The woman screaming her way through the radio was making his ears bleed and he turned the radio off with a huff, he was not in the mood to listen to rubbish music after another shallow and uninteresting event, he stared at the red light, even the traffic seemed to be against him tonight.

All he wanted was to get home, have a quick shower and finish that fine bottle of bourbon that would be his company for the rest of the night, he glanced over to the woman sitting next to him, she had her eyes on her lap and although she was inside of this car it was only in body.

He was going to look away from her as the signal finally changed but she caught his blue eyes with hers and something in the particular way that she faced him pulled a heavy frown from him, she licked her perfect lips that he missed kissing before she spoke.

"I'm leaving you Klaus."

He simply stared at her and she opened her mouth slightly taken by the glimpse of something that she caught in his expression but there was a deafening sound that pierced through the silence and then a loud noise as another car clashed against Klaus' door.

"Nik, I need you to stay awake. Stay awake…"

He could hear a voice very far away, it was hard to focus and his eyelids were heavy, there was something warm covering his face and he tried to touch it but there were tight straps around him preventing him from moving.

"Nik, God damn it… why aren't you fighting harder?"

The voice seemed worried and restless just as the fingers that kept feeling his pulse, he wished that someone would clean his face because he was certain to be covered in blood.

He was being carried away now and then lifted up in the air only to be wheeled into a static position, he heard the sirens and quickly guessed what happened, he was involved in an accident.

Two heavy doors were closed and he was now on the move, it probably was bad by the way that they seemed to race down the road and he forced his eyelids to obey him, he opened his eyes to face a blond man with a smear of blood in his white shirt, the black tie was loosely undone and he looked apprehensive.

"Hey…" The man smiled at him. "Welcome back… I need you to stay awake, I've asked them to take you to The Grace and we are almost there." The man looked up to check where they were.

"What happened?" The words came out slow and low.

"Some mini-van just collided against your car…" The man shook his head. "I was just behind you guys and I don't even know how it happened… you've lost consciousness on the spot and your heart was lazy there for a bit but I've managed to bring you back. Aren't you happy that your best friend is a heart surgeon?"

"How bad is it?" The words were forced again.

The blonde smiled as the ambulance stopped. "You are not dying on my watch."

The doors went open and he was now wheeled out of the ambulance, the bright lights were hurting his eyes so he closed them again, he was so tired and his body felt heavy, as the man in the ambulance unfolded a list of technical words that he couldn't understand he tried to remember his own name.

"Klaus? Can you hear me?"

A sweet enchanting voice came closer making him wish that that was his name, he turned his head wanting to see the owner of such beautiful voice, surely she was an angel.

A blond angel with ivory features and deep blue eyes that looked at him shining with unshed tears, he felt blessed that the most beautiful angel would spare a tear because of him.

She touched his arm warming the cold skin and he smiled as her image slowly started fading, the commotion around him was becoming bigger but he was losing his connection to everything, slowly it all became buried in an awfully soothing silence and darkness, the angel was the last he remembered before letting go.

"Stefan?" Caroline looked at him terrified.

"We need to get him inside." Stefan said before tearing Klaus' shirt open, there were a few black bruises but like he suspected there was no blood so by the horrible lack of blood he could only assume the worst, he was having a massive internal bleeding plus Klaus' heart was stopping once again.

"What's happening Stefan?" Caroline asked wanting to go with him when someone stopped her.

Stefan didn't answer her, he was climbing the stretcher and straddling Klaus, he started pressing his chest into a precise count of heart compressions and Caroline covered her mouth in a quiet despair.

"He is in good hands."

The warm voice spoke next to her and Caroline acknowledged that she had been stopped by a beautiful nurse that smiled at her now.

"Doctor Salvatore is one the best doctors that this hospital has ever had."

"I know…" Caroline forced a smile and held herself in a posed way.

The nurse could swear that she had seen her face in some gossip magazine that the other nurses religiously read during the dead night shifts. "You should let another doctor examine you."

