A/N: Yeah I'm posting it again. I didn't change much and I'm still not satisfied with it but whatever. This one is just bugging me because I feel something is missing. Oh, and I spoil a certain movie in some point for some reason; once you read the name know that it will be spoiled. Also, this turned out to be close to smilinstar latest fanfic, but since I started it three weeks agoI didn't know, it takes a different turn in the end thou. Just felt like leaving it here. Comments are always useful!
… …
She has been conscious for two minutes; still she didn't bother to open her eyes. The ropes around her arms which are soaked in vervain and hanging her gives her the answer.
After three years, here she is, back to being tortured and captured.
And once she hears the metal door open, she lets her mind think for a moment that maybe this time he will come for her too. She hears a distant laugh in the back her mind, because this is not how things go down.
She feels one hand reaching for the ropes, pulling back as they burn and going for it again.
She opens her eyes, and even if she won't admit it, but damn it she was waiting for those green eyes that she has been itching for for years.
But they are not green, not a bit. They are blue and shining and with that black hair and that leather jacket, her mind goes back to a time everything was fine.
"That hurt like a bitch." He says with a smirk, mostly about the vervain.
After three years, she lives to the day where Damon Salvatore comes to her rescue. Not that she wanted another Salvatore of course, did she actually want him?
"Hurry up, Damon."
She blinks as she feels knives burying in her skin. It is him. He is here. He is just few steps behind her. Her heart skips a beat and she has to swallow. It is difficult as she can't even part her lips.
"Carefully or quickly? Choose; I can't do both, brother." Damon says as he unties her ankles.
She falls forward and Damon catches her. And she thinks she heard him move behind her when she fell.
"Come on, blondie." Damon says as he helps stand straight.
"You're awake." She mumbles.
"It's good to see you too."
Just then she hears doors opening outside with guns following the rhythm.
The young Salvatore who has been guarding the door rushes to them, holding them both from their arms and using vampire speed to hide the three of them behind some old wardrobe.
He looks at Damon on his left, trying not to look at the blonde on his right.
"She's here." Damon says.
"What the hell is happening?" Caroline asks.
"No." Stefan says, hand reaching for his heart where his scar is not open like earlier. "Something is wrong."
The sound of guns shooting comes closer to them and it is obvious it is not just one person. The wood next to Damon is now having three holes in it as the hunter enters the room.
"It's times like these when I miss my little witch." He says.
The way Stefan smirks at him prepares him for her voice as she chants loudly. And it is now that he realizes that he actually missed her.
He peaks his head to see her but hides again when they shoot at his direction. The gun fire is louder and he knows someone has joined the party.
He leans on his hands to get up, but Stefan holds his arm.
"Where are you going?" He yells with wide eyes.
"She wants you, not me." He smirks before rushing to Bonnie's side.
Now that they are alone, his head moves to her in instant, making sure that she is there.
Her lips are parted as she stares at him, eyes moving between his own. He stands still and forgets how to function. He is not sure if the gun fire is going lower or his ears are closing.
Because he hears nothing but her heartbeats, going slow and unsteady, just like before. He stares, and he doesn't mind doing it for hours. He waited too much.
For some reason, he feels that this is not the person he once knew. No, she is the same. She didn't age a bit, her freckles are the same as he left them. But it's something in her eyes, as if she doesn't recognize him anymore. As if he doesn't touch her inside like before. Her hair is up and not dancing on her shoulders like before. Her clothes are formal, standing for her new life. A life that he isn't a part of. She looks like she had moved on, like she doesn't love him anymore.
He swallows as his eyes drift into her lips.
Just then he hears Damon calling him. He stands up and pulls her with him without looking at her.
He sees Damon, Bonnie and Matt fighting three of them. So Matt is the one with the gun.
"Get out." Damon shouts before pulling a heart out of someone who walks to Bonnie.
Stefan, holding Caroline's hand, starts to walk to the door. But then he's gasping for air, his other hand reaches for his throat before trembling back and falling on Caroline. His weight makes her fall too, holding him in her lap as he struggles to breath.
