The next morning the sun blared from his gigantic bay windows, making me very grateful that I hadn't sustained a hangover. The worst of my troubles was a light headache and some achingly sore muscles. I didn't dare let my mind touch on the fact that that was the first restful sleep I'd had in ages. I hadn't sleep-walked, woken up, or had even a hint of a nightmare. Rather than facing the facts of who I'd just slept with I channeled my energy into figuring out how to sneak out without waking him. I crawled out of the bed as carefully as I could but it proved to be a harder task than I thought. Klaus and I had been spooning and our limbs were all tangled up. I quickly found, and slid into, my jeans and bra. I found my heels next but decided that I was way better off just carrying those. Finding my shirt however proved to be much more of a feat. It was simply nowhere to be seen. The fact that Klaus' room was more like an apartment didn't help. In addition to the more bedroom like section he had an en suite bathroom, a living room section that was more like an entertainment center, and a kitchenette, where he'd gotten that glass of water from last night. I felt my cheeks heat up and my face started burning at the memory. I'd disregarded it as insignificant but it turned out he'd needed it.

"You know if watching you run about my room like a headless chicken weren't so amusing I'd remind you that your search is in vain. Your shirt is in tatters, remember?" I whipped around at the sound of his voice. When had he woken up? He was sitting upright, leaning against the headboard casually. He was still under the covers too, although I think it was for my benefit since he was probably still nude.

"That's fine. I'm glad you find my desperation to escape your morning breath amusing." I cursed to myself under my breath. I did vaguely remember him tearing up my shirt. It had been very sexy at the time, very masculine. Now, however, it was just an impractical nuisance.

"Oh, how you wound me." He laughed heartily. He moved to get out of bed and I turned around instinctually. Or maybe it was out of politeness. I'm not quite sure, but he pointed out that I didn't need to nonetheless. "I'm decent."

I turned around and found that he'd just put on a pair of boxer briefs, hardly decent. He threw a black henley at my face. I considered throwing it right back at him. I didn't like the idea of me in his shirt, or rather I didn't like that I kind of liked the idea of me in his shirt. It was soft and smelled like him and was obviously a few sizes too large for me, plus Stefan would ask questions. But other than all that it's not like I had a real choice so I pulled it on.

"Leaving so soon? I'm not surprised." He'd disappeared into the bathroom but came back out a second later with advil. He threw back a few and offered me the bottle but I declined.

"Yeah, I gotta go. I'd say it's because Stefan's expecting me but I'd be lying, I just really don't like your company." I was being extra snarky but I didn't care. I had made it perfectly clear that this was only a physical thing, a one time thing even. I was not inclined to be nicer to him just because he happened to be exceedingly satisfying in bed. He narrowed his eyes knowingly, accepting the challenge I'd put forth.

"Truly? I seem to recall that you didn't mind my company yesterday. And you were in no rush to go anywhere last night. In fact you seemed much more interested in coming."

"You obviously have memory issues. You were the one begging." I almost mimicked his choruses of my name mixed with various strings of cuss words for effect. I meant to mock him but it had actually been sort of sexy the way his voice had gotten strained and husky and how he'd only managed to whisper the broken phrases pleadingly. It had sent jolts of electricity down my spine and when I bit his nipple and soothed the sting with my tongue in tiny circles…I was getting sidetracked. My brain was getting all fogged up and hazy. I had to leave.

"Hmmm," he hummed thoughtfully and moved closer to me. He began to nuzzle my neck. His stubble tickled and his lips ghosted over my pulse points, proving to be even more distracting. "We could always have at it again to prove who's right. A simple science experiment."

"Making that what, round three?" He'd started to massage the base of my neck with his mouth but made an affronted sound at my inquiry.

"Actually it'd be round four for you, round three for me." He drawled, his words coming out muffled. I inhaled deeply to steel myself against his guerrilla tactics. I shoved him away from me roughly. The clock had run out on play time. I had to leave. Hopefully the more I repeated that the quicker it'd happen.

"Right. I'll wash and give this back Monday." I promised, referring to his top. I'd have to invest in one of these though, it was really comfortable.

"Keep it." Klaus said dismissively as he disappeared into the bathroom again. He sounded a little frustrated and a little tired. Oh well, not my problem.

