Author's Note: Hello, loves! Thank you all so much for your kind words! I just love hearing from all of you! It really does encourage me to keep going! This chapter is kinda bleh, but it's going out anyway! Stay safe out there! Make sure to stay healthy, everyone! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!
There is freedom waiting for you,
on the breezes in the sky,
And you ask "What if I fall?"
Oh but my darling,
What if you fly?
-e.h
Caroline sips her frappuccino, staring at her mom as she struggles to find the words to begin this conversation. Caroline only managed to make it about half-way through her drink before Liz finally spoke, which she honestly thought she was going to finish the whole thing before either of them spoke. So, color her surprised.
"Caroline," Liz finally says, lacing her fingers together on the table and looking at Caroline, "I wanted to start all of this by firstly saying thank you for talking with me, and secondly to apologize for how poorly I treated you these last few years. I am so terribly sorry, Caroline. I have absolutely no excuse."
There us a moment of silence where the two of them just stare at one another before Caroline realizes that she should say something. "Okay," she says, then she realizes how that sounds and quickly amends, "I get it. And I promise I'm not really mad anymore."
Liz looks at her with sad blue eyes. "You used to be mad, weren't you?"
Caroline licks her lips, pushing her cup from one hand to the other slowly, trying to organize her thoughts. "Yes. No. Maybe? I don't know. I was really young and confused when it all originally happened, but kids are very adaptable. I used to cry, wondering why I couldn't go home. But then I got over it. Then I stopped crying and for a while, I was okay. But then I got old enough to realize what really happened. Then I got mad. And I was mad for a long time. Then I got over that too."
Liz's lips curl down a bit. "Did you really, though? I mean, did you talk to someone? Anyone that made you feel better about all of this?"
"No," Caroline admits. "Not until Klaus." She honestly hadn't spoken to anyone - Cassie was way too paranoid about anything like that - so Caroline just dealt with it on her own. She wasn't prone to anger, so she never really lashed out or anything of the sort. She just sort of brooded a lot and got a bit snippy, but that was it. She wasn't an angry person, which Cassie expressed was odd.
Liz blinks a few times. "Klaus... tell me about him."
"Why?" Caroline asks, defensively.
"Why do I want to know about the strange man looking after my daughter? Hm, good question." Liz gives her a look. "Why? Is he a sensitive subject?"
Caroline sighs, running a hand through her hair before leaning back in her chair, her body still aches both from sex with Klaus and from overusing her ability to summon magic from the moon and maintain a partial transformation. "A little bit. I'm not sure if you can tell, but he's not exactly well-liked. Which I'm sure is almost entirely his fault, but he's good to me, and he's my friend. And I'm getting kind of tired of people talking trash about him. So yes, he is a sensitive subject."
Liz holds up her hands in surrender. "Okay, I'm sorry. We're done talking about him."
"Anything on Aunt Cassie?" Caroline asks, much more interested in finding her aunt than anything else really.
"I got an APB out on your aunt. Unfortunately, seeing as she's already been missing for two years, it's going to really handicap the detective in charge of this case." She lets out a long-winded sigh, rubbing at her forehead. "But I'll let you know if I hear anything."
"Thank you," Caroline says softly. She takes a nice, long sip of her drink before pushing it away and leaning on her fist. "So, have you talked to dad? Did you tell him about me being here?"
Liz closes her eyes for a moment, collecting her thoughts before looking at Caroline. "Honey, there is something we should talk about."
Caroline sits on her couch, staring at the wall. She lets out a little sigh, mind racing. Her phone vibrates in her hand, letting her know that it was about to die. She goes upstairs, to her room and plugs it in before coming back down the stairs and plopping down onto the couch once more, limbs feeling like jelly. She's been sitting there for about twenty minutes, with no interruptions until then. She's home alone.
Klaus had texted her earlier, saying that he and Elijah were off checking in on something, but didn't elaborate on anything more and that he would be back in a few hours. He didn't say where they were going or what he was doing, and frankly, Caroline didn't think to ask. She just sat there, staring at the wall until the front door, mind racing out of control.
