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V
Klaus was exhausted and after he contacted Elijah, he thanked Caroline for helping him and entered his bathroom to take a shower. She tried to clean the blood-stained floor before heading out and just when she coming from the kitchen he stepped in the living room. She informed him about using all his bleacher and an awkward silence grew between them. She excused herself, saying she was busy with prom, but right before she left he asked her if they were finally friends.
It took her a few seconds, wondering about everything he had said and done recently and even before she could say something, he added he wasn't scouring the earth for her boyfriend, leading her to smile before walking away. It never ceased to impress her how he could read her sometimes. Maybe those many times they spent together while she played games with him actually gave him a chance to see something genuine, something that was really hers. She wondered briefly if she hadn't seen the same about him, despite her efforts to never allow neither to happen.
Her blond curls disappeared behind the door and that had been the last straw. That had been more than Klaus could stand. All the feelings he had repressed for a thousand years invaded his mind and for a moment he even wondered if Silas didn't took control of his mind again. It was overwhelming and he felt like he was being tortured. And he knew he was. All the deaths, all the betrayals, all the pain and despair everything came back and he started to scream, trying to make all the voices silence, but he wasn't successful.
For a moment he couldn't even see anything around him. He heard the pleas of his victims, he saw the blood he spilled, he saw the words in the love letters he stole. Falling on his knees he held his head drawing blood from where his fingers pressed hard against his skin.
Soon he felt arms wrapping around him, but it was like a distant feeling. His mind was too busy at the moment with so many different emotions for him to be aware of whatever was going on around him.
Caroline was still sitting in her car, thinking about what had just happened when she heard the first scream. She was lost in her thoughts about the extension of Silas' power when she heard the Original's voice. She ran outside and found him in a similar position to the one she found him earlier that day. It was already dark outside and the room itself wasn't high illuminated, but she could see his features clearly. He was contorting and rocking his body back and forth, while holding his head. She called his name, but it seemed like he didn't hear her or noticed her presence.
She walked towards where he was trying to assess the situation and see whatever she could do, but he was completely unresponsive.
Not knowing what else to do and being deeply affected by the broken man in front of her, she did what she would have done to anyone in his position: she hugged him.
At first he didn't know what was happening, consumed by the many voices in his head, but then one voice stood out and he suddenly felt arms around him, soothing him. It hadn't been something quick, but little by little he was taking a grip of his emotions again. They were still overwhelming, but her presence helped him to at least keep them at bay enough for him to acknowledge his surroundings completely.
He didn't know if had been minutes or even hours, but the rage rush of emotions had been calmed down enough for him to breathe again.
"I'm fine," he said, trying to cover as much as he could the shame and the vulnerability in his voice.
"Was it Silas again?" she asked concerned.
"Old demons," he simply offered, and she finally broke the contact between their body, only then realizing she was still hugging him.
"Are you going to be okay?" she asked, biting her bottom lip. She had never seen anything like that before. She had never seen anyone like him at that moment.
And then it was her emotions that were all over the place. She finally saw the man behind the masks, the man without the walls he placed around him. She finally saw the real Niklaus Mikaelson and it was shocking and devastating.
"I've been coexisting with them for a thousand years, sweetheart, I'm sure I can survive another thousand," he lied to her, and she could see something completely different in his tone and demeanor, she couldn't put her finger on what changed. In front of her was a broken man that looked tortured and lost, and something in his eyes showed he felt utterly alone. He was dark, but he was also afraid of something and he didn't know what to do about it. She could see he wanted to control his demons, but it was so clear in his desperate, sad eyes that it was them that had been controlling him maybe through all his existence.
She wanted to stay, she should have stayed, but she was too much of a coward to actually do it.
"So am I finally release to leave?" she asked weakly.
"Yes, once again, thank you, Caroline," he offered a broken smile, and she felt her heart pulling inside her chest.
"Good night, Klaus," she said dejectedly, before walking away, feeling like she was leaving him when he needed someone the most. And maybe that was why he was the way he was. His actions probably prevented anyone to ever stay, and feeling lonelier he acted even more recklessly, making it a vicious cycle she wished she was brave enough to break.
"Good night, sweetheart,"
Stefan, Damon and Elena finally came back and Caroline shared with her friends everything that happened with Klaus the previous day. They were shocked to find out about the extension of Silas' powers and immediately contacted Bonnie to inform her about the ancient vampire actions. The witch wasn't shocked and she promised she would help. She just needed to recover from losing Jeremy and the guilt she carried within. Caroline offered a sleepover, but the hazel eyed girl asked for some time alone.
Elijah and Rebekah had also come back from their journeys and Klaus was happy to find out that Elijah possessed the cure, although the elder Mikaelson wasn't positive if giving it to Silas would be the best alternative. Rebekah pleaded for her cause and not resisting his sister he finally agreed in giving her the cure, as long as she spent a couple of days without using any of her supernatural powers. But they didn't expect Silas to fool them once again, and taking Rebekah's place the older vampire received the cure from Elijah at the end of the following day, much to Klaus relief.
