It had been an hour since the party started and Klaus was standing against the stairs drinking a glass of scotch when he finally caught a glimpse of Damon and Stefan. He stood up straight and looked for Elena. If she was there, so was Caroline. He didn't know why he wanted her to be there, or why he left that stupid note at her doorstep along with her invitation, but ever since the night of her birthday she had…intrigued him.

He was going to go into her room to make a quick exchange, but something about the way she was laying there, with such devastation in her eyes, made him stay. He was disappointed that her first impression of him was that he was there to kill her, which didn't make sense to him because he usually didn't care one bit, but she captured his mind in a weird sort of way. He remembered her always being a part of Elena's life, and he always thought she was pretty, but if there was one thing that Klaus had never ceased to see throughout the centuries it was pretty women.

Caroline was the one vampire that he thought he could spare, and it would test Tyler's loyalty to have him bite her. He paid no mind when Tyler refused, instead he moved on, but then as she lay there dying in her room, he caught a real glimpse of the pain he had caused for the first time in a very long time. That's when he knew he couldn't do that to her again. He just wanted to know more about her. He was never going to take it anywhere of course, but his interest had passed the point of no return, now he had to speak to her.

"Niklaus, are you not enjoying this wonderful dance?" Klaus turned to see Kol standing by his side, and he instinctively took a step back toward the stairs.

"Kol, you know you can't kill me here. Besides, you haven't given me the chance to explain-"

"Save it, brother," Kol said as he took the scotch from Klaus' grasp and drank it down in one shot. "I'm not going to kill you. I'm simply trying to patch things up and get the hell out of this bloody town. You know I've never been one to stay cooped up in a dreaded place like this," Klaus kept his game face, but he knew he wouldn't be able to stand Kol much longer. Finally he got his distraction when he saw her.

Klaus just barely saw Caroline through the crowd in the most beautiful gown he could imagine, and he hurriedly tried to find her again. Then the crowd moved enough for him to see that she was standing facing him, looking almost worried, but wearing his bracelet. She actually wore it; he was surprised since, from the very beginning, all he could hear about this funny little vampire was that she wasn't so easy to give in to anyone else. Perhaps they were wrong, and she would make it all the more easy for him…

Kol saw the mesmerized look on Klaus' face and smiled with an idea of his own. "You know," he said, reminding Klaus of his existence, "maybe I'll stick around for just a while, I could learn to enjoy it here," Kol winked at Klaus and handed him the empty glass. "You enjoy the night, brother," and he quickly chatted up a new girl on his arm before disappearing with her into the crowd.

Klaus was left there suspicious, but he had more important things to worry about at the moment. He had to find Caroline.

"You know, I'm not sure this was the best idea coming here," Elena said to Damon as the music shifted and couples started to form.

"Relax Elena, you have nothing to worry about tonight, everything is taken care of. Besides, I wouldn't let anything happen to you. I do think that we should probably try to blend in…" Damon said, turning on his never-failing charm, but never letting go of his protective instinct. "It would be rude not to dance, you know," and with that Elena took his hand and Damon led her to the circle.

Caroline was starting to feel out of breath with all of the commotion, and she was nervous to see if she would be able to handle all of this. She came here because she figured she should face Klaus and give him the bracelet back, and there was really nothing else to do at home anyway, but she couldn't find him. She saw him once before Stefan pulled her away and started babbling on about being careful around these people, but she didn't listen much to angry Stefan anymore. She could feel the couples dancing around her and everything started to make her dizzy. She was a still presence in the middle of too many people, and she turned to walk about, but just then she bumped right into someone. She didn't see who it was at first, but after letting out a quick "Sorry, excuse me," the man grabbed her hand to hold her there and she looked up to see him.

"Klaus," she said startled, expecting anything but that sudden encounter. It seemed like he was looking deep into her eyes like he was trying to study her, and she would've broken the eye contact or said something but just before it got too awkward he gazed down at her wrist, held firmly but gently between his hand.

