Caroline slowly opened her eyes and forced herself into an upright position. Her head felt heavy after only a few hours of sleep as she walked to the bathroom to take a shower. She let the cold water wake her up and then went out to the empty kitchen with her bathrobe on. She proceeded to boil water for her instant coffee and was about to take out two cups from the cupboard when she remembered that she was alone.

Caroline closed her eyes and took a deep breath to keep her feelings in check. Then she moved to the living room with her coffee in her hand and slouched into the corner of the sofa. She turned on the television, realising the clock was no more than eight, and switched to a random channel that showed a movie she began watching, her mind completely blank.

When the movie finished, Caroline woke up from her trance and quickly put on some jeans, a loose top and her dark denim jacket before stepping into a pair of black ballerinas and out of her front door. As soon as the cold wind hit her, it cleared up her mind and Caroline sped away to the cemetery.

She stopped her running in front of a white marble gravestone that read: "Elizabeth Forbes, 1972-2011". Caroline crouched down and let her fingers glide over the engravings under her mother's name: "Love is what makes us human".

Apparently her mother had included in her will that she wanted that sentence on her gravestone. Caroline didn't know what was most heart-breaking: that her mother had been prepared for this or that the sentence was directed towards Caroline.

Caroline lowered herself down on her knees, feeling the cold ground through her jeans. She then leaned back and took a deep breath to get her voice under control.

"Hey mom. I know it's been more than a week since I was here last but I've been quite busy. With the usual, you know. Scheming, plotting against Silas, making new vampire friends and enemies. And I visited a friend. In New Orleans. Yes, I visited him… I know you think it's a bad idea but it was my only idea on how to fix this. To avenge you."

Caroline stopped talking as she heard her voice break at her last sentence. She took several deep breaths before she looked back at her mother's grave.

"He's changed, though. I think. I don't know… But I've changed. Ever since you… since you died I've been different. I'm not sure how but I'm definitely not sweet little Caroline anymore. But I guess I haven't been that for a while now.

"I broke up with Tyler. Or he broke up with me. I don't even care… I'm okay, though. With the break-up. We couldn't keep pretending that what we were doing was the right thing. It took to much effort to be happy together. And all trust was gone. What is love without trust?

"Wow that sounded so cheesy." Caroline laughed silently to herself.

"But like I said, I'm fine… I've been to Spain by the way. With him. Just a couple of days. We had to find someone. I wish I could've stayed there but I didn't tell him. He never would have let me go home if I did. You know, I thought he didn't care anymore. About me… So much has happened since I saw him last. You would never guess it in a million years. You know that thing you once told me was your greatest achievement? Well, he's achieved that too. A beautiful boy. Crazy, huh?"

Once again Caroline had to stop and breathe as her mother's words rang in her ears: "I am so proud of you, Caroline. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. My greatest achievement. Don't you ever forget that. Not in a thousand years."

"I miss you so much, mom. I miss talking to you, although we never really did talk. I just miss your voice… I was in this church in Spain. It was so big. And beautiful. I wish you could've seen it. But I suppose you were there with me. You always are, you and dad. I know it doesn't seem like it but sometimes I feel so lost without you."

Caroline wasn't able to hold down the tears that now blurred her vision and a sob escaped her.

"All I want to do is make you proud. But I'm not sure how to do that anymore. All the things I've done… How could anyone be proud of that?

"I'm sorry, mom. I'm so so sorry… It's all my fault. If I hadn't… you would still be here. Oh God, I can't breathe… I'm so sorry, mom. I'm so lost…"

Caroline's breathing became more and more shallow and between the sobs she felt like no air entered her lungs. She began panicking as she had no idea what was happening to her. She was a vampire. Technically she didn't even need air and yet, here she was, suffocating.

I don't want to feel like this anymore…

And then it was there. The switch that Stefan had told her about, so painfully physical. It would be so easy to just shut it off. To stop feeling lost and alone. But yet there was something in the back of her mind that fought against the temptation.

