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Stefan stepped over the ripped dress and his tangled shirt on his way out of the room. He made no noise, he didn't want to wake her up. He quietly closed the door behind him, leaned against the wall and breathed.

"Hello" he said into the phone. "I just needed to get out of the room."

"Oh, yeah, sure" Damon said.

His tone was still a mixture of confusion and surprise. Stefan wondered how many times Damon had called and no one had picked up. It must have been a shock that Stefan had answered.

"So, what's up?" Stefan asked.

Damon didn't answer immediately and when he did, he sounded cautious.

"Nothing major. I was just wondering when you were coming home."

"Soon, I think" Stefan replied.

"The both of you?"

"Yes."

"That's good" Damon said, awkwardly. "We need to talk."

"I don't think so" Stefan yawned.

"What?"

"Nothing. Yeah, we can talk when I get home."

"You sure? You wanna talk to me?"

"Yeah, why not? You're my brother."

Stefan smiled. Damon cleared his throat.

"Right" he said. "Are you drunk, Stefan?"

Stefan snorted.

"It's 10 PM."

"I know. But you're all… Whatever. Okay. You'll be home soon?"

"Yeah."

Stefan hung up. It had taken him months to finally answer his brother's call. And he felt nothing special. No anger or hurt or pain. He just felt mildly hungry and a bit tired. He hadn't slept much. Slowly, he pressed the door handle down and went back into the guest bedroom. Caroline lay curled up under the white covers. Stefan leaned in and carefully kissed her shoulder. His lips left her skin without a noise and she didn't stir. He soundlessly climbed down next to her and closed his eyes.

…

He's still here. He's still here. He's still here. Caroline felt his hand on her hip before she really woke up. Her foot had entwined itself in between his ankles. He was still there. He was still so close to her. She tried to lay still, to not wake him up, but she couldn't. She wanted to see his face. Suddenly she couldn't live another minute if she couldn't see his face, right now. So she turned. And found that he was awake.

"Hey" he whispered.

His face. His sharp jaw and thick eyebrows and perfect nose. He was still there. He was awake, but he hadn't left.

"Hey" she whispered back.

She reached out to touch him, but changed her mind.

"Are you freaking out?" she whispered, trying to sound like it was a joke.

"Yeah" he breathed. "A bit. Aren't you?"

"No" she whispered. "Not really."

At least he hadn't left. He could be freaking out, but he had stayed. Or had he stayed just not to hurt her again?

"You and me, it doesn't scare you?"

"No" she whispered.

Because she loved him. And being with him was always less scary than being alone.

"It scares me" he admitted.

She nodded.

"Okay."

"Because you're the only good thing in my life, Caroline. And if we mess this up, I have nothing."

"I get it."

She tried not to stare at his face. It would distract her into something stupid.

"Do you want to forget this ever happened?" she asked, sounding as nonchalant as she could.

"I think that's impossible."

She nodded and made a movement to get up, he pulled her back.

"Don't leave" he begged.

"I just don't know what to do" she whispered back.

"About what?"

"I can't lay here with you if we're just friends."

Stefan cradled her face. She bit her lip.

"If I saw you as only my friend, do you think I would be freaking out?" he asked.

"Yes" she said. "Yes, because you would regret this but you wouldn't want to hurt me."
"Caroline, you confuse me" Stefan whispered as he brushed his fingers over her lips.

It made her shiver.

"I get that a lot" she smiled, trying not to care. "Maybe it's because I talk too much."

He shook her head at her, grinning.

"You make me happy."

"Thanks."

"You make me happy. When I'm around you, I can be myself. I don't have to hide parts of me that I don't like. Everything around you is easy."

Caroline closed her eyes. She didn't know where this would lead. She didn't dare hope.

"And love has never been easy for me, Care. Never. Not with Katherine or Carrie or with Elena. It's always been a struggle."

"So, you don't know if you love me or just like being you with me?"

She tried to keep her tone natural, but sarcasm dripped off every syllable.

"No, I'm just saying, this is new to me."

"Okay."

It wasn't like she expected a declaration of love. She shouldn't be so hard on him.

...

"You know when I realized that I really love you?" she whispered bravely.

"No."

"When, for the first time ever, you let me down. When you left me in that room in Whitehouse. You hurt me so bad, but when you turned up at the bus station, I still wanted to be with you."

His eyes were on her face. She felt self-conscious and tried to look away. He wouldn't let her.

"Care…"

"Yeah?"

"I will never let you down again."

…

The other inhabitants of the house would be asleep until nightfall, so Stefan and Caroline had the entire place to themselves. It was both a blessing and a curse. It's hard to go from "I love you" to "let's play XBOX".

"Why do they have all this food?" Caroline asked, her head in the fridge.

