When Damon hears Elena talking about Caroline's latest problem, Damon starts eavesdropping. It's not a conscious decision on his part, he tells himself; he just needs something to entertain himself while he downs a bag of blood.
He's rummaging through the freezer looking for a bag of AB negative, his preferred blood type, when he hears Elena say Caroline's been holed up in her room for the past three days and won't stop crying.
"What's wrong?" Stefan asks, and Damon can hear the concern in his voice.
"She healed Matt, Stefan," Elena explains. "Matt knows, and he thinks Caroline did something to Vicki. She tried to explain all that she knows, but he called her a monster and slammed the door in her face. He won't talk to her now and Caroline's devastated."
At that, Damon sighs and grabs a second blood bag to go with his before speeding through the house, and just as Elena said, Damon finds Caroline curled up on her bed crying. She's even so preoccupied that she doesn't hear him enter her room.
She doesn't even acknowledge him when he sits on the bed next to her and starts playing with her hair either.
His actions seem to sooth her, however, because her sobs diminish in volume as time goes by. Eventually, he hears only the occasional hiccup and sniff.
"Why are you here, Damon?" she asks after a while, even though she's never even turned around to look at him.
"Thought I'd bring you some food," he says, remembering his excuse for coming. "Heard you haven't left in a few days and figured you'd be hungry." He doesn't tell her that he understands what she's going through. He doesn't tell her that he sympathizes.
Caroline doesn't contradict him, and he almost smirks. "Don't want to eat," she mumbles then. "It hurts too much."
Although she can't see him, for she's facing the wall opposite him, Damon nods. "I know," he says, "but if you don't eat soon, you'll lose control, and we both know you don't want that."
"He called me a monster," she whispers. "Not that he's wrong, but it still hurts. He hates me. I love him and he hates me."
"He doesn't hate you, Blondie," Damon tells her. "He just doesn't understand."
Caroline shakes her head. "No. He hates me. He told me he can't even stand the sight of me. Do you know what that's like? To love someone so much and know that they can't accept who you are?"
He doesn't know why he says it—maybe it's just because he's been sitting on it for so long, and she's actually someone who won't judge him for it—but it comes out despite himself. "To have the person you care about most in this world look at you with disgust? Yes, Caroline, I know how that feels. It breaks something in you, something you're not sure you'll ever get back."
She turns to him then. "Do you?" she asks. "Do you get it back?"
"I don't know. Maybe someday. I haven't gotten that far yet," he looks at her sincerely, maybe for the first time since he met her, and continues, "but you'll never get that far if you don't eat." He holds out both blood bags and after a moment, she takes one.
She sits up and they drink in silence. It's only after they're both finished that Caroline speaks again. "You love Elena," she states.
Damon nods.
"Will you always love Elena?"
Damon shrugs. "I don't know, probably. Will you always love Matt?"
"I don't know, probably."