The brunette touched the open cut on Caroline's forehead but she quickly dismissed the attention. "The paramedics examined me on the scene and I feel fine, the car…" she licked her red lips. "… hit Klaus' side, not mine."

"I'm still going to get something to clean that wound." The nurse said assertive.

"Thank you nurse…" Caroline narrowed her eyes minding a small headache.

"Elena." The other girl said with a warm smile and left.

Caroline opened her blue velvet hand-purse answering her vibrating phone, it was the first of many calls that she would have to answer now, she was as certain of it as she was that the first man calling was the older brother. "Elijah…" she only managed to say before he bombarded her with questions that she was kind enough to answer.

"You don't have to go with me." Bonnie said after he released another grumble.

"I'm going with you." he replied with a big fake smile while opening the door of the expensive Sports car. "My brother might need my support."

"Caroline is my best friend, I need to be there for her." Bonnie said sweetly.

"Who else will be there for her?" he dropped with another grumble.

Bonnie didn't bother looking at him. "Do you know why I left him? Because he was an insecure, juvenile, jealous and cheating bastard."

Damon took the hint the best way that he could, he came around to her side and laced his arm around her shoulders.

"Are you serious?" Bonnie scolded him.

"My girl, my shoulders." he gave her a typical Damon smile.

She huffed her fringe upset and shook away his hold which didn't leave him too at ease but he wasn't the over affectionate type anyway so it felt strange if he pushed this, instead he looked around the parking lot for the car that belonged to the other moron.

Caroline stood up at once from one of the chairs in the waiting room happy to see her.

Bonnie quickly hugged her friend. "Are you ok?"

Caroline closed her eyes enjoying the warm hug. "Yes… but no one will tell me anything about him…"

Bonnie pulled away with clasped lips and a frown. "You should go home and rest, you know that Stefan will call you if anything changes."

"I have to stay here until someone arrives, Elijah is away in Ireland but Kol is already on his way with Rebekah." Caroline fixed her hair that was caught a little on the side with a small diamond pin.

"You don't owe him anything…" Bonnie said serious, she glanced over at Damon who was fondling with the coffee machine and then took Caroline by the arm so that they could move to a private corner.

Caroline could feel the speech and the scowl coming and she prepared for it.

"You promised me that you were really going to leave him this time."

As expected Bonnie wasn't coy and reminded her of all the times she had pledged to leave Klaus without going through with it. "I told him tonight when we were returning home." Caroline wasn't breathing in a steady way, it was all coming out unstable, just like her voice. "And he looked so surprised Bonnie..."

Bonnie shook her head with determination. "He is cunning and he doesn't deserve you. It probably took him off guard that you are actually doing something for yourself but you can't be fooled again. Enough is enough Caroline and you deserve to be happy with someone else, Klaus never appreciated what he had and I doubt that a few stitches will change that now."

"I don't even know if he is alive right now." she tried to conceal the shaken voice but Caroline wasn't too effective with it, Bonnie sighed and before she unraveled all the motives and reasons that Caroline knew by heart she raised her hand stopping her. "I need to catch some air, it's really stuffy in here." She expected Bonnie to follow but thankfully her friend was kind enough to give her a break.

Caroline tucked the long coat closer once she stepped outside into the cold night, it had been a really long and rough night, so much happened since she left the house to attend a charity event with Klaus, one that he obviously forgot he was attending with her and carried out to flirt with every other girl at the function.

Caroline couldn't even feel her blood boil in anger, jealousy… something at all that made her react to the apathy that took over her life, the constant looking away from his indiscretions, the never ending excuses she found for his cold and cruel behavior were finally having an end for her tonight, she was decided on it and she was prepared for everything when she told him about her decision.

She was ready for his callous jokes with a smug smile defying her one moment of bravery or a relentless unfolding of yells so common to him as well, she was ready for all of this but she was not ready for the way he simply looked at her under the heavy silence that described so well what their relationship had become, Caroline had caught a sparkle of fear and pain instead and she was not ready for that at all.