"Stefan?" It is a whisper in the middle of the chaos.
His hand moves to his heart just when his shirt gets spoiled with the blood, scar opening wider and wider each second. He pushes his feet against the ground from the pain, his hand soaked with blood as he puts it next to the scar.
"Stefan?" She is shouting this time. "Oh my god, oh my- what's happening?" Her eyes scan his body to understand why he is bleeding like this.
She locks eyes with him and watches how his eyes go wide in pain, mouth open in silent groans.
His spoiled hand goes for her shoulder, clutching to her as if his life depended on it.
He grits his teeth as he fails to speak.
"What's-?" She can't put it together.
His grips tighten on her, gasping as never before to breath as if someone was suffocating him. She looks at the scar, how it goes wider like a big hole in his skin, then back to his eyes. They are red and filled with tears, and it is not pain but sadness. Regret. For all what happened, and what didn't happen. For the broken promises. He takes a heavy breath, eyes going wide as he sees the end coming.
And he is happy, truly. For him to be far from her all this time, and yet die in her arms.
Her hand holds his one that holding her shoulder.
"Stefan?" She panics.
She can hear his heart going slow after racing like a train.
"Stefan?" She shouts.
"Brother?" Damon comes to them then, followed by Bonnie and Matt.
"Stefan?" Bonnie whispers from behind.
His eyes don't move, only looking into hers, as if telling her his last words, whatever they might be.
He smiles.
She hears his heartbeats, going slower and slower. They almost stop, but then they are back, faint and low, holding his eyes from closing.
Damon lets out a breath as the scar starts to close.
She lets an even heavier one.
… …
In their way back home, Matt is driving and Bonnie is next to him. She doesn't know how but they ended up with him between her and Damon in the backseat.
After three years, he is only five centimeters away from her.
Her eyes don't leave the window next to her the whole ride, but she notices when his head almost falls on her shoulder in exhaust before sitting straight again.
She wishes if he let it fell.
… …
She opens the door to her house and they follow.
He tries not to look at the decoration; he tries not to smell anything, he tries not to look at the pictures on the walls.
And he manages to do the last one, after all he is looking at the floor.
Bonnie and Matt sit next to each other after Damon falls on the couch and puts his feet on the table.
She puts her keys on the table and stretches her neck, giving them her back and trying to let what happened today sink in.
He doesn't sit down. Burying his hands in his pockets, he looks at her back once before looking away.
"So three years later and you're with Matt Donovan?" Damon narrows his eyes at Bonnie. "I see your taste hasn't improved a bit."
"Neither did your character development." She says with a wide fake smile.
"I'm gonna need a drink." Matt says as he heads to the kitchen.
"So I suppose this is plan time." Damon smirks at Stefan but Stefan is busy staring at her back, now that he's sure she won't turn around.
Damon turns back to Bonnie, rolling his eyes.
"Oh, I thought you'd sleep again." Bonnie says with fake surprise.
"Who said I won't?" He shoots back.
After that all of them look at the door as they hear someone opening it with keys.
Even Caroline turns around.
The door opens and it is Enzo.
No one notices when Stefan closes his eyes and swallows.
"You're okay." He lets out a breath as he walks to Caroline, then he hugs her.
She hugs him back.
Stefan can feel Damon's eyes on him, but he doesn't bother to keep it together.
"I'm fine." She says.
When Matt comes, his eyes go to Stefan in a second. And Bonnie follows his eyes. Everyone in the room is staring at him. Even Enzo looks at him while hugging her.
He pulls back, eyes moving between Damon and Stefan.
"Look who's up." He raises his eyebrows at Damon but Damon only smiles.
Enzo looks back at Stefan, and the only thing he can do is to nod in greeting.
… …
They spend the next hour in awkward silent; if it wasn't for Bonnie and Damon's bickering they would hear frogs croaking in the background.
Stefan is sitting on the most distant chair he found, eyes careful not to leave the floor, and in case he needed to change the view then he can only look at Damon and Bonnie while they argue like old married couple.