Caroline had fallen forwards and was now on all four in front of the grave. Her fingers dug into the hard earth beneath her, breaking her nails but all she could think about was to fight her own basic instincts as she struggled to hold on to her humanity. She managed to focus her eyes on the tombstone in front of her and she almost laughed when she saw the words her mother had insisted on engraving.

"Love is what makes us human."

The switch disappeared as fast as it had manifested itself and Caroline let her head fell between her shoulders. She still had troubling breathing and she was about to fall to the ground when someone grabbed her arms and pulled her to a standing position.

The hands that had lifted her up, was now cupping her face and Caroline stared into a pair of green-blue eyes.

"Caroline. Listen to my voice, Caroline. Focus on me. And breathe. Just breathe. It's okay. You'll be okay. Just breathe." Klaus said with an insistent voice and Caroline was suddenly able to take a deep breath, feeling as if she had come up for air after spending several minutes under water.

Her legs collapsed under her but Klaus managed to catch her before she hit the ground. He then placed an arm under her knees and one behind her back, lifting her from the ground and into his arms.

"Come on, love. Let's get you out of here."

Klaus took her to her home and managed to open the front door without kicking it down. Caroline was still crying but he could feel how her breathing was more controlled against his neck, where her face was buried. Under different circumstances he would have enjoyed that she was this close to him willingly.

She slowly loosened her grip around his neck as he put her down in the hall but as soon as he let go of her, she stumbled forward and Klaus had to stop her from falling. He swooped her into his arms once more and took her to her bedroom, where he placed her on the bed. As soon as he let go of her, she curled into a ball and buried her face in her hands.

He stood beside her bed; just looking at her while she tried to get her crying under control. He had no idea what to do of himself as comforting never had been one of his strong sides. Feelings like the ones Caroline was experiencing were the reason he worked so hard to detach himself from others, to not trust anybody so their betrayal wouldn't hurt as much when it inevitably happened.

Finally, she stopped crying and she slowly removed her hands from her face, revealing her red eyes and smudged mascara. She looked at him, first with surprise as if she only now noticed it was him and then with suspicion as if she was wondering whether it really was him, which he knew was a fair assumption when Silas was out there.

Then she seemed to notice something about him and Klaus felt his heart beat a little faster, when he saw the small smile that appeared on her lips. He was enchanted by that smile and he just stared at it for several seconds, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

"Can I get you anything, love?" Klaus managed to say but Caroline shook her head and found a pillow that she placed under her head. She clearly needed rest so Klaus turned away to leave the room, when her voice stopped him.

"Stay." she said with barely a whisper. If it wasn't for his supernatural hearing, he wouldn't have heard her. He turned around to look at her with a surprised expression on his face. The almost pleading look in her eyes made him move over to her bed, where he sat like he had the last time he had been in her bedroom. The night of her eighteenth birthday. The night she had stolen a small piece of his heart and had continued to do so from then on.

She looked just as fragile now as she had done that night and Klaus found himself desperately searching for something to say. After some long moments, he reached to take her hand, hoping she wouldn't shy away from his touch. The small smile reappeared on Caroline's lips as she lay with closed eyes, her face turned towards him.

Minutes went by and Klaus was sure Caroline had fallen asleep. He was looking out of the window, deep in thoughts, without noticing Caroline's stare, when she spoke.

"Klaus?" she said with a small voice and his eyes immediately snapped back to hers.

"Yes?"

"Have you ever turned off your emotions? You know, like Elena and Stefan."

Klaus looked down on his free hand for a moment, surprised to feel a small amount of guilt. He had after all been the one to make Stefan turn off his emotions the last time his old friend had done so. The only thing he regretted about that though, was giving Stefan the nerve to steal his family.

"Centuries ago. When I was living with the hunter's curse. I turned off my emotions several times but it never lasted more than two weeks' time. The visions kept forcing me to turn them back on. I can't do it anymore. After a couple of centuries, you lose the ability to do so. All that is left is pretend."

"I felt it. On the graveyard. I felt that switch inside of me as if it was actually there. I wished for a second that everything I felt would go away and it seemed so easy to just turn them off. So I could breathe again. So I would stop feeling so lost." Caroline whispered and a single tear found its way down her cheek.

