Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries, and I have no rights to any of it.

Feelings

The sun was beginning to rise across Mystic Falls as Stefan approached the Forbes household. The impending dawn was casting a hue of pale blue over the town, a chilly wind nipping at his neck. The feeling made bumps rise all over his body and the long forgotten sensation brought a slight smile to his otherwise brooding face. Oh how I've missed that feeling, he thought as he crossed the grass into Caroline's backyard.

When he reached the side of the house, he heard a commotion that instantly worried him. His heart dropped as he turned the corner of the house and saw her.

Caroline, bloody and being wheeled towards an ambulance.

His legs carried him quickly to her side and he looked down at the pale wet mess of blonde curls in front of him, his hand reaching down to touch her face. His fear growing more with each second as he saw her pale and unmoving, so unlike herself. It hurt his very being.

"Step back please," an EMT said, holding up his arm and pushing Stefan towards the house and away from her.

"Caroline!" Stefan yelled as he was forced to watch her being loaded into the ambulance along with Liz as the doors shut him out and drove her away. He stood there, frozen, unable to process what just happened.

After a few silent seconds, he began running as fast as he could around the Forbes house and back into the woods. He knew of a shortcut to the hospital and hoped that he would be there when she arrived. The cold wind was forcing his eyes to water, unknowing tears dripping down his face. She was hurt. She was really hurt. But how? Was it an accident or did someone hurt her? His anger grew without warning as scenarios were running through his head.

Not Caroline, he screamed in his mind as his burning legs carried him closer to her with each step.


Damon stood looking down at the three blood bags marked Elena laying in the freezer in the boarding house basement. He knew he shouldn't touch them since Stefan and Elena had collected them as a possible bargaining chip with Klaus if anything were to ever go wrong, but he knew he needed to find her and this was the quickest way. He grabbed a blood bag and headed upstairs into the kitchen. Opening the microwave, he placed the blood bag in the center and clicked the defrost button once, leaning down to watch the bag spin around and around.

Abby was quick to join him and placed a map of Mystic Falls on the counter of the granite-topped kitchen island. There was nothing but silence between them until the microwave beeped twice. Damon removed the now limp blood bag and popped of the top, handing it to Abby. She reached out to grab it, but Damon didn't let go. She looked up, catching his eyes.

"I just want to say this now, before I forget … or before I have a change of heart or something," Damon looked Abby in the eyes with a hint of remorse.

"Yes?"

Damon took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, "Thank you and I'm …. sorry."

Abby, confused, went to speak but Damon held up his left finger and wagged it a few times.

"Ah ah ah. You don't get to say 'You're welcome' to me," he shook his head, raising his eyebrows. "Unbeknownst to you, and that dear daughter of yours, I was there to kill you last night. Or turn you into a vampire. I hadn't decided yet at the time."

Abby looked back with a look of shock. Damon placed his other hand on top of hers.

"And I just wanted to say that I would have deeply regretted it," he then let go of the blood bag and stepped back. "And now that I've done that, we can move on to more pressing matters. Which let me reiterate, is very pressing." He gave her a threatening look and walked back, placing himself on one of the stools on the other side of the kitchen island. Abby gave him a quick nod and small smile before looking down at the sprawled map laying before her.

She took the blood bag and poured a quarter-sized amount onto the map. She capped the blood bag and sent it flying across the counter to meet Damon's welcoming hands. He gripped the blood bag in anticipation as Abby began the locator spell.

"Phasmatos Tribum, Nas Ex Veras, Suguita Segenis, Amentes Ase Nichan, Egapetos!"

Abby chanted with her eyes closed, her head twitching with each word. Damon stood up and watched as the blood began moving across the map. It finally rested someone in the middle of the woods behind the Lockwood estate. He narrowed his eyes and nodded, Should have known. Abby finished chanting and looked at the map and then met Damon's anxious face.

"Let's get going, Mama Witch," he reached for his jacket and headed for the door, Abby, without hesitation, trailed behind him. They both left the house and headed towards Damon's car. The sun had now risen and the light of dawn was casting shadows on them. As soon as they were on the road, Abby spoke.

"I know you think I don't get a say," she began. Damon looked at her through the corner of his eyes. "I just wanted to say that … I'm glad you didn't either." She quickly looked out her window, her eyes on the passing blur of trees. Damon nodded in response and then there was nothing but silence between them until they pulled into the Lockwood's driveway up to the mansion and parked. Damon quickly turned the car off and got out, heading towards the old Lockwood cellar in a hurry. Abby desperately trailed behind him.

