The three Original brothers guided Caroline, Bonnie, Jeremy, and Stefan through the airport. If either Bonnie or Jeremy considered trying to escape, they made no attempt. Caroline was glad of it, her deal and the fact that they were both necessary to get to the cure would protect them from Klaus, but she had no such guarantee from his brothers.
As they boarded the plane bound for Canada, Caroline found herself split off from the others. Kol and Elijah guided her friends back into coach while Klaus guided Caroline to a set of seats in first class.
"What's this?" Caroline asked as he stowed her bag in the overhead compartment. "Why aren't we with the others?"
"You're not the sort of girl anyone should put in coach," Klaus said, indicating for her to take the window seat. "Besides, I wasn't keen on the idea of sharing you."
Caroline slid over into the window seat. She didn't know how to take his remark. The first part flattered her, but the second part… it sent an uneasy sensation through her. The memory of that odd almost moment in her bathroom with Stefan the night before swam to the surface of her mind. It hadn't been anything and she was quite certain that Stefan didn't harbor any secret longing for her, but she had a feeling that Klaus saw the incident as far less innocent.
She wasn't afraid for herself, but she did fear what he might do to Stefan else, if provoked. When he was with her, he gave the impression of being tamed, but she was positive that the Original was far from domesticated.
He was charmed by her, wanted her, but he was not ruled by her. She would be the one bent and broke it this love affair occurred, not Klaus. She was the one in jeopardy. She was sure that if she allowed herself to develop any real feelings for him, if he ever decided that he had really, truly won her, that would be the moment when she would lose her allure.
One thing was certain about Klaus Mikaelson, he broke the things he loved most. He'd ripped out his own mother's heart, stabbed each of his siblings and locked them in coffins for centuries at a time. For Klaus, love was control and Caroline believed that in many ways it was far more treacherous to be loved by him than hated.
As the plane began to back out, she inhaled sharply. It started down the runway accelerating faster and faster as it prepared to lift off. Caroline squeezed her eyes shut, trying to subdue her rising panic.
"What's wrong?" Klaus asked.
"I've never been on a plane before." She admitted.
Before she could react, his lips crashed against her own and her breath caught in her chest. Her instincts took action before her brain and she found her fingers tangled in his shirt before she came to her senses. Then she pushed him away abruptly, as though she hadn't been kissing him back and hadn't just kissed him herself the night before.
"What was that?" She snapped, wiping her mouth in what she hoped translated as disgust.
"A distraction," Klaus said, gesturing out the window. "Now we're safely airborne."
Caroline looked out the window and let out a little yelp. She wasn't sure that 'safely' was the right sentiment for being hurled through the air in a metal deathtrap. The ground was already far below them and it looked strangely unreal and sort of like a patchwork quilt from the great height. Without thinking, she slipped her hand into her companions, craving assurance that she wouldn't fall out as she leaned closer to the window.
Klaus admired Caroline freely as she stared out the window, her eyes wide with rapture. Once her fear subsided, she began to enjoy the experience of sailing through the clouds. In her amazement, Klaus was pleased to find that she had forgotten to take her hand away from his. Or perhaps, he hoped, she'd chosen to prolong the contact, maybe this was an indication that her hostility toward him, if not cured, was at least cooling.
His affections for her had not ebbed, they only burned with greater and more reckless passion. She was perfectly safe with him, even if she didn't believe it. He, on the other hand, was in grave danger in her company, grave danger of loving her more than he should.
He tried to convince himself that he accepted her deal because it gave him the upper hand in their relationship, that he had the control, but that lie was losing sustaining power. Every time he burned with jealousy at the easy way in which she touched Stefan, the lie faltered. It killed him to know that the only thing tying her to him was her deal, whereas there were more strings than he knew how to cut binding him to effervescing blonde.
But it was all worth it, no matter what price he ended up paying, for the moments like this when she let him love her. And he did love her, there was no sense in denying it, no sense in fighting it. He loved everything about her, even the things that made him want to hate her, want to tear her to pieces, just to alleviate the pain she caused him. He even loved the simple things, like the way she looked out the window, rapture lighting her beautiful face. He could only hope that one day he could get her to look at him that same way. She was quite the prize to be won, and he intended to win her, whatever the cost.
Caroline was up in first class alone with Klaus and Stefan didn't like it one bit. Caroline wasn't anybody's fool, but Klaus was a master manipulator. He could manipulate a person into something and leave them thinking it was their idea from the start. Stefan was about to slip out of his seat and sneak up to check on her, but the moment he moved, Elijah, who sat beside him sedately with his eye shut, spoke.
"Don't even think about it."
Stefan tried to come up with a valid excuse to leave his seat, but being a vampire ate up all the ready excuses. He didn't need to use the bathroom. He also didn't need to get a drink (unless he was planning to feed on one of the passengers, which he did not think would go over well even if he wasn't firmly back on bagged blood).
"He's not going to hurt her," Elijah said as though reading Stefan's mind, "I assure you, Miss Forbes is perfectly safe."
"I doubt you believe that any more than I do," Stefan snapped. He knew there was no point in lying to the eldest Original. Elijah was too clever.
"Actually, I do believe it," Elijah said, opening his eyes and meeting Stefan's with a steady gaze, "Miss Forbes, it appears, has captured my brother quite entirely. Perhaps more than either of them is even aware. I've been his confidant for centuries and I have never seen him like this."
"Are you trying to convince me not to save my friend from your brother?" Stefan asked.
"No, simply informing you that the only thing you will accomplish if you go charging at him like a bull is getting yourself killed." Elijah said, mildly.
"What else am I supposed to do?"
"I don't think you quite understand my brother, Stefan." Elijah said, "When he loves something, he never wavers and he never lets go."
"What are you saying?" Stefan said.
"Only that if he loves her, as I suspect he does, she is already lost to you."
A bit of Klaroline actions... Hope you enjoyed!
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