Hello everyone! I'm back from my holidays and with a new chapter! If you are wondering (which you are surely not) yes I spent awesome holidays.

I don't remember if I already said so so I say it, thank you krissy (dark klaroline on tumblr) for the amazing cover!

Thank you to everyone who left a review, favorited or followed, and also to eveyone who voted for me or for my other story More Than A Slave for the klaroline award! Thanks to you I have two awards! Best underrated author and More Than A Slave is best underrated fic!

Thank you draconiat for beta'ing this chapter and Mafalda I hope you are enjoying your holidays as much as I enjoyed mine.

Chapter 3:

Katherine slowly and quietly opened the door of Caroline's room. She had showed the way out to everyone before climbing the stairs to check on Caroline. Stefan, as usual, told Katherine to take care of Caroline, not that she isn't perfectly capable of taking care of herself, but Katherine knew that he loved Caroline and it was his way of telling her that he was sorry for what happened with Tyler even though it was obviously none of his fault. She entered the room and closed the door behind her, then she turned toward Caroline to find her lying down in her bed with her face buried in her pillow.

Caroline relaxed after noticing that it was Katherine who entered the room. She was relieved that it wasn't Tyler, telling her how much he missed her. She didn't miss him, not really. She was angry and disappointed because he gave up on her that quickly. Maybe it was for the best that he broke it off. It would have been a mistake to marry him, after all. But he broke it off when she needed people the most. Caroline she still cared for him.

Katherine approached Caroline's bed and sat on the edge, while Caroline sat up to face her.

Klaus stood up from his seat at the table once everyone was gone. Well, not everyone, Rebekah and Kol were in the kitchen with Elijah. He was not sure where Katherine was and, to be honest, he didn't really care, but he thought he saw her going upstairs after Caroline once everyone was gone.

Klaus walked toward the kitchen where he could hear Rebekah and Kol fighting about God knew what and Elijah trying to get them to shut up which was a very difficult mission. He entered the kitchen to find Elijah and Rebekah both cleaning the dishes while Kol was seated on the counter top like Katherine had been before dinner.

"Kol, could you do something useful and help us please." Rebekah yelled angrily.

"You already asked this a few times and my answer is still the same. Nope. But it was nice to propose it." - Kol answered nonchalantly.

Elijah was about to say something when he turned his head and saw Niklaus entering the kitchen. He saw a way to distract Rebekah and Kol by making them know Niklaus was there, they would stop fighting and draw their attention on him, Elijah was just hoping it wouldn't bring another fight.

"Niklaus." - Elijah acknowledged his presence

"Nik, tell Kol to help us and you help us too." - Rebekah exclaimed.

Elijah decided to change the conversation seeing that Niklaus' arrival didn't change Rebekah's mind - "It was really nice of you to take Caroline's defense, Niklaus."

Klaus looked up nonchalantly - "It was nothing. The boy was being annoying all dinner and you were clearly not helping your wife when she wanted to kick him out of the house." he explained.

"It wouldn't have been appropriate for me to ask Tyler to leave the house, he was a guest." Elijah said.

"If I understood well he was not invited so I don't see where the problem is. And he was making everyone uncomfortable." Klaus said louder.

"He was not the one making everyone uncomfortable. The situation was making everyone uncomfortable." - Elijah tried to explain without saying that it was because of Caroline, not that he was uncomfortable because of it, but he knew everyone was.

"The situation?" - Klaus raised his eyebrow

"What 'Lijah is trying to say is that everyone was uncomfortable all dinner because of Caroline." - Kol went straight to the point seeing that Elijah was failing to do so.

"I don't understand why. The girl can't talk. You don't need to be uncomfortable and cautious around her." – Klaus wondered

"The girl has a name." Rebekah interjected but everyone ignored her.

"The situation is far more complicated than this, Niklaus." – Elijah turned around, now completely facing Klaus.

"Then explain me what the situation is." - Klaus was obviously annoyed by now.

"No one really know what..." - Rebekah started but Elijah cut her off.

"It is not our place to explain the situation."- Elijah pointed out

"Oh, you are being so boring, Elijah." - Kol proclaimed, with a sense of drama in his voice - "Well, talking or not she is hot, right Nik? Admit it! That's why you took her defense. You want her to open her legs for you!"

