Sorry this took so long. Hopefully the ending is worth it!

"I think we'll be safe for another scouting mission just to make sure," Klaus said, noting Sheila's nod and his father's reluctant murmur of agreement.

"Is that all then?" Ansel asked after a moment.

Klaus hesitated for a moment before nodding. He knew that he should disclose to his father that he was with Caroline, but he almost couldn't believe it himself.

Ansel gave him a searching look but didn't press, finally saluting quickly. "Dismissed."

Klaus didn't bother to return it, just walking back to his quarters with his hands in his pockets, shooting filthy looks at anyone stupid enough to get in his way until the scurried out of his path. If the soldiers knew he was in a mood they would be less likely to bother him.

Nerves built in his gut as he approached his door. He half-expected that he'd go back and find that she'd changed her mind, that her clothes and bag would be gone and she'd convinced Bonnie to take her in until they found new quarters for her, but he felt his entire body relax when the first thing he saw was her on her side in his bed. She was asleep in his shirt, her blonde hair making wet spots on the fabric, her lips slightly parted. He couldn't help but long to pick up some paper and sketch her, but he managed to refrain.

It made sense that she was exhausted. He had no idea how she'd only thought she'd been gone for a few days and was determined to figure out what happened to her. Memory loss, perhaps? In any case, she still wouldn't have had access to a safe place to sleep. He was perfectly content to let her. She'd need her energy, after all. He fully intended on touching every inch of her, finding what made her tick, what made her quiver in his arms.

"You're staring," she mumbled suddenly, one of her eyes cracking open.

"Sorry, love."

"It's fine. I'm sorry I fell asleep. I totally intended to start without you, but your bed is really comfy."

He grinned. "Don't be sorry, sweetheart. I'm sure you're exhausted, and I would rather you were awake for what I have planned."

"Intriguing," she said, her voice still scratchy, a yawn escaping her moments later, and he tried his best to hold back a laugh.

"Go back to sleep."

She hummed, her arm moving out to clumsily shove the covers down on the left side of the bed before looking at him pointedly. His shoes and socks were by the door in a few seconds, the rest of his uniform following, and he slid into bed beside her, unable to resist slinging an arm around her waist to trace the line of her spine. She didn't seem to mind, her legs tangling with his almost immediately, though she didn't lean in, her eyes open now, drinking him in, her palm moving to rest on his shoulder.

"You didn't think I'd be here when you got back," she said quietly. It wasn't a question, but he nodded anyway, knew the movement was jerky and sharp, but he couldn't shake the irrational anger that she knew him so well, that she could read him like that. She sighed, her palm moving from his shoulder to the back of his neck, fiddling with his curls. "I love you. I'm not going anywhere. Okay?"

"Okay," he repeated, bending to kiss her forehead.

"And you aren't either? Going anywhere, I mean?" she asked, the syllables running together as a single word, and he could tell that she'd been afraid to ask.

"No," he said quietly. "I promise."

She gave him a radiant smile, moving to kiss him softly, her lips lingering on his for a few moments as though she was trying to memorize the feel of them before she pulled back, brushing his nose with hers in a gesture that he knew would be disgustingly sweet from anyone else. From Caroline it just felt...right.

"Good."

He wasn't tired, but he let Caroline drift off in his arms, content to doze along with her or watch the way her eyelashes fluttered every now and then, her breathing slow and even. She opened her eyes again about an hour later with a soft groan. "Feel better, sweetheart?"

"Kinda," she mumbled. "What time do I have to actually get up?"

"I'm not sure. I doubt you'll be sent on a mission."

She hummed before her eyes flew open as though she'd just had some sort of epiphany. "Oh my god I must have so much to do! Who's teaching the baby pilots right now? Is it someone terrible? Please tell me it's not Damon. Gods, he'd screw up so bad. I need to be debriefed too, right? I missed so much if I've been gone for six months. Have there been any attacks since I left? Do we need to-"

"Katerina is teaching the new pilots. I'm helping a bit. You have missed a few developments, but no calamities have occurred since you left," he assured her, fiddling with her curls. "I suppose that the first order of business is canceling your funeral."

Caroline snorted, her body relaxing into his again. "What's your other choice? Throwing me off the ship for funsies?"

"I considered it," he said dryly. "I thought I was hallucinating or that a cylon figured out how to recreate your body."

"You still kissed me."

"I thought I'd never get the chance. Cylon or not," he said, trying to keep his voice light, but she worried her lip between her teeth, tangling her fingers with his. "Either way, I realized that it was you when your lack of tact reared its ugly head. A cylon would never have known that you're so rude to your commanding officer."