And of course he ignores how Enzo puts his arm around Caroline, he doesn't pay attention to the way they sit close and comfortable. His mind doesn't think of the hundred times they sat like this alone, or the times they watched movies and snuggled on the couch. He doesn't think about how happy they must have been through these years, he doesn't imagine them waking up together.
He is doing just fine.
Without thinking he lets out a loud breath in exhaust and everyone looks at him. Even Caroline does. His eyes wander around them as he notices his slip, and he does look at her… for one and half second. Before looking back to the floor.
"I'm scared you've lost your touch, Bon-Bon." Damon goes back to the subject.
"We're doing it my way, Damon. I'm sure everyone here knows how reckless your plans are and we don't have time for this." She says in the tone of duh.
"They should know as well, that my plans always work in the end."
"But we always sacrifice something, more like someone. Not this time Damon." She shakes her head.
"Listen." He leans forward. "We all know that the hunter wasn't there today, which means that those who we killed are just some of her minions."
"Not to mention that one of them escaped." Matt adds.
"Thank you Donovan." Damon throws his hand in the air. "Which means that this freak is still out there cooking something for my little brother over here, and she probably has some other freaks helping her." He finished in one breath and his face goes red in anger as he tries not to raise his voice at her.
"I know that, Damon. But I still refuse to move without any plan." She says.
"We do have a plan, find the bitch, kill the bitch, everyone lives happily ever after." Damon says, eyes going between Stefan and Caroline at the last part.
"No." Bonnie and Stefan say at the same time, although Bonnie shouts and Stefan says without moving a bit.
Looking at Stefan, Bonnie smiles proudly and says Thank you.
"No, I mean no." Stefan says and everyone looks at him in confusion. "No to Damon's planand no to any other plan. Damon and I will get out of here and we'll figure it out."
"I'm sorry?" Bonnie blinks several times to understand.
"I'm not dragging you into this, none of you." His hand moves around all of them, including her. "She wants me, her problem is with me. You stay out of it and go on with your life."
"Stefan-"
"Let him."
They turn around to Caroline as she interrupts Bonnie.
"He made up his mind, you can try as you want and you'll probably wake up to realize that he left so just let him go." She says coldly as a matter of a fact.
"After all, we're just a burden on him." She says before standing up and leaving the room.
Everyone remains silent as Stefan's eyes stay on where she left.
… …
She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, sitting on her bed and trying to get it together. She hears Enzo getting in.
"You okay?" He walks to the bed and sits next to her.
"I'm fine." She smiles. "I'm sorry about… you know." She rolls her eyes. "I just…"
"You weren't ready." He completes for her.
"No." She nods.
He looks away and chuckles as he sighs, his hands going over his face.
She waits for him to talk.
"Do you wanna say something?" He asks instead.
"No." She says after a second.
"Listen, Caroline." He starts and she knows it is important from his look, soft but serious. "We've been together for almost three years, not a day had passed that I didn't feel happy for just being with you. Not a day had passed without me loving you even more. But I've always known that in the end… I was a distraction."
His smile makes the words even worse.
"I know that I'm not him, and I never will be." He shakes his head. "And I was… scared that with time… I'd convince myself that I could be, but for our luck I didn't."
"I'm not Stefan, Caroline."
"I know, Enzo-."
"You love me, I know. But not like him." He is still smiling. "And that's okay, we needed each other, we both needed someone to help us get through what happened. We were… a distraction. The best kind. But he's back, and you don't need me anymore, and I owe you this."
"Stefan coming back doesn't change anything." She lies. As if his words didn't cut through her.
"It does." He shakes his head again.
She looks down as he takes her hand, holding it like he always did.
"I will always be here, and I'll always be your friend. But I think you don't need a fiancé anymore." He smirks and she titles her head, and maybe her eyes are watering. From everything.
"I'm sorry." She whispers.
He pulls her in for a hug, and she holds him.
"Don't be, this doesn't change anything. I'm still your buddy." He chuckles as he feels one tear burning on his skin.
When they get out, they're holding hands.
Damon and Stefan, the only vampires in the room, glance at each other before Stefan looks away.
Damon doesn't bother to hide his smirk.
