Klaroline meet in a bar
Klaroline roommates
Klaroline medical AU
I know I said I'd update Evolution, but I just can't seem to write anything good, because I've kind of lost inspiration for that story at the time, but I will definitely try to pick it back up if I can.
This is a series of one-shots on a few asks I received.
Anonymous asked: Klaroline + meeting in a bar + baroline friendship
One of the lines I've used in this is an iconic one from Grey's Anatomy, but I couldn't resist putting it in here. I love that line, and it just seemed to perfect to not use.
This takes place when Klaus is in Mystic falls trying to break his curse, and he meets Caroline under slightly different circumstances.
Disclaimer: I own neither Grey's Anatomy nor TVD.
Enjoy!
OOO
Mystic Falls looked so peaceful in the winter.
It always had, with its quaint small-town personality, then and a thousand years ago. Of course, then it had been a Viking village, and it had looked as peaceful as Viking villages were, especially in the winter, especially with the snow forming a white blanket over the ground and the roofs of the huts.
And now, the only problem was it wasn't winter, it was summer, and it was hot.
So hot, in fact, Klaus had been contemplating scrapping the whole plan with the doppelganger to just retire to the Swiss Alps and live in peace.
(In reality, that had been Rebekah's plan, he had just approved of it slightly.)
He, Rebekah, Kol, and Elijah were back in Mystic Falls, something they had thought they'd never do, to break his curse and unlock his werewolf side. Rebekah had not been pleased when she had heard of the location, whereas Klaus had been exasperatedly amused.
Of course he'd have to go to the place where he was bound to unlock the curse. How fitting.
And he was not leaving simply because of a temperature problem.
Kol had been off radar for the past two years, occasionally resurfacing for a call or two to let them know he was alright. Rebekah took her trips, but always came back within a month or two, and where Klaus went Elijah went.
Finn, on the other hand…well, thank god for silver daggers.
He already had his sights on the doppelganger, and already had plans for her two so-called boyfriends. They were more like bodyguards, and honestly, didn't they ever let her think for herself or make her own decisions? Feminism was a thing, and people said he was old.
Which he was, but that wasn't the point.
Mystic Falls had lost its abundance of witch covens, now only having four or five lone witches lying in the background. So far, he knew of only three, a grandmother, mother, and a daughter, the grandmother now dead and the mother MIA. The daughter wasn't strong enough to cater to the spells of his needs, so of course he had to take extra measures and find a new witch after his had been murdered by the werewolf boy.
Irritating fucker. He had had plans for the boy, planning to make him his very first hybrid after he broke his curse, but now he just held a very strong dislike for the boy for pushing back his plans. He was contemplating using him as the werewolf sacrifice in the ritual, and he already had the doppelganger, now he just needed to find a vampire.
Which, ironically, Mystic Falls was full of.
He had heard from Kol that there was a coven or two on the outskirts of Mystic Falls and he and Elijah were currently in a skeevy looking bar, nursing a glass or two, on the eye out for witches.
"Niklaus, I fail to understand why you think you could find powerful beings such as witches in a place like…this," Elijah said distastefully, picking at a spot on his coat.
"Come now, brother, you do realize that witches aren't the purest of souls on the planet, do you not? You do recall the uprising in 1478?"
"We both know that was Kol's fault," Elijah pointed out immediately.
Klaus smirked. "Indeed." He motioned to the bartender to get them another round, then shook his head in amusement when Elijah let out an offended sniff. "Really, Elijah, the liquor's not that bad, must you—"
He broke off as he realized that Elijah was in fact, not looking at the bartender, but instead at a pair of girls who had just walked inside the bar.
One of them, the shorter one, was giggling drunkenly and waving her arms around in the air, her dark hair flying around her as she whirled around on the spot, a feather boa wrapped around her neck. Elijah stared at her disapprovingly, his attention fixed on the way she immediately stumbled over to the bar and ordered a round of shots.
"That kind of alcohol is not good for the system," Elijah said sniffily.
