A/N: A special thanks to grapejuice101for all of your help with this chapter!
Disclaimer: I, of course, don't own the Vampire Diaries. Never have, never will. I'm just playing around with the story!
Songs for this chapter:
Hold the Line – Toto (Damon and Charlie scene in her bedroom before the party)
-TSBOF-
The next afternoon, Charlie walks into the boarding house after purchasing a few things from the grocery store. She walks to the kitchen and begins putting the food that she bought away in their respective cabinets, and the refrigerator. She glances behind her when she sees Zach walk into the kitchen, sending her a glance but otherwise ignoring her presence. She continues to put things away as Zach gets a glass of water, quickly drinks it and exits the kitchen.
"I didn't know you were here," she hears Zach say as he walks into the living room.
"Just going through Stefan's homework. Boy, this country sure has dumbed down in the last hundred years. Why those two wants to go to high school is beyond me. I mean, in the seventies, the two of them went Ivy League. Harvard, I understood. Actually, no. I didn't get that either," she hears Damon say, and she rolls her eyes. She hadn't talked to her older brother since the night before when he broke her arm, and she has no plans to talk to him anytime soon. "Go ahead, purge. Get it out. What's on your mind?"
"Why are you here, Damon?" Zach asks, and Charlie listens closer.
"To spend time with you, Zach. Family's important," Damon says, and Charlie snorts before shaking her head.
"I know you. You always have a motive. So tell me, what is it this time?" Zach asks, and then everything grows quiet which makes Charlie frown.
"You are in no position to question me," Damon says, lowly, and Charlie stiffens.
"I didn't mean to upset you," Zach gasps, and Charlie blurs into the room, and she glares when she sees Damon choking him. She uses her enhanced speed, and grabs Damon by the shoulder and throws him across the room, causing him to land on a coffee table, effectively destroying it.
"Leave. Him. Alone, Damon," Charlie growls, barring her fangs at him. She visibly readies herself for a fight when Damon gets up, and growls.
"What's going on?" Stefan asks, coming into the room, and he frowns, seeing his two siblings glaring murderously at each other. Damon breaks the angry staring contest between him and his sister to look at Stefan, and he plasters a fake smirk on his face.
"Having a family moment, Stefan. Spending some quality time," Damon says, and exits the room. Charlie watches his retreating form angrily and slowly lets her face shift back to normal. Stefan looks at Charlie worriedly before he looks at Zach who is sitting on the floor, catching his breath.
"Hey, are you okay?" Stefan asks, attempting to help Zach up, but Zach pushes his hands away.
"No, I'm not. And neither are you. How many more people have to die before you see that?" Zach asks, loudly.
"We see it. All right, Zach, we see it," Stefan says, and Charlie turns around to face them.
"Then why aren't you doing anything about it?" Zach asks, exasperatedly.
"I can't, Zach. I can't. It would take human blood. It's the only way that I could stop him, and I can't do that," Stefan asks, and Zach looks at Charlie expectantly.
"Damon's older than I am. Not by much, but he's still stronger than me," Charlie explains.
"The vervain could weaken him if he ingested it. It would help get you the upper hand," Zach says quietly, and Charlie frowns.
"Yeah, it would, but vervain hasn't grown here since the late 1800's. Damon made sure of that," Charlie says, shaking her head.
"The little I had, I gave to Elena," Stefan says, and Zach gives them both a look. "What?" Stefan asks, frowning. Zach nods for them to follow him, and he walks away. Stefan and Charlie share a look, and follow him. Zach leads the twins to the basement, and to one of the multiple rooms of the cellar, before pushing open the door. Charlie and Stefan walk into the room, and Charlie's eyebrows raise when she sees several potted plants of vervain growing underneath a light.
"You've been growing it," Stefan says, looking at Zach, mildly impressed.
"It's just something that's been passed down through the generations. Blood only runs so deep when you're related to vampires. Damon would kill me if he knew that I had it," Zach says, looking between the twins.
"Why are you telling us?" Charlie asks, curiously.
"Because I trust you both. And you're gonna need it if you want to get rid of him," Zach says, and Stefan nods. Stefan looks at Charlie who is eyeing the vervain nervously.
"Hey, you know we have to do this. If we don't, he'll only kill more people, including Caroline," Stefan says, and Charlie shakes her head.
