Damon was sitting in front of the fireplace, a glass of bourbon in hand, staring into the flames. He decided to drown his sorrows the way he always did, whenever he failed to shut off the small part of himself that did in fact care about other people.
Who was he kidding, he didn`t care about people, he cared about Elena.
"Damon…It doesn`t matter"Katherine had succeeded. She managed to break Elena.
"It matters and you know it"The way her eyes were wet with tears and her voice had sounded when she cut off his failed apology. None of her former strength and spirit seemed to be left in that moment. She didn`t want to hear what he had to say because she didn`t believe that it would actually make a difference. She seemed so hopeless.
Damon stood up from the couch and walked over to the liquor cabinet to pour himself another drink when he heard muffled sobbs from the stairs that led to the basement.
Titling his head around the corner he saw Caroline rubbing her eyes with her free hand while the other was shutting the door behind her.
"Staring much?" She didn`t look in his direction, but could sense Damon standing in the hall.
"Wow, you`re really getting better at the vampy thing, little one. You didn`t even see me"
"An ego as big as yours is hard to miss you know" She didn`t manage to cover up the fact that she`d been crying and that she was not in the mood to talk to him, out of all people.
Whithout another word she turned around and headed for the stairs. This day was way too much for her.
"Has Liz been mean to you again?" She thought she heard a little bit of real concern in his voice. She was curious if she had imagined it and turned around again.
"Don`t let it get to you. The things she said, about not being her daughter anymore."
"She's your daughter Liz"
"Not anymore, my daughter is gone"This whole 'I`m a vampire hunter with a vampire daughter' – thing is hard to handle, I guess."
Yup, definitely concern.
Caroline didn't respond. She was too stunned by the sincerity in his eyes and words. She was not used to hear things like that. Maybe from Stefan, but sure as hell not from him.
He was an ass, had compelled, used and manipulated her. But than again, she tought she saw a different side to him.
"You have no idea how wrong you are about that"
"Things will get better, once I compelled her, the vervaine should be gone by now"
"It is…" Damon looked at her puzzled "What do you mean it is?"
"I already compelled her." She said. She didn't understand why Damon kept looking at her as if she was crazy.
"Are you sure you did it right?"
The way he had said it brought back the annoyance from before
"What do you mean, 'did you do it right'? Compelling isn't the hardest thing to do! And since I'm not eating little puppies like Stefan is" She had an disgusted look on on her face while saying it "my compulsion is just as good as yours would be!"
She had to catch her breath after her little outburst. People always expected the worst from her, like she couldn't do anything right. All of her Life her mother had made her feel that way, and when she had been with Damon he had done a great number on her self esteem as well.
She had enough problems for a whole lifetime and now that she was a vampire she seemed to be stuck with her misery for eternity. She had to give up Matt, after he finally told her he loved her and erase her mother's memories of the only rare moments of bonding and understanding. She needed to protect them, as well as Stefan and Damon's sorry ass. It was frustrating.
"Well, someone's temper has gotten magnified" Damon commented as he headed back to the couch.
Caroline went to follow him, and let herself fall into the seat next to Damon.
"Sorry, okay. I can't handle all this emotions. My relationship with my mother was hard enough when I was human" she sounded defeated and closed her eyes.
"Which was when, yesterday?" She titled her head to the side and looked directly into his face. " I didn't mean anything by it when I commented on your compulsion skills. I guess I was just surprised"
The both stared into the fireplace for a while, until Caroline broke the silence between them, giving Damon a playful smack on the arm.
"I never said thank you, for the other night… What you said to my mom?"
"It's not a big deal." he said looking away into the fire once agian
"Yes it is, especially for you"
Now he was curios. Why was everybody always expecting the worst from him. Maybe he wanted to do the right thing for once. Get a taste on this whole "being the good brother"-thing his baby-bro professed all the time.
"Why is everybody so surprised to see, that there might be some, and I'm not saying that there are many, but some redeeming qualities about me?" He remembered Elena saying the exact words…
"A psychopath with no redeeming qualities""Hey, it's not my fault that you only open up to Elena" Damon flinched by the mention of her name. Was she reading minds now?
"I only know this cocky, sarcastic and really annoying side of you. If you act like that it's no wonder people are surprised to see a softer side to you"
"Are you calling me a softie?" Caroline laughed at the distgusted expression on his face and continued "When it comes to Elena you are. I might be a vampire now, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm extremely good at noticing longing 'I'm in love with my brother's girlfriend' – looks"
Damon let out a sharp breath and lay his head in his hands.
"If you're so great at noticing things, how come you didn't here that she broke up with Stefan about an hour ago?"
