Charlotte woke her up the next morning true to her word and helped her into one of the nicer dresses in the wardrobe, they were all so hard to get on. They both had a pinch of vervaine and Caroline drank her breakfast before she went downstairs.
"You look ravishing dear Caroline, shall we?" Kol asked holding his arm out for her to take the way Klaus often had. She smiled at the memories as she took his arm, it wasn't the same as when she walked with Klaus, but it wasn't as bad as she'd expected.
"So Caroline tell me about this future you came from, what happened to us?" He asked walking her towards the center of the village so she could see the town it's self.
"I don't think you really want to know that." Caroline told him, he frowned his step faltering for a second.
"What happens that's so bad as that?" He asked returning to his regular stride, she sighed knowing he wouldn't drop it.
"You died trying to stop us from waking up Silas, which turned out to be a huge mistake on our part, he's the guy who killed me." She told him, he faltered again but it didn't take long for him regain composure.
"Then why would you do it, raise Silas?" He asked leading her to the little pond at the edge of the village that connected to the river she'd been in with Klaus.
"We were trying to save my best friend, it was stupid, we were constantly saving her ass and she never did anything to help herself. It could have gone so different if everyone had stopped fighting each other and worked together." Caroline sighed, Kol chuckled which seemed like a good sign considering she'd just told him she'd seen him die.
"Well dear now that your back here with us perhaps you can change that, pretty girl like you could change the whole world, with forever to do it in." He told her with the best charming smile he could muster after hearing about his own death.
"I'll certainly try, you're not nearly so snarky and mean as when I knew you." She laughed, he put his hand over his heart feigning hurt.
"I'm crushed, my future sister, I just met you and already you look down on me." Kol joked Caroline laughed, she could see how Jeremy could have been Kol's friend for so long.
"You're not so bad, if only Klaus could pull his head out of his ass long enough to figure out he could really be a great guy." Caroline started out laughing, but it trailed off to a mumble, why did everything always come back to him.
What if he was never her Klaus again, what if her being here changed who he was going to be, how could she live with that. He was so different from the Klaus she was in love with, she didn't even know if she liked this Klaus.
Klaus woke up a bit late and went down to find Caroline, it was past time he got his information, she would tell him everything she knew so he could put her out of his mind, but when he got to the dining room only Elijah and Charlotte were there.
"Where is Caroline?" He asked, motioning for Charlotte to come over, he was a bit peckish and she was around.
"She and Kol went for a walk around town." Elijah told him sipping from his own cup, he had never had the heart to hurt Charlotte for his own needs, his brothers did not have the same hang up.
"Why exactly?" He asked taking Charlotte's wrist, Elijah shrugged finishing his drink.
"I suppose Kol wanted to get to know our new house guest." Elijah told him, Klaus scowled at the thought of her and Kol together and bit Charlotte's wrist roughly. He drank deep then hissed spitting out the blood as his mouth burned.
"Ragh, your woman's on vervaine!" He growled grabbing Charlotte pinning her against the wall angrily, Elijah threw him back standing between him and Charlotte. Klaus got to his feet angrily glaring at Elijah.
"Where did you get vervaine Charlotte?" Elijah asked calmly turning half away from Klaus to ask Charlotte his question.
"Lady Caroline gave it to me, I didn't know it would hurt anyone, Caroline took it too. She told me it would help me make my own choices, should I not take it?" She asked looking up at Elijah with worry in her cool blue eyes.
"Caroline, why would she be taking vervaine?" Elijah asked, Klaus looked at the floor, he knew exactly why Caroline had decided she needed vervaine. He would still get what he needed to know, he was not one to back down from a challenge.
"Let her do what she wants." He growled leaving them to wonder why she needed vervaine and why he would let her keep taking it. Klaus sniffed at the air and turned to find his brother who had apparently taken Caroline down to the pond. When he found them they were sitting together and she was laughing happily.
"What are you doing brother?" He asked sounding less then pleased what he was seeing, Caroline turned around her smile fading at the sight of him. She noticed that his hair was a lot closer to the short style he kept it in when she knew him, but she forced herself to remember what he'd done, all the bad things he'd ever done.
"Just keeping her warm for you brother." Kol joked but Klaus didn't laugh so Kol got up to leave them be. "Enjoy the day Caroline." Kol told her moving to leave, Caroline stood up too putting her hand on Kol's arm.
"You don't have to go just because he saunters up Kol, or better yet go ahead and walk me back so I don't have to be alone with him." She said looking at Klaus managing to make his name sound like a curse word.
"Don't be that way sweetheart, we had a little spat, I'm over it." He told her, she shot him a seething glare.
"Ya well I'm not." She told him flashing over in his face and poking him in the chest. "You think you can just control people whenever you want, well not with me, even with a better hair cut, I won't just snap to attention whenever you want something. So grow up Klaus, I don't need to stay here and talk to you just 'cause you want me to!" She told him going over and taking Kol's arm so he could walk her back to the house.
"Well how can I acquit myself?." He chuckled, Caroline ignored him not able to look at him with this conversation going just like another she remembered and instead started walking back with Kol. Klaus growled, what did she want from him before she'd tell him what he needed to know.