"What's wrong with you?"
Caroline blinks a few times, turning her head a bit to see Rebekah standing just past the threshold of the room, her eyebrow quirked.
"Nothing," Caroline says softly. "Just thinking."
"Did you meet with your mother?" Caroline nods. "How did that go?" She walks into the room and stops next to Caroline on the couch, looking down at her with pretty blue eyes.
"I just got off the phone with my dad," Caroline says, looking back forward. "She told me that they separated. That they've been separated for some time now and just didn't know how or when to tell me. She told me that I needed to call and talk to him. So I did."
Rebekah raises both her eyebrows now, sitting down next to her. "Okay... and what did he have to say about it? Did he give you a good reason for just up and leaving your mother?"
"He's gay."
Rebekah blinks a few times, turning to look at the same wall Caroline was before leaning back into the couch next to her. "Okay, well, that's as good a reason as any, I suppose." Caroline hums, picking at a loose thread on her jeans. "Are you mad? At your dad, I mean?"
Caroline shakes her head. "I'm a young werewolf and I just spent yesterday morning screwing an ancient vampire-turned-werewolf-hybrid who's at least a thousand years too old for me with a lot of family drama, past trauma, near-crippling depression, with sporadic bouts of anger coupled with a severe case of separation anxiety and a god complex, I think I'm the last person to be judging who anyone is sleeping with. I'm just upset that they didn't tell me a long time ago."
Rebekah leans back so that their shoulders are pressed against one another. They sit in silence for a long time before Rebekah finally says, softly, "Sometimes, it's harder to tell the truth, especially to our children. They look to us as examples of what should be. No one should ever be ashamed for who they love, but your parents must have loved each other in some capacity, and even though your father's gay, it doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt to tear apart the family you built, even if it was good for you. That has to hurt on some level."
"It's not tearing us apart," Caroline disagrees. "Our family falling to shambles has nothing to do with that. He's free to be happy. They both are. It doesn't tear a family apart to learn that parents fell out of love for one another, it just... evolves it into something more. Or it could if everyone was willing to try to make it work for the sake of family."
Rebekah nods slowly, turning to look over at Caroline. "I agree. On a lot of levels. It takes more than one person to make a family work. Everyone has to work hard to make a family function as harmoniously as possible." She blinks a few times before offering a small smile. "And you seem to have my brother pegged well, Caroline. I'm impressed."
Caroline laughs, shaking her head, grinning at the blond next to her. "Don't be, it's taken a year to get this far."
"A year is a long time for a mortal," Rebekah says softly. "And honestly, my brother doesn't let many people stay close to him for long. I'm not sure what is so special about you, but my brother seems to sense it, and he's usually right about stuff like that. But don't tell him I said that, or you're dead to me."
Caroline laughs again and a moment later, Rebekah joins her.
"So where were you today?" Caroline asks. "Enjoying your newfound freedom?"
Rebekah laughs, shaking her head. "I wish, but there is no freedom from that dreadful brother of mine. It's all based solely on his own will. He only lets me go as far as his will demands it. It's all that he wants. Complete and utter control over all of his siblings with absolution. He doesn't give a damn about anyone else. He's selfish and cruel."
"I'm sorry," Caroline says softly. "I wish I knew the magical words that would make everything okay, but I don't. All I can do is offer to be in your corner. It's not much, but if it means anything at all, I think Klaus was wrong for what he did to you."
Rebekah studies her expression, reading it closely, no doubt looking for some reason to disbelieve her. Caroline's not sure what her face looks like, but she just keeps her eyes locked onto Rebehah's eyes just waiting. It's been a hundred years since last she walked the earth, no doubt she needs time to analyze her surroundings. To get a feel for the people around her. To adjust to everything that's changed.
Caroline doesn't blame her for a moment. Still, Caroline feels bad. What Klaus did to her was wrong on so many levels, it's unbelievable.
