Chapter 4

Girl Talk

Caroline makes her way up stairs to the third room on the left hand side of the hall. She doesn't even really know this girl. She doesn't even really understand why she's here. Well maybe the last part isn't entirely true. She knows why she's here, she just doesn't really understand how she is suppose to help a one thousand year old plus Original who in the past has shown no indication that she even likes her. As she ascends the top stair she heads down the hallway her head held high as she thinks to herself, 'You can do this Caroline; she is just an 18 year old girl who just happens to be over a thousand years old, yeah piece of cake.'

Arriving at her destination she knocks on the door and listens. From within she can hear sniffling, but no movement so she knocks again and calls out, "Rebekah, sweetie I brought ice cream." Then her hand comes up and slaps herself in the forehead thinking, 'Stupid, like that is going to work.' Suddenly the door is flung open and a sad girl opens the door and looks at her uncomprehendingly at why she is here.

"Why are you here, Forbes, come to gloat? Come to see the poor little broken girl?"

In a bubbly voice Caroline holds up two spoons and a tub of ice cream, "I brought Rocky Roads!"

Rebekah just stands there her mouth open in disbelief as Caroline takes the open door as an invitation and walks into her room. Going directly over to the oversized canopy topped bed and sits down holding up the ice cream and offers her a spoon. "Want some? It's really good," she says teasingly.

Rebekah just stares at her not really understanding why she is here or what she is doing. Finally after what seems like minutes to Caroline but in reality is only seconds she speaks, "How did you even get here?"

Caroline says only one word, "Klaus?"

"What? Who? Why?"

"You know Klaus, tall handsome guy. Your brother! He thought you needed someone to talk to."

Rebekah just continues to watch the little blonde baby vampire and then looks down at the tub of ice cream she holds in her hand and speaks, "So you brought me ice cream?"

Caroline smiles brightly as she hands her a spoon and takes the top off the container and offers her a taste, Rebekah looks from Caroline to the tub and back to Caroline, causing Caroline to give her a genuine smile, the kind she usually only reserves for her friends and says, "Yep," popping the 'p'.

The blonde Original slowly sinks down onto the bed next to the baby vamp and asks in a small voice, "But why would you do that?"

"Because when I get my heart broken or feel used by a guy I find ice cream with a girl friend and talking about it usually helps."

Caroline is so sincere in her answer that Rebekah finds herself smiling at her and wondering if maybe she can make a friend.

She dips her spoon into the ice cream and brings the spoonful to her mouth and tastes it. Her eyes go just a bit wide at the sensation and taste as she says in delight, "This is really good!"

"Yeah, isn't it? I mean who doesn't like Rocky Roads?" Caroline watches Rebekah as she eats and it occurs to her maybe she never had it before. "Rebekah, haven't you ever eaten ice cream before?"

"Yes, Caroline," she says as she rolls her eyes. "I may have been born over a thousand years ago, but I do know what ice cream is. I'm not stupid!"

"I didn't mean to imply that your stupid, Rebekah. You just act like you never had it before."

"Oh, sorry, I'm just a little bit confused. I really don't know why you would come here. I mean it isn't like we're friends." She see's Caroline's smile fade from her face and for a moment she feels bad about making her sad. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be mean. I just... I've had a really rough morning and I don't make friends easily."

Caroline takes another spoonful of ice cream and licks at it, and then she says, "Do you want to be friends?"

She looks hopefully at the baby vamp, this woman she really knows nothing about and slowly nods her head yes.

Once more Caroline's mood lightens and she smiles excitedly. "You can never have too many friends, Bekah."

Again the Original looks sad as she says hesitantly, "I don't have any friends. I mean I have my brothers. Oh, and now I have my Mom back, but I don't have friends."

"What about the cheer leading squad? Surely you made friends with them."

"No, not really, I think they're afraid of me, so they just want to hang out with me." She shrugs her shoulders and says, "I sort of compelled them to make me Captain. That isn't really the same thing is it?"

Caroline just shakes her head no. Then she has an idea and says, "Wait, what about Matt? I thought you liked him and he likes you. Didn't you take him to the party last night?"

"Matt is afraid of me. Kole broke his hand and if Damon hadn't of been there he would have killed him. So now he wants nothing to do with me, he told me to just leave him alone."

"Wow, I must have missed a lot after I went home last night. So then you're not just upset about Matt, there's more to it isn't there?"

"Well, I am a little upset that he was hurt but that isn't why I've been crying. I… I just wanted last night to mean something. I thought he cared at least a little."

"Who?"

Rebekah looks at Caroline and inhales sharply as she realizes what she almost said and says quickly, "I can't talk to you about this Caroline. Thank you for the ice cream but I just can't. You should go!"

Caroline looks long and hard at Rebekah and then says in a defiant tone, "No!"

In a tone bordering on anger she says in measured words, "What did you just say to me?" There is a hint of disbelief in her voice. Clearly she is not use to someone telling her no.

Just as defiantly and clearly not afraid of the Original who could snap her in half on a whim she says in a strong confident tone of voice, "I said, no! I am not leaving. I'm not doing that."

Clearly Rebekah is mad and it shows in her body language as well as her voice, "I could snap you in half like a twig baby vamp. I told you to go!" Suddenly unbidden Damon's words come back to her full force, "You still here? I thought I told you it was time for you to go."

Feeling like she had been punched in the gut at the memory, her right hand flies' to her mouth and she gasps into it.

