Sorry its been so long! Canon-divergent future fic.
Sometimes Klaus looks at her like she's the truth he's been searching for. Caroline hates it. That look makes her want him more than all the sweet words and expensive gifts ever could. She wants to be wanted (needed) above all else and that look tells her she'll find that with him.
People always leave her. They pick her (never first) and then they pack up and leave. Or they die. She's not sure which is worse.
(The leaving is so much worse for her. It kills her to know that Tyler, Stefan, Matt, even Elena and Bonnie just left her. Didn't ask her to come along. Just left. They were all probably happy wherever they were, and she was stuck sad and holding onto something that no longer existed.)
But Klaus would stay if she picked him, she thinks. It scares her more than she cares to admit. It's all she ever wanted, to know that someone will finally stay with her, but all she does is push him away. Maybe she's wrong; maybe he's just like everyone else and he'll leave as soon as he's tired of her. Her instinct is to stay with him though, hold on and never let go.
She hates that he was right so long before. We're the same he whispered, and she knew he was right then as much as he was right now. If she could keep her family and friends locked up in coffins to keep them safe, keep them alive, she would. She's controlling, but she's so afraid they'll leave her...it's would be worth their anger just to keep them close and safe and alive always. They could hate her and rail against her but they would be alive.
She doesn't have that option though. And Klaus isn't the one leaving her. She's the one running and leaving, him always two steps behind. Caroline knows he likes the game, maybe more than she does, finding the little hints she's left him (a scarf in Venice, an earing in Oxford, a sweater in Paris...the thong she snuck into his hotel room in New York City). He sends her a picture of his collection of her belongings every time it grows, and she smiles to think he's kept them.
She's worried if he catches her that will be it. The thrill of the chase will be over for him, and he'll move on to the next challenge. So she keeps running. The world is small though, and there's only so many places she can go. She's the one tiring of the game; she's ready to be caught but she can't let him catch her.
She wishes he was there, that she wasn't alone yet again. She sees him where he isn't, hopes its him pulling out of a shop and smiling at her (in that way he does-always, always like she's the best thing he's ever seen; like his life depends on her and seeing her has brought life back to him).
She dreams of him holding her, stroking her hair, promising he'd never leave her. She hears Silas over it all, as Klaus, asking her what she was afraid of. It bothers her like a sore tooth; she hates to be afraid. But she knows why. Endings, she answers Silas silently. She was afraid of endings; at least in her dreams Klaus was always there. He showed no indication of wanting to leave.
If she had him she would hold on too tight like she'd done so many times before. And she would suffocate him and he would long for freedom. He would leave. She knows he would eventually...the almosts and could have beens and ifs were leading towards a beginning-their beginning, and she knew it would be wonderful. He would be wonderful. She could be happy. But it would end.
Klaus is better at the game than she is, though, and less patient. He catches her eventually.
Caroline walks into her hotel on her birthday and finds a single cupcake waiting for her. She knows who it is from instantly, she can smell him in the air, and it brings tears to her eyes that she quickly wipes away. He's not there anymore, he's long gone. But she smiles to think that he knows where she is, but he's still giving her time. She dials a number.
"Come see me," she says in greeting before he can say anything, before anything can change her mind. She hangs up and there's a knock on her door.
"I was hoping," Klaus says when she opens the door, one brow raised. He raises a bottle of champagne in one hand and a bag of B+ in the other, smiles and shows his dimples, and she tugs him into her room, smiling in return.
"You sure know how to please a girl."
His smile widens at her teasing tone. "I do try love."
Later when they're drunk on blood and each other and the champagne, he leans in, ghosts a kiss across her cheek.
"This is forever for me," he whispers into her ear, and it half sounds like a threat. Like he wants to possess her, and she can almost believe that this time she got it right. And, she wants to possess him too.
"I'm not going to let you go," she says in reply, and it too sounds half like a threat.
They play at domesticity after that; they live together, eat together, sleep together. They go to parties arm in arm. She redecorates his house and steals his shirts. He plays with her hair and draws her while she sleeps.
And it's nice to love someone who can't die, and even if he did, she would soon follow. That was nice. She didn't have to worry about that part.
But she's still scared. She doesn't want to hold him too tight. But she sees his eyes, the way he looks at her when he thinks she isn't looking-like he's getting every glance he can of her. Like he doesn't want to forget what she looks like.
So she finds him one day, painting in his studio. She leans against the door, crossing her arms. "Klaus," she says, toying with a loose thread on her sweater.
He turns, concern written in his every feature. "Caroline?"
She stares at him and he stares back. She opens her mouth, closes it, clears her throat. He waits, expectant.
"I'm not going to leave you," they both blurt at the same time.
Elijah's laugh floats up from the downstairs. Klaus turns from her to growl in his brother's general direction, but she flashes to him drawing his attention back to her. "Klaus?"
"I-" he starts, then turns his head from her. "I'm not very good at this Caroline. And I know you're scared that I'll leave you like those stupid boys but I'm not. But you can leave. If you want. I won't-I won't make you stay with me.
Her heart breaks to hear her impenetrable hybrid so unsure. She puts her arms around his waist, rests her head on his chest, waits until he holds her back to reply. "I'm not going to leave you Klaus. I want to stay with you. As long as you'll have me."
"Forever," he says like a sacred vow.
This time, she believes him. "Forever."