Prompt: Caroline is turned human for a day and Klaus gets super paranoid to almost comical levels that she's gonna die by just walking down the street. Hilarity ensues.

He hears a slight scuffle from the lounge room when he steps into the house, and it's enough to set him on edge. The house was magically warded against intruders, but there had been some who had been a little more creative than others, and he'd had to pay an enormous sum of money to some witches to come and upgrade them recently.

"Caroline?" He calls, sliding his hand into his jacket and wrapping it around the wooden stake he always carries with him.

He's basically immune to being killed these days, but you never can be too careful.

"In here Klaus. Kol and I are just hanging out." Caroline calls out in reply, and he lets go of the wooden stake and instead heads towards the stairs. He's covered in blood and although Caroline is sort of used to it, she still doesn't necessarily like it.

It's not until he's in the shower a few moments later that he realises what was strange about the whole situation. He cocks his head to the side, listening out as he washes the blood from his body.

And there it was, his worst fears confirmed.

Because while he could hear the sound of Kol breathing in and out very so often, that wasn't what had him worried.

It was the sound of Caroline's very human heart beat.

"What the hell did you do?" He strides angrily into the living room as Kol scrambles to his feet, backing away from him with his hands held out in a placating gesture.

"Well that took longer for him to realise than exp-" His hand wrapping around Kol's throat and slamming him into the wooden panelling shuts him up well enough, even as Caroline lets out an exasperated sigh from behind him.

"Klaus, please stop strangling your brother and let him explain what happened."

He releases Kol immediately, striding over to her and taking her face between his hands.

"Are you alright sweetheart?"

Caroline rolls her eyes.

"I'm human Klaus, not dead. Besides, the witches said that it would only be temporary anyway."

Kol takes a seat on the opposite lounge, even as Caroline pulls him down next to her. He wraps an arm around her protectively, unsure as to how to go about dealing with the current situation.

For the first time in a thousand years, he was well and truly floored by this.

"Why were you hanging around witches exactly?" He asks in a dangerous tone, turning a steely gaze upon his younger brother, who at least had the good sense to look slightly guilty about the whole thing.

"We weren't hanging around with witches." Kol quips, fingers forming air quotes as he speaks. "Caroline had expressed some interest in meeting Davina, so I took her along with me to her house. As it turns out, Caroline managed to knock over some powder and boom, here she is as a human."

"It's not temporary Klaus." Caroline interjects softly. I'll be fine in a day, and then I'll be a vampire again. I promise."

"Davina had better be right about this otherwise…" He trails off threateningly as Kol rolls his eyes.

"Yes I get it, you'll kill Davina slowly and painfully and you'll whack me back in a coffin for another century or so. You really do need to get more creative with your threats brother." Kol gets up slowly, as if he's worried that any sudden movements might attract his wrath.

Caroline stands as well, letting out a hiss as she inspects her finger, which is even now welling up with a bead of blood.

Kol's wide eyed gaze mirrors his own as they both turn to look at Caroline, who sucks her finger into her mouth to stem the dripping blood.

"What are you both looking at me like that for? It's just a bit of blood, it's not going to kill me."

Kol goes blurring out of the room, yelling over his shoulder as he goes.

"I'll get the first aid kit!"

"Maybe you should just stay inside this afternoon sweetheart." He remarks worriedly as Caroline gets ready to do her weekly grocery shop.

He and his siblings might not need as much food to survive on any more, but Caroline still insists they have a family dinner on Sunday nights, and she likes baking treats periodically throughout the week for his Hybrids.

If he'd known that all it would take is a few batches of banana bread and brownie fudge slice to win their loyalty, he would have become a fucking patissier centuries ago.

Every single one of his Hybrids would die for Caroline if needed. That type of loyalty couldn't be brought about by violence and bloodshed.

All it does is confirm that he made a right choice when it came to his partner.

"Klaus, it's fine. Kol is going with me, and we're just popping down to the store and back. No side distractions, no alternate routes. I promise."

"At least take some of the hybrids with you." He pleads with her, even as she crosses her arms over her chest stubbornly. He recognises that look.

"One."

"Four." He replies immediately, not willing to settle.

Caroline just sighs, massaging her temples.

"Fine then, how about two."

He leans forward, pressing a careful kiss to her forehead.

"Deal."

Of course, it takes all of ten minutes after Caroline and Kol had walked out the door with two hybrids in tow (neither of which seem particularly fazed that they were essentially being asked to do his grocery shopping), for him to start worrying.

What if she fell over and hurt herself?

What if Kol was being idiotic and let her get hit by a car?

All of the possible scenarios began to rapidly pile up, and it only took a few more seconds for him to grab his jacket and blur out the front door.

He manages to pick apart her scent from the hundreds of others who crowd Bourbon Street. The advantages of his wolf side of course.

His gaze zeroes in on her and Kol, the two Hybrids trailing them by a few feet. Kol is allowing her to walk on the footpath on the side closest to the road the idiot. Did he have no sense of decorum at all? A gentlemen always allowed the lady to walk on the inside, just in case they were hit by a carriage or a car or whatever the hell passed for transport these days.

He trails them almost absentmindedly for a couple of blocks, but he's so inundated by greetings and well wishes from some of his more enthusiastic subjects that his progress is slow growing. He's tempted to rip out a few hearts, just to keep things interesting, but as Caroline tells him, he is better than that.

The last thing he wants is to disappoint her.

He shakes off the hangers on soon enough, but of course, predictably, Kol turns and spots him, and lets out a loud bark of laughter. Even with human reflexes, it's easy enough for Caroline to follow the line of Kol's gaze, and her ensuing glare is one that he does not want to be on the receiving end of again.

She's glorious in her anger as she looks both ways before storming across the road, and soon enough she's standing in front of him, all 5′6 inches of bristling, self righteous fury.

"Were you following me?" She hisses, still low enough for his enhanced hearing to pick up.

He doesn't deign to give her an answer, and is instead amused when she stamps her foot against the pavement, wincing a little at the jolt it sends through her bones.

"Klaus I'm not made of porcelain, it's fine okay?"

He grips her gently around the wrist, pulling her towards him, wrapping her in his arms.

"I would do anything to keep you safe. You know that don't you sweetheart?"

She can feel the moment that she melts against him, and she's burying her head into his chest and letting out a breath.

"I love you." She tells him simply, and if he had a heart it would be skipping a beat right now, because he never gets tired of hearing those words fall from Caroline's lips.

They pause for a moment, and then Caroline is reaching down to take his hand in hers. He's still getting used to the public displays of affection, but he's willing to swallow his pride for hers.

"Come on then. If you're going to come, you get to carry the shopping basket. I'm not sure I can carry the weight at the moment." She says with a wicked smile.

And as always, he can't help but follow her lead.