A Second Chance

He let cocaine control his life. He'd let it take away the only thing that mattered: Damon Salvatore. And now, by some miracle, Klaus had been given a second chance. And he'd be damned if he was going to let it slide between his fingertips once more.

WARNING! PLEASE READ! Drug use! I don't know anyone who has used drugs, nor have I taken them myself so I don't know the full effects of taking drugs or the recovery periods needed. I've tried to gather information from the internet but I know that everyone's recovery is different. I do hope that the story doesn't offend anyone, and I would like you to remember that this is purely fiction and that I have only the basic knowledge of drugs.

If I have in any way, missed something or gone drastically wrong in anyway I would appreciate it if you would correct me in a nice, polite way. Thanks for taking your time to read this!

Other warnings include the standard: language, sex, possibly violent scenes, slash (male male pairings) and probably a couple of other things that I can't quite remember.

Thank you for reading, please enjoy! xx

Klaus leaned back lazily and looked at the line of white powder on the table in front of him. It contrasted with the dark mahogany wood and the dim lights that surrounded him. For those few minutes of blissfulness and highs, he had lost everything. It seemed laughable how such a tiny amount of powder, gone in one quick snort, could bring the breakdown of his five year relationship, make him lose his work and his connections with family…

Losing his job hadn't hurt. He'd hated it in the first place; it was never something he'd wanted. Instead, while in that blissful haze, he would paint landscapes and portraits from a happier time. And when the inevitable crash came, the colours would darken as his mood descended and the paintings would take on a gloomy, depressing tone that would haunt him for days after.

The connections with his family hadn't been hard to break. They'd never been particularly close anyway. That was made worse when Elijah was killed in a car crash, only a block away from his apartment. After that, the drugs had become more appealing. Before, Klaus had sworn that he wouldn't take them. But he had. And when that first high had enveloped him in its blissful ignorance, he'd wanted again. So he continued with the drugs. When the high that he had the first time never came, he would carry on, hoping to catch that feeling again. He never caught it. It was a game that he would never win, his goal – that wonderful ignorance – was continuously out of reach.

Even when Damon had left, Klaus had never quite noticed. Their relationship had been good, moving slowly but steadily up until the point of Elijah's accident. Not even Damon's comfort, his warm body on a night could distract Klaus from the aching feeling of losing his older brother. They'd argued when Damon had first seen Klaus snorting the white powder. But eventually, Damon had relented (probably seeing it as Klaus' way of grieving, and secretly hoping that it was a phase. That it would pass with time). It never did.

A year after seeing Klaus first snort the cocaine, Damon had given up. He'd walked from the apartment and hadn't looked back.

Too wrapped up in the drugs, Klaus had never noticed.

When the plummeting crash had come, inevitable as it was, Klaus had looked around the apartment. Damon's thing were still there. He hadn't even taken his clothing. He'd just walked out and never returned. That hurt. That Damon didn't even want to see him again, even if it was to collect clothing and other items. He'd called Damon once his fingers had stopped shaking. It had taken three attempts to call the correct number, only for Damon to hang up on him. Klaus had tried again. Again. Again. Again. Until his fingers were numb from pressing buttons and his eyes ached from staring at the small bright screen. When he'd regained his senses, he'd tried texting. That hadn't worked. He'd even tried Snail Mail by sending letters. They went unanswered. Klaus had even stooped to emotional blackmail, pulling out their photos from happier times and sending them.

They too, had been ignored.

When it was clear Damon wasn't coming back. Klaus had attempted to move his things. When he'd touched the first photo frame, anger had consumed him. That was a side effect – erratic mood swings that were beyond his control. Shattered glass had littered the floor from his actions, broken into pieces the same way the drugs had broken him. He'd cried then. Apologising profusely to the shattered glass that covered Damon's laughing, smiling face. The smile that he grown to love so much, seemed mocking and sarcastic; as if grinning at Klaus's downfall. After that, he'd turned the photo over, allowing Damon's smile to be hidden.

The cocaine had looked too kind that night. The powder was calling out to his body, to ease his sorrow, guilt and remorse. To comfort the pain he was feeling. That night, he blacked out he'd taken so much. Morning rays woke him by stroking his face. Reality of what he had done had dawned on him as the morning grew older. Too exhausted and emotionally drained for tears, he had mechanically cleared away the glass from the previous night.

