A/N: Okay, who else smiled a ton after the cute Stefan/Caroline moments in TVD tonight? Him being all protective of her, Him making sure she was alright and bringing her home, Him bringing Elena and Bonnie over there for them to spend the night like old times? They were amazing tonight ;) And the few Delena moments, Damon confessing to the news reporter that he was in love with Elena. I like to think of those random girls now as his weekly therapy sessions, I understand why he's basically being a man whore again. It's how he deals with things now, like his girlfriend for this week said (Andy or however you spell her name) "Love changes us." So, it's changing Damon, slowly, but he's getting there. And can I just ask for more sweet Steroline moments? Their friendship is cute in the show and well, I think we all know by now that I love them as a couple, but I'm trying not to say it too much because every time I seem to start shipping a couple a lot, they go downhill, and I like Stefan and Caroline being friends on the show…for now ;) xoxo, Avril
Chapter Three: Need You Now
Caroline somehow managed to spend the entire day with Tyler and he actually made her feel better. She didn't feel like someone came along and glued her heart all back together, but she felt better, like someone had at least out a little bit of her heart back, enough to make her a functioning person again and didn't cry at every little thing she saw that reminded her of Stefan. Tyler dropped her off at her house and she packed up a few of her things, left a note for her mom saying she was spending the night at Elena's and if she needed her to call her cell, and she head towards the Boarding House. She didn't expect Damon to be home or anything since she knew he had a tendency to go out and still drink human blood. But she was actually shocked when she saw Damon there, in the living room, alone and drinking.
"Bad day?" Caroline asked as she set her bag down and walked into the living room to sit down by Damon
"You could say that." Damon sighed and didn't really acknowledge the fact of that Caroline was sitting right next to him.
"…Did you hear anything from Stefan?" Caroline asked hopefully
"Nope. Sorry Blondie." Damon said and looked over at her and saw the small light about her that she had was just crushed by his carelessness. "I really am sorry." Damon said
"Thanks." Caroline said and nodded a little before getting up from off the couch and walking back over to her bag only to be completely surprised when she saw Damon already standing there and picking up her bag and taking it up to Stefan's room for her. "Uh, you don't have to do that Damon…" Caroline said confused and followed him upstairs.
"Just helping you out." Damon said and brought the bag into Stefan's room and put it down on Stefan's bed for her.
"…Thanks." Caroline said confused as Damon walked out of the room "Hey, Damon!" Caroline called after him and ran downstairs after him and he stopped short on the stairs and Caroline accidentally bumped into him and he caught her and helped steady her on her feet again which left both him and her laughing a little bit. "Thanks…again" Caroline smiled.
"What did you wanna ask me Blondie?" Damon asked and for once, Caroline noticed that he had a genuine smile on his face.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" Caroline asked confused and noticed that Damon's hands were still on her waist from when he caught her and when she noticed, Damon let go.
"Just…being a friend. You seem to really need one right now with…Stefan being gone and everything." Damon shrugged
"Oh." Caroline said "Well, uh, I'm gonna go get ready for bed then, I'm tired, Tyler took me over to the lake today and we went swimming and, it's actually really hard to keep up with a werewolf." Caroline said and smiled a little
"What? Too scared to stay up all night with me?" Damon asked with a smirk on his face
"No!" Caroline said "I'm just tired."
"Whimp" Damon said and started walking back down the stairs again
"What did you just call me?" Caroline asked
"A whimp" Damon said with a smirk
"…Fine." Caroline spoke up "I'll stay up with you…but I'm still getting changed so I can just pass out whenever."
"Great, a slumber party with vampire Barbie, should be fun." Damon said and rolled his eyes
"You're the one who called me a whimp, now you have to suffer with dealing with me as your company. You should really work on getting other friends so you don't have to deal with me and I don't have to deal with you." Caroline said and smiled a little bit
"Yeah, me and being friends with people, doesn't really work out." Damon said
"Well, if you give them death threats and then turn around and kiss them, I think I get why you have no friends." Caroline said
"…I'm sorry" Damon sighed "…I should have never kissed you. I was just mad at Stefan-"
"Mad at Stefan? You kiss Stefan's girlfriends when your mad at them?" Caroline asked confused
"Don't make this harder than it is." Damon sighed
"Sorry…continue" Caroline said and crossed her arms as she stood there waiting for Damon to fully apologize.
