Charlotte was freezing and she couldn't stop her body shaking. She'd been alone in Klaus' bedroom for more than an hour now, in an attempt to warm herself up and to clean up after the chaos of the day she'd showered before tugging back on her blood stained clothes, so frightened of Klaus' hatred for her she didn't want to touch more of his things than she could

help. Despite her attempts to distract herself, her thoughts were racing and her fingers were fidgeting as she tried not to focus on her guilt.

Damon had called but she couldn't bring herself to talk to him, instead reading his text that told her he was okay and replying that she loved him.

Now she was alone, no longer blinded by her terror for Damon's wellbeing, the consequences of her actions and inactions were magnified. She felt the guilt from what she'd done as it flowed through her like a pain in her body. She let them try to kill him. She let them kill his brother.

If Klaus had done to her what she'd done to him she'd hate him.

She hated herself for letting it happen.

She was sitting on one of the arm chairs in the corner with her arms wrapped around her legs and her hair flowing down her back. She hadn't the heart to sit in the bed or braid her hair or even change from her bloody clothes, she half thought he would kick her out when he returned. Her brothers had texted and they couldn't find one of the stakes and that made her worry more, she just wanted all the dammed things gone before anyone else got hurt.

She wanted it all to be over.

Finally the door propped open and Klaus brought a bowl of pasta in with him. His eyes flickered with concern before hardening, as though he'd just remembered he was meant to be furious with her. Sighing he placed the bowl on the mantlepiece by the door as he moved to the closet and pulled out a blanket. He draped it over her legs before returning and fetching her food.

Charlotte could've laughed at the moment in a better mood, so paralleled with the first time he'd been kind to her on their summer trip when she'd passed out from fear. Like then, now they didn't talk, Charlotte's hands moving silently from beneath the blankets as she reached out for the bowl, nodding in thanks before digging in.

Klaus studied her as she ate, her hair was wet meaning she'd showered, but she had tear stains on her cheeks meaning even after she'd showered, she'd cried again. The red holes on her wrist were beginning to scab over and he could see purpling around the indentations, bruising where Damon had pressed firmly. He could hear her heart racing and he knew it was from guilt, he could practically see the thoughts running through her mind.

Finally she finished, well, she had given up pushing through the whole meal. She could barely stomach half the bowl but had pressed on as much as she could, knowing Klaus would likely argue if she'd given up after letting Damon take her blood. Then they were in silence again. Passing the bowl back to him, she nearly began to quake under the stare he was giving her, he hated her, she knew it, she deserved it.

"Darling-"

Charlotte cut him off, his breaking of the silence made her stomach turn and she had to babble out a response before he could, "I'm so sorry Nik," her voice shook and she had tears in her eyes.

This was only the second or third time she'd properly cried before him but once she started she couldn't stop. She had more to say but suddenly she couldn't say it, the tears turning into a tidal wave as her breath came out in sobs. Her arms were around her legs again and she tucked her head down in shame, hiding away.

To think he'd told her only days ago she seemed stronger, now she was literally crumbling into a ball.

Suddenly the chair wasn't beneath her, and then, it was again. Klaus' resolve to be furious at her and to make her pay penance for her involvement was gone. He'd sped over and pulled her up in his arms, before taking her seat with her on his lap. Charlotte gripped his shirt in a fist as he pulled her head to his chest and she sobbed, his hands were through her hair and it made her feel worse.

After all she'd done he was comforting her?

"I'm so sorry," Charlotte stuttered out, "I'm so, so sorry."

"Shh," Klaus soothed, one hand running through her hair while the other had taken her injured wrist, his thumb moving back and forth against it tenderly, "it's okay darling, you're okay."

"I thought you were dead, I let them try and kill you because I was worried for Damon. I thought you died and I got so scared. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so so sorry-"

"But I'm alright," she felt him place a kiss on her head as he spoke and she cried harder, "I'm alright, you're alright. It's okay-"

"It's not," Charlotte said with a sob, "They killed your brother. I let them kill your brother."

"Finn slept in a box longer than he lived as a man," Klaus replied curtly, his fingers had frozen for a moment as though her words had reminded him of the actions but as he spoke they resumed their movements, "He was a lovesick fool, he's better off dead."

Charlotte's breath caught in her throat, his words had almost been enough to pull her from her guilt and Klaus took this opportunity to hold the water he'd brought up for her to her lips.

"Drink darling," Klaus cooed.

Charlotte obeyed like a child, gulping the drink down she felt her body stop shaking with sobs while the tears continued to stream down her face.

"I let them try to kill you. You should hate me," Charlotte whispered finally, looking over at Klaus as he pushed her hair behind her shoulder gently. Her fists were still clenched tightly in his shirt as though afraid to pull away but her head had pulled back from his chest and was looking at him. She was breathing more normally now but tears were still running down her cheeks, she felt his thumb rise up and swipe them away.

"And you should hate me," Klaus replied, "perhaps we should call it even?"

This made Charlotte want to cry again. All that she went through during their summer but it was this small kindness that was breaking her. Her face crumpled and Klaus pulled her back towards his chest, one arm wrapped tight around her body while the other lay on her head, fingers tangled in her hair.

