all those shadows almost killed your light
a/n: Please listen to Wynonna Judd's version of "Testify To Love" as you read. It's available on Youtube.
She was awoken at three in the morning by the sounds of her window opening. She sat up to see her former friend climbing through, landing gracefully on his feet. She watched as he crossed the floor in three strides and approached her bed, his dark eyes on her still form.
She wasn't afraid.
"Hello, Stefan," she murmured. She tried not to wince at the haunted look that framed his eyes. Those eyes that had once been filled with happiness and light.
He continued to watch her with that heartbroken look until she almost couldn't stand it. Neither of them said a word when she finally lifted up the covers and patted the bed.
He took her up on her offer, shucking off his high necked jacket and crawling into the bed beside her, his back still to her. She cautiously looped an arm across his chest, burying her face in his neck, giving him the contact that he so desperately needed.
She felt his silent, shaking sobs and her own heart began to break all over again. And they remained like that for the rest of the night, neither of them saying a word, both finally drifting into agonizing and restless sleeps in the early hours of the morning.
She found blood on the sheets when she finally awoke and realized that it had come from him. She saw the stained and dried blood on his shirt and on his discarded jacket and felt hot tears burn her eyes.
She had hoped...
He was in a zombie like state when he woke. She helped him out of bed and had to treat him like a baby, throwing him into the shower and getting him cleaned up. He protested but was honestly too weak to even lift his arms. It didn't matter that he had fed the previous night, he had forced his own body to shut down on him.
And then she placed the glass of blood on the table.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Drink it. It's fresh type O and you need to drink it."
He stared at her, unable to believe that these words were coming out of her mouth.
"How-do you even know what Damon-"
When she heard the word Damon, it all made sense.
"What did he do to you, Stefan?" she asked quietly. Anger constricted her heart and she inwardly fought her desire to run over to the Salvatore mansion and break Damon's neck.
"He didn't do anything!"
"If he didn't do anything and you've got control then drink this!" she snarled. She shoved the tantalizingly delicious smelling fluid under his nose. "Drink it!"
He sniffed the glass, the veins under his eyes starting to protrude. He took it away from her, sniffing it again.
"This is rabbit blood," he muttered, glaring at her.
"Do you really think I'm as stupid as to give you human blood?" she asked him.
She tried to ignore the tears that pooled in his eyes.
He almost fell out of his chair when she busted through the antique door, knocking it off it's hinges and stepping on it as she strode through.
"Ding-dong," she called out dangerously. She wasn't surprised to find Elena with him. "How are you two this afternoon? Just peachy, huh?" And then her fist landed right in Damon's throat.
Damon coughed violently, blood swimming his mouth. He spat a bunch of it out onto the floor, continuing to cough up his stomach contents. Elena fell to her knees beside him, glaring up at Caroline.
"What did you do that for?"
"For that little bit of 'tough love' your dear Damon showed Stefan last night!" she muttered, viciously staring into the elder vampire's icy blue eyes. She shoved Elena out of the way and grabbed his chin, bringing it up so they were nose to nose.
"Don't you ever come near Stefan again unless he asks, do you understand? Don't you ever come near Stefan Salvatore again!"
He blinked and she was gone.
She wasn't surprised to find him still at her house. She also wasn't surprised to find her cooler of blood bags still fully stocked and untouched.
"Hey..." she whispered, slowly lowering herself down onto the sofa beside him.
"Hey."
She glanced down at his left hand and noticed that his ring was missing.
"Where's-?"
"I threw it into the quarry."
"Are you serious?" she stared, unable to believe her ears.
"Yes."
"Why did you do that? Just so you wouldn't go out in the daytime and not kill? Because I have a news flash for you, my dear friend. It doesn't exactly work like that for vampires."
"I don't deserve to have anything normal," he whispered without looking at her. He continued to stare straight ahead into the wall, like she wasn't even there. "I don't deserve any of it. Especially after what I did."
