InsaneJournal

Perhaps she was another hallucination, concocted by his tormented mind as he died. Klaus thought it stood to reason as she touched his face. Hadn't that been what Silas had chosen to project as? A tender and delicate Caroline appearing when he was plagued with the thought of a fragment of the White Oak Stake embedded in his rib cage back in Mystic Falls? He didn't have the energy to fight against it, though. The longer it went on, the longer he looked at her, he just wanted it to end. If Mikael had really killed her... if his father was truly real - did he even care about whether or not this stake killed him? Wouldn't death just be a relief, anyway?

Klaus was ripped from the fatalistic thoughts as Caroline moved to grab hold of the stake. He choked on a pained noise as she did so, tensing as he swallowed it back. She was so close. Klaus tried to still himself, watching her intently and fighting back the panic that came with the concern that, when she did pull the stake out, he would just die. He was squirmed and just when he was about to protest, to insist she leave him be, Caroline leaned in and kissed him. The shock of the gesture nearly negated the sudden, mixed sensation of pain and relief as she pulled the stake from his heart as well.

The instant the stake was removed, his body quickly went to work, healing the damage and the pain and panic-driven haze cleared from his mind. Even still though, Klaus found himself at a loss. He never would have expected Caroline to make such a move. He tipped his head back to look at her, blue eyes filled with uncertainty. Was this another hallucination? It couldn't be. "What would your boyfriend say?" Klaus spoke after a lengthy silence. Perhaps not the best way to move forward, but he felt the need to regain control. To regain some semblance of his usual persona. Here he was, prone on the ground, bested by a stranger and manipulated by whatever forces were at work in this city. Klaus reacted the only way he knew how; by being defensive - even if the statement was delivered in a still shaky voice and lacked any of the typical sting that accompanied his quips.

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Caroline didn't like whatever all of this was. No one seemed immune from it, not even Klaus. She didn't know what was powerful enough to pull something like this off. Silas had these kind of abilities, but to be able to keep doing it to everyone? That didn't make any sense. No one was that powerful, right? And if they were...Caroline didn't want to meet them. Except maybe to punch them, but she imagined that wouldn't end well. If Klaus ever found out though, that person or whatever it was would be as good as dead.

Of course as she removed the stake, his body was healing instantly. Soon he'd be back to himself, or so she hoped. He might still believe the stake had been real, or that Caroline was just a hallucination, neither of which were true. She was really here. And she'd really removed the stake. And she'd really kissed him too. She was still kind of in shock over that, because there wasn't really any good reason to have done that.

She stepped back from him, staring for a moment. Something this powerful that could cripple a hybrid in this way, it was almost unimaginable. And very much like one of Silas's tricks. She stood to her full height, and backed away a bit more. She wanted to make sure to give him his space. At his nasty comment, she rolled her eyes. "Nice to have you back." Even if he didn't seem to fully be like himself just yet.

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As Caroline stood up, he could feel his body repairing itself, could feel his life seeping back into him. It was a relief to feel that power that came with being alive coming back to him. Klaus stayed on the ground for a few moments, still sagging heavily against the brick wall where she'd found him. She put a healthy amount of space between them and Klaus couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret at his decision to throw his walls back up instantly - especially when she had gone so far as to kiss him. Months ago, he would have given anything for such affection from her and now he'd gone and all but swatted it away.

When she spoke, Klaus sighed and looked away from her before climbing to his feet. He still chose to lean heavily on the wall for the time being. "Thank you, Caroline," he finally spoke at length, almost unwilling to speak the words. But she deserved them. Had it been anyone else who found him... "Someone else may have left me as they found me," he said and stepped away from the wall and closer to where Caroline now stood. It was true. Had someone like Elena or even Rebekah found him, Klaus wasn't convinced they would have bothered to spare him. "But not you," he offered her a weary smile.

He stepped closer to her, confidently closing the distance between them. Her relationship status be damned; he could handle Tyler any day of the week and whether she was leading him on or not, for now Klaus didn't mind. It was just a relief to be alive and he was glad she had been the one to bring him back. Without hesitation, Klaus leaned in and pressed his lips to hers - returning the kiss he had been too shocked and too incapacitated to properly reciprocate the first time. "So thank you," Klaus repeated meaningfully.

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Caroline couldn't even imagine what Klaus would do once he found out who or what was responsible for all this. She was willing to bet it wouldn't be pretty, though. Klaus was not a man who became helpless easily, and this thing that none of them seemed to be able to escape from had all but crippled him out here. Caroline certainly didn't plan on bragging about how she'd found him. Klaus deserved his dignity. And besides, he had saved her on the rooftop, and he'd saved her when she'd been so close to turning her humanity off. The way that Caroline saw it, this didn't even make it even.

She knew he was going to be fine, so she could have just walked away and left him there. Something made her stay though. She didn't know why, but she couldn't just walk away and leave him alone after something like this. He hadn't left her, though the reasons for that were fairly obvious. She didn't expect him to thank her. Klaus didn't usually do things like that, unless it was in a sarcastic manner, but she could tell that he was being sincere. She knew he was right too, someone else might have just left him like that. Someone else might have thought it was exactly what he deserved. But not Caroline. She couldn't have just left him there like that, it wasn't right.

He seemed a lot better, as he moved closer to her. She could tell he had healed, and he was more or less back to the same old Klaus. She could have left then too, but again she stayed. And the next thing she knew, he was kissing her. She wasn't so surprised, he hadn't exactly been in the position to kiss her back a few moments ago. She knew it was wrong, but she couldn't help herself, as she kissed him back, just a bit. "Sure." She nodded. "I'm glad you're okay." She easily could have just chalked this up to him saving her before, but she knew there was more to it, even if she couldn't readily admit it. "Walk me back to the apartments?"

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