Turn Back Time (Live. Die. Repeat)

Chapter 2 – The Second Tuesday

After Stefan hung up the phone with Caroline - which took a lot of effort on his part as he didn't want to stop hearing her beautiful voice, not when he thought he would never hear it again - he just sat at the edge of the bed as he tried to work out what happened.

Caroline had died in his arms yesterday, only today was now yesterday and not tomorrow. He furrowed his brow, that sounded confusing to himself, no matter if he tried to tell anyone what happened. Who would he tell? Who would believe him? How could he even explain what happened when he had no idea how he was able to relive the worst day he'd ever had.

He had somehow travelled back in time by a day and he had a second chance to save his best friend from a fate that she did not deserve. One that was completely his fault. If he had never turned in Enzo to be killed by Tripp – so that the blood would not be on his hands – Caroline would have never left on her own in anger, she wouldn't have tried to rescue Enzo which had gotten herself captured, he never would have needed to rescue her which ended in her being staked in his arms.

He would not let that happen a second time.

He got up to retrieve a pad and pen off the side near the phone, moving over to sit in the chair and rest the pad on the wooden arm. He needed to remember the important things from yesterday, and decide on the best way to save Caroline from her tragic fate. He would not break his promise this time, he would not let anything happen to her, not again. With determination to change everything filling him, he start to jot down the important things in order:

Matt told everyone that Enzo was captured

I revealed that is was me that turned him in

Caroline was furious and vamped off

I called her and we had a fight over the phone

She was captured

I rushed there to save her, easily entering the cabin to find her alone

I ripped the chains off of her, helping her to the door

Tripp was there, and before I could even react he'd staked her

Caroline… was dead

Stefan threw the pad onto the nearby bed, rubbing a hand over his eyes, trying to keep the tears at bay. Writing that one sentence killed him, putting to paper that Caroline actually died broke his heart in two. Even though the day had rewound, he still felt the grief that had crippled him yesterday, because she had died in his arms, he had seen her usually lovely face marred by greyness, the light had left her eyes, and she was gone. Just because he had a chance to redo the day didn't mean that he wasn't still grieving her. His first instinct was to leave to find her, so that he could see her, touch her, hold her, and make sure she was real.

He still wanted to do that, and it took everything inside of him to stop himself from going to her but he had more important things to do. Like save Caroline's life. He would not lose her like he had. She was one of the most important people to him, and he couldn't live in a world without her. Not one where he had separated from her intentionally, but one where she was ripped from him through death and he would never be able to see her ever again.

This would not be Caroline Forbes last Tuesday spent on this earth.

Stefan stalked his way through the woods, his feet silent as he moved with the grace of the predator that he used to pretend he wasn't. He held a tranquillizer gun in his hand, prepared to knock out the boys who weren't directly involved in Caroline's death, willing to give them one last chance. Tripp, however, would not be granted such mercy. Even though he hadn't killed her this Tuesday, he had murdered Caroline in cold blood on yesterday's Tuesday, and that sinful action would not grant him a second chance to do it again.

He would kill Tripp, again, and he would take great pleasure in spending a longer amount of time to rid him of his life this time. He would make him beg him for death, which he would not grant until he was satisfied that he had felt pure agony.

Caroline would be avenged, even if she would never know what he'd done or why he'd done it. She deserved to have the bastard that took her life to suffer greatly for daring to harm such a kind, sweet, and loving person.

The world would be a darker place without the light of Caroline Forbes.

Caroline was still reeling from the news that Damon was alive and that Bonnie was not. They were not in the same place, so as per usual with the suckiness that was their lives, the kind and sacrificing Bonnie was somewhere hopefully at peace, and like the cockroach that he is Damon gets to come back from the dead.

It wasn't fair.

No matter how many times Bonnie had already come back from the dead, she didn't deserve to have her life end before she'd even reached twenty, never even having a proper chance to live her life and experience all the good and bad that came with it. Damon on the other hand was over 170, he had lived for a long long time, and for most of those years he had been a horrible person.

On the other hand, Damon died bringing his brother back from the dead, plus Elena, Tyler and Alaric. Both he and Bonnie had made a sacrifice to bring everyone back from the Other Side before it collapsed, Bonnie's sacrifice was intentional, whereas Damon's was not, but he knew the risks before he killed himself in a blaze of glory.

Thinking about Damon and Bonnie ultimately led to thoughts of Stefan. He had been a world class jerk since Damon died, abandoning her and then contacting everyone but her, leaving without a second glance as she pathetically asked him to stay.

