I am glad to announce that we are done with the characters most of you like less now, and future chapters will be dedicated exclusively to Stefan and Caroline's dilemma. So see you next month, and try to leave some reviews in the meantime.
Thank you so much for the support!
If I lost my memory, and forgot my name
If the road that led back home could not be found again
If the fires burned out
And we could not stay warm
If the world forgot to turn around again
And the winter never knew to change to spring
And the birds forgot to sing
We could still be happy
Rachael Yamagata, "We could still be happy"
22. IF THE ROAD HOME COULD NOT BE FOUND AGAIN (WE COULD STILL BE HAPPY)
It is clear there is no decade dance for either of them this time. His brother helps to bury Bill Forbes thinking Stefan is the one who made a mistake, and he doesn't correct him. It is better this way, so Caroline doesn't have to face the questions and judging looks from anyone. (He, on the other hand, has always been a killer, and his friends seem to get over his mistakes more easily than with anyone else).
"Come here." He brings her closer to him in the bed, and she curls next to him without saying a word. "I am so sorry you had to do that."
"I didn't have to. I think I wanted to. I mourned my father every time he died, and there was a time when we reconciled and a time when we didn't, but when I think about what he did to me, I could never really forget what it felt like. And he tried to start that little sick game with you, too."
Stefan is too old for that to work on him now, though. He knows he is a monster in nature, but that is not all he is, and he had years to accept it while discussing and sharing drinks with Lexi in the afterlife. He tells Caroline so.
"But I didn't do it only for you. I hate him. He got my mom involved in this. After the way he revealed everything to her, there is no way she will ever accept me if she remembers what happened. We just have a few years left with her and now… I won't even have that."
She wanted to be the bigger person and forgive her father, but sometimes bottling things up just didn't end well.
"I guess I am truly a horrible person now."
"Your father put you in this situation. Caroline, no one should have to forgive a parent who deliberately hurts their children the way he hurt you."
Once he'd been mad at Damon for not forgiving their mother in her last moments of life. In truth, Stefan didn't understand until he watched his brother live that human life and raise his own children. He had done many horrible things in his long mortal and immortal life, but the one aspect where he was unquestionably good was at being a father. The kind of father theirs never was, the kind he probably had wished he had.
Caroline had raised her two girls with utmost care, too. She was a mother, so how could she not find her father's treatment even more painful when it happened every time she had to repeat her life
Even so she had tried to find another way before coming to terms with the fact that Damon was right regarding this all along.
"That doesn't make me any less horrible."
Reassurances mean little in cases like this, he knows, but it is all he can do for her.
"That is not true. You are still one of the best, most amazing people I have ever known."
The day finally comes when they have to help break Klaus's curse. Of course Damon doubts and still forces Elena to drink his blood, so now Stefan has to deal with a mad Klaus who is reluctant to delay the ritual, and a mad Damon who is one step away from going to kill Jules and ruin their plans, all while Caroline is out there with Bonnie trying to comfort their friend.
Speaking of Bonnie, there is something that she doesn't know yet, and that is that the ritual requires the sacrifice of two other people who aren't there quite as voluntarily as Elena is, so things are going to get messy no matter what, but Stefan was at least expecting to avoid the same old problems from last time.
And he can't face Damon about his selfish ways or his morals either. Not taking into account that he has so much blood in his own hands, including Caroline's father. Even if she was the one to kill him in the end, Stefan knows he shares responsibility in that, too.
So this is what they have become. People who lie more than usual and are willing to kill even those closest to them just for the sake of staying together. He can see it, and he is aware that the Caroline he used to know would have never done it, but just like him, she has changed too. In appearance she is seventeen, and yet her soul is perhaps as old as his own now.
He becomes absentminded and misses bits of the conversation going on between the two Michaelson brothers (something about Elijah growing impatient to get the rest of his siblings back) when there is another interruption at the door.
"You can't keep up with this plan." It is Alaric, who has learned from Jeremy what they are about to do. "It's too risky."
"I cannot let you kill my sister."
Stefan sighs. Of course, the unavoidable confrontation. They don't have time for this.
"I'm sorry. There's no negotiation here, you see."
