Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries.

A/N: I know, I know! It's practically been a year. I honestly had no clue it had been that long. I was thinking maybe six to eight months tops. Oops.

But, do not fear! Rejoice! For here is that monstrosity that has been haunting my brain for the past months because I could not create a flow to it. I'd write a scene and then I'd be stuck on how to write the next part, and the next, and the next. I was stumped on how to end it for the longest time and then I drank a cup of coffee this morning and read and watched a bunch of Caroline/Klaus and Caroline/Stefan shnazz jazz and bloopty bloop- here it is. The finished product.

It consists of 36 pages and 13,961 words.

The most massive piece of writing I've ever done for a one-shot. You're welcome.

I was thinking of dividing it up or possibly posting it as a stand alone one-shot, but I thought that you guys more than deserved the whole thing in one go after the huge wait.

I am quite proud of this piece. Not exactly my best possible work, but the best I've ever written so far. And now you all are going to judge me. Le sigh.

Enough of me! Please excuse any mistakes, and enjoy!

I didn't want to be the one to forget

I thought of everything I'd never regret

A little time with you is all that I get

That's all we need because it's all we can take

Instant Crush- Daft Punk ft. Julian Casablancas

. . .

A blonde rolls her eyes for the nth time. She is about ten seconds away from ripping the elevator doors open and climbing up the damn cables herself if that meant getting away from that floozy's stupid little giggles. Like come on, some women really have no dignity left these days.

"You know, my friend won't be coming back to our room until late in the night. Really late. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if I brought back some company, if you catch my drift, yah?" a voice suggests in a thick accent.

Example A, ladies and gentlemen. Point proven.

She is literally going to puke in her mouth from the smell of the tramp's cheap perfume and the nonsense spewing from her lips. The man next to her doesn't breathe a word, but gives a small smile in acknowledgement that he heard her. Caroline is going to stake herself. Seriously. She would do anything to get out of this metal box of Hell. Gathering all of the patience in the world (that even Gandhi would be proud), the blonde inhales through her nose and holds it. Not like she needs to breathe anyway. Caroline stares straight ahead at the silver doors, completely ignoring the other two occupants, and waits for the elevator to reach the fortieth floor.

There's three levels left when she sees movement in her peripheral vision and hears the stupid, obnoxious voice whisper, "So what do you say, handsome? Spend a night with me and I can guarantee yah've never had it as good."

Aw hell no.

Caroline whips her head to the side to catch the other blonde- fake blonde, mind you- running her fingers along the man's chest, their faces merely inches apart. The woman is attempting to flutter her eyelashes in a sultry way, but it's coming off as more of a twitching condition, while the tall man just stares back with an amused expression. Feeling a burning sensation from being glared at, the human turns to give Caroline a look as if she smells a pile of shit, "Do you have a staring problem, gowl?"

This hussy is so not making it easier on herself.

The dark wrath of Caroline Forbes (aka Kickass Vampire Barbie) is a millisecond away from being released when a loud, single ding alerts the three occupants that the elevator has reached the desired floor. Caroline glances at her escape route and is about to step out while biting her tongue to remain silent when an idea pops into her noggin. She turns to look at the woman still giving her an ugly leer and leans toward the shorter blonde's face with a mischievous smirk, looking directly into her eyes.

"You're going to stop parading around like some strumpet and learn to keep your panties on. Clear? And get some class." The compelled woman nods once with a now blank expression and blinks slowly. "Good," Caroline chirps with a bright smile. She swirls around and walks out of the elevator with a small bounce to her step. She's a good twenty feet down the hall when she hears a posh voice call out.

"Strumpet?" it repeats in amusement.

"Shove it, Mikaelson," the younger vampire retorts, sliding her room key-card-whatever- and pushes the door open. She tries to shut it with her foot, but Klaus is quick and avoids it as he enters, letting it loudly slam. Caroline winces at the sound and turns to glare at the English man. He just smiles at her and gives a look as if saying, 'you're the one who decided to go all karate kid and kick doors down, not me'.

Stupid man.

Caroline walks over to the side of the bed and pulls out a large black suitcase, unzipping it open. She brushes past Klaus, making sure to bump his shoulder- hard, but it probably didn't even faze him since he's like centuries older, stronger- and walks into the spacious closet. Understatement. The closet is as big as her entire bedroom back home.

Home.

Caroline sighs. She has to admit, every once in awhile when she's feeling nostalgic, and had one too many glasses of wine, she misses that cursed hometown of hers. Mystic Falls; the one place where nothing exciting ever happens, but is the one town where every supernatural thing decides to wreak havoc. Like what kind of illogical nonsense is that?

Her eyes quickly scan over each article of clothing, lips pursed in thought about what to pack. "Oh, whatever," she mumbles and stands on her tiptoes to grab an armful of clothes off their hangers. Hugging the garments to her chest she exits the closet and walks over to the suitcase, dropping the pile onto the floor. The blonde continues to make trips to and from the closet (always making sure to coldly brush past the smirking jackass with her chin held high) till the majority of her things are lying on the carpeted floor. Caroline plops down into a pretzel-style sitting position and begins neatly folding her clothes then tucking them into the suitcase. All the while humming a cheerful tune.

She's in the middle of humming The Itsy-Bitsy Spider for the third time when she feels a tap on her left shoulder. Irritated that she was interrupted, (she was getting to the good part) Caroline hisses, "What?"

Klaus' face displays a restrained humor like he's trying to hold back a smug grin. He lifts a finger and points over her shoulder. "That's mine."

"Excuse me?"

"That's my suitcase," he clarifies.

With furrowed brows Caroline looks from the object he's pointing at and back to his shining, blue eyes. "No it's not," she denies.

Shrugging, Klaus steps over her huge pile of clothes ("Hey! That's my white Chanel dress you're stepping on, you punk!") and moves to the side of the bed. He grabs the second, almost identical, black suitcase and pulls it over to the sitting Caroline.

"This is your suitcase, sweetheart." Klaus gestures to the many bright pink Hello Kitty stickers littering the handle and front of the luggage.

"Oh…"

"Right."

"Well."

There's a beat of silence.

"Are you sure? Because those stickers are so more your style."

"Caroline," his voice is tinted with exasperation.

She scoffs, "Oh, don't you 'Caroline' me! You're still in trouble, mister."

"For?"

"Um hello," The woman's arms wildly gesture in the air, "for what you pulled in the elevator!" For a guy who's supposed to be like a thousand years old, he could be such a dunce sometimes.

"Oh, yes. That."

With a growl, Caroline lunges forward to punch the standing man's thigh, but the latter is too swift and she misses causing her to fall forward. She could have aimed a little higher, but she wasn't that cruel. "I dislike you," she mumbles.

She hears him chuckle in return. "I didn't mean any harm in it, love." He watches as the woman pushes herself upright back in her crossed-legs position. "You know I only have eyes for you."

Caroline snorts, "Yeah, and that bimbo only had eyes for your pen-"

"Don't be crass."

"Go suck a di-"

"Hush, Caroline," the Original scolds.

The blonde turns her back to the man and returns to putting her things in Klaus' suitcase. "Suck it, Klaus. Leave me alone and go pack your crap, we're going to be late."

"We can always catch a later flight."

"Or you could just stop stalling and pack your shit." Caroline turns her head a fraction and sees from the corner of her eye that Klaus is still standing there with all his glorified suaveness. "Like now would be nice," she commands with a roll of her eyes.

Well, she attempts to command, because quite honestly the man doesn't take orders from anyone. The only time she's noticed that he follows some sort of instruction from her is when a bed is included. And they're both naked, or at the very least one of them is in their birthday suit.

You'd never guess that a thousand-plus-years old vampire would be so perverted.

"Why are you in such a rush to return to Mystic Falls? I thought you were enjoying our tour of the world." She swears she can hear the pout in his voice.

Caroline lets out a sigh, maybe she is being a little harsh. "Of course I'm enjoying our extensive vacay," she confirms as she stands and moves to be directly in front of him, holding his gaze so that he understands. "But this is important to me. Bonnie is turning twenty-one, and with her being the only human girl friend I have left, I need to be there. This is a crucial moment for Bonnie, Elena, and I. One of us is finally living a semi-normal life and is about to reach the long awaited 'golden age' in three days!"

The two individuals have a silent staring match. Caroline blinks first. There's no reply from the older vampire, just a raise of his eyebrows as if to say, 'so?'

The woman growls, "I. Need. To. Be. There."

