Chapter 5: "Yeah, You Guys Have Some Serious Explaining to Do"

Songs for this chapter:

Ghost by Natasha Blume; Dead in the Water by SPELLES

Also, someone asked if I had face-claimed Sabrina. Although not exactly what I'm envisioning, the closest would probably be 90s Rachel Weisz. I hope this helps? :) Also, thank you so much for all the reviews and positive messages. I've really needed to hear them. My semester is ending early, and I am about to die. SRSLY.

Trigger warning: Rape and abuse is mentioned in this chapter. It is not a graphic description, but it is still present. If this will bother you, I highly advise you to skip until the next update. I will do a recap of this chapter if you guys want me to do so. I can't skip over this just because it is an uncomfortable topic. That would be a disservice to Caroline and other real-life abuse survivors. If you or someone you know is suffering abuse, call 1-800-799-7233 in the United States or 0808 200 0247 in the UK. Stay safe, lovelies.

-O-

Miriam didn't recoil the way Sabrina expected. She stood in the doorway, her mouth agape before she snapped it shut, advancing into the ever-crowding room. She took deliberate, heavy steps. Tim, however, reacted exactly how Sabrina expected. Over his sounding explosion of questions, Sabrina heard Miriam murmuring to Reyna. In either Yiddish or Hebrew, she didn't know. Whatever was said, Reyna agreed, her eyes still locked onto Sabrina. Worry furrowed her dark brow.

Miriam stepped further into the bathroom, kneeling beside Caroline, brushing against the teenager's shoulder. She picked up the empty jar of Epsom salt that had tumbled into the bath, her fingers grazing against deep blue scales. It was an odd feeling to Sabrina. Her touch was not like brushing against skin. She felt the barest sense of pressure, almost like a hand brushing against a thick winter coat. But scaly armor may have been a more appropriate description.

Miriam shook the water from her hand, sliding the empty jar to the floor. Miriam tried for a smile but came more as a concerned grimace when she spotted red blotches of skin irritation. Her hand dipped into her pants pocket, retrieving a small glass vial filled with a clear liquid. She opened the cork while Caroline demanded, still gripping Sabrina's fingers,

"What is that?"

Miriam poured the contents into the water before she answered, "Works wonders for skinned knees so I thought, why not?"

The stinging redness receded, leaving only pale, unmarked skin. Miriam hummed, pleased.

Sabrina's voice no longer sounded scratchy. "Thanks, mama,"

Miriam patted her forearm before she turned to Reyna. "Why don't you get some clothes for Sabrina,"

Reyna nodded, her voice tight. "Ok." She glanced back at Sabrina, dusting off dark jeans. Sabrina gave a nod. At that reassurance, Reyna left the room.

Miriam's face proved thoughtful instead of angry as she looked between Caroline and Sabrina. "I think both of you have some things to tell us, yes?"

Caroline gave a jerky nod. Sabrina squeezed Caroline's fingers gently. Sabrina answered, "Yeah, we will." When Caroline's eyes widened, her lips dipped into a frown. Sabrina repeated more gently. "We will,"

Miriam nodded, standing, tapping Tim's shoulder. "C'mon. Let's go get the rest of breakfast and bring it down, baby,"

Tim followed his mother out of the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Caroline and Sabrina rested in silence until they heard footsteps ascending the stairs. Sabrina moved her tail, swaying in the water. Caroline's eyes followed every movement closely, even as her blue eyes dulled, finally looking like the shock was catching up with her. Sabrina knew how her cousin worked, how this type of despondency could be dangerous. She needed something to control, to take charge, and to complete a task without hindrance or argument.

Sabrina tugged on Caroline's small hand. Caroline blinked once, twice, before her eyes returned to clarity. "Hey, due to the fact that Reyna's idea of bedside manner is about as appealing as a swarm killer wasps, I'm gonna need you to help me out of here,"

A hint of a smile quirked her lips. Sabrina accepted the small victory. Caroline released her hand with a light squeeze, standing with a groan, popping her shoulders. She stooped again, grabbing a worn towel from under the sink. When Caroline turned back, her expression hardened into determination.

She set down the towel on the floor, bending back on her knees. She tied her hair back into a ponytail before rolling up her sleeves. She propped her hands on her hips for a moment, her teeth worrying her lip. Sabrina let her form a plan of attack without any input or suggestion.

She sighed, "Ok, let's do this," she slid her hands and arms underneath her. She clenched her eyes shut with a grimace. "You better not be like slimy or anything,"

Sabrina huffed a laugh. "I'll try not to do anything too disgusting," she said, hooking her arm around Caroline's neck as her cousin made a dramatic show of lifting her out of the bathtub with her newly made strength.

'We'll be ok,' Sabrina thought. 'We have to be.'

