beginning of today's drama."

Katherine wandered into the kitchen, returning a moment later with two cartons of ice cream and two spoons.

"Spill," she ordered, handing the cookie dough to Caroline and keeping the rocky road for herself.

"Okay, so right after I texted you, someone comes into class late, and I wasn't paying any attention, because who cares, right? So someone's late on the first day of class. But then they sit down next to me, and I turn to look at them, and it's the guy I kissed on New Year's sitting there in the seat next to me," Caroline said, rewarding herself for getting through the explanation without interruptions with a spoonful of ice cream.

"No way!" Katherine blurted out, nearly choking on a marshmallow. "Did you get his name? His number? His Instagram handle? Because I can't give my approval of this guy without a thorough Insta stalk."

"I got two out of the three; you're out of luck with the Instagram," Caroline replied. "And it gets crazier."

"How?"

"Apparently Elena is back with Damon…"

"No way!"

"Yes way."

"Not again!"

"Yes again."

"So did Stefan…?"

"Try to convince me to get back together with him?" Caroline finished for her, pointing with her spoon. "Yeah. He kept pushing me about going with him to the Valentine's Day event, and he insisted that the only reason I was saying no was because I had a boyfriend."

"What a jerk," Katherine scoffed.

"Wait until you guess who swoops in to rescue me by pretending to be my boyfriend," Caroline told her friend.

"The guy from New Year's?!" Katherine shrieked. "Your life has never been more interesting to me."

Caroline laughed.

"So Klaus walks up, with Starbucks—which happens to be my order, by the way—and does this possessive alpha male routine and Stefan backs off right away. Then he cancels on his sister to take me to lunch, and I tell him all about Stefan, and he tells me that Stefan is talking to his sister and asks me for my help to keep her from falling for his nonsense, and then he asks me to go with him to his father's company's 25th anniversary party, and I said I would since he already told Stefan that he was my date to the Valentine's Day party."

"Who initiated the phone number exchange, you or him?" Katherine demanded.

"He did."

"Interesting," Katherine said, scraping the bottom of her carton of ice cream. "I'd have to meet him in person to be able to tell if he really likes you or if he just wants to get in your pants, but either way, I would take advantage of this opportunity to hop off the Stefan, Elena, Damon merry-go-round and hop on to someone new."

"Katherine," Caroline sighed. "Must you be so crass?"

"I might have tried to rein it in for you if you hadn't left me out of the loop all day," Katherine responded. "I was so bored, I considered paying attention in class."

"Oh, the horror," Caroline rolled her eyes.

Katherine picked up her phone.

"What did you say Klaus's last name was? I'm going to try to find his Instagram account."

"It's Mikaelson," Caroline answered.

"Mikaelson, with a K, are you sure?" Katherine repeated.

"Yes, I'm sure. Why?"

"Because Elijah's last name is Mikaelson."

Since their dinner date on New Year's Day, Katherine and Elijah had gone out multiple times each week, and had called and texted even more frequently (as stuffy as Elijah was, he was surprisingly fond of texting). Katherine didn't call him her boyfriend (yet), but Caroline knew that she wasn't seeing anyone else, and hadn't seemed interested in anyone else since she and Elijah had started dating.

"Seriously?" Caroline exclaimed.

"It's a small world, isn't it?" Katherine remarked.

"You're telling me that my best friend and roommate is dating the brother of the guy who's pretending to be my boyfriend as part of a plan to get my ex-boyfriend to leave both me and his younger sister alone?" Caroline confirmed.

"Yep," Katherine laughed. "Your life is insane. I'm just here for the food."

She tossed her now empty container of ice cream into the trash can.

"Of course this is insane!" Caroline cried. "Real people do not have fake boyfriends! Romantic comedy characters and little-known actresses looking to raise their profile have fake boyfriends! This is a whole new low for my love life, Kat!"

"Ooh, he's cute," Katherine announced, looking down at her phone.

"Are you even listening to me?" Caroline demanded.

"I'm multi-tasking," Katherine shot back. "I was listening to you while finding your new boyfriend on Instagram."

Katherine passed Caroline her phone.

"Would me reminding you that he isn't actually my boyfriend stop you from calling him that?" Caroline inquired.

"Literally not at all," Katherine answered.

Klaus's profile was public, but he didn't have many photos posted: one picture of himself with his three brothers, a handful of pictures from concerts and sporting events he'd attended, a couple of nature snapshots, and a few photos with a very pretty blonde girl.

Caroline checked all of the photos she was in, but Klaus didn't tag anyone in any of his pictures.

"Relax, Care Bear, that's Rebekah," Katherine chimed in without looking up.

"How did you know—?"

"How did I know that that's what you were freaking out about? Because I know you," Katherine replied. "And how did I know that it's Rebekah in the pictures? I recognized her from Elijah's lockscreen photo."

"Oh," Caroline said, hoping she didn't sound too relieved. "That makes sense. I mean, she clearly got the unfairly pretty gene that Klaus and Elijah did."

"You sounded awfully jealous over someone you aren't actually dating," Katherine remarked.

"I'm not jealous, and we're not dating," Caroline insisted.

Katherine raised her eyebrows, making very clear that she didn't believe Caroline.

Caroline barely believed herself.

{ }

It took what felt like a surprisingly short time for Klaus to become a permanent fixture in Caroline's life.

Caroline wasn't sure how their paths hadn't crossed before New Year's Eve, considering the frequency with which they ran into each other on campus, at the grocery store, at the library, at the bank.

At first, Caroline thought it was strange that he suddenly seemed to always be around.

Klaus seemed to find the whole situation endlessly amusing, and so did Katherine, who continued to tease Caroline over the state of her relationship with Klaus.

Their reactions to the bizarre series of coincidences only made Caroline more unnerved.

"I'd never seen Klaus before in my life until New Year's Eve," she'd ranted to Katherine one night. "And then I didn't see him again between then and the first day of classes three weeks later. And now I see him everywhere I go. That doesn't make any sense!"

Katherine had only laughed.

"Maybe the universe is trying to send you a message," she'd suggested.

Caroline did believe in messages from the universe. Keeping that in mind, she'd decided to concentrate on figuring out what exactly the universe was trying to tell her.

However, even after days of sitting next to each other in class and going to lunch together afterwards, Caroline wasn't any closer to discovering what it was that the universe wanted her to know.

Not that that was a problem for her, really, though she would never admit it out loud. Caroline found that she did enjoy spending time with Klaus, even if it was only getting coffee after running into each other while running errands.

"Don't you have friends or family that you'd rather be with instead of spending all of your free time with me?" Caroline had asked Klaus during one of their many lunches.

Klaus had laughed in response.

"Is it really so hard to believe that I truly enjoy your company?" he'd asked.

"Well, yeah, kind of!" Caroline had replied. "At least, that you enjoy my company more than anyone else's!"

"I spend plenty of time with my siblings, don't you worry," Klaus had assured her.

Days passed and turned into weeks, and Klaus still seemed utterly amused by the ever increasing amount of time that he and Caroline spent together.

