Stefan's mind raced as he searched the Forbes' house.
"Caroline!"
What happened? Did someone...did she...?
No...she wouldn't...would she?
Stefan knew Caroline had probably the worst day of her life today. He knew burying her mother would be nothing short of agonizing for Caroline, but he didn't think she would turn off her emotions.
Caroline without her humanity would be one of Stefan's worst nightmares. Her humanity was what made Caroline the amazing woman was.
"Caroline?!" Stefan shouted as he returned back to the living room to find Elena beginning to stir on the floor
"Wha-?" She pulled herself up from the floor, rubbing her neck and looking around.
"Caroline." She said it so quietly Stefan barely heard her. Her voice was filled with sadness.
"What happened?!" Stefan was almost shouting at her.
"Caroline snapped my neck."
"Yes, Elena, I see that." Stefan's hands found his hips, bruising the skin underneath his fingers. "Where is Caroline?" Stefan voice was anxious and full of his rising fear.
"She...she turned it off Stefan." Elena said it slowly, trying to comfort her friend with her voice.
Stefan felt his chest drop, his heart stuttering to a stop.
No. No, Caroline. No.
His face was contorted into the most painful expression Elena had ever seen and she walked to him, putting her hand on his arm.
"We'll get her back, we will." She tried to convince him.
"Why? I mean...I know why...but what did she say to you?" His voice was as soft as a whisper.
Elena looked to the floor. "Uh- she just couldn't take the pain, you know.." She continued to avoid his eyes.
Stefan could sense Elena's uncomfortableness. He knew she was hiding something from him. "Elena? What is it, tell me."
Elena sighed, finally meeting Stefan's eyes. "She definitely did this because of her mom." She paused. "But- I got the impression that she may not have done this if..." she trailed off, unsure if she should tell Stefan something so personal to Caroline.
"Elena, just tell me!" Stefan yelled at her, his hands still on his hips, his eyes pleading with her.
"...if you had told her what she wanted to hear...about...the kiss."
She knew this would tear Stefan apart, and she didn't want to tell him. She also knew that she couldn't keep something like this from him if it could help get Caroline back.
Stefan's face fell.
No. If I hadn't of listened to Damon...I was too late.
"I was too late." His voice shook.
Elena just stared back at him, furrowing her brow in confusion.
"I was going to tell her, I came here to tell her how I felt" He walked backwards towards the wall behind him and slumped against it. "I was too late, and this...this is my fault."
Elena shook her head, "No Stefan, this was about her pain from losing her mother. You cant blame-"
Stefan cut her off, his voicing rising again into a desperate shout.
"I could have saved her Elena! If I hadn't listened to Damon, I would have told her how I really felt earlier, she would of had hope for tomorrow. She would have kept fighting!" Stefan's voice cracked as his words muted to a whisper.
"I did this...I..." Stefan held his head in his hands.
"Hey," Elena stepped towards him, bringing him into her arms.
"We will get her back. I promise." She rubbed his back, trying to comfort her grieving friend.
/
Caroline Forbes walked the street of Mystic Falls with a hint of a smile on her face.
I'm starving.
Time to find someone to eat.
She strode confidently in the soft light of the street lamps, her smile transforming into a look of determination.
Eat but not kill, Caroline. Stick to the rules.
Caroline knew that if she went on a rampage killing people that her friends would never stop trying to get her to turn her emotions back on. They would tie her up and find a way to make her flip the switch. If she stayed in control, they wouldn't try so hard.
Her plan was to turn her emotions off long enough to get through the hardest part of her grief. If her friends left her alone to do this, she would turn it back on when the time was right. She could control herself, she could control this.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw a man getting cash out of an ATM.
She inspected the man, taking in his tight jeans and the way his butt filled them out. He looked familiar but she couldn't quite place him.
He'll do for dinner.
She smirked to herself as she walked over to him.
"Excuse me, do you know how to get to Crawford Street?" She giggled to herself. "I seem to be a bit lost."
The man turned around and Caroline instantly recognized him. It was Liam.
She never really appreciated how sexy he was, until now.
Hmm...maybe a little fun before dinner.
Caroline closed the distance between them quickly, looking into the man's eyes.
"You want to kiss me. You have never wanted anyone more." Caroline licked her lips in anticipation.
"When I bite you, you will not scream, you will not be afraid."
As soon as his compulsion took effect Liam's mouth was on Caroline's. He kissed her forcefully, his hands exploring her body.
Caroline could feel her body react to his hands on her, his lips aggressively attacking hers, but her hormones had no effect on her emotional state. Liam's darting tongue felt good, but her hunger began to call to her more.
She eventually grew bored of Liam's technique; his mouth kissed sloppily up her neck.
Caroline pulled his head back and brought her mouth to his neck quickly, biting down and sucking in the blood that flowed out of him.
She stayed attuned to the sounds of Liam's heart beating, pulling back when it began to slow. Caroline bit into her wrist and put it to this mouth for a second, letting him have enough blood for him to heal.
She brought his face up to hers so that she could look into his eyes.
"Forget this ever happened."
Caroline let him drop to the ground as she turned around and walked away.
This is going to work. I'm going to kick ass at this!
Caroline's smile was wide and her eyes were bright as she made her way back to her dorm at Whitmore.
/
"Your mother?" Bonnie's face twisted in shock.
Damon just stared down into the video camera. He was speechless.
"Why is your mother in a prison world?" Bonnie asked him, looking back down at the video camera still griped in Damon's hands.
