When she opens her eyes, she's disoriented for a second, until the previous night comes back to her and she sighs contentedly, comforted by the warmth beside her. She feels his hold on her tighten as soon as he notices that she's awake and she gradually becomes more conscious. One of her hands has slipped underneath his Henley during the night and is resting against his stomach, the smoothness of the skin there sending pleasant tingles up her arm. One of his hands is at her hip, his touch almost burning her through the material of her tank top. He's holding on to her as if afraid that she's going to run as soon as she regains her senses, and she frowns when she realizes that this might be exactly what he's thinking.
She can't have that now, can she?
She stirs and stretches to get rid of the remnants of sleep, making him release his hold on her, but makes a point of resuming her previous position as soon as she's done. After a few seconds, she feels his arms come back around her tentatively, and her lips curl up into a small smile. Baby steps.
"Did you sleep at all?" she inquires quietly.
"No."
She just nods. She was expecting as much. She tends to ward off sleep as much as she can since she got her emotions back, fearing that the nightmares will come as soon as she closes her eyes. But her exhaustion always ends up winning the fight. She wonders how long he's going to be able to function like this.
"Caroline, I..." He trails off, and she looks up at him curiously from her comfortable position against his shoulder. "Can we talk?"
"We should," she sighs.
She frowns when his reaction is to let go of her and stand up from the bed. A strange, foreboding feeling settles in the pit of her stomach as she sits up to watch him, trying to figure out what he's about to say that has him looking so unsure.
After what seems like an eternity, he starts, "I want to thank you for last night. I know how hard it must have been for you and..."
"Stop," she cuts in firmly, suddenly furious with him, knowing exactly where he's going with this.
He's about to push her away. She just knows it. Well, if he thinks she's going to let him, he's in for one hell of a surprise.
She opens her mouth to give him a piece of her mind, but then she hears a few small sounds coming from downstairs and she reconsiders. There is a lot she needs to say to him, and a lot she needs to hear from him, and she doesn't want to have this conversation while his siblings and her best friend are most likely hanging on to their every word.
"How about we take this somewhere a bit more private?"
At his nod, she looks around her room, finding her shoes in a corner, and she slips them on while he does the same. Falling asleep fully dressed might not be the most comfortable, but it has its advantages.
She then takes a few minutes to brush her teeth and pull her hair up in a ponytail, hearing him leaving her bedroom to get to his. When she gets out of the bathroom, he's back by her bed, looking more composed, the faint smell of blood surrounding him. When was the last time he'd fed? She knows that being an original and a thousand years old, he doesn't need as much blood as she does to survive, but still. She can't remember smelling it on him in a while. She had assumed that he had fed on that girl he brought home, but now that she thinks about it, she's not so sure. And Rebekah said that he didn't feed when he went on his killing spree.
He must have just raided the fridge for one or two blood bags, and she can only imagine the death stare he gave the others to make them all refrain from talking to him since she didn't hear a word from them.
He gives her a look, and she nods to signal that she's ready. He flashes out of the room and out of the mansion, and she takes off after him until they are out of the city and reach a secluded area in the bayou. He stops, deeming it appropriate. Looking around and focusing her senses, she realizes that she can't hear anything but the usual sounds of nature and she nods in approval, glad to see that Rebekah's compulsion to stay here seems to extend to the greater area of New Orleans. There is no one around for miles. This is the perfect spot for the conversation they need to have.
"Shall I go first?" he asks.
"Not if you're going to be stupid." His eyebrows shoot up at that and she groans in exasperation. "Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. 'Thank you for last night'," she mimics before snorting. "I could hear the 'but' coming from a mile away."
He sighs and drops the pretense.
"Caroline, I'm sure you want to go home. I felt it when I compelled you to leave. You wanted to give in."
"What is it with you people trying to send me away? Did you miss the part where I also tried to fight off your compulsion? Mystic Falls can wait, Klaus," she says, her voice softening slightly. "This is more important."
"I'll manage without you, love," he says not unkindly, and though it could sound arrogant or condescending, she knows that's not how he meant it. "I don't want you to feel obligated or..."