I nod and make my way out his room, realizing a second too late that I had no idea how to get out. I'd been too preoccupied with mauling Klaus to notice where he was taking me or how we got there. I maneuvered through the halls hastily, trying to find a staircase or an open room or something. Finally I came to a staircase leading to what appeared to be the foyer. Unfortunately for me there were two open areas on the sides of the foyer, the kitchen and the dining room, and a man who couldn't have been anyone but Klaus' father spotted me trying to make my escape. A man in what looked like an Armani suit sat across from him, fear underlying his features. I think I just interrupted a business meeting of some sort.

"Sorry to disturb you, I'm a…friend of Klaus' and I was just leaving. Would you mind directing me to the door?"

"I so wish I could say that I am doubtful that Niklaus would stoop so low to debase himself with an American but alas I remain underwhelmingly unsurprised. Off you go then." He waved me off in the general direction of the exit. How charming. It wasn't hard to see where Klaus and Kol got their manners from.

I finally made my escape and took a huge breath of air. Well, I'd be damned if I ever did that shit again. The sex had been nice, but everything before and after it I could have done without. Now all I had to do was go home and face my brother. He'd probably hate me just like mom and dad. His sweet, innocent, good little sister was not so good after all. He'd think I was a terrible person. I felt kind of terrible. I was supposed to hate Klaus. He was a self involved, temperamental jerk. His first impression of Klaus hadn't been a good one. Staying out all night and getting laid was bad enough, how would he react if I told him it was that jerk he met at the party the other night?

Strangely enough when I did get home he wasn't there. He wasn't anywhere to be found. I searched around for a note or at least something to tell me where he'd run off to but didn't find anything. I texted him to ask where he was but didn't get a reply till an hour later.

'Oh so your phone is working now. I won't be home till late. I've got meetings with some very jet-lagged associates.'

I rolled my eyes. He was being a big baby. I had told him I was going to a party and that I'd be with Lexi. He hadn't left me so much as a note to come home to. But I knew I wasn't being entirely fair to him either. Him having to make last minute accommodations for his work and me staying out all night like a dumb teenager were two completely different things. I supposed I deserved his snark. I texted him back asking if he needed me to run any errands. I felt like a bad sister. Maybe I could make up for it by pulling some weight around here. He needed a woman's touch anyway. I'd have to make do for now until he perked up and found himself someone. He texted me back no, that I was grounded but I didn't accept that.

I started to clean up the apartment, scrubbing, dusting, vacuuming, and wiping down every solid surface. I also made a short list of groceries and decided to spend the down time I had after that shopping. This was all to keep myself distracted because anything was better than being left alone with my thoughts. If I stopped to think then I'd have to actually consider and accept that I'd just slept with Klaus and that I was screwing up already and that Stefan was possibly super angry with me because he'd seriously just tried to ground me.

xox

Monday, after a long scolding from Stefan in which he ensured that he wasn't wavering on the whole 'you're grounded' thing, I was slugging through my day. I hadn't got much sleep, and the sleep I did manage to squeeze in was hardly restful. By the time I got to lunch I was just going through the motions of being a functioning human being when I picked up that Lexi was grilling Bonnie hard about something.

I shook myself out of my funk to pay better attention. Apparently the reason Bonnie was always being so flighty about hanging out with us was because she was sort of seeing someone new, but that was all Lexi was able to pry out of her before she zipped her lips shut tighter than a safe at the bank. Just as I was about to chime in on the inquisition Lexi whipped in my direction and turned her line of questioning on me.

"And you!" She snapped accusingly. "Where did you disappear to the other night? I was worried sick!" I felt momentarily disarmed.

I hadn't expected her to turn on me but it was actually pretty fair. She'd only gone to the restroom and I disappeared, completely forgetting to tell her that I was okay. It violated the buddy system for me to do that. Jeez, 20/20 hindsight was being a serious bitch right now. Klaus had been able to make me forget and maybe not care or think too much about Lexi and Stefan. I'd ditched both of them and they'd both been worried about me. He had the tendency of doing that too. He had this thing where he could just create a private little bubble meant just for the two of us. It required serious effort on her part to burst through it.

"Sorry about that. I got so distracted I forgot to text you not to wait up." She glowered at me, looking supremely peeved.

"Well, I did wait up. I searched all over for you. What had you so distracted yet so well hidden?"

"Klaus distracted me." I stated rather evasively. Not only was the guilt building up to a heavy pit in my stomach but I didn't know what I should expect if I told them. Lexi looked less peeved and more sympathetically amused. The tenseness in her shoulders dissolved along with her glare.

"Being a pain as usual?" I contemplated saying yes or making something up but I had nothing to hide. So what if I couldn't anticipate their reactions? I was a little shocked and slightly embarrassed of my behavior but I wasn't ashamed. While I did regret how I handled that night in general it's not like I regretted sleeping with him.

