I completely fail at writing drabbles! Seriously fail! Anyway this lengthy Klaroline drabble has been brought to you by the lyrics of Death Cab For Cutie's "Lightness" and by Donna Karan sleepwear. I don't own these characters. If I did, they would walk around in sexy lingerie and boxer briefs all of the time.

Lightness

Your heart is a river
That flows from your chest through every organ
Your brain is the dam
And I am the fish who can't reach the cord

Oh, instincts are misleading
You shouldn't think what you're feeling
They don't tell you what you know you should want

Caroline tossed and turned in the antique sheets that draped the guest bed in the Salvatore house. She couldn't sleep, her argument with Elena plagued her thoughts incessantly. She got up and walked to the window overlooking the back of the property. The moon was full and bathed the backyard in dreamy silver light. It beckoned her and she found herself leaving the stifling room and seeking the expanse of the night.

The rustling wind tossed her hair and caressed her legs under her nightgown. A chill passed over her exposed shoulders and arms and her bare feet glided along the dew of the grass as she walked without purpose. She wandered aimlessly until she ended up at the entrance to an old gazebo and walked up the wooden steps. She perched on the edge of the railing that ran along the perimeter and sighed heavily. The emotions she had been pushing down since Elena's outburst in Damon's bathroom conjured the tears that she had been fighting and they burst forth like a fountain.

She couldn't help rehashing Elena's words to her, her accusal. It had hurt, that Elena didn't really understand that Caroline only wanted to protect her from Damon's manipulation and protect her from herself.

Caroline wiped both of her eyes with the pads of her fingers and put a lid on her escalating worry.

Klaus' jaw snapped tight at the sight of Caroline. Thick blonde hair cascaded in waves around her face that was unveiled by the moonlight filtering through the thick trees. She was beautiful, the contrast of her femininity so stark against the hard edges of the neglected structure she dwelled beneath and his gut clenched in response. The pale pink of her nightgown complimented her delicate skin and she looked like a fallen angel, the only thing missing were her wings. She seemed small and vulnerable, almost lost and abandoned. Yet, the gentle slope of her chin flared with determination as she sat atop the railing of the gazebo. The faint whisper of unease swirling around her aroused protective instincts in him that were forever present in her company.

Caroline turned then, leaving one hand on the edge of the railing, and the other tucking a strand of her wavy hair behind one ear. He halted, mesmerized by her eyes. They were so bright, a sea glass color, that he felt drawn into their anguished depths, felt heat stir in his body and spring his emotions to life from a sleep that had lasted nearly his entire existence.

A sharp breath of surprise escaped her rose petal lips when she saw him. "Klaus?"

Dressed in a light gray henley beneath his leather jacket and blue jeans, he looked very casual. His stance belied that impression. Muscles tensed, his long legs braced to leap, he was ready for any move she made.

He stalked toward her, knowing his sudden appearance might have frightened her and added to the haunting shadows in her eyes.

Tension flashed back in his expression. "What are you doing out here all alone? There are hunters about among other things that would seek to harm you. Don't you care about your safety, love?"

Caroline gazed at the sight of the hybrid before her. Strong. Untouchable. Indestructible. He didn't need the moonlight to accentuate the danger in his eyes. His angelic face often disguised his murderous intentions. He flexed his hands and she couldn't help think about how they could wrap around someone's throat when he was angered, but she didn't fear that he would use them to hurt her. His hair was a golden halo that shined against the black of the night sky. His jaw was set tight as if he'd bare his fangs for attack at any second.

She shifted atop her perch and then she hopped down, walking to the entrance and stopping at the top step. Her nerves were rattled more by his hard-edged, yet melodic voice. "Are you worried about me?"

His eyes blazed over her, sending chills slithering up her spine as he moved toward her agonizingly slow and ascended the steps to stand in front of her. "Always."

His admission caused her to drop his gaze and she clenched her hands by her sides. "What are you doing here?"

He didn't answer her, only titled his head to the side as if to inspect her further and then stated, "You've been crying."

