Disclaimer: I do not own TVD or any of its characters.

A/N: As always, thank you soooo much for all of the lovely reviews! I appreciate every single one of them and I wish I could just transport to all of you and give you hugs and bake you cookies! Anyway, let's get on with this chapter!

-xxx-

The ten hour plane ride back to Virginia was excruciatingly long. Caroline almost wished she were unconscious for most of it like she was last time. But this flight was different. Instead of relaxing and sipping champagne while viewing the magnificent sights below, Caroline and Klaus sat in tense silence.

Klaus was stressing about Mikael. He knew Stefan was compelled to tell him the truth, but he couldn't help the doubt that crept into his mind. A thousand years had taught him to trust no one, so it was natural to feel a little skeptical about the whole situation.

Caroline was worried about seeing her friends again after her recent..."bonding time" with Klaus. She knew the Salvatores wouldn't be happy at all, but she didn't worry about them as much as she did Elena and Bonnie. How would they react? After all, he did kill Elena's aunt and technically Elena as well. Stefan and Elena broke up because of Klaus, too. How could she explain that there was a soft side to him and that he wasn't always evil?

She thought of Tyler. Oh, no. How would he handle this new development? She knew he wouldn't take it well. That was a given. But would he be more upset that she was with Klaus because he was Klaus or because she was with Klaus while they were still together?

Caroline imagined all the different ways everyone would react for the next ten hours. She got more and more nervous with each hour that passed, and soon she found herself shaking uncontrollably as she stepped off the plane and retrieved her luggage.

"Are you cold, sweetheart?" Klaus asked, concerned.

Caroline shook her head. "No, I'm just freaking out. When my friends find out that we..." She couldn't finish her thought.

Klaus's eyes shone with understanding. "You don't have to tell them. It's not any of their business."

"Yeah, but they're my friends. I tell Elena and Bonnie everything, and I don't think I could keep something this big from them. And when I break up with Tyler, I feel like he deserves an explanation. I owe at least that much to him," Caroline explained. "I'm just dreading telling them."

"I'm sorry I won't be as much help there," Klaus apologized.

Caroline sighed as she stuffed her bags into the trunk of the cab that they'd called for to meet them at the airport in Richmond. Klaus opened the car door for her, sliding in after she was seated. The driver began to travel in the direction of Mystic Falls.

It felt like no time at all before Caroline began seeing the familiar houses and streets of her town. Even though she had only been gone a week, it felt like an eternity, which she supposed was normal since a lot had happened in that short period of time. As a human, she would've thought she and Klaus had jumped into things too fast, but as a vampire, all their emotions were heightened and it all happened much quicker.

The cab pulled up in front of Caroline's house, and Klaus threw a wad of cash at the driver before grabbing her bags from the trunk and helping her inside. Her mother was at work, so they had the house to themselves.

Klaus tried to follow Caroline into the house, but was blocked by the barrier at the threshold. Caroline smacked her hand against her forehead.

"Right! I forgot you can't get in." She tapped her chin for a moment, deep in thought. "My mom isn't here to invite you in, so I guess I'll just take these." She grabbed the bags from him, walking into the living room and dropping them on the floor in front of the sofa before returning to the front door and stepping out onto the porch.

"I'm going out to find something suitable to wear to tomorrow's dance," Klaus informed her. "Will you be alright while I'm gone?"

Caroline smirked. "I think I'll be able to handle myself. But thank you." She closed the distance between himself and her, wrapping her arms around his torso and feeling comforted at the warmth of his arms around her waist. She pulled back far enough to place her lips gently on his.

What started off as a sweet kiss turned into something much less innocent as Caroline felt Klaus's hand slide down to the small of her back. He deepened the kiss, pulling her as close to him as possible.

Caroline untangled herself from him suddenly, snickering at his dissatisfied expression. "See you at homecoming," she murmured.

Klaus gave her one last smile before turning to leave.

-xxx-

"Caroline!" Elena exclaimed, throwing her arms around her best friend. "You're home!"

