A/N: I don't typically take requests, but this was written for my friend Liz for her birthday tomorrow (2/24). So to everyone who reads/reviews, give a shout out to the birthday girl! :D

Caroline could feel the sun on her face long before she opened her eyes, but the second she did, she wished she hadn't.

Lying next to her in her bed, completely naked and infuriatingly perfect, was none other than Damon Salvatore.

"Mornin', Blondie," He quipped, his body facing hers, propped up on one elbow. Before she could do anything besides gasp, he was out of her bed, boxers on, and Caroline was chastely gathering the sheets around her in an attempt to seem less...indecent. Not that Damon had 't already seen everything she had to offer.

Her nose wrinkled in disgust as Damon zipped up his black jeans, his perfectly chiseled abs pale in the morning light.

"You're such an ass," She said, pushing her hair behind her ears and tucking her legs up against her chest.

"Hey, you wanted it just as much as i did," Damon replied, giving her a lascivious glance before turning to look for his black t-shirt.

Caroline rolled her eyes. In one fluid movement, courtesy of vampire speed, she was back into her pajama shorts and a tank top.

"You should leave before my mom wakes up. The last thing i want to explain is why Damon Salvatore was in my bed."

Damon's eyebrows raised mischeviously.

"You didn't care about explanations the last time we shared your bed."

Caroline's eyes narrowed. "That was before i knew what you were, jerk-face. Or should i saw who you were."

"Uh-uh-uh. Don't forget what you are, too," Damon murmured, curling one of her blonde ringlets around his index finger before she slapped his hand away. Damon was constantly invading people's personal space, and it never sat well with Caroline. She hated that she had emotions she couldn't control, and if that wasn't already mandatory with vampire territory, she didn't need Damon making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and her stomach drop to the floor.

She crossed the room to her closet, prepared to find a more suitable outfit for the rest of her day, when suddenly she turned back, her face full of regret.

"You don't- I mean...you don't feel guilty, about us, at all? I mean, I- I know there isn't an 'us', but there's what we did. And you love Elena."

Damon's eyes clouded for just a second, or at least Caroline could have sworn they did, before they narrowed.

"And you love wolf-boy. But guess what? They don't love us back. We don't owe them anything, Caroline. Stop feeling guilty. We're monsters, remember?" Damon replied, the elder vampire clearly resolute in his train of thought. He had finally found his shirt, and was pulling it over his shoulders before turning to find his boots.

Caroline bit her lip, her voice tentative, the pitch slightly higher than usual. "Is that what she called you?"

"It's what I am. It's what we both are."

Caroline shook her head. "But they're not human either. Tyler's a hybrid, Elena's the doppelganger, and I-"

Damon stopped her mid-sentance, a finger to her lips, but she'd stopped talking more out of surprise of his proximity to her. She would never be used to vamp-speed, even though she possessed it herself.

"It doesn't matter what they are, or who they are. They're always going to be better than us. You sacrificed everything you had, your dignity, your free will, to keep Klaus from killing Tyler, and where did that get you?" Damon demanded. He seemed to be almost angry, as if the thought of what had happened between her, Tyler and Klaus genuinely affected him.

Caroline frowned, her blue eyes big with unspilled tears. "It got me nothing," She whispered, tilting her head in a gesture of acceptance.

Damon was right. When Klaus had demanded she give him the time of day, or else he'd make Tyler dead-dead, she'd had to go along with it. And when Tyler had caught her and the Original kissing, he swore he'd never forgive her.

"Don't you understand? I did it for you. Everything i've done was always for you."

But her love didn't make up for her betrayl.

Damon's voice softened. "And look where it got me."

More memories swept across Caroline's mind. Elena's rants about how Damon had ruined everything between her and Bonnie, how their friendship would never be the same- how he was always trying to control her, making her feel guilty for loving Stefan and not him.

"But he did it to save you. He's in love with you. Everything he's done was always for you."

Elena's eyes, usually so lit up and compassionate, were now hard and angry, in a katherine-esque manner. "Clearly, that's the problem."

Elena hadn't spoken to Damon since that night, refused to forgive him, at least for the meantime.

And that was how she had fallen into bed with Damon again, two lonely souls at the mystic grill, compelling the bartenders into free shots, just trying to imagine a world where the one they loved the most finally loved them back.

Caroline met Damon's eye, a new conviction in her heart.

"You're right. We don't owe them anything."

Damon smirked. "Now you're gettin' it."