This came about from a situation I got into at the Chiropractor's earlier this year when he was fixing my neck and back. So I turned it into a Klaroline TVD story, hope you like it :) I'm going to assume you've watched TVD and not give a lot of background into the secondary characters, just a brief overview and then onto the actual story but they will pop into the story when they're needed.
Pairings: Elena and Damon, Katherine and Stefan and of course Klaus and Caroline. There are no originals. At least Klaus isn't one nor is he a hybrid but purely human, haven't decided if the other originals will come into it yet in any shape or form.
Disclaimer: I don't own TVD or any of it's characters
Chapter one - It begins
A lifetime is a long time when you're on your own. Caroline had watched Matt marry, start a family and begin to grow old, Bonnie was off with her mother, learning some new magic from the families grimoirs. Elena, Damon and Stefan had continued their twisted and unhealthy triangle of love before Katherine came back into the picture. It didn't take long for Katherine to use her wiles on Stefan's broken heart, reminding him of what they had together over 150 years ago. And Stefan had gladly fallen back into her arms, his love for Elena seemingly forgotten when he looked at her doppleganger. Elena and Damon had been travelling for a long time together and all the while none of them were aging. Just like Caroline.
For a while Caroline had stayed on in Mystic Falls, clutching at her remaining friends and family. But Tyler had been off with his pack (and HER) for a long time, Liz had grown old, there were no grandchildren to bring round to visit her and people had noticed Caroline wasn't getting any older. So she had moved away, from everything she knew, from the memories that haunted her town both good and bad. And she wouldn't be able to move back to the town until all the people who knew her had died off and new generations had replaced them. Or maybe she would never return.
Determined to be as normal as possible, Caroline had enrolled, studied and passed her way through school without the use of her vampire skills. She was now a qualified Chiropractor, the sign on her wall and the letters after her name were something she couldn't help but be proud of. With a steady stream of clients happy with her firm but gentle touch, Caroline was doing well for herself. She had made peace with the strange existence that was the life of a bunny-loving vampire, she would even call herself content. But her loneliness sometimes threatened to turn her content to sadness.
As she sat in her office chair this particular Monday morning, gazing out the window at the fall leaves scattered in burnt shades on the ground, she sighed. Her practice was well established now but she would have to move soon, before they noticed she was staying the same age. Being a vampire had it's perks, she was never sick and she didn't have to worry about wrinkles. But the fact she had to move every four or five years wasn't something she wanted to think about doing forever.
She heard the door of her outer office closing, pulling her out of her revere. Her next client had arrived. Checking her computer log she saw it was a new one, coming in to see her for back problems.
A knock at the door made her stand up and walk over to answer it. "Come on in" she said, opening the door and standing back. In strode a man that made Caroline take a breath and step back with wide eyes. He was tall with wavy hair, his 5 o'clock shadow already covering his jaw even in the early afternoon and intense, piercing blue eyes.
Stopping in front of her, he gave a crooked smile. "I'm Klaus Mikaelson" he said, holding out his hand in greeting. Distracted by his British accent, Caroline had to blink a little before she stuck her hand out to meet his.
"Caroline" she replied, the warmth of his palms radiating against hers before she pulled her hand away. "Please take a seat" she continued, attempting to sound professional and indicating the chair across from her desk.
Swallowing, she watched him take a seat, running his long fingers through his hair. "Now, what can I do for you?" she asked, hearing the double meaning in the sentence like she had never heard it before.
"Lots by the look of you" he replied with a smirk causing Caroline to blush slightly and tuck the stray ends of hair absentmindedly in around her ears. He continued to look at her, his eyes raking over her face. Then he stretched his back out and placed his hand against a spot near the base of his spine. "But actually, this has been giving me trouble for years but it's finally gotten bloody unbareable."
"Right" Caroline said, attempting to snap out of whatever spell he was trying to cast over her. "So mainly lower back problems. Did you bring the medical form I sent out to you, with the questions on it?"
"I did love" he replied, stretching out his legs and surfing around in the front pocket of his jeans to bring out a folded piece of paper. Taking it from him, she ignored the feeling as their fingers grazed lightly against each other. "He's a client Care" she told herself scanning through the very normal looking medical information. "So, you're currently not taking any medication? And you haven't had any injuries that could have caused the onset of pain?"
Klaus shook his head, watching her closely with his head tilted slightly to the side.
"And do you work at a computer, leaning over a keyboard at all?"
"I used to but I'm currently now...between things" he replied cagily.
"Ok, well the best thing to do at this point then is to take a look at your back to see if we can work out the problem. Can you please take a seat over on the table?" she replied, indicating where he should sit and turning to place the paperwork on her desk.