"He promised me that he wouldn't kill her," Charlie says, and Stefan stares at her. Charlie looks at him and her face morphs into a glare when she sees the obvious pity in his eyes. "Don't look at me like that, Stefan. Damon may break his promises to you, but he's never broken a promise to me. Ever."
"Charlie-," Stefan starts, but Charlie shakes her head.
"No, Stefan. Look… I won't say anything… But I don't want to be a part of this," Charlie says, and Stefan sighs.
"I never expected you to help me, Charlie," Stefan says, and Charlie nods before turning around and slowly making her way upstairs. She pulls her phone out of her pocket when it vibrates with a text, and she sees that she received a message from an unknown number. She opens up the message and her eyebrows rise in slight surprise.
'Are you going to the Founder's Party? – Bonnie'
'Wasn't exactly planning on it since both brothers have dates,' she texts back before saving Bonnie's number in her cell phone.
'Wanna go as girl-dates?' Bonnie asks, and Charlie chuckles a bit as she heads up to her bedroom.
'Sounds fun. Meet you there at around… Say 5?' Charlie asks, and picks up her iPod when she shuts her bedroom door. She scrolls through her music and plugs the device into the iPod Dock before turning on Hold the Line by Toto, and letting the music blare through the speakers.
'Sounds good :),' Bonnie texts back, and Charlie grins slightly before setting her phone down. She walks over to her closet and pushes all of her tops and jackets out of the way and pulls the dresses she owns forward, and begins looking through them. She glances behind her slightly when she hears her door open and she sees Damon enter the room. She rolls her eyes slightly and begins looking through her dresses again.
"Mad at me?" Damon asks, and Charlie snorts in disbelief. "I brought a peace offering," Damon says, and Charlie hears him holding something up. She reluctantly turns around and sees Damon holding up a package of Oreo cookies. Charlie narrows her eyes at him, and crosses her arms.
"What's the catch?" Charlie asks, and Damon plasters an offended look on his face.
"Do I have to have a reason to give my baby sister her favorite snack?" Damon asks, and Charlie simply stares at him blankly. Damon frowns slightly and shakes his head. "I just realized how similar yours and Stefan's facial expressions are. Weird. But no," he says, looking at the package of Oreos and back to her. "Call them apology cookies."
"You don't apologize," Charlie says, rolling her eyes.
"Why do you think I brought the cookies?" he asks, and pulls the package open, and Charlie's eyes zero in on the opening of the package, and she narrows her eyes when Damon goes to take one, and she rushes forward and takes the package out of his hands, holding them to her chest protectively.
"You can't break my arm and just expect me to forgive you," Charlie says, giving him a look before glancing at the Oreos in her hand before taking one out and taking a bite out of it and nodding. "The Oreos are a nice touch though," she says before setting the package down on the desk by her closet.
"The wrist breaking retaliation was pretty impressive," Damon says, moving to Charlie's bookcase and looking through the various titles.
"Yeah, well like I've said, I drink human blood. I stand a fair chance against you," Charlie says, going back to looking through her dresses. "Ugh, I can't find a stupid dress for this stupid party."
"If it's so stupid, then why are you going?" Damon asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Because Bonnie asked me if I'd go with her," Charlie says, taking out a blue dress and looking it over.
"Oh, not you, too," Damon groans, pulling a book off of her bookcase. "You're a vampire. Why are you reading this?" he asks, and she looks at the book, and she grins slightly seeing 'Twilight' in his hand.
"I bought it to see what the hype was about. The vampires in it are stupid, but all in all it's actually pretty well written. I saw the movie too, and it was pretty lame," Charlie says, putting the blue dress back, and crossing her arms while looking at the other dresses. She pulls out a few dresses and lays them on her bed, before looking them over properly.
"There's been many times where I've been proud to call you my little sister… Now isn't really one of those times," Damon says, before snagging a few of Charlie's cookies, and making to leave the room. "Go with the burgundy dress," he says over his shoulder before shutting the door to her room as he leaves. She glances at the door before looking at the burgundy spaghetti strap dress, and she picks it up, and walks into her bathroom to look into the full length mirror. She tilts her head slightly as she holds the dress to her body, and she shrugs before hanging the dress up on the towel rack. She carefully applies her makeup, and curls her hair before finally changing into the dress. She walks back to her bedroom, her bare feet padding on the hardwood floor, and she ducks into her closet, and sorts through her many pairs of shoes. After about five minutes, she finds a pair of burgundy colored heels, and she slips them onto her feet.
