"Please don't go, I'll eat you whole. I love you so," - Breezeblocks, Alt-J

14

Winter

Caroline had made a point of staying silent from the moment Klaus had begun holding her captive in her room. The move hadn't gone unnoticed. With all the restless stirrings in his home, the only sounds Klaus had truly been keeping an ear out for were hers.

Then, after he'd attacked her in Hope's nursery, she'd fallen into a near catatonic state. He couldn't hear her at all after that. He could barely even sense her presence in the house. Feeling cornered — like he had no easy way to achieve what he wanted — made Klaus lash out, frequently irrationally and violently. It was one of the many flaws within himself that he was all too aware of and bitter about but, so far, unable to change. Tonight, it looked like his volatile tendencies may have lost Caroline for good.

After just a few hours, he'd of course admitted to himself that Caroline hadn't, in fact, seemed like she was threatening Hope when he'd seen her. He'd just been so instantaneously floored by fear when he'd found them together. This was a young vampire, after all, who'd he'd recently witnessed blow up a pack of wolves, tear out people's eyes as well as… other important appendages. Still, Caroline would have known that Klaus would kill her if she ever harmed Hope. And, despite her lack of emotions and compassion, the one thing Caroline was definitely still in possession of was her desire to live.

He wasn't about to confess it to them but, Klaus knew Elijah and Hayley were right. One way or another Caroline would have to go. His only other option was to accept Caroline as she was, without her humanity but, honestly he didn't think himself capable of doing that. Sure, a small part of his reasoning was that Caroline had proved herself to be capricious, violent, and dangerous since she'd arrived. But that fact weighed significantly less on his mind than the truth. The truth was that Klaus didn't believe he could stand an eternity loving Caroline to only ever have her stare back at him with nothing.

Before, in Mystic Falls, even when she professed to hate him he could see an intensity in her eyes when he was around. He roused some emotion in her. It had always given him hope. He didn't have that now. But, if he were to force her to leave New Orleans until she flipped her switch, there would at least always remain the possibility that she'd turn her humanity back on and that she'd return to him. The question was, which would be worse: Enduring centuries of waiting but never fully knowing that she'd return… or having her by his side knowing for sure that she'd never love him?

Klaus took a brief respite from his study to contemplate all of that in the compound's courtyard. He'd actually stopped drinking, for the moment. If he was going to have to compel Caroline from the city, he wanted to be able to speak with her properly. He was grateful, at least, that he'd been keeping close enough of an eye on her to make sure she didn't have vervain in her system. He would not have enjoyed having to drain it out of her just to compel her banishment. All he had to do was order her never to return to New Orleans unless she had her humanity back.

In the courtyard he'd asked for privacy but, finally making up his mind, Klaus beckoned for the guards that had been pacing in and out of its area to return to their posts. He wondered if perhaps he should wait until the morning but reasoned that Caroline was a vampire well equipped to take care of herself in the middle of the night. Further, after her attack over Hope, he had as good an excuse to send her off now as he ever would. He left the courtyard to make his way upstairs and approach her bedroom.

Thanks to fate, he didn't pass anyone on his way to see her. Klaus didn't particularly want to have to stop and explain himself to Elijah or Hayley until after he'd finally gone through with his resolution.

"Open the door for me, please," Klaus said to the new guards stationed outside of Caroline's door. With her last personal guards proving to be completely incompetent, he'd immediately switched them with other members of the Army.

Without hesitation, they reached over to swing open one of her large double doors and Klaus entered.

He knew she was gone immediately. It wasn't just because he didn't see her — her suite was large and she could have been anywhere in it or even using her ensuite bath. He hadn't realized it but being in Caroline's presence had begun making the air around him thrum with excitement. Without her, everything grew curiously still. Her room was still right now.

Flashing in, he did a cursory check over the room anyway. She really wasn't there.

"Where IS she?!" Klaus roared to the guards behind him, well aware that the whole house would be sure to hear him at this volume. Without thinking, his wolf eyes began to glow in anger and his set of double-fangs began to descend, elongating in a horrifying fashion.

One of the guards was brave enough to flash into the room, searching for her himself with his own bewildered eyes but the other two had enough common sense to hang back. Enraged Klaus reached over to grab the man about his neck, snarling like an animal before tearing into his throat and draining him. He dropped him to the ground a second later, noting with some small amount of satisfaction that his throat had been ripped clean out and the man was all but decapitated.

