Dawn of Day
Title: Dawn of Day
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Pairing: Stefan/Caroline, if you squint.
Rating: G
Spoilers: Up to 3x01.
Disclaimer: Caroline Forbes, Stefan and Damon Salvatore, Bonnie Bennett, and all other characters mentioned here are the property of The CW, Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, Outerbanks, and Alloy. I make no money from this work of fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Notes: Originally written for Yuletide 2010, for torigates. Been posted on Ao3 since then, but I'm going back and cleaning up some of my older works. Not much has changed, mainly some structural and grammatical issues. The ending has been slightly revised, and it's a tiny bit shippier than before.
~*~
Caroline is 94 years old when her life as a vampire truly begins.
Bonnie is the final of her human friends to die. Caroline is on one side of the bed, clutching Bonnie's frail hand between her own strong, pale ones. Stefan stands on the opposite side of the hospital room, staring out the window and rhythmically clenching and unclenching his fists. He hasn't left her side since she was admitted three days ago; his hair is dull and greasy, his skin even more pallid than normal from malnutrition. Damon stops by each night to bring him bags of blood, though most of them remain half-full and tossed into the trash. The older Salvatore wears his usual mask of indifference, but sometimes when he thinks no one's looking Caroline catches his glance dart from the figure in the bed to the one pacing at the window, just the small quirk of his eyebrow giving him away.
In contrast to the tension surrounding her, Bonnie looks wholly at peace, even hooked up to all sorts of unnamable tubes and wires. Then again, they've all known this has been a long time coming. She hasn't woken up since Caroline found her collapsed in a heap on the floor of her apartment, and there's really no question left that this is the end. The strain of practicing the full-blown power of her witchcraft has taken its toll on her body, but still she's lasted far longer than any of the others. Elena was drained of blood by an old rival of Katherine's; Katherine herself was done in by her own greed, double-crossed by a partner in crime; Jeremy was stabbed in the gut going after a werewolf; Matt died of a heart attack far too early; and her mother, her strong, complicated mother, was shot in the line of duty just weeks after finally learning the reason why her daughter hasn't aged a day since she was 17.
Caroline has all but withdrawn from human contact in the last 70 years. It's not worth the agony of getting attached only to watch them die one by one, of having to make up lie after complicated lie to explain all of the ways in which her life can never hope to approach normal again. She's wrapped herself in the comfort of Damon and Stefan, who despite their faults and determined stoicism have been instrumental in keeping her sane. Stefan is there - has always been there, since the very beginning - when she's ready to give up, when she tries to take the easy way out. Damon mostly stands back and makes sarcastic comments, but it helps, more than he realizes. It keeps her grounded. Tyler took off years ago, too wrapped up in what was happening to him to deal with the rest of his life, and she still feels his loss like a physical pain. Tyler was her chance at something close to happiness, someone who could understand what it was like to lead a double life, to be controlled by a primal urge that managed to be both terrifying and exhilarating. But Tyler couldn't handle it, in the end.
Caroline has handled it well; far better than she knows anyone would have expected of her, better than she would have expected of herself. But she is her mother's daughter; bold, fearless, head held high and proud. She has vampire friends now, werewolf friends, demon friends, witch and warlock friends. She has built herself a new life, out of the ashes of the girlhood fantasy she always imagined for herself: prom queen, sorority activities chair, marry a billionaire. She could easily do all of these things now, a hundred times over, but they no longer hold the same significance they once did, not when she's got centuries spread out ahead of her and Stefan, with his uncanny knack for finding people in trouble, always at her side. There are a thousand new things to see and do that she never thought she'd be able to squeeze into the infinitesimally short span of a human life, and now she has the time to do them all.
Bonnie's breath slows, then with a final gasp, stops completely.
