The Vampire Diaries: Candice King Previews Steroline's Final Day Together

With their June wedding just around the corner, Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Caroline's (Candice King) future went up in smoke on The Vampire Diaries after Stefan offered himself to Cade (Wolé Parks) in exchange for the twins. But as part of his bargain, Stefan did negotiate to have 24 hours with Caroline before his new job begins.

To make the most of their last day together, Stefan organizes a cozy Christmas dinner in this week's midseason finale. However, in addition to invited guests Alaric (Matt Davis), Matt (Zach Roerig) and Matt's dad (Joel Gretsch), Stefan and Caroline are forced to endure a few party crashers: Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Sybil (Nathalie Kelley).

So what can fans expect of this Christmas dinner party from hell? And where do Stefan and Caroline go from here? TVGuide.com spoke with Candice King for the answers to these questions and more!

Caroline learned she was going to lose her fiancé and her children in the same day. What is her state of mind like going into this week's episode?
Candice King: She's definitely not walking on sunshine and singing "Jingle Bells." She's pretty upset and kind of in denial, and just realizing that she's lost everything she loves. Luckily, she still does have 24 hours left with Stefan and so he has some special ideas up his sleeve.

Does Alaric really plan on following through with the deal to take the twins away?
King: Yes. That's what they agreed to last week, and Caroline wants what's best for the girls and wants them to be safe. So as hard as it is for her to sacrifice her time with then, she understand that they have to go somewhere else for a while. And as hard as it is for her to accept, she does fully support that.

How will Caroline and Stefan spend their last day together?
King: Even though there's a whole day that's been planned, perfect and plans don't really go well together. There will be some surprises, there will be some curve balls and there will be some interruptions.

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Damon and Sybil crash their Christmas dinner. How does Caroline react to having to host them?
King: Everything has gone so horribly wrong that she's just kind of saying, "Screw it, the more chaos the merrier at this point."

What are Damon and Sybil's intentions?
King: They have their own plan. They have their own reasons. But of course, they're not necessarily going to show all their cards at the beginning of the meal. So you're going to see a lot of Sybil and Damon toying around with the other dinner guests, which are Matt and Matt's father. So we're going to learn a lot about Matt's father and his history with Mystic Falls and why Sybil and Damon are so intrigued by him.

There's no doubt that Caroline would have killed Damon had he come between her and the twins. But do you think she does have any lingering feelings of friendship towards him, or has he gone too far for her to forgive?
King: I think Caroline will always have a soft spot in her heart for Damon, being that he's the love of Elena's life and he's Stefan's brother. And so although she hates him and what he's done, she still cares enough to - you know, she hasn't killed him yet! But we definitely will see moments of Caroline and Damon in this episode where she has to come to a realization of how does she feel about him? And how can she move forward knowing what he's done and knowing what he means to the people that she cares about in her life.

If Stefan really does become a servant of Cade, do you think Caroline would ever be able to accept him back after what he might be forced to do?
King: I think she would always be willing to accept him back. It would take something really, really dark for her to not want to be with him anymore. But there's plenty of episodes to see what kind of mayhem he might cause.

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Caroline was there for Bonnie (Kat Graham) after she lost Enzo (Michael Malarkey) and her magic. Will we see Caroline really lean on Bonnie during this troubled time?
King: We're going to see Bonnie reach out for Caroline to lean on her. I think Caroline is definitely going through a hard time, and we're going to have some really wonderful Caroline and Bonnie moments.

With everything hanging over their heads, can fans still expect some touching Caroline and Stefan moments this week?
King: Absolutely! There will definitely be sweet Caroline and Stefan moments.

It's the last season, so how does that effect the experience of filming this year?
King: It's been a bit of a crazy year. I think we'll start getting much more sentimental after the holidays. We always have pretty tough shooting schedules ... so we're still just in the thick of the workload of the episodes. But I think it will be so wonderful after the holidays. All the episodes will be written and ready and all the actors will be rested ... and I think it will feel real. I think everyone's slightly in denial still, myself included.

When you look back at where Caroline began on this show, how do you feel about her evolution?
King: That's what I'm most thankful about with this character. Eight years later on a supernatural, serialized TV show doing 22 episodes a season, and I just appreciate that this character has had so much growth and has gotten to have relationships and different things go on with her parents and her friends and also going on this big journey of who she is as a vampire and what that means. I love that it's not been one note and it's a character that could have been that very easily. I'm so grateful that the writers gave her a chance and have continuously given her so much. So yeah, it's been quite a journey. It's crazy to think about all that the characters been through.

The Vampire Diaries' midseason finale airs Friday at 8/7c on the CW.

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