"You'd better make yourselves scarce," a voice instructed the other guards behind him. Elijah.

Klaus whirled around in time to see the other two guards vamp speed away as Elijah began to approach him through the doorway. He cast a wary glance to the vampire Klaus had just killed, knowing that Marcel would not be pleased.

"She's gone," Klaus growled out, picking up the stereo system that Caroline had picked up for herself and smashing it against the wall. "Call Rebekah and Marcel, I want her found, now."

"Klaus, is this really the time-"

"Do not debate me on this right now," Klaus snarled, flashing in front of his brother at light speed, mere inches from his face, dominating the space.

He could see Elijah grinding his jaw as he bit back whatever he truly had to say. Instead of antagonizing Klaus further, Elijah turned around to begin making a few calls.

Klaus turned back into Caroline's room, inhaling the air around him deeply. It was still thick with her scent. She wasn't even close to long gone, yet. Who knew if she'd even made it out of the city's borders? He followed the trail of her scent over to her window. He undid the latch and stuck his head outside.

Beneath him, in the courtyard in the heart of the compound, the remaining vampire's in Marcel's Army were bustling about as some took orders to leave and search and others began to map out the logistics of the search. Klaus ignored them for the time being. Looking upwards instead, he followed her scent to the roof above.

So that was how his little bird had gotten free.

Klaus had spent the night running at top speed throughout the city. He stopped in at several of Caroline's favorite local haunts — as well as multiple seedy alleyways known for being easy feeding spots — before giving up on the streets and trying the trees instead.

After flashing up to the roof himself, it had been clear she'd escaped through the trees. But New Orleans, though old, was still a city. The line of foliage from the compound only extended so far. Looking through both the streets and the trees lining his block, he'd still lost her scent. Even after promising favors to some of the wolves in Hayley's pack, none of them had been able to pick up her scent either. He didn't know how she'd done it but Caroline had planned this escape. And she'd planned well.

Storming back into The Abattoir several hours later that evening, he went in search of Hayley. He found her lounging in the living room with Jackson.

"Nice to see you back, Jackson," Klaus sarcastically spat at him when he finally walked into the room where they were sitting together, "But, if you don't mind, I need to speak with Hayley privately."

"Anything you need to say to me you can say in front of him," Hayley immediately piped up.

"Is that so?" Klaus asked skeptically. "Alright, then. I assumed you might want to keep it private… that the young vampire who killed four members of your pack with napalm was, in fact, the same vampire you just helped escape."

Jackson's eyes flashed towards Hayley in confusion.

"You helped Caroline escape?" he asked, his tone not hiding his hurt.

"I most certainly did not," Hayley objected. "Look, Klaus, I tried to instill a truce with Caroline while she was here but it didn't work out. I told her that if she stopped making threats towards myself and the pack that I would do everything I could to stop you from locking her up to desiccate."

Klaus practically winced but was able to maintain a stoic face.

"I would never have done that," he said. Even he wasn't sure if he was lying or not. He may have been lying to himself.

"You came pretty damn close, Klaus, let's be honest," Hayley debated. "But, either way, I never agreed to her request to help her escape."

"So she asked?" Klaus asked to clarify. "She asked for your help to escape?"

"Of course she asked!" Hayley said, losing her patience. "You weren't even letting her feed. The point is that I didn't agree to help her. Caroline escaped on her own time with her own plan."

Klaus groaned, internally, not displaying his true frustration on the outside. He believed Hayley, mostly because he knew the little wolf had been living with him long enough to know his limits. Hayley would have had to be a fool to help Caroline leave without his permission. Though she was frequently naive and, even more frequently selfish or misguided, she wasn't stupid.

Yes, Klaus wanted to keep the mother of his daughter alive. But was he sure that desire extended beyond the potential of Hayley outright betraying him? Of course not. Luckily, for the time being, he didn't have to consider that option. He believed that Hayley had not betrayed him.

"If that's the case then you can either help or stay out of my way," Klaus said. "I don't have time to deal with the pack's issues right now."

With that he was out of the room, leaving Hayley and Jackson to roll their eyes and exchange annoyed glances.

"No one has ever requested that he interfere with the pack," Jackson growled, "No matter what issues he's talking about."

"Klaus can't admit when he's wrong," Hayley responded. "Haven't you learned that about him by now?"