Damon then started running when he entered the forest, losing Abby as she was unable to keep up. His labored breath filled the quiet and haunting forest as he gasped for air. His legs were struggling to keep up with the adrenaline pumping in his heart. This being human thing is really starting to piss me off, he groaned. He was about to stop to take a breather when he saw it, he saw them by the entrance of the cellar.

His body filled with a mix of different emotions but mostly he was overflowed with fear and anger.

Elena was laying on the ground as if she had been thrown there and was looking up at Klaus who was poised over her yelling something. Damon began running quicker. As he got closer, he could hear Klaus.

"WHERE IS SHE? I SWEAR IF YOU HAVE HURT HER, I WILL KILL EVERYONE YOU LOVE."

Damon burst into the clearing, "You will do no such thing."

Elena's eyes met his and a look of hope and fear shot across her tear-stained face. Damon went to go to her, but Klaus stepped in the way, pressing his forehead to Damon's.

"I'd step back if I were you, mate," Klaus sneered. Damon pressed back harder and looked him dead in the eye.

"You will not hurt her. You'll have to kill me first."

Klaus scoffed, "That's easily arranged and yet, also easily avoided ... if dear Elena here would tell me what she has done with my sister." He stepped back and gestured to Elena who had stood up and was looking at him with a hurtful look in her eyes.

"You wouldn't even let me explain, you wouldn't let me get one word in," she screamed at him in anger. Klaus gritted his teeth and glared back at her. "She's fine, okay. She's not hurt. But if you don't make a deal with me, I'll never tell you where she is." Elena held her head up high with her threat. Klaus let out a scream, but Elena stood strong. Klaus walked up to her and stood inches from her face.

"If she is injured in any way, I swear-"

"We know," Damon interrupted him. "You'll kill her whole family. If we've heard it once, we've heard it a thousand times." Klaus annoyingly looked at Damon and then back to Elena.

"What is it you want from me then? Want me to skip town and leave you all alone for the rest of your existence? Want me to promise to never touch your blood again?" He paused, "Or is it a simple promise of protection?" Klaus raised both of his eyebrows and breathing warm air in her face.

Elena looked at Damon through the corner of her eyes. He was poised and ready to jump at any indiscretion and she was thankful he was there. She gulped and softly nodded. Klaus reared back and stood up straight.

"Fine. You have my promise. I won't harm you," he smirked. Elena gave him a hard look and his lips moved into a thin line. "Or your family and friends." He rolled his eyes before softly grabbing Elena's shoulders.

"Tell me, love. Where is my darling sister?" he calmly asked, surprising Damon and Elena. Damon then noticed Abby had finally joined them and she was giving Klaus a death glare, boring invisible holes in his skull. Klaus was being more cautious.

Damon spoke and held out his hand, "Give me Elena first. Then she can tell you."

Klaus looked at Damon's outstretched hand and, hesitantly, nodded. Elena slowly stepped back and walked around Klaus before running and grabbing Damon's hand. He pulled her into him and gave her a quick hug, running his fingers through her hair and breathing a sigh of relief. Elena was safe. Elena pressed her body against his, running her hand over his chest and feeling his heartbeat. She gasped and looked up at Damon with wonder, their eyes meeting. He softly smiled glaring into her eyes.

Klaus impatiently spoke breaking the moment, "Well?! I don't have all day. I have things to attend to." He pointed to an unconscious Finn laying on the ground just a few feet from them. Damon pondered what he meant when Elena turned and faced Klaus, carefully keeping her back still pressed against his chest.

Klaus looked at Elena, waiting.

She took a deep breath before saying, "She's in your mother's coffin in the caves."

Klaus eyes instantly grew angry and he took a few steps towards her, his fists clenched. She raised her hands in defense. "She's alive, I promise. I made sure she could breathe. It took forever, but I managed to make a few cracks and a hole for her to breathe."

There was a deafening silence between them.

It was quickly broken when Damon's phone rang in his pocket. Without removing Elena from his embrace or his eyes off of Klaus, he removed the phone from his pocket and quickly glanced at the caller ID.

"Stefan," he exhaled and rolled his eyes. It was so typical of his brother to step in and ruin everything at the most important times. He gently removed himself from behind Elena, but kept hold of her hand as he went to answer.

"Kind of busy brother," Damon spoke into the phone. His attention on the conversation.

Klaus pointed at Elena, "I should kill you for this impertinence," he screamed. Elena just looked at him.

"Hurts when someone plays your game now, doesn't it?" She threw back without thinking and was surprised to see Klaus taken aback from her statement, instead of instantly angry.

