"You wouldn't happen to have known Da Vinci, would you?" Caroline asked teasingly as she stepped after Klaus into a room filled with drawings and paintings. Kol and Bonnie had just left and Stefan had gone upstairs to check on Henrik, when Klaus told her that there was something he wanted her to show her.
Caroline had thought it would be something from their past and she had become slightly nervous, when he had let her down a dark corridor to the room they were now standing in. She didn't know what she had expected, but this definitely wasn't it.
Her eyes glided over the paintings on the walls and over to an empty canvas on a stand in the middle of the room. Klaus closed the door behind them and walked over to Caroline, who was smiling at him, awaiting his answer.
"I didn't have the pleasure." Klaus answered and returned the smile as he took place beside her.
"So is this like your own private museum?" Caroline asked and moved away from him to study a painting on the wall. It was in dark colors and Caroline felt like she would have been dragged into the void if it hadn't been for the two white silhouettes that danced across it.
"This is my studio. I only let a special few in here." Klaus told her and when Caroline look at him over her shoulder, his eyes were on the glasses he was filling with scotch and she had the feeling that he was avoiding her gaze.
Was he nervous? No… Why should Klaus Mikaelson be nervous?
"A special few? Are you trying to seduce me, Mr. Mikaelson?" Caroline asked jokingly and felt herself blush of her own boldness. For some reason she was flirting with the Original hybrid, but she enjoyed it too much to stop.
"You are far too smart for me to seduce you, love." Klaus told her with an amused smile and he offered her one of the glasses with the golden liquid.
"I am." Caroline agreed with a serious expression on her face as she pointed at him. She couldn't stop the smile that broke through on her lips and she disappeared into the blue depths of his eyes for a moment, before she looked away and walked over to a table filled with drawings.
"So do you have the real 'Guernica'?" Caroline asked casually as she stood with her back to him and picked up a drawing of Henrik from the table. Klaus Mikaelson definitely had some skills.
"Pardon me?" Klaus asked as he moved over to her and Caroline could feel his eyes on her.
"You know 'Guernica', Pablo Picasso? It isn't the real one that's hanging in Madrid." Caroline told him and looked at him as she awaited his response. She could tell from his surprised expression that he didn't have it, though.
"I know 'Guernica'. Señor Picasso was an odd man." Klaus told her and Caroline couldn't hide her surprise. He hadn't met Da Vinci, but Pablo Picasso was as good as any. "What makes you think that the one in Madrid is a fake?"
"Because the real one disappeared during the World's fair in 1937." she told him with a proud smile on her lips as she knew something he didn't.
"And how would you know that?" Klaus asked her, not taking his eyes off her for a single moment.
"I had a little talk with the curator of Museo Reina Sofia. I can be very persuasive." Caroline said with a grin and looked at Klaus, who was suddenly standing very close to her.
"I know." Klaus mused and stood so he was facing her, while Caroline couldn't get herself to step away. "So who do you think stole it?"
"Hitler." Caroline shrugged and crossed her arms in front of her, when Klaus laughed.
"Hitler was a compelling man." Klaus said and Caroline's jaw dropped in shock.
"Please tell me you didn't sympathize with Adolf Hitler." Caroline demanded firmly and another amused smile appeared on Klaus' lips.
"I am not all for Semitism, love. But Hitler did manage to convince millions that his lies were true. And that was without any compulsion. I was impressed." Klaus told her honestly and finished the rest of his drink.
Caroline stared at him for a long moment, not completely satisfied with his answers, but she could see his point. She only knew what her history books told her and it both scared and intrigued her that Klaus probably knew more about the world's history than any other dead or living human had or would.
"Well, we all have our heroes." Caroline replied mockingly in an attempt to pull herself together and remember who the man in front of her was. He had already dragged her in, far too much for her liking and she realized that she would have to keep a distance until everything with Pheodora was taken care of.
"Why do you insist on always testing my patience?" Klaus asked with cold expression on his face as he turned his back on her to refill his glass.
"Why do you always rise to the occasion?" Caroline replied coolly, knowing she was pushing it. She barely even knew what she was talking about as she couldn't remember if she did in fact test his patience all the time. But considering what Stefan had told her about the two of them usually yelling at each other, it didn't seem farfetched.
Klaus turned around and looked at her with an angry stare, which Caroline returned. A few seconds went by before Caroline looked away and emptied her own drink. She glanced at the drawings one more time before she turned around to look at the opposite wall, fully aware that Klaus was following her every move.
