Chapter 11

"Don't bury her," Klaus pleaded to Caroline as he walked up behind her.

Caroline spun around. Klaus took in the look on her face – her red eyes, her faded cheeks, the purple bags under her eyes. The red eyes seemed to be a permanent fixture for the past couple of days.

Liz Forbes still lay in the exact place Caroline and Klaus had found her. Caroline was afraid to move her, to touch her, or to see her. The past two days Caroline had stayed at the boarding house in one of the many guest houses.

"You don't want me to give my mother the proper burial?" Caroline asked astonished.

"I want you to give me a chance to bring her back."

"What? By making her a vampire or something?" Caroline didn't know if that was even possible, but the last thing she wanted was for her mother to have to live the horrible life of a vampire. At least this way, she was at peace.

"No, as a human. I don't know if it will work, but my witch up in Chicago is very strong. She may be able to bring her back to life." Klaus reasoned.

"You mean like Bonnie brought Jeremy back to life?" Caroline asked. Klaus nodded simply.

"You think you can bring my mother back?" Caroline asked. Tears suddenly filled her eyes, but for the first time in days they were happy tears. Caroline ran to Klaus and hugged him. She didn't even want to let go. If Klaus brought her mother back to life, she would be eternally grateful. She couldn't imagine holding any of the horrible things he'd done against him if he could somehow save, or even try to save, her mother.

"I'm not promising anything," Klaus whispered against her hair. "And we'd have to take your mother up to Chicago to see my witch."

Caroline nodded against his chest, "I don't care." She muttered. "I'd do anything to have my mother back."

Klaus later compelled a mortician to dress Liz's body so that it would no longer reek of death. He also got a coffin for her. He if she was coming back to life there was no telling how long it could take to find a way to bring her back to life.

Within three days' time, Caroline and Klaus, with Liz in the trunk, were driving up to Chicago. She'd informed her friends very loosely of what she was doing. They just knew she was trying to find a way to bring her mom back to life. They'd accepted it well enough and left her on her way. For right now, she was going to be in a car with Klaus for a day or more just driving. Talk about awkward.

They had the radio playing, but it did very little to mask the silence.

"You can talk to me," Klaus said quietly. "You've done it before. You don't need to pretend like it didn't happen."

"I don't have anything to talk about." Caroline said.

Klaus looked towards her from the driver's seat. "Caroline, your mother just died. You found her dead on the floor. I think you have some stuff you could talk about. You need to talk to someone about it." He looked around the car, "And since I'm the only one here, I don't think you have much of a choice." He smiled encouragingly at her.

"What good is talking going to do, Klaus?" She asked. "My mom's dead…she's the only family I had left. There's nothing I can do about it. So there's nothing to talk about."

"Well…then tell me about your mom. What was she like other than being the sheriff of this rinky dink town?"

"Well, my mother and my father divorced when I was little. I hardly ever saw my father. I always thought he must have just not loved me, like most other people. In elementary school people were scared of me because my mother was the sheriff. They thought that I would beat them up or something if they did something wrong." She laughed. "That all changed in middle school and high school. As you know, I am very popular and loved girl." She laughed and smiled towards him. "My mom always tried her best to be a great mom when I was little, but it was hard for her. She wasn't home very often because of her job. She always tried to make my birthdays the best though."

"Sounds better than my mom," Klaus said sarcastically laughing lightly. Caroline laughed.

"Yeah, well my mom wasn't an evil witch." She said through gritted teeth. "You don't actually believe that she's here because she's forgiven you, right?" Caroline asked. She seemed somewhat worried. It was an odd emotion to hear through Klaus' ear. He hardly ever heard it…much less directed at him. Klaus wondered if it was really worry, or if it was just his mind making it up.

"Of course not," Klaus said confidently. "I'm not stupid. I just figure that whatever my evil mother is stirring up, I most likely won't be able to stop. She's a very powerful witch, you know."

"So you're just going to sit back and let her do whatever she wants? Why don't you just kill her again?"