"I was just mad at Stefan because…he got every girl he ever wanted and I was always their second choice" Damon said and shrugged "I'm sorry"
Second Choice. Those words hit Caroline right in the heart, she knew how it was to be someone's second choice, hell, technically with Stefan, she was his second choice. Again she was someone's second choice. She was Matt's second choice to Elena, she was Elena's second choice to Bonnie. She knew how Damon felt. And it sucked. That and on top of it all, Damon was genuinely apologizing to her. She could tell he meant it, she saw it on his face. Caroline walked over to Damon and hugged him. At first he didn't hug back but after a few seconds, he did.
"I forgive you." Caroline said and pulled away "I know the second choice thing, it sucks. You'll find someone Damon, you have an eternity. It's just…not me."
"Yeah, because you and Stefan are going to have such a happy Brady Bunch kind of eternity." Damon said sarcastically
"Hey!" Caroline snapped at him and pushed him away "I'm trying to be nice to you here and you have to go ahead and bring up things that you know are never going to happen!" Caroline said and felt those damn tears coming back
"God, I'm an asshole." Damon said and walked over and hugged Caroline again as she started crying, he forgot that Stefan was supposed to be away and not rotting in the cell below the house and probably listening to this very conversation. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, it's just…it's been a long day. Maybe we should go to sleep." Damon sighed and held Caroline now as she cried onto his shoulder.
"Yeah, I guess so." Caroline sniffled and pulled away from Damon finally a little bit
Caroline woke up feeling terrible again. It wasn't really Damon's fault for making her cry again, it was just whenever anyone brought up Stefan's name, Caroline just wanted to break down into tears. Yesterday, thankfully, Tyler seemed to catch onto that quickly and he avoided the topic of Stefan all together while they were at the lake having fun. However, staying here, in Stefan's room, with Stefan's brother always around…the topic of Stefan would be hard to avoid. She made her way downstairs, not really caring that she probably looked just as horrible as she did yesterday morning from crying all last night. And there was Damon again, standing there in the kitchen making breakfast, but he probably knew that Caroline was already standing there, staring at him completely confused as to why someone like Damon would even bother making breakfast.
"Hungry?" Damon asked as Caroline sat down in the kitchen and kept watching Damon as if he were some strange animal at the zoo that she had never seen before.
"Uh, no" Caroline said and shook her head and looked away from Damon and out the window to see that now today, it was a dull and grey rainy day.
"Do you even try to act normal anymore and eat regular food?" Damon asked as he sat down next to her and started eating
"Not the past few days" Caroline sighed "It doesn't matter though, I've been doing fine on the bunny blood." Caroline shrugged
"I noticed this morning when I went out there and saw half the bunny population dead and drained." Damon said
"Sorry." Caroline said
"It's fine just…lay off for a little bit otherwise people might think there's another animal on the lose, but only going for bunnies this time." Damon said with a smirk and Caroline smiled a little for a few seconds "You doing anything today?"
"Not really." Caroline shrugged "Tyler has to help his mom with something today and well…you know the rest. Everyone else pretty much hates me."
"Why would everyone else hate you?" Damon asked
"The whole Stefan thing. I pretty much broke the number one rule and stole my best friends boyfriend, even with Stefan gone now, it's still…it just feels weird hanging out with Elena and Bonnie anymore, I can tell they hate me." Caroline said "So, I just don't hang out with them anymore. I don't want to be where I'm not welcomed."
"I doubt they hate you Caroline, probably a little surprised, but I don't think they hate you" Damon said "You guys were best friends, you still are."
"I don't know…I think I'm just gonna sleep today or something. I don't feel too good today, just….down in the dumps" Caroline shrugged
"It's bad to stay in while you're depressed." Damon said "I'd know."
"No, I just want to go back to sleep." Caroline said and got up from the table "I'll see you later" Caroline sighed and, catching Damon completely off guard, she leaned in and hugged him really quick before walking away and back up the stairs.
Caroline fell asleep in a matter of minutes as soon as she hit the bed. She just wanted to pass out and forget the outside world, it didn't have too much meaning to it without Stefan being there. Sure, there was Tyler being her friend, and there was Damon too, actually trying to care for once. But other than that, there wasn't much of anything else out there for her.
