Sorry it's been so long, things got a little... complicated in my life. Last weekend I took a break and wrote a long one shot for OUAT (Graham/Emma you can find it on my author page) and then some life stuff got in the way. I hope I didn't lose too many of you because it's going to be a fun ride from here on out!

As the weeks rolled by Damon found himself constantly pestered with his brother's declarations of love towards the beautiful heiress. Having lost his own chances at the girl he was feeling bitter towards the whole situation and wanted nothing more than to shut up his lovesick brother and give the girl a taste of rejection herself.

Sitting in his office he considered how he might be able to go about this when his assistant walked into the office, in a wrinkled shirt and messy hair. "And what might be your reasoning for wearing yesterdays clothes?" he asked Tyler.

Tyler gave a sly smile and raised an eyebrow. "I found myself unable to venture home before work today. Someone was keeping me occupied."

"Occupied. A girl in every city, that should be your slogan," Damon replied. "Who is she?"

"Rebekah Jones, this hot british chick that the Mikaelsons know from childhood. Saved her from that creep Kol and we've been banging ever since," Tyler explained.

Damon shook his head at his assistant's crude language. He had met the woman at different corporate events through the years and he had to admit that she was gorgeous. "Isn't she also the one that's a neighbor of Elena and Caroline?"

"Yes, which makes her screaming even that much more entertaining, knowing that I am waking those two bitches."

Damon let out a laugh, it was pretty amusing to think of Elena being bothered by Tyler's actions. The two men kept discussing the topic until Caroline wandered into the office. "Mr. Salvatore?" she asked.

"Yes, Caroline," he answered. "We were just talking about you."

"Oh?" Caroline glanced over at Tyler and shot him a nasty look. She was not able to sleep much the night before and was not extremely pleased by the idea. "I just wanted you to look over this press release before I sent it out, Elijah isn't in so I was told to bring it to you."

She handed out the slip of paper to Damon and he took it, glancing over it. "It's fine."

"Elena would like you to know that her bedroom shares a wall with Rebekah's so she would prefer if you kept your activities a little quieter next time, Mr. Lockwood."

"Noted," Tyler told her as Caroline left the office.

"Did she say the room shared a wall?" Damon asked after the blonde was long gone. Tyler nodded. "So their windows would be next to each other as well?"

"Yes, I guess so," Tyler told him shrugging. "Why?"

Damon cracked a smile, "I think I have an idea of how to take care of this Elena and Stefan problem."

"Oh really?"

Damon laughed and explained how he thought he could break up his brother and Elena by using the fact that they shared a wall. It was just convenient, too much so not to give it a try.

"I am just saying last night you shouldn't have left us alone while the two of you sneaked off to wherever the hell you went," Klaus said to Stefan as they took a break from their work. "You were the one that forced me to go to game night, something you know that I hate."

Stefan rolled his eyes. "We went to the store around the corner for more booze, considering the amount you and Caroline consumed you should really just thank us for getting you more."

Klaus rolled his eyes, not amused. "She just spent the time bickering with me about how I was shit at Catch Phrase. When really it would be her fault she can't describe the words well…"

"Have you ever thought about why she is always picking fights with you?" Stefan asked, seeing his opening to move forward in the plan that he had hatched with Klaus's brothers.

"Because she's annoying and sees joy in my pain?"

Stefan shook his head before taking a sip of his coffee. "Really? That's the only reason you can possibly think of why she would make such an effort to bother you?"

"Basically," Klaus replied.

"Maybe Elena is right, you are just blind."

"What are you talking about?" Klaus snapped. "What does that little girl have to say about me?"

"Calm down," Stefan told him in a hushed tone. "It's just that there is one major reason an attractive young female would purposely push your buttons that has nothing to do with her enjoying your pain."

"Get to the point, Salvatore."

"Maybe she's attracted to you, have you considered that?" Stefan asked.

"What? No," Klaus countered quickly. Images started flying through his head, her at the gallery telling him about her father, then when she was in his office admiring his drawings. But most importantly he thought of the girl in the blue dress, the girl that spent the entire night with him, dancing and discussing art and music. There was more to Caroline than met the eye, he had to admit that, but did she love him? That was too hard to believe. On their second meeting she had even told him she didn't believe in love.

"Why is it so impossible to believe? You are around her all the time, she is always talking about you, complaining about you at least. Plus there was the whole masquerade ball," Stefan continued.

"How do you know about that?" Klaus asked. He hadn't told anyone about that night, there was no way that Stefan found out about it through him.

"Caroline told Elena about the man in the white suit, how he was the first man that she actually saw as an equal. About how they danced and talked about art and culture and at the end of the night he even kissed her. There was only one man I know wearing a white suit and a red mask that evening."

