Chapter twenty two

"Maybe I'm your Mr. Right,"- Mr. Right by A Rocket to the Moon

"Excuse me?" Charlie asked, not believing her mother's words.

"Your husband is a vampire, Charlotte," Karen repeated.

Suddenly, Charlie burst out laughing. It was fake laughter, of course, but Karen didn't know that. "Good one, mum. Vampires aren't real," Charlie said, thankful for all the plays she did in high school that gave her decent acting skills.

"I'm serious, Charlotte. Damon Salvatore is a vampire," Karen insisted, frowning at her daughter's reaction.

"Sure he is mum. I think you need to lay off of the wine," she said, though her heart was beating a mile a minute.

"Charlotte, I'm being-" but Karen never got to finish her sentence, because Charlie slammed the door in her face.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," Charlie started mumbling, as she dropped the basket of laundry she was carrying and ran to Stefan and Damon.

"Charlie, what's wrong?" Damon was suddenly in front of her and holding her face as she hyperventilated.

"She knows, Damon. My mum knows about you," Charlie blurted out.

Her husband's eyes widened. "Did you-?"

"Of course not! Oh my god, what are we going to do?" Charlie was hyperventilating again, and she felt like she was going to pass out.

"Okay, first you need to calm down," Damon said, rubbing calming circles on her cheeks with his thumbs.

Charlie closed her eyes and took deep breaths. When she was calmed down, she opened her eyes again. "How did she find out?" Charlie wondered out loud, pushing a curl out of her face.

"Maybe someone or told her. Or maybe…" Damon suddenly cursed, and Charlie's eyebrows furrowed.

"What?" she asked him.

"I wasn't exactly very cautious, the first few months I was at Kingston. Maybe she walked in on me feeding," Damon said.

"Then why did she wait so long to tell me?" Charlie asked.

"Because she was probably worried that your heart would fail. When I told you, you passed out," Damon pointed out.

"Well, what are we going to do?" she asked her husband, starting to pace.

"I think I should compel her," Damon said suddenly.

He looked to his wife, expecting her to argue, but Charlie nodded. "I think that it would be for the best. The last thing we need is for her to try to stake you," she said.

"And while I'm at it, I can compel her to move far, far away," Damon said with a slight smirk.

"Don't push your luck, love," Charlie told him, and he chuckled.

"I want to talk to her first, though," Charlie said suddenly. "I want to know how long she's known."

Damon nodded, and it was settled. Karen would be compelled to forget about vampires, but Charlie would get her answers first.

"Hi mum," Charlie said, sitting down across the table from her. It was the next day and she was at the Grill.

"Are you ready to listen to me, Charlotte? Damon is a vampire," Karen said shortly, crossing her arms over her chest.

Charlie sighed. "I know."

Karen's eyebrows shot up. "What?"

"I know that Damon is a vampire, mum. Do you really think that he would've married me if I was still in the dark?" Charlie asked, pushing her dark curls over her shoulder.

"You know that your husband is a monster and you still married him?" Karen asked, eyes wide in disbelief. Suddenly, they zeroed in on her neck and then narrowed in anger.

"Charlotte, what's on your neck?" she asked in a low voice.

"Mum, let's not-" she started to say but was cut off.

"Charlotte Marie, what is on your neck?"

Charlie sighed but pushed her hair away from her neck defiantly. "It's a bite mark, mum," she said, her head high.

Karen's eyes widened to the size of plates. Then they narrowed. "Excuse me? I must've heard you wrong, because there is no way that my daughter would be stupid enough to marry a vampire, let alone let him feed on her."

Charlie shrugged and then covered up the bite mark again. "I like it when Damon bites me, and I love him."

"I can't believe that my daughter is a little slut that lets a vampire drink her blood!"

Charlie flinched, feeling as if Karen had slapped her. Suddenly Damon was next to his wife and he glared at his mother-in-law with a burning hate. "Don't you ever call her that!" he growled, looking as if he could kill.

Damon had come along so that he could compel Karen right after Charlie got her answers. But now Charlie regretted bringing him along. People were staring at them- they were making a scene. "Damon," Charlie whispered, wanting her husband to calm down.

Karen was frozen in fear, and Damon leaned in close to her. His eyes dilated as he stared right into hers. "How did you find out about me?" he compelled.

"I was told," she answered in a zombie-like voice.

"By who?"

"I can't tell you," she answered.

Damon looked away from Karen to his wife. "I think that the vampires who attacked us told her about me," he said.

"Why would they?" Charlie asked.

Damon shrugged. "To screw with us," he said before turning back to Karen.