… …
Stefan is standing next to the window, letting them put plans he won't stick to. He feels Damon's hand on his shoulder as he hands him his drink with the other one.
"So what's the plan?" He asks before sipping his drink.
"You tell me, you're the one who has been arguing with the boss." He raises his eyebrows.
"No, not that one, you don't get a say in this one."
Stefan looks at him with furrowed eyebrows.
"I mean, what's the plan to get your girl back?"
He looks away shaking his head.
"Oh come on, her fiancé just broke up with her because of you."
"It's not that easy." He mumbles.
"Of course it is, just grab her hand, take her to one of the rooms, tell her you love her and that's it." He shrugs. "Just be careful not to break the bed, we don't want to wake the control freak up." He whispers.
"You don't get it, Damon." He turns around this time, anger building through him because how can someone be so naïve. "I left her, I walked away, I can't come back after three years and continue where I left off."
"I can't force myself into her life, just like I can't force you to choose me over…" He pause as he looks away. "Sleeping again." He shrugs.
Before Damon can say anything else he walks away to his chair.
… …
"She'll kill us." Bonnie says in a whisper as she stands with Damon.
"Oh and he won't? They both will." He shrugs. "But that's what so beautiful about locking spell." He smirks.
… …
"Okay, I need to sleep, let's go." Damon says as he stands up.
Matt and Bonnie follow suit and walk to the door.
"Wait, I still don't know what the plan is." Stefan says from behind.
"Oh, witchy and I agreed not to tell you." Damon says.
"What?" He looks to Bonnie this time.
"Sorry, Stefan. But Caroline is right, you do have a thing for working alone, so you won't know the details." Bonnie says as she puts on her jacket.
Damon walks pass her with Enzo next to him. Matt opens the door and steps outside. Seconds later Bonnie and the two guys follow him.
Stefan is still arguing when he reaches the door, but he doesn't step out as an invisible wall stops him.
"What the-?" He says as he tries again.
He looks at Damon and Bonnie who are smirking together.
"Okay, you can know one detail, which is… you're stuck here." Damon says.
"I'm what?"
"I made a locking spell on the house, if the hunters try to find you they'll fail, meanwhile the four of us will do the rest of the plan." Bonnie shrugs with a smile.
"What?" Caroline comes from behind Stefan. "Bonnie, I have work that I need to go to."
"Doesn't the job go when the fiancé goes?" Damon asks but everyone ignores him.
"You can leave, Care." Bonnie says.
"What?" Damon says in disbelief.
"Relax, she will come back, Caroline Forbes doesn't leave her house that she decorated for a month that easy. She'll just have to deal with her guest."
Stefan tries not to take it personally, he fails.
"Bonnie, undo the spell, please." He almost begs.
"It's good to have you back, Stefan." She says before walking to the car with Matt and Enzo.
"It seems like I chose, brother." Damon smiles. "No forcing involved." He winks before turning around.
"Wha-?" She looks at him, her guest. Before sighing angrily and walking to her room.
… …
He's sitting on the same chair at the morning, hands in his lap and eyes wandering around the place. It's the only thing he can do without being so comfortable in her house.
His eyes fall on a photo on the table, Enzo and her posing with some concert tickets.
She seems happy.
The sound of her putting her keys into her bag break through his thoughts. He looks up and sees her dressed in another formal outfit; her hair is up like last night. He thinks about telling her to put it down but he stops himself just in time.
She rushes to the table and puts more stuff in her bag. Then she looks at him and notices that he's there.
"Uh, I have to go to work, there's blood bags in the fridge and uh, news paper on this table, TV in front of you and uh… that's pretty much it." She licks her lips. "I gotta go." She says before rushing into the door.
And he's back to being alone.
… …
He knows that it is wrong; he knows that he shouldn't be in her room. But inside of him there is a hunger. A hunger for her details, for her life, for being part of it like before.
He walks in and takes the smell in, and the fact that he can recognize Enzo's scent turns his stomach. He doesn't control his mind when it flashes of pictures made by his own creation. Only then he needs to give his back to the bed and close his eyes to steady himself.
