After letting Elijah place a quick kiss on her hand, Caroline excused herself and walked towards the bathroom. She had to force herself not to look back as she felt three pair of eyes on her back. Caroline hadn't reached the bathroom when she heard Marcel talk.

"Isn't she marvellous?" Marcel proclaimed well-knowing that she could hear him if she was listening. There was a weird sound that almost sounded like a growl and Caroline lifted her eyebrows at the sound.

Caroline had reached the door to the bathroom and had a chance to get a quick glance at the men before she disappeared through the door. Marcel was giving Klaus a surprised look but the hybrid's face was like stone.

"Sorry, mate. I just had something stuck in my throat." Klaus said casually. A small smile spread on Caroline's lips before she could stop it and she quickly locked the door behind her.

After taking a few deep breaths in front of the mirror she took out her phone and went through her phonebook to find the number she was looking for. She found the number Elijah had given her the night before and pressed the call button. Hopefully Marcel would be too occupied to listen in, or too scared for that matter. After two rings, he answered.

"Yes?"

"What is he doing here?! You said he wouldn't be here until tomorrow!"

"I know. But it is not a particular exact science."

Once again she had no idea what he was talking about and decided to let it go.

"You need to get him out of here."

"I do not believe that is possible."

"Then I'm leaving. I can't do this with him staring at me."

"I understand. Good luck."

Caroline wasn't sure what or who he was referring to but she didn't get to ask before he had hung up. She put her phone back in her small purse and looked in the mirror once more. All the confusion she felt inside was written on her face and Caroline once again thought of Marie's words.

Like an open book. Snap out of it, Caroline!

She forced herself to smile at the mirror and stood there until it felt and looked real. Then she took a deep breath and exited the bathroom. A girl outside of the door gave her a mean look and was about to say something when Caroline shut her up with one look. She hated doing it but she didn't quite feel like being yelled at, at that moment.

Caroline hoped to pass through the bar and out onto the street without anyone noticing but her attempt to ignore the men, now standing at the bar, failed when Marcel grabbed her wrist and stopped her. She turned around to face him with her most charming smile and her face, completely ignoring the green eyes that felt like they burned through her.

"Off so soon, Caroline? I thought you were going to sing for us again." Marcel said, sending her a look that was telling her to do as he asked. He was clearly used to getting his way but Caroline knew that this was another one of his tests. He wanted the chase. He wanted her to run so he could catch her over and over again until she was his completely. So Caroline just smiled and tried to pull her wrist from his hand.

She panicked slightly, when his grip tightened and his smile became wider. There was a scary glimpse in his eyes and Caroline felt her pokerface slowly disappear.

"Let the girl go, mate. I'm sure Caroline here will sing for us another time. If she wants to go, then let her. There are plenty of girls in here just as well-looking to entertain you for the night." Klaus interrupted with a dull voice.

Caroline looked at Klaus and saw him smiling at her. She had seen this smile before and knew that it wasn't a happy one. The smile didn't reach his eyes that stared into hers, showing no emotion. It was one of those moments where you had no idea what he was thinking. He could just as well kiss her as he could rip out her heart.

Caroline looked back at Marcel, who had let go of her wrist, and smiled.

"Don't worry. I'll come back. And then you can sing with me." Caroline teased as she slowly backed away. Klaus was now staring at the glass in his hand and all Caroline could look at was his back.

"You mean, you'll sing with me." Marcel told her and smirked.

"We'll see." she said, turned around and walked out of there.

Caroline needed to collect her thoughts before she got back to her room and therefore chose not to use her vampire speed. Instead she kept a fast pace as she moved down Bourbon Street and away from the Jazz Club. Caroline turned her gaze towards the sky for a moment and didn't notice the man standing in front of her until she walked into him.

A strong arm grabbed her around her waist to keep her from falling to the ground and Caroline looked, surprised, into Klaus' eyes. There was a sweet bitterness in his eyes that Caroline couldn't look away from and for a moment none of them said a word. Then the arm around Caroline's waist disappeared and Klaus took a small step back.

"Caroline." He greeted and sent her the same smile he had minutes before. Was he unhappy that she was there? It was like a heavy stone dropped to the pit of her stomach as the thought of Klaus and Hayley together finally hit her.

He doesn't want me here anymore…

"Klaus. Hi." was all Caroline could say before sending him a nervous smile. Her eyes shifted as they moved across his face and quickly glanced at his body. His black cotton jacket was open, showing his dark grey shirt and the chain of the necklace he was wearing. He was wearing the same black jeans as the day Silas has tricked him into thinking he was dying.

"You've talked to Elijah?" Caroline said in an attempt to break the silence and tension that was building up between them. Klaus had placed his hands behind his back and was leaning slightly towards her with a look on his face she couldn't read.