"Less so probably due to his lack of sobriety. We slept together."

You could have heard a pin drop with the following silence. Bonnie, who had just been relishing at Lexi's distraction and the change of topic, was now gaping at me like a fish. Lexi's eyes were dangerously close to popping out their sockets. Lexi's "details!" and Bonnie's "what?!" came at the same time in perfect sync. I debated over who to answer to first.

"I had sex with Klaus." I repeated. "It was great." I took a dainty bite of my pizza.

I didn't mind telling them we had sex but I wasn't exactly eager to get into the details of it all. What I wanted to do was talk about Bonnie's tendency to go MIA. Thankfully Lexi seemed to accept my short response. She turned her attention back to Bonnie. Unfortunately she sensed it and began to gather her books. She ditched us with some excuse about having to get to her next class early. That was a huge red flag. She most definitely did not need to get to her next class early. We had politics together next. We usually thought up new ways to waste time in order to be late to that class, god forbid either of us get there early. Something was up that she was being so secretive about her mystery guy. I'm not sure why but my interest was piqued.

I bid Lexi goodbye and started to chase after Bonnie but was stopped short by Kol. He was cutting off my path to the classroom, moving in my way every time I tried to step around him, staring down at me with a mischievous glint in his eyes and a shit eating grin on his face. Finally I rolled my eyes and ceded to whatever game it was that he wished to play. I hadn't thought through what it would be like to see Klaus in school post-sex but it didn't look like he was even here today, so I may as well practice on Kol. Plus I did have his shirt buried in the bottom of my bag somewhere. I'd washed, ironed, and folded it nicely but was very reluctant to do so. It was super comfy and smelled absolutely divine. I mean he did say I could have it and it'd be hard to part with it but I could not keep it. No.

"Someone's been naughty." Kol sing-songed matter of factly. "You know we all knew you americans are looser with your morals than common whores but I do commend you holding out for so long."

"Do you ever get cold living in your brothers shadow, Kol? Doesn't it ever bother you that he seems to be the focal point of everyones focus where your family is concerned?" he looked like I'd just told him that Santa wasn't real or some other ridiculous thing. "Do you ever get tired being more involved and interested in his life than your own?"

I'd shocked him into silence and, more importantly, immobility, allowing me to stride right past him and into my next class where I immediately took my seat next to Bonnie. She was texting furiously at her phone, glaring so hard at the screen that I could have sworn the sleek white screen was about to shatter any second. She seemed startled by my presence when I sat down and looked up at me like she was momentarily disoriented but mumbled something under her breath and slipped her phone in her bag.

"So, are you embarrassed of him or embarrassed of us?" I looked down my nose at her dauntingly, an attempt to get at least a sliver of information out of her.

"Is both an acceptable answer?" Bonnie grumbled. Her shoulders were sagged and she looked tired all of a sudden. I felt bad. She was obviously keeping it secret for a reason. It was rude of me to push her like this. She'd spill the beans in due time, when she was ready.

"Sorry, I'll let it drop."

"No, no. I'm sorry too, for being so grumpy and tight-lipped. Truth is I just feel like the whole situation is very sticky and precarious and…ugh." She gripped at her hair frustratedly. "You know I don't even really know how he feels about it? I mean I know he'd be totally fine with it but we've never explicitly talked about it. And constantly thinking about everything is so stressful."

"Bon, you know you can unload on me anytime, I practically survive off of stress. Besides, if you say you know he'd be fine with it but you want to talk about it then why don't you guys just talk about it?"

"Because he's really easygoing—we're really easygoing together. I don't know." Just as I was about to reply Klaus strode into the class, his face like lightning. He looked as though he could kill. I stood in his path and placed my hand flat on his chest to stop him. He was looking at me but it was tough to tell if he could actually see me, if that makes any sense. His jaw was flexing almost uncontrollably and I could feel that his breathing was heavy. He wasn't just pissy or in one of his moods; he was livid.

"Is everything alright?" I was genuinely worried about him but he just grimaced at me in what I think was meant to be a dry smirk. He was usually quite good at those.

"Just peachy, love." He pushed past me without so much as another glance. I took my seat next to Bonnie.

