Chapter 13: Invaded

Sending virtual hugs to the reviewers: jvsalzar, SingLikeThere'sNobodyListening, KolsGal88, MyloveforKlaroline, jessnicole, Klaroline-teenwolf, klarolinefictionlover, firstgreenisgold, EtherealDemon

When Caroline opened her lids the next morning, she smiled upon seeing the sun of the bright summer day. She stretched luxuriously, finally settling her arms along the sides of her naked thighs. Then she realised that she was alone in bed. She jumped up and surveyed the room, concluding that she was in fact alone. Quickly, she pulled on some clothes and padded out of Klaus' bedroom.

She found Klaus in his studio, sitting in a chair and sketching. He looked up at her as she approached. "Good morning, love," he said. "How did you sleep?'

Caroline was in no mood to play games. "I don't recall doing much sleeping," she said bluntly, throwing in a coy smile. Klaus seemed slightly abashed, but not nearly as much as when she threw her arms around his chair and tried to get a better look at his sketchpad. Klaus, afraid to do anything which might upset his girlfriend (is that what she was now?), eventually shifted so that Caroline could see his drawings. She gasped. They were all of her: there she was, laughing and crying and smiling up at him. He'd made her seem radiant, like a goddess. Caroline flung her arms around his neck and kissed him.

They sat there, making out until Caroline breathed, "I want you to paint us."

Klaus contemplated her for a couple of moments, pondering what she was asking of him. He was touched somehow, but, as a rule, he never inserted himself into his art, ever. He shook his head.

Annoyed, Caroline tried to get out of his lap but Klaus had his arms around her waist and there was no way he was letting go. Instead, Caroline looked him straight in the eye and said, "Please, Klaus! This is one of the happiest moments of my life and I want to capture it."

How could he refuse her when she asked him like that? "Fine," he relented. She grinned. "Just let me take a shower first." Unwillingly, Caroline detached herself from Klaus' grip and he walked into the en suite bathroom.

When he returned twenty minutes later, Caroline was gone.

Caroline checked over her shoulder one more time as she left the French Quarter of New Orleans. She had stuck to the edge of the river because it was probably to easiest way to not get lost among the throngs of natives and tourists alike. She'd been walking quickly for the past quarter of an hour, not wanting to attract attention by using vampire speed. Still, she was scared that she would be discovered by one of Marcel's men or that Klaus himself would come after him. Both of these outcomes would probably lead to spilt blood. Finally she arrived at a small cafe in the Garden District. Her gaze flew directly to the dark-haired man in a booth by the windows. Caroline sat across from him, saying, "Do you remember last summer when we kept coming to the Grill and Matt would make Jeremy wait on us because he thought we were dating?" She smiled at him but a small part of her knew that it was wrong to be meeting her ex in secret like this.

"Of course I do," Tyler laughed. Then his gaze became intense, his eyes glistening like they did went he turned into a wolf. "You didn't have any problem avoiding the fact that I was in love with you. And now you're avoiding everything I know you want to ask me."

"Fine," Caroline said as she straightened and asked, "What are you doing here, Ty?"

"I'm here because I want to be with you," Tyler explained. His voice was steady, as if he'd been rehearsing this for days. "I made a mistake in breaking up with you. I was upset and I didn't think."

Caroline shook her head, trying to ignore the opposing thoughts floating around in her head. "You shouldn't have come here," she reasoned. "It's not safe for werewolves, especially hybrids."

"That doesn't matter. I can't leave knowing that I hurt you," he cried. Caroline shushed him quickly and he continued. "I love you, Caroline."

Caroline took a drink of water and sighed. She knew she had to come clean to Tyler but the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. "Tyler," she murmured, "It's over. You've got to leave." Quickly, she got up and turned to go.

"Why?" Tyler shouted after her. "What changed?"

Caroline took a deep breath and turned back. "I'll always love you. But I don't think I'm in love with you anymore. I'm sorry but I've moved on." She left ignoring Tyler's protests. She could feel tears spilling from her eyes as she ended her relationship with her first love.

If you were to say that Caroline's disappearance had terrified Klaus, it would have been an underestimation. He rifled desperately through all of his drawers, his clothes flying everywhere. Finally, he found the white oak stake between piles of shirts. He sighed in relief: Caroline had manipulated and betrayed him. But then his thoughts flew to fear for Caroline. Where was she? Why hadn't he heard anything when she'd left? He'd decided to go look for her in the French Quarter when he ran into Elijah.