"I have." was all he answered and Caroline wondered what Elijah had told him. Did Klaus even know what had been going on in the Jazz Club?

"Good." Caroline said, still pondering on how much Klaus knew about her presence here.

"I see you made some new friends." Klaus said with a strained voice and the smile disappeared from his face. If he didn't knew about her deal with Elijah, all she had done in there had probably been excruciating from his point of view. That was if he still cared, of course.

"Well, not exactly friends but…" Caroline started but interrupted herself as Klaus stepped closer. They were standing just as close as when his arm had been around her waist and Caroline had to tell herself to keep breathing. His face showed no emotion as he began talking.

"It is really none of my business, Caroline, but just be careful, love. Marcel's time in this city is limited and I would hate to have to hurt you." Klaus said with a voice that didn't sound at all like he would hate to hurt her. He studied her face for a moment and then turned around and walked away.

Caroline realised that Elijah hadn't told Klaus about her thing with Marcel and knew she couldn't let him leave like this. She had an overwhelming need to explain to him that what he thought about her wasn't the truth. So she yelled at him, not caring about the people who were staring at her and smiled when he stopped walking.

"You know, I'm gonna kill your brother!" hoping that Klaus would want to hear what she had to say before ripping of her head for threatening Elijah. Klaus turned around to look at her before he took the bait with a tired voice:

"And why is that, sweetheart?"

"For not telling you what's really going on." She said with a calm voice, trying not to show her slight excitement as he started walking back to her. "This Marcel thing? Elijah's idea. If I helped him, he would help me." She continued, feeling slightly guilty about ratting Elijah out. But he had had his chance and she wasn't going to let Klaus hate her because of it.

I need his help and if he hates me, he probably won't give it to me. That's all there is to that.

Klaus was standing in front of her again, his face completely changed. His jaw was clenched in anger but his eyes showed worry and an almost completely hidden sign of relief.

"Help him with what?" Klaus asked with anger in his voice.

"This undertaking of yours. I'm kinda Plan B, I guess." Caroline said and shrugged her shoulders with her arms crossed. When Klaus took a step closer to her, she relaxed her arms and let them fall down her sides.

Caroline forgot to breathe when he placed his hands on each side of her face and looked her in the eyes. For a second she thought was going to kiss her and she felt how her cheeks heated up. A small smile appeared on Klaus' face as he felt the warmth on her cheeks through his palms and heard how her heart started beating faster but he didn't say anything.

Then his eyes scanned her face before removing his hands and quickly moving his eyes over her body. Caroline realised that he was checking if she had been hurt and felt slightly embarrassed that she had reacted so strongly to his touch.

"You are not going to kill my brother. But I definitely am." Klaus told her with a devilish smile on his face and then walked away from her once more.

"But I need to talk to you, Klaus!" she yelled after him once again. This time he didn't turn around but just yelled back before he disappeared around a corner.

"Tomorrow, love!"

It took seconds before Caroline started moving again. She unconsciously placed the back of her fingers on one of her cheeks and then shook her head slightly. She then found her phone and wrote a short text to Elena that she had found the Original hybrid before she continued her walk home. She had slowed down her pace significantly and therefore managed to stop when Klaus stood in front of her again.

Before Caroline could say anything, Klaus placed a kiss on her forehead and said to her before disappearing once again:

"It really is a pleasure, Caroline."

Klaus stopped his running abruptly outside his house. Klaus had had the house build before Michael drove them out of New Orleans and it had been empty ever since. But now the Mikaelsons was back and Klaus had renovated the house to fit their new family.

He forced himself to take a deep breath in order to control his anger and all the other things that were roaming inside his head. Caroline was here. She hadn't exactly arrived on his doorstep but she was here. Why was she here?

Klaus slammed the door after him, not caring about whoever he might wake up and yelled out his brother's name. He knew his brother was home as he had left the Jazz Club just before Klaus, to check on Hayley and the baby.

"Elijah!"

A piercing sound filled Klaus' ears as the child started screaming from upstairs. The incisive crying was driving him mad and Klaus regretted for the thousand time the one night stand he had had with the wolf girl months earlier. He screamed his brother's name once more and his fury filled all the corners of the house.

His brother suddenly appeared in front of him and before Klaus managed to speak, Elijah talked in a calm voice.

"Calm down, Niklaus. You have woken the child."

"I don't care who I've woken! Explain to me why Caroline is with Marcel." Klaus yelled at his brother.

"I offered her a deal. She agreed." Elijah said, not reacting to his brother's rage.

"What did you tell her?!" Klaus said in a low voice, referring to the possible threats his brother had made against Caroline. After a thousand years, Klaus had learned that Elijah always wasn't as moral as everybody thought him to be. His brother placed his family above anything else and it had never bothered Klaus until now.

