Chapter three

Stefan watched Caroline's frame, walking away from him. It was becoming a habit. Klaus had awarded him his freedom. There had been no orders to look out for Elena, in fact Tyler and Rebekah were sneakily in cahoots with one another. They hadn't exactly been subtle the night before. He wondered what Caroline would do if she knew that her wolf boy was being unfaithful. Perhaps he could help reveal the situation and in the process he could be there to 'comfort' her all the way into the bedroom. He wanted her. Something about her enticed his senses and stirred a longing in his loins. It was only a matter of time and she would be his. When the ripper wanted something, he always gets it. And Caroline Forbes was no exception.

By the time Caroline arrived home, she was beyond annoyed/irritated with every male specimen that walked the planet. Tyler treated her like his mistress almost and Stefan, well not Stefan, but ripper Stefan looked at her like she was some juicy blood bag. What ever happened to good old fashioned chivalry?

She flopped down on her bed, exhausted. It was just Murphy's Law. She had wanted to have a banging senior year and instead she was the one who had a banging headache at the end of day. The last thing she felt like doing, was going to the bonfire. It was most probably going to be lame again, all of these things always turned out like that. Either they were so boring and uneventful or they were so wild with mystical events that either someone ended up dead or a new baddy would roll into town. It wasn't a very healthy mindset.

The lock of the front door opened. It was her mom.

"Caroline? Are you home?" Liz called out.

"Yes, mom." Caroline answered.

Liz's heavy footsteps walked up the steps until she came to a stop outside Caroline's room. Liz immediately noticed that her daughter was acting somber. She moved into the room, until she sat alongside her daughter. Perhaps it had something to do with her ex-husbands intervention with Caroline. Caroline had been heartbroken by her father's dismissal.

"Honey? Are you okay?" Liz asked as she tentatively stroked her daughter's hair.

Caroline who was lying on her stomach, sighed and flipped over.

"Today was a disaster." She answered.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Caroline knew that her mother had been making a huge effort lately. Things had been much better between them since Liz discovered that her only child was in fact a vampire. Despite their newly developed relationship, Caroline knew that there was no way her mother would understand. Her first reaction would be to arrest both Tyler and Stefan. And she knew that there was a very slim chance that her mother would get her way.

"I just thought senior year would be different. You know? No complications. But it just seems that's its everything but that."

Liz smiled gently at Caroline.

"That's life. It's one giant ball of complication."

"Great." Caroline bitterly said, before pulling herself up so that she was seated instead of lying down.

"I wish I could tell you that it gets easier. But I'd be lying to you. And I don't want to lie to you." Liz solemnly replied.

"How do you survive then?" Caroline asked.

"By moving forward. By making more mistakes and getting caught up in even more complications. It's the only way you survive."

Caroline gave her mom a halfhearted smile. Never in a million years did she think that she would be having this conversation with her mother of all people. Whenever there was problems in the past, Caroline would call on her dad. He would always sugar coat things, get her mind off the dilemma at hand with shopping trips and getaways. But now that she had gotten older, she found that what she needed now more than ever was the cold hard truth. And that's where Liz came in. Caroline could always count on her to tell the truth bluntly no matter how much it hurt.

"You're right." Caroline replied.

Liz placed a hand on her shoulder.

"So don't worry. You'll find yourself in a bigger mess sooner or later and this will seem like a mole hill."

Caroline nodded, her mother hit the nail on the head.

Liz stood up and stretched before speaking again.

"Speaking of complications, do you want me to make something for dinner tonight?"

Caroline laughed. If there was one thing her mother hated, that was cooking. Caroline figured that the day she left home her mother would only be too happy to live on take outs and toast.

"Bonfire party tonight. So I'll grab something there to eat if I'm hungry." Caroline chuckled as she watched the relieve fall over Liz's face.

"Good. I really am feeling exhausted. Think I'm going to have an early night." Liz sighed before exiting the room.

Caroline knew that her mother had a point. Life had to go on. There was no point in delaying the inevitable. But it didn't mean that she was going to back down without a fight. First she was going to kill two birds with one stone. She would go to the Salvatore house to deal with Stefan and Rebekah. Get them to back off and leave her alone. If that didn't work, she was just going to steal Damon's drinks. Not that it would help but he always had the good stuff and she never missed an opportunity to annoy Damon.

Then she was going to confront Tyler. Tell him to get his act together and to stop being cocky about his Hybrid status. Because truthfully there was nothing to be proud about. She didn't like that he had changed back into his old ways, she really thought that he had moved on from then. Perhaps she just needed to convince him that life could be simple and good again. That things could go back to the way they were.

Caroline nodded to herself. She was pleased with the tasks she had set up for herself. However the first thing she needed to do, was get herself dressed and ready for the bonfire and for her take downs. She needed this too work.

An: Thanks for the support on my new story you guys are beyond amazing!