This chapter came too easily to me, so I needed to share it right away with you all. Let me know what you think of it.


Hello I'm looking for a friend I lost some time ago
Your mother says she wants her girl back home
Sometimes you think you've found yourself you really only lost yourself
Or maybe you're afraid to be alone

But if I could see behind blue eyes
At all the things that dusty windows tried to hide
Then I could see behind the walls of Caroline

Brandi Carlile, "Caroline"


4. SHE STANDS IN THE RAIN, JUST TO HIDE IT ALL.

This time he and Damon managed to kill Frederick and the other tomb vampires that tried to take revenge on them, and it was much easier than he remembered, but what Stefan did not remember in time was that while he'd been tortured and kidnapped on that date, Caroline had found out about Vicki's death in the worst possible way.

So when Elena called to tell him and ask if they could talk, he couldn't say no. It's the only way he has an excuse to check on Caroline. How long will he need to come up with excuses?

"I feel terrible about this," Elena's gaze goes back to Donovan's house. "We shouldn't have let Matt think his sister was okay, now he feels terribly guilty. And Caroline found the body like that… How is she going to sleep at night? Stefan, can you… can you do something about it?"

What she means is that he should compel Caroline, so she doesn't think of this horrific day in the way she is surely going to do. Maybe Elena would have asked him to do so last time too, if he wasn't hiding while trying to fight his bloodlust.

"She has the necklace."

The whole point of the gifts to Elena's friends was to prevent them from being compelled, and the main victim until now has always been Caroline. But Stefan knows he only feels reluctant due to his own feelings for her.

"I can make her take it off just for a moment." Elena offers.

"No, you don't need to keep lying for me, or for Damon. I'll do what I can do to see that she's okay."

It's his fault, after all. Both Elena and Damon think he's staying in town because of that stupid hero complex, the same that led him to leave Caroline on the wedding night. There's nothing heroic in his need to check on her and maybe lend her a shoulder, if she allows him to be a friend. That's just him and his regrets.

"Okay, so… I'm going to check on them. Thank you for being here today. I freaked out and didn't have anyone to talk about this."

He nods and watches her back as she goes to ring the doorbell, but he's actually more focused on listening to what's going on inside.

"Is there anything I can do?" He hears Caroline asking Matt.

"I just need to be alone right now."

Then Elena gets there, and although Stefan cannot see what's inside, he can picture Caroline slowly retreating and shrinking in the background. She leaves so silently that the only clue he has of her presence there is the sound of her footsteps.

And he waits for her across the house.

"Stefan… hi. You came with Elena?"

"I just heard what happened. I'm sorry."

"Yeah… Matt is heartbroken."

Sure he is, and Stefan is also responsible for it, but right now he's more concerned with her well-being. Alone in a storm, well into the night, in a town that might still be plagued with vampires. He doesn't even want to think what else could have happened to her.

"Do you want a ride home?"

"Thank you, Stefan, but I'm fine."

"After everything you've gone through today, I don't think you should drive home alone. And it's still raining."

She chuckles softly.

"I'm fine."

No, she isn't.

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

She looks at him and blinks, her eyes are glimmering with tears.

"I touched her hand. I didn't know what it was. I…"

It's still raining, she's crying and scared, and Stefan doesn't know what to do. All he can do is to wrap his arms around her, the way they would always do to comfort each other. Even if this feels all too familiar for him, and strange for her, Caroline doesn't push him away.

"I'm sorry you had to go through something like that."

"Why are you so good to me?"

'Because I love you.'

"I'm your friend, too."

She looks at him with those big blue-green eyes.

"Are we? Friends?"

"You even organized my birthday party, remember?"

She frowns, probably confused trying to look into memories that are all mixed up with Damon's compulsion.

"Yeah… Thank you." She wipes away her tears. "Can you really drive me home?"


There's a shift after that night that makes it worth spending his time going through high school again.

"Should we write the English project together?"

It's difficult to be part of her tight schedule. Now that he thinks about this, Caroline was busier at seventeen than she ever was in college or at work. In between the three clubs she's in (not counting cheerleading activities), the volunteering at the community kitchen, and the hours she's spending these days cooking for the Donovans, it's just good luck (and the fact that he finally got rid of the 'Elena's boyfriend' tag) that allows him to get a spot in her agenda.

Caroline wouldn't be asking him this if Bonnie was around, but as her best friend is still away and Matt is not coming to classes, he gets this.

"Sure."

"Do you want me to go to your house or do you want to come to mine? It has to be tomorrow, though, I need to take Matt something for dinner." She pauses, sighing loud. "I don't think he's eating enough these days."

Neither Matt or especially Kelly Donovan are appreciative of her efforts, though, and Stefan wishes she could just see that her boyfriend does not deserve her.

"No problem. I'll be at your house at five tomorrow. Is that okay?"

"Great." She smiles, then catches a sight of Elena when they walk out of the classroom. "But is this really okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"Us, being friends, now that you and Elena broke up."

"Of course it's okay." He smiles, pretending he doesn't get what she's worried about or that he would like very much to go back on the words he told her months ago. "I'm staying in town, so we're going to be classmates for another year. It can't be awkward forever."

"If you say so."

This ends up being a golden opportunity to spend time with her, because just two days later she's going to visit her father in Georgia. He blames the Donovans and Liz for this time he has to spend without knowing if she's safe or not, although, to be fair, Caroline is much safer at this point staying with her father than coming back to Mystic Falls.

Getting the Gilbert device has more difficult now that Pearl didn't feel guilty about him being tortured by her protegées.

"I don't understand." Damon mutters.

"What is it now?"

"You are acting strange. For someone who broke up with the girl he loves to give her a chance to be human and all that shit, you look remarkably well. Plus you are drinking human blood without losing your mind over it. And why the hell are you still going to high school?"

"Well, I'm fine after breaking up with Elena because I'm over her and the whole Katherine thing. And I already told you, I have to drink human blood if I want to survive the next time another vampire that is not you tries to kill me. Me going to high school? You infiltrated the Council, so now we both have to do certain things to pretend we are just the regular human guys around town. That and I actually want to stay in Mystic Falls for as long as I can."

"Are you sure you won't regret letting her go?"

"There are many things I regret, Damon, but this isn't one of them."


Her bright smile when she comes back is a sight for sore eyes.

"Miss me?"

She has no idea just how much.