Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries.

A/N: I'm sorry for the long wait! I just had no motivation going on. So what did I do to fix that? Watch many, many videos and read many fanfics of this couple. I still think this couple is so sweet!

I've also been distracted by the whole recent Harry Potter bonanza going on lately. I'm writing a fanfic for Harry/Hermione (they're my favorite!) and I do hope you will take the time to check it out :)

Enjoy!

I want to fly away
But i'm stuck on the ground
So, help me decide
Help me to make up
Make up my mind
Wouldn't that save you

Save You - Matthew Perryman Jones

"You sure you don't want to stay at our place tonight?"

"And hang out with two old vampires? No thanks."

"Oh admit you love us, Barbie."

An emotion flashed across Caroline's face before it became hidden once more. If only they knew.

"Yeah, yeah. Leave my front porch now please? I have a lot to do tonight and you two are distracting me."

"Do you need any-"

"No Stefan. Now shoo, the both of you!" Damon gave the woman vampire a quick nod before turning to leave not bothering to wait for Stefan. Caroline shook her head with a smile and looked towards Stefan to see him give her a small wave goodbye before he swiftly caught up with his brother. "Call you later, Care!"

"Sure thing!" She called back before shutting the door and locking it. She let out a relieved sigh before rushing up the stairs to clean up whatever mess Katherine had caused. A nice long, hot shower was calling her name.

"We have to keep a closer eye on her now." Damon finally spoke as he opened the front door of their home, breaking the intense silence that consumed both of the brothers as they made their way back.

"I know."

"Let her out of our sight for one second and she could-"

"Alright."

"-fuck everything up. I swear to you Stefan, if she makes one wrong move against us I'm going to tear her head off and crush her bones to ashes with my bare fucking hands. No hesitation whatsoever."

Stefan's anger reached its maximum limit and he could no longer brush off the harsh words his brother spat. He swiftly turned toward Damon and slammed him against the door. "You won't lay a damn hand of yours on her," he venomously growled in the other's face. Damon placed a hand on Stefan's chest and shoved him back a step, "Space bro, space."

"You. Are. Not. Going to touch her. Say it, Damon."

Damon scoffed, "Whatever. I'm not going to touch her, but I can't speak for our little werewolf friends. Who knows if they'll ever capture her again."

"I do. I know. Caroline won't ever have to go through that experience again and the both of us are going to make sure of that."

"We can keep an eye on her all we want, baby brother, but we can't control who she talks to."

Realization about what Damon was trying to get across crossed Stefan's face. "I'll talk to her about Tyler," he mumbled with furrowed brows.

"Let's just kill him!" offered Damon with excitement as he made his way into the living room plopping onto his seat that Caroline once threatened him on. Stefan scoffed as he strode to the kitchen to make himself a glass of water, "We kill him, she kills us." He heard his older brother suddenly guffaw at his words, "Please! As if she could even take me and my manly muscles."

Feeling a bit agitated from not hunting for the day yet, Stefan rummaged through the fridge to find something to eat so he could get a grip on the cravings for just a while longer. He needed to take care of some business first. He and Damon needed to talk. Though his thoughts were just suspicions, he couldn't shake off the feeling of something off was going on. Like as if this was the calm before the storm and that something bad, for the lack of a better word, was arriving and soon. He was engrossed in his thoughts when Damon called to him, "Hey, bring me a snack or something!" Rolling his eyes, Stefan continued to scan through the items in the fridge until it landed on a plastic package.

Sliced ham.

The Salvatore chuckled to himself as he thought about what Caroline would say- no screech- at him for thinking about her when looking at ham. That would be one sight to see. He grabbed the package then kicked the door close with his foot and walked back into the living room with his glass of water in hand.

"You know, she almost had you last time," taunted Stefan as he tossed the package of sliced pig at Damon.

"What the fuck is this? I just had some of this at Caroline's house!" exclaimed a frazzled Damon but nonetheless opened the package and began eating. "And she did not have me. I sure as hell had the upper hand."

"Keep telling yourself that."

A silence fell over the Salvatore mansion and the only noise present was the soft chewing from Damon and the swish of the water as Stefan slowly swirled the cold liquid around in his glass. Well, it was at least audible to the two vampires.

Though no matter the several times that everyone compared the brothers and constantly stated just how completely polar opposite their personalities were, they had their moments. Moments like this one, when they were thinking about the same exact thing. Feeling the same exact way. Protective. Worried. Restless.

But why?

A certain blonde baby vampire, is why.

It could already be predicted that Stefan would be worried about the blonde, that's just how people expected and labeled him to be. But they would never know just how deep his feelings went for this woman. At the very mention, sight, scent- anything of her- he felt this warmth that only she could produce built up in the very core of him. It was a pleasant uncomfortableness.

Pleasant.

