Chapter 3 (Part 2)
Caroline stood in front of the town Christmas tree once again, but she had Jesse standing next to her and blowing out his own candle this year; her again wishing for her mother to get better and Jesse wishing the same. She was glad she wouldn't have to be on stage this year since her mother had declined in being part of the ceremony and was running the hot chocolate stand instead. She and Jesse walked around the square several times before going to help Liz with the booth since they could see several of her fellow officers taking their breaks and joining the crowd. Jesse gave Caroline and Liz their gifts as they gave him theirs since he would be spending Christmas day with his father and brother. Bonnie joined them a little while later and she and Jesse exchanged gifts as well before she got a call from Jaime and left the booth to take it; things hadn't been well between them with his opportunity to transfer to another college across the country.
Caroline and Jesse both felt bad for Bonnie and Jaime; they were a great couple, but Jaime needed to do what was best for his future as Bonnie would do after graduation, and neither of them wanted to hold the other back. Sure, they could try long distance, but everyone knew the statistics of that actually working and they felt stuck. Caroline and Jesse had both heard snippets of former conversations and knew the other couple was set to end their relationship if he got accepted so they could remain friends instead of dragging out the relationship and possibly growing to resent each other later. Caroline was happy that she had already spoke with Jesse before they dated about the possibility of a transfer to another state once her mother was better or she had a Bachelor degree; he wanted to transfer too, so they would wait until closer to time to see if they would go to the same school or state.
Everything seemed to be going perfect aside from her mother's cancer and most days she felt surreal. Elena had been sent off to her aunt's so she wouldn't be an influence over her brother Jeremy any longer, and it was rumor that her aunt was going to adopt the baby if both and Elena and the father (once they figured out who that was) signed their rights away. Elena's little group of followers had followed in her footsteps and had become the black sheep of their families; with Vicki being sent off to a rehabilitation center and Hayley getting knocked up (which she swore was Tyler's kid, but no one really knew), and the rest of the posse finding other groups to switch to; even if most people didn't want anything to do with them after being Elena's lapdogs. Rebekah had taken over being "queen bee" and most of the classmates had been worried she would be like Elena, but she was more like her old self than ever; Caroline was happy to see the old Rebekah back.
It began to snow and Jesse pulled her away from the booth to dance along to some of the Christmas songs and classical music pieces that were being played on the square's loudspeaker. They would both smile and duck into each other when Liz would take pictures of them, but she managed to get a couple that had them facing the camera for a pose. When the event starting winding down, the snow had begun falling more so they unpacked the booth and loaded up the cars; Jesse even putting some stuff in his car to follow them home and help them get everything in. They offered for Jesse to spend the night, but he insisted that he needed to go home since his dad would be expecting him and he wanted to surprise his younger brother. Caroline made him promise to call, or at least text, and let her know that he made it safely when he got there; she was worried about him driving in the snow and it would take a while to get to his father's. After he left Caroline, Liz, and Bonnie set up the TV to play their favorite Christmas movies and set about relaxing on the couch.
Next Morning…
Caroline was officially freaking out as she checked her phone over and over and there still wasn't any call or text from Jesse. They had all passed out on the couch about 30 minutes into the movie and when she had woke up the first thing she had done was check her phone. Her mother was worried as well and had left to go to the station to see if there was anything that had come in about him; she hadn't called yet either after letting her know she was at the police station. Caroline had already cleaned the house twice over and had now set to pacing the floor. She called Jesse's dad to see if Jesse had made it and forgot to call, but he was just as worried and had thought that he might have stayed with her or stopped overnight at his dorm. She thought she was going to throw up with how worried she was for him, so she decided to go to the station to wait and see if her mom found anything out.
Walking into the station she saw several of the deputies look at her sadly and she felt her heart begin to pound so she dashed to her mother's office. She saw Liz with tear tracks on her face and her cell phone in her hand before she tossed the phone on her desk and pulled Caroline into her arms. In that moment she knew something had happened to Jesse and she was almost too scared to ask what, but she had to know. Her mother could hardly bring herself to look at her until she had forced her to sit down on the couch with her. When her mother finally spoke she felt like her heart was ripped out; Jesse hadn't made it out of Virginia before his car had left the road. Liz explained that she had just phoned Jesse's dad and was about to call her when she had come into the office.
Liz recounted what the officer had told her from 4 towns over; the one in charge of the scene. There was ice on the road and deer tracks near the swerve marks that led them to believe that Jesse had tried to miss at least 1 deer and had slid on the ice and over the embankment; dying instantly and not being found until a couple hours before by a passerby. They had just processed his ID and was about to call his family when Liz had called their station; volunteering to call his father instead since she knew the family. Caroline felt like she couldn't breathe and she couldn't hear anything else her mother was saying as everything started to go dark. She didn't wake up until a few hours later when everything came rushing back to her and she broke out in sobs; her mother rushing back in to calm her, but it didn't help. Her mind thought back over every memory she had of Jesse and prayed to anyone listening to bring him back, but she knew it was hopeless; he was gone.
2 months later (Klaus POV)…
Klaus had dropped Kol off at the house so he could get over the jet lag and air sickness he was still suffering from and made his way to the Grille. He had heard of all the town gossip while he had been away by Rebekah's phone calls; most news had been boring and unsurprising, but there had been some that had him almost jump on a plane and come back. He could see the main source of his want to return home sitting at a small table inside by herself; writing away in her notebook. He could see she had her hair pulled back and didn't have a drop of make up on, but even in her current still-mourning state she looked beautiful to him. He decided to order before he spoke to her; finally deciding he had put it off for far too long and she needed something to uplift her spirits; he hated how broken she looked. He ordered an extra burger for her the same way she used to eat them from his memory and turned to walk to her but stopped when he saw an older man sitting with her wearing a similar expression; he guessed it was Jesse's father since he could see the family resemblance.
