Chapter 5: Ready or Not

Thanks again to my reviewers: EtherealDemon, Booklover9477, sandiw1875, KlarolineKisses, hopeless637 and suzypyong!

Sandiw1875- You asked how Marcel knew about Caroline. I think Marcel has vampire loyal to him on every street corner so if a new vampire crossed Klaus' threshold, he'd know about it. Also, Caroline was shouting at him on the street.

Also, congratulations to Candice Accola, who just got engaged! Enjoy!

Caroline woke up bright and early the next morning. She showered, brushed her hair and dressed in a cute skirt and top. If she was going to spend the summer in a beautiful city like New Orleans, she was going to enjoy herself. She wasn't up to doing anything complicated on her first day, so she grabbed her purse and handbag. Just as she was about to go shopping, she heard her phone ring. "Hey, Matt!" she answered, happy to finally hear from one of the Mystic Falls gang.

Matt sounded as if he was in a car somewhere. "Hi, Care," he answered. "I heard you left town. How'd that happen?"

She started to reply with the story she'd made up for herself on the way to New Orleans. "Well, Steven called me and asked-"

"Care, I know about you leaving with Klaus," he interrupted.

At first, Caroline was relieved not to have to lie to her friend but then she started to freak out about if all her friends knew about the circumstances of her departure. "How did you know?"

"I told him," said a voice from the other end. It was a British, female voice. Rebekah's voice.

"You're with Rebekah?!" she cried into the phone. Why on earth would Matt be in a car with Rebekah?!

"Yeah, um, we're kind of seeing the world together," he said, obviously slightly embarrassed. Caroline heard him cover the phone and tell Rebekah to stop eavesdropping on his conversation. "Are you ok over there?"

She smiled, even though she knew he couldn't see her through the phone. "I'm ok. I was actually just about to go shopping, and then maybe see the city a bit. It's beautiful down here, Matt. I hope you see it someday."

"Well, have fun," he told her. "And you have to promise to call me if anything happens, ok?"

"OK, Matt. Bye!" She hung up the phone, grabbed her purse and headed to her entrance. An unwelcome face met her at the door.

"Good morning, sweetheart," said Klaus with an annoying grin.

She pushed passed him and started walking briskly down the street. He effortlessly kept up with her. Growing frustrated, she snapped, "Go away, Klaus!"

"I can't, Caroline," he said in a soft and gentle voice that seemed so sincere that Caroline had to turn around. "I wasn't able to sleep last night knowing that you were upset. I want to explain." Caroline shook her head and started to turn around but Klaus tenderly took her hand. "You're here now. Please let me show you the Quarter, at least."

"No," she replied, shaking her head. He looked disappointed. It melted away her icy facade. "You could come with me to go shopping, though," she finally offered.

He grinned and, not letting go of her hand, he led her out of the historic part of the city and towards the nearest mall. When they got there, he gazed around in wonder. Out of all the places he'd been in the past couple of decades, he'd never been to a shopping mall. Even when he'd gone shopping with Rebekah, she'd taken him to places like Rodeo Drive, 5th Avenue and the Champs Elysées. He'd never expected a mall to be like this. Somehow, the shops were away from the streets and yet the crowd was much louder than any crowds could be. Gazing out of every store, were vast amounts of very diverse clothing. How bizarre!

He was sparked out of his reverie by Caroline's bubbling laugh. She smiled from ear to ear at being able to show him something. For all his Parises and Romes, a mall was a completely new experience. She wondered if that was how he'd felt when he'd driven her into New Orleans. If it was, she couldn't blame him for wanting to show her around the world. What was she thinking? She didn't look at him that way; she couldn't afford to. Her face fell slightly and impatiently, she pulled him into a store where she started looking at a rack of skirts.

Klaus enjoyed browsing the aisles of clothing more than he thought he would. At least, he liked seeing Caroline try on vast amounts of clothing. He liked being able to comment on her beauty every five minutes. He liked that she liked to try on tops that were much too low and shorts that were much too short, even though she wasn't used to wearing them in day to day life. Girls were reckless and sexy, he'd told her once about the 1920s. Had he mentioned that in the French Quarter of New Orleans they'd always been?