Since then, there had been no more attempts to clear away Damon's things. In a way, it was a self-inflicted punishment. Damon could torture him by haunting him with his smiles and the portraits that Klaus had drawn by memory. Even his tooth brush entwined itself with Klaus'.

His gaze flickered over to the white powder and the rolled £2O note beside it. Traces of the white powder still clung to the note's surface. It was tempting him. It seemed to call to his body. Fuck it. With a shaking hand, he reached out and grasped the rolled money in one hand. Elbows balancing on his knees, he leaned forward until he was inches away from the powder.

It would ease his guilt.

It would take away his grief at Elijah's death, even for just a moment.

It would allow the wonderful ignorance to take him over and allow him peace.

It would make him forget Damon's haunting smile, if only for a couple of minutes.

But most of all, it would fill the empty aching deep inside his chest.

Closing his eyes, Klaus took the powder through the note. The feelings were slow to kick in, they always were, but five minutes later the familiar high came over him, rendering him powerless to the happier memories that assaulted him.

Second Chance

Klaus walked quickly back to the sub way, desperately trying to look inconspicuous. He passed two policemen who gazed at him with unseeing eyes. The way their eyes glanced over him, so quickly, yet seemed so suspicious of him. Klaus flickered his gaze away and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. Paranoia. That was another side effect and it made him worse than ever. Sometimes, he'd sworn that he'd seen Damon's familiar spirit come back to haunt him.

The package seemed to gain heat in the lining of his coat. Klaus thought people were looking at him, their eyes drawn to the bright light that must be emanating from the package of drugs. But no one looked. No one paid any attention to the man with the dirty blonde hair and dull blue eyes. No one paid attention to the scruffy man who half walked and half dragged his body through the sub way. No one saw him. They avoided him.

Just like Damon avoided him.

A loud barking laugh startled him, causing the package to nearly fall from the lining of his coat. He glanced up, his eyes filled with fear that someone may have suspected him. He didn't know why he was scared. Nothing could be worse than living the hell he was in now. As he glanced up, his eyes locked on someone he hadn't seen in months.

Klaus swallowed thickly as tears stung in his eyes. He didn't care when his hands loosened on the packed, though by some miracle it remained hidden in his jacket. A shaking hand moved on its own accord, reaching out for the ghost of a man that seemed so real yet he knew it couldn't be.

Damon had moved away. He hadn't returned calls, messages or letters.

Yet the man was standing ten feet away, laughing his familiar laugh with a younger man. Stefan, Klaus recognised the other man as Damon's brother. Stefan must have stayed in London when Damon had moved away.

He took a few stumbling steps forward, his feet dragging him as if warning him not to go any further. Let Damon live his life. Let him move on while you condemn yourself to this, a voice in his head whispered. But he shook his head. Klaus couldn't let Damon go, not without getting some sort of true rejection.

As if sensing his desperation, people moved out of his way. A woman with a pram hurried past him, pulling her toddler closer to her and clutching her handbag with white knuckles. A man, in his late fifties, looked torn between moving out of his and choosing to helping him. Did he really look that bad? Klaus felt it, he felt as if his legs would give way in weakness and if his brain was foggy, and for once it was real and no induced by a drug state.

A noise, or something to draw attention to him, must have left his mouth for Stefan glanced up from his conversation and looked Klaus' way. When their eyes locked, a look of recognition, followed quickly by shock flashed through Stefan's eyes. He thought he saw the younger man choke slightly and stagger. Stefan reached out to grasp Damon's bicep and attempt (or it looked like it) to steer him in the opposite direction, away from Klaus. Sensing this, Damon looked back fleetingly.

It looked as though Damon hadn't seen him, and Klaus sagged against the nearby wall. He couldn't even gain Damon's definite rejection, to prove to his own messed up mind that it was truly over. But Damon did a double take. He looked back again, pulling his arm roughly out of Stefan's grip.

Klaus felt rather than saw the way Damon's eyes raked over his body with a mixture of shock, grief and pity. When their eyes finally met, Damon's hands clenched into fists and Klaus thought he saw the other man fighting back the sting of tears. Again he reached a shaking hand out, as if he could steady the man he hadn't seen for months. The glare Stefan gave him went ignored. It was a moment between the two of them. People passed them and still their gaze wasn't broken. Stefan's insistent tugging went ignored until Damon finally pushed him away with a single broken look.

The moment was broken when Klaus took a single step forward. He saw a single tear roll from Damon's eye and it hurt him more than anything physical ever could.

