A/N: It's been awhile I know but this chapter is extra extra long to make up for it. There will only be 2 chapters after this before it's finished. Let me know what you think :)
Caroline sat in Bonnie's living room and hugged her tightly as she cried into her coat. She had barely gotten through the front door before Bonnie's watery smile disintegrated and cried silently into her sleeve. Caroline was so used to Bonnie being strong and fearless (almost unlimited magical ability could do that to a girl) that she forgot how being in love was the great equaliser. Even the staunchest person could be transformed into a mumbling wreck. Now it was Bonnie's turn.
"So what happened exactly? What did he say?"
"He said he was seeing dead people and that I deserved better than some hallucinating freak. He's been distant for weeks but I couldn't figure out why."
"Yeah him seeing ghosts makes it so much clearer."
She regretted the sarcasm as she felt Bonnie tense next to her but she was angry with Jeremy on her friend's behalf. He was the nerdy kid brother, he did not dump someone as awesome as Bonnie. He was obviously insane.
"He thought he was doing the right thing."
"I guess. So what's the deal with his sixth sense?"
Bonnie paused before sighing
"He's been seeing Vicki and Anna."
Caroline didn't know what to say. The whole situation was awkward and creepy. The knowledge ghosts existed (if that's really what they were) was something she could ponder fearfully as she hid under her bedcovers later on, but right now she was on damage control.
"Is this some magic thing? Haunting thing?"
"I think it's a side effect of bringing him back to life. I'll have to do some research into it and maybe if I can cure him things will sort themselves out."
"So do they say things to him? I mean they don't tell him to slit peoples' throats or anything?"
Bonnie scowled. "He's not crazy or evil Caroline!"
"Hey it's a fair question. This is Mystic Falls, where the senior class are more likely to die than graduate, if they haven't been killed already."
Now that she thought of it, she was never sleeping at Tyler's house again. Two of their friends had been murdered on the premises just this year, god knows how many others had been killed on that estate over the centuries. If anywhere was going to be haunted, the Lockwood mansion would be it.
"Apparently they help him out. Like tell him to be nicer to his sister, mend relationships and go on about how death isn't really that terrible. They told him to let me go for my own good or so he believes."
Caroline had a hard time seeing Vicki as the voice of wisdom and reconciliation even if she was a ghost but she didn't want to call bullshit on the recently deceased.
"Well then, we'll hit the books and see if we can politely exorcise them so Jeremy can get back to hanging with the living."
Bonnie straightened, having a purpose other than wallowing was the best remedy for a broken heart. Caroline never thought she'd see the day when she and Tyler had the most stable relationship in town but wonders really never ceased in their fucked up community.
"Are you ready?"
"I've been ready for the last ten minutes Caroline."
Tyler inhaled a deep breath as he paced at the bottom of the staircase. Becoming a werewolf had not made him any more patient.
"No I mean for my descending entrance!"
"Huh?"
He could hear her sigh as she appeared at the top of the staircase in her fitted blue dress. Her hair was curled and half up and she was wearing the necklace he had got her. Of all the things that could have touched him it was the fact she was wearing the silver bat necklace he had jokingly bought her, it didn't match her outfit. For Caroline that was a real sacrifice for love and he knew it. Although he thought getting suited up and buying a corsage for a lame high school dance was a pretty good accommodation on his part too.
"You look gorgeous."
She beamed as he gulped, she knew he was trying to keep his hormones under control as her long legs travelled down the stairs towards him. Usually getting dressed up was woefully inefficient because Tyler would advance on her and she'd have to re-dress and re-apply her smudged lipstick. Tonight was a serious matter though, she had practically organised the whole winter formal single-handedly (Tyler had also been roped in on occasion) so she had to get there early to supervise.
"See that just there? Where I float down gracefully and you ogle appreciatively? That was a descending entrance beloved of chick flicks and a romance staple since stairs were invented."
Tyler rolled his eyes.
"I get it, you're a total sap and I'm whipped for playing along."
Caroline laughed.
"You always manage to ruin my fairytale moments."
He kissed her cheek before grabbing her waist and dipping her down until her curls almost swept the floor and she shrieked in surprise.