But Klaus wasn't focusing on him; hell, he had stopped looking at him a few seconds ago.
A very ravishing looking blonde had just followed her friend into the bar, nearly toppling over in her heels in her haste to get to the bartender. She was just as drunk as her friend, tapping her on her shoulder and whispering something in her ear, then giggling when the brunette eagerly nodded. She promptly turned to the deadbeat band playing a few songs from the 70s (who obviously didn't know that the 1960s and 1990s were the better decades in which western music was composed, the idiots) and snatched the microphone from the singer. Either the boy was too tired to take it back or had just given up on getting the crowd to listen.
"Folks!" the girl cried out, and even though her speech was slurred, Klaus noticed she had a musical lilt to her voice. "Gather round, because my very good friend Betty—"
"Bonnie!" the brunette shouted drunkenly, swaying on her feet.
"Yeah, Bennie," the blonde girl said, then turned back to the microphone, "anyway, she's just had a really bad breakup, so she's just looking for something to cheer her up, okay? I mean, the dick fucking cheated on her, okay, and that is so not okay. Right?"
The crowd was silent, so the blonde indignantly huffed. "Right?"
The people surrounding him nodded readily, and she grinned, and Klaus couldn't help but smile at her antics.
"Yeah, so anyway, she's just very, very, very, sad right now, aren't you, Binnie?"
"Mm hm," the other girl—Bonnie, if Klaus remembered correctly—said distractedly, already making eyes at a boy across the room. "Yep, whatever you say, Care."
Care? What kind of a name was Care?
Well, modern people did like strange names nowadays. Really, what kind of a surname was Styles?
"Is anyone single here?" the girl asked loudly, and a few patrons raised their hands, and she nodded. "Great. So, just hook up with Bessie, and you can just leave in the morning, please and thank you. I'm Caroline Forbes, so you can personally thank me for giving you a chance of a lifetime, cause hooking up with Bennie is great. At least, that's what she says."
Caroline. Her name was Caroline.
A fine name, if he thought so himself.
Elijah huffed irritably next to him, and Klaus laughed. "Oh, let it go, Elijah. Not every person is as sophisticated as you are."
Elijah shifted on his seat, delicately sipping his bourbon, making a face at the taste. "I thought we were here to look for the Bennett witch's daughter, Niklaus."
"We are," said Klaus, his eyes still fixed on the blonde girl—Caroline—watching her as she climbed up onto the surface of a table. The deadbeat band had resumed their efforts in entertaining the crowd again, this time with slightly more gusto. Caroline was dancing on the table top as a few dozen people around her clapped, a few even cheering when she did a sort of dip and her skirt rode up a few inches. Klaus felt his mouth go dry as her thighs were exposed, and his head nearly exploded when he thought he saw a flash of pink lace in the air.
"Niklaus, don't stare," Elijah sad grumpily. "It's unbecoming."
"Yes, well," Klaus smirked, regaining his composure, "so is dancing on a table top in the middle of a bar which I'm pretty sure hasn't been washed in at least a decade."
"Hooligans," Elijah sniffed. "The lot of them."
But Klaus wasn't paying attention; he had gotten up and walked over to where Caroline was dancing. Her blonde hair was flying around her face, and she immediately tripped when she stuck one leg in front of the other in the hope of doing some weird modern hip hop move, probably.
She fell down, her arms in the air, and it was only due to Klaus's vampire reflexes that he manged to swerve through the crowd and catch her.
Caroline groaned. "You know, this is the first time I have ever had a movie moment and no one's even there to see it. Great."
"Oh, I assure you, love, a conversation with me would be better than any movie you've ever watched."
She snorted. "Very smooth, buddy. I'm impressed." She stuck out a hand and smiled slightly. "Caroline. You?"
"I'm Kl—" he started, then broke off when he noticed a very familiar stone on her hand.
Vampire.
He smiled. If this girl was a vampire she could very easily be an ally of the Salvatores and the doppelganger, and he did not want any disturbance or any information getting to them.
