AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well here is the latest part, which I mentioned before is a continuation of the Halloween section. I know a lot of you were anxious for it so I wanted to get it out early.

Thank you to everyone who is reading! It means so much to me that people seem to enjoy this story.

And thanks to CeCe Volume for all of her help betaing.

Part 9 Late Night Run ins

It was late, the house dark and quiet. It had taken Klaus forever to get the twins to bed after coming down from the excitement of trick or treating and the sugar high from the bounty they had gathered. Thankfully, once he got them into their beds and motionless for longer than a couple minutes, they passed out.

Their father, however, was still wide-awake and decided to take advantage of the solitude. After changing into something comfortable, he headed into his studio where he let his muse lead him on a new piece. His art had always been his escape, especially during his darkest times, but his art was different now. He used it to unwind from the stresses of his life, to empty his mind and let his muse take him where it wanted to go.

A couple of hours later, he had made significant progress on his latest painting and decided he needed to take a break. Klaus wiped his hands on a rag as he left his studio and headed down the stairs towards the kitchen to get something to drink. He walked confidently through the darkened house; he had lived in this house for over five years, knew it like the back of his hand, and navigated with only the streetlights from outside to guide him. Therefore, he was surprised when he rounded the corner to walk through foyer and bumped into a soft body.

Klaus heard a female voice shriek before he felt a blow to his legs, knocking them out from under him. As he felt himself falling backwards, he reached out to try to grab something to stop his descent. However, his hand only found the body he had collided with, pulling it down on top of him as he fell. They landed in a heap on the floor, he on his back and the other person on top of him. He felt long curly hair brushing his face and knew who his attacker had been. "Caroline?"

"Klaus?" she replied sounding surprised through the muffle of her hair. "What are you doing here?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" he retored as he reached up and brushed her hair out of her face. His eyes were readjusting to the minimal light and saw that her face was closer to his than he had thought, only a few inches away. It was then that he became very aware of their current position.

The combination of her being pressed against him and the fact that her top seemed to start half way down her chest created too much of a temptation that Klaus couldn't help it as his eyes dropped from her face to the exposed cleavage. The upper swells of her breasts were exposed to the faint light in the room and her creamy white skin seemed to glow brightly. To make matters worse, her legs had become entangled with his in the fall, causing one of her thighs to rest between his, right against a certain part of his anatomy that was also realizing her close proximity. It had been a very long time since he had company in his bed and suddenly having a beautiful woman on top of him was causing him to remember quickly how long it had been.

"I am so sorry," Caroline apologized. "I didn't think anyone would be up."

The irony of her choice of words was not lost on Klaus. The sweatpants he wore were thin and wouldn't do much to hide his bodies' reaction to her. "I was just going to the kitchen for some water, some cold water."

Caroline's eyebrows crinkled together when she heard Klaus's voice, it sounded…off. Like it was strained and she didn't know if it was the darkness of the room or what but it seemed like his blue eyes had darkened some. If she didn't know any better, she could swear he was looking at her with lust. Of course then she realized their current positions and the air around her suddenly felt very hot. It felt as if she had molded to him, she could feel every hard muscle of his body beneath her, so that there was hardly a gap anywhere between them. She admitted that it felt surprising good before she remember that it was her boss lying underneath her and she suddenly sat up. "So sorry. I didn't mean…"

"It's okay, Caroline, really." Klaus quickly brought his hands down to her hips to try and help her up as well as to keep her from moving around too much and discovering what her being on top of him had done. Once she was off of him, he sat up and pulled his legs up to try hide his issue. "It was dark, and I should count myself lucky that you only knocked me on my ass."

Despite feeling embarrassed, Caroline couldn't help but laugh at his comment as she climbed off of him. She quickly moved to the wall and flipped on the lights. She blinked at the sudden light before turning to offer to help him up but saw that he had already gotten up and heading towards the kitchen. She followed him quickly and entered just in time to see him getting into the fridge and retrieving a bottle of water. "Did you want anything?"

"Yes, water, please," Caroline replied. Klaus shut the door after he grabbed out a second bottle and move towards her. When he did, she noticed for the first time that he looked like he was dressed for bed in sweats and a tank. The dark sweats hung low and loose on his hips while the tank was snug and fitted along his muscular chest. His skin had a healthy color to it and Caroline was surprised to spy tattoo ink peaking up from under the tank on the left side of his chest. She couldn't see all of it but didn't think it would be proper to ask about it. She also noticed that he seemed to be covered in flecks of what looked like paint. There was also some on his hands and face.

"So, did the party end up being a bust?" Klaus asked as he handed her the bottle of water before moving back and reclining against the counter. As he did, his eyes raked over her, taking in the costume, he had been curious about the day before. It was neither the vampire nor Little Red Riding hood but he thought it was supposed to be a witch considering she was holding a black pointed hat but he had never seen a witch dressed like she was in the movies. She wore a tight purple corset rimmed with black lace that pushed her chest up, and a short black skirt that looked like spider webs. The skirt was so short that it would have showed most of her long legs if it wasn't for the knee-high boots. Definitely a wicked witch.

