Chapter Twelve: find us drinking by the mausoleum door

"What are you doing out here?" Nik questions and Caroline rolls her eyes as she kneels beside him, frowning at the shard of glass sticking out from his thigh.

"Have a little fender-bender? " She smiles. "Looks like it hurts."

"You didn't answer my question, love."

"Hm. Didn't answer mine either."

Nik laughs quietly. She still has the nerve to be snippy after all this. Wonderful. "I knew you weren't dead."

She tilts her head and bites her lip. "What if I was? What would you do?"

Nik doesn't say anything. The truth is that he would probably go insane. Even if zombies out in the middle of the forest didn't surround him, he'd probably blow his brains out without any regrets. Rebekah was stronger without him. She didn't need him holding her back. He doesn't even know where she is, and honestly, he doesn't really want to know.

"You were foolish for doing what you did," he tells Caroline and she nods. Foolish is at foolish does.

"I guess I was being a bit impulsive, but I saved your life. That's all that matters, isn't it?" she reasons.

Nik's mouth forms into a straight line. "What was that explosion? You didn't have anything on you." He can testify to that. Oh how he can.

Caroline skies her eyes and fiddles with the bat. How does she put this? "I was running and I dove into a tunnel. So I stayed there, but then they found me. So I guess I sort of just gave up a little. There was no point in running any longer, right? But then there was car and I thought it was you, but it wasn't. They opened the door and told me to get in the person in the passenger seat through something out the window at the horde. And then we were backing up…and the tunnel exploded."

"Who were they?"

Caroline swallows. "Friends of friends. They took me back to where they're staying and my friends were there. I thought they were dead."

"But they aren't."

She shakes her head.

"Then go back." Why would she ever come back for them? Those are essentially the only people she has left and she came back for him? What is wrong with her?

"I knocked my best friend unconscious for you," she says rather proudly. "If you think that I'm just going to turn around and go back, then you have another thing coming, buddy."

Nik shakes his head and tries to stand up straight and winces. Caroline moves under his shoulder for extra support. If she was him, she doesn't think she would've made it all the way to this spot with a big ass glass shard sticking out of her leg.

"When we get back to the car, I'll need to put a tourniquet on that," Caroline says. "I'm pretty sure it's too far to the left to be on your femoral, but I can't be one-hundred percent. If you want to take that risk, then I could remove it. But only if you want to."

"How do you know all this?"

She purses her lips. He's probably going to laugh, but it's the truth. "Grey's Anatomy…"

He gives her an odd look, not sure what the hell that is. Grey's anatomy…doesn't sound too good.

"It's a TV show," she says matter-of-factly. "Really cheesy, but it's…used to be one of my addictions. That and Gossip Girl."

"What?" Okay, now she's just getting weird.

"Chair is my OTP for life."

Nik is silent for a moment. "Are you okay?"

She nods happily. "I'm not the one who could be fatally wounded, you know?"

"I'm not the one proclaiming to the high heavens about a chair and an OTP? What did your friends do to you?"

Caroline smirks. "Actually, I think the question should be what did I do to them."

Rebekah wakes up and she actually feels awake. Like, alive. Not dead or dying. She feels…rejuvenated. Well, not really, but definitely rested. Her body aches a little, but she's so warm and cozy. She could just sink down into this bed with these blankets and pillows for all eternity. She starts to close her eyes again as she turns over to her side and nearly yelps when she sees the man sitting across the room.

"Elijah!"

He looks exactly as she remembers him. He left when she was still just a girl. Went to study the law abroad and he only came back for holidays. But eventually they even stopped because there was really nothing to celebrate. The last time she saw him was a year ago when he helped put a down payment on her and Kol's home in Mystic Falls.

"Quiet down, Rebekah. We wouldn't want to alert any unwanted visitors."

She blinks away a few stray tears. "I thought something must've happened to you, Eli. I should've gone to Atlanta than go north."

He shakes his head and moves to sit beside her. He brushes back the hair from her forehead and offers her a small smile. He's not the one that smiles, but just this once he figures he can.

"Where's Nik?" she finally asks.

Elijah doesn't respond. He could say that he's in the next room, sleeping or something. It would be that easy to lie to her. It would be that easy for her not to worry about the fate of their troubled brother, but it's not easy. It's never been easy and it won't ever be easy. The worst part is that he didn't even know he was there.