Klaus throws his hands up, palms outward, in a gesture of surrender. "Fine, fine. Anything you wish, love." He swoops down and gives her temple a quick peck before turning away. She hears him rumble something about 'unnecessary' and 'human traditions' as she watches him enter the closet.

Caroline shakes her head. This is going to be a long flight from Dublin to Mystic Falls.

. . .

It's been about twenty-minutes, give or take, since the plane took off and is currently smoothly gliding through the clouds, yet Caroline can't seem to will herself to release Klaus' poor hand from her monstrous grip. It's something about being thousands of feet in the air while going a bazillion miles per hour inside of a metal tube that has her all worked up. The fact that she's been traveling from continent to continent with this man for a year and a few months now doesn't ease her nerves. It's not even the flying in a plane part that has her jittering in her seat! It's about being in a blasted metal contraption in the sky which she doesn't even understand how it gets in the air, no matter how many times Klaus tries to explain it to her. Thus, this is how she deals with it: releasing the wrath of her claws on Klaus' appendage. It's not like she could actually hurt him anyways she assures herself, but still. Her hands are clammy and she's certain she's punctured his skin with crescent-shaped wounds. Not a very fun experience for him.

Her hands are shaky and tense when she releases his (poor, poor impaired) hand.

"Sorry," Caroline mumbles, face red and eyes downcast. She's about to place her sweating hand on her lap when Klaus snatches it back, holding it tightly, but not to the point of eliciting pain.

He brings it to his lips and places a soft kiss on her knuckles. "There is nothing to apologize for, sweetheart."

God. This man.

This man could be the sweetest cuddle bear when he wanted to be. She's told him this once before, and he reacted like any macho man would've. He pounded his chest with a fist and told her to fetch him a beer while he kicked his feet up on the coffee table, lounging on the couch with his arms folded behind his head. So, she obeyed like a good girlfriend.

And chucked it at his face from the kitchen.

He's lucky that he's fast and the glass bottle only slightly grazed his cheek.

"Have you spoken to anyone to let them know we're on our way?" He asks as he rests their intertwined hands on his thigh.

Caroline blinks out of her reverie with a small smirk. Clearing her throat, she answers, "Yeah. I called Stefan back at the airport when I left to find a restroom. He said that everyone's really excited to see m- us- since it's been so long. Can you believe it? It's been a whole year since we've been in that little town! I still can't believe we didn't go back for the holidays, but whatever… He said there's no way in hell that his 'best friend and plus one' are going to stay in a hotel so he offered us the biggest guest room in the boarding house. I'm the 'best friend' by the way, not you. You're the 'plus one'."

"I'm sure the other one won't be too fond of that idea," Klaus snorts.

She beams him a dazzling smile. "Actually, Stefan said that Damon didn't even put up an argument about it. Seems like the Salvatores miss their favorite blonde vampire more than they let on."

The man's eyes narrow at the mention of her being 'their favorite'. Caroline belongs to him. Those two baboons already have a brunette vampire to concern themselves with. They don't deserve to be associated with his blonde beauty.

Overprotective Original; in full throttle.

"You sure you're not elated to return home because you'll be reunited with your dearest Stefan and Damon?" Klaus sneers.

He's facing forward, expression blank except for the hint of annoyance he's masking. A moment passes and he gives Caroline the barest of glances to see that she's staring at him with her jaw slightly hanging.

"You're kidding."

Caroline is met with silence. The only response is the tiniest of twitches of his fingers that are still latched with hers.

"Seriously? Is that what that stunt back at the hotel was about?" she asks incredulously. Then the anger in her eyes suddenly flashes away and is replaced with a look of realization. "… Are you jealous?" she breathes, disbelief lacing her question.

Klaus has the nerve to give an out right guffaw in her face, and the fiery blaze is back in her deep blues. Caroline swears, if this man wasn't so painfully handsome, she would pummel his beautiful face into a pulp.

"I can assure you, my dear, that I am in no way jealous of those two smitten fools."

Denial. "I call bullshit. I think you're just grumpy that I've been so excited to go home that you feel as though you've been tossed to the curb, am I right?" Klaus opens his mouth to growl a retort, but the woman holds up a finger and continues uninterrupted. "And you're jealous because the Salvatore brothers miss me just as much as I've missed them, and they happen to be good looking vampires, so deep down you're insecure that your stunning girlfriend will leave you for one of the two gorgeous 'Italian Stallions'."

Her eyes watch his jaw tick. "I wonder how they'd feel if they knew you were equaling them to pretty ponies."

He turns his head away from her to observe the brunette flight attendant down the aisle hand out packets of peanuts. Caroline lets out a deflated sigh. She reaches for his chin with her unoccupied hand and moves his head to face her again. They're staring into each other's cerulean eyes and she catches the flick of uncertainty in the depths of his orbs. She bites the inside of her cheek. She didn't mean to actually plant a seed of doubt in his mind.

"Klaus, where am I?"

"Have you suddenly acquired short-term memory loss?" he deadpans.

Caroline rolls her eyes. "Answer the question, silly."

"On an airplane. Are you sure you haven't procured a fever?"

She smiles, "No, and right. I'm on an airplane- with you. I'm here with you, and not because you compelled me like some creep, but by choice. Think about that, will you?" Caroline gives his hand one last squeeze before leaning back in her incredibly plush seat and closes her eyes.

Without lifting her eyelids, her smile widens at the feel of lips brushing against the inside of her wrist and she hears the faintest whisper that would have been lost to human ears.

"Thank you."

. . .

"Well, well, well, seems like the cat dragged in a little blonde ass."

"I knew I should've worn jeans instead of yoga pants," Caroline groans as she releases Stefan from their intense hug (literally; she tackled and locked herself onto him tightly like a koala on a branch for five long minutes, swaying their bodies side to side) and holds the man at arm's length.

"Hi bestfriend." She's giving him her most radiant smile, pearly teeth and all. The burning sensation of a particular someone's glare goes ignored.

Stefan is giving her one of his smiles that she's sure he reserves only for her, "Hello, Caroline."

Her lips form a pout, "That's all I get?"

"I've missed you." He adds, but then corrects himself when the woman jabs a finger in his ribs. "I've missed you, bestfriend."

"Much better. And I've missed you too, especially your broody face- oh wait! That's just your average, daily face."

"Ha, ha, very funny. Did you forget to mention that you've become a comedian over the year?"

Caroline winks, "I might've." She spins to face the older Salvatore and slips on a disapproving look. "Whiskey for brunch, Damon? Such class, you have."

"Never asked for your input, Yoda."

"Still an ass-wipe as always," she states and crosses her arms over chest.

"Still judgy as ever, I see."

"You're wrong. That's Bonnie, remember?" Caroline says with a smirk.

Damon actually laughs out loud at their little inside joke. He raises his glass in cheers before taking a sip, his eyes trained on hers and she smiles bigger at the small glimpse of fondness. It's nice to know that even Damon is glad to see her again.

"Well, now that that's over and the room is filled with so much sentiment that it's become nauseating, why don't you take our things up to our room?"

There's a moment of silence when Damon doesn't realize that three sets of eyes are staring at him. When he finally notices he does his crazy-eyes thing.

"You talking to me, old man?"

Klaus' smirk stretches.

"Nuh uh. I am not your lackey. Why don't you have one of your hybrid goons to do it for you? Oh! Silly me, it slipped my mind. I forgot that you're so whipped that little Caroline made you clear out the last of your flunkeys."

"Hey! I am not little!"

Klaus takes a menacing step towards the dark haired man. "You dare mock me? With a flick of my pinky I could-"

"Wow! I am beat," Caroline interrupts with an exaggerated yawn. "We'll be in our room to rest and freshen up a bit." She picks up Klaus' suitcase (the one adorning pink Hello Kitty stickers all over) and shoves it at him while she moves to grab hers. Caroline pushes the still fuming Original towards the stairs and wiggles her fingers over her shoulder.

"Catch you guys later."

Damon waves a pinky at the pair, "Toodles!" Then when the couple reaches the top of the stairs he makes a whipping-sound with his mouth. His eyes gleam in triumph when Klaus whirls his head back to glare stakes at him, but is pushed again to keep walking by the petite blonde.

Well, the next couple of days are sure going to be interesting.

. . .

"Klaus? Klaus! … KLAUS!"

"Caroline, I'm right here."

The woman looks up for only a second to stare at said man before retuning to frantically fumble through her make-up bag. "Then why didn't you answer when I called you?"

Klaus sighs as he leans against the bathroom doorframe. "I thought with you being a vampire and all that you would acknowledge my presence standing only two feet away."

"Can it with the sarcasm, Mikaelson... Have you seen my damn mascara?" Caroline cries with a stomp of her foot.

