Caroline was nearly killing herself working on the Masquerade Ball, making sure everything was ready and perfect in due time. She was exhausted. The event was just two weeks away and there was still so much to be done.

In addition to that, Caroline, Bonnie and Elena had started working on the brunette's wedding ceremony. They only had four months after all.

When Elena told Caroline and Bonnie that she and Stefan were thinking about getting married in December, Caroline obviously thought they meant December of 2021. But no, apparently the pair couldn't wait to get to the altar. So now Caroline was supposed to arrange a perfect wedding in four months. Yay!

There were so many things to think about…all the little details that seemed insignificant to everyone else, but in reality made up for the perfect, unforgettable wedding. There was first and foremost the wedding dress, then, there was the broom's suit, the bridesmaids' dresses, the best men's outfits, the assortment of the colors, etcetera… All of that demanded a lot of preparation.

Anyway, the priority for now was still the Masquerade Ball. Caroline didn't have much time left to make it perfect.

She was so focused on her current task of setting the place arrangements that she didn't hear the steps getting closer to her.

"Hey." Tyler's voice signified his presence to Caroline.

She turned with a start.

"Hey." She said, truly pleased to catch a glimpse of him.

She hadn't really had the chance to catch up with him since his return, just the two of them, away from any prying eyes or indiscrete ears, and she was truly glad to have a small moment with him. Tyler meant a lot to her. Despite everything, he was an important part of her life, of her history. She wouldn't be who she was if it weren't for him, and vice-versa she liked to think.

Tyler got closer to her and pulled her into a friendly embrace. The blonde wrapped an arm around his shoulder and hugged him back.

"How are you?" He asked after pulling away.

She nodded. "I'm fine. I'm good." She laughed softly, and he could tell she really was. "How about you?" She asked in return.

"I'm fine too." He answered with a smile. "I haven't been able to catch a hold of you."

"I know! Same here. What's up with that?"

"I don't know. You're practically invisible."

"And I've been spending most of my days in your house." Caroline laughed.

"Ironic, huh?"

She cocked her head to the side in agreement. "I tried talking to you the other night at Elena's party." She remembered. "But Matt told me you had already left."

"Yeah, I had… some stuff to do. I left soon after I congratulated Elena and Stefan." He explained to her. "It was about time, huh?"

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Oh please, tell me about it. I've been waiting on those two idiots since high school."

"You did call their wedding a long time ago." Tyler realized.

"I absolutely did."

Tyler laughed, and she soon joined him. "Hum." His laughter died down. "Well, you also predicted some other stuff that didn't happen." He said vaguely.

He didn't have to elaborate. Caroline knew exactly what he was referring to, and she didn't know how to respond to that.

Yes, back in the days, she had a lot of plans for the two of them. She thought they would conquer the world together, side by side. But was it her fault that things hadn't turned out the way she expected them to?

She lowered her head and cleared her throat.

"I miss you, Care."

She raised her gaze towards him, a saddened expression on her face. "I miss you too, Ty."

"Can I talk to you a moment?" He asked her nicely.

"Of course."

"Away from all those eyes?" He specified, glancing at everyone around them.

"Yeah. Absolutely. Just let me give this to Bonnie and we –" She didn't get a chance to finish her thought because an arm slipped around her waist, startling her.

"Klaus!" She exclaimed looking at her side. What was up with her vampire senses today?!

He simply smiled at her.

"You scared me!"

"I'm sorry." He apologized and kissed her temple, before turning his attention to Tyler.

"Klaus."

"Tyler."

They acknowledged each other as politely as they were capable of.

Klaus looked at Caroline. "Are you ready?" He asked her.

"Hum… yeah. I just have to talk to Tyler." She told him.

She waited for Klaus to take the hint and leave them alone and when he didn't, she got annoyed. "Wait for me in the car? I'll be there in a minute."

Klaus eyed Tyler warily. Then, he did something that caught Caroline completely off guard: he turned her face to him and pressed his lips to hers pulling her into a fierce kiss. Startling her even more and in an obvious attempt to convey a point, he went as far as sliding his tongue into her mouth.

Tyler lowered his gaze to the ground. Point made.

After Klaus pulled away, she cleared her throat and shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts. He gave Tyler a sly smirk and a contemptuous glance before walking away.

Caroline shook her head in disbelief. Sometimes, she had doubts about his age. "So, um…you, um… What did you want to say to me?" She managed to let out once she regained her composure.

