A/N: For Giulia & bbqt. Thank you for making me give a fuck about this fic. :)
Thank you to Sophie & Wifey for beta work.
Enjoy!
-Angie
"Nothing matters, but knowing nothing matters...it's just life, so keep dancing through…Ugh. This is a terrible song," Kol complained, switching off the instrumental version of the song that was playing through Caroline's computer.
"It's from Wicked," Caroline said from the couch where she'd been reading her biology textbook, her tone clipped as though the name of the musical should explain everything and discredit his opinion completely.
"Well, I don't care. Why can't I just compel myself a part again?"
"Because then you might be taking it away from someone who deserves it more than you. It wouldn't be fair."
"Life isn't fair, sweetpea."
"Don't call me pet names, Kol. It's creepy."
"I am creepy."
"That, you are," Bonnie said dryly as she walked through the door, closing it behind her. "I was hoping I'd never have to see you again."
"Well, we can't always get what we want, Bonnie Bennett," Kol said, giving her a grin.
Bonnie made a face and thrust a pile of sheet music at Caroline. "Here's the music for the show. I highlighted the ones that Audrey's in."
"I refuse to do this song," Kol interrupted. "It's bad enough that Nik is making me do this stupid show...What's the show about, anyway?"
"A plant that only grows if you feed it blood," Caroline said absently, leafing through the sheet music.
"That was a serious question."
"Yeah, and that was a serious answer. Little Shop of Horrors is literally about a man-eating plant."
Kol gave her a dubious look, but nodded warily. "All right. Fine then. I still won't do this song."
Bonnie and Caroline exchanged a look. "Well what song do you want to do?"
"What musicals are there?"
"There are more than we can list. Why don't you just go through my music and see if you can find something you like," Caroline suggested, already tired of the whole thing.
"What is he?"
"A tenor."
Bonnie sighed. "I'll help if you don't find something in the next hour or so."
"Thank you, Darling."
Bonnie just huffed before turning to Caroline. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Always, Bon," Caroline said, closing her book and unceremoniously dropping it to the floor before hopping up to follow Bonnie into her bedroom.
She'd only been there for two days, but her room was already unpacked and decorated (a testament to how determined she was to avoid Kol), and she'd been debating whether it was worth calling Klaus to ask him if she could spend money to redecorate the rest of the place.
If he was going to force her to move she might as well spend his money on things she liked.
They sat down on her bed, cross-legged, and Bonnie sighed. "So, this mating thing…"
"Yeah?"
"Is it really unbreakable?"
"Well, according to the witch I consulted, yes. She also said that there's no record of a vampire ever being bonded to a wolf though, let alone a hybrid, so there's obviously a first time for everything. I think our bond kind of defies the rules. We've already discovered side effects that are unrecorded as existing."
"Like?"
"We can share dreams. I don't know how to explain it. It's like when I'm dreaming I send him the pictures in my mind, or he sends them to me…" she trailed off remembering a very vivid dream she'd had two nights before that had left her wetter and more wanting than she'd ever been in her entire life (and she was afraid to ask Klaus about it in case he hadn't shared it).
Bonnie wrinkled her nose. "Like, all your dreams?"
"We haven't figured out how to control it yet. Sometimes we share them, sometimes we don't."
Bonnie nodded. "Anything else?"
"He can feel it when someone else makes me come. Apparently it's painful," Caroline said rather clinically, trying to fight down the blush threatening to stain her cheeks.
"When someone else makes you come? Like, including you?" Bonnie asked awkwardly.
Though Caroline and Elena had both had sex with their fair share of guys, Bonnie's only experience had been with Jeremy, and she was still a bit uncomfortable discussing her (or anyone else's) sex life, not because she disapproved, but because she hadn't had enough experience to feel comfortable sharing (especially with Elena, since the other girl hadn't wanted to hear anything about her brother having sex).
Caroline shook her head. "Nope. I think he would have hinted at it if he could."