"Sure thing sweetheart" Klaus answered, sauntering over and sitting down. His fingers went to the bottom of his shirt and he pulled it up and over his head. Turning to catch the skin appearing above the waistband of his jeans, Caroline gaped as his whole chest appeared and his shirt ended up in a pile next him.
"What are you doing?" she stammered out trying to turn her eyes away from the hotness that were Klaus's abs.
"I'm letting you look at me, that's what you want right love?"
"Ah yes, I mean no, I mean yes I want to look at your back but no I don't have to actually look at your back! Please put your shirt back on, you won't need to take off any clothes during your visits" she answered, face growing pink again, words coming out in a rush.
"Aww, where's the fun in that?" He asked, eyes twinkling mischieviously. "Sorry love, I seem to have stirred you up. I apologise" he smiled, not looking apologetic at all, reaching for his shirt and taking his time as he put it back on over his head and pulled it back down into place. Caroline's eyes followed the disappearing skin, fixated on the way the shirt remained hitched up slightly on one side. Then she shook her head and turned her eyes up to meet his amused ones.
"Alright there?" he asked, grinning.
"Perfectly" she replied crisply, walking behind the treatment table and beginning to press her thumbs and fingers against his spine. "Can you sit up please, spine as straight as you can, head fixed ahead."
"Yes ma'am!"
Giving a little sigh at his comment, Caroline began at the base of his head and started working her way towards his lower back. She could feel the muscles tense and strong under her fingers and itched to linger longer. But as her hands ran expertly over his body, Klaus made a contented noise and relaxed into her touch.
"Please try to keep still if you can." Caroline asked, pulling his shoulders gently back into position.
"Sure thing love, it's hard to when you're moving your hands like that though, you have the magic touch."
"Yes, that is what I'm trained to do" she said continuing her examination, finding a minor issue or two on the way. It was hard not to be distracted by the fitted dark top he wore which clung to his body, especially after she had just seen what was underneath. "Get a grip Caroline" she said to herself. "Client client client, even if he is one you wouldn't mind nibbling on."
Feeling all the way down his spine, unusually disconcerted as she reached the juncture where his jeans and hips met, she gave a little cough to cover it up. "Ahem, so I've found a few areas giving you trouble and the major problem spot, it's right here isn't it?" she asked, rotating her thumb over his lower spine and causing him to grumble slightly and nod. "Yes, well once we sort that out, the others should quickly come right too. Today I'm going to focus on that one main spot. I'm going to need to put quite a lot of pressure on your back to move it back into position. I'll need to get you to lay on your side for this." she said, indicating where she wanted him to lie down.
"No offense love but you're pretty tiny and I outweigh you by quite a lot. Do you think you're going to be strong enough?" he asked with a grin, settling on his side.
Caroline felt a flash of anger at the sexist remark but rolled her eyes at him, keeping her anger in check. He wasn't to know that she could snap him in half with no trouble at all or that one of the hardest parts of her job was using the gentlest of touches rather than too much of her strength.
"I really don't think we need to worry about that, after all, it's what I'm trained for" she answered, giving him a strained smile in return to his broad grin. "Now, it's going to sound loud, almost like I'm breaking your back but as you've already pointed out, I'm not capable of that so just be prepared for a loud noise as your back slots back inline. It's not dangerous though and it won't hurt."
Leaning over his form and feeling along his spine again to the trouble spot, she took his arm and pulled it back over his body, holding it in place. Moving her knee to come in close to his belly button she leaned down and prepared to manipulate his back.
Klaus cleared his throat. "Ahem, ummm..."
Caroline stopped and straightened up a little. "Is everything ok?"
He gave a chuckle. "Yes, I'm having a grand time, just wondering if this is normal?"
"If what's normal?" she asked. "Are you in pain now?"
"No love, in fact this is just perfect. If I was to stay like this forever, I'd be a happy man."
Looking down she registered that his eyes were firmly planted on her chest where it was pressed near to his and then they flicked up to meet hers with a devilish smirk. A blush crept up her cheeks as she stood up straight and put her hands on her hips. "Mr Mikaelson, do you want me to fix your back or not?"
"Certainly sweetheart. And call me Klaus."
"Well Mr Mikaelson, I trust you'll keep your comments to yourself and let me get on with my job then. If you're not happy with what I'm doing, my partner Joel Jacobs can help you instead."
"No no, go right ahead, as you were." he replied with a smile.
