Hello, my lovely readers. It's back. We're almost at the end of this story so I took a little break. Hopefully that won't happen again because I know that there are hundreds of people just dying to see the end of this fic. On with the show…
Chapter 45: Friendly Love
After the disaster that was the Winter Ball Caroline never mentioned Elena in her letters from home. On the other hand, Damon informed me numerous times that Elena wrote that Caroline was an awful, selfish, mean, nasty, underhanded, spoiled, childish beyond her years, ungrateful, lacking compassion, unfeeling, brat. "And she only misspelled one of those words," Damon said proudly as he placed the letter in a pile underneath his bed.
"What are we going to do about them?" I asked for what felt like the millionth time. We could not just have Caroline and Elena hating each other forever. They were the best of friends. And if the two girls that Damon and I cared for the most continued with their feud then soon they would expect us to stop speaking as well. That would not be happening for their benefit. My only solution was that Damon and I find a way to force the girls to begin to speak to each other again. This would not be an easy task.
"I could tell Elena that she has to talk to Caroline again or I'll stop speaking to her," Damon suggested.
"That's figuring that she cares that much about you," Enzo called from his corner of the room. He was busily writing a letter and I rolled my eyes at him.
"What would you know about it?" Marcel inquired as he pulled on a t-shirt. "I'm going to go play basketball with Diego and Thierry at the gym," he told us before walking out of the room. I looked longingly after Marcel. To be honest, I would much rather be playing than trying to figure out a way to force Caroline to speak to Elena. Yes, Elena was part of the club and she was a friend, but we weren't that close and frankly, there was a part of me that hoped that Damon would find someone else. Don't know why though. I just wasn't that fond of Elena that year.
Enzo set his letter aside, "Bonnie tells me that the girls are having a bit of a row that includes splitting the entire third grade along a line in which each has to choose a side. They're even trying to split your little club apart. Looks like the lovely Caroline is taking the lead since she points out that she is one of the founding members. However, Elena apparently is challenging that remarking that it is due to Caroline's relationship with you, Klaus, that gives her that authority. And since Elena is Damon's girl that means that she should hold your place while you are here," he informed Damon.
I looked at Damon who was also frowning in my direction. "That's not good at all," Damon said.
Enzo shrugged and did not add to his previous commentary. Sitting down on the edge of my own bed, I tried to formulate a plan to bring the two warring girls back together. "They're both coming to visit today, right?" I asked Damon, who nodded.
"But they requested that they have rooms in different buildings this time," Damon told me. "Which I don't think is going to happen since they only have one building for that..."
"And?" I gave Damon a questioning look because I could tell that there was more on his mind.
"And that means that when they find out, one of them is going to insist on going home," Damon added with a frown.
I rolled my eyes toward the ceiling. Caroline could not be the one who went home. We had spent nearly a month apart and I was determined that she would not be the one to go. "Alright then we'll find a way to make sure that they both stay," I informed Damon not adding that if either of the girls went home, that it would be Elena because it was she who was causing the most trouble.
"How?" Damon replied.
"I don't know," I replied.
"How 'bout a spell?" Enzo said absently while scratching the side of his head with his pencil. "Bonnie's coming. Just have 'em spelled into a room or something like that."
Damon looked at me, his lips moving upward into a smirk before he headed toward the door to our room.
I got up and followed him while formulating a plan of my own. "Rather than a room, what if we had them locked inside the old church?"
"You're brilliant, Nik," Damon told me, grabbing me by the chin, he kissed me on the cheek and I groaned at his display of affection. There were times that I forgot that Damon was crazy.
Arriving at the bottom of the stairs, we walked into the main room to find that there was no one there yet. Damon pulled the curtains back and I grimaced. It was pouring down snow in waves. Of course it was. When it wasn't hailing, it was snowing. And when it was not doing one of the two, it was so cold that you couldn't feel your feet. "Do you think that they'll actually come?" I asked Damon who was wiping the window to clear away the steam that covered it.
"Yeah," Damon said, nodding as someone came through the door. Jenna appeared with Ric and three arguing girls. One girl separated herself from the pack and threw her hood back to reveal Bonnie. She looked irritated as she made her way toward us. "You two had better figure something out," she snapped at us with an angry look.
I turned to see the girl in the pink coat shove the purple coat to the floor. "Shut your stupid mouth," the pink coat shouted and her voice was muffled by a scarf. The purple coat took three tries before getting to her feet and jumping on top of the pink coat.
