A/N: This chapter begins at the end of the episode 'Daddy Issues' where Caroline is taken hostage and tortured by the werewolves. Stefan has already walked her home and told Tyler to get the hell out of her house. Some of the beginning conversation does take place in the normal TVD universe. I just altered it a bit. Also, all the characters in this AU are just friends except for Bonnie/Luka and Jenna/Alaric.

Disclaimer: Don't try this at home. Wait... I don't own this.

THE INVISIBLE

1

What happened? What changed? Everything used to be so simple but now? It felt as though these new pair of shoes she was forced into wearing would never be completely broken in. She realized it would take time to truly adjust to all the luggage and risks that came with being a vampire, and one who was close to those damn Salvatore brothers at that, but reality was beginning to really set in for her lately. It was becoming more apparent everyday that trouble followed them everywhere. And now it was following her.

Caroline raised her chin under the showerhead as she ran her hands back through her hair. Blood from fresh wounds all over her body ran red streams down the drain, and she tried not to look. She tried breathing with her eyes closed just for a second to imagine being anyone else on earth. A normal person. A person. Someone whose worst worry in the world was anything other than being kidnapped and tortured by a pack of werewolves. She didn't want to get involved in the whole moonstone, doppelganger, curse thing, but for Elena's sake she had to.

She had to be involved to help insure her friend's safety. Caroline couldn't live with herself otherwise. If something were to happen to her and in one way or another she could have helped her, she just couldn't. Elena was like a sister to her, and best friends didn't walk away because they were scared. Though after what happened to her tonight, she was afraid for her life. This whole curse situation would be resolved one way or another, but that unknown 'how' was what frightened her.

And Tyler? A day ago, she had never been so sure of their friendship, but no more. The only reason Damon killed his uncle was because he was collaborating with Katherine Pierce who by all means wanted her and Elena dead. For a reason she would never understand, Katherine got some strange enjoyment out of tormenting the Salvatores, so it wasn't so much them that she worried about. Caroline hoped Stefan was able to get through to him, turn him to their side, the right side, but obviously there was no hope in that department. If it were up to him alone to save her with Jules whispering in his ear, she would have died there tonight. She knew it. That's why when he came by earlier after Stefan left she couldn't have made it any clearer to him what he was to her now. Nothing.

After throwing on a pair of light blue pajama bottoms and a maroon spaghetti strap shirt, Caroline walked over to the dresser in her bedroom to wrap her hair up in a messy bun in front of the mirror. Her eyes looked terrible. Dark. Exhausted. She guessed that's what happened when a person was in so much distress that spilling enough tears to characterize the pain was an impossible task. That was the kind of suffering she had to live through today. The kind of suffering she would have to live through forever… because a large part of her being was still human, and things like this weren't so easy to move on from.

Just as she was fixing to lay down for bed, with one knee planted on the mattress as she pulled back the comforter, a couple raps at the door made her body grow tense. Her mom wasn't home, and even so it wasn't like there was anything she could do as a human to protect her from a werewolf invasion. Caroline herself was hundreds of times faster and stronger than Elizabeth Forbes, but still, having her mom around always did make her feel safe to some extent. She snatched the black robe from the chair in front of her dresser before cautiously making her way toward the other side of the house.

Once she got to the end of the hallway, she peeked around the corner and caught sight of Damon on her doorstep through the front door window. He was just about the last person she expected to see knocking at her door at such a late hour, but as she rounded the corner, she noticed Stefan also standing there beside him. Stefan had walked her home earlier that evening after everything that happened, but after she left him to go shower she assumed that would be the last time she saw him that night.

Confused, she wrapped herself up in her robe to hide her PJs, and as she made her way down the hall, she gave Damon, whose eyes bulged sarcastically at her through the window, a pleasant look.

She wearily opened the door, thoroughly examining the boys in her doorway. "Hey… " she said, shaking her head at them and hoping with every fiber of her being that nothing else tragic happened that night. "What's going on?"

