I have no idea from where the idea to write this came from, just out of the blue, I guess. 1920's AU, title from Ain't misbehaving by Fats Waller
Your eyes so blue
Your kisses too
I never knew what they could do
I can't believe you're in love with me
Wayne Wheeler could honestly go fuck himself, Klaus thinks as he orders another glass, his eyes flitting around the bar.
Rebekah is, as he had expected, dancing with her latest paramour, one whose name he had not concerned himself with learning of. He's an American bloke, with funny hair and a personality that fluctuates with every hour.
Just what Rebekah loves and likes to get heartbroken by.
They have been in Chicago for the past few months after having fled from Mikael, Elijah in Europe and Kol god knows where. He has not spoken to him since he undaggered him a few weeks before they had to run, and knowing Kol, he's probably in Amsterdam, where he usually retreats for his numerous benders when they separate.
Elijah was in Lyon, where they had received rumours about a new doppelganger, one born to a wealthy family four years prior. Klaus was honestly sure that the tale was false, but had let Elijah run to Lyon anyway.
He needed a break from his self-righteousness.
He had headed off to Chicago in need of a well-deserved vacation from his siblings, and Rebekah, of course, just had to tag along anyway.
He watches his sister dance with the vampire, watches her smile and blush at every insipid smirk he tosses her. The vampire—Stephen?—excuses himself and heads over to the bar Klaus is at, ordering two shots.
"Your sister," he says to Klaus, "is a menace. I love her."
Klaus smirks. "Well, don't fall too hard, mate, it's bound to end badly. Rebekah doesn't do anything half-speed, and that includes falling in love. So, just be careful."
Stephen?—blinks, and nods. "I'll keep it in mind. I'm Stefan," he says, offering Klaus a hand. He takes it after a moment of hesitation. "Klaus."
"Bekah's very fond of you," Stefan grins, nodding over to where Rebekah stands, watching them. "And I thought it was Nik."
"Careful, mate," Klaus says smoothly, taking a sip from his glass. "That's reserved for family."
Stefan nods. "Well, then I guess I'll be calling you Nik soon enough."
Klaus almost wants to laugh at the idiot's presumptuousness. He's in a good mood, however, so he just gives Stefan an indulgent smile. Stefan dips his head and looks back over to the ledge, where Rebekah stands, talking to a girl who has her back turned to them.
Rebekah is smiling, which is a rarity for her, with other girls. She laughs and claps a hand on the other girl's shoulder, then saunters over to where Klaus and Stefan are standing.
"You seem to like my brother more than you like me, Mr Salvatore," she says, looking at Stefan with heady eyes that make Klaus want to vomit.
"Never, babe," Stefan says, grinning widely, draping an arm around her shoulders. "I was just introducing myself to your brother, Beks. Pretty sure he likes me."
I do not, Klaus says internally.
"Rebekah," he starts. "Who's your friend?"
Rebekah turns and looks over to the bar, where the woman has moved to, turns and looks at Klaus suspiciously. "A new acquaintance. Why?"
"Mere curiosity, I suppose," Klaus murmurs, feeling his eyes unconsciously trace the line of the woman's neck as she smiles at the bartender.
Rebekah narrows her eyes. "Direct your mere curiosity to the next skirt. She's a good friend."
"A very pretty one, I must say," says Klaus, tilting his head as he watches her throw back a drink.
"Oh, no, you don't, Nik. You keep yourself and your prick away from her. I don't need you ruining another one of my friendships just because you felt the need to roll around in the hay with another random girl. Find someone else."
Klaus has, to be honest, stopped paying attention to his sister's demands, and instead presses, "What's her name?"
He hears Rebekah let out an irritated huff. "Was I not clear enough, Nik? She isn't to be another dalliance."
"Stefan," Klaus turns to Rebekah's paramour with a forced smile. "Care to tell me Bekah's friend's name on the chance of getting into her favourite brother's good books?"
"I don't know, actually, I just met her today."
Good for nothing fool. He'd rip out his heart later, after Rebekah's gotten bored of him. She deserved a bit of excitement, and this bloke was definitely not that.
"Well, I suppose I'll just have to find out for myself, won't I?" Klaus grins and tosses back the rest of his drink, shouldering a withering glance from Rebekah and a slightly bemused expression from Stefan.
The first thing he notices when he sees the girl are the two tumblers of expensive liquor on the countertop in front of where she's sitting. From the way the bartender's making eyes at her, Klaus figures that she hadn't been the one paying.
"Drinking the good brandy, are we?" he drawls as he takes a seat next to her. "I am appalled. After all, we only break out the good liquor with a friend, don't we?"
The girl turns to him with eyes that sparkle with slippery promises and dark pasts. "Doesn't apply when the lady in question has no intention of drinking it, does it?"
"Pardon me. I wasn't aware you were a stickler for the rules, love."
"Please," she scoffs. "Do I look like a woman who doesn't drink on a daily basis?"
"Well, being subjected to Rebekah's company for such a long time does indeed merit a drink or two at minimum."
She laughs. "The brother, I'm assuming. What brings you around?"
"Pretty eyes, pretty smiles, you can assume the rest. Klaus Mikaelson."
"And what," she says softly, "is it that you want?"
"Would you believe me if I said I wanted your company?"
"Charming men are called so for a reason, Mr Mikaelson," she says, clinking her glass against the countertop. "Why are you here?"
"You're Rebekah's friend. I feel like I should get to know the people my sister's close with."
"For some reason, you don't strike me as the type who cares about that sort of thing. Care to contradict me?"
"Age-old paranoia and all, you understand," he says carelessly. Hopefully, Rebekah wouldn't have been stupid enough to reveal the truth of their existence to her newest friend so soon. "You know, you never did tell me the reason you're wasting all that precious brandy."
"It's none of your business," she says, pushing the glass away from her and looking at him through eyes as blue as his own.
"My apologies. Can I assume that today's not a day for drinking, then? Or is it something else?"
The girl leans towards him just so, and Klaus feels his lips stretch into a smirk. "Careful, Mr Mikaelson," she breathes, her breath ghosting over his lips. "You're fishing."
"Am I?" he asks, taking her hand and pressing it to his lips. "So hard to resist with such lovely bait."
Her lip curls. "That was terrible."
"Perhaps," he replies. "Will you ever tell me your name?"
She shrugs. "You'll just have to find out," she says, her lips a breath away from touching his.
"Why should I when you could tell me right now?"
"I'm not kissing you five minutes after meeting you," she demurs. "And I'm definitely not sleeping with you."
"What about a dance?" Klaus presses, not really sure why. "Will I at least be granted that wish?"
She smiles, a hint of the devil in the curve of her lips. Oh, she'd make a splendid vampire. "I think you'll have to dance alone for this one…Klaus."
He is left looking at her as she turns around and walks to the back door, her hips swaying.
He learns that her name is Caroline, though not by her own admission.
She steps onto the stage with five inch heels, pearls around her neck, wearing a white dress ending a few inches above her knee that makes his mouth go dry. Her hair is now twisted up into a knot instead of falling freely over her shoulders, and is held in place by a white headpiece.
Oh, how he wills it to come off and see her hair cascade down her shoulders like before.
Her lips are painted a bright red and they curve when she spots him, just before Gloria introduces her and steps off the stage to make room for her newest singer.
