Stefan Salvatore was not exactly what people would call a nice guy.
Still, that's the word he heard from Caroline. Nice.
Nice and different. Human, even. If only she knew what those words meant to him.
But then again, not even Stefan knew it himself. You'd think that after living for 170 years, one would be certain of itself, but not Stefan. He had changed so much, so many times. He had been a hundred different Stefans through his existence. Naive, innocent Stefan with Katherine. Ripper Stefan. Guilty Stefan trying to make up for all the killings, all the lives he took during his ripper years. Hopeful Stefan, believing that somehow he could still find happiness at the end of the day. And now, apparently, he was Nice Stefan. Different Stefan. Human Stefan, even.
Sometimes Stefan lied and pretended to be something he was not for so long, he actually started believing in it. And he needed someone to remind him of what he was hiding, someone to slap him in the face and shout 'This is not you. Stop pretending. Stop drowning in your pain and your hurt because when it finally hits you again, it will be ten times worse', but for the past five years he had no one to do that for him.
And then Caroline showed up.
Somewhere between telling her about Elena and listening to her talk about Matt, he remembered who he really was. He was nice, different, he had been human once, too. All this time, that's what he had drowned in - not pain, not hurt, but himself. He was trying so hard to hold on to Elena, to move on without really having to move on entirely, that he ended up lying and believing it.
He didn't love Elena anymore. He wished he still did, because it would make it easier to justify why he had been away with Klaus for this long, why he had watched Klaus hurt innocent people for three years, only interfering when someone was about die. He just wanted to find an excuse for his behavior.
He would always care about Elena. He would always worry.
Maybe if he saw her again, he would be confused for a while and wonder if he was really over her, if he had really found the strength to move on completely.
But he wasn't about to let an innocent live at Klaus' mercy over maybes and ifs. She was threatened, he knew that, but she had Damon. She had Bonnie, Jeremy, Tyler - everyone. She was home, happy, and she could damn well take care of herself.
Caroline was alone. She had no one. At least, no one that could actually do something about her situation. He couldn't let her die, or worse, live forever as Klaus' walking and talking blood bag. He had the power to do something, so he was going to do it, and no threat would stop him.
So he waited, watched, talked to Caroline, made her feel better, tried to make her forget her situation, tried to help her as much as he could for two days before he finally couldn't take it anymore.
"Get up." He said, bursting in Caroline's room.
"What? Why?" Caroline questioned, looking at him with wide eyes.
"We're leaving."
She furrowed her eyebrows. "Excuse me?"
"We are leaving, Caroline. I'm not gonna let him do this to you, not anymore." He spoke firmly.
"What about Elena?"
"Elena's a big girl. She can take care of herself, and even if she couldn't, my brother and everyone else around her can. You're all alone, Caroline, but not anymore, because I'm gonna take you out of here and I'm gonna keep you safe."
She smiled slightly. "Why?"
His eyes met hers for the first time since he entered the room. "Because you called me nice."
The look on Caroline's face was one Stefan had never seen before, but still, he knew exactly what it meant. She was trusting him; trusting him with her safety, her life. He was giving him all her hope, and she was giving him her trust, and that was enough to make her jump out of the bed and into his arms, hugging him tightly and whispering "Thank you" over and over. Stefan closed his eyes, taking in the scent of strawberries coming from her hair - a shampoo he had given her since she kept going on and on about how it was impossible for her to go more than a day without washing her hair - and he couldn't fight the smile creeping up on his lips.
Stefan may have done bad things in the past. He deceived some people, manipulated others, killed many. But he was going to save Caroline and he wasn't going to let her down, no matter what happened.
A while later, when Caroline was riding shotgun and Stefan was driving away from New York, not really sure where he was going, Caroline decided she had enough of the silence and decided to turn on the radio. She couldn't settle on a station, though, which made Stefan grin, especially when she rolled her eyes at all the new auto-tuned hits that kept playing in every single station. She settled on one, though, happily falling back into her seat. Stefan didn't recognize the song, and he looked at her with a fuzzed expression.
"Don't tell me you don't know this song. Just don't." Caroline said, crossing her arms.
"Fine, I won't tell you, then." Stefan turned his eyes back to the road.
"You're joking."
"I'm not."
"It's all coming back to me now!"
"What is coming back to you?"
She rolled her eyes. "That's the song title. Celine Dion?"
