Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries - the original books were written by L J Smith and the TV show was developed by Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. This story is the product of their characters and world and my imagination.

POLICE INVESTIGATING NEW ORLEANS FIRES SUSPECT ARSON

Caroline frowned as she read the headline on her phone and then the story below, which went into more detail about the half dozen separate fires, all believed to have been started by the same group, that had raged across New Orleans three nights previously.

Much of the article was devoted to photos of those presumed dead (the fire making identification of the charred remains a lengthy process), though it seemed to Caroline that there were far fewer victims than might have been expected, considering the wide-spread destruction the fires had caused.

It was, she thought, almost as if someone had cleared most of the tourists and residents from the affected areas before the fires began.

Caroline thought of the rumours that had come out of New Orleans in the past few months, and remembered the books she had read about the Originals back when Klaus was just a name to her.

Klaus and his siblings had worn kid gloves with Caroline and her friends, for reasons she still hadn't quite figured out. But the Original Family were more than capable of terrifying ruthlessness. She'd read enough about their rampages – entire villages and small towns wiped out, sometimes on a whim – to know it was entirely possible that they were responsible for recent events in New Orleans.

Her suspicions were only heightened when she caught a glimpse of a familiar face among the pictures of the missing.

She hadn't ever liked Hayley, and she couldn't say that she would shed a tear over her death. But she couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the wolf – if Hayley had crossed Klaus, then Caroline had no doubt that she would turn out to be one of the unlucky dead, rather than simply injured or missing.

She shivered slightly as she looked at the pictures of the devastation the fires had caused. Usually an extremely popular tourist destination, Caroline guessed there would be a significant downturn in visitors for the next few months.

She thought about the voicemail saved on her phone, the half dozen texts about perfect places to visit in New Orleans, the postcard with an address scribbled on the back that she had hidden away, and the beautiful antique Mardi Gras mask that had been delivered to her a few months ago.

In the year she had been away at Whitmore, Caroline had considered visiting New Orleans more often than she would ever care to admit.

Klaus had been less pushy than expected, but still clever. He did just enough that she never managed to forget he was waiting for her, without giving her any reason to complain that he was interfering in her life.

She had a feeling he was keeping an eye on her, in his stalkery way, though she hadn't been able to prove it. Still, she'd been sure that he would give her time and that she might, inevitably, eventually, make her way to him and see if the feelings they had tentatively danced around could survive and thrive and grow outside of the drama of Mystic Falls.

But now she was starting to worry.

The headlines coming out of New Orleans were disturbing, indicative of a dangerous problem that the Originals had taken drastic action to counter.

She got the feeling that they weren't normally this obvious, at least not in these modern times of worldwide media. For them to have done this … well, she suspected there was a great deal of anger and rage involved.

Her eyes strayed back to study the picture of Hayley.

The wolf had been incredibly annoying, and Caroline had been highly suspicious of her involvement in the events that had led to Klaus slaughtering twelve of his hybrids. Still, Hayley wasn't the sort to have been at the helm of an insurrection that would make Klaus and his family react so severely.

No, whatever Hayley had been involved in, she hadn't been the mastermind. A wider spread conspiracy would certainly explain why the Originals had reacted so violently.

However, Caroline was trying, to the best of her ability, to have a normal college experience. She had so far avoided being drawn into any Mystic Falls shenanigans, and she wasn't about to go digging into the kind of bloody games that Klaus and his family were playing in New Orleans.

She sighed and went to exit the news page, planning to load up a word game to play for a while before she began the walk back to her dorm. But before she could close down the article she felt the slightest rustle of movement next to her.

"Ah Hayley, she begged pitifully for her life, without success. Her heart made rather a delicious meal."

Klaus' voice was a low murmur as he sat down next to her. He radiated heat, probably due to his wolf side, and she found herself unconsciously leaning into him, seeking his warmth to combat the chill of the weather.

His mouth curved upwards slightly at her movement and she scowled, but didn't make any attempt to move away.

"Klaus," she half-whispered his name.

He smiled, "hello, Caroline."

She didn't quite know how to deal with his unexpected presence. She had fully expected to see him again, but she'd always thought she'd have notice, some time to prepare herself for the onslaught of emotions that seeing him brought.

Klaus Mikaelson was dangerous in the extreme, far too comfortable with murder and torture and the kind of monster that gave other monsters nightmares. He was also handsome, intelligent, charming and genuinely interested in her. The mixed feelings she had about him were very, very distracting.

"I … I wasn't expecting you," she said, twisting her hands together in an attempt to control her nervous energy.

