AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello lovelies! How is everyone?

The reviews for the last part were phenomenal! I tried to have a little bit of everything in there, UST, Klefan, hints of character's unknown history, and family time with the twins. I apologize for the lack of twins lately, they have been otherwise occupied with spending time with the other members of their family but will be back in it hopefully soon.

Glad you liked the Sunscreen scene, I didn't think it was that hot but apparently I was wrong. And everyone seemed to like the descriptions of Klaus and Caroline's bodies so uber happy to see that. As to what Klaus' tattoos are and how Caroline got her scars, you will find out the answers to both, one sooner than the other.

Thanks to CeCeVolume for her help betaing this.

Part 20

As he sat on the terrace alone, the only noise Klaus could hear was the sound of the nearby waves crashing along the shore. It was very peaceful and, between the waves, the activity of the day, and the glass of wine in his hand, he knew he could easily fall asleep in the large lounger he was reclined in. However, something kept him from giving in to sleep or, more accurately, someone.

Caroline was not back from going to the club with his younger siblings and Stefan yet. He knew that he didn't have to stay up and wait for her—she was a grown woman—but he found himself wanting to. He told himself it was to make sure she got home safely, but that was just the excuse he used. He wanted to see if she'd had a good time and if she had found someone to have a good time with. She'd looked stunning when she had left, dressed in a simple flowered dress with spaghetti straps, her hair down in loose curls, and he had no doubt that she would have plenty of attention at the club.

His mind automatically went to their time at the beach earlier, mostly how Caroline looked in her swimsuit and how her skin had felt under his hands. He knew he was attracted to her, had been since he first met her, however lately it seemed to be popping up in his mind more and more. It wasn't surprising considering his lack of sex life combined with the large amounts of time he spent with her and the attraction he felt. But he needed to squash the desires; she was off limits to him. Perhaps it was time to find an outlet for the tension he felt—someone other than himself, that is—if just for a little bit.

He hadn't lied to Caroline when he said he didn't date. He didn't. But that didn't mean that he had lived the last six years as a monk, either. He was nowhere near the "man whore" Kol was, but there had been a few women over the years that he had had liaisons with, in only the physical sense. Just two consenting adults with no attachments, a perfect set up for him. Then the temptation of living around Caroline wouldn't be as strong, nor would it impede on their working relationship and growing friendship.

When he hired Caroline, he knew that her personality would make the idea of living with a stranger more bearable, but he had no anticipated her becoming a friend. There were only a handful of people that he would give that title to.

Right then, the voice of the blonde currently occupying his thoughts drifted up from the beach. "Kol, I'm fine. Stop jumping around me like a squirrel who's had too much coffee."

"You only have yourself to blame; when I said I wanted to be entertained tonight, I wasn't expecting it from you," Kol replied.

Caroline and Kol came into view at that moment. Klaus put down his glass and stood up quickly when he saw that she had a bloody napkin wrapped around her right hand. He rushed to her side and wrapped his arm around her to help her up the steps.

"I can walk on my own; it's just my hand," she stated.

"What did you do?" Klaus asked, glaring at Kol.

"It's not Kol's fault," Caroline argued.

Klaus removed the bloodied napkin then and saw that the blood was coming from slight scrapes on her knuckles, which were also swollen. "We need to get you inside and clean those up."

Without waiting for an answer, he gently pulled her into the condo and into the kitchen. Thankfully, it was close to the backdoor and away from the bedrooms, so they didn't have to worry about waking the twins. "Will someone tell me what the bloody hell happened?"

"We were at the club and I was dancing with Rebekah and Stefan—well, mostly Rebekah. And these two drunk idiots took two girls dancing as an invitation and tried to grope me at the bar later," Caroline explained. "So I made sure they understood that it wasn't."

"You should have seen her, Nik. These two blokes on either side of her, grabbing onto her…."

"Where were Bekah and Stefan? Where were you?" Klaus growled as he rinsed Caroline's hand under the faucet.

"They were at our booth, engrossed in each other, and I was occupied…but came over as soon as I saw what was going on. However, this lovely woman is not so much a damsel in distress as she is an Amazon warrior," Kol argued. "Now, as the what I was saying, I was almost up to these two guys when she grabbed the guy who had his hand on her ass and twisted it behind his back before she shoved him away. He tripped as he went and hit the wall. Knocked him out cold."

"I gave them fair warning," Caroline declared. "They just didn't want to hear it."

