Caroline was sitting on her bed, holding the flyer over her head, staring at the large print and the picture of the hair piece that was attached next to all of the details of the ball. Her heart was fluttering at the thought of seeing Stefan again, but she had all kinds of reservations about what would happen if he found out who she really was; a servant girl pretending to be something she's not while acting completely like herself at the same time.

The knock on her door startled her while she was in deep thought. Luke peeked his head in cautiously.

"I heard…" he said quietly, then entered the room and closed the door softly, "Are you going to the second ball?"

"I am seriously thinking about it," Caroline said, "God, I am so tired of seeing all of those girls throwing themselves at him, you know? I just-."

"Want him to be yours?" Luke asked, raising an eyebrow, "Sister, that's what being in love feels like. That alone is enough of a reason to go, if not the only reason you should be going."

"But…" Caroline hesitated, looking down at herself, "I don't even have another dress… If I go in the same dress twice, what's he gonna think?"

"Oh please!" Luke laughed, "If he's going through all of this trouble just to find you again, I really don't think he cares about what dress you're wearing… but I'd keep the shoes, though."

"Really?" Caroline asked, reaching back to grab the same silver shoes she wore at the ball, "You think they're still good?"

"They kept you on your feet for that long, didn't they?"

"Yeah, until I fell," Caroline rolled her eyes.

"You fell?" Luke said, trying so hard not to laugh, which made Caroline shoot him a judgemental glare, "I'm not judging! I'm just surprised."

"Uh huh," she said, crossing her arms, "No, it was the stupid sprinklers. They startled me and I tried to dodge the water, but I actually ended up in the fountain."

"Oh no!"

"Right as I was about to kiss Stefan."

"Oh no!"

"I know, right?"

"That timing is awful," Luke laughed, throwing his head in his hands, "That's like someone planned for you to screw up."

Caroline cringed and fell back on the bed, laughing, trying to imitate dread and doom. "The world is out to get me!"

Luke laughed and fell on the bed next to her, both of them giggling and continuing conversation as though they had never hated each other at all. From the other side of the door, Liv knew something was going on when she stopped seeing Luke in the adjoining room, so she snuck up Caroline's steps to see if he was seeing her. The two of them were laughing together like real friends. Liv frowned and knew there was only one thing to do; stop Caroline from going to the ball.

"Daddy!" Liv called sweetly when she came down the stairs.

"Yes, princess?" Joshua answered, approaching the staircase where Liv waited.

"Caroline wants to go to the ball AGAIN," she complained, "Imagine how awful that would be if she actually went! What would people think of our maid went out in public and talked to people… people that she shouldn't be talking to… like the Salvatore brothers!"

Joshua's eyes went wide. The only image in his head he could conjure up was that of Caroline, her face covered in dirt and her hair in a messy ponytail while she got dust and dirt all over important people's clothes.

"Oh no, oh no," Joshua said, crossing his arms, "That just won't do… we're just going to have to keep her home then, aren't we?"

"Make her clean both mine and Lucas's rooms," Liv suggested.

"That won't be necessary," Joshua halted, "I have one room that could definitely use… some dusting."

On the day of the ball, Liv went up to her room and blasted her music so no one could disturb her. Luke protested to his father against going to the ball, to which he agreed to so he could keep an eye on Caroline. He started right away and went up to Caroline's room again, making arrangements on how to sneak out of the house and get back in time before Liv and his dad returned home.

"Caroline!" Joshua's voice rang from the intercom.

The sound pierced her ears and made her and Luke jump. Her eyes widened and she looked at Luke, holding her index finger to her lips, to which he responded with a nod.

"Yes?" Caroline said when she pushed the button.

"Get down here, you have a job to do," Joshua demanded.

Caroline looked back at Luke and rolled her eyes before speaking again, "It's not like I have anything better to do with my life…"

"I like the can-do attitude!" Joshua said excitedly.

Caroline picked herself up and headed down the stairs where Joshua was waiting at the door to the wine cellar.

"Yeah?" Caroline asked when she got to the first floor, "What's this big job?"

Joshua grinned and pushed the wine cellar door open just by hitting it with his elbow. "You remember the wine cellar, don't you? Probably not, since it hasn't been opened in years."

The dust that was coming from the hinges themselves made Caroline cough. He walked in and Caroline followed him. The light was a cheap old thing that could be turned on by pulling the metal string.