And when she sings, the room erupts.
It's a soulful, slow tune, one of his favourites, one which has every couple at the bar holding hands and running to the dance floor, wrapping themselves around each other and trying not to step on the other's toes. He sees his sister and Stefan make their way onto the floor as well, both much more graceful than the others, spinning around and managing to look composed while doing it.
He looks at them for only a second, however, before his eyes turn back to Caroline.
Her eyes are closed, her hands by her sides, and he wonders if she knows that she turns her ankle in tune with the music's rhythm. When she opens her eyes, her gaze meets his, and she shakes her head fractionally before rolling her eyes and concentrating back on the crowd.
Klaus has never been so thankful to Rebekah for being exceptionally picky with her choice of friends.
He corners her after she steps off the stage.
And by corners he means tracks her to her dressing room and presses her against her vanity table.
"Someone's been elusive," he drawls. "I think you failed to mention what a bewitching voice you have, sweetheart."
She laughs, the sound throaty. "But then I wouldn't have gotten to see your face when I sang."
He gazes at her, looping one of the curls which has fallen from the knot it had been twisted in. "I do like your hair much better down."
She looks up at him through her eyelashes. "Maybe you could help me get it down, then. Later."
"Are you propositioning me…Caroline?"
He cannot help but be smugly satisfied when he sees the way she blushes after hearing him say her name.
"Awfully upfront of you, love. Especially after that declaration at the bar."
She laughs softly. "Flirting's an art, Klaus. Something I'm sure you have a lot of experience at."
"And you?" he whispers. "Surely you've got a secret or two I'd benefit from, even with my, ah, experience?"
"My secrets aren't worth sharing," she breathes, and presses herself up against him. "We could both benefit from each other's, however."
Klaus cannot help himself, he leans forward and kisses her, one hand pulling her against him by her waist and the other delving into her hair, gripping the blonde strands as they slip out of the hairstyle they had been forced into.
Caroline turns them so that he's pressed against the table, and slides her hands up his chest before pulling away.
It does nothing to help the desire coursing through him when she looks at him through lust-filled eyes and reddened lips that have nothing to do with her faded lipstick.
"I told you I'm not sleeping with you…yet," Caroline tells him, her voice raspy. "Woo me properly, Klaus."
"I think you're very past wooed, sweetheart."
"You think wrong, then." Caroline grins at him. "Seduction comes later."
Klaus takes her hand, presses it to his lips. "Very well, then."
He takes her to a café on the outskirts of Chicago, after they ditch the dress and the suit and change into something more inconspicuous.
"A bar and now plastic chairs and ice cream," Caroline drawls. "Do you want me to throw up in a few hours?"
Klaus grins at her. "Well, there are other options."
"Such as?"
"Anything you'd like."
She orders a slice of coffee cake and he asks for the chocolate one, and she looks at him, her eyes betraying her surprise.
"Didn't take you for a sweet tooth."
"I'm not," Klaus scoffs. "It's just the particular things I like."
Caroline hums. "Rebekah said that once. Ate half a cherry pie after that."
Klaus rolls his eyes. "Well, Bekah does like to let go of her ladylike mannerisms once in a while. Unlike you, of course."
Caroline scoffs. "Me? Oh, please. You've never seen me outside of a bar and a dress before now, Klaus, what makes you so sure?"
He raises his hands in surrender. "My mistake. There are many things I've yet to discover about you, Caroline."
When she smiles at him, he stops everything and just stares at her for a second, because this is the first smile she has graced him with that does not imply anything other than warmth—there's not a trace of flirtation, nothing cunning about this smile.
It shows off her eyes, and Klaus finds himself itching to pull more of those from her.
"You know," he says, leaning back into his chair. "You never did tell me you were a singer."
Caroline shrugs. "It pays the bills."
"What about your parents? They can't provide for their own daughter?"
He knows he's being harsh, but it feels deserved. Caroline raises a brow, and he wonders if he's crossed a line.
"No," she says, and even though she seems unaffected, her voice carries the slightest tinge of iciness in it. "I provide for myself."
He is not a man who apologises sincerely, certainly not to people he has just met, so he forces himself not to. "And what about your parents?"
Caroline stares at him through narrowed eyes. "My mother's dead," she says finally, her voice cold. "My father's a drunk who spends every penny on the drinks he finds on the streets, since he's banned from every bar that's still open. Should I continue?"
He winces involuntarily. "That was not my—I'm sorry, Caroline. I didn't mean to pry."
He's surprised at the ease with which the words come to him, and Caroline regards him with her arms crossed. "It's fine," she says finally. "I'm not used to answering questions about my parents, I guess."
He dips his head at her, smiling at her slightly. "I know what you mean."
She regards him. "What about you? Any parental issues on your side?"
Klaus feels his lips curve.
My mother was a witch who turned her children into bloodsucking monsters after the death of her second child instead of coping and dealing with it naturally, then decided to bind her middle child's self so that he could never access it because of a mistake that was her own, in fear of her husband slaughtering her and her children.
Oh, and then I killed her and cart her body around in a coffin.
My father is a homicidal maniac who murdered my biological father and put his head on a pike, and now loathes his progeny (and myself) and has devoted his existence to eradicating the lot of us from the earth.
"Every family has its problems," Klaus says easily, taking another piece of his cake. "Ours were just a bit more complicated. My father's who knows where, and my mother's dead."
He could tell her at least part of the truth.
"Rebekah tells me you're not close with your father," says Caroline, looking at him with something akin to understanding in her eyes. "I'm sorry."
Klaus smiles at her, one with all teeth. "I'm not."
Caroline shakes her head. "I know what it's like to lose your mom. Mine was amazing." Her eyes are wistful, and Klaus hates himself for letting her believe what she does about him. "Cancer. I was five, so I don't remember much, but the things that I do…" Caroline gives him a half-smile. "I really miss her."
Parents aren't all they're cracked up to be, sweetheart, he aches to tell her. They always disappoint you. Perhaps it's better, since you were never hurt.
He cannot bring himself to tell her, when he sees the look on her face.
He walks her home, and he discovers that there's more to Caroline than he could've possibly imagined.
She is one of the most expressive people he has ever met, her eyes light up with every expression and her cheeks brighten whenever she laughs. She has beautiful eyes, blue, blue, blue, a colour he'll be struggling to get the right shade of when he tries to replicate the image of her singing on his canvas.
They reach her house within ten minutes of walking from the café, and Klaus raises an eyebrow when he sees the state of it. Caroline, seeing his expression, scoffs.
"Oh, come on. Don't be a snob."
"I wasn't," says Klaus, trying (and failing) to keep the unimpressed look off his face.
Caroline shakes her head. "It's my mom's old place. I couldn't stay with my dad after she died, cause…anyway, she left me the key in her will and my dad's solicitor told him that it was legally mine, so he had no choice but to let me stay. I don't think he cared anyway."
Klaus feels a spike of anger course through him whenever she mentions her father, for reasons unfathomable to him.
Caroline lets out a breath. "Well, then. I'll see you…Klaus," she tacks on at the end, a small smile on her face.
He reaches out to her unconsciously, grabbing her by the hand and pulling her towards him. She comes without protest, though her eyes show her surprise.
"Caroline," he breathes. "I find myself reluctant to part ways. You are the most intriguing woman I've come across in a long time, and I implore you to spend more time with me tomorrow."
