When Stefan needs help teaching Ivy how to deal with her new life as a vampire he can think of no one better to help than his best friend, Caroline. However, Caroline is less than enthusiastic. With Halloween happening only once a year can these two friends settle their differences or is their friendship over? Includes Stivy and implied Klaroline.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries TV show. That honor goes to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson.
Hello, my lovely readers. This story started out as my attempting to write a story for Stivy but I miss the Steroline friendship and I wanted to show how they could get past all the drama. I also love Klaroline so they found their way into the story. Nothing new. On with the show…
Baby Vampire Costume:
"She needs our help, Caroline," Stefan argued as he looked at Caroline. She was angry. Actually, she was furious as she threw clothes down on the bed. They hadn't really talked since the whole awkwardness with her trying to confess that her feelings for him were no longer entirely of the purely friendly nature. He was just hoping that if he could refocus Caroline's attention on helping his girlfriend through her initial urges and then Caroline would begin to overcome her misplaced feelings.
"Seriously," Caroline snapped at Stefan who sighed as he looked up at the ceiling. He could almost feel the rage spewing out of her pores.
"Yes, Caroline. I seriously need you to help me. That's what you're kind of known for. Helping people that are in need. You remember what it was like to be a new vampire with no idea what you are or what had been done to you," Stefan whispered as Caroline crossed her arms over her chest.
"Yeah, I also remember that my best friend, who is clearly no longer the same person, was the one who pulled me back from the edge," Caroline yelled and Stefan shook his head.
"Yes, that's the point. I helped you and now we have this amazing friendship. And I am asking you, as your friend, for you to help me save Ivy's life," Stefan reasoned.
Caroline scoffed loudly. "One problem, Stefan. She's dead."
"So were you. Damon wanted to kill you but Elena stood up for you. Now, Ivy needs someone to stand up for her. Or do you want to just kill her and act like this is different because you have a crush?" Stefan snapped. He had had enough and Caroline's jaw dropped. "Look, Caroline, I get it. We've all been through one hell of a summer, but you've got to get over it. You have feelings for me. You're having them because you miss what's familiar. You're scared and lonely and feel like your world has been ripped open and nothing makes sense anymore. But you're not in love with me. Or whatever." Stefan said as calmly as he could.
"You don't know what you're talking about," Caroline growled as she turned her back on him.
"Klaus," Stefan snapped at her.
"What?" Caroline gasped, whirling around on her heel and staring at Stefan with wide eyes.
"What if Klaus came back tomorrow? Would you still think you had feelings for me, Care? Or would you let him take you to New Orleans? Or maybe you would just sneak off with him and pretend the whole time that you spent with him doesn't mean anything to you? Huh? Because I went through this with Elena. Okay? I don't really feel like being the guy who plays the role of filling in until the woman he loves realizes that she would rather be with someone else. Because you have feelings for Klaus. And that's not going to just go away because he's not here." Stefan spat out and then sighed when Caroline's eyes filled with tears.
"Get out," Caroline said so quietly so that if Stefan was human he would not have been able to hear her.
"Caroline," Stefan murmured but she was walking away and locking herself in the bathroom. He could hear her quiet sobbing as he walked out into the hallway. Striding across the campus, Stefan wondered if he had pushed Caroline too far. She had been through hell just like everyone else. He knew just how much she cared, even about Damon who she proclaimed she could not stand the sight of.
When he walked into the café Ivy was sitting at a small table with Luke who he had talked into vamp sitting. "Stefan," Ivy breathed happily when she saw him. He smiled as he came to stand beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist.
Turning to Luke, he nodded. "Thanks for looking out for her," Stefan said quietly. He knew how hard it would be for Ivy to come out in public but someone had to watch her while he wasn't with her.
"It wasn't a problem," Luke replied. "But I do have a class that I'm almost late for." Getting up, he waved before taking off.
"Did she agree to help me?" Ivy asked and Stefan shook his head.
"No, I'm sorry," Stefan said. "It looks like we're on our own tonight," he whispered, stroking her cheek. Internally he was hoping that he could keep a good eye on her. He knew after what happened with Vikki Donavon how easy it could be for a baby vampire to lose control. However, Stefan was determined that he would not lose Ivy again.
"It's okay. I'm sure we'll be okay," Ivy replied with more confidence than Stefan felt.
"Sure," Stefan replied, kissing the top of her head.
