CHAPTER VII
She turned around and looked at him. Damon's face got pale and he froze, staying still on his feet and looking at her with wide eyes and a shocked expression. She stared at him with a confused look.
"Er… Do we… Do we know each other?" she asked him with a frown. Damon raised his eyebrows, as if he was starting to wake up from a feeling of hope.
"Um, you just look…" Damon watched her face, unable to believe what he was seeing. She looked just like her, she was Caroline. The Caroline that he had met and known years ago. Stefan's Caroline.
She frowned at him again and Damon looked at her hand. She was not wearing a daylight ring.
"You look just like her" he said in a whisper, almost inaudible, as he watched her.
"Sorry, what?" she said.
"You…" he looked up at her eyes and he instantly felt a familiar feeling. "You remind me of someone I once met. Someone who was… very special."
She looked at him, still confused and a little scared. Damon looked at her hand again and understood. She was human. Caroline analyzed his face for a moment and then she looked at him, surprised.
"Oh, wait! You're Damon" she said. "Sorry, Damon Salvatore, I mean. Stefan's father."
Damon frowned at her.
"You know Stefan?"
"We're classmates, in high school, although we don't go to the same class. I'm one year younger than him."
Damon nodded slowly, thinking about how ironic the situation was. His son, a replica of his brother, of Stefan, had met a girl that looked exactly like Caroline and that, at the same time, shared her name as he shared his. Was it a joke of fate?
"It's very late to walk alone in Mystic Falls. Haven't you heard the stories?" he asked.
"Hmm" Caroline looked around, rubbing her neck. "Vampires, werewolves?" she burst into laughter and Damon watched her with narrowed eyes. Then she looked at him, thinking about whether saying something about the story of the lovers of the cemetery or not, since his brother was the protagonist of the story. "But, who knows" she shrugged, looking intently at him. "Maybe other stories are true. Have you ever heard of the story of the lovers of the cemetery?"
Damon, still, and without knowing what to say, looked intently at her. She held his gaze, watching his face in order to analyze his reaction.
"I'm afraid I've never heard of it" he finally said.
"Oh, such a shame" she said. "I read it hundredths of times when I was a child. I was obsessed."
"Huh" Damon looked down, restraining a smile The situation got more and more ironic.
"Well, Mr. Salvatore, it's been nice to meet you" she grabbed her bag and raised her bicycle from the floor to get on. "Have a good night."
Caroline pedalled and Damon stood still a few more seconds. She was exactly like her.
"Caroline?" Damon turned around and she stopped to look at him over her shoulder. "Come one day to our house, to have dinner."
She nodded with a little smile and kept pedalling. Damon followed her with his eyes until she disappeared. He looked at the sky with a sparkling in his eyes.
Damon closed the door behind him and headed to the table to take a glass and the bottle of bourbon. He looked at Bonnie from the corner of his eye. She was sitting on an armchair with a book open on her lap.
"That book again?"
"Huh-huh."
"You're wasting your time."
"Yeah, you already told me."
Damon flopped on the other armchair and looked at the fire.
"Walking around the cemetery again?" Bonnie asked him without looking away from the book.
"They've been gone for 10 years already" Damon said with thoughtful voice.
Bonnie looked up at him. Damon nodded and raised his glass.
"I hope they're having the time of their lives up there" Damon said with a bitter smile. Bonnie kept looking at him with a serious face. "What?"
"I was just wondering when you'll accept what happened. Maybe, if you did, you could help me with this" Bonnie pointed at the book and Damon rolled his eyes.
"You said it yourself."
"I know what I said, Damon."
"And there's no Other Side, there's nothing."
"Maybe there's something."
"Even if there was, maybe it's better to leave them alone" Damon brought the glass to his lips. Bonnie looked at him from the corner of her eye. "With all the obstacles that life put in their path, why would they want to come back?"
Bonnie looked at him, puzzled, not being able to believe his words, and then she shook her head. Damon looked at her with a questioning look.
"You're in denial" she said.
"Me?" Damon asked with a dismissive smile. "You're the one who has her head in that book, looking for some way to bring your friends back. Dead friends, by the way."
Bonnie, who had just read something in the book, looked up at the fire and then at the jewelry box where Stefan and Caroline's rings were kept.
"They're off the hook" he mumbled, watching his glass.
Bonnie looked at the pages of the book again with a little smile on her lips.
"Wow" Damon said after a long silence, thinking of Bonnie. "Maybe you couldn't bring them back, but you've wanted to give Stef the same opportunity, to give me the same opportunity" he said, looking down "of doing things right this time."
"He told me that he needed to start again and give her a try… Lily."
"Why did you let him go?" she said with a hint of anger and frustration in her voice. Caroline did not want to fight again, not after he had offered to help at home, but she could not help feeling resentment against him.
"Because he didn't let me stop him" Damon hissed.
Caroline nodded with a hard face, rose, and went back into the house, slamming the door behind her. Damon did not even flinch, he had got used to it.