"No, and even if it was the case, which is not, you are not the good person to talk. What about Bonnie? She is hot too, right, Kol? Maybe I want her to open her legs for me." - Klaus noted, but inside he was angry. It made him angry that Kol said Caroline was hot and he had no idea why, it made him angry that a part of it was true and that he wouldn't mind Caroline opening her legs for him.

"You wouldn't. I saw her first, Nik!" - Kol spoke angrily

"You both are talking about women as if they are meat. You are disgusting." – Rebekah stated.

"Of course I would. I don't care that you saw her first. Look, our baby brother is in love." - Klaus mocked Kol. He had no intention to try something with Bonnie. To be honest, he had been looking at Caroline all dinner and was not even sure he could tell the color of Bonnie's eyes or of her hair. The only woman in his mind right now was Caroline.

"If you try something with Bonnie I swear I'll kill you. And I'm not in love." - Kol stood up and approached Klaus

"I'd like to see you try." – Klaus took a step in Kol's direction

"With pleasure." Kol smiled, with anger quite noticeable in his tone - "And then maybe I'll go and ask Caroline to clean my wounds, who knows what can happen."- he added, knowing how much is this going to affect Klaus. He was not stupid, he saw him looking at Caroline all dinner, and he defended her. Nik was really not the type of a person to defend anyone.

And that's when Klaus threw his first punch in Kol's jaw.

"I'm sorry about Tyler. He wasn't even invited and he just invited himself." – Katherine began - "He is just a jerk! This son of a bitch thought it would be ok to come over and claim you as HIS." - She said angrily - "Does he think like an animal? Next time he'll try to pee on you just to mark his territory! I mean, I love when Elijah says I'm his and you can't even imagine how erotic it is to say that. It's really wonderful when he says it while we are having sex."

Caroline didn't really want to know what Elijah was telling Katherine while they were... doing it. But it made her realize that every time Tyler had said she was his, even when they were together, it sounded weird, not right. It's exactly that, it was not right, it didn't feel right and it didn't sound right. And she wanted someone to tell her that she was his, she wanted someone to say it during sex.

"It's really weird, you know?" - Katherine continued, breaking Caroline's thoughts - "I mean, you could be thinking everything and anything and we don't even know it. I'm talking to you right now and I don't even know if you agree with me or not. And do you know what is even weirder? The fact that even like this I still love you, you are still Caroline, my best friend, the woman of my life. Do you remember that? We are wife and wife." – She paused - "Oh I know what you're going to say. But Elijah is my husband and you are my wife, it's totally normal. And you, you have a wife, me, I'm just waiting for the guy that will try to take your heart away from me, but of course he will have to share like Elijah is sharing me with you."

Caroline couldn't help but smile at what Katherine was telling her and she jumped on her and hugged her tightly. Of course she remembered that Katherine was her wife, it was something they started saying at the mere age of eleven. They got married in Caroline's garden and Matt walked her through the aisle. They swore that they would never leave each other no matter what. And Katherine was keeping her promise because she was still here. It was a promise made as a kid and Katherine was keeping it, while Tyler made the same promise as an adult and he had left. Caroline also realized that it's been a long time since Katherine talked to her like this, like nothing happened, like she was her, Caroline Forbes, Miss Mystic Falls, her best friend.

Katherine didn't say anything when she saw Caroline smile because she didn't want to break the moment. She wouldn't say it but today she saw Caroline smile twice, twice in the same day, and she also saw what seemed to be anger earlier, and it was much more than she could have expected.

Caroline pulled away from Katherine after a few minutes and grabbing a piece of paper and a pen she quickly wrote on it before giving it to Katherine, still with a discreet smile on her lips.

Thank you, Kat. I love you too.

Katherine read the words that were on the paper and smiled too before placing a small peck on Caroline's cheek and standing up to leave the room. When she reached the door she opened it and before leaving she turned around to take a last look at Caroline.

"You know Caroline, I believe in you and I know you are gonna be ok. You are gonna get better. Do you know how I can be sure of it?" – Katherine assured her and Caroline shook her head to say no so she continued - "The middle finger, that was my baby!"

"Oh, and, I'm glad you and Tyler aren't getting married. He doesn't deserve you. One day you'll find a man who will make you feel like you are his queen, like nothing else matters in this world than you, he will love you unconditionally, and just know that I won't let any man break your heart again, if they do they'll have to deal with me." – she was just about to leave when she heard dishes being broken

Caroline stood up and followed Katherine out of the room. They could hear shouts coming from the kitchen so they both quickly ran toward it. Caroline wouldn't admit it but she was a little scared. What if it was a thief who could attack them.