"She said he was her equal?" Klaus asked starting to put the pieces together. It wouldn't be that hard to believe that she was interested. She was always testing him, making sure that he was just as intelligent as she was and was able to keep up with her wit. "That doesn't mean that I want to hook up with her though. I find her as annoying as hell and would prefer you didn't leave us in the same room alone together."

Stefan took another sip of his coffee and gave his friend a knowing look. "Admit it, she's not bad looking, and you enjoy fighting with her."

"Yeah, so, she's fit. There are thousands of girls in this city that are just as good looking as she is."

"Yet you haven't slept with a single one of them. Haven't even tried since that first night."

"I'm not talking about this. Let's just get back to work."

"Are you sure you don't want to come out with us?" Elena asked Caroline a final time as she applied a coat of eyeliner.

"Definitely," Caroline answered from the couch where she was pouring over a management textbook. "The last thing I want to do on this Friday night is to attend date night with you and your boyfriend like some nasty third wheel. No thank you."

"You would rather study then go out? Who is this Caroline and what did you do with my best friend?"

Caroline sighed, "No new Caroline, just one that doesn't love being your third wheel all the time."

"Then call Bonnie, go grab a drink or something. Just don't stay in all night, you've been working hard all week. Go have some fun!"

This was a complete role reversal for the roommates. Generally it was Caroline trying to motivate Elena to go out on a Friday night, yet today she was the one that was determined to stay in. Caroline shrugged her shoulders in a expression that said, 'maybe' to Elena's request. She had a test coming up next week and with her work schedule and school this might be her best chance to get some studying done.

Elena was determined though, she had seen the weird mood that Caroline had been in since the Masquerade ball so she took it upon herself to steal Caroline's phone and send a text to Bonnie. A few minutes later Caroline heard the ping of her text tone and grabbed the phone from the couch.

"Why is Bonnie meeting me at ten for drinks?" Caroline asked. "I didn't invite her out, and I never send emoticons."

Elena gave an innocent smile and a shrug. "I guess you are just going to have to meet with her. You know how upset she gets when people cancel on her."

"Damn it, Elena," Caroline muttered, knowing that it was true. Nothing bothered Bonnie more than a flaky person, and Caroline had already had too many close calls with Bonnie's wrath to consider ditching her friend. "Next time remember to use full words and no smileys when you are texting as me."

"Noted," Elena said as she put on a jacket and headed towards the door. "Try and have some fun tonight though."

Elena left for her date and Caroline had a couple hours to burn before she would have to get ready and go to the bar. She got up and made herself a cup of coffee and continued to study, trying to get through the material that she hadn't understood in class. When she glanced up to the digital clock on the cable box she saw that she was running later than she intended and bolted out of the couch and into her bedroom.

Not able to find a suitable outfit, Caroline put on a pair of tights and a short skirt that clung to her body and a low cut blouse. It would do in a hurry as she grabbed a clutch and headed out the door to the bar that she was supposed to be at twenty minutes earlier.

When she reached the crowded bar Caroline pushed through the masses of people until she found Bonnie, sitting at a tall bar table alone, a cosmo in her hand. "You're late, Caroline," she said with a sigh as the blonde sat down to join her.

"Yeah, I know I was studying and lost track of time. I am so sorry Bonnie," Caroline apologized as she sat down her clutch. "I know it bothers you, I am sorry, though."

"It's okay Caroline, I'm not going to cut off your head or anything," Bonnie answered. "I was just worried when you hadn't shown up that I was in the wrong bar or something."

"Once again, I am sorry. So tell me about your life, I haven't heard from you in forever!" Caroline said, plastering a fake smile on. Bonnie started to talk about her job in a clothing store, how she was hoping to be promoted but also how she was looking at management jobs in other places. Caroline tried to look interested as Bonnie went on about her father's recent behavior and how she was worried for him, but Caroline kept looking over to where she had run into Kol, wondering if he was still in the bar, and if he would come and find her.

Finishing her drink she gave Bonnie the right encouragement through the conversation but Bonnie could tell that her friend was distracted. "Who is over there?" she finally asked.

Caroline sighed, "You know the Mikaelsons?" Bonnie gave a nod and Caroline continued, "The youngest one, the partyer? I ran into him at the bar."

"Is he cute?" Bonnie said with a grin.

"Yes, but he's also bad news. The worst really, the last time I saw him I was dragging his drunk ass into his hotel room because he couldn't remember where it was and passed out in the lobby," Caroline explained.

Bonnie shrugged. "I just told you how I wanted to live a little, try new things and you agreed with me. Maybe a hookup is exactly what I need."

"I agreed to that?"

Bonnie nodded. "Go bring him and whatever friends he has over here."

Caroline shook her head violently, knowing that this was not going to end well but she headed back towards the bar anyway. She moved through the crowd until she found Kol and a blonde man. "Kol!" she yelled over the music. "Kol! My friend wants to meet you!"

