Many thanks to my lovely and amazing beta Anastasia Dreams!

I've missed you too

(One shot)

Summary :

"And they say that absence makes the heart grow fonder". Now she knows that they were right.

Klaus returns to Mystic Falls for Caroline and she realizes how much she truly missed him.

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Absence make her heart grow fonder
While I'm conquering the last frontier

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The smell of his blood surrounded her and ignited her desire. She couldn't resist this even if she wanted to. And now she didn't. She had been craving and praying for just a drop of his blood for hours and now she would finally have it.

His wrist was placed in front of her mouth and her desperate need for blood could only be sated by the elixir he was offering to her. For hours after a werewolf bit her she had been in pain. The hallucinations had kicked in, but in the back of her half way conscious mind she knew that he would run to her. He wouldn't let her go. Somehow, she knew that he would always be there to save her. Maybe it was selfish of her to expect him to drop everything and come running to her rescue, but that was what she was feeling. She knew that a part of him would always be devoted to her and somehow that made her feel safe even when he was away. He has stopped being her enemy a long time ago. He had turned into a friend and then into a memory and now into her hope for survival.

Her lips latched on to his flesh and she greedily drank the succulent sanguine essence he was offering, a jolt of electricity running through her veins. His blood was rejuvenating her and taking away her pain. Eventually the immense hunger subsided and all she could feel was the flow of his blood creating unexplained goosebumps all over her skin.

No matter the circumstances, bloodsharing had turned into a personal recurring moment for them. It kept happening again and again and in the end caused memories and feelings to arise and find refuge into their minds and psyche.

Now her head was resting on his chest as his long pianist fingers were gently caressing her tangled hair. He was whispering soothing words into her ear and she could swear that his voice was running deeper inside her than his own blood did. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. His scent enveloped her. She didn't want to admit this, but she had missed this. She had missed him. She had missed his presence, his voice. She had missed the fact that even if he was still the murdering sociopathic hybrid she could always rely on him.

She slowly removed her fangs from his flesh and licked her lips as her eyes turned back to normal. She felt her cheeks blushing as she realized how close they were and how she had melted into his arms. She tried to move and to hoist her upper body only to feel herself propelled down by gravity. The aftermath of the pain that she had been submitted to over the last hours was taking its toll and Klaus's blood had created a haze in her mind.

"Sleep, sweetheart, I'll be here when you wake up," she heard his voice promising and somehow she felt safe enough to fall asleep into his arms.

When she woke up she didn't know if hours or just minutes had passed by. All she knew was that the warmth and the feelings of security were gone. Somehow she felt disappointment emerging into her heart. She had believed that he would be there when she woke up, but he had obviously left again.

She should be thankful, really. He had come to her and he had saved her once again. He didn't have any reason to stay any longer and he didn't owe her anything in the first place.

She sighed as she felt a lump in her chest.

She couldn't stop her heart from constricting uncomfortably at the idea that after so long he didn't even stay to see her. Or at least to say goodbye to her before he left for New Orleans again.

She took the covers off her body and stood up. She needed to drink some regular human blood and then she would have to probably text him. She would have to thank him for his trouble after all.

But as she went out of her room her senses were invaded by a certain scent. She would recognize it everywhere. It was masculine and it was familiar.

She slowly stepped into the living room only to see him standing in front of the window looking outside. His hands were in his pockets and she couldn't help but smile and feel relieved.

She didn't want to give a name to that strange emotion, but she couldn't help but feel that warm feeling of satisfaction. He hadn't left. He kept his promise even if it was such a simple thing as waiting for her to wake up before he would leave again. She tried to ignore the pang in her heart at the thought that he would once again leave. She should be happy that Klaus had moved on. She should be content that he wasn't causing any problems to her friends and to Mystic Falls anymore.

So why wasn't she?

He turned around and his eyes scanned over her and rested on her upper arm for a moment. The skin that was formerly bitten and corrupted was now smooth and unblemished again.

Then his everlasting smirk appeared on his lips again and she couldn't help but smile at that.

"I am glad to see that you are feeling better, love," he said with his smooth accented voice that caused her to feel strangely uneasy for a moment.

She breathed in as she looked straight to his eyes and then she averted her gaze.

"Thanks to your blood" she said and he nodded.

She took a step forward, but then stopped. Where to go from there?

The last time she had seen him he had promised to be her last love. After such a declaration she would have expected that he would at least keep in touch with her, but he hadn't. She didn't know if he expected her to come to him or if he had moved on. Maybe he had left the ball in her court or maybe his words were empty promises. All she knew was that she felt an unexplained feeling of abandonment and even though she knew that Klaus wouldn't be the one to always follow her around and beg for her love, she somehow felt disconnected and lost.

Her eyes took him in. He was easy on the eye as he stood relaxed and suave in the other side of the room. He wore a leather jacket, a soft Henley shirt and black jeans. His stubble and necklaces were always adding a sense of danger to his look. His blue eyes were lively. He looked good. He looked like no day had passed for him; He didn't seem to have missed Mystic Falls or anything from his former life and yet she felt lost and lonely. She had missed him.

"So," she said as she took the hem of her blouse in her hands and started playing with it with fidgeting fingers "thank you," she told him. Somehow she felt that her tongue had gone silent. Her mind was racing with all the things she wanted to tell him and yet she couldn't. The words were not finding a getaway. They just felt trapped inside her mind.

