Rescue Me

Chapter 22

It was strange, how in the course of a few weeks, things could change so drastically.

Caroline had come back to Mystic Falls full of trepidation and fear. She'd come back, fully expecting the wrath of a town. Fully expecting to be forced away or ridiculed or a million other scenarios that ended in her certainty that she would never be able to call the little Virginia town "home" again.

She honestly never thought she'd be glad things didn't turn out like she planned.

Zipping the last of her suitcases closed, Caroline sighed, spinning on her heel and flopping down onto the bed. She pursed her lips as she let her eyes skim across the room.

Things were okay. They weren't great. Everything hadn't been magically fixed with the truth about the accident coming out at long last. Tyler was finally reaping the repercussions of what he had done, and while a part of her felt sorry for the man she'd once loved with all her heart, there was another—stronger—part of her that couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

She still got a few curious looks. Some people in town weren't so quick to forgive, and it was almost as if she'd traded one crime for another. Shaming the name of the Lockwood family wasn't something that would easily go overlooked, and the scathing but remorseful glances Carol Lockwood had cast in her direction when they crossed paths in town that morning spoke volumes in itself. She was silent, though, seeming to know that she really had no right to say a word. Her son had let his pretty high school girlfriend take the blame for a crime he committed, and while Caroline was sure Mrs. Lockwood longed to make excuses and try to turn the tables, she realized that in this case, silence was golden.

Her mother was coming to visit her in Chicago in a few weeks. Things were still tense with her and Liz, the idea that she'd so horribly disregarded her daughter for years because of a lie weighing heavily on the elder Forbes' mind. She wanted to make amends, though. Get back to where they left off. "But better," Liz had told her, her usual stoic eyes shining with unshed tears as she had pushed her daughter's hair from her eyes. The brief gesture had meant more to Caroline than words could describe, and she promised a weekend full of bonding and ice cream, scenarios she'd dreamed of having with her mother but always believing they'd never come true.

She sighed, leaning back on her elbows as her gaze fell to the discarded sheet of paper that rested on the night table.

She didn't know why she hadn't just tossed it away. Was there a point, in keeping it, when all it did was tug at her heartstrings, with memories of what could have been but never would?

She'd been caught off guard this morning, when stripping the bed of her sheets, she'd found the paper wedged between the bed and the wall. A frown had marred her face as she tugged the paper from its confines, before her gaze softened when she caught sight of exactly what it was.

She could remember Klaus sketching this in the back of her mind. In the picture, she was lounging at the foot of the bed, her head turned just slightly to toss him a carefree smile, a laugh on her lips as her blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders.

She'd been so engrossed in her To-do list that night, she'd not even realized she was the subject of his art until she'd seen it for herself. She'd complained, trying to pull the sketchbook from his hands, telling him there were so many more interesting and beautiful things to draw than her, to which he had only laughed, grinning as he pulled her against him. His lips had captured hers, his promise that nothing was nearly as beautiful or interesting as her, and he would gladly sketch her until his hands cramped if it meant he could always see her smiling face.

It wasn't the first time he'd done so, either. She'd flipped through the book, seeing silhouettes of her. Drawings of just her eyes or her smile. The curve of her hand around his. Her feet, tangled in the sheets, her star tattoo outlined and darkened.