I'll Be Your Last

So It Begins...

I'd gone to bed in a good place. Well, as good a place as I could considering the circumstances. Elijah had checked on me, explained his expectations of my role in the battle to come. Rebekah was doing okay even though I know she felt tossed around like a leaf in the tempest all around us.

And Klaus? We were okay. He would be okay. I wouldn't allow him to be otherwise. He was at the center of this storm. The target always. And yes, some of it he brought on himself. Some of it was because he was defending his family, because he was defending me.

Klaus wasn't alone this time. None of us - Elijah, Kol, Rebekah, and most especially me - would let him fall. Marcel and his people were on our side, Stefan was here, and Clarice certainly couldn't be counted out even if she was down at the moment.

I woke up some time later, disoriented. First off, the clock said it was just after three in the morning. And I was hot. Someone was cuddled up to me in bed but when I moved my hand to the head on my shoulder, it wasn't Klaus' rough cheek my fingers found. It was soft, long hair. The scent of human and warm blood reached my nose. I shot up and snapped on the lamp on the bedside table to see who exactly was in my bed. I found Christine fast asleep next to me.

The light woke her up. The child squinted up at me as I sat trying to figure out just what was going on.

"Caroline? Are you okay?" she asked.

"Christine?" My voice was scratchy from sleep. "What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't sleep," she said as if it should make perfect sense to me.

"Okay, what do you normally do when you can't sleep?" I tried next.

"Mom's not feeling well so I've been going to Rebekah's room."

That didn't surprise me. The sun rose and set on Rebekah as far as the little witch was concerned and the vampire totally allowed it, basked in it.

"So why didn't you go to Rebekah's room tonight?" I asked nicely as I could.

"She wasn't there," Christine explained, concern clouding her face. "And I couldn't find her in the house."

"So you came here?" I asked, trying to sound teasing. "I thought you were afraid of Klaus."

"Am not," Christine said with all the false bravado she could muster. "He was the reason I couldn't sleep."

Well, he wasn't in bed with us. I reached out with my senses. No, he wasn't in the room or on this floor. It sounded like he was downstairs.

"What happened, Christine?"

"You know our room is down the hall from Elijah's?"

I nodded.

"He was in Elijah's room talking and talking. Then he started shouting. And after an hour or so, I went looking for Rebekah because your rooms are down here and it was quiet."

"I understand." I told her. Klaus was still worked up. Not a big surprise there. It took time...

Then I got to thinking. Rebekah? Where was she? Now I was wide awake. Something told me I needed to go and check out the situation.

"Will you be okay if I go downstairs and see what's up?" I asked her. "I'll try not to be long."

The girl's eyes were heavy. I wasn't sure she even understood what I just said. She nodded, snuggling back into Klaus' pillow and I tucked the bedding around her.

One problem down. Now to see what was going on elsewhere in the mansion.

I grabbed the clothes I'd been wearing earlier and changed into them. That's when I noticed my necklace wasn't around my neck. I immediately looked to my bedside table because, when I remembered to remove it at night, I would put it there. I didn't think Klaus liked the idea that I removed it but he hadn't said anything. So far.