Hello, lovely people! Here's chapter seven!

The entire precinct was silent, no one knowing what to do or say under the circumstances. Jeremy had just told all the detectives what he had just told Alaric not too long ago. Some of the older detectives had to explain the significance of this case to the younger ones, but after they had, everyone shared the exact same expression: horror and disgust. The room continued to stay quiet as everyone waited for Alaric to take command and tell them what to do. A few more moments of silence passed before he finally stood up, looking twenty years older than he really was.

"Caroline can't know about this, not yet anyway, We try to find him before he gets to her. He's got about a two day trip to Illinois, so that gives us forty-eight hours to get to him before he gets to her. We're not losing anyone….not this time. We will catch this bastard and make sure he pays for all the destruction he's caused. I want every border lined with officers and his description sent to every state he may cross. He will not get to her. We will stop him" Alaric finished, every sentence becoming more and more determined. Every officer and detective began their tasks, while Alaric turned to Jeremy and said "c'mon, we're going to Chicago."

When they got outside, Jeremy stopped Alaric and said "Elena called me yesterday, Ric. She's going to see Caroline next week. We have to catch him before she gets there. Elena had a close call last time and I'm not going through that again. We have to get him, Ric, before he kills anyone else."

Alaric put both hands on Jeremy's shoulders and gave him a look Jeremy had only ever seen once before. "We are not losing anyone this time. I'll die before I let him kill anyone else. Now, let's go, we're wasting time." They hopped in the car and made their way to Caroline.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Ugh, no. You look like an overgrown cabbage patch kid" Rebekah said with an expression of disgust strewn across her face.

Katherine let out small giggle and said "a little harsh, but she's right, Care."

Caroline rolled her eyes and went back into the dressing room to take off, yet another, dress that Rebekah had deemed unacceptable.

The gala was in two weeks and Rebekah had jumped at the chance to go shopping. Caroline had wanted to wait until Elena got to Chicago to look at dresses, but Rebekah had been extremely persistent. Plus, Elena had said she would just pick out a dress in Mystic Falls and bring it with her when she came. They'd been in the same store for almost three hours and Caroline was nowhere close to finding a dress. Katherine and Rebekah, however, had found there's a half hour ago and they'd both agreed that since Caroline was the star of the party, she had to look perfect.

"Try this one" Rebekah said from behind the door, while also throwing a chiffon dress over the door. Caroline grabbed the dress and began putting it on.

"So, how is Caroline doing, Rebekah?" Katherine asked while they both continued looking through other potential dresses.

Rebekah looked at her and asked quizzically "what do you mean?"

"I mean, how is she doing with her job and with her coworkers? Has she been making friends?"

Rebekah noticed that she sounded more like a concerned parent than an interested girlfriend, which struck her as extremely odd. Nonetheless, she answered truthfully "well, her section of the paper is the main reason we've been invited to the gala, so I'd say her job is going fairly well. With her coworkers, she only really talks to Lexi and I. And she only talks to us when we approach her." Why is she like that? Caroline seemed the type that would be extremely social, but she wasn't in the least. "You've known her longer than I have. Do you know why she's like that?"

Katherine looked like she wanted to answer her, but knew it wasn't her place to say. "Let's just say, Caroline's gone through a lot more than anyone her age should have gone through."

Rebekah didn't get a chance to ask what she meant because Caroline stepped out of the dressing room at that moment. She waited for them to say something and when they didn't, she took it as a bad sign.

"It looks terrible, doesn't it? Ugh, I look like a giant smurf, don't I?"

Katherine and Rebekah broke out into huge smiles and started squealing like twelve-year old girls at a Justin Bieber concert.

"You look gorgeous."

"It's perfect!"

"Sexiest smurf I've ever seen" Katherine finished, earing giggles from both girls.

"Klaus isn't going to know what hit him" Rebekah said, halting all joking that had been going on.

Caroline stared at Rebekah, not believing she had just said that.

"Who's Klaus?" Katherine questioned looking between the two girls.

"My older brother. Seems he and Caroline have taken a fancy to each other. Although, she seems to be quite set on not pursuing him, God knows why."

