Disclaimer: I don't own

July 3, 2013

When Caroline awoke the next day, the bed beside her was empty. She sighed, somewhat in disappointment, somewhat in relief. The past month has been kind of hard on her relationship with Tyler, what with him traveling all over for his new movie, and the "headline" with Klaus, not to mention what happened, or didn't happen, last night, although Tyler wasn't aware of it at all. She had told him that work had run late, and that she had had to take her car to the shop, which wasn't exactly untrue. Work did run a tad late! And she really had called Triple A to tow her car to the shop…she had just failed to mention the events that had transpired in between those two occurrence. Honestly, she didn't know why she hadn't told him, it's not like she had anything to hide! But when she had walked in the door, and Tyler asked her why she was so late, those words just came out of her mouth, completely of their own accord! Ok…so maybe she didn't want to give Tyler any other reason to be mad or suspicious at her then he already was. She didn't want him to get any sort of wrong idea about anything going on between her and Klaus! Although frankly, she had no idea what was going on herself.

The last month spent with him had been hell; constant, bickering, and name-calling, combined with non-stop perverted and degrading comments. And she hated him, with a passion; there was no doubt in her mind! At least there wasn't, until yesterday. Last night Caroline had seen a different side to Klaus, one she had a feeling not many people had ever seen. That situation with his sister was definitely eye opening, and it really helped her unveil just a small piece of the enigma that was Klaus Mikaelson. He had been so caring, and nurturing with Rebekah, not to mention patient. It was like around his sister, he let down some of his walls, and allowed himself to feel authentic honest to goodness emotion. And she had found that side of him so…awakening. It was like being there with him, so vulnerable, had made her see him in a whole new way. A way that she hated to admit she had actually liked a lot; a way that almost made her do something, something so completely stupid that it had felt so right in the moment. And maybe she was stretching it here, but she was pretty sure he felt it too.

Now, in the aftermath of everything that happened yesterday, Caroline was just confused! How did she act around him now? Did she feel any different about him? Did he feel any different about her? Did it mean anything? And of course, despite how much she was trying to squash the thought, she couldn't help but think about what would have happened if Rebekah hadn't called out for Klaus, if she hadn't pulled back, and if they had kissed. She kept thinking about what his lips would feel like on hers; how his stubble would feel against her face, tickling her jaw, and what the kiss would have meant.

"Snap out of it!," she silently scolded herself. She was happily committed to her loving boyfriend, and the fact that nothing happened yesterday was a GOOD thing. Yes, everything was good because NOTHING had happened…nothing had happened. She kept repeating the mantra over and over in her head, willing herself to believe it. She got out of bed, and hopped in the shower, still consciously fighting to forget yesterday all together. Once she was all dressed and ready to go, she looked at herself in the mirror. She still looked the same as ever; same blue eyes, same blonde hair, same pearly smile that had graced the cover of many a magazine. As she took in her appearance she gently shook her head, her curls bobbing around her shoulders, "nothing happened," she repeated under her breath, as she walked out of her room. But in the back of her mind she couldn't help but think…if nothing happened, then why was she so scared to go to work today.

When she walked out into the kitchen, she was shocked to see Tyler sitting on a bar stool, drinking some coffee and reading the paper. When she woke up alone, she just assumed that Tyler had gone out to some meeting, or appointment, like he so often did. The sound of her heels alerted her presence as she walked over to the coffee pot. Tyler looked up from his paper, and smiled at her, his brown eyes twinkling.

"Morning babe, did you sleep well?" he asked as he looked back down at his paper.

Caroline leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, an action that felt so familiar to her,

"Just great" she lied.

That answer seemed to appease him though because he didn't inquire anymore. Caroline grabbed a to-go mug from the cabinet and was pouring herself some coffee when he spoke again.

"Hey listen, I'm free today so I was hoping we could grab some lunch later? I could swing by the studio."

Caroline looked up from her coffee as Tyler spoke. It had been a really long time since the two of them had spent any quality time together, and any other day she probably would have been ecstatic that Tyler was initiating any type of plans between them. But considering the day she had in front of her, lunch with Tyler was the last thing she needed. None the less, she pulled out her inner actor, pasted a smile on her face, and said, "Lunch sounds great."

Tyler smiled again at hearing her answer, as he leaned over the counter to kiss her. Caroline leaned in and met his lips, before quickly pulling back.

"I gotta go or I'll be late," she smiled against his lips, before grabbing her coffee and hurrying out the door.

"Ok, have a great day babe! Love you!" Tyler called after her.

As she got in her car she couldn't help but frown uneasily as she started her drive to work. She had a tight knot in her stomach, that felt like it was going to burn through her. But she didn't bother taking any medicine, she knew it wouldn't help; the knot in her stomach wasn't anything medical. It was a monster of human emotion that we like to call guilt.

