A party is the last place he wants to be, yet here he is, still in Mystic Falls for a reason that no longer matters.
Elena Gilbert is human, born to a real mother and father, and in a coma because she nearly drowned under the Wickery Bridge. How she looks like Katherine is a detail he can't explain, nor does he want to with the circumstances, happy to chalk it up to bizarre cosmic coincidence.
"Hey," a voice calls from his right. "There you are."
Looking over to see Caroline, the girl who told him this party was happening, one he never intended on joining. But what do you know? Here he is.
"Have you down to the falls yet?" She asks, eyes alight and flirtatious. "Because they are really cool at night, and I can show you. If you want."
She's had too much to drink, he tells her so, but she's nonplussed and he's not one to judge. Truth is, he hasn't seen the falls at night in nearly a hundred years, and she's cute. So, why not?
"Lead the way," he says, which makes her smile so much brighter, and she takes his arm pulling them away from the crowd.
The setting is as romantic as it ever was, that strange trick of nature, where moonlight and water vapor make for a truly majestic sight. They sit on a log and she leans in close, lips expectant for the kiss such a situation calls for, but her alcohol tinged breath keeps him from closing the gap.
"Is something wrong?" She asks, voice suddenly shy.
"You've had too much to drink," he says again, hand covering hers still wrapped around his arm.
"We've pretty much covered that," she replies, leaning in again.
He catches her chin, twists his head to kiss her cheek instead, which she pulls back from with wide eyes.
She is so cute. Like sunshine and rainbows, ready to break through his cloudy angst ridden life. If he lets her. Her face is still in his hands, thumb stroking her cheek.
"Kiss me when you're sober," is said in earnest.
She smiles so wide that she blushes, before her head falls to his shoulder.
"Okay," comes out softly.
/\
"She's useless," Damon says coldly, eyes wild with his vicious mood. "Vapid and useless."
Stefan sighs, eyes pointed toward the ceiling, as he runs a hand through his hair.
"Really? Name calling? How old are you?"
Damon swirls his drink idly, before downing it with one swallow, quick to pour another.
"Old enough to wonder why my baby brother is making time with small town Barbie, instead of trying to figure out why there's a girl in a coma, who just so happens to be the spitting image of our ex paramour."
Because I already did figure it out, he doesn't say. Because it's a dead end, and no matter who much I will try to convince you of that, you're never going to believe me.
"Caroline is good," Stefan says evenly. "Kind. And everything I have been chasing for a hundred and... You're not even listening to me."
Damon takes another drink.
"Your love life is not exactly high on my priority list."
"And yours is supposed to be on mine?"
Damon doesn't bother with a response.
"The girl in the hospital," Stefan says. "She isn't Katherine."
The statement gains him full attention.
"You sound suspiciously sure of that."
A beat.
"Do you know where she is?"
"No."
"Lie to me, Stefan. And I snap your girlfriend's pretty little neck."
"I know where she isn't."
Damon steps closer, his eyes crazier, meaner.
"Where isn't she?"
"The tomb."
/\
Caroline finds out what he is, laying bloody on cold concrete, gasping her last breaths. Stefan gnashes his wrist without thinking, pushing the wound up to her lips, his heart breaking with the terrified look in her eyes. She resists at first, a logical response considering, but he coaxes her to drink.
"It will help," he says, fighting to keep his voice steady. "Trust me. Please, please trust me."
He watches her throat work, hands gathering strength to grip his forearm, pulling herself upward as her body starts to crave more. When she pulls away, mouth stained and half open, still trying to catch her breath with eyes questioning and fearful.
"What did you do?" she asks, voice breaking.
"I-"
"What are you?"
"I'm-"
She pushes away from him, twisting to her side, palms and knees on the ground.
"Caroline-"
"What are you?" she asks again, not looking at him.
"I..."
Rising to her feet, back facing him, she starts to walk.
He follows.
"Stop," she says, still not looking at him. "I need to, I mean I, just stop. Stop and let me go."
"Caroline-"
"Let me go."
