A/N: I had a Firefly marathon last week followed by a few days of reading nothing but Klaroline stories, and this is what happened. Yeah… It's really bad when two of my obsessions get mixed up in my mind lol. I just couldn't not write it after I re-re-re-watched their dance scene in 3x20. This "In a year, or even a century…" line has too much potential.

Post 4x09 for VD, post-series but pre-movie for Firefly

It's mostly Caroline/Klaus with hints of Kaylee/Simon

I might consider writing a sequel if anyone's interested.

Disclaimer: if I owned them, Firefly would have lasted 15 seasons and Klaroline would be… well, pretty much exactly what it is right now 'cause this ship's already awesome on the show, but you get the general idea. Not mine.

Please forgive any mistake, English is not my first language.

Take my love, take my land

Take me where I cannot stand

I don't care, I'm still free

You can't take the sky from me

Take me out to the black

Tell them I ain't comin' back

Burn the land and boil the see

You can't take the sky from me

There's no place I can be

Since I found serenity

But you can't take the sky from me

Shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand, Caroline Forbes looked across the street, trying to figure out what her best option was. Too big, too small, too crowded, wrong destination. Not that the destination mattered all that much, but there were a few places she wanted to avoid. Hm. It seemed finding a ride out of here was going to be harder than she'd anticipated.

Just as she was considering walking down the street in the hope that a better option would present itself in the southern part of town, a flash of bright colors caught her eye and she automatically turned her head to get a better look at it. She saw a young girl playing with the colorful umbrella that was protecting her from the scalding rays of the sun. Her grin was easy as she spoke with someone who seemed to be one of her passengers, her eyes alight with pride as she ran a loving hand over the metallic wall next to her. Her whole demeanor was relaxed, her youth and enthusiasm obvious in the way she held herself. Caroline smiled softly to herself.

Though it had been a while since she'd been carefree, she had never completely lost this spark that made her who she was, and something about the girl's spontaneous smile reminded her of herself. Or at least her past self.

She made her way over to her, her lips still turned up in a smile that turned friendlier and less nostalgic as she got closer. The young girl saw her before her friend did and she turned her attention to her.

"Looking for a ride?"

Caroline nodded wordlessly, looking behind the young girl at a blonde man and a tall dark-skinned woman who were moving crates around, obviously getting ready for departure.

Over the years, she'd learned how to control her senses quite well, and she put it to good use now, listening closely to try and figure out how many people were inside. She picked out eight different heartbeats, including those of the four people she could actually see. Perfect.

She turned back to the girl, shifting her small travel bag from her right hand to her left in order to hold her right hand out.

"I'm Caroline."

"My name's Kaylee. And this is Simon," she added with a wave towards the cute man standing next to her.

Caroline shook his hand as well, noting with amusement that his heart rate was slightly too elevated, just like Kaylee's. She wondered if they were in the honeymoon phase or if their relationship wasn't quite officially romantic yet. She discreetly shook her head to get rid of her matchmaking instincts. She didn't have time for this. But she'd always been a sucker for a good love story and it was obvious there was something there. Biting back a mischievous smile, she asked, "So are you and your husband passengers or do you work here?"

Kaylee's answering blush and Simon's stammering confirmed her suspicions. Not together yet. Maybe she would get to have some fun in the next couple of weeks.

"Oh, no, she's not… We're not…"

She decided to put them out of their misery and gave them an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, I just assumed."

"It's ok, most people do," a third voice claimed from above them.

Caroline looked up to face the newcomer, a tall brown-haired guy with deep blue eyes who looked like frowning was his default setting. She gave him her friendliest smile, but he ignored her in favor of Kaylee.

"New passenger?"

"Could be," the girl answered, obviously not put off by his rude attitude. "We were just getting to the payment part of the discussion."

"Well wrap it up, we leave in ten minutes."

Kaylee stuck her tongue out at him and he just shook his head while turning his attention to Simon.

"Your sister back yet?"

"Yes, her and Book are in the dining area."

"Good. Go check up on her."

After that, he left without even glancing in her direction and Caroline glared at his back. Seriously? This was how he treated potential passengers? Kaylee must have noticed her look, because she laughed and shrugged it off.

"Don't worry about him, the Captain's never in a good mood when we have to spend more than a day here." That she could definitely relate to. Her glare softened. She'd give him the benefit of the doubt for now. Before she could say anything else, Kaylee added "So… The payment part of the discussion."