I was curious as to what was wrong with him but it was none of my business. I'd just return his shirt to him after class and wash my hands of the whole thing. I'd gotten him out of my system already. No need to dwell. Right? I was acutely aware of Bonnie staring me down. She was chewing at her lip like she wanted to say something but before she could class began. Today seemed to be giving a whole new meaning to the whole 'mondays suck' trope. Bon scrambled out of the room the moment we were dismissed, killing any intention I had of continuing our conversation before Klaus had come in. It was a shame too, I'd gotten the feeling that she'd actually wanted to talk for the first time in a while. I thought about going after her but my phone trilled with a new message, from her, promising that we could meet up for coffee and some studying later. We did have tests coming up and getting out the house would be a big bonus. Stefan was intent on the grounding but surely he couldn't protest a study session. I texted her back a quick 'sure' but when Klaus tried to breeze past me I tossed my phone in my bag to grab him by the shoulder, forcing him to stop and turn around. The thunder in his eyes had far from dissipated but he stayed put regardless. I dug the henley out from my bag and presented it to him. While every other part of him remained tense the storm in his eyes settled by a fraction and was replaced by light confusion and mild amusement.

I had every intention of just shoving the shirt towards him and leaving. Very simple, very quick. But instead he caught me before I could walk away, pushing me against the wall and smashing, literally smashing, his lips against mine. It was violent, rough, and a few other things that I can't quite put my finger on. His lips were moving so hard against mine that I thought there might even be bruising when he pulled away, which he didn't until I slapped him. It was like the thought that we, as humans, needed air at some point hadn't even occurred to him. I risked looking up at him in the hopes he'd look at least a little better but had no such luck, he looked just as awful as before.

"Bad day?"

"From hell." A ghost of a smirk whisked across his face for the briefest moment. I smiled.

"You should feel right at home then." I thrust the shirt at his chest, forcing him to hold it. "Feel any better now that you've mauled my face?"

"That's relative." His tone was gruff. He sounded how he looked. "What's this?"

For a split second I wondered if he'd actually been drunk enough to forget and that I was too tipsy to notice but I quickly dispelled the thought. He'd been very lucid the night of and the morning after. If I remembered properly we even had a brief verbal spar. Maybe he was confused because he'd said I could just keep it but I did tell him I'd wash and return it to him.

"The top you let me borrow after you destroyed mine."

"I know but—" he shook his head. "Alright. You baffle me, Caroline Forbes."

"Normally I'd love to offer to explain, but for you I think I'll make an exception."

"Normally I don't do investment. I think I'll make an exception." He winked down at me. "You're the second woman to ever catch my attention enough for that."

"Second?" I was intrigued. And competitive. "Normally I'm second to none."

Klaus' eyes glinted, feral and dangerously mischievous. For a second I thought he might go in for another kiss because if he didn't I wasn't sure I could stop myself from doing it. Thankfully, or unfortunately - I couldn't decide just yet, Kol strode towards us looking grave, his usual demeanor nowhere in sight. He barely spared me a glance as he muttered something to Klaus, who replied in a hushed tone. Kol moved away from us and disappeared into a town car. Klaus turned back to face me. He gave me a look that was something along the lines of 'we're not done here' and went off in the same direction his brother had gone. With Klaus out of proximity I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding and the fog in my mind dissipated allowing me to think a little more clearly. Which meant I realized I had just done some heavy flirting with Klaus, when I was supposed to be relishing that I'd cleared the pipes, gotten him out of my system, was over it, whatever.

By the time I got home I'd completely spaced on meeting Bonnie for a study date and had to rush through changing, gathering my things, and explaining where I was going to Stefan. My thoughts were still muddled when I reached the park where Bonnie had told me to meet her. It was a nice day out, despite how hard it had been raining when I was on my way home. But the sun in the sky and divine smell of rain and the outdoors did nothing to brighten the decidedly off-kilter day I, and everyone else for that matter, seemed to be having. However late, I found Bonnie waiting for me. She'd already laid out a nice comforter to keep us off the wet grass. She didn't even look peeved that I was late though, she looked like she'd enjoyed the alone time to gather her thoughts, lucky bitch. I haven't had enough time to gather my thoughts, not that I think all the time in the world would even help.

"I don't know what it says about me that I want to tell you first and not Lexi even though I have known her longer and been friends with her longer etcetera but it's just that I think you'd understand better or know better than she would, especially after what you told us today at break, which I still will grill you about and give you grief for, by the way. It's just I'd like to get this huge damn weight off my shoulders first." She was babbling uncontrollably and I would have laughed if I wasn't so interested in her getting to the point. I didn't want to risk a detour should she lose her courage. "I've got a boyfriend."

"As we've all gathered." I nodded to prompt her to continue. Stating the obvious was a fairly good start.