Since when did she feel uncomfortable around Klaus?

He nodded and smiled at her.

"You are welcome, sweetheart," he said and took a step closer.

She nodded at him too and looked around. She straightened her back.

"Thank you for staying until I woke up too," she said trying to break the ice.

"Anytime," he replied and stepped even closer.

She didn't know why but she couldn't help herself from looking down. She felt perplexed. She felt the intense need to tell him that she missed him and yet somehow her pride got in the way.

"Klaus, I…"

She didn't have the time to tell him or to find a way to express any of her thoughts because his shadow hid the sun that casted over her body. She jumped when she felt his hand cupping her cheek and gently tilting her head up. She looked at him and her heart beat faster for a moment.

She didn't know how long she stared into the depths of his blue eyes. She felt like she was drifting over the edge. A mess of emotions covered her whole and left her speechless. She didn't know how this was possible. She wasn't in love with Klaus. She couldn't be. In the past she had been attracted to him, yes, but that was it.

She didn't want to admit that his absence did make her heart fonder for him. She didn't want to admit that she had to lose his constant presence from her life only to realize what that presence meant in the first place. She was supposed to go on with her life free from him and his irrational mood swings, his stupid compliments and loving gazes and yet here she was hanging by the intense dark look that had captured her and thrown her into a pool of unknown emotion.

She leaned closer for a moment unable to realize the danger she was in. She wasn't just drifting over the edge she was being lifted and thrown over that edge that separated her from the unknown. Because this was dangerous. He was dangerous for her. Stepping into a territory like this with the Original Hybrid would mean that her life would turn upside down. It would mean that all her defenses were for nothing. It would mean that Klaus's absence had managed to turn and twist her heart in ways that he would have only dreamt of half a year ago.

The moment changed and she blinked surprised.

She narrowed her eyes confused when she felt him placing something into her hands. His eyes were still scanning her as she looked at the little bottle that he had placed in her palm.

It was his blood.

Before she could say anything he wrapped his palm over her own and looked at her seriously.

"When Stefan called me telling me you were hurt I… feared that I might not make it here in time," he confessed and she looked at him surprised for a moment. His admission of fear surprised her and then she looked at him with sympathetic eyes.

She could see that this was difficult for him to admit. She could see that fear was not something that he was accustomed to.

"I never want to feel this way again sweetheart, so consider this an insurance policy in case you ever find yourself in trouble again…which you most definitely shouldn't," he reprimanding her in a tender way and she smiled at him almost amused.

"Thank you," she whispered and her gaze locked with his "for everything," she added.

And somehow she knew that he understood. He understood that she was thanking him for not forgetting about her, for still caring for her, for not leaving her behind even if he wasn't there anymore.

"What are friends for, love," he said as his fingers squeezed her hand lightly causing a wonderful sense of warmth and familiarity to bloom into her skin and then into her heart.

His hands moved and slowly travelled over her arms.

It had taken them some time but now both of them could move on into a more comfortable state with each other. They could touch each other more comfortably, but somehow those touches were not comfortable at all. They were heated and tense and both of them pretended not to realize it. Both of them also knew that this pretense was a lie.

A comfortable lie that was helping their relationship move forward. And that was something they both needed.

"I would hope, though, that the next time I receive a call concerning you it will be for a more pleasant matter," he told her and he let his hands fall from her arms.

That caused her to feel a sudden sense of abandonment and she held the bottle with his blood a little tighter.

"Or you could just call me. This is what friends do you know!" she chastised him even though she hadn't called him either all this time.

"Friends can also invite their friends to come visit them sweetheart…so maybe I will do that," he playfully told her.

She bit her lip and then looked at him intently.

"Maybe you should," she said in a promising way that made his dimples appear through his wide smile.

She smiled back and he nodded. They had once again reached a sort of understanding. They were friends and they both knew that one day they could be more than just friends. Maybe they would be, maybe they wouldn't. Maybe that day would come after a century or after an eternity. But for now, what they had was enough. For now they cared and they would be just a call away.

He leaned forward and his lips found her cheek again like they had the last time they were together. This time the sun shined through the window and this time she turned her face towards him. This time her eyes fell to his lips and the moment lasted longer as his hand moved a strand of hair behind her ear and touched the skin of her neck for a just moment that seemed endless.

She looked up at him and saw him watching her with his most penetrating gaze.

He bent his head until his lips were a millimeter away from her ear.

"By the way," he said in a husky voice that made her eyelids feel heavy as she closed her eyes "I've missed you too, sweetheart," he whispered and the next thing she knew was a rush of air sweeping over her and messing her hair.

When she opened her eyes he was gone.

She looked at the bottle in her hand and smiled. Maybe in time she would have to repay him his visit and join him in New Orleans for a while. This is what friends do anyway she though with a smile as she turned her head towards the direction he had took.

Or maybe she would have to wait a little longer until she would miss him a little more.

"I missed you too," she said with a slow voice knowing that even though she didn't give voice to her thoughts in front of him it didn't matter.

He knew. And now she knew too. And what mattered was that she didn't miss him anymore. He had been here for her and she knew that if she ever missed him again all she would have to do was call him. And he would be there. As would she for him.

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One day you'll understand how much you have me

If an expression of love is what you need to believe
All I can offer you is me
I'm all I can offer you right now

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Song: One Day by Opshop