"Eli?" she presses. "Where is he?" She can hear herself start to get hysterical and god she doesn't want that. She doesn't want to hear the desperation that has taken so kindly a home to her throat. Not after all this. Not after she just got him back. First her father, then her mother, then Kol, and now Nik. No, no, no!

"When I found you, you were in the forest on your face covered in blood," he explains softly. "I had no idea Niklaus was with you, Rebekah. I would've looked, but you were in such bad shape."

"What are you saying?" Her voice feels sore; raw with emotion. Just say that you found him. Please? Just say it!

"Rebekah, there was a truck and it burst into flames."

She starts to shake her head. No, no, no. No! Why does this keep happening? Why does she let this happen? If it weren't for her being so easily taken, then maybe Kol would still be here. "He's gone, Elijah. They're all gone! And there was nothing I could do to stop it!"

Elijah bends over her and wraps her head in his arms, gently patting down the shortened blonde hair. He wants to ask about Kol, but he figures that his youngest brother must've succumbed to those monsters. It was a miracle that he came across Rebekah. Who knew she had so much fight in her?

"I'll never let them hurt you," he tells her. "I promise."

There's a bottle of whiskey in the trunk of the SUV and Nik smiles despite the pain in his leg. Alcohol, a man's best friend.

"I'm assuming this is for special occasions," Caroline deduces, but then shrugs. "I'd say this is a special occasion, though, right?"

"I certainly see cause for celebration." He really doesn't, but hey. It's alcohol. Nothing says fuck this, fuck that, fuck everything more than Jack Daniels.

"Found it," Caroline's muffled voice sounds from under things in the trunk.

She backs up and holds a big red box high above her head like its freaking Simba and she's Rafiki. She places it on the floor of the trunk and pops open the top, revealing a whole bunch of medical supplies that she has no need for. Syringes? Ew. Get them away. Inhaler?

"Are you asthmatic?" she questions.

"I smoke," he answers expressionless.

She rolls her eyes. "Sit down, smartass."

Caroline says to herself that she's a professional. She says to herself that she went to medical school and she has a doctorate and she can cure diseases and is actually a brain surgeon in disguise. She knows what she's doing.

She touches the shard just slightly and he winces.

"Don't be such a baby," she scolds as she slips her hands into a pair of latex gloves.

"Would you like me to stick a piece in your leg and see how you like it, love?"

She rolls her eyes yet again. "Maybe you should bite down on something so, you know…"

"Oh, great. What would you suggest?" he mocks. As if it would really matter either way. He's not gonna—"What the fuck?"

Caroline lets the glass go and shoots him a look. "That's why I said you should bite down on something, asshole." She unbuckles her belt and slips it out of the loops and folds it a few times. She holds it up to his mouth and he turns away.

"I'm not putting that in my—"

But too late. She stuffs the belt into his mouth, cutting off his defiance. "Eat pleather, bitch."

It's not a pretty sound. It's a muffled groan mixed with screaming and then there's this disgusting gurgling sound as she tries to wiggle the glass free. Her hands are steady and she's trying to close her ears to Nik, but he keeps breaking through. I'm a doctor. Caroline Forbes M.D.

She can barely stomach the sight of blood, especially when there is so much and her patient just will not sit still for the life of him.

"You keep squirming around and you're only going to make it worse," Caroline Forbes M.D. advises.

He stops for one quick moment and looks her in the eyes. He says something with that belt in his mouth, but she only smirks. Well, it's now or never.

"For it's one," she breathes. "Two" Breathe. "Three strikes." Deep breath. "You're out. At the old ball game."

She drops the shard to the ground where it shatters to little microscopic pieces. Immediately she reaches for the gauze and applies pressure so hard she's a little skeptical that it might be too hard, but then again, it's never too hard. She tries to ignore Nik and everything he's doing, which amuses her because for him to act like such a hardass all the time, this one thing is the breaking point. Not zombies or his dead brother or his missing sister. No. It's a piece of glass being removed from his leg.

She looks up at him and his gaze is focused on hers, tight and full of tension. The belt still hangs from his mouth and she offers him a kind smile.

"Sorry," she says, "but look." She takes the gauze off the torn fabric and skin that isn't bleeding any longer. "Clean and sew it up and you'll be ready to go, little Nikki. What a good little boy you were."

She takes the belt away from him and he looks oh, so bitter. "It would've been better to be dead."

She glares and cocks her head back. "Stop being such a baby. Don't you, like, shank each other in jail or something?"

