The sun illuminated most of the room, filling it with early spring. Birds were chirping, the air smelled of flowers and earth.
Elijah had half a mind to discuss the weather, but thought it too pathetic an attempt. It´s been six months and he was still sitting the blonde girl down for tea. He would bring out the colorful china with the flowery pattern, he´d make Earl grey first and then later a pot of green tea. And she´d sit in an old armchair, silently, quietly. The way she sipped her tea always being in pity and distrust.
They had moved to New Orleans. Klaus had sat down and tried to explain most of it to her. It was difficult for them to fill her in if she held back on asking questions. Suffice it to say, a lot has happened in those six months.
After their attempt on Klaus life, the council had struck. The Original brothers had managed to keep Caroline out of harm's way, but the same could not be said for Rebekah. Though she´d still show up daily for dinner in hopes of watching Caroline turn back to normal, she was an outcast. For killing Elena when she thought Nik to be desiccated, for causing Elena´s turn into a vampire. So her brother did not move a finger to save her.
Damon and Matt had managed to save Elena, Stefan and her as well, but she was out for blood. So she went to the mansion, destroyed all of what had been left of Elena´s human blood and that was the end to it.
Klaus had been packing the last bags of Elena's blood in an ice box, with a sobbing Caroline sitting in the corner. The news of Elena being turned, shook her up. He knew part of her wanted to go to her and reach out to her.
"How dare you save Caroline over me?" Rebekah had come in, demanding answers. The question itself annoyed him. "I only had time to save one of you and you can´t be killed. Rest assured, I had a worse day than you. I think it´s time for us to move on, find some more werewolves." He shot a look at Caroline, who cringed at the news. Klaus had yet to decide whether he´d leave her back in Mystic Falls under Elijah's care or whether he´d risk her fragile state by dragging her along. He couldn´t always wrap her in cotton candy, that much he knew.
"Create your hybrid family. You don´t know anything about family." Rebekah cried.
"I know how easily they can be silenced with a dagger." Klaus added nonchalantly.
"Or by tearing out the heart of a loved ones." Rebekah spat, before throwing one of the three last blood bags at a canvas that was right behind Caroline, grabbing the other two in a fit of spite.
"No." Klaus growled as he watched the blood drip onto Caroline´s hair as she kept sitting around apathetically. In a combination of rage and guilt, her turned back towards Rebekah.
"Drop them." he demanded firmly.
"I warned you. I nearly broke thinking I´d never see you again."
"Put them down, Rebekah, there´s a good girl." he said exasperatedly.
"It´s always been me. Not Finn. Not Elijah. Not Kol. Not Caroline. ME. I loved you through everything and you don´t even care."
"Drop them."
"You want your family? Here's your family!" Rebekah yelled, as she squeezed the bags until they were nearly empty.
Klaus was at her throat in a flash. "Do you know something Rebekah, you were right. I don´t care. From this moment on you´re not my family, you´re not my sister." He pressed on harder with each word. "You are nothing." With that he stormed off.
When Elijah stepped in, he caught a glimpse of Caroline in her corner, her hair covered in blood. As he looked down upon his unconscious sister, the girl flashed to her room. She didn´t come out for two days straight.
Eventually, Rebekah switched from a hotel to her own apartment. After a rager at school - which, suffice it to say, only lead to another confrontation with Elena, - she kept on asking Caroline over, an invitation the girl never accepted. Part of her wanted to save the girl from Nik´s destruction, part of her needed a true friend. So she moved on to April Young.
Somewhere between the council-organized vamp-napping and the rager though, Pastor young blew up most of the council and Mystic Fall's vervain supply. Klaus accompanied Caroline to church, wishing he´d have the bravery to place his arm around her shoulder, like he was sure Tyler would have been able to. They both smelled April Young's blood at the same time. A part of him wound up disappointed when she did not talk Elena out of feeding off her, but the other had been proud for her being able to calm her best friend by just looking at her. Intuitive compulsion, free of any magic other than Caroline's pure heart. In the midst of it all, one his last hybrids got shot and in order to keep up appearances had been moved to the hospital. It was the first sign of a vampire hunter in town.
