It's almost dawn when Caroline found Stefan with his bags in the hallway. She was in her pajamas and rubbing her sleepy eyes, which got widen as soon as she spotted the bags in his hands.

Her eyes watered suddenly as she shook her head nervously. He looked at the ground without a word.

She walked closer to him, her knees trembling together. She could swear that she didn't feel her knees at that moment; actually she felt nothing but her heartbeats going faster.

"I'm sorry." She said in a whisper, "I'm sorry, it's all my fault." She lifted her hand to her chest, as she was trying to keep her heart its place.

"Whatever I've done, I'll fix it." Her voice cracked in between, "I'll change." She said, sounding so broken.

"Stop… Just stop." He said shaking his head slowly, finally his eyes looking at her. Her eyes were Desperate, asking million of questions.

"It's not your fault, none of it." He licked his lips slowly, "It's me; I can't do this anymore." His voice is barely above a whisper. He didn't want this to happen, that's why he was intending to leave while she was sleeping.

Her features went numb for a moment, "Is this because of what Lexi said?" she asked as she remembered their conversation about it the other night when he was drunk, it's true he couldn't remember most of the conversation when he woke up. However, she knew that he meant everything he said including "I'm afraid of the "us" word."

He shook his head and opened his mouth to talk but she didn't let him, "Because if it's, we can fix it. We'll just forget about it. We can do this." She said and her voice got lower at the last part; somehow the words felt so difficult to come out as she hated her voice in that moment.

"I'll fix it, I'll change." She said as she lifted her hand to his face, cupping it with her shaken fingers.

He closed his eyes as he held her wrists by both of his hands, "Caroline, it's not your fault." He said slowly, separating the words from each other.

"I'll go with you." She said as she swallowed nervously. She looked to him in the eye, "take me with you. Just don't leave me." She shook her head and he finally opened his eyes after another deep breath. "I'm sorry, Caroline; I can't." He said in a whisper and she squeezed her eyes shot.

"This version of me, it'll hurt you. And I don't want to hurt you." He said with closed eyes, feeling guilty for those words; he knew that she was in pain and so he was.

"It's not fair." She said, closing her eyes too.

"I know." He said and lean down to her forehead, his eyes back to closed and his eyebrows furrowing. He paused in the middle but eventually he cut the space between his lips and her forehead. He replaced a soft kiss on there and his eyebrows furrowed even more that his forehead crimped. They stayed like this for a moment, his lips feeling her softness.

A tear fell down her cheek as she felt him against her, her hands got cold and shaky on his cheek. And by then he realized he must let go.

He separated from her and opened his eyes slowly. He looked down at her. They were only few inches apart. Her eyes still closed, more tears streaming down her cheek.

He held her hands tighter as they were still cupping his face. For some reason he didn't want to let her go, he wanted to hug her and wipe her tears away. But, instead he pushed her hands away slowly and held his bag once more.

"Goodbye, Caroline." He said quickly, turning his face to stone, trying not to look hurt for leaving her.

She didn't look around at him leaving. Her hands were still in the position they were, like she was still holding his face.

Just when he closed the door behind him, she felt like someone put a stake through her heart. She ran to the door and opened it in a rush.

"Stefan." She said and fell to the ground immediately when she didn't find him. She put her hands on her lap and cried intensely. Because for one more time, he was gone. And he wasn't the first one who left her behind. But somehow it hurt more than any other time.