"Hang on. Is that what this is about?" she asks abruptly. "You think the only reason I want to stay is to help you?" He frowns then, as if he really has no idea why else she would want to stay, and she realizes that she's on to something. Taking a step toward him, she narrows her eyes as a thought occurs to her. "What do you think last night was about? Pity?" The quick flash of guilt in his eyes at her accusation answers for him and she huffs, fighting down the urge to stomp her foot in frustration. "I cannot believe you! Damn it, Klaus! We're gonna have to work on your trust issues." He opens his mouth to interject, but she silences him with a glare. "I'm not done. Has it not occurred to you that I needed this just as much as you did? That I need you just as much as you need me?" He opens his mouth again but thinks better of it, clearly at a loss as to what to say, and Caroline shakes her head at him. "You don't believe that I'm willing to give you a chance. You still think I was lying, don't you?" He averts his eyes, and she knows that she's found the heart of the matter. "Look at me." When he does, she raises her hands to cup his face, needing to make sure that he's completely surrounded by her, seeing her, feeling her, knowing that she's here and that she's not going anywhere. "I wasn't," she says softly, and he leans into her touch. "I want us to try. But in order to do that, I need you to stop sabotaging yourself. Do you think you can do that?"
After a while of searching her face for any sign of deceit, he gives a hesitant nod and speaks at last.
"I'm going to need you to be patient with me."
She smiles a little, both at his acquiescence and at the admission of how difficult this is going to be for him.
"I know."
He seems to relax slightly, his shoulders dropping almost imperceptibly, his fists unclenching by his side, and she releases her hold on him, both physical and emotional.
This should be it for now. They can figure the rest out as they go, they don't have to sort everything out today, but she can see he's bracing himself for more, and she waits, watching him debate whether now is a good time to say whatever is on his mind. When he doesn't after a long moment, mostly just watching their surroundings, she rolls her eyes and sits down on a fallen log with a huff.
What? She said she'd be patient, she never said she'd be gracious about it.
The hint of a smirk seems to play at the corner of Klaus' mouth when his eyes fall on her, as if he can hear her thoughts, and the glimmer of familiarity has her own lips twitching in answer.
But all traces of amusement leave them both as soon as he sits down next to her, carefully avoiding her eyes and looking at some invisible point in the distance instead. She can feel herself swallow hard as she wonders what's got him in such a state. They don't need yet another obstacle in their way.
"I almost killed you," he says after a while.
She almost sighs in relief. This, she can handle. She was expecting it. Maybe not right now, but she's known from the moment he did it that this would threaten to become an issue should he ever get his emotions back, and she's prepared.
"I know."
"You have no idea how close I came."
"Yes, I do," she counters quietly. "But I forgave you when you almost killed me while you knew exactly what you were doing. Why would you think that I can't forgive you for doing the very same thing with your emotions off?"
"Because this time, it's not about forgiveness, love. It's about being able to look at me and see past the soulless monster that did this to you."
He still doesn't get it, does he? Damn, this trust thing is going to take a very, very long time. Which she kind of knew from the start, a knowledge he reinforced when he asked her to be patient. Still, she's hoping that they will be able to make at least some progress in the days to come, because she has better things to do with her time than spend all of it reassuring him on the state of their budding relationship. Oh, wait... Actually no, she doesn't. Huh. Well that's good, because she has a feeling she's going to need to focus all her energy on this particular problem.
"Klaus," she whispers. "I've always been able to see past the monster. If anything, the fact that your humanity was off makes it easier. I know you won't hurt me anymore."
"Elijah said something similar. But I did once," he says like she needs the reminder, like she didn't just bring it up too.
"And you couldn't let me die. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you learned from that mistake."
"I did," he nods resolutely. "I just don't get how you can forget about it."
"I'm not forgetting anything," she promises. "But that's what second chances are for."
"This will make it my third."
"No, it won't. That last time doesn't count. And even if it did, you'd deserve that third chance."
"Why?" he asks harshly, suddenly defensive.
