Author's Note: Hey guys! So, I'm back... for a little bit. I was struck with inspiration when I listened to the Song "Stay" by Mayday Parade and watched the official music video for it. I absolutely love Mayday Parade, and I decided to use my favorite characters in a one-shot of this song. This is just a one-shot. I am not picking my other stories up in the meantime, however I will make a point to actually write. School has started for me and I have seven courses I'm taking this semester so I'll be pretty busy. Anyway, as I treat I decided to publish this. Read, Review, and I hope you all like it! -Z
Disclaimer: Song- Stay by Mayday Parade. All lyrics to Mayday Parade. Characters- Caroline Forbes and Niklaus Mikaelson (mention of Rebekah Mikaelson). All characters (except OC Jason) to L. .
Stay: Mayday Parade
I need some time just deliver the things that I need for now
Everything that I feel's like a warm deep calm casting over me
And it's taking me to somewhere new
I held the door open for Caroline as she stepped into the limo waiting for us. I slid in next to her and waved to Jason, the driver, to take off. He knew to take the longest route to Caroline's apartment.
"What is this all about, Nik?" She asks as the hum of the engine starts and we pull away from the curb.
She's calling me my family nickname- which is good. She tucks a golden curl behind her ear and I'm momentarily stunned by her gracefulness.
She still looks the same as she did a month ago when we fought. Her shoulder-length hair is in its usual careful and precise curls. Her bright green eyes still shine like they first did when I met her eleven years ago.
"Nik?" She asks again and I finally answer her.
"Maybe I just wanted to see you," I say teasingly, though everything I say is the truth.
She turns her head, but I can see her smile. She misses me, I know she does. Rebekah, her best friend, (and my sister) tells me repeatedly how miserable Caroline has been and how much she regrets our fight last month.
If you believe that everything's alright
You won't be all alone tonight
And I'd be blessed by the light of your company,
Slowly lifting me to somewhere new
She scoffs and rolls her eyes. "I doubt that's it."
I smirk at her and scoot closer on the seat. The smirk quickly drops from my face as I make complete eye contact with her.
"We can't believe that everything's alright… us living this way."
She opens her mouth and then closes it again, thinking for a second. "Maybe everything is alright," She lies. I can tell by the way her hands grip the seat tighter for a second before letting go.
"You won't be alone tonight if we work this out, sweetheart," I tell her, before smiling as I tuck the golden curl back behind her ear as it falls. "And I'd be blessed by the light of your company."
"Nik," She starts, but I can tell she's cracking.
"You're beautiful, you're smart, you're… you're full of light, Caroline."
Oh can you tell, I haven't slept very well
Since the last time that we spoke, you said
"Please understand if I see you again don't even say hello."
"The last time we spoke you said: please understand if I see you again don't even say hello." I take a deep breath. "Can you tell I haven't slept very well since the last time that we spoke?" I ask.
She frowns, and raises her hand. Her small, thin fingers graze my jaw, my cheek, before resting just below my eyes, where I know is a light bruise-like color from lack of sleep. I turn my head and kiss her palm.
"I need more time with you—I need forever with you. Those few months weren't enough, Caroline."
"I know, Nik, I know… I just, we make each other so damn angry all the time. What if it's not meant to be?" She whispers, looking down. She lets her hand fall but I catch it and hold it tight in both of mine.
"Don't say that," I whisper harshly. "Of course it's meant to be. I've known you since you were fifteen. I've been—"
I break off because I haven't said those three words to anyone but my siblings. If I tell Caroline those three oh-so-coveted words, I make myself vulnerable to her.
Caroline's green eyes widen but and a beautiful blush spreads across her cheeks. Her lips form an 'O' shape before she smiles softly at me.
"Oh, Nik," She sighs, leaning even closer to me.
I bring my hand to rest on the juncture between her shoulder and her neck, and caress her cheek.
Before either one of us can do anything there is a loud screeching noise that we can hear from inside the limo.
Caroline's eyes widen in fear and the next thing I know, a car hits us and both of us are flown forward, onto the floor. Caroline lands hard on her side, and her head hits the ground with a sickening sound. My own body lands hard and my head bangs on broken glass. I reach my arm out to Caroline, every muscle burning with the movement. The last thing I see is Caroline trying to reach my hand, the light in her eyes dimming as her lids finally close.
