She does follow, after months of inner conflict. And hunger. The hunger to just be rid of this town, with all its painful memories that overshadow everything good she had ever known.

Bit by bit, filling her black suitcase and a duffel bag. She tells no one as half her wardrobe slowly disappears into two packs. Every night she stares at her room, memorizing the things she can't take with her. She's not sure how long she'll be gone but Caroline knows that anything that can hold her back must be left behind. Half of her heart knows that she will never return to Mystic Falls, Caroline Forbes was never meant for a small town life. It has always been Rome, Paris, Tokyo ever since the words left Klaus' mouth. And yet her eyes turn misty as she looks at the past she will soon leave behind.

It's Jeremy who notices the change in her, it only takes an afternoon in The Grill and her old cheerleader uniform to catch his attention. He watches as she devours the entire menu, intending to savor her lifetime of meals into two hours. Caroline sticks her tongue out at him when he calls her a pig. On her last plate Jeremy sits across of her, sticking his own straw into her half finished milkshake.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" Jeremy asks. It's a statement and she knows it. He sips from her chocolate drink, not entirely surprised that she would want to. Caroline swallows her mouthful of buffalo wing, shocked at his receptiveness. It must be the damn ghost whisperer thing he's got going on.

"Can't stay here forever, Jer," she gives him a wry smile. Caroline doesn't have to mention everything that happened in the last two years to support her decision.

"Where are you going?" He asks, curious brown eyes trained on her blue. She takes a moment to consider the question, taking a sip from her milkshake, nose nudging the hand still holding his straw. Finally, she shrugs.

"Why? D'you want to come?" Caroline teases. Jeremy laughs, looking around the empty bar as if to answer her question. She's joking but he knows that it's her way of saying that he should follow her footsteps and get the hell out of this messed up place. "I'm done with this town, aren't you?"

"Ask me tomorrow," Jeremy answers, his lips fighting to keep a smile down. Then his phone vibrates on the table and Caroline sees Bonnie's name. She rolls her eyes and motions for him to answer the call. When he's answered, Caroline stands and riffles through her bag for money. Then she bends down and kisses his cheek, his free hand squeezing hers momentarily, before walking out. Jeremy turns and watches her get into her car, forgetting to listen to Bonnie until Caroline's silver Volvo drives away. He knows she won't be there to ask him tomorrow. He tells no one of their conversation.

Her mom is out again, voicemail playing. Caroline sets the table for one, then starts loading her car. Tears threaten to fall as she makes last minute fixes, keeping the little possessions in her shoulder bag. Finally, she plucks a picture frame from her dresser and leaves behind her childhood, still wearing the short red getup. When her mother comes home, dinner waits for her. Beside the glass is Caroline's goodbye, ending with the words "don't come looking."

She is just reaching the edge of town by then, the frame lying on the passenger seat. Caroline takes a breath and looks down at the photo. It is the only picture she has of Stefan smiling, giving Caroline a piggy back, her arm around his shoulders to keep from falling. Elena has an arm on Bonnie's waist and her other holding Jeremy. Tyler stands beside a haughty looking Rebekah, who stands beside Matt, who stands beside Stefan. Caroline's free hand winds in Matt's hair, pulling her first love closer. Only Damon is missing from the picture. But Caroline's lips tug into a curve because even after everything, the group manages to smile.

Tears finally do spill as Caroline looks away from her graduation photo. She lets out a shaky breath and blasts on her iPod. Stepping on the gas, the silver Volvo drives past the Mystic Falls sign and Caroline sobs once before pulling herself together. She imagined freedom to feel different but it grows on her as the music rises. Caroline slips out of town, not bothering to find anyone else, not bothering with goodbyes. She knows that no one will miss her, she knows that she can miss no one.

Caroline drives, and drives. And she puts thousands of miles between her and the sleepy little town in Virginia, stopping every night at a motel that couldn't seem any further from home. It's California that calls to her, and Caroline has been driving for forever when she slows down to a stop in Rodeo Drive. The allure of designer stores has her gaping, open mouthed and wondering why the hell she'd never bothered to come here before. She compels a realtor and immediately gets an apartment before stepping into one of the stores, leather jacketed and looking like a lost girl trying to find her big break. It comes to her in Miu Miu as she walks toward the cashier, dress in one hand and shopping bags in the other. Tall, dark, and predator approaches just as she finishes paying, asking her to dinner with an offer she can't refuse. By the time he drops her off at her place, Caroline Forbes has got herself an audition at 9 AM tomorrow. She picks up her phone to call Elena, Stefan, Bonnie, Matt, even Jeremy. But nobody would have understood, and she falls into bed, feeling lonelier than ever.