He remembered the day he found Stefan packing perfectly well. He had been hanging out with Alaric and Bonnie and he had gone back home very late, so he had not expected seeing Stefan awake at that hour of the night. Especially not with a big backpack hanging from his shoulder.
"Are you going somewhere?" Damon asked him, closing the front door with his foot. Stefan was in front of him, still, obviously he had not expected bumping into Damon before leaving the house.
Damon saw the key of Caroline's house in his hand. Stefan was fiddling with it with his fingers, nervously. He looked tired, his eyes red and glassy as if he had been crying not long ago.
"Staying at Caroline's tonight, naughty boy?" Damon winked at him and Stefan looked down. He was not in the mood for jokes, clearly. "Stefan?" Damon frowned and took a step forward. Stefan did the same thing, but backwards. "What's going on?"
Stefan rubbed his chin, still with the key in his hand.
"I gotta go" he simply said.
"Go where?" Damon asked.
"I'll come back for more things soon" Stefan passed next to him and walked towards the door. Damon vamp-sped to stand in front of it. Stefan stopped and sighed.
"Something is going on, and I want to know what it is" Damon said firmly.
Stefan looked at him, directly in the eye.
"I talked to Lily, and I realized that there were a lot of things that I don't comprehend, yet."
"And?"
"And I want to figure out those things, and give her a chance. I want to start over with her. She's our mother" Stefan explained with a serious expression.
Damon seemed surprised and shocked for a few seconds, and then watched Stefan's face, trying to analyze it and understand what was going on.
"You're a good liar, and I'd have bought it if I didn't know you for centuries" Damon said, folding his arms. Stefan snorted, shaking his head and smiling scornfully. "What's going on?"
"I just told you. I need a clear start, away from Mystic Falls, away from everyone. I need to see if Lily's able to redeem herself. And I want to be by her side if that happens. I just want to have the family we should have always had."
"She's your family."
And Stefan knows perfectly well and instantly who Damon is referring to and talking about when he says 'she', because he looks away again, as if he cannot bear it.
"And I see your face, you've been spiralling, maybe even crying" Damon said. "And I guess you have been doing so because of her. You wouldn't leave Caroline behind for anything in the world. I've seen you when you're with her."
Stefan remained silent, looking at the door over Damon's shoulder. He was incapable of looking at him because he knew that as soon as he would, he would break down again.
"Seen me?" Stefan asked vaguely, motionless.
"Happy" Damon said. "I've seen happiness. I've seen you complete for the first time in my life."
Stefan pursed his lips and clenched his jaw, squeezing the key in his hand, not being able to restrain himself.
"Well, I guess I was wrong, and you are too, because I've realized I don't love her as much as I thought" he said, finally looking at him. Damon raised his eyebrows, staring at him for a few seconds, and then he burst into laughing. Stefan looked away again with a scowl.
"You're an idiot" Damon said. "Okay, what's going on in that head of yours? What are you afraid of now? You know she loves you, you're everything to her."
"That's the thing. I'm everything to her, but she's not everything to me."
Stefan passed by Damon and grabbed the knob of the door. Damon stayed still, he had not been that confused in his whole life.
"Stefan" Damon turned around and Stefan waited in silence. He looked up at him and Damon felt as though he was trying to tell him something with his look, as if he was begging him to stop him, to ask him more questions. To help him somehow.
"I'm going to see her, to say goodbye and give her this" he said, waving the key. He swallowed and looked down. "Can you do me a last favour? I don't know how she'll react, I don't know what she…" he sighed and cleared his throat. Damon frowned at him, knowing that something was going on and out of place. "Could you take care of her? Could you keep an eye on her? I don't want her to do something crazy, or go look for me. It wouldn't be good, Lily and the heretics, well, you know they don't like her very much, and Caroline…" Stefan looked at his left and saw the picture of them that she had placed on the table of the lobby. They were smiling and she was hugging him from behind, with her chin resting on his shoulder. His stomach twisted and Damon followed the direction of his gaze.
"Stefan" he said, knowing that he needed to stop him.
"Just keep an eye on her, take care of her, until she moves on" Stefan said, looking away from the picture with a sparkle in his eyes.
"Stefan, if you go, if you leave her" Damon said, giving another step forward. "I don't know if she'll be able to forgive you if you come back, someday. You understand that?"
Stefan looked up at his brother with an exhausted face.
"I know" he said before walking away, leaving the door open, and Damon alone.
Damon looked up from his plate of pancakes and stared at Stefan, who was sitting at the table in front of him, having breakfast as well. He saw him smiling at his phone, texting or talking to someone as he drank his orange juice or bit his pancake.
He was intrigued, he had to admit. More than intrigued, he was cautious, watchful. Because he had a mission now, a goal, a purpose of fixing things, of doing things right this time.
"I know exactly what you're going through, and I know you think you don't deserve to be happy" Damon rolled his eyes. Caroline glanced at the floor. "You're scared of giving yourself a chance because you think that as soon as you're happy again, something bad will happen and it'll make you miserable."
