Caroline couldn't help but smile as she made her way home. Everything seemed to finally be working out in her favor. After her confession to Klaus in the coffee room, the two had parted ways and went back to their assignments. They both had a lot of work to do before tomorrow and getting in trouble with their bosses would put a damper on an otherwise great day.
Walking into her apartment, she found Elena hanging up the phone.
"Hey, who was that?"
Elena jumped having not heard Caroline come in. "Oh, hey Care. Um, it was just Jeremy checking in."
Caroline nodded her head, but noted hoe nervous Elena looked. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. Um, he's just taking on a sort of dangerous case and I just want him to be careful."
Again, Caroline nodded. Katherine, Elena, and Jeremy were all each other had. Their parents, Miranda and Grayson, had died in a car accident a few years ago; Katherine was fourteen, Elena was twelve, and Jeremy was eight. With no other relatives, the three siblings came to live with Caroline and her parents. Miranda and Liz, Caroline's mother, had been best friends growing up, sparking Elena and Caroline's friendship. The two were joined at the hip from the moment they met each other. When Elena's parents died and then when Caroline went through her own ordeals, they'd been each other's rocks to lean on. As time had gone on, the four had become their own little family.
"What's the case on?"
Elena knew she couldn't tell her, but she didn't want to lie to Caroline. "We, um, some guy apparently escaped from prison a few days ago. Apparently the guy is really dangerous, so you can imagine my concern. But enough about that, how was your day?" she asked quickly, trying to get off the topic of Jeremy altogether.
Caroline's entire being lit up at the thought of exactly how her day went. "It was great! I had a talk with Klaus about us. It ended with him agreeing to be my date for Stefan's gala."
Elena's eyebrows shot up in surprise, but quickly furrowed in concern. "Are you sure that's a good idea, Care?"
What are you talking about? You were the one pushing me to take a chance on him in the first place," Caroline said defensively.
"I know I was, but that was before…..," Elena stopped talking immediately, knowing she would tell Caroline everything if she kept going.
"Before what?"
"Look, I just think I might've been wrong. You do have a complicated past and you shouldn't be putting Klaus in the crosshairs."
Caroline stared at the brunette in complete confusion. Just yesterday, Elena had been encouraging her to spill all her secrets to Klaus and now she was saying the complete opposite. Caroline didn't care what she said; she was taking a chance on Klaus and that was that.
"I don't know what's gotten into you all of a sudden, but you need to get over it. I'm gonna go grab some dinner and hopefully this little mood swing of yours will be over by the time I get back."
Caroline grabbed her wallet and headed for the door. When she opened it , the wallet fell out of her hands and she vaguely heard Elena gasp from behind her.
"Hello, Caroline."
"Stefan….."
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"Tell them both I'll be home as soon as I can. And make sure Claire keeps away from Will. The last thing we need is for both of them to have chicken pox."
Finn said goodbye to his wife and began to gather his things. He had just grabbed his car keys when his office phone started to ring. As much as he wanted to get home to his sick children, he didn't want to take the risk of missing an important phone call.
"Finn Mikaelson," he said quickly.
"Mr. Mikaelson, this is Lexi from the front desk. Mr. Stefan Salvatore is here to see you."
Finn was glad he had decided to take the call. "Thank you, Lexi. Please send him in."
He began to rearrange his bearings, wanting to look as clean and organized as possible. Salvatore hardly ever left New York, but low and behold, here he was.
Finn had just gotten settled when the door opened and in walked Stefan.
"Mr. Salvatore, what a pleasure," Finn exclaimed, offering the young man his hand. "Please, come in and have a seat."
Stefan shook Finn's hand and quickly took place in the chair opposite Finn.
"Now, what can I do for you?"
"Well, I try to make a habit of visiting the newspapers attending my gala. Sometimes work gets in the way, but I was able to take a few hours off. I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time."
"Of course not. I was hoping to meet the famous Stefan Salvatore before the gala anyway."
Stefan smiled, bashfully. Becoming the editor of one of the most prestigious newspapers in the world had definitely not gone to his head. He was grateful for all of his success and knew what it felt like to be the low man in the totem pole. Plus, he knew first-hand what it was like to not be so fortunate in life.
"Well, if that's all….." Finn began.
