SO TAKING OVER WHERE 3X21 LEFT OFF, WHERE KLAUS/CAROLINE SHOULD HAVE GONE WITH THIS….1ST FANFICTION & AM TRYING SOMETHING NEW, BUT I WOULD APPRECIATE THE REVIEWS. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGMENT INTENDED

Caroline's mind was reeling, grasping at a single word and chanting it over and over. Safety. Klaus stood behind her, his arms protective bands encircling her waist. She could only close her eyes, relieved to finally be safe, surprised to find that Klaus was her haven, and pushing back the choking sobs that threatened to overcome her.

Raw but firm, his voice washed over her, penetrating the haze of fear and pain wrapped about her thoughts. He was ordering her home, and longingly, she thought of her room, a comfortable and plush bed she could crawl into, curl up under the blankest, and hide from the world in.

"Do you understand?" He forced her to face him then, his blue gaze searing her. She nodded and all she could manage to say to her savior was a simple, heartfelt thank-you. He stared a moment longer while she gathered her emotions once more so he wouldn't see her cry, wouldn't know how tempted she was to throw herself into his arms, her face to his chest, and cry despite him being the nightmare that had haunted Mystic Falls. More than anything, he could never see her scared, or all would be lost. She wasn't strong as he though because all she wanted was to run. Run from the hunter, the school, the constant blood bags, but mostly, from the eternity that stretched before her now frozen lifespan.

In a blur, he was gone, and instinct sent her in the opposite direction. She hoped, prayed, that he came out alive.

Klaus could only hope the same. Facing off the Original hunter was surely the stupidest idea he had ever partaken in. For reasons his hybrid self did not wish to dwell on, the same reasons his human self was all too ready to admit to, he was glad he'd agreed to march into that school. His heart had ached at the sight of her, a vervaine burn stretching across her pale cheeks, blood smeared across the back of her hands where her body had yet to heal the holes pencils had created. Her terror had been almost tangible, rolling off of her in waves. Her eyes had looked bleak, as if life was slowly being ebbed from her.

With renewed energy to match his animosity, he sprinted towards the sound of Alaric's struggle with the Salvatore brothers and Elena's human pumping heart. The brothers were technically dead when he arrived, though they wouldn't stay that way for long seeing as they were vampires. Necks snapped as easily as twigs, the brothers were crumpled on the floor, Elena sobbing from her position against the lockers. Klaus charged him, digging his fingers into the other vampire's chest and striking inhuman blood. Slowly, the desiccation seemed to flow from his own veins as the Bennett witch uttered her magic in a far removed place, tunneling into the history teacher. Alaric growled, using one hand to clobber Klaus on the back of the head, the other to pull himself away. Blood contact was broken. Alaric's stake materialized in his hand, produced from a hidden coat pocket, and with all of his might, Alaric threw him to the ground, cracking the flooring. The wooden point poised just above his heart, Klaus forced every supernatural muscle in his body to fight, but still found himself watching as it was brought ever closer. For a second, he was a washed with the certain knowledge of an unavoidable death like he'd never imagined.

Caroline could though. She could very well understand the pure hatred Alaric possessed and the unspeakable deeds he was capable of seeing as she had just escaped from the man. She could only imagine the relish he'd derive from plunging a stake into the Original. Outside, she'd arrived at her car, the keys still abandoned on the pavement where she'd dropped them as Alaric had taken her. She knelt to retrieve them, toying with the edge of one of the gold keys. All silent, she glanced back over her should at the school.

"I am too nice of a person!" She grumbled, tossing the keys back to the ground and heading inside. Alaric was strong, nearly infallible, she already knew. But the sight of him pinning Klaus to the floor, ready and able to stake him, was a shock to her system. Klaus had always seemed to invincible, unshakable in the end. Like everyone else though, he feared. Death, loneliness, rejection. He felt these things. Maybe, somewhere deep within, he could be made to feel a selfless, unconditional love.

Intent upon murder, Alaric didn't see her coming. She slammed into his body at a supernatural speed. The breath was knocked from her upon impact, and regaining it was not an option as a large hand quickly clasped her throat, lifting her up until not even her toes brushed the floor, ramming her still healing body into the lockers. Fangs bared, eyes glowing yellow, Klaus reared up behind him. The werewolf bit wouldn't kill him, Esther would have made sure of that, but it was enough to cause him to loosen his grip, staggering back with a hand to his neck. Caroline slid to a sitting position against the lockers, coughing beside a bleary eyes Elena. With Damon and Stefan now stirring at his feet, Alaric must have realized that they easily outnumbered him, and the result would surely be desiccation. He disappeared in a flash, secreting himself away in some dark corner to await nightfall.

Caroline managed a shaky return to her feet, partly by leaning on the lockers, partly because Klaus was steadying her with his hands on her waist.

"Careful now, love." He murmured, his eyes – dare she believe it? – tender.

"What happened? I'm supposed to be dead." Damon groaned from the floor, allowing Elena to help him sit. Caroline took the first deep breath since awaking that morning and found that her sore lips still carried the sting of vervaine. She cast a gland at the trio on the floor, then promptly passed out, her cheek hitting Klaus' shoulder as he instinctively caught her.