"You'll forget all about vampires, and you'll forget that I'm a vampire," he compelled her.

When Damon pulled away, Karen blinked slowly, confused. "What happened?" she asked, dazed.

"We were just saying goodbye, mum. You're leaving Mystic Falls, remember?" Charlie asked, trying her best to sound normal.

Karen nodded slowly. "Yes, well goodbye then, Charlotte," she said, standing up. She shot Damon a dirty look before leaving the Grill.

Charlie sighed when she was gone. Damon instantly looked down at his wife, concerned. "Are you okay?" he asked her.

Charlie nodded. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" she lied.

"Because your mom called you a slut," Damon said bluntly, venom lacing his voice. Charlie flinched slightly at the memory. It hurt, that her mom thought that about her.

"You're not Charlie, okay?" Damon said, hugging her. If Karen wasn't Charlie's mother, he would've ripped every organ from her body for hurting his Charlie like that.

Charlie nodded. "I know. I've only slept with one guy in my life, and I married him," she smirked slightly up at her husband. "If anyone's a slut, it's you. I don't even want to know how many people you slept with."

Damon narrowed his eyes playfully. "You're going to pay for that one, Missus Salvatore," he teased.

Charlie giggled before pulling away from Damon and running away from him. She felt like a child, and she loved it. Charlie ran out of the Grill, constantly looking over her shoulder for her husband. When she turned down an alley, Damon suddenly appeared in front of her and he caught her.

"Oh, no you don't," he said, before tickling her like crazy. Charlie laughed like crazy as Damon tickled her sides- her most ticklish areas.

"D-D-Damon, s-st-stop!" she managed to get out through the fits of laughter.

"Hmm? What was that?" Damon teased, tickling her more.

"S-st-stop! P-p-p-please!" she gasped out.

Damon smirked before finally letting her go. Charlie gasped for air and glared jokingly up at her husband. "I hate you," she told him, rubbing her stomach.

"Whatever, Char," he told her, before pulling her into his arms and kissing her.

Damon pinned Charlie up against the alley wall, kissing her passionately. Charlie returned the kiss as Damon brought her thigh up to his hip. She moaned into his mouth, and her hands snuck under his shirt to rub his chest.

"Are you two really going to second base in the alley?"

Charlie and Damon pulled away to see Caroline at the end of the alley, looking grossed out. "We would've gone all the way if you hadn't shown up, vampire Barbie," Damon replied with a smirk.

Charlie hit him on the arm. "Be nice," she told him with a frown before walking towards Caroline. "Do you want to hang out?" she asked.

The blonde nodded, and Charlie turned to her husband. "I'll see you at home. Love you," she called to him as she followed Caroline into the Grill.

"Elena told me that you two went on a second honeymoon. How was it?" Caroline asked as they grabbed a table.

"Amazing," Charlie sighed. "Except for this vampire bitch who tried to steal my husband, it was perfect. We put a lot of the lingerie you got me to use."

"Yeah, Elena told me about Rachel. Did you really punch her?"

"I'm actually pretty badass when it comes down to it, Care." Charlie smirked.

Suddenly, Charlie got another chest pain. She gritted her teeth as it happened. Caroline's eyes widened, as she heard Charlie's heart beat irregularly. When it was over, Caroline looked at Charlie, her eyes wide.

"What was that?" she asked, concerned.

Charlie sighed, and then bluntly said, "I have cardiomyopathy."

Charlie spent the next hour explaining everything to Caroline. She told her about how she needed a heart transplant and how she was going to die if she didn't get one. "Why don't you just let Damon change you?" Caroline asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Charlie sighed. "I don't know if I'm ready, Caroline," she told her honestly.

"But you married a vampire. Even if you didn't have a heart disease, did you really think Damon would let you die while he lived forever?"

Charlie shook her head. "It's complicated, Caroline," she said in a tone that made it clear the conversation would be dropped.

Caroline let the conversation drop, and after twenty minutes, Charlie yawned. "Can you take me home? I'm super tired," she asked.

Caroline nodded but excused herself to the bathroom first. As Charlie waited outside for the blonde vampire, she was suddenly joined by an unwelcomed person.

"Hey married, how are you?"

Charlie sighed, and turned around to face the sad day drunk. "I'm not in the best-"

But Charlie never got a chance to finish her sentence, because Jason, the sad day drunk, smashed her head against the brick wall, knocking Charlie out.

A/N: thank you to: drangonrain618, aerocrombielovr16, Samantha meyers, BeckyBoo12221, KimmyWSmith, Be My Baby, TheGrayWitch, hidansgirl1234, lulu-144, and SomebodyWhoCares for reviewing!

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~Abby :)