But Caroline was no closer to determining the universe's message for her.

When she mentioned her frustrations to Katherine, her roommate had been less than helpful.

"Yeah, I probably just said that to try to preempt a nervous Caroline ramble," Katherine had shrugged. "I don't know about messages from the universe, but I think the message that Klaus is trying to send you is that he wants you to take a ride on his disco stick."

"Katherine, you are insane!" Caroline had retorted.

"I'm just saying, guys do not willingly spend every free minute with a girl unless they're looking to get her in their bed," Katherine had insisted.

"Not every guy is only interested in that," Caroline had disagreed. "Some guys really are just interested in friendship, and I'm sure Klaus is really just interested in being friends with me. He hasn't said or done anything, or given any hint that he wants to be more than friends."

Katherine had rolled her eyes as she'd said, "If you say so."

Determined to clear Klaus's name in Katherine's opinion, Caroline paid closer attention to him during the time they spent together, on the lookout for any words or gestures that might be interpreted as more romantic than platonic, but she didn't notice any.

What unnerved Caroline more than Katherine's insistence that Klaus was interested in having a sexual relationship with her rather than just a friendship, or even a potential romantic relationship, was how dependent she was becoming on his presence in her life.

There was one day that Caroline had slept through her morning alarm, rushing into class just as it started, wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, without makeup, with her hair hastily restrained in a messy bun. Klaus had asked her if she was all right, and Caroline had replied that she was fine, that she'd just overslept. When the professor had offered the class a five minute break while she prepared the documentary that they were watching in the second half of class, Klaus had walked out of the lecture hall and returned with a skinny vanilla latte for her.

From that day on, Klaus always came to class with a Starbucks cup filled with her favorite coffee drink for Caroline.

On the Wednesday before the Mikaelson Enterprises 25th anniversary gala, Klaus spent lunch telling everything he thought Caroline should know about his family, the family business, and what to expect at the party.

He said that he didn't want Caroline walking into the lion's den unprepared.

But Caroline didn't feel any better after learning that Mikael, Esther, and Finn would all look down their noses at her, that Rebekah would insult her, that Kol would throw innuendos at her, and that Freya would be the only one who would attempt to be nice to her.

"And Elijah, if only for Katherine's sake," Caroline chimed in.

Klaus looked confused.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean that your brother Elijah is dating my friend and roommate Katherine," Caroline repeated. "You didn't know that?"

"I knew that Elijah was seeing a girl named Katherine, but I didn't know she was the same Katherine that you told me about," Klaus replied. "It is a rather common name, it wasn't completely out of the realm of possibility for you each to be talking about a different Katherine. But that's good then, for you to have a friend there at the party."

Somehow, considering everything else Klaus had told her, that didn't make Caroline feel much better.

"It will be fine," Klaus reassured her. "My family's opinions don't matter nearly as much as they think they do, and I won't let them be unkind to you. Everything will be fine."

{ }

"Why is everything silver?" Katherine asked as they walked into the hotel ballroom where the Mikaelson Enterprises 25th anniversary gala was being held.

It wasn't technically accurate to say that everything was silver. A lot of things were silver—the centerpieces on each table, the flatware, the metallic foil writing on the place cards, the backdrop behind the stage—but many other things were white, including the tablecloths and the chairs.

"Because it's the company's silver anniversary," Caroline explained.

"So that's why you wouldn't let me buy that gold dress," Katherine realized.

"No, I wouldn't let you buy that gold dress because it was ugly and tacky," Caroline corrected. "Come on, Kat, you're meeting your boyfriend's family at a very important event for their business. Did you really want to look like a disco ball while you were making your first impression on them?"

Being the plus-ones of two of the guests of honor at the black-tie affair had required some serious shopping. Katherine and Caroline had spent an entire Saturday scouring the mall for acceptable evening gowns, relying on each other's approval of their choices, which was primarily based on whether or not they could picture anyone wearing it to the Oscars.

After several hours, Katherine had settled on a black satin dress with a V-neck, halter straps that crisscrossed over the otherwise open back, and a slit exposing most of her left leg; and Caroline had chosen a black strapless chiffon dress with a sweetheart neckline.

Caroline had fretted over jewelry, worrying that the wealthy attendees would be able to tell right away that what they were wearing was cheap and fake and chastise them in front of everyone.

Katherine had a different attitude.

"We're going to this party as the dates of two of the owner's sons," Katherine had said. "No one is going to say anything to either of us."

Even after Katherine's reassurance, Caroline still deliberated before eventually deciding to wear the small round-cut diamond stud earrings and matching silver pendant that her father and his partner had sent her for her eighteenth birthday. She'd left her hair down in polished curls and kept her makeup subtle, hoping that by adhering to the policy of less is more, she wouldn't embarrass herself or feel too young and out of place.

Katherine had taken the opposite approach, securing her long hair into a sleek high ponytail and then weaving it into a thick fishtail braid; painting her lips her signature shade of deep red, in addition to winged eyeliner and subtly smoky eyeshadows in shades of greyish brown; and choosing chandelier earrings with princess-cut cubic zirconium stones that increased in size going down, which she had purchased on sale on Black Friday, along with an oversized simulated onyx cocktail ring on her left hand.

Caroline felt like everyone's eyes were following her and Katherine as Klaus and Elijah led them to their seats at the head table, which unlike the other round tables filling the room, was a long rectangle.

Caroline's hopes of getting to sit next to Katherine were dashed when she saw the seating arrangements. Mikael and Esther were sitting at the center of the table, with their children and their dates framing them in order of age, alternating sides. So Freya and her date sat on Esther's right, and Finn and his wife Sage sat on Mikael's left, with Elijah and Katherine on Esther's side next to Freya and Keelin, and Klaus and Caroline on Mikael's side next to Finn and Sage. On Katherine's other side would be Kol and his date, while Rebekah and her date would sit on Caroline's left.

Klaus seemed dismayed as they took their seats. Mikael and Esther were speaking to guests across the room, and Freya, Rebekah, and Kol hadn't arrived yet, leaving only Finn and Sage at the table when they'd arrived.

"What's wrong?" Caroline asked.

"Nothing, love, I'm delighted to be sitting between my dull eldest brother and my spoiled brat baby sister," Klaus answered sarcastically.

"The other side of the table is the fun side?" Caroline guessed.

"Whichever side Kol is on is the fun side," Klaus replied.

"Plus, Katherine is over there, and she's the life of the party," Caroline added.

Freya and her date Keelin arrived a moment later, and both women were polite, friendly, and warm as they introduced themselves to Caroline.

"Okay, you're right, that side of the table is definitely the superior side," Caroline conceded, watching Katherine and Keelin strike up an animated conversation around Elijah.

"Would you like a drink, sweetheart?" Klaus asked Caroline.

"Isn't it kind of frowned upon at fancy events to visit the open bar before dinner is even served?" Caroline asked.

"At Mikaelson family events, we find visits to the open bar necessary to prevent murdering each other," Klaus responded.

Caroline giggled.

"And I can have the car take you home, if that's what you're worried about," Klaus continued.