Days passed without her so much as saying a kind word to him, not that days were a long time for someone to be mad at him, Fin had been cross with him for decades at a time before he'd daggered him. Caroline on the other hand didn't have his perception of time and she was pretty sure she'd go insane if the next three hundred years was like this.
She became good friends with Charlotte and the rest of the originals though, they weren't so bad when they didn't have an agenda that involved killing her or her friends. What Kol had said kept running through her head though, could she really change everything. She would certainly try, but to do that she was gonna have to deal with Klaus, the old irritating Klaus. She kept remembering how he was when she first met him, he had been evil, she shouldn't be shocked he was now, but he could be better and she'd show him that.
"Ah, Caroline, still ignoring me love?" He asked when she came down with Charlotte, Caroline smiled Charlotte had been trying to convince her to play nice anyway.
"No Klaus, I've decided it's not worth my time to be mad at you any more, I've come to terms that you just don't measure up quite yet." She told him setting her book down on the table and letting Charlotte fill a cup for her.
"Then perhaps you would care to accompany me to the festival of the moon." He asked with his best charming smile, Caroline rolled her eyes.
"I said I as done being mad not that I wanted to spend heaps of time with you." Caroline told him Charlotte sighed.
"Come now Caroline, lord Klaus is an excellent dancer and you can't go alone to the new moon festival. Elijah and I would miss you so if you stayed home." Charlotte pleaded, Caroline sighed looking back over at Klaus.
"Can you be civil for the whole night?" Caroline asked him, he gave her a self assured smirk as if he'd won some kind of battle.
"Of coarse sweetheart, I'll be a perfect gentleman." He told her, she rolled her eyes at him again and relented.
"Fine, but you have to get me a dress, because if nothing else you do have good taste." She told him, he chuckled getting up from the table.
"Then I best go find a dress stunning enough to do you justice." He told her flashing out the door, she couldn't help but laugh. She kept catching herself thinking of him as her Klaus, and she had to shake the thought away.
"I'm so glad you're coming, we celebrate the new moon with a dance every month to celebrate a night free from the terror of the wolves. There will be feasting and drink while we dance the night away. Come I will fix your hair, and then perhaps you could help me dress in something that will catch Elijah's eye." Charlotte said happily taking her hand and pulling her up to her room, she felt like she was back in school getting ready for a dance.
Klaus knocked on the door half way through the day and when she opened it he was gone leaving a cloth bundle with a note attached to it. It reminded her of the stupid box he'd left with the beautiful blue dress in it. He obviously wasn't very good at giving gifts in person.
She took the bundle and set it on the bed to open, she took the note, it had the same flowing handwriting as his other notes to her.
A dress nearly as beautiful as you love, don't forget to save me a dance.
Klaus.
She smiled, he did know how to flatter a girl.
"Wow." Charlotte whispered as she opened the package, Caroline looked down at the dress and gasped. It was the most beautiful blue and silver flowing dress with long gloves and a stunning hair piece and necklace to match.
"He always did have good taste." Caroline whispered, it took a few more hours to get them both ready, but by the time the festival was starting they both looked stunning. They went down stairs arm and arm and both Elijah, Kol, and Klaus all looked up at them and gasped.
"You look Ravishing." Klaus told her flashing into her personal space holding his arm out for her. She smirked putting her arm on his taking his hand, she caught herself closing her eyes to relish the feeling of touching him again.
"If looks could kill, I'm glad I don't have to stand next to you I'd pale in comparison." Kol joked, Elijah waited for Charlotte at the bottom of the stairs with a bit of a smile.
"You're stunning my dear." He whispered to her taking her hand, Charlotte blushed smiling brightly.
"I'm off to meet my date, you kids have fun." Kol laughed leaving them alone followed by Elijah and Charlotte.
"Remember you promised to be civil." Caroline told him as he walked her down the stairs, he chuckled.
"Yes love I remember, I am more then capable of spending an evening being kind to a beautiful woman." He told her, she couldn't help but smile at his compliments and lean into him contentedly.
"Good." She mumbled walking with him forgetting about all the bad things he'd done if just for a minute, she didn't know how he always did that to her, but she would ignore her better judgment for the night.
"May I have this dance?" He asked holding his other hand out to her, she took it happily letting him lead her out into the mass of dancers. He spun her elegantly around putting her other hand in his as they danced slowly.
She lost herself in the closeness and the music, he still smelled the same, with that musk he always had and the crisp smell of the out doors. She had always thought it was some kind of body wash that made him sell so good, but apparently it was just his natural sent.
"You look like you may actually be enjoying your self love." Klaus whispered in her ear a little closer then he strictly should have been, she smiled at the feel of his warm breath tickling her neck.
"Ya well, Some of my best memories are of dancing with you." She whispered not really wanting him to know that, but she was too relaxed to keep her walls up.
"And what would those be sweetheart?" He asked hopping to get more information out of her while he reveled in the feel of her in his arms though he'd never admit it.
