So after that ridiculous hiatus haha, here's chapter 17A! :D I hope you guys enjoy this, it's been fun to write and we're boiling down to the last chapters! Please R&R (: I love you all!

Klaus took Caroline to the spot where Kol had always brought his victims. He and Klaus used to do it together, they used to use the underground tunnels against their victims, but things had changed. They were no longer brothers, they were enemies. Brothers usually had a lifetime together, to protect and care for each other, to share their lives as family, but Klaus knew that all of that relationship would end eventually. They had their lifetime, ten times over, and just like all of his siblings, at one point or another, things got bad. The difference was that with Kol, they never got fixed. There was no way that you could spend eternity with someone like Kol without something eventually getting in the way, but that's the reason why Klaus worked so hard to bring his family together. He just wanted all of that to last, maybe it was his recklessness that brought forth that obstacle in the first place. That's what scared him. What about Caroline? If he couldn't spend eternity with his family, how could he possibly not mess up a relationship with her? He was way too selfish, too cruel, too bad for her. She deserved better…

Caroline was running so fast behind him, and she almost stopped to ask where they were going. They were so far into the woods, who knows how many miles they had gone but it was dark already. But Caroline trusted him. Klaus was on her side and she knew that he was focused, so all she could do was run with him. It almost felt freeing, to run so fast, like she was letting off some of the steam that she felt about Kol. He really was an asshole. Who did he think he was? First he attacks her and then her mother? All for some stupid game that he was playing with his brother. It really was ridiculous.

When they finally stopped, Klaus was standing in a spot of the woods shaped almost like a circle; a random, bare part of the woods with trees surrounding and a broken trunk in the middle. He walked over to one side and jumped up and down, then to another, and another, each time closer to the middle.

"Umm…what are you doing?" Caroline asked, thinking for a moment that he was going mad, because he looked like he was throwing a silent tantrum in the middle of the woods.

"I'm just trying to find…" Klaus looked determined, walking all over the circle, leaving Caroline standing right next to the broken long. He was starting to get frustrated,

"Ugh! Dammit Kol, you blasted-" Klaus stopped, then looked up at Caroline,

"…what?"

"Stand over there," he said, pointing randomly behind him and going back to her spot. He smirked, apparently finding what he was looking for. "Stand back," he said, walking over and grabbing a boulder. Caroline did as she was told and waited. Just trust him. Trust Klaus… she started to think as he got stranger and stranger. She broke out of her trance when she heard a loud noise like a big explosion. Dust was all around and the earth almost shook.

"Klaus?" Caroline moved her hands through the air trying to find him, keeping her eyes shut to protect herself from dust and dirt. She found him when his arms touched her from behind, turning her around and pulling her close to him.

"It's alright, I'm right here. See? You can open your eyes, it's clear now love," Caroline was gripping his arm tight and when she opened her eyes she saw him standing concerned in front of her. He brushed the hair from her face and settled when he saw that she was alright.

"What just happened?" she asked, flustered and confused,

"Look behind you," Klaus said, and when Caroline turned she figured it out. As the dust finished clearing she saw the hole in the ground. It was huge, and it looked as if the ground had just fallen away. Klaus must have thrown the boulder and broken it, almost suprising Caroline to find that he was strong enough to literally break the ground. This man… "So what is it? This is where he…" she started, not able to figure out just exactly it was that Kol was doing down there, and not bothering to fill in the gruesome blanks.

"Yes. This is where Kol and I used to go as children, up until we were adults actually," he answered calmly, trying to sound as normal as possible for her. Caroline was bracing herself, she knew that this was the moment that she would find out how her mom was doing and how much danger she was in.

Klaus saw the look in her teary eyes and felt his heart s fragile. "Caroline," he took her face in his and looked deep into her almost-tearing eyes. He couldn't stand to see her hurt and he knew that she would be too emotional down there. Besides, whether she knew it or not, this trap was for Klaus. He may have Liz down there, but it was revenge on his brother that Kol really wanted. For the buildup of bad experiences, the keeping of Kol in a coffin for over a century, it was all boiling down to this and Klaus knew that if Caroline went down there Kol would only use her to his advantage. She was his weakness, and he couldn't let her get hurt.

"I know that you're worried and you want to save her, but maybe it's not such a-"

"Klaus, don't." Caroline took his hands in hers and held them down by htier sides. "We're doing this together, alright? That's my mom in there, and if you go in alone all Kol is going to do is take you in exchange for her, and I can't let that happen. Don't think for a second that I'm going to chose for one of you two to come out of there, because the only one who'll stay after we're done down there is Kol. I'll be okay, you'll protect me, I know it. And I'll protect you. And that's final." Klaus smirked at the girl in front of him. He may have thought that Caroline was being fragile, but she couldn't have been more strong. She'd been tortured numerous times, lost so many people, and she didn't even hesitate to put herself in danger for the ones that she loved. Klaus wouldn't let that happen, though. He would get her out alive and well, along with her mother. Even if that meant that he did have to trade himself. He'd be willing.

"Alright love," Klaus said, taking her face in his once more and kissing her. "but listen to me," he said as he pulled away, "Kol is impulsive. And he's dangerous, and he wants me, not you. Not your mom, just me. So if I tell you to take your mom and get out, you have to do it. If I tell you to go, then you run as fast as you can, do you hear me? Kol is fast, but you can make it if you need to. I'll let you come with me if I have your word, Caroline. I'm not going to let you get hurt."

"Okay." Caroline was startled by the look in his eyes, but she knew that he was being true,

"Caroline, promise me,"

"Alright Klaus, I promise." And with that he grabbed her hand and held her close as they jumped down into the underground tunnel, surrounded still by dirt and dust. As they got up coughing, they heard him…

"Took you long enough, brother."

! haha alrighty so I hope you liked it, please tell me what you think(: School's hectic but I finished the show that I was in so I should have some more time to write now, please review! Merci!