Two Lost Souls

A Stroke Of Luck

The confession is barely out of her mouth before Caroline finds herself pulled from her comfortable seat and slammed into the nearest wall. And though she knows, somewhere inside, that she should be scared or surprised or happy or turned on or anything in between, the only thought that crosses her mind is 'Again? Seriously?' She has to start keeping track of the number of times he slams her into walls – for pleasure or not. But then she takes a good look at her assailant, at the dark veins, golden eyes, double set of fangs, frightening scowl, and the reality of the situation hits her as he snarls at her.

He's angry. No, scratch that. He's livid. Fuming with rage. Almost about to rip her throat out.

Oh my God, he's back!

And he's shouting at her.

"How dare you? I told you what would happen if you ever succeeded in your foolish little mission!"

"Niklaus!"

They both ignore Elijah's warning as Klaus glowers at her and she just watches him carefully, trying to figure out what triggered this. What could have possibly happened in the past five minutes that got him to feel again? And why does he seem to be blaming her? She didn't do anyth... Oh.

Oh.

He heard her.

Hope. She gave him hope. Unknowingly, but she did.

So many emotions overwhelm her in the span of two seconds that she has to wonder how Klaus is dealing with his.

There's relief at the thought that she's finally succeeded.

Worry that he will make good on his threats.

Giddiness that she was right – negative emotions were not the way to go with him.

Compassion for what he's going to go through when everything comes crashing down on him.

Fear that he'll just turn it off again.

Hope that they'll manage to get through this.

But for now, she needs to focus on him. Needs to let him know that she's here, that she's glad he's back, that no matter how hard it might seem now, they will be okay eventually.

Most of all, she needs to get him to calm down, because she's about to suffocate with the pressure of his forearm against her windpipe, and she has to talk. And so she forces the words out, hoping that just like he did every other time, he will loosen his hold enough that she'll be able to speak more freely.

"Are you saying I succeeded? When I was not even trying?"

"Don't lie to me!"

"I'm not," she chokes out, and his grip does loosen then, though it might be more out of surprise than anything else. Deciding to make the most of it, she quickly adds, "I had no idea you were here. You didn't want us to know, right? Eavesdropping is a very bad habit, you know. So really, the only one you can blame for this is yourself. And you can lash out and try to bury it under a thousand layers of anger because that's all you can deal with right now, but it won't change the fact that you're hopeful."

"Damn you!" he yells in her face and, with one last hard shove that takes the air right out of her lungs, he releases her and turns away from her.

She knows he's about to leave, because that's what she would be dying to do in this situation. She also knows exactly how he's going to deal with his rage. Deciding that she has nothing to lose and hoping that the fact that he didn't vamp-speed away means that he actually wants her to, she calls him back.

"Klaus!" She half-thought he was going to ignore her. Instead, he freezes and tilts his head to the side. His back is still to her, but given how tense his shoulders are, she knows he's listening. "Please don't kill anyone tonight."