PROMPT: Could you write something that picks up right when the scene ends in 4x08, when tyler and elena rescued care from being tortured by kim the hybrid girl.

A/N: Based on a prompt given to me on Tumblr. I've never written Forwood before, so I'm sorry if it's awful.

Context Recap: In 4x06, Caroline convinced Klaus to sacrifice one of his hybrids, Chris, for Jeremy to kill in order to save Elena from being haunted by Connor. She tells Tyler at the end of the episode that she pulled this off by agreeing to a date with him.

4x08 - Caroline is captured and briefly tortured by Kim, who disagrees with Tyler's methods of unsiring. Tyler and Elena come to her rescue, and Tyler asserts his alpha status to free her.

In My Veins

"Watch your step…easy does it."

The entryway into the Forbes residence was by no means a difficult one to traverse, but Tyler took it upon himself to steady her trembling frame nonetheless. One hand on each hip, he guided her over the threshold, careful to mind the hall rug that had a pesky tendency of making itself a tripping hazard.

"I'm okay, Tyler, really," Caroline insisted in her usual breathy tone. She pushed an invasive blond lock of hair away from her eyes to deliver him an impatient sidelong glance. "You can stop worrying."

The thin layer of frustration in her tone did not sway him, however, as he continued to lead her toward the couch. She released a tiny, dejected sigh before she plopped down, but said nothing.

"Can I get you anything?" he asked.

She pursed her lips together in a very 'Caroline' manner, as if debating whether or not to let him strip away what little autonomy she had left in her current state. "Can you grab me a blood bag?"

"Sure." He practically leapt toward the kitchen, tearing open the refrigerator with such zeal that the hinges groaned in protest from his supernatural strength. He did a quick scan of its contents. "Where do you keep it?"

"Oh. In the giant case of beer."

He pulled open the front flap of the cardboard box, impressed to find that instead of being filled with cans, it was stocked with hospital contraband.

"Smart. Good hiding place," he said approvingly, returning to her side with a sack of O+.

"Yeah, well, can't be too careful," she murmured. Puncturing a hole in the plastic to access the delicacy that literally made her gums ache in anticipation, she began to sip quietly.

Tyler watched her in silence for a moment, witnessing as the light began to rapidly return to the depths of her bright eyes. A heavy pang of guilt still weighed down in the vicinity of his heart, so he scooted his body closer to hers to clasp her free hand.

"Care, I am so sorry about Kim," he began quietly. "She has a bad habit of being a pain in the ass, but I never thought she'd bring you into it."

With a mildly obnoxious slurping noise, she finished her fill and set the empty bag aside on the coffee table, leaning gently into his frame.

"It isn't your fault, Tyler," she murmured, her nose brushing against his collarbone in a way that sent a delightful tingle through his nerve endings.

"But it is," he insisted roughly. "She attacked you for the sole purpose of wanting to make me suffer."

She snaked an arm around his midsection, shaking her head against his chest. "She just doesn't understand what you're trying to do for her. Or the other hybrids."

He thought this over, knowing it to be true. He had hated Bill Forbes with such ferocity during his unsiring that he could have spit fire. It took months to finally realize the gravity of such an undertaking.

"Besides," she continued, "it looks like you won't have too many problems with her sassing back after tonight."

He could not suppress the small smile that played at his lips as he recalled the eleven vampire-werewolves kneeling down at his feet. After spending a lifetime of feeling inferior, it was undeniably refreshing to have others finally view him as a qualified leader.

They sat in silence for a few moments as his hand found its way into her mess of blond curls, fingertips brushing lightly against her scalp.

"Tyler?" she ventured, her voice sounding meek.

"Hmm?"

"I'm so sorry about Chris."

The name struck a painful chord in the depths of his still grievous heart, and he was quickly reminded as to why they had not yet hashed out this particular point of contention.