A sharp pang shifted in Caroline's chest and she stepped away from him seeking an empty corner of the space she now occupied with the imposing hybrid. She turned around with her back to the railing without acknowledging him and folded her arms defensively. She didn't trust her voice at the moment and willed her rising tears away.

Klaus could see the quiver of her bottom lip and it felt like a blade twisting inside him. He erased the distance she put between them and stepped closer to her. "Do you want to talk about it, sweetheart?"

Caroline shook her head, unfolding her arms and turned her face away from him again.

"Is it Elena? Did you two argue, about Stefan?" He paused, and then stepped even closer to her, placing one hand on the railing next to her hip. The zipper of his leather jacket now pressed against the cotton of her nightgown and she felt the edge graze her stomach through the material.

The question lingered between them, but she refused to answer, to share her silent pain over Stefan's heartache and Elena's seeming indifference to it with anyone else.

She looked back up at him and the genuine concern evident in his eyes moved her. She braced one hand close to his against the railing behind her and ran a thumb along the smooth weathered surface of the wood. "I'm OK."

"Caroline..." Klaus' tone spoke to his disbelief and he literally had her backed into a corner. She chewed her bottom lip and watched his jaw clench and his nostrils flare in reaction.

His hand brushed hers so gently she barely felt it, yet a frisson of awareness skated over her raw nerve endings, adding to her turmoil. Facing the implications of Elena's argument about Damon was daunting in itself. She didn't need the very enigmatic hybrid with secrets in his eyes, that elicited a similar pull on her that mirrored Damon's affects on Elena, threatening her peace as well.

An odd look crossed his face as if he, too, realized the connection that passed between them and she jerked her gaze away from him again. "Caroline, you can talk to me."

"She wanted me to leave... tonight. Because... because I told her about the bond... the sire bond." Caroline's thoughts spilled from her at his earnest assurance and she grasped the railing behind her harder with both hands for support.

"I knew you would figure it out." He commented and smirked at her.

She shook her head and continued. "I just... I don't want Damon to take advantage of her. I don't want him to use her and manipulate her like he did me."

"Like he... what?" Both of Klaus' hands gripped the railing next to hers and their fingers touched behind her just as his eyes flashed golden before returning to a midnight blue.

"Damon... when I was human, he compelled me. He... he used me." A tear escaped down Caroline's cheek and she turned her face away, closing her eyes at the starkness of those memories and old hurts that she thought she'd dealt with.

A rising fury, an unstableness began to break out all over Klaus' body at the thought of Damon using Caroline, manipulating her. Telltale signs of the wolf he kept on a leash. And he released the railing behind her, stepping back away from her. He immediately painted a mental picture of vengeance, of retribution against Damon. He had to get his thoughts under control. He had to reel in the murderous storm brewing at the back of his mind.

Caroline watched everything play out across his face and in his eyes. And It dawned on her that, for some reason, what she said about how Damon had treated her in the past made him angry and he was trying to calm down.

"It was a long time ago, Klaus." She offered, trying to downplay her hurt feelings. But she wasn't able to make her tears cooperate and few more escaped down her face.

He closed the distance between them again and his entire body brushed against her this time, before he pulled her to him and his arms went around her. She couldn't help it, she returned his embrace. Burying her face against his shoulder, she inhaled the scent of him. It was a mixture of the forest at night and something distinctly Klaus and the comfort she found there was unaccountable.

Klaus trailed his nose along the waves of her hair until he reached the sweet curve of her neck. He impulsively placed a kiss there and felt her body shiver slightly. He pulled her tighter and his hands clenched in the material of her nightgown before he pulled back and begrudgingly let her go. "It wasn't that long ago, love. If you still have resentment over it. You've barely been a vampire for an entire year. I know that I don't have any right to be outraged on your behalf, but I'm incensed."

"Klaus... you can't hurt Damon," She raised her eyebrows to him in that way he adored, as if to admonish him, "even if part of me is flattered that you'd want to." She then acknowledged and her cheeks flushed slightly.

He found he couldn't keep the smile from lifting the corners of his lips in response to her blush. And it invoked prurient thoughts of lifting her onto the railing, pushing up the material of her nightgown and doing whatever he needed to make that blush appear across her entire body.