Tyler stared at her a couple of seconds and then dropped her gaze. "It doesn't matter." He finally said.

"Tyler…" She started but he wouldn't let her.

"Care, it's nothing that can't wait till' later, alright?" He assured her. "Your boyfriend's waiting for you." That was the last thing he said before he reentered his house, leaving a confused and bothered Caroline.

/

The road back to the mansion was silent, and you could have cut the tension reigning between Klaus and Caroline with a knife.

After his inappropriate show of possessiveness, Caroline was more or less annoyed with Klaus, and she made a mental note to discuss the whole thing with him as soon as she got the chance. Then, for whatever reason, she changed her mind and decided not to make a big deal out of it after all given that he hadn't crossed any boundaries or actually embarrassed her. But then, as she joined him at the Lockwood mansion's entrance, Klaus bore such a flagrant mask of indifference and he ignored Caroline so completely that she immediately concluded that he was obviously mad at her.

Yet, he had no reason to be mad at her. She didn't do anything wrong. As a matter of fact, if one of them got to be mad at the other, it was most certainly her. That is how she got mad at him again. So now, yes, she was definitely mad.

After a moment, Caroline had had enough. "Are you going to keep giving me the silence treatment for long?"

"I beg your pardon?" Klaus responded turning his head to look at her.

She eyed him levelly, and then shook her head and rolled her eyes. He focused back on the road ahead, returning to ignoring her.

"If you're mad at me, just say so. You don't have to act like a five year old and sulk in a corner." She pointedly remarked to him.

"I'm not sulking." He denied in an even voice. "And I'm not mad at you." He added.

"Obviously." She commented sarcastically. "You know I was starting to think you were accepting my relationships with my exes."

"I wasn't."

"I was being sarcastic."

Klaus turned his head to her and locked eyes with her. "I wasn't."

Caroline narrowed her eyes at him and stared at him angrily. He held her gaze for a few instants before he turned his gaze back in front of him.

Caroline clenched her jaw. God he was infuriating when he behaved like this. Why couldn't he just act like an adult and talk things out when something was bothering him like any normal, reasonable person would? Most of the time, he acted super wise and sensible, but when it came to these things –when it came to her she noticed –he wasn't close to his actual thousand years.

"You drive me crazy. You don't even get it." Caroline shook her head.

He didn't respond. She waited for him to, but he didn't, so she spoke again. "Klaus!" She called forcefully.

"I am right here, Caroline."

Caroline's eyes grew wide. If she didn't think she could be any madder five seconds ago, she was wrong.

"What is the matter with you?! I'm trying to talk to you!" Her anger flared up.

"I am driving, love. Do you mind?"

"Since when do you need to be focused to drive?"

"I thought you wanted me to be cautious on the road." He reminded her words she had only spoken to him a hundred times.

1-0 for Klaus.

"Don't change the subject." She spoke in a calmer voice, but the warning lying underneath was still very much present.

"There is no subject, love. I'm driving." Klaus continued to pretend obliviousness.

"Fine, then keep driving!"

"That's what I'm doing."

"Fine!"

"Great!"

She glared at him and loudly leaned against her seat. She crossed her arms over her chest, pouting.

Obviously, Klaus was mad, and not just a little. Only, unlike Caroline, he didn't want to discuss it, mostly because he knew that he shouldn't be feeling the way he did. But he couldn't help himself. When he saw Caroline with that dog, he –it ignited some fire within him –and he suddenly had to fight the urge to strangle the boy. He didn't know whether to be thankful or not for their encounter happening in a public setting. Then there was the fact that she bluntly asked him to walk away so she could have a very private conversation with him!

Honestly though, how was he supposed to react? He knew that things were over between Caroline and Tyler and that everything about that was clear between them… at least he hoped so –for the boy's sake. He was aware of all that, at least the rational part of him was. The problem was… his feelings for Caroline defied all logic. There was nothing rational about his love for her. There was nothing rational about how she made him feel. That's why seeing her casually chat with her ex-boyfriend, and not just any ex-boyfriend but her first true love, and her only one for all he knew, was so hard on him. It was beyond his control. Caroline brought out his possessiveness. Caroline brought out his protectiveness.

"How in the hell do you even get to be mad?" Caroline suddenly spoke again.

He sighed. "Caroline… are you going to drop it?" He asked her, though he already knew the answer. Of course she wasn't going to.

"No." She answered pointedly.

He nodded.