Her lips were twisted in a soft smile, and she squeezed his hand lightly before schooling her expression into something that could pass as irritation, despite the sparkle of mischief in her eyes.

"I was rude? You were ready to drag me off to the brig like a caveman."

He shrugged. "With good intentions."

"Yeah, well, I didn't appreciate it."

He gave her an unrepentant smirk and she rolled her eyes, wriggling closer against him with her chin tucked in his shoulder. "Seriously. You don't get to tell me what to do."

"Well..." he began, unable to resist taking the opening she gave him, and she interrupted him before he could make a joke about being her commanding officer.

"Look, I'll follow directions on the field, but this relationship outside of that is a two-way street, got it?"

"I would never dream of assuming you'd follow my every order," he drawled, and she snorted.

"Um...you've probably dreamed about it a lot. I would not put it past you to have a kink for me calling you by your rank."

"Caroline..."

She pulled back, her eyes wide and deceptively innocent. "What, am I wrong?"

He knew he'd hesitated for a second too long when she gave him a smug smirk. "I knew it."

It wasn't that he was ashamed. Far from it, if he was being honest. In fact, he had a feeling that she wouldn't tease him about it as much if she didn't share the inclination, and he was looking forward to exploring that. No, he just wanted to make sure that she understood that she was to be kept as safe as possible.

"Caroline, all I'm attempting to convey is that I'd very much prefer you to not put yourself in unnecessary mortal danger. As your commanding officer, I can assure you that your skills are vital in our efforts to win this war. When we thought you'd died we had to adjust our entire strategy. Perhaps I might have overreacted a bit, partly because you're a valuable asset and partly because I love you and it's difficult to see you in any pain or discomfort. I understand that it wasn't the most professional thing for me to try to put you in the brig-"

"Yeah, it really wasn't. You literally were about to pick me up and haul me off. I could tell."

"-I'm not above blurring the lines to keep you as safe as I can, considering the circumstances," he finished.

She looked like she wanted to argue for a second before wrinkling her nose and letting her head drop back onto the pillow. "If you insist, Captain."

"I do."

She made a soft grumbling noise that made him grin before suddenly perking up, blonde curls tumbling down from her shoulders to tickle his nose. "What was that middle part again?"

"What, love?"

A smirk spread across her face as she bent to press her forehead against his. "You said you love me."

"I should think that would have been obvious."

"Klaus Mikaelson, king of stunted emotional expression loves me."

"Now that's rather rude—"

"I never claimed to be polite, but it's a good thing you love me anyway..."

"Careful with that pretty mouth, Lieutenant."

"You know I won't be, Captain," she said, shifting into a more comfortable position with her back pressed against his chest and relaxing into his arms. "As we've already established, you have a thing for it."

He lifted the hem of the shirt he'd leant her, his palm lingering on the soft skin of her ribcage. "Your mouth or you calling me by my rank? I've admitted to neither of those allegations."

"It's always the guilty ones whose response to accusations is 'you have no proof'," she teased. "However, I fully intend on making you admit both of them during our sexathon, which I've tentatively scheduled for tomorrow morning."

"Scheduled? You just admitted yourself that you don't know what you're doing tomorrow."

"I know who I'm doing," she half-sang, her hand wandering down his side.

"Goodnight, Lieutenant," he said, his voice tinged with a clear warning, and he felt her shiver in his arms.

He'd been right.

"Goodnight, Captain," she teased, and he groaned, his cock twitching against her bare thigh through the fabric of his boxers.

"Later," he said, and he wasn't quite sure which one of them he was trying to reassure.

XXX

Caroline hummed to herself as she stepped out of Klaus's obnoxiously awesome shower. Apparently being the son of the general had its perks, because the water pressure on hers was about a thousand times worse. After some snooping she'd found what looked like a clean towel in the cabinet above the sink and she wrapped it around herself, finger combing her hair. Since she'd gotten a few hours more of sleep than Klaus, she'd woken up in his arms to find him dead to the world, and decided to take the opportunity to clean up and prep herself for rocking his world.

She had plans. She had for years. Sure, she'd never expected to actually be able to follow through, but now that she had the chance, she was here for it.

She finally found an actual comb in his bathroom drawer and begun to tug it through her hair to get out the knots, grimacing at the stabs of pain but fighting through it. He was a light sleeper, and time was of the essence. Once she was done, she poked her head out to see whether Klaus was still asleep (yep) before letting the towel fall and tip-toeing towards the bed.