Caroline felt a knot in her throat and swallowed.
"But you know what? If you don't give yourself a chance, you'll never know if it could have worked or not. And you know? Stefan may be an idiot, but he's still super into you" Damon nudged her playfully and Caroline shook her head. "I've read one of his journals, one I didn't give to you."
Caroline looked up at him.
"And what I've read has shown me again that you're the only one who can make him happy. According to his words, he knew too."
"Damon…"
"Just think about it, give him a chance. You know that you won't be able to happy if you're not with him."
"It's too complicated" she said. "What am I supposed to do? Not telling him the truth? I can't lie to him, he doesn't deserve it."
"That depends on you" he said. "Although I think that deep down, he has a kind of feeling about you. I think he knows something is up, but he's afraid to admit it. Besides, blondie, there are always loopholes. Who knows? Maybe we'll find a way to bring his memories back."
"I don't know, Damon…"
"And it's not as if everything was lost, it's not like Stefan was dead" he said.
Caroline looked at him in silence, unable to believe that Damon Salvatore had just given her a speech of optimism.
"Look, call me selfish, but I need my brother to be happy. And I know the only person who makes him happy, it's you" Damon stood up. "Think about it."
Damon fixed his eyes on Stefan's smile. There are always loopholes. It is not as if everything was lost. He needed Stefan, any Stefan, to be happy. He was not able to give that to his brother, but he would give that chance to his son. It could not be just a coincidence.
"So" Damon said after clearing his throat. Stefan looked up from his phone, "who are you talking to?"
"Uh" Stefan shook his head, leaving his phone on the table. "No one, just some friends from school."
Damon nodded, cutting his pancake in several small pieces.
"Did you see Sophie in New York?"
"Yeah."
"Did you break up with her there? Definitely, I mean."
"We talked in that party I told you about. That is hundred percent over, dad."
"Good."
Stefan looked at Damon with a frown and a confused look.
"Am I missing something?" he asked.
"No, I was just thinking if you've met any girl, at school."
Stefan and Damon exchanged a look. Father looking at his son with interest and raised eyebrows. Stefan cleared his throat and looked down at his plate, somewhat embarrassed.
"Maybe."
Maybe. Oh no, red alert. Damon could not let that happen. He should have known about this new Caroline sooner. He should have done something to make them get to know each other. Did Stefan like blondes? He had no clue, but he wanted to think so.
"She's… different" Stefan said with a wrinkled forehead. "She's-"
"I think you shouldn't go so fast, you know, after Sophie. Besides, I ran into the daughter of some friends of us some days ago. I think it'd be cool if you two met, so I was thinking about inviting her to have dinner this week, here. What do you think?" Damon looked at him with a wide smile and then smirked at him. Stefan shook his head.
"Dad, do not start" Stefan said.
"I'm just saying you might like her."
"I'm not in the mood for blind dates. This girl, she's my friend, and I kind of like her, but she doesn't know yet. I'm not interested in meeting someone else."
Damon snorted and chewed a piece of pancake, throwing a tantrum with the expression of his face.
"I appreciate it, dad, really. But I had thought about inviting this girl to have dinner already."
"Fine" Damon said an unfriendly tone. Stefan pursed his lips to restrain a smile and jumped off the tool to head to the door. "See you later. Bye, mom" he said to Elena, who had just entered the kitchen.
"Bye, Stef" she said. Then she looked at Damon and folded her arms. "What was all that about? What daughter? What friends? Have you been drinking again?"
"Forget about it" Damon waved his hand. "My plan has failed even before starting."
Stefan looked at the clock of the wall as the teacher of Modern Literature talked and talked nonstop about things that he already knew. He grabbed his phone and looked at the screen. The sooner he gathered courage to ask her to come to his house and invite her to have dinner with him and his parents, the better. Besides, it was not as if they had not met to have dinner before. They had already, several times, at Caroline's, with her aunt too.
He was about to text her when the door of the classroom opened and everyone got startled due to the loud noise. She was there, her eyes red and swollen because of crying. He looked at her, worried, and was about to stand up when she yelled at him.
"How could you?!" Caroline said, pointing at him. Stefan looked at her with a questioning look. The other students were staring at them silently. Even the teacher was still and quiet.
"Caroline, what-"
"We were happy, weren't we?" she said, looking around with a dramatic face. "You told me you had nothing to do with her, but you lied!" Caroline burst into tears and covered her face with her hands. Stefan rose on his feet slowly, cautious, and more confused than ever before. He walked towards her and tried to put his hand on her shoulder but she shoved him. "Don't you dare touch me" she said with her cheeks full of tears.
"Caroline, what's going on?" he asked in a whisper, looking around at all the people staring at them.
"Yeah, now pretend nothing happened. Pretend that you didn't cheat on me with that bitch, pretend that you didn't kiss her the other day at the Grill. I can't believe you did this" Caroline turned around dramatically, embracing herself with her arms. Stefan looked at the teacher, who had his mouth wide open. "Why did you ask me to marry you, Stefan?" Caroline said suddenly, looking at him with a sharp expression again.
