I said every five chapters is Stefan's turn, BUT as he still needs to overcome all that love-triangle drama (I think it was really necessary for him to grow up as a character) and I don't plan to write more Stelena than strictly necessary, well, here I bring you this instead.

'Cause all I know is we said, "Hello"
And your eyes look like comin' home
All I know is a simple name
And everything has changed

Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran, "Everything has changed"

10. 'BE HAPPY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LONG, LONG LIFE'

For a week now, he's come to visit her after work every day since that night they met. It started as her only request for helping him with Ricky's thugs, but that wasn't the real reason he agreed. Even when he was a little kid, Tom couldn't bear to see stray kittens or puppies. More than once his father beat him for hiding abandoned animals in his bedroom.

And something about the expression on her face when he first saw her was too familiar to ignore. He's seen it too many times to count, the look of someone who's been hurt. The sense of loneliness he sees in the mirror every day.

"I don't really know this city well, you could show me around", that's what she said. But later she confesses she also feels inclined to trust him because he reminds her of an old friend.

Something very bad must have happened to this friend because there's one night when he passes out on the couch of her rented room and wakes up in the early hours of the morning because she is having a nightmare. When she opens her eyes, she's trembling and hugs him and calls him by some other name.

Before leaving that day, he tries asking her about it, but Caroline smiles and says it's not a big deal. She smiles so brightly it could almost convince him.

"My dad passed away."

He doesn't know much about her relationship with her parents, but from the little things she's said, he thinks her father made her go through some weird conversion therapy that hurt her more than she dares to admit. And yet, when he comes to see her that afternoon and she tells him that the man is dead, she sounds genuinely sad (like, in spite of whatever he did, she still loves him).

Tom has met all kinds of people growing up, and Caroline Forbes is one of the nicest people he's ever known. And he isn't saying this because she saved his ass once.

In all honesty, he never thought he'd be friends with someone like her. She's the kind of pretty, smart, and well-off girl who can have the world at her feet. She certainly looks like she would be untouched by all the ugliness of life. It should be like that. She's only seventeen, after all.

"Do you want to go back home?"

She shakes her head.

"Not yet." Brushing off the sadness, she quickly gives him another smile. "What do you say we go to karaoke today?"

He smiles back. "You're the boss here."

Tom cannot really sing, but he goes along with it and claps when she finishes her songs. Caroline is good at it, and he asks her if she has considered making a career of that.

"I'm not sure. I didn't consider it before, I thought I'd like to study management, but I'm kind of re-evaluating my whole life at this moment." She rests her face on her chin and looks at him. "What about you? What made you want to be a paramedic?"

"I don't know. I guess I just like to think I can help people that way."

"You know, you are truly one of the nicest people I've ever met. It's going to set higher standards the next time I try to make new friends."

Good. She should. If she's spending her summer traveling alone and seeking the company of a stranger, she probably needs better friends. Of course, Tom doesn't tell her this.

"I'm going to miss you when I go back home."

"Mystic Falls, you said? Who knows, one day I might visit the town, see what it has to offer."

Her smile fades away quickly.

"It'd be better if you don't. It's not really a friendly, or safe, place."

He frowns.

"Caroline?"

"Just promise you'll never, ever go to Mystic Falls."

"Okay, I get it." It means their friendship isn't meant to last. "You won't hear from me, you have my word."

"That's not… that's not what I meant." She sighs. "It's just, there are things I cannot tell you now, but you have to trust me on this. I want you to live a happy life."

"Likewise." He puts his hand on hers. "So you can still call me if you ever need me to lend you an ear."

She says she's going to hold onto that promise and, right before July is over, she leaves him with a phone number and a friendship token, a bracelet that's totally not his style but looks very Caroline Forbes-ish.

"Promise you'll keep it with you. It'll bring you good luck."

"You are making this sound like a very final goodbye. I have the feeling we'll see each other again."

Light blue-green eyes smile at him. "I hope so. Even if we don't, just remember…

"... be happy for the rest of your long, long life." He completes the sentence, knowing she is going to say the same thing she constantly tells him. "Take care, Caroline."