Caroline had invited me to The Grill early in the morning. We sat at one of their outside tables, me with a few stamps in front and Caroline with a batch of invitations in front of her. She was graduating, and to be honest I was damn proud. She was my great-great, many times great, niece, and it was a miracle that I was seeing a member of my family graduate. As I stared at her, as she mouthed along to the words she wrote down, I couldn't help but feel as proud as her mother. 

   "Stamp, please," she said. I pulled off a stamp and handed it to her. She took it from me and immediately put it on the invitation. "Thank you."

   I chuckled as I stared at the stack of letters she had besides her. "Are you inviting family and friends or everyone you have ever met?" 

   "This is only my second batch," she defended.

   "Of how many people?" I asked, picking up the stack and reading the names. "Jesus, Caroline, are you inviting a small country?"

   She grabbed the stack from my hand and laughed. "Like I said, this is only my second batch."

   "Of ten?" I continued to tease, smiling. "Ugh, Caroline, I'm so proud of you. You're graduating!"

   "At least you're excited," she giggled. "I think you and I are the only ones that are excited about graduating. Matt and Elena don't care, Bonnie's gone bonkers, and I don't know whether my mom is excited about this or not."

   "She is," I told her, nodding. "Trust me, Caroline. Liz is just as excited as me, probably more. Her little girl is graduating!" I clapped my hands and laughed, throwing my head back. Whenever I was with Caroline, her bubbling personality influenced mine. She made me happy, excited, feel human, and it was all because she was family, and she was my friend. Friend was a strange word on my tongue, tasted bittersweet. Now, more than ever, it tasted more sweet than bitter.

   "So," she breathed, "the Originals are gone, except Rebekah. She's still hanging around."

   "Yeah," I nodded. "Elijah said goodbye, though."

   "Wait." She stopped what she was doing and looked at me with wide eyes. "You saw Elijah? When? What about Klaus?"

   "I saw Elijah the day I got Elena to turn back her humanity by killing Matt," I told her, slowly, unsure of how it would sound by saying it out in the open. "Klaus was long gone by then. But, uh, Elijah did give me a letter from him."

   "Oh my god, what did it say?"

   I scratched the back of my head. "It's yet to be open and read."

   "Good," she nodded. "Throw it away. Burn it. Ugh." She made a face of disgust and continued with what she was doing. "The less you know about Klaus, the better."

   I chuckled. "I know you hate him, Caroline, but I can't exactly hate him."

   "Ugh," she whined, "why?"

   "I've told you countless of times that I have been with him since 1887. How can I hate someone I have spent so much time with and have so many memories with?"

   "Easy," she smiled. Caroline felt like my best friend, like a sister, like I could tell her anything in the world and not be judged. So, right then, I decided to tell her.

   "Hey, Care," I began with a bit of hesitation. "Do you, uh, remember prom?"

   She made a face. "Ugh, yes," she groaned. "How can I not remember the worst day of my life?"

   "You can have as much proms as you want," I told her, giving her a small smile. The smile soon disappeared. "So, uh, I danced with Damon?"

   "So?"

   "And we, uh, we may have kissed." I spoke slowly, afraid. I glanced up from the stack of invitations in front of me towards her.

   Caroline looked surprised, almost horrified, with her mouth slightly open in an O. She stuttered as she spoke. "Wait. You're telling me that you kissed Damon? Okay, wow, does Stefan know?"

   "No," I sighed, shaking my head. "But, I immediately pulled away from Damon when we kissed!"

   "Clara, you still kissed him," she reasoned. "Stefan should know. Aren't you two, like, together?"

   I sighed. "I don't know what we are," I confessed. "Are we together or not? Does he love me or not?" I looked down at the invitations in front of me and licked the side of my lips. "Do I love him or not? I don't know what we are, Caroline."

   "I looked for it on the internet, and there are ten ways to know if you are in love with someone," she said, almost excited. "So, number one, when you hang out with Stefan, is it the best time of your day?"

   "Sometimes."

   "Is he the first person you think about?"

   "Not really."

   "Do you prioritise his needs over yours?" 

   I thought back to the months that we were with Klaus, the months where I wanted nothing more but to stop him from being in pain. I nodded. "Yeah."

   "Would you do anything for him?"

   "Yes," I answered without hesitation.

   Caroline sighed. "Clara, as your great-niece, descendant, and your very best friend, I'm going to be completely honest with you. I think love Stefan, but you're not sure if you're in love with him. I think you should tell him about kissing Damon at prom."

