Thanks for the lovely reviews! I'm glad you like the way it's going. Let me know about this one! Also, I've already written the next one, so it was a little difficult finding a place to end, but it was getting too long, so should be uploading the next chapter later today.

Also, I don't have very much time for writing, but mistakes drive me crazy, so I'm sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes... my main language for my computer is Russian, so it doesn't pick me up on some, such as wrong words not spelling mistakes, sorry!

She didn't know long she'd sat there. The last light of the fire had faded from the walls. The cold was seeping into her dressing gown. The house was deathly quiet. She felt tears prick at her eyes.

She couldn't seem to stop her eyes from staring blankly, her mind had stopped processing, overwhelming tiredness reached for her. A noise elsewhere in the house made her shoot to her feet. It broke the spell and she moved dreamlike upstairs, back into the room and lay down.

The morning came and Caroline stayed in bed, unwilling to face the day. She had to idea where to go from here. She tried to figure what to do next. There was no point freaking out, she told herself. There might be a reasonable explanation for the drawing being here. Plus, if her fears were confirmed, there was no telling at what point and for how long Tyler wasn't... himself.

A knock at the door made her sit bolt upright. She held her breath, hoping whoever it was would go away. The knock came again, then an impatient female voice,

"Caroline, I know you're awake."

"Come in then!" she shouted back in frustration, relieved it wasn't anyone else. Rebekah stepped into the room and went immediately to the clothes she'd left.

"Not a morning person?" she asked, slanting a glance at Caroline's disheveled appearance.

"I didn't sleep well." she muttered, running her fingers through her hair.

"Bad dreams?" Rebekah asked innocently. Caroline studied her expression, thinking about Rebekah's part in her discovery.

"Not exactly. Confusing... probably don't mean anything." Caroline said, watching impatience tighten Rebekah's mouth as she pursed her lips,

"You shouldn't dismiss dreams, they are a powerful tool of the subconscious. They can make you see things differently, they are revealing." she insisted.

"Yeah, they definitely revealed something..." Caroline teased as she got out of bed and went to wash her face.

"What did they reveal?" Rebekah asked casually, lingering over the clothes.

" That I shouldn't ever wear yellow, it totally washes me out." Caroline called from the bathroom, splashing warm water on her face.

"Seriously... that's what you take from dreams. I shouldn't have expected more." Rebekah muttered, crossing her arms.

"Well, there was something else..." Caroline indicated, watching as Rebekah rolled her eyes.

"What? That your shampoo is making your hair less shiny?"

"No, how much you want me to figure out your not so subtle hints." she watched as Rebekah took a defensive stance.

"I don't know what you're taking about." her chin jutting out at an angle.

"What I don't understand is why you don't just tell me if you want me to know so bad." Caroline teased a last time. She came back into the room, holding her hands out as Rebekah dumped the clothes she had just carefully folded in her arms. Without another word she whirled around and headed to the door. Before she disappeared Caroline called,

"Thank you for the clothes." Rebekah looked back warily, as though waiting for something unpleasant to happen.

"Well, you might want to get dressed. Your boyfriend is here." she said breezily and left.

Tyler! Her bruised heart gave a halfhearted thump as she thought about him. She could spend time with him today and figure the whole situation out. Maybe he would just tell her the truth, or she'd be able to see the guy she'd fallen in love with. Not to be able to find him anymore... that didn't bare thinking about.

Throwing on the borrowed clothes she ran to the bathroom and quickly fixed her hair. If he was already here she didn't want to leave Klaus and him together too long.

"Tyler!" she exclaimed and threw herself into his arms.

"Caroline! Are you OK? How are you feeling? I'm so so sorry"

"Better now you're here. Take me home please..." she pleaded, wrapping her hands around his arms. Upon entering the room, she had avoided Klaus, sitting behind his desk, watching her. She had refused to let her eyes focus over there, and he remained a black spot in her vision. She focused all her energy and attention on Tyler.

She attempted to pull him towards the door, until he gently unlatched her fingers and held them.