"So is any of your work out in the public or do you just keep it all here in your chamber of secrets?" Caroline asked casually without looking at him in an attempt to ease the tension between them.
"I have one of my landscapes hanging at the Hermitage." he told her, matching her tone of voice, but didn't move closer to her. Apparently he needed the space to cool down his temper and Caroline gladly gave it to him.
"Seriously? I was there once. A little boring." she told him and turned her head to meet his gaze. A small smile grew on her lips, when she saw the surprised look in his eyes and she noticed how he seemed to relax a little.
"You have been in Russia?" Klaus asked curiously as he unconsciously moved closer to her, while Caroline turned her body towards him.
"A week or so. It was a bit too… Russian for me." Caroline said in a lack of a better word and she watched how both amusement and regret crossed his eyes. The regret confused her and she studied his features for a long moment without getting any answers. Then something caught her eye and she moved past him towards a small table, where a sketching pad lay.
"May I?" Caroline asked as she picked it up, not wanting to 'test his patience' again. He seemed to be debating with himself whether or not he should allow her to look in it, which only made Caroline more curious, but in the end he just gave her a small nod.
It took Caroline some seconds to realize what she was looking at when she opened the sketch pad to look at the first drawing. Her mouth opened in surprise as she stared herself smiling back at her from the paper. Caroline's eyes flickered from the page to Klaus, who was watching her intently and she felt how a blush crept onto her cheeks as she quickly returned her attention to the drawings.
Slowly, she flipped through the pages, seeing her face on most of them and she watched how Klaus seemed to have captured every single emotion she could possibly feel. Even though she felt weird over the fact that he had a bunch of drawings of her lying around, she couldn't deny their beauty or the pounding in her chest.
The pretty lady… Henrik must have seen these and that is why he recognized me. But the drawings clearly outdo the subject. It's actually a bit sad that I'm not as pretty as the drawings.
Caroline smiled, when she stopped at another drawing of her. Her eyes and smile showed pure joy and she couldn't help but think that Klaus might had romanticized her a little, making her features more delicate and her eyes brighter than they really were.
"These are beautiful." Caroline told him with a smile that widened when Klaus returned it, revealing his dimples that Caroline couldn't take her eyes off for a moment. When she suddenly realized the drawings reminded her of something, she blinked in surprise and remembered what Bonnie had said about the spell diverting her thoughts.
"Did you…?" Caroline asked, but didn't finish the question as she focused on recovering whatever memory that had been hidden away. She closed her eyes in frustration, when her thoughts started to drift and she ignored the beginning pain in her head as she fought to grab the image inside her mind.
"Caroline?" she heard Klaus ask, but his voice seemed far away and she barely noticed how he grabbed her, when she was about to fall to her knees. The pain increased as images began flashing through her mind, showing herself standing in a blue gown near a horse with Klaus in front of her.
The words of their conversation escaped her and she was suddenly standing with him in a room that matched this. She threw her bracelet on the floor and walked away. When the drawing of herself and a horse appeared in her mind, Caroline's eyes shot open in agony and she stared into Klaus' worried eyes.
When she let go of the memory, the paralyzing pain disappeared and she was able to stand on her feet again. Klaus was still holding on to her and she suddenly became very aware of how his hands were touching her bare arms. She tried to take a step back and out of his grip, but he wouldn't let her and she sighed in defeat, not really sad that he kept his hands on her.
Really, Caroline? Distance, remember?
"Klaus, I'm fine. You can let go of me now." Caroline told him with a tired voice as the pain had worn her out. It wasn't like she had had an easy day in the first place with discovering her former relationship with the Original hybrid and that she had a spell placed on her that decided to control her thoughts and memories.
"What happened?" Klaus demanded to know and Caroline was surprised to hear the anger in his voice. It took her a couple of seconds to realize that he was ready to go on a witch hunt, thinking that the Immortality Spell had caused the pain. He wasn't wrong.
"Nothing. I just learned that fighting my own mind is a bad idea." Caroline laughed, but he didn't comply with her attempt to calm him down. She was surprised by how strongly he reacted to her pain even though nothing tangible had caused it. It had more or less been her own fault.
"Caroline, what happened?" Klaus repeated impatiently and Caroline took a small step forward as he pulled her closer to him. His eyes searched her face over and over again for any sign of damage and Caroline almost became dizzy by looking at his evident concern.