Rebekah seems to have decided that Caroline wasn't being obtuse with her words for her smile is soft and vulnerable. "Thank you, Caroline."
Caroline is suddenly so thankful for Rebekah. Seeing the abysmal amount of clothes that Caroline has, Rebekah was willing to share her closet full of beautiful new clothes with her. Thankfully they were the same size even though Caroline was slightly taller than her. But it was only a little bit more than an inch. And with their newfound friendship, Rebekah was willing to share with her. Especially after Caroline told her about meeting up with her childhood friends tonight and when asked what she was going to wear, she gestured to herself.
Apparently, that was unacceptable to Rebekah.
And while putting on dresses with Klaus was equal parts creepy and kinda fun, this was entirely fun. They both put on a little fashion show for one another. And they spent hours dressing up. Caroline wanted desperately to make a good impression, feeling like a fool for wanting to impress people that she didn't know, and Rebekah was helping her do that, which meant so much to her.
She helped Caroline do her hair, pick out an outfit and put on some actual make-up. If Caroline had to imagine what this feeling was, it would be akin to having a big sister. Even if biologically they were very close to the same age, but Caroline knew that Rebekah was far older than even that. But it was nice to have this time. No stress, no expectation, and honestly, Caroline and Rebekah were a lot alike.
"Won't you come with me tonight?" Caroline asks. "I don't really remember these old friends, so maybe having someone I know there would help me feel a bit better. Besides, I kind of don't want the fun to end."
"You want me to come to hang out with a group of people who absolutely hate my bastard of a brother for all the terrible things he's done to them?" Rebekah asks, quirking an eyebrow.
Caroline gives her a sheepish look. "We don't have to tell them?"
Rebekah grins back at her. "That's so deceitful, Caroline."
Caroline shrugs her shoulders a bit. "I don't mean to be. I just... I don't want to go alone and... well," Caroline looks around at anything but the girl in front of her. "It's a big house, and I hate the idea of leaving you here alone."
Rebekah's lips part slowly, as she stares at Caroline, who's so flushed with embarrassment that she can't even look at her new friend. She was Klaus's sister and while on principal she wanted to at least be on good terms with Rebekah, but after having spoken to her, she actually really like her and is hoping that they can be friends.
Rebekah blinks a few times, swallowing before she nods a little bit. "Sure. I just got my nails done and I am already in a cute outfit... I suppose I could accompany you," she says, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly. "I mean, if something were to happen to you and I wasn't there to protect you, Nik would just about lose his mind."
Caroline didn't feel like Rebekah had to justify a reason for coming out with her, but if she wanted to, she was going to just agree. It just made Caroline happy to know that Rebekah was willing to come out with her.
"You're right, you know," Caroline says, wiggling her eyebrows. "Klaus adores me, and you're my new bodyguard, so you're stuck coming with me and having a great time tonight with people from my past trying to be my friends, or whatever."
Rebekah laughs, flashing pearly white teeth. "And if tonight sucks?"
"You and I get the heck out of there," Caroline says, grinning. "If it's lame, we peace out. We can take over the town together."
Rebekah grins back at her. "Well, then, let us go."
Caroline passes her phone over to Rebekah as she punches in the address that Elena texted her. Apparently, she got it from Caroline's number from Liz, which works out just fine for her. She starts following the GPS.
"Can you call Klaus for me? I forgot to tell him we were leaving," Caroline asks, using her thumb to unlock her phone while keeping her eyes on the road. Rebekah might be able to survive a car accident, but Caroline might not. Thankfully, Klaus left keys for a car and Caroline at least had her learners permit from before Cassie was chased off. Thankfully Caroline remembers all that she learned, she just needs to go in at some point and actually take the test. At least Rebekah will be able to compel someone if she gets pulled over.
"You have to check in with him?" Rebekah asks, giving her a look.