"I know he was your friend," she added, sitting up to get a good view of his face. "And I helped Klaus set him up for Jeremy to kill. I just – I didn't know what else to do. I panicked. I thought Elena was going to kill herself, and I had no idea Klaus would choose someone so close to you, and all I could think about was getting Jeremy's mark started so that Connor's crazy Ghost of Christmas Past would leave Elena alone – "

"Caroline," Tyler interrupted, sliding both hands across her cheeks to grasp at the curve of her jaw. He could see the beginnings of anxious tears brimming in her eyes, and he felt his anger dissolving almost instantaneously at her remorseful expression. Caroline Forbes had a heart so gigantic that anybody of worth was welcome inside, and he knew that she would never do anything to purposely hurt someone – much less him.

"What?" she whimpered after a beat.

There were numerous things he could have said. They could have this conversation until the sun came up, talking themselves in circles about the lengths they would go to in order to protect a friend. Because that's what they had both been trying to do, after all: assist a friend in escaping a lethal fate. It just so happened, unfortunately, that his got caught in the crossfire.

But it was not Caroline he was angry at. Not really. Even Jeremy more or less guiltless in the matter, for he hadn't the faintest idea that Chris was Tyler's friend. It was Klaus, in the end, who deserved to suffer. And someday, Tyler was going to make that morbid fantasy a very tangible reality.

"I forgive you," he said simply.

She exhaled heavily in relief, as though she had been holding her breath for several minutes. He leaned forward to press his lips gently against hers, relishing in the taste of her mouth and the sense of utter debilitation that usually accompanied her mere touch. He pulled away after a moment, planting a lingering kiss on her forehead and pulling gently back against his chest. She nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck contentedly.

There was one other issue that needed discussing, however, and he had not particularly been looking forward to its return. But it had been itching relentlessly at the back of his mind, insistent upon reminding him of its existence multiple times throughout the day.

"Have you talked to Klaus?" he asked timidly.

He felt her body go rigid at the inquiry. She knew precisely why he was bringing it up.

"Unfortunately," she grumbled. "And no matter how nasty or unlikable I try to make myself, he refuses to let this whole 'date' deal go."

Tyler squared his jaw in disapproval, training his eyes against the far wall of the room. Words could not express just how venomously he hated that pretentious Original piece of shit, and the day he got a white oak stake driven through his heart could not come soon enough.

"I can't stand the idea of you being with him," he stated earnestly, the tension evident in his voice.

She pulled away to assess his features once more, but this time he could not bring himself to meet her eyes. He felt a tad ashamed for how jealous he felt, and perhaps if he refused to look at her, she would fail to notice how intense it actually was.

"Tyler," she began tiredly, curling her fingers around the hair at the nape of his neck. "Klaus can draw me a million pictures, and send me clothes made of the finest silk in the world, and leave ridiculously expensive jewelry on my doorstep for as long as I live. But all the pointless, materialistic gifts in the universe could not convince me that he has a single human bone in his body."

He purposefully swallowed an explicit retort, knowing his precise opinion of Klaus was inappropriate to utter in her company. She was far too refined for that sort of language.

"But you, Tyler Lockwood – you are everything that he isn't. You are my daily reminder of what it's like to be human. You are the one person I can trust to not judge me, even when I'm in full control freak mode and on the verge of an anxiety attack. You have a beautiful spirit and I've watched you come so far from the testosterone-crazy boy that used to pick on Jeremy Gilbert." She craned her neck to meet his eyes, and he felt his heart skip a beat at the candor in her expression. "And I love you, from now until the end of time. And no homicidal hybrid is going to change – "

If she had more to say, he'd never know – he had lunged at her mouth with such an animalistic ferocity that he was surprised he didn't startle her. She was immediately responsive, however, as she flung her arms around his neck, wrapping her legs around his hips as he stood to carry her lithe body to the bedroom.

It seemed like a lifetime past that he had once considered her to be an insufferable drama queen. He had teased Matt mercilessly for having a crush on her, unable to understand how he could possibly find a smidgeon of authenticity beneath that hard exterior of glitz and glamour. He had never in a million years considered just how misunderstood, and strong-willed, and beautiful Caroline Forbes could be, if only he took the time to get to know her.

And for all the compliments she had given him, she was mistaken in at least one realm: she was his humanity. She reminded him everyday what it was like to feel alive – showed him the meaning of true selflessness and sacrifice through her unflinching ability to always put others before herself.

She made him want to be better. Anything and everything he liked about himself came from her. And as long as he had her love, nothing could touch him for as long as he lived.

END