"We're all going to the second ball tonight for the Salvatore brothers," Joshua said, "and by all, I mean, Olivia, Lucas, and I. You will be in here, making this place spotless. When we get back, I don't wanna see even one speck of dust."

Caroline's mouth fell open as she tried to form some kind of words to describe the piles of dust and cobwebs that filled this place.

"What?" was what she finally said.

"Leave no bottle un-dusted and no shelf cleared," Joshua said, walking up the stairs, "Now I know it seems like a lot, but look at the bright side of things! At least this time, you won't be bored while we're away."

Joshua closed the door, which made the whole room shake and creek, some dust falling off of the shelves and falling down onto the ground and in her hair. Caroline let out a little gasp as she looked the dust and dirt in her hair. She wanted to march out the door and sneak away like she did last time, but there was no hiding this one. If this room wasn't clean by the time her stepfather came back, she would be a goner for sure. There was no telling what kind of abuse she would have to endure. Staying emotionally sane and bruise free would be better than winning over any man.

It was about an hour later before Caroline finally heard the door begin to creak open. The bright light made Caroline squint and hold her hand up to her eyes so she could see who was there in front of the sunlight.

"Oh honey…" Jo said quietly, coming down the stairs, "You're a mess."

"Your dad strikes again," Caroline shrugged.

Jo came walking down the stairs with Luke, Bonnie, and Elena behind her.

"Yeah, no kidding," Bonnie said, brushing her finger against the wooden railing and cringing at the disgusting dust on her finger, "This place has more dust than a pyramid."

"Or the other side of Liv's bed," Luke said plainly as he started to walk past Bonnie.

She glared at him and started to laugh, patting him on the shoulder, "I like you, I'm gonna keep you."

"Uh, excuse me, young lady," Jo said, taking the duster from Caroline's hands, "What do you think you're doing?"

"What I'm supposed to be doing," Caroline said, reaching back for the duster, but Jo only moved her hand away from her, "Come on, Jo. I'm serious this time. I have a job to do and if Joshua sees even a speck of dust, I may never see the light of day again."

"Not much light of day down here, from what I can see," Bonnie said.

"Yeah, you could just die down here from all the mold," Luke added.

"This is ridiculous, Caroline," Jo said, crossing her arms, "You're seriously gonna let Elena get her man by herself?"

Elena uncrossed her arms and started to blush.

"I have no other choice, Jo," Caroline argued, "I don't have the kind of life where I get to be young and dumb. I have responsibilities and things I have to do until I can get as far away from here as possible."

"And you think locking yourself up and turning into a cleaning lady is going to help you reach your full potential in the real world?" Jo said, "Sweetheart… there is something out there beyond the voices in this house who keep telling you you're not good enough… something that's so special it can help you be who you really are and make you the happiest you've ever been in your entire life."

"And what's that?" Caroline asked plainly.

"Someone who wants you, and not just anyone. Someone you want back." Caroline looked at the ground, pretending not to hear this. "Don't just shrug and ignore this. You said it yourself after the last ball, you felt more like yourself than ever. When you're like this… you can do whatever you want, become anything you want in the future, go wherever you wanna go. Love is that powerful. And not just the love of a handsome son of an actress, but love from a sister, a brother, friends… a mother…" Caroline looked up and grinned a little bit. "There's music in you, Caroline. Loud, proud, and beautiful music. All you have to do is choose to sing it or not… or in this case… put on the dress I brought you and go to the ball or not."

Caroline took a deep breath and looked around at Bonnie, Elena, and Luke who were standing around with hope in their eyes. Jo was right. Love was better than obedience. If she rebelled and was unsafe, but had people who loved her, especially Stefan, that would be better than it all. The love from her friends was going to last longer. The bruise will heal.

"Jo and I have already agreed to stay and clean anyway," Luke added, "So there's literally no reason you can't go."

"Not just because he's throwing the whole ball for you," Bonnie said.

"But I don't have the hairpiece," Caroline said, "That's probably the only way he's going to recognize me. What do I do?"

"Maybe he'll stare lovingly into your eyes and just know," Luke said mockingly.

Jo shook her head at her little brother and took Caroline up the stairs to the dining room table where Jo had everything laid out. There was a big white dress strapless dress with a silver diamond belt around the waist. Next to it was a necklace that looked like it would be a pair with the hair piece.