"He was a bit worried about you," Damon asserted colorlessly, throwing his head Stefan's way as if to just lay out there that he was the only one. His brother cleared his throat at him, obviously against his sibling's refusal to admit his own obscured concern.

"We were a bit worried about you," Stefan corrected, nodding once at her. "After everything you went through tonight." Caroline smiled softly at him.

She was feeling particularly miserable, but she thought she did a good enough job of lying to him earlier about being okay with everything. Clearly she didn't though because here he was again for the second time tonight with Damon who was really putting into perspective just how despondent she must have appeared earlier. If it was anything like she felt on the inside, she could see why Stefan felt the need to come back. He was a really good friend that way.

"I'm fine," she insisted quietly, glancing between the two and still slightly confused by the visit.

Stefan nodded approvingly at her fixed resolve, though it was clear he disbelieved every 'I'm fine' she'd told him that night. There was a lot about Caroline that changed since she was turned, but one thing that remained the same was how hopelessly stubborn she was. Denial was unhealthy for anyone and remaining in such an ineffectual stage of grief by choice couldn't be any better.

"Good," Stefan gently went on. "But... just in case-"

"We brought popcorn," Damon finished as he revealed a bag of Pop-Secret from behind his back. His expression grew serious. "And if those damn mutts are stupid enough to even think about trying anything again so soon," he shrugged, "Figured we ought to stick together tonight." Caroline stared silently at them for what felt like a long time.

Damon hadn't really shown genuine concern for her other than that not too long ago time when her mother disowned her after discovering she was a vampire, and Stefan, well, he was always caring and sharing so the gesture from the both of them was extremely tear-inducing. A rare sentiment from Damon didn't feel right to dismiss, and Stefan… he was just flat-out breaking her heart right now with those overly caring eyes of his.

Caroline frowned as tears spilt from her heavy, red eyes, and the two began stepping in upon seeing her faltering façade. They came closer at once and stepped into her open arms to provide the warm comfort she truly needed that night. Bonnie was MIA lately doing witch-y things with the focus of her newest infatuation, Luka, and Elena was busy dodging her biological father who'd come back to town apparently a changed man, so. It was really nice to be in the company of friends. Well, a friend and Damon. He still had some growing on her to do.

It felt good at least to hold close the two people who truly understood her pain and suffering. The ones who could too easily relate to the tragedy that came with being the damned creatures they were. Caroline sniffled on Stefan's shoulder and Damon gave her a friendly pat on the back before pulling away.

Though struggling to compose herself, she gripped Stefan's wrists with all the strength that she had where his hands still rested on either side of her waist. He nodded at her, wiping a tear from her cheek as Damon shut the door behind them. Caroline pulled Stefan back into her arms with more appreciation than he would ever understand.

As morning set in, a different light was cast on the Forbes' residence. There was a warm, comforting aura throughout the house overwhelming the air conditioning. It was a new day. If everything went back to normal, life in Mystic Falls would still be immensely screwed up, but things would certainly be better than yesterday.

Damon's eyes gradually cracked open as sunlight poured through the windows. A bright stripe of light spread over his face so he kept his eyes nearly closed until he finally leaned up on his arms.

He rubbed his surprisingly sore head. "What the hell?" He grunted.

Caroline woke to find herself half-sprawled across Stefan's lap on the couch with her hands nestled together under her head at the other end of the couch. Her eyes cracked open and his voice instantly sparked fury through her as exhaustion demanded she remain asleep.

"Shh… " She hushed, and waved her hand at him to be quiet. Damon looked up at her with a perfect case of bed head and scowled at her and Stefan fidgeting on the soft cushiony couch while he was somehow laid out on the floor.

How that happened, he had no recollection, and how Stefan was able to fall asleep sitting up like that was even more perplexing. He remembered Caroline sitting in the middle of the couch, Stefan on her left side, and him on her right. She must have kicked him off sometime in her sleep because he distinctly remembered falling asleep on the couch. She looked a little too situated in his spot to be innocent.

