Caroline unpacked her new clothes with a tired mind that night. As she hung them carefully in her wardrobe, she went over the meal again in her head. She wished that Elijah had not reminded her of Tyler's predicament. The atmosphere had seemed to turn so cold after that, although the others seemed to chat quite happily about other topics. Klaus had barely looked at her again for the rest of the evening.

She went over the decision again in her mind, but as much as she loved hanging out with Klaus in the city and getting closer to him, she just could not abandon her friend. Her mood low, she dug out her new pyjamas, ripped the tags off and slipped them on. They were modest, just a t-shirt and long bottoms, but the material was silky soft and she immediately felt a bit better.

Caroline strolled into the en-suite to brush her hair in front of the mirror, and emerged to find Klaus leaning on her doorframe. His face was closed, his arms folded. Instantly her foul mood returned, the guilt at her choosing Tyler over him made her feel sick when she saw how upset he looked. But she knew it was the right thing to do.

"Look, Klaus, I don't want to talk about it, okay?" she snapped, shoving the rest of her bags into the bottom of her closet.

"Look at me, Caroline," he said quietly, as she continued to tidy up tags from her bed.

"No, I get it. Tyler is my ex. It's awkward, it's weird- whatever- but he is still my friend and if he has disappeared and I don't do anything to help then what does that make me?" she sighed, fully aware that ignoring the problem was what she really wanted to do. Was she becoming heartless in the journey to follow her heart?

"Why are you getting all upset love? I backed you up at dinner, didn't I? We are all going to track him down."

"Yes but you don't really want that do you? You just said that because you're trying to give me everything I ask for," Caroline finally looked up at him and crossed her arms in anger- mainly at herself, although she would not admit it. "I just wish for once that you were honest with me instead of just compliments and flattery and trying to win me over! A true friend says what they think is right, not just what the other person wants to hear!"

Klaus glowered at her, "And is that what you want me to be? A true friend?"

Caroline flinched internally at the pain crossing his face. He strode forward, stopping a foot away.

"Well then, Caroline, as your friend, I shall tell you the truth. I do not care about Tyler one bit and after the way he always treated you, I'm surprised that you do either!"

"What is that meant to mean?" she spluttered, but Klaus ignored her.

"I think that this is just your martyr nature trying to save all your friends, putting them before yourself again and again. Is it worth it Caroline? Do they return the favour- do they come to your rescue? Or do they choose to save themselves. Because I remember being the only one coming to save you quite a few times last year, but no- you always put them first!" he paused, trying to control his emotions. Above me, he wanted to add but held it in.

"I just don't understand it, sweetheart," he finished softly.

But Caroline was shaking with anger at the truth in his words. All the hurt and insecurities of the past has risen up inside her as he spoke and now she wanted nothing more than for him to leave her alone.

"How could you possibly understand? You don't have any friends!"

Klaus stared at her in shock. No, he thought, do not agree with Michael, please! It would break him and she would not even understand what she had done.

Caroline carried on, aware of the damage she was causing but so emotional that she was unable to stop, "You don't have to come with me. I'll go find Tyler on my own. You just stay here and enjoy your penthouse!"

She would leave? She would leave him now? Klaus could not deal with this conversation anymore. Without a word, he strode from the room leaving Caroline standing with tears in her eyes.

She rushed over and closed her bedroom door, locking it. The inevitable tears began to run down her cheeks. Her cheeks burned. Caroline jumped as her phone started to ring. Rubbing her eyes furiously, she crossed the room and dug it out of her handbag, trying to control her breathing. The caller ID flashed up a photo of Elena's face and she fumbled to answer it.

"Elena?"

"Caroline! Oh my God, Caroline!" Elena's voice replied.

"Are you okay? Is something wrong?" Caroline asked quickly. "Where are you?"

"Care, calm down. I'm fine, I'm still with Stephen and Damon-"

"Don't say where we are!" Damon's voice was quite audible in the background.

