[ as caroline speaks, elena is filled with a rush of gratitude and fondness and maybe a little relief. a decade or so may be between them, but caroline forbes still sounds every bit like caroline forbes, except perhaps more self-possessed and mature. she's achingly familiar, though, and she's also right.

it's what elena has said to others when they have struggled with their own future fates. their paths veered off course they moment they left their home worlds, and the people they become in the future aren't here: they are. so they can't stew in it, much as they can't live in the past. they can make their own choices.

easier to hand out good advice than it is to take it, but caroline gives her a good and much needed reminder, and it's hardly a hardship: them getting to know each other as the people they've become. it's why she follows caroline to the couch without question.

with their hands clasped like this, she can feel caroline's ring against her skin, and a bittersweet emotion grasps hold of her chest. it's been years since elena was in love with stefan salvatore, but there will always be a place for him in her heart, and learning of his fate doesn't seem real still.

caroline's reaction provides a good respite from that thought as elena gives a small laugh. ] I think so? If I've done my math right. It's hard to be sure in places like this one. But I'm close to twenty-three, and you're close to ...thirty-seven? [ time for elena to learn the twins were fourteen on caroline's side of things. ]