Mia was awaken by the light coming through the curtains, she could feel a soft air brushing against her skin and looked down to see Caroline's face that was buried in the crook of her neck and her arms wrapped around Mia's body. She unlocked her phone and saw texts from Stefan, asking how she was, asking about Caroline and telling her to come home as soon as she can. She tried to move but Caroline's grip remained tight, the two girls had spent the whole night sharing stories, Mia told Caroline about Sebastian which angered the blonde and she made a vow to hurt him if he ever tried to contact Mia again.

Caroline awoke and stared up at Mia "Good morning." she spoke with sleepy eyes.

"Good morning gorgeous," Mia greeted pleasantly, "How you feeling?"

"Better, my eyes are just hurting a bit," Caroline outstretched her body then leapt off the bed screaming when her skin came in contact with the sunlight. "Ow, ow, owwww. What the fuck, that really hurt."

"You idiot," Mia ran to the bathroom and dampened a hand towel, she knelt down beside Caroline, patting her skin with the towel in an attempt to soothe the pain. "I told you to stay away from sunlight, you don't have a daylight ring."

"Can't Bonnie just make me one?" Caroline winced as the towel touched her, "You have a sun ring, I want one as well."

"Daylight ring," Mia corrected, "And I don't think getting Bonnie involved is the best idea, you did kill her date."

"By accident," Caroline defended "I didn't mean to kill him."

"I know you didn't, baby," Mia stroked her hand across Caroline's leg "Just give her some time to cool off and she'll be perfectly fine again. I mean, I'm a vampire and she likes me."

"Yeah because she thinks you drink from blood bags." Caroline sassed.

"And she doesn't need to know any different. Don't tell her about last night," Mia warned, she was referring to events of the previous evening where Mia compelled a random woman who was night jogging, she brought her to Caroline's room where the two fed from her. Then she healed the woman, compelled her to forget what had happened and let her go. Another text from Stefan inbounded so Mia took this as a sign to leave. "I have to go, Care."

"What? No!" Caroline disputed, "You can't leave me on my own, I'll go insane."

"I think we're a little past that point babe," she ruffled Caroline's hair, "I'll be back soon, in the mean time stay away from the windows and don't answer the door, even if it's Matt."

