And the happy went away and I wrote another sad thing. I'm just going to apologize right now, but I promise that neither Klaus nor Caroline dies. Feel free to yell at me when you're done with this because I am a terrible person.

Steroline friendship/ Klaroline romance/ Klefan friendship

"I don't think you should die until you're ready. Until you've wrung out every last bit of living you can."

― Libba Bray, Going Bovine

They all left Mystic Falls one by one. Tyler was the first. Klaus followed soon after. Bonnie went to join some of her other Bennett relatives, the good ones who would help her get out of using expression. Damon and Elena left, presumably to see the world together. Matt went to college on a football scholarship, and though they promised that they would speak to each other, he enjoyed his supernatural free life, and Caroline didn't want to ruin that for him.

All this to say, she was left looking after a heartbroken Stefan. And a heartbroken Stefan seemed to equate to "about to go on a blood binge any second" Stefan. Not so different from his "hey, it's January" Stefan, but this was depression and not hunger.

It was almost comical, and she would have laughed had you know, he not gone out and killed people, but he was acting a little bit like... well her when her first boyfriend broke up with her. He was emotionally eating. Okay, so it was a lot more deadly than eating twelve tubs of ice cream, but the idea was still there.

And Caroline was left to clean up his messes. She couldn't leave him, couldn't let him get caught by a hunter, or worse one of the five, who apparently still existed though Silas was dead, but it was almost like that was exactly what he wanted, to be caught. The one time a hunter had found him, she had caught up just in time to save him, but when she snapped the hunter's neck, a look of disappointment flashed across his face before he thanked her.

It was like that for decades, finding him in increasingly worse situations. He killed whole towns, like he had before he met Klaus. A full blown ripper, and this time she couldn't blame Klaus. It was easier when she could; he was the bad guy, that's what they were there for. Blame. But this? The pain that was causing Stefan to do this? That was, at least partially, Elena's fault. The rest could be blamed on Silas and the emotional torture that he had put Stefan through. Caroline could only imagine that it probably had something to do with Elena.

In desperation, she got Klaus' number off of Stefan's phone, calling the hybrid and asking for his help. She didn't know if it was because he still cared for her, the worry in her voice, or his friendship with Stefan, but she really didn't care. All that mattered was she was worried about her friend, and Klaus was coming to try and help her. None of them knew what SIlas had forced him to see; none of them could imagine the pain he had felt, he wouldn't talk about it. And from his actions, Caroline could only draw one conclusion. Stefan wanted to die.

Maybe it was a combination of everything. The torture, really losing Elena, because her and Damon had not even so much as called since they had left, or the loss of hope for the cure. That had caused a lot of pain, for both Stefan and Rebekah. But Rebekah was a centuries old vampire, she did what she always did. She moved on. She even found love again with the hunter they had found on the island. Stefan, well Stefan had always hated what he had become. He had hid behind his humanity switch for so long. But he had reached the age where that didn't work as well as it used to. He had no reprieve from his feelings anymore.

Caroline had stopped leaving him. Whereas before she would go out on her own, seeing the world, she lived in the same house as him. Klaus' arrival was met with some surprise from Stefan, but he acted as he had for months. Disinterested in anything. She and Klaus shared a look, and that look said a lot. Klaus had seen his friend guilty, he had explained to her, and seen him remorseful, but never like this. This was different. It wasn't a Stefan action.

Klaus, to his credit, tried to cheer Stefan up. The three of them moved to Chicago, the city experiencing a revitalization of the roaring twenties that Stefan had enjoyed so much (though Caroline had a strong suspicion that Klaus was somehow behind that). It was beautiful, she mused, and he had been right that night so long ago. She liked the twenties. She liked the music and the dancing. But she wasn't really enjoying herself. Her worry for Stefan, who after this long was like a brother to her, outweighed all else.

To her surprise, she found Klaus to be a comfort to her. One night, as she tried to quietly cry in her bed, after Stefan had almost gotten himself killed yet again, he slipped into her room, laying on the bed next to her and cradling her in his arms. She didn't question it, and every night after that they went to bed together. Caroline realized that this must have been hurting Klaus as well; Stefan was his friend. He wouldn't have come if he didn't care. They comforted each other, never speaking, never doing anything more than sleep, but it was something. It was certainly more than anything Caroline had ever experienced before.

One day, they woke to find Stefan cooking, smiling. He seemed like himself for the first time in decades. They accepted it without question, smiling and laughing with him. And when he suggested that the two of them should go out by themselves, that he would be fine here by himself for a few hours, they exchanged glances, but decided to go out anyway. It had been a while since either of them had done anything without Stefan on their minds. Not to say that he wasn't that night, but he wasn't at the forefront of their minds as he had been for so long.

He took her out to dinner, and they drank and laughed with each other, talking about everything else that had happened since they had both left Mystic Falls. He still looked at her like... like she was the only person in the world. And for once, she let herself enjoy it without feeling guilty.

Klaus took her hand as they walked back to their house, and she let him without pulling away. It was nice, normal even, and she enjoyed the warmth of his skin against hers. She opened the door warily, wondering if she would find a slew of dead bodies as she had one other time, but when the coast seemed clear she stepped inside, Klaus following suit, and she slipped off her shoes while calling for Stefan. There was no response, but she tried to quell her suddenly fast beating heart, as she sped down the hallway to his room.

Caroline's hand hesitated on the knob, but Klaus' hand pushed hers aside and opened the door himself. She entered the room hesitantly, turning the light switch on, only to cover her mouth in shock as Klaus quickly turned her around and she burrowed into his chest trying to erase the image that had confronted her.

Stefan, a stake plunged into his chest, his hands still wrapped around the wood.

She couldn't though; that image would stay with her for a very long time, haunting her nightmares.

Her desire to fix it, to make it better, told her that she needed to do something with the body. Pull the stake out. Find a place to bury him. Try to contact Damon.

Klaus' concern in that moment though was only for her, which became evident when he swung her up into his arms and carried her to his room, laying her on the bed, and wiping away the tears that were flowing silently down her face. He left, and she allowed herself to give into her sadness, crying for the man who had helped her so much through everything. And she only wished that she could have been there more for him.

For what felt like hours she laid there, curled into herself, until finally Klaus returned, tears in his own eyes. "He left this for you." He said as he handed her an envelope with Caroline neatly written across the front. She tore it open, wiping her face with her other hand, as she pulled out the letter.

Caroline,

Thank you so much. You've been a wonderful friend, the best, putting your own happiness on hold to try to make me better. Well, the truth is, I haven't been good for awhile Care. I just, I've caused nothing but pain in my life. Please don't blame yourself. I was in too much pain.

Be happy Caroline. Take chances and risks. Don't lose who you are. Klaus loves you, but you know that. Give him a chance. Not for me, but because I know that you have feelings for him too.

I love you Caroline.

Stefan

She threw the note on her bedside table, looking at Klaus helplessly, and they both moved simultaneously into each other's arms, clinging to each other in their mutual loss of a friend.

They buried him in Mystic Falls in his family's plot. It was what he would have wanted, what would have happened had he died as a human. It was fitting that he end up here.

They prevailed, they lived on together. Missing their friend, but grateful that he was the one who caused them to finally be brought together.

"I guess by now I should know enough about loss to realize that you never really stop missing someone-you just learn to live around the huge gaping hole of their absence."

―Alyson Noel, Evermore

A/N: So I hope I didn't hurt you too badly with that. If I did, I am so, so, sorry.