And this girl really was lovely, it would be a shame to kill her.
He gave her a smile that was all teeth. "Nik," he said, and shook her hand. "Pleased to meet you, love."
She immediately withdrew her hand, and raised an eyebrow at him. "You're a vampire."
Well, this was a surprising turn of events.
"I could say the same for you, love," he said, nodding towards her hand.
She scoffed. "Do all vampires immediately assume that seeing a lapis lazuli ring automatically means that the wearer is a vampire? Obviously not. I just have good taste in jewellery."
"Obviously," he said, rolling his eyes playfully. "How'd you know?"
"You're wearing a ring," she said dryly.
"How deductive of you. And hypocritical."
She narrowed her eyes. "You know, if I wasn't so drunk right now I'd wouldn't actually find you attractive."
"Now, love, let's not lie to ourselves and say you wouldn't find me attractive even when you'd be sober."
She scoffed. "You're really full of yourself, you know that?"
"I know," he said, giving her a dimpled grin. "So, if you're not a vampire, and you're obviously not a werewolf or a witch, otherwise I would've sensed it—"
Caroline snorted. "You would've sensed it? Sorry, Nik, but you don't look like a witch to me."
"And I'm not. But what are you? Not a witch, vampire, or werewolf. Human, then?"
Caroline shrugged. "What's left? I'm not anything special, just a seventeen year old girl who's very, very drunk."
"Just because you're a human doesn't mean you aren't different," said Klaus, who was immediately puzzled by how easily the words had come out. Humans were different, but not in a good way. They were food, and only a few were innovative. The rest were like every other; boring and uninteresting.
She's different, a voice in his head whispered.
She's drunk, Klaus snapped to the voice inside his head. She doesn't know what she's saying. She's being open with a stranger because she's drunk. That's all.
Caroline let out a bark of laughter. "Oh, I'm different, alright. I'm very different according to my ex-boyfriends."
"Your ex-boyfriends are idiots," Klaus said indifferently.
"I like to think so too," Caroline murmured. She waved the bartender over and asked for a round of shots, getting them almost immediately.
Klaus looked at her in surprise. "I thought you were underage."
"You're in Mystic falls, Nik. Nobody except the parents cares. The bartender's probably underage as well," she shook her head, then raised her glass. "Cheers. To many more months of being dumped by guys."
"Now, love, surely you can't be that pessimistic."
"I'm not, usually," she said, looking at him with wide eyes. Blue, he noticed. "I'm optimistic. I am. But Bennie's whole cheating episode jut brings back memories, you know?" she muttered. "Not entirely of me, but also of my parents. They didn't have the greatest marriage."
Klaus looked hesitant. "My parents didn't get along either."
He was sharing important details of his life with a complete stranger. And not just a complete stranger, one who could possibly be friends with the Salvatores and the Bennetts, judging by her knowledge of the supernatural.
Wonderful. Obviously, he needed to stop thinking with his dick.
She looked at him, her eyes heavily-lidded now. "Huh. Guess it's true what they say."
"And what do they say?"
"That meeting strangers in bars can really change your perspective at the moment. Of course," she said haughtily, "my perspective on life hasn't been altered. Just the whole movie moment's in my brain. Which makes me ditzy."
Klaus smiled at her. "I like ditzy."
He hated ditzy.
"No one likes ditzy, Nik," she smiled. "You know," she said, leaning towards him, "when I get drunk, I usually have no filter at all, so if I say something weird and embarrassing, you have to excuse me. I don't mean to say it."
"On the contrary, I find your candor refreshing, sweetheart."
She giggled. "Nice accent," she said, resting an elbow on the countertop and Klaus gently pulled away the tray of shots away from her when she wasn't looking. "Where're you from? England? Or Wales? Your accent doesn't seem Welsh, though."
"Wales," he said, pleased that she had asked him. It wasn't a complete lie, the village they had relocated from after Henrik's death had been a part of Wales. "But I've, er, stayed in England since my childhood."