Klaus turned around to look at the woman that was trying to get his brothers attention and was not extremely surprised to see Caroline there. He was still a little on edge with everything that had happened between them and the news that she was in love with him, but he tried to not let it show.

Kol broke out a smile, "Oh really? Well then I am sure I would love to meet her. Lead the way, love."

Caroline started to head back to the table but was stopped by a mass of people that didn't seem to be moving. She heard a voice in her ear, "Are you sure it's a good idea for your friend to meet Kol?"

She turned into Klaus's chest and stood on her toes to reach his ear and said into it, "I know it's a bad idea! She wants to live more, so what the hell!"

Finally the crowd started to move and Caroline led the boys back to the table that Bonnie was seated at with two fresh drinks for the girls. "Some waiter just made them for us, said it was on the tab. You never use a tab, Caroline…"

"It's my tab, love," Kol told her as he took the seat next to her. "Kol Mikaelson, and you are?"

"Bonnie," she said as she allowed a smile to creep over her generally stern face.

Caroline rolled her eyes and took the drink from the table, drinking it all in one go, raising her glass to ask for another.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Klaus asked as a gin and tonic was placed in front of her. He ordered one for himself and watched as she contemplated the drink.

"Elena told me to have fun. Elena. Miss goody goody I'm so perfect Elena told me to go out and have a good time. So fuck it, I'm going to. And that means I am going to need some more to drink, and then you are going to dance with me."

"I am?" Klaus asked, curious. This was not a side of Caroline that he had ever seen before. The woman that he knew was always so strong and confident, not comparing herself to her friends and wanting to get drunk. The two drinks were placed before them and Klaus drank his quickly, seeing Caroline was already finished with hers.

She then jumped down from her seat and grabbed Klaus's hand, leading him towards the dance floor, away from the booth where his brother was getting more than comfortable with Bonnie.

Caroline felt the bass of the music in her chest and started to sway, allowing the alcohol to take over her body and keep her moving fluidly. She threw her head back and closed her eyes, feeling the music and allowing her body to move with it. She wasn't surprised to feel the cool hands of Klaus on her hips and continued to move, his hips moving against hers.

She opened her eyes to see his locked on hers, and she felt herself move forward and bring her face to his. Klaus touched his forehead to hers, his hot breath on her face before he realized what he was doing and pushed her away. If she was in love with him, then this was no way to treat her. Shaking his head he turned and headed out the side door of the club to have a much-needed smoke.

Pulling the cigarette out of the pack, Klaus sighed. He had gotten caught up in the moment, the heat of the room and the way her body had moved. She was drunk and he almost took advantage of that. He lit the cigarette and took a deep inhale.

Caroline stomped out the door and walked up to Klaus, taking the cigarette from him and throwing it on the ground, smashing it with her heels.

"What the hell was that for?" Klaus asked.

"Smoking is disgusting," Caroline told him sternly. "You don't smoke, I would have noticed that by now."

"I don't usually, only when I'm drinking or particularly stressed out," he replied as he debated whether or not to pull out another. "If smoking is so disgusting then what are you doing out here?"

"Finding you."

"Why?"

"Because we were dancing and then you just left! What was that about?" Caroline said with a large hand gesture.

Klaus had to laugh at her dramatics it was quite amusing to him. "I didn't want to do that to you."

"Do what? Dance with me?"

"I think you know what I meant, Caroline," Klaus said with a sigh.

"Isn't that what you do though? Wouldn't I just be another one of those girls drunk enough and dumb enough to fall for it?" Caroline asked, getting angry. "Am I not good enough for you? Am I not pretty enough?"

Klaus shook his head. "It's not that."

"Then tell me what it is," she told him.

Thinking about what Stefan had said to him, Klaus had been looking at Caroline in a different light than he had before. She was beautiful, he knew that the moment he first met her in the bar across from the hotel. And smart, as she proved at the disastrous double date dinner they went on. Caroline was also damaged; vulnerable in a way that made Klaus want to open up as well. She was strong, confident and sure of herself, for the first time Klaus was willing to admit that she was the kind of woman he was looking for. If he wanted to find love, that is.

"You are too good for me," he admitted. "You should set your sights on someone better."

"Don't you think that's my choice?" Caroline asked.

"It is, and I am sure you will make the right one."

Caroline let out a huff. "I don't get you," she told him as she turned around and headed back into the club. There was no way she was going to let his rejection let her down from her high. Another drink and any attractive man and she would be just fine.

Ugh the sexual tension is killing me too, but no fear my lovelies. Now Damon will continue his scheme to break up his brother and Elena and Caroline will receive some interesting 'news' in the next chapter. Reviews and comments appreciated. 'Till next time find me over on tumblr at riverssongs.