Hey everyone! Here's another klaroline one-shot for you. This one is set during the first two episodes of season two. This is basically my theory on what would have happened if Klaus arrived earlier in town and met Caroline during her transition, well, right after her transition. Fair warning, there may be some typos.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries, just the little plot twist below ;)

Be Still

Caroline was groggy when she woke up, her head pounding as she opened her eyes. The room was barely lit and the atmosphere was quiet. She was just about to close her eyes again when she noticed someone very familiar standing over her.

"Elena?" She asked, her throat scratchy. I should probably get something to drink, she thought idly.

"Hey Caroline." Her friend replied, leaning forward causing her thick, brown curls of hair to fall a little into her eyes.

"What are you doing here?" The blonde asked, still somewhat foggy from sleep.

"My name is Katherine. I was hoping you could give the Salvatore brothers a message for me." Yeah, great time to joke around, Elena.

"What are you talking about? What message?"

"Game on." Elena said, with a smirk.

"What?"

And then suddenly, there was a pillow covering her face, her friend pressing it down over her mouth. Caroline fought for air with all her might, her body in a flurry of panic. The pillow didn't move and soon enough her lungs started burning with need for oxygen. It was agony, utter agony and it wasn't going away.

Slowly, her vision dotted around her eyes and everything began fading... fading... With one more try for air, it all faded completely.

Black.

The doppelgänger in Mystic Falls, Klaus snorted. The irony of that certainly wasn't lost on him. A thousand years later and here he was once again. The news of this supposed new doppelgänger had reached only a few weeks past, and, so far, all the signs pointed back to his childhood home. Normally, Klaus would send one of his lackey's to check the validity of a lead, but, Mystic Falls held secrets, and though they were long buried, he did not trust anyone but himself to search this town. Klaus had made many enemies over the centuries and any one of them would seek to use these secrets against him.

Unfortunately, finding out whether the doppelgänger was here might be hard today, seeing as there was a carnival going on. Klaus loved a party, but he hated it when things got in his way. He wandered around the grounds, carefully observing the festivities and for once not taking part in them. He kept his senses open, trying to find some clue. This was getting tiresome, quickly.

And then he smelled it, that tantalizing scent of human blood. He turned his head, looking for the source, his own blood already pulsing in his veins. When he spotted the cause of the scent, it hadn't been what he was looking for, but he found himself going to it anyways.

He'd seen similar sights many times in his life, a body laying drained of blood. He wasn't quite sure what to think of the girl sitting over it though, crying. She was obviously a vampire, the blood around her mouth made that obvious, but, from her reactions, he was pretty sure that she freshly turned. Even with the blood all over her, Klaus found her to be rather beautiful. She had long blonde hair and clear, blue eyes – honest eyes. It was rare to find someone with eyes like that.

At first he considered simply leaving the girl to herself. After all, this was not his responsibility, and, were she not controlled, there was sure to be a good slaughter (and he did so love his slaughters). But it also occurred to him that if there was a human doppelgänger in Mystic Falls, then she might get caught in the crossfire.

Besides, even with his powers of compulsion, it would be hard to keep the humans from taking notice of such a large massacre, especially with technology on their side.

Anyways, the girl might be of some use to him.

Klaus made his way to the young vampire decisively, easily slipping through the crowds to the relatively isolated back alley where she was, sitting on the back of a truck, touching the body as if to make move, come back to life.

"Well, looks like this got a bit out of hand." Klaus said by way of greeting, causing the blonde girl to startle and whip her head around to look at him with panicking eyes. Her eyes flicked to the side, looking around. In an instant, she attempted to run, trying to grab the body as well; but Klaus was faster. He grabbed the girl from behind, holding her struggling form tightly to his chest. "Easy there, love, I'm only trying to help you." He growled as she continued to fight against him.

"Let me go! Let me go! Please I have to help him. Please." The girl's voice was melodic, but filled with despair. Her fighting only strengthened; Klaus felt his respect rise a little, despite his obvious display of power, she still did not give up. That took a courageous person.

