[2x13; Daddy Issues]
Lucy sleepily shuffled through the Forbes' household, heading to the kitchen for some much-needed breakfast that Caroline had promised to make for her after plying her with frozen margaritas. Needless to say, Lucy's head pounded and she desperately needed some greasy food to hold off her hangover. The smell of bacon coming from the kitchen seemed promising.
When she entered the kitchen, Caroline was at the stove flipping bacon, a cutesy apron covering her torso.
"Good morning!" Caroline exclaimed, sending her best friend a bright smile.
Lucy mentally cursed Caroline for her talent of being unable to have a hangover. She was pretty sure that was the one thing she hated about Caroline. If Lucy had to suffer from an alcohol-soaked brain, so did Caroline.
Unfortunately, life wasn't fair.
"Morning," Lucy sighed, hopping onto one of the stools by the island. Caroline promptly scooted a glass of apple juice over to her. Lucy mumbled her gratitude and took a sip.
"The bacon's almost done and then you can make those gross bacon sandwiches you like so much," Caroline informed her, waving her spatula for emphasis. "And while you eat, we can talk about what you told me last night."
Lucy furrowed her eyebrows in confusion—she had no idea what she told Caroline last night. There was a lot of talking—Caroline had even confessed that Tyler had kissed her—but she didn't remember telling Caroline anything so scandalous that it warranted a next-morning talk.
"Come again?"
The corners of Caroline's mouth quirked as she flipped off the burner and started transferring the bacon onto a plate covered with paper towels. "You know, your crush on Stefan."
Heat flooded Lucy's face and the back of her neck, her embarrassment wanting to choke her. She told Caroline about her feelings for Stefan? She was never going to drink again.
She groaned and buried her face in her hands.
"Oh, calm down," Caroline rolled her eyes at Lucy's dramatics. "You know I would never judge you, Luce."
"Still makes it embarrassing," Lucy's voice was hard to make out through her hands.
"I think it's cute," Caroline admitted. While Lucy hid herself, the blonde took it upon herself to make her a bacon sandwich. She grabbed the mayo from the fridge and smeared a little bit onto a piece of white bread, stacking many pieces of bacon on it, and then smushing the other bread on top of it. Just the way Lucy liked it.
As Caroline pushed the sandwich over to Lucy, she added, "It's totally a friends-to-lovers trope and I happen to love them," she grinned. "I mean, Stefan and Elena are a cute couple, but there's something about you and him that makes me happy."
Lucy pulled her face away from her hands, her lips arranged into a scowl that she aimed at her best friend. She grumpily snatched up the sandwich and took a big bite, begrudgingly humming in approval.
When she swallowed, she said, "This isn't fiction, though, Care. This is real life and you know how horrible it is to fall for my older sister's boyfriend!"
Caroline winced. "It's not good but it's definitely not as bad as you think," she attempted to console Lucy. "And it's not like you're doing anything about your feelings. You're not making any moves."
"True," Lucy conceded, happy that she could at least say that. "But still, if Elena found out…"
"She won't," Caroline stated confidently. She wasn't going to spill the beans and according to Lucy, no one else knew about it. "You just have to get over him, right?"
"Right," Lucy nodded. She hesitated and grimaced at Caroline. "How do I do that?"
"Find a guy, date a guy, sleep with a guy," Caroline said firmly. "The last two can be ordered differently for certain circumstances."
"Caroline, I'm not gonna sleep with a guy I don't know," Lucy rolled her eyes and finished off his sandwich.
"Well, does Joel have any friends?"
"He has a few cute ones," Lucy admitted. "But I'm underage."
"Age of consent?"
"Caroline!"
"Fine, fine," Caroline gave up as Lucy jumped from her stool and started washing the bacon pan. "We'll figure something out, okay? For right now, though, I need your help with Matt and Tyler."
Lucy scrubbed at the pan with a soapy sponge and hummed. "Right, your dilemma. Matt and Tyler both kissed you within the same twenty-four hours."
"Yeah…"
Lucy rinsed the pan and turned to face Caroline with a serious expression. "Want to know what I think?"
"I asked you for help," Caroline reminded her.