Hours later Stefan was dressed as a vampire. He had to admit that he was paying tribute to Damon who would have found the irony hilarious. "Ready?" he called as Ivy came out wearing a black cape and a long black dress with fake fangs inserted to cover her real ones.
"How do I look?" Ivy asked shyly.
"Beautiful. As I predicted you would," Stefan replied with a chuckle. He gathered Ivy in his arms and kissed her lightly before pulling away when his phone rang in his pocket. Looking at the name, Stefan felt a little shocked.
"Hey, maybe she changed her mind," Ivy told Stefan as she peered at the screen.
Hitting the answer button, Stefan placed the phone to his ear. "Hi," he called.
"Do you still want my help?" Caroline asked and Stefan grinned at Ivy with a quick nod.
"Yes," Stefan told her.
"Fine. Then come to my dorm room. If you are not here within half an hour I'm going out to party by myself since Elena went out to some stupid party at one of the sororities and I didn't feel like going," Caroline moaned.
"It could be fun," Stefan replied mildly as he heard Caroline huff in annoyance.
There was silence for a moment before Caroline responded. "Are you coming, or not?"
"We'll be there in five," Stefan told Caroline who huffed again as he hung up.
Ivy was grinning from ear to ear. "She's helping. Oh, my God. This is great. Thank you, Stefan. I swear that I will not disappoint either of you."
Taking Ivy's hand, Stefan led her to Caroline and Elena's dorm room. Knocking, he was greeted by an angry looking Princess. "You're here. Great," Caroline said with false cheer as Stefan and Ivy entered the room. Closing the door, Caroline shoved a blood bag in Ivy's face. "First, you need to fill up on blood bags before we go anywhere so you don't get hungry. You also need to drink. Not to the point that you're drunk and start acting Damon Salvatore stupid but more like Elena Gilbert drunk. I swear that girl cannot hold her liquor."
"I don't know Damon," Ivy said quietly as she placed the blood bag to her lips and began to drink.
"There's not much to miss," Caroline snapped. "He was a supreme pain in the ass. He liked to drink and kill people and fall in love with people he shouldn't and he's my sire and I hate him. Like a lot. He was just a bad, bad, very horrible, rotten person who should not even be mentioned because he was so very horrible."
"Caroline!" Stefan muttered under his breath, feeling irritated with his friend's rant as his brows knitted together. When he heard Caroline suddenly gulp like she was choking, he looked up to see that Caroline was crying. Placing her hands to her cheeks, she brushed the tears away.
"He saved the town that we lived in and a whole bunch of my friends and then he died," Caroline said quietly. Then she shook her head. "And look at my makeup." Shrugging, she pulled out a compact to fix the damage. "Okay. I think we should go. I need to get really, really wasted."
The group walked out of the room, down the hall and headed in the direction that Caroline was walking to like her life depended on it. "Is she always like this?" Ivy whispered to Stefan as Caroline scoffed but didn't reply.
"Like what?" Stefan asked, feeling curious about his girlfriend's take on his best friend.
"She seems like she's not taking your brother's death very well. Were they like an item or something?" Ivy inquired and Caroline scoffed more loudly this time.
Stefan sucked in a deep breath. "They had a complicated relationship. My brother was… not in his right mind when he met Caroline and he did some things to her that are for her to talk about. But when Damon began to change so did his relationship with Caroline. You could even say that they were friends by the time he died," Stefan whispered as they came to stand outside the house that the party was being hosted in.
"Oh," Ivy said.
"So, the moral of the story is to never flip the switch and treat people like they're toys," Caroline called. "We're here." Standing on the porch, Caroline waited for someone to invite them in when Elena came to the door with a cup in hand.
"Hey, Susie?" Elena called to a tall, red head. "Can you invite my friends in?"
Susie came to the door and laughed. "I get it. Because they're vampires," the girl said who had obviously had too much to drink. "Come in," she said with a giggle and then walked away to meet up with a zombie.
"I can't believe you came. And with Stefan and his girlfriend," Elena said mocked shocked.
"What can you say, I didn't want to sit at home and be the sad, loner girl," Caroline said with a laugh.
"Well, I'm glad you came," Elena replied, hugging Caroline before grinning at Stefan and Ivy. "Look at you two. That is so cute. You're all grrr argh," Elena told them, curling her hands and baring her non-fangy teeth.
"Yeah. I couldn't resist," Stefan said with a shrug as Ivy smiled at the group.