"No, I guess I haven't. I'm not surprised," Jackson told her. "I just can't believe that he's still pretending that he cares to be in control of every aspect of this city when it's abundantly clear that he only has one thing on his mind right now and that's Caroline."

"Well, Klaus is nothing if not prideful," she reasoned. "Caroline might be the only thing he's thinking about right now but, that doesn't mean he's not going to pretend he's not in control of everything else."

"Maybe we should just find Cami," Jackson suggested. "He has a penchant for blondes. If we brought her back, maybe we could get him to forget about Caroline and control him through the human?"

"Cami isn't coming back," Hayley replied, finally. "Even if I were to compel her… Klaus doesn't feel the same way about Cami that he does Caroline. It wouldn't solve anything."

Jackson growled in frustration.

"Well, whatever happens, you have to promise to keep me informed," he said. "Even if I can't help, I just want to know what you're facing."

Hayley leaned down to kiss her husband softly.

"I promise," she vowed.

Klaus's efforts to appear in control, though, were proving futile. He'd stayed up the entire night making phone calls and speeding in and out of the city himself to find her. The night's search ultimately proved fruitless and he returned to the compound early the next morning.

He was wrecked but had no plans to rest. Heading back into his home after his most recent race north of the city, to Baton Rouge, he walked through the door completely frustrated. She hadn't been in Baton Rouge either and no one else had spied her anywhere else in the state which may very well have been an indicator that she was already out of Louisiana.

We found her so quickly when she went to Atlanta, he thought to himself, Why can't we find a trace of her now?

Elijah interrupted his thoughts as he crossed the house towards his study.

"Klaus, I do not understand the point of this fruitless search," Elijah railed, finally losing his patience. "You knew you were going to have to banish her from the city anyway, if she has run there is no point to bringing her back!"

A million thoughts were racing through Klaus's mind while Elijah scolded him. Paramount among them was: No one runs from me and simply escapes. After that, he was simpering on the general misery he felt at her leaving. He knew that Elijah knew him well enough to assess his true feelings at the moment but, that didn't mean he would outright admit them without a fight.

"What if she plans to come back for revenge, Elijah? We still cannot trust her," he replied.

"You know damn well she's not a fool Klaus!" Elijah spat right back. "We both know how scared you had her when she left. She's long gone. You want her back because you still want her to love you, Klaus, but you have got to face the fact that maybe she just doesn't."

It was harsh, Elijah knew, but someone had to be the first to voice it. If Caroline was not coming back of her own accord, it either meant that her humanity was still off or that she simply did not love Klaus. Or that Klaus had truly scared her off for good, despite the status of her humanity. Klaus couldn't keep carrying on like this, not when there were so many other dangers lurking and waiting to seize this moment of weakness.

"You don't understand," Klaus said, pausing in his pacing to face his brother and give him a real answer for once.

"I understand better than you think," he replied, thinking of his own many lost loves.

"No, that's not what I mean," Klaus said. "When I was thinking about banishing her… I would have at least been able to give her conditions. I could have told her that if she ever decided to turn her emotions back on she could return to me. Now that she's run, I simply may never see her again."

Elijah lowered his head. He understood Klaus's frantic search better now… but he still did not agree with it. If Caroline Forbes was meant to be with his brother then fate would find a way to lead them together. Right now, they could not afford to be so completely focused on finding her. They had other imposing problems to which to direct their attention.

"Klaus, if she turns her humanity back on," Elijah began in response, "Then surely she will be able to work out that the only reason you grew angry with her was because you could not trust her. She will come back."

"How could she?" Klaus asked, distraught. "After I kept her under lock and guard like that. Why would she ever return to me again?"

Elijah sighed heavily, "Brother, this is why I counseled you to banish her as soon as possible. Keeping her locked away, no matter for how short a time, was a good idea."

"Now is not the time to attempt to rub my nose in my mistakes, Elijah!" Klaus yelled out, becoming angry in just a split second. "At the time, I saw no other course of action."

"No one is blaming you Klaus!" Elijah replied. "We all may wish things played out differently than they did but, given all of the threats on our horizon right now, no one has time to blame you. We all need to put this behind us and work together to protect ourselves."

"What do you mean?" Klaus asked.

"Dahlia," Elijah replied easily. "We need to be focusing on her right now. She is a greater threat than you realize."

