enough, but Bonnie knew that it made Caroline grind her teeth just to see Stefan and Elena together and out of danger.
“You’re right. I’m sorry,” Stefan said, and he did something that no ordinary eighteen-year-old could have pulled off without looking like an idiot. He took Caroline’s hand and kissed it as gracefully and unthinkingly as if he were some count from nearly half a millennium ago. Which, of course, was pretty much what he was, Bonnie thought.
Caroline looked slightly smug — Stefan had taken his time with the hand kiss. Now he said, “And last but not least, this tanned beauty here is Caroline.” Then, very gently, in a voice that Bonnie had heard him use only a few times since she’d known him, he said, “Don’t you remember them, love? They nearly died for you — and for me.” Elena was floating easily, in a standing position now, bobbing like a swimmer trying to keep still.
“We did it because we care,” Bonnie said, and she put her arms out again for a hug. “But we never expected to get you back, Elena.” Her eyes filled. “You came back to us. Don’t you know us?”
Elena floated down until she was directly in front of Bonnie.
There was still no sign of recognition on her face, but there was something else. There was a kind of limitless benediction and tranquility. Elena radiated a calming peace and an unconditional love that made Bonnie breathe in deeply and shut her eyes. She could feel it like sunshine on her face, like the ocean in her ears. After a moment Bonnie realized she was in danger of crying at the sheer feeling of goodness — a word that was almost never used these days. Some things still could be simply, untouchably good.
Elena was good.
And then, with a gentle touch on Bonnie’s shoulder, Elena floated toward Caroline. She held out her arms.
Caroline looked flustered. A wave of scarlet swept up her neck. Bonnie saw it, but didn’t understand it. They’d all had a chance to pick up on Elena’s vibes. And Caroline and Elena had been close friends — until Stefan, their rivalry had been friendly. It was good of Elena to pick Caroline to hug first.
And then Elena went into the circle of Caroline’s hastily raised arms and just as Caroline began to say “I’ve —” she kissed her full on the mouth. It wasn’t just a peck, either. Elena wrapped her arms around Caroline’s neck and hung on. For long moments Caroline stood deathly still as if in shock. Then she reared back and struggled, at first feebly, and then so violently that Elena was catapulted backward in the air, her eyes wide.
Stefan caught her like an infielder going for a pop fly.
“What the hell —?” Caroline was scrubbing at her mouth.
“Caroline!” Stefan’s voice was filled with fierce protectiveness. “It doesn’t mean anything like what you’re thinking. It’s got nothing to do with sex at all. She’s just identifying you, learning who you are. She can do that now that she’s come back to us.”
“Prairie dogs,” Meredith said in the cool, slightly distant voice she often used to bring down the temperature of a room. “Prairie dogs kiss when they meet. It does exactly what you said, Stefan, helps them identify specific individuals….”
Caroline was far beyond Meredith’s abilities to cool down, however. Scrubbing her mouth had been a bad idea; she had smeared scarlet lipstick all around it, so that she looked like something out of a Bride of Dracula movie. “Are you crazy? What do you think I am? Because some hamsters do it, that makes it okay?” She had flushed a mottled red, from her throat to the roots of her hair.
“Prairie dogs. Not hamsters.”
“Oh, who gives a—” Caroline broke off, frantically fumbling in her purse until Stefan offered her a box of tissues. He had already dabbed the scarlet smears off Elena’s mouth. Caroline rushed into the small bathroom attached to Stefan’s attic bedroom and slammed the door hard.
Bonnie and Meredith caught each other’s eye and let out their breaths simultaneously, convulsing with laughter. Bonnie did a lightning-quick imitation of Caroline’s expression and frantic scrubbing, miming someone using handful after handful of tissues. Meredith gave a reproving shake of her head, but she and Stefan and Matt all had a case of the mustn’t-laugh snickers. A lot of it was simply the release of tension — they had seen Elena alive again, after six long months without her — but they couldn’t stop laughing.
