Authors Note: This is my first story, but I love the ship and the complexity of the characters. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.
Caroline leaves the day after graduation.
She was tracing the outline of her diploma and gazing wistfully at her graduation gown when she just knows. This small town was not enough for her. He was right all those months ago, a truth she hadn't been prepared too accept until now.
So she packed a bag (a few sundresses and a curling iron) left a note for her mother, and left.
Caroline knew the right thing to do was to at least say goodbye, or at least give an explanation. But she didn't have one. There was no justification for her actions other than the fact that she knew if she had to explain herself to Elena or Bonnie, she wouldn't leave.
They would entice her with human experiences (graduation parties, college sendoffs, summer afternoons at the grill, come on Caroline we've been looking forward to this since sixth grade) and she would fall right back into the rut she was desperately trying to crawl out of.
The truth is, those experiences stopped mattering to her after she almost died (really died) for the third time.
So she takes two bags, her entire savings, a vintage Italian grammar book, and gets the hell out of Mystic Falls.
It's only on Caroline's last glance through her childhood room that she feels like she's missing something. She shoves that feeling into the pit of her stomach and heads for the airport.
(She turns around and grabs his drawing as an after thought.)
She's been gone for two days when the phone calls start. She ignores all of them, sending the callers straight to voice mail.
The first is from Elena, asking why she was missing her graduation party.
The second is from her mother, telling her not to get too wild this weekend.
The third is from Tyler, asking what the hell was wrong with her, where was she?
She didn't bother listening to the next 12 voice mails. She deleted them all, knowing that the temptation to go back would be too much eventually.
It was only on the plane ride that she opened the one text she had received in 36 hours.
I hope you find what you're looking for.
It wasn't signed. The number wasn't familiar. But she knew who it was from none the less, and it was the only validation she needed to realize that she had made the right choice.
He was the only one who could possibly understand that this journey was an attempt to find who she could be, rather than continue being the monster she was.
On Caroline's first night in Italy, she gets black out drunk (no small feat for a vampire) and ends up killing two people.
(She doesn't feel as bad about it as she knows she should.)
She read Romeo and Juliet in freshman year, during a two month honors English unit that would scar her forever. Despite the front she put up in class, she devoured it in secret.
Caroline hated the play. She hated the tragedy, the unfair ending, the double suicide and family obligations that had torn the two young lovers apart. She tearfully swore to herself that if she ever loved a man with the amount of passion Juliet did Romeo, none of the extraneous details would matter.
(She was so stupid at 15.)
But Verona was calling to her, the city in which Juliet met, danced with, and died for the love of her life.
(The irony was not lost on her.)
She became choked up standing on Juliet's balcony. For the first time since she was 15, she realized how utterly alone she was in the world. All of her great loves had left her. Matt, Tyler, everyone deserted her in the end.
Caroline knew that she would have dozens of lifetimes to live out true love stories, but the ones she left behind would haunt her for the rest of time.
She studiously avoided Rome.
(But it had nothing to do with him.)
After two weeks in Verona, she finally answers her phone.
"Caroline! Where the hell are you? Just tell me where, I'll come get you," breathed her mother, full of relief.
"Mom…" Caroline sighed, not wanting to explain herself just yet.
"Honey, please. Just come home. We're all worried about you. This is where you belong."
"But it's not. I'm a vampire, I don't belong with you. I'm sorry, I just need some time to find myself. I'll… I'll come back someday. Don't worry."
(She ends the call there, because she can literally feel her heart shattering.)
Venice is beautiful. She rides a gondola, and allows herself to relax in the soft Italian sunlight.
For the first time since leaving Mystic Falls, she feels like she's right where she needs to be.
Caroline stays there for a month, longer than Verona, just drinking in the sights and history.
(She refuses to admit that she wonders about him more and more each day.)
After Venice grows to be too full of memories of her old life, she moves on to Milan.
(It wasn't a good idea.)
She grows complacent, feeding off of humans and hating the person she was turning into. She falls into a funk, loathing herself more and more each day.
Caroline vaguely remembers Stefan telling her that moments like these are common when you're new, and she recognizes the fact that maybe this trip wasn't such a good idea after all.
(But she can't bring herself to tear her fangs out of the delicious Italian boy.)
She tries detoxing multiple times, but it's impossible.
(The blood is just as good as the leather.)
She literally has to drag herself out of Milan. There's nothing more for the city to offer, and she knows there's one more place she must visit before she goes back to Mystic Falls.
(Florence.)
She purposely saved this city for last, knowing that it would hold the most light, the most hope.
Caroline stayed for two months, not understanding why nothing clicked anymore.
(Nothing made sense.)
She realized why while she was having coffee at the same obscure cafe as the past 55 days. She was idly glancing around when she saw something scrawled on the wall of the shop.
Because of her vampire senses, moving closer to read it wasn't necessary, but it felt good falling back on trivial human habits.
"The world is just a circle leading us back to what we left behind."
Then she gets it.
(Without him.)
She goes from the airport straight to his ostentatious mansion.
She finds him standing in his studio, idly painting another pretentious still life. He looked up as she walked in, as if expecting her presence.
"Hello love. Did you have a good trip?"
It was then that she realized he had waited for her. For almost 5 months, he patiently stayed and waited while she carried out some half-brained, crazy mission of self-discovery. It was more than she expected, more than anyone else had ever done for her.
So she came back to the one place she knows she belongs.
(In his arms.)
In Verona, she felt desertion.
In Venice, she felt at peace.
In Milan, she came to terms with the full power of who she was.
In Florence, she lets go.
Now, back in Mystic Falls, she realized that the person she was so desperately seeking was standing right in front of her.
(And he would always be there, no matter what.)
She lets him take her to Rome eventually.
(It's beautiful.)
Fin
AN: Please review, it means the world! Thanks for reading.