She cocks her head to the side. "I could have plans."
"I'll come with you."
"I'm singing at the bar tomorrow."
"I'd be happy to watch until you're free."
She shakes her head, grinning. "Who are you?"
He kisses her, hard, and she melts into his embrace, her hands going slack around his shoulders. She moans against his mouth when he hikes up the dress she's wearing, her fingers winding into his hair and messing up the gelled style they've been combed into.
She pulls away after a few long minutes. "Tomorrow," she rasps. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Klaus pulls her in for one more kiss before releasing her. "You're a cruel woman, Caroline Forbes."
"No, I'm intriguing," she corrects him, her hips swaying tauntingly as she walks up the steps to her house.
He grins, his smile shark-like.
"How have you not gotten bored of her yet?" Rebekah asks him as they watch Caroline dazzle the other patrons of the bar with her voice as she struts around on the podium, her long legs looking particularly enticing in the blood red heels that match her lips. "I've known you to court women for a few hours and finish them off the next day."
Klaus cannot seem to look away. "I am not courting her," he says instead of responding to her. "I don't court women, not in England, not here."
Caroline chooses that moment to meet his gaze, her red lips curving into a smile, making him smirk back consequently. He raises his glass to her, at which she rolls her eyes and turns back to the crowd, a sultry expression on her face when the band starts playing a different song. He feels the veins under his eyes shift and quickly gets them under control, not wanting to frighten Caroline before he told her what he and Rebekah really were.
Strange, that. He hadn't lost control in centuries.
Rebekah scoffs. "Well, what you two have going on seems perfectly innocent to me."
Stefan walks over at that moment, smelling strongly of blood and cigars. "Wanna dance, babe?"
Rebekah rolls her eyes. "Obviously."
Klaus watches her as she hops to her feet and flounces off with Stefan, nearly tripping over in her heels in her giddiness. He shakes his head and turns back to Caroline, who's reaching the end of her song.
"Thank you," she drawls, her voice taking on a slight southern twang he hadn't noticed before. "Over to Anna."
There are a few wandering eyes and wolf-whistles from the crowd, and Klaus feels his blood boil when he sees the gazes of a group of men follow her form as she turns around and steps off the stage. He immediately makes his way over to her and twines his fingers through hers.
"Sweetheart," he breathes against her lips, "you were lovely."
She smiles. "You think?" She slings her arms around his neck and presses her forehead to his. "Like the dress?"
It's short and crimson, matching her lips. She looks absolutely sinful, in his opinion, especially with her wearing one of his gifts today.
His. His gift. One every man will notice when they try to seduce her.
A ruby necklace, one she had accepted after half an hour of protesting, glimmers against her clavicle, shining prominently on her pale skin.
It was one of his favourite pieces, one he nicked from the seventeenth century, one of many that had belonged to the former queen.
"You look devastating," he replies, his voice rough, and she must notice, because a smile stretches across her lips.
"You're not so bad yourself, Mr Mikaelson," she says, fingering the bow tie at his neck. "Nice tie," she whispers into his neck as she runs her tongue along the shell of his ear. "Maybe you could use it better at my place tonight?"
He spins her around, her hair coming loose of its style, and presses her to him, gripping her hands in his. "Dance with me, love."
She places her elbows on his shoulders, leaning close, swaying her hips to the song. "Of course."
He knows her, her mind, her body, her soul, and he cannot shake Caroline Forbes, the gorgeous singer he had met three months ago in a shady bar in Chicago.
He has memorized every bit of her, from her eyes to her smile to the curve of her hips and the way her back arches when he's inside her.
She is utterly enchanting, and Rebekah taunts him about how besotted he looks when he's with her, to which he doesn't respond now.
Klaus is many things, a liar among them, and he lies, but never to himself. He never has, has sworn he never will, but he cannot help but feel guilty whenever he tells himself that he isn't that attached to Caroline.
"What are you thinking about?" Caroline's voice shakes him out of his thoughts as he lowers his eyes to see her. She's sprawled on his torso, the blankets covering her naked form, resting her chin on her knuckles.
"You," he answers truthfully, at which she huffs out a laugh and clambers off the bed.
"And I thought you were a bit more subtle than that, Mr Mikaelson," she says, her back to him as she slips on her shoes and shakes out her hair from where it gets caught on her dress. "I should get going. It's getting late."
"Stay here," Klaus says impulsively, just managing to keep saying with me at the end. "You look very tired," he leers instead. "I could help you...relax."
She narrows her eyes at him. "Somehow I doubt that. I haven't been to my apartment in three days, Klaus. It's probably rotting in dirt right now."
"Go home tomorrow morning," he says, watching as she searches the room for her hair ribbons and clasps that he carelessly thrown away in the room while they were kissing madly when they had stumbled into the room earlier that evening.
She finally locates them, and stuffs them in her bag. "I can't, Klaus, I…" She looks frustrated, and that's what motivates Klaus to stand up and walk over to her.
She looks resigned, of a sort, and he takes her hand and brushes a soft kiss over her palm. "Caroline," he says softly. "My love. What's wrong?"
Her eyes snap to his. "You've never called me that before."
His love. Implying that she was his.
Couldn't she see that she had been for the past three months already? From the moment he set eyes on her at the bar to their first night together months ago, she was his.
"Is that a problem?" is how he chooses to respond, and she sucks in a breath.
"Honestly, yeah," she says, her tone snappish. "I have to go."
"Caroline," says Klaus, mystified at her reaction. Things were going so well just a few minutes ago. "What's happened? Why are you—"
"I have to go, Klaus," she snaps. "I'll see you later."
She gathers up her things and twists her hair up into a hasty knot, leaves and slams the door behind her.
Klaus stands at the door, his mind whirling with emotions.
This is how she had chosen to repay his one moment of weakness. He showed her one moment of vulnerability and she chooses to respond by closing off?
How dare she.
If she had known who he really was, she would be tripping over her feet with apologies, quivering at the mere sight of him—
A foul taste enters his mouth at the thought of her being frightened by him.
Well.
That was new.
But if she thought she could just leave after speaking to him like that, oh, she had another thing coming.
He may have his issues with feelings but that does not mean he has reigns on his temper, no matter how taken he is with Caroline.
He bangs on her door, knowing he should probably be more gentle otherwise he'll bring down the door, but can't bring himself to.
Caroline opens the door, her hair down and a furious expression on her face. "What the fuck are you doing?"
He moves to barrel past her, stepping into the apartment. Caroline makes an irate noise low in her throat. "What are you doing? Get out. I need to sleep."
He whirls around to face her. "You have some nerve, Caroline Forbes."
Caroline's mouth drops open. "Excuse me?"
"Excuse you," he snarls. "Why did you leave?"
"I—it's my life, Klaus, I can choose to leave any time I want to—"
"Why did you leave like that?" he grits out.
She crosses her arms. "What do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb, Caroline, you're a smart woman, we both know what it means," he spits at her. "We've been fucking for three months, and this is the first time you leave like I've burned you."
A hurt look flashes across Caroline's face. "Exactly. That's what we've been doing. Fucking. I'm not anything…unique for you, Klaus. What am I, a mistress, a whore? I don't know. I'm not even sure you know. And it's okay. You don't have to. You're a man. You're rich, and young, and smart…you have a life set for you. You have your sister, who loves you so much. But I…I have nothing, Klaus," she says bitterly. "I have no money, no mother, no siblings. The bar could be discovered any minute, and everyone working there is going to be fired and arrested."