"They like to have people over. Like, real people."

Caroline found a cartoon of eggs, a pack of bacon and another one with blueberries. In one of cupboards she found pancake mix. Stefan helped her stack it all on the counter.

"Let's make a real breakfast" she suggested.

Stefan smiled at her.

"Can you cook?" he asked.

"No. Can you?"

"I think I can fry bacon."

"Fabulous."

Stefan watched her crack the eggs into a bowl. Her hair was a tangled mess and she wore a t-shirt that she probably should have been washed a few weeks ago. He could tell she had no idea what she was doing as she poured the eggs into a cold pan.

"Hey" she called out to him. "Get cooking! What are you doing?"

He could tell that he loved her, because he did. She was his friend and he loved her as that more than any other. And maybe he loved her as something else too. Because he wanted to touch her and kiss her and tell her that she was wonderful. But he wasn't sure. And if he wasn't sure, he couldn't risk it. He would never be able to live with himself if he had to hurt her again.

"You know, Care. You need to turn the stove on" he teased her.

She rolled her eyes.

"Like I didn't know…"

He put his hand over hers on the counter. She looked up at him. He stroked her hair out of her eyes and forced it behind her ear.

"You don't want hair in your eggs" he breathed.

She shook her head.

"No, that would be bad."

…

The club was emptier tonight. Clara danced in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by a dozen guys. Vincent had already disappeared with a girl. Stefan sat at the bar, just like last night, drinking a bear. He wasn't the clubbing type, but Caroline had wanted to go, so he had too. Caroline. She was dancing with Harriet, shaking her head and laughing. They all loved her. Harriet and Clara and Vincent, Vincent actually liked her a bit too much.

Just as he was thinking this, a guy (human) came up to Caroline and Harriet. He began to dance with Caroline, grabbing her hands and moving close to her. Stefan watched with disgust. He felt something inside him. Jealousy. The feeling that he used to feel whenever Elena touched Damon. Stefan got up and made his way over the three people. Harriet beamed up at him and tried to make him dance. He gave her a quick smile and turned to the boy.

"Hey" he said.

And then he stopped. What was he going to say?

"Hey" the boy grinned.

Stefan shook his head at himself.

"Please, don't dance with her" he said, gesturing to Caroline.

"Why not?"

"I'm kind of in love with her and it makes me jealous."

Harriet burst out laughing.

"I KNEW IT" she giggled.

"She your girlfriend?" the boy asked.

"No."

"But you like her?"

"I love her."

Caroline elbowed him.

"You do know that I'm standing right here" she said.

He turned to her.

"Yeah, I know."

He bent down and kissed her. He didn't care that they were people watching or that he was acting crazy.

"How about you, does he love you too?" the boy asked Harriet.

Stefan took Caroline's hand.

"Nope" he smiled. "She's all yours. If she wants you."

Caroline squeezed his hand.

"You wanna go outside?" she whispered

He nodded.

…

"What just happened?" Caroline whispered.

Stefan cupped her face in his hands and kissed her again. Would he ever get tired of kissing her? Ever?

"Last night, I wanted to kill Vincent for kissing you. And now, I wanted beat up that kid for trying to dance with you" Stefan explained. "I don't think friends feel like that about other friends."
It was almost morning now. The air was chilly. Stefan handed Caroline his leather jacket. She sniffed it.

"I really love this jacket."

"It looks good on you."

She snorted.

"Yeah, a bit big though."

He zipped it up, all the way to her chin. The jacket was too long and too broad for her. It made her look like child dressing up in her father's clothes.

"I love you" Stefan whispered.

"You sure?"

"Never been so sure about anything."

She rolled her eyes.

"Cheese ball."

He punched her arm.

"Don't ruin the moment."

"Thank god for this leather jacket" Caroline grinned. "You can tickle me through it."

Stefan grabbed her and pulled the zipper down. She shrieked and tried to get away from him. He kissed her neck.

"You never said it back" he whispered against her neck.

"I love you, of course. You already know that."

"Yeah. But it's always nice to hear it."

…

"Are you coming home soon?" Matt asked.

Caroline sat down on a kitchen chair. She wanted to tell him everything. About Stefan loving her back and wanting be with her and how he had made her scones this morning. She wanted to tell him, but she didn't dare. Maybe it would jinx it.

"Yep" she replied, trying to sound calm. "We're leaving Dallas in a minute."

"School starts on Monday."

"Yeah, I know. I'll be there. You know that I would never miss the picnic!"

The picnic on the first day of school was a long and honored tradition of Mystic Falls High School. Caroline had been chief of the organizing two years in row. She wondered who had done it this year.

"So, you okay?" Matt asked slowly.

"Yes" she answered a bit too quickly.

"You and Stefan worked it all out?"

