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They sit at the base of the tree he had her pressed up against only minutes ago, her back to his chest as he holds her in his arms. It’s been peaceful; the only sounds are two squirrels running through the trees about 100 meters away, a bird somewhere in the distance, and the soft sounds of Caroline breathing.
He’s starting to get restless though, contemplating whether to continue letting her relax or if he should trail his fingers downwards from their grip on her waist, start up another round. Today is the first time he’s been allowed to have her and he’s already addicted to the sight and feel of her coming apart for him. He’s certain he’ll spend many nights haunted by this day in his dreams, but he doesn’t want to start thinking about that now. He plans to draw this day out as long as possible; erase any thoughts of a world outside of these woods for both of them.
When he shifts his hand, ever so slightly, she tenses up and pulls away from him enough to turn and look at his face. It startles him at first – her eyes are searching for something – and then she starts to get up and he’s left in fear.
He knew it wasn’t going to last but to watch her standing there looking around at the mess of their clothing isn’t something he was ready for.
Not now. He thought he had more time.
She takes one step, two, and then in a burst of speed she’s far away. He can still see her – she’s only really 20 steps away – but after spending all this time surrounded by her scent, her heat, her light, it feels like the peace of the day has slipped right through his hands.
She bends down and picks up a pair of jeans – his jeans he realizes with a jolt – and starts rummaging through the pockets. She pulls out his phone with a bright smile – it blinds him, that smile of hers – before dropping the fabric back to the ground and appearing in front of him.
She pushes the phone in front of his face and asks him – orders him really – to unlock it for her. He’s confused but he doesn’t question anything, not if it means keeping her here with him for a moment longer.
She takes it back from him with a smile and drops down, seating herself between his legs again. He doesn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around her and bury his face in the crook of her neck. A thousand years and no one has fit against him as perfectly as this one baby vampire. He pulls her closer, presses his head deeper into the cover of her hair, and if she were human his grip might be suffocating but she’s not, and it’s another one of the many reasons he’s grateful she’s been blessed with an immortal life.
He hears the sound of a camera and only then does he look up to see that she’s in the midst of what looks like a rapid-fire photo session. The utter absurdity of what he sees prompts him to speak up.
“What exactly are you doing Sweetheart?” He sees her smile on the phone screen but she doesn’t turn around and explain. She simply opens up the camera roll to look through what he sees is already an extensive number of pictures she’s managed to take in the few moments he was more focused on her. There’s one photo that catches his attention and he pulls the phone out of her hand to look at it.
She’s smiling into the lens but his own face is what draws him short. Only half of it is visible but there’s something there that he’s never seen on himself. In India, he once stayed in a palace with a room filled with mirrors, surrounded on all sides by the image of awe on his face. When he was human he’d sit by the river and stare at his reflection for hours. He had always seen anger, pain, resentment, fear. This is something else though; it’s something he never thought he could have.
It’s contentment.
Caroline twists to face him – this time she’s the one to wrap her arm around his center as she leans her head on his chest – looking to the picture he’s staring at.
“I like that one, but my hair looks too messy – and I mean that in a non-sexy way – and my eyes make it look like I’m about to sneeze.” She’s rambling, and when he finally pulls his eyes away from the photo he realizes it’s because she thinks he’s going to be mad at her for using his phone for such frivolous reasons.
“I know you’re totally not the kind of person to take photos. Your camera roll is probably filled with pictures of dead bodies or kidnapping victims and you probably only use them for leverage or threatening people and-“ She’s pulling away from him, hands waving in front of her face, eyes looking everywhere but at him and he can’t have that.
He tightens his grip on her, pulling her close again – quick enough to startle her into silence – and he can’t help but smile. Even her nervous ramblings endear her to him.
“Care to explain why you’ve chosen to use my phone instead of your own. I might be mistaken but people generally don’t take pictures while they’re nude and in the woods.” He smiles that teasing smile he knows gets on her nerves, “Unless of course they’re planning to participate in certain other... extra-curricular activities.”
She rolls her eyes, but the teasing works in his favour because she moves closer to him again, even though it’s just to push against his shoulder in irritation.
“You’re like a billion years old Klaus so I’ll excuse you this once, for not knowing that this,” she gestured between herself and the phone, “is totally not how sexting works. Besides most of these photos need to be deleted anyways since only a few will actually come out nice enough for me to even consider using.”
He wasn’t going to be allowing her to delete anything but she didn’t need to know that.
“And what exactly do we need a nice photo for?” She didn’t answer right away, instead pausing to search his face first.
“You need a friend.”
His confusion must have been obvious to her because she leaned away from him again, tentatively raising a hand to cup his face. Her eyes scanned over his face, searching and finding something only she could see for the third time.
