It was foolish, he thought as he stood outside in front of the white door of the townhome. Nerves seemed to have seized him the closer he got to his destination, a bouquet of pink tulips in hand. He'd held her naked in his arms mere hours ago, yet the action of taking her on a real date, just the two of them, made him sweat. Without another thought, he swallowed the lump in his throat and knocked on the door. It surprised him when Katherine opened the door, expecting a maid or butler.
"I'm here to-"
"I know," she interrupted, but the way she said it made his heart squeeze and realize something was wrong.
"What's-" Caroline came around the corner a moment later, still wearing the same clothing she had on earlier, but the smile she had also worn was gone. "Hi," he greeted dumbly.
"Hi," she answered back. She opened her mouth so say something, but was cut off by a man who rounded the corner behind her.
Klaus's hackles rose immediately when he made eye contact with the man and then the hand that rested on Caroline's shoulder. His skin was bronzed from being out in the sun and when he extended his hand to Klaus, introducing himself, Klaus could feel the callouses that came from working with your hands all day. Caroline had never mentioned her fiancé's name, but he knew instantly that this Tyler character had to be him and Klaus wanted to kill him for it.
"Come on in," Tyler greeted, waving Klaus in, as if it were his home and he wasn't a guest. Klaus guessed he was just showing a bit of the southern hospitality that was missing from the Chicago culture, but it annoyed him. "It's not every day that I get to meet one of Katherine's beaus," he added with a chuckle.
As he walked in, Caroline's eyes pleaded with him, but he had to look away as he none too gently thrust the flowers into Katherine's hands.
"Caroline, maybe offer the man something to drink," Tyler suggested as they made their way to a drawing room.
"I'm fine," he answered stiffly. He wanted to keep his hands empty or he'd pelt the man with a glass. Tyler had rubbed Klaus the wrong way since he'd stepped foot inside and it wasn't just because the man was sitting next to Caroline on the sofa, his hand resting on her knee. It was the cocky way he commanded Caroline and made it seem like he owned the place. Klaus would have expected that from someone like himself, but he thought all southern men were gentlemen.
"How'd you and Katherine meet?" Tyler asked curiously and Caroline stared straight ahead, trying desperately to convey a message to him.
"My brother," he answered shortly, offering nothing more.
Tyler chuckled. "Always brothers, huh Katherine."
Klaus missed the joke, but it was clearly a dig at Katherine's past in Mystic Falls.
"Tyler," Caroline admonished, but he didn't pay her any mind.
"Beware of this one," he motioned to Katherine, "she has a thing for brothers. Don't be surprised if she runs off with yours."
Klaus's eyes went to Caroline, the angry flush that spread across her cheeks and neck was visible to everyone in the room except for Tyler who didn't care to notice. "The heart wants what the heart wants," Klaus answered in kind, Caroline finally meeting his gaze. His eyes, which had been cold and steely when he'd walked in melted a little when they connected with her. "What brings you to the city?" he asked, bringing his attention back to Tyler.
Tyler sank back into the dark velvet sofa before speaking, all pomp and no substance, Klaus thought. "I thought it'd be nice to surprise Caroline. She's only here for a couple more days, so it may be nice to ride back on the train together." He let out another annoying chuckle. "Safer too. Make sure she actually comes back."
"Afraid someone will steal her away?"
"You can never be too careful," Tyer laughed, as if the idea of someone stealing Caroline away from him were ridiculous.
In that moment Klaus knew exactly who Tyler was and what kind of person Caroline had been set to marry. From what little she had said about him, Klaus knew he was nothing like the picture she had painted. The way she spoke of him made him seem like he was a sweet and humble hometown boy, working odd jobs to make a living to support his future wife, but Klaus knew better. There wasn't a humble bone in this man's body and it wouldn't surprise him if one of Tyler's odd jobs was seeing to the pleasures of a lady friend. His hand clenched into a fist as he thought about what Caroline's future would have entailed with this arrogant man. It made Klaus want to hit something, preferably Tyler's nose.
He knew then he couldn't leave Caroline with this man and instead of walking away as his brain had trained him, he offered, "Why don't we all go out for a real drink."
ooOoo
Caroline and Katherine sat squeezed uncomfortably in Klaus's booth at The Soda Shop, but neither man seemed to notice the tension that infused the air around them. Even the waitress would drop off their drinks and then skitter away. Tyler lounged back in the booth, his eyes a bit glassy from the alcohol while Klaus laughed theatrically at a joke Tyler made. Caroline had been shooting him glares all night, every time he pushed a glass of bourbon or a shot of some clear alcohol at Tyler. She knew Klaus was doing it on purpose just to get him drunk, knowing Tyler's tolerance was nonexistent.
"And then she said, of course I know what needles are for, they're to make the graphophone play!"
Klaus held his chest in an exaggerated thunderous laugh at Tyler's joke. She knew he wasn't drunk and was only doing it to amuse himself. The side glances she caught from him were laced with mischief.
