Author's note:

So school's about to start and since I'm going into my last year of high school I have a lot of college stuff to get done. It's stressful and I need a lot of time for it. BUT that doesn't mean I'm going to stop with my fanfics. NEVA! I will be updating every Thursday! I also have another Human AU fanfic coming up so stay in tune for that! But I'm gonna be needing a lot of encouragement so reviews are always welcome!

Chapter 8, Harder than expected:

Rebekah let a few tears drop. She couldn't believe it! Not one bit! There he was, standing before her. Whole and healthy again. He had no signs of fatigue or desiccation. She couldn't get rid of the thought of him dead. It was branded in her subconscious: the look of him dying, the veins stretching out covering him completely, the flame that arose from his chest, burning his heart. She couldn't have done anything, yet she felt like it was her fault letting her big brother die. Now here he was, standing tall and proud like he always did.

Without thinking she ran the few meters that separated them and flung herself at her brother. She used to do that when they were children. They would play hide and seek, and he would always win, finding her in the queerest of places. Wrapping her legs around him as well as her arms she squeezed the living daylights out of him. He grunted before pushing her away roughly, landing her on her back. She looked up with the same smile and bright eyes as she had had before. She was too happy to notice the boiling rage that radiated from Klaus.

"Nik." She repeated, "I thought you were gone! Elijah and I-"
Her words were cut off from her as his hand wrapped around her throat.
"What have you done?" He whispered, with a crazed look in his eyes. He couldn't get passed the fact that she had played a part in turning Elena to a vampire. "What have you done." He repeated with more intensity. The throat clenching experience couldn't kill Rebekah, but it hurt both physically and emotionally. This wasn't the reunion anyone had thought of.

Caroline gasped as she heard Rebekah choke for breath.
"Stop it Klaus!" she cried out. Around her everyone stopped to watch timidly. "Klaus! Stop!"
A tear fell from Rebekah's cheeks, landing on Klaus's hands at her throat. As if a warning signal, it calmed him down. His face contorted with guilt.
"Bekah." He said before letting her fall to the ground, gasping for air.

"You three."
everyone looked to where the voice came from. An officer with the same blue uniform that haunted Caroline's memory made his way through the crowd to the center of attention.
"What the hell is going on? I have half a mind to report you!"
The man had a round belly and was chewing gum loudly. Caroline gulped, waiting for the vervain injection to come out any minute.

What if Elena lied? What if Damon hadn't compelled the town to forget about Alaric's warning, that the town was filled with vampires and werewolves alike? What if the Salvatores and Elena wanted them dead? It would have made their lives much easier. But Elena? Could it be possible that she had finally realized what horrible friends bonnie and Caroline were to her?
Caroline had a thousand thoughts envelope her head. Her breathing heaved, her heart rate jumped. She gave a scared glance at Klaus who had an expression on his face that made her think he had the same thoughts she did. Everyone waited for the officer to continue. After a few minutes (Caroline wouldn't be surprised if they were hours) he spoke with a gruff voice.

"You're under arrest." If a pin dropped it would echo. "For child abuse."
"Child abuse?" Klaus retorted with an incredulous expression, "what makes you think she is a child?" he cocked his head towards Rebekah who had finally stood up. She was laughing. Caroline gaped.

She was… laughing?!

"Kind sir, I'm not a child. Believe me I'm ancient." She said comically. It sent Klaus into a laughing fit. The officer stared with his mouth shaped like an O. he had no idea what was happening. And to be honest, neither did Caroline. Only half a minute ago Klaus had his hands wrapped around Rebekah's throat. She was choking to death and now she's laughing? Was this how they acted like around each other? She found that odd, but she didn't care. She felt herself relax; the officer had no clue he was dealing with vampires and a hybrid. Elena would never lie to me, Caroline scolded herself. She couldn't believe she thought of that ridiculous possibility.

Klaus chuckled softly as he walked towards the officer. With a serious gaze, he started to compel him.
"You saw nothing." Caroline heard. "You are going to walk away and tell the others off."
In a split of a second, the man turned on his heels and addressed the crowd, laughing.
"Alright, show's over! Nothing to see here!"
He shooed the crowd away, even thought everyone was dumbfounded at the lack of authority he had. Caroline sighed. Thank god.