She's confused for a second, until she realizes that he thinks she's talking about Lyam, that she's cutting him some slack because of what happened to his son, which would be betraying her promise not to talk about it.
And so she explains with a casual shrug that belies the importance of what she's saying, "Because you never gave up on me. How many chances does that make now? I think I've lost count."
He shakes his head at her.
"This isn't a competition, love."
"Of course not," she says before a mischievous smile stretches her lips. "I'm still gonna win." He chuckles, and he looks as surprised as she is at the sound. Knowing that making a big deal out of it will only send him back to his depressive, guilt-ridden state, she decides that they need to stay away from the heavy stuff for now, and she asks resolutely, "So what now?"
At first he doesn't answer, and she thinks it's because he doesn't know how to, but then she sees the pensive look on his face, and she realizes that he does, he's just not sure whether he should say it or not. She nudges him for encouragement.
"Come away with me."
Her heart skips a beat and she just stares at him for a minute.
"Klaus..."
"No expectations, I promise." When she gives him a hesitant look, he sighs. "I just... I can't be here right now. Look, I know you have no reason to trust me, but..."
"That's not what this is about."
He looks both surprised and hopeful at that.
"What is it then?"
Licking her suddenly dry lips, she looks away for a brief moment. She needs to gather herself for what she's about to say, because she knows this is going to hurt.
So much for staying away from the heavy stuff.
But she owes it to him to be honest. She remembers what she thought when they shared their secrets with their emotions off, how this was the most open they had ever been with each other, and she doesn't want to lose that now, no matter how hard it might be. Taking a deep breath, she brings her gaze back to his face, holding back a small smile at his carefully expectant expression. She's always been able to read him fairly well, but it's even easier today, because he's letting her.
"It feels like you're trying to build your recovery around me." When he looks like he's about to protest, she holds up a hand to get him to let her finish. "I know it's what I've been doing. Focusing on you so that I wouldn't have to deal with everything else. And it's working, sort of. But we can't... fall into this pattern. We can't let ourselves depend on each other so much that when one of us isn't here, the other will just fall apart. Being alone together so soon after... everything, it would be surreal. We have to deal with reality."
"Not now," is his immediate answer, and this time it's his turn to cut her off when she opens her mouth to object. "Two weeks. Give me two weeks. Give us two weeks."
She honestly doesn't know what to say. Her brain is telling her that it's a bad idea. She's the kind of person who meets her problems head-on, she doesn't put off the inevitable, unless it's a matter of life or death. But her heart... Her heart is telling her that she needs this too. They're going to live forever. What are two weeks in the grand scheme of things? Elijah and Rebekah can hold down the fort here. As for Mystics Falls... Her friends will understand. They will have to. Because just like that, her decision is made.
"Where are we going?"
Though he seems to have forgotten how to really smile, his face lights up and her breath catches in her throat.
"Really?"
Dear God, is this the reaction she deprived herself of every time he asked her to join him before? What was wrong with her? She recovers quickly and gives him a firm nod.
"Yes, really. But Paris is off the table. I've wanted to go there since I was a little girl, I will not have my first trip to France tarnished by what we're going through right now."
"I was thinking something a bit more remote, to be honest."
"Good. I'll need to talk to your sister. I can't leave without her permission," she reminds him with a roll of her eyes. "Plus, as much as I'm sure you appreciate my new style, I really want to buy some clothes before we go anywhere."
She doesn't need to say that it will make her feel more like herself. He gets it.
"There are a few things I need to take care of too. We'll leave tonight."
She almost asks him what it is he needs to do, but she bites her tongue. He'll tell her when he's ready. There's something more important they have to discuss first.
"You have to talk to Elijah."
"Caroline..."
"I'm not telling you to pour your heart out to him. Just give him something. Tell him you're not turning it off again. Tell him you'll come back. Tell him you're trying. He needs to hear it."
"He almost killed you too," he says as if he only just remembered, his voice suddenly cold.
"But he didn't. And he had his reasons. He was trying to get you back."
"You are way too forgiving for your own good."
"And you are the last person who should be complaining about it," she replies, smiling softly to let him know that this is in no way meant to sting.