It didn't surprise her that Klaus would visit unannounced, but it still put her on edge. Clearly there had been something big going on in New Orleans, and she worried that his presence here in Whitmore might mean trouble.

"I would have called, sweetheart, but I'm afraid things have been rather hectic recently. And then Kol managed to smash my phone during our altercation with a rather obstinate witch, just before I began my journey here – I've arranged a replacement but it hasn't reached me yet."

Caroline's eyes widened at his casual reference to the brother whose burnt body she vividly remembered seeing at Elena's house, "Kol … Kol is dead."

Klaus only shrugged, his casual gesture at odds with the terrifyingly cold fury she remembered on his face when she had seen him trapped with his brother's body.

Originals were hard to kill, but Kol had seemed pretty definitely dead to her.

"Kol was dead," Klaus corrected, "but while he can be an incredible nuisance, he is my brother and my family don't let a little thing like death defeat us. With enough power, and the right witches, you will find there is almost nothing that is impossible."

And wasn't that a scary thought. Especially considering the ramifications Kol's resurrection could have for those involved in his death, a list which unfortunately included most of her friends.

Klaus clearly followed her train of thought, because he smirked at her, "Kol is occupied at present with a project of ours. He will, however, eventually circle back to those who caused his death. His anger is directed mostly at the tiresome doppelganger and her brother, but will probably encompass the Salvatores and the Bennett witch too. I would advise that it would be unwise to attempt any interference, but I imagine your misplaced loyalty will make this difficult for you."

"I'm not going to just stand by and let your crazy brother murder all my friends," she told him with a glare.

He sighed softly, "dear Caroline, you have such a warm heart. I truly do not think your friends deserve you. That, however, is a debate to look forward to another day. For now, I have more pressing matters to discuss."

"What is it?" she asked, amenable to the change of topic for the time being but determined not to forget what he had said about Kol's desire for revenge.

"You may have heard rumours of a child," he began.

Caroline snorted, "who thought that one up? Pretty sure being a hybrid doesn't make you any less dead for procreational purposes."

"It was a fool's gambit," Klaus agreed with a sharp smile that showed his displeasure, "a mistake many have paid for with their lives, Hayley included."

Caroline frowned at his mention of the wolf who had caused so much trouble in Mystic Falls, "I still can't believe you slept with her," she muttered, unable to hide her annoyance.

"Now, now," Klaus tutted softly, leaning closer to tuck a few of her windswept curls behind her ear with surprising tenderness, "don't be jealous, love. The wolf was a convenience, nothing more."

Caroline ducked her head in embarrassment. She knew she had no grounds for complaint about Klaus' behaviour, not when she had so soundly rejected him countless times. She didn't want to be a hypocrite, but it was disconcerting to realise how irritated it made her to think of Klaus and Hayley together, of his hands touching that two-faced wolf.

Klaus watched her with eyes that clearly saw more of her thoughts than she wanted him to, if his growing smirk was anything to go by.

"So you were talking about a made-up child," she said quickly, unwilling to talk about Hayley any more.

Klaus nodded, "an audacious claim, but one that was swiftly proven to be false. They apparently thought I would lose all my reason if I thought I had an heir. Of course, I've never particularly cared for children, and what need has an immortal for an heir?"

Caroline only shook her head. It didn't seem like a particularly well thought out plan to her. It was extremely obvious that Klaus had no plans to die any time soon, and she also really didn't think his personality lent itself to fatherhood.

"Well," she murmured, "I'm sure the idiots all seriously regretted their life choices."

Klaus let out a bark of laughter, "oh sweetheart, that's putting it mildly."

Caroline grimaced, "yeah, well, no details please."

"As you wish," he agreed, his mouth quirking into a wicked smirk.

She shuddered slightly and determinedly did not think about all the bloodshed Klaus and his family inevitably caused in New Orleans before they torched all the evidence.

"So, why are you here, Klaus?" she asked after a few moments of silence.

"Perhaps I wished to visit you, sweetheart."

She levelled him with an unimpressed look, "try again."

"So suspicious, love – don't you know I always want to see you."

Damn him and his ability to blindsight her with truly sincere professions of affection, casually thrown out like his words, his feelings, should be obvious to her.

He smiled at her pleased surprise, but then his eyes darkened, "I'm afraid I did have another reason to visit you, sweetheart."

She waited to be disappointed, to be told that he was here for an artefact or to find a witch or to kill a vampire. She hadn't ever really felt like an afterthought to Klaus, the way she did so often with her friends, but experience told her it would happen eventually.

Perceptive as always, he caught onto her train of thought almost immediately, "I do strive to be better than those so-called friends you surround yourself with, Caroline. Perhaps I was not clear with my meaning – I had another reason than the pleasure of seeing you, but it is one that still concerns you."