She walks to her nightstand and looks at her phone, and it shows that she has fifteen minutes before she has to meet Bonnie at the Lockwood property. She puts on a couple of pieces of jewelry and puts her cell phone in a clutch bag along with her car keys, and she exits her bedroom. She carefully walks down the stairs in her heels, and she sees Stefan and Zach standing in the hallway leading to the front door.
"It lowered his guard. He won't expect me to try again so soon," Stefan says, and she watches as Zach hands Stefan a small vial filled with a clear liquid, and she can smell the scent of vervain coming from the closed vial.
"I doubled what I put in the scotch," Zach says, and Stefan nods, before noticing Charlie standing at the end of the hallway, watching the exchange with sad eyes. He looks at her apologetically and she looks at the floor for a few short moments before she walks forward, taking her car keys out of her bag.
"Do you… Want a ride to Elena's?" Charlie asks Stefan as he puts the vervain into his jacket pocket.
"Yeah," Stefan says. "Let's go," he says, placing a hand on her back and leading her out of the house. The two of them get into her car once they reach it, and most of the ride to Elena's is spent in silence. Stefan looks over at his twin on the way to Elena's and he frowns when he sees the guilty look in her eyes as she watches the road. "I'm sorry that we have to do this, Charlie."
"No… No you aren't. We both know that it has to be done," Charlie says in a defeated voice. Charlie pulls up in front of Elena's house, and Stefan exits the car. He leans down before shutting the door, and looks at Charlie for a few moments.
"You look beautiful, Charlie," Stefan says, and Charlie grins at him.
"You look pretty dashing yourself, Stef," Charlie says, and Stefan smiles at her before shutting the car door, and walking up to Elena's front door. Charlie pulls away from Elena's house and drives to the Lockwood mansion right on time. She gets out of her car and immediately sees Bonnie standing nearby. The two girls smile at each other as Charlie approaches her.
"Hey Charlie. You look so different!" Bonnie exclaims. "I'm so used to seeing you in jeans and combat boots. You look great!"
"Well, thank you," Charlie laughs. "You look great, too!"
Bonnie thanks her with a smile and the two girls chat as they wait in the line to get into the Lockwood's home. When they finally reach the mayor and his wife, Mrs. Lockwood smiles at Bonnie.
"Bonnie! How great to see you, you look lovely!" Mrs. Lockwood says with a smile, and she looks at Charlie with a polite smile. "And I don't believe we've met," she says, and Charlie smiles at her.
"Charlotte Salvatore, it's so great to meet you Mrs. Lockwood, Mayor Lockwood," Charlie says formally, shaking both of their hands.
"It's great to meet you too, sweetheart," Mayor Lockwood says with a smile. "You two go on inside. Enjoy the party," he says, gesturing to the house.
"Thank you," Charlie says with a smile, and she and Bonnie both enter the lavish mansion. Bonnie looks at Charlie with an impressed grin, and Charlie raises a questioning eyebrow. "Manners were really drilled into mine and my brothers' heads as children."
"Makes sense, now," Bonnie says. "I've never met anyone with such formal manners before."
"Well, now you have a friend who's an expert at them," Charlie smiles. "I can identify every type of fork, spoon, knife, plate, bowl, and glass at a formal dinner party, and I know exactly when to use them all and on what to use them on."
"I've attempted to learn all of that, but there's so much to remember," Bonnie complains, and Charlie nods with a laugh.
"I know, it took me such a long time to learn," she says, taking a glass of champagne from a passing waiter, and grabbing another and handing it to Bonnie. "At parties like this everyone's of age," Charlie says, and takes a drink. Bonnie laughs and takes a drink of hers as well. Charlie and Bonnie walk through the house for a few minutes, and Bonnie stops Charlie and watches a red haired woman and a man who Charlie recognizes as Logan Fell converse.
"Whoa, hey, not so fast. I know you. You have a lot more insults in you, I can tell," Logan says.
"Your hairline's receding," the woman says, and Bonnie snorts in amusement.
"No, it's not. You want to have lunch?" Logan asks.
"Nope," the woman responds immediately.
"You haven't changed a bit," the man says with a grin.
"Oh, yes, I have. I'm meaner now," the woman says, and turns around to leave and she practically runs into Bonnie. "Oh, sorry Bonnie. I guess you saw all of that?"
