A/N- This story picks up right after the 100th episode of Vampire Diaries where Klaroline finally got their moment in the woods(!)—I'm taking a few liberties with plotlines here and there, so there may be a couple of AU moments, but basically all you need to know for this story is—Klaus and Caroline got together in the woods, Katherine took over Elena's body, Klaus went back to New Orleans—annnd our story begins! This is going to be a Klaroline story, written from Caroline's perspective as she takes a little trip down New Orleans way (finally!), with some appearances from my other favorites like Rebekah, Elena/Katherine, Marcel, Elijah, Damon, etc. etc. Let the fun begin!

Fight and Not Be Slain

Chapter One

Caroline's phone alarm went off at 7:30 am for her morning class on the last day before Fall Break. "Ugh," she groaned, rolling over to click the snooze button until she saw the date on the screen—October 10. Her birthday. Caroline smiled sleepily. She knew it was silly, and birthdays shouldn't really mean anything anymore since it was kind of pointless adding candles to a cake when you weren't technically aging, but she couldn't help it. It still meant something to her, and one thing that would never change about her was that Caroline Forbes loved any excuse to celebrate anything. Besides, they all needed some celebrating in their lives—everyone had seemed so freaking gloomy lately.

She was so happy to have Bonnie back of course, but now that she was back, Bonnie seemed to only really like to do two things—play Long Island Medium minus the horrible bleached blond helmet hair or reenact Cougar Town with Jeremy Gilbert. And the fact that Bonnie spent so much time talking to dead people was starting to worry Caroline—plus, selfishly, Bonnie had become a complete downer with the whole "ooh, the other side is reaching out to me right now" stuff. It was bad enough when you could tell your best friend wasn't listening to your stories—it was just downright weird (not to mention rude) when you had to wonder if it was because they were staring at some dead person over your shoulder.

And while she knew firsthand how badly break-ups sucked (and had just been dumped by Tyler herself, though nobody seemed to care or ask if she was okay since it wasn't her way to wallow in depression about it all the time) and was trying her best to be patient and supportive while Elena recovered from the whole ill-advised Damon debacle (that Caroline had warned her against a billion times, but whatever), Damon breaking up with her hadn't just made Elena sad- it had set her into this weird, listless orbit of depression Caroline had never seen from her before where she didn't seem to care about anyone or anything, including herself.

First of all, she was hardly ever home—God knows where she was, and she would bite Caroline's head off even when she asked the most innocent questions about what she had been up to—and when she was home, she would just stay in her room with the door shut and locked with weird music playing, whispering on her cell phone to someone. It was so bizarre. Who was she even talking to?

Caroline had called Stefan to see if maybe Elena had gotten back with Damon and just didn't want her friends—or, okay, Caroline, the self-professed Damon-hater, to know, but according to Stefan, Damon hadn't been having any secret phone conversations as far as he knew, and they were almost always together. According to Stefan, Damon had mostly just been brooding and drinking and pining—so normal Damon behavior, Caroline thought, rolling her eyes. What a loser. Elena should be out there partying it up to celebrate that she'd finally gotten away from that jerk.

Oh well. Elena had been all convinced Damon was her big epic love. Maybe this was going to just take a little longer to get over than her other boyfriends. And hopefully Caroline's birthday would be just the thing to help everybody forget their troubles, at least for a little while.

All three girls always did something special for her birthday, and they knew that ever since she'd been a little girl, this day had been a big deal to her. They had to do something fun for it, and she couldn't be the one to organize it—that was just lame. Even though Bonnie and Elena had been distracted by all of their own stuff, surely they had something planned—she'd even be happy at this point with something totally informal, like just going out for drinks and some good old-fashioned ghetto dancing. No matter what was going on in their lives, they'd always come together as a trio for her birthday. They knew it was special to her, and Caroline had decided vampire birthdays were even better—all the fun, none of the pesky aging.

You could have a thousand more birthdays. She suddenly remembered Klaus telling her that, in his soft, low murmur of a voice. Caroline closed her eyes, pulling her sheets up to her neck, pressing her lips together hard, shivering slightly. Klaus. Better not to even go there.

It had been three weeks since they'd last seen each other in the woods when she'd been looking for Matt outside the Salvatore boarding house and Klaus had made his surprise appearance. Klaus just appearing out of nowhere that day, everything she'd said to him, everything they'd done, it all felt like such a blur that Caroline would have thought she just made it all up if she hadn't woken up the next day on the Salvatore's couch with all her friends asleep around her, going to the bathroom mirror and locking the door behind her to gingerly examine some incriminating scratches and bruises in odd places that apparently resulted when a thousand year old hybrid rocked a vampire's freaking world. There was also the indisputable evidence that she was wearing her zip-up green jacket as a top, her bra and button-up shirt lost in the woods somewhere after Klaus had literally torn them off of her body. Caroline grinned sheepishly at the memory, her cheeks growing hot.

She'd never known sex could actually be like that, at least not sex that anyone would ever want to have with her. In the hastily constructed plans she had formed in her mind when she'd run into him, Caroline had decided to kiss him—okay, make out with him a little, and then walk away, maybe look back and give him a little smile for good measure.

But then she had kissed him, and it had felt so good, and he had smiled at her—that smile, good lord—and they'd started making out, and that had felt amazing, and then for the first time in Caroline Forbes' life, she'd stopped thinking. And apparently, she was not cut out for rebellion, or should have done it in smaller doses along the way of her life or something, because she had gone fucking crazy.

They'd literally been like animals the first time they'd done it, ripping off each other's clothes, doing it right up against the tree, hard and fast Caroline's hands clenching, her fingers tangled in his hair when she suddenly and unexpectedly came with a shuddering gasp, Klaus groaning with release, holding her up against the tree, his other hand pressed against the tree trunk above their heads, both of them breathing hard and sagging against each other like they'd just survived a warzone.

After a moment, Klaus had pulled back slightly to look her in the eyes, and they'd smiled at each other again, Caroline feeling so powerful and blissed out and hot all over when he was holding her and looking at her that way. He kissed her, and slowly lowered her to the ground, laying her down on top of their scattered clothes as he explored every inch of her with his mouth and tongue and hands, eventually going down on her until tears were literally sliding down her cheeks it felt so good at the end. And that was just the beginning of… Caroline wasn't quite sure what to call what had happened between them.

They had done it so many times in that clearing that it seemed kind of silly to call it an "encounter." She didn't even know how many times they had done it total by the time they parted ways—she had actually lost count. Caroline Forbes didn't have sex so many times she lost count. Caroline Forbes wore matching underwear sets and ironed her jeans. She smiled to herself. She was missing one half of a matching underwear set now. But she wasn't too heartbroken about it. A blouse and bra from Forever 21 seemed like a small price to pay for finally demystfying what all those Cosmo articles had been talking about when they described having "mind-blowing" orgasms with your man.