Klaus stares at her, dumbfounded. She sighs. "I need…I need stability, Klaus. I hate anyone having to provide for me, but I don't have a choice."
"What are you saying?" he asks, a feeling a of dread filling him.
Caroline cannot meet his eyes. "My dad wants me to get married," she says, looking at the floor. "There's a guy, Tyler Lockwood. He's rich, and single, my age. My dad owes his. Those are hard categories to come across in these times. But he…he'll take care of me," she finishes, spitting out the words with contempt.
An odd sort of buzzing has filled Klaus's ears. "Tyler Lockwood is a cheap and abusive drunk," he grits out. "You want to marry him?"
Caroline looks exasperated. "I don't want to! I have to. I'm twenty-one years old, Klaus, I can't be—"
"And if he hurts you?" All he sees is red, and once it fades, Caroline looks him in the eyes.
"I survive," she says quietly. "And I move on. We get married, stay stable for a year, he has affairs and runs Daddy's business. I sit home and knit."
"You are not marrying him," he seethes.
Her eyes lower. "I don't have a choice."
"I will murder him," he snarls. "And his father, and his family."
A faint smile crosses her lips. "You're funny."
He isn't, really. Only he was the one who knew he could follow through on his threats.
She looks so broken, so defeated, and Klaus cannot comprehend what he is hearing. "Let me get this straight," he manages. "You're throwing this away…what we have…complete and utter bliss…for a sham of a marriage you're being forced into? And for what? Funds?"
Fury crosses Caroline's face. "We're not all filthy rich, Mr Mikaelson, excuse my simple desires. Some of us are just looking for ways to survive. And what we have will only last until you get bored of me."
And through all his rage, he can't help but see a small speckle of truth, excepting the last sentence.
She's right.
What is going to be able to give her? Stability? Happiness?
Love?
The thought itself used to fill him with dread. The idea of spending eternity with a person in a relationship, something that requires giving away his heart to someone, made him laugh scornfully.
And here, before him stands Caroline Forbes, the most enchanting woman he has come across in nine centuries, telling him that she needs to tie herself to a man she does not want, in a marriage she does not want, forever.
Because he cannot give her what she wants.
And to tell her who he is? The woman who smiles like the sun, who puts on her armour for the world and has a bleeding heart behind it? The same woman who told him she volunteers eighteen hours every week at shelters and hospitals for homeless people?
He's a person who'd eat one of those homeless people without a second thought.
Caroline's still looking at him. "We can't continue this," she murmurs. "There are other women, Klaus. Trust me, I'm not anything special."
But she is, can't she see that? She's not just anyone, she's…
Someone who cannot be defined.
"You're not a mistress," Klaus rasps. "Or a whore. I could never tire of you, in this lifetime or a thousand. You are…everything, Caroline. And you deserve…so much more than I can give you."
Because all I can give you is misery. And pain. And death.
And she is too good for his world.
Nine hundred years have been his canvas, and he has painted it with murder. Him, his siblings, his father. And he will not have her run from Mikael with him.
Caroline nods, a tiny jerk of the head, almost imperceptibly, hastily wiping away a tear that slides down her cheek. "Thanks, um…thanks for being honest."
They don't look at each other for a while, when Caroline finally breaks the silence. "If I marry Tyler, my dad will be free of his debt, so…that's a good thing."
"I…" Klaus breaks off, his throat closing. "I should go, Caroline."
She looks up at him, blue meeting blue. "Yeah, I…yeah."
He turns and walks out her door, and doesn't look back.
An epic romance?
He scoffs at the thought while forcing down the rest of the whiskey in his glass, staring down at its depths.
The bartender looks at him sympathetically. "One more for you, buddy? On the house."
Klaus closes his eyes, and the bartender takes that as his assent, and pours a shot of tequila and sets it on the bar top. "Knock yourself out."
And how lowly has his condition become, he remarks, that he has to endure actions of pity from plebeian humans.
A taloned hand slams on the counter next to him, and he reluctantly looks up to meet his irate sister's livid gaze. "Why," Rebekah barks, "has Caroline met me in tears saying that she's marrying that Lockwood bloke? Doesn't his family deal with cutlery?"
"Yes," Klaus says tiredly, "and I know about her wedding. She told me."
Rebekah gapes at him. "And? Does that mean nothing to you?"
Klaus doesn't react, and his sister huffs. "Not this again."
"Not what again?"
"You've fallen in love with this singer, Nik, and you refuse to admit it."
His hand tightens around his glass. "Careful, Rebekah. Wouldn't want to start the thirties with a dagger in your heart."
Rebekah's eyes flash. "Threaten all you want, Nik, but we both know it's true. And she loves you."
"I said," Klaus grits out, "careful."
"Have you told her?" Rebekah presses. "About us?"
He doesn't grace her with an answer. "So, no, then?"
He grunts, and Rebekah shakes her head. "And yet you bemoan the loss of your relationship. This is your doing, Nik, not—"
"It is hers," he finally snaps. "She ended things with me. Not the other way around. Get your facts straight before you throw around your accusations, Bekah."
"Then change her mind," Rebekah says earnestly. "What are you doing, Nik? Sulking around in a bar while a good-for-nothing man-child prepares to marry your girl. Tell her about us."
"She's not for our life, Rebekah," he replies shortly, looking anywhere but her eyes.
"You don't know that," she says stubbornly. "That girl has seen more darkness than is healthy for her, and she has survived. You know it, and I know it."
"Has the darkness she's seen shown her murder? Blood? Torture, misery, running?" A dark look passes over Rebekah's features, and Klaus smiles without any humour. "So you've heard."
"I'm not an idiot," she growls. "Stefan seems to be more trouble than he's worth."
"Glad to know you've finally seen sense. Your bloody ripper is getting his fangs into anything with a pulse, and it's drawing attention."
"Well, it's not like I like it. I'm trying to teach him to control his urges, but it's not working. He goes on a feeding frenzy and eats seven more people when I tell him to stop with one. He's not listening."
"Then get rid of him."
Rebekah draws in a breath. "I can't do that."
"You just said he was more trouble than he's worth. It's been five months since your bloody fling started, end it already."
"I love him, Nik," Rebekah says quickly, the words leaving her in a breath. He freezes, then slowly looks up at her stiffly.
"You have to be joking."
"Nik, please. Try to understand."
"How can I possibly try to understand?" he hisses at her. "You were just complaining about him, saying he's too conspicuous. We need to be rid of him if we're going to escape Mikael."
"Why can't you try to understand?" Rebekah explodes. "He's not perfect, Nik, but I love him. Yes, he's conspicuous, but I don't want to leave him. I thought you'd sympathise with me, just this once, because of you and Ca—"
"Choose your next words carefully, Bekah," Klaus says dangerously.
Rebekah shakes her head. "And I thought there was hope," she says bitterly, shaking her head. "I foolishly hoped that for once in your miserable life, you would've been smart enough to get your head out of your own arse."
"What are you talking about?"
Before Rebekah can reply, a conversation at the back reaches his ears, one that would've been easily swept to the side if it weren't for the familiar voice that accompanied it.
