Unfinished Business 》Kai Parker

09.

Max sighed in annoyance because Jo couldn't listen to her idea and then she spoke, "Stefan I want you to find Caroline and bring her to me"

"Why me?" He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Because you know her better than everyone else, Stef" Max replied sadly.

"And Damon?" Max turned to her friend next to her.

"Hm?"

"Please drop the poor guy's heart"

++

After walking in on that incident with Colin, Max decided to see what Liz was doing; she had gone through a blood transfusion and was still a human being who was being tormented by a fatal disease. The least Max could do, was to comfort her.

"Hey, how you're feeling?" She came to face a very pale and exhausted Liz, something she didn't think she'll ever see.

She was living in a town full of supernatural creatures where humans were a minority, but still they existed. The whole time she had been there, none of her friends had to deal with human problems such as flues, breaking legs or even deaths. Surely, some of them died during the year because of supernatural causes but no one did thanks to an illness. They had forgotten how was like to feel helpless and vulnerable against a virus, something that could take their lives one day or the other; they had forgotten how to be human and Liz reminded them how it was, even just a little. She wasn't as powerful as them, couldn't heal as quickly as them but most importantly she made them realize that even supernatural couldn't fix all the problems.

"Like a human pincushion" The sheriff smiled slightly, making Max to give her a small smile too before looking away in guilt. What she was about to do, was something she wished didn't; she was going to take Liz's hope and make her feel even more helpless than she already was and Max hated that. It reminded her of her father and how helpless he must've felt that night too when all he could do was lie in the middle of the road and wait to die.

"So, what's the verdict? Did the blood swap work?" the sheriff asked with her eyes full of hope.

"W-we're not sure yet..." Max hesitated. She had to be believable, but at that moment that was the least she could think of. She didn't want to be a horrible person and crush Liz's hope; she wasn't ready for that yet.

"We're not sure, Jo's still doing some tests" She continued more convincingly.

"You shouldn't lie to sick people, Max; it's bad karma" Liz looked down.

"It's not what we need right now..." Max sighed before continuing talking.

"From what I heard, they thought it would slow down the cancer cells before replicating, but it didn't work" Max informed her.

The sheriff nodded as she was in the verge of crying because of the news. In addition, it was breaking Max's heart to see her like that and also be the one delivering the news to her seen as Caroline was nowhere to be found and Elena was with Damon. Jo on the other hand, had other patients to take care of as well, making the brunette vampire the only one available.

"Liz, I'm sorry"

The middle aged woman nodded once more, now her tears falling visibly down her cheeks. Not wanting to burden the mood even more, she decided to immediately change the subject and take her mind off of her illness just a little.

"How's Caroline?" She asked, her voice laced with concern.

"Look, I'm...I'm not going to lie to you. I know I did before but...Caroline has taken it really badly. She blames herself about what happened when all she did was to help you and I know you're not blaming her but she can't understand that. Anyway, she has left the hospital although I'm sure Stefan will find her" Max said with a trace of bitterness.