Klaus did want to talk to Charlotte still about everything that'd happened, he needed to know how big of a part she held. He didn't need to know because he wanted to punish her, he needed to know for himself. But it was clear tonight wasn't the night for that conversation, watching her shake and sob with guilt because of him hurt. It hurt worse than when he'd her her whimper in fear at the club and it hurt worse than any injury he'd ever had.

He wanted to take all her pain away and never let it back, it didn't feel real that all this pain she was feeling was because of him. He couldn't remember a time when someone had been so overcome with regret for something they did to him that they were hurting themselves. While she certainly wouldn't admit it, Charlotte was hurting herself over him. It was herself that was causing this mental anguish and it was herself that was allowing the guilt to flow over in waves.

Charlotte had stopped crying again and her fists were coming up now to brush the tears from her face. She looked beautiful even now to Klaus, her eyelashes were dark with the tears that sat on them and even her red face seemed more perfect. Her lips which had been pulled tightly between her teeth as she'd tried to calm herself now sat red and full from the swelling and he wanted to kiss them to make it all better, to make her feel okay again.

Klaus handed the glass of water to Charlotte and she gulped it down again, finally passing it back to him and looking up at him. "I'm -"

"If you apologise one more time-" Klaus warned, trailing off as a pang of regret passed over him when Charlotte looked away sheepishly. Klaus sighed, shifting slightly so he and Charlotte could both stand, "Let's get you changed. We can talk in the morning."

Charlotte felt like she was a child.

She hadn't cried like that since she was a child and she hadn't felt such extreme guilt over something since she was a child either. She felt numb now as she followed Klaus to the dresser where he passed her the clothes she'd worn a few days earlier. She couldn't even be bothered to make it to the bathroom to change but she did only because she didn't want Klaus to notice something else weird with her.

Klaus noticed though that she hadn't braided her hair, he'd stepped out to answer a phone call whilst she'd changed and he came back to see her curled into a ball sitting on the bed with her knees to her chest and her hair flowing down her back. With a sigh, Klaus dropped his phone on the mantle and made his way over slowly, as though he was afraid any sudden movement might spook her.

Klaus sat beside her on the bed, one leg hanging off the side while the other curled up in front of him as he tugged her gently between his legs. He struggled with many things a man should be good at as a child before he was turned into a vampire and so he'd spent much of his childhood with girls or his sister. While his fingers didn't move as deftly as he'd seen Charlotte's when she wrapped her hair into braids, he knew the principles and so as gently as he could, he began to braid her hair for her.

Charlotte didn't even realise what was happening until he was tugging at her good wrist, pulling the hair tie that sat there off and wrapping it around the first braid. The second braid was finished soon after and there were tears in Charlotte's eyes again as he gently pulled the covers up and tucked them both under.

"Stop being so kind to me," Charlotte told him at last when her head was tucked under his and her fists were against his chest.

"Not today darling," Klaus replied softly, fingers running through her hair.

It took Charlotte a while to fall asleep this time, much longer than she normally did when she was with him rather than alone. Klaus didn't want her staying up alone, he didn't think it was right and so instead he kept himself awake, running the fingers of his free hand through her hair and whispering kind things to her until eventually her breathing steadied out and her heart began to slow.

-

Charlotte's head was pounding as she finally drifted awake the next morning. The curtains had been opened up but Klaus was still beside her, he was awake first and his free hand ran softly through her hair.

"Morning darling," Klaus greeted when he felt her stir in his arms. Her eyes remained shut and she pressed her head tighter against him, she wanted the room to be darker and the world to be quieter.

As she processed her surroundings the events of the day before flooded back to her and she felt a wave of guilt return. Yesterday she'd allowed her brothers to try and kill Klaus' alongside his whole family and they'd been successful in killing his brother.

She was afraid to start crying again, fearing that like last night it would descend into sobs that she'd have no way to stop. One of her arms snaked away from its place under her chin and wriggled its way beneath Klaus' arm, wrapping around his waist the way his wrapped around hers.

"Nik," Charlotte breathed out, "I'm so-"

Klaus cut her off, "Charlotte if you apologise again I'm going to kill someone."

Charlotte sighed, she needed him to understand how deep her regret was. She also knew however, that forcing her apologies on him would put the pressure on him to forgive her rather than her to earn his redemption.

"My head hurts," she told him, peeking up to see him looking down at her, studying her.

"I'd expect so," Klaus tugged her up the bed so her head lay on the pillow beside him, so he could look at her in the eyes as they spoke, "Darling, you frightened me last night."

Charlotte's voice was low as she replied, "I should've stopped them. I knew what they were doing and I let it happen. Nik, I thought you'd died. When it all happened, it was like I couldn't breathe, I didn't know what to do knowing I'd never see you again, that I'd never-" she broke off, unable to push the words all out.

However furious Klaus was with everything that'd happened, his anger towards her had entirely dissipated. He wasn't surprised her brothers were still dumb enough to attempt to kill him and although he was a little hurt, he wasn't surprised Charlotte had let them.