"I had this picked out for my wedding," Jo said, fluffing the dress, "Poor Alaric got anxiety and we went to the courthouse instead, but at least I saved this dress. I think it'll come in handy for tonight."

Caroline smiled and tried not to get her dusty self all over the perfectly white dress. She looked at Jo and smiled.

"Thank you… Really, all of you are just the best!"

They all came together for a great big group hug. Caroline's heart was really starting to flutter now. If anything, it was racing with the anxious anticipation. She was ready to go to that ball and fall into Stefan's arms again. Caroline was ready.

The second ball was filled with much more dread than the last one. This time, Stefan was standing there, hearing every girl come up to him, claiming that the hair piece in his hand was hers. There were even brunette girls, which made Stefan laugh because his girl was clearly blonde and they were trying too hard. He could have sworn he saw blonde highlights in some of the girls hair, though, and there weren't many blonde highlighted girls at the first ball. Of course, Liv Parker wasn't going down without a fight, so she approached Stefan in a very revealing dress, proudly pushing her chest into the air.

"So Stefan…" she said, getting closer and closer to him, "Care for a dance?"

"No thanks, Liv," Stefan said, trying to avoid her stare.

"What? I'm not Liv… I'm your mystery girl…"

"No you're not," Stefan scoffed, "I saw you scowling at us when we were dancing last weekend." Liv started to get mad, so Stefan panicked and touched her shoulder, moving her to arms length. "I'm sure you're a decent person, Liv. Any guy… although I'm not sure exactly who… would be happy to be with you. Hey look! I hear Tyler's available. Maybe you should ask him for a dance. I think he can dance, what do you think, Damon?"

"He's not a bad dancer," Damon said with a shrug as he approached his brother and Liv.

Liv looked to them both, then scowled, then groaned, then walked away loudly. Stefan and Damon both rolled their eyes at each other. He didn't know exactly how this was possible, but he felt his whole body start to get tense. People were starting to gasp and Damon looked at the steps with wonder and amazement.

"Hey…" Damon said, "The guests of honor have arrived…"

Stefan turned around quickly and looked at the three girls, who arrived late, on the staircase. It was the same mask, but her wavy blonde hair was flowing at her sides instead of up in a bun. She was wearing a necklace that had the same design as the hair piece that was in Stefan's hand. His heart started to race and he almost ran to the staircase this time, stopping her before her feet could touch the ground.

"You're here…" he said breathlessly.

Caroline reached out and took Stefan's hand, looking at him as Stefan, not a mystery boy. "Of course I am…" she said back.

He saw her green eyes and knew exactly that this was the girl he was looking for. She looked absolutely radiant in her white dress. The subtle diamonds on her dress and the diamonds on her necklace made her eyes sparkle even more. He brought her down one more step and saw that she was even wearing the same shoes that she wore during the first ball. He held out his arm for her and she took it. Damon watched them walk away, then he turned to the girl with the brown hair and olive skin who was now wearing a light pink ball gown. She looked even more perfect than the last time he saw her. Elena was tense when she first saw Damon without his mask, looking completely handsome and totally gorgeous. But instead of just standing there in fear, she saw that look in his eyes. If anything, Elena had the power because Damon had no idea who she was. She didn't bother with formalities and started to kiss Damon again. He placed his hands on her waist lightly, avoiding messing up any of the sequences that rested on the corset.

Elena's mystery man was Damon, she thought proudly to herself as she kissed him passionately. She wasn't going to take off her mask this time, but at least she knew who she was dealing with. Damon didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, that's exactly how he wanted his night to go.

Meanwhile, Stefan brought Caroline back out to the garden, hoping to pick up where they had left off before she fell into a fountain and ran away. She had almost forgotten how beautiful the garden looked from the last ball. If anything, the lights were dimmer than they were last time, but it was much prettier.

"I was afraid you wouldn't come at first," Stefan admitted as they both took a seat on the bench, "To be honest, you don't seem like the type that's easy to get."

"You guess correctly," Caroline said with a coy chuckle, "and if I'm being perfectly honest… I thought you would have forgotten about me and pretended like the last ball never even happened. Oh how wrong I was."

