One hour. That was the amount of time passed since Caroline and Stefan left the Lockwood mansion. One hour passed since he dropped Caroline at her place, and went to god knows where to cool off. And it took a maximum of one hour to break Caroline's patience, which she knows is the best she has done in waiting for something. She is not a patient person.

"Screw it!" mumbled Caroline and walked out of the door.

Stefan had said that he will be back soon, and she doesn't need to worry. But she called him thrice and the third time was supposed to be a charm, and yet his phone went directly to voicemail.

She couldn't just sit still when he was off somewhere out of the signal area. She was her sober sponsor, his voice of reason.

That mere thought was all it took for her to jump into her old car. Thanks to her mom, the car was still in good shape, and the tank was filled with gas. Once she finds Stefan, she would definitely shower her love on her mother for being this considerate.

For now, her first priority was to look out for her friend.

She didn't know much about the deal between him and his dad, but after all the sweet things he did and said to cheer her up today, she couldn't just leave him alone. And judging by the way he acted after seeing his dad, Caroline knew something major had happened between those two. Stefan had tried really hard not to show his emotions, but the anger, that frustration was all over his face when they walked away from his dad.

So, the plan was to 1. Find Stefan, 2. Stay beside him, even if he tried to run away, 3. Calm him down.

There was a small glitch in her plan though. She had zero freaking clues of the places he could have gone to.

/******\

Back to square one…. After everything he did to get a handle on himself, in the end, all it took was just a sight of his dad, and he was the done deal. He thought he had control at least when it came to his father. Who knew he could be this much wrong about himself?

Breathe in…. breath out…. Breathe in… breathe out.

He had been doing it for hours to calm himself out. But every time, he breathes out the air, the memories come rushing through, and with them comes every little pain that he keeps swallowing in.

Giuseppe Salvatore…

Damon Salvatore…

Salvatore…

If only he had the power to choose the family ties. For hours and hours, he had been pondering on this very topic in the middle of nowhere. Ask the bottle of Dalmore 62, he very carefully tucked beside him, lying on the floor. He needed something stronger than whiskey to forget today, yesterday, and every day he had to be part of Salvatore family.

The crackling sound from the leaves made him aware of his whereabouts. After seeing his father with that same smug on his face, he couldn't stay near anyone. And thus, he ran. Just like every time, he did what he was best at. He collected himself and got the hell away from everyone. The best hideout in town, surrounded by trees, and nothing else.

"How long are you going to keep lying there?"

Caroline approached him slowly, and took the place beside him on the floor, lying her head on the same level as Stefan's.

"As long as I want to," slurred Stefan. He was surely drunk.

The silent evening breeze blew around them, but there wasn't any response from Caroline. Instead, she took his hand in hers and squeezed it lightly.

"You know, I am here, right?" Caroline said after a while.

"If you are not here, and I have started hallucinating, then we have another problem that needs to be dealt with, my friend," responded Stefan, which made Caroline laugh.

"Good that you have acquired a sense of humor in your drunk state."

"And here I thought my humor was what attracted you to me." He squeezed her hand back, laughing with her. "How did you know where to find me?"

No one knew about this place. He used to come here when he wanted to get away from his house when things used to feel like getting out of his hand.

"I didn't… I mean, I didn't know where to find you."

He waited for her to explain further like she called her mom, and the whole police are searching for him out here. Something Caroline would definitely do.

And when there wasn't anything else from after that one-liner she gave as her response, he turned his head to look at her in confusion. Then, the realization dawned upon him.

"Caroline… how long have you been out looking for me?" His voice came out a bit sharp. He didn't want it to be high, but the thought of her walking around the woods for hours scared the hell out of him. He was still waiting for her to deny his assumptions.

"Don't stare at me like that, okay? I had no choice?"

"You had no choice? Are you out of your mind?" He sat up and stared at her with newfound anger. "Woods are not safe for roaming around. There are wild animals out here if you don't know."

If it was the stare from him or his statement, but either way Caroline was mad now and sat up as well to look straight in his eyes.

"Oh, so it's not safe for me to walk around in the woods, but it is absolutely safe for you to sleep in the middle of the forest."

"I know this place in and out, nothing would have happened to me."

"Tell that to the lion next time you meet one." Caroline stood up, brushing the dirt away from her jeans. "What did you want me to do? Call for a search party?"

"That would have been a better idea. At least you wouldn't have been all alone in the night."

It's true that the senses get numb if you are drunk, and probably that's the reason he realized so late that it was already dark.

"If you don't want me to go into the woods alone, then don't put yourself in this situation in the future."

He pressed his head in between his legs. He was still sitting. All his buzz was gone, and now he had a headache trying to kill him slowly.

"You shouldn't have done this." He breathed out the words.

"You would have done the same for me," she mumbled. "Am I wrong?"

He sighed and got up. He was going to have migraine in the morning. He was about to take his bottle of Dalmore 62 but Caroline snatched it out first. "Nuh-uh, that's all you are gonna have of this today."

Before he could have responded, she dropped the bottle, and the bottle shattered in million shards of glasses, the liquid being soaked up in the soil.

"You are one crazy woman, do you know that?" He pointed and burst into laughter. "I wish you would have done that in front of my father."

"And why is that?"

"Because I stole it from my father's cabinet and it would have worth the price of this bottle to see the look on his face."

"Why? How much does it cost?" Caroline jumped, worried that she might have gotten herself into some debt with Stefan's father.

"Doesn't matter… we should get out of here."

"Stefan… what really happened between you and Mr. Salvatore?"

The question stopped him in his track. The motionless Stefan scared Caroline, and she regretted her no-filter mouth, asking any question whatsoever. But she really wanted to know the answer. So she waited for him… for any reply from him.

"The carnival."

"Wh… what?" Caroline frowned.

"I totally forgot about the carnival, we were supposed to go."

"It's fine. We should head home Stefan." Caroline started walking away, but he grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"No, I promised I will take you and that is what we are gonna do now."

"Stefan, it's already late, and you are high on alcohol poisoning. What we need to is take you home, and tuck you in the bed."

"What am I, five? I am all sobered up now. And we are going to the carnival. Final decision." He almost dragged her along with him.

"So no one knows about this place huh?" Caroline asked while getting half dragged, half walking on her own part.

"Nope."

"Not even Elena?"

Foot in the mouth…. Another person's name that she was supposed to avoid mentioning in front of him.

Stefan turned around to look into her eyes directly. He took a step closer to him and answered, "Not even Lexi."

She wanted to hide away the smile that kept appearing on her face, but somehow it was liking to stay on there.

Author's Note :

I know I know had kept you all in hanging over this story. but I swear, I never thought people were still waiting for an update on this story. I am really really sorry for taking you all for granted. But, I swear I really tried to write the chapter, but every time I sat in front of the laptop, my mind was all blank. Anyways, here is a short and sweet (hopefully) for you all lovelies.

Please share your thoughts, and kudos if you like the story. And because of you and only you, I got my ass in front of the screen to write this one out. :)