Tada! I finally finished the new chapter so enjoy!
Caroline awoke to sunlight streaming through the open window that faced the bed. As an arm tightened around her, she smiled thinking of Klaus's reaction to her sudden appearance the day before. Once they left the asylum, he flatly refused to let her out of his sight. That followed until they went to bed and although they didn't do anything, he pretty much ordered her to sleep in his bed. As Klaus's arm tightened around Caroline once more, she heard a mumbled, "I love you…" Stifling a laugh, Caroline rolled over and smiled at the still sleeping Klaus. She marveled at how different he looked when he was asleep. He was still gorgeous of course, but he looked less worried – almost serene. It was a good look for him.
Caroline was jolted out of her thoughts by a low chuckle. She looked up and saw Klaus's eyes staring at her in amusement. She blushed at the fact that she had been caught staring. Klaus laughed again and said, "Good morning love. Not that I don't appreciate the staring, but sadly we do have to get up. I need to talk to my siblings and I really would like to show you some of my favorite parts of New Orleans."
Caroline blushed again and replied, "Good morning. And I would love to see the city. Unfortunately, I don't really have any clothes." At the confused look Klaus adopted she continued, "Your brother was so desperate to get me here he set my flight for an hour after he called me. And he insisted that anything I needed could be bought here.
Klaus nodded slowly, "Fair point. No matter, I'm sure we can find something for you. Or you could just wear yesterday's outfit until we go shopping. I'll make that the first stop on our trip. After my siblings, of course." Caroline smiled, relieved and nodded.
She then stood up and searched for her dress. Feeling Klaus's gaze on her she turned and smiled. "See something you like?" she asked pirouetting slowly so he could see every angle of her in nothing but one of his shirts. Her dress wasn't exactly comfortable to sleep in. Klaus nodded slowly with a peculiar light in his eyes. She laughed, "Come on and get dressed. The sooner we finish with your brother and sister, the sooner you can begin trying to convince me to stay here."
In less than a second, he was next to her, peering at her with a half-hopeful, half-resigned expression on his face. "Do you mean that?" he asked, "There's actually a chance that you might stay with me?" Caroline bit her lip and nodded slowly. She shrieked with surprise as Klaus picked her up and spun her around before silencing her with a passionate kiss. "Well, in that case," Klaus continued, "let's go!" Caroline laughed as he pulled her out of the room after they had both gotten dressed. As they drove to his house (the new one, not the compound), he talked about all the things he wanted to show her during the week. "Unfortunately, I don't think there's a festival this week, but if you stay that won't be a problem. There must be one at least once a month. The witches kind of have a lot of power here."
Caroline nodded and replied, "Your friend Marcel mentioned something about that. By the way, how on earth did dead witches come back to life? Doesn't someone have to die for that to happen?"
Klaus nodded shortly and answered, "It's this thing called the reaping. Every few years, the witches choose four teenage girls and sacrifice them." At Caroline's horrified look he continued, "They come back to life at this thing they call the harvest. Apparently, the girls have to be sacrificed to renew the witches' ties to their ancestors. It's what gives them their power. Instead of the girls coming back to life, Sabine – a very old, dead witch – caused four other dead witches who have a grudge against my family to come back."
Caroline nodded, "And why does Sabine hate you?"
Klaus sighed, "She was with Elijah the first time my family lived here. I wasn't exactly fond of witches. I drowned her but she did this body jump thing and has been living like that for the past 150 years or so. To be honest, I'm a little surprised she held the grudge that long."
Caroline sighed, "Well, you did kill her. Although, trying to kill you and your whole family is a bit overkill…" Her voice trailed off as they pulled into the driveway of a gorgeous plantation house. "Ok," Caroline asked, "How do you afford all these houses? I mean, I know your rich but you still have the two mansions in Mystic Falls and I'm pretty sure you have several other places around the world since you did offer to take me places."
Klaus laughed and replied, "Well, being able to compel the realtor does have some perks. And being alive for thousands of years helps with the whole making a fortune idea. Besides, Marcel owns the compound now." He opened the car door for her and said, "Come on. I need to talk to my brother and sister so we can go have fun. And get you some new clothes if we must."