"What-"
"You wanted to marry me but at the same you wanted to sleep with Rebecca?"
"Forbes, I think you should-" the teacher stood up, but Caroline waved his hand at him.
"Don't, Professor Graham, this is between Stefan and me" she said, and wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. "I should have known better, I should have rejected you when I had the chance. Even my aunt said you weren't trustworthy. Such a disappointment you've been" she sobbed and touched her stomach with her hand. The teacher widened his eyes and the students started to talk in whispers. Stefan widened his eyes as well, looking at her, and she looked up at him.
"Don't you dare" Stefan said, moving his lips without making any sound.
"And now I'm pregnant" she said suddenly. "What am I going to do now?" she cried and left the classroom dramatically.
Stefan stared at the door for a few seconds, still and quietly.
"Uh" Graham cleared his throat. "I think you should go check on your girlfriend, Salvatore" he said.
Stefan looked at him, startled, as if he had just seen him. Then he looked around, realizing how everyone was staring at him.
"Yeah, I will, I'll just…" he pointed at the door and then got out of the classroom, closing the door behind him.
He gave some steps forward and then leaned his arm against the wall in a corner. Caroline had her back against the wall around it and she was biting her lower lip, looking at him with a hint of naughty smile.
"I can't believe what you just did" he said, folding his arms and looking at her. She giggled and walked over to him.
"I needed you out of that classroom somehow, Stefan" she said.
"Yeah, and pretending I cheated on you and you're pregnant was the way?" he asked, somewhat amused. She shrugged.
"Drama always wins. Graham wouldn't have let you go just for the sake of it."
Stefan shook his head and wiped the tears of her cheeks with his thumb.
"You're an excellent drama queen. That I have to admit."
She giggled again and he smiled, dropping his arm.
"So? What's going on?"
"I have a surprise for you" she said with a wide smile. "I have information, a lot of information, for you and your book" she continued. Stefan frowned. "Don't look at me with your brooding look, okay? I'm serious. I have the book about the lovers of the cemetery, and not only that, I have journals and journals written by your uncle. Turns out he was the protagonist of the story."
"What?" Stefan said, shocked.
"Yeah, I just… I started to do my own research, I wanted to get you something definite and real, so I waited until I knew I got something and-"
"Oh my God" Stefan said. "You're kidding."
"No, I'm not. I know where everything is, we just have to go and-"
"Oh my God" he repeated, now putting his arms around her waist to grab her, hug her and make her spin in the air.
She laughed as he span them around in the middle of the hallway, completely empty. When he stopped, she had to grab his arms to not fall due to the dizziness, still laughing.
"You're the best, you're just great" he gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and she got nervous automatically, making her blush a little. "Marrying you doesn't sound so bad at all, huh" he nudged her and she shook her head, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear.
He took her hand suddenly and pulled her.
"Wait, what…? Where are we going?"
"I can't wait, I need to see everything" he said.
"I thought you didn't like to skip classes" she said, amused, and letting him pull her.
"It's worthy this time. Oh, you're having dinner at my house tonight, by the way. I owe you."
"I can't believe it" Stefan said, turning the pages of the book frantically as they both headed to the front door of the Salvatore mansion.
"You said that six times already" Caroline said, walking next to him.
"I don't know how to thank you" he said, stopping right in front of the door, back to it, to look at her.
"Hmm" she said, as if she was thinking. "Well, aren't you inviting me to dinner tonight? Aren't you going to cook? I guess that's enough."
"That's not enough, not at all" he said, looking down at her lips. Caroline's heart jumped. He raised his hand and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear, and left his hand there, with his fingers buried in her locks. She looked at him under her lashes. He smiled softly, looking tenderly at her. "Caroline, listen, I need to tell you som-"
The front door opened and Stefan turned around instantly, hiding the book behind his back with his hands. Elena was there, with her hand grabbing the knob and a glass of water in the other.
"I thought I had heard your voice" she said with a smile. Caroline grabbed the book discreetly and put it inside her bag carefully.
"Mom, hey" Stefan said, a little heated due to Caroline's proximity not longer than 30 seconds ago.
"Who were you talking to?" Elena asked. Stefan stepped aside to make Caroline visible. She smiled at Elena, who froze as soon as she saw those blue eyes, the blonde hair, the freckles around the nose. The familiar, comforting, friendly smile of hers. Their goodbye years ago when she was in a magical coma.
"Hi, Mrs. Salvatore" she said with cheerful voice.
Her voice, full of optimism as Caroline's was. She was exactly like her. The glass of water slipped from her hand and fell to the ground, breaking into tiny pieces.
"Mom?" Stefan asked, moving towards her. "You okay?"
Elena was staring intently at her, frozen. She could not look away from her, from her best friend.
"You have to stop crying, please" Elena said for the third time, wiping the tears from her own cheeks.