"I think you love Matt," Lucy smiled slightly as Caroline nodded. "But I think Tyler's gotten under your skin."
Caroline deflated, ashamed.
"It's understandable, Care," Lucy assured her, walking around the island to wrap an arm around her waist. "You helped Tyler through a really rough time. You were there for him when no one else was. It's understandable that you feel some sort of affection for him….and he's easy on the eyes, too."
Caroline giggled and Lucy winked at her.
"I can't tell you what to do," Lucy continued. "But I know that you're stubborn and you go after what you want. So, who do you want?"
"Matt," Caroline answered without hesitation. "I love Matt."
"All right," Lucy nodded, satisfied that she could help out her best friend. "Now, come on. We gotta get dressed and get to the memorial."
Mystic Falls was hosting a memorial for the many people who were killed by Rose the day before. On the night of the full moon, Rose was bitten by a werewolf in defense of Damon. The legend stated that a werewolf bite was fatal to vampires and they were right; Rose quickly deteriorated. As she slowly died, she was hallucinating and viciously craving blood. She attacked at the charity barbeque and managed to kill a few people before Damon and Elena came to collect her. She died that night after Damon mercifully staked her.
Now, Mrs. Lockwood insisted on the town coming together to remember those who died the past few months. It wasn't a bad idea—the town needed to heal, especially after losing their mayor.
Lucy and Caroline quickly got dressed and left the house, ready to head to town. As Lucy stepped out onto the porch, she was shocked to see Tyler standing on the sidewalk in front of the house.
"Hey, Tyler," Lucy greeted him as Caroline locked the front door. "What's up?"
This situation was already awkward—especially after the talk she and Caroline just had—but what made it worse was weird look Tyler was giving Lucy and Caroline. It was actually sort of creepy and worrying—Tyler looked genuinely mad.
"Hey," Caroline said to Tyler, giggling nervously. "How's it going?"
Tyler just stared at her before saying, "We need to talk."
"Well," Lucy spoke up, giving Caroline a pointed look. "I'll be in the car, then."
She quickly walked past Tyler and opened the passenger door of Caroline's car, grateful that the blonde had unlocked it for her. After she sat in the car and closed the door, she tried not to eavesdrop on Caroline and Tyler's conversation but it was really hard.
She wasn't perfect and she was definitely nosy.
Unfortunately, she couldn't really hear their conversation at all. So, Lucy took to staring. She watched as Caroline spoke to Tyler for a minute or so before walking down the sidewalk. Apparently Tyler said something, because Caroline turned around to face him. Tyler slowly advanced on Caroline, his face contorting furiously.
Then, all of a sudden, Tyler grabbed Caroline by her blazer and forcefully shoved her against the car. Lucy jumped and then opened her door, furiously jumping out.
"Tyler let her go!" she demanded as Caroline apologized to Tyler over and over again.
"I'm sorry, Tyler, I'm sorry!"
Tyler's brown eyes flashed to gold as he snarled in Caroline's face. "I trusted you!"
"Tyler!" Lucy grabbed Tyler's arm and pulled him away from Caroline, grunting from the weight of his struggling form.
Lucy knew this had to be about Mason. Tyler must have found out that Damon killed Mason and now he was taking it out on Caroline. She understood his anger, but Caroline had nothing to do with Mason's death.
Tyler blinked harshly and the gold in his eyes disappeared. He glared once more at Caroline and turned around, not even acknowledging Lucy as he ran away.
Lucy reached for a shocked Caroline and pulled her into a soothing hug. Once she knew Caroline's shock was gone, she stated, "We should probably tell Stefan…"
Lucy and Caroline waited nervously in the foyer for Stefan to arrive. After Lucy texted him and he responded that he'd be there soon, she suggested to Caroline that she wait by the door for him. Caroline was a wreck; she felt so bad about lying to Tyler and she was also worried for the werewolf's safety. It wasn't a full moon so he was no match against Damon or Stefan if he wanted to avenge his uncle.
As soon as Caroline spotted Stefan on her porch, she ripped the door open for him.
"What's wrong?" Stefan worriedly asked the girls as he walked into the house. The tone of Lucy's text was urgent and he was afraid they were in trouble.
