I'm realizing this story is pure wish fulfillment, but reviews make this writer happy :)
Our coming-of-age has come and gone
Suddenly the summer, it's clear
I never had the courage of my convictions
As long as danger is near
And it's just around the corner, darling
'Cause it lives in me
No, I could never give you peace
Taylor Swift, "Peace"
8. ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF WRONG
"You told her?" Elena confronts him after visiting Caroline at her house. "Do you really think that's for the best, Stefan? Jeremy learned about vampires and tried to become one!"
"And it was for the better. After what Katherine did to John, do you think she wouldn't try to pull the same trick with your brother?"
She sighs. "I thought with all the tomb vampires gone things would get better."
How can he explain they are doppelgängers and things would never be normal for them. The problems are barely starting.
Elena and Damon aren't the only one who starts to question his actions regarding Caroline. Bonnie also lets him know his friendship with Caroline is treading on dangerous waters.
"Elena and Caroline are my best friends. Elena still has feelings for you, you know that. So what the hell are you doing now?"
Stefan doesn't answer. He sucks at hiding his feelings that much. The only reason Caroline doesn't see it is because she doesn't want to. Because of Matt.
"The other day I couldn't fight Katherine with my magic. She would have killed me if you didn't came to help me. Damon says she's come back for you. What do you think is going to happen to her? To them?"
Katherine had been pretending to be Elena, and Stefan didn't miss the threat when she mentioned Caroline, talking to Matt but looking straight at him: "I heard that Caroline is doing much better. Her recovery was practically miraculous, you must be so relieved."
It had been enough to send him back to the hospital although he'd thought Caroline still didn't want to speak to him at the moment.
"Katherine won't try to kill Elena." She still plans to hand her to Klaus, and until then, Elena is safe. "And I will make sure to keep Caroline safe."
She asks for a burger and fries and starts to complain about Aimee Bradley, even though he told her the girl doesn't deserve all that.
"Are you on my side or hers? I arrived at the party just a little bit late and somehow I am wrong for expecting that other girls stay away from my boyfriend?"
Why is he doing this to himself?
"Sounds like he is the problem."
"No, Matt is upset because I kind of avoided him when I didn't know how to look him in the eye while keeping a huge secret from him. I understand he's upset. I just don't know how to fix it without saying something that I shouldn't."
The waiter comes back with their food, and she pauses to look at him.
"Do you even need to eat?"
"It helps with the.. uhm, cravings. Especially for me, I live with this constant need to feed on people to the last drop."
She flinches. "Gross."
He raises an eyebrow.
"Is that all you have to say?"
"But you don't actually go around killing people, right? You're like the Cullens."
"You need to stop using Twilight as your point of reference."
"I know. I read Anne Rice's novels and Dracula these days, and I plan to start marathoning Buffy: The Vampire Slayer tomorrow. Do you want to join me?"
He chokes on his drink.
"I hope you don't make it a theme for the next school party."
"That's… actually a great idea. Are you sure you don't want to join the committee?"
Stefan thinks he's doing a good job at lighting up her mood, but then Matt walks into the bar, and Caroline mutters some excuse to leave. Just great.
"We are not going to kill Mason Lockwood just because you suspect him, Damon."
"Suit yourself. But he is trouble. I'm going to prove he is a werewolf."
Stefan knows that, too. Damon would be even more concerned if he knew about Mason's relationship with Katherine, but killing him means losing one possible sacrifice for Klaus plan… and yes, thinking about how to negotiate with the Original doesn't make him any different from Katherine, but if that's what he has to do to avoid a lot of bloodshed later on, so be it.
The next few days she doesn't even talk to him, so when he hears that Matt broke up with her, it's only through Bonnie.
It would be a lie to say he isn't rejoicing in his insides for this development, but that's exactly what makes him the worst kind of friend to her. Especially if it has affected her this much.
It's still difficult to link this to her sudden distance from him, and Stefan corners her outside of the gym one afternoon.
"What's wrong?"
She doesn't even look at him.
"I have cheerleading practice and I'm the captain, Stefan, so if you excuse me…"
"Caroline, please tell me."
"Your crazy ex-girlfriend paid me a visit. I pretty much like being alive and living without threats to my family." She bites her lips. "So I'm sorry. You have been a good friend these last couple of months, but it's not worth this."
He drops his jaw, trying to find the right words and coming up with nothing.
"I'm sorry. I promise I'll deal with Katherine."
"Why is she even coming after me, Stefan?"
Because I love you.
Because everyone is starting to see how much he cares for her and what it means, and Caroline should know it too, but she is trying her best to ignore it.
"Do you not know?"
"This is not okay. I broke up the girl-code when I started seeing Matt, but I thought 'Hey, it's fine. Elena is with Stefan, and Matt is moving on, and he is good to me. Elena will even thank me because it's gonna make things less awkward if everyone is happily in love, right?' Then you broke up and now . ." Her eyes light up. "And now there's a crazy bitch saying she'll kill me, Matt, my mom or anyone I care about if we keep being friends, so I'm sorry, but I'm out."
She's safer if she stays away from him. It's good that Caroline has it clear. And yet… it's always Katherine getting in between him and the person he loves.
The good thing is that, as much as Katherine's actions change according to the circumstances, she's still predictable at one thing.
When he pushes her off his bed, she smirks. "What, not the company you were dreaming with, Stefan?"
Now, it's true that she is stronger than him, but the difference between the Stefan the first time around and the Stefan now is that he hadn't been quite over her back then. Later, he had some compassion for her, knowing himself to be just as flawed as she was. He didn't hate her enough to kill her, and that had always been a problem. Lately he's been thinking it would be a solution to all his problems if he could just hand her to Klaus when the time came.
But she always finds a way out as long as she is alive (and even in Hell).
"Are you jealous? That's why you are threatening an innocent girl now?"
"Innocent? Ah, so that's what you think of little, sweet Caroline. The poor foolish girl you had to save from your brother and other vampires time after time, right? I don't know how you became obsessed with her all of a sudden, but I know she doesn't hold a candle to me, Stefan."
She takes a picture that surely came from one of his old journals, and he just lets her brag about how much she thinks she knows him.
"Why did you keep this picture? Why not burn it? Tear it up? You want to know why I came back. Well I have a better question: Why did you? For Elena? No. You came back here to fall in love with me all over again, didn't you?"
"Maybe you were right. But as you can see, Elena and I are no longer together. I'm over it, and especially, I'm over you."
That's why he doesn't hesitate to stake her in the heart. There's shock in her face. Never would she imagine Stefan would hurt her so decisively, but in the end, old as she might be, Katherine is just a vampire not different from any of them.
"And I'm over your little games. Goodbye, Katherine."
Just to double-check, he rips out her heart.
Damon and Elena come in the evening, probably not expecting him to be there. He's made it a point to give them some space to develop their relationship that they are still pretending is just friendship when it's actually obvious they are already at the stage of sleeping together. So he conveniently leaves every time to make things less weird for them, except for today, when he is sitting close to Katherine's body, not quite believing this is it.
"W-what did you do?"
"What you and I should have done ages ago."
