Notes: So it's been awhile! Longer than I would've liked and I apologize. Real life is a bit hectic at the moment. Thanks so much for the reviews, follows and favourites! I think I slacked a bit on replying but I believe I got to everyone who asked questions. I had wanted to update LtSS first but since this one was mostly written it's going up instead. Hope no one minds too much. Now on with the chapter! I'd love to hear what you think, as always.

Growing Up Beside You

Part Three: Ages 21 and 28 (February)

He needed a drink, desperately.

Klaus' week had not been going well. Work had been one nightmare after another. His ex-girlfriend, Genevieve, had taken to showing up at random places Klaus frequented (the gym, the coffee shop around the corner from apartment, the bakery across from the gallery) and initiating terribly awkward conversations in an attempt to ferret out if he'd begun seeing anyone else.

He hadn't, but he wasn't going to tell her that. The last thing Klaus needed was for Genevieve to get it into her head that he was still pining after her. He'd probably need to look into a restraining order, her clinginess being the primary reason he'd broken up with her.

To top it off, his little sister and a couple of her closest friends would be descending upon him tomorrow for a girls' weekend, so a restful and relaxing few days were just not in the cards. Walking into the bar, Klaus was pretty sure he would end up consuming more alcohol than was socially acceptable on a Thursday night.

He'd texted Marcel on his way out of the office and Marcel had been happy to meet him at one of their favorite low-key places. The fact that Marcel owned his own business, and was therefore able to come and go as he pleased, made him a convenient weekday drinking buddy.

Klaus quickly spotted his friend, it was too early for much of a crowd, standing next to a table, chatting up a blonde, and he couldn't help but laugh. Marcel had good taste, Klaus had to admit, and didn't waste any time. He couldn't see the woman's face, the blonde had her legs crossed and most of her torso twisted away from Klaus, but the messy blonde bun and back baring blue dress were nice. The legs, Klaus thought, taking another appreciative glance, at the lean length of them, were spectacular.

Wait a moment. Klaus paused in making his way over and looked once more, recognition dawning. He recognized that hair. He'd sketched that curve of neck meeting shoulder, more than once. He knew those legs. Had in fact been having very lurid fantasies that involved those legs (thrown over his shoulders, splayed wide on his bed, clenched around his hips…) for months now.

And what luck it was, to find her here, in the very same bar he'd once kissed her?

Resuming his pace, more quickly than before, he made his way over to the table. He nodded to Marcel when the other man glanced up at him. He ran two fingertips across the bared skin at the nape of Caroline's neck in greeting, "Little Caroline Forbes, you're here early, and looking exquisite."

She shrugged off his hand (but not before he detected a faint shiver), "Stop calling me that."

Ah, so then she was still annoyed with him. She'd mostly avoided him like he had a particularly nasty communicable disease the last time they'd been in the same place, over Christmas in Mystic Falls.

Marcel watched them appraisingly, "You two know each other?"

"Unfortunately," Caroline muttered.

Klaus bit back a grin, "Unfortunately not as well as I'd like."

Caroline made a protesting noise and rolled her eyes.

"Ah," Marcel said and shifted back a half step. Klaus smiled at him in gratitude, Marcel really was an excellent friend, and quite perceptive.

Caroline, however, was less than impressed, "Ugh. Gross. Way to be a cock block, Klaus." She twisted in her seat and gestured for him to move back, which he did, if only slightly. She tilted her head challengingly and moved her knee into the vicinity of some very delicate areas.

"Alright, fine. No need to get testy, love."

"Was that a pun? Please say no."

"Well," Klaus drawled, leaning into her space again.

But Marcel interrupted him, "What a small world. I can't believe you're that Caroline."

"Oh? You've heard of me? I can tell you anything Klaus told you about me was probably a lie."

Klaus pinned his friend with an irritated look. He knew where this was going and he did not like it. Marcel just grinned at him tauntingly, "He's said nothing bad about you. On the contrary he's only mentioned you once, when he got incredibly drunk, on New Year's Eve."

"Marcel," Klaus said warningly. "Caroline doesn't want to hear about that."

"No, Caroline definitely does," she corrected. "I don't think I've ever met Drunk Klaus. Once Bekah and I found him passed out in the garden, when we were eleven or so, but I could totally go for a story or two."

Marcel laughed, "Trust me, I have plenty."

"That is a two way street," Klaus pointed out.

Marcel nodded in concession, "Well, to protect my own reputation I won't tell you all the gory details."

"Boo," Caroline pouted.