"Yes mistress," Caroline stuck her tongue out at Mia, who mimicked her actions.

~~~~

Stefan walked into the living room where he found Mia sat on the couch, reading a magazine. "Hey, how are you?"

"I'm good."

"How's Caroline doing?" he inquired

"She's great," Mia beamed "I'm so proud of her. She's adapted really well." 

Stefan sat next to Mia, he'd gotten so use to having her around which meant it felt strange when they wouldn't see each other. "That's good, it's great to see you. We haven't really had a chance to talk since....."

"Since what?" Mia knew exactly what he was referring to. She realised that this was the first time she'd been completely alone with Stefan since he walked in on her and the older Salvatore brother.

"You and Damon."

Mia grimaced "I think I'd prefer to forget about that night altogether." Stefan raised an eyebrow, wanting to tease her a little bit more. "What can I say, my weakness is crying men." she added, desperately wanting the conversation to be over.

"You know, when you told me on Founder's Day that you would deal with Damon, I thought you meant you would talk to him and tell him to leave Elena alone." Stefan chuckled "I didn't think you meant you would give him a new target to obsess over."

"Shut up!" Mia rolled up her magazine and hit Stefan repeatedly over the head with it "I actually hate you."

"No you don't." he snatched the magazine from her and threw it across the room, "I have a favour to ask you."

"Go get that back and maybe I'll listen." Mia told him. Stefan did as he was told, handing back the magazine with an innocent smile. "Okay, now I'm listening."

"I need you to speak to Bonnie," Stefan said, "Ask her to make a daylight ring for Caroline so we can get her outside."

"No can do," Mia folded her arms across her chest "I'm not telling Bonnie to do anything, we can't keep getting her involved in vampire situations, especially after what happened last time. I can call in a favour with a witch from Georgia and she can make a ring for Care."

"We need the ring today Mia," Stefan told her "The longer we keep Caroline isolated, the further she gets from her humanity. Also I'm gonna teach her how to hunt."

"Hunt? As in on bunnies and bambis?" she asked and he nodded, "Stefan, we don't need to teach her how to do that. We fed on a person last night and she knew when to stop."

"I'm just letting her know that she has other options and who knows, maybe she'll prefer this way."

"She won't like it," Mia sang, returning to her magazine. "Getting Caroline to do something she doesn't want to do would be like getting Damon to stop being an asshole." Damon came into the room, carrying a gift bag. "Speak of the devil and he doth appear," Mia spoke, laughing.

"I'm going to Elena's house, make sure she has everything she needs." Stefan left, leaving Damon and Mia alone together.

"Hey Mamma Mia," Damon approached her. "Here." he dropped the bag into Mia's lap.

"What is it?" Mia raised an eyebrow, part of her convinced that the bag contained a bomb.

"It's a dress," Damon took it out the bag and fanned it in front of her "I promised you one right? Don't worry it's the exact same design as the other one." She thanked him then stared straight at her magazine, hoping that he would go away. "Why aren't you coming to Duke with us?" he took the object from her hands.

"You Salvatores really need to stop interrupting my reading," Mia snapped "And for your information I'm not coming to Duke because it's a totally useless trip."

"Useless how?"

"I've already told you that werewolves exist but since you're so insistent on ignoring me, if you ever get bit by a werewolf I will sit there and laugh at you. And also, I can tell Elena everything I know about the Petrova line. You guys are wasting a journey to go learn things that I can teach here," she waved her hand gesturing at the room "from the comfort of your own home."

"We're going to Duke as a just in case but I'll take up your offer to teach me something Missy," Damon smirked as Mia scoffed at his comment, he stayed silent for a moment, wondering whether or not he should ask the following question, "How's Blondie?"

"As if you care." Mia retorted, remembering the reason why she was mad at Damon in the first place.

"Look, I'm sorry for trying to kill her. Do I still think it's the right thing to do? Yes. Will I try it again? No." he threaded his fingers through Mia's hair, "Come on, I can't have you and Elena mad at me. I'm sorry, okay?"

The Petrova girl stared straight into Damon's eyes "It's not me you should be apologising to."

"Fine," he drummed his fingers against her leg "Next time I see Caroline I'll buy her roses to say sorry. Would that make you happy?"

"It's a start," Mia rose from her seat, "Anyways, me and Stefan are helping her with her urges so she won't be a danger to anyone, or a liability as you so eloquently put it."

"Great!" Damon remarked, "The chipmunk chomper and the girl who can't even remember how she was turned, are gonna train a newbie vampire. What could go wrong?"

"Unless you want to help us, keep you snarky comments to yourself." Mia threw the car keys at him and walked out the house with Damon trailing after her.

"I'm good," he twirled the keys on his finger, "I'll leave the teaching to the professionals."

"If it was Elena you'd volunteer in a split second," Mia nudged him as they moved towards the car.

Damon threw his arm over her shoulder and slapped a hand over her mouth "You're not gonna talk for the rest of the journey." He jerked his hand away after feeling the pain of Mia sinking her teeth into his palm. "Ow, we need to get you a muzzle."

"We need to get you castrated." Mia shot back. "Can we get lemonade?"

Once they had arrived at the Gilbert house Mia approached Jenna, who was looking rather frustrated "Hi, Jen. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just men and their baggage." Jenna sighed exasperatedly, "It's almost enough to want to give up men altogether."

This comment caused Mia to choke on her lemonade, she knelt down, spluttering.

"Oh my god," Jenna rubbed Mia's back, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Mia spoke with teary eyes as she tried to compose herself, "I'm gonna go say bye to Elena." She pressed a hand to her throat and quickly walked away, her cheeks glowing red. Stefan noticed her state and tilted his head upwards as a way of asking what's wrong. Mia cocked her head to the right, to tell him that she's okay. This was how she used to communicate with Lexi, it was now obvious that Lexi had also taught it to Stefan. "You know, you can go with Elena if you want to, I'll be fine with Caroline."

"It's okay," he crossed his arms over his chest, "They need to talk it out. I know Elena has a lot to say to him." He made his way to the car, to bid his girlfriend goodbye. The Gilbert girl grabbed him by the neck and kissed him, right in front of Damon.

That's gotta sting. Mia watched as Damon stood there awkwardly, she decided to put him out of his misery and walked up to him. "Awh, diddums." she teased, once she saw that Stefan and Elena weren't listening. "Little Damon got his heart broken?"

"Not at all." he raised his eyebrows "Do I not get a goodbye kiss?" 

He leaned in closer but Mia pressed a finger to his lips and pushed him back "Try that again and Elena will be the least of your problems." He held his hands up, "Now go, I can hear Elena complaining from here."

Damon shook his head, "Don't do that, don't you say your goodbyes." he grabbed her hand, whilst she rolled her eyes at yet another one of his Titanic references, "Not yet, do you understand me?"

"You're such a loser," Mia giggled as she try to pull her hand away.

They were interrupted by the sound of the car horn. Alaric put his head out of the window and shouted "Hey Mr Dawson, can you hurry up? We gotta get to Duke."

"See you later Missy," Damon quickly kissed her cheek and ran off before she could retaliate. He waved at her from the car window, she flipped him off and he blew her a kiss.

"I'm gotta go speak to Bonnie," Stefan told her "I'll meet you at Caroline's?"

"Yeah, sure. See you there." 