Stefan laughed and looked down, trying to hide his blushing face. Caroline impulsively took his chin in her hand and gently pushed his face back upward so she could see him.

"Never hide your smile," Caroline said quietly, "At least your genuine smile… It's the thing I missed most about you."

He pressed his lips together as her hand softened and brushed against his cheek before returning to her lap. He took one of her hands in his and started to squeeze it just a little bit.

"I feel so strange…" Stefan said, looking at their hands, his holding her soft and delicate fingers, "like I'm not myself… either that or that I really am myself but not the version of myself that everyone wants me to be. That has to be so confusing… I know I said this last time too."

"But it makes perfect sense," Caroline responded, "It's scary, isn't it?"

"Scary, yes," Stefan agreed, "and wonderful… all because you showed up in my life."

Caroline sighed and loosened her grip on Stefan's hands, looking at the ground. It was now Stefan's turn to rest his hand gently under Caroline's chin, bringing her face forward to look at him.

"It's almost like you're not even real," Stefan said in total awe, which made Caroline catch her breath, "God, I hope you're real."

"I am…" Caroline answered, "but I should warn you, I'm not who you think I am. I'm not an heiress or famous in any way at all… I mean my sister's kinda famous, but I doubt you'd know her."

"Do you really think I care about that stuff?" Stefan asked, "If I were looking for one specific type of girl, I wouldn't have had a masquerade ball. I wanted to meet someone that I wasn't expected to talk to… and I did… I met someone beautiful."

Caroline shook her head and chuckled to herself.

"What's wrong?" Stefan asked.

"I could almost say the same thing about you," she sighed, "When I went to the ball, I didn't plan on seeking you out as Stefan Salvatore; resident Prince Charming… I just asked for a pretty dress and a night off."

He chuckled, "Yeah, I guess we both kind of got more than what we bargained for." He made Caroline smile, which made him feel like the luckiest man in the world for being able to see the most beautiful girl in the world smile. "I've never felt this way about someone so easily… I think... I think I'm falling in love with you…" Stefan shook his head, chuckling to himself, "and I don't even know your name."

"Stefan…" Caroline whispered, immediately falling into his arms, resting her face on his shoulder as he hugged her tightly, "I wish I could tell you everything."

"Then why don't you?" he asked.

Caroline lifted her head. She seriously considered taking off her mask, but it made her insides tingle with the nerves. Stefan started to moved his hands to her mask and lifted only a millimeter off her face before she gasped. He took the sign and removed his hands from her face. She looked terrified. There were so many things he wanted to say to make her feel better, but he felt a thumping in his heart that told him to do something else instead. So he pressed his lips against hers for the first time. Caroline wrapped her arms around Stefan's neck as she returned the kiss. It would have been the perfect moment if the clock didn't strike midnight moments later.

They broke the kiss and looked at the clock. Stefan sighed, resting his hands on her waist.

"Let me guess... " he said.

"I have to go," Caroline said quietly, beginning to back away from him.

"Shit…" he muttered to himself.

Caroline shook her head and started to feel at her collar bone for the necklace, she tapped it lightly, then took Stefan's face in her hands.

"Do you see this necklace I'm wearing?" she asked.

"Yes," he nodded.

"The girl you're looking for will have this necklace," Caroline said, "It matches the hairpiece exactly. The set belongs to a woman named Jo Saltzman. Now I really have to go before someone kills me."

"I hope you mean that in the metaphorical way," Stefan said, still gripping onto her hand.

Caroline looked back at him and shrugged, "It could go either way."

She planted one last kiss on his lips before running out the door. Bonnie was waiting there and grabbed her hand, both of them racing towards the staircase.

"Wait!" Caroline shouted, "Where's Elena?"

They looked around until they saw her soft pink dress up against the wall with Damon in front of her, his hands moving up and down her waist. Bonnie rolled her eyes and rushed towards her, grabbing Elena's arm.

"We're gonna need to steal her back, I'm sure she had a lovely time, though," she said casually as she dragged Elena away from Damon.

They both looked completely dazed and confused, but gave each other a small wave before Elena rushed back with Bonnie and Caroline up the stairs. When they reached the top, Caroline looked back at Stefan, who was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, his hand on the railing. This time, instead of looking sad and lost, he was smiling. He was one step closer to his mystery girl. One step closer to finding his Cinderella.