Two days, an episode's filming complete, and a failed conversation with Klaus later, Caroline was in the mood for a drink.

"Going straight to the hard liquor?" Stefan asked as she ordered her first drink of the night. All she did was nod, tipping back her shot and placing it back down. The cough her throat fought to release afterwards was muffled by her friend's laughter.

"I'm not in the mood for something fruity that'll barely give me a buzz," she protested, clinking her shot glass around on the counter of the bar. She knew she couldn't go crazy with the alcohol, because she knew from celebrity horror stories it was best to keep the binge drinking in your own personal apartment. The club they'd gone to was exclusive enough that they were used to celebrities, but she didn't want to take any chances. "I'm simply confirming I get a buzz very soon," she continued with a small shrug, eyeing a bottle of something deadly behind the bar. "And keeping it going," she added, estimating how many drinks would be too many.

"So who ruffled your perfect blonde feathers this week?" he asked, sipping on his own drink at a much different pace from Caroline, who was debating if a second shot was too much. "Besides me of course," he clarified.

"You've actually made the week better," she offered, dancing around the question given. "It's nice having a friend on set," she admitted, and Stefan rolled his eyes.

"Caroline, you know I love being told how much you adore me, but I think we should talk about who you don't adore," he said, and Caroline's shoulders sagged in response.

"They are many people I don't adore," the blonde offered, flagging down the bartender for another drink. "Katherine for example, she's a delightful soul. If I knew having her for a manager would be this hard I would've gone with the one who thought I was Disney's next big thing," she continued to give reasons about how horrible Katherine was until she finally reached the end to the long and rambling summary of her time in LA, "but I couldn't do it without her, so I guess I'll let her sacrifice her kittens."

"Kittens?" Stefan asked, "I thought she had enough of a heart to go for the full grown cats."

"She likes them young," she retorted, her eyes narrowing as her lips widened in a smirk. The bartender finally appeared, and after ordering and consuming an array of drinks that could poison those kittens, she noticed how amused her friend was, and sputtered out "What? Itwasntthatfunny."

"Well, aside from the fact you're completely wasted, you're very insistent on not answering my question," he told her, pushing a glass away from Caroline that was lucky enough not to have been swallowed in one gulp.

This time she took her time putting together her words, and they came out much better than her previous attempt. "I'm not wasted," she started, giving each word time to be enunciated, "and I gave you an answer."

"Not the right one." Caroline's eyes narrowed further at her now tentative friend's comment, so much so they should've been renamed slits.

"This is math," she protested, and after Stefan's raised brow she fixed her wording. "This isn't math," she restated, "and my answer isn't written in stone."

"Is it history then? Because that most certainly written in-"

"Stefan, I don't want to talk about it," she butted in, glancing over at the dance floor, where a few people had managed to dance to the beat, but a much larger portion was simply swaying at a hyper pace. "I wanna dance," she proclaimed, sliding off of her stool and extending a hand to Stefan. She was expecting to be dancing in mere seconds, very well if anyone asked. She didn't want to be washed up enough to go on the show, but Dancing With The Stars had a certain appeal. And she was capable enough. But Stefan wasn't budging, depriving Caroline of one of the simpler things in life.

"It wasn't that bad Care, just say it and I'll dance," he told her, and Caroline hesitated. She knew she was being overdramatic, but she couldn't help it. "It's unhealthy to worry, and get drunk, over the slightest bump the road."

"I've had many bumps, thank you very much, but this one isn't heartbreaking, it's embarrassing!" she said, finally opening up about the small disaster, as she had mentally labeled it.

"What's embarrassing about asking a guy how the weather is?" Stefan countered, and those slits of hers turned into saucers.

"You knew exactly what happened and you made me act like a idiot?" Caroline proclaimed, hand dropping to her side in an instant.

"You're a great actress, but you weren't acting just then," Stefan told her, and maybe it was that she had quickly inhaled some hard liquor, or that the song had changed to something slower, but it sure wasn't Stefan being right that had her sliding back onto the barstool. "For your health, and not for your liver's because that's long gone," Stefan playfully jabbed, "but for your mental health, I think it's best if you just say it out loud, because trust me, it'll seem silly to you that you've been worrying about this once you do."