"I'm so, so sorry" Caroline said, sobbing and wiping her cheeks too. "I just… I can't believe this is happening. This wasn't supposed to happen. You were finally human, happily human, and annoying Damon was going to become human too, and you two were going to get your happy ending, your-"
"Caroline" Elena said with a weak smile.
"It's not fair" Caroline said, shaking her head. "It's not fair that you have to go through this. How am I supposed to keep going?"
Elena looked at Caroline with raised eyebrows. Caroline looked back at her, knowing what she was thinking.
"Let's not talk about that now" she said.
"No, we have to, actually" Elena said. "I need to ask you for a favour before I go. And we don't have much time left."
Caroline bit her lower lip to restrain another sob, though the tears were accumulating in her eyes again.
"First, you'll have to keep an eye on Bonnie. I don't want her to feel guilty for this, it's not her fault."
"I know" Caroline said with a nod. "I'll keep her distracted, I promise."
"I know you will, you're the best at making fun plans and organizing random parties without any reason to" Elena said. They both laughed as the tears fell from their eyes.
They remained in silence for a few seconds, enjoying the taste and sound of their laughs in a moment like that. Elena took a deep breath and took Caroline's hand.
"Thank you, Caroline, for everything" Elena said. "For always being there for me when I needed it, and for being such a great friend."
Caroline shook her head, looking down as she kept crying in silence. Elena sniffed and sighed.
"You deserve to be happy, you know that, right?"
Caroline looked up and met her eyes. Elena raised an eyebrow and gave her a knowing look.
"You make him happy" she finally said. Caroline looked away.
"We don't have to talk about-"
"He's in love with you" Elena interrupted her. "He looks at you as if you were his whole world. He looks at you in such a way… He loves you, Care."
Caroline blushed a little.
"We shouldn't be talking about me, we should make plans and-"
"Listen" Elena squeezed her hand tenderly. "He smiles when he's with you, he laughs. It's a kind of love that I've never seen. I don't know, it's just beautiful, how complete you make each other, how he's found in you everything that he was looking for, how you were the missing part that has made him whole again. You… You saved him."
Caroline looked at Elena with sparkling eyes. Elena smiled softly at her.
"And I know you've loved him longer than you think. I know how he was always a part of you, somehow. He's always lived in you, since that day when he helped you. You deserve your fairytale, Care."
Elena stroked her cheek and Caroline sobbed at the same time that she laughed. Elena wiped the tear that had just fallen from her eye and cupped her cheek.
"I need you to be happy. You two need to stop wasting time, because sometimes you realize there might not be much."
Caroline sighed and Elena stood straight, sniffing again.
"Promise me" she said. Caroline looked at her with trembling lips. "Promise me you won't wait to be happy, Care. He's your happiness, you just need to embrace it."
Caroline sobbed again and wiped her cheeks.
"Okay?" Elena said, holding her hand again. Caroline nodded.
"Okay" she said with a little smile. Elena looked at her with raised eyebrows. "I will, I promise."
Elena nodded and Caroline looked around.
"Hey, there's something good about this situation after all."
"What?"
"You're going to be the protagonist of the real adaptation of Sleeping Beauty!"
They both laughed and Bonnie opened the door of the bedroom.
"Are we seriously having a sleepover?" she asked, laughing.
Elena reacted when Stefan called her for the third time and looked down at the broken tiny pieces of glass.
"Oh, God" she said, crouching down to take them. Stefan imitated her and stopped her.
"Wait, let us do it" he said. Caroline crouched down next to him and gave Elena a sympathetic smile.
"But, your friend…"
"I'm a control freak, actually" Caroline said with a giggle. "Trust me, I'm pleased."
"Caroline…" Stefan rolled his eyes and shook his head.
Elena stood up, looking intently at her, still in shock, even more after hearing her name. She looked at her hands as Caroline picked some of the pieces carefully and gave them to Stefan. There was not a daylight ring in any of her fingers. But she did not understand what was happening.
"This is the friend that is staying tonight, Stef?" Elena asked with weak voice.
"Yeah" Stefan said, standing up, Caroline too.
"I can go if it's not a good moment" Caroline said, but Elena shook her head and took her hand in hers.
Elena looked into her eyes and gave her a tender smile, trying to restrain the tears forming in her eyes.
"No, no" she said. "We're happy you're here. Come in, sit down in the living room and Damon and I will start preparing everything."
"What's going…?" Damon, who had just left the kitchen, stopped when he saw them.
Seeing Caroline the other day had been shocking, of course. But seeing his son and that new Caroline, seeing the physical and real ghosts of Stefan and Caroline next to each other was too much. He looked at them, standing next to each other, their arms touching slightly. Lots of memories gathered in his mind. The echo of their laughs from Stefan's bedroom; the late nights in front of the fireplace in that living room when he drank and watched them being cheesy; the day he and Caroline found Stefan in that house in the middle of nowhere and she could not help herself and walked towards him as if something was pulling from them; the day they found his body and Caroline clung to him as if there was no tomorrow, crying, screaming, mumbling; and then, nothing. No more Stefan and Caroline side by side, no more smiles, no more laughs.