Right. Caroline gave her a sweet smile and looked her straight in the eye, her pupils dilating.

"I've already paid."

Kaylee's gaze seemed dazed for a second, and then she grinned and waved her inside.

"Welcome aboard Serenity."

She didn't like having to use compulsion when this crew obviously needed the cash, but she'd had to leave in a hurry and didn't have any money. The Alliance had almost caught up with her, it had been too close.

Stepping inside, Caroline looked around, silently noting that the ship looked good. Definitely not brand new – it was a Firefly after all, production had stopped years ago – but something about it looked… Homey. She breathed in, not because she needed to, but because she wanted to get a better sense of the ship. Something metallic, obviously. Incense, which seemed out of place, but why not. Kaylee's smell, mostly engine oil and something fruity. Simon had left a distinct medical scent behind him. She could also still smell the captain though he wasn't in sight anymore. Mostly sweat and something masculine she couldn't quite define, not unpleasant. The tall, dark woman with long brown hair who had been moving crates around smelled spicy, which fit with her looks. Her smell was also all over the blonde guy. Interesting. And then there was… Wait.

No.

This couldn't be right.

Earth.

Not the sandy, dry, aggressive smell of the planet they were currently on. More like a dark forest right before a storm. Earth and moss and roots and impending rain and a hint of…

Blood.

Her whole body froze as the memories hit her hard and she struggled not to let her features show her shock. At least her vampire senses had warned her a few seconds before she actually saw him. She supposed she should be grateful for small miracles, since it gave her just enough time to compose herself and not look like a complete fool when his voice rang behind her.

"Caroline Forbes. What an unexpected pleasure."

She spun around to face him, her expression unreadable. She even managed to mask her surprise at the lack of accent. It made sense. Blending in in this verse was hard enough for vampires, and in a world where pretty much everyone talked like either Clint Eastwood or Jackie Chan, his British slang would have stood out. She wondered if he'd completely lost it or if he was just playing a part.

"Klaus," she replied, briefly wondering if this was what he went by these days.

She could feel the stares and questioning looks of the people around her at the sudden tension in the room, but she didn't pay them any attention. She was too focused on him as he walked up to her and stopped right in front of her, invading her personal space. He smiled that secretive, mysterious smile that had almost been the death of her – literally – and took her hand in his, his thumb softly caressing her skin.

"How long has it been?"

500 years, give or take a few weeks.

"Not long enough," she snapped, jerking her hand back.

He chuckled. Not that she had expected him to react any differently.

"I see you've finally escaped this godforsaken place you grew up in."

She couldn't help but laugh at that, appreciating both the reminder of a past conversation and the clever way he had chosen to phrase it so that it was vague enough for their audience. It could apply to pretty much every single town in the galaxy. No one but them knew that he was referring to a small town in Virginia. No one but them even knew what Virginia was. Earth no longer was. His eyes twinkled with pleasure at her obvious amusement, and she was reminded of just how charming he could be, when he wasn't being an arrogant jackass and/or a psychopathic killer. Her laughter faded, but the smile never fully left her lips as she took in his appearance. Faded blue jeans and a grey t-shirt. Necklaces around his neck. Dimples on full display. Hair mussed up, just the way she liked it. Eyes bluer than ever. She drew in another deep breath, just because she had never thought she would get to smell his scent again and it reminded her so much of home. His gaze darkened at her action and she quickly averted her eyes, not ready to face the sudden shift in the air around them. She was doing rather well, but she couldn't deal with everything that had been left unresolved between them. Not now.

"You two know each other?"

Caroline jumped a little at Kaylee's voice, suddenly remembering that they were not alone. Klaus recovered quicker than her.

"Caroline and I are old…" She raised an eyebrow at him, wondering how he was going to finish that sentence. She saw one corner of his mouth twitch up in answer to her challenge. "Acquaintances."

She held back a snort. That was one way of putting it.

"That's not gonna be a problem, is it?" the tall woman asked perceptively.

Caroline grinned in reassurance.

"Not at all. I'll look forward to catching up with him. Kaylee, would you mind showing me to my room? I'd like to freshen up before meeting the rest of the crew."

"Sure. Follow me."

She did, feeling his eyes on her the whole way.

"So what's up with you and him?"

Caroline bit her lip. She didn't want to be unfriendly or lie, but she knew that he was most likely listening to them thanks to his supernatural hearing and she really didn't want him to hear whatever she would have said about him. Besides, it was too long a story, even if she managed to leave out the fact that they were vampires who hadn't seen each other in five centuries.