Three years.
Too long.
He walks to the mirror, grabs one of her perfume. And although he hesitates for a second, he presses it and closes his eyes as he drowns in her smell. This time, he sees pictures of them, back in time when they were together and happy.
He smiles without knowing.
When he opens his eyes, he notices one of the drawers open and he sees a book. No. a journal.
He stands still for few seconds. Thinking whether he should do it or not.
But he has already broken the rules which no one put, and got into her room.
He reaches for it after swallowing. And it is so Caroline-y. The cover is blue, and it smells just like her. When he opens it, the first page has nothing on it but a drawing of infinity symbol, one that she drew.
His fingers reach to turn the page, but he closes it quickly and put it back into its place with such anger.
Anger at himself.
He turns off the lights and closes the door before leaving the room.
… …
He is sitting on his bed, book in a hand and his mind in elsewhere when the doorbell brings him back to earth.
"Stefan would you take that?" He hears her shouting from her bathroom. She's been in the shower for a while, but that has nothing to do with his mind being elsewhere.
"Yeah, sure." He says before going to the door.
"Mrs. Caroline Forbes in here?" The mail guy asks.
"Yeah." He replies.
"She got a package."
"Okay, I can take it." He reaches his hand but the guy pulls the package away.
"I'm sorry maybe she can take it?"
Stefan raises his eyebrows.
"It's just, I've never seen you here, is Mr. Lorenzo here?"
"No, he isn't. And I'm sure that none of your business. Now give me the package, please?" He smiles coldly.
The guy gives it to him with strange look.
"Oh and, you might wanna get used to giving me the mail, you'll be seeing me here a lot." He says before closing the door.
He walks to her room and she is still in the bathroom, which its door is half open. So he walks to the bed and puts the package on it. Just before he can turn around and walk out he sees her, standing behind the door and wrapping herself with the towel.
Everything goes slow motion with the steam and he can hear old music in the background. But it all goes out when he turns around and practically rushes to the door.
… …
"Hey, why don't you let me make the dinner tonight?"
She turns around and gives him an observing look.
"Why?" She asks.
"No reason." He shrugs. "I thought I could help."
She chews her lips and raises her eyebrows. "Oh yeah?" She folds her arms against her chest and he knows he's in trouble. "You sure it has nothing to do with my cooking?"
"What?" He tries so hard to look innocent but he fails. "What… do you mean… with your… cooking?" He fails so bad.
"Do you hate my cooking, Stefan?" She takes a step forward and narrows her eyes.
"Of course not, what? How can you even-?" He pauses when he sees her expression and knows that he's still failing.
"I just… miss… my cooking." He mumbles.
"Unbelievable." She huffs, looking away.
"I still love your cooking, I adore it." He widens his eyes.
"Whatever, the kitchen is yours." She says while turning around and heading for her room.
He sighs before walking to the kitchen.
… …
He looks up from his book to see her walking in quickly. She looks relieved when she sees him.
"You're here." She says.
"Where else would I be?"
She ignores his comment and walks to the window, looking at the street while putting her phone on her ear.
"Bonnie, hey. I saw him." She pauses as Bonnies says something in the phone. "No, no he didn't, I ran quickly."
"Yeah, he's here… okay, okay… yeah got it. I got it, Bonnie, I'll tell them I need few days off… okay… I love you too. Bye."
He's staring at her when she finishes, wondering if she will tell him anything or not.
She doesn't. Instead she smiles at him and walks to her room. But he follows her.
"What was that?"
"What was what?"
"The whole thing with Bonnie, what was it about?"
She looks at him for a moment.
"Not important."
"Caroline."
She stands still with her back to him, since he got here he never said her name, not once. And once he does, it takes her back to moments she has been trying and failing to forget. Three years, but his voice is still the same, and her name feels the same coming out from his lips.
Three years, but she can easily turn around and tell him everything because she just misses it so much.
She misses the way they talked for hours.
"It's nothing you should care about." She says instead and walks past him to the door. But he rushes in front of her and stops her.
"Stop walking away." It comes out loud and full of anger, but it's also full of pain.