"This is what girls lose their panties over right? The gentleman seducer."
He kissed her carefully so her lipstick didn't smear and brought her back up again and chuckled at her surprised grin.
"I can be the dreamboat, it would mean abandoning my pride and concealing a cringe or two but for one night Caroline Forbes, I'll be your Romeo. I'll twirl you around the dance floor and hold your purse, whisper sweet nothings into your ear and look deep into your eyes."
"Really?"
Tyler shook his head in amusement. "Nope."
Caroline whacked him over the back of the head with her clutch but she wasn't upset, she knew he'd do exactly what he'd just ridiculed. He couldn't help himself where she was concerned.
"Come on asshole, we're going to be late."
"I can't believe you got Jeremy to go with you. This is a good sign right?"
The formal was off to a great start, everyone was on the dance floor mingling and Caroline and Bonnie were watching over the punch bowl for any opportunists. Bonnie shrugged and searched around uncomfortably in case Jeremy might overhear. Elena was coming to the dance later on but Damon was already there 'chaperoning'. She guessed it was all orchestrated just so he could have a slow dance with his unrequited love rather than to monitor any bad behaviour. She almost felt sorry for him in how pathetic it all was.
"He had agreed to be my date before we broke up and he didn't want to leave me in the lurch. Bad news is I still can't find a way to get rid of his 'problem' and I have to share him with two other women. I only really pushed him to come so I could keep him close by."
"What do you mean?"
Bonnie gave Damon a meaningful look before eyeing Caroline carefully as if deciding something.
"Klaus is nearby."
"What?"
Caroline spilt her drink into the front of her dress as she had stepped backwards quickly into the drinks table and the drink in her hand splashed over. It barely even registered, the dread that had flooded her system reduced her to opening and closing her mouth in horror. Tyler was catching up with Matt and his other football buddies by the speakers when he had sensed her unease.
"You okay?" He whispered it but he knew she could hear him as she automatically searched for him in the room. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin to prickle at the look of abject terror on his girlfriend's face. He wanted to storm over and ask what the hell was going on but he didn't want to cause a scene if he didn't have to.
She nodded quickly but it was obvious she was lying. She gave him a pleading look not to push the issue before turning back to Bonnie. He was definitely not a wait-and-see kinda guy but he quashed the adrenaline and focussed back on what Matt was saying to the group.
"What do you mean nearby Bonnie? Why the hell wouldn't you tell me this before?"
There were about a million questions racing around in her head. She would have thought it was a sick joke if Bonnie's sense of humour hadn't died when her relationship had.
"He's in Mystic Falls. Elena is on her way with Alaric. I only found out he was in town a few hours ago, I felt his presence. I didn't want to cause a panic, it's what he wants."
Caroline was not going to get hysterical. She was going to stay calm and composed. By not cause a panic Bonnie had meant she didn't trust Caroline not to freak the fuck out. She would prove her wrong even if it meant resisting the immediate urge to slap her friend. Hard.
"Why the fuck would you know what he wants Bonnie? How dare you not give anybody a heads up! All we do know is that he has Stefan and is wreaking havoc wherever he goes. Why the fuck wouldn't you let me warn Tyler and get him out of town? Who's to say he won't try to turn him? I feel sick."
Her hands were shaking and she couldn't focus on one thought. All her worst fears just began circling in her mind. Bonnie looked suitably guilty as she lay a hand on her arm.
"Caroline please just listen. Elena will be here soon with Alaric. I've cast a shrouding spell on her, she won't appear to anyone trying to find her and then when we are all together we'll talk properly. He needs to think we aren't expecting him, it will bring him close and then I'll take him out. Rushing Tyler out of town will raise his suspicions at best or divert his attention to a potential victim at worst. He'll attempt to kill me first since I'm the only real threat and if you start running around trying to warn people he'll know I know and that can only hurt our chances."
Caroline laughed shrilly.
"How do you plan to kill someone who is invincible Bonnie? Besides doesn't he have witches of his own? Surely they'd be able to tell he doesn't have the element of surprise."