Or at least they couldn’t until a tissue box sailed out of the bathroom, nearly hitting Bonnie in the head — and they all realized that the slammed door had rebounded — and that there was a mirror in the bathroom. Bonnie caught Caroline’s expression in the mirror and then met her full-on glare.
Yep, she’d seen them laughing at her.
The door closed again — this time, as if it had been kicked. Bonnie ducked her head and clutched at her short strawberry curls, wishing the floor would open up and swallow her.
“I’ll apologize,” she said after a gulp, trying to be adult about the situation. Then she looked up and realized that everyone else was more concerned about Elena, who was clearly upset by this rejection.
It’s a good thing we made Caroline sign that oath in blood, Bonnie thought. And it’s a good thing that you- know-who signed it, too. If there was one thing Damon would know about, it was consequences.
Even as she was thinking this, she joined the huddle around Elena. Stefan was trying to hold Elena; Elena was trying to go after Caroline; and Matt and Meredith were helping Stefan and telling Elena that it was okay.
When Bonnie joined them, Elena gave up trying to get to the bathroom. Her face was distressed, her blue eyes swimming with tears. Elena’s serenity had been broken by hurt and regret — and underneath that, a surprisingly deep apprehension. Bonnie’s intuition gave a twinge.
But she patted Elena’s elbow, the only part of her that she could reach, and added her voice to the chorus: “You didn’t know she’d get so upset. You didn’t hurt her.”
Crystal tears spilled down Elena’s cheeks, and Stefan caught them with a tissue as if each one was priceless.
“She thinks that Caroline is hurt,” Stefan said, “and she’s worried about her — for some reason I don’t get.”
Bonnie realized that Elena could communicate after all — by mind-link. “I felt that, too,” she said. “The hurt. But tell her — I mean — Elena, I promise I’ll apologize. I’ll grovel.”
“It may take some groveling from all of us,” Meredith said. “But meanwhile I want to make sure that this ‘angel unaware’ recognizes me.”
With an expression of tranquil sophistication, she took Elena out of Stefan’s arms and into her own, and then she kissed her.
Unfortunately, this coincided with Caroline stalking out of the bathroom. The bottom of her face was paler than the top, having been denuded of all makeup: lipstick, bronzer, blush, the works. She stopped dead and stared.
“I don’t believe it,” she said in scathing tones. “You’re still doing it! It’s dis—”
“Caroline.” Stefan’s voice was a warning.
“I came here to see Elena.” Caroline — beautiful, lithe, bronze-limbed Caroline — was twisting her hands together as if in terrible conflict. “The old Elena. And what do I see? She’s like a baby — she can’t talk. She’s like some smirking guru floating in the air. And now she’s like some kind of perverted—”
“Don’t finish that,” Stefan said quietly but firmly. “I told you, she ought to be over the first symptoms in just a few days, to judge by her progress so far,” he added.
And he was different, somehow, Bonnie thought. Not just happier to have gotten Elena back. He was… stronger somehow at the core of himself. Stefan had always been quiet inside; her powers sensed him as a pool of clear water. Now she saw that same clear water built up like a tsunami.
What could have changed Stefan so much?
The answer came to her immediately, although in the form of a wondering question. Elena was still part spirit — Bonnie’s intuition told her that. What did it do if you drank the blood of someone who was in that state?
“Caroline, let’s just drop it,” she said. “I’m sorry, I’m really, really sorry for — you know. I was wrong, and I’m sorry.”
“Oh, you’re sorry. Oh, that makes everything all right then, doesn’t it?” Caroline’s voice was pure acid, and she turned her back on Bonnie with finality. Bonnie was surprised to feel the sting of tears behind her eyes.
Elena and Meredith still had their arms around each other, their cheeks wet with the other’s tears. They were looking at each other and Elena was beaming.
“Now she’ll know you anywhere,” Stefan told Meredith. “Not just your face, but — well, the inside of you, too,