"What's up with you and Simon?" she shot back, her tone teasing.

"Nothing!"

"But you want there to be."

"No! I mean… Maybe?"

Caroline heard Klaus' chuckle, so soft that human ears would have missed it, especially since they weren't even in the same room anymore, but she somehow knew that it was meant for her and not due to the conversation he was having with the others back in the cargo bay. So he'd picked up on their feelings as well. Of course he had. And it seemed he found them amusing. She bit back a small smile. She'd always loved his sense of humor, even back when she hated him.

"Why don't you go for it?" she asked Kaylee. "He likes you."

"Really? You think?" Caroline let her smile show at the way the girl's eyes had lit up with hope. But then she sighed and said. "I don't know. It's…"

"Complicated?" Caroline guessed.

"Yeah."

It always is, she thought. She wondered how Kaylee would react if she told her that 500 years ago, she'd fallen for a thousand year old hybrid who had tried to kill her and her friends repeatedly, that she'd thought she would never see him again after their last… eventful, encounter, and that here he was, bringing back those feelings she'd thought long buried. Maybe the situation with Simon wouldn't seem so complicated then.

After washing her face and taking a few minutes to compose herself and process the events of the past hour, Caroline walked into the dining area, noting that Klaus wasn't here yet. Kaylee had told her that he'd just joined Serenity as well, boarding on Persephone just like her, and that the Captain had asked for everyone to come to the common area so that he could make introductions and go over a few rules.

As soon as she entered, everyone turned to look at her. She gave them a small wave and was about to speak when a slim girl who couldn't be more than 17 suddenly started yelling, her head violently jerking from side to side as she stared at her in obvious panic. Her hands went to her head, trying to shield her face from the world. Confused, Caroline watched as Simon ran to her and took her hands in his.

"River! River it's me, Simon. What's wrong?"

The girl stopped screaming and looked straight at Caroline, muttering.

"Old… Too old. Not… Can't… That old, not possible. Not… No…"

Caroline froze at what the others probably thought was nonsense.

"River, honey, Caroline's only… what, 20? That's not too old," the tall woman tried to reason with her.

But River kept shaking her head frantically.

"Not 20."

Caroline was still frozen on the spot, unable to move, speak or think, when a familiar voice came to her rescue.

"She's right. Caroline's 22, if I remember correctly."

She shot Klaus a grateful look for his quick thinking, but before anyone could react, River screamed again and hid her face in Simon's shirt.

"Even older! No! Not right…"

"Well that's insulting," Klaus said, his voice nothing but calm and collected, his remark drawing a slight smile out of Kaylee. "Anyone want to tell me what's going on?"

"River is… Well, it's…"

Simon gave up on trying to explain and dragged River away from the room, leaving Caroline to gape after them and exchange a worried glance with Klaus. Then she turned to Kaylee.

"What was that?"

"River ain't quite right," the Captain summed up.

"No kidding."

It was clear that no one was going to say anything more on the matter, and Caroline decided to let it go for now, listening to the Captain as he explained.

"Ok, we got two new people here today. Rules: the common areas are fair game, of course. The cargo bay, engine room and cockpit ain't. You wanna go there, you ask me or Zoe first."

The woman Caroline assumed was Zoe took a step forward. It was the tall, dark woman she'd seen in the cargo bay earlier.

"Name's Captain Reynolds. This here is Wash, our pilot," he nodded towards the blonde guy who was obviously Zoe's lover or husband or whatever. "You've met Simon, our doctor, River, his sister, and Kaylee, our mechanic. Jayne here is… Ah, well, no one important."

Jayne growled at him, making the Captain shake his head and give him a stern look. Caroline rolled her eyes at the macho display. There was only one alpha male on this ship and it was not one of those two. They just didn't know it yet. She saw Klaus smirk out of the corner of her eyes and instantly knew that he was thinking the exact same thing. She suddenly had a moment of doubt. He had obviously decided to be civil for now, and she had been too engrossed in the shock of seeing him after so long to wonder how long it was going to last. Up until now that is, when the questions suddenly invaded her mind. What was he even doing here? Where was he going? Did he intend to drain every single one of them and take over the ship? Did he have some sort of master plan at work, or was he just another passenger trying to get away from Persephone? What had he been up to for the past 500 years or so?

Realizing that the Captain was still talking, she tried to listen more carefully as he introduced the last member of the group, a black man with white hair and a kind smile.