Taking in the room which Klaus had torn asunder, Elijah asked, "What happened, Niklaus?"

Klaus looked up into his brother's face. Elijah could, just for a moment, see desperation in his eyes, the kind which appears when you're feeling particularly helpless. Then Klaus blinked and suddenly his gaze was expressionless, as if forced to pull himself together under his scrutiny. "Nothing," he grunted. He held up the stake. "I just thought I'd misplaced this."

Elijah could tell that there was more Klaus wasn't sharing with him, probably of some kind of personal nature which Klaus deemed weakening in a way. "Brother-" Elijah began, but he was interrupted by the creak of the front door. Caroline walked in as if she were a teenager sneaking in late after a kegger. He raised an eyebrow, his mind finally touching on what had made Klaus act in such a way. He excused himself and left Klaus and Caroline alone.

Caroline automatically smiled, trying to pretend that she hadn't snuck out at all. But in front of Klaus' impassive face, she was speechless.

"I can smell him on you," he murmured almost threateningly. He could feel Caroline stop breathing and her heart slowing down its pace.

"Klaus, it's not like that," Caroline protested.

"Then what is it like?!" Klaus shouted.

She could see the hurt in his eyes and it pained her. This was the way Tyler had acted just a couple of days ago. How could two men she cared about so much hate each other enough to react this way just at the other's name? In another life, they would have been best friends. She tried reaching for Klaus but he turned away. "Let me explain," she said. She took Klaus' silence as an 'ok' to go ahead. "Tyler texted me this morning while you were in the shower. It was the first time we communicated since we broke up. He said he was in New Orleans and that we needed to talk. I freaked out and left because I knew it wasn't safe for him here and I wanted to do everything I could to get him out of town. We met outside the French Quarter in the Garden District. He apologised for the other night and I told him that we were over and to leave New Orleans ASAP. Then I came straight back."

Slowly, Klaus made eye contact with her. He seemed slightly smug and, more importantly, she thought she might have regained his trust. He said, "Is that all that happened?"

"Yes," she said emphatically. She straightened and switched to a more serious tone. "I want to try and make this relationship work and for that we've got to be able to trust each other, ok?"

"Do you really mean that?" He paused only long enough to allow her to nod slowly. "And we're dating now?" he asked, his dimples finally appearing.

"Only if you want to," Caroline answered quickly. Some boys didn't like the idea of going steady. They were fine with the sex and could even live with the monogamy, but let's just say romance is a rare thing in a teenage boy. She'd been lucky so far: Matt was the embodiment of chivalry and Tyler was very fond of the grand romantic gesture. And, while Klaus was much more than some of the drunken idiots at Mystic Falls High, she had trouble imagining him watching rom-coms and cooking her dinner. Then again, she could see him taking her out to a romantic restaurant and then jetting off to Paris or Rome...

Caroline snapped out of her daydream as Klaus replied,"Of course I want to, love."

She thought, for a moment that he was about to kiss her but instead he dropped his eyes, taken aback by his own passion. She couldn't believe KLAUS was abashed. It was to cute to pass up. Caroline leaned in and kissed him. He placed his hands on her waist, pressing her down onto the couch. His mouth moved away from her lips as he trailed kissed along her collarbone and onto her shoulder. Her fingers immersed themselves in his beautiful blond hair and she let out a small gasp.

They remained entangled in each other for another ten minutes before Klaus finally pulled away. "I want to take you out tonight for dinner," he announced. "There's a wonderful little bistro on the other bank."

After that make-out session, Caroline might have agreed to anything less than murder. "OK," she said, trying (and failing) to not sound too hasty. "Just let me get ready."

"Take all the time you need, sweetheart," Klaus encouraged sincerely.

It turns out that he regretted his words as it took her half an hour to change into her drop-waist '20s -inspired dress and heels, then do her hair so that it was pinned at the nape of her neck and finally apply hints of makeup. Don't get him wrong, she looked gorgeous and he told her so several times but did they have to get to the restaurant at 9 in the evening?

To make it worse, her phone rang right when he'd pulled out the chair for her to sit in. "I'm sorry," she whispered, "I have to get this. I'll be right back."

Klaus watched her as she headed to the corridor next to the restrooms. At first he assumed it was her mother or maybe one of her friends but then he saw that scared creased shadow her face. It looked as if she was a step away from crying. Something had gone very wrong.