The car service that the Mikaelsons hired had sent a driver to pick up each of the children and their dates for the party. Since Klaus and Elijah's dates lived in the same place, they'd arranged for the car to pick up Elijah, then Klaus, then Caroline and Katherine, and bring all four of them to the hotel together.

"Thank you, but I think I'm going to try to hold off," Caroline answered.

"Suit yourself," Klaus shrugged, walking away and returning a few minutes later with a fancy glass tumbler of scotch.

When he returned, Elijah got up and came back a few minutes later holding a similar-looking drink in one hand and a martini for Katherine in the other.

"The party hasn't even started yet and we've already given up hope of making it through it sober, looks like you've all adopted my life philosophy," a male voice said from behind the table.

"Kol," Klaus, Elijah, Freya, and Finn greeted with varying levels of enthusiasm.

But Caroline ignored him entirely in favor of the girl standing slightly behind him.

"Bonnie!" she squealed.

Bonnie Bennett had been Caroline's friend for as long as she could remember. They had been inseparable until they'd gone away to college, when Bonnie received a scholarship to a different university, forcing the girls to reluctantly separate for the next four years. They still texted, videochatted, and spoke on the phone regularly, and always made plans to meet in person to catch up during breaks from school.

But the last time they'd spoken, Bonnie hadn't mentioned that she would be at the gala.

"Caroline!" Bonnie exclaimed, as Caroline stood up so that she could give her friend a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" Caroline returned.

"Kol asked me, and since I've rejected him every other time he's asked me out, I kind of wanted to see the surprised look on his face when I agreed this time. Plus I wanted to try fancy rich-person food," Bonnie answered.

"Klaus is pretending to be my boyfriend because it was the only way that Stefan would accept that I didn't want to get back together with him and leave me alone, and so that I can convince his little sister, who's been talking to Stefan, not to go there for her own good," Caroline offered in reply.

"Oh, Stefan," Bonnie sighed. "How can someone be such a perfect boyfriend to Elena, and yet not even have basic social skills around anyone else?"

"Beats me," Caroline shrugged.

Klaus cleared his throat, causing Caroline to look up and notice that all of the Mikaelson siblings (minus Rebekah, who still hadn't yet arrived) looking at her.

"How is it that you and my brother's date know each other?" Klaus asked.

"This is Bonnie; we've been friends since kindergarten!" Caroline told him happily.

"Small world," Kol commented.

Elijah introduced Katherine and Caroline to Kol, then everyone took their seats.

As Caroline and Klaus had lamented, the other side of the table was clearly having much more fun than theirs was. Katherine and Kol were keeping the others in stitches with their brilliantly funny accounts of their wild exploits.

In contrast, Finn was sitting quietly, occasionally making some judgmental remark about one of the guests to Sage, who would reply with a comment at least as harsh.

Caroline had gotten the feeling that neither Finn nor Sage liked her, as Finn looked at her critically and Sage appraised her with a bitterness and anger that Caroline wasn't sure what she'd done to deserve.

"Why do Finn and Sage not like me?" Caroline whispered to Klaus.

"They dislike almost everyone, I wouldn't take it personally," Klaus whispered back. "Finn considers everyone who isn't part of our family—and even some people who are part of our family, to be honest—inferior to him, and Sage resents everyone this family likes because when Finn first introduced her to us, we all wrote her off as a brash, course, common girl who wouldn't fit in with the family."

"Will Rebekah hate me and/or be boring?" Caroline asked hesitantly.

"Another blonde trollop, Nik? Will you ever tire of them?" a strident female voice asked from behind them.

"Rebekah is many things, but boring is not one of them," Klaus told Caroline quietly.

Louder, he called out, "If you want approval of my dates, dear sister, then I want approval of yours."

Caroline finally took her eyes off of Klaus when he finished speaking, turning around to look at Klaus's younger sister Rebekah.

The gorgeous blonde was wearing a stunning dress that looked like it was made of liquid silver, along with ruby chandelier earrings.

Of course, Rebekah's most interesting accessory was her date: a man who was not Stefan.

"Marcel!" Klaus greeted congenially. "I didn't know you were coming tonight!"

"Well, Rebekah needed a last minute stand-in, and I didn't have anything else going on, plus I know the Mikaelsons throw a great party, so I figured why not?" Marcel replied with an easy grin.

"I was going to bring Stefan, but he couldn't make it, his brother is ill and needed his assistance," Rebekah announced.

Caroline scoffed.

"And what exactly do you think is so funny?" Rebekah demanded.

"Stefan telling you that Damon is sick is a euphemism for Damon being drunk, probably after a fight with Elena, and Stefan isn't staying home to make sure that Damon has enough Kleenex and Nyquil, he's there to make sure that Damon doesn't do anything stupid like get behind the wheel of a car and risk hurting himself or anyone else," Caroline explained.

Rebekah's face went pale, but she tried to disguise it by contorting her features into a still haughtier expression.

"You haven't the slightest idea of what you're talking about," Rebekah insisted.

"Except I do, because I've been the girl that Stefan Salvatore ditches for Damon and Elena," Caroline told her.

"I can see how he might see me as a much prettier upgrade from you," Rebekah responded. "But don't think for a second that just because Stefan has gotten tired of you and tossed you aside, I'm going to let you sink your claws into my brother."

"Enough, Rebekah!" Klaus ordered through clenched teeth. "Caroline is my guest, and you will treat her with respect."

Rebekah huffed and sat down, Marcel following her lead and sitting in the last remaining seat on her left.

Rebekah evidently had a gift for impeccable timing, because almost as soon as she took her seat, Mikael—with Esther standing behind him—stepped up to the microphone and thanked everyone for coming, saying that he would make his official remarks later, but that he'd wanted to open the evening by formerly welcoming all of the guests.

When Mikael and Esther took their places at the center of the table, they each glanced down each side at their children and their guests, looking at them appraisingly, critically, rather than welcomingly.

"Marcellus is a bit old for you, isn't he, Becky dear?" Mikael addressed Rebekah.

"I see nothing wrong with bringing a family friend to a family event after my date had a family emergency and needed to cancel," Rebekah responded. "I'm not going to marry Marcel, Father, we're just going to sit next to each other during dinner."

Mikael nodded.

"Very well then," he relented.

Klaus had told Caroline that Mikael's favorite children were his daughters—his oldest and youngest children—then—to a somewhat lesser extent—his two eldest sons, leaving only Klaus and Kol without their father's favor.

Neither Mikael nor Esther showed any interest in any of their other children's dates, talking to Freya and Finn and ignoring everyone else.

It was their parents' preferences that determined their children's positions in the company. Finn, as the eldest son and their mother's favorite, would become the chief executive officer when their father stepped down. Freya, the eldest daughter and their father's favorite, would become chief operations officer, which Klaus explained to Caroline was the person who was actually in charge of running the company, day-in and day-out. Elijah, adored and respected by both his parents, and considered the smartest of the lot, showing an aptitude for mathematics from a young age, was the only one of their children they had confidence in to trust with the company's money, so he would become chief financial officer. Rebekah would get to take her pick of any other C-suite level position when the time came, and Klaus and Kol would simply be assigned whatever job needed to be filled at the time.

