AN: Hello loyal readers, I have nothing else to say except you can commence the tomato throwing, I know I'm terrible for not updating :( But the good news is I'm back now! My inability to decide how I wanted to proceed with Klaus and Caroline's relationship, but I decided to just take the plunge, go one way, and hope you guys liked it! Also, special shoutout to some of my most loyal readers that review every chapter, and urge me to keep writing, you guys literally are the reason this story still exists so thank you :) Okay enough of me, now Chapter 12!
Disclaimer: I don't own TVD
Sunday July 14th, 2013
Caroline hopped out of bed and into the shower. She stood there, letting the water fall down her body as she closed her eyes, still drowsy with sleep. She stood in a trance like that for a while, just taking in the tranquility of the moment. Eventually she opened her eyes, and washed her hair with her favorite shampoo that smelled like strawberries. She followed that with strawberry conditioner, and then a strawberry body wash. What could she say, she loved strawberries! The fragrance of the blood red fruit was as pleasing to her nose, as a nice chocolate milkshake was to her taste buds.
When she was finished, she hopped out of the shower, and put on her silk bath robe. Then, she walked out of her room, and began brewing herself a cup of coffee. The apartment was quiet as Tyler had left the previous night for Georgia. He and Caroline were still going through a rough patch in their relationship. Well, not exactly a "rough" patch, more like the opposite actually, it was like a smooth patch… a completely uneventful, unexciting, smooth patch. Hopefully these next two weeks apart or so would help both of them sort of clear there mind, so that they could come back to the relationship with renewed effort. Hopefully.
In the meantime she was going to enjoy her nice, peaceful morning in silence, before she had to get ready for her "non-date" lunch with Klaus. She sat down on the couch, and closed her eyes, smiling at the memory of Klaus asking her to lunch the other day. He was so adorable with that accent, and those dimples that sometimes she couldn't help but just smile at the thought of them, like now for instance.
She sighed contently before taking a sip of her coffee. This was nice. She hadn't had "me time" in forever, time to just be alone, and relax in her own thoughts. It was a quiet time, a tranquil time, it was a-
"Care, are you home? We brought doughnuts!" came the voice of Katherine Pierce from the foyer,
-it was an interrupted time.
Caroline allowed herself to sit with her eyes closed for another few seconds, before getting up to greet her friends.
"Yeah, I'm here!" she said walking into the kitchen, to see her two best friends Stefan Salvatore and Katherine Pierce, setting a large box of doughnuts on the table.
They both looked up at the sound of her voice. Stefan already had a mouthful of a chocolate cream doughnut, adorned with white powder at the corners of his mouth.
"Hey Cawowine" he mumbled incoherently through the doughnut.
She smiled at her dork of a friend,
"Hey Stef, what are you guys doing here?"
Katherine leaned against the counter with a cup of coffee she had just poured for herself, as she tossed her hair over her shoulder.
"What two friends can't just go over to their other friends' house for no reason other than to just visit?" Katherine joked, pretending to be insulted.
Caroline smirked at her friend's sassiness,
"They can, but not when the they includes one Katherine Pierce, and not when the time is before 10 a.m.," she jested back
Katherine shrugged her shoulders in defeat,
"Okay, you caught me, I just wanted to catch up with you today before your date with Klaus."
At this Stefan's head peeked up from behind the box of doughnuts, powder all over his face, and his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.
"You're going on a date with Klaus?" he asked in disbelief, as Caroline glared at Katherine for so purposefully bringing it up like that.
"No," she said pointedly toward Katherine, "I am not going on a date with Klaus."
"But he asked you to lunch.." Katherine said,
"Yeah."
"And you said yes.." she continued,
"Yeah."
"That sounds like a date to me!" she concluded, grabbing a plain glazed doughnut from the box, carefully as to not ruin her manicure.
Caroline sighed exasperatedly as her two friends waited for her answer,
"It's not a date…it's more like a friend date" she stammered,
"Or a non-date, if you will! Just two friends, casually going out for lunch, and discussing friendly things such as the weather, or the price of rice in China, etc." she said casually as she joined the doughnut party at the table.
"But Klaus doesn't have friends," Stefan interject, confusedly, as he licked his fingers for excess doughnut powder.
"You're his friend," she pointed out, with a triumphant smirk.