"So why didn't you, love?" he asked, curious to know how she had managed to fight her own nature while practically having a panic attack. He wasn't sure he had ever seen a vampire have a panic attack like she had had before as most would have turned off their emotions long before it hit them.

"Because it felt too easy. And if there is one thing I've learned from living in this town, is that nothing ever is. The right way is always the hardest way. So I forced myself to focus on something else. My mother forced me." Caroline said and a sad smile appeared on her face.

"And what was that?"

"Love."

The way she said it as if it was the simplest thing in the world, made him speechless. He had no reply that seemed fit so he just looked at her. Looked at the small drop of water that were stuck in her eyelashes, the worried crease on her forehead that didn't seemed to go away and the fragility in the look she sent him before she closed her eyes again.

"You know what I've noticed?" Caroline suddenly said after several minutes of silence and opened her eyes to look at him. Klaus couldn't help but smile a little at her tone of voice that sounded like she had just found a great treasure and then he shook his head at her question.

"We have these two words we both use… a lot."

"And what are those two words?" Klaus asked with curiosity.

"Trust me." Caroline said and Klaus realised that she was right. It had almost become a habit of his. But he knew it was only directed towards her. He wanted her to trust him, like she apparently wanted him to trust her.

"So is that our thing? Trust." Klaus said slowly, suddenly feeling insecure. When he saw her frown at him, he felt his eyes harden and he quickly looked away.

"I thought our thing was you bringing me alcohol." She said with a serious voice before her lips parted in a big smile. He looked back at her and couldn't help but smile with her when he saw how some of the sadness disappeared from her eyes.

"If you wish so." he said, smiling at her. He watched how her smile faded a bit and she became serious, for real this time.

"No. Trust is good." she said with a soft but insistent voice and Klaus nodded involuntary. They looked at each other for a long moment before Caroline spoke again.

"Why are you already here? I thought you would come tomorrow with Rebekah and Elijah. Are they here too?" she asked curiously and Klaus thought about how comfortable Caroline seemed to be with his family. Maybe a little too comfortable given she had dressed down in front of his brother.

"Rebekah is. We decided to take an earlier flight and let Elijah take care of the things that needed attention before we left. Such as having someone investigate the witch you heard talking about."

"Why?"

"Well, clearly you needed me." Klaus said with a teasing smile on his lips that made Caroline roll her eyes. When Caroline didn't receive any further explanation, she closed her eyes once more with a sigh.

The truth was that he had needed her. He had needed to know that she was safe and most of all that she didn't hate him after what he did to the werewolf girl. He knew that she didn't understand the necessity of making such sacrifices and that she was still too naïve to see that Klaus couldn't just change who he was after living like this for a thousand years.

After five minutes he noticed how calm Caroline's breath had become and he realised she had fallen asleep. He slowly removed her shoes from her feet and found a blanket in the living room that he put over her. He sat down on the bed again and half an hour went by where any of them barely moved.

Then his phone started vibrating in his pocket and he quickly pulled it out, answering his brother's call with a low murmur: "Give me a minute." and then he hang up.

He shot one last glance at Caroline and carefully reached over to remove a strand of hair from her face before he planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. As he was about to exit the room, Caroline's voice caught his attention and he turned around to face her again.

"Thank you." Caroline said with a low voice while she looked into his eyes.

"For what?" Klaus asked surprised.

"For this. For showing me this part of you. I know it's not easy for you but it was really nice. So thank you."

He felt his eyes water as he looked at Caroline, who had already closed her eyes again. He felt his throat tighten and he knew that even if he had known what to say, he wouldn't have been able to. He stared at her for another minute, realising she had already fallen asleep again and left.

A/N: Hey guys! I know it's been way too long since I last updated and I'm so sorry! I just couldn't get started on this chapter, which is weird because as soon as I did; it practically wrote itself. This is without a doubt my favorite chapter and it kinda broke my heart since I was listening to Michael Bublé's song "Lost" while writing it. I might have cried.

Anyway, I hope you like this chapter! The next will come in a few days, I promise!
Please tell me what you think because it really means the world to me and it inspires me in so many ways.