Caroline had gone to visit Elena after Klaus had left, needing to get up to speed on what had happened while she was gone.

Bonnie appeared in the doorway then, waiting for Elena to let go of Caroline before embracing her in a hug that was just as tight.

"Are you guys trying to suffocate me?" Caroline joked as Bonnie hugged the life out of her. She leaned back, grasping Caroline's shoulders and searching her up and down.

"Are you hurt?" she asked.

"Nope, not even a scratch!" Caroline reassured her.

Elena and Bonnie pulled her inside, asking a million questions. "What happened?" Elena questioned.

"Where were you?" Bonnie added.

The three girls sat on the couch in the living room. "I came to check on Elena in the hospital," Caroline told them, "and Klaus knocked me out, grabbed some of Elena's blood, and took me to London where we stayed in this extremely lavish penthouse," she gushed.

Elena and Bonnie stared at her blankly. "Extremely lavish? You make it sound like you went on a vacation..." Bonnie accused.

Caroline cursed inwardly. "Well, I figured if I were stuck in London, I might as well make the best of it," she said, trying to cover up her mistake. She didn't want them knowing about her and Klaus just yet. The time had to be right. "But not much happened other than a lot of sitting around. The most exciting thing we did was go hunt down a pack of werewolves..."

"What?" Bonnie and Elena shouted in unison.

Caroline remained calm despite the disturbing memory. "Klaus turned them all into hybrids." She tried to shrug it off as if it were no big deal, leaving out the part about the bite. Talking about that would mean talking about Klaus healing her, and that would lead right to trouble. "But enough about me! What happened while I was gone?"

Bonnie and Elena exchanged a knowing glance, which made Caroline worry. Elena was the one to speak up. "Well, you're lucky you missed the first day of school. Stefan showed up and was a complete ass to everyone. And then Rebekah decided to move in to the boarding house and enroll in all our classes. And then we found out that Jeremy had been seeing Vicki and Anna ever since Bonnie brought him back to life, and then Matt started seeing Vicki ever since he was brought back to life. She convinced him to do this ritual that would push her over to our side, but she made a deal with the Original witch,—who happens to be Klaus's mother—and to hold up her end of the bargain, she had to kill me. Bonnie sent her back to the other side, but apparently the spell that was used to send Vicki over also sent all the other ghosts to our side, too." Elena sent a sympathetic look towards Bonnie before continuing. "I caught Jeremy kissing Anna."

Caroline, who had been listening quietly up until now, reached toward Bonnie and grasped her hands in her own. "Oh my God, Bon, I'm so sorry."
Bonnie cast her eyes down, not responding.

Elena started speaking again. "She sent them all back, though. But not before Mason Lockwood showed Damon these hieroglyphic drawings on the walls of some cave on the Lockwood property. They were drawn by Klaus's family, so we've been trying to figure them out."

Bonnie jumped in. "What we've learned so far is that Klaus's father didn't kill his mother."

Caroline's eyebrows knit in confusion. Of course Mikael had killed Klaus's mother, Klaus had told her so himself.

Bonnie continued. "Klaus killed her and he lied to all his siblings about it. That's how we got Rebekah on our side."

"What are you talking about?" Caroline asked. Why would Klaus lie to her? He would've told her if he killed his mother, wouldn't he?

"We found Klaus's father, Mikael," Elena replied, clearly thinking Caroline was asking about the master plan they seemed to have in the works.

Caroline wasn't really paying attention to what Elena was saying. She was still hung up on the fact that Klaus had lied to her about killing his mother.

"Care, are you okay?" Bonnie asked, noticing how pale Caroline had gone.

"I think I need to lay down for a bit," she announced.

Elena nodded. "Yeah, of course. You've been through a lot, you need your rest. And you're probably jet lagged. It must feel like one in the morning to you. You can crash here if you want."

Bonnie and Elena left the room and let Caroline snuggle into the couch and close her eyes, trying to digest everything she'd just been told.