"I don't have to," Caroline defends herself. "It's about respect. When we are in the city together, and we separate to do our own thing, we keep each other up to date on what's going on. I know where Klaus is, it's only respectful if he does too."
Rebekah stares at her for a few moments before nodding, fiddling with her phone until she manages to figure out how to get to contacts and call Klaus. It rings twice before he picks up.
"Hello, love," Klaus greets warmly.
"Hey, so I wanted to let you know that Rebekah and I are going out tonight. We're meeting with Elena and her friends as a friendly get together or something like that. And because I'm the loser who doesn't really know anyone, I'm dragging your saintly sister along with me so if I need to escape, I can," Caroline says, half-joking, half-truthful.
"Ah," Klaus says smoothly, "fraternizing with the enemy, I see."
Caroline rolls her eyes. "Nice. But you have enemies, Klaus, not me. I don't make enough waves to make enemies of anyone."
"True," Klaus admits, then switches topics, "so where are you going? Where is this meet-up occurring?"
"Stefan's house, I guess," Caroline says. "That's what Elena's text said. It's just easier to meet up there. She promised that Damon would be out, apparently hanging out with my mom? I don't know and I didn't want to ask."
"Stefan?" Rebekah echoes, surprised. "Stefan Salvatore?"
"Ah, yes, did I forget to mention?" Klaus asks innocently. "Stefan Salvatore is here, in Mystic Falls, with his new girlfriend Elena Gilbert, Katherine's doppelganger." Caroline spares a glance over at the Mikaelson sister to see shock, confusion and hurt flickering across her face as she tries to make sense of what's being told to her. "Oh, and if it seems like Stefan doesn't remember you, it would be because I compelled him to forget you. Well, both of us. Sorry about that." And even though his voice sounds flippant, Caroline can't help but imagine that it's kind of condescending.
And once again Caroline is reminded that Klaus isn't like he is with her all the time. He can be cruel, even to those he loves. Like his sister.
"Okay, bye Klaus," Caroline says, snatching the phone from Rebekah's hand and ending the call. They sit in silence as Caroline continues to drive toward the address. She spares another glance over at Rebekah, to see that she is staring through the windshield with those wild emotions flickering across her face as she tries to figure out what she's feeling about what was said.
And Caroline feels terrible for her once more. Klaus really could be cruel.
"Bastard," Rebekah says spitefully, shaking her head. "God he is such a bastard."
"I'm sorry," Caroline says softly. "He shouldn't have done that. We don't have to go hang out with the wayward childhood friends of mine tonight. I can just call Elena and tell her that something came up." She just can't bring her self to force Rebekah to keep her agreement. Caroline would never make her do that, especially with how messy the last few days... er decades... have been for her.
Rebekah blinks a few times, organizing her thoughts before shaking her head. "No," Rebekah says, turning to meet Caroline's gaze. "I want to see him. Even if he doesn't remember me, I want to see if he's happy."
"That's very big of you," Caroline says softly. "But you don't have to force yourself, Rebekah. There is always next time."
Rebekah shakes her head. "That's sweet of you, darling, but no. I'm okay. Besides, as I said, I want to make sure that he's happy."
Caroline nods. "Okay. Good. Just... let me know if you want to leave at any point. We will, no questions asked. Promise. Just let me know." She spares another look over at the vampire next to her. "Okay?"
"Okay," Rebekah says softly. "Thank you, Caroline."
"Well, this place is massive," Caroline says, walking up the front steps to the Salvatore mansion. "Klaus has shown me some pretty fancy places, but this one has got to be one of the biggest I've seen yet. It's impressive."
"Oh, sweetheart, I have got some places to show you," Rebekah says, grinning at Caroline with just the slightest touch of apprehension. But she tries hard not to show that she's visibly bothered. Caroline touches her shoulder a bit, giving her a little nod, which she returns, and then they both suck in a deep breath and Caroline reaches out, pushing the doorbell and wait.
A few moments later the door opens and Elena is standing there. "Hey," she says, smiling when her eyes meet Caroline's, then they flicker over to Rebekah, blinking in surprise before raising an eyebrow. "Oh, uh, hi."
