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An Unlikely Match
Chapter I
"Caroline, sweetheart" Klaus called out.
"Thank you," she answered, already hyperventilating.
"It's alright. Breathe, slow, deep breaths, love" he said holding her hand tight against his body. Somehow Caroline awoke the same protective instincts in him he hadn't had in a very long time. Maybe because she had offered him a place to live when he had nowhere to go, and little to no money, but if he was being honest he had liked her even before that. And that was something he had a hard time with. Of course it helped when she had showed him more compassion and consideration than any other person he had crossed ways with within the past ten years. But it wasn't only that. There was a light about Caroline, something he had noticed the moment he laid eyes on her a year ago.
Of course she was beautiful, and he wouldn't mind her becoming another notch in his bedpost, but when he approached her back then, she admitted she was seeing someone else. It didn't take much longer for him to figure out she wasn't lying and the man in question was their attending doctor, Mason Lockwood.
"Thanks, Klaus. I'm sorry to involve you in this," she said trying to breathe as he instructed.
"You didn't involve me. I just couldn't leave you there with him," he admitted, and she was actually surprised, not only about his actions, but even more about his words. She knew Klaus always kept his distance from everybody. That was putting it lightly, she tried to defend him when people said he was heartless and selfish for not caring about anyone, not even his brother, but deep inside she knew there was more to him than what the surface showed. It was like that with everyone. She knew a lot of people judged her cheery ways, but somehow she had to cover how broken she was. Maybe Klaus was doing the same and she wouldn't blame him. She spent so many years pretending to be the cheery Barbie girl, that she didn't know how to stop it. She could relate to him, even though she didn't approve of his actions.
"Let's go home, love" he offered once she recovered her breath.
The ride to her house had been a silent one, contrasting largely with the environment she found when she stepped inside.
"I told you this was going to happen," Bonnie said as soon as Caroline entered the house.
"What's up?" Caroline asked, having no idea of what the dark-skinned girl was talking about.
"Klaus, of course! He broke the no-sex in the house rule," she said really pissed.
"Didn't you sleep with him while he lived elsewhere?" Caroline asked, not really in the mood to have this argument with Bonnie. She loved her friend, but she was too 'judgy' as Damon used to say. He said she was the only girl in the hospital he didn't dare to sleep with; too much judgment for him to enjoy the ride.
"I can't believe you're defending him!"
"We're adults, Bonnie, I only made that rule because I wanted to prevent this house into becoming a brothel. You know when you slept with Klaus and later with Matt I didn't complain. That rule was more to Stefan and Klaus, although — now I know Stefan would never need a rule in the first place," Caroline said opening one of the cabinets and taking an Advil. Her head was killing her and Bonnie wasn't helping.
"So now you prefer womanizers over well behaved guys?" the dark-skinned girl asked sarcastically.
"Bonnie, what's your point? So Klaus brought a girl home while I was in Hawaii and the girl probably did the walk of shame in front of you and Stefan. Was she dressed at least?" the blond took the pill and drank the whole glass of water. It was too hot and she couldn't wait until she was in the paradise of her air conditioned bedroom.
"My point is after he came back from London there had been a different girl in his bedroom every night," the brunette answered exasperatedly.
"I'll talk to him, I guess it was vacation and nobody was home," Caroline massaged her forehead, hoping that now that she had agreed to talk to Klaus, Bonnie would let it go.
"I was!"
"I thought you traveled to your home city?"
"I couldn't stay for longer than a week there and when I came back it seemed like I entered a prostitute's house!" Bonnie protested.
"Well, now we're all back and I think things will go back to the way they were," Caroline offered with a tired voice. Bonnie's loud voice was making her head hammer.
"You can't teach new tricks to an old dog," Bonnie offered sarcastically.
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"He makes Stefan uncomfortable, actually he could make anyone uncomfortable, his own brother pretends not to know him, there's no way he's trustworthy. He's hiding something, I can feel it! My intuition never fails, you know I have a heightened sixth sense," Bonnie said calmer, but also looking honestly terrified.
