Title: Dirty Little Secret

Chapter: 7

Summary: Caroline Forbes is a lot of things. Neurotic, controlling and insecure being top of the list, but one thing she is not is stupid. So she knows that something is seriously up with childhood friend (and occasional enemy) Tyler Lockwood. She's determine to figure out why all the sudden he's acting as if he's seen a ghost and why he looks at her all the time with a heat she doesn't understand. As she digs deeper, she finds out about a whole new world she didn't know existed and- despite her lack of knowledge- how she's part of it. Mostly AU.

Author's Note: Aww shucks XD You guys are just too nice! Thank you for all the feedback! Well I'm all moved so updates should be quicker. So was anyone else extremely disappointed with the season finale of VD? I was. The only good thing that happened was that bed scene with Damon and Elena and Stefan leaving :D (sorry Stelena fans). Tyler wasn't even in the finale! Ugh, September is a loooooong ways away. Anyways, Enjooooooy!

One thing was for sure, Caroline never thought she'd feel safe in Tyler Lockwood's arms. Until she was actually in them, the thought of his strong arms wrapped around her was weird and alien. But now that they were, it felt weirdly right, like somehow nothing could touch her when he was holding her. She needed that feeling right now, the sense of security and safety. She was still trembling with fear at the events that had just taken place. Even though the creepy man with the scar was gone, she still felt his sly, dangerous presence lurking over her. She was probably overreacting, but no one had ever scared her so much in her life. She'd dealt with pervy old guys plenty of times, but this time had been different. It had felt too personal, like when he looked at her, he was seeing so much more than what color mascara she was wearing and the color of her eyes. Even though she had only felt his touch for a second, she still felt the burning heat of his fingers on her skin.

There were still tears rolling down her cheeks and the shallow part of herself was happy she wore waterproof makeup, but the other part didn't give a damn what she looked like. Being scared beyond belief usually had that effect.

"Its okay, Care," Tyler's strangely soothing voice said, rubbing a small circle on her bare back with his thumb. "He's gone."

She pulled back enough to glimpse at his tan, angular face, which was looking down at her with concern etched into it's features. "You're always saving me lately," she pointed out, her voice sounding small and weak.

He smiled slightly. "Someone's got to."

She laughed, it coming out slightly hysterical before ending in a sound resembling a small sob. "I guess that's true."

He wrapped his arms around her once again and she didn't even think about the fact that she was pressed up against him in a barely there bikini and he was wearing nothing but swim trunks. All she thought was she felt safe and his skin was really warm.

"Caroline!" a familiar, worried voice called out and she looked up, seeing Matt headed toward her. His step faltered slightly when he saw who's arms she was in but quickly recovered and made his way to her. She pulled back from Tyler, ignoring the cold, prickling feeling that swam across her skin, chasing off the warmness of him, and wiped her cheeks. Matt's arms were around her within seconds, hugging her to him. She couldn't help but notice Matt's arms were surprisingly less comforting than Tyler's were. She tried to shake that thought out of her head though, her explanation being she had been upset with Matt all day. She was mad at him so why would his touch make her feel better?

"Caroline what happened back there?" he asked, pulling back to look down at her. His blue eyes were filled with so much concern she almost forgot the fact that he had been staring at Dana's ass while they washed a car together. She may have been mad at him, but she still kept close tabs on the guy she was dating because regardless of her opinion of him at that moment, they were still dating.

"Nothing," she said, pulling away from him. She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold despite the temperature of the day.

"That didn't look like nothing Care," Matt disagreed.

"Well it was," she said, holding up her chin and her voice developing a hint of bitchyness thinking of Matt's wandering eyes. "It was just some creepy guy being… creepy. Its fine. I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," he pointed out, examining her puffy eyes and wet face.

"Well I am," she said, stubbornly. Then she sighed and added, "I will be, okay? I just needed a few minutes."

Matt's blue eyes shifted over to Tyler, who was standing there, looking uncomfortable and awkward. "I see that," he said. Neither Tyler nor Caroline missed the suggestion in his voice or the don't-ever-touch-my-girlfriend-again look Matt gave Tyler. Not so subtle at all.