She nodded, and he smiled. "And, how about you? Where are you from?"
She laughed. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm right from here. My house is fifteen minutes away."
"You should go to England. You'll love everything about it. The cities, the countryside, the culture…have you been?"
She laughed once again. "I've…never really been anywhere."
"Where would you like to go?"
She pondered his question, then spoke, "Switzerland, probably. I've always wanted to go. It sounds amazing," she said wistfully.
"You'll get to go," said Klaus, looking at Elijah out of the corner of his eye, who was looking at him irritably, pointedly gesturing towards his watch. Klaus made a threatening face at him and turned back to Caroline. "And if you never get the chance you always have me."
She grinned. "And you'd take me?"
"I'd take you," he said. "Rome, Paris…" He grinned when she blushed. "Tokyo?"
"Oh, wow," she laughed. "I can't believe I'm actually talking to a stranger who's offered to take me around the world. While I'm drunk. Which is actually kind of sad since I kind of like you and I want to kiss you."
Klaus's throat felt like sandpaper. "You should. Kiss me, then."
Caroline smiled ruefully. "I don't kiss guys when I'm drunk, Nik. I did once, and it turned out badly. And I know you're not like the other guy, I do. I don't know why, but I do. And the problem is, I would kiss you. But I can't."
Klaus leaned towards her, noticing she smelled of tequila. "You don't have to. Right now. But you could. Tomorrow."
What was he doing?
Caroline cocked her head. "Why?"
"Why?"
"Why. Why do you like me? I'm nothing special. I'm a human. You're a vampire. Why are you even talking to me?"
"Because you're beautiful," Klaus said honestly. "And intelligent. And honest. Even when you're drunk. And you intrigue me."
Caroline snorted. "I intrigue you? Really? I'm just a girl in a bar."
He smiled, tipping his glass to her. "I'm just a guy in a bar."
She smiled.
Anonymous asked: Klaroline relationship + Koroline friendship pleeeeeease. Also some roommates AU?
I usually give myself an out or some wiggle room, so the Koroline friendship is implied and Klaroline live together instead of Koroline roommates.
This has also been adapted from a scene of Grey's Anatomy. What can I say, I'm a Grey's whore.
Anyway, enjoy!
OOO
"You want to do what?" Caroline asked, her voice burning with fury.
Klaus sighed, knowing repeating the sentence would only make her angrier. "It wasn't my idea, alright? But I think that's the only option."
Caroline picked up a woolly tablemat and threw it at her boyfriend, who caught it in the nick of time. "And why, may I ask," she hissed, making him wince, "would you agree to such a thing?"
Klaus shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "He's single and lonely and his lease just expired—"
"He'll find somewhere else, won't he?" Caroline asked coldly. "Last I saw him he didn't seem too upset about it."
"That's because the last time you saw him was last night drunker than anyone there."
"Exactly. Klaus," Caroline said, her voice frustrated, "we moved in together three months ago. I want to spend time with you, not you and Kol. I love him, but he has got to find his own house."
"I know," Klaus said, pulling her by her elbows onto his lap, where she settled comfortably. "Believe me, I do. I'm not that fond of Kol living here either. But he's my brother, and I need to take care of him, so I want him to stay."
Caroline huffed, and Klaus pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder, where the strap of her camisole had slipped down. "Please."
She scoffed. "Are you seriously saying please?"
"Yes," he said standing up, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, making him settle her onto the table. "It's just for two months. Please. For me."
"Klaus…"
"I'll make it worth your while," he said, kissing her sloppily. "We'll stay in. Kol would be moving in next week, anyway. We'll stay at home, the whole week, or we'll go to a hotel, and we both have that vacation we've been meaning to take anyway. I know we said London, but—"
"But?" she pressed, sighing when he attacked her neck with his teeth, causing a bright splotchy mark to appear there instantly in the shape of his teeth.
"But," he continued, his fingers drifting along the sides of her pants, "we can go to London anytime. After Kol moves in, we'll have to be…quiet," he smirked, his hands slipping under her panties, making her let out a loud moan. "And you as well as I know you aren't good at that, sweetheart."
