[ it's something caroline has been working to show liz, to convince her of, and it's why she still believes in all of them, the humanity, the goodness in all of the vampires in her life. but that news is... she knows the horror of losing family, of knowing a child has died. she felt that when she discovered caroline was a vampire, but she can't imagine losing a child at ten years of age. ]
I'm sorry. That must have been difficult.
[ understatement of the century, but she understands the feeling of that loss. if he's worried that she's not treasuring caroline's existence, he doesn't need to. every day is a duality, a tug-of-war between liz's gratitude that she still has her daughter in any form and her guilt that she couldn't save caroline from dying and going through the horror of transitioning. ]