"I'm sorry. It's too late. He's dead." Finally the blonde froze in his arms and Klaus took the opportunity to turn her around and look her in the eye. "Do you hear me? He's dead." Realization entered her blue eyes, and Klaus saw her practically crumble in his hands, her denial fading away in puffs of smoke.

"I-I killed him." She whispered, her young face filled with grief and guilt.

He nodded once. "Yes." When he saw that she was no longer trying to get away, Klaus took a step back, glancing once more to the body, blatantly on display. He reached over and grabbed a tarp that was lying on the truck, throwing it over the corpse; he'd have to bury it somewhere.

As he took care to make sure that the girl's little accident was more hidden, he heard her begin to panic again behind him. "Oh my god, I killed him... I didn't mean to, I was just so thirsty... and, and I killed him." Klaus turned to face her, and was struck once again by the shade of blue in her eyes, the way she looked up at him so sincerely, so honestly. "What's happening to me?" She asked in a broken voice.

"Come on, sweetheart, let's get you away from here and I'll tell you what you need to know." Klaus told the girl in front of him, placing a hand firmly onto her shoulder, trying to get through to her. Her blue eyes were trusting as she looked up at him and nodded hesitantly. He pulled her away from the body, deciding he'd take care of it later. He couldn't have this intriguing specimen of a girl brought down by the human police of all things – besides, Mystic Falls had enough strange and unexplained deaths, who knew what might tip the scale.

Klaus glanced around, looking for a place where he could take the girl without too much attention. Unfortunately, with the carnival going on around them, there weren't very many isolated places and with the state the girl was in, Klaus was sure he couldn't take her too far. Luckily, he found his answer quickly, spotting the nearby, and probably empty, high school.

Klaus placed his arm around the new vampire's shoulders, pulling her along. She followed him without resisting, a far off look in her face, her eyes clouded with horror and shock. As they approached the school, he pulled her closer to him, noticing some nearby humans shooting glances to him. The girl finally looked up at him, almost as if she forgot he was there.

"You are going to have to lean into me, alright? We can't let them see all of the blood, love." He found himself explaining lowly. If she played along with him, they might be able to pull of the drunk-girlfriend, helpful-boyfriend routine, and he wouldn't have to chase the humans down and compel them. The blonde vampire stared at him blankly for another minute, before doing as he asked, leaning her head into his chest.

Klaus looked back to the humans to notice they weren't paying attention, smirking when he saw his little ploy had worked. He kept his grip tight around the girl, feeling tenseness in her shoulders, the shuddering of her breath and knew that she was on the brink of a panic attack.

He hurried towards the school, knowing they had to get out of sight now.

"Oh God. Oh God. What have I done?" The girl muttered, seemingly disgusted with herself as she leaned over the sink in the school lavatory. Klaus watched as she scrubbed and scrubbed at the crusted blood on her hands, almost as if it burned her and she was trying to rip the affected area. It reminded him of his own similar reaction when he had made his first kill all those years ago, and the way he had torn at his own skin as he stood over his mother's body.

Killing barely affected him now.

Still, the Original was struck with the sudden urge of protectiveness, wanting to stop the girl before she harmed herself. He'd had his siblings when he first turned, this girl seemed to have no one. He still wasn't sure why he was even helping her, but he decided he might as well do it properly. Perhaps it was simply because he was bored. He put his hands over hers in the sink, stepping behind her as he stopped their harsh scrubbing. She froze as he held her still for a minute before slowly beginning to scrub her hands himself, gently washing away the red stains on her skin.

"We'll get this blood off." He told her, trying to keep her calm. When most of it was gone from her hands, he turned her around so she was facing him and took some paper towel, making it wet before getting at the blood around her mouth. The sight almost made him smirk as he got lost in his own memories; it had been a long time since he was such a messy eater.

"I'm a m-murderer. I'm a monster!" The girl exclaimed, seemingly barely aware of his actions, as she looked down at her shaking hands.

"You're not, love…" At least not yet, you are not like me yet. "…you're not; You're emotions are simply heightened right now, it's part of the transition, perfectly natural." Klaus found himself reassuring her. He put the paper towel down, seeing that she was beginning to hyperventilate, her panic finally getting to her. He placed his hands on her shoulders, trying to anchor her down and making her look up at him. "Now, tell me, sweetheart, what's your name?"