"You know," she breathed, pulling him closer so that their fronts were pressed together. "You aren't exactly selling me on this."
"I'll cook anything you want for a week."
"Mm. Not good enough."
"A month."
"Now we're talking. Anything else?"
"I won't rip your knickers."
"We both know that's an empty promise. Next."
"I'll try to get along with Lorenzo."
"Hm. Good. Anything else?"
He slipped off her bra, setting her down on the table, hands working away at his jeans. "Picture the following things."
"Mm. I'm listening," Caroline said, panting as he kissed her neck, making him smirk.
"We spend the week at the Ritz."
"I like work."
"You have a mandatory vacation week, love," he said, kissing her softly. "You're required to take it. Like I said, we spend the day at home. Or," he murmured, and she shivered when she felt his hot breath against her chest. "I take you to the Ritz, and we spend the week there doing absolutely nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Just me and you, and champagne and strawberries and chocolate." He dropped to his knees, taking his shirt off, pushing Caroline more firmly onto the table. "We can stay in bed. All day. Then we'll eat."
"And sex?" she breathed, inhaling sharply when he pressed a kiss to her hip. "This sounds counter-productive."
Klaus's eyes glinted. "Fine. I fuck you in the bed. I fuck you on the table, against the walls, and over the bathroom counter. We eat, and take a shower. I could fuck you in the shower, or in the bath. Then we sleep. And the cycle continues."
"You know," Caroline panted, "this doesn't seem like such a bad proposition."
"You want sex? I'll give you sex. So much that you won't be able to walk or stop thinking about my cock in you for weeks."
Caroline whimpered, and Klaus smirked. "Do we have a deal, sweetheart?"
Caroline rolled her eyes, then gasped when his tongue pressed against her inner thigh. "Fine, fine. Kol can stay."
"Wonderful."
He smirked at her, making her narrow her eyes at him. "You totally tried to bribe me with sex, didn't you?"
"Oh, I'm very persuasive, sweetheart," he drawled, licking a long strip along her thigh, biting into the skin to leave a mark.
She growled. "Well, unless you're incapable of doing things fast and hard as well I'll just finish myself off."
Klaus's eyes darkened with lust. "Choose your words carefully, love. I don't recall hearing any complaints last night when you begged for—"
She sniffed. "I don't beg."
"And I beg to differ," he growled. "Knickers off unless you want them shredded. Now."
XXX
"I want him out," Caroline snarled as Klaus rubbed his temples. "I want him out now."
"Sweetheart," he started cajolingly, but was cut off abruptly.
"Don't you fucking dare sweetheart me right now. Are you kidding? He covered the kitchen walls and floor with ketchup and bourbon, Klaus!" Caroline ranted, as Klaus racked his brain for a way to fix the situation.
"No. There's no way you can get out of this now, Klaus. He's been doing this shit for three months and I put up with it because he's your brother and my friend and I love him. But if you don't kick him out, I might murder him."
Privately, Klaus thought that would be a good solution to all his problems, but perhaps it wasn't the best time to share that with Caroline.
"Just another week or two," he coaxed, and Caroline's face grew red with anger. "I promise. Then I'll kick him out. Elijah can take him in. He and Katerina could use the extra help for the baby anyway."
He kissed her and walked out, leaving Caroline red-faced and shocked, standing in the middle of the kitchen, stewing in fury and a burning desire for revenge.
Fine. Klaus wasn't going to kick Kol out? Fine.
She would.
XXX
"This is cheating," Kol muttered, moving his knight to its space, where Nik promptly took it with his rook. Kol sighed. "You know, for someone who claims not to be good at chess you are very good at chess."
"I'm not good, I'm excellent," Nik murmured, his eyes fixed on the board. "It's what you say when you want to hustle someone, Kol."
Kol huffed and looked back at the board, yelping when Nik let out a yell.
"Caroline!"