"Caroline, stop. You need to stay here a little longer." he said, not meeting her eyes directly.

"But why? I'm better, Why can't I go home?" she searched his face, but he was keeping it down, evading her.

"Because your mum thinks you're at your aunt's house. So do Elena and Bonnie. I thought it was best, so they wouldn't worry."

"Yeah, but now I'm better, so... I'll just explain."

"Explain what? That I bit you again? That I'm dangerous for you to be around... They won't understand." he was shaking his head.

"No, the less people that know, the better."

"That's the reason I have to stay here? To hide your mistake?" Caroline cried, still ignoring the silent spectator in the background. Tyler looked around, getting frustrated, he looked to Klaus. Something passed between them in a few beats of silence.

"We can't let anyone know that Klaus is alive yet" he said quietly

"Why? What does it have to do with you?"Caroline asked, trying to even out her voice and sound confused.

"Nothing..."

"It's one of the conditions of me saving your life." his dry voice cut in. Out the corner of her eye she saw him stand up and move round the desk, closer to her, until he was standing beside her. Still refusing to look way from Tyler she asked him softly

"Tyler, what's going on? What does he mean?" her eyes held a mute appeal. Tyler swallowed and dropped her eyes. Klaus answered,

"As you've already explained to me, I'm a selfish person, I don't do anything for nothing so now you're in my debt. You owe me Caroline. And I plan to collect. The first requirement is that you stay here until I am prepared for your friends to know I'm back" Klaus's tone was commanding and she longed to turn and fight him about it. But, with Tyler standing in front of her, it didn't matter, all that matter was working out what had happened. She gripped his hand and said,

"At least spend the day with me." There was no way she was going to docilely go along with being Klaus's captive, but she had to get to the bottom of it, and the best way to do that was to play along for now. Tyler smiled, relieved that she seemed to be letting it go.

"Of course." pulling on his hand she turned and tugged him out of the room without so much as a backwards glance.

He watched them go, resisting the urge to smash the back of Tyler's head in. He couldn't remember feeling so powerless in quite a while, and it made him overwhelmingly angry. For centuries he had controlled everything and everyone in his life. Now, he was having to compromise, and it was a hard pill to swallow. In the past, when he'd fancied a girl, he'd had her, enjoyed her and moved on. If she hadn't wanted him, well, a little compulsion fixed that, in fact he had come to prefer it. He told himself it was for the thrill or dominance, of showing her who was in charge. But sometimes, late at night, alone, he wondered if it was because he didn't ever want to see her real reaction to him. Didn't want to risk it, what was a little blankness, a dimmed personality, a little too eager to please... compared to the truth. But, that just wasn't going to work with Caroline. He felt that if he had to resort to compulsion... he'd lost anyway. There was something about this girl, she was brave, searingly honest and impulsive... and she hated him. He thought back to the previous night, how he had felt when he'd realised that she had feelings for him. These hopes were quickly dashed when he thought of her reaction to finding out the truth. For some reason he was having trouble getting these maudlin thoughts out his head. Must be the diet. He decided then and there to fix that particular problem. Maybe it would help him stop wondering what the happy couple were up to.

Caroline glanced at the clock for what felt like the millionth time that day and wondered why time seemed to be standing still. She wasn't getting anything from Tyler, and he was making her watch football on TV. Between feigning interest in the game and trying not to encourage his amorous advances, time was dragging. Tyler was still very much into the physical side of their relationship, which of course she could understand, she was the one who had changed the rules. But she'd never realised before that when they hung out together – the physical part was so dominant. The truth was, they were struggling to find things to talk about, except small talk about the game. They used to be in this dangerous, life of death situation, where passion, excitement, recklessness and even a hint of desperation all collided to create heightened emotions. Now, they were spending time together as a normal high school couple. Caroline was pragmatic, they were both young, she was hardly such an interesting, knowledgeable person herself yet, but, it seemed like the person you're with should make you... more somehow. Challenge you, teach you, open your eyes to different things. With Tyler this afternoon – she had definitely felt like Mystic Falls head cheerleader watching the game with her quarterback boyfriend. Suddenly she realised he had switched the TV off.