"I see you wore the bracelet, I have to say I'm genuinely surprised, I would've guessed you to be the one who wouldn't show up tonight," He started to touch and play with the beautiful diamond bracelet, obviously satisfied with his gift, but she pulled her hand away.

"Only because I need to give it back to you," she said, hating herself for the very least of a nervous undertone. "I can't accept it."

"Of course you can," Klaus said, as if it were a commonly known fact.

"I really can't. You can't give me gifts, Klaus, all I know about you is that you've caused all of my friends harm and then after our first conversation you're giving me expensive jewelry," she saw a quick look of hurt in his eyes which she didn't understand which also only made her more frustrated; but he hid it soon after. "It doesn't make any sense, and I can't take it."

"Is that right?" Klaus said, obviously amused at this point. He seemed to love the fire she had in her, he could tell now that she was definitely not the type to give in to him like people had said.

The dancers had all paired up and suddenly Caroline noticed that she and Klaus were stuck in the middle of the circle. "Well why don't you just hold on to it until the end of the dance," he said as he took her hand again and slightly bowed in front of her, "You will join me for a dance, won't you sweet Caroline?"

She was so confused, and definitely wanted not to want to dance with him, but the voice in her head just kept saying "One dance won't hurt, right? Damon said to blend in. Just blend, Caroline, blend…"

"Fine, but just one dance," she said as Klaus kissed her gentle fingers and positioned his free hand on her lower back, still holding on to her hand with the other. She took his hand and placed it higher, and she caught a smirk form on his lips as they started to move.

She'd never danced like this before, but the way Klaus led her made her feel like she'd done it a hundred times. His easy strides seemed to carry her around the dance floor and he kept that same smirk on his face as he looked deeply into her eyes like before. He understood why she wasn't smiling back at him, but he wanted her to so badly. He tried to be a little livelier in his steps as opposed to being as formal as everyone else, and he broke the norm when he spun her with him fast in moving circles. She felt like a little girl when she used to put her hands out in the air and spin around until she got dizzy. She started to giggle just as the music changed and couples started to break apart.

"There's the smile I was looking for," Klaus said as he stopped her and held her arms firm while she looked for her footing again. Once she found it, she stopped and caught his eyes for a moment. Time seemed to slow as she kept her smile, and seeing his, they looked at each other for what seemed like several minutes. She'd never seen him smile like that before, she only ever knew him as the serious, murderous bad man in town. But this was like seeing a whole new side of him, like he was the big bad wolf who suddenly turned into a vulnerable puppy. Her smile faded away into a serious glance. He was still holding her; she could feel the strength of his lean muscles against her back and through their perfectly entangled hands. Ever since she turned into a vampire, she was always the strong one, but when he held her as they danced she felt like she was the one being protected this time.

She then realized what she was doing and tried to end it. She took Klaus' hand off of her back and placed them in front of her so that his touch wouldn't play with her mind any more. She looked down, closed her eyes and shook her head ever so slightly to herself before slipping off that beautifully perfect bracelet from her wrist and setting it in his hand.

"I should go, I need some air," she said and before he could stop her, or before he would stop her, she disappeared back into the crowd toward the front and out the double doors.

Klaus held that bracelet in his hand and thought for a minute before deciding what to do. He loved dancing with her, it was like everything in his world melted away and they were the only ones in the room. The music made him feel young and human again, or rather she made him feel young and human again, not like the monster he had turned into from the werewolf gene he inherited. His past always haunted him and never left his mind, but now with his family in one place again and Caroline dancing with him, light and easy between his arms, he felt like he could do anything, be anyone he wanted to be.

He was caught now between whether to go after her or not. Whether she interested him or not, he still had his plans, and it would probably be best for her to stay away; but he had such a longing for her to be back with him. The way she smiled at him and then the way they just stood there with each other after the music stopped, staring into each others' eyes made her all the more special. He really got a chance to look at her then, and he saw that she wasn't just a pretty girl like he had thought. She was a beautiful, captivating creature and he wanted her. It was a moment in which his entire thought process had changed and she became his one true goal. With that, he knew exactly what he had to do.