Not like he was her man or anything, Caroline quickly corrected herself. He'd left Mystic Falls just like he said he would, and she hadn't heard from him since. They hadn't exactly left on the best of terms, even after all the awesome sexytimes. She had been the one who had finally said she had to go back to her friends that night, and at first he had acted like she had said the meanest thing in the world. What had he been expecting? How had they gone from magic woodland sex to fighting and crying and…Caroline sighed, rubbing her forehead wearily.

Did Klaus just think they'd stay out there, having sex forever? Sure, in one of her super-secret Klaus fantasies, he would just be waiting for her in the woods to pleasure her whenever she wanted, but in real life—um, he wasn't her sex toy, she was in college, and both of them had to return to their real lives. Sure, the night they'd gotten together, even she had forgotten real life for a little while. But just for a little while. She'd barely even noticed any time had passed since he'd first pushed her up against that tree, but when she'd momentarily recovered from the haze of pleasure that made thinking coherent thoughts impossible, rolling off of him just to catch her breath, Caroline had looked up at the sky and realized the stars were shining down on them.

"W-When did it get dark outside?" she asked Klaus breathlessly, looking over to see him sprawled out on his back on the pallet of their scattered clothes.

"No idea, love," Klaus turned on his side towards her, brushing a strand of sweaty blond hair back off her forehead. "I hadn't noticed. I suppose I've been a bit preoccupied."

He kissed her, and Caroline closed her eyes, kissing him back, feeling like she was drunk on having so much Klaus all at once after denying for years that she felt anything at all for him. She loved the way he kissed her after he made love to her, so slow and deep, Klaus caressing her face, her body with gentle exploratory fingers, their shared vampire and hybrid abilities already heightening every sensation, her body responding to his touch even more intensely after an orgasm. Sex had felt good before, but never even close to this—she wondered if it was because, like all of their abilities, Klaus' powers had strengthened with age. Everybody knew vampire sex was hotter than your average everyday variety, but this was insane. Caroline was gloriously sore, her body throbbing in some very interesting places, still turned on and almost…rabid…like the way she'd felt when she'd craved blood the first time.

But the logical, human side of her brain annoyingly intervened and told her that they couldn't just keep doing each other in the woods for all of infinity. She didn't even know how much more her body could physically take—maybe she needed to build up more vampire strength for Klaus sex marathons or something, and while that sounded really, really fun, she thought she might be at her limit. Her muscles were already trembling and her skin soaked with sweat, and as much as she wanted to just keep going, she felt like he was going to break her vagina or melt her brain or something if they did it again.

She broke away from their kiss breathlessly after a moment, leaning her forehead against his. "Everyone…will be wondering where I am."

"I thought you were staunchly opposed to the whole 'gloating over a dead girl' party," Klaus pointed out, mumbling the words against the skin of her neck.

"I am, but…" Caroline's breath caught in her throat as he started to massage one of her breasts, losing her train of thought for a moment as his thumb gently kneaded her nipple and he started kissing her neck. She had to do or say something because her body was already responding to him, and she needed to call it before Round…what were they on now? Ten? Eleven? She needed to come back to reality. They both did. Her own words from what felt like a lifetime ago returned to her…she wanted to make a life for herself, her own life, and every second she spent out here with him would just make it harder to let him go. "Klaus, please…you promised…"

He stopped what he was doing, pulling away and looking down at her. "You really want me to leave? Right now?"

"You asked me for the truth. About what I want."

"And you still haven't given me your answer." Klaus pointed out.

Caroline let out a disbelieving laugh, looking around at the aftermath of her practically mauling him and the hours they'd spent together in the woods as day had turned into night. "You cannot be serious. You still don't know what I want? Was something about the sexathon we just had unclear to you?"

For a moment he just looked at her with an expression of such immense sadness and disappointment that Caroline felt his misery resonate in her bones, feeling connected to him in a different way than she had before they'd slept together, a way that scared her with its power and depth. But he didn't seem overwhelmed by the same newfound connection. His eyes were dark and hurt, as if she had just unknowingly opened a deep scarred-over wound. Finally, Klaus just gave he a short, curt nod, pulling away from her and starting to get dressed in silence.

"What? What's wrong?" Caroline sat up as well, grabbing her zip-up jacket off the ground and pulling it over her shoulders, zipping it up before rooting around in the leaves to find her tangled up underwear and jeans. Klaus was already dressed and starting to walk away when she got them on, climbing to her feet and hurrying after him, zipping and buttoning her jeans. "Klaus! Stop it! Don't just walk away. Talk to me."

He turned around so suddenly she nearly ran right into his chest, Klaus catching her by her arms, his voice an angry growl. "Oh, I think you've said it all, Caroline. I asked you what you wanted from me, and you told me." He looked down at her mussed appearance, shaking his head and letting out a derisive snort. "I did my very best to give you your heart's desire, princess. I do hope I didn't disappoint you." She hadn't heard him this angry in a long time. "I promised to leave and never come back if you were honest with me about what you wanted, and you held up your end of the bargain. So now it's my turn. Goodbye, Caroline." He turned to go, but Caroline grabbed his arm, wrenching him back around to her.

"You're not being fair!" Caroline shouted. "You can't ask someone for the truth and then throw a temper tantrum like a little boy because they don't tell you what you want to hear! That's not how it works, Klaus!"

"Oh, and you're always so bloody eager to tell me how everything works, aren't you, Caroline? Go on, then. Tell me how this works. Tell me you still don't give a damn about me. Tell me what just happened between us meant nothing to you."

"I never said that," Caroline shook her head, frustrated tears spilling down her cheeks. "Of course I care about you. Of course it meant something. But that doesn't change…it doesn't change who we are. I can't just…" Caroline ran a hand through her messy blond curls. "I don't know what you want me to do."

"The same thing I've always wanted." Klaus took her face in his hands. "Come with me. I've waited for you. I've tried to stay away and forget you. But I can't. I can't do it. I've wanted you from the first moment I saw you, and I want you now more than any man ever could, no matter how many thousands of years we live after this."

"Klaus—"

"You were right about me, Caroline. I was hurt, I was lost, but you saved me. I love you. I'm in love with you. I don't ever want to be away from you again. Come with me. I don't even care where we go, as long as we're together. Leave this all behind, and I swear to you, I will love you for all the lifetimes we have left."

Caroline shook her head, starting to fully cry. "I…I just can't. I'm so sorry."

Klaus swallowed hard, his jaw clenched, his eyes full of tears. "May I at least ask why?"