"Nope." He shook his head.
"Impossible. You're old! How can you not know her? And this song! This song is my jam!" She joked. "Okay, more like, guilty pleasure. Very guilty."
"I understand why." Stefan said, and Caroline raised her eyebrows.
"It's all coming back it's all coming back to me now, there were moments of gold and there were flashes of light!" She sang along, looking at Stefan and using her hand as a microphone. "There were things I'd never do again but then they always seemed right!" Her voice got louder and Stefan was laughing, unable to keep his attention in the road and instead watching her little private concert. "There were nights of endless pleasure, it was more than any laws alloooooow!"
Caroline burst out laughing when her voice cracked and Stefan joined her, while Celine Dion shouted from the radio. "You're insane." Stefan said.
"So are you!" She retorted, still out of breath from all the singing and laughing.
Stefan was about to say something, but his phone started ringing. He checked the caller before answering, and he tensed the moment he read the name - Klaus. He looked at Caroline, and the smile on her face suddenly disappeared. She could read him clear as day.
"Pick it up." She said.
Stefan tried to breathe, but it got caught in his throat. He pressed the answer button and brought the phone to his ear.
"Why, why, Stefan. Where are you?" Klaus' voice rang through, filling his ears, reminding him of the situation he was in.
"Far away." He lied. They weren't really that far away.
"And the girl?"
Stefan glanced at Caroline, who was staring intently at him, fingers entwined. "I don't know."
Klaus laughed. "I am offended. Do you really think I can be lied to this easily?" His tone suddenly grew angrier. "Where is the girl?"
"She's far away, too."
"With you, I suppose."
"You suppose."
Klaus took a deep breath - so deep Stefan could hear it over the phone. "I do not have the time nor the patience to play one of your little word games now, Stefan. So I'll give you a chance. You have exactly one hour to bring her back. If you do, I'll forgive you, I'll pretend nothing happened, I'll forget your stupid attempt at running away with her, which is rather pathetic, since you've known this girl for what? 4 days?" He paused, but Stefan didn't say anything, so he scoffed. "Thought so. You know, after Elena I really believed you had learned something. I thought you knew better than to give everything up for a girl you barely know just because you're attracted to some kind of doppelganger beauty. Which is curious, by the way, since sweet Caroline resembles Elena as much as a person resembles a rabbit. Especially when it comes to blood. You know that better than most." Klaus laughed. "Back to the point: One hour. Or you can kiss yours, Caroline's and Elena's lives goodbye."
"Oh, and Stefan," Klaus said. "Be careful with her, would ya. We don't want her dying with all that vampire blood in her system, now, do we?"
The line went off.
Stefan almost got lost in hatred, in anger, in desperate need of revenge, but Caroline's eyes were so concentrated on him and so full of fear he couldn't dare to give in to those feelings. He couldn't dare to be selfish.
"What did he say?" She asked, her voice breaking.
He gritted his teeth. He couldn't handle the look on her face, the fear written all around her features. Minutes ago she was laughing, singing, and now here she was - reduced to nothing but a scared little girl. It made him so angry it was hard t breathe.
"We'll be a good hour ahead of him. I think it gives us enough time."
"Enough time for what?" Her voice was back to normal now. Or as normal as it could get under the circumstances.
It hit Stefan, then, that he had no idea where they would go. Klaus was definitely going to find them - it could take an hour, a day, a week, a month, but he was coming. He had no way of fighting him. He couldn't kill him, but that didn't mean he couldn't be stopped. He was all alone, though, with a human to protect - a human with vampire blood in her system - and he had absolutely no chance whatsoever, no matter how hard he fought. An idea came to his mind, then.
He knew he would regret it later. He could already hear a voice screaming at him, telling him it was the worst idea he had ever had since the day he left Mystic Falls with Klaus, but he chose to ignore it for Caroline's safety. He had been selfish for the past five years, holding on to Elena and his feelings for her, behaving as if he were the only one left in the universe. But not anymore. He had Caroline now. She was his chance of redemption, she was his chance of making things right and changing once and for all, and he would not make the same mistake twice. He would not let Elena become another one of his excuses. He was done.
He took a deep breath, and, stepping harder on the gas pedal, glanced at Caroline.
"We're going to Mystic Falls."
Review away! And about Celine Dion - I had to. Sorry, not sorry.