"I love you," she would whisper when she was human. She didn't understand what she was speaking about at the time, all she knew back then was that it felt like she was supposed to love him.

He'd scoff and tell her she's being naïvely human and he would place his hands delicately around her neck, squeezing slightly. He'd kiss her then and she'd whisper the words once more as she struggled to breathe.

"You don't know anything about love," he'd say after the second time. "I know love and this…this isn't it."

She hated that he thought he could dictate what love was and what it wasn't. She hated that he could dismiss her feelings like that. She hated that he thought she knew nothing about love. She didn't tell him any of this, however. She just pretended he hadn't spoken and let him put an arm lazily around her waist as she stared at the wall until he fell asleep.

"I love you," she'd say a third and final time after he was asleep.

And Caroline would smile as Damon pulled her closer in his sleep.

I love you.