"Tyler knows about you and Damon," Caroline told him, her voice panicked. "He knows that Damon killed Mason. I didn't say a word."
Stefan cursed under his breath. This was bad; Tyler was an important person in the town of Mystic Falls, not to mention a new werewolf. If he wanted to retaliate against him and Damon on the night of the full moon, they'd be dead. At the same time, he was also worried about Tyler. If Damon found out that Tyler was pissed, the teenager would be toast. Damon didn't care if Tyler was friends with Stefan or Elena, he was a threat.
"It's that woman, Jules," Stefan muttered angrily. "She had a run in with Damon."
"Tyler was so upset," Caroline breathed. "The look on his face, he was so betrayed."
"This is bad," Lucy commented, exchanging a serious look with Stefan. Both of them knew what Damon was like—if he found out about Tyler—
Caroline turned to Stefan with wide eyes. "You're not gonna tell Damon, are you?"
"No," Stefan shook his head, already exasperated with this situation. "He already wants to kill him. He thinks all werewolves should die."
Lucy thought that was a bit extreme—it was practically genocide. Caroline let out a indignant splutter.
"He's not wrong to think that, Caroline," Stefan stated. "I mean, what if Tyler tries to retaliate? He has every right to."
"He could get himself killed."
"Exactly," Stefan pointed at Lucy in agreement.
"Well, we're not gonna let that happen," Caroline said firmly. Stefan pursed his lips as she continued, "Okay? We have to get to him and reason with him before he does something stupid."
Stefan looked at Lucy, wondering what she thought. Lucy recognized the question in his eyes and nodded, silently agreeing with Caroline. They couldn't let Tyler get himself killed.
"You have to talk to him," Caroline told Stefan. "Just try to explain, you know? You always know the right thing to say, okay? He and I…" she hesitated for a second and Lucy knew that Caroline had more feelings for Tyler than she let on. "…we're friends."
It was silent in the house as Stefan thought it over. Eventually he nodded, resigned. "Fine."
Lucy lazily dunked the fry in her hand into the ketchup on her plate, idly listening to Jenna complain to her and Alaric about John's presence in the house. Her annoying uncle had showed up at Stefan's request and spilled the beans to Jenna about him being Elena's biological father. Now Jenna was rightfully irritated and practically murdering her chicken caesar salad.
"I can't believe it," Jenna mumbled between stabs. "Elena is my sister's husband's brother's daughter and her mother is my boyfriend's deceased wife. Not to mention my boyfriend is my other niece's father…" she shook her head. "You can't make this stuff up."
Alaric gave her a sympathetic look. "It's definitely overwhelming."
"I can't believe that they kept it a secret," Jenna shook her head. "How is it even possible to keep a secret like that?"
Lucy hummed sympathetically but kept quiet, knowing that she and Alaric helped to keep that secret and many others. The fact that Isobel was still alive, the existence of vampires, werewolves, and witches, and the supernatural natures of Joel, Lucy, and Elena were huge things that were kept from Jenna. Lucy didn't want it to be that way, but she had been outvoted by Elena—and what Elena said goes.
Jenna groaned suddenly, her eyes on John as he walked into the Grill. Lucy grimaced as she looked and accidently caught John's eye—now he was going to want to sit with them.
Lucy was right; John walked straight to their table.
"Hey, you three," he greeted them casually. "You think I can join you?"
Jenna picked up her fork and forcefully stabbed a piece of lettuce. "Do you have to?"
"I guess I don't have to but I might as well," John said uncomfortably. He looked up, focusing on the doors. "Look who's here."
Lucy saw Elena and Damon walk into the restaurant and pursed her lips, popping another fry into her mouth. Damon and Elena stopped to talk for a minute or so before walking over to the table.
Lucy was pretty sure that their table wouldn't fit six people.
"John, buddy, how you been?" Damon drawled, faking his politeness.
"I've been all right, Damon," John said in an equally fake tone. "It's good to see you."
Lucy exchanged an annoyed look with Elena and rolled her eyes. It was going to be a long night.