But when Caroline and Katherine entered the kitchen it was not a thief in front of them but it was Kol and Klaus fighting while Rebekah was yelling at them asking them to stop. Elijah was trying to pull them apart, but he failed in his attempts.

"What is going on here?" - Katherine yelled - "MY DISHES!"

At the sound of Katherine's voice Kol and Klaus both stopped fighting and looked up. Neither Klaus, nor Kol looked sorry about the fact that they had been fighting and that they broke some dishes. Kol's nose was bleeding, he was clearly going to have a black eye and his jaw, now red, would probably have a huge bruise by the next morning.

Klaus' lower lip was cut and blood was dropping from it, but except from this he wasn't badly hurt. Caroline knew that Klaus was in the military and if she had been in Kol's place, she wouldn't have fought with him knowing this, but well, men...

"I knew it was weird that they didn't even yell at each other. It's unbelievable how you two can act like kids." - Katherine yelled.

When Klaus noticed Caroline was in the room too he felt his anger rise again. He shouldn't have punched Kol just because he had said he would sleep with Caroline. He shouldn't care about Caroline at all. It had been stupid and it wouldn't happen again. He wouldn't let this girl be important for him, it was her fault that he fought with Kol.

Caroline's eyes found Klaus' and she was taken aback by the anger she saw in them, anger that seemed to be directed at her but she had no idea why. He didn't say anything and walked out of the room hitting Caroline's shoulder with his because she was in the doorway. Caroline had to admit that he was quite scary with his dark stares and a split lip. He had hit her shoulder forcefully and she grabbed it trying to stop the pain. She looked toward Klaus and saw him turning around and looking at her with what looked like guilt before his stare became dark again and he left.

"Nik! Can't you at least apologize?" - Rebekah yelled but he was already gone.

Caroline grabbed a piece of paper and wrote something on it, which took her at least a minute, before following the path Klaus had taken. He was surely in his room now but she didn't care since she had to give him that paper even if he seemed to be mad at her. She should be mad at him but she had seen in his look when he had turned around that he didn't hit her shoulder on purpose. She just needed him to read what was on the paper. She heard Katherine following her but she didn't stop and she just kept going.

She arrived in front of his room and stopped. She saw Katherine approaching her and knocked on the door before Katherine would try to keep her from talking to Klaus.

Klaus didn't hit Caroline's shoulder on purpose and he perfectly knew that he had done it with sheer force. When he turned around, she was holding her shoulder and he felt the guilt rising in him. He quickly came to his senses and the thought was simply washed away. Now he was seated on the edge of his bed with his hands balled into fists when he heard a knock on his door. It must be Elijah who was going to chastise him for fighting with Kol and not apologizing to Caroline.

"Go away!" - Klaus yelled through the door but he was not surprised when the door still opened. What surprised him was the person coming through it.

"I thought you were mute not deaf. I said go away." - He snapped angrily. He was so angry that it had made him angry hearing Kol said he would try something with Caroline, he was not supposed to care.

Caroline approached him hesitantly with the paper still in her hand. She let the door open, she was just going to give him the paper and then she would go in her room and sleep like she was supposed to. Once she was in front of Klaus she handed him the paper but he didn't take it. At first she thought he didn't see it because he was looking at his hands so she approached the paper a little closer to his face. He looked up and snatched the paper from her hand before crushing it in his hand until it was a ball and throwing it across the room.

"I don't want your stupid paper. You don't talk, that's your problem. I guess you'll just never have a conversation with me because I prefer to talk with someone who can speak." - Klaus uttered but as soon as his words came out of his mouth he regretted them. He looked at Caroline's face and saw the hurt in her eyes.

Caroline looked at him a few more seconds before she turned around and walked out of his room. She was hurt, she hadn't felt that much hurt since Tyler broke things off two weeks after the incident. But at the same time she was glad, Klaus obviously thought she was mute and he still didn't act cautiously around her and didn't hesitate to snap at her and she was glad for it. She didn't need a new person to take care of her because she didn't need it. She didn't want him to know that she was not mute; he would just start to act weird with her like everyone did. But she was still hurt about what he said.

One moment he was taking her defense against Tyler and the next he was looking at her with hatred and saying he didn't want to talk to her, ever, because she couldn't speak. What kind of person would say that to someone who was mute? She was not mute but still, he thought she was. As she walked out of Klaus' room she was met by Katherine who was waiting at the door.

