*A/N* To clarify in case anyone is confused the previous chapters were pre-season 1 so everything below should be happening around when Damon appears in season 1 but with a little twist obviously :). Everyone who was human and/or alive at the beginning of season 1 is still human and/or alive. Happy reading :D *A/N*
Chapter 12
The minute he saw that long brown hair and dark brown eyes, Damon instantly remembered Katherine. Her beautiful face, her soft lips, all the memories came rushing back. Before he could stop himself, Damon vamped right into the living room, right behind her as she turned to look back at the door that just slammed as a reaction to his vamp speed. As she turned around to face him, surprise was evident on her face, and Damon's heart raced. His brows furrowed in confusion. Something was different. Her beautiful brown eyes looked up at him without recognition.
"I… I was looking for Stefan" she stuttered obviously shocked at his sudden appearance. Damon hid his surprise. As he listened closely, he recognized the steady pulse pumping through her veins which surprised him even more. She was human. She didn't recognize him. This didn't make any sense. Damon did the only thing he could think to do.
"I'm Damon, Stefan's brother" he replied with a small smile, watching her reaction carefully.
"I'm Elena" she introduced herself confirming his suspicions. "I didn't know Stefan had a brother"
The person standing in front of him was not Katherine Pierce. She had her face, her body, her eyes, but the person standing in front of him was not his long lost love. He had yearned to see her again, even for a minute, for so long, yet, standing in front of this carbon copy. He couldn't help but feel, disappointed. A sudden noise behind him attracted his attention and Damon turned around to see Stefan standing behind him, his surprise only visible in this furrowed eyebrows.
"Elena," he said coming over and putting himself between her and Damon. "I didn't know you were going to be over."
"I know, I should have called, i'm sorry." Elena told him apologetically, Damon studied her every movement.
"How about we go somewhere else" Stefan ushered her towards the door away from Damon all the while staring him down. The entire scene intrigued Damon and he smiled slyly as Stefan and Elena left waving goodbye to them as they closed the door.
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Charlotte stood on the sidewalk next to a cluster of shopping centers after Damon roared away on his baby blue car. Her mind was racing not only from the events of last night but also as to what could be so important that Damon had to get rid of her for a few hours. Charlotte wasn't stupid, she knew what he was doing. In fact, it had happened before with a couple of other guys. As soon as they didn't want to bother with her, they left her somewhere only to call her up again when they were ready. Was she naive for believing that Damon was any different. He had that bad boy vibe going for sure but Charlotte had hoped that there was something more to him, that somewhere deep inside he was worth caring about, that he was different.
Whatever his excuse was, she wasn't going to get anywhere by standing beside the street. Charlotte looked at the credit card in her hand. It was highly unlikely that Damon actually worked for the money that was on this card. However, all she had now was the clothes she was wearing and it appeared that her options were limited. With a heavy sigh, Charlotte turned around and walked towards the nearest shopping center.
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About an hour later, Charlotte stood in front of the dressing room mirror looking at the clothes she had tried on from various angles. She had to admit, this wasn't exactly her usual style. Charlotte had never been able to afford many things that were 'in-style' before and contented herself with basic clothing choices. However, she couldn't help but admit that the jeans she was wearing now did fit quite nicely.
After organizing her clothes into two separate groups on the store hooks that read "Definitely" and "Not today", Charlotte walked out of the dressing room back in her original attire and headed to the front of the dressing room to hand back the clothes she decided against. About halfway down the hallway, Charlotte found herself colliding with another blonde figure.
"Sorry," she apologized in response to the annoyed expression on the blonde's face.
"Look where you're go- " she began then her expression turned to curiosity "You're not from around here." she stated.
"No, i'm not" Charlotte replied hesitantly wondering what gave her away.
"I know everyone here," the girl replied to her confused stare. "And I haven't seen you around before."
"Yeah I just got here not to long ago." Charlotte replied, if only this girl knew how short that 'not long ago' really was.
"Well, I'm Caroline Forbes" the blonde girl chirped "welcome to Mystic Falls!"
"Thanks," Charlotte replied watching the girl who was a little too preppy. She tried walking around her but Caroline fell into step beside Charlotte her multitude of questions never ending.
"So what brings you here?"
"It's a long story."
"How long are you staying?"
"I'm not sure"
"Do you work around here?"
"No"
Eventually Charlotte managed to get to the checkout line and Caroline finally left her to do more shopping. It was so strange to think that Damon had grown up in this town, that this was his home. I was almost impossible to contemplate the idea of calling a town your home, after all Charlotte had never had much of one. Her childhood hadn't been particularly good and once she saw the opportunity to leave she did, and never looked back. Now she just went from town to town looking for the next job. Not anymore she thought. Damon seemed to have broken her routine, not that Charlotte was complaining. She sighed, he better have a good excuse she thought and checked out her remaining items.
As she exited the store and sat down on the curb placing her four bags beside her, Charlotte pulled out her phone, the one thing that she managed to keep from her old life. As soon as she turned the screen on, it buzzed to signify a new message. Curious, Charlotte tapped on the message icon at the bottom of her phone screen and was surprised when she saw who the sender was.
Damon: Sorry about today, i'll be there soon
When had he put his name in her phone? Charlotte couldn't remember ever giving it to him yet here it was as if by magic, which wasn't that unlikely anymore. He would be here soon, she mused, Damon had better have a good explanation.