As if he couldn't bear to see him for another moment, Damon turned away harshly and strode away. Seconds later, the two brothers were swallowed by the sea of people.

Second Chance

Klaus watched as Caroline took a seat on the aged couch, discreetly sitting to the side of the long tear that marred the middle seat. He never said anything, let her think that he hadn't seen her look of dismay when she'd seen the fresh package of drugs. She looked around the apartment as she did every time she visited and every time she visited, she never mentioned the way Damon's things still seemed to cling to the surface they were on. One time she had picked up a photo, and Klaus had seen the dust mark it had left behind. He couldn't bear to move Damon's things, even if it was only to clean the surface beneath them.

"I saw h-him," Klaus began and his voice was rough. He reached over for the nearby glass of water to ease the aching in his throat. Caroline didn't comment on the break in his voice, just looked back at him with her lovely dark eyes that were covered by the blonde curls of her hair. "In the sub way."

Caroline nodded, and looked over his body. As always, she never commented on him. She never said anything related to the drugs he took or their side effects on his home life or his body. "What are you going to do about it? If he's in the area?"

He shrugged and moved his hand so he could pick at the frayed edge of his sleeve. "He wouldn't answer my calls before. I still call him once a week. What use is there to try again, just because I've seen him?"

She nodded slowly. A moment of silence swept into the room before Caroline broke it again. "His reaction to you?"

"Pity. Shock. Grief. The usual reactions that I get from others who knew me beforehand. He cried and he turned away. I never saw him after that."

"Don't you think that's a sign?" Caroline edged carefully. She'd leant forward, her kind eyes boring into Klaus'.

"For what?"

"For you to stop," Caroline clarified and she held up a hand to stop his protests. "You saw his reaction to seeing you this way. He hated seeing you like this. You hate seeing yourself like this and you hated seeing his reaction. Isn't that incentive enough?"

Klaus shook his head violently. Again he reached for the glass of water. As he drank, his eyes flickered back to the open package on the table. He'd had his last fix yesterday night. It was morning now. Soon, he would need it. "I can't just stop, not like that," he said and he hated the words as he spoke them. "I can't."

"Why?"

"I'm addicted." He chuckled but it lacked humour. It was a dry choking sound, barely a laugh at all. "You don't know what it's like. I'll do anything to get another fix…"

"Yet you've admitted that you don't feel the need as badly when you're with someone, when you're me. You said that I distract you… that I stop you from needing it so badly because it gives you something else to focus on, another diversion to the pain you feel." Klaus met her eyes once again. In a way he regretted telling her that, but at the minute he couldn't find that regret. She'd found his weak link and exploited it. When he nodded, Caroline beamed. "See? You can move in with me! That way it will get you out of this apartment that holds all these memories. It will get you away from the drug dealers, so it will be harder to get the cocaine. You can restart your life over..." She swallowed nervously and chanced a glance a one of Klaus' favourite photos of Damon. "It can get you away from his haunting ghost. You don't need to see him anymore. A fresh start, imagine that? And then you can call him when you're better. Damon will listen to you then."

Klaus nodded weakly but inside he was determined. He could do this. He had Caroline, his best friend for the past eight years backing him. She was giving him the chance to move away, to restart his life. "Give me an hour to pack then."

Caroline shook her head. "No. Everything goes. New life, new everything. Even new shoes." She pointed to the battered tennis pumps on his feet. He couldn't help the small smirk that graced his lips. She would do anything for a shopping trip.

"Give me ten minutes to say goodbye to the place?"

Caroline nodded and, as if she sensed his need for privacy, stood and began to walk to the door. But she turned around again and grabbed the package of drugs and threw a smile over her shoulder. "This begins now, Klaus. We're in it together."

He silently agreed with her as she turned to leave. Instead of saying goodbye to the apartment, he sat in silence. The walls around him suddenly seemed less dismal. The weak light that filtered through filthy curtains suddenly strengthen. The weak, naked bulb that lit the room stopped flickering and grew in its certainty to light the room.

Standing, Klaus reached over to grab the photo of Damon he loved the most. They'd been at one of Damon's work meetings – one of the fancy ones that neither of them cared much for – and Klaus had attempted to catch a picture of him. When Damon had caught him, he'd simply raised an eyebrow as he took a sip of his champagne. The smirk Klaus loved so much was on his lips and he'd captured the moment perfectly.

