They're in Bonnie's living room, huddled in a circle, talking softly even though the house is empty. Stefan sits in his practiced calm, though the alarm bells in his mind haven't stopped ringing. Caroline however, is actually calm, this not being the first attempt on her undead life. (If she's realistic, probably not the last.) Bonnie sits between them, eyes darting back and forth, unsure how to offer comfort to either.
"Can you do a spell?" Stefan asks. "Some kind of memory wipe?"
"That won't work," Caroline answers for her. "She'd have to get close to him. Physically. I'm guessing if your dad knows about me, he sure as hell knows about witches."
Stefan shoots her a look, then turns his attention to Bonnie.
"She's right," Bonnie agrees. "If he's involved with the founders council, and it's probably a safe bet he is, he'll know all about my family. I couldn't get anywhere near him."
"So what?" Stefan tosses out. "We do nothing?"
Caroline and Bonnie share a glance.
"You don't know him. I mean, there's a reason he's a General. Once he sets out to do something, it takes other armies to stop him."
"Of course not," Caroline replies. "But like you said, he's career military, and has a plan already in place. If he'll stop at nothing, people are going to get hurt. That's the last thing I want. So maybe I should just..."
"No," Stefan dismisses. "Don't even think it."
"He's your dad, Stefan."
"Yeah, he's father of the year. Plotting to kill my girlfriend. Thinking I'd just stand by and let it happen."
"I've done terrible things."
"I don't care."
"Stefan-"
"I don't care," he repeats. "Maybe there's something wrong with me, I don't know. You tell me you're a vampire. Okay. You tell me you've killed. That you enjoyed it. Whatever. You tell me you loved someone with my name, and killed him too. By all logic, it should send me running away screaming, but you know what? It hasn't. I'm still here. I'm telling you, I don't care what you were, what you've done. Because I see you now. Maybe I'm selfish. Maybe I just love you too much and can't imagine ever letting you go. But I will not sit here, and let you think giving yourself up to my dad because people might get hurt, is the right choice."
Neither girl knows what to say.
"Whoa," Bonnie utters, breaking the momentary silence.
Caroline looks to her friend.
"Hit the jackpot, didn't I?" she asks.
"Yeah, you did."
Stefan blushes and looks away.
"So," Bonnie continues. "Now that we've agreed Caroline isn't going to die, how do we go about making sure it doesn't happen? We don't even have an idea when or where the General would come after you."
"Yes we do," Caroline offers.
Stefan and Bonnie look at her curiously.
"The founders ball."
"Isn't that a little public?" Bonnie inquires.
"It's exactly that," Caroline confirms. "It would make a big statement. That the founder's council isn't just a keep of the town's secrets, but that they're a force to be dealt with."
"You sound awfully sure," Stefan interjects.
Caroline meets his eyes.
"To kill me in some grand spectacle," she puts out. "Is a big message to all the supernatural things that migrate here."
"What message is that?" Bonnie asks.
"That this town belongs to them."
/\
Their eyes meet in the reflection of the vanity.
For a moment he forgets to breathe, stunned at how drop dead gorgeous she is, the emerald dress and golden locks curled to perfection. He leans down, as if he can't help himself, to press a lingering kiss on her neck. It doesn't help the situation, when her eyes flutter closed, and a soft sigh escapes her lips.
How he wants to ruffle that dress, muss up her hair.
"Stefan," comes out a whisper, her voice causing goosebumps to dot along his skin. "We can't."
She's right. Of course she is.
He pulls back slowly, letting the contact last as long as it can, and keeps his hand on her shoulder. Her hand moves to cover his, giving him a small smile in the mirror.
"I take it you approve?" She asks, making a motion with her free hand.
"I have no words," he replies. "They would hardly do you justice."
The smile grows bigger.
"Aren't you a charmer?"
For a moment they just take each other in.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" She asks.
His thumb makes circles on her skin.
"No," he answers honestly. "But I'm going to."
The razor gleams under the vanity lights, twisting just so, as she brings it to her skin.
"If you get hurt," she begins. "This will heal you."
Stefan flinches when silver slices into porcelain, letting red bleed out, and takes her offered wrist lifting it to his mouth.
"If you die," she says softly. "You'll be like me."
/\
The mansion is lavishly decorated, the Lockwoods sparing no expense as always, or so Caroline whispers into his ear. The crowd is large and boisterous, all the who's who of small town Virgina, collected into a single setting. Stefan's eyes are everywhere, scanning for imminent threats, or easy exits. He hates being on edge like this. That he can't even enjoy such a glamorous party, with Caroline looking like a movie star, because his dad feels the need to make a statement.
He catches sight of Matt and Elena, already on the dance floor, twirling around like two teenagers without a care in the world. Tyler, oddly, is nowhere to be seen despite this being his house. Katherine however, he spots off in a corner, dress identical to the one her sister wears save for color. She does not look like she hasn't a care in the world, but pouty and somber.