Klaus was still dealing with the river of emotions going through him during his every waking hour. He had tried to sleep, but it evaded him almost completely. And being so close, yet completely distant from Caroline only made it more difficult. There was nothing left for him in Mystic Falls and when Elijah suggested them to go back to the only place they really felt had been their home, he didn't think twice.
It was time to finally go back to New Orleans. For good.
He had promised to avenge Kol's death, but it was enough for him to know Elena had lost her brother just like he did. It was better to leave her to her devices and pain. She wouldn't be able to keep her humanity off for much longer, especially with the Salvatores doing everything in their power to help her turn it on. And once her emotions were back the pain and the guilt about Jeremy – who died trying to get the cure to his sister's vampirism – would be enough to make eternity miserable for Elena Gilbert.
He didn't want to admit that the idea of killing them all was also disconcerting somehow. The voices of his victims still haunted him and he admittedly – to himself, not anyone else – wasn't on his best frame of mind and he didn't want to add anything to his internal reverie.
Elijah was right. When they left New Orleans a century ago they didn't do it willingly. Mikael – always him – led them to leave the city they built and lived in for over two centuries. It had been the longer they were able to stay in the same place under Mikael's radar in the millennium it took him to finally kill his father. It was time to go back to the place that held more happy moments to his family – even if those moments could be counted in one hand. But leaving to New Orleans meant leaving Caroline behind and while the first time he left he didn't say anything, he knew he wouldn't come back and the idea of never seeing her again was almost morbid for him to accept.
The many emotions surrounding his heart and conscience only made his feelings for her all that much clearer. He was indeed in love with her and already fighting so many psychological battles at once, he decided against resisting this one. No matter what he did he wouldn't be able to shake her off easily. It would require time and space, but he had to say goodbye and that was why he came to her house after sending Elijah and Rebekah ahead of himself to make the final arrangements for them to come back to their city.
"Klaus?" she asked nearly surprised as she saw the man standing in her porch. As usual her mother was working and she was alone at the house, left to her thoughts that gravitated around the hybrid more often than she was willing to admit. The picture of him a few days ago was still imprinted in her mind and she couldn't get rid of them. She felt compelled to do something to help him, but she didn't know how or where to start. She was afraid.
"There are a few matters I'd like to discuss with you before I leave town, can I come in?" he asked, and only those few words had been enough for her to see the changes she saw four days ago were still there.
"I guess," she answered unsure, stepping aside so he could enter.
"Silas has the cure,"
"What?" she asked shocked.
"He fooled Elijah, who planned to give it to Rebekah. Silas posed as her and instead of giving it to my sister, Elijah gave it to Silas,"
"It can't be good,"
"I guess not,"
"I contacted your boyfriend a few minutes ago,"
"Did he answer your phone call?" she asked almost offended that Tyler would answer Klaus, but not her.
"No, but the vampire I have tracking him since he left weeks ago talked to him on my behalf,"
"Have you known where he is?"
"At this moment in Texas, with a centenary pack of wolves," he clarified while she tried to process the information.
"I released him to come back home… to come back to you,"
"What?" she asked, sitting down, only realizing then both of them were still standing.
"Consider it my graduation gift to you,"
"But why?"
"As I said earlier, my family and I are leaving. We'll go back to the city we built and from where we ran against our will when Mikael found out about our whereabouts in the 1900's"
"And just like that you will allow Tyler to come back? Out of compassion?"
"It's not compassion, Caroline. I'm leaving this city and everyone in it behind me. Mystic Falls and all its inhabitants are now a part of my life I won't remember, I won't regard," his voice was cold and distant and Caroline was surprised to find out it actually stung to know she was part of everything he was disregarding. Even if she didn't want to admit it, she knew she liked the idea of someone like him caring about her. Her of all people. Neurotic, insecure, baby vampire Caroline Forbes. But now he was putting her back in the place she would belong in his life. He was a thousand year old, he had seen it all, lived it all, of course his infatuation with her wouldn't last.
"Thank you," she uttered, trying to cover her own emotions, hoping she was more effective about it than him. His voice was cold, but she could see in his eyes he was in pain.
"Don't come after me, Caroline," he offered, and she actually frowned. That was a sudden change of subject she wasn't expecting.
"And why would I do that? Why would I even consider it?" she asked as if what he was suggesting was impossible. She wished it was, but right now, after everything they'd been through and everything she'd seen, she wasn't so sure, but she wouldn't let him know that, even suspect it.
"We both know you wish you could forget all the bad things I've done and when I'm not around to remind you, you will forget them and you will feel tempted to come after me. Don't."
"Are you hallucinating?" she laughed humorlessly.