"Caroline, he doesn't know what he is talking about. He doesn't know you; if he did he wouldn't say that he doesn't want to talk with you." - Katherine explained. Before the incident Caroline always wanted to be accepted by everyone and she knew how much she was hurt when people pushed her away - "He is just mad because he fought with his brother."

But Caroline didn't even listen and continued to walk until she reached her room. She entered it and quickly closed the door. It was not a problem, Klaus didn't want to talk with her so he should be happy she's mute, and it was rare that she wrote what she had to say, she had just thought that she could try to write more to communicate with the others but she had never thought that maybe it could bother them to read what she wanted to say all the time. Anyway, she didn't want to think about it anymore, she just wanted to sleep so she fell on her bed and waited for the sleep to take over her.

Katherine was still at Klaus' door when Caroline went to her room. She walked in the room not saying anything and picked up the piece of paper that was on the floor. She straightened it out and read what was written on it quietly and her chest tightened because she could understand Caroline's words much more than Klaus would.

"I suggest you read what is written on that paper." - Katherine proposed with a cold voice and Klaus looked up - "Tomorrow you will go to the grocery and you will buy me new dishes and you will take Caroline with you and apologize to her."

"I don't want to take Caroline with me."- Klaus confronted her, but there was no anger in his voice anymore.

"I don't care about what you want. You will take Caroline with you, she needs to go out. I won't let her stay at home everyday like she did with her mom. She needs to live her life and meet people who are not jerks like you, people who want to talk to her." - Katherine snapped before putting the paper on the bedside table and leaving the room.

Klaus looked as Katherine left the room. He stood up and walked to the bathroom and only then he realized that Caroline was using this bathroom too and that she was just on the other side of the door on the other side of the bathroom, he should have realized earlier seeing that that was where she had come when she had her panic attack. He quickly took his clothes off and put his sweat pants on before going back to his room.

He sat on the edge of his bed and took the paper that was on his bedside table. He looked at it not reading it yet but noticing that Caroline's handwriting was beautiful, he could read what she wrote for days and it wouldn't bother him. He hesitated before reading it, she wrote it after their shoulders collided, so it was surely full of hate and insults. He finally decided to read it after a few minutes and he was taken aback by what was written because it was not something he had been waiting for at all.

I'm sorry that you fought with your brother and seeing the way

you were looking at me I feel like it is my fault even though

I have no idea why. And I don't want to know why, I just want

you to know that you shouldn't fight with your brother but

cherish every single second you spend with him, you should

be laughing together and not fighting. He is your family,

your blood. He is here now but it doesn't mean he will

always be. One second he is here and the next second

he is gone leaving an empty spot in your heart, and you

regret every time you ever got into a fight with him, every time

you yelled at him, but it's too late, because he is gone forever.

Klaus put the paper aside and couldn't help but think that she knew exactly what she was talking about. He couldn't help but feel sadness reading her words because she was right, things could happen and he could lose one of his siblings at any moment. Katherine was right, he should apologize, it would be difficult because it was really rare for Klaus to apologize but he would try, he had to try. His behavior was horrible when Caroline was in question and she was just trying to be nice.

When Caroline woke up she quickly stood up and realized that she was still wearing her dress from last night so she quickly ran into the bathroom and frowned when she saw clothes on the floor. Clothes that belonged to a man, and clothes she saw Klaus wearing yesterday. Katherine already told her she would have her own bathroom but she has clearly forgotten that Klaus was in the room on the other side of the bathroom. Saying she would have preferred to be warned about it was an understatement. What if she was naked and Klaus walked inside or the opposite, her walking in and being met with a very naked Klaus. Ok, maybe there was this small part of her that was disappointed that it didn't happen, she wouldn't have minded seeing Klaus naked to be honest.

What? Of course she would have minded! Klaus was a jerk to her yesterday; he clearly stated that he didn't want anything to do with her and that she should stay away from him. She didn't want to see him naked at all.

She locked the door that lead to Klaus' room just in case and took a quick shower. Once it was done she put a large grey t-shirt on that was far too big for her, and her comfortable yoga pants. She looked at herself in the mirror and was met with the Caroline she had been used to see since the incident. No makeup, nothing that was not necessary. She would stay at home anyway so there was no need to look pretty.