"Hey," Stefan asks, nodding at the corner. "What's the deal with you and Katherine?"
She follows his gaze to the girl in question.
"When I came back, she was the first person to welcome me, desperate for a new face in a life she felt was nothing but a status quo. So we became friends, but I could tell right away she was the kind of girl who's a friend to your face but not when you turned your head. Then the whole Tyler thing happened."
"Wait," Stefan interrupts. "You and Tyler?"
"Ew, no. But Katherine didn't know I wasn't interested. So she made a big show of trying to land him, after that I was kind of done pretending we were actually friends. I don't hate her or anything, she surprisingly owns being a two faced bitch, but I retreated a bit from that group. If you hadn't noticed, they pretty much stick together no matter what."
"But you're friends with Bonnie."
Caroline grins.
"She and I are on the same wavelength when it comes to Katherine."
/\
An hour into the party, and nothing happens. No big reveal of the town's dirty little secrets. No showdown to end Caroline's supernatural presence in it. Stefan hasn't left her side, comically so, going as far as waiting outside the ladies room when she had gone to fix her hair.
His dad has yet to make an appearance, and by the look of things, the founder's council doesn't look to have anything planned as far as public execution. The Gilberts, Lockwoods, Fells, Forbes, are simply dressed to the nines and enjoying the ambiance.
Stefan doesn't want to let his guard down, has no intention of doing so, but the more this party drags on he can't help but think Caroline was wrong in her assumption. They've circled the crowd more than a dozen times, and have been given no inclination that anything wasn't on the up and up. Several run ins with Bonnie doing the same, also comes up with nothing.
"Dance with me," Caroline says after completion of circle thirteen.
Stefan balks, halting his step so abruptly he nearly trips over his own feet.
"You know," he deflects, hand idly scratching the back of his head. "I can't believe this hasn't come up before, but uh, I don't really dance."
"That's funny," Caroline replies, pulling on his arm. "It sounds like you think you have a choice in the matter."
She leads him to the floor, smirking to herself at how he scuffles in step behind her, and once there twirls him into an embrace.
"Oh my," he laughs. "I feel like the belle of the ball."
"Because you are," she assures, leaning in to press her cheek against his.
They're quiet a moment, simply enjoying each others company.
"Should we be doing this?" He asks. "I mean, at any moment they could-"
"I'm starting to think I was wrong," she interrupts. "Look at them," she continues, head casually pointing out all the elder statesman of the families. "Do they really look poised to launch an attack on anything, let alone me?"
"No," Stefan concedes. "But you said-"
"I think I assumed nothing changed about this place," Caroline goes on. "Because the first time I left, it was an exile, me and Lexi running with torches and pitchforks at our backs. It happened again in the thirties, and one more time in the fifties. But I never learned my lesson. I always came home."
Stefan kisses her cheek.
"I feel ridiculous," she admits. "Your dad isn't even here."
Stefan freezes at her words.
"Yes he is."
Caroline looks around.
"Where?"
"He just walked in. Easy to spot a dress uniform among all these penguin suits."
They spin so Caroline can see.
"He's alone?"
"Looks that way."
"Stefan," she starts, giving his shoulder a squeeze. "He's looking right at us."
He turns back to see this father's grim glare, and any other day Stefan would be terrified about the punishment that stern face would come up with for such defiance, had he not already planned never to go back living with the man no matter the result of the night.
"We should go," he says pulling her hand. "He won't make a scene, but I can't stand him looking at us like that."
/\
They're a good twenty feet away from her car, when gunshots ring, a three shot burst straight into her abdomen. Caroline cries out, clutching her midsection, before falling backward to the ground. Your pretty, pretty dress, Stefan thinks helpless to catch her.
"I'm disappointed in you son," Dad's voice calls, as the man himself steps around the car.
Stefan kneels next to Caroline, taking her hand is his, jaw clenching as she twists and writhes in pain.
"Wooden bullets," she manages to say through a wince.
"Step away from that thing," Dad orders with a wave of his gun. "And let me finish this."
"And what is this exactly?" Stefan asks in defiance. "You by yourself? No founder's council to back you up?"
"Those sycophants?" he replies with a laugh. "As if that group would know what to do with a monster if they ever came across one. They're librarians, Stefan. Keepers of secrets and nothing more."
Stefan doesn't believe it.
"Then no seal team to cover your flank?"
Dad actually looks surprised.
"You think I'd waste government resources like that?"
"I don't know what you'd do," Stefan answers. "I don't know why you care about what she is, or what she's done. Have you crossed paths before? Is this some kind of revenge?"
"Revenge?" Dad echoes. "No, son. This is vendetta."
Caroline gasps in pain, squeezing Stefan's hand.
