Chapter eighteen

"You never really can fix a heart,"- Fix a Heart by Demi Lovato

Charlie and Damon walked into the boarding house together silently. Neither had said a word since Damon had killed Ben. Charlie's ex's body was currently in Damon's trunk. He wanted to dump it down the ravine or into the falls, but all Charlie could think about was Ben's family.

He had a little sister, Emma, who was thirteen. She looked up to Charlie as a big sister when she and Ben where dating. Ben's father had acted as a father figure to Charlie, since James lived in London and they didn't get to see each other very often. His mother was the sweetest woman Charlie had ever met. Wasn't losing Ben enough pain to cause them? Did they really have to spend the rest of their lives wondering what had happened to him?

"He had a family, Damon," Charlie said suddenly, turning around to face him. "A really sweet family that was like my family when we were dating."

"He was practically raping you, Charlie!" Damon argued. "What was I supposed to do? Just let it happen?"

"He kissed me Damon, that's all!" she exclaimed, her eyes narrowed.

"Really? What about those bruises on your arms? Those look bad," he said in a dark, sarcastic voice.

"You didn't have to kill him. There were other to handle the situation besides snapping his neck," Charlie argued.

"Not for me, Charlie." Damon was gritting his teeth in anger, and Charlie was glaring at him, anger in her hazel eyes.

"Maybe if you actually thought before you did something, killing wouldn't always be the answer for you," Charlie retorted.

"Well, maybe if I thought before I proposed to you, we wouldn't be in this mess- oh, excuse me, I mean marriage," Damon snapped.

Charlie looked as if Damon had just punched her, and he immediately regretted his words. "Charlie-" he sighed, walking towards her.

Charlie slapped him across the face, hard. Damon's face ached, and he was sure that there was a very red imprint of her hand on his cheek. He caught a glance of Charlie's tear-filled hazel eyes, before she ran up the stairs. He heard a door slam, and then a sob escape Charlie's throat.

Damon closed his eyes. Listening to his wife cry and knowing that he caused the tears hurt more than her slap had. He hated himself for saying that. Why would he say that? Their marriage wasn't a mess, it was actually pretty good. The only rough spot in their marriage was the fact that Damon clearly wanted to change Charlie into a vampire, and she wasn't so sure about it. He loved her so, so much, and he didn't regret marrying her for a second.

Sometimes, Charlie wished that Damon would follow her when she ran away. Even when she was clearly angry and hurt, she still wanted him to hold her while she cried because of the cruel words he'd said. She forced herself to stop crying, and wiped her tears away. Crying never fixed anything.

Charlie changed out of her dress and into her pajamas. She forced down her pills, and then went to get the book she was currently reading. Reading usually managed to distract her from her thoughts, and Damon's words were still hurting her. He had basically told her that he regretted marrying her. Even though she was pissed at him for killing Ben, she didn't regret marrying him.

"Charlie?"

She froze at the voice, and didn't say anything back. She heard Damon sigh from the other side of the door. "I'm so sorry, okay? I didn't mean it."

Charlie sat down on the bed and closed her eyes. Did he though? Was Damon's outburst just words spouted in anger, meant to hurt her and succeeding? Or were they something deeper, an actual feeling of his that he had pushed down deep? Damon Salvatore wasn't the marrying type. He was a vampire, an "eternal stud," as he had referred to himself in the past. He wasn't one to be tied down to a little human woman with a defective heart.

"I didn't Charlie, really. I would never regret marrying you. I love you, so much," Damon insisted through the door.

If only it were so easy to believe his words, to forgive him. Now that that tiny seed was planted in her head, Charlie was sure that Damon regretted marrying her. It broke her heart.

Charlie curled up in bed, forgetting all about her book. Damon sighed, knowing that Charlie wasn't going to forgive him for his harsh, untrue words. Not tonight.

She heard him walk away, and Charlie bit her lip. Again, despite her anger and hurt and pain, a part of Charlie still wanted Damon to come into their room and hold her. She was so used to being comforted by Damon, that it was her instinct to go running into his arms whenever she was hurt.

Charlie didn't sleep very well that night. She never slept very well when Damon wasn't next to her. She only really felt safe when he was next to her, because he had drilled into her head he would always protect her. Because of that, Charlie didn't feel very safe when Damon wasn't with her.

Still, she didn't invite him back in bed with her. Charlie was still angry over Ben's death, and hurt over his cruel words to her. It was going to take a lot more than Charlie's strange sleep behavior to force her to forgive him.

The next morning, Charlie woke up from a restless sleep. She frowned when she saw that Damon wasn't next to her, but then she remembered their fight. Most of Charlie's anger was gone, but she was still a little angry for Ben's family's sake. Damon was just protecting her, though. It had just started out as a kiss, but what would've happened if Damon hadn't shown up?

The hurt and pain hadn't left Charlie, though. She still didn't forgive him for basically saying that he wished he hadn't met her. She wasn't ready to forgive him for that yet. Charlie needed more time.

As Charlie sat up and stretched, she noticed about ten vases of poppies in the bedroom- her favorite flower. They were all fresh, and a brilliant shade of dark orange, almost red. She couldn't help but smile. The poppies had softened her up a bit.

She took a shower and then changed into a white dress and a jean jacket. She wanted to distract herself from her fight with Damon, and give herself time to forgive him. She walked out of her room and downstairs. Damon wasn't there, but Stefan was. She smiled at her brother-in-law, though it was a little forced. She wasn't in a mood to smile.

"Did you and Damon fight last night?" Stefan asked, causing Charlie to stop walking towards the door.