"So what, am I supposed to trust your witch senses and just tell him to confess all his sins?" Caroline asked. Bonnie didn't take offense by the witch comparison as they had made a lot of jokes about her supposedly supernatural abilities to read people. She was a physician, but still she believed almost everything regarding the supernatural. Well, maybe except for vampires and werewolves.
"No, you're supposed to do what anyone would do, ask him to find another place to live. He's crossed the line between hot mysterious and creepy mysterious the first night we heard his screams," Bonnie said in a low voice. She felt for Klaus, but she was uncomfortable with his sporadic, but still present, episodes of violence in his bedroom, and now he was bringing a different girl to the house every night. She knew he probably knew little or nothing about the women he brought in and that was New York, but he should have at least known that it was dangerous to bring strangers home.
"What?"
"Care, we didn't know he used to get… violent at night," Bonnie said softly, addressing the other problem.
"I wouldn't call it violent," Caroline answered without any confidence.
"And how can you describe those horrifying screams and the broken, bottles glasses and even the mirror?" Bonnie sighed remembering the first night they heard it. Caroline was on call and it was only her and Stefan in the house while Klaus was going crazy in the room next door.
"He apologized and paid for a new mirror and even bought new glasses," Caroline shrugged, but she had to admit at least to herself that the first night she had heard him she was scared. She mentioned it to him the following morning and he apologized saying he had had a bad dream. She had had a lot of bad dreams in her life and she reacted like that, but she let it go.
"What if someday he brings it out of his bedroom?" Bonnie asked quietly.
"It's only happened three times, Bonnie," the blond reasoned, but it seemed like the brunette had an answer to everything.
"In two months!"
"Bonnie, if you're expecting me to ask him to move out, sorry, I won't. He's a friend, I may agree he's not as close as us, Stefan or Katherine, but that's his right, and he's a good friend," Caroline explained as she remembered how he had been for her less than an hour ago.
"And I can't live with a guy I don't trust, what if he brings a crazy woman to the house? I can assure you he doesn't ask a lot of questions before bedding a woman," Bonnie admitted.
"Should I remind you that between the two of us, you're the one who slept with him?" Caroline tried to enlighten the very uncomfortable conversation, but Bonnie didn't budge.
"When I thought he was just some hot English guy with a sexy accent, not a crazy British psycho," the brunette explained.
"Don't you think you're exaggerating a little bit?" Caroline smiled. She may have been scared by Klaus in the two occasions he had those 'nightmares', but she didn't think he was a psycho.
"No, but I knew this was how you were going to react. Stefan and I will move out. We found this crap apartment, but it has everything we need. I'll keep looking for something better and until then we will live with the cockroaches," Bonnie said disgusted, remembering one of the many insects she saw in the brief five minutes she and Stefan stayed in the horrible apartment.
"Katherine lives alone. Maybe you should talk to her," Caroline said trying to help, but she knew it was a bad idea. If there were two people in the world that couldn't share a room for more than five minutes it was Bonnie and Katherine.
"Her apartment only has one bedroom Caroline, how are the three of us supposed to live in one-room apartment?" Bonnie retorted angrily, "Anyway, I'm packing my stuff. I'll probably be gone by the weekend," she said dramatically.
"I'm sorry things went this way," Caroline answered honestly. She really loved the news friends she had made at the hospital, they were like the family she never had, and she wasn't about to choose one of them over the other. It was Bonnie's decision to leave.
"You chose the Original Evil over me and Stefan,"
"No Bonnie, I chose nobody. You're the ones that don't want Klaus around and this is why I offered you both a place to live here because I didn't want to choose," the blue-eyed girl answered defensively.
"Whatever, Caroline," Bonnie said, walking out of the kitchen.
Caroline already had a lot to deal with and what she needed the least was a fight with Bonnie over Klaus. Especially over Klaus. She felt like she could be herself around him and she had only ever felt that way around Damon and Katherine. Like she didn't need to do anything else besides be just plain Caroline. Like she was enough, and didn't need to pretend to be the shallow, stupid blond girl that fit the image her mother had made of her and made sure to inform everyone else of. But she kept some distance from Damon these days; his relationship with Mason and Rose made it hard for her to get closer to him in the capacity that she needed as a friend.
