"Hey. Stefan? Hello." Damon poked his brother's side until Stefan's tired eyes popped open. "Uh, good you're awake. Now, why is your girl waking me up at three in the morning?"

"What?" Stefan asked in a state of confusion.

"Caroline is downstairs." it didn't surprise Damon that at those words Stefan was up and throwing on a shirt. Before Damon could make another snarky remark. Stefan was out of the room.

When Stefan got downstairs he found Caroline pacing in front of the fireplace.

"Hey." he said, his voice still full of sleep.

"I'm sorry for coming here so late. I didn't want to go to an empty house."

"You don't need to apologize for that. Is everything okay?"

"Not worse, not better. I compelled the nurses to let me stay past visiting hours, but my mom insisted I go get some rest." she sighed knowing her mom was right. "I don't think I've gotten more than an hour of sleep in the past two days."

"Well, there is always a bed here with your name on it. Come on." He put a hand on her back and lead her upstairs. "Pick whatever room you want. Do you need anything else?"

"Actually," she looked down embarrassed, "you wouldn't happen to have anything I could change into do you?" she hadn't even thought about going home just long enough to change into someone more comfortable.

Stefan nodded, "I will see what I can find."

He let Caroline get settled into a room as he went to find her some clothes. He went to the room Elena stayed in and found a pair of her pajama shorts. Instead of getting one of Elena's leftover shirts, he went back to his room and grabbed one of his own.

Caroline had picked the room right next to his, which didn't shock him. When he handed her the clothes she smiled at the shirt, knowing Elena had left shirts here too.

"Thank you." Caroline said.

"If you need me, don't hesitate."

She nodded as she watched him go, closing the door behind him. She changed and got under the covers. She brought the collar of his shirt to her nose. The smell of him eased her mind long enough for sleep to take over.

It felt so real. There was a knock at the door, but when she headed down the hall she didn't see anyone through the window. Right when she was about to turn away a man hit the door. It was him. It was Colin. He opened the door and ran at her.

"You killed me." he kept repeating as he chased her.

"You killed her too." he added when he had her cornered. She was scared and all alone.

"No, no." she screamed with her eyes shut tight.

When she opened her eyes Colin had vanished. She was looking into the eyes of her best friend. He was holding her to him and whispering that it was all going to be okay.

"It was him Stefan. I killed him and I'm killing her." Tears ran down her face faster than Stefan could wipe them away.

"No, you didn't I don't ever want to hear you say that again." he planted a kiss on the top of her head as she buried her face into his chest.

When she was finally calmed down she looked back up at him. "Stay in here tonight? Please."

The tone in her voice was enough to break his unbeating heart. "I'll be right here." They shifted into a more comfortable position, Caroline still in Stefan's arms. "I have you. You're safe."

Within a few minutes she was back to sleep. His arms surrounding her made her finally feel at rest.