Maybe the Alaric who had the years of experience hunting vampires would have done better, but this one is just a newbie no matter how good he is at his job, and with four vampires against one hunter and one kid there is no really a question about who is going to lose, even if Alaric came prepared with vervain and stakes.
Klaus thinks that killing them is faster, but of course that is not an option either, so they just end up trapped in one room of the second floor, courtesy of Greta Martin.
It takes another hour before getting Caroline's call.
"Is everything alright?"
"As much as it can be. Elena says to go ahead, so tell Klaus before he attacks either of you over there."
They exchange glances when the ritual is about to begin, the same question in their eyes. Are they doing the right thing?
It is the best way to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, but only if it goes well. If it doesn't, and the elixir does not work, then Elena will end up turning into a vampire, and she made it clear to Damon that she won't forgive him for this. Bonnie won't be forgiving, either.
It took all of them to restrain her when she realized all the deaths the ritual involved, and only Elena was able to reassure her that this was the best for herself and for Mystic Falls.
Stefan hopes it really works out, because it will be difficult to leave their friends and the town in good conscience if it doesn't. And that's what is next in store for them.
Thankfully, everything works out.
Elena comes back within minutes of her death, and the elixir might have worked out or not in different circumstances, but dying with vampire blood in her system overrules the other form of magic, and now she is starting her transition as a vampire. That is, to Damon's relief and to Bonnie's dismay.
"I will keep an eye on Klaus, the first transformation after breaking the curse must be overwhelming." Elijah promises, his words directed to Bonnie who is the most unhappy with this deal, then he turns to Stefan. "Then, as it was promised, we will stay away from this town."
Stefan nods. "Keep your word this time."
"She will not be happy like this. They won't last." Caroline whispers, watching as Damon tries to convince Elena to drink the blood. "They didn't last time, when they could not turn into humans."
He takes her hand as they walk up the stairs to their bathroom, and turns on the faucet to add another layer of sound to cover their conversation.
When it comes to this other life she remembers, he is curious about everything, even if she is more willing to talk about their other friends and family rather than about herself. It is better than to keep it all inside of her, like a secret.
"Can you tell me?"
"Just imagine this: they keep living a nice, adventurous, never boring life for about a decade, but eventually Elena will want to be human. There is no cure for all of us, and you and I chose to take it ourselves."
So his brother's peaceful life becomes impossible as long as Stefan wants to have this for himself…
"They could always wait."
She raises an eyebrow. Of course, the people they are talking about know little about patience and waiting.
"When they were human and somewhat stable, that was another story. But as vampires, Damon and Elena are… you know how they are. They fought a lot, then they made up. And so she would come back to visit Mystic Falls. Bonnie and I had children. By the time Dante turned six, Elena decided she wanted to be human after all, so I gave her my blood."
Caroline, who had relatively few years lived as a vampire, could do this without losing anything at all, but it could only be done once.
So Stefan understands the predicament. Damon must have felt betrayed.
"Your brother is a jerk. He did a lot of horrible things in true Damon fashion, then eventually turned his humanity off."
"Did he hurt you then?" Is that why she dislikes his brother so much now?
"He hurt everybody."
She is not going to say another word on the matter, so he pushes in another direction.
"So at least Bonnie got a happier life, that is what I am getting from this."
He always felt guilty about Enzo and the pain inflicted upon their friend, even as she carried on with her life afterwards, the scar stayed there with her. Although if she had kids on her own, perhaps the happier ending did not include Enzo anyway.
"In a way, she did." Caroline finally smiles, but it doesn't last long. "For a while, at least. I have come to make a theory of my own."
He raises an eyebrow.
"About…"
"Bonnie loves Damon. Or she did. Or will. Who knows how to calculate time anymore?" She shrugs it off. "But we will let them solve all of that mess on their own, right?"
He is still assimilating what she just said. Bonnie and Damon? No way.
Then again, Stefan isn't exactly an authority in noticing certain things.
"Right." This is enough gossiping about their old gang.
Greece is waiting for them in a few days, and it will be good to forget about the enemies and death surrounding them and the problems related to everyone else at least for the time being.
Caroline takes her clothes off and submerges into the bathtub that is almost full now.
"I am tired, aren't you?"
It is not a physical tiredness she is referring too, and he knows.
So Stefan sighs and smiles. "It is about time to take a break."
