I'm baa-aaack.

*crickets*

Don't Fall - Chapter 3

Caroline hadn't expected them to take longer than ten or fifteen minutes, but half an hour after Klaus and Amina had disappeared behind the heavy oak door she was still waiting patiently for it to open again. Truth be told, she wasn't waiting all that patiently. Five minutes after that door hadn't budged so much as an inch, her foot had begun tapping a steady rhythm on the hardwood floor. Fifteen minutes in and her fingers had started fiddling with the brightly covered throw draped across one arm of the armchair Klaus had shoved her down onto. Twenty minutes later and Caroline figured she could probably name every title on the bookshelf across the room from memory – even the ones in languages she found it impossible to decipher.

Caroline let her head fall back to hit the soft cushions and sighed loudly. She began counting the thin, spidery cracks on the ceiling. Thirty seconds into her count, she got distracted by one particularly long and unusually large crack.

"I guess psychics don't believe in home repair," Caroline muttered to herself. Immediately she admonished herself under her breath, "Not a psychic, Caroline – a clairvoyant. The clairvoyant." Even she had to admit that her Klaus imitation needed some work, but he wasn't there to frown at her so she stuck her tongue out at the ceiling in defiance.

Cocking her head to side as she continued tracing the cracks with her eyes, Caroline figured that the Pythia – Amina, Caroline amended in a whisper – would probably be the first to know if her ceiling was going to crumble, anyway.

A flash of blue caught her eye. Caroline frowned, raising her head up off the armchair to see what had caused it. To her right was the balcony, but nothing there looked like it could have caused the flash of colour. To her left was the door and directly in front of her was the massive wall of books and the door that Klaus and Amina still hadn't walked back through.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Caroline let her head fall back again, confident she'd probably just imagined it out of boredom. The moment her head hit the back of the armchair, a brighter stroke of blue and a streak of red hit the ceiling. Head snapping back up, Caroline twisted around to look behind her. There on an otherwise empty heavy wooden table was what looked like a heavy crystal dangling from a thick braided leather cord on a simple iron stand.

She turned back around to face the books. Pursing her lips, her forehead wrinkled into a frown, Caroline debated the costs and benefits of defying Klaus' order.

"Technically," Caroline reasoned aloud, "Klaus only said not to touch anything."

That was enough for her and she was up and out of the armchair that had held her captive for the better part of half an hour. Stretching her arms high above her head, Caroline sighed in relief as her muscles loosened and she could properly straighten her back. Cursing Klaus and his eccentric-psychic-needing ways under her breath, Caroline turned and walked slowly over to the table bearing the intriguing little necklace.

The closer she got to it, the more she realised that 'little' wasn't exactly the best description of what hung off the leather cord. It was larger than she expected and not a crystal at all but glass; except the glass wasn't clear. Half a foot away from the table, Caroline bit her lip and glanced quickly to either side as if expecting guards to jump out at her from behind the heavy drapes for daring to move away from that blasted armchair. Figuring that there was probably as much harm in touching a wooden table as there was in touching a ratty old armchair – as in none because Klaus was obviously paranoid – Caroline delicately placed just her fingertips along its edge and crouched down to put herself at eye level with the pendant.

Caroline squinted. It really was glass. It was the sort of glass she used to find washed up on the shores of the beach as a kid while on holidays with her parents. Her father had explained to her little eight year old self what happened to shards of glass that spent weeks, months, even years being pushed from place to place at the whim of the ocean's currents. Her mother had smiled as Caroline had collected every piece she could find – always letting out a little squeal whenever she'd find her favourite shade of blue – and had dutifully carried them all home every time despite the fact that Caroline's growing collection had been rapidly approaching epic proportions.

She remembered getting home, excitedly dumping them all out on her bed, and making up stories with her dad about each piece. She would wrinkle her nose at the ones that had obviously only been pieces of nasty beer bottles, but for others she'd imagined romantic stories of precious items of enormous value being lost at sea during massive storms. Her mother had always left a glass of water by her nightstand on those nights and Caroline would use it to bring shine back to her treasures when they would lose their luster.

Caroline felt a drop of water hit her hand; suddenly realising it had been a tear – she was crying. There was a knot in her throat she couldn't quite swallow down and she blinked rapidly to clear her swimming vision. Unsure of what had started that particular barrage of memories, Caroline felt her stomach twist when the pendant came back into focus. She narrowed her eyes and looked closer at the pendant, forcing the memory of her mother tucking the covers up to her chin as she faded from exhaustive excitement out of her mind and somewhere far away.

