Disclaimer: Not mine as much as I wish it. A/N: Thank you again to my lovely readers. Enjoy x

Let the Games Begin

4.

Caroline closed the door to Stefan's apartment with a slam after a big night, the sun peaked through the venetians and the couch was empty. Stefan's bedroom doors revealed him asleep in her bed. Too tired to argue, she flopped against the soft green cushions and pulled the blanket beneath her chin. She was awoken at 5.59am by the blender, groaning and knowing it had more to do with Stefan paying her back, than him craving strawberries.

"Coffee?" he asked, while Caroline groaned again.

"A little peace would be nice..." she mumbled, pulling her blanket around her shoulders.

Stefan's eyes travelled over her clothes. "You're a bit overdressed for breakfast?" he stated.

Caroline placed a mug beneath the coffee machine and pressed a button, ears aching from the smoothie Stefan continued to pulse every five minutes. "You're my roommate, not my mother," she snapped, getting a headache. Stefan tutted. "I tripped over your books the other night. You've bras and clothes everywhere! I just need you to move your stuff!"

"What is your problem? You're acting like a total jerk!" Caroline rounded on him.

"It's not just me, Josh, Hayley, we're worried about you! We look out for each other..." Stefan yelled over the pulsing smoothie. Caroline narrowed her eyes. "Klaus is not the devil, he's a smart businessman who happens to be a gentleman and he goes for it...whilst you have songs that are never ready!" Stefan frowned when Caroline stormed into his room.

"Try not to destroy my place!" he yelled, cooling down by drinking his smoothie.

'Forever young, I want to be, forever young...' Caroline smiled at a pregnant Elena, arms around her husband, Damon Salvatore, while her lavender wedding dress swished from side to side. Caroline and Bonnie stood in the middle of the dance floor, being silly and having a good time. Stefan paced near the altar, arguing on the phone with Ivy while Caroline pretended not to notice, still pissed at him from their own fight. Bonnie's eyes shined with glee, pumping her arms and loosening her hips.

Caroline nudged her. The hot DJ guy was making eyes at her. "Go, have fun! I'll be fine," Caroline encouraged. To her right, Hayley and Josh rotated on the spot, laughing at each other's jokes. Marcel had his arm around one of the bridesmaids' waists and yelled "GET A ROOM!" Hayley blushed from Josh's kiss on her cheek, smirking when he replied to Marcel. "GET AWAY!" Stefan had been right about one thing, Caroline thought: they were a family.

Stefan watched Caroline shaking her hips and singing along to the music, annoyed his girlfriend, Ivy, decided to stay in Savannah rather than come to the wedding. "Well, maybe we should be thinking about our futures, I might be looking at mine right now." Stefan ended his call, frustrated and liberated to have called their relationships quits. He was ready to move on. He ordered a bourbon from the bar, watching Katherine, alone at her table, draining a glass of red wine.

"What happened to Ivy?" Caroline appeared by his shoulder. "Ivy couldn't make it." She nodded and returned to the dance floor. Stefan put down his glass, grabbed her arm and pulled it around his neck with a sly grin. She sighed, liking the way his thumb caressed the inside of her wrist but not ready to forgive him just yet. "I'm a single man," he said, stumbling a little. "So why are you here alone?" she raised her eyebrows, glancing at the other wedding guests, plenty of them, young and beautiful single ladies.

"Do I really look alone to you?" he sighed, again with the gentle touches, convincing her to stay. Was this Stefan finally making a move? She laughed, spinning out into an open space, then back into his chest. Nearby, Bonnie waved, driving her body against her new beau who Caroline noticed was younger, fitter, and apparently a great kisser. Stefan hummed a tune against her ear, and she tightened her hold, enjoying the moment.

She stumbled inside the doorway 'quite drunk', hauling a 'pretty drunk', Stefan inside and shutting the door with her foot. He tripped over her research books and face-planted, before recovering and removing his suit jacket. "My feet are killing me, please help me!" she said, making it to the couch and sticking her feet up. When Stefan knocked over a lamp, she giggled, and waited for him to successfully unbuckle her heels, dropping each one to the ground. "Goodnight," he murmured.

"Stupid zip," Caroline muttered, unable to undress and getting distracted when Stefan flung his doors open wearing red pajamas with Shaun the Sheep on them. "Nice PJs," Caroline smirked.

"My mother got me these, thanks very much." He stomped passed and locked the door." Got it," he pointed back to his room, while she smirked, and wished him goodnight, well aware of his true intentions.

Her zip was definitely stuck, she thought. Stopping when she heard Stefan's doors open, and this time he'd lost his shirt. "Water, I don't want a hangover," he said, returning to the sink. Caroline sat down on the couch. "Smart," she said, shaking her head, and wishing him goodnight when he went to bed for the third time. She removed her earrings, picking up her research books and stacking them closer to the couch. His doors creaked open, again.

"I know I forgot something else..." He murmured. "I locked the door, had some water...hunger pains!" He clicked his fingers while Caroline looked over her shoulder, letting out a squeal when his naked ass marched into the kitchen. "What's so funny?" he asked with a dead serious expression. She blocked his lower half with the edge of her cushion. "Well, I never. Want a cookie?" He raised a cookie box which he'd covered his groin with, up until then, and she laughed into the cushion, shaking her head. "If you change your mind, you know where they are..." Stefan shut his doors.

Caroline stared at the door, willing them to open again. When they didn't, she tried one final time to unzip herself, cursing when it failed to budge. The doors opened and she relaxed, hearing his footsteps, and then his warm hands began to massage her neck. She exhaled, resting her head against his chest, until the desire to kiss him overtook her, and she glimpsed a grin, tasting his bourbon breath before letting him pull her red straps from her shoulders.

A/N: Please review! One more chapter to go! x