Summary: Even while running with Klaus, he always came back to see her. Just a glimpse of her smile was enough for him. It was enough until she saw him.

Song: Fix You - Coldplay

Note: (Down at the bottom) Takes place after 3x01. Changes: Stefan didn't call Elena in the end, he called Caroline.

Lights Will Guide You Home

For two months, Stefan did nothing but run. Always running with Klaus, from city to city, tearing people apart in their own homes or out on the streets, leaving their bodies a mess and then out of guilt putting them back together even though he knew they would not come back to life. The blood, as Klaus always loved to point out, made Stefan forget all the guilt and pain he was feeling, the more he drank, the less he felt; but when he didn't drink the blood, he felt all the pain that he pushed down with blood. Going back to Mystic Falls was clearly a mistake, killing Andie was an even bigger one that only added more guilt that he didn't need, but he knew he couldn't have let Klaus go to Mystic Falls, he didn't want him anywhere near her.

He could still see her face when he wasn't delirious and high off of all the blood, her blonde hair shimmering in the sunlight, and her smile that could easily make you smile back, even if you were having the worst day of your life. Even just thinking of her smile made Stefan smile back, sometimes Klaus would catch him, but he never mention a thing about it, occasionally he would throw a stern look Stefan's way that would snap him out of his daydream, but nothing more would ever be said about it. It didn't help Stefan that while on his trip back to Mystic Falls, to get his brother off of his and Klaus's trail, that he went to check on Caroline too.

It was Elena's birthday back at the house, Damon still no where in sight, most likely figuring out what to do with Andie's body by now, and Stefan was standing outside, a safe distance away from all the teenagers outside so they couldn't spot him, but close enough to where he could still see and hear everyone in the house, especially Caroline.

She seemed to have moved on, at least it looked like that to Stefan. While she looked miserable inside when Elena wasn't with her, moving through the crowd of dancing people and moving them all out of her way to get more to drink, he couldn't help but sense that it was over something else, over…someone else. And then he saw her look at Tyler, with the same look Stefan had seen her give Matt, and even him when he first arrived in Mystic Falls. He had to admit now, that it was hard to see her give that longing look to Tyler, part of him, the ripper part, wanted to somehow lure Tyler outside and rip him to pieces, but the other half, the old Stefan, wanted Caroline to be happy, especially since after he left he managed to make her so miserable, and if Tyler Lockwood was what made her happy, then he should just leave it alone. But it was hard to stand there, hiding behind that stupid tree, watching Caroline march around the party, constantly glaring at Tyler when he wanted it to so badly be him.

After standing there for a good ten minutes, just watching her, he knew Damon would be coming back soon, and he knew Klaus would be looking for him, and he wanted to keep Klaus far away from Mystic Falls. With one last look at her, catching a glimpse of her smiling for Elena as she walked back to her best friend with a drink in her hand, Stefan turned around and left, knowing now in his heart that coming to see Caroline Forbes was a huge mistake.

There he was, standing in the middle of the bar, still throwing wolfsbane coated darts at the werewolf known as Ray who was chained up against the bar wall, and thanks to Stefan's compulsion, not a single person in that bar noticed the screams coming from the man as each dart hit him and burned his skin.

"What took you so long?" asked Klaus as he threw another dart that landed right in Ray's neck as he let out a loud scream that almost sounded more like a howl of pain.

"Just…taking care of Damon." said Stefan as Klaus cast a suspicious glance his way before dipping another dart in wolfsbane.

"Did you get the message across?" he asked as the dart hit Ray's forearm now, causing another yelp of pain.

"Yes." said Stefan as he sat down at the table next to Klaus.

Klaus picked up a dart but quickly put it down as he caught the scent that was dripping off of Stefan now. It was human, not just one, but many, all slightly intoxicated if he was correct, which he usually always was.

"Go for a drink while you were gone? I really don't see why considering where we are." said Klaus as he dipped the dart in the liquid wolfsbane now while Ray whimpered.

Stefan's eyes went wide for a moment, but he quickly calmed himself, not wanting Klaus to catch his worry. "No. I must have just come off of Damon. He smelled like he'd been drinking a little bit when we had our chat." said Stefan as calmly as he could.