"If you think i had ever even entertained this as a possibility don't you think i would be a lot less shell-shocked Bonnie." Damon's tone was tense.
Bonnie ignored his rude response, "Was she a witch?"
Damon's voice rose, "Again! Bonnie- i have no idea why she is there. If my mother was a witch you'd think id know, but obviously Stefan and I were left out of the loop on this one." Damon slammed the camera down and stood up from the table.
Bonnie watched him cross the kitchen, resting his hands on the sink and looking out the window into the night. She rose from the table and went to him, standing close.
"Damon, if this is your mother, she must have done something to deserve this...being sent there...and you have no idea what it could have been?" Her voice was soft, doing her best to stay calm when Damon was so close to falling apart.
Damon sighed. He took in the tone of Bonnie's voice and adjusted his as well, his words came out soft, almost defeated. "My mother...she wasn't exactly motherly. She wasn't mean, but not really all that nice at times." Damon paused, looking down at his hands. Bonnie waited for him to continue.
"She was bitter, something i never understood. Bitter and sarcastic- something i clearly no nothing about." He let himself smirk at his last words. "But a witch? Let alone a badass witch? i don't know. I guess its possible."
Bonnie watched as Damon searched his mind for clues, something to help him figure out why his mother was stuck in a prison world in 1903.
"My father sent her away that christmas. He said she was too sick ...worried we'd catch it." His voice trailed off as he looked into the past. "Consumption. I never saw her again."
Bonnie waited, letting Damon have this moment, reflecting on his mother. When he picked his head up and looked back up at the window Bonnie spoke.
"Then the question is, why is she there? Was she put there for a good reason? Or is she an innocent?"
Damon looked down at Bonnie who was wearing a hopeful expression.
He had never thought about the fact that his mother could be innocent.
Bonnie saw the hope that spread through Damon's eyes and smiled.
"What's her name?" Bonnie spoke softly.
Damon smiled and looked back at his hands, "Lily. Her name is Lily."
"Lily. I like it."
Damon laughed softly. "Yeah, i always did too."
"Well-" Bonnie's tone turned from soft to determined. "We are going to have to figure out a way to talk to her."
Damon's eyebrows lifted, "We do have a prison world expert in town."
"Damon I'm not-" Bonnie started
"Not you, eager beaver, Kai." His eyes lit up, flashing her a grin.
"Kai? He's here? Why-" Bonnie interrupted herself, "Did he merge with his sister?" A look of concern washing over her.
"Merge, yes. Sister, lining? He took a piece of his brother when they merged. Kai is now our resident sociopath- with feelings."
"Kai has feelings? Like- how? Like not murdering people, has feelings or helping old ladies across the street, has feelings?"
Bonnie tried to keep her tone even. The very thought of Kai made her blood begin to run thick in her veins. After everything he put her through in the 1994 prison world, Bonnie wasn't sure how she was going to be able to work with him.
"So far the last person he murdered was his brother- that i know of. He did risk his own life, getting us to see you on your birthday. So i'd say he is somewhere in the middle."
Bonnie's face fell. "My birthday? you saw-"
Damon cut her off, "We don't need to talk about the stupidly bad decision you were about to make. You obviously realized your idiocy and pulled yourself together." Damon's eyes were dark.
Bonnie felt a fire in her she hadn't felt in awhile, Damon's words stuck her and she bit back without a second thought.
"Don't judge me Damon, you don't know! You have no idea what it was like-" She pushed his chest, turning away from him.
She was angry at him, but she was also embarrassed, embarrassed that he had witnessed her at her lowest point.
"Hey-" Damon followed her, turning her around and keeping his hands on her upper arms. "Maybe i don't know what it was like, but i know you." He lowered his voice as he brought his face closer to Bonnie's. "You're a fighter, you just needed a reminder."
Bonnie's face softened. "Fine." She turned her eyes to the window, "When do we go find Kai."
Damon let go of her but kept his eyes on her face.
"Bonnie- are you sure you want to jump into this? Wouldn't you rather see Elena or Caroline-" Damon stiffened.
Caroline... Bonnie doesn't know about Liz.
"Damon?" Bonnie saw his change in demeanor.
"Bonnie, we buried Sheriff Forbes today. She...she had cancer."
Bonnie gasped, bringing her hand to her mouth. "Oh...poor Caroline."
She remembered playing as a child in the Forbes backyard and sleeping over at their cabin. Liz was always so good to her.
"Caroline must be falling apart." Bonnie brought her hand up to her hair, running it through and putting it behind her neck. Her eyes searched the floor, wondering what she could do to help.
"don't worry about Caroline tonight- she's in good hands." Damon's voice teased and Bonnie looked to him, waiting for him to explain what he meant.
"Stefan and Caroline...they are kinda a thing now." Damon smirked.
"What? Really?" Bonnie was trying to process all this new information. Her friends had lives that continued while she was stuck living the same day over and over for months. She could feel the sadness and the anger rising but pushed it back down.
"Well, that's great. I'm glad she has someone." Bonnie walked back to the dinner table, feeling like she needed to sit down.
Damon could hear the sadness in her voice. "Bonnie- there's a lot that's happened. Maybe we should talk, get you caught up on everything before we start playing Nancy Drew with my mother."
Bonnie slumped down onto the bench, "Yeah- i think that's probably a good idea."
Damon walked over and sat next to her, sighing as he prepared to fill her in on everything she had missed.