"Yeah, and it was awesome," Bonnie laughs. "Jenna, this is Charlie Salvatore. Charlie, this is Elena's aunt Jenna."
"Hi, nice to meet you," Charlie says with a smile, and Jenna smiles back.
"You too, Charlie," Jenna says.
"So what was that with Logan Fell?" Bonnie asks.
"Ex-boyfriend. Messy breakup. He's a real scumbag," Jenna sneers, and Charlie glances behind Jenna and watches Logan converse with other people.
"I recognize him from the news… I'm not too sure about him. He has a big forehead," Charlie says, and Jenna laughs.
"I like you already," Jenna says, and Charlie grins at her. Charlie excuses herself and goes into the room with all of the founding family heirlooms where she sees Stefan and Elena looking at the items. Elena turns slightly and sees Charlie enter the room.
"Hey, Charlie. You look amazing," Elena says with a grin, and Charlie smiles back.
"Thanks, Elena, so do you," she says, and starts to look over the items in the room.
"'The founding families in Mystic Falls welcomes you to the inaugural founder's council celebration.'," Elena reads and Charlie looks at Stefan when she hears Elena read off the title of the aged document hanging, framed on the wall. Stefan exchanges a look with his sister, and looks back at Elena. "Wow, look, it's the original guest registry. Look at all these familiar names—Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood. Is that Damon Salvatore? Charlotte Salvatore and Stefan Salvatore?"
"The original Salvatore siblings. Our ancestors. Tragic story, actually," Damon says entering the room with Caroline.
"Our parents thought it would be a good idea to name us after them. They had two boys and a girl. Our parents had two boys and a girl. It was like it was meant to be," Charlie says, and Elena smiles at her.
"But we don't need to bore them with stories of the past," Stefan interjects, giving Damon a look.
"It's not boring, Stefan. I'd love to hear more about your family," Elena says, looking at Stefan.
"Well, I'm bored. I want to dance. And Damon won't dance with me," Caroline whines, and looks at Elena.
"Mm-Mmm," Damon says, shaking his head.
"Could I just borrow your date?" Caroline asks.
"Speaking of, I should probably go find Bonnie," Charlie says, and exits the room in search for her new friend. Charlie searches for a few minutes before she finally finds Bonnie wandering around by herself. She walks up behind the girl and puts a hand on her shoulder, smiling apologetically when Bonnie jumps. "Hey, sorry."
"Its fine," Bonnie says with a smile.
"So, what's there to do at these things?" Charlie asks as the two girls walk through the house.
"Well…," Bonnie trails off with a laugh. "Um… There's drinking," Bonnie says, holding up her freshly refilled champagne glass, and Charlie laughs. "Actually, I was kind of hoping to talk to you… About your brothers."
"Please tell me that you don't have a crush on them too," Charlie says, looking at Bonnie a bit agitated, and Bonnie smiles as she shakes her head.
"No, nothing like that… It's about something that Caroline told me," Bonnie says, as they walk outside. They both sit down at a table, and Bonnie looks at Charlie seriously. "It's about their ex, Katherine," Bonnie says, and she doesn't miss the light scowl that crosses Charlie's face. "I… I'm sorry if you don't want to talk about it, I'm just trying to look out for Elena."
"Oh, believe me that face wasn't directed to you. In all honesty I hated Katherine," Charlie says, looking at Bonnie.
"Because she's the reason your brothers don't get along?" Bonnie asks, and Charlie nods. "I'm not supposed to be saying anything. Caroline swore me to secrecy, but I just… Need to know, for Elena."
"Well, ask me anything. I'd be happy to answer," Charlie says with a slight smile.
"Okay. Well, Caroline said that Damon told her that Katherine dated them both," Bonnie says, and Charlie nods, confirming what she's just said. "And that Katherine chose Damon. And after she chose Damon, it drove Stefan crazy, so he manipulated Katherine and did horrible things to break them up and turn her against Damon, and that it finally worked and that's why they hate each other," Bonnie says, and she watches Charlie's face go from blank to humored.
"Of course that's what he said," Charlie mutters to herself. "Okay, listen, I love both of my brothers. I love Damon dearly, but to be completely honest… You can't trust a word he says most of the time. That's not how that situation happened at all. I know it's wrong to speak ill of the dead and all that, but Katherine was a horrible, manipulative person who turned my brothers against each other. Trust me when I say that Stefan is not that kind of person. I promise you that," Charlie says, and Bonnie can see the honesty in her eyes and she nods with a small smile.