Moving closer he could see the man hand Caroline a box and she started sorting through it; smelling a hoodie she pulled out, grazing her hand over the pictures, and dropping her jaw when and crying when she opened a small jewelry box. Klaus was close enough to hear the man tell her that Jesse had bought it as a promise ring to give her at graduation, and he had planned to upgrade it to an engagement ring after college; along with how much he would have loved to have her as a daughter in law. Caroline only responded that she would have said yes before she started packing everything back into the box. Klaus could also hear the guy saying he and his other son would be moving to another state, but Caroline was welcome to visit any time and that they would keep in touch as well. He watched them hug before the man left and Caroline returned to writing in her notebook. Klaus knew it was now or never and walked over to her table; setting her burger down in front of her and taking up the empty seat on the other side of the table.
Caroline looked up only to see it was him before she went back to writing and ignoring the burger in front of her. He took a moment to gather his thoughts so he could apologize properly; he didn't want to run her off. It was a high possibility that she wouldn't listen to him and would leave the moment he started speaking, but he knew it was too late to back out this time. He extended his hand and pushed the burger closer to her and she looked at it, but went back to writing without saying a word. He knew he would have to start talking soon but he wanted to make sure she ate something; she had noticeably lost weight since the last time he had seen her and it left him worried for her health.
"I'm sorry… for your loss… and for everything that I said to you 2 years ago…" Klaus started but she scoffed and put her notebook in her bag.
"I don't need… or want your pity Klaus." Caroline responded and went to stand but he stood to block her; panicking at the thought that she was never going to hear him out.
"It's not pity… I promise… I just wanted to let you know I was sorry; and I thought you might be hungry." Klaus spoke as quickly as he could before gesturing at her burger and trying to not set off her temper; which was close to surfacing from the look on her face. "I know I should have apologized sooner, and there aren't any excuses or reasons for not doing it before now, but you deserve to hear it nonetheless; I should have never treated you like that."
"I don't want to talk about it." Caroline cut in to stop him and he nodded in return. She sat back down reluctantly and he retook his seat to watch as she picked at the burger. She didn't say much and he didn't try apologizing any further since she had stated she didn't want him to. He talked about what he had seen in England and France before speaking about New Orleans; he liked that city more than the others. Caroline only replied that she had been to New Orleans for work before becoming quiet again. It wasn't too much later that she thanked him for the burger and left a $5 on the table stating that she needed to go. He asked if she was going to be in town this summer or taking off and she said she didn't know, but that she accepted his apology and thanked him again for the burger before she left quickly.
He wished he could have spent longer with her and that she would have eaten more, but he took what he could get; he deserve any more than he had gotten. His guilt didn't lessen any, and it probably hadn't been the best time to apologize; with her finding out she would have been somewhat engaged in a few months had Jesse still been alive. Perhaps it would help her in the long run to have him apologize, bad timing or not, and they might be able to have a conversation from time to time; maybe even become friends at least one day in the future. Time would only tell and he would have to leave again for a couple months, but he would be back in time for his sister's graduation; knowing it was Caroline's as well.
Last Week of School (Rebekah POV)… (Surprise!)
Rebekah scanned the halls as she hoped she hadn't missed Bonnie and Caroline before they left for the day; she would have a busy weekend and wanting to give them their presents and invites for her graduation party. Bonnie she found easily and gave her the invitation and her present, but Bonnie said she might not make the party after she saw the date. Bonnie told her that she and Caroline were going to take a vacation with Liz for a couple weeks after graduation, but they would at least send their gifts before leaving. Rebekah felt a little deflated since she had been hoping to get to hang out with the 2 of them; hoping even more that Caroline could bring Klaus out of his slump that he'd been in since apologizing.
She almost missed Caroline, but finally spotted her jogging towards her car and had to run to catch up. Rebekah gave Caroline her invitation and gift, but was surprised when Caroline reached into her glove compartment and handed her a little wrapped card with a bow. Inside she saw backstage passes to Masked Atlantis and starting jumping in place and asking how Caroline had managed to get them; to which she replied that it was part of her job and she thought she might want to take Kol so she gave her an extra. Rebekah hated asking because she felt like she still owed Caroline and it wasn't fair, but she asked if there was a way to get 4 more for her other brothers and her parents. Caroline reached into her compartment again and pulled 4 more out to hand to her. She couldn't figure out how Caroline had access to the backstage tickets to one of the hottest bands in the country, but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Rebekah asked if Caroline needed any money for the tickets, but Caroline shook it off and told her no, but she had to leave to get to work; only after Caroline had left did she see that the concert was to be set at Richmond, which wasn't far at all.
Feeling excited with gift she had been giving she went straight to her car to go tell her parents and the brothers that were home; Klaus being the only one not in town at the moment. Bounding into the house in a full ball of energy she started yelling for everyone to meet her in the living area. Once everyone had gathered around she handed out the passes and explained that they were a graduation gift from Caroline. Her parents asked how she was able to get that many back-stage passes, but Rebekah told them she didn't honestly know; just that she got them at work and it must have been an awesome job to be able to get back-stage passes. She ended up calling Klaus to make sure he would be at graduation and to let him know that she got a back-stage pass for him; he didn't really sound excited about it until she let him know it was from Caroline. He grew quiet for a few moments until he swore he'd be there and made an excuse to get off of the phone.