She wasn't sure exactly why, but that look irritated her to no end. And it was a little hypocritical- even she would admit that. She was pissed at him for staring at Dana's ass, and yet she had just been half naked in Tyler's arms. Granted, the situations were different, but still. Not to mention Caroline was always the possessive, jealous one in the relationship. Matt was usually the laid back, secure one. Even a hint of jealousy from him was shocking.

Before she could respond with something that would most likely start an argument, she saw Bonnie and Elena coming at them, both looking equally concerned and confused. Neither of them noticed the thick tension between her and the two boys as they pushed right through it to get to Caroline. She was in a Bonnie-Elena sandwich, getting the breath squeezed out of her within seconds.

Bonnie asked, "Are you okay?" at the same time Elena said, "What happened? We were way out in the parking lot so we didn't see anything."

"I'm fine," Caroline repeated, though she still felt less than fine. "It was just some scary old guy hitting on me."

"That could not just of been being hit on," Elena disagreed, anger flashing through her brown doe eyes.

God, was that true.

Caroline was starting to feel a little overwhelmed with all the attention and the crowd of people who had gathered close to hear what was happening. Sure, she liked attention sometimes but this was past her comfort zone. "Really guys," she said, trying to sound a little more calm. "I'm okay. He just scared me."

"Care," Elena began.

Thankfully, Tyler must of seen her discomfort with the situation and stepped in to save her. "She'll be okay," he said, confidently, though the worry was still present in his brown eyes. "I think she just wants a little space."

Caroline shot him a thankful, relieved look while Matt and Elena both gave him a hard, annoyed look. Bonnie just stood there, looking torn at what to do.

"He's right," Caroline said, nodding. "I'm just going to run to the bathroom, get cleaned up and then I'll be right back out to help."

"Are you sure?" Matt asked, still looking more annoyed than concerned.

"Yes," she said, confidently. "Just everyone go back to washing cars. Sexy Suds isn't over yet."

Matt nodded before sauntering away without looking back. Elena was still looking at Caroline with concern. Bonnie tugged her on the brunette's arm, shooting Caroline a look that clearly said: "We'll talk about this later" and then glancing at Tyler. Finally, Elena let Bonnie drag her back to a beat up blue sedan. Caroline finally breathed.

"Thanks," she told Tyler.

He nodded. A look of hesitation crossed his face before disappearing. He took a step forward, his warm fingers just barely touching her arm. He was close enough to whisper in her ear, which he did. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.

"I'm still freaked," she admitted, wondering why she told him the truth and not everyone else. "But right now I really just want to clean up so I can finish and leave."

"Okay," he said, dropping his hand and taking a step back. "If you need anything just holler."

She nodded. "I will."

He looked at her for the briefest moment and for once, she found herself looking back with the same level of curiosity his eyes held, rather than getting annoyed and uncomfortable. She was willing to swear on her life something passed through his eyes, but it disappeared so quickly she couldn't give the emotion a name. He looked down at the ground before nodding, and then turning to walk away. She watched him walk for a moment before sighing. She probably looked like a mess.

She did a quick sweep of the parking lot just to make sure there were no black Mercedes Benz before turning to the door that lead into the gym. She could go through there to get to the bathrooms, which were just outside of the gym's door in the actual school. She pushed through the double doors, shivering as the cool air of the gym met her bare skin. The school kept the gym absolutely freezing. As she walked past the pushed up bleachers, she ignored the bad feeling settling inside of her, like someone was watching her. She was being paranoid. Period. She finally made it to the opposite side and she pushed open the doors, stepping into the hallway. School was so much creepier when no one was around. Usually it was bright and filled with people, laughing and talking. Now it was dark and completely silent except for the sound of her flip flops hitting the floor.

She was right about probably looking like a mess. She looked pretty horrible. Her eyes were red and puffy and her whole face was either splotchy or pale. She internally kicked herself for not bringing a makeup bag even though it didn't really make sense, and wadded up a couple of brown paper towels. She wet them and then pressed them to each of her eyes, willing the puffiness to go down. After a few minutes, her eyes retuned to their normal color and the red splotches all over her face turned as pale as the rest of her. She still didn't look like herself, but it was certainly an improvement.

She ambled out of the bathroom and into the hall, that feeling creeping up on her again. Like before, she ignored it and walked through the gym doors, the coolness making her shiver again.