He tenses anyway, but then he seems to make a conscious effort to relax his muscles and he gives a solemn nod.
"I guess I am."
"We're leaving," are the first words out of his mouth when he finds Elijah in his room.
His brother's eyes leave the map of New Orleans he was studying, no doubt trying to plot a move against Marcel, and focus on him. He shows no surprise, and Klaus arches an eyebrow in question.
"I expected as much," his brother explains. "How long?"
"Two weeks."
Elijah nods, and Klaus thinks he can see his lips twitch upwards.
"Miss Forbes' influence, I assume."
It's not really a question as they both know that he would be gone much longer if it weren't for her insistence that they need to 'deal with reality' as soon as possible, but the hybrid answers anyway.
"Indeed."
"She's going to be good for you, Niklaus."
"I didn't come to you for relationship advice, Elijah," Klaus says tiredly.
"Why did you, then?"
"I need you to tell me everything that happened in the past two months."
Elijah frowns at this, having no trouble seeing where this is going.
"You can't go after Marcel."
"Not directly, no. But luckily for me, he has a weakness. One that Caroline exploited rather brilliantly. It's my turn."
"You know this is not necessary. Caroline is more than capable of protecting herself from Marcel. She already has."
"I know. But I need to send a message."
"Be careful, brother. You don't want to give him a reason to go back on his word. She is safe for now, but if he revokes their agreement..."
"I don't need her safe for now. I need her safe forever. We both know it's only a matter of time before word gets out about her, about... what she means to me. I'd rather have it happen on my terms. I need to let everyone know what happens to those who come after her."
"Are you going to give me a lesson as well, then?" Elijah asks somewhat warily, knowing that it's a very real possibility given that he was willing to kill Caroline to get to his brother.
Klaus sees him giving him a quick but thorough onceover, checking for a dagger, no doubt. He shakes his head.
"Not this time." Elijah looks surprised at that and the hybrid sighs. "She has forgiven you."
The eldest original looks like he's about to comment, but he thinks better of it and wisely swallows back his words, choosing to turn back to the map on the wall and pointing out an area in the Quarter.
"This is Davina's last known location," he starts, and Klaus pushes everything else to the back of his mind as his brother tells him about every new piece of information he's gathered in the last few weeks.
He already knows what his next move is going to be, but he needs to make sure there will be no interference.
"So you're leaving?" Stefan asks when she steps into his room after her chat with Rebekah.
"I have to. We both need it."
"Are you sure it's wise?"
"Aww," she coos, "Are you worried about me?"
His chuckle is half amused, half exasperated.
"Shouldn't I be?"
"You're my best friend. You're supposed to worry about me. But I think..." she trails off, only to nod at his expectant look. "I think I'm going to be alright."
They share a look of understanding and Stefan's furrowed brow loses some of its seriousness as his eyes get soft. They both know that she means more than the obvious. Yes, she's going to be fine on her own with Klaus for two weeks, but she's also going to be fine period.
"I'm proud of you, you know."
She feels her throat tighten at that, and she stops resisting the urge to hug him. His arms encircle her as she whispers her thank you next to his ear. When they pull apart, she sees that just like her own, his eyes are shining with unshed tears and he smiles at her reassuringly.
"Will you be here when I come back?" she asks.
"Don't have anywhere else to be."
"Good. Don't let Rebekah boss you around too much."
"I heard that!" the original sister protests from her own room, making them both laugh.
"Don't let Klaus drag you down with him, Care."
"If I have anything to say about it, I'll be the one dragging him up," she replies, before turning in the direction of the original sister's room. "I need to go shopping," she announces through the wall. "Anyone interested?"
Rebekah is before her in an instant, holding up a golden credit card, a wide smile on her face.
"Nik's paying."
He knows that his smirk as he watches the girl from a dark corner of the bar must be downright sinister, just the way he wants it. The few patrons that have passed by him hurried away as quickly as they dared while trying to be inconspicuous about it. Getting rid of the three daywalkers that Marcel assigned to her protection was easy. He has no intention of starting an all-out war when he won't be here to lead it, so he just snapped their necks instead of killing them, which means he has to act fast, before they wake up and try to warn their so-called king.
