Who: Forwood, and Bill Forbes What: Tyler meets Caroline's father Where: A restaurant When: End of August Rating/Warning: Low/none Status: Complete
Although Caroline would never admit it she was a little nervous about this dinner. Her father hadn’t been around much back when she was in high school. He did come to visit and of course had met Tyler in passing after a football game. But this was different. Tyler was no longer her high school boyfriend. This wasn’t something temporary that would eventually end when they went off to college. Her relationship with Tyler now was something that could possibly last forever. At least that was what Caroline was hoping for.
As nervous as she was, she wasn’t going to let it show. Not in front of Tyler. She didn’t want to make him nervous too. She just really wanted this to go well.
Bill remembered his daughter gushing about this Tyler Lockwood back when she was in high school. Back then he didn’t think much of it. High school loves tended not to last. But now it seemed they had found their way back to each other. Although he had seen how much Tyler cared for Caroline at Liz’s funeral there was something that didn’t quite feel right to Bill. Probably all the calls he was getting from his crying daughter lately. He was determined to figure out if Tyler was the cause.
“So,” Caroline said as they all sat down to dinner. “The filet looks good.”
Tyler would be happy to admit that he was incredibly nervous about the idea of meeting Caroline’s father, if anyone asked, though he was doing his best to keep it from her father. It wasn’t just that he was dating, was in love, with his daughter. It was the Dream of it all. The dreams of Bill torturing Caorline because she was a vampire. The Dreams of Bill coming around at least far enough to help Tyler learn how to break the sire bond, only for him to end up dying, partially because he had helped Tyler.
And yeah, there was the whole part about him being his girlfriend’s dad to contend with too.
“I’ve heard it’s really good,” Tyler said, perhaps a little too quickly to seem entirely natural, though for the most part he thought he was doing okay at this seeming casual thing. “I was thinking about the steak. Bill?”
Caroline reached for Tyler’s hand under the table. Her way of showing her support as well as her appreciation. It meant a lot that Tyler was doing this for her.
“Salmon,” Bill replied to Tyler. He was carefully watching his daughter. She seemed happy next to her boyfriend. So why was she always calling him in tears?
Once the waiter came and took their orders Bill focused his attention back on the couple. “How long have you been together?” he questioned, looking more at Tyler than Caroline.
“Since about… May, was it?” he said, turning toward Caroline. Between the dreams and everything leading up to it, it was a little hard to keep track. Not that he could really forget finally being with Caroline again after all their ups and downs. “If you don’t count high school, that is.” He was pretty sure that Bill was not counting high school.
“You’re not sure?” Bill questioned raising a brow at Tyler, which quickly received a look from his daughter.
“Dad!” Caroline protested. “It’s just a saying. It’s been since May,” she confirmed. She knew that Tyler was very aware of when they finally got back together. But she didn’t exactly want him thinking about that time, given the circumstances.
Bill ignored his daughter’s little outburst and went right back to questioning Tyler. “And highs chool? How long were you together then?”
Tyler flushed, wondering just how badly he was screwing this up. He shot Caroline a grateful look when she came to his defence, and it was with more confidence that he answered Bill’s next question. “Two years,” he said. “Junior and senior year. We even got Homecoming King and Queen.”
Caroline gave Tyler’s hand a squeeze underneath the table. Her dad was being a bit of a hard ass, but Tyler was handling it well. It only made her fall for him even more.
“I remember Caroline telling me about that.” She had been so proud that she won Homecoming Queen. Bill never fully got it but if Caroline was happy that was all that mattered to him. “So why after years apart did you reunite?” Bill questioned. “You didn’t move on in that time?”
“Dad!” Caroline protested again, but this time it was Bill that gave her a look. “No,” Caroline answered softly looking over at her boyfriend. “No one could ever compare to Tyler.” She knew perfectly well though that his answer wasn’t going to be the same. But that didn’t matter to her, they had found their way back.
“Caroline,” Bill replied. “I think it’s time you gave us a moment alone. I can’t exactly get to know Tyler, here if you keep interrupting.”
Caroline was about to protest but looking at her father thought better of it. “Okay,” she said slowly standing up. “I have to make a work call anyway.” She bent down to give Tyler a kiss on the cheek, whispering in his ear so only he could hear. “You’ll be fine.”
“I hope so,” Tyler murmured, lips barely moving, as Caroline walked away. Quiet as it was, he knew Caroline would still be able to hear him. He wouldn’t be surprised if she continued listening in to their conversation, which really wasn’t much reassurance if she couldn’t step in when things got awkward.
“So uh, what do you want to know?” Tyler asked, hoping that Bill wouldn’t circle back to the moving on question. He wasn’t sure if he would approve of the Blossom thing.
