Chapter 3:

"She had lung cancer. All that smoking is bad for you, you know? Yes, it's quite sad. Caroline's a trooper, she'll get through it." Liz Forbes spoke on the phone to one of the dozen of people who had phoned her house today offering their condolences, pausing when she heard the familiar ring of her front doorbell. "Listen, that's the doorbell now, I'd better go. Thanks for your condolences, Mr. Bennett."

She hung up the phone and rushed to the door. She had been swamped with calls and casseroles ever since the town discovered the passing of Bill's mother. She wasn't very upset about the news. The old woman was horrid.

"Hello?" Liz opened the door to the face of a woman she had never seen before. "Can I help you?"

"I believe you can." The woman replied, smiling. "I'm Caroline's friend, Alice. Is she here? She told me she would show me around town, but she never met me at the grill afterwards."

Liz didn't question the honesty radiating out of the dark haired woman. "My goodness, she must have forgotten to tell you. Her grandmother just passed away last night, so Caroline is gone to the funeral in Seattle."

The woman's smile disappeared from her face before Liz could blink. "What do you mean she's gone." The woman said, her voice low and threatening.

"I'm sure she'll give you the tour when she returns. Mystic Falls isn't a grand tour anyway. Have a nice day." Liz began to shut the door in the woman's face, but the woman shot out her hand before it shut completely, forcing the door back open.

"I need you to think for me, Ms. Forbes." The woman said, her dark eyes, narrowing as she stared into the sheriff's blue ones. "Is Caroline really gone to Seattle?"

"Yes." Liz replied, automatically. A little too automatically, as was noticed the woman.

"That damn hybrid…" the woman muttered to herself before plastering a smile on her face and turning back to Liz. "Thank you for your time, Sheriff Forbes. I'm sorry about Caroline's grandmother." With that the woman turned and strutted away from the Forbes house.

Liz closed the door, confused. Caroline's grandmother was dead, right? She found herself taking her phone out of her pocket and dialing a number.

"Ah, Sheriff, I trust you have some news for me." A British voice drawled out of the speaker.

"A woman was at the door, looking for Caroline. I didn't know her." Liz replied automatically.

"Keep up the good work, Ms. Forbes. Don't give anything away."

"You compelled my MOTHER?" Caroline screeched as Klaus hung up the phone.

They had been driving almost 3 hours when Liz Forbes called Klaus. 3 hours of quiet talk. It had been nice, no yelling or bringing up the inevitable problem at hand. Until now.

"Love, she was a loose end. I like mine tied. She would have known your grandmother wasn't really dead, and with her on our side, nobody in that one pony town will suspect a thing." Klaus said, simply brushing off her rage.

Caroline couldn't believe him, all she could do was stare at him incredulously before turning to stare out the window, refusing to look at him anymore. How dare he. She had agreed to come with him willingly; he should have left everything alone.

"Come on now, sweetheart." Klaus said, coaxing her back into looking at him. "It's for the best. Alice will suspect something, but she won't find us anytime soon."

"You shouldn't have done it." Caroline said, keeping her gaze out the window.

Klaus clenched his teeth in pure annoyance and pulled to a stop on the side of the road.

"Look at me, Caroline." She knew it was serious when he didn't use his little pet names for her. He reached across the passenger seat and took hold of her chin between his forefinger and thumb, turning it towards him. "I'm trying to keep you safe," he said, almost softly "and I'll do whatever needs to be done to do just that. You may not agree with my methods, but if they keep you safe, it's worth it in my books. I'm not playing this game by the rules."

All Caroline could do was watch him as he went on his spiel. Right in front of her was the man who had made all her friends lives torture, yet the man who could draw her romantic pictures. The man who would do anything to achieve a single goal, and this time the goal was to keep her safe. His speech made her undead heart do small backflips at the thought of him caring so much for her. No, she didn't agree with his methods, but she appreciated what he was trying to do.

"Thank you" Caroline started slowly, looking up into his blue eyes as his fingers fell from her chin. "For trying to keep me safe. I don't know why you're doing it, but I appreciate it." She saw Klaus let a small grin sprinkle the corners of his lips as he leaned back into the drivers seat sensing an easy victory, ready to turn on the ignition and get back on the road. She interrupted just before he could start the car. "But the way I look at it, we're in this together now. We keep each other safe. We'll either both make it out of this, or neither of us will. So it isn't your decision anymore... what happens, I mean. It's not just your game plan. It's ours. We both make the choices. So that means no more compelling people, unless you talk to me first, understand?"

Caroline let it all out in one giant breath, and considering whom she was talking to; it was a pretty courageous thing to do. Here she was, trying to be diplomatic with the hybrid. They hybrid who only got his own way. The hybrid who tore out the hearts of people who didn't obey him. He didn't listen to anyone but himself, and here she was trying to make him listen to her, the baby vampire.

Klaus admired her bravery. Caroline had looked absolutely stunning while she stood up to him. The speech was fully, completely, her. And it drove him crazy how she could get under his skin like that, and he let her. Her fire, and spunk only made him want her more. "You're getting awfully brave, love." Klaus replied to her spiel, turning on the ignition and getting back on the road.

Caroline only looked at him expectantly, waiting for his real response to her speech. "I'll try my best to run things by you, but I'm not guaranteeing anything." Klaus said, keeping his eyes straight on the road.

She smiled at him, her heart warming slightly to his answer. She didn't expect him to completely agree with her opinion, but she took what she could get. Maybe the big bad hybrid wasn't so bad after all.

With this new sense of comfort, Caroline found herself slowly drifting out in and out of sleep, watching the highway exits pass by one after another. After a couple of exits flew by, Caroline realized she had no idea where they were headed.

"Klaus?" Caroline asked suddenly

"What sweetheart?" he asked, worried by the manner she spoke to him

"Where are we going?" she sighed, her eyes drifting open and closed. God, she had no idea she was this tired.

Klaus chuckled at her, but responded nicely "We're headed to Chicago, love. It'll still be a few hours. Why don't you go to sleep, you look like you're about to drop any second."

Caroline could only mumble a soft agreement in reply to him before her eyes drifted shut, exhausted by the day's events.

As they continued on their way to Chicago, Klaus found himself stealing frequent glances at the peaceful baby vampire. The girl really was something extraordinary. Her peaceful sleeping state reminded him of the real reason he was travelling to Chicago. To keep her safe.

Klaus needed to find Gloria. If anyone were to help him find a way to kill Alice, it would be her.

A/N: Thats's chapter 3! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, alerted, favorited, and even just read the last two chapters! This one is a bit shorter than the other ones, but I didn't have a lot of time to update, and I figured you guys really deserved an update! I promise, we're just about to get into the really good stuff. I have a lot planned for the next chapter, so stay tuned!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!

-Amanda

ps. Am I developing Klaus/Caroline okay? I know they seem a little OOC, but is it too ooc? Let me know what you think!

pps. follow me on tumblr! thedevilslivehere .