"I remembered. I mean I tried to remember and I'm guessing the Immortality Spell didn't like it. I feel icky, knowing something inside me can control my thoughts." Caroline told him as she shuddered at the thought and Klaus' hands glided down her arms in comfort before he slowly let go of her.
"What did you remember?" Klaus asked carefully as if he feared that the mere mentioning of it would bring back the pain.
"A ball. I was wearing a blue dress and it was outside. You were there. Then we were in a room like this, but in another house and I'm pretty sure we fought. And then you gave me a drawing." Caroline recalled slowly as she rubbed her forehead that had almost become sore because of the pain.
"My mother decided to hold a ball, while she was scheming with my oldest brother Finn and your dear Elena to kill me and my siblings." Klaus told her with a detached voice and Caroline's eyes widened in surprise. If her friends – and probably herself included – had tried to kill Klaus and his siblings, why had she been with him at the ball? For now, Caroline wasn't sure she wanted to know.
"Your mother?!" she asked with disbelief, pretty sure she had heard about Esther Mikaelson being a witch. Caroline didn't stop to think why she knew the woman's name as she did her best to avoid any more pain.
"She linked us together with a spell so if you killed one of us, we would all die. When your American jock killed Finn, we discovered that by killing an Original vampire; his entire bloodline dies with him." Klaus continued as he stepped away from her and picked up his sketching pad from the floor, where Caroline had unconsciously dropped it.
"Wait, Matt killed your brother?!" Caroline asked with a shocked expression on her face and Klaus stared at her, clearly angered by the memory. Even though he had kept Finn in a coffin for nine centuries and his oldest brother had betrayed them by helping their mother, the fool had still been his brother.
"Yes." Klaus simply answered as he lay down the drawings of her on the large table with the other drawings. He then stepped back to Caroline and gently pushed her out of the room with a hand on the small of her back. As he locked the doors after him, Caroline stopped walking and turned around to look at him.
"But-" she started; about to ask a question, but Klaus interrupted her as he slowly let her back from where they had come.
"Caroline, you are tired. You should get some sleep and if I start answering all of your questions now, we will be here all night. I can offer you a bed here if you like?" Klaus said as they both stopped in the entrance hall and turned around to face each other. Caroline was fazed by his offer of a bed and it took her a couple of seconds to form an answer.
"Oh, no thank you. I think I'll… I'll just go back to Marie's and sleep." Caroline stuttered as answer and looked to the floor for a moment, Klaus' constant stare not helping her to handle a sudden surge of nervousness. For some reason it felt like the end of a first date and Caroline's heart pounded in her chest at the thought of what he might say or do.
"Very well. Where is your coat?" Klaus then asked and Caroline looked up, surprised by his casual tone of voice.
"I didn't bring one." she told him with a shrug and he looked at her with a slightly irritated expression on his face.
"Fine, I'll loan you one." Klaus said and then disappeared from her sight. Caroline furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, not sure why it was so important for her to wear a jacket outside. She hoped he wasn't looking for a jacket for her to wear in some sort of creepy left-over box from all the women he had probably been with.
The next moment he was standing in front of her again with a black blazer in his hand and as he held it out to help her put it on, she realized that it was a male model and probably was one of his own.
If feels like I'm in some badly written romcom.
"Klaus, I'm a vampire, I don't get cold." Caroline told him insistently, but he didn't lower his arms as he waited for her to turn around so he could put in on her. "Fine. I will put it on, when you tell me why I can't go outside without it."
"What would people think if they saw me accompanied by a woman in a dress like yours on a chilly summer's eve without a jacket on?" Klaus told her indignantly and Caroline's eyes widened in surprise.
"What's wrong with my dress?" Caroline asked him with a high voice and crossed her arms in front of her. "And aren't you ruling this city or something? What do you care what your minions think of you?"
"My minions?" Klaus asked with his eyebrows raised, seemingly amused by her small tantrum.
"I… I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that-" Caroline said, knowing that she once again had said too much. She interrupted herself, when she saw the smirk on Klaus' face and with a sigh she turned around to put on the jacket in defeat. When he had helped her put on his blazer, he let his hands rest on her shoulders and Caroline suddenly realized how close he was standing to her.
