A/N: I don't really know what this is. I just have a lot of Stefan/Caroline feelings that I need to get out and writing about them seems to be the best way to do that. I hope you like it :)
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or anything.

Caroline sat on a stool in front of the bar at the Grill. She was still wearing the red dress from the disaster of a "homecoming" dance. The dance where hybrid chaos ensued and Tyler ended up injecting her with vervain and taking her home to sleep it out while her friends fought the bad guys. To say that she was beyond pissed would be an understatement, but the fight that resulted in hers and Tyler's breakup was what was really getting her down. She hung her head, wondering how everything had managed to go from being great one minute to absolutely shot to hell the next. That's how everything in her life seemed to go though, so she supposed she should be used to it by now. She lifted her glass to her lips and downed the remainder of the drink, wincing slightly as the liquor burned her throat. She set the glass down on the bar and waved the bartender over.

"I'll have another, please," she smiled at him. She watched as his brow furrowed and a look of confusion swept over his face.

"Can I see some ID please? Pretty sure you're not 21," he replied.

"Well then what were the first 3 drinks for, hmm?" she asked sweetly. She was about to see if she could flirt another drink out of him but gave up. She looked into his eyes and could feel his mind and as she spoke her pupils dilated, "You will give me as many more drinks as I ask for without question, understand?" She watched him seem to go into the trance that people always did whenever they were compelled, a short moment of confusion. But then he smiled and refilled her drink for her, and then returned to the job he was doing. Caroline lifted the glass to her lips, taking another large mouthful. She didn't look up when the stool moved next to her and someone sat down.

"I didn't take you for a loner drinker," said a familiar voice. Caroline looked over at her friend, well she wouldn't exactly call him her friend anymore, he wasn't the same person.

"What do you want, Stefan?" she asked, not wanting to bother with flirty banter.
"Just came to check up on my BFF. Seeing as we seem to have forgotten each other's existence recently," he shrugged, waving down the bartender and ordering a whiskey with an attitude that any normal person wouldn't argue with. Caroline sighed in frustration. Not fair. He was only "17" and he didn't have to compel anyone to get what he wanted.

"Yeah well, you haven't exactly been the best company lately," she replied bitterly.

"I understand," he smiled at her. "It doesn't bother me that you seem to have deemed me a lost cause."

"I don't think you're a lost cause, Stefan."

"Oh so you're holding out hope that I'll make a miraculous recovery even though the odds are stacked against it?"

"I think the real you is still in there somewhere," she admitted. "Even if you have been compelled by the big bad Klaus."

"Well I'm not compelled by him anymore," he said smugly. Caroline's mouth popped open in shock and she fought to gain composure. He wasn't compelled anymore? Since when! And if it was true then why was he still acting like a total jerk?

"Really? Then why are you still acting like a complete ass?" she asked.

"I haven't turned my humanity back on, Caroline. I'm just not under Klaus' control anymore."

"Oh."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot," she said, downing the rest of her drink and waving the bartender down again, pointing at her empty glass.

"Why are you here drowning your sorrows like you've just been dumped?"

"Because I've just been dumped," she shrugged. "Well, technically I did the dumping, but it still hurts."

"What happened?"

"Tyler knocked me out and took me home tonight instead of letting me help my friends. He thought it was too dangerous for me to be there and he decided I wasn't strong enough to help."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. Plus he's been acting like the old Tyler ever since Klaus turned him into a hybrid. Ugh."

"I would have let you stay and fight. I know you can look after yourself," he admitted.

"Yeah well you, unlike him, obviously, actually know me and know what I want. Why am I telling you this, anyway?"

"Because you're my best friend." This caught her attention. She'd never heard him refer to her as that before, and if he still had his humanity the comment might have warmed her heart a little.

"Some best friend I am," she said, cradling her head in her hands. "I didn't even try to look for you after you left," she whispered quietly, though she knew Stefan would be able to hear her.

"You must have known I'd come back to you on my own," he said, grabbing her wrist gently and tugging it, trying to pull it away from her face.

"Stop it," she said softly, though she didn't mean it at all. He reached up and grabbed her other wrist too, and she gave up, letting him pull them away from her face gently. He watched as her eyes filled with tears and spilled over. He thought he should probably feel sad or… something, for the crying girl in front of him, but he felt nothing. But instead of acting like the ass he had been the past few months, he stood up, stepped forward, and wrapped his arms around Caroline, rubbing her back as she sobbed onto his chest.

"It's okay," he soothed. "I'm here now. I'm not going to leave you."

"Leave me? What about Elena?" she asked, burying her face into his shirt. She was probably making it all gross, what with her tears and mascara. She vowed she would buy him a new one later.

"Elena has Damon. If she ever needs me I'll come back when she asks," he said, simple as that. He knew that after everything he'd done, he could never be the same Stefan that Elena had fallen in love with. He was far too damaged now, and if he ever let his humanity back in he knew the guilt of all the things he had done would eat him alive. He would always love Elena, but things just couldn't go back to the way they were. And he knew that Elena would see that. He was being the better man, by letting Elena live her life with Damon. He could protect her, and make her happy, and that was all that Stefan needed to know that she would be okay. His plan was to leave Mystic Falls and start new, travelling, he had decided earlier. He was just hoping that the girl he claimed as his best friend, the one sobbing onto his shirt, would come with him.

Caroline didn't respond to his short explanation, she just continued crying. That was the thing with Caroline, once she let herself cry it was very difficult to rein it in again, which is why she often held it in until she was alone and she didn't have anybody to stop for.

"Will you come with me?" he asked quietly. A part of him didn't want to hear her answer. He wasn't afraid, as such, but he didn't want her to say no. He didn't want to be alone for the rest of his life. That would be boring.

"Come where?" she asked, lifting her head from its place on his chest and looking at him, confused.

"Everywhere. Let's leave Mystic Falls," he said, his voice slightly louder.

"Why me? What about everyone here?" she asked. He sighed, he knew that she would ask a lot of questions but he wished he could just fast forward this part and be on their way, his best friend by his side.

"Because you're the only person that has any shot at forgiving me," he explained, and noticed Caroline about to protest. "I mean really forgive me. And try not to make me turn my humanity back on. Because you understand how unbearable that would be for me." Caroline wanted to protest, she wanted to tell him that she would only go if he turned it back on. She wanted the Stefan back that could feel. But she understood. She knew the kind of guilt that he would be facing if he ever felt again. The guilt that came with taking someone's life because of what you were. Multiply that by a lot, and you had Stefan's guilt. She nodded slowly.

"I won't make you do it," she said, and she was telling the truth. "I need to pack some stuff."

"You'll come with me?" he asked, helping her stand. She had evidently had quite a few drinks before he had arrived as she swayed slightly, holding onto his arm for support.

"Of course I'll come with you." And with that he took her home, she packed her things, and they left without a word to anybody.