It seems like a long time that Caroline sits and holds Bonnie's still hand, simultaneously feeling and hearing her heartbeat fade into silence. In reality, she knows that it is mere minutes, but still she remains frozen in the stillness of the room. Stefan turns his head, expression pained, but does not speak. Death is still painful, for as much as it is their entire lives anymore. All the preparation in the world cannot offset Bonnie Bennett lying motionless and cold in a hospital bed, and this is precisely why Caroline cannot stomach humans anymore. She cannot keep going through this. But Bonnie is the last - the last link to Caroline's human life, Damon and Stefan's last link to Elena. She will savor this grief, make it count for all the lives she has lost, and then she will finally start to live her own.
She is Caroline Forbes, Miss Mystic Falls. She perseveres.
Caroline leans in to kiss Bonnie's forehead, and hears the heart rate monitor flatline. Before she can even sit back up fully, the room is suddenly a flurry of activity, the tiny space filled with a bevy of nurses and doctors checking readings and shouting instructions. They try reviving her, body jumping beneath the metal paddles of the AED, then flopping back onto the bed like a rag doll. Caroline doesn't need to watch them try a second time; she knows that Bonnie is gone. She approaches Stefan at the window, the two of them standing in the small patch of sunlight streaming through the hospital's dingy window, in another world from the chaos around them.
"Ready?" Caroline asks. Stefan starts, takes one last look around, then nods. The Salvatores have long since answered all of the questions of their past, righted their wrongs. Mystic Falls holds nothing for any of them anymore. It's time to move on. Stefan's face is expressionless, but Caroline has known him for far too long to be fooled, can read the second thoughts he's having in the set of his jaw, the tension in his shoulders. Reaching down, she takes his hand, just letting it linger there with a reassuring squeeze before she gently tugs him towards the exit.
"Time to go," she says quietly. Stefan looks at her, for perhaps the first time in days - really looks at her, not the glazed expression he's been walking around with since they started measuring time in cups of bad hospital coffee. His grip tightens, his hand becoming firm and familiar in her own once more.
"Time to go," he echoes, and lets her lead him from the room.
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Pairing: Stefan/Caroline, if you squint.
Rating: G
Spoilers: Up to 3x01.
Disclaimer: Caroline Forbes, Stefan and Damon Salvatore, Bonnie Bennett, and all other characters mentioned here are the property of The CW, Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, Outerbanks, and Alloy. I make no money from this work of fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Notes: Originally written for Yuletide 2010, for torigates. Been posted on Ao3 since then, but I'm going back and cleaning up some of my older works. Not much has changed, mainly some structural and grammatical issues. The ending has been slightly revised, and it's a tiny bit shippier than before.
~*~
Caroline is 94 years old when her life as a vampire truly begins.
Bonnie is the final of her human friends to die. Caroline is on one side of the bed, clutching Bonnie's frail hand between her own strong, pale ones. Stefan stands on the opposite side of the hospital room, staring out the window and rhythmically clenching and unclenching his fists. He hasn't left her side since she was admitted three days ago; his hair is dull and greasy, his skin even more pallid than normal from malnutrition. Damon stops by each night to bring him bags of blood, though most of them remain half-full and tossed into the trash. The older Salvatore wears his usual mask of indifference, but sometimes when he thinks no one's looking Caroline catches his glance dart from the figure in the bed to the one pacing at the window, just the small quirk of his eyebrow giving him away.
In contrast to the tension surrounding her, Bonnie looks wholly at peace, even hooked up to all sorts of unnamable tubes and wires. Then again, they've all known this has been a long time coming. She hasn't woken up since Caroline found her collapsed in a heap on the floor of her apartment, and there's really no question left that this is the end. The strain of practicing the full-blown power of her witchcraft has taken its toll on her body, but still she's lasted far longer than any of the others. Elena was drained of blood by an old rival of Katherine's; Katherine herself was done in by her own greed, double-crossed by a partner in crime; Jeremy was stabbed in the gut going after a werewolf; Matt died of a heart attack far too early; and her mother, her strong, complicated mother, was shot in the line of duty just weeks after finally learning the reason why her daughter hasn't aged a day since she was 17.