"You should be a comedian, mate! Is that what you do in your little town?"
"I make furniture," Tyler slurred, taking a sip from his glass. "But someone recently told me I should run for Mayor."
Klaus laughed again, this time, patronizingly. "So, you'll be the mayor and your own court jester!"
Tyler laughed boisterously, but Caroline knew he didn't realize that Klaus was making fun of him. "I think I'm ready to leave," Caroline spoke up, looking around the table, Katherine the only one solemnly agreeing.
"Nonsense," Tyler garbled enthusiastically, slamming his empty glass on the table. "This place is great, Klaus. The music is fantastic, especially that singer." His eyebrows waggled up and down, insinuating something Caroline didn't care to examine.
Klaus's lips thinned, all traces of amusement gone as he glared at Tyler. "It means the world to me that you approve." He looked toward the stage where Gloria began to croon a different tune. "You wouldn't mind if I had a dance with your girl, would you mate? Katherine here is a terrible dancer." He leaned across the table to loudly whisper, "I don't think my toes could take it tonight."
Klaus didn't wait for an answer before leaving the booth and helping Caroline out. He led her to the middle of the dance floor where they could be swallowed up by the other dancers. "It's nice to have you in my arms again," he admitted, no trace of anger in his voice.
"I didn't think when he first got here would be an appropriate time to tell him I wasn't coming back," she explained.
"I figured, but it doesn't make it any easier to see you with him, holding your hand when it so recently had been somewhere quite naughty."
His smirk made her glare. "To make you feel any better, this isn't where I thought our night would be either," she said, ignoring his comments.
"And where did you think our night would be?" he asked, pulling her closer.
Her lips curved into a smile. "I thought you'd pick me up, give me a beautiful bouquet of tulips, we'd go to dinner and then you'd walk me home."
He twirled her, bringing her back into his arms. "Or I could have taken you back to my home, stolen you away."
"It wouldn't be stealing if I came willingly," she murmured, their lips lightly touching.
They slowly swayed to the melodic sound of Gloria's singing, lost in their own world when it abruptly cut off. The first thing Caroline noticed were the lights of the usually dark room coming on at full wattage. People around them squinted in the light and shuffled around, their voices rising, curious to what was going on when booming voices declared the police had arrived. Screams erupted along with the sounds of glass breaking as people started to shove each other, rushing to the exit.
"Klaus!" Caroline screamed as she heard police whistles being blown to try and control the crowd.
He pulled her close, his eyes as serious as Caroline had ever seen them. "Take the back exit. I'll find Katherine and get her out, but run and don't stop until you're at the townhouse. Do you understand?" He grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently out of her stupor. "Do you understand me?" Once she nodded, he took one long glance at her before urging her toward the back exit that led to an alley.
Her heart still pounded as she sat in the drawing room at the townhouse, the glass of water she held, shaking in her hand. Caroline had been relieved when Katherine and Tyler had made it back to the townhouse, both of them unscathed. Now, she sat on the edge of her seat, waiting for any news regarding Klaus and the raid. The doorbell rang around midnight and both women rushed to the door, a disheveled Elijah on the doorstep.
"What happened?" Caroline asked nervously as Katherine ushered him in, seating him on the sofa with her.
He let out a heavy sigh. "The new police chief has had it in for Klaus ever since he came to town. We thought after the first time of them not finding anything he'd let it go, but apparently not." He shook his head in exasperation. "They took every record Klaus had, they've taken everything."
Katherine held his hand, rubbing his back in comfort. "What will happen to you?"
He dismissed her worry with a wave of his hand. "Klaus has kept my name off of every document concerning the club."
Caroline hesitated before finally asking what she'd been dreading. "Where's Klaus?"
Elijah's red eyes met hers, pity filling them. "The coppers got him."
Speech left her, her mind running wild with thoughts of him behind bars. She barely knew what questions to ask first as her mind whirled.
Katherine stood beside her, wrapping a comforting arm around her friend before speaking. "Do you know anything else?" she asked, but Elijah shook his head. "Well, running a speakeasy isn't so bad. They'll probably just fine him or something. He'll be okay."
Elijah closed his eyes and Caroline knew there was more. "They have his records, Katherine. They'll prove a lot more than him just owning a speakeasy."
Tears began to stream down Caroline's cheeks, feeling helpless. There was nothing she could do to help him. "We were just supposed to go to dinner tonight," she whispered sadly. "He would have never been there if…"
"They still would have seized his records, Caroline," Elijah added gently. "One way or another he would have been arrested tonight. Maybe not at the club, but maybe at his house or at a restaurant." He sighed, as if trying to gather strength. "I'm going to the jail to see him tomorrow with the lawyer. I'm hoping they'll let him out on bail, but I don't know."
Caroline whimpered and buried her head on Katherine's shoulder, effectively falling apart.
ooOoo
The glass that separated them was filthy from lack of care and Caroline was instantly happy she'd worn day gloves. She sat for what felt like forever, her bottom starting to hurt from the hard wooden chair before two guards led Klaus out from behind a door. For some reason her breath caught as she looked him over. He still oozed the same air of dominance as he shuffled to his waiting chair, as if he were wearing a three-piece suit and was attending a business meeting instead of a striped uniform and restraints around his wrists and ankles.