"This is Shepherd Book. And you'll meet Inara at dinner tonight. She's still in her shuttle for now. Recovering, no doubt."

Caroline frowned in confusion at the disdain he'd injected in those last three words, and Klaus leaned closer to her to explain "Inara's a companion."

She masterfully hid the shiver that ran down her spine when she felt his body so close to hers and concentrated on what he'd just told her. Well that explained it. Sort of. Companions were highly respected, but she knew that some men had trouble accepting them… especially if they had been rejected as clients. Must be what had happened between this Inara and the Captain.

She excused herself after a few minutes and went back to her quarters to get some sleep. She hadn't had a chance to rest in about four days and she was exhausted. Unfortunately, she heard Klaus leave right after her, and she knew he was going to find her, which shot her idea of a peaceful nap straight to hell. She left her door ajar for him. She would have loved to postpone the inevitable discussion, but she knew how stubborn he was, might as well get it out of the way. Besides, there was something she wanted to ask him. She was waiting for him with her arms crossed over her chest when he came in and locked the door so that they wouldn't be disturbed. She didn't give him a chance to speak.

"You heard her, didn't you?"

He didn't even try to pretend that he didn't know what she was talking about.

"River? Yes. It sounded like you needed a hand, sweetheart."

It was a good thing she was technically dead, otherwise she would have blushed at the way he'd just said that, and she would never have heard the end of it. She smiled in spite of herself at the reappearance of the sexy accent.

"Now you sound like you."

He returned her smile.

"Haven't had a chance to in a very long time."

"Not even with your family?"

Just like that, a switch was flipped. In a millisecond, his face went from open, friendly and slightly melancholic to closed-off and cold as ice. She had always hated how he could do that.

"No."

She didn't push him. She knew that tone. This was obviously a story for another day. Maybe in 500 years. She decided to go back to her previous line of questioning.

"So why did you come in earlier?"

"I told you. It sounded like you needed a hand."

"And you've always been so helpful," she replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

He smirked, but his voice was soft when he answered.

"Always when it came to you."

She swallowed hard, hating the fact that she couldn't deny it. She shook the disturbingly sweet memories out of her head.

"It's obvious this girl's got something. What she said about me… It's the truth, but how could she know? And when you heard her, you have to have realized that she would know the truth about you too if you showed yourself."

"I suspected it, yes."

"Why then? I assume you're trying to fly under the radar too, why put your cover in jeopardy?"

"It wasn't that dangerous. There's something about her, yes, but the others obviously don't know what it is. I figured that they might believe her, or at least realize that something was off about you, but that if she threw the same kind of accusations about two perfectly normal looking people, it would be less believable."

There was really only one thing she could say to that.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome, love."

She gave a half smile at the nickname she hadn't heard in so long.

"So, what have you been up to?"

He laughed at the casual way she had asked the question, as if she hadn't almost died the last time they'd seen each other. As if he wasn't to blame for the death of almost everyone she used to love. As if that fateful night had never happened.

He leaned against the wall and buried his hands in his pocket, assuming a relaxed stance. Feeling slightly more at ease now that she'd had some time to process, she sat down on the bed, looking up at him.

"Daggering my family, killing people, running away. You know, the usual. What about you?"

She was shocked that he'd brought up his family after the way he'd reacted when she'd mentioned them.

"Mostly just running away," she admitted, though that wasn't quite true.

She'd been on the run for years, ever since the Alliance had found out about vampires and had decided to try and capture them in order to study them, but she'd had a few good centuries before that. He gave her a knowing nod when he saw her wistful smile.

"Did you get to see the world?"

She felt her throat close up, both at how soft his voice sounded, and at the reminder of this night she had tried so hard to forget. Still, the memories of her travels made her grin.

"Yeah."

"Rome? Paris? Tokyo?"

She would never tell him, but these were the first cities she'd visited. She nodded wordlessly, her eyes glued to his. She couldn't have looked away even if she'd wanted to.

She had once told him that she was too smart to be seduced by him. She had been wrong. She was smart enough not to act on her feelings, or so she'd thought. But all the intelligence in the world couldn't have prevented her from having those feelings. And it seemed all the time in the world hadn't tamed them. If anything, they were back with a vengeance.

"You're still you."

Her eyebrows shot up at his cryptic comment.

"What do you mean?"

He looked away for a second before his eyes found hers again.

"I thought you'd be jaded. But you're still…"

"Full of light?" she teased him, not expecting him to agree.

