Caroline.

She turned into Mystic Falls after driving from the airport. It was home. It was ordinary. It was what she knew. There would be no surprises here.

Caroline decided to return home before making her way back to Whitmore College, she wanted to see her mom, the Sherriff. After parking her car in the driveway, she unlocked the house and walked inside. "Mom! Hey, I'm home," she called out. When it went for more than ten seconds with no response, she concluded that Liz was at work. Sighing, she dropped her bag at the entrance and headed up to her room, wanting to have a shower in her en-suite.

As soon as she reached the threshold there was something noticeably wrong, she could hear breathing coming from her room. There was someone there. Grabbing a nearby baseball bat, she reached for the handle, flung open the door and launched her weapon of choice at the intruder that had taken up residence sitting on her bed.

"Owww, what the hell Care?!" The intruder sounded oddly familiar and was now nursing a fresh lump on the side of his head.

"Tyler? Oh my... I'm so sorr," she cut herself off. Why was she apologising when he was the one breaking and entering? She quickly corrected herself.

"Well what the hell are you doing here? I thought you were a burglar or something!" Yes, she decided, that sounded a lot better. Still standing, she crossed her arms and leaned on one foot, waiting for an explanation.

"Okay... Look, I owe you an apology Care," he looked up at her, meeting her gaze before dropping it and continuing. "I shouldn't have said those things last week, I was tired, angry and upset... I'm basically trying to say that I'm sorry." He was looking anywhere but her, eyes nervously flitting around the room. She was too tired to deal with this, whilst her trip was only a short one, she still had a slight sense of jetlag and she really wanted that shower.

"Ty, its fine you know? I forgive you and I hope we can still see each other, I mean we have the same friends so I think it would help if we actually talked," she tried to give him a reassuring smile, he returned it. They sat a while longer is silence before he realised where he was.

"Oh, sorry... I should probably go," and with that, he walked over to the window, unlatched it and jumped outside, two storeys down. Caroline rolled her eyes; stupid, show-off hybrids.

Hybrids. Two hybrids were in her life, one more so than the other. Guilt racked her as she thought of the two men that she had grown fond of; both taking very different emotions from her. At least now she knew how Elena felt; the problem was that Elena had made a decision, whether that decision lasted or not was another story entirely. It was her turn to make that decision, but now, standing alone in her room, only one face made it into her mind. But that hybrid was totally not an option.

Now, back in Mystic Falls, Caroline had no idea what to do. She was fully showered, feeling refreshed and ready for anything. Her little confrontation with Tyler had gone surprisingly well, she had expected to see him in the near future, but that had been sprung on her as soon as she walked through her door. With no pressing matters for her to attend to, she flung on her parka jacket, stepped into a neat pair of wedges and headed out the house, locking it behind her.

The problem with wandering with no sole purpose is that you do, eventually, end up walking in circles. The problem with becoming a vampire was that you are forced to turn to drink in order to drown your sorrows. This trail of thought, eventually, led her to the Mystic Grill; local hang-out for all blood sucking alcoholics.

She walked over the threshold and continued into bar that was gradually filling up with locals and passers-by. Heading over to her regular seat, she spotted Matt behind the bar pouring drinks. She removed her coat and dropped it under her stool, before inclining her head at the only remaining human in their 'mythical friendship group'.

"Hey Matt, bourbon?" she asked, smiling at her ex-boyfriend. Matt hadn't changed at all, thank goodness. He was a constant reminder of humanity to them all and helped keep them relatively grounded. He had always been the typical good-looking town boy; short light brown hair, muscular build (but not in a threatening or exaggerated way) and trustworthy light-blue eyes.

"Tough weekend?" he returned the smile whilst pouring her a shot of the whiskey.

"Yeah... I guess you could say that" she took the glass from him and downed it in one, only wincing slightly as the liquid ran down her throat. She pushed it back towards him, a simple message passing between them. Caroline was going to be here a while, they needed more alcohol.

Another two shots in and she was starting to cheer up, talking animatedly to Matt about no particular topic when he decided to breach the 'Tyler' subject.

"Have you talked to him yet?"

"Yeah, I practically assaulted him a couple of hours ago."

At the worried look that Matt gave her, she waved her hand in front of his face.

"Look, I thought he was a burglar okay? We talked and now we are cool, so..."

Matt seemed satisfied enough with her answer and loosened up, glancing around before taking a shot himself. He gasped in shock as it hit his taste buds. Caroline rolled her eyes before grabbing the bottle off him and sloshing out another round for the both of them.

"You'll get used to it" she grinned and passed back his glass, offering hers out towards him. He clinked them together before chocking it back.

"Right, I'll see you later Care. I need to get back to work." he said, whilst tapping his right hand on the wooden bar surface, turning and walking over to a customer that was giving them dirty looks.

Sighing at being left to drink by herself, she cradled the bottle in both hands and let her head lie on them. She heard the stool scrape against the floor next to her, without bothering to turn, she knew who it was. There was only one other person she knew that attempted to drink their own weight on a Sunday afternoon.

"Blondie" he grunted in acknowledgement, before grabbing the bottle off her and bringing it to his lips, gulping it back as if it were merely water. A drinking master at work.

