Set in 4x12. AU Extremely OOC Caroline, but maybe not. You let me know. OMG, I cried sooo hard in 4X13. I'm hoping that Caroline's little speech at the end was genuine, but the pessimist in me was saying that Tyler told her to say those things. Gah. Well, we shall see.
Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are
I had to find you, tell you I need you
Tell you I set you apart
Tell me your secrets, and ask me your questions
Oh let's go back to the start
Caroline glanced at her phone again for the third time, trying to understand the message. Elena was begging her to check on Damon at the boarding house as Stefan had banned her on the ground that the "sire bond" would over rule her rational thinking and make her release him. Apparently Elena was still able to demand to get her way even after giving Caroline a cold attitude since she had spilt the bean to Stephan about her growing relationship with Damon. But Caroline, always trying to please everyone and quell the brewing drama agreed for the sake of what little friendship they had left.
She pulled up to the boarding house less than an hour later with every intention on making this the shortest trip ever. Get in and get out. Damon was still the last person she ever wanted to be alone with, but seeing him locked up may give her a modicum of pleasure. She walked inside, not bothering to knock on the door and crept along the corridor to the basement where the holding cell was. She heard voices and at first was wondering if Damon had become delusional from loss of blood. She though he was talking to himself, when she heard him as well.
His melodious accent sent uncontrollable shivers down her spine. She hadn't seen him face to face since the Winter Wonderland festival in town and now she was shaking like a leaf. Whether it was fear, excitement, or in shame for her part to play in the death of the hybrids she couldn't decide. Not daring to even breath, lest she reveal her presence to the duo she moved slowly towards the door, eavesdropping onto their private conversation.
"Well we couldn't have him trying to stake Elena in her sleep, now could we?" Damon's voice sounded weirdly cheery despite his obvious predicament in the cell.
"Ah, yes for the love of Elena," Klaus spoke seeming exasperated. "How is it that she it that she manages to over look every horrific thing you've ever done? Is it willful ignorance or perhaps something more pathological?" Klaus's voice seemed taunting, even mocking to Caroline's sensitive ears. She wondered as well as to Elena's capacity to forgive Damon.
"Some people are more capable of forgiveness than others. Bet you score about negative five hundred in that realm," Caroline wanted to scoff. After all the evil things that Damon had done since he blew into town and he was talking like he was a saint. It made Caroline want to vomit as images of her suffering at his hands came wanted into her mind.
"Come on, there must be a secret. It can't just be the sire bond. What is it? Compulsion? Manipulation?" Caroline could hear his breathing change suddenly and almost too quietly that Caroline almost didn't hear, he questioned, "What is it you say to her?" The silence in the boarding house was deafening as his profound question lingered in the stale air. He couldn't have been talking about her. After all she had done, he still couldn't "fancy" her. It was too much to believe and she almost wanted to hope he was.
"I think that this has something to do with a certain blonde vampire. I think you murdered Carol Lockwood and I think you're worried that Caroline is never going to forgive you," Damon said, his voice was now the taunting one.
Caroline thought about what she had been going through the last week with Tyler. He had completely shut her out, blaming her as well for the death of his mother. That boy that she knew so long ago was dead, his heart completely hardened and Caroline allowed him to be angry with her if it would help him. She knew this was Tyler's way of coping, blaming someone else instead of realizing that the blame laid solely on him. She didn't however blame Klaus, despite what he thought. She could understand his need for retaliation for the loss of his entire hybrid army on a rational level. She still carried resentment towards the late Mayor for the torture she endured by her father, not that she dared to ever voice that thought to anyone.
"You've done worse," Klaus growled, breaking the silence. Caroline couldn't help but silently agree with him even if Klaus was unaware of what deplorable acts Damon had committed.
"Debatable." There was nothing debatable about it. Klaus killed for reasons whether it was retaliation or for his own protection, and Damon did it for sport and his own personal enjoyment.
"See I don't mind being the bad guy because somebody has to fill that role and get things done. You do bad things for no reason. You do them to be a dick."
"Debatable," Klaus snarled back.
"If you're going to be bad, be bad with purpose, otherwise you're just not worth forgiving."
With that last quip she finally broke. Caroline had heard enough and she could stop herself as she stepped closer, taking in the scene before her. Klaus had his back to her and Damon was lying on the cot against the wall, the two were both still unaware of her presence.
"I'd like to debate it," Caroline drawled, leaning against the door, arms cross over her chest in a stance of strength that she wished she felt.
Klaus visibly froze for a moment and then whipped around, a look of almost bashfulness and embarrassment on his face.
"What are you jabbering about Blondie?" Damon sneered for his position on the cot. Caroline felt her hackles rise at his blatant rudeness, and glancing over to Klaus it appeared he felt the same way as his hands tightened into trembling fists at his sides.
Caroline moved into the room, standing closer to Klaus than she had for a long time, and tried not to glance at him as the words poured from her mouth.
"I heard your conversation and I'm amused at the fact that you paint yourself as the bad guy who only does evil for a purpose. Tell me Damon, was compelling and hurting me fulfilling a greater purpose. Or how about when you killed Jeremy, Alaric, and Lexi, please stop me because I could keep going on all the people that you killed with 'purpose,' she ranted furiously, moving closer to him on the cot, "You destroy everything you touch, Damon. You make me sick." At this point she was nearly panting with all her pent up hostility towards him. She almost feared looking behind her to see Klaus's expression. She didn't mean to include herself in the list of Damon's victims, but she had yet to receive any sort of apology from him. She felt the air shift behind her and felt a strong, warm hand on her shoulder. She spied a look over her shoulder to see Klaus burning her with eyes blazing with rage and at the same time regret.
