Hello, people! Next chapter, woo. Please vote and enjoy!

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KLAUS

He heard her crying from downstairs; he caught the broken sounds she made and tried to drown it out, but he couldn't ignore her blatant pain.

Klaus's sole objective from the beginning had been to bring her back. Regrettably, he had thought little over what he'd do afterwards. He wanted to comfort her, but he was poor on the comforting bit, having not had many opportunities and his own desire to do so. How sad, he thought to himself. He couldn't recall such an urge to bring someone reassurance.

After a little while, her cries ceased and the steady sound of her breathing returned. Good. She needed to rest anyway. But then the restlessness started. He caught the rough noises of her turning this way and that, riddled with whatever threat he couldn't see.

Again, he vainly tried to drown it out, preferably in bourbon, waiting for her restlessness to cease. It didn't. And though Klaus wanted to go to her, he wouldn't know what to do. For one of the few times in his life, he hated how much his ruthlessness had maimed his ability to bring consolation.

To keep distracted, Klaus crossed the room and went to his desk, opening his parchment sheets. He raised a pencil to its surface.

Drawing and creating was a particular haven to him. It was a state of being. Of breathing, in sync with a tool as it built what only he imagined to be there. Art was a world limited to his mind alone; a place of his personal making, where perhaps he was not a killer, and perhaps was a better man.

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I jolted up again, my cheeks wet with tears and my shirt plastered to my back with sweat. I wasn't sleeping tonight; that I knew. I couldn't continue to close my eyes and expect to not see them; their eyes boring into mine, screaming one question, over and over again.

Why, why, why, why?

I pulled the covers back and stood, noticing the drastic change in pain. Now it was just a dull throbbing, which was nothing compared to the pain that still reeked havoc inside.

I didn't want to stay in that dark room with nightmares of blood and quietly came down the stairs, expecting it to be vacant..

Well, it wasn't.

Klaus sat at a desk, pencil in hand, moving it in delicate motions that were somewhat mesmerizing. I nearly jumped when he asked, "Couldn't sleep, Love?"

I bit my lip and walked over to him, peeking at the image from over his shoulder. To my dismay, it looked like a river.

Klaus caught my look and instantly tore the page, crumpling it in his hands. "My apologies. That was insensitive of me."

"Well, you didn't need to ruin it," I said, taking the mangled piece of paper and flattening it back out.

"No need to spare me my feelings, Love," he replied, tapping the pencil against the page. He turned to me, an expectant look in his eyes."Perhaps you can be my inspiration. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of beauty?"

I pursed my lips, tapping my own fingers as his played the pencil. It took me less than a minute to come up with an answer. "Humanity," I breathed. "I think of humanity."

Klaus eyed me, speculative. "And how would one successfully depict the beauty of it?"

At his words, those images flashed again and I pulled my hand back, shrugging. "Ask a human."

He seemed to catch some subtlety in my voice I didn't and laid his pencil down. "How's your back?"

"It'll be fine," I said, noticing the bitter undertone of my voice. But Klaus made a turning motion with his finger. "Let me see."

My eyes widened and I took an involuntary step back. "What? No! It's fine. I don't want you....staring at my back."

I saw him smash his lips together, as if trying to keep a smile at bay. "You're making it sound far more personal than I mean it to, Caroline. Just let me see your back."

"No. I said it's fine. It feels better already."

He sighed, standing up. "I will not be anything less than a gentleman. I promise."

I stared at him. "If I made you pinky swear, you'd do it, wouldn't you?" I asked, suddenly unable to keep the mental image of the ancient Klaus, resorting to a child's oath with fingers.

His lips quirked up in that lopsided way of his, eyebrows raising slightly. He held out his hand. "Promises are one of the greatest testaments to friendship."

I smirked and wrapped my pinky around his.

We moved back to the couch and I ignored that insufferable heart flip as I had Klaus inspect my back. His breathing seemed to still and I knew that that was not a good sign.

"There has definitely been....improvement," he said, and I felt his fingers lightly trace one of the healing wounds. But then he stood up quickly, his hands clenching together so hard, they turned white. "Does it still hurt?" He asked, turning away from me.