"Am I supposed to know what that is?"

"Don't play dumb with me! You've been around long enough to know exactly what it is. Now is not the time to act like some manly man that is utterly clueless about make-up!"

She's right. He knew exactly what she was looking for, and almost all other basic make-up products. Klaus cringes at the memory. He still can't believe she made him sit and listen to her give a lesson on the functions of each make-up accessory and then tested him on it, all the while babbling about how the perfect boyfriend should be knowledgeable about these essential things.

Essential his ass.

Klaus appreciatively eyes the blonde up and down while she continues to search for her orange LashBlast wearing only a black lace bra and matching panties. He's broken out of his trance when Caroline gives a frustrated snarl and holds her make-up bag in the air upside down, letting all of the contents clatter on the sink counter.

"Is that really necessary?" Klaus asks.

"Hush you," she demands. "Unless you want your date to look like Medusa on ten years of crack, I suggest you stop ogling and help me find my- FOUND IT!" The poor man's ears ring from the squeal of victory. Shaking her hips side to side to some song that plays in her head, Caroline places a kiss on the orange tube then twists it open and begins applying it to her eyelashes. She purrs when she feels a pair of arms wound across her waist.

"You could never look any less than ravishing, love," Klaus comments with a kiss to her shoulder. He's looking at her through the mirror and Caroline swears it's like he's sexing her up with his eyes.

"No more naughty time, mister. We're supposed to be leaving in T-minus two hours and I haven't even done my hair yet." Her words die on her tongue at the feel of his fingers caressing circles around her navel. "Klaus…" she hums.

He nips at her lobe and murmurs in her ear, "It doesn't sound like you want me to stop, sweet Caroline." His hands rest on her pelvic bone and he pulls her flush against his body, leaving no room in between. Klaus kisses a trail up her neck and Caroline automatically tilts her head without a thought. She lifts one arm and runs her fingers through the short, curly hair on his nape. He growls when she gives a particularly hard tug and in return he grinds his growing hardness into her lower back. A low moan spills from Caroline's pink lips and she arches into the hard chest behind her. No matter how many times they've participated in sexual activities, Klaus could never tire of the raw music that comes from the beautiful creature before him. She could be such a vixen. Blood rushes towards his nether region and he grows immensely frustrated by the second. He spins Caroline so that their noses are brushing and their hips press firmly against one another. Her arms circle around his neck and his hands are on her ribs, but slowly they make their way down leaving a burning path to follow. Klaus stares intently into the beauty's darkening cobalt eyes as his hands finally reach their destination and he leisurely dips his fingers beneath the fabric of her panties. Caroline's mouth opens letting out a gasp in heated anticipation.

"Blondie! You better be taking this time to get ready and not be doing the nasty on furniture that should not have the nasty done upon!" The voice stops and they hear shuffling from the hall on the other side of the locked bedroom door. Caroline jumps a foot in the air when there's a heavy bang followed by a pained "Oof!"

"Stop being stupid," a voice that sounds like Elena whispers harshly. "Sorry about that, Care!" she calls out louder. "Don't mind us. Just keep doing… Er- whatever it was you were doing, and we'll see you in a few hours!"

An obnoxious snort sounds through the room. "I better not find bodily fluids on and slash or near those wooden drawers!"

"Damon! Seriously?" Elena groans.

"What? They're made of Brazilian Rosewood, and let me tell you, that shit ain't cheap."

Eyes crazed like a rabid dog, Klaus moves to leave the bathroom with every intention to toss Damon around like a rag doll. He's basically foaming at the mouth, but a small hand stops him. "He's right," Caroline says.

His eyebrows rise to his hairline. Excuse him? Did she just agree with Damon Salvatore? And about stopping their sexy time that would have ended with ultimate euphoria? The apocalypse must be nearing.

If anything, Klaus is offended. Caroline Forbes, little miss sex kitten, just denied him. Him. She rejected him and his pleasuring ways. He doesn't say anything, just settles for a small pout with his fingers dancing across the sides of her thighs.

"I'm not declining sex because I want to, but Damon has a point," Caroline giggles at his childish expression. "We have less than two hours to be ready for tonight and I'm far behind on schedule.

"You already look beautiful as you are now."

"Oh, whatever!" she beams. "Stop trying to woo me with your suave words."

"Is it working?" Klaus rumbles against the thin skin of her throat.

"No! … Maybe just a little. " She feels him smirk and pries his arms off of her, taking a step back. "Just get outta here you cheeseball! You're distracting."

"Ah, how the tables have turned, no?" he dimples.

With a roll of her eyes, Caroline grabs his shoulders and forcibly turns his body towards the exit of the bathroom. She pushes him forward, Klaus doesn't even stumble much to her dismay, and smacks his bum. "Not funny. Out!" He obeys her orders and strolls out of the bedroom, but not before throwing her a wink over his shoulder.

. . .

"A toast to tonight! A night that we will all surely not remember by morning, or even in a few hours for some of the more lightweights, whom shall not be named. Ahem, Rebekah."

"Dagger yourself, Kol."

"Why? When I can have our own dear brother do it for me? And by the look he's giving me now, he just might do it in front of you lot."

"Can you just hurry up your little 'epic wolf-pack' monologue? You're putting everyone to sleep. Even your girlfriend isn't paying attention to you!"

"Bonnie. Who are you texting, my sweet?"

"Hm? Oh, just sending the address of the club to Tyler, Matt, and Jeremy. Apparently getting in another round of Call of Duty is more important than coming to my birthday dinner, so they'll just meet up with us at the place after."

"Sorry, Bon. My brother still acts like he's twelve sometimes."

"Aren't you glad you dropped that sap for an Original? The most dashing one at that! Anyways, back to my speech. Tonight-"

"I'm going to need more than one shot if he continues."

"Caroline, my dear, please do not get your knickers in a bunch. Unless, that is my brother doesn't already posses them in his pocket from your earlier romping."

"I thought I told you not to engage in sexual activities on my expensive furniture."

"Caroline, I use that room as my study sometimes."

"You mean you use it as your brooding sanctuary."

"Oh shut up, Salvatore 'one' and 'two'."

"What a feisty little blonde thing you are! I can see why my brother takes a liking to you. Tell me, Nik, is she this frisky behind closed bedroom doors?"

"Are you sure you want to spend tonight sleeping off a broken neck, brother?"

"First death threat of the night! Who is willing to keep score?"

"Damon, be a sweetie and pass me another shot."

"I'm right with you, Forbes. Here."

"I hope a petite lady like you can keep her liquor down. Let's try not to be the sloppy blonde tonight, hm?"

"I suggest that if you don't want to be b-slapped across the room, you should shut your trap."

"It depends. Will you be the bitch doing the slapping?"

"Kol!"

"You vexatious cretin. I warned you, but it seems that you really would like to enjoy tonight with a crushed vertebrae. How about I tear out your liver as well while I'm at it?"

"Easy there! I was only joking. No need to bare the fangs."

"Guys. Can we please stop acting like two year olds and take this damn shot? My arm is tired from holding it up, and I'm getting hungry."

"The birthday girl is right."

"To Bonnie!"

"To Bonnie!" they all chorused.

"To birthday sex!"

"Shut up, Kol."

. . .

"I suggest if you'd like to keep your limbs intact, you would do well to remove your paw off of me." Rebekah pointedly looks to the offending man's hand resting on her knee. The blonde fellow angrily grunts at the woman's rejection and treads to the opposite side of the bar.

"Meow. Someone let the pussycat out to play tonight," Caroline comments as she takes a sip of her cranberry and vodka and leans back on the counter.

"She just didn't want her boyfriend to see is all," teases Elena. The brunette winks at the Mikaelson sibling from her seat on the stool to Caroline's right.

"What? When did you and Stefan become official?" exclaims the younger blonde female over the pulsing music.

Rebekah smacks her on the elbow. "Can you be any louder? My god, that trap of yours, and we're not official."

Caroline sends her a glare and rubs her sore skin. She knew Rebekah didn't mean any harm behind her light smack, but the girl is still really old. She's got some hefty strength in her.

"Not yet," Elena adds.

Rebekah shrugs as she takes a sip of her own alcoholic drink, an apple martini. "We've only been on a few dates here and there."

"And you're okay with this?" Caroline turns to ask the Gilbert girl hesitantly. She cautiously gazes at the women to her left and right. Her body slightly tenses in preparation to separate a cat fight. This could get ugly.

"Why wouldn't I be? I'm with Damon, and things have been going pretty steady. He's still a complete ass, but he wouldn't be Damon if he wasn't."