"Whatever Mikael thinks we're least likely to screw up," was how Klaus had put it.

Now after meeting him, Caroline realized that Klaus hadn't been exaggerating Mikael's cold, aloof nature. Even his expression of interest towards Rebekah had seemed condescending, almost controlling.

"You were right," Caroline told Klaus.

"About what?" Klaus asked.

"The inferior side of the table needs booze, right now," Caroline said.

"Now you're talking!" Marcel spoke up.

Even Rebekah seemed to be in reluctant agreement with Caroline's strategy to surviving the remainder of the gala.

The food was served moments after Klaus returned with drinks for the four of them.

The head table was now clearly divided into sections: Esther, Mikael, Finn and Sage made up one group; Elijah, Katherine, Kol, and Bonnie made up another; and Klaus, Caroline, Rebekah, and Marcel made up the third, while Freya and Keelin were able to fit in with both Esther's group and Elijah's at their leisure.

After a cosmopolitan apiece and some compliments from Caroline, Rebekah seemed considerably friendlier towards her brother's date, as the four of them banded together to try to make the truly rather dull occasion more interesting.

Once dinner was finished, Mikael made a speech reflecting on the last twenty-five years, to which Klaus and Rebekah each offered their own sarcastic commentary that made Caroline worry that she would humiliate herself by bursting out laughing while Mikael was speaking.

Following Mikael's speech, guests were free to dance, mingle, or leave if they wanted to.

"Would you like to dance?" Klaus asked Caroline.

"I would be happy to," Caroline replied.

The dance floor was full of couples as the band played a stately waltz, including Katherine and Elijah and Kol and Bonnie.

"Please tell me that dessert will be served soon, and that we can leave after that," Caroline pleaded.

"We won't be the only ones leaving once we've finished with dessert," Klaus answered. "The party loses some of its appeal for many of the guests once we stop serving them food."

Caroline nodded.

"You look beautiful," Klaus told Caroline. "I can't remember if I told you that already."

"You did," Caroline laughed softly. "But it's nice to hear all the same."

When the waltz ended and the band picked up the tempo with a fun swing tune, Klaus looked at Caroline questioningly, silently asking if she wanted to stay and dance to the next song, to which Caroline smiled and nodded eagerly in response.

As promised, after half an hour of dancing with Klaus, Caroline was back in her seat at the head table, enjoying a piece of raspberry swirl cheesecake.

It wasn't long after that before guests started to say their goodbyes and file out the door, citing work or family obligations the next day, and, with their networking obligations fulfilled, they really had no reason to stay any longer.

Finn and Sage were the first of the Mikaelsons to leave, which surprised none of Finn's siblings.

"I'm surprised he made it this long, the dullard," Kol remarked, his voice carrying over the empty seats once occupied by Finn, Sage, Mikael, and Esther, who had all left the table.

Not long after that, Caroline caught Katherine running her hands up Elijah's chest and whispering something in his ear that made his eyes go wide as he pulled her to her feet. They only stopped briefly to tell Caroline that Katherine was going to spend the night with Elijah and that they would instruct the driver to return to the hotel to take Caroline home before they hurried out the door.

"Will you be all right in your apartment alone?" Klaus asked.

"This isn't the first time that Katherine has spent the night somewhere else," Caroline replied. "And considering that I know more about Katherine's plans for tonight, as well as what she is and isn't wearing under her dress, than I really want to, I'm glad they're going to be at Elijah's apartment and not mine."

By the time Freya and Keelin made their exit, the ballroom was nearly empty except for a few stragglers enjoying a final drink, and the remaining members of the Mikaelson family and their guests.

Kol and Bonnie had moved over to sit next to Klaus and Caroline, and all of them were talking and laughing together when Mikael approached the table, without his wife for the first time that night.

"Niklaus, I need to speak with you, alone," Mikael stated firmly.

It was clearly not a request, but an order.

Klaus nodded, then turned to Caroline.

"No one can ignore the summons," he remarked. "The driver will take you home. Thank you for accompanying me this evening; your presence made this occasion exponentially more palatable."

"I can wait for you in the lobby if you want. I don't mind waiting," Caroline offered.

"That isn't necessary," Klaus replied. "It's getting late, and I don't know how long my father is going to scold me for whatever it is I've done wrong this time. You should go home, escape the Mikaelson madness while you can."

"Okay," Caroline agreed, but as she turned and exited the ballroom, she had a bad feeling about leaving Klaus behind.

{ }

By 11:00, Caroline was home, in her pajamas with her makeup washed off, sitting on the couch and taking advantage of Katherine choosing to spend the night with Elijah at his apartment so that she could watch some of the recordings waiting in her DVR, when she was startled by someone pounding urgently on the front door.

Caroline hesitantly checked the peephole, knowing that Kat had her keys with her, and even if she didn't, whoever was knocking was exerting more force than Katherine ever would.

Caroline relaxed when she saw that it was just Klaus and pulled open the door.

"Come in," she invited.

Even if Caroline hadn't grown up with a sheriff for a mother, she would have easily been able to tell that Klaus was drunk. His eyes were glassy, his movements clumsy, he smelled like the floor of a bar.

She'd only seen him have two drinks at the party. What had happened after she'd left?

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything important," Klaus offered.

"I can't even begin to tell you how much you're not," Caroline replied. "I was literally just sitting here trying to figure out why the guy who played Logan on Gilmore Girls is so much hotter over ten years later playing a doctor on this show. I think it's the beard."

"Okay…?"

"Um, it's late, and I'm sure your driver doesn't want to come to my apartment for the third time tonight, so I can drive you home whenever you want to leave," Caroline changed the subject.

"I'm sure Arthur appreciates your concern, but I assure you, he is well-compensated for our privilege of calling him at any time day or night," Klaus responded.

"If only everyone had a professional driver on speed dial," Caroline remarked. "There would be far fewer accidents, no one would have any excuse or reason to drive drunk."

"Yes, I remembered how important this particular issue is to you, and I wouldn't want to risk incurring your wrath," Klaus explained. "Why is that, by the way? Were you in an accident with a drunk driver?"

His question was asked with all the guilelessness of a drunk or a small child.

"No," Caroline decided to answer his question honestly and completely. "Elena's parents were killed by a drunk driver. We were at a party, and Elena had called her mom to come pick her up after she and Stefan had gotten into a fight over something trivial. When I couldn't find Elena after she'd left, I called her, and I heard the accident over the phone. I heard the other car collide with Elena's family's, and then I heard the splash when the car went over the side of the bridge and landed in the river. I told Stefan, and we both took off running to try to find them. When we got there, the car was sinking. I called my mom so she could send police officers and medics to help, and Stefan dived in to try to save them himself. He got Elena out of the car, but her parents drowned before help arrived, and there was nothing anyone could do."

"I'm sorry," Klaus offered.

