A/N: So in this chapter, I'm going to make Dean and Caroline talk a little more about the whole vampire thing and Caroline possibly changing back. This is a very Dean/Caroline centered chapter and there's a big moment for them towards the end ;) Anyway, other then that, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! xoxo, Avril
Chapter Thirteen: The One Who Cared
Caroline rolled over in bed, not wanting to wake up, but knowing that she should at least check who called her on her cell phone three times now already. She guessed it was Dean, or Sam, or Dean calling off of Sam's phone, she just knew that it was one of them. But she was surprised when she saw that it was Bonnie and that she left a voicemail, so before calling her back, Caroline listened to the voicemail first.
"Caroline, it's me Bonnie. I just wanted to tell you to please get Dean off my back today! I don't mind that he keeps checking in with me to see if you said anything about changing back into a human yet, but there's only so much of him calling me every five seconds that I can take. Just, take care of him today, okay? Bye." Bonnie said and that was her message.
So Dean was bugging Bonnie? Caroline wondered why he cared so much if she turned back or not. Sure, there was that whole small breakdown that she had with him here with her. He knew what it was like to be like this, and he took the first chance he could get to get back to normal. So why wasn't she? Why was she hesitating so much about changing back? She knew that no one would mind having normal Caroline back. It would be one less vampire for the people of Mystic Falls to worry about. But she just couldn't picture herself human again. Being weak and well…useless. She felt useful as a vampire as weird as that was. She wasn't weak, she was strong, brave, fearless, she was everything she wanted to be while she was human…minus the blood drinking part. Plus, people actually liked her instead of pretending to when she was shallow and naïve as a human. Caroline toyed around with her cell phone in her hands for a few minutes before deciding to call Dean and seeing if he wanted to meet up anywhere to talk.
"Yeah?" Dean answered
"Hey, Dean do you think you can meet me at the Mystic Grill later?" Caroline asked "I just have to go to Bonnie's first and then I could call you when I'm on the way there?"
"Sure, sounds good to me." Dean said "Me, Sam, and Cas have to go handle Jeremy's sister Elena today. Stefan managed to pop over here earlier with his lovely brother saying she was freaking out about Jeremy being gone too long, and since we can't exactly show her that her brother is currently demonically possessed…we have to go talk to her first." Dean sighed
"Have fun with that." Caroline said and laughed a little bit. "I'll see you later then. Bye."
"Bye." Dean said and hung up
Caroline put her phone back on the nightstand and went ahead and got showered and dressed for the day. She could only imagine how they were going to handle Elena. She was actually kinda surprised that Elena hadn't freaked out earlier than this, she thought she would have been freaking out after one day, but Stefan must have somehow managed to keep her calm for a few days, so by now she was probably ready to turn the town upside down looking for Jeremy. Once Caroline was fully dressed and ready to go, she grabbed her phone and texted Bonnie, letting her know she was on the way, and then she left, surprisingly, thinking about Dean the whole entire time.
Caroline was picking up books all around Bonnie's living room, it was a mess after all the research she had been doing the past few days, and Caroline ordered her to go get some rest since she had been barely getting any lately. So while Bonnie was upstairs asleep, Caroline decided to help Bonnie out and clean her house up a little bit. Caroline knew that if she turned back into a human, one of the things she would miss is being able to clean up the house quickly and do her chores fast at home while her mom was gone at work. She wouldn't be able to just get it over with like how she could now. While Caroline was busy organizing and stacking books in piles and picking up loose papers and putting them in stacks, Caroline came across Bonnie's cell phone that managed to get buried under papers already, and she saw there was a text from Dean on there. Curious to see what Dean was bugging Bonnie about this time, she looked at the text to see what was going on.
'Will she change if I talk to her?'
He didn't have to say her name for Caroline to know that he was talking about her. Why did he have to care so damn much about her changing back or not? In all honesty, people pushing her to do something, made her not want to do it even more, even though she knew that Dean was just trying to help, after all, that was what him, Sam, and Castiel did. They helped people, it was sort of their job to help people. And here was their chance to help her, to let her be normal again. But they just didn't understand how…confused she was about the whole thing. That was why she needed to talk to Dean. As much as Sam seemed to understand her and talking to Cas always made her feel a little better too, but Dean just seemed to…get her. He was hard headed, highly opinionated, and didn't take no for an answer, he still somehow managed to make Caroline feel better whenever they talked. She figured she felt closer to him ever since he told her that he was a vampire once, but saying it was at that moment would be a lie. Truthfully, she started feeling closer to Dean since the night he saved her from being murdered by that crazy ghost and when he let her drink his blood. They somehow bonded that night, and Caroline wouldn't have had it any other way.
