Disclaimer: I own nothing but a warped imagination and a weird sense of humour.

A/N: Hello! *ducks to avoid thrown objects* I know I've been gone a ridiculously long time, but all work and no play makes me one un-motivated little gremlin.

Chapter 7

As Klaus continues to stare she wishes she had the power to turn back time or at least erase her foot-in-mouth slip from his memory. She clears her throat and self-consciously tugs down the hem of her dress before she clears her throat again and makes to get up. "Uh, we should probably get back to—"

"Caroline," Klaus says and he wraps a hand around Caroline's wrist again. "Would thou mind, I mean, would it be okay if we just stayed here for a little while?"

Caroline stares back at Klaus for a few seconds, the butterflies in her stomach doing a victory dance. She knows she's being stupid, she knows she's completely crazy, but one look into his eyes washes away any doubts. She nods and shuffles back on the bed so she's lying against the pillows. Klaus settles himself back and picks at the sweat pants.

"What is it like?"

"Huh?" she doesn't know why but her voice breaks slightly. She clears her throat as Klaus looks up at her.

"The world."

"Well," she smiles, "I think it's totally different from when you were last here." Klaus doesn't say anything just nods. "There's no witches…well there wasn't," Caroline says. "Some people are pagan or Wiccan and stuff, but I don't think that's what you're all about, right?"

Klaus smiles slightly and nods. "Right."

"Okay, um politics is just…well I don't even know, I don't really pay much attention…Oh, we have cars! We have…how do I explain what a car is?" she says more to herself and screws her eyes closed, giving a small chuckle. How the hell do you explain what a care is to someone who's been dead for almost three hundred years?

"Car." Klaus repeats with a nod. "Like a carriage?"

"Yes!" she shouts before furrowing her brows and pouting slightly. "Actually, no, well kind of," she starts waving her arms around. "It's like a carriage, but it hasn't got horses or anything…it's like a machine and it's got an engine and it uses fuel…"

Klaus frowns slightly, "I do not understand…"

Caroline can't help but laugh and shake her head. How's she supposed to explain exactly what it is when he doesn't even have the faintest idea of what its components are. "I tell you what, I'll show you one tomorrow, okay? I don't understand how it works, it just does."

Klaus nods thoughtfully. "Yes. I would like to see one."

"You'll definitely see a few while you're here…" Caroline trails off before suddenly a feeling of dread hits the pit of her stomach. She hadn't even considered that thought. "How…how long are you here for?"

She sucks her bottom lip into her mouth and bites down. Klaus tilts his head to the side slightly before his tongue darts out and wets his lips. "As long as the candle is a light I suppose."

"Will it ever burn down?"

Klaus furrows his brows for a moment before he shakes his head. "I do not believe so. It should keep burning if I recall the spell correctly."

"So, you're here for good then?"

Klaus nods and Caroline lets out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "If that is okay?" he questions.

"What? Yes!" Caroline blurts, feeling her cheeks turn crimson. She coughs and clears her throat. "I mean yeah right, um yeah that's cool. You're back so it'll be cool to show you around and stuff."

Klaus frowns and Caroline mentally slaps herself. Klaus obviously doesn't have any idea what she's blabbering about half the time yet she still continues to do it.

"Thou speaks in the most peculiar way."

"Sorry, I keep forgetting that you're not—"

"No, I like it," Klaus smiles slightly. "I enjoy trying to understand thou. Thou are quite the challenge since I can not read thee."

Caroline ducks her head, smiling as she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. "Well, I'm glad my weirdness amuses you." When she looks up Klaus is watching her with a glint in his eyes and her stomach jolts. I'm totally screwed, she thinks to herself.

Caroline wakes up around 11 to someone prodding her in the back. At first she just makes a few throat sounds, shuffling about and pressing her face into the pillow in attempt to sleep again. Her mom knows she doesn't get up before noon on a Saturday and—

Her eyes shoot open as she remembers her mom's out of town. Then she remembers the Halloween party, then the Mikaelson Cottage and then making sandwiches for dead witch boys. The last thing she remembers is talking to a handsome sandy haired boy in her bed. She looks down and realises it isn't her pillow she's lying on, but someone's stomach.

Caroline leans up and twists her head to see Elijah watching them from the doorway with an irritated expression.

"This isn't what it looks like," she croaks and turns her head again when she feels Klaus moving beneath her.

"Ah, so the methods of fornication have changed these days also?" Elijah questions, quirking an eyebrow as he looks at the two of them.

"Niklaus, thou is much hastier than before. This time suits thee, brother." Kol practically cheers from behind Elijah and receives an elbow in the stomach.

"What's going on up here, what's all the noise?"