"Hey," Caroline says awkwardly, waving her hand a bit in greeting. "So, since we're trying to integrate groups together and I'm seriously outnumbered, I brought someone of my own. I hope you don't mind, it was kind of last minute."
Elena shakes her head, looking at Rebekah curiously. "No, not at all." She steps back, holding the door open. Caroline can hear others talking inside and there are a couple of cars out front too, so they must be the last ones to arrive.
Caroline steps into the house and makes it a few feet in before realizing that she was the only one walking, she stops, turning around to see Rebekah still standing there, her arms crossed over her chest. She purses beautiful full lips. "I'm a vampire, Elena," she says, her voice flat, standing right at the entranceway to the house, giving it a once over, "you have to invite me in. Or whoever owns this house has to."
Elena blinks a few times as if she realized that she hadn't even offered it a bit of thought. She slowly tucks long dark hair behind her ear, she looks over her shoulder into the house, chewing on her bottom lip. "I'm sorry. Um..."
"Rebekah," Rebekah says easily.
"Rebekah..." Elena says slowly, still looking concerned.
Caroline hesitates for a moment, not realizing that this would even be a problem. "Um... maybe we should just go..." She starts walking back toward Rebekah. "This is way too awkward, I'm sorry. Maybe we can meet up at a different time." She's embarrassed, she thought that there wouldn't be an owner to the house of a vampire. She thought that this was going to be okay. That the weirdest part of all of this was the small talk, but apparently they can't even make it that far.
"No, it's okay," Elena says, stopping her. "I'm not comfortable inviting a stranger into the house, but we can move it outside. Is that okay?"
"I don't want to inconvenience everyone," Caroline says. "Thanks for inviting us, Elena."
"It's not an inconvenience," Elena says. "We'll just move to the backyard. It's fine. I'm sorry I'm making this difficult." She gives them quick instructions on where to go before disappearing into the house to no doubt tell her friends about the change in plans.
"I don't think I like her," Rebekah says, rolling her eyes as they two of the walk around the house after Caroline shuts the door. Thankfully Caroline's worn tennis shoes are comfy enough for the manicured lawn but Rebekah has a touch of difficulties with the heels of her own shoes, but she'll heal a lot faster if she twists an ankle than if Caroline did.
"Who? Elena?"
"Yes," Rebekah says, taking Caroline's offered hand to steady her as they go around the large mansion to the back. "Something about her, I don't like it."
"You hardly know her," Caroline says, feeling like she has to defend her childhood friend. Caroline tries not to be judgemental and honestly, Elena didn't seem all that bad. She just seems like a friendly stranger who's trying to get to know her better. There isn't anything wrong with that. Not in Caroline's opinion at least. "Come on, maybe you'll change your mind."
"I doubt that," Rebekah grumbles, but lets Caroline continue to drag her to the back of the mansion where everyone was already piling outside, setting up chairs around a fire pit. They all stop when Caroline and Rebekah round the corner and into view.
Elena smiles upon seeing them, waving them over. "Okay, let me introduce everyone." Caroline and Rebekah step up onto a concrete patio, finally releasing each other while Elena gestures to everyone as she names them off. "So, Stefan Salvatore, you guys met the other day, Matt Donovan, Tyler Lockwood, and Bonnie Bennett."
Caroline smiles, offering a little wave to them all. "Nice to meet you, and remeet some of you. I'm Caroline, obviously. And this is Rebekah." She gestures to the Original Vampire next to her.
As soon as Caroline's eyes land on Bonnie, she remembers her. She's able to place the face of the little girl onto the teenager now. And when Bonnie flashes that crooked smile that Caroline recognizes, a strange feeling bubbles up in her gut. And Matt, Caroline wasn't really friends with Matt, although they were in the same class every year, his eyes were the thing that was so familiar to her, and it seemed like they only got bluer than what she remembered. But still as pretty. And it was interesting to see Tyler again, after the realization that he caused the other day.
