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[ she tries, she really does. caroline tries to be so so casual about it when she swans up and sits next to gale on the steps where she assumes he is contemplating the stars or his orb or the threads of magic itself. she tries so hard. ]

I heard you met my... situationship.

[ she tries, but her face is already splotchy like she caught sight of gale, started crying, and had to take the L to stop crying first. ]

[ quiet (at times brooding) contemplation absorbs him, yes, attention fixed on his splayed hand, a conjuring on his fingertips. sparks small but there, fizzling out at the sound of caroline’s achy little voice. ]

Your — [ your what? or perhaps you’re here! neither sentence comes to fruition. ] Caroline?

[ so unsure, after braving illusions in the maze (after facing orin, in shadowheart’s form). he reaches a tentative hand out to catch an errant curl and tuck it behind her ear, thumb brushing dampness from her cheek. emotion wells in his eyes before his mind catches up to the situation. he thought — he thought she’d gone from this place forever. ]

Oh, Caroline, are you all right?

[ his other hand hovers, aloft, unsure whether to reach for her or cast a spell or — ]

[ she makes the executive decision that they're hugging because she's not alright actually. everything in mystic falls sucks all the time and she misses her mommy and so she takes gale's open arms as invitation to fall into them and take the comfort he has always offered without hesitation. surely it will be no different now. ]

No worse for wear,

[ is what she actually answers, the kind of answer that would come with that practiced bright smile, brittle around the edges if you know her. she's never worse for wear, hears too quickly to have evidence of the hurts repeatedly heaped on her.

it doesn't matter that she was recently tortured or that stefan is holding her at arm's length or that her two best friends are forever separated or that she misses her mom like there is a black hole in her chest where her heart should be.

no one can see it, no worse for wear. ]

[ after his initial startling, gale embraces her fully. arm around her shoulders, hand sweeping up her spine and cheek tucked against her hair, so she can settle in the crook of his neck. ]

[ gently, ] You needn’t be so brave now.

[ although that’s an essential part of who she is, in gale’s mind. weathering loneliness and resculpt, transformations and troubles. no worse for wear, something he’s been claiming since they returned from their other lives, if not before all that. ]

We missed you terribly.

[ the subject of that we being obvious. ]

[ she settles into the space next to him like she fits. she does, they've sat like this before when she was trying to wrangle her sense of self back into her arms. she touches her wrist and frowns. her bracelet is gone, lost probably somewhere in the rubble of the castle if giles kept it when her rooms were cleaned out.

she exhales a heavy breath at the loss of such precious objects, bracelets from both her friends, and that is what makes the tears finally fall again. the straw that broke the camel's back was losing a bracelet with her initial on it. ]

I almost didn't want to find you. I was scared you'd forget me.

Forget the great Caroline Forbes? We couldn’t, my dear.

[ which might sound naive, particularly when gale himself has gone and returned, knowing the journey here was seemingly forgotten. gale doesn’t think it so simple. their memories remain — latent, under the skin — a fact proven by caroline’s return. ]

Whatever tethers us now won’t be so easily swept away, even by slats of rain and formidable tempests. The glamour which withheld your recollections of this place is just that — an enchantment.

[ he thinks of dom and his coven reaching beyond the barrier. they wouldn’t have been punished if they weren’t at the threshold of the impossible. gale, of all people, would know.

squeezing her shoulder, he holds her for as long as she likes. in the end, it’s just as comforting for him, when he worries dearly over those who have disappeared (and he’s certain astarion will be quietly pleased , in his way, to have caroline back).]

[ she lets gale hold her, soaking in the comfort of the weight of his arm around her, the warmth of him. if she had her way, they would stay like this for days but gale would need to eat and both of them would need to pee so it's not really feasible. she contents herself with staying until her butt goes numb.

eventually, she sighs and finally it doesn't sound unhappy. ]

I was top of my class.

[ all that studying paid off! ]

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