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Stefan woke up to a stream of sunlight inching closer to his arm. He lay on crisp, white sheets in a big room, which wasn’t his own. For a few seconds he simply felt at ease.
Then the reality came rushing in.
His interrupted wedding, Bonnie fainting in his arms, Vicki Donovan returning from the afterlife to ring the bell. Stefan jolted upwards, his heart picking up pace. Where the hell was he?
“Not what you expected?” Caroline’s voice came from behind him. Stefan exhaled. He hadn’t realized he had been holding his breath.
“Caroline,” he turned to look at her, “What is going on? Where are we?”
Caroline was wearing a simple white sundress, her light curls pinned back at her temples. She was sitting in a big armchair, next to a table with a bowl of fresh fruit and an open self-help book. A hotel room. They were definitely in a hotel room. Judging from the overabundance of sunlight and the quiet guitar music somewhere outside, they were also far from Mystic Falls.
Stefan shook his head in disbelief, before focusing back on Caroline. A beautiful, shy smile split her lips, and for a moment he was taken aback. Which, knowing Caroline, was probably all part of her plan.
“Well, while you were lying on the couch drunk after your impromptu bachelor party, Damon and I had a moment of our own,” Caroline explained. Stefan tried to wrap his mind around the concept of Caroline having a moment with his brother and failed.
“And I said, I wish I didn’t have to rush the most beautiful day of my life because the world is literally falling apart,” she continued, moving out of the chair and slowly coming closer, “and Damon said, although I’ve never been married myself, I’ve always found the part that comes after the reception to be the most enticing.”
Caroline stopped right next to the bed. “Why don’t we rob Stefan of his last chance to be the hero, who saves the day, and instead put you two on the first plane to Mexico, where you will spend a lovely honeymoon on a golden beach with a private mariachi band and endless room service, while the rest of us deal with the whole Katherine situation?” She put one leg on the bed, “consider this a wedding gift from your brother.”
Stefan just stared at her, his lips slightly parted.
“But how?” he mumbled absentmindedly, trying to connect the dots.
“While you are smart enough to always take a shot of vervain, you forgot a convenient little thing called sleeping pills.”
Caroline’s phone dinged and she reached out to take it from the nightstand. Her eyes focussed on the message that had popped onto the screen.
Stefan watched her expression soften, the last strain disappearing from her shoulders. When Caroline looked up, she felt so relieved that a short, joyous laugh escaped her lips.
“And with that, Mr. Salvatore, the day has been saved,” before Stefan had the time to process what she had said, Caroline’s face was inches from his, her eyes warm with love and victory. She bit her bottom lip and leaned in for a kiss.
“Who was that?” Stefan asked although he was starting to accept that there was little he could do to help from here anyway.
“Bonnie, who single-handedly contained the hellfire in the tunnels under Mystic Falls and made sure the city didn’t get blown apart,” Caroline explained, kissing the corner of Stefan’s lips.
“Wait, so Vicki did ring the bell? What about Damon?”
Caroline stopped to look into his eyes. She brushed her thumb over his cheekbone and straightened out the crease between his brows.
“Yes, she did. But Damon came up with another one of his crazy plans, which included throwing Katherine in the hellfire where she finally went poof. At least I hope so…Damon left her with a dagger in her cold, dead heart and sped off right before the fire cleaned out everything under the city.”
Stefan listened to Caroline talk and felt his own worries slowly seep out of him. A lazy smile found its way to his face, as Caroline got a bit carried away with the details. They had escaped hell. Alive. Safe. Without having to sacrifice anyone’s life, which he knew he would have done if given the chance. Stefan revelled in the way a stray sunbeam caressed Caroline’s cheek, falling across her chest. It’s good he had someone who had fought to keep him alive. And then, with the most ecstatic realization, he corrected himself – not a someone, hisa wife.
“Mrs Salvatore?” Stefan pulled her out of a very elaborate description. Caroline stopped in the middle of a sentence and stared at him. Her cheeks turned pink in the most glorious of ways. And with that they were no longer Stefan and Caroline – the people, who escaped hell, but the wife and her husband on the first morning of their honeymoon.
“Yes?” she answered softly, leaning in once more.
“Are you telling me that I spent my wedding night on a plane, drugged?”
“I think we have plenty of time to correct that,” Caroline whispered against Stefan’s lips before he kissed her deeply.
***
Bonnie woke up on the floor with someone crouching next to her, which could only mean it had worked. She had done it. She had been strong enough.
“Hello, love,” Enzo’s voice pulled her into focus. Bonnie looked up in shock. She hadn’t realized she would still be able to see him. Tears rushed to her eyes.