Caroline's heart was practically hammering out of her ribcage. She could see Tyler cracking his knuckles out of the corner of her eye in an effort to restrain himself from marching over or eavesdropping. She sincerely hoped it was the latter, the last thing she needed was him overhearing the tail end of the worst conversation of her life.
"I felt he only has one witch that you and Damon can take care of easily. Since he's become a hybrid no witch of any worth will go near him. He's an abomination and once the wiccan community found out he had got his previous witches slaughtered he was on his own. Anyway, I don't need to kill him. I only have to disable him long enough to trap him. I'm going to cast a transfer spell once I get him unconscious. It will remove his essence from his body so that I can give it to the spirits of his victims. According to the grimoire they'll take him to the afterlife and then we can get rid of his body."
"How did you-"
"-I came across it when I was looking at spells to try and help Jeremy, there is heaps to do with the otherworld that I wonder why I didn't think of it before. He is only powerful when his mind and body are together."
"It sounds dangerous Bonnie, how do you get him unconscious?"
"I can do it with magic if no one interferes. Hopefully Stefan will change sides once he sees Elena or you and Damon will have to keep him busy too. I know it's complicated and can fail at any point but we knew this day would come."
Jenna had paid the ultimate price last time, Caroline didn't see tonight ending any other way than bloody also. This whole thing was just so out of left field, one minute she was stressing over where the streamers should hang and Tyler's hair sticking up properly and now the moment she had almost forgotten to fear had crashed into her life.
"Do you have enough power? The whole point of not killing Klaus is because it would kill you too, what about doing all that crap you just said?"
"I should be fine. I'm ready to do it."
Caroline felt dizzy at the amount of information she was trying to process. Would Klaus come in to the gym? Would he kill innocent people? Would they be revealed to everyone in fighting him? Would her mom arrive and get herself killed? Why was he back now?
"Okay if you say so. I need to talk to Tyler."
She walked across the dance floor to her boyfriend but she might as well have been wading through mud, her whole body felt heavy and there was a sense foreboding that was suffocating her. He looked concerned as he watched her approach.
"What's going on?"
She took his hand silently and dragged him out into the corridor where she could catch her breath in the cool open space. To hell with what Bonnie said, she wasn't going to let Tyler unknowingly play bait.
"Tyler you have to go. Get your mom and leave town now."
"What are you talking about?"
Tyler was glancing around suspiciously and steered her further away from the main doors.
"It will take too long to explain, please just do it."
"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me why the hell you're crying and telling me to skip town." He stroked the teara away from her cheeks in what would have been reassurance if she didn't feel so disconnected from everything. She hadn't even noticed she'd been crying.
"Klaus is in town. I need you to get my mom too and get them out of the way."
Tyler stood rigid and silent for a long moment before he swivelled around to punch in a locker. The noise of it echoing down the empty hallway snapped her back into the present.
"Who do you think you're talking to? You think I'm going play babysitter and run to safety? Forget it."
"Stop shouting!" He looked like he wanted to hit her too he was so furious.
"Fine, but it makes me fucking mad when you think you can just click your fingers and I'll jump. Especially when it means leaving you to do fuck knows what. It's not going to happen so don't ask me again okay?"
She nodded and hugged him tightly. He was huffing against her trying to reign in his temper.
"I'm sorry, I'm just scared for you."
He rested his head against hers and twirled a curl around his finger in familar comfort.
"Don't be. I've dealt with having all my bones broken and twisted on a monthly basis, I can take a bit of pain."
He smiled grimly at her. But she wasn't worried about him being in pain, she was worried he'd get his neck snapped before he even had time to feel anything.
Jeremy, Bonnie, Caroline, Tyler and Damon sat around an empty table at the front of the gym near the entrance. Everyone ignored their sudden lack of enthusiasm as the students converged into a heaving mass on the dance floor. That was except for a few girls on the social committee who threw Caroline a few surprised looks at her resigned expression. These included Kimeberely and Lena, the two girls who had bitched behind her back at Brian's party. She couldn't even muster up the energy to eavesdrop on what they were assuming she was up to now.