Please
The first thing I realize as I wake up is pain. Incredible, burning, excruciating pain: everywhere. Groaning, I open my eyes and look around. I'm still on the floor of the limo, and I can feel the stickiness of blood on my head. Most of the windows are broken out due to the crash, and the glass litters the floor around us.
Us.
I look over to Caroline and my heart pounds painfully in my chest. Her golden curls are in disarray, and her hair is caked in blood. Her face is turned towards the floor, and she's laying on one arm, her head on her bicep. The other arm is thrown in front of her.
"Caroline?" I ask, and my voice is faint. "Caroline?"
She doesn't answer me and I crawl forward. "Caroline?" Still not getting an answer, I urge my sore body close to her and turn her on her back. I bring her wrist close to my face and hold two fingers on her pulse point.
Fifty-four… fifty-five… fifty-six… fifty-seven… fifty-eight… fifty-nine… sixty…
The pulse is there, but it's so faint it's hard for me to feel.
"Come on Caroline," I whisper, as I hear sirens in the distance.
"Hello!" I hear someone shout outside. "Is anyone alive in there?"
"In here!" I yell back. "In here! We need help!"
I look at Caroline and anxiety rushes into my veins looking at her porcelain skin.
"Hold on, sweetheart, you just have to hold on!"
The face of a dark-haired police officer appears in the broken window on Caroline's side of the limo. He tries to open the car door but it doesn't open.
"You've gotta crawl through the window!" He yells at me as the sirens get closer.
"Caroline—you have to get Caroline!" I plead, lifting her into my arms.
"We have to get you out of the vehicle first, sir," He says, but I shake my head before he's even done talking.
"You have to save her! I don't care about myself, you just have to save her. I'll do anything, please, just get her to a hospital." I say, my voice choked as Caroline's head falls back.
"Sir, if you would just listen—"
I cut him off with a glare. "No—you need to listen. This girl means more to me than my own life. You have to save her!"
He hesitates before holding his arms through the window. I gently hand Caroline over, and he steps back, allowing me to crawl through the broken window.
I stumble out, and open my arms immediately for Caroline. He hesitates again, seeing my bad state, but the desperate look in my eyes must have convinced him to hand Caroline over to me.
Two ambulances stop about twenty feet away, and three medics from each run out. Two go over to the car that hit us, and one goes to check on Jason in the front seat.
The remaining two bring a stretcher over to Caroline and me and I'm urged to lay her down. I do as they motion and then look at her quickly.
I grab the wrist of one of them, and lock eyes with him. "Please," Is all I say, and he nods, his concentration set.
They wheel her into the ambulance and I follow. Caroline's pale skin seems even paler against the white of the stretcher, and her golden hair is splayed out across it.
What a night it is, when you live like this
And you're coming up beneath the clouds,
Don't let me down
All the love's still there I just don't know what to do with it now
You know, I still can't believe we both did some things
I don't even wanna think about
Just say you love me and I'll say "I'm sorry,
I don't want anybody else to feel this way"
No, no, no
Caroline's head jerks as she is wheeled over the steps of the ambulance. I push my way into her ambulance and sit on the seat across from her. The medics ignore me as they work around her. One pulls her arm so that her wrist is visible. He sticks an IV in her arm while the other one hooks her up to a heart monitor. I watch as the doors slam shut and the ambulance takes off.
Outside, it's completely black out, with barely any stars seeable with the thick, grey clouds ominous in the sky. I rest my elbows on my knees and put my hands in a praying position. I don't believe in God, but I know she does.
"Come on Care, don't let me down," I whisper, with tears in my eyes.
I have so many feelings for this beautiful honey blonde, green-eyed twenty-six year old it's hard to form them into words, let alone categorize them. I've known her since she was fifteen. And I've known she was the one for me since senior year. I've wanted her for nine years. She was right—as she normally is—we fight, and say things we both don't mean (or do) and we do things we shouldn't do, things I hate to even think about, but I know there will be no other for me, for the rest of my miserable life, if something happens to this girl.
"I'll say I'm sorry," I whisper, and close my eyes tight. I don't want anybody to ever feel the way I feel right now.
