STEROLINE.
Set after 6x10.

Stefan came into the kitchen with lots of bags from the store. Caroline had told him to go to buy some stuff. It was Liz's birthday and the blonde had thought about giving her a birthday surprise in order to forget Liz's situation for a while. For that reason, she was going to make her favourite strawberry jam cake.
However, and despite that Caroline was enthusiastic as she knew that Liz would love the surprise, the girl was annoyed. The reason of this was very simple: she was jelaous.
The previous day, Caroline had seen Stefan talking to a girl when she had driven Elena to the Salvatore house.
Both of them were talking next to the door and they seemed to be having a funny chat. The girl was pretty beautiful and Caroline could not deny that. When Stefan noticed Caroline inside of the car, he apologized to the girl in order to get closer to Caroline and say hi to her, but Caroline started the car and got away, leaving Stefan confused.

"Here are the strawberries and the flour" he said, leaving the bags on the countertop. Caroline nodded while she was washing her hands. Stefan realized that something was going on because it was not normal of her to stay silent if something has bothered her. "Okay, what's going on, Caroline?"
"Nothing."

Caroline threw the cloth with which she had dried her hands and it hit on Stefan's face. Stefan looked at the girl as she had gone crazy.

"It's very clear that something is going on" he said, washing his hands.
"Who was the girl who you were talking to yesterday?"

Stefan was shocked for a few seconds. First, Caroline had not talked to him and now she was asking him straightforward about what had been bothered her. Stefan averted his face to hide a small smile.

"Her name is Sarah."
"Wow, I didn't know that you had met someone so soon, you know, after Ivy."

Stefan rolled his eyes and tied the cloth in his jeans while he was walking towards Caroline to stand next to her.

"What do I have to do?" he asked, looking all the objects of kitchen and the ingredients on the table.
"Are you going to stay?" Caroline asked, looking at him a little confused.
"Of course I am. I don't know if you are aware but I'm an expert of cooking."
"If you say so" the girl said with certain spite, remembering the dinner with Ivy and Enzo. Stefan looked at her tenderly without her realizing it. He knew that she was jealous and that was keeping him amused.

They started to work. Caroline started to cut the strawberries while Stefan prepared the dough of the cake. They worked for more than half an hour silently with an admirable understanding.
Caroline was already preparing the jam when, suddenly, Stefan smeared one of his fingers on the dough and rubbed it across her face. The blonde closed her eyes, controlling her anger. Then she opened them and looked at Stefan, who licked his finger and smiled, shrugging.

"Idiot."

Stefan laughed while he was going back to work. Then, Caroline smeared her hand on the jam and rubbed it across his cheek, laughing. Stefan touched his face and looked at his hand, which was covered of strawberry jam.

"Okay."

Stefan took a lot of flour on his hand and threw it to Caroline's face. Then, the girl took the bottle of cream and prushed the button to throw it to his face. They have not laughed like this for a long time. Stefan tried to take the bottle of cream from her, but Caroline hid it behind her back while she was laughing. Stefan was happy to have made her laugh.

"You've gone too far with the cream" Stefan said, while he was cornering her little by little in a corner of the kitchen.
"You've started."

Caroline's back hit the wall. Stefan was very close to her and he rubbed his finger against her cheek, removing a bit of butter. Caroline looked into his eyes when Stefan led his finger to her lips. The only thing Caroline could think was to kiss him.

"What the hell have you done with my kitchen?!"

Liz had arrived and was observing the mess from the door. Stefan and Caroline moved away from each other immediately and Stefan looked at Liz embarrassed. Liz looked at them, noticing that they were covered in flour, jam, cream and butter.

"I'll clean everything right now. It's been my fault, Liz" Stefan said, taking an adult attitude. Liz nodded, although she was containing a laugh. When she went out of the kitchen, Caroline and Stefan looked at each other.
"Don't distract me again" she warned. "I have to finish this soon."

Caroline got rid off the flour of her body and walked towards the kitchen sink to rewash her hands. Then, she felt Stefan's arms surrounded her waist behind her and his head on her shoulder. Caroline's heart was going very fast.

"It's been fun."

Caroline turned her head and found his gaze. Stefan smiled and in a blink of an eye, he kissed her. Caroline turned her body slowly in order to wrap her arms around his neck. Stefan pulled her against him tightly and noticed that Caroline tasted like strawberry and cream.
When they stopped, they looked at each other and Caroline blushed. Stefan sighed while he was raising her chin to look at her again.

"The girl… is called Sarah Salvatore."

Caroline looked confused.

"She is my great niece."
"Oh…"
"Yep."

Caroline blushed even more, realizing that her jealousy had no reason.

"So I expect you to be ready to be an incredible great aunt."
"Great aunt?!"