HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! MUCH, MUCH BLESSINGS AND HAPPINESS TO YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES.

MAY 2015 BE THE BEST YEAR YET.

We didn't reach 250 reviews last chapter. I'm dissappointed.

Klaus was propped up on his elbow gazing at Caroline's flawless, angelic face. His blonde angel. The beauty of her fine features was enhanced by the sun rays reflected upon her face. She looked so peaceful and worriless when she slept… One never would have known that her sleep had been agitated with ceaseless nightmares.

She had moved a lot during the night, restlessly turning in one way and then the other, and even hit Klaus once, at what point he actually considered waking her up. Not because she hit him, but because his concern for her was getting unbearable. Finally, he decided against it, telling himself that she would eventually wake up if her nightmares became too much to endure.

Because Caroline was so agitated, Klaus ended up having a restless night as well. Now, he was patiently gazing at her, waiting for her to wake up so they could discuss what the hell troubled her so much.

Finally, Caroline stirred a little. She opened her eyes to find Klaus hovering beside her. He leaned down to lay a kiss upon her forehead. She closed her eyes relishing in his touch as a smile spread over her face.

"Good morning." She said.

"Good morning." He tenderly smiled back at her.

"How long have you been up?" She asked him getting more comfortable in the bed.

"A while."

Caroline frowned at his short responses and lack of spirit. "Are you okay?" She asked him.

Klaus raised an eyebrow at her and replied, "I should be asking you that."

She definitely frowned this time. "What do you mean?"

"How did you sleep?"

She seemed to take a couple of seconds to ponder that before she answered, "Great."

'Great'?! Was that some kind of great euphemism for terrible? Was she kidding him? She barely got any sleep!

"Great?!" He repeated, astonishment dripping from his voice and disbelief in his expression. "Seriously?" He asked her. "Well, I wonder what it's like when you sleep badly." He muttered.

She shot him a look and pulled the covers closer to her. Clearing her throat, she said, "Did I wake you? I'm sorry. I know I tend to move a little when I -"

Klaus' eyes widened at that. "Move a little?" He asked her incredulous. Was she being serious? "Caroline, you were a tornado! You were restless!" He exclaimed. When she didn't respond, he added, "You kicked me!"

That got her to react. "I'm sorry." She said crestfallen.

"But that's the beyond the point." He shrugged his last comment off. "I don't want you to apologize, love. I want you to tell me: what was that about?" He told her.

"Nothing." She answered unknowing.

Klaus merely stared at her completely perplexed.

After a minute, she raised her gaze to him and met his dubious gaze. She got in a sitting position. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to hit you or worry you." She apologized. "I don't even remember what you're talking about." She said.

Klaus pulled his brows together tightly. "So you don't remember anything about your dream?" He asked, and Caroline shook her head. "Anything at all?" He insisted.

"No." Caroline denied.

He nodded, not really believing her for some reason. "And who is Vincent?" He tilted his head.

She froze at his question, what Klaus didn't fail to notice, and he would have sworn she actually shivered for a second. "What?" She asked in a weak voice avoiding his gaze.

"Vincent." Klaus repeated calmly. "You screamed his name during your nightmare."

"I –I've never heard that name before." She stuttered still not looking at him.

"Caroline, look at me." He called softly.

She didn't do it at first, but when he spoke her name again, she turned her face to him. It took her a minute, but she eventually settled her eyes on his, although he could tell it was the last thing she wanted to do. He could sense that she was very uncomfortable, and it drove him crazy to ignore the reason why.

"Who is Vincent?" He asked again gently.

She laughed, and Klaus felt as though his heart was going to stop. It was far from being the enchanting sound he had gotten so used to and would recognize out of a million. It caused Klaus' hair stand on end, but not for quite the same reasons as usual. That sound made his blood turn to ice.

"I told you I don't know." She answered, shrugging. "He's probably just a character from a movie or something." She weaseled.

He frowned at her. She was kidding him. Right?

Caroline cleared her throat and removed the covers from her body getting out of bed.

Klaus stared at her, his mouth half-open, in disbelief. She couldn't possibly be serious right now. "Where are you going?" He asked Caroline as she slipped on her dressing gown.

"I'm spending the day with Rebekah. We were supposed to have breakfast, and I'm more than late." She said pointing at the clock on the nightstand that indicated 10 a.m. "I'm surprised she hasn't come barging in yet." She said half-jokingly and laughed.

"The whole day?"

"Uh-huh." She said absently. "Well, until Elena's birthday party tonight. You're still going with me, right?" She asked. She seemed to fear he had changed his mind.

"Of course." He reassured her.

She nodded and headed towards the door.

His voice stopped her. "Haven't you forgotten something?"