But now, there they were again, as if time had not passed, as if Stefan had never died, as if Caroline had never decided to end her life. As if everything that happened years and years ago would have been a simple nightmare.
It was incredible how they seemed so them.
Elena looked at Damon carefully, afraid of his possible reaction, of him breaking down right there in front of them. She had been about to lose control, to run towards that girl to hug her tightly and start crying, thanking for having her best friend back. It was worse for Damon. He had been present when everything happened, and he had never moved on completely.
"Oh, hey" he finally said after clearing his throat.
"This is Caroline, dad, the friend I talked you about" Stefan said.
"We actually met the other day" Damon said. Elena looked at him with a frown. "How are you, Caroline?"
"Dandy" she said.
Damon pursed his lips to restrain a smile and nodded. Stefan looked at Caroline and pointed at the kitchen with his head.
"Come with me? You can help me in the kitchen if you want" he said.
"Sure."
They both started walking towards the kitchen as Damon and Elena followed them with their eyes.
"As long as you don't burn it, of course" Stefan mumbled. Caroline shoved his shoulder.
"Ha, ha, how funny" she said.
The door of the kitchen closed behind them and they stopped hearing their voices. Elena's lower lip trembled. She sobbed and the tears started falling from her eyes. Damon looked at her with a sad face and wrapped her with his arms to hug her. She hid her face against his chest as she cried.
"I know" he said in a whisper. "I know."
"She's just like her" Elena said in a whisper, looking out from the window of the bedroom, a wineglass in hand. Stefan and Caroline were having a walk around the house and she could not keep her eyes off of them.
"I know" Damon said, his back against the walls and his hands inside the pockets of his jeans.
Elena took a sip of wine and swallowed it slowly, hearing their laughs in the distance.
"It was like seeing her again. I can't believe it's been almost a hundred years" Elena needed the lump in her throat to disappear. "I miss her."
"I know" Damon repeated after a sigh.
He knew the situation was delicate, but deep down he was glad that the girl about whom Stefan had been talking about during breakfast was Caroline. It was comical, given the circumstances. He had decided to do all he could to make them get to know each other, but it had not been necessary. They had been hanging out for months, they had become friends, maybe even best friends.
"She's fun, nice, bubbly, cheerful" Elena said, turning around, her back to the window. "It can't be possible, Damon."
"I know it's weird. But think about it, we didn't expect our son to be just like my brother, and he was" he said. "Fate and its obsession with the Salvatore family" he winked at Elena and she shook her head.
"I don't know" she sighed and looked out from the window again. Stefan and Caroline were standing on the grass, talking. Damon stood next to Elena and looked at them too.
"I think it might be a second chance, for the family to do things right."
Elena looked at Damon from the corner of her eye.
"I'm just saying that my brother and Carebear didn't have the chance to be happy, to be together. But maybe those two can and have it, maybe it's their chance."
Elena looked at her wineglass.
"It's like the story is being repeated again" she said. "Except for all the obstacles that they had, I mean."
"Do you mean Stefan's obsession with your face at the beginning of times?"
Elena rolled her eyes.
"And Stefan being blind" she said. "It took him so long to realize he was in love with her. Boys."
Damon pursed his lips to restrain a smile.
"I think he was just scared. Stefan was a puppy, we both know that. He didn't want to lose Caroline's friendship."
Elena nodded.
"So it's being repeated indeed, but they have a clear path ahead this time. Well, not they, but them" she said, pointing at Stefan and Caroline on the grass.
"It's funny, isn't it?" Damon said.
"I think it's weird."
"I think we had gotten used to not being involved in any supernatural drama for ages, and that's why this has hit us in the ass."
Elena sighed and walked over to the bed to sit down.
"I think they have an obstacle, though. None of them takes the first step, it's frustrating" Damon mumbled. "Stefan likes her, it's obvious, and he told me this morning."
"I know, it's the same look" Elena said, distracted and looking at the ground. Damon looked at her. "The same expression, the same longing and affection" she continued. "He looks at her just like Stefan looked at Caroline."
Damon smiled softly and looked down as well. He knew that look very well, he had seen it months and months before… Before everything happened.
"He looks at her as if he'd have found that something that he's always missed without knowing why, without knowing what it was" Damon said. Elena nodded again. "She makes him laugh. We had never seen Stef laugh so much."
"It's not just that, it's the way they seem connected somehow, as if they were inseparable, as if they had known each other for a long time."
Damon looked at Elena again and watched her face carefully.
"Do you think it's possible?" she said, looking up at him. "Do you think…"
"No" Damon shook his head, looking away. "It's just a coincidence. The Other Side wasn't there, there was no way."
"But Bonnie-"
"She tried, for years, but I think she'd have told me."
"What about her?" Elena asked. "She has even her name, Damon."
"I know, I just need to look into it a little bit further. Figure out where she comes from and who she is. But she isn't wearing a daylight ring. She's not a vampire, Elena. She's not her. She would've told us if she were."