"For what?" he cries exasperated.
"For killing one of our own," Dad replies. "Or did she never tell you?"
Stefan looks down to her, face still held in a grimace.
"She told me," he admits.
"And you still continued to date her?" Dad asks in disgust. "Love her?"
"It was a hundred and fifty years ago!" Stefan shouts.
"That's right," Dad agrees. "And every generation since has named their second son Stefan in honor of his memory. Time does not heal all wounds, some continue to fester. Especially if that wound is immortal. Now, step away from the girl."
"No," Stefan refuses. "I won't let you hurt her."
Dad aims the gun square at his chest.
"How many has she hurt, son? How many killed? It's what she does. It's what she is. Pretty face or no, sooner or later the blood she spills will be yours."
"What happens with your vendetta if you kill me?" Stefan asks. "How many years will the Salvatore's hold a grudge against you?"
The gun fires an answer, pain ripping into Stefan's leg, causing him to fall back next to Caroline on the ground.
"Kill you?" Dad asks. "I would never. But clearly a lesson needs to be taught."
The gun in hand points straight at Caroline's heart.
"Don't," Stefan grunts through the pain. "Dad please..."
"It's for the best," Dad says. "Maybe one day you'll realize that."
Stefan catches movement in the corner of his eye, quick and fleeting, then suddenly Bonnie is behind the man in uniform silent as a ghost.
She announces her presence with shouts in Latin, both of her hands appearing on the side of dad's head, the man's eyes quickly rolling backward.
It's over in seconds, the mighty general hitting the ground with a thump, leaving Bonnie standing there with arms still outstretched and breathing heavily.
Stefan falls to his back, relieved laughter spilling out of him, despite the pain still coursing from his bullet wound.
"Bonnie Bennett you're my hero," he announces to the sky.
She laughs brokenly in reply, moving to kneel between them.
"Are guys gonna be okay?" she asks.
"I think so," Stefan offers, already feeling Caroline's blood inside him begin to mend damaged tissue. "Caroline?"
"Just peachy," she replies, voice still strained. "I need blood though. This freaking hurts like a mother."
Stefan's hand find hers.
"Still love me?" she asks.
He lifts it to his mouth, and answers with a kiss.
/\
They're in Chicago, living in an apartment Caroline has kept since prohibition, until Stefan finishes his last year of high school. Then it's off to Europe. London, Paris, Barcelona, and anywhere in between they feel like swinging through. After that, a trek through Asia. India, Cambodia, China, and Japan. Perhaps they'll swing down to the Philippines once they've accomplished that, Australia, then New Zealand. One day returning to this apartment. One day making him hers forever.
Sometimes, she catches him staring off at nothing, and she'll ask if he's thinking about his father. The life before her, and all the drama that comes with being a vampire.
"Do you miss him?"
"No," he answers.
It's the truth.
He doesn't miss that life. The isolation. The constant state of flux. Always being the new kid, and never getting to be Stefan. But he will still think of his father, in a sense that that without him, Stefan would not be here. But the man was never kind. Not cruel, but always distant, and consistently cold. How, he wonders, could anyone miss such a relationship?
His father certainly doesn't miss him. Bonnie took care of that. General Giuseppe Salvatore has no memories of being a father at all. Not to him, not to Damon, and Stefan can't help but think it for the best. With his attitude and actions, he can never truly fathom the man enjoying the idea of fatherhood in the first place.
Day by day, he thinks of dad less and less. He lives his life. With Caroline by his side, it's the happiest he's ever been. He goes to school, studies as hard as he always has, and graduates with honors. She's so proud, sending photo after photo to all their friends back in Mystic Falls, kissing him breathless when he walks off the stage with diploma in hand.
"I love you," she declares, playing with the tassel on his cap.
He kisses her again.
"I love you, too."
/\
Three months into their trip they sit in a hotel bar in Barcelona, sipping Agua de Valenica's and discussing whether they want to hit Italy from land or sea, when Stefan's eyes suddenly narrow. His head twists to the entrance of the bar, catching sight of a familiar face.
"What is it?" Caroline asks at the rapid shift in demeanor.
He drops off his stool, walking toward the door, but careful to reach a hand back for her. She takes it and follows, high heels clicking along the marble floor, out into the lobby. Stefan doesn't look back to her, going toward the elevators, as his steps increase in speed. All she can see of the person they seem to be following is a black leather jacket.
"Damon!" Stefan shouts suddenly.
The man in the jacket stops, but doesn't turn around.
"Is that?" Stefan starts, voice hitching slightly. "Is that you?"
The man in the jacket mutters something, low enough that Stefan can't hear, but Caroline does.
Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world...
He turns around, and Stefan can't help but squeeze Caroline's hand.
"Hey little brother," Damon greets with a cheshire grin. "Miss me?"