Again, it wasn't because Stefan was right she retold him the story, it was probably just the liquor streaming through her. Although the change of mood had sobered her up a little, she still asked for a glass of water before she began her short story.

"We were taking a break while filming outside," she began, "and I tried to start up a conversation with Klaus. I said something stupid about how the weather was nice, and then I started rambling about how I hoped it'd stay nice, but how I liked rainy days every once in a while. I think I went on for a good six minutes on how clouds were nice, and how interesting it was how they were different types. I think my description of a Cumulus could was award winning, and a very rousing conversation topic, but here's the best part. While Klaus has no problem giving his opinion to every cast and crew member, he decided I was the one exception. I went on for probably ten minutes about the weather until our break was over, and he gave me a nod and a forced smile. I mean I get that he may have not been all too interested in my cloud talk, but he could've had the decency to try. I was trying! I was fucking trying, and he gave me a nod. If he was more a Nimbus cloud type of guy he should've just told me!" Caroline sighed, waiting to hear Stefan's response.

"Well something tells me that Klaus Mikaelson is most definitely a Nimbus type of guy, but you shouldn't be worried about your conversation of clouds, it really doesn't sound like it was that bad," he assured her, and Caroline let out an indifferent sound.

"The fact that you knew about it before I told you confirms to me that it was really that bad," she said. "How did you even know about it anyway?" she asked him.

"You mentioned something about how anyone who said commenting on the weather was a good idea should rethink all life decisions in the car earlier," he informed her, "And did you not forget I was there on set? I can tell when things have gone south for you, and the way you were mentally stabbing Klaus after you spoke to him during that break was obvious to me. I put two and two together, but I didn't know the full story, with the clouds, until now." This seemed to put Caroline one step closer to at ease, but it was obvious from her tense body language wasn't quite there. "There are worse things in life than not being able to converse with your co-star," he said, and although he was trying to be assuring he had failed.

"No, there aren't! We don't know each other, it has to show on screen, and if I can't even manage one non-fictional conversation with Klaus then what hope do I had that it'll look believable?" she asked him, and he was silent for a moment.

"Having faith in the fact that you're a great actress," he answered. Caroline looked down, breaking eye contact with him.

"All the acting I've done has been with cast members who I spoke to off set. What if I'm not so much a good actress as I am a good people person?"

"You're both, and being generally great with people helps you as an actress, but it isn't the only reason you are one. You and Klaus are very believable, if I didn't know better I would think you were in love with him rather than planning his murder," he assured her, and that got a smile out of Caroline.

"Well, I'm not sure how on board with murder I am. If I started Katherine would call me a hypocritical for judging her animal sacrifices," she teased, but the joking tone was lost on Stefan. All he got was a realization.

"What did Katherine tell you?" he asked. "Because you're not a bad actress for not getting along with Klaus, you won't lose your career."

"No, I won't, but I there's a chance I could lose my job on Paranormal. I need to get along with Klaus for interviews and press events and panels and anything and everything under the moon that helps the show promote. People aren't exactly happy with the change in love interest, and that could lose us some viewers," she explained to him. "Katherine didn't say it made me a bad actress, that part I cooked up on my own. Katherine said it made for bad press, and a healthy relationship with the Nimbus cloud himself makes for good press."

Stefan thought this through, and although he hated to admit that Katherine was right, since she was one of his skeletons in the closet that had seen the light of day, he understood where she was coming from.

"Just don't let this become like your most previous healthy relationship with a co-star," Stefan warned, and maybe it was too soon to mention him, but it needed to be said. He was even careful not to mention Tyler's name to Caroline, since she still shaken up about it.

"It won't be," she promised, giving him a small nod, although it was clear Caroline had been taken aback. "Besides, my past co-star was more than willing to talk to me," she reminded, "see a distinct different in the two?"

