When morning came Bonnie and Abby were gone. Caroline lay alone in her bedroom now, where just a few hours ago the three of them had been gathered as Abby drank greedily from the blood bag and completed her transition. It had gone smoothly, just like Klaus had said it would. Bonnie and Abby had left shortly after. Caroline told them they were welcome to stay as long as they needed, but Bonnie really wanted to go home. When Bonnie said "home", Caroline knew Bonnie meant Gram's old place. It had been left to Bonnie in Gram's will, and that's where Abby had been staying when it was apparent that she was going to be hanging around for a while to help with the coffin. Now it would be Abby's refuge for an indefinite period of time, but it didn't seem like either of them minded. Caroline new that, despite the hard front Bonnie had been putting on up until this point; she'd been enjoying her time looking through Gram's old stuff with her mom. Although the circumstances now sucked, the fact that they had each other made them bearable. They would be okay. Caroline could feel it. Of course she hadn't let them leave without a good supply of blood bags.

"Your first few days you'll be craving blood like crazy," Caroline had told them as she handed off the large cooler, "it's your bodies way of trying to restart everything, but don't worry it will get better. Then you'll only need to feed when you know you need to. Human food and alcohol help stave off cravings."

"Thank you Caroline," Abby had replied as she took the cooler, " I really don't know what else to say. You've been a true friend to Bonnie and to me."

They all exchanged hugs, and then Bonnie and Abby drove off into the darkness, in Caroline's car of course. There was no way she was going to make them walk, and it wouldn't have been good for Abby had they ran into a jogger coming off of the second or third shift. Although Bonnie was the safest person for Abby to be with because Bonnie could save Abby from herself, Caroline didn't want to be the one to put them in any vulnerable situations where Bonnie had to intervene.

Caroline had tried to sleep after they left, but it seemed like sleep was no longer her friend these days. She'd managed rob a few hours, but she could feel the exhaustion deep in her bones as the sun peeked from behind her curtains. She had to get up. Face the day. Check on Bonnie. Talk to Elena. Play 20 questions with Damon. Call Tyler. Compel the billing person at the hospital to forget about Matt's bill.. As always she would struggle to put the pieces of their shattered, unnatural lives back together. She would fight for normalcy despite the chaos, try to bring some sunshine to the darkness, it was just her nature.

First thing first though, she needed coffee. There was no way she was making it through this day without some really really strong coffee. She jumped out of bed and headed for the kitchen. Generously piling the coffee scoop high and dumping in to the coffee maker.

"Rough morning?" her mom asked as she walked into the kitchen.

Caroline rubbed her eyes and yawned, "More like a rough night."

"Are you hung over?" her mom inquired as she moved in to see if she could smell any alcohol on her daughter.

Caroline rolled her eyes, "Seriously? You're worried about my alcohol consumption?" Caroline just started at her mother dumbfounded, "There is the original family of vampire's living down the street. A centuries old, dead witch that's really pissing them off because she's hell bent on killing them, and a serial murder running around staking humans like they are vampires," she paused for a breath, "I think that you have plenty of reasons to worry about me, but how much I'm drinking is not one of them."

"Okay, I'm sorry," her mother responded in defense, "but you are my responsibility still vampire or not." It all seemed so simple to her mother. Liz had known about vampires long before Caroline. She'd known about this parallel reality that challenged truth and sanity, but somehow still when push came to shove the answer to why Liz worried about Caroline was so simple that it frustrated Caroline like none other. She was her mother therefore it was her job, no her duty, to be concerned. But things weren't that simple, nothing was that simple, not anymore. So when Caroline didn't respond because she didn't really feel like arguing with her mother, Liz continued, "And your dad just died, hunny," her tone became softer with her last words, "How am I supposed to know how vampire's cope. I just care Caroline, that's all."

And there it was. Her mother's simple answer. Caroline let out a sigh, "I know, I didn't mean to snap. I just haven't been getting enough sleep with everything going on."

Her mom walked over and cupped Caroline's face in her hands, "I'm here for you, if you need to talk about anything. I'm here."

It took everything Caroline had in her not to just grab her mother, place her in the kitchen chair and tell her everything. About Abby and Bonnie, about Stephen and his struggles with his humanity, about Elena and the strain that was currently on the three girl's friendship, about Matt and the blood slut Rebekah, about Tyler and how she didn't know what to feel about what he was doing, and about Klaus. How he'd been wooing her. How she'd warned him. How he'd helped Abby. How her perception of truth and reality were being challenged not because vampires, werewolves, and witches exist, but because of one man who was supposed to be one way, but had been everything to the contrary when it came to her. That's why life wasn't just simple anymore, and she couldn't just accept simple truths, because the fact was that truth was anything but simple.

But, she couldn't do it. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't so she simply responded, "I know mom, thank you."

They shared a tender smile, and just like that their moment was over. The way it always was.

Caroline's mom walked over to the kitchen table to take a seat and began reading the morning paper. Caroline took the opportunity to go back to her room to get ready for the day.

She emerged about forty-five minutes later feeling much better. It was truly amazing how a few curls, some eye liner, and lip gloss could pick up her mood.

Her mom had left for work already, but when she walked back into the kitchen she saw a note on the table from her.

Caroline,

Try and have a good day sweetie.

Love,

Mom

It was short and to the point, but it made Caroline smile as she walked over to the counter to pour herself a cup of coffee. The note did more than that though. It made her think of another note that she had received the night before. It made her think of Klaus.

She gave the ceramic mug in her hands a long, thoughtful look before placing it back in the cupboard. She walked over to the pantry, shuffling boxes and bags of food around until she found what she was looking for. She emerged with two travel mugs which she proceeded to fill with coffee. There was one more thing she had to do today. She had to go see Klaus. She owed him a cup of coffee, and a thank you.