To Be With You Again Part II

I got the feeling people wanted a part II so here it is :)

Warning: Minor smut stuff

Relief. All he felt was relief when he saw her again for the first time in five years. Five years of torture, not really trusting the vampires he had compelled to protect her, not knowing if she was really alright. There was a sadness in her eyes though, he could see it from where he stood watching her go through the market stalls, and guilt struck him for the first time since he had compelled her. She must know that something was missing from her life, family and friends. He had taken them from her essentially. Everyone she loved, everyone she cared about. Her mother, her friends, Tyler, him. He had to believe that she cared for him then, that maybe there was a chance she would be able to care for him still.

She was still as beautiful as the day he met her though- perhaps more so; Italy had done her good, he mused almost absentmindedly. She had matured, grown into herself, and she carried herself with an air of confidence, confidence he had always known was there, under the surface, waiting to be unleashed. Her blond hair fell in waves to her waist, and he craved to run his hands through the silky tresses again- because he knew if he did this, if he found the strength to cross the street and remove his compulsion, that she would hate him again. But he had to do it; if she hated him or not, he refused to live in a world where she did not exist, and yet still he had to ask her if this was what she wanted, to be a vampire again. And to do that, she had to have her memories, all of them, the good and the bad.

Silas had been, surprisingly, helpful. He had sunk further into his madness, trapped as he was in the cave with only himself for company, but he still had moments of lucidity, of humanity, and the blood Klaus brought to him seemed to help in that regard, and for all his cruelty now that he had removed the only hope he had had of reuniting with his lost love, he did not seem to want to rob Klaus of his. Klaus had no real reason to trust the man, but it was all he had, the only real hope he had left. And for whatever reason, he trusted Silas when he said that the spell was removed. That didn't mean Klaus trusted him though, not by any means, and he would wait and ensure that Caroline's body received his blood and kept it down. He had learned from the mistakes he had made, and he wouldn't gamble with her life of all lives.

And she was there in front of him and he couldn't seem to be able to propel himself towards her. He had thought he was prepared to see her again, to stride to her side and make small talk, try to woo her, maybe ask her out on a date, so that he could take her someplace private and remove the compulsion, as he wanted to do. But he had seen her there, down the street, so close and yet so far from where he wanted her to be, and he had froze. He wouldn't call it terror, would never admit that that was what he felt standing there staring at her, but that is what it was. The original vampire was not only terrified of losing her, by her leaving him when she found out the truth, he was afraid of hurting her again. Of losing control by being in her presence again. Her blood sang to him, and if he focused his hearing he knew he would hear her heartbeat, even from where he stood. He craved it, knowing how sweet it was, and that was all the more dangerous for her as a human. Oh, he craved her blood when she was a vampire as well, that was true, but it was different. The one was propelled by pure lust, the wanted intimacy between two vampires, and the other by blood lust, a hunter and his prey. And he did not want to see Caroline in that light, but he was at war with his love for her, his need to preserve her life, and his vampiric nature that craved only blood.

Caroline turned to leave the market, and he felt a moment of panic that this was his only chance and he was wasting it, but as her figure got closer and closer to him, he realized that his feet had indeed managed to move him forward toward her. "Caroline!" He called out, forgetting for a moment that she did not know him, that it would scare her to have her name spoken by someone she saw as a stranger.

She twirled, and he stopped in front of her, her sapphire eyes widening imperceptibly before clouding in conclusion. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

He shook his head, feeling the sadness and regret he had felt nearly every day for the past five years creeping in on him. "No. You did once, but you wouldn't know me anymore."

Her brow scrunched in confusion, and she offered him a small smile. "I don't know what you mean."

Klaus cleared his throat, momentary nervousness taking hold of him. "Maybe we could go someplace more private and I can explain?" He expected her rejection; he was a stranger in a foreign country, and this was the stuff of horror novels, of movies and tv shows. Things girls were warned against doing, and a part of him wanted her to refuse him for his own sanity so that he would know that she had indeed been safe. That no one had hurt her with her bodyguards thinking she was fine.

"Sure, we can go back to my place."

Caroline led him through the familiar streets to an equally familiar house. His house, well one of the many that he owned around the globe, that he had sent her to when he sent her away. She invited him in, a necessity because he had signed the deed over to her, though she didn't know that, to protect her. He wouldn't have sent her to a house where any vampire could walk in, including him. She bustled around the place after directing him to the front room, asking him if he wanted something to eat or drink which he politely declined.

"So," she said after she had finally chosen to sit in the chair opposite his, "How do you know my name mysterious stranger?"

He laughed briefly. "I'm sorry, I should have introduced myself. Call me Klaus. And I know you're name because, as I said, you used to know me."

"Then why can't I remember you? Why can't I remember anything but Italy, why don't I know anything about my past? Why can't I leave to find out?"

Klaus let out a sigh. She was angry now, and he had the feeling that she retained some of her memories. They were there after all, in the back of her mind, locked, but not gone. Not for good. "Something, something happened five years ago. And I had to take away your memories."

Caroline's eyes widened, and he saw her nostrils flare briefly, her little hands clenched in anger. "You did this to me?" She spat out. "What could possibly have been so bad that you would do that to me? And how is that even possible."

"Sweetheart, it's a lot to explain-"

"Well explain it anyway Klaus."

