Damon looked at the clock. It was almost ten. Time to get out of the room and make sure all of them were seen in public as much as possible for the next few hours. Hiring a hit man wasn't just about getting someone who knew how to kill. It was about getting someone unrelated to do the job so all the usually suspects could have airtight alibis.

He watched Stefan lead Elena out of the room and paused behind them, slipping tape over the lock once they turned the corner. He called Katherine to meet them at the restaurant, she needed to be there too, otherwise anyone could accuse Elena of being the one to kill Tyler by suggesting that Katherine had been in her place at brunch.

They knocked on Caroline's door on the way down.

Damon strolled in while Caroline looked for shoes and her purse.

"Where's Nik?" he asked. Caroline had answered the door wrapped in a sheet and they all could see her clothes scattered across the floor. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what had gone down.

"He had to leave in the middle of the night for a work emergency. Or so he said in the note." she shrugged, looking a little upset.

Damon raised an eyebrow. The guy had been acting head over heals for her, and he didn't even have the decency to spend the night? What a sleaze. He reached over to her nightstand and read the note.

"It also says he wants to take you to dinner tonight. Maybe he really did have a work emergency."

"Yeah" she looked down, embarrassed by how upset she was that he had left "I guess we'll see if he actually shows up at 7 like the note says. This might have just been a one time thing."

And by then Tyler Lockwood will be dead, Damon thought, smiling. "Well if he doesn't show up, he's the stupidest person alive. Now put some pants on, and let's get some breakfast, Barbie, I'm starving."

She pulled on the first thing she could grab and slapped some foundation on. Damon was already stomping his foot outside the bathroom door. He was so impatient sometimes. She fussed with her makeup again, hoping the bruises weren't visible, and followed him out the door.

Nik put his gloves on, opened the door and removed the tape that kept it from locking. He surveyed the place and set up his equipment. The syringe, the trunk on the luggage rack, gun, keys, disinfectant.

He pulled the luggage rack into Tyler's bedroom. Damon had placed a small piece of tape on the suitcases that belonged to Tyler and removed any evidence of their their 'pharmaceutical' business from the room. Other than that, it was easy for Nik to decipher which things were Tyler's and which were Caroline's. He threw all of Tyler's belongings into the correct suitcases and waited.

"Damon? This better be good. After the little stunt Stefan pulled yesterday, I'm not in the mood." Tyler shouted out as he entered the room.

The needle met Tyler's neck before he even knew Nik was there. He caught him before he hit the floor and pushed him into the trunk, stacking all of Tyler's bags on top. A quick swipe of bleach and disinfectant around the room to remove any chance of tracing him back there, and he was out the door.

Tyler woke up on a boat in the middle of the ocean. His suitcases were surrounding him and there was a man he had never seen before looking back at him, bored.

"What.. Where am I?"

"Good morning sleeping beauty. Welcome to your accidental death."

"My what?"

"You were running away after that terrible thing you did to your little girlfriend, consumed by the shame of it all. But you're about to have a tragic accident on your getaway boat. The deck got slippery and you hit your head, only to fall overboard and drown."

"You bastard." Tyler tried to get up, but he was still groggy from the sedative.

"You should be thanking me. Your partners had a much more painful, drawn out death in mind for you. I talked them into this package, it ties up loose ends better. Your family will probably even have a body to bury. I'm doing you a favor."

Tyler stood up. Who was this crazy man and why was he in a scuba suit? Nik was calmly walking towards him.

"I want you to know that because of what you did to Caroline, I'm going to make sure that you're awake when you drown." Nik said with ice in his voice "Do you know what it feels like to drown? It's kind of like being strangled, like someone's hand squeezing around your neck."

Tyler was stunned. How did he know? But then he felt his head connect with the side of the boat and he felt himself being dragged under the water.

Nik worked quickly, pulling Tyler down. He picked this spot because of the reef. There were loose chunks of coral and stones. Tyler was still struggling when Nik rolled a piece of it over his foot and snagged another on the back of his shirt. It would look like Tyler got stuck after he fell. It would also give Nik more time to get away from the scene than if the body was floating.