“You’re going back to New Orleans and you’ll be stuck with your thousand year old family of dysfunctional, crazy siblings. Yes you all love each other but they also top your probably very long list of ‘most annoying people ever’.” She paused, a teasing smile appearing on her face. “And while they may be unafraid to scream at you, you also need someone who is unbiased and unaffected by what’s happening in New Orleans. You need someone who can tell you when you’re in over your head. Personally, I think I’m pretty good at making it clear when I think you’re acting like a narcissistic idiot.”
“Caroline I can’t tell whether you’re trying to be nice or insulting me and my siblings.”
“I’m trying to tell you that you that,” her expression suddenly turned shy, almost reserved. “I like to think that we’re friends. And I don’t mind being that unbiased voice for you.”
This girl, this beautiful, pure baby vampire never fails to surprise him. Faintly he had brushed upon the happenings of New Orleans when he had attended her graduation but he never would have thought she’d been paying much attention. No one had ever paid much attention to what he said unless he was threatening them, but Caroline did. She listened and remembered and wanted to help him. She wanted to just be there for him.
He raises his hands to pull her face closer, because he can’t make himself do anything but kiss her. Caroline – the name is forever branded on whatever is left of his heart, belonging to the girl who never fails to leave him in awe, who’s always willing to selflessly offer herself to the people around her. She’s beautiful and good and he’s never going to be worthy of such a wonderful woman but he’s finally, finally, lucky enough to have her care for him.
The kiss is much softer and slower than what they’ve spent the previous hours indulging in. A careful brush of his tongue at her bottom lip that sends a shiver through her body rather than a battle for dominance, one hand that cups the back of her neck while the other traces along her spine to hold rather than claim. He can feel her blood rushing through the vein under his hand; it’s an allure, the heat of her body is a temptation, and her scent is the high of a drug he never wants to come down from.
He pulls back – slowly, he doesn’t want to be free of her – to look at her face. Her eyes are closed, cheeks flushed a faint pink – he’s going to spend hours painting every moment of this day, every shade of her skin, the light shining on her hair – she’s the most beautiful person he’s ever held. He’s not blind to the pain he’s inadvertently caused her; so for her to offer herself to him, to want to be his confidant means more than he suspects she could ever understand.
When she opens her eyes he does nothing but smile, she responds the same and the moment erases a little bit of the darkness that paints his heart. He can’t stop what he says next:
“Every part of you never ceases to amaze me but your heart and mind contain something I’ve seen in no other. It’s an endless well; you pull out a little bit of yourself every time and offer it up to those around you without asking for anything in return. I can’t imagine ever being as foolish as the people in this town, spending years around you yet remaining blind to how much of a blessing you are.”
He sees it in her eyes, this girl who he holds so dear is always put down by those around her. She hides the same insecurities – no one cares, no one wants you, they say they love you but it’s a lie – as he does. He feels it in his bones that he was right to say they’re the same and it’s exactly why he can see so clearly the impact his words have on her. She’s always hid what she feels – it’s why they’re here, in the middle of the woods in the first place – but she can never fully conceal her thoughts from him.
The smile that takes over her face however, tells him that even he might not be able to understand the extent of what his words mean to her, not this time. She leans in to place a quick kiss to his lips – and oh how he yearns for every bout of intimacy she offers him – moving back quickly to speak, attempting to defuse the situation. She’s not ready to deal with the emotional repercussions that his words ignite; she won’t be for a number of years.
“To answer your question, we need a photo because that’s what you do for your closest friends. You have a photo to go with their contact in your phone. I have one for my mom, Bonnie, Elena, Stefan, but I don’t have one for Damon because he’s a jerk and hasn’t done anything to deserve one yet. It’s a thing okay.” How he adored even her rambled nonsense and details he didn’t care for. “And since you don’t strike me as the kind of person to take photos with your friends, I need to take one myself to go with my contact and it has to be a nice one so shh, let me take a picture.” She turned around again, grabbing the phone out of the hand he had resting on her thigh.
He refrains from asking more questions, opting to pull her closer and resigning himself to sitting through her antics. He’s always had a problem with refusing her what she wants. In a hidden corner of his mind he thinks that this isn’t so bad; it’s her way of saying he’s important to her and isn’t that exactly what he’s wanted?
He finds himself looking at the phone screen in order to see her face, observing the strict focus she’s dedicating to her chosen task. It was curiosity that first drew him to her but now – looking at her taking part in something so simple it’s almost childish – it’s an unfailing admiration for all that she holds.