"So what can I do as a vampire without getting into trouble?" Ivy asked Elena and Caroline who grinned at each other. Taking Ivy's hand, Elena dragged her toward a drinks' table and the three vampire girls took cups and began to chug before they climbed on a table.
"You can dance," Elena shouted and they began to jump up and down as Ivy cheered, throwing her hands above her head. Stefan watched the girls feeling happy as he nodded to the beat of the music. The only people that were missing were Bonnie and Damon. If he closed his eyes he could see Bonnie up on the table with the three girls and Damon trying to join them. He wondered what Damon would think of Ivy. Stefan hoped he would like her, not as much as he liked Elena though…
"Come join us, Stefan," Elena shouted to him.
"Nope," Stefan called as he came to stand closer to the table. "Not going to happen."
Ivy hopped off the table and wrapped her hands around Stefan's neck. "This is nice. Your friends are really nice," she said.
"Really?" Stefan replied.
"Yeah," Ivy replied as she laid her head on his shoulder. "And I've managed to not hurt anyone."
"It's a day to day process," Stefan told her and Ivy nodded as she pulled back and smiled up at him as he spun her in a circle.
When the party was over Stefan walked with Ivy, Elena and Caroline back to Caroline and Elena's dorm. Caroline stopped outside the door and looked at Stefan. "Can I talk to you for a moment? Alone," she asked. Stefan nodded and Elena went upstairs with Ivy to give them privacy. Caroline drew in a deep breath. "Stefan, the things that you said to me earlier today, they were so far out of line that if anyone else said them then I would probably not talk to them for like a month."
"A month?" Stefan joked as Caroline rolled her eyes but smiled.
"But you're right," Caroline said. "I do have feelings for Klaus. And it wouldn't be fair for me to get involved with anyone… So, I kind of called Klaus," Caroline whispered and then looked at Stefan with a guilty expression.
"And?" Stefan asked, waiting for Caroline to continue.
"And I told him that I just called to see if anyone had killed him yet. And he was all charming and snarky," Caroline said, her eyes beginning to glow as she giggled.
"Klaus? Snarky? Really?" Stefan shook his head.
"Uh huh. And he's okay. Or at least he told me he's okay. Not that he would tell me if he weren't okay. And I wished him a happy Halloween," Caroline told Stefan who was nodding.
"And?" Stefan prodded because he knew there was more.
"I kind of told him that I missed him. Just a little. Not like my life is going to fall apart if I never see his face again and I'm declaring my undying love missing him, but just that I… I don't know…" Caroline shook her head but was smiling anyway.
"And he said?" Stefan waited as Caroline paused.
"He told me that he missed me, too. And that he… that he loves me. Which I already knew. So, I didn't know what to say because you don't say I love you for the first time over the phone. That's just bad manners. You say it in person," Caroline said, biting her lower lip. "So, I might have purchased a ticket to go to New Orleans around Christmas break. I'm not sure I'm going but I bought it. You know, just in case I can't get this spell reversed and everyone else has something else to do and I just thought that I haven't really been anywhere. And you could keep an eye on my mom and make sure that she's not lonely during the holiday, right? Because I so couldn't bring her to New Orleans with me. And what would she think if she knew about Klaus? And -"
"Caroline," Stefan yelled, stopping his friend in mid-babble.
"Yeah," Caroline replied, her cheeks crimson.
"Happy Halloween," Stefan said, pressing his lips to her forehead.
"Happy Halloween," Caroline replied, hugging Stefan. "Do you think that Klaus would think that it was cliché if I showed up on Christmas? What if he doesn't celebrate? Or if he wanted me to stay in his room? I like my space now. I'm totally comfortable with having my own room since I'm stuck with a roommate that Whitmore chose. But he probably has like the best bed ever made." Stefan listened to Caroline ramble on with his arm wrapped around her shoulders as they headed inside the building and up the stairs so that he could collect his girl.
It wasn't such a bad Halloween after all and he had found a way to distract himself from the hole in his universe that was called Damon Salvatore. He wondered what Damon would say about Caroline going to NOLA for Christmas? Maybe Damon would be home by December to tell him. That would be a nice present.
Thanks for reading, faving, following and for reviewing, so, please do, be kind and review. Mhaw ha ha ha ha. Happy Halloweeeeeeeennnnnnnnn!
Peace,
Jessica