He watched, waited, and saw the life leave Tyler's body. He stayed down there for another five minutes just to be certain. It was done. He pushed a button on his watch and swam west.

After a few minutes he saw the bottom of the boat and surfaced, pulling off his mask. Bonnie was helping him up into the boat.

"Thanks" he muttered and handed her the watch with the tracking device. She looped it around the steering wheel as he pulled off his suit and reached for a towel.

"I'm texting Em to let her know I got you. Call her once you're back in the room and ready to check out."

"Actually, I don't have anything scheduled for a while. I think I might just stay a little longer."

"Is that a good idea?"

"It's less suspicious than checking out immediately after someone dies." he shrugged.

She pointed him to the dry clothes she brought. Bonnie wasn't a killer, but she did pretty much everything else to help out her cousin Emily and her associates. They sat in silence as they made their way back to the shore. She pulled up to the dock and let him out.

"See ya, Nik."

"Not even staying for a celebratory drink?" he mocked offense.

"I've got another job in two days and it'll take that long to get there. Take care of yourself, Nik."

He waved goodbye and headed back to his room for a much needed shower and a phone call to the boss.

Breakfast, or Brunch, or whatever it was had taken forever. Damon just kept ordering more and more food. She wanted to go back to the room and sleep but he insisted on taking them all out shopping.

"What's the fun of being on a luxury resort near great shopping if I can't spoil my three favorite girls?"

"I made the favorite's list, Damon?" Katherine joked.

"You may have tore my poor little brother's heart out but you're still Elena's sister, and a loved one of Elena's is a loved one of mine."

"Damon you don't have to do this.." Caroline protested.

"Of course I do. Stefan paid for everyone's food, and I'm not about to let my little brother show me up. Besides, don't you have a date tonight? I think new man, new outfit."

Elena looked up at him, amused. "You hate shopping. Who are you and what have you done with Damon?

It was five thirty by they time they said goodbye to Katherine and got back to the penthouse. Caroline was in a rush to get ready. When they stepped inside she suddenly felt what had happened before flash back to her. His fist meeting her face. His hands around her neck.

Stefan walked with her to the room she shared with Tyler. "I'll come with you and make sure he's not here. If he came back to the room, I'll make him leave until we can get you and your things down to the 5th floor room."

She nodded appreciatively. When she opened the bedroom door it looked different. The pile of laundry and open suitcase he had left in the corner were gone and so were his things that usually littered the top of the dresser.

"Stefan." She carefully walked around the room, opening drawers. All of his things were gone. She went into the bathroom, and his things were gone from there as well.

Stefan called the others into the room, and then he and Damon performed their carefully practiced lines.

"He's probably mad we took your side after what happened."

"Look, Care, we know he hurt you, but he's still our business partner."

"He's probably just letting off steam for a few days. We'll figure everything out when he gets back, make sure things aren't too awkward between the two of you."

Elena wasn't so calm. "You guys, he could have just moved to another room. We don't know where he is. What if he tries to hurt her again?"

"Elena's right" Stefan agreed "We should keep Caroline in the 5th floor room for now, just to be safe. He doesn't have a key there. And we'll all keep an eye on you."

Caroline hugged her friend and went to go get ready for her date. Elena went on the balcony to get some sun.

"She called a few hours ago. Emily. It's done." Damon whispered to Stefan.

He paused for a moment, absorbing the information. "Good." Stefan agreed.

Nik felt invigorated, energized by the kill. It was impossible to explain the rush he got from it without seeming like a total monster. It just suited him, it felt like the work he was made to do. After he called Emily and showered he saw he still had some time before he was due to meet Caroline for dinner.

He called Becca. Hearing his sister's voice helped bring him back to his humanity.

"Hey Nik, I'm walking to my last final as we speak. After today, I'll be done with freshman year."

"My sister, the college sophomore."

"Wait another day and then you can call me that. If I don't fail this one."

"You won't, Becca. You're the smartest person I know."