   I looked around, anywhere but her and let out a long sigh. "Yeah," I nodded. "You're right, Caroline. I should, um... I should tell him, shouldn't I? Maybe then I  can figure out what the hell we are."

   "When am I not wrong?" she asked, grinning. The smile slowly subsided, ending in a sigh. "So, uh, how's Elena?"

   I leaned back on my chair and ran a hand through my hair. "She's still hung up on the idea that she needs to kill Katherine to feel better," I said. "This morning she decided to train with Stefan. By train, I mean throw punches at cinder blocks while probably imagining it's Katherine's face."

   "Wow," Caroline breathed. "I didn't know it was that bad." Her smile suddenly disappeared as her eyes looked behind me. She stood. "Elena! You're here!" I turned my head head to see Elena walking towards us, a bothered look in her eyes. 

   "Well, you did call me," Elena said, taking a seat to my other side. "You're still doing invitations?"

   "Ugh, yes," Caroline smiled, sitting down. "I'm almost done!"

   While they wrote invitations, my phone vibrated. I glanced down to see that I had a new message, from Damon with just three words: hospital, emergency, come. For a second, I got worried that something happened to him, but then I realised that he was a vampire and I should be least worried about him. If I were to worry, it should be about the building and its patients. I returned the message with me telling him that I would be there in ten minutes, then looked over at Caroline. 

   "I have to go," I told her, standing. "I expect one of those invitations."

   "You've been invited since I met you," she said, smiling. "But, I'll give you one if you insist."

   "I know you want to leave because I'm here, Clara," Elena suddenly said, a solemn look in her eyes. "You feel uncomfortable around me, I know."

   I rolled my eyes. "This has nothing to do with you, okay?" I picked up my jacket from behind the chair and gave her a tight smile. "Not everything we do has to do with you, Elena. To be honest, I'm kind of tired that you think everything has to do with you. Newsflash: you're not the only one with a tragic story." I turned and marched away.

   I arrived at the hospital in exactly nine minutes. There was police tape across a doorway and police around the reception area, which was not a good sign. I slowed my pace to look around and try to hear anything that would help me figure out what happened. In front of the police tape, Damon stood with his arms crossed and set look on his face. I walked over to him.

   "What happened?" I asked, glancing around.

   He sucked in a  breath between his teeth. "Liz called," he said. "I don't know what happened.

   I nodded. "And, why did you tell me to come?"

   He shrugged his shoulders as a response then looked behind me. "You just missed the doughnuts," he said. I turned to see Stefan standing behind me, brows furrowed in confusion.

   "Yeah, I was..." He hesitated for a couple of seconds as he stared at me, then he looked back at his brother. "I was with Elena, burning off a few thousand-hate filled calories. What happened to you helping me?"

   "Help, yes," Damon said. "Prolong the inevitable? Waste of my time."

   "You're avoiding," I said in a sing-song tone. "So unexpected."

   "I'm not avoiding," he said, glancing from Stefan to me. "Elena's only goal is to end Katherine's life, and that's not gonna just magically disappear with Pilates and a juice cleanse."

   Liz arrived then, dressed well in her sheriff uniform. "Hey, guys, thanks for coming." Stefan and I greeted her with a wave of our hands, while Damon got straight to the point.

   "Why were we invited?" he asked. 

   "Well," Liz began, "the hospital has kept the blood banks empty ever since they were raided last month. We thought at the very least it would help keep the vampire population away."

   "And it didn't?"

   She sighed. "See for yourself." She lead us into a patient's room. There was a body on the bed, its wrist bloodied. I sucked in a breath, inhaling the sweet scent of blood and shut my eyes closed as tightly as I could. Someone squeezed my shoulder as I took deep breaths, its owner probably hoping to calm me down. It did help a bit, to the point where I no longer felt like I needed to rip into its neck and feed from the corpse. I opened my eyes and blew a breath from my lips, nodding at the owner of the hand. Stefan was staring at me, a hint of worry in his eyes. I nodded at him and gave him a small smile of reassurance.

   "There are four other victims in this wing," Liz said, "each one almost completely drained of blood. You think it's Silas?"

   "Well, it was none of us," I said, shrugging my shoulders. 

   "Or a doctor with some very questionable bedside manners," Damon said, joking.

   "But, five victims?" Liz said, surprised and worried. "That's a lot of blood, and it's not like he can take it with him."

   "Unless he's fuelling up for something big," Stefan said. 

   "Big?" Liz asked. "Any details would be helpful, considering I'm dealing with five grieving families out there and a psychic killer on the loose."