He had missed this, her anger, her fire, her ability to challenge him even when she was afraid of him. Klaus enjoyed it; no one else really stood up to him, not without backing down, but she, she was unapologetic; she didn't let him get away with what everyone else did. "You have to promise me that you'll listen to the whole story, no matter how unbelievable it sounds." She nodded tersely, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back in her seat. "I'm a vampire. I have been for a very long time. And five years ago, you were one too. I love it, and I know that you did as well. I-I fell in love with you in your hometown. You captivated me, though you spurned my every advance. You were with someone else at the time, and you're unswerving loyalty wouldn't let you be with me. And I admired that. But he left, and it was partly my fault I suppose, but he came back and you both admitted you wanted different things. You still held me off though. Anyway, while all that was going on, we had been looking for the cure, the cure to vampirism. One of your friends had wanted it, I wanted it to destroy, and Silas, a warlock and vampire, wanted it so that he could die and be reunited with his lost love. But when he got his hands on it, he forced you to take it instead. It um, it turned you human again, before my eyes, and you were so scared..."

He trailed off for a moment remembering the panicked pleas of turn me back! please, please turn me back! "You wanted to be a vampire again. I wanted you to be a vampire again. I was far too easy for anyone to kill you, and I couldn't bear the thought of losing you. Silas though, he was smart. He knew what I would try to do, and he cast a spell over you so that your body would reject attempts at making you a vampire again. We tried to make it work though, for months. I barely left your side, and, well eventually we ended up in bed together. But I couldn't- I couldn't control myself around you, and I bit you. I wanted you to be safe, from anything that could hurt you, and that included me. So I used compulsion to wipe your memory."

Caroline was listening, rapt attention, a look of anger and almost relief on her face, and he wondered why there was no fear in her gaze. He had revealed that vampires existed, that he had bitten her, and she remained unafraid of him. "So why are you here now if you wanted to protect me?"

"I convinced Silas to remove the spell. If you want me to remove the compulsion and turn you into a vampire again, you have that choice now."

Her eyes darted across the room, and he wished he knew what she was thinking. "Remove the compulsion first." She spoke out suddenly, her gaze falling back on him. "Remove the compulsion so I know who I am, and then I'll decide the other thing."

Klaus nodded, feeling that that was a fair provision. He approached her, kneeling down in front of her seat, gently placing his hands on either side of her face. "You remember everything." Her eyes clenched shut, and her hands gripped his arms tightly. He wondered... he wondered if it was a painful process to have a part of you, your whole life taken away and then returned in a single moment.

Finally, her eyes opened once more, gazing at him with an unreadable expression, and then he felt the stinging slap against his cheek. It didn't hurt him physically, though he was proud at the force she put behind the blow, but it hurt him to know how upset she was at him. And then she surprised him again, launching herself into his arms, and he caught her holding her tightly against him, breathing in her scent. "You stupid, moronic, idiot! Why would you take my memories away, huh?" Her tone wasn't so much angry as chastising and he breathed a little sigh of relief. She pulled away a little to look at him. "I'm still angry with you, you shouldn't have done that. Why did you do that?"

"I bit you. You were scared of me, and I didn't want to chance hurting you again."

"Oh Klaus." She breathed out, a look of pain crossing her features. "I wasn't scared of you. I mean, you scared me, I wasn't expecting you to bite me, but it wasn't you that I was afraid of... I was fed off of when I was first human and it just brought back those memories."

He was angry to learn that someone had hurt her, but he had as well. It was a sobering thought really. He wanted to tear apart limb from limb anyone that had dared to hurt her, and he himself had. "I'm sorry Caroline." And they both knew that he wasn't just apologizing for the hurt she had endured by the vampire, and he would find out who it was- hypocrisy aside, Klaus needed to know almost, needed to know the identity of her attacker so that he could threaten or kill whoever it might have been- he was also apologizing for everything he had ever done to hurt her, most especially removing her memories. "So love, do you want to..." He trailed off, knowing no explanation was really necessary, and he waited with bated breath for her response.

"You're sure it will work?"

"No, but I'll make sure you're body takes my blood before I do anything else?"

She nodded her head, a smile breaking out over her features. "Yes! Yes, I want to be a vampire again."

5 Years Later

Another five years passed, much better for both of them then the previous five years. It took some time after her transition. Much apologizing, a trip back to Mystic Falls, and six months for Caroline to even let him take her out on a date. And he understood, only grateful that she did not cut ties with him completely. One day, one night actually, she showed up on his doorstep, rain soaked and she pulled him to her. He learned her body that night, made sweet slow love to her, and in the morning when she was still there he knew that he had been forgiven.

They enjoyed many things, they enjoyed doing a great many things now that they were together. Klaus enjoyed saying that. They were together. They were in a relationship with each other. Caroline loved him and he loved her.

They liked to tease each other, Klaus picking on Caroline's need for everything to always go perfectly and Caroline picking on his need to control everything all the time. They liked to argue with each other, and they would both freely admit it was because they enjoyed the make up sex. Caroline liked to drag Klaus from city to city, making him tell her every experience he had had there; he didn't mind though, not when she listened with such rapt attention, soaking in his words. Klaus liked to watch the way her face lit up whenever she saw a new city, loved that she appreciated the history. And they loved to blood share.

It was a turn on for them, as vampires, and Klaus loved when her blood hit his tongue, loved knowing that he was free to drink from her as he desired, and he loved that she enjoyed him biting her. He loved that she had to bite from him in return, and they drank each other's blood as he moved in her.

He had once prided himself on his ability to expect the unexpected. But he was glad that she had snuck up on him and caught him off guard. And somehow, he felt that everything that they had gone through to bring them to this point, together in each other's arms, the good and the bad, was all worth it in the end. They were together after all, now weren't they?