When she finally brings the phone down to scroll through all the pictures he observes as she goes through a very methodical process. It brings a smile to his face that he tries to hide in her hair; the way she makes short sounds of dismissal whenever she deletes a photo, and then the small sounds of satisfaction that come whenever she thinks one looks particularly good. She’s finally down to a select few candidates when she speaks up again.
“These are the best ones, I think, at least compared to all the others. I could totally take more but whenever I do that I always end up with more photos than I know what to do with and honestly, I could spend the whole day taking photos and that’s probably a bad idea.”
“You’re rambling Sweetheart,” he said with a smile.
“Ugh...” she groans and shifts to tuck her head under his chin after passing the phone to him. It’s an act of embarrassment; a way to hide from his reaction but he’s not going to call her out on it. “Just choose which ever one you like best. It’s your phone after all, you should get to choose.” He lets her wrap herself around him, enjoying her willingness to indulge in such contact with him.
He’s going to miss this.
He runs a hand through her hair, brushing down through the knots he made earlier, as he looks at the pictures she’s left for him. The last one catches his eye; it’s not too different from the others but something about it sticks out to him.
The picture is mirrored which makes things look off, yet somehow still remains eye catching. Caroline is in focus at the front; a bright smile on her face and head tiled as her hair falls to perfectly frame her face. He sees his own eyes peek out from just above her shoulder and his raven tattoos follow to the edge of the frame. It’s a good picture; catches his artistic eye and appeals to him in an aesthetic sense. He thinks about painting it; he has a clear reference to go along and he’s certain he could capture the appeal of them in a frame together far better than what appears in the small screen of his phone.
“How about this one,” he says, drawing her attention back to him.
She draws her head out to take a look and before seemingly jumping to grab the phone and set up the photo with her contact. She turns to look at him and puts the phone up so he can see it accompanying her name; “That one was my favourite too,” she comments with a shy smile she tries to tamper down on by biting the edge of her lip.
The sight serves to stir his arousal again as he tangles a hand into her hair and pulls her down to meet his mouth. The rough motions draw a gasp from her and he takes advantage of the moment to slip his tongue into her mouth, shifting her reaction to a moan as she submits to the kiss. Her hands run up his chest to the back of his neck, fingers tugging on his hair to shift the angle of their mouths; the sharp pain makes him growl and he retaliates by biting into her lower lip. She lets out a moan in return, a sound he delights in.
He pulls away, trailing kisses down her throat, suddenly feeling regret that he wouldn’t be able to leave a mark. He and his wolf would’ve quite enjoyed the thought of Caroline continuing to carry proof of him on her skin even with him not around.
“You should... know,” she gasped out, voice catching as he licks and sucks at the hollow of her throat. “This whole, phone call thing is my insurance policy. You know, to make sure you don’t break your promise.”
That caught his attention, and while the low whine of annoyance as he pulled back from her amused him, he was far more invested in hearing in her thought process.
“Is that so?” She suddenly looked unsure but she carried on with her explanation.
“Well yeah, I mean, I wasn’t lying about wanting a ‘Klaus-free life’, but I also know there’s a possibility I might start feeling guilty or something similar about basically banishing you from the town you were born in. Plus you’re you; you’ll probably leave and then wake up tomorrow realizing there’s some loophole I forgot to account for that you can exploit to crash in on my life randomly.” That was quite accurate, if he was being fair; she had certainly left a loophole for him that he had been planning to use should he need to. “So with this, you won’t feel like I’ve completely cut you out and I won’t have to feel bad about anything. And a phone call every few weeks isn’t the worst thing in the world; I’m taking an art history class next semester and maybe I’ll need your help on choosing essay topics. You aren’t the only one that could get something out of this, you know.”
And that, more than anything was what told him that things would be just fine between them, even if he had to spend years without seeing her face.
He laughed a bright and happy sound he was starting to recognize as something that only ever came out when he was around her.
“I always knew your mind was a wondrous thing, Sweetheart. And for the record I promise to steer you away from any potentially boring essay topics in the world of art.” Her face lit up in a smile that made him feel like it was all worth it; the time, the effort, the care, the vulnerability, all of it was worth it if it meant bringing that smile to her face.
“Well, glad we sorted that out! Now, let me just clear up your camera roll,” she said, hand reaching over for where she dropped his phone. He caught her hand before she could though, lacing their fingers together and using his other hand to run up her thigh and pull her closer to him.
“There’s time for that later love, right now...” he trailed off, pulling her in for another deep kiss and toppling them down to the ground. She breaks apart from him with a laugh that quickly turns into a breathy moan as his lips find the spot under her jaw that he’s quickly learnt sends an uncontrollable shiver through her should he graze it with his teeth just so.
He’ll be carefully guarding those photos, holding onto them for all the months and years, where he won’t be able to see her, but that comes later.
For now, he just wants her.