It wasn't sea glass, Caroline decided upon closer inspection. She gripped the edge of the table tightly as she brought her head closer, tilting it to the side as she did. It looked almost hollow. As though someone had taken two identically irregular halves of hollowed out glass and trapped a wisp of smoke between them to give it that same cloudy effect as sea glass.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she could hear Klaus repeating his instructions to not touch anything over and over, but as she watched her hand move closer to the dangling pendant seemingly of its own accord, his voice faded to nothing. All sound dropped away and there was only a deafening silence that wrapped itself around her like a cocoon. There was nothing but the sound of her own steady breathing. Caroline imagined that if she'd still needed her heart to pump blood, it would be beating hard enough to echo throughout the room.

Her index finger stopped just barely a hair's breadth away from the glass pendant. Caroline swore she saw the smoke swirl away from the edges of the pendant and towards the tip of her finger, but decided it was impossible. Klaus' voice was back in her head, barely above a whisper but the harder she focused on it, the louder it got. That unpleasant twist in her stomach had worsened until it felt like there was something within her, gnawing at her insides, struggling to break free. The harder she focused on the steady lyrical cadence of Klaus' words in her head, the less it seemed like she was merely moments away from bursting open, so she forced herself to hear him.

Caroline exhaled heavily, hoping to ease the tightness in her chest. Her breath blew the pendant back and away from her hand, but in the split second it took her to realise what would happen next, the pendant was already swinging towards the outstretched hand she couldn't seem to pull away.

Caroline watched with wide eyes as the pendant made contact with the pad of her index finger.

It didn't bounce off.

The smoke inside cleared.

Caroline gasped, pulling her hand away as if she'd been burned.

"Caroline."

Klaus' voice – not in her head this time – brought everything rushing back and unwrapped the stifling cocoon of silence around her; the noise of traffic from the streets below, the steady tick tock of the clock on the wall, the sounds of a loud soccer game from the television next door.

In the blink of an eye, Caroline pulled herself up and spun around. Immediately, her eyes landed on Klaus. His face was blank. She took that as a bad sign. Her eyes flew over to where Amina stood a couple of steps behind him and to the side, her head cocked to one side and a small smile on her face. Caroline took that as a good sign, but apologised anyway.

Amina held up one hand to stop the words that were spilling out of Caroline like a flood.

"Please," Amina said with a reassuring smile. "There is no need to apologise. You did nothing wrong." She gestured with one hand around the room from the bookshelves and over to the pendant. "If there were something I did not want touched, I would not have it out."

"Simply because one can do something," Klaus spoke slowly, as though he were speaking to a child. "Doesn't mean one should do something."

Despite her earlier panic and subsequent relief at his curiously calming voice, she now found him supremely irritating. Ignoring the unsettling feeling in her stomach, she scowled at him and turned her gaze back to Amina. Smiling, she nodded her head in thanks.

Amina stepped around Klaus, walked towards Caroline, and removed the pendant from its stand. She held it up by its braided cord so the large piece of now clear blue glass hung between them.

"It is beautiful," Amina remarked. Her hazel eyes flickered between the pendant and Caroline's, a large smile erupting onto her face. "It matches your eyes, Caroline."

Amina turned her head to raise an eyebrow at Klaus. "Does it not, Nicolas?"

Klaus only glared in response, his mouth tight.

Amina rolled her eyes at him and faced Caroline once more. "Do not pay any attention to him. Nicolas is too uptight for his own good - paranoid even." Amina winked and Caroline couldn't help but smile a little in return.

Questions about that pendant bubbled up inside her. Before she could begin to ask a single one, Klaus had moved beside her and was tugging her away from Amina who still held the pendant raised between them.

"Amina," Klaus began. Amina raised an eyebrow. "It's been a pleasure, as always. I would, however, appreciate it if you didn't attempt to indoctrinate my -" Klaus paused, unsure. Caroline narrowed her eyes at him. "- companion."

Amina shrugged and allowed her hand to fall back down to her side. "As I said," Amina leaned forward towards Caroline as she spoke in a stage whisper. "Nicolas is very uptight."

