AUTHOR'S NOTE: Wow, the responses on the last part were amazing! I think we hit almost 90 reviews just from that one part. And I'm not sure how many of those reviews started with "Lexi, I love you but…." Haha. Poor thing, everyone's mad at her for cockblocking her dad and Caroline.

And I am surprised by the response to Klaus and Sophie. I guess if I'd had it be Hayley I would have gotten a much different response.

Sorry this part is only half the length of the last one. The next one should be a dozy.

Thanks to Cece Volume for all of her help and a-little-blonde-distraction and melanoradrood for their encouragement that this part isn't as bad as I thought.

Part 26

As soon as Klaus and Lexi disappeared into the kitchen to get the little girl the water she asked for, Caroline bolted up the stairs as fast as her heels would let her and headed towards her room. She passed through her door, shutting it behind her securely before she rushed to her bathroom.

Caroline flipped on the light before moving over to the mirror. Although she half expected it, she was still surprised at what she saw. Her hair was mussed a little, mostly in the back, her lips were red and swollen from his kisses, and she could see that the skin at the base of her neck was a bit pink from where it had been rubbed with his stubble. "Oh, God."

What had she done? She had kissed Klaus! Her boss. The man she had decided weeks ago was the last person she should be kissing. Okay, so technically, he had kissed her first, but he had pulled back and given her an out. She was the one who had idiotically pulled him back to her and kissed him.

Saying she kissed him was the understatement of the century. Not when it ended up with her being pinned to the wall with her legs wrapped around him and her dress pushed up almost to her waist while they had explored every crevice of each other's mouths. Before she could stop herself, her tongue came out and ran across her bottom lip as she remembered the feel of his mouth on hers. The dream she had of them in Barbados wasn't even close to the real thing.

A knock at her door broke her out of her thoughts. Seconds went by before she heard it again followed by the muffled sound of a familiar voice. "Caroline? Open up."

Caroline should have known that he would seek her out after putting Lexi back in bed especially when he saw that the living room was empty. Instead of answering the door and letting him in, she walked over to the bathtub and turned on the shower. It should be loud enough for him to hear, and hopefully it would make him leave. Of course, this plan could backfire, he could just charge into her room and into the bathroom to talk to her. She wouldn't put it past him.

When he didn't get a response to his knock or him calling to her, Klaus knew she wasn't going to come to her door. Either that or he had been wrong and she had left the house instead of fleeing to her room. He considered opening the door to check, but instead he leaned against the door in an attempt to see if he could hear her moving around inside. He did not hear movement, but he did hear the distant sound of water running as if the shower was going.

Again, he contemplated barging into her room to talk to her. If she was in the shower, she could not run from him. Of course, he knew that trapping her like that would most likely lead to her yelling at him rather than talking to him calmly. Then again, considering how their last argument ended, Klaus did not find the idea of fighting with her again completely terrible. However, in the end he decided against it. She might be avoiding him now, but that wouldn't last. They were going to talk about what had happened. Things had shifted downstairs and neither one of them could ignore it.

He pushed away from her door and headed towards the stairs to go up to his room, unbuttoning his vest as he went. His mind briefly went back to when Caroline had wrapped one of his necklaces around her fingers and used them to hold him near her. The action had been a huge turn-on for him and he couldn't help the smirk on his face. Perhaps a cold shower was in order.

When the door stayed firmly shut and Klaus didn't appear after a few minutes, Caroline figured that her plan worked and he had left. She let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. She couldn't see him right now, couldn't talk to him. Not until she had a handle on her thoughts...and her hormones.

Deciding that a shower might help her relax, Caroline stripped out of her clothes and got in. The water was cold; she hadn't turned it up since she had started the shower as a ruse to get rid of Klaus. It was a jolt to her system, but it effectively knocked out whatever heat she still had in her body from their encounter downstairs.

Her mind drifted back to their earlier encounter. How had her evening started from going on a date with Dean to hiding in her bathroom so to avoid talking to Klaus about making out with him in the living room? She had gone out with Dean to avoid this very situation. Well, not this one in particular since she had never thought that her feelings for Klaus might be reciprocated.

At the very least, he was attracted to her. Moreover, if she wasn't wrong, he had been jealous of her dating Dean. Was it because he had feelings for her or was he just being possessive? He could want her in just a physical way and not want any other man to touch her. Though her reasons weren't wholly physical, she had felt the same way earlier when she had seen him on the street with that woman.

Caroline groaned at the memory. She had been so caught up in what had happened with Klaus and her that she had temporarily forgotten that she hadn't been the only one he had been physical with tonight. She felt her stomach twist in nausea while her anger flared. He more than likely slept with that woman, if what she saw earlier of their interaction was any indication of what happened next, and then came home upset that she was on a date? How dare he? And how had she been so stupid to forget that?

But she knew why. When he had kissed her, all of her thoughts and reasoning had fled. She had acted on impulsive and let her instincts take over. She wasn't thinking about how her impulsiveness was going to screw up her life...or her job. Things were a mess and she had no idea what she was going to do.

