A/N: Oh my God, you guys – it's been forever since I've updated, and I'm so freaking sorry about that. I'm having a really hard time getting into The Vampire Diaries – and if I'm being completely honest, I haven't seen a new episode since the beginning of season 5. I don't really watch it anymore, and I just have a really hard time getting into it. My cousin is going to make me sit down and catch up, but this has just been a story to me, but I'm having a hard time picturing the characters because I'm really into Teen Wolf and Being Human and every time I write I start to envision Derek and Aidan. It's a little frustrating, but I'm hoping to write more on it. I'm going to try really hard for you guys.

And also? Sorry that this note is so long. I really didn't mean for that when I starting writing it.

Caroline sat in a booth at the Grill, working on a hamburger, when Damon came in and sat down across from her. He watched her for a good minute.

"Elena said it was important," Damon all but mumbled, and Caroline swallowed her bite and nodded.

"I needed to talk to you, Damon," Caroline said. She was really nervous about this, and she wasn't sure how to proceed, but she was going to try as hard as she possibly could. "But before we do that, how's Rebekah?"

"Good, although she seems a little obsessed with our relationship," Damon answered. "Honestly, it probably would've been better if you guys had stayed enemies."

Caroline laughed, "I know, but life's given us a second chance, and I'm gonna take it." She sighed before saying, "I'm sorry. For everything. For breaking up with you. I was just trying to avoid the heartbreak I thought was imminent. I love you, Damon."

Damon just stopped. Caroline was partially afraid that he'd turn around and run out the door. "Okay, you could say something," she said, trying to make light of it, but he just watched her. Finally, she said, "Look, Damon, I love you, and I was afraid that our relationship was doomed to fail, so I decided to call it quits. Since my time in foster care, I have had a hard time accepting that good things can happen to me."

"So, uh…" Damon started, watching Caroline closely. "What changed?"

"Both Elena and Rebekah talked some sense into me," she said. "They said we needed to talk. So here we are, talking."

Damon nodded, and said, "I love you, too, Caroline, and I have for quite a while. I just didn't want to scare you off by saying it."

"Look, Damon," Caroline said, taking a drink of her soda, "I'm so sorry about breaking up with you. Really, I am. I realize now that I shouldn't have done that. I'd like to give us another try, but it's really okay if you don't want to. I mean, I understand if you don't want to be with me because of me breaking your heart and everything –" Caroline started, but Damon interrupted her.

"Don't write my rejection speech for me, Care," Damon said, and Caroline nodded. "We can try again. I'm okay with that. I really missed you, even though it's only been a few weeks. You mean a lot to me, you know."

Caroline grinned, "That's great, Damon, thank you."

Damon smiled.

"So," he said a few minutes later, after ordering his own lunch, "what are you doing with your sister?"

Caroline looked a little confused, "What do you mean?"

"I mean," he said, biting into his burger when it came, "that I'm happy you guys made up. I know you wanted to be close to her, and now you've been given the chance. Seriously, I'm ecstatic about that, really. But what happens now?"

"I'm not sure," Caroline said truthfully.

"First, tell me something," Damon said. "Is this what was happening at the party at your mom's? You knew she was being abused, didn't you?"

Caroline nodded, "She made me promise I wouldn't tell anyone. I'm still dealing with that. After my life experiences, I want nothing more than to run to Elijah or Nik and let them know what the hell is going on. But I can't. I was sworn to secrecy."

"Didn't you ever learn as a kid that that only works when someone else's life is not on the line?" he asked her.

"I didn't learn much about that kind of stuff as a kid, Damon," Caroline snapped. "If you remember, I was too busy taking care of myself."

Damon sighed, "I didn't mean it like that, Caroline, and I'm sorry. What I meant is that Rebekah's life is on the line. You hid her and we can only take care of her for so long before her ex comes to find her. I'm not exactly the best bodyguard."

Caroline sighed, "You're right, Damon." He grinned so she stuck out her tongue at him. "I need to tell someone. I need to tell Elijah."

"Why not Klaus?"

"Because," Caroline said, taking the last bite of her hamburger, "Even though I trust Nik and he's gotten me out of more than one jam, he has a temper. He has a really bad temper and I'd be worried about him killing that jackass. As much as I don't think he deserves to live after hurting people like he has been, I don't want Nik's life to end because of a waste of space like him." Caroline sighed, "What are you doing this weekend?"

Damon shrugged, "Nothing. Matt and Kol have pretty much taken over the Grill so I can do other things. Your brother was a godsend, by the way. He not only is really good at his job but he's excellent with the customers and you should see the girls flirting with him. It's great for business – they buy just to talk to him."

