Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Diaries.

Lessons of Love, Chapter 25

"Love at first sight is easy enough to understand; It's when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle." Sam Levenson

Caroline

No one ever chose me. And I mean no one… until he came along. Yeah, his choosing me started off badly, I mean the guy was going to kill me in his stupid sacrifice for crying out loud. Seriously, way to make a first impression, buddy.

Then he saved me from Tyler's bite. At the time, I had no idea why he did it. At the time, he was the bad guy we all hated, the man we wanted dead and he wanted us dead and the world was just hunky dory. But things kept changing, he kept choosing me and I kept asking myself why because no one ever chose me. I'm Caroline Forbes and for as long as I can remember, I've come in second. Second with my dad, second in school, second with the guys I liked, second to my best friend. The list goes on. Can anyone really blame me for not having the highest opinion of myself?

He says it's because I'm 'beautiful, strong, and full of light' but he's wrong about me. I'm shallow and conceited, selfish and insecure, neurotic and weak. He's worldly, strong, and courageous. He is all these things that I can only ever dream of being. I'll admit it took me a long time to be able to admit that, but it's true. Once you get past all his violent and destructive tendencies, you can see that he's just a man that's begging for a chance to be accepted.

I just don't understand why he chose me to give him that acceptance when I have a hard time accepting myself.

But I guess that's why I love Niklaus Mikaelson. I like the Caroline that he sees and being with him makes me feel closer to her than I do when I'm with anyone else.

Klaus

I can dispose of lives as if they were a deck of cards. Like all card games, each card, or in this case life, has a certain value and you must play wisely in order to win. I've always prided myself in the way I play the hand that's been dealt to me.

She started out as just a face that I could put a name to. Beecause of her naivety, she was an easy target when I needed a vampire for the sacrifice. Then, she became someone that I could use as leverage against the Salvatores, against the Lockwood mutt, against anyone I pleased because she was important to the doppelganger and the entire little town of Mystic Falls bends over backwards to keep Elena Gilbert content.

That night I saved her was a blur and to this day, I struggle to understand exactly why I chose to grant her salvation.

Stefan had already pushed me over the edge, what with killing my hybrids and his attempt on the doppelganger's life, so it would have been all too easy to let her die. Maybe that's why I did it. Stefan, in a very odd way, did me a favor by sparing the doppelganger and in turn, I saved Caroline. An eye for an eye, as it were. But I've never been that merciful, not in a long time at least.

Guilt has crossed my mind. I've always been very deliberate in my actions, very calculating and, yes, cruel. Asking that pathetic excuse for a mutt to bite her despite his claims of love should be explanation enough for cruelty. Calculating would be using her to get back at Stefan for being rather unwise and making me angry. Deliberate would be, at least I thought it would be, when I told the blasted boy he didn't have to bite her and I would go about my business some other way (See A/N). With a Sire Bond, things are simple; undying loyalty with explicit clarity between yes and no. I guess I must not have been explicit enough but I like I said, that day passed by in a blur of frustration.

As she fell asleep in my arms after taking my blood, I felt the need to protect her from all of eternity's harms and be with her as she discovered all of it's wonders. I had always known her to be extremely light despite being a creature of terrible darkness and I wanted to curse myself for even attempting to put that light out.

Because after living in complete, suffocating darkness for over a thousand years and acting as if you have no care in the world it was nice to find a purpose once more.

No matter what the reason was, no matter what happens in the future, I am glad I saved Caroline Forbes.

A/N: Okay, I have no idea if this is true or not...but I rewatched the scene where Klaus asks Tyler to bite Caroline and while the words, 'No, nevermind, don't bite her' never came out of Klaus' mouth, he did say he would 'find another way to strike at Stefan'. My understanding of a Sire Bond makes me believe that those words would have been enough to let Tyler know he was off the hook and wouldn't have to follow through on the action. But then again, Klaus talked about Tyler's freewill in a very sarcastic way so I don't know...I'm probably just blowing things out of proportion but I have a problem with the idea that Klaus had Tyler do it with the ulterior motive to swoop in and play the hero. I respect it, I just don't think it's very realistic.

Anyways, just some food for thought, lol. I just felt the need to explain the way I characterized Klaus' thought process.

And last but definitely not least... THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all of you who have reviewed, subscribed, favorited, followed, alerted, and read this fic. I had no idea it what kind of response I would get when I first started this, it being my first lengthy work and all, but thanks to all of the support I have receieved, it turned out a-oh kay if I don't say so myself;) really, you guys, I can't thank you enough for sticking with this to the end!

Credit for the chapter title goes to 'I Can Barely Say' by The Fray.

Thanks again, guys:) I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!