"So you just stood back and did nothing?" Klaus asked Kol.

"No, I went to help her, but honestly she had it covered," his brother stated. "Kind of a blow to my ego, if I am to be honest."

"So how did this happen?" Klaus asked while motioning to her hand.

"Well, the other guy didn't like what I did to his friend so, when I tried to walk away, he grabbed my left arm," Caroline explained, showing him said arm, which was red and starting to show finger-shaped bruises. "So I punched him."

"Your girl here has quite the right hook. Almost knocked the guy's teeth out!" Kol exclaimed. "Then the bouncer came over to take care of the guy and I got her out of there. She didn't want to stick around."

"It was a little too much excitement for me," she admitted. "I just wanted to come back here; I told Kol he could stay but he…."

"Values his life. If I had let you come home by yourself, Nik would have torn out my liver," Kol stated, looking over at his brother who was thankfully too busy cleaning up the nanny's hands to pay him too much attention. Or so he thought.

"With my bare hands," Klaus agreed as he dried off Caroline's hands gently.

"And now that I have delivered you into said hands, I'm going to take my leave," Kol declared. "Caroline, thank you for a delightfully entertaining evening."

Klaus and Caroline both said goodnight to Kol before he slipped out, this time leaving through the front door. Once he knew that her skin was dry, Klaus retrieved another towel and some ice from the freezer. "You need to put some ice on those if you want to keep the swelling down."

"Thanks," she acknowledged with a smile as he gently placed the towel on her hand. "This seems to be becoming a habit. You bandaging me up."

"Well, you seem to need it," Klaus replied with a smirk. "Are you sure you are okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, really," she insisted.

"You probably want to go to bed; I'm sure the excitement made you tired."

"Quite the opposite, actually. I'm very awake," Caroline stated. It was then that she noticed that he was only dressed in a pair of pajama bottoms. After spending the afternoon around him in a similar state of undress, she should have been used to it, but she felt her cheeks flush and her eyes roam over the hard planes. Then she realized that his attire could mean that she had woken or disturbed him. "Sorry if I interrupted whatever you were doing."

"I was just enjoying some time out on the terrace. You didn't interrupt anything," Klaus assured her. "Since you sound like you are going to be up, would you like to join me?"

"That sounds nice. On one condition."

"What's that, sweetheart?"

"Will you tell me what those mean?" Caroline asked as she pointed to his tattoos.

Klaus chuckled at her question. "I think I am getting the better end of this deal, but yes, I will. But first I'm going to top off my drink. Can I get you anything?"

"I think I have had enough alcohol tonight," Caroline answered as she walked to the refrigerator and retrieved a bottle of water while he reclaimed his wine glass and topped it off. Once they were done, they retreated to the terrace, Klaus taking the seat he had been occupying earlier and Caroline taking the one next to him. "Okay, spill."

"You have taken quite the interest in my body art, haven't you?" he asked.

There was more than teasing in his tone, but she just shrugged. "I just find it surprising, I guess. I shouldn't, considering how mainstream tattoos have become. However, yours are not quite the pick and stick type of tattoo I see on people."

"No, that they are not. They are completely unique. They are the children's names," Klaus stated before pointing to the top line. "This one is Alexandria, since she is the older of the two, and this one is Henrik."

"Really?" Caroline replied as she moved forward to look closer.

"When they were born, I knew I wanted something permanent to mark the changes in my life that they brought, but I also wanted something unique," Klaus explained. "They are written in old Norse runes. My family is supposedly descended from Vikings, so after doing some research, I drew the runes and had them inked."

"I'm assuming that their location over your heart was done on purpose?" Caroline asked and smiled when he nodded. "You know, I don't think I have ever asked how you picked their names. They're somewhat old-fashioned."

"I didn't know that was considered bad."

"It's not. It wasn't an insult, just an observation," she stated. "Did you pick them or…."

"Tatia made a few suggestions, but I was the one who actually chose the names. Alexandria is named after the great city in Egypt, where we had travelled a year before. Henrik is named after my younger brother," Klaus answered, taking a drink from his glass.

"I remember Ayanna mentioning him; she said he passed away when he was a teenager?" Caroline asked somewhat hesitantly. She had noticed how the tone of his voice had changed when he had mentioned his brother. She might be pressing her luck, but she still asked. She felt like she was always talking about herself during their one on one conversations—talking about her childhood, her parents' divorce, her friends, and pretty much everything else. That was until lately, when he seemed more open to sharing things with her.