“Enzo, I thought I had lost you forever.”
He brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face and his fingers lingered on her skin.
“You not only didn’t lose me, you somehow brought me back,” he explained and watched her face go blank. Bonnie couldn’t understand what he was trying to say. She didn’t want to let herself understand. But Enzo was here, warm and beautifully real, so she let a smile appear on her face.
“Is this another illusion, because I don’t think I can survive that,” she whispered.
“Not even a little bit,” Enzo assured her and brought her into his arms. Bonnie laughed against his neck.
“Bonnie?!” Damon’s voice rang through the hallways right before he stepped into the room and fell silent.
“Enzo?” Damon muttered in complete and utter surprise. Bonnie laughed again. It seemed that was all she could do at this point. Even if he was an illusion, at least she had made it strong enough to extend to other people too.
“Happy to see me?” Enzo asked him with a mocking grin on his face. Damon smiled honestly for once.
“Why don’t we skip the hugs and kisses and chop chop to pack our bags?”
Bonnie rolled her eyes.
“Can I remind you that we just barely escaped certain death?” she asked him, “Wouldn’t it be a tiny bit more reasonable to enjoy the moment for a while?”
Damon’s smile grew wider.
“That’s exactly what I’m planning to do on a sunny Mexican beach as far from this shitty old town as possible, and I would enjoy the moment even more if you two joined me in the celebration.”
“Do you plan to gatecrash Stefan’s honeymoon?” Bonnie asked just to be sure that something as stupid hadn’t entered Damon’s head and, at the same time, knowing that it was exactly what he had in mind.
“Oh, Bonbon, we all know that the first attempt at a reception got blown up by a drunken and very much dead Kelly Donovan. It’s only my duty, as the best man, to ensure that the second one goes perfectly.”
Bonnie rubbed her temples. While this was certainly one of Damon's horrible ideas, she had no strength to fight him. Besides, he was right. As much as she wanted to fall asleep and not wake up for the next two months, she figured she could do that while sunbathing next to the ocean just as well. Especially, she stole a glance at Enzo, with someone by her side.
“Give us an hour,” Enzo told Damon, reading the answer in Bonnie’s eyes.
“Mexico, here we come.”
***
As they were lying side by side, with the memory of kisses, bites, touches and moans still echoing in their minds, Stefan took Caroline’s hand with the thin gold band around her finger and placed a kiss on top of it.
“A hopeless romantic,” Caroline murmured against his skin. Stefan smiled. He guessed there was no point in denying that.
“You’re one talk, Mrs You promised me a June wedding.”
Caroline gasped and was on top of him the next second. Her vampire speed was shaping out to be quite the tipping point on the power scales of their marriage. Which, so far, had only worked to his advantage.
“For your information, you did promise me a June wedding, then made a deal with the devil, then got turned into a human and decided to call it off for no reason and…”
Stefan pulled her down to his lips. Caroline relented. This wasn’t an argument she wanted to dwell on.
“I love you,” Stefan whispered and felt her smile against his lips.
“Yeah?” Caroline teased, sending a jolt of electricity through Stefan’s body.
“You have no idea.”
“So you’re not mad that I drugged you and kidnapped you?”
Stefan laughed quietly.
“I’d say this is the best hostage situation I have ever found myself into.”
He kissed his wife again, still unable to grasp the fact that he finally could just be happy.
“Thank you,” Stefan added as an afterthought.
“I couldn’t let you convince yourself to sacrifice your happiness for Damon’s or whoever else’s again,” Caroline smiled a bit sadly, but soon her eyes caught a sparkle, “not when the alternative feels this good.”
***
Damon came into his living room to find Elena’s coffin open once again. He didn’t want to hope, not with the knowledge of the last time he had found that coffin open. And yet he had just seen Enzo return from the dead. Was a little hope really going to kill him?
“Damon?” he might have died a thousand times in that very second. Damon slowly turned around. And there she was. Beautiful as ever, confusion written across her face.
“Elena,” his voice barely escaped his lips.
“Is Bonnie…?”
“She’s fine. She’s alright,” Damon reassured her, “You’re awake.”
Tears shone in Elena’s eyes. She hesitated just a second longer.
“I am.”
Despite every fibre of his body screaming for him to run towards her, Damon forced himself to walk slowly until she reached him and wrapped her arms around his back, squeezing as tight as she could.
“Elena,” Damon whispered into her hair because now he could. Once again, he could. And he was never going to lose that chance again.
She pulled back and finally their lips met in a hellfire of their own.