She unlocked Klaus' door and walked out of the bathroom and back into her room. She looked at her bed and thought about making it but then she changed her mind and left her room barefoot not even closing the door behind her.

She almost ran toward the kitchen, she was starving. She arrived in the kitchen and no one was there, they must still be asleep and it was not something Caroline would complain about, she preferred to stay alone.

She took her favorite cereal out and filled a bowl with it before taking the milk out of the fridge and pouring some over her cereal. Once it was done she left everything the way it was on the kitchen counter and took a seat at the small table that was in the kitchen. She started to eat her cereal quietly and looked at the mess she had made. Before the incident she would have cleaned everything, like she would have made her bed, but now she didn't care about anything, she didn't even care about herself. Of course Katherine would not be happy about it and she knew it but even if she wanted to care she just didn't.

But if she really didn't care about anything, why did it hurt yesterday when Klaus had pushed her away and said he didn't want to talk to her, ever. If she had been hurt it must meant that in some way she had cared and she had wanted to talk to him. He could make her blush and angry too so even if she wouldn't admit it she knew that in some way she cared. Caroline was startled when an accented voice, that she was not hoping to hear again, talked to her.

"What are you doing?" - Klaus asked when he entered the kitchen and found Caroline in very ugly clothes. Caroline just turned toward him and frowned.

"We are leaving in a few minutes so hurry. I'm taking you with me. We are going to the grocery to buy new dishes for Katherine." - Klaus explained and Caroline shook her head clearly not wanting to leave the house today and especially not with him.

"Listen, I don't want to take you with me either, but Katherine would kill me if she finds out I didn't take you with me." - Klaus argued and once more regretted what he said as soon as it left his mouth. He was supposed to apologize and instead he was telling her that he didn't want to take her with him. Caroline stood up with her bowl of cereal angrily and walked out of the kitchen.

"If Katherine knows you are going upstairs with your cereal she is going to kill you. And hurry up I will not wait forever." - Klaus yelled after her.

Caroline arrived in her room and closed the door behind her. She sat on her bed and quickly ate her cereal. When she was mad it took her a really short time to finish what she was eating. He didn't want to take her with him, well, that was fine because she didn't want to go with him either.

Wait, maybe that was what he was waiting for by saying that. Maybe he was hoping she wouldn't come. Hell, he was dreaming, this man had the power to make the fire burn inside of Caroline and all she wanted to do now was to do the contrary of what he wanted her to do. It seemed like she would go to the grocery with him after all.

She took her bowl with her and quickly went back down the stairs. She entered the kitchen and put her bowl on the counter top before looking in Klaus' direction and making it very clear that she was waiting for him.

Klaus looked at Caroline up and down and frowned, was she ready? Because she didn't look ready at all. Saying she was ugly would be a lie, it was the same as before, she was beautiful, and he couldn't help but admire how beautiful she was even dressed like a potato and with no makeup on her face, and let's not forget that her hair was not done. She looked like a mess but a beautiful mess, Klaus found himself finding it cute, the fact that she looked like a mess. And he also found himself wanting to touch her perfect skin, her cheeks. He wanted to entangle his hands in her hair and try to make it look a little better. Klaus then realized that he was looking at her far too long and he didn't miss the way she was blushing, again, which brought him satisfaction.

Caroline started to feel a little uncomfortable under his stare. He was looking at her with hungry eyes and she couldn't help but blush once more. He was always looking at her like she was a woman, which she was of course, and that was when he wasn't angry. But the fact that even when she was dressed like this he was still looking at her as if she was beautiful was something new for Caroline. With Tyler it was always different, if she was not dressed properly; with makeup and her hair made he would look at her as if she was not attractive at all. But in Klaus' eyes she felt attractive even dressed like this.

"You are not coming dressed like this, are you?" - he asked after a few minutes and when he saw Caroline raising a defiant eyebrow he added -"you are dressed like a potato, love, a cute potato, but still a potato." - which earned yet another blush from Caroline.

Caroline kept looking at him and Klaus understood that she was not going to change and dress any better and that it was a lost cause so he sighed and walked out of the kitchen.

"Ok, let's go. But once in the grocery, just so we are clear, I don't know you." - He continued walking. Caroline looked at his back and smiled when she heard his words. She couldn't help it, she just felt comfortable around him, he was comfortable around her so why wouldn't she?

So? What do you think about that chapter? Please leave a review and let me know all of your thoughts.