"It's a Mikaelson. It's Kol." she was babbling again. It was a short sentence but she'd said it so fast that I couldn't be sure I heard her properly, and if I had heard her properly then I really hoped she'd tell me I was wrong and needed to get my ears checked.

"Come again?" Bonnie had covered her face with her hands but peeked an eye out at my response.

"I'm dating Kol." she bit her lip trying to gauge my reaction, but I was going to need more details before I'd give her anything. "It's new for him and for me too I suppose. My only other boyfriend was in high school and we had been long term but he moved away a few months ago. But Kol is just…his whole family is just, you know? And as far as I know I'm his first girlfriend. I thought it'd just be a fling, like a filler chapter to help me get over my ex but he's…really great, Caroline. Once you get past the whole Kol thing, he's so great."

"So, just allow me to catch up here. You, Bonnie Sheila Bennett, are in a committed monogamous relationship with Kol Mikaelson, Klaus' younger brother, and deemed me worthy to be the first and possibly only person to know because I slept with Klaus?"

"Yes…" she hung on the 's' and trailed off. But when I didn't say anything else she spoke up again. "He's great, I promise. He's romantic, sensitive, attentive, understanding, and he was the first to commit. He told me I didn't have to but that I was the only one he was interested in. Although he hadn't exactly been too happy about it…now that I think of it I think it made him a little cranky that he was focused on me for a while there, whatever."

"In that case I'm happy for you, Bon. Are you happy?"

"In some ways, yes. In other ways, no. He makes me happy but keeping it mum has been hard on me."

"Then why are you doing it?"

"Because I just want to tread lightly here. You're new to these people but I'm damn sure not. One must use caution when dealing with any of the Mikaelson's. With both business and pleasure."

That was definitely food for thought. I didn't know what to say to that, though. Because she was right. She'd probably known this family for a while. They lived around the same area and had probably crossed paths in school or at events. There are certainly people I'd advise Bonnie to proceed with caution around if she were on my turf, it would seem that here it was the Mikaelson clan. But how could an entire family be poison? Most families I knew only had one or two bad seeds.

"How many of them are there?" Bonnie shrugged at my question and started to count on her fingers.

"Finn, Elijah, Klaus, Rebekah, and Kol. But Finn moved and cut all ties. There was another one, Henrik, but he's very young. He's away at some prestigious boarding school." Bonnie took a pause. "But Klaus, Kol, and Rebekah are the closest of the lot. I'm just a little apprehensive because when you're involved with one, you're in bed with them all. I just don't know what'd happen if I tell him we can go public and then his family just ends up hating me. Why waste a heartache?"

Damn. That was a grand total of six children. It had to be heavy on his parents. I wondered if they were even still together. Or if they were, were they like my parents? That is to say were they only together for the sake of appearances? My parents had loved each other once upon a time. It feels like it was a lifetime ago that we were a happy, functional, normal family but really it wasn't so long ago. Generally when families fall apart the parents like to reassure the children that it isn't their fault but in our case there was always that unspoken truth that I really had been the one to tear my family apart. My only comfort, other than partying the pain away, had been that I could only take so much of the credit. Stefan, who proved to be the glue, had moved away and practically forgotten about us, my parents both had high strung jobs and could hardly pay attention to us, much less to each other, and then…there was Damon. Even just thinking about him now I felt my heart clench painfully. If I dug past the pain of the memories I could get a clear view of everything. His ice blue eyes, pale skin, dark locks, cocky smirk, and asshole tendencies, all of it was clear as day. His focus was on Stefan and me — always. He'd persuade Stefan to come home as frequently as possible. He'd sober me up and force me to get my shit together when it mattered. He was a fucking asshole, and sometimes an awful person, but no one could ever accuse him of not loving us.

"The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb." Bonnie looked at me like I'd lost my mind. "A bond formed by choice is stronger than a bond forced by blood. I'm sure when it really comes down to it Kol is with you, regardless of whether or not they hate you. Which they wont by the way."

"Thanks Caroline. That actually makes me feel better. Now enough about my horrible drama. Spill!"

I rolled my eyes and delved into everything to catch her up to speed. I tried to tell her about the constant flirtations but she already knew all that. Klaus wasn't exactly discreet with his advances in public. So instead I told her about the party that she'd ditched in favor of hanging out with Kol. But it turns out she was there, just in Kol's room the whole it was nice to talk about it, hearing it out loud was weird for me. Bonnie may feel better having let her Mikaelson cat out the bag but I had the overwhelming urge to stuff mine back in with a brick, tie it up, and throw it into the ocean.