"Caroline." She whispered, her eyes holding a young innocence that he not seen in a long, long time.

"Caroline." Suiting. "Well then, Caroline, I will help you with this and you will be good as new, better even." We immortals are strong, despite our human roots.

"I don't understand, what's happening?" Caroline looked confused and terrified, her eyes wide.

"You've turned." He replied simply, as if it were obvious, leaning against surface of the sink, with crossed arms. Her gaze followed him until she glanced at herself in the mirror, her eyes beginning to retake their vampiric features, the veins popping up. He saw a flash of her fangs.

"Why does this keeping happening to my face?!" Caroline exclaimed, horrified at her own reflection. Her hands went into her hair, pulling her blonde locks by the roots as if she could rip out this new part of her. Now she was truly panicking, her breath coming in quick pants.

"Caroline, Caroline!" Klaus repeated her name, trying to capture her attention. When he saw this wasn't working, he grabbed her by the shoulders again, shaking her a little until her red-eyed gaze met his. "Look at me, sweetheart! Look at my face, keep your eyes on me." He allowed his own vampiric features to show, releasing his inner monster. Klaus didn't even pause to note her shocked expression. "You see that? You're the same as me. I can help you. You must trust me."

All was silent as Klaus waited, needing her to listen to him.

Eventually Caroline nodded, her expression a mixture of trust, determination, and utter terror.

"Good, that's good. Now, listen to me, when you feel your blood rushing, when you feel it pumping power through your veins, you push it back." She looked at him in disbelief and Klaus found himself putting a hand against the side of her cheek, his thumb stroking her soft skin lightly. "I can see you're strong enough." And he could. Despite the fact that she was a mess, Klaus could tell that there was an inner strength to Caroline. Call it a thousand years worth of intuition, but he was sure that, if given the chance, she could rival even the wisest, oldest, most headstrong with her strength. It was why he was so intrigued with her, she had potential. "You will be able to do it, Caroline, you must. The blood, it feels good, it will feel better than anything you've ever experienced, but, if you want to survive out there, you must learn to bury it, to let it out only when you need it. Let me show you." He allowed his fangs to retract, his face once again that of a human's. "See, sweetheart? Now you try. You'll be able to do it. Just breathe, Caroline, breathe."

Klaus' urgings seemed to have their desired affect as Caroline took a few deep breaths, her eyes eventually returning to their original sky blue color.

"There we go. That's my girl." The prideful feeling that rose in his chest surprised the Original. He didn't have a chance to analyse it, however, as the blonde vampire in front of him broke down.

"How could she do this to me? How could she kill me?" She whispered brokenly.

"Who did this to you, Caroline?" He asked, wondering what sort of vampire made a prodigy only to abandon them. Even Klaus, for all of cruel ways, had never left one of his bloodline without first teaching them the necessary survival skills; Marcel was proof of that.

"Katherine..." Klaus froze at Caroline's whispered reply, barely hearing her as she continued muttering to herself. Katerina… She's been here. He wasn't sure whether to pleased or disappointed by this revelation. On the one hand, he had found the woman he'd been hunting for the past five centuries but on the other this meant that it was Katherine who caused the doppelgänger rumors to surface about this town; there was no new one. Well, at least I will be able to take my revenge. "This is nuts. This is dream. I mean this has to be, right? A horrible, horrible nightmare." Klaus brought his attention back to Caroline.

"No, love, I'm afraid this is perfectly real." He stated honestly.

"W-What are you? What am I?" Her questions came out in a confused rush.

"I can see you're clever, Caroline, surely you've already figured out what you are asking." The Original gave her a knowing half-smile as he shifted back from her, his arms once again crossed over his chest.

"Am I... am I a vampire?" I knew you were clever. "No, no, that's crazy, that's crazy, right?" His silence was enough an answer for her as her breathing quickened again and she let out a flurry of words. "Holy shit. Oh my god. I'm a vampire. You're a vampire. How in the hell-? No, no, I can't be a vampire. I am a day person, ok? I need to be able to go out. I mean I have a plan. And who's going to be cheer captain if I'm not there? I'm Miss Mystic Falls, I can't be a vampire. I just can't, okay?"