"Fornication." Kol states bluntly, flashing Lexi his devilish smirk, causing her cheeks to flush pink. She recovers and smirks back, biting down on her lip as she eyes Kol up and down before retreating towards the stairs.

"Caroline, have you been fornicating?" Katherine's voice sounds from behind Lexi before she steps into view.

"Hey, when did you get here and who let you in?"

"Kol just a few minutes ago, but you were probably too busy fornicating."

"I assure thee, there was no fornicating." Klaus says, propping himself up on his elbows and rubbing at his eyes. Caroline wasn't even aware he was awake.

Elijah holds up a finger and goes to speak but is interrupted by a crash from downstairs.

Caroline silently thanks a higher power before she scrambles out of bed to see what Lexi's broken this time. It turns out that Lexi has taken it upon herself to make them all breakfast and has managed to smash at least three of Caroline's moms good dinner plates.

"My mom is so going to kill you." Caroline says as she picks up some of the larger pieces. "What were you even doing in there? You know the pots and pans are under the sink!"

Lexi just makes a face and finishes sweeping. "I need plates stupid, you wanna eat off the floor?"

Caroline rolls her eyes and stands up, stretching and allowing her back to crack. She can hear raised voices and runs a hand through her ridiculously messy hair. "Shit."

"What?" Lexi asks as she dumps the shards into the trash can and heads for the fridge.

"Um, I think Elijah thinks someone happened with Klaus and me—"

"You don't say, here's me thinking he's using the word fornication to be funny," Lexi comments, grabbing some eggs from the fridge. Caroline scowls and pokes out her tongue. "But seriously though, did it?" she drops an egg into the pan she's placed out without cracking the shell.

"No," Caroline breathes out. "No, we just…we just talked a lot, he asked me loads of questions and we must have fallen asleep…"

"Uh-huh, that old chestnut." Lexi says as she tries to pick the pieces off shell out of the egg in the pan. Caroline rolls her eyes again and pads out into the living room as Katherine, Klaus, Kol and Elijah walk in. Klaus barely looks at Caroline and just takes a seat on the sofa. Caroline pauses briefly before heading upstairs to detangle her main. "Gotta pee! Gotta pee! Gotta pee!" Lexi's voice sounds before Caroline finds herself pushed into the wall as Lexi darts past and disappears into the bathroom.

It takes Caroline around a minute to detangle her hair and grab some clothes to change into. She scoops them up in her arms and heads out her room, jumping slightly as Elijah appears in front of her.

"Niklaus insists thou did not fornicate." Elijah says and Caroline almost chokes from surprise. Elijah doesn't seem to notice and just continues to talk. "I know he is not lying, but I am observing thou closely, Caroline."

"Observing me closely?" Caroline squeaks.

"I shall not allow my brother to be hurt again. He is not the easiest person to be around and is prone to moods, that doth not mean he doth not have feelings. Using him for his powers is not acceptable and I will not tolerate it."

"Elijah, I assure you, I have no interest in powers."

"She doesn't," Lexi interjects from the doorway to the bathroom. "Well, not powers of the magical type."

Caroline scowls but doesn't turn, just keeps staring at Elijah. "What I'm saying is the world is different now. People don't have magic because we don't really need it. Sure, I think it's amazing, but I like people for who they are, not what they can do for me."

"Except in the bedroom." Katherine says from behind Caroline.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Caroline questions, turning to glare at Kathrine as she leans casually against the wall of the stairs. Caroline turns her head back round to Elijah who makes a face.

He looks at Caroline for a moment before he narrows his eyes and nods curtly. "Okay. But I am still watching thee."

Caroline shakes her head. "Okay, whatever you say 'Lijah."

Elijah cocks his head slightly at the use of a nickname but doesn't say anything. Instead he walks past Caroline and heads down the stairs, squeezing past Katherine who's stood up from the wall.

Caroline lets out a breath she wasn't aware she'd been holding. She flattens down her top and ruffles her hair before turning to Lexi and Katherine. "Okay, I'm taking a shower now."

Katherine smirks as Caroline pushes past Lexi and slams the bathroom door behind her. "Try to keep your hands off yourself Care!" She calls loudly as Lexi chuckles. Caroline doesn't respond so they head off down the stairs.

By the time Caroline's showered and made herself look somewhat respectable Matt and Elena have arrived and when she gets to the living room she's pretty sure she could cut the tension with a knife.

Kol is sitting on the sofa next to Klaus, glaring at Matt who's practically curled up in the armchair in the corner of the room, Elena perched on the arm. Elijah is sitting on the other sofa, Diesel on his lap once again as Katherine sits next to him (well practically on top of him) and glances at him out the corner of her eyes as Lexi sits cross-legged in front of the TV looking positively thrilled at the situation.

"Uh, what's going on?"

