Chapter 30

"Why are you here Caroline?" Elena sighed, sitting herself down on a chair in the sitting room.

Damon was in the kitchen, tactfully giving them time to talk while still being within earshot.

Caroline fidgeted with her fingers, looking nervous and slightly out of place.

"I just needed to see that you were ok…and apologize." She murmured, looking down.

"Apologize?"

"I should have stayed with you. I should have been the friend you deserved, what I did was so selfish, Elena I'm really sorry I let you down." She said in a rush, tears filling her eyes as she met her former friends' gaze.

Elena looked surprised but nodded.

"Look Caroline, it's been months. So much has changed…I'm not going to blame you for what you did! I told you at the time that I understood, I meant it." She said with a shrug.

Caroline raised her eyebrows and dared to look hopeful.

"So we're good? I mean… we're still friends?"

Elena bit her lip.

"Like I said, so much has changed. We can't ever go back to the way things were." She glanced towards the kitchen where she knew Damon was listening to every word. "But maybe, one day…we could start fresh." She relented with a sigh.

Caroline grinned and made a move to hug her before seeming to think twice about it and sat back down. Elena guessed that Damon had warned her to keep her distance. She internally rolled her eyes at his over-protectiveness, but couldn't help her small smile.

"Now I just have to figure out how to make things ok with my mom…and Matt and Tyler and Bonnie." Caroline's voice trailed off and a frown replace the grin on her face. "God I fucked up." She groaned putting her head in her hands. "They're gonna hate me!"

Elena said nothing. She might be willing to move past what Caroline did to her but she wasn't ready to feel sorry for her. She had made her bed. If she wanted to sort out her mistakes and right her wrongs then she needed to do it on her own.

A loud crash from the kitchen had Elena forgetting about everything else and racing towards the noise. She burst into the room, her eyes instantly seeking out Damon.

In a bizarre turn around of the scene she had woken up to, he was the one pinned to the floor this time. Elena's eyes flew to his attacker and widened in shock.

"Stefan?"

He looked up at her, the veins around his eyes prominent and dark.

Caroline blurred over to them and helped Damon throw Stefan off.

He landed heavily against the wall and struggled to his feet baring his teeth. His eyes settled on the blond vampire in front of him.

"Caroline?" He gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? You're the one who just took off without a word, to come and grovel at your ex girlfriend's feet." She spat.

Elena had moved to Damon's side and was quickly checking him for injuries while he fondly rolled his eyes at her.

"I'm fine." He murmured. "He's stronger than I expected. He took me by surprise."

She looked relieved before turning to the bickering pair in the room with them.

"Shut up." She yelled, surprising everyone into silence. "And would everyone just stop attacking Damon? It makes me really cranky."

"You and both sweetheart."

"Stefan what are you doing here?" Her voice was hard when she directed it to her former boyfriend.

"I wanted to talk to you." He said, taking a step towards her.

Damon shifted his weight and stared him down.

"I thought I made it clear last time we spoke that…" She began stiffly.

"Elena please." He cut her off and she scowled.

"You know, fighting with my boyfriend is not the way to get me to talk to you." She muttered.

"He jumped me first!" Stefan defended, his voice almost whiny.

"Probably because you came in through the window, that tends to scream bad intentions." She rolled her eyes.

"Look, I really just want to talk. Please Elena."

Damon and Caroline were both watching the exchange in silence. Neither really wanting to get involved.

Elena finally sighed and nodded.

"Fine." She said quickly. She walked towards the door, glancing back to give Damon a reassuring nod before leading Stefan to the sitting room.

She knew Damon and Caroline would wait outside the door until they were done, and the thought was comforting. Stefan on human blood scared her a little.

She sat in an armchair, so he had to sit opposite her not next to her. He noticed the subtle move but didn't say anything.

"What is it?" She asked coldly.

"I don't understand Elena. I don't understand how you can have just forgotten everything we had." He burst out, his eyes boring into hers.

She sighed, and her gaze softened.

"I haven't forgotten Stefan. And I will always hold that close to my heart…but we can never have that again." She said quietly.

He moved to sit on the edge of his seat, leaning towards her, his eyes desperate.

"Why not? We can have anything we want!" He exclaimed.

She shrunk back into her chair, keeping as much distance between them as possible.

"But Stefan, I don't want it. It's the past. It's never going to anything but the past. I'm sorry." She whispered, actually finding herself feeling sorry for him as the words came out of her mouth.

"Because of Damon? You loved me before, you can love me again. You loved me first."

"I guess a part of me will always love you. But I'm not, and never will be in love with you. I'm sorry, but that part of my life is over." She explained softly.

His face hardened.

"All of this because of one mistake, what happened to them wasn't my fault." He spat.

"It wasn't one thing Stefan. We were growing apart anyway, the spark wasn't there anymore, there was no passion. This would have happened even if…" She broke off and looked away. Even if my family hadn't died and my whole life hadn't been turned up side down. It was a heavy thing to put into words.

"Will you ever forgive me for that?" He asked, understanding what she hadn't said.

She hesitated.

"No. I will never forgive you for taking away my chance to save my family. But I will forgive everything else. I'm not going to banish you from my life, you have been and maybe always will be, a big part of it. I am willing to try to be friends or something…" She sighed, imagining for a moment what it would be like if everyone could just get along, they could all just be happy and stop all this fighting and pain.

"But you're in love with Damon." Stefan's voice shook her from her thoughts.

"Yes." She said with finality.

"He'll hurt you."

"No he won't." Her confidence in Damon didn't waver, no matter how many times people tried to shake it, it would never waver.

"I didn't mean physically, I meant…"

"I know what you meant. And I trust him, I trust him with my life and my heart."

Stefan looked like he knew he had lost. His voice was half hearted when he spoke.

"He breaks hearts for a living."

"Not mine. Never mine."

They both knew it was true.

Sorry for the wait! I have one more chapter and then maybe an epilogue lined up... we'll see :)

Don't forget to review! ;)