"I'm not stupid. You're stupid," the purple coat shouted as the two girls rolled around. Then Jenna and Ric were pulling the two apart.
"Stop this right now," Jenna demanded of the two coats as the purple coat threw her hood back to reveal Elena.
"She started it," Elena yelled, pointing at the pink coat while the hood of her opponent's coat came down.
"I did not," Caroline shouted back after she had adjusted her pink hood.
Bonnie shook her head as she watched the two, "I've been dealing with those two for three straight hours and my head is splitting."
I took Bonnie by the one arm while Damon took her by the other and we ushered her upstairs while Caroline and Elena were distracted. Pulling the witch into our room, I closed the door. "Bonnie," Enzo called, jumping to his feet, he came to stand in front of the tiny girl who was trapped inside a fluffy blue coat that made her look even smaller. I sighed. We did not have time for his nonsense.
"Bonnie," I called, gaining the girl's attention. "You're right, Damon and I need to fix this problem with Caroline and Elena. However, we need your help."
"Oh, and what am I supposed to do?" Bonnie inquired as she narrowed her eyes at me.
"You're going to spell Elena and Caroline inside the old church until they stop fighting," I announced.
Bonnie's jaw dropped as she looked from me to Damon. "No, I can't do that. We're in the middle of a snow storm. What if something went wrong and they got hurt? I can't do that."
"Yes, you can and you will," I replied slowly as Bonnie continued to shake her head.
"No. No. NO," Bonnie told me. Walking toward the door, she was reached for the knob when I slammed my hand over it to keep her from leaving.
"You're not going to leave this room," I told her.
"You can't keep me in here," Bonnie whispered, looking around at Damon and Enzo for help.
"Don't even think about it," I told Enzo, holding up a finger which I was pointing in his direction.
"You can't keep her in here," Enzo protested.
"Yes, I can. And you're going to help," I told him. "I dare you to keep Bonnie in this room until she agrees to help us."
Gritting her teeth, Bonnie held up her hands, "Fine, Klaus. You win. As usual."
Smirking, I paused still leaning against the door. "And you mustn't inform either Caroline or Elena what we plan for them," I informed the tiny witch who glared back me.
"Fine," Bonnie snapped. "But if anything goes wrong, it's on you." Nodding, I pulled the door open and waved for Bonnie to leave. I followed her with Damon behind me and Enzo trailing Damon.
Bonnie huffed when she came into the main room to find that Ric had a hold of Caroline while Jenna was talking to Elena on the other side. "I'll get Elena. Enzo, you're coming with me. Klaus, you and Damon can bring Caroline."
I felt satisfied while walking over to Caroline. "Hey," Ric greeted me. "How have you been?"
"Great," I replied.
"Good," Ric replied as he looked down at Caroline who was pouting. "Caroline, I'm going to go upstairs and get changed. Are you going to be okay?" he looked toward Jenna and Elena. Caroline looked toward Elena and then stared at the floor silently. Ric forced a smile and looked at me, "She's all yours."
"Caroline," I whispered. "Want to go outside?" Caroline's brow furrowed and then she smiled.
"I don't know. There's a big storm going on outside," Caroline said with a gleam in her eye. "I could get in trouble if my mom found out that I went out. But I guess if someone dared me to…"
I grinned at Caroline knowing what she wanted me to do, "I dare you, Caroline, to go outside."
Caroline giggled, "Last one outside has to eat a snow ball," she called over her shoulder as she ran out and I chased after her. The minute I was outside I felt the cold air biting into my body. Wearing a hat and a coat probably would have been a good idea. "Where are we going?" Caroline called as the wind whipped her words away.
"To the old church," I shouted as Damon gathered up a snow ball to eat. We ran toward the old church and by the time we were there I was freezing, my teeth were chattering as we entered. Damon was slightly worse off since he had to eat the snow ball once we had entered the building.
Caroline pushed her hood back and stared around the church in awe. "Whoa. It's been a really long time since we've been here. Hasn't it?"
"Yes," I replied.
"It's not so scary during the day," Caroline was saying as she walked toward the stairs.
"Where are you going?" Damon called after her, shivering in his light sweater.
"I want to see the view from the top," Caroline called, not stopping while her footsteps echoed off the walls.