I pulled the hem back down and shook my head, though he couldn't see it. "Nope. It's fine."

"No, Caroline," he suddenly snapped. "It is not fine. It is very far from it."

I stayed on the couch, waging the best words to say. He was angry, but not at me. "His name was Aindreas," I said. "Macintyre, or something. He told me how he lost his entire family in the Black Plague."

Klaus faced me again, that angry look still lit in his eyes. "Good riddance, then."

"I actually find it kind of sad," I whispered, glancing down at my hands. "You know, having no one there for you anymore. Losing everything that mattered."

Klaus growled, a low rumbling that began deep in his chest. "Do not tell me you are attempting to defend him-"

"No," I shook my head. "I'm not trying to defend myself either. But he....he is what losing everything looks like. It looks like that."

Klaus bit down, so hard that the muscles of his jaw were evident. "When one loses a purpose in living, they turn to materialistic things to satisfy it. But they never find what they are looking for and the search usually leads to their own destruction. As it did him. And I do not regret a single moment of delivering it."

I looked at him, waiting to meet my eyes. "My mom just died. That's one person I lost and I thought it would destroy me. He lost everyone."

He met my gaze. "You're still defending him-"

"I'm not!" I said. "He was a sick man. I mean, clearly very disturbed. But so was I. You can't possibly come up with any reasons to justify me doing those awful things."

"Do you want to wager that?" Klaus asked, turning fully to me.

"And you can't say it's because I had my humanity off," I pointed at him.

He growled again. "Why not?"

"Because I still need to take accountability for turning it off in the first place."

He grimaced, his hands still fisted tightly at his sides. "Then take it. You made a choice and that choice inevitably resulted in death. And you regret that. But the difference is if he had."

"But am I regretting killing those people or regretting feeling bad about it?" I challenged, rising to my feet.

Klaus scoffed dryly. "You are regretting the pain of it. And that means you regret it all."

It was my turn to laugh without humor. But then it died in my throat as another realization came to mind. "Do you want to know something even more pathetic than that?" I asked, my voice dropping to a serious note. "When the crazy dwarfed red head was about to kill me and she didn't....I was actually a little disappointed."

Klaus was in front of me in an instant, his eyes just above mine. His lips were no more than a whisper away. "You are not dying on me, Love. Not if I can help it."

I rolled my eyes. "Or what? Are you going to lock me in a dungeon?"

"I would. In a heartbeat."

My eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"I sent you to the bottom of a river, Caroline. Basic imprisonment is hardly a surprising method of containment."

I inhaled deeply, trying to ignore the scent of him; laundry detergent and something like outdated paper. "Well, you can stop being melodramatic. I'm not going to. If those people had to die because of what I did, I should have to live with it for the same reason."

His voice was hard and strained. "That's the spirit, Love."

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It took a while for me to fall asleep and I didn't even realize I had, until I was waking, momentarily disoriented. I groaned, nuzzling my face deeper in my pillow.

"Good morning."

I jerked upward on the couch, finding my pillow sitting next to me. He held a drawing pad in his hands and an amused smile on his lips and I instantly backed up, nearly falling off the couch.

"What....what happened?" I asked.

Klaus pressed his lips more firmly, focusing on his drawing I couldn't see. "You drifted off after our discussion. And I didn't want to wake you."

I ran my fingers through my hair, but they stuck and I yanked them through the tangles. "I need coffee," I said, standing. "Or a drink. Or coffee and a drink."

He chuckled softly as I stepped over his legs and I whipped around to give him a firm scold. "Don't laugh at me," I snapped.

I saw the effort he put in trying to stifle his smile but failed miserably at it. "I'm not laughing at you, Caroline." He coughed into his fist. "I'm not."

I glowered at him as I walked into the kitchen, staring at the cabinets. I was about to ask, when he answered, not even looking up from his drawing pad. "Third one from your right."

I nodded to myself and poured myself a glass of coffee. Now, if he just kept around some blood ba-

"Bottom door of the refrigerator."