"Damon" she replied, equalling his lack of enthusiasm.

Both sat there in companionable silence; thinking about their own lives, decisions and futures. Asking themselves questions, seeking the answers at the bottom of whiskey glasses.

The drinking continued for a further ten minutes before Caroline decided to say something. Damon was looking even more depressed than usual. This was not good, as it usually resulted in a death; sometimes plural. There were dark circles underlying his eyes, which seemed duller and less sparky. The arrogant posture he usually possessed was replaced by a carless slouch and his raven-black hair was ruffled, as if he had been unconsciously running his hands through it; he seemed stressed. She turned to look at him.

"Hey... Are you OK?" she inwardly winced, expecting the harsh, sarcastic come-back that he usually provided. Instead, he took a swig of the liquor, placed his hands flat out on the desk and turned to face her worried gaze.

"I just... She... I needed to stop being so selfish" his voice caved ever so slightly on the last word, making Caroline's eyes widen. She had never seen him like this. Cocky? Yes. Annoying? Yes. Downright psychotic? Absolutely! But she had never seen Damon Salvatore broken.

He sensed where her trail of thought was going, saw pity in her eyes and immediately put up the front that was so typical of him. Sighing, leaning back on the chair, he looked up at the ceiling. His line of sight wasn't focused on anything in particular, like he was looking beyond the plastered surface, his thoughts somewhere else entirely. Caroline was about to get up and leave when he started talking. She repositioned herself, scanning his face, perfectly content at being a sounding board/agony aunt if it meant that she could stop him from going on a ripper binge.

"We went to the lake house Saturday morning because it was her birthday and she wanted to get away from college, work and everything that reminded her that she wasn't aging."

Caroline immediately felt guilty, because she had completely forgotten about Elena's birthday and then had the good grace to be mad at her for ditching study hour... She really was an appalling friend.

"On Saturday we went out in the canoe and onto the lake, it was all fine... the perfect day" his brow drew up in an expression that had etched lines into his forehead, justifying, or trying to justify in his mind what came next.

"After a drink or two, we went up to the bedroom an." he was cut short.

"Ew no! Ok, I draw a line at that. Seriously Damon? TMI!" Cringing, Caroline looked up to see him smirking, obviously amused at what she had just said, or rather loudly whispered. Behind the look he gave her was a sadness, this obviously wasn't the end of the tale.

"That is exactly what Mr. Lockwood said when faced with a similar conversation a few months ago." He shifted, smirking. Catching her eye, he could tell she wasn't at all amused.

"And" he said emphasising where he had left off, "We got talking. I haven't seen Stefan in weeks, usually I wouldn't think anything was up, but after everything that happened the last time..." Caroline nodded her head in understanding, because last time, Silas had turned out to be Stefan's doppelganger and had shoved him in a safe, into the quarry where he would later drown over and over again. He carried on.

"He's my brother and it kills me to say this, but I do care for him, I love him. After everything I did wrong, he still forgave me!" his voice was growing steadily louder, but still not loud enough for anyone else to hear.

"I'm with Elena now and I can't lose her, but being with her means I lose my brother. I have pushed him away because he can't stand the sight of us together..."

Suddenly it clicked. She knew what he was trying to tell her, but he couldn't bring himself to say it; to solidify and acknowledge what he had done.

"You broke up with her didn't you?" Caroline kept her voice gentle, still unsure of the reason behind his action. "Damon..." She looked at him, trying to figure out the motive for the breakup. In the last year they had spent quite a lot of time together, mostly here at the bar; they had the ability to read each other's moods and would often just talk about what was going on in their lives, neither really listening to what the other had to say, but just sitting and drinking as companions. I've replaced Alaric, she thought and smiled slightly. They all missed Ric. They heard from him occasionally via Bonnie or Jeremey, but it wasn't the same when you couldn't see or hear him yourself. She knew Damon missed him the most, he needed someone to talk to that just accepted him and as long as he wasn't out killing anybody she felt obligated to fill that role.

Tyler was right in a way; she could see the good in people. She zoned back to when he had said that to her; a few weeks after she had slept with the original hybrid. She had pretty much told him to get over it or get out of her life, she was still waiting for him to make up his mind. It was just a shame that he had viewed it as a negative attribute, but then again, everything to do with Klaus had to be negative. Right? She had told Tyler that she was done feeling guilty...

The reasoning behind 'Delena's' breakup (she knew there was a couple name to be found!) was simple, yet astonishing and completely shocked her into silence for another minute.

"You feel guilty." She said it as a statement, rather than a question, but it didn't stop a surprised tone from leaking its way into her explanation. Nothing good every came from them splitting, although Caroline hated to admit it; they were good for each other, they just kept coming up with reasons that got in the way of being happy.

"Damon…" she sighed, because lecturing him would do no good; when he wanted something, he would remain stubborn until it happened. Idiot.

"I know..." he seemed even more shocked at himself than she did as he reached for the half forgotten bottle of bourbon and took another mouthful. "Damon Salvatore feels guilty... Go figure."

To be continued...

*Hey everyone, I know I have already posted this as separate chapters, but I thought it would be better as one big one. Please Review, follow and favourite! Happy Reading- Burnee xx*