"But you still love Stefan," Rebekah states. There was no hint of a question in her tone.

Elena casts her eyes downward. "Yes. I don't think I'll ever stop loving him, but you can be sure that though I love him, I'm not in lov-"

"Yeah, yeah," the Mikaelson woman interrupts with a wave of her hand. "But you're not in love with him- I get it. Just be sure to remember those words of yours before you decide to swap sides again for the millionth time." She gives Elena a stern look causing the other to shrink a bit in her seat.

"Crystal clear."

There's a moment of tense silence between the three females occupying a spot at the overly crowded bar. The pounding music blaring a song by Calvin Harris reverberates through the entire club.

"Well this shit just got awkward. Hey, bartender! Hey dude I'm talking to you!" But Caroline's efforts go to waste when a brunette with breasts the size of cantaloupes catches the attention of the man. "Seriously? I compelled you to make us drinks, not make googly eyes at some big honkers! Do your job you-"

"Oh my god."

"What?" Caroline whips her head to look at Elena at the sound of her gasp. She doesn't even spare her a glance. Worried, the blonde follows her friend's line of vision and her own eyes widen a bit at the sight.

Bonnie, the conservative-always-so-serious-sweater-wearing girl, somehow climbed onto the table of the VIP booth that Kol reserved for the night's occasion and was currently dancing atop of it. How is that even possible when she's wearing a skin-tight dress and six inch Christian Louboutin platforms? A birthday gift from her vampire beau, of course. Kol may be an obnoxious dick, but he cares for Bonnie, and vice versa. It doesn't really hurt that he has money either. Apparently when there's a lot of alcohol in the system, anything is possible. The cocoa-skinned female moves her hips side to side to the music with her arms extending above her head and eyes closed. Though her movements aren't sloppy, it is pretty clear that Bonnie is to the point of being completely hammered. Maybe even beyond that.

"I… don't know how to feel about this," stammers Caroline in shock. She always did tell the Bennett girl she needed to loosen up some more. To not take everything so seriously cause life is short- at least it was still short for Bonnie and her nonvampire-self.

Elena moves to stand, "Maybe we should get her down."

"Hold on there. She looks like she's having a blast. Let her be." Rebekah smirks at the scene in almost a proud sort of way as if saying 'that's my girl, I taught her well'. They watch as Bonnie squeals when a different song comes on and she continues to shake her hips with a whole new vigor, completely lost in a trance. Caroline lowers her eyes to the occupants sitting at their table. Kol is at the end of the half-circle shaped booth with both of his arms resting on the back of the seat and a cheshire grin plastered on his face as he watches his girlfriend dance above him. Towards the middle is Klaus and next to him is Stefan. It's obvious that both men don't know how to react to the situation taking place literally a foot in front of them so they chose the safe route of not staring at the sexy dancing female, but have a conversation amongst themselves.

"Drinking alone tonight?"

She blinks and turns to look at the owner of the question. There's a tall man adorning a grey designer suit standing behind Rebekah with hazel eyes and light brown hair. Caroline thinks he has a strong resemblance to Josh Duhamel and she ponders that if this was a different life, one where she wasn't undead and didn't already have a boyfriend whom is yes, incredibly infuriating, but undeniably sexy and English, this man standing before her might have been her 'prince charming'. The one that was supposed to whisk her away and have seven kids running around their white picket fenced home.

But if she's being entirely honest with herself; she would never trade anything for the life she has now, even with all it's jacked up supernatural fuckery.

Rebekah tilts her head back to look at the man standing behind her. "Are you speaking to me?"

He tears his gaze away from Caroline to flick the woman with the accent a glance before steadying his eyes on the younger blonde vampire again. "Actually, no. Sorry."

"Then don't breathe down my neck," Rebekah replies curtly as she stands from her stool, martini in hand. She moves past Caroline- mumbling "dapper twit" under her breath- to lean against the bar counter next to Elena. She looks at the handsome man again before scoffing and downing the rest of her drink in one go. "I need to sit. His face is making me nauseous." Rebekah maneuvers her way through the mass of bodies to plant herself on the booth next to Stefan. Bonnie stops her ministrations to tug on the blonde's hand to pull her up onto the table as well, but Rebekah smacks her hand away. The witch shrugs and begins to dougie to the current song. With a pout, Rebekah turns to Stefan to interrupt his conversation with her brother and begins ranting to him. Stefan's eyes dart to Caroline for a brief second before returning his attention to Rebekah, his lips set in a tight line. Caroline feels another burning gaze, but chooses to ignore it hoping that he'll take the hint that she can handle herself and he doesn't need to be all macho man and interfere.

She has to admit. The stranger is cute. No need to bash in such a pretty face before other ladies could have the opportunity to enjoy it, as well.

"Uh, did I do something wrong?" the man asks confused as he takes the now empty seat in front of him.

Caroline shrugs. "No. She just has a permanent stick up her small ass." She smirks when her vampire hearing picks up a female voice hissing a 'fuck you!' in a British accent through the heavy music.

"Snarky. I like 'em quick and witty."

Apparently that was his way of a compliment and Caroline replies with a short, "Thanks."

"Can I buy you a drink?"

"I already got one, thanks though."

"Let me buy you another one."

"I'm good."

The man chuckles to himself. "I'm sorry, my manners seem to elude me in the presence of a beautiful woman. I'm Mitchel." He sticks out his hand and Caroline lightly shakes it with her own.

"Caroline."

"Such a charming name for an attractive woman. Very classy."

"Thank you. Again."

"You don't need to thank me every time I compliment you because I plan to spend the rest of the night showering you with them."

"Um…" Caroline doesn't know how to respond to the sweet, handsome man beaming her a pearly smile. Like what the hell do you say to that? Part of her wants to stop the poor guy before he's torn to pieces by her fuming partner, and the other part wants him to continue throwing compliments her way so she can boost her ego.

Come on. What girl doesn't want to be fed compliment after compliment by a tall, dark, and handsome man? Uh no one.

"I'm going to buy you another drink." Before Caroline can protest he's already waving down the bartender. "My man! Let me get a Cape Cod for the lady and another scotch on the rocks."

"How did you know what I was drinking?" she asks, genuinely curious.

Mitchel's smile widens a bit at the fact that she's no longer giving him short, clipped answers. "Well," his eyes dart to the remnants of her red drink, "I'm assuming that's not blood you're sipping."

Though she knows he's joking, she can't stop her body from slightly tensing.

"Funny," she mumbles stiffly.

"Your eyes are a gorgeous shade of blue." Caroline remains silent and watches as the bartender places their drinks on the counter. "Thanks man. So, what is a stunning young woman doing sitting all by herself at the bar? Is tonight a party for one?"

"Actually, it's a party of two," Elena pipes from behind Caroline. The blonde totally forgot that her friend was sitting there the entire time.

"Make that a party of three."

Stefan makes his way towards them and Caroline becomes slightly annoyed. She finishes off the rest of her drink and grabs for the new one. She's half way done with it by the time Stefan is standing next to her. "Mmm, sorry. Three's a crowd," she snaps at him. He ignores her snide remark and turns to Elena to gesture back at the table he just came from. "Damon is asking for you."

"Where's Elijah?"

"He left. Said he had some business to attend to."

Elena nods at her two friends before standing to leave the bar. Stefan is giving Caroline her his 'no-nonsense' look and she childishly sticks her tongue out at him in reply.

"Hey man, I'm letting you know now before you get ahead of yourself, but she's with me tonight," Mitchel throws the Salvatore a stern look and raises his arm to place it across Caroline's shoulders, but before it could graze her skin Stefan warns, "It's not a good idea to be touching her, man."

Mitchel narrows his eyes at the shorter man and crosses his arms. "I don't have to listen to shit from you. Do you know this guy?" The question is directed to Caroline and she looks to Stefan, remaining silent.

"Seriously?" Stefan says with a hint of exasperation.

"Tell alpha-douche over there that he doesn't need to send in an army. I can most definitely handle myself, thanks."

"So you do know this guy?"

"Mm…"

"Caroline," Stefan warns in that tone of his.

Said blonde rolls her eyes and slams her glass onto the counter. "Ugh, you guys suck the fun out of everything!" She gives Mitchel a small smile, "You're really nice and a very handsome fellow, but I'm not interested." She loops her arm around the elbow Stefan extends to her as he helps move them through the crowd. They're in the middle of the mass of dancing, sweaty bodies when he yells into her ear so she can hear him, "Klaus is going to bite your head off for calling that guy 'handsome'."

"Well, he can suck my very nonexistent dick!"