"Exactly."

Her mouth fell open at the sincerity she could read in his eyes.

"I'm not. I've seen too much for that. I've lost too much," she added quietly, once again remembering that awful night.

"I know. Yet I can still see it."

"You're still delusional then."

He scoffed at that. He was about to reply when something seemed to catch his attention. He pointed a finger at his ear, silently signaling her that she should concentrate on what was going on in the ship. She instantly obeyed, catching a discussion between the Captain and his second in command.

"… and Klaus, sir."

"What's wrong with them?"

"I don't trust them."

"Why not?"

"You weren't here when they had their little reunion. It was weird. They're more than acquaintances. They don't act like friends. I don't think they're lovers. But I'm not sure they're enemies either. Only thing I know is there's enough history between them to fill an encyclopedia."

She stole a glance at Klaus, saw that he was smiling at this description. She shook her head at him, partly in amusement, partly in disapproval.

"So what? We have enough history to fill two and it's never bothered you."

"Yes, because I know what's going on with us. But them? We know nothing about them."

"It's not the first time we've taken on passengers."

"And how'd the last time turn out, sir?"

There was a pause, and Klaus and Caroline exchanged a curious look, wondering what Zoe was referring to.

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"I don't know. Ditch them?"

"Where? We're in space for the next two weeks. And they've already paid."

Caroline winced at that, knowing very well that she hadn't paid and suspecting that Klaus hadn't either. She would need to compel the Captain and everyone else, just in case, to make sure that Kaylee wouldn't get in trouble when they asked her for money she didn't have.

"Fine. But don't expect me to clean up whatever mess they make, sir."

They stopped listening as the conversation moved on to other subjects.

"Well, that was interesting."

Caroline just nodded absently, deep in thoughts.

"What's wrong?"

She raised her head to meet his gaze, wondering if she could ask the question that had plagued her mind 500 years ago. Then she decided that it didn't matter if he got mad, it didn't matter if he didn't answer, if didn't matter if she didn't like his answer, she just had to ask.

"What were we?"

"What?"

"You heard her. Not friends. Not lovers. Not enemies. What were we?"

His confused look disappeared as he realized what she was talking about.

"She's wrong. We were all of that."

"We were never lovers."

"We came close enough."

A few centuries ago, his words would have embarrassed her. Today, all she felt as she remembered the sensation of his hands running over her body was a sudden jolt of arousal. She barely had the time to register it before he was suddenly on her, his lips crashing against hers as he pushed her back against the mattress. She groaned in surprise, involuntarily giving him better access. He instantly invaded her mouth and she gave another kind of groan as her tongue battled with his. He smiled into the kiss at her surrender. She would have told him off for his cockiness had her mouth not been otherwise occupied. Instead, she used her vampire strength to rip his shirt off, running her hands over his bare back as he attacked her neck, licking, sucking, and nipping. She instinctively tensed when she felt his teeth against her skin. He must have sensed it, for he pulled away just long enough to murmur "I do have some control, you know. Although perhaps not for long."

She laughed and relaxed into his touch.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Isn't that my line?"

She felt his grin against her stomach as he kept kissing his way down her body. The first time had been hard and fast, born out of mutual need and urgency. The second time had been about discovering each other. The third time was going to be a slow and sensuous torture, according to him.

"Probably," he conceded. "But we've never been very traditional. And you didn't answer my question."

Her hips bucked up at a particularly pleasurable lick and a moan fell from her lips.

"I was just trying to figure out if I'm still supposed to hate you."

"You have no friends left for me to threaten."

"I do, actually. Just because they live in a different corner of the verse…"

"I meant no friends that would be of any use to me," he clarified.

"Fair enough."

"Besides, you never hated me as much as you were supposed to anyway. That's why you saved my life, remember?"

She closed her eyes, letting the memories wash over her.

504 years ago

"Elena! NOOOOOOOOO!"

They both heard the heartbreaking scream at the same time, but he reacted before she did, grasping her hand and flashing with her towards the sound, miles away from where they had been. She was on another one of her Distract Klaus Missions, the kind that she hated more and more, not only because she felt guilty for deceiving him when he had been nothing but nice to her for the past few months, but also because they were useless anyway. He didn't trust her. He didn't have any reason to. Every time she agreed to spend some time alone with him, he knew it was because something was up. She wondered if he also knew that the reason why she avoided him most of the time was because he was too dangerous to her. Staying away from him was the only solution she had found to one of her biggest problems: she was starting to have feelings for someone who was supposed to be her enemy. Sure, he was on their side with the whole "Turn Elena Back Into A Human" plan, but their motivations were vastly different, and the truth of the matter was, as long as Elena could be used as a hybrid making machine, they would always be enemies.

