They had gone through a lot, her and her friends. They were family by this point.
It seemed wrong to spend Christmas away from them.
But she had been doing good in school, even with all the craziness, and winter break was nearly upon them, and she needs this. She needs to pretend for one week that she isn't Caroline Forbes, vampire warrior, second best to Elena Gilbert, constant support system for her friends.
She is Caroline Forbes, vampire college student who just wants to have fun.
She doesn't tell anyone, just starts packing. Bonnie is unsurprised when she finds Caroline walking out the door, suitcase dragging behind her.
"I thought you were in Mystic Falls."
"I thought you were in class."
"No you didn't." Caroline responded without a hint of doubt in her voice. Bonnie had a sad smile on her face when she reached out and hugged the blonde tight, receiving an equal embrace in return.
"I'll tell them for you. We won't call you." Caroline breathed a sigh of relief.
"Why are you so good to me, Bonnie Bennett?"
"Because I love you. Now go, have fun."
"I love you too." The vampire was almost to the end of the hall when her friend called out to her.
"Oh, and Caroline?"
"Yeah?" She turned.
"Why Sweden?" Caroline grinned, and the excitement in her eyes seemed to force itself into the hallway around Bonnie.
"Snow."
Snow was right.
She had expected it to be… softer.
It was anything but. It threw itself violently against her face as she made her way to the Uber, and she wished she had taken the parka out of her suitcase before walking out of the airport in Stockholm. The burn of the snow making contact with her face reminded her of the tears that had so often graced her face.
Except she was smiling.
The city itself was rather historical, and she did explore that. The museums were fascinating as far as museums go, and the palaces were magnificent.
The moment everything clicks into place is when Caroline stands in the center of a town area somewhere, where the streets coming from between blocks meet in a circle. She stands right there, her arms spread out like wings and her face turned up to the angry grey sky, the snow falling softly around her, the buildings blocking the harsh wind. Or maybe the wind had finally let up, she didn't care. All she knew was that standing here with her blue eyes against the grey of the world around her, she was in love.
She was in love with Sweden, she was in love with snow, she was in love with being completely and utterly alone- completely and utterly herself. She was in love with feeling as angry as the sky in this place was.
A few days in the city was enough. She took the one and a half hour drive to the Storstenshojden ski resort by herself.
The group of college students there wasn't a surprise, as it was winter break. They were all from the same school in Spain. Only three out of five of them were actually spanish- the other two were british. They were all rich.
Caroline was in building four- right on top of the slopes. There were six rooms in each building, and a common room on the first floor of each. She settled into her room- unpacked, showered, and took a power nap. The rowdy voices of the group in the common room three floors below her is what woke her. She brushed her hair and rinsed her mouth with mouthwash before taking a deep breath.
It was time to get what she came here for; fun.
She sped down the stairs and burst through the door of the common room, feigning shock at the group inside.
"Oh, hey, sorry. I didn't realize there was anyone in here." She closed the door behind her in contrast to her words. She was met by smiles all around, and drink was thrust into her hand.
"You must be room six. Welcome!" The friendly boy who had handed her the drink slung his arm over her shoulder, his spanish accent thick as he introduced the group. The woman with a thick figure and dark skin was Francine, the porcelain skinned girl sitting on Francine's lap and rubbing her fingers through her curly hair was Jen, the boy with hair that oddly resembled Stefan's sitting in front of the fireplace was Jax, the girl eyeing Caroline as though she were a suspect was Jacqueline, Jac for short. The amiable man with his arm slung over Caroline's shoulder was Aarush.
"I'm Caroline. From Virginia."
"We've got ourselves a southern belle!" Jax called out, and the group raised their drinks as though they were toasting to Caroline's place of birth. She grinned, doing the same.
"So, Six, what brings you to Sweden?" Jacqueline asked, and Caroline struggled not to roll her eyes at the venom hidden in the girl's voice.
"Snow." She answered, smiling.
"That's exactly what brought us here!" Francine said, breaking away from sucking face with Jen.
"Well, that's what brought everyone but Jax and I." Jen added. "We've seen snow. We hate snow. But, hey, go where the wind takes you, right?" The group raised their drinks to their mouths at this, and Caroline could tell this was going to be fun.
Fun.
Even the thought seemed scary after such a long time.
Something had to go wrong.
She spent three days downing drink after drink and learning to snowboard. Jax didn't talk to her for a full thirty minutes after she landed her double front flip on her first try, and Jac stopped seeing her as a threat pretty quickly.
She knew these people around her were temporary, but she liked them a lot.
Of course, something just had to go wrong.
Her back was facing the door, standing on top of the back of the couch as the group surrounded her, handing her shot after shot and chanting things along the lines of "two more days till christmas." She downed one from Francine's hand and it hit her all at once. The group was forever amazed by her alcohol tolerance and were constantly testing it.
It was shot fortyseven that made her fall of the back of the couch.
She braced herself for the impact, knowing it wouldn't hurt her too much.
It never came. She opened her eyes and almost couldn't believe what she saw. It couldn't be real.
Blue eyes stared into bluer eyes, a smirk met a small gasp.
Her feet rested on the back of the couch, her torso rested in strong arms. Her hands gripped the upper part of those arms.
"Hello, love." His amused voice and satisfied smirk should have annoyed her, but it didn't.
"Klaus." She breathed out his name. He closed his eyes and savored it.