"You can't be serious."

Caroline just looked back at Bonnie and the witch straightened in surprise, glancing back down to where the symbols she'd painted melded with the stone. The two girls were at Steven's Quarry, Bonnie one of the witches tasked with preparing the site for the final harvest ritual and Caroline needing to get Klaus' offer off her chest.

The quarry, once a source of stone and minerals in the wizard's time, was a desolate void, a wound in the picturesque landscape of Mystic Falls, bereft of all life. It sent chills down Caroline's spine every time she passed the boundary, trees full and lush and then...gone. Nothing. Not even a weed snaking up from the ground. No birds chirped in the trees. Light seemed to absorb in the dark rockface.

It was a void, and a reminder. Of what magic could do when left unchecked, and it was the somber side of the harvest ritual. Bonnie brushed a few more symbols across the stone ringing the pit, and Caroline let the silence lie. Normally she'd pester Bonnie, but something about this place stilled her to patience.

"Are you going to do it?"

Caroline sat on her haunches, fingers tracing the trails of dried paint. "It would be enough money for the surgery. And then some. I could pay off our house. Yours too, if you want. Send Matt's sister to rehab. So many things." She paused, meeting Bonnie's eyes. "He made it pretty hard to refuse."

Bonnie bristled at this. "He threatened you?"

Caroline gave a short bark of laughter, the amusement not reaching her eyes. "No no, I just mean, it's way more than I would have made conning Dr. Maxwell. It's enough to fix everything and never have to grift again."

"I don't like it. I don't trust him."

Caroline was silent for a moment. "I don't like it either, but I.. trust him on this at least. He wants something, and for whatever reason, he thinks I can help get it for him." She looked around, the absolute stillness of the quarry a menacing weight. "Are you done yet? 'Cause i want to get out of this creepy place."

Bonnie snorted. "That makes two of us. This place isn't just devoid of life, it's devoid of magic. It's why it feels so weird. It's a good reminder," she trailed off, her eyes going distant then canting down in avoidance, and Caroline barely suppressed her grimace, remembering when Bonnie had gotten tangled up in dark magic a few years ago. She slung an arm around her friend, wanting her close, and Bonnie looked up, the groove between her brows easing as she smiled.

The two girls picked their way back to the car which took forever to start as they'd parked too close to the quarry. Nothing lived there for long. Caroline pulled onto the main road headed back into town as Bonnie spoke up again.

"So what exactly does he want you to do?"

"Steal something from Marcel's tower."

"Wait. What? Care, you're amazing, but it's not like you're...Spiderman, or even a thief for that matter. I don't get it?" Bonnie questioned, rolling down the window to let in some fresh air. The quarry clung to them like death.

"Right, I'm not a thief. But I'm a hell of a grifter," she replied, grumbling, "when someone doesn't interrupt my game. And I don't think anyone could steal anything from Marcel without pulling the wool over his eyes first." She turned her blinker on, spoke over the rhythmic click. "He wants to do it during the Harvest Gala, and I've already got a tentative plan - though, I mean of course, there are still a few things I need to resea-"

"Care, you sound excited," Bonnie observed.

The blonde jerked her head in surprise, glancing at her friend as the words' impact crept across her face.

"You're not wrong."

Walking into The Abattoir was like flashing back to college. Pulsing music making conversation impossible, decor straight out of a goth's dream, and shots served in kitschy glasses - in this case faux bloodbags. It was the tackiest thing she'd ever seen, and she let Klaus know it as she entered his back office after giving a small smile of thanks to the hybrid who'd escorted her from the door.

"People want the escape of it, love. They want to believe in the authentic vampire experience, so we serve it to them." Klaus motioned to a table where a set of blueprints were unrolled, seeming unperturbed by her complaints. "Aside from hating our decor, I trust you are well?"

Caroline looked at him oddly. "Can we just stick to business?"

"Of course, sweetheart."

"Business doesn't include calling me sweetheart."

His face grew irritated and she held back her smile. "Fine. Caroline." And she regretted her stance immediately, hearing that name from his lips again. It sent a shiver down her spine.

She leaned over the table and realized the blueprint was a floor plan of Marcel's tower. "Where did you get this?"

"I drew it."

Caroline looked up in surprise. "Seriously? Wait. You drew blueprints from what though?"

"Memory, from when I helped the wizards to design the tower."

"Holy…" Caroline stood up straight, putting up a hand to steady her against one of the bookshelves that lined the walls. The chasm of history opened up before her and she looked at the ancient vampire, curiosity shining from her eyes. "What was it like?"