Klaus was sick of all this talk about Dahlia. Each time she was mentioned was just a reminder of his new sister, Freya, a woman he did not at all trust.

"If Dahlia and Freya are really your paramount concern at this moment… fine," Klaus spat out. "I assume the same feelings are true for Rebekah. Your help is not required for finding Caroline. You may respectfully bow out."

"Klaus, that's not what I was suggesting-"

"-No, Elijah," Klaus interrupted. "You've made your opinions and feelings perfectly clear. Do not worry. I have other people in mind who might be willing to help me. More than willing, I'd wager."

Stefan had been drinking when his cell rang. Damon and Bonnie had just managed to return Kai to the prison world and it had been a stressful few days. But, despite everyone else's distraction, the only thing that had truly been on Stefan's mind was Caroline. It disturbed him, the idea that they were just leaving her in New Orleans with Klaus, while Caroline wasn't even fully in control of her own emotions.

Elena was concerned too, obviously. He was sure Bonnie would have been too, if she hadn't been so preoccupied by plans to get rid off Kai. Now that the powerful Gemini witch was finally imprisoned again, he was sure everyone's attention could return to finding a loophole to Klaus's compulsion. They'd all been bled dry of vervain before he'd compelled them under Caroline's wishes and, even though they all now safely had vervain back in their systems, they still couldn't undo the compulsion. They would need to work out a new plan.

But then, Stefan's phone rang again — maybe for the fourth time. He'd been ignoring it all morning. Finally, he pulled it out of his pocket and chanced a look at the name flashing on his screen: Klaus. He picked up.

"Klaus, I can't say I'm not surprised to see you calling," Stefan answered. "Is Caroline okay?"

"I have no idea," was the immediate response from Klaus at the other end, "Caroline has escaped."

"Escaped?" Stefan asked immediately, "I'm sorry but that particular word has very specific connotations. When we last left both of you, Caroline seemed more than willing to stay in New Orleans. Did something change?"

"She proved herself to be a threat," the Hybrid responded. "She tried to blow up an entire wolf pack just outside the city with napalm."

"And since when have werewolf packs become your concern?" Stefan asked, skeptically. "Besides when you're attempting to turn them into your own personal hybrid army, of course."

"Since a certain pack of wolves became family to my own daughter," Klaus explained on the other end of the line. "I was going to let Caroline go, Stefan. But then she just left before I could speak with her and, I have no idea where she is."

"Annnd this is our problem, how?" Stefan asked, already working through multiple scenarios in his mind of how they could find Caroline and keep her away from Klaus.

"You want her humanity back on still, too, don't you?" he returned.

"Of course," Stefan replied. "But not if that means striking any kind of deal with you."

"I plan to keep my compulsion over you that prevents you from interfering with Caroline within New Orleans' limits," Klaus said. "I've done you the courtesy of letting you know that she's left the city limits. All I ask in return is that if you find her first, you tell me. I simply wish to speak with her one final time… and I'll leave her to make her own decisions after that point."

"So you're asking me to find Caroline, tell you when I find her and, then trust you to leave her be after you just admitted to keeping her locked up?" Stefan asked.

"If you don't trust my offer, then I can easily keep track of you myself, Stefan," Klaus said. "Once you make a move to find her, I can have eyes on you the entire time. I thought my suggestion of partnering was much more civil but…"

"Fine," Stefan agreed, knowing that to purportedly partner with Klaus was far safer than outright plotting against him. "But you do agree that once we find her, you won't force her to return to you if she doesn't want to?"

"Of course," Klaus agreed.

Stefan didn't trust him for a second. Nevertheless, after hanging up with Klaus, he immediately went to find Bonnie and Elena to update them.

In the next hour, daylight finally broke. Because most of Klaus's help was already out on the streets or even further out than New Orleans, the compound was finally quiet. Anyone remaining on the home's premises was asleep — except for Klaus, of course.

Though he wanted to be out attempting to find Caroline, the idea that he might head off in the wrong direction was instilling an uncomfortable amount of anxiety within him. Rather than hedge his bets, he decided to do the safest thing and just stay put until he heard anything more conclusive.

Sitting out in the courtyard as the sun rose, Klaus's concentration was only broken by the sound of approaching voices: Rebekah and Hayley. Apparently he wasn't the only one still up.