The second Caroline returned to the table, Klaus began to pepper her with questions. All of which she ignored. "I've got to go, Klaus. I'm so, so sorry. I'll make it up to you, I promise." She kissed his cheek and then disappeared from the restaurant. All Klaus wanted to do was go outside and comfort her but by he time he left, she was already gone.

It would be an understatement to say the Caroline Forbes did a double take when she saw Tyler's name appear on her phone's screen. She muttered a "Seriously!?" under her breath. Was it necessary for Tyler to call during her first date with Klaus? She thought about ignoring him but decided that she needed to know if he'd gotten home safely and excused herself.

"Tyler?" she said into the phone as she picked up the call.

There was a chuckle on the other end. "Sorry to disappoint you, darlin'," Marcel laughed.

Caroline's heart dropped. "Why do you have Tyler's phone?"

"Let's just say that your friend had a run in with a few of my daylight walkers..." Caroline gasped, pressing a hand to her mouth in shock and creasing her eyebrows in worry. Marcel must have heard her because he continued, "Don't worry, he's safe. He bit one of my friends and the only reason he's alive right now is because I need a vial of Klaus' blood. That's where you come in."

Caroline could feel her self-control begin to slip away as her body went into panic mode. A mix of sweat and tears slipped down her cheeks. "Wait where you are," she said to Marcel. "I'll be there soon." As soon as she'd hung up the phone, she rushed back to her table, grabbing her handbag and saying, "I've got to go, Klaus. I'm so, so sorry. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

She didn't wait for a reply before she rushed out into the streets, running as fast as she could in pumps without attracting human attention. Her mind was racing. She was still trying to process that Tyler was Marcel's hostage. Anger flooded through her at Marcel, but also at Tyler for being stupid enough to come to New Orleans. Above all, her guilt weighed her down. It was for her that Tyler had sought New Orleans and it was because of her that Klaus was now involved in this whole mess. Boy, could she choose men! The river ran along side her, marking how slow her progression towards Marcel's building. Finally she arrived in front of the 19th century townhouse. She'd barely closed the front gates when Marcel appeared before her.

"Do you have my cure?" he demanded.

Caroline had to admit she was slightly spooked to be in Marcel's territory. However, she soon realized she was in hardly any danger at all. Marcel may talk a big game but Caroline was his only chance to get the cure. She hid her fear with a coy smile and replied, "Hello to you, too. You know, you and Klaus are two peas in a pod. Both as unchivalrous as each other." Slyly, she slipped her arms out of her jacket, making herself comfortable in one of the courtyard seats.

"I apologize. Hello, Caroline, how are you?" he obliged before his face turned serious once again. "Where is that blood I need?"

She bit her lip intentionally hard before saying, "I don't actually have it." She knew she had about two seconds flat before Marcel flew into a rage. "I'm here to make a deal with you."

Instead of flying off the handle, Marcel burst into laughter. "I'm listening."

Unfortunately for Caroline, she hadn't really thought past this point. "What do you want?"

"I told you, I need the Original Hybrid's blood."

He sounded like a broken record. "I can't get you that," she said.

"Again, you underestimate yourself."

She realized that Marcel probably didn't have any idea who Tyler was and his relationship to Klaus. She explained, "Klaus will never help Tyler. He's a traitor to him."

Caroline watched as Marcel took in this morsel of information. He seemed slightly perturbed at first but he didn't miss a beat. "Fine. If you can't get Klaus' blood, bring his corpse instead. His life for Tyler's."

Her mouth hung wide open. "No!" she exclaimed, without even hesitating. However much she'd wanted him dead before, she was now horrified at the idea of outliving him, much less actually murdering him in cold blood, just for the sake of Tyler.

"Well, then I suppose I'll just have to kill your friend," Marcel said. "You have two hours." Before Caroline could ask him to please reconsider one last time, Marcel was gone.

After her meeting with Marcel, Caroline had tried everything possible to try and avoid having to ask Klaus to help Tyler. Klaus had proved countless times that his feud with Tyler was more important than whatever approval she could bestow on him and she was afraid that even bringing it up might prove an insurmountable hiccup in their relationship. So she'd called everyone she could think of who may be in possession of a small portion of Klaus' blood: Stefan, Damon, Matt (who could talk to Rebekah for her), even her mom. Defeated, she returned home only to find Klaus sitting on the couch, drinking blood and staring at the door.

"Klaus," she began apprehensively, "I have to ask you a favor..."

Will Klaus come through? Find out next week...

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Brianne