That was an adjective that he wouldn't use to describe his time with Elena as of late. Their time together became more and more strained, in a way. He could tell that during their weekly lunches at The Grill grew into something that was automatic, a duty, other than something that he once enjoyed and looked forward too. Stefan wasn't a dunce. He could tell that Elena was feeling the same way if not more than he. He noticed the way that she would continuously check her phone for the time or to see if anyone had texted her. That she would choose to eat a small meal so that she could finish eating faster resulting in their lunch ending quicker as well. They were growing apart. No matter how much Elena would probably deny it and say that she loved his company, he knew the truth. Stefan didn't really know how to feel about it though.

However, one thing was for sure. He did not feel depressed about their growing distance.

As for Damon, one would think that he wouldn't give a rat's ass about the situation with the blonde woman. Now people did have their reasons to think this way. Damon did always project a façade of seeming not to care about anything, waltzing around nonchalantly with a glass of bourbon.

That's exactly it though. A façade.

What people seem to forget regularly these days is to never judge a book by its cover and that people are always able to change. No matter their past, those with strength, perseverance, and desire are capable of change. And sometimes there is a particular reason for that change. He wouldn't say that Caroline changed him as a person- vampire- but she did help him realize what he needed in this screwed up life of his- companionship. Friends. He would give a person complete, utter hell if they ever tried to damage that neurotic, girly spunk of his that he's become quite accustomed to having in his company.

Damon sighed as he balled the empty plastic package between his hands and tossed the crumpled ball into a waste bin at the other end of the room. He made it in.

Well, of course he did, did you expect any less?

"Let's just hope she doesn't die, especially by a wolf bite." Speaking of which caused his thoughts about Rose and her condition to become present once more. Shaking his head to rid the uninvited thoughts, he spoke again, "That would be too much shit to handle."

Instead of scolding his brother for complaining about cleaning up the mess if Caroline died Stefan knew what he meant. He knew that Damon wasn't complaining, like most people would seem to believe. He knew that what he meant was he didn't want to see Caroline in the situation of a werewolf bite. To have her experience that type of excruciating pain. They both wouldn't be able to bare it.

"Better knock on some wood, better safe then sorry. Wouldn't want to jinx anything."

"I'm not getting up to knock on some fucking wood. Give me a piece of paper or something."

Stefan let out a small grin, "That's not wood, Damon."

"It's from a tree, isn't it? It's wood."

Damon never did get up that day to knock on wood, or any other day. Let's just hope for the sake of everyone in Mystic Falls that Damon wouldn't regret not getting up and knocking on some type of wood. Even if it was just a piece of paper.

Silence.

"Earlier at Caroline's place there was this scent of blood and maybe-"

The older brother lazily raised a hand to halt the other in continuing. "I know. I smelled it too, but we're going to drive ourselves mad if we sit here and think of all the possibilities of what it could have been."

"Maybe it's just… You know. Her period?" Stefan was a mature man. Very mature. You should see his Tuesday Face. It just shined seriousness. But the poor vampire couldn't help but cringe a bit at the mention and thought of Caroline and her time of the month.

"No, I know what that smells like." Damon paused when he saw Stefan give him a disgusted, incredulous expression. "Shut up. I've been around plenty of woman and it just has this other distinct smell to it."

"That's sick," Stefan stated with raised brows. "So what do you suggest we do then?"

Damon crossed his arms over his chest and snuggled backwards into the cushions of the couch. "Easy. We just ask her." And with that he shut his eyes and let sleep consume him.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Caroline was making her way out of her shower with a large and very satisfied grin. Her hour long shower relieved all of the stress she experienced earlier on in the day, and boy, did she experience a lot of stress. Out of all the people in the world to torment with her presence, Katherine would choose her. It's like, dude, what the fuck. How unfair can life be? She let out a small huff when she finally noticed it.

A presence.

Though her senses were a bit fuzzed up, which isn't at all normal to her usually very acute senses, Caroline stealthily made her way to her bedroom door and opened it.

"Hello? Mom, you home?" She called out into the hallway but received no response. The blonde furrowed her brows as she closed her bedroom door and turned.

AHHH!-

Caroline quickly clamped her hands over her mouth when she realized just how loud she was screaming. Her eyes were as wide as possible and her knees were just about to give out. If her heart wasn't dead and unmoving, she swear it would be beating erratically right now.

"What the fuck, Bonnie?" seethed Caroline as she tightened the white towel around her body. Remembering that she was basically naked, the young Forbes made her way to her dresser and began to pull pajamas out. "You can't just go sneaking up on a person like that! How did you get in here anyways?"

When she received no reply Caroline slammed her drawers shut and gave the witch a menacing glare.

"Well, hello? It's sort of rude to not reply when asked a question."

"Oh, don't go lecturing me about being rude, Caroline."

The vampire gaped. Her mouth opened, then closed, then opened once more. "What is that supposed to mean?" she hissed.

Bonnie decided to answer her with one of her own glares as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Oh, so I'm rude for becoming a vampire? Really, Bonnie? For your information, ending up in the hospital and getting suffocated to death by some dead bitch was not on the top of my to-do list. So pull that stick our of your ass and tell me why you're here."

A pause.