"So I guess I have to correct myself: they are longing 'I'm in love with my brother's EX-girlfriend' – looks. Happy?"
"I can't believe we're stuck with you for eternity" Damon mumbled to himself, very well aware, that she could here him just fine.
"I'm gonna pretend, that I didn't here that" Caroline stared back into the fire and seemed to be lost in her thoughts. Damon didn't expect her to say something else so he got up and walked to the liquor cabinet again.
"Damon?" She said turning around on the couch so she could see him
"Blondie?" He mocked her tone, which made her smile. He knew how to lighten the mood.
"Why are you still here?"
"I live here?"
"I mean why are you here now. Elena just broke up with Stefan. She's probably really upset and could use a friend. Great way to get onto a girl's good sides again. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you should seduce her…"
"Why? That seemed to have worked for you" That was the first time that evening that Caroline saw the signature smirk of Damon Salvatore plastered across his face.
"You compelled me!" she argued fiercely
"Not for the sex part" Damon said winking at her playfully after sipping at his drink.
She tried to object but if she really thought about it…"Fine! Enjoy your little ego boost Salvatore"
She crossed her arms over her chest and looked back to the fire with a pout on her face.
"You wanna know why I'm not at Elena's?"
Caroline turned around again giving Damon a small nod like a little child "I know she could use a friend, but she basicly told me to go to hell."
"I'm sure she didn't mean that"
Damon gave her one of those 'are you kidding ne?'-looks and continued
"let me just quote the last few times Elena has spoken to me:
'It will always be Stefan'
'You killed my brother I hate you'
'You have lost me forever'
Sooo I'm pretty sure she doesn't wanna see me right now"
"So you gonna leave her all alone crying in her room?"
"Nope, I called Little Miss Judgy aka Bonnie. After she showed me that her skills in Bitchcraft are way more impressive than in Witchcraft, I told her what happened. She should be over there right now. I bet they are having a little heart to heart, breading each other's hair and stuff…maybe they even had a little pillow fight" he commented in his usual tone.
Caroline knew that there was no sense in talking to him any more about Elena, his super obvious feelings for her and his brother issues, so she stood up and walked to Damon's side to pour herself a drink of her own.
She grabbed a bottle of whiskey and used her Vamp speed to get a bottle of coke in the kitchen. Caroline was about to mix both together, when Damon snatched the coke from her hand.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"You are not going to ruin my Whiskey with coke.
it tastes like crap and
it's way to expensive and exclusive for you to mess it up like that"
"But I'm a girl and I think it tastes just fine" She said with a pout
"I don't care. Either you stop pouting and man up, Blondie, or you get your own Whiskey"
He smiled at her, knowing he had won this argument. She tried to get the bottle back from him, but Damon was simply to tall for her holding the bottle over his head and therefore out of her reach. Damon thought it was pretty hilarious that even though she was a vampire she wasn't able to get that bottle of coke back.
Holding back laughter he commented "You're kind of cute when you're jumping up and down like that"
Caroline noticed his amusement and began to feel stupid. She stopped the jumping gave him a withering stare and muttered more to herself while walking away from him "Now I know why Elena hates you"
"Hey! I didn't even kill your brother" he said approaching her from behind
"I don't have a brother" Caroline countered turning around
"I didn't kill your mother either"
"well, but you're annoying" they were face to face by now
"So are you, and you don't even attempt to be" they glared at each other, their faces only a few inches apart.
Caroline didn't like the small distance between them, so he pushed him away a few steps
"You know, we could keep fighting like to 8-year olds and eventually one of us would snap and kill the other"
"Like you could kill me" Damon muttered more to himself
"Would you just shut up for once, and BTW, that means by the way, " she was mocking him now with a winning smile " I could kick your ass in the school hallway just fine!"
"BUT what I was actually getting at is, that we could also face the obvious and realize that we have more in common than you think"
"And what exactly are you talking about right now"
"Well, if it's not for the fangs and incredibly good looks"
"So you think I'm hot?" There was the smirk again, which only caused Caroline to sigh and punch his arm forcefully
"So not the point right now!"
"Ouch!"
"What I was trying to say, Damon, is that you can't be with the one you want because you killed her brother and now she hates you for it…
and I can't be with the one I want, because I'd probably kill him"
"So what do you suggest" he smirked at her wiggling his eyebrows.
"I suggest you give me that bottle of coke, so I can get hammered"
"It would probably be more efficient without the coke, but…"
Caroline just glared at him, snatched the bottle out of his hand, took the bottle of Whiskey and walked back to the couch
"Just saying" Damon said, putting his arms up in surrender.