Caroline took her shawl from the man by the door and walked outside, catching her breath. What was she thinking? She couldn't dance like that with Klaus. Her methods of convincing herself of his complete and utter atrociousness weren't working. Why did he smile at her like that? Why did she feel so natural with him? She barely knew him! She couldn't let herself smile and laugh with him, she couldn't let herself relax under his grip, and she couldn't let herself start to like him. He was evil. Evil, evil, evil. "Stop doing this, Caroline, stop. You know better, so stop thinking like this."

"Stop thinking like what?" She knew the voice as soon as she heard it. She immediately turned around and made her feelings of anger and frustration rise to the surface.

"What are you trying to do, huh? Giving me jewelry, dancing with me, and now you're stalking me?" She knew she was exaggerating on that last one, but she was trying to make him seem worse to her. " You need to leave me alone, Klaus!" she said, probably a little too loud under the circumstances, but she didn't care.

"Caroline-" he took a step toward her, bracelet still in hand, but she stepped back, trying to keep as much distance as she could between them.

"No, stop. Stop, Klaus, just- I don't understand why-" she sighed, realizing that she was losing it. He had gotten under her skin and she knew it. She was making too big of a deal of all of this, she was probably just some part of one of his crazy plans. But why was he trying to charm her? Why was he being so…not evil? She didn't understand why any of this was going on, and she hated that. She hated when she didn't understand someone, she needed to understand him. "I just, I don't understand," she finally said so softly under a breath. So soft that he probably wouldn't have heard her if it wasn't for his supernatural, heightened hearing.

She looked away from him, feeling so vulnerable, not knowing what to do. He looked like he felt sorry for her and for a moment it was silent.

"Caroline, I'm sorry," She looked up at him surprised and confused, he was the last person she expected to apologize. "I never should have… it's just that you make me so…" she could easily see that he was struggling to find his words, something that had certainly never been a problem before. "You've bewitched me, Caroline," and with that he caught her eyes again.

She looked at him with such wonder, and from his eyes she immediately felt bad for him. She didn't know why, but she thought that, just briefly, she understood. It wasn't something that could be explained, and for a while they just stood there together, not noticing the crisp, cool temperature outside, but just looking at each other, again. She felt a strong connection to him, but she didn't want it to go any further. She was strong, and even though she felt such a range of emotions for this perplexing man, his charming disposition hardly made up for his violent and impulsive actions.

"Just, take this," he said as he stepped toward her and placed the bracelet back into her palm. He loved how she was never scared of him. That night when he fed her his blood she never tried to back away from him, and she let him get close to her, just as she did now. She never took her astonished eyes off of him, and she took the bracelet from him and held on to it tight. His fingers lingered for a moment as he left the diamonds in her hand, and she felt a sudden pull when his touch left her. "I'll leave you now, sweet Caroline," She decided that she really did like that he called her that. It made her feel so much like a woman, unlike "Care" or "Care bear" which just made her feel like a little girl. That was his pattern; he seemed to have this way of making her feel grown with the fancy taste and intimate words, or young when he twirled her around. But she knew it had to stop there, they both did. She watched him as they shared one last lingering stare before he turned from her and walked back inside. She stayed there in the brisk weather looking back at him until he was out of view just as Elena's voice came from behind.

"Caroline, what are you doing out here?" she said as she walked up with Damon. It took Caroline just a second to break her thoughts and turn to Elena.

"I just…needed some air," she replied calmly, noticing that Damon and Elena were a little tense, car keys in hand.

"Okay, well we're heading back, are you ready to go?" Elena asked nonchalantly. Caroline thought for a moment, taking one last look behind her. She just started to comprehend how she and Klaus must have been dancing for at least an hour, because time moved too fast.

She knew her best interest though, and she turned and started to walk with Elena. "Yeah, I'm ready," she said, slipping her bracelet back onto that natural curve of her wrist where it fit so excellently, and with that she snuggled in her bead that night. She was kept up for a few hours by her minds' reenactments of the night before finally soundly falling asleep.