Two hours later and Lucy still had yet to leave the Grill, hanging out with Elena and Damon instead. She hadn't spent much time with Elena lately, so she thought it was best to stick around, even if she had to endure the subtle flirting between the oldest Salvatore brother and her sister.
She and Elena were just talking about the latest episode of a show Elena watched—with Damon barely paying attention—when Jenna walked up to them with her friend, Andie Star at her side.
"So, my friend wants to meet you," Jenna told Damon with a small smile as he twisted around in his chair to face her. "Damon Salvatore, this is—"
"I know you," Damon cut Jenna off, looking at Andie as she gave him a flirty look. "The news lady."
"Yeah, Andie Star," Andie confirmed nicely. "Nice to meet you."
Lucy and Elena watched quietly as Damon gave her an awkward look. Lucy was shocked, normally Damon was quite the lady's man.
"Can I buy you a drink, Damon?" Andie asked, trying to move past the awkwardness.
Damon showed her his glass of bourbon. "My glass is full, Andie. Thank you."
With that, Damon turned back around, practically dismissing Andie. Lucy looked down at the table, feeling bad, and only looked back up when Andie and Jenna walked away.
Elena gaped at Damon. "You totally blew her off."
"I'm steering clear of all women at the moment."
"You didn't have to be rude," Elena persisted.
Lucy thought that the exchange was actually pretty polite for Damon's standards. She considered him to be a pretty rude person most of the time—especially to people he didn't know—but he was okay with Andie.
"Trust me, it's in the best interest of women everywhere," Damon pressed his lips together.
Elena raised her eyebrows at him but Lucy was distracted by her phone ringing. When she saw that it was Stefan, she immediately answered. He was supposed to be with Tyler all day, so hopefully he had some good news.
"Hey, Stefan," she answered her phone, catching the attention of Elena and Damon. "How's it going?"
"Lucy, Jules has Caroline."
Lucy froze, not expecting those words to come out of his mouth. "Excuse me?"
"Jules has Caroline and she's gonna kill her if we don't bring Tyler to the woods outside of Wickery Highway," Stefan repeated himself, already on the way to the meeting place with Tyler. "I need you to tell Damon to meet me there right now."
"Yeah, okay," Lucy managed to say, though her mind was going a hundred a minute. "We'll be there."
She hung up before Stefan could argue with her, but she wasn't budging on this. Caroline was hurt and Lucy was going to do anything to get her to safety.
She grimly turned to Damon. "Jules has Caroline."
For some reason, their conversation shook Damon enough for him to bring her and Elena to the hallway just off the bathrooms. Once Damon was sure that no one was around to listen to them, Lucy explained the whole situation to Damon.
Damon and Elena were not pleased to be left out.
"Why am I just finding out about this now?" Damon asked, irritated.
"We were worried that you'd kill Tyler," Lucy said unapologetically.
"Of course I would," Damon said, ignoring Elena's look of disapproval. "That's what needs to happen."
"No, Damon, not Tyler," Elena spoke up. "Do whatever you need to do to get Caroline back but just leave Tyler out of it, okay?"
"Why?" Damon snapped. "He's a werewolf, he needs to die. I'm willing to kill him, it's win-win."
"Damon, please," Elena gently grabbed Damon's arm and looked at him with wide, pleading eyes. "Too many people are dead."
"You need to stop doing that," Damon narrowed his eyes at her.
Lucy sighed; did they really need this much drama? Caroline was going to be killed in fifteen minutes if Stefan didn't hand over Tyler.
Elena glanced down at her hand on Damon's arm and then right back to his face. She slowly pulled her hand off of him and asked, "Doing what?"
"Assuming that I'll play the good guy because it's you who's asking."
Elena sighed heavily. "Be the better man, Damon."
Lucy cleared her throat before a staring competition could start between Damon and Elena. "Yeah, we kind of need to go."
Damon nodded at Lucy as John walked into the hallway. The vampire gave him an annoyed look.
"Do you mind?"
"What's going on?" John asked, looking at Elena.
"Nothing."
"It doesn't look like nothing," John retorted to Elena's sharp response.
"Well, guess what, John, trust works both ways," Damon replied. "Go away."