Caroline looked down at her lap, suddenly very self-conscious and very aware that Klaus was still dressed in the suit that he'd worn to the gala—though he'd removed his tie and unbuttoned the top button of his dress shirt, and she was wearing her Piglet pajamas—the pale pink fleece sweatshirt decorated with an applique of the character and the fleece pants with horizontal stripes in shades of pink that matched the two colors on the sweatshirt—which were the furthest thing from flattering or sophisticated.

"So if I'm a little uptight about making sure my friends have a sober ride, it's only because I don't want anyone getting hurt, and I don't want a repeat of a situation where I'm standing there, helpless, while people I care about are hurt and I can't do anything to help them," Caroline added.

"You did, though," Klaus pointed out. "You called for help, from people who were trained to know what to do in that situation. You did the only thing that you could do, and it wasn't your fault that it wasn't enough to save your friend's parents."

"I guess," Caroline shrugged.

"Since we're sharing our deep, dark secrets," Klaus said. "The reason that my father wanted to speak with me tonight after everyone else left was to tell me that he'd changed his mind, and that he doesn't want me to have any part of his company."

"What? Why?" Caroline asked.

She'd been curious about why Mikael had insisted on talking to Klaus with no one else present, and why Klaus had adamantly rejected her offers to wait for him, but she wouldn't have thought their meeting would have been for so serious a reason.

"Mikael isn't my biological father," Klaus explained with a sigh. "My mother had an affair and became pregnant with me as a result. Her husband is a very proud man who would never want anyone to find out that he had been cuckolded, so he remained married to my mother and claimed me as his own son."

"So what's changed?" Caroline wondered.

"He told me tonight that he wanted his company to remain in the hands of his blood family, which does not include me," Klaus answered. "I don't know if that decision is a recent change of heart or if he'd always intended to cut me out of the company and only said something now that the possibility of me going to work for the family business isn't an abstract concept that might occur in the distant future anymore."

"I'm sorry," Caroline offered.

"He told me to tell you this, actually," Klaus barked out a harsh laugh. "He wanted me to tell you that I wasn't going to inherit anything from the company, so you would be better off trying to get Kol to settle down than wasting any more of your time with me."

It didn't seem to have occurred to Klaus that Caroline might be offended by him telling her that his father had accused her of being a gold digger. Caroline was appalled and offended on both of their behalves: her own, for Mikael calling her a gold digger, and Klaus's, for Mikael insinuating that someone would only want to be with him because of his family's money.

"I'm not wasting my time with you," Caroline said, reaching out to place her hand on Klaus's arm in a small gesture of comfort.

Klaus chuckled again.

"Mikael wasn't the only one who thought so, considering how many pairs of eyes were glaring at me with envy when they saw you with me, plotting how they could convince you to go home with them instead."

And yet, here he was, on her couch.

It occurred to Caroline that she should feel proud of her acting abilities, that they'd been able to convince Mikael and so many other people at the party that they were a real couple, but instead she just felt sad.

If asked, Caroline would say she didn't know who moved first.

(Except she did know, and it wasn't her.)

But one minute she and Klaus were sitting next to each other on the couch, the next she was pressed against the arm, Klaus's lips on hers and his hands tangled in her hair.

Caroline felt like her skin was on fire. Everywhere her body was pressed up against Klaus's felt like it was burning, like it was melting.

When Klaus pulled back from her, Caroline was prepared to wave off an apology, to remind him that they'd kissed before, that he'd been drunk then too, that it was no big deal, and that of course she would still help Rebekah as much as she could.

But then she saw that he was throwing his suit jacket onto the coffee table and unbuttoning his dress shirt.

They hadn't done that before.

Caroline would be lying if she said that she'd never thought about what it would be like to sleep with Klaus. Just because they weren't really dating didn't mean that Caroline couldn't observe that he was hot.

However, Caroline had not given any thought to how she would react if Klaus expressed a desire to sleep with her. For all of his casual flirting and charm, Klaus had never said or done anything that gave Caroline the impression that he was sincerely interested in her.

Apparently Caroline's racing mind wasn't evident on the outside, because Klaus seemed not to be able to notice the inner turmoil she was currently experiencing.

Which was good. Because Klaus clearly wanted this, having initiated it. But Caroline wasn't sure, not because she didn't want to sleep with Klaus, but because she wasn't sure what this would mean for their relationship, and even though they weren't really together, Caroline liked to think that they'd formed at least the beginnings of a friendship over the past few weeks. Caroline didn't want one impulsive decision to ruin it.

Though it wasn't always something she liked about herself, Caroline wasn't impulsive, or spontaneous, or flexible. She wasn't a person who threw caution to the wind and just did what felt right in the moment without considering the consequences.

But it looked like tonight she would have to, because she couldn't exactly make a pro-con list while pinned under a now shirtless Klaus on her couch.

When their lips met again, Klaus moved his hands under Caroline's pajama top to rest on the skin of her waist, causing Caroline to shiver.

"Is this okay?" Klaus asked hesitantly. "If you don't want to do this, it's okay. Just tell me and I'll go."

The idea of Klaus leaving and finding someone else to be with made a sudden surge of jealousy flash through Caroline. He needed this, and she couldn't stomach the thought of someone else being the one to give it to him. She pictured him with a loud, brash, laidback brunette, who was confident and reckless and fought her own battles—the complete opposite of her. She didn't want Klaus to sleep with this nameless brown-haired girl, she wanted him to sleep with her.

She could do this for him, she could be the one who gave him what he needed.

And since he was here, she'd clearly been his first choice, and that had to mean something, right?

She knew that eventually she would have to give some serious thought to her feelings of jealousy, but for now she was choosing to act rather than overthink.

Caroline had made her decision, no lists required. After spending a lifetime hoping that someday she might be someone's first choice, she couldn't squander the opportunity when it finally arrived.

"No, it's okay, I want this," Caroline told Klaus.

Klaus grinned.

"I was really hoping you would say something like that," he replied.

{ }

When Caroline woke up the next morning, her head was tucked under Klaus's chin, her head resting on his shoulder, with her nose pressed against his collarbone. Her legs were curled up against his, and one of her arms was splayed out across his chest.

She felt warm, and content, and safe, and loved.

Caroline quickly sat up.

She wasn't loved, not by Klaus. Klaus was just doing her a favor because college boys didn't take no for an answer if it came from the mouth of a college girl, in exchange for her helping him steer his sister away from said college boy. Klaus had come to her apartment last night, drunk, not because he wanted her, but because he wanted a warm body to lose himself in.

But Caroline hadn't been drunk, and she'd wanted him.

She'd wanted Klaus.

Caroline wasn't sure if there were actual rules for successfully surviving a fake relationship, but she was pretty sure that if there were, the first one would be 'Do not develop real feelings for your fake boyfriend.'

And Caroline had failed spectacularly.

If she was smarter, she would have politely but firmly rejected Klaus's advances last night and gone to bed, alone, after telling Klaus that he was welcome to sleep on the couch.

Instead, because she was stupid, Klaus was currently asleep in her bed, naked, since neither of them had bothered to get dressed the night before.

He looked relaxed in his sleep, a far cry from how tense he had been when he'd knocked on the door just hours earlier.

