Disclaimer: I do not own TVD or any of its characters.
A/N: Thank you so much for all your reviews! I know I've been stalling hardcore in getting this chapter up and I'm so sorry! I'll save all the talking for the end, though :)
-xxx-
5 months later
Caroline was watching the clock impatiently as it ticked down the final five minutes until class was over. She was sitting in Alaric's class, but he wasn't teaching American history. Instead, he was standing at the front of the class rambling about how to succeed in college next year and telling everyone to stay safe and have a great summer.
Elena nudged Caroline beside her, and Caroline beamed at her. Life had been kind of quiet lately, so everyone was in a better mood nowadays, even Stefan. The younger Salvatore was slowly getting back to his normal, brooding self and was even back on the bunny diet. Elena was still deciding between the two brothers, but she wasn't technically with either of them at the moment.
"Are you going to the bonfire tonight?" Elena whispered to Caroline.
"What kind of question is that? Of course I am," Caroline mouthed back.
Elena grinned. "Good. Do you need a ride?"
"Klaus is taking me."
Alaric shot the girls an irritated glare, and Caroline mimed the action of zipping her lips and throwing away the key.
Caroline glanced at the clock again. Thirty seconds. She twisted around in her seat and threw Bonnie an excited smile from across the room and turned around again and started tapping her foot and thrumming her fingers on her desk.
When the bell rang, chaos ensued. Students bolted out of the classroom, shoving each other out of the way and pushing people down like animals. Caroline and Elena laughed, staying back and waiting for things to calm down before they tried going anywhere.
Bonnie met them at the front of the classroom, all smiles. "Hey, guys. Are you going to the bonfire tonight?"
"Yeah," Elena and Caroline replied in unison.
Bonnie breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, because I need a ride."
"I got you covered," Elena assured her. She turned to Ric. "See you later?"
"Actually, I was planning on meeting Damon at the Grill," Alaric told her. "But you go out, have fun. It's your last summer before college."
She smiled. "Will do."
Elena and Bonnie were planning on going to college, and Caroline decided to join them. She figured, why not? Just because she was damned didn't mean she couldn't lead a normal life. Well, as normal a life as she could, being a vampire. And she was determined to live life as she would if she wasn't in her supernatural condition.
The girls left the classroom and strolled down the nearly empty hallway, papers strewn everywhere. They chatted briefly about their plans this summer while they made their way to the parking lot. Caroline gave her two best friends hugs before they parted ways, Bonnie and Elena heading to Elena's car and Caroline heading to the black car that was waiting for her in the lot. She opened the door and hopped in, dropping her bag by her feet.
"Hello, love. How was your last day of high school?" Klaus greeted her.
Caroline leaned over to peck him on the lips. "Fine." She took a deep breath. "I'm gonna miss it."
Klaus raised an eyebrow. "Really?" He'd never really had much patience for high school, so he couldn't understand how Caroline was going to miss it.
"I just have so many memories there," she explained. "And most of them are normal memories that don't involve vampires and werewolves and hybrids. I spent my last years as a human at that place."
"That's true. But now you have an eternity to make new memories."
Caroline smiled, thinking about her future. Their future. When she was with Tyler, she couldn't really imagine her future. Or maybe she could and she just didn't want to because she was afraid he wouldn't be in it. With Klaus, she saw see endless possibilities of what they could do. They would travel the world and spend the rest of their existence together. Tyler was just the pit stop in something real.
"It's been a crazy year," Caroline said. Then, after a second, she added, "Thanks for kidnapping me."
-xxx-
"Oh my God, I can not believe he just did that," Caroline exclaimed to Bonnie.
The witch was laughing hysterically. "Did you see him afterwards? He was falling all over the place!"
"Yeah, because that's what happens when you drink beer upside down for seventy seconds!" Caroline cracked up again and then took a sip of her own beer.
"You should do it," Bonnie suggested.
"Yeah, right! Even if I wasn't wearing a dress, I couldn't do it without making a fool of myself. But if you wanted to try, I'll root you on from the sidelines," she teased.
Bonnie chuckled and shook her head. "No, thanks."
Elena approached them, planting herself right in front of Caroline and tugging her in for an enormous hug. "Caroline!" She turned and squinted at Bonnie for a minute before deciding that it was, in fact, Bonnie, and wrapped her arms around her other best friend. "Bonnie!"
Caroline and Bonnie exchanged a glance and Bonnie pried the bottle of alcohol out of Elena's hands while Caroline giggled. "I think you've had a little too much to drink, Elena," Bonnie scolded.
Elena looked offended. "I am not drunk," she slurred.
Bonnie snickered. "Yeah, you are. And you're my ride home."
"I guess you're driving then," Caroline said to Bonnie.
Bonnie jerked her head around suddenly, her eyes scanning the crowd. "Hey, didn't you come with Klaus?" she asked.
