AN: I own nothing if I did the Mayor would have had a longer death. Mason and Lexi wouldn't be dead and Tyler wouldn't become a Hybrid. Thought of this the other day hope enjoy. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, even if not by blood you are still a dad.

AN2: I posted this on Live Journal previously finally posting it here.

Father's Day 2012

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There was a saying that if you loved somebody that you had to let them go. Tyler looked down at the head stone wondering what you were supposed to do when you couldn't stand somebody. He'd never say it out loud, but he'd lived in fear half his teenage years. He wished right now he could be looking at the person lying in the ground and tell them off. He wanted so badly to tell them that he was somebody, he'd gotten the girl, he didn't have to be stuck in a loveless marriage, and he certainly didn't have to verbally and physically abuse his child.

He hadn't come here before at all, not even the day they put his dad in the ground. Not once would he, before now, have given his dad the luxury. He didn't even know what he was going say right now, he hadn't come here to see his dad's grave. There was another one he had come to visit, but had gotten here first.

Caroline walked up behind Tyler taking his hand. She'd come here to see her dad's grave because today was Father's Day. She'd put flowers on his grave and said a few words to him. She'd known it was going be hard coming here, but she'd done it. She knew why Tyler was here, it wasn't just to see her dad's grave. He had somebody else to visit besides the grave he was standing at. He just didn't know who it was she'd brought him here to see.

Feeling her hand in his it seemed like he could do anything, he didn't give a damn about what he'd been taught as a child. However, he swallowed back trying not to stop himself from doing this. He had to do this, get it off of his chest. He'd been waiting almost two years to do this and he had to do it. Caroline being here gave him the strength to do it.

"I never once asked for what you did to me, not once did I ask to be abused, but you still did it," the pain had been there for years. He never could escape the hell he'd lived in when his dad was alive. "I was supposed to make mistakes, you were supposed to love me, but you never did," he never once heard those words from his dad, not even as a child. He never got praised for the good things he did do, he had to get it all out.

Caroline stayed quiet listening to all the things that Tyler was saying. She knew that Richard Lockwood was a horrible person. He pretended to be caring and kind, but he wasn't, and she'd witnessed that years ago. Tyler's thirteenth birthday party, they'd been having fun and he just came in said they have to go now. No explanation no reasoning behind telling them they had to go and Tyler said no it was too early for them to go. His dad yelled him in front all them and the things that was said shouldn't have ever been said.

She'd never asked were the bruises come from after that day; they weren't all from the football practices. The mayor didn't just verbally abuse his son, it was physical too. It was like they were invisible to others, that nobody cared what the Mayor did. He ran this town so he got away with anything, but not everything. He'd been killed almost two years ago and it served him right going out the way he did.

"You were supposed to be there and actually give a damn other than when I was screwing up, it's your fault that mom drinks so much, and it's your fault that I thought I deserved what I got," He was trying not to loose it right now because he wasn't done. His dad couldn't yell back at him or try and hit him now. For the last year and half he'd thought that if he came here it wouldn't be a grave. His dad would be waiting to get him off guard.

He named off a list of things that he'd done that was never good enough for his dad. "I never even showed you my art, I knew you'd degrade it too, but I'm great at it." he closed his eyes thinking about the first time his mom saw it. "Mom loved it, she thinks I can do anything I want to with it, I refuse to run this town, and she knows I won't be the Mayor here," he was going to wait till the end to tell the real reason he was here.

"Mason was more of a dad to me than you ever were and we were only eight years apart," he knew his dad would hit him if he was here for saying that. His dad never had gotten along with his younger brother.

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Caroline tightened her grip in his hand letting him know it was okay, she never thought less of him. Hell he was one the strongest guys she knew. He was brave too because she didn't think she could ever do what he did. He'd lived in that house with his dad all his life until last November. She always had this fake smile for his dad and Tyler knew it too.

"You never knew about the family curse I bet, were all werewolves," Tyler said glad that he had Caroline here. He told the headstone everything that Mason had told him about the family curse. How if they killed somebody accident or murder they'd trigger it. "You know you should have already felt this hell, living with you was like dying every day," it was the truth in his mind because it was what it felt like. He didn't even go home some nights when his dad was drinking.