Elena put the glass on the bedside table.
"She likes him too" she said. "I noticed. She looks furtively at him sometimes, when he's not looking. She has the same look that Caroline had when she first saw Stefan, when he came to Mystic Falls" Elena laughed. "I still remember when she told me about the June wedding she had planned for them, once we weren't together anymore, I mean."
Damon could not help but smile with a sad look, thinking about the engagement ring that Stefan had bought for Caroline.
"We were getting ourselves ready for Alaric and Jo's wedding, in this bedroom" Elena looked around. "And we were catching up, and then we started talking about you two. And Stefan's topic came up and she just… You know, she started rambling as she used to" she laughed as her eyes filled with tears due to the memory. Damon swallowed, looking out from the window. "And she just told me. She told me 'I'm scared of seeing Stefan at the wedding because I love seeing him wearing a suit, but it makes me nervous too, because it reminds me of that year when I had planned our whole June wedding in my mind'. I laughed so hard."
Damon thought about the cemetery, about the place where Stefan was buried, about the place where Caroline had turned into ashes. He wondered if the ring would still be there, lost somewhere.
"I'm scared, Damon."
"They're not going to get married anytime soon, relax" Damon said with a smirk. Elena shook her head, smiling.
"What if one of them gets hurt? What if this is a joke of fate?"
Damon sat down next to her, on the bed.
"I failed my brother once. I won't fail this time again."
Caroline was staring at the sky, at the starts shining. Stefan was looking at her though.
"They're cute" she said. "Your parents."
"Yeah" he smiled.
Caroline took a step forward and hugged herself. Stefan stared at her blonde curls, at her back, at her curves. He gulped and clenched his jaw, looking down, seeing how the breeze moved the grass slightly.
He touched the pocket of his jeans, thinking that it was probably the best moment to tell her. He approached her and stood right behind her.
"I love watching the stars" she said. "Marien told me a story about them once, when I was little" she smiled and continued. "She said that people never leave forever, that they don't die completely, you know? She said that when a person is gone, he or she becomes a star, staring from up there, watching, and waiting for their moment to come back, to try again and have a second chance."
Caroline had felt so comfortable that she had not even realized that Stefan had rested his chin on her shoulder and that he had wrapped her waist with his arms from behind. Or maybe she had, but it was such a familiar, warm feeling that she did not want to let it go.
"That's funny" he said.
"Why?" Caroline said with a frown.
"Well, because" Stefan pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to her. It was a piece of paper, "I knew your birthday was coming and I got you something."
"Oh, no" she said dramatically.
"Just read it, for God's sake" Stefan said, laughing.
Caroline unfolded the paper and started reading. She widened her eyes and her mouth opened.
"You… You named a star after me?"
"I did."
"Why?" she asked in a whisper, still looking at the paper.
"Well, I don't know, I just… When we went to New York, we made that stop and it was late, when we were looking for a motel. And you just sat on the hood of the car and looked at the stars. And you smiled, and then you laughed. I couldn't keep my eyes off of you. It was the moment when I realized."
Caroline seemed to freeze a little and took a step forward. She turned around to face him.
"What are you…?"
"Caroline, I just" he rubbed his neck with a smile, looking down. "Look, I know this is going to sound crazy, okay? But I had lost my inspiration to write, and then you showed up in that office with that damn cheerleader uniform" he ran his hand over his face as if he was trying to forget the image of her wearing it but not being able to. Caroline blushed a little and her heart started to race. She got scared, because deep down she knew what was about to happen. "And you turned my world upside down, completely" he shook his head, laughing. "I found the inspiration again, I found my muse without even realizing it" he looked a her, she looked at him. "You're my muse, my star" he said. Her heart jumped because of his words and because of the way he was looking at her with those green eyes. "I started writing about you, I couldn't stop. The words just… It was so easy to write about you. I've filled journals and journals, just writing about everything, about every moment I spend with you. Every little thing about you. You just took me by surprise. All of you. The feeling was so real, so surprising, but so familiar, and warm at the same time, I…"
Caroline looked at him without saying a word. He sighed.
"But then we became friends, and I…"
"Yeah, exactly" she finally said. "That's what we are. Friends, Stefan, just friends."
He looked at her in silence, knowing that she would say that. But he did not believe her, he knew that she was lying to herself.
"Caroline."
"What, Stefan? What? I already told you, I don't believe in those things."
"Why?" he said with little patience.
"Why?" she repeated. "Because I'm not made for that. I'm not meant to-"
"You're not meant to just because you're scared?"
"No, I'm not meant to because the perfect match doesn't exist, okay?"
"Yeah, sure, that's the excuse you use now that you've found the perfect match. Because you didn't think a friend, a best friend, could be that person."
Caroline looked at him with her mouth open, not knowing what to say, and he looked at her with raised eyebrows.
"I know you better than anybody else, and you know that" he continued. She snorted and looked away.
"So what?"
"So that must mean something, don't you think?"
