I hope you're all having a nice weekend!

If the stars fall down

Will you be the kind to stick around

If the forest starts to fall

Will you be the kind to hear my call

Will you be the kind who hears my call

Olivia Broadfield, "Soften and shake"

21. THE KIND TO FIX THE ACHE

She's always known that this day would come. What she did not expect was that everything happened in the middle of a great mess (but of course it would be like this, it's the way their lives work).

Ok, back to her to-do list.

1- Steal blood from the blood bank. Done.

2- Buy plane tickets to Atlanta for tonight. Done.

3- Call Bonnie, see how they can get a new daylight ring for Stefan. Well, Bonnie isn't picking up her calls.

4- Explain Stefan about Tom.

She just avoided it earlier, because she was expecting a lecture, and when he said nothing, she freaked out.

Now, standing at the door of their hotel room, she knows there's no way to delay this conversation.

"Caroline, I can hear you out there. What are you doing?" She notices the amusement in his voice.

Good that at least one of them finds the situation (being practically on the run from an evil doppelgänger) funny.

She sighs loudly and opens the door, to find him sitting on his bed like a well-behaved boy. It doesn't look like he got thirsty and went for a little snack, which she was kind of fearing would happen. Letting him feed on her blood was a good idea.

Caroline refuses to think too much about it.

"Here, have some." She throws a blood bag at him.

"Thank you."

"I called Bonnie, maybe it's too early and she isn't picking up yet. But I was thinking that if she cannot make you a new daylight ring, at least she'll know where we can go, right?"

"Caroline…"

"Or maybe I'm hoping too much, or I should not bother her during her vacations. God knows it's the first time in forever she's spending time with her mom without tragedy going on. In any case, I left her a voicemail."

She finally runs out of things to say, and scans his face for an emotion, like the disappointment she saw in his eyes earlier, but finds only sadness there.

"Caroline, there's something you have to know."

He leaves the blood bag on the bed and stands up, walking towards her, putting his hand on her forearm.

"Bonnie trapped Silas in stone form, but he is free. A witch's spell stops working when the witch dies, that is what he told me before he locked me in that safe."

Bonnie is dead.

Just like in her dream.

How could she not know it before? When did it happen? Why didn't she put more attention to this, when she knew it could happen at some point?

Why can she only remember important things when it comes to Stefan?

"H-how? She's with her mom. She's been texting us these days. How can she… be dead?"

"I don't know. But… that's what Silas says, and have you actually talked to her since graduation?"

She shakes her head. No, they have not seen her after the ceremony, that's true. But it's only been a week, so it isn't really strange… as it wasn't strange not hearing from Stefan. The only reason Caroline guessed something was wrong was because of her dreams. And, well, because she missed him.

"How can I not know if she's dead or alive? I'm an awful friend."

"No, you are not." He cups her face in his hands, pleading that she looks at him. "We don't know for sure yet. But if it is, then someone has been trying to hide the truth. It has nothing to do with you, okay?"

But it has. Because if she had seen it on time, she could have saved Bonnie the same way she saved Stefan.

"I just don't understand."

He's been trapped underwater for days, but somehow he is the one comforting her in an embrace, about something they don't even know for sure it's true (except that she knows).

"You're not mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad at you?" He asks, pulling her apart and looking at her.

"I never told you about Tom, who looks exactly like you and I already suspected could be a doppelgänger. I knew it when Klaus was trying to use Elena's blood to make hybrids, and even then I did not say a word. I swear, it's not because I wanted anything bad to happen to her."

"I know. You were just protecting your friend."

Why isn't he mad? He should be, since this involves Elena, and maybe everything would have been different if Klaus left them alone early on. Maybe he could still have his soulmate. Caroline has always been conscious of this when she made her decision.

So the fact that he isn't angry is confusing.

"Why?" She asks once more.

He drags her to sit on the bed, and he sits on the other one so they keep facing each other, their knees just inches apart.

"You said earlier that he helped you during a difficult time in your life. Last year, you went away because of what your father did to you. Then Damon killed him, and I know that even if you hated him, your dad was still your dad. All of us were so caught up in the conflict with Klaus, and having me around with my humanity off… I can't speak about the others, but I know that I failed you as a friend. So I can't be mad at you, I'm just grateful you found the support you needed when no one else could."

His words melt away half of her anxiety.

"Thank you."

"No, thank you."

Her heart starts beating faster when he keeps giving her that soft smile.

"So, I'm super tired because all day yesterday I was trying to find that safe and take it out of the water. I'll take a shower, sleep a bit, and then I'm going to call Bonnie again before we go to the airport."

She's already opening her suitcase.

"Caroline."

"Hmm?"

"How did you know I would be there?"

"I dreamed about it. It was a hunch. Sometimes I listen to it."

She recognizes the place in her dreams.

They are at her dad's cabin. In the silence of the last minutes before sunset, nothing exists but the two of them.

"Then, why are you here?" She asks him.

"Well, because you're my friend, because I know what it feels like to lose a mother" He runs his hand through her hair, putting some locks behind her ear, and she turns her face to look at him, "and because when you told me you hated me, that was pretty much the worst thing I had heard in a long time."

She's so moved by his words, but especially by the look he has on his face, that what she says comes out in a whisper "I think we both know I never hated you."

He moves closer, like he's unsure and looking for a sign from her, so she also leans on him. Because she wants this. She's wanted it for the longest time, and she's been sure about her feelings ever since she almost lost him, and when he came back to life only to disappear on her later.

She's never really hated him because she loves him.

When their lips finally meet, trembling and full of expectation, she sees fireworks.

Caroline wakes up, and the first thing she sees is Stefan. He's sleeping in the twin bed, and his body is facing hers. For once, with his eyes closed, he looks like he has no worries at all.

Sometimes, her dreams are a powerful insight into the future, but this time she knows it's just a normal dream, based on her most impossible wishes.

He is her friend.

Her phone's ringtone wakes him up, and when Caroline sees the ID caller, she's surprised it's Bonnie.

Stefan was wrong. Her friend is alive and well. It's not the time yet.

"Hey! Thank you for calling me back, Bonnie. You don-

"Hi, hmmm" That's not Bonnie's voice on the other side of the call. She freezes and her eyes meet Stefan's. "Caroline, Bonnie told me you know. And she's sorry she hid it from you. Please don't tell Elena."

"Jeremy? What the hell are you saying? What… what happened to Bonnie?"

"She brought me back, but it came with a price. She… she died."

It's only after Jeremy confirms it that it feels real. She doesn't even know at what point she stops listening, but Stefan takes the phone from her hands and sits next to her.

"You were right. I knew it, but I did not want to believe it."

"It's okay."

"It's not. I'm never going to see her again. I've known Bonnie and Elena my whole life, but ever since I... last year, I became a vampire and Bonnie hated me. This year Elena has tried to kill me twice, Bonnie was not being herself and I could not help her. Now I'll never be able to fix what should I do? I'm just supposed to move on without them? There's nothing left, I have no-"

"Me" He places his hand on top of hers. "You have me. Look, you were here for me every single time I needed a friend this year. And you have literally saved me from drowning. So let me be here for you, okay?"

Caroline feels nothing but love in her heart, and it's hard to distinguish Dream Stefan from the real Stefan who is now staring at her.

She thinks it's necessary to change the mood before she does something she'll regret.

"Okay, there's about one hour left before we can go to the airport. I forgot to tell you, but I bought you a few changes of clothes for our trip. You can't be my travel buddy and look like that."

He raises an eyebrow. "So, you think I look terrible."

"Yeah. Right now you do."