   "Silas wants Bonnie to do a spell to drop the veil from the Other Side," I said, staring at the dead body. It was obvious that Silas was a classy vampire, probably born from riches. He drank with carelessness, but gently from the wrists as if he were precise on where to bite.

   Liz stared at me with confusion. "I have no idea what that means."

   "It's an invisible wall that separates our plane from the plane of all dead supernatural creatures," Damon explained, waving a hand while the other rested on his waist. "Now, Silas wants that to go away so he can take the cure, die, and not have to spend eternity in a supernatural purgatory."

   "And when do you suppose Silas plans on doing this?"

   I slowly uncrossed my arms from realisation. "Next full moon," I said, glancing at each person. "Tomorrow night." I shook my head as I came to another realisation. "Bonnie's been AWOL since prom, she must be getting ready to do the spell."

   "No," Stefan shook his head, "it can't be. Bonnie wouldn't do this."

   "She wouldn't," I agreed, nodding, "but what if Silas offered her something."

   "Like?" Damon asked, raising a brow.

   I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know, maybe something she wouldn't be able to refuse, something that would make her want to do this."

   All of the sudden, the lights went out. It was dark until the police officers around us turned on their flashlights, all of them mumbling in curiosity of what happened. It felt strange around the hospital, weird, eerily. I glanced around and tried to hear what was happening, but all I heard was a strong wind outside, heavy objects falling and breaking. It made me shiver.

   "Everyone, please calm down!" Liz called, walking over to the people that looked afraid. "It's just a power outage. Nothing to be worried about."

   "Do you hear that?" I quietly said, listening to it intently.

   "Wind," Stefan said, nodding. "It's very strong."

   Liz appeared a few minutes later with a map in hand and eyes filled with curiosity. She opened the map on a table and shined over it with her flashlight. "The power outages originated at three different places in town: the Young Farm, the Lockwood Estate, and a blown transformer off Old Miller Road." She marked the places on the map with a marker as she spoke. 

   I picked up the marker and began to connect the marks. "These are the locations of the massacres," I said, drawing a line from one location to the other. "The vampire massacre, the hybrids, and the, uh, witches." I swallowed hard when I mentioned the last massacre, then took a deep breath to calm myself.

   "Bonnie must be doing the spell," Stefan said from behind me.

   "So much for needing a full moon," Damon sighed, crossing his arms. 

   "And there's something else," Liz continued. "One of the power company guys has a daughter who goes to school with Bonnie. He saw her leaving the Young Farm an hour ago, with Elena."

   I glanced at her with confusion and shook my head. "That can't be right," I said. "She's with Caroline. They're at The Grill. I came from there."

   "Looks like Bonnie Bennett has a new doppelgänger friend," Damon groaned.

   "So, how do we find them?" Liz asked. 

   "Well," I sighed and looked down at the map, "they must me somewhere in the triangle. My guess is right at the centre." I circled the centre of the triangle. 

   "And where might that be?" Damon asked. 

   I took a deep breath as I stared down at the map, until I realised where it was. "The high school," I said, glancing at both brothers. "The centre of the triangle is the high school. I remember Elijah saying something about the school being build over a Native village, maybe there's some power there?"

   "That's where we'll go," Damon said, nodding. "Let's go."

   The three of us sped to the high school, the strong winds making us go a little slower than the usual. On the way, Stefan called Caroline and told her to meet us at the high school with Elena. He filled them in on what was happening, and she made sure to help as soon as she arrived. I sat in the back of Damon's car, biting my nails in anticipation. When we arrived, Caroline was nowhere to be seen. Elena was the one that came out to meet us.

   "Where's Caroline?" I shouted over the wind. 

   "Inside looking for Bonnie," Elena shouted. "I think we should split up. Damon and I can look outside while you two look inside."

   "All right," Stefan shouted, nodding. "Let me know if you find anything." He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the inside of the high school. Even inside we could still hear the howling of the wind. I hugged myself as we walked around the darkened school, Stefan shining a flashlight to every room we walked in front of. 

   "Why do high schools look more freaky in the dark?" I asked out loud, shaking my head.

   Stefan chuckled. "Are you scared?"

   "Scared?" I scoffed and shook my head. "What do I need to be scared of—what was that?" At the sound of something falling over, I jumped and landed next to him. No, not next to him. I landed right on top of Stefan, causing us to almost fall over. He dropped the flashlight as he stopped me from falling to the ground. My hands gripped his arm tightly, shaking from the sudden fright. I stared into his eyes, mouth slightly open as I slowed down my breathing.