Then the doors opened and Bonnie entered with Elena and Enzo behind her. "What are you doing here?" Elena asked me with a frown. She began to look around her. "Is Caroline here?"
Before I could answer Bonnie began to chant and then her head moved backwards and her eyes turned black. When the chanting stopped, she turned her head and looked at me. "It is done," she murmured.
"What's done?" Elena snapped and then glared at me. "What did you do?" I opened my mouth to reply when there was a high pitched scream from the top of the staircase. "What was that?" Elena whispered, staring up at the top of the stairs but I barely heard her because I was already running as fast as my legs would carry me.
"CAROLINE," I bellowed as I got closer and then stopped. I could not comprehend what was before me. It was not possible.
"Miss me?" Vaughn inquired. He was holding Caroline by the shoulders to his chest. The last time I had seen Vaughn he was twelve. That was nearly two years ago and he had grown another five inches and put on some weight that translated to muscle definition.
There was no way that Caroline could free herself without help but I was afraid to move toward her in case Vaughn decided to shove her. The floor was made of solid stone and all it would take was a hard shove and any one of us could be dead.
"Vaughn, I thought that your parents took you out of here," I replied slowly as I heard my friends stopping behind me. I heard Damon cursing, Elena crying and Bonnie whispering something to Enzo who had no idea who Vaughn was.
"They did," Vaughn informed me with a chuckle. "Do you know what they did to me? Do you?" he asked, his voice rising with every new syllable. "They sent me to Florida. And do you know what happened to me then?" Vaughn's eyes glazed over as his voice began to tremble. "It's too terrible to even speak of."
Caroline looked at me, her eyes wide with fear. I felt my heart pounding in my chest as Caroline sucked in a deep, calming breath and then turned her head to look up at the ruthless teen. "What did they do to you?" she whispered, staring up at Vaughn with wide eyes.
Vaughn stared back at Caroline, his mouth opening and closing as he stared back at her. "It was the worst thing that could happen to a boy my age," he murmured and then he looked at me. "And it's all your fault," he snarled.
"Oh, can the dramatics and spit it out," Damon snapped as he came to stand beside me with a look of utter boredom. "You were always looking to be the center of attention and it got really, really boring, man."
"Oh, really?" Vaughn inquired. "I wanted to be the center of attention? And how much attention did you get after I shoved you down those stairs, Salvatore? You became a hero to the younger boys. They began to look up to you because you lived to tell the tale. Unlike some unfortunate others that will not go named."
"You killed other kids?" Bonnie gasped and then she gave me a murderous look. "You had me do a spell so that we're stuck with that?" she pointed a finger at Vaughn in horror.
"I didn't mean to," I replied, feeling sick as I looked at Caroline. "It was to bring Caroline and Elena back together."
"I was made into a Mousketeer," Vaughn shouted, regaining everyone's attention.
"See. I told you he's an attention whore," Damon told us, waving at Vaughn.
"And don't forget he's also a killer," Enzo added.
Elena began to giggle, causing everyone to look at her, "Sorry. I was just imagining Vaughn in Mickey Mouse ears."
"Yes, that is what I mean," Vaughn screamed. "It's the ridicule. It's the giggling little kiddies. And one of you is going to pay," he announced as Caroline shivered.
"Take me instead," Elena shouted, forcing down a giggle and giving Vaughn a serious look. "Take me. Not Caroline."
"Lena," Caroline protested.
"Elena. No," Damon said, grabbing Elena by the shoulder but she shrugged him off.
"She's one of my best friends and I'm not going to let you hurt her. So, you have to take me," Elena continued.
"No, Elena. It's me he wants," Caroline told Elena.
Vaughn began to laugh for no reason and I frowned at him. "Is that enough?" he asked but he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at Bonnie and Enzo.
"Yeah, that's it," Bonnie said as she high fived Enzo.
"What is going on?" I demanded as Vaughn let go of Caroline. She ran to Elena and the two girls began to hug.
"We paid Vaughn here to perform the role of super villain to cause Caroline and Elena to realize that their friendship was more important than their feud," Bonnie told us.
"I'm set back five months allowance," Enzo said, shaking his head.
"So you didn't come back to terrorize us?" Damon asked, looking unsure as he stared at Vaughn warily.
Vaughn shook his head with a smile. "No, when your lot made me go home I started talking to my parents and we dealt with our issues."
