Caroline groaned as she heard the banging on her front door. Who could be knocking at this ungodly hour?
"I'm coming. I'm coming! I'm coming!" Her voice got louder with each repetition until the last one was shouted. She made her way over to the door, cursing as she stubbed her toe.
She opened the door to find Stefan looking at her critically. "You're kind of a mess this early in the morning, aren't you?"
"Bite me," she said and slammed the door.
The knocking began again. Caroline sighed and opened the door. "What?"
Would you like to go to London for a Bon Jovi concert tonight?"
"What? Bon Jovi? Concert? London? Tonight?" Caroline wasn't sure she heard him right.
"Did you lose your vampire hearing?" Stefan asked.
"You know, sometimes it's so easy to hate you!" Caroline snarked. "Seriously, what's going on?"
"Lexi's friend, Lee, is flying in to Heathrow today, and we have tickets for the Bon Jovi concert. I'm gonna catch a plane in two hours, and I wanna know if you want to come?"
"Don't give a girl any notice, Stefan!" Caroline was pissed and excited at the same time. She had never been to London before and never to a Bon Jovi concert, and she wanted to do both. "I don't know what to wear!" she wailed.
"Put on jeans and bring your makeup in your bag. We'll get a hotel room there, go shopping, and compel you some new clothes. You don't see me grousing about what I'm wearing," he replied.
"Yeah, I've been meaning to talk to you about your clothes. You've been getting sloppy!" Caroline spoke as she ran into the bathroom.
Stefan closed the door and followed, leaning against the wall as Caroline vamp sped between her bedroom and the bathroom.
He looked down at himself. "What d' ya mean?"
"Same old hoodie, same pair of saggy jeans, same pair of dirty shoes, is what I mean." Caroline peeked out of the bathroom at him. "You just don't care anymore, Stefan. The only think you keep up is your hair." She looked rueful. "And even that isn't what it used to be."
Stefan thought a moment and shrugged. She was right – he didn't care.
Caroline popped in front of him. "Ready."
~ X ~
Since they flew First Class, they were the first to deplane. Caroline had watched Stefan carefully to see how he compelled them into First Class. It was all about getting to the right level of personnel. She filed it all away for later use. Caroline disliked being dependent on other people. She felt most comfortable when she was in control.
"What now?" she asked.
"Lee should be landing within an hour so we'll wait at the arrivals hall for him."
Stefan took off without any hesitation. Caroline was slightly overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of Heathrow. When she had come in from Miami she was almost in a state of shock and had pretty much shut down. Now, she was fully aware and felt inundated with sensations. Stefan seemed to sense it and began whispering instructions on how to filter out the noise and tone down the touch feelings as they pushed their way through crowds and people careened into them.
She calmed down as she listened and followed his instructions. She once again marveled at how he seemed to sense what she was feeling.
They found a wall near the exit gate for International arrivals and waited. Stefan advised her to hone her senses while they had time on their hands. He would pick out a conversation, describe it to her, and she would narrow in on it. The time passed quickly this way.
Stefan's head swung around, and a genuinely happy smile lit up his face for a moment.
He half raised a hand and a man about his height came over. Caroline watched as the two men looked at each other for a moment and then hugged a guy hug, pounding each other on the back.
"Good to see you," the newcomer growled.
"Been too long," Stefan replied. Stefan gave a start and grabbed the guy by the arm and swung him around.
"Caroline, this is an old friend of mine, Lee."
"Lee, I want you to meet a good friend of mine, Caroline." Stefan seemed to revert to his 1864 manners. Most people didn't do such formal introductions nowadays. Caroline thought.
"Should I shake your hand?" Lee inquired. "Stefan's a prim and proper type of guy, so I want to do him proud."
Caroline laughed. "Me, too. Let's shake."
Lee laughed too, and they grasped each other's hands. Lee's big hand swallowed hers.
"Let's get out of here," Stefan urged. "I booked a hotel room so we can have a place to make plans."