"I know what you meant, Caroline. I always do." Klaus murmured into her ear and his hot breath on her skin made her unconsciously lean backwards as she turned her head towards the sound, making his lips graze her cheek for a brief second. A few seconds passed before Klaus stepped backwards and Caroline turned around to face him. The sudden space between them almost felt tangible and Caroline shifted on her feet, not knowing what to do of herself as Klaus' eyes bore into hers.
"It's politics, love." Klaus suddenly said, explaining why it meant something what others thought of him. His eyes then roamed over her figure and Caroline gulped, when the smirk reappeared on Klaus' lips. "And there is absolutely nothing wrong with your dress."
Caroline rolled her eyes at his obvious staring, but couldn't keep the smile of her face. Klaus then walked the few steps over to her and offered his arm for her to take.
"I can walk myself home." Caroline told him, placing a hand on her hip as she just stared at his raised arm.
"Politics, sweetheart." Klaus said with a smile, making Caroline sigh in defeat once more as she took her arm and followed him out the door.
"You know, you can't keep using that excuse." Caroline pointed out as they walked down the busy street towards her hotel. She felt several eyes on her and her head whipped around to meet some of them, who quickly looked away, making Caroline irritated. If they were going to stare, they might as well do it blatantly instead of pretending they hadn't done it at all.
"No, but I fear some of my other excuses would make you uncomfortable." he answered without looking at her and the suggestive meaning of his words wasn't to be mistaken.
Caroline looked at him with narrow eyes in an attempt to show her disapproval, but it only made his smile wider. Had talking to him always been like this? Either they were flirting each other's pants off or they were yelling, ready to rip off the other's head.
"So when are you going to tell me the rest of the story?" Caroline then asked in an attempt to steer clear of all the flirting. She had already fallen far enough down the rabbit hole. Klaus looked at her with what seemed like frustration and then took a deep breath before answering, making Caroline unsure if she really wanted to hear what had happened in Mystic Falls between him and Caroline's friends.
"Perhaps you should let someone else tell you." Klaus told her with a detached voice and for some reason Caroline couldn't help but feel bad for him. He hadn't seen her in five years and the first thing he had to do was to remind her of all the things he had done that had made Caroline hate him in the first place.
"No. I want you to tell me." Caroline told him decisively. She figured that she had already watched everything unfold from her own perspective; meaning that she subconsciously had one side of the story. But she felt like she needed the other side too. And she needed an explanation to how the hell he had started 'fancying' her, when she apparently just had wanted to kill him most of the time.
"What makes you think that I won't lie?" Klaus asked; his voice still cold but with a hint of bitterness.
"Because for some unknown reason, I trust you. Besides, I'm pretty sure I would find out if you lie." Caroline told him, tapping her forehead to remind him of her mindreading capabilities. She watched how his expression softened and he sent her a small smile, which Caroline returned.
When the stopped under her balcony a couple of minutes later, Caroline turned around to face him; only for Klaus to pull her tight against him, making them fly through the air as he jumped to the third floor. Caroline grabbed onto his shoulders as they landed in order not to fall on her heels and several seconds passed, where their bodies were pressed against each other, before either one of them let go.
"Look, I get that some bad things has happened in the past and telling me about them might make me mad at you, but somewhere along the road we became friends." Caroline told him after a long moment of silence between them and his eyes became cold once more. She felt weird using the word 'friends' as she both felt and knew it had been so much more and she also noticed how Klaus looked away from her for a brief second as she said it.
"And I get the whole 'starting over' thing might be a good idea, but I can see how much the past weighs down on you and I can't enjoy now, if I know you're thinking about yesterday. So I need to know and I need you to fill out all the blanks inside my mind, because they're driving me insane." Caroline told him and laughed at her last sentence in an attempt to lighten the mood. But Klaus didn't smile and Caroline's breath almost hitched in her throat, when he reached out for one of her curls, running through his fingers as he stared at it.
"Tomorrow." he then said with a low voice and met Caroline's gaze with strange uncertainty in his eyes. For a second that look almost made her tell him that she didn't have to know anything, but instead she just nodded and sent him another smile that he didn't return.
Klaus then leaned in and placed a kiss on her cheek, making Caroline blink in surprise as he pulled away.
"Goodnight, Caroline." Klaus told her and finally managed to smile at her again.
"Goodnight." she said with a small nod of her head before she opened the balcony doors to step into her room.
"And welcome home." Klaus then said and Caroline spun around, surprised by his words, but he had already disappeared.