Bonnie bit her lip nervously. "Do you want me to try to break the spell for you? Or at least research how to lessen the side effects?"
"I don't know if that would be a good idea."
"Why? Do you want to be linked to him for your entire life?"
"I don't know, okay?" Caroline said, running her hands through her hair. "He's just...it feels so right, which is awful because he's killed so many people. I feel so guilty for wanting him, but I feel like I'm drawn to him. I researched it a bit more, and he was right about the love thing. I can't feel a connection to anyone else. What if you sever the link and I can never have a connection to anyone even afterwards?"
"I'm sure I could figure out a way."
"But what if it goes wrong? Isn't it better to be in love with Klaus than to not be able to love at all?"
"You're in love with Klaus?" Bonnie asked, her eyes widening.
Caroline shook her head frantically. "No. No, not at all. But...I feel like I could be. Someday."
At Bonnie's look of disdain, Caroline pushed on with the thoughts that had been building slowly since he'd come to her in her bedroom all those months ago. "And really, who are we to judge, Bon? Do you know how many people Damon's killed?"
"I hate Damon, too. If it weren't for Elena I would have staked him in his sleep a long time ago."
Caroline snorted. "Okay, bad example. What about Stefan? Elena without her humanity?"
"But Klaus has killed so many more."
"And Klaus has lived five times as long as Damon and Stefan. Don't you think their death toll would be similar after that much time?"
"You've really put thought into this," Bonnie mumbled.
"Yeah. I'm just sick of...I'm sick of feeling guilty, you know? Like, I do feel guilty, but I don't want to."
Bonnie nodded slowly, and Caroline could see her friend was caving, so she went in for the metaphorical kill: Logic. "You know, being a vampire has given me a different perspective, and I feel like it's silly to deny myself things I want, because I have an eternity to change my mind, you know?"
Bonnie gave her a sideways look. "What do you mean?"
Caroline shrugged. "There's less risk to making bad decisions. I have forever to fix it. Maybe staying bound to Klaus will be a terrible decision. Maybe it won't. I have forever to break the bond if I need to. For now, though, I want to see where it goes."
Bonnie made a face. "Please don't tell me you're going to run off and confess your undying love to him."
Caroline laughed. "No. He's definitely going to work for it."
"Good."
They sat in comfortable silence for a moment before Caroline broke it. "You know, it might be nice to have someone to make bad decisions with."
She'd noticed the way her friend looked at Kol when he wasn't paying attention. She knew those disdainful scoffs and hair flips well, because they had been her armor against Klaus such a short time ago.
Bonnie gave her a sideways look, before shaking her head. "I know where you're going with this conversation, and I don't want to talk about it. I'm not dating Kol, and that's final."
"It's funny how you assumed that I was going to talk about Kol and not like, you know, going out and getting wasted, which would be a terrible decision."
Bonnie snorted. "I know you, Care."
"And it's funny that of all the boys you thought I'd mention, you picked Kol. I think you like him."
"And I think that this conversation is over," Bonnie said firmly. "Let's go see if Kol's broken your laptop yet."
Caroline waited outside the door to the theatre while Kol auditioned, able to pick up everything from the other side. He had just finished introducing himself and the opening chords of the portion he'd picked started.
"I am flame and I am fire, I am destruction, decay, and desire...I'll hurt you, I'll heal you…"
Kol's voice was smooth and he had perfect pitch. She had to admit the song choice was much better than the one she'd have chosen, both in terms of his vocal style and his personality. She couldn't see him, but she could tell he was having fun with it.
"I'm your wish, your dream come true, and I'm your darkest nightmare too...I've shown you...I own you…"
It was only a few more bars before he was done, and she heard the director tell him that callbacks were the next day, and that he should look over the songs. Caroline had expected this, and when Kol came out, he nodded at her shortly, knowing that she'd heard the verdict already, and walked her out of the building. "You didn't have to come."
