The dark silence after Klaus falls is broken by a sob. Stefan turns instinctively to catch Elena in his arms, but she's running to Damon. The look he gives Stefan over his shoulder is guilty and apologetic and triumphant, all at the same time, and Stefan feels like he's lost everything.
Three days later, Caroline bursts into his bedroom with brace of freshly killed rabbits. She throws open his curtains, the sunlight momentarily blinding him as it shines off her hair.
"You have to eat," she says insistently.
He resists, but he's weak from the lack of sustenance and gives in when she forces it on him, her fingers painting his lips red with the rabbit blood.
A week later, she's back in his room, tossing his suitcase on the bed.
"I'm leaving," she says in a voice that brooks no argument as she starts to pack for him. "And you're coming with me."
He tries to argue, but she won't even listen. When she opens his underwear drawer, he pushes her aside with a roll of his eyes and finishes packing himself.
Two years later, they're lying on a beach in Miami. He's laughing at something she's just said and when she leans over him to grab the useless bottle of sun lotion, her hair fanning over his face, the sun backlighting it like a halo, he closes the distance and kisses her.
About 15 years later, they start hearing that Damon has been looking for them.
"You have to talk to him again someday," she says firmly.
He always gives her whatever she wants when she's like this, but this time he won't. He knows Elena left Damon long ago to grow old with her family, but his brother's betrayal is still fresh.
"No. I really don't."
He reaches up to curl a lock of her golden hair around his finger, and she doesn't press it for once.
20 years later, they're at his house in Roanoke, the one he goes to whenever he's missing home, but it's still too soon to return. The days are long and the evenings quiet; their life is almost idyllic. He has everything he needs in Caroline, his golden girl, but something is missing, a hole that can't be filled. He knows what it is, she knows what it is, but they don't talk about it.
Then, one day, the doorbell rings. Caroline starts, her teeth gnawing her bottom lip for a second, and then she smiles and asks him to get it.
He goes to the door and opens it. He stares for a moment, but he's not really surprised.
"Hello, brother." Damon's smile is cocky, but Stefan can see the pain and uncertainty and fear, all at once, and Stefan feels... hope.
He hesitates for a moment, but then he glances at Caroline, the sunlight glinting off her golden tresses, and he finally sees everything.