-O-

Shifting back was just as traumatic as Sabrina remembered, perhaps even more so with Caroline refusing to leave her alone. Caroline wrapped her in the towel just as Reyna brought down a pair of black leggings and a white t-shirt, only speaking in short sentences and barking orders about breakfast. She slammed the door.

After she left, Caroline said, "You're right." Sabrina quirked a brow. "She is such a wasp,"

Sabrina laughed.

-O-

Tim and Miriam brought down a breakfast consisting of fruit, muffins, juice (Sabrina and Miriam), coffee (Tim), blood (Caroline), and a protein shake (Reyna). The sight of Caroline downing blood bags amused more than unnerved Sabrina as her cousin refused to be anything but prim and proper. Her blue eyes darted, daring anyone to judge her. Sabrina found most of her alarm stemmed from the fact that the Weinburg's happened to have more than a few bags of O Neg lying around the house in unmarked coolers. The meal passed in tenuous silence with Tim talking more than anyone else at the table.

Miriam forced away the group's only source of noise, however, when she shoved Tim away to his weekly violin lesson across the street with Mrs. Thompson. He made a face, ready to argue. She raised an eyebrow, and his mouth snapped shut. He made a show of leaving, grumbling and huffing as he marched up the stairs. Miriam waited, setting down her fork. Sabrina winced when Tim slammed the front door upstairs.

Reyna's eyes flitted across each face around the table, lingering on Sabrina's longer than anyone else's. Reyna took the last sip of her protein shake before saying with a controlled, easy drawl.

"So since saying out loud what everyone else is thinking is my special talent, I'll go first." She propped her feet on the table. Miriam never chided her. "What exactly happened last night?"

Sabrina and Caroline exchanged tired glances.

Reyna continued, interlocking her fingers against her stomach. "It's an open floor, cousins Forbes, and we got all day. Especially since Care is now at risk of spontaneous combustion during sunlight hours,"

Miriam said sharply, "Reyna!"

Her daughter shrugged.

Caroline's voice came out unusually hollow. It could have almost been described as disinterest. Almost. "I was collateral damage,"

Sabrina's head snapped up, looking away from where she had been picking her fingernails. Reyna's expression remained neutral, even as her posture tensed. When she didn't continue, Sabrina prodded,

"What do you mean?"

Caroline pursed her lips, her eyes glassing.

"That's why you called your friend last night," Reyna said.

Caroline's hand slammed down onto the table. Everyone jumped when she snarled with sharp teeth. "He is not my friend!" Her voice shook as her chest heaved with a gasping breath. But Sabrina was glad to see any expression at all. Livid rage hadn't been her first choice, but she could see the old Caroline underneath. Caroline drew in a deep breath. When she re-opened her eyes, the black veins disappeared.

Sabrina saw Reyna's hesitation to jibe her further— her mouth tightening, the furrowing between her brows. It was the closest to sympathy she had ever seen from Reyna especially when it concerned Caroline. Her chest tightened again even as that unknown voice loosened its vice grip in her mind. She wondered if it also wanted to listen to Caroline's story.

Caroline's fingers flexed from where she dented the metal table. Her posture slumped, "I'm sorry,"

Miriam offered a small smile. "It's all new now. You'll grow into it,"

"Who did you call?" Sabrina asked. "Why was it so important?"

Caroline scoffed, "Damon," she said. "Damon freaking Salvatore. That's why.." She motioned with her hands. "I'm like this now. I was supposed to deliver a message from her. She looked just like Elena, Sabrina." She chewed her lip. "But I know," she paused, looking down at her fidgeting hands. "I know it wasn't her. I came to that awesome realization while she smothered me with a pillow." Caroline laughed, a hollow and bitter bark of noise. "And it figures that all of this was about Elena too,"

"Salvatore?" Miriam repeated. "Why does that sound so familiar. You would think it would be so out of place in this part of Virginia, but I— That's one of the Founding Family names."

Reyna gave a short nod while Sabrina focused on the first name.

"Damon?" Sabrina asked. "You mentioned him before. At the beginning of school last year. You went out with him for a few months,"

Caroline's demeanor changed. She drew her feet onto her chair, propping her chin on her knees. She refused to meet anyone's eyes.

The creature behind Sabrina's glass facade burned with curiosity before fading. Before Caroline spoke again, the air conditioner flipped on and circulated a new breeze through the long basement.

"He was using me to get to Elena. The story of my life honestly." She wiped underneath her eye. Sabrina finally noticed Caroline wore no make-up. Her clothes were rumpled, but Sabrina doubted if her cousin had gotten any sleep.

Her blue eyes were dulled when she looked up. "He compelled me,"

Sabrina went through her list of supernatural terms. She knew she had been away from Mystic Falls too long when her tired brain struggled to find meaning.

"Mind control," Reyna said darkly.

"More than once,"

Sabrina's fingertips itched underneath her nailbeds. She pushed her chair closer until her seat touched Caroline's. She placed her hand on top of Caroline's knee, her thumb tracing over the dark jean fabric.

