Oh my god, I am sooooo sorry I haven't updated in like half a year! I completely lost inspiration in this story, but I'm back now! Hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Caroline woke up the next morning to an empty bed. Most girls would take that as a cue to start worrying, but Caroline took it as a cue to allow a tidal wave of relief to flow freely through her body. Then again, most girls don't have to wake up to an abusive, deadbeat boyfriend every morning.

Had Tyler even come home last night? Caroline could care less. She'd rather he had his hands all over some sleazy prostitute than all over her. After all, it was shaping up to be a pretty good morning: Tyler wasn't there to harass her, it was her day off, and it was even particularly sunny out. She allowed a small smile to grace her worn down features, a feeling of content spreading all over her body. That was, until, one thought stampeded its way into her brain, demanding to be heard. She had promised to have dinner at Klaus and Camille's house tonight with Tyler. Her content was instantly replaced with discomfort, as she quickly got out of bed and rushed to the shower, vigorously trying to scrub the feeling away.

A few hours later, Caroline stood watching herself in the cracked full-length mirror on her bathroom door. The fabric of her short lace dress was a little too loose, and the white color had started to fade from pearly to a crusty shade of beige. She sighed, tightening the thin brown belt around her waist in an attempt to mold the old fabric against her skinny torso. Her blonde locks were falling around her shoulders in a wave of cheap hair dye and split ends, as she gingerly sprayed on some perfume Elena had bought her for her birthday the previous year; she being the only one who remembered.

She patted her dress down once more, trying to rid it of its inevitable wrinkles, and pulled a soft blue cardigan over her shoulders to hide her bruises. She allowed herself one last glance in the mirror before making her way out the door and to Klaus's house, her beat up gladiator sandals kicking up dust as she walked.

The exterior of Klaus's house was magnificent, to say the least. It was big enough to fit 30 trailers inside of it, but it wasn't big enough to be a mansion. The cozy looking home was even cream colored, and was accompanied by little red shudders. It was funny, she thought, that this was the exact house she had dreamed of living in one day. The exact house she had dreamed of living in with a certain, undeniably handsome Brit. Yup, Caroline Forbes was definitely out of her element here… to say the least.

She warily lifted one hand to ring the doorbell, and none other than the aforementioned, undeniably handsome Brit was standing in front of her less than a second later. He swung the door open with a swish, his dark blue eyes immediately finding her light ones.

"Did you walk here?" Klaus asked, a hint of amusement hidden under his accent, as he noticed the lack of an unfamiliar car in his driveway.

"Uh," Caroline stalled for a second, "yeah, I don't live far, and it was so nice out today." She lied easily. Thank god for the nice weather and Klaus's lack of knowledge of where she lived, or her carless-ness would have been glaringly apparent.

He just nodded at her, not quite buying it, but not pressing it further either. "Well, come on in." He said, moving out of the doorway to reveal his impeccably decorated home. "Makes sense, since his wife is an interior designer." Caroline thought bitterly to herself, but making sure to smile sweetly on the outside. So, maybe she was a bit jealous of Camille Mikaelson. As if on cue, Camille appeared seemingly out of nowhere in an expensive looking blouse and tight skirt, an apron spotted with some sort of powder laying over her very business woman like outfit. "Well, I guess if anyone were to pull off stilettos with an apron, it would be Camille." Caroline thought.

"Caroline!" Camille's voice dripped with sweetness as she hugged the other blonde. "Where's Tyler?" she asked, pulling back from the embrace.

"He had to work." Caroline feigned disappointment, when in reality she hadn't even bothered to ask Tyler. It's not like she'd even seen him today.

"Awe, that's too bad!" Camille said, disappointment evident in her voice as well. Although, her feelings were probably authentic.

Caroline nodded her head, "I brought you this." She said, handing a bottle of wine over to Camille. Working in a restaurant did have its perks from time to time.

"Thank you so much!" Camille said sweetly. God, she was really making it hard for Caroline to hate her. "Dinner's almost ready, why don't you two sit at the table while I finish up?"

"That sounds lovely." Klaus said, dropping a kiss on his wife's cheek and leading Caroline into the lavishly decorated dining room.

"Thanks." Caroline whispered as Klaus pulled her chair out for her, and he smiled that irresistible smile back at her.

