Inspired by a song titled, Nothing Like You and I by The Parishers. I strongly suggest you listen to it while reading, it helped tremendously while writing!
Could be a bit AU considering I haven't sat down to watch this season of TVD. It's my first fanfiction, so ignore grammatical errors if you find any. Leave reviews! I'll love you all forever!
Oh! And I don't own TVD or the characters, though, it would be quite nice.
Stefan and Caroline come to an understanding.
We spent some time together crying,
spent some time just trying,
to let each other go.
The funeral wasn't large.
It was simple; minimalistic in style. Just like he would've wanted. The casket was black in color, shiny silver plated handles and corners were almost too bright in the sunlight reflecting off of the snow. The sky had been a traitorous blue, the clouds too happy and fluffy for the events of that day.
Caroline could still tell you what everyone was wearing; could recite the most memorable lines from the most meaningful eulogies; could tell you exactly what cuff links shone in the buttonholes of the suit she had picked out for him after Damon told her to deal with it.
She couldn't tell you why, after almost fifteen years, all of those things were still so fresh in her memory. Fifteen years really wasn't much more than the blink of an eye to a vampire, but they began dragging on for her after he was gone. It had taken Damon years to convince her that it was okay to laugh again. Caroline had argued with him, fought tooth and nail, because she believed that if Stefan couldn't laugh anymore, then why should she be able to?! Bonnie and Elena weren't much help; neither of them could truly understand what she had lost the day that Stefan had died. Caroline hadn't expected them to comprehend the tremendous hole she carried around with her; the emptiness that ate away at her humanity on those dark nights when she use to seek comfort in kind eyes and an easy smile.
No one had protested when Damon had slid his brother's sunwalking ring onto Caroline's finger the day of his brother's funeral. They all knew it had belonged to her; that he had belonged to her.
It was three months to the day after his funeral that Caroline saw him for the first time. She caught a glimpse of perfectly scultped bed hair over the back of her sofa. By the time she dropped her bags and ran through the door, he was gone. No one believed her. They all thought it was from the grief she felt. Her mind as manifesting hallucinations to make herself feel better. Caroline knew herself better than that.
Two weeks and a lot of foot stomping, pacing, and a few hundred, "Stefan Salvatore, show yourself!"'s, Caroline finally saw him again. His arms were crossed over his chest, brow drawn down in thought, and he didn't look happy with her. The few words he did speak, he got straight to the point. Stefan told her she needed to pick herself up, brush this off as an experience and move on from it. He tried to tell her that punishing herself for eternity wasn't going to bring him back and, even though he missed her little pouty faces, they weren't going to attract any handsome suitors.
Caroline never called on him again after that. She spent nights drowing her feelings and days sculpting this fake image so that people would stop asking her if she was okay. It was that life that lead her to this moment. Fifteen years to the day, Damon and Elena were getting married. Did they not realize what they were doing by asking her back to Mystic Falls on this particular day?
No, those two knew exactly what they were doing. They knew Caroline wouldn't deny one of her best friend's wedding invitations, because that's what she did - Caroline Forbes made people happy.
The ceremony had been beautiful. She hadn't expected anything less. Her bridesmaid bouquet of crimson daisies and white lillies had been left on the passenger seat of her car when she climbed out. Caroline had picked one of the flowers with the longest stem to take with her. Still in her wedding garb, the blonde drew in an unneeded deep breath and stuck her chin in the air, her feet moved in the direction of his gravestone.
Stefan Salvatore.
Beloved brother and friend.
"I didn't ask for you..." Caroline hadn't bothered looking to the ghost perched on his own gravestone, instead she fingered the flower in her hands carefully, her heels sinking into the soft ground.
Stefan cleared his throat and then stood to his feet. He knew he couldn't touch her. He couldn't comfort her like he use to be able to, so he had to get her to move on. Fifteen years and still no luck. His brother and Elena had found happiness. Caroline deserved so much better than what she was doing to herself. "Sometimes you have to take things into your own hands."
Finally, the blonde looked at him, her eyes shining with tears, "Oh? It's always helpful when people support that decision, isn't it?"
He knew what she was referring to. Fifteen years and she still hadn't forgotten a single detail of that day. Caroline had tried to protect him. The feisty eternally young girl had thrown herself into him, against the protests of her friends, when she saw the stake being thrust towards him. It hadn't been fast enough. Rebekah missed Caroline's heart by millimeters, but was successful in piercing Stefan's quite nicely. He had turned hard as stone and gray before Damon could pull the stake free from them both.
"Caroline..." It was the way he said her name. A way no one else had ever said it before. Soft yet demanding.
Caroline swallowed thickly, held up a hand and shook her head softly at him, "Don't, Stefan...I need...you to stop."
Not a word came from him as he watched her try to compose herself. It was heartbreaking. His best friend, his savior, was falling to pieces and he couldn't even hold her. Stefan felt entirely too helpless. So, he moved as close to her as he could, he could feel her letting go. She was trying to heal. He would let her. Though it would feel like nothing more than a cool wind, Stefan held his hand over her chest, above her dead heart, "You know that I loved you, that I love you, right?"
Caroline nodded furiously, wanting nothing more than to cling to him and cry her frustration away over the conflicting feelings she was being subjected to, but she knew why she came here today. Why she needed to come here.
"Trust me when I tell you that you need to let me go." Stefan caught her eyes with his own to emphasize his point, "Let me go, Caroline. Go to Italy, find your happiness. Love until it hurts. You have to. For me..."
"Okay..." The blonde managed to squeak out a word before letting herself sob openly, "I'm so sorry, Stefan. I should've saved you.."
Stefan stepped away from her, there was a slight tug at his own chest. It was time for him to go, "Come to me. Whenever you want, Caroline. I'll always listen, I'll always be here."
When she watched him fade away, Caroline knelt against the wet grass. The flower in her hand was placed purposefully against the gray stone and the blonde wept. She wept for the loss of a love, a friendship, a brother and the greatest man she'd ever known.
"I love you too, Stefan..."
There's nothing like you and I,
so why do I even try?