A/N: Thank you so much for your kindness and support!

I was happy to see Elena the next morning, standing in my doorway – until I noticed the tears. She was wrecked and seemed to be struggling to tell me something.

I jumped up and ran to hug her. "Elena, what is it?"

She just grabbed me and started to sob. It was devastating to see her this way again considering all she'd lost. She'd had been doing so much better all summer since Jeremy had returned to the land of the living and she'd decided that she loved Damon. Bonnie was off visiting family for the summer. Stefan had left town, losing her to his brother had been painful I knew, but it made things easier for her. Silas was taken care of. The originals had left town.

I couldn't begin to guess what was up.

I didn't immediately notice Damon slip into my room and close the door behind him.

"Damon?" I asked, hoping he would let me know what horrible thing had happened.

"Hey, hey," he said, prying Elena away from me and pulling her into his arms, trying to soothe her.

"Caroline, you might want to sit down," he told me.

Okay, this was really bad.

Elena tried to speak then, sitting on the edge of my bed, but she choked on the words. Damon sank onto the mattress behind her. His blue eyes held none of his usual snark as he studied me.

"What?" It had to be incredibly bad if he was struggling. "What's happened?"

"Caroline, Bonnie is dead," he finally answered.

"What?!" That couldn't be right. How could that be right? Bonnie graduated with us. She made it through the entire Silas ordeal. She'd just gone to visit family for the summer again. Right?

"She's gone. When she brought back -"

"She can't be gone!"

"Caroline, – "

"No! Bonnie's not dead. She can't be dead."

Damon's eyes slid closed, his expression pained. "I'm sorry."

I took a deep breath, an image of Bonnie's beautiful face filling my mind. Pain and loss had returned to shatter us all again and tears began to sting my eyes.

"What happened? When?" I asked, wrapping my arms around myself in a vain attempt to hold my world together.

Damon swallowed hard, holding Elena as she cried.

"Apparently, bringing Jeremy back and keeping him here when she closed the veil was too much for her. She used that expression stuff Shane told us about. It killed her," he explained.

Tears were spilling down my face, falling harder despite my attempt to blink them back.

"Are you sure?" I tried. "I mean – "

"We're sure," Damon's voice was low, not entirely steady. "Jeremy was the one who told us. He was there with her."

Damn it, Bonnie. All of us had been through so much, lost so much. Bonnie had been no exception in the loss department. She'd lost her Grams, her estranged mother. Jeremy. She'd been our savior, and our pawn, in all the supernatural games that had dominated our lives since the Salvatore brothers came to town. She'd been one of the best friends a girl could ever have.

And now she was gone. It wasn't fair. She'd deserved so much more.

"Wait?" Something occurred to me. "Are you saying she's been gone all summer? Because she closed the veil after graduation, right? She's been gone all this time? Why? Why is Jeremy only telling us now?"

"She made him promise," Damon explained.

"I'm sorry, Caroline," Elena pulled herself up enough to finally speak. "I'm so sorry."

I was fighting off hysterics, barely holding it together, but I recognized the familiar pain in my friend's face. I knew what was in her head and I wasn't going to allow her to do this to herself again. When we lost Jeremy, she'd been inconsolable. It had been so bad that Damon had her turn off her humanity and she had. With breathtakingly bad consequences. The bottom line? My friend considered everything, all our misfortunes, to be her fault.

"Elena," my voice shook but I had to say it, "this isn't your fault."

Elena's face crumbled, she nodded her head. More tears flowed. "It is. Caroline, it is my fault. Don't you see?"

"No, it's not. Stop doing this to yourself. Bonnie loved Jeremy. You knew that. We all knew that. Sure, it probably crossed her mind that she'd be giving him back to you. But that wasn't the only reason she brought him back. She brought him back for herself too…" I was losing it. "She probably didn't count on… dying…"

I completely lost it. I dropped down on the bed next to Elena, I started sobbing with her. We grabbed each other, my tears soaking her dark hair, her tears wetting my shoulder. Damon sighed and I felt his arms wrap around me too.

The three of us huddled there, sharing our loss, for some time.

When we finally broke apart, Damon urging Elena to get some rest, Elena and I promised to be there for each other. I told her I loved her.

I watched them as they headed out of my dorm room. Now instead of excitement to start the next phase of my life, I felt like time had come to a screeching halt. One of my dearest friends was gone. I'd never gossip with her over ice cream again. Her magic, both the real stuff and the magic of just who she was as an incredible person, gone from my life. I felt hollow, vulnerable.

Damon paused in the doorway once Elena had walked on. Despite the stone expression he'd worn the entire time, I knew he cared on some level. He'd just always struggled with pain and loss. He didn't know how to deal and often ended up lashing out somehow.