Of course, last night's activities had surely released his tension, if nothing else.

It hadn't been fairy-tale, romance novel 'making love,' and Caroline supposed she was grateful for that, knowing that it would only hurt more when he inevitably walked away if he'd been sweet and selfless and loving in bed.

Don't get her wrong, it had been good—really good—but it hadn't been the cliché magic that sex was supposed to be when you were with someone you loved. It had been urgent, and a little uncoordinated, and even impersonal, considering that Klaus had never once said her name or looked her in the eye. In fact, aside from Klaus asking Caroline to reaffirm her consent at various points as the night progressed and a somehow only slightly awkward conversation about birth control, neither of them spoke at all.

When he woke up, he would either ask her to pretend that it had never happened, or propose that they repeat it regularly as part of their agreement, because why shouldn't they reap the rewards of being in a relationship while they were pretending to be in one?

Either way, Klaus would confirm that he didn't have any real feelings for Caroline, and Caroline would get her feelings hurt.

So Caroline did what she always did when she wanted to avoid something or someone:

She ran.

She got out of bed as quickly as she could without risking waking up Klaus, got dressed in a casual outfit, and slipped out of her room carrying her shoes and her bag. She crept back in a few minutes later with a glass of water, some pain relievers, and a hastily-scribbled note telling him that she'd had to leave to meet with some classmates for a group project and that she was sorry to have to leave so early, which she left on her nightstand.

Then she snuck out of her own apartment so that she wouldn't have to deal with an awkward morning after conversation that she would really rather postpone as long as possible.

Caroline made sure her phone was on silent before hiding away in a study carrel tucked in the corner of the modern French literature section of the stacks on the third floor, where she wouldn't run into anyone she knew and no one she knew would think to look for her.

Forty-five minutes later, Caroline's phone lit up, Klaus's name flashing across the screen.

Caroline ignored the call.

He called every five minutes for the next twenty minutes, and Caroline ignored it every time.

Then she received a text.

Katherine: I just got home and you're not here, but your boyfriend is? He asked me to text you to make sure you're still alive since you aren't answering his calls… What's up, Care? You two seemed good last night.

Caroline: I'm alive. I'll talk to you later.

Katherine: Got it. I'll get rid of him.

A few minutes later, Caroline received a message from a different sender.

Rebekah: Good morning, Caroline! It was so great meeting you last night! I was wondering if you would be interested in going shopping with my sister and me tomorrow afternoon? I plan to invite Katherine as well, and I think this will be a great opportunity for the four of us to get to know each other better! Please let me know if you're available!

It was too early for Rebekah's enthusiasm for shopping, thinly-veiled threats of interrogation, and the promise of bonding over sharing embarrassing stories about her brothers.

Caroline was sure that Klaus would be pleased that Rebekah seemed to have fallen for their ruse, but at the moment, she didn't want to think about how they were apparently such a convincing couple that they'd fooled even Klaus's beloved baby sister, all for their entire relationship to just be a charade.

Of course, Caroline knew that avoidance wouldn't work indefinitely. The Valentine's Day party that was at the heart of why she'd agreed to this plan in the first place was in just a few days, and it would be foolish to cut ties with Klaus now, before he'd fulfilled his end of the bargain to convince Stefan that she'd moved on and that he should leave her alone.

So she wrote an apology to Rebekah, citing a meeting of the events committee as her excuse to miss Rebekah's planned shopping trip.

Was it mature of her to lie to get out of plans she didn't want to participate in?

No, it probably wasn't, but neither was throwing herself into last minute event planning to such an extreme that she completely ignored Katherine, Klaus, and Rebekah, and even hiding in a seat in the back of the class she had with Klaus to make sure that she wouldn't have to face him yet—and Caroline did that, too.

{ }

Valentine's Day

Caroline woke up on Valentine's Day feeling decidedly less enthusiastic than she normally did on a holiday that involved eating excessive amounts of candy, but she was determined to find a way to get in the spirit of the day before the party she'd planned that night.

So she dragged herself out of bed and pulled on a light pink sweater patterned with small red hearts along with red corduroy pants and fun, festive conversation-heart-print socks that she'd found in the dollar bin at Target.

Caroline was just pouring some cereal into a bowl for breakfast when she heard a knock at the door.

"Are you Katherine Pierce?" the deliveryman asked as soon as Caroline opened the door.

"No, she's my roommate," Caroline answered.

"I just need your signature here, please, ma'am," the man said, handing over an electronic signature pad.

Caroline signed her name in the box and handed it back.

The deliveryman retrieved something from what looked like a cooler behind him, then handed Caroline the large bouquet of light purple roses that had been delivered for Katherine.

"There you go, have a nice day, ma'am," he said.

"Thank you, you too," Caroline replied.

Closing the door and retreating back into the kitchen, Caroline filled a vase with water and arranged Katherine's roses in it after carefully detaching the note attached so that it wouldn't get wet.

Katherine finally emerged from her room about forty-five minutes later, after Caroline had already finished her breakfast and was working on some reading for her anthropology class at the kitchen table.

"Where did the flowers come from?" Katherine asked groggily.

"They're for you. Elijah sent them," Caroline answered. "There's a note. I didn't read it, but I had to take it off so that it didn't fall in the vase and drown."

"Why purple?" Katherine questioned. "My favorite color is red, not purple."

"Well, red roses on Valentine's Day are kind of a cliché, plus they mean 'I love you,' so he probably didn't want to move too quickly," Caroline suggested.

"Then what do purple roses mean?" Katherine asked.

Caroline pulled out her phone and Googled it.

"They mean enchantment," Caroline answered. "And—aww! That's so sweet!—love at first sight. They're like the flower version of that Taylor Swift song."

"Are you serious?" Katherine demanded, reaching for the phone.

"About the flowers? Of course, Pinterest wouldn't lie about something like this," Caroline insisted. "And the Taylor Swift song is literally called 'Enchanted,' and yes, we will be listening to it on repeat for the rest of the day, because it's about time that the Taylor Swift song that best describes both of our love lives is not 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,' and we need to celebrate this development."

"We've only known each other for six weeks, and he's already sending me flowers that mean he's enchanted by me and fell in love with me at first sight? That's a little intense, don't you think?" Katherine worried.

"First of all, we don't know for sure that Elijah looked up the meaning of this particular color of roses before he sent them to you, maybe he just thought that they were unique and beautiful, just like you," Caroline proposed, and was promptly met by a disbelieving look from Katherine. "Except that it's Elijah, so we absolutely know for sure that he looked up the meaning of the flowers before he sent them to you. But secondly, this is not the first time that you've this kind of impact on a guy so quickly. You frequently have that effect on people."

"But Elijah's smarter than all of those guys," Katherine responded.

Caroline sighed.

"It's Valentine's Day, Kat, it's a day entirely devoted to love, and the best day of the year to make a romantic gesture. Read the note, call him to say thank you for the flowers, and you'll talk to him later at the party. And no offense, but I think you're seriously overreacting considering how many people would kill for your alleged 'problem' of having a handsome, smart, caring, financially stable guy fall in love with you so soon."

