Time Changes Everything

This is my first ever fanfiction so please be nice. I appreciate constructive criticism but not the other kind. I hope you enjoy my story. This is an AU story that picks up from the end of season 3 except that Caroline wasn't around for season 3. She left at the end of season 2 to strike out on her own and try to get her head together after all that had happened with Tyler, Jules and Klaus. Also when Caroline fed Matt her blood after Luca's dad almost killed him, he falls down the stairs trying to get away from Caroline when he finds out what she is. He transitions into a vampire and Bonnie made him a daylight ring. Any flashbacks will be in italics and author's notes will be in bold. I haven't decided whom Caroline should end up with but she will eventually end up with someone.

Anyway I hope you enjoy my story, I don't think anybody else has done this.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Vampire diaries or any of its characters. I do however own Alana and Gabriel, as I made them up.

Three, what looked like, people were traveling down the road together through Mystic Falls. These were no ordinary people, they were two vampires and a witch. It was now approaching 10 o'clock in the evening and an unnatural mist surrounded their every step. Their destination: the Salvatore Boarding House. Only one of their company knew the Salvatore brothers personally, the other two only knew of them by reputation alone.

The one in the middle was obviously in charge of the little group. She was a tall slender, vampire that had grown up in the town of Mystic Falls. She had even been made Miss Mystic Falls and was cheerleading captain, but that had been back when she was human. She was blonde and very pretty and hadn't been back since she left little over a year ago. She had snuck away in the middle of the night not telling anyone about her departure. The first one to notice her absence had been her ex-boyfriend Matt. He had let everyone know but none of them could find her, Bonnie couldn't even find her with a locator spell.

A lot had changed during her absence from Mystic Falls, with herself and with her friends there.

Caroline looked at her companions. The other girl in their group was the witch whom Caroline knew as Alana. She wasn't exactly sure how old Alana was but knew that she was at least a couple of hundred years old and was extremely powerful. She sure was happy that Alana and herself were on good terms. She had seen what Alana could do when pissed off, and it wasn't a pretty picture. Caroline made a mental note to keep Damon in check for his own safety. She was glad to have the good fortune of saving Alana's life and ending up with her first friend since leaving Mystic Falls. Alana looked to be about 25 years old and had a very creamy complexion with striking green eyes. Her hair was shiny and black but almost looked blue in certain lights.

The only guy in their group was Gabriel, who like Caroline was a vampire. Except unlike Caroline, he wasn't considered a baby vampire, but neither was he a particularly old vampire. Gabriel had been stuck at 19 years old for the past 25 years. Before he met Caroline he had spent his time "playing the hero" rescuing people that needed it, but only between the time that the sun set and the sun rose as he also hadn't had a sunlight ring before meeting Caroline and Alana. Gabriel looked like a Greek God. He was tall and muscular with golden blond hair and he had the most to die for baby blues. He really did look positively angelic without his fangs.

The three of them had become like best friends in the time they had known eachother and had stayed together since they met.

Caroline didn't know what it was that seemed to draw her back to Mystic Falls but at the same time she was glad she was going back and glad that her new friends were accompanying her. She had missed her old friends and felt bad about skipping out on them but at the same knew that it was something that she had to do.

Gabriel glanced at Caroline. He couldn't help but notice how deep in thought she was. He had grown to love Caroline in the short time he had known her, hell he had even grown to love the witch. Gabriel couldn't help thinking about how they would be received by Caroline's old friends and hoped it wouldn't end up being too bad.

Alana looked at both her friends, she had grown to love them both, which had been quite a feat what with her being a witch and them being vampires. She looked forward to meeting this Bonnie Bennett that Caroline had talked about on occasion. She hadn't met many other witches that she liked and so hoped that it would be different in this case.

All of them were suddenly brought out of their own thoughts once they arrived at their destination.

Caroline looked hesitant but they approached the door and knocked loudly. They waited.

About 20 seconds after knocking, the door was opened. The person who had opened the door stood in shock staring at Caroline before eventually breathing out "Caroline"…

So that's my first chapter and I hope you like it. Who answered the door? I know that not much is known about either Alana or Gabriel or Caroline's time away from Mystic Falls but I promise that all will be revealed in subsequent chapters.

Please review so that I know what you guys think. If you have any suggestions, I am all ears. If you would rather private message the suggestions to me instead, feel free to do so.