"Don't tell Elijah you said that"

"If I remember correctly, Elijah wasn't the one with the perfect SAT scores"

"I had three brilliant older brothers to help me study."

"I miss you, Becca."

"I miss you too, Nik. Where are you?"

"Work"

"Oh. Gross." Becca laughed. She knew what he did for work and worried about him, but she kept a light attitude about it.

"I don't mean I have work in front of me at the moment. I'm on a location for a job."

"Ok well be careful Nik, I.. oh, crap. Nik I have another call I need to take before I go in to the test. Talk to you later?"

They said their goodbyes and he hung up, smiling as he got ready to see Caroline.

"Stefan!" she beamed.

"Hey, Rebecca. I'm glad I caught you in time. I wanted to wish you luck before your last final."

"That's so sweet of you. I'm just about to walk in now."

"Great. Hey weird question. You said you already sent most of your stuff from your dorm to your brother's house, right?"

"That is a weird question, but yes. I've only got the two suitcases I can lug on the subway left with me, everything else went to Elijah's yesterday."

"Perfect. I have a surprise for you. Do you want me to tell you now or wait until after the test?"

"Now! Tell me now!"

"I just sent you a ticket to come see me in the resort I'm staying at in the Caribbean. When you check your email there'll be a plane ticket leaving late tonight and a voucher for a return flight whichever day you want it. I don't want you to feel weird about anything, so you can stay in one of the extra bedrooms in the penthouse or if you want I can get you your own separate room. I don't expect you have bathing suits or beach stuff with you so obviously all that is my treat once you get here, along with anything else you want. I'll be at the airport to pick you up. Just please say you'll go."

Rebecca felt like she was going to drop dead from the shock. "Are you serious? I've been missing you like crazy. I'm there."

"See you soon, then."

6:58. He would let himself be two minutes early. That wasn't too desperate. He was just being punctual.

He put a bow on the first aid kit sitting on his bed and walked out of the room. Her door was just down the hall, only seconds away. He knocked. No answer. He had resisted the urge to listen in on her room, and had shut the program down on his computer. He wondered if she was angry that he left when she was sleeping, or if she made other plans for the night. He didn't even have her phone number.

He knocked again. Still no answer. He waited for a minute, hoping that she would open the door, but she didn't. He turned around, feeling foolish for assuming she would want to go to dinner with him anyway.

Caroline stepped out of the elevator in her new black lace dress, lips blood red and electric blue heels clicking along as she walked. It was 7 exactly.

She walked down the hall and saw him standing at the door to her room, holding something. He must have already knocked, because he turned around, looking crushed. Then his eye caught her walking down the hall and he ran to her.

"Caroline!" he reached her and wanted to go in for a kiss, but he hesitated too long and missed his window. He was kicking himself for not doing it when the time was right.

"I'm so sorry I left. I had a work emergency. Here, I got you something."

She looked amused by the first aid kit he handed her with the big red bow. "Because I'm always getting hurt?"

He smiled "Open it"

Inside there were bandages, gauze, antiseptic, and something else. A little blue box. She pulled it out and looked at him, genuinely surprised. Inside the box was a beautiful bracelet, diamond hearts linking together to form a chain.

"Nik.. I don't understand."

"You don't like it." He looked down.

"I do like it. It's beautiful. I just don't understand why you're giving it to me."

"I fancy you."

She looked back it him, startled.

"Is that so hard to believe?"

"Yes."

"Why? You're strong, beautiful, full of light."

"How can you say that? You don't even know me. Two days ago I had a boyfriend and I was telling you to piss off. Yesterday I was a crying mess because he attacked me and you were taking care of me like I deserved you to be nice to me. I didn't. I wasn't nice to you. And then last night we. uh. well you were there, you know what happened."

He looked confused. Weren't women supposed to like lavish gifts?

"You do deserve me being nice to you. You deserve more than that. I like you, I enjoyed last night, and I felt awful that I had to leave unexpectedly. Thats why I got you the bracelet."