"Sure you didn't stop by to see your little blonde sweetheart?" asked Klaus with a smirk. "It sounded like a wonderful party."

Panic instantly hit Stefan. He should have known that Klaus would somehow have spied on him, for all Stefan knew, he could have had someone else following him to spy for Klaus.

"I just wanted to see if she was okay." said Stefan.

"Oh, she's fine. I'm sure she'll stay that way too as long as you keep focused." said Klaus with a smile on his face as he looked at Stefan and saw anger brewing behind his eyes now.

"Don't lay a hand on her." said Stefan through gritted teeth, the last person he wanted to unleash his anger on was Klaus, he knew how it would end, Klaus would end Caroline.

"I won't lay a finger on that pretty little blonde head of hers as long as you keep your head on straight." said Klaus. "I need you focused Stefan, not worrying about if that little baby vampire of yours is going to go off sleeping with the resident werewolf."

Stefan visibly flinched slightly at the mention of Tyler. If Klaus knew this much about Caroline, who knew just how closely he had someone watching her.

"She is a pretty thing, I'll give you that. As beautiful as Katerina. She's got a mouth on her though, someone might have to put her in her place." said Klaus as the dart he threw now hit Ray in the chest.

"How long have you been watching her?" asked Stefan.

"I've had eyes on her since the day you left and came to me." smiled Klaus. "I knew you had a weakness for her, so I've always had the upper hand. If you disobeyed, I'd have someone take care of that little vampire in a heartbeat. Now you know, and hopefully you won't step out of line again. I'd hate to kill her, as I said, she is beautiful, I'd hate to see it go to waste."

"I'm gonna go outside…get some air." said Stefan as he slowly stood up.

"Sure, just remember. One toe out of line and you can say goodbye to Blondie." said Klaus as he threw another dart that landed in Ray's cheek.

Stefan stepped outside and took some deep breaths. He hated that Klaus had someone spying on Caroline, it made him want to run back to Mystic Falls and track down his spy and rip their heart out. He didn't want anyone lurking so closely to her, watching her every move, just the thought of it was driving him crazy right now. He felt so much worry that he almost felt sick with it, it almost felt like a panic attack of sorts. Could vampires even get panic attacks? He knew there would only be one way to calm himself down, and that was to just hear her voice, just one time, even if he promised himself as he dialed her number that he wouldn't speak a word, just her voice would be enough.

"Hello?" said Caroline as she answered her phone, from the sounds of things, it sounded like Caroline was outside at the moment, just far enough away from the party for it to be quiet background noise. "…Hello? Is anyone there?"

Stefan tried to hold it together, he desperately tried to not just fall to his knees and break down there, hearing her voice made him long for Mystic Falls again so desperately. He held in what he could, keeping his lips tightly sealed even though they begged to let Caroline know he was there on the other side of the phone.

"Okay, look, whoever this is, this isn't funny." snapped Caroline which made Stefan give a slight smirk even though tears threatened to fall, she was still the same which was always comforting to hear. "Alright, I'm hanging up- wait…" said Caroline as she just listened to the silence for a moment, who could have her number that would stay so quiet and not be just some prank caller? "…Stefan? Is this you?"

Hearing her say his name almost made him break down again. He missed his name coming from her lips, she always had a different tone with Stefan, while everyone else either received the harsh Caroline or overly excited one, Caroline's voice always seemed gentle with Stefan, whenever she talked to him and only him, it was quite and gentle, something Caroline didn't do often.