"He keeps trying to curse me!" Matt points an accusatory finger at Kol who narrows his eyes further.

"I do not trust him." Kol grumbles and Elijah rolls his eyes.

"Brother, I have told thee, he's not—"

"—I do not care." Kol states and gets to his feet. "He is clearly some descendant, so we should—"

"—We should not and will not do such a thing." Elijah sighs and gets to his feet, standing in front of Kol. "These children are trying to give us their help—"

"—Which we would not have needed had it not been for him—"

"—And we should be grateful. Kol, just let it go."

Kol stares at his brother for a few seconds before he scowls. "If it had been Rebekah would thou have let it go?"

Elijah swallows thickly and stares, not sound forming.

"I thought not," Kol mutters before he stalks past Caroline and heads upstairs. Caroline opens her mouth and makes to go after him but Diesel is already running up the stairs behind him and she doesn't even have the energy to think about that.

"Does someone wanna let me know what's going on?"

"We just got here and he started saying all this crazy stuff in some weird language," Elena says, stroking Matt's hair lovingly.

"He was trying to curse me again!" Matt says and looks up at Caroline with worried eye. "I haven't done anything Care, I swear."

"But be a poet and not know it." Katherine interjects briefly before turning her attention back to Elijah.

"I know Matty," Caroline says, trying to sound as sympathetic as possible. "He's been asleep for almost three hundred years, he's probably just a little bit paranoid."

Matt nods but still looks uneasy. Whilst Elena grins. "My mom sent over pie, it's in the kitchen." Caroline nods and walks into the kitchen. There's a pumpkin pie sitting on the counter. She grins and walks over, unwrapping it to sniff. She really loves Mrs Gilberts pumpkin pie.

"Caroline?"

Caroline turns to see Klaus standing in the doorway, still dressed in the sweatpants.

"Hey," Caroline breathes. "Uh, you okay?"

Klaus nods, clasping his hands together behind his back as he takes a step forward. "I am sorry about Elijah, he is a little protective and Kol, he is, well he is still rather bitter."

Caroline wraps the pie back up. "Matt's an amazing guy, he's not—"

"—I know," Klaus says with a nod. "Kol is just…give him a chance?"

Caroline watches Klaus for a few moments before she nods. "Of course."

The afternoon's spent trying to teach the guys more about the present day. Caroline had managed to coax Kol out of her room by promising to make him real food and not the crap Lexi had tried to feed him while Caroline was showering. She also made a promise on the behalf of Lexi that Kol would get a cuddle – although she did spend at least two minutes trying to explain what a cuddle was before just giving him a demonstration with a pillow. "An embrace, yes!" Kol had exclaimed, grinning widely.

Caroline had found some more oversized sweat pants and large t-shirts in the airing cupboard and some oversized hoodies of her own. Once the brothers were dressed and Caroline had broken into her 'winter socks' stash, they were all sat on the porch of the house.

Klaus was sat comfortably on some large cushions Caroline had dragged onto the porch. Elijah was sat on the porch swing with Diesel curled up comfortable on his lap whilst Kol sat beside him, legs crossed Indian style and glaring at yet another gnome.

Matt and Elena had left, but Lexi and Katherine had decided to stay. Lexi stating that the whole situation was pretty much the most amusing thing she's watched ever. Katherine on the other hand was making no attempts to hide her plans to—as she so delightfully put it—"get to Elijah's magic wand." Caroline had shuddered at that one. Lexi's sat on the porch steps, her back against the railing whilst Katherine's sat on top of the railing, straddling it and making 'sex eyes' at Elijah.

"What is that thing?" Kol questions, scowling over the low hedge and pointing.

Caroline eases herself up slightly to see small side-road with a car driving slowly down it.

"That's a car!" she says excitedly to Klaus, who raises his eyebrows and leans up to get a better view.

"So that is the not-a-carriage contraption?"

"Yeah," Caroline nods, sitting back down properly next to him. "People ride in it and it can take you to wherever you want to go."

"With no horses?" Elijah asks and Caroline nods at him. He looks impressed and pats Diesel on the head. "So people do not ride horses or carriages anymore?"

"Not really, unless you're the queen of England, or a Jockey," the boys make a face but Caroline shakes her head. "I'll explain that one later."

"I would like to ride a car." Elijah comments with a firm nod.

"I'd like to ride you…" Lexi snorts and Caroline snaps her head to stare at Katherine. "What?" she shrugs innocently. "I would."

The rest of the afternoon passes by in pretty much the same fashion. Caroline explains to the guys what a Jockey is, she thought it was going well until Kol somehow came to the conclusion that they were Midget Highway men. She tried to correct him, but one look at his head tilted on the side and a blank expression on his face she'd decided to just give up. She explains all about school and how everyone has to go to class. There's even more confusion when she attempts to explain electricity again but gives up and decides to just go along with Kol's conclusion that it's a form of magic.