"So…" Klaus trailed off.

"So…" Caroline played repeat offender, glancing down awkwardly at the perfectly waxed floors, before picking her head back up, only to be accidently interrupted by the man siting in front of her.

"How-"

"What-"

They both said at the same time. The pair allowed laughter to bubble through them at the sheer uncomfortabilityof the situation.

"Why is this so awkward?" Klaus asked, his eyes still filled with a sparkle of laughter.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because we haven't talked since high school, yet here we are sitting in your mcmansion about to eat what looks like a four course meal." The blonde replied sarcastically, glancing into the kitchen to see Camille preparing an abundance of foods.

Klaus laughed again at Caroline's remark. "I forgot how funny you are. I miss that." He said, a smile still tugging on his lips.

Caroline mirrored his grin, opening her mouth to respond, but quickly getting cut off by Camille entering the room with a perfectly roasted chicken in her hands.

"Alright, course one is ready!" Camille squealed excitedly.

Klaus and Caroline both bit back smiles.

A few hours, a bowl of rigatoni, and various vegetables and wines later, the three of them were chatting like old friends over cheesecake and coffee. Caroline couldn't remember the last time she'd had a home cooked meal, and for that, she owed Camille. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all.

"So, you guys met in high school?" Camille asked before taking a sip of her vanilla cream flavored coffee.

Caroline nodded her head, "Yup, in sophomore year, just after Klaus moved here from Britain."

"It's a shame you guys didn't keep in touch after high school." Camille said absentmindedly.

Klaus caught Caroline's eye for a moment, before quickly glancing away. "Yeah, a real shame."

Caroline sat motionless in small waiting room of the hospital. The only thing her mind could register was the cold, hard chair she was seated on and the sickly clean smell that surrounded her. She had gotten a call around dinnertime, just as she was wondering where her mother was. She had answered the phone quickly, not bothering to look at the caller ID; she'd just assumed it was her mother. But the voice on the other end was a stark contrast to that of her mother's, the voice was robotic, almost emotionless, as it relented to her that her mother had been in a car accident and she was in critical condition. She didn't hear much after that, the sounds around her becoming muffled and her vision blurring. She quickly texted Klaus and drove straight to the hospital. All she could think was how she couldn't lose her mother, especially after her father had walked out on them when Caroline was merely 3 years old. She'd literally have no family left.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by a familiar British accent and a pair of dark blue eyes. Klaus was crouched down in front of her, his hands on her shoulders, and he was saying something to her. It took her a second to realize he was asking her if she was okay. She blinked back tears and nodded her head, his worried eyes scanning her face, not believing her for a second. But, he thought it best not to call her out on it, and settled for sitting in the empty seat next to her and wrapping an arm around her stiff shoulders. Instinctively, she leaned into him, closing her eyes and doing her best to block out the outside world. She wasn't sure for how long they sat like that, but the next thing she knew, a young doctor was escorting her out of the waiting room and telling her, her mother was dead. It was as if her legs had forgotten how to work, as they crumbled beneath her like a small building in an earthquake. She could barely hear the doctor telling her he was sorry, and that he did everything he could, as an oceans worth of tears began to pour out of her once bright blue eyes. She could feel Klaus wrap his arms around her from behind. Had he been standing there the whole time? She hadn't even realized. All she knew for sure was her life would never be the same again, no matter how badly she resented change.

After that night, Caroline was sent to a group home. No one wanted to adopt a teenager, so she spent the second half of her junior year and her whole senior year in that home. She almost resented the word, there was no way in hell this place could ever be considered a home. All is was, was a place for the kids who had no one left. It was more of a prison than a home.

