Sleep was evading me, as it did lately. I stared out the hotel window, watching rain beat against the glass. My eyes glossy as I thought about standing in the rainstorm with Stefan, the water washing away the blood from my dress. The way it felt to laugh with him. My best friend. I missed him all the time, but never so much as when I was trying to forget him and just get some rest.

It had been weeks since I'd been on my own. Nowhere to go, really. Just going through the motions. Dragging myself out of bed after not really sleeping, shower, dress, coffee, shopping, walking, wine, TV, bed. Repeat. I enjoyed routine, but it wasn't the same without someone to share the day with.

I sighed deeply and sat out of bed, tossing back the blanket in irritation at how exhausted I still was, but trying to sleep was futile at this point. I hadn't looked at the clock yet. Hopefully it was at least 10 or 11 and I had already managed to get through that much of the morning. My mind wandered in the shower, as it usually did. To Stefan's hands on my skin, his lips and tongue. A shiver ran through me. I hadn't expected to miss him so much physically. It was like my body had become addicted to his, and in such a short time. It scared me to think I'd never stop wanting him. Something I couldn't have. I felt haunted.

The rain had picked up. It was a good day to stay in bed. But not for me. The bed was my enemy. It was the place where my brain took complete control. No, I had to be up. My body moving of its own accord, so that I didn't have to think. I pulled a hoodie over my head, rain boots over my jeans. I grabbed my purse. My keys. Going through the motions. Because I needed to. It's what I did in order to survive.

So when I swung open the door to find Stefan Salvatore standing outside my hallway, my entire recent life came crashing down around me. Alarms were ringing in my head. This is not routine. This is the opposite of routine. My routine which was built entirely around missing Stefan. But here he was.

I couldn't find my voice as I stared at him..staring at me.

"Hey," he said, his voice sending chills dancing across the skin of my arms. This wasn't a good day for this. I was weak. More so than usual. Must have been the rain.

I still stood, staring, unable to speak.

"Will you come with me?" he asked, reaching out for my hand.

I looked at his open hand, fighting the immediate urge to place my own hand in it.

"Please?" he asked again. His brows furrowed. His green eyes soft and vulnerable in a way I hadn't seen directed at me. I was a goner.

He reached out to take my hand, which had continued to hang motionless at my side. His skin on mine felt like warmth and comfort and home. I closed my eyes.

Then we were speeding through the building and then outside in the rain. I gasped as the cold water hit my skin, rolled down my back.

"Stefan!" I said, panting, yelling over the pounding of the rain against asphalt, "What are you doing?"

He was panting and smiling, looking like a madman.

I couldn't help but laugh. And then we were laughing in the rain and it was like no time had passed and nothing had happened and we were okay.

He pulled me suddenly under a bridge. I relaxed as I adjusted to the new location, my breath steadying. I twisted my hair, watching as rain water poured out of it. Stefan watched my every move, his mouth obviously full of words that he was psyching himself up to say to me. I crossed my arms and looked at him, waiting.

"Caroline," he began, my heart fluttering already. The rain continued to pound on the bridge above our heads, and Stefan spoke softly, I stepped closer to hear him, focused my hearing entirely on him.

"I've been trying to find you all this time and this entire time I've been...at a loss for what I would SAY when I finally found you," he rambled, taking my hands in his. I watched him with all of my attention, my blood pounding in my hears.

"And when I was driving here with the rain, I drove under this bridge and for a split second under the bridge, the roar of the rain stopped," he explained, "That peaceful, brief moment of silence as you're passing under a bridge."

I nodded, confused, but encouraging him to continue.

"And I realized," he said, dropping my hands only to step even closer and take my cheeks in his palms, "That that's what you are, Caroline."

I looked up into his clear eyes, searching.

"Elena may be the storm," he said, "But you're the bridge, the calm, the moments of refuge, of...respite in my life. And you have been for years. I'm never happier than when we're together."

Water was running down my cheeks and I didn't know if it was rain or tears. Stefan brushed them away with his thumb. My head was spinning, my blood surging. I closed the distance between us and pressed my lips to his. Tears and rain and lips and tongue. His fingers in my soaked hair, my hands on his chest. It was ambrosia. I was definitely addicted to him. And it didn't seem like a bad thing like it did only an hour earlier.

I pulled away to look at his face again. My gorgeous and kind best friend. My high school crush. My future. I smiled as he pulled me tightly against him. I buried my face in his chest.

"What now?" I asked, mumbling into his wet shirt, refusing to loosen the hold I had around his waist.

"Now..." he said into my hair, "Anything and anywhere you want. I go where you go."

I smiled and snuggled deeper into his chest. What he didn't realize was that this was home now. Us together. It didn't matter where we went.

"You know," I mumbled into his wet shirt, "I almost gave up on you."

He held me impossibly tighter as I looked up at him.

"I'm glad you didn't," he whispered against my lips.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING! I know I've been a complete garbage can about updating this. It's just been weighing on my mind and I had to finish it. Once the show came back and it became AU, I kinda lost my momentum. And so I just had to give it closure. It feels rushed, I'm afraid. And it was...? But, especially after everything they're going through right now, I felt like they deserved a silly, cheesy, happy ending.

Thank you all for your time and comments! 3