"Ok, well maybe it would be more accurate to say Klaus doesn't have friends that are girls."
Stefan and Katherine both looked at Caroline with smug smirks on their face relishing in her inability to respond to Stefan's statement. Finally Caroline got fed up with the staring and so she mustered up the incredibly weak counter argument of,
"What are you guys in the 2nd grade? This isn't Harry met Sally, I'm not Meg Ryan, and Klaus is definitely not Billy Crystal. I swear we are just two people who work together and happen to have struck up a working relationship. In fact in some ways we're kind of like Men in Black…you know without the Men…or the black.." she rambled on, as Katherine and Stefan watched with amusement.
Katherine decided to be a good friend and save Caroline from her own rambling by cutting in at that moment,
"Whatever you say Care, whatever you say… just let me know how your "non-date" goes."
Caroline smiled back at Katherine appreciatively,
"Will do Kat, thanks, but you guys should probably get going, I have a couple errands I have to run before I go meet Klaus."
Katherine and Stefan said their goodbyes to her and then both left, Stefan with the remaining doughnuts in hand. After they had left Caroline proceeded to get ready for the day, apply makeup, and get dressed. Then, with a shopping list in hand, she left her apartment at around 10:30 to run a couple errands before meeting Klaus at one o'clock.
X
Caroline went to a couple stores in downtown Los Angeles before heading to a small coffee shop to reimburse her quickly diminishing energy supply. She was standing in line with her sunglasses on, waiting to order her coffee when she heard a familiar voice behind her.
"Caroline?"
She turned around and sure enough an hour early it was her "non-date" himself.
"Klaus? What are you doing here?" she said happily, leaning in to hug him in a friendly embrace.
"Oh you know, I like to come here to check out the babes," he said with a wink.
Caroline's cheeks grew pink as she tried to force a smile,
"Oh yeah?," she responded trying to sound normal.
Quickly Klaus burst out laughing as his face broke into a giant grin complete with dimples. He ran a hand through his curls as he laughed, one hand in his pocket.
"No ,of course not! I'm here to get coffee of course!"
Caroline laughed, her cheeks growing even redder with embarrassment at actually believing his obvious joke,
"Right of course, that would make sense seeing as we are in a coffee shop and all."
"Yeah it would," he smiled back his blue eyes alight with amusement, as he looked down at her.
"Miss, may I take your order?" came the voice of the coffee barista behind Caroline.
She smiled at Klaus before turning around to give the coffee barista her order. As the barista was making Caroline's drink she looked shyly up at her and said,
"You're Caroline Forbes aren't you?"
Caroline smiled at the barista, finding her shyness endearing,
"Yeah I am!"
"Oh my god this is so weird I am such a big fan!," the barista squealed,
"I am so excited for that movie with you and Klaus Mikaelson!"
At that Klaus decided to pop his head into the conversation, clearly having heard it all,
"Did someone say my name?" he joked with a grin towards the barista.
"Oh. My. God," the barista said, looking at Klaus in complete shock.
"I cannot believe this is happening, would it be totally weird if I asked for a picture with you two?"
They both smiled at each other and then back at the barista,
"No not at all, come on over here, love" Klaus said cheerily with a wave of his hand.
They took a photo, with the barista right between Caroline and Klaus, and then the barista returned to the other side of the bar, and proceeded to make Klaus' drink too. By the time they were both leaving you would have thought the girl had won the lottery, she was grinning from ear to ear.
When they walked out of the coffee shop, they both put on a pair of sunglasses, standard procedure for actors in L.A.
Klaus turned to look at Caroline through his shades, a lopsided smile on his face,
"So Caroline, any plans for the next hour, or would you be willing to lend me your company slightly early?"
She laughed at the pouty expression on his face,
"Well how can I say no when you're giving me those horrible puppy dog eyes?" she responded, with a playful shove, throwing him slightly off balance.
"Hey!" Klaus shouted through his initial laughter,
Caroline stuck her tongue out at him, in response, before taking another sip of her coffee.
"So what now? Did you drive here?"
At her question, Klaus quirked his eyes mischievously, his lips pursing in a suspicious manner.
"As a matter of fact I did," he said slowly, looking at her with that suspicious twinkle in his eye that made shivers run up her spine.
"Okayy… so where is your car?" Caroline replied confusedly, looking around the parking lot and not seeing his normal vehicle.