"Yeah, he just gave us some space since you guys aren't his biggest fans."
Elena, still grinning ear-to-ear like an idiot, spun around, almost hitting Bonnie in the face. Bonnie grabbed Elena's arm and slung it over her shoulder, dragging her away. "Okay, I think it's time for you to go now, Elena. Bye Caroline."
Caroline waved as Bonnie hobbled off with Elena's arm draped over her shoulder. "Bye. Good luck." She chuckled again.
As if on cue, she felt a tap on her shoulder and she whirled around to face Klaus. He had a grin on his face that could rival with hers. "I had no idea the Doppelganger could be so...amusing," he said.
Caroline swatted his shoulder, but she couldn't help her smirk. "Hey," she scolded.
"What?" he asked innocently. "She's usually so high-strung and vapid."
"She can be fun when she wants to be," Caroline defended. "And I'd appreciate it—and I'm sure she would to—if you stopped referring to her as the 'Doppelganger.'"
Klaus wound his arms around her waist and pressed her against him. "My apologies," he breathed as he pushed her back against a nearby tree.
Caroline forgot she had a drink in her hands and accidentally dropped it when she tried placing her arms on his shoulders. She swore under her breath and bent down to pick it up, but Klaus stopped her by crushing his mouth to hers.
She smiled against his lips and turned her face to the side to break their kiss. He continued to kiss her cheek and down her neck, but she pushed him away gently. "Not here," she told him.
"Then can we go?" he practically begged.
"Aren't you having fun?" Caroline asked sarcastically. He raised an eyebrow at her. She knew he wasn't having fun being at a party filled with people he wasn't allowed to snack on. Smirking, she grabbed his hand and led him away from the crowd and towards her car, praying that her mom was working late tonight.
-xxx-
Caroline stood in a line in the wings of the auditorium, dressed in her red graduation cap and gown. The line was moving rather quickly, and Bonnie had already received her diploma since her last name started with a B. Caroline was almost to the front with the Fs, and Elena was two people behind her with the Gs. The person in front of her got called, and Caroline turned around and looked at Elena with a wide-eyed expression. Elena gave her an encouraging smile and a thumbs-up.
"Caroline Forbes," she heard the principal say into the microphone.
Everything felt like it was going in slow motion as Caroline took her first few hesitant steps onto the stage. Once she felt the fluorescent bulbs shining down on her she looked out at the crowd. She should've been blinded by the lights and not able to see anything but blackness, but her heightened senses allowed her to see through the darkness. She caught a glimpse of her mother, which made a wide grin stretch across her face and give her the boost she needed to get back to her normal self and strut across the stage with confidence. Liz had told her she was working today and there was no way to get the day off, but apparently that was a lie and she had shown up to surprise her.
Caroline took her diploma from the secretary and shook hands with the principal, who whispered his congratulations. Caroline nodded at him appreciatively and gracefully walked down the stairs and to the seats in the front row reserved for graduates. Two people later, she watched Elena glide across the stage like a model and receive her diploma before sitting down in her reserved seat.
Caroline leaned over and whispered across the two people between them. "I think you mistook the stage for a runway," she teased Elena.
Elena grinned at her. "I was gonna say the same thing to you," she mouthed.
They watched as the rest of the students filed across the stage, including Rebekah and Stefan, and then the principal wrapped up the ceremony with a short speech that was equally as boring as his first. When the lights on the stage went off the the lights in the audience came on, the place turned into a zoo. Parents were scrambling to find their children and graduates were swarming all over the place. Caroline pushed through the throng of people and found her mother quickly, pulling her into a tight embrace.
Tears were streaming down Liz's face. "I can't believe you've graduated," she cried.
Caroline pulled back and held her mom at arm's length. "Will you be okay while I'm gone?"
Liz nodded obnoxiously. "Yes. I want you to go and have fun at college and whatever else you do for the rest of your life. Or...the rest of your existence."
Caroline beamed at her. "I will." She turned her attention away from Liz when something caught her eye by the entrance. She saw a figure leaning against the door with his arms crossed over his chest.
Liz followed her gaze and smiled knowingly. "I should get back to work. I only had enough time off to go to the ceremony."
"Don't worry about it, Mom. Thanks for being here."
"Of course."
They hugged one last time before Liz took off for work. Caroline wandered over to the door, her lips turned up into a smile. "Hi," she said.
"Hi," Klaus repeated. "Congratulations." He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, embracing her tightly.
Caroline returned his hug. "Did you see the entire ceremony?" she asked.
"No, I came just in time to see you. You looked beautiful."
"Thank you." Caroline reached up and pressed her lips softly against his.
"Hey, Caroline, are you—" Elena started as she walked up, but she cut off her sentence when she saw that she was busy. "I'll just wait outside."