He lets out a genuine laugh at her comment. "You're just digging yourself into a massive hole tonight, aren't you? You know he can hear you."

Caroline shrugs nonchalantly. They reach the table and the woman ignores the burning sensation of being glared at, most likely from a very pissed off hybrid. She's about to take a seat next to Elena when she feels a small hand latch onto her elbow and tug upwards. "Caroline! Come dance with me, my ray of yellow sunshine!" Bonnie is staring down at her from her position on top of the table with shiny, clouded eager eyes. The blonde opens her mouth to reject the offer, but then her friend pulls out the big guns- the puppy pout.

Ugh. So below the belt.

"Pretty please, with a stripper on top?"

All conversation comes to a halt around the table. Caroline's mouth opens to form a small 'o' and her eyes widen as she stares at the still pleading brown orbs. "Come on, Caroline! We can dance like one of those male strippers you took Elena and I to go see. Remember? Like the one who tried to motorboat my boo-"

"Okay!" Caroline basically shouts in attempt to cover up the words spilling from her friend's mouth. Kol's eyes narrow menacingly at her as a low growl escapes his throat for being kept in the dark about his girl's little adventure with nude male specimens. She internally groans at the thought of the pending trouble she's about to get into and makes a mental note to help Bonnie control her mouth filter the next time she's drunk. "I think you've had your fill of dancing. Time to get down now, honey." She places her hands on either side of Bonnie's waist and with a little strength thanks to her vampirism, she lifts the girl off the table and plops her onto the leather couch next to a gaping Elena.

There's an awkward silence surrounding the table in the midst of the packed club. Caroline realizes that she's the only one still standing and that all stares are on her. She casts her eyes downward and gingerly shifts to sit next to the swaying woman as if moving cautiously would prevent the massacre that's bound to occur any moment now. She's about to be in some deep shit.

There's a beat of silence during which Caroline holds onto the briefest hope that maybe the topic will just be brushed aside and that the three angry men would blame the alcohol for Bonnie's delusional slip up, but all that comes to a crash when three angry voices exclaim at once.

"You did what?"

"You took her where?"

"Blondie, what the fuck?"

In response, Caroline rests her elbows on the table and covers her eyes with her fingers as she shakes her head side to side. "Thanks for outing me, Bon," she mumbles under her breath and concentrates on the comforting hand softly rubbing her back whom she assumes belongs to Elena since her other friend is on the brink of passing out from her spot between them.

The now sleepy woman perks up at the mention of her name and turns her heavy eyes towards her left. "Hmm? What did I do?"

Elena takes a look at her vampire friend and senses her distress. "Hey Bonnie," she calls distractedly, "Come here. Just lay your head on me for a little bit, 'kay? Until you feel better." The witch lights up at the request and happily snuggles into Elena's side and sighs contentedly as her eyes droop to a close, completely unaware that she just threw Caroline into the lions' den with her comment.

Caroline remains quiet, not daring to utter a peep to fuel the already growing anger of two Originals and a Salvatore. She flicks her eyes to the younger Salvatore brother to give him an imploring look to help bail her out. Damon catches the interaction and cuts in. "You knew about this?" he asks sharply and does his crazy eyes thing.

"She told me the morning after," Stefan shrugs. "I told her it wasn't a good idea."

"And it didn't occur to you to tell me about it?"

"No use in crying over spilled milk," he answers coolly.

"You took my girlfriend to go watch naked men dangle their filthy, sweaty body parts for entertainment? And you let them put their grimy hands all over her?"

She can nearly imagine smoke billowing from Kol's ears from how furious he is and she knows not to provoke him when he's a second away from flipping the table and gnawing off her head- but Caroline can't help but poke the lion and say, "Ew. Did you really have to say 'dangle'?" A yelp escapes her lips when she sees him lift a fist into the air and is about to smash it down against the heavy table like fucking Thor and his hammer or something when a quick hand stops him.

Klaus releases his younger brother's wrist just as swiftly as he grabbed it and seethes through gritted teeth, "Let's not make a scene."

"Me?" Kol looks like he's about to fall off of his seat from shock. "You're scolding me when it is your companion that had the brilliant idea of taking our girlfriends to a dirty establishment filled with overly muscular men parading around in their fucking birthday suit?" His arms flailed wildly as he gestured from himself, to Caroline, then to Bonnie and Elena before coming back to rest at his sides.

"Quit with the theatrics."

"Yeah, Kol," Rebekah chimes in from her spot nestled next to a quiet Stefan. "And you say that I'mthe dramatic one."

"There's a reason behind why no one asked for your two cents, dear sister. It's because no one here cares."

The blonde Mikaelson childishly sticks out her tongue at Kol with a sneer. The two siblings are caught in a glaring competition that is becoming too much in the already tense air of the stuffy club. Stefan pats the top of Rebekah's head and if it were anyone else, she would have torn off the limb within an instant, but since it's Stefan and she knows that he's just trying to calm her down, she lets it go and sits back into the seat with a huff.

"I thought I'd never see the day when the beast became tamed," Kol announces, making sure to intone some sarcastic awe in his words. "Kudos to you, Stefan."

"Oh, do shut up!" Rebekah snaps.

"Shh, shh…" Bonnie stirs from her lax position against Elena and slowly opens her eyes to glare at her loud friends that are interrupting her slumber. "What's with all the yelling, guys? It's quiet time."

Someone snorts, "You're in the wrong place if you want some damn quiet time, witch."

At this moment, Matt, Jeremy, and Tyler finally decide to appear after they left to scope the place for some 'hot chicks'. The two latter are sporting identical looks of disappointment and humiliation while Matt has a goofy grin plastered on his face.

"What seems to be the cause of your sour expressions, boys?" Rebekah calls from her seat, directing her question towards the two pouting friends. Jeremy opens his mouth to evade the question and brush off the topic when Matt decides to excitedly interject with a wide smile.

"They're pissed because the girls they were hounding on dissed them and asked for my number instead." He unconsciously puffs out his chest in pride that he- Matt Donovan; small town human boy and waiter- scored with two very attractive women.

"Girls?"

"Twins," he answers, his toothy grin almost splitting his face in two.

"Well, look at that," Damon smirks and smoothly slides a filled shot glass towards the human. Matt is glowing in his spot from all of the appraisal and Caroline shines a smile of her own because she always thought that if anyone deserved happiness and a chance at a normal life with a huge family and a golden retriever- it's Matt. He never deserved getting sucked into this vicious cycle of supernatural beings, but if she's being selfish, she's appreciative that he decided to stick with them through it all, that he didn't just pack up and leave Mystic Falls without a second glance.

Jeremy playfully pushes at Caroline's shoulder so that she'd scoot over and he sits while mumbling, "Whatever," under his breath. She could feel the heated glare on her face spike when the Gilbert boy's hand made contact with the bare skin of her creamy shoulders and she makes sure to obnoxiously roll her eyes because, really, Jeremy is cute and all but he's like her little brother. Just no. Gross. Tyler opts to lean against the side of the booth with his arms crossed and his brown eyes occasionally reverting back to the crowd for more scoping. As an ex-girlfriend, Caroline feels like she should feel offended that he's so openly checking out other girls right in front of her face, but she honestly feels nothing. She's not surprised though because of everything that went down between them; they had their cold-shoulder phase, and months later they got over it. Of course, things between them could never be exactly the same again, but that's to be expected when she's dating the man who radically changed his life. But hey, she's not the only crappy one when he's currently on and off again canoodling with the brunette she-wolf that he denied ever having feelings for.

The blonde feels the thin skin of her neck prickle from the intent staring of another person. Caroline looks up to see that the only other blonde female is glaring at her with furrowed brows from across the table.

"What?"

"Where was I when you all went?" Rebekah pouts.

Caroline tilts her head in confusion from the question. "Where? The strip club?" She ignores the disgusted grunt that comes from Damon and the, "I can't believe you, Blondie. Where are your morals?"

The Original remains silent and her only response is the pink that paints her cheeks from regret of ever asking. "Don't mind her," Kol advises from his seat. "She's just sulking that she didn't get invited to your little girl gang's trip. Our sister is a harlot." Rebekah is about to smash her shot glass into her brother's grinning face when Bonnie loudly burps, causing all eyes to fall upon the tan-skinned girl slowly swaying side to side with the music.

"Excuse me," she slurs and then chuckles. She looks like she's going to once again take a nap when her eyes suddenly widens with a twinkling excitement. "Oh my God, guys! We're all here! Well, except for Elijah, but he's probably not coming back because he's probably having hot, wet sex with Katherine right now- so, whatever."

