It was odd, watching her wake up again. Part of him wanted to put her back to sleep, even if that meant snapping her neck again, just so he could fix the world he had broken for her a little more.
He had had a room made for her for quite some time now. Its walls were a pale type of blue and the bad was made of white wood. While she was asleep, he had sought out her mother. After a whole lot of yelling and crying on her part, Sheriff Forbes had finally relented in letting him take anything from her old room that he thought she´d need. The pictures of her and her friends, he had placed across from her new bed, on an old vanity. The photos of her and Tyler - as tempted as he had been to simply burn them all - he had guiltily placed in one of the vanity´s drawers, leaving her to decide if she wanted them out or not. While he had instructed Rebekah to order her a brand new wardrobe that was supposed to fill-up her walk-in closet completely, he also took all of her old clothing. Anything to make her feel safe again.
He had been there when she awoke. Absorbing her dazed and confused expression, digesting her devastated eyes when it all came back to her memory. What broke him entirely was the quiet and detached way she looked up at him, when he finally spoke. It was soft, gentle, broken, confused, hushed - it was all of it.
He remembered standing right behind her, when her porcelain fingers traced along her new vanity, resting a frame holding a photo of her , Bonnie and Elena. Unsure of what to tell her, he finally had settled on "Take your time. Dinner won´t be in another for hours". It was the way her shoulders had stiffened in that insecure manner, that he had found himself longing for a rejection or any sort of response other than defeat.
She had met him in the hallway when he had gone to pick her up for dinner. Her feet gliding along the floor like a ghost´s. Her eyes had been focused on the ground ahead of her, as if she were unable to meet his eyes. She was as self-conscious as a glass figurine close to the breaking.
Oddly enough, his siblings had agreed to dine with them. Elijah felt pity for the girl, Kol felt entertained, Rebekah felt relieved due to the peace that had come from her unexpected agreement with her brother.
Elijah tried his best to make her feel normal. No matter how quiet she remained, his polite "Good evening, Caroline" and his " Would you like some more wine" never stopped. Rebekah and Kol kept smirking at one another. Rebekah, because she was annoyed that Caroline had chosen to stick to her old, mediocre clothing instead of the things she had ordered for her, Kol due to his brother´s uncomfortable appearance around the girl.
They had made it halfway through dinner that way, when Kol dragged in an obviously compelled and barely dressed girl. "I think it´s time we had a proper family dinner." he announced. As he walked the girl up behind Caroline, he extended his hand towards her "Maybe the newest member would like to have the honors?" he asked smugly. Klaus was about to make true on his promise concerning Kol´s liver, when he spoke again. "C´mon brother, I am sure our sweet Caroline won´t mind. Won´t you, dear? Maybe we can teach her how to rip out hearts next?" he smirked. Before Klaus had a chance to lung for Kol though, Caroline responded. She threw the wine in her glass in Kol´s face. As the Original was about to grab her throat, he caught her eyes. That was the moment that changed it all.
People often laced sick fascination with fake disgust. All of the Originals were accustomed to that by now, and knew it for what it was. Envy. So when Kol found sincere disgust in the blue eyes of Caroline Forbes, it ripped through him in a humbling way. Like nothing he´d ever say or do now would ever get to that girl, like he might be able to kill her, but if not for that he was completely and utterly powerless over her. It was the look that she cast all of them, first Kol, than Rebekah, than Elijah, finally setting on Klaus, that struck them. In a thousand years of existence, a lot of people hate you, but no one had ever been sincerely sickened by any of them. It was the kind of disgust that started to contaminate, like self-loathing. It shushed them.
And then she retreated back to her room, just like a ghost.
After that, dinners became a routine. A lot of things became routine. Like Klaus sitting silently in her room, sketching her, watching her, keeping her from the thought of harming herself. Like Kol constantly trying to provoke her into yelling, needing to feel like a person again. Like Rebekah taking her shopping every other day in the hopes of getting one giggle, in the hopes of feeling like a person again. Like Elijah making her tea twice a day in the hopes of feeling like a person again.
Oddly enough, it would be Kol losing his patience that would finally get a reaction out of her.