Which lead to today's plan. Damon, Stefan and Bonnie thought they had finally solved the riddle and were trying to turn Elena back and to cast a spell on her to protect her from Klaus once she was human again. And Klaus couldn't know about it because if he did, he would try to use her as his personal blood bank before the spell was complete. Hence Caroline's mission to agree to go on a date with him.

She'd been having a great time too, in spite of the guilt. So much so that she hadn't pulled away when he'd kissed her. Nor when things had gotten more heated. She had been sure that it would be her last night with him. Once he found out what they had done, he would hate her for good. So she had decided to make a mistake. She was due for one anyway.

But Damon's scream had put an end to their make-out session, and here she was, standing in the woods with Klaus by her side, both equally shocked at the sight of Elena's body on the ground, Jeremy cradling his sister's head while Stefan tried to feed her his blood in the hope that it would heal her.

It didn't.

Later, she would learn that the spell had gone wrong.

Right now, all she knew was that her best friend was dead.

And that Damon Salvatore, blinded by rage and pain, was coming at Klaus with a white oak stake that she didn't know he had.

And that now that Elena was dead, leaving no heir to continue the doppelganger line, Klaus was not a threat to them anymore.

Which meant that he didn't need to die.

Seeing that he was waiting for Damon instead of trying to dodge his attack, she pushed Klaus out of the way, aware that she wouldn't have been able to do that if he had been expecting it. He crashed against a tree a few feet away and looked at her, incredulous, as the stake that had been intended for him pierced her skin, missing her heart by a few inches. Damon drew back, pulling the weapon out of her flesh, and she hissed in pain. Klaus tackled Damon and snapped his neck to slow him down, kneeling next to Caroline and tearing his own wrist apart with his fangs, offering his blood to help her heal. She had just started drinking when Klaus was suddenly thrown back. He landed on his feet and faced his new attacker, not surprised to see Tyler. He easily avoided a few punches, and he plunged his hand in his chest, ready to tear his heart out. Caroline's weak shout stopped him.

He slid his hand out of the hybrid's body, leaving his heart where it belonged. But just as Tyler was starting to recover and trying to attack Klaus again, another less merciful hand finished the job that the Original Hybrid had started. Caroline's scream as Rebekah stood there holding the bloody heart made Klaus wince, and he snapped his sister's neck in retaliation.

After one last look at Caroline, he left, noting that Damon Salvatore had recovered and left with the infamous stake.

"Are you still evil?"

"Now why would I want to answer that? If I say no, you won't believe me. If I say yes, you'll leave."

She couldn't really argue with that. Though her definition of evil had evolved over the last century, there were still lines that she wouldn't cross, lines that she didn't want to know he'd crossed. They only had two weeks on this ship before they made it to their destination and they would go their separate ways, she didn't want to waste what little time they had. She had two weeks to get him out of her system, and ta ma duh that's what she was going to do! She'd thought she'd never get the chance, she wasn't going to let it slip through her fingers.

"Ok, new topic then. What happened to your family?"

He stopped tracing random patterns on her back and she could feel him pull away from her. Not an easy feat considering how tiny the bed was.

"Caroline…"

"Come on. What am I gonna do, kill them? Use them against you?"

"I just don't like to talk about it."

"Tough."

She saw his half smile and knew she had won. He settled back against her body and she went back to using his arm as a pillow.

"Kol died. Well, not technically, but one of his enemies managed to get a hold of one of my daggers and put him to sleep. I never knew where he was. Somewhere on Earth That Was."

Which meant that there was no way to go back to him. She winced in sympathy. Granted, the Originals made even the most dysfunctional families look like a Norman Rockwell painting, but still, she knew that Klaus did care about his siblings, in his own twisted way.

"Sorry."

He shrugged her sympathy off.

"I lost track of Elijah about 80 years ago, but it's happened before, I'm sure our paths will cross again eventually."

"Really? With so many planets and moons to consider?"

"Our paths crossed, didn't they?"

"True." Which reminded her that she had yet to ask him what he was doing on this ship. She stored the question away, deciding to ask another one instead. "What about Rebekah?"

"She's in the cargo bay."

"Daggered?" she guessed.

"Yes."