-xxx-

Caroline stared at herself in the mirror, satisfied with how she looked. She was wearing a knee-length red dress that she had bought on her shopping spree in London. Her blonde hair was curled to perfection and her makeup was darker than usual, making her blue eyes pop.

She took a deep breath and was about to head out when her phone rang, the name Tyler lighting up her screen. She stared at it for a moment, deciding whether or not to answer. She eventually answered it and pulled the device up to her ear.

"Caroline!" Tyler exclaimed in relief. Then his voice got angrier. "You've been back in town for a whole day and didn't even stop by to see me?"

"I'm really sorry, Tyler, I've just needed some time to myself. I'm not in my right mind," she answered lamely.

Tyler calmed down, his tone sympathetic. "I understand. A call or a text would've been nice, though."

"I'm really sorry, Tyler," Caroline apologized again.

"Don't worry about it, I'm just glad you're okay," he said.

Caroline felt like the guilt was suffocating her. "So, are you going to homecoming?" she asked.

"About that," Tyler began. "The gym's flooded. Dance is cancelled."

Caroline felt her dead heart constrict in her chest. "Excuse me?" she yelled. She had already missed her first day of senior year and cheerleading tryouts, so she was going to the homecoming dance, dammit! "Well, what are we supposed to do now?" She stamped her foot.

"Don't worry, Care, I'm moving it to my house," he assured her.

Caroline calmed down. "Okay," she sighed. "I'll see you there." As soon as she hung up the phone, she dialed Elena's number.

"Hello?" Elena answered.

"The gym's flooded," Caroline complained.

"Does that mean I don't have to go?"

Caroline scoffed. "You wish. No, Tyler's moving the party to his house."

"Kegs and beer pong for homecoming? That's...different." Caroline could almost hear the smile in Elena's voice.

"Just say you're still coming!" she pleaded.

"I'll see you there," her best friend said before hanging up.

-xxx-

Caroline walked into the Lockwood mansion with Bonnie, taking in her surroundings. People were everywhere, laughing, drinking, having a good time. "How did he plan a better party than me so fast?" She got distracted by the sound of live music coming from the oversized backyard. "And is that a band?"

"Who are all these people?" Bonnie asked, glancing around.

"This is weird," Caroline remarked. Where is Klaus? she thought as she walked away from Bonnie. She couldn't participate in any public displays of affection once she found the Original hybrid, but she wasn't planning on being all lovey-dovey with him until he explained to her why he lied about killing his mother.

Caroline walked out the back door to a yard filled with people. They were all crowded around the stage, and she watched as the band finished the last few notes of their song before she heard a very familiar British accent boom through the microphone.

"Good evening, everyone!" Klaus greeted. "I want to thank you all for being here with me to celebrate." The crowd cheered, which Caroline admitted was slightly amusing considering nobody knew what the man was even talking about. "It's been a long time coming," he concluded.

Caroline rolled her eyes before walking back inside to find Elena. She spotted her with Matt at the entrance and strolled over to them. "Klaus is here," she informed them, trying to act like she would've had she and Klaus not become...involved. Neither Elena nor Matt seemed fazed. "Well, I expected more surprise," she admitted.

Elena sighed. "I've learned not to be surprised by anything Klaus does. I'm going to go find Bonnie." She slunk away, leaving Caroline alone with Matt.

"Wait, what's going on?" Caroline asked, referring to Elena being Matt's date. "What are you two doing here together?"

"Plans changed," Matt answered, leaving Caroline confused. What plans? Who was supposed to be his date before? "I'm going to go get a drink," Matt announced before leaving Caroline by herself, her questions still hanging on her lips.

-xxx-

Klaus found Caroline hanging by the drinks, sneaking up behind her as she took a sip of her beer. She almost spit it out, but swallowed it instead, causing her to go into a coughing fit. Klaus laughed.

"It's not funny, Klaus!" she scolded, but she was grinning.

"Your friends haven't said anything to me about you, so I assume you haven't told them the nature of our relationship yet," he said more seriously.

Caroline's eyes widened, and she raised a finger to her lips, shushing him. "Don't talk about this here," she whispered.