Then again, he'd known for a while that Caroline wasn't afraid of showing a little skin, particularly when trying to distract lethal hybrids from plots that her friends concocted. He liked that Caroline was brave in that way.

Finally, Caroline had picked a dress, a skirt, some jeans and a couple of tank tops and went to the cash register. Before she had a chance to fish some cash out of her wallet, Klaus handed his credit card over to the cashier.

"You don't have to do that, Klaus," she said, looking at him disapprovingly. "I told you, you can't buy me."

"I'm not trying to." He continued to enter his PIN code into the machine. Begrudgingly, Caroline took her clothes and marched out of the store. By this time, it was well past noon and she decided that they should go to the food court to at least get a bite of some human food. This idea was not exactly thrilling to Klaus but he went along with it. She got a soda and some fries for them to split. He didn't touch them. She smiled as she put a French fry in her mouth. It was almost sexy.

He spoke up, "I wish you'd move in to the loft." The way he said it made it sound like an order, which didn't sit well with Caroline at all.

She scowled. "Why? I'm fine at the B&B on Conti and, besides, I don't get along with your roommates at all."

Klaus replied casually, "Hayley doesn't live there, you know." He could practically feel her relax just slightly. "The only other person there is Elijah and you barely know him."

"He's with Katherine," she bit back.

"He isn't." He could tell that she was avoiding the main reason why she was reluctant to move into his Bourbon Street apartment: him. Caroline, so stuck within human conventions as she was, thought moving in with somebody, even if his way-too-formal big brother was also going to be present, was a big step in a relationship. She wasn't even sure if you could say they were in a relationship.

"Why is it so important to you?" she asked. She hoped he wouldn't say something to sweet and cheesy like 'I need to be close to you'.

He shook his head and for a second she wasn't sure if he wouldn't just avoid the question. But he replied, "Marcel knows about you." His eyes turned dark and his forehead creased. "He knows you're important to me. He wants me to sign a pact and he won't hesitate to use you against me."

Caroline had enough common sense to look slightly frightened at the thought of being used against Klaus in this war that was going on between him and Marcel. Finally, she calmed down. She couldn't let Klaus think that she needed to be protected by him, that she was defenceless. "I'll take my chances."

"Are you that appalled by living in my home that you would risk your own life?" he said it in a hurt voice. She remembered he used the same tone the night he'd first saved her life. "Do you really think that low of me?" he'd said.

"I'm not scared of Marcel!" she spat.

"Well, you should be," he snapped back. "You're not strong, Caroline. You've been a vampire for barely over a year and yet you live in a city crawling with vampires who've been around for centuries without fear. This isn't Mystic Falls, Caroline!"

A few people were staring so Caroline started speaking in a hushed whisper, "I know that, ok! But I'm not involved in this weird war thing you have with Marcel."

"You became involved the minute you stepped into New Orleans with me."

She stood up and turned her back to him as she grabbed her jacket from the chair. Knowing that he could hear her, she murmured, "I regret it a little more every second I'm here."

Caroline turned around and was startled when she saw that he was only an inch away from her. He touched her arm lightly. He was hurt. What was with this guy? He could be so harsh and then he got hurt when she retaliated. "You don't mean that," he said reproachfully.

She knew she'd stepped over the line. "I'm sorry, you're right. I don't regret coming here. Let's just go." She was very careful not to look into his eyes as she walked out of the mall and down the street. She had hoped they'd just go back to an awkward silence but he wouldn't let the matter rest.

Walking briskly right next to her, he continued, "You still haven't given me a clear reason why you won't move in, sweetheart."

"I don't need a reason, Klaus."

"Why?" he insisted.

Caroline stopped walking and turned to look at him. "Just drop it!" she ordered. She was starting to get really pissed off.

"No! Why?"

"Because we're not ready for that!" she exclaimed finally. Strangely enough, she felt a lot better having said it than before when she was avoiding the subject. She started to walk again.