"Bonnie!" Elena screeches, her face burning red with embarrassment.

The witch continues without a pause. "We haven't taken a group picture all night! How lame, is that? And since we're all not some lame-ohs," she purses her red lips to emphasize the 'ohs', "-let's take some pictures! Come on, y'all. Gather around!" Bonnie waits for her friends to begin scooting closer to one another, but no one moves a muscle and stares at her with blank looks. "Now," she growls. Not wanting to piss off the powerful Bennett witch, especially on her birthday of all days, everyone begins moving towards one another on the booth with Damon and Rebekah groaning and Kol proudly cooing, "That's my girl," from his spot across from her. Bonnie throws a coy wink from her seat and Rebekah makes a gagging gesture.

Bonnie waits for one of the club's employees to walk by before yelling out, "Hey you! Be useful and take a picture of our magnificent faces! It's my birthday." The poor guy barely has time to register that he's being screamed at by a wasted girl when she chucks her digital camera at his face. Luckily, he's quick enough to catch it before it makes contact and Caroline makes a note to leave a decent tip for the man. He patiently waits for everyone at the large VIP table to get situated and counts to three before clicking the button, causing a bright flash at the smiling faces. "Thank you, my kind sir," Bonnie says as she takes the camera back and watches as the man scurries away from the table of odd people.

"See, that wasn't so bad, right guys?"

"Says you," Stefan announces. "I think I've been blinded by that flash."

"Cry me a river, Steffy-poo," Bonnie doesn't see the way Rebekah turns to give said man an eyebrow raise at the chosen nickname she gave her friend and instead decides to crawl towards Caroline. She pins the blonde down with her butt as she sits on top of her friend's lap within seconds, never giving Caroline a chance to protest. "Caroline! Let's take a picture." From her position on the vampire's lap, Bonnie's head is a few inches higher than the other girl, resulting in the side of Caroline's head being smooshed against her breasts as the drunk girl tightly presses her blonde head there so she can't move. Instead of getting all shy and pushing her away, Caroline laughs loudly and wraps her arms around the petite woman's waist and they both smile seductively at the camera before it flashes. Bonnie squeals delightfully that finally someone is letting loose and being fun just like she is and lifts her arm to take another photo as she closes her eyes and places a kiss to Caroline's cheek. Just as the image is taken and saved onto the electronic device, a group of girls in short dresses and sky-high heels strut by. Because of Caroline's vampire hearing, she catches the, "Whores," that one of the girls sneers at her and Bonnie's position. What she didn't expect was that the witch heard it, too.

"What'd you just say, you harlot?" Bonnie shouts back. She starts to climb off of Caroline's lap, but the blonde holds her still with her arms.

"Harlot? Someone's been rubbing off on her," Tyler muses out loud, directing towards how Kol said the same word earlier.

"Did I stutter?" The tall girl mocks and places her hands on her hips in attempt to look intimidating, probably trying to impress the number of very handsome men watching the interaction. Caroline mentally scoffs. As if the chick had a chance with any of her friends. They're so out of her league.

"The fuck?" Bonnie barks at the leer and snatches the water bottle that Elijah ordered for himself but left behind. Before anyone could make a move to stop her, the hammered girl launches the bottle at the smirking woman and her group of friends. But what no one predicts is that when the plastic object makes contact with the insulting woman's forehead that the bottle's cap was never actually screwed shut and its contents showers the shrieking girl.

"You slutty bitch!" She howls at now being drenched from head to toe and in the next instant she feels a shift in the air and looks up to meet the glowing eyes of an attractive man.

"It'd be wise, dearie, to choose your words carefully when speaking to her," Kol admonishes with a light tone, but the fire in his eyes portrays just how furious he really is. He knows that his brother will wring his neck if he were to break the girl's spine in front of all these human witnesses, and usually he would tell them to all fuck off, but the true reason as to why he clasps his hands behind his back to prevent making any rash decisions is because he doesn't want to ruin his woman's night. Being with the Bennett girl has caused him to become slightly sentimental, though he'd never admit it aloud.

He hears his brother call his name in warning, but keeps his eyes on the stunned girl in front of him. One of the girl's friends nudges her in the ribs to break her out of her stupor, and she shakes her soaked head before giving Kol a sultry look. "Well, hello handsome," she chitters obnoxiously. She gathers enough courage- or stupidity, depending on how one looks at it- to brush her hand on the Mikaelson's neck. He's quick to lean back to avoid the offending limb, but winces when Bonnie let's out a viscous roar, like an actual roar as if she's Simba from the fucking Lion King, and tears herself from Caroline's grasp. She stumbles toward the hussy with the smeared makeup with her index finger waving wildly in the air. "Listen here, you wet cow. You fucking touch a hair on his delicious body one more time, and I'll pull out those so obviously horrendous extensions from your big ol' head-"

Kol snakes his arms around the teetering girl's stomach to hold her back from her coming onslaught on the human when a big burly man appears and steps between the two parties. "Hey, man, your girl is making a scene so I'm going to have to ask her to leave."

"What? Hell no!" comes Bonnie's cry of defiance. "It's my birthday," she repeats as if that phrase is the magic solution to every problem occurring that night.

The beefy man in the tight black shirt sighs from the long night of work and shrugs. "Rules are rules, ma'am."

"Well, you can take those rules and shove it up your floppy a-!"

"Whoa! Okay there, Bonnie," Jeremy disrupts as he stands from his seat. "No need to insult the man. He's just doing his job."

"But Jeremy!" Bonnie cries with sad eyes and then says softly, "It's my birthday."

"Yeah, I think the whole place got that, Bonnie- Ow!" Tyler lowers his head to glare at the blonde that jabbed him in the stomach, but Caroline ignores him and sits there innocently.

Elena looks to all her friends both sitting and standing and gestures with a tilt of her head for them to get up. "Sweetie," she calls gently so that her friend won't either burst out crying or cause another commotion. "It's fine. I think it's time for us to leave, anyway."

The witch looks like she's about to open the flood gates and start sobbing right smack in the middle of the club. "But Elena-"

"'-it's my birthday,'" Tyler finishes for her with a sigh. This time Caroline isn't discreet about her actions and outright shoves the hybrid.

"Seriously, Tyler?" she berates, feeling irate. She hands Elena her clutch from the table as she grabs for hers and stands, pulling down on the hem of her dress to make sure she doesn't moon anyone. She clears her throat, her blue eyes demanding her friends to follow her lead. Caroline links her arm with Elena and holds out her free elbow for Bonnie to take, which she does while giggling, her previous sullen mood for being kicked out forgotten. The birthday girl spins to glare at the bouncer and the group of floozies that are staring in awe at just how attractive all the men are in the crowd of friends and announces theatrically to anyone listening, "I don't want to be here, anyway. We're out of this popsicle stand. Deuces!" With that, Bonnie throws up a peace sign as she and her two best friends strut out of the club, arms linked, and her other friends follow, filing out of the cramped place.

. . .

It's two-something in the morning as Bonnie and her ten friends (and sort-of-semi-friends) roam the empty streets, already blocks away from the pulsing club. The night air is crisp and raises goosebumps on the skin of those who are not the undead or werewolf. However, the witch is warm as the jacket that her boyfriend draped across her shoulders envelops her and she inhales his scent with a content grin. Her arms are still linked with her two best girl friends', but they switched positions so that now she's in the middle between the others; Caroline on her right and Elena on the left. The actual notion behind why Bonnie took the spot in the middle is that the two vampire girls decided it was best to hold up the witch after she almost face planted into the concrete sidewalk when her wobbly legs chose to give out.

"What are you cheesing about, Miss Bennett?" Caroline teases with a smile of her own.

"What are you talking about?" She harmlessly asks and puckers her lips to try to rid the goofy grin on her face, but she stops when she hears the two girls laugh at her silly expression.

"Let her be, Caroline," Elena croons from her side. "She's a smitten kitten."

Bonnie gives a snort and denies, "I am not." Not a moment later does she begin to hum my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.

Caroline turns her head to look back at her following friends. Bonnie, Elena, and herself are at the front, leading the group to- absolutely no destination in particular. She's not going to announce that to the people though. Tyler and Jeremy are following closely behind as they shove at each other, laughing, and telling crude jokes. Behind them are Stefan, with Rebekah on his arm, and Matt and Damon as the human man regales in telling the story of how the twin girls were totally all over him and completely pushed passed his two idiot friends, earning him the finger held behind their back from both men.