"We don't have time for this!" Lucy exclaimed, extremely irritated. Did these people not get the urgency of the situation? "We need to get Caroline back."
"Lucy's right," Elena agreed. "Let's go."
"You're not going," Damon told her firmly. "I'll take Twitch and we'll take care of it," he turned to John. "First dad duty: ground your daughter. Keep her here."
As Damon ushered Lucy out of the hallway, they could hear Elena's protests to John. Lucy felt bad for her sister, but what exactly was Elena going to do? Get herself in trouble?
They already had one person they needed to save, they didn't need another.
The woods were always creepy at night time but it was horrifying that night. Normally, there weren't werewolves lurking about and the threat of Caroline's death looming over Lucy's head. The only saving grace was Damon, surprisingly. Once he had used his vampire speed to run them over to the woods off Wickery Highway, he tried to console her.
Emphasis on tried. He actually worried Lucy more than reassured her by saying that if anything, Caroline was more than likely dead already. This did not help Lucy whatsoever.
Over than that, Damon actually made sure that Lucy didn't trip over any fallen branches or roots.
"We're getting closer," Damon whispered about a mile into the woods. "I can hear Stefan."
A little up ahead, Stefan tightly held on to the back of Tyler's jacket as they approached the little trailer that smelt heavily of wet dog. The woman who bit Rose, Jules, was standing outside of it, her cell phone in her hand.
She looked up when she sensed Stefan and Tyler. "I know you're out there."
Stefan rolled his eyes and brought Tyler with him as he walked into view.
"Where's Caroline?" he asked her, hostility easily heard in his voice.
"Locked up tight."
Stefan nodded and though he really wanted to tear the heart right out of Jules' chest, he was going to try to be diplomatic. Usually he didn't have to try so hard, but she was hurting Caroline and he didn't like people hurting his friends. "Let her go and I'll release Tyler. It doesn't have to get any messier than it already has," he doubted that Damon was just going to let her live but he decided not to give that away. "I'm not your enemy, Jules."
Jules scoffed. "It's a little late to be waving a white flag, don't you think?"
"You need to leave town," Stefan ordered, fed up with her already. "No one else has to get hurt."
"I'm not leaving without Tyler," Jules insisted.
"Tyler is free to make his own decisions," Stefan said casually before darkening his tone. "As soon as you release Caroline."
The sound of dead leaves crunching ushered in Lucy and Damon. Lucy was ready to go, having siphoned most of the magic she had in her locket. She knew that this was going to lead to a fight, especially since Damon was involved. Where he went, usually dead bodies followed.
"My brother, the peacemaker," Damon drawled, catching Jules' attention. "Since Stefan got here before us, I'm gonna let him try it his way before I resort to my way, which is a little bloodier."
Lucy narrowed her eyes at Jules. "Give us Caroline."
"Let go of Tyler."
"Give us Caroline," Damon rolled his eyes. "Without a full moon, it's not an even fight and you know it."
Lucy and Stefan smirked at the same time, knowing that if it was just a fight against Jules, the three of them would win.
"We'll take you," Damon finished.
Jules simply blinked at him, not impressed or threatened in any way. "I'm not so sure about that, tough guy."
Jules put her fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly. Lucy, Stefan, and Damon looked around, seeing about six more werewolves appear with various weapons. One guy even had a flamethrower which scared the shit out of Lucy.
Okay, so maybe they wouldn't win…
"Let's try this again," Jules said smugly. "Give us Tyler."
Lucy bit her lip as Damon nodded at Tyler. "You heard her. Go, get over there."
Stefan promptly let go of Tyler's jacket and Tyler scurried over to Jules. Lucy just hoped that he would get inside the trailer and let Caroline out.
"Which one of you killed Mason?" one of the wolves asked.
"Uh, that'd be me," Damon called flippantly.
The wolf pointed at Damon. "Boys, make sure that one suffers."
Damon chuckled and looked around at the werewolves before giving Stefan and Lucy a confident look. "We can take them."
"I don't know about that," Stefan said at the same time as Lucy scoffed, "Are you kidding?"
