Caroline Forbes. He saw her name at exactly 9.05am that morning. A significant moment for him as he is quite sure his heart skipped a beat in that second. The minor panic attack he had seconds later was just a coincidence he convinced himself. The stress of his work as a doctor at Mystic Falls Hospital and long hours were just getting to him that day. Yeah that was it. He mentally reminded himself not to skip lunch today if his dizzy spell was anything to go by.

Caroline Forbes. Had it already been five years. Five years without that melodic laugh. Without those piercing blue eyes. Without those golden locks he still to this day had sweet dreams about.

He would be lying if he said he wasn't completely terrified of coming face to face with his once best friend. The woman who captured his heart in a way no one else has since. The ghost of past mistakes coming to haunt him. The biggest mistake of his life.

Maybe he should completely avoid an awkward conversation and a half by asking dr,fell to take care of this one patient for him. After all she owed him plenty of favours. But no. Then he would miss his chance to make amends. He had to do this. Deep breaths.

He walked into the waiting room and caught a glimpse of blonde curls behind a magazine. He knew she already saw him the moment he noticed the 'Knitting 4 Families' magazine she was currently using as a human shield was upside down in her hands. That and because he knew for a fact she couldn't knit to save her life. A slight smirk spread across his face as he thought of giving the poor girl the benefit of the doubt and calling the next patient on the list so she can leg it out of there. She hated hospitals as it was and he could give her the optimal opportunity to leave. But he was determined to fix what he broke 5 years ago.

"Caroline Forbes"

She sunk further into her chair and more into the magazine.

"Caroline Forbes" he declared louder this time to insinuate I know you're there.

He slowly walked up to where she was sitting, cleared his throat and ever so lightly whispered "Caroline".

Her name was intoxicating. He loved saying it. Wished he could say it even more if it wouldn't annoy all other patients and nurses already giving him questioning looks. Lucky for them he didn't need to say it again as she finally acknowledged his presence.

"Stefan, hey..." he smiled at that.

"I mean dr,stefan.. i mean dr,salvatore , ... sorry , it's been a while" she eventually stuttered out. He chuckled and it was in that moment he realised how much he missed her. One stuttered sentenced and she brought him to life again.

"Stefan's fine, Caroline" he couldn't resist, he had to say her name again. It had been 5 years let him enjoy it while he can he thought to himself.

"Shall we go to my office?"

"Sure, yeah. I mean it's why I'm here" she awkwardly chuckled.

"Sorry, I didn't here my name being called before" she said as she stood up and grabbed her handbag from the floor.

"I was just so into this..." her eyes were wide as saucers as she glanced from the Knitting magazine in her hand then to him. She threw it onto the chair as if it suddenly caught fire then turned to run away from it as fast as she could. Or was it him she was running from.

"This way Caroline" he interrupted as she started speed walking in the wrong direction.

"Sorry" she squeaked out, wide eyes awkward smile plastered on as she made her way in the direction he pointed. He lightly chuckled again. He probably smiled more in these last few seconds then he did in the last week or make that month.

As they entered his office she sat directly opposite his desk fidgeting with her hands on her lap.

"So, Caroline, what can I do for you?"

"Nothing, I don't want anything from you" she said in a strict as if it were her reflex response she had prepared herself with for years.

There was an awkward silence as neither pairs of eyes would meet. He decided to break the tension and was next to talk.

"Look, if this is too weird for you, I could get another doctor..." Her eyes meet his at that as if she was seriously considering it. He panicked he was going to loose her again. I can't loose her again.

"...But we are so busy, I don't think you can get seen today... or even this week". He lied.

"Okay, fine let's just get this over with" she said in a cold distant tone.

"So are you going to tell me what's wrong, or are we gonna play 20 questions?" He joked to try and lighten the mood. It didn't work.

She looked at him, mouth open evil eyes.

"Nothing is wrong. My life is perfectly amazing thank you very much" her voice with viscous bite to it.

"That's great... I'm really happy for you..." secretly he wished to be part of that amazing life, and it stung that he wasn't. But honestly if anyone deserved a happy life, it was her.

"But I was talking more on the lines of why you're here"

Her eyes were wide as she gave him a confused disgusted look. As if he offended her. And he did. Her hand twitched to grab her bag and in doing so knocked its contents onto the floor. As she hurried to put everything away again he knew she was going to make a run for it. He had to stop her.