Caroline managed to get through most of the morning without seeing Klaus. It was not easy, seeing as they had about 75% of their scenes together, but apparently luck was on her side today. Or so it was, until about 11:30. She was getting ready to shoot a scene with Klaus, but he was nowhere to be seen. She was drumming her fingers on the edge of her chair as she sat drinking her 4th cup of coffee of the day (in hindsight all that caffeine probably wasn't the best idea). She almost thought he wasn't gonna show, until she heard David say "Ah, there you are Klaus!"

Sure enough she looked up and standing across the room was Klaus. Her heart involuntarily started beating a little faster. Given all the time she had spent worrying about seeing Klaus you'd think she would have come up with a better game plan than "see what he does first."

She got out of her chair and walked onto the set, which were this particular scene happened to be her bedroom. Keeping her head down, she sent up a silent prayer that David would have them start quickly, before Klaus would have a chance to talk to her. Well, apparently she must have littered in a past life because at that exact moment David's phone rang.

"Guys I gotta take this," he yelled out to the crew, "hang on one second."

Great, just great. Today was so not her day. Just keep your head down, and don't look up, whatever you do don't look up, don't look-

"Caroline"

She looked up. And right into the blue eyes of Klaus. The deja-vu of the whole situation wasn't lost on her either.

"Klaus" she replied uneasily, trying to force her voice to sound normal.

He grinned at her, and raised his eyebrow, "Oh last night it's Nik, but today it's Klaus?"

She felt like he had slapped her. How could she have been so stupid as to have taken anything that happened, I mean didn't happen, seriously! She should have known that that whole vulnerable, injured puppy dog thing was an act.

She met his eyes, wanting to slap that grin right off his face,

"Go to hell, Klaus," she scoffed, putting heavy emphasis on his name, before trying to turn away.

But he stopped her, grabbing her arm, and turning her to face him, as she looked up at his face, ready to tell him off again, she almost did a double take. Because the cocky grin, and the laughing eyes were gone, and back was the honest face she had seen last night, that she had almost convinced herself she made up.

"Look Caroline, I just want to talk about what happened last night," he said earnestly

"Shhhhh," she hushed him, as she quickly looked around to make sure no one had heard him. A few people seemed to look down as she glanced in their direction, but otherwise no one was paying them any attention.

"Nothing happened last night," she whispered, trying to hide the doubt in her voice that she felt in her heart.

His face seemed to fall a little but he carried on in a hushed tone, "I know but-

"Nothing happened last night," she said again, slowly pronouncing every syllable, hoping he would drop the topic.

They stood there quite close together, their eyes locked in a silent battle. He seemed to want to say more, and was about to, when David walked back on set.

"Okay guys, let's begin!"

The scene started off a little awkward, both of them still clearly thinking about their previous conversation, but they pushed through and were able to get a finished product that David was happy with. When they finished the scene, Caroline attempted to flee quickly before Klaus could corner her, but again, today was not her day.

"Caroline!" he called out as she was bending down to pick up her purse.

She ignored him, and started walking off the set, when she felt a tug on her arm, and was again being turned to face him.

"Ow!," she yelled, pulling her arm back out of his grip, "you know I would really appreciate it if you stopped doing that!" she chided

"Sorry" he muttered sheepishly, "but I really need to talk to you."

Caroline sighed, and glanced around, before hesitantly looking back up at Klaus, and raising her eyebrows,

"Fine, talk."

Klaus smiled a little, before stepping closer to her,

"Look, I'm really sorry about last night, it wasn't my intention to drag you into my problems."

He paused and looked at her, seemingly waiting for a response; when she didn't say anything he kept going.

"I also just wanted to say that… I meant what I said."

At that, Caroline looked up into Klaus's eyes. They were so vulnerable, searching her eyes madly for any type of answer. Caroline involuntarily stepped a little closer to Klaus, trying hard to not notice how great he smelled, but failing miserably. She looked down trying to clear her head. Taking a deep breath she looked back up into his gorgeous blue eyes. She opened her mouth to reply when she was cut off by a very familiar voice.

"Care!"

She turned around suddenly, and sure enough, Tyler was walking towards them, a big smile on his face. Quickly she took a step away from Klaus, trying to put as much space between them as she could.

"Hey babe" Tyler said as he walked up, before leaning in and kissing Caroline. She tried to hide her surprise, as she pulled away, sculpting her face into a fake smile.

"Tyler," she said breathily, "you're here!"

He laughed a little, as he put his hand around her waist,

"I said I would be didn't I?" he joked, as he looked expectantly towards Klaus, and then back at Caroline.

Caroline glanced between them before awkwardly making introductions,

"I'm sorry Tyler you know Klaus, and Klaus this is my boyfriend Tyler Lockwood."