Caroline fought the urge to laugh. She raised her eyebrows in her surprise and stared down at the Pythia. The tightness was gone. That consuming, sickening feeling that had made her want to run screaming out of her own skin had been replaced by the urge to giggle at what hadn't even been a very good joke.

"Well, while this has been a very informative and eventful visit," Klaus' firm grip on her elbow guided her closer towards the door. "I'm afraid Caroline has an all too important date with the Eiffel Tower."

Caroline pulled her arm free, turning to follow Klaus without being dragged around like a dog on a leash. A light hand on her other arm stopped her mid step and her head turned back around, a questioning look on her face that quickly faded into confusion when she looked down and saw the panic creep onto Amina's face. Panic she wasn't quick enough to hide behind a smile and a quick shake of her head.

"What's wrong?" Caroline asked hesitantly. A psychic had just grabbed her arm and then looked about ready to now only throw up, but ready to run for the proverbial hills. There couldn't be anything good about that, Caroline thought to herself.

"Amina, what did you see?" Caroline repeated, louder this time – more insistent. She glanced at Klaus in the corner of her eye. Doubt began to creep back into her mind about his intentions; why he was in Paris, why she was with him in Paris, what he could possibly want with her.

"Nothing."

That wasn't exactly what Caroline had been hoping to hear. Her shoulders tensed and she reached blindly to grab onto Klaus. Her fingers dug into his forearm and she hoped he understood how desperately she suddenly needed to get out of the apartment.

Amina continued to stare at her, her hazel eyes wide, bottom lip caught firmly between her teeth. Abruptly, she tore her gaze away and shook her head firmly, hair flying out in every direction. When she looked back up, her face was carefully neutral.

Carefully, Amina loosened her grip on Caroline's arm and stepped back. "It was very nice to meet you, Caroline." Her accent was much heavier now, the slight tremble in her voice betraying her.

"Likewise," Caroline responded, her voice hoarse and barely above a whisper.

Amina walked them to the front door and with a vague nod, saw them out and back into the hallway.

"Nicolas," was all she said before firmly shutting the door. The door's echo was the only sound that followed them back towards the elevator. Both Caroline and Klaus refused to speak. Caroline figured Klaus simply had nothing to say to her, secretive about his dealings as he was, while she was too preoccupied trying not to lose her mind with the knowledge that a freaking psychic had just touched her and seen absolutely nothing.

Did that mean something?

They were riding the elevator back down to the ground floor and Caroline kept sneaking looks at Klaus trying to decipher something – anything – from his carefully neutral expression. Other than telling her about Amina – and Caroline figured that had more to do with Amina demanding it herself than any express wish on Klaus' part to keep her in the loop – Klaus was being as forthcoming with information as the CIA.

They stepped back out into the still bright sunshine of early evening and Klaus sped up to walk in front of her. While he searched for a taxi, Caroline followed behind at a slower pace, her mind still racing with unanswered questions about Amina, psychics, that glass pendant, and what Klaus could possibly be doing mixed up in all of this.

"Oh my God!" Caroline stopped abruptly on the sidewalk, eyes wide. "That's why you're actually here. That's why you found me in Tokyo and followed me to Paris."

Klaus' brow furrowed and he turned back to look at her. "I'm not following."

"That's why your psychic -"

"For the last time, she's not -"

"- couldn't see anything when she touched me." Caroline pointed an accusatory finger at him, her voice rising, "It's because I don't have a future for her to see."

"She's not a psychic, Caroline." Klaus threw his hands up in the air and stalked back to her. It was light out and there were still far too many people even on this more out-of-the-way street for them to be having this conversation. He was beginning to lose his patience.

"You would do well to remember where we are, sweetheart, and who you're with." Klaus's voice was low and just approaching dangerous. "I suggest you save the theatrics for the privacy of your hotel room."

"Theatrics?" Caroline's voice rose an octave. "Madame Cleo back there tells me I don't have a tomorrow to look forward to and you want me to save the theatrics?"

"What I want," Klaus lightly gripped her upper arms in his hands and levelled his gaze at her. His blue eyes flashed yellow in warning, "Is for you to stop screaming in public about things that I may later have to kill some humans for hearing."

Caroline winced and let her head drop. Closing her eyes, she gently shook her head to clear it and tried to grasp onto the few tendrils of common sense she could. She could feel the hysteria bubbling in her chest, her stomach twisting and burning with it.