Someone was watching her. She could feel it. The hair on the back of her neck rose and goose bumps that had nothing to do with the coldness of the gym formed on her arms, then slowly covered the rest of her body. She froze in place, not sure whether to run or call for help.

If you need anything just holler.

Would he be able to hear her? She didn't think so. Instead of sticking around, she decided to half run, half walk toward the door leading outside. She heard something and froze, whirling around. Nothing. She turned back around and jumped, letting out a girly squeal that resembled a mouse being squeezed to death.

"Caroline its me!" a familiar voice said. "Calm down."

Damon's wide blue eyes stared at her, slightly amused and slightly worried. The amusement didn't surprise her at all. Damon always looked like he was on the verge of laughing, as if he was so much bigger than everything and everyone around him. She passed that off as him being an egotistical jerk. The worry, however, was not so common for Damon. He was all jerk, all the time. He didn't do worry. At least, she'd never seen it.

"Damon?" she asked, sounding breathless.

He nodded.

"What are you doing in here?" she snapped, feeling embarrassed and still a little scared. That combination usually resulted in anger.

He jerked his head in the direction of his arms, which were loaded down with towels. "We ran out of towels," he explained. "Matt said there would be some in the guy's locker room."

"Oh," she said, relieved.

He looked her over once, but not in a sexual manner. "What was all that about earlier with Scarface?" Damon asked, his eyes thoughtful.

She couldn't help but shiver. "I don't know," she said, honestly, wondering why Damon cared at all. "He was just being… creepy and touchy."

His eyes still held a touch of worry, but his lips pulled up into a brilliant smile. "At least you had Lockwood to help save the day. You were holding onto his arm quite tightly."

"Was not!" she exclaimed, feeling heat rush to her cheeks, only proving how right he was. She had been holding on pretty tightly but could anyone blame her?

"Was to," he sing-songed.

"Was. Not."

He shook his head. "Was to."

"Was- you know what?" she asked, shaking her head at her idiocy. "I'm done. Think what you want."

"Oh I will," he promised. "And Matt thinks so too."

She sighed. "I'm not dealing with Matt and his insecurities right now," she said. She never thought she'd say "Matt" and "insecurities" in the same sentence.

"Ouch," Damon said, holding a hand to his heart. "That was harsh. But just so you know, Matt's nurturing his ego right now with a cute little brunette in a very revealing bikini right now. What's her name? Danielle? Danni?"

"Dana?" Caroline asked, her anger flaring.

"That's the one!" he said, nodding his raven head. "Was he eyeing her…."

She felt her blood pressure rise. That little- no, she wasn't doing this right now. She took a deep breath and shrugged. "Whatever," she said. "As long as he's looking and not touching, I won't have to neuter him."

"That's a little hypocritical don't you think, Blondie?" Damon asked, raising a dark eyebrow. "You were doing a lot more than just looking with his best friend."

She gave him a look that could quite literally kill. "I know this may be a alien concept to you Salvatore, what with being a man whore and all, but some people can touch without it being sexual."

He chewed that over for a second, his eyebrows furrowing over the ice that were his eyes. "Did you just call me a whore?" he asked after a few seconds.

She puffed out a breath. Such a pretty face wasted on such an ass. "Yeah, I did. Now if you'll excuse me, I have better things to attend to than, well, you." She turned and made her way to the door, his dark laughter echoing behind her.

The rest of the car wash was boring and for that, Caroline was extremely grateful. Just like Salvawhore (yes she knew the nick name was immature, but she just couldn't help herself) had said, Matt was looking Dana up and down and it was in a very sexual manner. She knew it was to get back at her. Matt didn't do things like that. But still, it didn't lower her irritation level. Elena had made her promise to call her later and tell her exactly what happened. Bonnie had agreed with her and said she should be expecting a three way call later. Tyler was far out in the parking lot, talking lowly with his uncle Mason, who she couldn't help but notice was quite attractive. Clearly, Tyler got his looks from that side of the family. He glanced at her briefly and she gave him a small smile. After cleaning everything up, Bonnie took Caroline home. She didn't bombard her with questions. She must have sensed that Caroline didn't want to talk. She was perfectly fine with that.

Her mom's patrol car was in the driveway when Bonnie dropped her off, which surprised her. She gave Bonnie a quick hug and a thank you, in return getting a you-are-spilling-everything-later look. Caroline grabbed Tyler's hoody and then headed inside.