A quick glance towards the door told him that Caroline wasn't there. She must be waiting at her car for him. He slid the photo into the lining of his jacket, where it replaced the drug package that was usually stored there. Another heat, not one of suspicion filtered through his body. This was a new start. And he'd be damned if he'd give it up the same way he'd given Damon up.

The smirk on his face grew as he reached forward and ran his hand over the dust mark left by the photo. With a swipe of his hand, the dust flew up, removing any traces of the photos past position. Past. That was where all of this belonged.

Second Chance

First Day

Caroline had forced him to flush the drugs, packet by packet, down the toilet. At first he couldn't bring himself to push the lever that would send the nightmarish substance miles from his sight. So Caroline had helped him. She hadn't forced him, instead holding his hand and guiding him until he held the cool lever. Klaus had looked away when he finally drew up the courage to press the lever down.

The sound of the toilet choking down the packages had given him an intense feeling of glee. This was it. He was moving on. And he could do it. Packet by packet, they had force-fed the toilet.

Once they'd finished the entire package, Caroline had squealed and hugged him, her thin arms wrapping around his body frame easily. It was the first real warmth he'd felt since Damon had left. Awkwardly, he'd given her the hug back until he had clung to her, his tears soaking her navy blue t-shirt.

As they pulled away from each other, Caroline had laughed and Klaus had joined in. The feeling of being free from the constraints of the drugs felt good.

Until the cravings settled in.

It had begun at first with a slight annoying need that pulsed through his blood stream. It seemed to itch beneath his skin but no matter how much he scratched, the feeling wouldn't go. To stop himself, he clenched his fists and punched Caroline's leather couch. When she saw this, Caroline had laughed and walked over, setting a glass of water in his hand. "Focus on that," she had said. He gave her a bizarre look that clearly said she was "off her rocker." Caroline smiled at him again and shook her head. "Focus on not spilling the water. It'll take your mind off it, and its ice cold. So if you spill it, it'll give you the shock of your life."

Surprisingly, it had helped.

As the hours progressed, the water had warmed up. Caroline had noticed this and changed the water. After this, she had shown Klaus to the spare bedroom. She pointed out the freshly stocked shelves in the bathroom and when Klaus had raised an eyebrow she had shrugged. "They were the stuff Tyler left before he ran off with that Hayley bitch. Figured you could use them until I could buy you new stuff." He'd thanked her and she'd smiled, a wide one that showed two rows of pearly white teeth.

As she turned to shut the bedroom door, she'd exclaimed loudly; "remember, we can do this!"

Second Chance

Quickly, Klaus had found that he was experiencing more fatigue than he ever had before. Not that he minded much. The more he slept, the less of the other cravings he felt. On the second day, Caroline had barged into his room when he hadn't woken, only to find him till curled beneath the covers. Klaus only knew this because Caroline had teased him without mercy for the next hour.

When had risen that morning, he had groaned and held his head. It felt as if he had a marching band parading around his brain. The headache was worse than anything he'd had before. In the end, he'd stumbled into the living room, one hand threaded through his dirty blonde hair. Not noticing Caroline stood in the doorway, he had allowed his gaze to flicker towards the bathroom where they had flushed the cocaine.

She coughed loudly, causing Klaus to flinch but she hadn't responded. Instead she walked through to the kitchen, only to return with a packet of paracetamol. With a quick motion, she had thrown them at him and gesture to the glass of water on the table. "They help with my period pains, so they'll help with your headache."

Klaus gestured a quick thank you, not wanting to make any sound less it make the pounding in his head worse. He took the tablets and looked at her when the effects didn't come within five minutes. He was way too used to things working immediately…

"Give them half an hour and you'll thank me." She said as she came through with two bowls of cereal. "Eat something, it will distract you a bit." Caroline took the seat beside him, careful not to jostle the couch too much. They ate in silence as Caroline listened to the weatherman. "I've got something that I want to show you. It might help you with the distractions."

They stood and Caroline led him down a short corridor, stopping at a white door that looked the same as all the others. She pushed it open and it squeaked in protest. Caroline stepped back so Klaus could have a better view of the room. Inside was a running machine, a punching bag and a pile of weights in one corner. In the opposite corner there was a large sound system connected to the speakers in all corners of the room. "A gym, it used to be Tyler's." She shrugged and glanced away from the equipment. "Never had the heart to move it." For a brief moment, Klaus thought back to his old apartment with all of Damon's things. He pushed the thought away before he could dwell on it. Instead he focussed on Caroline's words. "I somehow deluded myself into thinking I was going to beef up and gain a six pack and broad shoulders or something." She chuckled. "But it's yours now, use it as you see fit."