"Hello?" Pheodora said with an irritated voice, when she finally answered her phone after having Caroline calling her five times. Caroline huffed in both annoyance over the other vampire's tone and in relief that she had finally gotten through to her.
"Hello? Is that all you have to say?! I've been trying to reach you all day!" Caroline exclaimed with frustration and her patience slipped further, when she heard Pheodora sigh at the other end.
"I've been busy, Sofia and I still am. I'm sorry, but I haven't the time to answer your calls or the questions you evitable have." Pheodora told her with a tired voice and Caroline didn't miss the hidden insult.
The last few months Caroline had asked Pheodora several questions about her upcoming war against Klaus Mikaelson and the Greek had been reluctant to answer most of them, which only made Caroline ask more. She had been able to get all the answers she wanted, when she had spent time together in Greece, but over the phone there wasn't much Caroline could do to learn the truth.
Caroline had wanted Pheodora to underestimate her, to think that she wouldn't be a threat to Pheodora or her plans, but the other vampire's opinion about Caroline's intelligence had slowly begun shining through Pheodora's gracious exterior and Caroline's continuing questions had only made it more obvious that Pheodora thought she was slow and a little thickheaded.
Caroline opened her mouth to answer Pheodora's insult, but decided against it in the last second. She couldn't go off on Pheodora now if she wanted the vampire to listen to her, even though Pheodora's treatment of her was beginning to piss off Caroline.
She could kill Pheodora before anyone could blink, but the Greek vampire had grown so confident in herself – as she in her own mind controlled the possibly strongest vampire in the world – that she had begun believing Caroline didn't even dare pulling a strand of hair from her head. In the end Caroline had only upheld her promise to help Pheodora for one reason: to survive.
But now that she knew Klaus had no intention on killing her; Caroline found herself with no reason to help Pheodora. That didn't mean that she was going to throw Pheodora under the bus nor that she would help Klaus in whatever war there was to come.
Instead she would stop the war before it even began by convincing Pheodora that she would lose everything by going against the hybrid. Without Caroline's help, she was almost sure that Pheodora stood no chance against Klaus. Furthermore Caroline would go against anyone who tried to hurt her friends, who coincidentally were on Klaus' side.
She pitied Pheodora, whose lover had been killed by Klaus and couldn't blame her for wanting revenge. And while Caroline was in Greece, they had been friends and Caroline hadn't felt lonely for the first time in a month. So she was going to protect Pheodora even thought they were no longer friends.
"Well, you better unbusy yourself and listen to me, because you're going to forget all about this vendetta against Klaus and move one before you lose something you can't get back." Caroline told Pheodora, barely given herself time to breathe in between words.
"Excuse me?!" Pheodora asked, clearly not believing the nerve Caroline had to tell her such a thing. "What is this all about?"
"I'm telling you to stop planning your war against Klaus Mikaelson and go out and live your life before it's too late, because soon it will be." Caroline explained patiently and took a deep breath to calm herself. If she went on with this the wrong way, Pheodora would think she was crazy.
"Sofia, are you scared?" Pheodora then sighed, clearly not taking what Caroline had said seriously. Caroline' mouth fell open in shock and it took her a moment to form an answer, making Pheodora think that she was right and Caroline was too embarrassed to admit it. "You're strong, Sofia and we can beat him. And you won't be alone, because we'll fight him together."
"I'm not scared." Caroline told her with as calm a voice as possible and once again she heard Pheodora sigh, making Caroline's blood boil. "Now, you're going to listen to me and you're going to listen very well, because I mean every syllable of it. I'm not going to help you take down Klaus. Not only is it suicide mission for all of us, but it is also not my fight. And you're going to stop whatever plans you have, because without me you won't stand a chance. So I suggest you pack your things and run before Klaus gets a hint of what you're planning to do and kills you before you can even think of asking for mercy."
When Caroline had finished talking she was surprisingly calm and she waited for Pheodora's answer with patience as the silence stretched out between them. Caroline didn't know how Pheodora would react and she expected everything from laughing to Pheodora simply ignoring what Caroline had said.
"What do you mean 'gets a hint of'? Where are you, Sofia?" Pheodora then asked suspiciously, surprising Caroline with her questions.
"I mean that Klaus has eyes and ears everywhere. Everyone owes him a favor or is simply looking to get on his good side." Caroline explained, avoiding Pheodora's second questions about her whereabouts.