She knew that she had feelings for him, deeper than she'd care to acknowledge, because opening that door would lead to nothing but heartbreak for her. Stefan had made his feelings on the two of them very clear all those years ago – you, me, not gonna happen – and after the way he'd treated her, seeming not to care about the hurt, pain, and grief that she had been going through, perhaps it was time to cut her losses and move on.

She had thought that Stefan felt something for her too before Damon died, they were growing closer and closer everyday, and she had noticed moments of tension between them. She had witnessed that after Katherine impersonated Elena, and the Travellers placed visions of a human life with Elena, that he had finally moved on from her. He was lighter, happier, and freer ever since that doppelgänger spell was taken off of them.

She thought that they had been moving towards becoming more than friends. But he had left her behind and stopped talking to her or listening to her messages without a second thought. So she must have been wrong, and confused their close friendship with feelings of the more romantic kind.

Stefan no longer wanted to be with Elena.

Obviously, he didn't want to be with Caroline either.

It hurt, but he told her three years ago when they first met that him and her would never happen. It was her own fault for seeing things that weren't there, for confusing his actions with more than friendship.

He loved her as a friend, but he wasn't in love with her.

Now she would try to convince herself really, really, hard that what she felt for Stefan was nothing more than a crush, a stupid infatuation with her saviour, and was not and never had been love.

Stefan was crouched behind a tree as he watched Tripp's men as they guarded the outside of the cabin. There was two of them, and while he could easily take them out with a silent approach and two flicks of his wrist, he was attempting to spare these misguided fools.

He needed to draw at least one of them away from their position so that he could take him out first, and then get the other one without alerting Tripp or whoever was inside. He searched the ground for a branch, snapping it to get their attention, and then he hid behind a tree waiting with his tranquillizer gun ready just behind the spot he wanted them to investigate.

He waited patiently as one of the boys came to see what had made the noise. He readied his gun, lining up his shot so that he got him in the neck, waiting a moment for him to come even more into the cover of the trees before he pulled the trigger. His body fell to the ground with a thump, getting the attention of the other one that had stayed at the door. Stefan waited for him to make his way nearer before shooting him just before he could see his downed friend so that he wouldn't make a sound and alert anyone else. He pulled the boy's unconscious body next to his friend, and made his way closer to the door.

He flattened his back against the wall next to the door, opening up his hearing so that he could hear what was going on inside. He could hear Tripp and Enzo. Listening harder, he stretched his hearing as far as he could, concentrating with all his might to hear the sound of another human being. There was no one.

He tucked the gun into the waistband at the back of his pants as he wouldn't be needing it any more. He wanted Tripp lucid for what he was about to do to him. He would not give him a chance to dull the pain he was going to be giving him.

First he had to rescue Enzo.

He clenched his teeth at that, wanting nothing more than to go in there and kill the both of them, but as evidenced by Caroline's reaction yesterday, that would push her even further away from him. She and Enzo were friends. His hands curled into fists at the thought, hating that Caroline had befriended him even knowing how he killed without thought, how he had forced Stefan to kill him to try and make Damon hate him again, and how he was another British man buzzing around Caroline.

He wasn't jealous. Caroline just deserved better than the British assholes who thought they knew what was best for her, without even knowing a single thing about her like Stefan did. He was her best friend, he knew everything there was to know about her, every single secret she shared with him just as he shared the demons of his past with her.

In fact, he didn't think anyone knew him in the way that Caroline did. Not Lexi, not Damon, and certainly not Elena. Caroline knew everything, and she was still there by his side trying to make him smile and laugh despite the evil things he had done in his past. Just as he championed Caroline in all things, because she exceeded every expectation you could lay at her feet with a smile on her face and a spring in her step, happy to prove you wrong.

She was pretty much the most perfect woman he had ever known.

A smile stretched his mouth at the thought. Caroline truly was the happiest, the kindest person he'd ever known, and she didn't deserve any of the bad things that happened to her. She should never feel pain again. He was more than willing to make sure she would never be taken away from him again.

Once he had saved her life, he would do everything he could to get her friendship back, because now that he was back in her orbit, it suddenly hit him how much he had truly missed her when he was gone. He would do anything to get her back because he needed her back, and he didn't want to live without her.

With that thought in mind, and determination filling him he silently pushed the door open. He peeked inside; Tripp was standing by Enzo interrogating him for the locations of other vampires. He saw the exact moment Enzo noticed him – his eyes widened a fraction, and rage filled them. He didn't wait for Enzo to let Tripp know of his presence, he just vamped across the room and slammed Tripp straight into the wall making sure not to knock him out. He fished around in his pockets quickly for the key, and tossed it over to the ground by his feet, "Release yourself and leave. Make sure Caroline is safe."

