Caroline Forbes is full of light (![]() ![]() @ 2021-02-18 18:50:00 |
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Entry tags: | temeraire: william laurence, tvd: caroline forbes |
Who: Caroline Forbes and William Laurence
What: Breaking up!
When: Tonight!
Where: Laurence's place
Ratings/Warning: Low/none
Status: Complete
Laurence was standing in front of his hot stove, shirt-sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his tie flung over his shoulder as he checked the roast and stirred the cooking vegetables. He didn’t have any livestock on his farm, but he traded produce for meat from some of his neighbours; it was, overall, a nice system.
He stepped away from the stove, and looked at the dinner table, frowning to himself, wondering if a bottle of wine was too much for a break-up. He’d had one engagement broken off, years ago, though he hadn’t been the one to call it off and the whole thing had been done over the phone while he’d been off the coast of the Falkland Islands.
He and Caroline had only known one another for a week, which complicated matters. He didn’t know her well enough to know the proper way to do this without hurting her too terribly. They shouldn’t have been engaged at all, except for the fact that he’d allowed himself to get completely caught up in a whirlpool of romance with her. It must have been Valentine’s Day, combined with it being his first relationship - of sorts - since he’d resigned from the Navy. Now he could finally settle down and have a family that he could dedicate himself entirely too, and he’d apparently chosen to do so with the first woman who’d shown him the slightest bit of interest.
He felt absolutely rotten for it, knowing he’d taken advantage of Caroline and her youthful naivety, even if he hadn’t known it at the time. When he’d woken up next to her on Tuesday morning, he knew his feelings for her had changed, and he had hoped that maybe, somehow, they would reignite.
It hadn’t happened yet, though.
He pulled the roast from the oven, took the vegetables off from the stove, and jumped near a foot when the doorbell rang. Caroline was right on time, and so it was no surprise, but he still needed to take about thirty seconds to compose himself and right his tie before he went to answer the door, realizing only as he did so that he’d forgotten to roll down his shirtsleeves and that his muscular forearms were still exposed.
“Caroline,” he said, smiling at her as he stood aside, letting her in. “I’m glad you could make it.”
Caroline had freaked out a bit when Will invited her to dinner. She didn’t want to have some romantic date with him or whatever the hell this was going to be. She had avoided him since that awkward goodbye Tuesday morning, and had hoped his feelings had disappeared along with hers. Just as David’s had towards the woman he had apparently fallen in love with. But then here he was inviting her over for dinner. But she knew she had to go. It was better to end things now. She didn’t want him to keep thinking there would be a wedding, and she honestly needed this part of her life done with.
Caroline was sure to dress down for the meal, wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Her hair was in a ponytail and she wore the minimal amount of makeup. The last thing she wanted was to actually look appealing.
“Hi,” she greeted with an awkward smile as she walked inside, her finger bare of the ribbon. She had taken it off Tuesday and didn’t see the point in putting it back on. “Yeah, of course,” she replied to his statement, failing to think of any other words to say.
Laurence’s eyes flicked to the ribbonless finger, and then back up to Caroline’s face. He wondered if it was a good sign, or if it was simply that the knot had come undone or the fabric had irritated Caroline’s finger.
He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to greet her, either. A kiss on the cheek would likely give her the wrong impression of what this evening was for, and so he refrained, deciding simply to close the door behind her and then walk around her, leading her to the kitchen.
“The roast has just come from the oven,” Laurence said, beating her to the table so he could pull her seat out for her. “Do you like roast? I suppose I should have asked, first.” What had he been thinking, proposing to her when he barely knew her? “It’s a fine cut though. I got it from the Goesslings down the road in exchange for some produce. The vegetables were all grown here, of course.”
Laurence was a natural entertainer; dinner conversation was something he’d been trained to do nearly from the womb, and it was something he enjoyed doing. He thought it his duty to make sure to be an entertaining host, and an entertaining guest at any dinner he attended.