"I'm your leverage." It was all starting to make a sick sort of sense in her head now. "You can't have Bonnie interfering in whatever new plot you're cooking up with that evil bitch of a sister of yours, and you can't have Elena running off with your only supply of hybrid juice."

Caroline's voice shook with anger, "So you used me to keep them both in line."

She felt his hands tighten almost painfully on her arms before one loosened its grip. His forefinger and thumb on her chin had her eyes flying open and she found herself immobile, her body held in place by the steely grip of his hands yet unable to resist as he lifted her head to meet his hardened stare.

Klaus spoke slowly and softly, his voice barely above a whisper, "Let's pretend that's all true, shall we?" He cocked his head to one side and tightened his hold on her chin. "Let's really think about this truly awful scenario you've created in your head. Think long and think hard, love, about the lengths such a person would go to protect such a dastardly plot."

His eyes were now more thoughtful, but no less piercing and no less threatening. "Now I want you to look around, Caroline."

Klaus forced her head to turn towards the park across the street where children played under the watchful eyes of their parents. Their bright laughter rang in her ears as her eyes took in the couples lounging in the shade of large oak trees, the young boys passing around a soccer ball, the gaggle of excited teenage girls speaking in rapid French and gesturing wildly, and the sidelong glances they were getting from the people who had to step around them on the sidewalk.

"I'm sure that you've surmised by now exactly how powerful my hybrid status makes me." His breath was hot on her ear, his voice calm but carrying an underlying tone of menace, "But even I can't compel all these people to forget the crazy American screaming about psychics and fortunes -" He turned her head sharply to meet his gaze, eyes flashing a dangerous yellow, "- and creatures that shouldn't exist."

He dropped his fingers from her chin and smoothed his hands down the length of her arms, clasping both of her hands in his.

"Now," Klaus spoke quietly and calmly. His eyes had returned to their customary blue. "I believe you have a date with the Eiffel Tower that we wouldn't you to miss." He firmly directed her towards a parked taxi she hadn't noticed pull up and opened the door for her, nudging her to climb in.

Caroline looked up at him, the car door open between them, her face blank. All the tension had drained from her body and she felt numb. She saw the quick flash of surprise in his eyes when she placed her hand gently on top of his.

"Just tell me if I'm right, Klaus," Caroline said softly, her voice even and calm and foreign to her ears. Too much had happened over the past few weeks. Maybe this was her mind simply setting itself to a new level of normal.

"You're wrong, Caroline," Klaus replied and it was Caroline's turn to be surprised. There was a tiny voice inside her head screaming that he was lying. He had no reason to tell her the truth after all, and if she was just an expendable part of his plan then he had even less of a reason to be honest with her. A still louder voice was calmly beginning to list all the ways he could have already taken advantage of her over the past few days while he'd essentially stalked her through the streets of Paris.

Caroline shook her head to clear it of the warring voices that refused to shut up. "So why are you here? What's going on?" She frowned up at him in confusion when he merely responded with a sad smile and gestured for her to get into the car.

She shook her head in defiance this time, her grip on his hand tightening until her knuckles turned white. "Not until you tell me why you're here and why I'm with you."

Klaus narrowed his eyes, nostrils flaring, but Caroline stood firm. Klaus knew he could force her into the car. He could overpower her, threaten her, or he could simply leave her standing alone on a sidewalk in Paris with no answers and no obligations towards her whatsoever. Her eyes – wide and bright and boring into him - pleaded with him to do otherwise, however, and that ever present tightness in his chest that had appeared at about the same time she had in his life pushed him once more to go against the better judgement he'd learnt over thousands of years of existence.

"Not here," Klaus told her. "I'll tell you, Caroline, but not here. Please, get in the taxi."

Caroline had two choices; trust him or don't. To make that choice she would need to hear whatever story he chose to tell her.

She climbed into the taxi. Moments later, Klaus followed her in.

"La Tour Eiffel, s'il vous plait," Klaus told the driver.

As they drove away, Caroline idly wondered if she wouldn't be better off simply tossing herself off the top of it.

Klaus turned towards her and after a moment's hesitation began to speak.

Definitely, thought Caroline only moments later, the Eiffel Tower was definitely beginning to look like the better option.

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