When it's dinner time Caroline ushers everyone inside and sits the guys on the sofa, handing Kol the gnome he'd taken a liking too. Katherine props herself on the arm of the sofa beside Elijah despite the fact there's a spare chair whilst Lexi plops herself in one of the armchairs.

"You two just make sure they don't go wandering."

"Why? What are you gonna do?"

"I'm going to make food." Katherine snorts loudly. "What?"

"You can't cook."

"Bite me Kitty-Kat."

"Vampire?" the boys all say in unison in a hushed whisper, leaning away from Katherine.

"It is but a jest, she is not a Vampire!" Lexi calls loudly from the armchair before laughing hysterically. The guys actually seem to listen and return to their normal upright positions.

"Just…entertain them." Caroline says before turning to leave. She senses Katherine open her mouth and snaps her head back round. "Good old family entertainment and keep your hands to yourself." She doesn't wait for a reply and just retreats to the kitchen.

Caroline's busy bustling about the kitchen, wondering what to make the guys to eat. She's in the middle of trying to decide between ham and beef when a noise captures her attention. She turns to see Klaus standing in the kitchen doorway, hands joined behind his back as he looks around.

"So," Caroline clears her throat, "I was thinking something simple like burgers and fries?" she looks up at Klaus who's looking confused again. His brows are furrowed and his lips pouted. He looks so cute and Caroline wants nothing more than to pounce on him…and hug him of course. "It's um, potatoes and then cooked meat…like the sandwich from earlier, but warm?"

"Oh," his mouth forms a small circle as his eyebrows shoot up in realisation. "Yes, thank you." He smiles and Caroline nods, pulling the beef burgers from the freezer and switches on the cooker. Klaus is just kind of hovering around the kitchen, prodding different appliances and humming at things, Caroline glances up every now and then to watch him and make sure he doesn't stick his hand in the blender or something. At one point Caroline's placing a tray of fries into the oven and glances up to see Klaus talking to her mother's dead house plant. The things been dead for months now and despite Caroline's insistence her mother refused to throw it out. Caroline's about to open her mouth to say something but tops as the leaves start to turn from a dark, dead brown into a bright vibrant green. The stem starts to straighten up and the branches missing leaves actually grow new ones – right before Caroline's very eyes, the plant comes back to life.

"Klaus," Caroline breaths, mouth hanging open and eyes widening. "You…you did that?" she points at the plant.

Klaus nods and stands up straight, glancing at the now very much alive plant. "It was bringing down thy room, making it sad."

"The room – sad." Caroline mumbles and shakes her head. "That was amazing." Klaus just shrugs, but Caroline notices the faint smile playing on his lips. "You're amazing, you know that?" she adds and Klaus tilts his head, the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"I thank thee, Caroline."

Caroline smiles and goes to pull some plates from the cupboard, but suddenly Klaus is right there in front of her, blocking the space between herself and the kitchen counter.

"Caroline," Klaus says and her breath suddenly catches in her chest. "Oh! My apologies." Klaus says and then Caroline can breathe again. "I am a bit…off?"

"You did that?" Caroline questions, rubbing her chest and giving a deep breath.

Klaus nods apologetically. "Sometimes I can not control myself."

"It's okay," Caroline says, continuing to rub her chest. "I don't mind…" She really doesn't mind, not one little bit.

Klaus bites on his lip, a look of contemplation on his face as he looks down at Caroline. "Would thou…would thou mind if I…"

Caroline swallows and shakes her head, because no, she wouldn't mind if Klaus did anything right about now. He could throw her over the kitchen table and have his way with her and she wouldn't mind in the slightest.

Klaus releases his bottom lip and before Caroline knows it, he's dipping his head and pressing a small kiss to her lips. Her breath catches again and Caroline's not sure if it's Klaus accidentally stopping her lungs again or if it's just Klaus.

Klaus pulls away after a few seconds and looks at Caroline with a worried look. She tries to look cool, she tries to keep it cool but she knows she's failing because her heart is pounding against her ribcage and the butterfly in her stomach is going crazy again. She smiles dopily and runs a hand through her hair.

"Are you dazzling me again?" she asks, because she really feels like that's what's going on. Her skin is pricking happily, her head is spinning and she feels amazing.

"No," Klaus whispers and Caroline looks up.

"No?" Klaus shakes his head. "Well then," Caroline says and sways a little as her head continues to spin. If this feeling is just from the smallest, most innocent of kisses, she can't help but wonder what a real kiss from him would feel like. She makes a mental note to find out.

Thanks for reading, the reviews, the favourites & the follows, it means the absolute world to me! xo