Klaus turned back to Rebekah cruelly.
"You little brat." He said. Rebekah took a stand, her hands at her hips. "You just bought yourself a one way ticket to dagger-ville."
Caroline jumped in front of him, placing a hand on his chest. "Please stop." She pleaded, and with a whisper she added, "This wasn't how you were supposed to act." He didn't say anything all he did notice was her hand touching him. Caroline's cheeks heated as she too stared at her hand. His chest felt warm and strong. She felt the strongest urge to run her hands along his torso, feeling the rest of his muscles tense at her touch. In her peripheral vision she could see Tyler and Bonnie stare at what happened. They've been standing there the whole time.

Oh snap, Caroline thought as she took her hand away, still staring at Klaus's chest. She was too afraid to lift up her gaze, afraid of being stuck there staring into his eyes. It always happened. She would look at him and feel stuck, as if she couldn't move. All she could do was stare at him, and him at her. She heard and felt him sigh, his breath caressing her face. He smelled like cherries. How was that possible? She looked up with a curious gaze, instantly regretting it. His eyes, they were staring into her very soul.

Klaus wouldn't mind staring at her all day; she looked beautiful even after a long road trip. He wanted to take a strand of her hair and wrap it around his fingers, feeling the smooth texture of it, then let it fall to curl at her neck, the way he loved it. But he couldn't. He looked up at his sister, breaking the gaze. He heard Caroline gasp, as if she was holding her breath all along. He didn't know what to think of it; all he knew was that his sister needed punishing. He started to walk towards Rebekah slowly.

Caroline looked around with a fierce expression, wondering what the hell went through her mind. Did he compel her to feel like this? So he could get his way with Rebekah? She looked at his retreating figure. No he probably didn't.

"Come sister, you have a lot of explaining to do." he said with a fake smile, grabbing Rebekah's upper arm. He gave the dumbstruck Caroline one more look before leading his sister away. Caroline stared after them.

"Why so angry?" bonnie said, at her side.
"I am not!" Caroline answered back, she couldn't help but stomp her foot.
Bonnie looked like she was holding back a laugh, "Okayyy…"
Caroline smiled. She looked at the ice cream in Bonnie's hands.
"What? I'm simply celebrating." Bonnie said with an air of finality.
Caroline giggled, "I have no problem with that."
"You have a problem with everything."
Caroline mock gasped before punching her friend on the upper arm.
"Ouch! Caroline! Watch your supernatural fists."
The two girls laughed as they walked away, with Tyler treading behind them. The vision of his Hybrid enemy and girlfriend stuck in his head.

"And what was with the blonde? It was none of her business how you treated me." Rebekah asked, completely ignoring Klaus's question.

"Rebekah…" he warned.

"Ugh, alright then! I didn't know she had vampire blood in her system. If I did I would have probably waited until she didn't, then have my way with her." she muttered the last few words, looking away from her brother. She didn't want to meet his angry gaze.
Klaus was pacing the living room, with every step he grew angrier.

"You do realize she is worthless to me now?" he said, gritting his teeth.
"Nik, she was worthless from the start. You don't need her. You had me and Elijah and still do!" she added.

His gaze softened.
"I only did what I did because I thought you were gone. If I had the slightest idea that you were still alive, I wouldn't have killed her." she said softly. She took his hand in hers, tears beginning to show again.
"I didn't want to run anymore, Nik. I had to kill her. Alaric's dead. Isn't that what you wanted?"
Klaus stared at her. She was right.

"Now can we please just be a family again? This time, put our efforts into it?"
Klaus looked at her cruelly for a while before letting his face relax. He felt exhausted at the moment. He really couldn't pull up the energy to continue being angry. Caroline was right, He should stop being angry all the time.

And just like that, he began to think about Caroline. What an extraordinary creature.

Caroline opened the door to her house and let all the luggage fall to the floor. What. A. day.

"Hey there."
"Argh!"
Caroline turned to find Bonnie.
"What the hell bonnie? Trying to kill me?"
"We both know that's not possible." She answered smiling smugly.
Caroline rolled her eyes. "I need to rest."
"I know, I know. But we kind of have one more thing to worry about."
Caroline raised a brow.
"Elena? Seriously Caroline?"
"I thought you hated her."
Bonnie looked down, "I didn't say I hated her… exactly."
Caroline placed her hands on her hips forcing Bonnie to look at her guiltily.
"Okay fine! I might have hinted at it. But uhm… I think maybe we should call her. Or visit her."