Klaus' smirk grew even bigger as he continued to stare at Caroline, relishing in her adorable confusion.
"I said I drove here love, I didn't say I took a car."
Her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion, as she stopped searching the parking lot to turn and look at Klaus, who was gesturing to a black motorcycle parked right in front of them.
She looked at Klaus not really registering his words, and then she looked at the motorcycle his hand was still pointing at, her head whipped quickly back and forth between Klaus and the motorcycle and she suddenly got what he was implying.
"No way, you have got to be out of your mind!" she said, putting up both her hands almost like a barrier between her and the motorcycle.
Klaus laughed good heartedly at her discomfort, as he walked over toward the motorcycle and patted the seat.
"Oh come on love, it'll be fun!" he insisted, giving her those puppy dog eyes once again,
"and besides, you would look so adorable in this helmet," he purred, producing a black helmet from behind his back.
Caroline couldn't help but smile at his cute antics, despite her reluctance, the helmet sealed the deal for her and she gave into his offer.
Klaus got on the motorcycle first, and put on his own black helmet, while Caroline stood next to him, and put on hers.
"There, how do I look?" she jokingly asked him, expecting him to let her know how ridiculous she looked.
But instead he reached up and tightened her chin strap, his hand lingering, as his eyes looked into hers,
"Perfect," he said quite seriously.
She looked back into his eyes, feeling startled by all the sincerity she saw in them. Then she realized how quiet they had both gotten, and she looked down trying to break the tension, not knowing how to respond. Klaus sensing her discomfort, smiled and joked back,
"but I look better."
At that Caroline laughed and hopped onto the back of the motorcycle, her arms wrapping involuntarily around Klaus' stomach, holding on maybe a little tighter than was necessary.
"Okay, where to now?" she shouted over the roar of the engine.
He turned around to look at her, a wicked smirk on his face,
"It's a surprise!"
Caroline stuck out her bottom lip in a pout at his words,
"I hate surprises!" she yelled, as he began to pull out of the coffee shop,
"I know!" he shouted back.
Caroline smiled as she leaned forward, and placed her head against his back. She had a feeling this day would be full of surprises.
X
20 minutes later they arrived at the Santa Monica pier. Klaus turned off the engine and removed his helmet. Caroline took hers off too and shook her hair out, attempting to remove any helmet hair like look. She hopped off the motorcycle and looked up at the pier, grinning despite her confusion.
"Klaus I thought we were going to lunch?"
"We were going to but then I thought any friend could take another friend to boring old lunch, but it takes a special friend to take another friend to the Santa Monica Pier!" he finished stretching both arms out wide in declaration.
She laughed at his adorable nature as they both began walking down the pier.
"Very true," she agreed, making him smile even more, "so what do you want to do first?"
Klaus looked over at her and in a very serious voice said,
"Caroline Forbes, I have a very important question to ask you?"
Caroline gulped, suddenly feeling nervous about what he was gonna ask. She was about to say something really stupid when luckily Klaus finished his question and said,
"How do you feel about bumper cars?"
She smiled sheepishly and giggled at his playful nature,
"I love bumper cars."
X
They spent an hour or two doing everything from bumper cars to arcade games, Klaus even won Caroline a giant teddy bear. Around 3:00 they decided they were both starving and so they found a small restaurant to eat in on the pier. Both of them ordered giant burgers and fries, and proceeded to have a contest to see who could eat there humongous burger the quickest. Klaus won, but Caroline was definitely more clean afterwards. Several people came up to ask for autographs or pictures, and they were both happy to oblige, but luckily for the most part people seemed to leave them alone, to just be two normal people having a nice day on the pier.
They finished eating and left the restaurant at around 4:45. They were walking on the pier side by side as Klaus told her the most ridiculous story about a bad on-screen kiss experience that he had.
Caroline was laughing so hard she was starting to get a cramp.
"This cannot be true, you made this up!" she sputtered between her laughs, as Klaus chuckled beside her.
"Love, I couldn't have made this up even if I wanted to!"
"Hey I wouldn't put it past you! You're a pretty weird guy Klaus Mikaelson" she joked looking at him as they walked, "pretty weird…but pretty great too," she said sincerely as they both stopped and rested on the railing looking out at the water.
