Hi everyone! Thank you sooo much for all your nice comments about this story. I am so happy that you like it, it means a lot! I hope you're going to like this chapter as well.

Please be nice with the mistakes, english is not my first language.

I don't own anything in TVD.

The time passed. Tyler was gone on his search for Hayley and Caroline knew that things were over between them. He was too obsessed with his revenge to think about anything else. Caroline had tried not to think about Klaus but his speech at the Grill was haunting her. The flash of disappointment she had seen in his eyes was hurtful. She was not used to see that in his gaze when he was looking at her.

Admiration, yes.

Contentment, yes.

Desire, yes.

Honesty, even, yes.

But disappointment, no.

And Caroline didn't like the way it made her feel. She didn't like it at all. She was trying to convince herself that everything was for the best, that she had only spent time with Klaus in order to distract him but she was doing a very bad job at convincing herself.

Eventually, she cracked up. On the verge of explosion to brood over the same thoughts over and over again, she decided to talk to Klaus. She couldn't keep torturing her mind like this or she was going to go crazy. He was the bad guy after all. He had no right to make her feel bad. He had no right to judge her. It was with that thought in mind that Caroline barged into the mansion one afternoon, determined to clear her mind and finally go on with her life.

She found Klaus in his studio, focused on a new canvas. He didn't even acknowledge her presence and Caroline cleared her throat, trying to make him look at her. As Klaus imperturbably kept painting his canvas Caroline rolled her eyes.

"Are you just going to ignore me?" she asked impatiently.

"I have not decided yet" Klaus answered calmly. "If you are here to tell me what a monster I am and how better you would be without me in your life then, yes, I'm going to ignore you."

Caroline rolled her eyes again.

"I am not here for that."

Klaus shrugged. "Whatever" he said indifferently. "What do you want?"

Caroline pursed her lips. "Aren't you going to look at me?"

Klaus shrugged again. "As you can see I'm busy" he answered with the same indifference. "Tell me what you have to tell me and go away."

Caroline scoffed, failing to hide how much she disliked the way he seemed uninterested in her presence.

"You are the bad guy" she said aggressively in retaliation for his behavior "you have no right to judge me and to tell me that I disappoint you".

Klaus didn't even stop his moves on the canvas. "Ok. Duly noted. Now you can go" he said evenly.

Caroline huffed in impatience as Klaus' impassiveness was really getting on her nerves.

"Could you at least look at me?" she bursted in anger.

For only answer Klaus just pressed his brush against his canvas and Caroline's blood suddenly boiled. Impulsively using her vampire speed, she put herself in front of Klaus and she roughly took his face in her hands to make him look at her.

Klaus' control snapped at her bold move and he gripped her shoulders with a loud snarl. Forcefully moving her through the room, he backed her against a wall and pinned her there.

"What do you think you are doing?" he growled dangerously. "Haven't you done enough? Why can't you leave me alone?"

High on anger and adrenaline and probably on something else, Caroline refused to let him deter her.

"Because I can't stop thinking about you" she blurted out. "Because I am drawn to you and I hate it. Because I don't want to see disappointment in your eyes when you look at me. Because I feel guilty for the way I let the hybrid lead you to a trap. Because I want to spend time with you. Because I want to get to know you…"

Caroline abruptly stopped talking when she noticed Klaus' murderous glare. Roughly shaking her shoulders, he raised his voice so high that she actually jumped.

"You shut up now! How dare you keep lying to me?"

Caroline swallowed hard but it was too late to back down.

"I'm not lying to you, Klaus, I promise. Please listen to me. Just listen. Please."

Klaus looked in her begging eyes so intensely that Caroline felt like he was burning holes in her gaze. Slightly loosening his grip on her shoulders he growled again.

"You have ten seconds."

Caroline took a deep breath, relieved to have a chance to explain herself.

"You were right" she started.

Klaus frowned but he stayed silent.

"I like it" Caroline admitted softly.