Nik stares at Caroline confused.

She swallows as she looks at the bottle of iodine and water. On second thought, maybe she shouldn't have taken away the belt. And then there's the matter of actually flushing it clean and she can't exactly do that with a layer of clothing covering it, so…

"I'm going to be blunt," she sighs, shifting her weight to one leg. "I'm going to need you to take your pants off."

He just looks at her. "Sorry, darling, but I'm particularly in the mood."

"You know, just because your father didn't love you, doesn't give you a right to be such a dick to people who actually care."

"Piss off. Don't act like you know me from the sliver of my life I've given you. You don't have the right."

"But don't I?" she says passively as she takes out a pair of medical scissors. Well, this kit just has everything it seems. She cuts furiously into the denim of his jeans and he tells her to back off, but she doesn't stop. "You think I don't have a right? I know what it feels like to not be loved, you narcissistic twat."

Well, she's picked up a term or two from Rebekah in high school.

"You don't know anything, Caroline. You're just a small town girl with your stupid small town hopes and dreams that mean absolutely nothing now. Where have you been? What have you gone through? Nothing."

She can't tell whether he's generally upset or he's just lashing out because at some point this was going to happen. In dire situations where you nearly commit suicide, you're going to get angry. Angry at yourself and whoever else is there. Even if you don't know what the hell you're talking about.

"I've never really been anywhere," she confesses solemnly, "but that's besides the point. You think I can't empathize with you, but I can. You think I don't know what it feels like to not be wanted, but I do. My father left me and my mother and he never called to check up on me. He went on to live his life without me and you know what? I got over it. I got over it because there were other people who loved me. I didn't have siblings like you did. I didn't have more family to turn to when I needed it. I didn't have a blood support system like you. I had two friends. Two."

Two who I may have lost forever just to save your selfish ass.

She gulps and puts down the scissors. She opens up the two bottles and pours the water on it first and then the iodine and then the water again. Nik doesn't even flinch.

"Sometimes I got really mad because of what he did to our family," she continues, "but other times I'm grateful for him leaving. I don't think I'd ever been so close to my mom in my life. She worked a lot because it was just her, but when we did have time together it was…it was wonderful. It was like it'd been just us forever."

And now she was gone and she misses her so much.

Nik is quiet as Caroline sews up the wound. He winces a few times, sucks his teeth quietly and grips onto the edge of the trunk to stop himself from pushing her away. Even though she's being gentle—painstakingly gentle (these fingers of hers)—he can't get over that little needle constantly digging into his skin and pulling a fishing line through it. Over and over again. When she stops she takes her gloves off and throws them down onto the pavement and leans against the truck. Nik picks up the bottle of Jack Daniels and holds in front of her eyes.

"Drown your sorrows?" he offers.

She shakes her head. "I don't thi—" Wait. She has the perfect place in mind. "All right, but we're going on a little trip first."

Nik is not amused.

See, there's probably at least ten less creepy places she could've taken them to, but no. Miss Caroline Forbes decides that a cemetery is right up their alley. It's dark, it's giving him the heebie-jeebies, and it smells. Really bad. Like moth balls mixed with a spoiled egg.

"Why are we here?" he finally asks her, and he's at least five paces behind her limping like a fool.

"You've never wanted to camp out in a cemetery before?" Caroline spins around and asks.

It seems like the most odd thing to her. Her and Bonnie and Elena used to do it all the time. Bonnie had this insane idea that she was born from a witch bloodline or some weird shit like that, so she always said that cemeteries were basically her "calling." Who would want to talk to spirits "beyond the grave" was beyond Caroline, but she liked cheesy B-movies so whatever.

"Can't say it ever came up," he says slowly.

She keeps twirling around on her toes, the bottle of Jack Daniels in her hands swooshing all around. Swoosh, swish, swoosh.

"Well," she replies, "there's a first time for everything, sweetheart."

Nik is not amused.

She pushes the door open to a mausoleum and it's so musty and eerie that she instantly feels this rush of adrenaline flow through her veins. It's gray and there are cobwebs and there's a skeleton lying in a tomb in the middle of the room yet the moonlight coming through the barred windows on the opposite side make it seem so…ethereal.

She takes off her jacket and wipes the top of the tomb off and perches herself on the edge, swinging her legs back and forth. Nik stands by the door and watches her bob her head to some imaginary tune she's cooked up. Weirdo.

