As sneaky as Stefan can be, he doesn't often choose to be subtle. So she'd known he wasn't exactly happy lately. Finals were killing her (a double major in chemistry and biology was no joke, as it turned out) and even the fact that she didn't need as much sleep as a human did was only barely keeping her ahead of her coursework.
She totally should have listened to her advisor when he told her the extra credit was a bad idea. And maybe to Stefan too, when he pointed out that there was no reason she had to do her degree in only four years. She had nothing but time, after all.
Luckily, (for Caroline) a threat had popped up at an opportune time, and distracted Stefan. And Caroline didn't even mind the torture sessions that probably happened in the basement (as long as the Salvatores kept it down, so she could study). Stefan had been occupied, first in ferreting out the group responsible, and then with dealing with it. So he hadn't had time to feel neglected.
But, alas, the new bad guy had been miserably easy to crack, and Stefan had quickly gotten bored. And Damon started to bond with his old pal, Enzo.
This meant that Stefan had an excess of free time on his hands, since Caroline was glued to her books. He'd paged through her textbooks a few times, but had quickly gotten bored. He'd journaled, or read, but eventually she could feel the weight of his eyes on her, feel the wave of broodiness emanating from his side of the couch, the irritated shifting that he didn't actually have to do.
It had messed with her concentration, something she could not afford. So Caroline had dragged a desk into one of the guest rooms on the far side of the house, declared it a Salvatore free zone (and threatened to get Bonnie, to spell it, if she had to. And Bonnie totally liked her better than Stefan and Damon so she would do it). And proceeded to study until her eyes were fuzzy and she could feel her fangs aching for blood.
She'd gotten a bag from the deep freezer in the basement, shed her clothes, and collapsed into bed. Pushed and prodded at Stefan until he was in an acceptable cuddling position, and fallen asleep as soon as his hand was in her hair.
Woke up, and did the same thing the next day. And then the next.
It's on the fourth day, that her routine is interrupted. Because someone had breached the sanctity of her room. And messed with her lists.
Her perfectly compiled, carefully organized list of things she needed to do. And not just the paper copy (which she kept because nothing was quite as satisfying as drawing a thick line through a task she'd accomplished) but the one she kept on her tablet.
And ugh, how did he always figure out her passcodes?!
Each list now has a new entry, right at the top.
#1: Stefan
Yeah, not subtle at all.
Dropping the lists onto the desk, Caroline turns towards the door, opening her mouth and shouting his name. He's outside the door in under ten seconds, face schooled into an expression so innocent that she knows he's trying not to laugh. "You rang?"
She gropes behind her, flinging her notebook at him, making an inarticulate sound of annoyance. Stefan dodges it easily, and it sails past his shoulder. He barely glances at it, even when it hits the wall, likely leaving a dent, if the sound's anything to go by. The corner of his mouth ticks up, and he lets his eyes rake down her body, "You seem tense. Anything I can do to help?"
Caroline narrows her eyes, does her very best not to let the hungry way he's looking at her affect her. But she crosses her arms, to hide the tightening of her nipples, curses herself for not bothering to put on a bra. Her voice doesn't betray her, when she speaks, staying steady and scolding, "It would help if you didn't defile my lists."
He shrugs, takes a few steps forward, his eyes on her lips, "You say defile, I say improve."
"Improve?" she scoffs, "that's what you're going with. Really?"
"Give me fifteen minutes. You'll feel relaxed and refreshed, and won't that improve your concentration?"
It probably would. She hadn't gone days without sex in years, and it probably wasn't good for her, vampire and all.
Still, she takes a step back, mirroring his step forward. She wasn't one to give in easily. "Fifteen minutes? That's it? You're not really selling yourself here, Stefan."
It's a direct hit, like she knew it would be, and he's moving before she can blink, lifting her and setting her on the desk, wrapping her legs around his hips. He's got his hands under her shirt, sliding up her ribs, when he mumbles his next words against her lips, "You're well aware of what I can do in fifteen minutes."
He kisses her then, hot and demanding. Caroline lets her fangs emerge, slices into his lip and sucks down on the blood with a moan. He shreds her top, the remnants fluttering forgotten to the floor, grinding his hips in to hers. Stefan tears his mouth away from hers, his eyes dark and just a little triumphant, "Does this mean you're taking a study break?"
"Fine," Caroline agrees, just a little breathless, "fifteen minutes." Before she winds her hand in his hair, and pulls him back down to her mouth.
And maybe it's more like forty-five. But every second is totally worth it.