Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries- I just play with their characters.

A/N: Thank you to the handful of readers that were kind enough to leave a review! I am so eager and happy to read your thoughts! And a massive thanks as well to everyone that favorited or alerted, like I walk around with a goofy smile after I see each one.

So, in honor of the hopefully Klaroline-goodness filled episode tonight, I have updated! Much faster than the last time, right? ...Right? And after episode 4x17, like c'mon. My heart was throbbing with all of their interaction, and oh! Oh, the words he said to her! Such a romantic that Klaus. Then the fact that she admitted to once considering the idea of THEM- oh dear goodness, sweet baby hippopotamus- my heart. I just can't.

Hopefully there is some sort of bodily contact between Klaus and Caroline tonight. Preferably the lips, or even anything below the waist is good, too. They just need to be together and make the two-backed beast to feed my shipping heart. And to rid the image of Klaus and that she-wolf (who will not be named cause I will throw a lamp) out of my brain.

Like, did I call that, or what? Ew.

This one is short. No, it is not the massive plot that I told you before that I was cooking up. I need to put together an ending for that one. So, soon, my lovelies!

Please excuse any mistakes, and enjoy!

We got no money, but we got heart

We're gonna rattle this ghost town

This house is falling apart.

Anna Sun- Walk the Moon

The Ayala Science Library is empty, save for a few bookworms, on a Friday night. Then again, people have lives and whatnot that doesn't include spending it cooped up in a building filled to the brim with dusty books. Caroline growls in frustration as she chucks her pencil marred with bite marks at her innocent notebook sitting atop of the large wooden table. She glares at it, investing all of her irritation into the heated look, then leans back in her chair with a sigh. She pinches the bridge of her nose as she stares up towards the high ceiling of the building. Words cannot begin to describe how deflated she feels. Her eyes begin to burn by the threat of tears forming, but she forces to keep them at bay. She lets out a shaky breath and reaches into her back pocket for her phone.

"Where are you?" she texts.

Caroline inhales deeply through her nose, and holds it. The phone vibrates in alert a moment later. She exhales slowly.

"The medical section."

She furrows her perfectly shaped brows, but nonetheless packs her things into her bag and begins the trek towards the specified area. She walks past a few other students that are on their laptops browsing through Facebook or clothing sites, and she can't help but scoff. Caroline tries not to compare, but she can't stop the feeling of bitterness that makes its way up her throat and coats her tongue. She rubs at her chest unconsciously in attempt to rid the clenching feeling when she nears the rows of shelves that are dedicated to medical related books. She finds him browsing in the anatomy aisle.

"What are you doing here?" Caroline doesn't realize just how loud she spoke until she notices the young girl perusing through a thick book standing a few paces away flinch from being startled. She throws the vampire a quick glare before scurrying off in the opposite direction. Caroline returns to look at the man who still hasn't bothered to turn around and acknowledge her presence. How rude.

"Are you done?" he asks, back still facing her.

"I'm sorry, but I prefer not to talk to the back of your head," Caroline snaps in a harsh whisper.

Klaus shuts the book in his hand and turns to give her a small smirk. "Someone's grumpy."

The blonde tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Don't start with me right now," she grumbles.

Klaus can sense the warning in her tone and he lifts his hands in surrender before placing the book back into its rightful place. "All right, love. We'll take our leave then." He moves to stand by her side and places a hand on her lower back to lead her out of the building residing on the University of California, Irvine campus.

. . .

The couple enters their two bedroom apartment near the shore of Corona del Mar beach. The apartment itself is quaint, but quite spacious for only two occupants. The purpose of the extra bedroom is to be a guest room for the occasional Salvatore brother or others that decide to stop by while they're in town, but sometimes the room can serve as a place to sleep when the hybrid (and at times, the blonde vampire) get into arguments. But the latter hasn't been occurring as often because the couple decided to enforce the rule of no longer going to bed angry at one another. It took some adjustment at first, but they soon came to realize that the new routine produced good results. Wonderful- mind blowing –results.

Caroline huffs as she enters the living room and drops her bag onto the wooden floors with a heavy thud. She plops onto the black leather couch and throws an arm across her closed eyes. Her (boyfriend, mate, wingman?) partner enters the room at a much more relaxed pace, locks the door, and briefly shakes his head at her antics.

