Previously On:
Suddenly as if she's made some sort of decision, Caroline tears of her sun ring and step towards the open balcony door. I realized what she's trying to do, thankfully before she's stepped outside.
"What the hell, do you think you're doing?" I say and pull her, spinning her so she's facing me.
Caroline's POV
"Damon, Let me go," I say. I've never been this furious with anyone. My fangs come out and I truly do want to kill him. I want to sink my teeth into his flesh. I want to crush and kill.
I expect him to throw me across the room, to find some sharp wooden object and send it right through my heart. Instead, he picks my sun ring off the table next to us and slips it onto my finger. Then he backs away from me, hands raised in a sign of surrender, and says, "Can we talk about this, before you take your life, let's just talk." He sits down on the edge of my bed.
His reaction surprises me so much that I retract my fangs, and after a brief pause I sit down next to him. From inside his jacket he pulls out a blood bag, and I've been so hungry that I rip it out of his hands and attack it.
"I was right, you aren't eating." Damon says. He forms it like a question, but my concentration is solely on the bag. I want every drop of blood I can get, within minutes the bag is wiped clean. Damon pulls out another one, and lets me finish that one in peace, before he asks anymore questions. When I'm done, he places the bags on the bedside table, and asks me, "What's going on with you?"
I wish he hadn't asked me that. I've already figured out that fear has paralyzed me from answering that particular question. It's the same one that Stefan's asked every time he's come to visit.
I look at Damon, eyes wide with desperation, hoping he won't just leave me after I can't give him an answer. I think he senses my terror, because he slings one arm around my shoulders and pulls me close. I lay my head down on his shoulder and cry.
"I don't sleep." I say. It surprises me how much stronger my voice sounds just after those two bags of blood.
"Why not?" he asks. I want to tell him, but really there's nothing he can do, instead I just shrug. He gets up, and I panic. If he leaves, I'll be left alone with my thoughts.
"Where are you going?" I say, desperately. He doesn't answer; instead he walks over to the other side of my bed slides off his shoes and lies down.
"Come here," he says and opens his arms for me. I look at him incredulously. This couldn't possibly be Damon Salvatore acting this way. I lie down, cuddle into his arms, and sleep, actually sleep. Don't get me wrong the nightmares they're all still there, but now instead of panic, a sweet scent I've come to associate with Damon washes over all the scary images, and my mind manages to go blank. Instead of fear, I turn numb and I welcome this feeling.
Damon's started to sleep here at night. One time, I catch him on the phone with Stefan as I'm leaving the bathroom in my pjs. I hear him say, "Won't be home tonight, I'm on suicide watch," and there's a rush of anger at that.
He clicks his phone off and turns my way. His face immediately softens when he sees me, and I almost forget to be angry at him, almost.
"Suicide watch," I snap. He can tell, right away I'm angry because his whole body tenses.
"Caroline, I didn't mean it like that…" he says reaching for my hand.
I pull away. If he doesn't want to be here I am certainly not going to let him touch me.
"You certainly don't have to be here Damon. No one is forcing you to stay with little old pitiful, Caroline." I yell. It hurts so much to think that I've become a charity case. That seems to piss him off because the next second he's right in my face.
"I think you know me well enough to know that I don't do anything that I don't want to do. I never act out of pity or sympathy. I am here because this where I want to be and where I'm needed," he says and something clicks in my head like he's given me the key to his thoughts. He's needed here, I need him, and maybe Damon needs to feel needed. He certainly isn't getting it from anywhere else. Elena and Stefan use him and then throw him away shamelessly whenever he's no longer any use to them. I vow that I won't do that. Even if hopefully someday these nightmares end, I will still treat Damon like he's important to me, because he is. Somewhere, along the way Damon Salvatore has become an essential part of my life.
"Come to bed," I say and that all the invitation he needs.
Over the course of the next few weeks, Damon and I do everything together. We spend nights at my house because Damon doesn't want to go to the Boarding house with Stefan's best friend, Lexi there. He tells me about her. Mostly he says she annoys the crap out him, but in brief moments of honesty he also explains that he respects her for helping Stefan control his impulses as a vampire and for teaching Stefan how to loosen up. I'm still not going to school, so instead Damon fills our days with various activities. He teaches me how to play cricket, which I label the most meaningless sport ever invented and I make him watch The Notebook with me. He mocks the movie the whole way through and then sits with his arm around me as I cry at the end. Damon never pushes me to go back to school, and I appreciate that.
One day, I decide to venture outside my house. I think about going to the grill, but there would be too many people there during lunchtime, so instead I head to the Boarding House. I think about knocking, but the door is ajar and I'm sure that Damon won't mind me just walking in. As I wonder where I could possibly find him, I hear the beginning of the song Jessie's girl float through the house, and I follow the tune. I stop in the doorway of the room Damon's in, frozen by shock. A huge smile spreads on my face and I have to put a hand over my mouth to suppress my laughter. I'm sure Damon won't want to be caught. Damon is standing on the coffee table belting out Jessie's girl, while Glee is playing on the huge flat screen in front of him. Damon is using his hand as a microphone. God, I wish I had a camera! No one will ever believe this. As Damon spins around on the table, he spots me. At first he's shocked and then a huge boyish grin spreads on his face, he stops singing. He jumps down, pulls me towards the table and when we're both up there, starts singing and dancing again. I stand there not sure of what he wants me to do, but Damon's energy is infectious and soon were both dancing and twirling. When the song is over, we get down and sit down on the couch.
"Damon, you're watching Glee," I whisper.
"Shush, I wanna know if Finn confesses his love to Rachel," he says completely serious. I am deadly quiet, but eventually I can't keep the hysterical laughter in and I burst out into laughter. Damon turns to look at me and burst into laughing too.
When Stefan, Elena and Lexi get back from wherever it was they went, Damon and I are outside on the front lawn lying side by side staring up at the stars. We're not talking; the silence is easier for now. They stare at us for a few minutes and then walk into the house. We pay them no attention. This moment in time is just for us, peaceful and healing.
"I'm thinking about going back to school tomorrow," I say.
Damon is silent for a few minutes, and then responds, "If you think you're ready, okay."
He's tense now, and I know why. I've prepared for this.
"It won't mean, I'll stop coming here, and hanging out with you, I just want to go back to normal, routine stuff and with that comes school," I say.
"I think it's good. In fact, you should hang out with your friends more. You were telling me that you haven't seen Elena in weeks, "he says.
"Yea, yea it would be nice to hang out with my girlfriends again," I say, getting excited at the prospects. The nightmares will still come, but I'll have Damon to help fight them, and my normal life will keep me busy during the day, so I don't have to think about the fear. I know all about the supernatural things out there, but I will no longer let them consume me.
Ok guys, please review like always.
Have to credit iWatch2much for the Glee part she came up with that idea.
Plus check out her new fic "Nothing Like Being Dirty." It's great, sexy fun for Delena fans!
Next up Caroline returns to school, but she's been replaced by a different blonde…