She stares at him for few seconds.
"It hurts, doesn't it?" She says before walking past him again.
He shakes his head before turning around.
"What did you want me to do, Caroline? I was trying to save you for god's sake! Do you think I wanted to walk away? Do I think I enjoyed it? I was trying to save you!" He shouts.
"From what?" She shouts back, losing her tempter too.
"From me, from my life, I couldn't just drag you with me around the planet, that's not what it should've been."
"And who gave you the right to make that choice for me? You never thought that maybe I wanted to run with you? That I'd rather go to hell with you than to stay alone?"
"Of course I knew, Caroline. That's why I had to leave, because I knew what you'd say and I couldn't be that selfi-"
"Oh come on, are you really gonna play this trick on me? You walked away and it didn't hurt you, because if it did you wouldn't be able to live, Stefan."
"Oh, so I moved on?" His voice cracks in the middle of shouting. "And you didn't? New house, new job, new fiancé. Oh yeah it looks like I'm the one who moved on."
She chuckles humorlessly.
"You think that was a life? Well how about that three years and not one night passed without thinking about you? How about that the new house never felt warm like you? How about that even when I was in another guy's arms I was still thinking about YOU?"
Tears are already falling now, and he stands still without moving. His eyes are already filled with tears as well.
"So don't you dare say that I moved on, Stefan."
She gets out of the room and he doesn't stop her.
… …
"Bonnie Bennett's phone, how can I help you?" The voice of Damon on the other end is filled with mockery and amusement.
"Do I even wanna know what you're doing with her phone?" He rolls his eyes.
"Probably not." He says. "I'm sorry thou, she won't hear your ranting tonight."
"Damon, I need to leave."
"You did that before, brother. Didn't go well."
"No, you don't get it. It's not working, it won't." He sits down on the bed and shakes his head. "I broke everything, and now… now everything has changed."
"It can't be that bad, Stefan."
"No, it's worse. I can't do this, Damon. I can't live with her knowing that she hates me." He pauses. "Just tell Bonnie to undo the spell."
"Stefan…"
He can hear the failure in his voice.
"Just tell Bonnie." He says before hanging up.
… …
She's sitting on the couch with papers on her legs and one pen behind her ear and another between her teeth.
"Shit."
She hears him say.
"Shit. Shit." She hears him say again and then she turns to him.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know, something is wrong with it." He groans as he starts hitting the dishwasher.
"Whoa, slow down slow down." She says as she walks to him. "What happened?"
"It just stopped." He says before hitting some button and then suddenly water starts to flood out of it.
"Shit." They both say.
She turns around to find some cloth and he keeps hitting more buttons.
"What the hell?" He mutters as his methods fail.
"Stop, stop." She says once she's next to him again. "You're making it worse."
"Wait, I can fix it." He says without leaving the machine.
"Would you just stop?" She starts to pull him but he wants to go back down.
"Just wait, I know what I'm doing."
"No you don't." She says as she pushes him hard. In one second he's thrown against the wall and sitting on the ground. Her first response is to take a step closer, realizing what she has done her face goes red. Her hand reach for him but she stops in her spot.
He stares up at her.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She says quickly. "I didn't mean to, I just-"
She tries to find words and he watches how she blushes in embarrassment and how her heart races.
"It's just- something I wanted to do since I saw you." She confesses.
"Feel better?" he says as he tries to stand up and fixes his clothes.
"No." She says.
He just stares at her and nods with a sad smile.
"It's okay." He mumbles before taking a step back. "I'll be in my room." He turns around and drags his feet as he leaves.
And she stares at his back, mouth open and trying to say something. But he closes the door before she can say anything.
… …
He's lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling, hands stretched across his stomach. The only thing he can hear is his breath but then he hears steps. They come closer to the door and he glances at it just when she stands on the other side.
He sees her feet going away then coming back, she does the same thing again before standing for three seconds before knocking.
He stares for a moment without moving.
"Come in." He says and stands up once she opens the door.
"Hey, did I wake you?" She doesn't move from the door step, her fingers playing with the hem of her shirt.