She pulled away from him miserably. "I don't trust myself with you. Even just now…when we were together…I had this crazy thought that…I could just be with you, hidden away, you and me in the dark, forever, and be fine with it. My friends, my family, my life— when I'm with you, they all feel so far away. And when I'm with you, it feels so good, so impossibly good, that I…I think I'd lose myself in you, and if there was nowhere there to stop me-"

"You're the strongest person I know, Caroline. The strongest, the bravest, the only person who ever told me the truth—there's nothing on this earth that could make you lose yourself to anyone or anything. Nothing. Why are you so afraid of pleasure? Why do always run from it like it's going to ruin your life?" Klaus demanded.

Caroline rubbed her forehead, honest with him as she could be with no one else. "I…I don't know. I'm afraid, I guess."

"Of what? Happiness?"

"Blindness. Letting myself forget the truth because of how I feel."

"The truth again. We've come back to that, have we? Go on then. What is this precious truth about me you keep so carefully guarded?"

She threw her hands in the air with frustration. "I don't care about what you've done anymore! All the people you've hurt, all the lives you've ruined, all of the thoughtless acts of violence you've done—I know they should make me hate you, but they don't. I can't even conjure up disgust anymore because it's just too exhausting to keep pretending that I hate you. And the fact that I don't care that you're a monster, that I don't find you disgusting, that I don't hate you…it makes me hate myself. Because it means it's finally happened. It means it's finally happened, and I have to accept it. It means I'm a monster too." Caroline wiped tears off her cheeks.

"Caroline, no—" Klaus shook his head. "Forgiveness doesn't make you a monster. Quite the opposite. It means you have mercy in your heart—sadly for everyone but yourself, love. But I can see it, even if you can't. You're an angel. The only true embodiment of beauty and light that I've ever found in a world that's done everything it can to crush the goodness out of you. But it hasn't managed it yet. And I don't believe it ever will. Because you're strong. And good. And if everyone else mistakes your kindness for weakness, it's only because they mistake anger for strength. Being angry doesn't make you strong. My angriest years were my weakest. I was so lost for so many centuries. But you woke me up, Caroline. You showed me there could be more to this life than misery and loneliness. And any peace I've found, any shred of goodness you've seen, any fleeting moment of kindness—they were only pale reflections of your light, darling. It's all because of you."

She stepped forward, out of words for a moment, just kissing him hard, wrapping her arms around his neck, Klaus stumbling back slightly before taking her in his arms and kissing her back. She could taste his tears mingling with her own as they embraced, a long, desperate kiss, before she ended it, speaking with her lips still brushing his, keeping her promise and telling him the truth. "I don't want you to go. But if you stay—"

"They'd never understand. I know. I only want your happiness, Caroline. And if that happiness is here in Mystic Falls, then I know it can't be with me. But if you ever reconsider…" He kissed her once more, gently disentangling himself from her before walking away, disappearing into the darkness of the woods without another word.

And that had been that. No calls, texts, e-mails, anything from him since. She knew she shouldn't be surprised since she had made it clear they couldn't be together, but to be honest, it had hurt a little. And she just missed him. He was the only person in her life who let her be completely honest, and who listened to her every word with such intent focus that it made her a little nervous sometimes, but she still loved it.

It felt like she'd had to work her ass off to talk everyone else—her friends, boys she'd dated—into liking her before Klaus. He hadn't needed any convincing, that was for sure. He'd asked her to run away with him to Rome on their first "date" or whatever that Mikaelson ball thing had been. It had been weirdly more romantic than any actual date she'd ever gone on, even though she'd spent most of the night telling him off, he'd seemed to like it. Really, really like it. She still had the picture he'd drawn her from that night, hidden away at the bottom of her keepsake box. She didn't even know why she kept it. Just no one had ever done anything like that for her before.

It was overwhelming sometimes and unfamiliar to think that Klaus was actually, genuinely just into her and not her prettier friends, and while she had always scoffed and laughed off his "epic love" declarations in the past, she had always kept a special, secret place in her heart where she could admit to herself that she loved the way Klaus looked at her, treated her like a queen, bought her gifts, showered her with compliments, actually cared what she thought, actually listened whens she spoke, showed up whenever she needed him—sometimes before she even knew how much she needed him. Like that day in the woods. Some part of her had been very happy he was back in town. Yeah, your lady parts, she thought with a guilty little smile.

Caroline shook herself mentally, climbing out of bed in her pink-and-white striped Victoria's Secret pajamas, grabbing her phone and padding over to the bathroom in socked feet. She brushed her teeth and washed her face, putting on the Birthday playlist she had made on her phone when it was just too freaking quiet in the apartment. The door to Bonnie's bedroom was open, and her bed was still made up, so apparently she had slept somewhere else last night, and she could hear the TV on in Elena's room, so she knew she wouldn't be waking her up with music. Caroline took off her pajamas and socks, climbing into the shower and turning on the hot water, singing along to Zendaya's "Replay," finding it very, very annoying that lately every song that even had the slightest connection to sex (or boys, or love, or…really any song with lyrics) now made her think obsessively about Klaus, especially when she was naked and under pounding hot water.

Caroline looked around guiltily, almost as if someone could be watching and judging her even while she was in the shower, seriously considering something she used to think was more of a Samantha-from-Sex-and-the-City thing, but that she'd been doing more and more often post-Klaus-sex. She'd even found herself looking at vibrators online (before immediately deleting her browser history, of course), because she knew she'd never have the lady balls to buy one herself in public. But what if Elena or Bonnie opened the package before she got home? She'd be mortified. She was supposed to be the good friend. Perfect little Caroline. She didn't use vibrators. She didn't think like that. And maybe she could save money and embarrassment— their shower head was detachable…

Just as she was tentatively sliding slippery fingers between her legs to begin, her cell phone pinged with a new text message and Caroline nearly fell to her death, slipping in the shower with surprise, catching herself on the wall, letting out a little gasp of surprise. It was like some higher power was telling her not to masturbate or something. All right, all right, message received, Caroline thought glumly, finishing her shower much more innocently than she wanted, climbing out and wrapping a towel around her head and another around her body.

She walked over to her phone, having a happy little inward debate over who would be her first birthday text. Maybe Bonnie felt guilty for not being there to make her birthday breakfast? Maybe her mom actually remembered for once? Maybe Matt or Stefan or Jeremy? She'd done her fair share of throwing good parties for them over the years, she was certainly due some appreciation. Or her project group friends from her American Lit class? She'd dropped some not-so-subtle hints to them about her birthday coming up. Caroline wiped off her hands on her towel, picking up her cell phone and clicking the button to read the screen.

She nearly dropped the phone.

KLAUS

Happy birthday love.

She took a deep breath, unable to help responding. It was like a sickness. Caroline Forbes could not abide an unreturned text, mostly because it made her so crazy when people didn't return her texts, she didn't want to inflict that on anyone else she cared about. Her fingers were shaking slightly as she typed, and she reprimanded herself for being so silly. It was sweet of him to remember, but Klaus had always said he loved birthdays too. She needed to calm down. It was a freaking text message. It wasn't like he'd proposed marriage or anything. She hadn't told him to never talk to her again. She had just said not to come back to Mystic Falls, and he hadn't. Texts were allowed in this weird, confusing new arrangement of theirs, she supposed.