~~~~

"Behave Care," Mia warned "Stefan has just about managed to convince Bonnie to do this."

"I'm not even gonna say anything," Caroline fastened the non existent zip on her mouth, Bonnie walked in holding the grimoire. She placed the ring on the bed as Caroline looked at it judgingly, "So, I don't get to choose the ring I have to wear for the rest of my life?"

"Hey, if you don't want it..." Bonnie rebuked.

"No, no" Stefan interjected, he looked at Caroline warningly "She wants it."

When he wasn't looking Caroline pulled a face at him, earning her a nudge from Mia, who was sat next to her. "Now what?"

"Now is the part where I explain the rules." Bonnie started "The witch who spells the ring has the power to de-spell it so if you do anything to hurt anyone..."

"I'm not gonna hurt anyone." Caroline retorted, she hated the way her friend was looking at her.

"You're a vampire that means the urge to kill is a part of who you are," Bonnie spoke "The minute you let it take over, I will stop you."

 As Bonnie went on about the urges of a vampire, Mia looked to her left and saw Stefan looking down, almost as if he was ashamed of himself. She hated the constant self loathing he felt and wanted to help him, how she helped Caroline. Lexi always knew what to do and Mia desperately wished she could ask her for advice. Stefan could feel her gaze on him, he looked up and offered her a smile in an attempt to convince her that he was okay but he knew she wasn't that gullible.

Bonnie opened her eyes after casting the spell "All done," she handed the ring to an unconvinced Caroline.

"So that's it?" Caroline questioned "I mean, nothing witchy happened. You know, no flickering lights, no gust of wind." She raised her eyebrows and cocked her head to the side, "Have you even done this before?"

"Caroline..." Mia and Stefan both spoke at the same time,  their tones laced in annoyance.

"What? I just want to make sure it worked." Caroline defended.

"Shut up before she de-spells it," Mia whispered harshly.

Bonnie yanked opened the curtain, causing Caroline to flinch. "It worked," Bonnie smiled triumphantly.

"What if it hadn't Bonnie," Caroline scolded.

The Bennett witch picked up her grimoire and looked at Stefan "She's all yours." As she made her way to the front door she was stopped by Mia.

"Wait up," Mia pulled the girl into her arms, "Thank you for this Bon. It means a lot."

"It's okay but I meant what I said. If Caroline hurts anyone I'll de-spell the ring."

"I know," Mia nodded "Don't worry, I won't let her. I love you."

"I love you too," Bonnie opened the door "Anything else?"

"Yes," Mia cupped the Bennett witch's face in her hands "You look very cute today, I love your dress."