She waited a few seconds waiting for him to speak, thinking that he would, and when he didn't, she asked. "Pull over."

"What?" He glanced at her.

"Pull over." She repeated in the same resolute but cool voice.

"Caroline, you're being ridiculous."

"Do not make me pull over, Klaus."

One solid look at her, and he knew she wasn't kidding. He rolled his eyes, but still pulled over as soon as he could. She unfastened her seat belt and got out of the car.

With an exasperated sigh, Klaus did the same and joined her where she was leaned against the front of the car. "Are you being serious right now?"

"I am." She answered the most seriously. "I'm not going anywhere with you until you tell me what the bloody hell is wrong with you."

Caught off guard by her cursing, Klaus knit his brows together in disapproval and –although he tried to conceal it–light amusement.

"Bekah is really a bad influence on you." He remarked half-jokingly in an attempt to lighten the tense mood.

She looked at him sideways raising an eyebrow, and he gave her one of his stupid grins that did nothing other than melt her heart. She cracked an unwilling, tiny smile and looked away.

"Caroline…"

"Klaus…"

They laughed at their speaking at the same time.

"You need to talk to me, Klaus." She told him in a tired voice, matching her weary expression. "I can't constantly guess what's going on inside your head."

"I know." Was all he said.

She sighed. "Is it Tyler?" She asked him.

He nodded.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. She gathered her hands together. "Klaus, look, I'm in no position to make a scene about this. I'm a jealous and possessive person by nature too, so I really can't say anything. But I don't know what to do to appease you anymore. Tyler has been back for almost two weeks, and I've spent… no time with him. Because of you. I've been keeping my distance with him for you. I've been avoiding him, for you. Because you and I were just getting started and given my history with Tyler, I didn't want him to be an issue between us." She told him.

"But I can't do more, Klaus, and I won't." She warned him. "I've done my best. Tyler is my friend. I haven't seen him in ages, and I want to rekindle our friendship, and I can't stop myself from doing that because of you."

"You want to rekindle your friendship with Tyler?"

"Yes."

He nodded.

"Is that all you're going to do? You're just gonna nod. You're not going to say anything?"

He shrugged. "What do you want me to do, Caroline? What do you want me to say?"

"Anything, Klaus! What you think. What you feel. I don't want you to close yourself to me." She told him. "I want you to tell me that we're going to be okay. I need reassurance too, Klaus! I want you to tell me that we're going to make this work, that you're going to make some efforts too, that you…" She faltered. "That you're going to learn to trust me."

"It's not about trust, Caroline." Klaus countered.

"Yes, it is." She reaffirmed. "Jealousy is a proof of affection, but above all, it testifies of a lack of trust, in your partner or yourself." She elaborated. "Since I don't think you lack confidence in yourself, I have to believe I'm the one you don't trust." She said. "It's maybe not my strong point, but it's not complicated to do the math."

Klaus smiled at that.

He stared at her for a long time. He mentally chuckled as he replayed her words in his mind 'Since I don't think you lack confidence in yourself'. He was pretty sure she was kidding him. She couldn't possibly mean that. She knew him enough by now to know his smug attitude and his cockiness were mere pretense. It was a façade he showed the world to seem self-assured, but she knew better. She knew him.

"I trust you, Caroline, and that means a lot… It means everything." He gave her a meaningful look and every doubt she had about that question dissipated before the sincerity she perceived in his eyes. "The only people I trust are my family."

'And your trust in them only goes so far.' She thought inwardly, but she didn't comment on it out loud. Instead, she focused her gaze on him and listened to him silently with rapt attention.

"I just, I-" He stammered.

"What?" She asked him, suddenly very curious about what he had to say. Klaus only rarely struggled with words. He always had a witty comment or a very good retort at the tip of the tongue. She uncrossed her arms and walked towards him closing the already small distance between them. She cupped his face. "Talk to me." She encouraged him stroking his cheek gently.

"I don't know how to explain it. I can't bear the thought of the two of you together. I can't bear the thought of you with anyone but me."

"Klaus!" She interrupted him rather forcefully and tightened her grip on him. "We're not together." She signified to him, shaking her head slightly. He looked so torn, and there was a sadness in his eyes that made her heart ache. She just wanted to kiss him and hug him and never let go. Anything to take the pain away. It killed her. It killed her to see him so sad, and the fact that she was obviously the one causing him pain –unintentionally yes, but still –hurt her that much more.