CAROLINE

U remembered

KLAUS

Of course

…

Big plans?

CAROLINE

Prob just w the girls

…

What r u up 2?

KLAUS

N2m, going 2 a jazz festival tonight w Bekah and Elijah

…

Wish u were here

…

But that's nothing new :)

CAROLINE

That sounds fun

KLAUS

More fun with a beautiful blond date on my arm

…

You haven't had a proper birthday until you've had one in the French Quarter love

CAROLINE

UR 15 hrs away from me and my car's a piece of crap

…

I might be a little late for the party :)

KLAUS

Say the word and I'll book u a first class ticket to NOLA

…

Call it a birthday present if that makes u feel better

…

2 hr flight- U could b here by this afternoon

Caroline was surprised by how tempted she was by his offer. Klaus asked her to come to New Orleans all the time, and she said no—it was just something they did. He probably wasn't even being all that serious, probably expecting a refusal. But it did sound fun. And exciting. And it would make for one hell of a birthday.

I'm too smart to be seduced by you. I know. That's what I like about you.

Was that all this was? A seduction? Now that they'd slept together, was the whole "not being seduced by darkness" point null and void? Caroline looked up at the mirror, seeing her make-up less face and her hair still in a towel turban. It was way too early in the morning for this confusing of thoughts.

CAROLINE

I have 2 go 2 class. Text u after

KLAUS

Bugger class. It's ur birthday

CAROLINE

I always knew u were a bad influence

KLAUS

:)

Caroline smiled, taking down her hair and scrunching the waves with gel so she could wear it down and wavy for her birthday. She got dressed in a simple white lace sundress, noticing it looked windy and overcast outside, digging out her brown leggings and boots and a denim jacket to wear with the dress so she wouldn't freeze walking around campus. After she got dressed, she finished blow-drying her hair with the diffuser to keep it curly, and put on a little bit of mascara and lip gloss. She tossed her phone in her brown leather purse, knocking on Elena's door before she left for class.

"Elena? Hey, I have to go to class."

There was a sound of frantic rummaging around and the TV clicking off before Elena answered the door, looking like hell with smudged eye make-up, her long brown hair messy and greasy in a side-braid over her shoulder, wearing a black tank top and underwear. There were dark shadows under her eyes, and Caroline thought her teeth looked slightly pink, as if she'd recently fed. It smelled like alcohol and blood in her room, but was pitch dark behind her. Elena barely opened the door a crack, peering out at Caroline with bleary, hung-over eyes. "What is it?" she muttered.

"S-Sorry," Caroline blinked with surprise. "Didn't mean to um, disturb your slumber or whatever, but I…I just have to go to class."

Elena shrugged her thin shoulders, looking bored and exhausted. "Okay."

Caroline tried not to let her hurt feelings show on her face. Not even a happy birthday hug? Or…like, some acknowledgement? She knew Elena had an early morning class too. They usually ate breakfast and walked to class together on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. But apparently, not today. "So…I'll just be going."

"Awesome. Go…uh, learn something." Elena gave her a little fake smile, practically slamming the door in Caroline's face. Caroline even heard her lock it afterwards. Caroline sputtered with shock. There was bad break-up behavior, and then there was just being a bitch. The meter needle was rapidly moving to bitch where Elena was concerned.

"So all my friends suck." Caroline mumbled under her breath, walking out of the door and to her first class, barely paying any attention to the Bio lecture, wondering what the hell was wrong with Elena. Elena had never been a morning person, but sheesh. After class, Caroline's phone pinged with a new text message, and Caroline dug it out of her purse, hoping it was an apology from Elena. But it was from Matt.

MATT

Just wanted 2 give u a heads-up that Tyler's back in town and not doing so great

CAROLINE

WTF? Really?

MATT

Really and I would avoid Mystic Grill 2day if I were u

CAROLINE

Why

MATT

He's here and doing shots at 10 in the morning

CAROLINE

Y is he so upset

MATT

He won't say but prob something to do with Klaus

CAROLINE

So what else is new

MATT

LOL no shit- just wanted 2 let u know- I prob wouldn't come here 2night at all if I were u

CAROLINE

Thanks

MATT

Sure thing

Great, Caroline thought to herself. Just when she thought the Tyler drama was over. Thinking about seeing him again made her feel absolutely exhausted. He was always mad at her about something, and after he'd clearly failed in his crazy vengeance campaign against Klaus, somehow it was all going to be her fault, or she was going to be disgusting for still talking to Klaus, or…who knows. She couldn't even guess what she was going to be in trouble for this time. At least no one knew about her sleeping with Klaus yet. She couldn't even imagine the shitstorm that would unleash if Tyler ever found out.

Caroline looked down at her phone. Still no calls from anyone else. Matt hadn't wished her a happy birthday either, just told her she couldn't go to her favorite party place tonight because her stupid ex-boyfriend was there so she wasn't allowed to go there. And it wasn't like Mystic Falls was overrun with awesome bars and nightclubs either. Choices were pretty limited. It was Mystic Grill or…leave town?

She thought back to Klaus' offer. She did have the whole next week off for Fall Break. She only had one afternoon class, and she'd already e-mailed in her paper for it, so she didn't even really have to go. None of her friends seemed to care that she was alive, much less that it was her birthday. But Klaus remembered. He cared. Taking the plane ticket seemed a little too Bella Swan though. She had a better idea. Caroline grinned, feeling wild and rebellious as her plan further formulated, texting Klaus.

CAROLINE

What's ur address

KLAUS

Reconsidered my offer have u?

CAROLINE

No I just want 2 send u something

…

The old-fashioned way. I thought u would appreciate the gesture since ur like a billion yrs old :)

KLAUS

Fair enough

Niklaus Mikaelson

!902 Dauphine Street

New Orleans, LA

70116

CAROLINE

U didn't have 2 put ur name crazy

…

I know what ur name is

KLAUS

Just keeping things formal and old-fashioned between us

CAROLINE

So do I have to call u niklaus now?

KLAUS

Call me whatever u want love

…

and if u don't mind putting ur return address as well, i'll happily find and mail to you more than suitable replacements for the articles of clothing of yours that I regrettably destroyed during our last meeting. Sincerest apologies about that, btw. I'm clearly unable to maintain logical thought in your presence, as I'm sure u know by now.

CAROLINE

Don't worry about it.

…

I have 2 go. Have fun at ur festival

KLAUS

Will do. And I'll buy everyone at the bar tonight a round and make a toast in your honor. The day Caroline Forbes came into the world should always be properly celebrated.