A few moments after Bonnie left, Stefan walked past Mia "I'm just gonna bring my car around and then we'll leave." 

Mia went back to Caroline's room, "Get your shoes off the bed! Were you raised in a barn?!"

"Woah, sorry grandma," Caroline smiled cheekily, "I keep forgetting you're like a century old. You play a very convincing teenager."

"Don't call me old," Mia pointed at her "Compare to other vampires I'm practically a baby. I've met some who are hundreds of years old."

"Is that gonna be us?" Caroline murmured "Are we gonna live for centuries?"

"I have no clue." Mia leant back on the bed and sighed "Sometimes I feel like becoming a vampire is basically signing your own death sentence. I mean, look at Jesse and Lexi, they were supposed to live forever. Jesse didn't even make it to 100."

Caroline snuggled in close to the Petrova girl "That won't be us. We're gonna outlive everyone in this town."

"I hope so, Care." Mia wrapped her arms around the girl, "I really hope so."

~~~~

"So what do I do when I see the rabbit?" Caroline asked, her eyes scanning the woods for the animal.

"Chase it, catch it, feed on it." Stefan responded.

The blonde paused "Wait, isn't killing cute defenceless animals the first step in becoming a serial killer?"

"Well you sort of skipped the serial killer and went straight to vampire," Stefan sighed exasperatedly. He looked at Mia, hoping for some support but she simply gave him an "I told you so" look. "Caroline, if you're not serious about all of this I think you should tell me."

"No I am," she argued "It's just that..."

"She doesn't feel like killing little bunnies." Mia interrupted. "Look Stef, I know the animal blood works for you but Caroline's new at this. It won't be enough to sustain her."

"Yes, I agree. Listen to her." Caroline pointed. "Also everyone is at the swimming hole having fun and Matt is there! He finally told me that he loved me but I've been blowing him off. And now you want me to eat bunnies and I'm kinda freaking out, okay?!"

Following their friend's outburst, Mia and Stefan looked at each other and burst into a fit of laughter. Mia pinched Caroline's cheeks "You are so cute!", she placed a kiss on the blonde's forehead.

"Why are you guys laughing at me?!" The Forbes girl threw her hands down and furrowed her brows,  "You suck, both of you."

"We're not laughing at you, Caroline." Stefan told her, whilst he was trying to hold in another laugh. "Trust me, none of this is funny. It's just that when someone becomes a vampire, all their natural behaviours sort of get heightened."

"Amplified." Mia chimed in. "So when I was human, I was very protective over the people that I love. And now...."

"You try to kill anyone who hurts them." Caroline laughed. "Like you did with Damon."

"Yeah, that sounds accurate." Stefan nodded "For me, I cared deeply for people, how they felt. If they were hurting I felt their pain and I felt guilty if I was the one who caused it and as a vampire all that got..... magnified." 

Caroline glanced at Mia and saw that her friend was staring at the younger Salvatore brother, listening intently to everything he was saying. Her eyes widened as she came to a realisation. Holy crap, why didn't I see this before?  When Mia looked at her , Caroline simply smirked and winked, then followed Stefan down the path, leaving a very confused Mia stood in place as she wondered what that gesture meant.

They managed to catch a rabbit but Caroline refused to feed from it. Stefan gave up and agreed to go to the swimming hole. He believed that it was important for Caroline to be around Matt as he was one of the closest connections to her humanity. Caroline had gone to find her boyfriend so Mia and Stefan were stood by the car. They both turned as Mason Lockwood drove past, Mia was distracted by the presence of the man but not distracted enough to miss the glares Stefan was sending his way. 

"If looks could kill, Stef." Mia started "There would be blood gushing out of that car." Mia knew the reason for his anger. Damon had texted them from Duke confirming the existence of werewolves, leaving Stefan worried. Mia on the other hand gave a 2 minute speech on how she was right and why they should always listen to her. 

The words "fucking idiots" appeared in that monologue several times to describe the stupidity of the brothers. During this, Stefan simply bowed his head, wishing that he'd listened to her when she warned them that the Lockwoods could be werewolves. 

When she finished, she gave him a hug and apologised for the many insults she spewed, blaming it on her alter ego, Mila, who only appears when she's in a fit of rage. "I'm not apologising to Damon though." Stefan laughed and accepted her apology, contemplating how dull his life would be if the Petrova girl wasn't around.

Their conversation was interrupted when they spotted Caroline compelling a girl to leave Matt alone. Once Matt had left they approached her. "Hey, we saw that." Stefan scolded "You compelled her."

"Yeah, she deserved it." Caroline shot back.

"Caroline, no one deserves to have their mind messed with for shallow reasons." Stefan explained.

"Why is everyone sticking up for Aimee freaking Bradley?!" she turned to Mia and pointed "And you can't lecture me because you compelled Carol Lockwood and the Miss Mystic board to let you compete in the pageant, so don't be a hypocrite."

Mia pressed her lips together, ignoring the confused looks Stefan was sending her way. "Okay I'm gonna ignore what you just said. Look, you can't let your jealousy get the best of you, especially over something as stupid as Aimee Bradley and Matt."

When Stefan left to get them drinks, Caroline leaned closer to Mia to make sure no one could hear them, "I know."

"You know what, Care?"

"That you have a massive crush on Stefan," she flashed her an innocent smile, eager to hear her friend's reply.

Mia looked around in the fear that Stefan was close, then she pulled Caroline in and whispered "You can't tell anyone."

"Oh, crap. It's true?" Caroline's jaw dropped "I was only like 40% sure." She held her hands over her mouth and bounced on her toes. "That's so cute! You can be together forever and have like a June wedding. I've always wanted to organise a wedding. Oh my god, does Elena know?"

"Of course she doesn't know." Mia snapped "And she isn't ever going to know because I'm not gonna do anything about it. Stefan loves Elena and Elena loves him. I'm not getting in between them, I'm not Damon! Promise me you won't tell anyone." she extended her pinkie towards her friend.

"I promise," Caroline linked their pinkies then held her hand, "Can I be your maid of honour?"