Caroline suddenly found the floor very interesting. "I should change."

"I'll help you" Katherine said pointedly, following her into the dressing room. They closed the door and Katherine motioned for Caroline to turn around so she could undo the zipper.

"So, Klaus..."

"Drop it, Katherine."

"What, he sounds great. And you seem to think the same thing." This could be the perfect opportunity to get the rise out of Caroline she'd been waiting for since the day they started seeing each other. They both knew she was afraid of Logan and that's why she refused to engage in any relationships. But Logan wasn't the only Caroline was afraid of and she needed to realize that.

She took off the dress and began putting her jeans and shirt back on. "He is great. A great writer, a great brother-"

"You know that's not what I meant, Caroline" Katherine said accusingly.

"I know what you meant, Katherine and it doesn't matter what I think because nothing's going to happen. And that's that" Caroline said angrily, while putting her dress back on the hanger. She grabbed her purse, and stomped past Rebekah and towards the checkout counter.

Katherine followed her out, but stopped to talk to Rebekah. "Your brother, huh?"

Rebekah gave her a smirk and said "oh, yes. He's taken quite a liking to her and vice versa, but she refuses to do anything about it. Why, I couldn't tell you." Shrugging her shoulders, she went to stand beside Caroline to pay for her dress.

This could be exactly what Caroline needs, Katherine thought. Someone to finally break down this wall she's built up. Someone to accept her past and help her learn from it. Someone to remind her that life goes on. She needed to meet this man and she needed to meet him now.

After paying for their dresses and grabbing a quick lunch, Caroline made her way back to her apartment. She had just hung her purse up when she heard a clatter come from insider her bedroom. No one had a key to her place and she hadn't been expecting anyone. She opened her drawer and grabbed her nine millimeter, slowly making her way into the bedroom. She stood outside the door, breathing heavily and terrified of what or who could be in there. Taking one more deep breath, she rounded the corner and received a scream from her visitor, which in turn made her scream. But the fact that it was a women's scream had Caroline dropping her gun and looking in the direction of the scream.

"What the hell are you doing?! Trying to give me a heart attack?!" Caroline yelled angrily.

"Give you a heart attack?! I'm the one who had a gun pointed at me! Honestly, Caroline, what the hell were you thinking?" Elena said exasperated, holding her hand over her chest.

"I thought someone had broken in."

"Well, you thought wrong. It was just your best friend coming to surprise you" Elena said defensively.

Now Caroline felt terrible. Putting the gun on her dresser, she quickly walked over to Elena and gave her a hug. It'd been way too long since they'd seen each other and while they were hugging, she vowed to never go this long again.

Pulling away, Caroline said with a small smile "I'm sorry, force of habit. I'm really happy that you're here. I thought you weren't coming until next week, though."

Elena waved her hand dismissively and walked into the kitchen to find something to eat. "I was sitting at home, doing absolutely nothing, so I figured why not come early." Not finding anything, she turned toward Caroline with a worried expression. "You don't mind, do you?"

Caroline laughed and said "are you crazy? This is the best surprise ever!"

"Good", Elena said while smiling. "Katherine made me a copy of your key and left it under the mat. She told me you guys were going out, so I figured I'd hide in your bedroom. I didn't think I would almost die in the process, though" she said with a joking smile.

Caroline laughed and said "well, you're here now and that's all that matters. Let's go get some coffee and catch up!" Caroline grabbed Elena's hand and made their way to the local coffee shop.

After they'd both ordered and received their beverages, they sat down and Caroline began talk. "So, how have you been?"

Elena took a sip of her drink and said "good, really good. I was finally able to find a publicist. She said with a little more time, my book could get published."

Caroline nearly choked on her chai latter. "Elena, that's great! Getting published is what you've always dreamt of! Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I just found out two days ago. It's not that big a deal" Elena said bashfully.