Caroline has all but withdrawn from human contact in the last 70 years. It's not worth the agony of getting attached only to watch them die one by one, of having to make up lie after complicated lie to explain all of the ways in which her life can never hope to approach normal again. She's wrapped herself in the comfort of Damon and Stefan, who despite their faults and determined stoicism have been instrumental in keeping her sane. Stefan is there - has always been there, since the very beginning - when she's ready to give up, when she tries to take the easy way out. Damon mostly stands back and makes sarcastic comments, but it helps, more than he realizes. It keeps her grounded. Tyler took off years ago, too wrapped up in what was happening to him to deal with the rest of his life, and she still feels his loss like a physical pain. Tyler was her chance at something close to happiness, someone who could understand what it was like to lead a double life, to be controlled by a primal urge that managed to be both terrifying and exhilarating. But Tyler couldn't handle it, in the end.
Caroline has handled it well; far better than she knows anyone would have expected of her, better than she would have expected of herself. But she is her mother's daughter; bold, fearless, head held high and proud. She has vampire friends now, werewolf friends, demon friends, witch and warlock friends. She has built herself a new life, out of the ashes of the girlhood fantasy she always imagined for herself: prom queen, sorority activities chair, marry a billionaire. She could easily do all of these things now, a hundred times over, but they no longer hold the same significance they once did, not when she's got centuries spread out ahead of her and Stefan, with his uncanny knack for finding people in trouble, always at her side. There are a thousand new things to see and do that she never thought she'd be able to squeeze into the infinitesimally short span of a human life, and now she has the time to do them all.
Bonnie's breath slows, then with a final gasp, stops completely.
It seems like a long time that Caroline sits and holds Bonnie's still hand, simultaneously feeling and hearing her heartbeat fade into silence. In reality, she knows that it is mere minutes, but still she remains frozen in the stillness of the room. Stefan turns his head, expression pained, but does not speak. Death is still painful, for as much as it is their entire lives anymore. All the preparation in the world cannot offset Bonnie Bennett lying motionless and cold in a hospital bed, and this is precisely why Caroline cannot stomach humans anymore. She cannot keep going through this. But Bonnie is the last - the last link to Caroline's human life, Damon and Stefan's last link to Elena. She will savor this grief, make it count for all the lives she has lost, and then she will finally start to live her own.
She is Caroline Forbes, Miss Mystic Falls. She perseveres.
Caroline leans in to kiss Bonnie's forehead, and hears the heart rate monitor flatline. Before she can even sit back up fully, the room is suddenly a flurry of activity, the tiny space filled with a bevy of nurses and doctors checking readings and shouting instructions. They try reviving her, body jumping beneath the metal paddles of the AED, then flopping back onto the bed like a rag doll. Caroline doesn't need to watch them try a second time; she knows that Bonnie is gone. She approaches Stefan at the window, the two of them standing in the small patch of sunlight streaming through the hospital's dingy window, in another world from the chaos around them.
"Ready?" Caroline asks. Stefan starts, takes one last look around, then nods. The Salvatores have long since answered all of the questions of their past, righted their wrongs. Mystic Falls holds nothing for any of them anymore. It's time to move on. Stefan's face is expressionless, but Caroline has known him for far too long to be fooled, can read the second thoughts he's having in the set of his jaw, the tension in his shoulders. Reaching down, she takes his hand, just letting it linger there with a reassuring squeeze before she gently tugs him towards the exit.
"Time to go," she says quietly. Stefan looks at her, for perhaps the first time in days - really looks at her, not the glazed expression he's been walking around with since they started measuring time in cups of bad hospital coffee. His grip tightens, his hand becoming firm and familiar in her own once more.
"Time to go," he echoes, and lets her lead him from the room.