When the flowers showed up at her shop the next day, Caroline wasn't sure what to say. They were pastel colored tulips – just like she had told Damon that she liked. Tipping the delivery guy, she picked up the vase they were in and sniffed them. Caroline absolutely adored fresh flowers, and wished she could have them all the time. Noticing the card for the first time, she picked it up and looked at it. What she saw surprised her.

I said I'm not giving up that easily, it read, so I hope you enjoy the flowers. I remembered that you told me you liked tulips and these were the prettiest ones I could find.

-Damon.

They were quite lovely. They were pastel green, pink, yellow and purple, and Caroline sighed before setting them down on the front counter. If she knew what was best for her, she'd toss them, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Damon probably spent quite a bit of money on these – it was almost the middle of October now and those were springtime flowers. Caroline briefly wondered what Damon had to have gone through to get those to her.

Shaking the thought away, she reminded herself that she didn't care. She couldn't care. She broke up with Damon because she wanted him to move on before the heartbreak killed him. Damon was a great guy – it was true. She really cared about him, but she knew that it was either leave now, or stay until everything went south and then die of heartbreak. She couldn't go through another deep depression like she did after she and Tyler broke up. Of course, when she and Tyler had broken up, the depression wasn't because she had loved him. Her depression back then was because she felt foolish she had let him do what he did to her.

She had been so busy thinking that the ringing phone surprised her and made her jump. She didn't recognize the number, but answered it anyway, "Hello?"

"Ms. Forbes?" came a voice on the other line. "Is this Caroline Forbes?"

"Yes, this is. Who are you?" she asked. Caroline wasn't trying to be rude; she was just wondering what was going on.

"This is Andrea from Richmond General Hospital," the voice said. "You're listed as an emergency contact for Rebekah Mikaelson, who says you're her sister. She's been admitted and is in pretty bad shape."

"What happened?"

"Well, I'm going to be bluntly honest with you, Ms. Forbes," the girl on the other line said as Caroline started gathering her stuff so she could leave. She was thanking God that they had called her cell phone. "She's been beaten up. She has several bruises, a few broken bones, and a concussion. How soon can you get here and is there anyone else I should call?"

Caroline thought back to her conversation with Rebekah, and, even though Caroline felt like she needed to tell Elijah or Klaus, she knew she couldn't. She had promised. So, shaking her head, she said, "Nobody else to call. I'll be there in fifteen minutes at the most."

"Okay, thank you, Ms. Forbes," the girl answered, telling Caroline where to go. On her way to the hospital, Caroline was starting to freak out. She knew something like this was going to happen. Caroline had been involved with an abuser before, personally, so she knew it was only a limited amount of time before something really bad happened to Rebekah. Caroline was just thankful that it hadn't cost Rebekah her life.

Sure, Caroline and Rebekah didn't like each other, that much was true, but that didn't mean that Caroline didn't want anything bad happening to her. So, maybe she didn't exactly like Rebekah, but she was a decent human being and had been through things in her life that she wouldn't wish on her worst enemy.

After getting to the hospital, a doctor led her to where Rebekah was. Caroline got a good look at her and sighed, "Oh God, Rebekah, what did you do?" she asked softly.

"I didn't do anything, Caroline, that's the point," came the reply. Rebekah was lying on the hospital bed, and the woman on the phone hadn't been kidding. There were bruises everywhere, and she could tell right away that several of Rebekah's bones were broken.

"He broke my orbital bone, Caroline," Rebekah said, "and I'm lucky to be alive. They say that not a lot of people actually survive that."

"Rebekah, I know I've asked before, but please, please let me tell Elijah. He can hunt this son of a bitch down, he can…well he can do things. He helped me a hell of a lot when Tyler put me in the hospital."

"You know that look Elijah gets in his eye when he's disappointed in you?" Rebekah asked. Caroline nodded; yes, she knew that look well.

"I can't bear to see that look on his face right now. I'm a disgrace, and I know that, but Elijah practically raised me and Kol after Father left and I just…him being disappointed in me is like a parent being disappointed in a child, and I just can't…I can't take that look." Rebekah paused for a moment, looking at Caroline through her one good eye, they eye that wasn't swollen shut, "Please promise me you won't bring him into this. I've never needed anyone to keep a secret like this before, but I really need you to promise me."

Caroline sighed, "Fine, Rebekah, but if things get any worse, I am going to tell someone. You shouldn't be fending off this jackass by yourself. It's an excellent way to get yourself killed."