"When she arrived I told her to leave and when she didn't, I threatened to kill her." his brother answered without flinching. Just as Klaus knew his brother, Elijah also knew that Klaus would calm down soon enough for him to explain why he had done as he had. After all, he hadn't laid a finger upon Caroline.

"You did what?!" Klaus screamed once more with murder in his eyes.

The loud crying continued from above them and Klaus felt the need to punch something or better yet, rip someone's heart out. It made it impossible for Klaus to think and at last he screamed at the ceiling:

"Will someone shut that thing up?!"

"Stop screaming!" Rebekah yelled into his face as she appeared in front of him. Klaus stared back at his sister without saying a word in an attempt to control his anger once more.

"Niklaus, that thing is your son, your flesh and blood." Elijah said, interrupting his siblings staring contest.

"And if someone doesn't shut him up, that is all he'll be." Klaus threatened as he looked past Rebekah towards his brother.

"Don't you ever get tired of threatening your own son?" Rebekah asked as she crossed her arms in front of her, regaining Klaus' attention.

"Don't push me, sweetheart." Klaus said with a dangerously sweet voice. Rebekah felt the anger radiating from her brother and took a small step back.

"Rebekah, please." Elijah said behind her as he with his eyes told her to take care of the crying.

"Why is it I all of a sudden became babysitter for Nik's puppy? Where is Hayley?" she demanded to know, ignoring the look that Elijah sent her.

"She is sleeping." Elijah said with a caring voice. Klaus found the bond his brother had formed with Hayley extremely annoying but didn't say anything as he was in no mood for another one of Elijah's speeches.

"Well, we better let your precious little dog sleep. You know, we're kind of done with her now so what is she still doing here?" Rebekah replied, voicing the annoyance that Klaus felt. He felt a tiny bit of his anger slip along with his sister's words.

"She is the child's mother." Elijah stated with an impatient voice as he took a step towards Rebekah.

"Then why doesn't she drag her arse out of bed and make that thing shut up?!" Rebekah said, raising her voice as she pointed towards the ceiling where the crying continued.

"You wanted to be human, Rebekah. This is as human as it gets." Elijah reminded her, silencing their sister. She wasn't quite over the fact that hadn't been able to get to the cure and after her travels with Caroline's human friend Matt, she was more grumpy than ever.

Klaus felt his impatience shrinking as he watched his sister pout and felt the bloodlust rush through him once more.

"Rebekah, if you don't…" Klaus started in a low voice as he clenched his jaw to control himself.

"Fine!" Rebekah yelled before she disappeared to the second floor. A moment later the crying stopped and Klaus wondered for a second if Rebekah had suffocated the child. But after listening for a short moment, the boy's little heartbeat filled Klaus' ears. It reminded him of the hummingbird and its daily fight to stay alive and Klaus felt some of his anger slip once more.

Then he remembered why he was angry in the first place and turned his attention to his brother, who was walking towards the living room. Klaus followed him with fast steps and closed the two large doors he went through, after him.

"We are not done." Klaus said, still with anger in his voice.

"Certainly not." Elijah confirmed as he calmly placed himself in one of the sofas and crossed his legs.

"Why didn't you call me when she arrived? How long has she been here?" Klaus asked, still standing up. He was too enraged to sit down even though his anger was wearing off.

"You had other duties to fulfil, Niklaus. You can't keep running after a girl who does not want you." Elijah told him in a firm voice, without answering his second question.

"I can do whatever I want to, brother. I am the hybrid!" Klaus replied, pointing at himself. He felt how his brother's words stirred the anger inside him as Elijah hit his soft spot. Then he cursed himself in his head for having a soft spot. He was the most powerful creature in the world. He had couldn't have any weaknesses.

"I am aware." Elijah said in a dull voice without taking his eyes of his brother.

"And why didn't you tell me about this deal you have with Caroline earlier?"

"Think of it as an experiment. I wanted to see if Caroline would tell you about our deal herself or if she would let you believe that it was real to keep you away. As we both know, she told you the first chance she got."

Klaus felt a small hope grow inside him as he heard what Elijah had to say but he killed it before it could grow too strong.

"That doesn't mean anything. Besides, she is still with Tyler." Klaus said, almost spitting out the brat's name.

No one in a long time had pissed him off in such a way as Tyler Lockwood did and he hadn't even had the pleasure of killing him. He had promised Caroline not to and as hard as it was, it was a promise he was going to keep. Until she told him otherwise, of course.

"Ah… Your first hybrid." Elijah said and sent Klaus one of his rare smirks. Klaus did the best to ignore him as he poured himself a glass of bourbon without offering his brother.

"I am not sure that is true anymore." Elijah continued, not sounding like he cared at all.