"We've danced a few times, we danced the night I died." She whispered, she couldn't bring herself to look at him, because she knew he wasn't the man she'd danced with at it hurt more then she'd ever admit.
"You really loved me didn't you?" He asked in total disbelief, he had lost all pretenses of charm or manipulation. She looked up at him, he looked so much like she remembered him, and she smiled softly.
"I used to hate you for obvious reasons, but you never gave up on me, we were just starting when I died, it was pretty tragic." She told him, he frowned he kept finding himself wishing he knew what he had done to charm her in this future life. He needed his information after all.
"I'm sorry I compelled you love, I'm not fond of having my hand forced even if it is by a beautiful woman such as yourself." He told her, she shook her head letting it fall on his shoulder while she chuckled.
"I remember, I also remember that it's the only way to get you to do anything you don't want to do, because you're a stubborn ass." She told him, he laughed spinning her around to the music then catching her smoothly.
"I am at that, but you seem just as stubborn love. Going so far as to ingest vervaine to keep my information hostage." He commented, she shrugged innocently.
"Well I have to be to deal with you." She told him, and they fell into a comfortable silence while they danced.
"Hey if we're gonna keep being nice I'm gonna need a drink." She told him, he laughed jovially leading her out of the dancing area to the tables.
"Let me get that for you then love." He told her going towards the barrels of mead, Caroline looked around seeing Elijah and Charlotte going off together holding hands which made her smile, and off in the other direction Kol was flirting shamelessly with a small brunette so Caroline decided to walk over to the little pond.
"There you are love." Klaus said handing her a large cup full of mead, which she took and she drank it slowly while Klaus sat next to her.
"Thanks." She said softly leaning onto his shoulder without thinking, he wrapped his arm around her with just as little thought. They sat for a long moment before Caroline realized what she was doing.
"I can't wait till the nineteen twenties." She said trying to distract him from her pulling away from him. He looked down at her a little shocked by her sudden change in her demeanor.
"Why's that love?" He asked taking his hand back as if he too had just realized what he'd been doing. She pulled off her shoes to dangle her feet in the water with the end of her dress up around her knees.
"You told me once that women were wild in the twenties, the used to literally dance till they dropped." She told him, he thought about it for a second trying to imagine an age when women were reckless and wild like her, it sounded like fun.
"Sounds like an entertaining time." He said looking out at the water, Caroline smiled, it really did.
"I hope I'm still around for it, since you plan on killing me once you know what you need from me." She told him, he picked up a rock from next to him examining it guiltily.
"I may have exaggerated that a bit love, you forced my hand and I lost my temper, I would never hurt you, and in honesty that worries me most about you." He told her in a low whisper as if he was afraid someone might hear him.
"Well then I'll get to be around to dance until I drop and make you carry me home." She laughed, he chucked the stone out onto the water as it skipped lightly over the surface onto the other side.
"And what makes you think I would carry you any where?" He asked, she laughed looking over at him with a look of amusement.
"Right, I forgot." She said shifting to get up and about half way to her feet she slipped tossing the nearly empty cup away from her. Klaus flashed to his feet and caught her pulling her off her feet into his chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck clutching herself to him as if in panic then grinned.
"See, you're always there to catch me." She whispered in his ear her lips brushing against the sensitive skin of his ear. His eyes fell shut and he moaned before he registered what it was she had said to him.
"You are dangerous." He whispered sending a shiver through her then he dropped her like a sack of potato's onto the ground. She sat there sticking her tongue out at him like a petulant child, and he laughed, he was happier there with her in that moment then he had been since his brother had died and that scared him.
After that night he was a lot more civil, though they were still distant he didn't push her for information, he had centuries for that, no he wouldn't get anything if he pushed her away as much as it pained him, he would have to play nice.
Caroline was with Charlotte swimming while the men were out hunting apparently Caroline thought it was ridiculous, but it kept them from hurting people which was one of her rules. Klaus was the only one who really minded her rules and only because he didn't like rules in general. She'd found out that Rebekah was off on the other end of the continent.
"Klaus must really love you, he never listened to any one before according to Elijah at least." Charlotte told her swimming lazily over the surface of the water.
"I don't know about that, but he has mellowed out since I first got here, he's still not nearly so sweet as when I knew him." Caroline told them, looking around she didn't know why but something had her on edge.
"Well you can't keep comparing him to the Klaus you knew, he's trying very hard to be good for you but he's still hundreds of years short of being the Klaus you knew." She told Caroline, Caroline sighed sinking under the water to pout about how long everything took these days.
When she came back up Mikael had Charlotte with an arm around her waist and the other ready to snap her neck. Caroline stopped dead she hadn't spent much time around Mikael but she knew he was terrifying.
"Don't hurt her Mikael." Caroline pleaded, Mikael looked her over curiously for a long moment before he spoke.
"I don't know how you know me or my sons, but you will send them a message, I'm coming for them." He said snapping Charlotte's neck with ease, He moved to kill her too and Caroline ran faster then she thought she could. She ran to the house, there were living people staying there besides Charlotte and it would protect her better then anything Klaus or Elijah could do, and she didn't know where they were.