Never Let Me Go
Elena has chosen to be with Damon after they take down Klaus. With Klaus dead, and his entire bloodline including Tyler dead, Caroline and Stefan both leave Mystic Falls together, both broken hearted they try to rebuild their lives and each other. After the S3 finale.
~.~
And it's breaking over me
A thousand miles down to the sea bed
Found the place to rest my head
Never let me go
Never let me go
~.~
Stefan had never really prepared himself for the day when he finally left Mystic Falls.
Granted, he always assumed that he would be leaving with Elena when they were both older, after she'd graduated from high school. Crazy in love, they would chase sunrises together all over the world. They would wake up together and go to sleep together. Spend days walking cobblestone paths, hand in hand as Stefan told her stories from his collection of memories - memories about Lexie, about his double date with Hugh Hefner and the playmates, and then, finally (after a few too many sangrias) about his mother. Nights would be filled with incredible food and wine, they'd make love under the stars, under the northern lights, anywhere they wanted – they had a list to get through after all. A sex list, he chuckled, as he remembered Elena's serious face as she told him her idea, "Don't laugh at me," She'd told him, her hands on her hips, "You're just jealous you didn't think of it first."
Now that seemed like nothing but a distant memory, or maybe a hopeless dream.
Regardless, he was living the very nightmare he couldn't wake up from, the one where Elena didn't want him.
He'd handwritten a letter to both Elena and Damon, wishing them well but telling them not to contact him, or to try to find him, that it would only make his healing harder. He'd attached Elena's letter to his journal from 1863, before he'd met Katherine and everything had gotten so screwed up. Before he was a vampire, before he'd killed, back when he was simple boy with too many dreams to keep inside of his head.
Dear Elena,
I'm not mad. Really, I'm not. I'm so proud of you, so amazed and in awe of what a strong person you have become.
I only wish you the best in life, because someone who has endured such pain in such a short life is more than deserving of a lifetime of happiness.
Damon will be good for you. He'll take care of you in a way that I never could.
I leave you my journal, maybe this is the man that you could have loved forever.
Always,
Stefan.
Even now, he could hear her muffled tears and she cried into the sleeve of Damon's shirt, as he himself read his own letter.
Dear Damon,
I don't need to tell you to take care of her, I know that you will.
Although you'll never admit it, I know that your love can be infinite. I only ask that you give all of it to Elena. She's going to need you.
Don't try to find me; I'm not lost or looking to be found.
You know that the world works in mysterious ways; so maybe we'll see each other again someday.
Always,
Your Brother
Finally he'd left an envelope addressed to Matt, inside were the keys to his Porsche and a short note.
Take care of 'her'.
-Stefan
They'd never been that close, but it wasn't like he was ever going to need the car again and Matt would be over the moon.
"Are you ready?"
He turned to see Caroline, her face watching him cautiously from the driver's seat of her brand new black Ford Escape. He hadn't heard her pull up. As he looked at her face he could see the pain that she'd gone through, that they'd both gone through. For someone who was eternally seventeen like him, her face had aged ten years. Her eyes normally exuded warmth and happiness, not only when she looked at him, but when she looked at anyone. There wasn't any of that now. Only emptiness. Her beautiful blue eyes were dark and hollow.
It was just over a week ago that Elena had driven the white oak stake into Klaus' heart. Bonnie had weakened him to the point of desiccation and then Elena had finished him off. The relief of Klaus' death was short lived when Tyler too fell to the ground, as would the rest of Klaus bloodline Stefan assumed. There had been no time to save Tyler, no time to find another way to save his life. He'd said no final words…nothing. Stefan had watched the tears fall from Caroline's eyes as she hovered over him, his skin already the colour of ash, body lifeless. That's when the rain began, ripping through the town with the strength of a monsoon. He tore his eyes away from Tyler's practically melting body to see Elena turning to face him, her wide and panicked eyes scanning the clearing as she was drenched with rain. Stefan took a step forward, his heart in his throat as she turned away from him and ran straight into Damon's arms. He and Caroline had both lost someone they loved that day.
He turned back to look at his house one last time before nodding to Caroline and throwing his bag into the trunk of the car before sliding into the passenger seat.
"Where are we going?" Caroline asked him, her face was already beginning to regain some of its colour. They seemed to have that effect on one another.
"Wherever you want," Stefan replied nonchalantly. Anywhere but here was what he should have said.
"Well, I have enough cold blood bags in the trunk to last a few days-"Caroline told him as she pulled the car out onto the road.
"Somewhere with sun," Stefan replied at last, and immediately Caroline's eyebrow spiked upwards with curiousty as she turned her head to look at him. "-I've had enough rainy days,"
~.~
Caroline lay sprawled out on her sun lounger. Somehow, three weeks after they'd left town they'd ended up in Italy. They'd spent the first week or so driving, trying to get as far away from Mystic Falls as possible. They'd spent a few days in Canada, only to head straight to the airport when the rain started coming down in thick sheets. Stefan didn't have to say a thing, Caroline just packed her suitcase and they left. They purchased two tickets for a 'mystery flight' that afternoon -Caroline's idea.
"It's in fate's hands now," She'd said with a wide smile as she waved the boarding passes in front of his face. In that moment she was so far from the Caroline she'd been the last few weeks, so Stefan hadn't said or done anything to deter her. She had lost a lot too.
Now as she lay and watched the boats bob to and fro in the Italian Riviera, her face mostly covered by a ridiculously large pair of designer sunglasses she couldn't remember a time when she had been happier. She could hardly believe that the view in front of her was real, even with her heightened vampire senses she didn't think she'd ever seen anything more beautiful. She peeled her sunglasses off of her face and glanced down at the skin on her taut stomach.
"I've been out here for hours, and I'm not a shade darker-"
Stefan pushed his wayfarers onto the top of his head and turned to face Caroline. "I can't imagine why-"
Caroline sat up straighter and pulled her light yellow sundress over her bikini, "You almost made a joke, good for you. Hungry?"
He nodded, already shutting his book and standing up. He buttoned the buttons on his white linen shirt back up and slid his sunglasses back over his eyes. Caroline stayed perched on the edge of the sun lounge, watching him as he moved so gracefully. She took a moment to admire him. His face was finally starting to get some colour back. His eyes were clearer and greener, more beautiful. She paused at his strong jaw, and perfectly angled cheekbones that made her think that if you got too close they might just cut you with their sharpness. For a second she allowed herself to smile, he was healing.
"You won't be sad forever Stefan," She said softly, her blue eyes full of promises as he blinked back at her, knowing that was the truth.