Caroline pushed her inner turmoil away as she saw Rebekah and Kol approaching her, as expected Kol poked the small bandage on her forehead before he kissed her cheek.

"Nice scar, sexy..." he teased her but also accused the worry in his voice.

She smiled as he took her hand. "I'm ok."

"Then I'm going to get coffee for this one." he looked at Rebekah with a grave reprimand.

Caroline nodded staying with the other blonde who was wearing tiny shorts with black stilettos and a top that covered barely anything, the young troublemaker in the family was taking her rebel party phase too literal and no one was able to keep her under control which only worried Caroline, she narrowed her eyes while inspecting the girl, Rebekah kept her eyes on the ground but strangely kept smiling and closing her eyes every two seconds. "Rebekah... are you high?" Caroline asked with a whisper.

Rebekah rubbed her nose a little. "I don't know." she easily said with a shrug.

Caroline took the girl's face into her hands and forced her to look at her. "What did you take?"

"Nothing..." Rebekah pulled herself away from Caroline's touch. "And it's none of your business, you are not my mother Caroline."

Caroline didn't fight her when she went inside of the hospital and left her there alone, this would be such a perfect time to leave herself, to go back to the manor and pack her things and finally leave but like always something held her back.

The fresh smell of coffee made her smile because the man holding a cup for her was one of the reasons she was still living in her big golden cage. "Have you seen Bonnie?" she asked him sweetly.

"Yes, I said hello and then Damon showed up instigating the killer in me." Kol had his coffee with a grunt.

Caroline reached out stroking the baby features of the man she saw as a brother. "You should just swallow that awful Mikaelson pride and apologize to her, tell her how much you still love her..."

It was funny how these things worked out, he was closer to Caroline than he was to his own sister and he knew that she was expecting a witty answer so he quickly complied. "She traded one joke for another. It's a question of who makes her laugh harder right now and she doesn't have the urge to laugh at all when she looks at me. Let us blame the monumental mistake I made by cheating on her."

Caroline poked his chest. "The biggest mistake of your life."

"I was scared." he opened his arms a bit. "None of us know how to deal with love. I freaked out and went on to sleep with the first girl I could find because ruining what I had with Bonnie was easier than telling her how much I love her. Elijah buries himself in work while Rebekah searches for love in every man or girl who smiles at her. And Nik... well, that one became detached from everything and everyone."

Caroline felt that knot in her stomach, the one that was part of her along with a broken heart. "He changed..." she simply said.

Kol cared enough about her to kindly drop the subject, he smiled and went back inside of the hospital to check on Rebekah.

Caroline twirled the coffee unable to finish it, she couldn't get the image of Klaus behind the wheel unconscious but this unbearable wait without a single information about his condition was even worse, she turned decided to find answers but the sweet nurse from earlier was already on her way to find Caroline.

"They've taken him to the OR, he needs surgery. I know that it's not much and I wish I had more to tell you but all I know is that Doctor Salvatore is leading the best surgical team that this hospital has, they all came to help once they found out about the accident."

Caroline found comfort in that, she knew how respected and loved Stefan was and she wasn't surprised that his colleagues came to help, it also helped that The Grace was the best hospital in the country right now. "Thank you Elena." Caroline sweetly smiled at the kind nurse.

"As soon as I know anything, I will rush to tell you about it." Elena assured her before disappearing again into the very busy hospital.

The sun was rising and bringing a new day along with it, Caroline looked away from the window and the image that she found was able to pull a smile from her, Rebekah was sleeping, she was lying over a few chairs using Kol's coat as a blanket and his lap as a pillow and he was watching Bonnie leaning against Damon using his shoulder as a pillow, every time that Damon moved his hand to caress Bonnie's arm Kol clenched his jaw.