CAROLINE

Glad u agree :)

…

KLAUS

Can I tell u something that might make you hate me again

CAROLINE

Oh great what now

KLAUS

I hate ending our conversations without saying I love you at the end

…

It feels so fake not to say it 2 u

…

It always has

Caroline looked down at her phone for a moment, breathing out as if she'd just had the wind knocked out of her. Klaus always talked about how he admired her goodness and kindness—well, she'd always admired his bravery and honesty. Good grief. She couldn't even imagine how terrifying it would feel to put yourself out there like that.

CAROLINE

Maybe we should talk about this face to face.

KLAUS

I couldn't agree more.

…

What r u saying? R u coming here?

CAROLINE

Just go to ur festival. I need 2 think about some things.

KLAUS

Ok.

…

Call me if u need me 2night. I'll have my phone w me.

CAROLINE

I will

Caroline put her phone back into her purse, not allowing herself too much time to think or talk herself out of what she was doing, marching back to her apartment, finding Elena's door still closed and presumably locked and Bonnie's room still empty but not caring, hoping neither of them saw her or asked her any questions as she hurriedly packed a bag of clothes and toiletries and walked straight out to her car. She climbed in, tossing the overnight bag into the passenger seat next to her, digging her phone out of her purse and turning on Google Maps.

It located her present address of Whitmore College for the starting point, and after clicking the line for the destination, Caroline typed: 1902 Dauphine Street, New Orleans, LA, 70116. She turned on the voice guide, set the phone down in her cup holder, and backed out of her parking space, following the voice's instructions and hitting the highway, bound for New Orleans. She wasn't waiting around for anything anymore. She had read in a magazine that it was extremely important for a girl to take a road trip by herself at least once in her life, and there was something so liberating and exciting to think she was leaving town and no one could stop her. She could just drive until she was tired, stay in some crappy hotel tonight, and then show up in New Orleans tomorrow and give Klaus the surprise of his life. Let everybody else deal with their own tired drama back in stupid old Mystic Falls. She so needed to get out of town for awhile, she wanted to see Klaus, she'd never been to New Orleans or anywhere interesting really, and absolutely nothing was stopping her but her own fear. And Caroline was so fucking tired of being afraid.

She was going to do something for herself, just because she wanted to do it, and for once, she wasn't going to beat herself up endlessly about it. Everyone else she knew just did what they wanted all the time while she fretted and worried and made plans in the corner. Not today. She had no real plan. Right now, she was just going to do her best to stop thinking and drive. Happy Birthday to me, Caroline smiled to herself, putting on her sunglasses to block out the sun feebly peeking from behind the storm clouds and turning up the radio as she took the ramp onto the highway.

Caroline finally made it to New Orleans around two o'clock the next day, her blond curls twisted back on each side and pulled into a low side ponytail, her hair annoyingly misbehaving on the day of her big arrival, frizzy from the humid weather and the shitty motel shower's hard water. She felt groggy from being on the road for so long and not sleeping very well the previous night on a very questionable mattress with very pokey springs, but she was feeling much more awake and alert now that she was finally here. She'd done her best to look cute with the limited resources in the motel room and an iron that didn't work, wearing dark denim jeans with her brown boots and a purple floral print blouse.

It was starting to drizzle down rain, and she already had no idea where she was going, straining to see clearly as her wiper blades left streaks behind on the windshield. When she and Tyler had been dating, he would always pester her that she needed to get her wiper blades replaced. And her oil changed more often than once in a blue moon. And her headlight fixed. Somehow she never seemed to get around to doing those things because she figured—she lived in Mystic Falls. How far could she really need to drive? Plus, her mom was the sheriff. What, was she going to get grounded or something for a faulty headlight? But now that she'd actually put her poor little car through its paces on a fifteen-hour road trip, she could see that she probably should have taken better care of it all these years. Things were starting to creak that should not be creaking. The brakes were making odd noises whenever she took corners. It'd be a miracle if this car survived the trip home. Oh well. She'd worry about that later. Right now, she needed to figure out where the heck she was going.

It was starting to rain harder, and Caroline could barely see the lights of the car in front of her. It was the middle of the day, but the storm had completely blotted out the sun, turning the roads ominously dark and shadowed. She turned off her radio, needing to focus. The signs she had passed earlier told her that she should be getting close to the main city center of New Orleans at this point, and when she glanced down to see the two little dots on Google Maps, they were almost on top of each other. When she looked back up, taking what should have been her last right turn, Caroline gasped, slamming on the brakes. The car in front of her had come to a complete stop, and she nearly rear-ended them, her car's tires squealing and hydroplaning on the slick street, the front of her car stopping what must have been mere inches from the car in front of her.

"Holy shit!" She clapped her hand to her chest, feeling like her heart was going to explode. The car in front of her had stopped so suddenly because they had both turned onto a street that had a full police blockade in front, red and blue lights flashing, making Caroline slightly dizzy, crime scene tape everywhere, and as she strained her eyes harder, she could see several historic buildings that looked like the tops had been ripped off of them by some kind of movie monster, burned and hollowed out down to their bottom floors. There were banners hanging haphazardly across the buildings, most of the banners half-torn down, and Caroline could make out something about a Jazz Festival on one of them. Posters for the same festival were plastered on every building in the vicinity, most peeling off from the rain now, but it looked as though some had been literally clawed off of the walls, the claw marks deep enough that they'd penetrated solid brick and stone. All of the buildings bore scorch marks and the ground was covered in damp ash as if there had been some kind of hellhole opened there last night. Caroline gingerly turned off her car, climbing out with her keys still in hand and walking over to the nearest police officer.

"Excuse me, sir…"

"Ma'am, this is a crime scene," the officer said shortly, "please turn your vehicle around and find another way to your destination."

"Um, okay, I hear you, but this is my destination. My friend lives on Dauphin Street." She tucked a few loose strands of her damp hair behind her ears, getting soaked to the bone by the rain but not caring. "Can you tell me anything about what happened here?"

"We're not releasing any of that information, I'm sorry."

Caroline stepped closer to him, speaking in her sweetest voice, her hand on the man's arm. "Please. I'm just worried for my friend."

The police officer looked down at her, sighing slightly. "I would be too, if I were you. We knew there had been some trouble lately between the more eccentric…factions of the city, but last night it turned into a full-blown riot."

"People were hurt?" Caroline asked quietly.

"Try twenty-seven people, sweetheart." The officer rubbed his forehead wearily. "The news outlets are already calling it "Cult Carnage in the French Quarter." As if this city didn't have enough bad press already."

Caroline felt her heart twist with worry, looking up at the man, focusing all of her energy on his eyes, compelling him to answer. "Was Klaus Mikaelson here last night? During the riot?"

"Was he here?" The man snorted with humorless laughter. "He practically started the whole thing. That son of a bitch."

"He killed people? Innocent people?"