They all sit down and try to get to know each other. Rebekah seems content to just sit around and quietly listen as they talk about their lives. Caroline found a bit of joy listening to them grow up, able to kind of imagine herself there with them, these people who were once her friends - even if minorly in some cases - and wonder if their lives would be remotely similar had she been there with them. It's kind of interesting to wonder how her life would be different had she never triggered her curse and grew up with the rest of them.
She can only imagine what kind of person she would be.
And after over an hour of just talking about themselves, they revealed what they were. On Team Mystic Falls; Elena, a doppelganger. Stefan, a vampire. Bonnie, a witch. Tyler, a werewolf. And Matt, a human, on their side. And on Team Outsiders; Rebekah, a vampire. And again, Caroline, a werewolf.
"It's strange," Stefan says, resting his arm around Elena's shoulders, "I hadn't seen any werewolves until Mason Lockwood, then Jules and her gang, Tyler and now Caroline. I'm seeing more werewolves in the last few weeks than I've seen in my entire vampire life."
"Werewolves are elusive ones," Rebekah says, crossing her arms over her chest. "There was a great genocide many years ago when the vampire race as a collective learned that werewolf bites would kill them. After that, it's just fear and paranoia that spurred both sides into conflict. Werewolves in both self-defense and vengeance for their fallen and vampires for the exact same reason."
"So why are there hardly any werewolves now?" Matt asks. He looks newly brought into all of this. He still seems like he's trying to wrap his mind around everything that he's learning.
"A vampire can turns as many people as they feed their blood too and kill. A werewolf is born and raised. There is no comparing the numbers. Say a werewolf female can have on average about four children in their lifetime? A vampire can, in that same lifetime of a hundred years, make dozens of vampires if they want to. As I said, there is no way to compete." Rebekah shrugs her shoulders, reaching over to grab onto her glass of bourbon that Stefan was nice enough to share with her.
Rebekah kept watching him with big, sad eyes no doubt mourning whatever it was that they used to have. Once more Caroline is impressed by Rebekah's resilience, yet she can't help but imagine that instead of having fun tonight this is ending up crueler to her than anything else. Perhaps Rebekah has a right not to like Elena, simply because in a hundred years of forced absence, Stefan moved on, even though he was compelled to forget what they had by Klaus himself.
Still, Caroline feels bad for Rebekah.
"What about you, Caroline?" Bonnie asks, taking a bite out of the piece of pizza that they ordered. She chews, then swallows before continuing, "Tell us about you."
Caroline picks at the sausage on her own slice, nibbling it. "What would you like to know? My life hasn't been all that interesting."
"Tell us anything," Bonnie says, offering a light smile. "How about your favorite color? Do you still not have a favorite?"
Caroline laughs, even now, years later, Bonnie was always great. She always knew just what to say. She knew just how to act, and it seemed like no matter what, she was always right. At least it's nice to know that some things haven't changed. And her memory will never cease to amaze Caroline. It's such a trivial thing that she learned back when she was nine from a friend she hasn't seen in almost nine years.
"Yeah," Caroline says. "No favorite color for me, but I am partial to lighter colors. I prefer them over darker ones." She shrugs her shoulders, so much happier to be talking about something like this than sad abandonment story twice in the making. "So I've been living on my own the last two years looking for my aunt. If you happen to come across a female werewolf, late thirties with blond hair, blue eyes and paranoid as all hell by the name of Cassandra Claire, could you let me know?"
Thankfully Team Mystic Falls is full of bobbing heads. Not that Caroline is sure that's going to help her out a lot, but at least, once more it makes her feel better to know that at least more people were keeping their ears to the ground when it comes to her aunt. The more people aware and looking for her - or keeping their ears open for her.
"How have you been surviving all this time out there on your own?" Elena asks.
Caroline shrugs her shoulders. "I move around a lot. Keep my head down and don't ask a lot of questions. I never stayed in one place for long and I made some friends along the way that was willing to help me out when I really needed it."