Caroline knew she was dreaming as soon as she realized that she wasn't in the Salvatore house anymore, in fact, she was pretty sure she wasn't even in Mystic Falls anymore. She had no idea where in the world she was, there were a few things that were familiar, but not much. She was close by a lake that looked familiar, and it was surrounded by a dense forest, and there was a large white house with blue shutters and an old tire swing in the front of the house, it kinda looked like her Grandma's house now that she thought about it. She really missed going there during the summers when she was little with her mom and dad. They stopped going up there when their Grandma died. Her mom still technically owned the house, it was just that no one went there anymore. She remembered the few times she came up here with Elena and they would play outside all day, climbing in the trees, swinging on the tire swings, swimming in the lake, they used to have fun.
She walked towards the house more and stood there in front of it. It looked…lifeless, and abandoned. She missed when the house used to look full of life. Caroline looked back over to the lake and it was lifeless too, it looked like it was frozen still. Caroline walked over there a picked a stone up from the edge of the lake and sent it skipping across and smiled when she saw the lake looked somewhat life like again. She turned back around towards the house and noticed the lights on in there now, and the curtains were wide open as she saw people walking around through there, smiling and laughing. She stared at the house confused for a minute before she saw someone open up the door, it was Bonnie walking out of the house, smiling away, and holding Jeremy's hand who was actually smiling for once too.
"Caroline, there you are!" Bonnie said and perked up as she saw Caroline standing there, she let go of Jeremy's hand and ran over to Caroline and hugged her "Where have you been? Everyone was starting to get worried about you not showing up."
"…Showing up for what?" Caroline asked confused
"…Your Birthday, don't tell me you forgot your own birthday, again" Bonnie laughed "Why do you think Stefan invited us all up here?"
"Wait… my birthday, here? And Stefan…is here?" Caroline asked confused
"Did you hit your head on something Care?" Jeremy asked worried now and walked up to Caroline and Bonnie
"She's fine Jer." Bonnie laughed
Caroline looked behind Jeremy and Bonnie and saw the driveway filled with cars now, people really were here, but for her birthday? She knew that wasn't for another two weeks. Oh, great, her birthday was in two weeks and Stefan was gone, but…Bonnie said he was here?
"Wait, Stefan's here?" Caroline asked
"Of course…you two have been dating for like two years…unless you two had a fight again and this is his way of making it up to you." Jeremy shrugged
"You two didn't have a fight again, did you?" Bonnie asked confused
"…No…I wanna see him" Caroline said
"Well, come on then." Bonnie laughed and grabbed Caroline's hand and dragged her towards the house.
As soon as Caroline walked in, the house looked completely alive. There were people walking around, people walk past her to wish her Happy Birthday, people were having conversations and actually laughing for once. Caroline was starting to wonder where Stefan was, but first, they ran into Elena and Damon who were both happy and smiling.
"Happy Birthday Caroline!" Elena said happily and hugged her tightly
"Thanks" Caroline said and smiled a little bit as she hugged her back
"Yeah, Happy Birthday Blondie." Damon said with a smirk and rolled his eyes as Elena playfully slapped him on the shoulder
"Have you guys seen Stefan?" Caroline asked curiously
"You mean the guy that's pacing back and forth non stop in the living room worried sick about you?" Damon asked sarcastically
"That's him" Caroline said and let out a sigh of relief and started smiling a little bit "I'm gonna go-"
"Go ahead." Elena said and Caroline nodded at her quickly before taking the familiar walk down the hallway from the kitchen to the living room where there in the middle of the dimly lit living room, there was Stefan sitting all alone on the couch now.
"Stefan?" Caroline asked carefully
As soon as Stefan looked up at her, he smiled and she smiled back. He got up off the couch and hugged her tightly and Caroline hugged him back. She didn't care if this was all a dream right now, she wanted to stay here forever because Stefan was here.
"I was starting to think you were going to avoid your own party after our fight last night." Stefan said and smiled down at her before kissing her quickly
"You know, I forgot what that fight was about anyway." Caroline smiled and kissed him back "So, this is all for me?" Caroline asked and brightened up
"Yeah, all for you." Stefan smiled "I kinda have a surprise for you though."
"What is it?" Caroline asked and perked up now
"I don't know if I should give it to you right now…" Stefan smiled
"Stefan Salvatore, you tell me that surprise you have for me right now!" Caroline demanded and giggled a little bit
"Fine, here" Stefan said and took something out of his pocket and handed it to Caroline and she looked at her hands and saw keys there
"Keys?" Caroline asked confused
"Keys to this house." Stefan said "Your Mom wanted to give them to you actually, but she had to go to work and, this was her birthday present to you."