   As I stared at him, I felt the warmth. It was the warmth that occurred whenever I was by him, whenever I was with him, whenever I thought about him. It began at the pit of my stomach and slowly made its way to my chest, causing my heart to beat wildly. Then I realise what it was. It's him. Something about him made me feel like I'm about to fall. Or turn to liquid. Or burst into flames. And I quite liked that feeling.

   I pushed away from Stefan and cleared my throat. "We should, uh, continue looking for Caroline."

   "Yeah," he nodded. "Let's go." He picked up the fallen flashlight, looked back at me, then continued to walk. I kept close to him, close enough where I could reach for his hand and hold on to it tightly. 

   We entered the cafeteria, where we found Caroline. I let out a breath and slapped my hand on my thigh in relief. "There you are," I breathed, smiling. I then recalled that we were looking for Bonnie. "Any luck finding her?"

   "I searched the whole school," she said, shaking her head. "She should be here." The noise of something falling over broke the silence, making the three of us turn toward where it came from.

   "What was that?" I asked, taking a step closer to Stefan. I grabbed on to his arm, making him let out a soft chuckle.

   The three of us walked over to the kitchens cautiously. Caroline approached the freezer and opened it to reveal a bag of ice, which started to drip on the floor. We—mostly Caroline and I—let out a breath of relief. 

   "Hmm," Stefan hummed. "The ice is melting."

   Caroline shut the freezer door. "Ugh," she groaned, "it just doesn't make sense! This is the centre of the triangle. If she's gonna do the spell, she has to do it here. This is where they should be."

   "Actually, I think we're in the right place," Stefan said. He shined the flashlight onto the floor, where the water from the melted ice was flowing down a drain. "Just the wrong elevation."

   "The basement!" Caroline realises. "Of course! Ugh, why didn't I think of that?"

   "Elijah told me something about there being a cavern with some tunnel systems that stretches across the entire area," I said, glancing from her to Stefan. "Maybe there's an entrance somewhere."

   "Damon was down there a few times," Stefan nodded. "I'll call him."

   He called Damon, who answered on the third ring, and told him everything we found out. Damon responded with thinking that maybe there was an entrance in the basement, which Elena confirmed by telling us that the basement was off the boiler room. We walked towards the directions Caroline told us, all while waiting for Damon and Elena to show up. When they didn't, we walked in. I kept a tight hold on Stefan, which I didn't notice until I almost tripped with a rock.

   He laughed. I smacked him, but continued to hold on to him as we walked. Slowly, I allowed my hand to fall from his forearm to his hand, entwining my fingers with him. It was a horrible time, but I just needed that hint of warmth around me to calm down the erratic beating of my heart. Even if he was the cause of it, it did calm me down a bit.

   As we walked, me following him, I kept my eyes on him. Why did I happen to fall for Stefan? It was a question I had been asking myself ever since a long, long time ago. Even before I knew it I asked myself why did I feel attracted to him. At first, I thought that I was foolish to be thinking those thoughts about a very good friend of mine. Secondly, I thought of myself as a damn fool for actually having thoughts about a potential relationship with him. Thirdly, I thought of myself as stupid for actually wanting a relationship with him. I wanted to hug him, to smile with him, to kiss him, to just spend time with him. Ugh, I hated it as much as I loved it.

   Out of nowhere, the loud sound of a screaming caused us to stop. It was Bonnie screaming in pain. We followed her screams to a chamber, were we found Bonnie writhing on the ground, gasping and yelling, her face burned. 

   "Bonnie!" I yelled, surprised and worried. "Bonnie, what happened?"

   "Katherine!" she gasped. "Find Katherine. We're linked!"

   "Then unlink her!" Caroline said with worry. She turned to look at Stefan and I. "You two go. I'll stay with her."

   Stefan pulled me out of the chamber, his hold on my hand still tight. We ran through the tunnels, using our hearing to try and listen to Katherine. We did hear her, and we also heard Elena. She was the one that was hurting Katherine, which I found very appraising of her, to be honest. Stefan I sped to where they were to find Elena pushing Katherine against a pipe, burning her face, which explained what was happening to Bonnie. 

   "You have done nothing but suck the happiness out of my life," Elena hissed at Katherine. "Well, now I get to kill you." She pulled out a stake out of nowhere, while Katherine pleaded for her life.

   "No, wait!" she cried. "Please!" I was surprised to hear her beg, surprised to see the hint of fright in her eyes. 