Oh can you tell, I haven't slept very well
Since the last time that we spoke, I said
"Please understand I've been drinking again, and all I do is hope"
"Come on sweetheart, come on," I say as I watch one of the medics work on her. The other sits next to me and eyes the heart monitor across from us. An oxygen mask is placed over her nose and mouth and I watch as it gets foggy as the air is passed into her and back out.
I look her over, my eyes trailing from the top of her head, to the bottom of her heeled feet. I reach out and brush a wayward curl behind her ear, just like I did before the accident. Her eyes start fluttering and I lean forward off the seat, my breath leaving me as I start to see her green eyes again.
I thought I'd never see those beautiful eyes again in my life.
Her eyes open once, just for them to roll into the back of her head. The medic next to me stands up and I follow his stressed eyes to the heart monitor. My already horrified expression turns to a new kind of horrified as I watch the monitor. The already weak peaks start to drop before the line goes completely flat and a shrill buzz fills the back of the ambulance.
Please... stay.
I jump up, and out of my seat, only to have the medic pull me back from under my arms.
"STAY!" I scream, fighting to get out of the man's arms.
I reach for her as my scream fills the whole ambulance. The first medic ignores me as he continues to work on getting Caroline's heart to beat.
Please stay.
I lean forward again as the seconds seem to take hours to go by. Please, if there really is a God or higher power out there, please save her. You can take me, just not her… never her. She deserves so much more than this. The medic pushes the stretcher down and moves her hair. He sticks the EKG pads on her skin and waits for the paddles to load.
I'll admit I was wrong about everything
Cause I'm high and I don't wanna come down
All the fun that we had on your mothers couch,
I don't even wanna think about
Still fighting to get out of the man's hold, I think of the hours we spent in high school on her mother's couch. She used to make fun of my English accent while I made fun of her Southern one. She used to throw her head back and laugh, her green eyes shined every time she opened them. If she could just live, I would admit that I was wrong—about everything. About being an ass to her when we were younger, to being an even bigger ass to her now that we were older. Anything to keep her alive, and breathing, and smiling.
Why couldn't this just be me? Why can't I have been the one to suffer from this accident? I can't live in a world where Caroline Nichole Forbes does not exist.
I'm not strong enough for the both of us
What was I supposed to do
You know I love you
Whoa-oh
"I'm not strong enough for the both of us, sweetheart," I scream as the man tries valiantly to hold on to me.
What could I have done to prevent this? What if I hadn't told Jason to go the long way to her apartment? This… is all of my fault. What was I supposed to do?
"Come on sweetheart," I plead, breaking out of the man's grasp. "Come on… you know, I love you." I take a deep breath and traitor tears fall. "I love you!"
Please just stay
"Please, just stay!" I scream as the medic shocks her with the EKG paddles and her thin body lifts off of the stretcher.
I grip the medic's arm tightly as his eyes stay glued to the monitor as he's gotten the hint that I'm not going to sit still.
She's shocked again and my heart breaks all over as I watch the girl I love lay helplessly on the white stretcher.
Caroline's bright green eyes suddenly open as the heart monitor picks back up again. The few traitors turn into a flood as I look back to her. I grab a hold of her hand, and our fingers tangle together. With her free hand she wraps it around my forearm. Her grip is weak, but it's there. I crouch down so she can see me and smile, dimples and all, as her eyes flutter and she looks into my own eyes.
I whisper "I love you," to her, over and over, until she really hears it.
Her eyes light up like they always do, and she gives me the softest smile I have ever seen.
"I love you," I tell her as the medics back off and the ambulance comes to a stop in front of the hospital.
"Please stay," I whisper to her. "I love you."
Caroline gives me another soft smile before her grip on my forearm completely loosens and she takes off her oxygen mask.
"No—" I try to tell her not to take off the mask, but she just shakes her head, and smiles again.
"I love you," She tells me, her voice faint but lovely to my ears.
I smile and kiss her softly on the lips, and brush her hair back as tears of her own fall from her eyes.
"Please stay," She asks as the doors open.
"Always," I tell her.
"Always and forever?" She asks as I hop out of the ambulance and let them wheel her out.
I nod and grab her hand again as we are taken into the hospital. "I love you,"
Now that I've said it, I can't say it enough. I don't want something like this to ever happen again. I need her to know that I love her, without a doubt.
"I love you too," She says one last time, before the doctor's rush at us.
Stay