Caroline debated listening in on the conversation but thought better of it. As curious as she was this was Tyler’s time with her dad. She didn’t want to intrude.
Tyler’s hopes were very wrong. Bill went right back to the subject he left off on. “For starters you could answer my previous question.”
Tyler cleared his throat, wondering if it wasn’t unusually warm in this restaurant. “I had a girlfriend for a while. We dated for about a year and a half, but then her family had to move and we broke up,” he answered.
That was a little worrying for Bill. But he refrained from asking what would have happened if she had never moved. As much as he wanted to protect his daughter from possibly getting hurt, there was no point dwelling on the past.
“I see,” was all Bill said taking a sip of his drink. Letting Tyler sit in silence for a moment. “Look Tyler, my daughter seems to really care about you. I just want to make sure you feel the same about her. She’s been through enough lately.”
“I know she has,” Tyler said. “That’s why I waited so long before getting back together. I didn’t want to…” he frowned, not sure if he wanted to continue but knowing now that he had to. “I didn’t want to take advantage of her when Liz was sick, so I put her off for a while.” He wondered now if that had been the right call. But then, it hadn’t just been Liz. He had had to move on from Blossom, too. “I love your daughter, I’d never do anything to hurt her if I could help it.”
Bill had to admit that was a good answer. It was pretty clear to him that Tyler cared for Caroline a lot as well. Which was exactly what Bill wanted for his daughter. But there was still something that felt off. “Then tell me, why has she been calling me crying lately?”
Tyler… really wasn’t sure how to answer that. He knew why Caroline had been crying lately, but it wasn’t like he could disclose to Bill that she had dreams of a parallel universe that had turned her into a vampire. To add to the disturbing content of the dreams, her vampirism also upped her emotions, which no doubt made her feel everything more sharply.
“You’ll have to ask her for sure,” he said. “But I think she’s been taking Liz’s death pretty hard.” Which wasn’t exactly a lie.
BIll frowned, instantly feeling guilty. He knew he should have stuck around longer after the funeral. But he had his boyfriend and work to get back to. And Caroline had insisted she would be fine. He should have seen through that. “I hear you were around a lot during that time. Caroline mentioned you were there for Liz’s last words instead of her.”
Tyler nodded. “Yeah,” he said, somberly. “Caroline had asked me to watch her when…” He trailed off. He didn’t need to explain what when was. Sometimes he still wondered if he could have gotten her before Liz had passed on, even though logically he knew that, even with his vampire speed, there was no way he could have.
Bill gave a small nod in response. “I want to thank you, for being there for her.” When he wasn’t, but he left that unsaid. “It’s clear that you mean a lot to her. She seems to mean just as much to you.” That put Bill slightly at ease. But he couldn’t let Tyler get off that easy. “But if you ever hurt her…” he added pointedly, letting his voice trail off at the end. Tyler could fill in the blank.
Tyler tried very hard to keep from looking too amused. Bill couldn’t touch him, even if he wanted to. He would have liked to see Bill even try to carry through with his unspoken threat, and Tyler knew that Bill was more capable of hurting Caroline than Tyler ever would be. Different universes, yet, but it wasn’t often that people were too different from their dream selves when push came to shove. “I’d never do anything to intentionally hurt her,” Tyler assured Bill instead.
That wasn’t exactly what Bill wanted to hear. But he had to give the guy credit for saying intentionally. Some things couldn’t be helped, even if Bill did want that reassurance. However before he could respond Caroline returned.
Caroline returned to the table observing her father and Tyler. Neither looked upset, that was a definite plus. “Miss me?” she asked with a teasing smile as she took her seat next to Tyler, reaching out once again for his hand.
“Always,” Tyler said, giving her hand a squeeze and leaning over to kiss her on the cheek. “Good timing.”
Caroline raised a brow at that. She would have to get more information out of Tyler later.
“Tyler was just telling me how much you love your job,” Bill lied expecting Tyler to go along with it.
“It’s amazing,” Caroline agreed beaming. “Sometimes Tyler gets to join me at the events.”
Tyler didn’t react to Bill saying that they had been talking about Caroline’s job, though he wasn’t entirely sure if she would believe that they had been. If she asked him later, he’d tell her the truth; her father was worried about her and had been asking Tyler about what was wrong. For now, though, he’d go along with what Bill said instead of making things awkward.
“They’re not always my favourite thing to do,” he admitted in a stage whisper. “But Caroline does know how to throw a party.” As if there could have been any doubt about that.
“She was always quite demanding with her birthday parties,” Bill mused with a smile.
Caroline blushed slightly. “You guys know I’m sitting right here,” she replied just as the food was brought over. As Caroline dug into he filet she found herself smiling. Her dad and her boyfriend seemed to be getting along. What more could she ask for?