/

After a night of tossing and turning, Caroline finally fell into a restless sleep in the wee hours of the morning. When she finally woke up, it was late morning and her phone was ringing. "Hello?"

"Morning, Caroline."

"Dean?" Caroline asked.

"Yeah, did I wake you?"

"Yes, I mean, it's fine," Caroline answered. "Did you need something?"

"No, just calling. Like I said I would."

"Oh, right," Caroline replied. Before they had ended their date the night before, he had said he would call her today, but she hadn't really thought he would. Guys never did after all, yeah maybe after a couple of days or so but never the day after. Of course, Dean would be the one guy who actually did it.

"I had a good time last night and I wanted to call and see if I could ask you for a second date?"

"A second date?" Caroline repeated. She glanced at the clock before she made a decision. "How about a late lunch? Say in an hour?"

"Um, sure. Do you have some place in particular in mind?" Dean asked.

Caroline worked out the details before hanging up. Now she needed to get up and get ready. She hoped she might be able to get out of house without running into anyone but she wasn't counting on it. It was silly of her to think that she could avoid Klaus, they lived in the same house and he was her boss,. She felt like she was walking on eggshells until she knew how he might react to her. Would he try to talk to her about it again? Or maybe he'd just ignore it and act as if nothing had happened. She hoped it was the latter of the two, though it hurt a little to think of him doing that.

A little while later, dressed in a pair of jeans, a sweater and boots, Caroline grabbed her purse and took a deep breath. She opened the door, stepped out and headed to the staircase. She was midway down the steps when Henry can running up them, a big smile on his face. "Caroline! I was coming to get you. You have to come see what Lexi and I built."

He didn't wait for her to answer, only grabbed her hand and started dragging her down the stairs. Once they hit the main floor, he kept pulling her until they went down the basement stairs to the playroom. She was barely inside when she stopped dead.

Lexi was sitting on the floor right next to a Lego castle that she guessed was the item Henry had been talking about and she wasn't alone, her father was just off to the side of her, helping her sort through the mounds of Legos. She couldn't help glancing over at him. When he looked up at her, she quickly turned her attention to the castle in front of her. "Wow guys, that looks great. Fit for a princess."

Lexi beamed back at her but Henry didn't look very happy. "This isn't a princess's castle, no girly tea parties or anything. It's a fortress. It's gonna have a drawbridge and cannons and all kinds of stuff so that when our enemies attack they don't stand a chance. Right, Dad?"

"Sounds about right," Klaus agreed, though he didn't take his eyes off of Caroline. "Though I suppose a princess could live inside. After all the knights need to protect someone, don't they?"

However, instead of his statement placating the twins, it did the opposite actually. They started bickering when Lexi said she wanted to take over one of the towers for the princess and Henry disagreed.

Caroline watched for a few minutes before she cut in, "You guys keep working and I'll come back and see it later."

Neither of the kids seemed to be paying attention to her, so she retreated out of the playroom and headed back upstairs. She thought she had escaped until his voice called to her when she was halfway up. "Caroline..."

She could hear him coming behind her, chasing after her and knew that she couldn't get away from him. So she stopped her ascent and turned towards him, waiting to see what he would do now that he had her.

Klaus was surprised that she had stopped; he figured he'd have to chase her all the way until he could make her stop. He continued until he reached the step below her, his eyes looking her over. Though she had not made him chase her further, she still looked reluctant to talk to him. Her eyes looked at him nervously and her teeth had caught her bottom lip between them.

He felt the overwhelming desire to cover her lips with his own and run his tongue over that exact spot that her teeth nibbled on. He caught himself before he leaned forward did just that, instead he reached forward and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "You ran away last night..."

"Lexi needed you," Caroline replied.

"Yes, but I came back as quickly as I could to you and when you weren't there," Klaus stated. "I went searching for you, you made sure you were busy."

"I needed to take a shower," Caroline said, her excuse sounded lame even to her own ears.

"You were hiding," Klaus retorted.

"Maybe," Caroline muttered. "I need to go; I'm supposed to be meeting someone."

Klaus felt his jealousy rise at her statement as he wondered if she was going to see Dean. "We need to talk love, about what happened between us. You can't avoid it forever."

Caroline knew he wasn't going to drop it until they did talk. "I know. But I just can't right now, I have to go."

"Later?" Klaus asked and when he saw her nod slightly, he pushed more. "Tonight. After the twins are in bed."

She opened her mouth to argue but instead found herself agreeing. "Okay. Tonight."

Klaus couldn't help but smirk, he had gotten her to agree to it. Before she could leave, he grabbed one of hands, and brushed his lips against her knuckles. "Until tonight, then."

He released her hand before turning to head back down to the twins, leaving a stunned Caroline behind him.

OKAY, DON'T KILL ME PLEASE! I know that this probably wasn't what some of you were hoping for but I hope you weren't too disappointed.