"Miss Forbes, absolute pleasure to meet you."
"Pleasure's all mine, Mr Lockwood."
Klaus sees red, then tosses back the rest of his drink and walks to the back room, a confused Rebekah still standing at the bar.
"I've heard you sing."
Klaus glares as Tyler Lockwood leers at her—his girl—through crooked teeth, and Klaus can see Caroline barely flinch from the sight, although she leans back slightly at what he's sure of the stench of alcohol on his breath.
"Yes, I sing."
"Then you should do it for me at the wedding. I'm sure you'd be sexy as—"
"Perhaps," Caroline interrupts, her voice colder than ice. "We should get to the matter at hand."
Oh, he was going to enjoy ending that miserable sod who dared to think of Caroline as his. He could already picture Tyler's blood running like rivers down his body, his screams echoing off the walls as he hung from Klaus's rafters, begging for mercy.
Fun, indeed.
"Yeah, sure." Lockwood pulls out a stack of papers which he hands to Caroline. "These all have my father's signatures on them, and his personal seal ensures that it can only be read by—"
Caroline breaks the seal wordlessly as she scans the documents in her hands. "—by your dad," Lockwood finishes uselessly, and Klaus bites back a smile.
"There's nothing here about the money," Caroline objects, raising an eyebrow. "The agreement money your family promised my father in exchange for—"
"For you," Tyler says nastily, and Klaus's skin rolls with disgust and fury when he sees the way the other man is looking at Caroline.
"I am not an object," Caroline says coldly.
"No, you're a bargaining chip. Spare me the talk, babe, we both know what got you here. But don't worry, you don't have to be nervous. I'll make sure everything is…suitable for you. And your tastes."
He pointedly eyes the costume she's wearing, a black dress with pearls, her hair twisted up, exposing the long line of her throat and her porcelain shoulders. Klaus has the sudden urge to rip out every artery Lockwood has in his throat, starting with his carotid.
"Good," Caroline says listlessly. "I'll meet you here tomorrow to discuss the wedding plans once you've transferred the money. If you'll excuse me, I have a show to do."
Lockwood glares at her. "That's it?"
Caroline raises an eyebrow. "I have to work, Mr Lockwood. As much I'd like to practice my singing for the wedding, I have to earn a livelihood first."
"No, I mean, what are you doing? You invite me here, alone, making up some excuse to talk about money—"
"Something which both our fathers are too busy to do," Caroline says sharply. "Now, excuse me, Mr Lockwood."
Tyler stands up suddenly and stumbles in front of her, blocking her path. "Mr Lockwood," Caroline says calmly, though Klaus can detect the undercurrent of fear in her voice. "I have a job to do."
"Or," Lockwood says suggestively. "You could service me instead."
"No."
"Excuse me?"
"No. I am not a prostitute, so no."
Lockwood roughly grabs her by the shoulders and pushes her against the wall. "Who asked, babe?"
Caroline, unfortunately for her, is wearing towering heels, and loses her balance and falls to the ground, hitting her head on the corner of the wall as she does.
That's the last straw.
Klaus flashes to where they're standing and has Lockwood against the door in seconds. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't rip you apart right this second," he snarls, his eyes bleeding red.
"What the fuck—"
He thanks every God he used to believe in that his back is to Caroline, so that she can't see his eyes or his fangs. He snaps his teeth and Lockwood and bangs his head against the wall. "You're lucky that I can't kill you right now. But I will enjoy doing it later, after I've taken care of Caroline. Forget," he snaps, dilating his pupils. "You didn't meet me. You treated the lady with every bit of respect you could possibly muster up in that miserable body of yours, and you left. Leave."
Tyler scurries away, stumbling through the door. Klaus whirls around, his expression softening when he sees Caroline sitting against the wall, one hand against her temple. "My love," he breathes, smoothing away the few strands that have escaped from her bun. "Are you alright?"
Caroline looks at him furiously. "No, I am not alright. You can probably see that."
He pulls her hand away from her temple and grinds his teeth. The wall broke the skin on her forehead when Lockwood pushed her, so there's a four centimetre long cut on her forehead. "shit," Caroline curses when she sees the blood on her fingertips. "I can't go on stage like this."
"Then don't. Go home, go to the doctor."
"I can't, I need the money. If I don't work tonight, I'm definitely fired." Caroline's eyes fill with tears for the first time. "Oh my god. I can't tell them what happened, they'd never believe me, and Tyler's dad can get him out of anything—"
"Caroline, sweetheart," says Klaus, his hands running up and down her arms. "It's alright. Calm down. You're okay. You're safe."
You are always safe with me.
Tears run down her cheeks. "He—he tried to—"
"And he will suffer for it," Klaus vows vehemently. "Painfully, I promise. But we need to take care of you first, Caroline. That cut doesn't look good."
Caroline recoils from him. "We?"
He nods, confused. "Yes, we. Do you honestly think I'm letting you go until you've fixed that up?"
Her features suddenly morph back into an irritated look. "You don't have to let me do anything, Klaus, you're not my keeper."
"I'm aware," he bites out. "However, I don't want that cut to get infected, therefore I'm suggesting you get it cleaned and fixed."
"Does your suggestion—"
"For God's sake, Caroline, could you please just listen for once?"
She freezes and looks at him, disbelief in her eyes. "Don't yell at me," she grits out. "And go away."
"Caroline—"
"Leave me alone, Klaus," she says brusquely, standing up, dusting off her dress. "Whatever we had, it's over, and it's for the best. The last thing I need is…you."
He flinches involuntarily, but Caroline catches it, her expression changing slightly. "I—I'm sorry," she murmurs. "This isn't your fault, I'm the one who decided to end it—"
"You're damn right you did," Klaus snarls. "Don't make me out to be the villain, Caroline."
She scoffs. "Fine. Now can I go, please?"
"You're still bleeding, Caroline."
She makes an exasperated noise. "I'll get it cleaned, okay? Tomorrow."
"Now."
"For God's sake, Klaus, it isn't going to hurt me any more than it has. I'll use my hair to cover it."
"I don't like it."
"You don't have to," Caroline replies resignedly. "Just—just let me go."
And before he can explain to her how impossible that is, she walks away.
"Nik."
Rebekah's tone makes him push off the leggy redhead and brunette hanging onto him, and down the rest of his whiskey in a gulp. "What?"
There is a look of resignment and sadness in Rebekah's face, and he cocks his head to the side. "So, he's finally gone completely mad."
"I tried to stop him," she whispers. "I tried…everything, Nik, he's just completely off the rails. He—" she gulps, "he killed ten people, Nik. Because he was hungry. Not even Kol's gone this far."
No, he hasn't. And if his sister can't see the next step, he'll have to do something neither of them likes.
"Rebekah," he starts, a warning in his tone, "there's only one thing to do now, and you know that as well as I."
Rebekah's eyes glisten. "I can make him come back."
"No, you can't," he says frustratedly. "He's a ripper, Bekah. They don't just…come back. They need time, experience…something that you don't have with their kind."
"I can't just leave him!"
"Yes, you can," he grits out, grabbing her by the wrist and walking to the door of the bar. "He's just a fling, Rebekah, you'll forget about him in the next few weeks or so. Now, come on, we have to start packing if we're going to leave by nightfall."