Caroline laughed before looking slightly anxious, "Are you sure I should go with you? I mean this is going to be a difficult enough conversation without an outsider hanging around. "
Klaus stopped walking to the house and looked seriously at her. "You aren't an outsider Caroline."
Caroline smiled and replied, "All the same, this is a family thing. You need to talk to them alone. I'll just hang out here." Klaus still looked conflicted so Caroline gave him an encouraging smile and sat down on the porch swing while she motioned for him to go inside. After he went inside, Caroline sat completely still, just absorbing the tranquility the scenery allowed her. She was slightly worried about Klaus, but heard no yelling so she assumed it couldn't be going too badly.
Klaus came back outside after a half hour. Caroline smiled up at him and asked, "So how did it go?" Klaus groaned and replied, "As good as could be expected I guess." He lifted her and gathered her into his arms before sighing again and burying his face in her hair. "I'm exhausted, " he added.
Caroline laughed slightly at him before gently teasing, "I thought vampires didn't get tired?"
Klaus glowered playfully at her and replied, "It's an expression." He was unable to hold his pout as Caroline laughed and broke into a smile. "Seriously though," he said, "talking to Rebekah and Elijah was draining. But enough about that. I believe you wanted to go shopping?" Caroline perked up at this and grabbed his hand, practically dragging him to the car. Klaus burst into a laugh. Her enthusiasm was infectious.
Ten minutes later, they stopped not in front of a mall but in front of a small boutique that Caroline noticed had some very cute clothes in the front windows. Although she liked the clothes, she was slightly confused. "Uh, Klaus? Why aren't we going to the mall?" she asked. Klaus smiled slightly and replied, "Well, for one thing, the mall is rather packed and I would rather not be surrounded by so many humans." Caroline grimaced slightly and nodded. He continued, "And secondly, this is one of Rebekah's favorite stores. She recommended it after she finally stopped berating Elijah for not letting you pack before coming here. Apparently, girls don't like to be without at least one change of outfits. She says thank you, by the way."
Caroline smiled and got out of the car saying, "Well, in that case, I'm going shopping. Do you want to come or do you have something to do…" Klaus replied, "As much as I would enjoy watching you try on clothes, I do need to plan out our week." With that he pulled out his wallet, handed her his gold card, and said, "Call me when you're done and I'll come to pick you up." He drove off before Caroline had a chance to protest the use of his card. Shaking her head in fond exasperation, she turned around and entered the store.
Despite her earlier reservations, Caroline liked the store after she entered. In fact, within a minute, she had already found several clothing options that suited her style. One of the clerks came up and asked cheerfully, "Do you need help finding anything?" After Caroline had shook her head the clerk continued, "Well, if you change your mind, don't hesitate to ask. My name is Nicole and the other clerk, Kimberly, will be happy to help as well." She turned to walk away before adding, "The fitting rooms are in the back on the right by the way." She smiled and turned away to help another customer. Caroline looked around and started grabbing clothes that she could take into the fitting rooms. She grabbed mostly casual clothes with a few dressy outfits and some, ahem, private things specifically reserved for when she was alone with Klaus. The shop had amazing variety. After she had an armload of clothes, she walked into the dressing room. It didn't take her long to try everything on. She walked out with the clothes she had decided to buy and called over to Nicole. "I was wondering…" she said, "would it be possible for me to walk out in some of the clothes I'm buying? Coming here was kind of spur of the moment and I would really like to get out of this dress." Nicole smiled conspiratorially and asked, "Boyfriend whisk you away on a romantic getaway?" Caroline laughed nervously and replied, "Not exactly, but that makes more sense than the real reason I came here with no clothes." At the clerk's confused expression she continued, "It's a long, slightly unbelievable story." Nicole shrugged and replied, "Ok, then. Let me just ring you up and then you can change into whatever you want to wear." Within a few minutes, Caroline had all her purchases and was changed into a light blue top and white skinny jeans with a jean jacket. Her dress and the shoes were in one of the bags filled with her purchases. As the clerk was ringing her up, Caroline had texted Klaus to tell him that she was done shopping. She walked outside just as he was pulling in.