Caroline felt the heat from his gaze and all thoughts of Damon and Elena were now replaced by the arousing image of his mouth repeating the kiss he placed on her neck. She shook her head in an attempt to clear it. Sometimes she caught him looking at her unlike anyone else and she spoke her thoughts aloud. "No one else looks at me the way you do."

She surprised him and his curiosity got the better of him. "And how do I look at you, Caroline?"

She pushed away from the railing and their bodies were close once again, with no air between them. But she couldn't find the words to do him justice. "It's... indescribable."

He wouldn't let her tease go so easily. He pushed her back and trapped her between his body and the gazebo once again. "How do you feel when I look at you?"

Caroline felt, rather than heard, his words whispered across her body. "I... it feels..."

He knew how he was affecting her, but he couldn't stop himself from pushing her just a little more. "Tell me, sweetheart..."

His breath caressed her lips and she closed her eyes against the pleasurable sensation. "I can't."

"Yes you can, love. Tell me how you feel when I look at you." He let go of the railing with one hand and brought his fingers to her chin to raise her face to him and she opened her eyes again.

"Adored. Desired." And... just so much more. She finished the thought to herself, as her body shuddered from the simple caress of his fingertips on her chin.

He trailed his eyes down her face, across her throat, to the very tops her breasts, bare beneath the semi sheer cotton of her nightgown. Her nipples hardened under his perusal and his mouth parted in answer. He licked his lips and met her eyes again. "And no one's ever looked at you with adoration and desire? I find that hard to believe, love."

"No one that I haven't been... You look at me, like you've already... like we've..." She couldn't finish when his eyes seared across her once again, there was so much promise there.

"Does it make you uncomfortable, love?" He trailed his hand from her collar bone down her arm and then back to the railing behind her, gripping it so hard she could hear the wood give under the pressure.

"Yes... and No." He pulled the flesh of his bottom lip between his teeth and she couldn't stop looking at his mouth. It was as if she could feel the nibble he gave to his lip on hers and a spike of desire flared at the very center of her body.

His hand gripped her waist then and she felt the material of her gown fold in his fist. "Do you want me to stop, looking at you the way I do? Tell me the truth."

She couldn't help but close her eyes and take a deep breath in an attempt to calm her escalating breathing and admit that she didn't. "No."

When she opened her eyes again, he smiled wickedly at her. "Good. Because I don't think I can stop."

He leaned his head close and she thought he would kiss her knowing at this point that she wouldn't be able to stop him, even though she told herself that she should. But he pulled back at the last minute and released her. He let go of the railing behind her completely and stepped away from her. And she was able to inhale the crisp night air to clear her head.

"Let me walk you back to the Salvatore house, sweetheart." He motioned toward the front of the gazebo and she followed him in silence, not trusting her own voice.

They reached the back entrance to the house and Caroline stopped, leaning her back against the heavy door. She didn't understand her own hesitation to go inside.

Klaus walked close to her and braced his palms on the door above her shoulders, unable to resist invading her space.

"Klaus..." His name sounded like a plea that Caroline breathed on a sigh, but couldn't bring herself to say anything else.

He moved one of his hands from the door and gripped her waist again, pulling her body close and leaned his head down to her.

Her heart raced inside of her chest and she braced her hands against the wood of the door in anticipation of what he might do.

Klaus pressed his lips against the side of her mouth so gently Caroline thought she imagined it, as he removed his hand from her hip. "You'd better go inside, love."

She opened her eyes to the sound of his voice, not knowing when she'd closed them and caught the signature smirk on his lips. She wrapped her arms around herself as if she was trying to hold herself together, as if he was the devil himself. "Goodnight, Klaus."

He wanted to tell her he wasn't, but that was a lie. So he gave a clipped nod, not trusting himself to keep his hands off of her if he stayed any longer.

"Goodnight, sweetheart." He stepped close to her one last time and pressed his lips to the top of her hair.

She nodded, and then stepped away from him before going inside and closing the heavy door shut, separating them.

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