"You're in New Orleans, right?" Pheodora asked, surprising Caroline once again. "And you have met him. Was he charming? Handsome? Alluring?"
Caroline gaped in shock and she skipped to her balcony door, looking out in the dark to catch a glimpse of whoever Pheodora might have had following Caroline.
"Yes, I'm in New Orleans and yes, I have met him. But that doesn't have anything to do with this." Caroline explained, knowing that Pheodora probably wouldn't believe her. She really thought that Caroline was so stupid that she would just fall in love with Klaus at first sight just because he had a nice smile.
So what if he is charming, handsome and alluring? I would still kick his fine ass if I had to. Stop thinking about his ass! Damn it!
"Didn't I say that I would call, when you could come to New Orleans?" Pheodora asked with a strict voice and the small guilt Caroline had felt about travelling to New Orleans without Pheodora's knowledge disappeared.
"You're not the boss of me." Caroline growled back and she could feel her anger surfacing rapidly.
"Don't be childish, Sofia. I asked you to follow my plan and you agreed. The plan was for you to stay where you were until told otherwise and not to go find the enemy on your own."
"Klaus Mikaelson is not my enemy and you're a fool to make him yours." Caroline answered with a cold voice and her words finally seemed to hit Pheodora as the Greek vampire gasped in shock, when Caroline called her a fool.
"You're a fool for thinking that he won't kill you as soon as he gets bored with you. You really think that you're that special?" Pheodora mocked and Caroline knew that she was getting desperate.
"This has nothing to do with Klaus and I will leave New Orleans as soon as I've convinced you to drop your plans and move on. I am not on anyone's side, but I will fight back if you push me hard enough." Caroline said and her anger was seething through her voice.
She hadn't yet decided what to do with the whole memory-loss thing other than she had to know what she had forgotten. Caroline didn't know if she would or even could leave her friends again, but she wasn't sure she wanted to stay either. And amidst it all was Klaus. Her attraction to him was almost too great to fight, but she also knew what kind of man he was and was yet to learn what had once made her hate him with a passion.
"Are you threatening me? I'm your friend, Sofia. I don't understand what has gotten into you." Pheodora replied gently, shifting her tactics as she felt her plan crumble around her.
"We're not friends, Pheodora. From the moment I met you I knew that you wanted nothing else than to use me as your weapon against a greater evil. And I let you do it, because I was lonely and I thought this would finally make me feel safe. You took advantage of that and that is what has gotten into me. My real friends are the ones I'm going to protect in this mess, which means that if you continue your plans and the people I love get hurt, you won't even see me coming before it is too late." Caroline hissed back at Pheodora while taking deep breaths as her anger threatened to get the better of her. "And this is not a threat. This is a warning. Do not test me on this, do not underestimate me. Do you understand?"
"Yes." Pheodora breathed, clearly scared by Caroline's words, which made the blonde smile smugly to herself.
"Good." Caroline replied softly and she felt her anger slowly melt away. "I am sorry that I had to break my promise, but I'm doing you a favor by making you walk away from this. Go live, Pheodora. Find love again."
"Yes." the Greek beauty breathed again and Caroline was unsure if Pheodora had heard everything she had said. "Goodbye, Sofia."
"Goodbye, Pheodora." Caroline replied and tossed her phone onto her bed, when she was hung up on. Her head was almost spinning after having used up so much of her energy. It was draining to be angry and she didn't like threatening others as she had essentially done with Pheodora. But it was over and now she just had to wait until the next day to tie up another loose end as Klaus would tell her about the things she couldn't remember.
Caroline fell back on her bed with a loud sigh and didn't bother to remove her dress before she climbed under her sheets and closed her eyes, ready to take Klaus' advice about getting some sleep.
Caroline was woken the next morning by someone banging at her door and she looked at her phone to see that it was only ten in the morning. For a moment she thought about just ignoring the persistent knocking, but dismissed the idea and pulled herself out of bed with a tired groan.
It had taken almost two hours to fall asleep the night before as her mind wouldn't let her rest. She had been back at her room at midnight and then spent an hour trying to reach Pheodora. After closing her eyes her thoughts had kept circling around everything that had happened within the last 24 hours and after that everything that could happen. She had gone through every worst case scenario and a few that didn't end so badly as she thought about what things Klaus could possibly have to tell her the next day.
