It was hard to pay attention at work now. Whenever she poured another drink for someone, she thought of how she'd poured a drink for herself the night before, and then another and another. And every time she brought out a plate of fries or a burger, her stomach churned with the reminder of just how much she'd had to drink.

"You look a little worse for the wear," Vincent said. He was occupying his usual seat at the bar. She was hoping that the shower and the few aspirin she'd taken a few hours ago before she left the apartment had helped her disheveled appearance, but apparently they hadn't.

"I had a wild night of partying," she said, meaning for it to be sarcastic. But it had turned out to be true.

"Oh really? Girls night out?"

All the color drained away from her face. If she told the truth of who she'd been with, would he give her a hard time like Davina had? She'd already told him that she had complicated feelings for Klaus, but she still couldn't get a good reading on his reaction to that. "I had a date, actually," she admitted.

He raised his eyebrows, and then his eyes flashed with knowing. "Ah, and what was it like to go on a date with a so-called 'monster'?"

"…I'm not sure. I had a nice time, up to a point," she said.

"And then?" Vincent said.

"And then…I don't remember," she admitted, not meeting his eyes. She still felt so ashamed of this. She wanted so desperately to remember the details of the later hours of that night, to remember if they had kissed, what it had felt like… "I had a lot to drink," she explained.

"Ah," Vincent said. "Well, do you think you'll go out again?"

"He said he'd take a rain check for breakfast sometime. But then when he was driving me home, he wouldn't look at me at all."

Vincent sat back and waited for her to look up at him. "Cami, he's a temperamental creature. I see you stressing over there, worrying about what he thinks about you, when practically the entire city knows that he likes you. He will come around, he's just…wrestling with his inner demons or whatever brooding bullsh*t he wants to call it."

Cami blushed and looked away again. It was just so easy to get caught up in that thought cycle of He seems to like me but how do I know if he really does or not, I don't know, let me stress about it for the next twelve hours.

"What did you all do?"

"He took me to an art gallery first, and then it got very stuffy, so we went to a dive bar, got drunk, got drunk food, and then went back to the plantation house to go swimming."

Vincent raised his eyebrows suggestively, giving her a teasing smile. "Ooh, did you…?"

"I—"

The door to the bar pushed open with enough force to bang against the wall. Klaus walked in, a look of determination on his face. "I need to speak with you," he said in a low, urgent voice. "Now."

"Sure, okay," Cami said. Vincent gave her a worried look, and she was sure she couldn't hide her own expression of distress. Her stomach had dropped into her feet, and she wasn't sure what was wrong, she just knew she wasn't going to like it.

Klaus followed her as she stepped away from the bar, leading him through the kitchen to the back door, where they stepped outside into the fading afternoon light. They waited for the cook to finish his cigarette before she turned to face him, searching his eyes which were clouded over with some unfathomable expression. "What's wrong?"

He seemed agitated, shifting from foot to foot, his hand fidgety. "What is it?" she said, because he didn't seem like he was about to say anything any time soon.

"I…" he was still fidgeting, moving around, looking anywhere but at her. Finally he looked up, his eyes locking with hers. "I can't see you anymore."

She felt like she was going to puke. Every part of her body grew cold, goosebumps raising on her skin, a shiver running through her. Had she done something terrible, horribly embarrassing during the lost hours of last night that she couldn't remember? "Why?" she asked dumbly, hoping it didn't come out as whiny as it had sounded to her.

"I don't think it's a good idea."

"What a stellar reason," she spat. If he was going to dump her, or stop seeing her, or whatever this was, it had better be a better excuse than that. "Now what's the real reason."

His eyes dropped away and he seemed to be wrestling with the right words. After a long moment of silence, she decided that all the anger bubbling up in her should be unleashed, that hopefully it would get him to tell the truth. "After all that we've been through, after everything that has happened to us and between us, I think you owe me an explanation."

He smiled in that, You're Just Unbelievable sort of way and she knew that had done the trick. "Sweetheart, I do not owe your or anyone anything. And there is no 'we' or 'us,' there never was and never will be. That's what I came to tell you. That you are sadly under the wrong impression about me, and seem to mistakenly believe that I have some sort of special feelings for you. Allow me to dispel the rumors and tell you I feel nothing of the sort."

