The smell of the ocean danced around my head even though we were still a while away from the beach. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, smiling as the salt and sand smell hit my nose. It was nearly midnight, but the moon shown brightly, illuminating the road ahead and the rows of pines that darted past the window. The roar of the wind coming in through the down-turned windows almost drowned out the soft 80s rock floating from the car radio. I could have vamp-eared the music, but the summer night was warm and intoxicating and I choose the breeze over the tunes.

Stefan was driving. He almost always drove. I think it took his mind off of things. My own mind was clear. The way I saw it, there was nothing to think about. I didn't have a care in the world. Literally. I didn't care about anything. Except our current destination...and the man to my left, but that didn't need to be, and wouldn't be, said. Stefan, however, his mind was elsewhere. Considering his many years of history, it could have been in any number of places, on any number of people. But I knew him well enough to know where and who it was. I wouldn't bring it up.

A Bon Jovi song came on the radio and he turned up the volume, while nodding in a silly head-banging motion and looking at me out of the corner of his eye. I giggled and shook my head. Silly Stefan was so rare. He grinned at me and then turned his attention back to the long stretch of road ahead, but I kept looking at him. I had become his new Lexi. And that didn't bother me. I had lost Bonnie and Tyler. Elena, while still at home in Mystic falls, I realized hadn't really been a friend to me in years...if ever. Stefan had lost...well, everyone. And while I felt in the depths of my heart that he was better off without certain people in his life, I knew that wouldn't stop him from missing them. So what we had left was...one another.

A shiver ran through me and I realized the wind had gotten chilly. I hadn't had blood in a while and after a quick glance in the mirror, I realized it was written on my pale white face. I tried not to let Stefan notice that I had noticed how badly I needed to feed. He liked to stay on the road for as long as possible. I just wanted to get where we were going. So I reached back to grab his leather jacket from the back seat.

"Ya okay?" he threw out casually, glancing over at me, breaking the long, comfortable silence.

"Yeah, just getting a little chilly. Gonna grab your jacket," I said, twisting around and stretching.

I pretended not to notice that I caught him staring at my bare stomach as my shirt rode up, but I bit back a smile. His eyes were back on the road as quick as it had happened. Stefan Salvatore, forever playing it cool. I draped his jacket across my cold arms and laid my head on his shoulders. The smell of him attacked my senses and my fangs itched. I closed my eyes and tried not to think about the implications of my sudden sensitivity to his smell. He rolled up his own window and turned up the radio again. The last thing I heard was Stefan's heart beating and Eddie Money.

It was the smell of far-off blood that finally caused my eyelids to flutter open. I blinked against the bright morning sun, raising a hand to shield my eyes. I was now lying across the entire front seat of the car and Stefan was gone. Still covered with Stefan's jacket, I sat up groggily and looked around. We were parked in the woods, off some dirt road. Ah. Stefan was bunny-hunting for breakfast. I rubbed my eyes and reluctantly climbed out to greet the day. I couldn't hear anything so Stefan couldn't have been close. I had tossed his jacket back where I'd found it, but the smell of him was still all over me. I couldn't stop breathing it in if I wanted to, which I wasn't sure if I wanted to or not. Ultimately, I decided that I should do something about my little problem. Walking around to the trunk, I rummaged through my suitcase until I found a change of clothes. I shimmied out of my jeans and t-shirt, washed my face with a wet makeup removing cloth, slathered strawberry lotion all over my now sun-warmed skin and gargled some mouthwash. After dropping a green sundress down over my form, I felt much better. I rolled my hair into a bun and pinned it up.

"Ready to start the day," I said to myself cheerfully, sounding more like my old self than I generally ever did anymore.

Snapping twigs from deep in the woods startled me for a moment, but then the smell of animal blood got stronger and I could smell that it was Stefan bringing us breakfast. To say that I was sick of bunnies and squirrels would be the understatement of the century. But it felt wrong to feed on humans when Stefan couldn't. Like eating a giant slice of cake in front of someone on a juice cleanse or something. So I stuck to his diet. Finally, he emerged from between the trees with a bag that he smiled and offered out to me.