"You should know what it is like to have your body ripped apart, every bone in your body rearranged and most of all you should know what it's like to feel so scared you don't know what to do" Tyler said almost shouting at the grave because he couldn't keep it inside any more. He'd felt lost for so long like something was missing and he realized it wasn't the beatings it was love. That was exactly what he'd been missing in his life.

Caroline knew what was coming too, he'd told her once before what he'd say if he could see his dad just once. She was thankful that his dad hadn't come back as a ghost earlier in the year. It was the one ghost she was more than glad not to see. This time it was her that talked instead of Tyler, "We're getting married, come July 4th, and you can't stop us," She said with a big smile looking at her ring he'd given her.

"It's something you cannot take from me, I was like you, you made me like you until I found Caroline," Tyler said, he didn't know how Jeremy had ever forgiven him for all those times he'd beat him up. He'd become what he'd always feared, his dad. "It's true what they say about love, opposites attract and you find it in the most obvious places," he smiled for the first time since he'd gotten here.

Caroline had her own smile planted on her face, "Your son is a vampire werewolf hybrid and I am a vampire, we are happy with who we are and you cannot stop us," she said. She was there for Tyler when nobody else was and she was that person he always leaned on. It took them a while to be more than friends, but they were together now. They'd always picked each other up when they were down and gave the other hope for a better life too.

"We got that better life, it isn't the past that you knew either, not all vampires are bad, Caroline isn't, I'd never trade her for the world," Tyler said adding that since he'd become the werewolf he finally felt like he was living. Even if at first he'd hated it, wanted it gone, wished he could give it back, now he felt normal. Being the hybrid was different though, it was not something he wanted at all. He wanted to give the vampire side of his self up. However, it helped him understand things too and he looked at Caroline knowing he wouldn't trade this for nothing.

It was all he needed to say and wanted to say, he felt like he was going to break right now as it was. He looked at Caroline then back at the headstone. There were no words of love on it it just had his name, date birth and death plus that he was The Mayor. It was laughable really they both thought, his mom could have gotten the headstone his dad wanted, but she hadn't. She'd gone simple giving him what she thought of him forever. They had been in love once, he was the product of that, but it faded away years ago.

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Tyler didn't know exactly what Caroline had planned on showing him here, but he walked with her any way. He needed time before he went back; they weren't even supposed to be here. However she had done something or something had been done. She stopped half way down a hill where the cemetery looked out over the water. There was a grave here, one he never remembered being here before.

He'd used to cut through all the time or the times he'd been here with Elena. He remembered those months; she'd been one the few back then that knew the truth about his hell. They'd been friends all their lives, good friends for while, last year great friends, and now he didn't know if she was even alive. He still didn't understand a lot of things about her being a doppelganger, but he'd rather have died than let Brady hurt her.

Caroline knelt down cleaning away the dead flowers putting the fresh ones she'd brought. "We miss you, wish you were still here," she said running her hand over the letters. She didn't have to see Tyler squatting beside her to know he was there. She just knew, "I did this months ago, but I never found right time to show you," she said.

She left out the fact that he'd been brain washed by Klaus and that she didn't want bring him here when he was like that. It was like the unsaid thing between them these days, especially after things went down in early May. The head stone was not like his dad's was instead it was nice. Tyler wasn't sure what to think or say.

"Who put it up?" he finally asked feeling the lump in his throat again. He'd wanted to see him back in the fall, but he hadn't been there. Why couldn't he have gotten to say goodbye?

"Damon did it, I asked him to and he did it, think it was more the look Elena gave him than me, but it is here," Caroline said hoping that any bad things associated with this and Damon wouldn't come up.

"Every Christmas he always sent me something, my birthday too and my mom made sure dad never saw it," Tyler said sitting down looking at the head stone. Caroline knew Tyler always wanted him there, it was like the one thing he wanted the most he couldn't have. That was his punishment, not just the abuse, but the person that could save him.

The stone read Mason Lockwood son, brother, uncle, husband and best friend. The dates of his birth and death were also on the stone. Caroline had given the paper for what should go on there to Damon. At the very bottom she saw something she hadn't put on there. It had one word written there truths. She understood what it meant too because she'd over heard Alaric and Damon at the boarding house.

