Hey you all!

Wow, let me start by saying; you guys are awesome, leaving so many reviews for one tiny prologue! I'm glad to hear that everyone is liking this story so far. (:

Thank you for reviewing; Catherina1996, Priyapur, Hailey, Solo13, Girl96xoxo, Yaya, YouCantFightDestiny, Aussie KC Gal and Dockfangirl!

So, here's the first real chapter, called 'Guilt'.

Have fun!

Guilt

A small ray of sunlight peeking through my curtains was what woke me up. Every single day I mentally thanked Bonnie for giving me that ring, because the thought of never being able to go out in the sunlight again made me seriously depressed. I yawned, turned around, and checked out the alarm clock on my nightstand. It was almost eleven am. How I loved Saturdays. At least there was no school on top of all the other problems that I usually had to face on a daily basis.

Problems like guilt. The guilt that had been torturing me ever since the night that Esther had tried to kill the entire Original family. I was such an idiot. I actually felt guilty for deceiving Klaus. Even if the reason behind me distracting him was a rather good one; All I'd wanted to do was try and help to save Elena's life. Besides, it seemed so silly that I should feel guilty about lying to Klaus. Klaus of all people! Surely he had killed, terrorized and tortured more people than I could even imagine. If anyone should be drenched with guilt, it was him. But yet, the look on his face when he had realized that I'd been playing him... At first there had only been anger, but when I had looked further, I had also recognized the hurt in his eyes, and even sadness. It made me wonder if he had meant it when he had told me to take a chance. When he had said that he wanted to show me the world, that he wanted to know me, and that I should try and get to know him. Did I even want to get to know him? My brain was screaming 'no, you don't', but my heart was far from agreeing.

I got up, going through the routine of showering and getting dressed, trying to get all those disturbing thoughts out of my head. I went downstairs, where I found my mom sitting at the kitchen table, reading the newspaper. Apparently sheriff Forbes was enjoying a well deserved morning off.

"Good morning, mom." I greeted her as I darted to the fridge to get some milk.

She looked up from the paper and smiled at me. "Morning sweetheart. Did you sleep well?"

"Actually, I did, for the first time in days." I answered as I sat down at the table with her to eat some breakfast.

She sighed, giving me another small smile. "That's no surprise, with everything going on lately. I mean, Bonnie and her mom… And Tyler… Still no word from him?"

"Nope, nothing." I replied a little stiffly, completely focusing on my bowl of cereal, trying to avoid her eyes as she mentioned my boyfriend. Or ex-boyfriend. At this point, I didn't even know what we were anymore. Also thanks to Klaus. That jerk.

I felt how she lightly patted my hand, and I reluctantly glanced up at her. "I'm sure he will come back when he's ready. I believe that he's doing everything in his power to get back together with you. I think he really loves you, you know."

I knew my mom meant well. She was only trying to comfort me, but instead, her words made me feel worse. Another wave of guilt hit me. I had to get out of here.

"Let's hope so." I mumbled, getting up from my chair.

"So, any plans for today?" My mother asked, letting it go and moving on to a lighter subject.

"Yeah, I'm going over to Bonnie's. I want to check how she's handling her mom's transition. Maybe I can help." I informed her. "After all, I've been through it myself."

"That sounds like a good plan. Tell Bonnie I said hi, and if you guys need any help, give me a call." She offered.

"Thanks mom, will do. See you later."

I collected my phone and my car keys before quickly heading out. The weather was exceptionally nice today, and although that seemed a very unimportant detail, it brightened my mood.

It was a short drive to Bonnie's house, and five minutes later I parked my car. As I was about to get out, my phone started to ring. I checked the display. 'Elena calling', it said. I sighed. I knew that Elena was very concerned, but she had to understand that she needed to give Bonnie some room to breathe.

I picked up. "Elena, hi."

"Hey Caroline. Have you seen Bonnie today? She's still not answering any of my calls, and I'm worried."

"I'm about to go over there and check if everything is okay. But really Elena, she needs some space." I said carefully.

Elena sighed. "I know… It's just, she's my friend, Caroline. I feel like I need to help her, even when she doesn't want me to."

"I know, but right now, the best way to help her is to leave her alone for a little while." I insisted.

"I suppose… But if there's anything I can do to help…" She tried again.

"I'll let you know, and I promise I'll keep you posted. I'll send you a message to let you know how it's going, alright?"

"Fine then. Give Bonnie my love." She gave in.

"I will. And I'll talk to you later."

I put away my phone as I swiftly made my way to Bonnie's front door. I knocked, and she answered the door almost immediately. She looked a bit shaken, her eyes wide and weary.

"Bonnie, is everything alright? Is your mom okay?"

She shrugged. "Yes, no… I don't know, I guess. She just woke up." She said warily, lightly grabbing my arm and pulling me inside. She closed the door behind us.

"How did she take the news?" I asked, not beating about the bush.

"She's not excited about the idea of becoming a vampire… But luckily she's even less excited about the idea of dying." Bonnie said, sighing in relief.

I felt a small stab of pain as I followed Bonnie into the living room. This whole situation was all too familiar to me; I had experienced exactly the same thing a few weeks ago, when my dad had been presented with the choice to either die or become a vampire. The only difference was that he had chosen to die. I fought to keep in the tears, clearing my throat and trying to concentrate on the situation at hand, hoping to distract myself.

