Sometimes
Request: Klaus's inner dialogue after his spat with Caroline? And how he worries that she might turn it off?
I was listening to Sometimes by Skillet when I wrote this, so that's the title reference.
Why don't you find someone less terrible you can relate to? Why did he say that? She had been willing, in that moment, he saw it in her eyes, she would have let him comfort her. He should have wrapped her in an embrace, crushing her to him, telling her that it was going to be okay. That was his moment, perhaps the only moment he would ever get again with her. And he blew it with his desire to hurt her as she had hurt him.
It was how he reacted. A defense mechanism. He was hurt, so he lashed out trying to make her pain worse than his. And he had hurt the only girl he truly cared for with his carelessly spoken words. It was cruel of him, and he shouldn't have done it. Who else did she have? Even if Elena had been there, her humanity was turned off and would not have comforted Caroline; he doubted she would ever go to Damon for comfort; Stefan was taking care of Bonnie; Bonnie herself was not in the right state of mind to help her friends; he had driven Tyler away; and the human Matt... well he wasn't sure of the nature of her relationship with the boy, but he got the distinct feeling that he would only judge her actions in a negative light instead of offering her the comfort she so obviously needed.
And she had wanted that comfort from him, perhaps because he wouldn't judge her for that; he was upset with her, yes, he didn't want to deal with the returned immortals that would come, but he would never see her as being less because of it, and she must have known that. What right would he have had to do that? She was still Caroline to him; her actions had not changed that; that fact that she was upset about it proved exactly how pure of heart she was. She did not intentionally massacre them, she hadn't wanted any of them to die. He lamented her blind loyalty to her friends though, that she put the safety of everyone else, including herself, and that was the most upsetting element to him, on the line for her select few friends.
Then fear gripped him. She was pure of heart, and he wasn't sure if she would be able to deal with the fall out of her actions. If she would be able to deal with the guilt that was sure to come over her. Her words from earlier, that she was spiraling hit him like a punch to the gut. How close was she to turning it off? What would be the final straw, what would push her over the precipice to darkness, removing the girl he loved? Would this be it?
He was about to leave, look for her, forget his earlier stubbornness and comfort her, even if she didn't profess to wanting his comfort anymore, and he would hold her in his arms as he truly wanted to before she lost control and lost herself, but a presence alerted him that comfort for his girl would have to wait. His emotionless mask firmly in place, he faced the new threat.