"Breakfast in bed? You shouldn't have!" I say, dramatically clasping my hands over my heart.

He rolled his eyes and smiled, holding the bag out to me. "Are you sure you're okay with this?" he asked me again, just like he did every other day.

I took what he was offering and smiled. "Of course! Thank you for always doing this for me. You know how I feel about killing Thumper."

I made a frowny face and he patted my arm in faux sympathy on his way back to the car. I watched him walk past and noted that he'd also changed into a clean white t-shirt and jeans. My mind immediately had a vision of him changing clothes in the woods in the early morning sun. Woah. Who gave it permission to do that? I shook my head to clear the thought.

I drank my breakfast as Stefan rested on the hood of the car. He tried not to watch me eat but he kept glancing at me before turning his eyes up to the sky.

"Looks like it might be raining when we get to the beach," he observed from the clouds threatening to roll in over our heads.

I discarded what was left of my breakfast and wiped my mouth. "Not gonna happen. It never rains on a Caroline Forbes beach trip," I told him matter of factly, walking back to the car.

"Oh, my mistake, I wasn't aware," he said, smiling "Then I should count myself lucky to be on a Caroline Forbes Beach Trip."

I smiled brightly, "You bet your ass, mister!"

He opened my door for me and I slid in, trying to keep my dress from riding up my thighs when I sat, but failing miserably. His eyes darted across my skin and then quickly away. With fresh blood in my veins, I blushed immediately. We kept having moments like these, disturbing the balance of our otherwise seamless companionship. Luckily they passed quickly and were few and far between. Although they were becoming more frequent since we'd been on this trip.

Stefan walked around and slid into the driver's seat as I willed my face to cool. He settled in and reached for the radio. My hand darted forward in a panic and grabbed the knob before he could.

"My turn to choose the music!" I blurted, much louder than I intended to.

He laughed, "Okay, okay, geez." And pulled his hand back in mock terror.

I chuckled, "Sorry. It's just..if I hear anymore old sad bastard music, I'm going to run screaming from the vehicle."

He smiled in defeat and shrugged, "Fair enough."

I nodded in satisfaction and switched the station to Top 40. I was warm, fed and happy. I rolled down the window and stretched a bare foot up to the dashboard.

"Three more hours," Stefan announced triumphantly.

I practically flew from the car as we arrived at the public access area of the beach. It had been too long. I didn't bother grabbing my shoes, just darted toward the waves leaving Stefan and the car in the dust. I could hear him laughing behind me, jogging in a mock attempt to catch up with me.

"Thank god for daylight rings, right?!" I yelled excitedly.

Stefan glanced around, wondering if anyone would wonder what I meant by that. In the next moment I was up to my knees in the salty waves. I wasn't entirely sure I hadn't vamp-sped. But I was pretty sure I was just over-taken with joy and ran. I closed my eyes and let the sun bounce off my pale white skin. This felt right. This is what I needed. Light. Joy. Things that were no longer available in Mystic Falls. I didn't want a single thing that wasn't currently soaking into me...Well. I opened my eyes and looked around. Stefan was standing on the dry sand with his hands in his pockets, watching me have a religious experience standing in the Atlantic. I motioned for him to join me. He pointed to his jeans and shook his head no. Ever practical Stefan.

Reluctantly, I walked back to dry land. This would be more fun with a bikini on anyway, I reasoned. I caught Stefan's hand as I walked past him standing in the sand. He wrapped his large, warm hand around mine and we strolled back to the car. Stefan complained half-heartedly about the sand I had carried back into the car but I ignored him. My mouth dropped open as we pulled into the hotel.

"Swanky!" I said, staring up at the tall building.

Sometimes I forgot that Stefan was fabulously wealthy as well as handsome.

"Only the best for our pity party vacation," he said, stepping out of the car.

I tried not to be offended that he still thought we were feeling sorry for ourselves. I certainly wasn't.

"It isn't a pity party. It's just...living life." I explained, grabbing my bags from the trunk.

He nodded once in acceptance, but I'm not sure he believed it.

The lobby was elegant, our room was spacious and beautifully decorated.

"I've missed baths so much!" I yelled from the huge bathroom in my room.

"A jacuzzi tub!" I yelled a second later.