It's just past a month before Caroline admits defeat and goes looking for some companionship, fishing out a hastily written adress from her leather purse. September air doesn't bother her as she walks up the stairs of the spotless estate. Caroline rings the doorbell, wondering if she'd made a mistake. But he walks out, half naked and half asleep. He looks like hell and smells like alcohol. Somehow he looks hot enough to make up for that and Caroline stuffs her hands further into his leather jacket.

"Blondie?" Damon sputters into his coffee. She's a red head now, like Jessica Rabbit red. It's for a movie, she explains. Nobody will forget her after this and she's currently in talks for a music career and god dammit Damon, the sun still kind of hurts my eyes so why don't you invite me in?

Damon steps aside and she walks into his fancy house, pulling off his jacket and throwing it on the couch before settling down herself. He takes her in and she looks great, and hot, and suddenly he's hot. And she notices. With a small laugh, she says, "I missed you, you big jerk."

He sits down next to her, pulling her legs up over his and refusing to answer. He missed her graduation and he listens to her talk because she was prom queen and all of summer she was packing and she spent her birthday filming and everybody would have cared too damn much about her when all she really wanted was a glass of some really old bourbon and kinky vampire sex. Damon's jaw twitches at her tears and gets up to pour her that glass of some really old bourbon while she tells him that at least she got the kinky vampire sex, but all it did was make her miss Tyler and why is she so damn emotional right now?

"I forgot how much you like to talk," Damon hands her the drink. Caroline laughs through her tears and wipes her eyes, apologizing. She just feels weird seeing Damon again. It takes her a while to finally calm down but soon she's laughing and throwing insults at him and they're back to being Damon and Caroline, banter throwing Vampire Barbie and Hollywood's Resident Dick.

But still, there is a change. Damon, with his insults and bed hair and half naked self is different. Caroline watches him as he talks, and not just blows air out of his mouth but actually converses. She can sense the shift, the way his eyes are soft and his laugh lines are more prominent. How his hand grips the glass and the way he watches her back. She realizes that this is Damon happy. And sitting down beside him, legs over his and stifling a laugh at his words, Caroline realizes that this is what freedom really feels like. She decides that she likes the feeling and stands up to grab the bottle of bourbon and pour herself a healthy glass of it.

When Damon kisses her, hours later, he tastes like blood and she licks it off his lips. Caroline lets him push her down, rip away her clothes and grip at her red hair. Damon is passionate, dangerous, rough. He is like he always was with her: violent and heedless. But she's not girly little Caroline anymore and she handles herself when he grips her hard enough to bruise and keeps it that way. Eventually it's over, white hot like it had always been, and leaving her perversely warm all over. He is galant enough to carry her to his bed, the white covers tempting her to spill blood and ruin its pristine innocence. She drinks up, so fast that it drips from her lips and falls onto the sheets, staining the cold white with her warmth, leaving her Caroline mark. Damon rolls his eyes and tells her she has to pay for his dry cleaning but Caroline decides that she doesn't care as she settles herself into him.

Damon knows that she will leave soon but he puts an arm around her and pretends that she will stick around, pretends that he can compel the affection on to her once more. He goes silent as he listens to her breathing, it is comfortable and he lets himself smile because she looks like his old blondie in her sleep. He gives himself this moment of endearment before finally succumbing to a deep slumber.

She wakes before him and in a haze of insanity, decides to cook breakfast. When he wakes to cold sheets, his jaw twitches, though he expected it. But the smell of fresh bacon calls to him and she sits comfortably reading the newspaper, stark naked and unconcerned. With a satisfied smirk he tells her she can stay. And she smiles because she's not ready to be lonely again just yet.

It is months later that Caroline decides to herself that Damon understood her, he knew the very Caroline underneath her blue eyes and still red hair. He is sympathetic underneath his indifference, loving underneath his disarray. And for now, it is enough. For now, he is all she needs.

He knows that she needed his push. But she runs on her own battery and if she stays with him, she will run out of happiness to cover his gloom. He waits for her to walk out, surprised every morning to see her sitting with the newspaper or another one of her superficial magazines that are now lying around, usually still naked with her hair tied up real messy and just the way he likes it. But he knows that he is just her beginning. And she knows it too, somewhere in her heart. Because he treated her like crap and used her as a cheap blood bag. Because he turned her when she should have turned eighteen, 20, 50, 75, and died. Because even after everything she's been through, if he lets her, she could still love him. But she knows that eventually, it will not be enough, he will not be enough. And yet, she isn't ready to leave his warmth and familiarity. So she stays.

Because she doesn't want to be lonely again. Not just yet.