She's ten and he's fifteen and if Bonnie or Elena was here she's be fake-primping her hair or something because that's what they'll expect her to do, but it's only six o'clock in the morning on a Saturday so she's entirely too unimpressed to do anything but mumble half-hearted threats in her mother's direction as she's transported from her bed to the couch.

She'd gone to bed late too, far later than she's ever, ever stayed up because her household was in a frenzy and her parents were arguing more than usual and she couldn't, wouldn't sleep until she found out what was going on.

However, she is ten and her mother had refused to let her out all day so she was bored and strangely drained and the last thing she hears before sleep takes her is a quiet, "Thank you, John. I owe you. See you in the morning."

And the rest is sort of history.

He's beautiful, and totally annoyed at her very presence which prompts Caroline to be annoyed at his because she's ten, not six, and does not need a babysitter thankyouverymuch.

But no.

Her mother was adamant and that was that, wasn't it?

So they somehow found themselves sitting on the couch watching Indiana Jones movies as she tried to explain to him that yes, she was a girl, and no, Barbie wasn't her thing.

He grinned and told her she looked like one ("All blonde hair and blue eyes and freakin' tiny.") and she didn't know whether to be offended or smile like an idiot because it's totally sexist and she's a future Miss Mystic Falls, not a future housewife-doll-thing but no matter which way you look at it, Barbie is kind of pretty.

For a doll without opposable thumbs.

He stays a week with his father and brother, who swear a lot and read a lot respectively, and she finds she actually likes him. Not like, like like, but still. He's pretty cool for somebody sleeping on a couch downstairs.

And she really, really likes the jacket.

She doesn't end up telling her best friends about him, and she doesn't end up finding out why they're here exactly because everybody changes the subject when she asks and Dean's more persistent than she is, but it's her first ever friend-who's-a-boy and by the end of the week her parents aren't even fighting.

They're still avoiding each other and glaring when they think she can't see them but it's quiet and she's not crying, hasn't cried all week in fact and the night before he and his family leave she looks at him and smiles, says "I don't know what you did, but I don't think my family has ever been this normal. You're a hero, Dean."

(She'll never know that a few weeks later somebody who reminds Dean of her (all blonde hair and blue eyes and tiny) ends up walking away as he calls out frantically that's he's a hero. He never tells her and she probably wouldn't have believed him anyway.

He was her hero, how couldn't he be anybody else's?)

When she sees Stefan he's all leather and messy hair and she's reminded so much of the boy who slept on her couch for a week and didn't laugh and instead looked at her with respect when she said she preferred Indiana Jones to Barbie, but he's very clear he doesn't want her ("You and I? It'll never happen.")

And so she goes for the other brother.

She's sixteen and she doesn't really know how old he is because she never asks but it's her first boyfriend and she's over the freaking moon because Elena got Stefan but she got the other one.

And she tells herself this one is better.

And then keeps telling herself until she realises she doesn't believe it, then she starts telling herself this is as good as it gets because it's not like Dean's here, is it?

Caroline's a smart girl, so when she starts having lapses in her previously perfect memory she does more than wonder why, she writes lists and records times because this isn't natural and what if she's being drugged or has cancer or something?

(She likes her hair, doesn't want it to fall out or anything)

When she loses an entire day and a half she gets so freaked out she tells her mum (something she wouldn't ordinarily do, especially considering she's currently mad at her about something, something important that she can't remember) who promptly rips the scarf from her neck and gasps in horror.

She's being dragged into the bathroom and stripped and she's freaking out because her mum is showing more emotion than she ever has beforeand Caroline doesn't understand why.

Then she sees it.

They're everywhere. Bruises caused by fingerprints (on her breasts, on her thighs and ohmygod has she had sex?) and scratches deep enough to still be bleeding and between all of them are the bite marks and she doesn't remember where any of it came from.

She can't even feel them; at least she thinksshe can't. She doesn't remember if she supposed to.

She thinks that scares her so much more than any inkling she has about how it happened.

So she lets her mum run her a bath and wash her hair and tell her "I'll take care of it."

And the next morning when she goes downstairs Dean's there.

He's older, way more beautiful than should be humanly possible, and he's not grinning. He always grinned in her memories and she's crushed to see his face look so serious.

"Wow, Caroline. You got old."

And he hugs her back just as tightly when she launches herself into his arms.

They're sitting on the couch watching Indiana Jones (it's kind of their thing, even after all this time) and he isn't even the first one to talk about it.

As some random guy is getting his heart pulled out in Temple of Doom she closes her eyes tight and covers her face, because she's not brave, not at all but its less about the gore in the movie and more the idea of talking to Dean about this (about anything really because what if all he sees is that little ten year old girl?).

Her voice is subdued as she peeks through her fingers at him, "I don't know how it happened."

"It's okay." He turns to her, and smiles (and it's not quite his infectious and familiar grin but she likes this one more because she feels so safe and she didn't even know she remembered how to feel that way), "I do. I'll take care of it."

And she believes him.

So when he comes home one night covered in blood with a knife and a stake in his hands and tells her that who did it is dead and not ever, ever coming back she believes him.

Only, he leaves and she finds out he got the wrong person (or vampire or whatever) and then she dies (smothered by a pillow while in her hospital gown and its tacky and it's terrifying) and her heart breaks a little because he'd looked so proud of himself that night.

She isn't mad, because it's Damon, and he's fucking smart so of course she doesn't blame Dean, but she decides not to tell him, ever, because he thinks he saved her and she thinks she might love him a little.

He's still her hero.

And he left his number in her phone and that's pretty cool.

Bullets through the head hurt.

They burn (and she thinks she can feel one in her brain) and no amount of tears makes the pain go away but even as she's screaming and begging and asking "Why are you doing this to me?" all she can think is; Dean would probably save her right about now.

She thinks maybe she should have called him months ago so he could be here.

But he isn't and he doesn't and Stefan does (with some help from Tyler, some belated and unappreciated help) and it feels so, so wrong because Stefan was nice, was a really, really nice guy but he wasn't Dean.

Damon is no substitute for Stefan but Stefan was definitely not substitute for Dean.

He wasn't her hero and him saving her was kind of a huge turn-off for some reason. Elena needs saving, not Caroline (except when she does), and she tells herself she only needs Dean.

And it doesn't feel like when she told herself Damon was a good replacement. She knows she's not lying to herself, but it's still kind of shocking considering she's spent a total amount of nineteen days with him.

And so she goes home, refuses Stefan's offer of calling Elena and Bonnie and instead spends the night watching Indiana Jones movies.

She doesn't even know when she started crying and she doesn't remember exactly when she calls his number but she does and she's still crying and probably sounds like a mess (at least he can't see her).

"Dean? It's Caroline. I need you."

He takes her away from Mystic Falls and it wasn't an easy argument to win, but when she tells him about the bullets, puts his fingers against the spots they entered and exited and explains that she's a monster, she gets it, but she needs him.

(Like she always does, and she apologises for that too).

And he helps her pack a bag (only one and boy does she complain, but she forgoes makeup and instead packs the Indiana Jones dvds and he looks a little less out of place sitting on her bed as he smiles proudly) and shuffles her into the car and tells her it won't be easy and she should probably lose the heels.

"It's okay. I have you, right?"

"Yeah. You have me."

And she believes him.