Caroline might be considered a lot of different things, but stupid wasn't one of them.
Stefan apparently didn't get the memo, though.
"You were flirting with him," He stated, arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed. "We can't trust him, you know that."
Caroline couldn't help but roll her eyes. "I know we haven't been friends for that long, but I'm sure you've realized by know that I'm not naive."
"Depends on where you're standing."
"Excuse me?" Caroline blurted out.
"You were pretty naive back when Klaus started hitting on you at that bar."
"First of all, it was a club," Caroline found her anger getting hard to control. Who did he think he was to talk to her like that? "And second, how was I supposed to know a vampire wanted to kidnap me? How I was supposed to know vampires even existed?
Stefan seemed to realize how unfair he was being. "I'm sorry. It wasn't your fault, I know that. I just-" His voice was softer now, but Caroline was still angry.
"You just what? You think I'm gonna end up making out with Kol in his car and you'll have to keep him from sucking all the blood from by body?
"Whoa, okay, chill out!"
"Chill out? You're the one who started this!" Caroline shouted, but somehow she didn't sound as angry as she wanted to.
"I'm sorry, Caroline. Okay? I'm sorry, I'm just worried about you, that's all." Stefan sighed.
"You have a weird way of showing that." Stefan made a face. "Okay, fine. You don't have to be. I can take care of myself." She spoke softer now. "Besides, I'm not about to make the same mistake twice. I was just fooling around, trying to get his trust. Girls have special powers, you know that, right? It's the flirting."
Stefan laughed. "God, I forget how smart you are sometimes."
"Well, you shouldn't." Caroline smiled. "Seriously, Stefan, you underestimate me."
"I really do." He said, defeated.
Something clicked inside Caroline's mind and before she could stop the words from coming she was already speaking. "Why did you get so angry at the idea of me and Kol flirting?"
The question caught Stefan off-guard and he opened his mouth and stared at her for a few seconds before he found his words. "I told you already. I was just worried."
"You were angry." Caroline insisted.
Stefan adverted his eyes from hers. "Kol makes me angry. Flirting, talking, walking, breathing. It's all the same."
"Alright." She mumbled, not yet entirely convinced.
It struck her that maybe he wasn't really angry. Maybe he was just jealous. Jealous of what?, a voice inside her head asked her, mocked her.
"I'm heading off to Bonnie's now. I gotta get her into our new plans and let her know Kol wants in with us. Don't know how she's gonna react to that. I hope she keeps it civilized." He walked over to her. "I'll see you later." He dropped a kiss on her forehead and smiled.
Caroline could only nod and watch him walk away.
Caroline watched as Damon and Elena discussed whether they should trust Kol or not. She was so tired. She knew it was a bad thing to wish Klaus would come, but the waiting was too much for her to handle.
It was getting harder and harder to live like that. Not knowing when or if or how Klaus would finally appear was eating at her every day. They have a weapon. They have help. Why can't Klaus just show up already?
She hated waking up every day and staring at the ceiling not knowing if that would be her last day on Earth or if she was going to watch all her friends stress over her safety for another day. Either way, she couldn't win. It was so confusing it made her head hurt sometimes. If he comes, he may well kill all of us. But if he doesn't, how long will we live like this?
"He's Klaus' brother. We can't trust him." Damon looked at Elena intensely.
"Rebekah is Klaus' sister and we trust her. We trusted Elijah, too. We are in no place to deny help, Damon."
"What if this is all a plan? What if Klaus sent Kol so that he could learn of our strategies and spill his guts to his beloved brother while we're not looking?" Damon threw his arms in the air in exasperation.
"Stefan already said he knows for a fact they're not talking."
"Stefan is not Klaus' BFF! He doesn't know anything!" Damon's voice cracked a bit when he yelled. Then he took a deep breath to calm himself down, touched Elena's arm and said, in a much calmer voice. "We've overcome a lot together, Elena. Without Kol. We can do this, too."
Elena touched his face gently. "Give him a chance, Damon. This situation, it's... complicated. We know what Klaus can do, we've seen it. We don't have to like him, we don't even have to trust him a hundred percent. Just give him a little bit of trust and see what he does with it."
"I don't wanna put you in danger."
"We're all in danger. When are we not?" She kissed him. "We're gonna be fine. We're together."
Caroline left the room, then. She had no idea if they still remembered she was there in the first place. They loved each other so much, she could see it. And she had brought nothing but danger to the both of them.
Their house was so big sometimes she still got confused while walking around, but she could always find that one room she loved hiding whenever she felt like she was about to break down in tears from all the stress. It was a little abandoned bedroom, much smaller than her room and every other room in the house. She had no idea who it belonged to once, but it was always so silent. She needed silence more than she realized.
She sat on the floor, her eyes looking at the ivory colored wall where two paintings hanged side by side, her hands fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. The paintings were so different. In the left painting, a young girl stood looking down at her hands in the middle of a crowded room, her soft curls falling nearly to her waist. They all wore typical 1800s clothes, and she was in a wedding dress. She looked sad. That must have been her wedding, Caroline though. The people around her drank and ate and smiled and talked, but she was miserable.