"Stefan…if this is you, please I hope it's you I'm saying this to, but first of all, I hate you." she snapped which cause Stefan's heart to break. "I hate your guts for just leaving me hear. Klaus or not, you didn't even say goodbye to me, you just left! You don't get to leave without saying goodbye." said Caroline as her voice grew softer again. "Second…I miss you. I miss you like crazy. Every time I've gone out in the woods this summer and seen a bunny hop by, I can't help but think of you." said Caroline as she laughed a little, causing Stefan to laugh too. "I still feel bad for all the bunnies I had to kill before just drinking the blood bags. Third, I hope you're okay…well, as good as you can be with Klaus I suppose." said Caroline as Stefan heard her sniffling now, knowing she was about to cry. "I guess there's not much you can do to stay sane with that crazy vampire, but I know you'll try you're best. And last but not least…I want to find you Stefan. Even if I just get to see you one last time before you run off again. I know I can't fight Klaus, or make him give you back to me, but if I could just find you, to see you one last time before, hopefully, Damon thinks of a way to get you back, it'd mean the world to me just to see you alive and in one piece, maybe it'd stop me from worrying so damn much about you…but I doubt it." said Caroline as she sniffled again and Stefan almost couldn't take it anymore. "If you're still there Stefan, I care about you. A lot. You helped me with so much and…I just wish I could help you too. It would be the least I could do after everything." said Caroline with a sigh. "I guess I'll go now…Bye Stefan."

"…Goodbye Caroline." said finally said and hung up before he could hear Caroline say anything back.

He clutched his phone so tightly, he was sure it almost would have busted into pieces. But instead, he turned the phone off, not wanting it to go off in front of Klaus with what would be Caroline's feverish attempts to call the number back. He heard her voice, and he said goodbye…and now he managed to feel worse than he had before.

"Stefan!" said Caroline as she heard his voice. "Stefan?" she asked and realized now that as soon as he said that, he had hung up.

Caroline quickly attempted to call the number back, but it had gone straight to voicemail. She must have called several times before giving up and just putting her phone away. He was there, he had heard her, he said goodbye. Part of Caroline was so happy that she could burst, knowing now that Stefan was at least still alive, but the other half felt so terrible she just wanted to crawl into bed with a gallon of ice cream and cry her eyes out while watching The Notebook. All feelings for Tyler, everything she had been feeling over the summer for him, just with those two words from Stefan, managed to be put on hold in her mind. Stefan, her Stefan was still alive, out there somewhere with Klaus. Feeling her stomach growl though, she knew instantly that she was going to need some blood, especially after tonight after that call.

Caroline fought her way through the crowd again, while half of her was happy from hearing Stefan, she was still mostly crabby, and did not want to deal with people standing in the way of her blood and alcohol tonight. Caroline eventually made it to the off-limits room where Damon kept all the blood and she grabbed one out of the cooler before perching herself on top of it and biting into the bag, slowly drinking it all down.

She was there, lost in her thoughts about Stefan and where he could possibly be, when the door opened.

"This room's off limits!" she instantly said, trying to think of where to hide the blood bag until she got the person out of there.

"Relax Blondie, just me." said Damon as he walked in and picked up Caroline off of the cooler and grabbed some blood himself but poured it into a glass instead before sitting on the cooler himself now with Caroline now perched on the counter as she continued to drink her blood.

"You look like hell." said Caroline as she noticed Damon's frazzled state, it usually was hard to make Damon frazzled, so she was curious as to what made him like this.

"You don't look so peachy yourself." said Damon as he observed Caroline's obvious crabby mood that she was trying to stuff down with blood.

"You tell me your problem, I'll tell you mine." said Caroline.

"I don't like this game, pick a new one." said Damon.

"Damon, please. I need something to keep me distracted, if it's something with Elena or-"

"It's not Elena…for once." said Damon as he sighed.

"Oh…then what?" asked Caroline, now even more curious then before.

"Don't tell anyone Barbie, or I swear I will kill you myself, got it?" snapped Damon as Caroline quickly nodded. "Saint Stefan paid me a visit. Killed Andie. He was there to tell me to get off of his and Klaus's tracks."

"Wait, Stefan was here? In Mystic Falls?" asked Caroline as she felt her heart skip a beat.

"Doing Klaus's dirty work, but yes." said Damon.

"…And you've been tracking him? Where are they?" asked Caroline hopefully.

"…No way, not telling you Blondie. I've told you enough as it is." said Damon, seeing the glimmer of hope in Caroline's eyes.