Caroline laughed, "Yeah, I know. It's something that Kol does – I don't think he's had a steady girlfriend in forever." She sighed, "Anyway, like I was saying before you distracted me, I think I'm going to go up and spend the weekend with Elijah and Rose. You should come."

Damon nodded, "Sure."

"It's just that I don't want to break this kind of news to him over the phone. I need to talk to him in person."

"I get it," Damon said. "We'll count on going over there on Friday. It's only about an hour from your house, right?"

Caroline shrugged, "Hour, hour and a half, something like that," she said. "We can leave there after I close the shop at four and make it in time for dinner."

"Great," Damon said. "I'll be at your house by three o'clock on Friday then."

Caroline smiled, "Thanks, Damon." She didn't want to tell him, but she was worried. She prayed to whatever deity that may be listening that Rebekah didn't totally hate her for this when everything was over.

-x-

"What's wrong?" Elijah said when he answered the phone.

"Seriously, Elijah?" Caroline said with a laugh. "Is that how you answer all your calls?"

"It is whenever my two little sisters call," Elijah answered. "So, is there something you need?"

"Yeah. Are you busy this weekend?"

"No. I just closed my last case. Why? Is there something you need?"

"I thought I'd come and see you and Rose this weekend. I'm going to bring Damon with me."

"I thought the two of you had broken up."

Caroline sighed, "We did, kinda. We're back together now. But I need to talk to you, and I'd rather do it in person."

"Does this have anything to do with Rebekah?"

"What?"

Elijah sighed, "Mother told me something's up with Rebekah. She said that the two of you are acting pretty buddy buddy so I figured if anybody knew why she was acting weird that it'd be you."

"Yeah, well it is kinda about her."

"Okay. We'll see you guys on Friday then?" Elijah asked, and part of Caroline was surprised that he was willing to let it go. Wow, she thought to herself. I've been spending way too much freaking time with Nik.

"Yeah. We're leaving Richmond at four."

"Okay, Caroline, I'll see you then."

When Caroline got off the phone, she thought she'd take one more stab at trying to get Rebekah to tell Elijah, so she and Damon headed over to the boarding house. When they got there, Elena was in the parlor, writing, but Rebekah was nowhere to be seen.

"Is Rebekah alright?" Caroline asked, suddenly worried. "I mean, she didn't do anything drastic, did she?"

Elena shook her head, finishing typing her sentence before looking up to respond, "No. Believe it or not, she and Stefan have bonded. Over video games," Elena said, like she couldn't believe it. "I never knew your sister was into Call of Duty"

"I guess I never really thought about telling you that," Caroline answered. "I mean, there's a crapload of stuff that I really don't know about Rebekah. But seriously, Elena, she's got four brothers. Of course she's at least seen them before. She's also really into football, if you wanted to know."

"Good," Elena said. "At least Stefan's got someone else to bother with that game when I'm busy."

"Where are they?" Caroline asked. "I mean, I need to talk to Rebekah."

Elena pointed to the den, "In there. Just don't do anything to piss her off, okay? I hate dealing with Rebekah when she's pissed."

Caroline walked into the den just as Stefan and Rebekah gave each other a high five. Caroline just stood there for a moment before clearing her throat, "You're not still on the Vicodin, are you, Rebekah? 'Cause you really shouldn't be drinking alcohol on it."

Rebekah shook her head, "Nah. I haven't been on it in a couple of days."

"You still look like shit," Caroline observed. That just made Rebekah laugh.

"Thanks, Caroline," Rebekah said. Damn, she was in a good mood today. "My eye is healing nicely, isn't it? Kol took me to see a doctor he knows – Dr. Fell. I think her first name is Meredith or something like that. I don't know how he knows her, but she gave me the once over and told me that everything is healing like it's supposed to." She lifted her wrist, where there was a bright purple cast visible, "This can even come off in a few weeks. Which, believe me, is probably some of the best news I've heard in a long time."

Caroline took a deep breath – she didn't really know how Rebekah was going to react to this news, and she hoped it was going to be okay. "Look, Bekah," Caroline said, "I need to talk to you. About something important."

"So important that it could trump the game?" Stefan asked suddenly. Caroline just nodded.

"Thank God for pause buttons," Rebekah muttered, but looked at Caroline anyway. "So, what's up?"

Caroline took a deep breath, praying to whatever deity might be listening that Rebekah took this well. "I think we should tell Elijah."

"Tell him what, exactly?" Rebekah did not look happy. Great.