"She came back to life; I don't really think killing her would do much good." Klaus said in a ridiculous tone.

"Elena and the others think your mother is the person that's going to kill you. They think she has some sort of a key." Caroline almost sounded like she was pleading with him to kill his mother. Even to her ears she sounded somewhat desperate.

"If anyone can kill me, it is my mother. I don't know what she has planned. I don't plan on sitting around and watching her kill me. I just have to think of what to do first."

"Well, maybe if you stayed in Chicago or went somewhere far away she couldn't do anything to you anyway." Caroline suggested.

Klaus shrugged. "I'm not going to stop living my life because someone is after me. I've been on the run for centuries. I am a master at it. I've stayed alive thus far, I don't plan on dying now." Klaus smiled at her. "No worries."

"I wasn't worrying." She defended. "I was just warning you."

Klaus nodded. "I see." He laughed at her.

They fell into a comfortable silence. They'd been driving for about an hour or so. Caroline looked out the window and followed the scenery of the land. It was at that moment that she realized Klaus was speeding, dramatically speeding. She brought her hand to her mouth to cover her laugh. Klaus looked over at her curiously. She turned to see that he was staring at her – and no the road.

"What?" She asked smiling at him.

Klaus shrugged, "Nothing."

"So who's this witch you speak of?" Caroline asked.

"Gloria." Klaus answered simply. "I've known her for a very long time. She doesn't like to help me much, I'm immature you know. I figure that it's not me I'm asking help for. It's you, a little baby vampire who just wants her mother back. I don't know if she'll help. I don't know if she can help, but nonetheless it's worth a try."

"Thank you, for at least trying." Caroline smiled at him.

Klaus reached across the car. He placed his hand on top of hers, squeezing it lightly. "Anything to help," Klaus said quietly.

Caroline wanted to ask him why he seemed to like her. She still couldn't fathom this liking he had of her. She didn't understand it. She didn't know why he was so nice to her or why he wanted to help. She welcomed him freely though, now. She realized that Klaus wasn't much different than the friends she had now. They all had agendas to keep to and things they wanted to get done. Klaus was just a normal vampire on steroids. Caroline decided to not ask him and moved on.

Despite Klaus' ridiculous speeding, they still had another day of driving due to their late start. They stopped halfway in Cincinnati, Ohio. Klaus had 'reserved' – as he liked to call it, Caroline liked to call it compulsion – them a suite at the Marriot hotel. Caroline and Klaus made their way up to the suite with their suitcases. Caroline set her stuff on the floor and explored the large suite that he had gotten them. She saw a kitchen area. She saw a living room with a couch and a TV. She saw a bedroom and a bathroom.

She came back to the living room where she saw Klaus sitting on the couch smirking. "One bedroom? Really?" Caroline asked annoyed.

Klaus smirked, "That was a coincidence."

"Yes, because your face reeks of surprise." Caroline said sarcastically. She went to a closet where there were extra pillows and blankets. She got one of each out and threw them at him. "You'll be sleeping on the couch." She smiled.

"That's a good way to treat someone who's trying to say your mother." Klaus yelled after her as she walked towards the bathroom.

She started brushing her teeth. She simultaneously put her hair into a bun and walked out to see Klaus. "You know," She said while brushing her teeth. "You won't be holding this over my head the rest of my life." She walked towards him. "I won't let you." She ran her hand across his cheek before leaving. She came back out in a tank top and a pair of spandex. "And don't think about coming into my room in the middle of the night." She said. She walked back over to him and sat next to him on the couch.

"What? I'm not allowed to come to your bed, but you can sit on mine?" He asked astonished pointing to the couch.

"Okay, you can sleep on the floor, then." Caroline smiled politely.

"Gosh, you really are in a sassy mood today. I can't decide whether or not I like it."

"Well you better hurry; you never know what I'll be like tomorrow."

Klaus smiled at her.

She sat up straighter, "Let's be clear on something. I didn't come with you because I like you. I came so I could save my mom. Nothing more. Nothing less. The sooner you figure that out, the better off we will be."