"I've been sitting here while you were in the shower. When you came out and didn't even notice me, it really surprised me. I mean, aren't you supposed to be some great vampire with like super good sensing abilities-"

"If you came here to belittle me for being some cruddy vampire then you can just leave. You know where the front door is." Caroline interrupted with a huff before she turned and began putting on her white tank and blue pajama pants. When she didn't sense Bonnie leaving, she asked in a soft voice, "Why are you here, Bonnie?"

Caroline looked over her shoulders to see Bonnie staring at her… butt?

"Umm, awkward much?"

Bonnie was broken out of her reverie and when she realized she had been caught staring she blushed a bright red. "I-I wasn't staring at your butt!"

"It sure seemed like you were," thought Caroline. Instead of speaking her thoughts she decided to remain silent. Crossing her arms while tapping her foot impatiently, Caroline gave the other girl a look as if saying, Weeeell?

Bonnie cleared her throat then admitted quietly, "I miss you."

To say that Caroline was shocked would be an understatement. The way her jaw dropped and her eyes widened would be evidence.

"W-what?"

As if all of the cold barriers that Bonnie held up suddenly collapsed, the witch let out a loud sigh before letting her arms go slack to her sides. She took a cautious step towards Caroline and when the blonde didn't take a step back relief washed over her. She took a few more small steps before she gently placed her hands on Caroline's elbows.

"…I've been a bad friend to you."

Before Caroline's jaw could drop any further Bonnie placed her index under the other's chin. "Stop that," Bonnie giggled, "You look like a fish." She giggled again before her face became serious once more.

"These past few days I've been the worst friend possible to you. I know. It's really sudden how I just realized my mistakes and after days of not talking to you at all I pop up in your room. It's just… I knew that I was being a horrible friend, but I just couldn't get over the fact that you're- uhh, you know. Vampire."

Caroline's gaze became soft as she saw how much her friend was hurting. "But why is it so hard for you to come to terms with it?"

"It's just, I grew up always being told that vampires are bad. Being friends with them was a major no no. My grandmother always told me," Bonnie took a shaky breath before she continued, "She always told me that if I were to ever come across a vampire then there were only two options: Leave them or kill them… That night at the fair, when I saw you covered in blood and that innocent dead man on the truck, I couldn't believe it. I wouldn't believe it. Every possible excuse for your mouth being stained red flashed through my mind." Bonnie's vision began to blur as her eyes became teary. She sniffed, "I think the hardest part was that one of my best friends just became something I was taught to hate. And I could never h-hate you, Caroline! I-I could never…"

Bonnie's voice cracked and she could speak no more in fear that she might burst out sobbing any moment. Though Caroline was really frustrated at her friend for completely abandoning her just because she became a vampire, which she had no control over, she had to admit she terribly missed her witchy friend. Letting go of all her frustrations over the past days with her friend, Caroline pulled Bonnie into a hug as she stroked her hair.

"Shh, shh. Stop being a baby, Bon Bon or else I just might have to tell Jeremy about this." Caroline giggled as she heard her friend gasp.

"You wouldn't!"

"Oh, wouldn't I?" replied the vampire with a sly grin. "I'm just kidding! But really, no more tears, kay?"

Bonnie quickly wiped her eyes with the back of her hands before straightening herself out. "No more tears, but Caroline?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry. I really am."

"It's fine. I forgive you, but err, tell me something. Why were you staring at my butt earlier?"

The other blushed furiously once more, "I-I didn't mean to stare! I just noticed that those pants are mine. I was wondering how you got them before I remembered I let you borrow them that one night we had take-out at my house."

Realization crossed Caroline's features, "Oh yeah! That night when we watched like seven rom-com movies and I spilled soy sauce all over my shorts."

"Yeap, that was the night." Both girls had large grins on their faces before they began laughing so hard that their sides began to hurt and they were short of breath. Bonnie opened her mouth to say something before her eyes caught a glimpse of the clock on Caroline's table.

"Oh crap!"

"What? What's wrong?" asked Caroline in a panic.

"I'm late for my date with-"

"Elena," the blonde finished for her. Bonnie stopped in her tracks to give her an apologetic look. "Hey, don't worry about me. I'm just going to get some early snooze. Go have fun." Caroline reassured with a shrug.

"You sure?" Bonnie asked hesitantly.

"Yeah. I'm good."

"…Well, okay. I'm just going to fix my make-up. I'm sure I look like a hot mess because of this huge cry-fest of ours," the witch called as she made her way into Caroline's bathroom.

"You were the one crying! Not me." she sat on her bed with a smile when she was suddenly hit with an image.

A pile of clothes drenched in blood in the corner of her bathroom. Her blood. All because of a visit with Katherine earlier. She forgot to clean it up.

And Bonnie just walked into her bathroom.

Oh, shit.

A/N: Oh, man! Things are getting crazy! Okay, not really, but I have something up my sleeves. I just don't know how to play it all out. At this moment, I think I'm just going to go with the flow, roll with the punches, and so on and so forth :) However, do not fret. I do have a plot in mind for the next chapter!

If you may have any ideas or advice for the plot, I would greatly appreciate it if you shared. Of course you will receive the credit!

Thank you for reading. Reviews are always read with a large smile.