"Mom?" Caroline called out.

"In the kitchen," Liz hollered.

Caroline walked down the hall and into the kitchen, seeing her mom sitting at the table in her uniform, a sandwich in front of her. Caroline sat down across from her, involuntarily hugging the hoody to her chest.

"How did the fund raiser go?" Liz asked, looking only slightly curious.

"Fine," Caroline lied. She didn't know why, but she didn't want to tell her mom about what happened with Scarface as Damon had put it. "We raised a lot of money."

"Good," Liz said, nodding, looking only half there.

Caroline sighed. "Working on a case?" Her mom was only this disinterested when she was thinking about something. That something was always work.

"Cody woke up today," Liz said.

Caroline's eyes widened. "Is he okay? Does he remember what attacked him?"

"He's stable," Liz said. "The doctor wouldn't allow him to be questioned today. I'm going by tomorrow."

Caroline bit her lip. "Do you think I could come with you? To visit him?"

Liz's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "You two are friends?"

"No," Caroline said, without thinking. Quickly she added, "I mean, we aren't super close but I want to see how he's doing."

"I'm sure that will be fine as long as he's feeling up to it after I question him," Liz said.

"Okay, good," Caroline said, her mood improving a little bit. She was about to conduct her own little investigation.

"Is that Matt's?"

"Huh?"

"The sweatshirt," Liz said, nodding in the direction of the hoody in her arm.

"Oh," Caroline said. "No, its Tyler's."

"Lockwood?" she asked, a disapproving look forming on her face.

Caroline nodded.

"Why do you have Tyler Lockwood's sweatshirt?" Liz asked.

"Because I was cold and he wasn't," Caroline said, not getting what the big deal was. "He told me I could borrow it."

"I didn't know you two talked."

Jeez what was up with people today? Was it such a foreign concept that she was sort of, kind of friends with Tyler Lockwood? Apparently. "We don't. Not really. I mean, he was just being nice."

Her mom frowned by dropped it, leaving Caroline curious. "I'm going back to the station in a few minutes. Are you okay with getting dinner?"

Caroline resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She'd been cooking her own meals since she was eleven. She was pretty sure she could manage. "Yeah, of course."

Liz nodded once and got up, dumping her sandwich in the garbage and setting her plate it the sink. "Call me if there is an emergency," Liz called.

"Will do!"

She heard the door shut and she sighed.

~DLS~

She got the phone call around 8:30 that night. She was laying on her bed, snuggled up underneath the covers with her hair up and a comfy pair of pajamas when her cell phone rang, blasting her current favorite song.

"Hello?"

"Alright, explain," Bonnie said, not bothering with a greeting.

"Please?" Elena added, causing all three of them to laugh.

She explained to them what happened exactly: creepy guy flirting, creepy guy touching, Tyler rescuing her and then they were pretty much caught up.

"What an ass!" Elena exclaimed. "I can't believe anyone would do that! I mean, he could be your father!"

"Why don't you report him?" Bonnie asked, her voice more calm than Elena's.

"What would I say?" Caroline asked, incredulously. "He scared me? That's not going to get him into any trouble."

"Your mom's the sheriff," Elena pointed out, like she wasn't aware of that little fact. "You could probably say something to her. She could bring him in, scare him a little bit."

"No, I'd just rather forget all about it," Caroline said, truthfully. "Its not like I'll ever see him again. And if I do…"

"You can always have Tyler kick his ass," Elena said, teasingly.

Caroline sighed but felt a small smile tug on her lips. "Maybe I will," she joked.

"I think he has a little crush on you," Elena said.

"No he does not!" Caroline said. "He would have done the same thing for you or Bonnie."

"Whatever, Care," Elena said, giggling. "I think he likes you."

"You didn't like two days ago!" Caroline said, thinking back to their plan that had blown up in her face.

"Well, things change."

"What about Matt?" Bonnie asked.

"What about him?" Caroline asked.

"I don't know," she said, a strange tone to her voice. "He looked a little… jealous today."

Caroline sighed. She felt like she had done nothing but the last few hours. "Matt's being… complicated right now," she explained.

"He's probably upset that his best friend had his hands all over his girlfriend," Bonnie pointed out.

