AN: This is an AU fanfiction. I do not own the TVD character concepts or any other recognizable brands mentioned in this story. I do own the original plot and characters.

Thank you for reading my story, which I have grown to love so much.

Chapter One: Oh, how they grow.

"Oh my goodness guys! Look at this place!" Caroline squealed over her shoulder after opening the door to their new house.

Bonnie and Elena followed Caroline through the beautiful wood and stained glass front door of the 1920's bungalow they rented a few miles from campus.

The girls oh-ed and ah-ed at the home's original hard wood floors, craftsman style woodwork, and the gorgeous living room fireplace. There were three bedrooms and two up dated baths and a new chef's kitchen along with a detached carriage house at the back of the property.

The three girls have been attending the University of Richmond for the past two years and decided to move out of the dorms and rent a house together. Bonnie's grandmother teaches a few World Religion classes at the university and promised Caroline's mother and Elena's parents that she would check in on the girls as much as possible.

"Are you ladies going to just stand there or help with some of this stuff." their friend Matt was standing on the front porch holding a box of Elena's things.

The girls gave each other a knowing smile and went running throughout the house to put down dibs on who got the bedroom with the en suite bath.

Matt closed his eyes, silently wondering why he agreed to help today. He put the box down and walked back out to his truck grabbing the straw out of his soft drink cup from lunch and pulled out his pocketknife. He cut the straw into three uneven sections and walked back in to the house.

Finding his friends right where he thought they would be, Matt walked up to the arguing girls in the middle of the living room. "Ladies, ladies, ladies! Please!" he hollered over the high-pitched voices.

They all narrowed their eyes at him and he thought, Man if looks could kill. Once they saw the straws in his hand that he gingerly held out as a peace offering, their death stares were replaces with cocky smirks. Each one thought they knew the secret to winning this game.

Elena moved first to stand in front of Matt and batted her eyelashes at him, thinking that her ex high school sweetheart would give her some insight as to which straw was the longest. She had no such luck as a devious smile grew across his face and he asked each of them to turn around and put their hands behind their backs.

Bonnie looked at him discreditably and stated, "This better not be one of your 'jokes' that are really just perverted." She stressed the word jokes with air quotes and narrowed her eyes at him again.

"Yeah! What she said." Elena chimed in putting her hands on her hips while Caroline just smirked behind them waiting for the game to begin.

"I wouldn't look too upset Elena, you used to love it when I held your hands behind your back." Matt just smiled and winked at his ex who now was doing an excellent impression of a codfish.

Caroline and Bonnie looked at their friend who had now regained her composure but was very red in the face. "Whatever! Fine I'm turning around, see, now lets just do this already." Elena stomped her foot slightly while turning around. The other two followed suit and Matt walked up behind the girls.

"I'm going in alphabetical order." He stated as he let Bonnie draw a straw, followed by Caroline and finally a still agitated Elena. "Now turn around and lets see who won!"

The girls spun around and looked down at their straws. Bonnie and Elena were a chorus of "Not fair!" and "Best two out of three!" while Caroline jumped up and down shaking her hips to her own victory dance.

"I'm so glad I had my mom pack my bathroom stuff from back home!" Caroline said waving her straw in the air.

Just then Elena heard her phone chime notifying her of a new text message. "Hey, that is my mom, she says that they are a few blocks away with the truck and Care, your mom is right behind them. Probably making sure they didn't speed! Get it?"

Matt, Caroline, and Bonnie just looked at Elena like she grew a third arm. They knew her sense of humor was off, but by now they were immune to her bad jokes. "Yeah we get it, Care's mom is a cop. Those jokes were funny back when we were fifteen and didn't know any better." Bonnie said with a straight face.

Just then they heard a horn honk out front and went running out of the house, leaving Matt once again wondering why he offered to help. The girls had not seen their families since the Forth of July when they all went home for the big celebration back in Mystic Falls where they are from.

"Mom! Dad!" Elena yelled as she threw herself in to their arms. She valued her independence since moving out for college, but she missed them dearly. Just then her brother Jeremy stepped out from the back of the moving truck carrying a box.

"Jer!" she exclaimed and went running for him, causing him to drop the box in order to catch his manic sister. "What are you doing here? I didn't know you were coming! I've missed you little bro!" Elena's parents look over at their children with love in their eyes.

While Elena was attacking her family, Caroline walked up to her mom, who was getting out of a rented mini van, and hugged her whispering, "Hi mom. I've missed you so much." with watering eyes.

When Caroline's dad had left the family her mom threw herself in to being a police woman, mainly working the night shift and avoiding Caroline. They were both hurting and didn't know how to comfort each other. One day when Caroline was a junior in high school she confronted her mom about their avoidant relationship.

"Mom, we can't do this anymore!" Caroline yelled from the kitchen of their home in Mystic Falls as her mom put the gun belt on that hung by the front door.

"Sweetie, I really don't have time for this tonight, I'm running behind and I have some paper work to do about those animal attacks that happen last week."

"Then when? We have been doing this dance for years, mom! I'm going off to college in a year and I don't want to leave you here knowing that you are still hurting over what he did to our family." Caroline's emotions were betraying her at the moment as two big tears rolled down her face.

Liz could never watch her daughter cry, so she put down her belt and walked back to the kitchen and stood across the kitchen island from her glossy eyed, red nosed little girl. "What's on your mind Care?"

"I want you to start working the day shift so that we can get to know each other. I'm a woman now and you don't even know me. So I'm acting like a grown person and asking that you please try to know me before I leave." Caroline wiped a tear from her cheek and looked at her mother with her piercing blue eyes.

