Chapter 12
Stefan and Damon walked back into the house, throwing their things down on the table as Damon poured them both a rather large glass of bourbon. He handed a glass to Stefan who downed the contents in one and slammed the glass back on the table.
"Easy brother…" Damon said "It's sorted."
"Sorted is the last thing this is Damon. We've probably just made things a thousand times worse." Stefan confessed
"Look the way I see it, Valerie has removed her connection with Mini Blondie…Job done." He shrugged
"Not job done, she may have removed Grace's connection spell, but she's just made a deal with the hunter Damon…We have to leave."
"We better get packing then…" Damon smirked.
"Are you not listening to me? All of us have to leave again…we have to drop everything and go, which means Caroline and Grace have to up their lives again." He looked around and saw a few of Graces things on the floor "Do you know how hard it is for me to see them go through this every day, to wake up and know that it may be the last day I get with them?"
Damon stared at him, caught out by his confession "Caroline knew what she was getting into…"
"And that makes it alright does it? You think because she knows what's going on, it's ok? That it makes it easier to put my family in danger? All want Damon is to have a nice house, where we all live together, where Caroline and I can raise Grace, give her the childhood that you and I never got. I want to Marry Caroline, spend eternity with her."
Damon nodded "Then it's what we'll do. Elena and I planned for that future Stefan and there's not a day go by I don't think about how much she would love all of this. She always wanted you and Caroline together you know?"
Stefan laughed "yeah I kind of got that impression on a few occasions." He smiled "I should go and talk to Caroline, tell her what's going on. If you hear smashing then you may need to come and save me". He said Jogging up the stairs calling Caroline's name. He checked all of the upstairs rooms, panicking when she wasn't there. "Caroline's gone" Stefan said reappearing down stairs.
"What? Gone, gone where?" Damon frowned drinking yet another glass of Bourbon.
"I don't know, she's not in the house, neither is Grace."
"Well where are they?"
"If I knew I wouldn't be panicking would I?" Stefan asked, reaching into his back pocket for his phone. "Come on Caroline… pick up" he said frustrated she wasn't answering. "Caroline, when you get this call me back please, let me know you're ok." He placed his phone down and looked at Damon "She's not answering. DO you think she's ok?"
"This is Caroline we're talking about, she'll be fine. She's allowed out of the house Stefan. Which remind me, we need to look for some place to go…what about…"
"Do not under any circumstance say Vegas, Damon." Stefan warned "If we have to go then it's somewhere safe, and somewhere you can't get in trouble!"
Damon placed his hand over his chest "Are you suggesting I attract trouble? Brother I'm hurt!"
"I'm not suggesting it Damon I'm telling you. Trouble follows you." Stefan said and picked his keys up from the side.
"Where are you going?"
"To find Caroline." He said "She doesn't do this…" as he was about to leave the front door opened and Caroline steeped in Pushing Graces pushchair inside. She was barely though the door when Stefan embraced her, forgetting about the spell that was on Caroline before he left. He held her tight, his arms encasing her "Where have you been?" he asked kissing her forehead as she pulled away "I've been so worried"
Caroline smiled at him shaking her head "Gracie and I went exploring with Auntie Bonnie." She said "I left a note…"
"You didn't, I didn't get it" Stefan frowned
"I left one, right…" She walked into the kitchen and pulled a small square of paper from the fridge "here…" she said taking the note and handing it to him
Stefan looked a little guilty "Sorry, I didn't see it, I got worried." He moved to hug her again "I guess Bonnie removed the spell means as I'm not being thrown over the other side of the room?"
Caroline chuckled "yes. Bonnie removed the spell, we have a lot to thank her for" She briefly looked at Grace who was still asleep her teddy tucked under her arm as she sucked on her thumb. "and as much as I hate to say it, Enzo too. The two of them have managed to send the Heretics right into hunter territory"
Damon stood up and placed his hand on Caroline's shoulder "Let me stop you there Blondie, before you get all giddy with happiness…"
"Damon…" Stefan warned, his tone suggesting to back off.
She saw the look between the two brothers and scowled, her hand on her hips. "Explain!" she said aiming her word at Stefan.
"We may have a problem…"
"When don't we? What is it now?" she sighed
"On a positive note, Grace and her connection to Valerie is no longer" He said
"You got her to remove it?" Caroline said shocked "Wow…"
"That would be my hard work Blondie" Damon added "You can thank me later"
"Yeah, she may want to hear the bad news before she gets the celebration banners out Damon." Stefan said pointedly "Thanks to Damon's torture techniques, Valerie got really pissed and she's now made a deal…"
"A deal with who?" It was clear from her tone that Caroline was annoyed, well angry would be a better word.
"The hunter." Stefan told her softly "She made a deal…our location for the heretics."
"But the heretics are probably dead by now." Caroline frowned
"Nope, because thanks to Valerie they have a protective spell on them, which she wasn't going to use until Damon tortured her to within an inch of her life"
"Great." Caroline sighed running her hands over face. "What exactly is it we're going to do now then ha? Fight?"
Damon raised his eyebrows "We're going on a little road trip Blondie." He said walking past her and began to climb the stairs.
"Is he serious?" She asked
"Unfortunately." Stefan confessed "If we're lucky we'll be able to leave before Valerie spills our location. So we need to go." He took he hands and held them tight "This is why I didn't want to bring you into all of this Caroline, it's not fair on you or Grace to keep having to move our lives around…"
"Don't Stefan, please." She said, tears forming in her eyes, she couldn't handle him 'letting her go' again. It would break her heart. "Please don't make us go different ways"
His fingers found her hair, letting her blonde curls fall through his fingers "I'm not going to… do you really think I'd be able to survive without out you and Grace?" She didn't say anything "The answers no Caroline. I wouldn't survive. So we're going to go and pack our things and leave this city…" he said pressing his lips to her cheek.
She nodded "Where will we go?"
"I've no idea, but I Vetoed Vegas." He laughed "where do you want to go?" she smiled crookedly at him "I'm serious, why do you want us to go?"
"Home" she said sadly and Stefan returned the sad smile.
"You know we can't go back there, as much as I love you and Grace, that the one place I won't let you go, we can't go to that home…"
"I know" Stefan watched as she moved away from him, speeding up the stairs and returning with a folded piece of paper in her hand. She unfolded it and lay it on the coffee table, revealing a map similar to the one she'd used to find him. "Let's find a new home then…" she closed her eyes and circled her finger over the map, placing it on a random state.
Stefan smiled, his arms around her waist from behind "Kanas? Hmm I think we can work with that"
only one more chapter left :( what do you think we'll see in the final instalment ? x
