A/N: Here it comes: I am so, so, so, so sorry that this took so long. When I look at the last time I updated, I feel so guilty. I really have no other excuse than I haven't felt particularly Klaroline obsessed since the season finale. The more I hear about the Originals, the more discouraged I get, but I am excited to see the new show. Thank you so much to all who have kept reading and reviewing these past few months, you have kept me motivated! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I promise that any future updates will be more frequent. As for this story, I don't know how much longer it really has. I will know better once I get some more feedback from all of my lovely readers as to where you would like it to go. Please let me know what you think! Thanks :)

Chapter 24

Mystic Falls

-Present Day-

Suffocated. Utterly suffocated. Everything he had felt in his one thousand immortal years was crushing him from every side and he couldn't move at all. He looked at his wife from his spot on the floor where he had unceremoniously fallen only moments earlier, the tears shining in her eyes mirrored his. She knew what was happening. He knew that she felt terribly, but he also knew that it wasn't her fault. Klaus had known that this day would come, but that did not change how completely unprepared he was to deal with all of these emotions. He knew what he had to do. The only way to deal with these memories was to leave and work them out. Alone. Caroline had knelt before him, lip quivering as their eyes met. Klaus shot her an almost apologetic look before flashing out the door.

Caroline fell backwards off of her feet as she watched him go. The tears that had threatened to escape had nothing damming them now. She brought her arms around her legs and rested her head on her thighs. They had talked so often about this day, but never about what they would do if the emotions proved too much for her strong husband. She hoped that some time alone would help him, and that he would be back as soon as possible. He might have been used to being without her, but she was not.

Rebekah couldn't believe how happy she was. Her family finally felt complete and she was finally where she wanted to be with her quarterback. She hadn't felt so whole in one thousand years. After they had left Klaus and Caroline the night before, Kol, Elijah, and Rebekah had decided to go to the Grill for celebratory drinks. As long as Klaus was happy, their family was safe. They spent the first half of the night reminiscing about their beautiful nieces and the simpler Mystic Falls in which they had grown up. After a while, Matt came over from the bar. He scooted into the booth next to Rebekah.

"What are the three of you so happy about? I don't think I've ever heard so much laughter from one vampire, let alone three," said Matt incredulously.

Rebekah smiled at him, "We just got back from visiting with the girls. It was so nice to see Klaus happy again," she said, resting her head on his shoulder. He brought his arm around her shoulders as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Kol and Elijah looked at the couple knowingly before excusing themselves to the bar. Just as they sat down, Bonnie, Elena and Stefan walked through the door. Kol waved them over, kissing Bonnie's cheek as she sat down beside him, Elena next to her and Stefan standing by Elena. As the two couples engaged in their impromptu double date, Elijah felt as though he were intruding, and politely excused himself.

Kol felt bad as he watched his brother leave, hoping that Elijah would soon find someone that would make him as happy as the rest of his siblings.

After a few drinks, Matt and Rebekah had made their way to the dance floor. They were holding onto one another and lazily swaying to the music. They had been unofficially together for awhile now, as Matt was hesitant to move too quickly. He didn't want to provide Rebekah with the unnecessary heartbreak that was sure to come if he felt things were going too fast. But now, after spending so much time with her, he felt almost incomplete whenever she wasn't with him. It was a strange feeling for Matt. Sure, he had been
pretty serious about Elena and Caroline, but he had never felt this strongly about anyone before Rebekah. He just couldn't wait to tell her.

Rebekah was exhausted. After the excitement of the previous few days, she felt as though she could sleep for a year. Unfortunately, she hadn't fed in quite a while, and dancing so closely with Matt was having inconvenient side effects. She turned her face as far away from him as possible as she felt her eyes change and her fangs elongate. At least it was dark inside the Grill tonight. Once she was able to regain temporary control of her hunger, Matt started to pull away. Luckily he had waited those few extra minutes. The two of them had never really had to address Rebekah's vampire needs, because as of now, they hadn't done more than kiss. Rebekah was worried about how Matt would react to seeing her face change in hunger, or lust, directed at him.

As Matt pulled away from Rebekah, he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards a secluded booth in the back.

"Matt?" said Rebekah softly. He turned abruptly at her quiet tone.

"Yeah, Bekah?" he responded, furrowing his brow.

"I was just wondering…" she trailed off. Matt pulled her closer to him, so as to hear her better. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck and brought her lips to his ear.

"Take me home," she whispered seductively.

Matt could feel the heat rising to his face as he let his head roll back in a low groan. Rebekah smiled innocently before Matt grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and pushed her against the nearest wall. Rebekah let him strong arm her, knowing that he needed to feel in charge. He crushed his lips to hers, and the heat ignited within both of their bodies. Matt reluctantly pulled away, resting his forehead on hers.