Caroline nodded. "Maybe." She repeated.

Elena flipped a page, she was writing in her journal. It was something that seemed foreign to her nowadays. Ever since her brother, Jeremy, read it she found it omen-like. But today she felt like she had to write. Someone knocked on the front door, waking her from her reverie. Ever since she became a vampire her senses heightened. She heard them outside. She knew who came to visit. She didn't know if she was supposed to feel relieved that they finally decided to give her a chance or scared at what they have to say. Stefan appeared at her door, looking at her sympathetically. Ever since she chose him, Damon was quiet and kept to himself. She felt like she lost him. He wasn't mean or anything he was just… quiet. Something he wasn't well known for. At that moment Elena didn't want to lose anyone else. If Caroline and Bonnie had only come to scold her, or even worse, tell her they were through, she didn't know what she'd do.

Her emotions were torturing her. It took every ounce of will not to turn it off.

Elena stood up and walked past Stefan with a determined look. She'll make them hear her out. She'll do the best she could to bring her friends back to her side.

The minute she reached the last step of the stairway, she was attacked by someone. She noticed the blonde curls and hugged Caroline immediately.

"I missed you so much!" Caroline said into her friend's hair.
"Me too, Care. I'm so sorry about Tyler and what we tried to do."

Caroline pulled away from her, "Hey don't worry about that. It's just Damon." She said with a laugh.
Elena smiled, but that didn't stay on her face very long. Looking over Caroline's shoulder she saw Bonnie. The witch had no expression on her face that would give Elena the slightest clue on what she felt. It unnerved her.

"Bonnie…"

Bonnie raised her hand. There were tears in her eyes. She held the same expression she had when she found out Caroline was a vampire, but it was much more down toned.

"Don't worry about it, Elena. I just came along to make sure you're okay. I'm sorry. I'm just not ready to accept everything."

Elena nodded respecting her friend's choice. She understood completely.

Stefan sighed, "If you'll excuse me, I can hear Damon complaining. Caroline, Bonnie I'm glad you guys came." He gave a nod at both girls with a wide, welcoming smile, before ascending the flight of stairs. Caroline could hear Damon. It won't be long before he comes down to 'greet' them. Caroline winced; it wasn't going to go well. After all, she had a part in freeing Klaus and letting him roam Mystic Falls freely.

She focused back on Elena and bonnie who stared at each other, one pleadingly and one void of emotion. Caroline grinned hoping that would break the ice.

"So!" she said a little too loudly, "Welcome to vampville! I'm surprised there are any humans left in this town!" she laughed but then grew quiet under the looks of both her friends. "Tough crowd…" she muttered.

Bonnie looked back at Elena, "here." She said holding out something for her to take. Caroline looked closely to find a ring. It was decorated with the same blue stone like any other daylight ring. Elena took it from her slowly, "Thank you." She said her voice full of gratitude. Bonnie, however, didn't say anything. It wasn't like she was doing it out of choice. It became some sort of chore for her. Clean the house, feed the fish, and make more daylight rings in case someone turns into a vampire. Caroline thought for a moment, maybe it was chore-like.

"How awesome is it?!" Caroline tried again to make the atmosphere cheery, "We are seniors!"

"Caroline, we missed the first week of school." Bonnie replied, "We don't know how awesome it is."
Caroline laughed nervously, "right, but we will tomorrow!"
Everyone nodded noncommittally.

Caroline rolled her eyes, "Okay, you know what? I'm gonna leave you two alone to talk. There are obviously a hundred things you want to say to each other. See you guys tomorrow at school!"
She was about to get up when a hand at her throat pushed her into the couch firmly. She gasped for air, looking up she met a pair of piercing grey eyes… Damon. The weight of him on her crushed her. She couldn't push him off, too surprised to respond. Suddenly his weight disappeared. So abruptly that Caroline found the gasp of air painful. Coughing she looked up to see Elena throwing Damon across the room. She saved her. Wow…

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Elena asked Damon, who lay on the floor staring at the new strong doppelganger in admiration.

He got up quickly remembering his task. "That blonde bitch is a traitor, Elena. Surely your new self is much smarter now."
That didn't faze Elena. Stefan was by her side in a second. Damon rolled his eyes at the two before turning to the blonde at hand.