"Why do I feel like I'm stuck at the loser table?" Damon poured whiskey from a hipflask into one of the empty plastic cups under the table.
Jeremy shrugged. "You're the one that's far too old to even be chaperoning something like this. It makes you look like the manchild who peaked in high school and never wants to leave. Half the parents chaperoning here think you're a sex offender."
Damon rolled his eyes. "Please, there is no underage girl at this school hot enough to tempt me anyway, even the senior class here are all braces and nose jobs."
Caroline looked at Mindy who was dancing with Ben Maynard, head of the school yearbook committee and maybe the sweetest male to ever exist. Her nose looked absolutely fine after being straightened and more importantly she looked genuinely happy. Caroline had never told even Tyler about what she had done to her, now a sliver of satisfaction accompanied the twinge of guilt when she saw Mindy. Better a few broken bones than endless broken hearts.
"Hey speak for yourself jackass, my girlfriend is hot as hell." Tyler whacked his leg under the table.
Damon sighed. "So mature Lockwood."
Caroline breathed a sigh of relief that Damon didn't bring up their 'past' together to one up her boyfriend. Maybe Damon really did care about her.
"Just responding in kind."
Jeremy laughed.
"What's so funny?" Both Damon and Tyler questioned in irritation.
"Vikki says she's so glad she doesn't have to deal with stunted male bullshit anymore."
Tyler stared at his hands. "That is so fucking creepy."
Ever since Tyler had found out about Jeremy seeing Vicki's 'ghost' he had avoided him like the plague. He simply didn't want to believe it was really her nor did he want to talk to her via his former rival for her affections. The whole concept was beyond fucked up and Caroline agreed.
"Do Vicki or Anna say anything about tonight, any tips from the Great Beyond while we wait for Elena and our potential demise?" Caroline was only half joking. She would run around the gym stark naked if they told her it would give them even a shadow of a chance.
Jeremy looked reluctant. "She says I'll be alright, that this is where I'm supposed to be."
Tyler graoned. "Yeah well good for you, what about the rest of us? We better not all get screwed just because you have some supernatural mojo crap on your side."
"Vicki says you haven't changed."
Tyler glanced away to focus on the dancing couples and made no reply. Caroline clasped his hand under the table, Vicki's ghost or whatever she was knew nothing.
Finally Elena entered wearing the red dress Caroline had picked out and Alaric followed in behind her. She looked tired but far from scared.
"Any news guys?"
Bonnie pulled a seat across from another empty table so Elena could sit next to her. "Klaus is coming here, I can feel his power increasing which means he's getting closer. I've put a protection spell around the school, he wont be able to get in until we want him to."
"Which will be never?" Caroline queried hopefully.
Bonnie smiled indulgently. "If only. We'll go with Alaric's plan. First I'll seal off the gym and we can use the rest of the school to fight in, we know these hallways, we'll spread out and force him to separate out his forces. Caroline and Tyler can take the north entrance, I'll stay with Elena by the gym near the front entrance and Damon, Jeremy and Alaric can guard the side doors on the west side."
She picked up her backpack which was under the table.
"I have walkie talkies for each group so we can stay in contact, warn each other. I'll make Klaus come to me so the rest of you will need weapons for witches or vampires."
She didn't specifically mention Stefan but there was a collective unease about having to potentially kill their friend.
"I come in with the fire power. I have stakes, crossbows and silencers I've just put in a locker outside the gym. Use the gun first on anyone that crosses your path, if it's a witch they'll be finished off without having a chance to use their powers and if it's a vampire it will at least stall them so you know what you're dealing with and can work as a pair to take them out."
Alaric nodded encouragingly to them all but his last instructions suddenly made everything real. Kill or be killed. They had not been prepared and this was a last ditch effort at a defence.
Damon stood up. "Okay enough with the chit chat, lets get this over with."
So they all wandered out slowly into the cold corridor while Bonnie cast a sealing spell which would prevent any entry into the gym whether it was person or sound until they needed it to. Nothing, not even phone calls could get in without Bonnie's say so. Alaric began dishing out the weapons. Tyler and Jeremy and Elena all took silencer guns Alaric had acquired over the months, he took the safety lock off each as he handed them carefully out.