"What are you talking about, Elijah?" Klaus said with a tired voice as he sat down in the big armchair and leaned back. He was in no mood to talk about Caroline's boyfriend.

"I believe she hasn't called him once since she arrived. The only conversation she has had was with a friend this afternoon." Elijah explained and a strange look appeared in his eyes as he mentioned Caroline's friend. Klaus ignored it and took a large sip of his drink. He wasn't going to allow himself to hope. Then something about Elijah's words hit him and he leaned forward in the chair.

"You have been following her?" Klaus asked, feeling an irrational jealousy stir inside him. Why did he feel so possessive over this girl? He knew that his brother had no romantic feelings for Caroline but it still disturbed him that his brother possibly had spent hours looking at her.

"I have been making sure that she was safe. When we made our deal, I promised her that no harm would come to her while you were away so I had to make sure that I did not break that promise." Elijah calmly explained as he got up to pour himself a glass of bourbon.

Klaus wasn't sure why Elijah had given Caroline such a promise as he had already admitted to have threatened her life but he felt a sense of gratitude towards his older brother.

"That still doesn't tell us anything, Elijah. Let us not speak more of this." Klaus said as he once again relaxed against the chair's backrest.

"As you wish." Elijah sat down in the sofa once more and looked at his brother who seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.

"What is this deal you have with her?" Klaus asked as he turned his focus back to Elijah.

"As I told you earlier, she helps us and then perhaps we would help her."

"I remember. And what is Caroline's role?"

"Exactly what you saw earlier. She needs to enter Marcel's inner circle and help us find the last piece of the puzzle for the witches. Marcel doesn't trust you Niklaus but perhaps he will trust her." Elijah explained slowly. He knew his brother wouldn't like it but he needed him to understand that Caroline's help was important.

Elijah had done his best to follow the witches' carefully outlined plan and had had to stop Niklaus several times from doing something impulsive that deviated from the plan. But now the child was born and everything had gone slower than expected. Elijah feared that Niklaus' son wasn't safe as long as Marcel was still ruling the city and therefore the pressure of getting rid of him was greater.

"We need to do this without her, Elijah. Release her from your deal. I don't want her taking any part in this." Klaus growled and didn't manage to hide his jealousy. It didn't quite suit him that Caroline was to flirt with his enemy to gain admittance to his inner circle. He didn't give the fact that Caroline had done the same thing to him many times, any thought.

"She already is, Niklaus. She is a very important part of this now and I must admit that I am impressed. There is certainly much more to her than meets the eye. She is quite the force of nature." Elijah said and Klaus could hear the admiration in his voice.

Klaus couldn't stop the smile that appeared on his lips and looked away from his brother. He would never admit it, but he valued his brother's opinion.

"But why does she need our help? I thought they were all glad to get rid of us back in Mystic Falls." Klaus said with an ill hidden bitterness in his voice and his smile disappeared.

"Silas is back." Elijah said calmly as if he was informing Klaus that the mail had come.

"Silas is turned into stone, Elijah."

"Apparently not anymore." Elijah replied with no interest in his voice. Elijah had only met Silas once, when he had tricked the cure from him in the form of Rebekah. His brother had never experienced Silas' real power as Klaus had. Silas was definitely a threat even though it didn't seem immediate to them.

"What happened?" Klaus asked, being a bit more alert than before.

"I am not sure. I told her that you would decide whether or not we would help them so we have been waiting for your return to discuss it further."

"You should have called me, brother, so I could've been here sooner. Instead I've been stuck with our sister and Hayley's constant complaining. I swear if it wasn't for the witches, there would be no wolf girl sleeping upstairs." Klaus said, sounding just as tired as he felt.

Klaus ignored the look his brother sent him and downed the rest of the bourbon in his glass. He was about to leave when Elijah stopped him.

"What are you going to tell her, Niklaus?"

Klaus stared at his brother without saying a word and then left. He had no idea what he would do. He was willing to do many things for Caroline but he wasn't her pet. She couldn't just call and expect him to come running every time her friends were in trouble.

They hated him in Mystic Falls and yet they saw no problem in asking him to save them. It was like the sudden believe in God humans gained when they faced death. How many times hadn't he heard them pray to their God before he ripped out their throats?

As he laid down on his bed and closed his eyes, the smell of her perfume invaded his senses as if she was right beside him. It wasn't until he began painting her inside his head that he realised something about her was different. The fire in her blue eyes had been dimmed. The eyes that could ignite him in every possible way with just one look, missed their spark and Klaus stayed awake for the next hour as he thought of ways to bring it back.

A/N:

Wow, over a hundred followers! That's amazing!
I'm so grateful for all of your nice reviews and I appreciate them more than you could imagine!
Please, keep them coming!;) Any criticism is welcome as well:)