In the painting to the right, she could see the woods. Tall trees stood one next to another, green leaves and stones covered the floor, the sun was shining in the horizon and there were birds flying in the sky. It was beautiful. And not at all sad, like the girl in her wedding dress. Two paintings. One miserable, the other full of joy. Almost like Caroline. Two sides.
She loved being surrounded by these people. Stefan, Elena, Bonnie, Damon, even Rebekah... they had become so special to her. They made her happy. But then she remembered they could die because of her, and that made her want to try and run away and keep them safe. They were supposed to protect her, but she couldn't shake the feeling they might not even be able to protect themselves.
She heard footsteps.
"Caroline?" Elena called softly.
She wanted to be alone, but she knew well enough there was no hiding from a vampire. "I'm here."
"Hi." Elena smiled and sat down next to her. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She lied. "I was just tired of being the third wheel."
"Well," Elena nudged her. "Where's Stefan?"
Caroline rolled her eyes, but answered her all the same. "He went to Bonnie's to update her on everything that happened."
"Good." Elena said. "So... what's wrong?"
"I told you, I'm fine."
"But I know you're not."
Elena really did know her very well. "I'm being stupid, that's all."
"Caroline," Elena touched her hand. "Having doubts and feelings is not stupid. Come on, talk to me."
Caroline took a deep breath. She really did need someone to talk to. "The waiting is killing me. I was watching you and Damon and I thought, Klaus could kick down the door at any minute and kill us all. Sometimes when we're all having dinner and laughing I suddenly think, hey, Klaus could show up right now. I hate this."
"I understand. Trust me, I do. It sucks when you're in a dangerous situation and you have no control over it."
"That's it. Control. That's the word I was looking for. I used to be such a control freak back in high school and I thought I had learned to let things go in their own natural course, but right now I have no control over this whole thing and I'm going crazy."
"Well, it's only natural. You're not a control freak anymore. This is not a high school dance, Care. This is life and death. Don't beat yourself up over wanting control of your own life."
"But I do. Because you and Damon, you love each other. Stefan loves you two, too, and he loves Bonnie, and you're all his family and I'm putting you guys in danger. This is all my fault. One day you're all happy and safe and the other you have to look out for me, a stupid weak human being who can't defend herself even if she wanted to."
Elena laughed. "You're silly. We don't have to look out for you, we want to. You have become a part of our family now, Caroline. We love you. Don't ever think for a second we're doing this out of pity, or out of love for Stefan. We want to protect you. And you're not stupid."
Caroline felt warm tears on her cheek before she could even try to hold them back. Elena's arm went over Caroline's shoulders. "I love you guys too. All of you. I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me."
"We won't. We'll all stick together and stop Klaus. Our plan is gonna work, Care, trust me."
And she did.
Later, when Stefan came home, they all got together one last time before deciding if they would in fact accept Kol's help.
"Well, he's my brother. Of course I say yes." Rebekah said first.
"I vote no." Bonnie said, her voice firm. "I don't know if I can trust him. I can barely trust Rebekah, to be honest." Rebekah gave her a glare that should make her shut up, but she only shrugged and told her to deal with it.
"Yes." Elena said, ignoring Damon's sigh. "We need help. He wants to give it to us. Let's trust him.
"Absolutely not", said Damon. "I'm not stupid."
Caroline looked at Stefan. "No. I don't trust him." She sighed.
If Caroline voted no, it would be four against two and there would be no discussing it. If she voted yes, they would go through with it, she knew that. It was all about her in the end. Stefan and Damon would probably keep to their initial votes but Bonnie would give it a second thought and eventually she would say yes, and they would call Kol and he would start working with them.
What if Kol betrayed them? What if he were simply a spy for Klaus and he told him about all of their plans, about the weapon they found and about Rebekah's involvement? They would have no chance, then. At all. They would all die and there would be no chance to fight.
But what if Kol really did want to help? His help could change everything. He's an original, too, and with Rebekah they were already half the Originals left. She didn't know exactly how having two of Klaus' siblings on her side would help her, but she had a few ideas. Maybe he would back off, unable to fight against his own blood for someone as insignificant as her. Maybe they would talk him down, change his mind, convince him to stop trying to kill them all just because she didn't want to be Klaus' own personal all-you-can-eat buffet. Or, maybe, if it all went down to fighting, Rebekah and Kol would make them stronger.
She could win both ways, but she could also lose.
They were all looking at her, waiting for an answer, each of them pressuring her their own way. Stefan's eyes were the worst. He looked right into her eyes, he made her feel guilty and he made her fear she would choose it wrong and fail him.
She closed her eyes. Listen to yourself, Caroline. This is your family now. Help them.
"Yes." She said. "Kol can be trusted."
And so it began.
Thank you for your reviews! I just wanna say something really quickly: This is not a Klaroline fanfic. I won't turn Klaus into an ass, everything I wrote or will write for him is based off of his character in TVD & TO. I try to keep these characters as close to the show as possible. If I change them too much, then they're not reaaaaally those characters we love, are them?
Review, please!