"We thought we might find you out here," Rebekah said as they approached, "Though, I must admit, I am surprised to find you without a drink. No matter how early it is."

"Your capacity for empathy is always astounding, sister," Klaus replied. "If you have no desire to help me right now, then you can do as Elijah chose to earlier and leave. I don't have time to deal with pointless insolence."

"Oh, I'm about to, make no mistake," Rebekah replied. "I understand what a threat Dahlia is to all of us. I won't be wasting too much time here."

"Then why are you here at all?" Klaus demanded.

"To implore you, Klaus," Rebekah replied. "If Caroline is meant to be here then she will come back. In the meantime, we still have a major threat that needs your attention: Dahlia."

"I've told you before," Klaus reiterated. "I don't care what happens to Freya. I don't care what Dahlia wants."

"Don't be foolish about this, Klaus," Rebekah pleaded. "We truly don't know what she's capable of."

"If anything of importance actually requires my attention, Dahlia or otherwise," Klaus deflected, "You know how to get in touch with me. In the meantime, leave me to spend my time as I see fit or you might just wind up with a dagger in your heart again."

"And I suppose as you see fit involves gallivanting all over the globe in search of a woman that wants nothing to do with you?" Rebekah continued. Klaus growled. Rebekah was pushing her luck.

"I never did understand," Hayley interrupted, "Why you didn't just drain Caroline of vervain the moment she set foot in the city and just compel her to turn her emotions back on."

Klaus flashed her a pointed glare, indicating that the subject was not to be broached again. The truth was that the thought had occurred to him several times over, particularly after the vervain had clearly left Caroline's system and he wouldn't have even needed to drain her. But he certainly didn't feel comfortable enough with Hayley to reveal his true vulnerability: the reason why he had decided against using compulsion.

Turning on or off a vampire's humanity without their permission was not something Klaus made a habit of doing. After he'd last used that trick on Stefan Salvatore, something felt deeply wrong about using it on Caroline without her consent. It felt like an invasion, like forcing someone to tell you they loved you when they really didn't. He had always wanted Caroline, yes, but in her own time. If she came to him on her own then, and only then, he would truly be able to have all of her.

Luckily, Hayley didn't press the sore subject after his intense stare. She knew she was on thin ice with the Original already. After he'd caught them together in Hope's nursery, he'd suspected them of working together. Now, it was likely Klaus thought Hayley may have helped Caroline escape, if anything just to get her out of the city and out of her territory.

Hayley had given a good argument in her own defense and, she knew that Klaus believed her. How couldn't he have, when Caroline's escape had been a surprise to everyone? Still, there was clearly a fair amount of hostility clouding the air. It was all because Klaus had last caught Caroline with Hayley before she'd escaped. Now, Hayley was wishing she'd just kept her distance from the blonde, period. Obviously, without her humanity on, Caroline would never have had the patience to stay in New Orleans indefinitely.

No matter which way you cut it, Caroline would have left at some point anyway. Hayley should have just kept her head down and herself out of it. Now, she found herself the object of Klaus's ire and, she definitely didn't want to be.

"Alright, I can see I'm only going to get the silent treatment," Rebekah said, flippantly, "Let's leave him be, Hayley."

The wolf and his sister left him alone in the courtyard. Rebekah had reminded him — he needed another drink. But, he realized after checking the time on his cell, he didn't have time to, at the moment. He would need to be leaving shortly to meet up with Stefan Salvatore.

AU Notes: So, obviously with Cami... to be explained further. She's not in our story for now. The reason why may be revealed in upcoming chapters! Still no Salvatore-Mom plot-line. That's still too much for me to get in to. I kept the Kai thing cause, you know, they had to be working on something while Caroline has been down in NOLA.

I know I left you guys dangling too long between chapters 12 and 13, so I'm definitely trying to get back into a quicker update schedule. Every review I get definitely reminds and motivates me to keep writing. I can't send enough thank you's to those of you who are repeat reviewers; I love hearing your evolving reactions as the plot progresses. What you love, what you hate, what you want, limericks or emojis — any thoughts or randomness is welcome!

Dunno how everyone is feeling about how TO is winding up its season or how TVD finished the Caroline-humanity plot but… I'm a little let down with both. This story has been a welcome respite for what I wish was happening. And, as always, thanks to my beta titieli. Working with her helps ensure these come out a lot more polished!