"Just point and shoot okay? You don't have unlimited ammo so don't get trigger happy. Be quick but accurate."
"Yeah sure, no problem." Tyler replied sarcastically as he eyed his weapon with suspicion.
He wondered why the hell they hadn't been practicing before now so that when given a gun he didn't automatically remember the water pistol range at the fair. They had all been living with their heads in the sand and now they were realising just how much. He was fucking scared, both he and Caroline had been knocked out by a witch before, the blinding pain of it left him barely able to see let alone aim a gun.
Caroline and Damon were both given stakes and a crossbow and Alaric equipped himself with one of each. Bonnie refused any weapon at all which had Jeremy complaining before one of his ghosts had obviously said something to him and he was off in his own little world. Alaric gave a homemade molotov cocktail to Damon and kept one for himself but he didn't trust any of the younger members to use one.
Suddenly there was a tense silence as they all stood facing each other. The whole situation felt bizarre, she'd be fighting for her life down by her chemistry classroom and a stationary closet her and Tyler had attempted to have sex in before getting caught. She tried not to giggle, especially when she looked across at her boyfriend in his dishevelled tux holding a gun gingerly like some absurd James Bond. She couldn't help herself, she burst into laughter that made Jeremy jump.
"I'm sorry, I can't help it." She could barely breath or speak, it felt so good to release some energy, even if she was doubled over cackling like a maniac.
It was an awkward moment when everyone just stared at her like she was crazy (including Jeremy), Tyler just took her hand and began to lead her to their 'post'.
"No goodbyes, no one is dying tonight. I'll see you all later okay?" Bonnie smiled encouragingly at everyone although her pep talk fell flat. The whole situation was like one of those nightmares where you come to school with no clothes on but you notice too late.
Caroline nodded but as she went to turn the corner she called back, "no goodbyes but I love you all, even Damon on occasion."
Elena and Bonnie responded with a quiet 'I love you too' and there was even an affectionate 'you wish barbie' from Damon. Alaric's look was the one that scared her, it was regret.
Tyler and Caroline sat opposite each other in the dim corridor while they waited for word on the walkie talkie.
"How about we try for another quickie in the closet? That way I can die happy."
Caroline shook her head. "Don't even joke."
She fidgeted on the floor as the corseted part of her dress poked into her hips.
"Stay here okay? I need to get something quickly."
He went to protest but she had sped down the hallway before he could utter a syllable and she was back again within minutes in her gym clothes. It wasn't exactly fresh after being left in her locker part of the weekend but it was far more comfortable and easier to fight in than her previous outfit. She really really didn't want to die in her sweaty shorts and T-shirt. Tyler had taken the hint and removed his jacket, undone some of the top buttons of his shirt and rolled up his sleeves. The gun was sat away from him on the floor like they were ignoring each other.
"Caroline, what did you want to be when you grew up? Before all the supernatural crap I mean."
She tried to think back, it felt like eons ago.
"I don't know, it changed week by week. Although clothing designer usually came top of the list, at least for a few years then I planned to marry a great guy who happened to be wealthy and be the best stay-at-home mom ever. I'd bake, be on the PTA and design clothes for charity." She smiled wistfully.
Tyler nodded. "I used to hate how driven you were when we were younger. I guess I was jealous, I didn't know what to do with my life. I just wanted to get out of mystic falls."
"Yeah I can't imagine werewolf was one of your future life choices. So what do you want to be now?"
Tyler looked down and pressed his lips together. "It's simple, I just want to be with you. Corny as hell but absolutely true."
He shrugged awkwardly and stared back at his gun as if worried it would go off on its own. She slid across the floor to kiss him.
"Well you can see how long you put up with me after we get out of this."
He grinned. "Now don't you wish you'd let me fuck you before we came to the dance?"
She rolled her eyes but couldn't disagree. She instead settled for the comfort of his arms as she curled up in his lap and held the gun for the both of them.
A/N: Not sure how this will all plan out but I felt if I was going to end the story it shouldn't just be for Caroline and Tyler. Whether they both live or end up happy is yet to come.
