4

It was a little after school let out a couple hours later that Stefan started to worry. He tried calling Caroline's phone and checking at her house to see if maybe she wasn't up for school today but there was no sign of her. Going missing the day after going missing was incredibly close to the worst thing a person could do.

Elena contacted him again after class to see if he'd heard from her at all, but between him, Elena, and Bonnie, nothing. Stefan took off into the woods to see if maybe she went hunting where they usually did, but he wasn't having much luck there either. He was fixing to give up here and check around the police station where her mom worked when an odd crunch followed his next step and he stopped in his tracks.

Stefan lifted his foot to see what he'd just stepped on and narrowed his eyes on something small in the leaves. It was a silver ladies watch he remembered Caroline flaunting around a few months ago when her dads came into town and decided to spoil her rotten. He crouched down to examine the delicate piece of jewelry and frowned as he picked it up. Engraved on the backside of the tiny clock was her name and a heart filled with dirt.

He curled his fingers around the chain as he lifted his head to glance around through the trees. "Caroline?" He called. When he started walking again, she must have heard the leaves crunching beneath his feet because that's when she answered moments later.

"I'm here." Her voice came. Stefan turned to his left and at first didn't see her, but a closer look and he noticed her boot sticking out from a thick tree trunk. She was sitting on the other side of it.

"Caroline," he said relieved and jogged over to her. "Everyone's worried-where have you been?" As he came around the tree, he got a better view of her and… "Jesus… What happened to you?" Stefan dropped to his knees beside her.

Her clothes were ripped, her face was smeared with dirt, her arm was bleeding deeply where a slash had yet to heal, and her gold curls were all frizzed out. Out of everything, the wound was what had him worried. Whatever happened to her, it shouldn't still be healing unless it was extremely fresh and way worse than it looked. Stefan glanced around to make sure they were safe where they were.

"I have a headache," she told him. The way her voice was slurred and slow made her sound drunk, but he wasn't smelling any alcohol on her. He'd seen vampires suffer from a similar kind of disorientation before, which worried him. They'd all taken on the animal diet and relapsed.

"What happened?" He asked again and put a hand on her shoulder and arm as he waited intently for a response. She tried her best not to look into his eyes, but he kept staring at her with so much concern that eventually she was forced to.

"Ugh!" Caroline conceded. "I was stalking this bird through the trees-because birds are the only thing I seem to be able to FIND around here-and then all of the sudden it starts to fly and I'm here panicking because I'm freaking hungry, right? So I go for it. …Well. Apparently… " Her eyes gradually went off to the side, embarrassed. "There are random drop-offs around here…"

"Caroline," he scolded.

"What? How was I supposed to know? I've never gone that far out before and never again, don't worry." He leaned his head against his shoulder astounded.

"Why were you hunting out here anyway? What happened to the blood at your house?" Caroline looked away from him as her cheeks grew red. She didn't usually eat so much.

Human food kept her distracted usually, kept her from obeying her predatory instincts, but she was almost always hungry. Damon warned her once that her cravings would fluctuate and that they would almost always coincide with the kind of day she was having. If she felt bad, she would be less inclined to hold herself back from killing. If she felt great, the exact opposite reaction. She would be content. Everything lately with Tyler and the werewolves yesterday had her nerves on edge, and at the moment she wasn't feeling too hot either.

"I… ran out?" Stefan threw his hands out, flustered by her not mentioning that.

"You could have told me," he said and shook his head at her. "You have to be more careful. Here. We can go to my place and get you something to eat." Stefan stood to offer his hand but was surprised at how fast she declined it. She shook her head at him almost in warning, and he made a face at her confused. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she chirped, and then he noticed the leg she was clutching. He didn't realize how tightly she was holding onto it, or that she was holding onto it at all, until she shifted and the movement caused her to wince. He came closer and knelt back down to take a look at the damage. "Stefan, don't! Please."

He touched the hand that she was gripping her leg with and shook his head at her. "Caroline. You can't stay out here. It's not safe." She glowered at him. "Let me see."

Stefan very carefully removed her hand from her leg, and she hissed as a surge of pain shot up through her leg like a high voltage bolt of electricity. Caroline pushed her head back against the tree and clinched her eyes shut now while clutching her thigh with both hands. A single tear ran from her eye. Careful not to hurt her anymore than she was, Stefan ripped the leg of her pants upward from the tear at the bottom, and he couldn't help but grimace at what he saw.

Her hip must have been dislocated because her knee was turned in awkwardly and her kneecap looked completely shattered. Both bones in her lower leg were protruding from her calf in opposite directions where thick purple and blue patches of skin totally surrounded it. Sympathetic, Stefan released an ill breath he'd been holding and looked up at her with an incredibly pained imagination. Caroline's eyes were still closed tight.

He sighed deeply at her. "Did you at least get the bird?" She tried to laugh but the action jerked her leg and it came out more as a cry. She winced right after, growing stiff. "We need to fix this."

"No, don't!" She panicked when he made a move for her leg. He took a hold of her shoulders and she shook her head reluctantly.

"Yes, Caroline. I have to fix it or it won't get better. You can't stay here forever," he said kindheartedly. She knew he was right, the sooner the better, but the anticipation was seriously the worst thing in the world. The pain would be bad… really bad… but thinking about it and knowing it was coming made it all worse.