Caroline is beside her in a flash and pulls her into a hug and rubs her back in small circles in an effort to make her feel better. Rebekah buries her face in the crook of Caroline's neck and cries at the memory. Her whole body shaking from the emotional pain she is reliving she feels lost as she clings to Caroline and says over and over again in a broken voice, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

She does her best to comfort her. Not really understanding what has brought this on, but knowing she can't leave her like this, she moves them over to the bed and lies down with Rebekah in her arms. All she knows for sure is some guy did this to her. She knows that deep in her soul, because she has been there herself. She also knows she is not leaving her like this, so broken, she is going to try and fix her whether she wants to be fixed or not. She is going to make this right.

"Rebekah, I am not leaving you, I am here for as long as you need me. So when you're ready you can talk to me. Okay?"

All she can do is nod against the tiny blonde and she slowly pulls herself together. When her tears stop falling she looks up at Caroline and says, "Thank you." Then almost as though she is afraid to let go of her she pulls back and sits up on her own. Hazel green eyes meet a pair of blue eyes and she smiles slightly not really knowing what to say. She just isn't use to anyone actually caring for her or standing up to her. She feels vulnerable and it is a feeling she doesn't like but in this case as scared as she is, she doesn't mind as much.

Continuing to look into the blue eyes she speaks softly, "I don't know how to do this."

Confused Caroline asks, "You don't know how to do what?"

"Be friends."

Caroline's lips form a perfect 'O' as understanding dawns. "Can I ask you something without you getting mad and telling me to go? Which you already know I am not going to do, so you might as well let me ask?"

The tall blonde holds her breath and nods her answer to the tiny blonde.

"Do you even want to be my friend?"

"I would like to try." She says honestly.

Caroline laughs at the response and say's, "Well it's a start. So want to tell me what really happened last night that has you so upset? And before you tell me no you should know that I will just keep talking till you cave and tell me."

Rebekah starts to laugh and say's, "You are the oddest person I think I have ever met."

"Yeah, I get that a lot."

"You're really not afraid of me are you?"

"No!"

"You know I could rip your heart out before you had time to react."

"Yes, you could do that, but you won't," she says confidently.

"Why are you so sure?"

"Because you're my friend."

"I think I just might hate you Caroline Forbes."

"No you don't," she says laughing. "You like me. You're already thinking of me as your best friend."

Rebekah rolls her eyes and laughs with the baby vamp and smiles at her saying "Don't push it Blondie."

Without so much as a thought Caroline bumps shoulders with Rebekah and continues to laugh, "Yep you like me a lot."

"You are so frustrating."

"Maybe I am but I'm still here. I still have my heart and you would miss me if I was gone, so I count that as a win. Now tell me what happened last night and don't you dare tell me no, Miss Original Vampire."

"I can't, Caroline."

"I thought we were friends, Bekah."

"We are but if I tell you, you're going to tell Nik and then he is going to want to kill Da…." She suddenly stops herself from talking as she realizes she almost said his name.

Caroline's eyes go wide as saucers as she says excitedly, "Oh my god, you slept with Damon!"

"No…no, I didn't."

"Yes, you did, it all makes sense now," she says as the proverbial light bulb goes on above her head as she continues to figure it out. Then before Rebekah can say anything to deny or confirm she charges ahead visibly annoyed but not at Rebekah she is now annoyed at Damon. "What did he do? Did he try to hurt you? Want me to go kick his ass for you? He can be such an idiot!"

"You can't tell my brother. Please? He will kill him if he knows who it was that I was with. He hates Damon. Please, Caroline, you said you were my friend!"

"Rebekah, you need to calm down. Breathe, sweetie. I am not telling your brother anything, but if Damon did something to hurt you I am going to kick his ass."

The Original takes an un needed deep breath and begins to calms down, considers the young vampire in front of her, and decides that it is okay to trust her so she spills her guts about last night and this morning.

Caroline just stares at her and considers everything she has been told and starts to laugh. Then seeing the look on Rebekah's face she quickly explains. "I am not laughing at you so calm down. I am just in shock. I mean Damon is an ass but he likes you apparently as much as you like him. He just doesn't know how to deal with it. Want to know the funny thing?"

"Really? Really, there is a funny thing to this? There is a funny thing to him using me last night and then telling me to leave this morning. I am not finding this funny."

"I can't believe I am going to defend him but he didn't use you last night. I mean to hear you tell it you rang each other's bells all night long. You started out hot and heavy. Both of you couldn't get enough of each other. Then you ended gently and woke up together."

"Caroline!" She all but shouts out her name in shock.

"Don't Caroline me Rebekah. I am going to tell you something about Damon Salvatore. Damon has never ever been chosen by any girl. What he has been is used and dumped. He has been told over and over again that he is not good enough. So before you did that to him, he sort of did it to you. Besides if he really wanted to be done with you as you seem to think he does, would he have asked you back tonight?"

"He would if he was using me," she says exasperated.

"God, how could someone have lived for over a thousand years and know so little about men? If he was using you he would have told you to be there tonight he wouldn't have asked." Throwing her hands up in the air she adds. "You have so much to learn." Then a random thought pops into her head, "Oh, we have to do a makeover on you. So that Damon will never even consider looking at another woman. Although why you would actually want Damon is beyond me. "Then she has a random thought and before her brain can process she says, "This is going to be so much fun!" She say's clapping her hands together excitedly.

"Hey, what is wrong with the way I look?"

Refusing to answer the little blonde drags the taller blonde out the door of her room, down the stairs, out the front door and into her car saying, "Shopping, yay!"

TBC

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The story continues in:

Chapter 5

A Little Male Bonding Time