Chapter 3: Of Nostalgia and Fear

The exchange of receptionists at the ICU happened exactly at 10:00pm, and Stefan got there at 10:01pm.

"Salvatore," he said, pointing to his ID sticker, cleverly covering his first name with his finger. *

The receptionist quickly typed something in her desktop, before nodding at a nurse to escort him to the room she was in. Stefan followed the nurse down a long corridor, before making a left to a smaller one.

"Here we are," the nurse stated, gesturing to the door on the right.

Stefan entered, and the nurse closed the door behind him. He chuckled to himself, knowing that Elena was completely at his mercy…

Elena. The girl he once loved—no, still loves—was on a bed, connected to several tubes and bandaged just about everywhere.

She had never looked so beautiful.

Walking over to her side, he gazed down at her face. He lifted his hand, and ever so gently trailed his fingers against her scarred cheek. She did not move, and Stefan found himself wondering if she would flinch at his touch if she had been awake.

He could do whatever he wanted to her, and no one would be able to stop him..

It was too bad there were cameras attached to the ceiling. He would have to settle for a kiss.

Leaning down, he took her chapped bottom lip between his. She tasted stale, so unlike the taste of strawberry he once remembered. Disappointed, he pulled back and began to caress her cheek again.

"For now, I bid you farewell. But you will be mine again, Elena. I swear it."

Stefan smiled at her and kissed her forehead.

He really did have to go now. After all, he had an old friend to visit…

Caroline Forbes sat on her couch with a tub of Ben and Jerry's in one hand and a large spoon in the other. Today had been long. Her boyfriend was dead, her best friend was in Intensive Care at the hospital, and she was all alone in her apartment, with no comfort at all. She had tried to convince Damon to let her stay at his apartment, but he had yelled at her to go home and (once again) shut the door on her face.

So here she was, watching some cheesy horror movie and eating ice cream on a Saturday night like the total loser she was. Occasionally, she burst into tears when she reminded herself of Alex's death. Caroline had loved him a lot, even if he was an asshole. She wished Elena was here to help.. she would know just what to say, unlike her stupid jerk husband.

"Hello? Is anyone there? Hello…?"

So she concentrated on the movie playing instead. Some ditzy brunette (pfft, and they call blonds stupid..) was wandering in the middle of a dark forest, miles away from any other human contact, with merely a flashlight.

Caroline knew where this was going, and her heartbeat quickened at the suspense.

Oh no! She's going to die! Run, idiot!

The girl on screen did not heed her advice, but continued to ask if anyone was out there.

You're going to die soon if you don't get the fuck out of there, stupid! Ru-

Three steady knocks interrupted her internal battle, and she cried out in surprise, falling off her place on the couch in the process.

After the shock wore off, she stood up and ran to her door, not bothering to check who it was before opening it.

There, at the threshold of her apartment, was none other than Stefan Salvatore, her crazy ex-boyfriend.

"Ste-Stefan.. what are you doing here?"

Her ex smiled at her, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Hello, Caroline… We need to talk."

End Notes

* - There's always that one idiot receptionist that doesn't double check, but Stefan covered his name just in case. The receptionist must've assumed he was Damon Salvatore. Bad receptionist!

As promised, here is chapter three! It's so short, but for those who use to read A Second Chance, I did say the chapters were going to be short. The last two chapters were just anomalies, but most chapters are going to be under 800 words. But that's okay, because I update daily. Anyways, I don't have chapter four written out yet, but good news! I have the next ten chapters planned out, and it's nowhere close to the end. So I'm estimating this story will be about 20-30 chapters long. Please don't forget to review. They seriously make my day and just make me want to write more, so if you review you'll get two chapters tomorrow instead of one.

Until next time,

Carrie