Fighting Futility
Feb. 19th, 2013 07:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nrgburstTitle: Fighting Futility
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Characters: Liz Forbes, Caroline Forbes (Caroline/Tyler)
Rating: K/G
Word Count: just under 500
Summary: Liz can't protect Caroline from much anymore. But sometimes it's the little things that help. Post 4x14, Forwood
For the first time since he’s been gone, Liz feels less than utterly useless. There’s nothing she can do about Klaus- pressing charges against a thousand year old Original hybrid would be an exercise in futility. She hates how powerless humans are in this game, even with vervain in their veins and wooden bullets in their guns. It had been years since she’d held Caroline and smoothed her hair as she sobbed, murmuring reassurances.
The words are meaningless. They both know that. But they’re what mothers are supposed to say.
And it’s been two weeks of hearing her cry into her pillow at night, of watching her fling herself into projects and hold herself together in public by sheer force of will. So she keeps stroking her hair and saying, “it’ll turn out okay”; picking up the post-its and labels she orders, and stocking the house with new boxes of tissue and her favorite treats. Nothing eases the heartbreak or the dread. But she hopes the useless gestures make it a little easier for her to keep going.
Liz knocks and pokes her head into her room and Caroline looks up from the label maker.
“Hi. How was work?”
“Good- no signs of Katherine, Silas or zombies.” She smiles when Caroline looks exasperated but manages a half smile.
“And- I have something for you.”
Caroline tilts her head and looks at her wanly. “Thanks Mom, but I really just- I need to work through this, you know? I can make their house a museum the town can be proud of, and we can rent it out for events to help with the maintenance costs. They had the most amazing antiques and Mrs. Lockwood kept them in perfect condition so… now all of us can enjoy them. Plus the Miss Mystic things have to be moved to-”
“It isn’t another cupcake. Here.”
She hands her an envelope, and feels her own eyes sting when Caroline recognizes the handwriting and her eyes fill. She explains as Caroline tears it open, hands shaking.
“A truck driver came into the station looking for me. Said this young guy gave him a hundred dollars to deliver this once he got here. Thought I’d be younger,” she added drolly.
In it is a note, and a SIM card.
I’ll text this number once a month. So you’ll know one way or the other. Until we find a way.
Caroline traces the handwriting, tears streaming down her cheeks. “He remembers how worried Elena was.”
Liz nods and hugs her against her side. “Thoughtful.”
Caroline closes her hand around the chip. It’s just a way to let her know he’s not dead yet. But where there’s the tiniest connection, there’s hope.
And even though the tears keep welling up, she smiles.
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Characters: Liz Forbes, Caroline Forbes (Caroline/Tyler)
Rating: K/G
Word Count: just under 500
Summary: Liz can't protect Caroline from much anymore. But sometimes it's the little things that help. Post 4x14, Forwood
For the first time since he’s been gone, Liz feels less than utterly useless. There’s nothing she can do about Klaus- pressing charges against a thousand year old Original hybrid would be an exercise in futility. She hates how powerless humans are in this game, even with vervain in their veins and wooden bullets in their guns. It had been years since she’d held Caroline and smoothed her hair as she sobbed, murmuring reassurances.
The words are meaningless. They both know that. But they’re what mothers are supposed to say.
And it’s been two weeks of hearing her cry into her pillow at night, of watching her fling herself into projects and hold herself together in public by sheer force of will. So she keeps stroking her hair and saying, “it’ll turn out okay”; picking up the post-its and labels she orders, and stocking the house with new boxes of tissue and her favorite treats. Nothing eases the heartbreak or the dread. But she hopes the useless gestures make it a little easier for her to keep going.
Liz knocks and pokes her head into her room and Caroline looks up from the label maker.
“Hi. How was work?”
“Good- no signs of Katherine, Silas or zombies.” She smiles when Caroline looks exasperated but manages a half smile.
“And- I have something for you.”
Caroline tilts her head and looks at her wanly. “Thanks Mom, but I really just- I need to work through this, you know? I can make their house a museum the town can be proud of, and we can rent it out for events to help with the maintenance costs. They had the most amazing antiques and Mrs. Lockwood kept them in perfect condition so… now all of us can enjoy them. Plus the Miss Mystic things have to be moved to-”
“It isn’t another cupcake. Here.”
She hands her an envelope, and feels her own eyes sting when Caroline recognizes the handwriting and her eyes fill. She explains as Caroline tears it open, hands shaking.
“A truck driver came into the station looking for me. Said this young guy gave him a hundred dollars to deliver this once he got here. Thought I’d be younger,” she added drolly.
In it is a note, and a SIM card.
I’ll text this number once a month. So you’ll know one way or the other. Until we find a way.
Caroline traces the handwriting, tears streaming down her cheeks. “He remembers how worried Elena was.”
Liz nods and hugs her against her side. “Thoughtful.”
Caroline closes her hand around the chip. It’s just a way to let her know he’s not dead yet. But where there’s the tiniest connection, there’s hope.
And even though the tears keep welling up, she smiles.
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no subject
Date: 2013-02-19 02:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-19 07:10 pm (UTC)Thanks for your review! :)
no subject
Date: 2013-02-19 04:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-19 07:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-19 06:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-19 07:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-19 07:55 pm (UTC)*BAWLS*
I'm so, so glad you featured Liz in this fic. Most likely the show won't give us her and Caroline bonding over this, so I'm really happy I have this for my headcanon. UGH. PAIN. AND CAROLINE BEING HER CONTROL-FREAK SELF, TRYING TO COPE. :(((((
no subject
Date: 2013-02-19 08:12 pm (UTC)Yeah, I think she will be desperate to get back control of something, anything, after what Klaus has put her through. And the Lockwood mansion would be a place she wants preserved, rather than letting it go derelict. Tyler said it was like living in a museum in S1- makes sense that she would make that a reality because I think SHE probably appreciates all the antiques and architecture even when he DGAF.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-20 03:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-20 04:45 am (UTC)Saturday, February 23, 2013 - TVD Newsletter #213
Date: 2013-02-23 08:37 am (UTC)