When she had finally dozed off, Caroline had dreamed about some not-so-innocent things starring a certain hybrid and her eyes had popped open in surprise as she was startled by her own dirty thoughts. She had then spent half an hour trying to fall asleep again, this time thinking about the things Stefan had told her about her former relationship with Klaus and all the times she had caught him staring at her through the evening.
As a vampire Caroline didn't need as much sleeps as others, but she still felt exhausted, when she slowly moved to open the door. She quickly fixed her dress before she opened the door and the thought that it might be Klaus on the other side didn't reach her until it was too late.
Luckily, the person smiling brightly at her wasn't the subject of her dreams, but Bonnie who was standing with coffee in one hand and a bag of food in the other. Caroline felt herself smile before she attacked her friend with a hug, making Bonnie yelp in surprise and fear of spilling hot coffee on both of them.
When Caroline let her go, Bonnie entered the room and placed the things on the bed before receiving yet another hug from her best friend. When they finally pulled away from each other, Bonnie's eyes glided over Caroline's dress and her eyebrows lifted in surprise.
"When did you get home last night?" Bonnie asked as casually as possible, while she unpacked the bag with food that also contained a blood bag for Caroline. The blonde tilted her head as to ask why she wanted to know and Bonnie shrugged before continuing. "You look tired."
"I'm exhausted! I feel like a barely slept all night." Caroline exclaimed and grabbed the blood bag from the bed. As soon as the first drops of blood hit her tongue, she could already feel her energy returning and she didn't notice the suspicious look in her friend's eyes.
"Why are you still wearing your dress?" Bonnie then asked as nonchalantly as she had done the first time and let her eyes glide over the wrinkled fabric. They both sat down on the bed and Caroline put down the half empty blood bag and reached for the coffee. Bonnie watched as Caroline then found a glazed donut from the paper bag and took a bite of it, making Bonnie think she was stalling.
"I was just really tired after Klaus-" Caroline told, while she was chewing but stopped when she saw Bonnie's eyes widen, realizing why her friend had decided to interrogate her. "Bonnie Bennett! I am offended! Did you really think I had just jumped right into bed with Klaus after you left?!"
"No! I was just pointing out that you… uhm…" Bonnie trailed off, knowing she couldn't wiggle her way out of it. Caroline had every right to be offended by Bonnie's assumptions, but the blonde didn't remember the things Bonnie did about Klaus and Caroline. Neither had she seen the continuous looks between them the evening before that had made Bonnie, Kol and Stefan feel invisible half of the time. "I'm sorry, Care. I just forget that you've 'just' met him."
"I will forgive you if you tell me about you and Kol." Caroline said and a mischievous smile spread on her lips as she winked at Bonnie. Even though Kol was the last thing Bonnie wanted to talk about, she couldn't help but smile at Caroline. She had missed talking to her friend and no one loved talking about boys more than Caroline did. Or at least had done before death became a more frequent topic in their talks.
"We're friends, Caroline. We were on the Other Side together for five years and basically he wouldn't stop following me. It was incredibly annoying to begin with, especially because he kept harassing Jeremy every time we came near him, but I guess after some months I just got used to him being around. Don't get me wrong; he's a jerk, but he can be understanding and-" Bonnie told shyly, feeling a blush creep onto her cheeks. When she noticed what Caroline was doing, she stopped mid-sentence to stare at her best friend.
"What are you doing?" Bonnie asked incredulously and it wasn't until then Caroline looked down at her hands as she had been too engaged in what Bonnie had to say. Caroline had taken off the lid of her coffee and drunk half of it. Afterwards she had reached for a blood bag and was now in the process of pouring the red liquid into her coffee.
"Coffee and blood, it's delicious." Caroline told Bonnie with a smile, making the witch cringe her nose in disgust. "I would tell you to taste it, but I have a feeling that you might throw up."
"I will definitely throw up." Bonnie replied and both girls laughed, making Caroline almost spill blood onto the bed sheets.
"Don't think you can just stop there!" Caroline then said with a firm voice and pointed at Bonnie before taking a sip from her blood coffee, making a content smile spread on her face. Bonnie sighed and started picking at her donut, making Caroline frown as crumbs landed on her bed.
"It's complicated." Bonnie said and sent Caroline a small smile, hoping in vain that she would let it go.