She asked, her hoarse voice growing softer, "Why would he need to do that?"

Caroline grabbed Sabrina's fingers, sniffing, trying for a smile but failing. "Don't ask me that," she pled.

"What happened, Caroline?"

The gentleness in Reyna's voice caught Sabrina off guard. Reyna's dark eyes swirled with pity and a hidden message that Sabrina couldn't decipher. Sabrina then knew she wouldn't like any answer Caroline would give.

A tear slipped down her cheek, Sabrina saw as she tucked away a blonde piece of hair behind Caroline's ear. "Don't ask me that. Because if you do, I'm going to tell you. Then no one will be ok,"

Sabrina tightened her grip on her fingers. "We're not going anywhere, Care,"

Reyna stopped her pacing, sitting across from both of them. Caroline's head dipped in shame as she blew out a harsh breath. No one spoke. The old clock on the unfinished mantle filled the silence.

Tick, tick, tick.

Sabrina was prepared to wait all day, ready to drain every water bottle in this house dry if necessary when Caroline began,

"It started at the beginning of last school year." She shook her head with a watery smile. "This was supposed to be my year. I just wanted to get out of Elena's shadow for once. Just once. He seemed like someone who could get me… past there." She looked up, eyes guilty. She settled her head back against folded arms on top of her knees. "I should've known it was… that I was just a stepping stone right back to her,"

"Hey, whoa." Sabrina tugged on her hand. "You are not that, Caroline Rose. Do you understand me? You are no one's stepping stone. Especially not that jerk's. Ok?"

Caroline parroted back, lifeless. "I know…I know I'm not,"

"And you aren't a messenger to be used and tossed away by some bitch with an agenda against the freaking Stefano brothers." She cast a wayward glance toward her cousin. She tugged on her hand. "What? Not even a smile?" She prodded with a false sunshine smile of her own.

Caroline remained silent, an unnerving silence that set Sabrina's teeth on edge. Sabrina searched for any sign of bruising or wounds against Caroline's exposed skin, even though she knew she wouldn't find any. It was too late now. She wanted to yell, howl, scream. She was too late to keep Caroline from whatever hellscape found her first. Her chest burned.

Evenly, Reyna broke the quiet. "The Salvatore's compulsion wasn't limited to finding out information on golden Gilbert, was it, Caroline?" Her tone showed no flippancy, her implications didn't either.

Caroline's head dropped again as she bit her lip so fiercely that Sabrina smelt iron. Miriam rose from her chair, going back up the stairs. Sabrina saw the grimness reflected in her gaze. She hoped the older woman would carve Salvatore's name into a stake. Sabrina wanted to follow her. But she needed to know.

"Caroli— I," Sabrina began.

Caroline interrupted even though her voice sounded nothing like herself. Hollowness replaced vivaciousness, bubbly exaggeration with icy fact. "Not at first. He paid attention. Made me feel special, y'know,"

Reyna's sigh was nearly imperceptible as Sabrina's next thought flashed before her, "…they always do,"

"It was fine at first. Then he would get so angry when something didn't go to plan or went wrong. The first couple of times… he apologized, said he would never do it again." She swiped underneath her eye angrily. "But it did. I was so stupid." Her voice cracked. "He said he wouldn't do it again, but then… then he decided compulsion was easier than faking remorse. Lazy bastard." She scoffed. "His blood made the bruises and bite marks go away just like the compulsion for the memories."

Caroline gasped, sitting up pin-straight. "The nurse— the nurse, oh my god, Sabrina. I'm just as bad as he is." her voice broke on a heaving sob. "Just like him,"

Sabrina lunged for her cousin, falling on her knees beside Caroline's chair, wrapping her arms around her. Caroline lowered herself to the ground too, clutching desperately to Sabrina's shirt. Sabrina's fingers slipped into Sabrina's curls, her nails gently stroking her scalp.

"You are nothing like him, baby. Nothing! You hear me?"

Another moment passed. Sabrina turned her head, meeting Reyna's eyes. She knew she had to ask. With Caroline's face still buried in the crook of her neck, Sabrina drew in a deep breath, giving a shaky sigh. "Caroline…" her cousin stiffened as if she knew what the question would be. "Did he make you…?"

Caroline's grip would have been deadly against a human. The creature in Sabrina's chest unfurled hotly, lashing out, clawing in its attempts to gain control over Sabrina. Sabrina felt Caroline shake and knew she neared a breaking point.

"No," she whispered. "I swear I —I told him no. He made me. I told him no,"

Sabrina's stomach rolled. Her eyes welled with tears. A wrenching wail tore from Caroline as memory after memory shook her foundations.

Sabrina's eyes remained open, staring at the wall through the door. She didn't hear as every glass filled with liquid shook then shattered outward onto the table. She only knew the ringing in her ears and the fact she would take Damon Salvatore's heart.