"Well isn't this a touching moment," was all that Damon retorted. Before Klaus could even blink, Caroline ripped herself forcefully from under his hand and launched herself at Damon with the grace of a Russian ballerina and the ferocity of a lioness on the hunt. Not expecting her attack, Damon was caught off guard when Caroline's hands found his neck and with a satisfying twist, broke his neck before he could even draw his next breath.
Caroline was growling as she moved away from his lifeless body in disgust to see Klaus gauging her emotion from his position, clearly worried about whether or not to try to comfort her or leave her alone. The tears were slipping down her face uncontrollably as her body heaved with her ragged breathing. The instant their eyes connected, Klaus made his choice. He stepped towards her purposefully from across the small room and she met him halfway. His calloused hand secured itself around the nape of her pulling her into his embrace. She wrapped her arms around him tightly and finally let it all go. She sobbed for her damaging past, her broken present, and her uncertain future. He said nothing, only shushed her and stroked her back in a comforting, lulling motion. His body against hers felt like the best and worst kind of torment. Every plane was molded against hers, every taunt muscle and heated appendage.
Seconds later it was the ringing of Klaus's cell phone that shattered the moment. One hand still on her neck, the other dipped into his pocket to receive the device. The hand still resting on her neck was lightly massaging it to relieve the tension, and at the same time it did nothing but increase it for Caroline. Glancing at the caller id, Klaus heaved a sigh, before answering while still looking Caroline in the eyes, and damn his eyes had never been bluer.
"Well, if it isn't the happy homicidal maniac," Klaus said jauntily into the device.
"Do you know that you're darling former blood bag and her brother and trying to kill me?" Caroline felt her blood run cold as Klaus released her from his gentle cradle. Surely Elena and Jeremy weren't stupid enough to try and kill Kol, knowing they would be signing their own death warrants.
"What?" He snapped. His eyes locked back on her as if trying to sense a trap.
"Don't pretend like you're not in on it. Your obsession to find the cure clearly trumps any sibling loyalty you once felt." Caroline could hear the pain in Kol's voice that was covered in rage and loathing towards his sibling.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Klaus retorted, starting to pace back and forth in the room.
The last thing Caroline heard was Kol's declaration, "I'm going to rip off Jeremy's arm and kill Elena just for sport, and then I'm coming for you."
Caroline had experienced torture at the hands of Damon, werewolves, her father, the hybrids, but nothing was painful as seeing Klaus's expression in this moment. His face was drained of all emotions and his eyes locked back on hers.
She shook her head at his unasked question and moved towards the door past him, "Aren't you coming?" She asked breaking from the room in an inhumane speed, using all her energy to run to the Gilbert house. As she approached the front yard she could hear everyone moving around the house, and weapons being fired. The door was already kicked in as she mounted the steps, and braced herself for what was waiting inside. She could hear the breaking of doors upstairs and footsteps moving at breakneck speeds.
"KOL!" She hollered, running up the steps to the second floor as she noticed Klaus pacing on the porch like a caged tiger, unable to get inside the house. She threw him a quick smile, before moving further upstairs following the path of destruction. "KOL, STOP PLEASE! YOU NEED TO GO NOW!" She was as the top of the staircase when she could hear Elena panting in pain, impaled by a broken piece of the banister into the wall.
"Kitchen," she breathed shallowly. Caroline sped back downstairs, witnessing Kol standing over Jeremy who was strapped on the kitchen island seconds away from losing a limb. Before Caroline could even try to reason with him, she was pushed aside by a now freed Elena who redirected Kol's swing of the butcher's knife towards him. Reacting without thinking, Caroline grabbed Elena and pulled her backwards from behind and threw her down the entryway before she could stab Kol with the sharp blade. With Caroline's strength she was able to throw Elena out the near enough to the front door, so Klaus could grab her. He pulled her out of the house and gripped her in a headlock, giving her no escape.
"Give it up Jeremy, otherwise I'll kill your sibling before you can kill mine," Klaus bellowed. Caroline sped back to the kitchen and grabbed Kol's hand before he could swing at Jeremy again. With a quick hit on his side, she spotted the white oak dagger in Kol's jacket and with the agility of a child stealing a cookie from the jar, she snatched it and ran back towards Klaus. Kol and Jeremy, now no longer able to battle emerged from the kitchen, both bleeding and cut up.
As Kol crossed the boundary line out of the house, Klaus threw Elena towards her brother harshly. "Make no mistake for my leniency tonight, pull another stunt like that and I will kill you all," he said venomously.
Caroline saw the look of fear on Elena's face and Caroline wanted to roll her eyes. Elena was delusional enough to think that she could get away with these little stunts against he Original and it was becoming increasingly tiring with every doomed to fail plan. The now trio, turned and left silently making their way off the porch when Elena called out,
"Caroline!" They all turned and faced Elena as she threw the Mikaelson brothers a furious look. "Where they hell are you doing with them? Why are you helping him against us?"
Caroline shrugged even though she knew why. She was done being the little blonde distraction, the ploy to hurt Klaus, and the victim herself. She kept on walking and turning to Klaus, she shyly asked, "Drinks at your place?" His eyes lit up, like Christmas light and he held out his hand which she accepted and together all three sped off to the mansion, Kol grumbling behind them the whole way muttering nonsense about "tasty little things" and "livers."
Well there you go, I have another fic probably coming out later today or tomorrow, based on 4x13. So many Klaroline feels. Read and review, my lovelies, xoxo. I will still go down with this ship.