"You two." He said pointing two fingers at Caroline and Bonnie accusingly. "Do you have any idea what you have just done?"

The girls took a stand and looked him in the eye.
"There was nothing else we could do." Bonnie said.
"It's not like you had a better idea." Caroline retorted, staring angrily at Damon.

"Actually, I had a brilliant plan. Of course you were there to ruin it. Klaus being in Tyler's body was a chance to kill him, Blonde-y. You missed it with that thick mind of yours. He was right there. You could have killed him. It was a weak moment, you two were idiots." He spat out.

"We would never have allowed you to kill Tyler!"
"See that's where you're wrong. I don't need your permission. I would have killed him."

"That's enough!" Stefan shouted out, stepping in between the lot of them, "We can just let it go. I'll talk to Klaus and make sure he doesn't bother us any longer. This isn't helping anyone accomplish anything. Do you understand?" he asked his older brother in particular. Damon stared daggers into Stefan's eyes before grabbing a drink and heading back up to where he was before.

Everyone relaxed considerably.

"We should also probably go." Caroline said with a small voice, already she was feeling exhausted about the visit. Bonnie nodded, still not saying anything.
Elena hugged them both, and then closed the door behind her friends.

Turning to Stefan, she let the tears go. He felt heart ache for her as he took her into his arms.

"They will never forgive me, will they?" Elena cried into his chest.
"Caroline and Bonnie will come around." He reassured her.
"Yeah but" she sniffed, "What about Damon?"
He pulled away from her to look into her eyes, "I don't know" he whispered.

Caroline woke up feeling light. She had a good feeling about today. She would go to school, talk to her friends again, re-position herself as class president and continue with life the way it was. It was going to be all right. She was all dressed, thinking about stopping by the Journalism club to join in when her mom appeared at her door.

"Looking beautiful as always." She said proudly to her daughter.
Caroline giggled twirling in her blue cotton dress that went right above her knee. To make it all perfect she added light brown boots. She looked and felt good.

With a quick hug from her mom, she grabbed her bag and ran down the stairs, out the door and into the world. Ready for school and all its normality.

The school was filled with animation, and Caroline loved it. Everyone was up and about, talking, laughing, teasing. Everyone was trying to make use of the time before the bell rings. She noticed Elena and Bonnie sitting far apart from each other, both quiet and still. Matt and Stefan stood by Elena while Tyler stood by Bonnie. Well this was awkward.

She rolled her eyes and sighed, ugh those two, she thought.

"Oh my god it's him."
"He is so cute."
"Rebekah is so lucky to have them as her brothers."
"Ew what is wrong with you, that's incest."
"The dirty blonde guy is extra sexy."
"I like the Kol guy more."

Caroline turned at the name. She found about a dozen girls, giggling and staring at a vehicle that drove into the parking lot. It was a long, sleek silver car that screamed wealth. Caroline moaned.

"Oh god. I forgot." She mumbled as she watched Rebekah and Kol walk out the car, looking like supermodels. Inside the car she found Klaus wearing a pair of sunglasses.

The girls by the car started fanning themselves. Stupid girls.
Heightened senses allowed Caroline to see right through the shaded glassed Klaus wore that hid his expression. He had an annoyed look, rolling his eyes. Caroline laughed causing Klaus to notice her. Her laugh was quiet but every sound she made was music to his ears. It drew him to her. They stared at each other for a while before she smiled at him, cocking her head towards the many girls that stared at him. He chuckled with a smirk. They held the gaze for a while before Rebekah bumped into her, making Caroline drop her bag, spilling its contents everywhere.

"Oh Caroline! I'm so sorry!" she said apologetically. The two blondes bent down to pick at the mess when the original leaned into Caroline, whispering a warning, "Don't you dare think I don't know what you're up to. If you think you can trick my love sick brother into his own death, think again, love."

Caroline gaped, clearly not understanding.
Rebekah simply gave Caroline her belongings, stood up and giggled innocently before walking away. Kol followed his sister, but stopped to give Caroline a wink.

"Wow. This is going to be harder than I had expected." Caroline said to herself, before walking into the school building.

Hope you enjoyed! Reviews are welcome as always! I'm actually more devoted to the other project I'm working on. It will be up soon.

Tumblr: lostinmyvampireworld ;)