"Tyler did not have his hands all over me… well he did but not in that way," Caroline said. "He was just comforting me. I was kind of freaking out, you know."

"I think you should talk to him," Elena said, all joking out of her voice. "You don't want to mess up what you two have over a misunderstanding."

"I will," Caroline said. "Tomorrow. As soon as I get off the phone with you two I'm going to bed."

They talked for a little while longer before finally hanging up. Caroline was absolutely exhausted and didn't even bother to get up and brush her teeth. She would usually rather eat her own fingers than do that, but she was just too tired to care. She snuggled up underneath her covers, closing her eyes and immediately drifting off to sleep.

She was in the wood. It was dark and the towering trees held a sense of foreboding and danger that made Caroline shiver. She couldn't remember why she was in the woods. She couldn't really remember anything. Her whole mind felt a little dazed and hazy, like she was delusional. But delusional or not, she knew she didn't want to be in the woods at night, so she began walking- praying it lead to the road.

The feeling of déjà vu was almost overwhelming. She felt like she had been here before. Not just the woods- she'd gone there all the time for parties, but this path and this night.

She heard the snap of a twig behind her and she whirled around to see what it was. There was nothing but trees and dirt and leaves. She quickly told herself the sound had been an animal walking away. She turned back around to continue her path when she saw movement in her peripheral vision.

And then the sound of another twig breaking echoed behind her. She turned around again, her throat closing with fear at what she would see. She came face to face with golden eyes. They weren't yellow. They were gold. And not human in the least. She could see the smirk in them before she saw the rest of the face. He was fairly dark, with short hair and a scar traveling down his eye to his lips, which were pulled up in a deadly smile.

And then everything went black.

Tyler woke with a jolt. He was covered in sweat and breathing heavily. He had been having a dream or a nightmare or something. He couldn't remember what it was though. He glanced at his clock. 11:02.

Still breathing heavily, he laid back down and ran his hands over his face, exhausted. He couldn't get a good night's sleep lately. He hadn't been able to in two weeks. And things were just getting worse. The full moon was on Friday and that made his stomach clench and he wanted to throw up. Then there was the whole little thing about Caroline being his "mate" as Mason had called her.

He couldn't understand why out of everyone in the entire school- world even, that it was Caroline. She was his best friend's girlfriend. That was so fucked up. He couldn't do that to Matt. He couldn't do that to Caroline. Like he told Mason earlier, maybe he could just not tell her. How else would she find out? But then Mason's little warning from last nice echoed this his head.

"You two are connected in a way you can't imagine. You feel what she feels, she feels what you feel. When you're hurting, she's hurting. When you're happy, she's happy and vice versa. You two are a part of each other now. You can't pretend otherwise."

If he wasn't so confused and freaked out, he would have laughed, because it was almost too corny not to. But it was real and wasn't funny. If he told her, how would she react? He knew how she would react. She'd freak out. Caroline didn't believe in that kind of stuff. He didn't believing that kind of stuff until recently. She wouldn't accept it even if she did believe him. He couldn't drag her into this.

His head hurt.

His cell phone began vibrating and he glanced over. Speak of the devil. Caroline was calling him.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hey… I didn't wake you did I?" she asked, quietly.

"No, I was awake," he said, sitting up. "What's up? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine I was just…" she trailed off.

He waited for a few seconds but she didn't say anything. "Caroline?"

"Cody's awake," she said, suddenly. "My mom's going to question him tomorrow and she said I could probably see him. Do you want to come?"

"Umm…" Why did Caroline want to see Cody? She couldn't stand him. They argued all the time. "Yeah, sure," he said, anyways. Then he wanted to kick himself. Sure he wanted to see her- to have any excuse to be around her, but had he not just forced it into his head that he would not drag her into this?

"Good," she said, sounding relieved and even a little happy, much to his enjoyment and frustration. "She's going around ten."

"Okay, sounds good."

"Do you want to meet there or…?"

"I'll meet you there at ten," he said. The last thing he needed was to be in a car alone with her.

"Alright, I'll see you then," she said. "Night, Ty."

"Night Care."

Sorry, not much action or Forwood in this chapter. But next chapter will make up for it. Its pretty much all Caroline and Tyler.

Review!