Originally a oneshot because during the last episodes I've gotten this idea in my head that Stefan should be with Caroline. Am I crazy? Either way, hope you like this. I have lots of plans for Caroline and Stefan in that case.

1. Trust Is Everything

"Yeah you're right Stefan," she said, turning her eyes from his and gazed into the fireplace. "trust is everything."

Stefan was her best friend and she couldn't stand keeping him in the shadows anymore, it wasn't right. Elena and his brother had been together for several days now and they hadn't even told him. He deserved to know.

Although it wasn't technically her decision to make, and definitely not her place to tell him, she couldn't keep this from him anymore. Elena wanted Caroline to keep this from Stefan and let Elena tell him when it suited her, but she had had plenty of time. This was just selfish and wrong.

Caroline took a deep breath and decided to start lightly by asking if Damon had hinted something.

"Have you heard from Damon?"

"Yeah, he's still with Jeremy at the lake house."

"Did he happen to mention where Elena was?" she asked slowly, suddenly wondering if this really was a good idea.

A crease appeared between Stefan's eyebrows.

"Wait, why are you asking me this?" he asked, approaching her.

She didn't know what to say. What should she say?

"They're together, aren't they?" he asked, sinking down on the leather couch besides her, burying his face in his palms.

"Caroline opened her mouth to answer, but she couldn't formulate anything to say. What could she say that wouldn't hurt him?

"How together are they?" he asked, his voice low and raw. He almost looked scared to find out the truth.

His eyes. Those green eyes that had given her the strength to get out of bed in the mornings for the last two years, those endless pools of dark water became darker and deeper. Desperate. As he was waiting for an answer she felt herself getting pulled in, as if she would drown in them if she didn't look away. So she did.

"Tell me." He turned towards her in the sofa. "How together are they?" He demanded again, almost aggressively pulling up her chin with his fingers so that she couldn't escape his ayes.

This wasn't fair. He knew she couldn't lie to him.

The second their eyes met he knew.

His eyes became glassy and just as Caroline had thought his eyes couldn't give away more emotion, they did. They screamed of desperation and sheer hurt and Caroline had never felt so helpless.

The three seconds he was still felt like several minutes. Caroline had never felt so helpless in her entire life. She wanted to embrace him like a mother and blow the pain away. She wanted to kill Elena and Damon for him, she wanted to take his pain and inflict it on herself, anything to make him hurt less, but she couldn't. She wanted to say something, anything to ease his pain, but there wasn't anything to say. Nothing could make this better.

Stefan slowly let his trembling fingers slip away from her face and sped up from the couch just as Caroline was about to bring him in for a hug. He didn't want to be coddled like a baby and he didn't think he would be able to control himself if anyone touched him. He wanted to hurt someone. He wanted to beat someone up until they hurt as much as he did. He wanted to kill. He wanted to tear into warm flesh and drink and drink and drink until he couldn't see straight anymore and then he wanted to beat someone up again.

Caroline watched him as he pushed down the chess piece from the table in front of him and she knew that he would have to let it all out. All the confusion and the rage and the hurt. So she would let him destroy the living room in the boarding house. She would even stay with him. She wanted to be there for him, even if he didn't want her to. Even though he didn't want to talk or a shoulder to cry on she would stay with him.

So she stayed while he picked up the chess table and threw it against the wall. She stayed as he lifted up the antique coffee table and threw it against the wall, small pieces of cherry wood scattering all over the living room. She stayed as he sped to Damon's fancy liquor cabinet and threw every one of the old bottles into the fire place one after one and then smashed the entire cabinet.

Fifty-two minutes later Caroline walked into Stefan's room on the second floor. The house was finally quiet and the only thing she could hear was his erratic breathing. The room was a mess, just like the living room. A mess of splintered wood, shards of glass, scattered papers and books everywhere. And in the middle of it all, on his king sized bed with a broken headboard, lay Stefan. He was lying on his back staring up at the ceiling, his hair disheveled, his chest moving way too fast. But he didn't move as Caroline approached him. It broke her heart, because even though he wasn't curled up in a ball or crying or tearing pieces of his hair from his scalp she had never seen him this broken. And it scared her.

It scared the shit out of her to see the rock she'd been leaning on the past few years hurt like this.

A couple of feathers flew up in the air as she sat down on the opposite side of the bed but Stefan didn't acknowledge her presence. She was scared but she needed to push that fear aside, because Stefan needed her to be strong now. It was her time to take care of him for a change, she decided as she pulled herself together and carefully lay down beside him on the bed.

He still didn't move, and she didn't know if he wanted to be comforted or left alone. But she knew one thing; she knew that she didn't want him to be alone. So she slowly, as if not to startle him, inched her body closer to his until her torso touched the side of his. Then she put her hand in his, just to let him know she was there. He still didn't move, his big hand slack in her small one.

She wanted to tell him that Elena didn't deserve his love, and neither did Damon, but she knew it wouldn't make it any better. She wanted to tell him that she loved him, but she knew it wasn't enough, so she stayed quiet.

Half a minute went by and he still hadn't moved. Caroline started to think that maybe she should just lay on the other side of the bed. But just as she was about to let go of him, his grip tightened around her hand. He rolled over on his side and put his head on her shoulder and an arm around her waist, like a child with his mother.

As Caroline placed her hand on the nape of his neck and started stroking his hair Stefan took a deep shaky breath and relaxed for the first time in a long, long time.

And that's a wrap! So this was just a oneshot I had to get out of my system to be able to keep writing my other fanfic about Caroline and Damon but now that I sat down and wrote this I was hit with like a bunch of inspiration to continue this story about Stefan and Caroline. Do you think I should continue? Is it worth it?