Huffing a little and rolling her eyes, Caroline leaned back down into position. She was now extremely conscience of how close her body was to his, where her knee was placed, how easy it would be to cause him and his smirky lips an injury. Or how easy it would be to lean even closer and kiss those smirky lips. But no, he may be good looking but she had always thought it wasn't wise to mix business with pleasure. "Take a deep breath in, hold it and then breathe out slowly please" she instructed.
Doing as he was told, Klaus took a deep breath and let it out and just before he breathed in again, Caroline gave a sharp pull and his back gave a loud crack as it adjusted. Klaus twitched in shock at the sound and looked at her in surprise.
"I told you it would be loud" she replied smugly. "The question is, how does it feel."
"It actually feels a lot better already" he replied, moving his body from side to side to test it out, rolling his shoulders and stretching his shoulder blades back, pulling his t-shirt tight against his muscles as he did so.
"Did you doubt that it would?" she asked with raised eyebrows.
"To be honest love, I don't give much heed to jiggery pokery so I came along because my mate said that it would help but I didn't actually think it would."
"Jiggery pokery?" she asked with a laugh. "I'll have you know this is very high tech stuff."
"Well, whatever you did, it feels gooooood" he replied, drawing out the word with a wink. "So what now?"
"Your back has had a long time to sit out of place so it won't mend instantly. You'll find you'll be pain free for a few days and then gradually the pain will come back and you will need to be adjusted again. The gap between pain will lengthen and eventually you will be pain free. Your body does need time to mend itself and to become used to being aligned again. You will need a few more visits until it's fully sorted I'm afraid."
"No worries sweetheart, I'm not complaining. I'm happy to have your hands on me anytime."
Spinning around to face him, Caroline spook firmly. "Mr. Mikaelson, if we are to continue this professional relationship I need to remind you that inappropriate comments will not be tolerated. The relationship between us will remain only in the professional capacity."
"Relationship love? That's moving a bit quickly, but maybe we could start with a date? And, it's Klaus" he asked with a twinkle sparking across his eyes.
Although Caroline sighed and turned back to her computer screen, she felt the corner of her mouth twitch. She was enjoying the banter between them and he was definitely a babe. But she did need to keep her distance, it would never work between them. Caroline had watched Elena date a vampire while she was human and it was fraught with trouble.
Turning back to the job at hand she scanned through her appointments. "Does this time next week suit for a follow up appointment? At this stage I want to see how you are in a weeks time but if you are in pain again, just ring me and I can see you again earlier."
"Next week is fine. And if it does hurt before then, I'll be sure to give you a call sweetheart."
Caroline finished writing out the appointment time on the back of a business card and handed it to him. This time, when their hands touched, Klaus made sure to trail his fingers across the back of her hand before taking the card. And this time, the zing between them was palpable.
There was a moment, it felt to Caroline like ions had passed when it fact it must've only been a few seconds but her heart beat faster and she heard the blood begin to pump faster around Klaus's as well. She felt the veins on her face begin to push towards the surface at the thought of his blood and turned, breaking the moment and busying herself shuffling papers on her desk. When she felt calm enough, she turned back to see Klaus looking at her, curiousity and something else plain in his face.
Clearing her throat, she spoke. "Well, that's all for today. I don't think it's going to be a problem to sort your back out, it will just be a matter of time." She walked over to the door and held it open, indicating the end of the session.
He walked slowly towards the door, smile fixed broadly across his face highlighting the definition of his jawline.
"One last question, you mentioned a bloke named Joel, you called him your partner? Is that in the professional or personal sense love?"
"That's quite a personal question Mr Mikaelson but if you must know, he's my work partner. We run this practice together."
"Good to know love, good to know. Be seeing you next week then. And call me Klaus" he replied, walking out the door without glancing back.
Caroline closed the door behind him and stood staring at the back of it. "What just happened?" she asked herself shaking her head.
Walking back over to her desk, Caroline found herself completely distracted by Klaus. She had always been attracted to the wrong kind of guy. Damon was trouble from the start and Tyler had definitely had the confidence that came from a wealthy upbringing. She had the same vibe from Klaus. He was cocky and flirty and she knew he wouldn't be good for her but she felt herself grow warm just thinking about him. She allowed herself the distraction of remembering his shirt coming off and the skin hiding underneath, what that would feel like under her fingertips rather than just his shirt.
"Caroline, you need to snap out of it" she said out loud before turning her gaze to the window again, paperwork long forgotten in front of her.
Ok, end of chapter one, thanks for reading! This was a long chapter for me, I don't normally write them that long and the rest won't be that length but I didn't want to break halfway through the first meeting. Did you work out which bits were true to what actually happened to me? Btw, I will update as quickly as I can but I have 3 little people and they suck my time and energy so I will do my best!