Klaus raised his hands in surrender, his lips twitching up into a smile. "My apologies."

Caroline took another sip of her drink, glancing around her nervously. "What are you doing talking to my friends anyway?"

"Well, I had a nice little chat with Stefan, and then Tyler and I had a nice conversation as well. I even had a small discussion with Elena," he responded casually.

Caroline narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't bother them. I'm serious."

"I wasn't bothering them, love. Quite the contrary. I was quite possibly saving their lives."

"What do you mean?"

"I warned them about what would happen should they try to pull anything tonight."

"What would happen?"

"Well, if you notice, I have hybrids crawling all over the place, and should anyone make a move against me, they have been ordered to kill Damon."

Caroline smacked his shoulder. "Klaus! Don't do this! Please!"

"I'm only ensuring my own safety, love. And Damon deserves it after what he did to you."

Caroline stared into his eyes, pleading silently with him. "Klaus..."

"Don't be worried, I know what I'm doing. And with all the warnings I've given your friends, I'm sure it won't come to that."

Caroline was still upset.

"You enjoy yourself. I'll find you later." He raised his eyebrows suggestively before walking off.

-xxx-

"What are you up to with Klaus?" Tyler asked as he closed the door to his bedroom.

Caroline turned around like a deer in headlights, nervous that he had somehow figured it out. "Nothing," she said a little too innocently.

"He's onto you, Caroline. Whatever you all think you're going to pull off, he's two steps ahead of you."

Caroline breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't been found out, but then became confused. "Okay, I don't know what you're talking about."

"You're lying to me," Tyler accused.

Caroline laughed once in annoyance. "Actually, I'm not. I don't know anything." She crossed her arms over her chest in indignation. "So can we please just go back to the party now?"

Caroline made a move to brush past Tyler, but he grabbed her by her shoulders and injected a syringe filled with vervain in her. She let out a gasp before dropping to the ground, blackness closing in on her.

-xxx-

Klaus stood by a table filled with red solo cups, a ping pong ball in his hand. He heard one of his hybrids approaching. He believed her name was Mindy, or something along those lines.

"You have a visitor," she informed him quietly.

"Well, tell my visitor that I'm on the brink of victory here," Klaus replied.

"He said his name was Mikael."

Klaus raised his eyebrows. He should've known. He should've fucking known. He threw the ping pong ball into one of the cups and calmly turned to Mindy. "We mustn't keep him waiting, then. Move everyone out back. I'm going to have a little chat with my dad."

Mindy went off to go perform the task he had given her while Klaus took a swig of his drink and made his way to the front door, passing another one of his hybrids along the way. "Tony, you know what to do," he told him.

Klaus wondered briefly where Caroline was. He hadn't seen her since their little chat earlier.

Now he stood in front of his father, who was looking at him the same as he always had. Like he was worth nothing. Like he was a disappointment.

"Hello, Niklaus," Mikael greeted coolly.

"Hello, Mikael. Why don't you come in? Oh, that's right. You can't." Klaus smirked.

"You could come outside if you want," Mikael offered in the same snarky tone.

"Or I could watch my hybrids tear you limb from limb," Klaus said as his hybrids crowded behind Mikael outside. Victory was so close, he could almost taste it.

"They can't kill me," Mikael reminded him.

"True," Klaus agreed. "But it would make a hell of a party game." He raised his hand. "All I have to do is rub these two fingers together, and they'll pounce."

"The big bad wolf," Mikael mocked. Klaus lowered his arm. "You haven't changed. Still hiding behind your playthings. Like a coward. Don't you forget, they may be sired by you but they're still part vampire. They can be compelled by me."

Mindy stepped up beside Mikael, a sick smile on her face as she jerked an unconscious Caroline up beside her, dropping her to the ground at Klaus's feet.

-xxx-

A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger! I'll try to update super fast so you won't have to wait that long to find out what happens to poor Caroline! Thank you SO much for reading! Review, review, review! I love feedback, not to mention it can be REALLY helpful :) So review away!