Hell is loose (1) [Klaroline]

Compassion

Caroline was standing on her balcony waiting the next morning and didn't flinch when Klaus suddenly appeared behind her. She fought to hide a smile as she turned around to find him standing with arms behind his backing.

"You really enjoy that, don't you?" Caroline asked and tilted her head to the right, making her hair dance in the rising sun.

Klaus' gaze lifted slowly from the ground to meets hers. He had that awfully charming smile on his face and Caroline turned her back to him so he wouldn't see the smile mercilessly tugging at the corners of her mouth. She didn't want to smile but her reflexes had a life of their own and they were quite hard to fight.

"Did I scare you, love?" he asked teasingly. He came to stand beside her, leaning his back against the railing while she pretended to find something interesting passing by on the street.

"No. I've getting used to being surprised. Besides there are things out there that are must scarier than you now," Caroline said and her smile was gone as she met his stare. She didn't know whether Klaus knew about Silas but judging by his non-reaction, Elijah had probably filled him in.

"I see that you've found one of New Orleans hidden treasures," Klaus said, referring to Marie's hotel with a gesture of his hand. Caroline shot him a quick glance before she accepted the change of topic. It seemed like he was avoiding to talk about Silas and it gave Caroline a bad feeling.  

"I just thought it was beautiful and quiet. I needed that. And Marie is very... informed. She definitely knows who you are, and Elijah. She knows about me too," Caroline told and turned to face him. Marie had given Caroline a long lecture about how dangerous the Original family was the night before but to Caroline's surprise she had also praised the family.

"I knew her grandmother back in the days. Back then this hotel was filled with both humans and vampires, and there was never a vacant room for more than a day. It was twice the size than today and Marie's grandmother ran it all singlehanded," Klaus reminisced as he glanced into Caroline's room.

His voice was filled with the nostalgia she had also heard at the decade dance when he had told her about the 1920's. It was moments like these that reminded Caroline that Klaus was over a thousand years old and once again it left her wondering how she could affect him in the way she apparently did. 

"That's right, you're old," Caroline teased with an appraising look and he was suddenly very close with searching eyes shifting across her face. He didn't smile.

"Does that bother you, love?" he asked, his voice serious, and Caroline suddenly felt out of her depth. It was way too early in the day for this. It didn't bother her but she couldn't tell him that without making it sound like it was something she had thought about a lot. Which it definitely was. Caroline took her turn to change the topic and turned away.

"You killed Elijah?" Caroline asked casually as she turned her gaze back to the people passing down under her. She could sense him staring at her before he replied in a matching tone. 

"I decided that it wasn't worth staining the carpet for."

"Yeah, it is difficult to explain to the maid why there is a whitered corpse on the floor," Caroline joked and looked up in surprise when she heard Klaus quietly laugh. For some reason the sound made her smile, which quickly turned into laughter. It was hard to believe that she was standing on a balcony in New Orleans, joking with Klaus Mikaelson, the big bad hybrid. It was nice.

Their laughing tapered off into silence but they were both smiling. Caroline didn't want to spoil the moment but knew they couldn't keep putting it off. She had to ask him about Silas and whether they were going to help. Her heart began beating faster as she turned to face Klaus and she could see on his face that he had noticed.