"Let's play Never Have I Ever," she says as she gets down to sit in between the door. She opens the bottle and takes a sniff and sneers.

"Not a bourbon girl?" he asks and takes the bottle from her, taking bag a large swig.

"I like beer. And rum. But mostly beer." She shrugs. "You go first."

Nik tilts his head back on the wall and thinks it over. He's never really played drinking games before, but it's the end of the world. Might as well do things you never did. It's not like there's going to be another chance.

"Never have I ever slept with someone older than me," he says. It's stupid, but it's the first thing that comes to mind.

Caroline rolls her eyes. Awkward. "Pass it over, mister."

Nik's eyebrows rise in curiosity. "Who?" he questions as she takes the bottle and puts it to her lips.

She takes a small gulp and says, "Not important. Okay, uh…never have I ever been to a beach."

He reaches out for the bottle. "Really? Never?"

She shakes her head. "I always had a swimsuit, but I never got to use it."

And how lovely that swimsuit must look.

"Never have I ever been to a cinema," Nik says.

"Neither have I," Caroline admits regretfully. Sucks because she really wanted to see Titanic 3D. "Not many movie theaters around Mystic Falls. Never have I ever kissed someone in the rain."

"No," Nik says abruptly. "We are not going down that route."

Caroline smiles mischievously. "Someone doesn't want to admit that they've kissed someone in the rain…"

"Yes, Caroline," he says sarcastically. "That is exactly why I'm no playing this stupid game any longer."

"Fine. Then we'll just drink. Drink to die, drink to live."

They go back and forth until the bottle is half-empty. Or half-full. Caroline would say it's half-full. But they keep going even after that. It burns down her throat, but it makes time stop. Nik doesn't even notice the pain in his leg anymore. He's so relaxed and this is so serene. Caroline's head is swimming and the room has a tilt to it just a little bit and she doesn't know what she's saying, but she's speaking. Blurting words out without even thinking.

"You killed your father," she laughs hysterically.

Nik laughs along with her. What did she even say? Something about killing someone. Oh well. Who cares?

"My sister ruined your life," he snorts.

"She did!" Caroline squeaks, throwing her head back. God, this is fun. So much fun. "Wait—" she raises her hands in front of her. She burps.

"What a vulgar woman." Nik shakes his head, but he's laughing too.

"Well, that's why you like me," she retorts. "Because I'm different, right? Something new? A challenge?"

"More like a pain in the arse." He grins.

"The only pain in the arse here is you, my love."

This little bubble of goodness they are sitting in might pop soon and Caroline isn't quite ready for that to happen yet. She takes one more swallow from the Jack Daniels and gives Nik the rest, which is only about two tablespoons. Once he's finished he throws it across the room and the glass breaks against the concrete and she thinks it's so pretty. Weird for something so broken to be beautiful.

"Do you think there's hope in Rhode Island?" she asks him. She asked him before and he said they can't go wrong and then he said he wouldn't let anything happen to her. But something did happen to her.

Nik pauses. "I think that we have to have hope that there is hope."

So, basically, no.

"Then what?" she scoots closer. "Once we get there and there is nothing but a wasteland, do we jump in the ocean and sink or swim?"

She just wants to know. Is it so bad that she wants to know how she'll die? Whether it's running away from zombies or drowning in an ocean she's never gotten to enjoy. She wants to know.

Nik doesn't answer her because he doesn't know what to say. Lately, she's been leaving him speechless. He's never had to explain so much and have false confidence than he has since she came along.

"Neither," he finally says, looking into her wondering eyes. "We'll find a boat and we'll sail to a deserted island and live out the rest of our lives there. It's a beach."

She smiles despite herself. "A beach sounds nice."

In a flurry of movement and breathing she has her lips on his and her hands in his hair and her weight against his body. She practically flung herself at him, attacking his mouth and invading it with her tongue. She presses herself closer to him as if she's trying to somehow mold into him. He grips her hips roughly and kisses her with a hunger that can never be sated.

She places her hands on his chest and he kisses along her jawline and down her neck, scorching her skin with his lips. And to think he thought he'd never feel the way her skin felt again.

Caroline breaks away and pulls her shirt over her head and tosses it to the side. Nik palms her already free breasts, squeezing and pinching at her nipples until she's sighing his name over and over again. She returns to his lips and his hands travel around to her back and cup the curve of her behind through her jeans.