"Are you hungry?"

The woman winces at his cheerful-toned question and retorts, "Dial down the chipper will you?"

"Lose the attitude, Caroline."

"'Lose the attitude, Caroline.' Suck my balls," she mocks in her head. She grabs one of the plush couch pillows and hugs it to her face to scream within its fluffiness with all her might. The sound would have been deafening if it weren't for the pillow muffling her high-pitched shrieks. When she's done pouring her anger into the soft furniture she drops it onto the floor and begins taking deep breaths to try to ease the tight clenching in her throat from the lack of oxygen.

"Finished now, drama queen?"

Caroline lifts her hand to give him the bird before using that arm to once again rest it over her sore eyes. All that screaming didn't help diddly-squat with her pent up frustrations. Hands are suddenly grasping her ankles and lifting them up into the air. She feels the couch dip from the new weight and then her legs are resting on a pair of muscular, but lean, thighs. Klaus massages her calves as he asks in a softer voice, "What's wrong?" That smooth accent and his experienced fingers working magic on her skin basically has Caroline melting on the spot. She hums in approval, but also because she's too tired to verbally answer. The burning behind her eyelids starts up again and she bites her lower lip to prevent it from trembling. She will not cry over this. It is petty, and stupid, and she will not waste tears over something so frivolous.

Caroline feels warm fingers try to pry her arm away from her eyes and even though she tries her hardest to bat away the annoying hand, Klaus is persistent. She gives up and allows him to remove her limb so that he's staring at her face, which is beginning to turn a light shade of red from repressing the waves of emotions. "Sweetheart," she hears him breathe. Then there's a thumb lightly caressing the nearly swollen thin skin under her eyes, and this is what breaks her. Caroline lets out a loud sob before the flood gates open. Salty tears fall from her blue orbs and her lips curl as the sobs begin to wrack her whole form. She begins to turn her body so that she can lay on her stomach and hide her face within the comfort of the couch cushion away from the judging world, but the hybrid won't have any of it. Klaus grabs onto her wrists just as she lifts them to cover her wet face in shame and attempts to yank her body towards him. But the woman puts up a fight. She's no longer wailing, but growling as she thrashes her body around and kicks her feet at his thighs so that he'd get the hint of leaving her alone. What was she thinking? Of course he's stronger. Of course he'd be able to take all of her hits without so much of a blink, and of course he succeeds in pulling her to sit atop of his lap. God, he is so annoying.

Silence rings through the room because both occupants are too stubborn and prideful to be the first to voice a sound. The only exceptions are the humming of the refrigerator and the sniffles and shaky pants of an upset vampire. Klaus is rubbing small circles on her lower back as she basically straddles him, but she makes sure to not touch him any more than she needs to. Caroline knows she's being childish and that the man in front of her didn't necessarily do anything wrong. It just so happened that- well, he is literally in front of her and her chaotic emotions have no other victims to target but him. Her eyes have been closed this entire time in defiance, but another slow moment of silence goes by and her curiosity gets the better of her. She cracks open an eye a fraction and the handsome face that greets her obviously catches her trying to sneak a peek. The hand on her back halts in its movements and a smirk crawls its way across Klaus' face. Caroline swears she wants to take her pretty pink manicured nails and scratch off his smug expression.

"Are you going to tell me what's the matter now?"

The last thing Caroline wants to do is talk about it. Like, what is there to talk about? She's a failing college student. There's nothing more to it. The shit's hard and she's now coming to realize that maybe she actually can't handle it. That all that bull Stefan and Klaus were feeding to her about her totally loving the college atmosphere and being surrounded by thousands of people striving to build a career was going to be magical- was just that, utter bull. The last place that she's been to that could even remotely be considered magical was Disneyland. When she was eleven. Sure, she's constantly surrounded by supernatural beings and all its nonsense, but that could hardly be considered magical. If there were unicorns and leprechauns prancing around, then fine- yes- all that supernatural fuckery is magical.

