Previously on I've Been Roaming Around:
"Stefan, you can't beat yourself up about it. Care is fine. We didn't lose her." Jeremy said reassuringly.
Stefan nodded. "I know, but I just..." He trailed off. "I made a promise to her and that promise was broken."
"You can't always keep your promises baby brother."
Damon's voice spoke for the first time since leaving the guest room. The sound of his voice had Stefan and Jeremy looking at him intrigued.
"But," Damon continued. "You just need to let her know that you're still there for her. You need to let Caroline know that she's not alone."
Stefan nodded. "That's exactly what I'm going to do. I'll prove to her that I'll never let her down again."
….
It was early in the morning. Jeremy had dozed off on the living room couch until now. He was awake and worried. He got up and quietly walked up the stairs towards Stefan's room. He opened the door and saw Caroline lying in bed with Stefan fast asleep beside her. His arms were wrapped around her protectively. Stefan must have moved her in here, instead of the guest room so he could keep a better eye on her. Jeremy took a step in and as if there was a loud crack in the house, Caroline looked at him.
"Jeremy!" She whispered, not wanting to wake Stefan.
Using her vampire speed she unwrapped Stefan's arms from around her and was in front of him in seconds. She smiled and wrapped her arms around him.
"Caroline, how are you feeling?" He said as they pulled away.
She shrugged. "Mhm, better."
Jeremy nodded. "That's good."
Caroline squinted her eyes and gave him a questionable look. "Are you okay Jer? You're acting different."
He let out a nervous awkward laugh and ran a hand through his hair. It reminded her of Stefan.
"Uh, I'm just glad you're okay."
She was unconvinced. Caroline reached for his hand.
"Jer, what's the matter?"
He sighed and pulled her into a hug. "I'm just so glad you're okay. I was so worried about you."
Caroline smiled at this. "Jer I'm completely fine. Okay? There's no need to be worried anymore."
"I love you."
Her fingers played in his hair. "I love you too Jer."
She pulled away and rubbed her thumb over the curve of his strong jaw.
"You're strong. But you need to stop worrying, it's aging you and it shouldn't. I want you to experience being young while you still can. You're a Gilbert, so have fun, party. And if you're anything like your sister you'll be having lots of fun."
Jeremy sighed and chuckled softly. His expression then saddened. "Tell me about her, please."
Caroline nodded. "Okay."
She glanced at Stefan to make sure he was still asleep.
She grabbed Jeremy's hand. "Let's go talk downstairs."
Jeremy nodded and followed her out the door. They walked side by side down the stairs.
"Sorry about that. It's just he hasn't been getting very much sleep lately, with being so concerned about me. I can tell, when he thinks I'm asleep, he just looks at me, making sure that I'm okay and everything. But yeah." She nodded. "I feel his eyes on me and I just so badly want to tell him to sleep, just for once, just for a few hours."
Jeremy nodded. "You care about him?"
It wasn't really a question, more like a statement. But he did have questioning to his tone.
A smile formed on her lips as she nodded. "Yeah, yeah I do."
Jeremy smiled. "That's great Care."
They sat down side by side on the couch.
Caroline turned to him. "So what do you want to know?"
Jeremy shrugged. "Anything. A story, something?"
Caroline nodded. "Alright." She tapped her finger on her chin, thinking. Her eyes lit up and a smile came on her face. "Well, there was one time when Elena and I were younger. You were probably still in diapers, but we were at preschool on the playground. And the school bully, Michael Davidson came over to us and pushed me to the ground and threw sand into my face and hair." She had a distant look in her eyes, as if she was there in the memory right now. "And Elena-" She chuckled as a smile came on her lips. "She got so angry. She chased Michael Davidson all over the playground, just to get back at him. And she did. She had him pinned to the ground and was hitting him in the face, pinching his nose, pulling his hair. She was putting him through the same amount of humiliation that I went through. And I just stood there laughing along with the crowd."
Jeremy laughed a huge grin on his lips. "Yeah, that sounds like something Elena would do."
Caroline nodded. "Yeah, she was something." She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, getting it out of her face. "But at that moment, I knew that she was my best friend and I would do anything for her. I would hurt any boy who hurt her or pushed her to the ground and threw sand at her, just like she did for me."
Jeremy smiled. "You're a good friend Caroline."
She shook her head. "No I'm not, I wasn't to her. I should have been here with her. I should have come to visit sooner."
"No, Care, no, you are a good friend. And you leaving, Elena understood." He reached for her hands and held them in his. "She was happy that you were moving on in your life and living. She was proud of you. She was so proud of you." He paused. "She told me once that she was jealous of you."
Caroline gave him a perplexed look.
"She was jealous that you got to live your life and she had to still be precautious about Klaus and everything that came along with being the doppelganger."