And at the end of the herd of supernatural fuckery magnets are the two Mikaelson brothers, trailing slowly in all their cool suaveness as they talk in hushed voices. Klaus catches Caroline's eyes and an emotion flickers through them, too quick for her to decipher what it is before it's gone. She hasn't spoke to him all night ever since she went back to the table with Stefan. She's not necessarily avoiding him, it just turns out that she hasn't had the chance to, or desire. After the high of the alcohol in her system died down, she's lost some of that liquid courage and isn't really looking forward to what he has to say about her actions with that handsome stranger back at the club. Even though she didn't do anything wrong, but Klaus has the tendency to be quite scary at times. Or all the time. Whatever.

In this moment, Caroline experiences genuine happiness as she looks at all of the faces of the people that have come to shape her as a person and are still around through the good and bad times. Sometimes, there's more bad than good, but the fact of the matter is is that they've all stuck together through it all. These are her people; her friends.

"Elena," she calls. She waits for the brunette to turn her attention towards her, then continues, "I love you."

The Gilbert gives her a shining smile, pearly teeth and all, and replies, "I love you too, Care." No other words need to be exchanged. But their moment is affectively ruined when Rebekah once again gags loudly at the nauseating sentiment and Jeremy belches from behind them.

"I'm hungry again," Bonnie whines, then giggles like a child when she hiccups. "Oh, oh! There's a taco place! Either it sells tacos or it's a really cheap strip club with an awful name… Like Kol's. Honestly, what kind of name is Kol?"

"A highly revered name, thank you very much."

"Shit!" Caroline gasps, clutching at her chest, startled at the sudden voice of the man walking close behind them. "Could you be any creepier?"

"I could."

"Well can you take a moment to halt your creepiness and open the door like the revered man that you so claim to be?"

Kol's grin only grew larger as he reached for the door and held it open, gesturing with his free hand for them to enter. Bonnie throws him a saucy smile as she pulls Elena threw the door. When Caroline steps to enter after them, Kol releases the handle letting the door collide into the side of her body. "Motherfucker!" she snarls.

. . .

"Ugh. I think I'm gonna be sick. Why'd you guys take me here? Some friends you are…"

"I told you to go easy, but did you listen to me, Bon? No. So I let you cram three tacos into your mouth like some squirrel on a mission before winter."

"Like I said, some friend you are. Elena? Elena!"

"I'm sitting right here, Bonnie."

"I need your comfy lap for my spinning head since I think my boyfriend has turned to the gay side and left me for three other men."

"The boys are just playing pinball."

"Yeah. Pinball. Which includes heavy balls banging around everywhere… My boyfriend left me for men on my birthday, and the room won't stop moving. Are we on a boat?"

"Sh, shh. Just put your head back on my lap until you feel better, okay?"

"Oh sweet, sweet Elena. You are a magical soul. Unlike that blonde one over there."

"Hey! Another peep from you missy and I'll stick this churro up your a-"

"Caroline."

"Love."

"God, you two need to get off my back and stuff it! Where's my horchata! And tequila!"

. . .

"You're drunk."

"Am not. You're drunk."

"When you're drunk you tend to deny being drunk."

"It's five in the morning and my brain cannot process the nonsense coming out of your mouth right now, Salvatore. So, hush up and take off your clothes."

"Demanding, are we?"

Caroline smacks away the finger prodding at her rib. "Just do it already will you?" The man throws his arms up in surrender and begins to slowly unbutton his dress shirt, laughing when the blonde impatiently taps her foot and gestures toward her imaginary watch.

"I don't need help changing, mom."

Caroline rolls her eyes. "You should feel lucky that I even care enough to make sure you get into bed safe and sound without drowning in your own vomit."

"I don't know if you were there tonight, but I recall you taking four more shots than I did and I took plenty." Stefan stands there shirtless with eyes that beg her to differ and holds out his shirt. Usually, he would just toss the article to the ground without a care, but knowing Caroline she would go at his throat for wrinkling the Hermès gift she randomly got him the last time she visited just because she missed him. Caroline moves to take the piece of clothing and turns to hang it up.

When she swivels back her eyes take in a nearly nude vampire. A nearly nude man. Her man-friend standing in only his navy blue- almost black in the dim lighting of his bedroom- boxer briefs. "Stefan Salvatore. If I didn't know any better, I would think that you are trying to seduce me."

"You're the one who demanded me to quickly take off my clothes."

"Yada yada…" The witty remark dies on her tongue when Stefan reaches up to scratch the back of his head and the twitching of his muscles captivates her gaze. His ahem breaks her trance and she raises her eyes to catch his knowing smirk.

"Oh, shove it! Plus, it's not like it's anything I haven't seen before." Caroline throws a toothy grin of her own while her eyes pin him with a feisty stare.

Stefan lets out a groan as he pulls back his covers and adjusts his pillows. "You're never going to let me live that one down, huh?"

"Nope," she chirps. "How could I ever erase the memory of you calling me at three in the morning to come over and I find you lounging in a bubble bath, drowning your broodiness in booze and literally almost drowning yourself in my cherry blossom scented bubbles? It's practically burned into my memory." Caroline laughs and catches the pillow the younger Salvatore chucks at her.

"You shouldn't have left your bubbles in my bathroom," Stefan retorts, but chuckles at himself when he realizes how silly that reply is. He's lying in the center of his bed with the covers haphazardly across his waist. "So, are you going to tuck me in for old time's sake or stand there gawking at my physique?"

She tosses the pillow in her hand back at the grinning man and sits on the mattress by his side. "For a moment there I thought Damon was speaking, you annoying specimen." She grabs for the thick grey covers and pulls it up towards his neck, forcibly tucking it in tightly, and if Stefan was anything but immortal he would be strangled by her ministrations. "All nice and cozy," Caroline grits through her beaming smile. Once done, she retracts her hands to place them in her lap when one of Stefan's arms shoots out from under the covers and grabs onto her wrist.

He's quite fast for being drunk and all, Caroline thinks. The grip on her wrist is tight, but not enough to bring forth pain. Stefan is staring at her with an intensity in his eyes that she's usually familiar with whenever they have one of their 'moments', as Damon labeled it.

"Hi, Mr. Tuesday," she breathes. His serious expression cracks and the grip turns into a soothing caress of his thumb against the thin skin where her pulse should be, if she were still alive and all that jazz.

"I've missed you."

"I'm right here, Stef." And to prove her point, Caroline uses her unoccupied hand to brush back his hair from his face even though there weren't any strays to begin with.

"I miss you."

Her heart experiences a feeling between a crack and a swelling at his words because she gets it. She one hundred and ten percent understands what he's saying because she's felt- feels- it, too, and she wants to cry and laugh at the same time because this is why they are best friends. And sometimes when it's quiet and she's alone because Klaus went out to fetch groceries or handle some 'business', she lets her mind wander, and sometimes it wanders toward the man lying beneath her.

She thinks of him as she's thousands of miles away on another continent and wonders what would life be like if she hadn't been whisked away to travel the world and fell madly, deeply, in love with another man- what it would be like if she stayed with Stefan Salvatore and forever be held in his secure arms, her second safest sanctuary.

Then her thoughts are usually abruptly interrupted by her safest sanctuary wrapping around her waist as he whispers sweet nothings in his British tongue. She smiles then because she remembers that Stefan will forever and always be her best friend, no matter how attractive his brooding self can be, and that the man she is exploring and creating phenomenal memories with is her forever and always.

And that's that.

Caroline wants to cry and laugh at the same time because she knows that the younger Salvatore lets his mind wander the same path as hers has. She's caught him staring, his mind in another world, as she feigns sleep on his lap when they're supposed to be watching a movie while Klaus visits his siblings.

This is why she loves Stefan Salvatore.

And this is why they remain everything, but lovers in a relationship.

Because it's not their time. But maybe in another world. Another dimension. It will be.

But here and now, she is eternally grateful that the man next to her will always support her as she experiences life as it should be experienced with the love of her life that is currently waiting downstairs. She wants to cry and laugh at the same time because she doesn't know how she got so lucky to have such two incredible men in her life.

"I miss you more," she confesses.

Stefan smiles. "Always trying to one up me, Forbes." Then he ruffles her hair as she pinches his cheek, and they both laugh at their silliness. Caroline leans over to place a kiss on his nose. "I'll see you in the morning, meaning, I'll actually see you in like three hours."

"Oh, joy."

The blonde blows a raspberry over her shoulder and stops when she reaches the door. "Goodnight. Love you," she whispers.

"Back at you, sweetheart. Now get out," Stefan mumbles and makes a shooing motion with his hand.