"Shopping, clothes, manicure. You promised, Stefan!" Caroline warned.
The two guys looked at each other. Lee raised an eyebrow. "High maintenance?"
"The highest," Stefan solemnly replied.
Caroline punched both of them in the arm.
"Ow!" Lee complained. "She packs quite a punch."
"Don't I know it." Stefan replied as he led them out of the airport and over to the taxi stand.
~x~
They were in the first row at the concert, and they danced to every single song.
Caroline had a blast. The guys were so much fun. They were so carefree and danced and shouted from sheer high spirits. There was just one song that seemed to bring them both down, but they quickly recovered when the band finished it and moved on.
They made their way out, letting the crowd push them along, and headed for a trendy night club. They walked to the head of the line and were immediately escorted in. Caroline had to admit that compulsion was one of the few perks of vampire life.
A bottle of champagne was brought to their table. Lee waited until the server popped the cork and poured three glasses before looking over at Stefan. "A toast to the birthday boy!"
"What?" an outraged Caroline squealed at Stefan. "Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?"
Stefan shrugged. "Slipped my mind."
Caroline frowned at him. "I don't know what I'm going to do with you."
She held up her glass. "To the Birthday Boy." They clinked glasses and drank. Caroline giggled, loving the bubbles in her nose.
Stefan refilled all three glasses. "My turn. To Lexi – the best friend anyone could have."
"To Lexi." Caroline knew beyond a doubt that those were tears in Lee's eyes as he repeated the toast.
She quietly lifted her glass to clink with theirs while studying them. She didn't think she had ever seen two sadder people. They all drank. The two men seem subdued now. Caroline felt funny and didn't know what to say. She wanted to lighten the mood, but she didn't want to intrude on their sorrow either.
Suddenly Lee seemed to give himself a shake. "Lexi wouldn't want us brooding. She always made a point to celebrate your birthday. Didn't matter where she was or what she was doing. She would just hightail off to find you."
Stefan smiled. "That she did. I think the girl had a bug planted somewhere on me. She could always track me down."
He poured a last round of champagne. "To the best of the best, may she be waiting for us on the other side."
They clinked once more and drained their glasses.
Lee said, "Enough of that fancy stuff. I'm ready for some good old fashioned whiskey."
"Oh, yeah!" Caroline seconded him.
Stefan waved over the waiter and the booze really started flowing.
Caroline, slightly tipsy now, decided she wanted to dance. Both Lee and Stefan got up to dance with her. She didn't know Lee, but was surprised Stefan wanted to dance. Elena used to complain that she had to force him. She was stunned to find out he was really good.
"I thought you couldn't dance?" she yelled at him. The club was so noisy that only his vampire senses allowed him to hear what she said.
"I didn't say I couldn't. I just didn't want to. To really dance you need to let yourself go, and I was always trying to stay in control. Now, I know I can't, so I don't try."
A pretty girl with a pronounced English accent came over and grabbed Caroline and put her mouth to her ear. She shouted, "You have two guys, and I don't have even one. Can I borrow one if I promise to return him in good shape?"
Caroline had to laugh and nodded her permission.
The girl grabbed Stefan and started grinding against him. Stefan got right into it.
Lee touched Caroline's wrist. "Ready to sit for awhile."
"Sure." She smiled at him.
Lee gently guided her through the throng of bodies, never forcing her, always allowing her to accept or reject the slight pressure on her back. Caroline was impressed by his manners. They sat and Lee poured more drinks.
"So, you're a fairly new vampire, aren't you?" he said conversationally.
"How can you tell?" Caroline countered. "Did I goof somehow?"
"No goofs." Lee smiled. "It's more that you're still startled by some sounds and movements, and that I haven't heard about you before. Lexi always kept tabs on Stefan's friends."
Caroline's first impression of Lee was that he was dark and brooding, but when he smiled he seemed friendly and much warmer. She thought he was a handsome guy. "How old are you?" she asked.