Kol's eyes darted up to the doorway of his brother's and Caroline bedroom, where Caroline stood.
Completely naked.
Kol slapped a hand over his eyes and ducked under the table, and distinctly heard Nik's chair scraping back with screech. "What the fuck are you doing?"
Caroline must have looked at Nik innocently, because he heard his brother exhale through his teeth. "Oh, just being comfortable in my apartment."
"And you have to be naked to do that?"
"Why, is me being naked a problem for you, Niklaus?" Kol heard a strangled sound come from Nik and he swallowed a gag.
"Nik, I didn't see anything, I swear I didn't see anything," Kol rambled, his hands still over his eyes.
Nik suddenly turned towards him, pure rage burning in his eyes. "Get out."
He didn't need to be told twice.
Kol shot up and scrambled out of the apartment, pausing slightly when he caught a glimpse of Caroline's bare shoulders, which was a very big mistake.
"KOL!" Nik roared. "GET OUT BEFORE I SKIN YOU ALIVE!"
"Bye, Kol!" Caroline called behind him sunnily, waving her hand cheerfully. Kol shook his head and raced out of the door, slamming it behind him, exhaling deeply, not before hearing his brother's voice.
"We're going to have words, Caroline."
"I did what I had to do, Klaus. I just employed a different tactic."
"Which was getting naked in the apartment?"
"Oh, fuck you. You don't have any problem with me being naked in the apartment a month ago. Just because you couldn't handle—"
A loud crash interrupted her words, followed by a moan, and Kol scurried away as fast as he could.
Elijah was not going to be happy.
Anonymous asked: Hi! Really like your writing! I liked the one you did for Evolutoin so could you do a one-shot for a medical au if you're still taking requests? + Anonymous asked: klaroline+mafia au?
OOO
Caroline groans as the buzzing of her pager continues.
She had the entire day to herself, goddammit, and her boss had promised her that he wouldn't send anyone to get her at her house even if she didn't answer her pager.
Of course, that's what he had said the last three times she had taken an off day.
She doesn't normally take off days, but yesterday had been gruelling, four back-to-back surgeries, not including the two hours of scut she had done to cover for Stefan.
Stefan really needed to stop chasing after Damon after he went on benders so much.
Grumbling, she sets her wine glass on the table and walks over to the door, not bothering to change into something more presentable than the ratty tank top she was wearing and a pair of faded old shorts.
She opens the door and someone crashes into her, his hands at his stomach.
Caroline screeches in surprise, her hands automatically going at the front of her body to shield herself, before she catches sight of her uninvited guest's face. "Klaus?" she asks dumbly. "What are you doing here?"
"Caroline," Klaus gasps. "You look ravishing."
Caroline's stomach turns when she sees the extent of the wound at his stomach. "What the fuck?" she stammers, gripping him by the shoulders. "What happened?"
"Best not to ask," he says, setting a hand on the wall steadily, although Caroline can detect the slight tremble which passes through his body. "Caroline, listen—"
"Get on the couch," Caroline snaps. "What is wrong with you? Why are you standing around talking when you're obviously injured?"
A mollified look crosses his face. "I was going to ask if you wouldn't mind helping me, after everything—"
"For god's sake, Klaus, we broke up, we didn't go to war. Get on the couch, I'll get my medical kit."
She helps him over to the couch and sets a newspaper behind his back so that he can't get blood on it.
"How are you even here?" she asks, getting him a glass of water. "Your base is twenty minutes from here."
Klaus shrugs. "I was in the area."
She shakes her head but doesn't say a word when she disappears into the bedroom, closing the door behind her and letting out a shaky breath.
It had been six months.
Six months since she had seen him, since she had talked to him, seen his eyes, his face, touched him.
She misses him like hell.
She steadies herself and rummages through her bathroom cabinet for her first aid box, grabbing her gloves as she runs out.
She runs back in and grabs a pair of forceps and clamps after a second thought.
Klaus is lying on the couch, a furious expression on his face, gritting his teeth as he tries to remove the piece of cloth stuck to the wound on his abdomen.