She flushed slightly as his hand settled over hers, the touch unusually gentle considering who it was coming from.

"My family and I have dealt with the main conspiracy brewing in New Orleans, but there are still a few around the world who have a reckoning coming to them. Mikael's presence over the centuries forced us into a lifestyle of travel and evasion that has allowed certain factions to grow a little too arrogant for their own good. They forget who made them, and to whom they owe their allegiance. This will soon be rectified, now Mikael is dead."

Caroline considered saying something, because she guessed Klaus' methods would probably involve wholesale slaughter, but she knew there was no point. No matter what feelings the Original Hybrid might have for her, he wasn't going to undergo a huge personality shift. And she was starting to realise that the supernatural world had different rules – no matter how much she clung to her human life, she knew she would eventually have to adjust her perceptions, just like Klaus had once told her.

"What does all of this have to do with me?" she asked

Klaus frowned deeply, "it appears that Tyler has been a little loose-lipped with tales of Mystic Falls. I cannot yet confirm what his motives were, but I will assume that he did not mean for you to be caught in the crossfire. Rest assured, sweetheart, that he will be suitably punished for his foolishness."

He paused for a moment before continuing, "and if I discover any malice in his actions that might have been directed towards you, well," his eyes glittered mercilessly, "he will live an exceedingly long time to regret it."

Caroline shivered at Klaus' dark words. Her first thought was that Tyler wouldn't ever deliberately try to hurt her. But then she remembered his anger towards Klaus, and the way he had chosen that festering hate over staying with her, and she thought that maybe, just maybe, the love that she and Tyler had shared might not have been enough.

"I'm not going into hiding somewhere," she told Klaus, "I've got a life here."

"I won't say I didn't consider it," Klaus admitted, "but I imagined you would take it rather badly."

"You imagined right."

He ran a hand up and down her arm, making her skin tingle even through two layers of clothing, "I thought about it anyway. After all, forever is a long time and I think I could eventually be persuasive enough that you would forgive me."

She glared at him, though she knew he had a point. Klaus had always had a way of getting under her skin, and while she could hold a serious grudge it certainly didn't seem unlikely that she would eventually forgive him for a well-meaning, if exceptionally high-handed, kidnapping.

"Still," he continued, "I wouldn't like to fight, sweetheart, so I decided to compromise."

A small smile spread across Caroline's lips, "I was genuinely unaware that word was in your vocabulary, Klaus."

"Caroline," he gave her a warning look and she decided it was probably best not to tease him further, because it really was shocking that Klaus had decided to temper himself even a little and she didn't want to ruin that.

He produced some folders from inside his jacket and handed them to her, leaning back against the bench and draping one arm casually over her shoulders as she flicked through them.

Each folder contained a photograph and basic information on what she assumed were meant to be possible bodyguards.

There were four men she guessed were werewolves, all bulky and rather scary looking, like they had come straight out of the military, or possibly prison. Then two men, tall and powerfully built, that she thought were vampires. The final three were women, one werewolf and two vampires, and they honestly seemed like the most ferocious ones to Caroline – there was something in their expressions that made her think they could rip into a crowd and leave no survivors.

"There are nine folders here," Caroline said to Klaus, "am I supposed to pick two?"

"Two would be sloppy in the extreme," he told her, "the vampires need to hunt and the werewolves need to eat and sleep."

"Four then?"

"Try again, love," he prompted.

"I do not need nine bodyguards," she hissed as she realised his meaning.

"They'll work in rotating groups of three," he explained, entirely ignoring her outburst, "and all of them will be close in case there is a need for extra protection."

"Klaus, this is …"

She trailed off, unsure of what to say – insane, overkill, crazy. Not exactly surprising, though. Klaus was extremely paranoid and it wasn't like he didn't have the money to hire nine highly trained werewolves and vampires.

She eyed him suspiciously, "you are paying them, right?"

He sighed, "you know there are many across the world who would kill for the chance to work for me for no pay at all, simply to try and gain the favour of an Original."

Caroline knew he was right. She was pretty sure all the Originals had vampire, witch and sometimes even werewolf groupies ready to do anything for them if only they'd pay them some attention. It made her feel a bit sick really.

Klaus watched her and rolled his eyes, "yes Caroline, they are all being well compensated."

She wanted to complain about it. After all, she didn't relish the idea of being watched at all hours of the day by a group of people who would report her every move to Klaus.

Still, it was clear that big things were happening in the supernatural world. Though the Mikaelsons had razed towns in the past, she imagined they kept a lower profile now, what with all the technological advances. What had happened in New Orleans was an obvious sign that things were serious.