"OK, what's wrong. Tell me" he leaned back, looking at her. His brown eyes full of worry.

"Nothing! I... I just wish you'd tell me why I can't go home."

"Caroline, I made a deal with Klaus to save your life. We can't change the conditions now...What if..." he trailer of, looking around uncomfortably.

"What if what?"

"What if we ever need his help again..." he muttered quietly. Caroline shifted away from him and looked him in the eye.

"What do you mean? If you ever bite me again? Seriously?"

"It could happen Caroline! We can't just assume it won't" she felt a cold sensation growing in her stomach as she processed his words. She gently took his hand in hers and spoke softly,

"Yes we can. We have to. Don't you understand? I almost died. It's not a game, and something we can play around with. God, maybe I really do have a death wish..." she muttered running her fingers through her hair.

"What do you mean a death wish?" Tyler demanded, his wide brown eyes starting to show irritation.

"I mean, how can I put my life in danger, all the time, when you're not even sure it won't happen again?"

"You're mad at me right? You blame me for being here and you're trying to make me feel guilty. Well, you don't have to, I already do" Tyler's voice was getting louder and Caroline looked around, hoping no one else was listening.

"Doesn't it scare you? If you love me as much as you say... shouldn't the fact that you could kill me with one slip freak you out?" she asked him quietly.

"So what? I should stay away from you... to save you? Or something else as overly dramatic as that" he rolled his eyes and pulled his arm away from around her shoulders. She looked at him disbelievingly,

"Are you seriously devaluing my concern for... my life?"

"Look, we were having a great day, and you've got to let all this guilt and responsibility come into it. I apologised for it. I'm so so sorry Caroline, I love you and never want to hurt you, but it is a reality and it is always going to be a possibility for us. You need to decide if it's a risk you want to take."

She looked into his eyes then, and felt the stirring of something. Everything he was saying was true. He did care about her, was it his fault that her feelings had changed? Her emotions were a tangled mess, but one things was clear. She loved Tyler, the boy she'd grown up with, supported in football games, then during his first transitions into a wolf. He was everything that was home and safe and normal to her. But she wasn't the girl she used to be... that girl was gone, in a hospital bed one dark night she'd taken her last breath, and left this world, taking with her all her hopes and dreams. She was someone else, someone she didn't fully understand or know yet, but there was no going back. Taking Tyler's hand, she squeezed it gently,

"Tyler, I realised on my birthday that I don't want to die. I might hate this life sometimes, but I'm not giving up on it yet. I need to feel safe..." she whispered as she saw the shutters go down in his eyes. She reached a hand to his face and stroked his cheek,

"Don't hate me" she whispered and watched as he struggled to control his emotions, eventually meeting her eyes and giving her a heart wrenching smile,

"I couldn't... after everything you've done for me. You're my best friend Caroline. I can't lost you completely, I don't think I could stand it." she hugged him hard and when she pulled back he seemed a little better.

"After all, we're not getting any older. We need all the friends we can get. And I'm not giving up on us" he gave a little smile. She sensed that he wanted to be alone to process everything, and she did too. He stood to leave,

"I better get back, my mum needs help"

"What about me? Can I leave too?" Caroline asked, watching his face, aways an open book to her.

"I don't know, I did give my word. Klaus is worried that Stefan and Damon will try to desiccate him again. And knowing them it's not unlikely. He needs to reach a deal with Bonnie before he is going to be comfortable with them knowing he's alive. And there's some other stuff... about how he survived... but I guess it's not important anymore. If you can convince Klaus that you won't tell anybody, I guess he'll let you go"

"Yeah, well, I'm not sure that desiccation isn't exactly what he deserves" she muttered.

"If you're going to try and convince him, I wouldn't lead with that." Tyler smiled. Shrugging on his coat, he stroked her cheek and kissed it.