"No, the party was good. We all had a good time, that's why I came home," Caroline replied. Klaus's eyebrow quirked up in question so she explained, "Bonnie ran into an old boyfriend and they got to talking. I decided to come home so that she could have some privacy to get…reacquainted."

"Ah," Klaus smirked in understanding. "So you wanted to make sure she got a treat for Halloween."

"Something like that," Caroline said as she leaned forward against the counter. "So how did trick or treating go?"

Klaus smiled. "It was good. The kids were good and had a great time."

"They must have been exhausted; otherwise I would have thought we'd have woken them up with all of the noise we made earlier," Caroline stated before she realized how that sounded. She looked at Klaus and could tell by the smirk on his face that he had picked up on the slip. "I mean, when you surprised me."

"Yeah, of course," Klaus agreed, trying not to laugh when he saw the faint redness on her cheeks before she looked towards the ground and her hair fell into her face, blocking the view. He remembered earlier when it had brushed his face and it made him realize something. "Your hair is down."

Caroline looked at him oddly as she brought her hands up and tried to smooth down her curls. "Yes, and it's a mess."

"That's not why I said that. It's just, I don't believe I've seen you with your hair down once since you moved in here," Klaus explained. It was the truth, he couldn't remember once seeing her hair down since she had been there. Granted he didn't see her every time she left the house but he lived with her, and it seemed odd.

"I always wear my hair up when I'm working. Elena always teases me that it's a sign that I'm at work, like it's my uniform or something." Caroline explained as she tried to comb her mess of curls back away from her face. "I started it years ago when I volunteered in the nursery at my church and the babies were always grabbing onto it. It made it a lot easier and my hair stays pretty much sticky free."

"Sounds like a good idea, one that Bekah might want to take into consideration when the new baby is born. She loves all of her nieces and nephews, but she does not like them doing things to her hair." Klaus joked as he took another sip from his bottle and watched Caroline mess with her hair a bit more. He could understand her reasoning behind her choice of hairstyle, but he had to admit he preferred it down. He remembered how it felt in his hands earlier, soft and silky. He noticed she was staring at him, obviously having said something to him and he shook himself out of the trance. "Can you repeat that sweetheart?"

"I asked what have you been up to since the kids went to bed. You look like you are covered in paint."

"That's because I have been painting, up in my studio."

Caroline's eyes widened. In all of the time she'd been living with him, she didn't know that Klaus's artistic abilities extended beyond restoration. Sure the twins had mentioned stuff about their dad and art before but she had always assumed they meant his work at Originals. "I didn't realize that you did that."

"What do you think I do in my studio?" Klaus asked.

"I didn't realize it was studio. You said it was your work space that could mean a lot of things like an office," Caroline explained before she realized something. "So the paintings and the artwork around the house, they are yours?"

Klaus nodded before she commented. "They're beautiful. The sketches of the twins, I should have realized that they didn't come from a hired artist."

"I've been drawing them since they were born; if I hung every drawing we could wallpaper the entire house probably a couple of times," Klaus said with a smile as he thought of all of the billion or so sketches he'd made of Lexi and Henry over the years. It had been hard to part with every drawing he'd made of the kids, it was as if he was throwing away memories, but eventually he realized that he could only keep some of the best sketches or final pieces or he was going to end up living like a hoarder in a fire hazard full of paper.

"How long have you been doing your own art?"

Klaus shrugged, "As long as I can remember, never grew out of scribbling pictures on any bit of paper I could find. Then when I was in secondary school, I had a teacher who noticed my work and encouraged me."

Caroline smiled as she motioned her hand over him. "Did they teach you in school about not wearing your art? Or did you miss that class?"

Klaus looked down, saw what she meant and went to the sink and started washing his hands and arms. "I tried to get most of it off before I leave the studio."

Caroline watched him clean up in the sink, the muscles in his arms moving and flexing slightly as he did. When he was done, he turned to look at her with a smile. "Better?"

"Yeah, except…you missed a little on your face. Here," Caroline answered as she moved closer to him. Before she realized what she was doing, she reached forward and ran the pad of her thumb along his temple removing the paint. The moment her thumb touched his face, the blonde could swear she felt a jolt spark through her. And the way that Klaus's eyes flicked to her told her that she wasn't the only one to feel it. She quickly yanked her hand back and stepped away. "You know, I think it's time to go to bed. I mean, for me…I'm tired."

Klaus watched as she scurried out of the kitchen and fled to her room, at least he assumed she did. He waited a few minutes before he too headed up the stairs slowly, his studio was on the top floor but her room was right by the stairs and he didn't want to run into her again. Once he got it cleaned up, he headed to his own room to take a shower, a cold one.

Well there you go, I hope you guys liked how I had Klaus see Caroline in her costume.

So I hope you guys liked this part, we had them sharing a little more and some sexual tension. And remember the hair thing, it might come up later.

Also, it might be strange that Klaus was walking around the house in the dark but I do it all of the time instead of turning on the lights. My hubby says I'm weird but that's only because I have better night vision than him and have scared the crap out of him at times. ;)

I will post again next week, no hiatus for me!

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