A Persistent Lover

And So It Begins

Caroline waited in the car impatiently, watching Klaus from a far distance pace back and forth on the phone. He seemed irritated. He kept brushing his hand through his hair and switching the cell from ear to ear.

Two days after that horrible night, Klaus had decided to take Caroline to the beach of all places.

"It's out of the city, love and we can stay there for a bit while I plan on what to do about Lucy," he had said, kissing her forehead quickly as he walked out of the penthouse to buy some "necessities" as he put it.

Now as she watched him on the phone, she suddenly realized just how genuinely worried Klaus was about this whole Lucy issue. Normally he was so composed in the face of a threat, cool and collected. For the first time, she was witnessing Klaus in stress and it worried her.

He got in the driver's seat with a huff of annoyance.

"What was that about?"

"Business, darling. Have to keep you protected at all costs." He smiled in an attempt to soothe her, but she could tell he was faking it.

"Was it one of your hybrids?" she scoffed.

He chuckled. "Maybe..." he started to pull out into the street. "Now let's me take you to see one of my favorite places on Earth."

After an hour, Klaus pulled into a driveway of a rather large beach house. It's sandy color went well with the seagulls flying in the sky and the smell of ocean.

Caroline, however, could not see the ocean over the high dunes along the yard of the house.

Quickly she raced out of the car and over the dunes in a moment of impatience to see what lay ahead.

She gasped as she looked around her. The beach was completely empty, the velvety sand squishing between her toes. The deep blue waves gently drifted in and out of the beach, creating a peaceful setting around her.

Caroline discarded her shirt and shorts, leaving her in her pink bikini that she wore just for this moment.

With a squeal, she raced into the waves, embracing the warm salt water as she tripped over herself and fell completely in.

Klaus stood close to wear she discarded her clothes, a soft smile on his face. To see her so happy, splashing in the water with a wonderful smile on her face, was everything to him. If anyone saw him in this state right now, they would not believe any of it for a second. That the murderous Niklaus was getting gushy over some blonde would be ridiculous to any person, but he didn't care. His heart swelled when she rose from the water to blow him a kiss before giggling and throwing herself back underwater. God, he loved her.

Klaus suddenly went rigid. What did he just think?

He had faintly pondered the idea of "loving" Caroline when he held her as she slept those two nights. Letting his mind roam the possibility of loving someone other than a sibling, but he threw it away. Love was a vampire's greatness weakness, it harmed everything it touched. He was a vampire...a hybrid no less...and monsters like him did not "love".

But now he recounted every moment he had had with Caroline. He protected her, showed her all the places he loved, bought her anything her heart desired, worshipped the ground she walked on. He had thought he was doing this so he would eventually win her over...because he wanted her. But people didn't do what he did for Caroline because they wanted a person...they did those things because they loved a person...right? He knew he wanted her...by god how he wanted her. But could it be possible that he...loved her?

"Come on Klaus you're missing all the fun!" Caroline pulled Klaus out of his thoughts as she called to him from water, her naked skin gleaming in the bright sunlight. His throat clenched with that irritable emotion, not of want but of lo...