Although her nonsensical reasoning was amusing, Klaus needed her stay calm.

"Caroline, Caroline." He brought her attention back to him, meeting her gaze with his own blue eyes. "Calm down." He pushed the thought into her mind, pupils dilating slightly as he did so.

The effects were immediately noticeable as Caroline's own eyes cleared, her shoulders slumping as the tension flooded out.

"How-How did you do that?" She whispered, looking up at him through her lashes.

He smirked. "Compulsion, one of a vampire's greatest assets, though you won't be able to do it a well myself, of course, seeing as your freshly turned."

"So, that's what that was." She muttered to herself, looking away. A moment later, her eyes pierced into his. "I'm a vampire." Caroline stated, finally, truly understanding the truth.

"Yes, yes you are."

"And so are you?" She pointed to his chest, her eyebrows raised in question. Fact checking, are we? Klaus chuckled with amusement, finding her naiveté rather endearing.

"Correct once again." He replied, cocking his head slightly as he observed her. It seemed like she was just about to say something when she turned her head suddenly, her eyes darkening. Klaus soon found the reason why, hearing voices only a moment later, cursing his own lack of attention to the world around them.

"Ow, ow, careful! That hurts!" The statement was followed by the sound of two pairs of footsteps. And then Klaus smelled it again, the very same scent that had brought him to Caroline in the first place.

"Don't be a baby, it's just a little blood. Come on, we're almost there. The nurse is always stocked up in bandages."

He glanced back down to the blonde beside him, her fangs lengthened, her eyes clouded with nothing but want. She could smell it too. The blood. She snarled, darting to the door. Klaus was quick to pull her back, holding her still and placing a powerful hand over her mouth and nose so as to silence her and take away the scent of blood. He was barely able to avoid her fangs as she fought against him. She continued struggling as he leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"Sorry, love, but with your current level of control, you'll only end up going on a slaughter and, unfortunately for you, I need this town to stay intact."

Klaus continued to listen to the humans that were somewhere in the school building, roaming the halls, all the while keeping his hold on Caroline firm.

"Are you sure we're allowed to be in here?"

"Well, it was open, wasn't it?"

Eventually their voices and footsteps faded and the scent of blood became weak enough so that it was not overpowering.

"I'm going to let you go now, just don't run chasing snacks." He told Caroline gruffly, waiting for a moment until he felt her nod. As soon as he loosened his hold, she was out of his arms and facing him, looking horrified at her herself.

"I-I nearly attacked them. I was just so thirsty..." Caroline's hands began to shake as she struggled with her own emotions, fighting herself for control.

"I suspect you still are, newborns require to feed more than older vampires." Klaus mused to himself, considering. Much as he loved human blood, he knew that if she were to taste it now, chances were she would lose what little control she had. A part of him wanted to let that happen but another… another part of him growled at the mere thought. She was so… full of light; he didn't want to see her covered in more darkness. At least not yet.

Caroline gasped in shock as Klaus suddenly allowed his fangs to pierce through his gums and then buried them in his own wrist. He pulled his arm away from his mouth and held it out to her.

"Here."

Though Caroline's expression displayed shock, Klaus could also see the wanting in her eyes, the lust for his blood. She was seemingly trying to resist it, however.

"I don't want to hurt you." She said, honesty and fear in her voice.

He chuckled; the fact that she thought she could hurt him was really rather humorous to Klaus. A small part of him was also… grateful for the sentiment. "You won't. This will help you; a vampire's blood is much more potent than a human's; especially mine. This will keep you satisfied for a while yet, Caroline. Drink." She stared at his wrist in longing and Klaus could tell that Caroline would give in any moment now.

Instead of waiting for it, however, he took her by the arm and pulled her closer to him, lifting his wrist in front of her mouth. Immediately her fangs elongated, her eyes filling with blood. She peeked up at him, hesitant. Klaus simply gave her a half-smile, half-smirk, signaling his consent.

In the next instant, she had bitten deep into his arm and his blood was running down her throat. It was like the first drop of blood spurred her on and she bit deeper, her delicate hands clutching his arm tightly, on of her hands covering his larger one.