She was shaking now, she couldn't believe this was really happening. But underneath all her anxiety, underneath all the thoughts that had been screaming doubts at her, she really did know that he wasn't telling the truth. "You're lying," she said.

"Try me," he said.

She took a step closer to him, feeling her own stomach tense. And she could see his jaw clench, and she knew that if she kissed him now that he would kiss back, and that she was right and he was lying. "Tell me the truth," she said, emphasizing each word.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, you want to know the truth?"

"Yeah, I think I deserve it, don't you?"

"Fine, the truth is that I am one of the most powerful, ruthless, and deadly creatures to ever live. And even speaking to you now puts you in danger."

"That's what this is about?" She felt like they'd already had this argument twenty thousand times. "I may be a human, but I've been involved with the supernatural world for years and I have survived this long."

"Yes, you're a human for now, and you think you're strong because you've continued to stay alive, but one day you will see just how much you are in over your head. And then you will ask me what every human asks of me and—"

In spite of herself, she actually started laughing. "I can't believe this. You're scared that I'll ask you to turn me into a vampire, and that's why you don't want to see me anymore? In case I haven't made this abundantly clear by now, I like being human, and I want to stay being human. Or are you scared of that too?"

He stared at her in silence, and she realized she was right about that too. "Why is it that everything has to be a war for you? I don't get it…you're scared that I'll either ask you to make me a vampire, or that I won't and then I'll grow old and die. Why do the stakes have to be so high for you? Why can't we just spend time together, and enjoy that?"

"Because you and I both know it will be more than that."

She closed her eyes to take that in for a moment, let it really sink in and process it. She knew he had been lying when he said there were never any feelings between them. Of all the cryptic things he'd said to her about his feelings, this by far was the clearest. He had all but said that he was going to fall in love with her.

"So let go of control and just let it happen," she said, taking a deep breath. She opened her eyes to see his reaction. And he was gone.

For the whole rest of the day, she stewed and came up with perfect responses to everything he'd said. She thought of every vile name she could call him, every button she could push to get him mad, everything she could say to convince him that he shouldn't run away.

Vincent had tried to ask her what Klaus had said to her, but she kept her mouth shut about it, instead internalizing everything Klaus had said and remembering the part where he had said that they would be more than something casual.

She thought back to the time that he had said he would have found her, that they were basically destined to meet. And when she thought of that, and thought of what he'd said to her earlier in the day, she knew that even through all the doubt that so often filled her mind, he did care for her and he did want to be with her.

And so at two in the morning, when she'd closed up the pub, she walked to the compound.

The downstairs was empty, but she stood and looked around, waiting to see if anyone upstairs had heard her come in. When no one appeared, she started shouting. "Klaus!" It took her calling his name four times before he appeared at the bannister, leaning over the railing.

"It's only two in the morning, but by all means, feel free to wake the entire neighborhood," he said. And he flashed that smug smile that made her even angrier than she already was.

She trudged up the stairs, stomping out each step like an angry child throwing a tantrum.

"I thought from our discussion earlier today that I made it clear that it was ill-advised for us to see each other anymore. Coming here so late at night seems rather counterproductive to that point," he said.

She was face to face with him now. "Or, how about you tell it like it really is. What happened earlier today was not a 'discussion,' it was you talking at me for five minutes and giving me no choice in the matter. And I think I should have a say in this, don't you?"

"Haven't we already had a discussion on boundaries, Camille? If I say that I don't want to be seeing you anymore, you must respect my boundaries and leave me alone."

"See, I would do that, if I truly believe that that's what you really wanted."

Again, he smiled that exasperated, I can't believe this is happening smile. "Go on, then, proceed to tell me all about what I want. I'm curious to know."

"I think you do want to be with me. And I think you're too much of a coward to even admit it to yourself, let alone do anything about it."

"Oh yes, I, Klaus Mikaelson, an immortal who's known the world over for his ruthlessness, am terrified of one human woman," he said, rolling his eyes.

"The fact that you're deflecting right now just tells me how right I am." Cami's adrenaline was pumping now, and she was prepared to say whatever it would take to get him to spit out the truth and admit that he was trying to get rid of her because he was scared.

"Oh please, Camille, don't patronize me with psychoanalysis."

