Return to Me

Turmoil

            Caroline was enamored with Klaus Mikaelson and she knew it. He had twirled her around the town like she was a princess and she had let him. One might assume he was parading her around like some kind of trophy, but she didn't feel that in the slightest bit. She could see the way he looked at her out of the corners of her eyes, the way they shone with absolute love, just like what she felt. It was new to her, feeling yourself fall in love with someone and knowing that they had chosen you just the same. In Mystic Falls everything was Elena this and Elena that, she was always playing second or even third fiddle to her childhood friends. It was quite different having people put her first for once.

She hadn't yet brought up her best friend Katherine, and she knew she had to at some point so that they could both be with the men that they loved without fear forcing her to look over her shoulder as she ran and hid. Even though Klaus thought she was dead right now, she knew that Elijah would have a hard time keeping this secret for long once he was informed that she was alive. If, she amended: if he was informed. She had pondered this for quite a bit, and knew Katherine would be wary unless she was guaranteed some measure of safety.

It was when Elijah met them with the rest of their family and the horrible she-wolf, who it would appear was definitely pregnant, while the pair sat outside a bar under twinkling lights and stars beginning to come out that she took a deep breath with intent brimming inside her. Instead of asking about that hot mess that, although curious, she didn't want to touch with a ten foot pole, even though she did wonder how she had missed it even though Hayley had been in baggy clothes before, there was a different question that was far more interesting to her at the moment.

"Do you know what happened to Katherine?" it finally slipped its way out after a moment of uncertainty. She knew her friend was just as enamored with Elijah as she was with Klaus, but did it go both ways? She couldn't possibly out her and take away her safety without being certain, especially since Hayley seemed to be hanging off Elijah's arm. Surely he wasn't throwing away five hundred years of loving Katherine for Hayley.

Elijah clenched his jaw and stiffened at the mention of her. His eyes flicked around the room slowly, from person to person as if gauging their own response to this. Hayley tried to fight a look of distaste from taking over her face at not only the sight of Caroline Forbes, but also hearing the name Katherine.

Klaus and Rebekah looked away, both of them having the decency to feel some form of guilt for denying their noble brother a chance to save the woman he loved from death, a chance to say goodbye if he couldn't. It was near impossible to see the slight slump in his shoulders as he looked down himself. "I do." he replied after a moment.

"I'm sorry brother." Rebekah was the next to speak, a genuine apology passing her lips. "I wish I'd have told you what happened, given you a chance to say goodbye." She looked up at her brother, "It was wrong of me to deprive you of that." Her eyes were sad, thinking about her own painful memories. He helped her when Klaus killed her fiance, why had she allowed Klaus to pull her into his messy emotional state, drowning her enough to bury her love and care far beneath the surface, like it was locked behind a door she couldn't tear open. Seeing her brother's anguish the day he finally found out about his beloved's demise, it released her from that emotional prison and she felt like she would never forgive herself for causing her brother such pain.She missed the one she loved just as much as she was sure her brothers missed the ones they loved.

"Why would you want to say goodbye to Katherine? Why would you care about her?" Hayley couldn't help but blurt, "She tried to kill me!' An angry tone colored her voice and hurt was plastered on her face. She really thought Elijah was interested and it soured her mood to think that the very mention of Katherine would affect him so easily, why did her own name not do the very same?

"So?" Caroline shot back as she got to her feet to defend her friend before Elijah could form a response, "And you tried to kill her and you did kill me more than once! What difference does it make since you're still alive and standing. Huh? I mean talk about hypocritical! You and Tyler worked together to unsire all those hybrids and then you offered the whole pack up for slaughter so that you could find your birth family's pack! But yeah, it's so terrible that she sent someone after you! You know, you really get on my nerves. She makes her choices for her safety while you make yours out of selfishness!" Caroline almost hissed at her as she threw the she-wolf's actions back in her face. When Klaus's hand gently grasped her elbow, she felt like he grounded her back to reality and she leaned back. Even while he was the very thing keeping her grounded, she could feel the anger that was under the surface even in his fingertips.

"Why you little–!" Hayley cut herself off as she snarled and lunged forward a step, raising her hand in a motion to attack Caroline.

"Hayley." Klaus's voice was flat and without looking Caroline knew he was sending Hayley a look that could kill. "It would do you well to know your place."

She was frozen, her eye twitching in anger. How dare they treat Caroline like she mattered more! After all, Hayley was the one pregnant with a miracle baby! Even Elijah wasn't standing up for her right now! Instead he looked confused, thoughtful even. After a beat of silence, while she was frozen in a snarl she met Caroline's steady gaze and wondered if she knew that yet. "My place huh?" her nose wrinkled up further into that snarling expression, "I am pregnant with your miracle baby Klaus! So I think my place trumps the little whorish bottle blond distraction."

Everyone froze.

"Excuse me?" Caroline blinked slowly, "Did she just say she was pregnant with your baby Klaus?" she turned her gaze to him instead. Even as she asked it, she could feel her stomach drop, her expression fall, her confidence break.

"Love," He looked at her desperately, "It was a one-night stand. I didn't even know it was possible until the witches brought it up."

"I-I" she fought her tumultuous emotions by taking a deep breath. "I don't even know what to say right now." Her bottom lip wobbled slightly as she swallowed thickly, turning away in her hurt, "I can't right now." Doubt bled into her now, did he really mean all those grandiose promises? Did he actually want to be her last love? However long it took? It hadn't taken too long for her to come to him in the grand scheme of things, after all he was over a thousand years old. A few short years for college were nothing more than a drop in the bucket. Her mind was spinning, he had looked and sounded so genuine all day, but what if that was just an act and he wanted Hayley instead. She ran her fingers through her hair as she squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to make sense of her emotions and put her thoughts into some sort of logical, sensical pattern.

Nobody moved besides her until Elijah spoke up, even Hayley was quiet as she fidgeted and wondered if she'd just pushed Klaus too far.

"Makes..." Elijah almost murmured the word to himself at the very moment she took a step. It was the first movement he'd made since Caroline's outburst at Hayley. "You said she makes her choices." their eyes met, "Present tense." Caroline's lips parted in involuntary surprise and she tensed slightly before an excuse bubbled out, "Slip of the tongue, we were friends for a long time." It's a feeble excuse and she knows it, they all do.

In a flash Elijah has crossed the space to be next to Caroline, "Somehow I very much doubt that. Caroline, you're talking in present tense about someone who my siblings have informed me is dead. Please, explain yourself." he pleads with her. "Do you know something that I don't?" There is such desperate hope welled in his eyes mixed with the pain that his hopes won't be true that make him look a little like a kicked puppy. It's so pure that it hurts Caroline's heart to see it.

Klaus twitched, hearing his brother beg for Katherine, but somewhere in his heart he also felt that dim feeling of guilt that caused him to look away before. He knew how much his brother cared for the doppelganger and he knew from experience with what he had done to Rebekah that he could lose his brother for a very long time. He may not regret taking out the hunter, but he did regret hurting Rebekah. This was something he hadn't truly felt until he had met and fallen deeply in love with Caroline Forbes. He had hurt his family enough by now, and finally could see the damage he had caused. Staring at his usually so composed brother having an emotional battle hidden within his eyes, Klaus knew that should he ask for her safety, he would grant it.

Caroline glanced between the people in front of her before reconnecting her gaze to Elijah's. "I do." she admitted, sure in his love for Katherine. "I do know something."