A/N: Happy Klaroline Wednesday!

So here's the next part. These chapters are going to be a lot shorter than my usual. Probably 3-4000 words each because I can't take on doing 2 long chapters a week. But unlike TDB this one will focus solely on Klaroline. Others might crop in it, but the main point will always be Klaus and Caroline and their development.

Enjoy!

Silence was never something Klaus expected to endure when he was around Caroline. She rarely stopped talking or so that was how it seemed to him. Even when she wasn't as talkative as usual, her eyes expressed all that she left unsaid. He couldn't see those eyes now, her head pressed against the window as she continued to stare out at the trees that they drove past. She hadn't spoken a word to him since they left Mystic Falls and it was a tad unnerving.

He had expected questions on where they were going, on what he planned for them to do, on what all it meant that she was to travel with him for a year. She had always seemed to be the inquisitive sort and he didn't like that she wasn't being curious. It wouldn't do for what he had planned and already he knew the fact that having her in the car with him meant that he needed to change some of what he had already decided to do.

Meeting up with his siblings wouldn't work if Caroline was going to be this unresponsive. Kol and Rebekah would be grating enough as it was and Klaus wanted some time alone with her to set everything in motion before adding in those two obstacles. No doubt Elijah would simply frown at his methods of getting her to come along as well but that was easy enough to ignore. Kol and Rebekah were another story and while he had every intention of meeting up with his family, maybe it would be best to do so in a week or two after getting Caroline acclimated to traveling with him.

His cell rang and Klaus tapped the button on the steering wheel, unsurprised that he was already hearing from Rebekah. "Hello, sister," he greeted, glancing over at Caroline but still there was no movement from her.

"I want to move the meeting date up," Rebekah told him, and he could hear Kol in the background, no doubt making a nuisance of himself. "I cannot be in this buffoons company for more than a day, Nik. He's already ate the driver."

"We don't need one anyway. I'm sure I can drive that lovely little vehicle," Kol piped up and Rebekah's answer was a loud huff of hair to showcase her annoyance.

"I'm actually going to need to push it back a week or two," Klaus replied, waiting for the outburst he knew would be coming.

"Tell me you're not sticking around that good for nothing town for some reason or another," Rebekah sighed, her distaste for Mystic Falls clear in her tone. "You don't need any blood from the doppelganger any longer. You have us."

His family.

"I'm already an hour outside of the town. But unforeseen circumstances presented themselves to me and I have every intention on seeing where they lead." He looked over at Caroline then, noting that she shivered a little at that response, though her gaze remained on the window.

"Always so cryptic, it's rather annoying," Rebekah commented. "I can't see what would entice your—tell me you do not have her there with you!" It was amazing how his sister's voice was able to spike to such a level in a matter of seconds.

"I left the doppelganger behind," Klaus replied, pulling onto the highway that would lead to their first destination.

"Not her. I could care less about that little annoyance," Rebekah bit out. "I'm talking about the blonde cheerleader you've got a ridiculous obsession with."

"Like I said, Rebekah, I'll see you in a week or two," Klaus replied, cutting off the call before his sister could answer. He shut off his phone, knowing she'd only try calling again and he had no desire to listen to her hissy fit over the fact he had Caroline in tow.

He had no idea what any of it meant, this pull he had toward the baby vampire. It had come out of nowhere and confused him beyond reason, but he couldn't shake it. No matter how hard he had tried. Not even after her role in getting him away from Kol for the others to dagger. Not after her apparent distaste in his promises at the decades dance. All it had taken was a mention that she was in that damn school with Elena and he knew he had to go in as well. Partly, for the doppelgangers blood that he had safely towed away in the trunk, but also for the intriguing blonde who sat beside him, still not speaking.

"We're going to make a brief stop in Leesburg," Klaus told her, glancing once again at Caroline. "We need to get a suitcase or two and buy both of us some clothes. Otherwise things might look rather suspicious." As easy as it was to compel people to look the other way, having certain items handy would allow for them to avoid causing any alarms with how tight aviation security had become. "I do not have a passport for you yet, but one will be available after we stop off in Boston for the night. Have you ever been?"

He knew she hadn't been outside of the United States from their earlier conversation but was unaware if she had ever left Virginia. Caroline didn't answer and Klaus gripped the wheel, becoming increasingly annoyed at her silence. "I have no intention of compelling what I want out of you, Caroline, but if you continue this rather rude treatment I will order one of my hybrids to go back to Mystic Falls and dispose of the first person they run into. Perhaps an old classmate. Someone you've known since birth."

"I already told you that I've never been anywhere," Caroline bit out, and he was pleased to see that fire in her eyes as she finally looked over at him. That's the spirit he had been missing. "Excuse me for wanting to have a few moments to myself to process the fact that I just gave up everything and didn't feel like chit chatting with you."

"You said that in regard to foreign places. I was unsure if that also applied to this country," Klaus replied, amused by the annoyance in her voice. Her little grumble at his amusement only seemed to further it.

"Well, I haven't. So, now we talked. I'd like to go back to continuing the lovely silence we had going there." She turned back to the window and Klaus shifted lanes, unable to stop smiling.