"Listen, Caroline... I'm really sorry about our past and everything I did that hurt you, and I would really like to make it up to you someday. But today you came to see a doctor, so let me help you now, and we can talk about that other stuff later..." she stared into his eyes as if contemplating the idea for a second before he pushed to far. "Maybe dinner tomorrow night" he pleasingly questioned.

She let out an angry huff of air, eyes darting across the room as she licked her teeth before looking directly at him resigning her famous killer death stare. His heart sank as he watched her storm out the office and slam the door shut. And just like that he felt empty again.

"Come on, you are at a kegger full of hot girls, and you're single, and you're well you're you"

"So what am I suppose to do, grab some random girl, throw her over my shoulder take her out onto the dance floor?"

"Just take your own advice, have fun you know, we deserve a little fun"

'Have fun' there is only one girl in this entire room that can make Stefan Salvatore let loose and have fun, and she's standing right in front of him. Without warning he hikes her up over his shoulder and carries her to the middle of a crowd of people, where a temporary dance floor has been made up.

He's having fun; real fun, and he can't remember the last time he's laughed like this if ever. It's hard to imagine a few hours ago he was moping about at home pretending to study, trying to forget his recent breakup with college girlfriend Ivy. He still doesn't completely understand what went wrong. All he could piece together from what she said was 'you're hearts not really in it' whatever that means. Why are women always so cryptic he thought to himself. But not Caroline. That's why they are best friends and mesh so well together. She is always completely and brutally honest with him. Speaking of Caroline her creative new dance moves brought him out of his thoughts and into a fit of giggles he could hardly breathe.

"Why are you laughing so much?"

His laughs quieted down enough to tease her.

"You're moves are just so stunning caroline"

She faked a sarcastic laugh and pointed her finger into his firm chest.

"Oh ha ha. This is how the kids dance these days stefan! But you wouldn't know that cause I can never get you away from your brooding spot by the bar" she raised her eyebrows to him expectantly.

"O come on, I always dance with you"

"That's true... probably because you can't resist these killer moves" Caroline cheered before breaking out into some ridiculous dance routine.

Immediately the fit of giggles returned and the two were laughing hysterically like dorks not even noticing the looks they were receiving from other party goers. Stefan couldn't break the wide grin on his face as he watched Caroline's face light up as she danced with him. She leaned in, her lips to his ear to be heard over the thumping music, giving Stefan an unrecognizable tingling in the pit of his stomach.

"All those moves have tried me out. I'm going to go get a drink."

Part of stefan didn't want to stop. He was having a great time and wanted to dance more with her but instead he gave a tight lipped nod and followed as Caroline led their way through the crowd. Suddenly Stefan was pulled back onto the dance floor and lost sight of Caroline. Instead another tall blonde stood in front of him.

"Rebekah... hi"

"Stefan, I heard you and Ivy broke up" She seductively smirked.

"Errrr, yeah a couple weeks ago actually".

Rebekah Mikaelson sister to Klaus and Elijah. Klaus and Caroline had a brief fling in their first year of college, which meant whenever Stefan hung out with Caroline and she was with Klaus, he got stuck with Rebekah and her not so subtle hints to try and seduce him. Stefan was glad when they broke up as not only did it mean he got rid of Rebekah but Klaus was a dick who didn't deserve Caroline. He and Klaus were once good friends, but that ended as soon as they started dating. It was only then that he realised how much he actually hated him. Once they broke up he completely detached himself entire Mikaelson family.

"Care to dance" Rebekah requested.

Stefan stood frozen in place. Normally he would give some spiel about how he hated dancing and would probably step on her feet, but he was having a great time with Caroline a few minutes ago and truth is he didn't want to stop. So instead he gave a tight lipped smile and nod to Rebekah whose face lit up.

It wasn't that he was leading Rebekah on because he made it crystal clear in the past nothing would ever happen between them and once he said that there was no going back. His mind put her in the category of 'not going to happen' and he told her this. Truth is Rebekah liked the challenge of a guy not interested or already taken, and targeted them even though she had tons of guys falling at her feet. Stefan knew this was just a game to her and he wanted to dance, so they did. Except it wasn't the same.