"Yes."

"Since you named your son after him, I assume you were close?" Caroline inquired.

"Yes, we were quite close. He was the youngest and there were quite a few years between us, but we had a unique bond. When I left for University, he took it quite hard. We both did, but I came home as often as I could to visit," Klaus explained, a small smile on his face as he thought about his baby brother. The memories were painful, in ways more painful than any other, but they were also treasured because they were all he had left of him.

"Um, how did he die? Was he ill?" she asked. While she knew that death didn't discriminated, it wasn't typical for one so young to die, either. At least not in her experience.

"An accident…an accident that was my fault," he confessed. As the admission left his lips, his eyes looked to Caroline's to see her reaction. He expected to see surprise followed by disgust and revulsion, but only saw surprise and empathy.

"What happened?"

Her question was met with silence and she wondered if she had pushed him too much. She could see the guilt in his eyes when he had answered her previous question and couldn't help but feel sympathy towards him. Before she could reconsider her actions, she reached forward where his hand rested on his leg.

Feeling the soft touch of her hand, he looked down to see her uninjured hand wrap around the top of his. He spread his fingers and felt her fingertips move between them before she squeezed it reassuringly. "I was home for Spring holiday from school and Henrik wanted to go to one of the nearby St. Patrick's Day festivals. I didn't want to go; I thought it would be a madhouse. But he wanted to go. He begged me all day until I finally gave in. And I wished I hadn't.

"It was still early in the evening when we left. I was on foot, but Henrik wanted to ride his bike. We were almost there, just across the street, and he went ahead on his bike. A drunk wanker came flying out of nowhere and crashed into him." Klaus paused when he felt her hand squeeze his hand tighter. He looked over and saw that she had closed her eyes and her body had gone rigid at his tale of the car accident. He thought it was too much before he heard her whisper. "It must have been…horrible."

"I could only stand there and watch as he flew ten feet in the air before he crashed onto the pavement. I ran to him and tried to help; yelling at the same time for someone to call an ambulance, but it was too late. I stayed with him even after they took him away."

"Klaus, it wasn't your fault," Caroline stated as she opened her eyes and looked at him.

But Klaus shook his head. "I knew that there was a risk; it was St. Patrick's Day and there were drunks everywhere."

"And it was the guy who had too much to drink and got behind the wheel's fault," she insisted. "Not yours."

"That's what my siblings said. But my parents…they didn't see it that way. And my father made sure I knew it," he confessed. "After I got out of the hospital, I was disowned."

Caroline found herself confused. "I didn't realize you were hurt as well."

"I wasn't," Klaus acknowledged.

It clicked then what he was saying and her eyes fell to the scars she had noticed on his chest earlier. She didn't know if they were from that incident or possibly before. She wasn't naïve enough to think that if his father had hurt him once, he hadn't hurt him before. The man was beyond vile in her opinion.

"I went back to University after; I didn't have a choice. I had some money in my accounts, but everything was paid for until the end of the semester. Henrik's death haunted me every moment of the day. I wasn't allowed to go to his funeral. My siblings didn't obey my father's shunning of me and still visited me. I never saw either of my parents until their deaths a few years later," Klaus explained. "So when Henry was born, I named him Henrik."

"It's a good name. I'm sure your brother would be happy that you named your son after him," Caroline stated.

"I think so, too," Klaus agreed.

They sat there for a few minutes before he stood up, dropping her hand as he did. "I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight," Caroline replied, not knowing what else to say. She watched him retreat into the house and, once he was out of sight, she retrieved the forgotten ice pack and replaced it on her swollen knuckles. She just wished that all scars could be healed as easily as her battered knuckles.

There you go guys, you found out about Klaus' tattoos as well as some more of the Mikaelson family background. Not to mention the inner workings of Klaus' mind about Caroline. And I hope the little bit about Klaus seeking female companionship didn't upset anyone. Like he said, he's not a 'man whore' but he's also a healthy youngish guy who has needs whose wife left him over 6 years ago. But he doesn't go out trolling bars every night while he leaves his kids at home.

As for Kol at the beginning, I almost didn't post today because of last night's episode because I thought having him in it would rub salt on our wounds but was persuaded by a few Klaroline friends (You know who you are) that it would be therapeutic for everyone to post.

Also, sorry for anyone who wanted to see Klaus rescue Caroline at the club. I just couldn't write that considering at the beginning of the story I mentioned how she trained in self defense.