12It had been a couple of days since Stefan had left and Caroline had barely ventured out of the hotel suite, she felt like when Stefan had gone he'd taken a small piece of her with him and she just didn't want to do anything or seen anyone. Her mom and dad were in the living room discussing how concerned they were about their daughter.
"Bill, I've never seen her like this before, I'm starting to worry a little."
"I know, I think if we take her to the final show tonight it might cheer her up, what do you think?"
"Yeah it's worth a try, anything to get her mind off of that Stefan, I think it's best I tell her though" Liz replied to her husband.
"I agree, I'm going to meet up with Richard for a quick game of golf."
"Okay, see you later" she replied and gave Bill a kiss before he left.
Liz went and knocked on Caroline's door, when she didn't reply she decided to pop her head in the door.
"Care, can I come in?"
"Sure mom" Caroline replied.
Liz came and sat on the edge of Caroline's bed and looked at her daughter.
"Me and your father was thinking that we think it might do you some good to come to the final show tonight."
"Mom I...thanks but no thanks, I'd rather just stay in here to be honest."
"Oh please Caroline, this is going to be our last chance to do something nice as a family, once we get back you'll be getting the last of the things sorted for college and I would really love to have one last fun night with you. I know you're mad at your father and I understand that, but he is sorry. Once you told Tyler about who the father was he came and told your father."
"He did?" Caroline asked.
"Yes, wouldn't it be nice to see him before we went home as well?"
"Yeah I guess it would be, what time do we need to be ready for?"
"Seven o'clock sweetheart."
"Okay, love you mom."
"Love you too Caroline" Liz replied as she got up placed a kiss on her daughters forehead and left her room.
Meanwhile Stefan found himself mopping around in a motel room, he couldn't believe how much he was missing Caroline, he was missing seeing that amazing bright smile of hers which would always make him smile, he missed not being able to hold her and kiss her. With how he was feeling, it suddenly hit him, he was in love with her. Stefan Salvatore was in love, he realised that he couldn't just let her slip away from him just because her father disapproved of him, he was going to make sure that he would see her again, starting with the final show tonight, but there was something else he had to do first.
Caroline was sitting on the bed getting ready, she really wasn't up for doing this, but decided that she would do it for her mom and try her best to enjoy the night.
"Sweetheart, you ready?" her mom shouted.
"I will be in ten mom" Caroline shouted back.
After ten minutes Caroline came out of her room wearing a gorgeous cream dress that had a few little diamantes on her chest, it had shoulder straps and was just below Caroline's knee, to go with her dress she wearing cream sandals that also has little diamantes.
"You look beautiful" Bill said as he realises just how beautiful his daughter is.
"Thanks dad" Caroline smiles to him.
"You look amazing Caroline, right lets go, don't want to be late for our dinner before the show" Liz says.
It's around about half ten and the final show was almost coming to an end, there is about fifteen people on stage singing the final song, Caroline looks to her right and can see all of the entertainment people just watching on, she spots Lexi and smiles at her and Lexi does the same. She turns her head back to the stage wishing that Stefan was here so that they could have one more final night together.
Little did Caroline realise though that a certain young man had just came through the door and was searching for where she was sitting, once he spotted her, he made his way over to her table. Caroline was shocked but also overjoyed to see Stefan standing at the side of their table.
"Nobody puts Care in the corner" Stefan said.
She just looks at him and for a second thinks she's imaging things until he speaks again to her.
"Come on" he says and grabs her hand.
She takes his hand in hers and stands up to go with him, her dad stands up but she just carries on walking past him, heading towards the stage with Stefan.
They walk into the middle of the stage and suddenly everyone stops singing, they look at her and Stefan and wonder what's going on, Stefan stands in front of the microphone still holding on to Caroline's hand.
"Sorry for the interruption folks, but I always do the last dance of the season and this year somebody told me not to. So I am going to do my kind of dancing, with a great partner, who is not only a terrific dancer but somebody who has taught me that their are people wiling to stand up for other people, no matter what it costs them. Somebody that's taught me about the kind of person I wanna be. Miss Caroline Forbes."
With Stefan saying that Bill stands up about to do something until Liz, grabs his arm.
"Sit down Bill" she says sternly to him.
Everybody moves off of the stage and it's just Caroline standing there on her own, Stefan has gone over to his cousin Matt to play the song that he has chosen for them to dance to and takes his leather jacket off. Him and Caroline look at one another as the music starts to play.
Now I've had the time of my life, no I never felt this way before.
Stefan walks over to Caroline and moves his index finger at her like he did on the logwood when he was teaching her about balance in dancing. He puts his hands on Caroline's back as she does with him and he dips her and she sways a little bit like she did when they first danced together. She turns around so that her back is pressed to Stefan's chest and she puts her right arm around his neck, he moves his hand down her arm and takes her other hand in his, but before he goes to spin her out of his arms he places a small soft kiss on Caroline's nose.
As they start dancing, Caroline feels a lot more confident then what she did at the Saltzman Hotel, it feels like the confidence is radiating all through her body. The steps are coming easy to her and she knows when the right time is when she has to turn, Caroline feels so happy that she and Stefan get to do their dance again one more time as they move in sync with one another.
Bill and Liz can't believe how beautiful Caroline looks on stage dancing with Stefan, and he's obviously taught her how to dance like that. They both look on with admiration at their daughter.
Stefan twirls Caroline around and kisses her hand before he surprises her and leaps off of the stage, she puts her head back and laughs, Stefan looks at her and smiles. He jumps up in the air and spins around before landing back on the floor, he then starts to dance his way up to the entertainment people. As soon as he reaches them he jumps into them and tells them all to 'come on' and they all do the same dance moves he did when he was walking up to them, this time though they're dancing back towards the stage.
As Stefan dances his way back to Caroline he looks at her and nods, instantly she knows what he means, two men take her hands to help her off of the stage, and she runs and jumps and Stefan places his hands on Caroline's hips and lifts her up into the air, she puts her legs together and stretches out her arms to help her balance and Stefan keeps her in the air for about ten second before he brings her down in to a hug where Caroline wraps her arms around him proud with herself for doing the lift, Stefan wraps his arms around her and kisses her cheek.
Stefan asks Caroline if she wants a bit of fresh air which she does after all the dancing, as they make their way over to the doors, Bill pats Stefan's shoulder and stops them.
"I know you weren't the one who got Lexi in trouble,."
"Yeah" Stefan says looking Bill right in the eyes.
"If I'm wrong, then I say I'm wrong" Bill replies looking back at Stefan, then looks at Caroline and smiles.
"You looked wonderful out there Care."
Caroline smiles at her dad and wraps her arms around his neck.
"Thank you daddy" she says as she pulls away.
Bill looks at the pair of the and smiles before he walks away, Caroline and Stefan head outside for a minute to get some fresh air.
"I'm so happy you came back" she says to Stefan as she takes his hand in hers.
"So am I, I needed to see you to tell you something." Stefan says as he turns and stares into Caroline's bright blue eyes.
"Well what is it?" she asks him.
"I've decided to actually do something with my life, I've enrolled to start Whitmore college in three weeks."
"What, really, we're going to college together?" Caroline asks surprised.
"Yeah, I'm taking classes in business and dance, I'm hoping to actually open up my own dance studio one day and it's all because of you, I meant what I said back in there, you have taught me what kind of person I wanna be Care, thank you."
Caroline smiles at him and wraps her arms around his neck.
"There is something else as well I want to say, these couple of days have been hard for me not being able to see you, and I finally realised that I love you, I'm in love with you."
Caroline looks Stefan in the eyes and then kisses him, after a few minutes she pulls away.
"I love you too."