Liz calmly walked around the island and embraced her daughter in a fierce hug. "Of course baby. I will talk to the Captain tonight about getting my shift changed. You are right, I want to know every thing about the amazing, strong, smart, beautiful woman you have become, what seems like over night."

By now Caroline was openly sobbing on her mom's shoulder. They parted and Liz give her little girl a kiss on the forehead, telling Caroline that she loves her, and gathered her things for her shift at the station.

A third car pulled up towing a small moving trailer and Bonnie squealed, jumped from the stairs where she was still standing and raced toward the car, grabbing her mom in a hug before she could even turn the car off.

"Mom! Gram! You made it! I'm glad because I missed you…oh and I'm going to need help decorating my room!" She laughed and hugged her grandmother.

"Well we couldn't let the Gilberts and Liz have all the fun with you girls, plus Gram needed to know how to get to this place so she can randomly stop by and make sure you girls are alright." Bonnie's mom threw her arm over Bonnie's shoulder and walking towards the house saying, "I can't wait to see the place. Which room is yours?"

Matt had hung back by his truck while all the families were greeted. "Hey, Jer. I'm glad you're here. You wouldn't believe what I've had to put up with and I've only been here an hour!" Both guys laughed, bumping fists and reclaiming their boxes and walking in to the house after everyone else.

Unpacking the truck and trailer was an all day affair, which included ordering delivery pizza and eating on the floor of the dinning room. "So what are you going to do about common area furniture?" Liz asked the girls.

"Well we have all been saving up from our summer jobs and the torturing that we have been doing for freshman and we have about three thousand dollars between the three of us to get a few things." Elena explained.

"Well," Liz paused, smiling and continued "there is a surprise for you ladies out in the back of the van."

All three girls jumped up and ran outside and all but tore the trunk hatch off of the van and started screaming causing Matt to run out after them, making sure they weren't being hacked to bits.

"What are you guys going on about?" he said before seeing the fifty inch flat screen TV box in the van. "So I'll be coming here on game day." He mumbled under his breath.

Matt called for Jeremy's help and they got the TV in the house, unpacked, and plugged in to the wall next to the fireplace. "What will it be?" Jeremy asked over his shoulder while flipping through channels. "ESPN." Both Matt and Jeremy said at the same time, giving each other a nod of approval.

The girls just rolled their eyes and took the women off to the bedrooms to start unpacking and planning for a shopping trip in the morning. Elena's dad joined the two boys in front of the TV.

The parents, Jeremy, and Matt left about an hour later to stay at a hotel by the university. They promised to be back at nine o'clock in the morning for shopping.

The girls all flopped down on Caroline's bed exhausted but giggling about nothing in particular.

Bonnie rolled over on to her stomach and propped her hand under her chin and with a mischievous glint in her eye said, "So when is our first party going to be?" This sent the girls back in to a fit of giggles.

The next morning they were off with the families looking for furniture for the living room, dinning room, things for the kitchen, and personal touches for the girl's rooms.

"We need a table that fits at lease six people." Elena exclaimed at a second hand furniture shop down town.

Liz shot a questioning look over at her daughter's friend and Elena happily answered with, "Well when we all have boyfriends, then we can have nice dinner parties!"

Elena's dad mentally wondered what it would have been like if he had been blessed with two boys. He loved his daughter, but sometimes he wondered where he went wrong.

It seemed that Bonnie and her family were faring a little better with living room furniture and finding a whole set at a yard sale for really cheap, which left more money for the kitchen and decorating her room. Bonnie sent Matt a text with all of the details to pick up the furniture with Jeremy and her group headed over to the home improvement store to get paint, supplies, and a kit to hang pictures.

The girls had already picked out colors, so Bonnie made short work of leaning a little to far over the paint counter and showing her cleavage to the young clerk. He took her samples and almost tripped over a can of paint on his way to fill her order. Her mom crossed her arms and gave a disapproving look while Gram chuckled to herself.

The parental units were leaving the next afternoon so they were throwing a painting party tonight, complete with delivery Chinese food.

Bonnie had picked cool, tranquil colors and did her room in soft grays and blues with white accents. Elena picked a light purple, but argued that is wasn't a baby's purple, but a sophisticated young woman's purple. No one really knew where she came up with this stuff. Caroline loved her room so much back home so she went with a light yellow. It matched her warm and sunny personality.

After all the edging tape and drop clothes were cleaned up the families went back to their hotel and the girls went to their rooms, all too exhausted to have girl talk.

The next morning everyone slept in and around noon Matt delivered the living room furniture. He plopped himself down on the couch, testing it out, and was quickly joined by Jeremy and Mr. Gilbert. "The women are making lunch and then we are going to hit the road." The eldest stated.

A spread of sandwich fixings and other finger foods were on the island in the kitchen when Liz called the guys in from the living room. Everyone stood around casually in the kitchen eating and enjoying each other.

As the girls were walking their families back out to their respective cars, they branched off in to family units. Caroline had a heart felt good-bye with her mom and promised to be safe and call if they needed anything. Bonnie hugged her mom and told them to call when they got home. Gram said she would be by later in the week to see the house completely decorated. Elena said bye to her brother and warned him to behave himself. He just laughed and retorted by saying the same thing, causing Elena to blush. Next she kissed both her parents on the cheek and told them that she loves them and will be home for Thanksgiving.

The girls came back together on the sidewalk in front of the home, wrapping their arms around each other and waved as their parents drove back home to the small town of Mystic Falls.