In a flash, he's standing behind her, catching her attention with a low "Hello, Cami."
Her first reaction is simply startled – as would anyone else's given how stealthy he was in his approach. Her second reaction, as soon as she lays her eyes on him, is fear.
"Klaus," she murmurs, backing away until her back hits the wall and there's nowhere for her to go but sideways.
He wastes no time in disabusing her of the notion that she can escape him, his hand shooting out to grab her throat hard enough to make her wince. Her own hands take a hold of his forearm, trying to get him to release her, and he almost laughs at how pathetic this is. He gives the other bartender a warning glare when it looks like she's going to intervene, uncaring if anyone else sees him. This won't take long anyway, and none of the few humans here can stop him, nor do they know Marcel.
"You're afraid of me," he notes conversationally, focusing his attention back on the blonde. "I'm guessing Marcel has warned you about me now that you know everything about our world. Good. It makes this easier."
Before she has a chance to ask him what he's talking about, his hybrid features emerge. She struggles harder, confirming that Marcel did tell her what his bite can do to her now that she's a vampire. Of course, he barely feels her kicks. His fingers still firmly around her throat, he lets his other hand travel down her bare arm until he reaches her hand and brings it up before his eyes. He can smell her fear, and it brings a predatory grin to his face before he sinks his fangs into her wrist. He scrunches his nose in disgust at the taste of vervain he had expected, and he quickly stops drinking.
He doesn't need to drain her dry anyway. The plan was just to poison her.
She's in shock, her eyes wide, her heart beating wildly in her chest, her mouth open on a silent scream as she takes in the quickly festering wound, and he lets go of her, knowing that the thought of running away won't even cross her mind now. Reaching into the inside pocket of his jacket, he retrieves a folded envelope and hands it to her. She's so out of it that he has to take her hand and close her fingers around it by force before she takes it.
"Now," he says in his softest voice, "I need you to give this to Marcel. It's in your best interest, believe me. Do you understand?" he asks when she doesn't react.
She eventually snaps out of it and gives a panicked nod.
He leaves just as the first of Marcel's men begins to stir, thinking back on the message he gave Cami for her lover.
I left a vial of my blood with my siblings. Beg Elijah enough and he might be inclined to give it to you. Don't expect me to be this generous if you ever lay a hand on Caroline again.
He nods to himself as he goes over it once more in his mind. This is perfect. He doesn't want to kill Cami. He needs Marcel to have something to lose. Of course, if his former protégé doesn't get the message this time, his girlfriend will pay.
Since Elijah told him how they explained his actions before he got his emotions back, he knows that Marcel is perfectly aware of how important Caroline is to him, which means that it was only a matter of time before the 'king' decided that his agreement with her was more of an hindrance than it was worth. Plus, even if he didn't go back on his word for fear of retaliation, he would have ended up discreetly spreading the word about her to Klaus' other enemies, and she would have been in danger anyway. Now, even if everyone finds out about her, they will also hear of the lengths he will go to to protect her. He doubts anyone will risk it.
He's barely inside the mansion when Stefan appears in front of him, and Klaus lets out a small sigh. He knew this was coming, but it doesn't mean he wants to have this conversation.
"I just got a text from Rebekah. They'll be back soon," the younger vampire says. "I need to talk to you before Caroline gets here."
"Is this the part where you tell me to stay away from her?" Klaus asks sardonically.
"No," he replies, and the hybrid raises a questioning eyebrow at the unexpected response. "This is the part where I tell you that if she doesn't come back with a smile on her face, I will find ways to hurt you that even you have never thought of."
"If she doesn't come back with a smile on her face, I'll let you, mate."
Stefan looks taken aback at that, but he recovers quickly, seeing that he means it.
"Oh. Well then, my job here is done." They both hear the girls approaching the mansion then, and Stefan nods, an understanding passing between them. "Take care of her."
He doesn't answer. He doesn't need to.