"So now she has to feed." I stated the obvious. "Do you want me to get you…"

"Not necessary, Damon already took care of that." Bonnie muttered, rolling her eyes.

She held up her hand, and only now I noticed the small translucent bag that she was holding. It contained a red liquid. Human blood.

"I suppose that's Damon's way of saying sorry." I said dryly.

"Yeah, nothing says 'I'm sorry' like a bag of blood." Was her sarcastic reply, making it clear that she was not planning on forgiving Damon anytime soon.

Not that Damon would care, seeing as the only reason that he was trying to set things right was Elena, and the fact that he didn't want Elena to hate his guts. He didn't need Bonnie's forgiveness. On the other hand, Elena did. I just hoped that Bonnie wouldn't be too hard on her. As soon as things had calmed down with Abby, the two of them seriously needed to talk things out.

However for now, Bonnie had to make do with me. So I stayed with her. I helped her as we encouraged her mother to drink the blood. I calmed both of them down while Abby was going through the horrible emotions that were inevitable if we wanted to complete this transition. I had gone through exactly the same thing myself, which made that it wasn't easy to watch. And it was even more painful to imagine that this could have been my father, had he not been so freaking stubborn.

When Abby was feeling somewhat normal again, I decided to give her some rest, and I left the room to go downstairs. Not long after Bonnie followed, slowly shuffling into the living room where I'd been waiting patiently.

She sighed heavily before sitting down next to me on the couch. For a moment we just looked at each other in silence. Bonnie was the one to break it.

"I don't even know how to thank you, Caroline." She said sincerely, her tone filled with gratitude.

"Don't thank me, that's what friends are for." I simply told her, giving her a big hug.

For the first time in hours, she smiled. "Well, thanks anyway."

I returned her smile. I was wondering if this was the time to broach the subject that I needed to talk to her about. I decided that this was as good, or bad, a time as any.

"Hey Bonnie?" I started.

"Yes?"

I took a deep breath. Oh, how it sucked when your two best friends were fighting, and you were the one caught in the middle. "Elena told me to give you her love… She asked how you were doing… I don't want to push you, but I do think you guys need to talk."

To my huge relief, Bonnie slowly nodded. "Yes, I know."

"You do?" I blurted out, a bit surprised that she was reacting so well.

"Yeah… It's just I had so much to deal with… I didn't feel like facing Elena these last couple of days, but I understand that this is not truly her fault. I mean, indirectly it is… But then, she's always been there for me. She was also the one coming with me when I went to visit my mother for the first time. She's not to blame." Bonnie said.

I relaxed immediately. "I'm glad you feel that way, I hate it when you guys are fighting."

"Me too." She agreed easily. "I'll talk to her tomorrow."

"That's great. Besides, we have the whole 'divide and conquer-thing' to keep in mind. I mean, there's still a murderer on the loose, and we also don't know what…" I hesitated to say his name. "Klaus… his next big plan is."

"That's true. For now it's wise to stick together. Although we can't be sure that said murderer isn't Klaus to begin with." Bonnie mused.

"I don't think that these mysterious killings are his doing." I voiced my thoughts a little too quickly.

Bonnie raised her eyebrows, giving me a questioning look.

The truth was, this was something that I had been thinking about constantly, ever since that night when Klaus had invited me to go to that stupid ball with him. And without being biased, I didn't think that those attacks were his style.

"Think about it, Bonnie. Klaus is arrogant, full of himself, he has killed millions of people in his… existence. When he kills someone, he's not going to be all mysterious about it. He will probably even rub it in our faces. He sure as hell won't try to keep it a secret." I explained my theory.

"That's a valid argument." She had to admit.

I shrugged. "That's just what I think, I might be wrong."

But part of me was hoping that I was right. Because if Klaus was behind all of these weird murder cases… It would mean that one of his victims had been my father. I didn't even want to consider that.

"Well, no matter who it is, sticking together seems like a good plan to begin with." I said, closing this particular topic called 'Klaus'.

We talked some more, until we heard footsteps coming down the stairs. A few seconds later Abby Bennett entered the room, looking much better than she had in days. Bonnie smiled lightly at the sight of her mother looking rather decent again.

"Abby, hey… How are you feeling?" I asked.

"A bit like myself again, finally." She said quietly. "Thank you. Both of you." She added.

"You're more than welcome." I assured her as I got up from the couch.

"Are you leaving?" Bonnie asked.

"Yes, I'll be going now. I'm sure you two have a lot of catching up to do. But call me if you need anything."

I gave Bonnie one last hug and said my goodbye to Abby, before slowly making my way out the backdoor. As soon as I slammed the door of my car shut, I recalled that I had promised Elena that I would send her a text to let her know that all was well. I pulled my phone out of my pocket to send her a short message before I would drive back home.

'Both Bonnie and her mom are fine. The transition went as well as could have been expected. Bonnie will come around, she told me she will talk to you tomorrow. x Caroline.'

I had only just hit the 'send' button and was about to put away my phone, when it started beeping. Damn, that Elena sure was fast when it came to the art of texting. But when I checked the screen, I saw a number that I didn't recognize. I frowned, opening it anyway.

Had my heart still been beating, it certainly would have skipped several beats as I read the message. It was short. It was clear. I was doomed.

'Hello, Caroline. I believe you owe me an apology. Klaus.'

Oh god… Seriously?

Thanks for reading, and see you at the next chapter! (: