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Lessons of Love, Chapter 23: Klaus to Caroline, Part 11

"The first duty of love is to listen." Paul Tillich

He tapped her on the shoulder, "Excuse me, do you know where I can find Caroline Forbes?" he asked, masking his British accent. She turned around, blonde curls swinging lightly, her face was bright with a smile stretched across her cheeks, but the look in her eyes told him everything was fake.

It evaporated the moment she saw him, her face now matching the emotions in her eyes.

40 Minutes Earlier

"Are you going to practice?" Caroline asked Reagan as she walked back in their room, fresh from her phone call with Elena.

Reagan turned in her desk chair to look at her roommate, "What time is it, again?" she asked. Reagan could tell that Caroline had been crying…again. Ever since her birthday and whatever had happened between her, Tyler, and Nik, Caroline had been miserable. It was so bad that she tried to transfer closer to home but her mother had talked her out of it. Reagan was worried about her, Caroline was normally so bubbly and happy and fun and she didn't seem like the kind of girl to get this upset over a breakup but, apparently, looks were deceiving.

"In like twenty minutes."

Reagan sighed. "I really want to, but I have my Business Calc and my Bio finals tomorrow and I'm sort of freaking out so I don't think so. I thought you weren't going? You're done with exams…I thought your mom was coming to get you."

"Change of plans," Caroline huffed as she sat on their futon, crossing her arms over her chest and pulling her legs underneath her. "Apparently something came up at work yesterday and she can't get away until late tomorrow so I'm stuck here until then."

Reagan frowned, "I'm so sorry, Care. If I wasn't going in the opposite direction, I'd bring you home tomorrow after my exams are done."

Caroline smiled slightly, "It's not your fault. I'm just so ready to be home."

"You know what? I still have a third of that fifth left from the other weekend. We'll order pizza and finish that off tonight, sound good?" Reagan said and, thankfully Caroline smiled as she nodded in agreement.

"Okay, I should get going so you can study," Caroline said. "No trouble while I'm gone, missy."

Reagan rolled her eyes and laughed. "Yes, mom. I'll be good, I promise," she said, sticking out her tongue at Caroline as the other girl grabbed her cheer bag off the pile of stuff she had packed to take home and walked out the door. Reagan sighed and returned to the textbook that was in front of her, eating a protein bar as she read through her notes and did practice problems. It was so quiet in their room that the knock on the door made her jump before looking towards the door in confusion; she wasn't expecting anyone and she was pretty sure all of Caroline's other friends still thought she had left.

"Hang on a sec!" she called, moving her books out of her lap. Despite being a cheerleader, Reagan was probably the clutziest person on the planet and couldn't help nearly falling on her face as she tripped over her feet on the way to the door, banging her elbow in the process, "Ouch! Sorry about that, I'm not the most graceful person in the entire world," she said with a smile, swinging the door open.

It took her about 2.5 seconds to recognize who was standing on the other side. After all how could she forget the face that her roommate had gushed about for half the semester? 'And for good reason,' she thought to herself as she took in the man's appearance. He was even more gorgeous in person than Caroline's prom pictures let on.

"Is Caroline there?" he asked, his accented voice interrupting Reagan's thoughts.

She snapped out of her unabashed gawk that was brought about by his good looks and the increasing awkwardness of the situation. "Oh shit," she said, clicking her teeth together. "Um, she actually just, um, left. Like twenty…thirtyish minutes ago but not like went home left. We had a, um, optional practice…shouldn't last too long since like everyone is leaving for break. Okay… I need to stop talking…do you wanna come in and wait?" Reagan asked, motioning over her shoulder as she bit her lip and pushed her hair out of her face nervously. Caroline hadn't been lying when she said it was hard concentrate under the scrutiny of his intense blue gaze.

"No. I'll just be leaving then."

"Look, I don't know you from Adam but you what the hell do you think you're doing? Do you have any idea how miserable Caroline's been or did you even care while you were off in Europe doing whatever it is you do?" Reagan snapped with narrowed eyes. "She's better off without both of you and Tyler. The emotional distress you both caused her isn't healthy. So you need to back the fuck off because you obviously don't care very much."

It was Klaus' turn to narrow his eyes and it took every ounce of his being, the being that Caroline had helped resurrect, to not snap this girl's neck or compel her to stop talking about things that weren't her damned business or something else. He swallowed the growl that was building in his throat, the annoyance settling on his face as he regarded the girl with a cold look.

"But sometimes, for whatever reason," Reagan said with a huff, crossing her arms over her chest, "the things that we're better off without turn out to be good for us in the end. She still loves you, Nik. She's been so absolutely miserable that it's unhealthy. And the sad part was that neither you or Tyler cared. Tyler kept bothering her about everything, talking about how you're so easy to provoke or something. And you traveled around the world, obviously not caring about what you left behind here. You have a decision to make because Caroline's too good of a girl to be stuck between two dicks like you and Tyler. So, Nik Mikaelson, do you care about her or not?"

"Hi…," Caroline breathed as Klaus heard her heart rate quicken, indicating her nerves.

"Would you mind speaking with me? It won't take long," he deadpanned. Caroline nodded and followed him as Klaus turned on his heel and strode away. He finally turned around to look at Caroline, she watched him in much the same way he was watching her.

Neither of them spoke as they continued to study each other. Caroline looked so breathtakingly upset that Klaus heard her infuriating roommate's words run through his head and felt ashamed that he was, once again, the cause of her anguish. He gulped, squeezing his eyes shut for a second.

"I'm sorry," they said at the same time.

"I should have told you and I'm sorry that I screwed everything up," Caroline said quickly, jumping the gun on him. "You were right. I knew all about your trust issues and I only made the problem worse. You didn't have to come here to tell me you hate me…I get it, everything can go back to normal. We can go back to hating each other like old times and…but, Klaus," she said and Klaus inwardly cringed when she used that unfamiliar name. "Just know that I didn't do it to upset you. I didn't want you to worry or be mad…I did it because I love you and I understand that you don't want anything to do with me anymore. You're angry and that's fine…I can't hold it against you and you definitely don't deserve someone like me…someone who doesn't care about you enough to tell you everything when I demanded you needed to be up front and honest with me. I'm so shallow and I'm sorry," she finished, her whisper barely audible as she wrung her hands.

Klaus just looked at her as if he hadn't heard anything she had said. Outside, his face was an impenetrable mask but inside, his emotions were raging. She thought he hated her, that she didn't deserve him? He squeezed his eyes shut, wondering what deity he had pissed off this time to land both of them in this situation.

"You're pissed. Fine, but if you're going to kill me could you just get on with it?" she asked, her whisper still barely audible.

"Stop talking," he snapped out of frustration instead of anger, pinching the bridge of his nose as he began to pace. "You have nothing to apologize for. You were right; you've done more than you're part to see past my…tendencies…and I let one little slip up of yours set me off. It's not right of me to do that after everything you've done for me. How you accuse yourself of not caring is the damndest thing I've ever heard. Especially after you admit your feelings to me and I still ran away. Whenever a situation gets out of my control, I'm a coward, you know that, Caroline," he said. Klaus was rambling now and he hated it. He ran a hand through his hair, forcing himself to stand still, turned slightly away from her, as he realized that he'd faced death better prepared than this.

"You just have to understand that it isn't easy for me to just accept that someone like you… loves…," he said the foreign word hesitantly, letting it roll around in his mouth before enunciating it, "a man like me. I'm the one that doesn't deserve it…you deserve more love than I could ever be capable of giving you but for some ungodly reason you keep giving me this chance and I don't know what to do with it," he growled, speaking with his hands as if they would conjure the right words in his brain. Cut the crap, Mikaelson, he warned himself.

"I'm probably the worst thing to happen to you, Caroline Forbes, but I can't help how I feel and it scares me that I can't hide it like I can and do everything else… I love you," Klaus said, turning slightly to watch her reaction.

The next thing he knew, Caroline was in his arms, burying her face in his chest. Klaus had no idea how long they stood there in the chilled December air when he finally pulled back in order to look into Caroline's face. He cupped her cheeks in his hands, "I love you," he reiterated, whether for himself or for her, he wasn't sure and it didn't matter because she kissed him, it was innocent at first but the passion built up and slowly leaked in.

"Let's continue this at home, hhmm?" he said, pulling away suddenly, only to rest his forehead against hers. She pouted but agreed nonetheless.

As soon as they were back in Mystic Falls, Klaus pulled her out of the car and whisked them up to his bedroom. Neither of them knew where half their clothes had disappeared to in the seven seconds it had taken to get from the driveway to the bed but Caroline quickly realized she didn't care as she leaned back down to kiss him from where she was straddling his waist, the feeling of his hands wandering over her body occupied her mind.

She had missed him as he had missed her and neither were too keen on losing the other ever again, no matter the cost.

A/N: Aaahhhhh feelingsss! :) Yay, Klaus! I've really enjoyed writing him and watching the character grow throughout the chapters...Caroline, too but, obviously, Klaus has made mucho, mucho progress...not that I would ever want him to turn good all of a sudden and I hope that he has seemed in character...I feel like he's a little OOC this chapter but I think it's understandable given the situation.

on a sadder note...and then there was one left :( I'll be out of town for the next week so I won't have the next chapter up for a few days but I've always known how I wanted it to end so I've been writing little bits as I go along so I really just need to edit it, so I guess that's the good news!

Chapter title courtesy of 'Come Home' by OneRepublic ft. Sara Bareilles.

Well, thanks for reading! I hope you guys liked it, let me know in a review if you have a second:)