"Could you do me a favor and not undagger her until I'm out of here?"

He smirked.

"I didn't intend to. She's been in that coffin for over 500 years."

"What? Why?"

He shrugged like it was no big deal.

"I came back for her that night in the woods. I couldn't stay in Mystic Falls while the Salvatores had the only weapon that could kill me, especially since they blamed me for the doppelganger's death. I wanted her to come with me wherever I was going next."

His voice trailed off, his gaze lost in the past. She gave him a slight nudge.

"What happened?"

"You were crying over Tyler's body."

She frowned, both at the painful memory and in confusion.

"I remember that, but I don't remember seeing you after you left."

"You didn't. You weren't seeing anything. Rebekah was behind you. She was about to kill you. So I daggered her and carried her away."

"You what?!"

"Don't look so shocked, love. It wasn't the first time I saved your life."

"No, I know, but…" She stopped. But what, exactly? He was right, he'd saved her more than once. "You never woke her up?"

"I did. Just a few weeks later, once I knew we were safe."

"And?"

"And she still wanted to kill you."

"Why?"

She could understand trying to stake her in the woods after all the rage and chaos of that night, but why hold a grudge when she could have led a safe and happy eternal life?

"Why do you think?"

She drew back to get a better look at his face, understanding the implications, but unwilling to accept them.

"Because of you?" He just nodded, watching the wheels turn in her brain. "But why? Revenge? I know what I did to you that night was…"

"Not because of that. Because you were a weakness."

She snorted.

"No I wasn't. You didn't have any weaknesses."

"Really?" he asked, clearly amused at her assessment.

She nodded with conviction, absolutely sure that she was speaking the truth. The only true weakness he'd ever shown had been with Mikael, and at that point, Mikael had been ancient history for about two years.

"Really," she insisted.

"I spared Tyler's life because you asked me to, when I knew he would come at me again the first chance he got."

"Yeah, but that was because you knew he couldn't harm you."

"I didn't kill you for betraying me that night."

"Yeah, but I'd also saved your life. You felt like you owed me."

"I kept spending time with you even though every single time, I knew that you were only there to distract me from your friends' plots to get rid of me."

"Yeah, but…" Hm. She didn't really have a good explanation for that one. Well… Go shi. Klaus chuckled as her eyes widened with her realization and she frowned. "I don't get it."

"Don't you?"

"No. You may have fancied me back then, but you didn't love me."

"No, that's true. But Rebekah feared I might, one day. And then our enemies could have used you against me."

"So she was going to kill me, just like that, just because of something that might or might not have happened?"

"That… and she didn't like you very much."

"Thanks for that," she said wryly. "I guess I should thank you for protecting me from your sister. Although you know you could have undaggered her after two or three centuries. I mean, after we left Earth That Was, there was no way she would have been able to find me, even if she'd still wanted to."

"I know."

Something about the tone of his voice made her look at him seriously.

"What is it?"

He gave a one shoulder shrug.

"Rebekah would hate this world. The spaceships and the barren moons and everything else. The only places where she could be happy are the central planets, but they're all under Alliance control, and I'm sure I don't need to tell you what the Alliance do to vampires when they get their hands on one. After all, this is why you're here, isn't it?"

She nodded in understanding and suddenly remembered her other important question.

"Why are you here?"

He smirked and answered with a question of his own.

"Did you know that I fought with the Browncoats?"

Her eyes widened in disbelief. The Original Hybrid, so committed to a cause that didn't even revolve around him that he'd go to war to fight for it?

"That doesn't seem likely."

"I knew what the Alliance was going to be like. I knew it would make it harder for vampires to stay unnoticed. And I'm immortal, remember? I wasn't putting too much at risk."

She nodded. It sounded more like him.

"So what does that have to do with you being on this ship?"

"I met Malcolm Reynolds at the battle of Serenity Valley."

"Really? He didn't look like he remember… You compelled him," she realized. "Why? You two would have made great army buddies."

He chuckled and shook his head.

"He saw me feeding on a soldier right before the defeat. I compelled him to forget about me and left. Then a few months ago, I heard about this major heist in Ariel. The Alliance tried to keep it quiet, but they weren't very successful. Two fugitives had been caught and managed to escape, no one knew how. I was intrigued, since not many humans can get away from the Alliance, so I did some research about Simon and River Tam. I discovered that they were thought to be hiding in a Firefly. And I knew that Reynolds captained a Firefly."

