I got several prompts for this. Here you go. :)
She could still feel the touch of his lips, lingering on her skin.
He had actually allowed Tyler to come back.
She was always trying, trying so hard to believe in the fact that things were gonna be okay, to work for it. Stay optimistic, do her best, stay smiling, keep her head held high. There was no point in giving up, in crying. Her mother didn't die. Elena turned it on again. The veil was gonna be back down soon. And, despite herself, she had almost given up on it – Tyler was free now.
Things were gonna be okay if she just tried hard enough. Life had proven her right once again.
He had proven her right. Klaus.
Sometimes she felt like he was two different people.
The killer, the monster, the ruthless sociopath that had tried to murder her once.
And then this caring, sensitive, sophisticated, perfect man that had proven to jump over his own shadow, just for her.
She was past wondering why, what it was about her that had him so head over heels. She was not one to underestimate herself. Doubt was not her kind of thing.
Trust was.
And for once, to a certain extent, she trusted him.
She'd been so relieved when he'd arrived.
It had been like in one of these cheesy movies, the moment she'd been in danger he'd appeared to save the day.
She hadn't even felt a single twinge of remorse or pity when he had killed the witch she'd spend weeks hating herself for, somewhere in the back of her mind.
She'd become comfortable with death, with being a vampire, a killer, to some extent.
She had allowed herself to be comfortable with him.
She had felt disappointed that he had left without saying goodbye. That was something she had accepted after Silas had attacked her. There was a reason he'd chosen to appear as Klaus.
Yes. They were friends now.
And she actually liked that idea.
But still, her breath caught at the memory of his confession.
'I intend to be your last.'
He was in love with her and he was ready to wait. Forever.
This man that was used to taking everything he wanted by force would stand back and treat her with respect. Even more so than her friends did.
He saw her for what she was and he appreciated her in a way that she hadn't even ever expected to encounter in her life. It was like he knew her inside out, despite the fact that they'd barely even talked, despite the fact that their friendship was still a new and fragile thing.
Everything was okay, everything was alright. She'd go off to college, with Bonnie and Elena. They had a whole world to discover, a whole life to live. They'd made it. All of them.
There was nothing holding her back anymore, no reason to be unhappy.
"So…," he started, smiling at her softly, his eyebrows raised. "Since you are now officially done with the high school-part, how about you let me take you out to dinner to celebrate?"
She smiled back at him. "That sounds like a plan."
She saw a glint of delight in his eyes and she felt happiness spread in her chest in return. This was really nice.
She enjoyed the night air rustling up her hair while walking up the Mystic Grill with him, arm in arm.
She had actually graduated. So many things had happened in the past year.
She was someone else now, and she was happy about that.
"So," she asked. "What's going on over in New Orleans?"
He sighed, raising his eyebrows. "You know, love, just the usual supernatural frenzy. I have a…" he squinted his eyes. "I have an enemy over there that I need to get rid of. But he has something I want, I need to take it first."
He held open the door for her and she entered. When gestured to take her jacket she took his offer and it made her smile again. An old school-gentleman. Well, except for the killing thing, of course.
When they sat down, she decided to ask further.
"And what is that thing you want he has?"
"The city," he answered and when he saw her confused look he elaborated. "You see, me and my siblings, we built New Orleans back then. Due to the fact that I was always on the run from my father I had to leave town. That has changed now."
She frowned. "You want to have the city? How does that even work?"
The waitress arrived and he ordered a bourbon for himself and she nodded, ordering the same for herself and proceeded to order a burger and french fries, on which he joined her, too.
"As of now New Orleans is under vampire control. Marcel, my enemy, is the one in charge. We have… history."
She licked her lips. "So we're talking a little vampire dictatorship?"
He chuckled. "I suppose you could phrase it that way. But he prefers to refer to himself as king."
She scoffed. "Seriously, wrong century."
He shrugged. "It works for him. And it will for me."
She rolled her eyes. "So now that you can't build your little army anymore you are in desperate need of another way to oppress people. Great."
He sighed and then the waitress arrived with their drinks.
Then he smiled. "Caroline, you know who I am. I don't intend to make excuses for that."
She nodded. "I know."
"But-" she started, taking a sip of her drink, smiling playfully. "For tonight none of this matters. I have graduated. We have graduated and that's all that matters right now."
He chuckled, drinking some, too. "That's the spirit."
"So, how have you been?" he asked.
Should she tell him about Silas? Well, maybe not all of the details.
"It's been a messy few days. But I managed to survive them without any major damage done." She grinned but the smile fell from his face.
"What happened?"
She sighed. "Silas tried to kill my mom. And he used me to get to Bonnie. But in the end she turned him into stone so all is well now."
His eyes hardened. "What did he do?"
She sighed again and took a sip of her drink. She was uncomfortable talking about this. But then again, she hadn't talked to anyone about it yet and with him it was hard to resist the urge to tell. "Made me think he'd stabbed me, scared me a little, made me cut myself. But he didn't do any serious damage. It's okay."
She saw emotion flickering to his eyes. Then he closed his eyes for a moment.
"I shouldn't have left."
Despite herself she felt her heart beat faster for a moment.
"Please, don't flatter yourself. You have no obligation to be here. We've been trying to get rid of you for several months now," she joked.
He shook his head and licked his lips.
"It's not like you could have done anything, anyway," she said.
The food arrived and she thanked the waitress. When she looked back at him he still looked absent somehow.
"He could have easily killed you," he finally said, his voice hard.
She nodded. "Yes, but he didn't. And this is graduation night, remember? So none of the what-ifs. None of that at all. I want to celebrate the life in front of me."
A smile crept back up on his face.
"Tell me about it," he said as they started to eat, his eyes catching hers. "What is it you plan on doing with said life?"
She broke out in a grin. "I don't really know, actually. Anything. I might just go to college with Elena and Bonnie first. We can really do anything. It will be so amazing."
His eyes softened.
"You know, I have always loved this town. But now I feel like it's time to leave. Everything is perfect, somehow."
"I'm happy to hear that," he said and smiled in a way that had her heart skip a beat again.
She took another sip of her drink.
"I still can't believe it's all over. I mean – I have basically spent all of my life in this town. And now I graduated. I managed to achieve more than I ever thought I would in the process."
She thought back to becoming Miss Mystic Falls, becoming immortal.
"I suppose you aced every subject."
She laughed. "Yes."
He set down his cutlery. "And now you can do whatever you wish. You are free. I told you before. There is a whole world waiting for you. Beauty. I am positive you will love it." The words did their magic, as usual. "Just try and stay away from the supernatural."
She nodded. "I've got my share of that already, trust me."
He took another sip of his drink. "You could come visit me sometime."
Their eyes met again and she found in herself that she actually liked the idea.
She smiled. "I just might."
She watched the happiness spread on his face and it made her heart jump again.
She was truly happy for now. Right here, right now, was where she wanted to be.
Suddenly she heard the ring of her phone.
She reached into her pocket.
"Damon," she said, frowning, then rolled her eyes. "Oh, please no more supernatural bullshit tonight."
He chuckled as she picked up.
"Hello?" she asked. To her surprise there was silence on the other end of the line.
"Damon?"
"Yes," he finally answered, his voice strained.
"I'm sorry blondie, I've got bad news."
Her eyes widened and Klaus looked at her in worry.
"What's the matter?"
"You might wanna sit down for this. Caroline. Bonnie is dead."
She dropped her fork, barely registering the noise. She was frozen.
Klaus' eyes widened in shock as he watched her, frozen as well.
"She… she died yesterday. She didn't tell us… She, she disappeared when the veil dropped. Jeremy-"
Her mind went numb, switching Damon's voice off to mute as she tried to process the information. Or rather not to.
No, no there had to be a way. There had to be a way, there had to be a way. This couldn't be- this couldn't be happening. No. No.
"There needs to be something we can do. There has to be something. We can fix this! I'm sure there is a way – Damon, we cannot give up yet, we will be able to fix this. We have to contact some witches, I'm sure they'll know – this is probably a misunderstanding," she was rambling but she couldn't stop. The dread was creeping in, slowly making its way into her mind as she desperately tried to push it away. She felt her hand shaking.
"No," Damon said, on the other side of the line, his voice hard. Then, it softened. "Bonnie is dead, Caroline. There is nothing to be done."
She felt the tears running down her face before she'd even noticed them rising up in her eyes. She stared back at Klaus who had his gaze fixed on her, his eyes wide in worry, frowning. He became blurry.
Before she knew it she was up on her feet, out of the building.
Where. Where could she go, how could she fix this. There was a way to fix this. There was no way she'd give up now, she was not going to bow down to the desperation now. There was a way.
There always was a way. There always was-
Klaus was with her, placing his hands on her shoulders.
"Caroline," he said but she just shook her head, her eyes wide while trying to wipe away the tears with her trembling hands.
"No. No. There is a way." She turned towards him, frantically.
"You know witches. You know witches. Call them, there has to a way, I'm sure they know-"
He shook his head. "Caroline," he repeated his voice soft.
"Caroline, there is no way."
She shook her head again. "No, no, you're lying. Bonnie can't be- Bonnie isn't-"
He closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them again, fixing his gaze on hers as if he wanted to make sure she understood what he was telling her.
"I am sorry, Caroline. There is no way."
Then, it crashed down on her. She gasped with the impact as the pain rolled over her and dragged her along like a wave of dread and terror.
Bonnie was dead.
Bonnie was dead.
Bonnie-
She heard herself sobbing as her legs gave in underneath her and she slumped to the ground.
Carefully, he sat down with her, his hands holding her upright as she lost control of herself.
Bonnie had graduated with them, knowing she was dead.
She had stood on that stage, taking the certificate from her father, hugging him, hugging her, she'd fantasized about the future with them.
Promise this will be a friend-day.
She collapsed.
There was no hope, there was no force that made it all okay at the end of the day. There was no way for her to fix this.
Bonnie was dead.
He pulled her into his chest, holding her, his hand caressing her hair as she clasped onto the fabric of his suit, sobbing uncontrollably.
She held onto him as if her life depended on it and an ironic voice in the back of her mind remarked that he was here to comfort her this time.
She was going crazy.
Bonnie was dead.
Nothing was okay.