"But," Marcel continued, "I'd never leave a lady hanging so let's just say that I was baffled by why my man here was so bent out of shape over one little kiss under the mistletoe, and a bit of silent the treatment until, of course, I met your lovely and charming self."

Marcel was a dead man, Klaus decided. He felt his ears burning, and he forced his eyes to scan the room so he would appear unconcerned with Caroline's reaction. When he finally looked back at him her expression was almost mystified.

"Well, to be fair, it was more than a little kiss. And I'm pretty sure I tried to shove my hand down his pants."

Marcel's eyes widened to proportions that would have been comical to Klaus in other circumstances, "The plot thickens. He left that part out."

Klaus glared, "Because you didn't need to know, you great busybody." He turned to Caroline, "and I assumed that you wouldn't remember."

"I wasn't that drunk, Klaus. You seem to think I'm still about 12 but it wasn't exactly my first time doing shots. I've been to my fair share of parties," she stood up from the barstool without waiting for a reply, not that he had one forthcoming, and said, "I'm going to get a refill. Do you want anything, Marcel?"

Klaus fished out his wallet, pointedly ignoring that she hadn't been talking to him, and handed her a twenty, "Two bourbons for us, and whatever you'd like."

He could see her debate not taking the money but in the end she relented. She was a practical woman, and a poor college student, for another couple of months. "You're welcome!" Klaus said to her retreating back.

He received a red-tipped middle finger over her shoulder in return, and he chuckled. He'd always liked her fire. Klaus watched Caroline make her way to the bar for a moment before he turned to Marcel, "Right. I'm going to need you to make yourself scarce, mate. Nothing too obvious, though."

"Oh really? Why would I want to do that? Little Caroline Forbes and I were having a fascinating conversation."

Klaus scowled, "Don't call her that. And you will do it because I graciously decided to forgive that dalliance you had with my sweet baby sister last summer."

"I'm honestly surprised it took you this long to play that card, man," Marcel replied good naturedly. "And we both know that sweet is the last thing your sister is."

"Please do spare me the details."

"I doubt I'd have a shot with the lovely Miss Caroline now anyway."

"Because I'm here."

"Wow. And people say I'm conceited. No, because she and Rebekah go way back, right?"

"They were inseparable little blonde dervishes from the almost the first day we moved to America."

"Exactly. Bros before hoes."

"Did you just refer to yourself as a ho?"

Marcel merely shrugged, "I am secure in my masculinity."

Klaus noticed Caroline making her way back, "How nice for you. Now start thinking of how you're going to make your exit."

"Fine. But here's a tip, from me to you," Marcel nodded toward Caroline, "stop making her feel like you think she's still a child," the other man's eyes lingered on Caroline in a way that Klaus distinctly did not approve of.

"I do not need any tips, Marcellus."

"Ooh. Full name, now I know that you're pissed."

"Shut it," Klaus snapped.

Marcel turned to Klaus, suddenly serious, "Look, I'm not trying to be a dick here, man. But if it's true that a drunken man is an honest man, you like that girl. And you have liked that girl, since she was actually just a girl."

Caroline was nearing them, and would probably be able to hear them soon, so he said, "Make your point, mate."

"She's an adult. Don't treat her like a kid just because you feel weird that she's Rebekah's friend."

Klaus was saved from replying by the woman in question. Caroline had three glasses clutched in her two hands, and Klaus reached out and plucked one from her, "Thank you, Caroline. Now, what are you doing here? I was told not to expect any of your little group until tomorrow. Please tell me that the sanctimonious Gilbert girl isn't with you."

"No. And rude, by the way."

"But true."

Caroline shot him a displeased look but did not argue, "Elena and Bonnie are taking the train up tomorrow."

"That still doesn't answer my question, sweetheart."

Caroline pressed her lips together, clearly irritated. Marcel shook his head at Klaus, irked that his advice wasn't being heeded. Klaus merely stared at Caroline, waiting for an answer.

Finally, and with a long suffering sigh, she said, "My mom had a work thing in Hartford. She was going to take an extra day and I was going to meet her there and have dinner tonight but she got called back to Mystic Falls. One of the deputy's broke a leg. So I decided to come a day early. Explore a little."

Klaus couldn't help but be annoyed. True, it wasn't Caroline's first visit to New York, but he didn't like the idea of her wandering around alone. Anything could have happened and he'd have had no idea until she failed to show up with Rebekah tomorrow, "And you didn't think to call me?"