She frowned, confused, before she caught sight of her phone lying on her pillow. "Oh, thanks." She leaned down above Klaus to grab it.

He gently grabbed her right forearm impeding her from standing up. "That's not what I was talking about." He pointedly raised an eyebrow at her, and she got it.

Smiling lightly, she gave him a quick peck on the lips before extricating herself from his embrace.

That left Klaus puzzled for an instant. That was probably the first peck she gave him since they got together. They never exchanged small kisses. Absolutely NEVER. Every single time their lips touched, they were in for several seconds of heat and passion. They always got caught up in their kisses.

He stared at her back, disconcerted, before he called, "Caroline..."

"Yeah?" She answered, turning around, and he would have sworn there was a bit of irritation there for a second, but he didn't call her out on it.

"Are you sure everything's okay?" He asked her again, concern laced in his voice.

She shook her head and smiled tenderly at him, "Yes, I am sure everything is okay. You don't need to worry about me." She tried to reassure him.

"No, I do worry." He said. "That's what I do, Caroline: I worry about you. That's what I'll always do." He told her earnestly.

Caroline gave him an endearing smile and walked back to the bed.

She sat in the space beside him, a leg folded beneath the other. She ran a soft hand through his ruffled sandy blonde hair, and then cupped his face. "And I adore you for that." She confessed. "But as of now, you really don't have to because I am fine!"

Klaus contemplated her for a couple of seconds before asking, "If you weren't… would you let me know?"

Caroline released his face and dropped his gaze. She hesitated briefly.

"Caroline…" He pressed as she didn't answer him. The single fact that she had to take the time to ponder his question gave him his answer, one he was displeased with and hurt by.

"Yeah." She finally responded. "Yes, of course." She offered him a small smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Look, I really got to get ready, okay?" She told him rising from the bed. "Otherwise, your sister's going to kill me, and I assume you'll kill her too… and that would just be too much blood." She said, rolling her eyes emphatically.

Her hand on the doorknob, Caroline turned to Klaus one last time. "See you downstairs, okay?"

She left without waiting for his answer. Klaus just remained seated in his current position in his bed, a blank expression on his face. What had just happened?

He was completely thrown off. He didn't understand why Caroline was pretending not to remember her nightmares. He didn't buy it. He just didn't.

She was agitated all night. She turned over and over in every direction in sweat. It was as if a horror movie was playing in her head on repeat mode. However, he didn't blame any of it on a simple horror movie. He couldn't. Not when her reaction had been so vivid. Fiction wasn't enough to ignite such terror in the fierce blonde vampire.

And then there was this Vincent persona, the man whose name she had screamed twice during the night. He remembered how she froze earlier when he mentioned his name. No, there was definitely something going on.

He wanted to believe her. He wanted to believe that everything really was okay and that she was alright, especially because he didn't want to admit that Caroline was lying to him and mistrusting him; after all this time and how much he felt he had opened to her, the fact that she wasn't able to confide in him in return hurt. But he couldn't help this feeling in his guts that something was very wrong.

Now, he didn't know what it was. But he was going to find out. And whoever it was that constituted a threat to Caroline wouldn't live to see another day. Mark his words.

/

Bonnie turned her head towards Kol and found him devouring her with his eyes. She blushed furiously. "What?" She asked a happy smile on her face.

"What?" He asked back.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She laughed.

Kol just shrugged but kept contemplating her anyway. She blushed even deeper if it were possible. She felt her face get redder and redder.

"Stop it!" She commanded.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"Staring at me." She answered pointedly.

"I'm not staring. I'm gazing." He corrected her.

She shook her head and reported her attention to her plate on the table. She fidgeted with her fork not eating any of the meal. She was satiated -as far as food was concerned anyway…

Feeling his gaze on her, she turned her head to Kol again, a teasing smile playing at her lips. A smile crossed his features as well as their eyes met, a genuine smile; one Bonnie realized she got to see too rarely to her liking.

She laughed and hid her face in her hair in embarrassment.

"What? Is a man not allowed to admire a superb creature when he sees one?"

"Haha." She laughed harder. Bringing her head back up, she got more comfortable on the couch and rested her left elbow on the back of the couch using her hand to support her head.

"Is that why you invited yourself in my house?" She asked. "To "admire" me?" She quoted.

"In all honesty, I had other ideas in mind." He confessed, and she laughed once. "But I'll take what I can get."

She nodded a tight-lipped smile on her face.

Quite frankly, Bonnie didn't know what was going on in that moment in her living room. She didn't know what Kol was doing on her couch. She didn't know how she let herself be convinced to let him in. She didn't know where they were headed looking at each other the way that they were. But she could tell this wasn't headed anywhere nice.

"You're beautiful." He said to her. "I love contemplating you."

She laughed nervously and tried and failed to keep the pink off her cheeks. She heaved a sigh and looked at him.