"Your place or mine?" he said between breaths, locking eyes with Rebekah. She bit her lip and smiled before flashing the both of them to his car.

She was tired. Tired of crying, tired of facing her toddlers with the knowledge that their father was nowhere to be found and tired of blaming herself. She knew that it wasn't her fault, and that was exactly what Stefan had said when he called and she filled him in on some of the details. She still wasn't ready to tell anyone that he was gone, clinging to the hope that he would return soon and everything would go back to the way it had been less than a day ago. As the sky turned dark and the girls fell asleep, she knew what she had to do to survive the night. She called Bonnie, who had been otherwise occupied with her boyfriend, but upon hearing the desperation in Caroline's voice she agreed and came over as soon as she could pry herself away from Kol. When she arrived, she expected to spend the night with her best friend helping her to work through whatever problem she was having, but as soon as she crossed the threshold, Caroline flashed out the door, leaving only a note in her wake. It explained that the girls were sleeping and Klaus was out, so she needed Bonnie to keep an eye on the girls while she ran some errands. Bonnie assumed that she was just making sure she was fed before the girls woke up, so she went about her duties as best friend/babysitter, and cleaned up the house as best she could before plopping on the couch and calling Kol to join her.

Loud knocking awoke her from a deep sleep. The part of her brain that remembered that she had just gotten back from an all-nighter at the station wanted to turn over and pretend that no one was there, but there was a feeling in the pit of her stomach that forced her out of bed and to the door.

"Caroline!" said Liz as she opened the door, but before she could say anything else, her daughter had launched herself into her arms, burying her face in her mother's neck. She brought her arms around her shaking daughter as she shut the door and walked to the living room.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" she said, knowing that this was more than a daughter missing her mother. Caroline was curled up on Liz's lap, while her mother stroked her hair, but her tears were falling too quickly for her to speak. "Is it Klaus?" she asked hesitantly, knowing how strongly Caroline felt about the original, and that she would surely defend him with her life.

Liz could feel Caroline's sobs get stronger when she mentioned her son-in-law.

"Honey, you're going to have to tell me. I really have no guessing power when it comes to your relationship with Klaus," she said as Caroline slowly sat up on the couch, resting her head on Liz's shoulder.

"He's gone," she said simply, hanging her head, "the memories of the past thousand years without us came back to him this morning, and he left. I mean, I knew he would need to leave to sort things out, and I know there are a lot of memories from so many years, but I need him. I need my husband, and I have no clue where he is," she finished, as she sighed in exasperation.

"I see," said Liz trying to wrap her head around the situation. "I think that you need to give him a few days, maybe even a week to sort these things out in his head. No human could handle the crushing force of so much pain without suffocating, but he's more than human, Care. He's the strongest person I have ever met, besides you," she said, winning a small smile from her daughter, "and he will get through this. You will get through this. I know it," she said, as she rubbed Caroline's back soothingly. She waited for Caroline to respond, but as she looked down, she realized that she had fallen asleep. Liz stood up and laid Caroline down on the couch, covered her with a blanket, and left the room to call and check up on Bonnie and the girls.

He was running. Chasing everything and nothing as the miles and hours passed. He had nothing but the sun to tell him how long he had been running, but all he knew was that it was helping and he had no plans to stop. He was slowly working his way through the memories, day by day, year by year in his mind. Some were harder than others. He had gotten through about a century and the pain was starting to lessen, especially when he reminded himself of the real reason that his girls were taken from him. He hoped that this process wouldn't take him too long, as he was already feeling guilty for leaving Caroline and the girls, but he knew that Caroline would understand eventually. She would be upset that he left so suddenly and for such an extended amount of time, but she would understand. That's what you do when you love someone, and Caroline loved him almost as much as he loved her, so deep down he knew that it would all work out. It had to.

A/N: So… What did you think? I spent probably a total of three separate days trying to make this chapter come together, and I'm still not completely sold on it, but I feel like I needed to have a chapter like this, where there isn't much dialogue, in order to get back to the heart of the story. Please let me know how you liked the chapter, and feel free to leave suggestions! I can't promise anything, but I do take my reviewers opinions to heart, and I try as hard as I can to make you guys happy with the direction of the story! On a side note, I would love for someone to make a new graphic for this story. I love the old one, but now that Klara and Carina are playing a little more of a role in the fic, it would be nice to see them on the cover. Please let me know if you're interested! Thank you so much for staying with me, and I promise to be more frequent in my updates. 3 Until next time~