Klaus smiled back at her, he looked like he wanted to say something, but instead he looked out at the water.
She watched him questioningly,
"What?" she asked
He looked up at her and smirked,
"What, what?" he teased back,
She laughed at him, as she nudged him with her elbow, pushing for a real answer she said,
"No really what are you thinking about?"
Klaus kept his gaze ahead, eyes fixed on the horizon and where the sky met the water. He seemed so serious at moments like these, nothing like the Klaus she knew from the news, or the first Klaus she met a couple months ago. He was a totally different person now, it was like peeling back the layer of an orange only to discover it wasn't an orange at all, but an apple.
She kept her eyes on Klaus, trying to gauge his mood, trying to predict what he would say next. She waited patiently until he finally opened his mouth to speak.
"My mom used to take me and my siblings to the fair back at home," he said quietly, still looking out at the water, his eyes narrowed in thought.
Caroline waited for him to go on, not wanting to push him, and after a long pause he did.
"My younger brother Henrik would never come on any of the rides with us, he was too scared though of course he never said so, but we all knew he was. We used to tease him and call him a scaredy cat, you know how siblings do," he laughed at the memory.
"We could never get him to go on any of the rides ever, I mean it was impossible, he always used to just wait with my mom, while Kol, Rebekah, Elijah and I would go on them together. My eldest brother Finn didn't like the rides either so he didn't come, but Henrik always came anyway…"
Klaus paused, wrapped up in his own memory. Caroline looked at him in wonder. She had never seen Klaus so sentimental.
"Anyway," Klaus continued, "one time we came, but Kol stayed at home sick with the flu. So when we went to go on the ferriswheel I had nobody to sit with. I was pretending not to be scared or anything, but somehow Henrik knew, and right before the ferriswheel took off, he ran over from where my mom was waiting on the sidelines, and hopped in my cart with me. He didn't say anything explaining it, just sat there with me, and held on tight as we went around. When it was over, he got up like nothing had happened, and never said anything about it…I never made fun of him again," he finished, finally turning to look over at Caroline, a sad smile on his face.
Caroline looked at him, still processing what he had told her. She didn't know Klaus had any other siblings besides Rebekah, in fact she didn't know much about Klaus period.
"He sounds like a really great guy," she praised, looking over at Klaus.
He nodded slowly, his eyes getting a far-away look in his eye,
"He was," he said softly, before looking back out at the ocean.
Her heart clenched at the implication of his words, and suddenly she had the urge to hug him, hold him tight and never let go.
"Klaus..I" she began, but he cut her off,
"It's okay Caroline."
They stood in a silence for a while, both looking out at the water, just listening to the waves. Caroline wanted to know more about Henrik but didn't want to push Klaus to reveal anything he didn't want to, so she thought maybe she should share something personal with him too.
"My parents used to take me to the carnival too you know," she said, still looking out at the water. Klaus turned to look at her though as she continued,
"Our town used to have a carnival every month , and when I was little we used to go all the time. Every night, at the end of the night, once it was dark enough to see the stars my dad would take me on the ferriswheel, and when we got to the top, he would point to the stars and say, "make a wish Caroline," she said smiling softly as she recounted the memory.
"Well, when I was little I was obsessed with ballet, in fact I wanted to be a professional ballerina," she said, scrunching her nose up in embarrassment. Normally Klaus would have laughed at such an admission, but the way she said it, combined with the fact that it was Caroline somehow just made the whole thing completely adorable.
"Anyway, one year, we got to the top of the ferriswheel and my dad said 'Make a wish Caroline,' and I said 'I wish I was a ballerina.' The next day when I got up, I opened my closet and hanging in the middle of it was a pink leotard, and a matching pink tutu," she laughed, throwing her head back, making her blonde curls bounce over her shoulder.
Klaus was completely entranced.
"He sounds like a great guy," he said, smiling at the magnificent creature in front of him.
Caroline turned her head from the sea to look Klaus in the eye,
"He was," she whispered, lifting one half of her mouth up in a bittersweet smile, one that spoke of past happiness and past pain.
Klaus didn't know what to say. He had no idea that Caroline's dad was dead. He was starting to realize he really didn't know very much about her at all, but everything he found out just wet his thirst, the more he drank in the more parched he became. He reached over tentatively and placed his hand on top of hers. At first her hand tensed under his, but then it relaxed, and they stood there like that, his hand on her hand, looking out at the ocean for a while. And it felt right.