Of course, it was going to take more than that to get Klaus to leave the matter alone. How could he be expected when she'd said something as cryptic as that? He would probably have to spend weeks trying to decode what on earth she meant. Forget Aramaic, Caroline Forbes was a whole different language altogether. He decided to just ask, "Love, what do you mean 'we're not ready'?"

"You want us to cohabitate, as in live in the same apartment. I'm not ready to live with the most powerful being on the planet, who claims to be my friend and then flirts with me every minute," she explained.

"You said that 'we' weren't ready," he reminded her. His brows furrowed in understanding. "You don't trust me, love."

"It's not that-" she started.

He cut her off, "No, it's perfectly alright. You have every reason not to. I'll fix that someday, I promise. But you must know that I would never intentionally hurt you."

"We hurt each other, Klaus," she reasoned. "We've hurt each other over and over again. I like you and I wanted to come here partially to be your friend but we just need boundaries for the time being."

Klaus didn't know whether to be hurt or flattered. Now that he knew she considered him a friend, he felt infinitely more hopeful about their relationship. Then again, he'd just been quarantined to the "friend zone" that Americans complained about. He said simply, "I understand."

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Klaus showing Caroline all of his favourite parts of the Quarter, particularly those that held memories for him of the time long ago where he'd worked with his brother to build and strengthen the city. The sun was setting and he'd decided to bring Caroline to one of the best restaurant of the area. That's when they ran into Marcel.

He was just wandering casually down Bourbon St when he saw them across the street. His face broke out into a huge grin and he waved before making a beeline for them. Klaus smiled back, though incredibly sardonically. He felt an urge to wrap his arm around Caroline and pull her closer to him but the logical portion of his brain told this would probably make her more uncomfortable than anything else.

"Hello, there, friend," greeted Marcel with that Southern twang of his. Klaus half-heartedly shook his open hand. "Will you introduce me to this lovely lady?"

Caroline, who didn't really see any point in letting Klaus introduce her, said, "I'm Caroline."

Marcel kissed her hand and looked straight into her eyes before saying simply, "Marcel." He turned back to Klaus. "Have thought anymore about our agreement?"

Klaus didn't flinch. "No, I can't say I have, mate."

Something in Marcel's eyes flickered for a moment. "You have until tomorrow to get back to me." To Caroline, he said, "I hope you enjoy you enjoy your stay in New Orleans, Caroline, however long it lasts." He continued down the street and into a coffee shop.

Klaus pulled Caroline into the restaurant and within seconds, due to Klaus' remarkable number of connections, they were seated. Caroline started the conversation, "Why don't you just rip Marcel's heart out?"

Klaus shrugged. "There are multitudes of reason. I want to win back New Orleans fair and square, love. I don't want to stage a coup and have the city rain with blood."

Caroline scoffed. "It's strange that it's for the thing you want most in the world, New Orleans, that you'll start using diplomacy." Klaus almost pointed that it wasn't the thing he wanted the most in the world. Almost, but not quite.

After Klaus dropped Caroline off, made sure all the doors were locked and compelled the landlady to phone him if Caroline had a problem, he went home. Elijah was waiting up for him.

"I trust you had a pleasant day with Miss Forbes, brother," he greeted him.

"Quite pleasant." Klaus grabbed the whisky off the shelf and poured each of them a glass. "Elijah, have you looked over the terms of Marcel's little supernatural rulebook yet?" He handed his brother a glass.

Elijah looked surprised. "You tore it up, remember?"

"I'm afraid we might have to cooperate with him just this one time." He patted Elijah on the back. "Don't worry. The witches will soon figure out how to divide the Quarter's loyalties and then Marcel and his precious treaty can rot in hell." He started walking down the hall.

"Don't throw everything away over this girl, Klaus," Elijah called after him.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I really liked writing all the interaction between Klaus and Caroline so hopefully it turned out alright. Please follow, favourite.

I'd love it if you could tell what you think in a REVIEW. 3 Thanks!

-Brianne