She paused and this time Klaus seemed intrigued.

"What do you like?" he couldn't help but ask.

"I like the power I have over you. I like that you act so different with me. I like that you show me your human side. I like that you smile at me. I like that you open up to me." Caroline's voice was lower and lower and he wouldn't have heard the last part of her confession if it wasn't for his hybrid's ears.

Klaus shoulders unclenched a little but his gaze remained guarded.

Caroline sighed and resumed talking.

"I did enjoy the time we spent together at the pageant" she added even more softly.

She paused again, not really sure about Klaus' reaction.

"I feel guilty" Caroline finally confessed in a breath.

Klaus frowned again.

"About what?"

"About letting the hybrid lead you to the trap."

Klaus sneered.

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" he asked almost amused.

Caroline shrugged and for the first time she looked at him right in the eyes.

"It's the truth. That day, I spent my time trying to remember all the horrible things you did to us and trying to find a justification for leading you to death but the truth is, at the end of the day you are no worse than us. No worse than Stefan. No worse than Damon. No worse than me."

Klaus seemed to relax a little but Caroline could see that he was far away from being convinced. And she couldn't really blame him.

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked after a silence. "Do you want me to give you the absolution for betraying me?"

Caroline shook her head but didn't answer, suddenly embarrassed.

Klaus scoffed and leant closer to her. "Come on Caroline, answer me! Why are you telling me this? Why are you really here?" His grip on her shoulders was tightening again and Caroline closed her eyes. It was now or never. It was now that she could tell something which will change her life forever or shut up and never look back.

"Because I miss you" she admitted.

Everything suddenly stopped in the room. Caroline stopped breathing, Klaus' heart stopped beating, the fire stopped crackling and even the birds outside stopped chirping. During a few seconds the silence was deafening and Caroline thought she was going to faint.

Then Klaus did the worst thing she would have thought he could. He burst into laughter. Caroline opened her eyes, a sharp pain twisting her stomach at the sound.

"You miss me" Klaus mocked her. "You miss me? And you really think I am stupid enough to believe you? Seriously, Caroline, how dumb do you think I am? Do you really believe that I am so desperate for your attention that I'm going to fall for this? Again?"

Klaus' voice was rising again. He couldn't believe that she had the nerves to come in his own house, trying to sweet talk him again!

Caroline had shifted uncomfortably with the rising of his voice but she wasn't going to back down now. She was expecting this reaction from him.

"You can laugh" she answered a little sadly "but that is the truth. Even if I hate myself for this, I am drawn to you, Klaus and there is nothing I can do about it. And I did feel guilty when the hybrids were planning to take you down and I did miss you those past weeks and…

Caroline abruptly stopped talking when Klaus hit the wall behind her with his fists. His face was twisted in anger and she noticed that his teeth were gritted.

"Don't lie to me, Caroline. I am definitely not on the mood to play games with you" he warned.

Caroline swallowed but she stubbornly stood her ground. "This is the truth" she said again. Why would I be lying to you now?"

Klaus put his hands flat on the wall behind her on each side of her face and leant closer to her.

"I am going to say it one more time, Caroline, stop lying to me". His voice was extremely low and Caroline knew he was on the verge to snap.

She couldn't back down now. She just couldn't. Not after having the courage to finally tell him the way she felt. It must be a way to convince him, it must be. Think, Caroline she admonished herself, think, think, think….and suddenly:

"Compel me."

Author Note: I am well aware that some of you are going to think that this last line is totally out of character for Caroline. I have hesitated a very long time between "compel me" and "kiss me" and I know that you probably all have preferred the "kiss me" thing but in those circumstances it didn't seem right to me. At this point, Klaus needs a really strong proof and in my opinion the kiss was neither enough nor appropriate. Caroline's choice will be explained on next chapter so please give it a chance.

Thank you very much for reading. Please let me know what you think, reviews always make me sooo happy :-)