Caroline closes his wooden door with a soft click and lets out an airy breath. She feels lighter now that she's seen her friend. Her foot moves to take a step then pauses when she hears a muffled, "Thank God. Finally, some peace and quiet now that all that sentimental bullshit is over." Instead of becoming perturbed, the vampire grins larger and walks with purpose. When she passes by a particular door she makes sure to grab the metal doorknob and give a harsh yank. "Oops," she chirps, then lets the broken metal fall to the floor with a loud bang. Caroline skips down the stairs as she ignores, "You blonde bitch. You're paying for that and I don't care if your sugar daddy has to cough up the cash for it!"

. . .

She inhales the cold night, imagining it nipping at the bare skin of her arms, cheeks, nose like she remembers as a human. Her hand pulls the door shut behind her.

"What are you doing out here?"

"I could ask you the same, love."

Caroline rolls her eyes at his raised eyebrows and suspicious blue blue blue eyes. "What do you mean?" she asks, taking the bait.

"You mean I didn't just catch you trying to sneak away and leave me here as you ride into the sunset with your favorite Salvatore?"

"You eavesdropping, punk!" She scoffs and crosses her arms.

Klaus turns to face her fully. A whole eight feet between them from her spot on the porch. He shrugs off her glare. "Should I be concerned that you are asking another man to 'hush up' and quickly take off his clothes?"

"What's it to you? Are you perhaps worried that I was curious to see if he could supply me with something that you're lacking in? I mean, I've been with you for so long that maybe I just got inquisitive…"

Though he did well to control his reaction, she didn't miss the spark of emotion in his orbs before it turned icy blue again. For a thousand-plus years old immortal, the most powerful being roaming the Earth, he sure had a lot of insecurity.

Klaus slowly moves to turn his back to her again and gazes out at the large expanse in front of the boarding house. His only reply to her comment is a casual, "Hm." Caroline knows that hm all too well and throws her arms up in exasperation, annoyed that it's five in the fucking morning and her brain cannot function enough to deal with his attitude, but more annoyed at herself for once again letting something stupid come out her mouth.

Did her mouth filter dry up and die somewhere, or what?

"Klaus, you can't be serious right now!" Caroline huffs as she steps forward. A whole five feet in between them.

"Your diva is showing, Caroline," he comments with his back still facing her. He tilts his chin up to gaze at the night sky, dusted with silver specks. This is one of the reasons he appreciates Mystic Falls, no matter how much of a pain it is in his neck. This is a view that many cities are unfortunate enough to lack in due to all of its city lights. He feels a perfectly manicured nail jab at the spot between his shoulder blades.

"You're the one being a diva, you pompous ass! Now turn around and look at me while I yell at you some more."

Oh, how could he ever deny her?

The Original obeys the blonde woman and looks down at her with a dimpled smirk, waiting for her to give him an earful for eavesdropping. Caroline stares up at him with furrowed brows and a steely gaze, his chest slightly tightens at her scrutinizing stare searching his face. One pinning look from those cerulean orbs and his whole being becomes utterly still.

She surprises him when her glare softens and becomes a guilty one. "I'm sorry," the blonde angel whispers and he can feel her breath tickle his collarbone. "You should know by now that I don't have a filter when it comes to my mouth and I just constantly word vomit all over your shoes and I don't realize that I say something stupid until it's too late and sometimes I wonder how in the cosmos you put up with me." Caroline says it all in one go and Klaus smiles down at her though she can't see since she's staring at his shoes. He waits patiently as she tries to regain her breathing.

Right when he thinks she's done, Caroline meekly looks at him with pink tinted cheeks.

"But I'm really glad you do. Put up with me, I mean."

The female vampire wraps her pale arms around his waist and pulls him flush against her, nuzzling her nose at the juncture between his neck and shoulder. He chuckles deep in his throat at the feeling of her inhaling him like she does a clean load of laundry right out of the dryer.

A few moments of silence goes by and Klaus stops counting the minutes and just enjoys the feeling of her and her tight embrace. He unconsciously plays with the ends of her blonde strands, wrapping them around his fingers and rubbing the softness between his thumb and forefinger.

"Stop thinking those thoughts that get you all moody and insecure because yes, I miss my hometown, of course I miss my mom and friends, and duh I miss Stefan a ton, but I'm with you, aren't I? Your face is the last thing I see every night and the first when I wake up, unfortunately, with all of your ugliness. Good thing your appearance isn't what I'm with you for, huh?"

Caroline giggles at the scrunch of his nose. "I understand completely now. You're only with me for my immense fortune."

She scoffs and punches his shoulder. Klaus doesn't budge an inch. "I was going to say that I'm only with you for the accent. What's with you and Damon thinking that I'm only in it for the money! I don't even begin to come off as a gold digger."

The older vampire throws her a look and replies, "So, does that mean you'll be returning that dress I loaned you for your silly dance?"

"Prom is not silly! And no, I'm keeping it. It's a beautiful gown that you didn't have the fortune of witnessing me in, but luckily Stefan was there to provide a dance or a few."

Klaus pulls away from the embrace with a serious expression and Caroline mentally smacks her forehead again at the lack of a filter and an apology is at the tip of her tongue when he holds out his elbow for her, waiting. She hesitantly loops her arm through it and watches his face as they make their way back inside.

"Speaking of the younger Salvatore, remind me that I need to have a few choice words with him in the morning."

Caroline giggles at his small pout and kisses his shoulder.

. . .

"Are you cooking bacon? You are an angel sent from above. If you weren't like another older sister to me, I'd kiss you on the lips."

"You're so silly, Jer. Now go wake up dumb and dumber before they nag at me for not saving them any."

"Are you cooking bacon, Care? Why are you doing such a cruel thing?"

"Um, bacon is a magical wonder of the world. Especially after last night. Maybe you just partied a little too hard, birthday girl AKA Miss Go-Go Dancer."

"Ugh! Can you not? I'm barely conscious enough to carry a conversation."

"What's wrong, witchy? Did your boyfriend literally screw your brains out? Because by the violent noises you were making last night I wouldn't be surprised if he did any permanent damage on the organ in your skull. Not that it was big to begin with."

"Damon, seriously?"

"Ew, I'm eating here!"

"That is not an image I'd like to picture of my brother like ever."

"Where's the damn whiskey?"

"Ohh, are you making a hot toddy? I want one!"

"Me, too."

"Make that three."

"Drinking so early in the day, little brother? Tisk tisk."

"That's rich coming from you, Damon."

"No one asked you, blondie."

"I didn't say anything!"

"Not you, the other blonde. The British one."

"Guys. As my last request for my birthday, I ask of you all: please shut the hell up."

A beat of silence excluding the clinking of utensils.

"Are you all right there, Bon? You're looking a little green."

"Elena, I'm fine. Really. Just dizzy."

"No, really, Bon Bon. You look sick. Klaus hand me that trash bin over there- no the little one."

"Carol-"

"Well, how's my birthday girl doing this morning!"

"Kol I wouldn't sit right there if I were you."

"Why? What's wrong with this seat?"

"It's in the witch's projectile zone."

"What in Zeus' name are you baboons rambling on about?"

"Don't say we didn't warn you, brother."

A few collective gasps, two disgusted groans, and a silent snicker of amusement.

"I was quite fond of these shoes, Bonnie, dear."

"We told you so."

"Shut up, Bekah."

"We did warn you, man."

"Yeah dude."

"You guys are so immature! Come on, Bon. Let's go get you cleaned up and in a fresh set of pajamas."

"Could you get me a fresh set of shoes, as well- I was just kidding, dear. Here, I'll take her Gilbert. Really. I've got her. This way, love, I'll get you cleaned up."

"… Happy Twenty-First Birthday, Bonnie!"

"Seriously, Caroline?"

"What? I'm just trying to lighten the mood after that catastrophe. And dibs on not cleaning that up."

"Dibs!"

"Dibs."

"Dibs."

"What! How am I stuck with cleaning it up?"

"You snooze, you lose, Lockwood."

"Real mature."

"Didn't you know that you're staying at La Casa de Immature Supernaturals?"

A/N: Oh, hello. Did you survive that massive monstrosity? Congratulations.

Did you like? Yes? Awesome. No? Well, then, next time, my friend.

Let me know your thoughts via a review! Seriously, because I like chatting it up since I'm a college student whom commutes and is practically a hermit nowadays from any sort of college life. Damn you exams and tuition.

I feel like I have more to say, but I'm tired of looking at this piece of work that I'm sure I've read at least twenty-five times now. I'm so happy that I'm finally done with it. So, drop a review because your thoughts are literally my fuel to keep going.

You are my inspiration.