"I'm not leaving, Nik," she says, tugging her wrist out of his grasp and closing her eyes. Klaus grits his teeth and turns around to face her.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"I think I made it quite clear."
"Don't play with me, Rebekah," he says, the warning clear in his tone. "Trust me, I'm not going to indulge you right now."
"When do you ever, Nik?" says Rebekah, tears in her eyes as she stares at him. "For more than five hundred years, I've followed you around the world, never leaving your side, even when you were horrid and unkind. You have never let me love someone so fully that I might want to spend the rest of my immortal life with them. It's always about you, you, you, never about me. You've treated me like a child—"
"And for good reason," Klaus snarls, his blood boiling. "You've tried to give away your heart to every man you've come across. It will not end well! It never does! Look at Elijah! Do you think he was content when Celeste died?"
"She died because of you!" Rebekah screams. "You and your rumour! Do you think Elijah's excluded me from the things that have been wrecking this family while I was daggered? He tells me everything, every time you decide you're in the mood to wake me up." Rebekah takes a deep breath, her eyes shining. "And when I saw you with Caroline—"
"Don't," Klaus grits out, something cracking in his chest. "Just don't."
"When I saw the way you looked at her—"
"Don't."
"And the way you were with her—"
"I said stop!" Klaus bellows at her. "Don't use Caroline as one of your examples for your justification to be with Stefan. They are not alike!"
"Well, they're both people Mikaelsons have fallen in love with. I suppose they have that in common."
"I'm not in love with her!" Klaus snarls.
"Then let her go," Rebekah challenges, crossing her arms. "If you want me to believe that you're not in love with Caroline, go to her wedding. Watch her marry that Lockwood tosser, bind herself to him—"
Klaus picks up a discarded glass of brandy and throws it at her, which she catches and flings back at him. "Don't make me out to be the hypocritical one here, Nik!" she screams at him. "Why can't you understand being in love is not as terrible as you think it is?"
"Love is a weakness," Klaus hisses at his sister.
"Love is a blessing," Rebekah contradicts him sharply. "You don't believe it. I know that for a fact. You pretend to believe it, you say it over and over again because Mikael told you to believe it. You are afraid to get hurt by a person you yourself choose to open your heart to. Get over yourself. His opinion shouldn't matter to you anymore."
"It doesn't."
"Then stop acting like it does," Rebekah snaps. "I love Stefan, Nik. And I'm willing to be with him till I absolutely have to put him down. That's what you do for the people you love. You give them a sense of security, and safety—"
"You're being foolish."
"I don't want to run anymore, Nik!" Rebekah says, her voice cracking at the end. "I want to be with Stefan. He…he makes me happy, Nik. He's a ripper, and it's not his fault, some vampires are turned with that quality, they can't help it. But I want to stay."
Klaus regards her with a critical eye. "You love him. So stay. But I won't."
His sister closes her eyes. "So you're going to make me choose between the man I love and the brother I love?"
Klaus says nothing, but can't meet her eyes. "And Caroline?" Rebekah presses. "You plan to leave her behind?"
That lands.
His heart aches, aches to tell Rebekah that no, he doesn't want to, doesn't ever want to leave Caroline, because she—
She is his light in the darkness that is his existence, the one person he has meet in nine hundred years to break down his walls and share—share almost everything with her.
Almost.
And he knows, if he wants to stay with her, keep her with him, he has to tell her the truth.
"I'm not going to make you choose," Klaus says softly. "If you want Stefan, I'm going to find a witch to put him down and wake him up. Later. Much later. But not right now, when Mikael is hunting us. He can stay in your coffin, but I can't risk him being awake and going on rampages whenever he fancies it."
Rebekah looks at him wordlessly. "We can take Stefan along?"
"By putting him to sleep," Klaus reminds her.
She looks stunned. "Why?"
Klaus bristles. "What do you mean why? You were the one begging me to take him with us just a min—"
"I mean," Rebekah says softly, "why are you changing your mind?"
Klaus says nothing, glaring at the ground. "Pack your bags," he replies tonelessly. "We leave at dawn. I have a…situation I need to take care of."
He pretends he cannot see Rebekah's knowing look as he flashes away.
And because he is an incredible, stupid, idiot, he finds himself at Caroline's door at three in the morning, ringing her doorbell.
Caroline answers the door, hair falling over her shoulders, but all traces of sleepiness are wiped from her eyes when she sees him. "Klaus?" she says, her tone alarmed. "Are you okay? What happened?"
Klaus takes a deep breath. "I need to show you something," he starts, and one of Caroline's eyebrows rises. "And I need you to not be frightened."
"You're frightening me right now with the way you're acting," she replies, ushering him in. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"
"Nothing," he says quickly, needing to reassure her. "Nothing's wrong. I just…I wanted—I needed…to see you."
Caroline's worried expression drops, replaced by a resigned one. "Klaus," she starts softly, "we've been over this. We can't. I can't."
"You can't marry Lockwood," Klaus says hoarsely. "I'll murder him if I have to but you won't."
He doesn't tell her of his plans to actually murder Lockwood for trying to raise a hand on Caroline.
"My dad needs this, Klaus!" she cries. "He needs to be free of his debt, and I don't have the money to—"
"I'll pay it off," he says, grasping her hands. "Just tell me how much."
"Are you crazy? It's a quarter of a million dollars, Klaus, it's not a small sum—"
"Done."
"Wh—excuse me?"
"Done," he repeats. "I'll get one of my workers to transfer the money to the Lockwoods by tomorrow."
Caroline gapes at him. "You can't just do that!"
"I can. I'll show you proof, tomorrow."
"I can't ask you to do that, Klaus."
"You didn't. I offered."
"Stop!" she yells at him, and Klaus, taken aback, raises an eyebrow. "This isn't a joke, Klaus! You can't give a quarter of a million dollars to some girl you like to sleep around with—"
"That's not—"
"I can't be with you!" she bursts out finally, tears glittering in her eyes. "I can't…be what you want, Klaus. I'm not the girl everyone wants to be with, okay? I…I get left," she says, her voice cracking. "By my friends, my parents, men, everyone. And I can't…couldn't handle it if you left me, because I care about you so much that it physically hurts me. Every time you look at me, I feel like you can hear what I'm thinking. When you touch me, it's like I'm going to combust. You are the only person I give a damn about, Klaus! The only other person I loved, my mother, is dead."
Klaus's mind goes blank at that, barely registers her next words.
"…so you deserve better, Klaus."
The next thing he does is so stupid, he's certain it goes down in history as the worst reaction to someone pouring their heart out to you.
He laughs.
He laughs so hard that Caroline stops talking, and looks at him with a stricken expression on her face. His laughter immediately ceases and he walks over to her, sinking to his knees and taking her hands in his.
"Caroline," he says, kissing her fingers. "My love. You are kind, selfless, beautiful, honest, and sweet, and brave, and so many other things, and you think I'm the one who deserves better? You were willing to offer yourself in marriage to a man you despise to help your father, the man who doesn't give a whit whether you survive or not. You help homeless people out of the goodness of your heart, sing at the bar to help out your friend even when she's too poor to pay you, just to help her, and you claim people leave you? For whom? How could they find anyone in this world better than you?"
Caroline's eyes glisten with tears. "What if you think so too? In a few years, when you're finally tired of me, how soon will you leave me? I couldn't bear that, Klaus."