"I know," she said, shrugging. "I figured that if we're going to make this roomie thing work we might as well spend time together."
He gave her an assessing look. "You thought I'd compel the director if you weren't there, didn't you?"
Caroline gave him an elegant shrug of her shoulders. "Tomato, tomato. Come on, we need to stop at the furniture store down the street. I think they have the new couch finally and I can't lift it by myself."
He nodded, and they walked the few blocks to the store in silence. "If I ask you a question, will you promise to answer it honestly?" Kol asked suddenly.
Caroline shrugged. "If I don't want to answer it, I won't, but I won't lie to you."
"Do I have a chance with Bonnie?" he asked without missing a beat.
"I don't know. Bonnie keeps that kind of stuff pretty close to her chest. If I had to guess, I'd say that if you show her that she'd be more to you than a casual fling, and actually mean it, there would be a slightly better chance than 'never'."
"How on earth would I go about doing that?"
"Um. Haven't you ever had to 'woo' a girl before, or whatever?"
"Not in a long while, and back then there were social conventions one followed. Additionally, it wasn't really up to the woman anyway, awful as that sounds. Their fathers had total control over their futures, and there weren't really any that didn't want to take the opportunity for their daughter to marry a rich lord, i.e. me."
"Oh. Well, just try to be thoughtful."
He blinked, and Caroline rolled her eyes. "You know...Like, pick up her favorite coffee if you're running by the store anyway. Make sure that we have stuff she likes in the fridge when she comes over. That kind of thing."
He nodded slowly. "That sounds doable. And, anyway, when in doubt I could just draw her a picture of a horse. I've heard that works wonders."
Caroline snorted. "Can you even draw?"
"Nope," Kol said cheerfully, holding the door open for Caroline as they entered the shop.
It only took about fifteen minutes to get the couch to the car, and once they were on the road, Caroline screwed up her courage to ask something that had been bothering her.
"Do you know what Klaus is doing?"
Kol raised an eyebrow. "On the road, I'd assume."
Caroline huffed. "No, I know that. I meant why did he leave?"
"He told me that I couldn't tell you."
"Since when has that stopped you?"
He shrugged. "Since I could use the fact that you wanted the information as leverage. You really should work on that, Darling. Learning to act like you don't give a shit makes the whole preventing blackmail thing infinitely more simple."
"Fine. What do you want?"
Kol turned to look at her, an eyebrow raised.
"Eyes on the road, Kol."
He snorted. "We're vampires. We can't die."
"Yeah, but car crashes hurt, and you've only been driving for what, three months?"
"Five and a half," he said, slightly petulant.
"Whatever."
He sighed. "Fine. I'll tell you."
"Really?"
"If you get me a date with Bonnie."
"You're joking, right?"
"Not at all."
"How am I supposed to manage that, exactly? In case you weren't listening earlier, she's not exactly interested at the moment."
"That's not my problem. Just do it and I'll tell you."
"Fine. Whatever."
"That's my girl."
"I'm not your girl."
He snorted. "Fine. That's Nik's girl."
Caroline didn't even dignify that with an answer.
"Please?"
"No."
"Please?"
"Saying please again in an extra whiny voice doesn't help, it just makes me more annoyed," Bonnie said, popping a chip in her mouth.
"Look, I just really need to know what's going on with Klaus. It's important to me."
"Can't you make him tell you?" Elena asked from her perch on the couch in the corner.
"How would I do that?"
"I don't know...Bribe him."
"With what?"
"Sex."
"Elena!" Bonnie whined. "Gross."
Elena shrugged. "He would spill for that, though. In more ways than one."
Both of the other girls groaned.
"Since when did you decide that vulgar was the new classy?" Caroline asked, irritably, her nose still wrinkled (because she didn't want Klaus to spill anything anywhere near her. Not even a little. Okay, fine, maybe a little).
"Look, point is that I don't want to. Okay?" Bonnie interrupted, sensing a discussion that she clearly had no interest in being a part of.
