A/N: This just a quick one shot that came to me that I wrote in basically 2 hours, so forgive me for any minor grammar errors. This is dedicated to my amazing friend, Gabie [drunkdamon on tumblr] who LOVES Dearoline to death. So I hope you like it, Gabs!

She hesitated slightly before her hand reached for the doorknob. She was being ridiculous. 'Take a deep breath, Caroline,' she told herself. Bracing her psyche for what was just beyond the closed door in front of her, she pushed it open and stepped into the overly floral room at Mrs. Flower's inn. Clothes were strewn everywhere across the two double beds and an open, half packed duffle bag lay on the floor. Caroline tilted her head slightly as she heard his footsteps approaching from the small guest bathroom.

"So you're leaving," she said quietly. "Were you even going to say goodbye?"

"Of course I was, Care," Dean insisted gruffly, moving toward the bed and folding up more of his clothes. Interesting. She hadn't expected him to be a neat packer.

"Where's Sam?" she asked, moving slowly into the room, unsure of herself and what he expected from her.

"Squaring things of with Damon and Stefan," he explained, "and then once he's back we're going to hit the road."

"Why?" she blurted out. She squeezed her face in embarrassment as Dean finally looked up at her. "I mean…do you really have to leave?" She glanced off at the floor to avoid his gaze, knowing he could hear her vulnerability in her too softly spoken words. He set down a green Henley and walked across the room until he was standing in front of her.

"Caroline," he started and then paused. She could see the struggle playing out behind his eyes, but knew she was fighting a losing battle. He may not want to leave her, but that's exactly what was going to happen. As he reached forward and took her petite hand in his, he let out a sigh. "I can't stay here; Me and Sammy, we belong on the road. Not in a town infested with supes. I mean, can you imagine? Living next door to the very thing you've been taught to kill? It just…wouldn't work."

Hurt momentarily flashed across her face, but she knew his words weren't spoken to hurt her. They weren't directed specifically at her. And even though she knew he meant what he was saying, she couldn't let him go. She had to convince him somehow to be with her. She turned her hands slightly and laced her fingers with his, taking a step forwards until their chests were a hairsbreadth away. "Why not, though? Ric does it," she pleaded with him. "He lives here and is still a hunter. It could work."

Dean laughed halfheartedly and gently broke away from her. "Ric…he's not a hunter like me and Sam. He's different. He only got into the biz to get revenge against Damon for killing his wife, but then he found out his wife was a bitch and ended up befriending the very vamp that ganked her," Dean slightly smiled as he tried to finish filling up the rest of his worn in duffle bag. Throwing in his toothbrush and the last of his shirts, he let his shoulders fall as he did up the zipper.

"But you act like that's a bad thing!" Caroline exclaimed, coming up behind him and grasping his forearm. At the touch to his skin, remembrances of their time together shivered up her spine and made her breathlessly gasp. She pulled herself away from him. She couldn't keep doing this; torturing herself over him. She was going to end up drowning in him. At her step backwards, he advanced on her again. 'Ugh,' she internally cried out, 'doesn't he know he's ruining me from the inside out?'

"It's not a bad thing, Care," he smiled, his green eyes holding a brilliant depth. "Ric's a protector. He's there to keep everyone safe. Elena and Jeremy, you and Bonnie, and even Damon and Stefan. But that's not me. And I think you know that deep down. Hunting, that's all I've ever known. It's not something I can just decide to give up." His brow furrowed as his face twisted into a grimace. She knows he'd had a difficult childhood, always on the road, moving from school to school, and learning to hunt when he was just a little boy. It's all he's ever known. But it doesn't have to be that way. She knows it would be terrifying, maybe the most difficult thing in the world for him, but he doesn't have to live like that forever. He just has to not want to anymore.

"Dean…" she purses her lips together. Hesitantly, she looks up at him and unconsciously moves forward as if he has a gravitational hold on her. They were always circling each other; never far enough away to learn to miss one another, but never quite close enough to be completely consumed. "I know you think it wouldn't work, that you could never settle down, but you can. If you just take a leap of faith… I think you could be happy here. With me."

Dean's face softened and his arms came around to circle her waist, gently pulling her into him. Her hands came up to clench at his shirt as she buried her face in his shoulder, committing his scent to memory. He placed a soft kiss on her forehead and sighed. "I could, Care. Honest to God," he chuckled lightly as he rested his check on the top of her head and traced light circles on her hips. Her butterflies made another encore appearance as she brought her arm around his neck. "That's never something I thought I'd ever say. Me and a vamp? No way. But I do believe that. I care about you so much, Caroline."

He pulled back slightly, his hold on her waist still tight. Looking into her light blue eyes, she smiled and his heart warmed. "But I don't think this would work. And I think you know that too," his knuckles brushed across her cheek as her eyes closed at the touch. "You and me… I feel like we met each other for a reason. Like maybe you helped me deal with the loss of someone I loved, and I helped you get ready for someone you could love."

Deep sadness washed over her. Jo, that's who he was talking about. Dean had mentioned the other blonde in his life only briefly, but she could see the pain in him when he spoke her name, and she knew it meant a great deal to him. She couldn't begin to imagine what happened to her, but the man standing in front of her had loved Jo very much. Her gaze fell along with her hands, resting gently on his arms. Caroline didn't doubt that he cared for her; she knew he did, but his words held resonance. Truth.

She thought of Stefan, whom she assumed Dean was referring to. Ever since Damon and Elena got together, she and Stefan had been dancing on the line between friends and something more for a while. But then Dean and Sam blew into town and things got put to a screeching halt between them.

"This isn't just some rebound," she murmured, partially to herself.

"I'm not saying that it is," he cocked his head to the side, shooting her a grin. "Just because a relationship doesn't last, doesn't make it any less special."

"Isn't there anything I can do to convince you to stay?" she looked up into his green eyes, silently imploring him. She couldn't let him leave. She just couldn't. Her heart broke at the mere thought.

"I'm sorry, Care," he whispered just as a beep from his cell phone alerted them to an incoming text. Neither of them had to have it read to know what it was, Sam was done and ready to go. Their time was over.

Dean sighed. He cupped her face with his large palms and kissed her gently but passionately, as if it took him everything he had to keep himself from consuming her whole. He slowly broke away from her and grazed her nose with his. Opening his eyes into hers, tears threatened to fall as she saw the sorrow he was trying to hold in. "Goodbye Caroline."

He broke away from her regrettably, and grabbed his duffel bag off the twin bed. Walking toward the door, Caroline felt the tension rise up in her stomach and threaten to explode. Watching him walk away was unbearable. "Dean!" she called out to him just as he'd reached the inn door. As his head turned back to her, a million things went through her brain to say but she couldn't find anything that was good enough. What could she say anymore that would fix this? She couldn't.

"I'll see you around, okay?" she choked out. He nodded at her slowly, his gaze held on her for what felt like hours as all their unspoken words hung in the air. And as Dean finally walked out and the door closed behind him Caroline had collapsed on the bed and finally let her tears fall.