"You did this all for Damon," she whispered. "You did it all for Damon."
She was starting to think that that punch hadn't been enough.
"Hello?"
"Matt, it's Caroline."
"Hey, Caroline, what's up?"
"I need your help. Can you pick up Bonnie and come over to my place?"
"Is everything okay?" he asked quietly, already sensing it.
"No, it's not."
"Caroline, do you ever listen to me?" he raged, the red starting to show in his eyes.
"Have you ever known me to listen to you?" she shouted back. "I'm sorry, Stefan, I'm not letting you do this to yourself. And I'm not going to feed you that bull about 'I believe in you' because I have always believed and loved you from freaking day one! You are acting like a baby and you need to understand that there is a hell of a lot better way to survive than like this!"
"Just put the ring on, Stefan," came Matt's gentle voice from behind them. "Put it on."
"Why would I-?"
"Call this an intervention, you dumb vampire," snapped Bonnie. She pressed the new ring into his palm. "Put it on and we'll stop bugging you."
Stefan loosened his fingers around the ring and stared at it in the afternoon light. It was a simple gold circlet with engraving on the inside of the band. He peered closer and could just make out the tiny words.
Through tragedy comes hope.
Hope.
He couldn't remember the last time he had felt hope.
"Fine," he gave in begrudgingly, shoving the ring onto his right ring finger. "Fine."
He tried his hardest not grab the blonde by the throat and jack her up against the wall.
"How long are you going to give me the silent treatment?"
No answer. Just a sullen pout.
"Oh, come on. I'll make you talk again."
"Try me."
Her mother had gotten so used to the crazy happenings in Mystic Falls that she barely batted an eye when she finally found Stefan Salvatore in her house. When she saw her daughter's face, she understood, leaving to go to her room.
"Just be careful, Caroline," muttered Liz. "And I have a full collection of stakes just in case."
She couldn't help but chuckle. "Thanks, Mom."
"Get up, we're going hunting."
She threw his coat into his lap, rousing him out of a mid afternoon doze.
"What?"
"You heard me. We're going hunting. We are going to eat some bunnies and some gophers and enjoy it, is that clear?"
He stared at her. "Crystal."
She watched him as he finally came alive again. Now this was the kind of hunt that he was meant to go on.
After four rabbits, a small deer, and two wild geese, he felt slightly full.
And no longer with that burning hunger.
"How's that feel?" she asked him quietly as she watched him clean the blood off of his face. To her surprise, there wasn't a drop on his clothing.
He stood up, his green eyes finding hers in the dimming afternoon light. And for the first time in ages, he felt friendship and trust.
And maybe a little bit of hope.
"Better. Much better."
She smiled softly and he felt a tingling in his belly. He had never felt that kind of tingling before.
She gently placed her hands on his arms, holding him still. He watched with bewildered eyes as her eyes began to turn red and the veins protruded underneath. She took a deep breath and they disappeared.
"No matter how good it feels to give yourself over to it. You fight it off. That's how you know you're going to survive this thing."
"That's good advice," he murmured, tears bruising his tender eyes. "Where'd you hear that from?"
"From someone pretty awesome. I just hope I see him again soon."
He tried his best to ignore his new ring. His hand felt so much lighter than it had before with that heavy stone but there was something else. Something much, much different.
The way that ring would shine in the sun, it reminded him of someone. Someone very dear to him. Someone that shone in that light and made that simple joy come alive in his heart once again.
"Why did you take him from me?"
She stared at the raven haired vampire, sorely tempted to pitch him head first out her window. But she could see his pulsing, well fed aura above him and knew that if she picked a fight this time, she would lose.
"I didn't take him from you, Damon," she whispered, crossing her arms across her chest. "You did it yourself. That is not the way you help someone readjust to vampire life. Especially someone like your brother."
"Elena agrees with you."
"Huh...I didn't know Elena was that bright."