"Well, then…"
Damon sped away, running straight toward Jules. Jules hopped out of the way, jumping onto the RV while one of the wolves dealt with him. While Damon was distracted with Jules and company, Stefan and Lucy were being herded together by two werewolves with flamethrowers.
Stefan blurred away from Lucy and took a hold of one of the men, wrapping his arms around the guy's chest to have full control of his movement. Lucy ducked out of the way as Stefan fought back the other wolves with the man and his flamethrower.
Lucy's main goal was to get into the trailer and let Caroline out. She figured that if Tyler had done so, Caroline would be out by now, so she'd have to do it herself. However, as she was running toward the RV, she was blocked by two werewolves. Lucy stopped in her tracks and narrowed her eyes at them, concentrating enough to give them an aneurysm at the same time.
The two men cried out in pain and held the sides of their heads as they dropped to their knees. Lucy kept going, incapacitating them so Damon would run by and snap their necks. Once the men were dead, she started walking to the trailer again.
When she was a few feet away from the trailer, someone tightly grabbed her arm. She wasted no time in grabbing their hand and siphoning from them, her hand glowing red with the magic seeping out of them. The werewolf grunted—Lucy flicked her hand and the man flew through the air, landing on the ground in front of Stefan. Stefan snapped the werewolf's neck and kept on fighting.
Luckily, Lucy was able to get into the trailer without any distractions this time. She immediately saw that Tyler was hesitating in front of Caroline who was trapped in a cage and covered in blood.
"Tyler, please!" Caroline begged Tyler as Lucy pushed past him.
"Move out of the way," she snapped at him, furious. She couldn't believe that Tyler would just stand by and keep Caroline in a cage. She had been understanding and now she was just mad.
"Lucy!" Caroline exclaimed in relief when she saw her best friend. "There's a latch. There's a latch right there."
"I got it," Lucy assured her, kneeling down so she could reach the latch easier. She easily undid the latch but the steel bars surrounding Caroline were heavier than she expected.
Lucy grunted as she tried to pull open the gate but it wouldn't budge. She desperately tried again and Caroline joined in, using the last of her strength to try to free herself. Finally coming to his senses, Tyler rushed forward and grabbed the gate, heaving it up long enough for Caroline to escape.
Caroline scrambled out of the cage just as loud gun shots went off right outside. Lucy made sure that Caroline was all right before rushing out of the trailer, hoping that those weren't wooden bullets to the heart.
As soon as she stepped onto the ground, she was pushed up against the side of the trailer, hot metal pressed against the back of her neck.
Lucy grunted, not knowing who was holding her against the trailer or what was pressed against her. She was facing the trailer door, however, and saw the horror on Caroline's face when she saw the situation Lucy was in.
This wasn't good.
Stefan, recovering from a stake to the back, stumbled to his feet. He saw Lucy pressed against the trailer and saw red. He thought Caroline being threatened made him angry, but it didn't compare to this. No one was going to hurt Lucy ever again. Not when he was around.
He hadn't even taken one step toward his best friend when Jules growled at him.
"Take another step and I'll kill her," she threatened.
Stefan froze, his heart breaking as he heard Lucy whimper in fright. Her heart was beating so fast he was surprised she wasn't having a panic attack.
And then, seemingly out of nowhere, Jules dropped the gun pointed at Lucy's head. She screamed in pain and fell to the ground along with the other werewolf that was standing over Damon with a stake.
Caroline looked around, confused, as Stefan ran over to Lucy. "What's happening?"
"What the hell is going on?" Tyler breathed, watching his fellow werewolves writhing in pain on the ground.
Secure in Stefan's arms, Lucy looked around, knowing that it wasn't her casting an aneurysm on the wolves. She wasn't surprised when she saw Jonas—Luka's dad—walking toward them, his palms held out in front of him as he chanted.
When the werewolves fell unconscious, Jonas stopped chanting and looked at Lucy and Stefan. "Elijah made a promise to you. I'm here to see it's upheld. You need to go."
Damon slowly got to his feet, ripping the wooden bullets out of his torso and walked over to Stefan, Lucy, and Caroline. The four of them hesitated in front of Jonas, but the older witch wasn't having that.
"Get out of here, now," he demanded.
