Chapter three

"I have loved you for a thousand years."- A thousand years by Christina Perri

Kingston, New York

One year ago

Charlie walked away from her laughing friends, all sitting at a booth at a college bar. She walked to the bar, and ordered five beers and a coke for herself. Charlie didn't drink- she couldn't drink.

"Hello there."

Charlie looked over to her right, to see a man with ice blue eyes smirking at her. He was handsome, and around her age. But he was drunk- or at least, on his way to being drunk.

"Hi." She said politely, tossing her brown hair over her shoulder.

"What's your name?" the man pressed, and Charlie sighed. She wasn't one to talk to the local drunks- no matter how cute they were- and this man seemed… dangerous. Still, her mum had raised her to be polite.

"Charlie Mathews." She responded, tapping her fingers impatiently while waiting for her drinks. "Yours?"

The man smirked at her. "Damon Salvatore."

"What?" Stefan and Elena exclaimed, while Charlie gazed down at her wedding ring. Damon had picked it out himself, and she loved it. It wasn't over the top, but it wasn't small either. It was perfect, showing that her husband knew her taste.

"Damon and I are married- have been for four months now." Charlie said; mad at Damon for telling them about their marriage. He promised that he would, yet Stefan and Elena had no idea that she even existed.

"No way." Elena shook her head. Charlie smiled sympathetically- even she used to think that Damon Salvatore wasn't the marrying type. And then he proposed to her.

"Do you know where Damon is?" Charlie asked, pushing her hair out of her face. She was going to kick her husband's ass for keeping her a secret- even if he was a vampire and she was a human.

Stefan slowly shook his head, staring at his sister-in-law. "I just… I don't believe it." He whispered, as Charlie pulled her jacket tighter around her small frame.

"Can I come in? It's really cold out here." Charlie said, picking up her bags. Stefan and Elena let her into the house, all the while staring at Charlie like they still didn't really believe she was telling the truth.

But it was true; Charlie Mathews- now Charlie Salvatore- fell in love with Damon Salvatore, and then they got married.

When Damon pulled up to his house with Alaric still in the passenger seat, and saw the red '72 Chevy truck parked terribly, he cursed. Alaric gave him a weird look, but Damon ignored him and walked into his house.

He had told Charlie not to come, that it wasn't safe for her here, and that she shouldn't be driving by herself for a long time. But did Charlie ever listen? No. he found it sexy and irritating at the same time.

He walked into house, to find his wife talking with a stunned Stefan and Elena. He ignored them, and stared straight at Charlie. She glared back, clearly mad at him.

"Did you forget to tell your brother and his girlfriend something, Damon?" she asked sarcastically, her hazel eyes narrowed in anger.

Damon sighed- he knew what she was talking about. Their marriage. He hadn't told anyone yet, and his ring was currently on a chain around his neck. He was going to be in big trouble for that one.

"I thought I told you not to come. It's not safe for you right now, Charlie. There are werewolves running around, and the full moon is in three days. Plus, it's a seven and a half hour drive- how did you pull that by yourself?" Damon said, and Charlie rolled her eyes.

"At least I didn't hide our marriage!" she retorted. Damon's eyes widened in alert- she shouldn't be getting worked up like this. It wasn't good for her.

"Charlie, calm down." He ordered, but Charlie just glared. She marched out of the room, just as Alaric showed up. Damon followed his wife into one of the many rooms in his house.

"Char, calm down." He repeated, as she turned her back on him.

"I will not calm down, Damon." she snarled, breathing heavily.

"Charlie, calm down." Damon said firmly, turning his wife around so that they were face to face. She sighed, and took deep breaths. It wasn't good for her, to get angry like that.

"I'm still angry at you." She told him, before walking out of the room on him.

Damon sighed, knowing that Charlie wasn't very forgiving. But he pissed her off on a daily basis, and she always forgave him by the time she fell asleep. He was the exception.

Charlie counted down from ten to calm down her anger. She pushed her dark curls out of her face, as she joined Stefan, Elena, and another man back in the living room. Ten, nine, eight, she thought, playing with her wedding ring.

"Hello," she said politely to the new man. "I'm Charlie." She introduced herself.

"Alaric," he responded, shaking her offered hand.

Damon appeared at his wife's side, but knew better than to wrap his arm around her waist, like he usually would. "Hey Ric, I see you met my wife." He said cheerfully. He gave Charlie a smirk, but she just frowned at him.

"Too late, Damon." she mumbled, moving away from him.

"Wife?" Alaric repeated with wide eyes. '"You got married?"

"Yep," Damon said, pulling off his chain with a snap, and putting his ring back on.

Charlie sighed and rolled her eyes. Seven, six, five, four, she counted in her head. "I was drunk when I said yes," she mumbled, and Damon just rolled her eyes.

"She loves me." he told Alaric, Elena, and Stefan. They all looked frozen in shock that Damon Salvatore was married.

Charlie walked away from the group of people, counting, three, two, one, zero, in her head as she did. Damon grabbed her bags and followed his wife up to his room. He was glad that she had finally calmed down, but knew that he wasn't out of the woods yet.

"I can't believe that you didn't tell them about us!" Charlie exclaimed, as soon as Damon shut the door behind them.

She angrily took her bags away from him, her hazel eyes turning dark brown in anger. Charlie roughly set a bag on his bed, and pulled out a pair of his boxers and one of his shirts- her pajamas. It was only eight at night, but Damon knew that driving from New York to Virginia tired her out.

"I mean, how do you not share the fact that you're married? I told everyone the second you proposed, even my mother. And my mother loathes you." Charlie continued, stripping down. Damon groaned slightly- she was deliberately getting naked in front of him, when he knew that they wouldn't be having sex that night.

"Charlie, you don't know them." Damon sighed, as she pulled on his shirt, the hem of it just brushing the middle of her thigh. "They wouldn't believe me. Besides, why does it matter if they know or not?"

"It matters to me." Charlie frowned, pulling her dark locks up on top of her head. "Go away, I'm tired." She mumbled, getting into his bed.

Damon sighed, knowing that he was kicked out of bed. It wasn't the first time. But he never ended up spending the night on the couch, for Charlie hated sleeping alone. He shut off the lights for her, and mumbled, "I love you, Char," Before he walked out of his bedroom.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were married?" Stefan demanded as soon as he walked into the living room.

Damon sighed. "I already have an angry wife who kicked me out of bed, brother. Can we save this for tomorrow?" he asked, turning to a bottle of bourbon.

"No, Damon, we can't." Damon groaned, running a hand over his face.

"I got married and I didn't tell you, so what? Don't tell me that you all weren't happy to see me go. I didn't tell you about Charlie because I didn't think that you would care." He snapped, taking a long sip of the drink.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated in his pocket, and Damon smirked. He pulled it out, and read the text from Charlie. Come to bed. I think I saw a monster clown in your closet. Charlie was terrified of clowns.

Damon left his brother, and walked up to his room. Charlie was curled up in a ball under the covers. He slipped in next to her, and pulled her small body into his arms. She buried her face into his chest, and he ran a hand through her silky curls.

"I'm still mad at you." She mumbled sleepily.

"No you're not." He smirked, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"I know."

A/N: thank you to: Nerw20, XxX-Blaze-XxX, and nette0602 for reviewing!

Reviews are inspiring!

~Abby :)