Caroline smiled. "Tell me a story about what she was like with you. Please Jer, tell me."
He nodded and squeezed her hands. "Okay."
He thought for a moment before a smile came on his face again.
"I was probably about six years old. We were at Uncle John's cabin during the summer. It was a really humid day and Elena and I decided to go swimming. We were diving in the lake and then we decided to have a competition. Elena went first, and being Elena she did a perfect dive. When she resurfaced, she gave me an I'm-amazing-look and I was so going to prove her wrong. I backed up to get a running start and I dove in. My footing wasn't right and I landed on my arm funny when I hit the water. When I surfaced I was crying and Elena came rushing over to me." A sad smile formed on his lips. "And she-" He ran a hand across his face, and took in a shaky breath before laughing it off. "She said 'Jer, what's wrong? Are you okay?' and I didn't answer, I just clutched my arm. She grabbed me and pulled me towards the dock. And using her eight year old strength she carefully lifted me up onto the dock. She pushed herself up and helped me stand. And she put her arms around me and said 'It's okay Jer, its okay. I'll bring you to mom and dad and they'll know what to do. I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I made you do that. I'm sorry.' And she kept on apologizing as we walked toward the cabin. And she opened the door and my mom came rushing over. Elena told her what happened and my mom called my dad and told him that she was going to take me to the emergency. She had insisted that Elena stay home with my dad, but Elena wouldn't listen. She walked me to the car and sat beside me, and as we drove to the emergency she kept saying 'I love you, I love you Jer. I always will.' And what I said to her was, 'I love you too Elena, and I forgive you. I will always love you.' And I still remember the look on her face, she was so grateful." He paused and looked Caroline in the eye and smiled. "She was always so caring. Even after mom and dad. She was still looking after me. Elena was still the caring, concerned older sister who looked out for me."
Caroline squeezed his hand. "She loved you. Of course she would look after you, Jer."
He nodded and squeezed her hand in return. "I know Care, I do. But I just." He sighed. "I don't know."
"Jer, what? Tell me."
"I just don't even know why she went to meet Klaus and the sacrifice didn't even work. She went to him and didn't tell any of us, she just left to her death."
"Jeremy! She did it to protect you, to protect the ones she loved."
"Care, we protected her from Klaus for three years! And in the end she just gave herself over to him. She just gave up!" He yelled.
He stood up in front of her, anger etched on his face.
"Jeremy!" Caroline scolded. "She loved you, she did it to protect you and Stefan and everyone else. She did not give up. She saw the bigger picture, that with you guys protecting her, she was wasting your lives away. All of you were so occupied with keeping her safe and she realized that if you kept that up, then you would never have a life. She realized that you guys would never be able to get married or have babies! She realized that you guys were in more severe danger."
Jeremy looked down at her. "How do you know that?"
"She told me. Elena phoned me in Seaside and told me everything. But I didn't know that she was planning to see Klaus." Caroline stood and met him. She placed her thumb on his cheek. "She loved you and wanted you to have a life, to have a family."
"Care, I-I didn't know."
"I know you didn't, but now you do."
Her thumb rubbed across his cheek again.
"Jer, you okay?"
He nodded. "Yeah, yeah."
She leaned closer to him. "I want you to come and talk to me if you need to okay? Please, come to me and talk."
"I will."
"Okay, good."
She moved her face closer to his and kissed him on the lips. It wasn't a romantic one she just felt like she had to. When they pulled away Caroline smiled at him and made her way toward the stairs.
"Stay gold Jeremy, stay gold!"
They both burst out in laughter and Caroline started walking up the stairs.
"I'm just going to see if Stefan is up yet."
She walked down the hall and opened Stefan's bedroom door. She poked her head in and saw that he was still asleep. She smirked to herself and walked over to his bed. She crawled in beside him, and snuggled close to him which caused Stefan to stir. He lifted his head, groggy and disoriented, until he felt her against him.
"Hi." His voice was groggy from sleep.
"Hi." She whispered with a big smile on her face.
Stefan sighed. "How long was I asleep for?"
Caroline shrugged. "Mhm a few hours."
"Why didn't you wake me?"
Caroline shrugged again. "You needed the sleep."
She let out a small laugh as she rubbed her finger along her lower lip. Stefan grinned at her as he laughed.
"Well thank you for letting me sleep."
She stroked his cheek. "No worries. I'm glad you got some."
He smiled at her and placed his hand on her arm affectionately. She looked at where his hand was before looking back at him.
"Stefan, um-can I-can we talk about something? It's important."
His brows furrowed as he nodded seriously. "Yeah, yeah, what's bothering you?"
"Well, I-I just want to know what we are?"
Stefan looked even more confused. "We're vampires, Caroline."