"I suppose that we're still fighting." Charlie sighed. "How did you know?"

"Well, Damon's sleeping in one of the guest bedrooms. But around five this morning, he recruited me to help him put poppies in your room. What did he do?" Stefan asked.

She bit her lip. "Well, first he killed Ben- but I'm not mad about that anymore. He was just protecting me. Ben attacked me, sort of. He kissed me, and was hurting me." Charlie pushed up her sleeves to reveal the blue and purple bruises on her arms.

"But what I'm mad about right now- or more like really hurt- is that he basically told me that he regretted our marriage." She gulped slightly- just thinking about his cruel words broke her heart.

Stefan sighed. "I know that he didn't mean it, Charlie," he assured her. He found himself rooting for Damon and Charlie. Stefan saw how much his brother loved her, and he wanted him to be happy. He wanted Damon to have Charlie.

"But what if he did?" Charlie whispered so quietly that only a vampire would be able to hear her.

"He loves you, Charlie. I swear he does. When Damon gets angry and upset, he does and says stupid things. Did he apologize after?"

Charlie nodded. "Right after."

"Damon doesn't apologize, and he wouldn't of if he did mean what he said. All I'm saying is that you didn't let your mom break you two apart, so it'd be a shame if you let some words that Damon didn't mean do it." Stefan smiled sympathetically at her when he finished.

It touched Charlie, that Stefan cared enough about her and Damon's marriage to try to defend it. She smiled back at him. "I'll keep that in mind," she told him before leaving.

Charlie went to the Grill and sat down at a booth by herself. She ordered a cup of coffee and tried to sort through her feelings and thoughts. It was the idea that Damon might've meant his words that kept Charlie from forgiving him. She loved him, so much, and it broke her heart that he might not want to be married to her.

"Charlotte?"

Charlie sighed and looked up at her mother. She wasn't in the mood for her. Karen would probably throw a party if she and Damon separated. "Yes mum?"

"I just wanted to say goodbye. I'm going home. I couldn't find Ben anywhere, though." Karen frowned as she sat down across the booth from her daughter.

Don't worry about him, he's just rotting away in the trunk of my husband's car, Charlie thought bitterly. "Oh, well, goodbye then."

Karen sighed. "I'm not going to apologize for bringing Ben here, Charlotte. You can't blame a mother for wanting the best for her daughter, and Ben would be the best for you." Karen thought about adding that Charlie's husband was a blood sucking, murderous vampire, but thought against it. It would probably cause Charlie's heart to give out.

"Mum, don't you think that if Ben was the best for me, I'd be with him?" she countered.

Karen had no response for that, and instead looked around for her son-in-law. "Where's Damon?" she asked bitterly.

Charlie sighed. She could already hear her mother's 'I told you so.' "He's at home. We… we sort of had a fight."

Karen tried to hold in her joy as best as she could, but she couldn't help but to grin at the news. "Oh? What about?"

Charlie sighed. "You'd just rub it in my face, mother," she mumbled.

"No, I won't, I promise. What are you two fighting about?" Karen pushed.

"I'm mad at him because he told me that he wished that he never married me!" Charlie exclaimed, annoyed at her mother's pushiness.

"Oh, did he now?" Karen couldn't help but think I warned you, Charlotte. I warned you that your marriage would never work.

"Well, not those exact words, and he was angry when he said them. He yelled them at me in the heat of the moment," Charlie added almost defensively.

"I told you, Charlotte. Men like Damon aren't made for marriage. They break hearts, and yours has had enough done to it without him," Karen said, before pulling out her phone. "Let me just call my lawyer…"

Charlie frowned. "What for?"

"For the divorce papers, of course!" Karen looked at her as if it was obvious.

"Mum, Damon and I aren't getting divorced," Charlie said, frowning. "It was one fight, married couples fight. I still love him, and he still loves me. It was a mistake that he said that and he regrets it." As Charlie said the words, she realized how true they were. At that moment, she forgave her husband.

"Goodbye mum, I have to go see my husband," Charlie said briskly, before standing up and walking away.

Damon was waiting for Charlie when she walked into the boarding house. He looked like he had gotten about as much sleep as she had. "Charlie, I am so sorry, okay? I didn't mean it, not for a second. I'm a jackass," Damon said, walking up to her.

She smiled slightly. "Yes, you are. But you're not nearly as bad as you used to be," she told him.

"Did you see the flowers?" Damon asked her, taking the fact that she was talking to him as a good sign. Damon had gone out at four in the morning to get those poppies for her. He had wanted Charlie to wake up and see them.

"All twenty dozen? How could I miss them?" she teased slightly, though was touched by them.

Damon smirked. "Well, I know that you really like poppies…"

Charlie's smile went away, and she looked up at him seriously. "You didn't mean it?" she asked him.

"Charlie, proposing to you was the best thing I've ever done, and the night you said yes was the happiest moment of my life. I could never regret any of that," he told her seriously.

Charlie sighed, before melting into his arms. It felt nice, hugging him after their big fight. "I forgive you," she told him honestly.

Damon smiled, and kissed his wife's head. "I love you, Char," he murmured to her.

Charlie mumbled something that sounded like "I love you too." but seconds later, she fell asleep in her husband's arms.

A/N: I promise some Charlie/Damon (Darlie?) fluff next chapter. They need it, after all this drama.

Thank you to: jacquline, Be My Baby, KimmyWSmith, SomebodyWhoCares, Samantha meyers, , and aerocrombielovr16 for reviewing!

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~Abby ;)