The silent duel was entertaining but Caroline knew which one of them she wanted to see her best friend with and it was not with the brother of the man now arriving to the waiting area.

"He is out of surgery and he is resting for now." Stefan informed in a low voice, there was no need to wake the sleeping girls and he quickly focused only on Caroline. "The impact caused a few ribs to fracture and that led to an internal bleeding that we managed to control, he is sleeping now but if you want to see him..."

Caroline silently followed him and waited until they were alone inside of the elevator to confront him. "What haven't you told us?"

Stefan chuckled looking down on his green scrubs. "Of course that you saw right through me."

She said nothing, she waited without breathing for the words that were still to come.

The doctor rubbed the back of his neck trying to ease a simple explanation out of him. "There was a severe head injury and we had some trouble keeping a small bleeding there contained. Caroline… with this kind of accident we always expect some consequences, they are common in these cases plus his heart gave up on him a couple of times..." he held the door of the elevator for her.

Caroline walked with him down a small hallway and looked at him when they stopped in front of one of the doors. "Just tell me already Stefan."

"He can't remember anything from last night or anything much for that matter. Nik has partial memory loss Caroline, he knows that he has a sister and two brothers… it's been two hours since he woke up from surgery and he remembers his name now and a few random facts from his life but he can't remember anything else."

Caroline touched her lips and closed her eyes for a few seconds. "He doesn't remember me..."

Stefan took her shoulder gently, stroking it for comfort.

"Is it permanent?" she quietly asked him.

"It may have caused only short-term amnesia but there is a chance that it has induced long-term memory loss and that he won't remember a big part of his life, depending on which area of the brain has been affected. We are keeping him in here for a few days because of the rib fractures and we will be doing a lot of tests but usually in these cases, the memory simply returns when least expected and you can't really force him to remember everything because that could have serious consequences and the opposite effect of what we want for him."

"Doctor, you are being called downstairs, there was a complication with one of the patients from this morning." A nurse said from the elevator happy to find Stefan here.

"I have to go but I will be back as soon as I can." he told Caroline while running to the elevator.

She only nodded and faced the door in front of her.

Now, Klaus had no idea who she was so this was a sign, she had her chance right here, all that she had to do was walk away from him and leave the wrecked life that she led with him.

Caroline looked down on her hand, the beautiful ring that he had once placed on her finger made her cry, it had only been 3 years but still it felt like it was 20 or more.

Caroline looked at the door again, she was far from being happy but she had been once and she owed him at least a fair goodbye so she pushed the door open to see him for the last time before she walked away.

Klaus had his eyes closed, he had a few bruises on his strong features and a big dressing around his head, the perfect dirty-blond hair was hidden under it and as her eyes gazed to the rest of his body she caught the wires that kept him attached to the heart machine and a few others that she didn't know the name.

Caroline came a little closer to the bed and focused on his face. "Klaus?" she called with a soft voice.

Slowly he opened his eyes and tried to search for the sweet voice calling him, he found a smiling girl and he remembered her from before.

"Are you in pain?" she asked unable to stop her hand that gently stroked his cheek, his stubble tickled the back of her hand as it moved with a life of its own.

"No..." he replied in a low murmur.

He startled her by grabbing her hand and resting it hidden under his over his chest, he smiled at her and Caroline gasped because there was no harshness in him or that cold shadow in his eyes, instead they were blazing blue and full of an innocence that she wanted to believe it wasn't love because she couldn't remember anymore how it looked on Klaus. "Do you know who I am?"

Klaus' smile reached a set of dimples and he closed his eyes keeping her hand secure inside of his. "An angel."

Caroline struggled with a tear trapped in her sad blue eye and rested her free hand over his, her thumb stroked the ring on his finger that matched hers. "No Nik... it's me, Caroline." she said aware that she was opening her heart yet again to another new level of pain and heartache. "Your wife."

Soundtrack:

Apologize - Timbaland ft. OneRepublic

Angel - Sarah McLachlan