To top it off, Elijah had broken up with Katherine and her friend was in a sour mood. It seemed like Elijah was too ethical to keep a relationship with a resident now that he was the head of a department. Caroline remembered how Katherine had to play every trick in the book to convince him to date her when he was only one of the hospital attending doctors. It wasn't because of his status, or because he was a snob. He didn't want anyone to question his actions towards Katherine, who was a great surgeon, probably the best in their group, and who had already chosen his field to specialize.
It seemed like now that she needed her friends the most they were all leaving her, except for Klaus. With Bonnie and Stefan moving out and Katherine shutting the world out to hide her pain, Caroline only had him. And when she had needed him that night he had come in to help without her even having to ask him.
Caroline finally decided to eat something small and hoped that it would help with her unbearable headache, but if it didn't, she wouldn't think twice before taking one of her sleeping pills that she still had. They had prescribed it to her after the accident, because once she had woken up from her coma she found she couldn't sleep. At first it was because her whole body hurt, and later because she just couldn't. She had been in coma only two days, and a week after the accident she had to bury her mother in the morning and do her internship exam in the afternoon. Somehow she survived that day, but she was positive if Katherine and Damon weren't there for her, she probably wouldn't have been able to do her exam or even show up at the cemetery.
Entering her bedroom after finishing munching on some crackers, she decided to take a bath. They had always helped her relax, ever since she was a girl, and maybe that was what she needed. Residents didn't have time to even eat properly, let alone have a bath. It had been months since she didn't have to take a five-minute shower, but tonight she would fight her tiredness and wait for her bathtub to fill. She undressed in her private bathroom and sat on a small bench in the corner thinking about Mason while the tub filled.
She knew she shouldn't be thinking about him, but her heart had a will of its own and as much as her mind prohibited her thoughts to go there that was where they constantly ended. She was wrapped in her towel when she heard someone knocking on her bedroom door. She thought it was probably Bonnie come to make up. The girls didn't mind being naked around each other, and without another thought she yelled for her friend to come in.
"Come in, I'm in the bathroom," she yelled, realizing the tub was already filled.
She hung her towel, before stepping in the hot water. She had yet to move her left foot inside the tub when she heard the bathroom door opening, but she didn't expect the scream that followed, "Forbes!" Klaus yelled, before spinning back around.
She shrieked, frightened by his loud voice, and losing her balance she slipped and fell, hitting her back on the edge of the tub before submerging in the water. Klaus heard her and immediately forgot that she was naked to check on her.
"Are you okay?" he asked, helping her to sit in the tub while she grimaced. Her back was hurting from where she had hit it, but she was okay.
"Yes, thanks," she answered, noticing that he tried not to look at her body, even though one of his hands was giving her back support. The water and the bubbles covered her naked body, but still he behaved like the gentleman she knew he was and that thought brought her comfort.
"I came to check on you. You said I could come in, I didn't imagine you were going to be naked!" he removed his hand from her back, and turned away again, letting her face his back.
"I thought you were Bonnie!" she protested, although she couldn't cover her embarrassment.
"She left I don't think she'll come back for the night," he explained, his voice less irritated.
"You can turn, I'm covered by the bubbles," she offered, seeing how he made sure to not look in her direction. What was his deal anyway? He had seen almost all women from the hospital naked and definitely done more than just see. She knew he wasn't interested in her, she once overheard him saying that although he didn't have any prejudice he avoided dumb bimbos because he didn't have the patience to deal with their stupidity, no matter how hot their bodies were and how great the sex could be.
He had never implied she was dumb, but he had never made a move on her except for the one time he asked her to have drinks him with him after work, just a few weeks into their internship. It was about the same time when she had started giving into Mason's insistence to go out with him and she had finally agreed. She remembered she said she was seeing someone, but Klaus answered he had only invited her to have some drinks after work, nothing else. She had never felt so embarrassed in her life before, but then a few more weeks passed and she realized she didn't have a reason too, as Klaus hit on every breathing woman in the hospital.