Stefan was quick to cut him off. "Actually, I was wondering if I could get the address of one of your writers: Caroline Forbes."
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"Wh-what are you doing here?"
Caroline could feel every bit of her lunch begin to make its way back up. She began to become lightheaded and had to lean against the door to keep from falling over.
"I'm here to talk to you. Is there somewhere we can go?"
"Somewhere we can…..ye-yeah. Um, let me just grab my purse."
She ran into her room, faintly hearing Elena follow in behind her.
"What do you think he wants to talk about?" Caroline asked, slightly out of breath.
Elena ran her fingers through her hair, looking completely frazzled. "I have no idea. Maybe something about the gala?"
Caroline shook her head. "He could've just called Finn. No, this isn't about work, this is about something else."
"Only one way to find out."
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Caroline sat in the booth, running her thumb around the rim of her coffee cup. She didn't know what Stefan wanted and the last time they had spoken, he'd told her he hated her. So, what exactly did she say? Well, it didn't really matter because Stefan began to speak.
"I'm sure you're wondering why I came to see you."
She looked up at him, trying to read his expression, but saw nothing to indicate what he wanted. "I was, um, thinking it was about the paper," she said, more like a question than a statement.
Stefan let out a wry chuckle. "C'mon, Caroline. Do you honestly think I would've flown all the way out here to talk about a silly paper?"
"Well, you haven't really given me anything to go on, so I have no idea why the one person who hates me more than anything in the world would come all this way to see me," Caroline snapped, her anger quickly surfacing.
Stefan nodded his head, understandingly. "No, I guess you wouldn't."
Caroline waited for him add something to his otherwise cryptic response. When he didn't she began to gather her things. "This was a waste of time. I'll see you-"
"I'm sorry, Caroline."
She stopped moving and stared at him. Those two words were something Caroline never expected to come out of Stefan Salvatore's mouth, at least not directed towards her.
"What?"
Stefan sighed and stared at his coffee cup. After about a minute of silence, he looked up at her with a somber expression.
"I'm so sorry, Caroline. For everything. Not just for what I did to you, but for everything you went through."
"None of that was –," Caroline began.
"-my fault? I know, but me making it seem like it was all your fault didn't exactly help. Damon was grieving and instead of trying to help him through it, like a good brother, I simply blamed it all on you."
Caroline remained silent, allowing him to fully apologize for all he'd done.
"I know we were never close in high school, but that's still no excuse for shunning you like I did. I know you probably have no desire to forgive me but-"
"Stefan," Caroline said, effectively cutting him off. "Already forgiven."
He stared at her for a moment before letting out a huge sigh and giving her a weak smile. "Thank you, Caroline."
She gave him a reassuring smile before biting her lip and giving him a skeptical look. "Not that I'm not happy about all this, but what brought it all on?"
"Damon's in rehab."
Caroline raised her eyebrows in shock. "Damon" and "rehab" were two words she never expected to hear in the same sentence.
"He got in a bar fight a couple weeks ago. One of the conditions of his parole was a six month stay in the Phoenix House Rehab Center. Trust me, he was not happy about it."
"I would think not," Caroline said with a slight scoff. Even before Bonnie had died, Damon had been very dependent on alcohol. After every football game, he would wind up passed out in a teammates house. How Bonnie had put up with it for so long, no one knows.
Stefan nodded his head. "But, um, that's not the only reason I wanted to see you. I, uh…..well, I wanted to talk to you about the gala, Are you, um, br-bringing anyone?"
Caroline felt her stomach drop. Was he really trying to ask her to go with him? Even if she wasn't already going with Klaus, she had never thought of him that way. Not saying Stefan's not a catch but she always thought of him as nothing more than a friend.
Stefan recognized her "deer-caught-in-headlights" stare and was quick to sedate her worry. "Caroline, no-no-no-no-no-no-no. I'm not asking you to go with me. I just meant…." he trailed off, looking embarrassed.
After feeling slightly embarrassed herself by her reaction, she was quick to notice Stefan's face begin to turn slightly red.
"You just meant….what?
He refused to look up at her and if she hadn't been listening, she wouldn't have heard his next statement.
"I meant….is Elena coming with you?"
Caroline felt a sly smile begin to make its way onto her face as she began to connect the dots. She sat back in the booth and crossed her arms. "She is. Why do you ask?" she questioned, feigning innocence.