"There you go. Have at it, sweetheart." He whispered with an odd sort of pride. He lifted one hand and placed it on the back of her head, stroking her hair softly. Her back was to his chest and he could feel her swallowing, feel her heart beating thunderously in her chest.

She kept drinking.

"That's enough, Caroline, that's enough." He told her eventually, letting the whole thing go on for a while, until he knew that he had reached his limit in blood sharing; and that she had reached hers as well.

She let go of his arm immediately, seemingly embarrassed about the whole thing as she stepped away and turned to look at him curiously.

"Why are you doing all of this? Helping me?" She asked, honestly confused on why a stranger of all people would help her through this.

"I've been around a long time, Caroline…" Klaus started after a moment. In perfect truth, he himself was unsure why he was helping the vampire before him. "… And I know the value of a chance. You could be well suited to this life, love, more than you probably know; you could be magnificent. It would be a shame to see your light extinguished when you have so much life left ahead of you."

As soon as he said the words, Klaus knew they were true.

"I- Thank you." Caroline mumbled after a minute, her eyes holding disbelief and surprise, as if she couldn't believe that he would think of her like that.

"You're welcome." Klaus replied simply.

"I just realized. I don't even know your name." The blonde said after a moment, looking up at him with her wide, blue eyes.

"Niklaus. Though you can call me Klaus… or Nik, whichever you prefer." He didn't often extend the privilege of allowing other's to call him by his shorter nickname (in fact only his siblings ever called him that regularly) but he couldn't help but think that it would sound good with Caroline's voice.

"Well, then thank you Nik…" She sent him a small, genuine smile and Klaus felt his own lips turning up in return.

"What's going to happen to me now?" She asked, a bit of her former worry entering her expression again. "I just don't think-" Caroline stopped all of a sudden as they both heard doors banging open, angrily. The young blonde vampire moved subconsciously closer to him, knowing who the stronger party was here.

A moment a later they heard another pair of voices, new voices.

"Are you sure she went this way, Stefan?" The voice was decidedly familiar to Klaus, but it was the name that struck a cord in him.

"Yeah, besides, I can smell the blood." Now that voice he knew. Well, well, Stefan Salvatore…

He took Caroline by the shoulders again, knowing his answer for her.

"Don't worry, you'll be taken care of. For now, however, I have to be going." The fact that she looked almost sad at this made oddly pleased him. "But don't worry, love, I'll watch over you. I give you my word…" He lifted a hand to her cheek, cocking his head. "It was a pleasure to meet you Caroline."

"Wait, Nik, you're leaving-?"

"Caroline." Klaus caught her attention before she could even finish her question, once more pushing into her mind. "You will forget we ever met, until the day I see you again." He paused. "And, remember, you're not a monster." Not yet. Not yet.

Although he would have liked to continue his relations with this intriguing vampire, there were other things that required his attention first; such as the fact that Katerina Petrova was back on his radar. Now he had yet another reason for exacting his cruel vengeance on her. He also knew that Caroline, as she was now, was not ready to… follow him. She wasn't the person that she could be yet, so he would let her grow into herself… and, when he eventually saw her again, which, being immortal as they were, would eventually occur, then he would make her the offer that had been in his mind. The offer to join him, follow him.

For now, he would leave her in Stefan Salvatore's hands. He'd heard that, as of late, his old friend had turned rather soft; he would not be able to leave a young vampire such as Caroline helpless, not when it would conflict with his morals.

It was for these reasons that, in the next instant, Klaus was gone, leaving a confused Caroline in his wake.

One day, Caroline, one day.

Well, that's it! I hope you all enjoyed it ;)

Just a few explanations – I realize the first scene is almost word for word from the show; I did this purposely because I wanted to put the piece in context and to show you what Caroline was feeling from her POV. Also, some of you may have noticed that Klaus' role was rather similar to Stefan's in that episode; again, it was done purposely so that it would actually fit and not seem completely improbable (that's why I decided to still have the whole 'help Caroline' in the bathroom of the high school, and to have the Caroline freak out – personally, I think that makes it more believable).

Okay, well, I'm off to write another one-shot :D

Anyways, thanks for reading and let me know what you think!

RW