He turned around to see her. Her hair was in a mess bun at the top of her head and her bangs fell softly over her face. She looked tired, but breathtakingly beautiful. He remembered when he first met her he noticed how beautiful she was. She was natural. She didn't need make up or to do anything with her hair. She was just beautiful. Her skin seemed smooth like velvet and he surprisingly felt his heart beat faster when he saw her naked just a few moments ago. It was different from the times he had seen her in only her underwear at the hospital.
She seemed to save her sexy underwear – that he had already seen in the laundry room – for Mason's eyes only. The two doctors had a history of having sex at the hospital, but every time she changed into her scrubs in the interns' room and now in the residents' locker room she was wearing nothing but comfortable and boring underwear that covered more than he wished for. But now he had seen her totally bare, and it only confirmed what he had known for sure: she was perfect.
"I just came to say that if I'm causing you trouble I can move out. I don't plan to spend the rest of my life here," his tone even harsher than his words, which shouldn't surprise her but still did. Where was the guy that rescued her just a couple of hours ago?
"You didn't cause anything. Bonnie did. You know her, she overreacts. She'll get over this. I told her she can stay and Stefan too, but she's the one who doesn't want to stay. Don't worry you're not causing me any trouble," she explained, "Except for seeing me naked," she added, giggling, not feeling embarrassed anymore. Also she was used to pretending to be cheery and shallow when others were judging her, it was a natural reaction.
Her giggle was infectious and he loved to hear it. It reminded him of his younger sister. He missed her and for a moment he looked sad, but quickly his walls were up again and his indifferent mask was on.
"Okay. See you tomorrow, Caroline," he said leaving.
"Klaus," she called him out before he left.
He turned and she just smiled that beautiful smile of hers. "Thank you," she simply said and he knew she meant what he did for her at the hospital.
He just nodded and left.
The past week had helped Klaus. He was relieved to know the moment he shared with Caroline in her bathroom didn't change things between them and that he felt nothing for her. Seeing her beautiful naked body only made his heart beat faster because she was so hot. His heart would always accelerate seeing a good specimen of woman like Caroline Forbes nude. He may feel overprotective about her, as he used to be with his baby sister, but that didn't make him look at her the same way he used to look at Rebekah.
The few days that passed also helped Caroline, who was feeling slightly better about her situation at the hospital and in the house. She missed Bonnie, but she couldn't complain about Klaus. He was a good friend and he did what he could to help her. Katherine slept over a few nights, but she didn't talk about Elijah or about her feelings. She just heard and talked about Mason like she was perfectly okay about being dumped by the guy she was still undeniably in love with, though she would never admit it. Caroline knew her best friend was hurting, but she also knew there was nothing she could do to make Katherine open up. She even suspected the brunette was sleeping quite often in the house with her because of the many memories she had with Elijah in his apartment.
Things with the dark haired couple escalated too fast. She had fallen for him the moment she saw him in the OR making an impossible procedure. That was Katherine for you, only she would fall in love with someone while they did their job. But still she did and after using her best seduction tricks, he finally agreed to have a date with her, not that she ever asked that. She had aimed for sex and made it very clear to him that sex was what she was looking for. What Elijah didn't know was that she was a lioness in the bedroom and that was the way she hoped to finally have his attention. But she was the one who got surprised after all.
Elijah had enjoyed her company greatly and asked her out several times following the first, but he never made the first move for them to have sex and he shut down her every attempt – explicit or not. Two months later they were an item – a secretive one that only Liz and Caroline knew about. That had been another thing that had hurt Caroline deeply. Liz not only approved of Katherine relationship with Elijah, but cheered for them. She thought they were perfect for each other and that Katherine would challenge Elijah in being an even better doctor and a great wife focused on her career. Another couple of months and the duo was living together at Elijah's place, where Katherine still lived. He had the decency to move out, instead of abandoning Katherine without a place to stay.
Although the Mikaelson's weren't from New York, Elijah was an attending, and now the head of a surgery department with a wage that was more than enough to afford him some days in a hotel until he could find another place to live. Katherine was looking somewhere else to live because there was no way her friend would accept to live in her ex's apartment for too long. Caroline invited Katherine to live with her, but the brunette didn't do roommates, especially if they included Bonnie and Stefan, and lately Klaus, although she had a better time with the blue-eyed resident than the other two.