They didn't need to be told again; Lucy let Stefan lead her and Caroline away from the campsite, Damon following them.
Blood was something that Lucy had washed off her hands before but when it was someone else's blood it was different. Somehow she had gotten Caroline's blood on her and it was effecting her more than she thought it would.
She couldn't imagine if Caroline had actually been killed tonight, how there might have been more blood covering her. It made her stomach twist violently. She loved Caroline like a sister and it infuriated Lucy that these werewolves just waltzed into their town and hurt her.
Those wolves had tortured Caroline. Caroline had only been able to tell Lucy and Stefan a little bit about what Jules' boyfriend did to her before she fell silent, unable to say anything else. It broke Lucy's heart to see Caroline so withdrawn and hurt.
Lucy wanted to comfort Caroline so badly, but she didn't know what to say. She had to admit it made her a little jealous to see Stefan console Caroline so easily. How come she wasn't able to comfort her best friend after she was tortured? She felt like a horrible friend.
A little part of her knew that it was better that Stefan was the one to comfort Caroline, though. Lucy wasn't a vampire—she didn't know what they went through and Stefan did. Also, Stefan had an amazing talent of calming a person down; he'd done it to her many, many times.
Even with her reasoning, she still felt bad that she wasn't there with Caroline.
"Your skin is going to be raw."
Lucy jumped, startled at Stefan's presence. She ripped her red hands away from the boiling hot water and hurriedly turned off the faucet.
Stefan was concerned for her. Lucy had really impressed him tonight with the way she fought and held her own but she was still held at gunpoint. It had to be scary for her.
"You okay?"
"Yeah," Lucy said casually, drying her hands with a towel. "Um, I was washing my hands."
"I saw that," Stefan studied her face, noticing that she was a little pale. "Are you feeling all right?"
"Yes," Lucy pushed past him and into her room. "I'm just worried about Caroline."
Stefan sighed. "Me too," he admitted. "She went through a lot today."
"Exactly," Lucy pointed at him. "And I don't want her to be alone, you know?"
Stefan nodded as Lucy paused, her face turning thoughtful. He watched as she smiled knowingly and marched over to her dresser, pulling out a set of pajamas. Lucy turned back to him with a grin.
"Will you help me with something?"
Stefan couldn't help but smile back at her. "Of course."
Not even an hour later, Stefan and Lucy were on Caroline's porch, Elena and Bonnie waiting behind them. Lucy had called Bonnie and told her about Caroline and it was Stefan who got Elena on board so that the four girls could have a sleepover at Caroline's house.
Lucy and Stefan knew that Caroline could probably use the company.
Lucy gripped her basket of sundae toppings and ice cream closer to her chest and waved Stefan over to Caroline's front door. As he knocked, she, Bonnie, and Elena hid to surprise their blonde friend.
Lucy watched quietly as Caroline, clad in a black dressing gown and wet hair, answered the door.
After she and Stefan greeted each other, Caroline asked, "What's going on?"
"Uh, I was a little worried about you after everything you went through tonight," Stefan told her honestly. He knew what it was like to be tortured a little and it wasn't fun. It seriously messed with you. And Caroline was young, it would be worse for her.
"I'm fine, Stefan," Caroline insisted tiredly.
"Good," Stefan gave her a small smile. "But just in case, I brought some back up."
Lucy popped out of her hiding place—Elena and Bonnie following her lead—and walked into the house, her eyes stinging as Caroline smiled in relief. She passed Stefan the sundae basket and pulled Caroline into a tight hug.
"We're gonna slumber it," Elena told Caroline as she joined in on her and Lucy's hug.
"We haven't done it in ages," Bonnie added, wrapping her arms around her friends.
Caroline laughed tearfully and squeezed her friends, thankful that Stefan brought them by. She had thought she would be all right, but having Lucy, Elena, and Bonnie by her side made her feel so much better.
Lucy squeezed Caroline back, finding comfort in the fact that Caroline was safe and sound in her arms. She looked back at Stefan—looking ridiculous with the large basket of ice cream and toppings in his hands—and smiled in gratitude.
Stefan nodded back with a warm smile, happy that everyone was safe and sound.