"Actually that had been you," he confirmed his suspicions about her lack of lucidity when she concluded he loved her.
"And what does it have to do with being with you?"
"If you're willing to forget all my wrongs within just a couple of months where do you see yourself in let's say six months if I behave? If I keep my promise not to kill Tyler? If I give up on my revenge against Elena and everyone in this city that tried to kill me and succeeded in killing two of my brothers?"
"Keep dreaming," she said, although it didn't hold the confidence she planned.
"We both know I'm right, love. You feel something for me, whatever you decide to label it. It could be a simple attraction, it could be a bond created by the times I shared my blood with you, or you could be the allure of the darkness that surrounds me. Sooner or later you would have felt like you needed to get it out of your system. Sooner or later you would have wanted to label it, to know what it really is and the only way I can see is exploring whatever this thing between us is,"
"You're delusional,"
"Don't you think the least you could do now was being honest with me? With yourself?" he challenged her.
"I'm not playing games or pretending here, and we both know it. I would never give it a shot despite of whatever feelings I could ever develop," she denied it promptly and she knew at least the last part was true. He had got under her skin, she wasn't going to deny it to herself. But it didn't mean she would ever pursue anything with him. She couldn't forget what he did to her friends' lives, the people he killed, the emotional torture he caused them for almost an entire year.
"You won't, not because you have control over it, Caroline, but because I'm making the choice for you, because I have a thousand years on you controlling emotions and perfecting self-control," he walked closer to her, and she immediately felt threatened.
"Get over yourself and your need to be in control," she rolled her eyes, although she growing more uncomfortable with every step he took towards her.
"This is not me being in control, Caroline. If anything it's quite the opposite. If I were in control I wouldn't feel any of this. Or at the very least I would entice you to explore this connection between us, I would happily explore it and let you deal with the consequences, but I have almost no control over my actions towards you,"
"No, Klaus, you're doing it for yourself. You're afraid of feeling, afraid of hoping, afraid of believing someone could finally love you," she saw right through his words, everything becoming clear as day for her.
"I could never convince you otherwise, could I?"
"No,"
"But I have convinced myself," he said as he finally stood just in front of her, his eyes locking with hers, as he body leaned towards her on the couch.
"You'll never look for me; you'll never feel the need to explore what we have or what you feel for me. Even if you ever cross my way by chance, you'll leave before saying a word to me, and you won't look back. Unlike my previous words you'll never show up in my doorstep," he compelled her and after he was done she blinked repeatedly.
"Did you just compel me?" she asked stunned. She knew she should have expected him to do something like that, but just like that night in Elena's house, she underestimated him, and once again he proved her that she shouldn't expect something good from him. But he just released Tyler to come back and admitted he gave up on killing Elena and Bonnie for what they did to him and Kol, a voice inside her head promptly reminded her. He could do good, but she could see clearly now that he felt threatened by whatever he felt for her. He was running away and that nearly challenged her to stop him.
"There's only one selfish thing I have to do before I go," he ignored her question and although she was livid he had dared to compel her, she could see where this was going, but it took her longer than it should have and when realization finally came his lips were already touching hers.
Her first instinct was to push him away, but she found herself rooted in her place, all her muscles frozen – even her lips – as his soft ones covered hers. His left hand cupped her cheek, while he explored the outside of her mouth, gently, but with emotion. She could feel his feelings for her in one kiss that had shocked her to the point she couldn't kiss him back. She was overwhelmed by the many emotions going through her body. Until it exploded into life like a supernova's light and her hands moved to the back of his neck and her lips moved accordingly to his. She had barely had the chance to really kiss him back when it all stopped. She opened her eyes to ask him why he stopped just when she finally responded, but she found herself alone in the couch, the front door open again.
She walked towards it, and of course she couldn't see him in the darkness outside. He was gone, really gone, and he had compelled her to never go after him. And just then she realized something in her right hand. She was surprised she didn't let the small object fall, but as she opened it, there it was, beautiful as she remembered it - as if she could ever forget such exquisite piece of jewelry. As she looked at the bracelet and the shining diamonds he had given to her all those months ago she felt content.
AN.: I'm sorry for delay, but I had to send in my monograph last week and this week I've been sick. I'm yet to write the chapters to my other fics, but I hope to resume them next week.
Game changer: he compelled her to never go behind him. What now?
Also I'm tempted to include the baby in this story and I'd like you to give me some feedback about it. I don't plan to make Hayley the mother. Maybe some other werewolf or even Camille. This story is about Klaus' hopes and dreams (not Caroline's) and maybe a baby could give him more hope. I hate the arc for the show, but I think it's suitable for fanfiction (Julie Plec should know that before including such a terrible plot in a perfect pilot).
Let me know what you thought about this chapter and if I should include Daddy Klaus or not.
Have a nice week. And please read and review, last chapter I've got only one :(
Bárbara