Takes places after 4x13 and 4x14 but canon divergent from there

There is a monster under her skin. How is she supposed to run, hide, be safe, when the monster is her (when she likes the monster that she is)?

There's another monster too. He's so much more of a monster than she is (he keeps his monster close to the surface; he relishes in it, and she sees how it protects him). If she wasn't a monster too, she would run from him, never look back and board up her windows. What's the use in running though when the thing that's in her is the same thing that's in him, even if his monster is much older than hers.

He dares her to get to know him, and she doesn't want to.

She doesn't want to risk liking him. If his monster's not so bad, she might let hers come out to play. She's afraid he'll admit to things that she's thought about herself in the dark when no one's around. But damn him, he dared her and she feels like she has to honor it. Damn him, she thinks all the way home and through the weeks and months that follow.

Doesn't mean she has to let him know she's actually getting to know him. It's so easy when he's basically a stalker. He shows up where she is, and she rolls her eyes every time she sees him. His stories are fun, though, and she can't help but dream of what it would be like to see and do the things he has. It's flattering too; see Damon, she thinks, the most powerful creature ever thinks I'm interesting. It's a power high for her, so, even if she complains, she keeps going along with her friends little schemes (destined for failure) for the chance to spend more time with him without arousing suspicion.

She thinks he doesn't mind; she convinces herself that he's just glad for the honor of her presence (at least that thought keeps the dull edge of fear away). She hopes he doesn't mind; hopes she doesn't push him away. It's not fair to him, but she likes the upper hand she has in this relationship, him in love with her before she's in love with him.

"Caroline," he says this time, "One of these days someone might die from these distraction attempts." He'd smiled as he said it. She wasn't afraid for herself, but always she was afraid for her friends. Their ideas were going to get them killed one day. At least if she was with him, she could beg him not to be the one to do it.

"I think they're hoping that person will be you." Caroline hopes he won't notice she excluded herself. She doesn't hold out much hope though. He is exceptionally observant.

"But not you, sweetheart?"

She sighs in defeat. "Contrary to what you might think Klaus, I don't have a death wish. I think they're looking for answers they're never going to find. Besides, you die we die. And even if they solve that little problem, there's the werewolves of the world and your blood's the only cure."

"And yet you participate." He's dangerously close to the truth (there's a dark edge to his voice that sends a shiver through her spine), but she's been drinking his ancient alcohol down (she likes the way it burns) and sitting on his couch talking to him for hours, so she decides to speak a partial truth.

"I don't have to actually be involved in their plans this way. I just have to spend time with you, which isn't as bad as I used to think."

He grabs her hand (always softly, always gently, at odds with the monster she sees clearly in his eyes) and traces patterns over it, emboldened by her words. "Is that so love?"

"Mhmm," she murmurs, letting her eyes fall shut just for a moment to relish in the feel of his fingers on her skin. She pulls away, of course (it's what's expected; by her friends and by him), but she misses his skin on her instantly.

She can still feel his blood thrum through her veins (there's something powerful in his blood that she craves), and she feels like she needs him more and more each day.

"Do you believe in soulmates?" she asks suddenly.

"No," is his instant reply, an ancient, tired reply (one he's said many times before from the ease with which he says it), and she isn't surprised by his answer. What does surprise her is the way his eyes dart to the left, the way his hands flex.

It's not a comfort to know that he lied.

He looks like he's waiting for her to continue, but she doesn't want to voice the deeper truths she's not ready to acknowledge yet. She can't very well say I think you're mine and I hate it. So she switches gears, speaks a different truth. "I'm sorry about Kol." She's not looking at him as she says this, too afraid of what she'll she in his eyes. She wonders if he blames her. "I didn't know what they were going to do."

Klaus puts a finger under her chin (gently, always gently), tilting her head so she has to look at him. "Would you have told me if you did?"

"Yes," she answers without hesitation. She can't help it-after hearing the whole plan from Elena and Bonnie, she doesn't think what they did was right. And yeah, Klaus killed Jenna, but then they killed Finn, and he killed Mrs. Lockwood and she...she doesn't think this endless cycle of retribution is going to help anyone. She can admit to herself that she wants Klaus on her side; she doesn't want him to be an enemy. It's easier to blame Klaus' mother than Klaus anyway. Caroline wishes, not for the first time, that she didn't like him at all. But there's always been something there.

He heaves a sigh. "I miss him everyday."

"I'm sorry," she breathes at the raw, uncontrolled pain he lets her see; she feels close to tears.

