Sorry guys. It is more difficult to update these days. But I am very thankful to those who keep reading and reviewing my work regardless.
Thank you so much Tonia and Lisa for your constant support!
Maybe you ran with the wolves and refused to settle down
Maybe I've stormed out of every single room in this town
Threw out our cloaks and our daggers because it's morning now
It's brighter now.
Taylor Swift, "Daylight"
18. MAYBE IT'S ALL WE'VE BEEN THROUGH.
He hears everything from the rooftop, as he waits for Bill to leave.
"You were never this kind of irresponsible girl, Caroline. That Salvatore boy isn't a good influence on you."
"Mom is friends with his brother, though. I think you should at least be in agreement on this."
After all this time, she still hates Damon. That much is clear, noticing the bitterness of her words, and she has every right to hate his brother, but Stefan wonders if there is more to it (things that he, in his death, never had the chance to see). It always appeared as if they eventually learned to be friends.
"So the ripper is no longer, and you have decided to date high school girls now."
He frowns as Klaus lands right next to him. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm curious. How did someone like you end up being like this? So I've been digging up these days. You decided to stop fighting your brother for the doppelganger, and turned your new girlfriend into an immortal so you could be together forever. There's some hope for the old you after all."
"I didn't…" Stefan sighs. Why does he need to explain what happened? The result is the same. "Nevermind."
It makes him feel uncomfortable. Of all things that could interest Klaus, of course his relationship with Caroline would come first. Maybe deep down they are not so different, that s why they have loved the same woman for the longest time.
"Are you going to spare my friends' lives? Do we have a deal?"
"You are such a boring excuse of a vampire now." Klaus smirks, and adds. "But we have a deal. I'll get the vampire and the witch, but you need to make sure some of those friends of yours, and I mean your brother and the Bennet witch, don't ruin my plans."
Bill Forbes doesn't know about Caroline being a vampire, or things would have gone sour pretty quickly yesterday, but that doesn't mean they are out of danger yet.
At least at school they don't have to hide and can talk freely. Contrary to Damons expectations, but just as Stefan knew it would happen, Elena is all about sacrificing herself if necessary as long as Jeremy and Jenna are left out of this.
It is Caroline who expresses her concerns later.
"Maybe we are taking a big risk here. We don't even know if Elijah's elixir from last time works or not. If it doesn't, Elena is going to die."
"Klaus is not going to stop anyway, and we know how it turned last time."
She stares at him, the kind of worried eyes that always speak volumes when she is saying nothing at all.
Between this and giving his soul away to become the ripper and Klauss slave like he did before, theres no much difference. But there is a difference. There's the chance that the road not taken is the best after all.
That's what bothers Caroline. She thinks he is not, or should not be the kind of person who gambles on other people's lives.
Has he become a worse person after all these years?
They stop their walk near the stoner pit, hearing Matt and Tyler going on about some disagreement they had in their football practice. Tyler is, as always, a douchebag who brings out the subject of Matt's mother as a way to insult his friend.
"It's the gene. I don't know if it's worse that the curse is not activated yet and he acts like this without knowing why."
Stefan thinks it is still a best case scenario for Tyler (and he would rather not see Caroline involved with helping a werewolf during the full moon), but maybe Matt should look for different friends. For the moment, all he can do is to step in and grab Tylers arm before he does something that all of them will regret.
"Easy there. You are friends and on the same team, there's no need to take this to the extremes."
"And who named you the referee here, Stefan" Tyler spits out, but still retreats and turns his back on them to leave.
Matt, on the other hand, just glares at him. From his point of view, Stefan stole Elena from him first, and then just did the same with Caroline, so they are not on the best terms.
"Thanks, but I didn't ask for your help."
One thing is obvious. He has already changed things so much that in this life, these are not his friends and maybe will never be.
Fair enough.
It isn't that he's stopped caring. It's just that there are things he can live without, and others he cannot.
So it happens when he gets home that evening, as soon as he parks his car in front of the boarding house.
John Gilbert could not just make everyone happy and leave town.
"Can I help you?"
"Yes, in fact you can." He takes out a gun, but Stefan is faster to avoid the shot (who wouldn't know the man would try to kill them at some point).
He breaks his arm, and pushes him to the ground.
"Let's not do this. I don't want to hurt you. You are still Elena's father."
John gets up and smirks. "Exactly. Which is why I won't let you kill her."
Why does he look like he's got the upper hand?
Grabbing him by the collar, Stefan demands to know, "What did you do?"
"Bill and I are going to keep our daughters safe from you, Salvatore."
He told Caroline's father. Which means Liz surely knows, too. Damn.
"Or that's what Bill thinks. But his daughter cannot be saved anymore, can she? Elena is different though."
Stefan has heard enough. He breaks the man's neck. He wouldn't even feel guilty if it were permanent this time, but John still has the ring, so he takes him to the basement. There aren't signs of Damon around, either, and when he calls his brother it goes straight to the voicemail.
He will deal with that later. He needs to go find Caroline first.