Stefan's face turned an even darker shade of red. "W-well, does she, um, have a…..date?"
Caroline let out a giggle and decided to put him out of his misery. "No, she doesn't. Why? Do you know someone who wants to go with her?" Okay, maybe not completely out of his misery.
He gave her a pointed look before asking, "are you really gonna make me say it?"
"Say what?"
He sighed and smiled. "Do you think she'd wanna go with me?"
"Only one way to find out." She threw a couple bills on the table and ran out the door.
"Caroline! No, stop! I'm gonna kill you!"
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"I don't get it, Ric. Someone should've seen him by now."
"Not necessarily."
Jeremy and Alaric had just left the twelfth precinct of the Chicago Police Department, thinking they would finally have some lead as to where Fell was in the large city. But the precinct had told them that since the two had called them a few days ago, there hadn't been a single sighting of Logan.
"Ric? Do you think maybe, possibly he's not coming after her?"
Alaric stopped walking and stared at the back of Jeremy's head, until the 21-year old turned around.
"You think he's stopped?" Alaric asked, not believing his question could be true.
Jeremy shrugged his shoulder and said tiredly, "I think…..maybe Caroline really did leave all this behind in Mystic Falls."
Alaric sighed and, for a moment, thought Jeremy may have a point. But then Jeremy's words sunk into Alaric's head: Mystic Falls.
"Oh my gosh, Jeremy. We've made a terrible mistake."
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Caroline, stop! This is not the way I wanted to do this!"
"Too bad," the blonde said before barreling into her apartment.
Elena was sitting on the couch watching the news, trying to see if there was any news on Logan getting out. When Caroline came barging in, she quickly stood up and shut off the TV.
"Hey, guys. How'd it go?"
"Fine. Stefan here had something he needs to talk to you about and I need to go pick up my dress. You two have fun," And with that, plus a mischievous grin thrown at Stefan, Caroline walked out, leaving the two alone.
Elena looked at Stefan, completely dumbfounded. "What was that about? What's going on?"
Stefan was going to kill Caroline the next time he saw her. This was not how he wanted this to go. He honestly hadn't even worked up to the courage to ask Elena, but now he was basically being forced to.
"Stefan?"
He realized he was still staring at the closed door and quickly turned around to find Elena staring at him. "I, uh, don't know what she's talking about. I mean, we were just s-sitting there t-talking, when sh-she just stood up a-and-"
"Stefan," Elena said with a smile. He was quite adorable when he was nervous. "What did you wanna talk to me about?"
Well, it was now or never. Taking a huge breath and letting it out slowly, he began.
"Say there a party coming up in couple of days. And say I was the one throwing said party. It'd be kind of embarrassing for the host of his own party to not have a date. And Caroline told me you were coming, but that you didn't have a date either. And a beautiful woman like you shouldn't be going alone. Not that being beautiful is the only reason for someone to ask you. Just that you are extremely beautiful and you should have a date and now you're smiling at me. You're smiling and giggling at me. Why are you smiling and giggling at me? Crap, now I've completely screwed this up. Just forget I even came here and I'll just-"
"STEFAN. If you would shut up for five seconds, I would be able to tell you that I would love to go to the party with you," Elena was finally able to say, still slightly laughing at him.
Stefan broke out into a smile that could light up the entire world. "Really?"
Elena nodded her head, still smiling. "Really."
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Klaus looked down at his watch and groaned. Three-fifteen in the morning and he was still trying to finish his article for Finn. Usually these types of articles are easy to write because all the facts are given to him and all he has to do is write them down. But all Klaus had been able to think about since he sat down to write was Caroline: where was she, what was she doing, was she thinking about him….? Any rational-thinking man would realize Caroline was probably sleeping, but was she dreaming about him.
Klaus groaned again and wiped his hands over his tired eyes. He noticed he was once again out of coffee and for the sixteenth time that night, made his way to the break room. He was halfway there when he suddenly felt like he was being watched. He turned around to find nothing but an empty hallway.
"Is someone there?" he called out hesitantly.
"Kind of."
Klaus jumped and almost fell on his ass. He whipped around and was ready to defend himself but then he saw who it was.
"What? No hello kiss?"
"What the bloody hell are you doing here, Hayley?"
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