Caroline tilted her head to one side so that she could Stefan through the window. He was loading the car. Without a shirt.

"Care?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry. Got distracted. Yeah, we worked it out. Everything's fine."

Matt laughed.

"You sound really happy, Care. That's a big difference in a short period of time."

Caroline smiled. Stefan opened the door and entered the house. He fanned himself to show her that it was hot outside. It made him look like southern lady. She giggled.

"I still miss you though" she told Matt, prying her eyes away from Stefan.

"I miss you too."

"Who's that?" Stefan mouthed.

"Matt" she mouthed back.

"Give the phone."

"No."

"Care, what's going on?" Matt asked confused.

Stefan wrestled the phone out of Caroline's hand.

"Hey Matt. It's Stefan. Look, I'm really sorry about how I acted. I was an asshole."

Caroline rolled her eyes. She couldn't hear Matt's reply, but Stefan looked relieved as he handed the phone back to her.

"That was a big mood change" Matt commented.

"I know" Caroline agreed. "Look, we have to get going. But I'll see you soon. And thank you for everything."

"Sure thing. See you."

"You miss Mattie" Stefan asked, in a mocking voice.

"Shut up. He's my friend."

He bent down and kissed her forehead.

"Just your friend, right?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes again.

"No, he's my secret lover."

"And here I was, thinking that was me."

She snorted.

"Let's go home" she said.

"You ready to face everyone? Elena, Bonnie, your mom?"

"I will never be ready to face them."

"It'll be okay" Stefan whispered, kissing her ear. "I got your back."

…

Caroline kept skipping tracks on the Rumors album. She didn't want to listen to songs about hopeless love like I don't want to know or about hurt, like Never going back again. She wanted to listen to something happy. Something that matched her mood. In the end she kept replaying one of the happier tracks, You make loving fun for about four hours. Stefan didn't seem to mind or maybe he didn't notice that it was the same song. Caroline actually doubted that this CD had made much of an impression on him. Well, it wasn't for lack of trying. Maybe it just wasn't his thing.

However, even if Caroline felt happy, she still worried (maybe she was turning into Stefan!). In Mystic Falls, there was Elena. The girl that everyone thought that Stefan should be with. And there was Damon, the brother that he ruined everything in so many ways. Mystic Falls wasn't a place of endless bliss. Things always went wrong there and despite that, they were driving home.

And was Stefan really hers? This wasn't kindergarten. You couldn't just ask someone to be your boyfriend. You were supposed to go on dates and kiss in movie theatres and let him drop you off at the door before you became a couple. But Caroline and Stefan hadn't really done the dating thing. He had told her that he loved her and they had slept together and she liked holding his hand. Would it last? Or was she just making a big deal out of nothing?

"Maybe we should run away" she suggested, half-jokingly.

"Isn't that what we've been doing all summer?"

Yes. He was right. Especially on his own part. This road trip had been a way from him to escape.

"Yeah" she agreed.

"It's just one year and then you'll be going to college."

He was right, again. In a year, everything would change, again. They, herself, Bonnie, Elena, Matt, would all go off to different places, different cities, and different states. Maybe this, this puppy love and her fight with Elena, would just seem petty then. In college, maybe you could ask boys if they wanted to go steady. Or you just slept with everything that moved. Caroline had heard that also happened.

"What was your favorite thing about college life?" she asked.

"I liked being with people, staying up and cramming with them, drinking coffee, and beer."

"Sounds like some crappy teen movie."
"I thought you loved those" he smiled at her.

She pinched his arm through the thin fabric of his t-shirt. It was good thing he was driving – and in a traffic jam – or he would have tickled her.

"Would you go back to school?" she asked, casually.

"Perhaps" he shrugged.

"There's always more to learn" she agreed. "Right?"

Stefan gave her a look. He knew exactly what she was thinking.

"How about you decide on where you want to go first, before making any other plans?" he suggested.

She groaned and slumped down in her seat. Stefan grinned at her.

"Sometimes you remind me of a toddler" he said, shaking his head.

"Sometimes you remind me of a character in Jane Austen novel."

"Mr. Darcy?" he asked, raising her eyebrow.

"No" she snorted. "You don't really have the dark, quiet, bothered aura. I mean, sometimes you speak like you're ancient."

"I am" he reminded her.

"Touché."

As the traffic jam forced Stefan to stop the car entirely, he leaned over and kissed her cheek. She felt her body temperature rise with about ten degrees.

"This jam is terrible" she babbled. "How about we just quit driving for today?"

She saw Stefan checking his watch. It was 4 PM. He snorted but took the next exit. They found a shabby looking hotel, headed up to their room and were kissing before the door closed behind them.

You make loving fun,
And I don't have to tell you that you're the only one.