Thank you so much for your patience! Here's the epilogue. Even though it does not begin that way, I promise you that it's a happy ending, and the angst is brief. I hope you enjoy it! :D

Thank you to justanotherfiveminutes for beta work!

Two years later...

"I'm leaving."

"What?" Klaus asked, his voice choked as his breath caught in his throat.

"I'm leaving," Caroline spat out, and he watched with disbelief as she stuffed some dresses and underthings into a suitcase, followed by her laptop and a pair of shoes. It was a small comfort to see that she wasn't packing much, and even though he knew logically that she had to come back, it still made his stomach twist to see her yank her chargers out of the outlet by their bed with a snarl, her hair brush and curler following.

"Caroline," Klaus started, his voice low and thick with warning, and she just knelt to zip up her suitcase, her mouth pressed in a firm line.

"Don't," she said, and he sighed moving towards her, reaching out to touch her shoulder, but she jerked away. "Don't fucking touch me. I am angry, and I have a right to be, and I'm going to stay that way until I decide not to be, so your stupid soulmate comfort touch is currently a no-go. Got it?"

"Fine," he growled, dropping his hand back to his side, knowing his eyes were gold with fury, feeling his veins creeping down his face. "Where are you going?"

"None of your business."

"It's completely my business," he snapped. "I need you to be safe, and-"

"Trying to keep me safe is what got us into this situation, Klaus."

"Your safety is important to me, Caroline," he said through gritted teeth, and she scoffed.

"I know. It's pretty clear from how you have a giant fleet of people following me everywhere. How am I supposed to make friends when they glare at anyone who comes within five feet of me?"

He didn't really have a response to that. He'd promised that he wouldn't interfere in her college experience, but he couldn't help but be a bit protective, couldn't help but worry for her. In his personal opinion, a hybrid bodyguard in each of her classes was a small price to pay. She'd even convinced him to pay the tuition of the hybrids he'd turned to give them 'opportunities', insisting that they should at least get to go to college if he was making them take classes with her.

However, she didn't seem to understand that he hadn't told them to be threatening, they simply saw protecting the woman who they considered to be the Alpha Female as a goal of the utmost importance.

He'd gone into this relationship knowing that it was only a matter of time until they fought, and he was surprised it had taken this long. Caroline was only nineteen, she was so very young, and though he considered his stipulations regarding her safety to be reasonable, he knew that she often did not. Still, that didn't change that she wanted to have college friends and go to parties and have a life. He understood that it was difficult, that she occasionally resented him for being so insistent about some of the measures to ensure her safety that she considered inconvenient, but he'd thought they compromised quite well.

Clearly not.

"Caroline..."

"I'll be back in three days," she said coldly, picking up her suitcase. "I'm going to get a hotel room at the Marriott on the other side of town. Don't bother me. I need space."

"And you'll come back here in three days? You don't need me to come collect you?"

"I think I can get across town on my own, Klaus," she said, her eyes flicking up to make contact with his for the first time since she'd started talking, and her expression softened, her hand jerking slightly as though she wanted to reach for him, and when she spoke again her tone was quiet, eyes wide and imploring. "I'm not leaving you, okay? I just need some time to myself without you or your stupid minions breathing down my neck. I love you, and this fight isn't going to change that."

"Beg pardon?" he choked out, his voice strangled, and Caroline's mind seemed to catch up with her mouth judging by the way her eyes widened. She swallowed, her tongue darting over her dry lips to wet them, and she shook her head.

"I...We'll talk about it later," she said quickly.

He restrained his instinctive response of 'But I want to talk about it now,' instead nodding jerkily, his jaw clenched, remaining silent as she wrapped her hand around the handle of his suitcase and practically sprinted out of the door.

He flopped back on the bed, rubbing his eyes with his palms and letting out a sharp breath.

She loved him.

What was he supposed to say to that?