"But-but Damon! You know where he is! We can go get him and-"

"Enough!" snapped Damon. "I knew I shouldn't have told you anything. Look, where Stefan is right now is with Klaus, and in case you've forgotten, Klaus is powerful enough to snap us all like twigs without breaking a sweat. We go anywhere near them, we'll be done for until we know what the hell we're doing. Mystic Falls has lost enough people as it is, I don't think they need to loose another person…even if it's you Barbie." said Damon as Caroline rolled her eyes and her crabby mood returned. "Why don't you go bug your werewolf?"

"He's not my werewolf." huffed Caroline. "Plus, I'm not in the mood, Stefan called me and I just…I don't wanna deal with it."

"So, that's why you're so delightful, huh?" asked Damon. "What did he do? Silent act?"

"Yeah, all I heard at the end was 'Goodbye Caroline'" said Caroline, mimicking Stefan's voice as the end.

"I've gotten one of those already. Not much you can say when there's not way to help him yet." sighed Damon as he looked at Caroline who was now messing around with her empty blood bag.

Damon scooted off the cooler and handed another blood bag to Caroline. " You need it more than me tonight." said Damon with a sigh as Caroline gratefully smiled at Damon before biting into the bag and desperately trying to drown out Stefan Salvatore from her mind. It was amazing how two words can undo an entire two months worth of trying to forget about him.

It had been a week since Stefan had seen Caroline, and heard her speech over the phone, and she was still on his mind, in every thought he had except for when he fed. Klaus seemed happy since every kill Stefan made that week, they were all bloodier than before, more gory, and with the last one, he didn't even bother to put the victim back together again as he usually did, he left them in pieces, he was becoming more of a ripper with every kill.

Today, Klaus and Stefan found themselves in a tiny town, not too far away from Mystic Falls, and it was visibly driving Stefan mad now. He knew soon, Stefan would find a way to push the pretty little blonde out of his mind, so he knew what he had to do.

"Why don't you go for a walk." said Klaus simply as he sipped his drink while they sat in the bar.

"…What?" asked Stefan confused while he looked at Klaus as if he was speaking deliriously.

"Go for a walk. Go visit that pretty blonde of yours perhaps, I don't care really what you do for the next…hour and a half. All I know is, if your not back here by ten tonight, I think I'll pay Mystic Falls a visit myself. I have missed that little town. So much excitement in one place." said Klaus with a smirk. "Go on now, before I change my mind and go with you." he said.

Stefan slowly stood up before glancing at Klaus confused again, but once he was outside the bar doors, he took off towards Mystic Falls. If he could just catch a glimpse of Caroline from her bedroom window out of that hour and a half, he'd be happy.

There she was, doing what she knew she would eventually do. Caroline was sitting in her living room, watching The Notebook for the third time that week, eating ice cream like it were blood and she had been starved for days, though she found herself being a bit of a binge drinker with the blood since Stefan's call last week, so much that Damon even had to put a vervain coated lock on the cooler to keep Caroline out and give the key to Elena to hide safely from her and only unlock for Damon and when Caroline really needed a bag of blood. With her blood on lockdown, Caroline was reduced to eating ice cream and drinking way too much alcohol to keep herself from going after a human or even going after an innocent bunny that hopped by her front door.

"I hate you Nicholas Sparks." murmured Caroline to herself as she shoved another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. Right at the scene where Noah and Allie were at the beach, having their famous "If you're a bird, I'm a bird" scene, there was a knock on the door. "Who is it?" snapped Caroline as she paused the movie, when no one answered, Caroline threw the blanket off of her and put the ice cream on the coffee table before marching to the door and swinging it open to see no one there. "Stupid pranks. If you know what's good for you, you'll leave now before I snap your head clean off, I'm so not in the mood for this." huffed Caroline as she slammed the door shut harder than she should have and plopped back down on the couch in the living room, pressing play on the remote and covering up under her blanket again as she shoved more ice cream into her mouth.

Once the movie finally ended and Caroline had managed to resist putting it on again, she knew she better stop herself before she eats more ice cream and just got to bed already, even though it was only 9:30. But just as she turned off the television, there was a knock on the door again. Caroline marched over to it and threw the door open without saying a word, and this time she caught a glimpse of who had been at her door earlier as they hid behind a tree across the street. Caroline used her vampire speed to run over there and scare the pranksters off, and she was fully ready to give them a piece of her mind…until she realized just who it was, standing there in front of her with their mouth wide open, mimicking the shock on her face.