Once Bonnie and Stefan moved out, Caroline repeated the invitation, but Katherine said she'd rather live alone and that eventually she would find a decent place to live. The blond didn't insist, and she was happy that she and Klaus at least lived well together. It was the only easy part of her new life.
Her interns weren't terrible, but they challenged her patience. Her group had much more talented doctors, and Stefan was her only consolation among them. Her days were especially difficult when in addition to the interns she had to work with Mason. She wouldn't deny it was hard to be so close to him, but she appreciated his attempt to give her some space. She was suspicious at first because she knew how insistent he could be. She still remembered how he insisted with her to go on a date with him. She had turned him down a lot of times, but there was only so much a girl could say no to with a man like him.
The hospital, as any serious company, had a strict policy about employees dating their bosses. It wouldn't have been any problem if he was a practitioner or a nurse or even a fellow resident. The problem was he was her attending and he could easily favor her if he wanted, and the rules existed to prevent that kind of situation as well as harassment. But after what felt like the thousandth attempt she finally agreed to go on a date with him. Back then she thought that maybe that was all he needed to leave her alone. That one date would be enough to get whatever he wanted out of his system.
Caroline had never had a problem sleeping around. Mason may have been her first serious relationship, but she honestly couldn't count how many men she had slept with. She had needs, and she wasn't timid to admit them. No man was an island and although she did her best to avoid relationships, she was never shy around men. Just because she wasn't willing to have any emotional connection with anyone didn't mean she was a nun.
She liked sex…well, more like loved it. It was a great way to partially fulfill the natural need everyone had to feel connected to another person. That was why there was no judgment from her part towards Klaus or Damon. She had had a lot of one night stands before starting her residency to make up for the few she would have once she started work. She knew she wouldn't be having a lot of sex in the following seven years, not only because she would barely have time to survive out of the hospital, but because she would be under her mother's vigilant eyes.
Although they didn't share the roof since Caroline went to Columbia and then Harvard, nothing could be hidden from Elizabeth Forbes. But then Mason happened and they had managed to keep their relationship a secret for many months until they were sloppy one night and one of the nurses saw them retiring to an on call room. That was when Liz found out as well, but her mother didn't have much time to judge for her indiscretion as Caroline successfully avoided her mother for a few days and then Rose happened.
She knew then that she wouldn't be able to escape the fury of the famous Dr. Elizabeth Forbes. Especially after Liz realized that not only was Caroline sleeping with her attending, but that said man was also married. Yet, the confrontation never came. Less than two weeks after Rose worked at the Presbyterian in the twins' case, Liz walked in on her daughter crying in one of the OR's that was being renovated.
Liz had followed Caroline there, but when she saw her daughter so brokenhearted, lying in a stretcher that shouldn't even be there as the room was being painted, she reminded of what it was to have a man choose someone else to be his wife, although in this case Mason already had one. Mason had decided to give his marriage with Rose another chance, and that night had been one of the few times Caroline actually saw any tenderness in her mother's face. Liz even invited Caroline to have dinner with her, but two hours later Elijah was declaring her mother's time of death.
For two minutes Caroline had felt what it was like to have a mother, not someone who disapproved and judged her every decision and action. For two minutes they shared a moment. The last one they would ever share.
Mason had tried to be there for her after Liz passed, even though he was already back with Rose by then, but Caroline declined his help. She couldn't handle two painful situations at the same time, and preferred to rely on Bonnie and Katherine. He gave her the time she asked, and continued to try to work on his relationship with Rose, but that backfired terribly and he only ended up hurting his wife even more. He was too deep in love with Caroline to reconnect with Rose the way they needed to in order to save their already failed marriage. So after only a few weeks he had filed the papers for a divorce. And ever since then he had been chasing Caroline down. They even tried to get back together, but something had been broken between the two of them and it didn't last a week the only week she had before her vacation. She couldn't trust him, he blamed her for never letting him all the way in, in the first place, and they simply didn't work. But that didn't stop him from trying. Every chance he got he pursued her and that was why she was surprised when he suddenly backed off. It wasn't like him to simply give up. And while it helped, it also saddened her. She still loved him and she thought he loved her as well, but he was giving up after just another confrontation, merely four weeks after they had last broken up.