He doesn't say another word, just listens to the sound her boots make as she walks away.
It takes two days for her to come knocking. Two days in which he hasn't bothered leaving the house, drowning himself in self loathing and written words, nearly filling an entire journal in the short time.
"Invite me in," she says.
"You're always welcome he-"
"Invite me in."
He steps aside. "Come in."
She brushes past him, walking all the way to the edge of the foyer, before spinning to face him.
"I almost died," she says.
He nods.
"I almost died," she repeats. "But you, you feed me your blood like some kind of, I don't know, and like that!" She snaps her fingers. "I am okay. Better than okay. For the last two days I have felt so... Amazing. So, what the hell does it mean?"
"It healed you," Stefan replies. "My blood."
"How?"
"Well I'm not a hundred percent sure on the science, or magic, but it has that capability with humans."
Caroline's eyes go wide.
"Said like you aren't one."
His face is blank.
"Then what-"
"I think you know," he says stepping forward. "I think you've spent the last forty-eight hours researching everything you could find about what I am. You saw my face, Caroline. You knew exactly what it meant, but you couldn't say it, couldn't think it."
"Vampire," she all but whispers.
He dares another step, and she doesn't move, so he takes one more.
"This is crazy," she says.
So close he can touch her, and does, a hand grabbing for hers.
"I should be running so far away from you."
He almost smiles.
"But you're not."
Her eyes meet his.
"And why aren't I?"
He dips his forehead to press against hers.
"Because," he says softly. "Despite all of this, you're still in love with me."
/\
Katherine circles the two of them, eyes like daggers, fingers reaching out to flit along Caroline's cheek.
Stefan holds her hand, his line of sight never leaving the former love of his life, and feels the fear of his current radiate in waves.
"What are you doing here?" he asks. "I thought you were done with me."
Katherine looks taken aback, as if such a reality where he wouldn't be involved in her life, could ever exist. Stepping closer to him, head tilting up and completely ignoring Caroline's proximity, she reaches out to pull on the fabric of his shirt.
"Did you really think that, Stefan?" she asks. "I'm hurt."
Stefan scoffs, squeezing Caroline's hand.
"I haven't seen you for more than twenty years," he replies. "So, yeah. I really thought that."
Katherine pouts, eyes shooting to Caroline.
"So, I see. Tell me, I'm sorry, what was your name again?"
"Caroline," the blonde replies, with a scowl on her face.
"Caroline," Katherine repeats. "Are you as sweet as the song implies?"
The scowl drops, surprise taking over at such an odd question, head tilting toward Stefan.
"Been awhile since he's gone blonde," Katherine continues. "That's his type, you see. I mean, when he's running around with me. Bright and sweet, like sunshine and apple pie."
"Why are you here?" Stefan asks.
Katherine looks back to him, a slow grin appearing on her lips. "Maybe I missed you."
He sees the scowl reappear on Caroline's face from the corner of his eye.
"Or maybe Damon found you," Stefan says. "And told you I was here."
Katherine sighs, patting him on the chest, and stepping back.
"Thanks for that," she says with annoyance. "It's not every day you look up to see someone you've purposely avoided for the better part of two centuries, declare their undying love like they never got the hint."
Stefan's grip on Caroline's hand tightens.
"You told him."
Katherine grins again.
"That I never loved him?" she replies. "Guilty. But isn't it the funniest thing? That he never realized? That he couldn't even think I would prefer his little brother over his exclusive company? He always had an ego, Stefan. But wow, even I was impressed."
"How'd he take it?"
She actually laughs.
"You know your brother. Bodies, bodies everywhere and not a drop to drink."
Katherine looks to Caroline.
"I'd watch my back if I were you," she warns. "Damon takes things oh so personally, and loves lashing out in ways that sting so very deep."
Caroline's turn to squeeze Stefan's hand.
"You have an expiration date, sweetie." She goes on. "Whether it's by Stefan's psychotic brother, or time itself. Love isn't forever, but we are."