Well, he knew that he was supposed to say that he loved her too, but he wasn't sure that he did. At least, not in the way she thought of 'love'. He enjoyed spending time with her, thought that she was brilliant and beautiful and compassionate and light, and he was pleased that she'd decided not to even look into freeing herself from the mate bond. It meant she'd seen him underneath the superficial layers, that she'd liked what she'd seen. If she'd put her mind to it, she could have found a way to break it somehow, and they both knew that, but she hadn't. She'd chosen him.

Every time he touched her, he felt like the world had shifted to become brighter, like everything had suddenly made more sense. When she smiled at him it was the most euphoric feeling he'd ever experienced, the warmth of her filling him, making him whole.

And yet...

He didn't have the best track record with love. With caring. His siblings would be the first to tell anyone that his love corrupted, poisoned. It was a malignant curse of possessiveness and fear that wrapped around them like binds and held them in place. He almost didn't want to love her because he didn't want to ruin her.

What if he went too far? Held her down with so much force that she lost her sense of self, her vibrant spirit and warmth?

It terrified him.

However, the bond would hold them together, and he was determined to ensure that she wanted it to stay. He'd been trying to be better, but he knew that he could never be good, and he suspected that deep down she knew it too. He wondered if it bothered her that he wouldn't change. Would she still be with him if it didn't? Was she hoping that if she just hung on for long enough he would soften?

Did love mean that he had to remold himself into a man who deserved her? Was she in love with who he was or the man she hoped he'd grow into? Would she be disappointed when he didn't make that transformation?

He loved her stubbornness, her confidence, her vehemence in what she believed was right, and perhaps she was a bit idealistic and insecure, but he'd never want to see her change. He could spend hours watching the subtle movements of her face as she watched movies or listening to her talk. He loved the fire in her eyes, the sound of her laugh, and the little twitch of her lips when she was fighting down a smile. He wanted her to be with him, to choose him while still knowing all of his faults, just as he knew hers.

Was it that he didn't love her, or was it that he was afraid of admitting it?

She was a weakness, but he could never let her go, wouldn't be able to bear it. And yet, he realized, he had. If Rebekah had fought with him and packed a suitcase, she'd have had a dagger in her chest before she reached the front door. He knew Rebekah loved him, would always stand by him, and yet he wouldn't trust her to return. He couldn't dagger Caroline, but that didn't mean he didn't have ways to make her stay. Yet, he'd just watched her walk out the door, had believed her when she said she was coming back.

He trusted her enough to let her go. Was that love?

For him, it might be the closest he'd ever get.

Judging from the way she'd looked at him, how she'd practically fled, she was terrified of what he'd say. Did she think he didn't love her? Had she thought about it extensively? Worried that he was only with her for the bond? Did it keep her up at night? Was she insecure in his devotion to her?

He pushed himself out of bed, his mind racing too much to sit still, and began to prepare a canvas to paint. The familiar movements let him think, and by the time he loaded his paintbrush with the first color, he knew what he had to do, had a plan hatching in his mind.

After Caroline had graduated, she'd told him that she wanted to postpone the trip around the world so that she could go to college with her friends. Elena and Bonnie were both quite mortal, and he'd understood her need to spend more time with them. The three of them had somehow managed to maintain an impeccable grade point average even through all of the supernatural ridiculousness, and though Caroline forbade him from compelling them acceptance letters, he pulled a few strings just in case.

Now, they were all living in New York City. Bonnie and Elena shared a large apartment on the other side of town. Over the years, Klaus acquired a number of properties in most of the large cities, all of which were run for him by people who lived there, and a large cut of the profits funneled up to him. Caroline nudged Klaus into giving Bonnie and Elena a place in one of his apartment complexes, hoping that it would make them warm up to him.

It hadn't, at least for the doppelganger, but Bonnie was slowly coming around (though he suspected it had more to do with Caroline's happiness than with him). He and Caroline lived in a penthouse that overlooked the city, and he loved watching her stand by the window with large, fascinated eyes as she watched the people below.

It was nearing the summer after her first year of college, and he wanted to take her away for a few months and spend some time with her that wasn't filled with constant distractions, and he had what he thought was the perfect idea.

For the three days she was gone, he distracted himself from the absence of her touch by making arrangements, and when he finally heard the key turn in the lock, he sped to the living room before her foot even crossed the threshold.