"That makes me feel a lot better about him being with Elena," Bonnie says, and Charlie grins.
"You're a really good friend, Bonnie," Charlie says, and Bonnie laughs a bit. "Well, I'll be right back. I'm gonna go get a drink. Will you watch this for me?" Charlie asks, leaving her clutch bag on the table as she stands, and Bonnie nods. Charlie walks away, and finds a waiter with a tray of champagne glasses. She takes one with a smile and turns to go back to go back to the table. As she approaches she sees Bonnie focusing on a candle and when she's nearly to the table, the candle ignites on its own. Charlie can't fight the small grin that comes to her face as Bonnie looks a bit startled, and she notices that Charlie had been watching. "That was amazing," Charlie says, giving Bonnie a smile, trying to lessen Bonnie's terrified face.
"Please, don't tell anybody you saw that," Bonnie says, panicked.
"Hey, relax," Charlie says, sitting down in her previously vacated chair. "I won't tell anyone."
"You don't look very shocked," Bonnie acknowledges.
"As hard as it might be to believe, I've met a witch before," Charlie says, and Bonnie looks at her wide eyed.
"You have? Who? What's her name?" Bonnie asks, leaning forward, her eyes wide with anticipation.
"Her name was Emily," Charlie says.
"Was?" Bonnie asks, disappointed.
"Yeah, she passed away. She was… Pretty old," Charlie says, and Bonnie nods, leaning back in her seat.
"It's official. I'm a freak," Bonnie says, and Charlie shakes her head.
"No. You aren't. I think it's awesome," Charlie grins, and Bonnie raises an eyebrow.
"Really?" she asks, a little disbelieving.
"God's honest truth," she responds, raising a hand, and Bonnie grins a bit. "Oh, I don't like the look of that," Charlie says, looking out onto the dance floor and seeing Elena and Stefan in the midst of an argument. Bonnie and Charlie watch as Elena says something and walks away.
"I'm gonna go see what's wrong. Wanna come?" Bonnie asks, and Charlie shakes her head.
"I think she just needs her best friend, not the sister of the guy she's mad at," Charlie says, and Bonnie nods before taking off in the direction of her best friend. Stefan notices Charlie sitting at a table and he makes his way over to her. Charlie looks at him as he takes Bonnie's vacated chair. "That looked interesting," Charlie comments, and Stefan gives her a look. "Wanna tell me what happened?"
"You didn't hear?" Stefan asks, raising an eyebrow.
"I was kind of talking to Bonnie," Charlie says, and Stefan sighs.
"It's Damon. He said something to her, and she started asking about Katherine," Stefan says, and opens his mouth to say more.
"Let me stop you right there. Okay, so it may not be so much of Damon saying something directly to her, as him saying something to somebody else, and it being passed through the grapevine," Charlie says.
"Caroline?" Stefan guesses, and Charlie nods.
"Which got passed on to Bonnie, who passed it onto Elena, and then came to me for answers," Charlie says, and Stefan sighs.
"What did he say?" Stefan asks.
"Well, according to Damon, Katherine chose him, and it drove you crazy, so you did horrible things to break them up, and manipulated Katherine to turn her against Damon. So basically you're a manipulative liar," Charlie says, and Stefan rolls his eyes. "Don't worry. I set the record straight. I didn't tell her everything, but I did say that Damon lies, and not to listen to what he says. I think I've actually told Elena that before," she muses, and Stefan nods.
"Thanks for that, Charlie," Stefan says, and Charlie waves him off.
"I'm completely on team 'Stefan and Elena being together'. I'm doing everything to keep you two together," Charlie says. "You're happier with her. I can tell. And that's all I want is for my twin to be happy, Stef," Charlie says, and Stefan grins at her, before reaching over and squeezing her hand gently in thanks. "This party is boring. I can't believe I found this fun when I was still human," Charlie groans.
"You found it fun because your date was George Lockwood," Stefan says, raising an eyebrow at her, and Charlie ponders this for a few moments before smiling.
"Oh yeah," she grins. "You know, he was perfect for me. I liked him, papa liked him," Charlie lists.
"I hated him," Stefan interjects, and Charlie rolls her eyes at him.