"I would never leave you," he says vehemently, kissing her palms. "You are beautiful, and strong, and full of light—why would I ever want to leave?"
Caroline wipes away the tears that cling to her cheeks. "What did you want to show me?" she says, a small smile spreading across her face, and something in his heart cracks. "You probably should, since you woke me up and all."
Klaus steps back from her regretfully. "I'll make one thing clear: if you get scared, you're free to leave. I won't force you to stay."
The smile fades, and she looks at him concernedly. "Klaus, what's wrong?"
Klaus stands up slowly, his hands leaving hers. She looks surprised, and a little hurt, and that's when the veins under his eyes ripple.
His eyes redden and his fangs break out from under his gums, the sharp points gleaming under the lights of the sitting room.
Caroline screams.
Her hands cover her mouth and she scrambles away from him. "You—you're a—"
"A vampire," Klaus finishes for her, wearing a self-deprecating smile. "A hybrid, if you want to get technical."
She whimpers, her hands still covering her mouth, but she doesn't step away from him. He makes no move to step into her space, just stands in front of her, his gloved hands fiddling with the leather.
His fangs retreat beneath his gums, and his eyes turn back to their normal blue. "Like I said," he said regretfully. "You can always leave. I don't want you being scared of me."
Caroline backs away towards the desk, keeping a safe distance between them. "Are you—are you going to kill me?"
"No," Klaus says vehemently, the shock evident in his tone. "Caroline, I would never hurt you. I promise."
She relaxes slightly, but the wariness is still in her gaze. His stomach drops. "You're afraid of me," he says quietly.
And really, what did he expect?
Caroline regards him with a thoughtful gaze, some of the fear in her eyes simmering away. "A little," she admits, and Klaus's eyes drop to the ground. "But," she continues, "it's justified, I suppose. I mean, you've just shown me the existence of things I thought were only real in horror stories."
"I understand," Klaus says gently. "And I don't want to push you to do anything you don't want."
Caroline steps towards him hesitantly, her hands slowly moving to cup his face. He flinches in surprise, and she moves away quickly. "I'm sorry," she murmurs, twisting her hands. "I wanted to—can you show me? Again?"
Klaus looks at her in surprise. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," she answers without missing a beat. "Show me."
Careful to do it even slower than he did at first, Klaus lets his fangs drop. He feels the veins under his eyes stir, and Caroline looks at his eyes, her expression one of very little fear and a lot of awe.
"Does it hurt?" she asks him, the question coming out unconsciously, he guesses.
"No," Klaus tells her, sheathing his fangs once again. "I only do it when I have to f—eat."
Caroline looks at him, nodding her head. "And you drink—blood."
"Yes," he replies, not bothering to beat around the bush. It's the truth—an awful one, for humans, but the last thing he wants to do is go behind her back and drain humans when she's not looking. "I—well, me and Rebekah—"
"Rebekah's one too?" Caroline asks, her eyes wide. "Oh, of course she is, she's your sister. And Stefan—"
"Is one too," he finishes for her. She nods slowly, twisting her fingers in her hands.
"Okay."
Klaus looks at her quizzically. "Okay?"
"Okay," she repeats. "You're a vampire. You're supposed to be immortal. You've probably killed people. Okay."
"You're…alright with this?"
"Yes," Caroline says firmly. "I am. This doesn't change the way I know you. You're still you, except you're a lot more dangerous."
"I'm not a regular vampire, love. My family…we're the oldest vampires in the world. We're the first vampires to have been sired."
Caroline's eyes widen comically, and she sinks down into her couch. Klaus flashes to the kitchen and gets her a glass of water, only then noticing her startled gaze.
"Apologies," he mutters, handing her the glass. "I forgot I hadn't quite told you about that yet."
"Oldest vampires?" she squeaks out, taking a shaky sip. "How old does that mean, exactly?"
Klaus doesn't look at her. "Nine hundred years old."
Caroline makes a strangled sound in the back of her throat. "You're—you—"
"Sweetheart," he says, gripping her shoulders. "Calm down. It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. No one is."
"N—nine centuries," Caroline stammers. "I expected…fifty years? A hundred? And that's a lot considering I found out that vampires existed five minutes ago. And I don't even know what your parents do, if the things you've told me are true."
"My mother's dead," he assures her. "That much is true. My father…he hates us. Me and my siblings." Someday he'll tell her more about Elijah, and Kol, and Finn, but now is not the time. "He follows us around the world, to put an end to us, to rid the world of our filth, as he so poetically put it," Klaus says with a bitter laugh. "He wants us gone, and he hates our mother for turning us. And he despises me most of all." The last part comes out in a snarl. "I told you I'm not his biological son, a product of an affair by mother had. He loathes me more than he hates my mother, has a special desire to end me, more than the rest of my brothers and sister."
"So we run," he says plainly. "For more than five hundred years, all we've been doing is running from him, to different corners of the world, hoping he never finds us, and he always does. And when he does, our meeting always include murder, and torture of the people we come to befriend, our allies. And I don't want you in the middle of that, Caroline. I don't want you to spend your life running. That's why I never told you, because I thought you'd want—"
"To choose you," she echoes.
And it's so selfish of him to think that, the thought of her choosing a monster, an abomination, as his father calls him, over an uncomplicated life she could lead.
Caroline Forbes has broken him, given him a reason to hope, something he hasn't done in so many years.
And he doesn't regret it.
"I didn't want you to choose me at first," he admits. "I thought if I faced my father and had the courage to kill him first, I could give you the life you've dreamt of. One without running, seeing the world, every place I've dreamt of showing you…without the paranoia I felt when I saw them first. But then it occurred to me that I had no idea how long it would take to kill my father, and that would require…turning you, which I'd never do without your consent."
Caroline stares at him, tears pouring down her cheeks, and before he can say anything else, she wraps her arms around his neck and pulls him to her.
"I'm so sorry," she says into his neck, kissing the side of his head. "No one should ever have to face that kind of abuse from a parent. You deserve so much better. You're worth so much better."
He's not, really. He's not much better, murdering people when he needs to and not looking back. Sometimes for entertainment, like what Kol does, although he's marginally better.
He has as much blood on his hands as Mikael, or even Kol, but he and his brother never find themselves to feel shame in that, and that is the quality he knows Caroline will hate.
And he can't change himself. He is who he is, and she is who she is.
"I know it's a lot to deal with," he says, running his hands up and down her shoulders soothingly. "And that's why I want you to take your time. Process. I'll be here when you're ready to give me an answer, I always will—"
She stands up, an eyebrow quirked. "Take my time for what?"
"To make up your mind—about me. Because the way I see it, Caroline, you have two options. One: you can choose to forget that you know of my existence, choose to escape from the danger that being in my life will undoubtedly bring you, and start anew, marry Lockwood and live and die as a human—or," Klaus continues, "you can choose to come with me. Travel the world, live your life in the way you deserve to, the way you should. You can choose me."
"You don't have to turn if you did," he adds, even though the mere thought of losing her is enough to send him into agony. "It's your choice. You could still come with me and live out the rest of your life. But it won't be a completely happy one, constantly fleeing my father until I finally kill him. Then, I can give you everything. But it'll take time."
"It's your choice."
