~ Stefan's Pov ~
I load Liz's suitcase into the trunk of her car while she says her last goodbyes to Caroline. This morning has been filled with tearful goodbyes between Caroline and Liz, since breakfast Caroline has not left her side; it's a good thing she packed her things last night. "You call me the minute you go into labor and I'll be on the next flight here."
"I promise Mom, I'll call you right away." They hug each other as Caroline cries again. Klaus walks over and offers me his hand.
"We'll be seeing you soon then Rippa." I shake his hand and laugh at the nickname, no matter how much I ask he just won't drop it. To him it's a fond nickname he gave his best friend in the 20s, since he gave me those memories back and I've had time to get to know the real him again; I'm less annoyed by the name.
"I'll be back in a month, once I can get everything together and everyone off my back." He smiles at me then looks over at Caroline and Liz. When he looks at Caroline there is nothing but love in his eyes, I've been watching them when they're together and if I didn't know them I would think they had been together for years. Their souls are intertwined, its as if they were made for each other.
"Well we'll have your room ready when you arrive, I'll get one of my Hybrids to collect your things before you leave." He turns back to me.
"Thanks Klaus, I appreciate it." We hug.
"Stefan Salvatore!" Caroline is suddenly in front of us, pulling us apart. "You were not about to leave without saying goodbye to me were you?"
"Never." I mock hurt, placing my hand on my heart.
"Good." She pulls me into a crushing embrace. "Ugh I'm going to miss youuu!"
"Care, I'm only going to be gone for a month."
"Still, I'm gonna miss you."
"I'm gonna miss you too Care." She squeezes me harder. "Uh, Care? I have to drive your mom home. And the longer I'm here the longer it's going to take for me to come back." She reluctantly releases me.
"Fine." She kisses my cheek and sends me on my way. I get into the drivers seat and start the car, Liz gets into the passenger seat and buckles in. We look out the window and wave to Klaus and Caroline as I start to drive away.
"How long do you think it'll take us this time?" Liz asks.
"Do I have to stick to the speed limit?" She raises her eyebrow at me. "Ugh okay, if we're driving the speed limit at 9 am on a week day, we'll be lucky to make it in 8 hours, that's excluding the world's longest driveway."She laughs.
"And if we don't stick to the speed limit?"
"I can get us home in 7." She contemplates for a moment then nods.
"Punch it."
~ Caroline's Pov ~
I'm lying on the couch ignoring the tv show Klaus and Elijah are watching, I can't take my eyes off my bump, our perfect little miracle. Klaus' hand rarely moves from my stomach when we're together and tonight's no different, my hand rests atop his as I stare at our little miracle. It's hard to think about where I was before now, I hate myself for the way I acted towards Klaus; how I just went along with Elena and agreed to hurt him. I don't know how he kept loving me through all of that, how he's forgiven me...I certainly don't deserve it. "What are you thinking about?" Klaus' voice breaks me from my thoughts. Elijah has left the room and it's just Klaus and I now.
"Nothing, just." I sit up and rest my hand against his cheek. "Just thinking of how lucky I am, and how much I love you. I really don't deserve you." His eyebrows furrow and he shakes his head.
"Now that is ridiculous, if there's anyone here who doesn't deserve the other it's me."
"We're just going to keep going back and forth like this for hours aren't we?" He laughs and nods.
"I think so." He smiles then scooches closer to me. "I love you Caroline, we've been through so much together; both with and against each other. Nothing could change how I feel about you love."
"I don't understand how you could love me, when I was going along with Elena's stupid plans you still loved me; you never gave up." He tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
"I knew you were the one soul I was meant to spend my eternity with. There is nothing you could ever do to me that would change that."
"This might sound stupid but, even when I hated you I loved you. I always wanted to be around you, from the first time we met I just felt this, this-"
"Pull?"
"Yeah. Like I needed to be around you, but I didn't know what it was."
"I did, but you had that lost puppy following you around."
"Oh god don't remind me." We laugh with each other about things that seemed so horrible at the time, but now are pretty funny. He criticises the execution of our plans and I criticise the rash and emotional reactions to his foiled plans which ends in more laughter from the pair of us until we're interrupted by the baby kicking me hard. "Oh come on baby that's not fair, play nice." I rub my hand over my stomach and she kicks me again. Klaus places his hand on my stomach and she kicks him harder than she kicked mine. "Ow, not cool. You're grounded." I look at Klaus, his eyes are glued to my stomach; his eyes are so full of love and wonder.
"Don't listen to mummy, you can move and kick as much as you want." He leans in and talks to the baby. My heart grows at least five sizes at the sight before me, I lie back against the couch and watch as Klaus continues to talk to the baby and she responds by kicking me; I can already tell she's going to be a daddy's girl. "How about we have dinner in the quarter tonight? Just us, Destiny and Kol will stay here with Mia so we can have the night to ourselves."
"I would love to."
~ Stefan's Pov ~
It's 4:15 pm as we cross the town line, Liz looks at me with a sympathetic look. "What's the face?"
"No face." I look at her with my eyebrow raised. "I'm just sorry for the conversation you're going to have to have with Damon. How's he gonna deal with you leaving Mystic Falls? God and Elena, she's going to wreak havoc on you." I chuckle and rub my temple.