Caroline tried not to flinch as she spoke those words, and avoided looking at Klaus at all costs, afraid of what she would see on his face. Anger? Sadness? Jealousy? Imagine her surprise when she looked up and his face was completely back to normal. And we're talking really normal, cocky grin, laughing eyes, and everything.

"Nice to meet you mate," Klaus said, reaching out his hand

Tyler shook his hand, "Yeah you too man, got to admit, you're not as hot as she made you out to be."

Klaus looked at Caroline, surprise flashing in his eyes before he quickly masked it with arrogance,

"Oh?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow

"Not me!" Caroline quickly spit out, a little too intensely. Tyler and Klaus both looked at her quizzically, probably questioning her sanity.

"I mean…not me, I didn't say that."

Tyler laughed a little, "No I'm talking about my co-star in my latest movie, Haley Marshall, she might have a little crush on you."

Klaus smirked cockily, "Oh? Well I might have a little crush on her too."

Klaus and Tyler laughed a little at his comment, while Caroline stood there awkwardly.

"Hey well it must be pretty hard to date with all the long hours David has you working, right man?"

Klaus shrugged indifferently, "The hours usually aren't that bad."

"Oh yeah?" Tyler questioned curiously, "That's weird because Care has some really weird hours! Last night shooting ran so late she didn't even get home till way past 12."

Caroline froze, all the blood rushing from her face. She looked at Klaus who was standing there with confusion written all over his face, but once he saw her he knew exactly what was going on.

"Umm, oh yeah I mean last night they kept us pretty late" he stuttered, trying to sound casual, as his eyes darted back to Caroline, who sent him a small appreciative smile. She had to get out of there before one of these dufus heads said something else stupid.

"Okay, well Tyler and I were just about to have lunch, so we'll see you later Klaus," Caroline said attempting to sound nonchalant.

As she tried to pull Tyler away from the awkward encounter, David walked up,

"Ahh, if it isn't three of my favorite actors!" David exclaimed, shaking Tyler's hand, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh I just brought Caroline some lunch," he said, holding up the bag that was in his hand.

"Yes, and we were just about to eat it..." Caroline attempted to cut in.

"Hey why don't you join us?" Tyler asked the two men, "I've got enough to feed a small army!"

Shit. Shit. Shit. Caroline was now on red alert. Why would her boyfriend choose NOW of all times to decide to be generous!

"I'd love to!," David exclaimed

Then the two of them turned to look at Klaus, who was standing there with his hands in his pockets.

"Klaus?" Tyler questioned

Caroline looked at Klaus, eye's wide in warning. Her lips were pursed, and one eyebrow was cocked. She was trying to visually convey "say yes, and you're dead" as best she could. Unfortunately, Klaus either didn't get the hint, or lived for the thrill of making Caroline's life miserable, because he shrugged his shoulders and said, "why the hell not?" before sending Caroline a cheeky grin that led her to believe that he knew exactly what he was doing.

The lunch was definitely a low point in Caroline's entire existence, although the guys seemed to be enjoying themselves a ton! At this point it was very obvious that Klaus was doing everything he could to make her squirm. She was picking at the last of her Lo Mein, when David got up to leave.

"That was really great Tyler, thanks a lot; I hope you and Caroline will be able to make it to my 4th of July party tomorrow!"

Tyler looked over at Caroline, whose eyes were wide.

"What party?" he questioned, as Caroline cut in hastily,

"Oh David, we would really love to but we have a thing to do."

Tyler raised his eyebrows at Caroline, "What thing?"

She looked at Tyler, her eyes narrowed, "You know sweetie? That thing we have to do…"

David and Klaus watched as Tyler and Caroline had a visual debate, before Tyler said,

"We would love to come! We'll see you there!"

Caroline sighed, okay so they're going to a party with a bunch of people that she hates? That's not that bad, it could be worse.

"Klaus, you're coming as well, right?" David asked

She had spoken too soon.

Klaus looked over at Caroline, his mischievous eyes twinkling. Caroline was subtly shaking her head no. Then, with a sly grin he said, "There is nowhere else I would rather be."

She was going to kill him.

AN: Is there anyone out there still? I know I haven't updated this in a really long time, and I'm so sorry! I had no idea with where I wanted to go with this story, and no inspiration! Everytime I sat down to write nothing came out. Recently though, I have read some pretty amazing fics that have inspired me to keep going. I have sort of rethought some things in this story, and I now know where I want to take it, so bear with me! Also, just to clear this up, I know a lot of you probably don't like Tyler, but Tyler's not the bad guy! But on the flip side, don't worry, not every chapter will be this Tyler heavy. Moving on, next chapter will feature David's Fourth of July party! Any ideas who we might see there...;) I honestly have no idea if anyone is still reading this but if you are thank you, and I hope you enjoy!