"I don't know about killed, sweetheart, we don't have the full casualty report yet. So far, we know that twenty-seven people were either injured or have been reported missing. As far as what your friend Klaus got up last night, I was a little distracted by the complete fucking mayhem to notice who was doing what to whom. When I got here, everything was already underway. I saw him on a stage with those crazy siblings of his, having some kind of knock-down-drag-out fight. Those maniacs were tearing buildings apart with their bare hands, and so we weren't exactly tripping over each other to intervene, and by then, there was already so much chaos down here, we figured we could do more good on the ground."

"Was Klaus arrested?"

"Are you crazy? No. Once we realized bullets weren't hurting them or even slowing them down, we backed off. No one knows where he went. He disappeared during the riot. And listen, hon, I've seen some crazy shit in my days working this town, so I'm not going to say that anything's impossible, and I don't know what your friend Klaus is, or what he thinks he's doing, but this is a city that's trying to rebuild. If you see him, you tell him to stay the hell away from here."

"What about Rebekah and Elijah? His siblings?"

"They're gone too. Good riddance. Fucking monsters. Makes me sick. You know, all these witches and vampires and werewolves—they're what's giving New Orleans a bad name. I say we just lock them all up together and burn 'em all."

You'd have to lose the donut gut and catch all of us first, asshole, Caroline found herself thinking spitefully, shocking herself. She'd never so readily identified with the vampire community before, even just in her own mind.

"Thank you for your help." She looked into the man's eyes again, compelling him to forget everything they'd just discussed. He blinked, looking down at her as if she had just walked up to him. "Ma'am, this is a crime scene. Please turn your vehicle around and find another way to your destination."

"Oh, my goodness—what happened here?" she asked with mock innocence because it seemed too suspicious that she wouldn't at least ask.

"I said to turn your vehicle around, not ask a million questions," the officer barked sternly, clearly relishing this rare moment of power.

Caroline just nodded like she was a good little compliant citizen, trying to take everything in that he'd told her before, walking back to her car, her hair and clothes dripping wet as she climbed back in, backing out and starting to drive down the longer main street, having no clue where to go now. She dug out her phone, clicking Klaus' name on her Contacts list and waiting impatiently as the phone rang and rang, drumming the thumb of her other hand against the steering wheel with anxiety. Finally he answered.

"What do you want, Caroline?" She could barely hear him—the reception was terrible. His voice sounded ragged and broken, a man absolutely exhausted and at the end of his rope.

"Klaus, where are you?" she asked, noticing that the aftermath of last night's riot continued past just the main site of the festival. There were claw and burn marks on other buildings too, and crime scene tape over the doors of other establishments, cop cars at seemingly every third door on the French Quarter. "I just drove past your address in New Orleans, and—"

"You're here?"

"Well…yeah, I thought I'd surprise you," Caroline said, feeling suddenly nervous and embarrassed. There was a long silence on the other end of the line. "Was that not okay?" Caroline finally prodded.

"You mad, beautiful woman," Klaus breathed out with a weary laugh, "I've been trying to get you to come down here since the day I met you, and you finally show up the day after the bloody apocalypse."

"Are you all right? The police said something about a riot—"

"Yes, we Mikaelsons caused quite the scene. That traitorous family of mine keeps trying, but they never seem to manage killing me off, do they?" he said bitterly. "Not exactly the nice night out I'd imagined for me and my dear sweet baby sister and that brother of mine that everyone always thinks is so bloody good. I don't understand it, Caroline. I really don't. No matter what evil deeds they do, Rebekah's still the poor little victim and Elijah's still the noble stalwart. And I'm still the disgusting bastard son whose entire existence is owed to the indulgence of our mother's baser instincts. What hope did she give me of not being hated by all of them, really? We all have our little roles we play, I suppose."

Caroline didn't like the way he was talking. Klaus had a tendency to wallow if he started down this road, and she wasn't going to let that happen. "Klaus. Tell me where you are. I'm coming to you."

"I'm afraid I wouldn't make for very good company at the moment, love."

"I don't care. I did not just drive for fifteen hours in a car with air-conditioning that decided it just didn't really feel like working in Alabama, pay for overpriced gas with a credit card that I probably just maxed out, live off Chex Mix, Pink Rockstar Energy drinks and blood bags from a mini-cooler for two days, and then sleep alone in a freaking sixty-four dollars a night room at Day's Inn on the night of my birthday for nothing. So tell me where the hell you are. Now."

There was another pause, but this time, she could practically hear him smiling. "Good God, Caroline. Now I'm not sure who's had the more horrific experience in the past twenty-four hours."

"Shut up." She laughed. "It wasn't that bad."

"Are you talking about my night or yours? Because I'm still trying to process the fact that a hotel exists in the twenty-first century that charges sixty-four dollars a night for a room."

"I believe it's called a motel, actually." Caroline giggled. "And you are such a snob sometimes. So sorry my life isn't fancy enough to live up to your royal standards, Your Highness."

"I did offer to purchase you a plane ticket," Klaus pointed out.

"Yeah, and thank goodness I didn't take you up on that offer—I would have been right in the middle of World War Mikaelson last night," Caroline countered.

"Touché, darling."

"Then I would have had to vamp out and you'd get all distracted by my awesome super skills, and they'd totally have owned your distracted ass, and then where would you be?" Caroline grinned.

"You know, that's actually a very good point. You so very rarely let me see your true face, Caroline. Me or anyone else, from what I've heard."

"My true face?"

"You as a vampire."

"Um, yeah. Because I look disgusting."

"First of all, that's not possible. And second of all, I rather liked the look of you…ravenous."

Caroline shifted in her seat a little nervously. "Okay, whatever, I've now driven around the same city block like ten times. People are going to start thinking I'm an escaped mental patient or something. Or like casing the joint."

"Casing the joint?" She could hear him smiling again.

"Yeah. Like planning a heist. There's a bank on this street. It's a thing. People say that," Caroline said defensively.

"Oh, I know. I just didn't know Caroline Forbes said that." Klaus laughed.

"Ugh, you are so annoying sometimes! Just tell me where you are already." She rolled her eyes.

"All right, all right. What street are you on now?"

"Canal."

"Cross street?"

"Um…hold on, I'm coming to the light. Treme. Like the show."