He was fairly sure that, at this moment, he was mucking it up.
“Roast is fine,” Caroline replied. He was rambling a bit. Was he still nervous around her? As they both had seemed to be this entire weekend? Oh god. She was going to have to marry him, wasn’t she? No. She wasn’t going to marry someone she didn’t love. She had broken up with guys before. This was no different. She could do this. Even if Will was probably the sweetest and most polite guy she had ever met.
“You really didn’t have to go through all this trouble,” Caroline went on. God, he had cooked her a meal and she was going to dump him. She was going to need a serious drink after this… or ten.
Should he do it before or after they ate, he wondered. In retrospect, maybe he should have gone to her place to end this. Instead, he’d forced her to drive all the way out of the city, just so he could break her heart.
Maybe it was better to get it out of the way early to avoid making her feel the fool after she’d eaten his meal and perhaps expected more.
“Caroline,” he said, taking both her hands in his. “Caroline,” he said again, “you are one of the loveliest girls I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting,” he started. “I want you to know that I think the world of you. You’re kind, and beautiful, and amazing…”
Oh god. This was getting worse. Did he really have to go on about how great she was? She couldn’t let this go on any longer.
“Oh my god,” Caroline said, pulling her hands away. “I can’t do this!” she exclaimed. Shit. That came out harsher than she meant for it to. She took a breath, calming herself.
“I’m sorry, Will. You’re really great and all. I’m sure you’ll make some woman very happy someday. It’s just not me. I’m not ready to get married.” She hoped putting the blame on herself would take some of the sting out of it for him. But maybe that was too much to ask.
Laurence blinked slowly, for a moment not quite sure he’d heard her right. And then, the words sunk in and he let out a heavy sigh of relief and slumped down into the chair he’d pulled out for her, a weight lifting off his shoulders.
“Oh thank Heavens,” he breathed.
Caroline watched as the look of relief appeared on Will’s face. And then claim his statement. “Thank Heavens is right,” Caroline replied, feeling relief wash over her as well. He seemed to feel the exact same way she did. But wait.
Her brow furrowed as his earlier words came back to her. “If you don’t want to get married why did you cook this dinner and go on about how wonderful I am?”
“I thought it would soften the blow,” Laurence admitted, glancing over at the meal. “I wanted you to be sure that you were the reason I was calling it off. It’s just…” Well, he couldn’t really explain it. ‘I’m not in love with you’ seemed so cold after the weekend they’d spent together. He had been so certain then that his feelings had been true.
“Your feelings for me are gone?” Caroline asked, finishing his thought. “It’s okay,” she assured him. “I mean you’re such a sweet guy and I do like spending time with you. But I swear it’s like we were on some kind of love drug over the weekend or something.”
“That’s exactly it,” Laurence said, relieved that Caroline understood so readily. “I’ve never experienced anything like that before. Frankly, I hope to never do so again.” It had been disorienting, especially when he’d woken up with her in his arms on Tuesday with a creeping sense of dread.
“Would you like to stay for dinner anyway?” he asked. “Or I could pack some up for you to go. I’m afraid I’ve made too much for myself this evening.”
“Yeah, me either. Especially the whole being distracted at work thing. That’s so not me.” But she had been completely infatuated with Will at the time. Being away from him seemed unimaginable. And then Tuesday she wanted to get as far away from him and the situation as possible.
“Sure,” Caroline said. “No reason to let your cooking go to waste. And we can get to know each other as friends.” They might as well given they had almost gotten married.
“Splendid,” Laurence said, beaming as he got up from the seat. He gestured for Caroline to take it instead. “I think that it would be nice for us to get to know one another without everything clouding our judgement.” He made his way to the roast on the counter, and began to carve it for them. “How has your week been?” It would be nice to listen to her talk while he finished serving them.
Hopefully, they could turn something awkward into a fine friendship.