Caroline leveled him with a supremely exasperated look, "Seriously, Klaus? I can take care of myself. I'm really not Little Caroline Forbes anymore, despite what you may think. I can order a drink anywhere in the country. I'm a sexually active soon to be college graduate. I got a hotel room with my very own credit card. It's not a big deal. I am not your responsibility."

Marcel downed his drink quickly, "And that's my cue to go," he took Caroline's hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. "It was lovely to meet you, Caroline Forbes. And I believe I'll see you tomorrow night. Rebekah has you ladies on the VIP list at my club."

Caroline favored the other man with a smile, "It was nice meeting you too, Marcel."

Marcel patted Klaus chest in farewell, "Behave, man. And stop fucking it up."

Klaus took a big sip of his drink, and once again avoided Caroline's eyes. He would find a way to pay Marcel back for purposefully embarrassing him. But once again she was patiently waiting for him to look at her, a contemplative look softening her features, "He seems nice."

Klaus smiled slightly, glad she wasn't going to continue to berate him, "He was nice. To you."

"Also super hot," Caroline continued, "I mean, I'd seen pictures but in person? Wow. I can see why Bekah risked your wrath to hit that. I would've too."

Klaus felt his jaw clench at that, and he focused on the ice cubes in his glass. He felt the brush of her fingers on his neck fleetingly, and she nudged his chin up slightly and studied him, then brushed her thumb over his bottom lip, causing him to inhale involuntarily, before she dropped her hand to her side, and nodded decisively to herself.

"You're jealous," she said, a sing-song lilt to her tone.

Klaus fought the urge to stammer out a denial, like a nervous teenager. And what did it say about him that she was able to read him so very easily? Still, he wasn't about to admit to anything so incriminating as jealousy, so he said, "And you flatter yourself."

Her lips twisted into a smug little smirk, "Maybe I do, and maybe I don't. Tell me, Klaus, do you really think I look exquisite?"

Klaus was unsure how he should reply. Should he make a joke? Something to push them firmly away from the line they were skirting. The pause between them stretched to a nearly uncomfortable point before he decided to try to follow Marcel's advice, "You're beautiful, Caroline. And I am not in the habit of saying things I don't mean."

Caroline hummed an agreement and raised her glass slightly, "It's diet Coke. I had two gin and gingers before you arrived and I had dinner at my hotel before I left."

Klaus was puzzled by the seemingly random recitation, "Okay?"

Caroline rolled her eyes, "I was under the impression that I'd humiliated myself last December by getting wasted and throwing myself at a guy who'd never want me because he still thinks of me as his baby sister's awkward, neurotic little friend."

Klaus was stunned at hearing the truth so baldly, "Oh."

"Yes, oh. And I'm beginning to think that I was wrong. That maybe that guy did want me but pushed me away and told me to go to bed because he didn't want me to have any regrets about something happening while I was drunk?"

Klaus reached up and pushed a few strands of hair behind her ear, "Yes to all of what you just said. And I can't believe that you thought I didn't want you. I thought I'd been horrifically obvious."

"Just now? Yes, yes you were. But Klaus, you've been calling me 'Little Caroline Forbes' for years."

"Yes. If I recall I started right around my final year of college and I felt like a pervert for having dirty thoughts about my baby sister's friend who insisted on prancing around in some very tiny dresses and even smaller shorts."

"Well, I'm entirely sober right now. If that guy should happen to want to make the first move this time. Maybe make some of those dirty fantasies into reality," she teased, "and I wouldn't regret a thing."

Klaus couldn't help the slow smile that spread across his face, "Noted, love." Klaus pulled out the barstool she'd previously vacated and helped her settle on to it before seating himself next to her, "Now tell me all about what you've been up to these last few months."

More notes: So part of the reason this took so long was because a reviewer, tippy093, was wondering if we'd be seeing more of the last time period, particularly the party that was mentioned. I loved the idea but it just didn't work when I tried to write it. I'm considering doing a companion story, more from Caroline's POV, where it would show up. What do you all think?

There will be another more parts to this time period. Mostly because it got really long and I wanted to keep the chapter lengths somewhat consistent. And yes, smut happens.

Speaking of smut I was hit with a random plot bunny after reading Angelikah's dom!Klaus drabbles (read them, they're awesome). As much as I love dom!Klaus (and I do, I really do) I wanted a little bit of the reverse scenario, so basically humanity free Caroline goes to NOLA, there's a magic potion, Klaus gets tied to the bed, then sex happens. We'll see if I ever get the balls to edit and post because I still feel awkward about smut writing but I'm trying to get better.