Caroline chuckled. "My mom has to work, so Elena invited me to go to the Grill with her, Alaric and Jeremy for a celebration lunch," she explained.
Klaus held her face in his hands. "Tell me when you're done. I have a surprise for you."
"Okay," Caroline agreed before spinning around and starting towards the door.
"Caroline," Klaus called to her retreating figure.
She whirled around. "Yeah?"
"Have fun," he told her with a small smile.
-xxx-
Lunch was fun with just Alaric, Jeremy and Elena. They joked around, ate good food, and it felt normal. It would've been even more fun if Bonnie had been there, especially since she and Jeremy had patched things up, but her dad had taken her someplace else for a celebratory meal.
Caroline had thanked them for inviting her and left for her house. When she arrived, she planned on changing into jeans and freshening up before calling Klaus. When she walked into her room, she found a velvet box sitting on her bed with a white ribbon tied around it. She picked it up carefully and untied the bow before opening up the box to find, not jewelry, but a piece of parchment. She unrolled the piece of paper to find a drawing of her in her graduation cap with a diploma, smiling happily.
The note at the bottom read, Congratulations, sweetheart. Caroline rolled her eyes. Klaus had exaggerated all her best features while her not-so-great features were nonexistent. The woman in the picture was definitely her, but she was so much more beautiful.
Unless this is how he really sees me, a voice in the back of her mind whispered. She smiled at the thought and placed the sketch gently on her bedside table.
Caroline changed her clothes and combed through her blonde locks before calling the Original hybrid himself. He answered on the first ring.
"Hello, love, did you get my present?" he asked.
"Yes. It's beautiful and very inaccurate," she answered.
Klaus chuckled. "On the contrary, I find it to be very beautiful and very accurate."
Caroline laughed once. "Thank you. I love it. Is that the surprise you were telling me about earlier?"
"Not quite, but I'm on my way so you'll find out what it is soon enough."
"Can't you just tell me?" Caroline pleaded.
"That would ruin the surprise. I'm pulling into the driveway now, so just be patient." He ended the call, and three seconds later she heard her front door open.
Caroline hopped down the stairs to meet him, a grin in place on her features. "Ever heard of knocking?" she joked.
Klaus ignored this, walking forward to cup her face in his hands and crush his lips to hers, effectively ending all conversation. Caroline forgot everything for the moment and lost herself in his kiss. She placed one hand on the back of his neck and the other on his shoulder, tilting her head to the left as their lips moved in synchronization. He moved his hands from her face to her waist and he pulled her closer to him.
Caroline leaned back slightly. "Are you distracting me?"
"Are you distracted?"
"Yes."
"Then I suppose you could say I'm distracting you."
Caroline chuckled at this and unwrapped herself from him, grinning. "It's not working," she teased. "What's the surprise?"
Klaus sighed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out three slips of paper. "Rome," he said as he held up what looked to be plane tickets. "For you, Bonnie, and the Doppel—Elena."
Caroline stared at the tickets blankly for a moment before a wide smile slowly spread across her face. "Are you serious?" she asked.
Klaus shrugged. "I don't know much about human traditions, but isn't it typical to take a senior trip? The last hurrah before college and all that?"
Caroline nodded. "Thank you so much." She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him tightly. "This is the best present you could have ever given me."
Klaus pulled away, suddenly looking very uncomfortable. "Um, that's not it," he said.
Caroline clapped her hands together excitedly. "Really?"
Klaus chuckled nervously. "I know how important it is to you to have the full...human experience. I can't give you everything you want, but I can still do some things." He pulled something out of his back pocket and clutched it in his hand. "I'm not really sure how this works, but..." He cleared his throat and took her hand in his, placing whatever object he was holding into the palm of her hand and closing her fingers around it.
Caroline opened her hand and peered down at a ring with a huge diamond in the center. Her throat closed and she could feel tears starting to well up in her eyes.
Klaus glanced around nervously. "Rebekah helped me pick it out. She thought I was crazy, and maybe I am crazy, but I know this is something that humans usually do and I figured you'd want to do this for the same reason you want to go to college. You don't have to say yes—"
Caroline cut him off. "Klaus." She looked like she wanted to say more, but she didn't know what to say so she just slipped on the ring and threw her arms around him, kissing every inch of his face. "Thank you, it's perfect!"
Klaus looked immensely relieved as he took her face in his hands again. "I love you, Caroline Forbes," he told her earnestly.
Caroline beamed at him, tears running down her face. "I love you too, Klaus."
-xxx-
A/N: The end! I suck at goodbyes. Seriously. I honestly can't put into words how amazing you all are. All your reviews were such an inspiration! This was only my first story, so expect more to come! Thank you for making writing this worth while, and thank you for adding this to your favorites and for reviewing and for just reading it. Thank you for everything! All of you are wonderful.