~~~~

"Where the hell is she?!" Mia and Stefan were searching for Caroline who had disappeared into the woods with Matt. "It's a full moon, we gotta get out of here."

As they were walking Stefan paused and held his arm out in front of Mia, "Wait, do you hear that?" He grabbed Mia's hand and continued walking, "It sounds like someone's in pain." They came across a truck, the ground looked disturbed with claw marks etched into it.

"So, either someone's getting kinky," Mia motioned to the chains wrapped around the tree "Or we've got a werewolf on the loose." They both moved closer to the truck and peered through the window until a pair of golden eyes flashed through. All of a sudden, a wolf shot through the glass, Stefan pulled Mia to the ground, shielding her with his body as the pieces landed on them. When they stood up Mia's body drooped into his and he wrapped his arms around her, "That was so scary," she whispered breathlessly.

"It's okay, it's gone." Stefan held her head close to his chest, his fingers raked through her hair as he removed fragments of glass from it. "We need to find Caroline before it gets to her." They found the Forbes girl gorging on the blood of her boyfriend. "Caroline, stop!" Stefan yanked her off of Matt, who fainted and dropped onto the ground.

The dark veins from her eyes dispersed as she looked down and realised what she'd done, "Oh my god, Matt!"

The sound of leaves and branches rustling startled them, "Matt stay down. Do not move." Stefan ordered, he turned to the two girls " We have to run, we'll lead it away from Matt. Caroline listen to me, you have to run as fast as you can, we're right behind you. Go!" The trio took off in a sprint as they darted through the woods.

Caroline came to an abrupt stop and whipped around "Wait! What is it?"

"It's a werewolf," Mia tugged Caroline's arm to persuade her to keep running, "He'll be able to kill us, we have to keep ru-"

"What are you guys doing?" A voice spoke from behind them, they turned to see Tyler, who was busy taking in the scene. "Damn Stefan, I never pegged you for a threesome kinda guy."

Caroline yelped as the wolf leapt out of the bushes and descended upon her, its nose pointing down as it growled. "Help me!" she shrieked "Someone please help me!" Mia was about to run forward but was stopped as Tyler clutched onto her, holding her back. Stefan dashed towards the wolf and tackled it, throwing it off Caroline. The animal bared its teeth and lay low, its eyes ogling its new prey.