Stefan chuckled from his room at my enthusiasm. I took a quick shower and changed into my black and white polka dot bikini, a black scarf wrapped around my waist and a big black floppy hat. I stepped out into the common living room, where I could hear that Stefan was watching a history documentary.

"What do you think? Too much?" I asked, spinning around to show him my swimming attire.

His eyes raked over me from head to toe, maybe lingering for a fraction of a second, or maybe it was just my imagination, before meeting my eyes again. "Classic. I like it."

He said, smiling and looking back to the TV. I stood there expectantly.

"Well..." I said, impatiently.

He looked back to me. "Well?" he said questioningly.

"Get your swimsuit on and let's go!" I said, cheerily, motioning toward the huge ocean view out the glass walls of the living room.

"Oh, you want me to come out?" he asked, genuinely surprised that I expected this of him.

"Well, duh!" I exclaimed, "Why else did we come here?"

He turned off the TV and stood up, walking to stand in front of me. Being barefoot, I was suddenly more aware of his height than ever before. I looked up at him.

"Well, you asked me to come with you. Under the guise of needing a vacation buddy. But really, out of the kindness of your heart, you were making sure I wasn't going to spend all summer mourning and moping and being all..Stefan? Right?"

His eyes were attempting to look at me playfully, but what was behind them was all too real. He thought I felt sorry for him. He thought I would feel guilty if I just left him behind like everyone else did. He thought I could have done this without him.

I reached up and pulled the large hat from my head and tossed it on the couch where he was sitting. My voice sounded very serious and foreign even to me.

"Stefan...you know. You're not the only person who lost someone. Bonnie was my best friend. My only childhood friend. God knows Elena isn't even a shell of what she used to be. You know that. Even before Damon died. She's been dead since she turned. And Tyler...he's dealing with being human and we weren't exactly best friends before that happened anyway. I mean, you know that I don't have anyone either anymore, right?"

He looked off to the side, his eyes on the crashing waves out the window.

"Hey," I said, gently, using my thumb and index finger to soft turn his face back toward me, "You know that what I want is to be here with you, right? With YOU. My best friend. My only friend." That last sentence I chuckled out while throwing my hands up defeat.

He looked at me for a moment, trying to absorb the magnitude of what I saying to him. We only have each other.

He smiled and nodded, taking my wrists softly and pulling me into a hug. His fingertips softly stroked my bare back and my head fit perfectly beneath his chin.

"I'm sorry," he said, releasing me and holding me by the shoulders.

"I'll be right back," he said, emphasizing each word by shaking my shoulders after every one.

"Okay," I laughed, letting out a breath I had been holding ever since I'd decided to open up to him about the way I viewed our currently situation.

I thought back on my little speech and re-summarized to myself as, "Yeah, so we're totally each other's everything, but like...in a friendly way." I smiled to myself at the sweet absurdity of it.

Stefan came back out in black swimming trunks, a blue swim shirt and sunglasses. I burst out laughing before I could stop myself. He just looked so...normal. He dramatically turned to walk back into his room, but spun on his heels at my cries of protest. We laughed our way back down to the beach, my arm looped through his. The smile stretched across my face being fueled by Stefan's self-depreciating humor, the hot sun and the wet salty air. Within minutes of putting our towels down, he had me thrown over his shoulder and was throwing me in the waves. I gasped as the cold water hit my skin. I resurfaced and jumped on his back, trying to pull him down.

"You're right!" I said, still struggling to get him under the water as he laughed, "I should have left your mopey, Stefan-y ass in Mystic Falls."

He stopped fighting and allowed me to push him under. I waited for him to come back up and waited...and waited.

"Stefan?" I said, anxiously.

A huge splash from behind startled me and suddenly heavy arms came down my shoulders. I gasped, but the familiar smell of him fought it's way to my nose even through the smell of ocean water, seaweed and fish. I relaxed and smiled as he hugged me like this.

"Yeah, you could have." he whispered in my ear, making me shiver, "But I'm glad you didn't." He placed a soft kiss on my cold, wet cheekbone and walked back to the beach, relaxing on a towel.

I smiled and blushed, following him out of the water.