Caroline went back to organizing all the books and in attempt to get Dean off of her mind, she tried to thinking about how everything would happen on the night of the ritual. She knew it would take a lot out of Bonnie, which was why she needed her sleep now for the next few days to get ready for this thing in six days. She wasn't going to be very useful if she dropped dead in the middle of the spell because it was too draining. Plus, she really didn't feel like letting one of her friends die for this spell, so she would prefer it if Bonnie stayed rested up for the next six days now. But, in the end, thinking about the spell let Caroline's thoughts drift back off to Dean and wondering how he was handling Elena right now.
"She's not going to like Jeremy being involved in a spell, so it's probably best if you don't mention anything about that to her." Stefan said to Dean, Sam, and Cas.
"We've been lying for ages kid, we can handle this. We'll just say that Jeremy is in confinement right now, he…drank and drove or something." Dean said. "As far as you know from now on, we are Officers Geddy, Lee, and Seger."
"Alright then." Stefan said and opened up Elena's front door and took a step inside. "Elena?" Stefan called out.
There was no answer.
"Elena?" Stefan said and took off through the house quickly and came back to the guys. "She's not here."
"Where could she be then?" Sam asked
"I think I have a feeling about that." Stefan sighed "And it's not good. Meet me at the Boarding House."
Stefan took off towards the Boarding House and Castiel grabbed their shoulders and in an instant they were at the front steps of the Boarding House and Stefan was there at the door already.
"I hate it when you do that Cas." Dean sighed as Stefan opened up the front door and walked in as the guys walked in behind him.
Stefan took off through the house, looking for Elena, he finally found her there in the library with Damon.
"She's in here." Stefan called out to them and Dean, Sam, and Cas all walked down the hallway to where Stefan was and in there sure enough was Elena, freaking out and looked to be on the verge of hysterical breakdown with Damon there, trying to calm her down, but she didn't seem to be listening to him and she kept going on and on about Jeremy and how no one seemed to care that ha had been missing for almost four days now.
"Dean, Sam, annoying Angel guy, how lovely for you to join us." Damon said as sarcastically as possible and Elena glared at them and came storming up to Dean and slapped him right across the face.
"Okay, why did the crazy chick just slap me?" Dean asked as rubbed his cheek.
"She has a tendency to hit people a lot." Damon said
"Where's my brother?" She lashed out at him
"Whoa, who said we have your brother?" Dean asked
"That would be me." Damon said with a smirk
"Tell me where he is now or-" Elena said and went to go slap Dean again, but Dean caught her hand the time and stopped her.
"Slapping me isn't gonna get you anywhere princess." Dean said "Look…about your brother…" Dean started to say
Caroline sat there at a booth in the grill, waiting for Dean to show up after she called him. She sat there just drinking her soda and trying to think about what she would exactly say to him. Would he understand if she said she didn't want to change back like Bonnie and Tyler said they would? Or would he go full on physco and try to convince her as much as he could to change back into a human? If he did that, why would he care so much about her? They were only here in town until after the ritual, Caroline knew that once their job was done, they would have to move on, they could never really settle down and leave roots in a place, it was just another part of their job. But just as Caroline was about to get into deeper thoughts, Dean walked into the grill and sat down right across from her and Caroline had to almost contain her laughs when she saw Dean's face and how he looked like he had been slapped around a little bit.
"So, uh…how was Elena?" Caroline asked with a smirk.
"Well…you warned me she was a bit crazy…you never told me she was a physco maniac." Dean said and Caroline laughed "Glad you're having fun with this." Dean sighed
"I'm sorry, it's just so funny. I mean Elena is this tiny little thing, and here you are, this big strong guy, and a girl beat you up." Caroline laughed
"Like you said, she was tiny, I didn't wanna break her." Dean said
"At least you're enough of a gentleman to not hit a girl." Caroline smiled
"Unless she's a demon." Dean said. "But after that last punch to the face, I'm starting to think she might be one." Dean said and rubbed his jaw
"She was a cheerleader, she's got muscles on her, don't let her fool you." Caroline said
"Yeah, I guess not." Dean said "So, I'm guessing you have something to talk about, right?" Dean asked
"I know you've been calling Bonnie non-stop. Asking her about the whole 'if I would change back into a human' thing." Caroline said "You've really been driving the poor girl nuts."
"I was just…curious." Dean said and shrugged
"You could just ask me you know." Caroline said
"Fine, did you decide yet?" Dean asked
"No." Caroline said
"…How about now?" Dean asked
"No." Caroline laughed "But, that's why I wanted to talk to you."
"About the whole changing back thing?" Dean asked
"Yeah. You know, I figured since you did it once…who better to talk to then you." Caroline said and shrugged.
"Alright, well, start talking." Dean said
"…I don't know if I want to change back to a human or not." Caroline said
"Why not?" Dean asked
"Because, this will sound stupid, but as a human I felt useless. Like I was just there for no reason. Ever since I've been a vampire, strangely enough, I've helped people, I've become a better person, and I'm just scared that if I change back, I won't be able to do any of that stuff anymore." Caroline said "That I'll be useless again."