And it wasn't like Caroline was happy to potentially be in danger. Like she'd told Klaus, what almost seemed like a lifetime ago, she didn't want to die. If she had to deal with bodyguards then she would make the best of it.

"Is any of this negotiable?" she asked, fairly sure what Klaus' answer would be but wanting to check anyway.

He shook his head, "you'll have protection whether you agree or not. It will be easier if you accept, but I refuse to be cavalier about your safety."

There was nothing gentle about his tone, but the sentiment behind it was surprisingly sweet. Years of taking second place to Elena meant she found it a pleasant surprise to have someone care the way Klaus did.

"Fine," she told him, "but they better not interfere with my life."

"Total discretion unless stepping in is necessary."

She narrowed her eyes at the large loophole he'd left himself – what she considered necessary and what Klaus did were probably vastly different things – but said nothing, knowing she had to pick her battles with the pushy Original Hybrid.

"Are you here for long?" she asked instead, trying to sound casual and not entirely succeeding.

"Only a brief visit I'm afraid, love. I'm due to meet Bekah, Elijah and Kol in New York and my flight is this evening. There may be some … shocking headlines in the news relating to that particular city in the coming weeks. Still, it is a place I think you would enjoy, at least once my family's business there is concluded, and I would recommend that you visit it some time."

He paused for a second before smiling at her, "besides, there are some excellent schools in New York you might want to look at, in case you ever want to stretch your wings."

She nearly snapped at him, a defensive reflex against any perceived criticism. But she didn't think he meant it in any sort of negative way – there was no hidden insult there, he just honestly seemed to think she'd enjoy travelling and seeing new places.

It was tempting. She knew that with her grades and extracurriculars she could have got into a better school than Whitmore, but she'd really wanted to be close to Mystic Falls – she had forever to try and get into Harvard or Stanford or Yale, but her time with her human mom was limited.

"Maybe one day," she told him, smiling in return.

Thankfully, he didn't try and change her mind. She thought he probably understood enough to realise that she wanted to stay near home for the foreseeable future. She was fairly sure her attachment to her human life baffled him, but he seemed content enough to let her come to him in her own time.

However long it takes. His words were always there, in the back of her mind, reminding her of what was waiting for her.

"Can I take you to lunch before I head to the airport?" he asked.

He looked as confident as always, but there was something in his voice that got to her – not vulnerability, exactly, more like a hopeful, almost boyish, excitement.

Her friends would tell her to say no but, well … she didn't really want to say no. That was the simple truth of the matter. She honestly wanted to go out for lunch with Klaus and tell him all about Whitmore and let him entice her with stories of far off places she hadn't yet seen.

Was she crazy? Maybe so, but Caroline wasn't about to miss the opportunity for a delicious lunch with someone who would give her his full attention and actually be interested in her life. It was a sad state of affairs when the supernatural world's bogeyman was doing a better job at being her friend than her actual friends.

"Alright," she told him, as if it wasn't a big deal, "there's a place a few blocks away that does the best fries and milkshakes."

Klaus beamed at her, clearly delighted. He was smug too, but she supposed she should have expected that.

He stood and offered her his hand.

She hesitated for a moment. With most other people she wouldn't have considered the action to have any real significance, but everything had multiple meanings when it came to Klaus, and she was fairly sure that taking his hand would suggest ten different things to him she was sure she wasn't ready for.

Still, he had come to make sure she was alright, even if it was his megalomania that was the reason she was a target in the first place.

"This is not the start of something," she warned him as she reached out to take his hand, "not yet. I am finishing college and then persuading my mom to take a long vacation somewhere hot. I have plans, and they don't include supernatural disasters every few months."

"I'd love to hear all about your plans," Klaus smiled, "and I have a lot of villas in Europe that usually lie empty. You and your mother are very welcome to use them."

"That is the sort of thing friends do, isn't it love," he added after a moment, obviously having noticed her conflicted look.

Caroline appreciated his attempt to minimise his offer, though she did wonder whether he would pull a 'just happened to be in the neighbourhood' if she took advantage of one of his homes.

"Let's just stick to lunch for the moment," she told him, determined to keep to baby steps instead of looking too far ahead.

"Whatever you would prefer, love," he agreed, "and perhaps I'll be able to persuade you to accept a dinner invitation for the next time I'm in town."

She smiled, finding that she was actually looking forward to Klaus' flirting and gentle enticements outside of Mystic Falls, where she had always felt like she needed to look over her shoulder for a disapproving friend or a dangerous enemy.

"Yes," she said, "maybe you will."

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it.