She shook her head and held up her hands defensively. "No, no, I know that. But that's not what I mean." She sighed. "Stefan, I want to know what-what our relationship is? What are we to each other?"
She noticed his shocked look. Yup Care, you definitely just scared him away. Look at his face you totally caught him off guard and now he doesn't know what to say.
"Uh, um well Care-"
She shook her head. "You don't have to say anything, its okay. I understand, I shouldn't have asked. Forget it, I never said anything."
He reached for her hands. "No, it's okay, I'm glad you asked. I think that we are friends who have been through a lot together, who have been there for one another and helped each other through the rough times. And we are friends who care deeply for each other."
Why did you just say that? You two are most definitely not just friends. There's something more going on between you two, something bigger that you least expected.
"Friends?" She paused and gulped, trying to swallow the disappointment that was rising up her throat. She simply nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I agree."
There was an awkward silence.
"Care-"
"Hey," Caroline interrupted. "Um I'm going to go take a shower and let you get ready for the day. But I still need to talk to you after."
He nodded. "Oh, okay."
She gave him a tight smile before slowly getting off his bed and walking out of the room. As she closed the door, she tried to hold back her sobs until she was a fair distance away. She turned the corner and she covered her mouth with her hand as small sob escape her lips, tears falling from her eyes. Calm down, Care, breathe. You're friends, yes, but something more could blossom. Something already has, it's been for awhile, since you turned. He'll realize how he feels about you and everything will click. Maybe he isn't over Elena and that's why he said that to you. Her tears fell faster as she hurried down the stairs, stopping when a figure stood in her way. She looked up, vision blurry from tears. She blinked and it cleared. Damon stood in front of her.
"Caroline?" His voice was dripping with concern. "What's wrong?"
She shook her head and sniffled. "N-nothing. I-it's nothing."
He strode closer to her and placed both hands on either side of her face. "What happened? Tell me."
"S-Stefan-"
"Caroline?" Jeremy spoke as he turned the corner and saw her with Damon, crying. "What did you do to her?"
Damon turned his head to Jeremy. "I didn't do anything Gilbert, stop accusing. Stefan did something."
Jeremy furrowed his brows, before looking at Caroline purposefully. "What did he do Care?"
She shook her head again. "Nothing, he didn't do anything."
Damon stroked her cheek. The gesture caused her to quickly look at him.
"Caroline," He said softly, "what did he do?"
Caroline looked into his eyes and felt like she could confide in him. "H-he said that-that…can you just talk to him please?"
Damon pulled Caroline closer to him and hugged her. "Yeah." He kissed the side of her head and rubbed her back. "Yeah, I will."
"Thank you Damon." She whispered into his neck.
He pulled away and smiled at her. "You okay?"
She nodded and gave him a grateful smile. She walked past him and went towards the nearest bathroom. Jeremy followed her and she heard Damon go up the stairs to talk with Stefan.
"Care, are you okay?"
She turned to Jeremy and wiped a tear away. "Yeah, I'm fine Jer."
"Are you sure?"
She nodded. "Yeah."
He took a step closer to her and hugged her.
"I'm here for you, if you need me."
She smiled. "I know you are, and I'm here for you if you need me."
They pulled away from each other, smiling.
"I'm going to go take a shower, get all cleaned up."
Jeremy nodded. "Yeah, okay."
He turned and left. Caroline went into the bathroom and quickly undressed. She turned the water onto hot and jumped in. The water felt nice as it ran down her body, she turned the dial so the water was even hotter. She sat down on the shower floor and hugged her knees to her chest as she sobbed, her body shaking. Elena. She missed Elena. And Stefan, what the heck was happening between them? She cried for Elena, for Stefan, Damon. She cried for Jeremy and Jenna, and Alaric. The sounds of the running water drowned out her sobs.
….
"What did you say to Caroline?"
He barged into Stefan's room, causing Stefan to startle.
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb. What did you say to her?"
Stefan furrowed his brows. "Why does it concern you?"
Damon looked insulted. "It concerns me because you have her sobbing uncontrollably in the shower."
Stefan's face fell. What? She was crying? Why?
"What did you say to her?" His voice was firm.
Stefan ran a hand through his hair. "I-I said that we were friends, who have been through a lot together and care deeply for each other."
Damon scoffed. "Are you an idiot?"
Stefan gave him an incredulous look.
"You and Caroline are definitely not just friends, you never were."
"Damon-"
"When are you going to realize it Stefan? You care about her in a way that is different from how you cared about Elena. It's stronger, it's deeper and that scares you. You better realize it soon brother, before she's gone."
He turned and left, leaving Stefan with the haunting thought that he might be right.
A/N: Hey everyone! Let me know what you think of the Jeremy/Caroline and Damon/Caroline scenes and the Stefan/Caroline ones too. : )