Over the next 5 weeks, things were normal. Stefan felt normal for the first time in months. And he couldn't help but notice that he'd started feeling like this when Caroline came around.
They went running every morning, and even though they didn't talk about what happened that first morning, they seemed to talk about almost everything else.
He felt like he'd known her his whole life. She told him about her dreams of being an interior designer and of wanting to move to a place like Los Angeles so she could work for celebrities and be rich. She told him about her mother passing away and the dark hole that she fell into shortly after that. And she told him about her fears of failing and disappointing her mom, even if she wasn't here anymore.
Stefan was so intrigued by her. She wasn't like anyone he'd ever met before. She was kind, and smart, and bright and always seemed to have a smile on her face. He couldn't get enough of her.
But even with everything Caroline had told him about herself, Stefan couldn't shake the feeling that she had a big secret that he wasn't sharing with him and it was driving him crazy. He wanted to know every single thing about her. And he couldn't keep himself from thinking about that bruise he'd seen on her side.

Stefan walked into Damon and Elena's room and saw his brother packing his suitcase for the vacation him and Elena were leaving for tomorrow.
"Damon, I need to ask you something, and I really need you to be honest with me."
"What's up Stefan?", he said as he kept packing.
"What's the real reason that Caroline moved here?"
Damon turned and looked at his brother, "Why do you want to know so bad Stef? You've been trying to find ways to ask that same questions for weeks now. What's going on with you?"
Stefan took a deep breath, he wish Damon could just give him a straight answer. Elena knew the truth behind Caroline coming here, and if Elena knew, then Damon knew and Stefan was tired of feeling left out of the secret.
"Damon, come on. Stop avoiding the question every time I ask and just tell me what happened."
Still, Damon stayed quiet as he contemplated whether to tell Stefan the truth or not. He knew Elena was going to be so pissed, but his brother really seemed to care about this girl and he thought Stefan should know.
While Damon was still thinking about it, Stefan told him, "I saw a massive bruise on her side Damon. She said she walked into a door, I know that's total bullshit. I think somebody hurt her."
Stefan saw Damon's shoulders tense as he told him what he'd seen and with that Stefan knew he was right.
Damon took a shaky breath in. Stefan saw anger in his brother's eyes, and then he spoke slow and calm.
"Look Stefan, I can't give you any specifics because it's not my place to do so. What I will tell you is that Caroline was hurt, in more ways than one, and that's all I'm going to say on this situation."
Damon saw the rage in Stefan's eyes build higher and higher as he told him that someone had hurt Caroline. Damon knew the two of them had been getting closer since she had arrived, but he didn't fully realize how much Stefan had already grown to care about her.
"Stefan, don't do anything stupid, you understand me? If she wants to talk to you about it, she will. You have to give her time, she'll tell you her story when she's ready."
Stefan let out an angry sigh and nodded his head. Even with the anger he felt right now at whoever it was who had hurt Caroline in the past, he knew his brother was right. He couldn't and wouldn't push her to tell him anything before she was ready.
He got up and headed for the door, stopping before he was out of the room, "Thanks Damon."
His brother just nodded his head and gave him a small smile.

The next morning, Caroline woke up with a smile on her face.
Damon and Elena were going to be leaving today for a whole two weeks. And that meant that she and Stefan had the house completely to themselves. She couldn't help the butterflies that went crazy in her stomach at the thought of that. They'd gotten so close since she'd arrived in Mystic Falls and if she was being honest with herself, she knew she was falling for him, and that thought scared the living hell out of her.

After she'd showered and gotten dressed, she went downstairs and found everyone else already in the kitchen, Damon and Elena's bags near the front door.

Everyone ate breakfast together and then it was almost time for Elena and Damon to leave to catch their flight.

Elena pulled Caroline aside before they left, "Are you sure you're okay with us being away for this long?"
Caroline smiled at her friend, she was so thankful to have her and to have Elena worrying about her.
Caroline put her hands on her friends' shoulders, "Elena, I will be fine, I promise. If anything is wrong, Stefan will be here. You guys go and have a wonderful time. And take a million pictures!"
Elena laughed at Caroline. She was so amazed by her. She'd been through so much and yet she always had a smile on her face and such a carefree attitude, she envied that about her.
"Okay", Elena said, "We are out of here then. Call if you need anything at all!"
Caroline promised that she would and then they were gone and it was just her and Stefan.

For the rest of the afternoon, Stefan was in the garage working on his car while Caroline was busying doodling possible ideas for how she wanted to decorate her room. It was far too bland for her taste.

Once it hit about 4 o'clock, she went and told Stefan so that they could make dinner together.
He took a shower and met her back downstairs in the kitchen.
Making fettuccine alfredo took longer than they thought it would since Caroline burned it the first time and they had to make a brand new one.
After they'd eaten dinner, it was time for one of their new favorite traditions. They would hang out in the living room and find the worst movie on Netflix they could possibly find and spend two or three hours making fun of it. Caroline didn't think she'd ever laughed as hard in her life as she did during these nights with Stefan.
Except, tonight, they decided to watch it in Stefan's room since the boys had broken the flat screen in the living room when they decided it was a good idea to play football in the house.

They found some ridiculous movie about a centipede and humans or something or other, when Caroline felt her eyes beginning to get heavy.
Without even thinking, she moved over closer to Stefan and laid her head on his shoulder.

Stefan tensed his whole body when she put her head on his shoulder. He knew that she was just tired, but even so, it made his heart burst with joy to have her this close to him.
He was falling hard for this girl, and he was absolutely terrified.
He pulled the blanket up on their bodies more and looked down at her beautiful face.
He gently cupped her check and brushed his thumb across it and smiled when she moved her head to lay more in his hand.
Before he knew it, he was drifting off to sleep as well; both of them with smiles on their faces.

I hope you guys enjoyed chapter 4! Reviews and comments are always appreciated. Chapter 5 will be up soon! Thanks everyone!