Sunlight

Chapter 19: The Morning After

"What, fine until I swooped in to save you again?" Klaus' anger appeared in his eyes as they became rimmed with gold while he towered over her intimidatingly, though she refused to back down. "I wont always be there. Much as I would love to promise that I will, there may come a day when I don't get there in time to save you."

"Is that why you gave me a necklace to protect me?" Caroline said quietly, dangerously, and Klaus knew she had caught on. "When I returned last night before the party ended and got Rebekah to help me clean up the mess you left, I asked her why the stake couldn't get to my heart. She said it was probably because I've been drinking so much of your blood, more than anyone else on this Earth has probably had, but its more than that, isn't it. This is a talisman." She nodded, clasping the beautiful tigers eye pendant around her neck.

"That's what I like about you. You've always been more than just a lovely face." Klaus sighed, and backed down slightly. "Yes. It's a talisman."

"Why?"

"Isn't it obvious, love? I can't always protect you, and you have a strong possibility for being in the line of fire. I've spent the past thousand years knowing that the few people I cared about were near impossible to kill, and then you come along and are not only my greatest strength but my biggest weakness. And you are an easier target to kill to get to me the most brutally."

Caroline was silent, absorbing the new information. She knew it would have been difficult for him to even admit to the fact that she had somehow become that important to him. "That was what Alexander wanted, wasn't it. A way to get to you."

Klaus' face darkened. "Alexander was one of the first to be turned, and it was at a terrible time. He had the werewolf gene, and it had just been activated with his first kill, though he had yet to see a full moon to trigger the change fully. He also had a political nature, so he fit in well with Elijah. When he turned Alexander, it was days before the full moon, and he has been perpetually stuck, never to reach his full potential. It was something he understood in me trying to break the curse, but it was also something he envied and resented. He found a weakness and struck to gain my attention, but he lost his life instead."

"Well we've proved that the Mikaelson's bring drama to the party." Caroline said, trying to make light of the situation, before turning away from Klaus and starting to walk. "We should get back to the house. I'm sure your siblings would like to know you've stopped walking on all fours."

They walked through the forest in silence for a bit till they came to the edge of one of the far vineyards, neither of them using their heightened speed out of the sheer lack of a want or a need to get back to the family quickly. They barely had time alone with this much distance anymore.

"I'm going to stop wearing the necklace, you know." Caroline said with a hint of regret. She had started to really like the pendant, it was wonderfully unique.

"No, you wont." Klaus said firmly.

"Yes I will." She retorted, her hands going to the clasp.

Klaus instantly snatched her wrists away, rounding on her. "No." If there was one thing he would be forceful about with Caroline, it would be this.

"Yes." She said, struggling to free her wrists.

"Don't make me compel you, love."

"You wouldn't." She scoffed.

"When it comes to your safety, I'm willing to do any evil thing, stoop to any level. Really, love." He said with his wide-eyed persuasive face. "Keep the necklace on." He wasn't compelling her, but he was close to the point of using it, and she sensed his need to protect her like he protected his family, the sudden urgency to protect the new unruly addition to his eternal life. She frowned deeply, but nodded.