Klaus studied her, and she watched emotions flit over his face as if he were considering. His mouth set in a firm line, those full lips narrowing over a bad memory. "The wizards suffered from hubris, and paid the price." A pause grew between them, and Caroline mentally kicked herself. They weren't friends, what was she doing talking to him like they were? He opened his mouth, as if sensing her discomfort. "It was as beautiful as it was terrible, Caroline." She looked up at her name, slid her hands into her pockets for something to do. "You see the remnants of magic, the bridge, the tower now, but in its heyday the magic swirled around, visible in the air. It connected everything and everyone. And the wizards used that for their own gain, until…" he trailed off, and she would have let him, but his jaw set in what she already had learned as stubborn rage. "My family killed them all. And then I killed my father." His eyes lasered up to her own, as if goading her. "Isn't that what you wanted to know? Because that is me, Caroline. The big bad Klaus Mikaelson, the alpha male, the hybrid king."

She stood her ground; god he was so transparent. "Do you say that to yourself every morning in the mirror like some sort of supervillain affirmation? Because I gotta say, very nice," she said, kissing and lifting her fingers in a show of mock appeal. "Honestly? I don't care about rumors, or your past. I care about being able to pay my mom's medical bills, so let's get to work huh?" She waited, shoulders tense, and relaxed when he did, both of them leaning back over the plans, a flurry of questions and answers as they debated strategies.

It was clear the night of the gala would be the prime moment to strike. Despite the increased security, the sheer number of people and the change in routine provided the best cover they could hope for. Caroline had to admit that Klaus' planning was almost as thorough as her own, and she felt a begrudging respect begin to grow. Except for when he shot down her ideas, because she was right, damn it. Compromising the Tower's vervain supply shouldn't be the main plan, but it would prove useful, she was sure of it.

Caroline resettled herself on the couch where they'd been sitting together in Bonnie's living room downtown. Tonight was the 10th day of the harvest, and the city was already starting to buckle from the protracted celebrations. Trash lined the streets and dazed partygoers still drunk from the previous evening walked past the open window. Bonnie stood up to close it, wrinkling her nose. "They need someone on piss patrol."

Caroline choked on her drink. "Wh-what?"

"Piss patrol. Someone needs to round up all these drunk dudes peeing on the streets. Mystic Falls smells like a urinal the whole damn festival. It's disgusting. And since when did celebrating magic become an excuse to get drunk?"

"Anytime is an excuse to get drunk, 'specially in a college town, Bon. Look," Caroline reached over, grabbed Bonnie's hand in her own. "You do not have to help me. At all, if that's what's bothering you. Cause you're bothered, I can tell."

Bonnie lifted a brow. "That obvious, huh?"

Caroline gave a half smile in response, giving her friend's hand a squeeze.

"I don't know Care." Bonnie shrugged, her hair sliding down a shoulder with the movement.

"Hey," Caroline said, her voice soft. "I never want to make you do something you don't want to do. You've sacrificed so much, Bon. I can't do that to you. I'll ask Klaus to bring in another witch. She won't be as good as you, bu-"

"No, that's really not it," Bonnie interrupted. "I know it's a choice with you, not an expectation. And you know my boundaries and are ok with me only helping from behind the scenes. I'm just," she sighed, looking down at their clasped hands, "this is huge, Care. You're helping one vampire king go up against another, and I just don't want to lose you in the process."

"Go big or go home?" Caroline said, her shoulders raising in an exaggerated shrug in her attempt to ease the mood. Bonnie cracked a wry smile.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense for you, when I think about it," she said, glancing up at Caroline. "I mean, you've got me researching magic that I'm not sure has been tried since the wizard's ruled, and I gotta admit it's pretty awesome."

"I knew part of you missed having to come in and save the day with Bonnie magic," Caroline teased.

Bonnie huffed a laugh. "Yeah. The challenge of figuring out the next spell. Keeping Elena alive at all costs." She shook her head, "Honestly it's a wonder we avoided the attention of Klaus and Marcel for so long with how much we fell into protecting Elena. That girl was a danger magnet, I swear." She trailed off and her hands twisted in her lap. Caroline could sense what she wanted to say.

"I miss her too, Bon." The witch gave a small grateful smile in response.

Sometimes, there was no better solidarity than bonding over things you didn't want to feel but did anyway.

The ward sounded and Bonnie stood to let Josh in, crossing the braided rug with a few steps. Klaus had brought the young vampire in to cover the technical side of things - magic wasn't going to be enough, they needed every tool in the arsenal to pull this caper off.

"Ahh! A Klaus-free planning session. Color me relieved," Josh said, pulling up a chair to sit across from the two girls on the couch. He glanced up at Caroline. "How did you manage that, by the way? Klaus is a grade-A control freak." His mouth shut with a click. "I - he...please tell me he's not lurking in the other room."