"No, I was awake." He smiles.
"Well, uh, I was gonna watch some movie and I even made popcorn so I thought you might wanna join me I mean it's not even nine but if you wanna sleep it's okay carry on I just thought maybe you're bored or something-"
"Popcorn, huh?" He interrupts her rambles with a smile.
"Yeah." She chuckles nervously.
For a second he just watches how her face turns into a tomato, and how her expressions looks like a 9 years old girl.
"Okay." He presses his lips to hide his grin.
"Okay." She says, not bothering to hide her relief before walking to the living room.
He buries his hand in his hair, shaking his head and chuckling before following her.
… …
He sits on the empty couch while she's still at the kitchen. Noticing that he's sitting in the middle, he moves to the right to leave her enough space.
She walks in with the popcorn and sits on the other side of the couch.
"So, What are we gonna watch?" She asks.
"What do you want?"
"I don't know." She says casually. "Nostalgic enough to watch Taken?"
"You don't have The Notebook?" He asks with confusion as he looks through the movies on the table.
"Um, no." She says before swallowing.
He looks at her for a second before looking back to the pile of movies in front of him.
"What's this?" He asks and she looks at him. "Love, Rosie?"
"Uh, no that's- uh not really your type." She says before trying to take it from his hand, only he pulls his hand away from hers.
"I have a type?" He raises his eyebrows.
"Well, I mean- it's defiantly not that." She says as she tries to reach the tab in his hand that he stretches far behind him.
"Are you saying that I'm not romantic?" He says, trying to hide his grin and look serious.
"I didn't say th- would you just…?" She stops mid way, struggling to reach his hand without standing up. She's caught in the process that she doesn't notice how close they are and how her body is pressed against him. However, he notices, losing focus for a second as he stares down at her eyes while she focuses on her prey in his hand.
He collects himself quickly and pulls his hand further away.
"We're watching this one."
"What-?"
"End of story."
He stands up and puts it on before she can say a word. She is busy trying to remember if there's anything dangerous in the movie. After three seconds of thinking she knows she's doomed.
And he gets it from the first scene.
Why she didn't want to watch this one.
Two friends, and he knows they'll fall in love. He suddenly wants to know how it ends, wants to know if this is something that will help him or take him twenty steps back.
He looks at her and sees how nervous she looks, a frown painted on her lips with her neck bones clear as she holds her breath.
The more they watch, the more he knows that it won't help.
Not when both Rosie and Alex have a pile of insecurities. He wonders if he's Alex or Rosie. It annoys him, seeing how they both drift apart, how every time one of them wants to take the risk the other had changed their minds.
He wants to shout at them.
Get together, prove that it's okay and it all works out in the end.
He looks at her again, trying to read her, to know if the end is happy or not.
Her face doesn't give anything away. She doesn't care about the movie, he figures; she cares about watching it with him.
When Rosie's father dies, he looks at her immediately and she's so still, eyes not blinking.
There's a funeral, and there's Alex, coming out of the blue to be there for her. Stefan then, feels guilt building in his gut.
He places his hand on hers.
And the one tear that has been building in her eyes fall.
It's okay, she thinking. People cry in movies, it doesn't have to mean anything. She's crying for Rosie, not for her parents, she's crying for the emotional moment Alex and beautiful Rosie share, not because of Stefan's hand on hers.
She's crying because of the movie, not her life.
He holds her hands with more strength, realizing and regretting that he wasn't there for her when she lost both her father and mother.
The scene ends, the rest isn't that heartbreaking. But he doesn't pull his hand. In fact, he's sitting closer to her.
The closer they get to the end, the clearer he sees her smiles.
It confuses him, for the bitterness in it.
But then it's the last scene, and they're kissing and everything is right and he's actually happy for two fictional characters.
He looks at her and she doesn't look back. The smile is only a ghost on her lips.
His fingers squeeze her hand once and starts to turn around and look at him.
He doesn't say anything, neither does she. Yet when he leans forward, it seems like the most normal thing. Maybe it has something to do with the movie and being in torture with them for two hours. Maybe they feel like it's their turn to have a kiss in the end. Maybe because Alex and Rosie reminds them of nothing but them.
