Forever Yours

Guilt

Damon's Point of View:

Elena's salty tears soaked through Damon's gray button-up shirt. She gripped at the fabric as she sobbed into his chest. Damon held her, making sure to comfort her as best as he could. But he knew there was no way he could suppress the anguish and guilt Elena was feeling. But he couldn't believe it either. Bonnie was gone. Gone forever. He would never see her wide smile or talk to her like the best friends they were. The grief stabbed Damon in the gut like a thousand knives or like a wooden driven deeply.

"I," Damon started slowly, "I need to call Enzo." He wiped his face as he let go of Elena. His fingers lingered on her arms, yearning for her touch, but he knew he had to figure out what went wrong.

Elena tilted her head, "Enzo?" A questioning look pierced his eyes as she wondered what he could have to do with anything. She pursed her lips probably thinking, "Why would Damon call Enzo about Bonnie?"

"About that," started Damon, "they started dating a few years back." He tried to make it sound happy but failed in doing so. He just couldn't keep a smile on his face. The grin slid into a grimace.

Elena's eyes widened. She smiled for a few seconds before her eyes filled with horror. She covered her mouth and tried not to cry. She gasped and buried her face in her face.

"I'm-I'm back too early," she stuttered. "It hasn't been long at all, has it? I ruined a perfectly fine relationship that was supposed to last for at least a few decades. But now I'm back and Bonnie isn't. This is all my fault." More tears streamed down her cheeks as she sobbed.

Damon came forward and hugged her. He put a protective hand on her head and said, "Shh it's not your fault. None of it is." He rubbed her back and pressed his face in her hair that smelled like ashes and faintly like roses.

But deep down,

way deep down,

Damon felt the guilt gnaw at his gut. He never got to say goodbye to his best friend. He never got to tell her how much their friendship meant to him. The tears that he was crying wasn't entirely based on sadness. The tears belonged to all the moments he missed with his best friend.

~~~~~~~~~

Caroline's Point of View:

The cold air swirled around her, sending a chill down her spine. Her back ached from sitting in the jail cell for days. Boredom came and slowly engulfed her mind, making her a little crazy.

Of course she spoke to Bonnie a lot but she slept most of the time due to the transition. But when Bonnie was sleeping, Caroline had time to really think about other things. At the moment, Bonnie was asleep.

Although she wouldn't admit it, she missed Klaus. The phone call she gave to him broke her heart.  She let him down after he clearly helped her with her own problems.

Caroline sighed and put her head between her knees. A single tear managed to escape her eye but she wiped it away quickly. No, she said to herself. You have to be strong. You've cried far too much.

The door at the top of the stairway opened slowly. The hinges on the door creaked loudly in the dead silence. Caroline didn't dare call out due to the spark of fear deep in her bones. Golden light shown in from the sunset that filtered through the upstair's windows.

"Love?" asked a quiet voice. The figure walked quickly down the steps to have a look around the basement.

"Klaus?" she asked while trying to keep her voice down. She jumped up and went against the cell bars to get a better glance. "Is that you?"