All of this really didn't presage anything good.

"I love staring into your eyes." Kol added, doing just what he was saying. She had absolutely gorgeous olive green eyes. He would have willingly lost himself in them.

She looked away briefly and ran a soft hand into her dark hair before anchoring her gaze to his again. "Ah, this is going to end badly." She said.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "This is going to end badly?" he asked.

"I can feel it."

"Really?"

She nodded. A few seconds passed before she admitted, "I love staring into your eyes too."

"Thank you." He responded.

Bonnie scooted closer to him reducing the already small space between them.

Kol felt his heartbeat increase as he noticed her body getting closer to his. He smirked at her, not letting her in on his nervousness, and kept devouring her with his eyes.

He was dying to kiss her. That's all he had been thinking about for weeks –make that months. He couldn't take it anymore. He wanted to put an end to this torture and finally kiss her! But at the same time, he didn't want to hustle her. He knew she was dealing with a lot at the moment, and he wasn't sure she was ready. So he was letting her take things to her rhythm and was leaving her the commands, something he wasn't used to doing.

She really wanted to kiss him. She was wondering why he hadn't gone for it yet. She had given him a number of signs indicating that she wanted this: she had scooted closer to him, and there she was, staring into his eyes with –she was sure – a certain amount of lust and affection in hers. She had a feeling that maybe he was being his thousand-years-old self, being a gentleman, and letting her make the final decision. Although, she found that thought charming, he really would have made it easier for her by just kissing her.

Her heart was telling her she wanted this, but her mind was screaming at her not to do it. Listening to her heart, she slightly moved closer to him.

Noticing her eyes go back and forth between his eyes and his lips, Kol slowly leaned into her, gauging her reaction.

Bonnie's breath caught in her throat as she felt his breath skirt her nose. Ultimately, she made the last move to kiss him by closing the distance between them.

At first, the kiss was hesitant, soft, and tender, but soon, all the feelings they had kept bottled inside burst out, and passion flared.

Bonnie ran a gentle hand into Kol's soft hair while she rested the other on his hard chest. It was a sensual and passionate kiss that awakened a lot of feelings within her. She wasn't expecting this. She wasn't expecting feeling not only lust but also much tenderness for Kol. Kol brought his hand at the nape of her neck and deepened the kiss. It was even better than in his dreams. She was even tenderer, and her lips were even more delicious. He wanted to drown in her. He couldn't get enough of her, and he couldn't imagine ever getting enough of her.

"Wow." She breathed, short of breath, as their lips separated.

Holding her face, he pressed his forehead to hers and breathed in her scent. "Wow is correct."

/

Caroline and Rebekah had a lovely girls' day out. After ditching the remaining male Mikaelsons in Mystic Falls, they went to brunch at the best hotel in town –instead of having breakfast as they originally intended to because Caroline woke up so late. Then, Rebekah suggested they had a manicure and pedicure, so that's what they went to a beautician for.

They had small talk. They talked about everything yet nothing at the same time, except about the essential: men. Rebekah didn't inquire about her friend's relationship with Klaus for obvious reasons: as happy as she was for both of them, Nik was still her brother, and she wasn't cravings for details about his love life. And Caroline, well, she didn't mention Matt because she knew their future was blurry and it was kind of a delicate topic with Rebekah at the moment. That's why although she was dying to know what the hell was even going on with them, out of respect for her friend's feelings, Caroline forbore to pry.

Their girls' day out was momentarily interrupted at the Mystic Grill.

"Oh no…" Rebekah sighed.

"What?" Caroline turned around to look where Rebekah's gaze was directed at. "Great." She said sarcastically as she spotted her least favorite Salvatore brother.

Unfortunately for them, he had caught sight of them too and was now walking towards the two blondes.

"Hey, ladies." He greeted smiling at them.

"Hi… Damon." Caroline greeted back with a serious lack of enthusiasm.

"You look lovely." He complimented them.

Caroline raised an eyebrow at him. "Thank you." She replied with hesitation.

"How are you?"

"We were great until five seconds ago." Rebekah responded.

"Haha. Very funny. You know, I missed that humor of yours, Rebekah." He told her.

She smiled sarcastically up at him, "You did? Well, you see, I didn't miss anything about you." She retorted.

"Oh, I'm not sure about that." He said, taking a sit between the two blondes without having been invited to. "I'm not convinced, especially judging by your latest conquest." He commented causing her to glare at him.

"Wow, Rebekah, you've disappointed me. Truly. I was expecting much better of you. Speaking of which, where is he? Did you forget him in his baby seat?" He teased.