"You still haven't talked to Klaus?" Katherine questioned sympathetically.

"No, not since he was here after the gala on Saturday night," Caroline answered. "I even hid in the back during class on Monday and Wednesday so that I wouldn't have to sit next to him. I can only see the conversation going one of two ways: he tells me that it was a mistake and asks if we can forget it ever happened, or he proposes some sort of fake-dating-with-benefits arrangement."

"And that isn't what you want," Katherine stated. "Do you have feelings for Klaus, Caroline?"

Caroline was silent for a long moment.

"Yes," she finally admitted. "Yeah, I think I do."

"Well, congratulations, you're officially the last to know," Katherine replied. "But how can you be so sure that he doesn't have feelings for you, too?"

"Precedent?" Caroline offered skeptically. "The fact that no one ever has? My entire romantic history is made up of guys who didn't really love me. There's Stefan, who is still in love with Elena even though she dumped him for his brother years ago; there's Tyler, who cheated on me with that girl… what was her name again?"

"You mean 'Slutty Sophie?'" Katherine supplied.

"No?" Caroline answered slowly. "I was talking about that girl he met during his spring break volunteer trip to the wolf sanctuary? She had brown hair, green eyes, couldn't have looked more cheap if she tried? Wait, are you saying that Tyler cheated on me with Sophie, too?"

"Yeah. Sorry, I thought you knew. Whoops," Katherine apologized. "And the wolf girl's name was Hayley."

"Right," Caroline nodded. "And before that I dated Matt, who was also still in love with Elena. I've never been anyone's first choice, so why should I think that everything has suddenly changed?"

"Well, for one thing, Klaus has never met Elena," Katherine pointed out. "All he knows about her is what he heard from you, which wouldn't exactly make him think that she's the bee's knees. Second, you have to have seen the way he looks at you."

"No, how does he look at me?"

"Like you're the sun, or a chocolate cake," Katherine answered, her voice somewhat mocking but clearly amused.

"I don't know, Kat…"

"Look," Katherine said commandingly. "Don't let your insecurities convince you that Klaus doesn't want to be with you before you actually talk to him and find out what he wants. Yes, you've dated guys who haven't treated you as well as they should have, but from what I've seen of your relationship with Klaus, he's already a much better boyfriend than they were, and he isn't even officially your boyfriend. We can do this together, okay? I will call Elijah to thank him for the flowers and find out what they mean before I jump to conclusions about our relationship moving too fast, and you talk to Klaus and figure out where your relationship goes from here. I'll see you at the party tonight, and we can compare notes then."

"Okay," Caroline agreed. "I'll see you at the party."

{ }

Caroline didn't think that Katherine would be too angry with her for not technically holding up her end of the bargain.

It was just that she knew that Klaus was in class all Thursday afternoon, and she didn't want to have the conversation they needed to have through text messages while he only paid her a fraction of his attention while he also tried to concentrate on his professor's lecture.

By the time his class was over, it would be time for Caroline to head back to her apartment to get ready for the party after spending her afternoon setting up in the ballroom of the student center where the event was taking place.

So Caroline just sent him a text telling him that she needed to talk to him in person before the party, and then went back to arranging balloons and plugging in the sound system.

When Caroline was satisfied with her work, she left some underclassmen she'd recruited for the events committee to finish up and went home to change. Checking her phone, she noticed that she hadn't received a reply from Klaus, but she did have a new message from Katherine, telling her that she and Elijah were going out to dinner before the party and that she would see her there.

Caroline wasn't surprised that Katherine and Elijah were going out on a date on Valentine's Day, though she was glad that they seemed to have resolved the purple roses debacle and that Kat hadn't dumped Elijah over it.

(So she shipped Katherine and Elijah, sue her. Her best friend was happy with a good guy who was clearly head over heels for her. Of course she was supportive of their relationship.)

But Caroline was surprised when she approached the door to her apartment to find Klaus sitting on the ground in front of it.

"Klaus?" Caroline called out tentatively.

His head immediately shot up and he quickly scrambled to his feet.

"I didn't check my phone until the end of class, but when I saw that you texted me I just came straight over," Klaus explained.

He seemed nervous, Caroline noted, which was good, because she was nervous about the conversation they were about to have as well.

"We should go inside, I don't have much time before I have to start getting ready for the party," Caroline said, moving forward and unlocking the door.

"I'll need to go home to change too," Klaus said, gesturing to the grey henley and black jeans he was wearing.

"Um, Katherine and Elijah went out to dinner, do you want to order in some food for the two of us?" Caroline asked.

"Sure," Klaus agreed.

After Caroline called to order a pizza (the local pizza place was running a special on a heart-shaped pizza for Valentine's Day, how was she supposed to resist such an offer?!), she moved into the living room and sat down next to Klaus on the couch.

Klaus was looking down at his lap, tapping his fingers on his knee.

Then he looked up at Caroline.

"I just need you to know that I'm sorry," Klaus blurted out. "I understand if you don't accept my apology, but I need to say it all the same."

"Sorry for what?" Caroline asked.

"I know that you said you wanted me, and you acted like you wanted me, but then you were gone when I woke up the next morning, so something must have changed, or you got scared, or you just felt sorry for me and then realized you deserved better, or maybe it wasn't good for you," the words spilled out of Klaus rapidly.

Caroline shook her head emphatically, tempted to lean forward and take Klaus's hand, but she wasn't sure how the action would be received.

"I thought that by leaving I was postponing a conversation that neither of us wanted to have, and I was saving you the trouble of having to tell me that that didn't mean that you wanted to be my boyfriend. I know that you can tell that I'm a relationship girl from a mile away, but I didn't think that you would fall in love with me just because we slept together."

"What makes you think I don't want to be your boyfriend?" Klaus asked quizzically.

"The fact that I've never really had a boyfriend who wanted to be my boyfriend?" Caroline answered. "Most of them were with me to try to get over Elena, or because Elena wasn't available, and the only one who wasn't interested in Elena cheated on me with a girl he met at a wolf sanctuary. I've never been anyone's first choice, so I just kind of assumed that I wasn't yours either."

"I've never spoken to this Elena, but I can't imagine that she could hold a candle to you," Klaus declared. "I've never had a girlfriend who either Rebekah or Kol liked, and they both like you, and the only other girlfriend I ever had that Elijah liked, was seeing both of us at the same time."

"Sounds like your romantic history is at least as messy as mine," Caroline joked.

"Why were you afraid of talking to me about this?" Klaus asked.

"Like I said, I didn't think either of us wanted to have this conversation, and that we'd both be happier if we could just put it off," Caroline replied.

"But we weren't happier," Klaus noted. "You were ignoring me and hiding from me, and I felt guilty and worried that you would never talk to me again."

Before Caroline could answer, the doorbell rang.

"It's the pizza," Caroline muttered needlessly.

"I'll take care of it," Klaus offered, standing up, taking his wallet out of his pocket, and striding purposefully towards the door.