After the doctor came in and gave Rebekah a rundown of her injuries, he set her wrist and arm in a cast, he gave her a prescription for Vicodin and released her. Caroline knew that she needed to keep Rebekah safe, so she said, "I'm going to make some calls. You can't go back to your apartment tonight. Promise me."

"And where exactly do you think I'll be safe? He can find me anywhere."

"Things are gonna get better," Caroline said, "just let me make a couple phone calls."

She knew she shouldn't. Caroline knew that they had just broken up, that she had feelings for Damon that she just couldn't handle – but she wasn't going to let this bastard hurt her sister any more than he already had. So she swiped her finger across the touch screen and dialed his number.

"Caroline?" he was confused. She figured he would've been, since she hadn't spoken a single word to him since their breakup. "Is that you?"

"Hey, Damon," Caroline said, trying to will her voice not to waver. "I know that we just broke up and everything, but I kinda need a favor."

-x-

The drive to Mystic Falls was torture. Rebekah wanted to know more about Caroline's relationship with Damon, wanted to know more about why Caroline broke up with him. After an hour of incessant questions, Caroline decided to come clean.

"You broke up with him so you couldn't hurt him?" Rebekah asked, clearly confused by everything Caroline had just told her. "You know that doesn't make any sense, right?"

"If I would've dated him any longer, the heartbreak would have consumed me," Caroline answered. "Love doesn't work out. I figured that you of all people would know that."

"Nik was right," Rebekah muttered to herself. Finally, she looked at Caroline, "Look, since you're practically obsessed with the heartbreak that is love, I'm gonna set a few things straight real quick. I was eight years old when Father left. He was the fucking world to me. But he just kinda disappeared overnight, and nobody would tell me and Kol what happened to him. Kol was ten then, and the only person who even took our feelings into account had been Nik. He explained to us that Father just wasn't meant to be a father. How he let the pressures of being a husband and father break him. He had stayed with Mother longer than he wanted to, because we were his kids, too, but finally the pressure just kind of got a hold of him. What you need to know, Caroline, is that love does happen, and it's wonderful and stupendous and any other adjective you can think to describe it. What your friend Elena has with her boyfriend – it's possible. It happens a lot, to be honest, and it's right. You hear about guys leaving their girlfriends, wives, whatever, all the time, but the success stories, they aren't broadcast like the others. You need to understand that love happens, and it's wonderful when it happens, and I think everybody wants to feel loved. They want to feel wanted. And I honestly think that you can have that with Damon. He loves you."

"I don't know," Caroline said.

"I do. I noticed the way the two of you interacted. Just because I was rude to you didn't mean I wasn't paying attention. Hell, I did pay attention, and the way he even fucking looks at you, it's…well, he cares about you dearly. The two of you need to sit down and talk. And Caroline, I mean actually talk. You have this wonderful talent of saying something without saying anything. I understand it's the foster care syndrome or whatever you want to call it, but not a lot of people understand that. You have to let people in."

"Okay," she said, somewhat taken aback. "Who are you and where is the real Rebekah?"

"Look, I was out of commission a couple of days. It gave me time to think. And I want you to know that you deserve nice things. I'm sorry that I was such a bitch to you over the years. I get that wasn't cool. And you sticking your neck out for me right now, helping me out like this, you shouldn't be doing it because of how nasty to you I was. But you don't care about that. You care about people, and you have a lot of compassion, and I appreciate that. Besides, Nik's told me a few things, but I can kinda see things for how they are. I'm not exactly unobservant. I was always just jealous."

"Jealous? Of me?" Caroline couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Yeah, jealous of you," Rebekah repeated. "My family loves you. You're more special than I am, Caroline. Mother, Nik – all of them, really – they chose you. They chose to be your family. They just got stuck with me."

"Oh, Rebekah," Caroline said. "They love you. I think it just hurt Mother how much you and I hated each other."

"Did you really hate me, Caroline?" Rebekah asked.

"This is going to sound stupid when I say it out loud," Caroline said, and Rebekah laughed nervously. "I didn't hate you. I wanted to hate you. But the only reason I wanted to hate you was because you hated me first. God, that sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?"

"Not at all," Rebekah answered. "Maybe we can start over? As friends?"

Caroline nodded, "I'd like that, and I'm sure Mother's gonna be thrilled."

When they got to the boarding house, Damon was sitting on the front step. Caroline took a deep breath, praying for some kind of courage, and then went up to him.

"Hey, Damon," she said softly. He looked terrible. He looked like he hadn't eaten or slept in days. This is not what she had wanted.

"Hey, Care," he said. The nickname took her by surprise – he'd never called her that before. But she didn't want to question anything right now.