Klaus was surprised as well. No one ever talked to him like that and get away with it, he would never allow it. No one except her. And right now, he didn't want to even think about that woman, that girl, and how they had left things in the town square the previous night. Her betraying him. He shook his head in an attempt to remove her face from his mind.

"You should know not to say such things to people like myself. It always ends badly," he sneered, backing away towards the entrance of the cellar. He was done with their petty game and needed to find his sister before she suffocated to death … at the hands of a human. But you're human now,a haunting voice inside of him taunted. He gritted his teeth. As he turned around to walk down the steps, he was stopped by one single word.

"Caroline …" Damon gasped.

Klaus froze where he stood and turned his head to meet Damon's eyes. He wondered why her name was brought up, why they were talking about her. He looked into Damon's eyes and the look he exchanged sent Klaus into a panic.

Suddenly, he began to worry in a way that was way too foreign to him. He cursed himself immediately as the emotion rose, taking over his entire body causing a shiver to run down his spine. He had worried about his sister many times in the past, but that feeling had somehow been different. He couldn't place this feeling and why it had suddenly ripped open his heart.

His first instinct was to turn it off, ignore it like he always had when things grew too intense or he was beginning to show weakness. But he couldn't, as hard as he tried, he couldn't. He was human now and he was now forced to feel this feeling and this feeling was something he never wanted to feel … it broke him.

But it was Damon's next words that sent him headfirst into a downward spiral of anguish.

"Which hospital?"


The beeping sounds of the many monitors surrounding her drove Stefan crazy. There was one for her heartbeat, one for her brain activity and even one to monitor her breathing. He was sitting next to the hospital bed, watching as her chest moved up and down with each breath. The movement was subtle, but he was thankful he had something to concentrate on while he sat in this prison.

They said she was in coma. They had said they didn't know when she would wake up. They said she must have had a brain aneurism and fallen in the shower, hitting her head and knocking her out. They said her brain activity was okay. They said she was okay. But she wasn't. Not to him.

Stefan glanced up at the clock hanging on the other side of the room. It was now 8:34 a.m. His eyes moved to Liz who sat across from him, asleep in her chair. She had been out all night working and hadn't slept. Stefan put his head in his hands, aware of his own fatigue. But he couldn't sleep. Not with Caroline human, with himself human. They were too vulnerable especially with Klaus and his family still out there. Even as human, they were still a possible threat and he would not allow anything to happen to her on his watch.

He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, thinking about what they should do next. Once they had given news on Caroline's condition and he knew she was okay, he had begun making the important calls. He called Bonnie first and she said she was at the boarding house looking through grimoires and, although she was worried about Caroline, would stay and continue to look for anything on the binding spell, since they could all be dead if they stayed linked to the Originals. He agreed. He had then called Damon who had seemed rather distracted. It was when he mentioned Caroline's name that he got a reaction out of him and he was shocked to hear the muffed voices of Elena and ... Klaus? He instantly had been worried about Elena's safety, but Damon said she was safe and that they would join him as soon as they could. They had yet to arrive at the hospital.

Stefan's mind began to wonder deeper and deeper and soon, before he could control it, he was in a deep sleep.


Klaus peered in through the window and saw her laying there, barely moving, her chest slowly rising and falling. His eyes moved to her beautiful hair that laid flat and lifeless against the white pillow laying beneath her. Her face was pale and there were tubes going into her nose and wires attached to pads to her forehead. Only she could maintain her beauty like this, he thought. Her genuine beauty. She was so pale laying there in the dark room, but he could still sense her light. He could see it flickering in and out of her with each breath. He desperately wished to cling to her and wrap his arms around her. He wanted to whisper in her ear the words to bring her back to the world, to bring her back to him.

It was then that he noticed Stefan sitting in the chair next to her asleep. He didn't like how he was so protective of her and he didn't like how he was the one now comforting her in her time of need. He desperately wanted to be that person for her, but she never would see him as anything more than a monster. It killed him to know this would always be the case with her and that, despite his efforts, she might never be his.

Stefan suddenly stirred in his seat and the movement caused him to quickly duck his head as not to be seen. But Stefan didn't wake, he just moved to rest his head on the bed, leaning into her beautiful shoulder. Klaus clenched his teeth, not liking his proximity to her. How Stefan got to be so close, yet he had to be so far away. Then, suddenly, the unspeakable happened, tearing Klaus' now fast-beating heart out through his throat.

Stefan slowly reached his hand over and wrapped his hand around Caroline's, entwining their fingers together before falling back asleep.

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