Caroline reluctantly allowed him to pay, going into the kitchen to set the table and get a couple of sodas from the refrigerator.

Klaus launched right back into their discussion as soon as he entered the dining room with the pizza.

"Caroline, what were you so afraid of?"

"I wanted it to be real," Caroline took a deep breath, feeling tears well up in her eyes. "I wanted it to be real, but you were drunk and I wasn't, and for all I know I could have been anyone while you were picturing someone else because you didn't even look at me the entire time, and I wouldn't have been able to handle it if the next morning you'd said it was a mistake and asked me to forget that it ever happened, or if you'd said that we might as well keep sleeping together while we were pretending to actually be together, because why not, as if it didn't mean anything, as if it didn't even matter."

By the time she finished speaking, tears were rolling in thick streams down Caroline's cheeks.

Klaus stood from his chair and knelt in front of Caroline's, using one hand to wipe away her tears and the other to hold one of Caroline's hands.

"I never wanted to pretend to be your boyfriend, Caroline," Klaus told her.

Caroline recoiled and tried to pull her hand away from Klaus's.

"I wanted to be your boyfriend for real," he continued. "But after the way we met, I didn't know if you'd ever give me a chance. I'd hung back after class that first day because I wanted to talk to you, see if you would be receptive to maybe going out to dinner with me so that I could show you that I was more than just a spoiled punk who gets drunk every time he has a fight with his father. When I heard you arguing with Stefan, I saw a chance and I took it. It's always been real for me, Caroline."

"Really?" Caroline asked after a stunned silence in which she tried to process what Klaus had said.

"Yes, really," Klaus responded with a chuckle. He softly brushed Caroline's hair away from her face. "I'm yours if you'll have me."

Caroline nodded eagerly, her tears flowing freely once more.

She leaned forward, resting her hands on either side of Klaus's face as she kissed him.

Klaus responded enthusiastically, until he pulled away much too soon, causing Caroline to pout.

"Sweetheart, you know I would much rather celebrate today with our own private party, but the charity event you've planned is important to you and your friends, so we can't afford to get distracted or we'll be late."

Caroline considered this, glancing at the clock on the stove.

"Do you need to take a shower before the party?"

Klaus looked puzzled, and didn't answer.

"Because I was going to take a shower before the party, and if you hurry and go grab your clothes from home, we should have time to consummate our new relationship in the shower when you get back and still make it on time."

Caroline laughed as Klaus bolted for the door.

{ }

Caroline's time management skills left something to be desired, at least where Klaus was concerned, because they were barely, but definitely, late to the party.

In fact, they arrived only a few minutes before Katherine—who was the most habitually tardy person that Caroline had ever met—and Elijah—whose promptness seemed to have rubbed off on Katherine at least somewhat.

The other couple walked into the ballroom hand-in-hand, Elijah wearing a white dress shirt, black trousers, and a red tie that matched Katherine's red wrap dress.

To Caroline, they looked like the definition of a power couple.

Klaus and Caroline weren't matching, and were far too happy and giggly to look like a power couple even if they had been. Caroline was wearing a bubblegum pink dress with ruffles at the hem and a bow around the waist, while Klaus wore a white button-down shirt and black trousers.

"Caroline!" Katherine called out, hurrying towards her.

Leaving the brothers to their own devices, Katherine took Caroline's hand and dragged her into a corner.

"Well?" Katherine interrogated. "How did it go? What happened?"

"As of an hour-and-a-half ago, Klaus is my boyfriend now, for real," Caroline beamed. "What about you, did you solve the mystery of the flowers?"

"Yes, and you were right about me overreacting," Katherine conceded. "Elijah said that he sent me purple roses because, and I'm quoting, I've enchanted him since the moment we met."

"Aww, that's so cute!" Caroline exclaimed.

"Also, I love that Taylor Swift song you were talking about. You were right about it being the musical equivalent of my purple roses," Katherine continued.

"I'm so happy for us!" Caroline cried.

The girls' squealing, giggling, and happily bouncing up and down while holding hands was interrupted by the vice president of Caroline's sorority telling Caroline that it was time for her to address the partygoers.

As was her duty as event coordinator, Caroline welcomed everyone to the event, thanked them all for coming, and let them know how they could donate to the cause as well as giving them the total amount of money that they'd already raised.

She would have to give another update at the end of the party, but until then, Caroline could do whatever she wanted.

So she decided to go find her boyfriend, who was standing near a table covered with pink-frosted heart-shaped cookies along with her best friend and his brother.

"This is very festive, you did a great job, sweetheart," Klaus praised.

"Thank you," Caroline replied.

The room certainly was festive, with bouquets of red and pink heart-shaped balloons placed along the perimeter, pink heart-shaped confetti on every flat surface, tables with cookies and candy that were all pink, in the shape of a heart, or both. A playlist of cheesy love songs played over the speakers, and there were four red heart-shaped locked boxes strategically spread out throughout the room to collect donations.

After Katherine dragged Elijah with her onto the dance floor, Caroline heard a familiar voice call her name, and turned around to see Stefan walking towards her.

"Hi, Stefan, thank you for coming tonight to support Sigma Chi Omega and the American Heart Association," Caroline smiled placidly.

As Caroline spoke, Klaus moved closer to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"The place looks great, Care," Stefan said.

"Thank you," Caroline responded.

"Hi, Klaus, right?" Stefan finally acknowledged Klaus's presence.

"Stefan," Klaus replied woodenly.

"Stefan, did you bring a date with you tonight?" Caroline asked.

"No, it's just me," Stefan admitted, fidgeting as he spoke. "The girl I asked to come with me sent me a very long and angry text message on Sunday morning telling me that she'd heard about my lingering feelings for Elena and my… habit of prioritizing Damon and Elena over anyone else and that she wanted nothing to do with me."

"Well, maybe that will be the encouragement you need to finally kick the habit," Caroline suggested cheerfully.

"Maybe," But he didn't look convinced. "Well, I just wanted to say hi, it seemed like the polite thing to do."

"Enjoy the party," Caroline offered, hoping to hurry along the end of this conversation.

"You two look really happy together," Stefan said. "I'm happy that you're happy, Care."

"Thank you."

When Stefan finally wandered away, Caroline turned to face Klaus.

"Did you know that Rebekah did that?" she asked.

"I didn't," Klaus insisted. "I guess your words had a greater impact on her than we thought."

"I need to apologize to her," Caroline confessed. "She invited me to go shopping with her while I was hiding from you and I made up an excuse not to go."

"Don't worry about Rebekah. As dramatic as she is, she probably sympathizes with the situation more than most," Klaus commented. "As it is, now we've both accomplished our objectives: Stefan is no longer pursuing either you or Rebekah."

"So now what?" Caroline asked with a smile, leaning in closer to him.

"What would you like to do now?"

"I would like to kiss you, and then dance with you, and then kiss you again, and then eat some more candy, and then kiss you again, and then dance with you again, and then kiss you again, and then go home with you and kiss you some more," Caroline listed with a big, happy grin on her face.

So that's what they did.

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Thank you so much for reading!

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lots of love,
charlotte