So far he seemed okay. Maybe this time, he'd hold it all together for Elena. She really needed him now.

"You going to be okay, blondie?"

I nodded. "Just don't let her out of your sight, Damon. Promise me."

His small smile didn't reach his eyes. He nodded.

Then he was gone.

And I cried some more.

I don't know how much time had passed when I heard the knock at my door. It was dark outside now. It was all I could do to drag myself off the bed and see who was there.

Tyler.

He held his arms out to me and I flew into them, enjoying the comfort that he offered. The strength of his arms, the smell of rain on his hair and the cool leather of his jacket. He held me there for long moments, whispering into my hair, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Caroline."

"Stay with me tonight," I pleaded.

Tyler gently eased back from me, his face blurry through the tears that refused to stop.

"I can't, baby, there's something I've got to do."

"Something more important than being here when I need you?" Really?

He winced at that. Then his expression softened. "The thing I've got to do? It's for you. It's because of this."

Swiping at my eyes with the back of my hand, I shook my head. "I don't understand."

"Caroline, Stefan has an idea. And—"

"Wait. What? Stefan's back?" When did that happen?

"He's back and – "

"Does Damon and Elena know?"

"Yeah, probably. I don't know. Anyway, listen. This is important."

He tightened his grip on my upper arms, willing me to listen to him. I wobbled, dazed in his clutches. I couldn't understand what could possibly be important so now.

"Stefan just heard about Bonnie, before I did. He wants to help. He thinks there may be a way to bring her back, Caroline."

A small twinge of hope tightened my chest. If only…

"Did you hear me, Caroline?"

I nodded.

"Stefan needs me to help him and I've got to go tonight. Do you understand?"

"I understand," I whispered. It was the truth, my misery clouded mind was struggling to catch up in the conversation. One thing came through with some clarity – he seemed determined to help Stefan with whatever plan he'd come up with.

"Are you going to be okay?"

That question brought on a fresh wave of tears.

"Tyler, I just lost one of my best friends. What do you think?"

"I think you should trust me. Trust us. We might be able to make this all go away, Caroline. Wouldn't that be good? If we could bring Bonnie back to you?"

I nodded again. I trusted him and I trusted Stefan. If it could be done, sure. If only…

"I hate to leave you like this, baby." Concern set the features of his face. "But we've lost so much time already."

Tyler leaned in and kissed me, a sweet kiss that barely registered on my numb lips.

"I'll call you as soon as I can, okay? Hopefully, we'll be back soon."

I was able to nod, whisper goodbye, as I watched him leave the room as quickly as he'd entered it. I didn't have a chance to ask what the plan was, where they were going. How they even heard about Bonnie… I felt so tired.

I sank to the floor then. Are you going to be okay? they'd asked.

Honestly, I didn't know.

I was aware my phone was humming somewhere in my room but I didn't bother with it. My mind was stuck in a misery loop, playing back memories of all the times I'd shared with Bonnie Bennett and then smashing those images with the sharp realization that there'd be no more. That she was gone…

I must have dozed off because I didn't hear a knock at the door. I didn't realize someone was in the room with me until the lamp on my bedside table snapped on.

"Caroline?"

My eyes flew open at the sound of that voice.

He was at my side in an instant, easing me off the floor. His hand was gentle at the back of my head.

"What are you doing here, Klaus?" I managed to whisper. He'd come all the way from New Orleans?

"I got here as quickly as I could." He held me up while his other hand brushed away the hair that my tears stuck to my face. "Can you stand up?"

My hands clutched at the dark sweater he wore as he hauled me up from the floor. His strong arms stayed around me, keeping me on my feet.

"Why are you here?" I asked again.

"I heard about Bonnie."

"How?"

"I have my spies, Caroline. Always have."

I looked up and met his gaze. "And?"

Did he have some plan too? Did Bonnie's death threaten his interests or master plan in some way? Was that why he was here?

I found nothing but sincerity in his blue-green eyes.

"Maybe I just wanted to make sure you were all right, Caroline," he whispered. "I certainly didn't expect to find this."

Slowly he walked me back in the direction of my bed and gently urged me to sit there. While my mind scrambled, he darted about my room, first grabbing a tote bag I'd used moving in and filling it with my things. I was pretty sure my phone was one of the items he stuffed into the bag before he turned his attention back to me.

"What are you doing?" I had to ask.

"Getting you out of here."

The world spun as he grabbed me from the bed and lifted me in his arms.

"The last thing you need right now is to be alone with your grief. As no one else seems to be available, I'll have to do," he told me.

I was too tired to protest or question him more. Wasn't sure I even wanted to…

I let my head fall against his shoulder and his grip on me tightened as he carried me out of the dormitory.