"Are you home?"

"No."

"Is the key still under the pot?"

"Yes."

"I'll see you when you get home."

She was leaning against the windowsill staring out at the city when he walked through the door. Her usually perfectly curled blond hair was thrown into a knot on the top of her head. She had chosen one of his t-shirts instead of what she had been wearing previously. He dropped his keys on the counter and shrugged his jacket off.. He knew what this was. It happened maybe every four or five months. She would show up out of the blue and it would be the same thing every time. Her heart was broken, and she didn't know why this kept happening to her.

"He left me today," she said still not looking away from the city. He turned to the fridge and pulled out a beer. He popped off the top and took a deep swig before walking over to her. He leaned against the wall and watched her profile. He had no idea who the "he" she was referring to was. He had stopped remembering their names, it didn't seem liked it mattered that much anyway.

"Are you doing alright?" She chucked and finally turned to him. Her light blue eyes were fragile, thin, he could tell she had shed a tear here and there. She stared at him for a moment, and he took in how she had changed since the last time he had seen her. It had been 5 months last week. She was thinner, if that was even possible. She looked exhausted, and the light he had once so much admired was starting to fade. He only wished he could help her, show her what it really meant to be loved, but she wasn't a girl that was easily loved.

"Why do they always leave me?" She asked. He sighed and shook his head. It was this question, the same question she would always ask, that always broke his heart, because he never knew how to answer it. He could never tell her the truth. He couldn't tell her that she never stayed interested for long, he couldn't tell her how hard it was to love someone so guarded, he could never tell her how impossible it was to love someone who loved someone else.

"You never give them a chance Care."

"That's not true. You and Elena, and Bonnie, you all tell me if I want them to stay I have to let my guard down, I do let my guard down. I don't want them to leave me Stefan, I can't take anyone else walking away from me." Her voice began cracking, and he knew more tears were coming.

"Do you ever think you're too scared of them leaving that you build walls so it won't hurt as bad when they do." She scoffed and walked away from the window. He could practically hear her mind working hard to come up with the argument she was about to spit at him.

"I'm not having this argument again, Stefan, I can't do it anymore," She said as she sat down on the couch. He followed suit and sat next to her. "I'm sick of feeling this way. I just want one of them to stay for longer than 6 months."

"One of them will, you just have to open yourself up to it." She gave a short nod and curled up next to him on the couch, her head falling lightly on her shoulder. She took the beer from his hands and took a long sip. He wrapped his arms around her and they sat in silence.

He could remember when she was happy. She was always so happy, so full of light and life. He had met her when his father had moved his brother and him to the tiny town in Virginia. She was bubbly, kind, and eager to please. They had become friend, and their friendship had only grown stronger as the years had passed. Somewhere along the way he had fallen. If he had to pick an exact moment he knew, he wouldn't be able to, it happened slowly, and had taken him far too long to realize.

He had been too late. He watched her go in and out of relationships, as he went in and out of his own. He sat by her side as she giddily told her all about the charming man she had met when she studied abroad in London. He watched as she fell in love with the British stranger. He congratulated her as she shoved her left hand in his face. He held her while she cried dressed in white. That was when this began. He became her go to guy when she was alone. He never minded. He would do whatever it took just to be close to her.

He was a fool. It was so foolish to never move on from the blond hair, blue eyed beauty. After the initial heartbreak she wasn't able to love the same way. She could never open up. Sometimes he thought she played a game. How many men could she get to love her. He had no doubt that the men she chose fell in love with her, she was easy to fall in love with, it just wasn't easy to stay in love with her. It was impossible to love someone so closed off, so unpredictable, and yet here he sat, his arms around the girl he would probably never stop loving.

"I need you to make me a promise."

"Anything."

"When we turn 40, if we're single, we should get married." She moved away to look at him in the eyes. He can see the spark of light in them and he chuckles, but she shakes her head. "I'm serious. We'll leave the city, we'll go to a small town, like the one we grew up in. We'll have dogs, and we'll be happy."

"I promise if somehow you're single at 40, I'll be standing at the end of the aisle waiting for you," his chest tightened as he spoke those words. There was nothing more he wanted to see her wanting him, really wanting him, but she would never want him, at least not as a first choice. He wasn't a first choice, he was her backup plan, but the hope it gave him, was enough for him to let the discomfort of that fact go.

"I love you Stefan, I do, you're my best friend, and one of the best things that ever happened to me."

"I love you too, Care." She smiled and kissed his cheek lightly.

The next time he sees her, there's a tall, curly haired, dimpled man by her side. He gives the man a hug, and listens to his reasoning. He watched her face, and how truly happy she looks. Deep down he wished he would be the one to be the light back, but it figured that the one to take it would be the one to give it back. He wanted to hate the man before him, he wanted him to burn for what he had done, but he couldn't, not when he saw her face.

She told him how they ran into each other, and how she had finally given him a piece of her mind. She told him of how long he waited for her to come back around. She apologized for not visiting in the 5 years they hadn't seen each other. She tells him all about how the man by her side had changed, and that it was okay, that they were taking it slow. She tells him about how the British stranger is the best thing that happened to her, and he is reminded that loving the girl sitting across from him was like playing catch in the dark, impossible.

A/N: Please tell me what you think! I am so excited for this. Also if you have any recommendations or requests I would be happy to take them! Thank you for reading.