But Caroline had completely misjudged his actions and feelings.
It was killing Mason to keep himself on check around her. He was a persistent man; he had always fought for what he wanted, but Klaus' words kept coming back at him. He knew he had won her out of persistence the first time around. But back then the air between them was playful and light. It included a lot of innocent flirting from both sides, although he always took the chance to make his intentions less innocent. She hadn't buried her mother back then. His estranged wife hadn't started working with them back then.
He knew she needed some time to heal from all the bad things that had happened to her in the past year. When he had asked her for time and space she gave it to him, even though at the end he chose his wife over her, but he knew he needed to give her the same courtesy; even if Klaus needed to open his eyes about it. He had never mentioned what the Mikaelson resident said to him, and he was almost sure neither did Klaus as Caroline never mentioned it either. He would wait for her to make the first move, just like she had waited for him. He just hoped she wouldn't come to such a poor decision as he had. Choosing Rose over Caroline had been one of the biggest mistakes of his life and he hoped he wasn't too late.
Mason never realized he should have talked to her before willingly giving her time to think. But how could he think the blond was just thinking that he had accepted they were over? It broke her heart all over again to know that their love was really lost and gone. They may have only been together for a few months, just half a year, but it had been the best months of her life and now they were over and every time he didn't say more than 'Dr. Forbes' to her when they were in the same room or crossing ways, it proved to her that maybe he didn't love her as much as she loved him back.
If only Klaus had mentioned to Caroline the brief conversation he had with Mason, but the male resident never said a word. Actually, she felt he had also distanced himself from her a little bit the past few days. She wondered if it was because of their unfortunate meeting in her bathroom.
"Good morning," Klaus said, entering the kitchen and cutting off her thoughts about him and Mason.
"Morning," she said with her head lowered. It was rare to see the upbeat girl so down, and he immediately knew something was off.
"Are you okay?" he asked, while he filled his mug of coffee. Caroline couldn't even make coffee, which was why he had happily used what was left of his last payment to buy an espresso machine.
"It's been a month today," she simply answered, remembering the reason why she had been thinking about her crappy life.
Klaus didn't know what to say because he truly thought Caroline deserved better. Since she had started seeing Mason she had been in pain. Of course they had a couple of happy months in which he hid from her he was married, but since then it was downhill, especially on her side. He didn't know how she endured being humiliated by her own mother in the hospital because of her affair, and then losing not only her unfaithful boyfriend, but also her mother.
Yet, somehow the bubbly girl proved to be much stronger than the surface showed. She was tough, even if she was broken, and that was why Klaus thought she deserved better. And while he couldn't say it to her, he wouldn't pretend he was sorry her relationship with Mason was over. He was sorry about her pain not about her loss which he considered a gain in this case. But he needed to say something; he couldn't see her like that, although he didn't know why cared in the first place.
"It'll be okay, sweetheart. Things will be okay. You just need to give it time," he offered, remembering the words he had said to Mason just a week ago, but while it had seemed to be useful to the attending doctor, it didn't seem to comfort her in the least. She didn't utter any word in response, but offered him a small and sad smile before she left the kitchen. He could hear her keys while she unlocked the front door before she yelled, "Do you want a ride?"
"No, thanks," he said taking some cookies that Bonnie had bought the previous week before she left.
Caroline left the house and headed to the hospital. She didn't know what to do those days. She didn't know what to expect. She wasn't fighting for Mason and she felt she shouldn't because the last year proved their love wasn't meant to be. But what was next? She didn't want to do 'inappropriate' men again, even though she didn't have her mother's scrutinizing eyes watching over her anymore. But then what? She couldn't possibly be in another relationship.
She only found confirmation about her mother's words on love. It was a weakness that led to nothing more than pain and disappointment, and she felt like she couldn't handle another heartbreak in her life. At least she had her job to focus on, and she was thankful it was a very demanding one. It didn't leave much to her mind to remember the pain her heart was enduring.