The hand makes its way under her shirt now and rubs a soothing trail up and down her spine, breaking Caroline out of her reverie. "If I tell you then you'll have to deal with another massive pity fest that I think even Noah's ark wouldn't be able to handle." The hand on her back dips under her jeans to tease the top of her cotton panties before leisurely going right back up her vertebrae.

"I don't have to deal with anything. I'm more than happy to listen."

Caroline scoffs, cause like really, this dude literally acts like he just came straight from a fairy tale with all his chivalry crap…

Wait. Did she just really think that Klaus came from a fairy tale? That might have been the most stupid comparison ever.

No wonder she's failing her courses.

The blonde groans loudly and drops her head in defeat as her pessimistic thoughts catch up to her again. Klaus deftly holds her chin between his thumb and index finger to raise her eyes. He looks into her shiny cobalt depths with his own and can't help the heavy weight that falls into his stomach at her glum expression. He's grown accustomed to her bright smiles and bubbly laughs that this new emotion throws him off a little.

She bites the inside of her cheeks in contemplation on exactly how she should put it, then decides on, "It's complicated."

"Then explain it to me." His hand moves to rest on the juncture of creamy skin between her neck and shoulder.

Caroline shakes her head, resulting in the now cold tears to fly off her blush cheeks, as she moves off his lap to stand. Making her way over to their kitchen she takes out two cups and a kettle to boil a fresh pot of tea. All of which were a housewarming gift from Elijah, and it's an authentic set, mind you. As in, really authentic. As in it's from the late thirteenth century because it was a gift from the Emperor of China of the Yuan Dynasty to the Mikaelson brothers as gratitude for their help in some particular affairs that Klaus still to this day won't elaborate on.

She feels his presence before she actually sees him. Her movements are fluid and routine as she flows through the kitchen to make her favorite flavor of tea: youthberry white tea, which is a little ironic. When Caroline is finally done and has the pot on the stove she turns to the man burning holes on her back. He's standing near the entrance of the kitchen with his lower back perfectly perched against the granite counter in all his suaveness. His expression is blank if not- what is that?- concern mixed in with a little fondness. The look on his face doesn't need words. All he does is raise one dirty blonde eyebrow and she understands. He's waiting for her to be the one to continue their conversation from where it left off, and that small tick in his jaw signifies that his patience is running a little thin.

Obviously, she is in no mood today to test the waters with his attitude so she just gives a little wave of her hand as if to nonchalantly brush the topic off. "You wouldn't understand," Caroline says. There is no malice behind her words, but her choice in diction probably wasn't the best for the moment.

"How am I supposed to if you don't give me the chance?" Caroline flinches as his tone. It was a low rumble from deep within his chest, but he might as well have barked it out at her. If there is one thing the young Forbes learned while her stay with Klaus is that he has perfected the art of sounding absolutely terrifying without so much as raising his voice past a whisper. Of course, he's never really directed that animosity towards her, it's just the situation at hand that he's upset about.

Yes, Caroline Forbes, is now a master at reading the Big Bad Daddy Hybrid's emotions like an open Cosmopolitan. She's got that shit down, and she's pretty sure it goes the same way with her for him. Finally understanding how he must feel with her vague answers and juvenile attitude, she let's up.

A huge gust of air leaves her mouth, one that she didn't even know she was holding, and her shoulders slump. "I'm not doing well in my classes." She catches the way his chin tilts down a bit and his eyes become even more piercing which indicates for her to quickly carry on. "By not doing well… I mean doing completely shitty." Her body tenses automatically, unconsciously. With all of her heart and soul she knows that Klaus will never physically hurt her. The thought isn't even fathomable, but sometimes, when they get into one of their really nasty spats, he can say some things that really push her buttons. Caroline is staring everywhere, but at him, especially his eyes. It dawns upon her that she's not scared of his anger; she's mortified of the disappointment that she'll see in his deep blues. If there's one thing she cannot handle, it's having someone be disappointed in her. It numbs her just thinking about letting someone down when they counted on her to excel. Plus, he's basically paying for majority of her tuition… Okay. He's paying for her entire tuition, but he insisted! She really wanted to show him that she can take care of herself and that she didn't need his pity money. It turns out, she did. Going to any University of California is outrageously expensive, but the one in Irvine is even more so. At least she made him pinky promise- yes, pinky promise- that she will pay him back. It's not even an option of letting him pay the whole thing without her paying a single penny, no matter how many times he tells her that he's more than happy to help her pay for a wonderful education. Where has she heard that before?

The blonde is so enveloped in her thoughts that she doesn't notice Klaus' hands on her elbows gently tugging her closer until their chests are nearly brushing. "Caroline," he softly calls, but she seems to not hear because she's still wandering in her thoughts. He brings his hand to cup her cheek and his thumb grazes over her protruding bottom lip which is still swollen from all her anxious biting. This causes her eyes to flick towards his own before determinedly going back to stare at something over his shoulder. Klaus' eyes furrow in irritation. He doesn't approve when she tries to avoid his gaze because then he's unable to read her. Her bright cerulean eyes are her most expressive feature.

"Hey, none of that, love." Klaus uses his fingers on her chin to tilt her head up, forcing her eyes to meet his. "That's the matter in which has been bothering you?" A slow nod is his only answer. "You have to give me more than that, Caroline. You know you can talk to me."

Another slow nod is her only response, and Klaus begins to feel concern creep up his neck at her muteness. Then she whispers a raw sound, "I'm a failure."

"What? You know that's not at all true."

"But it is," her glassy eyes stare up at him, the orbs holding so much internal damage, as if she genuinely believes it. "I'm a vampire. Immortal. An undead being with supernatural strength, but what's the point of all that if I'm stupid?"

He doesn't know why, but Klaus' anger begins to prickle. At first he can't place the cause of it, but then discovers it's because of the way Caroline is speaking about herself. That she's given up and whole-heartedly accepts the blasphemous idea that she is incompetent because of a few failed exams. Klaus had seen one or two of her failed assignments that she folded and stuffed into an envelope that she hid in the corner of her underwear drawer. He still doesn't understand how she thought that would've been kept from his sight since she always makes him fetch her a pair of new undergarments anyways when they get a little too excited. When he gets a little too excited.

He uses the pad of his thumb to brush away one of the tears that managed to escape her watery eyes. "A few failed exams doesn't determine your intelligence, sweetheart. It's whether or not you tried your ha-"

"Yeah, yeah. If I try my hardest, but what if my hardest isn't good enough? I've tried so hard- sitting in the library for hours, reading the required chapters, doing practice questions- everything. It still doesn't work out for me, and it's not just a few exams, Klaus. I failed every previous exam given in this quarter's courses, and I'm taking four classes!"

Klaus gives a small smirk and tugs her by her arms until their chests are flush against one another then wounds his own arms across her waist. "A 'B+' on your last analytical essay is not considered a failure."

The woman rolls her eyes at his light teasing before burying her face against the soft, grey shirt covering his broad chest. "It doesn't matter. I need to do well in my chemistry and biology classes because those are a part of my major, and I'm failing in both. Not even a freaking 'D', but an utter 'F'. It could be a 'F-' for all I know! And it would be understandable if I went to like Harvard or Yale or something, but I'm not because even they realized that I'm a moron and rejected me. Don't give me that look- yeah, I remember what you said, 'UCI is a marvelous school' and I should be proud to attend it, but I- I just didn't realize just how hard it was going to be… Maybe my counselor was right. Maybe biology isn't my thing," she pushes her face harder against Klaus' warm chest in attempt to hide away from everything, to bury her face in disgrace. "Maybe I'm honestly not cut out to be a doctor and this is the universe's fucked up way of telling me." The last part comes out shaky and Klaus suddenly feels a warm wetness that assaults his chest through the shirt.

"Caroline," he soothes, a hand tangling its way into her hair. "You can be anything you want to be. The cosmos cannot determine your future."

"It's easy for you to say!" Caroline huffs. "You've been alive for since like ever, and you're worldly, and already so outrageously- annoyingly- smart. I don't think you could understand my situation."

"Though I know it may be difficult for you to believe, but I was not born with brilliance," Klaus smirks at the quick glare from his comment, "I've been on this earth for a very long time, love, and now so will you. You have an eternity to learn and practice whatever it is that you want."

"More like I have an eternity to be a dunce," she can't keep the bitterness from coating her words. If Caroline wants to have another go at a massive pity party, let her do so. She will milk every possible compliment and encouragement from the handsome man in front of her until she is effectively satisfied.

Hands suddenly grasp onto her shoulders and pushes her a step back. Caroline frowns at the loss of warmth and the earthy, cologne scent that is very him. "All right. That type of talk is going to end now, I don't want to hear anymore of it." Klaus makes sure that her eyes are on him as he says next, "You are a remarkable woman, Caroline. If you set your mind to it, you can do it. I've seen you accomplish far greater feats, and you will graduate to become whatever it is that you want to be; a doctor or maybe down the road you'll decide to go into art history- whatever makes you happy, sweetheart."

Caroline is biting her lip again, but this time because of a whole different reason. She nips at her bottom pink lip to prevent the large grin that is bound to split her face in two. A soft giggle escapes, "Who would've thought that you'd be the one to give me a pep-talk. I expected this from Stefan, but you?" She feels the small smile on his lips as he nuzzles the side of her neck.

"Always underestimating by abilities. Haven't you learned by now, sweetheart?" His tone shifts from a smug one to serious within seconds, "I hope you know that you should not concern your pretty little head over tuition either. Money should not be an issue."

"It is an issue for me! If I have to take summer school, which I probably will, then that just adds to my already humongous debt- but I'll pay you back! Every last penny." The hybrid lifts a hand to lightly pat the top of Caroline's golden crown. If it weren't for his soothing voice, she would have smacked that look right off his face for his demeaning pat on the head as if she was a toddler.

"I get it, love. You can take care of yourself."

Caroline gives a hard nod in agreement. "You got that right. I am an independent woman that don't need no man to pay for me." Her expression turns to one of curiosity as she asks, "What were you doing in the anatomy section of the library anyway?"

"Just thought I'd refresh my memory on the functions of the human body," Klaus shrugs. The woman raises one eyebrow and gives him a look as if saying, 'mhmm, sure,' but she doesn't push it. Feeling a whole new wave of vigor and determination, Caroline stands on her toes to give Klaus a quick peck on the lips in appreciation before brushing past him to skip out of the kitchen.

"I'm going to go study now," she calls, but then halts in her tracks to turn back to him. "Oh! Could you do me a favor and take the tea off the stove then stop by the grocery store?"

Klaus' eyebrows raise as he silently moves to flick the fire off and place the hot kettle that was beginning to whistle on the counter. He turns to her form again to wait for her to continue.

"I'll need some studying fuel in the form of a frozen dessert. Preferably, Ben and Jerry's. You know which one," she's throws him a cheshire grin as he processes her request.

"What happened to you not needing 'no man' paying for you?"

Caroline shrugs and turns back around towards their bedroom, a hop in her steps. "Thanks! Love you!" She waves one arm enthusiastically in the air in farewell without sparing him another glance and disappears into the bedroom.

Another moment passes by with Klaus just standing in the middle of the kitchen before he moves towards the couch to retrieve his dark coat and shrugs it on. He can hear Caroline zipping open her bag and tossing her books onto the desk as she hums a particular tune softly under her breath. She's always been a fan of those classic romances. He grabs the keys off of the granite counter and makes sure to lock the door behind him, all the while whistling "Moon River" along with her humming, a mischievous grin on his expression. When he gets back and Caroline's had her fill of reading for the night, he is going to show her exactly what knowledge he acquired from that delightful anatomy book.

A/N: I'm not the hugest fan of this one. Is it shitty? I really liked it in the beginning, but then it just sort of died out near the end and I told myself that I would not abandon it. Any Klaroline is good Klaroline! ...The glass if half full, guys. I tried to seam this together so that it was at least somewhat sufficient enough to post.

I wrote this during a time about how I feel about college and whatnot. The shit is hard. I just have to brush myself off, and persevere!

Also, do you readers actually care for the song quote? I mean, I'm still going to do it no matter what you say (I'm stubborn), but I'd just like to know if anyone actually looks up the song and listens to it while reading?

Please drop a review saying whatever you want: plot ideas, advice, critiques, motivational quotes to feed my own personal pity party, or you know- "This was utter shit." That too, I guess, if you really feel that way. I appreciate you all so very much for spending the time reading!