"I've been a vampire for 40 years now." He sighed and looked down.
"Wow, that's not really long." Caroline hesitated. "You don't seem real happy about it. Where you forced to change, like me?"
"Oh no," he replied. "I changed willingly. I loved her and wanted to be with her forever." His mouth twisted suddenly. "It's just that it was supposed to be forever with her. Life without Lexi really isn't life."
Caroline reached over and stroked his hand. "I'm sorry. She must have been someone special. Stefan is always happiest and saddest when he talks about her. I think he misses her dreadfully."
Lee looked up, his eyes shining again with unshed tears. "She was everything to me. There's nothing special about being a vampire. Nothing about it appealed to me. Not the power; not the heightened senses; not the long life. It only gave me a way to be with her."
Caroline spoke haltingly. "I never wanted this. I wanted a husband and a family. It's just really started to sink in that I'll always look like this. I'll never mature. There's so much that I can't do, can't control."
"I'm sorry." It was Lee's turn to slide his hand over hers. "It's a lot to get used to. I had Lexi there to help me."
"Stefan's been wonderful," Caroline said. "When his brother tried to kill me, he and Elena saved me. What? What did I say?"
Lee's face changed. His eye veins were engorged and Caroline thought she saw his fangs start to emerge.
Stefan was there in an instant and had his hands on Lee's shoulders. "Easy, Lee." He did his best to soothe his friend. Lee got himself under control and Stefan sat down.
Stefan explained to a bewildered Caroline. "Damon killed Lexi."
Caroline covered her mouth with her hand. "Damon! Oh my God, Stefan! Why? How?"
Stefan kept his gaze on his clenched hands. "Damon had been careless and killed a lot of people before he realized your mother was on to the fact that it was a vampire. He wanted to throw suspicion off of himself, and I think he also wanted to hurt me." He thought a moment. "Lexi was immune to his charm so that didn't help her either."
"I should have killed him when I had the chance," Lee said bitterly, "but she pleaded for his life, and I couldn't do it in front of her."
"Who's her?" Caroline was confused.
"Elena," Stefan answered. "She was with Damon when a witch he knew, Bree, told Lee he was in town. Damon killed Bree too."
"Bree was one of the good ones," Lee said regretfully. "If I had known he killed her too, I wouldn't have let him live, no matter how she begged."
Caroline looked horrified. "How can he be like that? He tried to kill my father, yet he saved me. How can he be so good and so bad?"
Stefan lifted his hands in a helpless gesture. "He can't stand his humanity, and when he feels too much he goes the opposite way. Katherine really messed him up. He needs someone to love him and be loved by him. I think Elena will keep him stable, but when she dies, he's go—"
"Oh, he's got someone forever," Lee interrupted.
Stefan looked a question at him.
"That Elena. She turned vampire for him," Lee said.
Caroline hissed, "I don't believe it!"
"It's true," Lee confirmed. "She's a vampire."
Caroline turned to Stefan and forgot what she was going to say. Stefan looked like he had been punched in the gut. The tears streamed down his cheeks, but he didn't even seem to be aware of them. His mouth was open, but only one quick moan escaped.
Lee looked stricken. "Stefan, I didn't know she meant that much to you."
Stefan grimaced. "She made it clear she wouldn't turn for me. She swore she never wanted to be a vampire. I guess I just wasn't the right person. Why couldn't she just have been honest with me? I would have left . . . I would have . . . It . . ." He was too upset to be coherent, and he finally stopped trying to talk. He bent over in his chair, his body racked with sobs.
The waiter came over. "Is everything all right?"
"Go away!" Caroline's low whisper was fierce.
"Let's get him out of here," Lee said taking one arm. Caroline grabbed the other, and they left for their hotel room.
They led him back to the hotel. He didn't try to resist; he did whatever they urged him to. They dumped him on the big bed and retreated to the outer suite.
"I'll take the chair." Lee volunteered.
Caroline just nodded, too tired and distraught to do anything more than fall onto the sofa.