"S-Stefan?" asked Caroline as she took a step back. "No, no, this is a dream or something." said Caroline as she pinched herself. "Okay, ow, not a dream." she said quietly to herself.

Stefan wanted to say something, he desperately wanted to say anything to Caroline with her standing there in front of him, but he knew nothing he could say would make up for anything or make her feel better in the slightest. So he did what he had been doing for the past two months, he turned around and fled from her, as fast as he could.

"I don't think so." said Caroline determined now as she chased after Stefan.

After a while, Caroline finally grabbed him and pinned Stefan up against a tree in the forest, they were both panting, trying to catch their breath after their long cat and mouse chase, but despite being exhausted, Caroline spoke first.

"What the hell?" snapped Caroline as she pushed Stefan against the tree, he did nothing but watch her now as she began to boil over. "You call me first, saying nothing but goodbye, then you knock on my door all night, driving me insane thinking there's some stupid kid pranking my house, then I find you and you take me for a nightly workout running though these damn woods, and you still say nothing?" said Caroline as Stefan said nothing, just simply stared at her. "Fine, you win. You obviously want me to hate you, so here, I hate you. I hate your guts Stefan. Better now? You can go on with your happy little murder spree with Klaus knowing that you don't have to worry about me worrying about you, trying to find you. Who tries to find a person they hate, right?"

"Care, I-"

"No." said Caroline, stopping Stefan mid sentence. "You don't get to call me Care anymore. You're not allowed to."

Stefan just stood there now, not knowing quiet exactly what to do or say, it was the opposite of what he planned on doing tonight actually, but he knew he had to face her now.

"Could you stop staring at me? I hate it when you just stare at me like that." snapped Caroline, but Stefan didn't look away. "I said, stop staring." said Caroline harshly now, but this time, a smirk crossed Stefan's face. "Just, stop!" hissed Caroline as she marched towards him but Stefan grabbed her by the shoulders stopping her in place, easily holding her back as she fought against him. "Let. Me. Go." ordered Caroline.

"You got stronger." said Stefan with a smile.

"Yes, now let go of me so I can slap that smile off of your face!" hissed Caroline.

"Care, can I say something now?" asked Stefan.

Caroline grumbled a bit at the use of her nickname she told him not to use anymore, but she finally stopped fighting against him and looked up at him, letting him know to continue now that he felt talkative.

"I'm sorry. For…well, everything. I know it probably means nothing to you now, after I just took off like that, but you know I had to right? I traded my life for Damon's, I saved him for Elena…and I've stayed away for you." said Stefan as that caught Caroline's full attention now and her hard glare softened slightly. "I knew that if I didn't take Klaus's deal that Damon would die, and I knew what he'd do to this town. I knew he'd kill everyone Damon and I cared about, and when I thought about it, the worst was thinking of Klaus laying a hand on you. I couldn't stand it if I let someone hurt you Caroline. When I came back last week and I saw you…and when I called you…I knew it was a mistake. Just hearing you and seeing you smile was enough to send me even further off the edge then I already was because I knew I couldn't see you like this or ever hug you again, or see you smile for me with that smile that just…lights up the room and makes everyone around you smile." said Stefan.

"…I'm here right now." said Caroline softly as she saw the hurt all over Stefan's face.

"And I'll be paying for it for months on end now, just seeing you, knowing I can't be here everyday to keep you safe from what's to come." said Stefan. "I miss you Care, more than anyone else in the world."

"I miss you too Stefan." said Caroline as she wiped a stray tear away now. He sure had a talent for making her cry. "God, why did you have to come see me like this?" asked Caroline with a slight laugh as she realized now that she took off out of the house in her pj's and her hair a mess all up in a pony tail, not to mention the dark circles that were under her eyes from lack of sleep and lack of blood.

"You look just fine to me." said Stefan with a slight smile.

