[When he sees her, it's like being drawn back into another lifetime, a different world. He caught a glimpse of her, like a ghost, or a dream, in the chaos of this crowded metropolis he calls home, followed her, haunted. He had to be sure.
Days turned into weeks of waiting, watching, following her, struggling with the urge to go to her, held back by the memory of all he abandoned when he left her so many years ago. Finally, he can't take it anymore. He has to see her, no matter the risk. He catches up to her in an evening, cool and crisp, falling into step behind her as she leaves a cafe. He's close enough, now, reaches out, fingers just brushing those familiar golden locks before descending to catch her shoulder lightly, gently, and when he speaks, he's surprised to hear the hint of desperation in his voice.] Caroline?
[Decades had past, times had changed, people had too. They'd all left Mystic Falls, trickling out slowly until Caroline was the last to leave, finally departing for New York, then Paris, then back home, then finally settling in Charleston, South Carolina. Even after so many years, the town maintained it's southern charm, something Caroline missed greatly and loved so much
( ... )
[He freezes, mouth drying up, breath and heart and everything stopping the second she turns to face him, says his name (it's like music coming from her) for the first time in what feels like eternity. He retracts his hand, but only part way, and it hands numb in the air between them.
She looks...older, wiser perhaps, time and experience etching a face, destined to be seventeen forever (just like his) so that it no longer looks childish, fresh, or new. He's been around the world in the time since they last saw one another, fleeing his guilt and his past, trying to find some sort of life for himself in the wake of hybrids and dopplegangers and the chaos that swallowed him so completely the last time he went home to Mystic Falls. He could never forget her, though, in the blur of nondescript faces, people without names, hers is the only one he can still bear to remember
( ... )
[After decades of being apart, of hearing absolutely nothing from him, of clinging to a promise he'd made her the night he climbed through her bedroom window, all she can do is stand there as he compliments her hair, her eyes blinking in disbelief.
Her hand moves to touch her own hair, realizing that it's shorter than he's ever seen it but not as short as it had been ten years ago. But still, after all this time and all he can talk about is her hair?] You haven't changed at all. [She laughs, a musical sort of laugh as she moves to hug him tightly, pulling him into her arms.]
It's good to see you. [He closes his eyes, transported back in time as he holds her against him, smells that same perfume. He's overwhelmed with Caroline, the way he used to be. When they loved each other, when he felt things and pretended to be almost human. But, even if she doesn't think so (yet) he has changed. Not completely, but enough. He hunts. He kills. Not like a ripper, not anymore, but after so much time under the hybrid's thumb, he couldn't wean himself from human blood. He's had to learn (is forever learning) moderation.
His heart drops when he lets her go, because now are the moments after their reunion, the ones where reality sets in, and she tells him she's over him, that he lost his chance so long ago and now it's too little, too late, even for a vampire with eternity at her feet.]
[He's not the only one overwhelmed. She breathes him in, her face pressing into his neck as she takes in the scent she remembers. It's different but inherently the same. Sure, Caroline is different but she's still very much the girl he fell in love with. She's impulsive, overly-emotional, and not afraid to express her feelings. So when he pulls back, her hands find his face and she pulls his face to hers, pressing her forehead to his.] How good is it to see me because... I was pretty sure you forgot all about me.
[Forget her? Even if he'd wanted to (and there were times, oh, so many times he'd wanted to forget everything, even himself) he couldn't forget her. He fingers a second ring, stacked under his family crest, a thin, woven band of white gold, thin filaments the colour of sunshine threaded in with the metal: the lock of her hair she'd given him the last time they were together. He doesn't tell her that it's there, what it is, but she's been with him...always.
Still, he doesn't quite know how to answer, is taken aback my the sudden closeness of her, her face so near to his that he can taste her breath. His licks his lips, letting his eyes close briefly, resting a hand on her shoulder, trailing it down her arm.] I remembered you. Kept...hallucinating you, for years. [There were so many, all beautiful, all sweet, all dead for their resemblances: a girl on a train in Nice, another one in Kiev standing beneath a streetlight in the snow, Calgary, Dublin...he'd lost track, stopped writing down names a long time ago.] I can't believe it's
( ... )
Does that mean... [She glances at him, feeling her stomach start to twist even though the feeling of his hand on her feels so good. What he says, the way he says it... Does it mean that this is accident, that this isn't him finally seeking her out like he promised her so many years ago. She'd been dreaming of this day since the moment he'd climbed out of her window, the moment she woke up in her bed, alone. Her life had felt empty, she felt like she'd been walking through a fog and suddenly it was gone, only to start to creep back over her again]... that this is accident?
At first, I-- [And how shall he begin? He hadn't sought her out, hadn't even been sure she was still alive (there were threats, so many promises made by another blonde with jealous vengeance in her heart) until he caught the glimpse of her by chance. He wasn't the monster Klaus had made him, but he couldn't be the man she fell in love with: those emotions, that depth of feeling, it had all been compelled away, forever switched off. He was, is just clinging to the shadowed memory of what it was to love.
How do you explain that? Stefan presses his palm to her heart, pulling back from her, anguished.] It started as an accident, yes. Weeks ago. But today wasn't, if that's worth anything at all. This...isn't.
[Her eyes watch his face as she watches him struggle for the right words. At first she's afraid that he's struggling because it is an accident, because he can't stay with her, that this has to stay a random meeting on the street. There'd been so many times she'd thought she'd seen him, times she'd stopped a man on the street only to be disappointed.