"No!" Tyler yelled, causing the beast to turn. Mia freed herself from Tyler's grip and slowly made her way towards Stefan, who held his hand out and pulled her in close. The wolf stared at Tyler for a short while until it took off in a run, disappearing into the darkness. Mia helped Caroline up and engulfed the girl in her arms, Stefan rubbed both their backs, whispering comforting words.

After Caroline compelled Matt to forget the events of that night, she was asking advice from Stefan, "I shouldn't be with him, should I? Because if there's any danger..."

"I'm the last person to make that kind of decision for you." Stefan interjected, "If I had followed my own advice, I would've walked away from Elena a long time ago."

"You ever think you should have?" Caroline quizzed.

"I know I should have," he responded "I just can't." He shook his head as Caroline's situation caused him to second-guess his own relationship.

"What about you?" Caroline turned to Mia, who was sat on a tree stump with her head hung low. "Have you ever dated a human."

"I've dated two," Mia offered Caroline her hand and the Forbes girl pulled her up from her seat. "There was Scott but I had to break up with him because I broke his..." she paused, trying to think of the best way to word it ".... bone." 

Caroline's eyes widened and she broke into laughter "Oh my god!" she clutched her stomach, tears seeping through her eyes. "How the heck did you do that?"

"You really want me to explain it to you?" Mia teased, Caroline held her hands up and shook her head.

"Who's the other one?"

"Relly, Esmerelda," Mia sighed sadly, looking away, "We don't talk about Relly."

"Do you think I should break up with Matt?"

"I think..." Mia placed her hands on Caroline's shoulders "you should do whatever you think is right. Whatever you decide to do, I will support you."

"Thanks, Mia."

"Anytime."

~~~~

Mia returned to the boarding house, Caroline had tricked Matt into breaking up with her so the Petrova girl had spent the last 2 hours comforting her.

"Here, we deserve this after today," Stefan handed her a glass of bourbon after she collapsed onto the couch. "How's Caroline?"

"She's gonna be okay." Mia reassured "She did what she felt was right. I was gonna stay with her but she said she wanted to be alone."

"Don't worry," Stefan placed a hand on Mia's knee, "she's brave."

"She's braver than us." Mia responded.

"How'd you mean?"

Her shoulders slumped "We know we shouldn't get involved in the human stuff ...... but we do it anyway." All she received from Stefan was a slow nod as he stared into the fire, she silently cursed at herself for saying something so insensitive. "I didn't mean that as a dig."

"I know you didn't," he smiled, he threw his head back and sighed wearily, "That doesn't make it any less true." Mia reached over and stroked her thumb across Stefan's hand, he sat upright and ran his hand over his face. "Who's Relly?" he asked, "I heard you and Caroline talking earlier."

"She was my girlfriend, about 5 years ago" Mia drained her glass of its contents and poured more bourbon into it. She was far too sober to be able to tell the story, "She was human."

"What happened to her?"

                                Alexandra Shipp as Esmerelda Dubois

A/N: HELLOOOO MY DARLINGSSSSS. I hope you enjoyed that chapter. Please make sure you vote x

Sorry for the long wait, I was really ill but I still tried to write something. So if this chapter isn't good I'm just gonna blame it on my injury.

The next chapter is gonna be all about Mia and Relly, the full thing will be a flashback so it's not gonna be in italic text. It's just some more about Mia's past and also I just wanted to give our baby a girlfriend.

I honestly have no clue what I'm doing after that though because there isn't a lot for Mia to do until halfway through the season 2 plot. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to let me know. It would be very helpful. I might just do really short chapters for those episodes but I'm not sure.

What was your favourite part of the chapter?

ALSOOOO WE REACHED 1.6K READSSSSS. That's absolutely insane and I never thought it could happen. Thank you all for the support, it means so much. I wish I could hug all of you (unless you don't like physical touch).

LOVE YOUUUUUUU.

Published: 9th February 2022