"This is Rebekah," Caroline said, putting an arm around Rebekah's shoulders. "I don't know if the two of you have been properly introduced or not. Is, uh, is Elena here?"

Damon nodded, "Yeah. She's writing right now, but she won't mind if you bug her for this."

Caroline smiled weakly, "Thanks, Damon."

Explaining things would be easier to Elena. Elena would get it. Caroline went into the den, where Elena kept her computer, and she cleared her throat, "Hey, 'Lena."

"Care?" Elena asked, turning around to look at her. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Didn't Damon tell you about my call to him three days ago?"

Oh great. Elena was pissed, and Caroline could tell by the look on her face that this was not going to be pretty. Elena looked at her friend and said, "Look, Care, you're practically my sister and I love you. I really do. I love you to pieces, but the way you kinda broke Damon's heart and then reached out to him for a favor? That's so not cool."

Caroline took a deep breath. She could feel the tightness in her chest that told her she was going to start crying any minute now. She was trying to hold off, at least until after she'd left. She looked down at the floor, "I'm sorry, 'Lena, but I was trying to save him from heartbreak."

"Just him?"

"Elena, you understand the hell I've been through more than anybody, because you've been there for me through almost all of it. You know what I've been through and what's happened to me. So do you even understand just a little why I did what I did?"

"You think you don't deserve Damon, Care, and it's fucking bullshit!" Elena exclaimed, and it took Caroline by surprise. Elena hardly ever swore, so when she did, you knew she was angry. "You are letting what all those assholes in foster care told you get to you. You survived. You did it – you fucking won. It seems like that would make you happy. Knowing that the odds were against you and you beat them anyway. But instead, you are hiding out and hurting people before they can hurt you. That doesn't make any sense to me. Think about it – you fucking hate stereotypes. You hate it when people judge you. But what are you doing? You are doing it to yourself and I can't just sit by and watch you destroy things like that." It was too much, and Caroline felt the tears start to slide down her cheeks. "Damon loves you, Caroline. He fucking loves you and he wants to be with you. Don't you understand that?"

Caroline wiped her tears away with the back of her hand before answering, "Yeah, Elena, I get it. But he shouldn't want me. I'm…I'm nothing. Nobody wanted me, Elena. I couldn't even get fucking adopted!"

"Esther loves you. So does Finn, Elijah, Klaus and Kol, for that matter. They chose you. They accepted you for who you are. And even though Esther couldn't legally adopt you, she kept you, didn't she? She is your mother, is she not? She treats you like one of her children, doesn't she?"

"Yeah, but…"

"Don't even think about finishing that sentence, Caroline Forbes. I mean it. Just don't. The Mikaelsons love you. Can't you see that? They care about you and want what's best for you." Elena's voice softened a little, "I mean, I get that you feel alone. Your parents are gone, and I know how much that hurts. I deal with that every fucking day. My parents are gone and I'm achieving things in my life that they don't get to know about. I miss them like crazy, too. But life goes on. I have Jenna, who has taken excellent care of both me and my brother, and our circle of friends should be enough. Please, I need you to understand me, here. We all love you, and it shouldn't matter that your birth parents are gone. As far as I'm concerned, Esther Mikaelson is your mother and her children are your siblings."

Caroline was quiet for several moments. She had just gotten her ass chewed out by Elena – and that didn't happen very often. Elena came over and threw her arms around her best friend, "Care, I love you. But I also love Damon – he's practically my big brother. He's hurting. He hasn't been eating, and gets maybe three hours of sleep a night. He hardly ever goes out. He's probably got a hundred dollars' worth of bourbon bottles up in his room. This is killing him. And then you called him up and asked him for a favor. Of course he's gonna do it for you – whenever you ask him for help, he's gonna help in any way that he knows how. You're special to him."

Caroline sighed, "The reason I broke up with him, 'Lena, is because I love him. I'm in love with him. Love doesn't last and we're going to end up breaking up sooner or later because that's what happens. Life gets in the way."

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Elena asked, all of the sudden. Caroline was confused. Elena sighed, "Just answer the question, Care. Do you think I'm an idiot?"

"Um…do you mean that metaphorically or literally?"

"Literally."

"No, I don't. You're one of the smartest people I know."

Elena nodded, "And I'm engaged to Stefan. He and I are planning on getting married. Are we delusional?"

Caroline stopped for a moment, trying to think things over in her own head before answering, "I think that love lasts for some people. People who truly love each other enough to work hard at keeping their relationship where they want it to be."

Elena nodded, "So, tell me, Care, why can't it work out for you?"

Caroline avoided Elena's eyes as she said, "I guess I should talk to Damon."