She gave him a shy smile and walked over, practically launching herself into his arms, and he pulled her to him, stroking her hair and feeling all of the nerves melt away. "I'm sorry," he muttered awkwardly, and she must have known that it was probably the best apology she'd get, pulling away and standing on her toes to give him a quick kiss.

"It's okay," she said, laying a hand on his arm. "I think we just need to talk about it a bit and see if we can come up with something that makes you less freaked out while keeping me from wanting to strangle you."

"Sounds perfect, love," he said, trying not to sound too amused, and she gave him the bright smile that he'd missed an absurd amount considering the short time they'd been apart.

She took a deep breath, her teeth worrying her lower lip for a moment, and she made eye contact for a few seconds, pulling him in before she spoke. "I love you."

He'd been expecting it, but the amount of intimacy and feeling in her words made him want to shrug away. He held himself in place though, letting his hand cup her cheek as he bent to kiss her softly. "I...I believe that I'm in love with you as well."

"I'm glad we're on the same page," she said with a smile, standing on her toes to pull him into another kiss, her hands clutching at the fabric of his henley. He responded immediately, letting his palms fall on her hips, and she pulled back slowly.

He looked at her for a few seconds, the blue of her eyes clear and bright, full of warmth and affection, and it took a moment to pull himself back to the present and remember what he was going to say. "I was thinking that we could go somewhere this summer once you're out of school."

A small frown crossed her face before she nodded hesitantly. "Okay. Like where?"

He gestured to the notebook on the coffee table. "Well, I've made a few lists. There's one of places I think you'd like for shopping and sightseeing, and one of places that I've been in case you were more interested in the historical aspect. I also made a few sample itineraries that would be the most efficient way to see as much as possible before you had to come back. We could do a combination of both if you'd like, and I'm happy to let you choose if you'd like to do something different, but-"

"You made a list?" she asked slowly. "Two? And an itinerary?"

"Yes...?" he half asked. "You seem to respond well to actual plans rather than ambiguous discussion, so-"

"It's super obvious that you've never been in an actual relationship before, but that's really cute."

He wasn't sure whether to take that as a compliment or not, since 'cute' wasn't a word he'd ever use to describe himself, and the first part didn't seem all that charitable, but before he could say anything she'd already pecked him on the cheek and picked up the notebook, sinking down on the couch. He watched her as she went through it, a smile growing on her face as she moved her finger down the lists, settling into a different sitting position to get comfortable.

He sat down beside her, and she moved to nestle against his side without hesitation, her body fitting with his perfectly. "I like the idea of a trip around Europe," she said slowly, producing a pen from what seemed like thin air and putting stars next to various bullet points. "I'd like to spend more than a few days at every place, though. Maybe just France? My French is okay, but I want to get better at it, since there's a foreign language requirement that I'd really rather test out of."

"I'm not sure a vacation will help with that."

"We can do that thing where we only speak the foreign language the entire time."

Klaus stared at her for a moment trying to figure out if she was serious. "That seems like an excellent way to make you hate me very, very much in a short space of time."

She smirked, shifting to sit up on her knees next to him, and he liked the predatory gleam in her eye as she leaned over him, her hand resting on his thigh for balance. "I'm sure we'll find a non-verbal way to relieve our stress," she said teasingly.

He wasn't sure he agreed, but was completely content to talk about it later. They had both been starved of each other's touch for days, and now that she seemed receptive, all he wanted to do was take her against every surface in every room until she was too tired to leave the bed, vampire stamina or not.

He did, and later, as she writhed beneath him for the fifteenth time that night, her body sticky with their mingled release, eyes closed and face flushed with pleasure, he bent to whisper the words he'd been so afraid of in her ear, somehow unsurprised by how true they felt falling off his tongue.

"I love you, Caroline."

Please let me know what you thought. Did you like the ending? Did you think it was IC? Favorite part? Please let me know! :D

You can find me on tumblr at thetourguidebarbie. Feel free to drop in asks and chat!

Thanks for reading!

~ Angie