"You were never useless Caroline. No one ever is. Maybe you just didn't know what you were supposed to do while you were normal." Dean said
"I still don't know what I'll do if I do change back." Caroline said "I'll just be stuck here in this town, trying to figure out what the hell I want to do with my life. Most likely, I'll be here my whole life, just like everyone else in this town." Caroline said
"You wouldn't have to be stuck here Care, you're a smart girl, you could go do whatever you wanted to do." Dean said
"That's the thing. I don't know. I don't know about anything anymore." Caroline said "I wish I did, that would help a whole hell of a lot right now."
"Life is filled with more questions than answers." Dean said and Caroline looked at him curiously "Cas told me that once…while he was sober." Dean said with a smile and Caroline smiled too
"Sounds like something he would say." Caroline said
Dean and Caroline talked for hours and hours. While Dean had his pie and made his points to Caroline about the perks of being human again, and Caroline made her points about staying a vampire, in the end, the human side did turn out sounding more appealing to Caroline. Only for the fact of that while being a vampire, she's realized that she would never really be able to have a family, and that after about two more years, she would never get to see her parents that she loved so much ever again. She wouldn't even be able to come and see them as they were sick and dying, and Caroline didn't want things to end like that. And somewhere along the way in that conversation, Caroline realized that Dean cared about her. That he cared weather she lived or died and what happened to her. He truly cared.
"So, make a decision yet?" Dean asked
"I'm still thinking about it, but I'm leaning more towards one of them right now." Caroline smiled
"Which one?" Dean asked
"None of your business Dean Winchester." Caroline said and laughed a little
"Alright, fine, don't tell me." Dean said with a smile and Caroline looked at him right into his eyes and for what seemed like the first time in a long time, she cared for someone, a lot. More then she cared about Matt, which was scary because she was pretty sure she used to be in love with Matt. It scared her in a way to care about someone this much, and it hit her all in that moment when she looked right into Dean's eyes.
"I…uh, I have to go. My mom's probably home by now and worrying." Caroline said suddenly and got up from the table and started walking out of the place.
At first, Dean felt like Caroline was joking with him, leaving all the sudden like that, but then he realized that she was telling the truth and she was really leaving, and that's when Dean got up and chased after her out into the parking lot.
"You're really leaving, just like that?" Dean asked
"I told you I have to go. But, thanks for talking to me Dean, I think I made up my mind now." Caroline said and started walking back towards her car and Dean was right behind her.
"You're running from something. I'd know because I've done it before, a lot." Dean said
"I'm not running from anything." Caroline said and turned to face him again "I just…made up my mind." Caroline said as she walked up to her car and unlocked the door, but Dean kept her from opening it. "Dean." Caroline complained "Let me go home."
"I've run from things all my life, okay? It sucks. Sometimes I wish I could go back and face those moments instead of being a coward and running away, like what you're doing right now." Dean said
"I'm not being a coward of anything!" Caroline hissed "I've decided what I want to do."
"Let me guess, stay a vampire so you can keep running all the rest of your life?" Dean asked
"Yes! So I can run away and stay away from people like you, people who care way too damn much about me and I care way too damn much about!" Caroline said leaving Dean speechless for a minute. "In my entire life, alive and dead, I have never met a person more single handedly infuriating as you Dean Winchester. You've driven me up a wall ever since the day you and Sam set foot into this town. You've nearly gotten me killed by some ghost I didn't even know existed, and in some crazy way…you've also become the best friend I've ever had, and that scares me more then anything else in this whole entire world. Because no one, not even Matt, has made me ever feel so scared about that when everything is said and done in this town, that I'll never see you again." Caroline said and started to cry a little bit. "I don't want to have to forget about you Dean. You're one of those crazy people that walks into someone's lives and can never seem to leave. I care more about you then I ever have for anyone that wasn't blood related to me. More then Matt, more then Bonnie, more then Elena, and more then Tyler. And if I change back to a human, I know that I will never see you again, because you and Sam always go place to place, and I'd never be able to track you down, because I'd only have so much time left in my life to track you down. You just…scare me. Okay? You scare me Dean Winchester…and I like it."
And without saying anything back to Caroline, since she managed to leave him speechless after everything she said, Dean pulled her close to him and he kissed her as if it were their last moments on earth together, and Caroline kissed him back just as passionately. Dean pulled away first from the kiss, but it was only because he actually needed to breath while Caroline really didn't.
"You scare me too…a lot. Especially when you talk a lot like you just did." Dean said with a smile and Caroline smiled back too before hugging Dean as tightly as she could and burying her face into his chest, not wanting to ever have to let go.