"I'll check on you tomorrow, and I'll get onto Bonnie to get it sorted quickly" Tyler meant it. He didn't want Caroline staying here any longer than she already had. Just the thought of it was driving him crazy, crazy enough not to care that ever after she would disapprove of what he'd done, and think Caroline was better off without him. Bidding her goodbye, trying to keep it as light as possible, he drove off, his heart torn and heavy.

After Tyler had left, Caroline roamed around the house, looking for something to do. She looked at the books in the library... choosing Anna Karenina to read a little of. She loved the first sentence and she though it definitely applied to every family she knew. It seemed like these Russian writers would understand the impossible sadness and gloom that had clouded a lot of Mystic Falls recently, ever since Elena's parents had died really.

After reading for while, she started to get curious about the other parts of the house she'd never been in. There must be so many other rooms she hadn't seen. It was so quiet she felt safe to have a little look around. Starting upstairs the first bedroom she found was Rebekah's. It was more girlish than she would have expected, with a lot of clothes, fashion magazines and beautiful pictures. A poster for the decade dance she'd organised, but never got to attend. A picture of Matt from the paper in his football jersey, interesting, if not a little worrying, Caroline mused as she looked around. Looking at the picture, clipped to the side of the dressing table, Caroline imagined Rebekah sitting there, looking at it, before going to school, like she did everyday, even though it was obviously pointless. Suddenly she felt a pang of compassion for the girl.

Feeling like an intruder she slipped from the room and continued down the hall. There was a long corridor of the main hall and she could see a door at the end, it was slightly ajar. She wandered towards it, stopping suddenly when she heard a faint sigh from inside the room. Someone was in here. Trying to be as quiet as possible she continued tip-toeing towards it, putting her eye against the crack. It looked like a guest bedroom, without any coffins and decorated quite lavishly.

A soft laugh drew her attention to the corner. Her breath caught in her throat as she took in the couple on the bed. A girl, a very beautiful girl with hair like spun gold sat on the edge of the bed. Her skin was smooth and pale and she was smiling. Leaning forward she was dangling a glass of wine in one hand and she had her head thrown back. Sitting behind her, cradling her in his arms was Klaus. Caroline's mouth went dry, as she realised what she was seeing. He was stroking his fingers through the shimmering hair, clearing one side of her neck. Whispering soft things in her ear, until she was laughing, kissing her shoulder up the her ear, then slowly returning to her neck, ever so gently he sank his teeth into the soft flesh there. The girl moaned. As he was drawing blood from her, Caroline found she couldn't look away, she stood transfixed.

Suddenly, she saw Klaus's head move slowly to the side, allowing his eyes to slat up, and he looked right at her. He knew she was there, he'd probably known the whole time.

Her heart slammed into her ribs and she practically flew backwards. She ran blindly downstairs, realising that this might be her chance, he was definitely occupied. Reaching for the door she opened it, stepping out into the sunlight.

Pain lanced through her as the light hit her skin. She was already halfway across the yard when she slowed enough to realise that something wasn't right. She was smoking. Her ring, glancing at her hand, she saw a space where it usually was. She hadn't realised it was gone before, which means it must have just been taken, like that night... Rebekah and the dream. Could she have taken it?

Her eyes felt like they were fizzing, she tried to blink the blood out of them. Putting her hands out in front of her, she tried to find her way back to the house, light and blood blinding her. Her legs seemed to go weak and she fell heavily to her knees, the air becoming scented with the smell of burning flesh

Pain streaked through her mind in bold swaths of red, as she crawled in the direction of the house.

If she survived this, how was she ever going to get away now? she thought bitterly

This chapter is a little fillery, but I wanted to tie up the lose ends that stood in the way of progressing Klaroline's relationship. Such as Tyler, who I find hard to write, so I hope its not to quick and basic (getting him out the way!) and also I wanted to introduce the idea of Klaus not being 100% good. The next chapter has a lot of juicy interactions and emotional angst - so please read on!