As he stood in the middle of the dance floor with an awkward smile plastered on his face he felt empty. He tried to show some new moves he just learnt from Caroline to Rebekah, and forced out a awkward laugh to break the silence when she just started at him. She did a seductive dance and closed in on him until she was pressed up against his chest. He could feel her breath on his lips, when suddenly his mind flashed images of Caroline. He felt this overwhelming urge to go and find her. Taking a large step back from Rebekah he yelled "I'm going to get a drink" from a safe distance.

As Stefan made his way through the crowd his head whipped side to side side in search of Caroline. He thought he would look for her by the bar in the corner of the room. Hearing her angelic laugh before he saw her, he couldn't stop the instant grin that spread across his face. Seeing the blonde in the distance made him realized how much he had missed her in the few moments Rebekah had stolen him away. She was talking to someone he couldn't see hidden away in the crowd so he thought to get them some drinks before interrupting and dragging her out to see more of those killer moves.

Pouring himself and Caroline some drinks, Rebekah comes and snatches one out of his hands. He realizes she must of followed him without him noticing. He sighs frustrated and starts pouring another drink.

"Are you trying to get me drunk ?" Rebekah flirted.

"Actually, I'm trying to get Caroline a drink" he bites back.

"I'm sure she has plenty seeing as how Nik's here, and you know how he loves throwing money at her, getting her drunk yada yada"

Suddenly a rage of anger builds within Stefan.

"What's Klaus doing here?"

"Trying to get her back obviously. He's been trying for weeks. Turns up at her dorm, all her classes. If she's at a party he's there... She didn't tell you?"

Stefan starts to panic. His mind was telling him she was fine, he had just saw her a few moments ago she was happy and laughing. But something else inside him needed to see her. He immediately turns to go to Caroline when Rebbekah grabs hold of him again seductively stroking her finger up and down his chest

"she's fines Stefan, why don't you stay and maybe we could -"

"Rebekah" Stefan interrupts in an annoyed tone while pushing her hand away "I've told you before it's not gonna happen why don't you find someone whose interested"

After leaving Rebbekah with a stunned look on her face Stefan goes out in a frantic search for Caroline. He finds her in the same spot she was in only moments ago. Of course she's fine. Happily going around chatting away, just being Caroline. The anger he built up inside seconds ago melts away.

She spots him in the corner of her eye and gives a slight nod.

"Hey"

"Hey, I saw you didn't have one so I got you a..." Caroline lifts the plastic cup in her hand indicating she did in fact already have a drink. Stefan purses his lips and let's out an "oh"

"But it's fine I can have two" she let's out a gentle smile and takes the cup from Stefan's hand.

"Thanks"

"You're welcome"

Ocean blue to emerald green, they stare deep into each other's eyes as if they are the only two in the room. The only two in the world. But they weren't. A voice next to Stefan clears their throat, breaking Caroline out of her daze.

"Sorry" Caroline blinks rapidly and gestures toward the man next to stefan.

"Jesse..Stefan, Stefan..Jesse"

Jesse offers his hand to Stefan and he responds giving him a hard firm handshake.

"Hey man"

"Hey... So how do you guys know each other" Stefan quizzed while pointing his finger between the two.

"Oh we're in the same biology class" Jesse smiled.

Stefan looked to Caroline curiously as she attempted to hide behind her hands currently holding two cups full of drink.

"But you're a drama major"

"Yeah tell me about it... ok so first day of class this year she walks in, and sits next to me. We get to talking when she gets asked a question by professor Wes-"

"-He only picked me cause he thought I was a dumb blonde who wouldn't know the answer"

" He picked on you cause you weren't listening to a word the man was saying and you didn't know the answer"

"Because I don't take biology!" Caroline screeched.

"Yeah, but if you were listening to him you would of realised you were in the wrong room" Jesse exclaimed.

"Did you leave when you realised you were in the wrong class" Stefan interrupted.

"No, that's the funny thing. Once he told her she had no chance of passing that class , she continued to showing up to all our lessons"

Caroline gave a mischievous smile and responded to Stefan's questioning look with;

"Once someone tells me I can't do something, I prove them wrong."

Stefan chuckled. There is honestly only one Caroline Forbes in this world and even though he knew her better than anybody, she still found ways to surprise him.

"So you've been studying Biology this whole year?"