Caroline held her breath for almost a whole minute, and then finally exhaled to say, "Fine! Do it. Do it quickly." Her entire body was shaking by the time she made up her mind. He rubbed her arm to try to calm her nerves, but that wouldn't save her from what she was about to feel and he knew that. Maybe adrenaline was better.

Being shot was one thing, and being shot in the head was an even worse thing… but broken bones was a whole other level of discomfort for vampires. Creatures whose bodies underwent extremely short healing processes that made the initial wound even harder to bear. There was a reason why normal fractures took time to heal. Everything had to go back into place. New tissue had to form. Bone mass had to be replaced. It was a long process for normal human beings, but for vampires, it all happened at once and it was excruciating, however short the process was.

Caroline used her arm to quickly wipe a tear from her cheek. As her breathing intensified, Stefan nodded once at her. He waited patiently for the green light. Hesitant, she clinched her eyes shut and nodded back. Several dreadful snaps followed and suddenly Caroline was gripping Stefan's shirt. Her screams traveled horrendously through the forest, touching every tree with her pain.

Elena sighed into the phone as she walked over to the kitchen, pulling a quart of orange juice from the fridge while she spoke.

"That's good. At least she's okay," She went on.

"Yeah," Stefan's voice came through. "That's usually the case with us. After everything that happens, at least we're all right." Elena scoffed at the realism of that. She and her friends very rarely steered clear of trouble, or rather, trouble very rarely steered clear of them.

"For now anyway," she chuckled and then almost instantly frowned. "Well, I'm gonna head out in a minute. Do you know if Tiki got a chance to tell Caroline about her party tonight?" Elena grabbed a glass from one of the top cabinets beside the sink and returned the orange juice back to fridge once she was done.

"Ooh," he said. "Didn't know she was having a party." She laughed at how sarcastically offended he was.

"Oh, don't act so shocked," she smiled, "Everyone knows Tiki only invites the socially acceptable people to her little get-togethers."

He chuckled softly. "Ouch."

"Hey, I'm still going even though I wasn't invited either. Maybe three years ago." She groaned at herself. She genuinely had no idea why she used to be a cheerleader or why she ran with that kind of crowd. Matt, Tyler, and Caroline were the only three football/cheerleader type people she hung out with anymore. "Anyway. You should come. I'm gonna call Caroline and then drive to Tiki's so I'll talk to you later hopefully?"

"I'll be there," he assured. She smiled and set the phone down on the counter as she lifted the glass of orange juice to her lips.

It was good to know Caroline was safely at home now, but plunging off an overhang out in the woods somewhere didn't sound like the best way to spend an afternoon. Not to mention the way Stefan described all of the physical trauma that came with it. The only time she ever recalled Caroline even coming close to breaking something was at Cheer Camp one year when she incorrectly landed a front-left handspring and sprained her wrist.

During that time period she was more angry than hurt about having to sit out a few major routines they would need to learn for that upcoming school year. She was tough, and ever since she turned, all that strength seemed to keep amplifying. And it was. Physically and emotionally. The older she got, the stronger she became all around. The life of a vampire, or at least that's what Stefan said.

Elena set her glass down on the counter, running her tongue over her lips to rid them of the stickiness that came with the orange juice, when someone called her name. She spun around to see Jeremy standing there with his arms crossed in the dining room. She gasped, pressing her back against the sink.

"Oh my… god. Jer. You scared me." She pressed a hand over her chest in shock, and he just stood there staring at her. She didn't notice how angry he looked at first because the surprise took a minute to wear off. When he didn't say anything, he had her more worried than frightened. "What is it?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" His eyes were dark and cruel.

Elena made a face at that. "Tell you what?" She scowled. He uncrossed his arms, more aggressively open to this discussion.

"That Tyler was involved in what happened yesterday." She blinked, letting what he was talking about sink in and groaned when she realized what he was talking about. "Since when is he working with the werewolves?"

Elena sighed at him. "He is a werewolf, Jeremy."

"So?" He snapped. "That's not a reason."

"In this case it is," she said and stepped around the counter to walk over to him. "After everything that happened with Mason, he doesn't trust us anymore."

"He trusts me," he interrupted. Jeremy lowered his disconcerted gaze and she narrowed her eyes on him. They both knew it was only because he didn't know Jeremy was involved. Otherwise, he'd be dead to him like everyone else was now. "He told me what happened yesterday. That Stefan attacked him."

"Whoa, whoa-Stefan didn't do anything to him," she said defensively. "He was trying to help him."

"Oh, yeah," he said lowly. "Like he helped Vicki right?" Jeremy shook his head at her, and she was caught off guard by that familiar anger in his eyes. Suddenly, she was brought back to that night when Stefan was forced to kill Vicki Donovan when she turned and couldn't control her urges. "Look how that ended up."

Jeremy glowered at her hesitation, and when she couldn't find the right response, he rolled his eyes at her and decided it was time to leave. As he brushed shoulders with her, Elena turned with him as he went, reaching out but not knowing what to say. The second the front door slammed shut, she snatched the car keys off the counter frustrated and stormed out to her car.