Tyler was always buying her things. Pretty, shiny, expensive things. "Sorry I didn't come home last night" flowers. "Please look pretty and shut your mouth when this client comes over" necklace. "I didn't mean to yell at you like that" shoes. "I know you're uncomfortable with this job but I'm going to make you do it anyway" purse. He had hit her only once before, and she was able to convince herself that it was just an accident. But he bought her a car the next day. Seeing the car in the driveway hurt more than the punch. It hurt because it reminded her what she tolerated, endured, in exchange for nice things.

What was the title of this bracelet? Was it in exchange for sex? Was it to make her feel obliged to do something? Was it an apology gift, not an "apology and i really like you" gift like he said it was?

"I can't take this." she handed the bracelet back to him. She took a step back.

"Caroline please. I didn't mean..."

"YOU CAN'T BUY ME!" She screamed. "I don't want to do whatever this is in exchange for."

"You're making assumptions."

"No. I know how this game is played."

He could see it all on her face. It became very clear to him what kind of man Tyler Lockwood was in his relationships. He was very glad Tyler was at the bottom of the ocean, and he hoped some fish would chew out his eyeballs before anyone found his body.

"Ok. I get it. come with me." he pulled her by the hand down the hall and unlocked his room. "Sit" he pointed at the bed.

She sat and wondered if it was a bad idea to come in there. He seemed calm, but what did she really know about him? The room had a stack of hard metal boxes with big locks on them. What was in there? He rummaged through his suitcase and pulled out a blue t-shirt. She watched him put it on the bathroom counter and pull out a knife. Why did he have a knife? He carefully cut three long strips from the fabric of the shirt. He made a knot to hold the three strips together and held it in his teeth while he made a braid (thank Becca for forcing him to do her hair when she was little). He tied a knot at the other end.

He sat down on the bed with her and threw the expensive bracelet into his suitcase.

"If you ever want that one, you can have it. It'll be right there. But for now..." he held up the haphazard looking braid from the fabric. "I'd like to give you one absolutely worthless bracelet, redeemable at exactly zero dollars and in exchange for precisely nothing."

She let him put it around her wrist. "Thank you." She looked down at the cloth around her wrist and touched it, tracing the pattern.

He was stunned. She seemed genuinely happy with the silly little braid. Happier than the bracelet that cost several thousand dollars. He didn't expect that from her.

"Can we still go out to dinner?" He asked hesitantly.

"Nowhere fancy."

"I know just the place."

They took a cab off the resort and weaved into a part of town she hadn't seen before. This was the opposite direction of the fancy shops Damon had taken them to. they pulled up in front of a dilapidated wooden shack with a neon light in the window advertising several brands of beer.

"Here we are love, nowhere fancy."

Every other patron in the little restaurant was male. Most of the looked like old fishermen and local blue collar guys. There was a sports game blasting from a staticy tv over the bar and a dingy pool table and dart board sat off to the side.

Caroline was instantly aware of all the eyes on her. She tried to pull her dress down a little, but that didn't change the fact that she felt like ten different people were undressing her in their minds. Nik put a protective arm around her as the walked over to their table. He had a mischievous smile as they sat down.

"Why are you grinning like that"

"I've never had this many people envy me all at once."

"I'm sure thats not true" she blushed.

They flipped through the stained menus and decided to share a huge pile of buffalo wings. Extra spicy, at her insistence.

She had wing sauce all over her face from the first bite. He couldn't believe how much that tiny little girl could eat. They were joking and swapping stories about their lives.

"And that's why my high school prom was the most night of my life."

"At least you got a great story out of it"

"What about you? Embarrassing prom story?"

"I didn't go." he said quietly. "I worked a lot in high school, I didn't really do social things."

"You didn't do social things? My whole life was social things, planning parties and events. What did you do for fun?"

"I liked to draw, and paint. I had the most fun when I was visiting with my siblings."

"You didn't live with them?"

"Not in high school. Our parents died right after Elijah went away to school, and one aunt took care of me while another took Rebecca and Kol."

"You said you were one of six kids."