"And then what?" Caroline chimes in. "He comes running back to you?"
Katherine turns her attention back to Stefan, hand reaching up to bop his chin.
"Of course he will," she answers. "He always does."
/\
"I'm sorry," Stefan says, rubbing a hand over his face. "I'm so sorry. I never... I never wanted this for you."
Caroline stares at herself, mouth stained red, hands shaking as she braces against the sink. The strange ravenous hunger, still tasting blood on her tongue, is far from sated and cries out for more. A hand reaches out for the mirror, fingers tracing her reflection, trying to find the girl she once knew amongst the black eyes and spidery veins.
"I'm a m-m-murderer," she says, voice sounding so far away. "A monster."
The words pull Stefan from the guilt ridden daze. It's his blood that did this, and his relief that she turned rather than meet a true death. Quick to embrace her, head just over her shoulder, as his eyes meet hers in the reflection.
"Your emotions are heightened right now," he assures, lips brushing her ear. "It's part of the transformation."
"And this?" She asks, fingers still on the mirror. "That keeps happening to my face?"
"It's normal too," he says, his own eyes darkening with fangs protruding from his mouth. "See? When you feel the blood rushing, the hunger screaming, you tell yourself you're strong enough. That you won't let it control you."
His face reverts to normal.
"You see that?"
She nods.
"Now you try."
Her eyes close. Deep breathes. One, two, three. She is better. She is stronger. She is Miss Mystic freaking Falls.
"That's good," Stefan says, when her eyes reopen, restored to their original blue.
Her hands fall from the mirror, down to cover Stefan's still wrapped around her waist, as she smiles sadly when he presses a kiss into her hair.
"Still love me?" she asks, voice cracking with a sudden wave of insecurity.
"Do you have to ask that?"
"Yes," she insists. "Because that girl, your rainbows and sunshine, died in a hospital bed last night."
Stefan's head falls to her shoulder, squeezing gently, a single tear falling down his cheek.
"That isn't entirely true," he counters.
"No?"
"It changes what you are," he continues. "It doesn't have to change who you are."
A silent moment passes.
"And yes," he says against her. "I still love you. I think-I think I might have loved you from the moment you cornered me in that hallway, talking about a party I had no interest in, and no intention of attending."
"But you showed up," Caroline says.
"I did," he agrees. "Maybe part of me knew you were something special, even if I wasn't paying close attention, somewhere inside I knew I had to go see about this girl."
A sound escapes her throat, half sob half laugh, finally twisting around to face him with arms around his neck.
"Hey handsome," she says, blood cracking on her lips as she smiles.
"Hey beautiful," he replies, pressing a kiss against her forehead. "Who did this to you?"
"I don't know," she answers. "I was asleep. I didn't even hear them come into the room."
"Whoever it was," Stefan goes on. "Couldn't have known you had vampire blood in your system. They were trying to kill you for real."
Caroline's eyes widen with the revelation.
"I know I'm kind of a handful," she says. "But I can't imagine why anyone would want me dead."
Stefan's lips press into a thin line, knowing it probably has more to do with him than her, the guilt and shame of that slowly beginning to fester.
"Damon," he says grimly. "Or Katherine. Both are petty and spiteful. Both are pissed at me."
"I'm only seventeen years old!" she cries. "How can I be on two people's hit list?"
"Because of me," he says. "I'm sorry, Caroline. I never should have gotten you involved. I never should have-"
"Hey," she says, grabbing his chin in her hands, trying to push his guilt away by sheer will. "I had my out, finding out what you were. I didn't take it remember?"
He wants to believe her. He wants so badly for everything to be okay.
"I don't blame you," she assures. "Please know that."
He nods.
"You have me, Stefan." she insists. "As long I as I have you, and I promise, I will not let anything happen to us."
He nods again, one hand lifting to stroke her cheek.
"I stayed in this town chasing a ghost," he whispers. "But somehow, I found an angel instead."
She kisses him then, saying such things with all the madness that has befallen them and the promise of more to come, how could she not?