Caroline laughed, shaking her head. "You're safe."

"Ok, because this morning he pulled out someone's intestines by hand because their till was off by fifty bucks."

"God, he's so dramatic," Caroline replied with an eye roll. Bonnie glanced sharply at her and she belatedly realized how that might have sounded. "I mean, he's awful, that's a given," she said lamely and knew Bonnie wasn't fooled.

"That's one way of putting it," Josh responded, reaching towards the bowl of pretzels on the coffee table in clear inquiry. Bonnie nodded and slid the bowl closer to him with her foot. "So here's the thing with The Tower. Marcel's got some crazy scans at the entrances, they're designed to detect just about everything: glamours, spells, weapons, computers. You're not getting anything past the doors. And that goes for the employee and shipping entrances too." He popped a few pretzels into his mouth, chewing and swallowing before he continued with an apologetic glance at Bonnie. "I know you've been working on a way to make spells dormant, but I'm like 95% sure the scans will detect that as well."

"Shit."

The room descended into silence save for the crunching of pretzels, until Josh stopped mid-chew at both of their stares. "Sorry," he mumbled thickly through his mouthful.

"Are the scans magic?" Bonnie asked, taking a sip of a now cold mug of tea and making a face of distaste.

"Yeah, they are."

"Then iron should block them, yeah?"

Josh shrugged but Caroline picked up the thread of Bonnie's thought. "I don't think we should press it too much, but yes, the Fae aren't wrong about iron cancelling magic out." She stood up and began pacing. "We could sneak some stuff in a catering cart. Hide some tech beneath a few iron cookie sheets!" Josh and Bonnie couldn't help but smile at Caroline's triumphant tone.

"Sure, I don't think you need much from me. You've got most of the vault security covered, yeah?" Josh asked.

Caroline nodded sharply. "I will. So just a phone, something to figure out the vault pin in case it changes, but honestly the biggest thing is communicators so I can talk to you guys." Neither would be at the gala, Caroline had insisted on this point with Klaus, and he'd begrudgingly agreed that the fewer people to get caught the better.

"Do you really think Marcel's not going to notice anything's up?" Bonnie asked, concern thick in her tone.

"Nope. I think he's 100% going to know something's up." Caroline twisted in her seat, leaning over with a secretive grin. "And that's why my plan is going to work."

After ducking her third hybrid tail for the week, Caroline marched into The Abattoir, pissed. The bartender greeted her with a raised brow and a thumb pointing behind him towards the office when she asked, and Caroline stormed inside. She'd been trying to avoid hitting up Klaus' headquarters as much as possible - they were both certain activities were monitored - but this tail thing had to stop.

"Can you tell her your minions to back off? I'm wasting time ditching them every morning. Seriously, Klaus, I need to get stuff done and I can't hit my marks when I've got someone cramping my style."

Klaus looked up from a sheaf of papers, his brows shooting up in amusement as the teasing smile he often adopted in her presence lit on his face. "They're just out getting my dry cleaning, love. Anything else is coincidental."

"Yeah right," she drawled. "Look, I get that you're invested in this plan working, but they're getting in the way. Back off," she said, fire in her eyes, irritated at her continued reaction to his physical charms. Not. Going. There.

Klaus motioned at low-slung chair nestled in the corner and she sat, watching as he moved across the room to join her. There were no windows in his office, but one of the walls was wizard glass, enchanted in times gone by to reflect the weather outside. He passed through an impossible beam of sunlight, the light catching on the planes of his face, his eyes harder than she'd expected.

"Caroline. I trust your abilities implicitly, but this cannot fail." He ducked his head to try to meet her suddenly downturned eyes.

"Why me?" She asked. The question surprised them both. "I mean, why not your family, why not your minions, why did you pick me?"

He stared at her for a moment, long enough to make her start fidgeting in her chair, her words felt like baring her underbelly to a predator. "Caroline," he said, the syllables distinct, "I've watched you con the most cynical of men out of thousands. I saw you wrap two marks around your finger, I know that you've been doing this for years and have never been caught." He turned to a side table, lifting a decanter of liquor up in inquiry and pouring two glasses at her nod.

"Most of all, I know that you're loyal, and I do not trust my family to be the same." He turned his head, his jaw set, and she saw how much this statement cost him, how he'd let the truth of it sink into his bones. He rallied, as if remembering where he was, and narrowed his eyes at her and she almost laughed at his mercurial mood. "Besides, ask yourself, love. Do you really believe in your question, or is it just habit?"

Her heart thudded in her chest with the impact of truth delivered. Because he was right. It wasn't how she felt, not since becoming a vampire. Not since making sure Damon Salvatore never came near her again. Not since she stopped believing Elena was better than her. Not since she realized the things others had mocked were what made her strong.