"No, he kicked me out a couple weeks into it when he realised I shouldn't be there. Either that or I just really annoyed him" all three of them laughed.

"Actually I think he kind of misses you in his own way. If anyone ever gets a question wrong, he's always like 'even the blonde drama queen could of got that' " all three laughed at Jesse's impersonation of prof Wes.

"How come you never told me about that before?" Stefan asked as Caroline shrugged and blushed

"Because it's embarrassing"

"Come on, I know plenty more embarrassing stuff about you than that"

"Oh really" Jesse pipped in.

"Ok" Caroline was fully red now and wanted desperately to change the topic of conversation, but Stefan was loving talking about Caroline and liked how easily he could tease her to get under her skin. However he didn't feel comfortable embarrassing Caroline with Jesse here so instead he just smiled at her.

"So where's the she devil? I saw you guys dirty dancing out there" Caroline wiggled her eyebrows while Stefan's mind flashed back to the memory of him and Caroline snuggled up on the couch in her dorm room watching another one of her 'girly' Rom com's, while Caroline bragged about how she could dance like that if she wanted to. Stefan preferred that image rather than the one he gained moments ago with Rebbekah.

"We weren't dirty dancing"

"Mmmm-hmmm" Caroline murmured sarcastically.

"She actually mentioned that Klaus was here" he answered with a serious tone, wanting to give her advanced warning so she could prepare herself.

"Yeah, I know I already saw him" she brushed off while downing one of her drinks.

"What?!" Stefan's eyes widened as he all but yelled

"It's ok, calm down Stefan. Jesse took care of him" Stefan questionably looked to Jesse.

"Yeah I told him to back off. He wasn't happy about it but I think he got the message for now"

"My hero" Caroline gushed to Jesse with a wide grin. He smirked and gave her a wink.

Stefan started to get this tingling feeling in the pit of his stomach. Similar to the feeling he got when Klaus first started fishing around Caroline. But Jesse seemed like a good guy and he could tell Caroline liked him. He would give him the benefit of the doubt for now. But he still didn't trust him with Caroline.

Caroline looked out the corner of her eye and spotted someone

"Oh.. I need to talk to Bonnie quickly, i'll be right back" and with that she left the two boys standing there awkwardly.

"Thanks for taking care of the whole Klaus situation. I should of been there-"

"It's no problem man" Jesse interrupted "But just so you know, I don't think that was the last of it" Jesse said in a serious tone.

"What d'you mean?"

"Well, he kept saying something about 'last love's' , and you know he's been like a stalker or something lately".

Stefan nodded with a serious face. Did everyone know Klaus was fishing around lately?

"I know you're her best friend so you'll look out for her"

'Best friend' why did that feel like such a dig from Jesse? Why would he assume?

"How do you know I'm her best friend?"

"Caroline said..."

Stefan felt like he had been punched in the gut. But why? They were best friends. Have been for years. She was only saying the truth.

"...And she talks about you all the time"

Stefan smiled at that and his mood instantly lifted.

"Hey, so I got to go give my friend a ride home my friend a ride home" Jesse announced while looking down at his phone. "Do me a favour, tell Care I'm really sorry and to send me a text if she's serious about that date" Stefan in stunned silence muttered out a "sure" as he watched Jesse leave the party. That was it. He didn't like Jesse. Something about him just bothered Stefan.

A few more minutes later Caroline came back with Bonnie in tow.

"Hey Stefan" Bonnie waved as Stefan smiled back with a "hey"

"Where's Jesse?" Caroline asked whipping her head round in search of him.

"He left"

"Oh shoot I was so excited for you to meet him Bon... Stefan what did you think of Jesse?" Stefan froze. What should he do . She seemed really excited about this guy and he hasn't really done anything to say he was a 'bad guy'. Yet. But Stefan has a bad feeling about him. He has always been completely honest with Caroline. He couldn't imagine lying to her face. After a long pause pause he opened his mouth to respond when Caroline cut him off;

"Did he say anything before he left"

Ok now was time to deflect this conversation away from Jesse.

"How come you never told me Klaus has been sniffing around?"

Caroline's eyes widened as she stuttered out a;

"W-What...I ...I mean Jesse took care of it. It's fine."

