A/N: Thank you once more for the overwhelming response to this story. Special thanks to AvalonTheLadyKiller and to 143lory for your kind words and inspiration. With so many kind reviews I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations.

I believe that emotions are the windows to our souls, so I chose the write this with a lot of emotional insights from the characters. The better to understand why they do the things we sometimes to not agree with.

As always, this is OC from characters I borrowed from TVD/TO.

Caroline had stayed with Klaus inside his bedroom for a total of three days. They had talked about everything about themselves, their lives, everything except the thing that matters most to them. Klaus was ashamed to admit that despite their new found ease with one another they continued to skate around the issue of where they go from here, he was terrified by to ask the question.

She had finally convinced him to leave the sanctuary of his bedroom for a walk around the gardens with her, just them. She told him she had asked his siblings to be somewhere else that afternoon so they could have the house to themselves. He admired her tenacity when it came to nurturing him. It still blew his mind how this baby vampire could read him so completely. She had been deliberately asking him to tell her about his time as a human with his siblings, his best memories with his all of them. She was trying to bring out his humanity, make him remember the good times he shared with them in hopes that he would once again forgive. He let her, he wanted spend as much time with her as possible even if it was relieving memories that where painful to him because of their betrayal.

They walked hand in hand strolling in the gardens for a few minutes with Caroline finally breaking the silence nervously saying, "I know you want to talk about us, about why I'm really here." Both Caroline and Klaus paused when she started to talk, "maybe now is the time for that talk," Caroline guided Klaus by hand to the nearest bench. Looking at Klaus, "you really have a nice garden, it's very calming," looking at the gardens momentarily before looking back at Klaus, then taking his hand left hand interlacing it with her left hand while putting her right hand on his cheek, "let me start by saying I don't regret what happened in the woods, I can never regret that. When we," winced, "you know, I thought I could get you out of my system, move on." She grabbed both his hands looking at how her hands where so much smaller than his, continuing while still looking their hands, "but it wasn't enough. It just made me yearn for you, thinking about you constantly, missing you."

Caroline let her hands slowly move to his chest, "I want to be honest with what I feel, you deserve honesty, my honesty," looking into Klaus' eyes Caroline continued, "I like you, I like that you are different with me, I like that you are more open with me, that you shared with me parts of you that only a few know about this past few days. But I liked you even before that, before the woods, before the time you came back for my graduation, before that day in the Gilbert's living room." She moved her hands to the side of his face, "I don't know when I started to like you, but I tried to forget it all, bury it in the back of my mind. When Elijah came to Mystic Falls, I was confronted with the truth of what I really wanted. I would like to try this," gesturing between the two of them, "what we have. I know you're in love with me, and I'm not quite there yet. But if you're willing to take this slow, I want to try."

Caroline bit her lip, she did this when she was nervous, "are you fine with this. Is this what you want? You're not saying anything." Klaus took a very deep breath, staring at Caroline for a full minute before tears suddenly streamed down his face, "Caroline, this is more than I could ever wish for. Sometimes I forget that you're still so young," he placed his hand on her cheek.

Caroline smiled at Klaus before she took his hands again to entwine them and continued, "Klaus, I can recognize that a thousand years can bring you so much disillusion and disappointment, I can't claim to know what you have suffered through. I only try to understand how your mind works."

Klaus stood up abruptly, struggling with himself before he turned back to Caroline, "I'm so wrong for you. An abomination in every definition of the word, every part of my being is consumed with darkness, hate, rage. Why would you even want to try to understand me," Klaus was again looking at Caroline with that tortured look he had.

"Because if I were to fall in love with you, I would have to learn to love all of you, the good parts and the bad parts. I cannot just close my eyes and turn my head away every time I do not agree with what you will do, I have to accept all of you, love all of you. That's why I need time. At this point you and I, we are night and day, Klaus," her hands once more on his face, "you will have to try to meet me halfway, try to be better, just try, that's all I am asking for."

Klaus embraced her tightly and whispered, "I don't know if I can be the man you want me to be."

Caroline whispered back to him while still locked in their embrace, "you can be, and you will be that man. That man I will fall in love with and never regret loving for the rest of my life."

Klaus stepped out of Caroline's embrace, "then I suppose you would want me to start by forgiving my siblings."

Caroline looked at Klaus once again and shook her head, "no that's what I want, but that's not what I want you to do, at least not yet. But if you want to do something for me, you can start by hearing them out, you don't have to talk, just hear what they have to say to you."

Klaus exhaled, "I can't even trust myself to be in the same room with them. The urge to end them consumes me, the siblings who betrayed me," leading Caroline back on the bench to sitdown before looking out into the sunset, "but for you I will, just this once."

All Caroline could do was lean into his shoulder and say, "that's all I can ask for," also looking at the sunset.

Klaus encircled his arm around Caroline's shoulder as she leaned into him, "you know that now that you revealed your deeply guarded secret, believe me love, I will do everything in my power to make you fall in love with me," Klaus leaned forward to kiss Caroline tenderly.

"Now brother know that I am doing this only because of Caroline," pouring himself a drink, "I have to hand it to you, you're a bloody genius, enlisting Caroline's help. Never thought you had it in you to hit me quite below the belt. I almost regret sharing my secret with you."