They had found a bloodied and tied-up pastor's daughter right along with Elena. The girl's blood immediately called out to the young vampire. Part of Klaus wished he had taken Caroline straight back home after that hunter shut his hybrid, Nate. He didn´t want her to see Elena give in, as he knew she would. Just as Elena was about to sink her fangs into April, Caroline - in a glimpse of her former self - rushed forward, grabbed her best friend and pulled her away. He´d half expected her to finally speak, only she didn´t. She just held onto Elena instead.
"Let go of me." Elena had demanded, her eyes solely focused on the blood. Caroline simply held tighter and stared the girl down until some form of self-recognition crossed at the Doppelganger's face. When her features had slowly morphed back to normal, Caroline had slowly let go. Then she bit into her own wrist and fed the unconscious orphan that was bleeding out on the balcony.
She soothingly patted the girls shoulders, when she woke up and asked "Please don´t hurt me." Caroline was oozing soothing at this very moment. He was about to step in, and compel the human to forget, but stopped when he watched Caroline stand and looking softly at Elena.
"why did he do this..?" the hurt girl asked, looking down at her injuries.
Elena finally got the meaning of Caroline´s look. "No, I can´t ... I can´t Caroline. You have to do it. Or Klaus. Or someone." Instead, Caroline only shook her golden curls. The only way Elena was ever going to learn was if she did this herself.
"No, I can´t..". At that Caroline grabbed Elena's hand in an affirmative gesture.
And after that, the Doppelganger did it: She compelled the school girl back into her safety bubble. He took the opportunity to flash his own fragile girl home, figuring that Caroline had been grown-up enough for one dreadful day.
After the shooting he bumped into a brunette wolf. Fetching appearance, saucy but somehow lacking in Caroline´s glow. The only thing interesting in her was where he met her. At Tyler's place. He never got the chance to interrogate her, but her demeanor told him enough: Not realizing the girl's true connection to Tyler, he assumed for the belated Lockwood to have cheated on Caroline.
He´d only gone to see Mayor Lockwood in order to discuss logistics in cowering up the hunter shoot-out at the mass funeral the past day. In return for his hybrids helping the town reign in the loose hunter, she´d provide them all with lodging. He could have housed all of them, but chose to only keep a few close, while leaving the rest there. Klaus feared a too high a number of people would disturb Caroline even more. She still hadn´t said a word and she still looked broken.
What he hadn´t expected was Caroline knocking at Mayor Lockwood's door. This marked the first time she had ventured out of the house and off his grounds on her own. He could hear the conversation at the door.
"Caroline." The mayor had been surprised, in a sad way. She knew of the ramifications her son's death had had on the poor girl.
Caroline had looked about wonderingly at all the strange men clustering Carol Lockwood's lobby. "Hybrids. I agreed to house them for Klaus while Connor is running about town."
At that, the girl's brow shot up questioningly. She didn´t know Klaus was only a few rooms away and could picture her dubious glance. As of late, he´d gotten to know her facial language pretty intimately.
In his musings, he stumbled upon a stranger, looking at the pictures in the belated Lockwood Sr. former office. "You´re a new face." he said, his arms behind his back.
The girl put down the picture. "And I take it from your accent you´re an old one. Klaus."
"My reputation preceeds me." he stated, as we slowly approached the brunette. "Hopefully not all bad."
"Only a little bad, mostly repulsive."
"So .. you´re a friend of Tyler's." He recalled the mayor mentioning something along those lines. "That´s strange. He's never mentioned you." In his contemplations, his ears returned back to the Mayor and Caroline.
"Look, I know you want to go see Tyler's old room." His pride stung at that. "But... now is not a good time."