But then he's pressing his hand to her heart, looking at her with such emotion in her eyes that she swears she can feel it radiating from his hand to her own hear.] Weeks ago... [She trails off for a moment, her eyes meeting with his for a long moment.] But now-- Now is this it? [Is this the moment he'd promised her, the moment he said would come with time?]
[He wants to just grab her, kiss her, take her away to a room with a bed and ravage her the way he's dreamed about. He tries to find the part of him that would have cared that he shouldn't, the part of him that's gone, that's the exact reason why he shouldn't have come and found her. She wants him, he can tell in her eyes, in her voice, and all his self-serving instincts are telling him to say Yes. This is it, but he thinks (fears) that if he does, she'll find out, that she'll know somehow, and it'll all be ruined.
His baser urges still control him though, blood, sex, hunger. He leans just an inch closer, tilting his head slightly to inspect her face with a widening smile.] What do you think?
[Okay, so Caroline has never been good with the whole self control thing. Even after decades of being a vampire and having to hone that control. Sometimes it slips. So when he smiles at her like that, moving just a fraction closer, her whole face lights up.
She giggles, jumping on him, legs wrapping around his waist as her arms do the same around his neck, her lips pressing frantic and excited kisses to his face. She doesn't care who sees them or what they think, he basically just told her the best news she's heard ever. It's hard to really kiss someone when your smile refuses to go away even for a moment, not to mention your infectious giggles.]
[He takes a stumbling step back when she leaps on him, arms flying around her, cinching tightly. He laughs with her, deeper than her giggles, allowing her to shower him with kisses. Her joy is infectious and he smiles, deeply, warmly, perhaps the first genuine smile he's shared with another in a long time.] And ehre I'd thought you'd have gotten tired of waiting by now.
[She scoffs at him, playfully.] I told you I'd wait, Stefan. [She finally settles enough to be able to press her lips to his for a proper kiss, slow and sweet and full of longing. It's the kiss she'd been planning for years in thousands of different scenarios. It's the one she's been dreaming of all these years apart from him, her hands sliding down to hold his face, elbows pressing gently to his chest.]
[He kisses her back, still shocked at her enthusiasm for him after so much time apart. Must be true about absence and the heart..., he thinks, but feels a strange little flutter somewhere deep and lost inside of him that makes him match her fervor, sliding a hand up her spine to cup the back of her head, kissing her firmly, decisively.] I take it you're glad to see me, then?
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Days turned into weeks of waiting, watching, following her, struggling with the urge to go to her, held back by the memory of all he abandoned when he left her so many years ago. Finally, he can't take it anymore. He has to see her, no matter the risk. He catches up to her in an evening, cool and crisp, falling into step behind her as she leaves a cafe. He's close enough, now, reaches out, fingers just brushing those familiar golden locks before descending to catch her shoulder lightly, gently, and when he speaks, he's surprised to hear the hint of desperation in his voice.] Caroline?
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She looks...older, wiser perhaps, time and experience etching a face, destined to be seventeen forever (just like his) so that it no longer looks childish, fresh, or new. He's been around the world in the time since they last saw one another, fleeing his guilt and his past, trying to find some sort of life for himself in the wake of hybrids and dopplegangers and the chaos that swallowed him so completely the last time he went home to Mystic Falls. He could never forget her, though, in the blur of nondescript faces, people without names, hers is the only one he can still bear to remember ( ... )
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Her hand moves to touch her own hair, realizing that it's shorter than he's ever seen it but not as short as it had been ten years ago. But still, after all this time and all he can talk about is her hair?] You haven't changed at all. [She laughs, a musical sort of laugh as she moves to hug him tightly, pulling him into her arms.]
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His heart drops when he lets her go, because now are the moments after their reunion, the ones where reality sets in, and she tells him she's over him, that he lost his chance so long ago and now it's too little, too late, even for a vampire with eternity at her feet.]
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Still, he doesn't quite know how to answer, is taken aback my the sudden closeness of her, her face so near to his that he can taste her breath. His licks his lips, letting his eyes close briefly, resting a hand on her shoulder, trailing it down her arm.] I remembered you. Kept...hallucinating you, for years. [There were so many, all beautiful, all sweet, all dead for their resemblances: a girl on a train in Nice, another one in Kiev standing beneath a streetlight in the snow, Calgary, Dublin...he'd lost track, stopped writing down names a long time ago.] I can't believe it's ( ... )
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How do you explain that? Stefan presses his palm to her heart, pulling back from her, anguished.] It started as an accident, yes. Weeks ago. But today wasn't, if that's worth anything at all. This...isn't.
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But then he's pressing his hand to her heart, looking at her with such emotion in her eyes that she swears she can feel it radiating from his hand to her own hear.] Weeks ago... [She trails off for a moment, her eyes meeting with his for a long moment.] But now-- Now is this it? [Is this the moment he'd promised her, the moment he said would come with time?]
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His baser urges still control him though, blood, sex, hunger. He leans just an inch closer, tilting his head slightly to inspect her face with a widening smile.] What do you think?
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She giggles, jumping on him, legs wrapping around his waist as her arms do the same around his neck, her lips pressing frantic and excited kisses to his face. She doesn't care who sees them or what they think, he basically just told her the best news she's heard ever. It's hard to really kiss someone when your smile refuses to go away even for a moment, not to mention your infectious giggles.]
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