Her ability to speak her mind to him had been something he had enjoyed since their first real face to face time. He'd seen her in Mystic Falls when he'd been inhabiting Alaric's body, seen her when he'd turned Tyler, and consequently after that a number of times at various places because of the boy. She'd always been an attractive little thing, but it wasn't until that moment in her bedroom when she was dying that he truly was able to take in just how beautiful she was.

There had been something about the way she hadn't been afraid of him in those moments, how the light that seemed to inhabit her continued to fight to remain ignited even as her body slowly died. The words that had come out of his mouth hadn't been planned. He was going to simply go inside, drop some blood into a glass for her and be on his merry way. Getting the Sheriff's backing had been the priority.

But there had been something about Caroline lying in that bed, surrounded by birthday cards—and how silly was that, celebrating a life that was over—as she lay dying. The trinket she wore on her wrist hadn't been good enough for her, he had known that much as he held her in his arms, her fangs piercing his skin to drink down the cure that ran only in his veins. He'd forced the cure down Katherine's throat once, handed off his blood in vials to others, offered it up to the hybrids he'd tried and then successfully been able to make. But there was something different that night, a feeling he couldn't quite explain as he held her in his arms, felt her drink her fill and then laid her back down on the covers.

She had fallen asleep not long after and after assuring the Sheriff and the annoying human boy that she would be fine, Klaus had departed. But he hadn't been able to get her out of his head and so he'd returned with the bracelet, something that deserved to be on her wrist. Unlike the flimsy trinket she had worn.

He had attempted to forget her after that, focused on everything else that had been happening, from dealing with Stefan to his family suddenly being around again. He heard of her father's death and had considered offering his condolences but never did, too caught up in his own plans to bother with it. She was something for his sketchbook, to be drawn and then put aside, not quite forgotten but not allowed to be at the forefront of his mind either.

And then his mother had asked who he'd be bringing to the ball and it had all gone downhill from there. The stirrings inside of him for the baby vampire deepening, strengthening and he'd be damned if he wasn't about to use this opportunity to get her the hell out of his system.

Klaus had meant it though. There would be no compelling. He wanted her willing when he finally had her writhing underneath him, to have the Lockwood boy be a distant memory that he could easily replace. And what better way to do all of that than give the girl some of her deepest desires and darkest dreams? She had been far too sheltered in that tiny little town and Klaus had every intention of showing her precisely what it meant for Caroline to be a vampire and how to enjoy what she had become. Whether she liked it or not.

"Why are we going to Boston?" she asked after some time and Klaus smiled, pleased she was talking again.

"I want to put distance between us and Alaric before nightfall. We'll be able to buy more items that we'll need from there and get our passports," Klaus informed her. "And then it's anywhere really. Do you have a specific place you'd like to see, Caroline?"

"My bedroom," she muttered, blowing hair out of her face.

"I see we'll be relying on my own plans then," Klaus replied, as he pulled into a parking spot in front of the small boutique. "Don't forget that I gave you this chance to have a smidgen of control, Caroline, and you balked at it."

"Can I think about it and get back to you? Since I've no idea really what I'd like to see," she sighed, and he found her frustration to be highly amusing.

"I'll consider it. We have thirty minutes in here, love. Grab a few things that you like and then we'll throw them into the suitcases that we'll buy at the airport. You'll be able to do a little more retail damage once we're at our first destination," Klaus told her, as he shut off the ignition.

"Can't wait," she muttered, not moving from the car.

"And, Caroline, it'd be a pity if I had to have a little snack because someone decided to cause some strife for us while shopping," Klaus added, arching a brow at her strangled gasp. He knew that she was well aware that he would make good on that threat.

He exited the vehicle and she did the same, slamming the door as she closed it and headed toward the store. Klaus headed her off, getting to the door before she did. "A smidgen more gratefulness would really not be too much to ask."

Klaus held open the door, sliding his hand along her arm as she headed inside. He had to hand it to her; she didn't give him the eye of death at that point, playing into the part of someone ready to have a little shopping fun. "I can't wait to see what you pick out, love."

Caroline pulled away from him, offering up a smile as the store attendants looked their way, ready to help the two new customers. "Try not to buy anything tacky," Caroline countered, before she turned on her heel and headed over to the women's' fashion section.

Klaus watched her walk away, wondering if she realized the enticing way her hips swayed as she did so. He couldn't be too sure about that at times. She was definitely one who owned her sexuality and tried to use it to her advantage, was not afraid to embrace it from what he had seen of her, but she'd barely lived really. She had no idea what seduction truly was but he was going to enjoy showing her it.

Nearly four hours later and Klaus was tipping the bellman before closing the door. He turned around, watching Caroline look around the hotel room, noting the way her eyes darted to the large king bed. The only bed in the entire room. He didn't say a word, removing the blood bags from the cooler and putting them into the mini-fridge. His hybrids should have the medical cooler available for him in the morning, along with the passports they would need to leave the country. This would have to do for now.