This was a first for her. They had gotten extremely close in the past weeks, and even before that. They were very open with each other. Klaus, in particular, made a lot of efforts as far as opening up was concerned. Caroline was amazed at how much he was trying, at how much this –she –seemed to mean to him.

She gave him a quick peck on the lips and pulled away to stare into his beautiful, crystalline blue eyes again. "I'm with you."

"It hurts me." The words were out before he could stop them, and he immediately regretted saying them, what Caroline didn't miss to notice. That coupled with the straining in his voice caused Caroline's eyes to sting with tears. This wasn't just some possessive act. It was much more. He meant it: it hurt him to see her with Tyler. She could tell now. She was about to offer him the words of comfort and reassurance that he seemed to need so desperately when he continued.

"I hate the way he looks at you. It hurts me to see you together. It hurts me to see him less than five meters away from you. It hurts me to think that you may be thinking about him."

She released him and furrowed her brows in confusion. Huh? Whoa, he was losing it. "What?!" She let out utterly confused and getting slightly irritated to be honest. "When did that ever happen?" She leaned her head forward. "When did you ever feel that thinking about Tyler?"

Klaus lowered his head and dropped her gaze at the confusion and feeling of indignation reflected in her eyes. She cupped his cheek to turn his head back to her so their eyes met. "It's never happened, Klaus. There was never, ever, a moment when I was with you when I thought about anybody else but you, Klaus." She articulated each of her words to make sure her point got home. "Not a single moment." Caroline repeated and paused, watching through Klaus' eyes as her words sank in.

She tightened her hold on his face and got even closer to him if it were possible.

"Besides, it really doesn't matter how Tyler or anyone else looks at me." She assured him. "Don't you see the way I look at YOU?" She asked him, sinking her blue eyes deep into his own.

The way she was looking at him indeed… with those beautiful, angelic, blue crystalline eyes. Her look reminded Klaus of the way he looked at her –and he knew what he felt for her… He had never noticed that look on her before.

He believed her. Staring straight into her honest eyes, seeing her looking back at me, hearing the truth in her words, he could only believe her.

All Klaus could do in that moment was stare back at her, wondering what he could have done in his thousand years of existence to deserve this amazing woman. Nothing came to his mind –but he must have done something right at some point.

Stoking his cheek with her thumb gently, Caroline leaned in and pressed her lips to his. Klaus wasn't really into it at first, but as she poured her heart into the physical act, she felt him relax and respond to her kiss. She reluctantly released his lips to surround him with her arms and have him hug her back.

As he inhaled her scent and it filled his nose and warmed his heart, it also washed away all his doubts and irrational fears. He tightened his grip on her waist and buried his face deeper into her hair as though he was drowning and she was his lifebuoy.

Pulling away only slightly, Caroline searched Klaus' eyes. "Are we good?" She asked after she found them. "Have I gotten through to you?" A tiny, playful smile played at the corner of her lips.

Klaus laughed once, and then nodded. She pressed her forehead to his and heaved a sigh full of love. "Good."

She grabbed his hand. "Take me home."

His eyes snapped back to her. Home? She had never called his house home before. For a second, he thought his ears had betrayed him, but when her lips pulled into a thin, knowing smile, he knew he hadn't. Smiling back at her, he opened the passenger's door for her before settling in the driver's seat to take his dulcinea back home.

Guys? It takes time for me to write a chapter. And with my college courses and a perfect GPA to maintain, time is the last thing I have, okay?

I can't make this much effort for seven(-ish) reviews, so I'm asking you please to be encouraging if you want me to update as soon as possible.

I WILL finish this story whatever it takes, however long it takes. However, there is no guarantee who will be endgame. I can still reunite Forwood, you know? I can. I assure you. And you wouldn't want to be responsible for that, would you? So to your keyboards!

That being said,

rebbecca1: Ohh, I'm sorry I made you cry. That was a tough part for me to write. No, Klaus wouldn't do that. They are way past that point.

justine: We shall see. All in due time. Thanks for the review!

meganmilliann.343: OMG. Thank you! Wow, you're a Delena fan, and I managed to give you Stelena feels?! I consider that to be quite an accomplishment. I'm glad you're enjoying the story.

tippy093: Writing Damon is difficult for me. I just have a hard time figuring him out, but yes, he definitely needed to be called out. And who better than Caroline to do that? Thanks!

the-great-pretender-09: Thanks for the review! I appreciate it.