"What are you doing?" Caroline asks sharply. "You're hurt. That wound might be infected, I need to clean it."
"Caroline, as much as I appreciate your concern for my health, I assure you, infection is not one of my main concerns right now—"
"Oh, yeah, I'm so sorry, I totally forgot you were the doctor here and I was the psycho mob—"
"Caroline—"
"You know infected wounds can lead to sepsis, right? Do you really want to die from—"
"I'm not going to die, Caroline."
"You are if you don't let me treat that wound. Will you just tell me what happened?"
Klaus glares at her. "I got shot."
That wipes all traces of irritation from her mind. "You what?" she screeches.
Klaus holds up a hand placatingly. "Caroline, li—"
"You never get shot."
"I know that," Klaus says, a touch of exasperation making its way into his voice. "Caroline, listen to me, please."
Caroline glares at him. "I'll listen after I clean this wound and take the fucking bullet out—oh my god, this was supposed to be my day off—"
"You don't have to do anything, love," he reassures her. "I didn't come here to ask you to treat me, I can do it myself, I just—"
"You think you can clean a bullet wound and get the bullet out by yourself? Are you kidding me?"
Irritation clouds his face. "I've done it before."
"You just said you don't get shot."
"For friends, love," he says exasperatedly.
"Yeah, and who knows how sanitary that must've been. Just do me a favour and shut up and try not to scream while I—don't argue with me, Klaus—let me clean that up. Stay here. I'm getting my scissors."
She runs to the bathroom and sterilizes a pair, and rushes back to the couch. "I'm cutting your shirt off, okay?" she says, trying to sound as gentle as possible.
Klaus grunts in assent, wordlessly removing his hands from his abdomen and gripping the armrest of her couch. Caroline fights back a gasp at how bloody his shirt has gotten, instead forcing down a shudder and carefully snipping away pieces of the fabric to get a look at the wound.
She looks up at him when she needs to get her tweezers for picking out bits of cloth out of the wound. "This might hurt," she warns, concentrating on the large patch of torn flesh. "I've given you some local anesthesia, but it would be great if you kept the screams of pain to a minimum. My neighbours aren't big on noise."
Klaus laughs, the sound low in his throat. "Sweetheart, you know I've handled much worse pain. I'll be fine."
Caroline stills. "Now, how could I know that?" she bites out, picking out the first piece of cloth. "You know, since I never knew."
Klaus closes his eyes. "Caroline—"
"Because obviously, being in a relationship with a guy for five months and not being told the extent of he does during his job obviously qualifies as knowing everything. Right. Yeah."
Klaus's hands clench into fists. "Let me explain."
"No, you had your chance to explain. You know when? Those few months that we dated. I was with you for five months, Klaus. I told you I loved you."
"I didn't want to scare you off," he says, his hand going towards her shoulder.
"Don't," she bites out. "Let me concentrate."
He falls silent, and Caroline wordlessly works away at the wound, noticing that his eyes flicker over to her every few seconds. She finally locates the bullet and is fortunately able to get it out with her clamps in just a few tries. "Bite into one of my pillows if the pain gets too much," she says quietly. "You're lucky the bullet didn't go too deep. Stitches are a bitch."
"I know," Klaus says, smiling at her hesitantly.
She doesn't respond, almost sighing in relief when she inspects the wound again after removing the bullet and deducing that it needs only a few stitches. She carefully threads the needle through his skin, feeling him tense underneath her. "Calm down," she murmurs, placing a hand on his chest unconsciously. "Just two more and you're done."
"Caroline, if you want me to calm down, you're probably not helping matters by touching me."
She removes her hand from him as though she's been burned.
Five minutes later, she's done suturing and bandaging his wound, and Klaus stands up gingerly. "You're good to go," says Caroline, removing her gloves. "You'll need to come back every three days, because I need to replace the bandages. But it'll get better pretty soon, cause, like I said, it wasn't too deep."