He stands up and tilts his chin towards the floor slightly. "I'll be leaving at dawn, but you can send me an answer whenever you want. I'll have someone of mine keep in touch with y—"
"Leaving?" her voice rises. "Where? Why?"
"Stefan's drawn far too much attention towards himself. We need to make sure Mikael doesn't catch wind of us, and he probably has, will be sending spies to check whether we're truly here or not. We need to leave before he gets here."
"And you honestly thought I'd be okay with letting you go after you've told me I don't have to marry Tyler anymore?"
Klaus is struck speechless at that. "I thought you—that you—"
"I was going to marry Tyler just to pay off my dad's debt! I couldn't ask anyone for money cause nobody I knew had that kind of money! How was I supposed to pay it off? But then you…"
She trails off, her eyes shining with gratitude. "Klaus, if you do this, I'm going to spend the rest of my life making sure I pay you back for—"
Klaus laughs. "Do you think a quarter of a million is a large sum for me? Think of it like a gift, Caroline. One to free you from a life of misery. It's a gift, love, not some favour I'm doing you. You don't owe me. I'm doing this for you."
Someday he'll convince her to let him eviscerate Lockwood and his slimy father.
Caroline's face is stunned. "Why?" she asks softly.
"What do you mean, why? Didn't I make it clear? You deserve a life that you take control of. Not someone else. A life filled with wonder, and excitement and beauty and adventure, because you can have all of it. You can have a thousand lifetimes in one, if you wish. It's all for you, Caroline."
The look on her face is one of awe, and apprehension mixed together. "If I come with you," she says quietly, "how can I be sure you won't leave me? That you won't hurt me, break my heart like everyone else did?"
"Caroline," Klaus says gently, taking her hands in his. "I've roamed the world for nine centuries. I've lived a long life, one that's been filled with my share of women, but I have never been enchanted by a woman as I have been by you. You are…ethereal, someone I could not dream of meeting in all my years on this earth."
She smiles, a self-deprecating one. "You know, I'm just one person," she says softly. "I'm not a princess. I'm a singer. I'm not that special."
"You are special," Klaus says fiercely. "If not to anyone else, then to me. You are worth everything. I know that because I love you."
The words don't even surprise him by the ease with which they come out, and Caroline's eyes widen. He focuses on her eyes, still not letting go of her hands.
Rebekah was right. He doesn't believe love is a weakness. He lived under Mikael's roof for twenty-one years, had been chased by him around the globe for nine centuries, and had bought into every assumption, every lie he had been fed about love and the supposed weakness that came with it.
Klaus is many things, but one thing he isn't is a deluded fool. With love comes vulnerability, and one thing Klaus hates is to be exposed. But it is not just that. When he looks at Caroline, all he feels is…happiness. Pure, genuine joy, something he hasn't felt in a very long time.
She is everything he isn't, and yet everything he is. And he loves her.
Caroline stares at him, the blue in her eyes dark and stormy. "I…I—"
Klaus cuts her off with a searing kiss. "You don't have to say anything," he murmurs against her lips, tasting her after so long. "You just have to know."
"I love you," she breathes, pulling away from him to look him in the eyes, the look in hers not giving him the faintest trace of doubt. "More than anything. I have since…a very long time, I think. And I think I knew when I decided to go ahead with the wedding, when my chest felt like it was being filled by concrete, because the thought of never seeing you again was agonizing, because when I think of you, I see adventure, and excitement, and love, and I don't want to ever let go of you, Klaus, because it'll be unbearable."
Klaus pulls her towards him by the waist to catch her lips in another kiss, this one lasting even longer than the last, his hands delving into her hair. She moaned against his lips, hitching her leg up to his thigh, and it took every ounce of finely-honed control not to wrap her legs around his waist and flash them up to her bedroom and have his way with her.
"Caroline," he rasps, pulling away, looking at her flushed cheeks and darkened eyes, lips swollen from his kisses. "Sweetheart, I don't want to rush you into making this decision."
"And I don't want to let you go," she says, tugging him towards her by the collar. "Let me decide this one thing for myself, Klaus."
And he's never one to deny her.
One hundred years later
"You have to wake Rebekah."
"Why are you in such a hurry?" Klaus presses, sipping his coffee, appreciating the sight of Caroline in his shirt, sitting in the balcony, bare legs on the railing. "Stefan's still asleep, we have time."
"And we have that girl, the one he's friends with—"
"Lexi."
"Lexi, she can bring him soon enough—and Rebekah only got three years after Chicago before you decided to dagger her. It's been a century, Klaus."
"She's lived plenty," he shrugs, flashing out of bed. He pulls her up out of the chair by her hand and entwines his fingers in hers as he spins her around and presses kisses to her neck. Caroline sighs, relaxing in his arms as she looks over at the city.
"Two weeks," she says finally, and Klaus groans, his head dropping into the crook of her shoulder. "That's when we're going to that one-pony town to break your curse anyway. You can wake her up then. I'm sure she'd like the chance to see her home town again."
"She'll just get in the way, love."
Caroline fixes him with a stern gaze. "She will not." She disentangles herself from his clutches and stalks off towards the room. "You're going to need some help dealing with Elijah and the doppelganger anyway, she might as well make herself useful. Besides," Caroline eyes twinkle. "I miss complaining about you to her."
"Oh, you'll pay for that one," Klaus growls playfully, tackling her to the bed, her shriek of surprise doing nothing to deter him. His fingers skim along the side of her stomach, where her shirt has ridden up, and she lets out a loud laugh.
"Klaus—oh my god, stop—"
"Apologize."
"No," she laughs, nearly screaming with laughter. "Oh my god, Klaus—"
He rolls on top of her, kissing her forehead. "Yes, my love?"
It's a nickname he uses often now, her favourite one. "I love you," Caroline breathes.
"And I love you."
She kisses his cheek. "Let me go so I can shower, you ass."
"Will you let me accompany you?" he asks, his voice dropping as he kisses her palm.
"No," she says cheerfully, though he thinks he can see the temptation in her gaze when she nimbly slips out from under him and flashes to the bathroom. "And don't even think about sneaking in. We're only in Paris for two weeks and I want to make the most of it. Sex will totally mess up my schedule. So behave if you want to get lucky—" Klaus snorts at her sarcastic use of the modern term— "tonight, start getting ready."
He sighs, tossing his jacket from last night into the laundry bin. "Anything for you, love."
His curse can wait. He needs her most of all, for now, and for eternity.
A/N: Whew! That was long!
This WIP has been in my folder for so fucking long, and it feel so great to finally finish it. I think the ending is a bit sloppy, but I still hope you like it.
It may seem a little rushed, but I think that's just how Klaus and Caroline are, always living in the moment and always finding new moments to live.
If any of you noticed, I specifically changed Caroline's way of addressing Klaus over the fic as the story progressed. Her initial way of calling him Mr Mikaelson, like she was flirting and thought he was just another mindless one night stand, being coy and seductive to keep herself from growing attached developed to calling him by his first name, without even him asking her to.
The part where Klaus walks away, when he first hears about her marriage to (ugh) Tyler, I couldn't help but sneak in the without looking back line in there cause it reminded me of Caroline's words to Klaus in the Originals when they were at the bar. It's one of my favourite scenes (although it makes me sob for reasons we do not acknowledge because they both live happily ever after, okay?)
Please do review, if you like it, it really means a lot!
Cheers!