Elijah who had been staring out the window looked at his brother, "almost brother, we both know that you're delighted that she's here, now."

Klaus pointed at his brother, "and you intend to manipulate the situation to your advantage, to use her against me. Knowing she feels so strongly about family, about loyalty."

"Brother I am disappointed that you think so low of me, to use your obvious affection for the girl. I only wanted you to be happy. This is what family does for one another. Sometimes in the pursuit of that, we hurt one another, but in the end we forgive. We are family Niklaus, above all."

Klaus threw his glass into the fireplace, "Caroline has asked me to hear you out, to hear what you have to say. That is the only reason I am here. Now where is that sister of yours, she is wasting my precious time."

As Klaus finished his sentence, both Rebekah and Caroline walked into the study. Seeing Caroline first, his expression soften but as he spotted the figure behind her, he lost his smile. "Ah the sister who wanted me dead, come join us."

Caroline looked at Rebekah first noticing she had her hand on Caroline's arm unconsciously, gone was her cocky attitude as she stared shakily at her brother. Caroline then glanced at Elijah who had his normal cool demeanor but lacked his usual air of confidence. Finally she eyed Klaus who was sending daggered looks toward his sister, she took matters into her hands and said, "Now I know all of you can do better than just stare at one another, you can talk about your problems like the mature, thousand year old adults that you all are, just say what you feel. Think of it like a family intervention. I will leave you three to it," Caroline attempted to leave but Rebekah's hand was firmly looking her arm and in effect her in place.

"Let go of Caroline Bekah!" Klaus growled. Seeing this, Caroline tried to intervene, "Rebekah, would you be more comfortable if I stayed?"

Rebekah pleaded with Caroline, "please," Caroline looked at Elijah who nodded and then Klaus who was still looking at his sister like he wanted to kill her. She disentangled Rebekah's hand from her arm and went toward Klaus to lead him to the couch to sit down.

"Caroline's presence will not help your cause, sister," Klaus raised his voice to his sister.

"I'm sorry, it was a long time ago," Rebekah started to cry, "a time when I thought I was doing the right thing, I've regretted that for a long time."

"You brought Mikael to the Quarter to kill me, me sister! You chose another of your lovers over me!" Klaus shouted with all the fury he could as he approached his sister, "you've plotted against me so many times, and I have repeatedly forgiven you."

Rebekah couldn't help it, she defended herself, "you've tried to kill me several times too, don't try to think this is one-sided."

Klaus grabbed Rebekah's neck which had Elijah at his sisters side and Caroline at Klaus' in a flash, "I daggered you, it's not quite permanent. You see even if I couldn't tolerate the things you did in the past, I couldn't quite kill you, you where still my baby sister who I loved and tried to protect. You know what hurt the most sister," Klaus sneered, as he caressed her neck, "you constantly tell me I was your favorite brother, but it was all lies, this family is nothing but lies and treachery," pushing Rebekah toward Elijah.

Pointing at his siblings, "the two of you deserve one another, always plotting against me. I am just your bastard brother after all."

Elijah stepped in front of his sister, "brother that is not how we look at you at all, you are our brother, our true brother. I have never considered you anything else but," approaching his brother, "maybe this time, we can all put this behind us, forgive each other for the damage we had done to each other, we have lost so much over time, Henrick, Finn and Kol, let us start to be a family, always and forever brother."

Klaus shook his head, stepping away from his brother, "I'm sorry brother, this time I cannot concede to you, I have been disillusioned so many times, my own sister, who I have loved and protected so many times. I can't even look at her right now."

Rebekah suddenly exclaimed, "I will leave, I will. Maybe it's time for me to be on my own, find my own path, to stand on my own two feet without my brothers," Elijah started to interrupt his sister but she stopped him, "no, I thought about this for a longtime, and I realized something, all the good intentions of my brothers made me a weak person, someone who always relied on another, a brother or a lover to save me, so when I'm pushed to a corner on my own I don't make rational decisions. So maybe, it's time for me to discover who I am, be the Original I should be, someone who doesn't need protection but in time, someone who can protect her brothers in return.

Elijah moved forward to embrace Rebekah, "Sister, are you sure?"

Rebekah stepped away from the embrace, "yes, for the first time in my life I am, and I'm excited. Caroline and I talked about it. I'm so happy and sorry Care, in the few days you have been with us, I have started to love you as my sister," Caroline teared up and run forward to embrace Rebekah, "I love you too, sister."

The girls embraced once more with both her brothers looking at her, Elijah near tears and Klaus with an unreadable expression on his face, "I'm all packed and ready to go right now," kissing Caroline cheek, "I may be the Original here but Care, I don't have what you have, I don't have the inner strength, your light, your benevolence for forgiveness. I want to have a little of you in me," wiping away a tear from Caroline's cheek, "take care of my brother while I'm gone."

Rebekah went to Elijah to embrace him once more then looked at Klaus who just continued to stare at her with an unreadable expression, "goodbye brother," Rebekah told Klaus before turning around to walk out of their lives to find herself.

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