"About you. About what your ex did to you. I think maybe Elijah should know."

"Why would you do that to me?" she asked.

"Because they're worried sick about you. Nik knows something's wrong. So does Elijah, Mother and Rose. They've all asked me questions about you. And, by the way, everyone is asking why you and I are friends now. They want to know what changed, and we're gonna have to explain it to them eventually. You've gotta know that."

"I can't…I've gotta hide this, Care. I can't…" Rebekah's voice trailed off. She took a deep breath as tears started falling. She looked at Caroline and wiped her tears away as she noticed her hands starting to shake. Caroline reached up and held Rebekah's hands in hers.

"Do you know how disappointed in me they're gonna be?" Rebekah asked in a small voice. Caroline let out a cynical laugh.

"Trust me, Bekah," Caroline said, watching Rebekah carefully, "I know exactly what that feels like. I don't know if you remember when Tyler and I split up or not, but Elijah was the one to come and see me in the hospital. Y'know, after Tyler put me in the hospital. When I woke up, there was Elijah. He found out about Tyler, and he was worried sick. The thing is, Elijah wasn't disappointed in me, like, at all. He was angry that it had happened to me, sure, but he wasn't angry at me. He understood. Bekah, Elijah is a private investigator. I mean, he's seen worse cases than this before, trust me. You need to come clean to him. He can help you."

"What, you think this'll all just go away if big brother knows?" Rebekah asked cynically. "I mean, are you high?"

Caroline sighed, "I think that if Elijah knows, he can help. Think about it, Rebekah. I'm not trying to tell you to tell Mother, or Nik, or even Finn. I'm asking you to trust the most level headed person in our family to help you out a little. He'll make up a story and say something to mother. I mean, Goddammit, Rebekah, I was in the same fucking boat as you once. Mother still doesn't know that it was Tyler who put me in the hospital. She thinks it was just some random accident, a mugging. I mean, hey, that can happen in Chicago, right? But he won't tell Mother why, okay? And I feel a little weird about keeping this from them."

"Why?"

"Because you need someone to talk to. And yeah, you can talk to me, and I get it because I've fucking been there, Bekah, but you need love and support from someone else, too. Your family love and supports you, and they're gonna do that forever, okay?"

"How do you know?"

"Because they're my family, too. They didn't say much of anything about it when they found out about Tyler. I mean, other from me spending a solid week talking Nik out of going to Chicago to kill him, he didn't say much. This abuse thing, Bekah, this is not your fault. Okay? You did nothing to deserve this, and it's not your fault that it did happen. Kyle was just a bastard who was controlling and took his aggressions out on you. I don't ever want to hear you blaming yourself for this, you got that?"

Rebekah nodded weakly.

"Now, if Elijah knows, he can help. He won't even go after revenge – that's not his thing, and you should know that. I mean, he's been your brother for longer than he's been mine, after all. You should know him better than that. After I left Tyler, Elijah gave me the protection I needed and he helped me out with therapy and stuff. And yeah, I saw a therapist, and I think you should, too. It'd be good for you. Just don't go the route I did. You need to talk to people about your feelings, about what's going on in your head. But this is not your fault, and I think that Elijah can help you out."

Sighing in defeat, Rebekah looked up at Caroline once more, "Do I have to be the one to tell him?"

"Do you want to be?" Caroline asked gently.

"I don't know," Rebekah said, sighing. "I mean, I guess I really should be, but I'm still really worried about when he finds out…" her voice trailed off.

"I tell you what," Caroline said. "I was going to go and visit Elijah and Rose this weekend. In fact, Damon and I are going there on Friday afternoon after I get done at the shop. Either you can go and visit them with us, or I can totally do this for you. I wanna do whatever gonna's make you the most comfortable."

Biting on her bottom lip, Rebekah sighed once again and said, "You know what, sure. I'll go with you. Will you call him up and tell him? I just…I don't want to talk to him right now, not about anything. Do you think you can do it for me?"

Caroline nodded silently. She leaned over and pulled Rebekah into a hug. She wasn't sure if Rebekah would just let her sit there and hold her – hell, she figured Rebekah would push her away. But she didn't. Rebekah didn't push her away and they just stayed like that on the couch for several minutes, Caroline holding Rebekah. Sighing, Rebekah said softly, "Thanks, Care. I mean it, thanks for everything you've done in the past few weeks. You've done it all to help me and I don't deserve any of it."

"God, Bekah," Caroline said, running a hand through Rebekah's hair, "You do deserve it. And I'm happy to help you – really I am. Just let me help you."