The Only Hope For Me Is You: A Klaroline Fanfiction

14.

A few hours later, the four of them were in the living room in front of the fireplace while the credits of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' rolled on the nearby TV screen. They had spent another hour on the pond skating before calling it a day and heading for home. Klaus had been too tired to think about dealing with dinner and, after rejecting Caroline's offer to cook since he knew she was as tired as he was, they had grabbed pizza to bring home. After dinner, they had went into the living room to watch Christmas cartoons, the kids piled on blankets on the floor while each of the adults had taken seats on opposite couches.

Caroline looked over and saw that neither of the kids had lasted to the end of the movie. Lexi was curled up in a ball, buried in a quilt with only her face showing. Henry was laying on his stomach, using a stuffed penguin as a pillow, his curls in disarray around his face. She smiled at Klaus when she saw he had noticed it as well. "It looks like the day wore them out."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure Lexi conked out before the Grinch went to Whoville while Henry hung on until almost the end," Klaus stated. He had been keeping an eye on them since they had turned on the show; their eyes had been drooping since they had gotten home but had refused to admit how tired they were. It was why he had suggested watching one of their favorite Christmas cartoons; he knew they wouldn't make it long.

"They had a busy day, first all of the excitement and then all of the time outside. The fresh air and exercise."

"I'm not sure I'm going to be able walk tomorrow," Klaus joked. He did what he had time for to stay in shape, but the skating had some of his muscles aching in ways he wasn't used to.

"I'm sorry about earlier," Caroline apologized again. "For the run in with Tyler."

"No apologies necessary. Like you said earlier, you didn't know he would be there."

Caroline shook her head. "No, I didn't. I mean, I run the risk of running into him anywhere in the city, considering he lives here and has all of his life, but it's been months since I've seen him, since after the break up, I mean."

"I have to say sweetheart after meeting the bloke, I can't imagine you dating him," Klaus declared as he reached over and turned off the TV. The room was bathed in light from the Christmas tree and fireplace so he didn't worry about turning on the lamps.

Caroline couldn't help but snicker a little at his words. "Yeah, well, he was in rare form today. He was just being an idiot who didn't think before he spoke. Then turned into an ass when you and Henry came back and things just went bad after that."

"He was a bit of a prick."

"He wasn't like that when we were dating," Caroline stated before mumbling. "At least not in the beginning."

"If you don't mind my asking, why did you two split up?" Klaus asked, genuinely interested. He hadn't been impressed with this Tyler fellow earlier in the few minutes he was around him and couldn't see Caroline dating him.

"No, I don't mind. It's not as if it is a big secret. Things just didn't work out. He didn't appreciate how erratic my schedule is nor how time consuming my job can be," Caroline explained. "In the beginning, I think he liked it. I wasn't always hanging around and being a needy girlfriend, but as time went on…"

"He wanted more and more of your time," Klaus finished.

"Exactly. And when the Fells told me about their transfer, he pushed me to get a more eight to five job, like with another family who only needed me during the day or a teaching job, not that I could get him to understand that teaching isn't always an eight hour job…" the blonde recounted.

"You would be an excellent teacher."

"Thank you. Maybe someday when being a nanny doesn't work with my life anymore," Caroline replied with a smile. "Anyways, we started to argue a lot and eventually I was just done with it."