Tonic In the Rain

Request: Could you do a drabble where Klaus hears Caroline sing for the first time?

Character death, semi-angst, a little bit of fluff

"The exhilarating ripple of her voice was a wild tonic in the rain."
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

He still wasn't sure why she had left with him; he knew why she had left Mystic Falls, but had never expected her to want to leave with him. But Caroline was fragile in that moment, more so than he had thought possible for his strong girl, and he could not refuse her when she came to him the day after the funeral.

Under better circumstances, Klaus would have rejoiced that she appeared to be giving into him a little at a time, but he could not find himself to be even a little happy about the turn of events. Her mother, brutally murdered in front of her, not by an enemy, but by Bonnie, one of her best friends, and she could not stay in Mystic Falls any longer. Not to the chorus of "She wasn't in her right mind. You know she would never do it under normal circumstances." that she got from the rest of her friends. And she would not act on her anger, because the girl was still her friend. He didn't understand it, didn't understand her. She was so much better than him.

He worried constantly about her. Klaus did not want her to turn her emotions off, didn't think he would ever get her back if she took that step. Oh, he was selfish, but it was for her to. He didn't think Caroline would want to turn them off under normal circumstances. So he watched her, went almost everywhere with her, unless she asked him not to.

As the years went by, some of her sadness left her, slowly, but soon she was smiling again, and then she was laughing with him. She started dancing around the homes they shared over the years. She dragged him to festivals and dances that he would not have taken her to when she was still mourning.

One day, she kissed him, softly, fleetingly, and he let her have the control, not wanting to scare her off when it had taken fifteen years for anything like that to happen between them. He had held her, rocked her to sleep, when she woke up crying in the night, but it was freindly, no ulterior motives on his part. And now, all he wanted was more, more of her, and he couldn't because he couldn't lose her. She fled their penthouse, and he didn't see her for two days, though he searched for her. When she came back, they both pretended that the kiss didn't happen, until she exploded asking if he didn't enjoy it. He kissed her long, passionately in response.

For five more years that was their relationship; hugging, kissing, dancing. Nothing more. And it was enough, he found; he was more than willing to wait for her, however long that might be.

Twenty years from the time they left Mystic Falls. He had been drawing her, as he usually did, when she appeared in his doorway, clad in only a bra and a thong. Never before had a more beautiful sight been before him, his mouth growing dry at the image, even as his hands ached to draw her in case it was a dream. Caroline sashayed over to him though, and he knew it wasn't a dream, and that she was offering herself to him.

In the morning, he woke up on his stomach, rising up to look for her, but she was not there. He wondered if she had run again, if she would come back to him this time. Then he heard it, beautiful, tinkling, music. She was singing.

He got out of bed, throwing on his discarded sweatpants, unable to find his shirt, before he followed the sound of her sweet voice. She was there, in the kitchen, dancing and cooking, clad only in his shirt, and when she spotted him she smiled radiantly, her whole features lighting up, and she came over to him, placing a kiss on his lips, still singing.

Klaus smiled in return, grabbing her and twirling her about the room. It appeared that he could bring happiness as well as destruction, and was glad that Caroline was the one he had made happy.

He couldn't remember a time when that had last been his role, and knew without a doubt that he would always be there to make sure she was happy. Even if it took decades, she was worth it.