"Yes, the youngest, Henrick, died with my parents in the fire." It was as close to the truth he could get without telling her too much. "Finn left when he turned 18 and I don't know where he is. He never came back."

She reached across the table. He had bandaged her up this week, but she wondered if she could ever patch up the wounds she could see in him. "I'm sorry you lost so many people."

He gave her a weak smile. "I'm very .. protective of the family I have left. Losing a lot of people made me realize how important it is to hold on to the ones you care about."

"Nik is a pretty modern name compared to the rest of your family"

"Actually, it's short for Niklaus. A lot of people used to call me Klaus. Elijah still does sometimes. Isn't that terrible, the name makes me sound like I'm a thousand years old."

"Not terrible at all. I think it's's nice. But I still prefer Nik."

His phone beeped. "Speak of the Devil, that's Becca calling me now. Do you mind if I step out for a moment? I just want to make sure she's alright and I'll call her back later."

She waved him away and he stepped outside to hear the phone.

"Becca? I can only talk for a moment. Did everything go well?"

Becca was excited about her final, she thought it went really well. She told Nik the same lie she had told Elijah and Kol, that she wasn't going straight to Elijah's house because she was staying with her roommates' family. It was a harmless lie. Her brothers worried about her too much.

The waitress placed a beer in front of Caroline.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't order anything."

"It's from the guy at the bar, over there." the waitress motioned.

She felt uneasy and wished Nik hadn't just walked away. The man was coming over.

When Nik walked back in he saw some drunk in an argument with Caroline.

"I don't want to talk to you so just leave me alone."

"I bought you the drink, just be nice and talk to me for a few minutes." he reached out and pulled on her arm.

"Let go" she yelped, but he pulled on her harder.

"Don't be such a bitch about it, I'm just trying to be friendly."

Nik gave her a nod and stepped in front of the man. "She asked you to let go. I think it's time for you to leave."

"Pretty sure I don't care"

The man made a fist and swung but Nik grabbed his arm before his hand could make contact, pinning it behind the man and slamming his head into the table. It was all done at an impossibly fast speed and with precision that indicated he had done this before.

Caroline looked over to him and was stunned by the cold rage in his eyes as he looked down at the unconscious person on the floor. He blinked and looked over to her, his eyes back to normal.

A few men were slowly getting out of their chairs, nodding to each other as they started to walk towards Nik.

"Can you hand that to me, love?" he was motioning towards the check on the table. When her back was turned, he lifted the hem of his shirt so they could all see the gun tucked in his waistband. The men approaching him backed away.

He threw some bills on the table and pulled her close. "Time for us to leave, sweetheart."

They stopped on the way back to the rooms to sit on the beach.

"How did you do that?"

"What?"

"When that guy tried to hit you, you went all Jason Bourne on him."

"Oh. I uh, I spent some time in the military."

"They teach that in the military?"

"Well I don't know about you Americans, but we Brits do learn all that basics."

She laughed.

"Get up. I'll teach you."

"I'm not going to be able to do that"

"Time to learn, sweetheart. You seem to be a magnet for danger, and I'm not going to let you walk around not knowing how to defend yourself."

He was in front of her. "Ok, just grab my wrist and twist .. no other way. Good. See, now I can't move it. Now what if I. ." He gently pulled on her other arm, spinning her so he was behind her, locking an arm across her shoulders to pull her tight.

"I can't escape" she giggled

"Try"

She pulled at his arm but it wouldn't budge. She tired the wrist thing he taught her but it didn't work very well in this position. She gently poked an elbow at the side of his stomach.

"Like that?"

"That would probably hurt enough for someone to let go, but there's a better way."

She paused, stumped, but she didn't want to let him win. Time to change the game. She used the limited movement she had in her arms to run her hands up and down the sides of his body and started placing little kisses along the part of his arm she could reach.

He sighed and when she felt his grip loosen she spun around and caught his lips with hers. His hands found her back pockets, pulling her into him. He squeezed her ass as he kissed her back.

"You know, that move won't work on every attacker."

"I guess I'll have to keep you around to protect me until I learn."

"You can keep me around as long as you want."