Well, I'm glad you guys survived that last one-shot. I'm not terribly fond of killing characters but writing tragedy and extreme angst is extremely easy for me so every now and again I do. So this one is all fluff. The next one won't be, in fact the next one after this is downright scary. Anyway...
4x20 reaction one-shot and reader requests. Caroline keeps flinching away from everyone after her encounter with Silas and all she wants now peace.
She told herself that it didn't affect her. She told herself that the dreams she had at night of faces of her friends stabbing her weren't real. She told herself that she could get it over. There was so much to do, and the incident needed to be pushed far from her mind. Elena found her emotions and was hell bent on killing Katherine, Bonnie was knee deep in the Silas thing, and Matt was in need of a study buddy.
Caroline knew all of this but it still didn't stop her from involuntarily flinching whenever someone touched her. She didn't think anyone noticed because she didn't address it and was business as usual. She was graduating; there wasn't time for personal distress.
Matt was the only one who caught on and that was only because she had told him what happened that night. When he tried to talk about it to Caroline, she just brushed past it with a bright smile and showed him the next flash card for a calculus equation. He didn't try to bring it up again.
Her mom noticed the slight shake in her hands one evening and with a sad sigh put down the reports she brought home from the police station and enclosed her hand around Caroline's. They didn't say a word but just stood there for a moment holding each other in silence seeking comfort after the trauma they had endured.
But it wasn't her mother's face that plagued her at night; the face that would repeatedly stab her was his face. The face she told no one about in fear of having to explain to everyone why Silas chose him of all people.
He had been so close to her she could see the flecks of blue and green in his eyes that combined to create the storm of color she saw anytime they tried to stare each other down. He had placed his hands all over her body, the heat and pressure tightening the coil in her core to an unbearable crescendo. His breathe had pressed hotly in her ear and it made her body twitch uncontrollably, arching to him in subconscious need.
He had done all of that and it wasn't even really him.
Caroline groaned in frustration, dropping her head to cradle it in her hands. Silas had made Klaus to think that he was dying and she had been made to distrust every face that she ran into. She thought she'd rather deal with the sensation of dying to stop the paranoia that flashed across her mind any time she talked to someone.
Her whole body was stiff and rigid from lack of sleep and all she wanted now was to find peace from the whispers of terror that haunted her every step. She bent her head downwards, resting it on the outstretched Italian books for Matt and the stack of study guides she had for her biology final. Sleep could no longer be denied, she was just too tired.
She was blissfully drifting into a black void when a pressure on her shoulder startled her. Caroline sprung to life, grabbing the hand that touched her spinning round only to be stopped with another hand, grabbing her wrist. The force snapped Caroline out of her blood fueled reaction, willing her fangs to snap back into her gums at the face she met holding her hand.
It was Klaus.
His face was equally predatory but the harshness ebbed once Caroline whimpered at the pressure cutting on the blood flow to her hand. His hand and fangs retreated instantly, burned by her escaped pained. Caroline grabbed her wrist and tried to rub life back into it.
"That wasn't exactly the welcome I was anticipating. For what do I owe your malice?" he asked harshly.
Caroline's chest exhaled in heavy relief, plopping down into the chair and not answering Klaus. Only he would react that way, she knew it was really him. The faint metallic smell of blood and his unique scent were there that hadn't been in the woods. She felt her hands tremble slightly, taking deep breaths to slow her erratic heartbeat.
Klaus moved round to her front, hovering by the table watching her most intently. Caroline glanced up from her hands and saw Klaus reach out to place a hand on her forearm. She flinched, she couldn't help it. His eyes narrowed to slits, glinting darkly.
"What happened?" he asked with punctuated force.
He did not retreat his hand, but held it over the skin of her forearm, his darker skin already showing the sun kissed effects of New Orleans. Caroline finally upturned her eyes back to his, concern vividly present on his face.
A surge of confidence course through her and Caroline straightened in her seat.
"Silas thought he could get to me," was her blasé reply.
Klaus' eyebrows shot into his hairline and the cold stone monster emerged with a low growl. For all her nonchalance they both knew she was lying-her hands were still shaking.
"I would assume that is the reason for the rough greeting?" he bit out.
She nodded reluctantly.
She didn't have to say what form Silas took, Klaus could already tell. An unexpected wave of relief washed over her. He knew the pain she was enduring. Caroline watched him again lay a hand on her forearm and this time she didn't back away from his fingers.
Instead of her heart racing in fear or flashes of being staked a quiet calm enveloped round her, filling her body with the peace she sought since her attack. It took everything in her not to slump forward and betray how the simple pressure of his fingers on her arm steadied her to a safe position.
Klaus looked at her with a frown but she answered it with a small smile. His frown disappeared and echoed the quirk of her lips.
"I need to study, I have a biology final tomorrow," she informed him pointedly after a moment.
She had gotten lost in just staring at him and only spoke when she felt herself in danger of suddenly spilling all of her feelings again as she had to Silas. It was time to push him away again. She had exposed enough of herself for one day.
He smirked and stood up to leave. Caroline watched him walk away from her, the peace he brought going with him. She wanted him back, instantly. She bit her tongue but found words slipping out of her mouth nonetheless.
"Klaus wait!" she called out.
He turned around, expectantly waiting for her to talk. She saw his eyes dance with mirth.
She closed her eyes for a brief moment, disbelieving of what she was about to do. Opening them with a bright smile on her face she asked, "I have a history final tomorrow too. Do you think you could go over my notes real quick? Just to check the dates," she tried to stem the flush she could feel creeping on her cheeks.
Klaus cocked a brow, smirking all the while. Caroline ignored it, stammering on, "I m-mean after all you are so good with history."
He snorted, shaking his head before returning to the small table Caroline had set up shop on. Caroline scrambled to join him, pulling out her notes for him. The sense of peace returned as she joined him, not willing to admit that his simple touch had brought her back. She was no longer worried or afraid, she could combat Silas now.