Caroline almost hit her. How could she say that? Elena always loved writing and had decided to make a career out of it. Throughout her four years at Whittmore College, she had taken to writing a small novel, but no one had wanted to even look at it, let alone publish it. Before Caroline had left, Elena had told her she was close to giving up. Thank God she hadn't. "It's a huge deal, Elena. I'm so proud of you. Do Jeremy and Katherine know?"

"Yeah, I called them both the day before I left. They said they were really happy for me and basically everything else you just said."

Caroline was going to kill Katherine for not telling her earlier. But right now, she was just happy that Elena was finally getting somewhere in her life. "This is amazing, Elena. You deserve it so much."

Elena smiled at her and said "thanks, Care. You deserve everything you've gotten lately, too. Looks like we're finally putting our pasts behind us."

Caroline really hoped so. Raising her coffee cup, she said proudly "to putting out pasts behind us." Elena clinked her cup against Caroline's and they both drank to their futures.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next morning, Caroline was reading through some questions that had been submitted by readers, when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She looked at it, not recognizing the number, but she opened the text anyway.

Caroline, it's Klaus. I got your number from Rebekah. We need to talk. Meet me in the locker room.

Who the hell did he think he was? She wasn't a dog that could be summoned on command. Nevertheless, she put her phone in her drawer and made her way to the locker room. She had to put an end to this. No more stolen glances, no more romantic walks, and definitely no more almost-kisses. They both needed to move one and the sooner, the better. She walked into the locker room and saw him leaning against the lockers, staring at the floor.

"Going to be honest, I didn't think you'd come."

"Well, you said we needed to talk. So, talk."

Klaus stared at her for a moment before standing up straight and facing her. "What happened to you, Caroline?"

Looking at him in confusion, she asked "what do you mean?"

"You know bloody well what I mean" he said angrily walking towards her. "I heard you talking to Rebekah the other day and then what you said after she walked away. You're scared of something and that something has made you act this way."

Caroline dismissed his accusations by saying "nothing has happened to me. And even if something had, it's none of your business. I mean, I know you've taken a liking to me, but-"

"Don't do that. Don't you dare do that" Klaus yelled, his temper rising quickly.

"Do what?"

"Act like this thing between us is one-sided. You have feeling for me, too and for some reason, you're refusing to give into them. What happened to you, Caroline?" He repeated his question , although more pressing this time.

She wanted to tell him. God, she wanted to tell him. She was tired of keeping all of this inside her and she wanted nothing more than to let it out. But if she told him, she knew he'd run away like everyone else.

"Klaus, this isn't going to work, you and me. I can't offer you what you want, and-"

"What exactly is it that you think I want, Caroline?" Klaus asked, slightly offended.

Caroline's mouth began opening and closing, not sure how to answer him. They both knew what she was getting at, but neither were about to say it out loud.

"Like I said, you and I can't work."

"Why?"

"Why do you keep asking so many damn questions?!" Caroline asked, surprising Klaus with her temper. "I said we couldn't work; accept that, move on, and leave me alone." Turning her back on his dumbfounded expression, she began her way out of the locker room

"Trust me, I've tried." Caroline turned around slowly, raising her eyebrows at him, allowing him to continue. "After what I heard you say to Rebekah, I realized you were a lot more screwed up than I was prepared to deal with." Caroline could've slapped him, but he continued before she could. "But then I saw the way you looked at me at the meeting about Stefan. You want someone to care about you. You want someone to understand you and accept you. Let me be that someone, Caroline." He moved closer to her, cupping her face and wiping away her tears with his thumbs. He needed her to know that he was here and that he wanted her, past and all. But until she opened up to him, they couldn't go anywhere. "I understand that you're not ready yet, but I can be patient and I will wait for you. However long it takes." He quickly kissed her cheek and walked out.

Caroline stood there, silently crying and taking in his words. This was not how it was supposed to go. She was supposed to tell him to leave her alone and he was supposed to listen. Why did he have to be so stubborn? She wasn't worth all this, but he just wasn't going to stop. Not until someone made him stop and Caroline had to be the one to do that, or else someone else would.

Well, there it is! Please, please, please leave me some reviews! And I hope everyone has a wonderful thanksgiving! xoxo