Caroline who until that moment had been silently observing the banter between Damon and her friend decided to intervene not leaving the opportunity to Rebekah to leap out of her seat and attack the Salvatore. "Ok, Damon? It's not that we're not completely enjoying your charming company, but this is a girls' day out, and your being her kind of defeats the whole purpose." She explained to him.

His eyes widened in excitement, "Oh, really? That's wonderful. That means I'm going to get you ladies all to myself."

Caroline and Rebekah exchanged a look of despair.

"I don't think you understood." Rebekah said.

"I did understand." He reassured her. "I obviously cannot let two women like yourselves alone and defenseless."

Both girls had to burst out laughing at that.

"Please…, we both know I could kick your ass while remaining seated on this chair." The Original told him.

He raised his eyebrows and gave her a pointed look. "We both do know that."

Caroline winced at the innuendo behind Damon's words. Stefan had told her about the unexpected romance between his brother and Rebekah, and the older Salvatore's words were bringing unnecessary and very unwanted images to Caroline's mind. The embers of their passion were very much obvious in their exchange.

"Okay." Caroline said, putting an end to their awkward and embarrassing eye-defiance/eye-sex - however you want to call it. "We need to get going."

"Already?!" Damon got indignant. "Can't I offer you a drink before you leave?" He asked them.

"Sorry, we have a rendez-vous." Rebekah replied, putting on her jacket, before leaning down to whisper into his ear, "Perhaps another time."

"I will hold you to that!" Damon screamed as they went out the door.

/

It was the 22nd of June, and therefore, Elena's birthday. For the occasion, Elena and Stefan had decided to throw her a birthday party, which also happened to be a surprise engagement party.

After they came down from their high a little due further to Stefan's unexpected proposal, they both agreed not to tell anyone before a little while. It was Stefan's idea initially. Elena was rather reluctant at first and didn't see the point, but Stefan explained to her that waiting until her birthday to make it official would only make it that more special; so appreciating the thought, she decided to go along with it.

Consequently, she hadn't told anyone about her change in status, not even Bonnie and Caroline. She hadn't even been able to wear her engagement ring because they were keeping it a secret, and that was by far what bothered her the most. She had only gotten to wear it at the restaurant and that one night, but she found that she almost felt naked without it. It was like she needed that ring to feel whole. Just like she needed Stefan…

Stefan and Elena welcomed their friends and guests one by one as they came and led them into the dining room where Damon was casually drinking, a bored expression on his face, pretending not to sulk.

Once they had all served themselves, Stefan stood and clicked his glass gathering everyone's attention. "First of all…" He started. "I would like to thank all of you for joining us today to celebrate Elena's birthday."

He turned his focus towards the person at honor. "Elena… I don't really know what to say… since you already know everything by now." He said causing most of the assistance to the laugh. "You are an amazing, extraordinary young woman." He started. "Probably the most beautiful one I have ever met in my life… in and out." He told her genuinely, and everyone at the table knew the couple enough to know that it wasn't just some sweet-talk: he really meant every word that he was saying. "I love you so much. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you, you know that. You're twenty-five years today. Yet, you look just like you did when I first met you." He said and Elena burst out laughing, everyone's laughter accompanying hers. "I wonder how's that possible." He continued. Even more resounding laughter.

His expression got serious again. "I will always love you." He stared right into her eyes. "Always and forever. I am so blessed that I got to spend yet another birthday with you. I hope we have many, many more." He finished.

Everyone's gaze shifted to Elena gauging her reaction. She was looking at Stefan, a fair amount of emotion in her eyes, tears brimming inside them.

She stood up and reached out for his face locking her lips with his. What they all thought was going to be a soft, gentle kiss turned out to be a hot, passionate kiss causing some –the girls –to widen their eyes in astonishment, and others –the boys –to look away in embarrassment and somewhat revulsion.

Caroline and Bonnie exchanged a look at the very surprising display of affection. This was probably the hottest, least self-conscious make-out session involving their friend that they had yet to witness.

Elena kissed Stefan avidly while he held her close to him by the waist. It was an intense, soul-claiming kiss. She eventually pulled away –much to their guests' relief –and her hand slid from his hair to the side of his neck as they pressed their foreheads against each other.

Bonnie leaned over to Caroline. "Look how cute they are." She whispered.

"Shut up!" Caroline exclaimed attracting everyone's but the couple's attention to her.

Bonnie got offended. "Don't tell me to shut up!"

The blonde made an annoyed sound and brushed her off with her hand. She rather focused on a particular element on her other girl friend's finger.

"Oh my God…" She breathed. "You're engaged?!"

You wanted Kennett... I humored you.

Now, why don't you humor me and review *puppy dog eyes*?

What do you think of Caroline's nightmare? Is there something she's not telling Klaus?

Am I just messing with you?

Let me know your thoughts.

Come on. I had a crappy New Year. Cheer me up! Please.