"Liar." laughed Caroline as she walked up to Stefan now and hugged him, tightly squeezing her eyes shut as she felt him hug her back. She wanted to just hold on to him and keep him here with her. She thought that maybe if she just did that, held on and never let go, that Stefan could never run away again, that he'd have to stay with her forever now. But she knew better than to hope for something like that.

Which was why as soon as she felt Stefan slowly let go of her, him just as hesitant as she was, she took her chance and pulled Stefan to her lips and kissed him as if her life depended on it, or as if she would never see him again, and with him being with Klaus, it might be just that. Stefan kissed her back just as passionately, not wanting to ever have to let go of her or leave her. When they finally did pull away from each other, Stefan stole one last glance of her and she did the same as her eyes filled up with tears.

"Close your eyes." said Stefan.

"…No." said Caroline knowing what was going to happen now.

"Please, Caroline just…close your eyes." said Stefan desperately, wishing now more than ever that Caroline could be compelled. "Close your eyes and keep them closed for a few seconds, and by the time you open them again, I'll be gone. Like it was all a dream." said Stefan as his eyes watered up too.

"I don't want it to be a dream." said Caroline as she gripped tightly onto Stefan's shirt now.

Stefan removed Caroline's hands and leaned in and pressed his lips to her forehead. "Close your eyes Care, and when you open them, I'll be gone." he whispered.

Tears finally falling from her face, Caroline obeyed and Stefan kissed her forehead one more time, and lingered just long enough to hear Caroline whisper one last thing to him before he let go of her to leave.

"I love you Stefan, I'll always be here, waiting for you." whispered Caroline.

Stefan used every part of his being to fight the urge to kiss her again and never want to leave. He slowly let go of her hands as Caroline began to cry more, knowing there was nothing left to say or do, Stefan took off.

When Caroline felt his scent fade away from her, she opened her teary eyes to see that Stefan was long gone. She broke down and slumped against a tree, having herself a good cry for the next ten minutes, before picking herself up and wiping herself off and walking home, replaying the moment her and Stefan had in her head the whole time.

"Right on time." said Klaus with a smirk as Stefan walked back into the bar and sat down beside him, ordering a drink and slamming it down right away before getting another one. "So, how is Mystic Falls?"

"Fine." snapped Stefan.

"You talked to Blondie I see. I can smell her all over you." said Klaus with a smile, knowing from Stefan's mood how things would be now.

"Yeah. I did." said Stefan coldly.

"Oh, come on now Stefan, if things keep going our way, we might be back to that tiny speck of a town before you know it. You might get to see your precious little vampire again before we paint the town red with blood." said Klaus. "I might even let you keep her. It might be nice having a lady around, that is if she learns some respect around me. You could both be my tiny little rippers."

"I don't want that life for her." said Stefan.

"Too bad." said Klaus sternly now. "From what I've been hearing, she has some potential to be just as good a ripper as you are. You are few and hard to come by Stefan, and if she seems like a good ripper to me, I'll turn her into the perfect monster. That way we both win, I get another ripper, you get your girlfriend. Tearing the world apart together, how romantic." said Klaus with a smirk as Stefan downed his drink, containing his anger now. "How about we go get something to eat now?" asked Klaus.

Stefan slammed his glass against the bar before storming out of there while Klaus had a smile on his face. With that little blonde constantly on his mind, Stefan Salvatore might just become the greatest ripper yet in Klaus's eyes.

A/N: Hello there everyone! So, I woke up today and was just in a mood for some serious Steroline, which is why this story appeared. Now, since I already have a LOT of unfinished stories, I really don't plan on making this longer. I was planning on just keeping this a one time thing, BUT if enough of you yell at me and harass me to put up more, I might make this a three or four part story. All probably just as long as this considering I have half of part two done already. So if you wanna see more, yell at me. Demand more by leaving reviews and if you want to continually harass me about this, go to the link to my Tumblr on my profile page and harass me in my askbox there since I linger there about 99.9% of the time! So, anyway, I hope you guys like this, and remember, it's okay to harass me to write more of this, it keeps me going :P

xoxo, Avril