It was just getting dark out when Caroline made her way into the bathroom, a small bag of cocaine hidden in her back pocket. She glanced in the mirror at her worn reflection, feeling nostalgic for the girl she used to be. She used to have a mother, friends, and great grades. Now all she had was a group of lonely, orphaned girls, a few drug dealers, and F's in all her classes. The only thing she'd manage to keep around was the one thing she desperately wanted to shake. Klaus. The way he looked her all the time, like he wanted to fix her… she couldn't take it. She just wanted to be able to take care of herself for a while. Thankfully she would be getting that wish soon, since graduation was in a few days. Klaus had decided to become a lawyer, and he'd been begging Caroline to come with him to college, since she obviously wasn't getting in anywhere. Hell, she wasn't even capable of graduating high school. The blonde sighed deeply, pulling the bag out of her pocket and emptying the contents the counter. A knock on the door snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Caroline?" Klaus's voice came from outside the door, "Mrs. Martin let me in, but she said I had to be quick, so will you please let me in?" he pleaded, desperation evident in his voice. Mrs. Martin was the woman in charge of the group home, and she had been worried about Caroline for a while now, as had Klaus.

Caroline sighed, knowing he wouldn't leave her alone until she let him in. Swinging open the door, she glanced up at him. "What?"" she demanded, blocking him from entering the small bathroom.

"You weren't in school today, I was worried." He said, trying to peer around her into the bathroom.

"Yeah, well I'm not in school a lot of days." Caroline said nonchalantly.

He looked like he was about to respond when he saw the white powder spread out in neat little lines. His eyes widened, as he pushed Caroline gently out of the way.

"Caroline, are you kidding me?!" He raised his voice slightly, causing Caroline to wince internally, but she didn't let it show.

"Oh, it's not like you didn't suspect it." Caroline spat, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You need to stop this, you're throwing your life away." He yelled at her, his hand flying up in the air as he spoke.

"My life is already thrown away!" Caroline yelled back, her voice cracking at the end.

Klaus's eyes softened, and he placed his hands on Caroline's shoulders. "Caroline, it doesn't have to be. Come to Harvard with me. Please" he begged her, bending down slightly so his eyes bore into hers. Caroline just shook her head; she wasn't dragging him down with her. At least he had a shot at a great life, where as she was on a road to nowhere.

"No." She said simply. "No, I don't want to, Klaus. I don't want to!" her voice was increasing in volume.

"Caroline-" he tried to interject, but was just interrupted by the blonde in front of him.

"No, Klaus! I don't want to go to fucking Harvard with you, okay? I don't want to be with you! I don't love you!" the words slid off her tongue so easily, it was as if she was telling the truth. She didn't know when she became so good at lying, but it was basically second nature to her now.

Klaus's arms dropped from her shoulders, and he looked at her like a wounded puppy. But Caroline didn't break her façade.

"Just go." She said, pointing towards the door, and this time Klaus didn't protest.

Of course, Klaus had come back the next day to check on her, but she had already been gone. She was already en route out of New Mexico, only realizing she had made a huge mistake months after graduation. And when she had went to Harvard to find Klaus, she caught his roommate instead, who told her Klaus was dating someone else now. She had asked him not to tell Klaus she came; he did deserve some happiness after all. Although all she could feel was a tidal wave of despair as she made her way back to New Mexico, leaving a piece of her heart behind.

"Yeah, I guess we just lost touch." Caroline smiled at Camille, just as he phone began to go off.

"I'm so sorry," she glanced down at the caller ID to see it was Tyler who was calling her, "I have to take this, it's Tyler." She said, masking her fear well.

"Of course." Camille smiled at her, getting up to bring the dishes to the kitchen.

Caroline swiftly exited the room, answering her phone on the way.

Klaus glanced behind him, where Camille was cleaning up the dishes. He couldn't help himself, curiosity getting the best of him as he followed Caroline and hid behind a wall. Of course, he could only hear her side of the conversation, it's not like he had super hearing or anything, but it still worried him when he heard the fearful tone in Caroline's voice. She sounded so scared and he watched as her bright eyes darkened.

"No don't, I'm coming home now, I swear." He heard her say. When she hung up the phone, Klaus wasted no time in walking over to her.

"Are you alright? You look a frazzled." He looked worriedly at her.

Caroline nodded her head in response. "Yeah I'm fine, I just have to get going." She smiled at him. "But, thank you for having me over, I had a good time… I missed you." She added on hesitantly, carefully gauzing his reaction. Relief filled her body when he smiled back at her, pulling her in for a quick hug.

"I missed you too."

Feel free to review :) Also, if you're a Teen Wolf fan, I wrote a stydia one shot, if you want to check that out!

-xx KaterinaPetrovah