Second Chance

Klaus rolled over in bed, blocking the sunlight from his eyes with one hand. Groaning, he shifted until he was looking at the photo of Damon that he had taken from his apartment. On the first day, it had made tears prickle in his eyes. But now, he smiled at the photo and allowed his fingers to ghost over the glass in the frame. Determination thundered through him, even on the mornings when his headache made him want to roll over and die.

He could do this. "For Sparta!" as Caroline had shouted the other day when she had encouraged him while he had taken his frustration out on the punching bag. Even if Damon still didn't want to be with him, Klaus could prove to him that he was a changed man. "Morning, Damon," he said in the same way he had always done. "I'm gonna do this," he repeated the words he said every morning. "I can do this. For you and for Caroline.

Second Chance

The third week, for some reason, seemed the hardest. Klaus had snapped at Caroline many times, only to apologise profusely afterwards. She never lost her temper though, instead she took everything in her stride, nodded and left him to calm down on his own. The agitation seemed the worst this week, and Klaus had often sought out the glass of freezing water so he could use the same trick Caroline had shown him.

That had worked some times. When it hadn't, he'd moved onto the punching bag in the gym. He'd gone through two in the past week as he worked out his frustration. In those times, Caroline knew better than to interrupt him. She said she always knew because the music would shake the house with its loudness. When he turned the music off and came into the kitchen for food or water (his increased appetite was thankfully causing him to gain weight, which Caroline had advised him to do weights after she noticed. She had said that she didn't want a 'couch potato in her house, it would scare away future boyfriends) Caroline would smirk and says "you all better now, Hulk?"

When he wasn't working the punching bag to its death, or lifting weights, Klaus would lay on the couch or on his bed. The tiredness still made his muscles ache and his mood often became lowered till the point that Caroline had begun to question him worriedly. His movements had become slower and it had become a challenge to put one foot in front of the other. As a consequence, he slept more.

A ray of hope had been shone of them both though, when Caroline had searched the internet for with drawl symptoms. Apparently a lot of Klaus' matched those. "We're getting there!" he said, more to himself in disbelief than to Caroline. He'd looked at her and they'd grinned. Turning back to the computer, Klaus watched as Caroline's eyebrows rose and her smiled widened. "You've never guessed what I've just found?" She gave him no time to answer her. "You've gotten through the worst stage! Don't get me wrong, you're not cured totally… But you're past the worse!"

Second Chance

They had thrown a party – just the two of them – when Klaus had reached the three month mark. They had drunk Bourbon, and in Caroline's case, Malibu and Coke. Hours had passed by with the two of them dancing to music they would never listen to while sober. The cheap £10 disco lights that Caroline had bought broke half way through but they didn't notice. Chairs had been pulled out and upturned while they sung karaoke into wooden spoons.

Life had been good.

Second Chance

"I saw Damon the other day," Caroline said slowly as she scooped cereal onto her spoon. The spoon hovered inches away from the bowl as she waited for Klaus' reply. When he shrugged his shoulders, Caroline sighed in exasperation. "You're meant to say something! Anyways, I got talking to him and I mentioned you-"

Klaus rolled his eyes. He knew this would happen. "Why? He doesn't want anything to do with me."

"He wants to meet up with you, next week in the café just around the block. Thursday, at 11 o'clock."

The spoon in his hand froze mid-air and stray droplets of milk fell from the spoon and splashed back into his bowl. His blue eyes (now sparkling instead of the dim light that had been there months before) locked with Caroline's. Klaus found that he daren't move, not wishing to shatter this moment of peace and wonder. If he moved, would it all prove to be a dream? "You're joking?" he choked out, placing the spoon and uneaten cereal back in the bowl.

"Do I look the type to joke? In fact, don't answer that." She threw her head back and laughed. "Seriously though, if you're meeting him – which you are – we're gonna have to go shopping, get you a haircut and make you look like a walking orgasm."

Hey up! Hope you all enjoyed the story! It has been sitting on my computer for a few months now haha. It should only be a two/ three shot, perhaps four depending on how it goes but I can't tell for certain. Again, if I got anything wrong with the drugs/drug recovery I would appreciate it if you would correct me in a polite manner.

Thank you, I hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope you review! Thank you! :D xx