"That is the worst excuse ever, Bonnie! Every single one of our relationships has been off-the-charts crazy! My boyfriend was a werewolf! And now there's this whole thing with Klaus that I don't even remember. You and Jeremy wasn't especially uncomplicated either with all the dying and stuff. Too soon?" Caroline exclaimed and gestured with her hands, almost making her coffee spill again. When she saw the frown on Bonnie' face, she realized that mentioning the whole 'dying' thing maybe wasn't a good idea and she quickly moved on.
"And Elena, I'm sorry but that was just a soap opera on its own. The triangle of doom." Caroline sighed and Bonnie almost choked on her food, when she started laughing at Caroline's last words. "Where is Elena by the way?"
Bonnie froze in her spot for a moment as Caroline's curious eyes studied her face and the Bennett witch found herself wishing they could back to talking about Kol. Caroline on the other hand felt guilty that she had barely even thought of her old best friend until now and she immediately noticed Bonnie's panicked expression.
"Well, about Kol-" Bonnie started, but was instantly cut off by Caroline, who clamped a hand over her Bonnie's mouth and narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"Where is Elena?" Caroline demanded and Bonnie's eyes widened, when she realized Caroline could simply pick the answer from her mind.
"Maybe you should talk to Stefan about it." Bonnie suggested, her voice getting muffled by Caroline's hand. "Or Klaus."
"Klaus? Why has he anything to do with Elena?" Caroline asked with a confused expression on her face as she finally removed the hand from Bonnie's mouth.
"Nothing." Bonnie answered too quickly, knowing that mentioning Klaus was a mistake.
"Bonnie Bennett, if you don't tell me what is going on I will find out on my own and it won't be pleasant." Caroline warned and tapped on her forehead to let Bonnie know what she meant.
"Just promise that you won't go all vampire crazy, okay?" Bonnie pleaded, feeling her body tense in nervousness. Caroline glared at her for a long moment before she drank the last of her coffee and nodded. Hopefully the blood would calm her down if needed.
"Not long after you left, Klaus found out about Damon." Bonnie started and looked at Caroline to see if she understood what Bonnie meant. It was one the things Bonnie had never forgiven herself for. She did hate Damon for a long time and had inflicted him lots of pain, but it wasn't nearly enough compared to what he deserved. Caroline stared at her blankly for a long moment before her jaw fell open and her eyes widened.
"He came very close to killing Damon, but he chose to let him go. Klaus then compelled Elena to hate Damon with everything she had and promised Damon that he would ruin every possibility of happiness that he could ever have. I think Damon is somewhere in Europe at the moment, maybe Italy. Everyone avoid him like the plague because they know they will be killed if they as much as talk to him. He has turned off his emotions a couple of times, but Klaus has compelled to turn them back on each time. His existence has just become sad and pointless, but Klaus won't even let him kill himself." Bonnie told slowly and she felt how her stomach dropped at the thought of Damon. He was a jerk, but in the end also her friend.
Caroline had stared at nothing with a dead expression on her face as Bonnie had told her about Damon and it took a moment to realize her friend had stopped talking. A thousand questions popped into her mind, but her lips couldn't form a single one of them.
Bonnie watched as Caroline slowly reached out for a pillow and put in front of her face, making Bonnie jump back in surprise and almost fall out of the bed as Caroline's muffled scream filled the silence. Bonnie looked worriedly at her friend as the blonde removed the pillow with a calm expression and an eerie smile on her face.
"What. The. Hell." Caroline said through her teeth as she kept smiling and Bonnie realized she was upholding her promise to not go all 'vampire crazy'. "How did Klaus find out?"
"Stefan told him. His humanity was off so you shouldn't really blame him." Bonnie quickly answered and jumped when Caroline suddenly yelled.
"WHAT?!"
"It's a long story, Care. And it's not mine to tell." Bonnie told her calmly in an attempt to make the veins that were appearing under Caroline's eyes go away. The next moment Caroline was on her feet, pacing back and forth in front of the bed as she tore up the pillow she had just screamed into, making feathers fly everywhere.
"What about Elena?" Caroline suddenly asked as she came to a halt in the middle of the pile of feathers. Bonnie tried hard to fight a smile, when she noticed the white feathers in Caroline's hair and she immediately blamed Kol, who would have laughed at the sight in front of him. She had definitely spent too much time with the former Original.
"I… uhm… Elena is fine, really. She's kinda locked up at the moment. In Klaus' cellar." Bonnie answered quietly, almost hoping that Caroline wouldn't hear her.
"WHAT?!"