"Forbes. You're with Dr. Salvatore today," said Rose when she entered the resident's locker room. They had yet to vote for a chief of residency, since the last one abandoned the program altogether, not only his position, so the attending doctors were taking turns giving the residents their assignments.
"Bennett, Dr. Isobel Saltzman; Mikaelson Dr. Lockwood; Abrahams Dr. Alaric Saltzman..." she said giving the 2nd and 3rd year residents their assignments for the day.
Bonnie realized how damaged Caroline was and felt bad for her. They had barely spoken since the brunette had moved out, and it broke her heart to see Caroline in such pain. She had regretted her harsh words to Caroline a week ago, but she couldn't believe she was choosing The Original Evil! But she recognized that she needed to stop being dramatic for two minutes to see her friend that needed her.
"Hey," the dark-skinned doctor said while Caroline was taking her stethoscope.
"Hi," Caroline answered quietly.
"You don't look good," Bonnie concluded from just one word from Caroline.
"Yeah," Caroline vaguely offered.
"Are you okay?" Bonnie asked brushing Caroline's arm.
"It's been a month since we broke up," the blue-eyed girl admitted with teary eyes.
"Don't you think you still can make it?" her friend asked, looking at the blond with compassion.
"I don't know, Bon. We love each other. He told me I'm the love of his life, but it seems like it'll never work. I don't think I'm good enough for him. Look at his wife; if Rose wasn't good enough for him, how I could be?" she sighed, looking as the confident, talented, admired, and might she add breathtaking beautiful, doctor who continued to give out assignments.
"That's not true. After everything you went through last year, you proved that Caroline Forbes is a strong, amazing, caring woman. I'm so sorry for what you guys are going through. I hope you both figure this out because you deserve to be happy and anyone with a half working eye saw how happy Mason made you before the drama started," Bonnie hugged her friend tenderly.
"I don't know if I want this to work out Bonnie and that's another problem. I don't know what I want to do with my life," the blond admitted.
The two friends stayed in silence for few minutes until Bonnie broke it. "I'm sorry, Care" she simply said. She wanted to say something else, but she couldn't find any words that would actually help her friend.
Caroline didn't show any reaction and Bonnie continued, she knew she owed Caroline and apology. "About our discussion the other day. I know you did the best you could for me and for Stefan and I was selfish about Klaus. You helped him out the same way you helped us. It's your house and you have all rights to live with whoever you want," the hazel-eyed doctor offered sweetly, regretting having put her friend through more pain than necessary. But she also couldn't help how she felt about Klaus, and Stefan felt the same way.
"I didn't do it because it's my house Bonnie. I did it because Klaus is our friend; he's part of this family as well. You, Katherine, Klaus, Stefan are everything I have," Caroline explained, as she took all her strength to keep her tears on their ducts.
"You're our family too," Bonnie offered, hugging her friend again, before she left to find Isobel.
Caroline waited for her interns and headed to the 4th floor where Damon would be within some minutes. She was thankful that she wouldn't be with Mason today. That would be such a cruelty when her day was already awful.
Damon was about to leave his office when Rose knocked on his door. He invited her in although he needed to leave, actually he should have already left, but he enjoyed making his residents wait for him.
"Hey," Rose said quietly as she entered the room.
"What's up Lockwood?" he asked enthusiastically, as usual.
"Our divorce was finalized today," she simply said, still sounding weak and defeated.
"Rose, you should be happy. You're still young and beautiful, and have a life ahead of you. You shouldn't be with someone that doesn't love you back, that doesn't value you as you should be," the male doctor offered, walking around his desk to be by her side.
"I know. It's just… it hurts. I'm not ready to move on, but being alone sucks and I don't think anyone would like to spend any time with me now anyway," she explained wiping her tears amidst some laughs.
"Hey. You're an excellent surgeon. You're a great woman and you're hot. You're the hot new pediatrician doctor at Presbyterian and no one can take this away from you. You rock, Rose," he said slipping his hand over her arm.