He pictured his golden girl to give a sad nod.
"I heard that Rebekah Mikealson is throwing a house-warming party. You should go." the mayor suggested. Then, as realizing the insensitivity of that statement, she rectified her suggestion. "Or ... maybe you should just go... . you know... home." Klaus could hear the cringe in the last word, the mayor seemed to have a pretty strong idea about how Caroline would probably feel at his mansion.
"Trust me, Caroline, now is really not a good time." Carol said.
And a smile spread across his face as he was putting two and two together. He turned his attention back towards the wolf in front of him. "And I think I know why". He caught Haley looking after the sound of the front door closing.
Finally he recalled the name, the mayor had used. Haley.
"You know." he said, taking a seat with his feet on the desk. "You´re quite fetching Haley... I think you´ll have to run. I suggest you take the back door so Caroline won´t see."
The wolf was started at his familiar use of her name. "Whatever you think you know..."
"I don´t know anything, but I´ve put together a pretty convincing pitch and why don´t you tell me where my imagination deviates from reality." He got up and predatorily circled the wolf. "Tyler went off to the Appalachians to break my sire bond. There, he met a pack of werewolves, begged them for help. Among them was ... you. With the same animal instincts as him. Emotions ran high and ambitions ran low. .."
"Stop it..."
"Then, in a moment of weakness, the thick sexual tension became something much more real."
"I said stop." The girl screamed.
"Caroline has no idea." he concluded gravely. This delicious discovery turned out to come alongside a huge moral dilemma.
While he was pondering whether or not to tell her, fearing that the truth would break her more, he ventured to partner up with Stefan in order to obtain the cure. If Caroline ever wondered why Rebekah stopped dropping by for dinner, she most certainly did not voice the question or anything for that matter. Kol ventured out, following fake leads to her coffin, and went away for a while. He never told Caroline about Connor or the possible cure. He felt it safest for her if she knew as little as possible. She found out though... after all, he did house him at his Mansion.
It was incredibly stupid for them both not to hear her enter.
As Klaus was checking up on the hunter he had locked up next to the living room, he had assumed Caroline to be hiding upstairs, as per usual. As far as he knew, she hadn´t tried to visit the Lockwood Mansion again.
"I have to heave up the hybrid security." He casually commented as he sensed Stefan behind him. Though part of him was fearful. He might be here for Caroline instead of the hunter.
"I was gonna take him." the former Ripper said, gesturing at the chained-up human, "but I figured you went through such trouble to truss him up in your red room of pain. ..."
Klaus couldn't help but smile. "It´s from the Inquisition. I thought it was a nice touch."
"What did you get out of him?"
"Not enough. He´s numb about the council fire and he won´t say anything about this greater evil we´re all supposed to be shivering over. What brings you snooping?."
"Well, I can´t say in front of him. As I am sure you´ve figured out, our friend here can´t be compelled."
Klaus just smiled at his captive. "You´re full of mysteries, aren't you?".
The man finally responded. "I told you I don´t know anything."
"Thankfully, I know plenty." As both vampires turned to leave the man locked up and behind, they saw her. Gazing at the man, obviously shocked to find Stefan in line with her jailor. They hadn´t seen each other since the funeral. And now she rushed off again, to hide in her pale blue safety zone. Though Klaus figured, she didn´t feel safe there either.
Lately, he´d grown more and more concerned. He couldn´t talk to her about her attempt to visit Tyler´s old room, he couldn´t really comfort her at the funeral or after. She barely responded when he rescued her from the council. Part of him knew that he was supposed to spend time with her, bond with her, get her to trust him. But he knew what lay behind the hunter's mystery: The promise of more safety for them both. As for this greater evil: someone needed to make sure it wouldn´t touch her.
Stefan, on the other hand wondered what had scared her out of the living room: The talk of a greater evil, his deal with Klaus or the knowledge that he did not come for her.
So while they went out, they´d leave Elijah to have tea with her.