wizard in mystic falls

11

You did it, Tyler. Lets take the victory." Caroline smiled at him nervously, desperately trying to ignore the butterflies that had erupted in her stomach at the sight of his answering grin.

Last night had changed something between them.

He'd been in agony, bones twisting and breaking, crying out in pain. It was the most horrific thing she'd ever witnessed. Silent tears had run down her face for hours as she'd watched him, just being there in the room that Rei had built for his transformation.

She could remember thinking, when she'd first seen the room, that the steel plated walls, reinforced by concrete on the outside, were a little much. Blue foam mats had padded all four walls, the floor and even the ceiling. She hadn't known why until last night. When the wolf couldn't escape it turned its frustrations on itself, tearing at its skin, throwing itself at the walls. If those mats hadn't been there Caroline knew that Tyler's already pain wracked body would have suffered a lot worse.

"Where'd you get the clothes?" He asked, gesturing towards the cropped leather jacket and skirt she was wearing.

Why was this so awkward?

"Oh, um, Rei let me store them at her house. She has an amazing bathroom, did you know that? It's got that multiple shower heads thing going on," She laughed uncomfortably, mentally cringing at her lame words. Seriously? Rei's bathroom, that's what she went with?

Caroline caught the wry grin that he tried to hide with narrowed eyes.

"What?" She snapped, putting her hands on her hips. He better not be laughing at her! Yes, it might be deserved but that hardly meant he should do it!

"Nothing," Tyler chuckled, his eyes twinkling with laughter. "I was just thinking that that's where you must have been when Rei walked in on me naked this morning."

Her mouth dropped open, "Excuse me?!" She squawked. Rei saw him naked?!

"It was an accident. She came down to see how I was after last night and to bring me a cup of coffee and some scrambled eggs, and…" He trailed off with suggestively raised eyebrows.

Before she could say anything her phone rang. Picking it out of her pocket she looked at the caller ID.

"Well, would you look at that, speak of the devil," She smirked and answered, "Good Morning, Rei!"

"Caroline, hey; look, I've been trying to get in touch with Tyler but he must have his phone off or something because I keep getting voicemail. Have you seen him? I wanted to make sure he was doing all right with everything." The soft English accent on the other end made her smile.

"He's fine, Rei," She reassured her, hearing the worry the girl was attempting to hide. She'd learned quickly that Rei wasn't one to share personal information.

For someone who lived and breathed her emotions, Caroline hadn't really known how to connect with the girl at first, not until she realised that Rei Potter was the first person she'd ever met that felt things more deeply than even she did. Her friends often called her emotional and overly sensitive, and it was true to an extent. When she gave her heart to someone she gave it wholly, and when she trusted someone, loved them, there wasn't anything she wouldn't do for them. That was just her. She'd always been that way.

And she recognised the same trait in Rei. That tendency to live each moment to the fullest, to experience the whole gambit of emotions in every situation, to give your heart to those you loved and cared for.

But unlike her, Rei was careful about the people she let close to her.

When she'd been opening the tomb for Elena, the brunette had admitted that she worried that the English girl didn't like her. An unusual experience for the girl who seemingly got along with everyone. But Caroline understood better than most the follies of feeling too deeply. Your highs were incredible, they took you soaring above the clouds and mountains, but the reverse was also true. The lows buried you down in troughs so deep it was suffocating sometimes.