I glared at the back of his head.

Freaking mind reader.

I pulled it open and snatched up some A positive. After I had my breakfast, I went back over to Klaus, creeping slowly behind to see the drawing. But before I could get even a glimpse of it, he flipped it over and looked at me. "What is it, Love?"

"What are you drawing this time?" I asked, unable to keep the curiosity from leaking into my voice. "Another river?"

He smirked at my attempted humor. "No. Fortunately for myself, it's not."

"Then what is it?"

"A surprise."

"For who?" The obviousness was painfully clear.

Klaus smiled. "For a particular assertive and overbearing someone I'm rather fond of."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Overbearing?"

He smiled. "Sometimes."

"Assertive?"

"Frequently."

I couldn't exactly deny it, but I wanted to right then. I let it go though, and took a seat in the chair. I felt tense and on edge, waiting for him to say something, but when he didn't, I did. "Can I ask you a question?"

His eyebrows piqued. "Of course. But I cannot guarantee a promising answer."

I bit my lip, deliberating on whether or not this was the best idea. But then again, what had I to lose?

"Why me?" I asked.

Klaus stared at me, seemingly perplexed. "Would you mind clarifying that?"

I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned into the chair, appraising his expression.

"Why me?" I repeated. "Why....why do you like me? I mean I...I seriously am teenage old drama. You yourself have lived how many of my lifetimes? I don't encompass even a quarter of what you've seen and yet you fall for me?"

Klaus seemed genuinely surprised by my words, as he set the pad on the coffee table and turned to me. "You really don't see it, do you?" He asked.

"What?"

"You fail to see how extraordinary you are, Caroline. And quite often, I think you forget to remind yourself that perfection doesn't exist, but you still strive to achieve it, as if you never believe you'll be good enough if you don't."

I paused at his words, but after a moment, cleared my throat. "That doesn't really answer my question."

He shrugged. "I already warned you about that. Honesty has never really been a strength of mine. But it's yours."

I shook my head. "I just find it a little far fetched that over a thousand years, you never....felt this way. Kind of shoots the theory that there's someone out there for everyone, if it takes"-I did the math in my head-"almost twenty lifetimes to find it."

He just shrugged. "Immortality is a burden to those who lack patience. I just had to wait a little longer than the rest."

I pursed my lips, thinking. What was I supposed to say to that? What did any person say to that? "That's....optimistic," I deadpanned.

Klaus laughed, leaning forward. He wove a finger between one of my ratted curls and I tried to even out my breathing before he caught it. "You are also one of the few who are not intimidated by me and tell me exactly what you're thinking. And you challenge me. You force me to see the honorable things I've done and that though they do not outweigh the bad, it doesn't erase them either."

I smiled. "I don't think I intended to be that deep."

He shrugged, eyes still trailed on the curl his finger toyed with, as if it were the most natural thing to do. "Once you study the works and philosophies of those from Shakespeare and others, you quickly learn never to take anything at face value."

I rolled my eyes, wishing he'd stop playing with my hair. It was distracting. I tried to switch the topic, mentioning the first one that came to mind. "So when do you plan to give Stefan back his memories?"

Klaus looked up then and pulled back his hand as if I'd burned him. "I'll give him a call today," he said and then disappeared.

I almost regretted asking him, but it needed to be done. I wondered why he seemed so distant when I mentioned Stefan. Did he think there was something between us? Did he think I wanted there to be? I rubbed my neck, feeling suddenly confused.

What happened after his memories returned? Would I go back with him or....was there even a second option to regard? I thought of stepping back into the routine of my old life but now, it was like trying to shove a circle in a square hole. It just didn't fit anymore, no matter which way you tried.

I sighed and glanced at his drawing pad. In one quick motion, I snatched it up, flipping it through until I caught sight of the drawing that was only partially done.

It was the making of a picture of me, smiling. Happy. Perhaps even beautiful, the way he imagined me to be. Yet I was straining to see myself in the same light, to glimpse past a drawing unfinished and see the person he did.

But I just saw a girl who was incomplete.