"Yes, I guess you're right," she offered a small smile.
"Of course I'm right. I'm Damon Salvatore," he winked at her.
She smirked at his presumption, but deep inside she knew he was right, not about himself, but about her. She was a successful young surgeon that had accomplished much more than most did at her age. She should be proud of herself and not let her failed marriage destroy her self-esteem. As much as she felt like a failure, she knew Mason was in love with someone else, and that had nothing or little to do with her.
"Let's do this. We get out tonight to celebrate that you're finally free," he offered with his seducing smirk.
"Damon, I really don't think I can do it. It's too soon," she retorted.
"I'm asking you as a friend, Lockwood or should I start calling you Sawyer again? I promise I'll keep you away from my bed. So take it or leave it because this is a one night in a lifetime kind of deal," he winked again.
"As friends?" she asked unsure. She knew she should always know better with Damon, but she was really down and she really needed someone to cheer her up.
"I promise," he answered, but he held a serious face.
"Okay," she agreed, thanking him, kissing his cheek before walking away. "You do know you have interns and a resident waiting for you, right?" she asked smiling softly.
"They have nothing better to do with their time than wait for the great Damon Salvatore," he answered, and she shook her head as he followed her.
The day passed slowly for Caroline and Rose. They had been broken by the same man and although they had been able to avoid him for the most part of their day it didn't mean he wasn't in their thoughts all the time. Although they were on opposite sides of the mess called Mason Lockwood's love life, they had a lot in common. They were heartbroken and lost, hopeless and devastated. They were also doctors, and that proved they were both successful women. It was just that sometimes that wasn't enough. But they had one last thing in common: good friends willing to do whatever it took to bring their spirits up.
"Caroline. We're going to the Grill, want to join?" asked Klaus, entering the resident's locker room.
"Thanks, but I'm going to go home," she answered while she stood in front of her locker.
"Sweetheart, you need some distraction, maybe some tequila," he said, "Come with us. It'll do you good," he insisted.
"I need to be there for Katherine, she had the day off. I need to check on her," she partially used her best friend messed up life as an excuse to drown in her own depressive thoughts.
"I don't need to be checked on," Katherine said entering the room "I'm just fine. You're the one with the crappy life. I came to hang out with you at the Grill and you will go, now move your lazy ass from that bench and come with me. You've been such a whining baby and I need tequila to deal with you these days. I can't listen to you one more day without alcohol. So let's go to the Grill and get drunk," Katherine moved to where her best friend was and taking her arm she literally pulled Caroline away towards the bar across the street. Maybe getting drunk wouldn't be the wisest way to deal with her pain, but she wouldn't mind being numb at the moment.
AN: sorry for still writing a lot of narrative and descriptive paragraphs, but I'm still providing important information for readers to know where the characters stand. This chapter had a little bit less than the prologue, and I believe next chapter is already what I would call normal to my style of writing. I describe characters' feelings a lot, I'm a descriptive kind of author, but not about places or clothes, instead I go into their thoughts and emotions as much as I can so the reader can "enter" their mind. Who already read my DE stories knows my style, so I'll always have a lot of paragraphs either way, it's just now it's a bit too much because this is needed.
I'll defend two characters I think made people grimace in this chapter: put yourself in Bonnie's shoes. They don't know Klaus that much, he had been living there for only a bit over than two months, and he had had violence episodes and now started bringing strangers to the house. This is NYC people, so I understand her reaction, although she was a bit of a drama queen and selfish, leaving Caroline alone with what she considered unknown or even ' a crazy British psycho'.
Don't mind Katherine. She treated Caroline the way she knew she had for her friend to react. She came from her house (on her day off! last thing a doc wants is to go to the hospital in their day off) to hang with them because she knew it had been a month and she wanted to be there for Caroline, it's just Katherine's inability to deal with too emotionally charged situations that makes her sort of harsh with her words. Trust me, Caroline don't mind it.
Please, leave a review and make a writer happy!
Huge thanks to my new beta - who was amazingly kind and also edited the prologue for me - Erin. You've been God-sent, sweetie.
Have a nice week you all,
xoxo
Babi