"You hate every guy that shows an interest in me," Charlie says.
"Because they aren't good enough for you," Stefan says, narrowing his eyes at Charlie.
"According to you, no ones good enough for me," Charlie points out, and Stefan nods in agreement which makes Charlie scoff and push his shoulder playfully. "It's kind of funny that you still have the same mindset 150 years later."
"150 years doesn't make you any less of my little sister," Stefan says seriously.
"Three minutes, Stefan!" Charlie exclaims, and Stefan chuckles at her.
"Still counts," he says, getting up and walking away.
"There is something seriously wrong with you," Charlie hears Elena's voice say loudly, and she looks over and her eyes widen slightly when she sees Elena practically shouting at Damon. "You stay away from Caroline or I will go straight to her mother, the sheriff. You got it? Stay away from her," Elena says, and walks away. Charlie stiffens at the look on Damon's face, and she gets up, quickly grabbing her clutch bag, and speed jogging over to Damon.
"Please don't do anything stupid, Damon," Charlie says, following Damon as he begins walking toward the house.
"Go home, Charlie," Damon says, glancing over his shoulder at her.
"Remember your promise, Damon," Charlie counters, and Damon pauses, and turns around, facing her.
"How could I forget, Charlie?" Damon asks in a nice tone which Charlie sees through immediately. "You look bored. Why don't you go home?" he asks, turning around and walking away from her. Charlie turns around and looks at Stefan who is speaking with Elena, and she has an internal debate on whether or not she should follow Damon, or go to Stefan. She shakes her head and decides to follow Damon to prevent him from doing something stupid. She scours the house for her eldest brother, and she frowns when she can't find him. She goes back outside to enlist Stefan's help, but that idea is shot down when she finds Damon dragging Caroline out of the house by the arm. Her eyes widen and she starts over to them, but she's grabbed around the waist, and pulled back. She immediately fights out of the person's hold, and she quickly spins around with a glare but her glare lessens when she sees Stefan. He shakes his head, and looks over her shoulder at Damon and Caroline. Charlie watches the scene and moves forward when Damon bites Caroline, but Stefan stops her.
"I took care of it. She'll be fine," Stefan says, and Charlie growls slightly as Caroline falls to the ground and Damon kneels beside her, his mouth still on her neck. A moment later, Damon pulls away, and falls to the ground beside her, and Stefan looks at Charlie. "Meet me at the house. Go," Stefan says, and Charlie nods before looking around. She sees that everybody is distracted, so she uses her enhanced speed to blur to her car, and she quickly gets inside. She takes out her phone to send a quick text to Bonnie, but she finds that she's already received a text from the girl saying that she'd already headed home.
When she arrives at the boarding house, she hears the sound of one of the metal doors in the basement being shut, and the sound of two people coming up the stairs as she enters the house. When she approaches the basement door, she sees Zach and Stefan return upstairs, and she frowns slightly. Stefan opens his mouth to say something but she holds up a hand and shakes her head.
"I understand. I'm gonna go change out of this dress," Charlie says, taking off her heels and going upstairs to her bedroom. She slowly changes out of her dress and into her pajamas, before going into her bathroom and washing the makeup off of her face. She pulls her curled hair up into a messy bun, and puts some slippers on her feet before exiting her bedroom after grabbing her package of Oreos. She slowly drags her feet to Stefan's bedroom, and she pushes the door open and unsurprisingly finds him writing in his journal. He looks up when he hears the door open, and he's not surprised to find Charlie standing in the doorway. She moves into the room and shuts the door behind her, and trudges over to his bed and sits down on it. "Go ahead and say it," she says, moving to sit in the middle of his bed, and pulling out a cookie before taking a bite out of it. "I deserve it."
"Say what?" Stefan asks, frowning at Charlie and shutting his journal.
"'I told you so'," Charlie says, deepening her voice in an attempt to mimic Stefan. "You tried to tell me not to trust him, and I did. I trusted him not to try to kill Caroline and he did."
"You couldn't have known," Stefan says, crossing the room to sit on his bed next to Charlie. Charlie gives him an 'are you serious' look.
"This is Damon," Charlie says, and Stefan nods.
"But you were right earlier. Despite everything he's done, he's never broken a promise to you. Until now," Stefan says. Charlie nods, and eats another cookie. She looks around a bit, and sighs.
"We need a television in this place," Charlie grumbles, and Stefan smiles at her.