***
They sat on a white stone wall overlooking the ocean and watched the sun slowly retreat. Stefan’s arm was wrapped around Caroline’s waist, her lips sneaking kisses along his jawline.
“I could get used to this,” he confessed.
“You better,” Caroline bit him lightly, “That’s the whole point of surviving hellfire – you get to live. You get to get used to living.”
Stefan turned so that he could see Caroline’s face. He felt so full of love and gratitude it threatened to tear his chest open. He cupped her face in his hands and marvelled at the warmth of her skin and the light in her eyes. At that moment he never wanted to return to Mystic Falls, wanted to stay young forever, wanted to grow old on this very spot. As long as Caroline was right next to him.
She interrupted his train of thought by putting a strawberry in her mouth and daring him to take the other half. He did so with pleasure.
“Isn’t this too cliché?” he asked.
“Given the lives we’ve been leading, I’d say we deserve every bit of cliché we can get.”
The lanterns all across the garden of the resort lit up. Stefan’s eyes wandered down to the beach, where a small crowd had gathered around a lively bar.
***
“So…you and Caroline drugged Stefan before he could volunteer to sacrifice his life for all of ours?” Elena wanted to clarify. The four of them were inside Damon’s car, speeding way over the limit to get to the airport.
“Well, knowing my dearest little brother, he was likely to pull one of his heroic acts and get himself killed,” Damon said, “And I and my new sister figured he deserved to get his shot at happiness this time. So before he knew what had hit him, he was safely shipped off to Mexico.”
“Good,” was all Elena said. She had a lot to catch up with.
“The plan could be improved,” Damon added, “Nobody was there to check that Katherine was really dead, but I’d say it’s a safe bet. She would have turned up by now.”
“Come on, people, let’s find a more enjoyable topic of conversation, shall we?” Enzo suggested from the backseat. He was sitting by the window, Bonnie tucked to his side fast asleep.
***
After a round of ice-cold piña coladas and a few samba tracks (which, unsurprisingly, Stefan was quite the expert at) the beach was filled with the soothing voice of Nina Simone, and Stefan pulled Caroline close to him. The stars were shining above their heads in an endless criss-cross of stars and galaxies.
“I saw her back when she was performing at a nightclub in Atlantic City,” Stefan said, twirling Caroline under his arm and pulling her in for a quick kiss.
Caroline sang the words of the song so that only Stefan could hear.
“My life is just like the weather
It changes with the hours
When he's near I'm fair and warmer
When he's gone I'm cloudy with showers;
in emotion, like the ocean it's either sink or swim
When a woman loves a man like I love him.”
“I love you,” Stefan told Caroline again because he felt she hadn’t heard it enough. No number of times would ever feel like enough. He hoped she knew how happy he was. At last.
Caroline chuckled, “I think I’m finally ready to believe you.”
“Don’t worry, Mrs Salvatore, I’ll be here to convince you,” Stefan whispered at her ear and leant in to kiss her neck. Caroline found it hard to keep breathing.
“Convince me that this is real,” she mumbled, breathless.
Stefan’s touch burned on her waist and neck, her own hands wandered across his chest, feeling his fast heartbeat.
“If living to this day has taught me anything, especially serving the devil and surviving, it has made me realize that by trying to live a happy life with you I’ve got a far better chance at redemption than sacrificing myself ever could give.”
“No more sacrificing,” Caroline agreed.
***
“Does Caroline even know that we are coming to her honeymoon?” Bonnie asked, trying to hide a yawn. Her fingers were intertwined with Enzo’s, as they navigated through the crowded airport.
“Nope,” Damon threw out carelessly.
“Is this a good idea?” Elena asked looking between him and Bonnie.
“When has he ever had a good idea?” Enzo offered, earning an approving squeeze from Bonnie.
“Hey hey hey, slow down, fellas!” Damon grinned, “May I remind you that I had the genius plan that lead to all of us being here in one piece, Katherine being blown to oblivion and our two married love birds finally getting a moment of pure love and passion?”
“You mean the honeymoon, which we are about to crash?” Bonnie asked.
“Cheer up, Bonbon, we are not staying in the same room.”
“Surprisingly.”
***
Human Stefan wasn’t that good at holding his liquor. Which is possibly the reason why he was smiling like a child, murmuring sweet nothings in between twisting and turning Caroline into his arms.
She laughed and kept planting little kisses all over his face.
Gold jewelry shining so bright
Strawberry champagne on ice
Lucky for you, that's what I like, that's what I like
Lucky for you, that's what I like, that's what I like
Sex by the fire at night
Silk sheets and diamonds all white
Lucky for you, that's what I like, that's what I like
Lucky for you, that's what I like, that's what I like
“You know what, Stefan, that’s Bruno Mars, I saw him back when I was in high school,” Caroline said in all seriousness, dizzy from her own cocktails.