He pauses in the middle, waiting for her. She doesn't move, it's just one inch, doesn't even count except that he did notice it. And he's so desperate that he takes it as a sign and goes for more. It's slow but harsh, trying to fill his hunger. And it's only a second before his hands go up for her hair, finally touching what was forbidden the last weeks.
He feels her hands resting against his chest, to pull him closer or push him away he doesn't know. He pulls away, letting out a sigh just the same time she does. Their lips part but their foreheads don't. They don't open their eyes.
And both of them lean one inch only to stop. He smiles bitterly.
"I'm sorry." He whispers after hearing her heart racing. "It's just something I wanted to do… since I saw you."
"Feel better?" Her eyes are still closed just like him.
"Yes."
They remain quiet, just enjoying how close they're. But then her fingers are playing above the scar. She can't even touch it, only dance around it.
"I'd ask you to stay." She whispers. "But I know better."
"I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to you."
She takes a deep breath. He can feel her lips almost touching his. But they don't. She stands up and goes to her room.
… …
She is not even asleep when she hears him moving in his room, his movements aren't calm but urgent. She stands straight and listens. He's calling someone while putting things in a bag.
He's packing.
His door is already open when she reaches it. He's giving her his back, his phone next to his ear as he gathers his things.
"Damn it." He says before pulling the phone and dialing the number again. When he turns around, she doesn't care about his 'busted' expression, all what she sees is the blood, staining his shirt where his scar had opened.
He stands still before replying to the person who finally picked up the phone.
"Bonnie." He says.
"Shhhhh." He hears the witch hushing someone through her muffled giggles. "Hey, Stefan." She says and he knows she's drunk. When she giggles loudly he knows that she's not alone.
"Bonnie, the scar is open. I need to move, can you undo the locking spell from where you are?"
"What? Wait, are you fooling me to leave Caroline? Because if so you gotta try harder." She scoffs.
"Bonnie." He says firmly. "My heart is bleeding out, help me here."
At that Caroline rushes to her room and tries to pack some stuff. He closes his eyes and takes a breath as Bonnie starts to sober.
"I- I don't know, I've never done it before."
"Bonnie, I can't stay here."
"Okay, okay I'll figure it out, just wait for my call."
"Okay." He hangs up just as Caroline walks in rushing.
"Okay, calm down, there's nothing to worry about, Bonnie will undo the spell and we'll leave and she won't find us and everything will be okay." She opens one of the drawers and puts a wooden box in her bag.
"Caroline." He walks to her and holds her bag to slow her movements. "You're not leaving."
"What?" She asks in confusion.
"Once I move she'll track me and you'll be safe here."
"Wha- no, no no no no, we're not doing this again, you're not doing this again."
"Carol-"
"No, you listen to me Salvatore," She says as she takes a step closer, her finger pointed to his chest and her face red in anger. "We've been there before, and I'm not gonna let it happen again, I'm coming with you and you're dropping your hero attitude because it sucks."
His jaw clinches in anger. "Caroline, we're not together, if you think that just a kiss means that we're back again you're wrong. It didn't even mean anything, I was-"
"Good, because it meant nothing to me too, but I'm still coming with you. You know why? Because it's my choice. Mine. No one make choices for me, Stefan."
She walks out and he knows she's not changing her mind. And he can't help it but let a part of him feel happy for it.
Bonnie calls three minutes later.
And then they flee.
… …
She's driving above speed limit and he can't tell if it's necessary to run or she's just getting her anger out. He groans and looks down at his scar as it burns.
She looks at him once before going faster, but his scar burn more and more and it goes wider.
"Caroline." He says. She looks at him and her look is nothing but no, not yet.
In a second they're going the other way, the wheels rubbing against the asphalt loudly. He puts his hand against the dash not to hit the glass.
He thinks it's over and they're on the road again. But then the car flies before he can feel anything.
Everything goes dark and he feels his body upside down.
The only thing he can feel, is her hand in his own.
… …
TBC?