"Ugh, just drink!" Caroline said, panicked and annoyed from the backseat.

Stefan glanced over his shoulder as he drove toward the closest hospital outside of Mystic Falls. Just in case she couldn't heal him in time. The windows were down in the car, airing out the smell of blood and sweat. The radio on but so quiet that even he couldn't make out the song over the sound of the wind whipping around the car and Caroline's frantic heartbeat.

She was perched atop the latest victim of Lily and her "family." She had her torn open wrist shoved into his mouth and was pleading with him to be alive enough for her to heal him. Stefan silently hoped he was, if not for his sake then for Caroline's. She didn't need another failure.

"Thank god," he heard her whisper, and he glanced back again to see the young man weakly moving his mouth over the wound, grabbing at her arm, drinking the life from Caroline.

Stefan let out a relieved sigh and turned his eyes back to the road. He heard the man's heart begin to pump a little more steadily, listened as his pulse normalized. And Caroline's own rapid heartbeat slowed to a steady thump.

Some rustling from the backseat and Caroline was crawling over the seat to sit next to him. Her blue cotton dress raised to show her white lace-covered backside as she did so, not that he was complaining. He gave it a little squeeze before she settled it against the seat.

She let out a surprised giggle and swatted softly at his arm. He smiled as he continued to look between her and the road. Strips of light, pale white from the moon and warm yellow from the streetlights took turns shining between the trees as they passed by them. He greedily took in the illuminated sight of her. The relieved, contented smile on her lovely face. The wind tossing around her hair across her cheeks. The smears of blood on her arms and legs.

"What?" she asked, turning to him with a smile, aware of the fact that he was mapping her with his eyes.

"It's just...did anyone ever tell you that you're very sexy when you're saving people?" he asked, reaching out to place a heavy hand on her bloody leg.

"Only you...everyday," she teased, leaning across the seat to place a warm kiss on his neck before returning to her seat.

Stefan dragged his thumb across a wet smear of blood on her thigh and brought it to his lips, sucking it clean. Caroline's eyes surged black with hunger and desire. Stefan smiled and took her hand, lacing their fingers together and kissing the back of her hand before bringing her wrist to his mouth. The wound was already healed but the skin was still messy with her blood and he watched the road as he ran his tongue all over her skin until it was clean. He could hear Caroline's heart pounding again, this time not from panic.

She reached over before he knew what was happening and pulled the steering wheel to the side of the road. Stefan let off the gas and allowed them to come to a bumpy stop in the grass.

"Caroline!" Stefan scolded.

"Sorry," Caroline laughed.

"I'm sure you're not trying to kill the guy that you just saved," he teased, pointing to the still unconscious body in the backseat.

"Shut up!" she said, crawling onto his lap and kissing him with a burning intensity.

'Shut up' he did, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her back with equal force. She paused for long enough to pull her dress up and pull her panties off. His eyebrows shot up.

"What about him?" Stefan asked, running his hands hungrily over her bare skin even as he tried to be responsible.

"He owes me one," Caroline said against Stefan's lips, deftly unbuttoning his jeans and pushing them down his legs.

Stefan chuckled and grabbed her face in his hands. Looking at her for a moment. Her eyes were wild and her cheeks pink. Her own hands rested softly on his chest as she smiled back at him. Never the worse-for-wear no matter how many horrors they witnessed.

"You're my hero, you know that?" he said, stroking his thumbs across her warm cheeks, lovingly.

She gave him that shy smile, the one that he thought he would have stopped seeing by now. Now that she was used to him. But he was beginning to think that they would never stop having that effect on one another. To look at another person everyday and still be in complete amazement of the person they are, and the way they make you feel.

Stefan kissed her slowly as he lifted her up and then lowered her back down onto him. He hissed at the feeling of her surrounding him. She tossed her head back with a satisfied sigh and he took the opportunity to attack her neck with kisses. He sucked hard, watching as a purple mark appeared and then disappeared. Caroline moaned and lowered herself impossibly deeper. Stefan gripped the back of her dress and attempted to hold on as she made short work of him.

He squeezed her weighty breast with one hand and her bare behind with the other, pushing her onto him. From her rapid heart and quick-paced panting, he could tell she was getting close. He turned his head to the side, submitting his neck to her. She'd given her blood to save someone tonight, it was his turn to heal her. Her pretty white fangs slipped out and Stefan growled as she lowered her mouth to his neck. She rode him slowly as she teased him with kisses and licks. He closed his eyes in pleasure and anticipation, feeling the beginning of the end coming from his core.

Caroline was making quiet little exclamations against his neck in between kisses and he could feel the contractions of her body starting around him. Just as he couldn't take it anymore. She sunk her fangs into his neck and pulled the blood from his body and they both came undone. He squeezed his eyes shut. Pleasure radiated from where they were connected, as she took from him in two ways.

She retracted her fangs and kissed the immediately healing holes in his skin. He grabbed her face and pulled her lips to his, kissing her blood stained lips. She laughed as he peppered kisses across her face. Stefan grumbled in protest as she lifted off of his lap and crawled back across the seat. Her back against the door and her legs stretched out across the seat. Her face a picture of contentment. Stefan replaced his pants and sighed happily, resting a hand on her ankle and smiling at her.

"Uh, excuse me," came a voice, "What the hell is this? Where am I?"

Stefan and Caroline turned in unison to see the man, now conscious, in the backseat, staring at them in confusion, blood on his face and his shirt.

Caroline barely contained a fit of giggles. Stefan smirked, guiltily.

"Are you going to take care of this? Or am I?" Stefan asked Caroline, who covered her face in embarrassment.

The man looked between them, panicked, wondering what being "taken care of" entailed. He watched as Stefan turned around in his seat and looked him straight in the eye.

"You were out late, had too much to drink, got turned down by a girl. Go straight to the first gas station, call a cab, get a hotel room here in town indefinitely, take a shower, throw that shirt out. Forget everything else." he ordered.

He watched the man's eyes glaze over, taking the new information as truth. Then watched as the man opened the car door to get out.

"Wait a minute," Stefan said, stopping him, "Thank the lady first."

The man looked at Caroline and obediently thanked her. Caroline shook her head at Stefan and laughed. The man let himself out of the car and began walking.

"Is he going to make it home?" Caroline asked, watching in the side mirror as he disappeared into the darkness of the night.

"We're outside of Mystic Falls," Stefan said, "He'll be fine."

She considered for a moment, chewing her lip in worry, and nodded. Stefan was looking at her again, smiling.

"What?!" she said, laughing and pinching his arm softly.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you're adorable when you're worried?" he asked, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

She smiled and shook her head, pretending to be exhausted with him and how much he loved her.

"Take me home," she ordered, her eyes glittering playfully in the dim light.

Stefan started the car and pulled it bumpily back onto the road. Caroline ran a hand through her wind-blown hair. The car was filthy, inside and out and they were driving back into danger. He tried not to think about how many dead or half-dead bodies they'd be passing on the way back through town. Who else they'd have to save before they made it home.

"You're getting the next one," Caroline said, seeming to read his mind.

Stefan chuckled and reached across the seat to take her hand. She closed her eyes and rested her head against the cool glass. Things were terrible. And things were wonderful.