"Would you rather dine out or in?" Klaus sat down on the bed, watching her move around the room, not sure where to put herself or what to do. "I know I'm rather famished after the car and plane ride and I ate before I left. So I can only imagine how hungry you might be."

He could practically see the internal debate going on in her head. Leave the room or stay, which was the better option? Leaving would mean seeing a little more of the city and he had seen how she had glanced out of the cab while they had driven to the hotel. Staying inside probably seemed the safer option except when she looked at the bed, which only seemed to unnerve her more.

"You're with me for a year, Caroline. Would enjoying yourself a little really be harming you any?" he asked, watching her still at the question. "Do you think your friends expect you to be miserable? And if they do then I truly do wonder what that says about those you choose to associate yourself with."

He smirked at her glare, knowing he'd hit a nerve. "Let's go out," she finally said, turning away from him again and looking at the window, though she didn't go near it. So close to seeing the beauty of the Boston skyline and yet denying herself the opportunity.

"Splendid," Klaus replied, moving to stand behind her. He noticed her stiffen at his proximity but didn't smell any fear. "I have just the dress for you to wear."

"I can pick out my own attire," she told him, her voice cold as she turned around side stepping around him to head to her suitcase. He arched a brow as she wheeled it into the bathroom, locking the door. "I'll be ready in an hour."

Perfect.

He could work with an hour.

True to her word an hour later and Caroline stepped out of the bathroom. Her hair was curled perfectly, the red dress hugging her curves in all of the right places, and makeup done like armor for a night out. She had considered putting in an effort to look awful, but she couldn't do it. Perfectly crafted hair, lipstick and eyeliner being just right, was what helped her face the world. It allowed her some resemblance of control and she needed that more than anything considering how out of control she was feeling.

She tried not to look at Klaus as she stepped into her heels and then smoothed down her skirt, making sure everything was in place. "You look ravishing," he told her, that damn accent coming out to play and she wasn't going to allow it send tingles up her spine, no matter how her body wanted it to.

"You need new material," she told him, crossing her arms as she finally took him in. His ability to clean up so nicely was highly annoying. She hoped he knew that. "Can we go?"

Klaus simply walked over and opened the door, offering his arm to her as they headed down the hallway. She didn't take it, keeping her hands clasped on the clutch she held in front of her. She could almost feel him stiffen at the rebuff and regretted it as soon as his hand settled on her back, guiding her down the hallway instead. She really should have just taken his arm.

"Are we walking or…?" Cab she supposed?

"We'll actually be dining at the restaurant on the first floor. It's a four star restaurant and the concierge assured me that it has a delectable Italian cuisine," Klaus informed her, and she didn't like how he leaned in to say that as they boarded the elevator. His mouth too close to her skin for her comfort. "I hope he's correct in that assessment."

She froze at that, looking over at him as the elevator door closed. "And if he's not?"

"Nothing for you to worry about," Klaus replied, but she could tell by his malicious smirk that it wouldn't be anything good.

"You can't just kill him because you don't agree with his food critique!" God, she was so happy they were alone in the elevator.

"You'll find, Caroline, that I can do whatever I please." She didn't like how his hand moved from her back to her hip, holding her closer to him. "Now how about a little less lip and we enjoy our evening. Wouldn't want it to reflect on the concierge's recommendation, would you?"

"You're an ass," she muttered, sighing at his smirk. The elevator opened and she headed out into the lobby with Klaus. She knew that if she didn't at least try to enjoy herself that it would probably end badly for the other man. And it shouldn't be her fault, Klaus should be able to reel in his own damn temper and his stupid need for proving he was the alpha male, but she wasn't about to be the cause of the man's death either.

He nodded to the man at the desk who smiled brightly back, motioning for which way they should head. The poor guy had no idea who he was dealing with or the consequences that his actions could cause for him. All he had done was his job and it could result in his death. As Klaus smoothly led her toward the restaurant, all charm to the hostess, Caroline realized that she also had little idea of what she was dealing with in regards to Klaus.

This wasn't Mystic Falls. This wasn't her being the little distraction for her friends. This was a whole new ballgame and she didn't even know what the rules were. But then again, who said only he got to make the rules? She had a year and that had to mean she'd survive it, no matter what she chose to do. Maybe. There were no doubt lines she shouldn't cross but that didn't mean she wouldn't try and push the limit as often as she could.

She slipped onto the chair that he held out for her and set her clutch down on the table, looking across at Klaus as he sat down, already ordering them a bottle of champagne. Caroline didn't know quite how she'd create any rules or work to have her own upper hand but she wasn't going down without a fight. It was obvious that he wanted her there, why else would he have made the deal? And he'd said he had no desire to compel her so that also had to be in her favor. She needed to play her cards right and make her current circumstances work in her favor.

The waiter came back, filling their glasses and leaving the bottle to chill at the table. Caroline brought the flute to her mouth, watching Klaus' gaze fix on her lips as she took a sip, smiling at her as he did the same. She reciprocated, though there was nothing pleasant about her own grin. He wasn't allowed to be the only one in control. She'd make certain of that.

Game on.