"I want him back, Caroline. Give him back to me," he asked quietly, looking much younger than she had ever seen him in her whole entire life.
She shook her pretty head. "If you want him back in your life, then you better get on your knees and crawl to him. Because you owe him everything, Damon Salvatore. You owe him everything. You've just been too damn stupid to realize it."
"I'm sorry."
"I know you are."
"That's it? Just 'I know you are'?"
The younger Salvatore grimaced. "Damon, I need time."
"Time for what?"
"I need time to think, Damon!"
"With Barbie? She'll fill your head with so much bull that your brains will shrink and rattle around like a couple of marbles!"
Well, that was Damon's first mistake.
He gasped slightly when Stefan grabbed him by the shoulder, sinking his nails into the delicate flesh. His eyes blazed like emerald fire and his mouth was set in a thin, taunt line.
"Don't talk about her like that. Now get the hell out of this house."
"Get up. We're going out."
"Excuse me?"
She threw a pillow at his head and then his dinner jacket.
"We are going out for a fun evening of dinner, dancing, and just spending time with each other."
"Caroline-"
"Don't 'Caroline' me! You have been moping around my house for the past two weeks. The only time you leave is to go hunting and it's driving me crazy! You are taking me out to dinner at the Grille, and then we are going to go to 'Sasha's' and go dancing, is that clear?"
He stared up at her face for a minute before breaking into laughter for the first time in months. "Yes, Caroline."
As they danced, millions of stars were above them, screaming "this is fate!"
She found him staring at a glass of blood that morning.
She slowly walked around the kitchen counter, watching his face.
"Are you going to drink that?" she asked quietly.
Without answering her, he stood up and walked over to the sink. He then tilted the glass and pouring it down the drain.
She swallowed her protest at the waste of the blood, already knowing what this meant for him.
"You will have to take human blood once in a while," she murmured.
"I know," he whispered. "Just not now." He then was almost knocked over by her throwing her arms around his waist, hugging him so tightly that he could feel a few of his ribs cracking.
Caroline buried her face into his chest, trying to stem back the flow of tears that were already coming. She felt his arms circle her and knew that maybe...everything was going to be okay.
A month passed and he didn't leave.
Another passed and they both graduated from high school with honors.
A final month passed and they were both accepted into Colby University in Northern Virginia. That was when Liz threw them both out of the house, casting her out with a simple plea of living a normal and happy life with that boy.
There was a knocking on the door of their apartment, really early in the morning. Stefan answered it, holding a cup of coffee in his hands.
"Hello, Stefan."
"Elena?"
Nope, not Elena.
Katherine.
"Oh, when are you ever going to learn, Stefan?" purred the vampire as she stepped over the threshhold. "You must be alone since I could come in."
"Stefan, I-"
The blonde froze in the doorway, staring at the brunette.
The elder vampire turned to glare at the male. "Her?" she snarled, her voice rising to a dangerous level.
Stefan stared her down. "Yes, her. And I would like to remind you, her name is Caroline. Now, if you would kindly escort yourself out. We have early classes."
"Oh, that's right!" Katherine yelped. "I forgot that you are going to 'college' now! What's the matter, Stefan? Still trying to have that normal human life?"
"Yes, 'that normal human life'. Get the hell out."
She sighed her defeat. "Just remember, Stefan. You cannot run away from who you truly are. And who you truly love."
When they blinked, she was gone.
Caroline felt her knees tremble and she staggered into a stool, her head in her hands. "How did she find us?"
Stefan leaned over the counter, gently pulling her hands down. "She's not going to bother us."
"Yes, she is, Stefan. She really is. You seem to forget that she can kill me quite easily if she wanted too."
"I'm not going to let that happen, Caroline."
"Why, Stefan Salvatore. So nice to see you again."
"Cut the crap, Klaus. I need your help."
The much older vampire took a sip from his glass without looking at his former friend. "And what kind of help would that be?"
"I need you to help me kill Katherine Pierce."
That got him.
Klaus lowered his bourban, staring into the green eyes of the young Salvatore. "Why?" he finally asked.
"She's threatening Caroline."
At the mention of Caroline's name, Stefan already knew that Klaus was in.
"Why should I help you? You took from me the one thing that I wanted more than anything in this world. And it's not the idiotic doppelganger."
Stefan's hackles raised. "Caroline makes her own choices."
"And she chose you."
"She didn't choose me, Klaus."
Klaus stared at him, his gaze shifting over the young vampire's whole figure. Stefan shifted his feet uncomfortably, trying his hardest not to bolt.
"No, she didn't," he slowly agreed. "She just...fell for you."
"You idiot!"
He ducked the vase as it flew at his head. "What the hell is the matter with you?"
"Making another deal with Klaus? Are you a bigger idiot than I thought you were?"
"Caroline, Katherine is going to kill you! She's going to kill you and make me watch and I cannot go through that again!"
She stopped as she began to work her arm up to throw another vase. "What?"
"She, uh-" His voice caught in his throat. "She called me a couple of nights ago while you were asleep. She said that I had to drop you and be with her or she was going to torture you and stake you and make me watch."
Her dead heart jumped into her throat. "Then we have to put her down."
If any human had walked by at that moment, they would have thought it was the most bizarre sight ever.
The beautiful brunette vampire was crouched on all fours, ready to spring at any moments notice. The younger male vampire was standing opposite of her in the attack stance, his body shielding the lovely blond vampire.
Katherine had struck much earlier than they had suspected, grabbing Caroline and taking her to the back alley that they were in at the moment. Stefan had gotten there within minutes, finding Caroline staked through the legs and unconscious in a heap on the ground, evident that she had been vervained out of her mind.
"Just get with it, Stefan," the brunette purred, circling him like a tigeress circling her prey. "She's too weak. You and I...we can rule."
"I don't want you, Katherine," he whispered lethally. "I'm giving you one last chance to leave."
"And what are you going to do, Stefan? Who are you going to call? Damon? Pfft, he doesn't give two hoots about you or her. Doesn't matter if you're his brother and she's his sire. He is too swept up in Elena to give a damn."
His heart clenched painfully at her words. His green eyes found her brown ones in the dark and he stared her down. "You're lying."
"Oh, am I?" she asked. "Am I really?"
"Yes. And let me inform you of this, Katerina. I. Do. Not. Love. You. I haven't loved you in my vampire life and I never will love you. All I want is to see you dead."
He blinked and she was hovering over Caroline, wrenching a stake from her hip and placing it over her heart. "Care to rephrase that?"
It happened so fast after that.
Klaus's growl was like a rumble of thunder.
The eldest vampire leapt gracefully over the wall, landing on his haunches. His eyes shone gold in the moonlight and his fangs spilled from his upper lip.
"Let her go," he whispered.
Katherine dropped the stake, backing away. "What kind of soul selling deal did Stefan make with you now?" she asked.
"No deal, love," murmured Klaus as he got to his feet. He started towards her, his step in sync like the rhythm of the war drums. "It was all me."
"Oh, because you love her?" Katherine chuckled dryly, gesturing to the still unconscious vampire. "I'm surprised you never went for my moronic doppelganger, she looked just like your precious little Tatia."
He didn't answer her. He continued to stride towards her, hearing Stefan's near silent footsteps not far behind. She had no where to go and she was painfully aware of that.
"Farewell, Katerina."
She tried to run, ready to fling herself over the top wall. But she found Stefan there, his eyes blazing black and his fangs slipping down. She turned again and became face to face with Niklaus.
In the blink of an eye, he had her in a tight grip, twisting her neck around to the point of breaking it.
"Stefan, would you like to do the honors?" he asked the younger vampire.