“Mhm,” Stefan hummed against her neck, her back to his chest, his arms holding her close, “Strawberry champagne sounds good, do you think they have it on the menu?”
“Yeah,” Caroline laughed, shaking her hips in the rhythm.
“What about a fire?” Stefan continued, moving his lips up to Caroline’s jawline.
“I…” she managed in between heavy breaths “I don’t think we need a fire in Mexico.”
“Sounds reasonable.”
Caroline knew her heart was racing, felt Stefan’s heart do the same. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember ever feeling this happy. Yes, she was drunk and hadn’t slept in a couple of days, but none of it even mattered. Nothing mattered and at the same time, everything mattered. Stefan was here with her, touching her, kissing her. She had fought so hard for this chance to just breathe and be loved. And love back like her life depended on it. Maybe it did. It was hard to tell at this point.
So she didn’t try to understand, she just danced.
***
“Hey, Jer,” Elena whispered when her brother picked up the phone. There was a long pause at the other end of the line.
“Elena?” he guessed, “Oh god, you’re awake?”
“Yeah,” Elena affirmed him, her voice almost breaking, “and don’t worry, Bonnie is fine, the spell got broken somehow and here I am. How are you?”
Jeremy laughed.
“I’m good, I’m great. Got a job and all. It feels weird to talk to you after all this time.”
“A girlfriend?” Elena teased, happy to talk to her brother again, happy to know he was safe and well.
“Yes.”
“A dog?”
Her brother chuckled, “A Labrador.”
Elena smiled, knowing that at least one of her loved ones had managed to lead a normal life.
“Hey, you should come visit sometime,” Jeremy suggested.
“As soon as I get back from Mexico,” Elena assured him.
“Mexico?”
“It’s a long story, Jer.”
***
Caroline was lying on their bed, moonlight playing with the curves of her naked body.
Stefan kissed her collarbone, earning a shiver and a brush of light fingertips on his shoulder. They were still dizzy and excited, blood hot in their veins, promises lost in between moans.
His name a prayer and a reprimand on her lips, as they danced an entirely different dance. At last, they had enough time to not rush a single touch. They could learn and re-learn every part of each other’s bodies. They could be the only thought on each other’s minds. There was nobody else.
No world to save, to nemesis to kill.
Freedom.
Redemption.
***
“Rise and shi…”
“Damon?!” Caroline exclaimed in complete despair, before flying off her bed to slam the door in his face and locking it.
She glanced at Stefan, who looked just as puzzled. Not surprised, though.
“This was not a part of the plan,” Caroline commented, but the absurdity of the situation got the better of her and she couldn’t suppress the smile that appeared on her lips.
“C’mon, Blondie, we’ve travelled a long way,” Damon pleaded.
“We?” Caroline echoed.
“What? Did you think, I’d come without the wedding party?”
Stefan, who had used this time to find his shorts, came to Caroline’s side and gave her a dress, paired with a kiss. Caroline’s fingers got caught up in his hair, not letting him go just yet. Her back pressed against the door. Stefan balanced himself one hand on the side of Caroline’s head. She bit his bottom lip, his fingers wandered along her side.
“What am I hearing?” Damon asked, bemused.
Stefan and Caroline grinned against each other’s lips.
“Thank you for dropping by, big brother,” Stefan raised his voice a little, “But I suggest you come back a bit later.”
“Or never,” added Caroline before pulling Stefan towards her.
***
“I can’t believe you gatecrashed my honeymoon,” Stefan told Damon, sipping his beer. That was a lie, of course. The fact didn’t surprise him one bit.
“Well, what can I say, little brother,” Damon raised his own bottle, “I just wanted to look into your beautiful, heroic eyes and say You’re welcome, Stefan, for not letting you get killed on your wedding day before you even got a taste of what marriage is all about.”
Stefan smirked. His eyes instinctively searched for Caroline. She was laughing and splashing around in the water with Elena. Bonnie and Enzo stood to their right, immersed in a conversation of their own, a world of their own.
Caroline looked back and her whole face lit up in happiness. How had he not realized it sooner? She was far more than true love, she was a friend, she was safety, she was solace. And he loved her in the simplest and most profound ways.
“I will admit that I’ve had some…issues throughout the hundred years of my life,” Stefan began, “but it has always managed to surprise me. However I had imagined it, it always turned out completely differently.”
Damon’s eyes were following Elena.
“Eh, wasn’t all bad after all.”
“No,” Stefan agreed, “It was epic.”