X
They walked around a while longer, the daylight quickly fading. They passed a cotton candy vendor, and Caroline insisted they stop and get some. She made Klaus buy the pink kind too, despite his many protests. They were walking closely together on the pier, arms brushing as they swung side by side, both picking off pieces of cotton candy as they walked. A couple more fans came up to ask for their picture, and some people looked at them curiously, but otherwise they walked in a comfortable silence, both content with the others company.
As they walked, Klaus glanced up at Caroline, and started laughing. She looked over at him curiously,
"What's so funny?"
He looked over at her, still chuckling, so she stopped, and faced him with her hand on her hip, laughing as well,
"Come on Klaus, tell me!" she urged,
He looked down at the ground, as he ran a hand through his curls. He looked back up at her, a twinkle still in his eyes, as he grinned at her.
"It's just, you have a little something…" he gestured to her mouth,
She reached up with her hand to where he was pointing,
"What? Something here?" she asked, as she attempted to wipe the cotton candy off her face, but failed miserably.
"No not quite," Klaus laughed, as he watched her fail to wipe off the pink candy, finally he decided to give in and help her,
"Here, allow me," he said reaching a hand up to wipe the candy off her mouth,
Caroline didn't even realize what he was doing until his hand was on her face, cradling it, his thumb on her lip as he wiped away the cotton candy. She inadvertently looked down at his thumb, her heartbeat suddenly racing, suddenly aware of how closely they were standing.
Klaus ran his thumb over the corner of her lip a couple times, until he had gotten it off. Then he slowly removed his hand from her face,
"There, perfect…" he muttered, looking at her lips, at the spot his thumb had just been.
Caroline blushed, and looked down at the ground, her face hot. She then looked back up, and realized the ride they had accidentally stopped by on their walk.
"What do you say Klaus, one last ride to cap off the day?" she suggested, gesturing at the ride behind him. Klaus turned around, and once his eyes set site on the ride his face broke into a huge grin,
"sounds lovely."
They both got in line, and when it was there turn they hopped in the cart, both smiling like they were little kids again. Caroline laughed, as the ferriswheel began to bring them up, her eyes bright with joy. Klaus smiled enthusiastically as he watched the blonde giggling with delight in front of him. The ride slowed and slowed until they finally stopped at the very top of the ferriswheel. Caroline stopped laughing, as they both looked up at the stars.
Suddenly the cart seemed to be a lot smaller than when they first got in, and Caroline realized how close they were both sitting. Klaus looked up at the sky, and pointed to a star, before looking back over at Caroline,
"Make a wish Caroline," he whispered in a gravelly tone, her name flowing off his tongue like honey.
At his words, her heart skipped a beat, and she found her eyes drifting down to his lips, so pink and full. She looked up into his eyes, and found his beautiful blue eyes looking at her lips too, so she began to lean in, and he leaned in too. Suddenly they were inches apart, then centimeters, and then, they weren't apart at all.
Her lips met his in a kiss, tentative at first, but searing at the same time. Her lips burned where his touched hers; burned with such a fire that she felt it in her whole body. Eventually the kiss ended, and they sat, foreheads pressed against each other, breath heavy.
Klaus was just leaning in again, for another kiss, as she licked her lips in anticipation, when the ride started moving again, literally shaking them both out of the moment. Caroline's eyes snapped open, and she was suddenly all too conscious of where they were, and what she was doing. Her whole body tensed, and she immediately dropped her hand from the side of Klaus' face, and turned to face forward. Her mind reeling at what she had just done. Klaus faced her a while longer, trying to read her face, but eventually just faced forward as well.
Only two thoughts were running through Caroline's mind: What had she just done, and what did she do now?
AN: Whattttt. They kissed? I know right? To be honest, I totally wasn't planning on having this chapter end like this, I was gonna just have her pull away, but when I came down to writing the end I just couldn't do that to you guys again! So hopefully you liked this chapter! If you did, let me know with a nice review! And if you didn't, let me know with a review and I will take that into consideration ;). Until next time...
-ALD
P.S. Sorry if there are a lot of grammar errors in this, I don't have a beta, and I wanted to get this out to you guys as quick as possible without any further delay!