"Is that why you're hooking up with literal Satan?"
Caroline blinks a few times while Stefan leans forward, away from Elena to glare over at the door leading back into the house to see none other than the undesirable one that Caroline was promised wouldn't be there. Seeing as no one seems to be surprised by Damon's words, Caroline can only guess that they all know about Caroline's connection to Klaus and they've been avoiding talking about it the whole night. It's impressive, though, that they could fake it for this long.
That's probably why this night started out with a tame stink eye from Tyler that has slowly softened to a regular look. No doubt he's got no idea what to think about her, and honestly, she's the same with the rest of them. They all seem close. They are all on good terms with one another - although it's obvious that Bonnie is uncomfortable with at least Stefan - but Caroline is starting to wonder if tonight wasn't really for her at all. Maybe they were all here for Elena.
And then Caroline feels it again. That angry, black feeling. That insecurity she has no right to feel. These aren't her friends. This isn't her life. It could have been, maybe had things been different, but it isn't. Maybe tonight was about making Elena happy. Maybe she was really the only one who wanted this. It hurt her. It shouldn't have because she's a fool to have expected anything else, but it does still hurt. And the snarky, condescending look on Damon's face isn't helping her feel any better.
"Damon," Stefan says, frowning. "What are you doing here?"
"In my own house? I wonder," Damon retorts sarcastically before looking back over at Caroline. "Well? Is that it?"
"Damon, right?" Caroline says slowly, leaning forward in her seat a bit. "Listen, I have nothing to do with your problems with Klaus. I know he did some bad things, especially to you guys, but that has nothing to do with me. I wasn't even in Mystic Falls during all of this."
"No, maybe you weren't," Damon says, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe. "But you know something."
"Damon, leave her alone, that's not what tonight is about," Elena says, eyebrows pulling together tightly.
"Lay off, Damon. She's got nothing to do with Klaus," Stefan says, and at the pointed look the dark-haired man shoots him, he quickly amends with, "you know what I mean."
"Damon, was it?" Rebekah asks shortly, narrowing her eyes dangerously. "I don't quite like the tone you're taking with dear sweet Caroline. I would hate to have to rip your head off, here in front of the only people in the world who can at least stand you." She uncrosses her legs and stands up slowly, looking equal parts elegant and lethal.
"Rebekah," Caroline says softly, standing up with her. She puts her hand onto the other blond's arm. "Don't. It's okay."
"So, what about you is so important?" Damon asks, ignoring Rebekah, with his ice-blue eyes still on Caroline. "What's so special about a little werewolf girl from Mystic Falls?" He walks across the patio toward Caroline, who meets him halfway, thankful that Rebekah was so close, just in case this got messy. Everyone else climbs to their feet, wanting to intervene just in case that same thing. And honestly, Caroline doesn't really like Damon. "What does Klaus see in a girl like you?"
Caroline is sick of it. She's sick of these people talking about Klaus like they knew him. She knows he did bad. She knows that they have every right in the world to be angry at him, but she hates that they are so narrow-minded. Or, at least Damon is. The rest of them are at least trying to be above it, which Caroline can appreciate. But Damon is really starting to make her mad. She's hurt, still aching like hell from the other morning, and she's got no patience for someone like Damon right now.
"Do you want to know what it is?" Caroline asks slowly, staring up into Damon's eyes. "Do you want to know what it is? I'll tell you." She steps up close to him, which by the look on his face isn't something a lot of people do lightly. "Perhaps it's as simple as Klaus sees in me, a simple werewolf girl from Mystic Falls, what he doesn't see in his vampire enemies." She leans in as close as she dares and whispers. "Something to pay attention to."
With that, she steps back, turns around and walks away. She didn't have to look back to know that Rebekah was, not only following her, but had a big grin acrossing her lips while she does. Something tells Caroline, Rebekah probably isn't the biggest fan of Damon either.