"Keep going straight on Canal until you see Clairborne. Take a right on Clairborne and then another right on St. Louis. You'll see the St. Louis Cemetery #1 on your right when you turn. Park your car in the cemetery parking lot. Sorry, love, but you're going to have to get a bit wet. Keep your head down and if anyone approaches you, do not talk to them. If they press the issue…neutralize them if you have to. Desperate times, and all that. Once you're out of the parking lot, turn to your left and you'll see a neighborhood street. If you continue down about a block and look to your left, you'll see a short drive that leads up to a red brick manor. Walk down the drive and then around to the back yard of the house. I'll meet you there. Do not go near the front door or even step onto the porch. The entire front of the house is rigged to keep out…er, unwanted guests. Vampires aren't our only enemy here, so we can't just rely on them being uninvited anymore. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Caroline said, feeling a strange little thrill of excitement. Yippee, our lives are in our danger! She really was going nuts lately. How boring must her life have become in Mystic Falls that evading evil armies of werewolves and witches and Mikaelsons sounded fun instead of scary? As had been happening a lot lately, she remembered something Klaus had told her once—Small town boy, small town life, it won't be enough for you… But what was the solution? Keep putting herself in crazier and crazier situations like she had some kind of freaking death wish?

Whatever. She needed to pay attention to where she was going on these unfamiliar streets. She could sort out her existential crisis later. With Klaus, maybe—he did always have weirdly good advice. Surely he'd had his share of existential crises after being alive for a thousand years. She'd have to ask him. It hit her suddenly how little she really knew about him. Maybe it was just because they'd finally had sex, and maybe she was just being a total girl, but she found herself much more curious lately to know how he felt about any and everything—not just her.

Caroline shrugged to herself, turning right on Clairborne. No time like the present to start finding out more about him. With Klaus hiding out for the time being (she actually knew someone on the lam, she thought with a smile, only with Klaus, this could only happen when she was with him) and her car starting to make scary sputtering noises, it looked like they were about to have plenty of time on their hands for catching up.

Thunder was rumbling followed by lightning splitting the sky when Caroline parked her car at the entrance to St. Louis Cemetery #1. It wasn't like any other graveyard she'd ever seen—there were no headstones or plots, just rows and rows of aboveground crypts and mausoleums packed in side by side, the aging and crumbling stone dwellings of the dead turned dark gray by the now pounding sheets of rain. She turned off her car, looking around and not seeing a soul in sight. There were a few other cars in the parking lot though. From what she could tell, these graves were far too old to contain dead that humans could still be mourning. And surely there were no tourists on a day like this?

Maybe those cars don't belong to humans, she reminded herself, taking a deep, nervous breath. Anyone or anything could have followed her here. She had no idea who was looking for Klaus or what the hell kind of mess she was walking into. Stop. You're not some helpless little victim. You're a vampire too. If you need to fight, you can fight.

Caroline put her phone in her purse, snapping it closed and getting out of her car, slinging her purse and overnight bag over one shoulder, walking with as much confidence as she could muster, as if she knew exactly where she was going and didn't have a care in the world, even though her heart was hammering in her throat and it was raining so hard now that it would have been hard to see where she was going even if she had done this a million times.

She was relieved when she made it out of the cemetery parking lot and to the adjoining neighborhood street, feeling less exposed, clutching her arms around her chest as she walked until she reached the end of the block and the long drive leading to the red brick manor lined by Spanish moss oaks on either side.

When she was close enough to see the manor, Caroline was literally left breathless for a moment by the sight of the grandeur in front of her eyes, shielding her eyes from the rain so she could look up. It was a sprawling antebellum mansion with four massive white columns in the front. The home seemed to have been somewhat inspired by medieval architecture as well—she could somewhat make out colored stained glass designs in the windows, and there was a circular tower at each of the four corners of the home. What in the world was a home this beautiful doing tucked away back here? There was no kind of historical monument registry, no sense that it was any kind of tourist destination. It seemed deserted, even a little run down. This was so bizarre. Caroline lowered her hand from her eyes, starting to walk farther down the drive, towards the back gate of the manor.

Suddenly, she sensed someone behind her, every nerve in her body suddenly tingling with anticipation, and something else…hunger. Her stomach even growled. Like she'd told Klaus, she'd been subsisting off blood bags like she always did but she realized she'd been so distracted by everything that had been going on that she hadn't fed at all today or much yesterday. Shit. Shit. Shit. Go away, whoever you are, Caroline wanted to yell at them, running her tongue over her teeth, checking for fangs. Nothing yet.

"Don't you know it's dangerous for a pretty little girl like you to be walking around all alone?" A man's voice she didn't recognize, cruel and leering, spoke from behind her. "Especially after last night…the cities overrun with monsters, or hadn't you heard…you afraid of monsters, pretty little girl?"

He stepped closer to her, reaching out to grab the side of her neck, and she sensed in that moment his own hunger for her blood. Caroline spun around, seeing that her instincts were right and the man was a vampire, and then her hands were at his throat, lifting his massive, overweight body off the ground and tossing him away from her like a toy. She was on top of him before he even knew what was happening, moving with inhuman speed and strength, Caroline straddling his chest, fully transformed now, her eyes dark red, surrounded by bulging veins, panting through her fanged teeth for his blood.

"No, I'm not afraid of monsters anymore. Are you?" she growled, before shaking her hair back out of her face and sinking her teeth into his neck, drinking her fill and then some, finding vampire blood even better than human blood, her hands clutching the damp t-shirt that was clinging to his flabby chest, unable to stop, unable to remember the last time she'd really, truly fed, not from a blood bag, but from a neck, felt flesh yield to her fangs—

"All right, all right, love, I think you've done your work. Come on, then." She felt a hand on her shoulder, heard Klaus' voice as if it was a million miles away, but ignored him, drinking more. "Caroline!" Klaus' voice again, but this time he seized her under her arms, pulling her away from her victim and up to her feet, blood dripping from her mouth, down her chin, and all down the front of her floral print blouse as she struggled against him like an animal in a trap, finally managing to wrench out of his grip, turning to face him, growling with fury. "Get away from me!" Caroline roared, not even recognizing the anger in her own voice, shoving Klaus hard in the chest, stronger than she'd ever felt, actually making Klaus stumble back slightly with surprise, Caroline laughing and licking the blood off her lips, holding out her arms as if saying, "What now, bitch?"

Klaus looked her over with a hunger of his own, suddenly moving with blurring speed towards her, seizing her shoulders with an iron grip and speaking with his mouth against her ear. "Darling, I'm really loving this new side to you and I can't wait to explore it further, but would you mind terribly if we did it inside?"

"But I'm fucking starving," Caroline muttered, looking over at Klaus' neck, suddenly having the insane idea that she could just sink her fangs into his neck right now and taste the sweetest, best blood she'd ever known.

Before she could give into one of the craziest vampire instincts she'd ever experienced and try to feed on an Original without their permission, Klaus pulled away from her, holding her out at an arm's length. He made no reference to reading her thoughts, but there was something in his expression that made her wonder if did know that she'd been planning on biting him. "I have all the blood you could possibly want in the house, Caroline. You can have as much as you need, all right?"

She just nodded numbly, breathing hard as she looked up at him, her face reverting to normal as the adrenaline rush faded. "I-I'm sorry. I couldn't stop. I don't know…I don't usually…" Caroline stammered.