"He should never died, I blame Katherine for all of this," Tyler said because of her his life had changed and not always for the better either. Caroline was a vampire because of her, he was a werewolf and now a hybrid even if he was glad he was now, it still didn't change the fact he wanted to be normal too. Caroline didn't deserve to be cursed like she was either.

"We all blame Katherine," Caroline added, she especially blamed her for triggering the curse on Tyler. It was her fault Mason came here and she had been the reason that Mason died. Mason had been more like a dad to Tyler than Richard ever could be. Tyler had never gotten to see him as often as he wanted. Carol wasn't the cold hearted bitch most people thought she was, her son meant the world to her. She'd let him go to Florida to see Mason a few times. His dad had never known about it either.

They sat there for the longest time because neither of them could find the words they wanted to say. Caroline took the camera she'd brought out taking a picture of the grave. It was like every thing could be said without saying it out loud. The fishing trips they'd shared, the four times Caroline had gone with him and even the birthday party that Mason had showed up to.

Caroline put her arm around Tyler knowing that he'd wanted to run away to Florida most his life. The times he had gone he hadn't wanted to come back. She knew that even though Mason didn't get to have his own kids, Tyler was like a son to him.

He'd been the one that told him the things his dad should have said. The I love you's, the I'm proud of you's, it's okay if you screw up, it wasn't him physically being there, but the journal he'd left had helped them. He'd been there in spirit the first time Tyler turned. He'd told her it was why he didn't get out; it was why he didn't hurt her the night of the sacrifice.

"We gotta leave again, but if you're up there watch over our moms, Mat, and Jeremy," Tyler said, "I hope you got to see Lexi again too," he got up quickly barely able to finish the last part before he took off at his full speed. He couldn't take the pain any more that he'd kept inside for so long. He never got to say goodbye to Mason either time.

Caroline got up just as quick, "We both love you, Mason, take care of yourself wherever you are, and look out for us too," she said before she took off after Tyler. She wanted to bring him here so he could say goodbye, even if it wasn't to Mason's ghost like she'd gotten the chance to do. She had told Tyler before they'd come here what he'd said. It was finally the right time to let him know what Mason wanted him to know.

"I just want go and not come back, I can't come back, I thought we could, but they're still wanting us dead," Tyler said trying to not make it obvious why he wouldn't turn around.

"Okay, we go now, suns almost down and we already got the stuff we left in the cellar," Caroline said wrapping her arms around him. Their moms had even put more stuff there for them to take with them and a note that said they were okay.

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Caroline parked the truck at the house they'd been staying in since they'd left Mystic Falls the month before. It had taken them two days to get back, but between the two of them driving they'd done it. Tyler grabbed the stuff off the back of the truck before walking in the house. He hadn't said much of anything since they left Mystic Falls again.

The house had been Mason's when he'd been alive. It was right on the beach, but affordable too. They were Caroline and Tyler Forwood, it had been a joke, but it had stuck. She put the food away that they'd gotten for the week. They had till morning to get Rocket, the black lab they'd found wondering on the beach. A neighbor was watching him for them while they were gone. She still wondered if it was Mason's way saying he was still watching them.

"I'm sorry, that I didn't tell you sooner about the grave or what he said," Caroline said looking down at the counter. "I miss him too and Lexi, I wanted you to be there, but you weren't," she wasn't planning on crying but she couldn't help it. "He wanted to help you not turn out like he did, but it wasn't his fault he lost Lexi and it was like his heart was already gone," she said letting the tears fall, "He wanted Damon to kill him to be with her, he couldn't take being alone any more," she said between sobs.

Tyler put the bag down he had going over to Caroline and hugging her, "I know, he loved her like I love you, anything happened to you I couldn't live without you," he didn't want to even think about that, he'd known that was why he hadn't fought Damon. Mason had wanted to already be dead the minute he lost Lexi. She'd been his everything just like Caroline was to him.

Caroline hugged him back, "We found each other, and I'm not letting you go, I don't know how you survived when Klaus died and I don't care," she said she was just glad that she had Tyler here. By next year he would have his own son or daughter. Tyler would have the chance to be the dad that Mason had been to him.

Tyler just held her he'd gotten two dads, but only one of them meant everything to him when he could be there. Caroline was the only thing he had left right now, but he'd have his own child soon. He'd make sure he never let knew what he'd known from his dad. He'd love them like he had been loved by his Uncle.

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THE END