Klaus doesn't say anything for a moment. He just gazes at her, his blue gaze boring into her own. Caroline laughs nervously. "Well, you're welcome anyway, even though—"
"I can thank you later, Caroline," Klaus says, cutting her off. "But first, you need to listen."
She breathes in shakily. "Klaus, please. We're done. It's over. Why do we have to discuss it?"
"Because it's not fair to either of us," he says, taking her hands in his. "I think of you every day, sweetheart, I can't get you out of my head. I see you in my dreams, when I'm awake…"
Caroline shakes her head, averting her gaze.
"I miss you, Caroline."
She swallows. "You lied to me, Klaus."
She sees him inhale slowly. "Yes. I did. But it was for your own good."
"Everyone says that," she cries. "Whenever you're lied to, the other person always says that it was for their own good. Why? Why couldn't you have told me? I could've made my own choice. I should have the right."
"You do, sweetheart," he says gently, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, and she closes her eyes and clenches her hands into fists, hating how he still has an effect on her. "You just never gave me a chance to explain."
She opens her eyes, ashamed to realize they're full of tears. "We were together for months, Klaus. How could you not have told me that you were investigating my dad? That you knew he was alive? You knew how much he meant to me."
"I was going to tell you," he replies, a touch of frustration making its way into his voice. "You never gave me the chance to."
"Would you?" she asks hotly. "Would you trust a person you loved to tell you the truth when you found out they had been lying to you for five months?"
He's quiet for two minutes, and Caroline opens her mouth to ask him again when he says, "he wanted you dead."
Caroline gapes at him, and he takes a deep breath. "We—Kol and I—our sources found out that he had gone into hiding years ago. He had faked his own death in a freak accident, and had been working for one of our rivals for six years. He had done some bad things, Caroline, and his bosses weren't too pleased with him. He owed them a lot of money, money he didn't have, and the target was placed on your back, what with your mother dead."
Caroline doesn't know what to say, so she collapses onto the couch, her hands swinging uselessly by her sides. "He—" she manages finally, her voice coming croaky, "he was willing to let them kill me?"
Klaus is expressionless. "They'd already killed his husband, Caroline, and recently. I didn't want you getting caught in the crossfire. And if they had found out that you were linked to me—"
"Is that why you didn't tell me?" she asks, looking up at him. "Because you didn't want anyone to know?"
Klaus sinks down to his knees and takes her hands in his. "I wanted to protect you, Caroline. And besides…" He turns away at that, looking at the carpet. "No one should have an opinion like that about their father."
She knows why he's saying this, knows that he has a reason.
She had been extremely close to her father when she had been a child, even after he ad her mother had gotten a divorce. She used to spend alternate Christmases and summers at his house in Georgia, along with Steven and her adopted sister. Those had been a few of the best months of her life.
She didn't even want to know what had happened to her sister.
Knowing that her father, one of the people she had loved so much, had offered her up like a pig for slaughter, just to save his own skin, hurt a lot more than she thought it would, even after being neglected a few years before his so-called death.
She supposed that's when he got involved in the Chicago mob.
Caroline nods slowly. "I…" She looks at him, his eyes earnest. "I can take care of myself a bit too, Klaus," she says finally.
His mouth twitches at the corners. "I'm quite certain of that part, love. But I'd like to offer my services for the other bit, if you don't mind."
She nods. "Yeah, you can do that."
He smiles, ad Caroline can't breathe, because she misses that smile, which always made her breathless, and him, so much that she hadn't even realised it.
She hasn't talked to him in six months, and she misses him like air.
"I—" she starts, then closes her mouth. Klaus cocks his head at her, and she takes a deep breath. "I wouldn't mind if you wanted me to be the on-base doctor for your family again," she says in a rush. "If you want. If there's still a vacancy. If you still want…me." the last sentence is heavy with implication, and they both know it.
Klaus's eyes are hopeful when he looks back at her. "Yes," he says softly. "Yes, I'd like that very much."
OOO
Thanks for reading!
Cheers!
-Sophie