Enzo paused in his actions of unlocking his chains to furrow his brow at Stefan, "Why would gorgeous not be safe?" He glared at him, "Have you left her unprotected?"

"She's at Whitmore." Stefan grunted out, trying to keep Tripp subdued and having to put more of his weight behind his hold, "Elena and Damon are there but I would feel better if she had some more back up just in case something happens."

"Damon?!" Enzo exclaimed in shock, his eyes wide at hearing the name of his dead best friend, "What…?"

"Oh, forgot you don't know. Damon's alive." Stefan smiled, not caring for a moment about what Enzo had said to him about not being a brother to Damon or that he'd turned Ivy, his brother was alive and that was the only thing that mattered right now. Well, that and making sure that Caroline stayed alive.

"How?" Enzo asked in amazement as he shook off the rest of his chains and stood up fully for the first time in days. He had looked in every book and spoken to every witch to find a way to bring Damon back but there was nothing. A dead end around every corner.

"Now is not the time." Stefan needed to get on with what he came here for and that was to kill Tripp very very slowly before the two boy's he knocked out awakened, which shouldn't be for a good couple of hours. He had the time to flex his ripper self, but only once Enzo was gone.

Enzo narrowed his eyes at Stefan's eagerness to get rid of him. He didn't want to follow his orders for the simple fact that Stefan was the one giving them, but he could really do with a bite before he and him had their inevitable showdown, and it wouldn't do to pick a fight when the odds were uneven. He let a smirk curve his face, "I shall just ask Damon myself then, while checking on Caroline to make sure she is still her lovely, gorgeous self."

Stefan gritted his teeth, trying to stop himself from reacting to Enzo's comment, knowing that is exactly what he wants to happen. He wouldn't rise to the bait as he had more important things to do. He glared at Enzo and barked, "Leave!"

Enzo just walked out the door, breathing in the fresh air of freedom for a moment before going on the hunt for something warm and blonde.

Stefan waited until he heard Enzo was far enough away before he chained up Tripp with the chains that had bound Enzo. He stepped back and crossed his arms over his chest as he glared down at him, "Alone at last."

"What the hell are you doing?" Tripp yelled, hoping that his raised voice would alert his men outside, "You were the one who gave me Enzo! Yet, you are a vampire."

"Never said I wasn't." Stefan shrugged, loosening his control on his caged ripper, bringing him close to the surface without turning his humanity off, "Enzo pissed me off and you were killing vampires. I assumed you would just kill him and not keep him alive for information."

"Even though you were the one that handed him over he never once revealed your name." Tripp commentated, surprised that Enzo hadn't told him about Stefan at the first chance he got, especially as he was the one to hand him over, "Any of your names, in fact."

"I'm sure he would have eventually." Stefan walked over to a table laden with instruments of pain. He glided his fingers across the table, sending a sadistic grin over to Tripp, "Enzo is not my concern. You are."

"And why is that?" Tripp began to sweat as he heard no sound of incoming people, afraid that Stefan had killed his men to get to him. Fear made his Adam's Apple bob up and down as he swallowed.

Stefan noticed the signs of his fear and his grin widened, "If you are waiting for your guys to show up you'll be waiting for a long time. I took care of them." He didn't specify how, leaving it open to interpretation, letting Tripp form his own conclusion of what he had done to the two guards outside.

"You killed them? You worthless bastard." Tripp yanked uselessly at his chains, wanting to kill Stefan only he couldn't and something told him he wouldn't be surviving their encounter, "Just tell me why you are doing this to me?"

Stefan picked up a large hunters knife from the table and languidly walked over to Tripp. He dropped to a crouch in front of him, playing with the tip of the knife with his finger, while shooting him a look full unsuppressed rage, "Because you killed the woman who means everything to me."

Tripp creased his brow, "Ivy?"

"No, not Ivy." Stefan raised his hand with the knife to slit a cut down his face as he growled in rage, "Caroline."

"Caroline's not dead!" Tripp cried out in both fear and pain, panic turning his pupils wide as his veins turned to ice in his terror, "I haven't touched her!"

"You did. Yesterday you killed her right in front of me." Stefan cut another line, this time across his jaw.

"What are you talking about? Yesterday?!" Tripp started to shake, convinced that Stefan must be insane, he hadn't even seen Caroline, "I haven't touched her."