She'd contemplated slipping out to ask Katherine if she knew where her belongings were—clothing was too precious to throw away, but nothing got given away until the funeral—because she had a lingerie set she saved from before the invasion that made her boobs look fantastic. She decided in the end that it wouldn't stay on for long anyway and she wanted to be there when Klaus woke up.

She straddled him over the blankets and bent down to press a kiss to his cheek, ignoring his grumble of annoyance at being disturbed. "Klaus..."

"What?" he asked, his eyes opening blearily. She could see the evolution from sleepy confusion to appreciation to want, and grinned as his hand moved up to cup her breast, his thumb brushing over her nipple, which was puckering from the cool air. "I'd hoped to undress you myself, you know," he said, his amusement clear.

"I was trying to be efficient. Plus I don't have clothes."

"We'll have to rectify that," he murmured, his fingers now skating over her collarbone, his eyes fixed on her face. "Later."

"Yeah," she breathed, shivering at his light touch to her neck, goosebumps prickling her skin. "I guess so."

He gave her a dimpled smile, the one that always made her heart leap in her chest, and she bent to press her lips to his. The kiss started out soft and slow, though it soon picked up speed, his teeth nipping her lower lip to encourage her to open up, hands steady on her waist. A small part of her had been nervous that after they'd confessed their feelings the shine of the unresolved sexual tension would fade and their chemistry would fall flat, but from the way her heart was pounding in her chest and heat was prickling under her skin, it was clear that she shouldn't have worried.

His hands were everywhere, calloused palms deliciously rough against the skin of her waist. His tongue slipped into her mouth, sliding along the back of her teeth and she sucked it between her lips, pulling away to smile as he groaned, grinding against her thigh through the blankets.

His eyes were magnetic, their gazes meeting as she gently tugged his wrist from her waist to guide his hand to the apex of her thighs. He groaned at the first brush of his fingers to her slick skin, and she moaned as he quickly found her clit, his fingertip moving in tight circles. "That feels good," she breathed, her forehead dropping to rest on his shoulder, and she heard him laugh quietly before his hand withdrew, settling on her hip, the wetness of her arousal clinging to his fingertips slick against her skin. "Why'd you stop?"

"I told you, I want to taste you," he said, the words a low growl that made her heart pound in anticipation. She managed to keep her mind enough to shake her head. Her fingers itched to map every inch of him and she desperately wanted to discover the feel of the hard ridges of his abs against her fingertips and the heat of his cock in the palm of her hand.

"I've wanted to touch you for so long—"

"And I've wanted to taste for longer," he said, his calloused palms caressing her hips in a way she'd never thought could feel so good, and he tugged lightly to encourage her forward, the blankets deliciously rough against her aching core. "Let me."

She bit her lip, unable to look away from his dark, wanting eyes. It was intoxicating, the feeling of being wanted, of knowing that he'd been waiting to taste her, fantasizing about what it would feel like to touch. "Klaus..."

"Come here," he said, and she started to roll off of him, but he held fast steadying her hips. "Here, Caroline."

She edged forward on her knees, Klaus nudging her towards his face encouragingly. "Put your hands on the headboard, sweetheart," he said softly, and she obeyed immediately, her breath catching as he nudged her center towards his mouth, his tongue brushing over her clit. His groan of satisfaction at her taste combined with the dig of his nails against the flesh of her ass almost made her come right then, and he seemed to know it too, his low chuckle making her flush. "You like that, love?" he asked, his lips brushing against her slick folds as he spoke, stubble scratching pleasurably against her inner thigh.

"Yeah," she breathed, rolling her hips to try to encourage him, looking down at him as he obligingly pressed his tongue inside of her.

He watched her with dark eyes, focused intently as though he was cataloguing every reaction she had for further reflection. She felt breathless, her fingers curling tightly around the headboard. Every sensation was almost too much, the slick pressure from his tongue combined with the bite of his nails against her skin coaxing out an embarrassingly desperate-sounding moan of his name.

She felt one of his hands leave her skin, his arm brushing her hip as he reached around her, and she heard the rustle of fabric before he groaned. She could tell he was stroking himself as he easily built her up, and it only turned her on more to know that he couldn't resist. Every stroke of his tongue pushed her closer to the edge, and she couldn't look away from his eyes, too lost in how much he clearly wanted her. The way he groaned when she rolled her hips, greedy for more of that thing he kept doing with his tongue, her words garbled and almost indistinguishable when she tried to articulate what she needed, only managing to gasp out, "More."