"It would be my pleasure."
"Stefan-!"
His hand plunged deep into her chest, encasing her heart. It thumped wildly in his palm, trying it's hardest to stay alive. Stefan looked Katherine in the eyes, wanting her to see him as the one person that she never thought would do anything to her.
"Stefan...?"
A fat tear slid down her cheek.
"Goodbye, Katerina," he murmured.
And with one quick movement, it was all over.
He threw her heart to the ground, giving it a kick for good measure. He released her arms and flew to Caroline's side, gently pulling her into his lap.
He felt Klaus's prescense behind him and tried to ignore it. He finally looked up, knowing that Caroline was minutes away from dying.
"Please."
Without batting an eye, Klaus knelt down behind the bloody and broken blond, tearing into his wrist and holding it to her mouth.
"Come on, sweetheart," he whispered, gently urging her to drink. Her lips finally closed over the wound and she began to take in the sweet liquid, drinking to the urge.
Klaus finally pulled his wrist away, shifting his jacket sleeve back down over his arm. He felt his body slide back as Caroline began to crawl towards Stefan, falling into his lap and gripping his arms tightly. And Stefan didn't pull away, gathering her even closer in his arms.
"It's okay. You're going to be okay."
"Is it over?" she choked out, hot tears sliding down her bruised face.
"She's dead. It's over."
Caroline finally opened her eyes, seeing his emerald ones in the gloom. More tears slid down her cheeks. "Thank you."
"Thank Klaus too."
Her eyes flew open even wider and she looked around in the darkened alley. But Klaus was nowhere to be found.
"Thank you..." she whispered into the dimness, knowing deep down that he could hear her.
And that he had let go.
Stefan stood up, gathering his bearings. He then leaned over and ignored her feeble protests and his bruised muscles as he lifted her up and carried her away, bridal style.
"How many times are you going to carry me around?"
He sees the bite mark later that night.
"Did Katherine-?" his finger runs over to half moon crescent shape on her lower shoulder blade. Her back senses up at his touch and he pulled his hand away.
"No. That was...the one mark that stayed after my transition," she whispered.
"Damon."
"Yeah."
He heavily resists the urge to return to Mystic Falls and rip Damon's head clean off of his shoulders.
She shifted her body over so she was facing him. Her sapphire eyes sparkled with a newfound innocence and peace and he realized that it was finally okay to talk about it.
He slowly unbuttoned his shirt, pulling it away just enough for her to see. The moonlight fell cleanly onto his chest, making his own half moon scar show up just right. Her eyes widened for a second and then she sighed sadly.
"I guess all young vampires have that one scar that holds on after," she whispered.
"She fed on me and then compelled me to forget about it. She did the same to Damon but he liked it, not saying anything about it. She knew that I would probably have ran to my father if she hadn't compelled me."
Caroline swallowed the bile that was rising in her throat. She wished she had been awake when they had killed Katherine, wanting to see the lights leave the bitch's eyes.
"I was the same age that you were, seventeen. And yes, I may have thought I loved her but-that wasn't love, Caroline. What that was, it was abuse."
"That's why you fought so hard for me when Damon-" her voice cut off and she pushed back tears.
"I just couldn't let that happen to anyone else," he whispered, his own eyes filling. "I'm sorry, Care. I'm so sorry that it went so far."
"No, stop. Stefan, stop." They were both sitting up. Caroline had kicked the covers off of her pajama clad legs and was looking into his distraught face. "None of that was your fault."
"I did it too, Caroline. I did it to so many other people."
"But look at you now. Look at how far you have come. I really wish Lexi was still here because I would give her a big kiss," she smiled. Stefan cracked a weak grin. "That's not you, Stefan."
"Yes, it is."