"I totally took one for the team and went out with Klaus once," Caroline argued. "You should do the same for me."
"Yeah, but by your own admission, no matter how much I personally disagree, that turned out well. This won't."
Caroline rolled her eyes. "We didn't know that at the time, and neither do you now. Look, please? What if he's doing something dangerous and stupid?"
Bonnie glared at her. Caroline widened her puppy eyes.
"Okay, fine. No, don't look so happy yet. I'll make you a deal."
"I'm listening."
"Ask him again tonight. If he doesn't spill, then I'll do it. But tell Kol that the date is to last a maximum of three hours, be completely in public, and he can't try anything."
Caroline gave her friend a bright smile. "Thanks, Bon. You're the best!"
"Damn right," the other girl mumbled.
They talked a bit more before Elena excused herself, and once the door was closed, Caroline held up a hand, counting down from five before speaking. "Don't you think Elena's been weird lately?"
Bonnie nodded. "Yeah, totally. I mean, she's just gotten a lot more...brash, I guess. It's like she has her humanity off, but she obviously doesn't."
"Yeah. It's weird. I've never heard her talk like that. And she's been pushing me towards Klaus like crazy, almost like she wants us to be together for some reason."
Bonnie nodded. "Yeah, that is weird. I mean, I get where she's coming from, since Damon is the worst person ever, but it just doesn't make any sense. If she wasn't dead, I would totally think it was–"
"Katherine," Caroline breathed.
The two girls looked at each other. "How would she have done that, though? And where's Elena?" Bonnie asked.
"I have no idea."
"It seems so ridiculous, though. I don't know how it could have happened. And how would we figure it out?"
"We'll just ask her a bunch of awkward questions about childhood memories that she has to remember but that are hard to guess," Caroline said immediately.
Bonnie nodded slowly. "Okay. Makes sense."
Caroline bit her lip. "What if it is Katherine, though? What will we do?"
"Then we'll figure out how to get Elena back. Like we always do."
Caroline bit her lip. Was it selfish that she kind of wanted to avoid Elena until she'd made her final decision with Klaus? She knew Elena would try to talk her out of it. Was that a sign that she'd already chosen?
She kind of felt like it was.
"Yeah. Like we always do," she agreed.
Caroline huffed as Klaus's ringtone (yes, she did have one specifically for him so that she knew not to answer it) floated out of her phone's speaker for the third time in ten minutes. She decided that if he rang again she'd bite the bullet and answer (knowing it was basically inevitable at this point).
Sure enough, the phone rang again a few minutes later, and she pushed her laptop away and rolled over on her bed to pick it up, hitting the answer button and bring it to her ear. "Hello?"
"Caroline."
She resisted the urge to scream and throw something at the clench in her core just from him speaking her goddamn name. Everything about him was intoxicating, from his stupid compliments to his rough accented tone.
"Klaus."
They were both silent for a moment before Klaus spoke again. "I just wanted to check on you."
"Why?"
"How are you doing, love?"
She decided to ignore the fact that he didn't answer her question and indulge him, hoping he'd go away when she was done. "I'm okay. Kol and I picked his song for his audition. We managed to compel him a last minute slot, and the cast list is going up next week."
"Are you excited?"
"Nervous," she admitted. "Are you already gone?"
"Yes."
"Are you going to tell me what you're doing yet?"
"I'm sorry, love, but I can't do that."
She huffed, trying to ignore the insistent pull in her lower belly at the way the apology rolled off his tongue. "Are you kidding? You totally could."
"I'll tell you as soon as everything's ready, all right? I promise."
"Sure," she said, rather petulantly, she'd admit.
"I will, love."
Well, sorry Bonnie...
She sighed. "Well, did you just call to ask how I was doing and then tell me that you can't tell me anything?"
He laughed quietly, the husky tone sending more jolts of arousal to her lower belly, and she ached for him. She knew her breath caught slightly, but thankfully he didn't notice (or, more likely, chose not to comment).