He nodded, talking a small sip of what he'd been drinking for the majority of the night. Since they'd be taking a cab he didn't need to be the designated driver, but he wanted to be the person designated to be able to think properly. He didn't like Katherine, but he respected her perseverance in keeping Caroline clean of negative press. They shared a belief that not all press was a good press, and he had a feeling that his friend was going to need someone to make sure they didn't get any undesired attention after too much to drink.

"So what's your plan on attack?" he asked her, and Caroline's brow rose. "How are you going to make him speak to you?" She shrugged, and he couldn't help but laugh. "Are you saying that Caroline Forbes doesn't have a back up plan?"

"I'm saying that Caroline Forbes isn't sure how to handle someone who won't speak to her," she replied, faster and snippier than Stefan expected a drunken person to be able to do. "I'll think of something, I have time. Katherine said something about the show's wrap party, so I'm making that my deadline," she told him, sipping on her water some more.

While she went to town on the FIJI water Stefan faked a gasp. "If only your high school self could see you now," he told her, "procrastination isn't your style, Care." She gave him a small shove, and although she kept in shape Stefan was able to stay on his seat.

"Neither is talking about the weather, but it seems I've moved onto a more basic skill set," she mumbled, something else generally steered clear of. Mumbling was for the weak, and only acceptable in Tangled, according to the girl next to him who prided herself in knowing all the lyrics to each and every song in the film. He wouldn't point out the mumbling to her though, even if he mentioned that it brought her one step closer to being Rapunzel. She felt too out of character as it was, so Stefan decided to tell himself the mumbling was a product of the alcohol.

The spilled water was something unlike the mumbling, he could blame on the alcohol without having to convince himself.

"Sorry! I'm sorry!" she blurted, grabbing a nearby and probably used napkin and passing it Stefan.

He shook his head, looking at the part of his shirt that had been splashed. "Just water. Don't worry," he said, and Caroline visibly relaxed her shoulders, and while she still looked around for napkins she didn't seem as frantic. "If you're going for the basic skills you could always go for a classic move and spill a drink on him at the wrap party, offer to help him clean up," he joked, dabbing at the water with the napkin, he had decided it was clean enough.

"Are you trying to get me to hook up with him or have a casual conversation?" she asked as if she had been scandalized by his words. He rolled his eyes, and Caroline just grinned.

"Unfortunately I think the spilled drink might do more to piss him off that intrigue him to speak with the weather girl," she told him, "I hate to burst your bubble, but I must speak the truth."

"Well what would intrigue him, talk to him about that," he offered, realizing that Caroline was too discouraged to really come up with anything on her own.

"If I knew his favorite sport I wouldn't be in this situation, and I wouldn't be talking to him about clouds."

"He likes his family right, I mean they seem pretty close knit," he continued in his attempt to help out. Caroline shook her head. Family was too personal of topic. Especially when they were one of the most respectable families in Hollywood, if there was such a thing.

"Can we talk about this later?" Caroline asked, noticing the music had picked up, and finding her way out of the dead end conversation. "I said what had been bothering me, and if I remember correctly I was promised a dance in return for the information," she reminded him, extending her hand one last time.

"I don't think you can remember anything correctly after those last two shots," Stefan responded, and Caroline sighed.

"I remembered enough to earn me some dancing," she protested, and now it was Stefan's turn to take a deep and dramatized exhale. Finally, he let her take his hand, and she was pulling him out to the dance floor.

Authors Note - I'm so sorry for taking so long to update! I've had such a busy summer and I wanted to update before I head off to San Diego for SDCC! Thank you for all the follows, favorites, and comments, and I hope you continue to like this story :) Someone asked what the pairings would be in this story and the main will obviously be Klaroline, but I also plan on having some Kennett and Stebekah. Speaking of pairings, this chapter is basically just Caroline and Stefan, and I wanted to make sure that you all know I'm that they are strictly platonic in this story, as they should but sadly won't be in the show.

I hope you enjoy the chapter! If you want check out my tumblr [ .com] or follow me on twitter [ LuceWrites]. And be sure to leave me comments letting me know if you like it!