"Well Rebekah says he's been hovering around you lately"

"Well Rebekahs a -"

"And Jesse seems to think the same"

"Well.." Stefan raised an eyebrow at her challenging her to lie to him. She shut her open mouth and cast her gaze down to the floor.

Stefan then turned his attention to Bonnie;

"Did you know?"

"Well I ..."

"Hey, this isn't her fault. I asked her not to say anything"

"Why?"

"Look, I know you and Klaus are friends and I didn't want to put you in a position where-"

"Me and Klaus are not friends and you know that. Try again"

"Well, he hasn't been around that much and-" Caroline tried to explain still not meeting his eyes.

"Noooo" Stefan demanded, determined as ever. Caroline took a deep breath before finally meeting his eyes.

"I was going to tell you, but then you broke up with Ivy and I didn't want to be a burden"

"Caroline Forbes, you are my best friend, you would never be a burden" Stefan and Caroline gently smiled, while they gazed into each others eyes again that night. Caroline let out a light chuckle as she continued;

"And I didn't want you to get mad and punch him like you did Tyler" she teased.

"Tyler was a dick who had it coming".

Tyler was Caroline's high school boyfriend who dumped her just before college. Caroline didn't deserve how he treated her. She always fell for the wrong guys. She put everything into her relationships and they always took that for granted. If he was any of them he would never take her for granted he thought to himself. He would never want to destroy the faith she had in him.

"Speaking of Tyler, you know he's dating Liv now?" Bonnie commented.

"What the girl from your magic class"

"Stop calling my Astrology class magic" Bonnie laughed as she nudged Caroline.

"Urr, last time I saw you studying you were researching celestial events. That is magical" Caroline exclaimed. Bonnie dropped the subject knowing she was fighting a losing battle.

The girls continued chatting for about half an hour before Bonnie decided to call it a night. After that Stefan and Caroline continued dancing, laughing and lots of drinking. She dragged him into a game of beer pong apparently forgetting the fact that she was terrible at it. By the end of the night Caroline was completely hammered. Stefan decided to walk her to his house as it was only a few blocks away.

On their walk back home, Caroline thought it a hilarious idea to start belting out BonJovi songs at the top of her lungs. Well song, she only knew the one barely but after finding a hidden album in Stefan's room a couple months ago she had been teasing him non stop. He would never live it down Stefan thought to himself. Although he was laughing in hysterics he decided once she she started screaming the chorus for the fifteenth time, it was best to quieten her down to avoid the wrath of his neighbours.

He wrapped his arm around her waist pushing her back to his chest as he covered her mouth with his hand. She continued to try and sing through it. Determined she started squirming breaking free from hold as they approached the front door. She frantically whipped around as his arm remained wrapped around her waist, but they now stood nose to nose, chest to chest. His hand that was just covering her mouth had a mind of its own as it stroked down her blonde locks tucking her hair behind her ears. Eyes blissfully closed, hearts beating out of control. He felt her breath on his lips instinctively causing him to crash them into hers in a desperate passionate need.

Stefan was brought out of his thoughts as a familiar BonJovi song started playing in the room. He whipped his head round before finding the source from the floor. A phone. It must be Caroline's from when she dropped her bag. He went to pick it up and saw the name ringing. Bonnie.

Without thinking Stefan answers

"Hello"

"Caroline?"

"No, actually it's Stefan"

"Stefan?"

"Yeah, Stefan Salvatore ... from... high school?"

"No I know I was just ... umm..w-what...Where's Caroline?"

"Oh, well um... She left her phone here and ahhh...I don't actually know why I answered it ... I guess I uhhh..."

"Well could you just get her to call me as soon as she can" Bonnie responded in an impatient tone.

"Yeah, sure, no problem". Bonnie abruptly hung up the phone clearly in a hurry to get away from him. Stefan looked down at Caroline's beaten up old phone. It was the same as the one her mom brought her 5 years ago. He remembers as she could never figure out how to use it and constantly made him 'fix the stupid thing' every two seconds. But the ringtone was there song. A glimmer of hope warmed Stefan's heart at the thought that a tiny part of her was holding onto their past. She might still have a sliver of feelings for him. He still had chance to get his best friend back.

Caroline had come back into his life for a reason and he wasn't going to screw it up again. She would have to come back for her phone and when she did Stefan would not let her leave until she gave him a chance to explain, apologize and hopefully a second chance to be part of her life again.