When Klaus saw her, he started smiling and Caroline could feel his approval of her clothing choice flowing off of him. She smiled back as she got in the car and asked, "So what's on the agenda for today?" Klaus's smile grew and he replied, "Well, love, I thought we might visit one of the museums this lovely city has to offer. You know art is a passion of mine and, if I recall correctly, you seemed to enjoy it at my mother's hideous ball." She grimaced slightly before replying, "Yes, that was a high point of the evening – well, that and the horse. Everything pretty much went downhill after that…" Klaus laughed and replied, "Ah yes, the horse. Anyway, enough about terrible times. Are you ready to go?" Caroline nodded and he pulled out of the parking lot.
They pulled into the New Orleans Museum of Art half an hour later. "So, " Caroline asked as Klaus opened her door for her, "Are any of your pieces on display?" Klaus gave her a slightly sad smile and replied, "Sadly, no. We had to run before the museum was built. Regardless, the museum has a wonderful collection of exhibits that rotate throughout the year. They have special events once in a while, but for the most part the pieces stay the same. I believe the current exhibit is called 'Art in Bloom'. I think you'll enjoy it." As he was talking they were walking towards the entrance of the museum. When they reached the entrance, Klaus pulled out his wallet and paid for their admission. At Caroline's questioning look, he said, "Like I said, art is my passion. It's also dying. Museums like this need as much help as possible so I prefer to pay rather than just compel my way into them." Caroline smiled approvingly and they continued into the main gallery. After admiring the various paintings Caroline fully approved of Klaus's idea to bring her to the museum. Being a bright and bubbly person, she completely enjoyed the bright, vaguely floral paintings. About an hour after they had arrived, they continued outside to the Sculpture Garden. Klaus tensed slightly because there were more people enjoying the sunny day in this area but a touch on his arm from Caroline was all it took to make him relax. They wandered around and Caroline took several pictures of sculptures that she thought were particularly interesting.
Around five, they headed back to the compound and Klaus made an actual dinner, rather than just drinking blood. He made pasta with a creamy tomato sauce and actually pulled out a bottle of wine along with the blood that he had in the house. Klaus normally drank from humans, but he knew Caroline didn't and wanted to respect her choices. As they ate, Klaus informed Caroline of the events he had planned for the rest of the week. They would be sightseeing some more with activities such as going to the zoo and the aquarium, but Klaus had another surprise for her. "I've also scheduled a tour at Tulane University." He said. At Caroline's confused look he elaborated, "Due to our last conversation, I'm assuming you want to continue going to college. Tulane is only fifteen minutes away from this area so if you decide to stay, I feel that it would be a logical choice." When Caroline's look didn't change, he continued hurriedly, "Of course, if you decide not to stay…" A pained look crossed his face, "Well, it is still a beautiful campus and it wouldn't hurt to take a look, right?"
Caroline stood up silently and crossed to wear he was sitting. She sat down on his lap surprising him and said, "Thank you. Honestly, I hadn't really thought about college here and I really didn't think you remembered that little tidbit from a few weeks ago – especially given what happened afterward." She smiled sheepishly at his smirk. He was obviously remembering the more pleasurable part of their encounter in the woods. She continued, "It means a lot that you would try to make sure that I can continue to live as a human while I am with you." Klaus beamed and kissed her. He then picked her up making her squeal and flashed up the stairs to his bedroom. As he set her down gently on the bed, he said, "I can think of another human activity for us to try." Caroline burst out laughing until he silenced her with another kiss.
Yeah, not quite happy with how I ended that but I'm not really comfortable writing the M-rated stuff, not to mention the fact that this story is rated T. I'll leave it to you to imagine how they spent their night. If anyone has any information about New Orleans, please let me know. I'm trying to make it realistic. Read and review with your thoughts!