"Stand up," he tells her and she does. He grunts as he moves to stand up and Caroline rushes to get underneath his arm.

"You can just sit you know," she whispers. "I'll do everything."

"And just what would ever give you that idea?" he asks, tugging on her belt loops and pulling her to him roughly.

"I don't know," she says coyly. "Maybe you should prove that you actually have it in you."

He kisses her neck all the way up to her ear where he gently tugs on her earlobe. "I'll do much more than that, sweetheart."

He pushes her down onto the top of the stone slab and she scoots farther back and works on the button of jeans, quickly slipping out of them and her panties. By that time Nik has his shirt off and it's kind of like looking at an old map. There are so many scars and marks and there's a tattoo of something written in Arabic right going down his side. Her fingers trace the lines of his beautifully flawed torso, absolutely mesmerized by the sight. What happened to cause all of these? Did someone do that purposely? Who would even want to? Why?

Her thoughts are cut short once he climbs on top of her and his length pokes her inner thigh. She sucks in a breath and runs her fingers along his back as he kisses her hard and deep, stealing away her breath with each fleeting second. She tastes like whiskey and sweetness and lust and he tastes like whiskey and frustration and desire. Her eyes are hooded with yearning, clouded by a craving so deep and vast that it burns to the inner most parts of her soul. Never has she ever wanted someone so bad, so desperately like she does right now.

His right hand reaches down in between her legs and he spreads her open with two fingers and dipping his middle finger inside. She bucks her hips and uses her elbows as support to lean up and claim Nik's mouth once more as he pumps her slowly. Her teeth tug at his bottom lip and he lets out a low growl when she bites down a little hard.

"Quit with the foreplay," she whispers, her tongue trailing agonizingly slow over his lip. "I didn't drive all the way out here just to get finger fucked again."

"Language," he says as he withdraws his hand. He sits up slightly and grips her around the waist and Caroline positions her hips, anticipation washing over her like a flood.

Then, before she can take a breath, Nik pushes into her and the world takes on a different form. She wraps her legs around him tightly, her feet locked just above his ass. Her fingernails dig into his back, leaving angry red welts in their wake. Nik moves slowly at first, waiting for her to get used to him and she does. Oh, how she does. She doesn't think there's been a better fit. Of course there's only been one other, but that's beside the point.

Nik's thrusts pick up the pace and her skin brushes painfully yet pleasurably against the cold stone slab. Rapture builds in the pit of her stomach as her eyes keep contact with his, never fading and never moving. Her whines mixed with his grunts and their breaths mingle together in a symphony that only they can hear and it's the most beautiful composition in history, it is.

"Caroline," he breathes as her hands get tangled in his hair. "Sweetheart…"

She rotates her hips to match his thrusts and she can feel his body start to shudder. Her heart beats in her chest like a steel drum and she bites into his shoulder as the feeling of him coming undone envelopes her entire being. She shuts her eyes and leans her head back on the stone and Nik rests his head just on her chest. Her fingers dance up and down the line of his back as she stares up at the ceiling in a daze. A haze forms over her eyes, an indescribable fog full of ecstasy and all things wonderful.

"Am I more than you bargained for yet?" she asks, but Nik's already fast asleep.

It's still dark when they wake up again and she kisses him slowly and switches positions with him. She lowers herself down on him and keeps her hands on his chest, feeling his heart vibrate through his skin to her hands. She closes her eyes this time and he just watches her lose herself in the moment. Watches the way her mouth moves when she's panting, how her she keeps swinging her hair back behind her, and how her breasts bounce up and down slightly. He takes notice of the way her skin is shiny and covered in her sweat and his, and the way she smells like fire and desire. And he loves the way she unravels at the top of her lungs and it's like she's the only person in the room, but he unravels with her and she bends over to kiss him like they've been lovers and friends since the beginning of time. Only if for a night the world should stop turning. Just this once.

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A/N: here is your update. Not quite 5000 words, but almost. And, oh yeah,

SURPRISE! my Banana71588 was very enthusiastic about this chapter, so you guys really have her to thank that you got it this soon because I would've been lazy and not updated until like Tuesday seriously :P so so so very lazy

And did you check out the poster that the awesome liar. faker made for this? Because uhm it's pretty freaking sweet!

Once this is finished I'll get around to messaging all of you because of your support and your awesomeness :)

K bye it's like 2:30 in the morning and i have a massive headache. Until we meet again, love bugs :)