Here comes the second part.
It is a little bit shorter than the first:)
Six months later she was on the same road in the opposite direction. Even though she knew that it would probably left her even more in pain than before, she returned. Her mother had called her, Stefan was back in town. Caroline just wanted to speak with him once, wanted to hear his reasons from himself.
When she had reached her destination she embraced her mother and held her tight. She had missed her so much, but she just had had to leave. „He's in his house.", „Tanks, Mom", she whispered. „And Care, he had apologized to everyone for leaving without a word. He's been here too." Caroline gave her a nod and felt a small flame of hope in her chest.
She went directly to the Salvatore mansion and knocked. It was as if she'd never were away. After a moment of waiting while holding her breath the door was opened and she stared into Stefans face. Oh, how she'd missed him. He looked the same and at the same time completely different.
„Caroline!", „I, my mom – she said you wanted to apologize?", she sounded confused and accusing, but were unable to react any different. „Caroline, it's not the right moment to-", „Not the right moment? Do you have any idea how worried I was about you? How it was for me to come back and find the whole house empty? And how you never even answered your damn phone once?" She had become louder with every word and stared furiously at him. Then she noticed the bags standing in the entrance. She was speechless, could do nothing more than to stare at him incredulously. He stared back.
„You want to leave again?", she asked finally. Every trace of emotion had disappeared from her voice. „I need to start over." Caroline had to take a deep breath to prevent herself from punching him straight in his face. „You run away, that's what you do! Again! You don't want to start over, you want to hide from the past!" She swallowed. „If even just a tiny little part of you had wondered how everything was coping, had worried about us, about ME, then stay!"
For a moment he looked into her eyes. Then he grabbed his bags and walked past her. Caroline remained standing there and began to sob quietly. Her world had crumbled down for the second time, the small flame of hope dissolved, she felt empty.
When she returned home hours later her mother were still waiting for her. „Care, you have to listen to me closely! You have been busy with different stuff earlier, but Stefan wasn't the only reason I wanted you to come back." Caroline was absolutely in no condition for deep talk, but stayed silent for the sake of her mother nonetheless. „Care, I – I'm – I don't know how to tell you this-", „Just tell me, Mom!", „I have cancer." Caroline was stunned. After a moment her brain processed the information and she jumped from her seat. „How bad is it? Can I heal it with my blood? Since when do you know?" She started to panic. It felt like her heart was being wrenched in ice cold hands.
„I have known now for a few months. It's bad Care, really bad. Your blood can't help me, so I will be a stationary patient from next week on. I've already tried a chemo therapy, but..." She began to cry and Caroline? She fell apart. It was all too much. How could her Mom who had dealt with so much throughout her life – she had been a cop, for god's sake – get defeated by a incurable disease in the end? She couldn't believe it.
The next few months went by in a blur until Elizabeth Forbes finally succumbed to her illness. Caroline had hold her hand in hers as she had peacefully fall asleep.
During the time she had planned the funeral, solely and without any help, she had been able to lock her thoughts away, at least during the days. The nights on the other hand, well, it wasn't as though she wasn't accustomed to nightmares.
After the sad gathering with a small selected number of people, without Bonnie, without Elena, Matt, Tyler or Jer, without Stefan, she eventually sat in the house she once thought of as home. She remembered her old life and faced a rubble heap. She inspected her heart and saw tiny splinters. This was the moment she turned of her feelings, where she banned every emotion out of her life. Nobody would be able to hurt her anymore! Her heart wouldn't die again!
She was ready. She was Caroline Forbes!
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