"No! It's not. You once told me that when you were a human, you felt people's pain and that's why you wanted to become a doctor, right? To heal people?" He nodded wordlessly. "You are still that person. You are, you are still that person. But there have been so many other goddamned assholes that have tried to pull that humanity out of you. Your brother, Katherine, Klaus, Rebekah-too many to count. You're here. You're right here. And you can feel joy again. You just have to let yourself feel it."
That's when the tears finally spilled over. He clumsily wiped them away, pulling her into his arms.
"I love you, Caroline Forbes."
"And I love you, Stefan Salvatore."
"Can you turn into an animal?"
"What?"
"Can you turn into an animal? I know that freaking Damon can turn into one and Klaus was always the big bad wolf but what about you?"
"Actually, you have to feed on humans to a great point to be able to turn. I, um, I used to be able to turn into a falcon. Lexi was able to turn into a snowy owl."
"A falcon?" she questioned, her eyebrows raised. "That's kind of sexy."
"Oh, shut up."
"Do you think I could turn into anything?" she asked.
"I don't know. Maybe you could."
"Caroline! Caroline, I'm home! Whoa!"
Sitting there in the center of his living room, curled up into a ball on the carpet, was a golden retriever. And a beautiful one at that.
"Where the hell did you come from?" he asked her, setting down the grocery bags on the counter.
The golden let out bark of agitation. That's when he got a good look at her eyes.
Sapphire blue.
"Caroline?"
She yipped excitedly and jumped on his chest, licking his face happily. He laughed and gently pushed her off.
"Okay, okay. Now turn back."
She swished her tail happily and began to chase it. As she turned in a perfect dance, the blond girl began to take shape again and soon it was Caroline chasing her imaginary tail. She stopped when Stefan grabbed her arms and steadied her.
"Oh, good lord. I didn't know that was going to happen." Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. "And stop laughing at me!"
She sat back on the chair, her face and chest soaking in the warm afternoon sunlight.
It had been five years since a meeting with a witch that had changed their lives forever.
Now she was watching a beautiful emerald eyed, blond little girl throwing a ball for a young golden puppy in her front yard. The yard was blazing with daisies and late blooming dandelions, apple blossoms weighing from the trees along the driveway.
It really was a good life.
"Mommy, watch me!"
"I'm watching, baby!" she called back. The girl threw the ball one last time at the puppy and then she turned a cartwheel into the soft grass, landing lightly on her bum. The puppy jumped into her lap and started slobbering all over her, her daughter's laughter filling the air.
It was her favorite sound in the whole world.
The sound of gravel crunching in the driveway made her look up. The Ford SUV pulled up and her husband lightly leapt out, followed by his raven haired brother.
That night, at dinner, surrounded by family, Stefan Salvatore found himself watching his wife.
Her eyes were sparkling, alight with happiness. A long blonde curl fell down around her cheek as she helped their daughter cut her vegetables. She chattered with their cocoa skinned friend over the top of her head, both of them laughing and joking with the beautiful toddler that looked so much like her.
He had thought he had needed Katherine. He had thought he had needed Elena.
But no, he hadn't needed either.
She was the one person that made him happier than he had ever been in his too long of a life. She had been the one person that could make him smile, make him laugh.
He needed that daisy in the sunlight.
They had made it through. Through everything that had seemed so impossible.
And now, they could spend whatever life they had left together. Together with their beautiful daughter.
Sorry, I know. Another Human!Steroline fic.
This idea was born the other night and I had to get it out. I love Steroline so much, just as much as I love Klaroline, that's why i put that little dabble of Klaroline in there as well. Also, a little touch of Bamon in the end.
Hey, I've got a Human!Klaroline oneshot up that I would really like some feedback on. It's called "and it will bring you happiness" and I really need some feedback on. Also, if there's any Criminal Minds fans reading this, I've also got a Reid/JJ oneshot up called "give a little time to me" that I would really love some more feedback on.
Okay, I'm shutting up now. Sorry this is so long. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and please grace me with some of your amazing reviews. I really love the feedback and the inspiration to write even more.