His hand moved to squeeze her ass, his other arm still brushing against her as he stroked his cock. She felt the tip of his finger press against her back entrance, the sensation enough to make her thighs quiver, and she finally broke eye contact to let her head fall back as she came, the sounds Klaus was making as he lapped at her arousal deliciously filthy.

Her heart was pounding as her breathing slowed, her shoulders slumping slightly, arms shaking. He groaned, shifting underneath her, and she reached behind her to still his wrist. "Let me," she said, moving back to straddle his chest before clumsily turning around so that she was bent over him, her legs still feeling a bit like jelly. A shiver darted down her spine when she felt his hot breath on her inner thigh, his stubble brushing against the sensitive skin before he pressed a kiss to it.

"Turn, sweetheart. I want to see your face while you suck my cock."

The words made her cheeks heat, her breath catching in her throat. It wasn't the dirtiest thing she'd ever heard, not by a long shot, but the way the syllables rolled out of his mouth made it by far the hottest. "Keep talking," she ordered as she turned around, pressing a few open mouthed kisses to his abs as she moved down, the scrape of her teeth against his hipbone making his hips jerk, a groan rumbling low in his throat.

"You like it, love?"

She smiled, yanking down his sleep pants, throwing them to the side. "Yeah. A lot."

"Good to know," he murmured, watching her intently as she gathered her hair over one shoulder and bent to flick the tip of his cock with her tongue. She drank every movement in, committing every reaction to memory, trying to suss out what he liked best. She massaged his balls lightly and scraped her teeth along the top of his shaft before sucking hard to soothe the bite, humming in satisfaction as his fingers curled into the sheets, his teeth gritting. He never took his eyes away from her as she slowly took him into her mouth, focused on her face as though trying to memorize every single detail. His eyes were dark, his lips slightly parted, and she hummed around him when he groaned out her name, his fingers tangling in her hair. "Is this all right?" he managed to bite out, tugging her hair lightly, and she made an embarrassingly needy sound before she could stop herself, her nails digging into his thighs. He laughed quietly, the sound making her rub her thighs together, already aching for friction. "That's a yes, then. I'll admit I've thought of you like this often. I've had so many fantasies of you naked and wet and sensitive, your body still quivering with aftershocks as you take me in your mouth. I pictured the way you'd moan around my cock when I tug your pretty curls between my fingers. I had a feeling you liked it a bit rough, sweetheart. I can't wait to explore all of the possibilities. I have so many filthy things I want to do to you, Caroline. I've had years to come up with hundreds of sinful ways to make you moan my name."

She pulled back, still stroking him with one hand and massaging his balls with the other. "Yeah? Tell me."

He grinned, fiddling with her curls and groaning as she slowly took him back into her mouth, her cheeks hollowing as she bobbed up and down. "I've imagined you with your legs spread for my cock, your eyes heavy-lidded as I fuck you hard and fast. I want to take you just before a mission, to watch you walk into the command room with your hair mussed and your skin dripping with my scent. I want everyone to know who you belong to, sweetheart. You finally chose to give yourself to me, and you did so knowing that I wouldn't let you go."

She hummed, suddenly feeling unbearably empty. She pulled back, licking her lips and holding eye contact. "More."

"Put your mouth back on me and perhaps I will."

"So you do have a thing for my mouth."

He chuckled, his mouth twisting from a wicked smirk to something more tender, the way he looked at her filling her with a heat that was almost hotter than the lust-filled gaze he'd had the whole morning. "I have a thing for you," he said, the simplicity of the words making her heart lurch in her chest, and she couldn't help the bright smile that spread across her face.

"I have a thing for you too, Captain," she teased, laughing as he managed to somehow pull her up and roll them over in what felt like a single natural movement, and her giggles turned into a moan as he sheathed himself inside of her.

Thank you so much for sticking with me through this fic! It was a blast to write. Thank you to Kelly for her general betaing fabulousness. This is dedicated to Melissa and Laura, both of whom are wonderful lovely ladies that make my days brighter.

If you liked this and want to check out my other fics, I have quite a few. You can follow me on tumblr at thetourguidebarbie if you are so inclined, or on my barely-used twitter at AngieWritesKC.

I love constructive criticism and feedback, and I'd love to know what you thought of this story! Was the ending believable? Did you like how they got together? Did you enjoy the smut? Any favorite parts or lines? Thank you again for reading and your feedback that keeps me so inspired! You guys are fantastic.

Hugs!