   "Goodbye, Katherine," Elena wickedly said. She was going to swing at Katherine but was thwarted by Stefan, who launched himself on her and pinned her on the ground. She gasped out his name in surprise, but also in anger. "Stefan!"

   Katherine stood and smiled. "Thanks for the save, handsome."

   Stefan struggled to hold Elena, so I sped towards Katherine and glared, almost tempted to reach for her neck and break it. "Get the hell out of here before I kill you myself," I hissed. 

   "Really?" she chuckled. "I'm your biggest problem right now?" She wiggled her fingers as a form of goodbye towards a struggling Stefan and a groaning Elena, then looked at me with a small smirk. She winked, then sauntered away.

   Stefan let go of Elena a few minutes after. She took a step back and glared at us. "How could you save her?" she yelled. "She was as good as dead!"

   "Yeah, and so was Bonnie," I snapped, crossing my arms. "Bonnie used a spell to link herself to Katherine, if you killed her, Bonnie would be dead, too."

   "How do you know that?" Elena asked, her face softening.

   "Because we saw her, Elena," Stefan said. "You almost killed your best fried."

   "I don't believe you."

   "Really?"

   "You never wanted me to kill Katherine," she continued, a crazy smile on her lips. "Why are you protecting her, Stefan?"

   "Listen to yourself!" I stepped in, shaking my head. "Your rage is making you crazy."

   She ignored me and stared at Stefan. "Do you still have feelings for her?"

   Stefan scoffed. "This isn't even about Katherine, this is about Jeremy. What, you think killing her will take all that pain away? It won't."

   "Oh, but beating up cinder blocks will?"

   "No, it's a distraction," I told her, calmly. "Just like killing Katherine, just like turning your emotions off. The truth is..." I sighed and shook my head. "There are no shortcuts. You are a vampire, Elena. Loss is part of the deal. Look, I've been alive for 163 years. I have lost more loved ones than I can count, and it hurts me every single time."

   "So, there's no hope?" she asked, sadness in her tone. "Are you saying I'm hopeless?"

   "No, I'm saying you have to face your grief," I said. 

   "But," Stefan stepped in, "you don't have to do it alone—I'm here."

   She laughed. "Oh, of course you can. God, Stefan! Always trying to help, and you're concerned for me, it's just like—"

   "You're transferring your rage onto me," he noted, a hint of relief in his tone. "That's good."

   "I don't need to transfer anything," she snapped. "I can hate two people just fine." She began to leave, but Stefan reached out for her. Suddenly, she turned and swung her fist to his face. 

   "Stefan!" I gasped and went over to him laying a hand on his shoulder as he covered his nose with his hands. I turned to look at Elena, who had a smug look in her eyes.

   "Just like the cinder blood," she said. "Nothing." She turned and left.

   "Jesus, Elena!" I shout after her. She continued to walk away, ignoring me. I turned back to Stefan and pulled his hands away from his face, then let out a soft chuckle. "Well, she got you good."

   "Okay, thanks," he mumbled, throwing his head back as he touched his nose. He didn't wince, but he did sigh. "Ouch..."

   "It's a good thing she can't throw a good punch," I said, giving him a small playful smile. "She would have broken your nose and it would have healed all crooked."

   Stefan glanced down at me, a small smile around his lips. "What happened to wanting to kill Katherine, too? You just let her go."

   "She wasn't the first thing on my mind," I said, shrugging my shoulders. "I wasn't thinking about her, or the fact that I wanted to strangle her."

   "What were you thinking about?"

   "Stopping Elena from doing something she would regret later on," I sighed. "I know she hates Katherine, but I think killing her wouldn't make her feel better. Maybe just a bit, but the sadness would still be there. I think I wanted to stop her from doing something I did."

   Stefan smiled, softly, and nodded. "You know, you say you're a bad person, but I think you're the opposite. Clara, you're the nicest person I have ever met. You help everyone even if it ends up killing you. Remember trying to save Elena's pain by trying to sacrifice yourself instead of Jenna?"

   "I failed horribly at that," I mumbled, looking down at the floor. "I regret it every day, that I couldn't save her."

   "You didn't," he said, taking a hold of my hand, "but you made everyone realise that you would do anything to protect those you care about. You saved me, remember?"

   "No." I shook my head. "How the hell did I save you, Stefan? I didn't do anything."

   "You promised you'd get me home," he said, amused. "You did. You took me back to the ruins that used to be our home, and you made me realise that I can't change who I am. So, in a way, you did save me, Clara." He laid his other hand on my cheek and ran his thumb up and down. "Even if it isn't big, it's still meaningful."