He knew her devotion to her family was greater even than his, he had little doubt that she would die for them without a second thought. Secretly, the devotion the three Salvatore siblings had for one another impressed him, the way each would sacrifice their life without question for the other is something that he doubted his own family would do at times.

Klaus didn't blame Charlotte for any of it.

He'd received a passionate call from her brother Damon the night before, refuelled and ready to trade himself back for his sister. When that hadn't worked, Damon had set to work explaining in detail, how uncomfortable Charlotte had been with the situation, how she barely spoke to them throughout every moment of the plan and how she only went along with it for them.

Klaus sighed, his thumb was running over her face now, her eyes were still screwed up shut but they flickered open as his thumb passed over softly.

"I don't blame you."

"Maybe you should."

"I've done worse deeds in an hour than you could do in a lifetime," Klaus told her, his voice sharp.

Her eyes looked at his again and he could see the pain running through them again. His arms loosened around her as he felt her shift, watching as she pulled herself up into a seated position. Her head throbbed with pain as she moved, she really paid penance for her grief and anxiety, the physical pain encompassing her.

Charlotte's knees were pulled to her chest as she looked at Klaus, who had shifted too and was now sitting beside her, leaning against the headboard while his hand reached out and rested on her leg.

"Charlotte, darling look at me and listen to me," Klaus spoke softly, he was making his voice growl out in the gravelly manner that made her heart skip a beat. His eyes were piercing as she stared into them, she nodded nervously and he continued, "there's not a single thing you could do that would ever make me hate you. Not one."

Charlotte half nodded, she wanted to pull her eyes away from his but she felt trapped and so she stayed staring.

She didn't know what she was supposed to say in response to that but she knew how his words made her feel and how they made her want to react. It felt like Klaus was lying, she half expected him to turn around in a week and want her dead for her part in the plan but she was done with forcing herself to push him away when he was trying to pull her closer. Charlotte wanted to live a life without bloodshed and she wanted to live a life with Klaus in it, she wasn't going to hold herself back from what she wanted, especially now with Finn when it was clear life really was so finite.

"Nik," Charlotte asked softly, her eyes searching his for any hint of distrust, "can I kiss you?"

Klaus didn't reply but his face, serious and concerned, broke into a grin and his eyes shone and Charlotte took that as a response. Her knees falling open, she let her body fall towards him as she pressed her face against his.

She was leaning forward on the bed now, one hand was curled up in Klaus' hair while the other lay on his chest. Klaus had his hand on her waist while another supported her face, she was half leaning on him like this and so the hand on her cheek was to keep her from toppling over in her excitement.

After everything she'd told him, everything she'd sworn up and down, Klaus had expected the kiss they shared outside his family's ball to be the last they'd ever experience together. He certainly hadn't expected that this morning she would be the one to kiss him, especially after the night they'd spent together with her shaking and guilt ridden. She had a headache too and he was surprised that this wasn't making it worse but he certainly wasn't complaining.

Charlotte giggled as Klaus' hands both moved to her hips and he tugged her over his legs so she now sat straddling him. Charlotte tugged at Klaus' shirt and when he pulled it off, she held her arms up as though to indicate for him to tug hers too. Klaus' breath hitched at the sight of her, straddling his lap and topless, her hair was still pulled back in the braids and he used one to tug her towards him for another kiss, his hand rising up to her chest.

Charlotte was almost out of breath when she pulled away, one of Klaus' hands was on her chest but the other had slid down her pants. Klaus looked confused as she pulled away and his hands froze, uncertain if she wanted him to stop or if she needed to tell him something.

"Nik," Charlotte stuttered out, "I really like you."

For the second time that day, Klaus' concern was broken with a grin of joy, "I like you more than you could ever imagine my darling," he told her, pulling her back towards him by her plait.

Really, both Charlotte and Klaus were lying. They didn't just like each other, they were love, or at least Charlotte was certain that was what this was. She had known she'd liked him for a long time now and just hadn't been ready to admit it but it was last night and this morning that had solidified her feelings.

Charlotte Salvatore loved Niklaus Mikaelson.

She loved him.

She wanted to scream it from the rooftops now she knew and she couldn't stop the grin breaking forth. That being said, she wasn't necessarily ready to tell him she loved him quite yet, at least not right now as she fought back a moan, on the brink of an orgasm thanks to his fingers circling beneath her underwear.

"Ohmy God," Charlotte stuttered out, her fingers were digging into his shoulders now as she neared the precipice.

"I told you to call me Nik, darling," Klaus growled out. His fingers continued to move and his head leant down and began to kiss her neck, gently and then less so. Charlotte was writhing beneath his grip and his spare hand rose up to gather in her hair as he leaned towards her neck.

Although Klaus was certainly no fan of bruises or injuries scarring Charlotte's body, the thought of a hickey from him made him want to grin. His mark on her, a mark that both of them would know exactly the moment of creation. Charlotte was shaking against his hand now and he pulled his mouth away from her neck, admiring her as her body grew limp and she leant forwards against his chest.