Caroline pulled her knees up to her chest, and upon feeling the movement, Stefan lifted his head from the back of the couch to examine her with his eyes half closed with fatigue. The few times he'd checked on her throughout the night, she was sound asleep. No signs of nightmares or emotional distress caused by the other night and for the most part, she didn't really move at all. To him she seemed perfectly at peace until now. And that was good. Agitation caused by Damon was normal and probably good for her at this point. Better to get back to normal sooner than later.

A sound came from the front of the house and Caroline shot up, completely forgetting how tired she was in that one instant. It was the sound of the door closing, and that scary fact made the girl shoot a busted look at Stefan.

"Uh-oh," Damon said quietly, careful not to let his voice travel past their ears. "That would be my cue." Caroline blinked and in an instant, the grinning vampire was no longer sitting on the floor and a small breeze alerted her of his departure. She sighed at his lack of goodbye although she couldn't say she was ungrateful how fast he was to keep her out of trouble.

No matter how close they were, they were still two boys sleeping over at her house and her mom still owned an assortment of off duty guns. It wasn't in their intentions to stay the night, but when Liz never showed and it got later and later, a marathon of really bad Syfy channel movies turned into an innocent sleepover. Caroline rolled her head over to Stefan sympathetically and he nodded at her understandingly. Her mother would not see it as 'innocent'.

"You going to be okay?" He asked and in no hurry to rush out like his brother had. Damon was good friends with her mother, so she assumed risking that friendship to defend a pity sleepover party with her daughter wasn't worth the trouble. She didn't mind. He kept her company, enough to distract her, and it was enough that he felt the need to come over at all.

Caroline sat up to cross her legs on the couch and nodded at him with the softest smile. "Yeah," she answered quietly. "I'll be okay." Stefan nodded in return, reaching over to warmly touch her arm before the sound of incoming footsteps made him just another breeze in her hair. A faint smile crossed Caroline's lips when Liz stepped into view and her mother stopped to stare at her in surprise.

"Oh. Didn't expect to see you up. What's the occasion?" She teased as she headed over toward the kitchen in her usual police uniform. Six a.m. was a little early for Caroline even on a school day, but it wasn't by choice. She set her keys down on the kitchen counter when Caroline leaned her arm over the back of the couch to speak.

"No reason. Just thought I'd get an early start," she lied. Though, an early start could definitely be arranged. It would be a good distraction to get out and do something with her friends after school. Elena would probably be up for it considering the whole John Gilbert thing. She wasn't too sure about Bonnie. Maybe Stefan.

"Sorry, I didn't come home last night. Looked like some kid thought it'd be funny to cut my damn fan belt, so I was stuck at the station until about two in the morning, and then we got a call about gunshots out by that old cemetery in the woods somewhere. Sorry. Long night."

Gunshots. Figured someone heard. Caroline sighed, relieved that they weren't able to find the source of the shots. Threatening to handcuff a bunch of wild werewolves was never a good idea. Her entire life was like that show Fatal Attractions where people chose to live with the kind of exotic animals that could very well go off on them because it was in their nature. To survive. To kill. Not to love. Even her mother being here with her was dangerous. Sometimes she felt hungry in a disturbing way and had to get away before something ugly took over her. It was a nasty thought, which was why she was even more grateful they hadn't found them last night.

Caroline shook her head to assure her mother that she was fine with it. They didn't have the closest relationship anyway. She slept here alone many nights before while her mother spent most nights at work. Nothing different.

"You want some breakfast?" She offered. Caroline looked up at her and her stomach seemed to come alive in that moment. Yes, she did want breakfast. Just not what she had to offer.

"No thanks," she said, quickly hopping off the couch and heading out toward her room. "I'm gonna get dressed and head out." Liz watched as she disappeared around the corner, and as she stepped out of view Caroline rubbed her stomach hungrily.