"Yeah, it means we're friends."
"Friends" Stefan said, nodding, and biting the inside of his cheek.
"Yeah, friends" Caroline repeated. "Best friends, actually. And you know what? Best friends don't have any kind of feeling for each other. They're just that, friends in a higher level, superior level than just friends becau-"
Stefan grabbed her face and pressed his lips against hers suddenly. Caroline froze instantly, but did not pull away. He parted her lips with his tongue and deepened the kiss, burying his fingers in her hair, moving his lips against hers slowly until he literally stopped moving them. His lips were just brushing hers, similarly to their first kiss. Caroline took a step forward, moving even closer to him. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him to her, opening her mouth to him and moving her lips against his more intensively.
He sighed against her mouth after she bit his lower lip softly and then faster. He did not know how long the kiss lasted. He did not even want to know, because it felt like heaven. But he finally slowed down until their lips went back to the position of just grazing.
He pulled away slowly with his hands still in both sides of her face and she opened her eyes to look at him. She looked at his lips, licked her own instinctively, and then into his eyes. He looked back at her.
"Wow."
Hearing him was like coming back to earth. She pushed him suddenly, pulling him away from her.
"Have you lost your damn mind?!" she said.
"What?"
"Why?!" she yelled at him, pushing him again. "Why did you do that? Why couldn't just stop and restrain yourself, huh?" she pushed him once again until his back hit the wall. He was looking at her as if she was actually the one that had lost her mind.
"Before you decide to murder me, let me explain-"
"What the hell were you thinking, Stefan?!" she said, pushing his shoulder.
"Caroline, Jesus, just let me-" he was trying to grab her but it was impossible.
"Tell me, just tell me why you decide to make this so-"
"I kissed you because I wanted to, okay? Because it felt right, because I just needed to kiss you."
"You shouldn't have. Wasn't that time in New York enough or what?!" she pushed him again and his back hit the wall once again. Stefan looked at her, surprised.
"Wait. You remember that night" he told her. Caroline paled, realizing she had given herself away. "You remembered the kiss."
She opened her mouth to say something, to defend herself, to counterattack, but she did not know what to do. She turned around and started walking away. Stefan followed her and grabbed her hand to stop her and make her turn around to him.
"What, Stefan" she said with gritted teeth.
"I kissed you, it happened. Period, Caroline. We've kissed, twice, and you let me, twice."
Caroline narrowed her eyes at him, unable to believe his impertinence.
"Stop running away from this" he said. "I know I'm not the only one who feels it."
He interlaced their fingers and pulled her to him. He brushed the tip of her nose with his and he closed his eyes. Her heart jumped again.
"Just…" he whispered against her mouth and she closed her eyes.
He touched her lips with his again.
Until you're ready. And when you are, I'll still be here.
You always remember.
It'll always be because of you.
Because if you don't remember me, then what am I?
But what about me? Do you remember me?
Because if you weren't here, I don't know what I would do.
Caroline, I don't want you to come with me.
Because if I was able to hate him, everything would be easier. But I can't.
Sometimes I hear him, he talks to me, I hear his laugh like an echo that has stayed home.
Don't even say his name.
I've been going crazy thinking it was my fault, thinking I wasn't enough for him.
Because it's you. You are you. Tell me that you haven't forgotten me.
I'm already forgetting you.
I will remember for the both of us.
I forgive you.
Who are you?
Caroline pushed him away suddenly, her mind being a mess. She opened her eyes widely and frowned, looking at his neck with a blank stare. She had just seen fast flashes, mingled flashes, confusing flashes.
She swallowed and looked at him. He was staring at her with a concerned look and a scared expression. She knew that he was scared of being rejected, of her pushing him away from her.
Caroline pushed him away suddenly, memories flooding her mind.
"No, wait" she said. "This isn't right."
"On the contrary" he said, breathing hard. "I think it's the best thing that has happened to me in a long time."
Caroline's eyes filled with tears, and Stefan stopped smiling and looked worried at her.
"Caroline?"
"I have to go" she said, standing up and releasing his hand. "Sorry, I…"
"Hey, what's wrong?" he rose, trying to catch her hand again to soothe her, but she dodged him.
"I have to go."
She walked away briskly, feeling as if she was drowning all over again, and as if that feeling of fear would never go away. Because she did not know what happiness was anymore. Because she was scared of being happy.
"It's not right" she said, shaking her head.
"Caroline" he said, taking a step forward to take her hand again. "Please, don't say that. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me, as a friend, as a…"
Her eyes filled with tears. Stefan stopped talking and looked worried at her.
"Caroline?"
"I gotta go" she said, releasing her hand from his grip. "Sorry, I…"
"Hey, hey" he said, cupping her cheek with his hand. "What's wrong?"
"I have to go" she said, pulling his hand away.
She walked away briskly, feeling something that was suffocating her. The feeling of fear. Of falling in love, of opening herself to someone. Of being hurt again. Again? How could she be scared of being hurt again when she had never fallen in love before?