"But you said stuff about your being a Mousketeer and killing kids," I protested, feeling confused that I was not in on this plot.
"I made up the bit about killing the other kids. Bit of bruising and a few broken limbs here and there, yes. I'll admit to that. But I never had it in me to kill any of the kids. I just wanted to scare the lot of you because, truth be told, I was bored. As for the Mousketeer bit… That's true. I actually enjoy it. They're not all a bunch of goody goodies as one might think," Vaughn told us. "Have fun, kids. Until next time."
That was not the only time that any members of the Dare Club were able to create a plot without my knowing it. But that would come later on in the story.
Present:
"Remember the time that we went down to Orlando and Vaughn gave us autographs?" Caroline asked Elena. The two women, or rather vampires, were sitting on our love seat with our photo album in their laps.
"Yeah, he signed our stomachs because of a dare that Klaus put us up to," Elena replied, giving me a look with her eyes narrowed in a mock evil look.
"Hey, it was hot out that day," I replied. "And I said anywhere on your bodies."
"No, I said that," Damon protested. "Just not anything you wouldn't show in public is what I said."
"Whatever," Caroline said airily, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "Oh, my God. There's Bonnie with Mickey Mouse. Is he grabbing her ass?" She peered at the photo in shock.
"That's Enzo in a Mickey Mouse costume," Elena replied with a laugh. "I guess he called in a favor to Vaughn."
"Good old Vaughn. I wonder what he is up to now a days," Caroline said.
"I heard that he and Alexander opened up their own theme park," Elena replied.
"Huh, I always thought they were a cute couple," Damon said and I rolled my eyes as Damon turned to me. "Not as cute as you and me. We are the most lovely bromance that I can think of. Give me a kiss, mate," he cried, reaching for me as I attempted to push him away.
"Damon, you're crazy," I cried out as his lips connected with my cheek making a loud sucking sound while Caroline picked up a camera and Elena hopped onto the couch beside Damon placing her face next to his while Caroline took the photograph.
"I'm crazy about you," Damon replied before Elena kissed him and Caroline snapped another photo. Then Caroline came to sit with us and we squeezed together making the most ridiculous faces humanly, or inhumanly possible.
'I'm crazy about all of you,' I replied silently as I felt Damon and Caroline press their lips to my cheeks while Elena snapped the last picture on the roll of film we had. 'And I always will be.'
Thanks for reading, faving, following and for reviewing, so, please do, be kind and review. And thank you to all you wonderful people who have favorited, followed and stuck with me thus far.
Answers to reviews:
ObsessWithElijah: Thank you for the one billion reviews. It makes me chipper when I see so many comments.
Tippy093: Nope. Whereas I try to be open to many different ships I simply don't write Stelena unless I can find a really good reason for it. Caroline isn't really blaming Klaus so much as he's projecting his fears onto her. She was just unhappy at the end of the ball due to how horribly horrifying the night turned out to be. Hayley is not a werewolf. Not yet anyway because she hasn't triggered her curse and does not know that she's a wolf. So, yes and no. Thank you!
CB4389: Chapter 43: I agree completely. That was more my own commentary on the pressures of underage sex and just how young people can be before they start feeling it. It's sad and makes me depressed because I think of kids that age as being babies. However, I know that there are things that do happen and that they need to addressed to change.
Chapter 44: Yes, shit did get real.
Elijahlover: Chapter 43: That's okay. I know I need to read the books. I saw all of the movies except for the last one. I don't want to watch Harry die. But it's been a couple of years and I was in college and was probably half watching things so that's probably why I didn't remember the name. Ah, fangirl craziness. I was such a Buffy fan that I still cry during parts of the episodes and can hum the theme song.
Thank you, darling. I am putting my dentures in to smile about your review.
Thank you. It was really, really hard to write about but it's out there. That makes me so happy to hear. I wish that more people were as open minded as you are.
Chapter 44: Although I will say that Kat did intend to nearly cause Hayley to die, her actions were reckless and she has to learn to control her temper. I'm not sure that we'll ever truly see Kat grovel but she does work to make up for that incident in the sequel in unexpected ways.
I know. Poor little Kol.
Mikael will definitely have some interesting things happening to him by the end of this story.
Rose: Oh, we're still progressing toward the epic conclusion to this story but there are some issues that need to be addressed and shuffled off into a corner and then there's setting up for the sequel. Poor Kol. We will see...
Peace,
Jessica