He gives her a small smile (he still hasn't taken his finger from under her chin; he's stroking her skin again, and she makes no move to push him away). "I miss him less today."

It would be easier to hate him if he was more of a monster.

"Why don't you believe in soulmates?" She asks the next time she sees him. She's at his house once more, this time completely of her own volition, no distractions behind it (she thinks it's better this way for what she wants to do). It might be because all her friends are still alive, with not even a whiff of him going after them at all, and she doesn't feel guilty for what she plans to admit.

He heaves a sigh, sinking down on the couch a whole entire cushion away from her (which is not the best way for what she wants to do). "Why is it so important to you Caroline?"

"Because you've lived for a million years-"

"Not quite that long love-"

"And you know, it's...I always wanted to find my soulmate." She finishes in a small voice, turning her gaze from him once more.

"I didn't believe in them because every time I saw love I saw it end. Elijah, Finn, even Stefan. I wanted to believe when I saw Stefan and Elena, but…" he trails off, but she's grateful that he was so honest with her (she knows that what he's just admitted to her he'd never admit to anyone else and it makes her feel special).

But then she realizes what he said, so she looks him dead in the eye. "Wait, didn't?"

"I can almost believe," he starts tentatively, "when I'm with you."

Her dead heart lurches, pumping faster than it did when she was alive. He smiles, and she knows he caught the change in rhythm. "When I look at you, I know what I've been waiting for these past centuries," he continues. "Love?" he asks, and she can see he's waiting to know if he said too much. Sometimes he approaches her like she's a bird and the slightest movement will scare her away.

She unleashes her best smile (a genuine smile, where she doesn't worry what she looks like even though it's all teeth and her eyes scrunch up; she's noticed she only really smiles anymore around him). "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."

Caroline gets a full blown smile in return, and she hears him sigh in relief. But then his expression turns inquisitive. "Do you believe in soulmates Caroline?"

She hesitates, because she didn't want to tell him this. He's looking at her so earnestly, though, and she has to tell him even if she doesn't really want to. "Yes. I stopped for a while because I thought...well, no relationship can be perfect, right? And then I started thinking that people weren't destined to meet. But then you showed up in my life, and I was…." She looks at him between her lashes; she shouldn't go on. They're dangerously close to changing everything and she still doesn't know if she's ready.

"Go on," he chokes out, half hopeful, half worried.

"I was-I was drawn to you. I didn't want it, but I sort of did. You-you're not like anyone else. The more I pulled away, the more I missed you and wanted you."

He gasps, audibly, and it's such an odd sound for him (maybe he's not as much of a monster as she thought) that all her walls break. She scoots closer to him; their knees are touching now, and she has no desire to pull away. Caroline raises a hand, and does something she's wanted to do for a long time. She strokes his jaw, loving the way his stubble feels against her hand (she wonders what it will feel like on other parts of her body, and she shivers in delight). She leans in, lips nearly against his.

"I think you're in my veins," she says.

It's not quite an 'I love you'-she doesn't think she's all the way there yet (but she's oh so close)-but it feels like that's what she just admitted.

"You've been in mine since the day I was born," he replies and she gasps this time. He surges forward, hands tangling in her hair, mouth devouring hers. Their first kiss (real kiss; she refuses to count the one when he was in Tyler's body) is all tongue and teeth; she thinks this kiss alone might ruin her for anyone else (she also thinks that was what he intended all along).

She pulls away from him briefly, panting, keeping her hands on his skin. "There's a monster in my skin."

"Yes," he says, offering no reassurances or denials, just a simple truth and there's love in his eyes for her. She thinks she loves him a little bit just for that, and she's glad he seems to accept her exactly as she is. "There's one in mine too." His gaze is locked on her lips, but he waits for her (it would be easier to forget him if he wasn't so perfect for her). The old cliches are true with him and she feels like he's the puzzle piece she's always been missing and to get rid of him now would only hurt her when she knows how it feels to be with someone who...he doesn't complete her, not exactly. But he makes her feel like she's okay, and that's what she needs. He makes her feel wanted, and smart, and sexy, and he likes every part of her. At least, she hopes he does.

"I like it," she admits, needing to know if he'll love her even if she isn't as full of light as he believes. It's important to her; after Matt she's always wondered if the darkness in her will only push people away.

"Yours or mine?" he asks with a laugh, and all she feels is relief.

"Both," she answers and closes the distance between them once more.