Stefan was awoken by an awful scream from the beautiful girl lying next to him.
He sat up quickly as Caroline was thrashing next to him. She was having one hell of a nightmare.
He could hear her mumbling things; 'get off of me', 'I didn't do anything wrong', 'please don't hurt me again'.

Stefan felt his heart break as he heard her.
He put his hand on her shoulder to try and wake her and was instead met with an elbow straight into his jaw.
He sucked in a hard breath of air and rubbed his jaw, trying to get the pain to go away. He turned back to her and put both of his hands on her arms to get her to sit still, then he tried to wake her softly.
"Caroline, hey, you're safe. It's okay. Caroline, it's Stefan, please wake up."
After some protest, she finally began to wake up and calm down from the nightmare.

Caroline opened her eyes and was met with a terrified look on Stefan's face as he was still rubbing his jaw.
She sat up straight, realizing that she had hurt him during her nightmare and covered her face with her hands and started crying.
"Oh god, Stefan, I am so sorry!"
Stefan got on his knees directly in front of her and put his hands on each side of her face, "hey, don't you dare apologize, you didn't do anything!"
"But I hurt you!" She was sobbing now.
"Caroline, I'm okay, I promise. I'm fine. Right now all I'm worried about is you. I've never seen someone have such a violent nightmare before."
Her crying continued as she dropped her head back down, "they don't happen as often anymore. Before I got here, it was almost every night. Now it's only maybe once a week, they're not bad anymore."
Stefan's heart was breaking as he looked at this beautiful girl in front of him and watched her break down right before his eyes.
"Care, why do these nightmares happen?"
She shook her head back and forth harshly, not wanting to even speak.
"Caroline, please, let me help you."
"That's the thing Stefan, no one can help me."
She sounded so broken and all he wanted to do was take her into his arms and protect her from everything.
"I can help you Caroline, please give me the chance to prove that. Tell me what happened", he pleaded with her.

As Caroline lifted her head and looked at him, she could see tears in his beautiful green eyes.

She couldn't explain it, but she knew that she could trust Stefan with her life and with the thing that she'd kept hidden from everyone except for Elena and Damon.

She nodded her head, took a deep breath, and spoke slowly.
"His name was Tyler, I met him my junior year and fell fast. It all happened pretty much how you'd expect. The first six months were absolutely perfect. He swept me off of my feet. We went on dates three or four nights a week to really fancy places, he would buy me gifts and jewelry and talked to me like I was the most important thing in his world. And then, slowly but progressively, things started to get really bad. He started to get really mean, verbally. He would tell me I was stupid and that I would never amount to anything or say that I wasn't good enough and that no one else would ever want me."

Stefan sat completely still and tried to prepare himself for the next part of the story that he knew was coming.

She drew in a shaky breath, "after about a year into things, that was the first time he hit me."

Stefan's entire body tensed and he balled his hands into fists. But Caroline didn't seem to notice, she seemed to be on autopilot now, remembering this horrible time in her life.

"He came home one night and I didn't have dinner ready yet. He just lost it. He started screaming about how I didn't do anything all day while he was slaving away at work and the least I could do was make sure his fucking dinner was ready by the time he got home.
I'd never really been scared of him until that night. He charged at me and just slapped me right across the face.
After that, it happened more often. First it was once or twice every two weeks; then it was once or twice every week and then eventually it was just every night.
A year and a half into things, my mom passed away. She was the last family that I had, and after that, I really felt trapped. I didn't have anyone."

She paused for a moment and Stefan found the courage to speak and hoped that his voice wouldn't give out on him, "How did Elena and Damon find out?"

She looked at him and for the first time since they had woken up, she wore a small smile.

"Any time they'd come to visit they'd see some of the bruises but I always gave excuses. I know they always knew, but Elena told me she didn't know how to truly help me when I wouldn't tell her anything. And then this last time they came, it was like they had a plan. They came when Tyler was still at work and forced me to tell them what was going on.
After I told them everything, Elena got up and started packing all of my stuff, anything she could get her hands on went in the suitcase. She tried to force me to go with them, but I just couldn't. I completely froze because I was terrified of what would happen if I left and he ever found me again. So I stayed and I made them leave.
Not long after that, there was a really bad night. He had been drinking and the beating was worse than it had ever been before. He put me in the hospital this time, for two weeks. He would come every night after work and play the part of the perfect boyfriend for the hospital staff. Everyone told me I was so lucky to have someone like him by my side and I just had to smile and pretend that I felt so happy", she let out a sarcastic laugh and shook her head.
"One of the days, when he was at work, I called Elena and told her what happened. She booked me a flight for the next day. He went to work the next morning, I checked myself out and got on my flight and was in Mystic Falls 4 hours later."

She let out a big sigh, letting Stefan know she was done with her story.

When she finally looked back up at him, he was crying, tears streaming down his face.
He looked like he had every emotion possible running through him.
She took her hand and gently cupped his cheek, "Stefan, it's okay. I'm okay now."

He shook his head as he tried to speak, "It's not okay Caroline, none of this is okay. You deserve the world, and that piece of shit deserves to be in a cell or in the ground!"
He didn't mean for it to come out so harsh, but he couldn't help it.

"I'm sorry", he apologized.
"I'm so sorry that you had to go through any of that, and I'm sorry that I didn't know you then and I'm sorry that I couldn't help you. Someone like you deserves to be told every single day just how amazing you are. You're more than good enough Caroline, and the truth is that no one deserves you. There is no one who is good enough for YOU. You're too good for any guy."

Caroline was the one who was crying now, she'd never heard someone talk about her like that before, and she couldn't help the blush that was now covering her cheeks.
"Stefan, you have helped me. I've felt more like myself here in the last six weeks, than I have for the past two years of my life. And that's all thanks to you. I wasn't expecting to find someone like you, ever.
You pulled me out of the black hole that I'd been in for two years. You saved me."

Stefan looked into her beautiful blue eyes and before he could change his mind, he took her into his arms and just held her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he swore he'd never felt something so perfect. She fit perfectly in his arms.

He couldn't believe how strong she was. She'd been through so much and yet she still had such a bright light in her. Her was completely amazed by her, she was incredible.

He laid back and pulled her into his chest, never wanting to let go.

"It's okay, Caroline. You're safe now, you don't ever have to be afraid again", he whispered to her as he kissed the top of her head.

Caroline sighed as she lay with her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. She felt content, but more importantly, she felt safe.

She drifted back to sleep that night knowing that she was in Stefan's arms, and got the best night's sleep she'd had in over a year.

That's it for chapter 5! I hope you guys liked it! As always, any reviews or comments are appreciated. Chapter 6 will be up soon!