"You would have, but I've stopped you." Stefan grinned at the next cut across Tripp's chest which made him scream, "I've saved her."

"You're insane." Tripp yelled, thrashing against his chains, trying to get away from Stefan and his knife.

Stefan shook his head, "I've saved Caroline's life by taking yours before you even have the chance to kill her."

He continued to torture Tripp, each new scream bringing him satisfaction while also making him feel relief. He could no longer harm Caroline.

He had saved her.

Caroline was walking across the campus when she noticed Stefan across from her. She hesitated for a moment on whether to talk to him, especially after having an interesting conversation with Enzo earlier. Apparently Stefan had handed him over to Tripp to be killed, only to suddenly go and rescue him. She was furious at what he'd done, but at the same time she was confused why Stefan would save him if he wanted him dead.

Stefan smiled happily as he saw Caroline make her way over to him. Her blonde locks shone in the sunshine, and while he could detect the anger in her gaze he had never been more happier to see her. Tripp was dead and buried in the woods, and no longer posed a threat to Caroline any longer.

She was safe.

Caroline stopped just in front of him, glaring at him as she let her anger rule her, "Why the hell did you have Enzo captured? Especially if you were just going to rescue him." She shook her head in confusion, "Is it because Damon's alive? You needed to save his friend."

"I was angry when I turned Enzo in. Damon being back made me feel guilty for getting him captured." Stefan replied with a half truth. Yesterday it had been guilt for getting Enzo captured that had spurred him on to confess to Caroline, Ric, and Matt that it was him that turned him in. Today, it was all to do with saving Caroline.

"So you should." Caroline agreed, glaring daggers at Stefan, "He may not be the best person in the world but he is my friend."

"I know." Stefan replied softly, wanting so much to reach out and touch Caroline but he knew that a touch from him would not be welcomed, not right now.

Caroline could sense that Stefan was different, yesterday he had walked away yet again, granted after she told him to but still, he could have stayed if he really wanted to. Somehow Damon being back had changed him back into the Stefan she used to know. The turnaround gave her whiplash.

Stefan smiled at her, taking in each of her lovely features with hungry eyes. He could finally breathe easier now that she was in front of him, alive and beautiful. She was safe and he felt relief sweep his body. He had succeeded.

Now he needed to make up to her for how terrible he's treated her. He placed his hand on her forearm, stealing a touch to confirm yet again that she was here in front of him; alive. He tilted his head to the side to ask hopefully, "Do you want to grab a coff-"

Caroline gasped, falling straight into Stefan's arms limply.

"Caroline!" Stefan caught her easily, his heart racing in fear at how slack she was in his arms. He pulled her against his chest, looking down at her face only to cry out in horror, "No!"

Caroline's skin was grey, her veins darkened.

Stefan's knees buckled as they fell to the ground, tears falling down his cheeks as he shook his head in disbelief, "No. No. No." He pushed his face into her golden locks, sobs racking his body, heartbreak and grief hitting him all over again.

He was supposed to have prevented this. Tripp was dead, he was the one who killed her before, but he was dead. She should be alive. He killed Tripp so that this would never happen. She should still be alive! Not lifeless in his arms for the second time in two days.

"That was for Tripp." An angry voice hissed.

Stefan raised his tearful gaze once he heard the voice, looking through the curtain of Caroline's blonde hair to see one of the boys he tranquillized standing behind them holding a crossbow.

He shook his head in denial, overwhelmed with realising horror. He had spared him, and he had killed Caroline. Once again he was unable to save her, not even recognising danger for the second time, she was dead again because of him.

He clutched her tighter and buried his face in her hair as he sobbed over and over again, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Caroline!"

He had broken his promise again.

"If I could turn back time, If I could find a way, I'd take back those words that hurt you, and you'd stay."

"Caroline!" Stefan yelled out as he awoke, his cheeks wet with his tears, his heart feeling like someone had stabbed a knife through it.

He glanced his eyes over to the alarm clock, seeing those same damaging words on the LCD; 8:00 Tuesday. He reached over, taking hold of the alarm clock, yelling in rage he threw it at the wall shattering it to pieces.

He rest his elbows on his thighs, covering his face with his hands as he broke down in heartbroken sobs as the reality of his situation hit him.

He was repeating Tuesday, over and over. He was watching Caroline be taken from him, again and again. And there was nothing he could do.

He had changed everything that happened the first time around and Caroline was still killed right in front of him.

He would not fail this time.

TBC

AN – What do you guys think? Caroline is dead again, and Stefan is still repeating Tuesday. The mystery continues ;)