Caroline scoffed, then laughed with relief, still wiping some tears from her eyes.

Elena's voice chirped up again, "Are you okay Care? How is Mystic Falls? Have the werewolves gone?"

"Oh, umm…" Caroline so did not want to be having this conversation right now. She sat down on her bed before answering. "No, I mean I don't know. I left!"

"Oh wow!" Elena sounded concerned. "Where are you?"

"I… well I decided to look for Tyler…" Caroline lied, feeling horrible.

"Care, that's why I'm calling you!" Elena gushed. "We think we might have tracked him down!"

"What, really?" Caroline sprang back up again.

"Yeah we heard that there was something going on out near Washington. Some witches have been experimenting on werewolves or something. They are trying to free them from the curse of the full moon and we think they might have kidnapped Tyler."

"Of course! He's a hybrid, he can turn at will!" Caroline gasped. "So what? They're like, experimenting on him?"

"Yeah something like that, we're not too clear on the details," Elena tried to explain. "Most of this is rumours but it's connected a few dots. I think that maybe they are trying to use his blood in their spells."

"Speaking of people with special blood," Damon's voice piped up again. "Since yours is the key to the hybrid spell, you realise that you won't be going anywhere near these witches right?"

Elena immediately began to argue with Damon, and Caroline could hear Stephen's voice chime in to agree with certain points. It was a struggle to get her attention again.

"Look Elena, Elena? Just contact me the second you know more okay? I want to help!"

"Yeah sure, will do! Speak soon!" Elena replied before ending the call.

Klaus had heard one half of their phone call through the bedroom wall. At one point he had kicked his bed so hard that one of the legs snapped and it had tipped onto a slant. Now he listened intently as the call ended. After a moment's silence, he headed out into the hallway, determined to speak with her again, only to smack straight into her as she came to find him.

Their heads cracked together hard and he grabbed hold of her quickly to stop her falling over. Her phone was still in her hand, tears drying on her face, but he barely noticed these details. His hands were wrapped around Caroline. Her pyjamas were silky soft, sensual against curves that he had only imagined holding before now. Her hands had come to rest against his shoulders, first for support but not in any hurry to move away.

Her eyes met his and he gazed into them, wondering at her beauty. Caroline swallowed nervously, her fingers shifting slightly against the muscles in his chest. Klaus was painfully aware of her tiniest movement.

"Elena called," she whispered.

"I heard," he replied, just as softly, gently touching her forehead where he had crashed into her. Obviously it would not bruise but the human part of him wanted to rub it better anyway. His other arm he left wrapped tightly around her, loathe to remove it unless forced to.

Her breath caught when his hand moved to caress her cheek. He swept his thumb slowly across her cheekbone, watching her reaction carefully.

Caroline felt her eyes being drawn to his lips, which smiled ever so slightly. She could not help herself. In a flash, her arms were wrapped around his neck as she kissed him. Her phone clattered to the floor, forgotten, as he kissed her back. His arms hugged her tighter to him. It was passionate; it was more than passionate- he had been waiting for so long for this, he almost could not believe his senses. One of her hands moved to pull his face closer to hers, her fingers winding into his hair. He returned the favour, stroking her long hair once then returning to her neck.

Together they stumbled backwards into his room, only to pause for breath, their foreheads resting together. His grin was infectious. All imagined hurts forgotten, Caroline kissed him again, her hands cupping his face. That stubble, those cheekbones, that smile… He was so perfect in her eyes at that moment that she took a while to notice the state of his bed, half collapsed in the middle of the room. She raised an eyebrow and he shifted awkwardly.

"Anger management issues?" she giggled.

Klaus smiled, "Actually, love, I think you'll agree that I am doing a lot better in that area than I was. That was a bed, not a person."

Her response was to kiss him again, surprising him with a cheeky grin afterwards. She turned shyly to examine the bed again, and back to him, taking his hand in hers.

"Well… you can't sleep on that now can you," she said slowly.