"I called because I wanted to hear your voice."
She clenched her thighs together and narrowed her eyes. So he wanted to play that game, huh?
"Yeah?" she asked, her voice dropping slightly, smirking when she heard his quiet gasp.
"Yes."
"Don't correct me just because I don't speak formally like you," she said, purposely misconstruing his words.
He groaned-groaned-and she resisted the urge to reach down and slip a hand into her cotton pajama shorts. "Don't tease me, love. And you know perfectly well that's not what I meant."
"What are you talking about? I'm not teasing, and I'm sorry for taking it the wrong way." She was proud that she somehow managed to keep her voice innocent while making it drip with innuendo at the same time.
"Caroline…"
"Niklaus…" she breathed, remembering his words about her use of his full name.
He groaned again, and she could have sworn she heard the clink of metal in the background, as though he was unfastening his pants, and she felt her core throbbing with need, and she knew that her panties were probably already wet with arousal. She took a deep breath. Stay strong, Caroline.
She was going to give him the worst set of supernatural blue balls in the history of forever.
"Where are you right now, love?"
"My bedroom. Kol's out doing god-knows-what, probably stalking Bonnie, so I'm bored and alone."
"You're in bed?" he asked carefully.
Her nipples were straining against the fabric of her tank top, and she couldn't suppress a gasp as she shifted slightly. "Yes."
She heard the shifting of fabric and knew exactly what was happening, and she smiled wickedly. "Where are you?"
"The hotel room."
"Oh. What time zone are you in? It's kind of late, and I was going to go to bed soon. You called just as I was changing into my pajamas."
Lie, but whatever. His answering mumbled 'Fuck, Caroline' was enough. She rubbed her thighs together.
"I'm an hour behind you," he said, his voice strained.
"Okay. Well, I have to get up early tomorrow. I promised to go out with Bonnie for breakfast. I'll talk to you soon. Goodnight."
"Caroli–"
She hit the end button and turned her phone off, contentedly pulling the covers around her, a smug smile on her face, letting her hand brush down her abdomen towards the waistband of her cotton shorts.
He threw his phone across the room, deciding not to worry about the sound of the glass screen cracking. The little minx…
He was painfully hard, and when he closed his eyes, gripping his cock in his hands, all he could see was her in those tiny lace shorts that framed her arse so fucking perfectly when she'd had the nightmare and he'd rushed to her side. He imagined them soaking wet with her arousal, the scent filling his nostrils, her face flushed, lips parted…
He wrapped his hand around his length, flicking his thumb over the tip, pressing his head back into the pillow, lost in his fantasy of Caroline in her bed with her hand creeping under the lace concealing her pussy, her fingers sliding down her slit before rubbing her clit. He imagined how her breasts would press against the front of her camisole...blue, he decided, like her eyes...her nipples pebbled, pressing against the silk fabric.
Her blonde curls would be sticking to her face from sweat as she writhed under the ministrations of her own fingers, her chest heaving with her harsh breaths as she spread her legs to fingerfuck herself, imagining it was his cock inside her instead.
She'd pant out his name, begging him to fill her and fuck her and claim her, to mark her with his come.
The image of her materialized in his mind: spread for him on her back, tangled in her sheets, damp with sweat, too sated and comfortable from her orgasm to bother closing her legs, instead letting his come leak down her thighs.
His balls tightened as Imaginary Caroline looked at him and admitted that she wanted to be his. His mate, and he came on his palm, groaning her name.
A/N: So, how was that? Did we like Bonnie and Caroline's heart-to-hearts? How do you think the Katherine plot will play out? How do we feel about both Klaus and Caroline shipping Kennett? DID WE LIKE THE KLAND? Also, for all my theatre people, now that we know it's Little Shop of Horrors, what part do we think Kol's going to end up with? ;)
Let me know your thoughts, and catch me on tumblr at thetourguidebarbie. :)
Hugs!
-Angie