   "Kiss me," I suddenly said.

   Stefan's mouth was on mine in an instant. His arms around my waist, mine around his neck. Hard, and fast, and messy, and unpractised, but it was all we had. It felt like he was just out of reach, always. But, when we kissed, I felt like I was on fire. 

   He pulled away a few seconds later, surprised, but with a small smile around his lips. "What was that?" he asked, surprise in his tone.

   "I..." I breathed and shrugged my shoulders. "I'm not sure. I just felt like I needed to kiss you."

   "You shouldn't just hand out kisses, Clara," he said. "You should leave them for a special time."

   Before I could say anything, Damon arrived with a rugged and annoyed look. He bid us to follow him with his head, then turned and continued. I pulled away from Stefan, hesitantly, and followed Damon. It was back to the chamber, where Bonnie and Caroline were. I stopped when I didn't see Caroline. Bonnie immediately cleared up that it wasn't Caroline. In fact, it was Silas. The immortal was back to stone, his hands covering his face. Damon told us that before he turned to stone, he became his true self. Since he turned to stone, we would never know.

   "You need to get rid of Silas' body," Bonnie said, glancing at the three of us. 

   "Well, there's a slight problem, Medusa," Damon said, giving her a tight sarcastic smile. "Even though you turned him back to stone, if he gets one more drop of blood he's back to his old mind tricks."

   "All right," Stefan stepped in, "so let's do what we should've done to Klaus—let's drop his body in the middle of the ocean."

   "Bonnie?" Elena's voice rang around us as she approached us, almost sheepishly. "I don't know what to say."

   Bonnie shook her head. "You don't have to say anything."

   "But I was so horrible to you."

   "You weren't you," Bonnie reasoned. "I know what that's like. I wasn't me for a long time. We can talk about that later." She smiled. "You've got some catching up to do." She nodded behind Elena. Jeremy appeared, smiling.

   "Thank you, Bonnie," he said, smiling.

   "I'll give you as much time as I can," she said as Jeremy hugged her. "But I have to put the veil back up." She turned and left. 

   I took a deep breath. "I should head to The Grill," I said, nodding. "Matt sent me a text telling me that Caroline's been there all the time." I walked away before anyone could say anything and hurried to The Grill. 

   As soon as I walked in, I hugged Caroline. She informed me that she must have been compelled to harm herself and continue to do so, because Silas wanted her to bleed. For a few moments, she seemed scared, but it soon passed. She appeared normal, then, as if nothing had happened, but there was still a hint of that it did there. Whenever the sleeve of her shirt would rise over her wrist, she would immediately pull it back down and continue with what she was doing.

   About an hour later, Stefan appeared and sat down at a table. I grabbed a bottle from the bar and sat across from him, giving him a small smile. 

   "We need to celebrate," I said, serving the alcohol from the bottle in two glasses. 

   "Yeah, I'm not really in the mood to, ah, celebrate," he said, pushing the glass away. 

   "What's wrong?" I asked, arching a brow. "Silas is dead, or calcified, and you're just sitting there like a bump on a log."

   He smiled, sadly. "There was someone that I thought I would see today, and, ah, I didn't," he divulged. "That's all."

   "You better mean me," a new voice joined. 

   I stared at Stefan, wide eyed and surprised. He stared back, a ghost of a smile on his lips. "You've got to be kidding me," he mumbled as he turned around. Behind him stood a tall blonde with a smile on her lips. Stefan immediately stood and hugged her, tightly. By the way Stefan hugged her and smiled, I deducted that she must have been a very good friend of his. By the way she looked, I realised that this was the famous Lexi.

   She looked at me. "Thank you for keeping an eye on this one," she said, softly. 

   "No problem," I said, smiling. "Why don't you two catch up? I should take care of Caroline, make sure she's okay and all."

   I waved at them and walked out of the Grill, smiling to myself. There was a sense of relief around me as I left. Stefan was happy, which strangely made me feel giddy, even if it was with another woman. But, I did read his journals and did note that Lexi was his best friend, his mentor if one could say. It was obvious that she made him happy, and I was glad she did. 

   At that moment, I was knocked down with someone pushing me over. I turned my head and gasped as I came face to face with a face I killed so many years ago. She stood over me, hands in her pockets with a wicked grin on her lips. 

   "Hey, Clara," she sang, crouching down besides me. "Miss me?" She grabbed my hair and pulled it back hard. She smirked down at me. "Oh, this is going to be so much fun."