"Damon and I have been moving around for over a hundred years, it's not like we're never going to see each other again. Sooner or later we would have had to leave, before the last humans in town that don't know what we are start to notice we haven't aged." She laughs at my comment. "And besides, Damon and Elena have each other. They're going to need to relocate in the next five years anyway, seven at the latest; we would have separated then, this is just speeding up the process."
"I guess that's the one thing about Caroline being a vampire I never really thought about, her having to leave. I'm glad she did it now for herself instead of later because she has to."
"And she's moved to a city, she can stay there for much longer than she would if she lived in a small town. And even bigger bonus, you can visit and see me too! What! Crazy right?"
"Ah yes, the real reason I'll be driving sixteen hours there and back is not to see my grandchild I never thought I'd have, but you Stefan Salvatore; my very reason for living."
"Now you're getting it." We laugh as we pull up to Liz's house. "I'll help you with the bags." I carry her suitcase into the house.
"Would you like some tea?" She offers from the kitchen as she drops her bag on the counter.
"No, thanks. I should be getting home, the sooner I rip the bandaid off the better." She nods and smiles at me.
"Get home safe. Let me know how he takes it." She calls after me as I walk out the front door, leaving the car keys on the hall table. Once I shut the door I speed to the house, Damon's car's in the driveway but I don't see Elena's.
"Damon?" I call out as I get inside. I walk into the parlour and pour myself a drink.
"Stef, you're home god finally." Damon appears in the doorway. "I've had no one to talk to but captain crazy and now she's gone." He pours himself a drink and leans against the bar. "You know, I actually missed your brooding." He takes a sip. "Hit me with it; tell me about how miserable you are."
"You know Damon, I'm actually in a pretty good mood." He groans and finishes his drink then pours himself another one.
"You're no fun." He walks over to the couch and takes a seat with his feet up on the coffee table. "So, how's Blondie?" I take a seat on the couch across from him.
"She's great, living her life and getting excited about the baby. I've never seen this side of her, she's actually happy."
"So not by chance under the influence of a certain Original's compulsion?"
"Um what no? Where did you get that idea? She's in love with him, romance novel in love, sappy chick flick in love. It's all her."
"Tell that to Admiral Attitude." He finishes his drink. "No Damon, he's compelling her Damon, how could you be so stupid Damon." He heightens his voice to mimic Elena. "She's convinced Blondie's being compelled, because its not like Klaus could actually change for the woman he's been in love with since the literal first second he lay his eyes on her, but that's none of my business." He gets up to get another drink so I hand him my now empty glass, he takes it.
"So she's not taking it very well then. Did you try and reason with her?"
"No Stefan I helped her write a list of pros and cons. Of course I did, she just can't handle someone else being the centre of attention especially Blondie." He hands me the now full glass and sits across from me once again. "If we're being honest with ourselves Elena's just as self centred as Blondie pretended to be, difference is she hid it until we all fell for the sweet, defenceless, I need saving by both of you Elena." He takes a drink.
"Never thought you would say anything like that about Elena."
"Oh I love her, like an idiot. She comes home to yell at me then runs away and doesn't answer my calls or texts or bother to let me know she's okay, and I still love her." He stares blankly into nothing. "I'll tell you one thing, she spends so much time going on about how bad Klaus is and how he's just going to hurt Caroline and break her heart. But Klaus would never just leave Caroline without a word, if they needed to separate she would know exactly why and for how long. Can't say the same for Elena."
"I'm sorry."
"My failing relationship isn't your fault." He takes another sip.
"No but, there is something I needed to tell you and the timing is not magnificent."
"Tell me what?"
"I, uh, I was thinking of leaving Mystic Falls." He raises his eyebrows in surprise as I drink from my glass. "For another century or so. I just, everything here is about Elena, it's kind of hard to move on when she's constantly in my face. Not to mention we keep almost dying to save her and we're not even living our lives any more Damon. I want to live, I want to be happy and I can't do that here." He purses his lips in a tight line and nods.
"I get it, you want a life and who am I to take that away from you? There's really nothing left here for you, and other than Elena there's nothing here for me. Our family's dead, again my bad, and we're just trying to fit into a town of people who have a council dedicated to our extinction so, you're making the right choice." He smiles at me. "Where will you go?"
"New Orleans, they have a huge house and Caroline pretty much insisted I live with them until I find something permanent."
"New Orleans was always more my city." I chuckle and nod. "Maybe one day we'll be there together again, under better circumstances." He raises his glass to me, I raise mine. "To you, for having the guts to do what we're all thinking."
"To freedom."
"Freedom." Our glasses meet and we drink.
The rest of the day is spent drinking, listening to music, laughing and reminiscing. When all is said and done, Damon is my brother. Saying goodbye to him is always easier when we're mad at each other; saying goodbye on good terms makes the reality of our separation apparent. At least this time we don't have to rely on letters to communicate, the years of separation without convenient communications just allowed for whatever feelings we had to fester and putrefy and every time we would meet again those feelings would explode and we would make it worse. This is probably the closest we have been since Katherine, I hope we can keep it this way.