"So you connected the dots. You thought that given his past, if he was knowingly harboring fugitives, it meant that he was still working against the Alliance. And cleverly so, if he's been doing that for… what, 6 years, without being caught?" At his nod, she continued, "And you decided to try your luck on his ship. Stay on the move. It's always been your strategy, right?" Another nod. A few seconds of silence. And then she came to a simple conclusion. "You're not getting off when we reach Haven, are you? You want to stay on Serenity."

"It's the safest place for us to be."

She wondered if by us he meant his sister and him or if he was talking about her, but she didn't ask. He made a good case, and she briefly considered the possibility of staying here for a while herself. She had already taken a liking to Kaylee, the shepherd looked like a kind man, she could handle Jayne, the pilot seemed to be fun to be around, Zoe and the captain were both fair, she was sure she could have a lot of fun at the Captain's expense with Inara even though she had yet to meet her, Simon wasn't a big concern… That left River as the only liability, and she could always be compelled. Nothing major, just a slight push that would make her stay calm whenever she was around vampires.

"You're thinking about it," Klaus said quietly, distracting her from her thoughts.

"I… Well, yes. I mean, as much as I hate to admit it, your idea's good. I've spent the last few years of my life running from the Alliance, why not do it on this ship? It could become…"

"Home," he finished for her when her voice trailed off.

"Yeah," she whispered softly, pensively looking around her, taking in her surroundings.

She could see herself living here, she thought longingly. She just didn't know if she would be welcome here. And now that she thought about it, neither did he.

"Are you going to compel them?"

"Not if I can help it."

"Why not?"

"Compulsion in the long term tends to create more problems than it solves. I'm just going to make myself useful. Given the kind of jobs they take, I'm sure having another morally dubious fighter onboard would be a plus."

She laughed at his auto-description.

"What about feeding?"

"Kaylee looks good enough to eat." He rolled his eyes when he saw her glare. "Joking. This crew usually finds solid ground at least once a week. I was thinking of feeding on those planets and taking blood bags for longer trips. Or just feeding off one of them and making them forget about it, if the need calls for it. Without killing them," he added just to be clear. Her glare turned skeptical and he gave a sigh. "I haven't killed anyone in years, Caroline."

"Have you suddenly grown a conscience?"

"Not exactly."

"Ah," she understood. "Bodies leave a trail."

He nodded. Say what you will about the Alliance, but they were thorough. They were aware that vampires existed, and their organization and communication were flawless. It made draining humans dangerous in the long run.

"So you're not evil anymore, but not by choice?" she clarified.

He smirked.

"I guess you could say that."

Well… She could live with that.

Wait, what?

What had she just thought?

"Everything alright, love?"

"I… don't know," she answered honestly.

She had chosen this ship because she'd seen something of herself in Kaylee, but she had never intended to stay. Then she had found out that Serenity was heading towards Haven, which was supposed to be a good place to hide from the Alliance, and she had thought that she could spend a few months there before she'd be forced to move again. Then Klaus had told her of his plan and she had considered adopting it herself, which would lead to seeing him every day for the foreseeable future, which hadn't made her run away screaming, which was already disturbing enough since it meant that she had apparently forgiven him for everything he'd done 500 years ago.

And now, it seemed her treacherous brain was making assumptions.

Just because she'd slept with him didn't mean that she had thought anything would come out of it. In fact, she had been convinced nothing would. She really had just wanted to get him out of her system.

But damn if he didn't make her feel safe and warm and beautiful and alive. She wanted to feel that way. Craved it. She was suddenly not so sure that two weeks were going to be enough. In vampire time, it was barely a blink.

On the other hand, he was more dangerous to her than he had ever been, now that she was allowed to have feelings for him. There was nothing holding her back and that was very, very bad.

Gao yang jong duh goo yang.

She was going to fall hard, wasn't she?

"You know, even if you decide to stay longer than two weeks, you'll always have a way out."

His quiet voice and his light touch as he pushed a lock of hair back behind her ear brought her back to the conversation. She realized that he knew exactly what she'd been thinking for the past few minutes. Huh. She'd forgotten about his tendency to read her mind and say exactly the right things to make her want to believe that maybe… just maybe…

"Take a chance," he whispered in her ear, his voice so low she might not have heard it without her vampire senses.

She was going to rot in a special kind of hell for this. Probably after she'd had to mend the pieces of her broken heart. Yet there was nothing she could but swallow hard, gather all her courage and nod.

He smiled against her lips.

"Shiny."

FIN