"Is this all really necessary?" she asked the guards from behind the thin glass, but they ignored her as Klaus sat down, his spine straight as an arrow.
"What are you doing here?" he finally asked, his eyes conveying only coldness.
Taken off guard, it took her a few seconds to speak. "I wanted to see you. To make sure you're okay."
His chuckle was anything but humorous. "I'm in jail, Caroline. I'm as well as I could be. Will you be leaving now?"
So quick he was to dismiss her, tears sprang to her eyes. "Elijah said-"
"Elijah's always been an optimist. I'll be here for a long time, maybe until I'm withered like a prune."
"Don't say that," she demanded as he lounged back as much as he could, taking on an air of indifference.
"You should go. There's nothing here for you."
"Don't do this, Klaus. Don't pretend that you don't care what happens to yourself."
She could tell his temper was rising as his nostrils flared. "Caroline, I have nothing left to offer you. I'm worthless to you. My home was ransacked and everything, including my freedom, has been taken from me. Leave and don't look back."
"And what if I don't? What if I believe we can make it through this? You don't know, you could be out of here-"
"We won't and I won't," he answered simply. "Go back to Mystic Falls and marry Tyler."
"No, I-"
"This is what's best. I won't hold you back. I won't ruin you." He stood and the guards came forward. "Don't come back here. I won't see you again."
He was led away and when he passed through the doorway her heart broke into a million tiny pieces, her breathing became painful even after she made her way out of the stuffy building. She understood why he didn't want her to stay and hold on to him. He was right, he could be in jail for longer than she optimistically thought, but to hear him say it hurt more than anything she could have imagined.
Her legs were sluggish as she walked back to the townhouse as Klaus's words played over and over in her head. He thought she should go back to Mystic Falls with Tyler, but little did he know that ship had sailed. She'd told Tyler the night after the raid what happened while she'd been in Chicago. He had deserved the truth and surprisingly, the fury she had braced herself for had never come. It was then and there that she knew she and Tyler had never been in love or anything close to it. Tyler caught the next train going to Virginia, a friendly hug as a parting gift.
Throughout the next week she tried seeing Klaus at the jail, but each time she was turned away, Klaus wouldn't accept the visit. She wanted to rail on him for being so stubborn. Even on the day of the trial he refused to glance at her as she sat next to Elijah in the courtroom, witness to him being brought up on charges of racketeering, bribery of a public official and police officer, extortion of a police officer with minor offenses in rum-running, bootlegging and owning and operating a speakeasy. Tears threatened to spill over when she heard the conviction of guilty. When the gavel hit the block, it was like an echo of a door being slammed shut and her heart squeezed painfully. As he stood from his chair, offering his attorney a handshake, he finally looked her way. Their eyes barely connected before Elijah cut off her line of sight, leaning in to hug his brother and whispering in his ear. Before anything else could be said Klaus was carted off by guards, his head still held high. She finally broke down, weeping into Elijah's suit jacket once everyone had left the courtroom.
"What's going to happen to him?"
Elijah's hand awkwardly patted her back as she sobbed. "With any luck we can appeal and get at least one conviction overturned, but in the meantime, I will have to get packing his home."
Her head lifted, confused. "What?"
"He owes money to the court and others and that's his only real asset. We better go."
Her head still spun even when she got back to the townhouse. As she sat in front of the vanity, a woman she didn't know stared back at her. Makeup smeared from her tears, dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep and it even looked like her cheekbones had gotten more pronounced. Katherine had tried to force feed her a couple of times, but didn't make much progress. The only people to see her as she stayed holed up in her room was Katherine and one of the maids who took her uneaten food away and took her letters to Klaus to the mailbox. Days turned into weeks as she moped around, writing letters every day to her lost love. It wasn't until Katherine finally made her see a doctor did Caroline start to come out of her haze.
Dr Saltzman was a sight for sore eyes as he walked through the townhouse, a light kiss landing on Jenna's cheek as he made his way to the sitting room. "I didn't know you-"
He cut her off quickly, no doubt wanting to keep his association with Klaus a close secret. "I see many patients in Chicago."
They sipped tea and spoke about what was going on in her life and she felt like she should be lying down on a couch as they spoke. "Katherine said you decided to stay in the city. You know, I meant what I said before. I could use a helper."
Her lips turning up in a small smile seemed like a foreign action after weeks of frowning. "I'm sure I wouldn't be suitable."
"You'd be perfect," he encouraged. "In fact, that was one of the reasons I stopped by. I have a patient who's close to giving birth and she's been insisting that I have no idea what I'm doing since I'm a man." He chuckled goodheartedly. "Would you come with me?" Before she could deny him, he added, "I'm sure it would make the mother feel better. It's her first."
How could she say no?