She wouldn't underestimate Klaus again, he had an unerring way of digging to the root of her that was beyond unsettling. She avoided answering, but she could tell from his smile he'd already found one on her face. She tried to divert.

"What's the big deal about this potion Marcel has anyway?" Klaus hadn't been particularly forthcoming with details, but when pressed 'I need to know the size of what I'm stealing, and to know if you could use it to kill all of Mystic Falls on an angry whim' he'd given her that tidbit. A potion, something safe for the citizens of Mystic Falls.

He smiled as if following her train of thought. "Something that could harm myself or my family."

"But you're immortal, Klaus, what could harm you, really?"

He opened his mouth, closed it again, and looked at her with steady eyes. "Nothing," he said finally, and stood to walk back to his desk, an avoidant set to his shoulders. Caroline stored it for puzzling over later, because there was something more to this he wasn't willing to trust her to admit. She felt her earlier irritation return.

"We still haven't solved the issue of your hybrids keeping watch. It needs to stop, Klaus. You need to trust me." She crossed the expanse of the office, speaking to his back. He turned in a blink so suddenly that she had to restrain a flinch.

"I trust you, Caroline. It's Marcel that I don't trust, and I need you safe."

"I'm safer when I'm not distracted by your minions following!" she exclaimed, exasperated, and he nodded to himself a few times.

"Well then, I'll just have to be the one to come along."

"What? That's not what I'm saying, Klaus!" She did not want to spend more time than she had to around him. He was too perceptive, too close to sinking underneath her skin, and her mom and Bonnie's warnings were still front and center in her mind.

"It's either the hybrids or me. I trust you Caroline," he repeated. "But this is too important to not cover every angle, every facet of this plan and ensure it succeeds." His eyes were fierce and she saw a glimmer of what he'd been trying to hide earlier. This was important to him, and now the challenge of figuring out why moved to the top of her list of things to do. Which meant…

She took a breath, exhaled. "OK."

His head jolted back in surprise, as if expecting more of a fight. "OK?"

She nodded. "I think raiding the vervain supply will be a hell of a lot easier with two people." She walked over to the desk, tugged a blank sheet of paper off the pad and jotted a plan. "We know the manufacturing plant is here, so see…"

Bonnie's hand glided gently along an invisible path, guiding the sphere of magic in front of her. The spell's glow guttered for a moment and her heart dropped, but the light returned, flaring brightly and then dimming slowly, the magic turning in on itself as the witch muttered her incantations. With an audible pop the spell finished, and Bonnie quickly turned her palm up to catch the small, imbued charm.

She set the charm down on the rug where she sat cross-legged, shrouded in darkness from the blackout curtains she'd pulled taut over the windows. God, she really needed to get out of the house - she'd been working on the dormant spell angle for the past two days without cease. Still, one last check. She whispered a Latin phrase and passed her hand over the charm. Nothing. Which in the case of a detect magic spell was exactly what she wanted. She smiled with satisfaction. Her friends had gotten one thing wrong - granted, she did push herself too hard sometimes, sacrificing herself again and again, but she knew it was something more than that. It was for moments like this, the magic hot in her veins, the heady feeling of success, the idea that she'd just taken the impossible and made it merely improbable. There was no sacrifice in that.

She stood up to find her phone to tell Care and sat back down immediately, dizzy from the rush of magic. She'd been pushing it hard these past few days, but it was nothing compared to Caroline. Bonnie had never seen her friend so motivated, so determined, and she nervously kept to herself how alike her friend seemed to Klaus when their heads were bent over a set of plans, their voices a low murmur. She kept to herself how ruthless Caroline's plan was, because it was brilliant, and it would work. She kept to herself how Klaus' eyes tracked over Caroline with something that was eerily close to adoration.

Well, she at least didn't talk to Caroline about it. Her and Josh had developed a rapport of eyebrow raises when the oblivious pair's planning skirted the edges of full-on flirting.

It was weird, she thought, to reconcile a story with the actual person at hand. Because Klaus wasn't acting quite like the monster Grams warned her about. She wasn't fooled for a second into thinking that in any other circumstance he wouldn't be a murderous tyrant, but now? He was driven by single-minded purpose and the implacable will of one Caroline Forbes.

Who, speak of the vampire, was sending her phone vibrating across the coffee table right now.

"Guess what, Care?" Bonnie asked after she picked up the phone, keeping her tone cool, but her friend knew her too well.

"You're amazing Bon. And if i know you, you haven't left your apartment in days. So now it's your turn for guess what-" A knock sounded at the door and Bonnie laughed. "Let's go out and celebrate!"