"Then just tell me the truth! Because the fact of the matter is that I would go up against the whole world to be with you, but you're too scared!" she shouted. She was sure her face was red with anger now, and she couldn't contain her volume any longer. She just wanted him to be honest with her, now when it was more important than any other time, and she would push any button she had to in order to get him to that point.

"You want to know the truth? Yes, the truth is that I am scared. I am scared to get closer to you because of how strongly I feel for you. I'm scared that being close to you could put you in danger— it already has, multiple times. I'm scared of losing you, and that is a very strong possibility if I get closer to you."

She was not expecting the truth to come out so soon; she'd had another several inflammatory accusations planned to say to him in order to get it out of him, she wasn't expecting that he would give up the game so easily.

It took her a minute to process what he'd said and come up with a response. "Have you ever considered that I can be brave enough for the both of us?" She was kind of bluffing at this, but she was hoping he couldn't tell.

Klaus wouldn't look at her. She stepped closer, willing her heart to stop beating a million miles a minute, giving away how nervous she was. Again, she felt that magnetic pull towards him like she had when they'd spoken earlier at the bar. "I know you're scared," she said, "and I am too. But I know that if we give this a chance, I won't regret it. I am just a human, and I want to stay that way, but I am smarter and stronger than I look. People continually underestimate me, don't you be one of them."

"I don't underestimate you," he said, still not meeting her eyes. "But if I ever lost you…"

"Stop thinking that far in the future. Think about now, how you feel now. Because if it's anything like how I feel, then you wouldn't think twice about it."

Finally he looked up at her. "It's not that simple. I can't just let go of the fears that plague me."

"Then let me make you forget them. Let me in. Let me…"

And Cami O'Connell decided she had to do something crazy in order to get through to him. Her hands grasped at the collar of his shirt, closing her fists around the fabric as she pulled him closer and smashed her face to his.

She didn't know if this was their first kiss or not, but it didn't matter. If they had kissed the night before, this one was much better, not just because she could remember it, but because this one wasn't sloppy with drunkenness or tainted with the bitter taste of whiskey. His lips were warm, solid and unmoving against hers.

He stood there for a long moment, unmoving, his arms at his sides as she held him to her. And then he was kissing back, his lips closing around her lower lip, cupping her face in his hands.

All the anxiety she felt, all the nervousness melted away and Cami knew that she had been right all along, that she could convince him to see that they should be together. When his tongue darted out of his mouth, running along her upper lip, she felt like she might pass out. She had never before been kissed like this, she had never felt like she could keep kissing someone all day and that she might die if she stopped.

Her lips parted as he continued kissing her, his tongue edging past her teeth. And all she could think was I knew it.

His hands moved from her face as his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her body against his. She felt a flush of warmth rush through her as she released the collar of his shirt, her fingers running through his hair. He pulled back for a second and she could feel him smile against her lips, and she smiled back, fighting the temptation to say, "I told you so."

She loved the way his lips felt against hers, the warmth of his mouth, the way he sucked her lower lip in between his teeth. She felt herself moving backwards as he guided her towards his room. His breath was coming out in short huffs, his hands balled up in the hem of her shirt, and she smiled again because she knew she had been right and she knew that he had wanted her all along.

His room was dark, and they couldn't see anything, but he closed the door behind them and then pressed her against it, hitching her leg up around his hip. Her fingers closed up in his curls, pulling, her stomach doing flipflops at the sound of the soft groan escaping his lips. When his lips moved away from hers, kissing the expanse of her neck, she found herself making similar noises.

They both knew now that there was no going back, there was no more denying that they had feelings for each other. His arms felt like home to her, and she hoped that with each kiss, she was proving all of his arguments wrong. She hoped that he felt safer with each passing moment, and that he could see, just like she did, that this was supposed to happen. He had once said that if they hadn't met the way they had, he would have found her one way or another. And she believed that the same was true of their encounter now, that it would have happened one way or another. It was fated to happen. Because Cami knew that despite all his protestations and weak excuses, Klaus wanted her, and he wanted to be with her. This kiss proved it.

[A/N: Thus concludes Where The Evening Takes Us. Hope you liked it and that it fulfilled all your Klamille trash dreams! xoxo, lordfartquad]