"I don't care how you satiate your hunger, love. Do whatever you like. I would imagine that endlessly repressing all of your natural instincts when you're going to live forever is resigning yourself to one hell of a miserable existence. I just didn't want us to be seen out here." Klaus looked at her for a moment thoughtfully. "You know you don't ever have to apologize for who you are to me."

Caroline sighed. "Don't you mean what I am?"

"You said there was a part of me that was human. Do you not believe the same of yourself?"

"I…I don't know. I don't know what I believe anymore." Caroline looked at him for a long moment, trickles of rain working their way down his face as he stared into her eyes intently. She felt nervous, looking down for a moment and not feeling any less nervous, noticing that his long-sleeved blue shirt was soaking wet from the rain and clinging to the muscles of his chest and stomach as they stood close together their bodies almost touching.

Klaus reached out, his hand on her cheek. "Go around to the back and let yourself in the house. There's plenty of guest rooms on the second floor with their own bath. You're welcome to any of them—get out of these wet clothes, take a nice, hot shower, have a rest, whatever you like, whichever room you like. Just not the rooms in any of the four corner towers. Those belong to my siblings. They're not to be disturbed. You understand, I'm sure. My room's on the third floor. You're welcome to anything there, of course. Just not my family's rooms." His voice grew oddly stern all of a sudden, and while Caroline thought his instructions were a little…okay, completely weird, she just nodded, and Klaus continued:

"There's also all the blood you could ever desire in the kitchen freezer if you're still hungry. Help yourself to anything you'd like. I'm going to take care of this…" he motioned to the lifeless body on the ground, "…and then I'll check over the grounds. I don't understand how he…no one even knows about this place, not even my sister and brother…it shouldn't have been possible for anyone but you to find it…unless…" Klaus trailed off, looking uncertain and anxious as his eyes scanned the rain-soaked tree line around them, searching the shadows for danger. "Never mind. You go ahead and start settling in. I'll be downstairs soon if you need me, all right?"

"Okay," Caroline nodded. He gave her a short nod in return, going to step away from her, but she reached out, her hand on the side of his waist. "Hey, Klaus. Wait."

"What is it?" Klaus looked back to her.

"Do you want me to just go? I feel like…you sound like you're dealing with a lot of family drama right now, and maybe I'm just causing you more problems…just if you want me to leave, please just say it now before…before we…"

"Before we what?" Klaus asked her, raising his eyebrows curiously.

"Don't be an asshole. You know what I mean." Caroline's eyes narrowed. "And please just answer the question, because contrary to what The Notebook programmed me and every other female of my generation to believe, standing in the pouring rain arguing passionately with my secret lover is not super-romantic or awesome, it's actually really freaking miserable and cold, and I really do want to go inside and take a hot shower, but not if you're already trying to invent nice, chivalrous ways to sneakily ask me to leave later and not make you seem like the bad guy—"

Klaus took her face in his hands, kissing her soundly, Caroline closing her eyes, relaxing against him as they embraced, her hands sliding up his back to the muscles of his shoulders, sighing slightly with pleasure when he parted her lips with his own. It turned into a very long kiss, neither able to stop something that felt this good, the sensation of finally being able to give into an impulse that had been simmering between them practically since they'd met still so new and novel and addictive to both of them, both of them remembering that the last time they'd started down this road, they'd started ripping clothes off at this point.

But Klaus annoyingly summoned some measure of self-control from somewhere this time and looked down to end the kiss before any clothes-ripping could occur, Caroline clutching his shoulders for dear life, the wet fabric of their clothes outlining every curve of their upper bodies pressed up against each other, making her feel like there was little between them already, Caroline breathing so hard she felt dizzy. Holy shit. "So you want me to stay?" she finally managed to say.

Klaus stroked her cheek with his thumb, his other hand still tangled in her damp blond ponytail. "I told you that day in the woods that I never wanted to be away from you again. Of course I want you to stay."

Caroline smiled. "Okay."

"I'll be right behind you," Klaus promised her.

She nodded, reluctantly to walk away from him but grateful to hurry towards the shelter of the backyard porch, finally getting out of the storm. He'd left the back door open for her, and she let herself in, hoping that at least some of her clothes in her overnight bag were still wearable and not completely soaked through from the rain at this point.

There was a steady drip-dripping noise from her hair and blouse and bag on the dark wooden floors as she closed the back door behind her, and she could hear the sound of a grandfather clock's pendulum counting out the seconds, but other than that, the house was eerily silent. Caroline stepped in a few feet, the heels of her boots so loud in the otherwise near-total silence of the home that she felt on edge, like she was going to be shushed, like in a library or museum.

The back door seemed to come in underneath the grand staircase of the home and when Caroline walked in further, stepping out from under the grand sweeping horseshoe shaped staircase and into the center of main foyer of the home, she turned in a slow circle, shivering in her wet clothes, letting out a stunned little laugh at the sheer opulence (and keeping it real, self-importance) of it all—the massive golden glass chandelier over the entryway where every dangling crystal was clearly hand-crafted in the shape of an oak leaf, the stained glass windows with the Mikaelson family crest emblazoned on every panel above the front door, the floor length Oriental rug depicting an oak tree shedding a myriad of red and white leaves—every detail made it perfectly clear that this was not a home for a family who shirked from tradition and pride. And as she turned fully around, she could see that across the landing of the second floor staircase, painstakingly and beautifully hand-engraved in the wood in gilded block print, the Latin phrase—SEMPER ET AETERNUM. Always and Forever. Some kind of family motto, maybe?

Caroline then noticed that each baluster connecting the handrail to the balcony on the second floor bore a capital letter M, and then on each side of entryway, the descending staircases had letters on their balusters as well. Five letters repeating, five times, in descending order—E, F, N, K, R. Caroline walked to the staircase on her left, running her fingers over the sequence of five initials she could easily reach. "E, F, N, K, R. Elijah, Finn, Niklaus, Kol, and Rebekah," she murmured quietly. "The Original Family." Wow. This place was like some kind of monument to Klaus' precious family bloodline. And she had a funny feeling that she knew exactly who the four towers –"the family rooms"—belonged to now as well. One for each of his siblings. So they could all be together. Always and forever, apparently.

"S-Seriously, Klaus?" she giggled a little nervously to herself, feeling as though she'd just wandered onto the soundstage of some very dramatic southern gothic novel. "Subtle. Very subtle."

This was definitely going to be interesting. Not even sure what to expect to find next as she walked up the left side of the staircase to the second floor—creepy monuments to his two deceased brothers? A hand-drawn life-sized family portrait done by Klaus himself? An enchanted family tree like in Harry Potter?—Caroline decided to seek out one of the guest rooms that had a private bath. Creepy or crazy or whatever else this house was, if it had running hot water and a soft bed to sleep in, for right now, Caroline was happy.

A/N- Until chapter two!