"Why don't we get one tomorrow?" he asks, and Charlie raises her eyebrows. "I'm not going back to school until this whole thing with Damon is sorted out, and I don't think you should either. We're gonna need to work together on this."
"Yeah… I know," she says. The two of them sit on Stefan's bed and talk for a few minutes before Charlie decides to leave Stefan's room. She puts her cookies back in her bedroom, and stands in the middle of her room for a few moments before exiting her bedroom again. She quietly goes downstairs and makes her way to the basement. She walks through the basement until she finds the cell that Damon is in and she looks inside and sees his unconscious body lying on the floor. She sighs lightly and leans on the wall beside the door, and slowly slides down the wall until she's sitting on the dirt covered floor. After a few minutes of sitting on the floor, lost in thought, she stands and goes to the freezer and grabs a blood bag for herself, and quickly drains it before tossing the empty bag in the waste basket in the room. She blinks a bit when she hears the sound of Damon groaning, and she walks back to the cell door and looks inside. She sees his eyes open slightly, and he looks at her.
"I should have known you were on his side," Damon says bitterly, and Charlie frowns.
"I don't take sides," Charlie says. "But if I had to take sides right now, I would choose Stefan's since you attempted to kill Caroline. You promised me Damon. You said you wouldn't kill her."
"She's not dead now, is she?" Damon asks, and Charlie glares at him.
"That's not the point, Damon. If Stefan wouldn't have put vervain in her drink, you would have killed her," Charlie says, and Damon weakly rolls his eyes.
"Well, it looks like you won't have to worry about that anymore since you and Stefan conspired against me, poisoned me, and threw me in here. What's the next part of your big plan Charlotte? Wait until I'm weaker, and then shove a stake in my heart? I know Stefan's probably been itching to do that for more than a century," Damon says, and Charlie rolls her eyes at him.
"Don't be so dramatic, Damon. You know I'd never let Stefan kill you," Charlie says.
"Do I? I never thought you'd do this to me either, but here I am," Damon says.
"Contrary to your belief, I didn't play a part in this. I told Stefan that I didn't want any part in this," Charlie says.
"How noble of you," Damon mutters, and Charlie rolls her eyes.
"Well, I guess I'll just leave you to your thoughts then. Sleep well, big brother," Charlie sneers angrily, and storms away, back up the basement stairs, and she slams the basement door behind her. She turns the corner, and isn't surprised to find Stefan leaning against the wall. "I guess you heard everything?"
"Yeah. To be honest I was half expecting you to give him some blood," Stefan says, and Charlie gives him a humorless half smile.
"To be honest I almost did," Charlie says, before moving past him and heading to her bedroom. She stops halfway up the stairs and turns around sees Stefan still in his original place. "Thank you for what you did, Stefan. You saved Caroline, and I appreciate it."
"You're welcome, Charlie," Stefan says, and Charlie smiles at him before retreating to her bedroom, and that's where she stays for the rest of the night.
-TSBOF-
A/N: I know it's kind of shorter than normal, but this episode wasn't the most exciting. I promise the next one will be better! Remember, the poll is still open! If you haven't voted, go vote! I'll be closing it soon since I'm going to start planning on future chapters.
New outfits on Polyvore! Go check them out! Link on profile!
Questions?
Comments?
Suggestions?
Leave them in a review!
Reviewers and Replies:
grapejuice101: Thank you very much; I'm glad you think so! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!
imaddictedtocarrots: Haha, we'll see! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!
Purelight97: I know I feel bad for him. But during the last episode, I really liked all of the Mabekah. Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!
RHatch89: Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!
Luli Cullen: Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!
Sayomi-hime: I'll remember that! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!
xxRAINBOWunicornsXX: Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!
Sissymac: Well thank you very much for the compliment! I'm so glad you like my stories that much! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!
horsegirlrule: I'll remember that vote! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!
Kaj: Hah, well I'm glad you like that! I can't have Charlie just sit there and take Damon's mild abuse. Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!
Edwardluver2000: I'm glad you like the Stefan and Charlie bonding! There will be much more in this story! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!
Passions2Write: I'll remember that! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!
DiannaSalvatore: I know, I was sad that Kol died, too. I actually have a Kol/OC story going as well in case you haven't read it yet! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!
happysmilebtr: Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!
SassyKenderson: I'm really glad you like Charlie and the relationship with both of her brothers. Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!