Klaus's eyebrows shot up in surprise. His mind immediately turned to all the things he had wanted to do to her over the past few months. But Caroline had been distracted. Her hand still laced with his, she stepped past the bed to examine the painting that he had been working on recently. He trailed behind her, wishing they were heading the other way.

"Klaus, this is beautiful!" she gasped.

It was a cityscape, a stormy night in New Orleans painted out in bold, confident strokes. At the bottom in the corner there was a small figure, picked out in greys and dark blues. He looked lost.

Klaus stood behind her and carefully wrapped his arms around her waist, still in disbelief that she would let him. Instead of a rebuke, she leant back into his body and he could smell a hint of perfume in her hair.

"It's not finished," he said, smiling into her neck. "I've been a little distracted lately. I promise you, it will look very different when it's done."

"You have such a talent. I wish I could do anything as creative as this! All I'm good at is planning things," Caroline sighed. She was very aware of her body's reaction to his breath on her neck and tried hard to make herself focus on the painting. Take it slow, Caroline, she thought furiously, take it slow! You're getting what you want- do not ruin it!

She turned in surprise when Klaus laughed. But he quickly kissed her forehead, smoothing out her frown lines.

"Sweetheart you amaze me everyday, I'm only glad that I have this one thing about me that I know I am good for, and no one can disagree." It had always been a solace for him over the years for a lot of reasons. Creating genuine beauty was not something that evil monsters did.

"I'm sure they can't, I almost can't believe you did this," Caroline said, turning back to the canvas. "Will you show me?"

"You want me to show you how I paint?" Klaus asked, surprised. In a thousand years, no one had asked that of him before. He found it incredibly flattering.

He turned on a couple of lamps that he had placed nearby so that he could paint well into the night and opened up his large box of paints, picking out a couple of brushes. When he turned back, Caroline was smiling warmly, her arms wrapped around herself.

"Cold, love?" he asked.

She nodded, shyly. Klaus quickly fetched the fleecy blanket that lay on his bed and wrapped it around her. She caught him as he went to turn away and gently kissed his cheek. He grinned and caught her lips instead. Her hands pulled the blanket around them both, and Caroline was almost lost to her emotions. But Klaus seemed to read her mind and drew back, grinning. He moved around behind her and kicked out the other three legs of the bed, lowering it each time so that it rested on its corners a few inches off the floor.

When it was level he held out a hand to take Caroline's and kissed it before escorting her to take a seat on the bed. He could not stop smiling as she leant sideways against the pillows, making herself comfortable on his bed. And the way she looked up at him…

"Well?" Caroline laughed, snapping him out of his daze. "I was promised fine artwork!"

"And artwork is what you shall receive my lady," he said in a cavalier manner, turning the canvas so that she could see what he was doing.

He picked out a brush and got to work, quickly getting lost in the joy of painting. Occasionally Caroline would ask about some technique, or how he managed to form the image of something by painting its shadow rather than the thing itself. But as it grew later her questions came slower and eventually Klaus realised that he had been happily painting away in silence for half an hour.

He turned to see Caroline asleep, her breathing even, a small smile on her face. He crouched beside her to leave a soft kiss on her cheek, before leaving to wash the paint off his hands and arms in the bathroom. When he returned, he took his suit off and pulled on his tracksuit bottoms. He started going around the room switching off the lamps. His painting stood, finished, in the middle of them. A beautiful sunrise now peaked over the painted rooftops, reflecting in the sad man's eyes- the image of hope blossoming.

In the darkness he crawled over the bed to Caroline, intending to carry her back to her own room. He did not want to cross any boundaries tonight without her initiating it. But as he put his arms around her he felt a warm hand snake out of the blankets and pull him closer to her. Still half asleep, she rolled to face him and mumbled into his chest.

"I thought you had gone."

Her little voice sounded lost. Klaus gently pulled the duvet up around both of them and kissed her hair.

"I would never leave you, Caroline," he whispered.

Soon they were both fast asleep, wrapped in each other's arms.