I was very conflicted about writing this chapter, and I am aware some of you might be angry for Caroline's reaction or the ones of some other beloved characters, but given the circumstances of the "vampire reveal" this time, I felt (to me) like the only way this could go down, a very messy thing for everyone involved.

As always, I will be waiting to hear your thoughs.


I wanna be defined by the things that I love

Not the things I hate

Not the things that I'm afraid of,

Not the things that haunt me in the middle of the night

I just think that you are what you love.

Taylor Swift, "Daylight"


19. HIS LIFELINE.

When he gets to the dungeon, Liz is keeping guard outside, and he struggles to reconcile this image of her, hearing Caroline cry, with the loving mother who looked after her even after death.

"You don't want to do this to your daughter, Liz."

The gun is pointing at his chest, but she doesn't shoot.

"She's not my daughter anymore. This is the only way to bring her back."

"I am sorry, but you don't leave me another way." He rushes to take the weapon from her hands and injects her with a sedative, just enough to keep her out of this, because he is not going to be as forgiving with Bill.

Just how much vervain has he given Caroline that she is incapable of breaking free from those chains?

"Stefan!"

"So John is all talk, I see." A stake goes right into his abdomen, and damn, it burns. "He wasn't able to take you down, but I.."

Stefan feels his legs losing strength but manages to shove him to a wall and drags himself to Caroline's side with a blood bag that helps her regain strength. Perhaps he's needing one, too.

"Here… I think there's part of a stake left between my ribs, because it hurts like hell."

How can someone do this to their own daughter? But of course he knows, there is no difference between Caroline's father and his own, just way too ready to kill him and declare him the enemy.

For a moment all he sees is red, and he doesn't give Bill the chance to attack him again.

"Wait! Stefan, stop!"

Caroline is the voice of reason (she always is), and her hand reaching his arm is what helps him to regain control after all.

"Don't do this. He is still my father."

He knows, and he definitely should know better than to let himself be controlled by his worst impulses. But it's only when he turns to look at her, his hands holding her shoulders, checking her from head to toe and noticing the wounds that still haven't healed, that he remembers what is really important at the moment.

"I'm sorry."

"I think they did something to Elena and Damon too. And my mom… this is not the way she should have found out…"

This is wrong. Why is she still talking about everyone else when something like this happened to her?

"We are going to explain everything to Liz later. But let's go back to the Boarding House first. Caroline, you-"

"I'm fine. It's not like this is new anyway. I should have expected it to happen at some point, right?"

She smiles, but her lips are quivering. He glares at the unconscious form of her father again, wishing he could just break his neck too.

"You shouldn't, Stefan." She says, as if she were able to read his mind. "That's not the kind of person we want to be."

They are alike in that, of course, in their continuous work to be better, to be good. But that made him foolish, and it cost her too much.


Elena had been trapped at home by a spell that John and Isobel got a witch to cast for them. But it didn't last long with Bonnie coming to the rescue, as usual. In fact they had already found Damon drowning in the vervain well where Mason hid the moonstone once.

"This has "disaster" written all over it. We have to kill them."

"No!" The three girls are quick to oppose to Damon's words.

"That's my father and Caroline's parents you are talking about. I want John away from us, but I don't want him dead."

So Damon looks at him for support. Just great.

"So what do you suggest we do now?"

"I will talk to my mom. She is not going to hurt us."

"Big words considering you just escaped from a prison she put you in. And didn't you just say that your dear dad cannot be compelled?"

Caroline growls at his brother. "If I can coexist with you, then I can also deal with this family issue on my own. No need for you to intervene this time."

Stefan grabs her hand, holding it tight, even if he knows it can't stop the memories rushing through her mind again. Her mom can be compelled to forget or maybe convinced to help them, but it doesn't change the fact that Caroline has to endure being rejected all over again.

In the end, it would have been better if he was the only one going through this for a second time.

"You all need to calm down. No one is going to kill anyone." Bonnie says, looking extremely distressed too. "I am going to find a spell that helps us to modify those memories. There has to be something in the grimoire."

"No offense, witchy, but your abilities aren't on that level yet."

"I just saved your ass today. Shouldn't you at least learn to say thank you?"

"Then we just keep them in the basement as long as we have to." Stefan intervenes, back to the matter at hand. "It's safer for all of us, at least until we finish dealing with Klaus. That's the priority now."


He comes to the door of the bathroom, and looks at her as she stares at the mirror, taking out the remaining splinters in her shoulder blades. How could her father hurt her so much in just a couple of hours?

Stefan doesn't even realize he makes this question out loud.

"It's because I didn't tell him how we could walk under the sun."

He grabs a towel, damps it under the faucet, and starts to carefully wipe the blood out of her skin.

"Why do you still forgive him?"

"Family relationships are complicated. Just look at Damon. I can't forgive him either, after all he has done."

He frowns.

"There are many reasons for you to hate him, but I still feel like I am missing something."

"The memories he compelled away are too fresh. But you are right, there's something else. He is someone who never changes, not really, no matter how much you want him to, Stefan."

"What do you mean?"

Damon had lived a long and happy life with Elena. Of all the things he regretted giving up with his sacrifice, the only saving grace was this. At least someone got to live a long, fulfilling life.

She turns to look at him, taking the towel out of his hand. "Let me. You were hurt, too."

"Caroline."

"Damon can only be good and let others be happy as long as he is happy. Let's just leave it like that."

What happened that he ignored?

"Please, tell me."

"So that you give up on your brother, too?" She smiles, but her eyes are teary and it breaks his heart to see her like this. "All I ever did, for years and years when I had to live without you, was to imagine what it would be like if you had thought about me first. It's always been Damon this, Damon that. He is your brother, and I thought I understood but actually…"

"You come first." He is adamant in this. "I told you, you are the reason I live."

She caresses his face, her hand pressed against his cheek. "I don't want this if it changes who you are. Stefan, you are a good person who cares about others. We just don't kill because it's the easiest way out. Human lives matter, too."

It takes him back to the night he made her his anchor to humanity. She had told him to come to her whenever he felt like losing control, and he'd done so ever since.

His lips brushes hers, whispering one "I know" that really means "I love you."

Right at this moment, he loves her so much.

He kisses her slowly, his hands roaming on her bare back just as she presses her body against his. He becomes hungry, to the point a groan escapes him when Caroline pulls away.

"The bath is ready." She licks her lips, and Stefan loses it. "What do you say? Want to join me?"

The rest of the clothes are ripped off without a care as they get into the bathtub.