"This house?" Caroline asked and smiled
"Yep" Stefan said and kissed her "Happy Birthday."
"Oh my gosh, I have to thank her when I see her." Caroline said and hugged Stefan back tightly "You know, that means we can move in up here. Get away from Mystic Falls and all those other crazy vampires" Caroline laughed
"Sounds like a great idea." Caroline smiled
"Look…I have to go-"
"What do you mean?" Caroline asked worried now
"I'm sorry." Stefan said and Caroline saw sadness in his eyes "But…you're going to wake up soon."
"Wait, you made this dream up for me? You told me about this a while ago… the dream thing!" Caroline said "Please stay Stefan! Tell me where you are." Caroline pleaded
"I can't" Stefan said and reached into his pocket again and handed her a folded up note "Open it when you wake up, okay?"
"Stefan, please-"
"I have to go." Stefan said and kissed her as if he was never going to see her again, but he knew that he would find a way to get out and see her again. "Please, just, read the note." Stefan said once he pulled away
And in a matter of seconds, Caroline woke up from her dream and she was there, laying down in Stefan's bed in his room. She woke up more and felt something in her hands. She looked down and saw that there was the note there, the one Stefan gave her in the dream, and there was also a set of keys there too, and she wondered if it really was keys to her Grandmas house. But she sat up and opened up the note first.
'Caroline,
I just want you to know, that I didn't leave you. I never wanted to leave you. I love you so much and I wish I could be there with you right now, just holding you in my arms. I'll come back, I promise to find a way to get back to you, even if it's the last thing I do, I promise to come back to you. I can't tell you where I am right now, but… just trust Damon and let him take care of you for now. I want to be back by the time the next full moon comes around, I really want to be back sooner than that, but who knows when they'll let me come back. I'm safe for now, and I want you to know that no matter what happens, I love you.
Love, Stefan'
Caroline felt herself tearing up as she read the note and by the time she reached the end of it, she was crying completely now. Damon must have heard her from downstairs, because he came running into the room and walked up to Caroline and held her in his arms for a minute while she finished calming down and crying. Damon looked down at the note and he wasn't mad, he knew Stefan would try to reach her eventually, in fact he was shocked to see that Stefan didn't tell her where he was. But Damon also noticed something else there with Caroline too.
"Care, what's with the keys?" Damon asked confused
"Stefan gave them to me in my dream. I think they're to my Grandma's old house." Caroline sniffled
"…Did you used to like being up at your Grandmas?" Damon asked confused
"Yeah, it was always nice up there" Caroline said and smiled a little bit
"Fine…get dressed" Damon sighed
"…Why?" Caroline asked confused
"I'll take you to wherever her house is, we'll see if those are really the keys or not." Damon said
"So we're going on a road trip?" Caroline asked and perked up a little
"Yeah, we are, so get dressed blondie." Damon said with a smirk and Caroline hugged him back, even though Stefan was gone and she had no idea where he was, and from the sounds of it he was being held somewhere, she felt that no matter where she went now, that Stefan would be with her. And maybe the keys were a hint? Maybe Stefan was there? The thought of that made her smile a little even though she doubted it.
Caroline knew Damon was in the shower right now getting read to leave, but now that she felt a little better, she felt a little hungry, and didn't want to go out bunny hunting again, so instead, she snuck down into the basement to go into the cooler and get some blood. Caroline grabbed some blood and started drinking right away, she was more hungry then she thought she was. She grabbed another one and started walking back up the hallway, until she heard something shuffling around in there.
"…Hello?" Caroline asked confused and turned around to see if anyone was there behind her "Anyone in here?"
"Caroline?" Stefan's voice called out to her
"…Very funny Damon, nice Stefan impersonation, now come on, we gotta go if we wanna get to my grandmas house before nighttime" Caroline said and walked down the hallway until she stopped at the cell door and instead of seeing a Damon with a smirk on his face, she saw Stefan, sitting on the bed in there, looking right at her in disbelief. "…Stefan?" Caroline asked shocked
"Caroline, what are you doing down here, I thought I told you not to-" Damon stopped short when he saw Caroline standing there in front of the cell door where Stefan was "…Oh…crap."